Hills and Blisters in New York, But It Was COOLER!

What a dummy I am. I wore tennis shoes on the plane to New York to save room in my suitcase. On Saturday, Benjamin and Lauren were going to have a session with the wedding photographer at 3 pm so we went in to be there at 11 for Lauren to get her hair done, have lunch, and then meet photographer at Central Park. We drove in from New York so we had to park the car a pretty long way away from where we were going, 3 different times and places, and walk a lot. Now, I don't mind walking at all but I was DUMB enough to wear flip flops. The minute we started walking, I could tell these shoes were not comfortable but I didn't have any others. They rubbed a blister on top of my right foot, just a little one, but they rubbed a LARGE, tender one on the ball of my left foot.

I drained it Saturday night and found some bandaids and an old corn pad and bandaged it all up Sunday morning. Unfortunately, bandaids on the bottoms of feet running long distances tend to come aloose and move around!!! I knew I probably should not run at all or maybe just do 8 miles. But, most of you who know me from years past know that I am stubborn and a SLAVE to the numbers on my watch!!!!! I was determined to do the 16. Pain or no pain. Lauren planned out a route from her house, an 8 mile route. Plan was that I would stop at the house and refuel/rewater and do the loop again. Well, the air was beautifully cool and dry but there were some SIGNIFICANT hills along the way. And remember, we were staying at her parents' house in the town of Dix HILLS---duh, there were hills! She had said I could vary the route and run most anywhere so, when I realized I had missed one turn but was still very close to the house, I decided not to go back to the house. I didn't want to repeat--I hate repeats of the same route like doing the lake in Clinton more than once. So, on I ran. My foot got sorer, and sorer, and sorer. I could have called my son but I decided that running in pain might be good training for the marathon. What a twisted mind I have. So I ran up a street and then turned on a main thouroughfare. Bathroom stop and water refill at a Dunkin Donuts. Ran for a long time and the businesses got a little less impressive as I went along. Boarded up buildings, pawn shops, thrift shops, foreign languages, people aimlessly ambling about. People going into closed businesses and coming out---? drug deals--would I even recognize that if I saw it???? I didn't want to turn around until I was at 10.75 because I thought that would put me at 16 getting back to her house but at 9.99 miles I decided running alone in a sketchy part of town probably was NOT wise. So, I turned around and ran back forever, past the street I was supposed to turn on. Then I turned back around and turned back the right street but was still not sure whether I was headed back the right way. Intervals were MUCH easier in the cooler air and the first ten miles were done in fine form and style. Doing the marathon shuffle or walking after that. When that watch said 16.00 miles, I called my son's cell phone and he did NOT answer! So I kept hobbling forward and he finally called just about the time I recognized the street I wanted to turn on. He came and got me and saved me about 3/10's of a mile more--I walked about a half mile extra.

I wasn't as sore after 16 as I was after the 13, thank goodness because we went out on Lauren's parents' sailboat which was delightful. Then we changed clothes and went to a foodtasting at the temple where they are going to be married--Wedding Crashers we were because there was a real wedding going on and we got to sneak in and sample all their food while they were in the ceremony!!!!!

Exhausted today after adventure getting home on the plane, as always. Look forward to seeing you all on Saturday!!!

I am RACE READY!!!!! and a reply to Mandy

I am pitiful. I love to run in new running clothes. I guess anything that is motivating is okay???? I have some Race Ready shorts that I got at Fleet Feet two years ago. When I got them, they were tighter than I like and I tried the biggest men's ones they had and they didn't appear to be any roomier so I stuck with the women's ones. They also are a little on the short side for a youngster like me. And, I think they actually have shrunk a little with many washings as I would hope and pray that MY butt has not gotten any bigger in the past 2-3 years with mucho exercise. Also, when the pants are tight, the pockets do not have much room to hold anything or get anything in and out of them! So, I bought two pair of a larger size offered on their website. The plan was to only get a pair of black ones, but the circle ones looked real cute, so I got them. And they are so cute that I wore them today on my run when I didn't even need any pockets! Although, I must say I put my half full Propel bottle in the back pocket while I mowed the backyard before I leave town and that was a big plus. Every time the mower went dead, being choked by the large quantity of Bermuda grass (despite the fact that I just mowed this grass Saturday afternoon!), I had a swig of Propel. And, I ordered some of the Race Ready Tights with pockets--a splurge. But, I like these circle shorts so much that I might just wear plain tights under them in the marathon!!!!

Blogger won't let me make a comment to Mandy so I'll just do it here. With your experience and credentials and personality, you WILL get in to dental school. (You need to find out their application to acceptance rate--I think I read somewhere in the paper that most of the people that apply get in????--I'm not sure. The bigger question is how hard it is going to be to do this with one or more children since you've been talking about having another little cutie. But, once you finish, you probably could tailor your hours around your children's schedules. Once they get into regular school, having time to work gets easier than when they are little. Hopefully you have grandparents around to help do the babysitting!

I love swimming!!!

Finally, I got to go swimming again. I think I have skipped at least two weeks so it was a treat. Decided to swim longer and skip the weights, don't know why--bored with the weights, maybe???? And I have to do the weights first because who wants to go into the weight room in a wet swimsuit with wet stringy hair? And, if I do weights first, my arms are a little sore and tired when I start swimming. Part of my plan was thwarted though. I have a weird tan on my back from swimming in Speedo swimsuit and a couple of the weird tops I run in. So, because of the wedding and my vanity, I wanted to get rid of the X marks on my back. So, I wore a regular swimsuit with "normal" straps. When I got to the Courhouse, there was a sign on the door saying that the outdoor pool was closed for maintenance!!!! So, I swam indoors which is usually miserably hot in the summer but was nice and cool today. And then I went and laid out for ten minutes on my stomach to get some sun on my back. But, I have noticed the water in the outdoor pool getting murky and gross so I guess it's for the best that they are doing something about it! Computers still screwed up today at work so you guys pray for me that they get fixed or I will have to cancel my trip to NY and work in the office instead this weekend.

The Good and the Bad

I'm at work, goofing off now for the past 2.5 hours. All of our work is computerized and the connection to the national Social Security network is messed up. And I do mean MESSED UP BIGTIME! Yesterday it worked slowly and erratically but today it will not work at all. Now, if I was salaried and being paid anyway, I guess I wouldn't mind but I get paid by the piece for each case that I do each day. So I am earning exactly zero dollars today!!!! Just after I mailed all the rehearsal dinner invitations for my son's wedding, here I come and cannot make a living to help pay for this wedding.

Now, for the good. I do love goofing off, especially on the computer. So I've been looking at all of my emails and blogs and websites. Which is fun but even this is getting boring now. And we usually are supposed to limit our time on the internet but I don't think they can say anything to us today. It is weird that the internet works but not the intranet. The intranet is what they call our network with Social Security upon which all of our work and data are stored.

I've read some baby blogs, gone to the John the Penguin site, gone to the best workout music workout site. But, I can't download anything on this computer so can't work on workout music for me. Much more of this and I'll go home and goof off on my own computer!!!!

Did I tell you guys yesterday that I have a new granddog????? I love animals so this makes me happy and I can't wait to get to see him. Problem is, he lives in California with my son and his wife so I may have to wait a while. I am leaving Friday to go to New York to see my other son and his fiance and work out final details on the rehearsal dinner. The game plan is for me to run my 16 miler on Sunday in New York as the timing doesn't work out on Saturday when Benjamin and Lauren are going into town to meet with the photographer to get to know him and then out to lunch. And, of course, Mom would like to tag along. Country girl goes to town!

Continuing Lawn Mower Saga and missed my bike ride!

I had a great run yesterday. Felt good and strong and didn't break down along the way except maybe during the long uphill stretch. And, just think, we did 8 instead of 9! Aren't we tough? Wouldn't you know Homer forgot to doublecheck the mileage since he was sidelined with an injury? But we did it and all the better and tougher for it. I felt good yesterday and woke up at 6 this morning disappointed to see the sky and hear the thunder. However, I was very exhausted today and hung in bed for a LONG time. Then, I worked on some wedding stuff, and then I went and bought a new lawnmower since I took the old one to be fixed after the run, got home, and it was worse off than every. The new LawnBoy more is awesome and much easier to push than the other one. I think I'm gonna contact them and suggest a new marketing tool for them! I justified spending the money on my second lawnmower in less than 12 months because it is an cross training tool for me!

I hope I can either ride my bike or swim tomorrow. I have given up running on Mondays as my body can't take running two days in a row.

Blog blahs

Mandy says she's having trouble thinking of blogs. It looks like she isn't the only one because there haven't been too many the last couple of days. Maybe we should blog about what we are eating today in preparation for our long run tomorrow! Or what we have planned for the weekend???? Or what we think about, was it Christa, getting thrown off of her own treadmill???? I can't even think of anything to say either--this is getting bad, huh?

Getting ready for cold weather

Now, I'll bet that title gave you a start, didn't it? Meanwhile at least one of us (me) is sweating like a pig on every run she takes. But, I am worrying about what I am going to wear in the Twin Cities Marathon. Sally says it won't be "that" cold because they don't usually have their first frost until Halloween but I am leery of trusting the weather like that. Just thinking of the difference in the temp in the two years I ran Chicago has me pondering what I'm gonna wear. I've run in two or three cold races and I was a little chilly. You don't realize how much ventilation is built into these running shoes until you run in the winter and feel that cold breeze on your toes! And, despite having 5 layers on my torso and being fairly warm in most places, my fingers were frozen in the half marathon in 12/05. I've read somewhere that there is something you can put on your shoes to keep out the breeze so I need to find out what it is. And, someone told me my hands would be much warmer if I wore mittens rather than gloves so I need to look for some of those. He was a guy who grew up near Chicago and ran frequently, and, when it was real cold, he wore ski gloves to run in.

I'm not trying to get you guys to worry because I'm figuring Chicago will be a bit warmer than Minneapolis, don't you think? And last year in Chicago when it was so cold, the marathon was about two weeks later than it is this year so all should be fine with layers. Minneapolis just seems like it is much farther north but I'd better go look at a map.