The first Annual Simpson Half Marathon

Just finished reading the blogs from people who finished their first half marathon yesterday and to all of you, including those who haven't blogged, CONGRATULATIONS! I thought it might justg be old hat to run 13.1 miles again, but running it with such a fun and nice group of people and in such a festive way ending with much-needed chairs and Baptist water made it quite memorable. And, I love my medal. Somehow both this medal and the one from the infamous Goat Milk Half two years ago in Utica or Raymond (I can't remember) are more special to me than the fancier ones from Chicago. I guess because they came from Mississippi? Or because they were hand made by Mississippians??? I don't know. But, I'm proud to have it.

The stars didn't line up just right for me yesterday and I just couldn't get it all going. Short ness of breath and bad back pain hampered me all along the way. I thought about quitting when we got to Lakeshore Park at eight miles--I think I would have if the water stop had been in the parking lot but decided to carry on since the water was along the path. I think maybe I have a little virus as I wasn't very hungry Friday or yesterday. But I am going to survive because I'm back eating today! Although very sore and tired. Slept in this morning which felt great. In fact, I'm still in bed although I have been up and down with the dogs and read the paper and eaten breakfast.

The party was fun--we sure had no shortage of food, did we????? The Lake Caroline clubhouse was a great place for the party, finally, we have all seen Clark's butt!!!! And, I'll just leave it at that. We should share some recipes, either on this Blogger or on the MM site where we post! And, who knew that Matt could sing??? Or that water had a religion?

Aren't we proud to have our aches and pains and black toenails and blisters today? And only five more long runs until the real thing!!!! Now you know you can do it. Despite enduring heat and pain, you finished the half and you will be able to use this same inner strength to finish the whole in October!

I need to get up and do some yardwork but I'm not sure it's gonna get done today. Maybe this week deserves an extra rest day, huh Homer and Robin????

You might be a Mississippi marathoner if. . . . . . . .

. . . . you think sleeping until 6 am is getting to sleep late.

. . . . you'd rather run at 5 am than 6 am just to avoid the heat.

. . . you are so dumb that you can't buy a bottle of tequila to go in the bucket of frozen margarita mix.

I went to Sam's last night and bought 2 buckets, one for me and one for Sally to bring to the party--thinking one sure won't be enough. Then, went in the liquor store right by Sam's to buy the tequila. There were two large bottles, two different flavors, and I picked the original lime flavor. Went home carefully measured out 750 ml of the "tequila" to go into each bucket, stirred it all up, and then noticed that the bottle said "margarita" and not tequila. This was a bottle of ready to drink margaritas--I've never seen nor heard of that. So, hopefully I will manage to get by the liquor store today to buy a REAL bottle of tequila to add to the mixes or we will certainly not got tipsy on these. Probably better anyway, considering the law enforcement!!!

And, on another note, still doing the back exercises. Getting carpet burn on my knees and elbows from doing them and glad that no one is at my house to watch this. Some of these moves are a bit suggestive!

Went to see Wayne Jimenez about my back

Well, I bit the bullet and emailed and called Wayne for help with my chronic mid back pain, exacerbated by running. Had an interesting trip from Madison to his clinic right in the middle of the rainstorm and power outage in Madison. Not only were the cops directing traffic because of the nonfunctioning stoplights, but, when I got to Lenny's to get Wayne his requested turkey sandwich, their lights were out and they could not fix a sandwich (not sure why but I guess they couldn't ring it up on the cash register). So, I left with a page full of exercise to do which I think are already helping--woohoo!!!!!! But, for some unknown reason, Jody and I had decided to run today instead of tomorrow--I think some sort of tapering for the half marathon?????? So, I had to be at the Rez by 530 for the second day in a row, run 5 miles and try to get back to my car in time to drive the Courthouse for my usual 7 am trainer session. Exhausted, sweaty, and stinky for that but I did it. Then, when I came home, I felt compelled to do the back exercises since I'm supposed to do them twice a day. I'm not sure I feel like I am tapering for Saturday!!!! But, I won't run tomorrow. May walk a few miles but will try to make myself not run. If only I could make myself go to bed early enough to get enough sleep when I am getting up at 430 am. And I am NOTTTTTTTT a morning person, believe it or not.

Walking and running in the rain

We did something we rarely do today--we walked most of our 5 miles! I have been so tired and sore and it felt so good just to keep walking and not run. We ran maybe the last two miles and it was fun to run in the drizzle which felt much better than the humid air.

And, I have a new discovery. As you may have already notice, I like to wear headbands and sweatbands. I don't like the feeling of sweat running down my face and it burns my eyes when it gets in them. I've bought a bunch of them over these three years and I do like everything I wear to match, too! Somehow they disappear--we won't go into how some of them disappeared especially during the Goat Milk Half two years ago. But often, after several miles, the sweatband makes me feel really hot and I have to take it off and tuck it in my waistband.

I was at Academy Sports the other day and on the tennis aisle which is where the sweatbands are. They had some very reasonably priced ones that don't have the Nike or Adidas or any symbol on them and they were only 99 cents apiece. But, even better than that, they are much stretchier and cooler (temp, not looks) than the more expensive kind. And they come in several colors, too!!!

Let's all pray for low humidity, decently low temp, and nice breeze for Saturday!!!! Make sure you drink a LOT during the long runs!

Yard work, DOMS

The continuing saga of my newest crosstraining activity, yardwork!!!! The lawnmower is fixed so, since I didn't have to spend a fortune buying a new one, I decided to cut loose and buy a string trimmer that I can start, a blower, and an edger. The manual edger kills my arthritic hands that don't hurt unless I try to do something stupid like that. I have a nice gas-powered WeedEater that cranks only when it decides it wants to, sort of like a cat that only lets you pet it when it wants you to. So, I decided to get electric tools. A very nice guy waited on me at Lowe's and convinced me that I should by this Troybilt fancy weedtrimmer that you could change out attachments on so it would be the blower and the edger, too. The kicker was, it was also a gas operated thing. And you guys should know already how well I do with gas powered machines, other than cars. So, I planned to devote all day Sunday to playing with my new tools and getting the yard in shape. I got up and put the Troybilt thing together, added the oil, put gas in it, and (*&%#%*&^ if it would NOT crank despite many tries and following the directions perfectly. Waited a couple of hours and tried again--no go. So I packed the whole mess up, and took them back to Lowe's and bought what I had INTENDED to buy to begin with. Only they were sold out of the electric edgers so I had to go to Home Depot. But, once I got home, I had FUN playing with them. Machines that actually turn right on when you push the button!!!! Maybe I should start a company making yard equipment for women!

On another note, I have been very fatigued the last week or so and don't know why. And, the DOMS, which is delayed onset muscle soreness that plagued me terribly the first year I trained for this, hit me in full force after Saturday's run. I felt worse this Saturday after 7 miles than I did after 12 last weekend. Go figure. I rested a lot but did go the gym this morning and do weights and a little treadmill. The yard work got done half on Sunday and half this morning and I am WHIPPED!!!!!! But now I have so much money invested in the equipment, I can't hire anybody to do it for me so I will persevere. It is one of my favorite crosstraining things so it will be fine.

Yet another good day!

I think overcast is good as I didn't think I was going to die of a heatstroke coming up that last big hill. And 6 miles was a nice change although I am exhausted now and want to take a nap. Could be the big old chicken salad bagel I had at Beagle bagel with chips and pickle--breakfast of champions! But, I loved getting to meet a few new people today and putting faces with blogs! And, I am becoming addicted to the blogs now. I hope I'm not missing too many of the names from the MM site--I got weary of the copying and pasting but I do like reading everyone's notes. Each year the blogger method has changed a little and I didn't think I'd ever adapt to this one and become obsessed but it has now happened!!!! And I'm so happy to meet you bloggers in person.

One thing I thought of during my long torture, I mean run, last week was that you should soon be keying in on at least some of what you're gonna wear and use during the marathon. Don't majorly changes socks or other things that are next to your skin the day before the marathon as you body and skin won't be used to them. And, go ahead and experiment now with the gels and different drinks so you'll know what works and what doesn't. I've twice now worn some different socks that made me feel like my feet were getting raw so I'm not doing too good of a job of taking my own advice but it is jogging my memory!!!! I like the Baliga socks from Fleet Feet. I was wearing Thorlos but I find they are too thick and hot during our lovely summer weather here so now I save them for the winter.

I'm seeing 5 am starts in my future!

Now, don't get me confused with a morning person but I DO hate to be hot. And, Sally and I ran at 6 this morning for an hour and we were drenched when we finished. But, maybe it's not much cooler at 5???? I don't know. If this is global warming, I'm gonna have to pick a new sport!!! But, it does feel so good when you're finished although I'd like to go back to bed rather than to work!!!!!!!