Last Minute

Since I am signed up to do a marathon in February I have been doing some training. This weekend I was scheduled to do 8 miles. Instead I decided at the last minute to do the Houston Half Marathon and signed up for it on Saturday afternoon.

Well, I did it! Can you believe it?! I can't! And my legs really wish I hadn't, but I just keep telling them "c'est la vie!!"

More details later - but the end result was 2:40:10.8. I can live with that! Actually, considering my training up to this point - I am pretty pleased with that!

I just wanted pretty toes!

A couple weeks a go I went and had a pedicure. A spa pedicure to boot. You know - where you sit in a massage chair and they rub your feet and legs with special exfoliants and nice smelling oils. Then they paint your toes an exotic shade of red and put a neat little design on your big toe nail.

You always feel a little sexy after the pampering and want that feeling to last as long as possible. So you leave your toes alone, just put on some lotion to keep them soft and maybe do a little extra scrubbing with the pumice stone. Nothing to hurt those hard earned calluses that get you through your long runs, though.

You are sensible.

The only thing is that you do not want to destroy your pretty painted toes. So you leave them alone.

And surprisingly all seems okay.

So you keep on leaving them alone and go on a six mile run.

You feel great! No pain. No soreness. All is good.

Then you take off your shoes and notice a little tenderness in one of your index toes.

No prob. It will go away.

It doesn't.

The next day you take a closer look and see that there is a blister under one of those nicely painted toe nails.

So much for that.

Those pretty toe nails have now been whacked!!

Getting better

I have been a little better about my training of late. I've been getting back on the bike and trying to get home in time to actually go out for my weekly runs. What makes things a little easier is that I have found someone who lives close to me that I can run and bike with. With it getting darker earlier, that is a very good thing.

Last Monday I went running in the rain again. I arrived at the park around 6:15 pm and there was barely anyone there! I sat in the car a bit watching the rain beat down on the path and debating if I should get out or not. Since the traffic was so bad and I was already dressed and knew that I wouldn't get on the treadmill when I arrived at home I finally decided that running in the pouring rain was the best option. After I got out of the car, I discovered that there are two TNT participants contemplating going running also. Well, we did the loop then some (wanted a total of 3 miles). Fun, fun, fun!! Glad I did it.

I was scheduled to do 6 miles for my long run this weekend. I thought I would get them in on Saturday evening because I was out with TNT in the morning and coaches are not there to get their training in, they are there for the participants. In the end I did a lot of back and forth running making sure the participants were going the right way on the path and finding the water stop. Then I took the last paricipants into the park. After checking my mileage on the web I figured I ended up doing more than the required 6. I did a lot of walking at the end because that is what the back of the packers were doing so I am not sure if the miles were the best, but I got them in. In future weeks this will not be the case, but for now I guess it will have to do.

What is happening?

In the past few months a couple of the blogs that I regularly checked in on are now by invitation only. What is happening that makes bloggers go from public to private?

Fun, Fun, Fun!!

I had a fun week.

Monday I went out to the 1/4 mile track at Memorial Park and cheered on the participants as they did their ladder. There was some yakking afterwards and then it was time for me to do a loop. Well, I ran into a couple friends and their dogs so it was a slow loop, but it was a good time.

Wednesday was Bid Buy Date (a couple of TNT friends' fundraiser). I had a BLAST!! And a tad too much too drink, but Erin made me start drinking water, so all was good. Except that when the buzz started wearing off my anxiety started to rise because I had bid on THREE MEN!! I was freaking that I might win them all!! But all turned out okay, I was out bid on two of them so I was only obligated to pay for one of the bachelors! The date package is dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse. We'll see if I end up actually going on the 'date' or if I will just make a donation to a very worthy charity!

Thursday I was off to meet with the ferret friends, and Friday I rested up for the Race for the Cure.

Saturday arrived and I was off to the race. First we met up in front of the Doubletree. And then it was picture time.


Ginny, Anne and Emily (TNT Coaches)


Team Picture

Then the rain came pouring down.


Trying to take cover under a tree

Luckily the rain eventually stopped and we entered the start chute and started our run. I started with some friends and chatted with them a bit, found some TNT participants and ran with them for a bit, and finally I fell in-line with Molly and Katie. This was Molly's first race and I felt running with her was more important than getting a good time.


My running buddies – Molly and Katie


Flags of the honored


Finish line!!!

After crossing the finish line I waited around for some of the other TNT participants, but I specifically wanted to get a picture of Emily running down the Survivor's Path. Emily had breast cancer around 10 years ago, and survived. And then this past year it returned in her bones. And she survived, again!! I am going to Jacksonville with her for 26.2 with Donna.


Emily coming down the Survivor’s Path

After the race I wandered around the park for a while, met up with several other TNT participants, then it was time for home. Well, that proved to be a little difficult because I couldn't find my car in the parking garage. I asked a parking attendant who then called for a cart (I was that far off!!) to take me to my car. It was THEN time to go home for breakfast and a nap. After that it was off to the Greek Festival with friends where we ate Greek food and drank A LOT of Greek wine!! And Sunday - I rested!

Another item to add to the list

Okay, I have signed up to do the inaugural breast cancer marathon - 26.2 with Donna in Jacksonville, Florida. I am such a silly girl!!

And then I read on Coach Bill's blog that Texas has a new full/half marathon to offer up to the masses. It is the Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio and will take place November 16, 2008.

Too cool, but it means another decision I have to make!!

Oops, I did it again

It is not really an oops. I was debating on it, and then the idea of sleeping in an RV with air conditioning and having access to real bathrooms cinched the deal. Yep, I signed up for the yearly trek to Austin on a bike - the MS 150.

They opened up registration on Monday (Oct 1) and it is already 60% full! AMAZING!

Kicking if off

The 5K Kickoff for the Houston Marathon was a couple weeks ago, and I felt I did good. I ran with Molly (a TNT participant) and she kept me going and helped me finish in a total of 35:51.7. We planned on doing 5/1's but ended up going with the flow when we didn't hear the watch beep a couple times. The first mile was completed in 11:12, and then the second in 12:09 - and I have a feeling that was because we walked up the 'hills' on Allen Parkway. Mile 3 was completed in 11:34 and we 'sprinted' to the finish line at a pace of 9:20.

For me this was a good race because my training has pretty much sucked as of late. I will get better.

The day after the 5K I flew up to Tulsa to visit family. My mom lives there and my aunts and grandmother had flown a couple days before. They are a crazy bunch and I really enjoyed my time. It was nice to get away.

On Sunday we had brunch at the Phillbrook Museum. Yummy food! We then took a tour of the museum and gardens. Talk about beautiful! Here are a couple pics I took of the gardens...


Looking down onto the gardens from the museum.


Koi - this was the biggest one.



Looking up to the museum from the gazebo.



Tree art - those are glass leaves.

After my nice, relaxing weekend it was back to Houston then I was off to San Antonio for work.

Then it was home.

Other than that nothing truely exciting has been going on. One piece of good news though - I am on a team for the Texas Independence Relay!! I was thinking of starting a team, but before I could get it going I was able to join another team. I am excited because I really wanted to do it!

Today is October 1 - do you know what that means? Signup has opened for the MS150. I have been thinking about doing it again, but am not positive yet. There are other events I want to do (there is a list in the right side column) and wonder if I will be stretching myself too thin. Thoughts?