Wordless Wednesday: Running on the Farm

I registered!

Oh my gosh ... I just registered for the Medoc 10-Miler on October 17 ... I have a LOT of work to do between now and then ...

Have I lost my mind?

I've setup a half-marathon training plan in Buckeye Outdoors. I'm hoping that will be a good preparation for this trail race. Since Medoc is so close by, I'll definitely do some of the training runs there since this will be my first trail race. It's a little rooty & rocky on much of the trails, so that's going to require a lot of attention. The kids enjoy going so we'll make some of them family outings.

3.11 miles yesterday evening when it was still way too hot (80+ degrees). I was very slow and struggled in the heat. Hopefully a couple of miles tomorrow morning will be more encouraging.

Still here / still running / still blogging

Yep, I'm still around ... life just seems to take over sometimes, doesn't it? I'm still running although not nearly as much I had hoped during the month of April. We went to Orlando April 17-25 and I didn't run any while there. I'm a little disappointed in myself about that because I'd really planned on running at least a couple of times. I allowed myself to get a little too involved in family stuff while at the resort on the days we didn't go to the parks. I just didn't want to wake up early enough on those days to run before it interfered with family time. This running thing is a not the habit/necessity I want it to be yet, but I will get there. There's no way I feel guilty about having fun with Taylor and the kids and doing the things they wanted to do, though. I want running to become a consistent part of my lifestyle, but family absolutely comes first.

I've run twice this week so far. Both runs were while Kate had softball practice. The 2 mile route around TJ Davis Recreation Center is on the roads and is hillier than I'm used to, but I did okay. Last night was at Chockoyotte Park and it was the best run I've had in a while! I really like the crushed gravel path around the park. For the first time in quite a while, I ran (well, jogged at about an 11:00 pace) an entire mile without taking a walk break. I was frustrated because my left shoe came untied at about 0.8 mile & I stopped to tie it. I thought I'd paused the Nike+ but apparently did not because there's a dip there. Then the right shoe came untied a little around the 1.25 mile mark. Same thing happened again with not pausing the Nike+. I have absolutely no idea why I didn't double-knot them before I started ... lesson learned.

I'm still so slow, but I did try to push it a little during the last .25 mile & did that at around a 10:00 mile. My stride felt better & I don't think I was "bouncing" as much. I need to concentrate more on doing that & hopefully it won't be too long before I can maintain that for a longer distance/time. Here's the graphic from slowgeek showing the run ... I like the fact that there aren't too many dips from walk breaks. All in all, I'm very pleased because I had the 2 shoe-tying stoppages & two 2-minute walk breaks. Not bad, not bad at all ...

Next up is tomorrow's Patriots' 5k. I'm really excited because it's one of a few local races & the first I've done since the Harvest Days 5k in October. Dare I put a time goal in writing? Yikes ... I'd love to come in under 35:00. Anything under 37:30 minutes is going to be due to adrenaline and pushing myself harder because I'm still really averaging 12:30 miles for the most part. I'm looking forward to the day when I will come in under 30:00.

Kate is also going to do the kids' 1 miler. I would love for her to gain a love of running at a young age and I hope she'll have a great time. I think I'm finally wearing Taylor down a little, too, although he hasn't actually run any yet and won't participate tomorrow. I printed the C25k program & he thinks that'll work well for he & Kate to do together. I hope so although I'm sure he'll fly past me in no time!

There's also a 10k on June 20 in our county that I'm toying with the idea of entering. Hopefully Taylor & Kate will do the 5k together.

That's it for now, I guess. I'll try to post again tomorrow after the race with a report.

No running yet ...

but at least I'm blogging! I'm going to allow my toe a few more days to heal. The weather is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous on Saturday with temps in the 60s, so I'm planning on running 3 miles or so if my shoes don't bother the toe too much. Kate's basketball game is at 11:00, so hopefully I'll be able to go out after we return home. I hope to run what I'm calling the "big tree/woods" route in my running log. It's really very nice and is a logging road through the timber tract west of the farm. I may even be able to convince Taylor & the kids to ride the golf cart for a time. I love running that route, but as I go deeper in there, I have to admit it's probably not the best idea to be completely alone.

I also have a few plans for future blog posts. I'd like to take some pictures of the various places I run. There's nothing really unique about them, but I just want to add a little "where I run" piece to the blog. I read so many different blogs (all listed on the side). It's interesting that so many people live in cities/suburbs and run on roads all of the time. I think that would be a good change of pace, but I really like the serenity of running out here in the country. Of course, it's not like I have any readers ... I guess I just want to add the pictures for my own memories.

I've also started measuring out my 2009 runs on Google Earth with the idea of seeing how long it will take me to "virtually" run to the Outer Banks where we vacation each summer. So far, I've crossed over into Northampton County. I'll try to add a little more info about that in other posts.

I also want to start blogging a little about non-running related stuff, too. Mainly things going on here at home. It's a good place to write a little about some of the cute & crazy things our kids do. On that note, here's one example of life with Will.

We had our "small group" meeting at our house Monday night. Our small group has gotten smaller & smaller & now only consists of Taylor, my mother-in-law Selma, and our pastor Bob and his wife Penny. Bob gave each of the kids a container of the mini M&Ms which they were eating in the kitchen while the rest of us were watching a DVD during our meeting. A little later when Will came back in the den, we noticed that it looked like Will had a little blood on his nose. I didn't think much of it as he's getting over a cold. But as I was wiping it with a tissue, I discovered it wasn't blood but was melted chocolate. Apparently, he decided the M&Ms were the perfect size to fit in one nostril. Thank goodness there was no harm from it and I hope he doesn't try that little adventure again.

I guess that's it for now ... it's almost bedtime and I have a wide-awake 3-year-old to start calming down.