you get out of it what you put into it

5am

sun shining behind the clouds.

beautiful.

tummy full of mexican food.

yuck.

breaking in new shoes.

ouch.

exhausted from a great weekend.

yawn.

Happy National Running Day!

Although I didn't have much time in my schedule to squeeze in a run, I knew I wanted to participate in National Running Day.  So, I ran 1 mile fast to the pool in 7:39.  This was on a full belly too.  I had literally just eaten dinner and walked out the door.  Blah.  I probably could've been 10 or so seconds faster as I slowed down at the beginning to let my buddy catch up but then I ended up leaving him again because I wanted to run hard.

Played at the pool for 2 hours and then had an obligatory ice cream sandwich as I was leaving.  Ran a nice, easy, conversational pace (9:12) home with my buddy after devouring the ice cream.

Good day!

More importantly, Friday is National Donut Day.  If ever a food deserved a national day, it's the doughnut.  Krispy Kreme (my closest donut place) is giving away free donuts!

Worst 5k time ever!  Yippee!  I ran it nice and slow with some friends.

My official time was 37:13.  My goodness!  If that isn't pathetic, I don't know what is.  Oh well... it was fun!

Ran the Eurocross 5k race here in Huntsville.  It's a tough course, and definitely not a place to set a PR (or anywhere near one).  The race is a 1k loop that you run 5 times.  (Did all you mathematicians figure that one out?)  Each loop has 2 deep creek crossings, 1 short but steep hill, and a little jaunt through the woods.  Oh, and you have to jump over multiple hay bales that are lined up next to each other throughout the course.  It was a fun race.... probably the most fun I've ever had in a 5k.  The creek was by far the most enjoyable part.  You basically just jump into water that was like waist deep for the most part.  Holes seemed to pop up out of nowhere and I often fell down to my shoulders.  Thankfully, my head never went under.  (Although, it probably would've felt good, as it was so hot and muggy.)  We had rain every day last week, so the creek was up higher than normal.  You had to crawl out of each creek crossing on your hands and knees which made for a nice, muddy run. 

Just a note on how hot it was:  They have an 8k race too (that I had thought about running but in the end decided to be lazy) and the girl that was winning it passed out from heat exhaustion with about .50 left in the race.  She was taken to the hospital by an ambulance.

I spent the rest of the day at the pool.  6 hours of fun in the sun is exhausting!  I was determined to swim 400 meters, as that is the distance of our local sprint tri's swim portion.  I did it in 12:48 and thought I might die.  Swimming is tough!  I was glad I finished though.  I also learned how to do a back dive which was awesome.  I think the boy that taught me was about 6 years old.  Annnnnnnnddddddd, I did a front flip off the diving board for the first time in years!  It was fun!  It is going to be a GOOD summer!

This is by far my most rambling post ever.  Just ignore me.

Here is a pic of my falling in the water:   

I'm the one on the right in the white shirt.  For some reason, the water seemed much deeper than what the woman in red is walking in.  There really were some pretty deep holes, but my brain must've been exadurating when I retold the story to y'all.  Still the best 5k ever! 

Went to speed work last night.  This has been going on for about 6 weeks at Fleet Feet, but I haven't been able to attend because of my training group.  That is over (yay!) until August when the next one starts up.  I thought this might do me some good.  Boy oh boy!  I've never really done anything more than straights and curves on a track (and it was more in a "joking" manner with my friends), so this was much harder than I anticipated.

Ran .70 over to the park for warm-up - 9:39 pace.

Kyle, our "coach" (really he is a FF employee, but he knows his stuff) told us to run about 5 seconds off of our "goal pace".  We were supposed to do 10-400's with a 1:40 jogging break in the middle.  Since I hadn't been to one of these before, I had no clue what he was talking about.  I think he will do an analysis of me next week (if I go back!) where he makes me run a mile as fast as I can or something like that.  He didn't do it last night because he had another one-time training group on proper running form.  The sad thing is, I could probably benefit from that program too.  Anyways, I said I'd just stick to the back with the slowest people, but I ended up leaving them because they were too slow.  I ran towards the middle-back of group 3 of 4.  I ran a hard-comfortable pace and didn't look at my watch at all during it.

Here are my splits.  Slow, slow, slow, slow, slow.

1:45 (1:40) 1:55 (1:40) 2:00 (1:40) 2:07 (1:40) 2:02 (1:40)

3 minute break

2:06 (1:40) 2:09 (1:40) 2:07 (1:40) 2:11 (1:40) 1:49 (1:40)

I think one of the "advantages" of having a Garmin is so that you can look at it while you run to know if you are hitting your desired pace or not.  I didn't look at mine a single time during the run, just got all the splits when it was over.  This was all effort based.  I don't even know what pace these are (approx??).  Is there a way to figure that out?

This was a hard workout for me.  The temp was hovering right at 90* and the humidity was high.  We were out in the open with no shade to block the blistering sun.  I definitely whined a little during it, but I do think I'll be back.  When it was all said and done, I had "fun".

We took a shortcut back to FF through a creek and the girl right in front of me stepped on a snake!  ICK!

Today (Tuesday) my mama/best friend/buddy/pal/partner-in-crime leaves for Colorado for a week!  To say that I'm a bit jealous would be an understatement.  I'm pretty sure this is the first time she has ever left Huntsville, AL without me at her side.  I'm not a happy camper.  I know she'll have a good time, but I wanna gooooo toooooooooooo.  Wahhhhh... Anyways, I'll tell her to wave hello to Carolyn, Michelle, and Nan as she passes over! 

3.5 – 4.0 miles.  Not one of us wore a watch.  Who cares about time or speed or distance? (Says the slow girl that can’t run a more than .50 without crying...)

Dear Monte Sano Trails,

Thank you for reminding me why I love running.  Thank you for bringing together some of my closest friends to do something we love, if only for a short time.  The run couldn’t have been any more perfect.  Running the trails in a torrential downpour is just what I needed after a stressful couple of weeks.  It cleansed my soul.  It soaked my skin  (oh wait, that was just the humidity).  It got me muddy.  It was FUN!  The humidity had to be no less that 3,792%, but I’m not even going to complain about it, I had such a good time.  Trails, I love you so.  Why do I cheat on you so much with the roads?  Why?  I vow to (hopefully) visit you at least once a week for the entire summer.  This affair with the roads (and not a good one, I might add…) needs to end.  You have caught me when I’ve fallen (literally… I’ve tripped many times).  You’re much more cushy and absorbent than that stinkin’ asphalt (that I’ve also taken a bloody spill or two on).  You are always there for me.  I need to show you some respect and come visit.  I’m sorry, trails.

I've missed you my dear friend.

XOXO,

KP

P.S.  Please let me be this happy after my trail half on Saturday.  Please

Had I written this report Saturday after the race, it probably would've been filled with negative comments and thoughts.  I struggled big time, but lets start from the beginning. 

I drove 2 hours south, to Birmingham, Friday after work to stay with one of my very best friends and prepared for the race.  Well, after a late dinner that consisted of steak, potatoes, garlic cheese toast, salad, and many hours of sitting around talking, I finally got in the bed about 12:30AM.  My alarm was set for 4:30, but I ended up getting up at 4:00 because I was tired of staring at the ceiling.  I got ready and left the house by 5AM.  After a 40-minute drive across town, I arrived at beautiful Oak Mountain State Park where I had to literally scrape together $3 worth of change to pay the fee to get into the park.  Whoops!  I completely forgot about it and I rarely carry cash.  I apologized to the park ranger as I literally handed him a fistful of nickels and dimes.  Moving on... I got my race packet and fooled around smearing body glide on my feet before putting my socks and shoes on.  I went to a little church service they were having at 6:15 which was nice.  I really enjoyed it.  Xterra was having 3 races, a 5k, a 10k, and the 21k that I was doing.

The 5kers were supposed to start at 7AM, but that got pushed back until 7:20AM.  I hate when races start late.  The 21kers were off at 7:30AM with a shotgun start.  The 10kers were 10 minutes after us.  We ran about a mile up the road before dropping into the woods.  I started out waaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too fast; probably a sub-9 minute mile.  I was just going with the flow, but would come to regret this very soon.  We were running on beautiful single-track trails the entire day.  The first mile had lots of switchbacks.  Easy enough.  About mile 2, I started walking.  About mile 2, I was seriously considering a DNF for the first time ever.  About mile 2, I wanted to cry.  About mile 2, I was already in a lot of pain from a stupid blister.  About mile 2, I came to find things were still easy.  The heat and humidity were getting to me and I was being a big fat baby; plain and simple.  About mile 2, it seemed like I had been passed by everyone competing in the 10k event.  About mile 2.5, the hills started.  (Let me add that my buddy who had never ran at the state park told me he heard that it was an "easy" race and much easier than McKay Hollow, a similar trail race in my hometown.)  We climbed one hill.  Okay... I can do that.  A few steep hills are okay.  About mile 4, I decided that I was actually okay with walking the rest of the race.  I wish I would've counted how many hills were in this section.  I'd say it was 4 miles of  nothing but straight up and down.  It might flatten out for 20-30 feet, and then it would be another hill.  They were so steep!  I really would love to see some of the more elite guys run some of those downhills, because I do not see how it was possible.  I'm pretty good about letting gravity take over when I do downhill on the trails, but I couldn't do it here.  They were scary steep.  I was miserable.  Everyone around me was walking.  Oh, and complaining about the hills!  At about mile 7, we ran on the road for a mile before we hit another trail.  Oak Mountain also had a triathlon going on, and my friend, Matt, and I passed each other at this time.  I thought that was cool!  He is an awesome athlete, and he was flying up the road on his run portion.  (Update:  He just told me on facebook that his relay team finished 1st overall; awesome!  He also told me that I looked great when we passed each other; total lie!)   

Before we drop back into the woods after the road section, I asked the aid station workers if they had a first-aid kit.  They didn't but asked what I needed and I said a band-aid because I had a killer blister on my foot  (2 days later it is still killing me; by far the worst I've ever had).  A guy had some with him and I was thankful!  I sat down on the side of the road and took off my soaking wet sock and shoe (I had crossed 2 small streams) and tried to adhere the band-aid to the ball of my left foot.  They don't really like to stick to wet feet though.  I did my best.  I noticed at this time that my hands were shaking terribly.  I still don't know why, but just went about my business.  I got passed by several people at this time and seriously thought that I was now in last place.  I'd say it took me about 5 minutes to do that whole foot thing. 

Then, I was off again!  At this point, I think I'm about 8 miles into the race.  I did have on my garmin, but I absolutely refuse to look at it.  I think it would've depressed me to see how slow I was going and how far I still had to go.  So, it was on my wrist, but I never once glanced at it.  (I do plan to plug it into my computer this week to see the elevation gain/loss for this race.)  The next 4-ish miles were some of the nicest, most beautiful switchback trails I've ever had the pleasure of running on.  They were wonderful.  Of course, I was already exhausted, so I couldn't run them like I would've liked.  I did a run/walk combo that worked fine.  I ran for a while and then walked when I was tired.  At this time, I did see a snake which freaked me out a bit.  I was all alone in the woods and he was in an opening on the side of the trail.  He didn't bother me, but I was then worried that he had "friends" around.  Thankfully, I didn't encounter any.  I finally got out of the woods after winding around a beautiful lake for quite a while.  A worker told me that I had just a .50 mile to go on the dreadful asphalt.  Boy was the sun hot that was beating down on my shoulders!  I told myself that I was going to run the rest of the time... only .50!  I could see a guy in front of me taking a walk break and I was determined to catch him.  Don't let me fool you, I was not moving fast; 10:00 pace at the absolute best.  Before the race started, the RD told us that we had to go through a "mud-pit" and that there was an option to go around it, but our time would be penalized if we chose to do that.  Well, with less than .50 to go, we still hadn't encountered it.  I was thinking that he had been joking and was disappointed because I love good muddy runs and really didn't come across any in this race because it had been so dry.  He wasn't lying.  The guy in front of me literally ran through the lake I had been running around for a while.  His first step was about at his knees.  Okay, that is fine.  His second step went up to his neck.  This time I 100% promise that I am not exaggerating about that.  I know my jaw dropped.  The official that was standing there told me to jump in, so I did!  I did the same thing as the guy in front of me.  Everything went underwater but my head.  It was a thick Alabama mud bottom, and I am very surprised that I did not lose a shoe.  It was very hard to move in.  The "mud-pit" was about 20 feet long and then we came out on the bank with less than 100 yards to go to the finish.  When I came out, the guy that I was determined to pass was on the side of the path throwing up!  I have a weak stomach, so I tried to pass him without looking over there.  Then I thought that it was mean to just pass him like that so I told him "good job" and kept running.  Then I realized how mean that was.  It seemed like I was telling him good job for throwing up when I was really just trying to encourage him.  I looked for him after the race to apologize because the more I thought about it the worse I felt.  I never saw him though.  It turns out that I didn't finish last.  Thankfully.  I was close though; I was 122 out of 128.  Wow - that is embarrassing. 

Anyways... I knew absolutely nothing about this race or course going into it.  I just knew that it was a trail half somewhere different and I wanted to try it.  I had set an A goal of 3:00, a B goal of 3:45 (my McKay Hollow time), and a C goal of just finishing.  I crossed the finish line in 3:01:01 although the course was a little short; it was more like 12 miles rather than 13.  Oh well.  Truth be told, I'm not complaining one bit that it was short.  In the end, I'm happy with my time but still disappointed in my performance.  I walked a lot and think I'm better than that.  I'm okay with walking the hills.  The last couple of miles were just nice little rollers, and I should've been able to run them if I were in the condition I wish I were in.  I guess that is a goal to work towards.

A few thoughts about the race:  (1) Huntsville, where I run most of my races, has a strict no headphones policy which doesn't bother me whatsoever as I don't run with music.  Birmingham does not, so A LOT of people were running with headphones.  I am fine with that, except for the fact that the 10k racers started after us and were trying to say "on your left" to us slower 21kers and I saw A LOT of people not hear them and therefore not move out of the way.  That was frustrating to see.  I know that if I were fast and encountering that problem, I would've been upset.  (2)  At the first aid-station I got passed by these 2 guys that were running the 10k in vibram five-finger shoes.  I can't decide if I like them for running or not.  I like the minimalist mentality, but am not completely sold on running in them; especially trails.  Well about 200 yards after the first aid station was the first significant hill climb.  I was about halfway up it (walking, of course) and they were coming back down towards me.  One of the guys was limping badly and when I looked at his foot, he literally had a branch sticking out of his toe area.  It looked awful!  I asked him if he was okay and he said yes.  The guy behind me asked if he stubbed it and he said yes.  I have a pair of vibrams (they were a gift), but am now 100% convinced that I will never wear them on the trails.  Poor guy.  (3)  I think I'll be okay with never doing another race in the summer again.  Temps got into the 90's this weekend but felt well over 100* and the humidity was just terrible.  I heard someone describe it as they "felt like they were breathing soup" it was so muggy outside.  (4)  I'm generally curious about what type of aid people use on longer runs.  So here is mine.  I didn't have a single thing to eat until about 4PM on Saturday; no snacks during the race, no gu, etc.  I carried my handheld water bottle with me and drank about 3/4 of it throughout the race.  At each aid station, I would get one cup of water and splash it on my face to cool off.  That is the extent of it.   (5)  I didn't take an ice-bath because I went back to my buddies and hung out for the rest of the weekend.  I am feeling it today.  My hips are letting me know that they are here.  Ouchie!  

In the end, I had a good time and am glad I did the race.  I seriously considered a DNF.  I just wasn't feeling it the first several miles.  The blister + the heat and humidity were getting to me.  I have never quit anything in my entire life and didn't plan to start on a stinkin' half marathon.  A full, an ultra, a triathlon - maybe.  Hopefully not, but maybe; but not a half!  

Also, I'm not really proud of this, but thought I would share with my FRB friends: I went to check what my official time was online, and it turns out that I got 3rd in my AG.  They were giving out hardware for AG winners, but I didn't stick around for that so I didn't know.  I would be super excited if I felt that I worked hard and deserved it.  I didn't.  It was a pitiful race.  It just so happens that only 3 people were registered in the female 20-24 division.  Maybe one day I'll actually work hard enough to feel I earned it... something to strive for.   

Sorry this is so long! 

3.1 mile Panorama Loop with my buddies.  We were all slow.  I was recovering from my trail race and they were recovering from a hilly 10k that was in town on Saturday.  Nice and chatty; just the way I like it.  The air was sooooooo thick with humidity.  I was dripping sweat from a measly 5k.  I mean dripping.

A friend that I scrapbook with has a 9ish year old daughter named Carys who is a competitive gymnast.  Well during the summer they are having to run .50 mile loops 3 times/week.  They do 1 loop for a few weeks, 2 loops for a few weeks, 3 loops for a few weeks, and then 4 loops for a few weeks at the end of the summer.  So, they are working up to 2 miles.  Each loop has to be completed in less than 5 minutes which would be a 10 minute mile pace.  Carys has been finishing her 1 loop in like 4:50 which is pretty good.  But, other girls are beating her and she is not happy with that.  So, Dawn (my friend - her mom), called me last week and asked me to come by and run with her for a minute and give her some pointers.  We ran our first .50 in 4:18.  We stopped at the end of the street and I gave her a few pointers and then we ran the second .50 in 4:04.  Dawn had originally asked me to come by just this once to give my opinion, but I offered to come every Monday after my normal run to get in a few extra miles and work with Carys.  I don't mind one bit.  Actually, I could use the extra mileage.  I think next week I'll try to push her to 1.50 without stopping in the middle for pointers like we did this time.  Is that too much too soon for a 9-year old that doesn't really run much?  Oh well... I guess we'll find out next Monday.  I think last night was a success.

A funny little tid-bit:  So when I got to Dawn's house we talked for a few minutes before Carys and I were ready to go.  The family went inside and we were walking to the end of the driveway.  I asked Carys if she wanted to stretch for a minute and I started stretching my calves on the curb.  She was like "ummmmm... okay" and proceeded to do the splits, I mean completely do the splits, in the middle of her concrete driveway.  OUCH!  I told her that was enough stretching and started running.  I nearly cried just looking at her. 

Trails!  YAY!

Got to Monte Sano about an hour early.  I normally sit up there and do homework while I wait on my friends, but decided that I wanted to ride my bike for an hour instead.  I went down the old road that used to come to the top of the mountain.  I'd never been on it before.  It wasn't as bad as I expected.  1.55 miles each way.  Going down was obviously much easier than coming back up.  I saw 2 guys both ways and they kinda creeped me out because they were just standing there talking but they didn't really appear to be hikers or anything.  I took it easy both ways; 7 minutes down, 10 minutes up.  By the way, this is the biggest "mountain" (really one of the only mountains) in all of North Alabama.  It probably wouldn't even be considered a "hill" by most of y'alls standards.  I got back to the top and was going to ride some more, but one of my friends showed up, so I sat and talked with her until we were supposed to run.

By the time we were supposed to run, some very dark clouds had moved in over us.  We debated about skipping the run and just going to eat.  In the end, I, the voice of reason (or really the idiot), said that we were all on the mountain to run so we might as well do it.  Rain isn't going to hurt anyone.  They were more concerned about the lightning.  Blah blah blah.  We ran.  It poured and poured and poured.  It was absolutely fantastic.  My friend, Laura, and I splash right through all the puddles while the rest of them all try to go around.  That is always funny to me.  You're going to get dirty; just get over it.  Laura and I went to Panera Bread after running.  Yum!  We were both soaked and muddy and disgusting looking.  Ha!

5 miles on the Rocket City Marathon course with my friends at 6AM.  

Then, school for 4 hours.  Blah!  Then, a first birthday party.  Tooooo fun!  Then, mexican with my buddies.  Yummy!  

Good day.

My brother told me a while back that he wanted to try out my gym to see if he was interested in working out there.  So today at church he asked if we could go after church.  I told him sure; I would run on the dreadmill while he lifted weights or whatever it is that he wanted to do.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized I did not want to run inside.  It just plain sucks.  So, I showed him around and did 10 minutes of ab work and thought I was going to die.  I asked him if he was okay and said that I was going to run trails.  By the way, how do y'all do like 45 minutes of ab work?  I know that Scott does stuff like this.  10 minutes was killer for me.  It sucked.

I got to Monte Sano about 1PM and realized that the person in front of me was paying to get into the park.  Crap!  I've never paid to get in.  The gate person only sits in the booth during normal hours on the weekends, so when my buddies and I meet up there at 6AM, they aren't collecting money yet.  I drove all the way down the mountain to the ATM and back up to pay the lady my $3.  That wasted a good 30 minutes.  Argh.  

I was running in the heat of the day.  According to my car, it was about 93* when I started at 1:30.  I had my handheld water bottle with me.  The plan was to run the first half of the McKay Hollow Trail Race course with a finish up Death Trail.  Well, about 1.5 miles into the run, I got lost.  I am pretty sure I know where I took my wrong turn, but I ended up doing part of what I had just run twice which really irritated me.  I still don't see how I did that.  I made it through my favorite part of the mountain, Stone Cuts.  This area is absolutely beautiful.  

part of Stone Cuts 

At the top of Stone Cuts (yes,  you climb the rocks), the course runs along a trail.  It appeared to me that no one had been running up there because the brush and weeds were so thick.  I should've taken a pic.  They literally came up to my chest and blocked just about the whole trail.  I could just make it out if I looked straight down.  I was a bit worried about seeing the state bird of Alabama, the snake, in this section, so I was booking it.  I wish they would maintain that area a little better.  I paid my $3 to get into the park, I should at least be able to see the trails!  (I know a guy that used to work there for like 3 years and he told me that all they do is play around all day, not do important things like trail maintenance, so I am a little irritated about it.)  Shortly after Stone Cuts is where I got lost.  I ended up coming to the area again in my exploring, but decided that I did not want to bushwhack my way through the wilderness at the top again, so I just ran by.

just what some Alabama trails look like... 

 I finally came to the 3-benches intersection (you guessed it, 3 benches are there) and knew where I was.  Yay!  I took Goat Trail through the woods for several miles until I had a nice little climb back up to civilization.  That is where I encountered my first people of the day; a family of 6 out biking.  They were slow, so I ran past them and around the top of the mountain to my car.  I was glad to see it.  This was the first time that I've ever emptied my water bottle on a run.  I ran out with probably a mile to go.  I was completely soaked in sweat from the darn humidity.  It was pretty brutal out today.

climb back to civilization.  hills like this = walk break! 

I have noticed that I don't really get blisters from road running, but get them terribly from trail running.  They are always in the same area, on the balls of my feet.  Anyone have any insight as to why?  It is irritating and painful.  I guess on the downhills I am probably more on my toes, but isn't everyone?

I hope y'all are all having a wonderful Father's Day! 

Busy, busy, busy, busy, busy.  Too much to do and not enough time.

5PM - 2.1 miles.  Temps had to be 95*.  I was on the open road; no breeze, no shade, just hot.  Pace:  9:38 - pretty quick for me!

Went to my little brother and sister's swim meet.  They are so adorable!  They both won their heat too.  YAY!!  I was told that the meet started at 5:30, but it really started at 6:30.  So, I was rushing like crazy for nothing trying to get in a few miles.  I could've gone longer and in a much more pleasant place.  Argh.

8PM - 3.3 miles.  Temps dropped to maybe 85*  Trails.  Saw 2 deer, 1 fox, 1 cat, 0 homo sapiens, 8,367,914.2 bugs.  I started this after "sunset," when the state park technically closes 30 minutes before sunset.  My headlamp was at home.  I thought that it would be pitch black at 8:45, so that gave me just enough time to get in 1 loop.  Well, it gets dark before 8:45.  I should know this.  Had I been running on the open road, I would've been fine, as we had a beautiful, full moon.  On the trails, the trees tend to block most of the moonlight.  My eyes adjusted because I had been outside, but the last mile was pretty slow going, as it had gotten dark.  I looked at my watch at one point and it said it was doing a 12-minute pace.  I didn't feel comfortable going much faster than that because of all the roots and rocks and stumps to trip on.  I am normally scared of the dark, but I wasn't scared being out there.  When I think about that, I am amazed due to the fast that wild animals are everywhere in those woods; I could hear them all around me.  I was worried about falling and breaking a leg/arm and no one finding me.  I didn't have my cell phone with me (no service, anyways), so I would've been there until I could drag myself to the car or someone found me the next day.  Or, I could possibly be some wild animal's supper, and never be heard from again ;-)  It's a good thing I made it home okay!  This was probably one of the dumber things I've done (in regard to the lighting conditions), but it was still a ton of fun.

I also tried to practice landing more on my midfoot on one of the flatter sections of the trail.  I am naturally a heel-striker.  I started thinking about that while I was running, so I thought that now was as good a time as any to practice.  It didn't last too long because I came upon a more technical section.  That is probably something I should practice more on the road.  I also thought about my breathing as rAtTLeTrAp recently mentioned his breathing.  Mine typically has no rhyme or reason; just breathing in and out.  I truly don't see how he keeps count.  I just confused myself trying to keep up with it!

Hot.  Humid.  Hilly.

I quit.

On a girls trip and decided I'd rather hang with my buddies then run in the heat at 11AM.

Soooooooo exhausted after the weekend.  23 girls on a weekend trip = no sleep.  It was fun though!

Did a double Panorma Loop.  Ran the first loop backwards by myself and the second loop a little slower with my friends.  5.5 miles total.  I started about 5:15; car said it was 95* on the mountain.  Whew!  Talked about marriage on the second loop tonight.  I am the only non-married one of my group, and after tonight I plan to stay that way for quite a while!  Those women are hilarious.  I guess that is why we run together though... so we can vent our problems to our friends when needed.  Since I don't really have any experience in the marriage department, I just listen and soak in everything they say.  They are going to turn me into a He-Man Woman Haters Club member (name that movie), but opposite... She-Woman Man Haters, I guess it would be.  DO NOT look that up on Urban Dictionary.  HA!

Did 1 mile of speedwork with my little gymnast.  She was able to do 1 mile in 8:41.  She is quite speedy for her age and not being a runner at all.  Her mom told me last night that she is telling everyone at gymnastics that she has a "running coach" working with her.  Hahaha.  Too funny.  Kids are the cutest.

Stopped on my way home and treated myself to a cookies n cream milkshake from the local ice cream shop.  That was a tasty dinner!

Today I ate:  3 donuts and some leftover wedding cake for breakfast and 3 donuts for lunch.  No dinner.  No time.  I drank maybe a half bottle of water throughout the day.  Wow.

I drove from job A to job B (like 2.5 miles apart).  Yes, I, the person that doesn't have time to breathe, took a second job.  Why do I agree to help people out?  Argh.  I don't have time for this, but I'm doing it anyways.  We were having a meeting at 6PM which gave me an hour to kill.  So, I played on my bike for about 40 minutes, covering 11 miles.  Temps actually weren't tooooooooo terribly bad this afternoon (like 90ish?)  with a little breeze so this was enjoyable.  I still wish I would've ran.  Oh well.

This was my second longest bike ride ever; the longest being when I was about 8 years old and my family went for a bike-ride around Cades Cove in Gatlinburg, TN.  Goodness I love that place.  I bet 95% of y'all haven't even heard of it.  That ride was like 12ish miles and I cried like a baby.  It was hilly and a lot of work for an 8-year old.  I finished though.  I'd like to go back now and redeem myself with no tears. :) 

Update:  Now, the next day, my "sit bones" hurt.  Ouch!  I didn't wear bike shorts and am regretting that now.  Who knew sitting at a desk all day could be so uncomfortable?