10 weeks till Hell Creek on Heels 50K! Training Week 9

Kansas decided to give us a break in temps this week, but not in humidity!  Here is how this crazy week played out.

Monday:  Rest day.  Pretty sore, and pretty tired.  I needed this day like no other.  We decided pre grocery shopping that we all needed dairy queen ice cream.  Andrew got a free small cone with his kid's meal, but when daddy came back with a chocolate dipped cone, all bets were off.  Of course daddy shared.

Tuesday:  Planned Speed Work:  A repeat of last week 800 meter repeats x 5.  We were able to hit a pretty nice pace below what we were suppose to do, thanks to the lower temps.  Of course Kansas threw us a curve ball, so while the temps were awesome, the humidity was 100%, making the air drinkable.  

He was amazingly good for his first time having anything done.  They just polished his teeth and flossed.

Wednesday: Planned cross training/strength.  Had to take the day off from work since andrew and I both had dentist appointments, and I didn't want to do four trips back and forth from wamego to manhattan.  Got some house cleaning done, and got my strength done.  I have honestly done something to my upper quad on my right leg.  I could keenly feel it when I did the curtsy squats and the lunges.  It only seems to hurt when I do certain moves, but it doesn't feel great, and I am kind of worried.  I don't need any aches and pains, as I battle through this longer mileage days.  

Thursday:  Planned 7 miles.  Nothing special about this one other than when we got done, I took the dogs out and stella did a 20 minute walk! We also had a recheck on at KSU which I will post about here.

Friday:  Planned cross training:  11.56 miles on my bike.  Would have gone longer, but Melly called and wanted to go hunt Pokemon with her kiddo and I, so off we headed to hunt!  I was also suppose to strength train, but I didn't want to anger my leg again.  It finally feels back to normal, so I may do a few weeks at 1 strength training session a week, and then move back to 2 a week, with the days being monday and wednesday.  I know strength makes you a better runner, but last week it interfered with my runs which is no bueno in my books.  

Saturday:  Planned 16 miles before Melly had to be at work at 8 am.  I decided NOT to do a fasted run, since that didn't really work for me last week.  That meant getting up at 3:30 am.  I have gotten up many a time at 4 am to go to dog shows or to run, but never before that.  Of course the dogs decided that at 3:20 am, they needed to go out and be fed, so I guess getting up was easy.  I had my normal long run food and coffee, and suited up to met melly.  The plan was she would run 2 miles before getting to my house, we would run 12 together, and she would run 2 back, while I finished up my four to get 16.  Funny story, as I was waiting for Melly, a cop drove up, and checked me out. I think she was super confused as to what I was doing standing outside at 4 am.  I told her I was about to run and she seemed impressed, told me good luck, and went on her way.  I am so glad the Wamego PD are out at that time driving around the neighborhoods.  Makes me feel really safe!  Our run went well, the temps were in the 60s, but of course we were drenched due to the high humidity (93% when we left).  I even got to listen to a few podcasts after Melly had to split off.  I don't know about you but after Serial, I got addicted to the podcast Undisclosed.  It is three lawyers doing even more investigation into the Adnan Syed case and it is AMAZING!  They have decided to do a second season on a new case and I am HOOKED!  If you have a chance, check it out!

Sunday:  Planned 8 miles on Konza.  

This was the weather we were looking at saturday night.  Sigh.  While I love to sleep in, I also don't like my schedule screwed with.  We needed to get our 8 in on Konza.  Got up to rain and storms.  Kept waiting and and waiting and waiting for it to quit.  The problem is, I don't mind running in the rain, however, I will not run when it is lightening, and it was occasionally lightening.  This meant we had to run in the afternoon, when the temp was feels like 96 and the humidity was super high.  The dew point was at 73, so we made it a rule to walk every mile for a tenth.  I had mistakenly picked a very hilly route I thought was mostly shaded, and that just wasn't true at the time we ran.  We were very hot the whole time, but we slogged through and made it.  We kept checking on each other and, made sure we were both sweating and felt okay, and walked when we needed to.  I don't honestly want to do that again, but I am really happy we got it done and not on the mill.  

37 total miles this week!  Getting closer to my all time high of 45 in a week, which is a lot for me!  I am really loving getting my runs done on the weekend.  We have a race next week so we will race on saturday and long run on sunday.  We have a cut back week, and my body is thankful!

Have a great week!

Stella Recheck Take 3

Another week, another recheck at KSU Vet med.  As far as at home and physically, Stella seems to be back to normal. Of course I super analyze every move she makes.  Is she limping, is she trotting to much, is she breaking into a canter because she can't trot.  Sigh.  Sometimes it is hard to tell if she is walking with her head down because she wants ALL THE FOOD, or if she is tired, or if the heat is getting to her, so I have decided to not analyze our walks at all.  We have had a cooler week this week so post my 6 or 7 miles in the morning, we head out and take a 15-20 minute walk.

It makes me sad that her harness is swimming on her now and that her brother is in the lead now instead of her, but it is what it is. 

This week we just needed to do a recheck on blood pressure and urinalysis.  We had yet another new student, but I did see my old student and got to wave to her.  Yes, I sure do miss her and Dr. George.  Anyway, never saw my resident this week, the 4th year student just came and got her and took her away and brought her back to the waiting room.  This picture was taken while we were waiting for her discharge papers.  I think she is DONE going in.  I don't blame her.  I wouldn't want a needle in my tummy/bladder either.  

Here is where we are at.  Next recheck in 30 days.  Whew.  Kidney still dumping protein, but seems to be stable, so we are going to proceed with the taper.  She was previously on 20 mg x 2 a day, and now they are tapering her back to 10mg x 2 a day.  This kind of surprises me, because I thought we were going to a very slow careful taper, but I can't wait for her to be off of the prednisone and rid of all of the side effects.  The attending this week says that her issues are probably now due to the high dose prednisone, not the disease, so we need to get her down to a more manageable dose soon.  I will be honest with you  in that this whole process is very confusing.  One person tells you one thing and then another something slightly different, and you just get confused and frustrated.  I was originally told that she would be on the high dose steroid a minimum of 3 maybe 4 weeks, and the next resident told me a minimum of 6.  Now we have only been on high dose for 4 which is kind of in between the two.  Oh well, go with the flow I guess.  Whatever we are doing is working, and again I just need to be patient and trust the process.  Not sure what we will recheck when we go back, that wasn't discussed.  They still don't want me changing her diet at all, but I did notice she has gained about a half a lb in a week.  We have been having steak once a week so she is getting steak snuck to her:)  They are concerned about her muscle wasting, as am I, but again the attending thought it was totally tied into the high does prednisone.  

I have noticed she is wanting to be up on her hind legs more, and she even did a small jump the other day to snag a ball out of the air.  I am trying to keep the throws low and the balls on the ground, but accidents do happen and I do have bad throws.  She is going back to hugging (what she is doing in the picture as I was trying to take a pic for my blog) and is jumping up on things.  We are starting our canine fitness program this week, and should finish our video consult this weekend.  I am so excited to have a program with specific exercises to help her get back into shape, along with the running.  I am going to push her walks up to 25-30 minutes this week and see how she does and maybe start some pooch to 5 K training the week after if she is ready!  Still headed in the right direction and I sure do hope we don't have any relapses.  

Thanks for all of the kind words, thoughts, prayers, and virtual hugs!  They are working!!!!

AKUltra Vest 2.0 Ultimate Direction Hydration pack

A few weeks back, I decided I couldn't handle my hydration pack that I have had for years.  I loved it when I got it for the Konquer the Konza 25 K, and it served it's purpose. I just couldn't have the soft bottles up so high on my chest, swinging in the wind and driving me insane, yet I couldn't do the hard bottles either because I needed more than 20 oz total.  I had been part of a group on FB, the Trail and Ultra Running public group (TAUR), as I have gotten ready for my first 50K.  They have a gear swap every week, so I put a plea out to find a new pack, much like my running partner's pack, the Ultimate Direction SJ 2.0 vest.  I loved the lower bottle position, and the fact that the bottles carried more, plus who doesn't love multiple pockets!

While no one was selling the exact pack that I wanted, a gentleman stepped forward that owned a store in New York, and had something similar and at an awesome price!  He was clearing out older vests to make way for newer vests, and he had the AK Ultra Running Vest 2.0.  I just couldn't pass on the price (although now they are reduced on the website as well, but were not at that time).  Let me tell you about why I love this vest (and some things I don't love but eh, it's the 2.0 and there are more evolutions of it now).

bottle holder pockets.  Can be cinched tighter if you want to put other things like phones or fuel in said pocket 

LOVE: the bottle position.  I so love having them lower on my body!  I have eliminated the wild swinging that was going on when they were higher up on my chest.  I also don't feel like I have giant boobs sticking out (sorry, only choice of words I could think of).  I love the fact that my body bottles fit right in, and that as the bottles get smaller, they fit down in the pockets and I can cinch up the pockets to keep the bottles from moving at all.  I haven't run with the harder bottles yet that came with the vest, but may have to try them as our mileage gets more and more, so I don't have to swing by the house to reload on hydration.  I know we swing through several aid stations during the race, so I will be able to re fill my bottles on the course, but of course don't have that when i am training.

Pocket above bottles.  Not big enough for my cell phone but fits my fuel nicely

LOVE:  four pockets on the front, two below the bottles and two above.  Plus, the back can fit a bladder, but I have been using it to store things like my sunglasses and or my head lamp after it gets light enough to not need it.  There is tons of storage back there and nothing seems to move around when it is in the back bigger pocket.

pocket below bottle holders.  Pretty small but you can get some small amounts of fuel in as well as keys

DON'T LOVE:  None of the pockets are big enough for my iphone 5 in it's otterbox, but this isn't a huge negative for me.  My shorts I use for running have very big side pockets, and my phone fits very comfortably in those pockets, which makes it super easy to get in and out for pictures or pokemon Go:)  If you don't have shorts with pockets, this may be an issue, although if you don't need your phone during the run, you could just store it in the very back bigger pocket.

back pocket open.  You can store a lot of stuff in there but hard to get things in and out with pack on

back pocket: can fit a bladder in if needed

 LOVE:  How lightweight it is.  I have had some issues with chafing that I didn't with my other pack, but I really like the overall fit of this pack and how small/light weight it is.  My main areas of chaffing are on my shoulders, but I am getting better about getting body glide in the right places, plus I am chafing pretty much everywhere right now due to the humidity.

LOVE:  The fit.  I am pretty small and this small/medium fit me perfectly, even with my bigger chest. I do have room to let it out some, so if want to have more clothes on underneath, I can for fall and winter running.

I just am really digging this new vest. I am glad i went ahead and purchased another one, and will be selling my old one shortly.  I think if you are only running a 25K or less, my old pack and the 10 oz bottles a piece are more than enough, but I need more water for training in the KS heat and humidity and for when I train with stella.  Check out Ultimate Direction's website and get on their mailing list as they commonly have sales and good deals.  I LOVE their products and use not only this vest, but the hand held "clutch", the "body bottles", the hip pack ( i no longer see this product on their website), and their hard bottles in my training.  Maybe I can be an ambassador some day, but for now I am just a runner smitten by their products like everyone else :)

11 weeks to go till Hell Creek on Heels 50 K! Training week 8

source

I am just going to start out with this info graphic from the Topeka National Weather Service.  This explains it best.  I HATE SUMMER. Having shouted that, I am very, very thankful that I am able to run or wog (walk/jog) through this mess.

Monday:  Rest day.  Glorious rest days are the bomb.  Of course I didn't count the mileage i spent walking/chasing down Pokemon, but whatever.  Stella, I think, is enjoying our little jaunts around town to get pokeballs and hunt.  Andrew physically tries to catch them, which is so funny to watch.  Did have my scheduled two week appointment with Dr. Needles.  Hurt like hell, but I walked out feeling so much better.  He does ART with such precision, but it sure does feel like he is trying to rip me apart sometimes.  I had to ask him to stop a few times, so I could breath and wipe my face.  I even had a few tears when he worked on my left hip flexor, but I know just as with Doug, it is all for the best and I just have to let him do his magic.  Dr. Needles and Doug keep me together and on track for whatever race I am training for.

Found a rare naked pokemon in our backyard last night

Tuesday:  Planned 800 meter repeats x 5 (6 miles total with warm up, intervals, and cool down).   Honestly, since we are under an excessive heat warning, I really thought we wouldn't be doing this work out.  We are trying to keep all work outs outside so the thought of the mill was not even a possibility.  We decided that we would walk our 400 meter recoveries and just try and see how it went.  I am happy to say that we were fine, even slightly faster than our prescribed pace.   Took Stella out for a 15 minute walk post running.  Had hoped the slightly cooler temps would help her to be able to walk a little bit more comfortable, but she still acted pretty tired and had to go pretty slow.  I guess we will keep it to 10 minutes for a few more days before we move up her walking times.  I keep thinking she is ready because she wants to do more frisbee and more ball, but I guess not :(

Wednesday:  Cross training/Strength.  Took the day off of work and took Andrew to Topeka to hang out with one of my good friends and her kiddos that are 5 and 2.  We hit up a rap/magic show put on a group by H3TV, the discovery center, cici's pizza, and followed that by more playing.  I was one tired momma, and he was one tired little boy!  Not only did he sleep on the way home, he also continued his nap at home for a little while longer.  Our night was screwed up, so I didn't get to do a bike ride or cross train, but I had a full day chasing kids and I think that counts for something.

Thursday:  Planned 7 miles.  Waking up to feels like 88 just isn't fair.  We walked every mile for a tenth of a mile just to not get too hot.  There was a breeze, but it wasn't very refreshing.  It sucked, but we got it done.  I hate you Kansas summer.  I am over you so badly right now.  Bleh.  Stella had a recheck but that is a separate post here.

Friday: Planned Cross training/Strength.  BOOM, i finally did a strength work out and it kicked my ass.  I seriously felt like jello post work out, and I hope that my legs will be able to handle 15 tomorrow post this work out.

Saturday:  Planned 15 miles.  This was interesting, because we had to get it done early enough for Melly to go to work.  Since I can't seem to get up any earlier than 4 am, I decided to try a fasted state run.  Coach told me to take it easy obviously, and start fueling about 30 minutes in.  Well, of course in true Kansas style, it was 88 degrees when we started running with horrible humidity.  I felt good at 30 minutes in, so I stupidly didn't fuel like coach told me to, and waited to my normal 1 hour in.  I fueled at 1 hour and 2 hours and then again around the 3ish hour mark.  Lindsey came out to run with us (God Bless her for getting up so early and heading to Wamego) and we did around 4 or 5 together before she peeled off and headed back.  Then around mile 10, Melly had to pick up the pace and head back, so she could go to work.  By then, my legs felt like lead, and my pace had slowed way down, and I was walking quite a bit.  To quote myself, I never hit the wall but I sure did stare at it for a long, long time (i think someone else said that and i stole it from them but my brain fuzz is preventing me from remembering whom).  It was not a great run but we need those every once in a while to learn from them. I think my take away message is I can't run fasted long runs, and finish well and since I am running in the AM, and I might need to do strength training on a day other than the day right before my long run.

Sunday:  Planned 6 miles on Konza.  Woke up to thunder and lightening.  Went ahead and did coffee and food, and regretted it as storm after storm rolled through.  I don't mind rain when it is hot and icky, but lightening is a no go.  Decided to try and go back to sleep, since it seemed like there was no consensus as to when the storm would be ending.  Got a couple of hours of sleep, despite having had coffee already.  Got up to super humid conditions, but I got my 6 in and done.  Wasn't on a trail, but my legs were tired and it worked no matter what.  Melly ran later and i rode my bike next to her while she ran.  We also took our kiddos to the local discovery center to see the Dino exhibit, and play in the lazy river.  We were both exhausted at the end of the day from chasing kids and miles.

34 total miles

All in all, other than the horrible heat and typical Kansas summer fun, it was a good week.  Finally got one day of strength training in, need to get back to two at least.  Missed my coffee date with the girls but Melly and I got some coffee while the kids splashed in the lazy river.

Have a great week!

My home church, West Jackson Baptist Church is being demolished

I don't post often about religion on my blog.  Religion is deeply personal and I know everyone celebrates their religious beliefs differently, and should be able to.  We live in a free country where anyone can practice whatever beliefs they want to, and not be persecuted.  I was moved to write about my religious upbringing or my experiences, because my home church where I grew up and spent many, many years is being auctioned off to be demolished, and i have so many emotions about this.  I am mainly going to  post pictures taken by Mr. Roy White, one of my old coaches and sunday school teachers, so all picture credits go to him.

This is West Jackson Baptist Church.  I remember taking pictures on those steps for many vacation bible schools and so many church activities.  I remember thinking our church was so huge, yet now it looks so small.

I guess it has been used for many things since our home church moved, but I will always remember how awesome this playground was  and how awesome not only sunday school was in this building, but also preschool.  I can remember many a time sitting at one of those windows, looking out and hoping to get to go outside and play soon.  I can also remember looking out those windows and waiting for my mom to come and pick me up.

The breezeway between buildings.  SO many memories of my granddaddy here.  This was his and my grandma's home church as well.  I can remember many days being dropped off here and hanging out in the shade, while Granddaddy parked the car.  I can remember the greeters that would be holding the doors, and one of them would always give me a mint or a piece of candy.  I can also remember swimming in our little plastic pools in this parking lot for daycare as well as tie dying t shirts for vacation bible school.

Our gym.  I always thought we were so cool, because we had a gym where you could not only play basketball, but you could rent roller skates and skate to cheesy 80s music.  Many lock ins here and many saturdays spent playing league basketball with my granddaddy watching and cheering.  My day camp and afternoon after school that I did for years in the summer and post school was in this building.   I remember eating jello pudding pops outside in the shade or throwing water balloons on the lawn.  One of my favorite memories was the fact that for a quarter, you could fill up a small paper cup with soda.  We had folders with all of names on them that had important information for our parents, and those folders lived next to the soda machine.  My granddaddy always had a quarter for me and I loved mixing those sodas (yuck) and making what we called a "suicide".

This was the entryway I would use once I started driving to go to sunday school.  I parked in a lot on the other side of the playground when I was old enough to drive my own vehicle.  I also fondly remember this entry way, because we would use those upper rooms for choir practice on wednesday nights.  Granddaddy would always take me out to eat post choir practice.  We always were rehearsing for some big program we would do for the various holidays.  I can remember many christmas programs as I was a lion, a japanese character, and a doll.  Mom always made my costumes by hand and then we usually recycled them for halloween.

The playground seemed so huge when I was a kid.  We had metal playground equipment that was searing hot when the sun was out, and could probably slice you open with the sharp edges and give you tetanus.  There was no soft landings, you either had dirt or pea gravel.  I remember watching my friend fall off of the monkey bars and breaking his arm.  I also remember many hours of swinging and laughing and singing.  It was fenced at one time and always felt safe and wonderful.

The chapel.  My only real memory of being in the chapel was going there for vacation bible school activities.  I remember it seemed so spartan as compared to the big sanctuary.

The library entrance.   As a kid, I was an AVID reader so many days spent in our tiny library.  I remember I LOVED our little librarian.  

Our sanctuary, with the middle pews being torn out.  I so love those beautiful light fixtures and those stained glass windows.  Mom said the windows have been removed, but I would have paid much money for a piece of them.  I also have heard those pews might be for sale.  I have no clue what I would do with one, but I would love to have one.  Again, so many great sermons taught in this sanctuary.  I remember being called to Christ and going before my church and making my profession of faith with my best church friend Carrie by my side.  I remember many mornings sat in the middle front rows with my friends, whispering and passing notes and being called out by Dr. Taylor for not paying attention. I remember so many sermons being preached and thinking, how does he know my heart?  How does he know what I am feeling and needed to be told that day?  SO many great songs sung, so many great speakers and guest preachers.  

I was baptised in that chamber.  I think about that day every day, and thank the Lord that he came into my heart and is with me every single day, every step of the way.

I always thought our church was swanky, because it had a balcony.  If you were super good, you got to go upstairs and sit there, without your parents!

Many sundays and wednesday nights sitting in these pews with either my friends, my mom or my granddaddy and grandma.  I can remember nudging grand daddy to wake up and singing hymnals with my grandma. I can remember thinking, how does she know every word to every song?  She hardly ever even looked at her hymnal.  I can remember as churches moved to more conventional services, missing those great hymns.  I can remember Grandma taking paper and marking all of the hymnals that we were going to sing that day, based on the program that the deacons handed out as we came into the sanctuary.  I thought that was so organized!  

Even though I haven't been back to see my church in a really long time, these pictures when posted brought out so many memories and so many tears.  I hate to see it be torn down, but I know it is a sign of the times.  I had some the greatest moments of my life in these buildings.  So many children's churches on the steps up to the pulpit.  So many White Christmases where the whole church wrapped donations up in white paper and filed down to put them under the giant Christmas tree.  It has been so fun going down memory lane, but so emotional.   You know a building, a place has so much meaning when you haven't seen it for years yet it brings you to major tears to know it will be gone soon.  Good bye West Jackson Baptist Church and all of the great memories you hold.  

Stella recheck #2

Well, we had our recheck today at KSU Vet Med, so I thought I would give a little update. Since I am at a teaching vet med hospital, and they rotate students and residents regularly, I had a new resident today, who was very nice, but I wanted my old resident and student badly. I really missed their knowledge and advice, and since they have been with me since the beginning of this, they are kind of like my security blanket.

Anyway, first bit of news, her blood pressure has gotten worse, even though she seems to be doing way better on the outside. We have been doing 10 minute walks a few times a day, and she finally had started acting like old stella during them, happy, head up and wanting to go, not walking slowly and ducking behind me (sign of her being tired). Our new resident upped the dosage of the blood pressure meds to help, and I was dreading what her kidney values would be 😞 Dr. George last week had said that we were starting out with the lowest dose of BP meds, and that this might be a possibility, that we needed to have more in her system to help. The good news is her kidney values that they measured all came back within normal range, meaning i think, no kidney damage yet. I didn't get any actual values, but since she is still dumping protein in her urine, this was great news. Remember her values they were measuring on her kidneys (want less than 0.5) have been as high as 1.7 and are now down to 1.1. It's really the little things that make me super happy these days. Progress forward is great, even if it is a tiny step.

We have to go back next week again to have another check up to see if the blood pressure/kidney meds are working. Basically, what her resident told me is that she is probably done with the "attack" on her immune system, but her body is dealing with the after effects of the antibodies still in her system. This creates unhappy kidneys, which then in turn affects her blood pressure, as the kidneys work hard to dump excess protein. You see for me, as I have said a lot before, it is all about managing expectations of this crazy disease. My new FB friend, who has a dog that has had this and is back to competing in agility, is telling me have patience, that this is an ultra marathon, not a 5K, so I am trying to be patient and calm. We are starting on week four of high dose Prednisone (pred), and I am terrified as to what it is doing to her other organs, but also know that this is a necessary evil.

It was very interesting that my new resident and attending said that perhaps we are being a bit too aggressive with her rechecks. Of course, if we had not had this recheck, we would not have known that her blood pressure was indeed getting worse, but I will be honest here in that doing all of this blood work and work ups is getting quite costly. Quite honestly, if not needed so often, this would greatly benefit me and my pocket book. I have taken out a 4K loan and of that 4K, I have $300 left. If I have to spend $300 bucks every time I walk in, once a week as it is now, I will be really in trouble financially quickly. So, while I want to be on top of this, I have to also be smart about it money wise. We are going to do one more weekly checkup next week, but no blood work, just urinalysis and blood pressure.

One of the lingering questions I have is how long does it take for the effects of the drugs to show up in her blood work and other values? My new resident says that at least for the urine, that it could take up to a month for her to stop dumping protein. I think we are seeing some values come up to more normal or at least stabilizing, but I want to know when will they reflect the way she acts externally. I have heard from another source that it can take up to 3 weeks to see positive results in the blood work, so wondering if we had done a CBC, if we would have seen some of her values like RBC and her anemia issues going away. Of course, we can't just test her blood once a week and me not totally run out of money, but as a scientist I am extremely intrigued by the cause/effect relationship going on here.

Anyway, I think this is really good news and I am going to be very happy and have a great week and weekend with my favorite red girlie!

12 weeks of training to go! Week 7 of Hell Creek on Heels 50K training!

After kind of a crazy week with the holiday being on monday and having to take the day off the next day due to Andrew's day care being closed, I was ready for a "normal" week!

Monday:  Planned Glorious Rest day.  After three back to back to back runs, I was pooped.  Add on that the fact that my body is trying to fight off something or has allergies.

Tuesday:  Planned 6 miles of speed work.

Woke up to this craziness.  Tried at 5 and 6 am, and same thing both times.  Gave up.  Decided to try and run later that night, hoping that all of the rain would equal cooler temps.  spoiler alert, it didn't, but we decided to try anyway.  We ran slow and steady, took a few walk breaks, and got our six in.  I am worried that we are going to have to get on the mill eventually to get our speed work in, a prospect I am NOT crazy about.  I don't like doing the paces my coach prescribed for this particular work out on a treadmill.  I have this huge irrational fear that I am going to fall off the mill, especially when I go faster than a 10 minute mile pace.  

Watched some pretty awesome thunderheads develop while we rode

Wednesday:  Strength training/cross training.  I voted for cross training as my bike was just calling my name. I know, I know, I need to get back to lifting and doing strength.  PRs are built in speed work and gym time and i have been doing neither. At least I can blame the lack of speed work on the weather.  Rockin Robin and I did almost 13 miles on our bikes, and it was wonderful.  I do really need to invest in another seat.  My butt bone is killing me from all the bike riding.  I am not sure how people do these 50-100 mile bike rides!!!!

The corn is getting SO tall.  Gives our running route that Walking dead feel, especially at 4:30 am

Thursday:  Planned 6 miles (possibly try speed work).  Well, I am beginning to think speed work just isn't going to happen outside any time soon.  While I am not a fan, I know I need to do it to get better.  It was super foggy and super humid, like every door and window was fogged over humid.  We also had to alter our route, due to the mud on our normal route.  Why is it that when we run in town, it feels like it takes twice as long, yet it takes the same amount of time?  I also tried doing Pokemon while we ran.  It was fun, but it made us have to stop twice, and i don't want to add more time to our already long daily runs.

caught this little guy while taking Stella for a walk

I am planning another post on my thoughts on Pokemon go.  I think I will try a Thinking out Loud post for my thursday post:)  I am awaiting the vet's advice on stella on friday at her recheck, but i am hoping we can at least start daily walks.  Today we did 10 minutes and she seemed okay.  I am going to be super careful with her though.  We have a lot of dog themed races in the fall that i want to do that are all 5 Ks, so we have time.

Friday: Strength training/cross training.  Well, I am going to count hunting Pokemon as cross training, because we walked quite a bit.  We took andrew to a pokemon party last night in downtown.  Basically, one of the businesses opened its doors, so people had a cool place to hang out, charge their phones, and eat snacks.  There are several pokestops in downtown, so I guess people had been all over down town every night since the app started.  Very smart of this business to open up and make a little money, while fostering a lot of community.  Andrew won a lego pokemon set, and they gave away little pokemon figures.  We had a ton of fun!  I should explain though that andrew did not have the winning ticket.  A man gave andrew his ticket after it was drawn, and made andrew's night.  I thanked the guy like 100 times, and he just smiled and kept saying no problem.  So sweet!!!  I so love our little town.  Stella also went back to the vet for a recheck prior to our party, but I am going to write a separate post on that here.

Saturday:  Planned 14 miles.  We headed out to Linear Trail, so Lindsey could join us again.  Luckily, the temps were much lower than last weekend, but we made sure to head out plenty early just in case.  Unfortunately, it was super humid, and that kind of killed our mojo, but we plowed through and got it done with a little interpretive dance:)  Melly and I even did a little bit of fartlek work at the end for a nice fast finish.  We decided on coffee post our sunday run, and Melly and I headed back to Wamego to start our day.

We did head over to our local running store for it's big anniversary sale.  They had AMAZING deals!  I got this moving comfort bra for 40% off!  If you have ever shopped for and purchased a really good sports bra, you know how good of deal that is!  Plus, look at this super cute color!  This is the first new sports bra I have had a long time, mainly due to the cost.  They say you should replace every year but well, at 51 bucks a pop, that just doesn't happen.  

I had a little funeral for my oldest sports bra.  I am amazed I didn't get tetanus from this bra, but she was a good one.  She was the first big running purchase I ever made, before I started really buying the shoes I needed, and not the cutest colored shoes:)  I really did shed a tear for this old gal as she went into the garbage.  We have done many races and many training runs together. 

We also got Andrew his very first pair of running shoes.  They are brooks, and he wants to wear them 24/7.  They were significantly marked down as well, and I am tempted to go buy the next couple of sizes and keep them back for later.  

Sunday:  Planned 6 miles on Konza.  Okay, so not only did I have to get my run in, but I wanted to scope out the Pokemon situation on Konza.  Someone had posted that there were a ton of rare ones out there, and there was a fear that people might go off trail to catch them.  I discovered several Pokestops, and several gyms, but by the time we got a few miles out on the trail, signal disappeared completely with my carrier,  so I don't think Pokemon hunters will be an issue.  I HOPE they will enjoy the views, discover a new area, and put down their phones and revel in the beauty that is the Konza prairie.

Total mileage for the week: 32.  

I hear that this week will be even worse for heat.  Getting up at 4 am is kicking my ass, even getting to bed by 9 to 9:30.  Trying to just keep on keeping on, but affecting the whole family now.  My hubby and kiddo are night owls, so poor hubby is stuck baby sitting many nights after I pass out.  My nutrition is also kind of crappy, due to me being so dang tired an using caffeine to keep me going.  Other than that, I feel great, my body is so happy with the higher mileage, and I am going to go knock on wood for a solid hour after typing and posting this.  

Have a great next week!