Safer running-my story

Since we have started back up the conversation of women and running, I thought I would share my story of what happened in our tiny town one night when I was running. This was years ago mind you but still. I saw a truck drive down main street as I was heading down one end. I noticed the guy was staring intently at me, and it took me aback. My hubby was in school in Topeka that night and while I was running with my dog harley, the man's intensity kind of scared me. As I was running down the other side of mainstreet, he came back down mainstreet in his truck and actually pulled into a parking lot between buildings basically blocking me. He got out and started saying something to me, but I was so scared I just took off running as hard as I could. The local bar was having a bike night and was a few buildings down so I went to where I knew people would protect me and not let anything happen to me. Once I felt safer and calmer, I headed home with my heart in my throat the whole way. I did see the gentleman's truck in a driveway as I passed on my way home. I do not know what he said to me as i was in full out panic mode. I did have my dog with me but he didn't seem to be concerned about the guy (Weird). After that night I taught all of my dogs the "Don't bite the nice man" trick where i would say that phrase to get them really riled up and rewarded them for going batshit crazy when I said that. I now mostly run with my BRF, a double black belt ninja who can kick ass, and usually not one but two dogs who both know don't bite the nice man.

It's sad in a world like today that women still have to fear for their lives when running. I didn't have a cell phone that night, but I sure carry mine with me for all of my runs now. I also make direct eye contact and wave to any car that passes by, mostly hoping that me looking right at them and acknowledging them will scare them away from stopping and trying to do anything to me since I saw them and noted their vehicle. I also will pretend to take pictures of the car or the plate as they drive by and have actually taken some photos for real just in case. You just never know and that is SUPER sad. I mainly run on rural routes because we have had cars yell out of the window at us about our breasts and other lewd comments while running in town. It's sad since running on town routes would actually be better since it is more well populated and well lit. Why are we having these issues in 2018 and why do they seem to be getting worse? I am NOT a piece of meat. I am NOT going to be turned on by you yelling lewd comments at me, so what purpose does it serve for you? I was running on my rural route the other night when two older boys came from the other direction on bikes. There aren't many people who bike out on this route so I could already feel my danger danger feelings coming up. I had stella with me and my phone but I felt very uncomfortable. I shouldn't have to feel this way yet here I am. I also took a self defense course and while I got some really good stuff out of the class, I never really got to practice it so I feel like it won't be very usable. I think the biggest concept I got from the class is don't be a victim, but running at 4 am in the dark isn't the best way to do that in this day and age unfortunately. I honestly don't have answers to how we can change this. Ask any female runner and she will have a story of not one time, but multiple times stuff has happen to her on a run at the expense of a male. What can we do? What should we do? I don't have the answers but I wish I did.

August Runfessions

Grab a beer and settle in for some runfessions.  It's a busy month as we start back to school, have three nights a week with activities, and start soccer again!

We have lost our minds.  We are adding back a third aussie to our pack.  It's been 7 years since we have had a puppy in our household, but Stella's sister was having her last litter, and I just couldn't pass the opportunity by to get a close relative to my other two aussies.  I am not looking forward to the sleepless nights and the super early potty mornings, BUT I already get up four days a week anyway to run so why not :)  My plan is for this dog to be a junior's dog for Andrew, BUT stella was suppose to be for tony and you see how that worked out.  I have never trained and had a puppy in the house disrupting schedules either so WHEEEEE!

Schools back in session!  I am praying for a better year for my little man.  He still seems to be a "frustrated learner" and I would love to try and figure out why he struggles so, but from what I am hearing, that is just how some kids are and always will be.  We have really been working hard at the end of summer along with his twice weekly sylvan sessions, so I am hoping it all pays off.  We also still have the issue of his nervous stomach, which has already reared it's ugly head once, but at least we know that is what it is and not some medical condition, as of course, he has been perfectly fine all summer long.


My body just hates me.  Even with more trail time, all kind of additions to my shoes and feet, and weekly massages when I have the money, nothing is getting better.  I am kind of bummed because the only other thing that is logical is to take time off and fall/winter is my FAVORITE time to run!  The logical side will catch up to me eventually, but right now, the illogically side is winning and I am still running. Remind me how stupid I am when I am sitting on the sidelines this fall.  I have already seen a few races that I would like to do this fall that i didn't have on my radar already:)  Like another race where you loop for so many hours and you see how far you get.  Not sure why but I do love those!  I also am thinking about new shoes. I do like my bondis, but I do feel like the toe box is too narrow and that the shoes and or the heel cups in the shoes may be jacking up my back.  Fix one problem, create another.  I have no clue what shoe to look at next.  I feel like i have tried them all at this point and not one really truly works for me.  I need something with cushion, mid level heel drop, huge toe box, can run on trail/gravel trail, and of course not in a hideous color.  Any suggestions?

Week 12 Training to crew the Hawk 100 and run the Flatrock 25K

He sleeps....sometimes

First week of having Boom in the house and trying to train hard!  I had told the ladies I run with that I would not be doing any early morning runs as I attempt to get him on a schedule.  I certainly don't want to be up at 4 am and out the door 30 minutes later and relying on my hubby to get up and deal with a screaming puppy.  While things are getting better (he goes in the crate now with no screaming and goes to sleep almost immediately), we are still battling him sleeping through the night, thus I am only getting between 6 and 7 hours of sleep total a night.  If you know me, you know I don't function well on that kind of sleep.  As I type this, I am fighting going to sleep at my desk.  I am also still battling my PF and my hip/lower back/butt issues.  I am starting to have pain at night and some during my run with my back mainly because I had to cancel my massage appointment to pick up Boom.  The PF is quiet when I am running, which is good, because this week and last week I have been back on gravel and pavement exclusively.

The many faces of Boom

Monday:  Rest day.  Boom did better the night before.  I moved his crate to my side of the bed and raised it even more so he was level with me at night.  Not sure if that did the trick OR he is just getting use the crate, but he went in and promptly went to sleep.  He was up around 3 am, but then back down around 4:30 am till my alarm went off at 6:30.  This is just a phase, and although I am a zombie now, I am seeing improvement.

Heading towards the train

Tuesday:  6 easy.  I took speed work back out, because well, I am exhausted and hard work outs just don't sound like anything I could do.  Boom had me up around 4 am and then he went back down for a little bit, before waking back up around 5:30 am. I  do think he would have slept longer, but the other two aussies have already decided 3 am is the wake up time, even though I make them wait till 6:30 am to be fed.  Sigh.  Dang dogs.  My hip was also really bothering me which woke me up.  We also found fleas on Boom, so off to the vet to get flea and tick meds started. I decided to run post dropping andrew off to enjoy the cooler temps before summer returns.  While it was amazingly cool, the humidity was up around 96%.  BLEH.  Come on Kansas, throw me a bone!

Wednesday:  Cross training/strength/exist.  Boom finally slept till the alarm went off!  Except it was the wrong alarm!  My hubby had an alarm set for 5:30 am, and that woke all of us up.  While I would love to get another hour of sleep, I will take the 8 hours I got!!!!!  Unfortunately, I hit a wall that afternoon and just wanted to crawl in bed.  I have noticed that Boom seems to start crashing around 8 pm, so maybe I am just going to have to go to bed at 8 pm and get up super early.

At soccer practice.  No barking at kiddos and lots of pets!

Thursday:  6 easy miles.  Boom slept till 4:44 am when my hubby's phone made a noise and woke up all of the dogs.  Rather than fight it and try and get Boom back to sleep, I reluctantly got up and got the day started.  We did cuddle at one point and sleep for maybe 30 more minutes, which I think in retrospect just made me more tired.  This meant running at night.  When I am crashing out.  Sigh.  Fun. The temps were much lower and the cool breeze felt great, but the freaking humidity was at 96%!!!!!  I knew as I was huffing and puffing that it must be high and bleh, it was.  Did 6 miles of walk running and called it good.  Anything I can get right now is good in my books.

Friday:  Rest day.  Even though I got much more sleep the night before, thanks to Boom pretty much sleeping till the alarm went off, i just wanted to rest.  I worked both jobs, putting out multiple fires at both, and just was stressed to the max by the time i got off late from my second job.  I sent the boys to town for Retro gaming night and I just relaxed at home with a nice protein bar and some caffeine free diet coke.  I am religiously doing my PT again and I do walk Andrew to school every day, so that has to count for some thing right?

Saturday:  Volunteer/short easy run.  I use to run the Speedy PD 10K, but lately I have been more into volunteering it.  Mainly because I don't like running fast and the course use to be a bugger.  Now it has changed, and while I would like to run it some day again, I just ran it as part of my easy run today.  I did 5 miles of it and really enjoyed it.  By the time I got done volunteering it was feels like 91 out, but most of the course is shaded since it is in a state park and through camp grounds.  I still felt a touch of heat sickness and it sucked.  The rest of the day I kind of felt out of it and I hate this.  I feel like by now I should have acclimated, so why must my body still hate me when it is hot out?  I digress.  We also had our first crew meeting for my friend Lindsey.  We got a lot of loose ends tied up, more questions to get answers for, and a few more things to ponder.  I am getting SUPER excited for her to kick this course in the ASS!

Sunday:  Long run day!  I had thought about heading up to Fancy or over to Clinton but Mel convinced me to go to Konza.  The only problem? When we got up at 5 am to get ready to head out, it was storming.  Back to bed ( I got to sleep in the guest room downstairs and go to bed at 8:30 pm GLORIOUS) for a couple more hours and back up to....rain.  While I don't mind running in the rain, we were getting thunder and lightening as well.

this is from later but you get the picture

Decisions, decisions.  Run in the rain and get it done or wait till the rain cleared and it was super hot and humid.  Neither sounded attractive.   I let the heavy rain subside and then headed out.  The humidity was through the rough and I struggled.  While I had 15 on my plan, I got to 12 and called it quits.  I had a small aspiration that I would go back out and get the remaining 3 but we had a busy day ahead including working at Coleman Electric since I was due at KSU all this week.  I decided 12 was good enough.

I am still having really good days with regards to my body and really bad days.  I really don't know what to do.  I am sure rest and a break would be the most logical but I need the stress relief.  Sigh.  I think the good days I do have make me forget about the bad until I have a bad body day and then reality comes crashing down.

Have a great week!

Week 11: Crewing for the Hawk 100 and running the Flatrock 25K

We officially become puppy parents again this week and I am a little stressed.  Let me explain since I am a dog trainer and have raised many puppies and am not new to having a puppy.  This is a tough week for me as we are in the final stretch of planning and executing our PTO 5K, Andrew is starting school, and I am once again working at both KSU and Coleman electric.  Let the freak out and super stressing begin!  I am going to be picking up Mr. Boom early Friday morning in KC, thanks to some dog friends getting him picked up from his transport late Thursday night. I then have to work all afternoon Friday with the committee getting things ready and then get up early and function to make sure our 5K goes off without a hitch Saturday. The alternative of course was to drive down to TX and back, which makes no sense as driving 1.5 hours is way better than 8.  Bring on the red bull and coffee and pray he sleeps good Friday night!

Monday:  Rest day.  Back to school night!

We are officially entering first grade and I can't wait to see how this year goes!  I am hoping and praying Sylvan will pay off and my kiddo will have a better year.  In some ways he is so much more mature and in others he is still a big goofy kiddo.  I love him so much and just want to see him successful and happy.  

Tuesday:  Easy 6.  I woke up at 2 am with a very unhappy tummy and then couldn't get back to sleep.  I think stress of physically going to get the puppy and also planning and executing the 5K for the PTO is really getting to me.  I messaged the girls and said count me out.  I think the fact that it was raining buckets made neither of them run either.  I decided to run when Andrew was at Sylvan, as I had two hours to do something while he was being tutored.  I decided to go back to the park where I did loops on Saturday and get my easy 6.  It was super humid, so I took it super easy and walked a tenth of a mile every mile.  I have to say I kind of enjoy that little trail, even though I have to loop to get my mileage.  There is something comforting about being 1 mile away from your aid and a porta potty at all times!

Wednesday:  First day of school and rest day.  I am going to get back to doing the things I need to do some day.  Right now things are super hectic and I just have to get stuff done and not worry about not getting on my bike.  My body wants sleep right now to deal with all of the stress going on and sleep it shall get, so no early morning bike rides for me.  I will add that my stress has been greatly relieved by one of my KC dog friends stepping up and getting little Boom for me tonight, so I don't have to do a midnight run late Thursday night.  God bless her!!!!!  Load off the shoulders for sure.

Thursday:  Easy 6.  Trying to NOT do speed work (although the 5K might turn into a tempo run if the weather isn't horrible) to let my body heal.  I am not sure what is causing my butt/hip/back issues at this point, so I have stopped doing Barre as that seemed to irritate it.  I am not sure speed work was or wasn't irritating it too but eliminating variables and trying to get as much trail time as possible, since that seems to be kinder on my body right now.  I had stayed up late Wednesday night stressing about something stupid, so I didn't get up and go with the girls at 4 am.  Instead I dropped my kiddo off and headed out into 100% humidity.  Bleh.  Got er done with some walking and lots of and lots of water.

Friday:  Boom pick up time and go time for the 5K!  I knew today was going to be a wash because I had to go pick up Boom in KC, get back to Wamego, introduce boom and wear him out, and then head out to get ready for packet stuffing/street marking/last minute preparations.  Thank God for my hubby and friends.  My dog friend Pam that picked him and his sis up for me and kept him overnight wore them out before I got there.

After more playing we loaded up and headed back to Wamego.  I had a small puppy sized crate (thanks to another dog friend Jen) bungeed into the front seat so he could be right there with me.  He barked/cried for about 10 minutes and then laid down and slept till we hit the toll booth and he thought we were done.  10 more minutes of barking and then back to sleep.

Tony met us at the house and helped me get him unloaded and introduced.  He met the big dogs first and then the cat.  Other than some corrections from Stella, everything went very smoothly.  He wore Boom out first and then Mel came in after Boom had a nap and wore him out a second time.  I was able to walk Andrew home after school let out, so he could meet his new baby.  

she can be a bit cray cray but he took it all in stride

 Sparky loves him and thinks he is a big kitty.  They played immediately and haven't stopped.

We got him the bedroom at 9 and in the crate by 9:30 pm.  He woke up around 11:20 barking and crying but I could tell it wasn't a "I need to go" cry but more of a "I want out of here" cry.  He slept real good until around 3:30 am when the cry changed to I need to potty cry.  I quickly got him out and he pooped and peed.  After some playing, he went back down around 4:30 and I got about another hour of sleep.  Not bad for his first night!

Saturday: Run Back to School 5K  race day!  I had planned on running this race, but we needed some volunteers at some crucial spots, so I gave up my running spot to help.  I have been a committee member and involved in this race for two years now (one of the committee members has done it for 7 years, WOW!).  It's a great fundraiser for our PTO and the money and school supplies donated go straight back to our kiddos at Central, so I always find it a very worthy cause to run for.

I worked day of registration and then ran down to my corner and the boys were down the street helping cheer on runners at another corner.  Post the runners coming through, I headed back to the race to help and Andrew got ready to run the 1 mile.   I may or may not have told him exactly the distance.  He has always done the fun run, but I felt like he was ready to do the miler.

I am happy to say that he did GREAT!  I am SO proud of him and hoping that we can do more of these types of runs.  I think the race was a big success and I think we raised around 4K for the PTO, maybe more.  I learned so much the past two years and look forward to one more year of planning and executing!

A side note, I was suppose to run 3 miles that day but at 11:00 am, I had 6 miles of walking in and I figured that was good enough.

Sunday:  Long run on the trails day!  Well, at least that was the plan. I should have known better than to organize any type of run when I wasn't getting good sleep.  Tony stayed up late with Mr. Boom and tried to wear him out so maybe he would sleep later. I had to be up at 4:30 to get ready to drive to Lawrence to meet the ladies at 6:30 to run at Clinton.  Tony brought Boom up around 11:30 and he SCREAMED bloody murder for about 30 minutes straight.  Then he quieted down and I just couldn't sleep. I listened to every noise he was making and every time he moved.  He somehow got his foot caught in something and started crying but tony got him uncaught and he was fine.  Then I laid there for ever and ever and ever just telling myself I needed to be asleep, I needed to be asleep.  I think I finally drifted off around 1ish and woke back up at 3ish and texted both ladies I was meeting with and said I was a no go.  I felt like two nights with no sleep was probably not a great idea for driving in the dark.  That meant I had to figure out how to get my long run in.  

Mel was heading out around 9 am and I figured we could do some miles together in the rain.  I would get a few in before we met, then do some together, and then I could finish.  I did three, we met up and did 7 and then I had 4 to go.  I stopped at the house to reload on water and headed back out and that is when I started feeling horrible.  Like a truck hit me horrible.  Like smack into the wall going 90 mph horrible.  Like you are going to have to power walk most of the last 4 miles horrible.  I honestly wanted to call Tony to come pick me up.  It was raining hard and I felt so, so bad.  I manage to gut it out but then felt horrible when I got home.  Tony has some little small Dr. peppers for sugar lows and I stole one and ate some food and felt a little better.  I pretty much spent the rest of the day in Pjs being super lazy.  

Well, another week down, another week of running.  Nothing great or spectacular, but miles none the less.  I don't think leaving speed work out did anything for my back/hip/butt, but next week since the puppy is still learning our routine I probably won't be doing anything crazy due to shear exhaustion.  Hopefully as the week goes on, he will get use to the routine and I can start morning running again.  Have a great week and say a little prayer that I get some sleep!

Week 10: Training to Pace the Hawk 100/Flat rock 25K

a little clue for later

Well, plans have changed.  My friend that I was pacing had her other pacer contact her about doing the full 50 miles with her, which would eliminate the need for me to pace her.  He is a very experienced ultra runner and has many long ultras under his belt, so he is ideal for pacing her and helping her through the many stages of what 100 miles on your body brings.    I told her when she told me the news that I would still crew for her and be there, so whatever she decides, I would be there for her.   Now I am torn with my decisions for the fall.  Do I let my body rest and keep my mileage super low for the rest of the fall until I figure out what spring race i would like to do, or do I find a fall race (THERE ARE SO MANY) that I could start training for and possible delay my injuries fully healing?  I still in the back of my mind this whole time held out hope that even if I did the 25 mile loop, that i could do the 6/12/24 and participate in the 12 hour race this year.  I also had thought about doing Konquer the Konza 25K and or the half marathon out at the lake that our local running store is putting on for the first time.  BUT I am still dealing with some lingering pain in my feet and while i feel like my hip/butt/lower back is on the mend, I would like to start the next season of running 100%.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

can you believe how big he is getting?

Monday:  Rest day.  This is our last week of morning sessions at Sylvan and then we go to after school.  We had our first day of morning in Manhattan (me at KSU) and then back to Wamego, and then back to Manhattan for rock band lessons.  I will be glad to NOT be putting this many miles on my van soon.

Making the most of the last week of summer.  

Tuesday:  6 miles either speed work/easy.  We knew the weather might be bad at our normal wake up time so we decided to just postpone to after work.  WE also chose 6 miles easy because it was feels like 93 and our route is in direct sun the entire way.  We struggled mightily.  We both had eaten snacks mid afternoon, but for whatever reason, our bellies were empty.  I was sucking wind like crazy, and I have no clue why because it wasn't humid at all.  We walked a ton, listened to some Prince music and laughed it off.  Some runs suck and this one was it.

Wednesday: Cross training.  AKA me and my bike and some gravel.  Actually felt like riding and my feet (KNOCK ON A HUGE PIECE OF WOOD) are feeling pretty good and tolerant of a bike pedal.

Thursday:   My coach had give me a very tough speed work session.  I honestly didn't agree with it, and decided not to do it.  I haven't even done half mile repeats and I felt like jumping straight to mile repeats was a bit too much, especially since I am still kind of getting over this stupid injury.  Plus for me, my upcoming races have NOTHING to do with speed. I don't mind a little speed but this 6 mile work out was a bit much for my goals.  We decided to do 800 meter repeats but it was 92% humidity and we just couldn't beat that soul sucking humidity.  I tried hard to hang on for the 9-9:15 range, but was more in the 9:45-10 range.  We decided the fact that we kept trying and finished all 6 of them was a win in our books, even if it wasn't exactly the pace we needed to hit.  Again, I have NO time goals this fall so any type of "speed" is good in my books.

I then went for painful massage #2.  My back had held out until this work out and I was pretty bummed.  I was told that it actually held out longer than he thought it would with only one trail one and the rest road/gravel runs.  This time was still painful, but not as bad until he started working on my calf muscles to try at get at the root cause of the PF.  I have been doing my stretches and PT, but apparently that just isn't enough.  While long term, paying 70 bucks a week to get massages isn't totally in the budget, they are helping immensely, and I just want to be able to run/sit/exist without pain.  He would love it if I could do ALL runs on trails, but that just isn't feasible since the trails are all in other towns at least 25-30 minutes away and the closest one isn't dog friendly.  I will just have to continue doing what I am doing and go with it.

Happy SUPER early birthday to me!

Friday: Cross training.  Okay so I decided to do a thing.  My friend Cindy was running the Flat Rock 50K at the end of September and she had tried to get me to join her.  Originally I thought that wasn't a good idea but now that I am not pacing and running/walking 25 miles, I decided to try a new to me race with miss stella ella. Yes, I have lost my mind but I want to try this race and even if I have to power walk a bunch of it, so be it.  Cross training consisted of chasing my crazy 6 year old all around Manhattan city pool.  We swam/played for four hours and we were all exhausted by the end.

a sort of trail

Saturday:  5 easy miles.  I wanted to run while it was cool but my hubby had to work and I chose to sleep in since I would be getting up at 4 am to drive to trails on sunday.  I decided to get to a sort of trail while Andrew was in tutoring and get my 5 in that way.  I headed to a local park that had a dirt/gravel/concrete trail that was a little more than a mile around to do some running.  It was H.O.T. but most of the trail was shaded and the part that wasn't was by the softball fields and they were playing so I had stuff to look at to take my mind off of it!  I also tried out my new headphones.  I had debated getting some Aftershokz after my good friend Lindsey got to try them out  for BibRave and LOVED them so much that they bought a pair for her hubby.  I kept saying I didn't need to spend the money, but when they ran a bundle special that included a sports towel, a bibrave hat, a shoe bag, a stainless steel bottle, a small portable charger, and the head phones, I had to jump on it.  I had the money saved up so I did it and I LOVE THEM!  The rave reviews they get are ALL true!  The only issue I have is that I wear a hat and sunglasses most of the time, so that is a lot on my ear, but I am sure my ears will get use to it.  

Sunday: planned 15 miles out at Fancy Creek.  We decided to get up uber early and meet at Fancy Creek State Park for some miles before the sun came up.  While it was a great plan, we were met with THIS:

Over and over and over again we ran into this HUGE spider webs.  Plus, on top of the sticky large webs, there were really big spiders in them, so you didn't NOT want to run into them.  Sigh.  Our first loop took us almost 25-30 minutes a mile due to running two steps and stopping to clean a web out, then rinse and repeat and repeat.  By the time we got back to the trail head the second time, it had been 4.5 hours and I was DONE.  I had no interest in going back out and getting my 15 miles in.   I also fell, but that was a different story.  I hit a patch of loose rocks and slid and hit my knee on the way down.  It didn't really hurt, but I might get a nice bruise on my knee for it.  Stella and I had fun though and can't wait to go back, maybe with less dang spider webs.

Love my trail running girlie!

Another week of running down and a plan change.  Well shall see how this goes, so keep your breath held that I can pull this off!  I am excited to help Lindsey out as a crew member and can't wait to be there for her for her first 100 miler, even if it isn't as a pacer.  I will be ready if they need me though and excited to run!  Check out this blog post here too for a BIG announcement :)  Changes coming to the Running with Reds family!

Have a great week!

Introducing Zarra's Red, White and BOOM!

Our family is growing.  Our Red Aussie Crew is welcoming a new addition.  Say HI to Zarra's Red, White, and BOOM! Call name Boom.  Thank you to the Black Family for entrusting us with this little boy!  We can't wait to have him here in Kansas next week!!!!  Here are some pics that were taken in his home in TX.  This is Stella's sister's baby so a direct relative to miss stella ella!

 All photo credits to Michael Black, Karen Black, and Erika Maurer.
 

We are in love and can't wait to have this little guy home!  He will be my son's partner hopefully in 4-H and my newest running partner when he is old enough.  Look for more Sparky/Boom pictures than you can handle! 

Week 9: Training to pace The Hawk 100

Another week with some trails in it!  Let's get to it!!!

Monday:  Rest day again.  Not much longer that this day will be very restful, so taking FULL advantage.  Had a fun day with the kiddo.  This is the main reason why I am loving working for Coleman Electric.  I have so much more flexibility than with science, and it's so nice to take an afternoon to do some thing fun for your kiddo.  While he played, I sat in the cafe area and did work, so he got to burn off some steam in the play structure and I got work done while laughing at his antics.

Tuesday:  6 miles of speed work/6 miles easy.  I changed the schedule at the last minute and here is why.  I couldn't get to sleep to save my life, and then when I finally did, I was woken up around midnight by my tick bites itching like mad.  They had somewhat healed and then when I got my latest round, they swelled back up and started itching again.  I HATE TICKS.  I had to get up and go find some sort of itch cream to try and stop the madness, since I needed to be up in 4 hours to run and couldn't take benedryl at that point.  Then I think I woke up once an hour till my alarm went off.  Bleh.  I woke up exhausted and sore and in no mood for speed.  It was nice and cool out, BUT it was 97% humidity, which always kicks my ass anyway. I took it easy and let the other ladies run ahead of me.  I was quite content going slow and walking when I needed to.

Wednesday: I needed to get some time on my bike, but I had had a crappy day at both jobs and just needed some family time.  Andrew's ipad got busted by the very naughty kitty, so we spent all night outside on the deck talking and playing.  I really enjoyed just hanging out with my family instead of rushing off to get a work out done.

Thursday:  Speed work.  I had to get this done and for once, we had nice temps AND little to no humidity.  Whew!  We easily got our repeats done, and even though we did some walking on our recoveries, we mostly ran and I felt so much stronger.  I had also set up a massage appointment as my hip/lower back has really been flaring up when I run on the road/gravel, and I just can't get to the trail every run and need to get this taken care of anyway.  Boy, was that one of the MOST painful massages I have ever had, but I had instant relief the minute I got off of the table and knock on wood, had a great night's sleep and felt good the day after!

Friday: Rest day.  I worked late and then just wanted to carb load and head to bed, and that is what I did.  I was super sore from my massage and I just didn't feel like doing anything to test out that soreness. 

I am so glad the runner in front of us found this snake first!

Saturday:  13 miles on the trail at Clinton Lake.  I met Lindsey for the Trail Hawks Birthday run.  We wanted to start a little earlier than the group start at 7:00 am, as I had to be back by 11:30 am, so we met at 5:45 am thanks to me forgetting stuff and having to head back to get it at the house.  Each loop was a little over 4 miles and the weather was perfect.  We had a nice breeze and good tree cover to block the sun, and of course an amazing aid station at the trail head (coke and watermelon are my best friends).

I also got my Night Hawk hat I ordered from the race!  Even though I didn't run the true race course, I ran all of about half a mile of it and all in the rain and storms, so I think I earned it.  I couldn't hang around after my loops, had to get in the car and rush back home because Andrew had his first performance with TacoCat, his band.  I was pretty nervous as i wasn't sure how he would do since he does get a little stage fright.  

I am happy to report that he danced, he played, and never batted an eye lash about being in front of people.  Daddy bought him some rock and roll shoes (converse) and he dressed him self and fun was had by all. I hate that it started raining when his performance started because they had a whole back to school festival going on in the parking lot that had to be quickly shut down.

fire pits, smores, filet mignon and some beers = a great night and early bedtime :)

Sunday:  Easy 4.  I meant to get up early and get this run done since it was suppose to be over 100 for the day's high.  I ended up sleeping downstairs on the couch because stella had gotten into several items in the last few days including some twizzlers, some natural peanut butter, a stick of real butter, and some buns.  She was not feeling great, so I wanted to be with her and on the hardwood so accidents were easier to clean up.  We have been managing her diet with bland food and probiotics, but since her tummy still isn't happy, she is still having some mid-night accidents.  Of course she had two at around 5 am, and I thought about just staying up and going for a run, but i laid back down and was out till 7:30.  I am also pet sitting for a few friends, so had to get going on feeding and taking care of dogs/kittens so went ahead and coffee and food pre run.  While it was pretty hot, there was a slight breeze and no humidity, so the run went well.  I tried to keep my heart rate under 145 at least and I was pretty successful according to my Garmin.  My body actually felt pretty good considering i had run for over 3 hours the day before on technical trail.  This is the first week I have been able to get in all 4 runs with minimal pain from my hip/back and foot.  Let's hope this continues because I LOVE it!

What a great week!  A speed work session that left me feeling awesome, a technical trail run with my friend I am pacing while we worked out some details, and a back to back run with minimal pain.  Can I have a repeat of this next week?????  Have a great week y'all!!!!!