Good Lord

What a crazy society we live in. No, this is not some big epitomy. I don't pretend it is. I just read the news for the evening and was more appalled than usual.

Highlights:

* Donald Trump is interested in getting the E. Spitzer girl on his team ($$$$).

* Some dude in Ohio got busted having sex with a picnic table (seriously - in fact they have seen him doing it multiple times before).

* Father drowns 3 kids, one by one, in hotel room.

* Child genius at Oxford becomes prostitute at age 13.

Someone please remind me why I read the news each day.

OK, done with my rant. Promise. Good news: my cousin-in-law just had about the cutest darn baby I have ever seen. Well, not counting my own little cuties.... Ah, the great equalizer of the universe. :)

Spring is ready to be sprung

Great pic, huh? Nope, it is not here. Not a leaf in sight. Gray, brown, dreary. But we have had several days in the upper 40s. The daffodils and tulips are starting to pop out of the ground. It is coming. Life is good.

I am worried about Joseph. Hopefully we'll get a report soon. Our health is too important to take for granted. And it sucks to see such a good runner (and person) to hit a big obstacle. Best thoughts with you, tusca.

My running is hanging steady. Not the improvement I wanted, but I did get in 36 miles this week. Boy has my fitness tanked. But I am trying to fit it all in and the improving weather is a boon.

M - rest (planned)

T - 6.16 - nice day - cold wind, but nice to be outside

W - 6 - same as Tues

T - unplanned rest - WAY too busy

F - unplanned rest - same as Thursday

Sa - just over 10 - planned for 6, but I was running slow and it was just too nice to stop

Su - 13.7 - loads of hills - instant hammy soreness when I finished - I am NOT in the shape I used to be!!

Total: 36 and change off 4 days. Goal for next week: 5 days minimum

It is amazing how much nice weather can improve your running. Yesterday I felt like I could have run 100 miles. It was amazing.

Work has been great. The kids have been VERY challenging this week. One of those weeks that you just can't win. Ouch. Oh well, tomorrow is a new week.

Wow, this is something of an uninspired post. But I feel like it is the end of that season. I have hope.

Happy Easter!

What? You don't think that looks like an Easter image?

Well... Let me explain... It has been a very exciting Easter for us so far! My boys (5 and 6 years old) have been understandably quite excited about Easter. They went to bed as fired up as if it were Christmas. For years, they have been awesome going to sleep and sleeping all night before Christmas and Easter. We have always told them that if they are awake Santa and the Easter Bunny will not come. So they go right to sleep, sleep like rocks and awaken promptly at 5:00 am for the joy of the holiday. Not this Easter. This morning at 1:30 am my husband and I were awakened by the blaring sound of our house alarm. Our little mischievious ones had woken up, seen they had some loot, and decided to check for any plastic eggs filled with goodies outside. Heh. Within minutes a squad car comes blaring down the street, lights and sirens on. Sorry officer, just some over-zealous little boys. :) Imagine how hard it is going back to sleep once you know all of the goodies are downstairs. Seeing how exhausted they are today, I'm not sure they did! The good news is that I now know our alarm monitoring system works and that the cops get here quickly!!

Ah the excitement.

This morning we made lambropsomo (Greek Easter bread) and the corned beef and cabbage is in the crock pot. I know, I know, I am a holiday behind. BUT, we had corned beef that we never made due to some crazy scheduling this week. And at least the bread is rising as I write and the red eggs are ready. Christos Anesti!

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Now, on to March Madness: I actually have 3 brackets filled out. One family pool, one work pool and a running pool. I am doing despicably in the first 2, but fortunately am kicking butt in my running pool. In fact right now, the standings have Miss Mindi as numero uno. Why is this important? Because we end it with a race! It is actually really cool. We all fill out our brackets and send our 5K PR to the organizer. We will run the 5K race a couple of days after the finals. The way it works is the person with the slowest PR starts first, second slowest, and so on. The idea is to have a crowded, exciting finish. But, the cool thing is that the amount of points you get for your bracket you get to add to your PR time, thereby giving you a few more valuable seconds, a decided advantage. Last year I came in second to last in the brackets. Not so helpful (although I did come in 2nd in the race!). Anyway, out of the 3 brackets, this one is the most fun, so I am happy I am doing better so far. I know it is early, but I will take it!

.......

This snow is for the birds. (And actually, after reading Salty's blog this morning, I am realizing that birds would be nice, but it is too damn cold here for them yet). The good news is that yesterday I had a good run anyway. I knew I had to go into work and wanted to run in the morning first. Unfortunately, there were a good 2-3 inches of snow on the roads, making for crap running conditions (yes, I am officially turning into a big wuss). The treadmill was not appearing all too inviting either. SO I decided to work and hope the roads cleared by the time I got home as it was supposed to be 40 degrees. Well, I ended up stuck in a war room reviewing documents for a little over 8 hours. If you don't know what a war room is, be glad for it. And when I say documents, I mean 12 banker's boxes full of completely unorganized, loose documents which I was supposed to organize, create a timeline of what the heck happened, and craft some genious legal arguments in an attempt to recover some $25-$50 million. Not to be fooled, this is among the most unglamorous of legal work. It is scrub work. Loads of fun. My lower back was achy and I was cranky because I had not run in almost THREE days due to weather and my crazy schedule this week. BUT, when I got home, the roads were nice and clear. I ran six pretty easy, with the last mile at a 7:30 pace. It wasn't a prescribed workout, just get the kinks out and have a little fun at the end. It was cool. So here is how my week has played out:

Mon: rest

Tue: 2.5 am (9:30 pace on the treadmill - I just couldn't stand it any longer than that) / 5.67 pm (9:17)

Wed: 5.67 easy (9:24 - I played hooky from work in the afternoon to run outside! :))

Thu: unplanned rest due to schedule

Fri: unplanned rest due to snow and reluctance to go on the TM (read: slacker)

Sat: 6 (8:46)

Sun: 12.14 very slow (9:38).

Total: 32 miles

So I was a bit of a slacker, but as busy as we were this week, I refuse to feel bad about it. I didn't fall too far off track. Next week is a new week. :)

Have a great Easter. If you don't celebrate Easter, have a kick @ss Sunday.

A broken record

Spring, huh? Not here. It is more of the same relentless, annoying winter. We had a big storm yesterday and now have a good 8-10 inches of snow again. Not conducive to the long run I was hoping for this weekend. The difficult thing is that now that I have tasted a couple weeks of running outside, the treadmill is OH SO PAINFUL. I am just dreading my runs this weekend and slacked off the last 2 days. At least I got a good upper body workout with the shovelling. :(

And today, I race

Yep, today is the day I run my first race of 2008. I really have no business racing as I am certainly not in shape. BUT, I did start training this week. So the Shamrock Shuffle 5K will be my baseline race and undoubtedly a real motivator to get back into the swing of things. It is a little ridiculous as originally an early January race was supposed to be that baseline....I have definitely been a slackin' on the running front.

My year of running started out very slow due to a new job, horrendous running conditions (worst winter on record), and my personal inability to "train" on a treadmill. I let my running mojo fall by the wayside. But now, I am starting to get excited again. I did speed workouts last week and this week. They were WAY hard, but boy did it feel good to be doing it again. I have a detailed schedule in place that I think I can honestly stick to. No, the 60-70 mile weeks are gone with my new work schedule, but I think 40-50 is going to be "doable." I have gotten accustomed to rising at 5:00 am to run and the snow is finally beginning to melt. Yay!

SO what about this morning? Well, I am going to run the 5K. My goal is around 22:30. I say this because I am no where close to PR shape, I am up 5 lbs and it is a hilly course. Oh yeah, and I still have the dregs of a damn head cold. So maybe 23:30. Not great, but I am being very realistic. The good news is that it is supposed to be around 30 degrees, which is welcomely warm as of late. I am super happy to get out there too. Racing has introduced me to a whole fun network of people that I haven't seen in months! If anything, it will be a very socially uplifting experience. Wish me luck!

UPDATED TO ADD:

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My week:

Mon: rest

Tue: 6 miles (2 w/u, 5x800 at 5K (started at 6:58, down to 6:39); 400 rec; c/d) - treadmill

Wed: 5.27 miles easy - treadmill

Thurs: 5.5 easy - outside!

Fri: 5.25 miles (18 min w/u; 7x2mins at 10K (7:08); 1 min rec; c/d) - treadmill

Sat: 8 easy - outside

Sun: w/u 2.6 miles; 5K race: 22:12 (Stats: Overall: 34/740; Females: 3/462; Age Group: 3/147)

Total: 35.8 miles

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The race wasn't too darn shabby! I am very happy with it. It was extremely hilly (+165, -110 over about 6 good hills)- I think if it was even a reasonably flat course I would have been almost 45 secs faster. SO it was good. I was thrilled to come in 3rd female, and actually took that spot in the remaining 400 meters - I found that next level and cranked it. So it was fun. Far from a PR, but a good time. Now if I can follow my schedule and lose those 5 lbs . . . .

Oh yeah, and this was the first race I wore my HRM in. I was very skeptical of the whole thing b/c of course during my warm-up at close to a 10:00 m/m my HR was in the 160s. But I did it anyway and just told myself not to look. Which I didn't the entire race - a first for me! I can admittedly be a slave to the Garmin during races. Today, I ignored it altogether. AHR was 188; Max: 199. I hit 188 pretty early and held it there until the end. It was an interesting experiment as I always wondered what my HR levels would be at in racing. The experiment shall continue through the spring and summer.

29.9 miles

Yep, close to 30 again this week. I am happy with it because that is with only 4 days of running. I start my spring schedule tomorrow and should be closer to 40 mpw from here on out. Hopefully life will allow my schedule to happen. I am set to get very busy again at work, but that is much preferred to the slow days.

It is supposed to be in the 40s all week. I am wishing for the snow to disappear and the grass to turn somewhat green.

Unlike Ohio, WI actually did NOT have any storms this weekend! YAY!

I am feeling a little better. The body aches are gone, but I do have a whopper of a head cold. Hopefully by my next post I'll be in a much better state.

Run on.

A flu bug and a 10 miler

Yesterday I woke up and I felt like a ton of bricks landed on my head and chest. Not cool. The flu is running rampant around these parts and I HOPE I do not have it. Unfortunately, the body aches, respiratory issues, head cold and general malaise I am experiencing do not bode well. It is very annoying too because I was slow at work and finally got around to putting together a decent spring schedule.

I did get in a good workout on the treadmill this week (7 miles with 10x2 min at CV, 1 minute rest). And despite feeling like utter crap, I did a 10 miler today. This is the longest run I have done in MONTHS. It was insanely cold, but it was nice to get out there. It cleared my sinuses and my body aches actually lessened. Hopefully I will not pay for it tomorrow.

I am planning to run a 5K next weekend. I have no idea what to expect. While I am not 100% out of shape, I am FAR from PR shape. I can tell you that no one will accuse me over overtraining and I am not injured. :) I figured I would just get out there and do it as a baseline race. There is no where to go but up from here. My schedule will take me to a half marathon in late May. I'm not sure what my goals are - I think they will come as my training progresses.

It is supposed to be in the 40s next week. Man I hope so. I am ready for this winter to be over!!

Someone please clarify....

When I post to my blog, or post a reply to others, I have to enter a security code. How is this helpful? I mean, if someone was on my computer pretending to be "me" how does this stupid code do anything? Sorry for my ignorance, but I find it not only annoying, but one of those relatively useless..., ok a waste of time. Who are we kidding? What kind of "security" does this code actually offer? Anyone?

On a VERY positive note, I got my sorry self in gear and wrote up a spring schedule! Woo Hoo. Long overdue is an understatement. But I needed to get my feet under me at work, get a feel for the treadmill, etc. I can deal with the treadmill during the week. Now that it looks like weekends may cooperate with training efforts, I am on board. And no, I am not usually this much of a wimp. But this winter is, in scientific terms the suckiest. So we do what we can.

BTW - the pic is of my nephew and son doing "foot farts." Yeah, it is good to be a young boy with no cares. I am so proud. :)

A brush with Lance

Today I went to the Wisconsin Smoke Free rally at the Monona Terrace in Madison in support of legislation banning smoking in all public places in the state. The key note speaker was Lance Armstrong. While he may not be into marathon training, :) he is an amazing athlete who has done a whole lot for this country in the fight against cancer. So of course I attended. It was a great event. I am looking forward to the day that our state is smoke free. There were many great speakers with good stories to share and Lance is a veteran at these events. He was a pro and had a great message. This isn't about personal rights, this is about moral rights. So that was the highlight of my day.

Oh yeah, and Brett Farve announced his retirement. Wisconsin doesn't know how to react. Seriously, my 5 year old son's preschool is having a green and gold day tomorrow in tribute to Brett. All hail the king of Wisconsin. :)

Oh yeah - no more green grass as we got more snow and it is about 10 degrees....but I have hope. I do. It cannot be winter forever, right?! The good news is that is was warm enough this weekend to clear the residential streets (for the most part). No more ice pot holes. Prior to 2 months ago, I would have asked what that is. Now I am all to familiar. Dammit.

30 miles and some green grass

Woo hoo! I hit 30 miles this week!! Sound pathetic? Maybe a bit, but it is a HUGE improvement over the 20 mpw I have been averaging for the last couple of months. The big bonus is that I have been able to run outside 3 days in a row. And today I actually got a glimpse of some green grass! It was only a tiny glimpse, and, well, it was more yellowish-brownish-green, but it was a welcome sight nonetheless. Maybe this godforsaken winter will end some day..... Of course we are supposed to get 4 inches of snow tonight and I still have a solid 3-4 inches of ice at the end of my driveway, but oh well. I started to go after the ice with an icepick this afternoon, but decided not to bother. Heh. If I had been tagged by Salty I'd have to name that - I actually have an icepick! Beat that! The only other person that may is Adeel, and ice picks are probably way too "Paul Bunyion" for him. So I am guessing I am the only one on this board with that honor. :) Boy am I cool or what?

Dammit I am in a good mood. It is amazing what 42 degrees and the abililty to pound the pavement will do for the soul!!

I admit my quads are a bit trashed from 3 days of hills. I play with the pace some on the treadmill, but always keep the incline at 0%. I am a bit of a treadmill hill wussie.

Oh yeah, and on a side note, my boys and I did the mint mentos/diet pepsi experiment this morning. It was fun, but not as climactic as they make it look on tv.

The waterpark was highly entertaining. My 5 year old was in hog heaven. Our friends came along so in the evening we let the boys stay up late while we put back some beers and played euchre. Good times.
:)