5 Things for Friday

1.  I hate allergies.  Let me state that again, I HATE ALLERGIES.

2.  I have a sick dog.  And a lame horse.  And a bucket calf who doesnt handle wind well and results in getting sick.  The upside to the last is that the bucket calf is so gentle that she leads better then my dog does on a leash.  The downside is that she didnt want to go into the barn.  The upside is that I am stronger then the bucket calf.  She went into the barn.

3.  Went to the chiropractor on Wednesday and got all adjusted.  If everthing would just stay put and no shift to where it feels it should go, I would have alot less pain and alot more money in my pocket.

4.  Potty training has officially begun.  I got Sager Danger a Cars potty seat and a box of bandaids for bribery (easier then him convincing me a spot of spaghetti sause is a fatal injury that MUST have a bandaid) and he refused to wear a diaper.  He is telling me when he has to go....but thats usually when he is already going.  Timing issue....typical male....he will get it (I think).

5.  Im going to Ladies night out tonight that Ranch Rebel (aka Jamie and Heather) at the daycare in town.  I dont need anything....I want alot (most of what is already in my bedroom as I have ZERO self control when it comes to cute clothes) so I dont really need to go, but I am because I am a nice, supportive peson.  And I have been stuck in the house with the sicko's for a couple days....they need some QT with him. 

Wordless Wednesday

Professional Help

Hi, my name is Tara and Im an addict.  An addict to something I havent done before.  I am addicted to half marathons. 

Really.....is this possible???  Can you be addicted to something you really havent experienced yet??  Can you plan the next 2 3 4 before you finish start the first??

Apparently, in my head, you can.

Im 6 weeks away from the starting line for Lincoln and while Im focused on my current training, I have already started compiling the list of future potential 1/2's. 

I figured I could do another one in the fall....enter Monument Marathon.  An inaugural run in Scottsbluff which is only a couple hours from my house BONUS!!!!! 

Rock N' Roll Denver is in September, but so is Crazy Horse in the Black Hills of South Dakota (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!).  I talked last year about running Vegas at night and that is in December.  When I look at those 3 THEN I start thinking about Half Fanatics....if Im going to do all this running I might as well keep going and get some extra shirts and bling for it (cause its all about the clothes and the medals...duh.) 

Forget about all the ones I could put on my schedule for next year....just near where I live....Kearney, North Platte, Grand Island.....oh my!  Deadwood......*sigh*

Told ya....I need professional help.

Double Digits

So what do you follow up a Double Header weekend with??

Double digit mileage, of course.  Of course she says like she planned that madness.

I didn't plan it.  Well, I kinda planned it but only in the way of saying well if we feel really good for that 8, we would shoot for 9 and if 9 feels good, then why not get the 10 miler out of the way so the impending doom I don't have to think about it to much more. 

The plan last night was to leave at 915am and head to the East down the nice flat highway.  Run for 4.5 miles, turn around and head back.  Winds were should have been out of the NE at 5-8mph (that should have been the first clue that this run was going to take on a life of its own..the wind NEVER blows ONLY 5-8mph in Nebraska.  Especially not what I have a long run planned.) 

The wind was NOT blowing 5-8mph.  More like 10-15mph.  Not terrible but really exciting either.
NOT FLAT.  No massive hills except that one, but several little ones that made us work a bit harder then we had initially planned on.

Got there a little late (trip to the vet before...hey, we are calving...we always need stuff at the vets.)  Took off and started chatted.  Its been awhile since Katie and I ran together so we had alot of chatting to catch up on, which was great because my playing is way outdated and I haven't gotten any new tunes yet. 

We made it a whole 2 miles before I had to pee.  Yes, I know...but we happened to be near a home that we know of and I knew she wouldn't care if I jumped behind her tree....but the guy who I didn't know getting a horse saddled to ride out and check on the cows in the corrals next to her house...he might care.  So we went for a visit to her house, used her bathroom and took off again. 

2 miles down and already a potty break didn't make me feel real great for the remainder of the run.

We kept on chatting and kept on running and before I knew it the watch was at 4.75...oops.  So there goes the 8 miles...and the 9 miles.  We would be at 9.5 when got back to the car....and when your  at 9.5 then why wouldn't we keep going for 10??

Because after 8 miles I had crazy pain across my lower back and down the back of my legs to my knees.  Both of them.  Because I ached and was already dreading the rest of the day knowing that by 1030am I had asked punished my body to do more then I have asked it to do in almost a year. 

Because I love my new shoes and really want to see if I still love them after a nice painful, long run.  I DO!!!!

Because while I do may hurt for the rest of the day and most of tomorrow I will regret not going for the .5 for a week month year.  Lets face it.....I don't remember all the good runs I have had...but I certainly remember each and every run that I let beat me.  Stop .5 miles from 10 would be letting the run win.  Not. Gonna. Happen. 

10 miles 1:33:50. 

Bring on 13.1.

Double Header

My whirl-wind double header race weekend/visit with mom and dad is quickly coming to a close.  The racing parts are official done and I am BEYOND thrilled with how they went.

The flights went well....as well as can be with an 18 month old who doesnt like to sit still.  We didnt end up on CNN (yet) and I didnt have to get drunk to survive so I will call it a success.

The drive home was fun...took a but longer then usual because my dad didnt take the turn we have taken for 10 years usually take so we ended up in Downtown Ann Arbor.  At 445pm.  On a Friday night.  The bonus to this was we went past the Big House and Shembechler Hall as the UofM football team was getting out of a spring practice or weight lifting or something.  Let me just say right here that football pads do not do justice to the upper body.  I would say Yummy but Im a bit older then them and that seems weird...oh what the hell, Im on vacation.....YUMMY!!!

Bran sleeping in the car.

Saturday brought the Clare Irish Festival 5K/10K at 9am.  We went early in an attempt to find a
parking place where my mom (who is 3 weeks post surgery for her 3rd knee replacement) could watch without a long walk. 

Parking - Great
Viewing for mom = Epic Fail  We managed to park on the only corner of a block where the race didnt go past. 

Clare Irish Festival starting line.

Dad and Bran were able to see the start and the finish, so that was nice!!  I came out WAAAAY to fast....and I knew it and tried to slow down but couldnt get it done....the pace was a fast pace so I either hung with the pack or dropped back.  I hung with the pack and pulled a PR of 24:47!!

Splits: Mile 1 - 8:31
           Mile 2 - 8:31
           Mile 3 - 8:15

Finish line of Clare.

I guess there is something to be said for 800ft elevation when your used to 3400ft :)

And I may or may not have picked out a "skinny blonde bitch" to not allow to beat me...and she didnt.

Placed me 5th in my age group out of 73...woot woot!!  Of course, they do awards for the top 3 in each age division....darn!

Celebrating with Beezer (he couldnt care less)

The only downfall to the race was the 2 teenage girls who ran hard enough to puke.  6 steps after they crossed the line.  Thankfully (I guess) I was right behind them so I saw them and didnt step in the puke or get water because it was right at the water table...nice but really....they were 2 feet from the grass...I bet they could have made it....grrrr.

Sunday was the Al Kaynar St. Patricks Day 5K/8K.  Started at 1145am.  In typical Michigan fashion AKA mother nature has a serious personality disorder the temp at start time was a wonderful 73 degrees with are you ready for this......67% humidity.  W.T.F.   This IS a St Pattys Day race...as in MARCH....but whatever...mother nature didnt drop any tornado's or hail, so I guess its better then the alternative.  But still...uhhhh.

Anyway...I met up with Rachel who has been a friend of mine for what we figure is 14 years or so....over half my our lives.  She claims she isnt much of a runner but she is a wicked cross fit instructor who has a body from hell so I wasnt about to feel sorry for her suffering through the run.  I did agree to slow down and run with her...which I did for the first 3 miles.  Then I moved ahead more because the walkers were filtering back into the course and didnt leave us much room for side by side.  I thought I kept my pace but I guess I pushed a bit because Rachel wasnt with me anymore.  We went for a 9:00 and I came in at 44:47!!!  So I beat my goal of a sub 45:00. P.S. Rachel finished 90 seconds behind me....she didnt need me or anything but starting her pace....not a runner my ass!!!

Rachel and I pre-race

Splits were very steady the first 3 miles -
Mile 1: 9:00
Mile 2: 9:01
Mile 3: 8:58
Mile 4: 8:48
Mile 5: 8:24

Bay City starting line

GO!

Finish line!!!!

I came in at 28 out of 84 in my age group, and 391 out of 778 total runners.  Thats just the 8K totals....there were over 6000 people total.  Glad I didnt run the 5K.....and now I see why it thinned out so much when we did drop them off our course.  YIKES!!!

It was a great run, well put on...the medals are awesome (MY FIRST ONE!!!) and I would gladly do this run again.  If mom and dad havent sold their house by next March, I will be back!

Tonight...is relaxing at my favorite restaurant....Gengi's japanese steak house in Midland....sushi.  shrimp and scallops. Apple Martinis.  Great company.....Im thoroughly enjoying my weekend in Michigan!!!!

30 Day Update

ok, ok....33 days and yes, I am a terrible blogger.



Ill give a quick update, spare you the really gory details and then start all over again, like a dedicated blogger would should.

In the past 30 days I have:

*Run a 8:08 mile (BOOYAAA!!!!)
*Helped pull a calf (needed some assistance in this adventure but not totally my fault.....a 93lb calf was a tuff pull for hubby)
*Battled croup...again. 
*Went snowmobiling in Deadwood
*Hit a tree while snowmobiling in Deadwood

*Won $260 playing 3 card poker in Deadwood (Gotta love 3 Queens!!)

*Ordered/bought my own gun (in my name and EVERYTHING)
*Failed an EMT class test
*PASSED an EMT class test
*Made a really dumb decision to put inserts into my shoes.....and gave myself a blister the size of 2 quarters on my right heel. 
*Thanks to my dumbass attack with the insoles and the resulting blister, I ended up causing issues in my right knee from gimping around on my left.
*Got my first bucket calf of the year and spoil her rotten on a daily basis.  Twice a day.

*I can do 50 pushups in a row.  BOY push up even.
*OFFICIALLY became a business owner. 

I did alot more that.....nothing particular stands out but I know I was flippin' BUSY!  The boys keep me going ALL.DAY.LONG.  Sometimes straight to a bottle of wine at the end of the day but Im ok with that.

Its finally NICE out but Im not gonna lie, I kinda missed winter.  Dont get me wrong, I love the early morning running in 35 degrees as opposed to that being the HIGH for the day at 2pm but Im a snow baby...what can I say.  This winter was disappointing for me in that respect.

However, the half is 56 DAYS AWAY!!!  Im right where I want to be, really.  My max distance right now is 7 but like Kari said if we can run 7 feeling like poo that had just been run over by a truck, we should be ok making it 13.1 feeling like rockstars.  Im not to the rockstar feeling yet but Im hoping that will take over with the atmosphere in Lincoln race day. 

I am running 2 races in Michigan this weekend....Bay City St. Patricks Day 8K and Clare Irish Festival 5K.  Ill have full race reports sometime next week....maybe.  Thats the "good blogger" plan at least.  Im looking forward to a visit to the Mitten and taking Thing 2 with me.  Piper is going also but will be spending the weekend with her dad and his family while Bran and I hang with my parents.  Sager Danger is going to stay home and spend lots of QT with Grandma help daddy calve. 

All in all...busy 30 + 3 days since my last post and busy days to come....ready, set, GO!!!