Virtual Running Buddies 6/5

[newsomz]

Hi All,

I still haven't had a chance to catch up with everyone! But I do have a few spare minutes before my test to start the new thread :)

My last run was yesterday morning. I woke up very groggy and the run was indicative of my state! I ended up alternating 5 min run with 2 min walk for about 30 min. My body & mind were both very tired yesterday. Luckily, I feel much snappier today :) On tap for the weekend is a run & bike ride.

Happy Trails & Happy Weekend!

[Kathy B]

Hi Carrie! Thanks for getting things started. Nice that you are feeling "snappy" on test day, even if you weren't for your run yesterday.

I actually did a short 2 mile run with DH this AM! He is a devout TM runner, but since the TM is on the blink, he has moved outside the past few days. He doesn't run very long, but he runs a little faster and with a longer stride, so I had to work a little harder than I usually do to keep up with him. Very nice to have some company!

Vicci, DH has used one of those knee brace things in the past. The one he used looked like a band that went on just under the knee cap. He wore it when his knee was bothering him while he refereed soccer games. He thought it helped a lot.

As to your question about the "good Samaritan", I am sorry to say I was by myself with none to be found. I am amazed that it has seemed to recover so quickly, because at the time it hurt so much it took my breath away. I waited a few minutes, limped out of the garden, and then decided to just start walking normally and see what happened. Surprisingly, it felt better very quickly, which was a very good thing since I still had at least a mile to go to get back to my hotel. I didn't have any way to ice it, but I did take some ibuprofen, and the next morning it was pretty swollen and somewhat bruised looking. But it didn't hurt! So Yea for that! I am thinking this is a positive outcome from my running and lifting weights. :)

No big plans for the WE here, so I will just rest up for next week. :p Wishing you all a great one!

[SusanMac]

Happy Friday! Very happy to have it here :-)

Newsomz - Congrats on your 5K time, and getting another race under your belt!

Robyn - So sorry about your group bike ride & getting someone lost! On my group ride on Mon (I was the ride leader this week), I held back on one particular hill to.....wait for it....wait for the pregnant woman!! She is a strong rider, but isn't supposed to get her HR up. Yow!

Vicci - You just couldn't hear well on the phone. No worries. And, you know of course, in the virtual world none of us know your age!! BTW....would love your banana rum cake recipe - that sounds fab!

I don't remember the last time I posted? Great bike ride Mon. Blew off Tues for no reason :-) Great 10K run on Wed. Thurs I was in Chicago all day for new biz (very fun). Resting today.

Tomorrow I have a 15K fun run for National Trails Day. It's on trails in a State Park. I did it last year, and it's super fun! Lots of hills, logs, rocks, switchbacks, etc. It will be slow, but fun.

Happy weekends all!

[ktg0930]

Hello runners!

Carrie, hope your test went well!

Kathy, I didn't go back to look at last week's thread to see what happened to you but I'm glad your injury wasn't serious and that everything worked out.

Susan, enjoy the trails run. It sounds like fun!

I know I didn't post at all in the last week. I ran Sun, Tues, Wed and today. Yesterday, I was just tired and didn't want to, even though I had planned to run. This morning was lovely, although rainy for the last 10 min. I ran a little earlier than I did other days and it was very peaceful. Tomorrow, I am working a 10 hour shift in the hospital pharmacy. It makes for a long week, but the extra money will be nice since we are having all the windows in our house replaced. I don't think I will get a run in tomorrow, although I have thoughts of getting up really early and running a couple miles before work. I doubt it will happen, but maybe.

Have a great weekend everyone!

[TKay]

Hello runners! I have been someone MIA lately. Nothing bad happening. I'm just really busy. Lots of end-of-the-school-year activities and a sudden onslaught of work. Timing is everything, isn't it?

Not much to report. I've had to skip a few days and squeeze in some half-hour TM runs when I can. That's the beauty of being able to sneak away from your desk to clear your head while working at home. Of course, I have to spend the rest of the day stinky and sweaty, but it's a small price to pay.:p

Will catch up with everyone's recent posts now. Happy weekend!

ETA: Happy to report just such a run today. I felt renewed afterward. Ahh, endorphins.

[Leslie Ferguson]

Hey gang, resurfacing down here.
I'll have to go back and read the remainder of last week's thread to find out about the biking etc. for Robyn.
Thanks for starting us this week Carrie. How are classes going? It's good that you can get out and run, even if it isn't the best run you could have wanted.
Kathy B - Thanks for the comments last week and I'm glad your ankle didn't cause you too many problems. I'm not a big fan of ankles (with all my sprains). That's good that you could get your DH to go out with you, even if it meant you had some work to do to keep up with his stride.
Susan - Enjoy your race tomorrow. It's always fun to run races in the "off" distances. It sounds like you've been having fun this past week too.
ktg - Nice seeing you this week and good work on all your runs and workouts.

I'm busy here in southern VA. Living in Farmville this week while LW is at home. Spent a lot of time in the past couple days getting the lay of the land. Didn't get a lot of work outs in because of scheduling conflicts but did a bunch of walking on Wednesday. I ran this afternoon in the tail end of our rain storm. Lots of humidity :( but not a lot of rain. I got a chance to run for an hour on the hills in and around Farmville, nothing "heart stopping" but enough of them are long, low, and slow to keep things interesting.

I'll try for a longer run in the morning, need to get my mileage back up if I'm racing/running in the first week of September.

Happy trails all and have a wonderful weekend.
Les

[VictoriaL]

Happy Friday to all! :D

Carrie, thanks for starting the thread this week and it's good to hear that you got over your "off day". I can't imagine thinking clearly enough to take a test before 8am... ;)

KathyB the knee brace worked very well, and I have added an extra set of quad exercises to my weight day, at your suggestion. And...
you walked a mile with a sprained ankle! Brave woman! You're right, though, thinking that you've conditioned yourself enough that you can "handle" these types of injuries. Your body is paying you back for taking care of it, I suppose... :)

That 15k trail run sounds really fun Susan, enjoy! And I'll let you know when I post about the banana-rum cake. I plan to make a chocolate frosting for it (maybe with a *little* dark rum added...), and we will have it on Monday.

Kathy, all of the windows in your house replaced? Yikes! If nothing else, you'll need to go on lots of runs to get away from the "process".

Tkay, DH had plans to sneak away from his desk today for a stint on the exercise bike, but phone calls kept coming in and it never happened. Lucky you for just getting away from it!

I am pleased to report, as I mentioned to KathyB, the knee brace worked quite well. 3.4 miles with little discomfort, so I am planning a run on Sunday when we are at the lake house. DH's birthday is on Monday, so we plan to stay there until Tuesday. Alas, there is a hockey game to go to on Tuesday night, so it will be a very busy day with cleaning and packing, traveling, unpacking, and heading into Pittsburgh. I shall get energy from leftover chocolate-frosted banana rum cake!!! :D

A wave out to everyone, and I hope that you all have a nice weekend!

[Leslie Ferguson]

Hey Vicci, missed you in my last post. I'm glad that your knee brace works well and I hope that you are on the mend. It sounds like you might be able to get some energy from the cake too. Hockey, oh yeah, that would be Pittsburg Penguin country up there wouldn't it? ;) Have a fun weekend.
Happy trails,
Les

[VictoriaL]

Hi Les! We must have been posting at the same time last night (and, after I hit the "submit" button, I logged off and went to bed...) Is there more humidity in Farmville than there was in the DC area (hard to believe, if so!). Nice about the long, low hills to run on, though, since I prefer those to the heart-pounding steep hills in WV!

Reporting another run, 3 miles, this morning. The ground is so soggy that my shoes were soaked before I left the yard, but it is what it is! ;) We are heading to the lake house in a few hours, so my Monday run will be a hilly one, so I enjoyed my trails extra-much today. Oh, also, the wild roses are in full bloom and there are billions of them! I would run into warm areas and be totally enveloped in fragrance. I want to drag a chair out there and just sit and breathe for a few hours. :) Alas, there is stuff to do...

Hope that you all are having good weekends!

[Leslie Ferguson]

Hey Vicci - it looks like it's you and me kid. ;) I wouldn't say that there's more humidity here, just that it was terribly humid yesterday. Rained off and on (more on) and the sun came out long enough in the breaks to cook off a little water. I think the humidity ended up in the neighborhood of 98% or so. :( Soggy ground for your run, that's too bad. At least you could have had real mud (splashing kind) to run in, that would have made everything just fine. :D At least in my book. Have fun at the lake house maybe sometime we can really make that connection and see each other IRL - I'm on a roll these days.

I too had another run today. It was pretty nice when I started, a fine temp (~65), a light breeze, and a little overcast. Then somewhere in the middle of the run the clouds broke and it started to warm up (I need to run before noon darn it). Still did a little run-walk action and pulled off my longest run in a while, something just over 11 miles. I guess I still have some legs in me, I just hope that I can pick up some speed before the race in September. I had to think of Susan during the run too because I was running on one of the "Rails to Trails" trails in Farmville. Amazing how long the grade is - nothing terrible (<2%) but the climb and fall goes on forever (like 1-1.5 miles). :rolleyes:

Off for the evening, I pray that everyone is having a good weekend.

Happy trails,
Les

[oceanjasper]

newsomz - Hope you did well on your test!

KathyB - Yikes! Glad to hear that your ankle is healing up quickly.

SusanMac - How was your 15k? Sounds like an interesting run - lots of distractions.

ktg0930 - Good job on getting all those runs in!

TKay - Nice that you are able to squeeze in runs while working from home. A definite bonus!

Les - 11 miles! I'd say you still have your legs!

VictoriaL - The wild roses must be amazing. Enjoy your visit to the lake house!

I got some new sneakers this week and was able to test them out tonight. They were great, although I was a little sad about how dirty they got. :)

Here is my run stats:

Distance: 6.53km (4.06 miles)
Time: 38:49
Pace: 5:56 min/km (9:33 min/mile)
Calories: 416
Wildlife sightings: 1 deer, 1 bunny

Hoping to get in another run tomorrow. I'm so looking forward to a day without any other plans.

[SusanMac]

Happy Monday runners! I had a great weekend.

The 15K trail race was a blast. It had been dry recently, so no mud on the course (everyone boo'd this pre-race announcement :-) I took 15 minutes off my time last year, and felt really strong. Still lots of sections where you have to walk and your quads burn, but I have a much better base this year than last year, so I guess I powered through a bit better. Ran into a few friends there. And just had a really, really good time.

Rest day on Sun, as my legs were happily sore. Not sure yet what I'll do today....either run or bike. Decisions, decisions.

Hope everyone had fun weekends

[ktg0930]

Susan -- glad the trail run was successful--even without mud!

Ocean -- the shoes do get dirty quickly don't they? Glad they are working out for you.

Les -- It sounds like you are enjoying Farmville and in my book, an 11 mile run is pretty darn far! I still miss my NY rails to trails path---so nice and peaceful, no cars, and pretty flat (where we were).

Vicci -- yes, all the windows...we aren't doing it ourselves and we don't have that many windows, really. We have been talking about it for a while and got some good recommendations (and they gave us reasonable bids). With the energy tax credit, we'll get a break (hopefully) on our taxes this year.

TKay -- I enjoyed your comment about sneaking away and then being stinky and sweaty for the rest of the day. I do think that is one of the best things about working from home....running whenever and it doesn't matter if you don't shower right away.

Hello to everyone else!

[SusanMac]

Great run yesterday w/DH & Bode. 45 minutes. My legs felt kind of dead, which I'm hoping is still post-race recovery and not just being a loser :-)

[Kathy B]

Feeling a little unmotivated the last several days, although I have done a bit of yoga and yesterday the EB. Heading out for an easy run today. Hopefully I'll get back in the swing soon. Just a lot of other stuff needing to get done (and I'm not too motivated about that either! :rolleyes:)

Hope everyone is having a good week! I will be back when I have more to report.

[SusanMac]

I haven't been too motivated the last few days either. Thank goodness DH runs, as he's gotten me out the door both Mon & Tues.

Yesterday was a 53-min run. We explored some new neighborhoods, which was a really nice change from my 'standard' routes. Legs felt fresher, too.

Going to my LRS today for a video running/foot strike analysis, and really looking forward to it. It's sponsored by Mizuno, and I have no immediate plans to buy shoes. But, I'm hoping to score points b/c I am already running in Mizunos. Whew

[ktg0930]

Hello and happy Wednesday!

Kathy -- I've been meaning to ask you about your son's internship. I know he's working for a legislator. What types of things will he be doing? It sounds like such a great opportunity...for a while, I wanted to be a Senate page and wish I would have followed through on that when I was a teenager.

I have run Mon, Tues, and today this week. Tomorrow is a running rest day, sort of. It has been so humid here that I was soaked when I got home this morning. It looked like I had been in a downpour. Tomorrow night, DH and I are doing a race on Interstate 40. A 1-mile or so section of I-40 has been closed for the past year for repairs and widening. It re-opens on Friday afternoon so the running club is sponsoring a 1-mile race on the new highway. It should be fun.

[VictoriaL]

Yes Les, I would say that if you ran 11 miles, you still have some legs! :p Hope that the humidity has let up (geesh, 98%! It's 86% here now and the heat generated from the laptop is bothersome).

OJ, I hated to do it, but my first run in my new shoes were after a rain, on muddy trails. A good way to break them in! And I like the addition of "wildlife sightings" on your stats!

Wow, Susan, 15 minutes off of last years' time? Yes, you absolutely were stronger this year! Les would have preferred the muddy trails, too...

Kathy, are they self-cleaning windows??? ;) And good job on three runs so far this week in humidity! Enjoy the run on a newly-paved road, too- that will be nice!

And for the other Kathy, KathyB, I am finding it very difficult to imagine you as "unmotivated"!

We had a great, long weekend at the lake-- went on 2 long hikes (one in a nearby botanic garden, the other was at a state park) and went to a sports bar with friends on Saturday night to watch the Pens get trounced (luckily they redeemed themselves last evening). DH loved his gifts and the banana coconut-rum cake turned out to be too good, alas. :o I forced a run on Tuesday before we left. It was thundering and very ominous all morning, but no rain so I took a chance around 1pm. About 3 miles in, at the furthest point from the house that I could have been, the skies literally opened up. I haven't been so wet after taking a shower! I slogged on for another .8 mile until DH appeared in the car. :) He was concerned about the lightning strikes... Anyway, it was nice to get into a dry place and wrap in towels.

I am worried about my MP3 player, though. I was wearing it on an armband and when it started to rain I took it off and wrapped the band around the player then held it under my shirt as I ran. The shirt was, of course, soaked. I haven't tried it yet since I want it to dry out thoroughly (it didn't even look wet, but I found that music is absolutely necessary to my running, so I am concerned for its well being!). Tomorrow I hope to get out between showers and have my fingers crossed.

Happy runs (bikes?) to all, and I'll "see" you on the next thread.

[Kathy B]

DH got me out the door yesterday, too, for another 2.5 miles or so with him. Short distance, but he does push me! Today I went solo and did 4 miles, but I noticed my pace was faster....

Vicci, your weekend at the lake sounds nice. Glad your DH knew where to find you! Did you tell him where you were going, or did he wander around in the car for a while? Hope your next run is/was drier!

Kathy, the one mile race on the new highway sounds really fun...and probably very FAST. Enjoy!

We talk with DS pretty regularly, and it sounds like a great deal of his time is spent dealing with calls/emails/mail that comes into the office. He has to log each one and then sort them to be dealt with by the people in charge of various issues (i.e. farming, taxes, the war, unemployment, health care, etc...). He also gets to give tours of the Capitol, and he has done a little research to find info on topics that there is legislation pending. He said some days are busier than others, but he is really enjoying it. I think he is finding it interesting to hear about things as they are "in the works" and see what all goes into the process.

Working all day tomorrow, so I will see everyone on the new thread! :)

[SusanMac]

KathyB - that is fascinating! I never knew about these things when I was in HS. A GF of mine has a son doing the same thing, this year.

Vicci - Your DH is a sweetheart! I love my DH, but I'm not 100% positive he'd do that for me. Training in weather makes you stronger, ya know? ;-)

Wed was rest day. The foot/running analysis was quite interesting, tho. It was a computer that scanned your feet, leg structure & a bunch of other things. They confirmed that I should be running in neutral shoes. But, of course, another separate expert insisted I should run in motion control shoes. They are just like Dr's & coaches...everyone has a different opinion.

Tonight is running group night. Looking forward to it. Gorgeous weather. We've been lucky that all of the humidity has apparently stayed to our south so far this season (knock on wood!)

[Leslie Ferguson]

Hey gang, it's been a busy couple days and we've had a heat and humidity wave here in Southern Virginia (hard to believe). I haven't run in a couple days - getting moved and moved in to my new place in Blackstone (a pretty and small town but there is a coffee place with WiFi [I'm there right now]).

It has been a busy couple days for the rest of the gang and I really don't have space to answer all the mail but good runs all.

Moving OT though (no kidding) - I'm now officially a Candidate for Holy Orders (that means I'm one step closer to being Ordained in the Episcopal Church). It was a pretty nerve-wracking interview but I came through with flying colors. In celebration I'll go for a good run in the morning - maybe even a long run and check out my new digs.

Happy trails and I'll see you in the new thread.

Les