I Skipped My Run on Saturday

I skipped my run on Saturday which truly is unheard of for me.  I thought about running on Friday morning but I have a cold and it was in my chest and don't they say not to run when it is in the chest? So I didn't run. I thought I might squeeze it in late Saturday but that didn't happen.

What was important enough to miss running? Well, my husband wanted to go to.............. The Strolling of the Heifers.  He rarely just "plays" for the day so I was game to go with an additional trip after.  It took place in Brattleboro, about  3 hours away so there was no time to squeeze a run in and get there in time.  (I don't do dark runs here in the country.)

So what was this strolling thing and was it worth it?

It was a parade of cows and other animals.  The parade was almost an hour long - no fire trucks, just farming related floats and clubs and bands.  Well the bands weren't farming related.  This whole thing is  a big thing in Brattleboro and there are actually events for 3 days. We saw the parade and went to the farmer's market.  We each bought a shopping bag to store all our free loot in.  It was raining at home and sunny there so that was a score too.  Here are some pictures of the event.

Everyone there had at least one cow balloon.

Some of the cows. There actually weren't as many cows as I expected.

Easily my favorite. These asses were HUGE!  

I have wanted a baby goat for a long time.

These are alpacas, not llamas. Very cute.

There were lots of free samples on the park

including Green Mountain Creamery yogurt

with lots of maple!  The stores

are always out of it.

Then it was time to leave and head up the road. What had I wanted to do? It was time to visit a brewery and get another stamp. So we found our way to Harpoon Brewery which was a very happening place on Saturday. It was packed right from when we got there.  We started out with some samples, bought a beer we liked and then took the tour.  Then we had to have lunch to soak up some of the beer we had had.  I discovered some new beers I like which is what they are hoping as they give you all those samples. We bought a few six packs to bring home and some pint glasses in the retail store before leaving.  My husband drove home as he didn't have one more beer with lunch!  All in all a fun day with no running, biking or swimming!

A Fun Thing to do With All Those T-Shirts I'll Never Wear

Last time I posted I said I was looking forward to something at school. Well I have been saving race shirts (with a little help from T) until I had enough for each student. I brought them in and let the kids pick on Friday.  Some kids were absent and will get one later and two kids didn't want one.  The rest seemed thrilled though and wore them most of the day.  I loved seeing "my" shirts worn by my students. Unfortunately it was raining or I may have made them all go out for a run.  I also threw in a water bottle which was grabbed quickly. I never want the water bottles so I guess I should bring those in more often too.  I will have some shirts left so I am already saving for another round, new kids. Fun times!

Five "Fascinating Things" on the day beFore Friday

1. I confess I biked on National Running Day. I am running 4 days this week but I ran yesterday and today the weather was great so I wanted to bike. Tomorrow it is going to be raining.  I guess I could have biked yesterday but this is how it all shook out.  I had a wonderful ride that finally had a little speed in it (for me.)  It helped relax me after one crazy day at school.  So much to do for the end of the year.

Seen on yesterday's bike ride.

A closer look.

2.  We had a talent show at school today. It was what you would expect for a talent show of 4th, 5th and 6th graders but still very fun to watch.  One of my former students did a comedy routine for the second year. He actually has pretty good timing and looked ever so sweet dressed up with a bow tie.  My favorite joke of the day......

Why did the man with one hand cross the road?  

He was going to the second hand store!  

3. I just finished a very good book.  It was my gym book.  I always have a book I keep in my gym bag that I only read at the gym. It tends to be non fiction often about running or a biography of some sort. I only read during my warm up and cool down (and a break if I want one) so it takes me a looooong time to finish my gym book.  The book I just read was In the Long Run by Jim Axelrod.  I'm feeling lazy so here is what Amazon has to say about it.  The last sentence really sums it up.

It’s 2008. Jim Axelrod—once among the most watched correspondents on network news and the first television reporter to broadcast from Saddam International Airport in 2003—is covering the final stages of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. He’s forty-five years old and thirty pounds overweight. He’s drinking too much, sleeping too little, and scarcely seeing his family. He’s just figured out that the industry that pulled him up the corporate ladder is imploding as he’s reaching for its final rungs. Then, out of the blue, Jim discovers his late father’s decades-old New York Marathon finish times. At forty-six, Bob Axelrod ran a 3:29:58. With everything else going on in his life, Jim sets himself a defining challenge: “Can I beat him?”

 

So begins a deeply felt, often hilarious, quixotic effort to run the 2009 New York Marathon. Along the way, Jim confronts his listing marriage, a career upset by the seismic changes going on throughout the television news industry, excruciatingly painful shin splints, and the worst-timed kidney stone possible. Looming over it all is the shadow of a loving father, who repeatedly lost his way in life but still has a lesson to impart.

 

This is a book about a dead father’s challenge to a son at a crossroads, but, more than that, it is about the personal costs paid when ambition and talent are not enough to ensure success. Most fundamentally, though, it is a book about learning what it takes to be happy in your own skin.

I'd love to share this book with someone who thinks they would enjoy it.  I'll send it to the first person who lets me know (USA please, sorry).  Then that person can pass it on also.  I won't get to it until after school is out but I will get it to you.

4. I have something I'm looking forward to at school.  I'll let you know about it once I've done it.

5. A couple of recent pictures from my porch....

The sky before the storm last weekend.

Tonight..this is a very unusual sight.  Just liked the looks

of the clouds in the valley below the mountain.

Training - Do you do it when it is good for your body or convenient for you?

Do you plan your workouts around what is good for your body or convenient for you?  I definitely fall into the latter camp.  I am terrible about doing what fits into my schedule and NOT what would be best for me.  A recent example is following the VCM two person relay. Did I take the next day off when I was sore and tired?  No.  I ran AND biked.  Why?  Well, it was a day off from work so I had a lot of time to fit the bike and run in whereas during the work week it is harder. Also it was a gorgeous day following many rainy ones.  Did I take Tuesday off then.  NO. I swam, biked and ran as I blogged about last week. I had the time and the weather was great again. Was this smart?  No, but it tends to be how I do it.  When I plan my workouts for the week, I look at my calendar, not what is best.  Does anyone else do this?

Who wouldn't want to bike here given the 

opportunity on a gorgeous day?

(old photo)

Bullet Points for the Weekend

• Last weekend was wood fire weather.
• This weekend was above 90 and humid.
• Lots of thunderstorms in the weather predictions.

This is where I start some of my bike rides from.

Lake Dunmore once again

Taking a break.

• A bike ride on Saturday before the storms.  32 miles. A great route to repeat more than once this summer.
• A purchase of an individual state park pass so I can visit any state park this summer as many times as I want. And I am very anal so will go at least 9 times to get my money's worth.
• Visited Branberry Beach on Saturday while on my bike ride. Just a short rest, snack and bathroom break.
• Worked on report cards at school for 5 hours. Bleeck!
• Too tired to cook supper. My husband had popcorn for supper! I snacked.
• A hot sweaty humid 8 mile run Sunday morning that felt like 18.  A reminder to carry water. Thankfully I stopped and got water at the local church.  
• Lots of front porch sitting with a book in the cool breeze.
• Thunderstorms roll in and are intense.
• A wonderful barbecue at home with both Emily and Jameson.  
• If you went to my classroom this weekend you would see the statue below. One of my students roller bladed to school with it on Friday. I would have loved to have seen that.  He couldn't carry it home so it is still there.  Every time I see it I startle as it is the size of a kid. 

Just envision a 10 year old boy roller blading down the street with 

this in his arms.

A Rocking Workout Day!

First a swim.  Nothing special about the swim but it is part of the whole picture.

Then I had an appointment so was able to leave work at half day.  I had a doctor's appointment that is always a bit anxiety producing but things went well.  Then since there was time I don't often have I got two more workouts in.  I got home much later than planned but.........

I had a fantastic bike ride. It was an easy one on a flat route.  Two years ago at the beginning of the season there was a lot of flooding in Vermont. The marathon course had to be changed because a lot of the course was underwater.

Part of the flooded bike path.

One of the casualties of the flood was the Colchester Causeway which is an absolute delight to run and bike on.  In the summer there is a bike ferry that gets you to the other side of the cut and you can continue to ride in my beloved South Hero.  I have only used the bike ferry once but hope to get back there this summer because the Causeway has been repaired and is not usable. So the other day I rode from my son's to the bike path to the Causeway and back.  I couldn't remember how far it was but round trip it was 26 miles......a very respectable distance for a week day.

At the end of the Causeway....

Looking toward South Hero

The repaired path.....

You can see the path stretching way to the north...

Beautiful mountains in both directions.

Then I got back to Jameson's and decided I would take the time to run too. It was going to be a tri day. Jameson called just before I left and said he would be home in 5 minutes and if I waited he would run with me. I warned him I would be very slow but he said that would be fine. We only ran 4 miles - my request - but it was great.  I was as slow as promised and that night I was in bed before it was dark but I had a great great day!

Ending my busy workout day by running with Jameson....

......perfect!

Vermont City Marathon - A Hit Once Again

My favorite VCM medal ever

Great day - lots of fun in spite of the weather!

                                          
                                                Before the race with Sara - what I was going 
                                                                            to wear

Jameson's clothing choice - we look like

we're in different climates

I agonized over what to wear but there was no getting it right. With temperatures that stayed in the low 40s and a steady drizzle there was nothing to do but suck it up and be wet and cold!  As you might guess the worst part was waiting ahead of time. I was so glad I wasn't doing the second half and waiting around forever!

Jameson's throw away clothes.......

.......although he left on this lovely hat

 We went to Jameson's office and used the bathroom and didn't head for the start until we had to where I once again  had to go and got in the porta pottie line which was the slowest moving ever.  I barely made the start and then..............we were off!

I wore a jacket I would never choose to wear but it was my throw away jacket. Trouble is I never warmed up enough and wore it the whole way so it has lived to be thrown away another day.  Same thing with my mismatched gloves.  I took them off when I was done and my hands were instantly cold. It's amazing that cold wet gloves provide warmth.

During the race I really wasn't overly cold and there were times it was hardly raining. I didn't see a lot of people I knew. Jameson thought the spectators were really quiet but I was amazed at the number out there on such a miserable day.  A friend of mine went and I saw her a couple of times.  My husband went and didn't manage to see Jameson or me but earned forgiveness by giving us a ride almost to the finish line to finish watching the race. I had walked to Jameson's after to SHOWER and change my clothes.  Most.Wonderful.Move.Ever!

Done......about to take the best shower ever!

I'm rambling so I'm moving on to bullet points about the race.

• I did get a better time than my last two halves although not by a lot. My net time was 2:22 which is about 15 minutes slower than last year here. Yikes. Will I ever get my speed back?  My foot/ankle is so much better although after a race like this I notice that it doesn't have the flexibility it should.  
• I did have fun.  Absolutely. VCM never disappoints.
• My teammate who had never done a half loved it and will surely do more.

Sara rocked it!

• My last couple of miles felt much better than in my last half. I didn't die and I felt quite good even going up the last couple of hills. 
• My miles were consistent with most times in the 10s with two in the 11s but low. There was one in the 13s but I had to stop and use the bathroom.  And I still beat my last half time. Hated to stop but it was oh so necessary.  
• Mile 7 flew by and I was sure Mile 8 was mismarked it came up so quickly.  Love it when that happens.
• I was exhausted later in the day. Exhausted. I think my age is showing!

A very similar picture to the one after

Unplugged 6 weeks ago.  Love

my Jaxon!

• It was really strange not to have Emily here. A big hole in the joy of the weekend.
• I love to race.  
• GI problems after a race.  Yep, that's me these days.  
• Watching runners finish a marathon makes me want to do another one.

Incredibly muddy at the finish.....

.....but always beautiful.

• Choices made at My Little Cupcake following the race.  Red Velvet, Pumpkin with maple frosting, salted caramel.  Hit Miss Hit.
• Three halves in 7 weeks.  Now I've got 7 weeks until my next one.
• And triathlon season starts soon. :)

Shirt and medal