Splash

In between the rain I went for a run on the trail Jamie showed me last week. With all the rain the trails were a bit muddier than last week, but were not as bad as I expected.

I started out a little slow, but got some of the creaks and aches out from spending the last 3 days packing and moving boxes of books at school and helping to pack and move a friend of mine yesterday. The dump road hill was a little rough but I ran the whole way even though my running is slower than walking at times.

After the hill I felt great going down the trail by the powerlines and when I hit the woods I actually felt like I was running at a semi-normal pace, something I haven't been able to do at all in the past 6 months. It was at this point that I remembered that I hadn't taken my blood pressure medicine today. Feeling like I was able to run again at a normal pace has solidified my decision to call my doctor to change my medicine to something that doesn't slow my heart rate down. I'm hoping a change in meds will help be get my body going a bit faster!

I was cruisin' through the woods and feeling great. I got about a quarter mile from home and I attempted to dodge a very large mud puddle. I made it halfway around and then totally wiped out and down I went into the deep muddy water. My first fall in the woods. I feel like a true trail runner now.

On a side note, I ran this 4.6 miles at a 12:56 average pace and last week with Jamie I ran it at a 14:29 average pace. Sweet.

Post Run Mud:
(you can also see the funny swelling that happens in my knees- it's like my knees have a weight problem)

Attempt #3

I think I've finally recovered from Pineland Farms. I'm still as slow as ever, but that horrifying feeling of overwhelming exhaustion didn't hit today when I ran. It also helped that Neighbor Jamie took me out on the trails by our houses to show me a new loop (4.6 miles!). He walked most of it because my running slows down so much after a mile, but it was very nice to have company and very nice of him to put up with my slowness.

My legs felt good too and my ad and abductors didn't tighten up until mile 3! Things are going along swimmingly. This week I'll try to get another run in during the week. The end of the school year has been keeping me a bit busy, but I'm curious as to how I feel with two runs/week. Very exciting!

Attempt #2

Things have been a wee bit busy with the birth of my niece and then coming back to work and dealing with the work that piled up, so I haven't done ANY form of exercise all week. No TKD and wiffleball ended, so I didn't even do any base running.

Today I decided to go out for a short run so perhaps I could finish it. I ran the Sarah Vaughn loop at a medium pace for me. I just get so tired. I'm not sure how I ever made it through 15 miles. I need to get back to the gym for cross training and I need to start doing intervals. I think I'm going to stick with some shorter mileage and work on my pace so I can go running in a reasonable amount of time.

Attempt to run again #1

This run can be summed up in two words: Epic Fail.

As the week has progressed I have been feeling better and better. My left hamstring was loosening up along with my hip flexor. I was even walking at a semi-normal pace by Wednesday. I also made it through an hour and a half of Tae Kwon Do Wednesday night and the Wiffleball Championship Doubleheader Thursday evening(our team made it to finals but lost by one run in the last inning - being runner-up ain't so bad though!). I brought my foam roller to the game that night to roll in between innings. It helped keep the left hamstring going through the games.

Today I decided to get my butt back out on the road. I went out to do the Wakefield Loop (4.7 miles) because it's flat. I was feeling great the first mile and ran it in 11 minutes (which for me is pretty darn fast). After mile 2.5, my left hamstring and my right adductor got so tight near my knees. I figured that I probably wasn't doing anything good, so I slowed way down and walked for a while. When I started to run again after stretching for a bit, I was moving super-slow. It was also really hot out compared to how the weather has been.

So, lesson learned: I must be spending more time on the foam roller and more time doing my core exercises from the dr. Off to foam roll I go.

And thank you for all the congratulations on completing my first 25K! I have to admit that I'm still pretty darn excited about having done that.

Pineland Farms 25K

I ran my first long race yesterday. It was long, I was slow, but the Pineland Farms 25K was conquered.

Until yesterday, the longest distance I had ever run in my life was 8.5 miles. Jamie kept telling me, "It's only 7 more miles Kate. You'll be fine." I didn't quite believe him, but I figured, what the heck.

I ran alone through most of the race. There was a father-daughter team that I went back and forth with for a while, but at one of the aid stations I stopped and had my dad stretch me out for awhile. That break left me as the last runner in the 25K with a big gap between me and anyone else. (though I did beat the 4 people who walked it!)

Knowing that my parents were out there somewhere waiting for me was very motivating. They sat for HOURS in the cold and rain waiting for me to come around to the aid stations. It was so nice of them to come down and help me out. They kept me going!

Around mile 8, my left hamstring and hip had just about had it. Thanks to Jamie Raymond, my amazing sports chiropractor, he had me walking around again after my Thursday evening wiffleball game, but I think running on it this long was just too much to ask of it. I did have hot pink Kinesio tape on my hamstring, ad and abductors to help out with the pain and inflammation. I got lots of comments about the tape out on the trails. I made it through miles 8 and 9 and then really started to drag. What was nice was my right leg and I felt fantastic! I had the energy and my right knee was still hanging in there. It's pretty exciting to be running without knee braces!

After I crossed the area where you go by the finish line (painful to see it so close, yet it is so far away), I ran this section of the race essentially alone. And when I say alone, I mean ALONE. It was just me and the fields and woods and the rain. I sang to myself making up the grand ole tune of "I'm alone, in a field, in the rain". At this point I was barely able to move the left leg. So I tried a variety of running techniques. I sashayed so I wouldn't have to use the left leg. I was able to do this for a good while, and then I switched to one-legged skipping. I also tried the keep the left leg straight and swing it around to the side for a limp-along stride. I kept trying to move a bit faster 'cause at this point I was just looking forward to stopping. My right leg then got very tired of having been pulling all the weight for the last many miles and I eventually surrendered to my extremely slow pace and no running up the hills at all. I think the last 5 miles were the longest 5 miles I have ever run. Eventually the 50 miler runners started to go by me. It was very exciting to see people. Emma and Chuck both cruised by me at this point.

I eventually hobbled in to the finish at 4:25:03. I was pretty excited I broke 4:30. Next year I think I'll tackle this again and I should be 100% healthy by then thanks to Dr. Jamie.

So the good news is, up until the last 3 miles, I felt great. My left leg didn't allow me to have much of a stride and it was in killer pain, but the rest of me was doin' fine. Thanks to my parents and all of the other runners out there cheering me on. It was nice to see Raw Food Frank out on the trails - he walked with me for a little while up a hill and kept me going. I also saw a lot of the Trail Monsters out there - every stopped to say hello and give me some encouragement. And thanks to Jamie for pushing me to get out there despite all odds!

I can't move today, but will hopefully be out on the trails again soon. And I can't wait until next year. I'm hoping to knock an hour off my time.

Stop the presses..

Exercise actually happened today.

Thanks to neighbor Karen, I went to the gym tonight. I did 20 minutes on the bike (11 something miles)and 35 minutes on the treadmill (2.5 miles). I walked for 15 min, jogged for 5, then upped the incline for 5, and upped it again for another 5 with a little increase in speed and then I walked a little cooldown for 5. This was the first time I dared to press the incline button. It feels a little funny on the treadmill, but kicked my butt, which was a good thing. I think I'll work on treadmilling it at an incline from and perhaps it will be more like running out and about on the road.

I have a feeling I'm going to be sore tomorrow, but if felt good to be moving again!

Tomorrow I am starting the biggest loser competition at my school. We do our first weigh in. I'm hoping that this competition keeps me motivated as I start once again down the road to getting in shape. It is also great how so many members of my staff have signed up! It's really exciting to promote healthy eating and exercise and to have so many people excited about it. It should be a lot of fun.

Yellow Belt with Green Stripe Test

I made it through my testing tonight, but not without some bumps and bruises. I made it through the first part of the test and all of my self defenses and front grabs. I didn't realize we were also doing wrist grabs - not too bad, but I burst a vein on the top part of my wrist- which stings. I then only had to perform my poomsae, Taeguk I Jang, once! (meaning I did it correctly the first time) I also got to skip the sparring (yea!) because I wasn't testing for a new belt - just a stripe.

Then came the breaking (ominous music in a minor key starts to play now).
I'm not a big fan of breaking. Call be a wuss, but it hurts. Really hurts. It's like whacking your hand/foot against something by accident, but you are doing it on purpose and hitting the object with everything you've got. Being an adult, I'm supposed to use 1 inch boards. This round I was supposed to do a strike with my hand that at least my instructor knew that there was no way that I could do it. So we tried a simple hammer fist. I did that testing for my orange belt.... piece of cake I'm thinking. I just couldn't do. After the 3rd try with the right hand, I switched to the left, then we switched boards to a smaller one and went to the right again. I finally broke that one. The result of all of the pounding can sort of be seen in the following photo:



I also failed at the kicking breaks. I tried two different kicks- both of which I have done before. Just not the night for me.

So, besides the breaking it was ok. I've asked if I can use the breakable non-wooden boards for next round. I guess I'm just not that cool.

Smackdown

Last night at Tae Kwon Do I received a true beat down. I landed with a solid thump directly on the left butt bone while sparring a much larger opponent. There was just no hope when our kicks met. I went flying.

So no fast moving for me for awhile. I ache from head to toe. And with parent conferences happening this week, no running has happened. I'll try to get out this weekend if the ice stops coming down and if my spine and butt feel like moving ever again.

I did get a good workout in last night before I hit the ground. And my instructor made me get up after I got hit and finish the match! Brutal.

Night Run #2

It was a warm evening tonight at 40! It felt like a heat wave so John and I tackled a longer route. We ran down 202 and around the loop of Darbick road. The road was very dark, but it was nice to get off the tar for awhile. The run was a total of 3.95 miles. At the end I was going so slow that John had to stop jogging and walk beside me, but I kept plugging away. After the run, John and I headed to the grocery store for steak and we cooked up a tasty meal. Now I'm fighting sleepiness as I start the many hours of school work that I need to complete tonight.

3 runs in one week! (woo-hoo and a click of the heels!)

In the Dark

Tonight John and I ran the Sarah Vaughn loop. This was my first run in a long time where we started out in the dark. It was still 30 out so not too cold, but chilly. I've been looking for some thicker weight running pants to help with the cold weather. I haven't found any yet, but have found a thicker undershirt. It kept me nice and toasty :)

I was hoping my run would put me in a better mood. I enjoyed John's company, but I'm still annoyed with how my day went. Perhaps I needed to run longer. I'll have to add mileage on in the future depending on how my day went.

Wakefield, Kennebunk Pond and the HHH

A couple of Sundays ago I managed to conquer all 4.6 miles of the Wakefield loop once again. I shuffled along at a slow pace, but it felt good. I did some serious icing of the knees after, but they were ok the next day.

Later that week I went out after school by Kennebunk pond. Brr. I was not prepared for the weather or for the wind whipping. I ran 2.6, but it was not easy. I was underdressed, despite the layers and I was wishing that I had gloves on. Winter is finally upon us.

And for the final part of my update, yesterday I went up to portland with Jamie for our first Hash House Harriers Run. What a riot with a lot of really cool runners. I love that the way that the run is set up, it allows for us slower runners to catch up with those speedy people. Jamie was very nice though and kept checking in with me to make sure I wasn't left behind. Also on the run back to the car I made him walk up the hills because my knees were done with it. Next time I'll remember to take ice. When I don't ice immediately after stopping there are consequences. Today my knees feel like each individual piece of the knee has detached itself and every time I step they all come crashing down together. It was a day of delicate stepping and as much desk work as possible.

I'm hoping to hit up the next hash run. I could get used to that kind of running! Anything that starts and ends with beer works for me :)

First Flakes of Winter

Today I saw my first few flakes of snow come trickling down from the sky. I had left some stuff at school that I needed, so I thought I would go for a run around there after I picked things up. I headed down the road around Kennebunk Pond. I've always wanted to go down there, so I figured running would be a good way to do it!

I made it a total of 4 miles. It may have been the slowest 4 miles ever run, but I ran the whole way - even the hills!

Reason #56 to Lose the Gut: Harder for German Shepherds to Latch on to Your Stomach

It looked like a nice crisp morning this morning to take a little hike up Ossipee Hill. Jaime informed me that you could drive all the way to the gate now, so I thought I would challenge the Honda Fit. The Fit is awesome. I can't believe how well it handled the rocks. I felt like I was driving a Jeep up there - just a very tiny, low Jeep.

I didn't quite make it to the gate because of a large puddle with an indiscernible depth so I parked about 50 meters down the road from the gate and started to head up. I was about halfway up the mountain when two dogs came barrelling around the corner. I am NOT a dog person. They terrify me. Especially a German Shepherd that is coming at you full speed with his teeth showing. I froze as the dog jumped on me gripping my gut with his teeth. At this point I simultaneously screamed, started to cry and started to pee myself. The owner yelled and the dog unlatched, but he continued to circle me. The owner took him down on the ground as I slowly backed away from them. Fortunately the teeth and claws didn't make it through the fleece too much and I am just scratched a little; but it's sore and I think it will make for some good bruises later on today.

That little incident had my nerves a bit on edge and as the sky darkened and the wind picked up as I continued up the hill, things felt a little creepy. It started to rain a little just as I made it to the fire tower, so I didn't stay at the top long. And then I booked it back down the mountain for the heck of it. I love that it takes me 20 minutes to get up the hill and you can run down it in about 5 minutes. I'm sure my knees were cursing me the entire run down, but they already hurt, so I figured, what the heck?

So, lesson learned. If I had a fit and flat stomach, the dog perhaps would not have been able to bite me. Perhaps this will motivate me to get into better shape.

2 runs in 1 week!

I actually ran twice this week. I ran 2.9 on Wednesday and another 2.9 today!

Long Overdue Update

So, since I wrote last, I have run in the Hugs for Haley 5K and the Wine Flight 5K. Not a lot else has happened. The Hugs for Haley run was a lot of fun and was a great benefit event. After the run I swabbed my cheeks to maybe one day be a bone marrow donor.

Yesterday I "ran" in the Wine Flight 5K. This race benefited a couple of wonderful organizations for girls: Hardy Girls, Healthy Women and GoGirlGo. The event was a blast. We ran the 5K in three sections and there were three aid stations we took a break at and enjoyed yummy treats. The first station was all fresh fruits and veggies, the second was crackers and cheese and the third was all about chocolate and yummy desserts. After the race was wine tasting at Sebago brewery. The best part of the entire event was that the race wasn't even timed! I think we finished in an hour or so. Most of that time was spent at the chocolate station that was 20 ft from the finish line. ;)

Yesterday's run was the first time I've been out in a couple of weeks. My muscles are still in shock, but it felt good to be out and about.

Mustang 5K

I have to confess that I haven't done anything since the Hanover Half Marathon Relay. I made it to Tae Kwon Do one night, but that was it. It's been a bit of a struggle getting back into the routine of the school year and I'm still working on not being a workaholic. So, with my lack of running or anything else that remotely looks like exercise, I headed down to the high school today for the Mustang 5K Road Race. This race benefits my town's high school cross country team and I also work in the district I live in, so a few teachers that I work and with signed up for the race.

Driving in I was also feeling the effects of staying up until 1 AM playing Rock Band and drinking Sam Adams. Great fun, but not a great idea the night before a race. I met up with Cecelia, Deb and Penny at the registration table. The day was turning out to be beautiful and looked perfect for running. We headed down to the start line and I pretended to do some stretching.

When the race started I quickly became aware that I was the slowest runner out there. Everyone took off really fast and within 15 seconds, the only people behind me were 3 walkers. I felt ok though and I had my ipod on, so I was good hanging out all by my onsie at the back.

About 3/4 of a mile in, I started to catch up with a few people, so I started counting them down and some sort of evil laughed played in my head as I passed each person. By mile 1, I'd passed 9 people and my first mile split was 10:04. I thought I had been running around an 11 min pace, so I couldn't have been more excited when I heard the split time. I trudged along some more and then came upon the house of a teacher I work with, Barb. Her cheers helped me keep going as at this point in the race, the top runners are already going by in the other direction.

I hit mile 2 around 20:10, which was also very exciting. I was glad to have gone back by Barb's house and she was right there at the end of the driveway cheering me on with a big smile.

The last mile was not pretty. Around 2.5 I got tired and the hips and knees were stiffening up. I don't think they slowed me down though, my lack of being in shape took care of that. Two high school girls that I had passed earlier went by me. What was annoying about this is that they were also dribbling basket balls as they ran, making it look easy. Also the person that I had been running closely behind was pulling ahead. Things were looking bleak.

We ran into the high school parking lot, beside a playing field and then did around 1/2 of a lap on the track to the finish line. At this point I was just trying to stay ahead of the two people coming up behind me. I could see their shadows looming close behind. When I hit the track, my feet felt the comfort of the very familiar surface and a burst of energy hit. The track is my kind of running.

I kicked it up a bit and realized that I was catching up the the woman in front of me, despite the fact that she had really pulled ahead. As I rounded the last turn, there was a moment of indecision. Do I stay behind this woman, who ran ahead of me the entire race to be nice or do I go by her? I realized that she was not picking it up for the end of the race. I decided to ignore her and run my own race. I cruised by her, leaving her in the wake of my excitement that I was going to get to stop running soon.

I finished in 31:18. I couldn't be happier with my time. I'm just excited that I can still run close to 10 min miles. Here's the best part though.....

I WON RUNNER UP IN MY AGE GROUP!!!

Crazy isn't it! My friend Penny took the top prize in our age group. I was so excited when they said my name I just kept bouncing around! The man who was handing them out laughed at me and said, "You're really excited!" I wanted to say, "Hell ya! I'm normally excited to finish before the walkers!" I am not the kind of runner who wins their age group at races. Of course I was excited!

So, there is my once in a lifetime award for a road race. I think Penny and I might have been the only ones in our age group, but I'm going to pretend that the few people that finished behind me was also :) My friend Deb placed second in her age group and her daughter rocked the race and placed 3rd in the under 14 category and ran some spectacular time that I can't remember- I think in the 26's. Not too shabby for a 10 year old!

So the day was great fun, it was a very nice race to run and to top of it off, I won an award (see below). I feel like a kid in a candy store.

K + 2(K) = 13.1

This weekend I ran the CHAD Half Marathon Relay with friends Katherine and Kathryn (hence our relay name. KKK was not really a good option so we went with the K + 2(K). Despite the rain (thanks to hurricane Hanna), it was a great weekend.

I hadn't done a lot of exercise this week so I was little worried. I'd run 2.9 last Saturday and went out for another 2.9 on Tuesday with John, but only made it two because of some sharp muscle tightness. I also didn't make it to TKD this week because of our school's open house night. So I was a little weary about going into the race this weekend.

This is the first race I've done with an afternoon start time. I headed up to my brother's house in Hanover Saturday morning to meet up with everyone. It was raining right before I left, but then cleared up. The day was humid and warm with no sun, but it looked good for running. Along with my relay team, my brother was running on a team with the husbands of my two teammates (team name: Two guys and a couch). Also, my brother's friend Sean was running the full half marathon.

We all drove in to the Dartmouth campus and set up home base in my brother's office. His office is right next to the Dartmouth green - right where the start/finish and the relay handoffs all were. It was very handy, especially when it started to rain 15 minutes before the start of the race. It seemed odd to be running so late in the day. I'm not sure I liked it. It gives you too much time to think.

I ran the first leg, 2.8 miles (the shortest distance and the flattest!), with Jeff from Two Guys and a Couch. I left him at mile 1, trying to keep a 10 min/mile pace. I held that pace until mile 2 and then I hit a hill. It wasn't a particularly large hill, but the incline seemed to go on forever. The hill wiped me out and my pace slowed to a crawl. I picked it up when I rounded the corner to the last 100 yards in my leg and passed our bracelet baton off to Kathryn. Kathryn had the longest and hilliest leg of 6.5 miles. She cruised through and looked really strong at the handoff. She passed the baton off to Katherine in the middle of the green and Kathryn brought our team home with the last 3.8 miles. Throughout the race the rain kept coming harder and harder and it cooled off quite a bit. Our official time was 2:25:54. We were pretty excited about breaking 2 and a half hours. Two Guys and a Couch finished in 2:06:03. Sean, who ran the whole thing, whooped us all with a time of 1:56:29.

After partaking in the after race BBQ, we headed home for some excellent pizza and brownies. I had a great time and hopefully we'll be able to do this race again another year.

Here are Kathryn, Katherine and I (aka K + 2(K) = 13.1):

Lullaby of Birdland

Tonight I ran Sarah Vaughn. All of it. A whooping total of 2.9 miles. Thanks to my neighbor John, I actually got out there and ran tonight. The best part was that the run actually felt good. We ran around a 10:15 pace. The pace felt light and I wasn't hobbling at the end - it felt so nice to finish a run dragging myself into the driveway like Egor. I am now sure I'll be able to finish my leg of the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth Half Marathon Relay next weekend.

So even though the real Sarah Vaughan spells her name differently than my neighborhood road, I named this blog entry after one of my favorite songs that she sings because it is so light and fun. Tomorrow I head back to the osteopathic dr. for another session with my bewildered dr.

Different kind of training

I'm not doing very well keeping up with exercise. Work is dominating once again. But I made it through today and now should have a little more time to work out a steady schedule. Today I ran a workshop/training for my staff on classroom design/purpose, meaningful independent reading and how to take and analyze running records. Sounds fascinating doesn't it? :) I actually do think all of it is fascinating, but I suppose that's why I do what I do.

For the second official day at school, when there are so many things to do, I have to say that I am so lucky to have the staff I do! It was a lot of information in an uncomfortable school cafeteria. I can't say enough about how I am really excited about this upcoming school year! I can't wait to see where we go as a school and how we can impact kids.

Seeing yellow

I am officially a yellow belt.

And I was able to break my boards. I had never done or seen my kick break and I wasn't sure I was going to pull it off, but I broke the board with a very satisfying snap. The kick was a jumping axe kick.

Jumping Axe Kick

Running from reality

Today I finally dragged myself back into reality and out on the road. I haven't done anything all week, except work and read. My parents were also visiting from Tuesday night to Friday night, so I spent a lot of time with them and we ate out a lot at some very yummy places. Mostly I have been reading. After finishing Twilight, I had to go get the second book, then the third and I finished book four last night. I couldn't stop. What, you may ask, am I doing reading high school romance novels about vampires and werewolves? The answer is Edward Cullen, who leaves every female reader wishing that they had their own Edward. He's an addiction- no wonder these books are so popular! So as work takes more and more time as the beginning of the school year draws closer, I was able to escape this world with Bella and Edward for a short while. Ahhhhhh.

But now that I have finished the book, I decided I should probably restart my life. So I headed out today to run Sarah Vaughn. I started right out with no warm-up walk. 50 meters down the road, I realized I had forgotten my watch - that was ok though. I didn't need to see how slow I was going. About another 50 meters down the road I went past a patch of goldenrod and realized that I had forgotten my inhaler. That would be ok too - the wheezing will just keep me company. Then, about another 50 meters down the road, I realized I had forgotten my knee braces. I apparently haven't run in so long, I forgot how to get out the door! I can't run without my knees all wrapped and cozy, so I headed home to get everything I'd forgotten.

I eventually made it back out. I ran 2.5 miles of the loop at an average of a little under a 10 minute/mile pace. I felt like I had lead feet, but I didn't feel too bad for having not done anything all week. Now I'm just going to have to work on a set schedule. The trick will be to keep up with the running now that I'm back to work.

Running? What's that?

I haven't been doing a heck of a lot since my run last Thursday (besides my walk on Saturday). I did help friends of mine pack up yesterday for their move to Texas. That was a good workout and I've got another whole set of exciting bruises to show off. We fit an amazing amount of things in their moving van (after having to unload a large amount of it to reorganize and to dig out the bike rack).

I had a meeting all day today, but I made it to TKD tonight. I'm testing next Monday for my yellow belt! I'm a little nervous. I'm not looking forward to having to break again. I learned that I can switch my hand break though from a knife hand to a palm break. I'd rather hit the board with my palm rather than the outside of my hand. It just doesn't feel good to slam my hand into a board! (but I have to say it's cool that I can do it :) )

Below is my current Poomsae form that I will need to perform on Monday.

Taeguk Il Jang

First Trip to Pineland Farms and Twilight

I have heard about Pineland Farms from Jamie and I had driven by sort of accidentally on a detour gone awry at the beginning of July. I was intrigued with the gardens as I drove by and made a mental note to make it up there some time in the future.

So today I went up and met with Jamie's running crew at Pineland Farms because Mindy was going to be there to go on a walk to begin her path to running again after a long stint of rest and healing for her stress fractured hip. I thought I would be able to handle a walk :) Frank the runner we met at the Vermont 100 was also going to be running. It was fun to see him, even if only for a short time before everyone disappeared into the woods. He did pass along to me an amazing calendar that Cathi had given him to give to me. It was signed by all of the runners in the calendar. It is filled with amusing pictures of "naked" runners and excellent looking recipes. Cathi had also asked Frank to bring me some of his chocolate macaroons, which are heavenly. I'm guessing there is ginger in them, which goes perfectly with the chocolate and coconut(three of my favorite things), creating a treat that I couldn't keep my hands off of. They're almost all gone. Thank you so much Cathi and Frank!

I had a great time this morning and Mindy and I walked a couple of miles through the beautiful trails. We saw what I think was a Red Tailed Hawk. It was some sort of hawk-like raptor. We also heard a deep voiced sounding bird that was possibly a wood pecker. After our walk, I played with an adorable puppy named Echo for awhile and then headed over to the gardens.

I then spent about two hours here:



After walking around the gardens, I grabbed the book from my car and plopped myself on the above swing, just as the sun was starting to come out. I had brought the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I have been wanting to read it as it is all the rage with high school girls. I started it this morning and couldn't put it down. I finally left the wood of the hanging seat in the garden and headed home to my soft feather bed to continue to read. It was scandelously delicious. No wonder there is such a huge following of the series. It is such a guilty pleasure to read all day and this book did not disappoint. Somehow the 500 pages went by very quickly and now I'm going to have to get the next book in the series. I'm thinking a late night trip to Borders might be happening this evening.

Below are pictures from the garden. It is a beautiful spot and the 2 hours I was there, only 1 couple walked through. I had the place to myself. What a day.




My adorable car at one of the gates

Some slightly faster running

John and I did some "speed work" tonight. I'm glad John was around because I'm not sure I would have gone out. I worked all day, have a ton of work to do tonight and my body is just really cranky today from head to toe.

I also tried something new tonight. I went to a new osteopathic doctor yesterday, Dr. Yee. In the past 17 years (when the hip pain started), I have been to too many sports doctors, specialist and physical therapists to count. I'm still not convinced that chronic pain is normal and I think I have found a doctor that will be willing to work with me long term. I think she recognizes that it's not a quick fix and that we can't just focus on one area - you have to treat everything as a whole. She told me I should take one Aleve in the morning (I normally take 2) and then take another right before I run. I'm thinking the one Aleve this morning is why I ached so much today, but I'll give it another try tomorrow. She also said I should try heating before exercise and icing after. I normally ice after (and sometimes before), but I don't use heat that much. I think it helped a little. I'll continue to give it a try. I'm also not supposed to stretch "hard". Dr. Yee said that a lot of the areas where there is major pain is where everything connects. What can happen is the tendons and muscles and such start to fray - so I need to work on stretching the middle of the muscles because I've put so much strain on those points over the years.

So, using this new plan, John and ran the Sarah Vaughn loop. We started with a 7 minute warm-up jog and then did:
30 sec sprint - 2:00 min wog (this is a jog that is as slow as walking - my high school track coach named it the Kate Shuffle)
30 sec sprint - 2:30 min wog
30 sec sprint - 3:00 min wog
30 sec sprint - 2:30 min wog
30 sec sprint - 2:00 min wog
30 sec sprint

Then we jogged back, ending with a cooldown walk. We were out for 35 minutes and went a total of 2.8 miles. I was actually proud of myself. I wasn't really sprinting, it was more of a faster run (John was going much faster than I was). I am going to take it slow so I don't pull anything or do too much damage. It felt like a good little workout though and hopefully I'll see my speed increase if we continue to follow this format once a week.

I also bought another knee brace for my right knee and it was much happier at the end of the run. At least I match now!

Running and rumbling

Tonight I went for a run with my neighbor John. We haven't had a run together in a VERY long time. It was nice to have company! We did the Sarah Vaughn loop and ran 2 miles of it. We ran an average pace of 10:33. Right before we headed out a storm started to come through. The thunder kept rumbling loudly, but it looked like the storm was a little south and not too much lightening. The thunder was loud though and at one point made me scream loudly.

Now I'm settling in to an evening of Olympics. I'm really looking forward to the women's gymnastic team competition.

Why gymnastics is so amazing(from nbcolympics.com):