Taking a week off

Of running, that is.

Seems like this week is a good one - I am in Calgary for work meetings this week. The hotel actually has a pretty nice exercise room, and a pool in which I can swim laps.

The plan is to ride bicycle and to swim for exercise this week. And stretch, stretch, stretch.

I tried going out for a long run on Saturday, planning on some loops from my house in case the hip/knee started being cranky. About 3 miles in to the 5-mile loop, things were not good. I actually talked to someone at the grad open house I was at on Saturday about the troubles I am having (I think she's a physical therapist or running coach or something like that) but my description of where the pain is, and the pressure point in the front of my hip that alleviates the knee pain, she figured I have a pinched nerve. She also suggested that I needed to do some abdominal strength work. And I knew that, but was ignoring it.

So I biked this morning. About 10.5 miles in my 45 minutes.

Now I need to hop into the shower, and get ready for a day of training.

Woo hoo.
~a

What do you mean it's not Friday?

Sure feels like it should be Friday tomorrow. I hate it when that happens.

It has been a long week already.

I was at the rail yard until 10pm last night. And I was tired. And dusty. It was not as stressful as last year, I will have to say, but when you have to yell at volunteers for doing things that they should not be doing (and have been told to keep the parade participants from doing these things), you start to wonder why you are allowing these people on to your property. It is a working rail yard/intermodal yard - case in point, there was a train that departed a little after 5pm. People started showing up to line up at 4:30. Then there was the kid that I told him and his "adults" to cross the tracks or stay off of them. Then I find him LAYING in the middle of the tracks. Hello???? Yes ladies, you need to watch the children you are responsible for.

But, they have been finding more and more business for that yard, and I really think this is the last year that we are going to allow the parade to stage there. I just don't want to deal with the parade and truck and rail traffic. Too many kids, and not enough adults that care to supervise properly.

Anyhoo, I'm off to home, to grab my suit so I can swim laps/run in my friend's pool.

ta!
~a

Hippy, Hippy shake

Don't you love the human body?

I think I have it figured out. I need to stretch my left hip lots more than I have been. I got up at 5am this morning to go for a run. Knee band in place, was feeling pretty good for pretty much all of my 3 miles (in 31 minutes!). After I was done, and walking it out, with the knee giving me twinges, I started pressing on the muscle in my hip. And lo and behold... if I got the right pressure point, the pain in my knee went away.

I think I might have to go find a masseuse.

But I also stretched a bit, and that muscle is kinda sore. Hopefully if I keep doing some good deep stretches it will help!

Last night was spent getting new anti-virus on the computer. We were having connectivity problems... couldn't get the web up, even though it said there was a connection. After 15 minues on the phone with the customer service rep, up and down the stairs to unplug and reconnect the modem (yes I had done that before, but they made me do it again) we discovered it was the anti-virus software, so I updated it to the newest version, and things work again! Woo hoo.

Tonight, I get to do "security" at our Shoreham yard in NorthEast Minnepolis. The Norteast parade is lining up in our rail yard, and I will be driving around in my company vehicle to make sure that people are behaving, and not doing things that they should not be doing. All I have to say is that there better not be any kids on unicycles running through the yard. Those kids (and parents that cannot control those kids) are out of control. Last year I saw a couple of kids on the unicycles ducking in and out of the intermodal trailers that were parked there, with truck traffic going in and out of the yard. When the adults in the group were told to control their kids, and that we have had problems and that they had been warned about this - they played dumb. Helloooooo - you are jepardizing the whole parade by your actions! (How do I really feel?)

Anyhoo - off to hit the shower!

~a

Pain in the...

Knee.

Yep. It's still there.

I bought myself a knee brace, and I don't think it is working so well - I think the brace is not adequate for what is going wrong. It might mean a visit to the doctor, and not a self-diagnosis.

I went for a run on Saturday. Waking up, the weather station told me that it was 68 degrees with 83 percent humidity. Blek. But, I did get out there anyway. Met, started out with at group of people, but dropped behind when I saw Jess. I trailed behind a couple of them for a while, until I had to start walking because my knee started hurting. Walked and ran the rest of the way, stopping to adjust the knee band, stopping to stretch, stopping to remove sand/stones from my shoe. 7 miles in about an hour and 20 minutes. I did it, but was not real happy when I was done.

Not sure where I go from here. I'm thinking about asking my friend if I can do some "running" in her pool, to keep in shape and not aggrivate the knee, and let it heal some.

and again.... Yuk.

~a

Blah, Blah, Blog

I'm home all week folks...

And I seem to be busier than ever. Why is that?

So my random thoughts and other assorted stuff for the day.

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. I called him in the morning (because HE is out of town, on vacation, fishing in a tournament) and had to be prompted to wish him a happy birthday. He's 48, the old fart! I'm planning on making him a fabulous dinner on Friday, and will give him his gift then. Note to self: buy husband's birthday gift...

It is hot outside. Yet still cold in my office. I hate that I have to wear closed shoes and my wool blazer in the office, or I freeze to death.

The scale told me I weighed 175 pounds this morning. After sweating buckets on my run, but hey, you take what you can get, right? So I have eaten Golden Grahams for breakfast, sushi and beer cheese soup for lunch, and some "flat earth" chips (yummy, by the way) and am sitting here pleasantly full. I have not been counting points since before Isle Royle, yet I am still not gaining... but actually losing. Hmmmm - cut out some of the crap, and stop eating when you are full. Is that how it works?

I'm wearing size 12 pants today. And they are not tight.

I bought an exercise outfit at Target yesterday: A running skirt and a top (okay, so I can't find a picture of the skirt). And darn, they were awful cute on the rack. I need to return them today, since I was not feeling the clothing love when I got home and tried them on.

We are haveing some folks over on Saturday, to celebrate Eric's birthday. So I have been madly working on some house projects. And my "new" sewing machine hates me. It keeps jamming. It's the machine that my mother has had for years, and she had it overhauled before she gave it to me, but it is acting up again. I think it is actually older than me - if I remember correctly, I believe mom sewed her wedding dress with this machine. So, I had to resort to using my "old" sewing machine, which I know is older than me. It was my great aunt's machine - I still have the reciept from when my great uncle bought it for her. In 1948. They sure don't make things like they used to! The house projects include making roman shades for the bedroom, and cushions for our wooden benches on the patio.

I also have a friend of a friend coming over tonight so I can look at doing some alterations on her bridesmaid dress. Damn, I love being crafty! (yeah, I'm also kind of cheap... why buy things when you can make them for a fraction of the cost?)

Oh running. Yeah, have not been doing enough lately. Got out and did 3 miles this morning. Taped my knee, but after sweating, it came off. I need to get one of those velcro straps. I bought something at Target that was "designed for women's knee pain" but it's a patellar (kneecap) brace, and does not support the IT band area. I guess I need to go into an actual drug store and browse their selection of braces, since it appears the tape is not going to work (or I need to get new tape - the stuff I used on Isle Royale worked!)

I think that's enough randomness for now. Have a great day!

~a

Alive, but definately busy

Yep.

I managed the whole Isle Royale trip.

and I am back in one piece. and I figured out what I needed to do with my knee so I would survive - it appears to be an IT band issue, and a judicially placed piece of first aid tape worked wonders! Especially the day we missed our turn, and hiked almost 16 miles, rather than the 10 we had planned.

All with 50+ pounds on my back!

I did figure, if I can do 16 miles with 50 pounds, up and down hills in a day, I think I can possibly handle a marathon.

Last week, back after the trip, I spent two days in Thief River Falls for work, then I spent the next two days out at a derailment, so there really was no time for updating here.... sorry! I am working up a description of our trip, which I plan to post when I get that done.

I also decided not to run the 1/2 marathon with my friend today. With all the business, and letting blisters heal, I figured it was the best thing. Plus I only got to run about 5 miles on one day this week - but I know I need to get back at it.

The other thing about my vacation: stepping on the scale Monday morning, I had lost 5 pounds. I guess 50 miles might just do that for you!

Running off to a friend's housewarming. And I promise, I will be running tomorrow!
~a

Today is the day!

My friends will be here to pick me up at 12:30 today. Then we are driving to Grand Portage, where we will spend the night, and we take the ferry to Isle Royale on Monday morning.

I tried to take it kind of easy with my exercise this past week - Monday was a bike ride (of course it was 18 miles or so) but I always find that rather easy and fun. Easier than running, that is. Wednesday, before book club I was able to get home early and exercise for about 45 minutes on the NordicTrack.

And Saturday, I went out for a long, easy run with my friend. Long is the key word... we did somewehere around 12 miles. And to tell you the truth, for the most part, it was great. We chatted, and relaxed into the run, and ran at a very comfortable pace. From my figuring (minus the pit stop along the way) I clocked us at the 6-mile turnaround point at about an hour and two minutes. And yes, we were running and talking at that pace!

But then... my knee started giving me some trouble. The knee that has not given me trouble in the past... so we stretched a bit, and kept going. And it kept hurting, so I walked a bit, and it stopped hurting. Ran a bit more, and when there was less than a mile left, I walked, and it didn't hurt walking, so I figured I did not injure myself before I was to go hiking 50 miles in a week.

Yeah - it hurt most of yesterday after I got home. I have been taking ibuprofin, and resting it, and wearing a knee brace. And it feels better than it did yesterday, but still a little twinge here and there. But it still hurts some. At least I still have about 24 hours to recover before we start hiking. I am packing the Ibuprofin and the knee brace.

So I am all packed, and ready to go, and pretty much nervous as hell.

Wish me luck!
~a

Holy Crap

This makes me nervous, just watching it...

If you watch closely, you can see someone jump off of the oncoming locomotive just before the impact

watch video

Yeah, I work for the railroad... but not this one!

less than one week

until I leave for Isle Royale.



Yikes. Kind of getting excited and nervous at the same time.

Spring in Minnesota

I had good intentions of cleaning my house last night, but that just did not happen...

Instead, Eric and I went out for a lovely dinner. I got to sit out on the patio of a lovely restaurant, enjoying a glass of wine, and eating fabulous food. Eric had the salmon, I had the sea bass. It was just so relaxing.

I kind of needed it after my long day - I was at work from 7:30 am until about 5:30 pm. Catching up from a week out of the office, and preparing to be gone out of the office for another three days.

Things are going to be interesting at work for a while though, one of our unions in Canada is preparing to go on Strike at midnight tonight, so my boss is going to be depolyed to cover the work while the union folks are on strike. I don't have a permit to work in Canada, so it will be business as ususal here, pretty much...

I went for a run this morning, and it actually went pretty well - I did my 4 miles in about 41 minutes. It would appear that I am getting faster. Not a bad thing, but sometimes it just amazes me that I am running close to 10 minute miles. And the new pants I bought in Florida at the end of March are too big for me - I kept hiking up my pants yesterday, it was actually kind of annoying. But what's a girl to do? I guess I have to go look and see if I have anything in the next size smaller... although I think I kind of skipped that size last time I was losing weight. It means I just have to lose more, right?

Anyway, I need to hop in the shower and get on the road to LaCrosse - my meeting today starts there at 10:30.

ta!
~a

My first ever....

And it brought a tear to my eye too.

I got a Mother's Day card on Saturday in the mail. From my stepdaughter. I guess I should have kind of expected it, since I saw the one she had mailed to my mother - but it still kind of took me by suprise.

Yesterday, I celebrated Mother's Day by going for a 5-mile hike with my 35 pound backpack, rushing home, showering, and then off to meet my mom, grandmother, and aunt (and their assorted spouses and family) for Sunday Brunch. There were 13 of us there, and we were all entertained by my cousin's daughter performing all of her dance recital moves for us in the restaurant, singing songs she made up. She's 4, and pretty adorable.

After that, it was off to do some shopping. A stop at the sporting goods store for some stuff sacks, getting my Mother's Day present of a new broom (When I asked Eric what I was getting for Mother's Day, he said "a new broom?" I thought it a good idea, since the one we have is old, and the handle is falling apart), cat food, and then a stop at Trader Joe's, since they have opened a new store in Maple Grove. I got some dried frut and trail mix for our backpacking trip, and some assorted other things you can only get at TJ's that I love (like chicken sausages!)

Oh, yeah, and after we got home, I did something like 7 loads of laundry.

I have more traveling this week - this time to exotic LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

Ta
~a

I knew something was off...

I went on a long run this morning.

And I ran the whole thing. I am very proud of myself. But, there was a fly in the ointment. I ran what I figured was a 10 mile route. Yep. 10 miles. Running. Me. Amazing, is it not?

But the fly: If it was 10 miles, I would have been doing 10 minute miles, since my time for said route was 1 hour and 40 minutes (well, and 59 seconds, if you want to be exact). I know I don't run that fast without pushing myself.

So I re-mapped the route. Turns out it is only 9.57 miles. Only. Would you listen to me? You might think I am a super-dedicated runner!

But, I have never run the whole route before. And I don't ever remember running that far, without any walking, at any time in my life. And the best thing: I'm not dead tired, and it was a pretty easy run. Methinks I am getting in shape. And another good news story - if you figure it out, it's about 10 and a half minute miles - which I still consider to be awesome.

On that note, I'm off to run some errands - I need to get flowers for my grandmother and mother for mother's day, from my sister, of course... I have better gifts!

Ta
~a

Bereavement leave

Is is wrong that I asked for two days off of work for my step-father-in-law's funeral and internment?

Yesterday with the visitation and funeral, I really had to take the day off. Today, the internement is at 1pm. But I took the day off.

The funeral yesterday was odd, to say the least. Not that the ceremony was anything unusual, but just the assortment of people, Frank's (SFIL) kids, my Mother-in-law and her relatives. I guess I did not know him very well, and he was Eric's second stepfather - SFIL and MIL have been married about 9 years. But, as things go, of course my MIL was sitting in the front row. So we sat with her - I felt like I was userping his kids... why was I in the front, when his children and grandchildren and great grandchildren were sitting behind me.

And I learned things about my SFIL - I always thought he really was kind of boring, he liked to talk to you and not say much, but he was very active in a number of historical groups, and within the community when his kids were growing up. If I had known about that, perhaps I would have been more interested in talking to him when we went to visit them. But, I guess you just get cranky, and tired of telling the same stories when you get older.

I have been taking advantage of my free time the last two days to get in some running. Yesterday's run was great. I ran 5 miles in just over 50 minutes.

Today's run was another story. I think I ate too many bars at the funeral lunch, 'cause I was just not feeling it today. 6 miles today took me about an hour and 10 minutes. I will say I walked a fair portion of it.

Tomorrow it is back to work. I most likely will head out tonight, to make meetings that are tomorrow morning.

Yep, back to real life.
~a

An interesting weekend

I'm glad that I decided to take Friday off of running, I think my body needed the rest!

Instead, my hubby and I went out to a Jaycees happy hour, and had some good food and fun drinks. And then it was home and in bed by 10:30pm. Yep, in case you were wondering, we are "old"!

Eric had a really neat event that he was volunteering at at 7am Saturday morning - something they call the "Vet's Home Opener" where they bring a trout pond, stocked with trout to the Veteran's home, and let them fish, then their catch is prepared as shore lunch. They get to invite their grandkids to the event, and have a grand old time fishing. I guess this event is something that they talk about all year, and something that they anticipate greatly. I just think it's a heck of a nice event.

Also, Saturday morning, I got up and met my running group for a run. I had 7 miles on my schedule, but ended up doing about 8 - it was an out and back route, and I got distracted by the conversation we were having on the run... but it was comfortable running for most of the way, even if we were doing somewhere around 10:30 miles

I came back home to a message on the machine from Eric's mother - his stepfather passed away somethime on Friday night or Saturday morning. He had been diagnosed with Stomach/Liver/Pancreatic cancer about three weeks ago, and they estimated he had about 4-6 months left to live. I suspect he just gave up. He was 81, and an Air Force veteran. If you are interested, this is the Obituary.

Eric ended up going out to a local place with a group of people that were working the event with him, and at about 3:00 when I called him to see what was up, he said he had just ordered food and a root beer, as he needed to sober up before heading home... evidently someone had paid for the first $150 of their bar bill...

So I headed out without him, to meet some of my friends to eat Mexican food at a place on their patio, and to have a DosEquis. Then back to my friend's house to chit chat... I ended up getting home around 10:45, to my husband laying on the bed, across the pillows at the top of the bed, sound asleep. I had to wake him up to move - I told him he had to move, or I was not going to sleep with him! It just made me laugh!

Sunday, I met a friend of mine to go for a hike with our 30+ pound packs, to get in some miles with the weight we will be carrying on Isle Royale. We actually went the same place I had gone running the day before, since I thought it was a pretty decent location. It was sure windy though - we ended up doing about 6 miles, but we were getting really concerned on the way back, with the wind gusting like it was... wondering if some of the trees there were getting ready to topple. I guess they measured some gusts at the airport (which we were quite close to there ) at 53 miles per hour.

And coming back to our vehicles... it appears that some bastard backed into my car, and dented the driver side rear wheel well. And didn't have the curtosy to leave a note or anything. My pretty red Jetta is now damaged. It really sucks. Well, probably not as much as Jessica's experience, but I don't know who did it, I have to be mad at an unnamed ahole.

So a mix of good and bad.

Par for the course, right?
~a

Just under 9 minutes

Met up with Jess to run the Twin Cities One Mile race last night. It was actually pretty fun, although there were almost too many people at the starting line - much craziness ensued as the police kept trying to clear all of the runners lined up out of the street so that traffic could go through.

So my time was a little slower than last year (9 seconds according to my watch) but at least my leg didn't cramp up on me.

And I am registered for the marathon. (gasp!)

This is just a quickie, as I need to get to work, but I wanted to post the pic!

~a

Dilated

I went to the eye doctor today. One, because I had not been since October of 2005. Two, because I have a "floater" in my right eye that I wanted to be checked out. I kept seeing this thing that looked like a fuzz when I moved my eye. So the deal is, sometimes the proteins in the vitrious fluid clump up, then you see these strange spots. It's pretty harmless, but annoying all the same.

The good news is that I am noticing it less - perhaps it is breaking up somewhat or my mind is getting used to it and compensating.

But, they had to dilate my pupils to get a good look at it. And I am wearing sunglasses in my office, otherwise the overhead lights are painful, and the white papers on my cubicle wall have these strange halos. Let's hope nobody thinks they need to drug test me (not that I am worried about the outcome!)

I made myself real popular at work this week... I went out into the field to observe a supervisor and employees, and the employees are now all cranky because I am telling them what the rules are, and that the supervisors are expected to enforce them. "But we've been doing it that way for xxx amount of time!" Yeah, doesn't make it right now, does it.

I went for a 5 mile run last night, and it really kind of sucked. I was into it for the first two miles (in about 20:30) but then I started getting a little lightheaded. I had eaten a farily large lunch (chicken, flour tortilla, cheese, refried beans, spanish rice), so I ended up walking about 5 minutes or so. I finished in a little over 55 minues, so it wasn't terrible, but not like the 3 miles I did in just over 30 min the day before.

And today I think I have discovered the reason - I tend to tank a bit with my exercise when I am getting my period. Glad to know it wasn't since I about killed myself trying to do too much last weekend.

Tonight I get to meet Jess for the TC 1 Mile race that kicks off the Marathon registration. It starts with the first Mile!

ta
~a

Tired on top of tired

That was pretty much my weekend....

And last week was long, too.

Yeah, so I was in Chicago for three days last week, but at least the hotel I was staying in had a 24-hour exercise room. I did manage to get up both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to run. 4 on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday. Although I must say, I was definately wearing the wrong clothes on Wednesday. (Beware, this might be TMI) Chafing sucks. I mean, really. The shorts I was wearing kept riding up, and my thighs chafed (this is why I run in spandex...) but the sports bra I was wearing had a seam that chafed too... So sore boob and crotch, wonderful... and a whole day of instruction ahead of me (I was teaching a class) and then a plane ride to boot.

For the weekend, we were doing some spring cleanup/planting at a community center in St. Paul. My husband and I were running the project, and needed to be there at the 8am start. So, I decided it would be best to run before that... 5 miles (no biggie, right?) So run, 3 hours of gardening, then home. Where I decided since we were in the mode, I wanted to do something with our yard. So I cleared out the leaves and weeded the peonies, removed leaves from the window wells, and from the bushes and the ferns, amongst some other things... while Eric worked on wrapping a chain around the stumps of the bushes he cut down last year using the truck.

Yeah, I was tired that night after 5 miles, and about 8 hours of gardening stuff. So what did I do on Sunday for an encore?

Well of course, I got up and went for a run. I mapped out a route that was 9 miles (4.5 out then back). All well and good, but it turns out the Gateway Trail is under construction, and detoured. Since I don't have a gadget that tells me how far I run, I went to my originally planned turn-around point. And mapped what I had done after I got home. I went 9.5 miles. And it was hard, I ended up doing about 12 minute miles with the walking/water breaks.

And for an afternoon activity? We mulched the flower beds and the lilac bushes.

Yeah, I slept well.

And for this week? Believe it or not, I don't have any travel plans (unlike the last 3 weeks). The only thing I really have scheuled is the Twin Cities 1-Mile race on Thursday, where I plan to register for the Marathon.

I'm both excited, and scared at the same time.

So that's what's up.
~a

11 minute miles

Yep, writing about running again....

Just got home from my run this morning. It was actually quite relaxing. I didn't push myself, and ran what felt comfortable. I did my 7 miles this morning in an hour and 17 minutes. Nice, relaxed, 11 minute miles. It was actually kind of strange, because I was trying to work on my breathing, and I never really felt all that out of breath or that I was breathing too heavy.

I ran from my house, and around Lake Phalen. There were quite a number of people there, and I kept seeing all of these folks with University of Minnesota sweatshirts on bicycles... it appears that the were having a rowing (or is it crew) competition there. It was kind of neat watching the teams on the boats in the lake. And talk about some "buff" women!

Also, as I was running around the lake, I was pleased to see a man wearing a certain T-shirt - for the Labor Payne 5K race. Our Jaycee chapter is the one that started and runs that race. I was actually the one that came up with the name, it is on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, and it is run with the sponsorship of the Payne-Arcade Business Association. But it was neat to see someone actually wearing our race T-shirt.

Anyway, I need to get showered and ready - I am going down to Mankato with a group of Jaycees for the Mankato Jaycee's "Walkabout" which is a bar hop. It was a lot of fun last year, and I am looking forward to the same tonight. I plan to wear a "dangerous" outfit, as my husband likes to describe it - he told me I should wear a turtleneck instead, since he will not be there... but I like the compliments and the flirting too much!

Ta!
~a

40:26

Ran 4 miles this afternoon. In just over 40 minutes. I thought I had started out too fast, but I continued on, even up the long hill... makes me feel good! That close to 10 minute miles.

I didn't run yesterday, as I had a lovely drive back from Thief River Falls, and a friend of Eric's had given him tickets to the Timberwolves game for the eveining... so I pushed it to get home, and my legs were pretty much screaming at me for driving for so long without much for stretch breaks. I hate it when that happens.

Oh, and the game was actually pretty boring. The arena was pretty sparse, and it was their last game of the season, and they are not in the playoffs. The couple next to us were discussing how they were kind of glad that the season was over, so a fresh start could be made. And to prove how dull the game was... I said something to Eric in the third quarter, and getting no reply, I looked over and he was asleep! I guess we are an old married couple!

It's been kind of a blah day, and I really needed that run to get me in a better mood. I feel like I need something like the couple sitting next to us mentioned last night - a fresh start. Things at work are just getting me kind of down, and I need to work on turning that around. I think that part of it stems from the fact that I have been there for almost 11 years (gasp!) and I have been kind of treading water, doing just what I needed to and not much more. It needs to change, I want to be more excited to go to work. What that means I don't know....

Enough about me, how are you all doing?
~a

yay me

Yep. just a Woo hoo carrots kind of moment.

Traveling, and nice outside, and I got done with work, and went out on my run. It ended up being about 3.25 miles. 36 minutes. So, about 11 minute miles.

I'm trying to decide if I want to go out with my work folks tonight, or just veg in my room, and work on my goals for the year, as my boss will be in town to meet with me on Thursday.

Off to get unsweaty... in other words shower.

ta!
~a