It's Wednesday night

I'm noting that it is Wednesday night because although my clock says it's ...um....10:43, I am still awake. I should be asleep by now. My alarm will go off (or is it come on?) at 5:00am. My last workout with Jolene as my personal trainer is tomorrow. Next week I start Basic Training, both the beginner class and the advanced class. Mon-Thurs to the gym go I at a very early time of 6:00am.
I talked Marjorita into the beginner class. Alison will pay session by session. I am looking forward to their reaction. Do you want to know what it is? .... Oh well. I'll tell you anyway.

The Hocking Hills Indian run is coming up. David Swartz is running it with me. Melissa will do it as well, I think. One of these days I will actually go running.

How is your healthy lifestyle?

Check out the Indian Run course map

Indian Run Course Map

I'm rounding up people from Athens to run the 10k. I haven't run yet...
But I still have a month. haha

New blogger I'm reading

New blogger I'm reading from a Runners World link.

Running and The Dog Days of Summer

It has been so hot that as soon as we open the door to the front porch Huck runs inside. Yesterday Will made a comment about it being the "Dog Days of Summer". Thanks to Wikipedia here is a little info on what that means.

The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise (heliacal rising), which is no longer true, owing to precession of the equinoxes. The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.

Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" according to Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813. ^[1]

The modern French term for both this summer period (and for heat waves in general) "canicule", derives from this same term. It means "little dog", again referring to Sirius.

The past two weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have been up by 5 and at the gym by 6 to do Boot Camp. This week is the last week of the class. There are two weeks off in which I will work out with Jolene. Then the next quarter session starts. I am thinking of taking the beginner and advanced class which would mean 6am classes Mon-Thursday. I haven't been running. However this week it is supposed to cool off (at least into the 80's instead of the 90's) so I'm thinking I can run later in the day after work.

Cheryl's last day was Friday the 13th. I am on my own this week. Monica starts Tuesday the 24th. I will be working with her everyday for a few weeks to train her. Hopefully though I will have more time overall because she will be working Tuesday through Friday.

Something else that happened Friday the 13th: Will gave his first talk in Laos and I was a householder. We were both very nervous! Our class is about over. Saturday the 28th is the last day of class and picture day. There is talk of a graduation party, but no specifics as of yet. In October there is going to be a big shindig. Lynn Brown is coming to Columbus for a visit and bringing a Thai circuit overseer with her. The congregation is very excited about this visit and is planning to have a big party then.

Josh Westfall left for Guyana. If you want to follow his blog it is : http://www.nutso42.blogspot.com/

Take care

G-Nat

Hocking Hills Indian Run is September 18

http://www.1800hocking.com/indianrun

A few more after pictures

I wish the course had been longer. I felt like I was just warming up. AND I was happy for the reminder that I LOVE mountain biking!!

Aftermath

I'm reading all of this, but I haven't had much time to get on and write. I think the funniest post-race comment came from Julie- about finding mud in odd places hours later. My clothes will almost need to be burned.

Will write more later

After

I hope you are enjoying the pictures. I want to write about funny things that I heard people say while racing such as "I HATE BIKING" but I've not had much time to sit and write. In case you haven't heard this is the HOTTEST summer on record since recordings of temperature began in 1880. We've been swamped at work. And now I have to hire a new secretary. We have an interview today and Monday.
So you can feel my pain, this is my schedule for today:
(and I've been up since 5:45)
1. Work out at 8
2. Take Huck to the vet at 9:40 because he is about to scratch himself to pieces.
3. Supposed to be working in the office because Cheryl took today off to get ready for the convention.
4. Pack for the convention
5. Interview at 3
6. Take Huck to Ryan and Melissa's
7. Leave for Charleston by 6
Hmmm....
I'll check in next week.
Have a great weekend and I'll be seeing most of you in C-Town!!
Nat

A few more before pictures

Getting Ready

Mud Pit Before

The four of us arrived early to pick up our race packets and tour the expo. Then we saw
THE PIT!!

Marvelously Muddy

It's funny to post about the race after talking all about it earlier. I don't have to say how awesome it was...you already know. As for Jeff and Lyndsey, we missed you guys. You would've loved it.

So I'm sitting here, hours after what I thought was a thorough shower, still noticing dirt in various places. But don't get me wrong, I'm not annoyed in the least. I smile each time and try to imagine at which point while crawling through the mud did that piece of dirt get in that little crevice.

How about for our next race everyone comes to Chiang Mai! Are you free in December? lol

Is anyone still checking?

Hey guys. Not sure if anyone is still checking on the blog or not. I've been trying to run as much as I can since I've been here. Two days after I touched down in NY I found a road to run on near Patterson. It was a gravelly road that ran along 2 small lakes...felt like running in Athens. A light rain started which felt nice and I loved hearing the sound of rain hitting the leaves of the trees. It was a great run!

Since then I've run a few times around where my parents live and near my brother's house. Half my motivation to run is to keep the weight down while enjoying all my local favorites...Chipotle, Elliot Ness, Sierra Nevada, Pizza Cottage, etc.

So, I'm feeling fairly good about the race. It's gonna be a good time!

Still Running

I imagine everyone has been consumed with their lives including your running schedules. Me too. I finished school 2 weeks ago and have been running M-F these past 2 weeks. It's been great! I had an especially good run today. I went out at 7:45. It had rained through the night so the temperature wasn't too bad. Then about 10 minutes into my run it started to rain ever so slightly which made the temperature even better. I logged in 4 very comfortable miles. I'm planning another 4 tomorrow.

Monday at midnight I head to the airport so my last run will be Mon morning. I'm really hoping to keep my good running stride going while in the states. One source of motivation, especially after today's run, is the better temps.

Brian Regan?

So I have to find some way to visit my folks before I totally leave Wallkill on July 29th. Brian Regan is playing near Boston the Friday before our race on Sunday. I'll probably head up there on Friday, stay with my parents Friday night, and head back to New York on Saturday afternoon.

Anybody else interested in that? I know you'all are probably not interested in adding 8 hours of drive time to your trip from OH- is it cool that I see you guys Sat night and Sunday? I'll probably take Monday off as well, if you'll be around.

Let me know what the schedule is like for that weekend, because I really want this all to work out the best.

Wallkill schedule

Thanks for the reminders, I have to keep in mind I'm training for something and not just putzing around.

Last week on Monday I sprained my ankle on my morning run- I was doing sprints and just came down wrong. It hurt like the dickens but turned out to be pretty light, and after a day I was walking w/o a limp. But I didn't run all last week.

I'm running 2 miles on Monday (wind sprints), 3-4 on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Tuesday mornings is swimming for 20-30 minutes, I don't know the distance. And Wednesday after work I'm trying to hit the bike for about 10-15 miles.

One thing I've noticed though is that it's hard to push myself. I feel like I'm doing all of this at a snail's pace. Any tips?

(Shinsplints are gone, too, for now.)

I'm ready!

I went back out on my first run yesterday and back at the cycling class tonight...feeling good. Here's my plan:

Tues- run 3 miles
Wed- AM run 3 miles, PM cycling class
Thur- run 3 miles
Fri- run 3 miles, PM strength training

Next week I'm done with school and will have extra time in the mornings to put in more miles.

Ready, Set, GO!!

It's time to start the training plan.
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What's your plan for the week?
I ran six miles on the bikepath yesterday. Today I'm taking off.
Tuesday: Run then lift.
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Lift then meet Shonda for our first trail run. (I'm thinking Casa after we run and work
at the office)

Nat

Here's what you missed.....

Early Spring is a good time to run trails at Strouds Run State Park. If you are interested, it's too bad you missed early Spring. Jeff and Ben didn't.






































So don't miss Early Summer which is just around the corner. Or perhaps Late Spring if you want to go now!





Last Saturday Shonda encountered a roaring lion seeking to devour someone. Fortunately she ran very, very fast. Three miles fast in fact.




















I wanted to run six miles on Sunday, but Will wouldn't let me run six on 550. He thought that was too much of a jump up from three, especially since there was a hill involved. Well it was Dividing Ridge (hehehe). And yes, I did run non stop up Dividing Ridge (woo hoo).
It took me an hour to cover 5 miles. I started out walking the first five minutes though. I hadn't planned ahead to warm up so when I had Will drop me at mile marker 3, I responsibly walked so I would lessen the chances of injury. I also took three walk breaks.
It was a hot run, late in the afternoon on Sunday. But it felt really good and I'm thrilled that I did it.
This morning the adventure continued with a three miler in the rain. I wore my matching (with Shonda) Palo Duro Canyon Trail Run cap. Tomorrow I'm planning another three with strength training to follow.

Another road block

The Red Shirts have gone home, I'm not sick anymore, but...I got a mole removed. I know, sounds like a poor excuse of getting out of running. But it was growing really big. I only have 4 weeks before flying to NY and I wanted to get rid of the nasty growth on my neck before I go. I thought it was just a quick snip snip and I'm out. But I left with 7 stitches! As I'm about to leave the doctor said not to sweat or exercise. Seriously?! Sigh. The stitches come out Saturday. I'm hoping to maybe get a cycling class in on Wednesday. We'll see. Sorry Ben. I only have 2 weeks of school left and the 2 weeks after that I'll hit the pavement hard...I hope.

btw, I posted a photo of the stitches on my blog if you want to see them. It's actually kinda cool.