Smelly

4 miles - Normally I curse my ever so keen sense of smell. Can't hear worth a darn and the eyes have been fixed, I mean really of all the senses to be sharp... smell? However... in the Spring I love it. I went for a run at dusk tonight and my, oh, my the smells were fabulous. Nothing tops fresh cut lawns, lilac bushes in bloom (my favorite smelling flower EVER, reminds me of the farm), and various other trees turning from blooms to leaves. I also saw some peeps walking with their Snookies ice cream. I had been traveling so much I forgot that the local favorite ice cream shop opens in April every year. I must go for the twist cone with the trademark animal cookie on top. Yay! Sidenote: It has not escaped me that my posts about food have turned from way healthy back in January to ice cream in April. Ha. Ha. Can't shake the stuff you love!

Back in the swing of things

6 miles - It was a beautiful day outside but sadly, I needed a good 'ole episode of The Biggest Loser to get me rolling today. So I ran 6 and walked 1 mile. I feel like I'm a "statistic" following this show. But as you know, I totally *heart* it and had to catch up on Hulu for the episodes I've missed while traveling lately. I'm also a fan of Hulu, check it out if you've never used it. I've been known to lay in bed with my computer and catch up on episodes before falling to sleep at night. Sad, but true, I realize as I type this. ;-) Incidentally I got some new tennies. My toes are thanking me and I'm always happy to throw on some new kicks. I went with Mizuno's the last time around but still am a fan of my Asics, so I went back to them. Not the cheapest kids on the block but definitely worth it for comfort and extra cushioning for my old knees. Sadly, they aren't very cute. Yep, I'm a girl that likes a cute pair of shoes, so I always have the internal struggle of cute vs function. Sadly, I did splurge a little and paid a bit more for the new colors as I didn't want to go with the same color as my last 2 pairs. The guys at Fitness Sports helped me out and were great, even giving a discount for my LLS involvement. They have an atrocious website but know their "running" stuff if you pop in (talk about snobby tech girl talk. :-) Tomorrow... forecast is gorgeous and my forecast is to do a run in fabulous Iowa spring weather!

Game Over

0 miles - game over. body is over it. sinus infection and stomach ache have set in. must sleep.

Cystic Fibrosis Walk

0 miles run - Today I had a crazy day of volunteering at church breakfast, off to the Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides Walk to support my college roomie Stacy's twins, Maren & Berne, that both have CF. My family joined me at the event that was at my Alma Mater University of Northern Iowa, in the UNI dome cause it was raining. Stacy & Chris are so awesome and her kids are great despite the number of pills and things they've been through in their 5 years. I also got to see my other college roomie Amy and her three kids, good times always! Here is a picture of the niece and nephews on the turf at the UNI dome where the Panthers play. This was their attempt at looking tough. I think Rayyan's batman facepaint really helps. ;-) Then it was off to nephew Rayyan's 5 yr B'day party in Reinbeck and off to Gladbrook to pick up one of my Portland roomies, Tonia, as she was headed back to Portland on Monday AM via DesMoines airport. Whew... what a day! I think my recent schedule is catching up to my body though as Tonia and I had wine, popcorn and Sudafed before going to bed. Hmmm... just say no to sinus infections!

Drake Relays 1/2 Marathon

13.1 miles - What a great run today! The Drake Relays 1/2 marathon. Dainna and I ended up chatting until about midnight cause we had so much catching up to do. Then there was the craziest and loudest thunderstorm ever in the middle of the night. Wow.. it was a doozy. love that kind of storm, but mostly when I don't have to get up early to run 13 miles. ;-) Dainna and I walked to the starting line and did some "faux" stretching to look like we fit the part with all the other runner "wannabes". I tell you what, there is definitely a scene for this type of road race. ha. ha. Good people watching. We had a great start to the run and I was feeling fabulous. Dainna was as well and we kept on pace for a 10 min mile until about mile 9. That was about the time Dainna hit her wall and felt a bit dehydrated. Something about that recent trip to Mexico kicked in. :-) But we powered through and still made it through in about 2 hours 2o min or so. Then it was home for a nap. Ha. My first 1/2 marathon. Feels different than a marathon and it was interesting the people that we kept playing tortoise and the hare with, back and forth. Even better was the finish line when there was a woman racing us. Oh, the adrenaline rush! Go Team! Incidentally, my race number was the year that I last ran a marathon... 1995! Cool stuff.

Dainna in the Hood!

0 miles - day of catching up with work stuff and also Dainna rolled into town for the Drake Relays 1/2 marathon tomorrow. W00t, w00t! Wish us luck!

Day of Flight

0 miles - Looong day of flight. Left SF at 8am and got home to good 'ole Lanewood Drive at midnight. Crazy day at the airport though.

1) Ran into a Red Bull athlete I used to work wtih, Heath Frisby from Boise. He was headed back from Moscow snowmobile event and got caught up in the volcano fiasco.

2.) Ran into a DrupalCon attendee I had met while in SF, while waiting in Denver.

3.) Got a free ticket for giving up my seat. Portland Hood to Coast here I come!

4.) While waiting, a dude also waiting for a later flight bought me a drink. Turns out that he knows a friend of mine from Portland and works for a local Oregon winery. Small world stuff, yo!

Ready to get back to the real world... well sorta!

The PanHandle

4 miles - So a co-worker that used to live in SF told me about this area connected to Golden Gate park called the Panhandle. It shoulda been called the "best flat space to run on in SF"! :-) It was a loop with no hills, so once I actually got there, it was a flat elevation to run on so I could get a bit more mileage in with the small amount of time I had each morning before we hit the conference. Yay for the PanHandle! I had a really good run, enjoyed my last morning of beautiful SF views and the sun rising over this great city. Good morning to me! As DrupalCon wrapped up we spent some time in the city and went to a great restaurant called Street, it was on Polk. Confusing, eh? What was not confusing was the food at this wonderful recommendation from my friend Laina. It was great. We celebrated Scott's birthday, there was an appetizer, there were burgers and steaks, there was dessert with candles, wine & beer and a good time had by all. Way yummy and a great end to our trip!! Next stop SFO and the trip back to IOWA tomorrow AM.

Yay for SF!

0 miles - Day of recovery, not from running, but from the conference and the Lullabot party at Jillians in SF last night. What a great time! However, the thunderstorm definitely let me settle into a morning sleep in. No mental battle on whether to get up or not on this day. ;-) I'll get back on track tomorrow with a last morning run before heading back on Thursday!

DrupalCon

3 miles - Morning run despite some misty rain happening. Headed out on Broderick & Turk down toward Golden Gate park. I'm getting a bit more used to the hills, but my those uphill "battles" will get you winded! Good news: there's always a downhill on the backside of the uphill in this city.

SF Rain

0 miles - Day of rest after my crazy day yesterday... not to mention the fact that we had to be out of the house by 7am left little time for a morning run...and... it was a rainy SF day! However, I still *heart* SanFrancisco. ;-)

SF TNT Crew!

13 miles - I had such a wonderful time with the local Team In Training crew in San Francisco today!!! I worked with 2 people to make it happen. Gayle (a mentor) helped set up Patti (her mentee) to pick me up on a street corner and take me over the "big red bridge" to the team run in Marin County. Patti was great, a local architect from Brazil that has been in San Francisco area for 5 years. Gayle was great, the one that set it up for me and made sure I got to the run and was supported with info. I also met Jeanine, a local lawyer that is running in honor of her dad that is fighting Lymphoma right now and a couple of young girls that I finished the run with that really made me push the last 4 miles. They are all going to be in SF so hopefully we will cross paths again. It was a great run!! I was on a total high and I am SO happy to have met this crew. I felt amazing during this run and just downright happy. What a treat. It definitely made missing the drinking fest/party last night at our team house more worthwhile. Cause hey, nobody wants to be a party pooper.

I then went with my company team members to the Muir Redwood Forest. Way cool and we did some hiking. My body is a machine today apparently. I think maybe this hike made up for the extra 5 miles that I didn't do with my Iowa TNT team today as they were going to hit 18 miles. However, my coach may not agree with me. :-)

Over the hills and through the woods...

4 miles - Went with a 6'4" co-worker today for an early morning run. I was worried that I'd be taking 3 steps to every one of his one. But it worked out well and I should rely on my months of training. I felt good and I was able to run the hilly streets and hit the wooded area that is known as none other than the Golden Gate park. Beautiful spot with a lot of wild flowers, landscaped gardens and people that were out for a good solid run. So we did the quick run and headed back for meetings. Tomorrow: a team run with the local TNT crew. I can't wait! Attached is a picture of the view from the room where I'm staying. = I'm a lucky girl. I *heart* *heart* *heart* SanFrancisco!

San Francisco Treat

3 mile walk - Early morning walk with a co-worker to get the lay of the land. So this hilly SanFrancisco thing is a major workout. I'm hoping my butt is slimming down and not gaining muscle as I navigate up and down these hills. Take that butt! Plan of attack tomorrow: early morning run!!! This is a picture of one of the way cool things in the huge 4 story SF house (we are so SF legit with this house! :-). I think it expresses how I feel this week! My company Lullabot, donated the last bit 'o money I needed to reach my fundraising goal of $3K. I'm extremely touched (and relieved) that they contributed to the cause and to my efforts. Thank you Lullabot!!

Emily

0 miles - I flew out this morning for SanFrancisco and had a long day with no run. :-) But I did want to post a pic of Emily and I. My old running buddy from the marathon back in '95. Yay for wonderful friends that are still wonderful after so much time has passed since we've seen one another. I had a great time. :-)

Taking off again

4 miles - Beautiful day. Beautiful run. Neighborhood jog this morning and frantically trying to get everything done. I'm having dinner with Emily from the UNI Marathon back in the day. Excited to see her and then... Heading off to San Francisco tomorrow morning for 8 days. Wish me luck on the training. Hills. I think I'll be running some hills the next week! hills. hills. rolls off the tongue, hopefully it'll roll off my runners. I *heart* San Francisco so I think I'll count some of the walking up and down those hills as cross training. I think that totally counts. :-)

Morning Effort

3 miles - walked this little excursion around the neighborhood as my knees just weren't have'n it when I started this run. I'm guessing it's because I ran 12 miles about 12 hours ago. So... it turned into a 3 mile brisk walk. Interesting fact, in tracking my progress in the journal my parents hooked me up with I have a total of 352+ miles that I've run this year. Way cool, huh? As is customary for me, I'm kinda thinking about what comes after the marathon (of course I ponder this in advance of the marathon... always gotta get a head of myself!). I've signed up for Hood to Coast in Portland in August so I think my goal is to continue running shorter runs about 3 times per week and a long run at least 2 weekends out of the month. 10 mile average. Seems anything over 10 my body starts to complain... or rather complains more loudly. Hmmm, what next, what next??? p.s. Last night I got together with the Jr League new member class that I'm assisting with training. We knocked out 30 breakfast casseroles for the Salvation Army using the restaurant kitchen of one of the new members... which happens to be a part of my favorite treat... Le Jardin (La Mie in the mornings). Definitely deserves a shout out for letting us overrun the kitchen! For anyone wanting a very easy volunteer opportunity to help feed those in need in the Des Moines community. Click on the Salvation Army link above for recipe and directions,etc.

Sunday paybacks

12 miles - Paybacks for a few days away on "vacation" = a 12 mile run all by my lonesome upon returning to Des Moines this afternoon. I got my iphone juiced up so I wouldn't run out of tunes and off I went. Took the Clive trail and had a really good run considering I had been gorging on food and drink for the last 4 days. You'd think those extra pounds to carry around might have bothered me! ;-) I did see a bunch of deer, and kids/families on bikes which always makes me smile and just everyone in a good mood overall. I did get to the point where I had to "nod" at people and not say "hi" each time, it's just too exhausting and while I'm sure many were doing some good mileage by my mile 10 I was pretty much happy with a nod. Then, as usual, I got pumped up with about 2 miles to go and kicked it in in the end. Now, it's a couple days in DSM and then off to San Fran for a week for work. Who knows what that will hold. Incidentally, I'm having dinner with Emily Dean on Tuesday night. I haven't seen her in 15 years since my first marathon and she is the one that got me interested in the marathon class at UNI back in the day. She's going to be in DSM for work and rang me this weekend. How cool is that? Cannot wait to see her!

The dreaded suit

0 miles - unfortunately, but quite the workout at an indoor waterpark in IL with the family. So, my parents take us all to Grizzly Jack's in IL for a "christmas gift" in the spring rather than doing the whole money on gifts kinda thing. The kids love it, they get matching jammies from my parents and the crew keeps growing year after year as my sisters continuing increasing the family size. The new attraction this year was Drew... my little niece that is 2 months old. My sister Lydia is due in September so that will increase the size yet again. Amongst the many other attractions to include amusement park rides, trolley rides, put put golf, tube slides & water park chaos such as the wave pool. Chaos, noise, laughter and lots of eating and drinking. We had a ball! However, it's always tough to get into the dreaded suit. So despite that we had a long winter and we were feeling a bit pale and chubby to say the least, we did it. Trust me, we were not alone in this state of being either. Welcome to the family indoor water park. So despite no running for a couple days, the energy level was as high as the noise level for the week... and trust me that is saying a lot!

Not a morning girl

6 miles - Was welcomed back to Grey's lake for a morning run with Jonna. We headed out to the lake for 3 laps and how beautiful it looked! Even though we ran at 6:30am, of which it apparently was hard for both of us to get up (naturally, I'm totally not a morning girl!) and start the run but sorta helps if you know you are going to let someone else down. I mean I'm kinda used to letting myself down easy, or rationalizing about it rather, but if you know someone is there to meet you it totally changes the stakes. So off we ran around the lake with NO snow, No ice, NO windchill which was a big change from the time we spent there in Jan - March... and it was great. :-)

Hood to Coast. check!

6 miles - I was too much of a wimp to run in the tail of a rainshower today on the group run. So I hit the treadmill and spent about 3 of my 6 miles talking to my bestie from Denver, Christine. Last year we implemented the "wednesday drive calls". She works in Denver and lives in Boulder (we used to be roomies when I lived there) and so she has a commute. When the weather is nice I exercise outside during the call and she drives home. Total win/win. And I get to catch up with one of the most wonderful people I know. I'm thinking perhaps a trek out to Denver for a wee bit of a stay in October. Which gets me thinking about my upcoming travel ponderings. I'm thinking late summer perhaps for a Boise reunion and have committed to a team for the Hood to Coast relay in August in Portland. This relay is SO MUCH fun! 12 person (3 legs each), 196 miles, start at Mt. Hood and end on the beach in Seaside, OR. I'm committed so onward (except I hope I don't have one of the first few legs, the last time I ran it I had leg 2, down Mt Hood and we had to drain under my toenails with a syringe in the medic tent at the coast. yeah. not good.).

Tornado Action

8 miles - We've had some early Spring crazy tornado action here in the big state of Iowa. The first warning of the season, so it was to the basement I went last night and just thought I'd run for a while during the Biggest Loser. It's totally crunch time on the show as they all have their sights set on the final 4 at the big live finale where you get to see all the old peeps come back too(favorite TV episode EVER) and there is some definite game playing. I'm happy to say that Melissa got voted off again. She's quite naughty and there's a lot of negative energy around her so I say good riddance. So... I ran 8 miles and then walked a bit until the end of the show. Accomplished a couple different things:

1) 8 mile run which needed to be done

2) shelter in the basement in the event of a tornado.

Can't beat that!

The Courier

4 miles - When I was home over Easter my parents showed me the local newspaper and they had run a story about my friend Dainna and I, both from Reinbeck, running in the LLS Team in Training program. A big thanks to Jessica and the team there for helping us get the word out about our fundraising efforts. Here's the story: Reinbeck Courier. Thanks also to the Wambold's, local Reinbeck'ians that are always supportive of the cause and contributed. I'm adding their daughter to my list on this site of those that have beat Leukemia! My parents friends as well from the area are wonderful, thanks everyone for your support and donations. Small town people = good people! Yay!

Happy Easter!

0 miles - the most running that I did today was in the "adult" easter egg hunt on the farm. I walked (or ran rather) away with 11 eggs and a mere $3.25. Unbelievable! Aunt Jamie, walked away with 2 eggs and the $20 spot in the golden egg. Several others came out ahead of me as well with $10's and $5's here and there. Sister Lydia might be the exception with some old candy and a few bits of change. ha. ha. What fun. We hid the kids eggs first and helped them in the hunt, then mom and dad hid eggs for the rest of us. Imagine 11 adults running around the farm with money at stake, in this economy? :-) Yep it was definitely Game On. Aunt Jamie walked away the big winner, with a few others following closely, of that group, I am not included obviously. So after running around for that, we then all pitched and put on our work clothes/gloves and started clearing the grove behind the house. My parents recently moved into my Grandparents old farmhouse/stead. It had been years since that happened, so it was slow moving and we have a lot yet to do but we did get a lot done amongst the tractor rides with Grandpa and bonfire action. Here are some fun pics. The boys found a toad while "working" with us and Sophia got a long overdue ride with Grandpa in the tractor since the boys have had their share of that. :-)

The ultimate trick

10 miles - we started at 6:30am and the temp was in the upper 30's but as the morning progressed on the run, it was perfection! Light layering and no wind. That's right... I said it, a day of no wind in Iowa. I know hard to believe. :-) I ran with Staci and Coach Kevin the whole time as it was a smaller turnout and there were only 3 of us going the 10 mile marathon distance. And we asked Coach Kevin about his family vacation and some other stories from running. This I've learned is the ultimate trick, because then you don't have to talk, you just listen and you keep your mind on something other than the running you are doing. Brilliant. I guess it's not really a trick when I say to him "Kevin, tell us some stories so we can listen and not have to talk today". But you know... :-) We were on the Clive trail and saw a TON of deer along the way. Overall it was a great run! I had a brunch at La Mie with my good friend Sara to look forward to afterwards and then on to "home" in Reinbeck for Easter. We had some easter eggs to hide and Grandma is throwing in a $50 spot this year, so you can imagine how intense the "adult" hunt is going to get. Go grandma and game on!

Friday Chill

0 miles - I'm trying to give my body some rest around the long runs. Relaxing a bit on the "every day" runs that I was so diligent about in my initial training. I'd freak if I didn't get a day in, which was probably good to get my bum in gear for the initial stages of training for this. I'm OK with days off now instead of stressing about it. So, Friday was a day of rest. :-) 10 miles set for Saturday and a 6:30am start time. Strangely, 10 feels like a short run and I'm excited for that. ha. Let the mind games begin.

Throwing down 3

3 miles - It's been a bit of crazy week so got a quick last minute 3 miles in the neighborhood. It's crazy how i'm excited this weekend is only a 10 mile run. Somehow it relieves the stress of a long run. However... I am a bit stressed about traveling the following two weekends and struggling to get the long runs in.. a plan must be made! Anyway, this quick run was once again SO exciting because a) it is spring b) it was only 3 miles c) I went late in the day and it was still light past 8pm. What's not to love???