Month: May 2011

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This Blogger is Going on Vacation!


This is our 7th trip together to Naples, Florida. (For some of us, this is our 15th tennis trip – 1 Palm Springs, 5 Las Vegas, 1 Dominican Rep, 1 Delray Beach)

There are 10 of us and we rent 2 villas  (from the same lady) in World Tennis Center.

I will be playing tennis everyday from 8-11 am and be the busy the rest of the day with a variety of fun activities.

I am bringing my running clothes. Will I run??? I hope so!!

I won’t have a computer so no posting or reading running blogs for 8 days!!!

I will post pics when I return.

Happy Running!  I will Miss you all!

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Post B-Day Post

Unfortunately, I had to work yesterday (since I am taking 6 days off  for vacation starting tomorrow).  But I did  have a nice birthday:

  • I ran 3 miles after work – no Garmin, just enjoyed the sunshine!
  • I had a free Coconut Mocha Frappuccino & mini cupcake at Starbucks (found a Starbucks card in the road while running)
  • I played tennis (doubles) and won both sets
  • I received so many birthday wishes (thanks to Facebook)
  • I talked my husband out of getting me an iPhone and got a Pandora bracelet and gift certificate to a bookstore

That’s my motto...I’m going to continue to enjoy an active life as long as my body lets me.

Happy Running!

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It’s Monday and My Birthday!

Yup, I am 58 years old today!!

If you asked me 5 years ago if I would run in a 5k race, I would have laughed in your face.  If you asked me one year ago if I would run a half marathon, I would have done the same.   I am thankful that I am healthy and have friends and bloggers that support my craziness.

my proudest moment

 

 

Finishing is Winning‘s Brain Exchange #35:

This Week’s Topic: Handling Set-Backs

This Week’s Question: What kind of set-backs have you experienced when it comes to your sport?  Have you had an injury, financial issue or other stress that has interfered with your training and how did/do you handle it?

I am pretty lucky to not have had major injuries.  I have had a slight knee issue and a foot problem. In both cases, I just cut back my running and paid more attention to icing & stretching & ibuprofen. I know if I had to stop running for any length of time, I would be totally bummed.

Both boating and tennis have greatly impacted my running time. My hubby has so far been agreeable to let me work around our weekends on the boat & I have been able to squeeze in my training runs and my summer 5ks. I will also try this summer to schedule my long runs on Thursdays.

Tennis is another story.  I try to not run & play on the same day so my body doesn’t fall apart.  But sometimes I have to.  I also don’t play on many teams anymore and I have to explain to my friends why I want to run rather than play on their team.

My husband was forced to retire before we were financially ready so I have been conscious about the cost of races. Racing is important to me so I try to cut back on other things.

Last week update:

My goal was 13  miles and I ran 4 times for a total of  13  miles. YAY!!
I ran  a 5K race.(actually it was 3 mi) and had a BIG PR!!
I played tennis twice.

Goals for the next 2 weeks:

This week’s schedule:

Mon – tennis after work
Tues – tennis after work
Wed – leave for Naples, Fla
Thurs – tennis, beach
Fri – tennis, beach
Sat – tennis beach
Sun – tennis, beach

Next week’s schedule:

Mon – sightseeing
Tues – tennis, beach
Wed – return to Albany, NY
Fri –  mah jongg
Sat – my hubby’s b-day
Sun – my belated B-day dinner w/BF

This week’s running:

Tues – 3 mi before work
Thurs – 3  miles before tennis
Sat – 3  miles before tennis
Sun – 3 mil before tennis

Next week’s running:

Tues – 3  miles before tennis
Thurs – Workforce Challenge 3.5 mi Race
Sun – SPAC 5k race 
 
2 Week Running Goal = 21.5 miles 
May Monthly Running Goal = 60 miles, a race or 2 or 3 or 4

Yearly Running Goal = 1011 miles

Happy Running! Florida here I come!

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Mother’s Day 5k Race Report

This is the 4th year that I have run this race.  That’s the most for any race!!! It is near my house and they give out great gifts!! It is a flat course, too.

My times have steadily improved – 40:43, 37:40, 33:08… but before this year, it was a 3 1/2 mile race. 

After I registered, they changed it to a 5K.  That’s odd. So I didn’t know how they changed the course. 

I was looking forward to this race since I know several women from the running group who were planning to run as well as my tennis friends.

Felice, Amanda & me after the race in 2010

with my tennis friends after the race in 2008

You can see from the photos that sometimes the weather is cold (2010) and sometimes it is hot (2008).

This year, the weather was beautiful – not too hot and not too cold!!

My goal was to beat my time from last week which was 29:45!!

My hubby dropped me off and went to visit his mom.  Iimmediately I bumped into my 2 tennis friends & snapped a pre-race pic.

me, Mary Pat & Pat

Then I found my running/blogging friends and took another pic.

Bridget, me, Felice, Amanda & Tami

Finally I found my running buddy, Mary and we headed to the start.

This was a flat course and the weather was perfect so this was my chance to have a great race. I decided to listen to Felice & just go for it the first mile and not worry about crashing & burning.

So I did.  My first mile was 8:49 and that’s with stopping to tie my shoe (yes, I do double knot them!!!)

They called out my time as 7:07 and at that point I was wondering if the course was correct…

looking strong

I slowed downed my 2nd mile & stopped for water so it was 9:04 which is still fast for me.

Still going...

I was ahead of Amanda & Bridget until the shoe lace incident and then was behind them for a long while. 

I passed them during mile 3 when I decided to pick up the pace and this mile was at 7:57.

Here we come!

According to my Garmin, I crossed at 25:51 but the clock said 25:54.

The problem is that it was NOT a 5K, the course was short – only 3 miles!!! (Now they’re saying 2.9 😦  )

Boo! Hiss!! Do I still get a PR??? My fastest 5k before this was also in Delmar – 27:30.

I am thrilled!! In my book, it’s a PR!!

Everyone else did great!! Especially Felice who came in 5th overall!! Amanda & Bridget PRed too.  Mary returning from injury finished 5 minutes faster than last week.

Bridget & Felice after the race

MaryPat & Pat after

After the race, I rushed off to pick up my mentee, Amanda & her son.  I really wanted to spend time with them today (since I don’t have kids of my own.)

 
We spent the rest of the afternoon in Washington Park for the Tulip Fest – admiring the flowers, playing on the rides, riding a pony, petting the goats, etc.
 

When I got home, my hubby & I went out for a light dinner & a drink to celebrate my birthday (with work & tennis tomorrow, no time!)

What a busy day!  I loved it all!

Happy Running! Happy Mother’s Day all!

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Hair

Yes, I did get my hair cut on Thursday but also 10 of my closest friends (all tennis players) got together to see the musical “Hair.” 

We thought it would be fun since we are all old enough to remember the original although we hadn’t ever seen it.

We had a blast singing and dancing to the nostalgic music.

Afterwards we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner (Yay, carb loading for me!) and then on to one of my friend’s house for dessert, drinking and more partying.

3 of us were planning to run in the Mother’s Day 5k tomorrow which put a damper on the drinking aspect of it but it was fun to all hang out together.

Happy Running! Enjoy your weekend!

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Diva Night

 Last night, Fleet Feet held its 4th annual Diva Night. I think I went to the lst one and wanted to reconnect with some running friends so I went this year, too.  I also feel a sense allegiance to the store because they gave me my start to running with the No Boundaries program.

I had a hair appt so I arrived an hour late. I had signed up on Facebook instead of rsvping via email so I wasn’t sure they’d let me in.  (A lot of people were turned away!!)

Well, I was on the list.  Phew!

They had champagne and healthy food – cheese, crackers & fruit.  Everyone who came got a Brooks makeup bag when they arrived and a bouquet of fresh flowers when they left.

I immediately bumped into Felice & Suzy, 2 local bloggers & runners.  I haven’t seen them in person since the running group ended its runs.  We had all done a half marathon since then & chatted about our experiences and future running plans.

Felice & I are chatting, Suzy is looking at the camera

I met my new “Fan” Liz in person.  She is excited about running her 1st race – the Freihofer’s in less than one month!

Throughout the evening, the called names of those who rsvped and you spun the wheel to win a prize.  I won 2 containers of Nuun.  (I’m a Gu fan so I’m a little skeptical about drinks. Anyone use Nuun???)

Felice wins a Brooks Shirt

I felt a little bad that they were so strict about rsvping because many who said they were coming and didn’t.  Several of my friends wanted to come and when they called, FleetFeet said it was full.

As far as running goes this week, I ran 3 miles after work and before tennis and the rain (without my garmin 😦 ) on Monday, 3.5 miles  and an episode of “Off the Map”on the treadmill at work (because it was raining) on Wed and this morning, I took my 1st pre-work run (3.5 miles) since we turned the clocks ahead. I have had a hard time getting out of bed & have been running after work. 

This run felt GREAT – it was in the 30’s so a little chilly at first but the sun warmed me up.  I need to get back in the habit of running early as the temps rise.

Next race is Sunday, a 5K!! I’m looking forward to it!!!!!!! It’s supposed to be dry… YAY!

Happy Running! TGIF!! 3 days until my B-day!

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The Story of the “Lost” Car Key

If AJH can tell her embarrassing story, I can tell mine.

My hubby thinks I’m absented-minded and lose things.  I tell him it’s an age thing.  But really, it’s always been like this.  I multi-task and am always doing and thinking about too many things at once.

Now that I am running, he’s worried.  He may be right.

During the winter, I put my credit card in my zipped jacket pocket and it disappeared while I was running.  Seriously it vanished!! I refused to cancel the card because I do auto bill pay for everything and it’s too complicated. I checked my account online everyday and no one ever used it so I ordered a replacement. (I’m embarrassed to add that it also happened once before!!)

I don’t carry my credit card running anymore!!!

I do always carry my car key. I tuck it safely in a my jacket or shorts pocket.

So last Thursday, I ran my usual 3 mile run after work.  And my reward as always is Starbucks. I went back to my car. Of course, I had my key and opened the car to get my credit card to go to Starbucks.

I put my key back in the same pocket inside the front of  my shorts, went to Starbucks, had a frappuccino and returned to my car.

NO KEY in my pocket!!! Holy Cow! I forgot to mention that I do not carry a phone when I run…

So I retraced my steps to and from Starbucks several times …and … no key to be found!!!

What should I do?  I waited in the parking lot until someone showed up.  The students were gone (no classes) but luckily there was a faculty meeting going on late.

Finally I spotted a professor and asked him to borrow his phone and called my hubby.

I begged him not to yell but to come to school with my spare car key.

It took him what seemed like forever. I forgot that he was going to be playing tennis so had to shower, change, etc.

He too scoured the area  to no avail and grumbled that another car key would cost about $300 and left.

Feeling stupid, I got in my car and headed home.

But my car seat felt uncomfortable like I was sitting on something. I reached under and there was nothing there.

Then a light bulb went off in my head.  I reached inside my shorts and…

Yup…my car key!!!!!!!!!! It had escaped my pocket and got lodged in my shorts!!

I called my hubby excitedly and said “Guess what? I found my car key!! It was up my butt (I may have said a$$)”

I used my Spi Belt to keep my key during my race on Sunday! Lesson Learned!

Happy Running!

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I Have a “Fan”

I BLOG because it motivates me to run, to continue running and to improve my running.

Does it matter if  anyone reads my posts???  Not really, but it’s so cool when someone does read what you have to say and you actually inspire them to run. 

This is an email that I received yesterday:

Hi Darlene!

I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now and I must say THANKS for the inspiration. I’m just getting into running. I turned 46 a month ago and am one of those “adult-onset” runners. I’m following the Couch-to-5k program (in Week 6 now) and I’m really enjoying it! I’m trying to absorb all the info and advice that I can. I came across your blog one day while looking for info on running in the Albany area. Thanks again! I hope to say “hi” to you at Diva Night.

So now I guess I also BLOG to inspire others to run, to continue running and to  improve their running!!!!!!

Happy Running! Happy Blogging!

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Two for Tuesday

  1.  I won another giveaway – some GU – YAY!  I really like the Gels (esp Vanilla).  I always take them during my long runs. I even took one before my 5k on Sunday.
  2. Does this weather look familiar?  I see treadmill in my future!!!!!!!! And yes, rain is predicted for Sunday – my next 5k!

Happy Running! Enough of the showers…bring on the May flowers!

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Brain Exchange #34 and Monday Running Goals

 

Finishing is Winning‘s Brain Exchange:

This Week’s Topic:  Running Green

This Week’s Question:  In celebration of (belated) Earth Day, tell us how you help the earth by running green.

I am embarrassed to say that I’m not that environmentally conscious.  But I want to be. I usually carry a small water bottle if I run a long distance or just drink from the tap before & after my run. I rarely buy bottled water.

Last week update:

My goal was 10  miles and I ran 4 times for a total of  11  miles. Slowly recovering.
I ran a 5K race.
I played tennis once  and did Yoga once.

Goals for this week:

This week’s schedule: (A BUSY ONE!!)

Mon – tennis after work
Tues – tennis after work
Wed – yoga
Thurs – hair appt, Diva Night at FleetFeet
Fri –  mah jongg
Sat – “HAIR” and dinner out w/friends
Sun – Mother’s Day dinner out w/family

This week’s running (if  I have time):

Tues- 3  miles after work
Wed – 4 miles after work
Fri – 3 miles after or before work
Sun – Mother’s Day 5k race 
 
Weekly Running Goal = 13 miles 
May Monthly Running Goal = 60 miles, a race

Yearly Running Goal = 1011 miles

Happy Running!