10K

I was a bit sore this morning after yesterday's fartlek and weight training! Kelly and I had 10K scheduled and I knew it wouldn't be fast. We have 20k tomorrow, so we didn't want to push too hard.

The weather was SO warm this morning! It was 48F (9C) and a bit windy. It was amazingly lovely for November 30.

We got walking and I felt all right, though definitely a bit sore and tired. Kelly was even more sore and tired, but that didn't make me feel any better! I just felt bad for her. She's coming off of a long time of not training, and her iron levels are pretty low. I know how that feels, and it hurts! She was hurting pretty badly today - she said it was even worse than that Wednesday a few weeks ago when we were pretty slow for about 8K? 10K? Not sure, but regardless, she was hurting. I told her that was normal for the day after a hard track workout, and that she might rebound by tomorrow for the 20K. However, it might hurt...I told her to text or call Jim and see what he says.

By 5K she was hurting more, but then she started to feel a bit better around 6K or so. I think it might have had something to do with her form - I noticed her left knee was pretty bent today and I started teasing her, saying I was going to give her a red card. I told her to see if she could get to the end without me giving her three red cards. She made it to 9K before she got her 3rd red card from me, but she was feeling better (and looking better) at least. We had a good laugh about it, stretched, and did the last 1km, during which I gave her two more red cards :).

I felt tired but could definitely have gone a little faster today - not that I minded staying with Kelly, because I didn't at all - I love the company.

Total time: 1:04:10 for 6:25/km with ave HR 140.

Garmin data here.

***

After our walk, I drove to the gym and did some core work and some step-ups, but not too many as I have 20K tomorrow.

***

Food: yesterday was pretty darn good. The scale is being nasty to me, but I feel a bit bloated. I'm sure it's just water. I'm feeling more in control and continue to work hard on more sleep, etc. Seems to be going well.

5K fartlek - workout PR and new 5K PR!!!!!

I felt like there was a fast one inside today. I got up after a good night's sleep and my legs felt fresh after cross-training (45 min elliptical) yesterday. Plus Kelly was meeting me at the track and I knew she'd push me.

It was so nice and warm for the end of November - 44F (7C) and clear, with a slight breeze. I just wore capris and a long-sleeved shirt and gloves.

Kelly and I did our warm-up of 1600m plus strides, in 9:33. Then after a few dynamic drills and some good-natured whining about how we weren't in the mood for speed work so early (it was about 6:10 am by this point, and pitch black dark!), we got started.

We did the first 1km quite fast - in 5:18, with splits of 2:37 and 2:41. I felt good, though, and thought I could hold that pace for the workout. And we did! Our 500m medium effort intervals were all 2:55-2:57, and the rest of our fast 500s were 2:37-2:39. I knew by 3K that it was good, when we came through 3K in 16:30 (just 6 seconds off my 3K race PR!), and by 4K I knew I had a good shot at my 5K PR! Wooo hooo! Kelly was with me the whole time, though on the fast intervals she was a couple seconds faster on the last few (no more than 2 seconds, but definitely in front of me) and on the medium efforts I'd catch her again so we always started together. She finished about 2 seconds ahead of me, and I finished in 27:39, shaving 19 seconds off my 5K fartlek PR and 9 seconds off my previous 5K RACE PR!

My average heart rate was 160, which is about average for this workout. I really gave it my all at the end, knowing that I was close to a PR. Obviously I'm pretty happy with this workout :).

Garmin data here.

***

Because I'm insane, or stupid, or really because I don't want to be injured, I went to the gym afterward and did some lifting.

3x10 step downs on each leg (just barely touching tip of toe to ground - so weight was on the working leg each time)
3x10 military press with 20 lb dumbbells each arm
3x12 lateral walks with resistance band (for abductors)
3x10 row machine, 70 lb
3x10 tricep extensions, 12 lb dumbbells each arm
3x10 bicep curls, 15 lb dumbbells each arm
3x10 one-legged dead lifts, with 30 lb dumbbell (for balance and hamstrings - this is a great exercise)

Now, my rear end is killing me. But I feel virtuous :).

***

Food: mostly good, some bad. I have been eating lots better overall, though Tuesday night I slipped up and ate too much cheese and caramel popcorn :( (of all the stupid things to overeat...it's good but not THAT good and definitely not worth it...sigh). Still, I debriefed with my friend Gisela (my new food accountability partner) over lunch yesterday, recovered well from the slip (which is really what it's mostly about!) and yesterday was a great food day. Today is going well so far :).

hilly 12K

Today Kelly and I were to do 12K. The weather was chilly at 31F (-1C) going down to 28F by the time we finished our workout, but pretty good otherwise, calm and clear. We have had a pretty warm fall with relatively little snow, except for that one storm.

I figured I'd feel sluggish this morning, but I didn't feel too bad, and neither did Kelly. Kelly talked me into doing a hilly route around Liberty and SugarHouse parks just to do something different, and that was good, though it did require more effort. Still, I think we did pretty well considering the route. My muscles are sore from the weight training yesterday but not too bad, and after today's workout they feel a bit better than yesterday if anything. Tomorrow is just cross-training, so I'll get to recover a bit (though I'll almost certainly lift weights again).

It's been wonderful to have a workout partner. I can't say enough great things about it, and I'll be really sad when Kelly gets so fast that I can't keep up with her any more. Sadly, that will probably be a matter of 6 months or less. At least I can enjoy it for now.

Here's a picture of us on the Jordan River Trail the day it snowed:

Total time for our hilly 12.25km workout was 1:18:06 for 6:23/km (elevation gain and loss about 110m each), and my average HR was just 145.

Garmin data here

rest day; 10K w/2x5' bursts + weight training

Yesterday was a rest day :).

***

Today Kelly and I were to do 10K w/2x5' bursts. We met early at Liberty Park and got walking. First, though, I gave her a birthday + Christmas present combined (her birthday was yesterday). She was actually CARRYING a water bottle on Saturday for our 16K and I told her she was nuts :). In racewalking, your arms are too important to carry a water bottle. But she didn't have a fuel belt. Well, now she does :) and in hot pink too :).

Then we started walking, and she filled the bottles at the fountain in Liberty Park. We felt good this morning, especially Kelly! On the first 5' burst I felt great, but as usual on the second one I felt I was working pretty hard. Kelly was really pushing me on the second one - we did 2:50 for the first 500m! By the end we both still felt good, though we did slow down a fair amount. My legs were a little tired when I was done, but not too bad.

We finished in 1:02:09 for 6:13/km and my ave HR was 148. I dropped about 500m off of my Garmin by forgetting to push start again at a crosswalk, so the time is from Kelly's watch.

Garmin data here.

***

Then I drove to the gym to lift weights. My legs were OK after the walk but they are definitely tired now! I did 3 sets of 10 lunges on each leg - full lunges, back, then front as Jim told me, holding a 10-lb medicine ball. Ouch! I also did 3x10 sets of bench press, 3x12 abductors (gluteus medius, minimus, etc) on the hip machine, and 3x12 lat pull-downs with 70lb. Finally I did a few core exercises and stretched a bit. I think the 12K tomorrow might hurt :).

***

In other news, I've been eating terribly. Rotten. Horrible. Dessert has had my number. Well, on Saturday I had the worst WW weigh-in in a long time: 155.2 lb. That is not OK, because if I get to 157.0 I'll have to pay! Lifetime members attend free, and I really do not want to have to pay. I have kept my weight off for a long time and I know exactly what I need to do now. I just have to DO it.

I recommitted myself to my healthy lifestyle, and some practical steps:

1. Track all my food. Honestly.
2. Attend meetings more regularly. This will mean a later Saturday morning one when I have a long walk. Loren will have to help with the kids.
3. Sleep 8 hours per night. I know I'll miss this one sometimes due to work (hypoxia experiments), etc., but I am trying harder.
4. Spend less time on the computer and facebook at night and instead go to bed earlier and also spend a minimum of 20 minutes journaling/praying/reading scripture.
5. Keep accountable with Kelly (who is trying to quit soda) and Gisela (who would also like to lose some weight).

It's now Monday, and I've been doing great for the past 48 hours. I feel much better mentally. I'm confident I can turn it around.

Cold Turkey race 2012

It's been a nice easy training week. After Tuesday's 8K, I cross-trained on Wednesday (elliptical, 45 min) and was all ready for the race on Thursday.

The Cold Turkey 6K is more like 6.2k, and it's a tough course. A slight uphill for a bit and then up City Creek Canyon; it's uphill for 3K and then downhill for 3.2K.

Kelly and I warmed up for a mile (1600m) with strides and felt OK. The weather was pretty good for this race; it was 35F (2C) and sunny. I actually felt warm enough after the warm-up that I wore just my singlet and tights and took off my long-sleeved shirt. I still wore gloves, though. In the sun it felt fine, but the going up the canyon it was pretty darn cold because it was shaded and there's a stream by the road which cools the air even more. Still, because I was racing so hard I wasn't too bothered by the cold.

We started together at 2:54/500m for the first two splits on the slight uphill. It felt just about right; hard, but not too hard. About this time, I pulled ahead of Kelly a bit, feeling strong, and going through the next 500 in 2:59. I managed some good splits up the hill, doing 3:01 and 3:08 and then 3:03, which included a tiny bit of the downhill. The downhill is nice in that you go much faster; however, I was still working really hard. I saw Kelly at the turnaround, about 20m behind me, and I knew I'd have to work hard to stay in front of her. She gradually caught me on the downhill despite the fact that I did 2:36, 2:35, 2:39, 2:37, and 2:34. She drew close and I pushed hard to the finish, doing 2:36 and then a 1:05 for the last .22km which was 4:56/km! My HR was 179 at the max, and I gave it all I had but it wasn't enough to hold Kelly off. She beat me by 7 seconds. The thing was, I was not at all disappointed in my race, because I broke my PR for this course by a whopping 21 seconds, finishing in 34:45 (vs. last year's 35:06). I honestly think I was probably in better shape last year, as it was just before the 50K, and I'd been training harder. However, a little competition can bring out the best, and that appears to be the case here.

Garmin data here.

***

On Friday I recovered with 45 min on the elliptical; I was a bit sore in my glutes and abductors but otherwise OK.

***

Today Kelly and I were to do 16K. We were both sore from the race, and Kelly was tired by about 5km, but we just took it easy and were able to finish. Unfortunately I had some serious GI issues today and had to stop a lot in the last 8km for intestinal cramping. I used the restroom a couple of times, and thought I was feeling better when we finished, but the rest of the day wasn't so great either. Not sure if I caught some bug or what? Well, no matter. It's done and tomorrow's a rest day.

16K
6:29/km with ave HR 138; total time 1:43:26.

Garmin data here.

2012 USATF RACE WALK AWARDS

2012 USATF RACE WALK AWARDS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Ron Zinn Memorial Award is given to this year’s outstanding U.S.
male and female race walkers to commemorate the achievements of Capt.
Ron Zinn, who lost his life in combat during the Vietnam War. A race
walker, Ron was a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in the 1964 Summer
Games at Tokyo and his sixth place finish in the 20 km event was
considered outstanding for American walkers at that time.

The winners of the Ron Zinn Memorial Award as the top male and female
race walkers in the USA for 2012 are:
-- Maria Michta and Trevor Barron; Both awardees are repeat winners from
2011.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Henry Laskau Award, commemorating the achievements of Henry Laskau
as an athlete and as a person, is presented annually to the USA's top
junior athletes in Race Walking. For 2012 the award winners are:
-- Maite Moscoso and Tyler Sorensen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Mike Riban Award is given in memory of longtime supporter and
official Mike Riban (Green & Gold AC, Chicago) to the outstanding
contributor to the event. In 2012 this award goes to our retiring
chairman of the race walk committee:
-- Vince Peters

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Outstanding Association Award for 2012 goes to the:
-- San Diego-Imperial

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Masters Male & Female Race Walker of the Year is presented annually
to the top master (35 and older) male and female athletes in the USA.
For 2012 the top athletes are:
-- Teresa Vail and Tim Seaman.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

USA RACE WALK GRAND PRIX AWARD WINNERS:
The top three men and women in the Grand Prix in each division and the
top three teams will be recognized at the convention in St. Louis:

OPEN DIVISION MEN (name - affiliation - grand prix points):
1. Dan Serianni - World Class Racewalking – 57 ($300)
2. Tim Seaman – New York AC – 46 ($200)
3. Nick Christie - Unattached – 40

OPEN DIVISION WOMEN (name - affiliation - grand prix points):
1. Maria Michta - Walk USA – 40 ($300)
2. Katie Burnett - unattached – 39 ($200)
3. Tamara Stevenson - Wasatch Walkers – 34 ($100)

JUNIOR DIVISION MEN (name - affiliation - grand prix points):
1. Jonathan Hallman - Unattached - 44
2. Michael Nemeth - Wings of Moon - 28
3. Nathaniel Roberts - Bowerman Athletics Club – 22

JUNIOR DIVISION WOMEN (name - affiliation - grand prix points):
1. Abby Dunn - Maine Racewalkers - 33
2. Maite Moscoso - Central Florida Gliders - 28
3. Katie Michta – Walk USA - 25

MASTER DIVISION MEN (name - affiliation - grand prix points):
1. Chris Schmid - World Class Racewalking - 76
2. Dave Swarts – Pegusus AC - 59
3. Andrew Smith - Pegasus AC - 56

MASTER DIVISION WOMEN (name - affiliation - grand prix points):
1. Marianne Martino - High Altitude Racewalk Team - 47
2. Debbie Topham – Pegasus AC - 42
3. Darlene Backlund - So Cal Track Club – 34

TEAM AWARD WINNERS – MEN:
1. Pegasus AC - 42
2. World Class Racewalking - 30
3. Shore AC - 26

TEAM AWARD WINNERS – WOMEN:
1t. Florida Athletics Club - 10
1t. Pegasus Athletics Club - 10
1t. Racewalking Arizona – 10
1t. Walk USA - 10


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Master Men and Women - 5 year age group winners. The following
individuals are being recognized as the top Master athlete in their age
group for 2012:

35-39 Omar Nash None qualified
40-44 Tim Seaman Tammy Stevenson
45-49 Dave Swartz Teresa Vaill
50-54 Ray Sharp None Qualified
55-59 Mark Green Debbie Topham
60-64 Andrew Smith Marianne Martino
65-69 Christoph Schmid Panseluta Geer & Darlene Backlund
70-74 John Backlund Louise Walters
75-79 None qualified None qualified
80-84 John Starr Ruth Ketron
85-89 None qualified None qualified

Congratulations to all - the top athletes and volunteers in our sport in
the USA!

8K with 2x5' bursts

Yesterday I cross-trained on the elliptical.

Today was 8K with 2x5' bursts. I slept poorly last night for some reason - woke up at 4ish am from a work-related anxiety dream, which is weird because though work hasn't been boring, it hasn't been really stressful either. Anyway, I felt pretty lousy when I went for my walk, but as usual, I felt much better afterwards. Kelly couldn't walk with me today, so I was on my own. It felt odd to be walking by myself and I missed her company, but it was good to be out regardless.

It was nice for November, at about 40F (4C) and clear, with no wind. With light gloves, a long-sleeved shirt, and capris, I was comfortable. I started later than I'd planned, and at 6:50am it wasn't even pitch black dark.

I felt good this morning - really strong and fast. I made it to Liberty Park (2k) very quickly, well under 12 minutes. I started my first 5 min burst at 2k, and did 2:46 for the first 500m. Even when I relaxed after that burst, I was still pretty fast. My second burst was a bit harder; I started it at 5.1km and my second 500m was 2:49, so that was still pretty fast.

I will admit that I did push a bit today because I felt good :). I slowed up the hill at the end but still did a fast pace of 5:59/km with total time 47:48 for the 8km. My average HR was 153. My left glutes/hamstrings/whatever it is that is bugging me felt pretty good today, just bugging me a bit at the end.

Garmin data here.

12K

Kelly and I were to do 12K today. We were both a bit sore from the hill workout yesterday, and I figured it was gonna hurt today. Surprisingly, we did well and felt pretty good for the most part. The first 8K was fine, and the last 4K we were tired, but we were able to keep our pace pretty well.

The weather was interesting - pretty warm at 56F (13C) but it was VERY windy. Seriously, it almost blew my hat off at one point! We good-naturedly whined about the wind, but it was refreshing to have the cool air, and when we turned around with our backs to the wind for the last 6K it was pretty warm.

We made up a new technique chant today: "Toes, Tuck, Tush!". Toes refers to rolling all the way through the toes to get a good toe-off and long stride behind the body. Tuck means to tuck your rear end under. Tush means to use your glutes when you walk. We kept reminding each other to have good technique.

Total time was 1:14:11 for 6:11/km for the 12km. Pretty good for being tired. My average HR was just 144.

Garmin data here.

long time no post

Oh my! I haven't posted since Election Day (November 6th!). Major oversight on my part. Well, I knew it had been a while, but I just didn't make it a priority since I haven't been training hard.

However, I have been training.

Here's what I've been up to:
Wed Nov 7: 30 min elliptical
Thurs Nov 8: 5K with Kelly in 30:24 (easy), hip was hurting a bit so then did 30 min elliptical.
Fri Nov 9: 50 min elliptical
Sat Nov 10: 8K in the snow! We had easily 2-3 inches on the ground, and it was snowing hard, and it was tough to racewalk through, but Kelly and I did 8K in 52:27 for 6:32/km which I thought was pretty good for those conditions.
Sun Nov 11: 45 min elliptical
Mon Nov 12: overslept = rest day
Tues Nov 13: 3K warm-up; 5K fartlek in 30:07 (at Kelly's pace; I could have gone faster but she was having a rough day so I stayed with her since it was her workout not mine); 2K cool-down to home.
Wed Nov 14: 8K in 51:07 with Kelly; 6:23/km. We were both a bit sore from the 5K fartlek and so were slow and a bit tired.
Thurs Nov 15: 10K with 2x5' bursts with Kelly; 6:21/km. Again, we were a little tired. I'm glad I'm easing back into things with Kelly. It makes it easier.
Fri Nov 16: 40 min elliptical
Sat Nov 17: 8K hilly with Kelly in 50:46 (6:10/km!). We did the route for the Cold Turkey race on Thanksgiving (Thursday this coming week) and it's pretty hilly. We added an extra km uphill since the Cold Turkey race is only 6K, but we still finished pretty fast for an easy effort.

Today after the workout w/Kelly we had a club racewalking clinic at the Olympic Oval. It was great fun to teach racewalking and watch people improve. I'm editing video now, but not sure I will post it here due to privacy concerns for the club members.

Oh, I neglected to say that I've been doing weight training (especially glutes) 2x per week. I'm working on getting that up to 3x/week but so far I've been a bit flaky.

Since last Friday...

Saturday: Elliptical for 1 hr

Sunday: I enjoyed a nice FAST racewalk on a hilly route. That tested my left rear end a bit...it was a little sore afterward but not too bad. I'm still recovering but the fact that I could do hills and not have too much trouble is a great sign. Anyway, I was quite fast for such a hilly route - I could hardly believe it. Apparently I've gotten quite a boost in my fitness from the 30K; at least that's what my coach says. Seems reasonable anyway. I did 10.37km in 1:01:16 for 5:53/km with ave HR 143.

Garmin data here.

Monday: I did the elliptical for 45 min and lifted weights/did glute exercises. My rear end is fairly sore today so I guess I did a good job. My left glutes are notably much weaker than right glutes, especially on the one-legged getting-up-from-chair exercise. That will change as I keep working on them I'm sure. I did 3 different glute exercises, and also did bench press (Smith machine - 105 lb), tricep extensions (12 lb), and lat pull-downs (70 lb).

Today: I went to the track with my friend Kelly; Jim had given her a 5K fartlek so I tagged along. We did 3 laps to warm-up (she was a bit short on time), some dynamic drills, and then she started the fartlek. I wasn't going to do it, so I walked more slowly than her...but then I just wanted to chase her. I did 500m in 2:45 and then realized I had the auto lap on and stopped to turn it off; I walked around the other way to meet Kelly for her medium 500m after her first 1km hard. We did the medium 500m together, and then I let her go for the fast 500m. But when she got to the medium 500m after that, I chased her down and did the rest of the workout together. She wasn't going to let the "old lady" (me hahaha...she is 24) catch her, so we did the fast 500m in 2:35 (! smokin' !) and the next fast 500s in 2:40 and 2:39 (her)/2:37 (me). I had a great time and so did she. We are going to try to train together much more often, as it's so much better than training alone. We are both so happy to have someone our speed to train with, although pretty soon she will be faster than me. Oh, and Kelly did the fartlek in 28:05!!! Very speedy!

After the track today, I went to the gym and did 20 min on the elliptical and then it was time to take the kids to school, so off I went.

That about catches me up for now. Tomorrow morning: 6K with Kelly and then some more elliptical and some weights I think.

crazy fast?

So I looked up my route from Thursday, when I did the 58:31 10K. I didn't believe my Garmin because that seemed too fast for my average HR of 148. However, when I retraced the route on the USATF Map It website, it came out exactly the same as my Garmin. Wow...I guess I really DID do a 58:31 10K? Crazy fast! And it was on gently rolling hills, too. I guess I haven't lost too much fitness, which is good.

8K

I got home late last night. I'm thankful for power, hot water, and internet access. I was very happy to see my family! As soon as I got in I went into the kids' rooms and hugged and kissed them. They didn't wake up, but I was just so happy to see them.

This morning I met my friend Kelly for a walk. We did a nice easy 8K together, and it was so nice to train with someone. We have the same coach, and we're going to ask Jim to write us programs that allow us to train together when possible. We are both thinking to do the 20K in California in March as our next race. I was going to skip that one and just do the 15K in May, but Jim is trying to talk me into it, and I will discuss it with Loren and see if we can make that work.

Anyway, the 8K this morning went well. My legs are a bit sore from the weight training on Wednesday, but not too bad. My left hamstring or whatever it is that is bugging me didn't give me much trouble today. I don't know why it's getting better, but hey, I'm not complaining! I noticed it, but it didn't really hurt much or slow me down.

Total time 49:16 for 6:10/km with ave HR just 141.

Garmin data here.

Honored!

The USATF Race Walking Sub-Committee announces the outstanding Masters Race Walkers for Age Groups:

Women:
35-39: None
40-44: Tammy Stevenson
45-49: Teresa Vaill
50-54: None
55-59: Debbie Topham
60-64: Marianne Martino
65-69: Panse Geer and Darlene Backlund

Men:
35-39: Omar Nash
40-44: Tim Seaman
45-49: Dave Swarts
50-54: Ray Sharp
55-59: Mark Green
60-64: Andrew Smith
65-69: Christoph Schmid
70-74: John Backlund
75-79: None
80-84: Max Green

Congratulations to all!

Note: To be considered athletes must have competed in at least two Masters Championships.

Interesting weekend...

It was an interesting weekend week in Pennsylvania. I went on Friday for my high school reunion (25 years!) Saturday night and for the 30K national racewalk held in New York on Sunday morning. I was scheduled to fly out Monday morning, but due to Hurricane Sandy my flight was cancelled. I rebooked for Wednesday but that flight was later cancelled. Finally I rebooked for today, and I'm now sitting in the airport ready to fly out. Wow.

The reunion was a lot of fun (photos here) - good friends and a good time catching up, plus a "Philly buffet" including my faves - cheesesteak, soft pretzels, and Tastykakes! I tried everything but didn't eat too much because of the race the next morning. Got to sleep around midnight and then was up at 5 am to drive to New York.

I got a bit lost in New Jersey but only lost about 20 min on the way to the race, and so I arrived 40 min before the race, which was plenty of time. You don't need to warm up much before a 30K! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my racewalking friends and saying hi before the race. I met Maria Michta, our 20K Olympian from this summer, and talked science with her (she's getting her Ph.D. in microbiology).

The race went surprisingly well. There are pictures here on Facebook - mostly of the men's 50K competitors and the 30K competitors who finished after me, but there are some shots of the awards too. Basically, I started out 95% sure I wouldn't finish, and about 12K into the race I was sure I wouldn't finish. I decided to get to 15K and quit. I quite literally had a "pain in the butt". But at 15K, it felt a bit better and so I kept going. It never really got bad again until I had less than 5K to go, and then I knew I would finish no matter what! It wasn't horrible, though - I wasn't limping like I was on the track a few weeks ago. I didn't push hard (for obvious reasons) and my time was a bit slow, but I FINISHED!!!!!!!! I was ecstatic to finish, and it was SO FUN to be out there racing with my friends. Yeah...time was really slow, at 3:14:03, but oddly enough I didn't care.

The funny thing is that my pain in the butt is getting better, despite the race. The day after the race I took a rest day because of the hurricane (impossible to exercise!) - rain, wind, etc. We got 75mph wind gusts - it was HOWLING out there and I was glad to be inside (my friend's parents took us in because we didn't want to have to pay for hotel for extra days; so we got to couch surf!). On Tuesday morning it was much better so I went for an easy 5K walk, and it only took about 31 min! My hamstrings were quite sore, and I have a sore toe (blisters) but otherwise it was great. On Wednesday, after almost 48 hr w/o power, my friend's mom took me to the gym, which had power! I got in an hour on the elliptical, lifted weights and did my glute exercises, and got a HOT shower :). Yay! Today we still did not have power. It was pretty cold in the house (probably 55F, 12C) but we felt lucky that we had no trees in the roof and no flooding.

I went for a walk this morning and walked a really fast 10K. Not sure how I did that - maybe the Garmin was off? I walked 58:31 and felt great. I went by my old house though, and there was a tree down and serious roof damage. It was a very large old tree and fell right into the master bath on the east side of the house. I took lots of pictures and talked with the son of the "new" owners (who most likely bought the house from my parents back in 1987, he thought). The son lives in my old room, which I thought was pretty funny. Anyway, he said this was the 3rd tree to fall on the house since his parents had bought it - one fell on the sun porch and damaged the whole front of the house, and one fell from the back yard and I'm guessing damaged the patio and room my brother used for a bedroom, as that has been removed from the house and replaced by just a flat patio. Here are the pictures I took.

I really enjoyed my walk - loved walking in the old neighborhood and seeing how it looks now - pretty similar, actually. I walked where my mom used to run back in the 1980s, and where I tried to run with her so long ago (and gave up because it was too hard!).

Anyway, I've got a plane to catch so must go!