new activities and toys

This week I have started teaching night swim lessons.  I have done swim lessons every summer since i was 15.  I just love teaching little kids to love the water.  On Monday, I had one little boy cry because he didnt want swim lessons to be over.  It's so much nicer to have them cry to not get out than when they cry bc they dont want to get in.  I do 4 nights a week of group lessons for 45 minutes nd will be adding in some 30 min private lessons on various days throughout the week.

I missed my run last night, but this is the first week I am supposed to run 4 days a week. Not a good way to start, but I was walking back and forth in the water for 45 minutes straight so I figure while not being exactly the same it should be pretty close to running slow for the same amount of time, dont you think?  I did run monday and will run Thursday on the treadmill and do a long run again on Saturday, so i'll at least get in 3 days.

Jeremy got a new garmin for his anniversary present.  I went clothes shopping on vacation, so he got the  garmin 110. It works out for both of us now so we will both have one when we are running at the same time and on days when we both run, the battery wont be dead! :)  double yay for that!!

While I was ordering, I also ordered Jilliam Michael's Shred with Weights for me.  Biking and running work on my legs, but I really wanted something to work my upper body- arms and back in particular! I hope to add it to my routine starting this weekend or next week.  

Sweat Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k and equipment malfunction

Saturday morning long run #2 was on the schedule - 6 miles to do while getting in the Sweat Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k.  i got everything ready the night before and was ready to go!  woke up saturday and was able to use the bathroom BEFORE i left the house.  this is actually a major accomplishment since usually i have to go AFTER i leave the house.

on the way to meet my and j's running partners, i turn on the garmin. except the garmin wont come on.  i press every button, combine buttons, nothing, nada, zip!  ah!!! no watch again?  seriously!  not sure what the problem was with it, it had been charging since thursday night. there was no reason it should be dead still :( at least this time i did have my phone and my arm holder.  but i had to re download an app that would track pace, distance, etc.  ugh, this couldn't be easy could it?  i get it downloaded and ready while we are driving around town dropping water and so j can show me the "route".  he and twila were doing 10, while Angie and I did 6.


We get back to the meeting spot, i get my ipod out and turn it on. nothing, nada, zip!  of course the battery is dead on it too!  at this point i really wanted to go home and run on the treadmill.  but i couldnt exactly ditch a run with my running partner right there. 

the weather was nice, at least i had that much going for me.  i had a gu brew in my golite hand held bottle and a gu  for half way.  angie had her iphone app going too.  what's weird is that even though we were side by side, her app said she was .2 more than me at all times.  she has the iphone 4 while i have the original iphone, i wonder if hers was more accurate bc it's newer?? 

our water drop was perfect, just a smidge after the 3 mile mark.  3.1 to be exact which worked great since i was also doing the Sweat Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k! yay for killing two birds with one stone!  my time was 44:39 . not great, but not bad considering i had 3 more miles to go to finish my long run.  

we ran back the way we had come.  our pace dropped a little but not too bad.  i did have to stop and take some walk breaks on the second half.  my back was stiff and was hurting.  guess a visit to the chiro needs to be scheduled soon.

no watch turns temp'o' into temp'slow'

Tonight's run was a disaster in so many ways.  on the schedule was a 4 mile tempo run.  the pace for the tempo was a little faster that i thought i could do at this point especially for 2 miles in the middle of the run.  i knew i could do it for 1 mile at the beginning but 2 in the middle was going to be tough.

I went and picked up my running buddy and we drove in to town.  I turned on my watch and it flashed "low battery".  Oh great!!  Luckily, Angie had her phone with her and pulled up an app that told the pace/time/etc.  About .2 miles in,  my watch was dead. 

Since we were running longer we needed to add some distance to our route on tuesday.  we ran the first mile together and were able to keep a slow pace so that we could "speed up" the next 2 miles. 

Angie was faster and went on ahead of me.  a couple steps at first, then gradually more. about 2.5 miles in i couldnt see if she had turned or ifgone straight so i ran straight thinking i saw someone up the street.  unfortunately it wasn't her. i got back to the car and looked at the time. then called her to see where she was. i got in the car and drove to where she was, she still had .5 to go.  i had been a mile or less short. :(

i came home and plugged my watch up. fortunately it had the time from when i had started the run so i was able to figure out how long i ran. then i drove what i had ran to get close to my milage.  i have no idea what my pace was but know that it was about the same as tuesdays run, but not what it should have been for the "tempo" miles.  one positive thing from this run was that out of a 3+ mile run i didnt walk once!!

I ran in the ..... (what for it)

RAIN!!!!

I know some of you are thinking whoop ti do, but to me this is a BIG deal.  In the past if I had the choice of doing a training run in the rain or on the treadmill i would pick the treadmill. if i had the choice of running in the rain or not running, i would not run.  And for the most part if i had the choice betweeen running on the treadmill and not running when it was raining out, I just wouldnt run.  it was as simple as that.  I have ran in the rain before when it started to rain after the race had already started, but never when it was raining before it started.  I just dont like to be wet and cold.  Yes, I am a swimmer that doesnt like to be wet, weird i know! :)

So, last night my friend, Angie, and I were supposed to run.  I was checking the weather all day long. It was supposed to storm for most of the night and they were giving 100% chance of storms during the time we were set to go.  I told her about an hour before hand that I wasn't going to go, I would just run on the treadmill. She said if it wasn't raining or just sprinkling she would run anyway.  15 minutes before we were originally supposed to meet, she asked again "you sure you dont want to go?"  At this point the rain had stopped and I decided I would go.  Even though my treadmill was calling my name. 

I got to her house and changed.  I suggested we drive to the top of the hill and park in town, thus avoiding the big hill by her house.  She agreed and off we went.  We parked the car, stretched, and started running.  Seriously no sooner than we had turned the Garmin on, it started RAINING!  we looked at each other and she said lets just keep going.  and we did.....  and we got wet!

the main reason, other than being wet and cold, that i dont like running in the rain is i can't see.  i wear glasses (I will never wear contacts) and the rain makes it hard when the water hits my glasses.  well, about half a mile in i run my lenses with my finger and i hear a clank as something hits the ground.  my lens has popped out of my glasses!!  luckily it wasn't scratched and the screw was still in the hole.  we found a stoop of a closed business and put them there so we could pick them up later.   i can run without them but things are a little blurry.  it was much better running without my glasses with rain on them though.  

we ran a mile and a half then turned around and came back the way we had come for a total of 3 miles.  i will say the rain stopped and i actually wish it hadn't because i was hot and needed water.  i was 56 seconds faster per mile than my training plan called for.  :) as long as i'm not over the pace, i'm ok with being under it. 

so no more excuses for not running bc it's raining.....although next time i think i'll leave the glasses in the car.  blurry vision is better than wet vision.

first long run in a long time

After Thursday's run and Jeremy asking if I was ready for 5 miles on saturday, the answer was yes. 

Saturday morning rolled around and we woke up to very dark skies.  We got up anyway and went to meet twila. Jeremy and her were going to run together, i was going to run at the same time as them but fewer miles and much slower.   Before we got there, Twila called and said to look at the radar, a big storm was coming in but she wanted to try it anyway. 

As soon as we pulled up it started raining, thundering and lightning.  We decided to do it on our own.  Jeremy and I came back and went back to bed.  Later that afternoon the sky had cleared up so Jeremy and Twila took out to do 8 miles.  I on the other hand was not feeling well and decided i would run later that day or Sunday. 

Sunday rolled around and we went to Lexington to eat with my dad and mom for Father's Day, then came home and took a nap.  I knew I needed to run but it was so humid and sticky out i didnt want to run outside, so the treadmill it was. 

I popped in disc one of season 4 of Friends and started. i was going to watch 3 episodes.  Jeremy came upstairs with me and updated his running journal, then put pictures in our albums from our vacation from December. (We are horrible at getting them developed and put into albums!).  I ran almost the entire 75 minutes only walking during the credits at the end of each show and once in the middle of the third episode bc I just needed to! :)

It felt really good!  The end was a little hard, but I had run 30 minutes longer than I had been, so that was to be expected. 

I am running with my friend Tuesday and Thursday, with another long run on Saturday. 

tonight I'm going to melting pot to have dinner with a friend that is moving to Wisconsin on Sunday.  :(  I'm so sad to see her go!  but we already have plans to go up and stay with her for the Greenbay Marathon next May! :)   My hubby is a huge Packers fan and you finish running in the stadium!

nice surprise

You know how when you know you NEED to run, but just aren't feeling it? It amazes me how those runs turn out to be the best ones! 

I did not want to run last night.  Unfortunately, that has come to be a common occurance around here.  But I know I need to. I have a team that is counting on me to complete the race and I want to go and travel to really cool places with my husband and running. 

I met my friend about 9;15pm and first words she said were "I was hoping you were going to cancel for tonight, i'm not feeling it".  "I'm not either I told her!"  But we went out anyway.  There is a huge hill right out the door at her house and it fills me with dread.  Starting out going up a steep hill is not my idea of a fun time!  So we decided to go down the hill in the other direction. I had the garmin and she had her iphone so we could keep track of distance since we were going somewhere new.  The weather was mid 70's and comfortable.  She was talking up a storm about her recent vacation so i just settled in and listened.  We were slow and only did 2.25 miles but it felt GOOD!!  Seems like very few of my runs feel good, but this one did.  It was a nice surprise when we got back to her house and I told my husband when he asked if i was ready for 5 miles on Saturday "yeah, actually i am!" :)

Finished product

Tonight one of my best friends and I went to the local community arts center. Once a month they have "starry night studio" where they lead you through how to paint the selected painting for the evening. I have been dying to do this for over a year now but it has never worked out. We had a blast!! See my pics below of my creation from beginning to end.





























Can't wait til the next time I can go!!

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Vacation

Last week, my husband and I went on vacations with his parents to Myrtle Beach.   His parents had 3 free nights in North Myrtle Beach at a hotel and then we went to another hotel in Surfside (south of Myrtle beach) for the next three nights.  Both hotels were right on the ocean!

view from hotel #1

We shopped on Sunday.  Had way too many clothes packed to begin with, however somehow i forgot to pack myself any SHORTS!!!  So, a must needed stop was the nearby outlet mall!

We went to the beach Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We watched fireworks and also played putt-putt.

Jeremy is the one in the middle running towards the left.

i came in third :(

We parasailed on Thursday.

loved it! saw a stringray in the ocean from up in the air

We watched the sunrise and drove home on Friday. 

I tried to stay on my diet and count my points, but by about Tuesday I was done trying. There was too much fried seafood and icecream. I figured I was walking more than usual and in the ocean a lot so that would make up for some my bad/yummy food choices! Which explains the S'mores burger I had on Thursday.  Now I know you are thinking "a s'mores burger????"  Yes!  A s'mores burger. it is quite possibly the best burger ever!!!  It had peanut butter, marshmellow cream and nutella on the burger and it was fabulous!! I was skeptical but was so glad i tried something new and so sad that it happened to be my last day that I discovered this wonderful burger!  

view from restaurant

the s'mores burger!

I had running shorts packed, but failed to run on vacation.  :(  Sunday night though, Jeremy and I got on the bike and rode only 8 miles.  My bottom is still feeling it even today. 

Tonight I am going the Community Arts Center for a painting class.  Once or twice a month they have a class and a specific painting featured.  Then they guide you through painting it on your own.  Pics to follow! 
After that it is back to running....

gone fishing and anniversary

monday my husband went to the family farm with his dad to move some landscaping stones.  I tagged along and went fishing while they were working.

there was lots of this

but only one fish and it wasn't a "keeper".

yesterday was my three year wedding anniversary!  God works in mysterious ways that's for sure!  I had been let go bc of cutbacks and found myself teaching at a new school, where I met another 'new to that school' teacher.  we became friends and the following summer she and one of her friends decided jeremy and i should meet.  turns out i graduated high school the same year as his brother and swam on the hs team with his sister in law, whose parents live right down the road from my parents.  we met in june, got engaged in december and were married the following may on the 31st.  it has been an amazing 3 three years!!

it amazes me still how God works in our lives and when he shuts one door, he opens another.  i truly believe if i hadn't been let go, I would still be single and would never have met jeremy on my own.  what i thought was horrible at the time (losing my job) turned out to be the biggest blessing (meeting jeremy)!! 

here are some wedding pics

rehearsal dinner

after ceremony, with my grandma who couldnt make it

my best friends/bridesmaids

back of my dress



honeymoon in riveria maya, mexico
(oh, to be that skinny again!)