High on the Miles



Liz at mile 17 (committed)



The method to my madness is easy. Its been stressful around here so I run... or I don't but there is no in between. I run hard or I run long. I did learn so much at my RRCA class and but the big make it work for me info is to slow down on my longer runs and I''ll feel better. Guess what? It worked! I started out working hard on that first Tuesday night speed workout but then kept it light for the rest of the week. I eased off even more on my pace and I did amazing on our 20 mile run this weekend, even with the crazy wind, rain and sleet (and hills) we ran through I felt great the entire way. I had nice easy quiet 6 and 7 mile runs all week. That 20 miler on Saturday finished off a 47 mile week.



Bday shot of tequila



We celebrated my birthday by going with friends to dinner at Tres Hombres, hit Panama's for a drink (but no potty breaks!) then for some "Drunk Bowling". I was pretty blitzed by then and made everyone shake their butts if they were up at the same time as me. I yelled WAHOO a lot and drank a bunch of NorCal Margaritas which made me VERY HAPPY! We didn't get in until 1am or so and I slept like a ROCK! I didn't go for a run Sunday but I didn't have a hangover either! Wahoo for me.



at mile (crazy) 17 of 20



Monday I did knock out a good 7 miles up to the airport but it was warm. Weird what 2 days can make, from snowing to the 60's and sunshine. Tuesday night was my "webinar" with the rest of the RRCA group and so I ran with Robin, Traci, Marta and Anna at the CSUC track that morning. We ran bleachers and sprints. Not my usual kinda run and it showed. I was at least one set back from them by the end and my strides (sprints) were poor but I tried! I was super sore and tired and still had to run to mom's office to call AAA since I locked my keys in my car and then run back. It was only 4.87 miles in the bank but 3 of those were pretty hard work! I was super sore the next day but went for a nice long hilly hike with friends to Table Mt. and even more sore today (Thursday) but ran a good 7miles including the mother hill with Tracy, Cheri and Liz today. Hopefully I'll run 5 tomorrow and figure out how to get my 18 in on Saturday.  

RRCA Coaching Certification



The cute hat I bought myself for my Bday



Something I've been pondering and throwing around in my head for a while is to take a coaching certification class. I have a lot of friends who are very interested in running and ask me advise. I give them little ideas on how to get started and what worked for me but I struggled with the fact that I'm a runner not a coach and truthfully as much as I love running... I love teaching more. I miss teaching CPR, I miss being the one who can lead others into a healthy lifestyle. I wanted to be a part of the larger picture.

I approached Susan at our local Fleet Feet and told her I was interested in helping out in the longer distance programs and did she think she could use someone in the Fall. She said yes! Their programs are growing by leaps and bounds for all the programs and its hard to keep enough coaches who can follow their philosophy rotating through the programs with some time off too. It would be nice to give those who are in there a break and its always good to have more "feet" out there to monitor the runners.

I've only been running for the last 3+ years and would they accept me as their coach? Would I do well enough in this class to not just pass but to get the info I need to teach them? Would this give me the confidence I'm looking for?

I headed for LV from Disneyland on my sisters 29th Birthday. While they were driving back to NorCal I was on planes and in Taxi cabs. I took cheater books with me to study before I got to class. I got to the hotel and walked over to REI so I'd know where I was going to be taking the class the next day. I also bought myself a pair of cute capris and a hat. I'd been looking for one in DL and never found one that I really loved.



Where our class was held in NWLV



I ate dinner at a pub across from the hotel/casino and met a sweet young couple out on a date sitting at the bar that chatted me up. They said it was nice to have a conversation with another adult at dinner. I was glad they got a chance to get out. I remember what that was like!

Class on Saturday was my birthday. Lots of sciencey stuff. Learned A LOT. I learned why slow running is good, why building your endurance helps in any longer race, why we build the programs the way we do.

We all met back at the same pub I ate at the night before and had a yummy dinner of stir fry and they bought me a "birthday shot" that I had to take without my hands. Didn't work out to well. Total party foul but it was fun.



wicked blurry shot of my birthday "shot"



Sunday I met up with some of my RRCA peeps and we went for a run. Of course I got lost with my running buddy so we just headed up to Starbucks instead. :) Got in a good 3 miles though! Went back to the hotel and took showers and headed back to REI community room. Warren jumped in and gave us a lot more info to digest and we had to put a lot of that information into action. Building a running plan and program around a really "pushy" pretend runner looking for a half marathon time a bit beyond her abilities at that time. Most of us judged a little too conservative. It was hard to think outside the box but we got the picture pretty quick! I left with a good view of how things work and lots of notes! Thank you Susan for the heads up and the good advise.

I took the test today and got a 92%. less than what I expected but that's OK. I need to be better about following my gut!

Disneyland trip

WOW! Its been too long! I'm going to do a few recap posts here and catch you all up on the fun times I've had since I've last posted.


Nani w/ her pop princess do and Belle



The week before we went to Disneyland I was so good about my miles! I hit them all knowing the next week would be hard with my sister and her kids in town before we left for SoCal. I did have a crazy headache that Saturday and bailed 2 miles in but I felt confidant that it wouldn't interfere too much with my training. Up to that point I had been really good this training period with hitting close to what is written for me. I also ate well. I've been more aware of my gluten splurges and that they really don't make me feel well so it isn't worth it to jump ship. I did a time or two but for the most part I was diligent. I missed posting here because we didn't have Internet. That just about drove me bonkers.

We drove to Disneyland caravan style with my sis, her kids and my parents in the other car on that Monday. It was my nephew Jeremy's 3rd birthday. He's so stinkin' cute! It was also my 18th anniversary of my Melanoma diagnosis. Let me tell you that it may have been wet and cold in NorCal but SoCal was beautiful and sunscreen was a must. We had dinner at Rainforest Cafe and headed to our hotel for a good night sleep.



5 kids and my sista on Casey Jr. train



me and my boys



Tuesday-Thursday was a whirl wind of Disneyland madness including my hubby taking my niece (6) on her first roller coaster ride on the Matterhorn, my nephews (JJ age 3) and (TyTy age 4) each on their first roller coaster rides on the Gadgets GoCoaster in ToonTown. Not sure the little guys recovered but Nani sure loved it! I took her and her mom over to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for a princess makeover and she chose the "POP PRINCESS" hair do for her princess day. She looked wild! Kinda reminded me of the 80's music I listened to growing up. She only needed a microphone to sing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" into and it would have been perfect! We did so much walking and carried Tyler (4) a lot. I estimated that we probably walked close to 10 miles a day. Between carrying my nephews and hustling from 7am til 11pm every day I don't think I lost any fitness while I was there! Probably one of the best parts was that my sista, my nephew and I wore our "It's My Birthday" badges with our names on them and EVERYONE said happy birthday to us for the last two days (that's when we found out we could wear them even if it was our bday WEEK) of our park visit. It was pretty amazing!





St. Patty's day in the park with the whole Family



Holding Tink w/ Nani and my Sista




My little family in CalAdv.



All the kids at the CARS





Got to see Pooh Bear! I love taking little guys to DL!

 I hopped on a plane to Vegas Friday while they drove home to cold wet Chico. I cried in the car on the way to the airport. I missed my sista and the kids already and I had just walked out the door.

Into the Wind



North end of the levy where we shouldn't have been

 There is a crazy storm headed our way. Some people in other parts of the country think its beaches and sunshine all over California. Well here in Chico we don't have a real beach but we have lots of creeks with wonderful watering holes to jump in. We have lakes all around us to go explore too. But this week we are expecting snow all the way to the valley floor! SNOW! You know because all the people who already shouldn't be out there driving will be F-L-I-P-P-I-N-G out! I'm excited though. I love running in the rain and I'm sure I'd love running in the snow although I do not like running in the wind. The whole run today felt like it was running right into the wind. So I haven't even looked at my splits but I'm sure they aren't good.



I swear she found every mud puddle

I took the kids to school and came back and ate breakfast. Gotta love Cheerios with strawberries and blue berries. I know they aren't in season yet but I couldn't resist them on my Trader Joe's trip. They did not disappoint. I love me some blueberries. They are most definitely my favorite fruit. Strawberries are yummy but just can't compare. I can't wait for summer fruits and veggies.

I didn't get out the door until 9:30 but the wind had already picked up and the clouds were threatening rain. I grabbed the leash and Cindi went crazy. She was so ready to go. I knew that she was going to either drag me or that I was going to spend the first few miles correcting her. Off we went and we hit our first hurdle when we crossed the first major street with two puppies that Cindi assumed were there to play with us. I had to drag her away from them but they all did look pretty cute playing together. Off we went to the walking path behind a local subdivision that leads to the levy. Its just over a mile to get there and Cindi was so happy to be off leash for a bit. There are houses to our right but all open fields to the left so she felt very free and I had to keep calling her back so she wouldn't run off. When we hit the levy we decided to add some mileage by turning left instead of right and seeing where it lead. I probably should have told someone I was going there since I doubt enough people go out there that if something bad happened it would be days before anyone found me! So no more going back there by myself but we will be heading back there with friends for sure. It was pretty though.

Just past the ball fields along the levy

We turned back into the wind and ran to Wildwood park along the levy but the wind was so bad and my hip was hurting a little I had to stop and stretch a few times along with the "snot rockets" and coughing along the way. The wind took my hat 3 times along that mile stretch alone. We turned the corner and checked the water fountains that are apparently still off due to this freeze and decided to take a leashed loop around the path that is just over half a mile long then over the road to the other side of the levy. Cindi was pretty tired by then and our run was starting to warm up. We ran along Centenial then turned around at the 5 mile mark and headed back with a water stop for us both at 5 mile, me at the fountain and her in the creek then ran back along the levy and home. Those last 3 were almost effortless. Finally found my happy place and even the parts where Cindi was on leash she was behaved. At the point to turn off the path behind the houses we did run into a German shepherd who was loose. We ended up leashing up and heading into the neighborhood to avoid a confrontation. This ended up adding more than a half mile to my projected route but we didn't even care! Well I didn't care and I didn't hear Cindi complaining so when we slowed down in front of the house and noticed the hubby wasn't home yet I almost headed back out for a few more miles. Instead I did dishes and laundry and stretched.


Chico Creek by 5Mile



We do have a few miles to make up for since i didn't run yesterday. I'm thinking of heading to Paradise and running in the snow because I'm so jealous of you mid-westerners who have been battling it for months. ;) We got in with 8.81 miles in but I'm not telling you how long it took us with all that head wind.

Do you take your dogs on your runs? How far do you run with them? Cindi has run anywhere from 3 and up to 12miles with me.

It Snot Pretty

I did now want to get up this morning for our scheduled 14 mile run but today was a little special and we ran from C&M Automotive. My friend Kosmo and his wife own the repair shop and also sponser a local race series here in Chico. You could not ask for more supportive and sweet people.

Kosmo had a route laid out for us based on a cycling route with some little extra loops to make up some mileage. We started out from C&M and I kept up with the 10m/m pace group but it wasn't pretty. The first 5 miles were at an incline with some rolling hills at the top. We went up by the airport then along Ryan by the ball fields where Hollywood plays Little League. I kept Susan, Liz and Becca in my sights and TDD right behind me. There were a lot of "snot rockets" and "super spitting" going on from all the morning gunk from this cold. It was GROSS! We did have a few fun little things happen along the run though. About mile 4 a cow and and its calf came out over a hill headed in the same direction as us at a run. It was like they were running with us. It was very funny when my friend made an attempt to run faster than them up the hill. We also saw a bunch of great creeks and slews rushing with water. I wish I would have stopped to take pictures.

At mile 5 we turned off of Cohassett Highway and onto the Keefer road. The houses along this road are pretty amazing. I would love for someone to buy me one of these $500k-$1million dollar homes then come clean it for me. :) We took a few of those loops off the side streets including running past Aaron Rogers parents house. I didn't take a picture because I was respecting their privacy but it was green. Not GB Packers green either but that's OK. It was pretty cool. That kept me going past the half way mark and I was just hoping to make it to the 10 mile mark. I was all about climbing in coach Paul's truck and giving up but he went to rescue another runner by the time I got to the aid station meaning I was going to have to finish the last 4 miles. Now I'm glad I did but I probably would not have regretted it if I hadn't finished.

Levy shot of the rushing water. This is usually dry



Liz on the levy



I felt like CRAP! I took GU shots (the new peach tea ones are THE BOMB) at mile 5 and 10 and hoped they would kick in quickly. The last 4 were plagued with moving streams right over the road on Hicks and that makes for some wet socks which even with Body Glide makes for hot spots or even blisters. We turned off onto the levy at mile 12.5 and headed towards home. The wind was a bitch all day. My head felt like it was going to explode from the pressure in my sinus and every time I stopped for something I started coughing. I just wanted to get back to Kosmo's shop and drink coffee and eat treats. So although I felt like I was flying I saw on my Garmin I was struggling to keep it at 10 minute pace against a 10-15 mph head wind.  That uneven surface isn't too pleasant on wet squishy shoes and socks either so I was ready to be home and out of the wind. I'm just thankful it didn't rain on us! I did like TDD's version of my cold. Its like a little green gremlin in there trying to get out... and the snot and gunk is like that character from the commercial we all love don't we? LOL

I'm looking forward to a good easy hill run with my friend Cheri tomorrow.

Feelings on Boston and Lance's Retirement

I'm not a fast runner, marathon or otherwise. I'm more of a mid to back of the pack runner. I like to run with my friends and my biggest goal is to someday finish under 4 hours. There's not age I need to be when I do it. I don't need someone to tell me that I'll have to run faster to achieve that. I'm not sure how I'd be feeling if Boston was a goal of mine. I would probably disheartened, discouraged and upset or maybe I would feel just like I do now. I do know that I have heard from some runners who are not happy about these changes. They will have less of a chance to register if they are close to their BQ cut off time. They will lose that 59 second grace time on the minute cut off. They will have to work so much harder to drop their times low enough to qualify in the future. I don't disagree with the BAA practices and changes I just feel for those people who have worked so hard to get close and may loose their chance. I do think that with more people running, and running faster for that matter, it is making the chances of meeting the current/old times more attainable with a good strong consistent effort. That is a lot of runners who qualify,  a lot more than the number of qualifying spots available for the Boston Marathon. As a runner with a young family I don't see it in my future. I don't have the time or ambition to put into it and my heart is more about getting others into running than running marathons fast myself. I have a hope that coaching will bring some of that competitive energy back to the future but its not a burning desire yet. So If you want to qualify for Boston you have a lot of work cut out for you. Go out there and do your work... and I'll watch your times as you cross that Boston line.

Lance is Re-retiring from cycling to spend more time with his family. His name is on one of the most successful charitable organizations to bring funds and education to one of the deadliest diseases in the world. He obviously adores his family and his fame on the bike has given him a name to use for a good thing. I personally don't think that he is a selfless, humble, innocent man. I think that he wouldn't be the kind of man I would want to marry or have a family with (although I do adore his ex-wife Kristen Armstrong's blog). I do think that his body was made to do amazing things and he did them... with or without doping. I really could care less if he did or didn't use drugs. I think his children are old enough to read the information that is out there the truth, the theory, the lies, the not so subtle comments that some people might be making about their father. Lance and I are very different but we have a few things in common, we ran a marathon (although he was A LOT faster) and we are both cancer survivors. So I'm not going to bash him. I'm going to forgive without knowing all his faults. I'm going to keep wearing my yellow bracelet and running or volunteering for the LiveStrong run in our little community in October. I'm going to tell my kids that being the best they can be without using pills or shots or drugs is the only way to truly win and you are not only cheating yourself but your friends, your coaches, your peers, your competitors, by "doping" in any way. I'll tell my children the truth, that dignity and honesty are more important than winning. I only hope that Lance knows that too.