Weekend Wrap Up and Cheribundi Review!

True confession time: I did not get up and run on Friday morning. I got up, let the cats in and the dog out, felt the supremely oppressive humid, hot, thick air (at 7:00 am no less!) and said "heck no" to running! Then I went back to bed for 45 minutes. Some days, it is what it is, people - and on Friday morning, it was Lazy Shelley.

However, on Saturday I did do two sets of 25 push ups. Why? I was sitting at work, bored (it's too quiet on Saturdays) and started flexing my arms - I liked seeing the muscle definition and decided to encourage it along with the push ups. Jeff and I also went for a nice 5.5 mile bike ride on Saturday, and while my legs were a little...not sore, exactly - I guess I was just feeling my muscles a bit - by 8:30 on Sunday morning, we were at a park near my house where I went for a 3.1 mile run - you just knew I couldn't let the weekend go by without running a 5K! As there were no fruit or bagels waiting for me at the (imaginary) finish line, Jeff and I went out for breakfast at Blue Baker, where I got an spinach/egg/feta combo on a chewy multi-grain bagel - YUM.

After we were done with breakfast, we made a quick trip to Target (Mother's Day cards and Kleenex), Home Depot (day lilies and mulch), came home, planted, mulched (um, I *may* have been camped out in a lawn chair, supervising, at this point) and placed several large rocks that we spotted while on our bike ride and went back for with the car (they were out for the trash, which was handy since we had been wanting some accent rocks) on the area formerly known as "Dirt Island" but is now called "Lily Hill - with Rocks" - when the lilies bloom, I'll have to remember to take a picture since at this point if you are still reading then you are invested in this by now!

The point of this rambling post is that when we were done with the rocks, it was 11:15 am - amazing how much we got done, and still had so much of the day left to lay around - all because I actually got up and got moving. I should do that more often!
And now for a quick review of Cheribundi Tart Cherry Juice Drink (FTC alert - I was sent this to try for free!). Yum. Delicious. Tasty. Why yes, I *did* like this product, quite a lot! I was sent bottles of Tru Cherry, Skinny Cherry and Whey Cherry - and as long-time readers know, I do not like to drink my calories - but I made an exception for these drinks. They are not super-sweet - they taste like real cherries, and I happen to love cherries.

While I would not choose the Tru Cherry because of the calories (130 per 8 oz. bottle), I would drink the Skinny Cherry (90 calories) on occasion - I had a few sips of it by itself and then mixed some with club soda, which made for a refreshing drink. A squeeze of lime would have been a good addition - shades of a Sonic Cherry-Limeade...only with more natural ingredients! I was interested in the Whey Cherry because of the added protein - which is nice for after a workout - but with only 8 grams of protein, it's really not enough for me for the 160 calories, so I probably wouldn't use this as a protein source. Still tasted good, though.

If cherries are in season, I would much rather eat 90 calories' worth of them than drink juice. But as we all know, cherry season doesn't last long, so if you want the real taste of cherries year-round, this would be a good option.

Friday Randomness - It Ain't Pretty, Folks

You can blame Debby for what you are about to see - I apologize in advance - but because she gave me the OH MY BLOG! award, I have to post this awful picture of myself...you may want to avert your eyes and just quickly scroll past it...

Puffy eyes, greasy skin, flat hair - jealous?!?

The rules of this award are:

1. Get really excited that you got the coolest award EVER!
2. Choose ONE of the following options of accepting the OMB award:
(a) Get really drunk and blog for 15 minutes straight, or for as long as you can focus.
(b) Write about your most embarrassing moment.
(c) Write a “Soundtrack of your childhood” post.
(d) Make your next blog a ‘vlog’/video blog. Basically, you’re talking to the camera about whatever.
(e) Take a picture of yourself first thing in the morning, before you do anything else (hair, make up, etc) and post it.
3. Pass the award on to at least three, but preferably more, awesome bloggers as yourself. Don’t forget to tell them.

I'm going to torture honor the following bloggers with this award - and please, someone - post a morning picture so I can have some company! The OMB award goes to:

1. Kyle - Because he's such a supportive blog-friend AND is skinny now but won't admit it.
2. Kelly - Hang around her long enough and you begin to believe you can do a half-marathon.
   
3. POD - Have mercy, this woman is funny!

Alright y'all - let's see those pajama pictures!

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I am sad that I don't have a race to run this weekend! Although there are several in my town, they conflict with my stupid Saturday work schedule. What will I do?!? Somebody give me a piece of paper with a number on it and a cool t-shirt, stat!

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Is it wrong that the manager of our local Red Mango frozen yogurt remembers me? Hmmm, that might be a sign I've been going there too much...but it's soooo good and full of healthy probiotics! Still. Must cut back. Tomorrow. Wait, Monday - that's it - I'll start Monday. Gee, that sounds vaguely familiar!

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So yeah, speaking of cutting back, I'm going to *gulp* work a little harder at watching what I eat for the next few months - I've done an EXCELLENT job of maintaining my weight (which translates to not having lost a pound) in recent months. And while this may be the weight I will eventually stay at, I'd like to give it one more try to see if I can lose a little more - like 15 pounds. So I'm putting this out there and going on record that I will be actively trying to diet. If I turn into Miss Crankypants, please let me know (in the nicest possible way because if I'm already cranky you know I won't take it well, haha).

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It is so strange to me that almost always on Thursday evenings, as I'm lying in bed watching my DVR'd shows (Survivor and hopefully The Office before I fall asleep), I feel energized and ready to exercise. This is after one day's rest - after working out for three days in a row! Seems like I would need more rest than that, but maybe my body is getting faster at recovery? Do you think I actually take advantage of this energy and get up early on Fridays and go for a run? Oh heck no! I should...but so far, I haven't. Truth be told, I'm writing this post on Thursday night, so who knows? I just might surprise myself. Knowing my lazy self, though, I doubt it.

Have a good weekend!

Wednesday Workout Update - Sweat Monster Edition

Every week I post my Wednesday Workout Update, and every week I get comments along the lines of "you're so inspiring" and "I'm tired just reading about what you do" and "I could never do what you do" and I just wanted to take a moment and tell you a couple things.

First, I do not feel like an inspiration. There are many, many mornings when the alarm goes off and I don't want to get out of bed, much less get dressed and go workout. I have to bargain with myself like you wouldn't believe - tops on the list is that I can go back to bed when the workout is over (rarely have I done this, but I like knowing the option is there). I'm tired! These workouts are hard. I'm even more tired when I'm done! Sometimes I have a post-workout burst of energy, but a lot of the time I'm just plain beat, and my muscles are sore! It's all I can do to get in the shower - and sometimes that doesn't even happen for a couple of hours.

I also want to tell you that my form is not perfect, not even close. My squats could be deeper, my push ups lower, my kettlebell swings higher. There is always someone in my group who is faster than me. There are definitely people in my group who are more coordinated than me. There is a lot of room for improvement, believe me. But you know what? I know all of this, and I still go. And workout, and most of the time I give it, if not 100%, then pretty darn close. For this formerly obese couch potato, that's a lot. And I'm proud of that, and that's why I write about these workouts - to remind myself of all that I am doing, and to let you know that if someone who used to look like this can workout, well, anyone can. So don't read this and think "I could never do that" - read it and try. Because really, that's all that I'm doing. OK, on with the update:

Monday: We did a Tabata Forever in cardio, which means that instead of doing 20 seconds of intense exercise followed by ten seconds of rest eight times, we did it for SIXTEEN times. Yowza yowza yowza. Forever, indeed. I was on the rower for that one. Then we did a long set - I was on the stepper, and finally I got to play on the spinner bike - have I mentioned how much I like that thing? Yes? It really is fun.

In the gym, we did Fight Gone Bad - one minute sets were we build on our reps. I have to say, I was enjoying seeing my arm muscles while I was doing the barbell curls - for a change, the mirror was really motivating to me. It was good to focus on something positive, like the muscles that I have built up, as opposed to my - nope...not going to mention anything bad. It's all about the positive today. Oh...we had a visitor in the gym on Monday - the Sweat Monster!

This is what happens when you flop on the floor after Fight Gone Bad! I think this is me......and this is Kathleen - ooh, scary sweat monsters!!!

Tuesday: I went for a run. Why should this be significant? Um...the fact that I actually DID IT, considering everything (including me - ok, mostly me) that conspired to make it so I couldn't run. Those items would include:

• Jenny telling me on Monday that she had a commitment on Tuesday and couldn't run with me (strike one)
• Putting the cats out for the night so I could sleep in (strike two)
  
• Moving my clock radio (is this an old-school term - am I allowed to still call it that?) to where I couldn't see it (just a lower place on my nightstand), thereby eliminating both "light pollution" and stopping me from seeing what time it was when I woke up at night (happens often - gotta love 40-something hormones), which also got rid of the "I should get up" feeling (strike three)
• Weather - we were in the midst of a thunderstorm when I went to sleep (strike four)

I woke up at 8:51 am - and yes, it felt great to get that much sleep - opened the back door to let two starving kitties inside and hello, it was cool and dry. Hmmm. I could go running. Better read the newspaper first - sent Paco out the front door to retrieve it (he's such a helpful dog!). Cup of coffee sounds good. OK, paper read...I could go running, but I better check in on my bloggy peeps. Ooh, MizFit has a follow up to her No Excuses! post. Oh. She's listed and debunked exercise excuses. Well, fine - I get the hint, universe! I suited up, grabbed my iTouch and ear buds and started running down my street - ear buds kept falling out of my ears (I must have the smallest ear canals known to man, or at least headphone makers). It finally occurred to me that my iTouch has a speaker, so I ditched the ear buds and turned up the volume - hey, that worked! It was quite a good distraction, plus I could still hear the cars around me, which seemed like a win, safety-wise.

I ran a 3.5K - that sounds better than 2.17 miles, doesn't it? LOL. Hey - I'm just glad I ran. Next time, though, I might eat a little something beforehand - I was doing great and then all of a sudden died, energy-wise. Probably due to the twelve-plus hour fast from the night before, wouldn't you say?

Wednesday: Linda had us doing a team workout outside - we had to do a certain number of reps per exercise as a team, so say for jump rope, we needed to do 500. I did 100 and moved on to box jumps, where I did 50 (I didn't think I was tense, but my hands cramped up while doing these so I guess I was), then Jeri and I flipped a ginormous tire 20 times, then I did 35 tricep dips, a bunch of kettlebell swings, 25 push ups, and interspersed sprints throughout. By the way, I am not a sprinter. I can sprint toward the finish line, but to do it again, and again? They were jogs, not sprints, by the end!

We did a bunch of isolation exercises in the gym - let me just say that I know exactly where my hip flexors are now! Ouch, ouch, burn...but now I'm done - yay!

Edited to add this picture...doing this exercise is when I found my hip flexors!

Joe Conway Memorial 5K Run

If it's Monday, it must be time for another race recap, right? The Joe Conway Memorial 5K Run was held in Traditions, which is a chichi fanunu country club neighborhood...and home, apparently, to the only hills of our part of Texas (more on those hills later). Although severe thunderstorms had been predicted for Saturday morning, they didn't materialize, and we had absolutely gorgeous weather - blue skies, cool temperatures, low humidity...perfect for running 3.1 miles!

This was a fun run right from the beginning - I had my favorite running buddy, Jenny, with me, along with Brad, Linda, her son Reagan and several others from my fitness group. We got our t-shirts and bibs, and goodie bags that contained a bunch of coupons for free food from local restaurants (and a free cookie from McAlister's Deli - yum). The organizers were very friendly and I felt like a welcome part of our local running community.

I decided to give my One More Mile shirt another chance for this race - you know, the shirt that I wore for the Dansby's Duo? The one that I didn't think would be taken so literally? The one that said "If it weren't for me you'd have no one to pass" - and EVERYONE passed me on the first 5K? Yeah, that shirt. Actually, I had called it my bad luck shirt and was ready to give it to someone (anyone!) who wanted it, but Kelly convinced me that both the shirt and I were fine (she is so encouraging!) so I wore it. And funny thing...while we were at the starting line, people remembered me from the Duo and were commenting on the shirt! Guess who I ended up next to? The older man with the knee brace - the one who I *thought* I would be kind to and run with? Yes, by George, it was him - and his name really is George! I told him that story - he got a good laugh. Said he really didn't run that fast...but once the race began, that was the last I saw of him until it was over, when I saw him leaving in his car...with an oval "26.2" sticker on his back window. Uh huh, I've got your number, Mr. Marathon Man!

Since it was old home week at this race, it was only fitting that I would also be standing next to - are you ready for this - Swirly-Patterned Tank Top woman! Yes - the woman who slowed down just enough during the last quarter mile of the first 5K so I could pass her and come in second-to-last! Her name is Susan and she is just as sweet as can be...I told her how I was plotting to let my husband complete the bike ride and then slink off to the car without doing the second 5K and she said she had contemplated doing the same thing! She did the entire duathlon by herself, and did complete all three events - great job, Susan!

The race started and right away I noticed something...we were running uphill! What the what?!? I live in the flatlands of Texas - where did this hill come from? Somehow, and I don't know what feat of engineering or nature or optical illusion managed this, but it felt like we ran uphill the entire race. Oh, I know we had little spurts of going downhill, but for the most part it was like we were the little engine that could, chugging up those hills going "I think I can, I think I can..." - every time I looked up, we were still climbing! We actually had a really good pace time - Jenny and I varied between 10:30 and 11:30 for the first couple of miles, which was pretty fast for us. Then the last mile, and our version of Heartbreak Hill hit. You are supposed to shorten your stride while running uphill, and I was - at one point it felt like I was one tic above walking. That mile-long hill was a killer! But we ran (I am loosely calling it that, since we didn't officially stop to walk) the entire way, turned the corner to the street toward the finish, and ahhh...it was downhill, finally!

Now here is where it gets funny and ironic. Guess who we caught up to around the three-mile mark? Susan! Hadn't seen her since the start...and then Jenny and I kicked it into high gear (we had to, it was finally downhill) and once again, I passed her right at the end - sorry, Susan! Linda's son Reagan was waiting to run us in to the finish - have I mentioned how much I love my fitness group? Well I do. Anyway, it was a fun race to the finish - my time was 37:06, which was pretty good considering all of the hills.

And now, the pictures!

Jenny and I - so glad she was running this race with me!Brad, Linda, Reagan, Jenny and I chillin' before the race.And we're off! Right from the start we were running uphill!Brad at the finish line - I wonder, what must it be like to run so fast that there is no one around you?Here comes Linda, with a wave for the paparazzi!Speedy Reagan coming in for the finish - he ran the race in under 30 minutes!Here's where Jenny and I caught up to Susan...And here's Reagan on the sidelines, yelling for us to RUN!Not the greatest angle because the man in white is blocking us, but I like this picture because we are really running fast!Finish line! (You can see Susan behind us).Done - whew! We were spent!I got Susan to pose for a picture after - and please note the fresh fruit that the organizers provided for us (no greasy tacos from Jack in the Box, Dow Live Earth!).

Linda, Jenny, Reagan and I - the GLOW run team reunited!

Lastly, here's a shout out to my pit crew, who not only took the pictures, but held Brad's and Jenny's car keys while they ran (and also inadvertently my Shot Bloks - I forgot to eat my pre-race candy!). One of these days I really have to make Jeff an official pit crew t-shirt. Thanks for getting me to the race on time!

Friday Mish, Mash, Mush...

I would like to go on record and receive kudos, applause and possibly an award of some sort for NOT EATING the gorgeous-looking little chocolate desserts at our reception last night. Nor did I eat the lemon desserts (although I had my hand on the serving tongs *briefly* before I walked away). Normally I can resist the sweets at our receptions because since we usually provide the food, I know where they came from (usually Sam's Club mini frozen cheesecakes...good but not worth the calories). The reception last night was catered, and EVERYONE was raving about the desserts. Now, I could have easily fit them into my calorie allotment for the day (although dinner would have been pretty sparse), but I know me, and that sugar would have started me wanting more and more. So I didn't even start. Had my plate with fresh veggies (broccoli, cherry tomatoes, celery) and about half a tablespoon of dip, some cantaloupe, pineapple and berries (straw, rasp and black), and one tiny sliver of cheese. Oh it was hard to not go get some dessert!!! ::commence applause now::

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I keep measuring cups stashed all over my kitchen - in the pantry with the cereal, nuts and dried fruit, in the messy drawer that no matter how hard I try to organize it, everything becomes a jumble, in the cupboard with my food scale...I've gotten into the habit of measuring out most of my food (exceptions would be veggies and fruit). Anyway, I reached into my pantry to get my Fiber One cereal and the 1/2 cup measuring cup (hmmm, is that redundant?) - I only found the full cup and was getting frustrated in my search (I wanted my cereal, darn it!), when I realized that I was looking at the 1/2 cup - it just looked big to me. Yeehaw - my eyes have finally adjusted to normal portion sizes! For the longest time, a measured cup of cereal looked small to me. Now, half a cup looks big! Just thought I'd share that with y'all.

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My Nike+ site changed my color from yellow to orange recently - don't know what that means (well, that I've logged a certain number of miles on their site - how many, I can't remember and I'm too lazy busy to type in my password and check) - but this guy popped up and gave a really sarcastic little speech which I laughed at - so thanks for the encouragement, Nike!

Mama says they was magic shoes.

Speaking of running, I may need to replace my Forrest Gump shoes, as Linda calls them - the outer edges of my heels have been hurting while I've been running the last couple of weeks. It seems early to need a new pair - I've only had them since October - but I wonder if my weight is breaking them down sooner than, say, someone who weighs 120 pounds? Anyone have any experience with this? The shoes are Brooks Addictions, if that makes a difference.

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I wasn't expecting to do another race until July, but there is a 5K tomorrow that starts at 8:00 am, so Jenny and I signed up to do it. Except that after we signed up, we found out registration is at 8:00 am; the race doesn't start until 9:00 am. Which makes getting to work at 10:00 am a tiny bit difficult, even in this small, no-traffic town. Oops. I was able to get a co-worker to agree to open up the building for me - luckily, he was planning on being in the area for Duck Jam. I'm really looking forward to running with Jenny - not expecting to break any PR's, as the course is supposed to be hilly, but it will be fun!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Wednesday Workout Update

How can it be Wednesday already? What a busy week - I always feel like Wednesday is my Sunday, since I work Th/F/S - and as I will be slammed at work (it's always busy toward the end of the month, plus we finally have a new boss, plus a huge reception for the Duck Jam people on Thursday...yikes!), I have a lot to get done today, before all of the madness ensues!

On to the update...

Monday: We did a "Flip-Flopped Dirty Thirty" in the gym - each station had two exercises, and we could switch between them until we reached thirty reps on each (or each limb, on some). It was pretty fun, although we did these step ups that killed my calves - Brad stacked the box jump boxes on top of each other - bottom layer was the 24" box, then the 18" box and finally the 12" box - there was just enough space on the bottom box for your toes and ball of your foot to fit - we were to step up onto the 24" box without using the other boxes for leverage. That was hard - 24" is high, to a short person like me! At first I though that thirty reps per leg would be easy, but then my calves started screaming - yowza, that one was a doozy!

In the cardio room, Linda had Jenny and I side-by-side on the spinners doing a variety of things from standing up and riding through the "mud" (very high tension), to up up down downs, to pedaling (what felt like) ninety miles an hour - it was really fun! She also had me do a one-mile recovery run (from my 6K the day before) on the treadmill - since when did one mile become a "recovery run" - it wasn't too long ago when that was a huge achievement! To be honest, it still is...and sometimes I feel like Paco the Wonder Dog - when he's running outside, he gets all proud and looks around to make sure everyone is watching him - I know that he's thinking "Look at me, everyone - I'm running!" - so yes, Paco and I are both a little crazy.

Tuesday: Jenny and I met at our local park for a run - yay, I have my running buddy back!!! We ran for two miles, then took a walking break, then ran for another mile, where I remembered to say the Pledge of Allegiance as per Kyle's test...and then took another walking break all the way to Red Mango frozen yogurt! Now that was a nice way to end a run - with some yummy low-fat/low-calorie frozen yogurt (I had Mandarin orange and coconut), sitting outside, enjoying a beautiful Spring day.

Wednesday: As it was a gorgeous morning, Brad took advantage of that by putting me, Jenny, Kathleen and Ashley through a lovely walking lunge/push up workout outside. We lunged our way down his very long driveway and back to our starting point, where we did 40 push ups. Then more lunges and 35 push ups...we did this all the way to 5 push ups. With Brad correcting our form the entire time - "make your thigh level enough to balance a marble on it!" "don't let that marble fall off!" "pretty push ups!" "go deeper on your push ups!" - wow. This was a tough one. And when we were done, he had us do some sprint work! Have mercy - we still had Linda to work with in cardio!

Linda had watched the Biggest Loser last night and was inspired to list exercises on index cards, which we drew from a pile. It was an individual workout, so none of us did the same thing - but going into it, we knew (from the previous group) that there was a card with 50 burpees on it, so every time none of us drew that card, there was both relief and trepidation, because it was still out there. My first card was "work off an Oreo (60 calories) on any machine" - I chose the newest spinner which has a little computer on it. It took me a while to hit 60 calories - and I was surprised to see that I had gone 4.8 miles on it when I was done! Other cards that I drew were "100 punches on the bag" (love this), "two-minute plank hold" "supermans" "butterfly sit ups" (which due to mis-hearing the title have now been re-christened "thunderthigh sit ups" LOL) and "100 jump ropes" - I have to say that my legs are shaky and I am spent! The burpee card was never drawn - apparently when it wasn't chosen in the first half of the workout, Linda removed it because we wouldn't have had time to complete it...oh darn!

Couple of other things...I finally found my official time for the 6K - it was 43:39 with a pace of 11:52 - I'm perfectly content with that. I've updated my Running! page with links to my race recaps and finishing times, if you've missed any of my super-duper recaps (lol).

And finally, Robin of Running Circles Around the Turtles has featured me (ME?!) in her Wednesday Winners post - I am still so shocked to be included with the real runners - I feel like I've hit the big league! Thank you, Robin, for welcoming me into the running world!

Dow Live Earth Run For Water 6K - Recap!

On Sunday morning, I ran the Dow Live Earth Run For Water 6K in Houston - this was a global event that had races all over the U.S. and many other countries. Famous celebrities participated in these races, and although I tried to convince Kelly that Justin Timberlake was at our event, I don't think any "real" celebrities actually came to Houston. Pity.

Jeff and I drove down to Houston on Saturday afternoon - spent a couple hours at Market Street in The Woodlands - man, do I need to leave my small town more often...this place was nice!!! We went there because it had a running store called Luke's Locker, and I was bound and determined to buy The Stick - my foam roller is great, but you have to have a floor to use it, and knowing that after the race, I was going to be spending a couple of hours in the car riding back to our town, I wanted to get to work on my sore muscles right away. It was fun to shop at such a nice running store - I spent quite some time drooling over all the clothes and accessories (arm sleeves! recovery socks! hydration systems!), and although I wanted to buy a pair of hot pink Thorlo Experia socks to go with my running outfit for Sunday, they didn't carry that color. Too bad - but I know my contact at Thorlo, Tracy Harris, is working on getting more fun colors (side note to Tracy: purple and hot pink would be appreciated!). I looked at other brands that were in hot pink, but was hesitant to try them since the Thorlos work so well for me. Is anybody else that sock loyal (or is it paranoid?) - I hate to spend anywhere between 10 and 15 bucks on a pair of socks that I don't know will feel as good as my Thorlos. Long story short (I know, I know), I left Luke's Locker with just The Stick - which I love!

(I'm sure you are wondering if I am ever going to start my recap. Soon...more shopping ensued that I just know you are all dying to hear about! And yes, please read appropriate amount of sarcasm into that sentence, lol).

Another neat store that I found at Market Square was Lululemon! I've seen their products online, but it was great to be able to walk inside their store and see everything up close! They have some gorgeous, well-made clothes, and I was loving their Define jacket, but at the price of $99, it just wasn't in my budget. They call their clothing an "investment" and I can see why - they do look like they would hold up to a lot of wear, but I will have to start saving my pennies in order to afford it. Someday, Define jacket, you will be mine.

After Jeff and I split a Cuban sandwich paired with yucca fries (yum) and each had a side salad (which ended up being too much food), we headed to our hotel, where I woke up pretty much every hour, waiting for the alarm to go off. I do this before every race - you'd think I'd be a little cooler about it, but apparently there's a five-year-old inside of me who is superexcited about the race! Not knowing how long it would take us to get to downtown Houston, and what traffic we might be dealing with, we left about 6:25 am. And got there about 6:35 am. Apparently there is no traffic going into downtown on a Sunday - who would'a thunk it? (Note: the rubes from the sticks, that's who!) The good thing about getting there that early is that we got an excellent parking spot - about three spaces down from the start/finish line! I picked up my bib, timing chip and quite possibly the ugliest race t-shirt ever, and sat down to wait for Kelly and her family to show up.

Just chillaxin' before the race...I'm actually outside of the restrooms (yay, no porta-potties!) - but I had to include this picture to show you that if you turn *just* the right way and have a great camera angle, you can look way thinner than you are!

Woot - Kelly is finally here!Right before the shotgun start (btw they did not use an actual shotgun - but this IS Texas and you never know). Jeff said I kept posing every time he tried to take a candid picture of me - of course I posed; I always look dorky(ier) in candids! And we're off! Please take note of the man in jeans running to get out of the way - too funny!Can you see me? I'm the one in the hot pink cap and shirt, making a dorky face. Kelly's very tall daughter Rachel is next to me; Kelly is kind of hidden behind us.I look like a doofus when I'm running! Kelly's husband Chuck took this picture as we passed each other on the course (they walked the 6K while I ran). I was on my way back - must have been past the 2 mile marker at this point.Coming in for the finish! Getting closer - I put it into high gear and the announcer called out "Way to kick it, 1672!" - cool to be noticed for that, because I WAS running fast!Right after - my pit crew takes care of me with not one, but TWO cups of water!Kelly, Chuck, Rachel and Charlie - the walkers (although they ran in for the finish) - such a cute family!

Now, a few of thoughts about this race. Both Kelly and I were surprised and a little disappointed that there was no swag - you got your (ugly) t-shirt and that was it. Nothing running-related OR water-related...considering this race had a huge corporate sponsor, we both thought there should have been something - a water bottle, perhaps? And after the race, what little fruit they had was gone by the time I got there. They were, however, handing out chicken sandwiches and greasy tacos from Jack in the Box. Weird fare for after a run - where were the bagels and bananas?

As for the race route, it was on a road - we actually went under a couple of freeway overpasses. That was a little freaky, hearing the cars on the road above us! And the ramps climbed up, which was a surprise - I didn't expect any hills. Luckily, I had just read on Saturday in one of Jeff Galloway's books about running on hills - he said to shorten your stride, so I did, and managed to keep running the entire climb.

Have you heard about runners hitting "the wall" - they get to a place where finishing the race seems impossible, and they have to work really hard to push through that? Well, I hit the wall immediately. Seriously - I kept thinking "I hate this I hate this I hate this, why am I doing this, this is stupid, I'm never going to do this again" - over and over. It was bad. And it lasted for about the entire first mile. Then, I realized that I was ok - my legs felt good, my breathing was better, and I knew that I would be able to keep running and finish the race. I think I have a real problem with running these races alone. I need the distraction of a running buddy to get through the first mile - I have had such different races, emotionally, when I've ran with a buddy. I know I should be strong and suck it up and just run, but for me, it's hard -I always start out too fast, I'm practically gasping for air, the course looms ahead of me, my legskneesfeet hurt, and dang it, I just want someone to say "we can do this" to me! And yes, I feel like a big baby to admit this, but running just isn't as much fun alone. I know it's a solitary sport. Yet for me, I need a "teammate/buddy/partner" and without one, I face huge mental obstacles. Sigh. Don't know what I'm going to do about this.

OK, enough complaining. After the race, since I didn't get any food, we found a Panera (one of my favorite places to eat; sadly we don't have one in our town) where I "fueled up" on a jalapeno cheddar bagel and egg sandwich - so tasty!

This picture is for Lori, who has a Panera in her town and eats a bagel there every Wednesday!

After our breakfast, we went back to the hotel where I got cleaned up. We met Kelly and family for a late lunch at Pappasitos, where I had this ginormous Tequila-Lime salad - yum!

I don't think I even ate half of the salad - but the leftovers came home with us and Jeff ate them for dinner.

Kelly and I - all cleaned up!

It was so fun to see Kelly and Chuck again, and to meet their kids, who are so sweet and polite and fun to be around. All-in-all, it was a fun weekend!