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Thank Goodness for Football September 30, 2007

Posted by kimayars Run Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 4comments

The weather here has been absolutely miserable, so today I bagged on running outside with Beth and ran inside on the treadmill.  We knew today was going to have to be at least 6 miles, which means an hour at a respectable pace.  Running outside for an hour seemed completely doable. Running inside was another matter.

I packed all my necessities for treadmill Hell: my Sansa player (double-checked the battery), the arm band to the Sansa, the headphones (I have forgotten those before), my Polar HR monitor and the Polar HR transmitter band.  Jeff was kind enough to mix up a batch of his mystery drink “Hammer Gel” and loan me a water bottle.  I felt prepared.

 After arriving at the gym, I walked out for 5 minutes while I got all my straps and wires adjusted.  Then, I began my tortuous journey.

About 2 miles in I was bored. Bored, bored, bored.  I had set a 10-minute mile pace, and had upped it to a 9-minute mile at mile 2, but quickly realized that I would be able to maintain that pace for the remaining run.  My heartrate spiking to 182 was my first clue.  At mile 3, I went back to the 10-minute mile.  Still bored.  I had heard everything on my “Jogging Playlist” so even that was boring. I was starting to contemplate pausing the treadmill to go get a magazine. But I didn’t want to stop (it’s a pride thing) and I wasn’t even sure I could run and read at the same time.  Bored, bored, bored.  Then someone changed the channel on one of the two TV stations broadcast at the gym.  Could it really be?  It was! Football!

I really enjoy football.  I haven’t watched it for a while but when I was younger (muuuuuch younger) I used to make Monday Night Football an event, complete with pizza and beer.  I think it has been at least 5 years since I saw a non-Superbowl game.  This game was between Oakland and Miami.  In their day, this would have been a great matchup.

To fully demonstrate how much I was enjoying this, imagine me running along, eyes glued to the TV.  A young guy (fairly handsome) gets on the treadmill next to me, walking out from his weight workout, also watching the game.  I have now tuned my FM transmitter to hear the game. He has no such electronic device.  Oakland intercepts the ball, and shortly afterwards throws for a touchdown.  When they catch the ball in the endzone, I *skipped* on the treadmill and yelled, “YIPEE!”.  Not , “YEAH” or “SWEET!” but “YIPPEE!”. With my headphones on, I was just one of the crowd.  To everyone else in the gym, I was a shrieking lunatic.  Let’s just say I scared the snot out of the guy next to me.  But what happened next totally cracked me up.  HE ACTUALLY MOVED TREADMILLS.  I guess he needed a buffer from crazy yelling skipping lady.

The football game was my savior.  The treadmill stopped after an hour (I guess it costs too much money for one more LED digit on the screen) so I started it up again and decided to finish off one more mile. I had begun to feel tired and achy, and wanted to push beyond that boundary just a smidge.  An extra mile seemed attainable, and it was.

It’s now several hours later, and I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.  This is the farthest I have ever run.  AND I did it without stopping (well, the treadmill stopped, but that was only for a few seconds).   I’m quite happy with my effort today.  Football rocks. YIPPEE!

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Refreshing Run September 28, 2007

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After a hard week, I needed a confidence booster. Beth and I went for an easy run, just to work the kinks out.  For the first time ever, I actually felt refreshed after the run!

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Was that really smart? September 26, 2007

Posted by kimayars Ramblings Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 4comments

I was supposed to go for a run this morning with Beth at 5:30.  At 3am, I woke up with a headache, and knew where that was going.  I took some Advil, lay back down, and threw up at 4am.  At 5:30 my head was still throbbing so I sent Jeff down to tell Beth that I was in no condition to run.

 After a few minutes Jeff returns and brings me an ice pack for my head.  I asked him if he met up with Beth, and he said yes.  Then after a pause he said, “But I scared the crap out of her.”  I didn’t think much of it, after all she wasn’t looking for him.  Then he added, “She sprinted away from me.” 

“Really?” I said.

“Yup,” he answered. “It didn’t help that my first words to her were ‘I have a message for you.’”

So picture this: It’s dark, you’re female, you’re alone, and looking for your female friend to run with.  Another figure is walking towards you whom is backlit and you don’t recognize. This person is also obviously male.  Then, said person blurts out, “I have a message for you.”

I was mortified.

After a few moments of silence while I’m processing all of this, Jeff adds, “She’s really fast.”

Anyway, Beth did figure out it was Jeff and slowed down.  He was able to give her the message, and all was well.  Poor Beth. I’m sure she didn’t need an adreneline rush like that so early in the morning.

Next time I’ll send the dog with a note in her collar.  At least she won’t blurt out something stupid.  :-)

Ahhh… Back in the Saddle September 23, 2007

Posted by kimayars Uncategorized Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 1 comment so far

The last time I rode Rasyn was Monday.  Usually that means that a little lunging is involved as your horse can be “fresh”.  Sometimes, “fresh” is good.  In Rasyn’s case, “fresh” usually means out of control.  Hedging my bets, I made sure the lunge line was in easy reach.  Having the lunge line on hand is like bringing an umbrella. If you have an umbrella handy, it won’t rain. The same principle applies with lunge lines.  If you have it, you won’t need it.

This is where having a routine really pays off. He was a tad fresh, but we were able to work out out on the ground.  Thanks to a fabulous instructor, I was able to get him listening to me on the ground, rather than in the saddle where I’m a tad more vulnerable.  We walked, we stopped, and we trotted in-hand, all the while he had to stay within my aids.

The result?  A wonderful ride where we actually got to work on things, rather than just trying to maintain control.

We started off by working on walk/halt transitions. When those were relaxed and in control, we moved into trot.  I attempted some walk/trot transitions, but had a hard time keeping him soft, so we moved on to leg yields on a circle.  We would spriral in, then spiral out, focusing on front and rear cross-over.  These are just dynamite for helping him get supple.

At this point, we took a break and I had an evil thought: I wonder if I could really get him to open up in trot?  Lately he’s been feeling a little restricted as I’m asking him to tone it down a bit. But he really likes to MOVE.  Could I keep it under control?

We started off with leg yielding on a circle.  Then I sent him down the long side of the arena asking him for more impulsion but no change in tempo. The first time he broke into canter.  I took it, gave him a pat, and brought him back down to trot.  I set him up again the same way, this time I made sure I was sitting up more so his withers had room to come up.  This time it was better — we were making progress.  The third time I set him up again the same way, and added “more purposeful posting.”  It was awesome.  He felt like he was floating across the ground.  Aaahhh… I will remember that feeling forever!

Going the left was much harder for him, and we didn’t get the same amazing trot as going to the right (mostly because we are both stiffer on the left) but it was still pretty damn good.  I love this horse.

After our ride I had a great lunch at Starbucks with Sherene where we got to enjoy brand new squishy chairs - what I would call the perfect end to a great ride.  We both couldn’t be happier with how our horses are doing.

I did have an interesting experience this evening, though. I found myself anxious to go on a run.  Hmm.  I couldn’t because Jeff went on a ride when I got home (leaving small children home alone is frowned upon in the state of Washington), and then it was dinner, grocery shopping, and now it’s 10pm.  But it was a strange “craving”.  Well, I’m sure I’ll get over that soon enough.  ;-)

I honestly don’t have a plan for Monday, which is a bit dangerous.  I’ll have to figure that one out before I go to bed.

Workout:

Wild Woman September 22, 2007

Posted by kimayars Run Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 6comments

This morning we packed up the kids at 6am and headed down to Eatonville for NW Trek’s 9th Annual Run Wild.  When we arrived, I checked in. One of the volunteers handed me my bag, and I casually asked if it would be okay if I ran the 8k course instead of the 5k course.  She kind of giggled and said that would be okay if I didn’t mind people yelling at me that I was going the wrong way.  5k folks had red numbers, and the 8k folks had black numbers.  So, I registered again, this time for the 8k.  Now I had two bib numbers, depending on what I felt like running.  :-)

Kim at Run Wild  Numbers

I decided to run the 8k, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought!  I expected to have to stop at the end, but I really didn’t think twice about it.  I didn’t push it, just treated it like a training run.  The only hiccup was I tried to stop for a water break and nearly choked.

Jeff and the girls did the 5K walk and it was really cool to pass them as I ran by (the 8k had an extra loop off the 5k course). I got lots of high-fives, hugs, and the keys to the car — it was obvious at that point that I would finish before them.

After the race was finished I saw Jeff and the girls finishing the last part of the course. So, I ran to catch up with them and ended up doing the last .2 miles of the course with them. Or rather, ran the last .2 miles with Veronica (”C’mon Mom, race ‘ya!”).  I really enjoyed watching the girls cross the finish line!

Veronica  Samantha

My recorded time was 49:37 and I finished 98th.  In my age group (30-39) I believe I finished 15th out of 22.  Pretty respectible, I think!  We even got to see some Moose…

  Moose

We stayed for the prize drawings & the 50yd kid’s dash (Veronica wore my ForeRunner to track her exact time & calories burned), and we won a package of tickets to Seattle Underground, Space Needle, and The Duck Tour.  The funny thing was we won it with the number from my 5k bib!  Next year Veronica wants to run the 5k with me.  She said, “Walking is boooooooooring.”

We did it

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