Easter Pictures!

So I'm having a hard time keeping up with my blog...

However I do have some AWESOME Easter pictures so I will post those. ENJOY!!!















I have a beautiful family!!!!!

It's been a while

Almost a year since I wrote anything in here....

My running has been going well. I've "moved up" to the advanced group. Although I am far from "advanced", I thought it would be a good challenge for me. We run on Tuesday nights on the track, working on speed and more anaerobic-type runs. On some Tuesdays we go run in a neighborhood that has long hills. The goal is to run more than walk. I can actually do it!!! I was surprised about this. I thought since I have been doing 1:1's for such a long time that my body would just automatically "turn off" after one minute of running... But I now know I can run a mile without stopping. :-))))

I have two events coming up in March. The first one is a Marathon Relay in Little Rock this coming weekend. I'm really excited about this as I am running with three friends from my running group. We have the best time running together and always end up talking about food! So our team name is "The Food Critics" :-) We will drive over on Saturday together and decide which leg of the relay we want to do (there are some hills on the course...), have some fun (not too much) on Saturday night, then the marathon is on Sunday. Apparently, the medals are HUGE! I'll post a picture

My other event is on March 20 - the Germantown 1/2 Marathon. I ran this one last year in a cold rain. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate more. My goal is to run it in 2:50, which I think is very doable. I've stepped up my training to running 2:1's now so that should shave off a few minutes. And the other thing we have been working on is walking faster during our walk breaks. So I feel very confident about this race.
My training has been going really well. Saturday was our long run - 15 miles. I ran 10 of it using the 2:1 formula. I wasn't too sore on Sunday, so that was good!!!

There's another 1/2 marathon in April - I'll blog about that one another time....

Running in Shelby Forest

I'm giving myself a pat on the back! I have been consistently running 3 days a week for over a month! Wow! My legs are feeling pretty strong now. :-)
My latest running adventure with "my group" was at Shelby Forest State Park last Saturday. This park is about 30 minutes from our house and situated on a bluff over looking the Mississippi River. It was a beautiful day - in the mid 50's when we started running, plenty of sunshine and no bugs! We ran on the trails throughout the park for about 2 hours and 45 minutes. There were two groups: the fast people and then us slower runners.... We actually all ran together for about 45 minutes, then split into the two groups.
The flowers were beautiful, lots of birds around, the trees are just starting to leaf out and we started early enough that there weren't very many people around. It was a truly awesome day!
The BEST part of the whole run was the food we all brought to eat after the run. It was like a banquet! mmmmmm!!!
Here are some pictures from one of the girls who ran with us.
I need to take my own pictures next time. :-)

Skiing in West Virginia

Over spring break I had the opportunity to go with our church youth group to Snowshoe, West Virginia to do some skiing. It was a lot of fun. The weather was sunny, so it felt warm while we were on the mountain. There was LOTS of snow - the most they have had in a really long time! So between those two things and the great goup of kids we had - it was a great time! I hadn't been skiing in about 7 or 8 years, but it's just like riding a bike.... you don't really forget. I ski alot slower than the kids do, but that's OK. They just waited for me at the bottom of the slopes! :-)I was actually worried about hurting myself if I went too fast - I don't really like feeling out of control!
The worst part of the whole trip was driving there and back. We left Friday night about 7:00 and drove to Knoxville - about a 6 hour drive, plus a 1 hour time change, so it was about 2:00am when we arrived. We slept at a church and then got up about 6:30 on Saturday and drove the rest of the way - another 7 hours. After checking into our condos and renting out ski equipment, we went to the tubbing hill for about 1 hour and 1/2. That was a BLAST!!!
Then we skiied all day and night on Sunday and Monday. Got up early on Tuesday morning and drove 15 hours straight back to Memphis. A VERY LONG TRIP!!! But it was well worth it. I was on spring break last week, so I didn't have to miss any school.
I would definitely go again if I had the chance. :-)

Here are some pictures:

Runing in the cold...

We have had a cold spell here in Memphis that started right after Christmas. Lows in the teens, highs in the 20's, sometimes with a wind chill.... brrrrrrr! I have skipped running a couple of times because of the weather, but I know I can't do that very often!!! So here are some random things I have learned about cold weather running:
1. I don't really mind it all that much.
2. I overdress usually
3. My face gets colder than any other part of my body - mostly because nothing is covering it!
4. It takes my hands about 30 minutes to actually warm up and by the end of the run I can take my gloves off!
5. The sun feels especially nice on cold days!!!!!!!! :-)
6. When I think about my swimmers and how they are training, I start running faster! hahaha! Although this happens ALL THE TIME, not just when it is cold!

So don't let a little cold weather stop you from getting your exercise! It really is lots better than running in the heat!!!!!!!

December 28. 2009

I LOVE reading other family members blogs, but can't seem to keep up with mine... hmmmm....
OK, so here's what's been going on in my life.

December 15, 2009 - that was our 25th wedding anniversary! I have a hard time believing it.... 25 years! Really??? I actually didn't know this until we received a card from Dennis and Sheila. I mean, I knew it was our anniversary, but didn't know it was 25 years. I was really surprised! Nigel and I did our usual "thing"... We took a day off of work, bought Christmas presents (although most of it is done online now, so not much to buy), then went to lunch at Macaroni Grill. mmmmmmm! We love that place! Afterwards, we split up and go buy each others' Christmas presents. At least "stocking stuffers". :-) This year, Dennis and Sheila gave us some money for our anniversary present. We usually buy something together that we really want, so this year was no exception - and we had some extra money too. :-) So, we decided to get some 'silver' for our silver wedding anniversary. We picked out some nice silver flatware and a box to store it in. Oneida has the best stuff ever! We love it! So the next time any of you come to visit, you will get to use it with us! :-)

Christmas, 2009 - Our tradition starts on Christmas Eve. Nigel and I go to the 8:00 service at church, then we come home and watch "A Christmas Carol" - the 1951 version with Alistair Sim. It's Nigel's favorite. :-) The girls go to the 11:00 service, but I can't stay up that late anymore. I'm afraid I would fall asleep during the sermon! hahaha!
We had a wonderful Christmas day with the girls. They were both excited about their presents this year. It's always great fun to watch their expressions when they open their gifts. :-) Chelsea was really surprised to get her new phone. We had convinced her she wouldn't be getting one until the spring. hahahaha! I love when a plan comes together.... hehehehe! Kirsten and Chelseas got tickets to see John Mayer in concert when he comes to Memphis is March - they both REALLY REALLY liked that gift from Santa! I think Kirsten's favorite gift would be her Nintendo DS. She's even shared it with me.... :-0 We have had fun playing the Brain Age game..... it says I have a brain of an 80 year old!!!! I guess I have some work to do!!!!!
I got a really nice watch, some great looking clothes, a Sansa Clip (to listen to music while I run - thanks Kirsten!), a RAZORBACK jacket (thanks Chelsea!) and some new muffin tins for our blueberry muffins. It was a "good haul"!!!
We had a great dinner with our traditional Christmas Crackers, music, Cadbury's chocolate cookies, and general dinner conversation. I think that is my favorite part. Just "real time" family time. It's the best!!! :-)

The rest of the Christmas vacation has been spent on swim practice (1 1/2 hours Mon through Thurs), taking Chelsea places, enjoying our presents, watching movies, and just generally being lazy! Although I have been keeping up with my running... :-)

Looking forward to 2010.... :-)

Decorating our tree....


The final product....


Me and Nigel...


The girls in their Christmas outfits...


Christmas dinner - or what's left of it....

My first Half Marathon

My half marathon story
I woke up at 3:00am and dozed and tossed and turned for a couple of hours…. UGH!!! I wasn’t really nervous, but just excited that I was about to do something I had never tried before. So, I finally just got up at 5:30, ate, got dressed and checked out the weather…COLD. Mark said that is a good thing. :-)

Clothes – this was a major undertaking – what to wear. After reading Mark’s suggestions I decided on tights, a short sleeve “wicking” shirt and my long sleeve dry fit shirt, a head band and gloves. At the last minute I wasn’t sure I would be warm enough so I took my Nike sweats jacket. I also had a trash bag to “snuggle” into at the starting line.

Pre-race – We met up at the Peabody Hotel, I got my packet from Mark (had to walk back to the car to put the extra stuff away), took group pictures and then Mark showed us his “secret weapon”!!! It was awesome!!!! Thanks Mark!

After that I felt kind of lost – not sure where to go or what to do…. But I’m a big girl and can figure things out for myself. :-) I started following my fellow MIMers to the starting line, but they were actually running to warm up. I definitely DID NOT want to run more than I was about to. So I quit following them and figured I could catch up to them at the starting line – HA!!!!! I had no idea….

So many people – There were about 8,000 runners signed up for the half and about 4,000 signed up for the full marathon! I don’t really know how many signed up for the 5K that ran earlier… But let’s just say A LOT of PEOPLE were downtown on Saturday!!! There are these ‘corrals’ down the street from the starting line. Each one “houses” a group of runners according to their pace time. I found mine - #13. I think there was one more after mine. Wow, that made me feel kind of slow, but no matter. I was there to finish my first half marathon! We were so far back from the starting line, I didn’t even hear when the race started! But that was OK. I found Jackie’s group standing just in front of me – whew! Someone I actually recognized!!!! I knew they would help me start off at the right pace. They were going to run 3/1’s but I knew their warm up would be easy for me to follow. I figured I would follow them for as long as possible and then start on my 2/1’s. Slowly each ‘corral’ made its way up to the starting line. They started us off about a minute apart. After 20 minutes, it was our turn to start! YAY!!! The cheering and excitement was AWESOME!!!!!! I decided it was time to start my Garmin…..OK, why is this darn thing not coming on???? Oh No!!!! What the heck is going on???? Obviously, that battery has decided to die… CRAP!!!! Well, I was determined to not let ANYTHING ruin my day, so I said, “OK, now what should I do? I know, I will count in my head…” And that is what I did for the next 3 hours…. 1,2,3,4,5….118,119,120 – ok now walk…. 1,2,3,4,5….58,59,60 – ok now jog. What a way to run a half marathon!!! Hahaha! It worked pretty well for me!!! I followed Jackie and her group for about 2 miles, then they were getting too far ahead of me, so I just started doing my own thing.

The race – I felt really good the whole way. It was so cool to run through downtown and then past St Jude. At mile 7 I heard the crowd ahead cheering and did not know what was going on – it turns out they were cheering for the Kenyans who were on their way back to finish their full marathon!!! OK, now I felt really, really slow, but hey, I’m not here to race – just to finish this thing!! Then in front of Rhodes I saw Nigel. :-) That made me feel really awesome!!! I gave him my “stupid Garmin” and muttered a few things about the watch to him. He took it all in stride, and told me how proud he was of me. :-) He took my picture, gave me some snacks, and then I was off again.
I started to feel a little sore as I was running through the park. I stopped and stretched a couple of times. I saw Mark riding his bike along this stretch of the race. He stopped to check on me, showed me a couple of different stretches to do. He took my picture - :-) - then I was off again to finish the last 4 miles. This seemed to last forever! Running down Poplar Ave is really long…..
I began to pass people who were walking and that gave me some added energy! I stopped and stretched one more time, then found mile 12!!!! I was really pumped then!!!!
The last mile was great!!! My legs felt good and I had a smile on my face, at least most of the time. People kept saying “you’re almost there!” “The finish line is just a couple of blocks away” - that was very encouraging! I saw a big sign that pointed one way for the half and the other way for the full….. I remember thinking “there is NO WAY I could go another 13 miles today!!!” And then I saw the baseball stadium and the finish line. Wooooo Hoooooo!!!!!!
My goal was to finish in under 3 hours. I figured that was an appropriate time for me, knowing how my training had been going the last 3 weeks. Since I didn’t have my watch on I was guessing… the time said 3:23:42… so I assumed I had just missed it by 3 minutes and 42 seconds. I was kind of disappointed, but not really – I had just completed my first half marathon (without my watch)!!!! How could I really be upset with that???? Well, it turns out my OFFICIAL time was 3:00:02 – 2 seconds over!!! Ok, I could have run faster at the end…. That will be my goal for next time. :-) Here are my numbers: 5821 – my place overall out of maybe 7000 finishers (don’t know the exact number),190th in my age group out of 282 women, average pace 13:45.


I had a fantastic experience! I accomplished a goal that I never thought I would, or could in a million years! Thanks, Mark, you are an awesome coach!!! I like your positive outlook and encouragement. There is NO WAY I would ever have done this without you!!!!!

So, now I have two goals for my next half:
1. Under 3 hours
2. Meet some new people to train with so I don’t have to do it on my own next time. :-)

Hey everyone! I am a MIM half marathon STUETTE now!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO!!! :-)

Casey Kasem

This is what I listened to on Saturday during my long run....
Do you remember these tunes?

You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling Daryl Hall and John Oates
Out here on my own Irene Cara
Dreamer Supertramp
Lovely one Jacksons
Whip it Devo
Just like starting over John Lennon
Dreaming Cliff Richard
Another one bites the dust Queen
More than I can say Leo Sayer
Master Blaster Stevie Wonder
I’m coming out Diana Ross
Never knew love like this before Stephanie Mills
Woman in love Barbara Streisand
The wanderer Donna Summer
Lady Kenny Rogers

Gotta love the '80's.... :-)

My Saturday Run

Another long run yesterday.... I think I did a pretty good job, too! :-) I'm trying to learn pacing for my mile splits. I was never good at long distance in swimming, but I think I am starting to get the hang of it for running. So here are my numbers for yesterday:
Warm-up
4.03 miles - 57.52 mins - 14.21 av pace - 131 av HR

Mile 1
13.53 mins - 144 av HR

Mile 2
15.08 mins - 146 av HR (I went a little over a mile on this one, so I thought I was running too slow. I decided to go a little faster on mile 3)

Mile 3
12.55 mins - 150 av HR (This was faster than I intended, so I decided to go a bit slower....)

Mile 4
12.59 mins - 149 av HR (... well, that wasn't much slower. So, I decided to try a different strategy... jog slower, but walk faster)

Mile 5
12.45 mins - 153 av HR (I was still going what I thought was too fast - I was sure I would die the last mile...)

Mile 6
12.52 mins - 155 av HR (But, I did not die too badly.)

Cool down
.69 miles 11.44 mins 17.05 av pace 133 av HR
My legs were a little sore after this workout, but not as bad as I thought they might be after running faster than I was planning... :-)

I guess I am getting faster. :-))))

Me and Casey again...

My last post was a couple of weeks ago. After discussing my last long run with Mark (my coach) we decided I should just try and stick with 2min jog and 1 min walk. He seems to think my legs would last longer with the extra walk breaks. So that is what I did today. Here was the plan that Mark sent out to the group. We were to warm up for about 50 - 60 mins, then "run" for 6 miles - keeping track of our "splits" for each mile, then do a 1 mile cool down. So that is what I did today....
I put on my headphones and headed out the door - me and Casey Casem from 1987! :-)
I did an 'out and back' run for my warm up: 2 miles out and 2 miles back - It took me 58 mins with an av mile time of 14:40; Average HR 134, Max HR 163 (lots of hills on this part of the run!!!). Then I took a short break to stretch, grab a granola bar and drink some gatorade.
My 6 miler was OK. My right deltoid gets a cramp in in sometimes and today was no different! UGH!!! So I had to stretch it out quite a bit. My legs were not as "jello" as the last time I did a long run, but they still were tired at the end! I did stretch them along the way though and that seems to help out (mental note for next time...). Here are my numbers for this part of the run: 6.03 miles with an av mile time of 14:12; Average HR 146, Max HR 166. Not really much faster than my warm up - but that's OK - I'm not really racing - except against myself. :-)
My cool down wasn't very long... only .5 miles - oh well, I did stretch when I got back to the house. Average HR 125, Max HR 137.
So there you go.... I'll see how I feel later today....
Some notes to remember for next time:
1. Don't eat a large mexican meal the night before....UGH!
2. I liked eating the granola bar in the middle of my run. Seems to keep my energy up
3. I wear too many clothes, but it's cold when I start out.... I'll have to keep experimenting with that...
4. I need to find a new running bra....
5. and some new socks... I think my feet will be more comfortable than just wearing my regular short cotton socks.
6. I remember why I like 80's music - :-)hahaha!

My Saturday run

This past Saturday I did my long run - this time I set out to do 2 hours and 30 minutes AND I actually did it!!!! I made myself do an "out and back" run, that way I wouldn't wimp out when I ran past the house, like I did last time..... :-0! I ended up going 10.6 miles total! WOW!!! That is the most I have ever run, ever!!! :-)
The road I ran on is really lovely this time of the year. The leaves are just starting to turn colors and the road is a windy and somewhat hilly type road. I almost made it to the middle school where Chelsea went!
I kept track of my time by 15 minute intervals. I wanted to see what my 'splits' were for each of those intervals. I stayed mostly around the 13 min mark while jogging 3 min and walking 1 min. I felt really good until about 1hour and 50 mins. Then my legs started getting tired. I had to stop more often and stretch, but I knew I was getting close to home, so kept pushing myself. I thought about walking the last mile, but knew if I did that I wouldn't make it back in my allotted time.... It would take me a lot longer!!! So I kept running. My last two "splits" were closer to 14 mins!!! My legs felt like jello all day on Saturday. Yesterday they felt better, but my hips were a little sore. Today I feel almost normal again! It's nice to know I can recover pretty well.
I am running tonight with my group, so I'll see how I feel then. Only 5 miles tonight, but I am going to try and run a little faster - maybe 11 or 12 min mile average.

My long run...

Today I ran 9 miles in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Not bad for an old lady... :-) I did a 12 minute warmup of walking and a little jogging. Then I went into my pacing of 2 minutes jogging and 1 minute walking. I finished with a 15 minute walk as a cool down. That is the furthest (or is it farthest?) I have run so far. My legs were like jello when I was done......
I figured out I have run a total of 20 miles this week. That is the most I've run since I started running a year ago. I'm quite proud of myself. :-) I have run 180 miles since May. And that is only the runs that I wore my Garmin. I could probably add 6 - 10 miles each month for the days I didn't wear my watch. Wow!! I am impressed with myself... hahaha!

Back with the group....

Thursday I got to run with my group again! YAY!!! The last time I ran with them was the beginning of August!! It was kind of strange because my two running buddies have decided to quit the group. :-(
So.... I parked at the Lowes parking lot, and jogged over to the "mother hills" (that's what Mark calls them) - a little over a mile away, by myself. These "mother hills" is actually a neighborhood loop. You run up and down a long hill, then turn around and run back up and around the loop. Then after a short rest, you go again. This time I only did 3 loops. It was starting to get dark and I was concerned about running back to Lowes in the dark! I made it back to the car OK, but felt a little uneasy about running by myself in the dark. I think next time I'll just park by the "hills" and warm up there.
It was great to see Mark again. He is encouraging me to run a 1/2 marathon. There is one in December, but I have a swim meet on the same day. So I'm looking at some runs in Feb or March. He sends out an email newsletter to everyone in the group with tidbits of information on running, eating healthy, updates on who is running in different races, how everyone's training is going, etc... Some of them just got back from running the Chicago marathon last weekend. It's a little intimidating to be part of this group. I'm just someone who is running to stay in shape and maybe participate in some local runs. And here he is trying to get me to do more.... hmmmm. And I'm actually considering it!!! The group does a long, slow (according to Mark) run on Saturday mornings. Today's run is 2 1/2 hours - 3 1/2 hours, depending on where you are in your training. They start their run at 6:00am - are you kidding me???? He has said I am ready to run with them, but, again, it's a little intimidating....and a little early. So for now, I will be running on my own on the weekends and run with the group on Mondays and Thursdays.
Coaching volleyball is over and coaching swimming has begun. Our first meet is a relay meet on Oct 31! Only a couple of weeks away.... Can't wait!!!

another 'almost' long run

Today was my day for a long run. My goal was to "keep in motion" for 2 hours and 15 mins. When I got up at 6:00am I checked the weather map - a BIG GREEN BLOB was almost on top of us. It actually had been raining for about an hour. It must have just been a drizzle here and there, because the driveway was hardly wet. So my dilema was "what should I wear?" I have a rain jacket, but it is long and kind of big on me. And the temperature was 59 degrees. So should I wear shorts and a t-shirt and just get wet??? Or should I wear a long sleeved shirt and take the rain jacket???? Well, that's what I did after much deliberation..... I ended up tying the jacket around my waist for most of the run and just getting somewhat wet. I only ran for 1 hour and 40 mins, though. It was just a little too much rain for me (I'm such a fair weather runner....hahaha). The good thing - I got in 6.5 miles. Not as much as I was supposed to get (8 - 9 miles) but at least I didn't wimp out and not go at all - that was definitely a thought that crossed my mind as I watched the weather channel!! :-) This is the last week for volleyball, so I should be able to get back to my regular running schedule next week.
Today is Nigel's birthday!!! We will have his birthday dinner tonight. I made him his favorite blackberry pie.... mmmm! He's getting a gaming keyboard for his present. He will love it, since he picked it out!!! hahaha!!!

My long run

This morning I ran for 2 hours!!! My legs feel like jello, but I did it!!! :-)
The plan was to walk for 10 mins to warm up, then jog for 1 min and 45 secs, then walk for 1 min, then repeat for 2 hours. I stuck to the plan pretty well for the whole time. The last 12 mins I walked to cool down. I felt good throughout the whole run and the best part was the temperature was only in the low 60's. aaaahhhhhhh! Much better than the humid and rainy mid 80's we've been having for the past 3 weeks!
While running, listened to Casey Casem's top forty - rerun from 1980. What a blast from the past...hahaha! I still remember skating to Xanado.... or is it Zanado? :-) Anyway, fun times listening and trying to remember what I was doing in September 1980. I believe I was in England with my parents meeting Nigel for the first time. :-))))

This week is homecoming at school. The kids get to dress up each day, culminating in spirit day on Friday, where everyone wears red, white and blue (our school colors). The best part for the kids is they get to wear jeans on Friday!!! woohoo!!! The highlight of any private school kid who wears a uniform the rest of the year! :-)

Volleyball is winding down. We have our biggest game of the season on Tuesday - against Briarcrest - then our last freshmen tournament on Saturday. The girls have been playing very well, despite the fact that some of our team is out with the flu. A couple get sick, then they come back, then a couple more get sick, etc... Hopefully by Saturday we will have a whole team!!!

Swimming starts up on Oct 12th.... Can't wait!!! :-)

Catholic Mass?????

A Presbyterian view of a Catholic Mass....
In my mind I see tradition, incense, candles, very stark and staunch priests.... well, that is not exactly what I experienced yesterday!
Father Dennis Schenkel, son of my co-worker Jack Schenkel, was the "priest of the day" at our first all-school Mass. His message was awesome - "Can I get an Amen?" That statement is not in my narrow vision of what a priest would say! His message was very "come to Jesus" - "You need to have a personal relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit". Father Dennis says, "We've got spirit yes we do, we've got spirit, and God does too!" hahaha!!! I thought that was great! He also said, "Jesus loves you, Karl, and you, Anna, and you Josh, and you Ben" - as he pointed to kids and called them by their names. Wow. Pretty awesome!!!
My view of Catholic priests are ever changing...... :-)

Happy to be in the gym!

After 3 long weeks in the classroom teaching Health, I am finally in the gym for 3 weeks. I know these weeks will fly by... :-0. I have enjoyed the experience in the classroom: using a board, watching videos, having the girls come up with some skits, etc... But my heart lies in the gym - I guess it always will. :-)
We have started out with conditioning and will move into playing flag football by the end of the week. The girls were very excited about this and wanted to know when they get to start tackling!!! Hahaha! I very gently reminded them it is FLAG football and you can only "tackle" by pulling a flag. It will be a blast just being outside everyday! Hopefully, the weather will cooperate....
My running ocntinues to go well. I ran in a 5k race yesterday with Kirsten! We ran 1:45, then walked 1:00. I felt really good, but I'm not sure Kirsten felt the same. :-) However, it was really nice to have her with me!!!! I wonder if she is sore this morning???
I have been invited by my coach, Mark, to join the "marathon" group that trains on Saturday mornings. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.... hmmmm. He says if I'm able to run/walk for at least 1hour and 45 mins, then I would be "good to go" with this group. I just don't want to "bite off more than I can chew!" I think I will give it 2 more weeks running on my own, or with my buddy, Cheryl, then decide. I would like to get to where I can run 2 mins/ walk 1 min. I think I would feel like I was actually getting somewhere. Mark is a great believer in taking things very slowly and building up my fitness level. Less stress on the body, less injuries, staying more motivated to contiue. I kind of like this philosophy - it seems to fit where I am in my life right now. :-)

A long run!!!

My training runs during August have been very steady and consistent - I am quite proud of myself! :-) I have had to quit running with my Memphis In Motion group,(for a short time) since school and volleyball started up at the beginning of Aug. So, staying motivated to run 3 days a week has been an accomplishment for me!

My Aug has gone something like this:
Take Chelsea to school, go to my school, Volleyball practice, Volleyball matches, then run twice a week for 45mins - 1 hour either on Mon, Tues, or Friday. On the weekends, I've been doing longer runs with my running buddies, Cheryl and Mark. It's been harder some weeks to plan a time to run. Sometimes I don't plan very well.... then I don't get my 3 runs in....
Our weekend runs started out at 1 hour, with 1:30 running, 1:00 walking. The next Saturday, we upped that to 1 hour and 20 mins. The third Saturday we went 1 hour and 30 mins. That was a week ago - we actually ran a 10K course that is in our neighborhood.
Yesterday, Mark and Cheryl couldn't make it so I went by myself. This time I went 1:45 and 1:00 for 7 miles - 1 hour and 40 mins. That is the longest I have run in a long time!!! My legs were not too happy with me yesterday afternoon!!!!

I am feeling pretty good today, but not sure how I will fit in my runs this week...We have "back to school" night this week, plus two VB matches! It will be busy!!! I'm ready for swim season and a slower pace - hahaha!!

My vacation with Nigel

We had a great time in Maine!
We flew out on Wednesday to Portland, Maine (with a stop over in Atlanta). The flights were very smooth and uneventful. However, when we arrived in Portland, it took them an hour to get our bags off the plane!
We picked up our rental car and drove 3 hours to Bar Harbor, Maine. This has been a vacation destination for over 150 years! It is actually an island with many small communities on it and many very large vacation homes. Apparently, lots of New Yorkers come up for the summer. It is also home to Acadia National Park - Cadillac Mountain is the highest point along the coast.
We spent 3 days there, enjoying the scenery. We walked around Bar Harbor, shopped, did some sea kayaking, drove to the top of the mountain, drove around the whole island, visited the Atlantic Brewing Company brewery (Nigel's favorite activity). We stayed in a nice bed and breakfast with some other very nice people.
After Bar Harbor we drove to Freeport, Maine - home of L.L.Bean! (and a LOTS of other outlet stores!!!) We had fun just going from store to store and spending lots of money. :-)
After the day at Freeport we drove to Old Orchard Beach. We walked down to the pier. It reminded Nigel of Blackpool in England. It reminded me of a State Fair atmosphere, but located on the beach! The was a fun fair right next to the pier. It was very interesting. We spent the following day in Portland walking along the old harbor. We visited a narrow guage railway museum, which of course had a train to ride in also. :-) We ate lunch at a restaurant called Duckfat. The make panini sandwiches and also serve french fries that have been fried in duckfat. They were pretty good! We drove over to the Portland Head lighthouse, but it was so foggy, we really didn't see much of anything. So headed back to Old Orchard Beach for our last night in Maine. We found a nice pub type restaurant for dinner - that made Nigel happy. :-)
We flew back to Memphis on Monday with a 3 1/2 hour layover at JFK in New York.
It was a very restful and enjoyable vacation. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Maine is a really beautiful state - at least the part we went to.
Here are a couple of pictures:

Summertime!

OK, so I have not been so good about keeping up with this blog.... I'll blame it on summertime! :-)
June seemed to fly by - I coach a summer league swim team at Rhodes College. The college setting is beautiful, the buildings are made of stone - really pretty. The pool is a 25 meter pool, with 6 lanes and is located right in the middle of this campus. I have the privledge of coaching the 5, 6, 7 & 8 year olds. There are about 30 of them although they don't show up all on the same day! It's really fun working with these little kids - quite a change from high schoolers that I teach all winter!
I got to go to Colorado with our church youth group a couple of weeks ago. We went backpacking for 6 days in the Powderhorn Wilderness area, just south of Gunnison. We started our hike at about 8000ft and on day 5 "peaked" at 12600ft. The scenery was breathtaking! I felt very slow compared to the teens I was with, but was quite proud of myself for making it to the top!!! They were encouraging me the whole way up! :-) People keep asking me if I would do it again.... I think I would, if the group I was with didn't mind going slow...

Here I am at the top...


I'm still running, but have not been able to do it as often as I want. I'm not sure my schedule will get any better any time soon....

Volleyball starts up July 28 and we practice in the evenings from 6 - 8. I'm excited to get going with this again. I have a new group of girls - 12 of them. We are having a skills camp next week at school, so I'll be able to evaluate them and hopefully decide what position they should play. I always find that the most difficult thing to do...

Lastly, Nigel and I are going to Portland and Bar Harbor Maine on July 22. We went to the northwest last summer so decided we would "try out" the northeast this time. I am REALLY looking forward to spending time with him and checking out a new place. :-)

I LOVE summertime!!! :-)