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!!! :-)

Weather Weekend

Typical Friday: Sleep in (no swim practice - yay!), eat a leisurely breakfast, check my email, FB, etc.., Kirsten gets up and we go shopping for a father's day present. The afternoon was very laid back - watch TV, read and relax. About 3:00pm I notice there is a line of thunderstorms in Arkansas headed our way. I was hoping for some rain so I wouldn't have to water the grass!!! :-) Many times we watch these line of storms coming towards us only to have them disappear by the time they reach Memphis. So I wasn't too worried.
HOWEVER......
About 4:00 I realised these storms were not going to go away! I quickly drove over to the church to pick up Chelsea and her friends, Danielle and Kayla. They had been swimming at a friend's house. We got home about 4:45 - just as VERY LARGE rain drops began to fall. Nigel had come home at noon to work from home. So we were all there as the wind began to pick up and the rain fell more violently. At one point it was raining so hard I could not see the house across the street! The trees were blowing around - it was very scary. Of course, by this time the tornado sirens are blaring and I'm wondering if we should actually go into the bathroom. But no, we stand looking out the windows in awe of the storm. (yes, we are idiots) About 5:00 the lights flicker and go out. At this point I look out the front door and the tiny little creek in front of our house has grown into a raging river! I could hardly believe it! I had seen it swell before, but this was up into our yard!
Very quickly, the rain began to subside, the creek began to recede back to normal, but the lights were still out (and, more importantly, the AC). Of course, now that the "danger" was over, the girls started asking, "What's for dinner?" HA!!! We decide the best idea was to go out to eat. So the 6 of us ate at McAlisters Deli. They have 2 TV's there so we could catch up on the weather and what has happened in the rest of Memphis. After eating Nigel and I think the power has probably come back on so we venture back to our house....
NO POWER.... So we decide to have family game night by candle light! :-) Actually, candles, flashlights and a propane lantern. We played Blurt and Uno until 9:30pm then took Chelsea and her friends over to Danielle's house to spend the night. I'm not sure why they just didn't stay with us.....
It turned out to be a good decision: Danielle's power came back on about 5:00am - ours did not... :-( When I woke up on Saturday morning, I went running to check out the 'damage' to our neighborhood. Lots of limbs and small trees down in many yards. We were one of the lucky ones: no trees down, only small limbs and leaves. So when I came back from my run I started cleaning up. Kirsten came out to help me, so we made quick work of the whole thing. Still no power.....
Kirsten began house sitting on Saturday for a neighbor and luckily they did have power!!! (and a pool!!!):-) We knew we had a place to go to cool off! So we went and picked up Chelsea and her 2 friends and stayed the afternoon by the pool and in the air conditioned house! About 5:45pm the power came back on at our house!!! YAY!!!

Now for Round Two....
Sunday morning I woke up to the sound of thunder.... So I got up and turned on the TV... yes, another line of storms almost on us! It was not quite as windy, but LOTS of rain in a short amount of time (2.5 inches). I watched in amazement again as our little creek became a raging river again! Only this time one our our trees fell over!!!!!!! AND the water came up A WHOLE LOT CLOSER to our house this time!!! I guess after all the rain on Friday night (2.5 inches also) this water had no where to go.... Again, luckily, this rain sped through very quickly and left us cleaning up the yard again. We have a chain saw and Nigel cut up most of the small branches, but we will need to call a tree service to get the large trunk removed.
I'm thankful for two things:
1. We have power (and AC!!)
2. I'm thinking I will not have to water the grass for a while.... :-)




These first two picks show the creek when it was up in our yard. The second on shows the downed tree and how the water is coming up over the trunk!


This one shows the tree after it stopped raining...




These last two show the creek from our driveway bridge: the second picture is a more "normal" view of our creek. You can see that Nigel would have been swallowed up by the water....!

Mother Nature is really very amazing!!!!!