Kudos to Waits!

Waits reported to the list today that he had a great long run of almost 25 miles. First, I'll admit right out, I am jealous! That 23 mile goal is really a high bar, IMHO. That Waits has done it, and did it strongly, deserves a hooray from all of us OBXers! Way to go Waits!

I plan to do my 23 mile run this coming Friday, if the weather lends itself. We arrive in Honolulu Tuesday. I want to do a regular old training run my first morning on Oahu. I hope to be revved up for a Friday long, long effort. I spent yesterday evening mapping out a route from our hotel that I hope works well. I wrote out a specific directional cue sheet to help me not get lost!

I'll report in Friday afternoon!

Susan's Women's Distance Festival 5K Race 9/30

I cancelled out of my triathlon this weekend, but remembered an earlier invitation from my daughter-in-law to run with her and my granddaughter in a 5K race in Cary today. Since my training schedule calls for either an 8-10 mile training run or a 5K race....

I signed up and joined them in the Women's Distance Festival, a women-only race that has been put on annually in various cities since 1979. So, for the first time, 3 generations of Smith women raced (Meredith slept through the entire event!).

I have to report I had a fabulous time and race. I had a 5K PR at 25:33. That's a per mile average of 8:14. I took third place in my age group (out of 23 I might add, and remember I'm on the long end of the 50-54 age group). I was 46th overall, out of over 300 ladies!

So, I think I have found my venue: women's races coupled with beginner races. It was totally heady to be at in the front quarter of a running event :-)

Salem lake 10k/30k race report

It was a beautiful morning for a race and there were tons of racers at Salem Lake. Erik and I started off on the 30K route at 8 am and Karen took off on the 10K route a half hour later.

For me, it was a tough race today. I did my 8/2 Galloway plan and it was the first time I could see how well it can work. People would pass me as I walked, but as soon as I started running again, I would breeze by them. That may be why I did the first half of the race at a faster pace than usual. I hit the halfway mark at 1 hr. 40 minutes and stayed under an 11 minute mile for the first half of the race. However, I made a few mistakes - I left my sport beans in the car over 1/2 mile from the race start. The rest stations only had water/gatorade, so I went the entire race on my bowl of oatmeal at 6 am. The most stupid thing I did was embarassing to admit for a professional IT type person. I didn't check my mp3 battery, and it went dead 5 miles into the race. That meant I had to listen to me in my head for over 13 miles, and it wasn't a motivational conversation..... I kept passing people until about the 13 mile mark and then I slowed down so much, I don't think I passed hardly anyone the rest of the route :-(

I ended up doing the race in 3 hrs. 31 minutes, which shows I bonked on the second half of the race. Erik did the race in 2 hrs 20 min (correct me if I'm wrong). Karen did the 10K in 1 hr. 12 minutes.

We all feel that participating today was really good for our training, if not for specific accomplishments today.

But, it showed me I have alot of work to do before Nov.

Race pace eady?

Hi all,

I hear that there is only a small contingent running the salem lake race this weekend. . . What gives? Are we lacking in enthusiasm, dedication, preparation? Are we just too busy?

I know that we are all going to be riled up by O'Connor's speech tomorrow, so how about a post judicial fun run at 5pm?

E

Music and Exercise Success

In today's Parade Magazine (my scholarly publication of choice on the weekends), Michael O'Shea (PhD Sports Medicine) reported that a study (where half the women listened to CD players while they worked out) showed that the music listeners dropped twice the pounds and fat compared to the women who didn't listen to music.

The reason is thought to be that music relieves stress, tension and anxiety, so you end up focusing on the song or your surroundings instead of your discomfort.

But be safe and keep the volume slightly lower when you head outdoors, so you don't get creamed by our lovely southern drivers.

weekend updates?

We've been awfully quiet on Wakeobx the past week or two....

This weekend I was scheduled to do either a 5K or 8-10 miles. I looked hard for a race because I would have rather done 3.1 miles, but.....

So, I stuck to the plan and headed out to do 10 miles this morning. I did the same route I did a few weeks ago and am happy to report that I bettered my time by 3 minutes. That put me under an 11 minute mile average. Maybe not a big accomplishment for you fast youngsters, but I was pleased.

I've been sticking with "run-only" on these short runs (and I can't believe I'm calling 10 miles a short run).

Next weekend is the Salem Lake 10k or 30K. I'm only aware of Erik, Karen and me having committed to one or the other. I am going to need to do a 23 mile training run in another week or two, but between Salem Lake and my Wilmington Triathlon on the 30th, I don't seem to have a weekend to accomplish this prior to leaving for Hawaii.

Erik has managed to talk me into the benefits of doing this long run in Hawaii.....So I've been researching how best to do this and where. I found a great site called "Favorite Runs" where I found many routes in Honolulu. The site is http://www.favoriterun.com/. It looks like I can work up a cool run from our hotel around Diamond Head (without climbing it). Will 23 miles be easier in paradise? I'll let you know!

Report on Salem Lake runs

It was great to see everyone out today. Even though we all ran our own pace, because we were doing multiple loops in different directions, we passed each other and gave encouraging thumbs up (at least until there was no energy left for non-vital movements).

Karen ran a 7 mile loop, followed by once around on her bike. Ron did 13.8 miles of walking with his (new to him) mp3 player. Waits and I started out at a bit after 7 and finished not too far apart (well of course he finished before me!). We completed 20.6 miles. Erik arrived after we had been out for awhile, looped me on the second lap and still finished 30 minutes before I did. We also spotted Bill on the trail. He'll have to report his accomplishments as he wasn't finished when we finally left.

Erik's prediction came true for me, as 3.5 miles from the end, a root reached up and grabbed my toe. I took a dive, rolled and recovered with only a scratched elbow. I was much more worried about damage to my new outfit or mp3 player. All survived.

A stop at Moe's on the way home, a hot bubble bath and nap on the couch managed to get me almost back to normal, but I doubt any of you will see me at the gym in the early Monday am......

Feels good to have the first REALLY long run behind me!

Come on out to Salem Lake Tomorrow!

As Erik said, some of us are planning to do our long runs at Salem Lake tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 10. I originally planned to get started at 8 am, but have since decided that 7 am would be better (once I found out the gates should be opened at 7). That way, if I live through it, I can have a little lunch and then nap all afternoon.

I have heard "maybes" from both Waits and Erik (a definite maybe). Karen says to look for her at 8. Ron will be doing two walking loops for 14 miles starting at 7. I'm going to do 3 loops or die trying. I've decided to go with an 8 min run/2 min. walk pattern. We are bringing a cooler full of ice and bottled water, so if you are out, we'll leave the back door on the CRV opened, help yourself!

I'm excited, my new 512 MB Iriver mp3 player arrived today. That's 17 hours of music. Certainly I can do 3 loops in less than 17 hours???

Hope to see some of you there.

Howsthetraininggoin?

things have been pretty quiet on the obx here recently. . .I know we are all struggling as the long runs are getting longer. This weekend is a big run for me - 20 miles. I may only get 18 holes in after that ! *grin*. Just a quick reminder that today is the deadline for the cheap entry fee to the salem lake race on Sept 23rd. Let's get out there and kick some runner butt.

Susan is even heading out to Salem lake tomorrow to scout out the route (probably trying to figure out why the roots get so much bigger on the third lap!). I have been thinking about visiting that venue as well so if you hit the lake around 7am tomorrow morning you might see me there.

In searching for that last bit of edge to use for the marathon, I came across the following article on Ice Baths this morning http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=8731. I wonder what the temp. of the ocean will be on race day . . .

Enjoy your training this weekend!

E

Looking for excuses not to run? Need motivation?

Here's a quote from Jeff Fisher, NFL head coach for the Tenn. Titans, in the latest Runner's World:

"There are days when you don't feel like running. Those are the days you have to do it. Discipline is doing what you don't want to do so you can do what you really want to do. Got that?"