Sweaty Sunday!

This is how I spent Sweaty Sunday!





That's right, by the pool! Still counts, right? It was super hot and I did sweat!  I did come home and run 3 miles to make up for the lazy Sweaty Sunday!  My best friend Heather White called me up to go lay out by the pool with her and Pais at her friend's, Beth Moore, house!  Since it is my last Sunday of summer, I decided that it was okay to spend Sweaty Sunday by the pool! Plus, it was really great to hang out and catch up with Heather....it has been way too long!  We've been best friends since high school and kinda missed out on each other through college, but reconnected once we had both graduated and had moved back into the area!  One of the sweetest girls I know! And her little two year old is super cute and fun to be around!  So, again, I will try to do a better Sweaty Sunday next Sunday! I did run 8 miles yesterday, so...good enough!  I will leave you with a picture of me, Heather, and Pais from last summer....love those girls!

How did you spend your Sweaty Sunday?

And So It Begins!

Lots to update, but school has started back....nuff said!  Will post when I figure out what in the world I am doing!!!!!  Sweaty Sunday turned into Sweaty Sunday on Monday morning...just did 5!  Not so sweaty!  Will do better next Sunday! Things to look forward to:
1. Reason #56 why David Carter is the sweetest thing in the world
2. Recap of a full Sunday
3. Cheerios on Parade
More later! Have a great week!

Mine and Carter's true feelings about starting school!  Oh summer! Why did you have to end?

Sweaty Sunday!

Today marks the first Sweaty Sunday in the Money Talks world! Since I am listening to my doctor, and only doing short runs through out the week and saving my long runs for Saturday and/or Sunday, I decided to deem one of those days as the sweaty one! Sunday was picked because I don't normally run before church therefore, the running happens once the sun is beating down!  Saturdays I try to run early!  So...what did I do on the first Sweaty Sunday?  Well, sweat of course!  

Please notice the color difference of my pink tank! Yuck!

This is after a 7 mile run and a 3 mile walk!  All the while that bright, orange, hot thing up in the air was beating down on me!  I have beautiful tan lines from my knee brace too!  Just a perk from Sweaty Sunday!!!!  I did not run all 7 at once, it's been awhile since I've been healthy enough to run even 5 at once! I ran the first 5 and then took a gatorade break.  I have this huge fear of running in the heat and just passing out, so I take great care to stay hydrated! After 5, I walked 1, ran 1, walked 2, and ran the last 1.  Felt great! Of course this was followed by a nice icing session, calves, knees, and right hip, a cool shower, a little lunch and..... a 2 hour nap!  Pooped! Plus, I think part of Sweaty Sunday should be a little nappy poo!  

Enjoying the effects of Sweaty Sunday!

What did you do to part take in Sweaty Sunday? Carter played golf! I promise he returned sweaty and smelly!!!!!! Until the next Sweaty Sunday!

Back in the Saddle....Again...Again!

Well, the last couple of weeks have been rough(er) on my poor little legs! For the past two months I've had pain in my left calf.  It would be sore when I started running, but then work itself out and as long as no one touched it, pressed on it, stood on it (that would be you Ging!) I was okay.  Dr. Andy first thought it was strained and we did therapy on it, but this was after a month of pain.  I like to think that if I just keep going the pain will go away.  I am now changing that train of thought!  But, after about a month of therapy Dr. Andy said the calf was torn...not good.  I was instructed to take a week off...not something I can do easily, but I did a lot of biking (the $700 one!) and a lot of swimming.  Then, I was okayed to run again, but the plan was three miles Monday thru Friday and then my long runs on Saturday and Sunday.  No more random long runs during the week.  No more 8 miles on Monday, 10 on Tuesday, 5 on Wednesday, so on and so on.  I tend to forget that I am not exactly 100% healthy when it comes to my ability to run!  So, I did the three a day Monday thru Friday and then rested Saturday and ran 6 on Sunday.  Felt great! Calf wasn't in pain anymore!!!!  Sunday was really, really humid and hot and I really, really sweated a lot! So, I decided to febreeze my knee brace in the kitchen.  I didn't want it to smell (and Carter instructed me to not let it) like my last knee brace. Well, let this be a lesson to all of us...to febreeze in the kitchen is a big no-no!  I febreezed, I turned, I slipped, I fell, I ran into the wall!!!!  Not just into the wall, but the point where two walls meet! And not just me into the wall, but more specifically my left knee cap!!!!!! (At least it was my good knee?)  PAIN!!!! I cannot even tell you how painful it was and I have a very high tolerance for pain!!!  I didn't sleep Sunday night, could hardly walk, sit, bend, move Monday. Went to Dr. Andy on Tuesday and low and behold...I have a bone spur?  A bone spur in and of itself isn't too big of a deal.  A lot of times you have one and don't know it, but I have one on my knee (most likely from the car wreck) and when I ran into the wall, I hit it, which made it hit something else, which made that hit something else, thus the pain I was in!!!!  And again....no running!!!! AGH!!!!!  But, after therapy, ice, and rest I got to run tonight!!!!!!  And it felt great! I only did two...I can't even remember the last time I only did two, but I am trying to take care of me!  I iced, knees, calves, hips, everything afterwards!  Just trying to keep all those parts working properly!!!  Tomorrow, I will run more!  One might think that all of these would be seen as signs..not this little runner... just obstacles to overcome!!!! I heart running!!!!!

Right before Country Music Marathon!!!!

Attempt #532!

I don't even know why I act like I'm going  to really try my hand at blogging?!?!?!  As soon as I say I am going to....I don't! But, as the title says..here's attempt #532!  Here's my frustration with it:I can't figure out how to have cute headers and a cool blog! Is it because I have a mac?!?!  Which I did find that I have iweb...really cool...except you have to pay to have it published. Clearly, not what I need!  I can't keep up with a free one...no way I'm going to pay for something that I can't keep up with!


Here it goes! Lots has happened since my last post.  Last time I posted, I had just finished the Panther Prowl 5k...since then I've run three more, completed three triathlon sprints, gone to the beach, done two cheerleading camps, bought a $700 rode bike, and started summer tutoring five days a week for the rest of the summer!  Whew! What a summer!  


All my pictures aren't on my computer yet, let's just call me very lazy!  I will leave you with some pictures from the beach and a brief recap. Carter and I went the second week of June to Destin for five days! THE BEST VACAY EVER!!!!!  We had a blast!  It was so much fun and so relaxing!  We stayed at Seascape Resort...thank you Brad and Heather White....and loved it!  I ran each morning before Carter woke up and then we would pack up and head to the beach for the day!  Each night we would go out to eat: Pompano Joes, the Back Porch, AJs, The Crab Trap...yum, yum...cannot wait to go back!  And for the record...no oil!

Headed out to eat each night! My favorite restaurant was probably AJ's!  I did the whole fish sandwich every night thing again and loved it!  And yes, below that is a golf course and yes, I did play...not very well, but I did play a round of golf! So sore after though!!!!!

Until next post!  Which might be tomorrow or might be a month from now! Who knows?  

Panther Prowl

Got up bright and early on my first unofficial day of summer (doesn't officially start until Thursday morning, but three days without kids counts as the beginning!) to run in the Lenoir City Panther Prowl.  This is just a 5k and is put on by the LCHS Cross Country Team.

Me and my coffee at 7.30 a.m.  Great pre-race tradition!  I ate my powerbar on the way to the race and finished off the coffee in the car!  The race was supposed to start at 8.30 a.m., but that turned into 9 a.m.  I got there around 8.20 a.m. and was a little annoyed that I had to wait for so long! I hate waiting for races to start! I like to get there, check in and take off! But, oh well! They also had a kid's mile race, so we couldn't start until that was over!  It was really cute! There was one little girl who is only 4 years old and she ran the whole thing!  


All in all it was a good little 5k.  It was a double loop with a slight hill after mile one and right before the end of mile one, so that happens again after mile two and right before the end of the race. Nothing major, but a hill nonetheless!!!!  I ended up finishing second in my age division.  It wasn't my best time.  For a 5k my best is 27 minutes, but what can you do? The overall male winner ran it in 17 something! What? That'll be the day!  Off to a 7th grade pool party! Because that's how I roll on Saturdays!!!!!

The Disney Princess Half Marathon

So, here goes the race recap!  Sorry it's been so long since the last time I posted.  This race is only two half marathons late!  And only two months late! Not so bad.  Carter and I headed to Disney on a Thursday, see previous post, traveled Friday too, hit the parks all day on Saturday and ran on Sunday!  This is me before the race!

Tired!  We had to be at our start corral at 5.30 a.m.! This is probably around 4.45 a.m.!  Notice all the layers on in Florida! So cold at the start of the race.   I had on my calf running tights, running tights, shorts, a tank top, a long sleeve running shirt and my running jacket. I also had on my brand new toboggan with a PONYTAIL HOLE!!!!! Yipee! We found it at the expo the day before!  No, I did not run in my Uggs! It is race tradition to wear them before I run!  They make my foot feel great!  Notice the lack of enthusiasm...this was the look from the inside...I was so tired!  But really, this is how I felt!

 

So excited to be running in Disney World! The race started at Epcot and ran down to the Magic Kingdom, thru the Princess Castle, around Magic Kingdom and to the back of Magic Kingdom and then back to Epcot!  I had a blast! Minus the early wake up call and the waiting to run, I loved it!  So, I had to be in my corral at 5.30 a.m.  I didn't start running until 6.30 or 7 a.m.! I ended up being in the last corral, since I had never run a half before and didn't have a clue as to how long it would take me to run!  Well, minus Strawberry, but I had signed up for the race well before Strawberry.  After I got started, I had a lot of dodging to do! So many women that were walking or jogging, a.k.a. they woke up this morning and thought it sounded like a fun and cool thing to do so their plan was to just kinda shuffle their feet a long and call it running, but were going to die before they got to the end because, hello, it's 13.1 miles to the finish line!  For the first six miles I ran all around people, through people. off the beaten path to finally get into my actual run pace and settle in for the my second half marathon!  Along the way, their were tons of characters! They made the run so much fun!  Running into the Magic Kingdom was, well, magical! There were so many people yelling and cheering as you rounded into the Magic Kingdom, totally got tears in my eyes! Then, when I ran through the Princess Castle, I got all tearful again!  The trumpets were announcing my arrival!  I started feeling it in my hip around mile 10...pain! This is the moment I realized that I would not be running the full marathon in Nashville! My body is just not ready yet...one day though, one day!  I grabbed BioFreeze at every medical station and rubbed it on my hip! That did the trick!  Mile 11-12 was not easy!  I had to run up the off ramp of the interstate on to a bridge...it was during the hardest part of that hill that Disney had set up their little green army men to yell and encourage us to "Soliders, do not give up! This is your mission, get it done!"  I laughed out loud!!!!  I finished in 2 hours and set my very own PR!!!!!  The only bad part is I couldn't find Carter when I got done! Soooo many people! We had arranged a meeting place and I was there...he just wasn't! I freaked out!  I borrowed another woman's cell phone to use, but Carter didn't answer.  Maybe thirty minutes later, I finally saw Carter and burst into tears! I was so tired and freaked out by being with so many people and seeing him was just what I needed!  He just didn't see me with all of the thousands of people! We have since learned that I do take my phone with me and I call at mile ten so that he knows when to expect me!!!!  This is me after the race!

So happy!  Cannot wait for next year!  I am actually going to run in Disney again in October!  Carter and I went back to the hotel for a little nap and for me to take a shower!  Then, loaded up and hit the road! We actually drove all the way home that day! My body was hurting!!!! I usually ice and heat for the rest of the day, but that's not doable in a car! We made it back to Knoxville late evening and had already planned to take the next day off of work! We needed that day of recovery!  Disney has probably been my funniest race!  Next year, I'll take pictures a long the way!  I would suggest this race to anyone!!!!!!