Honoring Our Heroes - Memorial Day Flag Run Planning

The day after the Boston Marathon bombing, I took to the pavement and did a 10 mile flag run as part of Team Red, White and Blue to remember the victims of the bombing. I was a lone runner on a windy day in a small city on the eastern edge of New Mexico just proud to be doing something to support the people of Boston even though they'd likely never know about it. The following weekend I got a group of people together through our local run/walk club to do a group run/walk again to support Boston, but also to show our support to the town of West, Texas after the fertilizer plant explosion.

With Memorial Day coming up in just a few days, I had initially considered driving to Lubbock to attend a WOD (Workout of the Day - Crossfit) for Warriors organized by Team Red, White and Blue but I was suddenly struck by the desire to do another flag run locally. This time, I am determined not to be the only one out there. I've posted to our club Facebook page, to the local newspaper's Facebook page and to one of the larger radio stations announcing a Memorial Day flag run with groups for walkers, slower runners or run/walkers and runners with a pace of less than 10 minutes/mile. I've only got 4 of us so far, but I just posted about it this morning so hopefully some more people will come out of the woodwork before Monday. This is not a Team Red, White and Blue event, although I will be wearing my Team RWB singlet, but rather just a group of like minded athletes (and yes, the walkers are athletes in my eyes) who want to do a small something to show our pride in country and to honor all our veterans past and present.

When: 
Monday, May 27, 2013 - Memorial Day

Time: 
7am - 10am

Location: 
Meet at Hilltop Plaza, in front of the spa store. Look for the Explorer with all the running stickers on the back window.

Routes: 
Walkers led by Troy - ~1.5 mile out and back (from start to Prince) may go farther if you wish
Slower runners/ run-walkers (slower than 10 miles/minute) led by myself - ~5K (3. miles) loop from start going West then back to Prince and back to start.
Runners (faster than 10 miles/minute) led by Teresa - Route to be determined but at least a 5K distance

• Please bring a flag if you have one, of ANY size.
• This will be a self-supported activity, please bring your own hydration/nutrition as it still gets pretty warm even that early in the morning.

I'm pretty excited to see what happens, I mean we are a military community lots of active duty and retirees. As a veteran myself I understand to the depth of my core what Memorial Day means. I've lost friends during the duration of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom. I've had loved one's caught up in the initial bombing raids of Baghdad and my husband served several tours during these operations. So yes, Memorial Day has a great meaning to me of those who gave their lives to secure our freedoms. So, that's how I'll be spending my holiday...and maybe driving up to Albuquerque to attend a Newton shoe test run (get to do a 2-5 mile run to test out some Newton shoes)...that's still up in the air though.

USAF Basic Training - 1982

April 2013

What are your doing on Memorial Day to remember our honored veterans?

Happy Mother's Day!!

Just a quick post to wish all the mom's out there a Happy Mother's Day!! Enjoy your day!!

I'm not a jewelry chick, but I do love shoes and needed new running shoes so the hubs got me some new Saucony Progrid Ride 5's and some Zensah calf sleeves...perfect presents for a runner! LOL!

Welcome to 2013!!

Wishing you and yours a 

Happy and Prosperous 2013!!

Great start to the new year with a last and first run all at the same time. Truly almost an orgasmic experience for me after not running for a month and a half. No pain, freezing cold but I was able to do a limited run/walk and if I wasn't being overly cautious would still be out there!! Yes, it did truly feel THAT good to run again!! 2013 look out because I'm comin' at you with a GUSTO!! :D Next stop the Mississippi Blues Half Marathon in Jackson, MS on Saturday! :D

Happy New Years Eve!! Be safe!!

With the New Years Eve festivities starting up in less that 12 hours I'd just like to remind everyone to be safe and have a designated driver selected if you're going out on the town. If you're a AAA member you can check out the article below to see if you're are AAA chapter/offices will be offering any safe driving alternatives. Those of you on military installations will usually have an Airmen Against Drunk Driving group that also offers free rides to those who have had a little too much of the celebratory libations.

(ORLANDO, Fla., December 18, 2012) As millions of Americans prepare to celebrate the upcoming holidays, AAA urges motorists to remember the safety precautions they should take during this festive season. Drive only while drug and alcohol-free, select a designated driver for the evening, plan to take a cab or stay with a friend.

Have a safe and happy celebration!! Be safe!

Double digit miles of indecision

OK, I know ya'll are getting tired of hearing about this particular subject...changing my race schedule. Yes, I've done it yet again...actually I've changed it about 3 times since last night!! lol! I just keep adding more and more to the schedule. In fact, I've added my first full marathon to be done in October, just three weeks before my MUST DO half marathon (the WDW Wine & Dine) so that I can get my coveted Coast to Coast medal...which signifies that you have completed a race at Disneyland and a race at Walt Disney World in the same calendar year. I also plan to add the 5K  that weekend, which will have to be renamed due to the change in dates...it used to be the Disney Halloween 5K. Since the race was changed to early November maybe they'll rename it to the Thanksgiving 5K? This will be a prolific running weekend because I would, hopefully, be coming home with three medals at once!! :D

Anyway, I digress. So after thinking about it a little bit I've registered to do a virtual half marathon on Tuesday...For the Love of the Kids Virtual Run. As long as I finish the run I'll earn a finishers medal to add to my medal rack which is looking a bit barren right now with only 3 medals on it. I already had a 12-13 mile training run planned for tomorrow in honor of Sherry Arnold that I'll knock down to a 10 miler to rest a little for Tuesday. Then I've potentially added the Disneyland Half Marathon to my schedule for September which also means that I might as well add the 5K run in there as well!

I've also added the Wounded Warriors HM in Las Colinas, Texas on June 10th as yet another half marathon. I have a cousin, actually a few, that live in the Dallas area and one of the girls said that I'm welcome to stay at their house. I just have to figure out whether to drive or fly down there. Hopefully I can find a cheap flight and car rental...that'd make life so much easier!

Finally I've also decided to train for my first full marathon in Albuquerque on October 21st...both my choices are on the same day so I just have to decide which one I want to do. The Duke City Marathon is almost completely flat and follows the Paseo del Bosque Recreational Trail which is a beautiful piece of running/biking path. It's basically an out and back route so there's no chance of me getting lost when I'm the last runner coming in...hopefully before the cutoff!! lol! My other choice is Day of the Tread. This is a fully costumed race (from what I can tell from pics) versus what seems to be a conservative Duke City Marathon. I think that DoTT is probably the funner of the two but it also comes with a 400' change in elevation and a time limit of 6 hours versus a 7 hours time limit for the DCM.

Now, with all the additions I may have to take away a few races. My sprint duathlon and the metric century ride are first on the chopping block for potentially being put off until next year. I may replace the Firecracker Run 10 miler with a local 5K. Finally, if I do end up doing the Disneyland HM the Turtle HM, which was my very first race last year, will be chopped as well since they are on the same weekend (Labor Day) and I won't be home in time to do it. I've also decided not to do the Dirty Dash in Albuquerque as it is 2 weeks before Wine & Dine and I don't want to risk a major injury that would prevent me from participating in that race!

One of these days I'll come up with a final schedule but until then you can see what I have planned in the race schedule widget in the right sidebar along with a countdown of the next 3-4 upcoming races. So please, bear with me...I'm just a little addicted now to a sport I've literally hated for most of my life!! LOL!

100 Days Challenge:

• Day 41
• 30 minutes PT exercises

What I Ate Today:

• 60 oz G2
• 1 pack chicken ramen with 
• 1 small, shredded chicken breast 
• 1 cup mixed vegetables
• 1 full rack of BBQ Baby Back ribs (oink!)
• 1 scoop coleslaw
• 1 scoop potato salad
• 1 slice Texas toast
• 24 oz Pepsi

Alkalete Review Day 4:

A little sore today from yesterday's run. Tomorrow's run should be interesting. The soreness is uncomfortable but not painful. I really can't tell any significant difference. Still had to take a couple of short naps today because I was so tired. I was just advised by my distributor to take extra doses since I'll be running so much the next several days with longer miles than usual so maybe I'll be able to make more of a judgement after my HM run on Tuesday. There are still other forces at nature that might be influencing the fatigue and such so I'm really trying to give this stuff a chance.

Happy Boxing Day? Resolutions?

Boxing Day is a UK holiday falling the day after Christmas (in most occasions)...here in the States we can call it , "Waiting in line to return unwanted Christmas gift Day." lol! In all actuality in the past few years, if I was brave enough to go to the mall or store the day after Christmas the lines haven't been all that bad. But then my timing always tends to be later in the shopping day anyway. According to Wikipedia, Boxing Day is pretty much the equivalent to our Black Friday in the UK. The 26th also happens to be the birthday of a childhood friend...I still can't decide if having a birthday the day after Christmas is a good thing or a bad thing. Do you get twice as many presents...or do you get Christmas presents that are marked as both Christmas and birthday presents? Well, whatev...I'm just glad that the craziness is over and life can start getting back to normal...or as near normal as possible.

With the beginning of the new year coming I'm debating whether to come up with resolutions or just go with whatever happens during the year. I do know that I'm going keep on going with the running...or run/walk in my case and hopefully, eventually full running plus keep working towards my goal weight of 125 pounds. I don't see those as resolutions but simply goals that I've already been working on. I guess I'll keep thinking about it for now since I have close to a week to make a final decision...

A Tinkerbell Christmas!

Just a quick note today to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!! I went with a Tinkerbell theme since I'll be running the inaugural Tinkerbell Half Marathon in just over a month!! Have a great day!!

Holiday Happenings...or lack thereof??

On Thursday the old man and I watched Christmas with the Kranks for the first time. I had to laugh because people would think that were were the real life version of the Kranks. Not that we're avoiding Christmas, but rather because we don't have any Christmas decorations up...at all!! lol! Heck, I've got Christmas cards that I've signed and printed up holiday letters for but haven't stuffed envelopes to mail. About the only thing holiday-ish that's in the house is Christmas dinner: a bone-in prime rib roast, lobster tails, a ham steak, baby potatoes, savory sweet potatoes and fixings for green bean casserole! We're just not holiday celebrating kind of people. Sure, when the kids were little we'd do it up pretty good...decent sized tree, let the kids decorate, stockings full of small presents, stacks of too many presents under the tree, etc. But since the time they started asking for expensive gifts like computers and TVs we started backing off on all the festivities. This year since it's just the old man and I, we've foregone the exchanging of gifts. In years past it's been a question of "what do you want?" and this year I got to thinking "what do you need?" When I consider that we have one computer that I bought myself for Christmas several years back...that has never been used, the fact that the old man has several large tools that have never been used, clothes packed as tight as sardines in the closet, too many shoes/purses on my part and so on, I came to the conclusion that it would be stupid to add to our collection. So I suggested a no present Christmas...the old man was more than agreeable (he hates to shop around this time of year...even avoiding grocery stores as much as possible). The only thing I asked for Christmas was to finish the remodel we started almost 3 years ago...that hasn't happened yet! *le sigh*

Anyway, as with most holidays around here I describe it as "just another day..." nothing special other than a fancy meal. We'll spend the day watching the tube, I'm going to go and try to do my long run for the week (hopefully there won't be much traffic) and the old man will probably read all day...basically the approach will be extremely low key. We've already sent/delivered Christmas presents to the kids and their significant others...I don't do mail out presents after one year of spending over $200 just in postage! No need for a massive deep cleaning of the house, we'll stay in pajamas all day (except when I go for my long run...9 miles planned) and we'll eat on our own schedule. So it's just we two and 6 canines...maybe I'll get them some ground turkey for a doggie turkey loaf for Christmas...just chillin' at home watching whatever we can find on TV, napping and basically just having a lazy day.

UPDATE: I actually wrote this post a few days ago. I finally got those Christmas cards in the mail late on the afternoon of the 23rd. Of course, most of them are going out of state so they won't be received until after Christmas. Oh well...

A Classic: White Christmas

As I'm typing this I'm watching Irving Berlin's White Christmas...my all time favorite Christmas movie! They just don't make movies or musicals like that anymore. Singing and dancing by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen...some of the greatest movie performers of the golden age of Hollywood.

I am a huge fan of the 1930-1950's movies, particularly the musicals. You could understand the words to the music, the music had melodies, the dancing was classic and smooth, the costumes were beautiful...it was just a glorious time for movie making. The actors...all the aforementioned ones in White Christmas, Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, Fred Astaire, Katherine Hepburn, and I could go on and on...I would be a happy camper if they started making movies like those back then.

Well, I'm going to get back to concentrating and enjoying four hours of White Christmas (a back to back showing). Have a good night!

Christmas preparation...or lack thereof...

For the second year in a row we're using a Christmas tree poster as a stand in for our artificial tree. The reason is due to our big grand pup who seems to now be living with us on a permanent basis...if our boy is reading this, are you even still trying to re-home him? The grand pup is a 40 pound Texas Heeler (Australian Cattle Dog/Australian Shepard mix) who tends to occasionally fly through the house at full speed and slides into various furniture pieces when trying to stop from a game of "chase/toss the toy" (he slings the toy in the air without regard to what it may end up hitting) or in some cases "let's see how much I can piss off the little dogs" (aka "chase the little dog until he/she starts growling and biting at me"). Such inability to effectively put on the brakes or understand that a thrown toy can do damage does not make for a good thing when you're talking about a tree and glass bulb ornaments! Hopefully, if he is still with us next year all the puppy behavior will be a thing of the past. Anyway, I have to thank my high school friend, Ranel, for the photo as I can't find mine from last year when we used blue painter's tape to hang the poster up! lol! Ranel was the one who gave me the idea for the poster tree. The only problem with having such a portable "tree" is that I don't remember what I did with it!! That means I may possibly have to hunt down another poster, at least this year I have a fairly good idea of where I can find one

Now, when the kids were young...into their early teens...we used to decorate for the holiday a fair amount; a tree, lights, stockings, stacks of presents, outdoor lights, etc. But once they got old enough that Christmas became more of a commercial enterprise rather than one where you could see a real childlike joy and true happiness when they opened presents we toned things down. I remember tree decorating being a family affair and stacks (and I do mean stacks) of presents primarily for the kids. For us now, we're lucky to have a tree (I think we had a tiny 3' tree back in 2008 or 2009), only 1-2 presents per person and we typically only have a special meal on the day and that's about it. Since it's only the hubs and I this year, the plan is a small fried turkey (maybe even just a chicken instead), a ham steak and maybe a 2 bone standing prime rib roast...can I help it if I'm a red meat person?? Yeah, we'll have small portions of accoutrements such as stuffing, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole but just like any other holiday nothing special will be going on. There will be a couple of presents to mail out to the kids but the old man and I have decided no presents for each other this year. It's not like we really need anything...sure there's wants but it won't kills us not to have them. Heck, if we did get the stuff we want truthfully, they probably wouldn't even get used much! My favorite saying when it comes to celebrating holidays and birthdays around here is "It's just like any other day" with the exception of a special meal.

So, how do you plan to celebrate Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate? Are we the only ones that take such a lackadaisical approach to the holiday? I hope not! lol!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Turkey Day everyone! We don't have much planned, for the first time in several years I'm not cooking anything at all (OK, well maybe I'll bake a pumpkin pie...from the freezer). We're going to be in Lubbock at the Turkey Trot 12K which I was supposed to run until I got sidelined. The old man is going to go ahead and run the race while I volunteer at packet pickup and on course direction. We'll probably go to Furr's or Golden Corral (or Joe's Crab Shack if they're open) for lunch, possibly a movie (The Muppets, Immortals, Happy Feet 2 or Puss in Boots) and then head back home for the normal night of watching TV, vegging and some homemade, traditional recipe (pork and shrimp) won ton soup. I guess it's a good thing we're not parade or football people! Anyway, from my family to yours have a Happy Thanksgiving and try not to get caught up in Black Friday tomorrow, I know I won't!

Addendum: The hubs finished his first solo race, the West Texas Running Club 12K Turkey Trot. He was at the back of the pack, but at least he finished. Final time 1:45:00.