Missing those Long Runs!

I met up with my friend Maura yesterday to do my boring speed walk/jog around her son's school campus. She insists on meeting up with me in spite of my limitations and I feel guilty because she is capable of so much more. Maura spoils me. She keeps me thinking positive, makes me lattes, tamales and fresh squeezed orange juice too. I woke up with more pain than usual today and I am thinking the pain is a result of the entire four miles being on a concrete surface. It was so foggy yesterday but the breeze was great and really made me miss those early morning runs. It was one of those days that would have been just perfect for a long training run.  I really miss those long runs and cannot wait until I am able to do them again.

I spent the day icing and worrying about the pain I was feeling. Buster kept me company today as he enjoyed laying on my lap and checking out other dogs on the web. He is feeling much better after this surgery last week and he is no longer acting as territorial as he was in the past. Thank God! He also thinks he is much smaller than what he really is (16 pounds) and insists on laying on my lap whenever he gets the opportunity. I call Buster my "laptop."

Lastly, I am sorry to report that I was not one of the three winners of the $640,000,000 Mega Millions jackpot!! We do not play often but played this time around and ended up winning $10.00.  Not too bad but I would have preferred the $640 million instead!! I heard that the winner in Maryland only bought one quick pick and won!  I guess it only take $1.00 to win!!

I am hoping to get a 5 miler in tomorrow while this great weather lasts. If the pain is still beyond what I think it should be, I will play it smart and head to the gym and try a treadmill run or resort to the elliptical. I am supposed to run a half marathon next Saturday but my new found patience are telling me to sit it out. I have to be honest with myself...I am not there yet.   

Hope you are having a great weekend! Did anyone race this weekend?

HAPPY MONDAY!

After a three day weekend it is so hard to get back into the work routine.  This weekend was a pretty lazy weekend since I pretty much stayed home and kept an eye on my pups. I did sneak off to get a much needed pedicure and I think having nine toe nails is actually a record for me.  I am usually missing at least two and in the process of losing a third.

Buster is back to normal and feeling much better. I even let him lay in my bed with me for a nap and now he doesn't like his dog bed anymore! I am going to be in trouble for allowing him on the bed!

On Sunday morning I hit the road before the rains came and did my little speed walk/jog routine outdoors. It felt good to not be on the treadmill and get some fresh air instead of that wonderful smell of the gym!  I had no hamstring pain but I did feel some pressure in my left shin.  It eased up after a few breaks and I took my chances and kept going. In the end, I put in 4.45 miles and broke a little sweat so I was happy.

I was thrilled to see my weekly report from dailymile since I finally got some miles on the books. Of the 20.42 miles, 16.42 of those miles are my speed walk/jog routine.  I know that I am way off from achieving my goal of 1200 miles for the year but glad to be doing more than I could last month. I am happy to see any kind of progress these days. I have a physical therapy session tomorrow and I am looking forward to getting my H-Wave therapy.  I swear I felt better after I had it for the first time. The things I look forward to these days...

Did you do anything exciting this weekend?  Have a great week!

Donning the Cone of Shame

Buster is not a happy camper this morning!  He got neutered and micro chipped yesterday and doesn't quite understand what is going on!  Roxy, my 12 year old Pomeranian, had her teeth cleaned yesterday so they made the trip to the vet together for moral support.

They stayed at the vet for most of the day and got picked up at 8pm.  Their vet is the absolute best and had them all decked out in their scarves when we arrived to take them home.

Roxy is back to normal with pearly whites but Buster not so much. His meds were much heavier since his procedure required a bit more work.

We are keeping a close eye on him to make sure that he doesn't lick his stitches.  I hope he refrains from the search of his missing jewels or else he will be donning the "Cone of Shame." I am sure he won't like it even though it has his name on it!

We have no big plans for the weekend since we will be on doggy watch!

Hills and Thrills!!

This week was not a very productive week in terms of running or any kind of workouts for that matter! I did way too much resting this week that's for sure! Here is how last week turned out:

Monday: REST

Tuesday: REST

Wednesday: Spin Class

Thursday: REST..I was all dressed and ready to walk out the door to go to the gym, then my daughter called me and needed to talk so I didn't make it!  I swear I was going to do my speed work but I had to be a good Mom and be there for my daughter when she needed me.

Friday: Ran 2 miles on the dreadmill and then did 45 minutes on the elliptical

Saturday:REST

Sunday: 14.81 Miles of very steep climbs for the first 6 miles.  This was by far the steepest climb I have ever done in my life! Although it was downhill at the end, it was a pretty good workout! This run may have somewhat made up for all of the resting I did in the beginning of the week!

Friday after work I met up with Maura, a friend from Daily Mile.  We have conversed and emailed for the past couple of months and we finally set up a time to meet and chat.  As I mentioned before, Maura is a great runner and I know that I can learn a lot from her. On Sunday, I ran 14.81 miles with her and she warned me about the steep climb for the first six miles! The highest elevation we reached on this run was 3000 feet. My quads are really sore now to say the least!

I enjoyed the fresh clean air and I will definitely be back to do it again!  It is a challenging run and I am sure that it will make me stronger!!  Maura and I will be running a 16-17 miler together this Friday but on a much flatter course at a much faster pace. Maura gave me lots of good tips on how to be a better and smarter runner so I will be testing out her tips and maybe I will be running a 3:17 marathon like her soon.... it's okay to dream, right?

I am also thrilled about some great deals that I scored at the REI Half Yearly sale his past Saturday!  I have been wanting to upgrade my Garmin 305 to a newer model but just didn't see the logic in replacing it when it works perfectly fine.  Well, if you can buy a used Garmin 310XT that is in great condition for much of nothing then is worth spending the money. A new 310XT retails for about $399.99 so I scored big time on this one! The 310XT can be used for other sports like biking and swimming but I will be using it just for running. I tried it out on my Sunday run with Maura and I really liked it. The face seems smaller than my 305, it feels lighter and it has the wireless data transfer option which is pretty cool too.

I also bought four other Garmins that were super cheap.  I bought two 305's, a 405, and another 310XT. Some do not have boxes and are missing some of the parts but those can be replaced for much of nothing. I will have to find homes for all of these once I test them all out and make sure that they are working properly.

I have touched on the fact that I love cupcakes, right? Well, I was also thrilled to death when I received the special Christmas menu from my local cupcakery!  Their Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcake is to die for!!  It tastes just like the real thing in the form of a cupcake!  I have never tried some of these special flavors so I guess I will be buying a ton of the minis and sampling them all! 

I am still catching up on wrapping presents but managed to finish up all of my last minute Christmas shopping. Buster kept me company while I attempted to wrap presents. He is just the sweetest little boy. Just two more days of work left and then I will be off for ten days!  Time to relax and spend some much needed quality time with the family....

What is your favorite treat that makes you cheat? Mine is obviously cupcakes!

What are your plans for the holidays? I will be home spending time with my family.  My sister will be visiting from Florida so we will be busy catching up and trying to squeeze in a million things into a weeks time.

I Am Running.......Out of Time That Is!!

It seems like the holiday season takes forever to get here but when it gets here, it comes and goes so quickly!!  I am usually on top of my Holiday "To Do List " which includes Christmas shopping, decorating, tree decorating, Christmas cards, gift wrapping and party planning but this year I have fallen way behind.

All of decorating was done on time and I got a little bit of shopping done early on. I usually try to come up with a cute idea and take a special Christmas picture but this year I ended up using a picture from my last half marathon.  Does it look familiar? We even hired a new photographer this year.  Thank you Shawna. I think I am going to force her to run more races with me so she can take pictures of me and my family. My husband is always the one who has to run into the picture and beat the timer on the camera.  He usually ends up messing up the picture and we spend the entire day trying to get it right! We usually include the dogs too and that can be very challenging as well!! This is what our Christmas card looks like this year.

I haven't wrapped a single present...not even one! I have most of my shopping done and I have everything stored in my closet.  I have created a major traffic hazard in my closet and I can barely get to my work clothes.  

Good thing able to access the other side of my closet that has all of my running clothes. That's all that really matters, right?

Is it weird that I hang all of my running clothes?

I ended up taking two days off after the Holiday Half Marathon for some reason or another so as a result of my laziness, I will be busy cramming all of my workouts in the remainder of the week.  I was planning on running last night but my daughter called me and wanted to come over to talk so I ended up not going to the gym.  It was raining so road running was not an option for me. Running isn't looking good for today either because I am meeting up with a friend that I met on Daily Mile.  We are practically neighbors and she is an amazing runner.  She runs 50+ miles per week and has conquered the Los Angeles Marathon in 3:17:40!! She swears that her secret is just putting her mind to it and believing in herself.  I guess I need to borrow her mind on race days! I am just not that confident I guess.

As much as I love Christmas, I am starting to feel a little stressed out!! I have yet to send out the invitations to my Christmas party on December 26th!  I really need to do this right away so that my family and friends don't make other plans.  My sister and her family will be arriving from Florida on Christmas Day to visit and they will be here through January 4th. I am looking forward to seeing them and spending some time together.  I have already warned her about my busy training schedule that must go on in spite of her visiting and she's fine with it.  She likes to bike ride so I might drag her along with me to carry my water and keep me company.

I will be free from work starting on December 23 until the New Year so I am also looking forward to the time off.  I love my job but we all need a break once in a while and I never take more than a couple of days off of work at a time.  I also have plans for Buster (the stray dog that I found back in October) during my time off.  Let's just say that Buster is not going to be very happy with me when he finds out that I am scheduling an appointment to  take his manhood from him....

Buster is kind of blending in with couch behind Roxy.

So is everybody else ready for Christmas or is it just me who is running behind?

Goals, Deals, Weekly Recap and a Thunder Shirt!

While I enjoy reading the "November Goals" posted on all of the great blogs that I follow, I haven't posted! Why?  Because I am so focused on my new training plan that I can't even begin to think of any other goals to set for myself.  The title of my blog really says it all for me...I want to run the Boston Marathon one day before I die!  I am very goal oriented but Boston occupies so much of my running goals that working towards it will remain my main goal until I finally get there. 

Super Great Deal:

I am excited to share that I scored another great deal this week!  A local mall near my house just opened a new Sports Authority so they sent $15 discount cards out to all of the local residents.  Well, I have been wanting to buy a hand held water bottle for a while now but just could not get myself to spend $20 on one.  I mean it's a plastic water bottle with a little piece of material on it!  When I saw this discount card, I headed down to Sports Authority to see if they had what I was looking for and they did so I finally have one and I paid $5.00 for it!!  Sometimes I don't feel like wearing my hydration belt and just want to carry water in my hand but water bottles are just too complicated to hold. 

  

Week Three Training Recap:

This week was a very productive week for me in terms of sticking to my planned workouts.  I was able to complete all of my workouts and meet all of my target paces.  I am still having some issues with sticking to the planned paces on my long runs because 9:30+ paces on long runs can take forever to complete.  I guess it's all part of building endurance so I have to get better at sticking to the plan.

Monday: REST DAY

Tuesday: Speed Work= 6 miles...these workouts are challenging the heck out of me but I am starting to kind of like it now. Beside the fact that I feel like passing out and calling 911 during the workout, I think speed work is going to make me a stronger and faster runner.

Wednesday: XT#1: 45 minutes on stationary bike (hills plus workout)= 12.3 Miles 

Thursday: Tempo Run=7.4 miles

Friday: XT#2: Spin Class-great workout and I was sweating like crazy!! I also did some weight training and focused on my arms and legs while waiting for the class to start.

Saturday: 17 miles= It was 44 degrees out there and I had to force myself out the door.  This was the first time I have needed to wear pants and a jacket on a run in a long time!

Sunday: MUCH NEEDED REST DAY/CUPCAKE DAY!

Total Mileage=42.7 (30.4 of those miles were running)

On Sunday I rewarded myself for a productive week and ate cupcakes!!  One of my favorite cupcakes is Vanilla Almond Salted Caramel and it is to die for!! These cupcakes are like heaven in your mouth and and I could live off of them!!  

My plans for next week include a 20 mile run and my first 10K so we will see how my 10K goes especially now that there is a 60% chance of rain in the forecast!  I have no goal in mind but just want to see where I stand at this distance so that I have a goal to work towards.  How should I dress for this race? Any advise?

The Thunder Shirt!

Totally unrelated to running but Buster is still living with us.  I have been told that I should buy him a "Thunder Shirt" to help him with his separation anxiety.  It is supposed to be like wearing a giant hug to relieve some of the anxiety that is associated with many types of disorders that dogs suffer from.  Has anyone ever tried a thunder shirt, as pictured above, on their dog?  I really want to help Buster before he destroys my entire house!  I don't have the heart to take him to the animal shelter because I am such an animal lover.

Did you have a great week?  Congratulations to everyone who was lucky enough to run the NYC Marathon!  Did you participate in any other races this weekend beside NYC?

Source

Vanilla Almond Salted Caramel Cupcakes!

Speedwork, Tacos and Great Deals!

Thank you to everyone who replied to my post about change needed in my training plan!  SPEEDWORK seems to be the most common response to the questions. I am taking your great advice and will now be incorporating speedwork into my training starting this week!  I have a new training plan that I will be following for my next marathon in February, 2012 and believe me, speedwork is definitely a part of it.  I am optimistic that I will see some improvement which will result in a marathon PR!

My long run this week was for a whole 13 miles.  It was the longest run I have completed since my marathon on October 9th.  It felt good to get back out there and start working towards another goal that will bring me a little bit closer to my goal of a BQ.  I am not sure how long I will be chasing Boston but I am determined to get there someday!

My Friday night was pretty fun.  The whole gang took the 45 minute trip to eat carne asada tacos at our favorite taco truck, El Taquito!  I used to live out that way so I grew up eating these tacos.  I ate four tacos and had an agua de pina(pineapple water) to wash it all down. It was delish and then we finished the night off at Yogurtland.  We actually hit up two locations in search of different flavors that we had never tried before. We did find Kona Coffee Blend, Taro and Matcha Green Tea, so my husband took advantage of these flavors and the rest of us waited until the next stop to get ours since they did not have two of my favorites. I had my usual, Red Velvet Cupcake Batter, Devil's Food Cupcake Batter and Pistachio topped off with almonds and walnuts! My daughter and her boyfriend had never been to Yogurtland before so they over-indulged.  Can you guess which ones belong to them?

Buster is still here and boy did he have a surprise waiting for us when we got home on Friday night.  I usually leave him in the garage when I am going to gone for a while but on Friday night he was not having it. When we got home we discovered that Buster had bitten his way through the security screen door and made his way into the house.  I am not sure how he did it but he did!! He did some damage to his little mouth so I think we got the message...Buster wants to be in the house and not the garage! We have been honoring his request as long as he stays in his designated area and he has been good so far.



Buster destroyed the security screen door!!

Notice the redness around his mouth!  Poor Buster!

Buster was hiding out after that episode!!

Other than Buster's incident, I had a pretty relaxing weekend and did my long run in Bonelli Park early Saturday morning which resulted in a pretty lazy Sunday. I missed church and stayed in bed watching David Tutera's "My Fair Wedding."  I think I might have even fallen asleep for a bit here and there!  I can't wait to see Chic Runner's wedding on the show which is due to air in February, 2012. 

Deal of the week!

After my run on Saturday, I took care of all my errands like grocery shopping, pet food shopping and the boys got their haircut.  I also stopped by Kohl's to see what they had and ended up scoring a pretty good deal on some Nike running shorts. They were on clearance for $6.00 and I had a coupon for another 30% off, which resulted in a pretty good deal...$4.20 each!  DEAL!!  I was pretty excited about it since running clothes can be pretty pricey in the absence of a good sale or coupon.

I am excited that the weather has finally decided to cool down a little bit this week since it makes my training a little easier.  The temperature has been in the upper 80's to low 90's lately so the change is appreciated. 

Have a great week!

Change is Good and Weekend Recap

After finishing two marathons in about the same time, I think that it is time to change things around and incorporate a new training plan for my third marathon. I have committed to running the Surf City Marathon on February 5, 2012.  Yes, it falls on Super Bowl Sunday but I should be done and home in time to watch the game and eat a bunch of junk food!

Up until now, my training has mainly been 90% running and 10% cross training.  I go to spin class once in a while, I lift weights once in a while, I do some push-ups here and there but no real set schedule or commitment.  I definitely need to start doing some speed work and incorporating more long runs! I know that Boston is a long ways away for me but I have consulted with the McMillan Running website to see what I should be capable of doing before I can even imagine that running Boston is going to happen for me in this lifetime!

SOURCE

After reading these numbers I realized that I have some work to do. In some distances, I am close but in others it's a long shot!  In order to prepare myself to realistically finish a marathon in 3:45, these are the equivalent race times:

5K: Current PR is 24:16 and I need to be able to run a 23:05.

10K: I have never ran a 10K and I need to able to run a 47:57.  I guess I better sign up for one soon!

Half Marathon: Current PR is 1:47:43 and I need to be able to run a 1:46:41.

Marathon: Current PR is 4:05:16 and I would love to qualify for Boston with a 3:45 or better...one day before I die!

My new training plan starts this week since I am, as of yesterday, 16 weeks away from my next marathon.  I have a ton of small races from now until then to keep me busy but I need to conquer this darn 4:05 marathon finishing time!! I am running most of my races for the rest of the year for fun but will be incorporating them as part of my training whenever possible.

Besides losing another toenail and running my first 5K, I put in an additional five miles the following morning to ease the guilt before heading to IHOP to take advantage of the "Never Ending Pancake" promo.

My husband finally put my medal hanger up that he gave me for my birthday. I didn't allow him to hang it up until I had a few medals to display! It is placed on a wall that is clearly visible when I go upstairs so it reminds me to keep striving for my goals!  I love it!! (Thank You Honey!) My son hung his first medal up along with mine.  His is the one with the little octopus.

What am I going to do with Buster?

Buster's owner has yet to come forward and claim him! He is just getting more and more comfortable as you can see. Tomorrow marks two weeks since he ran home with me.

Now it's time for a Q&A session from all of you wonderful and talented people who pull off PR's without even really trying!  Your feedback is really appreciated!

1. Does anybody have any tips on how they have shaved some major minutes off of their finishing times?

2. What have you incorporated into your training that has paid off for you?

3. What about hiring a running coach?  What are the benefits?

Long Beach International City Bank Marathon: 10/9/11

Weather Report: 58 at the Start and 75 at the Finish 

The Course: The course was pretty flat and Miles 17-18 within the Cal State Long Beach campus are a little hilly but not that bad at all. They just sneak up on you when you are starting to feel the pain!

Race Report

The day had finally come and I was ready for it but a little worried about the Achilles tendinitis that had struck me one week before the race.  I decided that I would run the marathon regardless of the pain because it was not bad enough to stop me.  I got my carbs loaded in at Olive Garden the night before and took advantage of the never ending pasta bowl for $8.95!  I also visited Whole Foods for the first time and realized that a small box of hot food can cost you $10.00 if you aren't paying attention!

I had all of my stuff laid out the night before so I wouldn't be all stressed out looking for things in the morning.  I wore something nice and bright so that my husband/photographer and my son/biggest fan could easily spot me.  This outfit looks like something from the collection of Neon Blonde Runner! 

I ate a banana and half of a bagel and headed to the start which was a hop skip and a jump from our hotel. The weather was beautiful at the start at 6:00am but come 7:00am that sun was out and it warmed up quick!  I attempted to put my headphones into my iphone before the start and to my luck my head phones were not working..bummer! Not a good sign since I use my music to carry me through the rough times! Note to self: try out headphones prior to race day! I was feeling pretty good at the start..nervous but ready!

The Long Beach Hyatt

6:00AM

7:00AM: Hello Sunshine!

The course was great and very scenic.  I really enjoyed it! My favorite parts of the course were running by the Queen Mary and the bike path next to the  ocean/beach. There was a really cool breeze and it was very refreshing.  There were some really young kids running the half marathon and I thought it was pretty cool to see them running such a long distance.  The uncool part was watching them breeze right past me!!

My favorite picture even though I am not in it!

Easy Runner here must be 11-12 years old!

My husband/photographer and my son/biggest fan were there with me at the Start, and also waiting for me at Miles 5-6 and the Finish.  They made me another awesome sign too!  My son made good use of the chair he insisted that I buy him from REI! He hopes that one day I can pick up the pace so he won't have to cart that chair around with him anymore!

My achilles stopped me from even setting any real goal for the day, but in the back of my mind my goal was to run even splits of 9:09 and pick it up in the second half if needed, or should I say if I was still able.  

Although I started to feel a little discomfort in my leg at Mile 15, the first 18 miles were great. I GU'd at Miles 6 and 13 without really feeling that I needed to. I wasn't feeling tired at Mile 18 and I still had the energy to keep going. strong. It was definitely getting warm and I was keeping myself cool by dumping water over my head at the water stops. The volunteers were nice enough to throw water all over me too and then my shorts were glued to my rear!  That didn't feel real comfortable!

I knew that the fatigue would start to hit me around Mile 20 so I was prepared for that to happen but I was not prepared for the pain in my Achilles to hit me so suddenly and unexpectedly when things were going so well!  Shawna/Bandit was waiting for me at Mile 20 but as I was approaching Mile 17 I saw her and yelled out her name and she ran across the street and joined me.  She had no idea that she was joining me three miles too soon!  She thought I was doing great and had already reached Mile 20!  I wish!! Just to clarify, Shawna did pay her registration fees but had to pull out at the last minute due to an injury which caused her to miss too much of our training so she's not really a true Bandit. She does have a bib number!

I'm still smiling here as we leave CSULB!

Miles 1 through 18-The good...

The course was really flat for the most part and the elevation at Mile 17-18 was not as bad as I thought it would be. Those minor inclines changed things for me and were just enough to aggravate my Achilles! I GU'd again at Mile 20 and it didn't kick in! Shawna was being really supportive and hung in there with me. I was able to somewhat keep my composure up until Mile 21 and then I quickly fell apart! 

That would be me!

Miles 19 to 26.2-The bad and the ugly!

The crowd was great but I was so off focus that I wasn't able to  use their energy to push me to the finish line. The crowd in Cal State Long Beach was the best ever and I think I heard my name about 25 times while I was running through the campus.

The 4:00 pace group passed right by us at Mile 24 and it was tough watching them head to the finish when I had been ahead of them the entire race!! I did the best that I could to keep moving the last two miles and thank God that the last couple of miles were down hill!  I sucked it up and  headed to the Finish with my tail between my legs!  It just was not my race and I am still trying to process all of this today! I was on track for a sub four finish and didn't deliver! Shawna was a great support system for me and tried her best to keep me focused in spite of the issues that I was having.  Shawna told me that she uses profanity, gets really mean and cries when she hits the WALL so if I ever run a race with her, I will be running off the course when she starts cussing me out and hitting me!

Why is Shawna smiling while I am dying a slow death behind her?

Shawna exited to the left as I approached the Finish Line. When I looked up and saw the clock at 4:05:35 I wasn't a happy camper.  My watch was showing 4:02:20 so I am not quite sure what happened to my watch during the mess of those last 5.2 miles. My current PR is 4:05:16 and it was pretty painful to miss a PR by 20 seconds.  Even one second would have made me feel better after struggling like I did! I would have powered through it had I not screwed up the time on my Garmin and been aware of what my time really was! My watch had either lost connection or lost it's mind along with me!  It was more than three minutes slower than the official time and I didn't know that until I was crossing the finish line! I have not participated in too many races but the previous two races that I did run have the time posted at each mile marker and I usually compare to make sure that we are on the same page. In any case, I screwed up big time with the whole timing thing!

The look of defeat!

Getting my Medal!

In spite of having a less than perfect race and earning a PW, I didn't let that stop me from making up excuses to eat!  I was in the mood for an In and Out cheeseburger, fries and a vanilla shake. 

I couldn't wait to take a bite before I took the picture!

My son and my husband managed to drink 80% of my vanilla shake for me so I decided to make up for the loss of sugar with these! I only ate two..not all three!

Most people don't even think of running a marathon the day after they finish one, but I did!!  I wanted to go back and fix what happened and make it right but I know that I can't do that and I have to accept defeat when it happens.  I don't like to fail and it's hard for me to swallow!!  All of the elements of a good race seemed to be present for me on Sunday. I can't blame the warm weather, the minor hills of the course, the pain, the nasty blister on my toe, my malfunctioning head phones or anything but myself. It wasn't my race and it wasn't my day!

 

So what did I learn from this race? I learned that I need to stay focused on the race and my goal. I could have handled this race so many different ways and I think my way of dealing with it was not the best way. I know that Boston is a long ways away for me and I must train harder and push myself harder!  I also need to realize that every race that I run will not always be my best race.  Running a marathon is tough and if you can finish one, you have accomplished something that most people will not experience in their lifetime! I admire Shawna for always bringing me back down to earth and reminding me of these things.

Shawna and Me! Why does she look so refreshed and I look a hot mess??

Family Photo compliments of Shawna!

So, unlike this guy, I will be taking it easy this week...

 

and spending a lot of time with these three guys...

I have been doing a lot of this too...with Buster. We still have Buster hanging around the house and nobody has claimed him since he ran all the way home with me last Tuesday! He seems to like it at our place if you haven't noticed!

No marathons on the Race Schedule for the remainder of 2011.  I am going to try to enjoy the holidays and run a few small races just for fun! Congratulations to everyone who ran Long Beach and Chicago on Sunday.  We are all winners!!

I've got three words for you Long Beach...I'll be back!!