Puddle Jumping

So last week was just not that awesome. Between a funeral for a patient and other stuff I was just not myself. However, I managed to snap out of that this weekend. I had a really nice run with Mr KT, Brick and Kona on Friday after work. A 6.2 mile evening run in shorts with the family. Then Saturday, we ran with some friends. It rained for most of the morning and I was kinda hoping it would still be raining when we headed out for our run. Alas, no luck. No rain... but LOTS of puddles. We started out and did about 3/4 of a mile on the pavement and then jumped off to go off road. Looking to get wet and dirty in a hurry! First we ran thru the tall grass (glad it isn't tick season quite yet). Then we ended up in the swamp. Tall grass with ankle deep standing water. No worries, just wet shoes and paws, no alligators or snakes that we could see. Next we ran through a muddy, forested area with a couple little creek crossings. One of the water crossings had some logs to walk on but when you have 30 lbs of raw energy and excitement on the end of a leash that you can't let go of for fear the little dog will be gone, you tend to come off the log rather quickly and end up with a shoe full of mud. No worries, what's a little/lot of mud. :) After that, we ended up back on the paved trail for the last 6 miles or so. I have to say that I stomped, and I mean stomped in every.single.puddle. There were even one or two puddles that I straight up jumped in, with two feet, and accentuated knee and hip flexion. My tank top was soaked, my shorts were soaked, my socks and shoes were more than soaked but somehow, my dog stayed relatively dry. She tended to tip toe around them.


Sunday morning Koni and I did another run, about 10 miles. It was a very quiet, cool, cloudy morning. Got the run in and headed to Lincoln for a girlie afternoon with my momma. Read: pedicures! So currently, my feet are tired but pretty. Toes are looking fancy with polish and little designs. Hard to believe I know but you'll just have to trust me. That or my mom will vouch for me!

Reasons to Bike Commute

I got this in an email from one of the local bike shops. Thought it was good enough to share! Hope they don't mind.


3 Reasons to Ride for Life: For your Health, for the World, For our Future.

Your Health

* The average person loses 13 lbs. their first year of commuting by bike.
* Just 3 hours of bicycling per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%.
* A 140-pound cyclist burns 508 calories while pedaling 14 miles in an hour.

Our World

* The U.S. could save 462 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.
* Each U.S. rush-hour auto commuter spends an average of 50 hours a year stuck in traffic.
* In 2003, cars idling in traffic wasted 5 billion gallons of fuel.

Our Future

* In 1964 50% of kids rode to school and the obesity rate was 12%...
* in 2004, 3% rode to school and the obesity rate was 45%.
* Between 1960 and today the average weight of a 6-11 year old has increased 11pounds

Take the Challenge and Get Involved today: 1 World 2 Wheels

Don't forget to have fun while your at it!,

Kris and Julie Sonderup and the Cycle Works Staff

My First Swim Meet

Hee hee, that sounds like the title to a children's book.

Thursday at Master's practice the coach talked me into signing up for a swim meet that our team was hosting. She swore there was hardly anyone signed up. I caved. I was going to run the 12K trail race that was held in a state park close to home but what the heck. The only swimming events I've ever competed in have involved a diving board or been followed by a bike and a run. So I filled out the paperwork and paid my $15. I entered 4 events. I should have done some distance but I was too nervous. Maybe next time I will look into the 500 or 1000 yd free. Anywho, I got up early, got to the pool and took my time with my warm ups. I wasn't racing for quite a while so I had plenty of time. I did about a 10-15 minute warm up and then wrapped up in my towel and put my sweats on to watch. My first event was the 4x50 free relay. I was going to go first because I was following that back to back with the 100 IM. There were only 2 teams entered in the 4x50 and we definitely got 2nd. :) No idea how fast I swam that.
I won the women's 100 IM (there were only 2 swimmers) with a 1:23:_ _. I will have to check the official times at practice on Tuesday. My next event was the 50 breast. I swam that alone. My time was 40:23 seconds. Not bad! The last event was the 4x100 free relay. I also started that one off. Our team kinda fell apart. I swam a 1:10_ _, the second guy did pretty well also but then swimmer #3 jumped in on top of swimmer #2. Yes, this would be the 100 yd, not the 50 yd. LOL! Oops. We were DQed on that one but got a time anyway. 2nd of 2.

Overall, it really was pretty fun. I think I have said this before but I have kind of begun to realize that the things that I am the most scared off turn out to be really awesome. This was another one of those times. Another really good thing about the meet was that it motivated me to get back in the water. I have been swimming about twice a week but my heart just hasn't been in it. Maybe this was the kick in the pants that I needed.

Random

So other than the Lincoln Half Marathon (in about a month) I really don't have anything to train for.

Suck.

I think that Border 2 Border is out due mostly to the expense of a two man team. Blink is the perfect teammate if he stays out of race mode. ;) But we lost the other two potential racers and that doubled the cost.

Suck.

I had a pretty darn good 10 mile run on Sunday morning. I ran with Koni and we did a 10 mile out and back in 1:30. That would be 8:34 per mile. Not a bad run.

I have re-discovered that I *heart* running. I love it, really. Especially when I can run with that cute little orange and white behind in front of me. (That would be Kona in case you were confused.)

Um, yeah, yesterday... well I had kind of a busy day. I ran in the morning, like I said and then I did a fundraising walk for our church with Mr KT and the doggies. Then after I got home, a friend called and wanted to go ride the hills north of town. Ok, I'm in. As I told Blink, I kind of always forget how rough those first few rides of the season are outside. Nothing like the trainer, not that I have spent much time on that either. Hee hee. Then I went to youth group dinner with Mr KT and a bazillion high school kids and then home to finish the laundry.

This is how Mr KT found me at 8:45 last night when he came up to see what was going on...




Hey, at least they were folded!

I was tired.

You know what I just realized? It is March and I can already see my cycling short tan lines. Awesome.

Looking back

Sometimes when I have a particularly good workout on a particularly nice day I start to think about how "easy" it is. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm not pushing it, or working hard. It means that I can do it. It means that Sunday night thinking back over my workouts, I had no trouble running 20+ miles this weekend. In fact, I enjoyed it. It didn't seem "hard" and I looked forward to those longer runs. When I first started running I could do a couple of miles at a time. 5 miles was fairly long. Don't get me wrong, I was very proud of that with good reason, but things have changed slightly. Shifted in a different direction. Two years ago I did the Nike+ Women's Half Marathon (Oct) at home, in my neighborhood. That was my first flirtation with endurance. Then the following year I did the Lincoln Half Marathon in May, the Spirit of Racine Half Ironman (July), the Nike+ Women's Half Marathon (Oct) at home again, and the Marine Corps Full Marathon at the end of October. I took a couple of weeks off from running to recover from the marathon and then jumped right back into it. I did a 10 mile trail run in February and I am now looking towards the Lincoln Half again as well as B2B (a 2, 3, or 4 man relay in July) in MN. It just continues to amaze me how as I was finishing up my 10 miler yesterday I wasn't even beat. Yay.

The other time I think of it is when I am swimming Master's. I started out loving the water but really not knowing anything about competitive swimming. I couldn't flip turn, I didn't know a single drill, and I couldn't hardly understand swimming language. I seriously couldn't flip turn. So Thursday when I was in the pool swimming, doing lap after lap I was pretty amazed at my flip turns with streamline, a dolphin kick and then a big, strong pull. Made me grin ear to ear. All that time in the pool paid off, plus I have a pretty good swim buddy to help with the little technique pieces I'm missing as well as to keep me in check when I actually think I am starting to swim "fast".

It's just nice to think about without looking at times. I just feel stronger, faster, more athletic, and more fit. I am loving my workouts, both the tough and the easy ones. Just like it should be.

Cranky

So, it's 3:15 on Tuesday afternoon and I am off early from work. I am as crabby as I can be.
- Could it be because it is snowing sideways and negative one million degrees?
Nope, I usually like the snow.
- Could it be because I got done 2 hours early at work to come home and do more paperwork?
Maybe.
- Could it be because last week it was seriously 75 or 80 degrees on Tuesday or Wednesday (or so I heard) and I was inside a mostly windowless building until it was dark?
Maybe.
- Is it because I sometimes feel like I am spinning my wheels and going nowhere?
Possibly.
- Maybe it is that I CAN'T find my inspiration book and that all the boxes of books I have are a mess.
Yeah, but that is my own fault.
- What about the fact that I should have been in Florida at a SUPER COOL conference this week for work about seating and positioning but instead am sitting smack dab in the middle of Omaha?
Might be part of it.
- What about the fact that my road bike needs attention (um, the wheels are jacked) and I don't know how to fix it?
Yeah, sad.
- How about a billion other things that I can't really blog about on the Internet?
Yeah, those are also a pain.
- Could it be that I don't feel like I make a difference with all of these great kids that I see? That for all the hours I put in, the system works against us.
Hmmmm, dunno.
- Could it be that I just feel generally irritable?
Ohhhh! YES, that's it!

Now, let's turn some of this around. A while back at church, our senior minister was giving a sermon in which I have to admit I was tuning in and out. At the end though he was talking about being "red-hot". He said something along the lines of this...
does what you are doing make you tired? If it exhausts you, it might not be your calling. What you do should energize you and make you feel alive.

This week at the cool Techno Youth Service the sermon was on "Gluttony". The benediction was perfect. He used Psalm 46:10.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.

Then he said,
If what you are doing isn't bringing you fully alive, it is too small for you.

Too small. Hmmmm. I might be turning something over in my head. Watch out.

And you thought Nebraska was flat.

This last weekend was PERFECT for skiing. Sadly, I was on call at the hospital and had to work both Saturday and Sunday but I definitely found time to get in enough skiing to tide me over. Saturday I went out in the afternoon for about an hour and a half. It could not have been more perfect. The air was cold but the sun was out. There was little wind. The snow was powdery and wonderful. It was heaven on two skis. :)





Sunday I headed back out for a couple more loops. It was even nicer but for some reason that first day was just slightly more perfect. I adore being outside in the cold air. I love the snow. I felt comfortable on my skis. If only I had a doggy that wouldn't pull so hard. I could have taken them with me. Oh well, they got a run in and a walk across the back nine.

Also, I came home from work on Saturday to find this...





That would be Mr KT's backside and Kona watching him in the backyard.








This would be the babies (first two Kona, third one both) in the "igloo". They did eventually go in and play.