January Running

The car said -14 on our way to this run in Chardon.

January Running...
Cold
Snowy
Warm
Sunny
As all Northeast Ohio Winters go
It's always changing.

There have been many treadmill miles this month ~ but also some beautiful in the snow runs.  Even some warmer sunny runs.
I decided to add .1 miles to all my runs this year.  Every 10 runs I'll have an extra mile for the year.

Good times with my running peeps.

January has brought NERC track workouts at Spire ~ and I'm learning to not hate them.

Hill Repeats with a fun crew in Geneva.

January also brought Adult Prom (aka NERC Winter Party)  "Middle Aged White Girl Dancing"

 This is my favorite picture of us ~ Because THIS IS US.  As Anita commented on the Facebook: "This picture says it all.  Becky gesturing wildly and talking animatedly, Mike grinning like he meant to do whatever he did.  And has no shame."  Yes.  Love.

And then there were the Grand Prix prizes.  I was pretty sure I was second or third in my age group.  Marcella was ahead of me, having only run 8 Grand Prix races, I knew she had me on participation points.  They did men first and both Mike and Dodd placed third in their age groups!  Go Mike!  He was so excited because he had been so far down the list.  Then they called the women...Marcella placed first in our age group followed by two people I didn't even know.  I didn't place.  I was shocked and rather disappointed.  It was the first time I didn't place in the Grand Prix.  Then they called the overall masters...and I placed third there (just behind Barni!)  It doesn't speak very highly of my character, but I was relieved.  And excited.  I won a bottle of wine too :)

This month also brought a fun reunion.  We were at Mount for a swim meet and went for a walk between dive events.  Bailey was going to text us if the next diving round started so when Mike's phone dinged, I asked if it was Bailey.  "No," he said, "It's Brian Matthews."  Brian asked if we were at the swim meet...because he was in the gym watching his daughter on the dance team.  We have not seen Brian in over 10 years.  What a great surprise.  Then this past Tuesday, we went back to Mount to the wrestling alumni night.  It was fun to see some people we knew, and talk to others who knew us.  Mike had a great time and Jacob finally got to meet Coach Monty.

January Totals:

142.61 miles for the month 
142.61 miles for the year 

245.51 miles in my Gortex Ghosts ~ not worn at all this month.

231.57 miles in my Black Brooks Glycerin 15 

266.02 miles in my purple Brooks Glycerin 14 

127.42 miles in my HOT PINK Brooks Ghost 10 

Training for:  O24 in April

My WEIGHT: 142 ish.  I keep thinking I should do something about this...but I talk myself out of it because I remind myself that I'm upping my miles.  Then I got to DQ.  

Some interesting facts:

Longest run this month:   14.25 training run

What hurts?: nothing

Weekly mileage this month:  30.5 ~ 32.9 ~ 30.8 ~ 37.2

Favorite place to run this month: Hill Repeats at Geneva High School & the 1.5 mile warm up/cool down to Dodd's house.  Beautiful snowy day, good company, strong workout.  Delightful

Monthly mileage record: 216.66 September 2017!
Highest mileage ever-at-one-time:  26.78, October 30, 2016, Marine Corps Marathon, Washington DC

PR's:

1 mile: 6:43 (Memorial Mile 6/10/17)

5K: 22:30 (Run For the Grapes 9/28/14}
10K: 50:13 {Run for the Hills 6/22/14 & TIED the time Run for the Hills 6/21/15)
10-miler: 1:21:29 (Hermes Cleveland 10-miler 4/28/12)
half-marathon: 1:44:42 (Northern Ohio Half Marathon 10/4/15)

marathon: 3:57:31 (The Cleveland Marathon 5/17/15)

#24 ~ The Husband's Secret

I have really enjoyed Liane Moriarty's novels.  #24 is The Husband's Secret ~ and it was another well written story.  It was not my favorite of her stories ~ as it was such a SAD story.  It involves affairs & community standing & family relationships & murder.  The characters are mostly likable, but I did have trouble reconciling the ending.  While I'm all for "happily ever after", I'm not sure it works for me in this story.

Quote:
loc 3118~ ...does a tiara really count as an Easter hat?


fl: It was all because of the Berlin Wall.  ll: Some secrets are meant to stay secret forever.  Just ask Pandora.

#15 Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is #15 for the year.  Finally a book I had trouble putting down.  I think I read all 462 pages in three or four days ~ staying up until 1:00 last night {this morning} to finish.
Liane Moriarty can weave a compelling story ~ full of characters that seem real to life ~ with flaws and strengths I can relate to.  This story is about mothers who meet when their children start kindergarten & is fraught with fictional school politics ~ that are far fetched ~ but also true to how people behave.  You know from the start that there is a murder...and the questions of who dies & who did it kept me turning the pages.
SPOILER ALERT ~ what I like most about the two Liane Moriarty  books is that they end the way they should.  Maybe not how they would in real life, but they way they SHOULD.  The right people get what they deserve & happily ever after is a real possibility.

fl: "That doesn't sound like a school trivia night," said Mrs. Patty Ponder to Marie Antoinette. "That sounds like a riot." ll: "This can happen to anyone."

Good Word:
p 50 ~tetchy ~ bad-tempered and irritable

Quotes:
p5 ~ Ask any man--not some new-age, artsy-fartsy, I-wear-moisturizer type, I mean a real man--

p58~ ...the most ridiculously tizzy pink crystal champagne stopper.

p384~ So many calamitous catastrophes!

Throughout the book, when something bad happened, the line was, "Oh, calamity"  Love it

Run Log February 2014

I'm tired of the cold & I'm tired of running on a treadmill.  I NEED 35°!  That will feel like a HEAT WAVE ~ this morning it was -9° when I drove to school.  I'd rather run outside...but I just couldn't make myself bundle up & go this week.  But that treadmill is killing my running spirit.  BORING BORING BORING
which leads to my COMPLAINING COMPLAINING COMPLAINING
The annual YMCA triathlon started this week & I have one more week to get in all the miles.  To recap...26.2 running, 112 cycling, 2 swimming.  Two weeks to get the gold.  {and, of course, I must get the gold}
My sincere hope:  The next Running log has me writing about more outdoor runs with sunshine & friends and closer to 80 miles...by the next running log I will have gone on two class trips, sent JB to NYC with the band & had Patrick home for spring break.  March will be a good month.

February’s Totals:

64.41 miles for the month 
110.74 miles for the year 

190.03 miles for my bright blue Brooks ~ that now have a spot right in the middle of the toe box on the right shoe?  Kinda looks like a really washed out drop of blood ~ don't mess with me

3.3 miles swimming

52 miles biking

I'm also taking a kickboxing class on Monday & a yoga class on Wednesday.  I'm really becoming a big fan of yoga.  I think it's the best thing to pair up with running.  & how can you not like a class where you LAY DOWN AND RELAX for the last 10 minutes...and it's considered EXERCISE.  It's having your cake & eating it too.

Training for: 10 Mile Drop on April 13

My WEIGHT:  Hey, I'm down two pounds as compared to last month: 134.8.  I quit tracking calories...trying to eat healthy & get enough calories...and some of those calories came from the donut I ate at the staff meeting on Tuesday...and the donut I ate at the sped meeting today. {both chocolate frosted with sprinkles...fun & yummy}  I bet I won't be able to say I'm down two pounds at the end of March if two donuts a week keeps up.

Some interesting facts:

Longest run this month: 7.69 ~ all the roads {most more than once} around Parkway
Favorite place to run this month: I've run Parkway & I've run the treadmill at the YMCA.  Neither is a favorite...even tho they both have been at one time.
# of bags of Candy Cane Kisses left in my cabinet: GONE
# of books I read this month: three ~ just started the next one...and I think I drooled on my Kindle last night while reading the first page {Sue Fulton swore it was the best book she's read since The Help...so I don't think it was the book}
Monthly mileage record: 155.46 ~ August 2013!  WOW
Highest mileage ever-at-one-time:  26.2 ~ October 13, 2013 ~ Northern Ohio Marathon
Toenail color:  Fresh French Manicure ~ just took off the dark red...it was so chipped, it was embarrassing

PR's:
5K: 22:45 (Rabbit Run 10/30/11~ but I think it was a short course)
10K: 52:02 (Cleveland 5/15/11)
10-miler: 1:21:29 (Hermes Cleveland 10-miler 4/28/12)
half-marathon: 1:47:35 (Cleveland Half 5/19/2013)
marathon: 4:01:04 (Northern Ohio Marathon 10/13/2013)

#6 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

What a well written and interesting documentary-style book.   #6 is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  Henrietta was a poor black woman ~ who married her cousin, {who gave her HPV & syphilis & who knows what else}, who lived in poverty & had 5 children, one who was committed to The Hospital for the Negro Insane.  A very hard life to be sure.  She died a very painful death from cervical cancer, but before she died, the scientists at Johns Hopkins Hospital took a sample of that tumor.  A cell sample that is still alive today.  An amazing concept, really.  Those cells have been used by researchers to find a vaccine for polio, cures for cancers, help map DNA, and much more that I really can't understand.  This is the story of the woman and her family and a human part of the debate of scientific ethics.  The most poignant commentary; here is a woman whose cells are a main part of so many medical miracles ~ yet her family can't afford health insurance.  Interesting, maddening, and often kooky.  I'm glad I read it.

Quotes:
p? {location 242} ~ "If you pretty up how people spoke and change the things they said, that's dishonest.  It's taking away their lives, their experiences, and their selves."  {a Lacks relative speaking about how Rebecca should write the interviews given by the family.}

p9 ~ Yeah, that's right, my mother name was Henrietta Lacks, she died in 1951, John Hopkins took her cells and them cells are still livin today, still multiplyin, still growing and spreadin if you don't keep em frozen.  Science calls her HeLa and she's all over the world in medical facilities, in all the computers and the Internet everywhere.

fl: There's a photo on my wall of a woman I've never met, its left corner torn and patched together with tape.  ll: "But maybe I'll come back as some HeLa cells like my mother, that way we can do good together out there in the world."  She paused and nodded again.  "I think I'd like that."
 

quotes

I've come across two great quotes today...
1 ~ from an email advertisement for SkirtSports {my favorite & most expensive running wear}

 "I run because the road's a damn good listener." ~ {that's from Gina, according to the ad}  True Story!

2 ~ From the February 2014 Runner's World magazine, the story Runner, Interrupted (the story of a super fast Kenyan who lost both of his feet to frostbite), page82

“No matter the size of a tree, it can never be called a forest.” ~  Marko Cheseto

I'm getting to read my Runner's World magazines because I have to get 112 miles done on the bike for the YMCA triathlon...the bike sucks, but it's a great time to read :)