“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.” - Walt Disney

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Super Sneezy

"His chronic hayfever presents a difficult challenge as Sneezy often tries to talk through his nose.  Always sneezing at the wrong time, Sneezy is a hardworking and loyal friend…in between sneezes." - http://crushable.com/

I'm Sneezy.  Spring is most definitely here in Dallas - trees and flowers are blooming, and the air is saturated with pollen and dust kicked up by the blowing wind.  Mix in some wacky warm and cold fronts that have been moving through lately, and this all combines for some crazy reactions, even if you (like me) don't normally suffer from allergies.

A standard sneeze for me is a short, truncated, high-pitched sort of "chu" sound, usually in a series of 3-5 at a time.  Family, friends, and co-workers know that there's no point in saying "bless you" after the first one - they wait until they're pretty sure that I'm done to say it, but even then they sometimes have to repeat themselves if another one or two sneak out...  Anyway, I have been sneezing my head off for days now...I'll be glad when the madness is over!

In order to head off having to carry tissues on my run or end up with a sneeze-infested shirt sleeve, I ran this morning since they were calling for a calmer day today than tomorrow.  It actually worked pretty well - only one sneeze series through the whole run!

Today's stats:
  • 10 min warm-up walk
  • 2.5 mi run; 0:32:00 min; 12:48 mm avg pace

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Bashful or Brazen?

"An incurable romantic, Bashful is a willing and kind-hearted friend, but it’s Snow White who brings out the blush in this shy fellow.  Full of wriggles, giggles and ‘oh gosh’-es, Bashful is often twisting one foot around the other or braiding his beard while batting his bashful baby blue eyes." - http://crushable.com/entertainment/fun-facts-about-the-seven-dwarfs-from-snow-white/

Anyone who really knows me knows that I am, truly, bashful - just like Bashful the dwarf, I'm full of wriggles, giggles, and 'oh gosh'-es.  But when I meet new people, I generally overcompensate for this by being bubbly and outgoing, so they'd never know.

The people I encountered on the trail this evening must have thought I was far beyond bashful - they might even be forgiven for thinking I was brazen...  Why is that?  It was a chilly day here in DFW, and I, without thinking, put on one of my thinner sports bras and a thin, wicking shirt and headed outside.  After getting a few interesting glances from others, I realized that my "headlights were on" and I was drawing quite a bit of attention to "the girls."  OMG.  I was so embarrassed when I realized what was going on...  Good thing I was already walking - it made it easy to cross my arms and continue on my bashful way.

Today's stats:
  • 2 mi walk; 0:37:12 min; 18:36min/mi avg. pace
  • March 2011 mileage: 41.76 miles!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Stealing the Seven Dwarfs

Taking advantage of the three week break between two training programs, I've decided to do some "fun" posts while I get in some maintenance miles.  I'm going to do a series of "Seven Dwarfs" posts - one post for every dwarf - with each dwarf's name as the theme for the day/post.  Many thanks to One Crazy Penguin for having this original idea and then letting me "steal" it!

Occasionally, a friend or family member will test me to see if I can name all seven.  I usually can - can you?  Here goes...from the top of the circle, going clockwise: Grumpy, Dopey, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Doc, and Sneezy!  I'm not going to do them in any particular order, but I will try to cover all seven guys in my next seven posts.  I'm hoping this will be fun for me to do and enjoyable for you to read!

BFF's with the Seven Dwarfs at MNSSHP - October 2010.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Rock'n'Roll Relay Recap

The family drove in Friday night with dogs in tow.  We slept in a little Saturday morning, and got to the Expo about 10:15 - perfect because it wasn't too crowded yet!  Picked up our race packets and got in a little shopping.
Bought a tech shirt that I think is SO cute and can't wait to wear, and although I struck out at the RunningSkirts booth (got some great advice and found out I'm ready to go down a size, but need to stick with plain black vs. the cute prints for the "slimming" effect), I did find a SkirtSports skirt on sale at the Luke's Locker booth that I'm excited about.  Did a lot of window shopping and tasting, too.  Everyone in the family ended up getting something new - I love discounts at Expos!
 We decided to leave about noon because there were massive amounts of people arriving and it was hard to move around.  Took the dogs to the dog park in the afternoon, and rounded out the day with an early pasta dinner at Buca di Beppo.

Up Sunday morning at 4:45am to get ready.  Out the door by 5:45 to head to the DART station, and on our way on a train at 6:12.  We walked to the convention center from the DART stop and took advantage of the real bathrooms and warm/enclosed area close to the start line (did I mention it was a very cold & windy day?).  Dad and I made our way to the corrals about 7:50, and after seeing us cross the start line, Mom & Rob hopped back on the DART to go to the exchange point at Mockingbird Station.

This was a rough race for me.  I was definitely not as prepared as I could have been, physically, and I was not really mentally/emotionally "there."  Mix that with the grueling and hilly first leg of the relay, and it was not my best race by any means.   I ended up walking way more than I had planned, and certainly more than I would have liked.  I was really, really, glad that we were running the relay and not the "whole half."

Although it was difficult - especially that last steep hill at mile 7 just before the transition - it was still a fun race.  Running through downtown was cool, and I loved going through Highland Park and seeing all the fabulous homes.  Can I blame my slower second 5K on that - I had to slow down in order to gawk at the mansions...?  I pushed my way up the last hill, met Rob at the top in the exchange zone, and then he was off and running and I was done - wuhoo!!!  After I received my relay medal, Mom and I walked to the Mockingbird DART station to ride to Fair Park and the finish line to meet up with Dad & Rob.

Quite possibly the highlight of the race itself had absolutely nothing to do with me actually running - members of the UT (University of Texas) band were standing on the steps of the CottonBowl (just before the mile 13 marker), playing favorite UT band songs!  It was awesome to see and hear - and definitely provides a stop-gap for my current longing for football season.

We all met up at Fair Park after Dad & Rob finished.  After snapping some quick pics with our medals, it started to sprinkle, so we made a beeline back to the DART station and headed home.  All in all, a great weekend!

Race stats (per Garmin - no official individual leg results):
  • As usual, I forgot to turn off my Garmin after the exchange.  I turned it off a minute or two after finishing, so the time is a little off, but I hadn't moved very far at all, so the distance should be pretty spot-on.
  • 7.28 mi; 1:39:34; 13:41 min/mi avg pace