Hey Trail, Do You Remember Me?

Guess, who got all brave and ventured out to the woods? Me. And I didn't scream once.

Yes, I've been known to scream while running the trail. It usually happens, when a wild creature abruptly moves in the bushes. Saturday, I saw a snake. I had to divert my route because I wasn't sure what direction the monster was going. I backed my butt up and did an about face. I saw another reptile in the wild, a lizard about the size of a squirrel.

Since I started my run, pre-dawn,  I found a medium size grass track and ran circles until sunrise. When the sun came up, I was off to the scary trail (refer to picture below). Would you go in there?
 
Not all of it looked like that. The picture above only represents a small portion of the trail. Wish I would've known that weeks ago.

In the open area, the sun killed most of the grass, so it was runner friendly. I knew this Texas heat was good for something.

I prefer running in the shaded area.

Uphill.


Here's my weekly stats from last week, right on target. It's a brand new week and I've already ran a 5 miler. I'm off to a great start.

Gotta Work On My Form

If you are a runner, you know the latest talk is run form. While runners around the world are working on that, I obviously need to be working on my cannonball form. Summer Priority #1!

I like how Cheyenne is cheering me on....

Y'all! This pool is spoiling me. This weekend, I spent about an hour looking at pool websites. We don't need a pool, but it would be nice. In the meantime, we can enjoy our friends. By the way, I hear pool maintenance is a nightmare....well, more of an inconvenience.

How awesome would it be to swim laps in my own pool? That would be awesome. I can try to tri...

Cheyenne and I on the whale perch.

We stayed in the water until our skin got wrinkly.

I'm so Sneaky

My child will not drink her medicine, so I've been trying to sneak it into her applesauce. She caught on and refused to eat it, so I did what any parent would and made her. There were lots of tears. I hope I didn't traumatize her. I forsee alot of therapy in her future...

This morning, I mixed the medicine in her milk. I added chocolate syrup, hoping it would mask the taste...I think it worked. She drank about half the glass. Now, I'm really glad I didn't spend 70 bucks on the other medicine.

And in case you're wondering: 

Why didn't you take it to the pharmacy and have them flavor it? Well, I asked and the pharmacist said they couldn't do that with this medicine...but I CAN mix it with her food...explain that to me. 

Before going to church, Trey and Cheyenne treated themselves to donuts. 

Cheyenne's favorite type of jewelry, DONUT RING!  BTW church was fantastic. Today, the Children's Ministry had a special vacation bible school service. It's probably the most organized, well planned Children's church I've ever seen. I was so glad to be apart of it. The video I made was screened during the offering. I love my T2i camera. If my camera was a person, we'd be best friends -- best investment ever! I'm so happy, to be doing video work for my church. It brings me joy. 

A Whole String of Junk

Well, Cheyenne has pink eye, an ear infection and possibly a bladder infection. If you ask me. that is a whole string of junk. The strange thing is, she's acting normal. We had a late doctors appointment, so we went out for cookies and a latte. I had the latte, she had the cookies.

The doctors office was busy, well that's what I was told, after waiting for an hour to see the physician. The parking lot was not busy. Later, I went to fill Chey's prescription, which was an antibiotic and nearly rolled my head (think exorcist) when I was told it would cost $70. and that's with insurance. It's just an antibiotic, people, not liquid gold! I drove away empty handed, called the doctors office and requested a more affordable option, and had them transfer the new prescription to another pharmacy. Long story short, in the end it cost me $20 dollars versus $70. Crazy, right?

I've never had pink-eye. Not that I know of. It looks like Chey has a mild case. Her eyes are kind of gooey, but it's not crust city -- so that's nice. I realize she's contagious, so I've been washing my hands raw.

What do you have planned this weekend? I've got miles upon miles to run, I'm not sure how that is gong to work out, since I was just informed, Trey is on call. Besides, running I plan on editing video for my church. 

Reconsidering Everything I Thought I Knew About Running

Sherri, AKA speed demon, is now a Road Runners Club of America Certified Coach. I've asked her to review my Palo Duro Training Program. I wanted to see if she could give me any pointers.

My Palo Duro Goal (Plan A)
Goal: Run an average of 10:30 pace per mile. The distance is 31 miles, so it should take me 5 hrs and 25 mins to complete the race. I HOPE.

Last Time Around
The last 50k, I ran at a 10:33 pace. So, considering that was a road race and Palo Duro will be a trail race, I may have to adjust my goal. But I don't want to, so this should be interesting.

Advice Coach Sherri Gave Me
*Note: Some of this is general advice for all runners, but some of it is directed towards my specific running goals. I gave Sherri my training plan, so the advice she offered is based off of RRCA recommendations for the specific goal I'm trying to attain. Also, there was more information I didn't include, like hillwork and such...Let's get to it. 

- Run the trail often, since this is the race terrain.
I'm having a hard time with that one, since the grass on the trail is up to my hips and I'm terrified of trail wildlife, specifically snakes.

This picture was taken in April. Yes, I willing signed up to run this upcoming race.

A work around for me could be running the Trinity Trail, but running on the dirt path, instead of the sidewalk. I mean, it's gotta be better than beating the pavement. Ya, think?

-Warm-up and Cool-down with each run, but don't stretch immediately after. The muscles are already sensitive, wait about 6 hours before stretching.
I'm programmed to stretch before and after, even if it's just a simple runners stretch or touch the toes, so this may be a hard habit to break. I'm still stretching prior to a run and I think that is fine and considered part of a normal warm-up.

- Swap out your medium run once or twice a week with your speedwork after you've got your base miles built up, about 6-10 weeks out from the race. Fartleks, intervals, or short or long pace runs.
Oopsie, I started doing speedwork, last week. It's way to early for that. I'm a fan of fartlek workouts. It seems less complicated than interval training.

- My Mind Exploded
...And I quote, "You should be doing your weekly runs like this (these are all "ish"): 6-10 miles at 16 min mile; 10-15 miles at 16:30; 15-20 miles at 17:30 pace .... your speedwork is what will propel you at the actual race. This stuff scientifically makes sense, but I'm leery of it myself. RRCA swears this works!!"


Say what? That's what people call walking. I promise myself, I will try my best to slow down. I typically run anywhere from 9:10 - 10:20 min miles, so running at 16 minute pace would bring me to tears. I suppose I could compromise and run closer to a 10:30 pace. Yes, I have decided that will be my compromise. I'm wondering if a few weeks before the race, you are suppose to gradually increase your overall speed. I need to ask about that one. I will for sure pick up the speed during my fartlek workouts. (Fartlek is a funny word. Wouldn't you agree?) 

Last weeks stats = 26 miles, instead of 30 something...because somebody, forgot to pack their running shoes when they went to Abilene. #longrunfail

Let's It Be Known, I'm Cheyenne's Mommy

This week, I'm working on a Vacation Bible School video for my church. I took my camera into Cheyenne's classroom. I was trying to be discreet and blend in, hoping Cheyenne would ignore me. She noticed me and wanted everyone in her class to know, I'm her momma.



At the end of the video she runs to me and wraps her arms around my legs. <3

I Don't Want to Grow Up

Growing up, I always thought Toys R Us was a magical place. Well, it kind of is for a little kid.

The town I grew up in, didn't have a TRU. I remember my cousins lived in a bigger city and once told me, "We can take the toys out of the wrappers and play with them in the aisles!" I was am gullible and believed them.

Trey and Cheyenne playing with an Olivia themed Jack in the Box at TRU.

If you grew up and had a moterized car, chances are I hated you and your parents money.
But seriously, I wanted one.

We just took pictures of her in the Jeep, but she tried out all the cars...Cadillac, Smart Car, Mustang...all of them. And no, we don't plan on getting her a little car. Well, let's just say mommy doesn't plan on getting her a car. :)

We Are Lifetime Pool Guest

After a nice weekend in Abilene, we drove home and then dived into our friends pool (AGAIN). Our friends may be sorry, they ever invited us over. We love the pool.

Olivia and Allen. Allen is the homeowner.

Today, Cheyenne told us she wants a pool. Okay, we'll work on that.

In other news, Trey got a big kid toy, for his PlayStation. Some kind of head-set.

I like to chime in when he trash talks. It's also amusing when he sets the voice in a chipmunk tone. And in case you are wondering what that neon necklace thing is, hanging from the fireplace --- wonder no more...It's my Cowtown Ultra Marathon medal.

Rockin' Momma's

Don't you love the rocking chairs at Cracker Barrel? 

No?

Well, I do.

This morning before leaving Abilene, we meet my family for breakfast.

I guess, I love the rockers so much, they make me sing and dance with joy...

My sunshine, giving me the stink-eye

Trey is always picking on me for taking slanted photographs, so he took this photo and had to be all dramatic with the angle. Hasn't he ever heard of artistic license?

Happy 1st Birthday to DJ

This morning Cheyenne's baby drove us to Abilene.

We were in town celebrating DJ's 1st Birthday. 

This is Nanny, Trey's grandma. 

Maghen went all out on the food and decor. Isn't this cool? 

This was an outdoor party and for a moment I thought we were going to get rained out. Luckily, it just sprinkled for a few minutes and we didn't have to move the party inside. 

Shaft and I were arguing about who would win a foot race. Me or him. I could totally smoke him in a 5K, but he would kill me in a sprint race.

Mommy. Daddy. What is this thing? 

A piñata with CANDY! 

Cheesing big time. 

F-150 Shiny Pictures

Earlier this week, you may have seen photos of the truck, but those pictures were taken on Trey's phone. He wanted to take hi-quality pics with my camera. So, here they are....taken by Mr. Photographer, Trey.

Really, Trey should be blogging because I can't give you the play by play. Well, I could try but then you would all laugh at me. (Voices in my head) 


What does everyone have planned this weekend? I've got two back to back long runs lined up for Saturday and Sunday. Ultra marathon Training, watch out.