Myrtle Beach Marathon

Here is one of the only pictures I have of the weekend. Mainly because I never carry my camera during a race so I only end up with pictures of the gang when we are looking like non-athletes again. This is only a few of the people from the upstate who ran the marathon or the half-marathon. (the guy in the back with a mouth full of food was NOT with us). Anyway - we have here Brad, me, Chad, Ashley & Tom. Not pictured are Laura, Jim, Audrey (whom I never even saw) Julie and I am sure a bunch of others! Just too many from the upstate to even keep track of.

Soooo- you want to know about the marathon? I was pretty relaxed about the day. The original intention was to run a 3:15 pace steady from the get go. That worked out well for a bit, although I must have been told to slow down at least every 1/2 mile. I am NOT good at starting slow. Finally we settled into a nice pace and good conversation which Laura and I kept going until mile 14 when a potty stop separated us. After that I just ran as I felt with no pressure to pace anyone. My right quad was pretty tight so I just focused on other things. My mantra became "light as a feather, free as a bird" and every time I said that to myself I could run faster. Sounds crazy but it worked. I slowed the pace a little the last 4.5 miles but overall was very steady which is what I am happiest about. I have never run a marathon as steady as I did this weekend so maybe after 20 years of running I will learn how to start a little slower and finish a little stronger. I finished in 3:21 and was the 15th female and 156 finisher out of something like 1900 runners.

Laura was close behind me with a 3:26 and 2nd place in her age group. Brad was 3:38 and Jim...running his very first marathon was right at 3:59! He ran an amazing race and negative split the second half which is virtually unheard of. I think out of everyone I had to be most proud of him. He worked so hard and always had the goal of breaking 4 hours so to be able to see him actually do it was wonderful.

Another fun weekend of racing!

Winter Challenge Triathlon

Race season is nearing so I thought that this race would be a fun way to get an early race in and to have some fun. A week before the race I was out on Lake Lanier in the kayak playing around and I dumped myself IN the lake. I think that counts as my first open water swim of the year? In case you are wondering the water was really cold so I don't recommend open water swimming in January. On the day of the race which consists of a 7 mile run, 6 mile kayak, 10 mile mountain bike ride I did manage to stay in the kayak. I did not exactly have a great day because it seems I had that little stomach bug that so many have had. All I can say is thank goodness this race was off road. I needed all the big trees I could find. I guess it made the race a little bit more of a challenge for me than intended. My favorite part of the race was the paddling. I have paddled in an adventure race before but never alone. I LOVED it. I was flying along even in my sit-on-top ocean kayak. What fun! I enjoyed the mountain bike course too mostly because it was on sandy roads and the single track was pretty easy. The best part was seeing my friend and training partner, Kim Morrow almost win the entire event. I mean if I can't win I always want one of my friends up there. Unfortunately she got passed right at the end of the race...but she will be back next year!

Thanks to my parents for loading up the kayaks and lending me the truck to haul all this gear to the race!

Oh Romeo

It is a really hard job to pet sit. You have to keep up with, care for, clean up after and love a pet that is not yours and from this picture you can see that is a tall order for Romeo. He is an English Bull dog and he gets his name from the affection that he can show your leg. You might think it is funny until your leg is violated. After a few days he calmed down and has been a very good dog who mostly enjoys snoozing in the kitchen with his nose as close as he can get it to the big Weims. He is really a very cute dog and has now taken to running like a fool though the woods which is hilarious to watch. It is a tough job but someone has to do it!

Giving a Puppy a ride...

This is a picture of Amos a little black lab/pit mix that we dropped off with his foster mother in Columbia on the way to the Myrtle Beach marathon. I figured we were going right through there anyway and the little guy needed a ride. He was a real cute puppy with very sharp little teeth. He was a love and just so cute to watch play. If anyone wants a dog who will surely be a good running partner let me know and I can put you in touch with his foster mother.

Traveler's Rest Half Marathon 1-3-09

I am way behind in Blog Land so I am going to get all caught up right now. Here are 3 midget women who won awards at the Half Marathon. The Jolly Giant also got an award. Ok - from left to right we have Kimberley - who kicked my butt and finished about 40 seconds in front of me and there was nothing I could do about it! Then me, then Laura and then Brad. It was a fun race, with a new flat course and hot showers afterwards - what more could one want?

Duke Update

I recently got an inquiry about Duke. Duke has been living with his new family for about 4 months now and loving life. Duke runs, walks and hikes with Kyle and keeps all the kitties company during the day while Kyle is at work and occasionally even takes care of the kitchen garbage (oops - bad dog). Kyle was kind enough to send me a picture of the mess. Duke even went trick or treating dressed as a little Devil which really made me laugh. He finally has the one on one attention that I always knew would allow him to thrive and I honestly can't thank Kyle enough. Duke was my biggest rescue project ever and I put my heart into caring for and training him so to see him doing well allows me to see that all of it was worth it.