Hello Spring

Taking a break from a few reflective and thought provoking posts (as well as emotional), I am happy to be posting about running again. I ran last wednesday in the beautiful 60 degree weather with my sister, and then ran last saturday morning in a cool crisp 55 degrees, alone....pounding the pavement.

Last night was the first time since saturday that I was able to get out and get my run on! Besides packing, cleaning, lifting, and moving, I haven't done much running. I got home after school, changed, grabbed Mr. Garmin and my HR monitor and hit the road. Forgot my Nano but that was probably good .... it gave me the opportunity to pay more attention to my breathing and my surroundings.

It's definitely spring. My senses were in overload as I was running. Living at my aunt's, I was able to run on new territory and take it all in. There aren't many parks or sites to run through, like many of you bloggers write about, but I was able to enjoy the new scenery. The grass is already turning green, the trees are starting to bud, the birds are chirping, kids playing in their yards; and people walking, running, and biking all over the place. The sun was shining through the clouds. When I got home from my run at 6, it was 78 degrees! It just seems incredibly warm for North Dakota in April. Hopefully we can keep it around for a while!

After showering and doing some much needed errands, I got a call wondering if I wanted to play some basketball. Sure, why not. It was gorgeous outside. So, I met up with a couple of my good guy friends to shoot hoops. Nothing like playing some street ball with a high school basketball coach and a big guy. With a flat ball. When pumping the ball with air, N got the needle stuck in the ball. So, no dribbling I guess. Just shooting hoops and a lot of traveling. I think they thought I was one of the guys, giving me crap left and right... man-handling me. I am sore today, darnit. They called me Team Defense, because my defensive skills stunk and they were trying to "educate" me on how to position myself ... defensively. I was getting ridiculed for throwing my elbows out there, but I couldn't help it. When I had a 250 pound guy coming after me, I certainly wasn't going to be able to "box him out"! It was still fun though. Lots of laughs.

Once the sun went down, we opted for a cool beverage on the patio of one of the restaurants along the river. How nice it was... and relaxing. Suprisingly, it was still warm after the sun went down, which is odd for April.

Well, this is Team Defense signing off! I will be heading to the cities for a bachelorette party tomorrow! Have a great weekend, y'all!

physical fitness productivity

Since my 4-7 class was canceled, she advised us to use the time to work on our two upcoming projects. Sure. I could have been productive with my academics, but did I? Nope. Instead, I chose to be productive with my physical fitness, which in return, affects my overall academic performance! It's true!

I went to the gym with all intentions of running. Not just a few miles, but 7. Well, if anyone know's how wonderful it is to run on a thrillmill, you know that you cannot run 7 miles without having to restart it.... I can't. I am not that fast. The thrillmills at the Wellness Center have 40 minute cycles. So, when I finished my 40 minutes, I started over and decided to go another full 40 minutes. I was able to do 3.56 in the first 40 and was thinking that I had to keep up that pace in order to do 7 miles total with an additional 40 minutes. And that is what I did. I guess I must have either ran faster or took less walk breaks (or both) in the second 40 minute session .... since..... I was able to accomplish ... 7.2 miles! That's an average pace of 11:06/mile! Crazy! I need to slow my butt down a bit for these longer runs... maybe?!?!

I will be honest, the first couple miles weren't that great. I felt like I had my groove on during my 3rd, 4th, and 5th miles, and the 6th and 7th were a little bit more tiring. My right groin muscle was beginning to get a little sore the last couple miles. I haven't felt that since my 9 mile runs this past summer. I can't believe that it has been about 7 months since I have run that far of a distance. Nasty.

My class tomorrow night is canceled. She gave us three activities to work on instead. But, I am tempted to go lift and do spin, and then do my homework... hopefully.

Oh, and by the way, just as we thought the snow was gone. It's supposed to snow again tonight and tomorrow. Accumulating a few inches of snow, possibly. Hopefully it will just stay south of here. Yuck. I thought we were done with that white stuff!

Happy running, y'all!

Something to get used to...

I went out for a run this afternoon with a goal of at least 3 miles. When I got on the road, I didn't have a set plan as to where I was going to run. I just went out there and did it, taking turns where I wanted to. When I was coming back, I could have turned towards my place but went further north a bit since I wasn't feeling too tired. The low ceiling combined with 50 degree weather and +90% humidity was enough to make this girl sweat. I think I was overdressed in pants and two long sleeved shirts. I know I was overdressed. It makes me chuckle when I read posts about people running in what they call a cold temp for them, probably somewhere between 40 and 60 degrees. That is beautiful for this time of year in North Dakota. Don't get me wrong, I know heat, we do get that here... and it's not always dry heat, it can be quite humid at times. But, if I move to the Southeast, the humidity is definitely something to get used to. All and all, I accomplished 4.35 miles today.

I don't know what I am going to do this evening. I have a bit of a dilemna. My Tarheels will be taking on Georgetown within the next half hour 4:45ish, and our Sioux are taking on the Gophers at 5pm! If we end up going out to watch the hockey game .... I can only hope that they have at least one tv showing some March Madness!

What a successful week! I was able to break 100 miles in running and 100 miles in spinning for 2007! Happy running, y'all! Have a marvelous week!

Rainy Days...here comes Spring

Yesterday it rained most of the day. I ended up sleeping in until past noon since I didn't go to bed until after 430am! We went out and then hit up the truck stop for "breakfast" which was oh so yummy after a night of drinking beer. I got home shortly before 4am and popped in the moving The Notebook! One of my all-time favorites, based on a book by my favorite author, Nickolas Sparks! So after spending most of the afternoon doing homework, I was kind feeling pretty awake and hydrated, thinking that I should do something... physically constructive. Wes' comment kept playing over and over again in my head "where there's a will...there's a way". So I pulled my butt off the couch and went to the gym a little after 7. Such a wonderful motivator he is! I ended up doing 3.5 miles and a tough session of weights! Wahoo!

Today it didn't rain, but the temperature dropped from 26 this morning when I woke upt to 14 when I got to school and it was snowing. Only in North Dakota does the weather change ... just ... like ... that. Just when I could almost feel the presence of spring with the rain yesterday. When I got out of class at 9 tonight, I was itching to run again. I thought I could grab one of the thrillmills with a little tv screen attached to it, and watch my show from 9-10, attempting to do a longer run. That wasn't too successful. I knew that my right calf was a little tight and I didn't want to push it.... I have spin tomorrow, ya know?! So I only did a very very slow 3 miles! Go me! On the down side.. I am a little upset with myself... as I was filling my nalgene bottle before the run, I think some of the water dribbled down the side of the bottle and touched my nano! It has this "diagnostic" screen on it now that won't go away. Darnit! Now I have to take care of that... and run without music for a while. I could just slap myself for that... grr.. If anyone has any advice for me before I contact apple ... that would be greatly appreciative!

Happy Spring, y'all!

Bring on the Madness!

Oh my, how I have scribbled through at least 15 brackets before coming to a conclusion on who I think is going to win. Crazy. I have entered a pool at school with some other teachers. Last year I did this at a different school and was the only girl with a bunch of high school teachers and coaches. I must admit, I did fairly well. We'll see how it goes this year. I have done some research, but really, does it matter? Who knows really what the results of this first round is going to be! I do have a couple upsets...as we all know there will be a couple! I have also made a bet with my Dad and had my sister join in. She filled out one in about 5 minutes, and if she kicks my butt, I will be royally ticked! Whoever gets the most wins between the three of us has to by a round of apps and taps! Mmm...

Tonight I got my hair trimmed and colored! I haven't had my hair colored "professionally" in 8 years! Crazy! Here is the before picture.... Mind you...this was after a long day of work...
I was ready for something different and was sick of attempting to find the "right" color in a box. Usually my hair gets a red highlight when I do that. I wanted something new and a little funky. Not too crazy, since I do work in a school setting! I have to be a role model, you know! Here is the after picture......and this was taken about an hour after having been trimmed, thinned, and colored with highlights and lowlights.. ...still a little wet and most certainly not fixed!

On a side note...

Sports Commentary: Did anyone catch the Sun vs. Mavs game last night? I was so pumped to see the Suns win. Nice job, Nash...and Stoudemire! Wow, what a game! I remember when I was in sixth grade... probably the first time I really remember following basketball.. watching Charles Barkley and the suns work their way towards a championship... ahh, memories.

I couldn't sleep last night because I was so pumped for the games to begin! So far, I have had 9 out of 12 correct... darn Marquette and George Washington... And I NEVER thought I would be upset to see Duke lose... EVER. EVER. Ever. 4 more games to go tonight and I am pretty sure I will get a couple right...I hope!

Tomorrow... must do some running. The weather is supposed to reach 32 degrees, but I don't know if I could bare that outside. We did get another 8 inches of snow today... Nice.... especially when 2-3 were forcasted originally... but, they did a nice job cleaning up the streets, so it may be possible to run outdoors tomorrow as long as it isn't too windy.

Happy running, y'all!

Easy AND Fun!

With the beautiful weather (snow melting) and not having class tonight, I was able to get out for a nice run before dinner. Yes, outdoors! Probably the first since my 5K on New Year's Eve! Actually, with the time change, I could have gone for a 3 hour run after school. . . . if I wanted to. That is quite a change from a couple months ago when we were lucky if the sun was up past 5pm. Since it is a rare occasion to run outdoors during winter up here in ND (especially when I have a rule that I will not do it in the dark and when the temperature is below 30 degrees), I had a hard time deciding how to dress. It was 40 degrees when I got home from school. Not the 56 they said it was going to be, but it was definitely nice enough to take advantage of. Eventually, I put on an older pair of yoga pants, one of my running shirts, old Nikes, heart rate monitor, garmin, ipod and then my fleece sweatshirt. Plus, I grabbed my camera. Phew.

I left the apartment and headed north on my 3 mile loop. This is the same loop I did quite often this past summer. I became quite hot real fast, as the sun was beating down on me, but I didn't care. I was actually comfortable outdoors. On the way back, it was a little cooler as I found myself running under trees that were blocking the sun.

There were times where I found myself jumping over puddles or snowbanks. And then there were times I would end up running through puddles that didn't look too deep, initially. Sometimes I found myself running on the street to avoid huge puddles on the sidewalks .... only to find myself being splashed purposefully by some guy. But I was okay with that. I just smiled and waved and went on my merry way. It was nice out. I was enjoying it.

All and all, 3 miles felt great. Now, I need to go work on my brackets for March Madness! Yippee! I can't wait for the games to begin!

Quick..before the storm get's really bad..

I woke up this morning to the sound of my phone ringing. My first though was I slept through my alarm clock. Before answering I checked the time, 5:35?! What the heck. Here it was my mentor calling to tell me school was starting 2 hours late. Great. Let's go back to bed. Then, she called again at 7ish saying that she is playing the role of mother here and telling me to not go if I feel the roads are too bad... since I was driving alone. Okay. Back to bed. Again. 7:30 - phone rang again, school is canceled, weather is too ugly. Back to bed. Yeah, no school. And, we don't have school tomorrow since it was a scheduled day off for High School Girls Class B State Basketball Tournament! Nice long weekend, yeah!

I eventually got up and decided I should do something constructive. I checked the schedule for classes at the gym and the earliest time for spin on thursdays is 4:30. I didn't want to wait that long if the snow kept falling. So, I got ready and headed out the door a little after 11. Oh my. so much snow and so much in front of my garage door. I had to use this stupid little metal shovel to remove some of the snow into the parking lot so I could get out without getting stuck. It was almost up to my knees.

At this point, the roads were decent and it wasn't really snowing. I went to the gym and planned on being on the thrillmill for an hour. I had done this almost a month ago and got in 5.3 miles then. I wanted to see if I could do more. So, 60 minutes later, I looked at my mileage and was pleasantly please.... 5.57 miles! That's an average pace of 10:46 per mile! At the time I was feeling quite tired and so ready to be done. I stretched before leaving the gym, went to the grocery store for some odds and ends, fruit, milk, and frozen pizza. I am treating myself tonight! When I was leaving the grocery store, the snow was coming down in huge chunks of flakes! We still have our Storm Warning in effect until 10pm tonight and then it switches over to a Blizzard Warning from then until 6pm friday night. Wonderful. We haven't had a blizzard warning in a long time. The blizzard warning is mostly due to falling snow and extremely windy conditions along with nasty roads. I don't think I will be making it to the gym tomorrow. That's why I chose to do a long run today. If weather is permitting, I will be going on Saturday morning for a spin session.

Well, I am going to go and watch a movie to relax a bit and then get ready for my cousin's basketball game on tv! It's her senior year of high school and it just so happens that her team is playing the team from the school I work at! Go Lady Holstein's! Yep, their mascot is a cow, the New Salem Sue! What? You haven't heard of the world's largest cow? It's located right here in ND!

Check out the video I posted from youtube.com! I heart the Dixie Chicks and always have, despite some comments made about the war, we won't get into that. I am not saying I disagree with their thoughts or agree. I just love the song though. The lyrics are wonderful.

Just wonderful....

It's coming. .. ... I don't know when, but it is coming. As I drove home from class tonight (approximately 9:50pm)... I could see it. In the sky. It's definitely there. But is it going to share with us? It's that icky color. The color you get when you mix red and green and maybe a little grey. It's that grey-ish brown color. Why is it that color? From what I have learned, it is that color because it is so abundant and so low(close the the ground). Yes. I know it is coming. Some said that it will either by-pass us or just "fizzle" out. .. .. ... last week they didn't tell us it was coming, until it was too late. Now they have been telling us about is since I cracked open my eyes this morning.... .. . . take a look for yourself...

... Winter Storm Watch remains in effect from Wednesday afternoon through Friday afternoon...

Snow will spread into the area Wednesday afternoon and could become heavy by evening. Snow totals by Thursday morning may be in excess of 6 inches. Roadways may become snow covered and icy. Visibilities could be reduced due to heavy falling snow.

Light snow will continue through Thursday... with another round of heavy snow returning to the area Thursday night. Additional accumulations could result in storm total snow amounts between 8 and 12 inches... with isolated areas having the potential of seeing up to 18 inches. Gusty north winds are expected to develop on Friday and may reduce visibility in blowing and drifting snow.

A Winter Storm Watch means there is a potential for significant snow and wind. This storm has the potential to make travel very hazardous or even impossible for an extended time.

I know it just a Watch, but in this state, you never know. Plus, the driving conditions haven't been the best already this week, especially on the two-lane, 11 miles, near-to-none visibility, pillow-pocketed road of hell... Anyway. Especially that darn wind. Ugly... just plane ugly. And, there are really NO shelter belts along the roads I drive on which makes it worse when it is windy. Any... I am driving alone. My mentor is home with a sick child, and I am driving alone. All. Alone.

Thank God we have friday off.

On a lighter note, tonight I hit up the gym. I had a little bit of a headache this afternoon and felt that it was due to dehydration, so I attempted to drink as much as possible between noon and 3... Once I got to the gym, I had plenty of time before the 530 spin class so I decided to do some running, figuring out how far I would go after a few minutes on the thrillmill. Well, to my surprise all was wonderful and I kept it up. I had just enough time to do 3.1 miles (in 35:15) before hitting the bike. Yeah! Then I was a little apprehensive. I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it on the bike for a near 50 minutes after 35 minutes on the thrillmill. I wish I would have brought in some powerade or something. I got on the bike and boy I felt great! I went all out ... as usual .. until the last 5 minutes. I was just getting tired and couldn't put much effort forward. Total bike miles = 10.2! But, all and all, the overall workout was great. Unfortunately I had to hurry, shower, grab something to eat, and head to class. The only option for dinner was subway and lets just say that gave me some pretty bad stomach cramps.

Does anyone have a good ideas as to what I should be eating before and after a workout like the such? I felt as if I could have used some more pre- and post- "fuel"!

Happy running, y'all!

*UPDATE* Got out of school, at about 2ish, but by the time I packed up and was ready to go, it was already 230. Roads were okay and it is beautiful back here in GF. I don't know what is going to happen with this so-called "storm"... we'll just have to wait and see. I am going to go and pop in a movie and take a nap... not feeling to hot. Darn stomach crampage goin' on...

Winter Wonderland

It's still snowing here, but it is beautiful. I left my apartment just before, heading for the gym, and realized how nice it was outside. If the sidewalks were cleared, I would have ran outside. It is 25 degrees with really no wind. Which is rare for this city.

Gym opens at noon on sunday's and I arrived shortly after noon. There were a dozen people standing outside and a few still sitting in their cars. Gym wasn't open yet. Waited. Waited. Waited. Then the dozen people standing at the doors headed back towards their cars and left. What the heck?! So, I left. I guess the gym wasn't meant to be today. So I headed home.

On the way home, I was thinking about how I have lived here for almost 8 years and it will be weird to leave. Leave GF and leave ND. I have only applied for one job, but still plan on leaving the state. Atleast for a year. Like I told my mother last night on the phone, if I don't like it, I can always come back. I still have a lot of applying to do. I want to give myself a world of options.

To the right ... campus ... with the dorm I lived in my freshman and sophomore year being on the bottom left side of the picture. Memories...

Wannabe5ker asked me if I am still able to drink coffee with the BestLife lifestyle change...

.... well, Mr Greene doesn't say that you have to cut coffee, juices, and others out completely, but you still need to drink at least 6 1/2 glasses of water a day for these important reasons:

• those who drink 6 1/2 glasses of water a day consume close to 200 fewer calories per day.
• caffiene dehydrates the body
  
• water is good for the muscles with recovery
• water keeps us from grabbing unecessary snacks

I don't drink much coffee. Maybe once or twice a week. But, I do know that when I do drink it, I can see how it dehydrates the body.

Today's workout: 40 minutes of Turbo Jam, consisting of free weights, lunges, and other nasty moves...

Happy running, y'all!

Cake or Beer?

Question of the day: Which would you rather have tossed into your lap, cake or beer?

Ha! Watching the Nuggets game last night had to make me chuckle. One of the players had bumped a beer tender in the process of saving a ball, nocking all drinks onto a few peoples lap! And earlier in the game, a fan had a cake thrown into his lap but the Nuggets mascot! Ha ha. Too funny! (I think I would rather have the beer!)

I HEART Tarheels! Way to pull out another W! Number 1 Baby! And I must give a round of aplause to Georgia Tech! Awesome job on kicking Duke's rear end!

Yesterday's Workout: Didn't happen. I was too tired in the AM with going going going on Monday and Tuesday between working out, school and night classes. So, I designated it as my REST day.

Today's Workout: 3.1 miles on the thrillmill at 5:30 am! Wahoo! 34:49 minutes. How refreshing to start the day off with a good run and a warm cup of mocha! Plus, I am to school 15 minutes early.... thus being the reason why I have a few minutes to write this post!

Tomorrow's Workout: Turbo Jam in the AM! 40 minutes of pure bliss! (pure bliss = sore thighs, arms, and butt)

Oh, and by the way...we are just starting to get our "normal" weather up here in ND.... Woke up this morning at 19 degrees...and it will be slowly decreasing throughout the day...getting down to I believe 5 degrees with a windchill of -25 degrees! Ahh! To top it off, I saw a runner outside this morning at 7am! That's not dedication...that's stupidity in my book! Brrr!
Happy Thursday...and happy running, y'all!

Winter Wonderland!

Ask and you shall receive, right? Well, it wasn't too long ago that I was "complaining" about having a Christmas without snow, and I woke up to this today! This pic was taking early this morning and it hasn't stopped snowing since! It will make for an interesting New Year's Day run tomorrow! We are expected to get 6-9 inches of snow between today and tomorrow!

Isn't it georgous!?!?!

Weird Weather

RR: First, on a running note, I hit up the gym again for a slow, very slow 3 miles. Yuck. My lower left shin is bothering me and I might have to take the next couple days off before the race. I also lifted arms today. Might be a little sore tomorrow!

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Now, as related to the title of this post, our weather has been soo weird here in the capital city. Let's just say that it's been so warm that I haven't warn a coat all week. Got home from the gym this morning and it was already 37 degrees with no chilly winds. We are supposed to reach a high of 40 degrees. AND, there is absolutely NO snow on the ground and we didn't have any for Christmas either.

I don't know how many of you pay attention to the weather crossing the plains, but Denver is preparing for their second Blizzard, up to 18 inches of snow. Some of that is supposed to hit North Dakota, but I am hoping it is just enough snow to cover the ground nicely without causing too much caos!

Keep on keeping on....