Start of a New Week

Mother’s Day 10 Miler
Sunday, May 10th
What do you do when you have a limited amount of time to get everything done?..... You get creative of course!......yesterday was Mother’s Day… and we had to figure out how we were going to visit both mothers, drop off my nephew’s First Holy Communion Card (a week late), get our long run in, spend special mother/daughter time with my daughter before she went to work, fix the back brakes & rotors on Joe’s car, do the laundry, food shop, and get the 20 bags of mulch on the garden all done in one day… thankfully we already mowed our 10 foot high grass the previous day and thus could check that off the never ending list of chores to do on our days off......

....well this is when having an excessive compulsive planner at the house is a great help…. I drafted what I thought was a very reasonable way to get everything done… not counting on the fact that we may actually be too exhausted half way through the day to pull this off....but I do have to say… we hit all the goals… except actually putting more mulch on the gardens…

Day started like normal… waking at 4:30 am for the dog.. but getting the pleasure of going back to bed until 8am… yes… sleep in! ... then up and dressed.... heading to Joe’s parents’s house.. spend time with mom… back to our house to pick up Heather..change into running gear … head to brothers…drop off cards.....Joe and Wendy jump out of truck and run... Heather heads to the grandparents……

See….I had mapped out what I thought was a really great course taking us from my brother’s house to my parents… … thus Heather would just meet us at my parent’s in about an hour and a half or so… we would spend time with mom….. and heather… then back home… Joe could do his brakes and rotors… Wendy laundry… then grocery shop and VIOLA.. day over and done.. with the exception of the 20 bags of mulch we got everything in…

THE RUN......
Now back to the run… It’s a blessing or maybe a curse to be with me… I come up with the most unusual ideas… and sometimes.. just sometimes… I can actually get others to join me in the madness…

I carefully laid out a nice 10-12 mile route from my brother's house in Downingtown to my parents house in West Chester… utilizing almost all back roads… and a “few hills”…. The first part of the run was amazing… almost 3 miles of flattish, shaded, scenic roads.. then we hit Harmony Hill.. I was patting myself on the back for actually making in up the blasted hill still running... but I think I used one of my spare life's to do so... .

… By mile 5 …I was overheated, almost out of water... and the roads were still rolling.. WHY … WHY… WHY… can I not live at the beach.. thankfully... we came across a park around mile 6 and refilled our water bottles ... which was a blessing.. because we had misjudged how much water we would use due to the heat…. so once we refueled we were off again...

...my legs started to tire earlier than expected.. most probably due to the increase in training the last couple of weeks… I got to the point where I felt if I ran just one more step.... I may just fall on my face....... and die…. quite dramatic I assure you.......

We opted to run along Route 322 for a bit….yes that was us.. for those who were saying, “Who the F- are the stupid-a-s people running along route 322 during the hottest point of the day?!”

At around mile 9… I knew I was slowing Joe down as I had to take a couple walk breaks and he had to keep circling back for me… but I was hot.. I don’t dispense heat well… I felt like someone was frying my innards… I told him to go ahead… I would be fine… just tell them I will be there… when I get there…

10 miles in an hour and 40 minutes… not to shabby for having dead legs and fried internal organs… I turned off my clock a mile early.. the total distance was over 11 miles but I didn’t want to do more than 10 miles… so being still a mile away from the parents.. I still had to run the last mile.. but didn’t want to do over 10 miles…. DON’T EVEN QUESTION the logic here….

Mom and Heather met me on the sidewalk across from the Goshen Shopping Center near their house... .. they were jumping up and down waving at me as I came up the sidewalk… somehow that little gesture although crazy.. made me smile… now we have confirmed insanity runs in the family.....crazy MO-FO’s… What a great way to spend Mother’s Day…!!

(PS: so after the day ends.. I am preparing to retire for the evening... and I get an email from my sister-in-law stating that mom had to take my brother to the hospital..it appears he broke his ankle at Rugby.... HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY MOM… )
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LAST WEEK’S NEWS REEL

Heather’s Graduation
Saturday, May 2nd
What an incredible day… what more can we ask for… words could not really convey the day… I hope these pictures say it all (will post them tonight... problem with email at home)

…Heather graduated from Kutztown University…. Magna cum laude….Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education..

(PS: The day was not without event…. I smashed my toe on the floor radiator at Cracker Barrel wearing cute little sandals...there was a bit of silence as I turned a nice shade of grey…and opted not to let out a blood curdling scream.....)
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Broadstreet 10 Miler
Sunday, May 3rd
Great race… great friends… rain… fun… don’t cough on me you slob …. 26,000 people….great to be paced for 7 miles by the cupcake… for goodness sake.. could she at least PRETEND she is tired… or look like shit or something! The cupcake then proceeded to take the last two miles or so… and bring about almost a 2 min lead on me… I need what the cupcake has… perhaps she is part Kenyan.... I must research this…

Joe did a phenomenal job… even though he had some difficulties to over come with tired legs and a higher than normal heart rate… he continues to impress me with his natural ability to go long and FAST…I got to keep an eye on this one…….

Broadstreet 10 Mile Race Results

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Warwick Trail Race
Wednesday, May 6th
Signed up to run the Warwick 5K Trail Run as my speed run for the week.. and for the free PIZZA! .... HELLO I am a DEER....and I DO IT FOR PIZZA! Great run... love racing through the woods jumping logs, stones and climbing big ole hills...

Warwick Trail 5K

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Vanguard 10K Race
Saturday, May 9th
OK.. so yes I am a RACE WHORE… can't help it..!!... I just sign up for as many races as I can that will fit into my schedule… and OH... use the excuse that they are training runs….this logic works for me.... somehow..

..... I found out at mile 2... that this race was rather hilly... and it was starting to get HOT out....I wanted to cry.......I was propelled by an unknown force... to keep going...thinking what is wrong with me... ?.... perhaps I was born upside down? Or backwards? .... maybe I should have been SMACKED MORE... as the heat and humidity bore a new hole in my skull…I finished strong in a decent 52.45...DONE… enough that sh-t.... ..now home to plant flowers and for a two hour bike ride... sigh… life is good.

Vanguard 10K Race Results
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