A couple more running links

Added a couple of new links to home page (will keep them on side under favorite race sites):

Seashore Striders: They hold races down in the Rehoboth Beach area (I dont know how I forgot to add them to my original list since I access their site all the time)http://www.seashorestriders.com/

Athlinks: This is a great tool to look up other people's specs...find out a bit about the competition or just be nosy..http://www.athlinks.com/default.aspx

Running Calculator: Cool, try it out http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

ChesapeakeMan Book

I'm on AMAZON!!!! (click on pic for link)

BE TRUE to your beliefs

Whether or not my political views match that of my mother’s… the fact that she believes in something so much that she would actually jump on a bus and head to Washington, DC (a good 2+ hour drive) is admirable… although crazy… still admirable..

So how did I find this out?.. I mean it's not like she outright told me… NO..I find this out casually… talking on the phone with her yesterday after work….

Wendy to Mom: So how is everything mom?

Mom To Wendy: “Great.. I got a new purse that straps across my shoulders and should be really good for when I go to Washington..”

S-C-R-E-E-C-H.. HALT>>>>>> !!!!!

"UM… excuse me?… what do you mean Washington???".... (thinking perhaps I may not have heard her correctly ….mom is not the traveling type)..

So she says she is going to Washington DC.. I said, "For what!?" …. she said, "For the tax protest".. ..

....."TAX PROTEST???.... What Tax Protest…!!???" (There is a website about this protest: http://912dc.org/ )

Sigh…. I am like, "YOU DON’T NEED TO BE DOWN THERE…..LET ALONE.. HOW DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GETTING THERE!??"

She said, "A bus and we are all wearing orange shirts with... "(something on it I didn’t pay attention because I am completely in shock )… "NO WAY.." (dumbfounded)…

.... "When are you going.????"...... "Saturday, September 12th".... "UM.." (I really cant believe it)….

... "Like what time.???"... "bus leaves at 7am and returns at 9pm.. "

..."Um… how the heck are you going to??" … SIGH.. "Never mind.. what does dad think of this!"

...."Dad approves..... (not that she needs his approval but he is condoning this).. I said, “Dad approved this???!!!..

[You mean the man who is half "senile” .. who rides around WC forgetting he left his trunk/tail gate of his truck open..???....so riding with it up in the air around town... .. and like didn’t he hear the sounds of gushing air traveling through his truck while he was driving!!!…).. for the love of G-d…. !!! UGH!!!]

I told her she BETTER NOT get arrested, missing, in the hospital or anything!..... Especially the day before my marathon (because as you know this is all about me!)..

I can't believe dad is allowing her to go down there unattended… what is he thinking!..... I wasn’t even allowed to go to a concert in PHILLY when I was a teenager… ugh!!!

My family is C-R-A-Z-Y… no wonder I am crazy…!!!

There is a sucker born every moment

Man…. sometimes if something looks too good to be true.. IT IS!!!!….

Yesterday during our weekly shopping excursion to the Walmart, Joe haphazardly decided to bring me along… again… not good since the last two times he brought me… well he ended up spending way over the $$’s allocated for the trip.. so this time I promised him he wouldn’t spend as much.. I only needed to get a couple little things..one being like a cork board or something to display pics… YEAH……I am screwed… this letter says it all:.

I want to write a letter and thank Mr. Corkboard

Dear Mr. Corkboard,

I want to thank you for the exceptional value of your product that I purchased today at the Walmart. Four pieces of corkboard plus stickies to attach each board to the wall for only $5.97, I bought two packs. I couldn’t wait to get home and adorn my walls with your product.

You made it exceptionally easy to apply the sticky stuff to each corner and within ten minutes I had eight corkboards up on my wall and had attached some pictures. Life was good. Shame that my utter delight only lasted about the same amount of time it takes to digest a peanut buster parfait.

Not only did the cork board start flipping off the wall (even though the wall was clean and dry when I applied them) and when I attempted to remove the ones that did not flip off, they wouldn’t come off and ripped.

So now I have three damaged corks and five corks that wont stick. Out of utter frustration I finally removed the rest of the them and to my delight there were now 32 stickies attached to my wall. And no amount of scrapping, pulling, or rubbing would get them off (oh yeah and the knife didnt help matters either).

I am now on a half bottle of GooGone and feeling a bit funny being in an enclosed room, and needing ventilation. Stickies are now off and are stuck under my nails, stuck on my hands, in my hair, you name it. They are off but now my wall is covered with 32 grease spots.

So again I want to thank you for offering such an exceptional product for an extraordinary price.

Sincerely,

Sucker

Shame I really cant send this letter, now I have one hour to get this wall cleaned up before the hubby gets home and FLIPS OUT.. there are two things he doesn’t like me to mess with and I DO MESS WITH SHIT… don’t touch his grass.. nor his walls… oh and it's not like he doesn’t have a good reason to banish me from these areas… he also took away my staple gun.. but I have hidden my own hammer…

I am HAVOC with a capital H! ....Perhaps he wont notice..

Joe's 20 Miler... DONE

This am... Joe completed his last long run... 20miles.. SOLO... took him 3 hours and 7 minutes.. so help me if he beats me in this marathon on September 13th I will thump him...!

Hee hee..

So both of us are now done our long runs for a few weeks... very nice.. !....perhaps now we will actually get something done around the house...

20 days until Lehigh Marathon................

What will be... WILL BE

Just for the record... it's one thing to train to complete a marathon...it's a totally different thing to actually train to race the blasted thing for a specific time..like a qualifying time....

For those who are just signing on.. I have been training all spring and summer to qualify for the Boston Marathon... I need a 3 hrs 50 mins (8:46 per mile pace) to do so. I am racing Lehigh Marathon on September 13th as the first attempt to do so.. if I don't make it then, I have Rehoboth Marathon on November 21st.

2010 QUALIFYING STANDARDS

NOW....Just for the record.... if I have to hold this pace for 26.2 miles.. my legs will fall the F- off!!!... i am MOST certain of it!!!....I just don’t know... 21 days until the Lehigh Marathon..September 13th...am I ready???.. you bet!.... but bring a stretcher...!

This is how today's LAST long run panned out:

Decided to run my long run today instead of tomorrow.. to get it out of the way.. kinda ticked Joe off.. because he said he needed "time" before just getting up and running 20 miles... and that we were suppose to run it tomorrow am.. so like I said he was kinda ticked off with my change of plans... I am sorry honey... sometimes well I just get this bug ..

(This pic is from Florida but I am thinking appropriate )

So whistling a happy tune I get my gear on and head out into the wild blue yonder... 20 miles is on the schedule... I have to remember I am running with an extra 8 pounds due to I have a backpack on with 3 extra waters, plus my cell phone, my perpetium bottle, and gummy worms...

I get not even a half mile up road and said a little prayer for the people who have extra weight on them and attempt to run.. GOD BLESS YOU...

I looked for some flattish terrain.. YEAH lots of luck with that Wendy... not sure WHY PA is so hilly...at least in our area... sucks..I did find a section that was kinda flat.. it was about 1/2 mile long .... so me... and the backpack went up and down this section.. A gazillon times... till I hit about 6 miles.... talk about gnaw my arm off..stupid pet tricks.. it's the first thing I thought of .. I mean ... who really does this crap anyway...?

I stopped to refuel at mile 7... sat in the road (it was a backroad no worries).. kinda felt a bit miserable... totally soaked.. and its only mile 7.. that is still 13 miles to go... I look at watch and sigh...

Then back at it... .insane.... stopped at mile 10 to refuel again.. ...10 more to go... somehow no matter HOW MUCH I LOVE TO RUN... running long at a faster clip is just NOT PLEASANT.. thankfully I have my ipod on and am listening to some kill kill hate music.. really helps..

THANK GOD backpack is now lighter .. down to one extra bottle... the humidity..... just spiteful.. I leave the "flattish area" and head to the hills...

Stopped again at mile 13 to refuel.. JEEZ US... with this many breaks I am lucky if I am keeping any pace at all.. onward... I get to mile 14.. . if I SEE ANOTHER M-F- HILL I WILL SCREAM..!!!

I come up with a plan... go home and finish the run on the treadmill... AWESOME IDEA!

I get home ....change clothes and shoes.. since everything was SOAKING wet.. with the intention on jumping on the treadmill to finish rest of run..

YEAH.. you think a flat treadmill would be better.. ?... um.. I suppose if the legs didn’t feel like hamburger... oh wow.. and everything started to stiffen when the air conditioning hit them... and them puppies are hurting..!!.

I stopped at 2 miles.. almost broke down and cried...

I got off treadmill.. got some gummy worms.. back on treadmill.. another mile... whew... ok... GOTTA see if I can at least do one more freaking mile... YES>> !!! I jump off treadmill and literarily kissed the ground... TOTAL 4 miles on treadmill.. total 18 miles.. DONE.. DONE... DONE>..... not 20 but close enough....

My ipod is NOW broke (i dont know it just dont work)... and What will be... will be.. So maybe after a good three weeks of tapering my legs will surprise me...???.... Great picture huh? This is what I believe will be at the finish line at Lehigh waiting for me to make 3:50!

Idiot City Folks

SO perhaps it was not the smartest maneuver.....and perhaps this is why we don’t gamble. But when you see this warning..

YOU DON’T GO OUT.. DUH.

Seems fairly simple..right!?....so what do we do when we receive this warning?..UM..go running of course.. DUH....

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for our area around 6:45pm.... stating a severe thunderstorm with winds in excess of 70 miles per hour, large hail and ground to something lightening was heading our way, they went as far as to give us a precise time it would arrive in the Glenmoore area, 7:20pm.

Like the weather people are NEVER accurate… whatever… so I rang Joe to see how close he was to home and to tell him of our impending doom. …WHATEVER…

Um….it sure felt like it was going to storm… it sure “smelled” like it was going to storm… and yeah I am sure we are going to get whacked.. WHATEVER...we got to get the run in.. PERHAPS if we run fast enough we will outrun it...

I am sorry when did you become an olympic 5,000 meter specialist.. jeez.. I don't know sometimes the old brain cells just don't toot out the right charges... I gathered our gear….and as soon as Joe got home, out the door we go... yeah GOT to run fast to get it in before we get whacked...

Uh oh... (as Joe and I look)... A thick line of black clouds was growing larger in the distance.. um… run... run... uh oh... lightening.. should we turn back he says....ONWARD we trudge……run .. run .. run... we made it through the woods and were heading into a clearing just as the rampant winds start.... DOROTHY MAN DON'T DROP THAT HOUSE ON US!!!... the winds were wild.. coming at us from all sides.. we momentarily had to stop to question our fate… WHAT TO DO!?

Do we continue on?..... Do we run back through the woods?.... Do we kiss our asses goodbye?... in the few seconds we were contemplating what to do and thinking about how UNWISE it was to even have attempted this run….. Joe said let's stand against that stone barn . (as he points to a giant old stone wall).. THANK GOD for OLD CONSTRUCTION!!!.... YES.. we run over and shield ourselves against the wall.

The winds howl around us …gusts of winds sheering the trees….. it almost would have been a bit frightful... had I not been all hyped up... I ask Joe, "Like what if we see… a tornado?".. I mean it sounds like a stupid question but at the moment very realistic..he pointed to the barn door near us and said we would go in the barn… (as the barn door flys open).. OR MAYBE NOT he says… ha... I wonder what we looked like to the owners of the barn as they watched from their home at the two idiots.. …. us the two runner dudes standing tight against their stone barn…. me in my high tech running bra and short shorts...

I can only imagine what “Farmer Brown” must of said when he looked out his window, “ Ethel, there are those two runner idiots… standing against our barn in an ELECTRICAL storm with their fancy watches and half dressed… boy city folk are stupid..”

When the winds died down a bit we took flight and ran back up through the woods as this was the quickest way home… I know for a fact I have never in my life run up this hill this fast.. and got even faster once the bolt of lightening damn near hit the tree next to us...JOE WAIT UP FOR MEEEEEE…… Joe was a good 3 yards ahead and I was losing ground… it must have been quite funny actually and I can laugh about it now … I ran the fastest 2.5 training mile ever… oh yeah and I have grass plastered on my arms.. yeah nice.. I guess I can put this down as my speed work out!?

Joe's First DU

Joe's First Duathlon... he did AMAZING! Not only did he NOT get stung by a bee, or hit by a dart, he went out and ran one of his fastest ever run times.. GO FIGURE!!! And that was before and AFTER a 20 mile bike..! .....THE BUBBLE BOY HAS SOME TALENT!

............CONGRATS JOE!

Drama Free

It's been F-O-R-E-V-E-R since I wrote.. I know.. but two weeks of non drama was great... here are some tid bits going back to where I left off... the 100 Mile Bike Event on July 25th....

Saturday, July 25th – Dream Lancaster Century (100 Mile Bike Ride)
Joe and I had to get up at some un-godly hour like 3:45am in order to leave by 4:15am in order to get to Lancaster by 6am... talk about wow... who is stupid enough to want to do this on their day off..???.... yeah that’s us...me and the Bubble Boy... in the car we go.. me driving ...Bubble Boy in a coma.. eyes rolling around inside his head.

It was REALLY foggy... like serial creepy fog..and made for some extra tricky driving.. thankfully Bubble Boy was sound asleep and not driving.. I was hoping our friend Denise (who was meeting us there) wouldn’t have any issues....

We arrive around 5:30am and started our process of getting ready for the ride, checking the bike tire pressure, filling the water bottles, preparing the fuel, you know normal stuff for a day of fun on the bike.. I opted to carry a backpack on my back..

It’s a small backpack but it holds all kinda of things like Joe’s EPI PEN... the camera, the cell phones, snacks, etc. .. I most certainly look part pack mule and I am most certainly don’t care.

By the time Denise got there and set up we left around 6.25 am.. it was still a bit foggy but we were on our way. Rounding one of the first hill corners Joe bit the dust.. I didn’t see it.. but I heard the story afterwards... damn lucky he didn’t break something... .wow not a good start...

Around mile 7 I got a flat on my rear tire...
we are only 7 miles into our 100 mile bike..and we have to STOP to change it.. thankfully I have my "mechanic" with me this time and he goes to town changing my flat.. very nice!.. so much better then when I had to change my OWN tire at the ChessyMan Race.

While Denise and I watched... and I nibbled on a powerbar ...I wondered if she knew what she was getting in for when she signed up to do this with us... hmmm ..

I think we did much better this year than last year.. its a tough course, lots of hills and some quite steep..I know I personally felt better than last year, more trained and such but I still had to walk my bike up a couple of those huge inclines..

I just don’t have the same power legs that Joe has.. that boy knows how to get up those hills! ....

Denise did a superb job for this being her first century ever...

We finished around 3.48pm... 7 hours and 47 minutes that is our moving time.. our time counting the breaks was around 9 hours or so.. yikes.. . I think Joe and I ate everything in sight once we got done... another dream event done!

Sunday, July 26th
I was suppose to compete in the Keystone State Games (track and field events) up in York, Pa but upon waking I heard thunderstorms .. I checked weather report and they were calling for a 60% chance of storms... I know they would delay the meet and or cancel or postpone some of the activities and that last thing I wanted to do was drive the hour and a half back to Lancaster (York) and find out my events were postponed... so I opted to just finish packing for vacation and head down to the beach.

I packed the cat and the dog in the truck (NO ...NOT THE TRUNK >> THE TRUCK!) and off we went.... yeah baby... vacation here we come.
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VACATION – Indian River, Delaware
Mom and dad were already set up by the time I got there and dad helped me pick up the camper from the place we were keeping it... thankfully everything went smoothly... very nice.... two weeks of PLEASURE AND FUN!!!!!! ....I am at the beach baby!

Monday, July 27th: No drama.. other than I opted to run my 5 miler when a freak thunderstorm with 60 MPH winds came through.. lucky for me I was at mile 4 and on the way back when the hail hit me... . soo uncool to be out in a thunderstorm with NO WHERE to hide..I ran like someone lit me on fire..

Tuesday, July 28th: No drama.. other than the fact I had to run my long run of 18 miles and it was 85 degrees and HUMID....I carried a back pack with two extra bottles of water.. I also had to stop at a store mid run for two more bottles .....really questioning WHY I am training for a marathon in the summer, let alone training for one at all!

Wednesday, July 29th: No drama.. other than Mom and I went to the thrift stores and I bought a life size store mannequin, guitar and large lamp made out of ship parts... yeah... no further explanations needed. Oh her name is Jennie.....











Thursday, July 30th: No drama..other than JUST HOT... Joe arrive this evening.. perhaps the animals will settle down a bit now.. and stop getting us up at 3:30 am for breakfast!

Friday, July 31st: No drama..other than .. yeah you guessed it.. it's HOT, Heather arrived this evening... the whole family is here...

Saturday, August 1st: No drama..other than the fact it's STILL HOT.. Kinda wanted to do the Venus on the Half Shell Race as I had done this the last two years but couldn’t risk upsetting the marathon training.. a really fast 5K would do me NO GOOD right now.. tomorrow would be our long run.. had to go on fresh legs... no Venus for me... boo hooo

Sunday, August 2nd: No drama..other than the fact we were up at 4:30am with the animals and getting ready for our long run... started around 6am... and thankfully so because it got HOT AND HUMID fast.. we lucked out that it stayed overcast until the last few miles of our 20 miler...dad caught a HUGE flounder!

Monday, August 3rd: No drama, other than it was JUNGLE JIM WATER PARK DAY.. yippee day to float around and relax.. for what... $30 a person and we treated Heather and her boyfriend Kyle.. so that was like...$120 for four people to sit on tubes?...... F_ CRIMINAL!!.. oh and it was HOT OUT AGAIN..

Tuesday, August 4th: No drama, other than the normal.. IT WAS HOT.. we had freak storms come in.. but it’s the beach... training is going AMAZINGLY well.. sure love this flat sea level running! ....Got my fishing license... yeah... OH YEAH and we signed up for the Eagleman Half Ironman 2010.. both JOE and I... now to figure out how to teach Joe to freestyle swim before June 2010......Joe did a 20 mile bike ride by himself today.. I didn’t feel like going.. wow.. interesting huh..

Wednesday, August 5th: No drama.. other than fishing sucks...and that I was still working on my final for my Sociology class which is due on Tuesday... we ran, we ate, we relaxed, we took mom to thrift stores, I got crochet needles, like I have time for one more hobby... life is good.

Thursday, August 6th: No drama.. other than Joe pushed the pace on the run today.. we only did 3.. he acted like we were in a race.. whatever.. I hung on... fine..then it was family picture night and it poured rain.. buckets and buckets of rain... made for some interesting pics.

Friday, August 7th: No drama.. other than the animals have NOT settled down, in fact they are worse since joe is here.. ugh.. spit... Joe decided to do another 20 mile bike ride and I did a run instead... and we both were happy as a pig in shit.. and is this the life or what!?...... Fishing still sucks.. I lost 4 or was that 6 lures... and spent more time unhooking things then hooking... fake bait is stupid....

Saturday, August 8th: No drama.. other than we spent the day packing up and cleaning up and getting ready to bring the camper home... LAST OFFICIAL DAY OF VACATION.. boo hoo...

Sunday, August 9th: No drama..it was our long run at home.. and it sucked.. BOY did it suck to try and run on hills in the heat... 17 miles was all we did.. we wanted to do 18.. but I couldn’t run not one more step... damn near dead as hell... Joe treated me later to lunch and new sneakers.. “golden slippers”... I am going to be fast as lightening now... once I find my legs.


BACK TO REALITY..........................




BACK TO REALITY..........................