The Devil with the Blue Dress...

went down to Georgia and ran one "Hell" of a half-marathon! Well, our time was not what we wanted, but we sure felt great! It was really nice to have our friend Kim with us for a change of grouping.

Before the Race:


We decided to dress up to show our Halloween Spirit. Surprisingly, not many people did. There were a few wonder women, and a superman type guy. Another guy ran with a tiki bikini on and another with a Statue of Liberty head piece. One woman was a cat, and a few others were fairies/angels. Other than that, there were a few more random crazy head pieces, but not many. Kim was an escaped convict running from the police. I was the Devil with the Blue Dress on. Jason was a half-marathon runner. He has no spirit!!

My Costume:

From the Back:

After the Race:


I forgot my stop watch so it really sucked not knowing the time. I know we slowed down after mile 7, because I heard the woman by us say that we were at 56 minutes (8 minute miles).

Of course, no South GA experience would be complete without a few "special" sightings:



We ran the half-marathon in 1 hour, 56 minutes and 14 seconds (Jason came in 1 second before me).

Average Pace: 8:56 per mile
Number of Intervals: 13.1 miles through Boston, GA (part of it is in Brooks County where I teach and the other part is in Thomas County - our rivals!)
Aches and Pains: Legs cramped up around miles 8 and 11, but I felt awesome enough for a good strong kick at the end!
Breakthroughs: A little nervous about the full marathon, but we will be fine by then. I really enjoy half marathons!
Age of Shoes: 4 weeks
Calories Burned: around 1,300

Lazy

That sums up the last week. It's OK, we can say we were tappering for the Boston "mini" Marathon tomorrow.

Today we ran 3.02 miles in 25 minutes and 8.37 seconds. Wish us luck tomorrow on our Halloween Half Marathon. Hope it's not too scary!! (tee hee)

Average Pace: 8:20 per mile
Number of Intervals: 3.02 miles around our neighborhood.
Aches and Pains:
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: 4 weeks
Calories Burned: 252

October 25
Jason was showing his old age. We planned to run 14 miles, but the 30 year old got a really bad leg cramp. It felt like his muscle was flexed, but he wasn't trying. Then it felt like there was a water balloon in his leg. Really weird. So we stopped after 3 miles and he heated/stretched. He seems to be all better now.

Don't have exact measurements. I forgot to charge the Garmin.

Average Pace: ?? per mile
Number of Intervals: about 3 miles around our neighborhood.
Aches and Pains:
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: 4 weeks
Calories Burned: ??

October 22
Ran 4.44 miles in 38 minutes and 31.98 seconds.

Average Pace: 8:41 per mile
Number of Intervals: 4.44 miles around our neighborhood.
Aches and Pains:
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: 3 weeks
Calories Burned: 370

Last Night

We went for a 4 mile run. It was nice. The only thing that stunk was that I could not remove the saliva from above my braces. (I know that is not a pretty thought, but it was really annoying.) At least I can still suction and spit... Jason can't.

We ran 4.14 miles in 35 minutes and 26.84 seconds.

Average Pace: 8:33 per mile
Number of Intervals: 4.14 miles around our neighborhood.
Aches and Pains:
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: 3 weeks
Calories Burned: 346

Sucks

This week, we were the "suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked". (To quote the ever inspiring Homer J. Simpson)

We did not run anywhere near as much as we should have. It's ok. I added an extra week into our schedule for such an occasion. We were technicaly behind when the week began due to our skipping a long run two weeks ago. We were just going to skip the 9 mile long run, and do our 14 mile run this week. However, we did not get up to run in the mornings and didn't try to make up for it in the evenings. We had people over yesterday and our house was a mess, so instead of running we cleaned the house. Productive, just not in terms of the marathon. So we ran 9 miles today and will redo the 14 mile week (or actually do it in the first place). It's still all good. Plus, Jason twisted his ankle on Wednesday and it was still sore. You know how that goes. You twist your ankle and can still finish the workout without pain. Then the next day, it hurts really bad.

We ran 9.00 miles in 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 48 seconds.

Average Pace: 8:45 per mile
Number of Intervals: 9.00 miles around our neighborhood.
Aches and Pains: Sore Joints
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: 3 weeks
Calories Burned: 749

Pleasant Evening Run

Ran after school/work today. I felt really slow and Jason felt really fast. We just did OK. Nothing interesting to say...

Average Pace: 8:24 per mile
Number of Intervals: 4.14 miles around our neighborhood.
Aches and Pains: Right leg muscles felt weird
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: 2 weeks
Calories Burned: 346

"Shoes are the Devil"

Jason came across this interesting CNN Video. Although I do not think I will begin running shoeless, I do remember that it felt very good when I was in college and had to do bare foot stride outs. Just some food for thought...

This week in a nut shell.

Gu Chomps

Today we ran 12.00 miles in 1 hour, 46 minutes and 48 seconds. I am soooo proud of Jason!! He ran the entire way without needing to stop... with the exception of our scheduled water/Gu Chomps breaks.

The Gu Chomps were really tasty. I would definitely get them again. They also last longer 1 hour and 45 minutes as opposed to the Gu Gel which only lasts 30-45 minutes. Both are delicious though. The Chomps are just less messy. We will see if I feel the same way after I get my braces next Monday.

I tried something new today to spice up our runs. Actually this was the plan for last week, but due to our jet lag, we did not do our long run last Sunday and instead of our planned 9 mile run today, we did our 12 mile run from last week. Anyway, I planned out 3 routes (all about 4 miles) that ended at our house (where we kept our water/chomps in the mailbox). Each time we stopped for water, we would grab a new route (which was on folded pieces of paper). So it was kinda a surprise each time we came to a stopping point. OK, that's weird, I know but 12 miles is a long way and anything you can do to spice it up is very helpful.

Average Pace: 8:54 per mile
Number of Intervals: 12.00 miles around Valdosta
Aches and Pains: Felt Great!
Breakthroughs: Gu Chomps are good!
Age of Shoes: 2 weeks
Calories Burned: 991

Weekly Total: 23 miles

Thursday, October 8
Went for a Morning Fog...

Got up early to run 5 miles. It was super Foggy and the Garmin did calculate the distance correctly. It did not start calculating distance until about a quarter mile in. It's OK though. We had a decent run. We ran 5.00 miles in 42 minutes and 56.65 seconds.

Average Pace: approx. 8:15 per mile
Number of Intervals: approx. 5.00 miles around our neighborhood.
Aches and Pains: Right leg muscles were tired
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: 1 week
Calories Burned: over 400

Monday, October 5
Jet Lag...

sucks! You wouldn't think we would have gotten jet lag from only 4 days in CA, but we did. We could not run... or stay awake for more than about 2 hours at a time on Sunday. So our next week is really going to be messed up. We did have the energy to run by Monday evening around 6:30pm.

As we were getting ready to run, the neighbor girl stopped by and asked if we needed any help. She was home alone and didn't want to be. We politely thanked her and told her that we were about to go for a run, so maybe another time. Well, as we walked outside, she was on her bike ready to accompany us for 6 whole miles! She is a very talkative girl and we were irritated to put it nicely to have this company for the 53 minutes and 32.29 seconds we ran. The worse part is that she got annoyed when we were running too fast. Ugh. Anyway, we ran, although not very well.

Average Pace: 8:55 per mile
Number of Intervals: 6.00 miles around our neighborhood and the neighborhood across the street.
Aches and Pains: Right leg muscles were tired
Breakthroughs: Still feels like we have jet lag...
Age of Shoes: Brand New!!
Calories Burned: 500

Sunny California (Thursday, October 1)

The heat in CA is very different from the heat in GA. It is much drier and my face and lips got really chapped. Anyway, we decided to go running around noon, after returning from Huntington Beach. It was HOT. But we managed to finish our 3.00 miles in 26 minutes and 7.32 seconds (ick).

Average Pace: 8:42 per mile
Number of Intervals: 3.00 miles around Casa Mesa, CA
Aches and Pains: Right leg muscles were tired
Breakthroughs: We are not good CA runners.
Age of Shoes: Brand New!!
Calories Burned: 246

Thai Mai Shu

Wednesday, September 30.

We went running through the sunny streets of Casa Mesa, CA. It was BEAUTIFUL!! I would totally move there if they had better gun laws. (Jason's stipulation not mine.) We should have taken pictures of the cute little houses, but who wants to run with a camera.

Anyway, after getting into CA, Jason, his family, and I went to this neat little Thai restaurant. The food was pretty good, and the portions were HUGE! Jason ate his meal and finished everyone else's. So you can imagine how he felt when we got back to our hotel room and I said, "Ready to run?"

About 1.5 miles in, we had to stop because Jason said he had an infinitely dense thai ball the size of a grapefruit in his stomach. After a breif offload at the hotel room, we completed all 6.21 miles in 55 minutes and 51.19 seconds.

Average Pace: 9:00 per mile
Number of Intervals: 6.21 miles around Casa Mesa, CA
Aches and Pains: Right leg muscles were tired
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: Brand New!!
Calories Burned: 513