Did I mention Jeanne?

Yep, Jeanne. Another non-teammate. Bearing down on us right now; I sit here and listen to the wind blow outside. Scary stuff.

But enough with the hurricanes. It's getting old and sad.

Jeanne did not prevent us from running today - no she did not!! We did it, we ran 9 (NINE!) miles! YEE HAW!! It was fabulous. Wonderful. Beautiful. Fantastic. We did it DESPITE the unpsyching we did on the way to the group practice. The thought of running that far was making us nauseated. The thought of running the course and then running it again was almost more than we could bear! Ugh. What were we thinking?!

And then, standing there in the dark, listening to the course - 3 miles easy, 3 miles 10 secs higher than goal pace, 3 miles easy. Yuck. Half for the half-ers. Okay, right then and there we were ready to switch to the half. What were we thinking??

Like lambs being led to slaughter we stretched. We exchanged glances of misery, my training partner and me. We stuck our tongues out and made "escape hatch" plans in our minds and prayed the powers that be controlling bathroom breaks would go easy on us.

And then we ran. And ran and ran and ran. 2.5 miles down, we stopped for water. We were half through our first stretch and feeling okay!! Ran back and then ... back and forth again. Funny thing - though we were ready to stop, we weren't ready to stop until the time came to stop. And it hit us: NINE MILES. That's a lot. That's marathon training. But more than the physical realization of the power our bodies held we realized: we can do this. A marathon was not out of our grasp. We might just - might just! - do this thing and do it well.

What a day.

It's amazing - you finish running and you are tired. Stretching feels like a glorious long nap that you don't want to wake from. Stretching feels like a hot shower on a cold morning when you don't have to be anywhere anytime soon. It's delicous, it's healthy, and it's a signal to the body that the onslaught has ended. Nothing - nothing! - feels like stretching after a long run.

But the next interesting thing is your awareness of your strength as the day progresses. You feel like one long, lean muscle even if you aren't one. It's like your entire muscular system has snapped to attention and reminds you that you are alive!!

Running is an addiction. No doubt about it.

Charley, Frances and Ivan

Not my new friends, not my new teammates, not even really fun people to be around. They are hurricanes which are wreaking havoc with my training schedule, my work, my children and my lives.

Ivan is due here by the beginning of next week. A formidable catagory 4, expected right here in the Tampa Bay area.

The only good news is at this point, just about anything I write about hurricanes or weather in general in my emails or here should be certified by the American Meterological Society, so well-studied am I in steering currents, fronts, wind sheer and potential tornadic activity.

It's almost funny. Almost. We're all living here in a state of suspended animation. Conversations are started like this, "If Ivan DOESN'T hit here next week, would you like to get the kids together for a playdate?" We're cooking in our driveways - why pull the grill to the back? Front yards and porches are sadly barren - no one has brought back out their doo-dads-turned-potential-missiles. We are mid-hunker. And it stinks.

But practices do go on, despite the oppressive heat. Last night was track practice, which I love to hate (or hate to love?). I love the coach. She's just what you want in a coach: encouraging, helpful, and ass-kicking :). We did timed 400s. I did okay. I'm not thrilled with my target MM (I've certainly run faster in my life) but I have to factor in a new kind of training, new shoes and oh yes, oppressive heat. I hope I can get that time down to make last year's goal: top 100 woman in the Turkey Trot. Nothing else will do. I'll cry in my gravy if I miss it again this year...

Weight Watchers is not going too well for me. I'm not keeping up with tracking my food, and I am STARVING ALL THE TIME. It's purely psychological; except for the Saturday morning long runs (which aren't really THAT long yet) I'm not running any more than I ever have. I know I'm not eating as much fat and I'm not feeling very sated. I'm trying to eat more fruits and veggies but it's just not sustaining me. I'm truly hungry - not dehydrated, I'm definitely hydrated! - so I don't know what to do. I think I am going to add some more nuts to my diet to see how that helps. Also cheese. I don't know. I'm still tweaking.

I have to say - I love the Snickers Marathon bar!! I know, I know; technically it's just a smooshed down Snickers candy bar (my fave) but it DOES have 13g protein in it. That's a lot of protein!! I think it gave me strength for my long run. I might have to ask Santa for a stocking-full....

Gorgeous Labor Day weekend (in our dreams)!!!

Another beautiful weekend in paradise!!

This was Hurricane Frances' calling card - we got this wave mid-afternoon Saturday. The last band came through about 2 hours ago, which makes 48 hours of hurricaning. Really - could we have had a more entertaining weekend? It was AGONIZING at best. The children were cooped up, the weather unpredictable, the newscasters annoying... Just to add insult to injury, the children are out of school again tomorrow.

No - better yet - this is the true definition of "insult-to-injury": IVAN. Ivan the Terrible, out in the Atlantic, stepping onto the conveyor belt which keeps bringing these storms to our back door.

Back to the topic at hand. Sunday was a rest day. I think I might have taken that command way too seriously. I did NOTHING but rest - and fret. Today, fearful that the power would go out (as it was more blustery and foreboding today than even yesterday) I didn't dare step on the treadmill until the chance of it stopping short and throwing me through the guest closet doors were slim-to-none. That meant it was 9:30 PM. My assignment? An easy 3 followed by a speedier 1. I did 3 at 5 (12mph) and 1 at 6-7 (10-8:34mph) at a 1% incline. It took me 45 minutes. Not a time to write home about, but it got the job done.

Tomorrow is track - yay. I have to say, I am really enjoying group practice. It's good to be around other people who share your same goals and interests. It's good to be around people who can teach you - who WANT to teach you - what they've learned.

To wind up, I found the Disney course and I have to say, it got me VERY excited. I just cannot imagine what it'll be like to run through the happiest place on earth. I'm sure I'll have moments where the happiest place on earth will rival hell, but as far as view go this just can't be beat, can it??

http://adisneyworld.disney.go.com/media/dwws/media/MarathonMap05.pdf

Beautiful run today...

Two in a row!

We got up at 5:40am this morning for our Saturday morning group practice (long run). I am really loving these runs - way more than I thought. For one thing, they are different from what I'm accustomed to, and for another the comraderie is really great. We were home a little after 8. Do you know what a great feeling that is - to get up, get out and get home before your children's eyes are even open? It's just fantastic!!!

Wednesday night we went to the shoe clinic. I purchased a new pair of shoes which I am still deciding whether or not I like. When I got back to the starting point my toes were DYING. I vaguely remember a short breaking-in period while the shoes loosen up. I might need to wait it out and see what happens. There are no pressure points. The shoes were very reasonably priced, too; I wouldn't mind finding out this model is my shoe.

Right now the big news is Frances. She's due to hit here sometime tomorrow, but in the meantime we are awaiting the feeder bands. They seem to be pretty harsh THOUGH the good thing is that they seem to be "petering out" as they make their way across the state.

It'll be interesting to see what this evening and tomorrow brings.