Thursday, July 31, 2008
Just Got Back....
I just got back from Hong Kong and Macau on Monday night.....will post more pictures and talk about my trip soon...in the meantime here is a shot from the hike that BAS and I did in Hong Kong on the Hong Kong Trail/Dragon's Back.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Week and Weekend Review...
So sorry it has taken me FOREVER to write...I have been getting ready to go visit BAS in Macau and Hong Kong. I leave on Weds - and I'm going to attempt to keep to my training schedule....(well, minus the ballet).
Last week update:
I went to Ballet on Monday and the well-dressed were there. My favorite ballerina was wearing black ballet shoes, pink tights, a black leotard, and black skirt....oh and her pink legwarmers....it was great!! Ballet was fun....but my feet were sore after it.
Tuesday I had a 4 mile tempo run. I did not drink enough water and felt horrible the entire run. I think the ground started moving up and down...my vision was that distorted. On a good note - my knee felt fine!!
Thursday we did 6 sets of 400 meter repeats at the Active Oval. My knee still felt really great...
Saturday we did a 10 mile long run. The run started closer to 9am...and was very HOT. My car said 90 when I got back in it after the run. I really need to treat these runs more like races since its so hot outside - and hydrate more!! My knee felt pretty good during the run. I did walk up and then back down a huge hill - and tried to take it easy.
Tonight I'm skipping ballet - - need to get packing!! I will write more when I get to Hong Kong and Macau!!
Last week update:
I went to Ballet on Monday and the well-dressed were there. My favorite ballerina was wearing black ballet shoes, pink tights, a black leotard, and black skirt....oh and her pink legwarmers....it was great!! Ballet was fun....but my feet were sore after it.
Tuesday I had a 4 mile tempo run. I did not drink enough water and felt horrible the entire run. I think the ground started moving up and down...my vision was that distorted. On a good note - my knee felt fine!!
Thursday we did 6 sets of 400 meter repeats at the Active Oval. My knee still felt really great...
Saturday we did a 10 mile long run. The run started closer to 9am...and was very HOT. My car said 90 when I got back in it after the run. I really need to treat these runs more like races since its so hot outside - and hydrate more!! My knee felt pretty good during the run. I did walk up and then back down a huge hill - and tried to take it easy.
Tonight I'm skipping ballet - - need to get packing!! I will write more when I get to Hong Kong and Macau!!
Monday, July 7, 2008
6 and 6...
So last week I really slacked off...I skipped my tempo run - with a great hope of running on Wednesday (which never happened). I did run the Peachtree Road Race on the 4th...and the next day I had a six mile run with the group.
The First Six (well almost six) -
The Peachtree was a lot of fun....I cheated this year! Every year I end up standing around for what seams like FOREVER waiting in my corral....while the ex (who always turns in past 10k times) would start in the first corral and be done with the race before I even started. These corrals move slower than any half marathon I have ever done....but there are 50k+ people running it (making the Peachtree the largest 10k in the world). So this year I ran with RS, EM, and RS's friend. We jumped in about .5 miles into the race....after the 3rd corral had passed by. For some reason I always thought that the people that jumped in would go to "Peachtree Jail" or something....so I was always afraid to even entertain the idea of jumping in. Well, it was well worth it!! The whole goal for this race was to see how much I could consume on the race route and have a lot of fun. There are always doughnuts outside of the Big Peach Publix...about a mile into the "official race" (a 1/2 mile into my race). I have never partaken in the doughnuts being afraid I would throw up along the race route.... (besides serious runner don't eat doughnuts during a race, right?!?!....). My biggest "drop the hammer"/sprint moment in the entire race came when I saw ladies holding trays of doughnuts....I booked it up to them. To my surprise - there was even a selection of doughnuts this year (they knew I was coming!). Not to get too crazy (chocolate with sprinkles would have been a little over the top) - I selected a honey dip doughnut (less mess). It took me about a mile to consume the entire doughnut. I wanted to throw it away a couple times, but I didn't want to litter on the route (I live on the route). After I finished the doughnut.. at about mile 3 - I saw a little girl and her family handing out watermelon. I picked up a slice of watermelon and ate most of it. Later on - about mile 4 I had my best race treat - a freezy pop!! It was great!! RS handed me a beer at some point during the race - but I thought that wouldn't mix well with the doughnut so I passed. After the freezy pop - I gave up my food search (well, actually I didn't see anymore food) and focused on running. EM and I ended up leaving RS and her friend behind as they waited for some people on the race route. We continued along the course....and EM ran her longest distance ever. She was awesome!! We crossed the finished line, picked our coveted t-shirts, and headed over for food (as if I hadn't had enough!!). So the Peachtree was very fun!! I had a great time running with friends...and eating - it was a fun event on the 4th.
The Second Six -
Saturday, I woke up early and headed over to meet my running group. Since most of the group ran the Peachtree (and I mean actually ran the Peachtree unlike myself) we had a drop down run of 6 miles. It was a very hilly 6 miles as we ran from Poncey Highlands down to downtown Atlanta. The sidewalks were fine on this run as we headed down to the city. We did see an unusual sight on our run...as we crossed a major intersection heading towards the World of Coke...we saw a bunch of homeless people circling around something....on the way back (it was an out and back run) we passed the group again...the police had arrived and there was a body in a body bag laying on the ground. Not a common sight on a run....even for Atlanta. The run was hard for me....the downhills agitated my knee a little... I feel like I'm starting to get stronger - maybe my IT Band will get back to normal soon!
This week should be fun...I have ballet tonight, tempo run on Tuesday, Thursday track workout, and Saturday a long run. Then next Wednesday I'm heading to Macau/Hong Kong for a little less than two weeks....I will try to get some runs done over there!! Should be interesting. Hope everyone had a great 4th!!
The First Six (well almost six) -
The Peachtree was a lot of fun....I cheated this year! Every year I end up standing around for what seams like FOREVER waiting in my corral....while the ex (who always turns in past 10k times) would start in the first corral and be done with the race before I even started. These corrals move slower than any half marathon I have ever done....but there are 50k+ people running it (making the Peachtree the largest 10k in the world). So this year I ran with RS, EM, and RS's friend. We jumped in about .5 miles into the race....after the 3rd corral had passed by. For some reason I always thought that the people that jumped in would go to "Peachtree Jail" or something....so I was always afraid to even entertain the idea of jumping in. Well, it was well worth it!! The whole goal for this race was to see how much I could consume on the race route and have a lot of fun. There are always doughnuts outside of the Big Peach Publix...about a mile into the "official race" (a 1/2 mile into my race). I have never partaken in the doughnuts being afraid I would throw up along the race route.... (besides serious runner don't eat doughnuts during a race, right?!?!....). My biggest "drop the hammer"/sprint moment in the entire race came when I saw ladies holding trays of doughnuts....I booked it up to them. To my surprise - there was even a selection of doughnuts this year (they knew I was coming!). Not to get too crazy (chocolate with sprinkles would have been a little over the top) - I selected a honey dip doughnut (less mess). It took me about a mile to consume the entire doughnut. I wanted to throw it away a couple times, but I didn't want to litter on the route (I live on the route). After I finished the doughnut.. at about mile 3 - I saw a little girl and her family handing out watermelon. I picked up a slice of watermelon and ate most of it. Later on - about mile 4 I had my best race treat - a freezy pop!! It was great!! RS handed me a beer at some point during the race - but I thought that wouldn't mix well with the doughnut so I passed. After the freezy pop - I gave up my food search (well, actually I didn't see anymore food) and focused on running. EM and I ended up leaving RS and her friend behind as they waited for some people on the race route. We continued along the course....and EM ran her longest distance ever. She was awesome!! We crossed the finished line, picked our coveted t-shirts, and headed over for food (as if I hadn't had enough!!). So the Peachtree was very fun!! I had a great time running with friends...and eating - it was a fun event on the 4th.
The Second Six -
Saturday, I woke up early and headed over to meet my running group. Since most of the group ran the Peachtree (and I mean actually ran the Peachtree unlike myself) we had a drop down run of 6 miles. It was a very hilly 6 miles as we ran from Poncey Highlands down to downtown Atlanta. The sidewalks were fine on this run as we headed down to the city. We did see an unusual sight on our run...as we crossed a major intersection heading towards the World of Coke...we saw a bunch of homeless people circling around something....on the way back (it was an out and back run) we passed the group again...the police had arrived and there was a body in a body bag laying on the ground. Not a common sight on a run....even for Atlanta. The run was hard for me....the downhills agitated my knee a little... I feel like I'm starting to get stronger - maybe my IT Band will get back to normal soon!
This week should be fun...I have ballet tonight, tempo run on Tuesday, Thursday track workout, and Saturday a long run. Then next Wednesday I'm heading to Macau/Hong Kong for a little less than two weeks....I will try to get some runs done over there!! Should be interesting. Hope everyone had a great 4th!!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Where the Sidewalk Ends....
The post should be really titled "where the sidewalk is torn up and full of cracks and holes....Atlanta!".
Saturday, I had my 9 mile run. It wasn't as successful of a run as I had hoped - but at least I got the mileage. My knee was sore from physical therapy so I had to walk a bunch. There also was a little diversion off the proposed course (aka I gotta little lost). I also almost tripped a couple times running on Atlanta's beautiful sidewalks. Which brings me to my post title....if there is any danger in my running in the beautiful city of Atlanta - it is not going to be from getting lost and landing in a bad area of town (well maybe), robbers on my route or stray dogs....about 90% of the danger lies in the beautiful sidewalks that line the streets of Atlanta.
I run in some nice neighborhoods that surround Candler Park, Piedmont Park, Lake Clare,Inman Park, etc (note: pictures above are not of those neighborhoods)....and the sidewalks are horrible. Sometimes pieces of the sidewalks are loose and move when your foot hits them. On a run last year a piece of concrete actually flew up in the air and landed on my foot. MH has been known to trip on an unruly sidewalk near Inman Park. I just know that if I don't pay careful attention I'm going to trip at some point and fall completely on my face. Not to mention it does wonders for the IT Band.
But I found help!! Maybe. PEDS!! This little website is a pedestrian advocacy organization where you can report such issues. The website allows you to report broken sidewalks, broken pedestrian symbols, etc. (Now I know where people get those "SLOW" signs that I see on various yards - I used to think they were meant to tell me to slow down my super running speed :)!) Sorry to complain - - - It's just frustrating that such an active running city has such poor surfaces to run on! So on my next run - when I encounter huge cracks, a sidewalk like mountain of cracked concrete, or huge holes...I will write it up on that site and just maybe something will happen.
On another note - ballet was very fun last night! I made friends with the super dressed ballet lady....and by "made friends" I said a hello and asked her how long she had been dancing. I'm starting to appreciate the "properly dressed" ballet participants (we are not yet ballerinas) - it wouldn't be such a great class without them. Last night we didn't have to spot (thank goodness)...but we did a lot of jumps and some serious stretching. After the class, the school offered a free Pilates class. I stayed for the class - and boy was it HARD.... I found my powerhouse....I think...and really tried to work on the movements. The cool thing about Pilates is that its not about how the actions look (like Ballet). It is really about using your muscles and working efficiently even if you can't fully extend in a position. I really had a great time...and I'm going to take a class again soon!
Tonight is my tempo run.....the run that my knee is not a fan of - hoping for the best!!
Saturday, I had my 9 mile run. It wasn't as successful of a run as I had hoped - but at least I got the mileage. My knee was sore from physical therapy so I had to walk a bunch. There also was a little diversion off the proposed course (aka I gotta little lost). I also almost tripped a couple times running on Atlanta's beautiful sidewalks. Which brings me to my post title....if there is any danger in my running in the beautiful city of Atlanta - it is not going to be from getting lost and landing in a bad area of town (well maybe), robbers on my route or stray dogs....about 90% of the danger lies in the beautiful sidewalks that line the streets of Atlanta.
I run in some nice neighborhoods that surround Candler Park, Piedmont Park, Lake Clare,Inman Park, etc (note: pictures above are not of those neighborhoods)....and the sidewalks are horrible. Sometimes pieces of the sidewalks are loose and move when your foot hits them. On a run last year a piece of concrete actually flew up in the air and landed on my foot. MH has been known to trip on an unruly sidewalk near Inman Park. I just know that if I don't pay careful attention I'm going to trip at some point and fall completely on my face. Not to mention it does wonders for the IT Band.
But I found help!! Maybe. PEDS!! This little website is a pedestrian advocacy organization where you can report such issues. The website allows you to report broken sidewalks, broken pedestrian symbols, etc. (Now I know where people get those "SLOW" signs that I see on various yards - I used to think they were meant to tell me to slow down my super running speed :)!) Sorry to complain - - - It's just frustrating that such an active running city has such poor surfaces to run on! So on my next run - when I encounter huge cracks, a sidewalk like mountain of cracked concrete, or huge holes...I will write it up on that site and just maybe something will happen.
On another note - ballet was very fun last night! I made friends with the super dressed ballet lady....and by "made friends" I said a hello and asked her how long she had been dancing. I'm starting to appreciate the "properly dressed" ballet participants (we are not yet ballerinas) - it wouldn't be such a great class without them. Last night we didn't have to spot (thank goodness)...but we did a lot of jumps and some serious stretching. After the class, the school offered a free Pilates class. I stayed for the class - and boy was it HARD.... I found my powerhouse....I think...and really tried to work on the movements. The cool thing about Pilates is that its not about how the actions look (like Ballet). It is really about using your muscles and working efficiently even if you can't fully extend in a position. I really had a great time...and I'm going to take a class again soon!
Tonight is my tempo run.....the run that my knee is not a fan of - hoping for the best!!
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