Long couple of days.

I just got back from a 3 day road trip to and from Kentucky. I'm pretty tired so more later. I'm planning on a long run tomorrow. See how that goes.

First Long Run?

I'm trying really hard to switch into trail running mode from road running and biking. I have been logging about 100 miles a week on my bike lately. Plus I've been road running for a long time. In road running I've always focused on trying to run whatever distance I choose in the fastest time I possibly can. The most I've ever run is a half-marathon and that took me about 2 hours and 15 minutes. It was a pretty hilly route, but I felt really good the whole way through.

In preparation for the 25K trail run I signed up for in Bandera, TX, I went for a long run. I know some people are not going to think it was long, but I was pretty proud of myself. I ran the big loop at Bastrop State Park and some offshoots for 1 hour and 45 minutes. I walked for another 30 minutes after that. I ran almost the whole route with at least one stake in my hand (I know not the safest thing) that I forgot to pick up yesterday. I also tried to run the whole way including all the hills. I ended up walking one at the very end. I feel like I could have kept walking for another several hours and probably could have kept run/walking for awhile.

So here are the things I feel like I need to work on:
1. Obvious - be able to run for a longer amount of time comfortably
2. Get over my mentality that to stop and walk hills instead of running up them is a wimp out. I NEED to recognize that this is a method of energy conservation not quitting.
3. Hydration and nutrition before, while and after running.

Lost in the Lost Pines Trail Run

Today was the day of the run I organized. It was awesome! We had more people same-day register than we had people who pre-registered. We ended up with almost 100 people complete the run! Almost everyone had good things to say and that they would be back next year.

We did run out of packets and T-shirts for people that registered today, but we posted it everywhere that T-shirts were not guaranteed for same day registration. Anyway, who could have expected a turn-out like that.

I'm glad it was a success because James and I spent almost 5 hours marking the trail last night, most of it in the dark. I was worried that we didn't do a good enough job, but everyone said it was really well marked.

It was fun, but I'm glad it is over for a little while.

Outlaw Trail 100 - 2008

Last Saturday, I participated in the Outlaw Trail 100 bike ride. My friend and I were signed up to do the 63 mile course, and my husband was going to ride the 40. Everything started out okay, even though it was a little cold. About 7 miles into the ride, my friend had a flat tire. It was so odd because I heard his bike making noise, and had just asked him what the sound was. Before he could even answer, I watched the tire pop. It was really weird. Neither one of us had a pump, but a super nice lady gave us her CO2 cartridge and pump and my friend fixed his tire (he had a spare tube). Less than two miles later, my husband had already caught up with us, he had another flat. When he looked at the tire it had a hole in it, so basically even though he had ridden on that tire for less than 100 miles it was trash. He told me and my husband to go on and that he would wait for the sag wagon. So I finished my 50 mile ride and it was challenging. Into the wind and up hills most of the way. It took me about 3 hours and 10 minutes. I enjoyed it though and was really proud of myself when I crossed the finish line. I was glad to find out that my friend was able to ride the 40 mile loop because the sag wagon had a spare tire and tube that they fitted his bike with. My husband also successfully completed the 40 mile ride. Maybe next year I'll remember to bring my camera so I can post pictures.

I voted early!

I voted today. No, I'm not going to tell you who I voted for. I will tell you that I didn't decide until I went to the polling place. I really feel like it is a choice between two bads. I'm not impressed with either presidential candidate or party. I'm just hoping things change for the better with a new president.

Pet visits

Fancy, one of my beasts, is going to be doing "pet visitation" at a local nursing home. I am super excited because I have always wanted to get either Fancy or Mary into a pet therapy program. The nursing home seems excited about having a greyhound visit and if it works out with just Fancy, they want me to bring Mary as well the next time. We don't visit until November, but I am looking forward to it. Fancy is such a little love bug and I'm sure she'll do well.

Filming and going crazy!

So, I was filmed today, along with several other cyclist friends of mine, for a PBS special. No idea when it comes out, but I'm looking forward to seeing if I made the cut. It took 4 1/2 hours to file what will be about a 1 minute segment of the show. It was a lot of fun and the film guy was pretty cool.

I am going crazy with the race I am organizing. It is getting down to the wire and people are going weird. They are obsessing over a T-shirt. Oh well, everything will work out and I'm hopeful that the race will be awesome. Over 50 people are actually going to do the race. How cool is that?

Here are some of the crafts I made for Halloween. The place mats and napkins are made out of skeleton fabric. This was my first attempt at place mats and napkins. I am still in the learning process for sewing. Then I used black pompoms of two different sizes, black pipe cleaners, and little eyeballs to make spider napkin ring holders. The spiders are from a bead package I picked up at Hobby Lobby (HL). They actually glow in the dark. The candle holder idea is from Family Fun magazine. I covered a glass candle holder with scraps of black construction paper that I had cut two holes out of. Then I used glitter mod podge to affix the scraps in a random order. When that was dry I used black paint to paint eyeballs in different styles.

The frames are from a prepackaged Halloween set that I bought somewhere. I attached magnets to the back of the frames. My wonderful husband actually made one of the frames. Inside the frames are pictures of my beautiful beasts!

My first ever blog post.

So, I've been wanting to set up a blog for awhile, but haven't gotten to it. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of crafts I make and rehash the results of my races.

Right now I am currently obsessed with a run I'm organizing. It is the first run I've organized so that is especially nerve-racking. Thankfully, I've met some wonderful people that have really helped me out. Hopefully the Lost in the Lost Pines 5 mile trail run will go off without a hitch!