10 Reasons to Date/Marry a Lady Runner

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

1) Lady Runners won’t hog your computer. We only need it to check our stats.

2) Lady Runners won’t spend ridiculous amounts of money on shoes…. Unless they correct over-pronation.

3) Lady Runners don’t feel jealous of supermodels. We feel jealous of the guy getting a run in while we’re on our way to work.

4) Lady Runners don’t complain about their weight. Lady Runners do something about it!

5) Lady Runners are easy to shop for. You can spend $200 on a new watch or $2 on a wrist band. We’ll love ‘em both.

6) If you forget a birthday or an anniversary, you can present your Lady Runner with a printout confirmation of the Half you just registered her for and she weep with joy over your generosity.

7) No matter what is going wrong, an easy 3 will likely fix it.

8) Lady Runners don’t care where you choose to go on vacation…. As long as there is a running trail somewhere.

9) Lady Runners don’t expect you to understand. We know you don’t get us.

AND....

10) The Lady Runner is 10 times hotter than the Lady Gamer.


I'm sure I could have come with 10 Reasons NOT to Date or Marry a Lady Runner, but this was more fun.

February 18th thru February 20th, 2012 – 14.32 Miles Total

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

These runs were great.

February 18th – 10+ Mile Run

This one was somewhere around 10 miles. My RunKeeper freaked out on me so I don’t know exactly how long it was, but I knew for sure that it wasn’t the 15.10 miles that it posted. After I went online and deleted all of the superfluous points, it came out to 13.85. Awesome, but couldn’t be right. So I mapped it on MapMyRun. Turned out it was closer to 10.

Ah, well. Kind of a bummer, but 10 miles is nothing to sneeze at. Besides, it was challenging because it was hilly. I was especially happy with it because I finished it pretty strong and I was at church the next morning a little stiff but not an ache in sight. SCORE!!

February 20th – 1.13 & 3.19 Mile Runs
These were also great runs.

The first run was a set of sprint intervals that I was able to do while I was taking the morning off with the kids for President’s Day. I asked them to just let me get one mile in. They said “OK” and were true to their word. Right at the one mile mark, they came in claiming they were hungry. I could have sworn I’d just fed them. But when your babies tell you they’re hungry, you gotta feed ‘em.

Chris took the “second shift” and I went into the office to get some reporting done.

The awesome thing about him doing the “Daddy Day Care” thing is that he took care of dinner while I got another run in. This was pretty steady, with some speed intervals worked in. Felt great. Double SCORE!!!



I met with Miss Claudia again last week and she is AMAZING!!! She is a serious runner. She runs 10 miles every morning. We sat and talked about her marathon experience and I was just riveted listening to her talk about it.

While she is *far* better then I will ever be, she did have her own challenges and she was inspiring to listen to. She reminded me that my relationship with running is gonna be my own individual journey. While I would love to be one of those “naturals” like her or my good friend Lloyd or Coach Dion, my experience is valid and blessings will come whether I place in my age group or PR next month or not.

So this is a picture of a completely satisfied woman. I will continue to work on speed and distance. But the most important thing is that I just keep going.

February 16th, 2012 – 2.25 Mile Walk

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

My Half is around the corner and I wanted to train for all aspects of it. Typically, whenever I am running more than 5 miles, I do it 4 minutes on, one minute off.

For this Half, my goal is to run it 9 minutes on and 1 minute off. Since my previous workout incorporated sprints with a 6% incline the whole way, I figured, this had better be my easy day. So I decided to train for the walking intervals.

I’ve never actually trained for the walking intervals, I just figured when I got my audio cue, I’d start walking until I got another one. This was not great. I gotta admit, I did not enjoy forcing myself to power walk for 2.25 miles. I know the walking is important with distance running, but I didn't enjoy this.

I was kinda concerned about what I should do about it, and then….

I got a note from Coach Dion. He said my last “steady” pace was too slow, so I need to pick it up. He clearly thinks I’m some sort of Black Wonder Woman and I love that about him.

Here’s what he told me to try:

Mile 1 take it easy (4mph) to warmup and all, Then start your miles at 5mph (half marathon pace), at .5 up it to 5.5mph (10km pace) then at .75 up to 6mph (5km pace)
If you can do 3 miles like that and then don't walk your cool down, but drop it to 4mph for the song of the day...


A 3-mile run is on the schedule for tonight! I’ll letcha know how it goes.

February 15th, 2012 – 4.01 Mile Run

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

This was a great run, which is tremendous, considering it was on the treadmill. Generally, I don’t enjoy the treadmill workout.

But I had to get this run in… for two reasons: (1) Because it was on the schedule and (2) Because Coach Dion says March is right around the corner so I have to up the training. Damn it, Coach!

Of course, he’s right. If I don’t want to forgo my tapering, I really need to pick it up. Tapering is more important than I tend to give it credit for.

Having a treadmill at home was supposed to be my saving grace, but it turns out that it means I get interrupted quite a lot. My family figure since I’m just in the garage, I’m still at home and available to fetch, wipe, referee and counsel. This gets very frustrating.

Even after staying at the office very late to get to the bottom of some figures that just refused to balance, I was determined to get a 3 mile run in with sprint intervals. I figured this workout was no match for me. I wasn't bested by corporate financials and I wouldn't be bested by a little 3-mile sprint!

However!!! The minute I got home, the boy was beside himself. He had to make a run to Target and everyone in the house was starving. I’m still not clear on why Chris couldn’t take care of this, as he had been home for at least an hour and was watching TV. But I digress. Clearly, these are tasks that require my singular abilities.

So I made a deal with Jordan. I told him to finish his homework while I got in a one-mile sprint. Then we could go and I would get something on the table.

After the trip to Target and a failed attempt to find something healthy on the menu at Burger King, Jordan was satisfied and everyone was fed and watered. After dinner, I was back on the treadmill.

I had completely cooled down, of course, so I still had another 3 miles to push through. By this time, everyone in the house seemed to understand that I was a ticking time-bomb about to blow. If I didn’t get this run in, I would be EXTREMELY grumpy. It’s never good when mom is trippin’, so everybody backed off long enough for me to get this run in.

What made this run great was a steady pace, with sprints at the .75 mark to cap off the miles. At the beginning of each mile I would start at 4 mph, until I hit the .50 mark, then it was 5 mph. After I hit the .75 mark, I would push it to 6 mph to finish out the mile. All of this at a 6% incline while watching old episodes of Community. I love that show.

After I hit the 4 mile mark, I turned on “The Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston (God rest her soul) and cooled down with a .25 walk.

Juggling work, home, family and fitness is no joke but getting it all done feels good.

After all was ran and done, I stretched, iced, showered, shampooed, poured myself a snifter of chocolate-flavored Port and watched John Stewart with Chris.

Good stuff.

January 24th, 2012 thru February 14th, 2014 – 17.19 Miles Total

The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”

Jeez! I am really dropping the ball on blogging and I am really suffering for it. Fortunately my readership is slim at best, so I am letting no one down but myself.

So much has gone on since I last wrote. Let’s see:

1) Jordan’s first eye doctor appointment.
This is a big deal, as Chris and I are both blind as the proverbial bat (should be a mole actually. I dunno how bats got this bum rap. They see very well). Turned out the boy has astigmatism. Guh! Not serious enough for correction yet. But even the doctor said, “It’s about time. With you and Chris as parents, he’s got a lot to worry about”. Really! He said that! Rude! But so true.



2) Glee does MJ!
This is also a huge big deal. I never watch the show but it was Michael!!! They were very respectful to his work and did a fine job. I bought the soundtrack and have been running to it ever since. Love it!



3) Michael Jackson - The Immortal Tour by Cirque du Soleil
Opening Night!!! Yeah, Baby! It’s OK to wish you were me. The show was great. Very talented dancers. Not as good as Michael but what can you expect? It’s Michael!!!



4) Met Claudia for Lunch!
I love Miss Claudia. She is a beautiful young woman who worked for me many moons ago. She was one of my absolute favorites. She was newly married back then and now she has a baby of her own and made the commitment to make motherhood her new career. I am so proud of her! And jealous! My hat is off to the homemaking moms! You are better women than I.


5) Super Bowl XLVI (46)
We went to a party at a friend’s house and had a great time. The “Star Spangled Banner” is my favorite song of all time and Kelly Clarkson did a WONDERFUL job! Not as well as Whitney, but who can expect that? I think the Giants won? I dunno, all I saw was David Beckham.



6) Got our Quarterly Bonus at Work!!!
While I do wish I didn’t have to work so much, I am so grateful to be working for a GREAT company! A company that shares the wealth when they can. Not to mention the fact that Chris works there too! Working with your hubby everyday is AWESOME!!! I highly recommend it.




7) Jordan had his first sleepover
This ran well. This was the first time he had ever hosted a sleep over. All I did was dispersed food and drink and kept the batteries in the X-Box controllers fresh. Easy Peasy.


8) Whitney Houston Dies!!
I couldn’t believe it! Every little Black girl in the late 80’s and early 90’s wanted to be Whitney! I wasn’t ashamed to admit, I was shaken by this one. I know she destroyed herself, but I think it’s a bit ironic that the likes of Bobby Brown and Charlie Sheen get to go on living. Goodbye, Whitney! Say “Hi” to Michael for me. < sad >



9) I invited Sherri to Bunco!!
I’ve been a part of a Bunco group for about 10 years and I love it!!! I’d never invited a friend, though. If you’ve never played, you gotta find a group! Bunco is the most fun you can have with your clothes on!



10) Bought a bottle of Nivole and a nice Chocolate Port
I’m not a drinker by any means, but I do enjoy a nice sipper of California Sherry every once in a while and my absolute favorite table wine is Nivole. If you can find it in your area, I highly recommend it for people who don’t really drink. So sweet. So smooth. Yum! I’ve had the Port in the ‘fridge for days and haven’t tried it yet, but I’ll letcha know how it goes!




11) The Grammy’s!
I have it recorded. Haven’t watched it yet. But I understand it was a Whitney Love-fest and Adele rocked the house. I may have already heard and seen all there is to know about it. So I may just delete it and search the InterNets for the highlights.



12) Valentine’s Day!
Chris got me new radial tires and I got him a new chair for his desk at home. What’dja get? Flowers? < snort! > Seriously, though. I get treated pretty well all year. Valentine’s Day holds no magic for me. The love of a good man makes Valentine’s Day just another day.



Now, on to the run!

January 24th, 2012 – 3.57 Mile Run
January 31st, 2012 – 1.07 Mile Sprint
February 2nd, 2012 – 2.31 Mile Run
February 6th, 2012 – 3.19 Mile Run
February 7th, 2012 – Weight Training (Kettle Bells)
February 8th, 2012 – 2.90 Mile Run
February 13th, 2012 – 4.15 Mile Run