Well today I was "scheduled" to do 8 miles. I hoped that I could finish 6 miles. I haven't been doing well in my running lately. Feeling tired....and just not into it. But today I set out on a course that would take me in a big loop. Therefore making it impossible to cheat...give up or fall off the wagon. I felt pretty good at the beginning of the run and got into a groove once I hit about 3 miles. I was feeling so great that I continued running the whole distance and ended up running 9.26 miles. A full 1.26 miles more than scheduled. I may pay for that tomorrow but I feel great today. It was 61F when I started and 70F when I finished. Still humid as it is most of the year. The only difference with todays run is that I did bring my water bottles. I had been leaving them at home because it has been much cooler (45-55F) and cloudy so I did not bring my amphipod belt with me. Also I have been drinking far too many diet pepsi during the day and not water like I did in the summer time. I need to be better about that.
Tomorrow we are missing Sunday School and Church to go to the OBX Marathon. We are not running but going to cheer on the runners. I know that Ashland Dave is running the marathon so I hope to see him there. It was a last minute thing so I didn't contact Dave until today so he may not get the email in time..but I will look for him anyway. I mean I know what he looks like from his videos.
Well time to relax...I was going to mow the yard but it just started raining so that will have to be put off. May work on the garden...getting the supports up and put in the shed. Fall is here and winter is coming.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
World Wide Half Marathon: Think Global...Run Local
Well I ran my second 1/2 marathon this weekend. Much lower key than the last (and only other) one. Biggest reason is that I got to decide the start time and I had no crowds to cheer me on. I slept in and ran when I was ready. Which felt great. I had printed out my bib with my number #0134 the night before. I finally got myself up out of bed and ready to run around 10:00am. I hadn't really decided on a route yet....that is the beauty of the Garmin 305. Freedom to run where ever I want until the display says 13.1 miles. SMILE The long route that I have previously run was closed because of a bridge repair. I set out the only other direction out of town that doesn't involve a major highway. Run felt really good. I tried to record something to send in but without prior practicing...it went badly. In other words...no recording. But I did figure it out when I got back...so maybe a recording on my next long run????? Who knows??
I headed out of town and decided that I needed to do half of my mileage going away from my house so that I couldn't be tempted to stop early. This plan worked out well. I ran past fields of soybean and cotton...also horses. Very nice day...felt good on the way out. One thing I didn't realize is that I was running with the wind so on the way back I had to work against it. Good thing is that the wind helped to cool me down.
I finished my 13.1 miles in 2:24:36. It wasn't a PR but I was really happy. The previous weekend I had run a 5K and gotten a PR. My mileage in the past two weeks had not been at the level that I wanted but I had gotten up to 10 miles on my long run. Now that I have no races in the near future I can concentrate on running for fun. Plus this is getting to be the best time for running because it is cooling down for Fall...yea!
I really enjoyed being part of the World Wide Half Marathon. I had run other virtual races on Sparkpeople.com but there wasn't so much cool stuff involved...like the race bib, goody bag and Phedips podcast with shoutouts. I waited to listen to Phedips "Cheers from a little blue bubble"podcast until my last hour of my run. I was so excited to hear my call in and to hear people cheering me on by name....it really helped me in my run. I greatly appreciated it.
I am going to take a break from running for the rest of the weekend and start again strong on Monday.
Congratulations to all the other runners in the World Wide Festivals of Races.
I headed out of town and decided that I needed to do half of my mileage going away from my house so that I couldn't be tempted to stop early. This plan worked out well. I ran past fields of soybean and cotton...also horses. Very nice day...felt good on the way out. One thing I didn't realize is that I was running with the wind so on the way back I had to work against it. Good thing is that the wind helped to cool me down.
I finished my 13.1 miles in 2:24:36. It wasn't a PR but I was really happy. The previous weekend I had run a 5K and gotten a PR. My mileage in the past two weeks had not been at the level that I wanted but I had gotten up to 10 miles on my long run. Now that I have no races in the near future I can concentrate on running for fun. Plus this is getting to be the best time for running because it is cooling down for Fall...yea!
I really enjoyed being part of the World Wide Half Marathon. I had run other virtual races on Sparkpeople.com but there wasn't so much cool stuff involved...like the race bib, goody bag and Phedips podcast with shoutouts. I waited to listen to Phedips "Cheers from a little blue bubble"podcast until my last hour of my run. I was so excited to hear my call in and to hear people cheering me on by name....it really helped me in my run. I greatly appreciated it.
I am going to take a break from running for the rest of the weekend and start again strong on Monday.
Congratulations to all the other runners in the World Wide Festivals of Races.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
5th Annual Edenton Peanut Run 5K
Well today I ran in the 5th Annual Edenton Peanut Run 5K. This is the race that kept me running in my early running years. I have ran in it every year. This year the temp was great. 49F when we left the house at 6:45am. Race started at 8am. Saw a lot of friends this year. My fellow running group runner, Jerry came to cheer for everyone but wasn't running. The other adult in my running group...Nicole also came and ran in the race. She did great....and beat her last 5K time from the previous weekend.
Wasn't sure how this race was going to be because I started suffering from allergies this past Saturday. Thought it was a cold at first because it really knocked me down. Didn't used to get allergies but I guess that is just part of getting older. I only got out to run 2 days this past week. Also had cramps...not sure what it is but seems that time of the month always comes right when I have a race to run.
Started the race out quick. 62 runners/walkers total. Seemed that half took off with the gun. I held back a little and was running a 8:00-8:10 minute pace for the .5 mile. Then I slowed down to a 8:22. I looked up my previous PR this morning and looked at the wrong place for my pace so I thought it was 8:22 . It was actually 8:58. I wanted a PR so I tried to keep it at 8:22 for as long as possible. After I finished I realized my mistake because my overall time was less than last year. Oh well that must have worked to my advantage because it kept me going. (1st mile 8:13, 2nd mile 8:27 , 3rd mile 8:43)
I finished race in a PR time of 26:14 (previous PR 27:47). I also won second place in my age group 30-39. In previous years I have won second place once and third place twice in my age group. Seems that over all we had more new FAST runners this year so I was fortunate to get a medal at all. In fact the 40-49 women's times were VERY fast. Not sure if I would have gotten any medal in that age group.
Overall I was VERY happy with the way the race went. I felt good the whole time. The temps kept me cool and no pain anywhere.
Now I have to prepare for the World Wide Half Marathon this coming weekend. I am just going to try to finish it. It will be my second half marathon.
Wasn't sure how this race was going to be because I started suffering from allergies this past Saturday. Thought it was a cold at first because it really knocked me down. Didn't used to get allergies but I guess that is just part of getting older. I only got out to run 2 days this past week. Also had cramps...not sure what it is but seems that time of the month always comes right when I have a race to run.
Started the race out quick. 62 runners/walkers total. Seemed that half took off with the gun. I held back a little and was running a 8:00-8:10 minute pace for the .5 mile. Then I slowed down to a 8:22. I looked up my previous PR this morning and looked at the wrong place for my pace so I thought it was 8:22 . It was actually 8:58. I wanted a PR so I tried to keep it at 8:22 for as long as possible. After I finished I realized my mistake because my overall time was less than last year. Oh well that must have worked to my advantage because it kept me going. (1st mile 8:13, 2nd mile 8:27 , 3rd mile 8:43)
I finished race in a PR time of 26:14 (previous PR 27:47). I also won second place in my age group 30-39. In previous years I have won second place once and third place twice in my age group. Seems that over all we had more new FAST runners this year so I was fortunate to get a medal at all. In fact the 40-49 women's times were VERY fast. Not sure if I would have gotten any medal in that age group.
Overall I was VERY happy with the way the race went. I felt good the whole time. The temps kept me cool and no pain anywhere.
Now I have to prepare for the World Wide Half Marathon this coming weekend. I am just going to try to finish it. It will be my second half marathon.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
What's up with the ducks!!
I am adding an additional post today to respond to two comments I had about :What is the deal with the ducks?
In my job as a Waterfowl Technician, on July 1st till till mid September I band wood ducks. I catch the wood ducks with a rocket net. I put out corn to get them up close to the net and then shoot a ~60'x40' net over them. It has three rockets attached to the net that pulls the net out VERY quickly. They are incredible flyers and even though they are 3 foot from the net many of the birds are caught on the outer edge of the net when it comes out. The US Fish and Wildlife Service provides aluminum bands that we put on each duck...it goes on their right leg. Why do we do this? Wood ducks...as their name implies live in woody areas...like swamps and small streams. They spend most of their time in areas where you can not count them easily. Other ducks can be counted with aerial surveys because they spend their time in open water areas. Because of this we band wood ducks so that the US Fish and Wildlife Service can better estimate the population and other stuff using statistics. When a hunter kills a wood duck in the coming hunting season they will report the band number to the USFWS. The USFWS uses these banded birds to find out about migration, life-span and survival rate, reproductive success and population growth. For a much better explanation please check out the link to the Bird Banding Laboratory: http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/ That site covers Why Birds are banded?,History of Banding, Who bands birds?...etc. It is very interesting.(atleast to me it is)
I am now finished with banding wood ducks. My next job duty is to maintain, clean and record data from the 550 wood duck nest boxes that we take care of. Wood ducks are cavity nesters and we put out boxes to help boost the population since many larger trees are being cut down. The boxes are located on ~35 rivers,streams,etc in ~13 counties. It takes me about 2 months to check them all.
When the ducklings hatch out of the egg they pull the egg membrane out. This membrane drys and is left in the box. When I check a box I count the membranes...which lets us know how many ducklings were hatched and left the box. I also record eggs left in the box and also dead ducklings.
A hazard to this job is that wasps love the boxes also and I have killed hundreds of wasps in a single box. Also there is an occassional black snake..which is no big deal. We also get other birds that use the boxes like: hooded mergansers, flickers, screech owls, prothonotary warblers...etc.
Most of these boxes are checked by using a boat but some are on retention ponds or beside a stream in the swamp and we use waders to walk to them.
Hope this post has answered some of your questions....let me know if I need to explain anything further. Have a great day.
In my job as a Waterfowl Technician, on July 1st till till mid September I band wood ducks. I catch the wood ducks with a rocket net. I put out corn to get them up close to the net and then shoot a ~60'x40' net over them. It has three rockets attached to the net that pulls the net out VERY quickly. They are incredible flyers and even though they are 3 foot from the net many of the birds are caught on the outer edge of the net when it comes out. The US Fish and Wildlife Service provides aluminum bands that we put on each duck...it goes on their right leg. Why do we do this? Wood ducks...as their name implies live in woody areas...like swamps and small streams. They spend most of their time in areas where you can not count them easily. Other ducks can be counted with aerial surveys because they spend their time in open water areas. Because of this we band wood ducks so that the US Fish and Wildlife Service can better estimate the population and other stuff using statistics. When a hunter kills a wood duck in the coming hunting season they will report the band number to the USFWS. The USFWS uses these banded birds to find out about migration, life-span and survival rate, reproductive success and population growth. For a much better explanation please check out the link to the Bird Banding Laboratory: http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/ That site covers Why Birds are banded?,History of Banding, Who bands birds?...etc. It is very interesting.(atleast to me it is)
I am now finished with banding wood ducks. My next job duty is to maintain, clean and record data from the 550 wood duck nest boxes that we take care of. Wood ducks are cavity nesters and we put out boxes to help boost the population since many larger trees are being cut down. The boxes are located on ~35 rivers,streams,etc in ~13 counties. It takes me about 2 months to check them all.
When the ducklings hatch out of the egg they pull the egg membrane out. This membrane drys and is left in the box. When I check a box I count the membranes...which lets us know how many ducklings were hatched and left the box. I also record eggs left in the box and also dead ducklings.
A hazard to this job is that wasps love the boxes also and I have killed hundreds of wasps in a single box. Also there is an occassional black snake..which is no big deal. We also get other birds that use the boxes like: hooded mergansers, flickers, screech owls, prothonotary warblers...etc.
Most of these boxes are checked by using a boat but some are on retention ponds or beside a stream in the swamp and we use waders to walk to them.
Hope this post has answered some of your questions....let me know if I need to explain anything further. Have a great day.
Worse Long Run to Date!!
Well I went out today with high hopes of running 10-11 miles. Didn't feel that great. Could be the wedding food that I ate yesterday or that I forgot to eat breakfast before going to church this morning. Either way it wasn't good. I ate a good lunch and gave my body 2 hours to process it. Then I headed out. That was obviously not a good plan. In my 3rd mile I realized I HAD to find a bathroom somewhere. Problem is that I live in a small town and everything is closed on Sunday. Besides the fact that I was not in "town" so there were just houses and fields. Well I found a field to hide in..... Still didn't feel great after that problem. But decided to keep going since I was 3 miles from my house anyway. I had to stop and walk several times and my stomach felt a bit sick at one point. Also my knees felt stiff. But again I kept going. Decided to just head back home and ended at the house with 8 miles on the Garmin. Surprise to me...was that when I linked the Garmin up that I had forgotten to turn it back on twice after breaks. I had to go to mapmyrun.com to estimate the distance that I had missed. Turned out to be atleast 1 mile. That made me feel a bit better. So now I am at 9 miles for my long run which isn't so bad. I have a 5K this Saturday and another the Saturday after that. I am running the World Wide Half on the following Saturday. After that I am taking a break from the long runs for a bit. Then my next planned race is December 27th in Clermont, FL.(I will be there for Christmas) I hope to meet up with some friends from Twitter and run a half marathon. That should be great fun. I am now going to relax and catch up on some more TV shows via the internet.
This week at work I will start checking wood duck boxes. Should be great fun but always a bit stressful as you change from one task to another. Once this week is finished then I will be in the swing of it. Takes about 1 1/2 -2 months to check all 550 wood ducks boxes that I manage. Always exciting. Will update on my progress or any exciting things that I see on my boat rides.
Oh and just to end the post with a odd note...I ran past two dead oppossums,one dead mourning dove and one dead "thing" that was unrecognizable. Maybe all of that was causing my stomach upset....SMILE
This week at work I will start checking wood duck boxes. Should be great fun but always a bit stressful as you change from one task to another. Once this week is finished then I will be in the swing of it. Takes about 1 1/2 -2 months to check all 550 wood ducks boxes that I manage. Always exciting. Will update on my progress or any exciting things that I see on my boat rides.
Oh and just to end the post with a odd note...I ran past two dead oppossums,one dead mourning dove and one dead "thing" that was unrecognizable. Maybe all of that was causing my stomach upset....SMILE
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Indian Summer Cross Country 6K
This morning I ran the Indian Summer Cross Country 6K. This is the first Cross Country race that I have participated in. The race went well. I finished in 36:33. There were only 20 participants. First year for the race. I was 5th or 6th overall and 2nd woman to finish. I made good time on the paved part of the race but since most of the race was around soybeans field....my time went down there. Two guys that were running the race twisted their ankles. It was 77F, 89% humidity and 7mph wind when I left the house at 7:00am. Race started at 8:00am.
Since today or tomorrow were going to be my long run days....9 miles. I decided to run home from the race. I took the long way through town and then back to the house. That added another 4 miles to the day. Lately my mileage has gone through the roof. Now two weeks in a row over 30 miles in a week. Which is more running that I have ever done. I am really excited about that. Can't wait till it gets cooler because that is when my running gets much better. I should be able to run much faster then. My husband has friends coming in two weeks to run in the Waterway 5K in Elizabeth City. I will not be running home from that race...Not up to 20+miles yet. SMILE
Work has been going really great. Last year I beat the record of wood ducks trapped with 586 ducks. This year I smashed that record with 867 wood ducks. And I wish I could trap more but I have a meeting and bow season for deer starts on Monday and I can't have bait out on the game lands.
I just finished getting dressed up for our church directory pictures. I hope they turn out good. I have tried to lose weight for awhile and all of a sudden this past month my weight started to go down. Guess I finished building muscle and the mileage is burning Fat. I have gone from an avg weight of 140lbs to my weight this AM was 133.5lbs. I feel really great and will keep it up till I am a lean mean running machine....SMILE
Well gotta take off for the pictures. I am going to try to keep posting on the blog. I hope for great things to come.
Since today or tomorrow were going to be my long run days....9 miles. I decided to run home from the race. I took the long way through town and then back to the house. That added another 4 miles to the day. Lately my mileage has gone through the roof. Now two weeks in a row over 30 miles in a week. Which is more running that I have ever done. I am really excited about that. Can't wait till it gets cooler because that is when my running gets much better. I should be able to run much faster then. My husband has friends coming in two weeks to run in the Waterway 5K in Elizabeth City. I will not be running home from that race...Not up to 20+miles yet. SMILE
Work has been going really great. Last year I beat the record of wood ducks trapped with 586 ducks. This year I smashed that record with 867 wood ducks. And I wish I could trap more but I have a meeting and bow season for deer starts on Monday and I can't have bait out on the game lands.
I just finished getting dressed up for our church directory pictures. I hope they turn out good. I have tried to lose weight for awhile and all of a sudden this past month my weight started to go down. Guess I finished building muscle and the mileage is burning Fat. I have gone from an avg weight of 140lbs to my weight this AM was 133.5lbs. I feel really great and will keep it up till I am a lean mean running machine....SMILE
Well gotta take off for the pictures. I am going to try to keep posting on the blog. I hope for great things to come.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Run Run Run!!!
Running is going good. Ran my second 10 miler on Sunday. Took yesterday off....I was thinking about taking the day off of running today also. I am now sitting in my running "outfit"....debating about going out in the 90F heat of the day. It is 4:00 now. Can't wait till much later than 5:00 because we are meeting Jon's brother and his wife for dinner. It was Jeremy's birthday this past week.
I didn't sleep well last night. Kept thinking about Tabitha son that died in the car accident and how horrible the family must feel. Like they are in a nightmare that they can't wake up from. I know horrible things happen all of the world each day....but when it is someone that you know. It makes a difference.
Good day at trapping Wood Ducks. Shot at North River this morning and caught 66 new ducks and 11 recaptures. About 150 ducks were there total. They didn't want to eat corn and so I ended up shooting the net over them when they were about 3 foot away from the bait. That brings the grand total up to 790 ducks this year. Last year I broke the record with 586 ducks. So this year I have blown that number away and I still have about 2 more times to trap.
Well I better go out and run.....
I didn't sleep well last night. Kept thinking about Tabitha son that died in the car accident and how horrible the family must feel. Like they are in a nightmare that they can't wake up from. I know horrible things happen all of the world each day....but when it is someone that you know. It makes a difference.
Good day at trapping Wood Ducks. Shot at North River this morning and caught 66 new ducks and 11 recaptures. About 150 ducks were there total. They didn't want to eat corn and so I ended up shooting the net over them when they were about 3 foot away from the bait. That brings the grand total up to 790 ducks this year. Last year I broke the record with 586 ducks. So this year I have blown that number away and I still have about 2 more times to trap.
Well I better go out and run.....
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