Whoo! Hoo!

My longest running year was 612 miles in 2004. Today I have run 632 miles already this year, so it's looking like I might make 700 this year with ease. God's brought me a long way since 25 years ago when I walked with a cane!

23 mile week. . .

It's fall, and that means the temps are a bit cooler and the humidity lessened. And it's time to train for longer races again. The little girls stayed over Saturday night. After their baths I carefully curled their hair in tiny rollers. Magdalena's normally straight hair was a mass of tight curls in a halo around her head. Eliza had opted for a bit larger rollers, and hers was more wavy -- it's also longer so the weight pulled it a bit. I grabbed a skinny hot curling iron, and curled it tighter, as she so liked Maggie's hair and wanted hers more like that. When Mom and Dad came to pick them up for church, I took pony tailers and made "waterfalls" of the top section. They looked so cute! Eliza had this long banana curl going up through and down one side of her pony tailer. Magdalena's ended up being a curl popping out the top. So they went home happy -- having, the day before, done some sprints with Gramma, gone shopping for some art supplies, and spent an evening drawing, eating, and chilling out before crashing on blankets on the living room floor.

Nonetheless between the slumber party with the grandchildren and a race on Saturday, I was pretty tired when Butch and I headed out about 3:30 p.m. for an 8 mile training run. It couldn't wait till today because I have appointments all day. We weren't fast, but we did it. That 8- mile-run ended a 23-mile week -- the highest mileage week since the Dam to Dam in Des Moines on Memorial Day weekend.

Guidance systems for heart caths . . .

Ran a 5K Saturday beginning at the U.Va Campus. This race was in memory of a professor who came home from church feeling a bit ill. She went to the hospital a few hours later and was gone by evening. A virus attacked her system so fast nothing could be done. Our friend George told us the story as he escorted us to his lab.

I understand that the GPS system I've discussed before, the system that guides catheters into the heart is in use, and has actually been used about 20,000 times. Now he and the grad students are working on more accurate systems for treating heart arrhythmias. He has a heart and lung stimulator in his office, and is working on a system that will let a doctor know exactly when a needle has reached that thin layer of fluid between the heart muscle and the lining around the heart. His workbench and labs were neat and tidy, with tubes, rods and catheters in carefully labelled glass tubes. There was a magnet carefully placed beneath a glass bell jar, as the magnet is one of the strongest in the world.

Two years he's been working on the system for reaching the fluid around the heart. I asked how he managed to keep on working on a project that long, and he said something to the effect that you just keep thinking about all the people that will be helped.

It was a fascinating way to end the race. And when I got home there was a thank-you note e-mailed to me for taking the time to visit his lab. I hadn't even had time to write him a note thanking him, as I had had the little girls for an overnight.

I'd Rather be in Iowa

I can't think of a place I'd rather live than right here in the Shenandoah Valley where I can run free whenever I want without worry about weather or whatever. But then there are times when I'd rather be back home in Iowa -- like last summer when my birthplace and childhood home were inundated with floodwaters and I wanted to help; and like today when I'd love to snuggle this new grandnephew. He was about 24 hours old when the above photo was taken and then sent via e-mail. His coming out party was no picnic for his mama who had to push hard for 2 1/2 hours before Harper could see the world; but she did it and Grannie Annie (my sis) has repeatedly stated how proud she is of Aubrey, too.
Harper did NOT like his first bath but he sure seems to know and love his daddy already. The photo below makes me think of something I read years ago in a book titled, How to Really Love Your Child. The author stated that a baby's eyes will search crazily for eye contact; that almost immediately after birth it craves for the affection it feels when seen eye to eye. I found that to be true oftentimes when my girls and granddaughters were little -- just holding them tight, looking them in the eye and speaking softly would calm them. And Harper seems quite content there snuggled in Daddy's strong arms where they can gaze at each other eye to eye.

South River Overlook

Water only trickled across the falls off South River Trail Sunday, but the scenery was still mesmerizing and the 2.9 mile trek worth the view. Though contemplating the view in this photo, about an hourlier Butch was ecstatic as his "senior status" got him a lifetime pass to Skyline Trail and all national parks for just $10.

Natural Botox

The swelling from a bug bite Saturday temporarily removed the furrow that's normally between my brows. See natural is not always better! This bite itched. Besides that it removed not just the furrow but added a bump in the middle of my forehead as well. And the wrinkle remover was only temporary.

Grace or Community?

As I left a retreat Saturday, I saw this sign, did a double take and burst out laughing. For according to this sign grace is available on the right; community is available on the left; but both are not available at the same time. In a few judgmental communities, that may be true. But most of the time I have been able to find community AND grace amongst my friends; and this sign was actually abbreviating the names of two churches that were meeting on opposite sides of Brethren Woods Campground Saturday: Community Mennonite Church and Grace Fellowship.

Mile by mile. . .

If I had run the miles I've run in a continuous east to west direction across the United States, I'd be about 2/3 of the way to the west coast by now. I reached my 2000th mile in August. That's not much per year according to running standards, but it does illustrate a point about "steady plodding." Goals can be reached with a steady, disciplined effort; and, if necessary, goal revision and flexibility.

2003 - 22 miles (my first year as a "runner")
2004 - 612 miles
2005 - 391 (Near the end of the year I bounced down the side of a cliff and fell into an icy creek, a discouraging setback -- but nothing that could not be overcome. Thanks to the help of a trainer at the Canandaigua Y, and a re-vamped training program, I DID get back to running after a haitius with an elliptical machine and cycling)
2006 - 214.5 (still recovering)
2007 - 431 (All but 88 of these miles were in the last half of the year because of another setback -- a move to hilly Virginia, where I had to lower mileage till my body learned how to run hills)
2008 -- as of 8/31 - 560 miles

Grand total - 2,230 miles

If I stay well and injury free, this year will be the year of my highest mileage. It has been the year of my fastest times, and the year with the most races (39 so far).

#39 of 50 - The Pepsi 5K

Butch is on the right; don't know #986. Courtesy photo. I had a photo of Sharon, too; what did I do with that?

Race 39 for the year was the Pepsi 10K (6.2 miles), a benefit for Special Olympics. The course began near Crozet, VA, at Merryweather School. Heat index was 92 degrees, and the temperature was about 88 at 8:00 a.m. when the race began. There were about 400 runners, double that course's usual, according to the announcer.

Though the hills didn't seem steep, they seemed to go on and on forever. I found myself slogging along at all out effort but running slow and then I'd crest and head downhill a spell, and realize I'd run another one.

Mile one was 8:14 minues. Mile two was 8:30. And the mile times just climbed after that. I should have had a sports drink before beginning this one. But this time of year it's pretty hard to tell; it felt pretty cool when we left home at around 6:00 a.m. I'm confident I gave this one everything I had though. Legs hurt. Stomach was complaining. Lungs held out though; I used my inhaler x2 before starting. So I feel pretty good about it.

Butch came in right around 1 hour. Our friends George and Susan weren't there; he's in Iowa and she's on the injured list. Sharon, our cycling friend, took second in our division. And she said her time was two minutes slower than she had run this race previously (she's cycling a century tomorrow!). I heard others say they ran slow, too, so I think the heat slowed everyone down just a bit.

Nonetheless the scenery was beautiful and runners behaved themselves. I even got a hug from a mom-to-be in her mid-20s, early 30s. She would walk partway uphill, and then run down; so we played cat-and-mouse for a while, taking turns being in the lead. I encouraged her on her run-walk, told her it's a great race technique for a hilly race and what I did to win my first 10-miler last fall. About half a mile from the finish line, she reached over and gave me a hug, a real side-by-side hug during a race. Made my day.

Historic National Landmark?

The landscapers came yesterday to mow the lawn around my apartment complex. I asked them if they wouldn't mind mowing around the fungus. "I've been watching it grow for days," I said. "It started out looking like a golf ball. . ." I told the story to Butch, and when I got home from class last night, I found this sign between the 'shrooms. The largest one, below, is now 8 inches across.

LSD. . .

Fall is here and with it weather that's a tad bit cooler and drier. So it's time to increase the distance of my long, slow runs. Yesterday I did a 7-mile run that I haven't tried since June 7. Thirty-eight minutes into the run I was at the hill on Tressels Road. Two minutes after that I crested the top. When I ride down that hill on my bicyle, I have to use the brakes to keep my speed to 35 mph or under. A Runners World article stated you can estimate the degree of slope on a hill by coasting on a bike; the speed is a rough estimate to the degree of slope. But I made it without walking and without wheezing.
The last half of the run was more downhill than up, and had more shade than sun. I didn't quite make my 11 minute mile pace, but it sure felt good to be running long, slow distances again.

Funky Fungus

These two funky fungi are growing just a few feet in front of my front door. Don't worry. . .I saved them from the golf club. Now they're even bigger, and instead of golf ball shaped, they look like space ships and are easily four inches across.

A Gas Station Just for Me

While hiking through Stony Brook, we saw a teen wearing a tee shirt that I thought would have been appropriate for me. The slogan was:

"I'm not attention deficit. I just. . .
Hey look! There goes a bunny rabbit."

And then I saw this sign at a gas station in Harrisonburg.
Hey look! A gas station designed just for me.
Hey! Where DID I put that speed pass. . ..

Stonybrook Park

Butch, Sam and Chad enjoy the scenery.

Baby Bellies

My daughter Ana "Sam" (left) and her childhood friend Teresa show off their "baby bellies". Sam's baby is scheduled to see the world for the first time in mid-November; Teresa's due date is in January. So they're just a couple months apart. Butch, Ana and her husband, Chad, and I met Teresa and her mom, Ruth, at a truck stop in Belmont, New York, for reminiscing and story telling.

Course Record Set at Crosswinds 5K

I nabbed the above photo from virtual running buddy Steve Bragg's blog. He tried to take a photo of himself, me, Leelani and Butch before the Crosswinds 5K last week. Alas! he only caught the "roses" between the thorns!
The four of us ran the Crosswinds 5K last weekend. It's a challenging course with a good-sized hill right at the end. Becky and Bob Andrus from the Crosswinds church in Canandaigua organized this race. Since I used to attend that church, I was thrilled to have spectator support along the entire course.
Usually my support comes from other members of my running club who have beaten me to the finish line. That's great. They are always so supportive of me and every personal record I have, as I am of them. But it's even sweeter to have support along the entire route.
When I reached the last leg of about 100 meters, I could hear people cheering me all the way to the end and that was so very encouraging -- and a lot of fun.
Anyway Steve finished in around 25 minutes, which I am sure is a course record for him. He's been training hard and improving so much. And it was his turn to beat me!
Since Butch hadn't even run this course before, he also set a record. He finished about 90 seconds to two minutes behind me, which is close to his usual race pace.
My time of 27:17 (8:45 pace) was a course record for me as well. My previous times for this course were 29:50 in 2005 and 31:38 in 2007 -- evidence that my running ability has indeed improved over the years! And for that I am grateful. It shows that God is indeed healing and has healed my lungs immensely.
Steve Gardner, the church's facility manager, also finished well. . .he's been working hard to overcome injuries and lose some weight. It takes a lot of determination to keep on trying in spite of setbacks. He's truly an example to those at church, many of whom do volunteer work on the buildings and grounds for him.
My goal was to finish and finish well, which I did. But I also won a silver medal for coming in 2d in my age group division. I am always thrilled and proud when my friends win awards; and it was fun to make my friends and adopted mom, Hazel Bragg, proud. I got a hug and a kiss from her!