Week 14 - Day 40 - 08.12.10 - Thursday (4.69 miles with hills)

I was a little tired this morning when that darn alarm clock woke me up at 4AM! I got up, brushed my teeth and was out the door and at my downtown office by 5AM. This gave me a good start this morning to attack those hills on Terwilliger Blvd.

I added on my Facebook wall that I was ready to attack them and got so many positive comments from friends saying I can do it to good job! It was hard, especially since we had a good but tiring track practice last night but oh so worth it.

This time I decided to split my CardioTrainer runs from up the hill to Chart House sign and back down the hill to Duniway sign. I want to see the difference of my running speed and better it each time I do it so my running up the hill running gap from running down the hill is close.

Today I got to the Chart House sign at 0:26:54 (2.42 miles) and back down to the Duniway sign at 0:22:43 (2.27 miles) with a total round trip of 49:37. A little slower from last Monday, 8/9/2010 where I did the entire trip at 0:48:24.

Track Day - 08.11.10 - Wednesday

First another shout out to my co-worker and friend Marcia for donating $50 towards TNT and my running. She sees me every day and always provides me positive support and buys great high grain breads so I can have my regular BM (yup you guessed it Bowell Movement). Now that is a good friend!

Track practice was great tonight. Coach Darrell decided to do something different than planned because it was a little warmer than expected. We ended up partnering up with TNT runners whom we share race paces with and then we did a 300 mile relay for 30 minutes with a warm up laps (2X400 Meters) and cool down laps (2X400 Meters) before and after.

I felt great and noticed I was averaging about 1:30 minutes for my 300 meters. I was also happy to hear for our 12 mile run this Saturday that we will have a early start at 6:30AM to help alleviate the pending 92 to 96 degree weather that’s coming….GO TEAM!

Week 14 - Day 39 - 08.09.10 - Monday (4.64 miles with hills)

Back on track folks and woke up right when my alarm hit this AM at 4AM. I was out the door and ready to tackle them darn hills again and tackle I did.

The morning was brisk but perfect for running since I knew I would get hot as soon as I started running. I reached the infamous Chart House sign at 0:25:59, exactly a minute faster than last Tuesday, 8/3/2010 at 0:26:59. I also did the roundtrip run back to the Duniway sign at 0:48:24 versus last Tuesday’s run on 8/3/2010 of 0:49:04.

Now I’m ready to take my nap today.  Oh but before I do, special shout out to my President at my company HMA who donated $500 this weekend and my good friend and former co-worker who donated $50.  I couldn't do this without you guys!

Week 13 - Day 38 - 08.07.10 - Saturday (3.69 Miles)

I was 50/50 on deciding to do my TNT group run today which is set at 16 miles. I had successfully done 15 miles the week before and was feeling good. It wasn’t the case because I didn’t get back from my reunion until a little past midnight. So when that alarm rang this morning at 5:30AM, my mind and body was in no mood to run 16 miles.

I finally woke up at around 9AM and decided to run some miles instead of none at all. Well my familiar enemy Mr. Humidity decided to visit me again this morning so I finished with 3.69 miles in total of 0:39:53.

I was glad I still ran today even though I was totally spent from the night before.  What kept me motivated to run today were the nice comments I got from fellow high school classmates.

Here is a photo my hubby took of me before Friday’s festivities and thanks to running, I didn’t have my other enemy there which is Mr. Double Chin.

Week 13 - Day 37 - 08.05.10 - Thursday (7.0 Miles)

I accidentally overslept this AM so wasn’t able to do my usual hill runs on Terwilliger Blvd. I knew I would pay because that meant that I would need to run in the hot, humid afternoon and boy did I.

I decided to run the Springwater Corridor trail to Oaks Park. On the way there, there was a smart business lady in the middle of the trail with a sign selling ice cream. I smiled at her and said I would definitely buy one if I didn’t have to run back. I then made my way to Oaks Park and noticed a policeman blocking the trail towards Sellwood. I didn’t know what was going on but decided to stick with my plan and turn around and head back knowing that the entire roundtrip of this run would be right at 7 miles. That same ice cream lady was there and smiled at me when I ran by. She said…”you are doing a good job” to which I replied with a smile…” I am trying gal.”

I decided to treat myself to a fruit smoothie at a small coffee shop at the waterfront and man it was worth it. Now I need to head home and enjoy a shower and the rest of the night since I took tomorrow off to get ready for my 20 year class reunion.

Track Day - 08.04.10 - Wednesday

Today we were back to hill repeats in Foothills Park in Beaverton. This time Coach Heidi advised us to run 1 lap around the lake, 5 hill repeats, 1 lap around the lake, 5 more hill reports, and one last lap around the lake.


Coach Heidi had asked me before our run if I drove the orange sports car. I answered yes and she said she was trying to waive at me on Highway 26 but I wouldn’t look over. I advised her and the rest of the TNT team that I’m not trying to be rude when I don’t look but I have had so many weird happenings with people trying to take video/pics and get near the car that I try to stay focus and not perpetuate the madness.

It wouldn’t be so bad running around the lake, unfortunately there is this strong stench of duck poop which in hot weather with high humidity is the worst trifecta of conditions. I ran up the hills but I have to tell you the humidity was definitely my enemy. I hope in two weeks when we do this again it won’t be as hot as it was today.

Week 13 - Day 36 - 08.03.10 - Tuesday (4.79 Miles with hills)

It was hills for me today and decided to run on Tuesday to give me and my body rest time from the 15 mile run on Saturday and of course the Battle of the Bands that same night.

I reached the Chart House Sign at 0:26:59 which was 0:14 seconds slower othan last Thursday, 7/29/2010, however I reached the Duniway sign at the bottom of the hill 0:49:04 which is 0:00:01 slower than Thursday, however my distance increased to 4.79 instead of 4.72 miles so overall faster round trip for this run.

Reminds me of a TV song from my youth...."You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...The Facts of Life."