solar squirrel

It’s that time again for me to spend the evening dancing and having fun.  It’s the appropriate time since my summer class starts Monday.  Soooooooo if anyone is up for a fun time you should join!  It’s girl’s night and there’s no cover before 11.  Sounds good to me.  I’ve never heard of the DJ, but it’s supposed to be trance.   Here’s the info from their website:

“Come join us this Friday for the ultimate Ladies night out.  Ladies get half off all drinks….sponsored by All American Karate.  Complimentary Sushi from Shinto’s and ginger prime rib, chicken satay and spring rolls from Waterstreet.  Jon Swink will be spinning the best progressive trance in the VIP Lounge and DJ King will be mixing videos from T-Pain to Timberlake.  $2 Bud & Bud Lights all night long.  See you there! “

Tidal Turbine installed in Strangford Laugh (N. Ireland)

Check this out - Northern Ireland is home to the first ever mega-watt scale tidal turbine. Maybe this can be my excuse to go on vacation to Ireland again. It is one of the most incredible places I’ve ever been - green everywhere; clean air; fluffy sheep EVERYWHERE. What more could you ask for?

Elevation, grade, and speed vs. time

Today I made a last minute decision to do the Blossom Time 5.25 mile run in Chagrin Falls.  Todd and I did it last year and it’s fun because afterwords you can pig out at all of the vendors selling things like elephant ears and french fries - you know - just what you need to clog up your arteries after a fast run!  I got 3rd place in my age group last year with a 39:14 and I figured I could do about the same this year.  (That’s about a 7:28 pace).  It was really hot last year, though, and this year it was nice and cool - plus I’m down a few pounds from last year so I guessed I would be a bit faster.

I met up with E-speed and did an easy warmup and realized that it was definitely a good decision to wear a tank top rather than a shirt.  Even though it was cold the sun made it pretty hot and I was already sweaty when we lined up at the start.  I got a bit behind the faster-looking guys and started off the first mile easier than I wanted to - mostly because I was dodging people.  First mile according to Mr. Garmin was 6:42 - not too bad considering it was all freakin uphill!  I met up with Steve from Vertical Runner and he mentioned that he was still recovering from the Cleveland Marathon - duh! - that race SUCKS!  He pulled away and I just tried to keep E-speed in sight - since I knew as long as I could see her that meant I was going fast.  :)  The second mile was marked early according to my Garmin - but I was also slower (uphill again).   Finally at about 2.5 miles it started going downhill.  There was this lady who looked like she was right out of the 80’s and she had this shaggy hair-do - all down.  (How do people run with their hair down?  I can’t stand it in my face!!)  She was about 10 sec ahead of me and so was this other super skinny lady wearing pink shorts.  I kept them both in site but figured it would be tough to pass them since they were both slowly getting farther ahead.  I think a little before the 4th mile I passed a girl in Vertical Runner attire who was very polite and then Eileen passed me - I didn’t even realize it was her at first.  Right around the 4th mile this high school girl came right up next to me and I was feeling good so we both picked it up a bit.  She was not gonna let me go!  She stayed right with me - we picked up the pace to ~6:30 and I was starting to get tired.  She would NOT let me get ahead of her - we passed Steve and then Eileen and then the 80’s looking chick - and then I decided to let her go.  I know!!!  Not my typical style - as I let her go right when we passed the 5 mile marker - so we only had .25 to go!!!  Aarrgh.  I just didn’t have anything left - and I kind of wanted her to beat me in a way - she was young - had a 2008 Senior t-shirt on - I figured it would probably feel really good for her to beat me.  Plus - I was more interested in passing the 80’s lady, so after I saw we passed her I sort of decided that was my goal so I was done.  Now that I’m thinking about it I shouldn’t have let her beat me.  Oh well.  I still beat my time from last year by over 3 min.

Here are the splits according to my Garmin:

mile 1: 6:42
mile 2: 7:10
mile 3: 6:47
mile 4: 6:57
mile 5: 6:43

Total time 35:55 - aprox. 6:51 pace.  1st place age group.

E-speed had an incredible race and crushed it coming in 5th OVERALL.  Todd did pretty well also and probably just missed getting an age-group award. 

My friend Judy is doing a 100 mile bike ride in November to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.  She lost her uncle and childhood friend to Leukemia and is doing this in their memory.  I have participated in TNT events in the past and they are an incredible group - getting people in shape and raising money for a good cause - it’s a win-win.  Judy has never ridden more than 25 miles, so this will be very challenging for her, but I know she can do it.  Please, please consider donating - even if it’s only $1 - every penny counts.  You can donate online and read more about her training on her website.

Thanks everyone!!!!!

The ‘BodPod’

Today I had an apointment to get a BodPod reading.  I had heard of it and always wanted to have my body fat done with something accurate.  I wore my bathing suit and a swim cap just like the picture (btw in case you can’t tell that is NOT me - like I would put a pic of myself in a bathing suit online).  I sat in the ‘pod’ and then they pushed air inside.  It literally took seconds.  I ran through 3 ’sequences’ but it only took about 3 min total.  It was really cool!  I just had to sit still and breathe normally.  I had it done at this place gym down the street from where I work (same place where my friend Cliff works out.)

Today also marked exactly the end of my 6-week body makeover.  So - with that said, here are my stats!

6-week body makeover:

weight lost:  6 lbs. (my target)
current body fat: 16.2% (I am officially considered ‘ultra lean’ yea, right!)
fat mass: 20.5 lbs. (ALL of which is in my BUTT - 10 lbs. each butt cheek!!!!!!  AAaarrrgghhhhh!!)

In other news I want so say  HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to all of my friends who ran the Cleveland Marathon (or half marathon or 10k) yesterday.  Especially congrats. to Janet who is one of the toughest chicks I know. 

I’ve been meaning to post pics of my rain barrel since Todd installed it a few weeks ago. The original design didn’t work out too well because the overflow hole was WAY too small and the barrel overflowed from the top and made a big mess and caused some erosion. Todd removed the original green overflow hose and plugged the hole with - of course - a wine cork! Then he punched out a new bigger hole and we bought some larger diameter white pipe to use as the overflow hose. This new design works great and Todd even built a little wooden stand for the barrel. The volume of water that comes out of the spout we have it connected to is incredible! The barrel fills up with one good rainstorm and it’s full right now! We’ve been using the water for plants and filling the fish tank.

I want to paint it soon so after I do that I’ll post more pics! I was thinking of painting a squirrel on it.

Yesterday I biked to work for the first time this year. I planned to ride in with Joe, so that meant getting up SUPER early (middle of the night compared to my usual waking time!) since he likes to get to work by 7 a.m. I talked him into meeting at S. Chagrin Res. at 6:30 and then the plan was to bike the rest of the way in together. I planned to leave the apartment at 6:00 because I didn’t know how long it would take me to get to our meeting spot. Of course I was running late so I didn’t leave the apartment till about 6:15. Since I figured it would be a bit chilly I wore tights and bike shorts, smart wool socks, and on top a long-sleeved technical top, my bike arms (I don’t know what they’re called - arm-warmers?? - I call them ‘arms’.) and a sleeveless bike jersey. I didn’t even think to put on normal gloves and I just wore my normal fingerless bike gloves. As soon as I got on my bike I was like - WHOA - IT IS COLD. I’m talking painful cold. The good news was that there was very little traffic on Solon Rd. and Joe was early so he ended up meeting up with me before we even got to Cannon rd.

By the time I met up with Joe (about 4 miles in) my fingers were starting to lose feeling and I had a bit of frost on my eyelashes (I am not joking). I brought a sandwich and had it in my pocket and I was planning on eating it as my breakfast since you know I didn’t make time to eat before I left - but at this point my fingers could barely shift, let alone open up a ziplock baggie!! We both felt like we could go faster, but the faster we went the colder it was, so we were riding pretty relaxed. We passed about 6 wild turkeys and then 2 geese. The momma goose had her wing out and I saw a little yellow fuzzy baby head poking out from under it! It was so cute and it made me happy that I decided to ride in even though I didn’t have feeling in my toes or fingers.

We made it in 1:15 (that’s from my starting point). Not too bad considering the stopping and the fact that we were going slow because we were so cold. The ride home was the perfect temperature, which definitely made up for the morning. I think I’m going to try to ride at least once per week - it will have to be Tue or Thur though, because I will have class on Mon and Wed nights starting in June.

Here is a link to our route. (Note that I don’t have the marker starting at my exact apartment location just in case someone tries to stalk me…)

 Sunday was the Mom’s 5k that one of the SERC ladies puts on every year.  I went into it hoping to get a PR, which I think would be anything under 21 min.  I was pretty sure that I could come close to having right under a 7-min pace, but ya never know - especially since the last time I was on the track it took me 6:30 to do my mile and that was ONE mile at max. effort.  (That was without dinner and going on 3 hours of sleep though…)

I did an easy warmup w/ some other runner friends (There were TONS of SERC runners there - way to represent, SERC!) and then lined up for the start right behind the fast people.  We started with the ring of a bell and off we went.  I was being careful not to go out too fast, since I wasn’t sure what a ‘normal’ 5k pace should feel like.  Oh, and of course I forgot my watch - AGAIN!  The first mile was 6:30.  I felt pretty good and figured I could probably hold that pace.  There was a lady in front of me and I was trying to stay with her. (I later found out she was in her 40’s!)   Mile 2 was 12:50 -I still felt pretty good and was excited that I was probably going to be under 21:00.  The last mile seemed tougher than the first 2, but I tried to maintain a consistent pace.  As we got to the track for some reason I was thinking we had to do 2 laps - so I didn’t do my usual off the hook kick until I rounded the track and saw that duh, it was just one partial lap!  I finished with a 20:27 - 6:35 pace.  It was good enough to get me 3rd in my age group, and since first and second place went to girls on the Vertical Runner team (congrats to an INCREDIBLE time, E-speed!!), I think that’s pretty sweet!  I’m also psyched because I wasn’t going all out - so next 5k I do I’ll know to push a bit harder!  Congrats to all of the SERC people who ran.  We sure are a group of FREAKS!

Training recap from last week

Mon: 4 miles 8 min pace at lunch, “Run for the Border” Cinco de Mayo race ~4 miles < 7 min pace
Tue: 2 miles easy
Wed: rest
Thurs: 4.5 miles medium pace during lunch
Fri: Cycling class 45 min - tough
Sat: 7 mile trail run
Sun: Mom’s 5k race - 3rd age group - 20:27

Totals:
run: 25 miles
bike: 12 miles
swim: none

Me, Gretchen, Mom, and Katy

Katy, Gretchen and I took my mom shopping and to lunch for Mother’s day. At lunch I witnessed the most disgusting guy I’ve ever seen in my entire life. This guy was NASTY and he was sitting right behind us. He was going on and on about politics, computers, software, and mostly - himself. He was cussing and being SO incredibly loud and rude - even though there we were - a few feet away! It was SO HILARIOUS because when he got up to leave (which by the way he was so gross looking I couldn’t even look at him - he was fat on top and had super skinny legs and he was wearing shorts and he had these sores on his legs - SICK!!!) my mom was like “I just want to let you know you’re disgusting”. OMG!! LOL!!! We were all CRACKING up!!! He seriously was so gross though - he was talking about having an affair and how he wouldn’t have an affair with a 20-something because of this and that and blah blah blah…anyway - it was funny and we kept laughing about it the rest of the day. My mom is so freakin funny!!!

More pictures from Mother’s day shopping and a recap of the Mom’s day 5k coming soon!

I had to share this: (see #1) http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1620/

Supposedly if we Americans were to lose a few pounds, we could save MILLIONS of gallons of gasoline! AHAHAHAHAAA!!!! Fat chance! Now go grab me something from Rally’s and hand me the remote.