Twitter Road Race - Summer Edition

Latest Workouts:
Friday: 3.38 mi/ 29:21
Saturday: 3.11 mi/ 27.01

My Friday run was uneventful, although my neighbor saw an ENORMOUS snake (dead) on her route. I chose to avoid that road all together as my fear of snakes, dead or alive, is significant.

This morning I participated in my first ever virtual road race, hosted by Doug at I Run Because.... I signed up for the Twitter Road Race - Summer Edition a month ago after realizing the lack of racing opportunities throughout July and August in my area. Obviously, the experienced runners in my area know that no one likes running in 100 degree heat/humidity at 8 a.m., so they don't even bother to host a race.

I love the idea of a virtual road race - people from all over the world running on the same day and compiling the results. I love looking at this race results list and seeing participants from the UK or New Zealand. It was like our own Olympic 5k or something. I will absolutely participate in another virtual race.

My time was not a PR, but it was respectable. I even got a new running skirt for the occasion. More on that tomorrow. My 15 year old cat, Walter, was the only spectator cheering me on and I celebrated with a glass of low fat chocolate milk, post-race.

The rest of the morning was spent at a Southeastern Region Little League playoff game. The kids from our area are the Georgia State Champions and the SE Little League tournament is hosted here, so we sat out in an oven for two and a half hours. Our boys came back to win their second pool-play game 7-6 against Florida. Good, sweaty times.

I got home in time to cheer on Galen Rupp in the Men's 10,000m race. Is it just me or do they look like they are barely working to run that hard and fast? I know I look nothing like that when I run twice as slow as they run. Inspiring and sickening all at the same time.

Bird Land

Yesterday's Run:
4.14 miles/41 min

Birds in a pond.

I don't know if I'm doing myself any favors with all of these little short runs, but for a girl who does not do well in extreme heat, I'm proud that I've gotten out of bed and actually hit the road - even if the miles per run can be counted on one hand. I will continue to contemplate running the Labor Day 10K in a few weeks. It will depend on the weather for sure. I love getting ready for a race. I don't want to be totally miserable and get discouraged. There's a very fine line.

Hey lady, can I come in?

I was out the door by 6:20a and the neighborhood was quiet and still. We have a pond in our neighborhood that used to be deep enough for canoes and full of fish and other wildlife. Thanks to several years of severe drought conditions, the pond is barely there. Where there used to be water, now there is marsh/swamp and it attracts a number of long legged birds. This collection of herons or maybe they are cow birds (who knows?) have been there most every morning this week chilling in a small pooling of water. They kind of look like an exhibit you'd find at the zoo.

While I was icing I heard a little tapping and this little guy was pecking on my front window. We do have a nest of birds in our front shrubbery, but I think he was up to no good. Those mocking birds (maybe?) are a little aggressive.


I'm not sure what the universe was trying to tell me with all of these birds in my morning, but as long as it wasn't some Hitchcock-esque apocalypse, then I was happy to have some unexpected and friendly wildlife around. Maybe I should download a bird watchers guide for my iPhone or something.

Yesterday was Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen. Each year all DQs in the country donate $1 of every Blizzard they sell on that day to the local children's hospital. Buy ice cream and do some good - count me in. I enjoyed my Oreo Blizzard for lunch.

Tonight I plan to enjoy a glass of wine - or two - and take in all that the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics has to offer. I'm still debating about signing up for Run with Jess's Virtual Olympic Games. Maybe tonight's Olympic viewing will inspire me to take the plunge.

Olympic Trials

Today's Run:
6.45 miles/ 52 min

A nice tropical breeze - thank you Debby - made the 1000% humidity almost enjoyable this morning. I ran as long as the could before the cloud cover burned off and was pleased to see that I ran faster than I did on Sunday. Improvement is a good thing. Another good thing - my SiriusXM Radio app on my phone didn't lose its connection once so I got almost a solid hour with my man Howard Stern.

About three hours after my run I felt like someone had hit me with a truck. It isn't unusual for me to have an afternoon slump on days that I run (after all I'm up at 5a), but this was different. I seriously felt like someone had slipped me a sleeping pill. I followed my usual routine both pre- and post-run, but for some reason my body was hating me today. Then three hours after being stricken with narcolepsy, I got a migraine.

photo from Track Town USA

So instead of writing exciting wellness communications for my clients today, I listened to the Swimming Olympic Trials that took place yesterday, while my brain took a time out. I've really gotten into the Olympic Trails this time around. I think it was the article I read in Runner's World about all of the Track & Field favorites going into Eugene this week. The personal stories about athletes who really want to excel at what they do, in events that most of the world could care less about except every four years, makes you really want everyone to do well. This is the exact opposite feeling I have when I watch King James play basketball. I would like to see him humbled anytime, anywhere.

photo from Track Town USA

I was psyched to see Kellie Wells make the U.S. team in the Women's 110m hurdles. Her story is heartbreaking and inspiring. Ashton Eaton's World Record Decathlon performance was exciting to watch. And the drama surrounding the dead heat in the Women's 100m is like discussing the rules for a match of rock, paper, scissors. I also like that the women running are mostly in their mid- to late-20s, some even early 30s. It doesn't make me feel so old, unlike watching gymnastics where the median age is like 14.

KC was a baseball scoring official for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Not an umpire, but the geek who sits in the booth who decides if that swing of the bat was a hit or an error and keeps track of all the stats. It was the summer that we met, so the Olympics are special to us. I think he is really annoyed with my Olympic interest this summer as nothing else seems to be on our TV lately - thank you NBC Sports Network. It's just my way of getting back at him for having Sports Center on 24-7. I mean seriously, how many times can you watch highlights of a game that you just watched in its entirety? Obviously, the answer is - as many times as they show them.

Sigh. I'm going to ice my brain again.