Recommitting

Today I made a decision to get back in the game. It's time for me to start running on a regular basis and adding in some speed work. I have been dreading this and I'm not sure why. But when the humidity and wind came around the past few weeks it made for such a great excuse to run slow and cut the distance in half. I need to get my base down so I can start training for Chicago. Right now my runs can be quite a struggle, which makes them no fun!
I am going to try really hard to not get burned out before the race this time. I just hate that I work so hard and get my times down, just to bonk at the race. I believe I can do better. I really enjoy being athletic and doing well. I know that I just need to put the work in to get to where I need to be. Here goes nothing...
~Aimee

Run and Rain

Missouri weather sure knows how to make it as difficult as possible to run. If the wind is not blowing 25 mph with gust of 35 mph, below freezing, 80 degrees at 5am, or 110% humidity, then it is raining. Which, is all it has done for the past 2 weeks around here. Today I ventured out between two of the downpours only to find the trail covered in water. So I expected to find puddles over the Greenway trail but not the entire creek! I guess I underestimated the amount of rain we have received. Guess I should pay a little more attention to all that Flood Warning stuff. With the planned route un-runnable, I stuck to the sidewalks and just kinda ran around town running through water here and there. Even though the temp was high 60/low 70 it had to feel like 80 with all the humidity. Easily the sweatiest run of the year and poor Marlie, no water stops for him. But we both made it and in a few days the water will recede and running will be back to normal. In a few weeks I am sure I will long for the days when we actually received a little rain to cool us down.

I have included a random picture of Me, Aimee, Mom, and Dad after the San Antonio Marathon in November 2008 that I came across today while looking through some computer files.

Ran this morning...

Holy hot and humid!!! the first sign of a Missouri summer :)

Running Friends

Dustin and I have been in Springfield for ~6 years together and haven't quite found a couple that would ENJOY meeting us for an 8 mile run early Saturday morning. Thinking about the fact that we might be moving soon, we figured that we were just an odd couple and that we would just keep the running/adventure stuff to ourselves (minus our continuous encouragement for everyone we know to run the Washam 5k lol -thanks for suffering to hang with us friends!). Recently we have met TWO, that's right two, couples that are fun, normal, christian, and love to be active. In fact, we met them while they were training for the St. Louis Go! half marathon. Now we join them (at least one to three of them) on Tuesday mornings to run 5 miles together with Team World Vision (stay tuned to a blog about this).
Who knows if we will stay in Springfield and get to know them a little better or if we will have to move. Maybe we could meet at races. At least we will see them at the Chicago marathon in October.
This is a shout out to you, Teresa and Justin, Rachel and Chris! And Rachel, congrats on the new road bike - you're gonna tear up those triathlons!

Frisco 50 Pics

Thanks for the pictures, Rod!

Fear for Safety

Alright, I have to be the first to admit this post has nothing to do with running. Well, unless you count the running I did from the car and back. This was just too good to pass up, so let me explain.

Aimee and I are driving (not running) home from Buffalo Wild Wings this afternoon following the Braves/Cards games and we see a car going down the left hand lane in the picture shown above. (Just FYI this is the intersection of Campbell and Sunset) We are in the lane to the right of the turn lane, they are in the lane to the left of the turn lane driving right into oncoming traffic! Cars are swerving around them and the light turns red. They stop, still in the wrong lane! I get out, run over and it is the two oldest ladies I have ever seen. I'm not sure but the combined age of these ladies might out date the U.S.. I tap on the window and tell them they need to get over into the turn lane and they ask me if they are going the wrong way and if they can still get to Ryan's (Buffet). I tell them again to just get over which they do (finally) and continue to drive down the turn lane all the way to Ryan's! Yikes! Hopefully there was no wait at Ryan's, I mean it was 3:15 in the afternoon.

~Dustin

Frisco Fifty 10 Miler

Yesterday we ran in the Frisco Fifty 10 mile race. It was a very small race that went along the Frisco trail. We started at Willard Middle School and ran to a spot 10 miles down the way where a shuttle bus waited to take us back to our cars. It was such a peaceful run. I forgot my watch which ended up being a blessing. There is something to say about going on a run without constantly calculating a pace in your head and then either reprimanding or encouraging yourself to run faster, keep the pace, or slow down. I felt so good the whole time. I never felt too out of breath. At one point I was about to pass a man as he said, "you gonna be my anchor?". He had one of those high tech GPS watches (by the way Santa, I think they are REALLY cool and one would go nicely with my wrist) that started to beep. I asked him what mile we were at (indicated by the beep) and he said we were three miles into the race. He told me he wanted to finish in 85 minutes. I thought that I would be really impressed with myself if I could keep that pace. When he said he was ahead of pace, I thought, "sweet!", but I knew I would only run for about 5 more miles and then walk a bit. I had only told Dustin that I would run this with him on
Wednesday and it was finalized when I received an email on Thursday from active.com stating that I had been registered for the 10 mile race. I haven't been training for this and I haven't ran over 8 miles since the Bass Pro marathon the first week of November. So, really I figured it would be the typical conversation (my last few marathons) where I run next to someone who plans to finish in about the same pace as me, and they end up passing me towards the end because I have bonked. So frustrating! So, I passed him and focused on passing the 2 girls in front of my that looked to be about my age. Between miles 5 and 7 I actually kept a good pace and passed both of them. After that I spotted a pony tail not too far in front of me. I tried to speed up a bit and began to close the gap until mile 9 where she sped up and I could only match her pace a few yards behind her. As I ran through the finisher's tunnel (a field with orange cones and a guy with a clipboard taking our names) Dustin wasn't there to cheer me on because he didn't realize I would be finishing so soon. I ended up finishing in 1:22, a PR and under BQ pace (it's just 16 more miles lol). I took 2nd in my age category and received this cute little trophy. It has train tracks on it and came with a toy train that goes on the tracks. So unique! What a pleasant surprise :)
Dustin is awesome. He did well too, of course. He is a talented, dedicated runner. He came in forth in his age category, which, unfortunately doesn't get him a trophy. But I am so thankful that he is so patient with me that he slows down to allow me to run with him on the weekends-and I really don't think it bothers him. He actually encouraged me to run with him a few times while he was training for this race. I love running and it feels so good to hit the pavement again. I am still a little sour about the way I performed in the Bass Pro Marathon. Dustin wasn't happy with his performance either, but he is able to shake it off. If it weren't for those weekend runs, I would have never done so well. Now I have a little boost in my confidence level and I am anxiously anticipating training for Chicago.
Thank you Lord for allowing me to have such a great husband. God is good.
~Aimee