Soulmates!

Hilarious! Dustin and I were both blogging at the same time in different cities and didn't know it. Funny thing we both blogged about seeing turkeys and deer. Cracks me up! I miss him :)
~Aimee
My blog: Wildlife adventure
His blog: 10 weeks to go

3rd Annual Washam 5K

Mark your calendars and save the date for the 3rd annual Washam 5K. We are going to have it Saturday, October 16th in the afternoon (and into the evening! PARTY!). We will get registration forms out mid-September. I hope to see you there!

Wildlife adventure

Because I couldn't figure out a trail (so frustrating!) I ended up running my 15 mile run as two loops of the same trail that I have been running on for shorter runs this past week. I have been forgetting to mention all the wildlife that I have seen. It's like turning into Snow White the minute you cross the Iowa border. Last week I ran through a family of 11 turkeys. One run I can within 20 meters of a deer - it was beautiful! On Tuesday there was a snake on the trail. It was little and "bellied up" so I knew it was dead. This was a good thing because if it was alive I would have woke up Omaha with my blood curdling screams. On Thursday I ran through a gaggle of geese. There are many geese on the trails at home so I didn't think anything of it. But this gaggle must have had a big daddy leader in it. He didn't move out of the way and he actually hissed at me!!! I didn't even know that geese could hiss. I promptly yelled, "Hey, that's not nice!" and ran away. lol
Today, I ran through two separate large families of turkeys. But, the highlight was when I was startled by a deer. He was within 10 feet of me, no joke!!! I have never heard of a deer attack, but I found myself scared as he watched me run by, almost like he was observing me. It made me think of Gary Larson and his Farside cartoons. I can just see it now...Just beyond the fence line into the forest sits two deer in their Lazy Boy recliners drinking a beer and hankering down on a salt like watching the people go by.
It was a safari-hot and adventure filled run :)
Only one more week left at Creighton which means only 3 runs left to run without Dustin! I have to get focused today and get some work done for lab tomorrow!

10 Weeks To Go

Chicago is now 10 weeks away and our weekly mileage was up to 39 miles this week. We finished the month of July with 129 miles; our most for any month this year. July just also happened to be one of the hottest months on record, so that's something to be proud of!

Aimee and I are still in different cities, so the 15 mile long run was solo today. Aimee, however, is running in Creighton with a few new friends. I don't know who would want to join us in this weather, but at least there are others out there suffering too. Over the next month we will be upping our miles into the 40's with long runs of 16, 17, and 18. Perfect timing too, as a heat wave (didn't know it could get hotter) is on the way and school starts in 17 days. I'm kinda brain dead this morning and not much else to say. Writers block I guess. Two observations from this morning. 1) I saw a deer and two turkeys at the one mile marker on Galloway trail 2) On my way out on Galloway I saw a woman running with three small dogs. On the way back I saw the same woman with 2 large dogs.

26.2 pride

btw...I finally let Dustin put a 26.2 sticker on my car last week. I have been wanting one so badly but I didn't really feel like I deserved it. I have run many long distance races, but I am no Kara Goucher. I think I was waiting to do something great with running. I realized that it is the love of and interest in running that make a 26.2 sticker appropriate for my car. I always knew that, but I hadn't felt it.
I LOVE my new sticker :)
And...Dustin has a matching one. How cute is that :)
~Aimee

Running to Iowa

Ran to Iowa today. Actually the border is only about 1.5 miles from my dorm room but it sounds way cool to say that I ran to another state and back before class this morning. :) I did 11 miles and ran one of my best pace's since we started training for Chicago. I think that was partly due to the cold front. It was only 66 degrees this morning which doesn't seem very cool but compared to what I have been running in (77-80) it makes a big difference in the ease of the run.
I think I am going to get to run with some classmates over the weekend. Saturday I am going to run an easy 5, but Sunday I am going to the trail with Emese to run 15. It will be good to have someone else on the trail with me! Other classmates have talked about coming too - yay! I have been missing morning runs with them because of the mileage I have to do. Maybe next year I won't be training and I will be able to join them. So far Creighton has been great. The work is a bit overwhelming right now, but the people in my distance program seem stellar. I think we are going to have a really cohesive group. We are going to need the support over the next 4 years for sure!
~Aimee

I'm back, I think

Hello all! I have recently emerged from my "studying cave" as I have finally completed my prerequisite work for pharmacy school! Actually, I am already here getting started. Dustin has blogged about losing his running buddy, but I promise it is more difficult on me! I miss having him on a run with me! In addition, if like me you didn't know, Omaha is actually a decent-sized city and of course Creighton is right next to the dangerous part downtown. Awesome. I have been told not to run unless there is sunlight and to run in groups always. Well, not too many people need to run 30+ miles like I do, and I don't have much time between sunrise and an 8:00 class start. :( I actually got out today and ran about 7 miles or so (of the 8 tempo run I was supposed to do). It wasn't anything amazing, but I was glad to get an hour of running in! I have a feeling my mileage is going to suffer over the next two weeks. I will try my best to get in the miles, but my safety comes first so I won't be running anytime it is dark!
~Aimee