44 (foh-ty-foh) And Lovin It

Okay... where to begin on the birthday extravaganza!

The week of 6/20, Father's Day... we had something going on every night! Dad, Matt & Josh here Sunday night. I cooked a wonderful dinner, with dessert even.

Monday Jennifer & I went out to dinner at PF Changs and she and Dave and Matt spent one more night while he went to basketball camp in G-town.

Tuesday night was my tennis lesson and we started late and finished early because it was so hot but did some good drills.

Wednesday - Blues on the Green with the Bennets, Evans and Paula Smith. What a fun night and Carolyn Wonderland was AWE-SOME (sing song). She's my new girl crush.

Thursday was mixed dbls tennis - played WELL! Afterward we met Bennets and Evans at Razoos.

Friday - BIRTHDAY!!! Took the day off work and Brookie hooked me up to play tennis that morning. We did 2 hours of ladies doubles tennis, then 3 hours of lunch at Z-Tejas! Brookie, Susan and Amy Gold. They had to tell us once we were being too loud. We really were. But hey, we were sitting in the bar and drinking margaritas! That afternoon I got my haircut then went home, cleaned up and we went to Brooklyn Heights for dinner and Karaoke.

FUN Peeps: Jeff & Susan Bennet, Brooke & Roy, Jeremy & Cantrell, Justin and Carly, Holly Chacone, Sharon Joiner came too but she didn't sing. We had a great night but the KJs started an hour late. And they don't have "Need You Now" so Brookie and I only sang 1 song together. WREC-KERS (sing song) it was fabulous of course.

Saturday Jimmy worked with Roy all day and I made dinner for the 4 of us - but they were very late getting home. Beef fajitas w/lots of guac, Brooke's homemade salsa and ... my favorite birthday cake. Angel Food w/strawberry & berry medley middle iced with COOL WHIP (sing song). Everyone said they enjoyed it. Ate leftover cake for 3 days. YUM!

I also ordered my new running shoes during the day on Saturday. K-Swiss Tubes 100. Can't wait for them to come in!!!!

Sunday - well, Jimmy and I kicked some 30-year olds' butts in mixed doubles. Yeah-baby!

Okay.. I officially declare my birthday OVER!!! I know... everyone felt just a bit older when we were done! Now, we have 360 days or so to recover ... start all over again!

Grateful for good health, good friends and a great life at FOH-TEE-FOH! (sing song).

Capitol 10K Hindsight

I ran my first 10K yesterday and I thought I would capture a few thoughts about the experience. See some of the official photos here: http://galleries.statesman.com/gallery/2010-capitol-10000-041110/

Overall! Awesome!

• I love that distance. I would like to run more of these by the end of the year.
• When spectators hold their hands out for a "high five"... slap every one of 'em!
• The course was steep especially the first half. I did my best to run up the hills, but for the most part I ran 1/2 way up them, then walked.
• Mile 4 felt the best (lots of down hill)
• Started to struggle mile 5. Was walking 2 minutes, running 3.
• Made a pitstop at about 5.5 and started running again, I was just about to walk again when I saw a large crane over the road and thought, "Wow! The finish line! I can make it to there." But alas, it was just a crane for the photographers. But then we were running over a bridge and I thought, "I can make it over this bridge"... then I saw the corner, and I thought, I can make it around the corner... and I saw the 6 Mile marker, then I made it to the 6 Mile marker and I knew I could go .2 more! Then I saw the finish line and I started to take long, fast strides to push myself. I felt like I finished strongly.

1:18:02 finish, 12:34/mi (was hoping for faster). My Full Results #8338

The run itself was great! It was just the before and after the race that I could do without -- just because there were TOO MANY PEOPLE! Note to self, be sure to not arrive needing to use the bathroom... And, I wasn't able to pick up any SWAG like at the Komen Race. So many people you couldn't get to any of it... much less a free post race massage.

On a final note. I really enjoyed spending time with Kim and Linda. Linda saved my life at the porta-potties line. Girlfriend had my back! I'm also happy I turned off my iPhone (mapmyfitness app) and just enjoyed my music and the atmosphere. I took some fun pics too I think. When we run next year, we're getting a room at the Mariott the night before! Learned my lesson on parking and peeing!

Looking up Congress Ave. toward the Capital at the beginning of the race. Awesome to see a sea of people.

Here I stopped 1/2 way up the steepest hill on 15th (Enfield) so I could get a little perspective. Walked the rest of the way up that hummer.


















Met up with Kim, Linda, and Frank here at the Stevie Ray statue after the race. Seems like a popular spot to be sure.

Afterward, we were walking (2 mi) back to the car and were tempted by Doc's on South Congress. Here's to the beginning of a healthy, cheeseburger lunch. Saaaaaaa-lute!

Cap10k 7 days & counting

Only a 2 mile run this morning. Had too many issues (gut) to finish all 3. We just finished lunch at PeiWei (big lunch). Ugh. Too full. But while Jimmy's taking his tennis lesson I'm gonna try 2 more miles. At least this evening I can run to the creek. :-)


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Great Quote On My Twitter Today

I've been so busy at work and I took a morning off from running (which is when I catch up) I haven't checked my Twitter. This hit home & I retweeted it. Just want to remember it here:

#mindfulmoment Don’t dwell on the past. Live an active lifestyle and make conscious choices that serve you now. (via @EatWhatYouLove)

Sooooo SIMPLE!

10k Looming

I've had a rough week. Terrible allergies have turned into an upper respiratory ... thing (obviously self diagnosed). I haven't run since last Wednesday.

I did get to spend 1.5 hr tonight with my new tennis coach, Jerry, and I feel pretty good. So I've already packed my bag & my clothes for tomorrow. Gonna hit the treadmill at work for an EASY workout.

Gotta get my run on!!! I miss it - even when I'm sick.

And - as I like to tell Jimmy, " I NEVER get sick!" Never say never! Happy to be heading down the road to recovery!! Woohoo!

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Minor Back Injury = Major Pain

Major pain in the A@*!!! It's been 4 days since my last run and I'm really having serious withdrawals!!! UGH! I want to be RUN-NING (Forest Gump).

I have learned a valuable lesson, however. I need to be cross training as well as run. I need to take 2 days each  week and do some weight training! This is crazy! I feel like I'm not as toned in my upper body as I was a year ago either. I know better than to just run for exercise, but running makes me soooo happy I don't like to skip even 1 day of it.

HMMMMM....

Also, I'm going to have to invest in Bikram yoga. It's kind of tough to do when I'm taking tennis lessons. I mean, how much monthly budget does it take to maintain your health and fitness and performance?

So $100/month on tennis lessons. $110/month yoga, $80/quarter for health club. Plus tennis tournaments, 5K entries, I'll be buying a bike soon. And, I have a maid that cleans house every other week Can't leave that out of the budget!!! NO WAY!!!

Then... there's finding time to do all of this.

M-F run (or walk) 5am,
Tues evening tennis lesson, alternate weeks? swim on off weeks
Wed evening yoga
Thurs evening Mixed Dbls tennis league, Sat morning USTA tennis league... Sunday run/swim or run/bike... I'm going to need a day off once in a while when the heck am I going to cross/strenght train?

Maybe with my tennis ambitions, I can't do a triathlon this year? But I reallyl want to!!!!

Perhaps, for the moment... I just set a short term goal to get my back well. Then I'll have to prioritze all this other stuff.

Here's the bright side of this: I'm having to prioritize all of my athletic ambitions instead of trying to recover from some major injury or illness. There are many people that are not able to enjoy the good health I am currently having.

Run, Gram-MAW! Run!

I'm not sure why... but I had one of the best runs I've ever had this morning. It felt so easy and I pushed myself so much farther than I normally do. I shaved more than 1:00 off my regular pace.

I think I was pacing myself a little differently and when I felt my heartrate get up - I readjusted my pace and just kept going. Fitness Level test was a 5 today as well and I burned 520 + calories.

Not bad for an Ol' Gram-MAW!