Category Archives: Jogging/Marathon

End of Summer

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This weekend has been wonderful!  Saturday we started the day with our usual three-mile trail jog at the nature center.  There were beautiful wildflowers weeds everywhere, so I picked some to bring home.  Breakfast was a yummy smoothie with strawberries, banana, Greek yogurt, coconut milk, oatmeal flakes, honey, 1 cup of ice, and some Chia Seeds.  I discovered the Chia Seeds at Trader Joe’s and was impressed by the amount of fiber, Omega 3, and Protein in 1 tablespoon!

That afternoon we rode the Harley to the Milford Street Festival.  We stopped along the way because Randy wanted a photo with this tank…

We stayed at the festival for about an hour and stopped by the booth of one of Randy’s friends…Steve Black…who makes cool jewelry out of spoons and forks.  A lot of the pieces are Harley and breast cancer (ribbon) related.

There were a variety of booths including face painting…

This parrot was cool…

We stopped in a gun shop and I thought this would make an artsy photo…

And this wall looked cool.  The three different colors and textures really popped!

We rushed home, changed clothes and left for our next adventure…Bob’s Pig Roast.  It was in honor of his deceased wife who had died from cancer.  Everyone donated $10 to the American Cancer Society…so $2700 was collected!

This is Bob…

I took about 150 photos, but picked out just a few to post.  This is my friend Shari.  I took 7 photos of her with my flash on and she blinked every single time.  So I turned the flash off and…voila…

This was the beginning of the party…before most of the group arrived.  The port-o-lets were for the guys and the inside restrooms were for the ladies.

Randy, Frank and I were toasting with three different beverages in a wine glass.  Wine for me, beer for Randy and water for Frank!

It was a busy and FUN day!  I’m grateful we have so many nice friends!  We’ve had beautiful weather, but it is cooling off this week.  Hope your weekend was great and wishing you a wonderful week!!

xoxoxo

What fun looks like in your 40’s and 50’s

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Since I’ve been back from Africa…a lot has been going on.  Some of it is personal and heavy-duty–so I can’t talk about it.  But most of it has been FUN!

This was my friend April’s (on the left) boat christening party.  She’s amazing!  She just finished 1st in her age group in a triathlon.

I really enjoyed this 4th of July pool party.  That’s me on the right with the hat on.  I didn’t know most of the people…but its good to get out and meet new friends!

This was at an outdoor concert in a suburb of Cincinnati called “Blue Ash”.

Downtown Cincinnati with friends…

The wine tasting meeup.com organization I belong to had an event at the Art Museum…

Its been really hot here, so I’ve been to the neighbor’s pool, my girlfriend’s pool, and to the beach at Eastfork Lake.  Lots of other fun events like a Reds Game, bicycling 20 miles on the Loveland Bike Trail, jogging almost every day, hiking, and trying new recipes that I find on Pinterest.

Like, Spinach Orzo, Shrimp Tacos, and fresh peaches, lemonade and vodka in a blender!

Tonight after jogging or hiking (can’t decide which one to do) I’ll try a Blackberry Margarita…yum yum!!

Hope you’re having a fantastic summer (or whatever season it is where you are)!!

 

My Half Marathon in Clayton, Ohio

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After some ibuprofen, a hot shower, and a nap, I’m beginning to feel better since jogging my half marathon today!  Normally, I don’t get sore after a long jog (the longest before this was 10 miles last weekend), but since it was only 35 degrees this morning, I’m assuming that is why it affected me differently… anyways…it was an experience and I’m glad I did it.

It’s kind of like childbirth, I remember I was wishing it was over a number of times, but looking back, it seemed to go rather quickly.  I finished in 2 hrs. 15 minutes, which is the time I predicted, since I normally jog 10 minute miles.

For breakfast, I had whole grain cereal with banana and almond milk, and water.  We drove an hour and 10 minutes from a suburb of Cincinnati to Clayton for the race.  There was one in town last weekend, but I was out-of-town and there is one this coming weekend, but I’ll be out-of-town again.

This is me pre-race…

My husband took photos of me and although he has many talents/strengths, photography is not one of them.  These are the best of the many he took…most of them are blurry.  But, I’m not complaining, I was thankful he came to cheer me on!  I’m fourth from the left in the photo below.  I think there were about 200 people total.  I’ll get the results sometime in the next couple of days.

We started about a minute later.

The terrain was beautiful, rolling roads through rural Ohio with pretty trees and farms along the way.  When I would get caught up in my head thinking… analyzing…etc., I would look around and be in the moment, thinking I love the feel of the sun warming me (a bit) and thankful that I am able to run (so many people can’t because of being out of shape, past injuries, or worse)!   I bought some goo to eat once (at mile 10) for energy.  It tastes like chocolate icing.  Some people don’t like to take it because of the texture, but it did seem to give me a boost.

The girl next to me in the photo below was beside me for the last 1/2 mile and I told her we could help each other go faster.  Anyway, she started to pass me right before the finish line, so I amped it up…that’s why we’re laughing!

Right afterward, I could barely breathe or walk.  I’m glad I didn’t stop running the entire time, except for 30 seconds to eat the goo, or I might not have been able to start again!

After stretching some, below is my celebratory photo!  Tonight, we’re going to a Halloween party, so a few drinks should loosen me up a bit more!  Happy Halloween to everyone and to all a GOOD NIGHT!!

Training for a Half Marathon

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I believe that most people are capable of much more than they realize.  We limit our thinking because of what we’ve been told or read.  A few weeks ago I was jogging three to four miles approximately four times a week and wondered what a “realistic” jump in mileage would be, so I googled “training for a marathon” and the first site was “Hal Higdon’s Marathon Training Guide“.  He said the first week you could run three miles, three days in a row and then after a day of rest, run six miles for your long day of running.  I started following his schedule and was up to 7 miles the second week.  My knees were a little sore that day, but I’m getting stronger.  I even started taking vitamins that include Omega 3 for joints.  The longest I’ve ever jogged before that was five miles in the bayou of Louisiana, while in the Army, when I was 21.

My doggie loves me, because I take him to a nearby nature center and trail run with him.  I’m usually the only one there, so I let him run free!

I didn’t plan on entering a marathon, in fact, my timing was off, because you need to train for at least 4 1/2 months and all of the marathons would be finished by then.  I was telling my friend, Sherry, about training for the non-existent marathon and she suggested a half marathon.  So, that’s how it came to be.