New and broader focus...

Been a while since I have had a chance to write on the blogger....

after stumpjump I was really burned on running for speed...i was stressing myself out with my workouts trying to maintain a certain pace and honestly beating myself mentally when it came to my running....I took a week or so after stumpjump off in hopes of getting some rest but that really didn't change too much....By the time November got here it was time for Wade's Big Adventure and I really was not too excited about running it....although I hoped it would give me the motivation I needed to get back seriously running....

I had this big plan written out for SwampStomper training that I was going to try to follow...it was all about running long at race pace so it was very intense....I never could get amped for it so I scrapped it....the last two weeks or so my focus has been on running to enjoy running for running's sake...not to worry about my pace, not to think about my splits or anything like that...I had made running so that it was almost not enjoyable with all that type of stuff...I just wanted to run to run.....and man what a difference it has made...

I have also decided that I need to be a more well-rounded athlete...my focus has been to concerned with running...I love to ride and I have been neglecting that, I have a boat I completely have neglected paddling, I never do any upper body/core work all because I have been so focused on running....well, that is all going to change...I just needed the motivation to change it....

I have been wanting to shift my focus to be a more well-rounded athlete ever since Stumpjump but it was just last week that Lauren gave me the motivation I needed....she is doing her Physical Education program at U of Memphis and she really wants to incoporate outdoor education into her program and possibly work in the outdoor education field....so she found a course at Outward Bound specifically designed to teach youth outdoor skills....

So this brought up an old idea of mine that I have been tossing around for the last 2 years or so of doing an Outdoor Educator course at NOLS (National outdoor Leadership School)....basically, this if I took this course and got my Wilderness First Responder (medical) certification, I could teach outdoor education during my summers off....so, I researched programs and I think I found that one that I want to take...it's a 31 day mountaineering/rock climbing course in the Pacific Northwest....

This has completely changed my attitude towards my training...I want to be in the best shape possible now for this course, as it will make it that much more enjoyable.....I know I have a solid endurance base and I want to improve upon that....i still plan on running around 50 miles a week...but I'm going to make sure they are all quality miles...no longer going to go out and slog through miles simply so I can write them down in the log....I'm gonna focus on mixing lactate threshold efforts, anaerobic efforts, and endurance work so that I become more well-rounded....

the biggest change to my training is going to be incorporating upper body strength and core training to benefit my climbing...I am going to try and climb at work at least 2-3 times a week...also going to focus on pull-ups and core ball exercises....

all in all, the idea of NOLS has really helped me change my attitude and gotten me motivated to get back out running, riding, and strength training....and I think my running will probably improve just from the added LT, anaerobic, and endurance work....I guess as far as running goes, I'm still working hard at it, its just I have a whole new motivation as to why I am running...

happy running and share the road!

I run because....

I (trail) run because....

...walking takes too long
...I love the reaction I get when people say "how far do you run"
...those 26.2 stickers make me laugh
...there is too much to see in this life and not enough time to see it
...I find new things that make me smile every time I run
...I find new things that make me cuss every time I run
...running is the only time when I feel like I can actually slow my life down as one minute can feel like an hour whereas one month can feel like one hour in the rush of life...
...I can let me mind wander
...pavement sucks
...I can play Laserquest without getting winded...
...it makes my music sound that much better...
...the thought of being obese disgusts me....
...I see people sitting in traffic on Walnut Grove and think about how bad that must suck to be in their position....then I smile that I'm not
...I have solved the world's problems 10 times over
...I feel much better about sitting around doing nothing after a good run...
...the visitor center at Shelby Farms has pretty nice facilities
...I love to explore new places...
...passing a biker on the trail....
...I love to experience the transition from darkness to daylight on the trail
...I have yet to answer my question to myself of "how far can I go"
...post race pizza and beer...
...the good company I have met through running
...the solitude I sometimes find through running
...the dream of the Grand Slam
...the thought of being a good example to my students
...it helps bring meaning to my life...
...it helps define me as a person...
...my bike riding buddies wouldn't have anything to make fun of me about if I didn't...
...giving "the wave" to runners I see all the time yet don't know at all
...turning new people on to the trails...
...the continuing search for experiencing "a full range of life's emotions in one race"...
...I love the outdoors
...you really appreciate solid food after 5+ hours of gel
...it makes me a much more positive person
...a "singlet" is for wrestling
...it heavily influences my attitude in a positive manner in other realms of my life
...I couldn't imagine life without it...

How weird is this?

So apparently mother nature has it out for me during the month of October...

It all started 2 years ago (10/3/05 - I remember the date cause there was a Panic show the next day) when I was out riding my mountain bike on the Tour de Wolf...while I was cruising along I ran into a bee and it stung me in the forearm....no biggie for the rest of the day, but that night my arm swelled up big time...the sting was on the inside of my forearm about halfway down and it swelled all the way to right below my shoulder....made me look like I worked out...on one side at least...I went to the doctor as I had been stung a number of times before and never had a reaction like this one....he said everything was fine, that I am just a little more sensitive to stings than most, but it probably wouldn't hurt for me to carry an epi-pen just in case I got stung again I had a reaction that affected my breathing...


Almost a year to date later...I think the date was like 10/4/06 (the wednesday before I raced Stumpjump last year) and I was out running at Shelby Farms and somehow a bee got in my shoe and stung me....I was pretty freaked out as this was the first time I had been stung since the year before when I had that massive reaction....I rushed home and held off on poking myself with my epi-pen because I wasn't having any reaction to this one...turns out this one never really swelled up or anything

So yesterday I'm out cruising around the Buddy when I feel something smack me in the forehead....I thought it was probably a rock or something the car in front of me had thrown up...shortly thereafter I came to a red light and I noticed something crawling around inside my sunglasses....I ripped them off as fast as I could and right about that time I felt the sting in my eyelid....It hurt pretty bad but I was able to keep on riding...shortly after I stopped at Fleet Feet to take Lauren some lunch and looked at my eye for the first time in the mirror...it was starting to swell up....I rode from Fleet Feet to Outdoors and when I went in everyone's reaction was "what the hell happened to your eye?"....I could tell it was getting harder and harder to see so I called it a day on the buddy and went on home....by 6pm I could no longer open my eye due to the swelling...I was worried I was going to have to use the epi-pen but I wasn't going to as long as the swelling stayed local and did not spread from my eye....

so for the 3rd year in a row I got stung within the first 2 weeks of October...how weird is that...I woke up this morning and had to call in to work for the first time since I cracked my face open over 2 years ago because I could not open my eye at all...the swelling is still just around my eye, so I'm not gonna use the epi-pen...just poppin' the the benadryl and icing it....

here is what it looked like last night around 8pm..

note in this picture I am trying as hard as I can to open my eye as wide as possible.....

Also the first time I ever got stung when I was like 5 or 6 it was within the first couple of weeks of October because I remember my parents were getting the house ready for a Halloween party...strange...

As far as the rest of life is going...I did not run one time this week...I was planning on running today but needless to say that didn't happen...

I am super pumped about the Buddy....my mom was all about it, cruisin it up and down the street and what not...Lauren was a bit timid at first but she it is growing on her ...she still hasn't driven it yet....but then again we came from very different backgrounds..I grew up riding dirt bikes and my dad rides a Harley so I'm used to motorcycles....

check it out though....

rides like a dream....at 100 miles per gallon too!

happy running, share the road, and watch out for those bees...the are vicious in October...

Stumpjump...

I guess I'm a bit late on this post, as everyone else has already given their side of the story....

We arrived at our beautiful Marriot hotel just in time for the ladies to wait on me to pretty up so we could head over to Rock Creek for the pre race dinner and festivities...Rock Creek moved locations since the last time I have been to Chattanooga and I must say the new store is pretty awesome...very spread out and nothing is crammed on to the racks....they also support local teams (running, adventure racing, climbing....and more)...hmmm.....but anyways, great looking store with a true interest in the Chattanooga outdoor culture....

The dinner was good, I even got to get seconds....after the dinner we went back to the Marriot for the pre-race prep of filling gel flasks and all that kind of good stuff....

Arrived at the race about 6:30 for the 8am start...I'm kind of a freak about getting to races early as I want to make sure I have everything taken care of before the race starts....

When the RD got up to explain this years race he told us teh course was going to be a bit different than year's past, we were going to make an extra 2 mile loop on some non-technical gravel road on the way out before we hit the single track which I thought was a good thing as I remember the singletrack bottle necking hard last year....

The siren (or gun or whatever it was ) went off and I took off with the front 30 or so folks...The pace was fast right off and immediately my heart rate was up there and I was breathing pretty heavy....I wanted to slow it up a bit but I knew if I did I would get passed by a wave of people and then it would be really hard to pass once we got into the single track so I stuck with it, hoping the pace would chill out soon so I could fall into a groove....

We arrived at the aid station where the single track began (labeled mile 5.1) at 1:06...this is where I began to notice something was up with the distances....the guys I was running with were a bit stunned as well...1:06 and 5.1 miles...no way, we were rolling way faster than that...anyway, the singletrack began and it bombed us down a very steep hill which I was able to keep a good pace going down...that dropped us out on a road and another aid station not too far away where I refilled and kept on chugging...by this time the pack had spread out a bit and I was falling into a rhythm on the more runnable sections of trail but my rhythm was always disrupted by a climb within a few minutes of moving along...

I rolled through the drop bag aid station at mile 10 and got in my bag just long enough to grab some e-caps and switch out my gel flask...I was poppin e-caps like candy (2-3) an hour as it was really hot and I felt like i was on the verge of cramps all day, though thankfully they never struck...I got to the "mile 16" aid station at 3:06....I was getting frustrated at this point...3:06 at half is a 6:12 split on a good day...I was thinking there is no way I'm moving at this pace...the other guy I was running with said he ran a 5:11 last year and felt like he was in good enough shape to do it again and he was shocked at the time at 16 miles....

Whatever..I convinced myself that my time was going to be off from last year and that now my goal was to pass as many people as possible in the next 16 miles....after the race I learned that the 16 mile aid station ran out of water for later runners...I just want to say I'm sorry, if I had of known I would have only filled my bottle half way...In the next section I passed quite a few people that were beginning to feel the effects of the heat...I rolled into mile 20 where my drop bag was and picked up the ipod for some motivation to take it home...

I had a massive playlist set up so that I could just scroll through and leave it on whatever caught the mood but luckily I didn't have to mess with it too much as I fell into the groove with some Panic early on the playlist....the next 10 miles were all about passing....I would pass somebody, then run hard til I got someone in my sights to pass again.....I finally made it to the last aid station and I knew it was easy from here...I passed 2 more folks on the last 3 mile section before busting out of the woods and seeing the finish line...this was a huge relief as I was really starting to feel it....I ended up crossing the line in 5:44....good enough for 17th out of a hundred and seventy something finishers...I was very pleased with my effort...I felt like I had left everything I had out of the course...even though I started fast I didn't feel like I ever really gave out...I had energy throughout the entire race....I ran some hills that I would have ordinarily walked....

after finishing I found out the reason my times were off at the aid stations is that they were using the signs from last year and that this years course was actually 2 miles longer...I sat around and relaxed (and got sore) while waiting on the other Memphis crew to come in...Drew rolled in and we hung for a while and then Michael came rolling in...before too long Holly came rolling through followed very shortly by Lauren, then Elle, then Patrick and his mate....

Super pumped for all the 1st time Memphis finishers..you guys rocked it out and this was a very hard day on a very hard course!!! I'm pretty sure most of the Memphis crew has Sylamore on their minds now....for me I'm tossing Swampstomper in there in January and the aim for that one is to pick up some speed between then and now...

oh yeah..I bought a scooter today....a Genuine Scooter Company Buddy Italia....125cc that goes around 65 mph and gets 100mpg......but I'm pretty pumped..only thing is I have to drive to Chattanooga again this weekend to pick it up...

hope all is well...happy running and share the road (with bikes and scooters)!

life...

Had a great time with my friends and my band this past weekend....hard to get back in the swing of things after a weekend outta the routine but I'm doing what I can....

Today I went to Youth Villages school for some observation hours for my class....wow...this was really hard to see these kids with such severe emotional and behavioral difficulties....the teachers and counselors who work here have my utmost respect as this seems like it would be a very difficult place to work....I witnessed a child have to be restrained by 2 adults and that's when it really hit me how much most of these kids of probably seen in their young lives...it was a pretty intense and moving experience....

Got out for a quick 6 miler today just to keep the legs loose...probably gonna get up and do the same in the morning....

I haven't been excited to see a movie in ages...I think I have only seen 3 movies in the theater in the past 3 or 4 years...just not really my thing, but I really want to see Into the Wild....I read this book about two years ago and loved it...I hope the movie does the story justice....do yourself a favor and read the book before the movie if you have the chance...its not a terribly long read and it reads really fast....I was checking out Youtube for the trailer and ran across the some of the music by Eddie Vedder...pretty cool I must say....check it out....

hope all is well....happy running and share the road!

Panic Day!!!!!!

Today is Panic day! Have been pretty pumped about this one for a while....two nites at Fedex forum to rock out...got some good friends that I don't get to see alot coming in from out of town so I'm excited about that too....

Running this week has gone decent...sittin on 27 right now....gonna try and get in a run tomorrow mid day...def not gonna hit the early morning Shelby Farms crew.....I'll take 40 for the week and be satisfied....still feelin really good about Stumpjump!

happy running and share the trails!

Still Alive...

haven't posted on the blogger in a while...been meaning to, but keep getting sidetracked...all is well in running land....feeling really confident about Stumpjump...especially after a great weekend of running, camping, and good company at Sylamore where I was able to put up a 16 and a 28 back to back....

With the Sylamore trip I was able to get in right at 50 miles for the week before last and then this past week I did two hard days of speed work with an easy 10 miler to recover on Thursday...woke up Friday feeling really fatigued and lethargic so I have taken the last couple of days off....

School has really kicked in to gear as I am midway through my first 8 week semester...pretty busy with that but trying to find time to fit in all the rest....planning on knocking out one more long run tomorrow...I was originally concerned with going out for a fast one but at this point in the game I think I am just looking forward to taking a break from school work for a few hours as that's all I will be doing tomorrow so I'm not goo concerned about pace....

After this week the taper really kicks into gear as I will be getting fully prepped for Stumpjump which I am really really excited about....

happy running and share the road....

Another week down....

wow...seems I have been really busy the past two weeks...school is really starting to pick up and I'm having to spend more and more time outside of the classroom getting all my work done...however, still managed to get in pretty good mileage this past week....

Monday I woke up and went for a six miler that included 3 x 5 minute lactate threshold efforts with 1 minute of recovery between each....I was hurting by the last effort but definitely glad I was able to push myself through it.....

Tuesday I had a few hours in between getting off work and going to class so I took the opportunity to get out to the Farms and knock out 10....I started running at about 3:30 in the afternoon and even though it has gotten a little bit cooler, it was still reallly hot....I struggled through ten, pacing a bit slower than I normally would...

Ended up taking Wednesday off from running and riding completely...Thursday I planned to try and knock out a run but things didn't work out before work...I did end up riding in to and from work from Lauren's house which is about 7 each way...kept a pretty good pace so I at least got in some workout....

Friday I was off work and scheduled to do a long run...I usually knock out my long runs on Saturday but I had to work Saturday this weekend and its no fun to to stand on your feet all day after knocking out 20+ miles....The alarm went off at 4 am and I reluctantly rolled out of bed to start the run...I was starting out with Lauren and Elle as they were shooting for 18 for the day...I didn't have an exact number I was going for but I wanted it to be somewhere in the 24 range....

We took off from Elle's apartment (she lives in the apartments that back up to Shelby Farms) headlamps and all and knocked out a loop of the tour de wolf with the Patriot Lake trail thrown in...stopped back at Elle's apartment to refill and refuel and then took off for another loop of the Tour....Elle had to go to work so she left Lauren and I around 12ish (I think)....We finished our second loop of the Tour and then had 4 more miles for Lauren to reach her goal and longest run to date...We ran the back side of the Tour to get the next four and I was super proud of how Lauren pushed herself through those last two miles, as it was definitely a battle for her....

I was at 18 at that point and feeling super fresh so I refilled and refueled, threw some Panic on the ipod and took out for some more...I ran from the backside of the Tour to the paved Chickisaw loop (concrete = lame, but at that point I was looking for some variety)...hit the Chick loop, stopped off at the visitor center to refill and hit the Patriot loop and the rest of the Tour for a grand total of 27.5....

The entire run felt really good...the temperature on Friday morning was amazing...super cool...even when I finished it was pretty cool outside....came home took a nap, knocked out some school work and then refueled with massive quantities of chips and salsa at Los Compadres....

Ended the week with a total of 43.5 miles....not quite 50 but I'm pretty pumped about the long run feeling as good as it did....

Finally got my full suspension mountain bike in working order....met up with some guys from work Saturday morning before work out at Shelby Farms and got in its maiden ride...it was nothing short of amazing....a bit overkill for the trails of Memphis but I'm planning ahead with this one...I can't wait to test it out on some real trails....

Sunday I got out on the mountain bike again before work...rocked a couple of quick laps at the Tour...gotta wear the new out...

I was planning on racing the Six Hours of Herb Parsons mountain bike race this coming Saturday but I am off work on Friday and Saturday and there might be an opportunity to get in a good 2 day training stint at Sylamore where I can go long and get in some good hills running and take the bike to test it out on some real trails....hopefully it will pan out....I would much rather spend two days in the hills of Arkansas than six hours riding in in a circle in Fisherville....until next time...happy running and share the road!

The first week....

This past week marks what I am going to call the official start to my fall (though the temperature isn't quite there yet)....It was my first week of school at CBU and also the first week I have gotten back up in the 50 mile range in quite some time....

Started the week out last Sunday with an 8 miler in the midday heat on the Wolf River Trails...Monday I finally convinced myself to do some speed work...I actually live near a pretty big hill and from teh base of the hill to the very top is exactly 1/4 mile...the grade is pretty steep (for Memphis) except for the last .1 miles where it starts to level out a bit....I did 6 x .25 miles uphill and that was plenty for me....total of 2.5 miles with warm up, repeats, and cooldown....

Monday marked the first night of class and I was really tired going to school so I picked up an energy drink on the way....class went really well..I am really interested in what I am learning as it is what I want to do with my life....the difference between CBU and U of Memphis is incredible....I was not very impressed with my undergrad experience at U of M and I have been impressed from day 1 with CBU....however, after class (I go til 10:15 pm) I came home hoping to be able to fall asleep in order to wake up and ride to my Tuesday morning meeting.....not the case....the energy drink during class had me wired and I wasn't able to fall asleep until after 1 am sometime...


I took Tuesday completely off as I woke up feeling pretty tired...I also took Wednesday off because I had to take care of some classwork for Wednesday evening before going to work...

Thursday I don't work until 1pm and I don't have class so I slept in and I made the mistake of waiting until about 9 am to start my run....I knew from the start it was going to be a tough one but man, I was not expecting it to be that tough....I ended up slogging it out for 13 miles, probably walking at least 4 or so of those miles finishing the day with about a 12:40 pace but I was really more concerned with just covering the miles....

Friday I woke up at 4:45 because Lauren and her training partner Elle (both of whom will be rocking out their first 50k's at Stumpjump) were going on a long run and Lauren asked me if I would start out with them since it would be completely dark for the first hour....I agreed and they put me up front so I could knock out the massive spider webs with half dollar or bigger spiders in them on the Wolf River Trails....We ran from WRT and cut over to Shelby Farms to refill at the VC then we ran the Tour to the backside where we got on G'town parkway and ran back to the WRT traihead.....I stopped at 11.5 as I had to get ready to go to work and they kept on going for 15 or so.....

Saturday, I had another early morning, waking up at 4 am and starting my run about 4:45....I ran at Shelby Farms, as I thought there might be fewer spider webs than WRT, though there were still plenty for me to clear out for the later runners.....I ran one loop solo at a pretty slow pace then ran a loop with Daniel and we picked up the pace a bit....ran the third loop with Daniel as well but I dropped off pretty hard during the last two miles as I was pretty beat....Total mileage for the day was just over 20 which I am satisfied with....put my week at 55 miles which I hope to repeat again this week.....

Today I went out to cheer on Lauren at the Wolfpack Triathlon out at Shelby Farms....Her goal was to break and hour and to finish in the top 3 females overall...She did both, finishing in 57 minutes and some change and taking third female overall!

Today is filled with school work, possibly a late afternoon easy recovery run, but we will see...on a side note, my full suspension mountain bike is about halfway built...I am super excited and hopefully my bike mechanics at work will be able to help me finish it this week as I plan on racing it at the six hours of Herb Parsons in two weeks....

happy running and share the road!

week in recap

This week was kind of a recovery for me from Bartlett Park 50k...I took off Sunday and Monday completely, Tuesday I rode 12 miles to my store meeting which really felt like it helped me loosen up quite a bit....Wednesday I ran the mile from the house to the Wolf River Trails and met up with Lauren for a 4 mile loop..

I felt pretty good by Wednesday evening so I planned on getting in some decent distance on Thursday...plan was to run from home to the visitor center via G'town parkway and enter Shelby Farms by the abandoned farmhouse...right at 5 miles then meet up with Lauren for a loop of the Tour....I started out feeling really good and running was going well...got the the VC a few minutes before Lauren and I started feeling really queezy..I ate a few gels and sat down but the feeling didn't pass....Lauren rolled up and I had convinced myself that I was still going to run with her but when she got out of the car the first thing she said is "you look like hell"....so we sat around for a while before I decided that I wasn't going to run the loop because I knew if I ran it I would probably end up feeling bad for the rest of the day....

Friday I didn't run and then Saturday I got out for 10 at Shelby Farms...bringing the weeks total to right at 20 miles....ok by me for a recovery week....

Started this week off with an 8 miler on the Wolf River Trails around 10 am this morning...by that time it was really hot and all that rain we got yesterday made it extremely humid...I was soaked within a few minutes of the run and easily drained both bottles before the end of it.....

Last nite I was catching up on reading some blogs when I came across the news about Scott Jurek's post Hardrock interview on enduranceplanet.com where he knocks on Dean Karnazes.....basically, he (and a number of other ultrarunners I'm sure) is mad that the media is focused on Dean (a mediocre racer by elite ultra standards) because Dean has the financial and media ties because of his mega sponsorship by The North Face...he believes the attention should go to other athletes in the sports who are actually out winning races on a consistent basis (like himself and Karl Meltzer).....

I gotta say I agree with him....I believe Dean is a phenomenal runner, way better than I will ever be, but it is kind of ashamed that people who are actually far more deserving of media attention and big name sponsorship get passed up.....

other than the Dean comments, I found Jurek's interview extremely interesting....it contained alot about his diet (completely vegan) and his thoughts about diet in general which really interests me....I was also very surprised that his training mileage was as light as it is...I always figured that he would just be pumping out 100+ miles weeks all the time but turns out he says he usually averages about 50-60 per week and peaks out around 100-120 per week only occasionally when preparing for big races....

His training revolves around hard workouts followed by easier recovery runs...He said he typically does a hard speed workout once a week and a long run (25-35 miles) once a week that often incorporates some Lactate Threshold pickups in it....in between those runs he throws in some easier recovery runs and says he always takes at least 1 day a week completely off....he is also really into strength and flexibility training....

I have been reading a lot about incorporating Lactate Threshold training into the regimen and I think I'm going to go for it this week...I have messed aroudn with it before but I really think it will only really make a difference if I can be consistent with it....

so the plan this week is to do one speed workout day...either a straight up interval session or a 30 min LT session....I'm off work on Saturday and I'm looking to go long but we will see how that works out...

oh yeah, one final note, congrats to Les Jones, one of my Saturday morning running buddies who just finished his 6th Leadville 100 in 29:06!

happy running and share the road!

Bartlett Park Ultra

wow...that's all I can say about that one....this was definitely the hardest 50k I have run....up until this point Swampstomper back in January was the toughest because of how it was just a mud slog but the heat beats out the mud and even elevation gain in races like Stumpjump and Sylamore all day....

The race started great...it was relatively cool for the first lap and I took out with the lead group finishing the first lap in 1:06...I was feeling really good though I wasn't really feeling my premixed drink in my bottle....

I rolled through the aid station at the start\finish without stopping and tossed off one of my bottles as I still had one premixed one....second lap felt pretty good but by the time I got to the 4 mile aid station I was really glad to toss out my Hammer for some gatorade.....finished the second lap pretty strong...my total time was about 2:23 at that point....

From here my race went downhill....I took down some gel and refilled my water bottle at the beginning of lap 3 and about a mile into the lap the gel was not sitting well and I had almost completely drained my water...my pace slowed drastically and I was just hoping to come upon the 4 mile aid station soon I as I was really desperate for water...finally made it to teh 4 mile aid station, slammed a bottle or two of water and then got back on my way....now I was really starting to feel the heat...my pace dropped from running pretty quick miles to barely pushing out a pace that can be defnied as running...I even walked some of it.....felt like the lap was never going to end but finally I came up Mt. Bartlett and knew the end of the lap was in sight...

I was pretty sure I was going to have to sit down and take a break at the start finish line because I was hurting pretty bad....I sat down, ate a gel or so, slammed a few bottles of water and that's when I heard that the two of the 4 or 5 people in front of me had dropped from the race....that gave me a bit of a mental boost so I got back on the course as fast as I could...I think I actually hurt myself when I did this because I was pretty excited and I took out for the first mile at a really fast pace...by the 1 mile marker I was completely out of water....I was able to semi run to about 2 miles and that's when I really fell off...mile 26-28 was perhaps the hardest two mile section I have ever gone through....and I can't say run through cause I surely didn't run it....can't even say I power walked...I literally stumbled....I was extremely light headed and desperate for water at that point and I was having to take a break ever few hundred yards to sit down for a minute or so and get a grip on things....at this point in the race I didn't think I was going to be able to finish.....about a .25 mile or so out from the 4 mile aid station I took a seat right as a gentleman by the name of Darryl Green was coming up on me...i asked him if he had any extra water and he poured some of his camelbak into my bottle, saving me.....he also walked the rest of the way to the aid station with me just to make sure I made it....it's things like these that make trail ultras awesome!......

I got to the aid station at 4 miles and sat down for about 10 minutes...at this point finishing time had gone out the window and I was more concerned with simply being able to finish....I wasn't really wanted to drink any gatorade or take any gels at this point so I knew I needed some calories somehow....in the past I have always avoided this during races but for some reason Coke was sounding really good....I slammed 3 or 4 cups of it and within two minutes I was a completely new person....I was able to actually run the next 2 miles to get back to the aid station at mile 6 where I slammed 3 or 4 more cups of Coke....the last 2 miles I ran at a good pace and even felt like if I had to I could have kept going a little bit....so basically, Coke saved my day...without it, I don't know that I would ever have finished....

ended up finishing in 6:25...definitely not my best time and not near my goal time by any means...but I will take it, as it was a huge relief just to finish this one.....but I don't feel too bad as a guy in the lead pack I was running with has a sub 4 hour 50k PR and he finished over 5....

I am looking forward to the fall!!!...I can't deal with running long in these temps...it just totally drains your body....plan for this week is recovery for a day or two then getting back in it as Stumpjump is just under 2 months out.....

share the road and happy running...

week in review

Been kinda lazy the last week or so when it came to updating the running journal and blog....finished last week decent, struggled to pull out a decent long run at the Farms two Saturdays ago...

Monday I rocked out 10 from the house keeping a solid pace the whole time....Tuesday I rode to my work meeting at the warehouse and then rode 2 loops of the Tour de Wolf on my cyclocross bike (basically a beefed up road bike with slightly knobby tires)....

Wednesday I went on my 10 miles route from the house but I did sets of intervals along the way...I warmed up for two miles then put the hammer down for five minutes at near all out intensity followed by recovery for 3 minutes....I did four repeats of this and was pretty beat by the end but ended up with a pretty strong time for the total ten miles even though I was beat for the last two miles from my intervals...

Thursday, I went out for a semi-long run....hitting just over 16 for the day but keeping a good pace....hit 16 right at 2:20 which would put me at a 4:40 50k in a perfect world....but I have found that my splits usually aren't even at 50k distance...though they are getting closer (at Sylamore I was 8 minutes off a perfect split)....I'm pretty pumped for Saturday at Stanky and as of right now my goal for myself is to break 5 hours....

For Stanky, I think I'm going to start with 2 fastdraws each loaded with 200 calories worth of Gu2O and 2 hammer Endurolytes dumped in each one....that will be two hours worth of fuel so I won't have to stop for at least the first two hours...after that the plan is to ditch one of the bottles and use gel and water for the rest of the race....

Today, went out and ran 7.75 at Shelby Farms with Lauren....plan for the rest of the week is to ride tomorrow after work, run in the 6-8 range on Wednesday, and then do a really light 3 miles Friday just enough to keep the legs fresh....

other than that, all is well, tax free weekend was crazy busy as I expected...looking forward to starting school soon...and I got a new cookbook that I'm really pumped about...its called "The Passionate Vegetarian" and it has nearly 1000 recipes.....all I need now is the time to prepare my feast....

happy running and share the road!

Lakeland trails....

This week has been going pretty well..looks like I'm on target to hit my 40 mile mark if I knock out a 20 at Shelby Farms tomorrow....

Monday I ran a loop of the Tour De Wolf before heading to work....took Tuesday off except for my 15 mile fixed gear ride...Wednesday I knocked out just over 9 in good time at Shelby Farms....Thursday no run....

This weekend Lauren and I are house sitting (our second jobs, we are really good and have quite a client base) in Arlington just down the road from the Lakeland trails...I have never run out there before, only ridden but I figured since I was in the neighborhood I would give it a shot....

I ran for right at an hour, going just over 5 miles though I'm not exactly 100 percent sure how much further than 5 cause my Garmin was cutting in and out the whole time....I have to say, those trails rock for running...they are great hill training and the way the trail flows you can almost do an interval type run by busting it up the hills and catching your breath on the way down....I definitely want to start getting out there more often as I'm sure it would benefit me for Stumpjump....

I have really been concentrating on picking up the pace in my runs the last two weeks....I used to kind of cruise through my shorter distance runs but now I'm really pushing through them...I need to get back in the habit of wearing my heart rate monitor...I have been judging my intensity by my breathing but I need to be a bit more precise so I can see where I need to improve.....

other than that things are rolling along..school starts in a few weeks and I'm really excited about that...still stayin on the bike too...out cruising the town today and it looks like I'll prob end up around 35 for the day....

anyways, happy running and share the road....

feelin good....

Finished last week with just over 32.6 miles...pretty much felt good all week when it came to running...

Lauren and I went out and did a really lame photo shoot for Health and Fitness as they are doing an article on trail running, though I kind of wonder where the article will go after some of my interview questions...I decided I'm gonna buck up and go ahead and do the 50k at Bartlett Park....if anything it will be a good opportunity to get in a long run with an aid station every few miles and some good company....

plan to bump this week up to about 40 miles...last Saturday I ran 15 at Shelby Farms (oh yeah, the temperature this past weekend was amazing early in the morning!) and I'm planning to go 20-22 or so this weekend....

on another note, I recently acquired a new commuter bike...I picked up an early 80's Bianchi frame from a customer at the Union store and turned it in to a fixed gear, which means there is no such thing as coasting on it, if the rear wheel is moving, so are the pedals....I put a rack on it today and it is ready to rock....

until next time....happy running and share the road

Back on my feet again...

After taking Monday of last week off to recover from Iron Butt, Lauren and I headed over to Little Rock early Tuesday morning for the Widespread Panic show Tuesday night...whenever we travel these days we generally always try and find somewhere in the area to do something active so we decided to go to Pinnacle Mountain State Park for a trail run and a scramble up Pinnacle....

It's kind of funny how things have changed in the last 3 years....I spent a good 3-4 years of my life with chasing Panic shows all over the South and even out West before I got into a healthier outdoor lifestyle and now, even though I still love going to Panic shows, I just don't have the desire to devote all my vacation time\funds to following a band....I guess I kind of outgrew that stage of my life...now I pretty much limit my shows to a few times a year when they are reasonably close and my ongoing New Years Eve show tradition in Atlanta...and when I do go to shows, rather than spend my time hanging out in the lot, I prefer to actually experience what the area I am in has to offer......

so anyways, back to Little Rock...the entire ride over I spent driving under the speed limit with my hands at 10 and 2 as it was storming like crazy....my plan was for us to run part of the Ouachita Trail that I ran back in April, hit Pinnacle Mtn., then run back around the side of the mountain.....From the get go it rained on us but it was so hot and humid that it actually felt really good....we hit the trail (or scrambling path) up to teh Pinnacle summit and it was a lot tougher than I remember it being during the race...the rocks were extremely slick from the rain and you had to use your hands and feet for almost every step....

we arrived at the top, took a few photos, popped some gu, and got back on it...I was hoping to descend a bit faster but the backside of the mountain was really slick as well even though the footing is much better than the side we came up....came back on a pretty cool trail that went around the side of the mountain and put us out back near the car....total on the day was only 5 miles but it took us exactly 2 hours as the climb up and down Pinnacle slowed us down quite a bit....

The show rocked out on Tuesday night and we were planning on running in Little Rock Wednesday but ended up just heading back to Memphis early....

Thursday I ran 5 from the house down the Wolf River Trails, wasn't the best feeling run ever but wasn't the worst....Friday I worked at the Union Ave. store so I rode my bike there and home which turned out to be a pretty good 30 mile round trip workout...I did a fartlek style interval session on the way home.....

Saturday I woke up early and met up with my usual running crew for the Saturday long run...I was only planning on going two loops on the Tour De Wolf...the first loop was great, felt strong, no pains at all, the second loop started out well then I started fading about halfway....not a total fade out but just a gradual slowing of the pace as I was really feeling not having run long in nearly three weeks....I was a bit sore the rest of the day Saturday and even some today....usually running 12.5 doesn't make me sore but I guess just from taking off for a bit my body is getting used to it again....

Finished the first week back after a two week hiatus with 22.5 miles...hoping to bump it up this week to the mid 30s....

until next time....

Iron Butt 07'

Yesterday I participated in an annual Memphis event called "Iron Butt"....basically, Iron Butt was an idea contrived by a few Memphis mountain bikers some years back to ride every trail (some rideable, some hike-a-bike style) in the metro area in one day....

I woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty pumped up about doing the ride...as I have mentioned, if I am not pumped about a long distance event, be it running or cycling, it is hard for me to get in the groove...I spent Friday evening getting my borrowed mountain bike in working order (as my mountain bike is in pieces right now) for the day's ride....

The ride started at a guy's house in Arlington with 23 riders eager to hit the trails for a long day out....We took out from Arlington at 7:40am and rode about 6-7 miles to Stanky Creek where we took off for a lap around all the loops of the Stank....I guess it rained some at Stanky on Friday because those roots were the slickest I have ever seen them....I was still trying to get used to the borrowed ride and I was sliding all over the place....I rode my lap at Stanky at an easy pace with fellow trail runner Wade (who is racing next weekend in Bozeman, MT at the Devil's Backbone 50 miler) who had come out for the first part of Iron Butt...

From Stanky, we rode out to Jackson Avenue where we slogged through the mud with beer drinking rednecks on 4 wheelers....This is the first time I had been on this part of the trail since the death run in April and I have to say it was much nicer yesterday than in April as it was much drier and easier to find routes around the monstrous 4x4 mud holes....

When we got to Walnut Grove we hit the gravel road over to the Shelby Farms visitor center where we hosed off the bikes, lubed chains, and took a loop of the Tour de Wolf....From the Tour we hit the gravel road over to the Wolf River Trails where we took the blue\white trail to G'town Parkway....

From there we hit Gray's Creek trail all the way to Gray's Creek...this part of the trail was pretty overgrown with lots of stickers and log crossings that required dismounting....I have run all the way to Gray's Creek but I have never gone across it so I was curious as to how that was going to happen....the creek was fairly deep but there was a perfectly positioned log wide enough for us to walk across while shouldering our bikes...After crossing Gray's the bank is a very steep, use both hands to grab and pull up style bank.....we had to do a little bike hand off action to get the bikes up the bank....

The other side of Gray's Creek trail was hardly a trail at all...pretty much a hike-a-bike section that dumped into a power line road which dumped us into Houston Levee Road near Collierville.....From here we rode a ways on the road out to Fisherville to our lunch stop at Herb Parson's Park....took a much deserved lunch break at Herb's before taking off on a lap around the lake....by this time I was beginning to hurt pretty good....I felt good as far as my legs and cardio goes but my contact points (hands, butt, feet) were all aching pretty bad....

After Herb, we rode a 16 mile road section which was a great relief to the Lakeland trails....I have never ridden Lakeland before and I gotta say that trail kicked my ass after 80 miles of riding...I was in the lowest possible gear pretty much the whole way, occasionally even having to dismount and hike....from Lakeland took what was supposed to be a short 2.5 mile road ride back to our starting point but a wrong turn took a few of us a few miles out of the way, tacking on a few extra miles for the day....

Finally ended up back in Arlington for pasta, bread, and Fat Tire Ale.....ended up riding about 90 miles on the day....the second most I have ever ridden and by far the longest I have ever ridden on a mountain bike....I wasn't too terribly sore muscle wise yesterday but today I am definitely feeling it in my legs and my lower back as well as all my contact points....

I'm gonna take a few days off the bike but this week starts my return to running to it will all work out well....Tuesday Lauren and I are headed to Little Rock for the Widespread Panic concert but we are going to go early and run some of the Pinnacle Mountain Trail that kicked my ass in the Ouachita 50 miler....until next time...happy running and share the road

Cruisin on up...

It has been a relatively uneventful week thus far, Monday I rode to and from work for a grand total of 6 miles on the day...Tuesday I rode to my work meeting out at summer and highland and caught a ride back to the store for 12 miles and worked all day before Lauren came by and picked me up to go to the Firecracker 5k....

I wasn't actually racing the 5k, as I'm sticking to my plan to staying away from running right now but I enjoyed socializing with lots of familiar faces and of course the Tyrone Smith Review getting down at the after party...usually when I go out to watch races I end up thinking to myself "man, why didn't I race" or "I could beat this or that time" but I honestly had no bad feelings about skipping this one...for some reason road 5k's do not appeal to me at all....

Wednesday morning Lauren and I rode from my house out to Germantown/Collierville where we met up with her dad and brother for a 4th of July ride....ended up being just about 30 miles for both Lauren and I for the day....after riding we power napped before heading over to a friends house for a 4th celebration....

we ended up slack lining, which if you are not familiar with this, you basically tie 1" webbing between two trees and try and walk across it....tight roping with flat webbing I guess you would say....it's actually quite a bit of fun, simple as it may be and really works your entire body, as the line starts shaking big time and it takes every muscle in your body as well as balance and coordination to keep it under control....

Looking forward to Saturday when I will be participating in the Iron Butt....basically an 87 mile mountain bike tour of every trail system of Memphis....I have always wanted to do this in year's past but it has never worked out with my schedule...it's definitely going to be tough but I think it will be a lot of fun.....anyway until next time

happy running and share the road

back in the saddle again....

I have been sticking to what I said and I am not running, though I have been mighty tempted to a few times over the past week. Wednesday I woke up and rode out Macon to Collierville-Arlington and back to the house for just over 21 miles in about 1:14.....then I commuted to and from work which gave me 27 on the day....

Thursday Lauren came over to my house early and we hit up the farmer's market for some fresh veggies to make our homemade veggie pizza....I rode with Lauren to Fleet Feet then rode to Outdoors from there which put me at 22ish for the day....

I took Friday off from the bike as I'm just getting used to the saddle after not riding very much recently....Today I woke up and headed out from my house on Macon headed East....Stayed on Macon for quite a while until it crossed I think Highway 194 maybe...Hung a left there and headed towards 64....while I was cruising that section of road I was thinking about how much more enjoyable my ride would be if I was with a group because when I run solo I jam out on the ipod but it's just not safe on the bike....then all of the sudden a group of about 35 riders made a left onto the road I was on about 200 yards ahead of me....talk about a wish come true...I sprinted to catch up with them and latched on for the remainder of their ride...It was the R.B.'s Cyclery Saturday morning "B" ride so the pace was decent but not so fast that I was getting winded or anything......Rode with them through the backroads of Lakeland on the way back to R.B.'s shop.....stopped in R.B.'s to holler at a few of the mechanics I know that work there, grabbed some cold water and got back on it.....cruised down 64 to appling....appling to Cordova road to G'town Parkway and back home....total on the day was 63 miles....felt really good...my legs felt strong the entire time....really the only thing bugging me was the backside from being in the saddle for over 3 hours.....

It is definitely much cooler than running when riding 19-20 mph on a road bike...the breeze feels good and it actually feels hotter when you come to a stop....I enjoyed riding the backroads as there was not a lot of traffic out...I also feel a lot safer riding in a group as cars seem to give you more space when passing than if I were riding solo....actually, for the first time in a while I wasn't worried about cars when riding with the group....just more focused on watching the riders in front of me as if one goes down it can be a disaster for everyone....

Not to bash on Memphis but cycling here is just not accepted and as safe as Colorado (or plenty of other places for that matter)....here it seems that people just get pissed off and think that you shouldn't be on their roads rather than giving you space....there is not a single "share the road" sign anywhere in this city....You can't go a quarter mile without seeing one in bike friendly places....its frustrating but you learn to live with it.....

anyways, enough ranting...until next time happy running and share the road....

a fresh new start...

Over the last week or so I have decided that I am not going to move out of my parents house until I finish grad school...I was planning on moving in with a buddy of mine over by U of M but when I sat down and did the math it just didn't make sense to be throwing money away on rent that I could be using to save for moving and for knocking out student loans....plus my parents are incredibly cool and leave me to do my own thing so there is no problem living here...and its 3 miles from work which is very convenient....

so, Sunday Lauren and I redid my room to make it more comfortable since I will be living in it for at least another year and a half...we had a lot of work to do because I have basically been living in my sister's art studio for a while....when I first moved out for undergrad she took over my room and made it in to her art room, complete with lavender walls and all...basically Lauren and I cleaned out her art stuff and went through piles of my old stuff deciding what I needed to keep and what could go....(there were some tough decisions, I have lots of junk that I value).....after a whole day's work, we got the room looking pretty good and definitely feeling more roomy and bedroom like though I still have lavender walls....

Even though I did not leave my parents house my new room makes it feel like a new home...a new lease on life at the rent's house of sorts....

Today also marked the first day I have worked out with weights in at least a year...during the spring of 2006 I was very consistent with my weight workouts...I was lifting with my lower body twice a week and I could definitely tell a difference running and biking....kind of slacked off after the spring semester ended and that slack off has lasted over a year...I'm sure getting back on the weights with my legs is going to help out a lot...especially on quad busting downhills like the ones at Stumpjump.....

I think my body feels pretty well recovered from Chattanooga and I am kind of anxious to start running again but I really am going to make myself take some time off, as I want to give myself time to completely recover....I'm waking up in the morning to hit the bike for 2 hours or so to get some cardio in.....should be fun as I have not had a good solid ride in a while

Lessons learned and disappointment

soooo...where to start....I came back from Colorado very well rested and kind of complacent about racing in Chattanooga....not a good thing.....When I first signed up I was really looking forward to going there to race but as the race grew closer, I was kind of having second thoughts about it...and, as I learned in Ouachita, I am a very mental runner, and if I am not all there mentally for a race, I do not fare well....I tried my hardest to get myself psyched for the race but even on the car ride to Chat I was having a hard time convincing myself that I wanted to race....

I arrived in Chattanooga Thursday evening and crashed at our Patagonia rep, Matt, and his wife Natalie's house in a very cool neighborhood on the North side of the river...the race was originally supposed to start at 7 am on Friday, which I though was a bit late considering the heat, but the RD changed the time to 8 am....by 8 am...it was freaking hot....

felt pretty good leading up to the race and lined up with about 16 or 17 other people for the start...we took off and I went out pretty hard holding steady in 5th place for about the first ten miles or so...then all of the sudden everything went downhill....I began to feel an extremely intense pain that was familiar from last fall...it was my IT band and it was causing my right knee to hurt really bad...i slowed down considerably and then it got to the point where I could hardly run at all anymore...I ran when I could and walked when I couldn't....I was never going more than about 100 yards running before I would stop to walk for a minute....the trail was pretty intense as far as rocky footing and elevation change goes and all that together was wreaking havoc on my knee....at his point I was incredibly frustrated and I was not having a good time at all....I kept on with the run\walk until I finished the 22 miles in 4:40....I was extremely angry at the whole situation and I was definitely in pain following the race...

After stretching out really good and icing on and off and Matt's house, I began to feel somewhat better, but I was still really worried about my IT band flaring up again at Saturday's race...woke up Saturday feeling pretty decent and my plan was to just take it easy so that I would maybe be able to get on it pretty hard on Sunday....race began and I took off towards the back of the pack and cruised for about the first 7 miles or so....then all of the sudden, boom! my knee was killing me again....now I was even more frustrated, knowing that I was going to have to slog for another 11 miles....the trail was tamer than Friday's so I was able to kind of push through some of the knee pain and run the flatter sections of the course but I hated every minute of it....finished pretty close to last somewhere around 3:40.....

At this point it was decision time for me....I had given myself an easy day to see how my knee held up and obviously it was not good.....therefore rather than continue to hurt myself and hate every minute of my race on Sunday, I just called it a weekend.....looking back on it now I definitely don't regret my decision...I am still feeling my knee today and I think it's better to just take some time off and completely recover before I get on it hard for Stumpjump....

all in all, I did come away from the weekend having learned some important lessons....first off, I was consistently running decently high mileage in teh weeks leading up to the race...while in Colorado I didn't run too much but I stayed loose, however the week leading up to the race I didn't run at all....I think going from no runs in 11 or 12 days to a 22 miler at race pace kicked my ass...that is completely my fault and I should not have let that happen....

secondly, I know that I have to be more focused in order to do well...being consistent in my training helps me keep my focus and my Colorado trip kind of threw off my consistency, in turn allowing me to loose my focus....

I don't think this weekend was a total waste, as I did still bag some mileage and learned some very important lessons about my running, and now I am definitely focused on redemption at Stumpjump!

I will be taking at least the next week, possibly two weeks off running to completely get my knee and the bottoms of my feet back to normal so that I can start building up for Stumpjump....until next time....

Back in the M-town....

well as always, my time in Colorado flew by all too fast and before I knew it I was back home....however, the rest of the trip was a blast...

Wednesday I borrowed Lauren's cousin's hoss of a mountain bike and Lauren rented a bike and we rode around the paved bike paths that connect the town of Avon to Edwards and Vail...stopped for lunch and a neat place in Avon and then cruised around for another couple of hours before calling it a day....I really wished I had my road bike, as the bike I was on was a 40 pound downhilling machine and wasn't very fun to pedal up the hills....

Thursday Lauren and I rode with her cousin and his buddies to the Fryingpan River, just a short bit outside of Aspen....they all spent the day fishing and lauren and I went hiking on some nearby trails....The elevation gain was not as spectacular as many of other trails we hiked but it was a very cool canyon that had incredibly colorful rock formations....we ended up finishing up our hike about an hour before everyone got back from fishing so we spent the rest of the time laying on our backs checking out the clouds rolling in over surrounding peaks....

Friday was probably my absolute favorite day of the trip...we woke up at 4am and headed to Quandary Peak, a 14, 271 ft. peak just south of the town of Breckenridge...We were one of the only cars at the trail head and we were on the trail rolling shortly after 6 am....the first mile or so of the hike brought us out of tree cover to wide open tundra with insane views of distant mountains....as we continued up the trail began to get steeper and steeper and it also began to get very snow covered....fortunately,, we began our hike early enough that the snow was still very solid from freezing over the night before so our feet were not post holing with every step....towards the top of the mountain the trail began to level out somewhat for the last 200 yards or so before the summit and from there it was smooth sailing....

We hung out on the summit for nearly 15 minutes, taking a snack break and taking pictures....the altitude was definitely taking effect on all of us...at 14,000 ft we were all sucking wind pretty bad....I would go as far as to say that my hear trate was just as high as it would be during a mid distance run during the last mile of the hike to the top...the way down was way easier than the way up, as we sort of power slid through the snow field....

Lauren and I stayed true to our trail running roots and rocked the Montrail Hardrocks throughout the the course of the week, even hiking up snow covered mountains...these shoes are nothing short of amazing.....if they could only make them crampon compatible, then they would really be the quiver of one shoe....

It was lauren's first time to climb a 14,000ft mountain and she did so even with 2 huge blisters on her heel...I have never had to contend with blisters but Lauren's were extremely bad this past week and the Band Aid blister pads made all the difference in the world....to keep the blister pads in place, we duct taped her foot which seemed to really help....

We missed our flight on Saturday morning so we got to hang out for 5 or so hours in the Denver airport...as bummed as I was about having to do that, Denver was not a terrible place to have to stay...the airport was actually rather nice and we were able to find a pretty decent and not too terribly overpriced place to eat while we killed time....

Saturday night we got home just in time to head over to the Outdoors Inc. Midnight Bike Ride pre party....this event is incredibly fun...this was my third year to do it and there are not words to describe how cool it is to see nearly 2,000 people cruising the streets of Memphis on bicycles at night...I really wish there was a way to get an event like this happening on a regular basis around town as it seems like there is plenty of interest to keep an event like this going....

Had to get back in the swing of things and work today but it's not a bad deal knowing that I'm only working four days this week before I leave for Chattanooga...I'm pretty excited about racing, though I am going up there solo and I'm going to have quite a bit of downtime during the day after the races to kill....I'll probably take my bike so I can cruise around town and keep my legs loose during the afternoon...until next time.....

Colorado

Got into Denver just after 7:30 on Friday night, just in time to catch the last bit of sunlight fall behind the front range....Lauren's friend from Memphis, Bryn and her boyfriend John picked us up from the airport and we went to the best Mediterranean restaurant I have ever been to....I got the veggie platter which had the most incredible fallafel I have ever eaten....after eating we all decided we were pretty tired and headed back to Bryn's apartment to chill for the rest of the evening...

Saturday morning Lauren and I woke up before Bryn so we decided to go down the road a bit to a park to run....Denver is an incredible city when it comes to active recreation...Nearly every area of town has some sort of trail system within a short distance and many of the trails even interconnect....We hit up a neighborhood trail system called the bluffs which was basically trails of rolling hills about as wide as the trail on the Patriot Lake loop but they were made of a hard packed gravel so it was much easier on the legs....put in just over 5 miles and called it a day....definitely felt the effects of the altitude even though Denver only sits at just over 5000 ft...

After the run Lauren and I went by Panera's Bread (I try and avoid chain food places as much as possible but this place rocks!) and got bagels and coffee for everyone to take back to Bryn's....later in the afternoon we went to Whole Foods to pick up some food to take to Beaver Creek....I have always heard good things about Whole Foods from others but never experienced the Whole Foods goodness myself....it is a store very similar to Wild Oats (actually they just bought out Wild Oats)...however the selection is way better, they have loads of samples throughout the store, and they have their own brand that is actually affordable...being the health food freak that I am, I absolutely loved this store....I could have spent hours (and $$$$) perusing the aisles....

Left Denver around 4pm and arrived in Beaver Creek around 6....I went out for a quick 40 minute run and got my ass kicked by the altitude...my Garmin never picked up but I estimate it was just over a 3 miler.....

Sunday we woke up and went on a day hike to Beaver Lake...a nice little lake about 3 miles up the mountain from the Beaver Creek ski area....chilled up at the lake for a bit while Lauren's cousin and friends fished....came back into Beaver Creek for lunch and then I decided to go on a trail run from Beaver Creek to the ski village a few miles west....the hardest part of the run was the 1.5 miles out of Beaver Creek (BC)....very steep grade, hardly runnable...at about the 1.5 mile mark the trail forks off to the West and cruises with very little elevation change through a beautiful aspen forest...after cruising through the aspens the trail opens up alpine meadows with scenic views of snow capped peaks in the distance....Eventually the trail makes its way to Batchelor's Gulch...the ski village just to the West of BC...at this point I was at the 6.5 mile mark and I was feeling pretty tired from the day hike earlier in the day...Decided to catch a shuttle back to BC and definitely glad I did as the sky was starting to look pretty nasty....

Monday, Lauren, her cousin Mike and his buddy Matt decided we were going to go backpacking...we picked a trail that Lauren and I had some experience on last summer but we were also planning on adding a new section...we figured we would encounter some snow on the ground but it turns out the route we intended on taking was completely snowed over still...there were actually skiers skinning up it....so needless to say we had to change our plans on the fly and decided to hike to another lake on the map, in hopes that we could camp there...

Hiking to our new destination proved to be a challenge as well...much of the trail was snow covered so it was very hard to follow...it was pretty exhausting too because when crossing the snow your feet would sink in sometimes all the way past your knee or more...we finally arrived at the lake and set up camp for the evening....unfortunately the clouds were pretty thick and we did not get to see a sunset over the mountains....just about the time it was getting dark it began to rain....It rained steadily all night long and I really hoped it would quit by morning...not the case...woke up this morning and it was still coming down pretty good....broke down camp and got back on the trail for a wet and cold slog back to the car.... got in to our room in BC not too long ago and warmed up....the rest of the day is looking pretty bleak...its 48 degrees and raining....but on a good note, the rest of the week's forecast is great!...we are planning on hiking a 14,000 ft. peak on Friday....not sure what tomorrow and thursday will bring...looking forward to some veggie enchiladas tonite...Lauren and I are cheffing it up for everyone in the condo...

I'm surprisingly sore from our 1 day backpacking trip...I guess it comes from trudging through snow with weight on my back....I was thinking about going out for a run this afternoon but I might just lay low...I'm not terribly concerned with racking up mileage this week because I'm tapering for my stage race in Chattanooga that begins a week from Friday....


I love Colorado...it's always soo hard to come home because I know this is where I want to be....one day soon.....

Been a while...

Been a while since I have posted on the blog....it's kind of like running, if you break the habit for a few days its easy to get off the train...

Last week was a rather slack week in the running department....just over 33 miles on the week...on a good note, my forefoot pain has eased off because of taking an easier week...

I have not had any long runs this week but I did get in a tempo\semi interval run on Wednesday evening at Shelby Farms...ran a 10 min warmup, followed by 5 minutes at a hard yet sustainable pace with a 3 minute recovery....repeated 3 times and then followed with a slow cool down.....

I did definitely discover the importance of eating as soon as the workout is over....Since I normally run at least 8 when I run I guess I kind of overlooked how much I exerted myself in my tempo session...I did not eat until over an hour and a half after finishing the workout...This morning I went out for a quick 7 miler and bonked hard at 30 minutes on the dot....The rest of the run was a struggle just to bring it home....I definitely attribute the bonking to not refueling my energy stores after Wednesday evenings run....

I leave for Colorado tomorrow evening....Going to be gone until next Saturday....I am definitely looking forward to it....hoping to get in some quality trail runs....Feb let me borrow his Ultimate Direction Wasp which is a hydration system that fits more like a vest than a pack so I'm excited to try that out on a long run....hopefully the altitude won't kill me....

8 more days....

Only 8 more days til I leave for Colorado and I'm really starting to get excited about it...Lauren and I are flying to Denver and meeting up with her cousin and some of his friends for a week to stay at a condo in Beaver Creek.....Since we are flying we won't be able to take all of our toys but I'm still planning on taking some of the camping stuff and most certainly running stuff....Hopefully I will be able to get in a few good runs while at altitude....

I took Wednesday completely off except for a short ride to the bank and to work, though I wished I could have kept going on the bike as it was one of those days were I felt like I was sailing yet putting no effort into it....

Today I met up with Feb and Daniel at 7 am a the Shelby Farms visitor center...we took out for a 10.5 loop starting at the VC and heading clockwise on the TDW, cut down the Walnut Grove \ G'town Pkwy intersection at the shack on the back loop of TDW then ran down G'town Pkwy to the blue\white trail, back under the bridge where they are doing construction and back to the VC.....Then we went for another 4 out and back on the TDW taking the total for the day to 14.61...brings the weekly mileage up to 26.61 so I def have some ground to cover by the end of the week (my week is Mon - Sun)...

Plan is to get in a little bit tomorrow morning and my usual 20 on Saturday and if I'm feeling it maybe just a tad on Sunday pushing the weeks miles to right about 60....I'm really hoping to get in some good miles on the road bike on Sunday as well...I guess we'll see....

Starting the week...

Monday did not kick off as planned, as I meant to get in some mileage before work but ended up sleeping in...I packed all my running stuff and even bargained with myself that I would allow myself to drive to work rather than ride so long as I went running after work....yeah, so that didn't work out so well either...got a call from a friend asking if Lauren and I wanted to come over for a cookout so I bailed on the run.....

Very surprised at how busy we were at work yesterday...I have worked Memorial Day two previous times and I do not ever remember it being that busy...at one point in the early afternoon it felt like Christmas season for a short bit...Got to meet fellow bloggers Running Near Graceland (Drew) and Running Twig (Holly)....definitely enjoyed meeting them and pretending to work while chatting, as it is always nice to meet others with a similar passion for running....


I usually end up having to close at work which means I don't get out of there until around 7:30 but today was my day to not have to close and I got out around 6...Went over to Shelby Farms and started my loop from the dogpark off Trinity Rd....ran counter clockwise to the visitor center on the TDW then hit the paved Chickisaw loop (though I ran on the grass next to it as much as possible)...that circled me back to the Visitor Center and I went for a lap around Patriot Lake then continued along the gravel road to finish the TDW....got back to my car and the Garmin was claiming right at 10 so I went a mile out and a mile back to finish with a total of 12....

Today's run felt pretty good...kept up a good pace from the start and tried to lay it down while on the Chickisaw loop...felt like I finished pretty strong....

Got down on a peanut butter sandwich and a banana immediately following the run which I'm hoping will lead to a good recovery so I can rock out the rest of the week and hopefully end up somewhere in the mid 50 - 60 range...I have to work on Saturday for the first time in a couple of weeks so I'll probably have to stop Saturday's run right at 20, forcing me to pick up some miles on days I would not ordinarily run...shouldn't be that hard to do though.....

Until next time....

Strong Finish

Finished this week very strong...i was a bit worried when I had only logged 15 by Wednesday but the 16 on Thursday gave me the boost I needed for a good week...Decided to take Friday completely off except for a short ride to work...

I was able to ride to work every day this week which I am really digging...I love going car free, it's such a good feeling...

Saturday I met up with quite a crew at Shelby Farms at 6 am...We took out fast and from the get go I felt great...I didn't even realize how fast we were actually going...A few dropped off after the first loop and we had a few join us for the next...kept a smokin' pace on lap two and kept with it toward the beginning of lap 3...the group started to break up and I was holding strong until about 17 when I came loose...the last 3 miles in were a slog in comparison to the earlier parts of the run...Still managed to have my fastest 20 mile finish to date so I was pumped about that....Decided I did not really want to have to worry about running on Sunday so I went out for another 4.5 solo....Definitely did not keep up a good pace...I slogged through it , even had to walk at a couple of points but I got the mileage I was looking for...Ended the day at 24.5 which brought me a total of 55.75 for the week....

Today I finally got in some well needed miles on the road bike...rode out to Lauren's brother's house in midtown solo and then met up with him and Lauren and we cruised around downtown and midtown....Cheated and got a ride back to Lauren's house to eat dinner then fired up the Nite Rider for a solo ride home under the moon...total of 41 miles on the day which is the longest I have gone on the bike in months....definitely gonna be feeling the effects of being back in the saddle for a day or two....

Lookin forward to another good week of running and riding...wish I did not have to work tomorrow but what can ya do....we'll fire up the grill at work around 10 am so stop on by....free hot dogs, cokes, and balloons for the kids...

Rockin on with it...

Got in a rockin run this morning....started at the Wolf River Trail (I'm tired of typing this so from now on its WRT) trailhead at G'town Pkwy and ran solo to the Visitor Center at Shelby Farms...I was planning on cutting underneath the bridge on the cutover but they were working this morning so I had to run down in front of the BMX track to the light at Farm Rd....met up with Lauren (who by the way rocked out at the Memphis in May tri beating her last years time by 30 min) and we ran a loop of the Tour De Wolf (TDW) together....I was just about to get back on it to run to my car back the same way I came when Feb pulled up so I ended up joining him and Daniel for part of their run...

We ran an interesting route...started at the Shelby Farms visitor center and ran the TDW trail the same way the bikes go (clockwise)...when we got to the shack on the back loop we took a kind of overgrown trail that dumped us out right at the Walnut Grove/G'town pkwy intersection...from there we ran down the side of g'town and I dropped off from them at the car at the trailhead....I'm interested to see what their total mileage ended up being as they were gonna go WRT back to the visitor center...kind of a cool way to do a long loop....

Ended up at 16.25 for the day so that puts me at about 31 for the week so the mid 50s week will def. be possible...the last 4.5 I ran today with Feb and Daniel really pushed my pace..I was already a bit tired and it took a good effort to keep up....but I really think running with faster people is making me test myself and find out that I am capable of a lot more than I think as well as making me a much stronger runner....

Looking forward to Saturday's 20 out at the farms....

Been a while...

Been a little bit since I have last posted on the blog...but have managed to keep consistent with the runs.....this past Saturday I went out for my fastest run to date on the trails...Met at 6am with the Les and Feb and we rocked 3 loops on the tour that turned out to be right at 20 in just over 2:40...I have never gone that fast that far before....running with faster people really challenges me and shows me that I am capable of a whole lot more than I ever thought possible...

Saturday afternoon my dad and I put kayaks in at the bridge over the Wolf River on Houston Levee in Collierville...we paddled about 4.7 miles to the take out right by the Wolf River Trails...was a great day on the water...it's unseasonably low right now and had to be very careful not to get stuck up on the sandbars....

Sunday I worked the Fleet Feet at station at the Memphis in May tri...We had a great time handing out water and gatorade to all the passing runners and most were gracious that we were there...encountered a few that were a bit high strung including one that yelled at us to move as we offered him water but for the most part a very nice crowd....I feel really good to have volunteered at a race, as I am often racing rather than helping out....I also found out how much a simple thanks from the athletes in teh event can mean and though I have always made it a point to thank aid station workers, I am now going to make a conscious effort to do it even more...these are definitely the people that make our events go as well as they usually do...

Decided to sleep in Monday but got back on it tuesday with a 10 milers on the wolf river trails immediately followed by a 10 mile road ride to a work meeting.....

tried to get out fo a run this morning but had the worst run I have had in weeks...nothing hurt I just felt horrible throughout the whole thing...never could catch the groove....ended up saying the hell with it after 5 miles and called it a day....puts me at 15 for the week so far so I am a bit behind but I think I have a good enough plan to make up for it and finish the week in the mid 50s....

could keep on for a while but gonna call it quits as I'm tired and have some miles to make up for early in the morning....

happy running and thank a race volunteer!

Keepin with it..

Woke up Wednesday to a beautiful morning and I had planned on knocking out 12 but the balls of my feet were a bit sore so I decided to head out for a paddle...Paddled for 5 miles around the lake...it was a great workout and a great way to enjoy the cooler temps we are currently experiencing cause I'm sure they won't be around much longer....Got in the 6 mile round trip ride to work as well...feels really good to be back on the bike

Thursday I woke up and ran down to the Wolf River trails to meet Lauren for a light run...she wanted to get in one last one before the Memphis in May tri on Sunday...We ran a leisurely 4 then she went on to work and I ran to Walnut Grove via the yellow and back home via blue\white for a total of 14 on the day....

I will say that I am officially retiring from running the yellow trail between Walnut Grove and the second levee for the summer....It is already incredibly grown over with face smackers and ankle grabbers everywhere...its still pretty open from the G'town pkwy trailhead to about the second levee, but the crossover on the levee from the yellow to the blue is getting pretty nasty as well....

Rode to work again yesterday in celebration of National Bike to Work Week and saw something that really bothered me...I saw a lady in a big ass Hummer pulling out of the Wendy's right near Outdoors stop her tank, open the door, throw out her empty Wendy's sack and box of cigs on the ground and continue to drive on....all the while yapping away on her cell phone...I couldn't believe it...it's hard to fathom that some people care so little for the environment....

Plan is to go long tomorrow...somewhere in the range of 25 miles...I want to start early if I can make myself get out of bed...my favorite time in the world to be out running is right as the sun is coming up...I really like starting with my headlamp for a few minutes and then running into daylight...I feel like I'm taking full advantage of the day.......now if I can just get out of bed when the alarm clock goes off rather than snoozing.......

paddle sports

The week has been a good one so far, got in 12 yesterday and felt really good...I was supposed to meet up with the Fleet Feet crew at St. Agnes for a track workout but Lauren called me around 5 45 to let me know that our "coach" had called in sick...I can't say that it was bad news at the time as I gladly welcomed another 3o minutes or so of sleep...

Since I did not get in my organized track workout, I programmed my Garmin for an interval session and planned on knocking it out at Shelby Farms after work...however, I showed up to work and my buddy finally brought his kayak to work and I have been wanting to demo it for quite some time...needless to say, my after work plans changed

I got off work at 6 and rushed home to get out on the lake, as my parents live on Walnut Grove Lake...I hopped in it and took off...it was a great feeling being out on the water...very relaxing...also a very good workout...I ended up paddling about 2.8 miles in 40 minutes...would have kept going but it was getting dark and the storm was coming in....I'm hoping to be able to get in more cross training like this in the future...I feel like it was a pretty steady cardio workout as well as an upper body and core workout, which I definitely should be doing more of...in the past I have always used cycling for cross training but I think paddling is a good one as well because it allows me to give my legs some rest....I have tried swimming in the past but I don't enjoy it and I am definitely not very good at it....

On a side note...this week is National Bike To Work week....I have been failing to do so....starting tomorrow it's on....Friday is national bike to work day....observe if you have the chance!

A Solid Week

Finished up this week on a pretty solid note...skipped Thursday for some definitely needed recovery and then skipped Friday due to laziness...however Saturday I got it back together and went out for my long run...

I parked in the grass right off of G'town parkway at the Wolf River Trails...hit the blue\white all the way to Walnut Grove where I went under the new bridge and took the gravel road over to the Shelby Farms ranger station...after stopping in to refill my bottles I took off on a loop of the Tour de Wolf...refilled at the ranger station once more and hit up a second loop of the tour before stopping one final time to refill and hit the Wolf River trails back to the car....ended up being exactly 24 according to my Garmin...

The whole run felt really good...I was pretty much pain free and did not struggle too much until the last few miles where my pace dropped a bit....I made it a point to fuel very well during this run...I ate 200 calories every hour on the hour and I made sure that I was getting down at least one bottle of water an hour along with 1-2 endurolyte capsules an hour...I even ate at the four hour mark even though I knew I only had about 10 minutes left in the run...in the past I would have skipped that mark because of almost being finished and knowing that I could eat when I was done...however, I really think that that last fueling really aides in recovery, as I was hardly sore at all today....

I also packed a full water bottle and a fatty PB&J sandwich on whole wheat in a cooler in my car...as soon as I got back to the car I chowed down and stretched out really well at the same time...normally I would have immediately jumped in the car and headed home for my stretch and recovery food....I am really becoming a firm believer that I am less sore when I eat within the five minutes following a workout while I'm still warm rather than cooling down and then eating and stretching...

Besides the post run PB&J I fueled on the foods I have come to trust....Strawberry Kiwi Carbboom, Vanilla Carbboom, Vanilla Bean Gu, and Stawberry Clif Shot blocks for some variety....with the heat really cranking up I know that the shot blocks are about as much solid food as my stomach can handle, and I have to use those sparingly....

I took today off...I was kind of wanting to run but I decided that it would be best to hold off since I got in just over 50 this week and I haven't had a 50 mile week in a couple of months...want to make sure I don't tack on too much too fast...I plan on getting in between 55-60 this week....I know I won't have time to get in a good run next Sunday as I'll be head crew/bike mechanic/cheerleader/photographer for my girlfriend Lauren as she rocks her way through the Memphis in May Triathlon.....and I'm doing the track workout Tuesday, so I'll have to find time between then...

Saturday night I watched "Running Madness" which is a DVD about the Western States 100...it's extremely motivational and definitely worth watching....more to say about that later...until then....happy running

Getting back on it...

After a fun and somewhat overindulgent Outdoors Inc. Canoe and Kayak Race weekend, I managed to get back on it pretty hard this week...

I got out Monday morning for a 12 miler on the Wolf River Trails solo....best feeling run I have had in a while...no aches or pains and I felt great the whole time...

Tuesday, I met up with the Fleet Feet crew at the St. Agnes track for a speed workout...I have never participated in an organized track workout so this was all new to me....we ran 4x200, 2x400,1x800,2x400 and I was supposed to do another 4x200 but I had to leave to go to work....I am not used to running short and fast so it was definitely a good and challenging change of pace...

Wednesday I woke up for a run with Lt. Rob and we ran from the house to Wolf River Trails and got in 12...It was a difficult run for me at first as I was pretty wiped from the track workout the day before...I did not get into a groove until about an hour in....but once I hit the groove I was able to keep on it for another hour to bring it home....It's definitely getting humid and hot out...I ran with two hand held fastdraws and had drained both of them completely by mile 9 or 10....
After Wednesday's run I was dragging all day...I could definitely feel the effects of running 3 quality days in row...decided to listen to my body today and take a day off...I have this coming weekend off so I'm hoping to get in a good long run in the 20 range one of those days....

I have decided that I am probably going to do a 3 day stage race in Chattanooga in June...It consists of a 22 miler the first day, 18 the second, and 20 the third...I have never done that many miles in three consecutive days so it will certainly be a challenge for me....I'm trying to pump up my weekly miles and throw some decently long back to back days together in order to train for it...

freedom

Well I finally finished up with all my classes for the semester yesterday! Pretty pumped about that as it will actually give me some time to do something in my free time other than school work...

I'm definitely backed up on books I have been meaning to read for my own entertainment rather than school so I'm excited that I'll be able to do that...I'm really into diet\nutrition studies and I picked up a book that is incredibly interesting...I'm only about 100 pages in but I have found it very hard to put down...it's called "The China Study" and is labeled as the most comprehensive study ever done on human nutrition...It is actually written by a very respected professor at I think MIT or some other very respected university...basically from what I have gathered so far the gist of the book is relating the traditional high protein animal based foods diet that the western world consumes to cancer, obesity, and heart disease....you definitely have to read this one with an open mind....

On the running side of things I'll be able to get back into now that school is over....last Saturday I got out for two loops of the tour de wolf with the Fleet Feet crew...Sunday I strolled 1 loop at the tour...and wed. got in 8 at the Wolf River Trails...feeling pretty good...definitely need to start putting some distance back into the schedule at least once a week...

This weekend is going to be tough to get in much quality running because we are having the 26th annual Outdoors Inc Canoe and Kayak race so I will be downtown on the river making sure everyone has a good time from very early a.m. Saturday til late Sat. night...also have to work on Sunday which is normally my day off....starting next Monday its back on it though...for sure...

Ouachita one....Chris zero

So I was originally planning on doing the 50k at Ouachita last weekend...however, Lt. Rob talked me into trying for the 50 mile option....I had my doubts as my longest run is just over 32 miles and I have not done anything near that far since Sylamore back in February...but I decided what the hell..I would go for it

We left Memphis for Little Rock around 2 am Saturday morning....from the very beginning of the day, I was a bit nervous about the run...the race started and we were off...I have no idea how to pace for 50 mies so we decided we were just going to go slow and make the cutoffs....the first few miles down the asphalt sailed by pretty easily, then we hit Pinnacle Mtn...this is a pretty intense climb for a race around these parts...it takes hand and footwork to make it to the summit...definitely got me sweating.....after descending the mountain is where I ran into trouble...coming off the mountain we were only at about mile 4 and I was already having stomach and eating difficulties...we pushed on and I went in and out of the zone, feeling good for a ways then feeling bad for a ways....we got to mile 16 which is where you have the option to drop to 50k and turnaround...I was really tempted but I didn't want to let Rob down so I kept on...

After mile 16 the next aid station was not until mile 24 so it was a pretty long section through some low lying swampy woods...this is where I really fell apart...it was starting to heat up pretty well and I was drinking alot of water...at least a bottle an hour...I was also popping Hammer Endurolytes...I started getting woosy and my hands started to swell really bad...apparently this is a common thing in ultras, but I have never experienced it so I was pretty freaked out....we finally got to aid station at 24 miles and had 2 more miles to go to the turnaround...at this point I really had to decide what I was going to do because I did not really want to keep on....I pushed on to 26 where I called it a day...caught a ride back to the start and waited on Rob....congrats to him, he finished his first 50 miler!

I definitely think I am capable a finishing 50, Saturday was just not my day...It was a pretty good reality check for me that I have not been getting in my long runs like I should...I have also been training in relatively cool temps and the temp on Saturday kicked my ass....

The only good part about dropping at 26 is that I was safely able to drive us home (as Rob could hardly move) and that I was actually able to walk in North Carolina this week....

North Carolina was great...it is beautiful up there...got to spend time with the Mountain Hardwear sleeping bag, tent, and pack designers....learned an incredible amount of technical info that I would not have otherwise known...also learned quite a bit about Mountain Hardwear and their goals as a company....they also provided us with great entertainment...all in all...a great week....

It's all coming together

I was off work yesterday and spent the entire day working on school work as the semester is coming to an end....I finally feel like I am on top of all my work, as I have struggled all semester long just to stay caught up....can definitely say that this semester's workload came as a huge surprise...I graduated in December with my degree in Journalism and when I decided that I wanted to teach, I needed to take some extra English classes...So, I signed up for some online classes, thinking they would be a breeze, in order to be able to work full time this semester...I can definitely say that I have put more time in my school work this semester than I ever had to in my four and a half years of regular classroom undergrad courses....so I'm super glad for this semester to be over....as I'll have the month of May off before I start CBU in June...

I have not gotten out for a run this week, as I have been nursing a sore foot...The bottom of my right foot is very tender right on the ball of it under my big toe...It's been getting much better, as I have been icing it multiple times a day and wearing my road running shoes (as they are very plush)....I'm feeling pretty confident that it will be a thing of the past come Saturday at Ouachita....

I believe tonight marks the final night of dinners being brought to my house...Since my mom had surgery last week, people have been bringing us dinner on a nightly basis...It has definitely been appreciated...as the last thing we wanted to worry about was what to eat...however, I am pasta dish and casseroled out...the thought of lasagna one more time makes me sick in my stomach...I'm also ready to get back on the healthy eating bus...I'm usually pretty healthy but I couldn't pass up already made dinners, despite what they were...

I saw that the agricenter farmer's market is now open...I haven't gotten over to check it out yet...the farmer's market is one of my favorite things about summer...I stop by there on almost a daily basis to get fresh veggies for dinner....locally grown tomatoes should be coming into season pretty soon...i can't wait!