Barb T.

Well today is a historical day...I ran my first run with a garmin!  I went on line to try to figure out which one to get and I finally clued in that I should check out the blog!  Very helpful information on the discussion board.  I went for the 205 forerunner.  Here are my splits!  10:34, 10:06, 10:04, 10:04, 9:41, 9:53.   AP 10:04  Felt good to get out and start again with a routine of running.  We're for the most part staying in one place until the end of this month when we return to West Africa.

Got a late start this morning (7am) and it warmed up a bit too much for me.  Was planning on doing 5 miles but decided 4 was just fine for now.  Here are my splits:  10:18, 10:05, 9:58, 10:14.  AP 10:08

Nice run this morning but a bit tough.  The area I live in is all ups and downs and it seemed like this morning was more ups than downs.  I'm also doing some research with my running shoes.  I wear orthotics and my left heal got quite bruised with so much running and pounding and I wasn't in a place to get new pads.  I made some modifications and it worked OK.  First think I did when I got stateside was get new padding on the orthotics.  The guy who did the work tried something different (NEVER a good idea a week before a race) and they definitely had more padding, but my shoe no longer fit.  So, I thought I would try the same shoe only a wide size.  My feet hurt after walking and stand for an hour.  So, went back to the office and asked him to do the padding the exact same way as before.  That was much better.  Now I've been trying running in a 2 different pair of shoes, one regular and one wide.  I have issues with loosing toenails regularly so I though maybe going to a wide might help.  I'm coming to the conclusion that the wide doesn't feel right on my foot.  Shoe feels too big.  The regular width feels good, but there are again toe nail issues.  BUT, my heal is feeling much better and I think it actually feels better, took, in the regular width shoe.  I need to get another pair or 2 before we leave to take with me.

 oh...today's run.  Here are the splits:  10:42, 10:13, 10:04, 9:17, 9:42, 9:29, 9:47, 10:09

AP 9:55

Well I thought I'd make an entry to let anyone know I didn't drop off the face of the earth.  Last week Wed. after my run I started feeling sick and by Friday evening I had no voice.  I was so bummed as we were in Flagstaff for the weekend and I was soooooooo excited about running on some trails there.  Oh well.  We returned on Monday and on Tuesday I went to the doctor and after about 4 hours after taking some meds, my voice started to come back, but my lungs are still suffering.  I hope to be able to start doing some running again by the weekend maybe, but hopefully for sure by early next week.  Ugh.  

Well, first day back running after being sick.  Took it really easy.  Coughed a lot in the beginning, but by the end of the run it was much better.  Here are the splits:  12:01, 11:14, 11:32, 11:02, 9:57 (.51m).  AP 11:17

My second day out after being sick.  It was hard to get myself out the door.  I wanted to be a bum.  But, I went anyway.  First mile was nice and easy.  My plan was to take it easy again.  Well, after about a mile and a half, and older man ran by me going sub 9 miles and I thought I'd pick it up a bit.  Then a bit later, a woman around my age passed by and of course the competitor in me kicked in.  I stayed with her for a bit until she turned off and so, I just kept the pace up and finished my run.  Felt good.  Here are the splits:  11:05, 9:05, 9:17, 9:29, 9:33, 9:44 (for .87m).  AP 9:42

Yep, the distance is correct.  I got up.  Was very tired.  Got dressed and out the door to run.  Ran for .17 miles and said forget it.  I went home and plopped.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a more energy filled day. 

MUCH better morning.  I actually got out the door at 5:30am and it was nice outside.  Splits:  10:40, 9:42, 9:40, 9:15, 9:35, 10:00, 9:41, 8:54 (last .12m)  AP was 9:47.  We're off to do some camping and fishing for the next several days in the mountains.  Will try to do some runs at 7000 feet!  Nice change for me.

Wonderful relaxing run up at Hawley lake in the White Mountains.  13:00, 13:27, 11:36, 10:47 (for .29 miles)

Amazing 6 mile run around Hawley lake.  Lots of hills.  12:00, 12:43, 12:42, 11:44, 13:04, 10:06  Average: 12:03

Amazing run at Sabino Canyon this morning.  Been several years since I did this run.  The scenery was amazing and it was nice in that 90% of the run was in the shade.  A major up hill climb the first half.  10:09, 10:02, 10:15, 11:17, 9:13, 8:13, 8:31, 8:20 (.39 miles)

Good hilly run this morning.  Left the house at 6am but by the time I got back it was quite warm.  Don't know how Bonnie can run here in Tucson starting at 8am...I would have said forget it!  The most amazing thing I saw on this run was a family of Javalina, 3 in total.  It was awesome.  I ran for 1:18:04 and here are the splits:  10:32, 9:45, 10:04, 8:57, 9:32, 9:10, 9:52, 10:14  AP was 9:46

Went on a good run this morning.  I'm finding that I'm running harder these days now that I'm running with a garmin.  I like knowing what my pace is.  I went 6 miles and it took me 58:30.  Splits:  10:21, 9:45, 9:31, 9:31, 9:31, 9:50.  Was I consistent with miles 3-5 or what!  Don't think I've done that before.  AP 9:45

Well, it was one of those mornings running.  Not so good.  I thought I'd get in a medium length run before leaving to enjoy the freedom of running outside a compound.  I think 2 factors contributed to to this:  1) I ran hard Sun, Mon, Tues.  I just didn't have enough recovery time.  2) I think I started out a bit dehydrated in that I hadn't drank a lot of water during the previous 24 hours.  Also, I hadn't eaten much the day before either.  So, I definitely paid for it.  When I started out, there was a pretty good head wind.  I thought, no problem, that means a tail wind when I return.  I thought I would go a total of 10-12 miles.  At mile 5 out, I was already feeling more tired than usual, but I thought no problem since I'd have a tail wind home.  At 5.5 miles I said forget, I'm turning around.  Well, I turned around thinking I could settle into a decent pace back and my body was telling me, no way!  And, when I did turn around it seemed like the wind died down and of course it was getting warmer and warmer.  There was probably a bit of a tail wind, but it sure didn't seem like it.  Oh well.  Here are my splits:  10:46, 10:09, 10:20, 10:20, 10:48, 10:37, 10:03, 10:10, 10:01, 10:56, 11:23   AP:  10:30

Boy howdy I felt old today!  Better day tomorrow????

Well, I was up too late last night packing and today I'm finishing packing and cleaning the house and doing laundry.  Unfortunately, no time for a run.  I deeply saddened.  Next run will probably be early next week from Conakry, Guinea.  Till next week.

Well, we arrived safely at our home in Conakry, Guinea (West Africa) last night.  We and our luggage all arrived!  I pulled out my new workout video and 'shredded' for 20 minutes.  (Thank you Carolyn!)  Hopefully I'll start running again by next week sometime.  When I can get up in the morning after jet lagging.