The Stampede: fondue's revenge - or - the first time i ever ran 8 miles

we had fondue last night. my husband always makes it on the weekends during the colder months. it's very delicious - if anyone wants to know how to make a real swiss cheese fondue, let me know and i'll send you our instructions. we dip vegetables into the pot of bubbling cheese, as well as bread - which probably isn't so swiss, but we feel better about ourselves when we do. be forewarned: there is such a thing as that last bite too many of fondue. you'll know it when you reach it. aaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwgggh.

this morning i was determined to get out there and run. i still felt like i had a 2 pound ball of cheese in my belly. i ate oatmeal for breakfast, and drank practically a liter of water before i went out. the first twenty minutes were not easy breezy. they were cheezy-cheezy. ha. i completed a 20 minute jog for the first time following the 5th week program of the couch to 5 K workout without stopping. i credit this to staying on some absolutely FLAT trails i found yesterday while walking. there is a stretch about 3/4 of a mile long, which i stayed on, repeating back over it several times until i completed the 20 minutes. not fun. hurt a little. had to push myself. but i did it. it's a challenge to find flat areas to run on around here.

afterwards, knowing i was finally warmed up, i headed over to the other side of the road to the fields i love, and ran around those fields, down to the next little village, cut into the forrest, ran through the forrest, then doubled back through the forest, then ran back the entire way i came. i stopped a couple of times, usually at the top of the steepest hills, to walk for about 30 seconds when i felt my heart rate was getting too high.

i was almost all the way back home, when i had to stop again because i found myself behind a farmer who was flinging barn straw/manure/sludge out over his field behind his tractor. it was quite aromatic, and consequently, i gave myself permission to walk so i would stay a fair distance behind all the flinging. once i cleared that mess, i ran the rest of the way home. whew. i'm going to be tired!!

my wonderful friend ctclady ran in the Iron Girl 10K yesterday that was held in clearwater, florida. she said it was a harder race for her than the 15K run she just completed in jacksonville on the gate river run. she came in 123rd out of 261 women in all. 17th out of 34 in her category. her time was 1:00.11 which gave her a pace of 9:42. no wonder she felt like it was harder than her last race. she ran at a much faster pace!