music is my morphine drip

a 1/4 mile into my warm up today my battery went dead in my MP3 player. i had to run without a soundtrack today. booooo! i'm a wimp. i neeeeed my tunes, man. i was jonesing for some rolling stones, some hendrix, dylan or springsteen. jonesing bad. when i listen to my tunes, i stop focusing on the pain. i felt every single stride i took today. ow. ow. ow. ow. seriously.

i got in my 3 miles today. the first two were the best. my fastest so far done in about 26 minutes. i might've been faster but i had to stop several times in order to get out of the way of the farmers and their tractors. it's time to do the spring field preparations, and there's just not enough room for all of us at once. let me tell ya - it's smellin' pretty darn "fresh and natural" out there this week. shooooweeeeebob!

i had to talk myself into the last mile after a langourous walk up a steep hill. it wasn't a "quality mile" but i got it in.

so...í'm a definite tunes-runner. sad but true. sigh.

"xuse me while i kiss the sky!"

wednesday-ness

downtown bern, switzerland

hey yall. just a quick stop by the ol' blog. i'm having a great time with the girlies. my daughter has purple-blue hair. she says is "blurple." she has the most amazing color of strawberry blond hair that ladies pay the big bucks for. gotta love it. at least it's gonna wash out. kids today. sigh.

yesterday the girls and i went out for our runs. the girls did their thing. i did mine. i dropped my mp3 player in the dirt a few minutes into my routine and it turned off. ack. i didn't want to muck about figuring out where i left off on the couch to 5k workout, so i just winged it. i put on some rockin' tunes and went for it. i figured i'd run one song, then keep going 'til i needed a little break, then run some more. the trail i was on was mostly uphill for about 1.5 miles. most of it was runnable. one patch where they've been logging was too mucky, stumpy and treacherous so i had to pick my way through those areas carefully. no way was i gonna attempt to slog through that mess with a healing foot!

i made it all the way up the schupberg into schupfen (the next village over, on the other side of the forrest.) i was able to make the trip up easily enough, having to stop once in a while to give my screaming hams a break now and then. at the end of the trail, on the edge of schupfen, nina and i turned around, and enjoyed the long winding path back down the trail. the schupberg is just a "little" mountain. i did about 3 miles in 50 minutes, including the down time in the deep mud.

we're having amazing weather this week. i thought about running today, but took it easy instead. the girlies and i met Mr. Kicky in berne for lunch at a cute spot called "café des pyrénées" and had sangría and "tapas" for lunch. after much joviality, the hubby returned to work and the girls went on to investigate einstein's home and the einstein exhibit at the museum of natural history.

sigh. life was good today.

today in the news

Hart Bridge

(aka the BIG GREEN MONSTER)

Jacksonville, Florida

my pal ctclady totally rocked her 15K yesterday at the jacksonville gate river run. not only did she finish TEN MINUTES FASTER than last year, she was able to run up that huge bridge without stopping! (the racers call it the big green monster. ha.) i'm so proud of her!! my friend, she's amazing!

in other news, i did my piddly little work out yesterday - week two of the couch to 5K program. but, let's face it, i rocked that too. i did the workout going up hill on the trails in the forrest near my house. it was a beautiful spring-like day! i had to skip some of my favorite trails though because they're logging back there. (Timberrrrrr!) once i finished my workout, i turned around and run most of the way back home, only stopping a couple of times to carefully step through some deep mud, and once to get out of the way of a car. i love the down hill part - my little reward.

and in family news, our daughter is arriving tomorrow for her spring break! looks like we'll have pretty good weather while she's here too. she's bringing a college girl friend of hers, who i call Mirambo (for fun). Mirambo just finished a tour in iraq. i'm so glad she's safe and sound. i'm looking forward to spoiling both the girlies.

in other family news, i just got the funniest email from my mother in florida. i have to share it:

I have a funny story to tell about working in the yard. Thursday
morning I was up in the middle of the seagrape tree on a ladder, thinning
out little branches. I want it to look a special way, not trimmed up
drastically as the "men" want it. Anyhow, someone is always giving me
lip about trimming the trees and climbing around in them. (I plan to
do it as long as I can.)

I heard a loud gruff voice say "GET ON THE GROUND....NOW!" I'm thinking Who's speaking to me THAT way?" When I peek out of the tree I see a police car at the corner and a cop screaming and pointing his gun at a big black truck on the road near our driveway. Finally the man in the truck gets out and acts
smart, so the cop is really screaming now. All at once 5 police cars roar up and
suddenly the man decides to cooperate. ha ha Anyhow, he gets arrested and placed in the back of a police car, and a policeman gets in the truck. That's when I see Billy the Karate Kid cat....in the truck.....and acting like there's catnip
there. So, I'm yelling, " WAIT, let me get my cat," as I scramble out of the tree. None of us could get ahold of him, but finally I went toward the house, and
called, "Billy, come get your medicine." That brought him running....as he loves that hairball Rx and always wants more and more. Everyone left in a hurry. The
neighbors are teasing us that things certainly get quiet around here after
we leave.....Well, I guess so.

billy the karate kid

a gentle breeze

this is a pic i took in feb. 06 when ctclady took me for a walk on fort myers beach, FL.

my wonderful friend "ctclady" is running in the jacksonville gate river run on saturday. this is the second time she's run the race. she is the reason i've finally started running. ctclady started running a few years ago and i've admired her steady improvement and accomplishment. not to mention how strong, beautiful and awesome she is!

• for more information on the jacksonville gate river run see the following
  links.
  
  Gate River Run
  
  Gate River Run Route

Good Luck to you, Ctclady!

Run Fast Like the Wind!

....or as you say, "like a gentle breeze!" ha

going, going, gone

had an amazing workout today. felt so good i did it twice. ha. yeah...probably got a little over eager. i know tomorrow i'll feel it, but today i was groovin' along. life was good. my pedometer says i went 5.33 miles. that's 1 mile walking warm-up (for me to untangle myself and for miz nina to get all her sniffing and potty issues done), then i did the first week workout of the couch to 5K workout two times, then i walked/jogged home 1 mile. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

take THAT you stupid bathroom door!

I'm BAAAACK!

well today for my birthday....i got up early and had coffee with bubba before he went to school. then i went back to bed and slept until 11. then i got up and watched "the young & the restless" in french, and then watched ""the guiding light" in english. by then it stopped raining, so i laced up my running shoes and took nina out.

today i decided to start back running. it's been 4 weeks since i hurt my foot, and while it still hurts, it doesn't feel like $%#-it's-broken anymore. i've been only able to wear my running shoes. my "girlie shoes" still hurt.

first i walked to the fields i love so much. that's just about 1 mile. then, i started back at week one on the couch to 5K thing..but WOW! i felt awesome and so strong. i not only did the 8 60 second runs, i "hauled ass," "whoooosh!" just like everyone said i would. it was wonderful!! after that workout, i jogged/walked back home (1 mile). i have a new pedometer now. it says i went 4 miles today walking/running.

i feel like myself again. i'm back, baby!

and then all of a sudden....

...my foot felt better!!

i woke up this morning and as soon as my feet touched the floor i knew my sore right foot was suddenly so much better than it was yesterday. i am so excited, but curious. why is it so much better today? what made the difference? well..it has been four weeks since i hurt it.

maybe i shouldn't question the TOE GODS and just take my improvement on faith. in the meanwhile, i will continue to take it easy through the weekend and limit myself to the one mile walks with nina.

but!!!
monday - i've decided to start running again.

monday is my 48th birthday and i want to celebrate it with a re-entry into my running program. i wonder how i should start back. hmmmm. any suggestions?

i read the following at www.coolrunning.com about starting back after time off -

The Runner's Recovery
Returning to running after a brief layoff? A general rule of thumb is that it takes about two weeks of "retraining" to come back from every week in which you do no exercise. Go easy on yourself during this period. Don't let your ego convince you that you should immediately be able to run as you did before. If you've been off the roads for only a week or two, start at about half the distance you were running before the injury. You should be able to build back to your former level in two to four weeks.

thanks jeanne, susie and ctclady for your encouraging words, and thanks to my other friends for the blog visits.