Half Marathon Take Two...

I registered for my first half marathon, The Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa on November 21st.  This will be my second attempt to run my first half.

I have already run further than I did in my training before my knee decided that it had to stop in January, so I am feeling pretty good about it all.  I did get butterflies in my stomach when I clicked that "Register" button this morning.

So my Saturday or Sunday mornings between now and then will involve some long runs with some Y running friends.  I requested that they not tell me how far we are going to run before hand, ignorance is bliss for me in this situation I think.

Looks like the calluses on my feet won't be going away anytime soon.  My friends say they will take about three weeks off after the half and start training for the full at the Memorial Marathon next year, but that might just be a little too insane for me.

Tie Dye Tri

I participated in the Tie Dye Tri yesterday, put on by the Norman Y.  It was nice, this year was my second time and I wasn't nervous leading up to the event like last year.  I did wake up at about 2 a.m. yesterday morning and fell back asleep long enough to dream that I couldn't find the pool for the race.

When I went to get checked in, for some reason there were more people with last names starting with A-F than any other group so it took a while for me to get checked in.  Oh yeah, and it was cold outside yesterday morning.  Cold and windy.  If they had had the event on Saturday instead of Sunday the conditions would have been perfect, but wait one day and you get cold and windy.  This is Oklahoma.

I was number 39 to start this year, and I think I passed about three people in the pool.  There was one girl at the very end that I was trying to pass, I ended up hitting her once, on accident and we finished in the pool at about the same time.  The run to the transition area was cold, as I said before.  I did feel more comfortable on my bike this year, but the route was much more difficult this year.  We had to ride north into the wind twice and that felt like it slowed me down a bunch.  My legs felt like jello at the start of the run and eventually got warmed up, but it's hard to run by myself.

Overall, I am pretty proud of how I did.  I finished in 1:31:51, which was a couple minutes slower than last year, but I had a few personal victories along the way.  My swim/bike/run times were all a bit slower than last year, but my transitions were both faster.  Of course the one thing I didn't practice was faster, go figure.  I still passed some people in the pool, I didn't feel like I got passed by as many people on the bike, and I even got to pass one person, and I still passed a few people on the run.  I even passed the guy that started one spot ahead of me in the pool.  I passed him in the pool, he passed me on the bike and I got to pass him on the run, so that was nice.

I just need to get better on the bike.  Not sure how to do that, but I'll figure it out.

Let the Running Begin...

So, even though I haven't officially registered yet, I have officially started training for the Tulsa half marathon.  The big day is Sunday, November 21st and I have 62 days to feel nervous and get ready for it.  I can feel the butterflies already! 

My first training run was Saturday morning with Jerry, Choon and Laura.  It was my longest run to date at eight miles.  I did run a 10k during the Corporate Challenge in June, but it was about a million degrees outside that Sunday morning the beginning of June, and it was about as humid as it can be and not be raining, and the sun was blazing outside.  Oh yeah, and there were no water stops.  Really?  The event was put on by OU Medicine and they failed to provide hydration for the competitors.  Makes perfect sense to me.  Needless to say, it was a slightly horrible run and I finished in about 65 minutes.

I set out to run eight miles on Saturday and honestly, it was not bad.  I felt much better than I thought I would.  The thing I like about running with these people is that if one person stops then we would all stop, and believe me, I don't want to be the reason we are stopping.  I have been running about 4 miles regularly lately and I was surprised that when we stopped for water at the 4 mile mark I was still ready to go another 4.  I am convinced there must be something wrong with me!

The Tie Dye Tri is this Sunday, and I can honestly say that I was trying to figure out how I could still go run another eight on Saturday and be up for the race on Sunday.  I don't think that's going to happen though.  So I'll sleep in on Saturday and be ready to race on Sunday, and then I'll be back on track.  Okay, I'll have to miss for the Race for the Cure, and I still want to do the Fall Classic Duathlon again.  So many races so little time!

Music Monday

In the car, on the way to school this morning, the girls were excited about how today was going to be Music Monday.  They both definitely have a love for music, they love the days they have music in school.  Last year, in fourth grade, they got to learn to play the recorder, and will pick that up again in the spring. 

We did Concert Chorus last year and are both doing that again this year.  So on most Wednesdays and Fridays you can find them at school at 6:55 am getting ready for their winter or spring performances and mini-tours.  They especially love that they get to have donut parties in September and January and they get to go to Perfect Swing after the mini-tours.  Ulterior motives aren't a bad thing.

Carson started piano last December and after a short break for the summer will get that started up again tonight.  Her teacher, Ms. Shirley, is wonderful.  We had a couple weeks delay in the start of her lessons, Ms. Shirley's husband of 57 years got sick recently and we learned yesterday that he had passed away earlier this month.  So sad.  When we talked yesterday she said that she was very glad to be seeing her students and teaching again.

In 5th grade, in Norman, everyone has the opportunity to join the orchestra.  We didn't think that the girls were interested in this, but it turns out that Camy was.  We went last week and officially rented-to-own her very own violin.  She was very excited to lug it to school with her stand, book and everything else this morning.  She will have rehearsals Monday thru Thursdays during spelling time.  Carson was not interested because she didn't want to miss spelling.

So it's Music Monday at the Craig house.  I, as always, have my ipod going at work, with headphones to eliminate distractions.  I love love love music!  Right now I'm listening to a little Dixie Chicks (I was listening to The Courtyard Hounds earlier), and it makes me wish for a new album.  What are you listening to today?

My Little Swimmer

Last week Camy officially joined the swim team at the Y.  I am so excited about this, and I am trying to not really let on to her the exact level of my excitement.  I want her to want to do it, but for her and not for me.

Her first practice went well and she was completely exhausted when we got home.  She had her second practice last night and had lots of fun.  I get there in time to see the last fifteen minutes of practice and that usually consists of kick boards and starts. 

Last week when her coach was working on starts at the end, she thought about trying to go off the blocks, but when she saw how high up it was changed her mind.  Her coach was still having them work on their starts from the side of the pool, and honestly the kid can't dive.  Last night she did get up the courage to go off the blocks, but both times her feet hit the water before her hands.  Oh well, she'll get it eventually.

We did go shopping for a swim cap and bathing suit this weekend.  We had no luck finding suits in her size, according to Academy they are out of season.  Seriously, they know nothing about swimming.  We did some searching and ordered new suits for her and I on www.swimoutlet.com, they will be here this week. 

I think she was a little worried about the swim cap, so we practiced putting it on.  I just think she looks so cute.  She even told me after practice last night that having her hair out of her face made her goggles stay on better and it was easier to swim.

Now I just have to worry about the fact that she is practically blind without her glasses on.  I sure hope she can see where the wall is.

So for now we'll just keep going back, and see how it goes.  It clearly is in her blood to be a little fish, and I have great memories from the years I swam, so that's not a bad place to start.

Random Pics...

In April we loaded up the girls and drove to Sulphur, OK for a night of camping.  I didn't camp, on account of the fact that I had a 5K to run the next day, but I did load up and drive down. 

I have had two pics from that trip on my desktop as my background for a while, and I just love them.

I just love this picture.  Camy, Paige, Zoey, Carson and Caeli, they all look like they are having so much fun.  The water was way too cold for a normal human, or adult, to get in, but the kids all wanted to play around in it.

I believe this was the next morning, when they did actually get into the water, again it was too cold.  Although, this looks bad since my daughter has on the same clothes that she had on in the previous picture even though it was the next day.  Go figure.  So here we have Camy, Caeli, Dan, Paige and Hailey.

Today

For the last couple of weeks I have not been sleeping very well.  I have no trouble falling asleep, it's the staying asleep that is causing me problems.  Last night, I woke up around 2 am and my mind just started racing, and I could not get it to shut down and go back to sleep.

Some people can function on minimal amounts of sleep, but I am not one of them.  I go to bed early because I get up early and I know that I need my rest.  I still got up and went to swim this morning at 5:30, but the workout energy I had afterwards is now starting to wear off.  My head hurts and my eyelids are heavy.

So, let's talk about something good that happened this weekend...

I ran in the second annual Moore War 5K, sponsored by my high school's alumni association.  I ran in the first one last year as I was gearing up for a fall full of running, and my time wasn't bad, 28:04, which was my fastest 5k up til then.  I was hoping to be able to better my time this year, and I did.  Just over 6 months after my knee surgery I finished up at 27:11.  Needless to say I am very excited about how well I did.  It's been a tough year, with the surgery and having to start from scratch with my running again, and I think all my hard work has paid off.

Up next, the Brookhaven Run on Saturday and my own version of Cupcake Wars at my house this weekend.  I sure could use some sleep first!