October 16th 24 miles!!!

The weather was cool, but nice at 6:30 am.  I drove to Keiths and met him and Matthew who got out of bed to join us.  We were supposed to do 22.  I had the route planned but switched at the last minute.  We ran together for the first 15 miles, and swung by the house to ditch gloves and sweatshirt and to ding dong ditch Jon.  The sun was out and the weather warming up.  K and I separated shortly after and the boy was gone-within a minute just a speck far in front of me.  I feel sometimes I'm slow as molasses when I reach a certain point. Its funny at that moment in my running, maybe around 18 miles or so, I notice my brain telling my body to pick it up and my legs just refusing.  The good thing, I guess for me the most important thing, is that my lungs feel great.  I can still breathe, not out of breathe at all, and feel like I can run forever if I didn't need my legs.  After nearly twenty years of smoking, I never thought that possible.  I also have picked up some tricks to alleviating pains in my neck-keep my head down, and breathe deeply into those sharp chest pains (thanks Keith) and they are gone.  The gatorade packets in the water help (thanks Leslie) and as much as I hate carrying something, my little water bottle has saved my life (to which I owe thanks to Andrea and I'm still not wearing a belt-ha.)
Around mile 18 entering Cherokee Park from Eastern Pkwy, my leg was cramping and I was holding it off as best I could and needed a water refill.  I decided it would be best to stop at the top of the hill, which I think was smart.  I wouldn't have wanted to stop then start from the bottom.  I made it through to Seneca Park and was not feeling all that great, pains in the legs, but pushed through to the other side towards Keiths house.  I made it to Breckinridge and had to stop to cross heavy traffic.  It took me  a minute to get across the road, but it was enough to make it too hard for me to restart.  I walked the last bit back to warm coffee and breakfast.  Good ending to a hard run.

the fog rolling away from the river

  and away he goes...speedy

sunrise on the watertower

Oct 9 Indiana with the girls

Fifteen miles through beautiful Southern Indiana with the Andreas, Lesley and Lu.

I'm sure this is the actual sign my grandfather saw every morning going into work.  Catfish Dotson!

A beautiful morning for a run,  as I am coming toward the bridge thousands of runners are crossing both directions, all wearing pink for the Susan G. Komen race.

Oct 2 20 Miles!!!

Keith and I planned on a 20 mile run- our longest to date and a test for me.  I was worried, the twenty miles would be a good way to answer exactly how worried I should be about New York.  We met at 6:15 am on Saturday morning.  I am at the end of my allergy bout, with the past two weeks of not being able to breathe, or sleep and cutting into my running a bit and completely cutting out my yoga.  I had been going to the chiropractor, and despite some positive results I think my "back" problems are here to stay.  I did learn that my neck curves the opposite way and that my problem is most likely a neck issue and not a back or shoulder issue.  We started our run early on the coldest morning yet of the fall, of course unprepared in sleeveless shirts and shorts and both complaining of not being able to feel our fingers.  I think we both made mental notes to include a ditchable long sleeve sweatshirt, gloves and hat on the next run.  I mapped the first part of our run down Bardstown Rd. to have the benefit of the streetlights.  We left the main road and entered into the Seneca golf course as the sky started to turn.   About 8 miles in on the downhill from Seneca park towards Cherokee, I made an amazing discovery in regards to my neck pain.  Instead of running with my arm over my head, I ran with my head down and immediately noticed pressure taken off the knot in my neck.  I ran the rest of the way with my head down and able to for once focus on other pains in my body.   I designed our route to include some substantial hills a little over halfway into the run.  Mile ten through thirteen included both hills of Cherokee and exiting the park up Cochran Tunnel hill which made the tiny "bumps" in Beargrass creek seem like a steep incline.  Miles 14 through 17 took us down to River Road and Waterfront Park.  Keith is a good running partner and I feel bad if I slowed him down, at that time I felt a bit sluggish and that I had slowed down a bit.  The last two miles through the heart of downtown to Broadway then home.  And I did it-three hours and 25 minutes later, but I didn't stop and its given me a bit of hope for the twenty six.  I was only mildly sore and a bit dehydrated from the run, but I felt really good.