Ran Today!

Ran this morning after class - still pretty hot and humid even at 10am. Ran a 3 mile loop around the perimeter of downtown, stopped at my friend's barber shop for a quick water break and ended my run in the market area so I could do some produce shopping.....corn, gala apples, eggplant, hot peppers, squash, sweet potatoes and a succulent plant for my kitchen garden window.
Will study and do chores the rest of the day, working the rest of the week after classes, will run Wed., Thurs., Friday and a long run Sunday. The half marathon is coming up soon!

Day of Rest ?

Had planned a long run today with Linda but both of us had immediate tasks to attend to so the run was cancelled. Ninety plus temperatures today will also make running pretty miserable. I spent the morning doing the usual household chores and cooked one of my favorite breakfasts when I have a slow paced morning. Husband off on his regular Sunday morning golf game.... OK, more about my favorite breakfast dish - I have been vegetarian since I was 30 (one of those turning thirty years old resolutions). I do eat eggs, cheese and some dairy products so that makes me a lacto-ovo-vegetarian if anyone is interested. For this yummy breakfast, gently boil one unpeeled potato for each serving in a covered pot until you can prick the potato easily with a fork but not until the potato is soft and falling apart.If you happen to have a left over baked potato from dinner last night you can use that - you just skip the boiling part and go right to the skillet part below. While the potato is boiling, chop up garlic, onion, green or red pepper and heat some olive oil in a skillet. Warm the oil to a medium temperature, add the chopped veggies and saute them until they are soft. Cut the cooked potato into medium sized chunks and add to the veggies in the skillet. Stir them around and turn up the heat if you like your potatoes a little crunchy. When the potatoes are done to your liking, break one egg over the mixture and stir around until the egg is done. You may also add fresh herbs and cheese if you like. I added fresh home grown basil to my mix. Scoop onto a plate and enjoy - this is my adaptation of southern fried potatoes. Eat this and you'll have a full, happy tummy for most of the day!



After breakfast, I worked on the raised garden bed my husband made last week. The soil is the usual hard as a rock Southwest Virginia clay so I will be working on enriching this soil throughout this fall. I grew up with regular gardening chores that I didn't mind much of the time and have had some sort of garden most everywhere I've lived. I have a degree in horticulture that I completed in my early 20s but found that employment in that profession was unreliable and seasonal. That knowledge has certainly come in handy over the years as a hobbyist gardener and landscaper. Today I added topsoil to the bed and mulched leaves and grass clippings from the lawn. I also compost all the kitchen food waste in a bin I have in the corner of the backyard and will add that early next spring. I hope for beautiful tomatoes, squash, peppers and berbs next year.



As I finished up my work on the raised bed I noticed Virginia the cat in the grass close by - oh, the life of a cat!

First Week of School Finished

Ran ~5 miles along river yesterday after class, took a nap afterwards and worked 3p - 11p. In bed by 12:30 am, up by 5:30a to teach basic life suport review 7a - 4p, back home for a nap, cook dinner and spend a little time with husband, back to work tomorrow for 12 hours. Looking forward to a long, hard run Sunday...school is fine BTW

Sometimes I Wish I Were a Cat

Home from work at midnight last night, up at 6a to eat breakfast, read newspaper, do a load of laundry, attend class 8a - 9:15a, run 5 miles along river, back home to eat lunch, start load of dishes in dishwasher, fuss over feeling poorly husband, shower and dress and to work to teach 2p - 7p, stop at grocery store on way home, cook dinner....sometimes I wish...

Figuring It All Out...

First day of classes this morning then ran ~3 miles along the perimeter of downtown. My friend who owns a barber shop along my running loop will keep a bottle of water in her fridge for me - I told her to expect me most Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Telling people helps me keep the commitment to run!

Feels Like the End of Summer for Me...

Slept in this morning and then took a nap after lunch - recovery hard today after the 12 miles yesterday. Took some aspirin and drank extra fluids and finally the aches in the legs and feet subsided by midafternoon. The aches seemed normal fatigue type pain not injury pain but I listened to my body and had a slow start to the day. Once up and about went downtown to wander around and pick up some of the last peaches of this year's harvest.
Tomorrow I start back to school to study respiratory therapy - need a change after being a RN for 20 years. Classes in the morning and then working evening shift so will run after class. I'm up to the challenge to making it all work and keeping focused on the priorities in my life - my health, my husband and my running....it will work out.

Back to Serious Running

After three 12hour+ shifts at the hospital and one day to recover and catch up on chores I was ready for some serious running. The half marathon September 9 is looking mighty close! I started the morning meeting the women's training group organized by the Star City Striders in preparation for the annual Women's 5k run held the first of October. The group was about evenly split walkers, run/walkers, and runners. I joined the run/walk group to help mentor them and fell into conversation with a young women who had ran cross country in high school and wanted to start running again to improve her health. She set the pace and we ran/walked for ~2 miles and meet up with the rest of the group. The plan is to meet every Saturday morning at various sites and the goal is for everyone to finish the 5k at their own pace.



After finishing up there, I drove out to the reservoir to meet Linda and trail run. We run/walked 10 miles at a 15 minute/mile pace as the temperatures climbed into a rather uncomfortable mid 80s. We have two more long runs planned before September 9 and will do shorter runs together or separately as schedules permit. Many runners, hikers and bikers out today - both the cove and the greenway along the river are such treasures in the valley.