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Happy New Year!

 This is my 3rd attempt writing this. I hit the wrong button and closed the browser once and let it sit too long another time. Third time's a charm though, right?

It was a cold (for Okinawa anyway), windy, rainy run today! My husband & I had been planning to run together. After much debate about whether to run at the gym (his choice...he needed to sweat for the meds the doc prescribed) or outside (my choice...I ran on the treadmill yesterday), we decided on outside. Then we went outside and it started raining while I waited for the Garmin to pick up signal. I don't mind rain if I've already started my run, but it's hard to start while it's already raining. We came back in and decided to go to the gym, but then I remembered that the gym would be closed. So we headed back out to run and it wasn't raining anymore! Isolated showers in Okinawa are like none I've ever seen...it had only been about 4 minutes from when it started raining! I stood there waiting for the Garmin, but David didn't want to wait and took off without me. I had fun chasing him up the hill. It's easy to drag up the hill, but having him ahead of me was really good motivation to speed up instead. I finally caught him right at the top. When I was getting closer, I was saying, "get to the speed limit sign before he gets to the tree" and "get to the brown sign before he gets to the stop light" and "get to the stop light before he gets across the street" and finally "catch him before he gets all the way across the street"! When I caught up with him, he said he was just going to do the rest of the 5k loop, but I wanted to run more, so I did a larger loop for 6 miles. It was SO windy! My hat blew off twice and it was tough running! Somehow, even when I was heading home, I was still running into the wind. When I was almost home, the sky ahead of me was blue and beautiful, with puffy white clouds. I turned my head to look and cross the street, and the skies to the side were dark grey. By the time I was about a half mile away from home, it was raining...not really pouring, but all the wind made it seem like it! I was so glad I was close to home by that time and had just a few minutes more to go! 

Enjoy your first run of 09! 

I declined a ride to running group this morning ...and a good thing, too, because the ride slept through her alarm and missed our run... so I jogged the mile to the gym to meet my "group" which turned out to be just one guy! When I was on the way there, I saw this guy walking down the street carrying 2 cartons of milk in a grocery bag. I thought it was very strange because the grocery store wouldn't open for three hours, and the shoppette (about a half mile away from my house...maybe give or take a little from where this guy was going) wouldn't open for another hour. There is another shoppette on the other side of base, about 3 miles away but I thought that 6 miles would be a long way to walk for milk. I wish I would've asked him. I'll probably be wondering about this forever!!

Anyway, my running partner Mike and I decided to run 10 miles, one of my favorite routes. We run along the main road for a while and then cut in to run on the sea wall for a few miles, and pass by lots of fishermen and a marina (I was really surprised that we didn't see any surfers...the waves were big!) Then we cross a pretty red bridge and take a pit stop at the Family Mart (like Japanese 7-11 with sushi instead of Slurpees!) and then head back. The weather was great and our run was peaceful, other than tons of "motorcycles"...the kind that sound more like bumblebees than well, motorcycles. 

I thought maybe I'd make it to Power Yoga which started at 9, but when I went into the gym, I learned that it actually starts at 8. So I ran back home for a total of 12 miles. My knees were a little creaky today, but other than that I felt really great!

I usually don't run on Sundays and I didn't actually think today would be any different. I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon and when I woke up, I just wanted to go for a run! I headed out at 6pm and with a full bladder, because David was in the bathroom (we only have one... I think they have it better in the barracks!)  I was losing daylight and needed to get far enough away from the house before it got dark so that I wouldn't feel guilty about not wearing my reflective belt, so rather than wait for my turn in the bathroom, I decided to run the 5k route and use the bathroom at the gym along the way. 

There is another 5k (same course) this Saturday and I hope I do as well as or better than I did last time. I've run up that last hill several times since then, 3 times in just the last week, so maybe it won't be so daunting on Saturday! Today I looked at my watch and noted that running the hill (at the beginning of my run since I started at my house instead of the gym where the 5k starts) only takes 3 and a half minutes. I like knowing things like that so I can encourage myself during the actual 5k. I also do this at theme parks... I am terrified of roller coasters and whenever I do manage to be convinced to try one (which is not often!) I time the coaster while I wait in line and when I get on, I close my eyes, scream and say, "It's only 68 seconds" over and over until it stops.

Anyway, I still have one clean long sleeved shirt, so there's no excuse for me to skip running tomorrow!

 Edited to Add: The other day Marion mentioned the "Mileage Board" on her blog entry and I was curious so I clicked it. There are lots of things on this site I haven't clicked yet! Just now I clicked Mileage Board and I see the big benefit to being in this time zone (other than knowing the future ;) ) I've got the highest mileage so far this week, with a whopping 3 miles! I got a head start!

Today's run was kind of "blah". I can't put my finger on why, but I just didn't feel very well. At first I felt slow and the air didn't feel like it was going in right. About 4 miles in I had a cramp in my stomach/under my ribcage.  Also, it felt super-hot. I guess it's already time to put away my long sleeved shirts. (I won't put them too far away, though, as we should be in the midwest in a few more weeks...I have a feeling I'll need them there!) I had to make a choice when it was time to start heading the direction of home--turn at a stop sign or keep going and turn at the stop light--and I chose stop light because I thought I might be cutting the mileage short if I turned at the sign. That was a really dumb choice, because it was lunch time and since I was running on the main road of base, there was tons of traffic. There were cars turning out of or into just about every single side road and parking lot entrance, so I had to slow down and stop a lot to assess whether a driver was going to see me and let me go, see me and go anyway, or not see me at all. It turns out that the route was more than a half-mile longer than I wanted (so I had a cool down walk home) and I probably could've just gone with the less trafficky route and still gotten my entire run in.

 That was one big complaint, but I really am glad that I got out and did it! Oh, I did take into consideration the idea of not wearing clean clothes on every run. That "conversation" was going on on Leslie's blog, I think?? I wore the same hat that I wore yesterday, and had my dirty shorts in my hand, but opted for a clean pair at the last minute! ;) I heard my neighbors outside and didn't want to gross them out while I chatted with them until my Garmin picked up signal!

My Wednesday treadmill workout again today...I'm getting better and better at it! I might change it up soon, but this week, I wanted to do thinks a lot like I did the last week before the 5k run on Saturday.

1 mile jog up (literally!) to the gym. Hopped on the treadmill, chose a 25 minute podcast to listen to on my iPod, and started my 3 miles at 8:00 pace. I tend to stare at the distance screen on the treadmill, which is not very good for my morale, so since the podcast I was listening to was an interview, I tried to only look at the distance display when the interviewers asked a question.

When I got to 2.5 miles, I sped up to 7:47 pace for a quarter mile and 7:30 for the last quarter mile. Then I slowed down to between 8:45 and 9:45 for 3 miles of cooling down on the treadmill while I listened to another podcast and caught some of Dr. Oz on Oprah. I was extremely irritated by the headphones not staying in my ears. I need the other kind that don't go in your ears because they just don't stay put once my ears start sweating. Actually, I'm not sure if ears really sweat or if it's just other sweat that runs in there or what. Whatever, it's gross!

Ran back to the house for a total of 8 miles.

On my way home, someone shouted out "Rebecca!" and I waved...then they said, "Get back here!" and I looked around and saw a little girl running across the yard...and felt a little silly for waving.

Good thing I had entered this run the last time I did it a few weeks ago. My Garmin kept losing signal (between all the beeping in and out, it lost an entire mile!) The whole time I thought it was a 6 mile run, but I see it was just 5. Oh well. I ran the hilly habu trail and then up the big hill that will be the end of the 5k on Saturday. There was a huge line of cars waiting to get off base, and running through their exhaust for about 3/4 mile was not fun. I did see someone I knew and waved at her and then I had fun switching up my "get up the hill" game...normally I count sets of 6 bushes, today I got to "just get to the red car" and then "get to the car with its lights on", etc.

I decided to do 2 laps around the track instead of just 1 so that I could take some time to walk down the hill to my house. During my 2nd lap, I had to take a 3 minute Star Spangled Banner Break. It was 5:00. I got really irritated at one guy who did NOT stop when retreat started. He finished his lap and then stopped. I don't care who you are or what kind of workout you're in the middle of... if you're on a military base and it's 5:00, the national anthem is going to play and you need to stop for it and be respectful for 3 minutes of your day. It happens every day at the same time, so it's not like he couldn't have planned his workout accordingly. When I left the house at 4:18, I knew that I would have to stop for the anthems at some point. It is my pet peeve when people don't stop when the anthems play... I always tell my students when we say the Pledge of Allegiance that that's our chance to say "thank you" and "I hope you're safe" to all the moms and dads, brothers and sisters and cousins and uncles and grandpas etc. who are away from their families and maybe in danger and we might not be able to say it in person, but it probably makes them feel good to know that every morning at school (and every 5:00 during retreat) we stop and think good thoughts for them.  Maybe I should've done another lap to catch up with that guy once retreat was over and given him my 2nd grade teacher speech.

I felt like I did this run faster than last time... I know the first mile was faster, then the Garmin started getting cranky. My special reward for doing so well...pizza!! Yum!

I really need to start paying attention to that little "periodically hit save as draft" advice up there. Take 2:

What a morning! It was so cold & really windy (the wind woke me up at 4:30 and is still rattling the windows!) that I decided not to go to the gym where the 5k starts as early as I normally would. I didn't want to stand around too long in the cold.

  I got there at 7:56. The run was supposed to start at 8, and they usually are 5-10 minutes behind schedule. But not today! I was still at the sign-in table when I heard the start at 7:57. I finished my name, rank & signature and ran toward the starting line. When I passed the clock at the finish line, I was already 40 seconds behind, so I made sure to start my watch when I got to the starting line so at least I'd know my time at the end. My Garmin gave me the low batteries warning on my way there (I really thought I just fully charged it 4 miles ago!) so I turned it off because I knew I would be annoyed by all the beeping. Good thing I never learned how to tell the actual time on my Garmin so I always wear my regular good ol' Timex on my other hand!

  I ran past the walkers & started to catch up to the crowd. I felt like I was playing catch-up the whole time! I found my friends Grace and Paul and they said, "We were wondering where you were!" I had given Grace a hard time the other day when she said she was thinking about skipping...can you imagine if I hadn't shown up!? I knew my friend Veronica was out there too, and had to catch up with her. I started playing the "moving landmarks" game: "Catch up with the orange stripes...good job. Now pass the white hat...okay. Black shorts...check. Red shirt..." etc. until finally I caught up with Veronica. It was at the part of the course that passes by my backyard, and I saw her looking toward my house (later she said she was thinking maybe I decided to go out and cheer instead)...I popped up right next to her and said, "I'm here! I was just late!" She said, "I'm sure you'll make up for it....good luck!" and I kept going. Barely kept going that is! Right past my house was the windiest part of the run, and running right into the wind it felt like I was on a treadmill...moving fast but going nowhere! I was actually thankful to turn the corner and start running up the big hill! I thought that the hill would really get me, mostly since I had been running pretty fast to catch up with the group, but it felt surprisingly good. Now, I won't get all crazy and say I wasn't wishing it were over, but I didn't start wishing that until I was already past the first brown sign...usually that feeling starts way before the sign. When the ground leveled out, I saw a girl in a long sleeved brown shirt and I decided I wanted to catch her. For some reason I thought to myself, "What if she's the 3rd place girl and you finish right behind her?" I thought that would be kind of upsetting, to come from very last place and at least 40 seconds late and miss having my name on the board in the gym by just a few seconds. So I decided to really push myself and get around her. I also passed our friend SMSgt H. without even realizing it...he was all bundled up and I didn't recognize him until he said hello. As I crossed the finish line, I heard someone say, "We've got our 2nd female here. In the blue shirt." And I almost fell over in shock when I realized that I was wearing a blue shirt...maybe they were talking about me! Sure enough, the lady handed me a laminated "2"!  That was a nice addition since the last run...usually you just have to stand there all breathless and tell & spell your name. My time on the sheet was 23:52 and the lady asked me if that was right. I said, "Well, not according to my watch, but it's okay."

My watch time was 22:56! I think that's about 28 seconds better than last month on the same course.  Maybe there's some merit to my "arrive over 40 seconds late" strategy...or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm actually running more than once or twice a week!

This will be my last Risner Fitness Center 5k (I said that in December too, but I'm almost sure we're really moving this month!) and I'm glad to leave on a happy note!

Today's 8 mile run took forever... I took my camera along and ran one of my favorite routes off base. I took so many pictures... I guess I'm getting kind of sentimental about leaving this island after 3 years, 6 months, and 18 days. ;) That's 6 months and 18 days longer than we were supposed to be here.

I was late getting out the door because I got 2 phone calls (I don't get so many calls before 9 a.m. on a regular day, but today is my birthday!). I thought about cutting my run short so I would be home before David came for lunch (we went to a yummy Hawaiian restaurant), but then I decided that it's my birthday and I can be late if I want to! ;) He was waiting when I got home, but he had plenty of time until he had to go back to work.

It was chilly, but I was okay in short sleeves...I bet I won't be running in short sleeves on my next birthday! I took (brace yourself!) FIFTY-EIGHT pictures! I'll share a couple today and then I'll scatter some of my favorites in future blog entries.

The seawall is covered with "pretty graffiti": lots of cool drawings, welcome home messages, etc. This message wasn't actually for me, but it made me smile anyway! 

This is my favorite place to run in Okinawa...maybe in the whole world!

No interesting stories about today's run, other than the fact that I actually got out and did it!

Tuesday and Wednesday I was always either lazy or dealing with things related to our move, or too freezing to remove my pajamas. (It is in the 50s here, but still...we're not used to that "cold"!)

I was planning to do 3 or 4 more this evening, but after a day of watching my friend's little girl at ballet, lunch, gymnastics, the commissary and playing with all the "toys" (my shoes) at my house, I couldn't resist her sweet little invitation to come over and play with her toys, see her dog, and eat dinner at her house. I finally returned home after almost 10 hours and I'm pooped.  I'm quite amazed that some runners have the energy to wrangle a 3 year old for an entire day and still manage to run anywhere but the couch at the end of it! 

If I run twice tomorrow or twice on Saturday (probably tomorrow), I will still manage 5 runs for the week.

I hope that wherever it is I'm moving when I leave here in 2 weeks, the runners and walkers are more friendly! It's a gorgeous day and lots of people were out. I passed at least 10 people, and only 1 returned my "hello"...she used to come to my running group and also is a kindergarten aide at my school.

I was kind of sluggish today after a big lunch, and irritated once again by my Garmin beeping in and out of signal, but each mile got faster so I can't complain too much! And like I said, it was a gorgeous day so I can't really complain at all! I was just sitting around putting off my run and then I read an e-mail from my dad that said, "It didn't even reach -1 today. I'm sick of the treadmill" and decided I'd better get out and take advantage of my nice running conditions! 

Garmin says: 5.01 miles. 46:18 /Avg 9:15.     9:41, 9:27, 9:23, 9:09, 8:36  Of course, the first mile is uphill and the last is downhill!

Ran to the gym, then out on the seawall with my running group... four people today! Our group used to be much bigger, but most of the members have PCSed in the past couple of years. My turn to PCS next...next week will probably be our last run together :(

It was chilly and I wouldn't leave the house without my fleece jacket. I was warmed up by the time I got to the gym, so I left it in Veronica's car. We started without Mike at 6:40, but he saw us running by the first stoplight, turned, parked and quickly joined us! 

My knees hurt a little, maybe because of the cold. Last night my left calf felt really tight, so I'm going to be a good girl and stretch well today. Veronica gave me a ride home and when I sat down in her car, it hurt! It felt like I had bruises all over my bottom & the backs of my legs. Strange.

On Saturday I think I may have written about my left calf being super tight.  It still is. Yesterday I was planning to run, but had no clean clothes and was a little concerned about my leg. I sat through 2 cycles of "Legs Hips Fatigue" in our massage chair and tried heating and stretching as much as possible.

Today I was going to run before lunch, but ended up talking to my cousin on the phone for too long and having to put the run off until after lunch. My leg felt good in the morning, but seemed to get tighter as the day went on. Still not as bad as yesterday, when I felt as if it might burst out of my skin.

Anyway, thanks to Jodi for keeping me on task with a "no blogging?" e-mail! That was just the nudge I needed to get my running clothes on and go! It took me 3 tries to get out the door, but I did it! The first time, I had long sleeves on and I walked out, then right back in because I knew I'd be too warm. The second time, I ran partway up the hill and decided I was wearing the wrong sportsbra, so cut through the yard back to the house. Had to dodge dog poo because my upstairs-diagonal neighbors do NOT pick up after their dog. They also have loud motorcycles that they like to run early in the morning on the first day of spring break, never say hello even when you do, and drive too fast in their loud loud cars. But the 3rd time, I made it out the door, up the hill and almost 2 miles before I wanted to turn around.

I almost got run over by a lawn mower!! I was watching this riding mower and luckily, trying to anticipate what he would do when he got to a tree...he decided to back up, without looking at all, right off the grass and onto the sidewalk where I had been running...before I jumped over the curb and onto the street! I was a little freaked out by my "near death experience" and thought about heading home, but decided to just keep going.

I ran past a yard with 2 big dogs (looked like a black lab and a choco lab) and "braced myself" for their barking and charging the fence. They weren't bothered by me running by at all...but their neighbor was. It was a teeny tiny long haired dachshund and it was barking and barking... I think I could hear it for almost a quarter mile!

I said I would post more pictures of my running route here, but keep forgetting. These aren't from today's run, but thought I'd share anyway. The bottom is at "Araha Beach" and the top is along the seawall leading to Araha Beach.

The movers are coming on Friday to pick up our household goods shipment. That means I won't have a computer/internet for a few days. I'll try to check in when I can once we are in temporary lodging. 

Garmin Says: 7 miles- 1:04:51.  Avg:9:19 Max: 7:03   9:47, 9:39, 9:41, 9:11, 9:10, 8:55, 8:27 (can you guess which were uphill and which were down?)

I'm back! (sort of)

I've been lazy about running lately...given myself free reign with excuses! One night I was up all night prepping for the movers (imagine all the work I'd have done if I were actually supposed to pack anything myself!) and then couldn't go anywhere just in case the movers showed up on time (they didn't). Once they were gone, I was stuffed (I ate almost all of the donuts we bought for them while we waited!) and exhausted. We had to stay at a hotel off base and the location wasn't great for running...plus I had my hot weather running clothes packed with my household goods so my cold/cool weather running clothes would have priority in my suitcase. Then I was on the plane or in an airport for 28 hours in a row. Then I got here and it's FREEZING! I could barely handle walking from the house to the car...and the car is parked in an attached garage! Let me tell you, going from 74 degree weather straight to single digits is quite a shock! I've also been a little nervous about all the snow/ice that have covered the sidewalks and the shoulder of the roads. Plus the jetlag... I've been up until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. every day...because to me, that's only 5 or 6 p.m. Finally, I couldn't take being stagnant anymore! I managed to convince the guy at the gym (which is within walking distance!) to forget about the 1-year contract and let me just pay for 2 months since I'll be moving again in March. And of course, 3 days after paying for 2 months of gym access (haven't paid for a gym membership for nearly 4 years since we have access to the base gym for free!) the snow has started to melt, the sun is out, and I can see the sidewalks! So that settles it...NO MORE EXCUSES!

I did 2 treadmill runs at the gym, tomorrow I'll probably venture outside. There may be a 5k going on tomorrow... I thought it was today, but I don't think my dad would just let me forget about it, so I'm hoping it's tomorrow. Anyway... I know I have lots of catching up to do around here too... I know you guys haven't been as lazy as I have!!

Becca

Hi everyone!

  Sorry I've been so MIA! I will continue to be MIA for a little while longer as I get settled in: moving to a house, getting our shipments of household goods delivered, figuring out how to subscribe & set-up cable, phone, internet and etc. Once all that is in place, I will try to get on track with posting and reading here!!

   A quick update-- I am in England! We'll be stationed here for 4 years. I'm on my own here for the first year though while my husband does a remote tour unaccompanied. I've found a house, looked at a few cars (with a knowledgable car person from DH's office here since all I know about cars is they need 4 wheels and if there's 3 pedals instead of just 2, I don't know how to drive it!), tried (unsuccessfully) to map out a few good running courses while here on base. I think the town I will be living in will have more to offer as far as running goes! I should be able to sign my lease on Tuesday or Wednesday and move in later in the week.

Thanks for the "where are you?" and "are you ever coming back?" messages! I will be coming back...hopefully very soon! Miss you guys!!

My first 5k @ my new base! BORING course! I hear the 5ks at Lakenheath (the neighboring base) are much better. Will have to check one out in the future! 

While I was home visiting, I decided that I wanted to do this 5k. I've done this particular 5k so many times, and even though it's kind of a tough course, it's one of my favorites. My dad wasn't sure that he wanted to do it, but I think he was glad he did. It's one of his favorites too, because it's the race that all the high school cross country teams show up for, since it's after the start of practice but before the start of competition. He says it reminds him of when I was in h.s. aaawww....

Anyway, I knew I would see one of the coaches from my high school there with the boys cross country team. He was a 1st year teacher my senior year, so we were buddies. I like to joke that I took him under my wing and showed him the ropes.

My only goal was to enjoy the run... I hadn't been running very much and hadn't done any race since January...wait, that's not true... I did one in April on base here. I should find my time and add that race too!

Anyway, I felt pretty good running the 5k, but I wasn't incredibly pleased with my time. Neither was my old coach, haha! Nevertheless, my dad and I decided to stick around for the awards. They called out the 3rd place female in my age group and it wasn't me, so I kind of looked at my dad and shrugged "oh well". Then they called out the 2nd place and it WAS me! I was a little bit shocked!! This is one of my favorite races because the "medal" is a wooden shoe! I now have a matching pair!

Okay... I'm back! Or at least I'll try to be.

I have been running really sporadically, but I decided that I am going to be more committed in September...and on August 30, a comment from Kelli popped up in my e-mail and I knew I had to get back to blogging to make myself accountable!

After I moved, it took forever to get phone/cable/internet hooked up in my house. Shortly after everything was hooked up, my computer started acting really funny... it wouldn't turn off for the longest time, and finally when I got it to turn off, it wouldn't turn back on! My husband mailed me our laptop so I wouldn't go crazy! That was in June. In July, we met up in Florida to go on a cruise. We spent about 2 weeks together then he headed back to his base and I headed back to "mine".

I love my neighborhood/town. There is a nice system of running/walking paths, but somehow I can only ever find routes that are 3-4 miles long! One day I was out running and I was sure I'd get 8 miles in, since I had absolutely no idea where I was...one turn and suddenly I was right outside my subdivision! I have a friend who is trying to start running too. She lives 2 miles away, so I run over to her house, walk with a few minutes of running with her, and then run home.

I'm happy to be back here! I'll have to spend some time later checking the other blogs (unfortunately, all of my bookmarks are on my broken computer!

Becca

Running in Okinawa for nearly 4 years has practically ruined my body's ability to run in the "COLD". Today it was around 60 when I started running and I was *freezing* in long sleeves! I think it felt just about the same as running in Okinawa in January! Definitely colder than running there in December! 

I didn't really feel like running, but I told myself I had to run at least a mile. (Knowing that of course I wouldn't stop once I hit a mile!) I figured I'd go 3-3.5 miles. I decided I would try a "new" route...all my new routes here end up being bits and pieces of routes I've run before with a little new stuff thrown in. 

I really don't know where I was or how I got back...but somehow I covered 7 miles! I kept recognizing parts, like the "Norfolk Terrier" restaurant and a little school that I'd run past before, but didn't really know how I ended up there. I tried remembering street names, and while I do remember some (Vicar's Lane, Anne Bartholomew Road, Byron Walk, Churchill Road, etc.) I am not sure I'd know how to get there on purpose. I'd really like to replicate this route sometime, because it's hard for me to get runs that total more than 3-4 miles without a ton of backtracking. If I manage to do this run again, I'll be really happy. Shocked, but happy!

It's a little bit misleading to say that I ran 9 miles today. I "covered" 9 miles today...there, that's better. A friend of mine wants to start running, "from scratch", and so I'm helping her along, mostly in a motivating, "I'll be knocking on your door at 8, so you better be ready to hit the pavement" kind of way. Most of the run is still walking at this point, but I can see her improving already and soon we'll get to go for a run with a few walk breaks thrown in instead of a walk with some running here and there! I run to her house from mine, which is about 2 miles away, then we walk/run, then have a glass of water and a little chat then I run back home. There are several ways I can get to her house from mine. Some are slightly over 2 miles, some are slightly under 2 and I can never seem to remember which are which! So sometimes there's some zig-zagging or backtracking at the end of my run so I can get to a nice round number as far as mileage goes. Today I was 1.9 when I got to her house, 4 miles of run/walk (mostly walk... about 10 minutes of run, which is more than last week, so we're happy!), and 3.1 coming back. Not quite sure how I managed that!

Anyway, tonight I think I might go make a second attempt at finding a running group that I know meets Tuesday and Thursday evenings as well as Sunday mornings in the next town over. I tried once before to meet up with them, and even though I was in the right place (they meet at a local gym and I checked with the girl at the desk) at the right time (I didn't want to get left behind, so I got there 30 minutes early, and I wanted to wait to make sure other people weren't just running late, so I stayed about 40 minutes after the meeting time!) but there wasn't a group of runners in sight! That was a few months ago and I'm ready to give it another try.

Another misleading mileage report! Ran 4 and mostly walked 5.75

My friend is doing pretty well with her new running routine. This was our 4th time going out, and she ran 3 minutes more than yesterday...and probably 9 or 10 minutes more than our first time last week! I ran to her house and was running late, so you know what that means...had to run faster! I took a route that was pretty close to exactly 2 miles and the time for the 2nd mile was 8:15! We walked for about 10 minutes before starting to run a little bit every other "lap". We just kept going around and around the AF base housing in our town (even though the base is 20 minutes away!) There's not much traffic (vehicles or pedestrians) and I think my friend likes doing laps because she can tell if she ran farther than the time before. Ordinarily, this would be really boring, but she's easy to talk to, so I barely noticed that walking around in half-mile circles for over an hour! 

Stopped for a glass of water and a long chat at her house, then ran the last 2 miles home.

Tomorrow night is the next meeting of the running group. On Thursdays they do some kind of repeats/hills/intervals and I haven't done any of that in a loooong time, so I'm still debating whether or not to go. Especially because most of the people that were at the group yesterday won't be there as they're running a half-marathon in France on the weekend. But I think I should probably just go for it!

Another run that ended up a bit longer than anticipated, thanks to my lack of directional skills! 

I was going to go out for 3 on Saturday afternoon, but tried a "new way" home. I was right near my house, but there was a lot of traffic and I'm just not confident crossing the street at round-abouts when there's a lot of traffic, so I went a different way and ended up wandering around a neighborhood I hadn't been in before! Oh well! 

Ran with my friend this morning...she is really improving! On the last run we did last week, the total run time was 12:45...today it was 15:30! She ran for 4:05 straight minutes. I'm feeling very proud of her...on the first day we went out, I think she made it about 54 seconds. 

   I felt so good running the two miles to her house that I decided to push myself just a little bit. And on the way home, I decided to push myself too instead of just dallying around like I tend to do. I had cereal for breakfast this morning and a big glass of water when we got back to my friend's house, and my stomach felt a little weird, but it didn't bother me too much. I think I will try to make it to the running group tomorrow night, and I have plans to do another run/walk with my friend on Wed. 

mile 1- 8:40, mile 2- 8:00 mile 8- 8:40 mile 9-8:03

4 miles with my new running group tonight. It was getting dark so we had to cut our run through the forest trails short. I really like the people in the group! Met 2 new people last night and they were telling me about places I should go on the coast... I am especially interested in the section of the coast where there is a colony of seals!! Neat! 

My Garmin wasnt ready when we started running, so my mileage was off, but one of the other guys had us at 4.3 miles. There is a timed 5k on Thursday that I will try to make it to. The guy that plans out the speed workouts said that there was only one other person who showed up last Thursday! But he said that the 5ks typically get more of a crowd. We shall see!

I can't decide if I like the way my mileage looks so high because I feel kind of like I'm coming about it dishonestly! 6 miles of today was a run/walk with my friend. She is up to 16 minutes of running, her longest interval was 4:18 I think and her shortest was 3:27. She's come a long way from 3 weeks ago, that's for sure!

I felt really good running to her house and even knocked out an 8:09 2nd mile! But coming home I was feeling just a bit lazy, chilly, and my left knee was kind of creaky. I went on a new trail that I haven't been on before and was going to run a little further, but saw what I really thought was a tent set up in the distance. The trail is in a woodsy/field area and pretty isolated, so I decided to head home rather than get closer to the tent. I don't really think I had anything to be afraid of, but I'd rather check out the remainder of that trail sometime with a partner, or at least when somebody is home waiting for me and will notice if I go missing! :) My husband is coming to visit in just over a month, so maybe I can drag him out there!

The third Thursday of each month is 5k day at the running group. Only 3 people including me showed up to run, so I wasn't sure how motivated I would be to crank out a quick 5k!

The guy who was timing for the night asked me where I expected I'd finish and I told him around 25:00. The last 5k I ran in the states this summer was around 24:45 or 24:50 (over some hills) and I wasn't sure I would match that without the raceday adrenaline, people for "pacing and chasing", the crowd at the finish line, etc. They also usually do their 5ks with "handicapping" so in theory everyone finishes at just about the same time, but since there was such a small # of us, and since I was new, they decided to just let us all start together.

I didn't know the course, which was luckily just 3 3/4 laps, so I started out kind of fast in order to keep the other 2 guys in my sights and know where to turn during the first lap! I wasn't as concerned during the second lap, although I did stay pretty close, but started falling behind after that. The guy who was timing stood at the finish (different spot than the start) and told me, "One more lap". Of course I totally overanalyzed this... I kept thinking, "I wonder if he means one more lap once I get to the starting point and then back here to the finish, or if that means I'm done next time I get to the finish marker. Oh I really hope he means just get back here, but I don't want to get my hopes up and think I'm almost done when I'm not!" During the last lap, I had a big cramp in my right side that I couldn't breathe out (maybe from thinking too hard about the interpretation of "one more lap"...or maybe from the 5 fun-sized Snickers bars I had eaten earlier in the day!). So as I was coming around the 2nd to last corner, I was thinking, "I'd better see those guys standing around the finish line... I don't want to go around again!" Silly me, I could've just looked at my Garmin and saw that by the time I was at the 2nd to last corner, I was about 2.8 miles in!

My finishing time was 23:26 and my Garmin had it accurately measured at 3.1 miles. 7:10, 7:38, 7:56, and 0:41 for the .1 (7:19 pace)/average 7:34 pace! I don't know how I pulled that one off!

I don't know how far behind the other guys I was, but I'm guessing it couldn't have been more than a minute or a minute and a half. I was the only female to show up last night, and the timing guy told me based on their old times that I am going to be the fastest gal in running group.

By the way, did you know that Friday, September 18 is National Run at Work day? Too bad I don't have a job! But I will be running at the gym and watching Survivor! I'm a total Survivor geek and it doesn't come on my home cable.

Survivor started today, and so did my "Survivor Fitness Plan". All it involves is getting on the treadmill for an hour every Friday (or Sunday for the re-broadcast) so I can watch Survivor on the Armed Forces Network. Since I live off base, I have British cable, and I haven't been able to find Survivor. Since I absolutely CAN NOT miss an episode of Survivor, I watch it at the gym on base.

I ran 6 miles on the treadmill, averaging a 9:05 pace. I ran between 9:05 and 9:22 during Survivor, and sped up to 8:something paces during the commercial breaks. The thing about watching Survivor at the gym is that I really need to focus on controlling my Survivor-related outbursts! ;)

I walked a half mile afterward, mostly so I could calm myself down after the person who I wanted to win the whole thing was first voted off!