I just don't return lost dogs....

A couple of months ago, I found a dog who was running around my daughter's school and I returned him to his owner later that day. A couple of days ago, the same thing happened and I returned about dog to his owner. Well, at 9:30 at night, I was sitting at my computer and my dog starts to bark like someone is at the door. I go to the door and to my surprised my 2.5 year old neighbor is standing there all by himself. I tell him to stay there and put Clifford outside. I go back to the door and he is ready to come inside. I guess he wanted to come play with Paddy. I picked him up and walked him back to his house. His mother didn't have a clue that he had left. I am just glad that he came to my house and just didn't wander off.

January Totals

For the month of January my totle milage wasn't high but I did run three races: Frost 5k, Disney Half Marathon, and Disney Marathon.

Total Milage was 84. I am trying to run 1000 miles with Mel from Tall Mom on the Run for 2010. In order to reach 1000 miles, I need to run an average of 83.33333 miles a month so I made the average for January.

I am also trying to decide where to run my next marathon. I want to try to qualify for Boston 2011. The only problem is that I don't know where I will be living after June. My husband is in the Navy and we are hopefully moving from Hawaii. We don't know when or where. I have a few marathons in mind: Kona Marathon (06/27), San Francisco Marathon (07/25), and Grandma's Marathon (06/19). If I am still on the island it will cost me between $700 to $1000 just to fly to California or Minnesota. I just hope we find out where and when soon!! I need a big race to train for. I am lacking motivation plus trying to prevent an injury to my achilles tendon.

Back in Hawaii...

I flew into Hawaii last night and it wasn't a fun flight. First, we flew from Providence, RI to Detroit, Michigan. This flight was short and Paddy slept half of it. We didn't have much of a delay in Detroit. From Detroit, we flew to Los Angeles. This was a 5 hour flight. My son was very tired but refused to sleep. He was getting tired of sitting in his car seat too. I believe that pilots and toddler have a code going on. I think "The plane will be landing in 20 minutes" is code for "it's time to go to sleep". I tried so hard to keep him awake but nothing worked. Of course, to get off the plane, I had to wake him up. We had a little layover in LA. But to get from one terminal to the next we had to go out of the airport and go back through security. While we were waiting for out flight, my nose started to bleed. My daughter ran to get me some napkins. I got my nose to stop bleeding. I checked my stroller at the gate and loaded the plane. My son slept a litt longet this flight. We finally landed at 9pm. When we got off the plane, I expected to see my stroller (not my running stroller) but they had lost it. I don't know how they could have last it since it only had to go down the stair and into the plane. I still haven't heard anything about it. It was a very long day and I thought everyone would sleep in but my son decided to get up at 7.

Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge

I went to Florida this weekend to participate in Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge. For the challenge, I had to run a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday.

My flight from Connecticut left at 7:45 and it was snowing lightly. I made it to Florida at 11. I retrieved my luggage, got my rental car, and was off to the expo to picket up my goofy packet. I was hoping to get there by 12 so I could here Bart Yasso speak. I have read his book and used the Yasso 800s in my training for the Honolulu Marathon. I caught the tail end of his talk and was able to get his book autographed and take a picture with him.


After I got my packet, I had to get in this long, long line to pick up my three shirts. For going Goofy, I was getting a shirt for running the half marathon, the full marathon, and one for doing both. I also bought some more marathon swag at the expo. The expo was a lot better then the Honolulu Marathon.

The weather for the weekend was suppose to be VERY, VERY cold for Central Florida. Thank god I was prepared and had some winter running gear with me. I stayed at the Shades of Green Hotel which is a hotel for military personnel and their family. It is right on Disney and they were offering buses to the start of the race.

The race started at 5:40 and the buses from the hotel started at 3 and would end at 4. I woke up at 2 and got ready for the race. I headed downstairs a little after 2:30 and waited for the bus to take me out into the cold. I took this picture at my hotel. I was had ear protection and gloves to wear.

I got to Epcot (the start line of the race) at about 3:30 so I had over 2 hours to wait for the race to start. The temperature was in the 30s but it felt colder because of the wind chill factor. After, I checked my bag in, I found shelter in the massage tent for a little while. They kicked us out of there at 4:30. I went to the bathroom and then started to walk to the starting line. It was about a 1/2 mile walk which helped warm you up a bit. I was in Corral C and the second wave so it meant that my races wasn't going to start until 5:50. It was cold but I did survive to the beginning.

My goal was to run conservatively since I had the full marathon to run the next day. The course was mostly flat with some small hills. It also was suppose to take us through the parks but it was very disappointing when only about 1.5 miles was in the actually parks. We ran through Magic Kingdom for 1 mile starting at 5.5 miles and .5 mile through Epcot at the end of the race. The rest of the race was on the back roads around the parks. A few of the sections were completely dark with no lights. It started sleeting about 20 minutes prior to the start of the race. For the first few miles, I had ice droplets pelting my face. I didn't go as slow as I wanted. My finish time was 1:52:30 for 13.23 miles for a pace of 8:30.

Since I didn't run the half marathon as slow as I thought I should, I was a little worried about the full the next morning. Plus, I wasn't sure if I wanted to wait in the cold again. It was suppose to be in the 20s.

The next morning, I slept in until 2:30 because I was going to catch a later bus so I wouldn't be in the cold for so long. The temperature was about 27 degrees and the wind made it feel a little colder again but there wasn't any sleet/ice today. I was suppose to meet up with Robin from the blog the Westford Mommy but I didn't find her. So I headed to the start line about 5:15 and I was corral D today. To my surprise there was two start lines: one for corrals A-C on one side of the road and another for corrals D-J on the right hand side of the road. When wave 1 started the race, Corral d also started the race then. We were on a totally different route then corral A. For the first 3.5 miles, it was like we were running a whole different race. We got to run through Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom. I stopped a few times to get some pictures taken with some of the characters on the side of the course. Since it was cold, at the water points, the ground was very slick with ice. The water that dropped on the ground was freeze. I felt good up until mile 22 or 23. I was on course to break 4 hours but I slowed down for the last 4 miles. I didn't have anymore gas in the tank. I finished the marathon in 4:03:38 for a pace of

Here are my medals. The donald duck medal is for the half marathon. The mickey mouse medal is for the marathon. The Goofy medal is for completing both the half and full marathon in one weekend.

I flew back to Connecticut that night and I am in a little bit of pain. My left ankle is swollen. Hopefully I will recover soon.

Frosty 5k

I had my first race for 2010 and didn't do as well as I wanted. I had fun because my brother ran the race too. I didn't run for 4 days before the race because the weather in Connecticut has been either very, very cold or snowing. I also went to New York for one of the those days with my sister, sister n law, daughter and 5 nieces. We went to the American Girl Place and saw Mary Poppins at the theater. We had a fun day!On New Years Eve, we got a few inches of snow. We got to go play and make snowmen! We made a lot of snowmen because my son and daughter keep knocking them down. I also got to do 1.5 hours of shoveling.

The roads were clear on New Year's Day and we were able to go to the race. The race was about 45 minutes from where we live and it didn't start until 11am. When we get to the race to get our bib number they didn't have me as preregistered so I had to talk to the director of the race and he allowed me to register without paying. If my check doesn't cash, then I will send the race fee. The race was in the residential part of Guilford, CT and a lot of families participate in the race. I went out to fast and slowed continually miles 2 and 3. My time was 24:25. My brother beat me by 38 seconds.

We got another snowstorm on January 2nd and the kids again loved playing in it. It was not good snowman making snow but they had fun making snow angels. I again got in another 1 hour of shoveling in.

Good bye 2009 ......Hello 2010!

Happy New Year!

With 2009 ending in 5 1/2 hours and 2010 beginning, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy and Safe New Year!

2009 was my first full year back into running and I accomplished a lot.

1. I ran 1509 miles.
2. 5k Races
a. 8 races
b. PR: 22:31
c. 1 1st women overall
d. 7 age group award
3. 8k race
a. 1 race
b. PR: 38:12
c. 1 age group award
4. 10k races
a. 4 races
b. PR: 48:18
c. 1 age group placement
5. 8 miles to 19 mile races
a. 7 races: 1 8-miler, 1 10-miler, 1 15k, 2 half
marathons, 1 20k, and 1 30k.
b. Ran one of the half with double stroller under 2
hours
c. 2 age group awards
6. First super sprint triathlon
a. Didn't drown!
7. First Marathon
a. 3:51:48

2009 was a great year for running for me and I can't wait for 2010. I have a few races lined up for the first part of the year but I don't know where I will be living the 2nd part of the year so it's all up in the air.

Dog, Traveling, Christmas..

It has been a very hectic week!

Dog update! I talked to the people at the kennel is staying at and they were very understandable about him not being very social to other dogs and maybe other people. They do set asside times for dogs to play alone if needed. Clifford warmed up to the two ladies quickly and I felt very comfortable leaving him there. I called a few days ago and he is doing well.

Then I got to travel alone with two kids from Hawaii to Connecticut on Monday the 21st. Our flight from Hawaii to Dallas was delayed because three of the latrines were not working. I was so worried that I would miss my connection because if the plane landed on time I only had an hour to make it to the next plane. But since it was late, I only had about 25 minutes to run with two kids, car seat, and carry ons. I barely made the flight and I was worried that my checked luggage wouldn't. My flight landed in New Jersey and my next flight was about 20 minutes late. I finally landed in Rhode Island at 2 and met my sister there. My fears were confirmed and one of my luggage and my daughters booster seat wasn't there. They had to put it on a flight to Cleveland and then to Rhode Island. The airline delivered it that night about 10 pm. My kids were actually pretty good through out the whole day considering we only got about 6 hours of sleep on the 3 flights. My son didn't want to put on his hat or coat. He has only been in warm weather.

My son also got to play in snow for the first time.

Christmas was great. We got to go to a real Christmas Tree Farm to get a real tree again. Usually we have to buy a real tree from Home Depot that has been shipped from Washington. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we spent with my family (Mom, Dad, Sister + brother n lawa, two brothers and sister n law, 6 nieces and 1 nephew. My kids loved playing with all there cousins!  My son didn't want to save any cookies for Santa Claus.My mom and dad loved having kids in the house again to watch them opening gifts from Santa. On the 26th, we went on the North Pole Express train ride. The kids had a great time. They were singing and dancing. They got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. They had cookies and hot cocoa.

Even my mom and dad were having fun!I have been running too.  The weather here has been in the 30s.  So it is a big change from running in Hawaii.  I have to wear two layers, a hat, and gloves.  I have a 5k race on the 1st that i will be running with my brother.