RBF Meet-ups, Pancakes & More Tetanus Ranting

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great weekend. Tomorrow is a holiday, right?

So rewind to Friday night. We're drifting off to sleep MUCH later than I would have EVER let us the night before a "race". My arm is killing me and I believe it's gone to my head as I'm giggling uncontrollably about absolutely nothing. I tell Brent I think I've got tetanus and am drooling from the mouth. He reminds me that's rabies, not tetanus. Hmmm, I may have bigger problems than I realize.

The alarm goes off WAY too early on a Saturday morning and we're up and gearing up. I forgot it takes much longer to fix my hair for non-running than just a simple running ponytail, so I didn't have any time for breakfast. Temps were in the mid 40-s and cloudy. Pretty close to perfect for running. We head out and about twenty minutes later we're at Fleet Feet. This is a 4-mile fun run celebrating their 4th birthday here in Nashville. It's not a race, just a low key fun run with no registration fees and free tech shirts, but you are encouraged to donate to one of several charities in an amount similar to what you would've spent for a race. So, free tech shirt, free "race" and a tax deductible charitable contribution to boot. Sweet!! (Side note: Don't you find the new lights they're adding to be a bit "much"? NINE lights in one intersection?? I think it's going to end up as a Simon Says game gone wrong.)

Quite a few people were there already, we signed in, got our shirts and were listing to race annoucements when I saw Steve walk in. It's funny how you can recognize someone you've never met instantly! He doesn't post a lot of pics, but he looked just like his profile pic! He must've seen us when he walked in because he made his way right over when the announcements were finished. We exchanged introductions which seem so unnecessary considering how much you already know about someone you've never met. I just love meeting bloggers!! Of the 5 we've met so far I've yet to be disappointed, and I wasn't disappointed Saturday either. Steve is just as nice in person as he is online. He had also seen an industry colleague, David, and he called him over for introductions and picture taking. (So, if you ever think we're photoshopping snow into our pics you can check out their blogs for confirmation! Maybe one day we'll be an even bigger force than the Houston Running Bloggers.)

On his blog Steve has mentioned he has a knack for attracting country music celebs. So of course he delivered on on Saturday - Jo Dee Messina. Personally I have no idea what she sings, but I do know the name and I would have never recognized her if he hadn't told me who she was! (Which leads me to think.....do I interact with famous country crooners every day and I don't even know it???) She wasn't particularly personable, but I'm sure she gets sick of people staring at her all the time. I really wanted to tell her that although we were taking her picture we take a LOT of pictures. We're pretty indiscriminate as to what we take pics of!!

It was race time so the guys line up (JDM and her friend/trainer waited and lined up in the very back) and I moved off to the side to witness my very first race. There was no start or finish, so one of the employees sort of yelled GO! and off everyone went through the parking lot and out of the shopping complex. I stood around taking pictures and watched them all leave. It was interesting to watch the fastest runners pull away from the group. I went back to my car and sat to wait. Blee blah. I was bored. I was lonely. I was thinking I could've probably walked the course. I read my book. I played with my camera. I thought about driving somewheree for a cup of coffee. I turned around and realized my car is entirely too big for me. (Side note: Friday at the doc's office a guy was getting out of his car as I was getting in mine. He said "That's a big car for such a little lady." I said "Yeah, that's not the first time I've heard that one." Hardy har har.) About 27 minutes after 8 the first guy came sprinting back, a second wasn't too far behind and a third guy was about a minute behind them. There was no method to the way the runners were coming back. Some people came up one side of the shopping complex, some went way around and others took the shortest route possible. The first woman came the loooong way around. It was several minutes before anyone else came through. A group of girls came running up, a small group of guys and then I saw Brent's head coming through with a small group. He was blazing fast!! And super thirsty. We had some water in our car so he sat down to catch his breath and shortly thereafter Steve and David came running through their chosen finish path. It was quite a while before JDM finished!

We stood around talking about all sorts of running, blogging, and other random stuff. We took some more pics (shocking, huh?) and Brent got some "candid" pics of JDM. I love the one of the Fleet Feet sales associate with JDM in the background! All their staff is so friendly, and they always remember us and our running issues (my blisters) every time. Steve had to run to his daughter's cheer practice and Brent and I had to get our grub on. I'm sure we'll meet again at future local events!! I love having fellow local running bloggers. I think it would be so much fun to have a "fun run" for the local running bloggers I know at a local park and then share some breakfast or something somewhere. Maybe after April's CMM/CM1/2M that we're all training for we can plan something!

The little cafe next to FF was sponsoring a special $5 pancake breakfast just for the runners. It was GREAT! We rarely eat a big breakfast like that since our Sat mornings usually consist of oatmeal before a morning run, so it was a nice treat. JDM had some too, but she sat off to herself.

We came home, showered up, and took a nap. My foot was feeling pretty good but my stupid arm was killing me. Shouldn't the doc be forced to warn you of how much it's going to hurt later??? Can I sue??? When Pippin gets his rabies shot each year the invoice warns me he may be listless and sore for a few days. And how is it that I'm the only person who didn't realize what a painful shot this is???? You guys are so much smarter! I guarantee I won't forget it now! It still hurts today. It may be slightly better, but I'm not sure. This morning the area around the shot was red and swollen, so we did some additional Google research. We found out this is fairly common and they recommended Ibuprofin and called it a mild allergic reaction. One woman online had had the tetanus shot, had a similar reaction, and went back to the doc - only to find out she was PREGNANT! We had an ENORMOUS laugh about that one. Brent has told me I am not allowed to go back to the doctor anytime soon. Some people were sore for 4 days and a couple of people said they were sore for 3 weeks. Geez. So the lesson is: don't get suckered into unnecessary shots and lie,lie,lie if they ask you when your last tetanus shot was! Next time I am going to say that my office gives them annually with flu shots.

Today I RAN! I decided to run on the treadmill. If anything hurt I'd be able to stop and not have a long walk back, and I wanted to avoid hills and keep a slow speed. Some of the causes of tendonitis I have read online include adding too much speed and hills too quickly. We've been pushing our speed lately and we've added a semi-large hill into our path. If we're going to do the Flying Pig we need to work on hills more. I started out very slow, and spent twice as much time warming up as usual. I slowly sped up to a jog, and then cranked the speed to slightly below normal. I could tell I wasn't allowing my form to be natural, and once I did so I felt GREAT! The foot didn't hurt at all. I ended up running 5 miles at a slow and easy pace. My arm hurt with all the bouncing, so if my foot was hurting it was drowned out by the arm. We also took Pippin for a walk yesterday (2 miles) and today (3 miles!). Today's walk was his longest ever, and he did great! He didn't wear out at all, and when we got home he zipped through the house like it was nothing. Last summer after a 1 mile walk he'd collapse on the floor as soon as we got home. Hopefully he'll be more in shape this summer and able to withstand the heat a little more.

OK, this post is probably too long anyway! I'm so glad Drew won Dancing with the Stars! It would have been a total mockery if Jerry won, he shouldn't have made it as far as he did.

Have a great week!!

Rae

Exercise-
Sat - 2 mile walk with Brent and Pippin
Sun - 5 mile run, 20 mins yoga/stretching, 3 mile walk with Brent and Pippin