Almost Friday!!

Hey guys! We are SO close to Friday. This week has actually gone by pretty quickly. I've been slammed at work with month-end, quarterly forecasts and monthly sales commissions. Of course my boss has been ZERO help and we've gotten into a row several times this week. The jerk called in sick on Tues (a GOOD thing), but called me continually throughout the day. So I quit answering my phone. The first time he called I did answer and he droned on forever and ever and at the end said if I got lonely to give him a call. Seriously, he'd probably be about #1,763, 264 on my list of people to call if I was lonely. I would be googling ALL of you guys' phone numbers before I called him. UGH!

We've had pretty great spring weather this week. Most days our temps have been in the mid to upper 70's. Meeting Dean K on Monday really inspired us to get re-focused on our training. Tues night we set out for our regular run and it felt SO nice to wear tanks and shorts. My right foot felt weird, I've become completely obsessive compulsive with the way I lace my shoes. I have REALLY got to move on. Anyway, it took a couple of miles before it felt comfortable. We ended up doing our 6.3 mile loop where we start at our house, on to the hospital, one mile loop around, up to the neighborhood park, up the 1 mile out and back to visit the suburban cows and then back to our house. Right around the park I started feeling good so I picked up the pace. I ended the run with a strong sprint up our street and was able to manage an 8:30 pace for the run! Yeah! None on my miles were over 9 min, but none were under 8. I'd really like to start getting some 7-somethings in there. I ended up cutting two minutes of this path from the last time I had done it (last Thurs). I could've done even better if I hadn't been obsessing over my foot & shoe lacing.

Wed was Killer Butt day. That woman is just evil. With all the miles these legs see it amazes me how she can still turn them into jello! The point where we add in weights is what really starts to exhaust me. The mat work is awesome, too. I have progressed to the point where my legs are just tired the next day and not sore, so that's an accomplishment! I've gone through some of my fitness mags for some killer abs DVDs to order so I've going to do that. I'd like to have some kick ass abs this summer, esp the obliques and love-handles.

Tonight was another great run night. It was 72 when we headed out at 5.30 for our run! We did a different route through the neighborhood where we head through a slightly hilly subdivision, then through a new and flat subdivision (with horses at the entrance), back through the park and up and back to see the cows, then back to our house. It ended up being 6.5 miles. I had an exhausting and frustrating day at work, so my goal was to keep it easy and just enjoy the day. We started out just under 9 min miles, which felt comfortable. I've forgotten how much more water I drink when it's warm! I now drink 2.25 Fuel Belt bottles on a 6.5 mile run! In the winter I can go probably about 9-10 miles with the same amount of water! We've also thrown some bottles in the freezer to start having some cooler water. Brent's stomach starting hurting him around 3.5 miles so he ducked into the bathrooms at the park and I headed on. I had added some new music onto my ipod (Pink's new CD) so I was ready to groove. I was feeling better so I started picking up the pace and it felt great. I managed NOT to obsess about my lacing techniques tonight so that really helped, my form felt comfortable the whole time. I ended the run at an avg 8:43 pace, which was fine with me. I ran back in, grabbed Pippin and ran back out to meet Brent. When we found him we ran back with him, Pippin going as fast as his little legs would carry him! Another neighborhood dog tried to get his attention (by jumping on him and trying to play) but Pippin was more interested in running with Daddy so we kept on. It was fun.

This weekend we'll do a 12 mile training run at Percy Warner Park, the mother of all places to work on hills! It's also the place JoDee Messina is standing on the back page of this month's Runners World. As if. I don't like that celebrities can do Boston just because they're famous. I really don't think that's fair. Not that life is fair, but Boston is about accomplishment! Anyway, she's not famous and Brent kicked her ass at the Fleet Feet 4-miler.

Good luck to everyone running this weekend! I am 80 posts behind, so I'm not sure who is racing. CJ is running a marathon this weekend, and she is WICKED fast so I know she'll do great! Danny is also doing a 4-miler in NYC and will also be wicked fast! Have a great weekend!

Rachel

Exercise-
Tues - 1 mile am walk with Pips, 6.3 mile run with Brent
Wed - 1 mile am walk with Pips, 2 mile evening walk with Brent & Pips, Killer Butt DVD + QuickStart Killer Abs (1 hr)
Thurs - 1 mile am walk with Pips, 6.5 mile run with Brent