Back into the swing of things.

Let me start off by saying I am in love with my Nike + Ipod. The tracking of my runs and times keeps me honest, and the training program tends to keep me on track. Unless it is a torrential downpour outside. Then I am staying inside.

I am always looking for running opportunities that are a bit different from the standard Saturday morning mob scene. On Friday, October 16 I ran in the Republic Airport Not So Midnight 5k. The race started at 10pm. The day of the race all the weather reports stated that it would be cold and raining. Well, it wasn't raining. It was cold though. I lined up at the starting line with Kevin and told myself that I was going to break the thirty minute barrier. The airhorn went off and a pack of about 100 runners start moving along the dark airport roads.

I practically grew up at that airport. My father worked for Fairchild Republic before it became a shopping mall. I know the access roads around that airport pretty well. That being said, once you take daylight out of the equation, it is a whole different place.

I hit my first mile in 9:38. This was right where I wanted to be. The pack of glow-stick wearing runners had thinned out along the out and back. I hit my second mile in 21:15. I didn't realize my pace had dropped off as much as it had. If i was going to break thirty I was going to have to really push the last mile and finish with a split that was pretty close to my first one.

Sadly, the thirty minute barrier remains. I crossed the line in 31:58. I placed sixth in my age group. I am hopeful there were at least seven people in my group.

Congrats go out to Kevin for finishing in 23:22. Good enough to get third in his age group. Have I mentioned that I hate Kevin.

Upcoming Events:

10/24 - 12th Annual Run for Ridley 5k. Running in Riverhead with Dori and Marc to raise money for a turtle.

11/7 - Veteran's Day 4k XC Race - held at the VA Medical Center in Northport. RACE PROCEEDS GO TO THE VA VOLUNTARY SERVICES FOR HOSPITALIZED VETERANS

11/26 - Smiles Change Lives Turkey Trot - put in a quick 5k before going on a Thanksgiving binge.

And we now return to our regular scheduled programming

Wow. Almost two months since I last wrote something. In that time quite a bit has happened. Sadly for the purposes of this blog, very little of it is running related.

Trips to Sesame Place and to Florida as well as a series of bouts with chest colds, flu and whatever else have conspired to keep me from getting out on the road and putting in any significant amount of miles.

On September 12, 2009 I ran in the Connetquot 5K Run For The Bus. This is a small race that benefits the Connetquot Cross Country Team Booster Club. I had been fighting a nice cough and cold for a few days leading up to the race. To be honest I was leaning towards just going as a spectator to watch Dori and Marc run. However, peer pressure and my own stupid pride won out and the morning of the race I decided to run. In addition I decided to push Aidan in his jog stroller as well. Both turned out to be bad ideas.

The race started and I had hardly gone more than a half mile before the first coughing fit shocked Aidan out of his car counting daze. It only got worse from there. I did not keep track but I most likely walked about two out of the 3.1 miles. My wind was somewhere aside from my lungs.

Marc and Dori were well ahead as Aidan and I walked along. I was paying no attention to my time as a young girl at the water station called out 16:30. For a moment I almost thought she was calling out my split at mile two. In reality, she was shouting out my split for mile one. Yes, it was that bad.

A serious gut check was required as I passed the turn off where the 1.5 mile fun runners and walkers turned back towards the finish line. Again peer pressure and stupid pride made me continue on my hacking, wheezing way. Besides I had paid for the 5k and I hate to waste money.

Aidan was having a blast pointing out the colors of the cars we passed. For the record he was mistaken most of the time. We even stopped for a few minutes so he could check out the firetrucks parked in front of the fire department. I figured if I was going to die doing this run the kid might as well get to have some fun.

Eventually we got back onto the grounds of the high school and shuffled our way to the finish line. I finished in 38:36. I question the accuracy of that because the official result for Dori was 38:15. There is no way that she was only 21 seconds ahead of me. She had me by at least four minutes. So I am pretty sure I finished closer to 42 minutes. Horrible.

The week of September 20th Dori, Aidan and I flew down to Florida to visit some family. Aidan managed to puke twice on the way to Kennedy. That does not inspire confidence for a plane ride. But the little guy was great on the plane. Once we were in the air he vegged out in front of his DVD player and watched Thomas the Tank Engine over and over.

We rented a house on the beach in Ponte Verda. Dori motivated me to drag myself out early in the morning to go running with her down A1A. You are really taking your life into your hands by running down that road. If the cars don't kill you the bicyclists will.

In the weeks since I have been fighting the same damn chest cold. I finally gave in on Tuesday and went to see the Doctor. Now with a prescription for the nuclear bomb of antibiotics I am confident that I will be able to get back out there and run on a regular basis.

How has my unwillingness to see a Doctor earlier harmed my running goals? Without a doubt I say yes. RunAmuck has come and gone and I was unable to make it. The Asbury Relay Marathon is around the corner and to the relief of my teammates we are going to have to wait until next year to try it. My goal of running the Austin Half Marathon in February has been thrown into question since I have basically lost two months of training.

Upcoming Events.

10/16 - Republic Airport "Not so Midnight" 5k. What is not to love about running through an airport in the dark with drinks to follow? Now all we need is a babysitter.

11/7 - Veteran's Day 4k XC Race - held at the VA Medical Center in Northport. RACE PROCEEDS GO TO THE VA VOLUNTARY SERVICES FOR HOSPITALIZED VETERANS

11/26 - Smiles Change Lives Turkey Trot - put in a quick 5k before going on a Thanksgiving binge.