Talking Toastmasters - Today at 1 PM EST

Yakkitty-Yak-Yak. That's the sound of me, doing way too much talking this week. Monday afternoon I did a 5-minute phone interview for a podcast on paranormal pets. (We've had a ghost cat living with us for about 5 years now.) Monday night was a two-hour "local authors night" at our area library, where 7 authors each spoke about our work then hawked our books. =)

Yesterday was the kick-off of my radio show, "How'd You End Up Here?" and today I have a 20 minute phone interview on Talking Toastmasters. Today's interview revolves around an article on goal-setting I wrote for The Toastmaster magazine in their September issue. I'm a little nervous as I'm not a goal-setting expert and I'm not sure what sort of questions to expect. Impromptu speaking at its best, as this is a live interview. I've jotted down a few notes to pull from and will just hope for the best. 

The one good thing I have going for me is I don't lose my personality on radio. I was discussing with a friend the other day how normally outgoing, articulate people will just clam up and become dull the minute they get near a microphone. TV has that effect on me. I tend to stiffen up quite a bit on air, but I'm generally still "me" on radio interviews. 

Given all the blah-blah-blahing this week, I haven't gotten much writing done. That needs to reverse itself, pronto. The goal for today is to finish drafting the article for Purina's Rally to Rescue magazine so I can let it sit for a few days before I go back to do final edits. My word count for the article is 1800 and I believe yesterday I was already at 2300 words with paragraphs still left to write. Can anyone say "hacksaw edits?"

The sun is shining, it's a glorious 58 degrees, and Dave and I saw two deer on our trail run this morning. There simply is no better way to jump start the day then an hour spent jogging in nature followed by steaming mug of coffee for the car ride home. Happy Hump Day.

The Fun of Living in a Small Town

Every now and again I'm reminded how much I enjoy living in my little (pop. 2500) town of Madison. I like the Airport Drive In that still has the panelled wood and starburst clock decor of the early 70's, combined with food that is served on wax paper instead of plates and waitresses that are as likely to slide into the booth next to you to take your order versus stand at the table. 

I like the insurance company that posts cheesy sayings on its sign board, the funniest of which has been, "We offer prices so low they'll make you want to smack your momma."

And I loved the "battle" earlier this spring between the insurance guy and Case Auto Center, a used car dealership. Randy Case's mother-in-law had found a momma cat and kittens and was feeding them, so Randy had his dealership sign read, "Free Kitten With Purchase of Used Car!"

Then the insurance guy decided to get in on it and changed his sign to read, "We'll give a free kitten to Randy Case with every policy sold!"

Randy countered with, "The Kittens are Gone. We gave them all to XXX Insurance Agency in the middle of the night." 

The Insurance guy came back with, "The kittens are gone. Now how do we get rid of Randy?"

They carried on for weeks. It was hysterical. 

I like that my neighbors held a meeting last Thursday night and we decided to hold a neighborhood yard sale in October, with most of the proceeds going to the retired minister up the street who traps feral cats and pays out of his own pocket to have them spayed or neutered. 

And i like that if two people stand out on my street talking, they will soon be joined by a third, then fourth, and it doesn't take long before 4-5 houses of neighbors are standing outside chatting in the evening, surrounded by all our dogs and cats.

Cheers to small town living.

30K: The After

Killed it. K-I-L-L-E-D it. Very pleased. Turned in a 2:48:17 time (by my watch-formal results not yet posted), which is about 9 minutes faster than last year's time. Plus--and this is huge--I was in such better shape after the race this year as compared to last year. Last year (as longtime readers might recall) was the infamous "Drink orange soda and lived to regret it" day. I also cramped up after the race last year and lay in the car moaning on the way home. This year, I walked around after the race, got some nutrition (1/2 an orange, 1/2 a banana, 1/4 of a monster bagel, and 2 Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts--Yeah. I can eat) and managed to drive myself home with no incident. Blair had gum surgery yesterday and decided, understandably, to stay home.

I couldn't have asked for a better race day. Sunny, with temps still at 68 degrees by noon. I ran the race with my friend Dave, my Wednesday morning trail running partner. Dave had a rough run, with the arthritis in his knee giving him major grief, but he hung with me the entire way for which I am eternally grateful. Very helpful to pace with someone.

My pace averaged a 9:03/mile. I need to hold a 9:09 to run a four-hour marathon. Can I hold the pace another 6+ miles? I'm not sure. The biggest problem is my back. Come about mile 14, it just aches non-stop, like someone is using a crowbar in an attempt to remove my lower spine. Makes me want to stop and curl into the fetal position. I've vowed to devote the next 6 weeks to abdominal work, in the hopes of easing the pain in Richmond.

Legs and breath did okay. Better than okay--great, actually. But here's the tough part about running. I felt good today, and never came near the "I've got to stop, I can't go on" place. Yet with every step my mind says, "Quit, quit, quit. Stop, stop, stop." Even when strong, I want to stop because... it would feel better. The trick is to distract the mind and hope the miles slide by unnoticed.

Everyone in my group appears to have had a great run, with several people PR'ing (Personal Records). It's a relief to know I made my goal today, and comforting to think I still have 6 weeks of training to get even stronger before my race. 

BTW, the photo here is my PACE TATTOO. Temporary tattoo that allows me to make sure I'm on pace, Why is this necessary? Because I lose the ability to do simple math after about mile 4.

This has been your annual weekend running update. =)

30K: The Before

 It's just before 6 am on Saturday and I'm almost ready to drive to Winston-Salem for the Salem Lake 30K. Thought it might be fun to do a "Before" and "After" blog of the race. Here's the before. I feel ready, but a little concerned as I don't seem to mentally be in the game. I'm hoping adrenaline and my competitive spirit kicks in at the start line or--better yet--around mile 12.  I'm not sure if I can hold my desired 9:09 pace, yet I don't feel that concerned if I don't hold it. (For the record, I consider this a bad thing.) I have a slight twinge behind my left knee that I'm hoping doesn't turn into anything. Other than that, I've got my pace chart, watch, Runner's ID, and Gu. Time to load up the car and go. I've aiming for a 2:50:38 finish. We'll see!