"Crazy Day" Jay

Blue hair (and a Cubs hat somewhere)

Swim goggles

Backwards soccer shirt of big brother

Green football sweatband

Purple basketball sweatband

Packer football pants

One soccer shin guard

Mismatched socks

Mismatched tennis shoes



That's my boy!!!

Introducing EWF

A recent Runner's World article discussed the virtues of running with friends and said no group is too small to have your own little club. They talked about two guys who have been meeting for years to do 7 at 7 and how they keep each other going.

It got me thinking about how much fun I have with Art and Amy. We don't get together very often, we all have careers, spouses, kids, but when we do, we seem to have a ball. We will run in blizzards if it is the time we planned to be together. And, we will like it. Alot!

Amy and I find time to meet occasionally outside of running but I'm not sure either of us has seen Art yet in anything but running clothes. That's okay. We all have busy lives. But, we seem to share this running thing in common. And you know what? It really is Easier With Friends. (creative Miss Amy came up with the name). I did my first tri with Amy and had a ball and cussed my way through my first 10k with Art. :D We also did an awesome 12 miler together that is one of my favorite runs...

So, here's to good running pals!!!

EWF met for 3 miles last night. We went out fast (well for the three of us) and many items were discussed. It's probably the fastest 3 miles I've run in quite a while!! Looking forward to another run soon.

Virtual Race Alert

Fellow blogger and runner extraordinaire, Reid, has come up with a fun idea over at Life Strides. He's on a quest to run a 5 minute mile and he needs our help!

Reid is supa fast and has even done Boston yet he is supportive to even the slowest runner (yep, the one who gets last in her own virtual races.) Reid is especially tenacious as he endured a dog bite in an early virtual race but has continued to join us. He also is known for his awesome pictures in our virtual races and recently won a coveted Olympic pin from Beijing for his efforts.

So, Reid is holding a 1 Mile Virtual Race. He's thinking that if he gets all the momentum and support from us all running it together, just maybe he can break that elusive 5 minute barrier. After all, everything is EWF* (easier with friends)!! He's apparently taken a lesson in flexibility:

You can actually run as fast or as slow as you want, just run with us, any time between Sept 1 and Sept 7.

So stop on over to Reid's and let him know you're in. I don't know that I've ever gone full out for a mile. This should be interesting. I told Reid, if he goes for 5, I'll try to go for 10. :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Because I love a good Nitmos-ish footnote:

*EWF - more on that to come

For those of you wondering, the Chinese character on my shirt means to RUN !! How appropriate.

Two Kinds of Characters

Little GQ Kindergarten man had a great first day. Mom, Dad and little Brother did just fine, too. (although I was a little disturbed to find out that he apparently lunched with the 6th graders!!?? and two kids "licked each others tongues" on the bus) oy vey.

He found out that he is #1 in the alphabet and this is quite cool as he sometimes gets referred to as #1, 1st in line, and his backpack hook is #1. Competitive little character...

He also decided that the awesome backpack that I bought him at the actual Olympics wasn't cool because it only has one strap and is too small for full sized papers. What was I thinking?

We celebrated his first day with drinks at Rock Bottom and then ribs with Grandma and Grandpa. Might as well teach them right. :D

I did make it out for a run today over lunch. Only 2.5 miles. I look like I ran 25. yikes. Oh well, it's sumfin. I have to get back in shape if I am going to hang with the big kids (Art and Amy want to run next week - yippeeeeeee).

In very exciting news, I have received some really nice cards and thank yous from the last virtual race. I also got a package today that contained this awesome t-shirt. A certain speedy Mama sent it to me. What a doll. So thoughtful... You all know I was just in Beijing and the whole point of the virtual race was the Olympics, etc., and the prizes were from there. What you don't know is I was totally getting into the intricacy of the characters...



So, the shirt has this cool Chinese character!!! How cool is that? Can you guess what my shirt says?

(thank you, Kristina, YOU ROCK!) And when you other losers start to learn the art of bribery, you'll go a long way. :D um, did I just say that out loud? oops. Kidding.

*sigh*

Thanks to everyone who participated and/or commented regarding our latest virtual race. Hopefully the prizes have been received by now. I've been getting a few questions/suggestions...nothing set for the next one but always open for suggestions. They do take a chunk of time so I space them out a bit.

I haven't been running or blogging much at all. I'm sorry I haven't been around much. My mileage took a dive while I was in New York in meetings that seemed to suck the life out of me after I was in Mpls for a week in meetings that seemed to suck the life out of me. sigh. I did 3 over the weekend then came down with a nasty head cold. I am SO not where I want to be. I'm going to have to re-build. again. double sigh. At least I can run 3, but it was extremely slow. I don't even feel like I can call my running buddies, they'd be so bored of my slowness... If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears. The weight is still down, so at least I have that, especially after all the travel.

Convo in our house while watching women's olympic sprinters:
Husband (being funny): Mommy is faster than those girls.

5 year old: She is not. She'd be there if she was faster than them. Mommy would get last if she ran with those girls!

I guess he gets the concept of the Olympics. sigh. He starts kindergarten tomorrow. double sigh.

I was thinking, well maybe I could have run further than Deena, the poor thing. She actually had a broken foot. However, she was about 4 or 5 miles in before she stopped. I tried to run in the Beijing heat+humidity=pure hell. I think I only did 2.5 while I was there. sigh. She evens beats me with a broken foot. I meant to post some pics from that run. I should do that.

Two of my favorite female bloggers (read that girl crushes) independently last week started talking about their girl crushes and I was not the object of either of their adoration. I was actually sad. HA HA. But then I thought, it's probably better that those crushes are one-sided, right? I mean it might be sort of weird (and maybe called something else) if those crushes were actually returned. hee hee. ( I wasn't sure where to put the sigh ??) :D

All for now. Hopefully the head cold will high tail it outta here and I can hit the road. Hope you are all having some good runs for me.

8 on the 8th Virtual Olympics Race Results

The results are in for the newest Olympic event, 8 virtual miles with running bloggers.

You all are such great sports to run at my whim. :D ( I think someone called me sadistic?? You didn't think I'd see that comment, huh?)

You guys know these started out to keep me training but turns out I love the creative stuff and connecting with all of you. How could we pass up 8 on 08/08/08?? I know lots of people were already going long but for several of us, this forced the issue a bit and got us going. Mission accomplished. I was also pretty pumped about the Olympics after my trip to Beijing where I had the brilliant idea to pick up some actual prizes from the Olympic store for this race.

So you know how I'm always saying everyone's a winner? (Well, that is mostly because I'm so slow, and mostly cuz there aren't prizes. hee hee.) No really, Everyone really is a winner just for being out there. We rock. (but only a select few get actual prizes from Beijing). :D But anyway, how appropriate is the Olympic motto:

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

Great big thanks to everyone who got out there and then posted about your run with us. You are true Olympians in my book. Also, One World, One Dream fits the virtual racing concept pretty well, don't you think? All out there in spirit, united, running together??? Okay, Okay, I'll stop now.

There was some great creativity going on and some pics posted. I've included a few for your viewing pleasure. And as always, I've provided links to race reports so you can read up on other Olympians who participated.

Olympians with a medal (&) by their name will receive official olympic t-shirts for fastest man and fastest woman. Additionally, I picked up a few Olympic pins and these will go to clever race report authors ( % )who got in the spirit. One in particular, I urge you not to miss -- you might just see yourself!

53:49 &%Nitmos - Do not even try to understand this mind
54:26 Laminator - So much for marathon recovery
59:13 Byflynn - No dog run
1:02:39 Shore Turtle - PR and synchronized events planned for later
1:03:00 Slow Sam - Personal victory
1:03:32 % Reid - Everone gets medals…Please, you HAVE TO SEE THIS ONE if you go to no other race reports. Very cool.
1:05:16 RazzDoodle - Two-fer

1:05:39 David H - Great virtual race questions
1:06:48 &%Kristina - Tao enhancing at its finest
1:08:09 Bob - 8 of 12 for us!
1:08:18 Peter - Searching for a pitstop
1:09:27 Ovens2Betsy - Channeling her inner Deena
1:09:45 Marci - Always count on her for a Brit pic
1:10:24 sRod - 18 in…. Philly?
1:12:46 Kent - Olympians don't stop for a little blood
1:14:21 Jennifer - Funny pics
1:15:25 Marlene - Representing the Canadians in her first virtual event
1:16:15 Amanda - Be like water
1:17:07 Marci - Lame a$$ report - her words, not mine!
1:17:23 Andrew - Didn't mind lack of drink and spectators
1:17:42 thebets - Running in the zone
1:18:00 Tiger - 8 with us and 9 more
1:18:00 Flyers26 - 2 cool segments in NJ
1:18:57 Greg - cute cat!

1:19:21 Miss Alleycat - Crap, did I say 18?
1:20:00 Lily - Life's fun if you don't weaken
1:20:28 Christie - Nice spectator comment
1:21:07 Jess - iPod woes
1:21:27 Makita - Patriotic kids
1:24:28 RoadBunner - Shinbuster :(
1:22:52 Kristin Really did 8.88
1:23:00 Kathyrn - Hindered by pink eye
1:23:14 MCM Mama - Numbers geek doing penalty miles
1:23:05 Karen - Torch goes thru the UK
1:24:42 Wes - Tales of Hills with names
1:24:53 John - High fives all around
1:25:03 %Topher - Fantastic report in Chinese complete with bribery :D
1:25:11 %Runnin' Ragged - Interview with an Olympic non-hopeful
1:25:30 %Kirsten - Channeling Olympians and cool pics
1:25:33 Coffee Betsy - Challenges back home
1:26:36 US Jogger - 9 miles in a class of your own!
1:28:00 Michelle J - Multi-part event. Way to get it done.
1:28:53 Amy - Report by tv show
1:30:12 AKA Alice - Ode to the running partner and pictures
1:30:16 Xenia - Play-by-play multi-event fun
1:32:03 Merry Mishaps - One of many first timers! Welcome all!!
1:32:22 RunnerMom - Overachieving with 9 on the 9th!
1:36:53 %Lisa - Slow and Steady - Part of the torch relay - very clever!
1:37:30 Linden - Post-run entrant, no problem. :D
1:39:20 %Audgepodge - Pics in Beijing!!
1:45:56 Megan - We inspired her to do more!
1:47:01 k80k - Crossed the finish line
1:47:14 Nat - Did this very early just to be with us!
1:50:00 Em - great pics!
1:51:09 Running Knitter - 2 parter in monsoon season
1:56:16 AnnaBanana - not blogging at the moment but thanks for running!
1:57:00 Non-runner Nancy - Seriously? I just got last in my own damn race? Suckage.

Honorable Mention:

Sunshine - Plenty of trail miles…and turkeys!
Laura - 6+miles, injury, DNF non-report
1:11:20 Michelle - 5.6 gorgeous trail miles
42:57 Vava - 8k with us and the longest distance evah! YEAH.
Yasmin - Trail race and part of tri to make 8 with us!
Kate - Cycled with us and made us a great banner
Gina - Can't run but she rode her bike with us!
Spartan7 - Did 8+ with us, a couple times!

Thanks, Everyone!! Please let me know if I have missed anything. I can always update. If you won, please send me an email with your address to nonrunner at gmail dot com

8 on 08-08-08 Virtual Olympics Race Report

I never thought in a million years that I could make it to the Olympics but here I am doing a brand new event: the virtual 8 miler for running bloggers. WOO HOO. I hear there are quite a few entrants and it doesn't really matter how fast you are. Am I dreaming?? Someone pinch me....


Well the new event is going off with a bang. Did you see that opening ceremony?

In case you didn't catch it, I thought I'd include a few pictures. I had no idea they'd let some of us participate. Aside from all that communism business, those Chinese are so dang nice.

Why does the Caucasian woman get the good lipstick?

Why did that be-otch get the colorful outfit?

So I haven't been doing a whole lot of running with the extra travel (I actually did go to China last month) and probably the most I've run is about 4 miles a couple times a week. It is definitely for me that I schedule these races. :D Oh yeah, and for you guys too. But, they really get me going. I was out the door at the ungodly hour of 6 am. I ran this puppy slower'n slow, like so-slow-you-might-be-able-to-walk-faster slow. I started off as slow as I could possibly go and still be running to try to conserve for the full 8. Turns out, that was a good strategy. I never had to walk except once to drink some G2 (still my fav) and it was a lovely couple of hours to myself on a beautiful morning. That's why I rock. That's why I'm an Olympian. (hee hee, just teasin, I was actually really embarrassed at my slowness.) 1:57 Maybe there is a medal for Slow and Deliberate?

Apparently I'm not so much Olympic navigation material, my 8 finished about 1 mile from home. zoinks. I walked and ran it in. 9 miles in the books, people!!

One more thing, I looked at my watch at the 8 mile mark of course. Would you believe it was exactly 8am? I swear. I was going to take a picture of it for you when I got home because after 8 miles I am not so smart.... yeah, the clock doesn't stop on your Garmin just because you hit stop. Hee hee.

I can't wait to read all the other reports. I will be reading, logging and providing a Race Results post in the next couple days. Thanks so much for joining me to celebrate the start of the Olympics.

Do you have Olympic fever now? :D

8 on the 8th Olympics Style

It's going to be 08/08/08

and the start of the Olympics!!

Let's celebrate running blogger style.

Join us for this virtual race.

Yep, lame, but got the idea from this guy and I'm on extremely limited time:

Virtual Race Directions -

1. Run 8 miles sometime around the 8th. I'm easy, any time between now and the 10th is fine. I'm also easy in the event that you need to do two-4 milers. Just join us!!
2. Post a race report on your blog.
3. Extra points for olympic-type flair (but absolutely no pressure to do so!) - I brought back some official Olympic stuff from Beijing for prizes!!
4. Notify me when your race report is up
5. Check back here for the full report

Pfour Days in Minne

In Minne(apolis) for a pharmacoecomonimics seminar and other training. WOOO HOOO! :D

We had a Pfour k Pfun run. Yeah. don't ask.

I ran.

I sweated like a pig.

I finished ... somewhere between most of the runners and the walkers.

but mostly neck and neck with the interval run/walkers.

whatever that means.

some of them said it kept them going to see me not ever stopping.

So, I'm slow but inspiring?

whatev.

I forgot garmin but it was 2.5 and felt a little fast (that's a relative term).

Had no idea at the Millenium Hotel that we were so close to the sculpture garden. I came here once with the hub. It was our first trip "away". Good memories. Here's some pics if you've never had the pleasure. Our "pfun run" went to the sculputure garden, around it and back to the hotel.

Later tonight, we went to a dueling piano bar. What talent. What fun. Good friends. Good time.