How to Prevent losing time at Chafing Stations - LOL

I have a friend of a friend who once chafed so bad during a half marathon that he made reference to the aid station that offers vaseline as the "chafing station." I have found myself regretting the fact that I did not apply Body Glide liberally enough from time to time. However, for the most part -- if there's a chance I need it, I apply. I would say any runs over 8 miles require body glide. This stuff is great... it has never let me down. They even make it with sunscreen in it! I ran the entire Country Music Marathon on 1 single application of Body Glide in all critical areas before the marathon start. I was convinced I'd probably need to stop at a "Chafing station" somewhere after 16 miles or so and reapply. However, body glide held it's own and after all 26.2 miles was complete - I hopped in the shower back at my hotel and not 1 little spot was chafed. I highly recommend this product to anyone who consistently runs more than 6 miles. It is also great for biking.

"I..... Have Made Fire!"

Famous quote from mine and K's favorite movie - "Cast Away." That's what we've been doing a lot of lately! Making fire. I love sitting around a fire and laughing and talking. Grilling out, and just soaking up the wonderful weather this time of year brings us. Not too hot and just a little bit chili at night. Telling funny stories around the fire warms the heart!
Outside of us making fire several times, here's what else that's been going on. After the Stag, I had to give myself some time to heal so I took a week off. But I'm coming back! I've been riding with Tim, Lee, Lana and Don some. Today at lunch I actually rode by myself. I am trying to ride 2-3 times per week and get in at least 3 runs per week. Last week I rode with Don, Tim and Lee one frigid morning before work, then I ran 6 the next day, rode 14.5 the next day in Normandy from K's house. Hills, hills, hills! Then ran 5 the next day, and 5 the next day! Friday night we shared a good ol time with Brant & Dylana out on the lake. As soon as we got there to eat, an older man had a heart attack and it really scared me. Saturday I was too lazy to get up and be in Sewanee at 7am to ride with Lana and the "rimmers" so I slept in and boy did it feel great! :-) When I woke up it was starting to drizzle rain and I just had no regrets at all! I managed to clean my house (most of it) and K and I went out for a fun date in the boro! We bought some neat chairs at Dicks. I like the name of them. They are called "Lazy loungers." LOL. Sunday morning, I made up for my Saturday morning laziness. I got up and rode 21 frigid miles (57 degrees on a road bike is cold), came home and cooked breakfast and we headed to church! It was a great, relaxing weekend!

So, for this week? Yesterday I met Lana at 5am and we ran 6 miles through town. I felt pure exhaustion last night after work. K & I (once again) grilled out and for some reason the food was just off the HOOK! We had grilled chicken, rice pilaf, steamed veggies and a nice fattening piece of garlic toast. Oh, and just to add to those calories, we had dessert! The rest of the night we watched the Olympics - we are addicted to them and I am going to have major withdrawels when they are over.

Today at lunch I decided since I was on a roll with my workouts this week, I wouldn't stop now. I rode 17.5 miles and I think tomorrow will officially be my rest day. I am thinking I need to start putting in some long rides to prepare for LOL '08.

Oh... and just in case you don't keep up with my "iron sister," she is approaching the thickness of her Ironman Florida training. I'd like to ask you to please pray that Lana remain safe and healthy throughout each of her trainings. It is extremely taxing to the body, as well as the mind. Michele is also following a similar training plan and I'm sure would appreciate prayers as well. I am SO looking forward to seeing you guys ROCK THE HOUSE on Nov 1!!!!

Gettin My Swing On!!!

Golf swing....... that is! :-) Thanks to everyone who has given me sympathy for crashing my road bike!!! Saturday I had the opportunity to watch the Staggerwing Du. I was driving down hwy 130 all bandaged up at 6:45am, and when I rounded the curve and saw that array of cars and bikes, my heart just sunk. I felt tears fill my eyes... as I wanted so badly to do this race. Sigh... whatta you do? Suck it up, Holly. You're not racing today. You're in no condition so get over it. I got to talk to many friends who were setting up their transitions and before you know it, READY, SET, GO was the word. It was a fun event to watch, and I managed to hop on the back of my dad's HD, flip around backwards and take some AWESOME pics of my training partners who were giving it their ALL! And what about my big sis bringing home 1st place overall female!!! Way to go LANA!!!! And Michele holding her own with a 2nd place overall female! And Tracy getting 1st place masters AG! You guys freakin ROCK!

So later that afternoon, K and I and another friend went out for 9 more holes of golf! Since I'm too sore to train right now, I might as well be sharpening up my golf skills! My putting is better than ever before, for some reason. I like it! We went out to eat that night. So, as if 2 consecutive days was not enough golf for us, we hit the driving range Sunday night!! LOL. I lost my touch there, because we played AGAIN Monday after work and I stunk it up out there! He finally beat me! LOL :-)))) So that meant I had to cook supper. lol

So, enough is enough of this laziness. I jumped up at 6am today and decided I needed to put my running kicks on. My wounds are healing and scabbed over and the one on my shoulder is already peeling. I am still having trouble sleeping at night though - just extreme discomfort like the right side of my body belongs in the burn unit at Vanderbilt. However, 1 week of doing nothing but playing golf is about enough so I ran through Normandy for 33 minutes this morning. I'm estimating I was right on top of 4 miles when I stopped.

J is coming over this weekend. Hip-hip hooray! I am so looking forward to it because there is much catching up and much fun to be had!!!

Tough Luck :-(

Tuesday night after work I went out and did the best brick I've ever done. My times were better than ever and I felt strong the entire time. I rode 20 miles on the Staggerwing course and followed immediately with a 4 mile run. I saw what I had and I predicted exactly how I would do this Saturday. This was my 6th week of "official Staggerwing training." I felt great about it and was really looking forward to the race.

So Wednesday after work I jumped on my bike for a short and final ride before race-day. I want my legs to be rested, but not so rested they forget what it feels like to be on the bike. I was just planning to ride to my parents' house - probably woulda been pushing to make it a 10 mile ride. Just a good warm-up.

As I proceed down Ragsdale rd and turn onto Taylor Rd, the thought crosses my mind that I've never ridden this road before - well not since early last year. "I wonder if there are dogs out here??? I'm not able to get a ton of speed up because the road is so curvy..... so I hope not. Stay on top of your game Holly.... be aware of your surroundings." Cruising along around 18-19mph...... Approximately 45 seconds after those thoughts permeated through my brain BOOM! OUT OF FREAKIN NO WHERE! THE DITCHES! On me like white on rice!!!! 2 dogs - 1 which is very large and black and is almost as big as Black Betty. RUFF RUFF RUFF RUFF!!! GRRRRRRRRRR..... GRRRRRRRR.... OMG........ they're going to KILL ME! And they are not AFRAID. THEY ARE OUT FOR BLOOD!!!! OMG, OMG, OMG.... NO!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! WHAM! (black betty runs over or into very large black dog) and UP UP AND OVER the bars I go and BANG onto the pavement on my right hip and shoulder and I slide..... and slide....... as the skin on my shoulder, hip,, elbow knee & calf sloughs off into the tar & chip road and I finally lose momentum and I'm flat in the road - on the opposite side of the road I might add - and I look up and dogs are barking and growling and Black Betty is on her head in the ditch.
So I pull my backpack off and attempt to call my mom but she wasn't home - she was at the rec. A very nice lady, Renee Taylor, pulled up and helped me. She wanted to clean me up. She insisted to load me and Black Betty up in her van and take us home, but I played it off cool.... and told her I was fine and I pulled Black Betty outta the ditch, put her chain back on and proved to her that she was rideable and I finally (after catching my composure and remembering my address) jump on the bike and head BACK to the house. As soon as Miss Renee was out of sight, I lost it. I cried. Hard. Like... the kinda crying that makes you lose your breath!!! I was in a lot of pain, but that's not what I was crying over. I was upset because I know the blow my body had just taken - and I knew there would be no Staggerwing race for me. I am so close - 3 days from race day. What about all those 5am mornings to brick? All those evenings when I really wanted to veg out on the couch but I was counting the weeks till the Stag... and I knew it would pay off. So I trained. And I trained harder than I've ever trained for anything. I am stronger than I've ever been. I am improved all the way around. And who knows... I may have gotten there on race-day and done terrible and God may just not want my pride to be hurt. But still.... it sucks to have your plan shot to hell. Especially when you've put so much into it.

But whatta ya do?? First, you thank the good Lord that you survived your road crash. Not everyone is as lucky as I was. Second, you call your sister and she rushes over and helps me clean my wounds. Lana just went through a similar crash (minus the very large dog) a few weeks ago and is just now healed. She peroxided me, aka SET ME ON FIRE. LOL. And she felt my pain..... physical and emotional.I was in a mess. My parents came over and brought bandages and tape and more peroxide and hibi cleanse and a bag of reeces :-) Chocolate heals everything, right?

So, I tried to sleep that night but it just wasn't happening. I was in a lot of pain - well everything on the right side of my body. My hip has 2 large bruises, my shoulder is bruised and less 1 layer of skin and my knee (as of Friday morning) has finally stopped bleeding. I am worried that I am going to be timid on the bike now. :-/

K and I spent Thursday just kinda.... doing nothing because there's not much I can do. We are both on vacation and we had planned to go hear 'the band' play that night. We ate dinner and then it started raining and there was someting more appealing to just staying in and watching movies. Plus I was still in a lot of pain. We rested up and got up this morning for a round of 9 holes of golf! alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229651238428571634" /> This is about all the activity my knee can handle right now. I guess this might be a great week for sharpening up my golf skills? We both did pretty good and it was fun to be doing a sport that isn't taxing the body to it's maximum effort! Hmmm... I could really get into this?!?! :-)

So I'll be heading out in the morning to watch my training peeps setup their transitions and compete in the Staggerwing Du. I am thinking of this as a great opportunity to volunteer. And hopefully.... it won't bum me out too bad to be standing on the sidelines. Goodluck to Tim, Lee, Eric B, Michele, Tracy, Lana and anyone else participating tomorrow. Once AGAIN, I hope to get some great pics of you guys! :-)