Run Blondie Run

I am a Runner for Life

2010-08-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

I've always been a runner. Maybe running for different reasons, or running different distances, but always running.

A few years ago, I started blogging about my running. I had decided to run my 1st marathon and thought that blogging would be a good idea to "keep me honest" in my training, as well as document my experiences (just in case I was crazy enough to want to run another marathon).

The blogging did help keep me from "slacking off"; I certainly couldn't publish that I really felt like taking a nap and eating a quart of Hagen Daz. No, I had to go run that 6, 8 or 12 miles and dammit, I was going to enjoy it. And truth be told; I always did end up enjoying it. I enjoyed the time to myself, no kids or spouse or employees screaming my name or needing something from me. I enjoyed being able to let my brain "race" freely about anything. I wasn't trying to solve the worlds problems, but I felt empowered that I could if I really wanted to. Blogging about my runs helped to reinforce and remind me of those positive experiences.

Running, and blogging about it, also helped me "tune out" the "negatives" in my life; primarily a marriage that was irretrieveably broken. But some things can only be tuned out for so long. And eventually, I allowed the negatives in my life to overtake the positives and started "tuning out" the things that were positive in my life (running/karate/blogging). And it became a viscous cycle where it is harder and harder to overcome the negatives.

But I am blessed with good friends and a strong martial arts foundation that continually focuses on the positives. And I'm back where I need to be; stronger, healthier, happier, focused and ready for my next challenge.........my next marathon.......I'm thinking Big Sur in May 2011?????

Even though I'm not sure what I'm training for, I have dubbed this past week as Training Week #1; and what a great training week it was!!!!

8/22 Sun: 2 miles: no time; garmin battery dead :(
8/23 Mon: Karate (ab night; 120+???)
8/24 Tues: Rest Day
8/25 Wed: 2.6 miles(24:15; 9:23/pace); 1/2 mile dog sprint; 3x30 PU, 3 x 30 SU
8/26 Thur: Rest Day
8/27 Fri: Rest Day
8/28 Sat: 2 miles (19:30; 9:45/pace); 1/2 mile dog sprint; 4x25PU, 4x25 SU; Karate (sparring); 4 x 30SU
Sun: 4 miles (42:32); 5x25 SU; Gym: back/shoulders/chest/bis & tris

Till my next installment, Run long and Run strong......

dani

Thank you!

2009-05-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

Thank you!

Recoup, Refocus, Renew

2009-05-06T18:39:00.001-07:00

I finally got my finisher medal for the 3 For The Road Series, yeah!! I really enjoyed the 3FTR series; a 5k, 4 miler and 5 miler. I ended up overall in 4th place for my age group!! I was pleased with that, but even more pleased that I was able to run each of the distances at a 9 minute per mile pace.

After the 3FTR Series, I ran the Merrill Lynch Bull Run. This turned out to be a family affair. I ran the 10k, my son ran the 5k, and my daughter volunteered to work the water station. It's amazing how the lure of service hours she needs for school was able to get her out of bed at 5:30am on a Saturday morning!

The Bull Run started out and ended on A1A in front of Spanish River Park in Boca Raton. Lauren was at the water stop just after mile #1. This was the 1st time she has been to one of my races so I was very happy! The middle part of the course went through some really nice residential neighborhoods with lots of beautiful houses.

I finished in 55:50 which is a 8:58 pace! Woo hoo, sub 9 minutes!! I still need to work on keeping my pace more consistent. I start out fast (well, relatively speaking!) and slow down each mile (M1 8:00 M2 8:40 M3 9:02 M4 9:14 M5 9:22 M6 9:39)

After the Bull Run, I decided to take a couple of weeks off from running and karate. Mostly to recoup; to see if some time off would help to heal my heel (it didn't). I've been running with heel pain for over a year. The foot doctor "diagnosed" it as a heel spur and prescribed ibuprofen and heel inserts. The heel inserts didn't help; the IBU did. But as soon as I stopped taking the IBU, the pain returned. I was too busy training for my 2nd degree black belt and for the New York marathon to stop running or to go back to the doctor and I didn't want to have to take IBU chronically (I am a pharmacist so I know the dangers) so I kept on running.

But recently the heel had gotten worse. Waking up in the morning, I couldn't walk and had to tip toe around. I've been talking with so many friends, fellow martial artists, fellow runners and everyone has a different opinion and a different remedy. So, the thought was to take a couple of weeks off to see if that would help. And since it didn't, I think it's time to go back to the doctor. But now the question is, do I go back to the podiatrist or do I go to an orthopaedic doctor?

Meanwhile, with the heel pain and my next marathons more than 1/2 a year away, I was losing focus and not feeling really motivated. But then came April 20th and the Boston Marathon. I was able to watch on-line and that is exactly what I needed to see to get refocused. I was so routing for Kara Goucher and actually had tears when she dropped back to 3rd place in the final miles.

A week after the Boston marathon was the London marathon. I got up at 4am on that Sunday morning to watch the race on-line. It was an awesome and inspiring race. The website said that registration for the 2010 race would open the following day. So, I went on-line on Monday and registered for the lottery. I'll find out in later September/early October whether or not I get selected or not. I'm hoping that I will have the same luck that I had with New York and get picked on my 1st try. But if not, that's ok too.

And now, I am recharged, refocused and renewed.

Run long, run strong

Dani

Spring Time Running

2009-04-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

So I haven't had any "races" since the Riverwalk 5 miler. But I've had a lot of good runs since then. Saturday 3/28 I ran 8.42 in 1:27:06. And on Saturday 4/4 I ran 8.47 in 1:26:14. Plus, I had a number of shorter runs in between.

I've been trying to "finalize" my race schedule for the year and I think I have it figured out. My 1st marathon for 2009 was the Ft. Lauderdale A1A marathon; I didn't do as well as I had hoped for, primarilybecause it was way too hot!!!!

My 2nd marathon of 2009 will be the Marine Corps Marathon on October 25 in Washington DC. I was very fortunate that one of my Twitter buddies reminded me of the registration and I was able to sign up for this race. I 've heard this race fills up very quickly!! I was also fortunate that I was able to get roundtrip airfare from Ft. Lauderdale and 3 nights in a nice hotel for right around $500.

My 3rd marathon for 2009 will be the Space Coast Marathon in Cocoa Beach, Florida. It's a flat course and close to home; what else could I ask for!! I have to thank marathonchris from twitter for "twittering" and recommending this marathon.

I was really looking for a marathon between April and September. In South Florida, our marathon season ends very early. I saw the Nashville marathon in April and the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinatti in May. But they are too close in date and my training doesn't have been close enough to marathon level. So, I'll save the $$$$ and stay home.

And the last marathon I have planned for (at least right now!) is the 2010 Disney Marathon. When I went online, I was intending on registering for the Goofy Challenge; which is a 1/2 marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday. But, the website said the registration was closed. I was bummed, but I went ahead and registered for the marathon on January 10th 2010!!! Last night I was web surfing and saw that the Goofy Challenge has "reopened". I have emailed the race directors to see if I can "upgrade" to the Goofy Challenge. But, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

This Saturday I have a 10K race; the Merrily Lynch Bull Run. My son will be running the 5k and most surprisingly, my daughter will be volunteering for service hours (and that's the only way I'll get her up that early in the morning!!!

I have several more 5ks and 10ks to run this year; and I'm psyched about them because they are forcing me to work on my speed; versus my endurance.

And that's all for this week!
Dani

2009-03-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the Riverwalk Run. The final race in the 3 For the Road Series. I ran the 5 miler and Ryan ran the 5k. About 15 minutes before the start of the 5-mile race, it started raining. Not too heavy, but just enough to make it cold. Luckily, as quickly as it started, it quickly ended.

The 5-miler started at 7am; the 5k started 15 minutes later. The race started at Huizinga Park at the corner of Las Olas Blvd and Andrews. We ran over the SE 3rd Street bridge, over the tunnel and into the Rio Vista neighborhoods. It was a beautiful run, past lots of gorgeous homes.

Ryan finished his 5k in 25:07 (8:05 pace). Several other St. Jerome students, and fellow SJS track team members, also ran the 5k. For their age groups, Jake came in 5th, Ryan and Sean came in 4th, Juliana came in 3rd, Isabella came in 2nd (25:06), and both Christina (22:16) and York (23:04) came in 1st place! And of course, their Coach Burke came in 1st place overall for the Grand Masters. It was another great running day for St. Jerome!

As for me, going into the race, I new I was just over 1 minute behind 3rd place for my age group for the 3 For the Road Series. To get to 3rd place would mean I would have to run a 8:30 pace for the entire 5 miles; that would be a bit of a stretch for me. But, I still was going to try to do it! It was a good run/race. I felt good; I was able to keep a steady pace and the 5 miles went by relatively quickly! I finished in 45:04, right around a 9:01 pace. Not the 8:30 I needed, but a pace that I was very happy with. For the race, I finished in 16th place out of 50 women for the 40-44 year age group.

And in the 3 For the Road Series, I ended up in 4th place. But, I definitely made up some time and only missed 3rd place by 28 seconds.

1 Lori Battaglia 44 F 26:09 35:29 42:57 1:44:35
2 Debby Rivera 44 F 25:38 34:40 44:17 1:44:35
3 Jen Sundook 40 F 26:55 35:11 45:43 1:47:49
4 Danielle Dorsett 42 F 27:11 36:02 45:04 1:48:17

that's all for now!

dani

2009-03-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

Just a quick mid-week post!!!!
On the left, is the medal that Ryan won for placing 2nd in his age group at the St. Paddy's 4-miler race last weekend.

Below is Ryan at his karate exam. He was testing for his yellow belt.

And here's a vido of Ryan and Nakita performing their white belt "Appreciation Form".

St. Paddy 4-Miler

2009-03-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was the 2nd race in the "Three For the Road" series of races; it was the St. Paddy's 4-miler. The race was held at Tradewinds Park and it was an out and back route taking us past the (smelly) horse stables.

Ryan had decided to run the race with me. And, 4 other students from St. Jerome ran the race, as well as their track coach. Coach Burke started out at the front of the crowd; me and the kids hung out towards the back. When the race started, we all spent some time weaving through the walkers and the slower runners. Then all 5 kids took off. The 2 fastest quickly ran out of my line of sight; but I was able to keep an eye on the other 3.

The kids did great! All 5 were in different age/sex groups. The 3 boys (including Ryan!) all placed 2nd in their respective age group. The 2 girls came in 1st for their age groups. And their coach finished 1st overall for the Grand Master age group. I was the only one to not medal in my age group. But I'm okay with that. I finished with a time of 35:45, coming in 16th out of 34 women in the 40-44 age group; which is the largest age group. I was in the top 50%; that's good enough for me!!!

But the best "news" for me was my standings in the "Three for the Road Series". After the 1st race, I was in 7th place for my age group. Now after 2 races of the series, I'm in 4th place for my age group. The final race is this Saturday and it's a 5 mile race so I should do well. I'm less than 1 minute out of 3rd place. So, my goal for Saturday's race is to finish in 43:30 which is a pace just under 8:45 minutes per mile.

Till next week, run long!

Dani

"blonderx"

2009-03-01T13:51:00.001-08:00

Saturday was a great running day! It started with the "5K for a Better Day" race. This is the 1st in a series of 3 races known as "3 For the Road". The race started at Broward General Hospital, went north to the New River and then east along the river for about 1/2 a mile. Then we headed back south to the hospital for the finish line.

The temperature very comfortable (low 70's) with little, if any breeze. I hadn't run at all since the marathon the prior Sunday so I was ready to put in some effort, but I haven't really done any kind of speed work so I wasn't too sure how the race would go. Anyways, I set a quasi-goal of 27:45; right around a 9:15 per mile pace.

I did very well in keeping a relatively steady pace, and tried to not keep looking at my watch. I was able to finish with a nice sprint at the end and finished in 27: 11. I finished 138th out of 393 overall and 7th out of 30 for my age group. Pretty cool!!!

This is a picture of the "medals" they gave away for the race. Very tropical!

There are 2 more races in the "3 For the Road" series. The 2nd race is the St. Paddy 4 miler and it's on March 14th. The final event is the Riverwalk 5 miler. The series combines the times for all 3 races and everyone who completes all 3 events gets a medal and some really cool stuff.

As quickly as I crossed the finish line for my 5k, I had to hurry up and get to St. Thomas Aquinas High School for the ABCC Track Meet. Ryan is on the St. Jerome track team this year and was competing in the mile event. Last year, Lauren participated and it was a long, hot day. This year was much better. First of all, one of the parents brought a tent/canopy thing. Plus everyone brought drinks and food. So between the events we were comfortable and it was a nice day hanging out with the kids and other parents.

But, the best part of the day was seeing how well all the kids at St. Jerome did. Ryan came in 11th out of 23 for the mile, finishing with a time of 6:58!!! I was so proud of him!!!

The school as a whole did awesome! They took won 1st place for the girl's mile, 800m, 100m, and 200m. The relay teams did very well. The school placed in many events, both in track and field. The girls came in 2nd place overall and the boys took 6th place. It was a fantastic event!! I can't wait for next year!!!

They sent out the pics from the A1A marathon. Because there were so few marathoners, they took lots of pictures of me towards the end of the race. Unfortunately, I was only somewhat smiling in 1 of them!

That's all for now folks!!

Dani :)

2009-02-22T18:50:00.000-08:00

I took a brief hiatus from blogging, but it's good to be back......

Today, I ran the Ft. Lauderdale A1A marathon; finishing in 5:02:08. I ran 18 miles with the 4:45 pace group, but the heat really slowed me down the last 8 miles. The race started in the mid-60’s, but towards the end, it was in the upper 70’s/low 80’s. UGH!!! And, I did a major no-no; I wore a new shirt. It chafed so bad, I have 2 big red, very painful circles under my arms. The medal is really cool; the front looks like a sea shell. The back has a street sign saying A1A and Las Olas, but it didn’t photograph well.

Here is where I hang my medals. On the very left is the medal for the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon. To the right is the A1A marathon medal. The 2 medals on the right are the Miami ING 1/2 marathon medals for 2007 and 2008.

My New York Medal is in it's own shadow box. The background "Dedication" is cut out from the thermal blanket they gave us as we crossed he finish line.

08 Victory List and 09 Goals

2009-01-01T11:14:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!!! Ah, the traditions of New Years Day. The pork roast and College Football bowl games. And now I am sitting down to reflect on my victories of 2008 and set my goals for 2009.

As we say in karate, "Goals we set are goals we get". Well, for 2008, I set some very lofty goals. And, I achieved all that I set out to, and then some!

(1) Half-marathon: I finished my half-marathon 15 minutes faster than my goal time.

(2) Career: I made the move to another company; the people and position are great!!!

(3) Full marathon: I ran the San Diego Rock & Roll marathon with my sister

(4) Another full marathon: I was lucky enough to win the "lottery" and got into the New York City marathon, setting a 44 minute PR

(5) Karate: I'm now a 2nd degree black belt.

(6) Quit Smoking: The goal that I am most proud of accomplishing is quitting smoking. I was able to end a 25 year relationship with the Marlboro man.

So what's next? How do I top all that?

Running:

I think I'll try to do 1-2 marathons a year; but my quest will be for quality, not quantity. I'll definitely going to try to get into New York again. And again, and again, and again! But other than New York, I'm going to pick marathons that help to justify travel to a new place; such as Dublin, Maui, Marine Corps, London , Disney and Antartica (my son wants to join me for that trip!). My time goal is to run under 4:30; that's a 27 minute improvement or 1 minute per mile, which is very attainable.

So far I've already signed up again for the Miami ING half-marathon. My time goal will be 2:05. Last year, 4 of us from karate ran it. This year, I think there's about 12 of us running. It should be fun!. And in February, I'm going to run the Ft. Lauderdale A1A marathon. This is a nice flat marathon so I'm going to set a goal of 4:37, which would be a 20 minute PR over New York.

Karate:

I have to wait 3 years before I will be eligible to test for my 3rd degree. So I have some time to just enjoy class and hone my skills. The dojo focused on MMA in '08 (Mixed Martial Arts). I'm not a big MMA fan; I enjoy watching the fights on TV, but I'm not a big jiu jitsu fan. I'm not sure what the dojo is going to focus on this year, but I'm going to work on my weapons skills, chucks and kamas.

Personal: Since I'm not in training for karate, I should have some "extra" time. I'm hoping to use that to develop my web site and put my business plan into action. But more on that to come in future blogs!

Good night!

Dani

It's Great To Be A Florida Gator!!!!!

2008-12-13T13:59:00.001-08:00

So while I was performing my American Bo Form, doing my creative kumite and getting my 2nd Degree Black Belt last Saturday, something even more SPECTACULAR was happening. My Gator team, ranked #2 in the AP poll, were playing the 1st ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game at the Georgia Dome.

For some reason, I had thought it was an 8pm game. So I figured that right after the Karate Spectacular show, I'd go home and watch the game. But during the pre-show practice, one of my instructors, who happens to be a big Miami Hurricanes fan, came up to me and gave me a score update. Holy crap!! Our biggest game of the year, the game that would either send us to the BCS Championship Bowl or to a lesser Bowl, and I was missing it! AAAAGHHHHHH!

I got the score at half-time, which was right before our show started and the Gators were ahead by 3 points. But still, we were playing Alabama. There was 2 more quarters of football to play and anything could happen. I take nothing for granted in Gator football!

The Spectacular started and it was so busy that I barely had time to think about the Gators. When our show ended, my instructor came up to me and put the icing on my 2nd degree "cake"; the Gators had WON!!!

Sunday night they announced the bowl selections and it was confirmed; the #2 UF Gators will play the #1 Oklahoma Sooners in the BCS Championship Bowl here in Miami!!!!! It's kind of ironic; about 3 or 4 years ago I got the opportunity to go to the Orange Bowl here in Miami. It was USC (Southern Cal, not South Carolina for my SEC friends!!!) versus Oklahoma. I was routing for Oklahoma; but they lost.

To make things even better, this week they announced the final 3 candidates for the Heisman trophy. Tim Tebow was selected as one of the 3 candidates. And they will be selecting the winner at 8 pm tonight. While I would love for Tebow to win (he's an awesome person as well as a great Gator!), he has some tough competition. I have a feeling Colt McCoy from Texas will get the award. But, we'll have to wait and see....I'm hoping to be surprised!

So now starts the countdown to January 8th; 26 days!!!

Go Gators

dani

A Spectacular Spectacular!!!

2008-12-07T09:06:00.001-08:00

I am now a 2nd degree Black Belt!!! Woo Hoo!!!

Saturday morning, the 2nd degree team met at the dojo for some last minute renshu (practice). We ran through the All Star Graduate routine and the NTC routine. We finished with the bo routine. We were all in good spirits and a bit nervous.

I came home and relaxed for a bit. I packed some food for the practice since we had to be there at 2pm and the performance doesn't start till 6:30. I got ready and put on my new 2nd degree gi pants (sweet!) and karate t-shirt. Then I put on my 1st degreee black belt for the last time!

Around 1pm, it was time to leave the house. RJ was with the neighor. He'd come to the spectacular with them. So that was one child taken care of. Next I dropped the girlie off at her friend's house. I reminded her what time she had to be dropped off (6pm), that I would be giving her the camera before the show, and how important this event was to me. She appeared to understand what I had said (this will become important later).

Now, with both kids taken care of, it was time to drop off tickets at my mom's house. As I was about 2 minutes away from her house, I realized I had left my gi top on my desk. Ugh!!!! I had to turn around and go back home to get it. Figures......

Having to go back home meant I wouldn't have time to drop off the tickets. I called my mom but kept getting a fax buzzing sound. So I called the girlie and tasked her with letting my mom know I'd meet her out front right before the show to give her the tickets. I hurried to Parker Playhouse and got there right on time, a bit frazzled, but on time!

I brought all my stuff inside and immediately we started with the run throughs. I think we did 3 or 4 complete run throughs and I kept improving with each one. We had a last minute "pep talk" from Kyoshi and Ma'am then we went to get our team t-shirts. Normally we get them the week before so that we can wear them at the practice. And, on the backs of the shirts everyones name is printed. But not this time. It was a "generic" shirt; very disappointing.

But, no time to dwell on anything "negative". I hung out with all the ladies and the time went by quickly, but not as quickly as it had when I tested for my 1st degree. Experience definitely has its plusses! There was a dressing room for the adult ladies and we all squeezed in and did our pre-performance primping. Alex had brought the glitter spray and we all got "sparkled".

We ate a bit, chatted and put on our gi tops. And then they announced the front doors were opening. It was 6pm. So I went to the front doors to look for my family. I waited. I waited some more. And kept waiting. Finally, RJ showed up with the neighbors. And then my mom & stepdad Mel showed up. I gave them the tickets. But the girlie still hadn't showed up. So I called her and asked where she was. She said she was just leaving the movies.

Needless to say I was upset, and disappointed. But not surprised; very typical for a 13 year old girl. But again, I had to get rid of any negative thoughts. I needed to be calm and relaxed to perform. So I gave the camera to RJ and I went backstage. Within minutes, they gave the 5 minute warning and we all quickly gathered backstage.

The show started on time. After the singing of the National Anthem, the XMA teams opened with a glow show. They had the black lights on and put flourescent strips on the weapons so it looked really cool when they spinned the bos, chucks and kamas. After the glow show they did the graduate intros. It started with all the juniors. Next was the adult 1st degrees. And then finally, the 2nd and 3rd degrees!!

There was 6 2nd degrees "All Stars"; 3 juniors (Niki, Brock and Johnny) and 3 adults (me, Melanie, Lori). And there was one 3rd degree "Top Gun", Morgan. We each had our name announced, then we did a short hand/kick blip into a running kick, circle set and bow. Then we went to our positions for a modified XMA Form 3. I was slow on the 1st move (DOH!!!!) but then made up for it on the rest of the kata! And in a flash, it was over.

The next 7 or so routines were demonstrations of XMA, muay thai, self-defense, kenpo, etc. And then it was time for the All Star/Top Gun American Bo form routine. We walked out to the music of Guns N' Roses, Welcome to the Jungle. It was really cool!! Towards the end of the routine, Master Chris stepped in and did a really AWESOME solo performance, and then we all finished the form.

We had our last performance 3 routines later. It was the Team NTC routine. NTC is National Training Center which is the Ft. Lauderdale dojo (there are 5 dojos here in Florida and 7 in New York). It was all the 1st and 2nd degrees, the 3rd degree and the instructors. It started with cross-through kicking by the instructors. Then Morgan did his creative kumite. The 2nd degrees went after Morgan.

The NTC 2nd degrees are me, Mel, Niki and Brock. We started with all 4 of us doing the beginning of short 3 kata and then some blocks and kicks. Then Niki and Brock did some moves together then each did their own personal creative "blips". They moved to the side and Mel and I did some blocks and kicks together. Next it was time for my creative "blip". I started with some kenpo hand moves, front kick, jump front kick, and a kartwheel into kenpo 5-sword move, finishing with a left round kick, spinning right hook. Mel did her personal blip, ending in the middle of the stage. Niki, Brock and I were on the side of the stage and did forward rolls to "line up" with Mel. The 4 of us finished in a straight line and did staggered blocks into a left crescent kick. It ROCKED!!!

And that was it for our performances. There were a few more demonstration routines, MMA, ladies self-defense, etc. And then it was time for the presentation of the belts. We lined up and our names were called. We walked out on stage and Kyoshi presented us with our new belt. When everyone had gotten their belts and was seated on stage, we took off the old belt and wiped sweat from our brow onto the old belt. I've had my 1st degree belt for 4 years; it's a bit faded, but it's soft and flexible. I've become somewhat attached to it! But I'll quickly get over that!!!

We were next instructed to take the new belt and wipe sweat from our brow onto the new belt. And then the moment we all had worked so hard for; time to put on the new belt. The new belt was very stiff and a nice dark black color! The new belt, like my old one has my name printed on one end. The only difference is on the "other end" of the belt, there is now 2 red stripes to indicate 2nd degree (the 1st degree belt didn't have any stripes).

After we all got our belts it was time for Kyoshi get his new belt. Several Grand Masters were there to award Kyoshi his 8th degree. They "charged" his belt with spirit (pretty cool) and gave him his belt and certificate.

We finished the Black Belt Spectacular by bowing out with our creed:

As a dedicated student of the Martial Arts, I will live by the principles of Black Belt...Modesty, Courtesy, Integrity, Self-Control, Perseverence, and Indominable Spirit. What's our goal? Black Belt Excellence!

After the show everyonec went up front to meet their families. There were so many people and tons of engery. Everyone was congratulating and hugging all the candidates. I saw Ryan first, then my Mom and Mel and finally the girlie and her friend.

And now I get to enjoy the moment!!! My black belt, embroidered with my name and 2 red stripes is as meaningful as an Academy Award or a Pulitzer Prize. And although enjoying the moment is nice, it was truly the journey to 2nd degree that is to be remembered. It was a long journey, it was a memorable journey, and it has been a journey full of accomplishments.

When I set my goal for 2nd degree, I knew there would be challenges I had to overcome. The biggest challenge would be my run time. I have always enjoyed running and I even placed in a number of races many years ago. But during my 1st degree black belt cycle, I had a hard time making my run times of 2 miles in 16 minutes. My love for running turned into dread and avoidance. And I knew the only way I would be able to make my run times was to quit smoking. Smoking had been part of my life for 25 years. My younger sister and a certain Rock N' Roll marathon in San Diego were added motivators to quit.

And I did it. On February 2nd, I quit smoking and I haven't had one since that day. It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it. Karate was the "end" goal, running was the means to get me there and quitting smoking was the catalyst to get everything going!

And boy did it get going. I finished that San Diego marathon. And then I ran the most amazing marathon ever, the New York City Marathon. What an experience!!! I made a lot of new friends; people who enjoy challenging themselves and who appreciate the dedication it takes. I've logged 883 miles this year, run through 3 pairs of shoes, dealt with heel spurs or bursitis in my heels, read every issue of Runner's World and spent more hours on my training log than is "healthy".

And, I'd do it all over in a heartbeat!!!

Thanks for traveling with me during my journey.......

Dani...blonderx

Giving Thanks

2008-11-30T12:11:00.001-08:00

Things I'm Thankful For...

Mmmmmmm, turkey!

Kids old enough so I can use the good china!!

Family....

Sister, almost brother-in-law and their good friend

That I'm one of the 7 - 2nd degrees!!!!!

6 days till the spectacular and counting down.

I'll be doing 3 performances.

1) NTC Team routine: me, mel, brock, and niki do a 2nd degree creative kumite

2) All Star/Top Gun performance: the 4 2nd degrees from NTC, along with 2 from LHP and Morgan will perform a modified XMA Form 3 routine

3) American Bo Form (performed to the music of Guns -n Roses Welcome to the Jungle; it's going to ROCK!!!)

And finally, that I'm finally caught up with my blogging :/

Power Week

2008-11-30T05:52:00.001-08:00

The flight home after the New York Marathon was uneventful. But, on the bus to the long-term parking there was another Gator who had also run in NY. We started chatting and it turns out I had read about him (Josh) in the Gator Alumni magazine. He had founded Miami Feet, a running club, and also Medal Memories, which are boxes to store and display your running medals. Pretty cool!

I got home around 3:30. My legs were feeling okay. There was a tiny bit of soreness if I stayed still. So, I kept moving around because I had to go to karate that night. Yes, one day after running a marathon, I was back at karate. No down time for me! And why was I punishing myself like this? Well, this was "Power Week".

Power Week is the actual exam for my 2nd degree black belt. Friday night would test our drills, katas and weapons. Saturday was self-defense and sparring. That meant I had 4 days to get in my classes, my SWATs, my runs (yes, I had to get in runs for karate!), plus get ready for the testing!

The week went by in a blur! And all of a sudden, it's Friday night. It's Showtime!! The testing was very similar to our pre-checks #1 and #2. We started with a good warmup (more running!). We did some boxing and MMA drills. And then we went into katas. I was a bit nervous. I had a slight brain fart with Short 2 (purple belt kata) but I quickly got back into focus. I felt really good with bookset and XMA form 2.

Next it was on to weapons. We did XMA Chuck form 1. My performance was ok, but I think I could have been more "fierce"! But then, we had to do it again and I rocked it the 2nd time. After chucks, it was time for kamas. Lastly, the black belts performed American Bo Form. The group's timing and energy was awesome. And, I think it was my best bo performance ever!!!

The night finished off with board breaking. First was the high-reds (going for their 1st degree black belt). The juniors went first and then the adults. The high reds broke 1 board. Next, it was time for the black belts. We had to break 2 boards. The 1st board was a hand (palm) break. I felt good because when I went for my 1st degree, I broke it the 1st time. But I was thinking ahead to the kick board and didn't focus enough. My punch didn't break the board. Ouch. But, I wasn't the only one to "miss". And surprisingly, I didn't lose my cool for "failing". I re-focused and threw my right palm and the board split!.

For the 2nd board, we could choose the kick, side or front. I decided to throw the front. I was kind of nervous because on other exams, I had seen many people miss on their 1st kick. And, after missing my 1st board, I was determined to do the kick on the first try. So, deep breath in, focus my energy, tuck the right leg, extend the kick and my foot went through the board like butter! Wow!!!!

And then, exam #1 was over. I was halfway to becoming a 2nd degree. But the second half would be the hardest for me, sparring.

Saturday morning came quickly. We started exam #2 with our usual warmup. We did some drills and then went into self-defense. We started off in circles of about 8 people each. One person was in the center and then the others took turns and did an attack. Then, we lined up and performed. I was really happy. My "attacker" chose good attacks that I was able to do good finished on (eg. take downs, guillitines, etc.).

Then it was time to put on the sparring gear. I sparred with Denay from LHP, Patty from CC, and Alex and Jen from NTC. The sparring went quickly; I though we would have more rounds. But I'm not complaining!!! It was one of my better sparring days.

After sparring, it was time to put on the running clothes. For my 1st degree, we did a team 4-mile run. I was hoping for that! But today, we all went to the field by Florinada Elementary. We ran a few laps. And then it was time for some drills. Suicide runs; run and pass the medicine ball, sprints, bear crawls, and more. Then it was time for our push up pyramid (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5) with horse stance blocks in between each "set" of push-ups.

Power Week was over. We had passed our exam and were now black belts, and 2nd degrees, and one 3rd degree. We were cheering, taking group pictures, hugging each other. Now we start preparing for the "Black Belt Spectacular" on December 6th. The fun begins!!!

My NYC marathon race report (finally!!!)

2008-11-28T12:23:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm about 4 weeks late in posting my marathon race report. Sorry :(

We last left off November 2nd, very early on a Sunday morning........

Temperature is 41 degrees. It didn't feel too bad (but I was surrounded by buildings). I headed to the NY library to catch the bus. I had been assigned to the 4:30am bus, which was way too early for me considering I was in Wave #3. I had tried to change my assignment at the Expo but they couldn’t change it (since it was already printed on the bib). But, I was told that basically if I showed up later, they’d get me on a bus. The bus area was very organized and I was quickly whisked onto a bus at 5:45.

The ride to Staten Island was around 30-40 minutes. It took some time to get the bus unloaded; there were lots of buses!!! I walked to the staging area which is in a wide open field. Ow, it was freezing cold!!!! It wouldn’t have been so cold if it wasn’t as windy (well duh!!). Most people came with either blankets, Mylar blankets from previous marathons or the windbreakers that they sold at the expo that made the wearers look like astronauts.

I met up with a runner friend. We made a dash to the Dunkin Donut truck and grabbed a cup of coffee. Then it was back to the waiting area by the stage where at least the music was good.

I had to take a porta potty break and got stuck waiting in line for around 10 minutes. It was here that I remembered an item on the “marathon list” my sister gave me that I forgot to bring; a roll of toilet paper (and now I know why it is on the list!).

Then it was time to check in my bag and I had to make the final decisions on what I would carry and what I wouldn’t carry. I decided not to wear my hydration belt as the fluids on the course would be enough and there didn’t seem to be the worry that they would run out. I decided to bring my ipod, my camera, 3 goos, and 2 packets of salt. I found my UPS truck and took off my sweatpants and fleece jacket. I covered up in a rain poncho that was in the goody bag I got at the Expo. It was a bit chilly but if I kept moving and stayed in the sunlight, it wasn’t too bad. I made a final porta potty stop. This one had TP (yeah!) so I took an extra handful for later, just in case!

I walked over to the Blue E Corral. There was clothing everywhere! Remember, I was the 3rd wave. I chatted with a few people in the Corral; everyone was in a fun mood! We started the walk toward the starting line and as we approached, they were playing Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York which really put you into the mood!

And then we were off! We crossed the starting line at the Verrazano-Narrows bridge toll booth (luckily we didn’t have to pay the $10 toll!). And it was an uphill run in cold, windy conditions. But you almost didn’t realize that for 2 reasons. One, there were thousands of other runners blocking the wind; and, Two, the adrenaline helped to numb the cold.

On the VN bridge there were sections in the asphalt that were, for lack of a better term, pot hole laden. I was looking forward (as runners should) and didn’t see the hole and did a half-trip. As I caught myself, I thought that would really suck to be taken out of the race before you run even 1 mile!

The VN bridge is not extremely steep, it’s just very long. And over the entire bridge, there was a steady stream of discarded clothing. I looked to the left and with the clear skies got a nice view of the city. And next thing you know, I’m in Brooklyn.

The crowds were out there, cheering, holding signs, screaming “Welcome to Brooklyn”. They were all ages, young and old out there. For pretty much all of Brooklyn, I seemed to always be running by Italian runners. All I kept hearing was, “Go Italia”! And many people, especially those running for charitable causes, had their names on their shirts. So I would hear, Go Victor, Go Amanda, etc. I was wearing my Gator shirt, no name. Despite that, there are a few Gator fans in Brooklyn.

The first few miles passed by relatively quickly. And then all of a sudden at mile 7, my knee started hurting. Wow. I had really jinxed myself. Only a couple of hours earlier I was bragging how my training for the NY marathon I was knee pain-free. This couldn’t be happening. This really was so unexpected. During my 1st marathon, my knees hurt so badly that I had to walk miles 17-23 and my time sucked because of that. I wasn't going to have that happen again. So I kept running, and after a while, they still hurt, but it was at a level that I just got used to.

And the next thing you know, I’ve done 13.1 miles, YEAH!!!! The ½ way point is right at the beginning of the bridge that takes you into the borough of Queens. Again, there’s tons of crowd support. There’s less than 3 miles to run in Queens and as quickly as we enter the borough, it’s time to leave to the next borough, Manhatten. But in order to get there, I have to cross the “dreaded” Queensborough Bridge.

I had ridden through the bridge when I visited New York this past July. So I kind of knew what to expect, or so I thought. I have to remember that I rode through the bridge, I didn’t run it. You really don’t feel the incline in a car. Anyways, I started up the bridge running.

The bridge doesn’t have any spectators; which makes for a lonely stretch after hearing so many people up to that point. This is where you start to hear that voice inside your head. Up to this point, you might have had that inner voice saying “what the hell are you doing this for” and all the other doubting phrases that every runner hears at some point in a marathon, but the crowd noises are so loud in NY that you never heard it.

And very quickly my knees reminded me they were hurting, my quads gave me a quick shoutout, and I realized I needed a goo. And since I’m not that coordinated to run and eat goo at the same time, I decided the bridge would be a great place for a quick walk break.

As I was nearing the end of the bridge, I could start to hear the crowd noise start to pick up. The end of the bridge is rather steep and had a tight turn. You exit onto this road and see a lot of people and think WOW!. But then that road turns onto 1st Avenue and you are just blown away by the sheer volume of people. There are more people on the side of the road watching us runners than there are in a lot of cities in America.

I cannot describe the enormity, the intensity, or the roar of the crowd. You would almost think that this is an Olympic race for all these spectators to be so loud. And the signs! There were so many signs! You looked up 1st Avenue and saw miles and miles of runners and spectators. It was never ending.

I got to the 18 mile mark and though about the fact that my longest training run was 18 miles. My time for that run was 3:15; my time today was 3:14:47, so I was on track for my goal time. And only 8.1 more miles to go!

1st Avenue kept on going, up through Harlem. The crowds thin a bit, but they were still as vocal as any other spectators. By now my knees still hurt by my brain had “numbed” it out. My legs were starting to feel heavy. But, I was still running. I was determined to run the entire marathon. So I kept plodding along.

Time for bridge #4. They had put a carpet over the metal grates. We were greated with shouts of “Welcome to the Bronx”. And Japanese drummers. The run through the Bronx was the shortest. Almost as quickly as we were running in, it was time to run out and over the 5th Bridge, back into Manhatten for the last leg of the marathon.

Only approx 5 miles to go. 5 miles, no sweat. That was a short training run for me! But my pace was definitely slowing. I realized I wouldn't make my #3 goal. But, I WAS going to make goal #2, come hell or high water!

The last 4 miles were the longest 4 miles I have ever run!! I don’t think I “hit the wall”, but I was skirting it pretty good. When we were inside Central Park and running uphill I had to use every mantra I knew to keep my legs moving. “Pain is temporary, Pride Lasts a Lifetime”, You can do it, You can do Anything! I was just trying to keep my brain busy talking to itself so I wouldn’t remember how tired or sore I was.

When I made the turn onto Central Park South, I was so happy, I knew the end was near, really, it was! But for some reason, CPS was a lot longer than I remembered it was (did they lengthen the road?) Again, mind games! And then finally, it was time to make the turn back into Central Park for the final few yards. They have signs, 400 yards to go, then 300 yards to, and so on. I don’t know if that is good or bad. And then in a flash, I was crossing the finish line with my hands high above my head in victory.

After crossing the finish line we were “herded” into the medal line. The medal this year has 9-time NYC marathon winner Greta Wietz. Next we got our Mylar blankets which in San Diego seemed unnecessary, but it was definitely needed in NY. Next we were given a food bag with a nice selection of bottled water, bagel, apple and some other items. I don’t think I have ever enjoyed an apple as much as I did that day. And then it was a long, crowded crawl to the UPS trucks to get our bags. Luckily since I’m a “slower” runner and my race bib # was high (41425) my truck was relatively closer.

Walking by the UPS trucks, I saw lots of runners who had gotten their bags and were trying to put on their sweat pants and had trouble lifting their leg. One guy was having a really hard time and I walked over and asked if he needed help, he kind of grunted so I held his pants so he could pull his leg up. I didn’t think anything of it, I was just helping another runner. He said something to me (it was a foreign language I didn’t recognize) and had a strange expression. So I don’t know if he was thanking me or telling me to take a hike. I guess it was kind of weird. Oh well.

I got to my UPS truck and got my bag quickly. UPS is really great; they did an awesome job in San Diego and here in NY. I walked a bit to find a spot to set my bag down so that I too could put on my pants! It was here that I realized that I was shivering uncontrollably.

After I dressed and “warmed up”, I called my kids. They had received the Athlete Alert emails I signed them up for, so they knew my time when I called. I think they were pretty excited for me. I don’t remember much of the call, but I know I cut it short because I was so cold. I waited a bit more to “warm up” and then I called my dad and step mom. They were at the family meet-up area. So I exited at 77th Street and found them within minutes. Anne brought the beer I asked her to bring. What an angel!!!!!

We walked to my cousin’s apartment (which thank God was very close). She and her husband had also run the marathon. We had a nice dinner and I got to see family.

After dinner, it was back to the hotel. A warm shower, a glass of wine and I slept very well that night!

The next morning I got up early and headed to Central Park for the Marathon store. I got in line to get my medal engraved with my name and finishing time. I saw Marci and we chatted about our races. Then I picked up a t-shirt for me, the girlie and a jacket for RJ. Lastly, I got a copy of the New York Times. They print the names of all the runners who finish in 5 hours or less. Then it was back to the hotel, pack the bags, and head to the airport.

And like that, my adventure came to an end. But oh what an adventure it was!

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!!!

Goal #1 to finish the race

Goal #2 to finish in less than 5 hours

Goal #3 to finish in less than 4:30

I finished the marathon 4:57:13 (goal #1 and #2). And although I didn’t achieve goal my #3 goal, my time was a 44 minute PR over my prior marathon. Which, isn’t too shabby if I do say so myself!

Race Day

2008-11-02T02:14:00.001-08:00

So last night the Gators soundly defeated Georgia, 49 to 3. Go Gators!!!

And dinner with Dad and Anne was lovely. I had the pumpkin ravioli; yes at 1st that didn't sound that appetizing but they were soooooo goooooood! And after dinner and a glass of wine, it was time to try to go to sleep.

I put in a wake up call for 4am and 4:10am. I set the alarm clock. I set an alarm on my cell phone. Yep, cover all the bases. I put on the Texas vs. Texas Tech game; what a game!!! I woke up at 2am (which was actually 1am with the time change). I went back to sleep. I woke up at 2am (the "real" 2 am). And, I half-slept, half-woke until 4am.

The alarms rang, the phone rang and I got up. And now I'm dressed and ready to go to the library to catch the bus. And now the adrenaline is starting to release, my stomach is getting a few flutters and I starting to thin that I must be crazy to want to go run 26.2 miles in 40 degree weather with 39,000 other people I don't know. Yep, that's me. Crazy!!!!!

Wish me luck!!

Expo Day

2008-11-01T06:09:00.001-07:00

The NYC marathon expo was held at the Javitz Center which is a beautiful structure with tons of glass. The registration process was very organized; id check, bib and chip, then the T-shirt and goody bag. Then it was off to the booths.

At 11am I met up with other Phedip listeners; Chris, Mitch, Frank and Marci. We chatted for a while and took a few pictures (which they all promised to post since I didn't have my camera). It was nice to finally put faces behind the names!

I picked up a few items at the expo. I got my running tights, a long sleeve NYC marathon technical shirt, some goos and replacement bottles for my hydration belt. I was surprised at the size of the expo; I thought it would be bigger. The expos for the Miami ING 1/2 marathon and the San Diego RNR marathon were both bigger and had lots more exhibitors. Maybe the economic troubles have hit the running industry?!?!?!?

After the expo, Ann and I went to an electronics store. We got there at 2:05pm but the store closes at 2pm on Friday because of the Jewish sabbath. We then saw so many orthodox Jews walking down the streets; quite a sight!

Anne went home and I decided a power nap would be awesome; and it was!!! It got me energized to go out to dinner with Dad and Anne. We went to an Argentinian steakhouse by their place. It was yummy! On the subway ride home, half the riders were in costume and there were some really creative get ups! There was also a group of 5 or 6 "punks" starting trouble with someone dressed up as Alladin. You could feel the energy in the subway become very uncomfortable. But quickly enough, the subway ride ended. And once back "home" I hit the sack.

Saturday morning I went downstairs to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and saw "teams" of runners; Team Holland and Team Italia. Then I remembered that there was a "Friendship Run" for the international marathon entrants. The "race" was from the United Nations to Central Park. It went down 42nd Street so I got a great view.

Anne and I planned to meet at Union Square at 11:30. I got there a bit early and checked out the farmer's market. I had a glass of warm Pear Cider, which I've never even heard of before. It was great; nice and warm on a chilly morning. I saw 3 different colors of cauliflower and brussel sprouts attached to a stalk (I never knew that's how brussel sprouts grew!).

Anne arrived and we went to a few stores. Got the girlie a little something from her favorite store. We grabbed a bite to eat and dined outdoors. The weather was just perfect. And then it was time to head home to watch the Gator Game.

And that's where it's at right now; 1st quarter, score still 0-0.

GO GATORS!

The Big Apple, Here I Come!

2008-10-31T04:55:00.001-07:00

The day finally arrived to leave for New York! My flight was at 5pm so I figured I'd leave work at 3pm. And as usual, it was a crazy day with a long list of things that I JUST HAD TO GET DONE before I could leave. And next thing you knew, it was time to go.

The flight left 3o minutes late, but we were still "scheduled" to arrive on time. The flight was good; I watched Sportscenter and the beginning of the USF vs. Cinncinatti game. You gotta love Jet Blue's tv at every seat! As we made our approach we were put into a "holding pattern" for 15-20 minutes. It took another 15 minutes to get an open gate. We came into the new terminal at JFK. It definitely looks new, but it's very sterile and industrial looking; no character!

I got into the city and got situated close to 10pm. By then I was starving!!! So I went to a little Italian restaurant nearby and had a nice glass of wine and linguini with mushrooms and garlic; Yum Yum!!

Now it's Friday morning. I'm getting ready to go meet my stepmother and head to the Expo. At 11am, I'm going to meet up with 6 or 7 other Phedip runners at the Team Boomer exhibit.

I'm going to have to get some running tights at the expo. The temp last night was 37 degrees. Just a tad bit chilly for this Florida gal. Thankfully today it should be in the 50's and 60's. But Sunday's weather is expected to be in the 40's. Ugh!!! That's a little bit cooler than I was hoping for. And there's no way I'll be able to run in shorts. Yeah, I know I'll warm up once I start running. But I don't think that will be enough. And, I want this to be a pleasant experience; I don't want to only remember that I was freezing my butt off.

After the expo I'll probably do an early dinner with Dad and Anne. I want to get a good nights sleep tonight since I know I won't sleep well Saturday night.

That's all for now.......
Dani

1 Week Countdown.....

2008-10-26T19:51:00.001-07:00

The dream is starting to come true......the New York Marathon is next Sunday; 1 week away. I can hardly believe it! And now comes the hard part, counting down the final days till the marathon!!!

I've been watching the NY weather for several weeks. And it's ranged from the upper 40's to low 60's for the "lows"; their "highs" have been from the 50's to 60's. Considerably cooler than the temps I am used to in Florida. I'm starting to worry about what I should wear for the marathon. I'm always cold to begin with, so I'm thinking I should wear running tights or capris instead of shorts or my new running skirt. Or, maybe the skirt will be okay, but I'll wear a LS shirt. Aaaaah, so many decisions!(#*@*!@#*#)(!!@

For the week....

Karate: 3 classes, 4 SWAT classes; 4 days of extras =150 push-ups, 150 sit-ups, 50 lunges, 50 kicks off each leg (side, front, round, back)
Runs: 4 runs; total mileage 17+ miles

Fun Stuff.......

#1. The Gators beat Kentucky, resoundingly! But we only moved up from #10 to #8 in the BCS poll. Next Saturday we play Georgia. That should be a great game. I better be able to get the game up in NY!!!!

#2. Saturday night was the karate Halloween party. My costume went over very well! I was "Miss Hap", a beauty pagent contestant who has seen better days! Get it, a "mishap". I had the beauty pagent part down with a gown, tiara, tons of make up. The "mishap" part was a fake cast , a fake wound, wearing a foot boot (thanks to RJ's recent injury) and on a crutch (thanks to my torn calf injury). It was quite realistic! Several people freaked, thinking I had really gotten injured with only 2 weeks till black belt testing!!! I'm hoping someone who took pictures will send me a copy!!

The party was nice. It was great to go out for a "social" adult event. There was lots of food, a good turn out of people and good dancing tunes!!! There was even jello shots. I don't think I've had them since college!! Cool beans!!!

Well, it's 11:40pm and the Phillies just won game 4 of the World Series 10-2. It's not looking too good for the Rays. But, you never know.......

Yawn. Time for bed!!! Goodnight all!!!

Dani

2008-10-18T14:22:00.001-07:00

First things first.....no Gator football this weekend. I hate bye weeks.

Today was Pre-Check #2 for the December cycle Black Belt candidates. Pre-check #1 = forms and katas, Pre-check#2 = Bugo (sparring). We started class by running 4 laps of the dojo; trampoline high knees, side shuffles, backward running. Then we lined up and started stretching and worked our way into some ab work and boxing combo drills.

We then worked on our self-defense holds and grabs. We lined up with a partner; 1 person attacked the other person with 3 different Holds & Grabs and then we switched positions. We did this a second time, but with 5 holds and grabs each. Then it was time to perform. All the guys lined up on deck and performed their 5 holds and grabs then the ladies did the same thing.

I did much better with my H&G today than I did on Wednesday; I was "sharper". But on Wednesday I was able to tell my attackers which H&G I wanted so that I could pick the ones that were more "dramatic" and showed off my skills better. Today we were at the mercy of whatever H&G our partner chose. My partner (who is awesome!) chose H&G that were not my favorites, but that's the way the cookie crumbles!

After H&G, we put on our sparring gear, except for our headgear. We started out with light boxing moves and kicks for 2 rounds. Then, it was time to put on the headgear and to get into 3 person safety zones. Ma'am assigned me with Sensei Stephanie and Alex.

My 1st round was with Sensei. Now she could easily kick my a## because she is so talented/strong/skilled/you name it, she's it. But she's also a great partner and works with you. Overall, I was ok with my sparring against Sensei Steph; not great, but not bad. I took a number of kicks and punches from Sensei, but I was able to get in a few front kicks and punches of my own! After our round, Steph sparred with Alex and I got a short break. Then it was my turn to spar with Alex (high-red belt). Alex is considerably taller than me but I was able to get inside and throw some punches and kicks.

Then it was time to switch zones. And the zone from here on our were 2 person zones (which means no breaks!). Ma'am assigned me to spar with Ms. Melissa. Yes, Ms. Melissa who just competed in her 1st Muay Thai competition and kicked butt!!! Melissa had the height (and skill) advantage. She is an awesome partner. She could have easily powered against me, instead she worked with me. So, I did ok; not great, but not bad.

Next was Jennifer, the 3rd degree dynamo! The ONLY thing I had against Jen was a height advantage which I can take advantage of by throwing my jabs or front kicks. Jen tends to throw a lot of round kicks. For the most part, I will "take" the kick because blocking it takes away most of the force. I can then come in with a straight line counter.

After Jen, I sparred Olivia. She and I are about the same size. The last time I sparred Olivia, I did very well, keeping up against her. But today I was starting to get tired. I had sparred continuously against Alex, Melissa, Jen and now Olivia, without a break! I tried my best to concentrate on not letting my fatigue cause me to get sloppy with my skills.

After Olivia, I sparred Lori, a 1st degree from LHP. She had some good front kicks and she was really good throwing her jab over and over and over! . Finally......Ma'am had the candidates line up and Mel and I got to spar. I really don't remember too much of the round; I was so pooped by then. I just wanted the round to end. And it did. And I was done, yeah!!!!!

Several months ago I would have been so intimidated to have to spar Sensei Steph, Ms. Melissa, Melanie, and Jennifer. In my journey to 2nd degree, my bugo skills have improved, although there's still plenty of room for improvement! But, the area that I feel I've had the greatest improvement is in my confidence in sparring. I'm no longer "scared" to spar certain people. I don't "shell up" like I used to.

Morgan, who is going for his 3rd degree black belt, had to spar one last round. He had 3 opponents, each opponent got 1 minute against him. First it was Picasso who has awesome speed and kicks. Then it was Christian who kept throwing punches after punches. And finally, it was Gavin who is skilled beyond belief. Each of the opponents had gotten a "break" waiting for their turn. Morgan had to spar continuously. You could see the fatigue set in (and I'm sure that's what he was being tested for) and yet he was able to throw kicks and punches. Impressive!

Kyoshi ended class talking about managing emotions and then sent us off to get ready to run our timed 2 mile run.

So I had made it through the bugo part, whew! Now, all I had to do was run 2 miles and Black Belt Pre-Test #2 would be done! The weather was cooperating; it was in the low 80's with low humidity. Everything was great. Except for my right heel.

I have bursitis in my right heel. It's inflamed because of my running. So the only treatment choices are to stop running (not an option) or take anti-inflammatory medication. So I've been taking daily doses of Aleve. For many weeks. Last week, I think it was a combination of the pain wasn't noticeable (because the Aleve was working) and I was so busy that I forgot to take the Aleve (I'm a very forgetful medication taker). Well, today at the end of class, the pain reared it's ugly head.

But I had to run. For the first 2 laps, the pain was uncomfortable. The discomfort caused me to shift my weight to the left foot which shortened my stride and slowed my pace. But by lap 3, the stiffness worked itself out or my pain threshhold increased. Either way, I ended up finishing the 2 miles in 15:44, which is the exact same time I ran last week. I'm very consistent!!

And now I've completed Black Belt Pre-Check #1 and #2. I should get feedback this week from Ma'am about my Pre-Check #2 performance. And with luck, I will be a candidate for Power Week (which is the actual black belt "final exam") which starts right after I run my marathon............

And now to end a busy day.....good night
Dani

2008-10-15T18:29:00.001-07:00

I was finally able to log my time from Sunday's WWFoR Half Marathon; here's my finisher's certificate!

Karate: Getting ready for Saturday. It's Black Belt Pre-Check #2; sparring.....

Monday
Class @ 8:30. Demo practice night. We started off in dojo 1 and did a "normal" warm-up, then into the demo practice. Morgan, Mel and I worked on our creative kumite. We added a jump front kick into the kata and a crescent kick at the end. That was the added "flair" the kata needed.

Tuesday
Class @ 7:30; SWAT @ 8:30. Class was good. Mel and I did our "extras" after class. This week the "extras" have been increased to 150 push-ups and 150 sit-ups. No problem!

Wednesday: Exam Demo
Mel, Morgan and I performed a creative kumite. Mel and I did the same moves and Morgan did his "flair" in between the 2 of us. It was a short but dynamic kata. The 3 of us also demo'ed holds-n-grabs. We each had 3 attackers and they each did 2 grabs. My 6 were: (1) rear, arms free; (2) side-shoulder grab; (3) front choke; (4) double wrist grab; (5) double lapel; and (6) side-headlock. I finished them all with leg take downs, schlocks or guillitoines (sp?).

The December candidates had to stay on deck during testing so demonstration and performance. We did kicking drills and MMA drills. Then we went on to weapons. Mel and I performed American Bo Form and we had our best performance ever; our timing was so perfect together.

Ryan decided to come to the exan demo with me. He got a few frames of video on the camera. The quality isn't great. He got everything on "video" except for our Bo routine; oh well.

Enjoy!

Dani

Race Reports

2008-10-12T08:21:00.001-07:00

This morning I ran 2 races. I ran the A1A Marathon Training Run 30K, AND, at the same time, the Phedipidations World Wide Festival of Races 1/2 Marathon.

The WWFoR 1/2 Marathon was a "virtual" race; it's motto was Think Global, Run Local. There were over 1,100 runners from over 41 countries participating. Runners could run a "real" race or just run the distance. It worked out well for me that I already had a scheduled 18-mile "race". I ran the 1/2 marathon in 2:08:47; which is a PR for me!

The "real" race today was the The A1A Training Run. The "race" was sponsored by my running club and was targeted to runners who will be running the A1A marathon (which isn't until February). The "race" had 2 distances, 15K and 30K. I did the 30K (18.6) miles since I needed the long run for my NYC marathon training.

We started in Deerfield Beach, just north of the pier and JB's. There was probably around 200+ runners?!?! We ran north on A1A; through Deerfield Beach, into Boca Raton and then on into Highland Beach. At 9.3 miles we turned around and ran back. It was a scenic run; beach views and expensive residences. Everytime I go through that stretch of A1A and see all the beautiful houses, I really wish I had been an architect instead of a pharmacist........ oh well.....I can still dream!!!

It was a great run. Because it was held as a "race" there were water/gaterade/goo stations. This meant I didn't have to wear my hydration belt, which shaved 2 pounds off my hips! 2 pounds doesn't sound like much, but over many miles, you notice it.

The weather was good. Temps were in the low- to mid-80's. But luckily, it was a bit overcast, keeping the sun behind the clouds which made a huge difference. The last 2 miles it started to rain which was a nice cool down.

The miles went by well. My heels, feet and knees felt good; just a bit of soreness and discomfort which is to be expected with the distance and my age!!! But my "legs" (muscles) were sorer than usual, which was odd because I ran fewer miles this week and we really didn't do any extreme leg work at karate. I think all my mileage is just starting to add up. It's 3 weeks out till the marathon so my body will really appreciate the taper.

Breaking News......The Gators moved up in the rankings; we're #5!!

Dani

Sports Injury.....

2008-10-10T15:28:00.001-07:00

Yes, that's RJ in a pink cast! He got hurt during his basketball game last week. Then he extra-injured it during a soccer game. The diagnosis is a fracture of the growth plate in his ankle. He gets 4 weeks in the cast and that will put an end to his basketball season.

Monday

Running: Rest Day :)

Karate: SWAT @ 7:00 and 7:45; Class @ 8:30; tonight was Demo practice. Morgan, Mel and me were assigned to perform a creative kumite. We came up with a beginning; some hand combos, a bunch of kicks, some cool hand movements from Mastik.....but we still need to come up with a "flashy" finish.

Tuesday

Running: 8.35 miles in 1:19:48
Karate: Rest Day!

Wednesday

Running: Rest Day :)
Karate: Class @ 8:30. Since it is "Spotlight" week, there is no Bugo (sparring). We did a lot of ground workouts; how to defend when you are on the ground. Check their legs, offensive forward kicks, technical lifts. A lot of work on the abs!!!

Thursday

Running: 4.06 miles in 38:06
Karate: SWAT @ 8:30, Class at 7:30. Tonight's class was pretty much a repeat of Wednesday nights class. But that's ok because it was a great ab workout.

Friday

Running: 3.04 miles in 28:43
Karate: Rest Day! I almost always go to Friday night class. But I had the kids and I knew they would put up a stink about having to sit through karate. Plus, I really had a bunch of work stuff that I needed to catch up on. So, I took the night off from karate. The kids had friends over, and despite that, I was able to knock off a bunch of stuff from my "to do" list.

Saturday

Karate: Candidate Class @ 8:30

Todays candidate class was a pre-bugo check. Next Saturday's class is Black Belt Pre-Check #2 and will focus on sparring. So today was a "test run". I was pretty psyched; I got up early and ate a good breakfast, got to class early to have time to stretch. Everything was going well. We ran a few laps to start class, stopping at every XXL bag for round kicks and then doing a pretty standard warm up. Then it was time to get into full sparring gear.

Ma'am assigned everyone to 3-person zones. I was put with Terri and Shirley who are both high red belts. I wondered why I hadn't been put with other black belts but I figured when we switched partners that would change. So round 1 was just boxing skills. After that, we didn't switch zones (Hmmmm); instead, we sparred round 2 using just kicking skills.
After round 2, Ma'am had everyone line up. She said she was calling the December candidates; she started with the 2nd degrees (Morgan), then she called the 1st degree black belts (Mel, and the 2 junior 1st degrees) and finished with the high red belts. But wait, why didn't she call my name with the 1st degrees? Am I not on track for December???

I don't even remember watching the bout. My mind was going 100mph; I was upset, I was confused. Am I not on track for December? I've done everything that's been assigned, I've made my run times since day 1; I've done the demos; I doing my SWATS, what could be the problem? Or, was I just fogotten again? I was pissed; I was upset; I was confused. All these thoughts are not very good in light of this week's Black Belt Message ("Black Belts control Their Emotions").

Round 2 of the "spotlight" bugos came and I did get called. Olivia was assigned to spar with me. She definitely had the height advantage on me, but I was able to get in a good number of kicks against her. After bout #2, class ended and it was time for the timed 2 mile run.

Running: 2 mile tmed run in 15:44.

After class, I went to change into my running clothes. I was still upset about being "overlooked" and for a moment, I actually thought about just getting my stuff and going home. But, I knew that wouldn't "fix" anything. So, I changed, puffed on my inhaler, gulped down a goo packet and went outside to get the run over with.

Today was the last day for candidates to make their run time. I had already made my time, but Mel needed to do it today. The run started and I had my headphones in both ears listening to the Black Eyed Peas "Pump It". After I finished lap 1, I realized I was ahead of Mel by 100 or so yards.

It was at this point that I snapped out of my "sucks to be me" funk. Mel needed to make her time and I could help her. So I slowed down and stayed with her for the next 3 laps. I screamed, I shoulted, I pushed, and we finished at 15:44. I was so happy that she did it!!! And Mel was so thankful; but it was all her doing, she had it in her all the time.

After the run we walked over to Vince so that he could write down our times for Ma'am. And sure enough, my name wasn't even on the list. Needless to say, at that point, I pretty much lost it. I've busted my ass for how many months and I'm not even on the list!! WTF??? Thank God Mel was right next to me. She calmed me down. Well, enough of the karate drama..................

So Saturday started pretty crappy. But, it is ending on a Great Note!!! The 11th ranked Gators are right now leading the 4th ranked LSU Tigers 42 to 14. Woohoo! It's Great To Be A Florida Gator!!!

And now, it's time for bed. I have an 18 miler to run tomorrow morning!

4 Weeks Till NYC!!

2008-10-01T15:39:00.001-07:00

It was way too fresh to talk about on my last blog post, but I think I can finally open up about it now. Yes. My Gators lost. To Ole Miss..........By 1 point.....It was a painful fall all the way to #12.

But, there's always another game. And sure enough, the Gators won this weeks game against Arkansas, 38 to 7. A little bit of redemption and feel-goodness after Ole Miss. But unfortunately, Tebow's record of no interceptions in over 160+ passes came to an end; what a bummer. Next Saturday we face LSU and that's going to be a tough one. But at least it is a home game; the Swamp isn't friendly to Tigers!

29 days till the NYC marathon....4 weeks....man, the days are just flying by!!! This year's NYC marathon will have a wave start. The wave assignments are based on your prior marathon times. Since I am not a "fast" runner, I will be in wave 3 (the last one!) which has a start time of 10:20.

Monday
Running: 5.02 miles, 48:52
Karate: Class at 8:30; SWAT @ 7:00 and 7:45

Tuesday
Running: Rest Day! Whew!

Karate: Class @ 7:30; SWAT @ 8:30; Ma'am & Mr. Daniel worked us hard!!! Got in our "extras" 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups during class (yeah!); did some great conditioning bag work, and after class ran through all of our katas.

Wednesday
Running: 8.06 miles in 1:18:19
Karate: Rest Day

Thursday
Running: 3.07 in 28:11
Karate: Class @ 7:30; Bugo night. In the 1st "3-person zone" I sparred with Sandy and Alex, both of whom are considerably taller than me. I couldn't get inside with Sandy but held my ground. I did a bit better against Alex, as I was able to get inside. Next I sparred with a High Red belt who just moved to our dojo from LHP. Then I sparred with Jen (3rd degree) and Eduard (2nd degree), which was awesome. My last round was with another High Red belt. Overall, it was another great Bugo class.

Friday
Running: Rest Day!
Karate: Class @ 7:00; a true "Happy Hour" class! Mr Mike ran us ragged!!! We did core work, push-ups, sit-ups, and tons of squats and lunges. We did pad work (the big ones and then the muay thai pads). It was a great workout, but I was thinking that I would be really feeling it on Saturday morning during candidate class.

Saturday
Running: 8.02 miles in 1:21:28 and 1 mile timed run 7:11
Karate: Mr. Galindo ran us as hard as Mr. Mike did the night before. Again, we did our core work, stances, katas. The class seemed to go on forever. But, it finally ended and then it was time for our timed run.

I really wanted to run the 1 mile in 7:00 or better. But, right as we all started, Veronica (a junior high red) fell flat on her face and my "mother" instinct kicked in and I stopped running. I started again after I saw others attending to her, but I lost some time. I didn't have my ipod because when we 1st walked outside it was sprinkling so I didn't want to get it wet. And, my Garmin was taking forever to link up the satellites that it wasn't ready when the run started. But despite all these "glitches", I ended up with a time of 7:11; which is 1 second better than my previous PB of 7:12.

I finally updated my marathon training log today. I've been remiss in that I've only been focusing on my karate training log; although most of the training is interchangeable. Anyways, since I "officially" started my NYC marathon training on July 14th, I've run 53 runs for a total of 485.28 miles. I wish I could say I enjoyed every mile..........

Well, off to enjoy a glass of '06 Napa Valley Merlot and finish watching the Ohio State/Wisconsin game. I love football season!

Go Gators

Dani

NYC Marathon, 35 more days!!

2008-09-21T16:41:00.001-07:00

Wow. I can't believe it's only 35 more days till the New York City Marathon.....and 94 days till 2009......

I ended my last blog the night before my Black Belt Pre-Check #1. So how did it go?????

Well, as I suspected. Neither of my kids wanted to come and support me. 11 and 12 years olds don't want to "hang" with their moms. So, RJ went to the Yacht club, LR went to her friend's house, and I went to the dojo early so I could get in an extra good stretch!

I felt really good with my performance. I was energetic, I showed intensity, I powered through the strength drills (push-ups) and I rocked my katas! I only had one tiny "oops" in my American Bo Form, where my bo hit my leg when it should have been spinning. But overall, I was very happy with my performances. I was on cloud 9 when I left the dojo.

A couple of days later I got feedback from Master KC; she says that she and Kyoshi noticed my conditioning but I need to work on my upper katas, focusing on my performance energy.

Since the Black Belt Pre-check #1, the days have gone by in a blur. I took the pharmacy law exam for Nebraska this past Thursday and I'm not feeling that great about it. But then again, after I took Louisiana's exam I was certain I had failed, but oddly enough, I passed!

Speaking of Louisiana, I got the call this week that I have been scheduled to appear before the Board of Pharmacy. I am taking that as a sign that my background criminal check and fingerprints "passed" and that I am being granted a license to practice pharmacy in Louisiana.

So, with Kentucky, Louisiana, and Nebraska done, next comes Arizona, then Oregon, followed by Tennessee and Arkansas. Yep, I'll be busy for a while!!! :)

Now on to the homefront. The first open house was this weekend. It really sucks that so much effort was put into getting the house cleaned and staged and there was only 1 couple that stopped by. And, they weren't pre-qualified for the price of our house. We did get feedback that they loved the kitchen, the master bedroom, the master closets and the master bathroom.

Good night.
Dani :)

Twas the night before Black Belt Pre-Check #1

2008-09-18T19:32:00.001-07:00

Now I lay me down to sleep..............But first I have some thoughts to keep
I guess I'll blog before my test...............and pray the Lord I'll do my best

Monday
Karate: Class at 8:30, SWAT at 7:00 and 7:45. Tonight was demo practice; but that didn't take the full class so we were able to get in some bag work. And, it was an extra tough workout because the transformer blew; the lights came back on but not the AC. And oh my, was it hot!!!!
Running: Rest day :)

Tuesday
Karate: Class at 7:30 and SWAT at 6:30; a good "A" day workout
Running: 8.07 miles in 1:31:23

Wednesday
Running: 3.05 miles in 28:54
Karate: Exam night!! The Demo went well. I did American Bo form with Ms. Kim and Ms. Mel. We were going at performance pace and the 2nd "set" where you do 4 figure 8's on the left, well I was a bit behind the other ladies. But I finished strong! After the bo staff, me and 13 other black belts and high-red belts performed 3 set kumites. We performed it in a square formation. It looked really cool and the staggered running kicks looked great. We did a pretty "easy" finale and then exited the floor. I went to the ladies room to change into my running clothes since Mel and I had talked about doing our 3 mile run after demo. But Mel wasn't in her running gear; instead, she was on the bench holding her knee.

She twisted it pretty good. And the stubborn lady she is, she was still talking about going out and running. But after some persuasion from a number of blackbelts, she iced her knee, she tried to "work out the kinks", and eventually went home to do RICE.

I then went on to the floor to help with the exam and after a few minutes, Mr. Mike asked me to check on a white belt who just went into the ladies room. Ms. Kelly wasn't doing very well; she was in the midst of having a migraine. I definitely could empathize with her. Migraines are the worst!!!! And I say that from personal experience. Unfortunately, Ms. Kelly wasn't able to go back to testing. And needless to say, I spent most of Wednesday night in the bathroom. :)

Thursday
Running:
5.11 miles in 50:21
Karate: Class at 7:30, SWAT at 8:30. It was a great Bugo class for me. I started off by partnering with Kathy. She is awesome; she's very good about giving you feedback (keep your right guard up higher; move to your right side). When we went into 3 person safety zones, I first was with Marlene and Kathy. Marlene and I are about the same size so it was a pretty "even" match. Kathy is shorter than me, but she's a petite powerhouse. Tonight I decided I was going to focus on staying in tight with my opponent and just keep throwing punches (and yes, expecting to take some punches). I did much better against Ms. Kathy with this approach.

We only did one 3-person safety zone. Then Ma'am had all the black belts and high-red belts line up in the red zone for a round. I sparred with Ms. Terri, a high-red belt. She too is close to my size and we had a good sparring round. Finally, Ma'am had just the black belts on deck. Ms. Jennifer was "assigned" to spar with me. Now Jennifer is a bit shorter than me, BUT.......she's another petite powerhouse, 3rd degree kick-ass martial artist. I kept with my strategy of staying in tight rather than try to use my reach. And I held my ground!!! I was able to go the full 2 minutes without having Ms. Jennifer kick my butt!!! It was at the end of class and I was getting tired, but my cardio kept up (thanks to my running!!!). I was so happy with my sparring tonight; it's really come a long way; between improving my cardio and really focusing on specific drills, I may end up actually liking bugo. Imagine that!?!?!?

Recap: as of mid-week
3 karate classes
5 SWAT classes; made up a few (I'm still behind a few SWATs) :(
3 Extra 100's; I'll get in the 4th sometime this weekend.
3 Runs for 16.23 miles

Now it really is time for me to go "lay me down to sleep"!!! I'm so excited because tomorrow is the 1st Black Belt Pre-Check for the December cycle. Going for my 1st degree black belt, I was nervous and lacking confidence; I stressed at every Pre-check. But now as I go for my 2nd degree black belt, I have "told myself" that I will enjoy this! I'm not going to stress out. I know the material and I will perform it to the best of my abilities. I will be strong, I will be confident, I will support my teammates and we will all achieve our goals!!

Good night!

Dani

A Bye Week, Bummer

2008-09-16T19:07:00.001-07:00

No Gator football this past Saturday, it was a "bye" week. Next Saturday, we face Tennessee.

I want to get this blog posted, so it's going to be a quick recap of my training.....

Monday 9/8
Running: 3.27 miles; 31:58
Karate: class @ 8:30, SWAT @ 7:45, "extra 100's"
Tuesday 9/9
Running: Rest Day
Karate: Class @ 7:30, SWAT @ 8:30
Wednesday 9/10
Running: 8.03 miles; 1:33:46 (listened to NPR Wait, Wait; LMAO!!)
Karate: Rest Day; "extra 100s"
Thursday 9/11
Running: Rest Day
Karate: Class @ 7:30, SWAT @ 6:30; it's spotlight week so no Bugo (muffled YEAH!!)
Friday 9/12
Running: Rest Day
Karate: Class @ 7pm, "extra 100's "
Saturday 9/13
Running: 6.06 miles; 1:05:07, then a 2 mile timed run @ karate in 15:41 (didn't run at 100%)
Karate: Candidate class at 8:30am. Was "easier" than most candidate classes
Sunday 9/14
Running: 17.02 miles; 3:06:31
Karate: Rest Day; "extra 100s"

Weekly Total

Running: 5 runs totaling 36.38 miles; another all-time mileage high for me!!!

Karate: 5 classes, 3 SWATs, 4 "extras"

Overall it was a great training week on both fronts; running and karate. As of today (9/16/08), I only have 47 days till my next marathon, the ING New York City Marathon. I'm getting psyched, I'm getting nervous, I'm getting anxious, I'm getting concerned.......

I'm getting most scared because with all my training, I'm feeling physically really good; no major aches or pains. With all my mileage, classes, etc, I should be sore, stiff or otherwise complaining. But I'm not. Yeah, I still have my heel pain, but that's minor; it's very tolerable and doesn't really impact my running. When I was in training for my 1st degree black belt, I felt sore every day. Now training for my 2nd degree, I feel great everyday. Well, whatever is the reason, I like it!

Till next week,

Boa noite (good night in Portuguese)

Dani

Hanna Hustled, Ike Inched and Dani Did a PB

2008-09-05T19:25:00.001-07:00

WOW!!.......there must be a forcefield around South Florida; Hanna took a right turn and hustled to the north. Ike has inched southward and now South Florida is out of the "Cone of Concern". Yeah!!! Good news for us; bad news for the Carribean nations that have already been pounded this season.

On to happier news: University of Florida Gators 26, University of Miami 'Canes 3!!! The 1st and 4th quarters were exciting. Quarters 2 and 3 the Gators seemed to lose some momentum. The 'Canes defense picked up and the Gators had a hard time getting past the line of scrimmage. But the final result is a win!!!

The "for sale sign" got hung and the house listing went up this past Tuesday. 3 days later came the 1st call for a showing on Sunday. So part of Saturday and Sunday was spent moving boxes to the storage unit, and cleaning up/tidying up the house. Then the call came in and the showing got cancelled. Oh well, maybe next weekend.

Training News:

Thursday

-Running: 5.07 miles in 51:11.

-Karate: 7:30 bugo class and 6:30 SWAT class. It was a good bugo class; Chloe, a brown belt (again, I'm bad with the names), Sam, 1 other person (?name?) and then finished off with Marlene. I did much better in my final match with Marlene on Thursday than I did with her on Wednesday. My SWAT class was with the advanced junior class. I haven't SWATTED a junior class in quite a while and forgot how inattentive the younger kids can be but also how much fun they can be too.

Friday

-Running: Rest Day

-Karate: Friday was a candidate class. We warmed up and then went into boxing skills and drills. Next were the forms. Ma'am called for the December candidates to go in the front row; 1st Mel. And then me. I was surprised because normally I don't stand out and get overlooked. We did appreciation form, short 2, bookset, XMA form 2 and threw in 2-count kicking in between. Then the weapons, XMA Chuck form 1 and American Bo Form. I'm sure the 1/2 bottle of Speed Stack before class helped, but I was ON FIRE!!!! I think I performed at my all time best. I was the most happy with my bo form; I performed it at performance speed and everything just clicked. I was smiling so hard afterwards. We ended class with Kyoshi going over the MMA drills.

Saturday

-Running: Up at 4:30am for the long run; my training plan called for 14 miles. Met up with the running club. For a 14 mile run, the route goes up Bayview to Commercial then crosses over to A1A, heads south to the Yankee Clipper, then turns back north and heads to the running store. There were 4 of us doing that route: myself, Coach Robert, Alicia and Sandy. We started on a good pace around 10 minute miles for the 1st three miles. I ran next to Sandy and we chatted about her training for the Chicago marathon. After 3 miles we picked up the pace a tiny bit. By mile 5, Sandy slowed a bit. I was still feeling good so I partnered up with Alicia while coach ran back to check on Sandy.

Alicia was keeping a steady 9:30-ish pace. My long runs are usually 10:30-11:00 (or more) minute miles. I am not very good at keeping an even pace. Alicia was planning on running 12 miles so I decided to run 12 with her. And, since I was running "faster" than usual, I figured we'd be done close to 8am so I would have time to make it to karate for the timed 2-mile run. That would give me my 14 miles.

Well, my timing was off a bit; we finished our run at 8:15, but only because we started our run late, at 6:15am. We ran 12.01 miles in 1:58:59! It was a great run. And, it was a symbiotic run. Alicia thanked me for helping her finish the distance. She says she probably would have stopped at 9 and 1/2 miles. I thanked her for pacing me. I would have easily run 20 minutes slower if I was by myself.

It's a bit ironic. The night before the run, I was talking with someone at karate about the fact that I joined the running group so that I could have people to run with. But every run so far had left me running by myself. I was starting to think joining the club was a waste of money. And then I have one of my best runs; in fact, it was a "PB" for me. And what timing! As the New York City Marathon quickly looms around the corner, my confidence is starting to wane. So Saturday's run was a fantastic confidence boosting run. I saw that I could handle a faster pace over a long distance. New York, HERE I COME!!!!

The only sour note was that after a brief cool down from the run, I got in my Jeep to head to karate and realized I would never make it on time for the timed run at 8:30. Rats.....hopefully Ma'am will accept my 12 mile run!!

Sunday

Running: Today was a "recovery" run. Ran 8.08 in 1:30:18. I really like catching up on my podcasts on my longer runs but I definitely run "faster" when I listen to music versus podcasts.

For The Week

Karate: 4 classes, 3 SWAT classes

Running: 5 runs totalling 34.01 miles; another milestone for my training!!!!

I really am starting to feel bipolar. Last week was a pretty crappy (depressed week). Now, this week was spectacular (manic). It was one of the best karate weeks I have ever had. I took 2 bugo classes and didn't feel intimidated. In stead, I felt strong and confident. In the candidate class, I felt like a "2nd degree black belt"; I was able to focus, have "tiger eyes" and perform to the level I know I can. And in my running, I made huge strides in total mileage and in seeing that I can push myself a bit harder.

I guess I need the crappy weeks to better appreciate the spectacular weeks.

Well, let's keep our fingers crossed that this week is another Spectacular Week!!!

Dani

Holy Hurricanes Batman!

2008-09-03T19:25:00.001-07:00

OK, from the pictures, I'm sure you can gather how I will be spending the next week or so. I am already so "over" this hurricane season. Fay, Gustov, Hanna, Ike, Josephine......it's starting to remind me of 2004 and 2005 Charlie, Frances, Jean, and Wilma.......

My biggest concern right now is Hanna because it looks like she'll be in the Gainesville vicinity around Friday or Saturday. And, Saturday is the day of the Florida Gators versus University of Miami Hurricanes football games! How appropriate that we're playing the Hurricanes!!! Anyways, I am really looking forward to the game and hope it doesn't get cancelled.

Also, I'm not too thrilled that Ike is projected to be a category 4 storm. Wilma was a 3 and we had to get a new roof. A cat 4, yikes!!!

And now for the non-hurricane news.....
My daughter is going to the Jonas Brother's concert Thursday night with her best friend. For anyone who has a teenage daughter, the "JBs" are the hottest thing right now. The concert is in Tampa, across the state. This means she has to miss a day of school. I am not the type of parent who lets my kids miss school; ever (and you can ask either one of them!). But, I know this is something she really wanted. She always does well in school getting good grades and making honor roll, so I am chalking this concert up as a "reward".

Of course now my son thinks he is entitled to getting a "free day off from school". SoI told him, if his grades get as good as his sister's, I will honor that request. He has the capacity, he just doesn't have the drive. He's a typical, normal 11 year old boy who enjoys lazing around, playing video games and watching TV.

Training News......so far this week.....
Monday:
**Running: 5.15 miles in 53:51
**Karate: closed because of the Labor Day Holiday

Tuesday:
**Running: Ran 3.28 miles in 32:00 minutes; ran before karate behind the dojo.
**Karate: 7:30 class. Master KC threw in conditioning type drills in between the "usual" MMA, boxing type of drills. She always seems to do that after a holiday when we get an extra day off! I was a bit tired and extremely sweaty after class, so I didn't stay to SWAT the novice class.

Wednesday:
**Runnng: running Rest day!!
**Karate: SWATted the 7:45 novice class and then took my 8:30 bugo class. I was happy to see a good number of ladies for the late night sparring class. And it was a nice mixture of ladies. I sparred twice with Marlene, twice with a Brown belt lady (I'm bad with names!) and once with Ms. Kim. Overall it was a good sparring night for me. I'm trying to focus on using my left jab more; both offensively and as an "entry". I'm also trying to string combos together better using both my hands hands and feet.

Well, enought for 1 night. I'm off to sleep!!!

Dobroi nochi (Good night in Russian)

Gator Football is Back!!!!

2008-08-31T18:57:00.001-07:00

The Olympics end and College Football starts, isn't life grand!!

Monday:
Running: Rest Day :)
Karate: Went to 5pm class! Yes, the early one. And why is that? Well, we had to change out the hopper at work (the machine that that drops the empty prescription vials into the labeler). The change out had to happen after hours and since they were working in the pharmacy, there has to be a pharmacist on duty. I didn't have a large number of pharmacists volunteer to work late; ok, no-one volunteered for Monday night and only 1 person signed up for Tuesday night. So, I left at 3pm, went to karate at 5pm and came back at 7pm to "babysit" the pharmacy and was there till 12:45am. It ended up being a great night for 2 reasons; (1) since it was "quiet", I got a lot of work done!!!; and, (2) the guys got everything done on Monday so we didn't need the pharmacist for Tuesday night (this saved a lot of overtime dollars!!!).

Tuesday:
Running: 7.14 miles in 1:17:34
Karate: No class tonight because of Home & School Meeting :(

Wednesday:
Running: 5.66 miles in 1:03:09.
Karate: I don't remember why, but I'm sure there was a good reason why I didn't go to class on Wednesday.....hmmm..... it's that darn CRS acting up again....

Thursday:
Running: Rest day
Karate: I didn't make it to class and I definitely know why. "He who must not be named" left the kids at the house with grandma. This meant I would have to take them to karate. When I told them that, they refused. This is going to be my biggest challenge in working towards my 2nd degreee blackbelt; getting in all my classes between my schedule and the kid's and "he who must not be named"'s schedule. Ugh....

Friday
Running: Rest day
Karate: I didn't make it to class (again). At work we had to run an Open Refill File for a plan that moved to another mail order provider. We couldn't run the file till end of day and then it had to be reviewed and signed off by a pharmacist. Although I assigned a RPH on staff, responsibility still fell on me and since this was the 1st ourbound open refill file under my "directorship", I coudn't go to karate class in case there were any problems. So......for the week, I only ended up with 1 karate classes and zero SWAT classes. This means, I will be in make up mode for the next couple of weeks.

Saturday
Running: 8.06 miles in 1:32:13 at CPS. It was a good run; not great.
Karate: The dojo was closed for the holiday weekend.
Football: Gators vs. Hawaii: W52-10. It was a good game; lots of good plays by the offense, defense and special teams. Tim Tebow wasn't "explosive", but hey, this was the 1st game and it wasn't a ranked team. No need to go out and take excessive risks. But next week.......we play Miami!!! I can't wait!!!!

Sunday:

Running: 8.10 miles in 1:30:43; again at CPS.

My heel pain is the same; not better, not worse. It still "cracks" when I flex it and I can see/feel the protrusion. I'm not sure whether it's really a bone spur or bursits, but either way, I've decided to start back up on the Aleve (naproxen sodium), taking 440mg BID; I'm planning on taking it continuously for 2-3 weeks then re-evaluate.

This was a "stormy" week. We started the week off with several days of rain thanks to Hurricane Fay, since we were in the "dirty side" (north east quadrant) of the storm. We ended the week with rain thanks to the feeder bands of Hurricane Gustov. And right now, there's Hurrican Hanna knocking on our door with Tropical Storm Ike right behind her. I'm so "Weather Channeled" out!!

Till next week,

Uz drīz redzēšanos! (see you soon in Latvian!)

Dani

The Beijing Olympics

2008-08-17T06:04:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been 2 weeks since my last post. And it's no coincidence that it's the same amount of time that I was glued to my TV watching the Olympics. Yes, I will admit it. I am an Olympics junkie.

Normally, I am not a big TV watcher. Maybe the local news while I'm getting ready in the morning, or in the evening, some HGTV or the Food Network; if I have some spare time (yeah right!). Usually I have so much going on that I don't have time for TV. But, there are 2 things that will guarantee that I will be glued to the TV; (1) the Olympics and (2) Gator football.

The Olympics

The Olympics were awesome this year for a number of reasons.....
#1: Michael Phelps; need I say anything more?
#2: 41 year old Dara Torres and the 38 year old Rumania ladies marathon gold medalist. They proved you don't have to be in your early 20's to Win!
#3: My kids are at the age where they really got into the Olypmics; they are at that "impressionable age" where they appreciate the athleticism and competitiveness; and they are inspired! Lauren really enjoyed watching Michael Phelps. Ryan and I watched the mens marathon. After watching that, he came to a much greater appreciation of my marathon finish (although my time was way off the Olympic record!).

I think this Olympics broadcast was the most diverse that I've seen, The kids were able to see a wide variety of different sports, much more than they are typically exposed to. NBC did a great job in their broadcasts; and I always enjoy watching Bob Costas and Chris Collingsworth.

Watching the swimming and diving has made an impact on my kids. Last week, Ryan asked to go to the Ft. Lauderdale Swimming Hall of Fame pool. We started out at the diving boards. The 1 meter spring board was great. We were able to do our dives. Moving up to the 3 meter springboard was a bit more nerve-racking. I did 2 front dives. I now know why the Olympic lady divers wear a one-piece bathing suit. Both of my dives resulted in me losing my bottoms. Let's hope I made enough splash to cover my "moonings"!!! Ryan wanted to dive off the high board so bad. The lifeguard, myself, and other people around the diving area gave him so much encouragement. But ultimately, he couldn't do it.

Watching the closing ceremonies, both kids mentioned they would like to go to the Olympics. We talked about what it would take to get to the 2012 Olympics and it is an attainable goal. So, the goal is now printed and hanging on the office wall; "London 2012".

Gator Football
College football gets started for me this coming Saturday, August 30th; UF vs. Hawaii! But the game I've been waiting 3 years for is the following Saturday, September 6th; UF vs. UM. And it is at the Swamp. Oh, how cool it would be to be at that game. I can only dream. I am so looking forward to UF kicking some UM ass!!! And then rubbing it in to all the UM fans that I must deal with on a daily basis.

Training: Running
I've gotten in a number of runs in the past couple weeks.

Wednesday: 6.16 miles; 1:07:40
Thursday: 3 miles; 28:46
Friday: 5.81 miles; 59:38
Saturday: 6.92 1:13:12; AND!! 1 mile timed run: 7:12
Sunday: 7.25; 1:15:48
Total mileage: 30.14!!!!
Monday: 4.14; 38:12
Wednesday: 6.09; 1:01:33
Saturday: 2: 15:12
Sunday: 6.02; 58:43
Total Mileage: 18.25 YUCK!!!
As of today (8/26/08), only 67 more days till my marathon!! I changed my flight to NY, deciding to come in a day sooner so I can go to the expo on Friday and leave Saturday as a "rest up" day.
Right now I'm at that stage where I am half excited and half scared. Mostly the half scared part since I'm not getting in as much "hill training" as I know I need.

Training: Karate

So far the month of August has been a good month for my karate training. I've gotten in my classes, SWAT classes, my "extras" strength workouts and runs. My timed runs have gone great. I'm confident in my forms. My weapon katas are much better and I finally have American Bo Form down and getting my details tight. I've been working on my bugo (sparring) skills and my confidence is bugo is improving.

The Rest of My Life

The realtor is coming by tomorrow night so that the house can be put on the market. There's still lots that needs to be done to "stage" the house. Plus, this Labor Day weekend I need to study for my Nebraska MPJE pharmacy law exam scheduled for the 2nd week of September. UGH, so much to do, so little time........

Speaking of time, it's time for me to post this blog!

Ciao!

Dani

Vacation, aaaaahhhhh!!!

2008-08-05T06:40:00.001-07:00

It's vacation week, Yeah!!! It's a not-going-anywhere, stay-at-home-and-get-things-done-before-school-starts vacation, whew! What that really means is I'll actually have time to write and post my blog on time! So prepare yourself, this is going to be a longgggggg one!

Monday.....

I did my run before karate class, running from the dojo to 62nd street and back, then out to 56th street and back for 3.1 miles in 28:19. I was very pleased with the time since every mile was under 10 minutes. And with the Florida August heat and humidity, I was a huffin and a puffin to make that time! My face was so red and stayed that way for quite some time. No matter how good in shape I may be, my face always gets red. I guess it's my fair Irish skin!!!

After the run, I went into the dojo to SWAT. Changed from my running clothes to my gi and realized I didn't bring my belt. Starting the week off well aren't I?!?!?!? I like SWATting the adult novice class because it's only 45 minutes and the time just flies by.

In my class, we did a decent warm up. Then the class was split off and I went with the demo group. Everyone got assigned to different things. I was with the black belts doing bookset. For the "finale" we did X-block and then went right into 2 count kicking with a staggered crescent kick.

Tuesday........

It's so nice to be able to go to the morning karate class!! We did our warm up, partner work and then finally got to do American Bo Form. We do it so irregularly that it's hard for me to get it down 100%. After class, Jonathan stayed to work on it with me and 3 others.

Next we dropped the girlie off at her friends house. Then the little guy and I started staging the house. He helped me move some furniture around and make things looks more "saleable". We took a break and went swimming in the pool. Ryan and I decided to race and halfway through, here comes Ali (our dog) jumping in to "save us". She landed right on my back so I now have a nice scratch across my back. Ali is a great dog, but any activity in the pool (eg. splashing, going down the slide, going underwater) and she thinks we are in danger and it is her job to save us.

Later on, we ran out to Target for a few things and then picked up the girlie. For dinner, I made coconut-mango chicken with black beans; it was yummy, although neither kid liked the mango part. Ryan was psyched because he made fries and they came out great.

After dinner we finished our "staging" work in the living room, family room and office. Then it was "chilax" time. Kids on the computer, mom with a class of wine. aaaahhhhh

Wednesday.....

My foot doctor appointment finally arrived. About 2-3 months ago, I started having pain in my heel. This was around the same time I bought new running shoes. I was looking for a lighter pair and ended up switching from my trusted Brooks to Nike air pegasus. The back of the heel area on the Nike felt "taller" and I thought maybe that was the cause of the heel pain. But, I figured that was probably just a coincidence and I kept using the Nikes.

The pain was in the back part of the heel and after doing some research on the web, it looked like it probably was bursitis. Rest and anti-inflammatory drugs were the usual recommendations, but it also suggested wearing open-backed shoes, which I did. About a month ago I finally made an appointment because the heel wasn't improving.

And as fate would have it, once I made the appointment, the heel finally started getting better. But, it didn't completely go away so I went ahead and kept the appointment. The running store had recommended the podiatrist I ended up seeing and he was awesome. He took a full history, listened to everything I said, asked lots of questions and did a full foot examination. He spent a good amount of time with me, which was very nice.

For the diagnosis, heel spurs brought on tendonitis/bursitis which most likely was caused by the Nikes. The doctor explained that the nike "air" is causing my heel to "drop" down lower, which means my calf (which is chronically tighter from last years injury) is being overstretched and causing the tendonitis/bursitus in the heel and subsequent bone spur.

I'm sure I butchered his explanation, but it all made sense when he said it. He asked about my NSAID use and I said I use IBU after my long runs; that's about it. I explained to him that I am OK with taking meds PRN, but I'm a terrible "regular" medicine taker. He recommended I take Aleve BID x 7 days to really try to knock out the inflammation. He also suggested I increase my calf exercises/stretching and use heel inserts. He then asked about any other "running" pain and I mentioned my knee/IT and we discussed that for a while. Overall, I was really impressed. Now we'll just have to wait to see how the aleve and heel inserts work.

I went to the early (5pm) karate class. I was kind of surprised that there weren't more people; there were probably only around 6 black belts there. That night, I ran 4.04 around the neighborhood in 36:59.

Thursday

Started the day with a 5.08 run in 49:33. Then it was off to morning karate class. I stayed after class again to get in more renshu time on the bo. I think I actually have it down pretty good. Now I just have to work on the details.

I met 2 friends who I used to work with at Aetna for dinner. It was great catching up on everything. Plus, the philly steak wrap was awesome!!

Friday

I had thought about doing my long run this morning, but decided to sleep in instead since I rarely get the opportunity to do that. When we finally got up, YAWN!!!, we decided to go to the beach. I had a good time watching them boogey board. After the beach, we stopped at Kilwins for some ice cream. Once we got back home, all the kids went into the pool.

Candidate class was on Friday night again this week (instead of it's "normal" Saturday morning time slot). We started out with the katas; appreciation form, short 1, long 1, short 2, short 3, bookset, XMA form 1, and XMA form 2. Then we did partner work on kicking skills. We did a "circle" bag workout; with 3 different kick combos. We finished class with weapons. First was chucks; XMA chuck form 1 and then Chuck form 2 for the black belts. I totally screwed that one up. I had reviewed Chuck form 1 and confused them. Ugh!!! Next was Kamaset form 2, I bonked on the double crescent kick but rocked the rest of the form. Then, all the people who remembered Kamaset 1 performed that kata; I love kamaset 1!!! I had 1 little misstep, but otherwise did really well. The last weapon work was American Bo Form. Only the black belts did this and it was done at performance speed. I made it through the kata, but I don't have all the details down at that speed. But overall, I was very happy with my performance tonight.

At the end of class, Master KC reminded everyone of the timed run for Saturday. I told her that I was running a 5k in the morning and depending on timing, may or may not show up for the timed run. She said I could just give her my time for the 5k.

Then finally it arrived! The Olympics Opening Ceremony. I was so happy to see Sarah Brightman, she's one of my faves!!! Seeing all the nations in the procession, with their garb and smiles, was awesome. The lighting of the torch was impressive; the gymnast "running" around the rim of the stadium was so cool!

Saturday.....

Today was the ING Kick Off 5k at Birch State Park. I got there about 15 minutes before start time. I parked up front and had a mile to walk to the starting line. The starting area was narrow so I walked to the back of the group and there I saw John and Summer from the GFLRR club.

The race was just shy of 2 laps in Birch State Park. The aroma from the mangroves was pretty nauseating at times, but overall the race was great. I finished in 27:53 and was very happy with my time. It wasn't a PR, but considering the heat and humidity, it was a solid time.

Sunday.....

Long run day! I had thought about doing the GFLRR Sunday run at Deerfield Beach. But I was slow to get up and dressed. So, I did my old "beach run", starting at the Sea Ranch Lakes Publix and going south on A1A to the Yankee Clipper and then back to Publix. I ended up with 12.04 miles in 2:23:32.

Vacation Ends.....

For the week, I got in 5 karate classes, 2 SWATS, 4 extras, and 5 runs for 27.89 miles!

The kids and I did some fun things and I had time to do a good amount of cooking! But as usual, the week went by too quickly!

Dani

2 For the Price of One

2008-07-28T16:16:00.001-07:00

Oops, I never got around to posting my blog last weekend.
So, this week is:
double the pleasure...............
double the fun.................
for 1 week only............
2 for the price of one (ugh!!!)

Running:
My running has gone well the past 2 weeks; otherwise know as Training Weeks #15 and #14 for the NY marathon.

Week #15 I got in 3 runs for 19.99 miles; you'd think I'd get in that last 1/100th of a mile to make it a nice round number. Actually, I don't like even mileage. If I'm scheduled for 7 miles, I'll run 7.05 or 7.2. Yeah, I'm kooky :) Week #14 I got in 4 runs for 23.07 miles. Woo Hoo!!

Now that I'm starting to up my mileage, I'm doing more runs at the Oakland Park "Jog Park". The lap around my neighborhood is only 1/2 mile and has no shade. The park has a number of shade trees; although it was much "thicker" before Hurricane Wilma came through in '05. The lap is supposed to be 1 mile, but according to my Garmin it's really only 0.88 miles. That explains why my pre-Garmin run times were always much better there. Either way, it's fewer laps than running around the island.

I really hate that it is called a "jog park". That is so 1980's. This is the 00's; we're runners. So I've thought of 2 other names, either I'll call it "the OP" or "Gravelocity". Give me some feedback on which one you like best.

The OP/Gravelocity is ok for runs up to say 7 or 8 miles. But for my longer runs, I have been doing beach runs on A1A. Training for San Diego by myself was tough; it was too easy to blow off a long run or not put in the full miles. And I paid for that at mile 17 of my 1st marathon. I knew that for NY, which is a more hilly course, that I would need to train with others. So I joined the Greater Ft. Lauderdale Road Runners (GFLRR). The past 2 Saturdays, I ran my long run with the club. The Saturday run starts at the running store, we go over the Sunrise Blvd. bridge, head to A1A, and go south to the 17th street causeway bridge (the highest bridge in Broward County). Then we turn around and go back to the running store.

The nice thing about GFLRR is that they also have Sunday morning long runs starting at the Deerfield Beach pier. Once karate cadidate classes resume (in a couple weeks) on Saturday mornings, I'll have to switch my long runs to Sundays.

Next Saturday the GFLRR is having a 5k at Birch State Park. This will be my 1st 5k (running) in several years. At last year's Komen, I was nursing my calf injury and walked the event. The 5k is more of a fun run, but I'm going to try to beat my PR of 26:30.

Karate:
Last week I only got in 3 classes; all "A" day curriculum. No "B" classes . This week I got in 4 classes; 2 "A" days, 1 "B" day and Friday night's class which is normally an "A" day but this week was changed to a candidate class (instead of candidate class on Saturday). It's been a while since I got in 4 classes and it felt good!

Last Saturday was Black Belt Spectacular. 37 people from 4 of the dojos got their belts; seven 2nd degrees and 29 1st degrees. Sensei Scaccia was awesome getting his 5th degree. It was a spectacular show; heavy on the XMA (extreme martial arts).

When I started at the dojo 7 years ago, black belt testing was done in the dojo. The candidates performed all of their stuff; katas, weapon, self-defense, individual creative kumites, board breaking, stomach punches. But the dojo was growing and soon became too small for testing. So it was moved to a school gymnasium. Here is where it changed from testing, to a "Spectacular" event. The actual "black belt testing" was held at the dojo during "Power Week". During my BB cycle, we had our exam on Monday night (forms), Wednesday night (sparring), Friday (self-defense, board breaking, stomach punching). Saturday was the group 4 mile run filled with pushups, jumping jacks and other things thrown into the run. It was an exhausting week!!

The Spectacular was 2 weeks after Power Week. We got to perform our holds and grabs and kicking skills, and did a group kata. The creative kumites were not individual anymore. I was fortunate that there were only 2 adult ladies in my cycle, myself and Amber. So I only had to perform with one other person whereas the 4 guys in my cycle had to perform as a quartet. Amber and I put together an awesome kumite (if I do say so myself).

With a larger venue, more people could attend. Demonstrations were added to the show. They increased the energy level, motivated current students and inspired non-students to join. With the addition of dojo's in Lighthouse Point, Coconut Creek and Boca Raton, the # of candidates got larger and the school gym wasn't large enough. It moved first to Westminster Academy for a few shows and then moved to it's current location, Parker Playhouse which holds almost 1,000 people. We've been told that it will probably only be held at the Playhouse for 2 or 3 more times before a larger venue is needed again.

As with anything, there are some good things and some bad things with the growth in the venue size as well as the number of candidates. The good is the addition of new demos and skits (XMA, MMA, jui jitsu) and definitely more comfortable seating for the spectators. The bad is that the show is getting so large that fewer people are allowed to perform, the candidates have less time to perform and the focus seems to be moving away from the candidates.

During our karate classes the week after the Spectacular show, all the students are asked what they liked best about the show. Inevitably what is mentioned is the high kicking, explosive demonstrations and skits. Most of which the majority of us cannot participate in. What is not mentioned are the candidates who just put in many months of hard work.

Oh well. Sorry for my rant. As I get closer to my 2nd degree I guess I'm starting to analyze things too much. Thinking about the fact of how much time and effort I will have to expend, and still not be one of the chosen few, not able to participate in future Spectaculars, and just be a "filler person" in the monthly demos. What is the pupose of getting my 2nd degree? Hmmmm....................................

Take care, Dani

PS: I passed my Louisiana MPJE law exam!! Woo Hoo!!! Next state, Nebraska. Exam set for August 20th. And, I just found out that 3 more states now require out-of-state (mail order) pharmacies to have a Pharmacist on staff be licensed in thier state. So, after Nebraska comes Tennessee and Arkansas and then I'll have to do Virginia, Oregon and Arizona. By the end of this year I will be licensed in 9 states. Wow.......that's a lot of renewal fees!!!

Blah, Blah, Blah

2008-07-18T19:16:00.001-07:00

After the trip to New York last week, this week seemed pretty "blah".

Karate:

I got in 3 classes this week; Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Friday was BBC night (Black Belt Club) and was on MMA (mixed martial arts). Kyoshi taught class; that in itself makes it a great class.
Wednesday was exam night and I was on the demo team. I did cross through kicking, was the ouki (attacker) for self-defense and then ended the demo with 10 count kicking (X-block). I don't think we've done it since I was a blue belt. It's pretty basic, but looks really nice! I felt really good with my performance!

Running:

Because I missed 3 days of work last week, I stayed late almost every night. Which meant I didn't have time to run on Monday or Tuesday night before karate, or Wednesday night before the demo. Thursday was supposed to be my run night. But personal issues prevented that. So I had to relegate running to the weekend.
Saturday I ran at the OP running park. Here the course is gravel which is gentler on my knees. But it really sucks when a piece of gravel gets in your shoes!!)*#*@*&($. The other annoyance about the run park is that the marked distances are wrong. According to my Garmin, "their" mile is really only 0.88 miles. I had planned on running 5 miles, but it was late afternoon and very hot!!! I ended up doing 3.33 miles in 32:01
Sunday was my long run. I decided to modify my "normal" beach run. I started at the Galleria mall (free parking), ran over the Sunrise bridge to A1A and turned south to the 17th Street Causeway bridge. After crossing the bridge and getting to my 4 mile halfway point, I turned around and ran back. Around mile 6 I had to stop at the 7-11 to get some gatorade since I drank all 4 bottles on my hydration belt. I ended up running 8.02 miles in 1:27:53. Again, not too bad considering the bridges, heat and humidity.

Pharmacy:

Wednesday I took the MPJE (multistate pharmacy jurisprudence exam) for Louisiana. There are 5 states that require out-of-state (mail order) pharmacies to have a pharmacist on staff be licensed in their state in order to provide prescriptions to their residents. The states are Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Nebraska and Louisiana.
Most states do not reciprocate licenses with Florida because Florida doesn't reciprocate with other states. So, last year I got licensed in Kentucky via examination. I took the NAPLEX exam; which, after being out of pharmacy school for 14 years, was quite a challenge But I did well, passing with a score of 120 (75 is required to become licensed). My NAPLEX exam when I first got licensed in Florida was 119! Now I am using my Kentucky license to become licensed in LA, NB, TN and AR via reciprocity. This means I only have to take the law exam for each of these states. The exam is comprised of federal pharmacy law and state law questions.
I definitely didn't prepare well enough. I mean, I studied; I read front to back the Federal Pharmacy Law book and read every Louisiana statue/regulation relating to pharmacy. But alot of pharmacy law is "learned"; you learn it and live it. Since I'm not actually practicing in Louisiana, it didn't really "stick" when I read the laws. Or at least, not well enough for my liking.
The exam is a computerized, adaptive test; meaning, it changes the future questions based on your answers. Well, I got the same question 3 times, with the wording just slighty different on each one. So either I kept getting it wrong, or they were "test" questions for future exams. Either way, I'm not too sure how I did. I think I did well enough to pass; but I'll just have to wait the 10 days for the results.......Worse case scenario, another $175 and take the exam again......

And that's about all for now folks....

Dani

New York, New York

2008-07-13T17:03:00.001-07:00

The week started out with bad news; my Aunt Alice Murray passed away on the 4th of July. While it was sad, it was a blessing at the same time. My aunt had Alzheimer's, which in my opinion, is one of the worst diseases to be afflicted with. The disease "strikes" the patient, but it is the family that suffers.

I made plans to go to New York for the wake and funeral and decided to take my daughter. Coming from an Irish Catholic family, wakes and funerals are our "family reunions" and I wanted my daughter to meet her extended family.

We flew up Wednesday for the wake. Thursday was the funeral mass and then the burial. Afterwards was a get together at my cousin Murray's. It was nice catching up with family members. My dad had already "bragged" to everyone that I will be running the NY marathon this year, so that was the topic of many conversations!

After the get together, we rode the LIRR into the city, per my daughter's request! Back at the hotel, I took advantage of being so close to Central Park and went out for a 2.7 mile run. I ran about 1/2 of the "loop". It was such a great run; the run has ascents and descents, lot's of shade from the trees, and best of all, it was filled with tons of active people riding bikes, rollerblading and running.

Thursday night the girlie & I went out for a stroll; we went to Times Square and got a NY street hot dog for dinner! During our stroll, we saw several of the MLB "Lady Liberty" statues that marathoner had mentioned in his blog at http://marathonomy.blogspot.com/.

Friday, the girlie & I did some more "strolling" through the city, ending up in the Chelsea area. We met up with my stepmom Anne at the Chelsea Market. I wanted to get a "Food Network" gift for my son, but didn't find anything appropriate or reasonably priced. The least expensive item was $22 for Iron Chef coasters and I'm sorry, but that's just ridiculous (plus, he has no use for coasters!). On the way out of the market, we saw the Detroit Tigers Lady Liberty. So far I've seen St. Louis and Detroit, but no Cleveland (my Mom & Dad will appreciate that!).

Friday night we dined at my father's place; we sat on his terrace which overlooks Riverside Park and the river. Dad cooked hot dogs on the grill. More dogs!

Saturday morning I did another run in Central Park. This time, I did the entire loop, running 6.11 miles in 1:03:26. My "slowest" time was mile 4; this is where there's quite an ascent in the NW part of the loop. It was a good challenge, and after completing it, I felt so invigorated (yeah, I know that sounds corny!). Honestly, my runs in Central Park were AWESOME!!! I am so envious of NY'ers. CP is the perfect running spot; you can easily adjust your run length to shorter or longer runs, it's not boring, it's not flat. I don't want to go back to Florida!!!

After my run and a shower, we met up with Anne for some shopping down by Union Square; DSW (my personal favorite), Filene's Basement (got some good deals there) and Strawberry (for the girlie!). For dinner, us 3 girls met up with dad at the Wicked Wolf pub on 75th and 1st Ave. Everyone had lobster; except for me (the filet was great)!!! We topped that off with some ice cream before getting on the bus. The bus went through Central Park, right at the time that Bon Jovi was performing their concert. We got off and listened for a short while before transferring to another bus.

And Sunday we flew home to Florida; hot and humid Florida.......Sigh......

It was great to see Dad & Anne; although it was because of an unfortunate event. But, the girlie and I made the most of it, seeing family, sightseeing, shopping, spending time together. And most importantly, we made it through 5 days together without any catfight scratches!!! (Anyone with a teenaged daughter should appreciate that!).

Till next week.....

Run long, Run strong...........

Dani (blonderx)

Happy 4th of July!!!

2008-06-28T19:03:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th!!! I just love 3-day holiday weekends, don't you!!!!!

I've been procrastinating in posting my blog. Mostly because I don't have much to report. I've gone from from having a really awesome week to regressing into 2 weeks of blahdom.

Training Week #2:

2 karate classes: one "A" day class, one "B" day "Bugo/sparring" class
0 SWAT classes
3 days of extras
1 run: 2.04 miles in 19:14

Training Week #3:

2 karate classes: two "A" day classes (dojo closed Friday & Saturday, bummer!)
2 SWAT classes
3 days of extras
3 runs: 12.44 miles; average pace 9:48 min/mi

"Extras" can vary from week to week, depending on what Master KC wants us to do. But I try to always get in a minimum of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats and 100 side kicks (50 off of each leg) per "extra".

SWAT stands for special winning attitude team. When you are a candidate for black belt, part of the black belt cycle is "SWATTING" where you assist the instructors in classes for the lower belts. By helping to teach others, it reinforces the candidate's skills and drills. It takes 3-4 years to earn a black belt, and along the way you learn lots of different skills, drills, katas, etc. Swatting helps you to "re-master" everything. Plus, you get to know the students coming up in the system. And it's always great to see them learn and test for their new belts. They become your "babies" (in a good way!!!).

Since I am going for my 2nd degree black belt, I have to go through 2 cycles. Each cycle is 16 weeks of torture (and I mean that in a good way!). Each week you have to get in 4 classes; 3 "regular" classes plus Saturday morning candidate class. You have to get in 4 "extras" session, 4 runs and 3 SWAT classes. The 1st cycle is coming to a close. The candidates for August just finished Power Week. Power Week is the actual black belt test. The candidates actually get their black "belts" at the Black Belt Spectacular which will be held on July 26th. The "Spectacular" is where they get to show off their skills! If all goes well for me, I will have my "spectacular" on December 6th. But, it's looking like Power Week will be the same week as the New York Marathon. So I'll just have to wait and see how the scheduling goes.

I have not been running as often or for as far as I should be or want to be. My right knee is still hurting and the pain behind my right heel hasn't gotten better. I am starting to be concerned. I think I will make an appointment with a podiatrist. The running store gave me the name of a DPM who is also a runner. I am using orthotics that are close to 14 years old, so I probably need a newer pair. My heel pain started after switching from my Brooks to Nikes; I have since gone back to my trusty old Brooks.

But I have to start seriously training for NYC. I can't take too many more weeks off. Between the heat/humidity of South Florida and my aching, aging body, training for NYC marathon will be a challenge! But, I have always loved a challenge; the tougher the better!

Run strong,

Dani

NYC Marathon Training Week #1

2008-06-24T18:01:00.001-07:00

Training week #1 was good. I got in work outs every day! No rest days on the training log this week!!!

Running:
Let's just say I've had better running weeks. I took Monday and Tuesday off from running. Wednesday night it was raining. That meant I had to run on the treadmill, which I normally hate. But, it wasn't so bad. I listened to some good tunes on the ipod, turned the TV screen to the discovery channel, upped the incline, and ran for 30 minutes, getting in 3.44 miles. And that was it for running for the week........

PiYo:
My sister turned me on to PiYo, which is a blend of Pilates and Yoga. So, I did an hour of that on Wednesday after my run and also on Sunday. I figured it would be good for my non-karate days to "force" me to work on my flexibility. The "beginner" lesson was ok. It wasn't too strenuous and really only offered a few "new" stretches. Hopefully the intermediate and advanced courses will offer more challenge. But the good thing about it is it will force me to take my time on the stretches. Normally when I stretch on my own, I tend to "rush" the stretch in an effort to get it done.

Karate:
This was a great karate week! I got in 5 classes; basically I was at the dojo everyday except for Wednesday. I even enjoyed my Bugo class!! I got in 5 SWATs and 4 days of Extras. Not too shabby! And I felt great at each class. That is, except for Saturday morning candidate class.

We started with a warm-up run; 1 trampoline "stepper", jump over targets, side-to-sides, kicks on the bags on the back wall. I think we ended up doing 5 "laps". Next we went into some kicking and boxing skills. Then it was short 2 kata with the entire group. After that, we were split into the "August" candidates and everyone else. Since I'm in cycle for December, I was with "everyone else".

Ms. Stefani had "everyone else" run through XMA form 1, XMA form II, Kamaset 2 and then the black belts did American Bo form. During these forms, I started getting really lightheaded and thought I was going to faint. And it showed in my performance! UGH!! I was awful!! I made it through the class but had to skip out on the 2 mile timed run.

Anyways, to make a long story even longer, I had taken some "strong" cough syrup the night before and I think the effects lasted until the next morning. Although I am a pharmacist, I really dont like taking medicine. But, the last time I got a "chest cold", I ended up with pneumonia and honestly thought I was going to die! So now, I'm paranoid and treat my cough/chest cold quickly and aggressively.

It was no surprise that I came down with a "cold" last week. Everone at work has been sick; multiple times. But my immune system is pretty hardy and the "head" part of the cold only lasted less than 2 days. And, it didn't stop me from working out!!! Yeah!! But that's probably not something I should be cheering about.

The good news is there are no more Saturday morning candidate classes until August! So I get to sleep in for a few weeks!! Woo Hoo! But, I might move my long runs from Sunday to Saturday; we'll see.......

The absolute best thing about this week was meeting up with some friends on Saturday night. My friend Mary hosted a "tropical" party at her new house. It was a great party; good people, good food/drink and good music.

Slán go fóill (Gaelic Good-bye for now)

Dani aka blonderx

Totals for the Week:

Karate: 5 classes
SWAT: 5 classes
Extras: 4 workouts
PiYo: 2 workouts
Run: 1 run; 3.44 miles

Calm Before The Storm.....

2008-06-14T14:11:00.001-07:00

Recovery week #2 comes to an end

I know that after the marathon, my body needs time to rest and recover. So I took it easy; I went to a few karate classes, I ran some short runs. But boy, I feel like a slacker!!! I worked so hard for my conditioning, strength and endurance that I hate to think that I could be "losing it" by taking time off from karate/running. I hate "rest days" on my workout log!!!

But thankfully, this brief respite is coming to an end. It's time to start training for the NYC marathon!! Woo Hoo!!! For San Diego, I used a 16 week, training program (modified Hanson's). But, there were a few flaws in that program. First, I ran into some scheduling challenges which didn't allow me to get in as many long, long runs as I needed. Second, I did only 1 "hill" training run. And boy did I paid for that!!

So, for the NYC marathon, I've made a few modifications.

I've extended the "training" from 16 weeks to 20 weeks. This will allow me to get in at least (2) 20-milers and (1) 22-miler run.

I'm increasing from 4 runs a week to 5 runs a week

1-Speed Workout

1-Hill Workout

1-LSD Workout (and no, that's not the drug!!! it's Long, Slow, Distance run)

For my 1st marathon, I did a little bit of speed work; primarily interval runs. I think it was helpful, but more so for my timed karate runs than for my marathon. For NYC, I'm going to do more tempo runs. Tempo or "marathon pace" runs will mean I do warm-up and cool-down runs at a "relaxed" pace, but the miles in between are run at the pace I want to run for the marathon. And for NYC, I AM going to finish in less than 5 hours, which means my marathon pace will have to be 11:27 min/mile or better. So I will train with a tempo pace of 10 min/mile, or maybe faster!!! or, with the summer temps in the 90's, maybe slower!!?!?!

Hill workout is probably the area I need to focus on the most. Yes, I know. Hill training in Florida is an oxymoron!!! Well, I have 2 options for hill training. The first is the treadmill. Boring!!!! The second option is to train on the intracoastal bridges. But, that means I will be inhaling lots of car exhaust. So which is worse, boredome or car exhaust?

I'm excited about my next marathon. I'm excited about running the NYC marathon. It's only 2nd to the Boston marathon in prestige, and with my run times, I won't be making it to Boston anytime soon! My only concern is the timing. The marathon is right around the time when it will be "Power Week" for karate. Power week is the actual black belt test where all of our skills and drills are tested over a week period.

Getting my 2nd degree black belt is very important to me. And I don't want to have to chose one over the other. I want it all! So far, 2008 has been a tremendous year. Already, I have accomplished so much! I ran my 1st 1/2 marathon; I ran my 1st marathon; I stopped a 25 year smoking habit and I took on a new job that is both challenging and rewarding. I know I can do anything I put my mind to. So I WILL run the NYC marathon and I WILL work as hard as I can to get my 2nd degree black belt!

Run long,
Modesty, Courtesy, Integrity, Self Control, Perseverence, Indominable Spirit

Dani
aka blonderx

I Rocked 'n Rolled In San Diego!

2008-06-08T06:47:00.001-07:00

I did it! I ran a marathon!!!! "What an experience!!".

The adventure started on Thursday May 29th. The flights to San Diego were great. Primarily because I flew first class; gotta love those frequent flyer miles!! I figured my legs would be tired/sore on the return flight and would "deserve" the extra legroom!

Friday was expo day. My sister's friend Elisa and her 9 month-old daughter Brody joined us for the trip to the Expo. Brody was so cute, a blondie and a "chunky monkey" just like Lauren was at that age. Anyways, we started by getting our bibs and t-shirts. The t-shirt was surprisingly nice; usually I give them away but I think I might actually wear this one. We stopped at the Marines' booth where they had a chin-up bar challenge. I held myself up there for 50 seconds. The girl before me did 70 seconds! Wow! But, my time was good enough for a t-shirt that said "Pain is Fear leaving the body", I like that!

The expo was a good size. There were lots of booths hawking new clothes, drinks, energy goos, trinkets, souveniers, etc. But not so many that one would tire out their legs 2 days before the race. After the expo, we dropped off Elisa and Brody, then headed out to meet some of Yvonne's fellow teachers for happy hour. Beer does qualify as carbo loading!!! We had to get going because my nephew Kevin was playing trombone in the 5th grade band concert that evening.

Saturday was designated as "rest" day. I spent most of the morning in bed, on the laptop catching up on some work. Yvonne was at her high school for the annual boat "test". Students are given pieces of wood and have to build a pool-worthy boat, that can hold a student. David and the kids and I went to watch the "test". It was great! The kids had to have a theme for their boat. My favorite was the kid who dressed up in a suit and his boat was the "The Science Guy, Bill Nye". He made it across the pool. The "Luck of the Irish" didn't have much luck and sank immediately. What a great event!

Saturday night, we carbo loaded with lots of baked ziti. Then Yvonne and I got all our race stuff ready and went to bed around 10pm.

Sunday morning, the alarm went off at 3:30am. I got up, got ready and had my racing usual breakfast of a bagel. We left the house around quarter of 5am, hit the highway and as we got close to the airport exit, we came to a dead halt. Too many cars trying to get off at 1 exit. I was surprisingly calm; normally I would be freaking out. But, I wasn't driving. I know Yvonne felt terrible. I don't think she expected as much traffic. After waiting what seemed like an hour; no, actually, it was an hour, we finally made it to the parking area and got on the shuttle bus. It was now 6:15am; the race started at 6:30.

The shuttle bus dropped us off at the back end of the starting line with less than 5 minutes till the start of the race. I did a quick sun screen spray, put on my hydration belt and then we took off running to the UPS gear check spot. Next, we ran to the porta-potty and waited in line. After Yvonne and I got out of the PP, we gave each other a quick hug, wished each other good luck, then headed for our separate starting corrals.

Before I made it to my corral, the race started. So I just jumped into a corral and then realized it was #22. I was supposed to be in #14 so I was quite a bit "behind". So, I jumped out of #22 and ran up the sidelines to find a "faster" corral. Each corral holds 1,000 runners, so when I jumped back in, I had only gotten up to #19. I stayed, but kept getting stuck behind people who talking, taking picture, having a really good social event. But I was ready to RUN!!! I stayed cool and eventually we made it to the starting line; 12 minutes after the race began. Thank goodness for timing chips!

Being in a slower corral should have kept me from going out too fast. But it didn't. As usual, the adrenaline of the race, the people and the music amped me up! The "selling point" of the Rock 'n Roll marathon is that there are bands everywhere. They are at the beginning, the end and spaced out almost every mile on the course. And there are bands covering all types of music styles.

The first miles were in downtown San Diego. It was pretty flat, the weather was in the mod-60's and the marine layer was in place keeping the skies overcast. Yes, perfect running weather! I was doing mid-10 minute miles. While this may sound slow (and really it is!), my intention was to run the first half of the race at an 11:30 pace and pick up on the back half. Well, what do they say about good intentions?

Just past mile 8, we moved out of downtown San Diego to the 163 highway. Here we were greated with hills and cambers. The elevations weren't too steep, just rolling up and down, up and down. I did my best to run on the flattest portion of the 163 and avoid the incline, especially since I had experienced some ITB pain in my left leg. My pace slowed down a bit; I was running mid-11's

Around mile 12, we finished the highway portion and got back onto "city" roads. A couple of things happened. First, the marine layer wore off and the sun emerged, shining brightly. Second, I finally caught up with the 5:00 pace group (since they started in a corral ahead of me). I hit the 1/2 way point of 13.1 miles in 2:28. At this point I realized my #3 goal of 4:30 was pretty much out of the question; but goal #2 of 5:00 was still well within my reach.

At mile 13.1 the pace runners switched out. The new pacer was pretty cool. He told us this was his 1st time pacing and that he normally runs a 3:00 marathon (WOW!). He had us walk through the water stops since we were a bit ahead. But then at mile 15 he saw the time on the race clock of 3:00 and said we were way behind. I don't think he accounted for the time to cross the start line. Anyways, he increased the pace quite a bit and at at mile 16.5 I started falling behind.

By now, my knees really started to hurt. Both of them. Really Badly!! My pace dropped and at mile 18 I had to walk. From mile 18 to 24, I walked/ran; mostly walked, but incorporated short bits of running. This was the pity party time. I was hearing people shout, "Go Runners" and all I could think was that, I wasn't running. They weren't shouting for me. One spectator saw my name on my bib and said, "keep going Dani". I think that made me feel even worse. At one point, one of the Team in Training coaches on the side line asked me if I was okay. Did I look that bad??? I told him I was fine, thank you.

At my worst point, I started questioning whether I would ever do a marathon again. A couple of weeks earlier, due to my pre-race exuberance, I had signed up for the NYC marathon. For runners who don't time qualify (ie. slow runners like me!), there is a lottery to get in. At mile 21-22, I was thinking there's no way in hell that I was doing this again! Hopefully, my name won't get picked for NYC. But then I started thinking, I also said that about childbirth; and I have 2 kids........so..........

There was never any doubt that I would finish the marathon. Come hell or high water, I was going to run, walk or crawl. I kept thinking about the mantra from my black belt cycle, "Pain is Temporary, Pride Lasts a Lifetime". I knew the the pride of finishing a marathon was going to feel as good as when I achieved my black belt. And nothing was going to get in my way of achieving that victory! Not even 2 bony, painful, old knees!

When I got to mile 23, my spirits lifted. There was only a 5k to the finish line. Just over 3 miles, no sweat! We were headed to the finish line at the Marine Corp Recruiting Depot. At mile 24 I started running again, albeit slowly. I set my ipod to my "motivating" songs. I got to mile 25 and now there's only 1.2 miles. I could do that in my sleep! Mile 26, only 2/10th of a mile. Cue in the ipod to "Theme from Rocky"; yes it's corny, but it works!!!. I ran fast like I had gotten a new pair of knees. Actually, I wasn't running, I was floating. One more turn, and there it was, the finish line! I crossed in 5:41:02 chip time. I started crying because I was emotionally exhausted/exhillarated......and this tall Marine looked at me and said something, I can't even remember what he said, and I started crying more! I was a wreck!

I had done it. I walked over to the medal area and got my finisher's medal. The "end" was constructed very well. It's designed to keep you busy and walking so that your legs don't cramp up. They gave out wet towels, took pictures with your medals, and had tons of water and food (bagels, bananas, etc.), they also had marathon blankets but I didn't take one. After making it through the maze, I went to the UPS trucks to pick up my gear bag. And there was Yvonne sitting by the truck. She finished in 4:40:39, how awesome!!!

We moved our stiff and aching bodies to the shuttle bus line. After a stop at Jamba Juice, we got home. I wrapped both knees with ice packs, took 800mg of ibuprofen and then took a nap.

Monday was the trip home. The knee pain was gone and I was only a bit sore on the outside of my quads. Getting up and sitting down took a few extra seconds! There were lots of people in the airport wearing some sort of RNR shirt. There were a couple on my flight to Dallas and we chatted briefly. When I landed in Ft. Lauderdale, I met a lady waiting for the shuttle to the parking lot, who also did the RNR. We compared sun burns! My sunscreen application missed a few spots, mostly my shoulders.

So this adventure has come to an end. Or has it? Thursday night I got an email from the NYC marathon. Sure enough, I was picked! Go figure!

till my next blog,

run long

dani

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-26T18:53:00.001-07:00

Memorial Day @ Universal Studios!!!

It was a nice holiday weekend. I left early from work; ok, only 15 minutes, but that's still early!!! We loaded up the Jeep, stopped for Dunkin Donuts coffee, got a tank of gas, and had to buy a car charger for my phone. But by 6:15, we were on our way to Orlando.

Normally, I don't travel on holiday weekends. It's for the same reason I don't go out on New Year's Eve; too many idiots on the road. But, scheduling and the bowling tourament forced me to deal with these idiots. And from Fort Lauderdale to past West Palm Beach, there was tons of people trying to get out of Dodge!.

We finally made it to Orlando close to 10pm. Of course, it started raining 10 minutes before we made it to the hotel. Which meant we got a bit "wet" unloading the Jeep.

Saturday morning: We did a quick breakfast at McD's. Next, it was back to the hotel for a group picture. Then, off to the bowling alleys. Saturday was the "short" day; only 3 games for Team. Lauren bowled well; all 3 games above her average. Ryan on the other hand; well, let's leave that for another day.

After bowling, we went back to the hotel to change clothes. And then, it was off to Universal Studios. We got to the park and the 1st ride we went to was "The Mummy". The wait was advertised as 45 minutes, but actually was only 30. Ryan was a bit apprehensive and closed his eyes for most of the ride. Next, we went to the new "Simpsons" ride. This was brand new; it only opened this past week. But, there was a wait of 110 minutes. We still went there, but after about 10 minutes in line, we decided to go somewhere else.

So, we left Universal Studios and went to Islands of Adventure. And, the 1st thing we did was go to "The Hulk" rollercoaster. The wait was probably between 45 and 60 minutes. But as always, the ride "ROCKED"!!!!!. Next it was off to "Dueling Dragons". But alas, after a 20 minute wait in line, rain and lightening forced the ride to close. The kids and I took refuge in the gift shop as the sky opening and rain came pouring down. When it finally eased up we headed for the exit. Getting out of the parking garage was torture; definitely not as organized as Disney is.

Sunday morning we went to Cracker Barrell!!!! Love the "mama's breakfast"; 2 eggs, bacon & 3 pancakes. I always ask for Blueberry syrup!! YUM!!! Now, time to bowl. Sunday was team and individual bowling. Lauren bowled with Danielle for team. Lauren did very well and bowled a new personal high score of 166. She didn't do as well for individual, but that's ok!. Ryan bowled with Melissa for team. He bowled under his average for both teams and individuals; he did not have a good bowling weekend!

After bowling on Sunday we drove home. The kids would have like to stay an extra day to go to either Universal or Disney. But, since I am leaving Thursday for California, I wanted to have Monday at home to take care of things; like laundry, packing for Cali, etc.

Tuesday May 27th is Ryan's 11th birthday. The plan was that Mark would take Ryan to BC Surf & Sport shop so that Ryan could pick out his BDay gift. But, Ryan was "whooped"!!! He didn't have a fever, but he said he had a headache, and spend most of Memorial Day in my bed either sleeping or watchintg TV. So hopefully Mark will take him to BC after school on Tuesday.

San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon.......................

1 week to go!!! I got in an 8 mile run this morning (Monday) in 1 hour 24 minutes. I ran around the neighborhood. It was around 80 degree F; and felt worse when the sun popped out from the clouds. I'm planning on runnimg Wednesday night. We have a 2 mile timed run for karate, and that will be my last run before the marathon.

I'm so psyched. I'm going to be running with my sister Yvonne; plus, Alex from karate is also going out to SD to run the race. Plus, from the Phedip group, there seems to be several other runners. So, I will be running with many friends!!! My training could have been better; but, with everything else going on in my life, I'm happy with what I was able to do.

As a previous Phedip poster put it; I have 3 goals
#1 Goal: to finish my 1st marathon
#2 Goal: to finish in less that 5 hours
#3 Goal: to finish ihn less than 4:30

I am excited and nervous!!!! I've never run this distance before. But I am a person who loves a challenge and this is my longest challenge to date!!!! I WILL PERSEVERE!!!!

My next post will be after the race. I want to thank all my friends and family who have been following me on my blog and wishing me well. Thanks!! I have the best friends and family a person could want!!!

Baby Birdies & Countdown to San Diego RNR

2008-05-22T18:29:00.001-07:00

A bird has made her home in my old (not being used anymore) ashtray sitting on top of our tv on the back patio. Mama bird has been on her nest for a few days so I think we're going to have baby birdies soon!

Marathon Countdown has begun!! June 1st is almost here!!!

On Monday I did my "usual" pre-karate run. I ran 4.01 in 40:53. I wore my "new" Nike air pegasus that I got for the marathon and have been slowly "breaking in". I kept my orthotics in my "old" Brooks and bought some heel inserts for the Nikes. The thought was for the marathon, I'd wear Nikes + heel insert which weigh considerably less than the Brooks + orthotics. But, I'm now feeling pain in my right heel. So......

On Wednesday, I ran my loop around the neighborhood, running 5.05 in 52:29. For that run, I wore my Brooks + orthotics. And my heel definitely felt better. So, for my next run, I'm going to take the orthotics from the Brooks & move to the Nikes and see how that works.

I made it to karate on Monday and Tuesday, for class and SWAT. In class, we were introduced to XMA chuck form 1. We'll be working on that kata for the next couple months. I think I got most of it down pretty good; I'll just need to work on getting all the details nice and crisp. I did my "extras" on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

So it's now Thursday night and I have to go pack for the weekend. The kids are bowling in the state tournament again this year. And again this year, it's being held in Orlando. So, the kids and I will leave Friday after I get out of work. We should arrive close to 9pm. Saturday will be the "short" day, it's the Singles bowling (only 3 games). Sunday is the "long" day since they'll bowl 3 games for Teams and 3 games for Doubles. Saturday after bowling, we'll head out to Universal Studios. I'm so psyched because the new "Simpsons" ride just opened up this month. Cowabunga dude!!!! We're heading home Sunday night. The kids would love to stay there through Monday (like we did last year). But since my marathon is the following weekend, I need that Monday to pack for the trip to San Diego, plus actually have a day "off".

Day off!!!! Who am I kidding, there's no such thing as a "day off" with kids!!!

Till the next blog, Run long.........

Twisters Rock!!

2008-05-17T15:02:00.001-07:00

My daughter Lauren plays softball for the city city of Oakland Park. This year, like last year, she is on the Twisters team. Last years team had a number of good players (including Lauren, but that's my biased opinion!!!). They made it all they way to the championship game, but unfortunately, lost. This year's Twister team struggled with hitting and fielding and had an "average" season. Expectations weren't that high for the playoffs.

This past Monday night was playoff game 1; Twisters versus Cyclones. On the Cyclones was Lauren's BFF Katie. Twisters won the coin flip and were the home team. It was a good game. Final score, Twisters 7, Cyclones 4. Yeah!!!

Thursday night was playoff game 2; Twisters versus Storm. Storm was the "best team", having only lost 1 or 2 games in the season. Storm won the coin flip, so the Twisters were the visiting team. Monday night, the girls played well. But Thursday night, the girls ROCKED THE HOUSE!!! The were catching balls like crazy; they went into a hitting rally; they were amazing. Where was this all season!!! All the parents in the stands were cheering like it was a MLB game. The final score, drum roll please........Twisters 14, Storm 4. The girls were so excited to win; and to get to the championship game.

Friday night, Championship game. Twisters versus Thunder, aka the highlighter team (their shirts are the same yellow color as highlighters). Twisters won the coin flip and were the home team. Both teams were playing well, and at the end of 1st inning, Twisters were in the lead 4-2. Fast forward to the bottom of the 4th inning; Twisters 7, Thunder 5. There were 20 minutes left in the game, so another inning was started. The first batter popped a quick out. But then, they scored 2 runs and the game was tied 7-7. The tension in the stands was intense!!! Lauren then went into stealth mode; she pitched quickly and lethaly, striking out the next 2 batters and the inning was over (whew!!!). Now, to the bottom of the 5th inning. Shannon is up to bat and hits a double. Meghan hits into an out at 1st. That's ok, only 1 out. Next up to bat is Lauren. And, she smacks a hard hit into right field, bringing in Shannon to score. Yeah, Twisters Win!!!! It's amazing how exciting it was, to both the kids and the parents.

It was a bittersweet week. For as much as I enjoyed Lauren's softball, 3 games in a week pretty much shot running and karate out of whack.

Karate

I only made it to the dojo 2 times this week (UGH!!). Monday's class was primarily demo practice. We made some changes to the kamaset 2 kata. Wednesday night was exam night. The demo went well and I think Kamaset 2 rocked!! We're at the point in black-belt cycle where the candidates "test" with the examinees. So even though my goal is December (not August), I asked to perform with the other candidates; the performance experience is always good. I did well; a few missteps on a kicking routine, but that's ok. I got to lead Chuck form 1 and I think we rocked it!!!

I have to go through 2 "cycles" to get my 2nd degree black belt. Each cycle is a 16 week interval of HELL!!! (but I love it!!!). In cycle, we are pushed to reach our physical "peaks". One of the main requirements is attendance and committment. Friday night was the 1st black belt "check" (pre-exam). It was also the night of my daughter's softball championship. Both are important to me, but I had to choose. I chose my daughter. She might only have that 1 championship game where she drives in the winning run. And I would feel terrible to miss it. Missing the karate pre-check may push back my goals by a few months, but that's okay!

Running

Only 3 runs this week. Tuesday I got in 4.11 miles in 39:44 (wow, not bad for me!!!). Thursday I ran a quick 2.08 miles in 15:55. Sunday was my long run. I had to make up for missing last weekends run. My thought was to do 14-16 miles and I ended up with 13.82 miles in 2:28:22. Not a great time, but considering it was in the mid to upper 80's, I'm happy with it.

So for the week, I ended up with 20.01 miles. And, 2 weeks from today (Sunday) is my 1st marathon!!!!!! I am getting psyched up. I can do it!!!!

I saw on the Phedip group that the NY marathon was still accepting entries. For some reason I thought it had closed. Anyways, I went ahead and registered. The "lottery" is in mid-June. It would be so cool if I get picked. It would give me an opportunity to go visit my dad in NY. I think my chances are pretty slim; but, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The biggest problem would be training in the hot weather down here. While treadmills in the AC may work, I can't imagine doing anything more than 5 miles on it.

In my last blog I had a picture of Lauren with the hair she cut off for Locks of Love. This past Saturday I cut off 6 inches of hair. I couldn't grow out the other 4 inches (10 inches is the minimum LOL will take). My hair hit a plateau and wouldn't grow anymore! And, with the running and the heat, the length was driving me nuts!!!! But, now it feels wierd when I wash or brush my hair, it's all gone!!!! It's a girl thing.......

I know I haven't mentioned much about work. So many other things are going on. But, everythings going well. I'm really happy; it was a very good move, lots of good people!!!

Buenos noches!!!!!

The Longest Run

2008-05-13T20:06:00.001-07:00

Here's Lauren holding the 10 and 1/2 inches of her hair she's donating to Locks of Love. I'm so proud of her!

Running:

Monday I did my 4-miler behind the karate dojo in 38:05. I really like that run! It's a straight run, up and back 2 times. Plus, it's in a residential area and I'm running at the time when people are taking their evening walks or are out walking their dogs. So it's a "friendly" run.

Wednesday's run was 5.14 miles in 47:52; not too bad! Saturday I was supposed to do a timed 2-mile run after karate candidate class. But I had to leave because of the kids' softball and bowling. So instead, I ran that night around the island, doing 3 miles in 27:04.

Running is supposed to be an simple sport; all you need is a pair of running shoes. Yeah right; maybe if you are only running one mile. But this week, it was time for my last and longest long run. Yep, my 20-miler. So, Saturday night I had to do some prep work. Sunscreen, check. Sunglasses, check. Hat, check. Cran-razzberry shot blocks, check. Garmin watch (charged!!), check; heart rate monitor, check. Non-chafing socks, check. Ipod loaded with favorite running podcasts, check. Chilled bottle of water and warm bottle of sports drink, check, check, check!!! OK, off to bed to rest up for the morning run.

Sunday morning I was up at 5am, showered and had my usual cup of coffee and a Luna protein bar. Then all of a sudden, oh no, the GI rumble........and.....then.... well, I won't go into specifics, but suffice it to say, I wasn't going anywhere....

So here's the problem. it's getting way to warm to run at any time other than 1st thing in the morning; we're talking upper 80's to low 90's UGH!!!. Second, this was supposed to be my last long run then I would start my taper my long runs to 12 and 8 miles. Now, since I didn't get the 20 miler in, I'll have to get in a 14 or 16 miler next weekend.

Karate

Monday's class was demo practice. I'm doing a modified kamaset 2 (again!). This is the 3rd or 4th demo I've done this kata. I think it's a great kata and I love the kama weapons, but I'm really ready to do something else. Thursday's class was great because it was "Spotlight Week" which meant NO BUGO!!!! Friday's class was a good "happy hour" class. Saturday morning candidate's class was good; we started with a good cardio workout and then worked on most of the forms/katas (bookset, XMA forms 1 & 2, chuck form 2 and the bo staff). It was a good karate week; I got in all 4 classes and did 5 days of "extra" work.

Starting the countdown~~

2008-05-07T16:59:00.001-07:00

So I'm late again in posting my blog. Initially, I thought I'd have no problems posting my blog every Saturday night (since it's not like I have a life and actually do anything on Saturday nights!). Well, that quickly turned into, I can post my blog on Sunday night, after the kids have gone to sleep. Boy, what was I thinking of. We do so much running around on the weekends that on Sunday nights, I'm going to bed about the same time the kids are. So, the blog gets pushed back to Monday night, which then turns into Tuesday, and so on.

I really enjoy "blogging". But, like so many other things that I enjoy in life, running, karate, NYT crossword puzzles, etc., they all fall second fiddle to more important things like grocery shopping, paying bills, picking the kids up from school. You know the routine.

But now the true reason for my rambling digression into my blogging schedule. Basically, I'm putting in fluff, filler, extra sentances; because I have barely anything to report. Yup, scheduling last week SUCKED!!! The kids had baseball/softball games on 2 nights, Mark worked 2 nights, and we had the annual inventory at work on Friday night and Saturday day. So I didn't make it to karate at all. I was in Karate withdrawals!!!!!

I mentioned we had inventory at work. What a difference. Friday night, we started around 5:30pm and I was home by 10pm. Saturday we started at 8:30am and I was home by 3pm. Compare that to my prior employer where I was still at the facility at 2:30am Friday night/Saturday morning. Things ran so much smoother.

I was able to get in 1 run on Sunday; running 12 miles in 2:11:08. It's funny; after doing 17 miles last week, 12 miles seemed like a breeze!! And it wasn't that long ago when I was training for the 1/2 marathon when I though 13 miles seemed humongous!!! Actually, I think 13 miles is perfect; it's long enough to test your endurance, but not so long that it'll kill ya!!!! Speaking of which, the marathon is in 3 and 1/2 weeks!!!! Woo Hoo!!!

Till the next blog, Cioa!

Time's just flying by.....

2008-04-25T19:10:00.001-07:00

Yeah! Another week closer to my 1st marathon!!!

Running

Monday: Went for a brief run, basically to stretch out my calves after last weekend's long run. Ran 1.44 miles when I met up with my neighbors walking their dog. So, I stopped running and walked around the island with them. I chatted with the "govenor" about running; he's run many marathons and always has good stories about them.

Wednesday: Another timed 2 mile run for karate. Since I have already made my "time" and won't be testing for my belt until November/December, I'm not going "all out" and risking injury with my timed runs. Instead, I'm going to help the candidates for the August cycle to get their times under 16 minutes. This night, I ran next to a young boy (I don't know his name yet). He's a cute red-head, probably around Ryan's age (11). He ran well, but after 1 mile, he was starting to slow down. I would "encourage" him (OK, I kinda yelled at him!) to pick up the pace. I kept on him because I know how "easy" it is to slow down or quit and how "hard" it is to keep going. But we both kept going and finished in 15:49.

Thursday: This was the only "sore" spot for the week. Before starting my run, I went to turn on my Garmin and it was dead. Not again! I was so mad!! I charged it Monday after my run and saw the display reading "Battery Charging Complete". I disconnected it from the charger to make sure the charge wasn't getting "drawn down" from the contacts. This is like the 6th time this has happened in 4 months. I think there's definitely a problem with this product. Problem is, I can't start the process of getting it fixed because I'll most likely have to send it in and I'm only 5 weeks away from my marathon and really need it. So, I'll just have to make sure I keep the watch/timer on the charger every night. Anyways, getting back to my running. I ran the "alternate karate route", down 15th ave from the dojo to Pine Crest and back, 2 times, for a total run of 4 miles. I'm estimating the time to be around 36 minutes. Overall, it was a very nice run; but afterwards I felt some pain in my right heel.

Sunday: 19-mile long run day!!! I had everything prepped and was out the door at 6am. Temperature was 75 degrees. Parked at the Sea Ranch Lakes Publix (grocery store) and ran south down the beach to the Southport Publix. I hit the 17th Street Causeway bridge at around mile 8 and then again on my return at mile 9.5. It's a pretty high bridge so that was my "hill" training! On my "northbound" return on A-1-A, a cyclist was hit by a car pulling out from a hotel. He was lying on the road, not moving but people were talking to him; he was wearing a helmet (thank goodness). It was sad. But, I had to continue running. My knee started hurting again; noticeably around mile 9 and got progressively worse. So much so that at miles 12 and 15, I stopped running at my "water break". That of course, only made it worse when I started running again. I had to stop running at 17.06 miles; my time was 3:12:47, for an 11:18/mi average pace.

Later in the morning, I stopped by my local running store. I showed one of the "experts" where I was feeling pain in my knee; I was told (confirming my suspicion) that it was an IT band injury. He showed me a stretch to do but basically the "treatment" is to stop/cut back on running. Needless to say, my "age" is finally sinking in to my brain (and the rest of my body). As much as I want to think I am this late 20's/early 30's athlete that can just start running cold. The truth is that I am a 42-year old who now really has to stretch her calves, hamstrings, quads, and now IT band before she runs/does karate/etc. What a bummer......
So, for the week, I ran a total of, drum roll please,.......25.5 miles, another record week!

Karate:

This was an "average" karate week. Started with the 8:30pm class on Monday. On Wednesday after the timed run, I SWATTED the 7:45 class. Stef asked me to gear up and that's when I realized I left my gear bag at home. Ugh! This was not good. Wednesday night's class was a candidate check. I couldn't go home; I had to stay and take class. So, I went through the lost and found to find gear and luckily found a "full set". But, it really STUNK!!!! Class was ok; it was Bugo (not my favorite or one of my "strengths"). I was happy to "survive" class.
Thursday: Normally, I only go to one "B" class a week; either Wednesday or Thursday. This week, to get in all my required classes, I had to got to class on both Wed & Thurs. I was not looking forward to 2 "B" classes; especially 2 days in a row. Thursday's class was ok. First, I brought my own, "less stinky" gear. Next, because I had taken class on Wednesday, I knew what to expect; I knew the drills that we would work on. At the end of class on both Wed & Thurs, everyone went to the "wall" and then certain people were called to spar. Both nights, I was not called in the initial "round". I was in the 2nd group. I know I'm not the best at sparring, but it's getting frustrating always being picked "last".
Friday: BBC night......Tonight was MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) #4. I'm not a huge fan of MMA; especially the ground work (jui jitsu). But, it's required for black-belt, so I have to learn it. I partnered with Janine and actually had a pretty good class. We did the sleeper hold and take downs. The thing I most dislike about MMA is that it's not a class that works the cardio, compared to the normal, Friday "Happy Hour" class. Most times, I barely break a sweat. And tonight was no exception.
This week there's no candidate class on Saturday morning. I think Ma'am is out-of-town. And, that's probably why the "candidate check" was on Wed. night. I'm kind of bummed because Saturday candidate classes are the best; they have tons of cardio, work the abs, hit the push-ups, practice katas, etc. Basically, after class and into the next day, you really feel that you have had a good work out.

Pharmacy.......

My 1st week at the new job was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a smaller organization than my last employer. But, we are being "acquired" by a new company this coming week, which should result in new business. And, it sounds like the new business will be added in a "smarter" manner than at my previous employer.
I spent much of the 1st week training in the different departments and getting a good idea of the work flow. While there are a number of "scheduled responsibilities", there seems to be ample time available to dedicate to special projects and continuous quality improvement. I know it's only been 1 week, but I really get the sense that there is a "team mentality" here. Yeah!!!
I have 8 pharmacists that report to me, as well as the inventory supervisor. Much more reasonable than the 162 persons that I had reporting to me at my last job.........

Time is slowly ticking away till my marathon......5 more weeks. I can't get over the fact that it's almost May......Dear Lord, where did the time go. Speaking of going, it's my time to sign off till next weeks blog. Cioa!!!

Good-bye minivan

2008-04-19T19:04:00.001-07:00

Running

Monday: Time to break in the new running shoes! I ran the 2-mile loop from the dojo to 62nd street and back 2 times; so, I did 4 miles in approx. 36 minutes. I went straight from work to the dojo and didn't pack my Garmin with my running gear. The new shoes felt ok; definitely "lighter" than the brooks. I didn't put my orthotics in the Nike's, and I felt some heel pain.

Wednesday: Didn't go to work today.....After dropping the kids off at school, stopped by the drug store for some heel inserts for the new sneakers. South Florida was in the midst of a "cold front" and the temp was upper 50's, lower 60's, perfect running weather. So I put the new heel pads in the new shoes and went for a 7 mile run in 1:07:40.

Saturday: After karate candidate class, we had another 2 mile timed run. Since I already "made my time" last week, I figured I didn't need to go "all out". Instead, I figured I'd run a bit slower, especially since I knew I was going to do my long run that night and didn't want to "stress" my legs/knee. I pretty much ran the entire run next to 2 younger boys (9 or 10 years old). My "mother" instinct kicked in and I made it my "job" to make sure they didn't slow down. I finished my 2 miles in 15:38, only 14 seconds slower than last week. So much for "taking it easy"! Like last week, I was the fastest female. This still blows my mind. I know I have put a lot of effort into my running; all the miles I run, as well as quitting smoking. But the feeling I have knowing that I was the slowest during my 1st degree cycle and to now be the fastest female in my 2nd degree cycle, it's beyond words!!

Saturday (part II-The "Long Run"): I really had to push myself out the door tonight for my long run. I started later that I should have. And, Mark was at work, Lauren was at a friend's house, that left Ryan. Rather than take him to Grandma's, I let him stay home alone. He'll be 11 next month and knows all the rules; don't answer the door, don't answer the telephone unless it's family; don't use the stove/microwave/toaster. I started with a course similar to Wednesday's 7 mile run, and lengthened it. Still, because it was late, I ended the run at 11.37 miles in 2:00:35.

Karate: Exam/Demo Week

Monday: Demo practice! I was a part of the Muay Thai demonstration; each person did 3 combinations. My "side" did (1) Jab, Cross, Hook, Right 180, Lead Round kick; (2) Left front kick, left Axe kick; Jab, Cross; Left roundhouse kick, Right 180; (3) "thread the needle", right knee, left knee; right 180 low kick. Then I held pads for my partners 3 combos. I was also a part of Kamaset 2.

Wednesday: Exam night! Demo went well! The performance was high energy!

Saturday: Candidate Class.....started with the "obstacle course" run (trampolines & cones), then had some conditioning work and finished with first 4 katas (appreciation form, short 1, long 1, short 2).

My Good-bye week....

Good-bye to work: Thursday night, a bunch of people took me to dinner. We went to a very nice Italian restaurant; they must have know Italian food is my favorite!!! It was great; good food, good people. Friday at work, during lunch break, David and Victoria got 2 cakes (one chocolate, one vanilla); they were yummy!!! Marina gave me roses; how sweet!!! I got 2 cards, signed by so many people. And, a book of quotes (I love quotes!!! How did they know!?!?) plus very generous gift cards. It was so sad; I really developed a lot of friendships there. But, I sent out my personal email address and cell phone # so they can all stay in touch. It was kinda surprising; I really didn't say where I was going or what position I was taking, but so many people came up to me to indicate that if my "new place" needed people, they would come over (because of me). I was told that Shirley (God love her!) went to the site manager and told her that "Dani was a good manager, everyone will miss her".

Good-bye Minivan: Yeah! Yeah! I traded in the '97 minivan and got back into my Jeep. I loved my 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It had a few minor (expensive) mechanical issues and was labeled a "lemon" by a certain person who shall remain nameless. So, I traded it in for a 2006 Dodge Durango. But, since Mark took over the Durango leaving me in the minivan, it was time to get my Jeep back! And I did. This one is even better; it has more bells & whistles! It's got a power passenger seat, rain sensor wipers, hands-free phone, back-up monitor, plus, it's got a navigational system. On our California vacation, we called the rental car's GPS "Shiela". The Jeep's nav system has been christened by the kids as "Gina" the Jeep GPS!!!! The '06 is the newer Jeep body style which I originally wasn't thrilled with; I liked the '03 style better, it was less "boxy". But, the new style has grown on me.

Good-bye for this week!

Speed Racer II

2008-04-10T19:15:00.001-07:00

Running/Karate: Was last weeks timed run a fluke?

Wednesday we had another timed 1-mile run for karate. Last week I ran the mile in 7:15 but struggled the last 1/2 to 1/4 mile because I had started too fast. So this week my plan was to start "slower" and pace myself better. I put a different "secret weapon song" with a slightly slower tempo on my ipod. I hydrated well, used my inhaler, ran a 1/2 mile warm-up; all the same things I did last week. I ran next to Dylan (she's awesome!) and we were running what seemed to be a "good pace". I didn't hear the 1/2 mile split time, but I figured it was "good" (good being anything less than 4 minutes). Finishing the run, I felt very strong; sprinting the last 1/10th mile to finish with a time of 7:08. How could that be? It felt like I ran slower but I had a better time! I think when I run with other people, I lengthen my stride and do much better with staying on pace.

Saturday morning (after a pretty intense candidate class) we had a 2nd timed run for karate. Initially, we were told it would be 1 mile. But as we lined up, it was announced (Surprise!) that it was going to be 2 miles. I wasn't too thrilled to hear that for a several reasons. First, I hadn't eaten that morning and was feeling really hungry. Second, I hadn't used my inhaler. Third, it was sunny and hot. And fourth, I wasn't hydrated well. But, the run started and off I went. I had my headphones on and didn't hear any split times. But, I was in the front 1/3 of runners so I figured my time would be ok. I finished my 2-miler in 15:24!!! So, for my 1st degree black belt, it took me 12 weeks to get my run time; now for my 2nd degree, I have achieved the run time in the 1st week. Not too shabby!! All the miles I have run as well as my quitting smoking have definitely paid off!

For the week, I got in a total of 15.57 miles; another low-mileage week. It's getting really tough with scheduling to find the time to get in the miles.............

This week was "officially" week #1 for Black Belt cycle on my way to getting my 2nd degree. I had my 1st candidate class on Saturday morning. It was good; lots of cardio. I got in my 4 "regular" classes plus 3 "SWAT" classes. SWAT stands for Special Winning Attitude Team; basically, we assist the instructors in the lower classes. By helping to "teach" others, it improves & strengthens our skills. I enjoy SWATTING; I like being able to meet the new students and help them to improve their skills.

Pharmacy: A bittersweet resignation

So Monday morning, I put in my resignation. I was kind of psyched when my manager (TK) told me "she wouldn't accept it". I know how much I have contributed; it's just nice to get confirmation and hear that I was a value to the organization and would be missed.

I do appreciate all that my manager taught me about mail order pharmacy. When I was in a management position, she and I went through some harried times together; she saw me at my best and my worst. We were on conference calls at 6am on Sunday mornings, we were "pushing" orders through and running them to FedEx next door before they closed at 8pm, we were hiring, we were firing, we were training, we were handling escalated issues, we were doing the work of 3 or 4 people each. We "outlived" Frank the Finance "Meanie". I can honestly say that this was the toughest job I have ever had but it was also the job I learned the most from.

I put my resignation in with mixed feelings. While I am excited about my new position, I am sad that I am leaving alot of people that I really like and enjoy working with! It's kind of like breaking up with a boyfriend. The guy's a jerk, but you hate to "lose" his mom & sister! When I made the decision that I could no longer be a manager, I requested to step down to a staff pharmacist position. I wanted to stay with the company because I "believed" in the organization and liked my co-workers. The job "per se" wasn't very challenging and the facility's micromanagement style wasn't what I was used to working with, but the people I worked with were great, (well most of them!!!LOL).

Before mail order, I had worked for Publix Supermarkets for 21 years. Publix was my 2nd family! I started as a cashier in high school, moving up to cash office, HBC clerk, pharmacy technician, pharmacist and Pharmacy Supervisor. I was part of Publix Pharmacy from day 1 when they started putting pharmacies in Publix stores. Although I left Pubix for valid reasons, I have since discovered that the values and beliefs that existed at Publix are not embraced by other companies. Here's hoping the new position brings me back to the values I was "raised" on .......

.....7 weeks till my marathon.....time is just flying by....

dani

Speed Racer

2008-04-02T19:44:00.001-07:00

I'm like 4 days late in posting this blog, which means I either need to post it now, or just wait a couple more days and put 2 weeks worth of stuff into 1 blog. And that would just be cruel....so here it is..............

Running: I started with a bang, did some speed, but ended with a bust......

I started the week strong; running 3.3 miles on Monday and 2.22 on Tuesday.
Wednesday night was the timed 1-mile run for Karate. During my 1st degree black belt cycle, the timed runs were something I dreaded. Mostly because of my runner's knee. It hurt to run, and it hurt badly when I ran fast. Now that I am "in training for a marathon", I've been running almost exclusively for distance, and very little for speed. But, I came to the timed run with the expectation that I was going to do my best and I still have time to work on my "speed". So I hydrated well, used my inhaler, ran a warm up 1/2 mile and had my "secret weapon" on my ipod. I started with a fast pace and kept it up; 3:38 was the 1/2 mile split time. The last 1/2 mile I really had to push myself; my lungs hurt a bit, my legs hurt a little , but I was running fast!!!! I finished the mile in 7:15; I can't remember when I ran that fast. I was so excited!!!! So excited that I came home and ran some more, finishing the night with a total of 4.7 miles.
Saturday was to be my long run day, 16 or so miles. I drove to the beach and it was way too windy. So I went to the running park and ran 4 miles in 35:50. I really need to find some more good places to do longer runs, like between 4 and 8 miles long. I didn't run at all on Sunday. I'm not quite sure why......
For the week, I ran a total of 13+ miles, far shy of what I needed to do.

Quit Report: 2 months and going strong!

As of April 6th, it has been 2 months of NO SMOKING!!!! It's funny because for the most part, I go through my day and don't think about smoking. But at the wierdest times, I will think about wanting a smoke; and it's not at the "typical" times, like after a meal.
When I walk by someone who is smoking, I still like the smell. I wonder how long it will take till I think that smell is repulsive; that is, how long till I become that obnoxious former-smoker, anti-smoking activist!!! I know it will happen, I've seen it before...... The ex-smokers are usually the worse!

Pharmacy

Monday, I got the call! Yeah!!! But wait, it's just that they need me to complete an application, provide references and give my authorization to do background check. OK, I can do that!

Friday, I got another call. This one was the offer!!! The $$$ was right in line with what I was looking for and vacation time is very close to what I have now. I'd says this is a GO!!!! My next step is to go in and sign the offer letter and do a drug screen.

So over the weekend I typed up my resignation letter; nothing fancy, nothing saying that I'm leaving for another/better opportunities, etc. Basically I told my manager what my last day would be and I thanked her for all her "kindnesses". She taught me a lot about mail order pharmacy and was there for me during the struggles we had opening the new facility.

That's all for the week......stay tuned for future episodes of Dani Changes Her Job Again?!?!

Adios!

Nobility, Me???

2008-03-26T19:29:00.001-07:00

Normally I try to post my blog every Sunday. This week I'm a day late and a dollar short, or something along that line. For some reason, I had a major blonde moment. I had saved the blog in draft mode, but couldn't get back in to edit it. I finally figured it out, so here we go.....

A couple of blogs ago, I mentioned I found a Hungarian language podcast. I posted a comment/question on their forum and I got a response!

(Dani) Many years ago, I had an extended visit to Hungary and became semi-fluent in the language. Since returning home, I haven’t had the opportunity to speak Hungarian. It’s been great listening to your podcast and quickly “relearning” the language. Question: When I was in Hungary, my “extended” family couldn’t pronounce my name (Danielle) and instead called me Gizzyka (excuse the spelling). Any translation? Thanks!

(Response) Danielle, I think that they may have been saying “Gizike,” which is a diminutive of Gizella. It’s not a very common name, but one with lots of history. Gizella was the first queen of Hungary, wife of King Istvan I. Perhaps they thought you were of noble blood??

I lived in Hungary from 1984-1986; it's a long story, way too long for this blog. But for over 20 years, I wondered what they were "calling" me. So it was quite a surprise to ready the response. I was expecting something along the line of "crazy-blonde chick". But, they may have thought I was noble!?! Wow!!! LOL!!!

Running: Low mileage this week.

Monday I ran intervals; a total of 3.98 miles in 35:14. Warmed up with 1 and 1/2 mile in 14:14, then did 2 quarter-mile and 2 half-mile intervals, finishing with a 1 mile cool down run. On Wednesday, I did a 3-miler in 27:17.
Saturday: First, I finally figured out how to get split times on my Garmin. It's amazing what you find out when you read the manual!!! I ran 6.5 miles in 59:18, my best mile time was mile #4 @ 8:58. The last 1/2 mile, I "semi-sprinted" and did it in 3:45. Overall it was a very good run. I was happy with my split times, my knee really didn't hurt too much, the weather was good, I was in a good mood. Just a really good run :)
For the week, I only got in 3 runs for a total of 13.47 miles. I should have got in at least 20; but, I'm happy that I got in those 13! Overall, I think I've been pretty darn good (for me) in adhering to my planned training schedule. I'm not going to stress myself out for 1 bad week! Plus, there's 9 weeks till my marathon so I have plenty of time to make it up!

Karate: oops, missed Bugo class!

I only made it to karate twice this week; Monday and Friday, both "A" days. I didn't get in a "B" (Bugo) day. Oh darn...... Instead, I stayed home Thursday night and made 2 pans of baked ziti; 1 for the pot luck lunch at work on Friday, and the other for the house.

I got in 2 days of "Extras" this week. I've added squats to my workout. So going forward, I will generally be doing 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 round kicks, and 100 squats.

Overall, it was kind of an "easy" week, which was nice!

Just Another Manic Monday (yep, it was my B-Day)

Yep, Monday the 24th was my birthday. It's easy to remember; it's always 1 week after St. Patrick's Day! And what did I do to celebrate you ask? Well, I went to work, ran almost 4 miles, and went to karate class. When I got home, Mark and the kids had a cheesecake for me. Overall, nothing spectacular; but that's allright by me! It's not that I'm anti-birthday or trying to hide my age. I believe age is all in your head. And, my head seems to think I'm still in my early 30's (shhhhh, it doesn't need to know the truth!). I just think there are much better things to celebrate other than my birthday. Like my kids' birthdays, Arbor Day, etc. The one exception, of course, will be when I hit the next big milestone. Then I will expect some massive celebration (eg. trip to Ireland). Of course, this means I will have to plan it if I want it to happen....... oh well.......

Pharmacy

I previously interviewed for 2 different pharmacist positions and both said they were interested in having me come in for a 2nd interview. This week I received a call from the staffing agency and the administrator regarding the "teaching pharmacy" position. The administrator said there was some delay in the hiring process and wanted to know if I had a timeline. I advised that I did not.

I got a call regarding the 2nd position, aka "the director", and a 2nd, phone interview was scheduled. I really do not like phone interviews; I think I have a much better "live" presence. Anyways, the connection was not very good; I had a hard time hearing the questions or comments. When I left the 1st interview I felt very confident; I didn't have that same feeling after the phone interview. The 2nd interview was on Wednesday afternoon. I didn't get a call back on Thursay or Friday, and since I know they want to fill the position quickly, it didn't bode well that I wasn't contacted. If I don't get a call on Monday, I will assume that I didn't get the position.

Well, that's about all for now. I have to save something for next weeks post! Have an awesome week!

dani

Happy Easter!

2008-03-22T09:35:00.001-07:00

Wishing Jelly Beans & Chocolate Bunnies to all!

Running..............

The running week started off well. I ran intervals on Tuesday; starting with a 2 mile warm-up, followed by 8 quarter-mile intervals and finishing with a 1 mile cool-down. I Felt Great! Not sure what my times were because my Garmin battery was dead, again. I really have to make an effort to make sure I am charging the battery!

Friday I did my long, beach run. The scenery, as usual, was beautiful. The beaches were packed with Spring Breakers. I saw several UF students (Go Gators!!) as well as some from Univ of Tenn. The temp was in the upper 70's and there was a good breeze. Around mile 8, my knees (mostly the left one) really started to hurt. My great run was turning into a "grunt" run. I stopped a couple of times, but that only made it feel worse when I started running again. I finished 13.95 miles in 2:38:00, for an average pace of 11:13 Yuck!!!! Not a good run. Plus, I finished all my sports drink at mile 10 so I had to go almost 4 miles with no fluids. And, to top it off, I forgot to put sunscreen on my shoulders and ended up with a nice sunburn. Remind me why I am doing all this??????

Saturday the knee still hurt so I decided to take a rest day figuring I could easily run 5 miles on Sunday. Well Sunday came and it was still a bit sore. I was going back and forth; I should run today, I should take another day off. Well, the rain came down and that about answered it for me. Rest day it was! I ended the week with 4 rest days and 3 workout days. Compare this to last week where I had ZERO rest days, I still ended up getting in my 3 karate classes and my total mileage for the week is only about 1.25 miles less. So, hard week, then easier week. Not a bad concept. Although, that means this coming week needs to be another hard week.

Karate...........

I guess to make up for my "not-so-good" running week, I had a really good karate week. I went to Tuesday morning class (after my 5 miles of running) and Wednesday 5pm class. I know know why my usual Wednesday 8:30pm sparring class has so few ladies; it's because they all go to the 5pm class! I had some great bugo rounds and no intimidation!! Friday night was BBC night; the curriculum was MMA (mixed martial arts) part 3 and we had the honor of having Kyoshi teach the class.

The Kiddo's sports.......

Lauren did well pitching and fielding at her softball game on Tuesday. The Twisters won 8-5, so they are now 2-1 for the season. Ryan had 2 baseball games this week. He did well on Thursday; hitting a home run and striking out 2 batters. His team is 2-2. The kids are on Spring Break this week but because the softball and baseball schedules follow the public school Spring Break schedule (which is the following week), both kids have games this week. So Mark's plan of taking them to Orlando looks like it's out of the picture.

Other stuff.....

During a long run a couple of weeks ago, I thought of a "catchy" running website name. When I checked, I was surprised to see the domain was available, so I bought it. I'm not really sure what I want to do with it yet. And, it's not like I have a lot of time for another "project", but I've started playing around creating a website. I could just move my blog to the new website and have more "room/pages" for other stuff. But I'm not sure. So I'll keep playing with it until the next "inspiration" hits me.

Pharmacy.......
And now to talk about work, something I have purposely not blogged much about. I'm pretty much in the "damned if I do, damned if I don't" position. I stepped down from a high-stress management position to a "staff" pharmacist position to improve the quality of life (eg. have time to run, go to karate, see my kids, etc.). But, 1 year out and I am not being challenged. I don't dread going into work, probably because I really like the people I work with. But I'm not excited to go to work. So, a while back I put my name out to a recruitor and started watching the job sites. In the past couple weeks, I actually got calls on 2 different positions. I went ahead and interviewed for both of them. The 1st was for a Pharmacy Manager position in a "teaching" pharmacy. The pay/benefits/schedule are very similar to what I have currently. The 2 advantages would be more autonomy that what I currently have (anything is better than micromanagement) and the opportunity to mentor students which I thoroughly enjoy. The 2nd interview was for a director position and definitely presents a greater challenge. I think I interviewed well and I think they are interested in me. They said there would be a 2nd interview so hopefully I'll get a call this week. If it's meant to be, it will happen; if not, it won't.

Quit Report.....

Today is 47 days without a cigarette. On Ash Wedneday, February 6th I chose to give up smoking for Lent, knowing it would be something I would "suffer" through. And I have. It hasn't been easy. Every day I think about smoking. But for some reason, be it my personal conviction, the stars all in alignment or divine intervention, I have resisted the strong and frequent temptations to smoke again. Most years I looked forward to Easter Sunday to end my "suffering", to give in to temptation and partake in whatever it was that I gave up (eg. ice cream, soda). But not this year. This Easter I am not looking to end my suffering. I am working to end my 25 year addiction to tobacco and I know it will take more than 1 Lenten Season! It may take years. But, now that I'm not smoking, I'll have those extra years!!!

Happy Easter & God Bless

No Rest Day This Week!

2008-03-16T17:17:00.001-07:00

Between the kids' activities and my workouts, there was no rest day this week!!!!

Mon: Karate
Tue: Softball, Run, Extras
Wed: Karate Demo
Thu: Karate, Baseball
Fri: Karate, Run, Extras
Sat: Bowling, Karate Seminar, Baseball, Awards Dinner
Sun: Run

And things are only going to get worse. In 3 weeks I "officially" start my 1st cycle as I go for my 2nd degree black belt. This means every week I must take 4 karate classes, get in 4 days of "extras", complete 4 runs each week AND do 3 SWAT classes. Scheduling all these along with work and the kid's sports is going to be a NIGHTMARE!!!!

Running: Ugh!! a slow week

Tuesday - Interval run: I started with a 1 mile warm-up @ 10:34, then ran four 1/2 mile intervals (4:32, 4:32, 4:56, 5:07) and finished with a "quick" sprint (0.22 @ 1:45).
Friday - Strength run: I ran 5.14 in 51:28 with an average pace of 10:00.
Sunday - Distance run: I did the beach run, this time starting at the north end (Commercial Blvd) and running south (Las Olas) and then heading back to the start. I ran 11.7 miles in 2:11:22, for an average pace of 11:13.
Up to now, I have been slowly but consistently improving my run times. Well this week shot that to hell! I'm going to "blame" it on the warm temps; Sunday's run was in the upper 80's with quite a bit of humidity. For March, that's pretty warm, even by South Florida standards. And, it's only going to get worse!!!
So, for the week: 3 runs for a total of 20.19 miles. Another distance record week.

Karate: 3 classes, 1 demo, 1 seminar = 5 days at the dojo this week!

Monday - Demo practice: took out the holds & grabs; doing kamaset form 2 instead. Yeah!
Wednesday - Exam Demo: Overall, the demo rocked! I had a small misstep on kamaset 2 at the end, but not too bad! And, I was very happy with my nunchucks performance.
Thursday - Bugo: I went to the morning class. Hadn't taken an A.M. class in 3 years (maybe longer!). Sparring went well. The first group was with Kathy and Marsala; Kathy was intense; she has awesome speed and I was totally intimidated by her. My round with Marsala was much better (more evenly matched). Next I was "assigned" to spar with Picasso and a brown belt girl (not sure of her name but I've sparred her before and she's another "heavy" hitter). I really didn't want to spar them and felt like walking out of class. But I stayed and did okay; not great, but I didn't get "killed". I'm not sure whether that's because they "held up" for me or what. But, I was very glad when it was over.
Friday - Happy Hour: the April black belt candidates had their power weekend in dojo 1; the "rest of us" had our "happy hour" class in dojo2. It was a great conditioning class (think lots of push-ups, sit-ups, etc).
Saturday - Bo Seminar: Mr. Mike Galindo had a bo seminar. We started with the basic moves and then moved to some "showy" spins. I really loving doing all the weapons (chucks, kamas and bo); I just need to find more time to practice them all. Ah, more time..........
Extras: I didn't get all my "extras" in this week. On Tuesday, I only did half; 50 PU & 50 SU, no kicks. I did a full "extras" after Friday's run; this made the push-ups and sit-ups in Friday's class even more enjoyable, LOL!).

Quit Report: 40 days!

I quit smoking on Ash Wednesday and today is 40 days without a cigarette. But wait, Easter is still 6 days away and Lent is supposed to be 40 days, so what's up with the extra days? I checked Wikipedia and discovered that in Western Christianity, the 6 Sundays in Lent are not counted towards the 40 days because, "each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death". I didn't know that. Or maybe I did at some point and just forgot it.

Speaking of Easter...

The kid's spring break starts this week. They have early release on Wednesday, so they are off on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, plus the entire week after Easter. I know they are counting down the minutes!

Till next week.....Adios!

Daylight Savings Yeah! More running hours

2008-03-08T12:04:00.001-08:00

Running....... A pretty good running week; I'll give it a 7 out of 10

Tuesday: 1.45 @ 11: 35. I didn't have much time to run so I did a "mini" interval session behind the karate dojo. I kind of skipped the warm up and started with a 1/2 mile @ 4:30, then another 1/2 mile @ 4:01. Then I wanted to do 1/4 mile sprints, but I wasn't exactly sure where the 1/4 mile ended and I didn't want to check the Garmin because I would have had to slow down to read it. Anyways, I did 0.28 @ 2:00 then 0.19@ 1:04.

Wednesday: This was supposed to be a "strength" night. During the run, a fire truck and a rescue truck came to a house on the back of the island and every time I ran by, the diesel fumes about gagged me. So, I only did 3 miles and I'm estimating the time @ 28:00 since my Garmin battery died (again) during the run! One of these days I'll figure the darn watch thing out !?@?#!

Saturday: This run was just to get in some mileage since I didn't do much on Tuesday or Wednesday. The weather was nice; upper 70's and a bit breezy when running east/west. I had planned on running 5 miles, but since Tuesday's run was 1.45, I decided to run an extra 0.55 to bring the total to an "even" 10 miles. So I ended up doing 5.55 in 52:58.

Sunday: Long run day! Did the beach run again (Las Olas to Commercial and back). It was very breezy (NE @ 15mph). And, my knees and calves were sore, probably from running 5.55 on the previous day. Needless to say, I ran slowwwwwwww. I wanted to do 10 miles, but settled for 8 @ 1:28:15. I "semi-sprinted" the last 1/4 mile @ a 7:45 pace; my overall pace was 11:01. That kinda stinks because my "paces/averages" have been steadily improving. Until today.
So, for the week, I got in 4 days of running and ran a total of 18 miles. That's the most mileage I have ever run in one week!! But, the marathon is in 12 weeks and I have to get the mileage up to around 35 miles/week. So I still have quite a bit of work ahead of me.........

Karate......spotlight week (means no Bugo!!!) YEAH!!!!

Monday: Good cardio class!!

Tuesday: Demo practice!! I'm in the group doing nunchucks (a variation of Chuck Form I). We're also doing self defense holds and grabs where the guys "attack" the women. Each group will first do the same 2 holds and grabs (front choke and something else, I don't remember). Then each group will do 3 of their own choice. I think I'll have my "attacker" do the double lapel (finishing it with the guillitine), rear arms pinned (finish with the throw down), and rear choke (finish with the "schlock"). After class, I stayed and did my "extras" with Sherry (100 pus-ups, 100 sit-ups and 50 round kicks off each leg).

Thursday: Since it is spotlight week, there was no Bugo this week (yeah! yeah!). Instead, we had another good cardio class and worked on self-defense. This was a warrior's weekend so there were lot's of sensei's from other dojos and other systems of martial arts. 5 of them took class Thursday night. After the whole class did holds and grabs, the April candidates "spotlighted". I was an ouki for Dawn and gave her 8 random holds and grabs. She did awesome. Then, the guest senseis demonstrated the holds and grabs using their system's defenses. It was awesome! It's always great to see new methods and different styles.
"Extras": Got in my 3 "extras" workouts of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 round kicks (50 off each leg) on Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. I think this week they added 50 lunges to the "extras", but I "purposely" forgot them!! LOL!!

Looking for new podcasts!!

This week, I went searching for some new podcasts to subscribe to. My sister told me about NPR's "Wait, Wait" podcast and it is absolutely hysterical. I listened to a couple of episodes this past week at work and everyone must have thought I was nuts (oh wait, they already do!) since it seemed like I was "laughing to myself" at inappropriate times.
SQPN has a number of podcasts; so far my favorite is the Saintcast. Growing up catholic, I am familiar with many saints, but really don't "know" much about them, so the website has been very educational. Case in point, the patron saint of athletes is Saint Sebastian.
Last month when I was "browsing" through the itunes podcast directory, I saw "languages" as a category. I thought, "wow, what a great way to learn a language". I went ahead and subscribed to Coffee Break Spanish with the intent of "relearning" Spanish (for like the 6th time). I listened to the first 5 episodes (most of which I already know) but wasn't really motivated or excited by the podcast.
This past week, on a fluke, I searched for Hungarian language and found "Lets Learn Hungarian". When I lived in Hungary (many moons ago!), I became semi-fluent in the language. But you know the saying, if you don't use it, you lose it. Well, since I didn't have anyone to speak Hungarian with, I lost it! Anyways, I went ahead and listened to the first 3 episodes. It was great to hear the language again and surprisingly, I remembered a lot more than I thought I would. Plus, theres a girl at work who's Hungarian, so I can practice on her (she'll probably get tired of me real soon!!!)

Quit Report: 1 month and 3 days of No Smoking!!!!!

That's about all for now. Until next week.......

Viszontlátásra. (Good-bye)

my race report on Phedippidations!

2008-03-02T15:14:00.001-08:00

Running.....guilt is mounting.....only ran 2 days this week :(

Tuesday: Speed work day. I started with a 1 mile warm up (10: 41), then ran 4 intervals of 1/2 mile (4:56, 4:53, 4:31, 4:02) and finished with a "cool down" of 1.18 miles in 10:05. Yes, the "cool down" was a bit fast. As I was starting it, Mark came out to run our dog Ali, so I decided to join them. I thought it would be nice to run as a family; well, Ali ran with me, Mark rode the bike! The first lap around the island, Ali was in the lead. But, by the 2nd lap, I had taken the lead. Yes, I am competitive, even with my dog! After the run, I did my karate "extras". This week it was push-ups and leg lift sit-ups in pyramid formation; 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 (total of 125). By the last set (5), you arms or abs are like putty, they hurt so bad. But, the results are worth it!!

Thursday: Got home from work and was in a funky mood; kinda tired, kinda blah. So, I decided to make it a "rest day" and chilled on the couch with a glass of wine watching TV. I rarely watch TV, but HGTV and the Food Network (especially Alton Brown, Bobby Flay and Duff from Ace of Cakes) are my exceptions!

Saturday: Yeah!!! Long run day!!! I needed to get my run in early today; so I was up at 6am and at the beach by 7 am. I started at Las Olas and ran north to just past Commercial Blvd, then turned back to the starting point. I ran 10.98 miles in 1:54:24. The weather was nice, my legs felt good, my time was improving; all things that make for a good run. But today, I had a GREAT run!. Why was it great? Well, at about 45-50 minutes into my run, I totally freaked out. I was listening to my favorite running podcast (Phedippidations, #134-Online Training Logs) and heard my name. I had sent in my race report for the Miami ING half-marathon and Steve Runner was reading it on the podcast!!! How cool is that!!! I broke out into a huge smile and picked up the pace (I think I floated for about 1 mile!). I love listening to Phideppidations mostly because of the race reports and stories of other runners. They are uplifting and inspiring; many have brought tears to my eye! And to think that I was chosen to be one of those "stories"! I don't see myself as inspirational, I see myself as that person who needs inspiration and needs motivation; that's why I listen to the podcast!!! I added the podcast player to the sidebar of this blog; check it out!

Overall, it was a good running week. Even though I only got in 2 runs, they were 2 good runs. I have 13 weeks till my 1st marathon and I'm becoming bipolar. One day I am so psyched, I CAN DO IT!!! The next day, I'M NOT SURE I CAN DO IT. But this week I'm feeling more of the I CAN DO IT attitude!

Karate.......Got in 3 classes; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

Did my "B" day (bugo, sparring) on Wednesday. I tend to go to the 8:30pm class on Mondays and Wednesdays (versus the 7:30pm class on Tuesdays and Thursdays) because it works better for the family schedule. The only problem is the 8:30 classes has fewer people since not too many like to work out that late at night. It really hasn't been a problem.....UNTIL TONIGHT!!!

After the warm-ups, they split the class; the intermediate belts went to dojo 1 and the advanced belts stayed in dojo 2. Well, there were only 11 students in the advanced group and I was the only female. So, I had to spar with the guys. The initial 2 rounds were with a "teen-aged" high-red belt (getting his black belt in April); the rounds went well. Then I sparred with Slade....... he's about Mark's size (BIG!!!) and tough. I felt totally intimidated and couldn't do anything right. The next 2 rounds were with another high-red belt and a red-belt; the last round was with Norm (black-belt). One of the main things I really need to and want to work on for my 2nd degree black belt is my confidence in bugo. It seems like I'll have a couple of good classes then one "bad" one; you know, one step forward and two steps backwards. (sigh) Bugo will always be the thorn in my side................

Fun Stuff
Saturday night we hosted a birthday party for my friend and co-worker, Karen, on the occasion of her birthday! I'll go ahead and say that the party was a success!! I had the easy job of having the party at my house! Beth took charge of decorations and the cake. She made the house look beautiful (and very purple!!!). The cake she ordered was phenomenal (and very tasty!!!). Ernie made 3 different types of enchiladas; they were all yummy and spicy!! Nellie made the mini-burgers and awesome maccaroni salad (if I do say so myself). As usual, we had way too much food!!! The guests kept busy with conversation, pool (the game, not the backyard fixure), and "Rock Band". If pharmacy doesn't work out, some of the guests may have a 2nd career in music!!! But I think the highlight of the night was Ernie's rendition of "What is it?"; I will never hear that song again the same way.................

Gosh, this was another busy, jam packed week. It's kinda funny; I ran into someone today that I haven't seen in awhile. In "catching up with each other", I said, "nothing's new; same old, same old". I think we have been conditioned to think that only "big" things are "important" things. I didn't have news of career change, no news of divorce, no major purchases. But, had I taken the time to really look back at the past week or the past month, I could have reported on a lot of "new" and cool stuff that has happened. It truly is the little things in life that are the most important..................

Quit Update

Today (3/2/08) is 26 days without a cigarette................

1 Week, 1 Blog?

2008-02-23T17:16:00.001-08:00

Hello again! Wow, what a busy week!! Can I get everything into one blog? Let's try.............

Running............14 weeks until the San Diego Rock 'N' Roll Marathon!!

Wednesday night I ran intervals around the island; 1 mile warm-up and 3 reps of 1/2 mile, with a 45 second rest in between. My best interval was 3:45, not too bad considering the temperature (80's).

Friday was scheduled for a "strength/tempo" run of 4 miles. I headed to the jog park after dropping Lauren's off for softball practice. There was a light breeze when I ran heading south, but overall, it was a bit warm (mid-80's). So, I didn't really push the tempo and instead, went for distance. I ran 6.15 miles in 1:00:54 for an average pace of 9:54.

Saturday; didn't get in a run. But good news, no muscle soreness from the 6-miler, yeah! And, the knees felt pretty good today. I think running on the gravel path of the jog park is gentler on my knees than the asphalt around the island. Tomorrow I'll have to get in my long run; I'm going to try for 12 miles!!!

I'm putting my workouts on a really cool website, buckeyoutdoors.com. The site allows you to put a sidebar of the workouts on your blog, as well as some other really neat stuff (races run, PRs, etc.)! I'm in the process of entering all my workouts going back to January 1st.

Karate

Got in my 3 classes. Normally, I like to go on Monday, Wednesday & Friday. But this week Mark worked on Friday which meant I had to take Lauren to softball practice. So, I ended up going on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I was a bit nervous about taking back-to-back Monday/Tuesday classes. The last time I did that was on October 2nd and that was the night I ripped my right calf muscle. But I was cautious and stretched the calves extra good. Thursday night Bugo (sparring) class was very good. I noticed an improvement in my cardio and did a total of 5 rounds.

I was able to get in my 3 days of "extras" this week on Mon, Wed, & Thurs. This week the extras were 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 5o round kicks off each leg.

No Smoking Zone!

Today (2/23) is day #18 of no smoking! I've tried to quit more times than I can remember. The longest I ever quit for was 9 months. When I tell people that, they are always amazed that after 9 months of not smoking that I could go back and start again. But, I had quit that time for a boyfriend. And when that boyfriend "dumped" me, I lost my "reason" for not smoking. This time, I am quitting for the right reasons; I am quitting because I want to be a non-smoker. I want to be a non-smoker for my health, for my kids, for my running and for my karate. I want to be able to run 1 mile in 7 minutes and 2 miles in 15 minutes. I want to be able to Bugo at 2nd degree level and for as many rounds as I am asked to.

Coincidentally, about the same time I quit smoking, I began having pain in both my ears. My initial thought was "sinus". I took some decongestants but did not get any relief. Next, I thought that I might be grinding my teeth at night. I started wearing my dental night guard again, but no relief. I ruled-out inner ear infection since there wasn't any fever or swollen glands. But, could it possibly be an external ear infection. I finally saw a doctor and he ruled out ear problems. He seems to think it is TMJ. Maybe it has something to do with all the gum I chewed while trying to quit smoking...... I guess I'll be making an appointment to see my dentist.

Sports, and more Sports, and then some more Sports

Sports overload week: For Ryan, this week ended volleyball season at St. Jerome but was the beginning of baseball for the city league. Lauren started softball. She's on the Twisters again and it looks like she'll be the primary pitcher this year.
Lauren joined the St. Jerome track team. Today was their 1st and only meet for the year. There were about 14 of the county Catholic schools in attendance; grades 4-8. Lauren participated in the long jump, the 4o0 meter (pictured!), and the 4 x 400 meter relay. I was very pleased with her effort!! One of Lauren's classmates finished 2nd in the girl's mile and another classmate came in 6th (out of 30) in the 100 meter! The team only had 4 practices; imaging what they could have done with more training!

Well, I realize I can't get everything from this week into one blog, at least not into one blog that some people might actually read. I want to thank all those who read my 1st blog entry. And, give super thanks to those who read it and actually came back for more!!!! Please leave a comment to let me know what you think; good or bad!

2008-02-16T19:17:00.001-08:00

Hello to all! Welcome to the innaugural edition of my blog, "Run Blondie Run". I am a 40-something, "blonde", south Floridian runner. I'm starting this blog as I train for my 1st marathon. I've run my entire life; just different distances at different ages.

I didn't call myself a runner until my 20's. Anything before that point wasn't running, it was play! I played basketball and softball; I played "hide-and-go-seek"; I played "last one there is a rotten egg" (and I never lost!). No, I wasn't a runner, I was a player, I was a kid, I was having fun!

In my 20's, I not sure why, but I decided to run a race; it was either a 5k or 10k. I don't remember my finish time, although I'm sure I have it recorded somewhere in my files. But, needless to say, I wasn't at the top nor at the bottom either! Over several years, I ran many races and did end up placing 2nd or 3rd for my age group in a number of races.

But, then life took over. I met my future husband. I decided on pharmacy as my career choice, thanks mostly to my mentor Debbie D. I was accepted by the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy; Go Gators!!! My 1st year @ UF was very memorable for a very unpleasant reason. Tragedy occurred with the murder of 5 students.

Fast forward to 2001. 1 husband, 2 children, and 1 stressful job as a Pharmacy Supervisor and a need to find a stress outlet; I needed some "ME" time! A neighbor had "referred" our kids to karate. And before long, the entire family was enrolled. Karate seemed perfect for me; it wasn't running which would aggravate my knees. But lo and behold, part of the black-belt curriculum was running!!! Wasn't this the reason I got into karate, was to avoid running?!?!?!

But, I wanted my black belt badly....I hated the timed running! I knew I had to do 2 miles in 16 minutes; this shouldn't be a problem, but my knees screamed! I came so close to not making it.......but I did; I ran 2 miles in 16 minutes exactly; no more, no less. November 2004, I earned my 1st degree black belt and it was one of the most memorable and satisfying moments in my life!!!

Success was blissful, but short-lived; professionally, it was time for change. And change came quickly; an opportunity to be part of the system develpement team for a new mail order pharmacy. Yahoo!!!! I was psyched. This was going to be great!

Next thing you know, I was offered a management position.........but isn't this the reason I came here, to get out of management and get into the computer/IT pharmacy arena? Needless to say, I took the Administrative Services Management position (aka Director of Pharmacy). Did I take it because I felt guilty that no one else would take the position or did I take it because I truly felt that I could make an impact? The latter is the reason; I think I did make an impact in many areas and with many persons!

Fast forward (again) 18 months and 80 hours per week later; no time to spend with the family, no time to run or go to karate; it was time to step down from that position and "get a life". Easier said than done; but, by March 2007, it finally occurred.

Yeah, I had my life back. I could go to karate and maybe work towards getting my second-degree black belt. But 1st, I had to get my cardio back to "black-belt" level. So, I started running. And, this time, it was fun! It wasn't required of me (as of yet!),. I was doing it to get me to the level I needed to be. And, to remind myself that I was a "runner", meant that I had to register for a race.

I had "tried" to run the Miam ING 1/2 marathon for the past 3 years. But. something had always turned up as an obstacle to prevent me from running it. This year, I was going to do it!!! I registered for the race Tuesday October 2nd. That night, during katate class, I tore my right gastronemeous muscle. I was so upset; this was my 1st katare injury and I thought it was going to prevent me from running the 1/2 marathon in January. After my visit to the orthopaedeic MD and the physical therapists, I was advised it was a "minor" tear and that I would be back to karate and running in a few weeks.

Two & 1/2 weeks later and I was back to running & karate; I just had to be diligent in stretching my calves!!! January 27th came & I was so excited; I had forgetten how much "fun" it was to "race". Everything was perfect; temperatures in the mid-60's; enthusiastic crowds; and my husband at the 10.5 mile "cheering zone" & the finish line; receiving the beautiful "finisher's" medal.....it was heaven beyond words!!!! My goal was 2:30 and I finished it in 2:15:21!!!

So what's next? What is a 1/2 marathoner to do? Go for a full marathon, of course! My younger sister lives in San Diego. She is a high school physics teacher (yeah, brianiacs in our family!!) and runs with the HS cross-country team. She ran a 1/2 marathon for her 40th B-day (finishing in 1:55!!!! Awesome!!!!) and signed up for the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon.

My sister had offered to come run the ING 1/2 marathon with me if I quit smoking. Well, I had too many excuses to NOT quit; so I told her not to plan on coming down to run with me. BUT, after running my 1/2 marathon, I was ready for a FULL marathon; that was the impetus I needed and I told her I'd quit smoking and run the FULL marathon with her.

So, I registered for the FULL marathon, I booked my flight to San Diego (love those frequent flier miles~!~), and, on Ash Wednesday (February 6th!) , I quite smoking. Today (Saturday 2/16th) is day 11 without a cigarette, a single puff, a hit of nicotine, nothing; nada!!!!!! And yes, I am aggravated, aggitated, irratated; pretty much any adjective associated with quitting smoking, I am feeling IT!!!!! But, I'm not smoking!!!!

I started "smoking" reguarly around 17 years-old; so it's a 25 year habit that I am trying to break.......please keep me in your prayers and good wishes; I really want to quit for good! for my health and for my children Lauren & Ryan

Till next week,

Dani
Blonde Rx
Run Blondie Run

2005-03-30T16:31:00.001-08:00

The Dorsetts