FIRE!!!!!!!!

OK..First, let's talking about chafing.   For those of you who have not experienced this yet, I will give you a brief description of what it is; basically a sandpaper-esque burn somewhere on your body made by a shirt, shorts, hat and/or anything and everything that touches you.  Sometimes when this occurs, you don't really know it is happening until it is too late......

I have experienced this on my inner thighs and body glide helped..great! however..recently..I received it somewhere else..... ..........dum dum dum...:::scary interlude::::.....

Before I reveal the location I want to share with you a recent purchase I made:

Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone Accessories Kit: Black Neoprene Exercise Armband 

by Motorola

This is the exact title of the armband I purchased off of Amazon.com about a month ago.  I chose this particular product since I have a Motorola Atrix 4G as my phone and also use it as my source of music (Pandora rocks!).  I thought, perfect!!  An armband made specifically for my phone!!  Well...after just wearing it twice, I was a bit more educated on this....

1.  This could probably fit any size phone/ipod or other device...I know this because it is larger than the picture shows and swallows my phone.   This prevents me from pressing any keys while in use (quite different than the picture showed..)  I thought..oh well, I can make this work!  I proceeded to place a folded up tissue at the bottom of the phone pocket to create a bit of "lift" for my phone and makes the keys accessible..DONE!

2.  This armband was either made for a body builder or I have a BIG problem with the size of my arm.  The little velcro piece that seals the band to your arm is HUMUNGOUS and would need to wrap around my arm twice to fit.  No worries...since I live with McGiver, this was fixed by using a safety pin..EASY PEASY! 

3.  OK......this was the last straw,...... I inserted my tissue to hold the phone in place...safety pinned the band around my arm and went for a 5 mile run.  By the time I came back, I felt great!!  Until....I showered......

BURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy Moses...My underarm burst into flames!  You know, the soft part of your arm that is impossible to firm up?  You should have seen the flames that were shooting off my arm!!  I wish I saw them too....good thing water was pouring on them to put them out instantaneously so they wouldn't burn the apartment down!  The smoke though...filled the apartment and fire trucks had to come to make sure everything was safe and sound.  Imagine trying to explain to firefighters and police (of course they were there too!!) that an armband caused a fire.  They didn't immediately believe me about the flames or the smoke, but don't worry, I think they took my word for it.   
--Side Note:  OK, I may have exaggerated a bit on the fire, smoke, and emergency response...but I do guarantee the pain felt as if it were true--

(4) Days later I still have the scab under my arm and am back to square one on searching for a new armband

One more thing...

As I thought about the DetermiNation Dock Party on Sunday, I realized I didn't express my intense gratitude or appreciation for my fellow teammates that I should have previously on my blog.  

This may have been from trying to move my laptop outside on the porch before blogging and having to wait for it to shut down and restart (which takes forever) when unplugging it...that's right,...my laptop needs to remain plugged in to work.  It is not as much of a portable computer as it is more of a compact desktop.  

It may have also been partly due to the quickly approaching storm that was heading my way (yes, and I decided blogging on the porch was the best idea at the time) and the countless seconds -which felt like hours- for my computer to re-boot.  Once I plugged it in outside I was determined to finish before the rain started!  

This is all not to mention I still needed to hop in the shower before heading to work..I don't think my officemates would appreciate the endurance effort put in during the previous hours as running partners do.

Regardless..there are no excuses!!  That group of people really is really amazing.  You never know what people go through until you open up about it and doing so in the atmosphere is easier than I thought.  Heck, some of these people had me crying on our first meeting!!!  "STRANGER DANGER" is one phrase that is immediately erased when the gathering is formed.  

Friendships built on a safe and honest surface create the most comfortable environment.  

GO DETERMINATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comraderie

Happy Tuesday everyone!

What a great weekend!  I'll bring you up to speed..

Saturday we had a 5 miler (tapering week) which went great!  I especially enjoy looking at the calories burned after a run.  It usually equates to a little over 100 calories a mile and it really makes a tough run worth it!

I had to get up early and work Sunday however, that night, the local Savannah-ians who are on the DetermiNation team had a Dock Party at one of the member's homes, Nancy Shippee & her husband Clark.  Their home is absolutely AMAZING and their hospitality even topped that.  As my dear friend Victoria, AKA, VTB, put it, it's nice to see people not all sweaty in work-out clothes and instead, get together to BBQ on the ocean and EAT!

Catching live crab straight from the Ocean!

 BTW - VTB is a very good friend of mine and also has an awesome blog (she inspired me to create mine!) for you to check out: 

http://vtbrunssav.blogspot.com/

LZ & VTB

At the Dock Party  there were about 15 +/- of us there and it was so nice to feel instant connections with those around you....all with the same goal....BEAT CANCER! The stories came and the relationships grew stronger.  While we were there, we were able to create what are known as "Prayer Flags" to be hung at Rails to Trails on Tybee Island.  We frequent this location for long runs because it is not only beautiful but an easy trail 6 miles long.  This used to be an old Railroad connecting Savannah to Tybee, however, many moons ago it transformed into a jogger's paradise..take a peek ...

At the end..Location of Prayer Flags

In the railroad picture above you can see flags hung all around it.  These will be hung there and remain for all those to see and pray for...here's mine:

It says, "ACS DetermiNation, RnRSavannah, 11-5-11 for Susan Z. MOM 11/5/49-2/24/06

What a great group we have and I am very fortunate to be a part of it.   Now to try to continue fundraising!!

This morning we got up, ran 3 miles, way faster than normal..had some coffee, cereal and now time to hop in the shower to head to work before I am late.  The rest of the week looks like: tomorrow (Wed) 4 miles, Thur. 3 miles, Fri. rest, Sat. 9 miles.  More to come and happy trails (hehe)!! :-)

Indoors, Outdoors, Morning and Night

Although I didn't immediately post about it, last weekend Jer and I completed our first 7-miler and it went GREAT!!  We brought along some GU gel and between you and me, I didn't really care for it.  I am a consistency person and quite frankly would've preferred something to chew.  I think next time I will try the chomps.  Rumor has it that swedish fish do the same trick..is that true?? I LOVE some swedish fish!  When I was little I would buy full boxes just for me.  Yummy :-)

This week we also had (2) 3 milers and (1) 4 miler.  Two of these were done on treadmill in the afternoon and One was completed outside first thing in the morning.  I know it may seem inconsistent but it works for our busy schedules and the HOT HOT Savannah weather.  As much as we love summer time, training in the cooler weather will definitely work for us and help to be more consistent.  

I also came to a realization about myself this week while waiting for the treadmill. I found myself disappointed and anxious as I was waiting for this man to finish his walk on the treadmill...it felt like he was hogging it FOREVER (this may have also come from the fact we walked in the room at the very same time and I was being courteous to allow him to pick his machine of choice first...DANG he chose.the exact one I wanted).  Once he finished I hopped on and after a few miles realized..I AM one of those people who would appear to, "hog" the machine for long periods of time..........................oops............

I very much prefer outdoor runs though and with the way our work schedules were this week, waking up earlier than 4:30A to add more miles just didn't seem like a good idea at the time. 

Today (Friday) is a rest day and tomorrow we taper back down to 5 miles.  It's funny though, we almost wish it didn't taper down as we are really enjoying the satisfaction of completing longer runs than we normally would have.  I know it may sound crazy, but they feel so good!! Happy Running!

West Virginia Adventures

Whew! Finally a chance to catch up on how training runs were in the great state of West Virginia.  Each year we are lucky enough to spend time camping at Burnsville Lake where we go boating, kayaking, biking and simply enjoying time with family.  It's amazing to still have a piece of the U.S. that isn't encompassed by cell phone towers,...that's right..no reception!! For those of you may work for a cell phone or internet company, let's just keep this gem a secret OK?

Don't worry, while we spent a week enjoying life, nature and loved ones, we DID complete the necessary training runs which included (3) 3 milers and (1) 6 miler.  Let me tell you..I have a whole new appreciation for those who train in hilly/mountainous terrain!!  You can really feel the difference from 6 miles fast and flat to 6 miles in the mountains...YOWZA!  Then it hit me, if I moved to a hilly location, trained for a fast and flat marathon, my chances of beating Oprah's time increase exponentially...hmm..

In addition, we completed our cross training that consisted of a 10 mile kayak ride down the river.  I wasn't as tired as my legs were sunburned.  I had applied and re-applied spf 50 sunscreen during this time, however, my legs were a it neglected..and they made sure I knew it.  Lesson learned.  One amazing thing that happened on that cross training was the miracle of witnessing a baby deer swim across the water RIGHT IN FRONT OF US.. oh my goodness it was absolutely beautiful and something I won't soon forget.

I am not sure if ziplining counts..but we did that too and it was awesome!!!!!!!!  It was my first time and ended up being a great core workout :-)

That trip is always such a relaxing yet action packed time and I look forward to it all year round.  Let's just say the countdown has already begun for next time :-)

Time to back track to Day 1 - Rain drops keep falling on my head...::music note::

Okay, it's really Day 2 of training, Day 1 is a rest day (LOVE Hal Higdon's Novice training plan..beginning with a rest day is GENIOUS!) :-)

Side Note:
You might hear me use the words "we" or "us" when talking about how the runs have gone.  I assure you that I am not referring to any alternate egos or personalities, I am most likely referring to Jerame, my boyfriend of 6.5 amazing years and motivating running partner.  See us pictured below with some fellow DetermiNation Runners (we are actually up to 77 runners already!!) - What a great group!!:

OK, back to the run..
3 Miles, back on July 5

Since the weather here in GA is VERY warm any any point of the day in early July, we (see, already using that pronoun!) decided to try to treadmill instead of our normal route.  Turns out,  only (1) treadmill was functional at our apartment complex and therefore, we took our chance in the humidity..until it happened..only .7 miles into it there came the rain!!!  At that point, we were already too far gone and took it as a cool blessing.  We finished the 3 miles with smiling faces and were able to successfully check off the first (er...second) training day.

Why am I doing this?

As you may have read in my, "About Me" section, I am running this marathon in honor of my late mother.  She passed away of brain cancer and throughout each day of her struggle, her forward thinking and portrayal of hope blessed my sisters and I with a glimpse of possibility.  What we were blissfully unaware of was the pain she had been going through and the honest trials she was silently coping with.  Did she really believe she would be getting better each day even though the cancer was slowly taking away all motor function or was it simply to give her observing daughters the impression we needed that it was all just a bad dream?  I don't think we will ever know the correct answer to that question, however, what I will always remember is the constant strength she showed in moments of agony, the love she showed when time was ticking and the empowerment she provided even when the outlook wasn't favorable.  


My mother was amazing each and every day I can remember and there isn't anything I wouldn't do to show her that her legacy in my heart will always remain.  I love you mom and I hope this chance to give back in your memory brings a smile to your face and a beautiful happiness on your birthday xoxo