Snow!

I think it is safe to say that today is the first official "snow storm" of the season. It is beautiful yet treacherous out. Beautiful when one is sitting safely in her living room staring out at the lovely whiteness. Treacherous when one contemplates driving (or having a loved one drive) in it. I got my AWD Subaru just in time. Make me proud, Cricket.

I ran with Matty this morning. He ran to work (10.5 miles) and I turned around at the six mile mark which totaled a 12-mile long run today. I got in minutes before the snow started. Not sure how Matty will get home tonight. Maybe his Grand Cherokee is at the store and he can drive home. If not, I hope he gets a ride or calls me.

Could this little red-head have exercise-induced asthma. Coughing and wheezing have been a slight problem upon finishing runs. It used to occur occasionally during the warmer months but now happens regularly. It also is happening during random times during the day, especially when the white-trash smoker lights up inside the condo below us (he's too wimpy to go outside now that it is cold out) and the smell permeates our walls. I really hate this condo. I love Lake Orion, but I would give most anything for a house! Sharing walls with people who have no concept of common courtesy is driving me to madness.

Gault Screwed Up

Matty did what I should have done - he emailed Gault Race Mgt., the company in charge of race timing at the Turkey Trot, and asked them if they did a chip start or a gun start. Apparently they meant to do a chip start but one of the start mats was malfunctioning. They said they'd adjust our times if we told them how far back we started. Matt told them our own watch times and they actually did what they said they'd do. It made a HUGE difference in our placement. I'm glad they adjusted the time, but what really annoys me is they did not place any kind of disclaimer on the result listing. So they only adjusted times for people who thought to write them and complain. C'mon, people, take responsibility! Anyway, my new time is 43:27 which I'm so thrilled about!!

Turkey Trot - New 10K PR!!

The Turkey Trot went great!! I got a new PR. The official results are not online yet, so I'll have to update this post a little later. My watch has me at 43:31, which is nearly 3 minutes faster than my previous best. Yay!! I know I was top 100 (women) because I got a Turkey Trot fleece scarf at the finish line. Matt is jealous. hah!!

I went out really fast and with about 2 miles to go, I started wondering if I went out too fast. But I tried mind-over-body and told myself that pain is temporary - the race will be over in a matter of minutes. That worked. So much of running is mental.

Some poor guy did push too hard. With the finish line literally in sight, I saw him veer off to the side, put his hands on his knees, and just as I was passing him, I heard him lose his stomach contents! Thank god I didn't see it actually happen. Hearing it was bad enough! Poor dude.

Oh, and I actually saw Mark (see Nov 23 post) at the race! He passed me at about the halfway point and recognized me. What are the chances??

When you run a Turkey Trot, you can stuff your face at dinner and not feel guilty about it. It's a win-win situation.

Edit: Well, not sure why, but my official chip time is much slower than my watch time. The only way that could have happened is if they didn't have a chip start. But they did have a mat! *shrug* My time: 44:07 (7:07 pace)

Random Stuff

Registration for the Bayshore Marathon begins in 5 days!!! Then it will be official!!

Turkey Trot tomorrow! Woo!

We had all of ONE appointment at our clinic this afternoon, so instead of working my typical 11.5 hour Wednesday, I got the entire afternoon off. That's good and bad. Good that I got the afternoon to bake my chocolate pecan pie and chocolate chunk cookies (mmmmmmmm.....) for T-Day tomorrow instead of doing it late tonight. Bad because that means our clinic is still slooooowww. C'mon people, bring your kitties to their vets! They need preventative care! :-)

Will the Lions be 0-12 tomorrow??

Cricket now has his new homelink, auto-dimming mirror with compass. While it was being installed on Tuesday, they lent me a brand new silver Outback with black leather seats and wood grain accents with all the works. I didn't want to trade it back for my Impreza! Oops, did I say that? Sorry, Cricket, don't take it personally. It's just that Outbacks are WAY cool. After only a week, I do love the Cricket. Driving it is so much more fun than the crummy Jeep!