I'm alive.....

BARELY! This past weekend has kicked my ass. My diet has been crap. I guess I figured if I wasn't getting sleep, I should at least get food. My allergies are back, my nose is once again a faucet. I haven't worked out in over a week (as if I've had time). Saturday someone thought it would be awesome to put speed walls (I mean bumps) in the parking garage. Sunday night I walked into a bomb threat at work (thanks for letting me know prior to clocking in). Monday I became a blessed healer. And tonight my Barnacle Bo had a sudden onset of pain while eating and now he can't eat or open his mouth all the way?!? Anyways, tomorrow is a small respite in this crazy two week schedule of mine (although now may end up with a trip to the vet). Then I work thur,fri,sat, and sun! I am missing my torture sessions this week due to my schedule again (that's 2 weeks in a row, boo!).

On the positive side **my okra finally bloomed up**

I think I will try and go for a run tomorrow, maybe that will drain my sinuses!

I can't wait for next week when my schedule gets back to norm!

Dear Mother Nature,

If I wanted it to be windy all day long I would move back to Kansas!

Ok so did I mention that I am working 60+ hours this week and 60+ hours next week? I have done nothing besides my pilates and some stretching this week, : ( After next week I will be done with this orientation stuff and my part time job will finally be just that PART TIME!!! So I am going to warn my lovely 2 readers now that I will be M.I.A. until at least Tuesday of next week if not longer due to 2 ultras I will be partaking in this weekend. No, not running ultras which actually sounds more appealing than the following:

Fri 0800-1700 orient to new unit......1900-0700 work....... yes that is 20 hours of work in a 24 hour awake period!

Sat 1900-0700 work (what just 12 hours?)

Sun 1900-0700 work..........0800-1700 cultural competency training..........again 20 in 24......I doubt I will be competent in anything at this point!

Good thing I won a gift card to Starbucks this week! oh wait that would entail having time to go to Starbucks (screw it). My circadian rhythm will be begging for mercy when I get done with it! Take that sleep pattern, up yours! If you are reading this, please send dark chocolate espresso beans to me. On the up side, I do work in the er and should I happen to die they have all the appropriate paperwork to fill out!

She didn't have her v8 today!

PIC: JOSEPH AND CLARA PILATES





"I must be right. Never an aspirin. Never injured a day in my life. The whole country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They'd be happier."- Joseph Hubertus Pilates, in 1965, age 86






Since my sports massage got cancelled for this evening and I am missing my two hours of trainer torture this week I took the opportunity to hit up a late pilates class. I have been going to the same studio for about 2 years now I think but tonight the teacher was someone that I have not taken class from before and therefore she didn't know me or any of my recent issues going on. I love my pilates workouts because they are challenging to my core and because I am able to be so focused while doing it, it is almost like an hour of meditation for me. One of my biggest challenges that I get cued on and that I also catch myself doing is letting my shoulders ride up. Despite that the teacher tonight did comment that I have good form, but! but! said that my left side definitely tries to work harder than my right. For someone to pick that up and didn't know that I've been having extreeeeeme tightness in my left side.......I must look like I need a v8!

Sign of the times.

So today I went to the first day of my orientation for my part time job at another hospital. I have sat through many of hospital orientations and always before (because the nursing profession had such a shortage) the whole first day you would hear how great it was that you (the nurse) had chose them (the hospital) to work for. Today though it was a different story. All we heard was how lucky we were that they chose us to work there. Don't get me wrong I know I am very lucky to not only have one job (with benefits) but now to have another job for extra hours........On the other hand, I am a nurse........my job is not going to be outsourced.........my profession is still largely populated with nurses of or nearing retiring age even if they do decide to put in a few extra years before the final vacation. Just another sign of the times that I pondered during my 8 hours of boring orientation. Good grief Charlie Brown : <

I give myself a D-

Man I get a D- for blogging the past few days! Fast Recap:

Workouts - Friday 1 hour torture w/ the trainer.......I would post the workout but I was so foggy headed from my allergies that I didn't even remember all it entailed by the time I got home.
Sat - I attempted to go to my Pilates class, but got stuck in road construction ended up way late and missed it then I went home and got lazy and slept before I had to work sat night : (
Sun - woke up this afternoon did 60 min P90 stretch (trying to work in more pilates and stretching) then went and biked around Tempe Town Lake with my friend. Man was it windy!!!! Quite unusual for the Valley of the Sun so it turned out to be a bit of a resistance workout mixed in with some small hills and then some flat straights with the wind at our back - weeee...........

(insert pics of Tempe Town Lake which I failed to take!)

After we went and ate at local bar/grill and sat on patio. I had a larger cobb salad with Gorgonzola cheese on it! My friend had a chicken pecan salad that came with this mango dressing? tasted almost like a foofoo alcoholic drink. It was weird but in a good, intriguing way!

(insert pic of sweet old jeep commander that I saw in the parking lot! again that I failed to take).

Running hiatus update - I met with the sports chiropractor and massage therapist on Friday; apparently the root of my problems is my right S/I joint (causing my it irritation on the left). My ass is so sore from the massage therapist!!!! but even after 60 min I was still too tight for the chiropractor to adjust me! I have to go back on Tuesday again. On a plus note my health insurance is totally covering both with only a small copay! The doc said to lay off running one more week since we are incorporating new therapy, but thinks he can get me going again here shortly : ) I am thinking maybe a short run end of this week as a trial depending on how Tuesday goes! I have been plotting and planning how to build my base again SLLOOWLYYY! so I don't run into more problems.

Garden update - pumpkin and corn growing like crazy! tomato, pepper, and strawberry plants have pretty flowery blooms on them! carrots and green onions making some headway! lettuce accounted for. watermelon, cantaloupe, and okra seeds not sprouting : < ?

(insert updated garden pics here, actually I was planning on doing these later this week)

Finally, so much for my 2 day workweek (boo me, yeah checkbook!) Starting tomorrow I have some busy weeks ahead. I have hospital orientation for my new part time job (m-f 8-5) this week. What brain cells the pollen didn't kill last week will be numbed into a coma during this. Do you know how painful this is for me? A. I work nights so 8-5 ouch! B. I am a nurse in an er, sitting in a chair for 8 hours ouch! Anyways, then because that is my second job I have still have to put in my night shifts next weekend........and then I am back to a cultural competency day and computer training day the next week (for both jobs). I will be glad when I go back to just having to do my shifts!!!!! Because of the working day things I am going to miss going to my trainer this week (boo!); so I will see what other stuff I can get in for training during the week.

Coming soon.........

I am starting my Pilate's instructor training program at the end of April so I will be posting more about Pilate's and the teachings of Joseph Pilate as well as my progress in this endeavor. I know the yoga classes are very popular out there in blog land, but do any of you take or have tried pilates? What are your thoughts on it?

Someone turn this faucet off otherwise known as my nose!

I am just getting hammered with the allergies and sinus problems this year! I blame my running hiatus as I believe that when I am regularly running I drain all the bad stuff out of my nose during the run. As for the neti pot that everyone has raved and raved about to me.......I have yet to feel it's healing powers and in fact feel worse after using it. I am currently cracked out on sudafed which has successfully dried everything out but my nose.

Tomorrow I am going to the sports massage therapist and the sports chiropractor. Hopefully after my adjustment and some adhesion work I can end this hiatus. Next week will begin week 4 of not running. My plan was not to run for 4 weeks to give my leg time to heal. I may try to do some short 2-3 milers next week as I really miss it. My missing it so much has led me to do hours and hours of research on ultra running. The thought of actually completing a 50-100 mile race (by yourself) is intriguing. But first, building my base back up slowly so I don't continue to have problems with my knees/hips/it bands.

SUPERSETS, SINUSES, AND SPORTS MASSAGES

Superset circuit.....



pull ups 8 reps

reverse flies with 5lb wts on bosu 15 reps



leg press 8 reps (I am really bad about looking to see how much wt is on machines as my trainer does it)

single leg squat touchdown w/ 10lbs 10 reps/per leg



incline press 8 reps (again see above)

decline push ups (feet on bench) 15 reps



forward fall hamstring curls on airex 8 reps

split (like jumping jack over step) jumps on step (3 levels) 15 reps fast



repeat circuit 4x w/ 2 minute rest in between



abs before and wall sit to end

That was my torture session for today (although it wouldn't have been so bad had my sinuses/allergies not been slowly decaying my brain........so after my torture I went shopping and bought a neti pot (finally). I've always just flushed my sinuses with the saline Ocean spray and thought this was the same. And now that I have the neti pot I know that it is not the same. However, I will hold my review on this product after I have tried it a few times as I do not think you are suppose to get immediate relief from one use. (if you are it doesn't work and thats my review)! Finally, these images have somehow found there way to me not once but twice this week and so I will share this link as a WHAT YOUR ONLINE FOOD DIARY SHOULD NOT LOOK LIKE!!!! My gallbladder is contracting just looking at this!

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Oh yeah, I went to sports chiropractor today. I only had an initial assessment done where he measured my insteps, had me do some overhead squats, step over a hurdle thing, checked my ankle flexibility, checked my core strength, and pushed on some of my joints and found one spot on my left hip that almost made me jump of the table! (hmmm could this be the root of my it problem?) Overall he said my r hip joint is tight and tilts somewhat causing that leg to be shorter however he was able to push on that joint and my legs evened out ruling out that one leg is shorter than another. He said my strength and flexibility scores were high which was a good sign that with an adjustment after a few sessions with a sports massage therapist (to do some work on that spot on my left hip and some other areas of tightness) I should be good to go! That's good news. I am currently in week 3 of my running hiatus and missing it. I go to the massage therapist on Friday which I am expecting to be somewhat painful!

My Little Leprechaun!

Calling all adventurers, triathletes, and runners!

This was posted at active.com and I received an email about it so I thought I would share it. I don't have that many races scheduled for the year but if I did this would be very cool to look into!

**********
Team Bear Naked is a closely-knit band of adventurers who are astonished by the variety and splendor Mother Nature unfurls. We’re extending an invitation for the world to share in our discoveries… A call to simply live life… to live Bear Naked™. We know that you, your friends, training partners or colleagues may be a perfect fit for Team Bear Naked 2009! Read below for more details and be sure to share the love (forward this email) to anyone else who may be a fit for Team Bear Naked 2009. Bear Naked will sponsor 110 triathletes, runners and cyclists across the U.S. this year. Selected athletes will have at least six races on their 2009 event calendar, a proven passion for their sport, and a love of spreading the word on training tips and brands they believe in. What Bear Naked Wants:
Male and Female triathletes, runners and cyclists with at least six events on their 2009 race schedule
Athletes who value nutrition as an integral part of their training regimen
Brand Ambassadors to help spread the word on how tasty Bear Nakedproducts are
People who Live Bear Naked™ - outgoing individuals who will positively promote Bear Naked products to peers, family and friends

************
Here is the link for the application!

http://amgteams.activecm.net/Page455.aspx

aNd! and the Beanstalk

Guess what that is????? If you guessed beanstalk you are wrong, but if you dream of jack-o-lanterns and pumpkin porter then you are correct! PUMPKINS!!!! When I went to water my garden today I noticed these two guys emerging from the little mound I planted them in last Friday (only 7 days ago!) I forgot to post pics of my garden newly planted so here is the rundown of what I have planted.

Tomatoes - early bush, yellow, and cherry tomato plants (too late to start from seed)

Peppers - green bell, red, jalapeno plants

Zucchini - plants because they didn't have any seeds and I really wanted zucchini!

Watermelon

Cantaloupe

Pumpkins

Sweet Corn - will need to space these out more after they sprout and get bigger

Green onions

Carrots

Okra - yummy!

Strawberries - small plants, potted in a strawberry planter I already had (we'll see)!

This morning I had an unusually early appointment for my training torture. 60 minutes that included some medicine ball passes, bench step-ups, pull downs w/ airex pad, cable fly, some jumps or squat things, skull crushers, bicep curls, knee raises, reverse incline sit ups, single leg wall sits, some other stuff I was probably sleeping while doing, and to top it off a "great" core exercise we call up-up-down-down.......start in a plank position on your elbows then for a minute you push up on to your right hand then left then down onto right elbow then left. Switch which arm you lead with at about 30 seconds or alternate the entire time. Either way it sucks, lol! I spent the afternoon visiting my two favorite people under the age of 3! side note for JoyRun....apparently my nephew will only go pee in the toilet if he is running around in his underwear, somehow wearing shorts over the underwear seems to take too much time out of playing when he has to go and therefore he just pees his pants! Anyhow, no cardio or yoga today :( I am planning on getting both done in the morning then back to the grind of my two day work week. Better live it up while it lasts though I am scheduled to start my new part time job soon which will mean consistently working a 3 or 4 day workweek (my bank will surely appreciate this as will Uncle Sam when he gets his payment)!

Daily dose of Vitamin D....under my layer of spf 50!

Somehow I convinced my *very sore* friend to go hiking with me today. I had my camera with me just in case we ran into any snakes, but of course because I was with someone else we didn't. If I would have went by myself I probably would have come upon 2 or 3 rattlesnakes in the parking lot! We hiked the National-Mormon Loop in South Mountain Preserve - total 6 miles with total elevation gain of I think around 700 feet. One of these days I will be cool and own a garmin! It was super sunny out and getting pretty warm by the time I got around to going at 11 this morning. This evening I foam rolled my legs and did my 3rd day in a row of the yoga for runners. I am liking this 20 minutes yoga session........it feels good except for one pose where you lay on your shoulder? I am just going to start skipping that one. Last night my boyfriend went to the store for dog food and came back with these!








If you look closely you can see the orchid he got me for Valentine's Day!

I LOVE having fresh flowers on the table, but cut flowers don't last so it is very cool that I get actual planted flowers! Last year I got my mom a mini rose bush for Mother's Day. She kept it inside for the winter (she lives where that white stuff falls and the thermometer actually goes below the freezing point).....she has had roses blooming all winter!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!

When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the earth down.

That's right Chuck is 69! Happy belated Birthday!

Ok, moving on......

First, my friend that is a travel nurse is back home. She's has been traveling for about 4 years now and so despite visiting her in some cool places along the way it will be nice to hang out again! Today I convinced her to go to my trainer with me to check it out. Hmmm......yeah she may hate me now, lol!

After our training session (60 min) my friend dropped me at home and I was looking for a way to get my cardio in (she wasn't up for staying and doing some elliptical......lol). My knees were still hurting today when I was doing backward lunges letting me know that yes it is still too early to run again. Soooo, out came the P90X Kenpo X video. Has anyone else out there P90'd? As a mini review it will definitely tone you up... I did my 90 days..... and will occasionally pop in a video but overall I get bored doing the same thing which is why I love my trainer and prefer to do my cardio outside! The Kenpo video is good and definitely gets your heart rate up. I did 60 minutes of kenpo and then finished off with my 20 minute yoga for runners video that I posted about yesterday.

On a sad note we said goodbye to our snowbirds today, they are headed to Cali for a few weeks then on up to the home state of Washington. This was the 2nd year they were down here for part of the winter. It is always fun having them here to ride bikes, hike, day trip, and bbq with!

Help I am being attacked!

The citrus blooms are eating away at my brain!

*****I would insert a picture here of the citrus tree in my neighbor's yard that is one of the culprits eating away at my brain, but that would require that I go back out into that sweet fog that clouded my head earlier today and is responsible for the 2 hour nap/allergy coma I just got up from*****

Anyhow, I was planning to take a bike ride later today.....not sure if that is going to be happening. I am still on my running hiatus trying to see if I can calm these IT band and knee issues down. This morning in an attempt to do just that I did this 20 minute yoga session and my goal is to do it or another yoga class at least 4x this week. I liked this series as it helped to stretch areas that I am always tight!

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2008/11/Episode-144-Yoga-for-Runners-610626.html

Anyone else have any ideas besides not running on how to calm these legs of mine? What kind of cross training/cardio do you do besides running?

Lastly, WELCOME JOYRUN!

Stay Tuned

Currently experiencing technical difficulties..........12 hour night shifts. Will return to the regular scheduled programming tomorrow!

TO AGRITOPIA AND BACK......

Finally, I got to go to Joe's Farm Grill

http://www.joesfarmgrill.com/

This place is great! First of all they grow almost all of their food onsite or use local stuff (beef, dairy, etc). I am still using my camera phone so not the best picture but I had the Ahi Tuna Sandwich with sweet potato fries! THE BEST SWEET POTATO FRIES!!!!!! The Ahi Tuna was good and I really liked the Asian Coleslaw on the sandwich! Note the pickles (awesome, also they make their own pickles)!!! The place itself includes the grill, a coffee shop, self-serve produce stand, the farm (of course, duh), and get this......a vespa service station (how freakin awesome is that! I looked like an old garage but vespa size, lol!

Still icing my knees from Ragnar (and maybe a little from the bike ride yesterday). Back to the grind it was today though. 60min of trainer torture and then I did 30min on the elliptical (ugh, I hate doing my cardio indoors!) I also made it over the the nursery to pick up some stuff for my garden which I am going to try and plant over the next week! I got a new camera battery so with some adequate charging overnight it will be good to go!

Finally, I tried this recipe from Kath http://www.katheats.com/favorite-foods/chocolate-walnut-banana-bread/ it turned out great. I did make a few changes because I only had w.w. flour not w.w. pastry flour I actually used 1.5 cups w.w. flour and then .5 cup wheat germ and I had one extra overripe banana that I used as well. This turned out sooooo moist (but not too moist) and sweet! Thanks Kath. Speaking of baked goodies, check out this giveaway for personalized baking tags. What a great idea!

http://www.megansmunchies.com/2009/03/personalized-baking-tags-giveaway.html

****one last note on Joe's Farm Grill......I hope the Ahi Tuna is not local, I mean where would it come from the canals? Yikes!******

Big nutrition, small stools?

Did I mention that my camera battery totally went dead on the first leg of Ragnar, it won't hold a charge at all now so I am going to have to buy a new battery. Anyways, today we headed out to one of the local regional parks for some "mountain" biking. We ended up doing a 10 - 12 mile single track desert trail with some good pulls here and there, but make no mistake I am not cranking up anything so hence the quotations around "mountain". Beautiful views, wish I had my camera.....the wildflowers are just starting to bloom and for the desert it is very green right now. HOWEVER, along with fun wildflowers/warm weather/and green deserts come snakes! So I was the tail end of our 3 person group by a ways because I don't like "flying" on the downs because I know myself and know that me crashing into a cactus would not be good. Luckily, I avoided crashing into any cactus or doing a headie right onto a nice sharp rock but as I was making my way through a narrower part of the trail (a little down/up) I must have come a little to close to a bush that a nice rattlesnake was sleeping under. Right as my right ankle was on the down pedal I heard a distinctive sound just next to it (my heart dropped into my pants although at the time I didn't realize it was my heart) Did the snake strike at me? I am not positive on that, but 1. I am positive that it was a rattlesnake 2. I am positive it was too close for comfort to me as I was to it (you know how when something goes by you so close even though it doesn't actually come in physical contact with your skin you can feel it?) THAT CLOSE!!!!! too bad I didn't have a heart rate monitor on because I think I flipped into SVT, possibly a run of V-TACH. Needless to say I pedaled so fast without looking back (afraid I was going to crash and get swallowed whole by it). As I caught up to the other 2 in my group and told them what happened I got the "uh huh, sure" . Later they said they believed me, but I don't think they really do, lol!



Oh on the way out to the park as I was driving I pulled up behind this truck.....the pic is a little out of focus (from my phone) so I typed out what the truck had wrote on it. I guess it was some type of organic dog food, but the truck was funny!

and speaking of big nutrition.....one of my favorite foods ever is cereal. We've all seen the different websites you can make your own protein bars, etc. Here is a giveaway to "make your own cereal"......HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!!!

http://healthingit.com/2009/03/03/the-new-healthingit-first-giveaway/

FAMILY ADVENTURE

So because I am apparently still coming down from my Ragnar High and we all know that is a very dangerous time when one is coming down from a post-race event. For example after my finishing my first marathon I was at such a loss of what to do and felt so strong I joined rollerderby





While this was great fun for a few years, I stopped playing rollerderby before getting any major injuries or going into liver failure from all the whiskey I was drinking to fuel my anger, lol.

So today, in my post event high looking for something fun to do I decided that I would try and recruit my family to do a RAGNAR RELAY. I have lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins and it would be fun kinda like an adventure family reunion....so I send out this email to a bulk of my cousins and aunt/uncles.

"Ok so this past weekend my mom came down to AZ and ran a relay race with me.....we had soooo much fun. They are doing one in Texas in October it runs from San Antonio to Austin. Here is the website

www.ragnarrelay.com

then choose Texas to read more about it! Anyways, I know it sounds crazy, but even if you are not a runner they have a training plan to train for it which actually starts in June, but with some prep work starting now would really be doable by October. I told my mom that it would be fun if we could get 12 family members to do it together! Just throwing it out there, basically it could be some quality family time (2 days running, sweating, and laughing in a van).

I promise you and anyone else in our family who wants to do it can do it, I will send you weekly training plans....I trained my mom to do a 1/2 marathon and the ragnar relay in AZ which is longer than the one in Texas!"

Here is the first response I got back.....from one of my male cousins (year older than me, straight-laced family man type)

"Are you sure you have the right email address, I was thinking more along the lines of renting a van, buying a keg, and driving across Texas sounded like fun. We could drive slow and laugh at everyone baking in the sun while we turned the AC up. Either that or we could rent a 4 door, convertible white Cadillac, era 1970’s, buy a case of Jack, a bag o pot and just see what the hell happens, its just a thought and I’m just throwing it out there. Anyway, its good to hear that you both survived the race, mostly (my mom), I’m impressed with that one. Let me know if you come up with any family events that don’t involve sadomasochism."

Getting this team together may be harder than any derby hit I took! Better break out the Jack, lol (not really)

Running Gu

I almost forgot this, but while catching up on other blogs (http://delusionsofotherpeoplesgrandeur.blogspot.com/) it reminded me. Saturday after we crawled our asses back to the house we unpacked the vans onto the kitchen counter and crashed. Sunday morning we went to take the vans back to the rental place and while we were gone Barnacle Bo and Squidney decided to do some unpacking of their own. By the time we got home they had ate 5-7 clif bars and 1/2 bag of chex mix, but left 7 running gu's completely unopened spread throughout the house. Even dogs know that running gu's are gross, lol!

LET'S HEAR IT FOR GRACIE O.

YOU ARE OFFICIALLY MY FIRST....FOLLOWER THAT IS! and because I am such a fan of yours please email or facebook me your snailmail address and you will get a surprise from muah!

Also check out this giveaway I ran across, yum!!!!

http://www.onefrugalfoodie.com/2009/03/01/gigantic-giveaway-cookies-brownies-granola/comment-page-10/#comment-6287

RUN, DRIVE, SLEEP, REPEAT.

Ok so I didn't drive, but I did puke in the van! Can I just say how much freakin' fun this race was, despite my raging sinus infection (maybe the lack of sleep and drugs have seduced me into thinking it was more fun than it actually was). Anyways, I have to say that I have not had a post event high like this since my first marathon! I am already planning my team for next year's DEL SOL event and would love to do a team for Texas and LA! So here is a rundown of how my weekend went.

Friday - Breakfast - oatmeal w/ banana, huckleberries, and almonds
0930 am - leave for our exchange
snacked on handful of wheatthins

LEG 1 - sometime around 5pm, 8.5 miles, dirt road, support vans making
sure I filled at least the lower lobes of my lungs with some good AZ dirt,
one giant rock painted as a skull (kind of an ominous sign, but whatever
right) Here is a fun t-shirt from one of the other teams that says it all!


















So for having a sinus infection that leg was not bad, super dry air though and I barely had a voice when I was done. I ran my 8.5 miles in around 80 minutes which is good for me especially since I was sick. Here is a picture of me during my first leg, not bad at least I look like I have a forward motion!











Ok back to the rundown:

7pm ish we hit up the next exchange with our Van 1 again and off for us to get a little rest, but first I felt the need to puke all over the van floor (oops #2)! Must have been the combination of antibiotics in my system and the liquid intake, lol. On a side note, if you ever decide to do a race like this always handy to invite a doctor or two to be your teammates! Luckily I am smart like this and my teammate hooked me up with some antinausea medication and I somehow managed to doze off in the van for about 1 hour and keep 1/2 a bagel with some peanut butter down, weeee!

LEG 2 - sometime around 5am Saturday, 6.5 miles the first 2 of which were into +30
mph crosswind and then another 4 miles of slow, steady uphill. I am not
going to lie at this point I was sucking, my knees hurt, and I was cussing
(under my breath) all the elite runners sprinting past me telling me "good
job" (the started the race 8 hours after us, lol). Oh tip for anyone
running a night leg and trying to wear a headlamp....wear a hat or visor
with a bill to hold it in place....my team did this, I did not, I fought
with that stupid headlamp the whole 6.5 miles because it kept slipping down
my sweaty forehead.

Ok on to the next exchange but first breakfast, I was literally running on empty and oddly enough the teams consensus was for mcdonalds, lol. I opted for the sausage mcmuffin with cheese, no egg, and a small coke (I was choosing my food choices by what wouldn't be extremely disgusting coming back up!) Oh yeah I almost forgot I had 1/2 a cinnamon roll at the exchange site right before mcd's (in the spirit of JOYRUN, trying to fuel my run with sugar)!

LEG #3 - 4:30 pm Sat, +85 degrees, full AZ sun, 3 miles, lots of sunscreen! Oh did
I mention that I haven't showered since Friday morning, apparently someone
thought I was stinking and felt the need to give me a shower during my last
leg of the race!





Totals for the race:
18 miles running
1 hour of sleep
2 episodes of emesis (back to back)
1 cool medal that doubles as a bottle opener (sweeeet!)
2 potential knee replacements (not really, but I am taking a few weeks off to rehab)
32 hours of non stop fun!
213 teams
426 vans!

Did I mention this race is fun???????