Tag Archives: running

A mood-swing-filled twenty miler.

After our crazy weekend of many friends in our tiny home (just how I like it!), there was one casualty.

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My blender didn’t survive the margarita madness. We had to go blender shopping on Sunday night so I could make my post-run recovery smoothie on Monday. We ended up with a Ninja system– which was pretty expensive but should last a long time and it does a REALLY good job. I also found a few blogs that show great Ninja recipes, like energy chews and ice cream and all sorts of delicious ideas. πŸ™‚ On the way home from Target, we saw an Almond Tree van on the highway. What are the odds of that? Brian sped up so we could wave at Jon and Kristi.
We made shakes on Sunday night to try out the new machine, and then I hit the hay to rest for Monday’s run.
I started the day with coffee and my usual breakfast of Greek yogurt, fruit, agave, nuts, and chia.

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I was feeling a little apprehensive about this run, but for no good reason. It was sprinkling a little in the early morning, but by about 10, the weather took a turn for the better, and I headed out around noon. I took a slightly hilly route out just north of town, along the river. My plan was to do two 10 mile out-and-backs, and stop at home in between to fill up my water. Unfortunately, the explorer in me had a different idea, and when I got to my five mile turnaround, I kept going. It was a beautiful route…

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…a good mix of gravel and pavement…

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…exposed tree roots…

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…and little waterfalls! Can you blame me for not wanting to turn around? It wasn’t until the road ended at 7.3 miles that I caved. Of course, I ran out of water about 10 miles in, and I was also being chased by a hornet. As it turns out, when I get dehydrated, I turn into cranky Heidi. I started thinking that maybe I’d just take a few big gulps of the river… And the Wisconsin river up here is pretty gross. I paddle in it all the time, and swim occasionally, but it is definitely not drinkable. With that longer route, I knew I’d have to fill up at home, then head out for a 5.4 out-and-back, and I was so crabby that I knew I wouldn’t go back out if I stopped at home. My only logical option was to skip my house and take my turning-salty-and-starting-to-cramp body to the park for water instead. What happened next was only slightly short of embarrassing.
When I give my black lab unlimited water, she drinks until she pukes. That’s practically what happened at the water fountain. I drank 20 oz of water, then filled up both of my 10 oz bottles for the remaining 5ish miles. I didn’t puke, but my first half mile after that was done with all that water sloshing around in my stomach. Whoops.
I headed on a more traveled route and saw my friend Lee, who hollered at me, and I was encouraged. I also thought about jewelry for a mile or so. πŸ™‚ The last five miles were a lot slower than the first fifteen, but I got the miles in and learned a valuable lesson.

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Brian and I met with the beautiful Bryanna and Sam tonight to finalize the schedule for their wedding this weekend.

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I can’t wait! We’re going to have a lot of fun with this beautiful couple.
I will leave you with a few more photos of this weekend’s friends.

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This girl is off to bed. Brian just reminded me that it is bedtime!

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Miles this year: 258.8

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Cinco de Mayo!

Crazy weekend so far at the Oberstadt home.
On Thursday night, I had a TU board meeting and Brian had a union meeting. I’m super excited to go to fly fishing school in two weeks.

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Our board is a bunch of fun guys, and they are teaching me a lot.

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After I finished up the meeting, I headed over to Guu’s to meet Ashley and Sarah to drop off one of the Running for Rachael shirts. It turned out to be a night of awesome random encounters! Starting with…

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…my friend, Brendan, who was celebrating the end of his long commutes to finish up his doctoral degree. The girls came soon after. Since the loss of our sisters, we cherish each other and make every effort to see our friends whenever we can!

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I played a few games of foos with Mikey…

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…saw Jim doing yo yo tricks…

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…and wrapped up the night with my sweet husband.

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Brian had Friday off from work, so we worked in the yard together, and we found the best surprise…

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Morels! Yum. Friday was a blur of getting ready for the weekend. We drove up to Wausau to drop off May day flowers for my mom and stop at Sam’s Club. We also shot a piano studio recital on Friday night, but I don’t have photo releases for those adorable kids so I can’t provide any proof.
We woke up early on Saturday to head to La Crosse for a 5K. Brian was driving, I was sleeping. This is me, upon waking. πŸ™‚

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My trusty driver.

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We had just gotten into La Crosse when my car started sputtering. We looked at the gas gauge, and I had 1/8 tank of gas left, then my car turned off. We coasted into a parking lot, and I got worried. Brian was convinced that my gauge was broken and my car was out of gas…

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…and he was right. So my gauge must be broken. 😦 I did learn that gas stations often have loaner gas cans. I hated being that couple walking down the street carrying a gas can. How embarrassing! Luckily, it was an easy fix, and our friend, Karl, was able to pick up our bibs for us. We made it to the race with plenty of time to spare. It was an overcast, humid morning, and the race started and finished along the water.

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This is everyone before the race.
Brian was beyond ready!

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I was, too!

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Jaime walked the race with her brother- and sister-in-law, and their super cute baby, Lucy! Karl started the race with us.

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We started too far back in the pack- we had to weave through a lot of walkers. Whoops. We had a little fun with that, then settled in to our pace.

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La Crosse’s police department uses Jeeps!

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The course was a mix of city streets and paths along the water.

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We finished with a official time of 30:28 and 30:29. I cheered Brian on ahead of me. πŸ™‚ I’m still debating the time- my Garmin showed our time being a full minute faster than theirs- I wonder if this race messed up our official start time? Anyway, I cried happy tears of pride for my husband.

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Lucy was able to walk across the finish line for the first time, and it was adorable.

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We stopped at Panera bread for lunch. πŸ™‚

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I love you, Jaime! The ride home was beautiful- I love that area of our state. La Crosse is so hilly, and everything was so green with the rain we’ve had lately.

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We got home from the race and started preparing for my photo shoot and our Cinco de Mayo get together. I left our house just as people were arriving, and I headed over to the Theatre @1800 to shoot the concert of my friend, Danny. I love hearing him play, and our friend Ben flew in from Maryland to play, as well.

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It was great to see you, Danny. Thanks for having me capture your concert!

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It was also SUPER awesome to see Ben.

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I rushed home to see all our friends. Brian, Devon and Christy, Amanda, Curtis and Mo, Davin and Kari, and Mary and Joe. It was a fun night of margaritas, Cranium, charades, and friends πŸ™‚

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Curtis, Mo, and Amanda spent the night πŸ™‚ We made a delicious pancake breakfast since I’m carb loading for tomorrow’s 20 miler.

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I have to go for now- the boys were rained out of their golf scramble today, so we’re having an afternoon of friends, too! πŸ™‚

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Happy (belated) May day!

Hey, friends. πŸ™‚ I hope that May is treating you all well so far!
After my whirlwind weekend, I spent Monday recovering… Laundry, cleaning the house, and TONS of photo sorting. While I was at the gym on Monday, a man had a heart attack.

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I’ve since changed my name to Concernicus, since I’m deeply concerned about my own heart health, and I’m concerned that I wasn’t wouldn’t be able to help a stranger in need. I need to re-learn CPR. Seriously. While I know that prayer is powerful, I have a hunch that chest compressions might be more powerful in that situation. I’m taking a class in June.
I came home from the gym pretty shaken up, but I was also SUPER hungry, so I wanted to get started on dinner right away. We had Mexican! Brian had some delicious tacos and I had a taco salad. With a Coronoa, of course! πŸ™‚

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Tuesday was a miracle of a day- I got my kayak rack readjusted and brought our boats home for the summer. We store them over at our friends’ house during the winter. Thanks, Bill and Beth! This is what a happy Stratus looks like!

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I didn’t have time to take my boat out for a spin because we had to head to small group. This is our first small group led by Robert, but we love Tapestry, so I thought we’d enjoy it. We’re reading and discussing Things Unseen by Mark Buchanan. So far, I’m intrigued.
I was able to take my boat out yesterday for some BEAUTIFUL time on the Wisconsin River. I love that we live just a few blocks away. I’m also continually reminded of how blessed I am to have the equipment and the strength to paddle. I saw some fish and quite a few birds, although the water was pretty murky looking after all the rain we’ve had lately. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing lightly. It was a perfect afternoon to escape real life and play on the water for a while.

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I stopped at the Hostel Shoppe afterwards to have a little work done on my bike, and I picked up some delicious buns at the co-op for Brian to make grilled chicken sandwiches for dinner. You know me and my penchant for greens… I had a grilled chicken salad. πŸ™‚
Our neighbor, William, also took me out for my first Harley ride of the season. Aw, yeah. I saw Matt Kirsch while out there… Hey, Matt! That was me with that helmet on, waving like a crazy person. πŸ™‚
We had some crazy storms last night, so I didn’t sleep well. It’s okay, though- dreary weather is God’s way of helping me be more productive indoors. I have a hard time sitting in a dim room editing photos when nature is calling me to run/paddle/cycle/garden. You know what I’m talking about! πŸ™‚
My friend, Justin, came over and we went for a run today. I haven’t seen him since our Pray-Sims days, so it was awesome to catch up! We did a little 6.5 mile loop around the river. My back has been sore for about three weeks now, and it was bothering me a lot on the run today 😦
At least I had some great company to help keep me distracted! I hope my back shapes up and heals before my marathon madness this summer. Thanks, Justin. πŸ™‚

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I’ve got some more photo work to get done before we have another busy weekend, so I’m off to my dimly lit room. πŸ™‚

Miles this year: 234.3

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CrazyLegs race recap and fun formal events!

I have lots of wonderful news to report. πŸ™‚
I had a wonderfully busy weekend full of friends, running, and shooting like crazy!
Let’s start on Thursday- I went to lunch with my friend and photo mentor, Bill.20120429-204732.jpg
He’s been the guy to talk to when I have any camera-equipment (or kayaking or woodworking) related questions. After lunch, we went to visit our friend, Randy, who owns Radio Kaos.
20120429-205053.jpg That’s us with my newest cd, Lucero’s Women & Work. I’ll post more about the awesomeness that is Randy later. Hint: he’s WAY better than Pandora at helping me find music I’ll like.
On Thursday night, we headed over just north of town for an engagement shoot with Kim and Mark. They’re two awesome bikers who are adorable together and we had a ton of fun!
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Later that night, we went out with our friends, and discovered that Guu’s has Bell’s Two-Hearted!!!!
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I spent Friday morning cleaning the house, editing photos, and getting ready for Friday and Saturday’s events. I met with Sarah in the afternoon; she interviewed me for her Entrepreneurship class. 20120429-210404.jpg Thanks, Sarah! It was great to catch up with you and I’m glad I could answer your questions for class.
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We finished dinner just in time to get ready to head over to campus and shoot SoirΓ©e Musicale. I love this event- it raises money for scholarships, and it’s near and dear to our hearts since we were once scholarship recipients. πŸ™‚ 20120429-210746.jpg20120429-210753.jpg20120429-210759.jpg
…our friend, Jeff, came back for a performance during the concert…20120429-210832.jpg20120429-210846.jpg

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After that late night, we went straight to bed. We met Amanda in Plover at 6 am on Saturday to head down to Madison for CrazyLegs.

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I had a few friends running the race…

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…and the rest of our supporters manned a table with melanoma information and all sorts of goodies from the Melanoma Research Foundation.
About the race itself: I had a blast. It was a cold, rainy morning, but there was so much excitement with the 25,000 runners that I was pretty distracted. It took 25 minutes to cross the start line, but that gave me a chance to get to know the folks around me.

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Don’t mind the angled picture of the capital, I was trying to walk and shoot while keeping my phone dry πŸ˜‰
I started out next to a guy named Kevin. I asked him what time our wave was expecting. I know we put in our anticipated finishing time when we register to help the organizers set the waves correctly, but I forgot what I’d planned on. He reminded me that our wave was for the 10:00 mile people. I smiled, because I must have been feeling pretty relaxed when I set that time. Kevin looked at me and said, “Ten minutes, but I bet you’re going to blow that out of the water, huh?” He was reading my mind. Kevin asked if he could run with me, and of course, I said yes. Once the race started, we continued to chat- and I discovered that this was Kevin’s first race! I wanted to help him have a good experience, so I felt him out and we ended up talking about half of the race. I asked him how he got into running, and that’s when he revealed the kicker. He had a stint put in his heart at the end of October. I was so proud of him for running this race- he said running was a part of his cardiovascular rehabilitation. Absolutely awesome! I helped him maintain an even pace, which ended up with us passing lots of people in the last couple miles. We had a lot of fun weaving around the people who’d drastically slowed down- it was like playing a (polite!) game of catch. We came into the finish together, but he let me finish first, even though I was waving him ahead. πŸ™‚

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Congratulations, Kevin! You are one inspirational stranger!

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I finished with an official time of 45:42. Since it’s my first 8K, it’s automatically a PR! πŸ™‚

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We love you, Rachael. Race 3 of 6, done. Oh, and I saw a giant Bucky. πŸ™‚

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After the race, we went to our friend’s apartment to warm up and visit. Ashley, Amanda, Sarah, and Sarah’s mom were there. πŸ™‚ More friends were coming, but Brian and I had to head back to Stevens Point to clean up and get ready for the Rotary Club’s ball in Wausau. We donated our services to this event to help them raise money for new literacy programs. Reading is fun and SO important!

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The band, Fat Brass, was pretty awesome! They played a variety of different styles, and it was a fun night. It’d been a while since Brian put on a tux and I put on a dress at the same time. πŸ™‚

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Dale was there, too! We got to share a few dances at the end of the night.

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Talk about an exhausting day!
This morning, I made Brian some delicious homemade muffins. Giant banana-nut-chocolate-chip muffins. πŸ™‚ I also got to babysit for the ADORABLE baby Halle. I took a few pictures- I’ll post them soon.

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I got to play with her while her beautiful momma was rehearsing with Brian’s sax quartet. We went for a walk. Can you find the baby in the bundle of blankets? πŸ™‚

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We came home from the walk to hear the quartets’ last tune. I love having live music in my home!

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Off to go watch some True Blood with my handsome hubby. πŸ™‚

Miles this year: 222.3

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A busy week of photos and recovery!

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Hi!
How are things over in your world, friends? Things are going well over here. I’m in the middle of a busy week! After the 1/2 marathon on Sunday, I took a day off to rest, and started some recovery runs this week. I’ve been a sore lady! On Tuesday, I ran three miles indoors and did 45 minutes on the elliptical machine. I spent quite a while talking to the Cybex rep at my gym; he was supervising the maintenance staff as they assembled our new piece of equipment- I think it’s called an Arc Trainer. Here’s a blurry photo of the guys assembling it, from my perspective on the elliptical next to them. πŸ™‚

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I also stopped over at Christian’s Bistro to get a few shots of Michael, the executive sous chef. He is featured in the May SCENE as the subject of the Frugal Foodies column.

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His knife tattoos used to scare the crap out of me, but then I found out that he’s a cool, nice guy who just happens to have knife tattoos. At least he’s a chef, and not a serial killer. LOL.
Tuesday night, one of my BFFs, Amy, came to town for dinner.

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Isn’t she the cutest? She showed up in a surprise- she got a new car!

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What a sweet ride. As we cruised to dinner, I had flashbacks to when she was 16 and I was 15, and she’d drive us to school together in her sweet Contour. πŸ™‚ We went for sushi at Matsu Ya. Gosh, I love that place!

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Our post-dinner plans included Belts, red wine, and a new-to-us episode of True Blood.

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I started off today’s errands with a photo shoot over at Adventure 212.

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I really DO feel like I live there! I was working with two adorable ladies today.

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I got in a quick run and I was able to try out that new equipment. I like that new thing! It was different than anything else I’ve tried, and I felt like I got a good workout in on it. I’m looking forward to using it more! On my way out of the gym, I stopped in at Wally’s (amazing chiropractor) office to catch up with my coworker-turned-coffee-friend-turned-wedding-day-personal-attendant, Jessie. She’s his office assistant on Wednesdays. How cute is she?!

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I stopped over at Walgreens on the way home to pick up my thyroid medication. I have to go every month- it would be much easier if I could get a 90-day prescription! Every time I go, I think about how I have to take those pills every day for the rest of my life or I’ll die. I looked in the mirror of my car visor at my scar and and thought about how good it looks. I took a picture, and you can hardly even see it. I’m so blessed that I had such a good surgeon who made my scar very small.

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Luckily, I had an afternoon coffee date with my sole sisters Kim and Nancy.

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We talked about Nancy’s race in Boston, and my race in Oshkosh, and plans for our future races. I am SO PROUD of Nancy’s strategy to run through the heat- she arrived healthy (though dehydrated) and smiling at the finish line, and many runners were not as “lucky.” One of the lessons that I’ve learned is that one shouldn’t underestimate the marathon. Though I get “better” and certainly more experienced every time, it is still a challenge, no matter how prepared I am. Nancy and Kim are so good at keeping my mind focused on the important things in my running life. It was nice to talk through my plans for the next four races (in seven weeks!) and solidify my pace goals. I was a little down after my placement in Oshkosh, though I gained new perspective since then. First of all, I discovered that my field actually contained 29 brave women. Ninth out of 29? I’ll take that. Second, I saw the amazing Gladys Knight on Jimmy Kimmel last night after she’d been eliminated from Dancing With the Stars. She said something that really resonated with me.

“It wasn’t so much about getting the trophy. It was about standing up and saying, ‘we can live our dreams, if we just give it a shot.'”

You know, I’m living my dreams right now. And that’s pretty darn awesome, isn’t it? I have to remember to focus on the moment- on my own accomplishments- and not get hung up on competition with other folks.
When I got home from our coffee date, Brian and I ran outside to the park for a few “self-portraits.” It was way overdue, and our website needs some new photos of us, stat. The last time I met with a new client, she didn’t recognize me because our photos on the website are so old. That’s just ridiculous, isn’t it?! We’re in the photo business. How hard can a self-portrait be? Here’s the result from tonight’s shoot with minor editing…I left the bags under my eyes so everyone knows what a starving, exhausted artist I am, haha.

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We did good. πŸ˜€
Good night, friends!

Miles this year: 216.3

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Oshkosh 1/2 marathon 2012 race recap and cute dogs :)

It was a beautiful, slightly chilly day for a race. Brian and I woke up at 5 am, got dressed and ate breakfast (yogurt, bananas, chia, agave), then headed off to Oshkosh. We got there around 6, and I stopped at the race HQ to pick up my bib. I was so happy to see Nancy, Thomas, Kim, and Kim’s awesome grandma there. Thomas ran the 5K this morning and took 1st in his age group and 3rd overall! Way to go, Thomas! πŸ™‚

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Brian and I continued our race tradition in Oshkosh and walked over to a little coffee shop, where we got coffee, kept warm, and hung out.

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Brian is the best spectator and race support system. πŸ™‚

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At 6:50, we left the coffee shop and walked the block to the starting line.

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I started the race with a track jacket and thin gloves, since it was chilly. It was about 40 degrees. The first few miles were good- I went out at about a 9:00 pace. I took a few Gu Chomps at mile 3, but got a little sick to my stomach; I tried to ignore that feeling. I ran with the 2:00 pace group for a while, but I knew that I couldn’t keep that up, so I let myself stay back when they pulled ahead around mile 4. I played a lot of mind games with myself in miles 4-6. I kept looking at the people in front of me and wondered who might be competing with me in Athena. I intentionally slowed my pace to about 9:15 and thought if I hung in there at that pace, I could make my goal of 2:02. Brian was waiting for me at mile 6 and took my jacket and coat, encouraged me, and blew me a kiss.

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I continued along for three miles until I saw him again. During that time, I tried to eat a few more Gu Chomps, but thought I might just yak them up, so I decided to forgo solid-ish fuels for the rest of the race and stick with Gatorade on the course.
Miles 9-12 are kind of rough in this race. We run through a business area and there aren’t many spectators. The best part of that section was when a 65-ish year old woman cheered me on and said, “What is this? A fashion show? You look great!” It was the cutest thing ever. I was wearing a new purple running skirt, so I was pretty cute, haha.
I started thinking about TK and Rachael around mile 10. A few tears escaped my eyes, but with all the salt from sweating, the crying hurt. 😦
The last few miles, my baby cows calves were cramping. I was afraid that would happen- but I pressed on. As a result, I had to take more walk breaks than I wanted to. 😦
I still knew that a PR was in my future, so I was able to will myself in through the finish line chute…

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…with a final time of 2:03:30. That’s two minutes faster than my previous 1/2 PR, so yay for that. Second race for Rachael in the books. πŸ™‚

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On to the not-as-fun part.
So, I mentioned in this post that I signed up to run this race as an Athena. I thought I’d have a chance of getting a good placement in this division. Even with running a new PR, I placed 9th out of 17. I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t disappointed in myself. I’d be lying if I said that a part of me didn’t feel really defeated. If I can’t even compete realistically against the other big girls, then why bother competing at all? I’m still sort of struggling with that concept. It might have been a mistake to mentally give myself permission to compete for real- I might have been setting myself up for failure.
I may just go back to trying to compete against myself for a while. :-/
Anyway, I stopped at the stretching tent for a little help with recovery. They had a chiropractor there who was VERY helpful for my sore calves and hips.

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And of course, I had to have a cup of Drop Dead Blonde. Thanks, Point Beer, for being an sponsor! It was like a little taste of home πŸ™‚

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Brian drove me back to New London and I immediately hopped in the shower. I was one salty, sweaty, cold runner girl. After my shower, we went outside to play with our pups. Brace yourself for some shameless pictures of my cute pups. πŸ™‚

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Abbie got a “war wound” on her nose from a branch in the woods.

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That didn’t stop her from helping with shucking the corn!

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Poor cute thing. She also entirely covered herself in mud. I rested my legs a bit, I was feeling pretty tired after that run.

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We had a great lunch of turkey burgers, roasted veggies, and sweet corn (thanks, Jean!), then packed up and headed home.

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That’s all for now. Sorry to be a downer, but the bottom line is that I’m proud of my PR, and I hope there are more to come. I’m still as strong as ever!

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Miles this year: 210.3

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Yoga, fitness photos, and more dancing :)

Yoga is awesome.
I’ve been doing yoga for almost a decade now. For a few months, I’ll be really into it and practicing regularly, then for a few months, I let it slip by the wayside. This year, I’ve made it my goal to include more yoga in my weekly routine, because it forces me to focus on my own body, my own capabilities, and I strongly feel that yoga helps me avoid running injuries. One of the most amazing things about yoga is the self-awareness that it brings to my normal fitness routine. For a while now, I’ve been focusing on a progression that leads to Pincha Mayurasana. While Brian and I were at an after-hours gym shoot on Tuesday, we played around in the mind and body studio and came up with this incredible shot.

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I am so proud of being able to bring myself into that pose and I’m amazed at what I can do. Looking at that photo brings me a super cool feeling of being equally proud of myself for being the subject, and of my husband, for being the awesome photog that he is.
Here’s a few photos of the beautiful woman who teaches yoga at my gym, Karen. πŸ™‚

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Yesterday, I had the opportunity to volunteer up at the health care center in Wausau. They are having their “prom” on Friday, and we wanted to help the staff make it a memorable event. Dale and I, along with a few of our students, taught a few mini-lessons on foxtrot, waltz, and swing to the staff. We also did demos for the residents: waltz, foxtrot, a swing style medley, cha cha, and Viennese waltz. The icing on the cake was being able to dance with the residents. We pushed a few of them around in their wheelchairs, and held their hands and moved to the best. I got to dance with a 91-year old man! His smile was so big, it warmed my heart.

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I started out my morning over at Adventure 212. Sometimes I feel like I live there!!
I’ve been doing a bunch of fitness and food photos for them lately, and I have a great time. Here’s a few shots from my recent work over there.

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This is Michelle and Sarah- I just had to grab a quick photo of them before they left for their ride. How cute are they?!

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After finishing up today’s shoot, I ran a couple miles and did 20 minutes on the elliptical in preparation for my calf massage. I’ve been having a rough time with my calves this week- they’ve been very sensitive, tight, and they have the tendency to cramp up when under any pressure. Tom at 212 is my sports massage guy, and he knows his stuff. I prepared myself for a little relaxation and a lot of pain.

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He helped me out with those calves, and gave me some suggestions as far as heat and stretching to prepare for Sunday’s race.
After I showered, I noticed that I couldn’t get the ends of my hair apart. Those split ends just locked on to each other and became one curly, nasty mess. :-/ I looked in my calendar and realized that I haven’t gotten a haircut since October. Ridiculous, I know. I called my stylist to see how long it would be until I could get an appointment… And she had a cancellation, so I drove right over there after my massage for a haircut. I have incredible luck!
I was so overdue for a haircut that the bottom couple inches of my hair were dried and splitting, and my bangs almost reached my chin. :-/

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Luckily, Tammy over at Trendsetters Act II made quick work of my mop and I ended up with a shorter (and curly-er, if that’s possible!) hair style. I love it!

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A quick stop at the co-op on the way home to pick up some basics- spinach, soup, and coconut- and I was on my way home. It was great to catch up with my favorite co-op brothers, Noah and Luke.

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Brian wins the husband-of-the-day award by cooking a delicious dinner of spaghetti with chicken. He even made homemade sauce! Bless his heart.

Miles this year: 197.2

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What? An easy 18-miler? I didn’t know they made those.

I had a wonderful long run today, despite all odds. I’m still on cloud nine.
I woke up this morning very tired and thirsty. I think my body was still recovering from Viennese Ball this weekend. I took my thyroid pill, chugged some water, and went back to sleep. When I finally woke up around 10 (so much sleep!), I made breakfast.

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Plain Greek yogurt, 1/2 banana, kiwi, walnuts, chia seeds, and agave. Oh, and a big cup of coffee, of course! I ate breakfast and listened to the wind howling outside my window. The weather was beastly here today.

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When I checked, it was 41 degrees with 30 mph winds gusting up to 40 mph and 80% humidity. All weekend, I kept wondering how I was going to pull off a run with bronchitis. My solution was to take it really easy, nice and slow… and just get the miles in. As soon as I heard that wind, I knew that there was no way for me to take it easy out there. ::sigh::
I took my run inside. Yay, treadmill! On days like today, the pros outweigh the cons. Unless I up the incline on the treadmill, the belt helps propel myself forward, so treadmill running is technically a little easier. Then again, it has a major boredom factor. It was also warm and humid in the gym, so I ended up sweating a ton.

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There’s my sweet setup. I got the spot next to the staircase, so I could use the half wall to store my extra water bottles and my candy dish. It was filled with all the goodies- Jolly Ranchers, Swedish Fish, Starburst jelly beans, and strawberry Gu Chomps. I had my phone, so I kept tracking my Sole Sister and “coach,” Nancy. She was braving the heat in Boston today. Congratulations, Nancy!
I also had my iPad, and Netflix allows me to watch pretty much whatever I want while I’m treadmilling it. Today’s choice was a few episodes of Drop Dead Diva.
My friend, Kim, joined me about 9 miles in for an impromptu Sole Sister run. It was so nice to sweat like crazy next to a kindred spirit. πŸ™‚ Thanks, Kimmy!

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Paulie stopped by for a bit, too.

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He’s looking lean! He’s got a big competition coming up, and he is more than prepared. πŸ™‚ He distracted me and I loved it for a mile and a half while we talked about photo stuff for his upcoming wedding to his beautiful and sweet fiancΓ©, Nikki.

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That’s a shot from my engagement shoot with them last fall. πŸ™‚ Too cute!
After he left, I was in the home stretch and started to go a little stir crazy.

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Surprisingly, my lungs felt awesome until the very end. Around mile 17, I started coughing a bit. I just tried to hang in there until the end, and I even felt good enough to turn up the speed a bit!
I finished with final splits of 10:10, which is perfect for a long run at my pace goals.

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Today’s run was the first time I actually wore my CEP sleeves while running. I had been wearing them for recovery, until I realized that my feet were swelling, and that’s not good. I’m planning to invest in a good pair of compression socks to wear for recovery. I got a little crampy kind of twinge in my right calf around mile 11, but I imagined those sleeves massaging it away, and it didn’t bother me after that. The power of positive visualization!
This run seemed to fly by, and I felt awesome when I was finished. I love runs like this!!
I got home, made a recovery shake, took an ice bath, then cleaned up the house before Brian got home. Thank goodness for the dishwasher and washing machine. I’ve got it easy. πŸ™‚
Brian and I planned a delicious dinner but we needed a few groceries, so we hit two birds with one stone and took a short 2 mile shake out run to the store and back.

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Hey, if it’s within running distance, why not?

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We enjoyed our dinner of edamame, steamed dumplings, and spicy chicken stir fry with brown rice. I’m loving our time spent running and cooking together. πŸ™‚

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Yum! Off to watch DWTS and Smash. πŸ™‚

Miles this year: 195.2

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Viennese Ball weekend

Hello, friends! I had a super fun weekend dancing at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Viennese Ball.

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I’ll start from the beginning. I left on Friday to head over to EC with Dale.

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I wore a necklace that Brian and I put together before I left so I wouldn’t miss him too much. It’s a locket from my mom’s charm bracelet, with our pictures in it <;3

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I did my makeup in the car. I have to make an embarrassing confession: I watch the stupid show Toddlers and Tiaras. It’s a reality show that follows pageant moms and their little kids. My favorite most disturbing part of the show is at the end, when they show before-and-after photos of the kids. The ‘before’ shots are usually of the kids with frizzy hair and food on their face- and the ‘after’ is of them in a pageant dress with their hair and makeup done. Anyway, my in-the-car photos feel like they could be on Toddlers and Tiaras. πŸ™‚

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We met up with Dale’s friend, Jackie, and we went to dinner and the dance.

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I wore a red dress and did an updo on Friday night.

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We danced until late, ate midnight breakfast, and danced some more. I slept soundly, then got up on Saturday for a short run.

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With each day that goes by, my bronchitis feels a little better. After a quick shower and getting ready, Dale and I went to the old downtown area in EC. He showed me his previous dance studio and we went to a really neat cafe for lunch- Acoustic Cafe. I had a delicious pita sandwich and coffee, of course!

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Dale and I did some minor shopping in the afternoon- TJ Maxx (a new running shirt), Target (a poker set for B and a Kermit the Frog shirt for moi), and Best Buy (light scribe DVDs). Nothing too crazy πŸ™‚ I did find a pretty awesome game, though…

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I thought about buying it, then realized that Brian and I probably know all the answers, so if we tried to play against each other, it would be a boring game. πŸ™‚ Does anyone own this game? Is it awesome?
After shopping, I started getting ready for Saturday’s dance. I wore my hair down and curly, and a blue halter-style dress.

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We went to dinner at a place called Porter’s. Dale ordered the salmon, though they were out. He was crabby about that! 😦 Our poor server probably had the bad luck of delivering the bad news to their customers… but seriously- what nice restaurant runs out of salmon? I was luckier- I ordered a delicious teriyaki steak salad and a glass of merlot, and both the salad and the wine were aplenty!

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After dinner, we headed over to day two of V-ball. We met up with our dance friends Thomas and Pat. I was happy to see other people that I know! This event is a very cool fundraiser for scholarships. In the main ballroom, they alternate between their orchestra playing mostly Viennese waltzes, and their jazz ensemble playing big band tunes. They also had a second room with a German band playing mostly polkas, with a few foxtrots thrown in the mix. I do love accordion! They had a room filled with German pastries, a little jazz club downstairs featuring student combos…

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…a room with a cappella singers (like a pop chamber group), a faculty voice quartet, and solo piano works played by their piano studio. When we walked in the main entrance, we were greeted by a harp ensemble!

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I love dances because I get to wear sparkly dresses and fun jewelry. πŸ˜€

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All in all, I had a wonderful time. Thanks, Dale, for suggesting this event!

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We came back this morning. Kermit + coffee + tired Heidi =

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There were lots of Amish folks out today. I always worry about them on the highway. Those buggies move slowly, and some drivers are idiots who drive too fast and don’t move over. :-/
As soon as I got home, I took a nap. Thanks to my sweet Brian for capturing my most beautiful side. πŸ™‚

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Post nap, we gave our puppies a bath. They both did so well!

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Tacos for Brian, taco salad for me. I love jalapeΓ±os!

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Now I’m finishing off the night by snuggling on the couch (thanks again, Mom!) with my handsome electrician.

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Haha. But really. What a stud!

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Miles this year: 175.2

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Brian starts running!

I’m so cool with my inhaler. I feel like Leonard from Big Bang Theory. I hate the idea of breathing in anything, and I’m pretty new to inhalers, but I had to pay $40 after insurance, so you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m using it as directed! πŸ™‚

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I have to sing my praises for my awesome husband for a minute. He has decided to start running this year. He was inspired by all of our friends running races for “Running for Rachael,” so he decided to sign up for a 5K in Lacrosse, with our friends Jaime and Karl. (Is anyone else running this race?)
The farthest Brian had run until this week was 1.5 miles with me, 11 days after my thyroid removal last year. Bless his heart- he was worried about me and wanted to come on my first short run. πŸ™‚
This week, we started Brian’s official training. He got new running shoes and clothes and we made a plan. I decided to start him out with the full 3.1 miles, but we’d walk and run it, so he wouldn’t be running the whole time. He’s in pretty good shape, so I knew he could handle it.
Our first run was on Tuesday- and I let him decide when we could take walk breaks and when we’d resume running. I actually had to persuade him to walk more than run, because I didn’t want him to be sore and get injured! Our first 3.1 mile training run was completed in 37:06. I am so proud!

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I celebrated our run with green soup. It’s one of my Heidi-inventions- I just put in a bunch of things that I like, and topped it with things I thought might help me kick this bronchitis. Lots of spinach, asparagus, peas, onions, and garlic, with chicken broth, and a bunch of dried herbs. I purΓ©ed it, added a little skim milk and olive oil, and Voila! It’s delicious, in case you’re wondering. πŸ™‚

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Yesterday evening we met our friend, Ashley, in Westfield to start divvying up the Running for Rachael t-shirts. We had 63 orders! Point Embroidery did the screen printing for us, and they gave us a great deal… Helping us raise a few hundred MORE dollars for the Melanoma Research Foundation through the sales of the shirts. We started separating the orders in the back of Ashley’s Vibe. πŸ™‚

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When we got home, there was a giant bunny eating my day lilies. I was trying to take a close up photo of the cute, chubby guy, but he took off. Here’s the result…

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We went out for our second run shortly after the bunny sighting. I’ve been really thankful for these short, slow runs with Brian, because it’s forcing me to ease back in to training as I’m healing from this bronchitis. Anyway, we ran more and walked less, and finished in an astounding 34:16! I think I may have a natural runner on my hands. He is more than golden for the race May 5th, and I am truly exploding with pride.

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We grilled out for dinner- I had a giant salad with two Boca burgers on it, and Brian made himself some delicious looking (and smelling!) burgers.

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My mom was having some computer troubles (darn Bluetooth mouse!) so she stopped over for a visit with our resident computer expert. Brian fixed in the problem in less than 10 minutes. I think brains are sexy. πŸ˜€ After he fixed the computer, we went on an impromptu trip to K-Mart. I always forget what cute shoes they have there! We had a wonderful time catching up and bonding through a late-night shopping trip. I love you, Mom!
I’m off to start getting my stuff ready for Viennese Ball this weekend. I love any excuse to wear a beautiful dress. πŸ™‚

Miles this year: 172.2

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