Vote for my Video...

...and have your friends vote for it too! :D I would really like to win a hat or a visor to keep my hair out of my face while running.


A couple weeks ago, the authors of the book Run Like a Mother boldly asked for short video about how we run like mothers. A handful of us rallied: big thanks to all you cinematographers out there.

There are eight videos below–each less than two minutes each. Check them out, then vote on your favorite at the bottom. The top three vote receivers win either a new badass mother runner hats or visor.



Mine is #3
"Now I'm a Diva!"
http://anothermotherrunner.com/2011/03/26/amr-tv-another-mother-runner-videos/

Vote early, vote often.

Hawstone

Poorly cropped because the scanner I have won't scan slides with frames this large, I still had to share this truncated image. My grandmother, father and me standing along Rt. 333 near Hawstone. High above the Juniata River, this would have been 1963.

Thoughts from the Road - #32511

Reunited!

The miles have been coming fairly easily lately but I pay for them later. My right knee swells after some long runs and my plantar fasciitis on my right foot has been a bother. This has me sitting around quite a bit with resting and icing. It doesn't make me feel like doing much else.

I have a week and a couple days until my race in Harrisburg. Who knows what the weather will be like so I have been sucking it up and sticking to my schedule. It was windy and brisk on the rail trail but I thought, "It's going to be windy on the river, DEAL with it." It sleeted and snowed and rained all Wednesday and I thought, "It could be cold and wet for race day. DEAL with it." It was over 70 degrees Monday evening when we took a nice run but the humidity made me start dripping sweat instantly. It makes me wonder what conditions would ever make me happy.

Wednesday I was dismayed to have lost my Green Tea Mint ChapStick. It was my favorite (lucky?) ChapStick that I have used before almost every run. I carry it during longer runs and rainy Wednesday was to be at least 8 miles. Because of the weather I was wearing my raincoat over my running clothes and I guess I didn't have the pockets zipped properly. After an hour I went to apply it and it was gone. I was retracing the last 2 miles and kept an eye out for it but never saw it.

Overall it was an annoying run. My legs were stiff from the cold. My plantar fasciitis never warmed up and hurt pretty much the whole way. It drizzled the whole run. The most annoying thing was having to estimate my distance because my iTouch and Nike+ sensor stopped communicating after I had stopped to take a photo. I am very good at estimating my distance because my pace is never far off a 10 minute mile but it still made me uneasy.

The rest days this week have been so chilly and quite glum. Yesterday I stretched out between working on projects but was still gimping around by the end of the day. I was pretty much resigned to not run today. The temperature was predicted to start out in the teens and there was no way any of my aggravated body parts would warm up in that.

The sunny morning was very cheery today and the previous day of rest did my body good. I decided to stay on my scheduled regiment for race day and run 5 more miles this morning. The sun made it feel warmer than the 28° the thermometer showed but I think the breeze counteracted that. It felt close to freezing the whole run but the sunny sky stayed bright and my pace ended up under a 10mm after 6 miles.

The best part was just about .3 mile from home I found my ChapStick lying on the old dirt road that is just beyond the end of where we live. I know it had been rained on and spent 2 nights in the elements but I didn't care. I am thrilled to have my ChapStick back and it makes me realize I better get a back up or two.

Thoughts from the Road - #31711

My runs have been going well. The temperatures are moderating and I only have a couple of weeks until my race in Harrisburg. I logged a 12 miler earlier this week, I ran out to Waddle on the old rail trail. I am loving my new jacket, it is perfect for brisk temperatures when I warm up quickly. The pockets are deep and zip closed so I don't lose anything.


I did lose my water bottle on that long run but it was not in my pocket. I had Jim leave it for me at the 4 mile point. I was glad to see it sitting there undisturbed with a note on it alerting anyone who might see it that it is not trash. The note also states that it is cached on that spot for a distance runner and that it will be removed by the date I write onto it. I drank about half of the contents from the bottle over a couple of miles and sat it on a level fence rail on the trail so I could rehydrate on my return trip. I am glad the temperatures were cool because upon my return the bottle was gone! I ran back and forth a few times looking for it everywhere I imagined it could be but it was not to be found.


Lately on some of my shorter runs I have mixed it up a little by looking for geocaches without carrying a gps. I have found them about 50% of the time because I can't stand around too long without getting cold.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. I ran down to Benner Springs and back. At the bottom parking area they have replaced the old bridge with a nice wooden one. On the way back up I felt my way to where there is another geocache in the old Benner Cemetery. I didn't find the cache yet but the cemetery is worth many a return trip. This is the best thing about geocaching, finding new and amazing things right in your own backyard.

My final geocache attempt yesterday was successful but also reminded me why it can be ungratifying. The only thing in the container was a flier for civil war reenacting. No logbook, no writing tool and no trade items. The last person may have found it empty all together since they were signed in on the flier. So odd.

Wabbit Season?!!

Shooting a rifle on a fishing trip, Mom wanted to make sure this scanned photo was shared.

Pi!

WPSU TV Images

Jim captured me on the lower level, under the large screen.

Same position, waiting for a call.

Taking a call.

Trying to look pleasant as I take a call.

The desk was too high for me to write comfortably while holding the phone.

Call Me!

1-800-256-9779

From 7 - 10 PM tonight, you can see me taking calls of support for WPSU TV.  More and more state funding is getting cut for anything public, call or go online and pledge your support to WPSU for quality, community supported, public television. Good stuff doesn't come without a price.

WPSU relies upon membership support to help provide our community with quality television and radio programming. When you support public broadcasting in central Pennsylvania you receive the benefit of quality non-commercial television and radio programming 365 days a year.

I have decided not to wear the blob of a sweatshirt I have on in this photo. I just did it for the WPSU logo, on tv it would look like crap.

New Indigo

I was disappointed to have to let my long run pass this morning because of the fresh snow. I had time to take and scan a lot of photos.

I have a new section of indigo color that Jim helped me touch up.

Under and in the back.

Striving for true indigo.

More Twinkies!

Unless we start dressing alike in our old age, probably some of the very last of the twinkies photos of Tracy and me can be seen Christmas morning in 1978 and Christmas morning 1981.

Matching PJs while Pepper tried to sneak my chocolate coins.

Penn State Delayed 2 Hours

Yesterday it rained and the fellows chilled out on the bed.

The snow came overnight.

We had no snow the day before.

The prediction was 2 - 4 ".

For Mom to show her how the squirrels eat the suet.

Nom nom nom.

Labels

Don't forget to check the labels down the right hand column. It is an easy way to follow your favorite person or theme. The first years of this blog had a lot to do with letterboxing but as I add archived slides and photos brand new labels are appearing. Fans of Tracy, me crossing my eyes and both of us dressed as twinkies will have a lot to look forward to as I keep scanning new images.

Crossing my eyes was my favorite way to look crazy and hide how awkward I felt at times.

Mom dressed us alike but I still have to wonder at why people asked if we were twins.

Starting to Scan some Slides

After a wonderful lunch at my parents house I gathered up a bunch of old slides to start scanning into digital format. Here is a teaser of some found in the 1960-1962 grouping.

Dad, skis and his first(?) Chevy. Circa 1961.

Mom and what looks like my cousin Kathryn circa 1961.

Me sometime before turning one. Late 1962.

Thoughts from the Road - #3311

I have been logging the miles lately and thinking profound thoughts and all but they seem to disappear before I get to blog them.

I have a month until my race in Harrisburg and I suppose I will do fine. There are a lot less unknowns about what I can accomplish this year. The added security and sense of running self comes with a little less excitement. I am not foolish enough to think I would enjoy running 10 miles without doing the work to prepare. I am just a little less focused on the formula on how to get there. Less stress, less anticipation but an awareness.

Running in cold rain is my least favorite kind of run. It sent me indoors last Friday to the Ashenfelter track. I was able to run a nicely paced 10k while it was pouring icy cold rain out. My walk and wait for the bus confirmed how much I dislike that kind of weather.

The snow has dissipated in many places and opened up some routes I haven't been able to run for a while. Because of that I was able to calibrate my new iPod Touch. It took me three tries. The first was to a spot I know is where I usually turn over my first mile. I was able to have my smaller iPod and sensor verify when I hit a mile since the new iPod has an internal sensor. Both were recording my run off the same chip on my shoe. I stopped when my old calibrated sensor turned to a mile and ended both workouts. The new iPod said I had run 1.45 miles. I chose to recalibrate it and selected the corrected distance of 1 mile. I poked a button and it seemed to save the workout but did not recalibrate.

I was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, at the top of a hill, so my run was not done. Another woman ran past me as I was poking all of my buttons. I stood idle for so long I was getting cold and she was totally out of sight. I decided I needed to get moving and chose to just run an open ended distance. I would just note the distance that was on the correctly calibrated iPod and apply it to the new one afterward.

My second try at calibration included one of my favorite routes to Spring Valley Rd and back to Commercial Blvd. The day was very pretty, all of the horses were out and I saw some raptors in the morning sun. By the time I got to the culdesac of Commercial Blvd I had been out over an hour. The second distance to calibrate was 5.31 miles. The new iPod told me I had run over 7 miles so I chose the recalibrate touch spot on the screen, swiped to scroll to the correct distance (5.31) and poked the button. Damn! I did the same thing. I realized I should have touch a spot on the screen that said, "Done" before exiting the whole calibration page.

I was so frustrated that I didn't even set up my smaller calibrated iPod (I call it Uplifting Voice) to take a loop on Commercial Blvd. My third go at calibrating the new iPod was done on what I new was a .8 mile loop I had run time and time again last winter. I was tired but so angry to get it over with that it was my fastest paces of the day. I ended up running a total of 7 miles after all. You better believe I was careful in setting the calibration that last time. I saw that "Done" and made sure to touch the screen to finally calibrate the new iPod Touch (I call it tru).

Yesterday was another really pretty morning and I decided to take tru out for a run to check my calibration. I don't know why I always have doubts that I have made a mistake in measuring the Commercial Blvd. lap. I was so panicked that I had fooled myself into just thinking I was running a 5k or 8k last year that I was thrilled and relieved @ my first race when I made it to the end in the rough time I had estimated. I still have moments where it's hard to believe that I actually run certain distances but yesterday was more about making sure I had calibrated tru properly.

I planned on stopping at my typical mile point to check the calibration and reset it if it was off. To get to the point of unlocking it to do that, I press a button to wake up the screen but that also gives me an audible announcement of how far I have run. At my mile point, tru told me I had run 1.02 miles. I am fine with that and kept running for a similar run to the day before, sans extra Commercial lap. The overall distnace seemed just fine and I kept a pretty good pace the whole way.

Here comes another pretty morning, third in a row. It's hard to pass it up with the threat of cold rain this weekend. I am logging the regular 6 or so miles a few times a week, I am just going to have to take a day off and get a longer run in sometime. It'll happen.

Pile o' Purple and all Things Good

My fingernails are currently a fun glittered blue/purple thanks to my parents dropping off some gifts for me. They came over and took us to lunch on Tuesday.

They also brought a huge piece of home made carrot cake which I didn't get to photograph. It was so amazingly moist with nuts and raisins and a thick coating of a fluffy cream cheese frosting decorated with tiny carrot designs. The decorations were so small that the greens of the carrots were actually coconut. Delicious!

We also went shopping and got me what seems like the prefect lightweight running jacket. Wicking material that is a high visibility color, deep zipper pockets, long sleeves that act as half mittens when not rolled up and a hood that had a set up that the interior draw string won't flop around and bug me. I took it for a test run yesterday and was very pleased with it. It is a flattering length that covers my butt. Thanks Mom & Dad!

Mardi Gras Pub Club Meal

Dressed & ready to go.

Mike & Gretchen, our table buddies.

Most of our table