Stacy's Blog

Hot and muggy. The haze and humidity is hanging in the air. Fortunately there was a nice breeze. Ran the last 11/2 at race pace. Nothing going on this weekend. Yea! HAPPY FOURTH of JULY! 

Ran with the team this morning. Biked 6.00 miles tonight.

Took my usual route. Thought about taking Bayly, but I'm glad I didn't. It was muggy, but overcast until about half way through the run, then the sun came out and it got hot. Bayly would not have faired very well. Everything is so green. The corn is getting tall and the wheat is starting to turn. I love summer! It is going way to fast. 

 I don't think the birds were thrilled to have me out there. There is one spot where this red-winged black bird just hovers over my head and chirps at me. This goes on for about 1/2 a mile. Usually it is just the one bird. Today he brought friends. Luckily he only chirps over my head and does not do anything else. :) 

We did a drop off run with the team. Four, five and six miles. Everyone did well. It was hot, but not humid and there was a nice breeze. Still not sure what our numbers will be. We average 10-15 runners each day but they are not the same runners. Thinking about 40 by the time practice starts. 

Awesome sunset. Kept up a pretty good pace. Vector Control came through and took care of the little bloodsuckers, so Ron and I sat out on the patio and watched the stars come out. Doesn't get any better than that! 

Biked 11.50 miles. It felt good to go fast! And the mosquitos couldn't catch me. :)

Wonderful evening. Low humidity, mid 70's and gorgeous sunshine. I thought after my bike ride yesterday my legs would be tired, but I felt great. Ran on the section line road. ( really not a road, more like tire tracks between 2 fields. The corn on one side and beans on the other. Kept a wary eye out for critters. Especially the black and white kind. Fortunately they kept to the fields. 

 Ron is really struggling with injuries. Kaylie has all but given up on running because of her constant problem with shin splints. I read Born to Run last winter and gave it to Kaylie to read. She is thinking she might want to try this barefoot running thing. I'm thinking Ron should maybe try it to. There seems to be some valid points to it. I'm not sure it is smart in the winter up here. But the other 3 seasons maybe it would work for them. Kaylie calls me a mutant as that is what the author refers to runners who stay pretty much injury free. (knock on wood). But for runners like Ron and Kaylie it might be just what they need. I don't know. It is very frustrating for them.

Went in and ran 4 with the team. Came home and took the dogs out for a quick mile before the heat set in. Maggie's short little legs did pretty well.

Woke up at 4:00 am to nasty weather, no electricity, dogs going crazy, howling wind. I hate severe t-storms in the dark. We grabbed flashlights, noticed that the wind seemed to be increasing, woke up Tara and told her to go to the basement with the dogs. Ron and I got the generator going as the sump pump was running and we didn't want to bail water. Jared called and said he and Jen were getting water in their basement and they were out of power too. Called Kaylie and Dustin. They were good. Their bedroom is on the lowest floor. Put batteries in my NOAA radio. (Probably should have done that at the beginning of storm season). That storm moved on. But the radio said another one was coming. Yeah! Power finally came on an hour later. Just in time to see the radar and have the weatherman tell us the next storm had rotation and was just west of us. Fortunately it had weakened a bit so we got more rain (like we needed any more) and some wind. Ron decided to just go to work, since there were quite a few out of power. All things considered we faired pretty well. Other towns got hit pretty hard. Jared was able to keep a handle on the water. They borrowed some fans and the dehumidifier.

Had a great run tonight. Blue sky, low humidity, nice breeze and awesome sunset. After the run Tara and I watched Twister. :) Her idea. :)

Ran with the team in Fargo. It is a nice change to run in town. There is so much going on. We ran through the street fair before it opened this morning. Afterwards Kaylie and I went through and did a little Christmas shopping before it really got busy and hot. Kaylie gave me some ideas what she wants for Christmas, so I think I'll go back tomorrow.

Temp is 89. Humidity is wickedly high and we are in a tornado watch, so I decided the treadmill was my best bet today. Tried to keep it at an 8:00 pace. But failed miserably. 

Fargo river run. Hot, muggy and fast. Keeping up with teenagers. Ugg. There easy runs turn into a speed workout for me.

Ran 2 miles with the girls. We had a coaches/captains meeting in preparation for the coming year. Exciting! Came home and ran another 5. Nice breeze, made the run good. The heat has not bothered me as much this year. I have kept a close eye on the humidity and temp and take it slow when both are creeping up.  

Think I'll run Casselton Summerfest 5K this Sat. I haven't run a road race all summer. 

Ran with a sandhill crane today. It was down in the ditch and every time I caught up with it, it would take flight and land ahead of me. This went on for 1/2 the run.

Weather was warm and it has been really muggy lately, so it feels worse than it is. I felt pretty good. My back has been stiff and sore when I get up in the morning and at night after I have been out gardening. But it feels great when I run. :) I would say I am getting old, but since age is a state of mind I'll just stick with too much gardening.  :)

Did not want to deal with heat and humidity and threat of rain. So I did treadhills and biked 3 miles in the basement. Boring, but cool and bug free.  :)

I PR'd!!!! I was the 5th woman over all. There were about 80 runners. I didn't feel real great. And about 1/2 way through I was asking myself why I keep doing this to myself. When I started I thought I would just run my pace and enjoy the day. Nope, that competitive feeling kicks in and it's all over. It paid off since I took over a minute off my time. :)

The CC teams had their summer "fun" run. The boys and girls ran together with the 2 head coaches as backup support. They were stationed every 2 miles with cold water and rides if some of the runners needed a break. We also had some of the kids bike and then switch off and run. It was 73, and humid when we started and 83 and really humid when we ended. Thank goodness for a good south breeze. The teams did great. I felt great. It was a fun day. :) We'll take next week off. Practice starts Aug. 9

Temp was 75 and the humidity was finally tolerable. We had more storms yesterday. It seems they fire up after midnight and don't let up until afternoon. Hail, tornadoes, downpours, wind. Makes for a long night. I hope it starts to settle down a little. Ron's mom always used to say when hurricane season starts our weather settles down. Hope so, I am tired of mowing the lawn every 3 days. I swear you can see it grow behind the mower. 

Team run today. Slow and easy as some of the girls have not done a lot of running this summer. Came home and mowed the lawn again. (sigh) There were toads and frogs everywhere. I have to mow slow to prevent the little jumpers from falling prey to the clutches of the mower. Scooted several to safer ground. Back to Fargo this evening to cheer one of our CC alumni on in a 5K. She is Tara's BF. She was a sprinter in track. Her senior year she decided to give up volleyball and join the team. She has been hooked on running ever since. Turned her from the dark side. :)

Ran the whole way on gravel. The day was beautiful and sunny. A little warm, but not to bad. My crane buddy showed up again. My legs felt tired the first part of the run. I really need to get started on speed workouts. Ugh.