See Diva Run

It’s funny how your entire outlook can change over night. Yesterday was a long day at the office, and when I was finishing up at 8:30 last night, I was not very happy about having to get up at 5:30 to drive to Seattle for the Iron Girl 5K. This was the fifth Iron Girl event in Seattle. I’ve signed up for all 5, but opted not to go in 2007. Last year it was a family affair, which we had hoped to repeat this year, but it is hard for everyone to keep their schedules open, and this year the event was on Saturday. My niece Lisa came over from Bremerton, with a group of friends. My friend Gladys invited her niece Selena, and friend Marco. There is never a shortage of good company at the Iron Girl.

I may have been dreading it last night, but I managed to get enough sleep to be semi-functional. The weather was excellent, and by the time we were heading for the starting line, I was wishing I was going to run instead of walk. My wish was granted somewhat when my friend Gladys left me in her dust by race walking. It was 5 kilometers of falling behind then running to catch up. I loved it. Afterward we enjoyed a smaller post-event party than previous years, but considering the economy, it was still quite nice. As we were leaving, I heard someone say my name, and was pleasantly surprised to see Chef Betsy. She had run the 10K as a warm up for the Skagit Flats Marathon tomorrow. Betsy is a Marathon Maniac extraordinaire! It was lovely to see her. When we first met in 2007, I was the race maniac, and Betsy was training for her first marathon.

After the race I headed to Super Jock N Jill for a new pair of Brooks Adrenalines, which I’m anxious to break in. I’ve got the urge to run, even though I still have hip issues. I’m going to make an appointment with a chiropractor here in town this week, to see if he can help me get things back where they belong, so I can get back to where I belong! This still leaves the question, “when can I fit running into my busy dog walking schedule?” That is a tough one. For now I’m going to try to work a little jogging into my walks with Friday, and hope that he learns to run beside me instead of dodging back and forth in front of me.

Last week after obsessing over my out of control Peanut M&M habit, I decided to face the music and step on my scale. To my surprise I had not gained weight. I’d lost some. This was confusing, and didn’t exactly curb my M&M intake. Since I’ve been wondering how much walking I do with the dogs during the day, I strapped the Garmin on Monday morning and wore it for the majority of our walks. At the end of the day, I’d logged 3 hours and 27 minutes, though some of this was spent standing while they were sniffing. The total distance was 7.37 miles. There was one long walk with Friday of nearly 4 miles. The rest was the around the block type walks we take throughout the day, or “business trips” as we refer to them. On a typical day, Friday’s walk could be anywhere from 1 to 6 miles, so this was a pretty good indication that I’m logging at least 5 miles on most days.

I attended my niece Stacey’s 40th birthday party last night. She looked fabulous for any age, but extra fabulous for 40. I’m 15 months away from turning 50. If I have the will power to give up the darn M&Ms, I could be fit and a little fabulous at 50. If you’ve got to be 50, you should be fit and a little fabulous, don’t you think?