| |
|
| Article |
Labor
Day Training Weekend
What a weekend. We had a great time with our training
friends in FL this weekend. It was a whirlwind time together,
but it was awesome. We arrived very late on Friday night
after work—well, actually Saturday morning about
1AM.
Saturday morning we rode with our buddy Evette. She is
recovering from a bike accident where she got pretty banged
up—fractured a couple ribs and bruised her hip
and knee. Luckily she was wearing a helmet, so she did
not sustain a head injury. Anyway, Saturday was the first
time back on the road bike for her. Ross and I rode 40
miles and Evette did about 20 miles. It was great to see
her get back on the bike. It’s weird when you have
an accident—it takes some time to get back at it.
But she did really well. She’s in awesome shape,
so she is recovering very quickly. She was also taking
some Bone Builder and Enzyme Max from www.benuts.com
to help her body heal up.
The heat was beastly, but somehow we managed to get through
it. Just when things are staring to cool down in Chicago
land, we take a trip to FL. I was really starting to enjoy
my runs in the mornings where the temperatures were in
the 60’s and not humid. We were back to taking salt
tabs, guzzling Gatorade, and pouring water on our heads
to stay cool.
That evening we got together with 3 other couples who
are all training buddies. The group is made up of 4 ironman
triathletes, 1 body builder, 1 duathlete, 1 marathoner,
and 1 cyclist. We all like to train together, so that makes
it a lot of fun. We went out for drinks and appetizers,
and then back to one of the couples’ homes for pizza
and games. It’s amazing to see professional people
get so silly—but we had a lot of fun. Plus we talked
a lot, so we got to know each other better. Isn’t
that what friendship is all about?
Sunday morning, it must have been 90 degrees by 8AM. Ross and one of our running buddies, Rob, volunteered to get
me though my 7 miler. They stayed with me and encouraged
me, even though I was dying in the heat. I had to slow
down the pace, just to get it done. But once I did that,
it was much better. We ran by a hotel that had an ice machine,
so I grabbed a handful of ice and stuck it down the ol’ sports
top! That cooled me off for a few minutes. I also wrapped
some ice in a bandana and wrapped that around my neck.
That lasted about 10 minutes! Man, was it hot! I made it
the 7.5 miles to the lighthouse and back to our house.
About halfway through the run, I was thinking I wasn’t
going to make it. But Rob slowed down the pace and we started
chatting about taxes and politics and that got me thinking
about something else! Great strategy, Rob! Those two
were much faster than me, but they stayed with me to get
me through that run—that’s what friendship
is all about. It was awesome!
We then showered and went to church at Sanibel Community
Church. For being such a small island, we were surprised
to find such a great church. We like to attend that church
when we are in FL because the pastor is a preacher who
preaches the Bible. The message Sunday was also good. He
talked about how God blesses each person with spiritual
gifts. We are to use those God-given gifts to the best
of our ability. Sometimes people feel that they don’t
know what their gifts are— or feel that they are
not gifted. But the pastor brought up a great point. If
you are a believer in Jesus, then you have been blessed
with spiritual gifts. He promises that. So don’t
try to deny what God says in His word. You just need to
figure it out! It was a great message.
After church we made a quick stop at the grocery store
because the gang was coming over to our place for a little
pool party in the afternoon. Our neighbors across the street
invited us out for lunch too. So we headed over to the
restaurant for lunch with two couples in their 60’s
and 70’s. But we had a great time and great conversation.
That’s the wonderful thing about FL—you can
be buddies with all ages and people at various stages of
life. We have some great neighbors in FL who are fun to
be around, as well as very neighborly.
After the lunch, the gang was over to chat, eat, and swim
in the pool. The gang’s kids were over as well—so
we had a fun time playing with them in the water as well.
Two of the kids love to have me pull them around in the
water. While we were doing that we somehow got started
signing that old song “Found a Peanut”…so
you know how that song can go on and on…we were
having a great time making up all sorts of verses about
the peanuts. We even made up a family of peanuts—I
became Granny peanut, and the kids were uncle and Jr. peanut.
We had a lot of laughs! They’re great kids.
Today the girls ran 10 miles and the guys ran 20 miles.
One of the guys in our group, Rob, is running the Chicago
marathon on October 8. Ross ran the 20 miler with him,
starting out at 5:30AM in order to run a lot of it in the
shade because it was so hot. They set up buckets with water
and Gatorade along the route, so that they could hydrate.
It’s hard to explain the heat and humidity of SW
FL—just beastly and almost unbearable.
Evette, Christine
(Ironman), and I ran 10.5 miles. We did two 5.25 mile loops,
so we could stop at our water station halfway through the run
and drink down some more Gatorade, take some salt tabs, and
eat a little. I don’t
think I have ever sweat as much as I did that day. Every
piece of clothing was drenched like I stood underneath
a hose. Sweat was oozing out of my hands, feet, arms, legs,
and head. But somehow I managed to finish that run—even
having run 7.5 miles the day before. These girls were great—we
took a couple 1 minute walk breaks simulating the water
stations in the race. We are all training for the Disney
marathon in January 2008. Evette did great doing this 10
miler—as it was her first one back from the cracked
rib incident!
We went out to breakfast after that with the guys who
finished their 20 miler around the same time. We had a
wonderful time together—training and catching up.
The next time we see the buddies will be when Rob and Chris
come up to Chicago for Rob to run the Chicago Marathon.
It should be a great time and he should do very well. We
can’t wait to see them again. What great buddies!
Well, I’ll let you know how the training is going—see
you on the road…
Marion |
|
|
| Single
Focus Daily Weblog |
 |
|
|
