Texas Heat

Arrived safely in Texas after long hours in planes but grateful our flights were uneventful and on time. We were also lucky in missing a week of rain - the last thunderstorm blew through just before we landed at DFW and we saw a beautiful rainbow as we flew over Lake Lewisville.

Yesterday Stefaan and I got out on the trail with Mom to start getting acclimated - we started out jogging but after about 30 minutes the humidity was just too much and we walked the rest of the way back in - Mom calculated our total distance with her Garmin: 4.75 miles in 70 minutes total. That's 7.6 km.

This morning I woke up at 3 and just could not get back to sleep so finally went out to quietly check my emails and watch some Olympic coverage. We rooted for the Belgians in their soccer match against Brazil for the bronze medal, but to no avail - in spite of playing reasonably well, they lost 2-0. Oh well.

After the game, Stefaan and I headed out for our last run before the Hottest Race 10K on Sunday. We decided to take pretty much the same trail as yesterday and got off to a good start, jogging with walk breaks every ten minutes or so for the first 40 minutes. The humidity was not as bad as yesterday and there was even a nice breeze. But then the heat just got to be too much, I felt nauseous, and we walked the rest of the way in in 20 min. I think part of it was me not getting a good night's sleep and my stomach was a bit upset, so hopefully that will be sorted out by Sunday morning.

Speedy Sunday

I had been working on speed intervals this week while doing my treadmill runs. And Stefaan had some time off to let his foot heal. For some reason, these two elements combined meant that we ran pretty fast today out at the lake, without even really intending to. We did 5 small loops (7 km) in 43 minutes. We took each loop pretty fast and had a one minute walk break at the top each time (included in the time). I was surprised as I was doing the math in my head. It did feel fast, but not horrible. One of my goals for the coming year is to improve my 5K time, and today made me feel like it is totally within my ability to do so.

On another note, we went to Brussels on Friday afternoon to see the Flower Tapestry on the Grand Place and here are some pictures:







Beautiful!

500 KM!

This week, my two runs were treadmill runs due to dodgy weather here in Belgium (boy am I looking forward to that Texas heat!), 7 km in 48 minutes on Tuesday and 6 km in 41 minutes yesterday. They both went fine and it was actually probably better for me to do them indoors, where it was a bit warmer and more humid than outdoors in the wind and cooler temperature, with my eye on acclimating to the heat for the 10K race in Texas just ten days from now! But we should be able to run outdoors on Sunday, and hopefully Stefaan's foot is healed enough too.

My big news for this week is that I hit 500 total kilometers run for the year! What is exciting for me is that last year, I didn't make 500 until the end of October, so this is a big improvement in my mileage. I am seriously considering doing another half marathon next spring, and knowing that I am up on my mileage makes it seem a lot more manageable. It would also be just the right motivation to keep my running going right through the fall.

Now I feel like taking a nap and it's only 9:30 am, but my youngest and I got up at 5:10 to watch the women's gymnastics finals this morning! It was well worth it, two US medals - yay! And our Belgian finalist had to deal with some falls but she made it through.

This weekend we are planning to go take the train to Brussels to see the Flower Carpet on the Grand Place. It's only every two years and always breathtaking. This year's design:



Have a great weekend everyone!

8 on 8-8-8 results are in!

Results are here (thanks to Nancy for being such a great race director!)

And do not miss this creative video by Reid, which pays tribute to all who ran together virtually in this great race!

Congratulations to one and all!

8 on 8-8-8 in 88 Race Report

My running buddy is out with a severely blistered foot...and the weather forecast was not favorable at all, big storms and high winds being predicted. But nothing was going to stop me from participating in Nancy's latest virtural race today:



Determined to get it done today, on the big day that the Olympics are starting, I thought about it this morning when I woke up, and knew that without my running partner and the possibility of bad weather, the best solution for me was going to be the treadmill at the gym, which didn't sound too bad, as I haven't been there since school got out. But then I grabbed my calculator to figure out just how much 8 miles is in kilometers: 12.8! Ouch! How to break that up? First I was thinking 2 5K's and then a final 2.8? Then I thought, four 2.5 km segments, then the 2.8? No, how about an even four segments of 3.2? I like things to be even, so that's what I decided to go with.

Phase 1: there's a decorating show on the TV in front of me as I get going. I do my first 3.2 kilometers in 22:43 minutes, get off the treadmill, take a pee break.

Phase 2: now it's a cooking show. The Australian chef is making a lentil salad that looks good. I remember that I forgot to bring sports drink with me (duh!) but our gym has free coffee and soft drinks so I promise myself I can have some coke after this segment. I finish the second 3.2 km in 22:55, got off and have some coke, hoping it won't make me burp too much. Glad I am halfway done.

Phase 3: now it's a hospital show. The coke is making me burp. I finish in 22:13 and decide I want to finish the last segment in less than 22 minutes, beacause I know I can do that.

Phase 4: another decorating show on the TV. As I return from the restroom and get back on the treadmill, the lady who has been on the bike in front of me turns around to ask me if I am going to run even more! I tell her I've got one more segment to do. She gives me the thumbs up. I've stopped burping and I am almost done. It feels hard towards the end but I keep the treadmill at 9.2 km/hr the whole time, knowing I can keep doing it. Inspiring songs on my Mp3 keep me going and I finish the last 3.2 km in 21:02!

So my total time for the whole 8 miles was: 88:53 (isn't that an apprpropriate number?)

I am sweaty and stinky (why do running clothes smell so bad?) but I feel great that I did it and I head home to my boys and husband, where they all give me high fives - what more recongnition could anyone want?

Good luck to everyone who is still to run in "8 on 8-8-8"! And thanks to Nancy for organizing another motivational reason to get out there and go, go, go!

And now it's time to go and watch the Olympics and root for all the athletes!

Just a regular day...

Well, it figures, doesn't it? I finally go out and get a cute running outfit for hot weather...and the weather cools down! It was definitely too chilly for my new togs this morning. But it was perfect running weather! I realize that having this perfectly moderate weather is only going to make it that much harder to run in Texas, but I don't care, it is too enjoyable! I ended up doing 7.2 kilometers in 48 minutes.

A vegan athlete friend, Jürgen, has just started a blog to document his upcoming trip to the US: www.jurgeneatworld.blogspot.com

He leaves for Californina tomorrow and is new to blogging so stop by and say hello!

8 on 8-8-8 update

Well, it's official! Nancy has come through once again to motivate us Running Bloggers to keep pounding the pavement with yet another virtural race this Friday: 8-8-8 ! Check it out and try and join us. I even told Mom about it who is vacationing in Maine, far away from a computer and blogworld, and she is going to do 8 loops around the neighborhood on Friday, too!

Stefaan and I are planning to do 8 of Jenny's big one-mile loops around our lake plus fishing pond on Friday. So this morning we headed out for our usual "long" run, for which we had planned to do six loops. Well, we ended up doing one long one, three short ones, and then two long ones, which mean a very nice average of 1.5 kilometers per loop, and therefore, 9 kilometers total! It took us just about 60 minutes. And then we biked back home.