Tunica: Bex Best

This weekend was a great one, only to end with even GREATER weather! How 'bout this little cold spert we're having, huh? It is so great, and so wonderful to run in. This is the type of weather that will get you out of bed in the morning! This morning Bex and I ran our usual early-week 4-miler and when we started at 6am it was only 49 DEGREES. 49. Seriously. So aweome...49 degrees in Mississippi in September! Woot! It was an easy run this morning, and we barely broke a sweat. So anyway the weekend was awesome for a variety of reasons. The A#1 reason being that my mommy was in town! I loved having Helen Frazier here to rest and relax for a great three-day weekend. Secondly, she bought me a new pink running outfit for my birthday (not until October 25th, but I won't see her between now and then!). It is too cute....pink Nike shirt with pink & black matching shorts. Since we see SO MANY PEOPLE on our runs in Tunica and on the farm, it is a necessity that I look good, you know. I love these Nike running shorts...they are so comfortable and cute, too! I have gotten a few pairs of knock-offs at Target but the real thing is worth a few extra dollars. I swear you can tell a difference.

(my shorts are just like this only black not white....black clothes good. white clothes bad.)And now for the most exciting part of the weekend.....

So Bex and I had planned for an 8-mile run on Saturday morning. We decided to do our regular 4-mile loop, break for water, and then do the loop again. Quite a feat, but we were up for the challenge. So for the first half we didnt wear our iPods, just talked the whole time to pass the time. After a short water break at my house, we picked up our iPods for the second half. Then we did the route in reverse, just to mix it up a bit. It was surprisingly easy for both of us, AND....get this....the 8 mile distance is Bex' personal BEST! 8 miles is the farthest she's ever run and I got to be right beside her for it! Not surprisingly, she did GREAT and is the Ultimate Athlete Road Warrior. We finished the 8 miles in one hour and 44 minutes. This is about a 13 minute mile which is exactly what I ran the 1/2 marathon in two years ago. I am very happy with this time because it keeps my heart rate up, I burn a ton of calories, and I don't tire out too early.

Congrats, Bex, get ready for a hefty 9 miles next week!

Tunica: Running Tours

Well, well, well, can I just say....I am so excited to see Nashville back in action! What a lovely little sob story about Jillian and her hard-core workout. I have done Jillian's 30-Day Shred all the way up to level three, and I'm with Caitlin. Jillian is not playin' games. Not only does Jillian tourture you with three circuits of strength, cardio, and abs, but she is full of encouraging quotes such as, "You don't get abs like these for free, people." and "Don't strain the neck. The neck is not invited to this party." Love. Her. Speaking of Jillian....did anyone watch the awesome season premier of Biggest Loser? Jillian is more aggressive than ever with a 478-pound woman named Shea. I swear, if she yelled "GET ON THE F*&%ING LADDER, SHEA!!" one more time, I was going to cry for this poor girl. Sweet Shea lost 17 pounds in the first week alone so all the yelling and ladder-climbing paid off.

Sooooooooo...what's been going on in Tunica? Hm....let's see.....nothing too new and exciting. I am extremely sore after my workout yesterday which is a good sign I think! And of course I'm still in love with my gym as you all know. I will probably try for a long run of 7 miles again tomorrow. I have hit somewhat of a plateau with my distance, so will need to hit the pavement with my can-do attitude tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Since I have no fun news to share I wanted to share a cool thing I heard about on the Today Show a couple weeks ago. In various cities across the U.S., avid runners have found a way to showcase their city, make some extra dough, and stay in shape. They are called City Running Tours. Has anyone ever heard of this? I thought it sounded like such a cool idea. If you are ever visiting New York, D.C., Chicago, Charleston, or Austin (there may be more cities but these were the five showcased on the Today Show), you can join a running tour of the city, led by a tour guide who runs as well. The Chicago tours I found are anywhere from 4-8 miles, and cost about $60 per person. What a fun way to see the city, yes? And I assume a neat way to meet other tourists as well.

Caitlin, if you are short on cash and inspiration at any point maybe you, Ben, and Sadie could start your own Running Tour of Nashville! What a great idea.... :)

Nashville: Let Me Just Sum Things Up in Two Words: Injuries and Illnesses

I’m baaaaaaaaaaacccckkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry to disappoint all of our faithful followers – and by faithful followers I mean all four of you: mom, Erica, Ben and Ben’s brother, Josh. It has been nearly a month to the day that I have posted team TMOB’s latest running accomplishments. I wholeheartedly apologize for the delay and for keeping you in such suspense!!! However, this training has been plagued with injuries and illnesses.

It all started while doing a workout called the 30 Day Shred by the world’s most hardcore trainer, Jillian Michaels. (Please see Exibit A: Her famous quote on the black t-shirt and evidence of Jillian's hardcore ways) Every morning at 7:15 I go to Erica’s and workout in her living room….but this morning in particular was almost a Half-Marathon-Career-Ender! While shreddin’ that ass, we had to do an exercise called “Walk-Out Push-Ups.” During this maneuver, the victims….I mean, Erica and I, have to reach down, touch our toes, walk out on our hands into a plank position, do a push-up back into plank, then walk back on our hands touch our toes , then stand up again – sheesh! I broke out in a sweat just typing out the steps! Anywho, Walk-Out Push-Ups here I come! I touch my toes, walk out on my hands, hold the plank, do a push-up and as I start to move backwards all of the sudden the most deafening snap, crackle and pop happens from the base of my head down my spine to the middle of my back. I am literally lying face-down on Erica’s floor and can’t move. All this is happening unbeknownst to Erica as she is so diligently workin’ that upper body. I proceed to tell Erica, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up! She helps me sit up and then every neck and shoulder muscle proceeds to cramp up and I can’t turn my head to save my life. It hurts to even hold my head up so I lie back on the floor, admiring the paint job on Erica’s ceiling.

I want you all to know that this is not the first time this has happened to me. This is a result of an old tubing injury two 4th of July’s ago when I was thrown off during a “circle of death” move where I barrel rolled across the lake while losing my bottoms and top – quite a feat considering I had a life jacket that should’ve held the girls in! So on this fateful morning, I had no other choice but to call my sweet dad and hero who quickly phones in a prescription for muscle relaxers and hydrocodone. Some of you might think this is a bit drastic but I promise it was a life saver! The only thing is that I had a job interview that afternoon while I was hopped up on pain killers and muscle relaxers – but that’s another story for another blog. I was out of commission for a full week while resting my neck and shoulder.

After taking a week off I am chomping at the bit to hit the park and run again. Ben, Sadie and I take off and run about 2.5 miles consistently at a good pace for another week. Very exciting and nothing to be concerned about there – except this brings us to the beginning of school for all elementary students in the greater Nashville area and that also means germs, sickness and several reported cases of the swine flu. Ben proceeds to get sick. His sweet little sister, Stephanie, who specifies that she is seven-and-a-half and not just a seven-year-old, gets sick. Ben’s stepmother also gets sick. And what do I do you might ask? I spend the entire Labor Day weekend with all three of them. A pure sign of intelligence right there. So as I am typing this I have my visine, nasal spray, box of Kleenex and Sudafed all within an arm’s reach. Needless to say, this training is struggling to get off the ground but mark my words folks: We. Shall. Overcome!

Tunica:

Okay so good news...the toe seems to be back to 100% and working very well! So not to worry, the running continues.

Bex and I did our country run on Thursday morning. We did about 5.3 miles but just couldn't man up to the challenge of doing 6. I had overdone it at a girls' night on Wednesday night (code for 'I drank too much wine'), and just wasn't feelin' it. BUT I was proud of myself for at least doing around 5 miles. 5 miles is better than no miles, right?! Right.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've decided to add a morning gym workout to my training routine and this morning was my first morning to do so. I know what you're thinking, there's a gym in Tunica but no Walgreens?!?! No we don't have a Walgreens in Tunica (sigh) but YES we do have an AWESOME gym that the county built. Yall I'm serious, you would love this gym so much. It is great. It has everything you could ever want including cardio machines, classrooms complete with jump ropes and step-ups for aerobic classes. They have all your weight machines and....wait for it....a ridiculous aquatic center. Although I have not actually swam in the pool, I have seen it and it looks great. Maybe once this Half Marathon is over, I'll try for a Triathlon and see how the swimming goes. A girl can dream, can't she?
So anyway, if you're ever in Tunica you've gotta check it out....Tunica County Health and Wellness Center is where it's at! And let me tell you the best thing about this gym: Some of you that live in Nashville might work out at the Green Hills YMCA. This was my gym when I was living in Nashville. I didn't love going to this gym because a) it might as well be a night club there are so many meatheads with hair gel and too-tight T-shirts, and b) all their classes are like, ahundredandfiftymillion people big so there's no room to actually work out. These are not problems you'll run into at the TCHWC...no meatheads, just lovely senior citizens walking the little track, and I don't think they even sell hair gel in Tunica. And the classes they do have usually have a total of 3 attendees so it's like having a personal trainer! Lovely. Ooo-Ooo and one more thing. Guess how much I pay to go to the gym. $20. PER YEAR. Yes, that's right. Casino employees get a gym membership for $20 a freakin' year. Fitness for free people. Fitness. For. Free. So anyway... I loved my workout this morning. I did the Arc Trainer for 20 minutes (great for the boo-tay), and did weights for like 45 minutes. Another perk of the TCHWC is that they have these little charts you can track your workouts on....like, what machine you used, the amount of weights you lifted, to number of reps you did. And at the end of your work out you just leave it there in their handy-dandy filing system, where it will wait for you until you return. How nice. So I started my little chart and loved my workout and my awesome gym! Maybe I will increase my gym workouts to two days a week since I love it so much. Or maybe not. We'll see.

Tomorrow is the dreaded 7-miler. Pray for me. The last time I ran 7 miles we all know what happened...my toe was injured. Injured Bad.

Tunica: I Think I'm Alone Now

Well, I have come to the conclusion that my good friend in Nashville has given up training for the marathon. She talked a mean game at first, but alas, like many, she has fallen short of her goal and quit running. I am making this assumption due to the fact that she has not posted to this blog since August 13th. That's right, people. Three and a half weeks ago was her last post which leads me to believe that was the last time she ran. This is the only logical conclusion I can reach since the whole POINT of this blog (originated by her boyfriend, I might add) was to ENCOURAGE each other and hold one another ACCOUNTABLE. Clearly she does not the feel the need for encouragment and accountability since she has bailed on her long term goal of running the Music City Half Marathon, thus abandoning our shared blog. Boyfriend Ben tried to tell me like a week ago that they were still running, but if that is the case WHY wouldn't she want to brag about it to everyone in cyberworld? Hm? I'm not buyin' it.

Seriously, Caitlin, I hope you note my sarcasm in this post because I'm sure you're still running but I MISS YOU on the blog! I know you're busy with work and school, but gimme five minutes a week to post. FIVE MINUTES IS ALL I ASK! And if you don't start posting I'm gonna be forced to change the url because it does not make sense for a lone girl in Tunica to have a blog with 'TMOBNashville' as the url. :)

Okay so I know all three of our readers are waiting with baited breath to hear about this toe issue I've stuggled with since last week's 7-miler. I have self-diagnosed this injury to have been a Severe Sprain, as I could move it but it just hurt really bad. I figure if it had been broken I wouldn't have been able to move it at all. My medical remedy for this injury included ice packs, flip-flops, and chardonnay to ease the pain. So after a week of sans-running, I got back in the game this morning with the usually Monday Morning Four-Mile Jaunt. It was good. I was tired. Toe is fine. Sore, but fine (remember I am an Ultimate Athlete, so minor injuries such as these must be taken with stride). Tom suggested I 'cut it off' if it continues to bother me. Thanks honey, I'm glad to hear you're so concerned.

Our plan for this week includes runs at 4 miles (check), 6 miles (in the country again...get excited), and hopefully 7 or 8 miles. We are also going to work in a trip to the gym to really turn the training up a notch. Need to get those calves, quads, gluts, hammies, and CORE ready for some serious distance! Stay tuned....