Kathleen's Adventures

Jon and I took the 4.5 hour route to Beaumont on Saturday...via Galveston, the ferry, and Bolivar Peninsula. The devastation on Bolivar was absolutely awful. I knew it would be, but you just can't comprehend it until you go yourself...even then it is still hard to fathom. Here are pictures we took along the way:

My family and I had a great Christmas in San Antonio. Santa came in a huge way and left everyone with way more presents than we need. Molly, Bennett, and Kate made Reindeer Food then put it outside for the reindeer...I think Major ate most of it. Then it was time to make cookies for Santa. And time to be silly. This is as close as a picture as I can get with Bennett. Kate's collage from her tri this summer. She had been waiting for this since last Christmas when I made one for Molly. I told her I'd make her one when she did her first triathlon, which she did in September. Santa came in a BIG way Waiting for the "all clear" to come down the hall to see if Santa came Bennett loves her new big pink puppy Kate with her new Longhorn hat Bennett with her new laptop, Elmo, and awesome shoes from Aunt Kathleen Molly and Kate on their way to ride around the block a few times, with their camelbacks One hell of a bike gang...steer clear if you see them out on the streets E...

Last Monday I had an awesome run. It was 43 degrees outside and I ran exactly 5 miles in 1 hour (12:00 min/mile pace). I was surprised because I was pretty tired and not sure if I had done too much the week before. As I was going, I felt like I was actually running again for the first time in forever, not just bouncing up and down basically in place. I did hit 171 a few times and slowed down to walk each time it happened, and decided I would run again when I got below 140. Each walk break was around 1:30, so not too long. My previous fastest pace staying under 171 was over 12:50, so this was quite a breakthrough run. ...then Wednesday happened. In just 36 short hours, temps were up 30 degrees, and it seemed my HR was up 30 bpm as well! I was planning to do an hour run through River Oaks from my apartment before my dad came to pick me up to go to San Antonio. It was raining when I started, but not too bad. After about 3 minutes I decided my hour run was going to be about a 30 minute ru...

My Aunt Linda died five years ago today. I had completely forgotten about it until Augie posted this . I am in disbelief the day almost came and went without me even acknowledging it. I was on a high because I broke 12 min/miles tonight on my run, completely self-consumed, oblivious about what day it was. I always get it mixed up though and think it was the 23rd, but that was the day she was buried; she died on the 22. December 22, 2003. I will never forget that phone call, or the long, dark, silent car ride with my dad that night to Waco. Aunt Linda was my mom's only sister and her life-long best friend. My mom said for the longest time after she died she would walk in the house and pick up the phone to call her to tell her some good news or just to talk, and would then remember that Linda wouldn't be at the other end of that phone line. I hate cancer. It sucks. I do love my family and friends dearly and than God each night for all the wonderful things I have in my lif...

...my first in quite a long time! I wasn't used to getting up at 5:15 to run! Houston Fit was doing their 21 miler Saturday morning, so I decided I would jump in and run 10 miles somewhere in the midst of the crowd. A few of the group who were also running shorter distances met at Luke's Locker beforehand and it felt great to be back in the company of my old running buddies. It didn't feel great 20 minutes into my run when my heart rate monitor was screaming at me because I couldn't even keep my heart rate down running their run 5 minutes/walk 2 minutes pattern. I had to stay with them until Rice though because it was dark and I didn't feel safe being alone. Houston Fit had aid stations setup at Luke's and at Rice, so I had "social stations" which we all know I need, especially when I'm running so much by myself these days. The run was mostly uneventful, boring if nothing else, but a few notable things did happen. First, it was like I was a ghost o...

Santa's elves have been hard at work in my apartment over the last few days/weeks. First, they have done way too much Christmas shopping, but have made the place feel very cheery and put lots of presents under my ghetto tree: Second, they have gone through my closets clearing out things to take to Goodwill and the Women's shelter. The sad thing is you wouldn't even notice anything is gone. I have too much stuff! Lots of clothes!! All packed and ready to go...wonder if the elves will carry the stuff to my car now?

Seriously. Someone borrowed it in October and I don't think I am ever going to see it again. How crappy, especially since I'm trying to actually do a little training now and December isn't exactly the time to take my bike outside...neither is January/February really, for that matter. They aren't cheap and I certainly don't have $350 to just go hop out and buy another one, especially when my car got broken into AGAIN Saturday night and that will be a nice $400 drop in the bucket to get fixed. Merry freakin' Christmas. (actually life isn't all that bad, but these two things are just really, really frustrating me right now...apparently I went a little crazy Christmas shopping for everyone...but got some pretty awesome gifts for people, that I am very, very excited about...but now I don't exactly have money just lying around to throw at new bike trainers and getting my car fixed) ...I would love if my grey trainer somehow magically reappeared on my doorstep ...

I ran 8 whole miles last night, and it went very well. The only issue is that it took half the night to do it! I broke the 13:00 min/mile barrier for the first time last night too! My official pace was 12:52/mile for the whole run, but that should really be like 12:59 because I took off and "stretched my legs" for the last 1/4 mile at a 9:15 pace so that brought it way down. 8 miles is the furthest I have ever run by myself too. Isn't that sad? I'm proud of myself for sticking it out yesterday though. At the start I was not the least bit excited about the run and had no idea how far I was going to actually go. We had our work Christmas lunch a few hours earlier and I stuffed my face, to say the least. But by about 2 miles into the run I was good to go and kept right at same pace the entire run. I guess I'm learning some of the "benefit" or whatever of HR training - when they say "easy," they really do mean easy. I think I could run forever in z...

What kind of pattern is that? The weather on my runs over the last 9 days! Welcome to Texas!

Wednesday night I went on the best run of my life. No lie. I was excited about it, looking forward to it, and it far exceeded my expectations. It again was just to be a one hour run, my second on my "comeback," but this time in the snow. It was more like freezing rain with a few tiny snow flakes when I got to the park, but it was full-on bona fide snow less than half way through my run. When I got to the park I got a bit nervous because NO ONE was there. It was only 5:30, but still dark. I know it isn't totally safe to run alone, especially when the park appeared so empty, but I was not going to let that deter my snow run. There ended up being a handful of people around, so I never felt unsafe, and it was still almost like I got to enjoy this little secret wonderland all to my self. I immediately reverted back to a small child when I got out of my car and giggled with each snow flake that landed on my jacket or head. Within a few minutes of running, a snow flake landed on...

Baby Bella needs your prayers. She was born 16 weeks early to the best friend of one of my very good friends. She and her family are in Virginia, way too far away from their Texas home, and will be there for quite a while. Please keep her and her family in your prayers - they are going to need them for a long, long time.

Seriously. I think last night was the first time I have ever gone out for an hour long run, no matter how far the distance was. I was to run (and walk) for an hour. Plain and simple. I know it isn't exactly rocket science, but I have always run for distance, even when I was sort-of "just running for time." Last night was my first official training run on my IMCDA '09 schedule, mostly from the book Be Iron Fit. The schedule has 10 weeks of base training before moving onto 20 weeks of build and peak training. I missed the first 2 weeks because CDA is in 28 weeks, but I think I will be just fine considering I only trained for IMAZ for 13 weeks each time. The great thing about the schedule is that the first 10 weeks are strictly aerobic training - nothing anaerobic, meaning basically nothing strenuous on my very-weak system. This works out as a win/win situation for me because right now I need to make sure I only stay aerobic to make sure I successfully get myself out ...

This was me a year ago, on my way to a HUGE PR somewhere around mile 29 at Sunmart , and in a picture that went on to grace the cover of Inside Texas Running . This year, I was elated to walk/run 4 whole miles (at a whopping 13:50 pace) in Huntsville State Park while cheering on a dozen or so of my friends racing. Crazy how things happen and how things can change, but I am ok with it. Of course this year was perfect weather compared to last year's record high temps, but I cannot do anything about that. This year I also got to spend time with some very special people in my life and I cherish the time we got to spend together. Sunmart is not going away, and I will be back for sure, not necessarily as a cover girl again, but for sure ready to take another huge chunk off my PR there. (I was bummed to find out last night when looking through the results that I was completely oblivious there was a celebrity amongst the crowd on Saturday...but that is probably the way it should have be...

It has been a while since I have posted anything meaningful, but I feel like I haven't really done anything meaningful lately to post about, but I guess I have done a few noteworthy things. Let's see...going back to Thanksgiving week. I had just posted how boring walking was. I guess I shouldn't have done that, because then I got sick and couldn't even walk. By the time I got home from San Antonio and Waco last Sunday, I had a full blown sinus infection and another nice bout with bronchitis. I'm learning that asthma really makes those things fun. Good news is I think I'm back to the living and feeling halfway decent again. I did happen to accomplish two somewhat important things while in bed at the beginning of this week: finalizing a training schedule for IMCDA , and switching from the full marathon at Houston to the half. Both things have left me feeling much more sound and at peace with the way things are going right now. I had been very torn on what to do ab...

Houston, TX Christmas traffic SUCKS. It can easily leave one suicidal. Wednesday evening I decided to head out and take care of a few errands since I was starting to feel a tiny bit better and I knew I'd feel better getting some of the stuff done that I needed to. I was going to head to the Container Store and Marshall's by the Galleria, and then wherever else. I live 3.0 miles from Marshall's. Yes, I measured it...only after it took me FORTY FREAKIN ' MINUTES to get there. I live in Greenway . I went straight down Richmond towards 610. The light at Richmond and 610 took 20 minutes alone to get through. RIDICULOUS. There were no wrecks, no construction, no obvious issues, other than the fact that it is Christmas shopping season. After some retail therapy at those stores and Target, I got home in no time because it was then 8:30. So that was one thing, heading towards the Galleria. Last night though, was a whole ' nother awful experience. This time I hea...

I stole this one off my sister's computer over Thanksgiving. It is my 7 yr old niece (Kate)'s letter to Santa for this year. All I can say when I read it is "wow," while shaking my head. Just not too sure what else to say! Hopefully it brings a smile to your face like it did mine. Dear Santa, Christmas is right around the corner. I can’t wait till it happens. I know there are a lot of things on my wish list but don’t worry because that is for this year and next the next and the next. One of the most wanted things is the Nintendo DS because it is very cool and the games for it are very fun. I’m not saying I need it I’d just like it. The games I want are Nintendogs (not the same as Molly’s), Mario boys 5, and the M&M game. I would also like the new 39 clues book. The first one was amazing! That’s why I’d like the 2nd one. The books tell you a lot of stuff. This one I would really like. It even tells you about Benjamin Franklin. The books tell you to get into readin...

...call you from Target on their lunch break to tell you they found gold sparkle flip flops in the shoe isle, after knowing you lost yours and were devastated.