A Run to Reminisce On.....

I'm down here in Champaign-Urbana, during week 2 of my two-week hiatus from work, since the girls' summer program ended and school has yet to start. I'm still working, but working from home...and never a full day (except yesterday.)

Anyway, so the girls and I rode down to Champaign-Urbana with my mother-in-law to visit my siter-in-law and her hubby and baby. They went to school here at the University of Illinois, as did I and my husband. So anyway, I never mind coming down here. It's less than two hours south of Chicago, and every trip conjures up many, MANY memories.

So for those of you who also went to the University of Illinois, this ones for you:

I left the house for a late run, after 7am. Headed out to the intersection of Florida Ave and Philo Rd, which always seemed WAYYYY off campus back in the day. I ran west towards Florida and Lincoln, which is sorta the SE'ern most point of the campus. As I was running, I was a little annoyed by the slight hills that I didn't notice when driving this same stretch the night before.Approaching campus, I passed Orchard Downs (Family housing area--I think), the president's mansion where we protested one cold wintery night.)

At Florida and Lincoln, in came the memories. FAR and PAR residence halls (Florida Avenue Residence, Pennsylvannia Avenue....you get the picture.) I ran past the Illini Grove, thinking about those picnics after Quad Day and other events. I continued north to Nevada Street, and turned west heading towards the Quad. This stretch looks a lot different. There seem to be a lot of new university buildings, like an Early CHildhood Education center (with a daycare.) I passed by Busey Evans Residence Hall, BKA Borgeouise-Evans because it was so nice and ALL of the dorm rooms are singles. With central air. SWEET! I stayed there my last year, and it was like a hotel compared to any other dorm.

So I moved on towards the Quad, passing "The Black House," La Casa Cultural Latina and other student group buildings and arrived at the Quad. Running north, I saw students racing to make their 8am class. I remember those foolish days I took 8am classes. A class on the other side of the Quad can make all the difference whether you will arrive on time or not. (Now 8am doesn't seem so early, but it sure did.)

This post is boring...let me speed it up.

So I took a pitstop in the Union to get some water, came back out, passed Allen Hall and headed back south to the PAR/FAR area, then took a more residential street back east. I would have made 6 miles, but I stopped my run short and stopped at Walgreen's to pick up shower gel, lotion and toothpaste that, as I was running, I realized I'd forgotten at home.

Anyhoo....that is all. Sorry if my post is boring, I'm not feeling especially creative today.



"To thy happy children of the future, those of the past send greetings."

You don't have to tell me twice!

So I have this friend from my college days, he's like this big time marathoner and he runs several organizations including a triathlon training program for underpriveleged youth, as well as owns a marathon & triathlon training program for adults, too. From now on we will call him Coach HPOA(BWBM)--Coach Hot Piece of Ass (But we're both married). And really, we're just good friends, nothing more. However just because I'm on a diet, doesn't mean I don't look at the menu. LOL!

Anyway, I joined the group primarily b/c they meet less than a mile from home AND the start times vary based on distance scheduled for that day. We even start just after 5am a few different times. AWESOME, that is PERFECT for me and my early bird self.

Anyway, they've already been training for a month, but I chose to join them at the end of this month, given my marathon and a few other races earlier on. This weekend they're just getting up to 7 miles. Aw, cute, huh? (Let me stop.) So I talked to Coach HPOA about my lead legs, overall tiredness, unenthusiastic-ness etc... He suggested that I might be overdoing it. "Overtraining" is the word he used. Take a break this week til Saturday. If you want (he says) bike those miles you would have run. Or not. Do what you feel like. (I don't think he meant go get a Portillo's Italian Beef and large cheese fries.) But he DID mean to take it easy this week. And no one has to tell me more than once to relax. Consider it DONE.

And no, I didn't really go eat that.

Run #3 What do you do when you really don't feel like running?

Date/Time: Jan 4 at 6:20am
Mileage: 3 miles
Time It Took: 34:33
Pace: 11:31
Miles this week: 10
Miles this month: 10
2008 Goal: 10/1000

Thoughts/Comments: I guess I really didn't feel like running this morning. My goal this week is to run 15-18 miles, and I was going to run T-W-T and then Saturday. Well yesterday my sore throat and tired legs convinced me to wait til today. Right before I actually woke up, I dreamt that I woke up, looked at the clock that read 8:24 and thought (in my dream), oh well, too late to run, guess I'll have to either run on Sunday or just run the low end of my goal mileage. But then I really woke up and it was 5:59am. At first I started to tell myself I must really not want to run, and I started to doze off, but then I said to myself, "GET YOUR BUTT UP!" SO I got up and ran.

I even had some new music to run to, and revealing it to you will reveal what a dork I am. I added some band music that included "Bear Down, Chicago Bears" (Bears Fight Song), the Notre Dame Fight Song and the LSU Fight Song. I love those band songs, and I have a knack for being able to pick out the trombone part at any time b/c both my older and younger brother played trombone and I was forced to attend many-a lame junior high and hgh school band concerts. Attending the dorkfest were only other bandmembers families, most certainly. Those bandmembers were/are a strange breed. When I was down at U of I (that's University of Illinois), I lived right across the street from where the marching band held midweek practice. I think there's a building there now or a parking lot, but it was right next the Huff Gym/Huff Hall, for those who want to reminisce. For a time I lived in Van Doren and also in the Triad. So I really started to dig that college band music. And now I've uploaded some onto my iPod. (Insert video here: Mike Myers-ala Saturday Night Live- coughing while masking the namecalling "dork! dork! dork!")

Ok enough spilling my guts. Gotsta go!