The Stone Rabbit

We did the Hustle this morning!

 

The Halloween Hustle is such a fun time .  It comes after my long race goal/goals of the year are done. . .and gives me a chance to just enjoy a relaxed and fun themed race!

This year the location was moved to a spot a few minutes from my house. . . and to the delight of many runners.....they included a half-marathon distance in addition to the 5K and 10K events!

Two of the ladies I run with on a regular basis (Brenda on the left and Carol on the right) and I elected to do the 5K this morning.  It's just been two weeks since we either did a half-marathon or a full-marathon.  We were ready for fewer miles with lots of fun!

The parking lot was still pitch black when we pulled in , but by race time it was getting much lighter.  It was pretty nippy with lots of wind.

The old course was challenging with some rolling hills and one pretty tough one, but this one out-hilled the other!  :)   Actually, for the 5K folks we had a steep hill that plateaued and then went down near the turn around.  Of course, going down meant going back up...and that's what we did on the way back!

There was a little mix up on the last .5 miles of the course and lots of us 5Kers ended up with a shorter race distance; however, they promptly corrected that for the rest of the runners.

 

 

 

THE STONE RABBIT enjoyed hearing my recap of the race and even giggled when I told him we didn't quite run the full distance, but that we still earned our medals!!  Both of us LOVED the shirts, the bibs and of course the "bling" !!

BODIES RUNNING always puts on great local events.  Thank you to the race coordinators and wonderful volunteers!

 

 

 

 

Please visit Beverly's blog HOW SWEET THE SOUND where you will find a long list of other bloggers who are ready with their weekly shares!

Happy Pink Saturday!

 

DANA

 

Soaking up Fall

 

 THE STONE RABBIT, Izzy The Grand Dog and I spent quite a while outside this morning.  It's such a wonderful fall day!!!

As we sat on the front steps, taking in the sunshine, I shared  with them how I'd been working on my Marathon Report aka " blog post".   I recalled that just a week ago my feet weren't enjoying the crisp fall leaves that they were covered in today, but rather they were working hard to complete the 26.2 miles distance of the Kansas City Marathon and . . . .

 

 

as soon as I got home from the race, I headed right to tub and poured epson salt into it.  Next, I  filled it with really hot water, some bubbles and then turned on the Jacuzzi!  

Wow!  

Heaven!!

They didn't realize I need to tape some toes for these long runs.  Yep...I have toenail issues if I don't!  :)  Not pretty, but it works.

 

 

We were actually enjoying the weather and the leaves and the marathon talking while waiting for the CHIEFS game to come on.   Sometimes there's a STEALTH flyover of their stadium when the game is at home and if we are lucky we can see it !!  Today wasn't one of those days.

 

 

THE STONE RABBIT enjoys hanging out with  Wood Jack.  He's one of my favorite Halloween items....made by a great craftsperson a few years ago.  

 

 

The CHIEFS are ahead right now....and I feel a nap coming on!  Shhhhh.....don't tell anyone, but football makes me sleepy.  It does the same to Izzy and THE STONE RABBIT.  They are already snoozing away!

Hope you had a great weekend....and that you are having some beautiful fall days, too!

Please visit Beverly's blog HOW SWEET THE SOUND for a long list of other bloggers who are ready with their Pink Saturday shares!!

DANA

 

I Am a Marathoner

 

Yesterday I did something I never never never EVER thought I could possibly do.......I completed a MARATHON!!

YES....this olden lady covered 26.2 miles on the streets of Kansas City...by foot!!

 I still can't believe I did it, even though I spent a lot of time building up my ability to handle a longer distance than what I'm used to.  I will be honest, I felt a bit defeated more than once during the experience....but I kept pushing forward, chugging along and praying! 

My time wasn't speedy...but I finished under the 6 hr. cutoff.  I was fearful they'd open the streets to traffic and I'd have to finish my race on sidewalks and deal with stop lights....but that didn't happen!  

Anyway, brace yourself for my next post cuz it will have several photos and a detailed recap (as best as I can remember some of the details from yesterday...I was a tad spacey during the later part of the run!  :)  Right now, I'm still in "flying high" mode and can't seem to focus on anything for too long. :)

I did want to show you how many steps I took yesterday!!  The distance I covered while wearing that watch included walking before and after the run...about 3 miles extra.  Anyway...it's no wonder my tootsies were stinging by the time I stepped on the finish line!!

 

THE STONE RABBIT really likes the awesome hoodie we all  received for doing the half and full marathons this year (maybe the 5K people got it, too, I don't know...I hope they did cuz it's swell!)

He was also impressed with the huge medal!!!  I think I will have to frame it!!  I also included the course map in the photo....I definitely will frame that!! 

Orange was "the" color this  year!  I even wore shoes to match!!  (That was not because of the color scheme for the Mara...it was for a charity I supported called Team World Vision.  The shirt I was planning on wearing in the race , with the charity logo on it,  had lots of orange on it....but I ended up going with a different shirt as the orange one was too hot to wear this year).  We were supposed to have temps in the low 80s....mercifully they got that wrong!!  We were in the low to mid 60s at the start , then low 70s as the hours went by.  Plus it was  cloudy and windy!  Outstanding weather, actually.  Well....it could have been cooler and I would have been happier, but we were so lucky as it turned hot today!!

 

 

I hope you pay a visit to Beverly's blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND!  There you will find lots of other bloggers with their Pink Saturday weekly share!!

DANA

 

Another Surprise Gift...and Visit....and a Big Goal!

 

Karen recently took a trip to Hawaii. . .and look what she brought back for me!!!

I told THE STONE RABBIT that these are the very best chocolates I've ever eaten!!!  He asked me why I kept them hidden from my husband. . . I just looked at him.   Seriously?   I'm not sharing these treats!!  :)

 

 

Yesterday, these two great friends (I met them through running about 4 years ago) arrived at the same time to visit me at the Oktoberfest Craft Sale where I had a booth!

It's always a treat to see them in settings other than while we are running!  We surprise ourselves with how different we look in regular clothes and not drenched in excercise sweat.

This upcoming weekend is a big one for each of us.  Mary will be doing a 10K distance with her son in Minnesota.  He's doing his first full marathon the same morning!   Karen  is doing the half-marathon distance and I'm  doing the full marathon distance of the Kansas City Marathon!

We've been working hard for several months. . .getting ready for our goal distances.  It will be my first, and probably only, full marathon.   It will be hard for me to do, but I'm actually looking forward to completing it.

 

 

L to R  Karen, me, Mary

 

 

I've been a lucky gal to have received running mentoring  from Verna. . .another lady I met through running.  I think it's been about 3 years since we first met.

She's an amazing runner who has completed about 40 marathons and numerous ultra distances.  In fact, she's the one who really sparked my interest in tackling my first marathon distance earlier this year.  She was training for a full and I tagged along on some of her longer runs.  She was sharing all sorts of tid -bits about dealing with the additional miles. . .as up until then my longest distance was the half marathon which is 13.1 miles.  Anyway, the goal was distance and not speed and as the weeks went by.  She made me believe I was capable of completing a marathon distance ( 26.2 miles).  I figured out that this olden body didn't have a whole lot of time left in it to do such a thing...and if not now, then when?  So I signed up for the race and now, here it is, just a few days away!!  In the photo below, Verna is on the right.  We had just completed a long training run one hot day not long ago.

 

 

So, today in church, our priest spoke on a topic that really smacked me in the face.  It was about "gratitude"....mostly about how that related to our faith and the Lord...and all of the gifts he's given to us. 

I'm so grateful for the gift of physically being able to do th activity of running at this advanced age in my life.   . . .and also so very grateful I've found other folks who share the same enthusiasm.   Through many hours and miles of running with these ladies, we've developed great friendships....truly a gift.  

Another "gift" for which I'm grateful is Pink Saturday....and all of the wonderful cyber friends I've met because of that.  I'm so very lucky to have found Beverly and her wonderful blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND, over 8 years ago!!!

Beverly hosts a weekly link up called Pink Saturday. . .a place for you to share "whatever"!   If you click (HERE) you will be taken to her blog and all of the others who are ready with their weekly shares!!

DANA