Running Off Kilter

(Kitty) Some days are just harder to get through than others. John worked 13 hours on Saturday and was just too flipping exhausted to run Sunday morning. Then Monday morning he woke up sick and was in bed most of the day. Tuesday morning, today, he felt better and we did our 30-min brisk walk. Thank goodness! I think my body is actually [gasp] getting used to exercise! I felt much better after our walk today.

So - barring sickness or unforeseen disaster - we should be running again tomorrow, 6 miles down the beach and back. I think I'm actually looking forward to it! :)

Back in the Saddle - Not Quite in the Groove

(Kitty) So today we ran 6 miles, twice what we did two days ago. Yea! We've never taken water or energy gels with us for a 6 mile run. John can run it in an hour without me, and I run it in about 85 minutes. We figure it's not that long a time to wait for food and water.

BUT now that I'm learning more about how this all works, and how my body in particular works, I'm taking "food" and water for anything over 4 miles, because it takes me 51-54 minutes to run 4 miles, and I've found increased energy if I eat an energy gel at about an hour into the run. So today I filled up my four water bottles, strapped on my water belt, put some stuff in my belt that looks and tastes like gummy bears, and off we went.

Because I want to start working harder during the short runs to increase my strength and endurance, I tried to run a little faster today - and I did! I also ran uphill instead of my usual shuffling jog. Of course, at the top of the hills I had to walk for a minute to get my heart rate down! But even with all the extra walking I did in between bursts of speed, I still hit the 4 and 6 mile marks at one of my best times! I'm exhausted but happy!

John, of course, did awesome as always! Dwight and I pretend to hate him because he's such a natural athlete. He's going to do so well at the Half Marathon! By the way, if you want to see more about what we'll be doing, just visit the Pasadena Marathon web site. We'll update you again next week!

10 Days Without Running = EEK!

(Kitty) Due to a series of scheduling conflicts, followed by 5 days of vacation where running shoes were packed but never worn, it has been 10 days since our last run. It's kind of funny and sad - our last run was 11 miles! Today we made it 3! LOL!! Now we really only were scheduled for 4 miles today, and we could have made it 4, but... John decided that me passing out from lack of oxygen would be a bad thing. LOL!! He suggested we stop at 3 and walk the last mile home because he knew if he kept going, I would, too. He's right! {grin}

But this week - with only 5 weeks till the big race - we are going to follow another runner's training schedule. We'll still be running 2 short runs and 1 really long run, but on 3 more days we'll be walking for 40 minutes and doing strength training. Oh, and trying to eat properly. :)

We'll let you know how it goes! If you have any advice, feel free to let us know! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!!!

Take a minute to join me today in wishing John a very happy birthday! Send him an email or an ecard or post a message here! And if you're friends with his twin brother, David - send him a message too! Happy birthday, Dave!

Happy birthday John! I love you!!

Umm...It's Barely October

(Kitty) Okay, today is October 1st, but two days ago while it was still very much September, I looked across the grocery store parking lot to see "Scott's Christmas Trees" setting up!! What?! Trust me, if anyone is a long-term planner, it's me. But come on, guys!

Sunshine and Rain

(Kitty) I love it when this happens - I looked out the window this afternoon and saw it begin to rain. But there was sunshine all over the yard! It lasted about 10 minutes. Don't know how it works - angle of the sun, angle of the rain, don't know. But it was totally cool!

It made me forget for a moment that I had just had the car washed about 20 minutes before the rain. Ugh... :)

Double Digits!

(Kitty) We broke the double-digit barrier! We ran 10.4 miles on Sunday! Hurray!!!! The schedule called for 10, which seemed huge. But John said, hey, wanna run to that street I accidentally ran to a couple months ago? I thought, heck, if we're going to push ourselves to do this, then fine, let's push ourselves. And we DID it!!!

We were feeling pretty good, feeling like it was an easy run for the first 6 miles. The next couple were a little harder, I was looking forward to those 1-minute breaks every 3 minutes. And the last two - well, I just keep thinking that I could do it - and we did it!!

Of course, we were exhausted at church Sunday and collapsed into idleness for the rest of the day! LOL! Sunday night and Monday night I kept waking up having to stretch because my muscles were tight. I thought it would be over by today, but this morning we had to run 4 more miles and I couldn't do it!! It took me 3 miles just to get loose enough to not feel like I wanted to limp. But I couldn't make it another mile. And I didn't want to push myself and pull or tear something. So I made it to about 3.5 miles, then we walked the last half mile home. John could have made it, but... LOL!! Oh well!

Gotta keep stretching and trying to help the muscles relax even as they get stronger because - this next weekend we have to run 11 miles!! EEK!! LOL!!

For Friends to Contact Us

(Kitty) It occurs to me occasionally that some of you may have fallen out of touch with us and are following us through the blog with no way to email us. I hate putting our email address on the Internet, but you can reach me at kittysotheremail at yahoo dot com. Then I can give you our "real" email addresses. :) However, I beg you not to send junk mail to our real emails! LOL!

The Good, the Bad, and the Bloody

(Kitty) I joked with my sister Bonnie yesterday about the chances of me falling down during the race. In front of thousands of people. And news crews.

Then today - I did it! I fell. Again.

The good news is that I ran two miles today in a new record time - 24 minutes and 15 seconds. The bad news is that includes the falling, the brushing off the dirt, the walking for a block to loosen up again, and then back to running. The bloody news isn't too bad - only one knee got scraped, the other avoided most of the fall altogether. The heels of my hands hurt the worst even though I didn't break the skin. They probably took 70% or more of my weight when I hit the sidewalk.

Oh, did I mention that this is the EXACT same part of the sidewalk where I fell the first time? Sigh... Oh well. I just really need to watch that spot now. The sidewalks are not flat around here. Too many tree roots pushing up the cement at weird angles. I was all zoned into my run and didn't pick up my feet enough to miss the hiccups in the cement. The beach walk is so much better for zoning into your run. But if I'm at the beach, that means I'm running way more than 2 miles! For today, I'm tired, so I'll take the shorter run and the scraped knee. LOL!

How Does This Work??

(Kitty) So John and I did a fairly great job of running our 9 miles on Sunday. We got some good rest Sunday afternoon and Monday, and we woke up bright and early to run 4 miles on Tuesday. How in the world can we feel so freakin' TIRED?! It took me 55 minutes, and it usually only takes 52-53. Once I even got it down to 51 minutes for 4 miles. We even ate well Monday night, drank lots of water Monday, and no alcohol since Sunday night. Tuesday night I fell into bed exhausted at 9:30.

Whatever it is, I hope it's normal. Saturday it's up into the double digits! TEN MILES!! Wish us luck!!

9 Miles!

(Kitty) There is still a big part of me that can't believe what John and I are doing! Sunday we ran 9 MILES!!!! That is so amazing! I mean, John looked great - I saw him do some wind sprints a couple times, his form never lagged, and he ran more than 9 miles because he ran ahead, then circled back to me, then ran ahead, etc. But at about mile 8, I was thinking about how exhausted I was, and I remembered running down that same stretch back in March and April and thinking, "There is no way I can run for 2 minutes straight!" Yet on Sunday, we ran for 2 hours and 5 minutes!

During most of the run, I would think of things that made me happy, or future happy events like finishing the Half Marathon, or I would focus on enjoying the upbeat music I put on my "Running" playlist on my iPod. I've been learning that I keep going better when I'm feeling good, feeling happy. I ran most of my 8 miles a couple weeks ago listening to a writing lecture where the speakers were hilarious! So this week I tried to keep that upbeat mindset alive. I repeated "The joy of the Lord is my strength" when I felt tired. And at about mile 6, I started telling myself this is not a race, but a challenge. The run was just one more way to prove myself.

I kept telling myself that all the way to the end - and I did it! I ran the whole 9 miles! I'm still nervous about running the Half Marathon in November, depending on the day somewhere between butterflies nervous and throw up nervous, but as of Sunday I was absolutely positive I could do it! (For anyone who has run a marathon, John suggested we use the Galloway method - 3 minutes running, then 1 minute walking, then 3 running, etc. the whole time. "Everyone" swears by it, and we've found it very effective.)

If you've got something challenging happening in your life, keep telling yourself you can do it. I don't know why it works, but it does! :)

MOVING BACK TO SYDNEY!
MOVING BACK TO SYDNEY!
MOVING BACK TO SYDNEY!

Well ladies and gentlemen, it is official. I recently signed the papers and the plans are in the works to move back to Sydney, Australia in July of 2009. I have been asked to come back as a Lead Motion Editor for HAPPY FEET 2! I have been in talks with Doctor D Studios in Sydney for a month or so, talking and haggling over contracts and pay scale. I recently put my signature to the final contract and it is final. The studio is going to be in one of two places (they are still trying to decide where to set up shop,) so we are not sure WHERE in Sydney we will be moving too. We have thoughts of moving close to the University of Sydney so Kitty can get Masters in Creative Writing! We also have plans on getting a TWO bedroom apartment so ANYONE who wants to come out and visit will have a place to stay! We want to give everyone as much incentive as possible to come and see us (as if visiting Sydney, Australia wouldn't be reason enough!)

God has blessed us so much in these last couple of months, it's hard to believe it's actually happening. Thank you so much for the people who were praying for us as while I was in talks with the studio.

Should've Gone to McDonald's

(Kitty) How can I be 40 years old and be such a terrible cook?! There are things I can do really well (like my Almost Better Than Sex Brownies - John's name for them!), and there are things I can do passably well (my meatloaf's pretty good). But as far as coming up with an idea and then saying, hey that sounds great, let's do it - no good.

Today I thought I'd stop by McDonald's on the way to the bank so I could eat in the car and get back to work quicker. Then I thought - that's not good for you and my friend Janet just told me she lost 100 pounds and I could make myself an awesome hamburger exactly how I'd like it. I'll just stop by the store, whip up a lunch and be back at work with a full stomach of healthy food.

Not so much.

I don't know where I went wrong. I put a bunch of things that I really like - shredded cheddar cheese, cut up mushrooms - and some things that seemed like a good idea - salt, pepper, garlic salt, Italian seasoning - in a bowl and squished it into the hamburger, then fried it up. I'd bought a bag of frozen french fries because I thought it'd be healthier than McDonald's fries. When I got the whole thing on my plate - couldn't have cut up avocados 'cause they'd already gone bad - I started eating and... Well, I couldn't wait to get to the end. Not because it was good. 'Cause I wanted lunch to be over. I don't know what I'm going to do with that bag of frozen french fries. I used to love them but I guess I don't anymore.

Sigh...

Next time I'm going to McDonald's anyway. Meanwhile, I'm munching on chocolate covered almonds to get the taste of lunch out of my mouth.

Routines For Writers

(Kitty) I was shocked to discover while trying to think of what to blog here today that I haven't told you about my new professional blog! My two critique partners, Stephanie Shackelford and Shonna Slayton, and I created a web site for writers to help them try to find routines that increase their productivity and creativity. We've been planning this for months and launched the blog last Monday, on September 1!

If you have a minute, stop by, see what we're up to, leave a comment. We're excited to share what we've learned over the years, and we want to encourage others to share what they've learned there, too. As my friend Kathleen says, no one has to die to make room for one more success! So drop on by and see if we can't pursue success together!

Welcome to the World!

(Kitty) I am so pleased to tell you that I am a great-aunt again, and John is again a great-uncle! My sister Bonnie's son Bruce welcomed his second son into the world on Thursday, September 4, 2008 - Riely Scott.

Welcome, Riely!

Made My Goal!

(Kitty) When I returned from the RWA National Conference a month ago, I told myself I'd take no longer than September 1st to send out the requested proposals. I made it!! Woo-hoo!! Now it's just a matter of time to hear back. And of course, now I start sending out queries to other agents and editors. And I finish that last polish on the book.

Ah, life is good. I'm in my happy place. :)

Joy and the Marine Layer

(Kitty) Thank God for joy and the marine layer! We had to run 8 miles today - BY OURSELVES because John is visiting his family in Michigan for the weekend. Normally we don't do well by ourselves. Nor we do sleep well by ourselves after 18+ years together. So when I finally dragged myself out of bed this morning at 7am, having not slept well and with a sore neck from a dream that was a cross between Burn Notice and Law & Order (I get tense in my dreams!), I had to tell myself how very much I really wanted to run. :)

But I remembered something wonderful from my Thursday run. I had done some really great work on my book on Wednesday and was still so excited about it that I was thinking about it when I was running Thursday morning. Every time my thoughts drifted to my book and I got excited, I ran faster! And when I started getting tired near the end and started thinking about my book, I still slowed down a little but not a lot. I ran really well, in fact!

So today when I woke up and finally got going, I listened to some writing lectures I have on my iPod instead of music. The first lecture was by Susan Elizabeth Philips and Jayne Ann Krentz. They are hilarious! Listening to them and laughing while I ran kept me going for the entire hour of the lecture. The next lecture wasn't as funny, but it kept me thinking about writing instead of looking at my watch and wondering how much longer I had to run.

Plus, we had a really heavy marine layer this morning (and Thursday, too, which was great!) so I didn't have to run with the sun in my eyes. If you're not familiar, the marine layer is the fog/clouds that settle over the ocean near the beach during the night and don't burn off till the sun comes up. Or in today's case, not until after 11am when I was already home! I still put on a little sunscreen, but I was so glad not to have to run for two hours in the blazing sun! (Yes, it took me 1 hour and 55 minutes to run 8 miles (averaging 14.5 minutes per mile) but I'm just so darned pleased that I did it! And I probably could have run 9 if I'd had to! Thirteen miles, here I come!)

Today - back to finishing my book proposal for the editor and agent who requested to see it at the conference I was just at. I'm so excited! Hope you all have just as happy a weekend!

Back in the Running

(Kitty) So after our 10K race last Sunday, my feet and legs were simply killing me. We decided to take Monday off, then Tuesday, and by Wednesday we wondered if I had the wrong shoes and they were the reason for my aching feet and legs. I went in to the running shoe store where we bought the shoes and spoke to the manager about whether perhaps I'd been sold the wrong shoes.

The guy was awesome! He sat down with me and asked a lot of questions and showed me some stretches and gave me a lot of great advice. I did the stretches for the rest of the week, then today John and I started up again. It went great! Well, after 10 days of no running, I was gasping for breath! LOL! But other than that, it went great, no pain. Yay!

So now that we're getting into higher mileage runs, our schedule is changing a little. We can't run more than 8 miles and get home in time for John to get ready for work on time. So instead of running Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we'll run Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Here's hoping we make some great progress! Less than 12 weeks until the big race!!

A Taste of Heaven

(Kitty) Today our church (Bel Air Presbyterian) closed our doors for the morning services and went down to Faithful Central Bible Church (which meets at The Forum, where they used to have sporting events, and still is used as a music venue - it's huge!). Pacific Crossroads Church also joined us, and we were a crowd of thousands!

The service was wonderful! The choirs of Bel Air and Faithful Central sang together and they dressed in all these bright colors - the combined choir looked like a huge spotted rainbow! And because the combined congregation was so diverse in terms of every definable way to group people, all I could think of was - this is how heaven is going to look! I loved it!

For a variety of reasons, I've felt a lot of internal stress in so many areas of my life lately that I ended up at church today and found my spirit being filled and revived and refreshed without fully realizing until then how much I needed it. God is so good at providing what you need even before you recognize that you need it. Through the sermons and the music, He encouraged me, reminded me of all the good things He's done for me in the past, reminded me of His promises of good things in the future, and helped me to relax and enjoy the moment that I'm living in right now.

I can't wait to get to heaven and see how it is way better even than what I experienced today. But in the meantime, I'm glad God is also a step ahead of me, arranging for me to be encouraged right when I need it. He says in Isaiah, "Before they call, I will answer," and I've found it to be so true.

10K Results - Pretty Good!

(Kitty) The weather was perfect and the bike path through the wetlands along the beach was gorgeous, all 6.2 miles/10 kilometers of it. Yea!!

On the one hand, nearly everyone ran faster than we did! Dwight and I came in last in our age/gender class (5th of 5 and 9th of 9, respectively), and John came in 13/15 in his class. On the other hand, we all did quite well - as good or better as our practice times. John ran in 57 minutes 54 seconds - amazing!! Dwight came in at 1 hour 11 minutes 30 seconds. And I came in at 1 hour 22 minutes 30 seconds. Plus we're all proud of the fact that while a few people used the run/walk method (I won't try to explain it, but it's a method that's supposed to make you faster by not running the whole time. I don't like it for this short a run.), we all ran the whole distance.

Oh, and did I mention I came in third from last in the entire race??!! LOL!! And that's because two people took a wrong turn on the path and got lost! LOL!!! There were only 131 people in the race, though, so when I come in nearly last in the Pasadena Half Marathon in November there will be hundreds of people faster than me. And just maybe I'll be faster than someone! LOL!

Dwight, John and Kitty a few minutes before the race started.

John, Kitty and Dwight after the race - long enough after for us to look a lot better than when we first crossed the finish line!

Dwight, Kitty's friend Teri, Kitty and John at a great little restaurant on the pier for a hearty lunch afterward.