5 months

Miles today: 2.0
Miles this week: 17.7
Miles in 2010: someday I'll know

5 months ago today, Gregg and I tied the knot. Half the reason that the blog fell apart in March and just came back now...but a good reason if any. Today was super cold out and we were going to celebrate our 5 month landmark with a night at Mi Patron, our new favorite Mexican restaurant (yes, way better than La Carreta) with our friends, John and Sarah, but of course I didn't fit my run in before work, so at 6, I still needed to run.

Ended up staying at work until 7:15ish talking with Jeff, so I didn't get to run until 7:30. Oops. Anyway, the wind was so strong and the temperature was in the 20s, so I ran a short 2-mile up and back on Rivermont, then hurried off to Mi Patron to meet Gregg, John, and Sarah.

Now, this may not be my wife-iest feature...but I definitely tend to do things (i.e. go grocery shopping, out to dinner, to friends' houses) after running after work because I don't want to take the time to go home and shower. Today was one of these occasions. Right after my run I parked in a space outside of Mi patron, changed in the car, and then met everyone inside. No make-up, no new deoderant...just me on our 5 month anniversary. Super romantic, huh?

Anyway, I wanted to post a few pics from our wedding that make me smile big. Here goes:

4 DAYS!!!

Miles today: 10
Miles this week: 10
Miles in 2010: a lot

WE HAVE 4 DAYS UNTIL THE WEDDING!

AHHHHHHH!

If you can come, we'll be celebrating with a run the morning before our wedding at 7:00am at the Perrottos' house (126 McKenna Circle, across from James River Day School). Feel free to join us if you'd like! Just email me and let me know: heathervozel@yahoo.com

3:00AM

Miles today: 2.0

Miles this week: 16.1

Miles in 2010: 263

I stayed up until 3AM last night for some unknown reason...doing things like trying to catch up on blogging (which isn't working very well) and laundry and such.

I guess part of the reason why I'm so behind on blogging is because I'm running a lot and more than I ever have before, which means I'm running out of time to write. Plus, of course, wedding planning is taking over, which means there's even less time to write.

All of this to say that staying up til three last night did me no bit of good today when I woke up for work, so of course, I didn't get my run in and had to do it after work.

It felt like it should be a "rest" day, so I only ran two miles up and down Rivermont after work. It's funny how a rest day for me is two miles now, and not just sitting on the couch. Love that feeling.

Easy run, dinner with my lovey, and then headed out to Target to continue the wedding registry menagerie.

Woo-hoo.

A Day Filled with Lots

Miles today: 4.2

Miles this week: 14.1

Miles in 2010: 261

This morning I woke up and had the day off from work, so I met a new running buddy, Johnna, at the Greek Church and ran 4 miles with her. That's her on the right.

Johnna's a pretty big inspiration because she lost a ton of weight in the last two years and then ran her first marathon in November and QUALIFIED FOR BOSTON! How awesome is that? I hope that with proper training, I can do the same thing someday.

We ran from the Greek Church, up Langhorne, down Rivermont, and then down Woodland to the 1-mile mark and back up Blackwater. I hadn't run Langhorne in a long time, so I definitely was feeling the hill as we headed up to Rivermont.

It was fun to run with another new buddy. I usually find out pretty quickly if I'm going to have to work hard to keep up, slow myself down to stay with the person, or feel perfect and in sync and not have to worry about timing and pace. For the most part, with Johnna, I didn't have to worry about pace or struggling to stay together, which was nice.

After the run, Johnna had to go home to her boys (she has 3 gorgeous sons) and I headed straight for the bathroom...hahaha. A good run will do that to me.

After the run, I went to Wyndhurst to visit the J. Crew store...where I found a few cute dresses for weddings this summer. (Note: It's nice to try clothes on in smaller sizes lately...I think the running has affected my body composition, because things are fitting better.) My sister and niece met up with me, we took a look at some flower girl dresses at J. Crew and a store in Boonsboro, and then ate lunch at Phila Deli. (Note: I love, LOVE, LOVE their Buffalo Chicken Wrap...it's so good!)

I had a few meetings at hotels this afternoon, so I headed out to the Holiday Inn Select downtown and then picked up Gregg and went out to the Springhill Suites by the airport. We ended up deciding on both hotels, one being very close to the airport, and one very close to Lynchburg College. Hopefully our guests will be satisfied.

I headed home to finish the much-belated Save-the-Dates that said "Merry Christmas" and were supposed to get done before December 25th...but alas, at least they got done. I made inserts with hotel information and got a cute edge puncher from Martha Stewart crafts...then Stacey came over and helped me stuff envelopes and finish the project. THANK GOODNESS IT'S DONE.

Austin came home from spring break in Ft. Lauderdale today, so me, Gregg, and Stacey headed over to the Corner Cafe to meet up with her and hang for a little. We hadn't been over there for yummy fresh-cut fries in a long time! Long day, but got a lot done!

Run in the Sun

Miles today: 5.75

Miles this week: 21.7
Miles in 2010: 238.3

Today made me feel like the kids in this picture. I LOVE sunny, warm days, Vitamin D, and a good afternoon run. I love running in the afternoon better than any other time of day...way better than morning and some better than evening.

Anyway, I only had to work until 3:00 today, which was awesome because I never have afternoons off. I dressed for a run, left work, and headed over to Lynchburg College to run. I ran my Sandusky Loop from the summer with Stacey. Missed her while I was running, but at least I felt good this time.

Last time I ran this loop was in January after I fell and busted up my knee. It hurt really bad and felt like it was going to explode, so I'm glad that's over with. I ran pretty smooth, felt strong coming up Fort Avenue and even up Greenwood Drive and Thomas Road.

Speaking of busting up my knee. It's definitely a good thing that wedding dresses are long. Otherwise, I'd have a big nasty scar to cover up for this wedding. Gross.

After my run, I did some shopping and then headed home so that Gregg and I could go to my sister's for mom's spaghetti. YUMM-O!

Dinner was super delish. I kind of miss sitting at my mom's dinner table to enjoy her cooking. It was good to have her in Lynchburg.

Oh, I've been trying to do the reader question alert thing, but not that many people respond. Am I really that boring? Here's today's question:

READER QUESTION ALERT!!!

If Gregg and I have a free "Gregg and Heather 5K" the morning of our wedding, would it be neat to invite anyone to come, even if they're not invited to the wedding? Would you come, readers?

Yo, write me a comment, ok?

Rest and Tuxedos

Miles today: 1.1

Miles this week: 6.2

Miles in 2010: 222.7

Today after work, Gregg and I met to head down to Celebration, the bridal shop downtown, to pick out suits for the wedding. Of all things, the easiest, quickest part of planning for the wedding is stinkin picking out the suits. WHY!?

I had a long day with visions of cupcakes and guest lists and bridesmaids and flower girls and showers and registries in my head.

I'm trying to figure out if I can make a groom's cake for Gregg on my own for the wedding...just because I think it would be super cute...and if I'm talented enough to make pretty cupcakes for my own bridal shower...however, everyone tells me that it's too much of an undertaking, so we'll see. As you can see above, the cupcakes pictured are so adorable and I think would be super easy. We'll see. I think I might bake some next weekend and decide.

Anyway, that didn't leave much time today for running, so I took a rest day, especially since I ran that tempo run yesterday. I did the Mullbury Mile, as I affectionately have come to call it...and almost in record time for that loop. Felt good even though I was tired and a little sore.

Can't wait to see how my speed is affected by all of this hard work!

Tempo Run

Miles today: 5.04
Miles this week: 5.04
Miles in 2010: 221.6

Yes, readers...I'm back.

Sorry about the short furlough. I've been putting together wedding stuff for the past week...so I'm apologizing for my week and a half off...but I guarantee you'll have some good reads.

For instance, today's run...(which was actually Monday, March 1st)...was my first ever tempo run.

Gregg told me to go out on a relatively flat course today and run an easy mile, 3 fast miles, and another easy rest mile.

I've never really paced my runs like that, so I just was trying to do my best at running slow for the first and fifth miles and running fast for miles 2-4. However, my Garmin died on me, so I didn't really know where my mile splits were, and I just guessed.

My guesses were a little off, and mile 4 sucked...but here were my splits:

Mile 1 (easy): 9:01, distance: 0.98 mile

Mile 2 (tempo 1): 7:41, distance: 0.92 mile

Mile 3 (tempo 2): 10:01, distance: 1.35 miles

Mile 4 (tempo 3): 8:13, distance: 0.81 mile

Mile 5 (rest): 9:07, distance: 0.98 mile

My only major flop was from mile 3 to 4. I didn't know where the splits were, and I was also running down Peakland and back up the other side, so it was a bit hilly for a tempo run.

I definitely could feel my oxygen deprivation, and I felt like I didn't have enough in me to push through that fourth mile when I was coming up Peakland Hill toward VES Road...but I felt like I definitely pushed it.

Anyway, for a tempo run, I did pretty well and I know I'll be sore tomorrow.

My boss, Jeff, was very excited about my first tempo run. He told me to try for about an 8:10 pace on my middle three miles...and although I didn't get that exactly, I came pretty close and I was excited!

Way to go, Coach Gregg and Coach Jeff. I'm learning how to run faster!

To have and to hold from this day forward...

Miles today: 1.1

Miles this week: 20.5

Miles in 2010: 216.5

Gregg and I drove to Luray last night to visit our friends Paul and Wendy and their kids Raegan and Davey. We didn't get to leave town until almost 8:00 because of my run after work, which put us in Luray around 10:30pm. Paul and Wendy are super kind and gracious and Paul was waiting in the car with Raegan when we pulled up to their road so he could drive us through the pot holes and trenches created by the plows from all the winter snow.

When we got to their house, a few of Gregg's other college friends were there too, so we stayed up late talking and catching up.

The whole reason for the trip was to visit Paul's dad, David, who is a pastor at a little church in Chester Gap, to ask him to marry us in July.

This morning, we went to Pastor Dave's church with Paul, Wendy, the kids, and Jeff...and then afterwards went back to Paul's parents' house for lunch. Paul and his family are originally from England, which gives them some old English traditions...it was fun to be at his parents' house because there are little figurines of Big Ben and the Tower Bridge around the house.

For lunch, I experienced my first Yorkshire Pudding (not pudding at all, but actually a kind of bread). It was so good...I even got the recipe from Paul's mum. After lunch and dessert (tapioca pudding and carrot cake), we asked Paul's dad to marry us. It was so cute because he took us downstairs to his office, pulled out his manilla "wedding" folder and gave us a few papers with diagrams about where you stand in the ceremony and the order of the ceremony...and then went over the ceremony with us...each little detail, including the parts..."to have and to hold from this day forward...". It was very sweet and Gregg and I are really happy that he agreed to marry us. He and his wife will just be getting back from England on July 8th, so he'll come down to Lynchburg on the 9th to do the rehearsal and then stay the night for Saturday and the wedding!

We had a great trip, and we spent the rest of the afternoon with Paul and Wendy and the kids...stopped by Jeff's house to drop him off after lunch, got a tour of his house, and then went back to the Johnsons to watch America vs. Canada Olympic hockey (boo!).

We had aimed to run while we were in Luray today, but it just didn't happen, so we didn't run until 10:00 when we got home. We were both tired, so I just offered myself the neighborhood mile...a little rest for a busy weekend.

A Favorite Running Buddy

Miles today: 5.2

Miles this week: 19.4

Miles in 2010: 215.4

Today was supa busy at work and the day flew by...I was tired because I went to bed late after the meet last night and so I skipped an early AM run.

Gregg said he would run to the store to get some mileage in and then run with me when he got there, so he did just that. I love when he shows up at the store. I love seeing his sweet face. I really love him just so much. I couldn't have asked for someone better to love. Gregg is my absolute favorite person in the world. Here are some good reasons for my accolades:

1. He listens when I need him.
2. He makes yummy breakfast on the weekends.
3. He is a really good cuddler.
4. When I need a running buddy because I don't even want to run, he runs with me. Even if it's 10:00PM.
5. He makes dinner when I get home from work at 8:00.
6. He rubs my back a lot.
7. He loves me even when I'm a whiner.
8. He makes me feel pretty darn special.
9. He tells me I'm a good runner.
10. He encourages me.
11. He says he can't wait to marry me.
12. He smiles when he hasn't seen me in awhile.
13. He loves doing things with me.
14. He spends so much time with me.
15. He usually understands when I'm having a bad day.
16. He helps me get my things together when I'm feeling disorganized.
17. He's REALLY good at surprises (like the time he surprised me on SHARP TOP with a DIAMOND!)
18. He doesn't mind when I'm stinky and sweaty after a run.
19. He also doesn't mind if I'm not all primped with makeup and nail polish and heels.
20. He just plain old loves me.

Today Gregg ran from our house to the store (approx. 7 miles) and then waited for me to get my gear on and ran about 5 more miles with me.

We ended up running down Bedford Avenue past the Flowers Bakery to Hollins Mill Road, past the entrance to the Blackwater Creek Trail at Hollins Mill, and up the GIGANTIC Tinbridge Hill, down federal street, a left on 5th Street, a right on Main Street, a right on 12th Street, a right on Church Street, and straight down Church to Rivermont and back to the store. It was actually a pretty tough run and I ran pretty slow...but Gregg didn't mind, so that made me feel good. Good run, low mileage this week because I was tired, sore and cranky...as you all know from the post a few days ago.

READER QUESTION ALERT!!!

What would be the best value in a hotel in
Lynchburg to send our wedding guests?

bridesmaid bonanza

Miles today: 1.1

Miles this week: 16.2

Miles in 2010: 162.7

I know I'm really behind on my blogs and today is actually Tuesday and I'm blogging about Saturday, but I promise I'll be all caught up by tomorrow (Wednesday) night.

Today was the Queen of Hearts Poker Fun Run, so I woke up early to ice all the cupcakes I made last night. When I was done, I probably made almost 100 cupcakes. Pretty good for last minute.

We set up for the run at the Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Church, who graciously offered us one of the nicest rooms in the church to begin and end our event. They were so giving!

The event went off without a hitch and everyone seemed to really enjoy running and playing poker at the same time. The grand prizes were gift cards to the store and two pairs of free Mizuno shoes.

After the run, I headed to the store to work. We got pretty busy and Patterson stopped by to chat. I just love when out-of-towners come home. I love to see them! Pat had to run 21 miles this afternoon, so he was about to go out for that run. I kind of can't imagine doing 21 miles just for training. Maybe someday.

I left work around 4:15 and picked up Austin to head to Roanoke to pick out her bridesmaid's dress. Stacey met us at David's Bridal and I think Austin had fun trying on the dresses and picking one out. Seeing bridesmaids and wedding stuff makes me so pumped for the wedding! I can't wait.

I didn't get home until almost 8:30pm, and I was starving, but I still hadn't run...so Gregg, my constant encouragement, pushed me off the couch and I went out for my mile run. I know I've been a little lazy this week, but I just have been sore in a couple places and really tired. I think week 6 of training must be a "hump week."

Mile was cold and blustery and I didn't want to do it, but once I was out there, it felt good. Of all things, when I got back to my driveway and went to push stop on my watch, I saw that I had never pressed start, which kind of ticked me off because I think that was my fastest mile around the neighborhood ever. Ugh. Oh well. Got the run in.

Gregg and I went to Wendy's after that...not a wise choice since it was almost ten...but I was so hungry and everything was closing, so I had a spicy chicken sandwich. I'll probably pay for it in the morning.

peroxide and shorts

Miles today: 3.2
Miles this week: 3.2
Miles in 2010: 122

I've been trying to keep my knee clean since I busted it last week when I fell...and it was always my belief that peroxide was good to pour on an open wound to keep it from getting infected. So for the past 5 days, I've been pouring peroxide on my knee, letting it bubble and fizz and burn, and then putting Neosporin and a Band-aid on it to keep it covered.

I was informed last night by my sister that peroxide is not the best thing for a wound because although it gets rid of bad stuff, it also eats away at good cells and actually slows down the healing process. So, I've been re-trained and know now that I just need to keep my wound clean with soap and water and then keep it moist and covered...via Neosporin.

So, I'm working on taking care of my knee a little better now.

Tonight's run was one that I was dreading, especially because we still had customers in the store after 7:00pm and I hadn't run yet. Much to my surprise, though, Gregg showed up just after 7 with his running gear on and treated me to a nice little buddy run.

We ran from the store to the end of Rivermont where it meets Link Road and back. Since there was a lot of snow Saturday, and this was my first time on Rivermont sidewalks since then, we had to do a little weaving, hopping, and sliding to get around the sidewalks that were maintained and those that weren't.

I've been wearing shorts to run in yesterday and today, and I must say that the cold air gives me a brisk, awakened feeling that I prefer to tights and pants.

Good run, knee is progressing, though I'm glad wedding dresses are long, because if I were wearing a short one, people would wonder how my knees got so cruddy...