No Rest for the Weary

Wednesday night, I did not get ANY sleep at all.

After going to bed and falling asleep, I was awakened by a dying cell phone battery. You know... when your phone does that beeping to let you know the battery is dying. I got up and turned off my Blackberry and went back to bed. Right after I fell back to sleep, I was awaken by that same stinking sound!! I got up and discovered that it wasn't my Blackberry, it was my other phone. I plugged that one in a went back to bed.

It seems that I had just fallen into a deep sleep when Fred was meowing from the bathtub... and he was relentless. I got up and shoed him out of the tub and closed the bathroom door so he couldn't go back in there.

Back to bed I went and fell right back to sleep. Then came a visit from Tensor, the next door neighbors cat. He came up to the pet door - which I had locked, but Fred could see him so there was some major cat growling going on. Back up again. I blocked to door so the cats couldn't see each other any more.

By now, I was wide awake and spent about an hour on the computer before going back to bed... at 3:30am. So when the alarm went off at 4:45, I turned it off, and went right back to sleep.

But, I got up early this morning, even though I was still really tired.

Marc had a surprise for me at CrossFit today. I've been stuck on the blue band for pull-ups, or doing jumping pull-ups. He handed me a red band, about half as wide as the blue one, and I still cranked out 10 straight pull-ups! For the next round, he handed me a purple band, about half as wide as the red one. This time, I did five straight, then 3, then 2. I think these will really help me get to where I can do unassisted pull-ups!

Today's WOD was pure murder - especially after a marathon and walking lunges on Wendesday.

It was:

21 Thrusters

15 ft rope climb, 12 ascents

15 Thrusters

15 ft rope climb, 9 ascents

9 Thrusters

15 ft rope climb, 6 ascents

Marc scaled it for us... a lot.

I did the Thrusters at only 45#. My first attempt at the rope climb was pretty clumsy and I made 2 attempts that didn't get me very far off the ground. Marc loaned me a pair of his army pants but they were so baggy that I couldn't get the rope around my foot - I kept losing it.

And the pants hindered my movement during the Thrusters, but Marc didn't appreciate it when I suggested that they make those things out of spandex!

Marc "pegged" the legs of my pants - getting them all nice and tucked in close. So for my final rounds of the rope climb I was able to make it all the way to the top both times.

He took a picture of me near the top of the rope that I hope will replace this picture he posted on our website, with the caption: "Carolyn makes the rope climb her bitch." I'm only part way off the floor in this picture, even though I did make it higher, but today I made it all the way to the top twice!

The Day After the Day After

Monday (still the day after the Marathon), we went out for dinner to Rio Grande (or something like that). Our adventure start with Sam driving us!

Are you scared yet?

Meredith sharing a little "brotherly love"

over dinner!

And this is what Meredith thought

of dinner... and the sopapillas.

It was a great dinner. I had the skirt steak. I'm not sure what everyone else had but it all looked (and smelled) delicious!

Tuesday morning came way too early. I got to see Sam and Meredith before they left for school, then Hazel took Tim and me to the airport.

Mom & Dad picked us up and we went straight out to lunch. I was a little slow picking out a place but I think we settled on a nice little spot. We went to Savannah's for some southern cooking and we all had Po Boy's (fried oyster for Daddy, shrimp for Momma and me), except for Tim who had the pulled pork sandwich. Mmmm Mmmm good!

Right after Momma and Daddy left, I unpacked a few things and went right out and mowed the grass. Ugh.... but it had to be done.

I got right back to CrossFit this morning with a very slow "Fun 50". Four rounds for time of walking lunges (50 meters) and 50 sit-ups. I felt every bit of the fatigue in my legs during those walking lunges. I finished in 17:23 (to Jordan's 13:57).

The Morning After

What do you do the day after a marathon? Go for a walk, of course!

We got to see Nick, very briefly. We got home from Ft. McNair around 10pm so we got to chat with Nick for about a half an hour before going to bed. Then I got up and had a cup of coffee with him before he headed out the door for his next trip.

Hazel went to CrossFit and the kids went to school. After Hazel got home, Hazel, Tim, and I drove to Great Falls Park.

Me, Dixie and Hazel

This water marks sign has markers for each of the highest point the river has reached during certain years. It's amazing that thawing snow or a good rain can cause the river to overflow the banks and pretty much smother the falls.

Hazel & me picking out the best

route for tubing (yeah, right).

After visiting the falls, we went to lunch at a little Irish Pub in Great Falls. I really loved this little Guinness poem on the wall...

... even more than I enjoyed my Shepherd's Pie. (Hazel & Tim had the fish and chips).

After lunch, we stopped at Trader Joe's. Even though I couldn't pick up more 3 Buck Chuck (can't check it on the flight), I was able to pick up a few goodies to bring home.... unless I eat them first!

Marine Corps Marathon - During and After

What a BIG weekend!

Hazel dropped Tim and me off - on the interstate - where they had closed the exit that we needed. But it was a short walk from there to the start line.

I was worried at first that I might not find Jordan, so I was very relieved when I heard her calling my name. Her friends Patrick and Mark were with her, and she had also run into Wendy Arnolds father - doing his 4th marathon.

Patrick and Mark are Clearwater Firefighters who work with Wendy. This would be Mark's first marathon and, like me, Patrick's 19th.

Patrick, Mark, me, Jordan, and Mr. Arnold

before the start.

I guess these two are pretty good friends :)

Jordan and me standing in front of our staging

sign - and our goal - 5 to 5 1/2 hours.

The start of the race was as expected... crowded and slow, and right into an uphill climb. There was a small hill and then a larger one before mile 2. Then we crossed the Key Bridge into Georgetown. As we ran along the river, I told Jordan to look to the right... and up... to see the other runners - warning her that this was the big hill we'd be climbing.

The hill wasn't too bad, and we only walked a very, very short stretch of. Then it was nice to cruise down hill and through Georgetown with all of the shops and lots and lots of spectators. Then we cruised along past the Lincoln Memorial and spotted Tim shortly after.

Jordan looks confused... but she was fine.

Here she looks better, and there's the

Washington Monument behind us!

Around Mile 13, Jordan said that it was starting to get hard for her, but she was still running really well. We cruised to the end of Haines Point and headed back into town (all around the Golf Course) and came back out near the Lincoln Memorial.

The course took us up one side of The Mall and back down the other. My Mile 19, I could tell she was starting to really feel tired so we took more frequent walk breaks. We passed Mile 20 and started on "The Bridge", which we had no trouble beating. After the bridge, we headed into Crystal City. I had warned her about this section and I think she hated it just as much as I do. But we came out of Crystal City and hit Mile 24, near the Pentagon.

At Mile 25, I told Jordan that we were right on pace to come in just under 5 hours. That spiked her so much and she said "I'm ready to push it" and took off! I had to scream at her "Jordan... you'd better not leave me!" After all that pacing, I just didn't have the burst of speed that she had - although I could have kept running more, I just couldn't go fast.

I think she realized as we ran this last mile, that it was a lot further than she thought and I could tell she was getting tired again. The final insult was that stinking hill just before the finish line. It's just steep enough to force you to walk.

And here we are, walking up the final hill.

One turn and we're done!

Final Time: 4:58:27

Me, Wendy, and Jordan.

Wendy will be running this one next year!

The gang.

After the run, it took us forever to get out of town. Tim was finally able to flag down a cab, which dropped us off at the front gate of Ft. McNair. From there, we had a short walk to Jordan's parents quarters. General Whitcomb (Steve) and his wife Cathy have lived in these quarter for about 2 years. But he will be retiring and they will be moving to Georgia.

Gen. Whitcomb's quarters.

Relaxing before dinner.

Gen. Whitcomb made steaks for everyone and Mrs. Whitcomb made fantastic appetizers (salsa, hummus) and a most marvelous cheesecake for dessert! It was a great finish to a great finish!

Until next year.....

Marine Corps Marathon - Before

Tim and I flew to D.C. on Thursday evening.

On Friday, Hazel, Tim, and I went to the Expo. Tim played photojournalist and sports food critic while Hazel and I did some major shopping. Tim tested out every nutrition bar that was out for sample and washed these down with every sports drink out for sample. I think he was full by the time we finished the expo and headed out for lunch.

Hazel & me - entering the Expo

A patient Marine checking me in.

We ran into Mad Dog Tom Knoll, who had a booth

at the expo. He'll also be running the marathon.

A birds eye view of the expo.

After the expo, we went to Coastal Flats for an awesome lunch! Then we went off to REI so I could spend some more money.

Tim relaxed on a bench while Hazel & I

were hard at work - shopping

Me, coming out of Lucy.

Hazel did some damage at Lucy.

Saturday morning, we went to watch Meredith's piano recital. I had to take a picture of these bright red bushes. All the colors were in full autumn color. After the recital, Hazel, Tim, and I drove around what might be the race course for the inaugural Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon coming up in September. We had a big pre-race juicy burger (with fries) at Fosters!

Celebrating Mom's 12 Mile Walk

It rained most of Friday as a cold front came into the area. Even the rain was welcome to cool down much of the high temperatures we've had over the past couple of weeks. And the "cold" front would be a welcome relief, just in time for the big 4 hour walk that was planned for Saturday.

Friday night, none of us got any sleep. There was always something... whether it was Fred meowing in the bathtub or some car honking alarm going off at 3am. 5:15am came way to early.

But Mom and I got up, had a little bite to eat, and headed over to North Shore Pool to meet the Tampa Bay Fit group to start our 4 hour walk. We pretty much stayed with the TBF group for the first four miles, then ventured out on our own.

4 miles into the walk, just as daylight breaks.

There was a lot going on in St. Pete this weekend and that helped to keep the walk pretty interesting. In addition to the TBF group, there were so many others out walking and running. We made it back to North Shore Pool just in time to see Tim before he headed out on the 7am bike ride. Then we made a stop at the car to grab some money so that we could walk through the Farmers Market during our walk.

During this little stop, we spied this squirrel with a piece a huge piece of bread.

We continued walking south through town down to Roser Park where we encountered our "little Diamond Head" - the one steep but short little hill that will had to climb. Just a reminder of what awaits us in Hawaii. Then we stopped in at Bayfront Medical Center, another of our water stops. After Bayfront, we walked back towards downtown and walked quickly up and down each row of the Farmers Market. We made two quick stops. One to take a picture of Mayor Rick Baker (on the left) strumming and singing Jimmy Buffet songs, and the other so that I could buy some homemade cat treats!

On the left is Mayor Rick Baker, providing

entertainment at the Farmers Market.

We cruised through downtown and peeked into the restaurant where Robert Irvine was supposed to have his new place "Ooze and Schmooze". But that fell through and they opened a Seafood and Tap House.

Then, we hooked up with a bunch of walkers out for a Breast Cancer 5k Walk. All of the activity around town made it so much easier to get through the 4 hour walk. But both of us were getting a little tired toward the end. The legs were aching at around 11 miles and we covered just over 12 miles in the four hours.

Mom did great!!! Today's walk should give her a lot of confidence that she'll be able to finish the Honolulu Marathon.

But after our walk, we were both very short on brain cells. We stopped at Publix to get some bagels for breakfast. Mom paid for the groceries, grabbed the receipt as it printed out (the cashier had just stepped away), and we headed out the door. Thats when I remembered that we forgot the bagels!! So we went back inside and as Mom paid for the bagels, she realized that she had forgotten to sign the receipt for the other groceries, so we almost stole our breakfast from Publix!

She signed the receipt and handed it to that first cashier - who had been wondering what was up - and then we decided to head straight home so we wouldn't get into any more trouble.

After breakfast, we all got a good rest and sat around watching some great (and some pitiful) college football.

Then, we all headed back over to Vinoy Park for the concert in the park by the Florida Orchestra. It was kind of refreshing sitting out under the stars with our jackets on, listening to the orchestra, with a handful of friends.

Our set-up at the concert in the park.

Notice that Mom gets the chair with the foot rest!

The concert was giving special attention to the new Dali Museum

that will be opening in a few months. So they had these girls modeling

some Dali-like apparel.

During intermission, the guest conductor - Gerald Streichen -

visited with the audience and popped right into the middle

of our group. From left: Tracy and Chris Burke,

Gerald Streichen, me, Dad, & Mom.

The concert ended with a bang - literally - the Overture to 1812

then Stars & Stripes and a nice fireworks display with a

marvelous grand finale!

Barefoot in the Park

I took yesterday off of working out because I usually take Friday off, but this Friday the WOD is a 5k run so I traded days off.

Today's WOD was a nice one, but I really suffered. Marc even commented afterwards about how sloooooow I was.

Max Rounds in 20 minutes of:

Row 250 meters

Sumo deadlift high pull (@55#), 21 reps

Pull-ups (jumping), 15 reps

I got three rounds, 250 meter of rowing and 8 sumo deadlift high pulls.

Yesterday, my day off, I also happened to have a bad allergy day. My sinuses were congested and I felt like I had smoke in my lungs. I took my Zyrtec and that marginally helped my head. I didn't even think about it when I got up this morning, but whatever was bothering my lungs yesterday was the issue today. I could feel my bronchospasms and I hadn't taken my inhaler. So, I never did get to work my muscles too hard because my lungs weren't going to let that happen.

After the WOD, I went over to a park to meet my friend (and coach) Hank Campbell for a special run workout.

Tim purchased a book for me because a friend told him about it and he knew I'd like it. It only took me a few days to finish "Born to Run". It explains in great detail, and with elaborate stories, why we should be running barefoot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv4Se5ka9Pk

Hank recently read the book and has always believed in running barefoot. He just started a run clinic on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and it's all barefoot running and running drills.

I had a blast running barefoot on the cool, dewy grass. The running drills weren't so hard as to tax my lungs and it will all pay off with more comfortable and faster runs!

The Tracker's 7th Life

Yesterday, I learned that sometimes it pays to just show up. Actually, I learned this from doing some of the small local runs - when I get 1st in my age group - out of one. The WOD was 30 muscle ups for time. Or, if you can't do muscle ups, then 120 pull-ups and 120 dips, which is what I had to do.

For some reason, I got stuck on counting to 100 so I did 100 jumping pull-ups and 100 dips (box assisted), then 20 more of each in 17:54. But, because very few people showed up for the workout, I took the top spot for the women!

I really liked today's WOD: For time, 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps of:

Power Clean (95#/65#)

Sit ups

Back extenstions

Because you have to jump the power cleans, Marc set my weight at 35# which turned out to be perfect. Light enough to not stress my knee but heavy enough to be a challenge. But because of the light weight, I really wanted to focus on getting the form correct. At the end of the WOD, Marc said that my technique was "friggin perfect"! I did find myself out of form a couple of times and really focused to correct it.

My time: 16:36.

I took the Tracker to the shop today because the switch that turns on the fan, and thus the A/C, broke. They said I'd need a new blower motor switch for $237.88 and also recommended that I have the motor cleaned for another $338.20. But that's more than the Tracker is worth.

If the Tracker were a cat, I'm sure it's pretty close to using up its 9 lives but I'm hoping we're only at about 7 right now. Tim and I are going to try to find the blower motor switch (which I think I can get for $60 or less) and he's going to put it in for me. I can deal with the noise the motor makes so I'll pass on the $338.20 cleaning.

The shop thinks that the noise is coming from the leaves that got in - but Tim thinks those leaves are not in the motor so he'll look at that too. I guess I'll keep Tim a little longer too.

:)

M. I. A.

I took a day off of CrossFit on Friday because I had worked out every day this week. I don't know what stressed out my knee more, the jumping pull-ups, the box jumps, or the rope jumping... but my knee was a little tender.

On Friday, I did a lot of stretching to try to get it worked out.

Saturday, I went to North Shore Pool around 6:40am to help coach the beginner marathoners. I was asked to go out with the fastest of the red group (the 11 to 12 minute mile runners). The lead girl started out at a pretty fast pace so I settled in somewhere in between her and two other runners who were a little behind her. By the time we hit the 4 mile mark, everyone slowed down. By the time we hit 5 miles, I had a hard time running any slower.

It was nice to feel good after feeling sore yesterday and I finished the 7 mile running feeling pretty good.

Tim and I spent the afternoon visiting Sally and made it home in time to grab some snacks and watch the Florida - LSU football game on TV and the Hawaii Ironman on ironmanlive.com.

I stayed up till almost 11:30 - very late for me!

This morning, I got up and got over to North Shore Pool by 6:45am. We had a nice group of 12 of us for the run this morning. But the first few steps out were so painful that I decided it would be best if I turned around and called it a day.

I came home and started cleaning the kitchen while watching the Chicago Marathon on universalsports.com. I'll spend the rest of the day cleaning house and will do a lot of stretching while watching the Bucs lose to Philly today.

Hopefully I'll be back in action by tomorrow.

Sample This

I finally got a good nights sleep last night... no visit from Fred!

I got up early and headed off to CrossFit only to be greeted by a freaky WOD

CrossFit Sampler

For time:
25 Walking lunge steps
20 Pull-ups
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box
20 Double-unders
25 Ring dips
20 Knees to elbows
30 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood
30 Sit-ups
20 Hang squat cleans, 35 pound dumbells
25 Back extensions
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
3 Rope climb ascents

Since jumping messes with my knee, I had to scale a lot of this workout. Pull-ups were jumping, but I added a plate to take a little off the jump. I used the 12" box instead of the 16" box for jumps - and that was the worst exercise for my knee! Today, I couldn't even muster up 1 double under so I had to do 40 single unders. I assisted the ring dips my having my feet on a box. Squat clean was done with a 35# bar. Finally, I've never done the rope ascent. I did it three times but only about 1/3 to 1/2 way up. Strength wasn't the issue, it was the slippery, sweaty hands.

Helen

Today, I was soooo tired when the alarm went off. If I hadn't arranged to pick up Dawn to go to CrossFit, I'm pretty sure I would have slept in.

The WOD today was Helen:

3 Rounds for time of

400m Run

21x Kettlebell swing @35#

12x Pull-ups

I did the warm up but left out the pull-ups and the dips knowing that following kettlebell swings with pull-ups was going to be hard enough.

I would normally have done jumping pull-ups, which are faster, but the jumping hurts my knee so I stuck with the blue band. My time was 10:58.

I looked at my past times and they were:

10/03/08: 14:05 with 25# kettlebell and blue band

01/26/09: 12:56 with 25# kettlebell and blue band

04/22/09: 10:25 with, well, I wrote down 35# kettlebell but I'm wondering if it was still the 25#, and blue band. So, if it was the 25# kettlebell, then today was a new PR for me on Helen. If it was the 35#, then I was slower by 38 seconds - and that would have been totally on the run, which felt slower than usual today.

I'll blame that on the humidity... even with my inhaler, I could hardly breath!

Long Night with Fred

Monday was a day off - much deserved after running 20 miles on Sunday, then mowing the grass.

Work was a handful early in the day. Mom and Dad came over just before 2pm (just before my conference call) and I gave them directions to get to Ted Peters. How cool... they bought an extra smoked fish spread for Tim and me!

After I finished work, we went Geo-caching. There are a couple of sites nearby so we went to the one over by St. Paul's Catholic Church. It was really easy to find.

After that, Daddy and I went to the nursing home to sit with Grandma for dinner. When we got back, we ordered Vietnamese food and ate in.

After they left, Tim and I started watching the Minnesota / Green Bay game and watched until Brett Favre's first touchdown.

Then I went to bed. But I got no sleep thanks to Fred! He jumped up on the bed and sat right next to my head. When I was asleep, he would paw at my nose and wake me up. I'd roll over and go back to sleep and he would walk around to the other side and paw at my nose again. This went on all night long!!

I still got out of bed this morning and went to CrossFit. Today was Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1. I put my knee strap on but didn't think that my knee would be an issue because it hasn't been that sore. Well, it was no problem lifting the weight, but it was a problem jumping. I even have a hard time with the jumping pull-ups. That was my limiting factor today. So Marc had me practice a lot at a lower weight. So my results today were something like this:

35# x 10

45# x 2

55# x 3

45# x 5

50# x 5

20 Miles... and a few loops around the yard.

My legs were actually a little bit sore from yesterday's walk. I did expect that because walking uses the muscles differently and, for me, walking long distances is harder than running it.

But I started my day with a bowl of cereal and some Ibuprofren and headed out the door.

I met Jordan at North Shore Pool and we started our run right at 5:30am. The air temperature seemed cooler than last week but it seemed more humid, and there was no breeze at all. Jordan complained about a small pain on the top of both feet (right in the crease) and her breath started out a little more labored than usual, but she was running better than last week.

We did the Brightwaters Loop plus an extra mile so that we already had over 7.5 miles by the time we made it back to North Shore Pool to meet the rest of the gang. It is always so nice to get back there and have more people to run with - except that they are fresh and can run a little faster than us! Today's group included myself, Jordan, Robin A, Robin P, Robin H., Justy, Melissa, Wendy, and Rue.

We headed south for 1 Pier Loop, down to the Coast Guard station, through USF, over Thrill Hill, to the back side of the Coast Guard station, then down along the water through the Old Southeast.

Then we mingled with a big group of Army folks doing a 2-mile training run along Beach Dr. SE, 22nd Ave S., and Bay Isle SE. Many of them were stopping and walking... little did they know that by this point, we already had 13 miles in!

We stopped at Tony Rivas' house for a water stop - he puts out some cold, cold water for us! After leaving Tony's house, we cruised into the beautiful Driftwood neighborhood then on to Chattaway's for our next water stop.

After Chattaway's we headed north back into town with a quick... well, not really quick... jaunt through Roser Park and a stop at our favorite water station (it's indoors in the air conditioning).

Roser Park

We continued on around the edge of Mirror Lake and back to where we started.

Woo Hoo!!! 20 miles!!

We refueled and did some stretching before heading home.

Once home, I just changed shoes and headed right out the back door for a few loops (with the lawn mower) around the front and back yard. That is no fun after running 20 miles, but it was good to get it done.

Now... the couch is calling my name!

Wobble for the Cure

It's been a bit since my last blog post because I have been WAY too busy working on the house, working, training, and traveling. I just got back from a few days in Memphis (no, I didn't get to see the King) and am finally able to catch up.

Friday, Mom and Dad came over around 4pm and I got to show off all the details of my new kitchen. Sally and Scott came over around 5:30 and we all had a nice dinner together before Sally, Scott, and Tim headed off for the Tampa Bay Rays vs NY Yankess games.

Mom and Dad stayed the night but I think we were all pretty restless... me, Dad, and Fred. The red wine at dinner gave me some sinus issues and I was up at 1am to take a Zyrtec-D pill, which pretty much kept me up all night. I heard Daddy up around 3:45am and a little after 4am Fred was sitting in the bathtub meowing at the top of his lungs.

6am came way too early. But we got up, and headed out the door at 6:40am to head over to Tim's condo where he saved us a parking space. While Mom and I headed out to the start of the Race for the Cure 10k, Tim and Dad puttered around and wandered over to the Vinoy Hotel for coffee and bagels.

Our 10k start out pretty well and we were keeping a pretty good walking pace. We quickly caught up to and passed 3 young girls who had been jogging and walking. Mom dubbed these girls "the boa girls" because each of them was wearing a pink feather boa. Between mile 2 and 3 were we headed out on a straight stretch - a gradual uphill with no shade. I brought Gu for us to take at the half way point. Mom was walking a little funny, leaning way forward and I thought it was just because of the uphill walk. We made it to 3.1 miles in 51:50 (Mom's previous PR was around an hour).

We made the turnaround and and we could see that we had put a good distance on "the boa girls". As we approached the water station, I got out the Gu as and we slowed down to take the Gu, Mom really started to wobble. I told her to just stop so she could take the Gu without walking but she was completely out of balance. She headed to the curb and held onto a light pole for balance. A police man guarding that corner came over and convince Mom to let him help her to the other side of the street where there was a bench. She sat down and took her Gu, and some water, and some juice. Someone handed her a cloth with cold water and we poured cold water over her head. Another girl gave us a baggie with some Peanut Butter Crunch in it. Within just a couple of minutes, she was recovered and stood up to start going again. I really watched her pace at this point and was pleased that it was a little slower than we were going in the first half. But now we were on a downhill and there was another lady ahead of us who looked like she was suffering so Mom wanted to pick up the pace to catch up with her to keep an eye on her.

Even though we were walking behind her, Mom said that before we got to the finish line she wanted to pass her. Now I knew she was OK! I had Mom eat a few more Peanut Butter Crunch, believing that her primary issue was low blood sugar. But she only ate a few of them before mile 4.

She was doing well between miles 4 and 5 after we had merged with those doing the 5k walk. It was so crowded that we were forced to slow down and she was working to get around a lot of these people. Right around mile 6 we saw Tim and Dad sitting in chairs on the side of the road. We stopped so Tim could take our picture, and she got all wobbly again. We made it around the corner and were approaching the finish line but it was really, really crowded and when she had to stop again, she almost fell over.

The weeble wobbled, but she didn't fall over!

She hit the wall, but she didn't hit the pavement.

We got over the finish line and let her lean up against the fence and have a cool drink and I poured more water over her head. I know that the heat and humidity really bothered her, but I think that the low blood sugar was the real culprit. During our next 10k (on Nov. 8), we're going to try to at least take a Gu every 2 miles and see if eat earlier and more often, if that will help overcome the wobbles. Plus, I am hoping it will be a little cooler.