What Happened to Summer???????

I mean this morning and last night I was wearing my winter robe and socks!   In July!  This just isn't right!  We have approximately 6-8 months of winter here in northern Ohio, I need a couple paltry months of summer please before we are plunged back into cold and dreary.

My running has been going pretty well though.  I guess this weather is conducive to that anyway.  Ran 11 miles yesterday morning and felt really great.  I am running another half marathon on August 18th so I need to get in some longish runs.  Up until this past week my running has been sub par, feeling really sluggish.  Don't know what causes this.  One day you feel like you cannot put one foot in front of the other and a few days later you can be running like the wind!   Well I never run like the wind, but you get my gist.  Very perplexing as I know most runners experience this phenomena.  I have tried to keep track of my runs and figure out if there is a common thread when I have these terrible runs, but I have not been able to find one, it just seems to happen.  Maybe the stars aren't aligned right or something, who knows?  As long as I  don't stay in a running funk I guess I can handle a few bad runs.

Ran a local 5 K over the 4th of July and did pretty well for me.  Ran it in 36:22 and placed 2nd in my age group.  Not bad and it was fun.  Always fun to place, which never happened when I was younger.  Perseverance pays off I guess.

Completely off topic from my running, I became the proud grandmother of twin girls almost 2 weeks ago now!

They are too cute aren't they???  What a blessing.
These two little angels are grandchildren number 9 and 10!











Ginny

Running into Relatives!

With my genealogy-obsessed coworker I have digging into my past for the past several years.  Recently we discovered that my father's cousin lived less than an hour away!  This was quite a find, since most all of the relatives are in the Scranton, Pa., Philadelphia Pa. area.  So this cousin's father and my grandfather were brothers!  I had the pleasure of meeting Jack last summer and again just last week , with an added bonus!  His sisters were there visiting, so I got to meet more cousins.  We had a wonderful time and I loved hearing stories that I had never heard before.  We figure we may have met up sometime in Philadelphia when we were very small children.  Below is a picture of my grandparent's Emma and Ambrose Murray.

They both died when I was in my teens, but I do remember them of course.  I was born in Philadelphia, so I remember them being babysitters when my mom and dad would go out.  One night I remember that it was snowing and my parent's specifically asking me and telling my grandparents not to let me go out in the snow!  I have no idea why they would have said this, maybe I had a cold or something, I just remember that my grandparents completely ignored these instructions and we went out and played in the snow!  Once we moved to NY, my grandparents would frequently visit and we would visit Philadelphia.  However, I do not remember much about any other relatives.  I have no idea why we were not involved with other aunts and uncles, maybe my parents were and I just don't remember.  It was quite exciting then to meet my grandfather's brother's son!  Below is a picture of  a my grandfather, Ambrose on the right, Emma (grandmother) then Kay and Jerome ( Ambroses' brother) at my grandparents home.

Added bonus, when I met with Jack and his sisters, Peg had brought a picture of Ambrose's mother.  I have never seen a picture of her.  She was born In  Ireland in 1863 to James Fleming and Bridget O'Hara.  Her first husband was a James McCann, he died very young.  It was with her 2nd husband John T Murray that she had 4 sons, Walter, Joseph, Ambrose, Jerome.  You can see them listed here in the 1900 census in Scanton, Penna.  Also listed are 4 other children of which we really cannot figure out the connection.

Below is the picture of my great-grandmother, Mary, with 3 of her grandchildren and a neighbor.  According to my cousins, Kay and Peg, she was quite stern and you learned to mind Grandmother Murray!

Sadly,  I did not connect with Jack Murray until after my father passed away.  My Dad would have been so excited to meet up with one of his relatives, that I am sure he knew when he was young.  They would have had so much fun talking about the past!  My Dad was proud of what I had found out already, but this really would have put him over the top.  

Why we do this?????

Those of you, who are not runners, may wonder why we do this to ouselves?  We pay money to run these races, where at times, we run with cramps in our feet and calves, aching knees, nausea...we keep running even though we feel like walking (which I do), but even when I do walk, I will myself back to running even though it hurts.  I really don't know how to answer the question of why we do it.  For one thing, the comaraderie is awesome.  I have met such wonderful people and made, I hope, lifelong friends.  Before I started running the longer distances it was a pretty solitary activity.  I mean it still is solitary when I do my runs, but not at the races, and I get such support from my running community.  I believe some of it may be the competition, even though I know I am not going to win one of these races I compete against myself I guess.  There are so many times during these races that I really want to stop, get on one of the vehicles that roam these races and tell them take me back, I am done!  But I just can't make myself do it!  As long as I can propel myself forward, I just cannot DNF, Did not Finish.  I feel I would be disappointing not only to
 myself, but my friends and family, even though I know, in my heart, that they would not think any less of me if this happened, but my head just won't let me do it...I just keep going.  Maybe it is because I always thought my Dad was disappointed in me as a kid, (don't mean to go deep here), but sometimes I wonder why I do it myself and it hard to figure out or explain.

Who knew that when I first took that first step out the door with running shoes over 30 years ago, that I would still be at it and running half marathons!  It certainly is character building!  I still haven't really explained why we do it.  I would be curious of what other runners think.

By the way, I won 1st in my age group, for the first time in a half this weekend, which is probably why I am feeling emotional.  It's a great feeling.

Ginny

Hatfield/McCoy Half Marathon....WV and Kentucky

First of all, this was an amazing Half Marathon!

Left for the Hatfield/McCoy about 7:30 Friday morning.  Driving by myself, so for the first time I used a GPS that my daughter let me borrow.  Loved it!  Would literally have been lost without it, even with the directions I had printed from GoogleMaps.  Driving from northern Ohio to Kentucky.  Once I got south of Columbus it was a beautiful drive.  Not that the beginning of the drive isn't nice, but I am used to that one.  I have lived in Northern Ohio so long now that I almost forgot what mountains are like.  The scenery was breathtaking once I was in Kentucky, the roads are carved right out of the mountains and they are just right there.  So green, everything so green, beautiful drive.  There was nothing for miles and miles and then all of a sudden, just stuck there was a tiny store, looked like a mobile home almost, with a big sign Haircuts and Barber!  It was just so odd.  The more I drove the steeper the climb was, gave my little Rav4 quite a workout!  Arrived in Pikeville, Ky about 3:30 in the afternoon.  The worst part of the drive was locating the dang Hotel, had to call Marjorie, who I was rooming with...ends up I was only about 1/2 a block away, I totally missed it.  Hampton Inn, great Hotel, beautiful room.  Rested for about an hour and then joined the rest of our little group in the lobby and headed off to the pasta dinner.  Guess we had to drive about 1/2 hour.  Good food and company and then moved to an aud.  itorium where they had the author, Dean King, speaking about his book "The Feud, the Hatfields & McCoys, the True Story.  Very interesting and then there was a brief skit, which was a dialogue between an Hatfield and a McCoy...very good.

Headed back to the Hotel for an early night.

Arose about 5:00 a.m.  The marathon started at 7 and the 2nd Half Marathon, which is the one I was doing, started at 8.  Went downstairs and had a complimentary breakfast, the Hotel started their buffet at 4:30 just for the runners, thank you Hampton Inn!  Those that were running the marathon left around 5:30.  My friend, Cindy and I left around 6:30 for our half, thinking we had plenty of time, it was about a 40 min. drive, WRONG...first of all the ramp to the highway we were supposed to take was closed for whatever reason.  Had to take a little detour to get back on and then we missed the first turn, had to double back, so by this time the marathon runners were on the same highway!  Not good.  Finally we are clear of runners and decide to take a shortcut!  Another bad idea, we ran into the runners again and this time there was no escape!  We had to follow a police car at about 5 miles an hour, runners on the right, cars on the left on a 2 lane road, with cars coming from the opposite direction also!  We did get to see a lot of scenery though, going that slow, the world's smallest horst, the Hatfield homestead.  We also passed our friends, already running the marathon!  Needless to say, we missed our Half Marathon start by almost an hour.  As there was not time limit for the race, we just jumped in where we were supposed to start, which was the 1/2 way point for the marathoners, so the start was still up and running, so we were going to be timed.  I started out way too fast for me and I knew I was going too fast and I just couldn't control myself.  It was mostly downhill at the start through the small town of Matewan WV, lovely , you could see peoples flower and vegtable gardens right at the road, everything was just so green, so pretty..  The first 5 miles, I would say was rolling hills, small hills, seemed to be more down than up at this point, so I was cruisin, some of the marathoners were showing up behind and passing me at this point.  Everyone saying good job, as I suspect they thought I was running the marathon, they didn't know I had just started.  I did start to slow some and then had to slow a lot as we came to about a 2 mile area that was all mud.  Not deep mud, but very sticky and slippery mud.  As I am not used to this at all, I had to walk some as I did not want to do a fanny plant in the mud.  I don't know exactly what mile I was at, but afterwards we came to a golf course to run through which contained a swinging bridge.  It was a little disconcerting, as it made me a bit dizzy, cause as the runners ahead ran over it, it swayed and you could see through the slats to the water below, it was different though.  There were some steep hills at this point, not long hills, but steep.  After the golf course we were running through the woods again, I know I sound like a broken record, but it was so beautiful, vegatation right to the edge of the road....I noticed wild roses, which I didn't even know existed, looked like grape vines too, no gaps, just green , green, green and gorgeous valleys and bridges and water falls and just mountains no matter where you looked.  We heard roosters crowing and turkeys gobbling , I saw chipmonks running back into the woods in front of me.  A few homes, but not many.  At one point there was a beautiful colt , just beautiful and there were 3 men passing me at the time, one of the men said "man, that is a beautiful dog"  Just cracked me up, I laughed for quite a while thinking of that comment, we all did around him.  A lot of hills now and I was getting really tired and my back, right between my shoulder blades was killing me.  I admit, I walked a lot after this.  One of my friends who was doing the marathon came up behind me and stayed with me up one the steeper inclines, not sure I would have made it without her.  Thanks Tessa!!!  She ran on and I kept plodding alone.

The last 3 miles were very hard for me.  I really could not wait to see that finish line, it seemed like it would never come, but once I was in sight of the finish, I just could not walk, so I did run down the chute, which was kind of long.  BUT  my friends were there yelling my name and cheering me on, so that helped a lot!  I think my time was 3:08, which isn't my worst, but I hate finishing over 3 hours.  Oh well , with all the hills, that isn't bad for me.  I never train on hills.  There were a Hatfield and McCoy standing at the finish line who high-fived you as soon as you crossed, which was cool and then they handed you an ICED towel!  It felt heavenly, as it was pretty warm at this point.  Oh and they had watermelon, which also hit the spot.  I felt okay, but just could not eat anything, except the watermelon, they didn't have chocolate milk, so I just drank something and sat down for a little while with my friends, got up and walked a little.  We had to catch a shuttle bus to take us back to the car.  Got on the bus, and not 5 minutes later I thought I was going to be sick.  I just sat there with my head down, holding the towel to my face, but I got worse and worse, broke out in a cold sweat, I was just waiting for the leg cramps to begin, but they didn't and I started feeling better, thank goodness.  However, in the meantime, my friend was getting motion sickness, so now she was sick!  Believe me it wasn't fun , in small school bus, going around very steep curves and up and down mountains when you are not feeling well.  That was some long ride!  We were so thankful when we got off that bus!  Unfortunately we had to get back in the car and drive 40 minutes to the Hotel, around all those curves and hills...oh my, neither one of us felt well.  Couldn't wait to lie down back in the room.

This was a wonderful race though.  You have got to go down and run it if you can.  I will go back, long drive, motion sickness and all!

Ginny

Cleveland Half Race Report......trains, trains and automobiles

I have run the Cleveland Half Marathon twice before, both times I booked a Hotel and stayed in Cleveland. This time I signed up too late and all the hotels nearby the race were booked, so Ken and I decided we would just drive into Cleveland the day of the race.  Having never done this before we were not sure about parking, RTA riding etc.  The website for the marathon stated that runners should be at the start by 6:00 a.m. as there would be road closures.  So.....we left Sandusky at 3:50!  Yes that is 3:50 A.M.!!!  Yikes!  That meant arising about 3:00.  I usually don't sleep well the night before anyway, but poor Ken.  Needless to say, very little traffic at that time of the morning!  Still no traffic the closer we get to Cleveland, we are thinking the race is today, right???  Parked at the West Side Market on 25th Street to take the RTA into Cleveland, got our tickets and as soon as we walked down the stairs a train pulled in....yes!   Get to Tower City, get off one train, go through the gate to catch a train to Brown's Stadium and again..immediately there is another train!  I am thinking this is going to be a good race for me, everything is going soooooo  smoothly!  Arrive at Brown's Stadium around  5:45 and still not many runners, so much for having to be there at 6:00 a.m.!  Next year we will know better.  It really wasn't bad hanging around the stadium...it was completely open and they were selling some refreshments.  We sat in the stands and struck up a couple of conversations with fellow runners.  What is so neat about this race is there are no port-a-potties at the Start, all the restrooms in the stadium were open for the runners, so you get to use clean, flushing toilets!  Let me tell you, that is quite a treat for a runner!!!

Decide that it is time to wander to the start where you line up according to your pace.  This means that being the "fast" runner that I am....I am in the rear with the walkers...oh well, I will never get used to this, but it is what it is.  I did hear a few comments from some of the runners walking by, you know the ones I mean, the ones that are jogging around, bare chested, stretching, young jocks  (sorry but they irritate me)..anyway they were making fun..pointing at the pace corral saying "this is where you belong, with the walkers"  I just wanted to slap them!!  You know what????  So, it takes me almost 3 hours to run a half, I am doing it, aren't I?  Come back to me when you are 63 years old and see if you are still running!!!!  Sorry, I digress!  Join the rest of the runners and wait for race to start.  There was a moment of silence for the Boston Marathon, then the National anthem........"Cleveland Rocks"  starts blaring over the loud speakers....I just love that, I start getting emotional, I always do this right before a race starts and my brain starts saying "why am I doing this again?"  That passes, it always does.  Takes about 10 minutes  for us at the back to get to the start and we are off!!!  I forget that the first mile is uphill, how I forget this I don't know, but it is a good way to ensure that one doesn't start out too fast.  However, I am feeling tired and sluggish and my legs already ache, not a good sign...By mile 3 I am getting warm, glad that at this point it is overcast and breezy, although why the breeze always seems to be in my face and not at my back, I can not figure.....glad I am carrying my own water.  I still don't feel that great, but keeping my pace.  Mile 5, I am starting to wear out, for some reason mile 5 is always bad for me, but I talk myself out of it...still going pretty good for me.  Miles 6 through 9 are going through some neat neighborhoods, edgewater was earlier in the race, but going through Ohio City and Tremont is nice, although I don't remember much of it, unfortunately I was dwelling on how tired my legs were.  I kept anticipating a huge hill at mile 9, which I thought I remembered from last year, but it isn't there, so I either imagined it last year or they changed the course a little.  I took a Gel at this point, but I never seem to get that jolt of energy that other people say they feel when they take one, actually I felt a little nauseous, but I got over it.

At Mile 11 we started going over the Lorain_Carnegie Bridge which is quite a climb, I had to walk a lot of it, the sun was really beating down by now, but what goes up must come down, right?  I tried to pick up my pace some going down, but I couldn't even do that for too long and I had to stop again and walk.  Mile 12 I am thinking that maybe I will listen to some music, so I put my earphones in.  I have never used music while running a Half before....I didn't like it.  Took them out, the spectator crowd was picking up now anyway as we were back in downtown.  Lots of noise and bands playing, which kind of got me going again, but then the right foot cramped up and stopped me in my tracks.....no, no...I will keep going gosh darn it!  Rounding the corner and I can see the line of American Flags leading to the finish line...I am not going to get a PR, but I am going to finish under 3 hours if it kills me!!!!!   I do finish and it doesn't kill me.  As soon as I cross the line I look for Ken and see him right away!  Yay, I made it!!!  Once again I finished a Half and at that moment I do feel proud!  My official time was 2:58:34, so under 3, not what I wanted but I will take it.

I really enjoy this Half and will do it again.  Love Cleveland!!!!

I ran 14 miles this morning in just under 3 hours!  This is great for me!  I am so excited.  I usually run a half in just under three , so to run 14 at the same is an accomplishment!  I almost bailed at mile 12, thought to myself that that was enough, but I gave myself a talking to and went for it.  So glad that I did.  The whole run felt pretty good.  Not saying, that my legs didn't get tired, because they did, they always do, but I did okay.

For these longer runs, I have been using Jeff Galloway's run/walk method.  I read , that for the marathon, he and his wife use 30 second run, 30 second walk.  I started out using exactly that this morning, or as exact as I can get, I still don't have a watch, so I count in my head.  As the run progressed I kept the 30 second walk, but upped the running.  It really does seem to work , to keep me from getting so tired.

I did register for the Cleveland Rite Aid Half marathon on May 19.  I hope, hope that I do well, I would love  to break 2:45 for the Half!  I would be a happy woman.  I will never be fast, but I would be happy with that.

I have been feeling kinda good doing these longer runs lately, dare I think that I might do another marathon?  It has been niggling in my brain the past few weeks.  What I would like to do is the Marine Corps marathon in Washington D.C. and wait until after my 65th birthday.  That would be November of 2014, since I will turn 65 Oct 31st of that year.  Then I would be in the older age group...I don't know, we shall see what happens.

Beautiful day here today.  Hopefully get outside and do some planting today.  Also cooking out for the first time this year.  Love it!

Born to run? Not really.

Some people are born to run, I am not one of them!!  In school I was very non-athletic.  You know, one of those that are always picked last for teams, left standing there while the team captain knows that they will have to pick you  because you are the only one left?  Yep, that was me, how humiliating, it still hurts.  I was a little bit on the chubby side in school, could not run fast, had no interest in sports.  In my senior year I finally decided that I could stand to lose a little weight, and I did!  Just set my mind to it and lost probably 20 pounds or so, was able to keep it off over the years, but never by exercising, I just never ate!  In my mid- 20's aerobics was the craze and  a friend and I signed up for a class at the Y, found out that I was pretty good at the aerobic thing and actually got chosen, along with some others to demonstrate at a local mall, pretty nifty for someone who had always been chosen last.  Plus, the aerobics helped keep my weight down and I could eat!  So....a couple of years later I started the running and have not quit in 35 years.  I have never been fast, or had good form, or looked like a runner, I just run.  I can't tell you how running has helped my self-confidence.  I have found, over the past 5 years, since I started running the longer distances, the running is as much a mental exercise as a physical one.  I can tell you that there have been times during a half marathon when I felt I could not put one foot in front of the other, but have been determined that I will not, not finish that half marathon!  I have had aches and pains and still continued to run.  Many, many times I really do not feel like getting up at 4:30 a.m. so that I can get that run in before work, but 9 times out of 10 I do it.  I get discouraged because of my slow pace, and always bringing up the rear at races, but I keep on, just telling myself that I am doing it, I am not sitting on a couch somewhere, I have run a marathon!  For me that is amazing and I have to be reminded many times that it is quite a feat, especially for those of us who are not fast, not born to run, it does not come easy for us, every mile sometimes is hard, but we do it and we do it over and over again.

I hope this does not sound like I am patting myself on the back and saying what a wonderful person I am.  Just wanted to emphasize that you do not have to be "born to run"  you just do it!  The satisfaction you get crossing that finish line is amazing and it doesn't diminish no matter how many time you do it, even coming in dead last, which fortunately I have so far avoided, but even if I did come in last, I did it gosh darn it, and it wasn't easy, never has been.

My gym teacher would be so proud!