Miles run in 2009

For the last month I have been running 30 miles a week. I also run six days a week now. It all started on an off day. I was going to take the day off from running but decided to run anyway. I really don't mind running an extra day. I think it will help me get ready for my half marathon.

I've been loosely following a half marathon training guide and have been doing a long run once a week. Even though it takes me a while, I'm beginning to enjoy them. Last week I ran 12 miles. It took me almost two hours and fifteen minutes. I was really pleased that I could run that long. At 6 miles I took a short break to stretch and take some GU, then it was right back to running. My long run will be Tuesday or Wednesday this week. The plan is to run 12 miles. But I may just add the extra 1.1 miles to see how I will feel afterwards.

2004: 205.5
2005: 232.9
2006: 325.9
2007: 364
2008: 683.3
2009: 717.6

Books read in 2009

America's Queen, Sarah Bradford
Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office, John Temple
Marilyn's Last Words, Matthew Smith
Corpse: Nature, Forensics and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death, Jessica Snyder Sachs
Rage and Glory: The Volatile Life and Career of George C. Scott, David Sheward
Sinatra in Hollywood, Tom Santopietro
How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America's Favorite Medical Examiner, Jan Garavaglia, M.D.
Pieces of My Heart: A Life, Robert J. Wagner & Scott Eyman
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, Maureen McCormick
Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed, Michelle Morgan
Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Crimes Of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality, Jeff Ferrell
Getting Up: Subway Graffiti in New York, Craig Castleman
Freight Train Graffiti, Roger Gastman, Darin Rowland & Ian Sattler
The Birth of Graffiti, Jon Naar
Subway Art, Martha Cooper & Henry Chalfant
Graffiti NYC, Hugo Martinez
A Portrait of Joan: The Autobiography of Joan Crawford, Joan Crawford & Jane Kesner Ardmore
Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, Catherine Clinton
Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism, Susan Ware
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
Who Killed Bobby? The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Shane O'Sullivan
Last Flight, Amelia Earhart
The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart, Mary S. Lovell
Eisenhower, Geoffrey Perret
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
Lindbergh, A. Scott Berg
The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963, Laurence Leamer
The Royals, Kitty Kelley
The Reader, Bernhard Schlink
Marilyn Revealed: The Ambitious Life of an American Icon, Ted Schwarz
The Kennedy Women, Laurence Leamer
The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat, Bob Woodward
Case Closed, Gerald Posner
All the President's Men, Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein (again)

Currently Reading: The Final Days, Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein
Up Next: Library trip

This week

This week I have been busy with work. The fall sports season is in full swing now.

Monday and Tuesday I photographed soccer games. Before the soccer game Tuesday, I had to photograph a school's team photo day. The assignment was dumped on me after the start time was pushed back by an hour. There was 3.5 hours of work that I wasn't expecting and it messed up my plans for the afternoon. It made me miss my nap. Boo.

Wednesday I went to another school to photograph the cross country team. They had their formal team photo last week, but we weren't told. I found out Saturday at the cross country meet that I missed it. After finishing with the team, I went home and ran 12 miles. It took me 2:13:28. It felt like an eternity. But the one good thing about it, I really wasn't sore afterwords. Not like last year when I did my half marathon. I was in so much pain and it hurt to walk.

I was able to take a breather today. No games for me to photograph. After work I watched Top Chef. I'm really sick of reality shows doing battle of the sexes. Yawn. I was hoping the Michigan chef would go farther into the competition. But she didn't. It didn't seem like she knew what she was doing. Oh well. For lunch I made spaghetti and garlic toast. It was yummy. Unlike Tuesday, I did take a wonderful nap today. After my nap, I ran 4 miles. My legs weren't too pleased. They were still tired from the 12 mile run.

Tomorrow is the first high school football game of the season. I hope the game that I will be photographing will be good. There is nothing worse then awful football. These two teams have been playing each other for five years or so. The games are always close and are determined by five points or less. On a different topic, I can't believe this is my 10th year of photographing football. I have been around for a while.

After the football game, my work week will be over. I really look forward to sleeping in Saturday morning and watching my Netflix rentals.

Nail - Adrian, MI

The calm before the storm

This week I have been busy at work. Myself and the other photographers I work with have been going to many media days at local high schools. Media day is team photo day. This is where the sports teams gets their photos taken by portrait photographers. I'm there to take the players head shots or as we call them mug shots. It is not fun work. I photograph the athletes two by two. I hand them a notebook and a marker and ask them to write their first and last name across the page. Many do not understand the request. I get so many questions. Will the paper be in the picture? When are these going in the paper? What is this for? After an hour or two all of the players and teams are photographed.

Usually when we start photographing media days. That means that the upcoming season is right around the corner. Saturday starts the fall sports season for me. In the morning I will be photographing the county cross country preview meet. I will see four races total, girls/boys freshman-sophomore race and girls/boys junior-senior race. It should be a nice morning for the kids to run. The race will be held on a brand new course as well. I'm excited to see how the returning runners will do.

Today is really my last day to relax before the upcoming sports seasons start. I know that I will not have another Friday off until football season is over. Which is November. Then the process starts all over again with the winter sports season.

Books read in 2009

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Miles run in 2009

Today I ran my longest ever: 11 miles. I'm doing all of the hard work well before my upcoming half marathon. Last year I twisted my ankle a month before the race. During the race I had to walk some because my ankle was killing me. This year my goal is to run the half marathon the entire way. For the last couple of weeks I have been doing my long run on Mondays because that is how my schedule has worked out. In the coming weeks that will change. Next week, I want to try to run 12. After that I will probably decrease it again. I was real thrilled with my run today and it went well. I hope my half marathon will go that well in two months.

2004: 200.5
2005: 225.3
2006: 313.9
2007: 337.9
2008: 643.2
2009: 667.6

August 15

John Wayne Clark

April 10, 1942 - August 15, 1998

Eleven years ago, my father, John, passed away suddenly at the age of 56. It was very devastating to me and my family. All of our lives changed in that one instant. Not a day goes by without me thinking about him. He is gone, but not forgotten.

Boston

Our final plans are coming together. My husband booked our flight and hotel this afternoon. In a few short weeks we will be going to Boston.

I've never been there, so there will be many things to see and do. Besides seeing the many great things in this city, our hotel has fitness center and an indoor pool. My only request for a hotel was it had to have a fitness center. I need to continue training for my half marathon. My goal is to run early in the morning. I hope to have my run done anywhere between 6-8 a.m. When I get back to the room that will give me enough time to ice, stretch and shower before waking my husband up for the day.

It should be a fun trip. Can't wait.

Photo Credit: Wallpaper Me

More random things

I'm very jealous of my husband. He is off of work until next Wednesday. I really want to be back on vacation. I will be soon. In about another five weeks.

Over the weekend I had a new drink. While my husband and I were grocery shopping Saturday, I spotted Smirnoff Strawberry Acai. I wanted to try some, but I didn't want to purchase an entire six pack. What if I didn't like it? We went to a liquor store in town and the best I could find was a 40 ounce bottle. I bought it. I twisted off the cap later that night. The drink was gone in less then 15 minutes. It was so good! I think Smirnoff Strawberry Acai is now my favorite flavor. Sorry Smirnoff Wild Grape.

Before all of my long runs this week, I have been eating, drinking, ingesting GU energy gels. I have been trying different flavors to see which ones I like. So far I'm a fan of Tri-Berry, Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Outrage. I have noticed that when I have a GU my energy level is a bit higher near the end of my runs. Anything to keep me going longer is good.

The IAAF World Championships for track and field start Saturday. For the next week I will be glued to my TV watching as much track as I possibly can. I already have every live event set to record on my DVR. I'm so happy that three different channels will have live coverage. Can't watch enough track.

Random things

I was on vacation last week and I had a total of nine days off. It was awesome. It was nice not having a schedule to follow. I loved going to bed late and getting up late. Sitting around in a pajamas until 9 a.m., watching movies, reading and running. I finished a book and started another. I watched a couple of movies and I ran six days for a total of 30 miles. That was a first for me. I have never run 30 miles in a week before. I only did that because I need to train for my upcoming half marathon. Which is rapidly approaching. The race is in two months and seven days.

I read in the Detroit Free Press, that the marathon/half marathon route will take us right by the set for the 2010 movie Red Dawn. The set will be at Michigan and Griswold or at mile 12.3. Should be interesting to see a movie set on the run.

Last week I neglected my camera. I didn't pick it up. We didn't go out and find things to shoot. I know I should have went out and photographed on my own, but I really didn't feel like it. Am I a bad photographer or what? To make up for the fact that I didn't touch my camera in a week, I picked up a couple of goodies. I bought two 8GB San Disk Compact Flash cards. I put one in my camera today. With the settings I have on my camera it holds 2100 photos. That is great. I don't think I would ever fill up my card, but its nice to have.

I didn't enjoy getting up for work this morning. I woke up a half hour before my alarm went off. So there was no way I could possibly fall back asleep. I think I looked at the clock every five minutes. I finally got up around 4 a.m.

After work I went to physical therapy. I asked when I was supposed to be reassessed. They wondered why. I told them that my foot doctor said that I was to continue therapy until I was reassessed again. After that happens, I will be done. I told C and K, my therapists, and they were disappointed. They really don't want to let me go yet. My foot is much better, but I still have pain in my heel. I think my heel is around 90%. That is still not 100%.

I want to say thank you to AMC. I ran 10 miles on my treadmill today and watched two episodes of Mad Men. AMC had a Mad Men Season Two marathon on today. I was glad that I didn't have to fumble with the remote looking for things to watch. Mad Men kept me entertained for almost two hours. Mad Men Season Three premieres Sunday and I'm so excited. We the fans have been waiting for a year for this show to come back. I know it won't disappoint.

Books read in 2009

America's Queen, Sarah Bradford
Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office, John Temple
Marilyn's Last Words, Matthew Smith
Corpse: Nature, Forensics and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death, Jessica Snyder Sachs
Rage and Glory: The Volatile Life and Career of George C. Scott, David Sheward
Sinatra in Hollywood, Tom Santopietro
How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America's Favorite Medical Examiner, Jan Garavaglia, M.D.
Pieces of My Heart: A Life, Robert J. Wagner & Scott Eyman
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, Maureen McCormick
Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed, Michelle Morgan
Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Crimes Of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality, Jeff Ferrell
Getting Up: Subway Graffiti in New York, Craig Castleman
Freight Train Graffiti, Roger Gastman, Darin Rowland & Ian Sattler
The Birth of Graffiti, Jon Naar
Subway Art, Martha Cooper & Henry Chalfant
Graffiti NYC, Hugo Martinez
A Portrait of Joan: The Autobiography of Joan Crawford, Joan Crawford & Jane Kesner Ardmore
Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, Catherine Clinton
Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism, Susan Ware
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
Who Killed Bobby? The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Shane O'Sullivan
Last Flight, Amelia Earhart
The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart, Mary S. Lovell
Eisenhower, Geoffrey Perret
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
Lindbergh, A. Scott Berg
The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963, Laurence Leamer
The Royals, Kitty Kelley
The Reader, Bernhard Schlink
Marilyn Revealed: The Ambitious Life of an American Icon, Ted Schwarz
The Kennedy Women, Laurence Leamer
The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat, Bob Woodward

Currently Reading: Case Closed, Gerald Posner
Up Next: All the President's Men, Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein (again)

Random things

I met with my friends from college Wednesday night. We talked, laughed and enjoyed a nice dinner together. The last time all of us were together was probably five years ago. We promised not to let another five years go by before getting together again.

At physical therapy this morning I had many different assistants helping me. Seems like every time I would do any exercise, they would have to go help someone else. I was doing many of my stretches alone this morning. One of my therapists, C, came over to demonstrate a new exercise for me. Then she passed me off to another therapist. As C was walking away I said that she was the fourth person to ditch me today. We both laughed.

After therapy I had a foot doctor appointment. Usually there is a longer wait. So I took a book with me. I waited about 10-15 minutes then an assistant called my name, Deloris, so I closed my book and started walking back. An older lady stood up as well and started walking back too. The assistant turned around and saw two people following her. She then said Deloris? And the older lady in front of me thought it was her. Finally the assistant pointed to me and the older lady sat down. When the assistant took me to a room, I asked her if her name was Deloris as well. Later she told me it was. I'm sure the spelling wasn't the same but I have never been in a room with another Deloris. Funky.

The foot doctor came in and asked how my foot was doing. I said it was doing much better. I mentioned that after Wednesday's run my heel really hurt. He asked if I was doing my stretches. I said I was. He asked if I still iced. I said no. He told me to ice after running. He then asked if I was done with physical therapy. I said I was just there this morning. He told me that I was done. I told him that I haven't be reassessed yet. He said to continue therapy until they reassess. After I had my ultrasound on my foot I went to the receptionist to make my co-pay. She said that I was basically done seeing the doctor unless there is a problem. I was happy to hear that. Its only been 7 months seeing the foot doctor regularly.

I'm a little sad about leaving physical therapy. I probably only have another week or two left. My physical therapists C and K have been very helpful. It is through them and the other assistants that I'm able to walk and run without pain. They have been working me hard for the last two months to get me back running the way I was before plantar fasciitis. When my time at therapy is over I will miss talking and laughing with them.

I've been on vacation this past week. I have enjoyed it. I didn't go anywhere but I did get to sleep in, read, run and nap when I wanted to. I dropped off a library book Thursday and picked up more. I finished reading The Secret Man by Bob Woodward in a day. I finished the book just before midnight Thursday night. I have five days this week. Which is unusual. I usually only run five days a week total. Today's run makes it seven days straight. I will take Saturday off from running. I will be running as usual Sunday. My plan is to run four miles. If I do, that will put me at 30 miles for the week. Awesome.

I'm so not looking forward to Monday. The first day back from vacation is the worst. Besides my regular work I have to check files and fix anything that went wrong. Just fixing and checking files takes a couple of hours. I know some of my co-workers will be glad that I'm back.

Books read in 2009

America's Queen, Sarah Bradford
Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office, John Temple
Marilyn's Last Words, Matthew Smith
Corpse: Nature, Forensics and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death, Jessica Snyder Sachs
Rage and Glory: The Volatile Life and Career of George C. Scott, David Sheward
Sinatra in Hollywood, Tom Santopietro
How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America's Favorite Medical Examiner, Jan Garavaglia, M.D.
Pieces of My Heart: A Life, Robert J. Wagner & Scott Eyman
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, Maureen McCormick
Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed, Michelle Morgan
Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Crimes Of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality, Jeff Ferrell
Getting Up: Subway Graffiti in New York, Craig Castleman
Freight Train Graffiti, Roger Gastman, Darin Rowland & Ian Sattler
The Birth of Graffiti, Jon Naar
Subway Art, Martha Cooper & Henry Chalfant
Graffiti NYC, Hugo Martinez
A Portrait of Joan: The Autobiography of Joan Crawford, Joan Crawford & Jane Kesner Ardmore
Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, Catherine Clinton
Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism, Susan Ware
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
Who Killed Bobby? The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Shane O'Sullivan
Last Flight, Amelia Earhart
The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart, Mary S. Lovell
Eisenhower, Geoffrey Perret
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
Lindbergh, A. Scott Berg
The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963, Laurence Leamer
The Royals, Kitty Kelley
The Reader, Bernhard Schlink
Marilyn Revealed: The Ambitious Life of an American Icon, Ted Schwarz
The Kennedy Women, Laurence Leamer

Currently Reading:
Up Next: Library trip

Just like college times

I will be having a girls night with two friends from college later tonight. We became friends during our freshman year. All of us were art majors. They both attended my wedding. I was the photographer at one wedding and a bridesmaid at another. We've kept in contact with each other by email over time. It has probably been a couple of years since I saw them face to face. It will be nice getting together with them tonight.

Miles run in 2009

It has taken a while but after today's run I will have caught up and passed last year's mileage. Finally! Since I've gotten plantar fasciitis back in January, a bunch of my workouts have been stuck at a certain mileage. I was told by the foot doctor that I could increase my mileage near the end of June. Recently I have been taking advantage of that. My half marathon is in 2 months and 18 days. I need to continue training for that. I already have my long run of the week finished. I ran 9 miles Monday. My longest run of the year so far. Next week I hope to get through 10 miles.

2004: 181.9
2005: 218.5
2006: 295.9
2007: 309.6
2008: 605.2
2009: 604.6

Weekend update

Over the weekend I ran in a local 5K. The race was run by some running friends of mine. After the inaugural race last year I opened my goody bag to look at my t-shirt. The shirt that was given to me was a size smaller then I requested. This year I was determined to get the size that I requested.

I stood in line to pick up my race packet. I heard the volunteers tell everyone to try on their shirts. There was a problem in ordering and they are running small. When it was my turn, I told them my last name and received my bag. I pulled out the dri-fit shirt and looked at the size. It was a small. I asked for an XL. A men's XL. If you don't know, I have a large chest. One of race organizers was standing next to me when I looked at my shirt. I asked why a small was put into my bag. They thought that I wanted a women's XL and that a small would fit me. I laughed. I told her that I needed a XL because of my big chest. I was given an XL, I tried it on. It was still a bit snug. I asked for an XXL but they just ran out. They were right, the dri-fit shirts were running extremely small.

As for the race, I did really well. I crossed my first mile in 10:49, the second in 21: something and I finished in 33:59. This was the first time I finished in less then 34 minutes. The sad thing about the race was a fast race walker beat me. The same race walker beat me last year too. Oh well, she also beat a bunch of other runners as well.