Ruhetag

Heute nicht gelaufen.

Sonniger Sonntag

Am Morgen haben wir uns mit Jons neuem Kollegen Myron zum Laufen auf dem Tropical Trail getroffen. Die Männer waren natürlich viel zu schnell für mich, aber immerhin wollten wir alle etwa die gleiche Zeit laufen: Die beiden 10 Meilen, also 16 km, für die sie 1:20 benötigten und ich 70 Minuten, vorher und nachher noch jeweils fünf Minuten gehen. Passt ja perfekt!
Während sie erstmal über die Brücke über den Indian River liefen, um ein bisschen Steigung und Gefälle in ihren Lauf zu bringen, machte ich mich gleich auf zum Tropical Trail.
Es war recht warm und immer wieder kam die Sonne heraus, aber es gab auch Schatten und ich hatte es ja sowieso nicht eilig. Immer am Fluss entlang, eine sehr schöne Strecke. Da war es auch nicht so schlimm, dass mein MP3 Player schon nach etwa 25 Minuten den Geist aufgab, weil ich vergessen hatte die Batterie aufzuladen. Dann eben ohne Musik weiter. Nach ziemlich genau 35 Minuten drehte ich um und lief zurück. Jon und Myron traf ich einmal unterwegs und dann erst wieder, als ich schon wieder beim Abkühl-Gehen war, also fast wieder am Parkplatz, wo wir gleichzeitig wieder ankamen. Wunderbar!

Myron & Jon 10-miler LANDKARTE HIER KLICKEN!

Zurück zu Hause war erstmal Entspannung angesagt. Ich legte mich in den Garten und ließ Jon grillen.



So kann man einen Sonntag im Dezember ja ganz gut aushalten!

Nachmittags waren wir im Krankenhaus und haben schon mal die Geburtsstation besichtigt. Da waren wir froh, dass gestern im Geburtsvorbereitungskurs schon viele Sachen angesprochen wurden, auf die wir achten konnten. So gibt es z.B. ein großes Zimmer mit Badewanne, in der man versuchen kann sich während der Wehen zu entspannen. Wenn wir da nicht genau nachgefragt hätten, hätte man uns das wohl eher nicht gezeigt. Nun können wir, wenn es soweit ist, gezielt fragen ob Raum 616 frei ist.
Die Krankenschwester war sehr nett und nahm sich viel Zeit für uns, erklärte und beantwortete Fragen. Die Station ist schön, hell, mit Einzelzimmern, man muss zur Geburt nicht extra in einen anderen Raum und die Kinder wohnen auf dem Zimmer der Mutter. Man hängt nicht die ganze Zeit am Monitor, sondern darf zwischendurch auch auf dem Gang rumlaufen, sich auf den Ball setzen und braucht auch nicht unbedingt auf dem Rücken liegend zu gebären, sondern die Betten lassen sich mit einer Hockstange (keine Ahnung, ob das in Deutschland so heißt) ausstatten.

Aber nun bin ich trotzdem schon ein bisschen am Überlegen, ob wir ein zweites Kind, falls bei dieser Geburt alles gut und unkompliziert verläuft, nicht lieber im Geburtshaus oder so bekommen sollen, wo man nicht von vorneherein an den Tropf gehängt wird und man mehr alternative Möglichkeiten, wie eine Wassergeburt oder sonstiges, hat.

Erstmal abwarten, wie es diesmal wird!

Space Coast Marathon

Jon ist den Halbmarathon gelaufen und ich habe Wasserbecher an Läufer ausgegeben.

MEHR BILDER HIER KLICKEN!
LANDKARTE LANGER LAUF HIER KLICKEN!

Jon's Running

He's training for a half marathon and getting faster all the time!
On Friday we did a little 3 mile race on the base that he finished in 19:15.
On Saturday Jon went for a 5.52 mile training run around town. It took him 41 minutes. I rode the bike with him, carrying his cell phone and water and taking pictures and videos.

Today he got up early and ran 12.12 miles in 1:37:21. Jon doesn't believe in stopping the watch when he stops to drink etc. His pace varied from 7:13/mile to 7:45/mile.
He ran along the Indian River Drive while I was still sleeping.

Orlando - New Orleans

I ran, rode the horse and packed my suitcase today before my parents drove Jon and me to the airport in Orlando from where we flew to Orlando.
Although the flight was not even two hours long the whole trip was still tiring and I was glad when we got in the rental car and to the hotel in the French Quarter. We went to Bourbon Street for dinner, but didn’t party hard because we were so tired and I have a 30k road race along the Mississippi on Sunday morning that I need to rest up for.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Erster Alltag

I met Ashley so early today – at 7:30am – that I didn’t run in the morning but when I came back home around noon. Work wasn’t great today, one of these days that you just want to get over with.
But it was nice spending time with my parents when we took Brownie for a walk in the jungle later in the afternoon.
My dad and I cooked dinner together. He’s a very good cook and it was fun. Everybody loved the butternut squash mac’n’cheese!

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Neustart

The week started with a day of renewals and many different activities.
As usual I didn’t run very much today and went to Carole’s house for some training on the employer presentation. Jeremy, another new agent, was also there and played a grumpy employer. We were done at ten and I went to the base to vacuum out the truck and go swimming for 30 minutes. The pool was heated, so it wasn’t too bad that the weather was rather cool today.
Because I was already so close to the Atlantic Ocean I took my sandwiches to the beach for lunch.
Back at home I cleaned the house, using my new red vacuum cleaner, and got ready to ride Brownie.
I’m going to ride in a working cow horse show in April, so I was exited to get the training started and rode in the arena for an hour. I still have a lot of work to do before we’re getting ready to show, but it’s very motivating to have something to look forward to. Stephanie gave me some tips and advice, too.
For dinner Jon and I made a good turkey meal with mushrooms, beans and spinach that we both liked.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Nichts los am Sonntag

We didn’t get much done today, it was one of these calmer Sundays that go by so fast and you don’t know where all the hours went.
In the morning I called my parents to make last arrangements before we pick them up from the airport in Orlando on Tuesday evening. They’ll be snowbirds living with us for a while and I can’t wait to see them because it’s been a year since we’ve last met.
My weekly long run, 18 miles today, was not fun because I had to do it alone – Jon’s toe is still broken – and I didn’t feel very good, was tired and cranky. When I finally got it done I took a shower and a much needed nap right away.

I always like to go to Waffle House after a long run, so we hit the one in Cocoa Beach and went shopping for groceries and a new vacuum cleaner in the afternoon.
I haven’t tried it out yet, that can wait until tomorrow but have just been playing around on the internet, hanging out on the couch and relaxing after a busy week. It’s definitely nice to get some rest before the next adventure starts!

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Back to business

I’m back to almost normal again, just a tiny little bit of stomach sickness left, but I’m eating normal. Just can’t see some foods that I usually like.
Anyway, I was able to do my tempo run, work all morning with Ashley and ride the horse in the afternoon.
It was pretty warm today and I enjoyed lunch on my favorite bench underneath the orange tree in the garden.
Now it’s Friday again and we’ll be going to Sarasota tomorrow to watch a working cow horse show. That should be a lot of fun!

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Hal Scott Trail Ride

Shelly is joining the army and off for base training next week, so we loaded the horses in Stephanie’s big trailer and hauled them to the fairly close Hal Scott Regional Park & Preserve for a last farewell trail ride.
We were a party of 4 girls, 4 horses and 1 dog: Stephanie rode her older mare Patty and brought along a neighbor, Susan who I had not met before riding her thoroughbred mix JD. Shelly rode Stephanie’s other mare, Patty’s sister Bita and my Brownie had to carry me of course. Stephanie’s australian shephard Joseph is just a perfectly behaved dog and you barely notice him at all on a trail ride.
The ride was fun, great company and an awesome, exiting, breathtaking gallop within the sandy horse-friendly trails along the Econlockhatchee River and flat-wood prairie.
Back at the barn we met Gwen, a new boarder and went to Canaveral Groves with her to pick up her shagya arabian mare Endre, a horse with the best endurance bloodlines. She’s 6 years old and Gwen is just breaking her right now. She bought her only 3 weeks ago, so she hasn’t been on any trails yet but is definitely interested.
I didn’t want to ride the bike back home, because we still had some grocery shopping to do, so Jon picked me up and we stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home.
I ran my 8 miles, starting nervous and stressed out, but after a while the relaxing component of running in the rain kicked in and when I finally came home I felt great.
It was also time to start making dinner, because we had Stephanie, Shelly and Jeremy over. The first time we had real guests at our new house.
Everybody liked the burgers we made on the grill, the cheesecake the Stephanie brought was just so delicious and we had a lot of fun looking at each other’s photos of prior events and horses.
It was a great, full day and a fun night.
Looks like those weekends at home are not as calm as they used to be before we met those guys…

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Horse, Bike, Run

I am seriously tired now!
After getting up at 5:45 I ran 10 miles in the morning and did some core strength training, worked with Ashley from 9 to 12:30, put my bike in the truck and rode it for 17 miles on SR 520 and Nova Road, Florida’s back country, rode Brownie for an hour and then stacked 34 bales of hay with Stephanie.
That was a strenuous amount of cardio and strength today and now I’m ready to eat the mushrooms with ham and cheese that Jon is making on the grill and not move away from the couch for the rest of the evening. We might watch a movie and I’m going to bed very early tonight!

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Stromausfall

Not only cold, but windy, ugly, dark and some raindrops. This was definitely no typical Florida day and the cold was the main topic on small talk among most businesses I went to with Ashley.
We worked until 2 or so today and after updating everything at home I went out shopping to get some groceries and utilities, although I was neither very efficient nor successful.
The first store, Dollar General wouldn’t take credit cards and there was no ATM available, so I had to leave everything that had taken me a long time to pick behind and went to the next place. They didn’t really have what I wanted and while I was browsing their crammed shelves suddenly the power went out and everybody stood in the dark. It didn’t make any more sense to stay there, because I couldn’t see anything and the check-out would of course not work either.
Police was controlling traffic, as the traffic lights were out of power, too but fortunately Publix and the Dollar Store still had power and I was able to get all the groceries I needed and some of the other stuff.
It was already after five when I started driving back home, I was hungry, tired and cold and when I came home Jon wasn’t even back with the truck yet so I decided not to go to the barn today but just start cooking dinner with Jon who came home shortly after me.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Abgekühlt!

It got cold today! I ran with a warm shirt, long tights, gloves and a hat in the morning and did the same on the bike in the afternoon. I can’t believe how cold it was. We even had to turn the furnace on in our house, for the first time since we moved in in June.
For Shelly it was good that it was so cold. She had to run a mile in 10 minutes which she had just barely accomplished on Monday. Today her instructor was there to take the official time and due to the cold she was able to run the whole time and do the mile in 9:42 with me pacing her.
I also worked a lot today, went cold calling with Ashley and got my spreadsheet updated. That took a long time, but now I’m back on track.
After running with Shelly Jon and I made a good hot stoup – thicker than soup and thinner than stew – that warmed us up pretty good and I went back to work. It’s been a busy day today.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Happy New Year

The first day of the year started at Shelly’s and Jeremy’s house after a night of partying with plenty of alcohol, firecrackers and a bonfire.
Shelly and Jeremy were nice enough to get out their air mattress for us so we didn’t have to drive home drunk late at night.
In the morning they made us pancakes for breakfast and let Jon play with their new Wii while I cleaned up Brownie’s pen and went on a short trail ride with him.
Back at home we basically spent the day relaxing and recovering from New Year’s Eve before I went running my 8×800 intervals at the nearby middle school track. I was glad that those intervals were only run at 10k race pace, so I didn’t have any problems doing that.
Cooking the chili turkey burgers took us a long time today, but Jon was nice enough to help me clean the kitchen, too.
Tomorrow we have to go back to work. It looks like the lazy christmas break is finally over.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Silvester

I can’t believe that we went swimming at the outdoor pool in Cocoa Beach today. It was 74, so not really hot, but still warm enough to get a 30 minute recovery swim in. Jon couldn’t swim that long with his broken toe, but it’s healing very good.
We were also able to go for a little 30 minute bike ride in Rockledge in the morning and his foot felt fine. I really like working out with him and him looked so hot in his cycling shorts!
After swimming we had sandwiches on the beach for lunch and went grocery shopping before he dropped me off at the high school track.
Shelly was supposed to run a mile in 10 minutes there as a test for the army and needed my support. Before she got there I ran 2.25 miles by myself to get my own run in. Unfortunately her instructor never showed up although she tried to call him on his cell phone several times.
We ran the four laps around the track anyway and she managed to run the mile in 10 minutes, but was very exhausted after that. She’s just starting to run and I am really encouraging her because I believe that she can be a great runner once she stops smoking, starts eating healthier and of course gets used to running a little more.
She drove me home and there was a sick cat sitting in our driveway. We tried to take him to the vet because he had a nasty infected wound on his leg and his eyes were also messed up pretty bad, but the vet’s office was closed and the next emergency office was too far away. While we were gone Jon talked to the neighbors and found out that it is a straying cat that they are feeding. They had talked to the humane society about the cat before and are going to call them again. Straying pets are a big problem in our area and this cat wasn’t even fixed. I see him all the time just lying on the street. I think his time is almost over.
For now, the cat just walked away and Shelly went home.
We’re going to spend New Year’s Eve with her boyfriend Jeremy and her over at their place where Brownie is boarded. We’ll have a bonfire and maybe some firecrackers. I think it would be cool to go to the beach at midnight, but we’ll see what happens. Their neighbors are also having a bigger party, so we might end up there.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Startbereit

I got up early, called my parents, rode my bike 8 miles in the foggy morning with hardly any traffic, cleaned up the bath room and made waffles for breakfast. It’s still very warm so we could eat on the back porch.
Jon and I drove to Carole’s house in Viera to pick up a shelf unit that she doesn’t need any more but we do. The truck is a good vehicle to do that.
After putting up the shelf in my office I drove to the barn where I was supposed to go on a trail run with Shelly, but she wasn’t there – she’d got lost in Orlando as she told me later. So I cleaned up Brownie’s pen and rode in the arena and the four acres of land right next to our barn. It was so warm that Brownie was soaked with sweat when I got done, so I gave him a little shower with the garden hose and went home to go run for three miles, the last run before the ultra marathon tomorrow.
I’m still in the process of packing and getting ready for the trip and since Jon is now able to go with me we’ll be leaving town here pretty soon for New Port Richey on Florida’s west cost. The weather for tomorrow is supposed to be warm and humid, too. We’ll see how this is going to effect my run.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Haus und Garten

A long successful day lies behind me.
I got up very early at 5:10 and ran four miles in 30 minutes, which is a pretty good time for me, especially because it was very humid and exceptionally warm: 22 C at this time of the day is even for Florida a little unusual.
Anyway, I had to hurry up to get my run in because I had to meet Carole at 7:30 in Viera to go to enrollments with her.
To get my production started she let me write some of the business, so this is actually the first time I’ve earned some money – except the $75 that I won in the Omaha Half Marathon – since I’ve quit my job in California.
We were very busy driving around from place to place because everybody wanted to get their policies issued this year and everybody waited until the last minute.
Carole dropped me back off at my truck in the early afternoon and I got home by 3 o’clock. Jon was already home and after a quick sandwich for lunch we started working in the house and garden. I cleaned the kitchen and swept all of our stone floor while Jon cut back the overgrown bushes outside of our guest room. I also cleaned out the pond a bit and took out algae and dead leaves that had fallen into it. Unfortunately I didn’t see any of our goldfish. They’re probably all dead now, the poor things. We put more water in the pond as it hasn’t really rained a lot lately and the water level was way too low. Maybe another reason for the fish dying?
For supper we made a good Mega Meatball Pizza and Zippy Italian Popcorn. The popcorn wasn’t that good, but I had also got some spinach salad that we ate with the pizza.
The kitchen is really nice and clean now, but the garden still needs more work. We might get some more done tomorrow in the morning, but I also have to pack for the 50k that I’m running on Sunday. We’ll be leaving town tomorrow afternoon and I’d still like to go ride Brownie before that, so we probably better get up early to get everything done.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Späte Bescherung

This has been a pretty good day in all areas.
First thing I did was run 6 miles, partly on trails and on the golf course. The sun was rising up so beautifully over this little lake I ran to. On the golf course I was able to pick a tangerine right off the tree. I should have taken it home as I has another half mile to run, but I ate it right there, so the last mile didn’t go too well.
Later I went out working with Ashley and we got to employer presentations. I enjoy working with her so much more than driving around by myself. It was fun today.
We got done around one o’clock and it turned out that Jon was already at home. They don’t have a whole lot to do right now, so he had the afternoon off. He made some wings (for himself) and some mushrooms (for me) on the grill and it was so warm that we could eat lunch on our back porch together.
I worked a little bit more updating my spreadsheet and then went on a nice 17 mile bike ride to and along the beautiful Indian river.
When I came home Jon had picked up a package from the post office that contained all his parents’ christmas presents. We had fun unwrapping them and actually had a little bit of the christmas feeling that didn’t really come up in Key West.
We drove out to the barn together, cleaned Brownie’s pen and went for a little walk and bareback ride. We couldn’t go very far with Jon’s broken toe, but he took many pictures of Brownie and me and it was so nice spending time with him.
For dinner we made Smoky Chipotle Mac-n-Cheddar, which was voted best homemade Macaroni-Cheese by Jon. I really liked it, too and we have enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
We both enjoyed the fact that we could spend a bigger part of the day together than usual and it looks like we’ll be able to do that tomorrow again.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Rockledge - Fort Pierce

I rode the bike from Rockledge to Fort Pierce.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.

Vorbereitungen

When Jon drove to work he took me with him for a while and dropped me off in Viera so I could run back home.
The rest of the day I spent preparing for my bike trip. I downloaded many podcasts for my iPod, packed my bags and put everything on the bike.
The 18 mile test ride that I took with all the gear on went pretty good and I hope the wind is not going to change because over the next 5 days I’ll be riding south all the way to the southernmost point of the continental USA. I’m pretty excited about it because it’ll be the longest bike ride and the first alone multiple day ride I ever did.

After picking up some printed pictures at Walgreens I drove to the barn to pick up Brownie’s poop. I didn’t really feel like riding him, but talked to Stephanie for a little while before I went home and cook dinner with Jon who was already waiting for me.

I packed my bag for the car as I will meet Jon on Saturday night in Florida City right before starting to ride towards the keys. From there on he’ll be my support vehicle and we’ll meet to spend the nights together. He’s going to bring the laptop along so I can upload new pictures and write new entries.

See more progress on: take one photograph each day as a way to document my life.