Heart Rate Training Works

One of my biggest problems with running has been that I have to take walk breaks to catch my breath. On Sunday, I was supposed to run 2 hours. I only had 1.5 hours so I had to make it count. I started off from my house and ran to Kings Park Shopping center, past Lake Braddock SS, turned right at Burke Centre Parkway, and then turned around at Wheaton Ave. I didn't have to stop once that whole time. I kept my heart rate right in the middle of zone 2, and I felt like I could have run all day. The only reason I did stop when I did is that I had to pee in the woods. I turned around, ran back towards Lake Braddock, made a right on Lake Braddock Road, and came home from Southampton. All told, it took me 90 minutes to run 8.1 miles. I think that if I hadn't had my heart rate monitor, I would have run the same amount, but I would have had to take more walk breaks.

My feet still hurt while I was running, but not as badly as they usually do. So I'm hopeful that the orthotics are working.

We're leaving for the Catskills Mountains tomorrow for some skiing. I plan on bringing my bike and running shoes, and swim suit, so I can keep up with my training.

When I first started this journey, Malinda said, "You really have to love the training because you never know what will happen on race day." I'd have to agree with her and I am loving the training.

Aqua Jogging

After waking up this morning, my feet hurt so much I didn't think I'd be able to run 12 miles on them. So I figured that I'd go aqua jogging.

After breakfast with Frank, I went to Wakefield and got in the pool. I aqua jogged for TWO hours, listening to my iPod and trying to keep my heart rate in zone 2. I got the run done without hurting myself further.

I'm really looking forward to my orthotics coming in so I can start running outside for real.

We can't keep rodents in this house

When Melissa was about 6, she asked for a hamster. I told her she could have a small pet when she turned 10. Of course, she remembered this promise and as soon as she turned 10, she hounded me for a hamster. We got a cute hamster and named it Maxi. That winter, we moved to Virginia and brought Maxi with us. We lived with my parents and my grandmother was staying there, too. Nonni had her canary there. That canary woke up every morning and sang beautiful songs. However, since the canary was up during the day, singing, and Maxi was trying to sleep, Maxi died about 5 weeks after moving to Virginia. Soon, we moved into our own house and got a new hamster from PetCo. It died after 10 days. So we got another. She lasted about 15 days. We were done.

Last December, a friend was moving out of the area and needed somebody to keep her hamster. So we took her in. She lasted about 10 days before dying of something. It was very sad.

Finally, Alex is turning 10. He decided he wanted a guinea pig. He researched all about them and discovered that you should get 2 pigs because they like the company. So we said he could get on and Melissa would get one and they could live together. During the big snow storm, Alex built a cage, we rearranged his room, and he got ready for 2 new guinea pigs. Instead of buying one this time, we found 2 on craigslist that somebody was selling.

During school one Tuesday, I drove up to Gaithersburg to get these 2 female guinea pigs. The kids named them Peanut and Riley. Peanut was Alex's and she was black and tan. Riley was Melissa's and was white, tan, and brown. They were both really shy and hard to catch to play with. But Alex was determined to get Peanut to trust him. He spent time each day with her, trying to get her more comfortable. Melissa was pretty indifferent to Riley, but she played with her a bit.

Saturday night, we went to dinner and ice skating with friends. Melissa and Alex fell asleep on the way home and walked up to bed in trances. I laid down to sleep at around 10. About 5 minutes later, I heard screaming from Alex's room. I tore down the hall, screaming, Walter!!! I ran into Alex's room, and there was Kika, in the cage, with Peanut in her mouth. Bella was also in the cage and Riley was running around. I jumped in the cage and started screaming for Kika to drop Peanut. She did; I picked up kika and literally threw her out of the cage. Bella just jumped out on her own.

Walter ran up and we looked at Peanut. It didn't look good. We figured out that Kika had broken her back. Alex was still not fully awake at this time and didn't understand what was going on. We finally managed to wake him up and had to break the news that Peanut had died. Alex broke into tears. Walter and I both held him while he cried. We were supposed to go skiing the next day and Walter said we could stay home if Alex wanted to, but he could make that decision the next day. Alex slept with me that night and Walter slept in Alex's bed. The next morning, Alex was still sad, but I convinced him that we should still go skiing or we'd just sit around and be sad all day. That was the right decision.

Meanwhile, Melissa still had Riley and all the responsibilities that go with that.

Monday, Alex decided to clean out the cage, and make it smaller, as well. Melissa didn't really want to help him, so I asked her if she just wanted to give Riley to Alex. She said, yes. So Alex got a new pet and Melissa can pet her when she wants to.

Riley has become more trusting of Alex and will even eat out of his hand. We've decided not to get another for a while so Riley will have time to get attached to Alex.

So, we have had five rodents in the past year and they have all died. Let's hope Riley lasts longer than any of the others.