TOUR OF MISSOURI

Went to a meeting tonight for the upcoming Tour of Missouri. I am going to volunteer...for two reasons: 1. The husband of one of my faculty members is running the whole thing and 2. because this will give me a chance to get up and close to some of the athletes I watched all summer compete in the Tour de France.

I get a great job, or at least I think so...but then again I am not normal.
I am going to work as a Medical Control volunteer. What do they do? Real simple, escort freshly finished racers from their bikes directly to the room where they give their "samples" to race monitors....I have to literally walk them to the urinal and make sure they give a valid sample.

Most would find this disgusting...but not me. I will have the opportunity to be one-on-one (while we walk) to chat up the racers. I am sure they are not going to want to talk while they do their walk of "fame", so I will try to keep it short and sweet...but I could not pass this up.

Yes I am a dork.
Yes I find fun in the worst possible places.
I guess the good thing is, I will not have to actually WATCH them PEE....that would be a little TOO MUCH one-on-one time for me.....EEEWWW.

Running has been great lately...beautiful weather..getting in runs between the start of school and home renovations has been tough...but the ones I am getting in are some of the best I have done in a year.

SCHOOL SURE PUTS A KINK IN MY BLOGGING

It is amazing how all-consuming the first full week of school can be. I have done some good running, albeit it scattered, lately...but no chance to really blog. I have not even had time to read my normal mainstays. I love reading everyone's blogs as much, if not more, as writing my own.

I am hoping that I get back on track later this week and get caught up with my blogging friends. I have not forgotten about you, but my kids/teachers need me to be focused - especially at the beginning of the new school year.

Did have a pretty good run yesterday. Got in a little over 8 miles on a VERY hot day. The temperature was 91+ and when you add in the humidity, it was well over 95 degrees at 6:00pm when I ran. Although the heat was brutal, the run was great. Even ran into one of my former students who decided to drive beside me for a while (and talk a little SMACK) I ran through a local neighborhood. Students sure get bold and cocky right after graduation...........cracks me up to no end.

GETTING BACK INTO THE SWING OF THINGS

After suffering a back injury Thursday, I finally got back to running today. Nothing major, just 5.3 miles today on a rather warm afternoon (95 degrees). The good part of the run was what happened afterwards....I could bend over and touch my toes. I have not been able to do that in three days. Mind you, that ability only lasted for about an hour because after sitting down to dinner I had lost my flexibility....but I could bend over and touch my toes for an hour at least. Looking forward to running again tomorrow and being able to tie my shoes without pain. I will keep you posted on this INTERESTING and MUST KNOW information.

IMPRESSED, VERY IMPRESSED

I just read an article about this weekends Rock-n-Roll Chicago 1/2 Marathon where Kara Goucher won. She ran in 1 hr 8 minutes, and she beat all-comers. She beat every female, not a shock if you have seen her run, and she beat all the men. I do not know the level of the competition of the men involved, but if it is typical of most BIG CITY half marathons then she had to beat some pretty good men.

On a personal note, I got in 18.25 miles this weekend....the last weekend of my summer break.
I got in 8 miles on Saturday, and then went out for 10 miles on Sunday. Pretty good weekend for me....considering I had to play 18 holes of golf (actually 12 - and watched family play the last 6 holes) before I got to go run. I SUCK AT GOLF, RUNNING MAKES ME SANE. MAYBE GOLF IS WHY I GET INSANE?