Cars and Miles

Monday I officially received my new car! It's a silver 03 Toyota Corolla. I don't think it's sunk in yet. I'm still looking for the wrong keys on the key ring and adjusting to this remote lock/unlock thing. I'm sure reality will hit April 28th when I have to make the first payment to the bank. I'm SO glad this car buying process is complete! I think I've got more gray hair on my head now and I hope it stays hidden in the color!
As confusing and stressful as it was I had two wonderful people helping me out in the process. First was Brad at Westgate Chrysler Plymouth Dodge Jeep. You can call Westgate and ask for him or I'll work on finding his phone number and posting it on the blog. Brad is a great guy. He kept his eye out for a car for me and answered all my stupid questions like they weren't stupid questions.
The other great person was Allen from Ambassador Fleet Services (www.ambassadorfleet.com) Allen does the shopping for you! You tell him your price range and what kind of car you'd like and he goes to sales to find the car for you. His mechanic checks it out and he gets it all cleaned up before delivering it to you.
Ok, enough of the free advertising for them and on to naming this car. Upon the acquisition of my previous car, I received a large amount of peer pressure to name my car and to remove the AARP sticker from the back window. Needless to say the sticker did not disappear because it became his name tag. My car's name was Arp. Arp is now gone and the new car is nameless at the moment. I have an idea for a name, but many have wanted say into its name. So, here's your opportunity. Have a name idea? Post it in the comments. I'll give it a week and see what input I receive. Boy or girl? I'm open. But I have to say I'm leaning towards boy. I'll save that explanation for another day.
I look forward to receiving your ideas! (Note: When you post a comment you won't see it right away. I've had lots of spam comments in the past so I now check the comments before they post.)

Now something exciting about training! Yesterday I decided to do the five mile run I needed for the week. I jumped on the Monon, turned on my music and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather. At the end, I was excited because it was a GREAT run! I finished the run under 55 minutes! That means the average mile was less than 11 minutes! I had a huge smile on my face and I wanted to share it with you! To those supporting LLS and those praying for me, THANK YOU! You are all part of what made the run easier!

12 Miles and still walking!

The YEA's of yesterday.

• Yesterday morning's group training was a 12 mile run and I made it!
• Not only did I make it, but four other Alaskan teammates did too!
• I have a running buddy, potentially 3! Before the run, a group of us decided we ran about the same pace. We started together and stuck together the whole run! It was great to run with a group. It made time and miles go a lot faster.
• It's Sunday evening and I'm feeling fine! Yesterday evening I was a little sore, but today I'm feeling much better than I expected.

Those are my YIPPEE HOORAY's for the weekend! This week should be pretty eventful too. It's to include the purchase of a "new" car. I'll keep you posted.

Don't forget to check out www.active.com/donate/tntin/Jhomans1 for the fund raising update!

Mini Marathon Turned Scavenger Hunt

Dreams can be very bizarre. Last night I had one of those weird ones. I think it was spawned from me reviewing the training manual before I went to bed and noticing the long run this weekend is pretty close to the half marathon distance.
For your entertainment, here's the dream as best I can remember... I started the race with a familiar group of people. Soon after we started, we realized we would have to stop at different places to find something, get a tour of a room or put something together. The race route went through historic little towns and somehow returned to Indy for a run around the Indy500 race track. I was all excited about the race because I've never been to the race track.
The group I was running with knew how to get to the first building in which we had to climb stairs to get to a room and build a scene with Legos. ( You know, as I'm writing this I think this dream is more Mini Marathon crossed with Amazing Race.)
It took us forever to build this scene the exact way it was supposed to be and I think that's when the confusion started. When we completed the Legos scene we went back outside, down the stairs and suddenly didn't know what direction to go. (The route wasn't marked very well. )
Slowly but surely we found the different places and frustrated we would do what was to be done at the location. After all it was required in order to finish the race. We finally came into Indy and found the race track, BUT it was LATE and we couldn't run around it because the run was done and car racing was taking place on the track.
Although disappointed we couldn't run on the track, several Team In Training people and other people I knew were waiting for us in an area where we could watch the cars race and talk about the day.

It's always good to wake up from things like that and realize it wasn't the real race. I still have a month before I run around the track and I'm looking forward to that day!

Running in dress pants?

This morning I was half asleep when I packed up my running clothes for an afternoon workout. I went to the YMCA after work and was excited to run outside. The sun was shining and it was just a beautiful day. As I started getting ready, I pulled out my running pants - or so I thought that's what they were. I put one leg in and thought, "This doesn't feel right." I looked down and although disappointed I started to laugh at myself. I brought my dress pants for a workout instead of my running pants! Fortunately I had inside running gear with me too, so I missed the sunshine and ran inside. Oh well! Next time I'll pack my bag at night or look more closely if I pack it in the morning.