Someone hit my red Mustang about 2 months ago when our family went to see Indiana Jones. They crunched into my trunk and drove away. No “Whoops! Here is my insurance information.” No nothing. It cost my husband and I $500 in deductible to fix the back of my car. *sigh* Thanks for hitting me….NOT!

While I went running this morning, my husband put my car on the street and pulled out the car in the garage so he could work on it. He forgot to put my car back into the driveway. I should have known.

This afternoon we went over to my in-laws for 5 hours to have a barbecue and watch the Olympics. When we got home, we noticed that someone had completely crunched the front left fender of my Mustang. The tire was uninjured, but the front fender and part of my door were crunched badly. My husband thought a truck had done it. My car was parked at least 3 car lengths from the corner of the road. Whoever hit me was a COMPLETE MORON!

We noticed that there was a note on our front door. One of our neighbors had heard/seen a black pick-up truck hit my car. We have some very wild neighbors up two houses that own a black truck. I wonder… The Sheriff talked to our neighbor and added his information to the report. It was a hit-and-run, plain and simple.

We filed a report with the Sheriff and called our insurance. *sigh* That will be another $500 deductible. I must be completely naive. I am honest. Why aren’t other people honest when they make a mistake? *grumble grumble*

I was totally in awe over a Sparkpeople lady that is training for 2 marathons, several halves, and a 60k (37.28 miles). I thought that 26.2 miles was something to be proud of. Apparently, this woman is an Ultramarathoner. What on earth is THAT? Well, I looked it up and this is what I found…*gulp*

“Ultramarathons are run on roads, trails and running tracks. They can be point-to-point, out and back, or loop courses. The most typical distances are 50 kilometers, 50 miles, 100 kilometers, 150 kilometers, 100 miles, 24 hours, 200 kilometers, 48 hours, 200 miles, 6 days, 1,000 kilometers and 1,000 miles. In addition to these fixed distance events there are those in which runners attempt to cover the greatest possible distance within a fixed period of time (24 hours, 48 hours or 6 days).
Runners may take walking breaks, pause to drink or eat, and even sleep if the events are especially long. No penalty results from any such stops, except for the time or distance a runner loses from his or her performance.”

I read that the longest Ultramarathon race is 1,300 miles!!!! There is also the Trans American Ultramarathon that goes from Los Angeles to New York!!! *sniff* These folks must be MACHINES! I…I don’t know how someone can do that. All I can say is Wow…

I thought it would be interesting to see how many miles/calories I am doing on my road to the 2009 Walt Disney World Goofy races. So…why not put them on here? I also decided today that I want to do a few races in preparation for the Goofy. I plan on doing the IBM Uptown Classic 10K on 10/19, the Run for the Water 10 Miler on 11/9, and the Decker Half Marathon on 12/7. That way, I will get some racing under my belt before the BIG ONES in Jan. If the Lord keeps me healthy, I plan on running the 3M Half (Jan) and the AT&T Marathon (Feb) in 2009 also.

August Training & Calorie Intake:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

New iPod arm bad? Check. Nike+ tracking system? Check. New training program? Check. Proper running attire? Check. Motivation to get out of bed early to go run? Well…….

It is marathon training season again. For the month of August, I am just gearing up for longer runs. I ran 4 miles yesterday. That doesn’t sound like a lot I know. However, I ran when it was 90 degrees. To me, I should get extra points for that or something.

My problem is that I enjoy running at the end of my day. I am so busy with homeschooling, extra activities, seeing relatives, errands, etc. that I NEED to run at the end of the day to relax. Running is MY TIME. It is really difficult to run at 5pm when the heat is unbearable. I need to start getting up early and run when it is cooler (can you call 80 degree temps cooler?).

I picked up a book called “The 4 hour marathon”. I honestly don’t think I can do a marathon in that time, but the training program sounds good. I have been using the Hal Higdon plan for several years (for 1 marathon and 2 half marathons). I have also heard that the Jeff Galloway plan is great. That is on my list for 2010.

My training will be different for 2008-2009 as I will be training for harder races. I have my sights on running the 2009 Walt Disney World Goofy Races. That is a half marathon on Saturday, and a full marathon on Sunday. Almost 40 miles in 2 days. That is asking alot from my body. Of course, there are endurance runners that run 100 miles at a time. My hat is off to them! I’ll stick with almost 40 in 2 days, thanks.

Due to a pulled hip and shin splints, I have never run more then 17 miles during training. In preparation for the Goofy races, the training program says I have to run two 10/20 mile weekends (that is 10 on Saturday & 20 on Sunday). *Gulp* That sounds like such a feat!

I would just love to be able to reach 50 years old and have run 10 marathons. To me, that would be awesome. I only have 9 more to go in 10.5 yrs. I can do that, right? Just keep telling yourself that Shan. Just keep saying it. Run Strong!

I get e-mails from time to time from Classmates. If you don’t know what that is, it is a website that lets you connect with former high school, college, and military friends. As my high school had their 20 yr. reunion this year (yikes!), our Classmates group has been active. I didn’t go to my reunion, but I have wondered from time to time what former friends have been up to.

So…I have gotten several messages over the last few months that folks have left messages on my Classmates page. The downer is that in order for you to see who sent you a note, you have to pay bucks. I really wish that Classmates had a “one day fee” where you could read notes and exchange e-mails. That would be nice. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. The minimum membership is 3 months. I don’t need to be a member for 3 months. I just want to catch up with a few old friends. Talk about our kids and what life has been like.

I went on Classmates yesterday to look around. For some reason, I was curious and decided to look up my husband’s old girlfriend and my old boyfriend. Wow! People sure do change. When we are younger, we feel like we can’t live without someone, and then we are crushed when life doesn’t conform to our desires. I read both of their bios and realized that life turned out the way it should. Our first loves aren’t always the ones that we will spend our life with. Having a crush on someone doesn’t mean that they will become your mate.

I also looked up a dear guy friend of mine that I really missed when he graduated. He was extremely kind and always knew the right things to say. I remember starting to like him more then a friend in my junior year. I made the mistake of asking him to a dance. Our relationship changed after that and he distanced himself from me. I still wonder why that ever happened. Some friendships should stay just that – friends. I sent him a note saying how I have been and asking for his bio. I wonder if he knew how much losing his friendship hurt me back then.

I saw that one of my former classmates was diagnosed with cancer and had very little time to live. She was leaving behind a small son. How sad. I didn’t know her well, but I do remember her being as cute as a button and very nice.

I am still debating about the 3 month membership thing. I didn’t go to my class reunion because I was never part of the “in crowd”. I was an art nerd and didn’t fit in with the stereotypical groups. I just couldn’t see rubbing elbows with folks that didn’t care for me (or made fun of me) 20 yrs. ago. I wonder if I should fork out a few bucks and reconnect with those that were my friends. Maybe I can talk to my old friend again. I hope he is as happy in his life as I am in mine. I hope that he is happily married to a wonderful person too. Time sure does change who we are. Life is funny like that.