Lucy g. smooth

A few weeks ago I was debating about joining a gym or fixing my treadmill. After a run on my treadmill, which would prove to be its last, because 2.37 miles into the run it died. I knew the answer was not to fix my treadmill, but to get a new one.

I spent the last few weeks researching and I knew what my treadmill must-haves would be:

At least a 2 1/2 HP Motor. My old treadmill had a 2.25 HP Motor and I don't think it was quite enough.

A 20 inch wide deck. My old treadmill had an 18 inch deck and I knew I'd be happier with a little more wiggle room.

A 60 inch long deck. My old treadmill had a 55 inch long deck. I'm only 5'2" so I never ran out of room and my stride was never compromised, but I may not be the only one to use it.

Not a lot of requirements, but I really wanted to be sure that the treadmill I bought had those features.

I also wanted to buy a new one. My old treadmill was not quite three years old and I had run it to death. I didn't want to find myself in the same situation sooner rather than later.

Even though I wanted a new one, I thought I would peek at Craigslist. Here is what I found:

A lot of people have treadmills for sale.

A lot of people buy treadmills and don't use them.

A lot of treadmill owners think their treadmills are made of gold and don't lose any value whatsoever over several years.

There are a lot of crappy treadmills out there.

There are also a few nice used treadmills out there at a fair price.

After all of my research I decided I would like to try to find a LifeFitness Model. Either a F3 or a T3. The F3 is a folding model and the T3 does not fold. Folding wasn't a requirement for me. My old treadmill folded and I never folded it one single time.


I knew I needed a treadmill soon, so how long could I wait for the treadmill I wanted to appear?

Would you believe it was already there?

Last Friday, the day before the ad expired, I found a LifeFitness T3 for sale near Ocala. I sent an email and I was hopeful for a reply, but by Sunday evening when I still hadn't gotten a reply, I had given up.

Monday afternoon I received an email from the owner of the treadmill I had inquired about.

It was still available!

Monday evening we went to take a look at it. I gave it a quick run. I was feeling the eleven miles from Sunday and my heel was hurting just a little, and after just a few minutes I was sold!

The owner of the treadmill said she we give us a few minutes to talk it over. Mr. H. told her that there was no need to think it over, he knew I wanted it.

And just like that I had a new treadmill.

I went for my first run on her yesterday and named her Lucy g. smooth.


Lucy g. smooth

The Console

This whole summer was never about a lack of mojo. It was about beating the heat, fighting the humidity and finding the consistency I need.

I'm looking forward to what this will bring.

Cutting My Losses

It has been a looooooong summer. My big plans for the "Summer or Run" were a big bust and it's just been a few months of really terrible running.

With the best intentions I started training for the Marine Corps Marathon. I was looking forward to the race. I was planning on running with my friend Tammy. I've known Tammy for literally half of my life. It will be her first marathon and I thought it would be really cool to share the experience with her.

As the summer continued so did the crappy running. I was falling behind.

I could be ready. I could run a good race.

The running didn't get any better.

I could still be ready. I could still run an okay race.

I was falling further behind.


I might be able to be ready. I might be able to pull off a half-assed race.

It would be a daunting task to build from my current deficeit. And just to run a race I wouldn't be happy with.

I have been thinking about this for a few weeks trying to decide what to do.

I didn't want to disappoint Tammy. I didn't want to miss out on a chance to run in our nation's capitol. But I knew, deep down what the right choice should be.

On Thursday I made the decision that it would be in my best interest to not run the Marine Corps Marathon this year.

I'm sad about the decision. Even though I know it's the right one.

So now the plan is to look forward and focus on getting ready for Ragnar, Goofy and 2010.

And The Answer Is...

Thank you to everyone who was quick to jump in with advice about whether I should join one of the gyms near my house or attempt to fix my treadmill.

I carefully weighed your opinions. And then I went for a run. I was having a blah type of morning yesterday and decided I wasn't going to run. After a few twitter messages, emails and Facebook wall posts with Marathon Chris I had enough motivation and inspiration to get to it.

It was late, it was hot and I decided I was going to run on MY treadmill.

Oh. My. God. It was amazing. It didn't matter that it was nearly 90 degrees out. It didn't matter that I threw a skirt and a sports bra on and left my shirts in the closet. I was at home, I grabbed a bottle of water and the run was underway.

It didn't take long, less than a quarter of a mile and I found the groove I haven't seen since God knows when. I was totally in the zone. Did I mention it was amazing?

Right at that moment the decision was made. I was going to fix my treadmill. Because really, if it's right there, wouldn't I always have time for at least three miles. I'm pretty sure I would.

And then, at 2.37 miles into the best run I've had in months the treadmill quit. This time it was different. I shut it off, and just like in the old days I sat down to log my run at Breaking the Tape and then I smelled something burning.

I asked Mr. H. to come and check it out. He said the belt was extremely hot and "It was shot".

There will be no fixing the treadmill.

I had such an amazing run. All 2.37 miles of it. I want that feeling back. I want to be in the zone. I want to run fast. I want to run when I want to run, not at the crack of dawn before it is too blistering hot. I want to run without a shirt on. I want to run in my living room.

I am not joining a gym. I am going to buy a bad ass treadmill. And run as I please.

Now, are there any suggestions on what kind I should buy?

Do I, Or Not?

This was supposed to be the "Summer of Run". It didn't turn out quite as I had planned. I have had a pretty frustrating running summer. And I have kept at it in search of that amazing run I know is out there. Since I returned from the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon I have had a string of really bad runs. And good to great runs? So few, I can count them on one hand.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about what has worked in the past and what has changed. In 2006 I ran a string of PRs at the Half Marathon distance. I went back and read some of my posts from 2007 and I had some awesome runs, some awesome races and I had decent speed (for me). In 2008 I ran a Marathon PR, Thanks to Petra.

In May, I ran my second slowest Marathon time and over the past two months I have been sucking. What changed?

My Treadmill.

I have made the decision that to get my speed back and return to some great runs, I am going back to the treadmill. I know it has worked for me in the past, and my road running is very obviously not working.

I LOVED my treadmill. I ran thousands of miles on my treadmill - I can't believe I never named it - I ran on it so much that I cracked the decked in half.

The deck was replaced and then it needed a belt for the motor. I thought I was back in business and then occasionally, after a few miles the treadmill would throw an error that had something to do with the speed being "off" and the treadmill would shut down.

It's pretty scary to have the machine shut down while you're moving at a decent rate of speed.

Mr. H. suspects that because the running belt was removed and replaced with the deck replacement combined with the fact that there is a moderate amount of wear on the current belt, it has been stretched out and needs to be replaced.

There is still a possibility that my treadmill is just screwed and a new belt will do nothing but cost me $100.

So here is where I need your help:

Do I replace the belt on my treadmill or do I suck it up and join a gym?

There are a few options around here.

Anytime Fitness: It's about 5 miles away and I get a discount with my health insurance. But they only have three treadmills and I'm afraid that I might not be able to get on one when I need to or what to.

YMCA This is also about 5 miles away in the other direction There are a lot of treadmills, lots of classes and a pool in case I am inspired to cross-train tri-style.

Gold's Gym It's about 8 - 10 miles away. I haven't checked it out yet, but I would assume there are a fair number of treadmills. They also have a decent class schedule if I wanted to spin or whatever.

What should I do? Make an attempt to fix what I have or cut my losses and join one of the gym choices above. I really need your help!

Mojo Loco, Baby!

A few weeks ago my friend Ted sent me a tweet asking if I would be interested in running the Ragnar Relay On November 20th and 21st. I had been planning on X-Country Marathon in Lithia, FL on the 21st. I have a 30 mile weekend planned as a part of my Goofy training that weekend, so if we could some how make that kind of mileage work, I would be in.

Between Ted and I, we decided that we should run it as an Ultra Team of 6 runners. Ted was able to quickly recruit Robert and the next day, The Zen Runner himself, Adam Tinkoff agreed to join our team. Adam suggested that we think about recruiting two additional girls so we could have a "mixed team".

This was proving harder than I thought. I put the call out on Twitter and Facebook and it was crickets. So I put the call out again. And again. Maybe it was in a moment of weakness, or maybe she was caught up in the excitement of running Ragnar Washington, but my friend Shelly said she would join the team (Her calendar is clear, and I'm assuming she's in - she needs to check with the fam).

Great! One more girl to go. I decided to send my friend Morgan an email to see if she might be interested. After reading about her 18 miler on a Friday night in Clermont, I thought this might be right up her alley. We exchanged a few emails and Morgan agreed.

We had a team!

Just call us Mojo Loco!



It is going to be an exciting few months. Stay tuned for the journey as I train simultaneously for three amazing events. It's gonna be a wild ride!

Race Report :: Moss Park Forest Run

There aren't a lot of opportunities to run 10K races in this area. There are a few races each year, but it seems that often there is a schedule conflict that prevents me from running.

Earlier this week the stars aligned and I had another chance to try a race at the 10K distance at the Moss Park Forest Run. Wednesday night thirty minutes before online registration closed, I sealed the deal and registered.



My running has not been fantastic lately, it's been a pretty frustrating summer and the heat and humidity have slowed me down and I've been slogging through it since the beginning of June. I have only had a handful of great runs all summer so I really didn't have any expectations for time and I was pretty sure I would run a Personal Worst.

This morning I woke up at 4:30 AM to head over to Moss Park in southeast Orlando. I got on the road at 5:15 AM and by 6:30 AM I was at Moss Park. There was a line of cars to get into the park. I didn't know that there was an entry fee to get into the park. I'm glad I had some cash on me. I rarely do. I paid $3.00 to get into the park and made my way to packet pick-up.

I spent the next forty-five minutes mulling around, a few pre-race trips to pee - I didn't even have to go, It's just part of the routine, because I don't want to have to go while I'm running.

I headed over to the 10K start line. Our instructions were that we would start first and the last 10K participant would have about a 3 minute head start over the 5K participants. We were going to run two three mile loops and the very first part was the .2 we would need to make it a true 10K.

We were then told that the start would be delayed 15 minutes because there were cars backed up at the entrance with racers. I was a little concerned about that because it was already warm and adding 15 minutes meant it would be that much hotter.

Finally we got things going. I fell into a comfortable pace, but I didn't think I would be able to maintain the pace for the entire race. By mile two I switched to heat and humidity survival mode. It was heating up quickly and the humidity was oppressive.

As I approached the end of the first loop there were a lot of 5K participants who were wrapping up their runs. I was tempted. I was so tempted to bag it and just be done after the first 5K. That would be the easy way out. I know I am not a quitter so I pushed through and started on my second loop.

I was rewarded with a few Sand Hill Cranes along the way that weren't there on my first pass through. I also saw a Ryder Truck pull out of an office and rip down a panel of a privacy fence. That wasn't really an reward, and I did feel bad for the guy, but it took my mind off the heat for a few minutes.

Sadly, as I approached the first water stop on the loop, there was no more water. As I made my way to the other water stops on the loop I found the same result. The last 3 miles were done without any hydration. And it was hot.

I kept going. I was struggling and I took several walk breaks to recover.

I was determined to keep moving forward. And before I knew it there was less than a mile to go. I just kept going. Running. Walking. Running. Walking. Running.

I finished!

It was, as I predicted, a Personal Worst for me. Not a terrible thing for a race with no expectations. So what did I learn about myself this time?

I'm not so sure I learned anything new, but I was reminded that I am tenacious enough to finish what I start. Even when it's hard. Even when it's hot. I committed myself to run a 10K this morning and while it would have been easy (too easy on a double loop course) to bail I stuck with it and finished what I started.

After the race I got a bottle of water and wandered over to the food table. The only thing I saw were boxes and boxes of pizza. The smell made me gag, so I left and went to 7-11 for an iced coffee and package of smokehouse almonds.

Would I run this race again?

Maybe. I wish they had been better prepared to start on time. I wish they had been better prepared to hydrate the 10K runners on the second loop. I don't know if it's a good idea to have a 10K during the beginning of August. It was hot. I might have to give it another shot next year. I think I have a lot of races next year where I feel like I need to redeem myself based on my results this year.