40+ Club - Summertime Fun

singfree

Duffy, when I am doing a general fitness ride, I average about 150 BPM. On tough hills, my HR can skyrocket in a few seconds. When wearing a HRM, I will stop at 185 BPM. If I don't have a HRM, I stop when I am sucking wind so bad that I cannot catch my breath. My HR returns to normal in about a minute, then I do it all over again!

annaliza

Good morning everyone!!!!!

Alf: You are so lucky to be able to see a dietician!!! I would love to be able to do that. I could only do that when I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes. I wonder if there are any dieticians I can talk to in my area...I'll have to look.

Sorry about your pain. I have no clue on how to help you, but just wanted to let you know that you are in my thoughts and that I hope you get better soon.

Sing: That is a huge mountain and great job!!! That is one of my goals too. I have a big mountain that I use as my warm up before I start running. One of these days I'm going to get to the top without being winded. It's so steep that it will be a long time before I accomplish that goal lol. And it's that fast ride down the hill that makes me not want to ride a bike :laugh:

Happy hump day to you too, Duffy

I'm about to go into my weekly staff meeting. I am not looking forward to it. I hate weekly staff meetings. I feel like they really accomplish so little and it's a big waste of my time. But, my boss thinks they are important, so I guess I'm going to my meeting. lol

Everythings good here for me this morning. I am trying to figure out a way to get myself back into strength training. For the past couple of weeks I've been just running and can't seem to get motivated to strength train. Maybe I need a new dvd. I don't know...I think part of my problem is that I don't want to be indoors to exercise. Especially now that it's summertime. Maybe I'll just add a few upper body routines after I run since I'm already hot and sweaty anyways.

Take care everyone!!!

tron3002

Hello everyone.... I am finally back from my vacation and I only gained 1 pound. I guess that's not too bad considering what I ate on this road trip. We had a great time thats for sure... First we went to Death Valley, not too bad just 110 degrees. First we went to Scottys Castle and then hiked up Ubebhebe Crater. Later that day we stopped by the Hoover Dam and stayed the night in Vegas. Of course had to get Hooters buffalo wings Next we sent to Sedona... Such a beautiful place. We went on the alien tour, nothing really exciting but we did see a few things that made you think. Also we went down slide rock. Its a natural slide in the river, crowded so you have to get there early but fun. Then off to the Grand Canyon and the hike I just dreaded.... Well lets just say the hike wasn't that bad, the killer was the heat. It was 89 degrees at the top and 120 at the bottom and very little shade. it was a 16 mile hike round trip so pretty long in that kind of heat. Needless to say I wont be doing that one again. Next we went to Page Arizona to Antelope Valley. Amazing place, a must see. We went in both the upper and lower canyon. I will see if I can post a picture of this one later on. Then off to Utah where we stopped at Coral Pink Sand Dunes and also hiked in Brice and Zion National Park. Brice is really pretty but once you've seen the first part of it and see rainbow bridge its pretty much the same thing just different angels. In Zion we hiked the narrows. Fun thing to do in the summer because you are hiking in the river and they call it the narrows because the further you go the narrower it gets. Such a pretty place to hike at. Our last stop was back to Vegas where we spent 2 nights playing and of course we went to the Tournament of the Kings dinner show. There were a few places we wanted to go but couldn't. For example the waves in Utah... I guess its kinda like visiting the lottery to be able to go. You need a permit and they only allow 10 people in a day. Also the subway near Zion, Same situation but they let a few more in a day. Oh well, one of these years hopefully we will be able to see them.

alf1163

Welcome back Tron!!! :drinker: :drinker: Wow, what a vacation!!! I am glad you had fun and did not gain anything. You will lose that pound in no time. :drinker:

I just came back from the Krav Maga Kickboxing class. I am exhausted because I did a ChaLean circuit this morning. But this was the last kickboxing class. I had just signed up for 6 classes through our adult comm educ program. It was fun!! I will not miss the drive there and working out early evening. I prefer to work out in the morning. I think those lateral movements and kicks is what caused the pain, I feel it more now after the class. So hopefully it will get better soon.

Yes, it was nice that the dietician agreed to see me one on one. He mainly works for the active duty Air Force personnel and mostly teaches group classes. Best of all, it is a free service, for active, retired and military dependants. He asked me to bring him copies of at least 4 days of my food journal. He has heard of MFP. The ones I brought him were from when I was following a meal plan shared by another MFP member, not on this thread, and it is pretty high in protein. It is pretty restrictive. I know, I know, crazy...so he said I should not be eating that much protein, it was about 30-35%. He recommended 20-25% max, about 50% carbs especially with the running I am doing. So he wants me to try that out and see how I feel in two weeks. Again today I ate more protein than recommended. He said that if I go over sometimes that is ok as long as my kidneys are functioning well and I drink a lot of water. And also I need to be eating the recommended carbs. He said I might see an increase in weight, one or two lbs, while my body gets used to the carb intake and puts some in storage for when I workout.

Have a great evening!! :flowerforyou:

singfree

Good morning!

Tron, it's good to have you back! I'm glad you enjoyed your vacation (not the heat).

Alf- yes, it makes a lot of sense to lower the protein and up the carbs a bit. I can understand his rationale. You seem to be doing more cardio-based exercises than weights. You will need the additional carbs for glycogen to fuel this type of workout. I also agree that you will probably gain a lb or two, due to the increase of glycogen. This is good, because it is not fat gain. So don't get too upset by the scale :grumble: !!!

I did not get a bike ride in last evening. The Directv installer came at 4 pm to install our new satellite receivers. I did do upper body and back at the gym. Today is lower body at the gym. Tonight I will attempt another "Tour de Frank" at my local mountain. Duffy, if I think of it, I will wear my HRM and let you know how high it goes!!

As we were discussing protein intake earlier...I am still trying to keep my protein a little higher so I can shed about 5 lbs of fat. After that it will be a balancing act to determine the correct ratio for me. It will probably change daily as my exercise changes.


Have a great day!

annaliza

Good morning everyone!!!

Alf - if you don't mind me asking, what do you eat that keeps you so much over your protein? I'm struggling with getting enough protein in my diet unless I take a shake supplement or eat loads of meat. I'd like to eat more nuts, but the cals are so dense that I can't afford much of them (at least on non-running days).

Sing, good luck on conquering that mountain!!

Tron, welcome back!! It sounds like you had a fabulous vacation! And wow....you are so inspirational with all that hiking on vacation. I am so lazy....I probably would not schedule the hiking (lol, there's no way I could get my husband to go along with it). I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures.

All is going well with me today. Tonight is my last night to teach at the prison for the rest of the summer. I am so happy!!!! I'm going to feel as if I'm on vacation without having to work an extra 20 or so hours a week!!! At least until the new semster begins

I did get asked to teach another class next semester but adjuncts are allowed to teach only 2 classes per semester. Thank goodness, too because I am way too busy to add another class (3 classes would make me a part-time professor rather than adjunct)...yet I would have a hard time saying no to that just for the extra money and my love for teaching.

My children are doing well and are all healthy, so I couldn't ask for more. My oldest lives 5 hours away so I miss her alot. Jess and my husband do not get a long so my dream of ever having her home has been crushed by the fighting (which is mostly my husband being super nasty to her because he doesn't agree with her lifestyle). The little ones are happy and my second oldest is enjoying her summer before she goes back to college in the fall. My new dog is a pain in the butt but he's still a baby and seems like he'll be good.

Anyways, sorry for the blabbering and thanks for reading this if you got this far lol.

Take care all!!!

duffyzmom

Happy Lunch Time All! Logging in late today because I squeezed in CX Burn Intervals and a training run this morning.

Annaliza: I live north of Auburn Hills off of I 75.

Sing: I'd be interested in your HR. Today I kept watching my monitor during the Burn Intervals and my run. During the cardio portion of Burn Intervals it seemed like my upper range was 165-175 but during the weight porton it would dropped quickly down to 130-140. During my run the high point was on a hill at about 185 but I seemed to stay in the 170-180 range. The thing is that even at 185 I don't really feel like OMG I can't go on. I guess I need to research VO2 max training and see how long I should allow my HR to stay in the upper limits.

ALF: My guess is that eventually during your half marathon training your body would let you know that you need more carbs. I learned very early in my training that if I did not increase my carbs (especially near long run days) I would be hurting.

zebras

Annaliza:

Don't apologize for blabbering this is the place to do that, get it all out here, and then you won't take it out in calories later!

I had to take the day off yesterday to take my husband to his millionth doctor trying to find solutions to his chronic constipation, we had to drive 2 hours, only to have the doctor order yet another test, which couldn't be done yesterday, so my husband will lose another day of work next week. We had planned to leave enough time to make up for if we hit any crazy traffic jams, but figured things would go well, and we'd find a place to eat breakfast. So, when we were about 10 minutes away, they call him and ask him to come in early, while he's in with the doctor I'm down at the hospital cafe eating a bagel with cream cheese and sausage, and the rest of my eating for the day goes downhill from there. I'm lucky that i've gotten myself to the point where I don't let one bad day turn into two bad days, etc., but I have enough bad days sprinkled in that I'm not making huge overall progress in my weight.

tron3002

Annaliza.... Go ahead and vent. Everyone needs an outlet and I'm sure we are all here for you to listen and hopefully give some words of encouragement.

Sing... Great job on that hill. Good to have new ways to motivate yourself. And as for directv, dont you love how they always show up at the latest time possible. Waste of a day, but hopefully their service is worth it.

Alf..... Nice that you have a dietitian available to you. I always say I wish I were rich.... the personal trainers, the chefs that will make sure you eat right:laugh:

alf1163

Annaliza, this is an example of what I normally eat. The protein amount is the third set of numbers. This day, yesterday, I also went over what MFP and the dietician recommended. This nutrition thing is trial and error and it can take a while to perfect it, if that is ever possible. :noway: For example today, crazy day! We had a potluck at work and I had to try a little bit of everything. The reason why I did not pasted today's food log. :laugh: Don't be afraid of eating nuts, they are really good for you. How many calories do you eat? How much protein?

Breakfast
Blue Diamond - Almonds, whole natural, 1 oz about 28 nuts 160 6 6 1 3 0
Hodgson Mill - Steel Cut Oats - Oatmeal, 1/4 cup dry 150 27 5 1 4 0
Strawberries - Raw, 0.5 cup, sliced 27 6 1 0 2 1
Muscle Milk - Chocolate Protein Supplmement, 1 Scoop 150 8 16 3 3 115
Add Food Remember Meal 487 47 28 5 12 116
AM Snacks
Nectarines - Raw, 1 fruit (2-1/2" dia) 60 14 1 0 2 0
Crystal Farms - String Cheese-Low Moisture Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese, 1 piece(24 g) 70 0 6 3 0 180
Coffee - Brewed from grounds, 5 cup (8 fl oz) 12 0 1 0 0 24
Heb - Fat Free Milk, 0.5 cup 40 6 4 0 0 53
Add Food Remember Meal 182 20 12 3 2 257
Lunch
Tomatoes - Red, ripe, raw, June thru October average, 0.25 cup, chopped 9 2 0 0 0 4
Kraft - Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing & Marinade, 1 Tbsp 45 2 0 1 0 155
Broccoli - Raw, 0.25 cup, chopped 7 1 1 0 1 7
Carrots - Raw, 0.25 cup, strips or slices 13 3 0 0 1 21
Grapes - Raw, 0.5 cup 31 8 0 0 0 1
Spinach - Raw, 0.5 cup 3 1 0 0 0 12
Oroweat - Double Fiber Whole Grain Bread, 2 Slice 140 32 6 0 12 320
Firebird's - Wood Grilled Salmon-Lunch, 4 oz. 164 4 12 3 1 165
Add Food Remember Meal 412 53 19 4 15 685
PM Snacks
Wasa Crispbread (Cracker) - Fiber Crispbread, 3 slice 105 24 3 0 6 180
Skippy Natural Creamy - All Natural Peanut Butter , 2 tbsp 180 6 7 4 2 150
Add Food Remember Meal 285 30 10 4 8 330
Dinner
Generic - Chicken Breast, 4oz Grilled, 4 oz 120 0 27 0 0 77
Homemade - Rainbow Pasta Salad With Vegetables, 0.5 cup 188 25 5 0 2 192
Add Food Remember Meal 308 25 32 0 2 269
bedtime snack
Nuts - Almonds, 1 oz (23 whole kernels) 164 6 6 1 3 0
Bananas - Raw, 1 small (6" to 6-7/8" long) 90 23 1 0 3 1
General Mills Cereal - Honey Nut Cheerios - Whole Grain, 3/4 cup 110 22 2 0 2 190
Add Food Remember Meal 364 51 9 1 8 191

I just did 3.5 miles on the treadmill today. Not enough to burn a lot of the calories I consumed at the potluck. I hope I can resist the leftovers tomorrow. :laugh: ChaLean tomorrow! :drinker:

Have a great evening!!! :flowerforyou:

Texssippian

Boo sad! Just got a call from the river aerobics instructor, river canceled tonight due to weather. We need the rain and the cool down in temps, but not at the expense of the river! Oh well.

I have my ticket to fly to Jackson Ms on Sunday. I am driving down to New Orleans with my little sister and her husband on Monday for Richie (my brother-in-law) to be evaluated at Ochsner for a liver transplant beginning Tuesday. The evaluation will take 3 to 5 days. I am glad to be able to go with them. My mother is staying in Jackson and is learning how to set up a blog and a twitter account to keep everyone informed of Richie's journey. Pretty good for a 78 year old who had never paid a bill until my father died last November.

My little sister is a fitness nut. Her 7 year old goes to a YMCA after school and during the summers. Blanche can workout at the gym at the Y before picking up Brett. Pretty good deal. We are staying at a hotel owned by Ochsner in NO. It has a gym so I hope to work out. I know Blanche will want to.

My husband harvested potatoes from the backyard tonight. He had planted some sprouting eyes from a couple of potatoes we had let go too long. We now have a nice little crop of potatoes. One of the pumpkins is still growing.

Our son came in from Austin yesterday to bring a load of stuff plus his cat. I fixed tomatoes from the backyard with basil from the backyard and cucumbers (not from the backyard) with dill from the backyard. Matt loved the food. He will soon be a starving artist grad student in San Francisco. He went back to Austin today to finish up things and will be back here on Sunday for about 6 wks. Cat just jumped in my lap. I am not sure who it scared more, me or the cat.

Did a dumb thing today. Got new contact lenses yesterday. The left one was not fitting correctly and I could not see out of it. Went to the eye doctor today and he ordered a new one and kept the bad one. Drove all the way back to work to realize I had given him the good right one and still had the bad left one. Had to drive 40 miles back to trade out the lenses. Had to miss a late meeting at work, oh well!

Annaliza: you vent girl!
Tron: what a wonderful hiking vacation. We love to hike as a family!
Sing: congrats on the mountain. I am too chicken to push my heart rate that high when I am monitoring it.
Alf: Glad you have access to a dietitian. Keep up the great work.
Duffy: you sound like you are in great shape.
I hope Hoosiermama is having a beautiful wedding.
Welcome Zebra.

Take care everyone. TxMs

singfree

Good evening! Well, it's happened again...I worked day shift today and I am back to work for 11 pm tonight. At least I will be finished for the week at 7 am tomorrow.

Duffy, i took a 25.1 mile bike ride after work (not the big mountain, just some rolling hills). I wore my HRM and here are the results:

Distance: 25.1 miles
Time: 1'35"
Avg HR: 135
Max HR: 169
Fat Burned: 57 g
Cals Burned: 1087
% Of Max HR: 81%

A pretty good workout, but I was not able to get the HR really high, due to lack of steep hills. Since I am 55 years old, the HRM seems to think that I am like the typical 55 year old. I think that 135 BPM = 81% of max is a bit low for someone who is very fit. What do you think?

I've seen charts that recommends people my age not to exceed 160 BPM. I'm barely getting warmed up!!

Great work everyone!!! Let's keep it going!!! Report day tomorrow (Friday).

Have a wonderful evening!

duffyzmom

Happy Friday All!

The good news first - I've lost half the weight gained over vacation and had a good (not perfect) food week. No alcohol during the week which for me is always a struggle - I love a good glass of red in the evening. I've been enjoying ChaLeane Extreme and really getting back into my half marathon training. 5 weeks until my 10 miler so I guess I better be. Not so good news - SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI - Last night my daughter and I headed out for a movie and sushi - probably the worst thing I ate all week was the spicy tuna roll but ce la vie woman cannot live on sashimi alone :laugh:

SING: I know exactly what you mean about suggested maximum heart rates My max is supposedly 179 but I routinely am above that on hill training and my heart rate has no trouble returning to 60% range within 30 sec to 1 minute. I guess I'm going to have to spend a little more time researching this - next week is less hectic for me so maybe I can spend some time on it. I do know that resting heart rate can impact the numbers.

TEXAS: Sorry to hear about no river - I'm always envious of that class even though I don't think we've had 2 or more days in the 80s this July and I am loving it. 70s are perfectly fine with me. I hope you get lots of good news with your brother in law.

Have a great weekend.

Hoosiermomma

Figured it was time to post again! I have been keeping up with all of you and am inspired to get to the gym this morning! It has been 2 weeks at least! I am going to have to ignore the BIG pile of stuff that I am slowly getting back into place. My goal is to have it all put away by the time our kids are back from the honeymoon. The wedding was AWESOME!!!:happy: :happy: We began the celebration with my nephew's wedding @ the Garfield Conservatory in Chicago on Thursday night, then we hosted a "small" family lunch in the yard on Friday and left them to relax while we went to rehersal and dinner. Saturday, the BIG day went almost flawlessly. Jessica had the entire day planned out and we had a wonderful time. The preparations began at 7:00 am and the last of the partiers finally shut down at 2:00am Sunday! The ceremony was wonderful too! We hosted the out of towners (100+) for coffee and luch on Sunday. Unbelievably the Indiana weather cooperated with us through this entire time! So much effort was put into getting ready and it was all worthwhile when we were able to enjoy everyone who came to celebrate this great blessing with us! :drinker: I am posting Jessica's picure right now and there is one of me in my M.O.B. dress there also. You can see the entire bride on my profile. I don't know how to get MFP to focus on the top of the photo instead of the middle!!:huh: Better pictures to come when the photograper sends them to us.

Now my focus is establishing an excercise routine while continuing to eat healthy. Got to keep in shape for the next wedding in Nov.!!! Good news this morning when I stepped on the scale. No weight gain through this entire time of revelry!!

Hope to keep up with all of you a bit more closely again now that I am getting back to "normal" life! Have a great weekend!

duffyzmom

Hoosiermama: Your daugther looks amazing and I love love love your MOB dress. That color is great and you look fabulous. I'm glad to hear all went well. I guess now you can breath for a little bit before the next one rolls around.

alf1163

Hoosier, what a beautiful bride! And I saw your picture with your husband? You look amazing! Glad everything went well.

Well, holding steady at 123.8 I did not take measurements today since I tood them at the beginning of the week. Lost about 2 inches overall. I did ChaLean this morning, was a bit tired, did not burn as much. I might sign up today for a 5K tomorrow. I will let you guys know if I do it or not. My daughter and grandbaby are coming this weekend. Cant wait to see them. She turned a year old yesterday!!!! Cant believe it's been that long.

Gotta go to work now. More later...

:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

cardigirl

HoosierMama, loved the MOB dress, you look gorgeous!!! Glad all went well with the wedding and that the weather cooperated. Having grown up in Indiana, I know how rare that can be in July! :laugh:

Sorry I've been absent from the thread this week, I've been ca-razy busy at work for the last month anyway, and this week is the worst so far! The job's been cutting into my gym time and I don't like it! :grumble:

Weight is holding steady, which bugs the heck outta me, as I don't think I've suddenly started eating more or anything. Trainer is focused more on BFP rather than pounds, so I am trying to "let go" of a number and focus more on how I'm feeling and looking, but it difficult to not think in terms of weight, yanno?

Texassippian, sorry that the river thing was canceled, I know how much you like that. Hope the severe heat breaks for you soon, and that your brother-in-law does okay with all of the tests and stuff at the hospital.

Annaliza, sorry about the stress between your oldest and your husband. Families and relationships can be so difficult to navigate. Glad you're keeping up with the running! That's very good for stress. Would love to see a picture of the new dog if you care to post one.

Sing, I've been wondering about the max heart rate thing as well. Supposedly a good working rate for me is 140 to 142, but most of the time I'm around 160-170. And during the HITT stuff it goes over 170 and I don't feel like I'm going to pass out any time soon. Talked to the trainer about that too, and we're going to check out my VO2 max on Monday (it will be an estimate), but he seemed to think that 170 was too high. :grumble: It's got me all confused, for sure.

Alf, have fun with the grandbaby! Read your post about the nutritionist with great interest. I'm thinking I might do the same thing.

Duffy, good luck with the training for the half-marathon. Wow!!!!!

My weekend is going to be busy, my daughter comes home from Guatemala Saturday night, and then it will be a whirlwind for a couple of weeks getting her ready for college (senior year!) and a trip to California where she'll be getting some leadership training courtesy of the college. Whew!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

tron3002

There is a link to my road trip pictures on facebook. I've never tried it before so if you want to see let me know how it works.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30718&l=2b7df1033d&id=1170615412

You can click onto any picture to make it bigger

StiringWendel

OMG tron!!! Your photos are amazing!! Thank you for sharing them. Now I have to plan a road trip! :happy: I am so amazed you did that hike in the Grand Canyon with that heat. I don't think I could have done that. Again, thanks for sharing. And you look great!! :flowerforyou:

This is the first chance I've had to check in this week as well. My mother is going to be visiting for the next two weeks, but I'll try to drop in every now and again.

Friday check-in...had a great week of eating and working out. I finished STS this morning. :drinker: Actually, in all honesty, I was a little more like this when I finished. I've never done a workout program for this long before (23 weeks). The results have been beyond my wildest imagination. I lost the following since the day I started the program: 30lbs, 6 inches from my hips, 4 inches from my waist and 3 inches from my chest (:sad: ). But I gained so much more. When I started the program, I was doing all pushups on my knees and up onto a step bench to make them easier. Yesterday, I decided to see how many pushups I could knock out on my toes without taking a break and made it to 30. When I started, I couldn't hold a side plank on my left at all (my injured arm), and could barely hold one on my right. Yesterday, I held a side plank on my left for 45 seconds and on my right for 90 seconds. When I started, I could hold a regular plank for about 30 seconds. Yesterday, I held one for 3:30. And all of those tests were done after I had just finished a 60 minute shoulder/tricep/bicep workout!! And it also doesn't touch on the more obvious change, which is how much more weight I'm actually able to lift now. Again, I'm amazed and can't wait to start P90X to see what happens with that program.

My weight is relatively stable (I was 101.6 this morning). I'm going to ease off the workouts over the next couple of weeks (primarily because my mother's here), and I'm actually hoping to be able to gain back a couple of healthy pounds during that time.

Hoosiermomma, so happy to hear the wedding went well. I was thinking about you. And you look beautiful!

alf, I found the information you got from the HAWC fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

zebras, don't worry about the less-than-ideal eating day. Life just happens like that sometimes so don't let it get to you.

cardigirl, I hear you about the whole 'number' thing. I've been listening to a series of nutrition lectures from UC Berkeley lately, and one of the lectures was just on the importance of health over weight. I think the lecture was actually entitled 'Healthy at Every Size'. I think it is just a different mindset to focus on the health aspects of living than the number aspects of weight, but this instructor was incredibly persuasive in her arguments against focusing on weight.

Hope everybody has a great weekend! :drinker:

alf1163

Tron, I second Stiring. Amazing pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It looks like you had a wonderful time with your family. I am going to share them with my husband to encourage him to plan a road trip there. About two years ago we drove from San Antonio to Las Vegas through Arizona and we loved what we saw on the way there but nothing like these pictures. :flowerforyou:

Stiring, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :drinker: :drinker: Wow, what a great accomplishment! You must feel very proud of yourself! Enjoy the time with your mom.

Cardigirl, I am guessing your daughter speaks Spanish, correct? Do you? I hope you have a great time with her.

I think I am a bit confused about the max HR and all. If I stay at the recommended for an aerobic workout I feel like I am not doing anything at all. I've heard that a good sign of fitness is when you elevate your HR and when you slow down or stop your HR drops rapidly. Is that correct? When I run my HR is pretty high, usually at 100% max. (176).

I am waiting for my daughter and grandbaby to arrive from Killeen, 2.5 hr drive. They are close. I signed up for the 5K tomorrow morning. They are going with me to cheer me up and take pictures. When I signed up today the lady told me that the course is pretty hilly. It shouldnt be too bad because there are a few hills near my house where I usually run. We will see...:flowerforyou: