Hi It's been a long time! Again!

So Hi, I have not written in my blog in a long time.  I don't know why.  I guess I really have not had anything blogworthy to say.  Well now I do. yay!

So I recently got into chicken keeping.  I guess you can credit a co-worker, a neighbor,  and my niece for this.  A couple years ago a co worker got some chicks for he and his son to raise together.  He lived out in the country and I figured thought "that's cool" I guess he can do that where he lives.  All the while shelling out 5 to 6 bucks every few weeks for my free range eggs. 

See.  I absolutely refuse to purchase Normal Grocery Store Eggs or NGSEs.  See NGSE's are hatch from most likely Amberlink chickens housed in tiny cages, crammed in next to thousands of other chickens with nothing to do all day but sit, be miserable and lay eggs like little egg factories.  It's like Handmaids Tale for chickens.  Conditions in these facilities are terrible.  Come on, I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.  These chickens are usually killed just before they go into their first molt and stop laying eggs. 

The free range or cage free eggs i purchase are pricey, and i really really don't know if the manufacturers are really telling the truth.   Plus, do they keep the chickens past prime laying years?  I doubt it.  Are molting chickens allowed to live out their molty weeks while not laying eggs yet still consuming food and snacks?  I doubt that also.  I mean, if you are in this for profit, you really can't keep a non producing chicken for any length of time. 

These facts about our feathery egg layers led me to decide I may want to raise my own chickens.  I knew I could do it in my neighborhood also.  See, years ago i lived in a patio home less than a mile from my current home and across the street was a home on the corner of a large block that had a large back yard.  In that back yard was a lovely chicken coop and dozens of little brown feathery egg layers running around in the yard.  Then when my niece in Fayetteville got her own little flock going, I, now living in a home with a rather large partially fenced back yard, decided it was time. 

It's been a long time since I have blogged

Sorry for the neglect.  I have to say, with social media recording every aspect of our lives, it hard for me to go here and update, yet again, my experiences.  However there are sometimes that you have to write.  and I feel the need now.

When I left you I was just embarking on the Race Across Arkansas Journey.  6 days 6 marathons across Southern Arkansas.  I have to say, it was an amazing experience.  I could have not had two better women to experience this with.  And what I can tell you I brought away the most was the knowledge that I'm stronger than I think I am.

 We endured log trucks, ginormous insects, cambered shoulders, narrow overpasses with trucks, rain, heat, blisters but it was some of the most fun I had in a long time.

 I'm so happy we decided to do this and we had a great time doing it. 

 The group, Andi, Me and Yoni

 Impromptu potty breaks.

 Aid stations

 Sightseeing

 Quite finish lines.

 Open landscapes

 Interesting characters

And success.

There has already been a lengthy race report written on this by my friend Yoni, So I'll just include a few of my observations here.
1.  There is so much poverty in Southern Arkansas.  The dilapidated homes, run down schools, homeless and drug addicted folks wondering the streets.  We saw it.  Everybody needs to see this.  We live in bubbles in our own little middle class worlds and if you don't see it first hand you can never even begin to be empathetic.  The problem is too widespread and deep to be handled by churches and charities, there need to be real initiatives to improve communities and build hope where there is nothing but death and poverty.  Unfortunately, people don't see it or they block it out.
2. There is so much kindness in Southern Arkansas.  We were so welcomed by the communities, especially in the end of our journey. 
3. Finishing is joy.  The last day in Lake Village was the most joyful.  We ran faster than we ever did the last few miles.  Running around the lake in the last bit seemed like a never ending journey. 
4. Duct tape fixes everything.  No explanation really needed here.
5. Your body adjusts to things.  Day one was easy, day two was the hardest, at the very beginning.  Then after a few miles, it was fine. by day 4 I was feeling good, even with over 80 miles on my body for the week.  The last day I wanted to run hard and fast, but after about 10 miles I decided sticking with the intervals we planned was best.  Our bodies healed each night and by the next morning I was not even sore. It was very strange.
6. Running multiple marathons makes you very hungry.  Buffets were our best bet.  I ate things I would never dream of eating before a marathon.  Pancakes and eggs before a run?  Only during Race Across Arkansas.

Race Across Arkansas was an amazing journey.  The Race crew and organizers were some of the kindest people I have meet, the other runners were some of the most fun and eccentric .  I will never forget it and will always appreciate it.

Decision is Made

I slept on it.  Then I thought about it more the next day as I drove to work.  I texted my friend Andi and said. " I think I can do it if we get hotels"  I had to have a bed to sleep in each night.  I remember what it was like when I ran past marathons.  I was recovering pretty quickly.  I can do this.  As soon as I got to work I registered for the Race Across Arkansas.

But things needed to be done:  Later that night I had to create our rundraising page, a team page where the three of us, Yoni, Andi and I would create a combined goal of $1200.  We decided that raising funds as a team would be the best way.  We created a name, opened a business account, came up with a logo.  I went on the hunt for hotels and created a spreadsheet with logistics, crew needs, reservation confirmation numbers and local restaurantes in each town.  This can be done.

Raising the money was not nearly as diffiuclt as I expected.  Aparently a lot of people want to see us attempt to run across the state.  We raised a lot of funds with a Beer Mile.  Yoni and her parents hosted it out at their property.  Participants ran laps around a pond, came across a bridge, dranke 4 oz of beer, then headed out again four times (roughly a mile).  We sold t-shirts, hoodies and hats.  it was not too lonu until we were just $50 from our goal and it was three days until departure.  It was done, we were doing it.  It was time to pack and drive down to Magnolia where we would stay during the first two legs of the event.  I guess it was for real.

What exactly is this Race Across Arkansas?

So I was meeting my friend in a coffee shop to listen to a poetry reading and she first mentioned it to me.  "Ya know, you should do Race Across Arkansas with me"....

So Race Across Arkansas is part of a larger Race Across the US put on by Run Walk Events. Run Walk Events is an organization that puts on races and provides sanctioning, insurance and fundraising portals for events to raise money.   The Race Across USA starts in Southern California and ends in Washington DC, a marathon every day ( with some rest days)  to raise money for the 100 Mile Club.  The 100 Mile club is an organization formed to help fight childhood obesity by encouraging kids to run 100 miles during the school year.

So, the fee to enter is $240 with a $400 fundraising goal.  No small commitment.  The Arkansas portion is 6 marathons in 6 days with a 2.77 mile run on the 7th day.  No small feat, right...

When Andi mentioned it I was a little speechless and could not wrap my brain around it.   I left the poetry reading in a fog trying to work it out in my brain.  I had not told her yes or no yet.  But  I was leaning toward a big fat NO.

Back in the Game!!!

So the last time I Blogged, I was recovering from a stress fracture.  That was quite a blow to my training.  Since then I ran the Three Bridges Marathon, quite gently, just to finish.  It was my first marathon experience since recovery.  After that I did the Loco Marathon in Conway and performed much better.  Something similar to my regular marathon times.   Then I took on the Syllamore trail 50K.  That was quite a hurdle to cross.

The Syllamore 50K is an out and back trail up in Northern Arkansas.  Again, this year it was snow covered.  It was cold and a little ways through I was feeling my hip flexor acting up.  I knew I was going to be running Little Rock the following weekend so when I got to the 15 mile turn-around I told the aid station volunteers I wanted to drop.  Well that was a fail.  The volunteers had one car and they all rode up together.  There was no room for another person.  So it's a good thing I did not have a bone sticking out of my leg, right?   Anyway.  I decided to turn around and complete the race, very slowly.  It was almost dark when I finished, but I was not last!

Next I took on the Little Rock Marathon.  The course was different than previous years and again, the weather was cold and drizzly.  I ran the first half under a 10 minute pace.  The next quarter of the race I was able to maintain that speed.  Then I hit the out -and back.  The worse part of this race.  This is where the pace dropped to 11 minute then 12 minute.  Finally I crossed the finish line with a reasonable finish then shivered my way all the way to my car.

I'm not sure when it happened, but my friend Andi Stracener mentioned this very strange and rediculous thing called Race Across Arkansas...

It's a new year and remembering a friend.

Well, 2014 did not turn out as I planned.  Maybe 2015 will see my goals realized.  I am finally healed from the dreaded stress fracture.

I ran my first post fracture marathon over the Holidays and it was so much fun.  The 3 bridges marathon is a local favorite.  It was created by a lovely person who is no longer with us and whom I will forever consider one of the best runners I have known.

It's not so much that he had Olympian skill, although we was very fast.  It was his spirit that made him memorable.  He loved the small, obscure races.  He loved the spirit of running.  He was the spirit of running.

I knew that if I was out in Two Rivers, on a blustery, cold, windy evening, he would be there.  I would always see him and he would smile, shout, and stretch out his hand for a high or low five.  Even if he was going in another direction, he would double back just for the high five.

He mentored, inspired, lead, and created the running spirit in everybody he talked to.  There was no escaping his light and that was what I celebrated on my first marathon running, coming back and recovering.

He is no longer with us physically but he is here, with us every time we go out in the rain, the wind the thunder and cold, keeping us motivated and happy and reminding us all why we do what we do and why it is so special.  I will never forget him and I see him in every curve of the river trail.  I will always continue on and try, attempt and probably fail to be just a fraction of the runner he was.  But he gives me something to strive for.  :)

You're always in our memory Jacob Wells.

Lisa Luyet

Today is the day.

So it has been 17 weeks since my diagnosis.  I have been walking very well and it is now really too cold to cycle like I was in the fall.  The temperature is 27 degrees outside.  :(

So I made an appointment with my friend Kristen to go walk/run this morning.  I am going to attempt a real structured effort to run.  We are going to do a 3 minute walk/ one minute run.  It is a schedule I saw on an injury recovery - get back off your ass - website. 

Lately, the last few days, I have felt like a sedentary person, not a person recovering from injury.  I sit all day at work and after work all I want to do is sit on the couch and veg.  It's bad.  Its not a direction I want my life to take.  It's time to try to get back out there.  It has been 17 weeks.  My bone density is good, my diet has been decent so there is no reason why my stress fracture is not healed by now. 

I'm giving it a try today. Wish me luck.