Quadsville

I shaved a little more than 6 minutes off my previous best Bix time on Saturday and 2 minutes off my best practice run time from this year for a finish time of 01:13:51. I'm pretty happy with that, considering the race course was jam packed until the sixth mile and I couldn't pick up as much speed as I wanted on the earlier downhill stretches because I was zig-zagging around other runners. The weather was a blessing, but I must say that a little humidity + 15,000 people still = a hot run. That sun was bright and no breeze could penetrate that herd of runners. As I was sprinting down Brady St. towards the finish, a stiff wind came off the river and that was the first breeze I had felt since lining up at 2nd & Brady.

As good as I feel personally about my improved time, I got a dose of motivation reading the special Bix section yesterday and seeing that all the top female runners in every age group under 70 finished before me. There was also Deirdre Baker's story about 69-year-old Joan Mauch who ran the Bix and is moving on to the Quad-City Half-marathon. I was starting to waver a little in my resolve to run that race in September, but after reading that story, there's no way this 30-year-old is going to skip out on the challenge.

Thanks to everyone who cheered me on via Quadsville, Twitter, Facebook and during my training this year. I'm going to need your encouragement to step up my game and get to my 13.1-mile goal by September. Anyone here run the QC Marathon? What can you tell me about the course? Is it hilly? Any tips? What's your next running goal?

I spent Sunday evening poring over all the school supply sale inserts in the Sunday Quad-City Times. I came up with a strategy that would let me get everything for under $20 with trips to only two stores. Gwen and I went yesterday and the grand total was $18.81. I saved almost $25 in store sale savings and coupon savings (had some coupons for Kleenex - always on the supply list - that I used on top of the sale price of $.89 per box).

The kicker is that I still have to buy the school sanctioned planner at school for $5. But still - school supplies for less than $25 total is not bad.

Training wheels: WIN!

We finally got the training wheels off Gwen's bike this summer. It's been a goal for the past two summers. Coordination kicked in at last.

Gwen and I both rode our bikes into my office today. We agreed it's a much more pleasant ride without the constant, nerve-jangling rattle of the training wheels. And she can ride faster and more confidently, since the training wheels are no longer there to catch on things. She even rode over the "Super Scary Bridge of Terror," aka The Government Bridge, today. That was a first.

Digital converter: FAIL

Last night I finally hooked up a digital converter box to my tiny 12-year-old TV. Shows how much I watch, huh? At first, it could only find WHBF's two channels, but a second scan picked up KLJB and KWQC. Unfortunately, due either to my antenna or living "below the hill" in Rock Island or both, neither of those come in clear enough to be watchable. They are pixelated digital nightmares. And I can't get WQAD or any PBS stations at all. Probably should have stuck with my original plan to just get rid of my TV when the switch happened, but we do still have some movies on VHS that Gwen likes to watch and I can't hook a VCR up to my laptop. PBS Kids and Conan were about all I watched on TV unless there was a political special. Can't get either. :-(

I know coffee is one of the stronger caffeinated beverages, but even if I were to consume an amount of tea, for example, equivalent to the caffeine I normally consume in coffee form, it just wouldn't do it for me.

My boyfriend needs soda - some Pepsi or Mt. Dew - to get his morning jolt. He's becoming more of a coffee drinker, but he still doesn't get the kick from it that I do.

Some people swear by black tea or yerba mate. Others go for the more scientifically engineered caffeine/energy drinks.

What gets you going?