Tag Archives: Wrist Saver

Taking Back My Favorite Rural Route…

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For those of you who have lived in the middle of nowhere country forever, you may remember the time before we had house numbers like the city folk.  Instead of a house number, we had a Rural Route number that was somewhat vague.  Basically the only person who knew how to find us was the mail lady carrier who we knew by name.  Once 911 was invented became more prevalent and people were calling on authorities rather than their neighbors for help, then things had to get more official and we were issued a house number.  I remember the day, it was a major event and I also remember asking “why, our address was going to change?”.  I was told, “so the fire department can find us if we need help”. 

Prior to the change, the local fire department, which was staffed by volunteers, was having trouble finding our homes when a call came thru for assistance.  This was before GPS, smart phones, internet and well, apparently the mail lady wasn’t a volunteer fire fighter.   All our roads looked barren and untraveled like these:

   

Not much has changed for me other than my location.  I now live on a different rural route but still have “the same” barren country roads and a number to go on my mail box.  It may not be for everyone but I like it.  However, one thing that I do not like is that not everyone is a responsible pet owner and I have, in the past, had frequent problems with mean dog encounters.  After getting bit 3 times within less than 4 months, I altered my running route, a lot. 

         11/24/10                               12/24/10                      3/26/11     

Over the last 18 months, I have just been circling between my house and my friend Nicki’s house in case I have a problem.  I also now carry my cell phone when I run, which sucks doesn’t leave me as “unplugged” as I would like and I carry a Wrist Saver Pepper Spray.  Today, I was determined to take back my favorite rural run route so I strapped on the Wrist Saver because I was nervous to be safe.

WristSaver_pink_me

I also like that it is reflective, which is good since I frequently run in the dark.

WristSaver_pink_reflective

As you may have guessed, I had abandoned my favorite route because one of the roads in route is where all three biting dogs lived.  Amazing that with the distances I run, all three dogs just happened to live on the same road within a mile of my home.  Awesome.  So I eliminated the road in question from my running routes, which was inconvenient to say the least.  I felt as if I had been warned and I felt the need to heed the warning but now, I’m taking my rural run route back!

I actually think that all three dogs are now “gone” but that didn’t make me feel better as I headed out the door this morning.  What did make me feel good is that I was back on familiar territory, just planning to run around “the section” and it is a perfect 4 mile loop with varied terrain.  I love that I get a few small hills/inclines in the run and they are hardly even noticeable in the dark!

I made it without anything exciting to report and that’s GOOD news!  A rooster crowed and scared took me off guard, the coyotes were howling, and a blanket of thin fog hung in the air to make it a particularly dark run.  The temps were 48 degrees and I was in my glory.  Perfect running weather on my perfect rural run route.  I’m a happy gal today!

4.11 miles – 9:05 pace

Do you have any running routes, which you love, that you had to give up for a period of time?  Why?

** Happy Running **  Amanda – TooTallFritz ** amanda@tootallfritz.com

Personal Savers & Self Defense Class WINNERS

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We have winners!  I did two separate drawings, one for the PeronalSavers.com items and a separate one for the Safety Classes that Dennis Wright Martial Arts is offering.  I will spare you the behind the scenes details of spreadsheets/screen shots which I normally offer as “proof” of the winners.  We are all adults and I honestly want you all to win, so take my word for it that the winners via a random number generator are…..

Personal Savers:        

#5 – YoMommaRuns  &  #14 – Angela Compton

Please contact me with your name and mailing address.  Whoever contacts me first at amanda@tootallfritz.com will get to pick between the pink Personal Saver with the clip or the pink WristSaver (size small) which velcros onto your wrist.

For those of you who did not win, this is honestly one of the best purchases I have ever made, in fact I just placed an order for both a pink personal saver and a pink wrist saver for myself & Aby.  If pink isn’t your color, no worries they have a non-pink line too that is “possibly” more popular for now.  The $1.50 off code, which includes a free microfiber towel is:  TTF

Dennis Wright Martial Arts Self Defense (May 19th, 12pm – 2:30pm) Winners:

#5 – Kim Janik & #6 – Jen English

For those of you who did not win and are interested in self-defense:    Dennis Wright offers a fully equipped space with classes 6 days a week in Mixed Martial Arts, Muay Thai Kick Boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He also does specialty classes on self-defense, runner safety, women’s safety, etc.  Dennis is a 5th Degree Black Belt Kenpo Karate. Classes located at 15225 Ridgeway Avenue, Midlothian, IL.  You can contact Dennis @ 708-921-8205 or djdmenace73@aol.com.  If you are not local, look around in your area for a self-defense course to help you be better prepared in life and on the trail.

Thanks for participating in the giveaways, if you didn’t win, keep trying! 

Happy SAFE Running,                                                                                                        Amanda – TooTallFritz.com

 

 

Running Alone In The Dark….

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I haven’t had the pleasure of running in the morning for quite some time.  Shortly after the marathon last year, we moved Mr. Michael into a “big boy” bed.  The idea was that I had been spending a lot of time in the rocker sitting beside his toddler bed and I was EXHAUSTED.  So we moved the lil man into a full size bed, which we put on the floor cuz he was so tiny and I feared he would fall out and get hurt.  During the bed swap I prayed that he would have the space he needed to stretch, turn & flip throughout the night without waking but apparently that wasn’t the real problem.  He really just wants his momma with him all the time.

So for the last 6 months, I have been floating between beds, half asleep, confused,  and not sure where I am when I awake.  I just follow the screams for “momma”.  This has left zero very little time for morning runs.  Frequently, hubby has to wake me up because I’m still sleeping in Michael’s bed when he leaves for work.  Not good!  But things have been changing over the last month or so.  My lil man is sleeping til about 5:00 or 5:30 am before he bullets out of bed to start his day.  And most importantly, he is sleeping for longer stretches at a time.  Good, Great, AWESOME!  So I decided to try to start adding the morning runs back into my routine. 

How do you feel when you haul your ass butt out of bed to run alone in the dark?  Are you scared?  I am!  I never used to be but dang, with each year of age, I think I develop a bigger pile of nerves.  Thankfully I live in the middle of nowhere so traffic isn’t an issue.  We don’t have any a lot of creepy people roaming our country roads, so basically it’s just me, the coyotes and any unleashed dogs that decide to give chase.  Ugh!  I’ll take the coyotes before those biting dogs any day! 

There weren’t many stars out this morning but everything was clear and still frozen.   Thankfully I had the light of the moon since I couldn’t find my knucklelights.  The road was actually well-lit with this lopsided moon. 

I tried not to focus too much on the moon since I didn’t want to fall into a hole, or off the side of road, while obsessing looking toward the sky.  So I just tried to focus on running an even pace in the middle of the road.  I have a default pace when I’m tired, grumpy, can’t see, scared or it’s dark:  9:30.  I’m pretty sure that my pace for 4 miles this morning was a 9:28ish.  That’s my pace.  My comfort zone.  The spot I go back to when everything else is uncertain.  Running in the dark is very uncertain.  So many things can happen.  I wouldn’t recommend it.  However, if you are trying to get more time out of your day and need to run in the dark, here are a few tips:

  • Be aware of your surroundings at all times.
  • Don’t use an ipod and if you do because you too hate hearing coyotes kill other creatures of the night, then only use on ear bud and keep the volume low.
  • Run against traffic so that you can see the drunken madman swerving all over the road and be prepared to dive into the ditch.
  • ALWAYS assume the vehicular traffic CAN NOT see you.
  • Wave to cars like a happy idiot as they pass you.  This will foster a sense of community between you, the runner, and them, the driver.  They will start watching for that “idiot runner” when they are driving to work.
  • Take your cell phone.
  • Tell somebody your intended route or leave a map by hubby’s coffee pot.
  • Avoid routes with unleashed  aggressive dogs/pets.
  • Always trust your gut feeling, if it feels wrong it is wrong.  This FREQUENTLY changes my route. 
  • Carry pepper spray or something with which you are comfortable using if you need to defend yourself.  I like the Wrist Saver from Personal Savers, they have a pink one now!  Here is a pic of mine:

Check out the link HERE on how to defend yourself with pepper spray!

  • Wear reflective clothing, multiple items.  I don’t even buy clothing without reflective accents.
  • Use a headlamp or KnuckleLights.
  • Be ready for anything.

Ideally, it is always safest to run during the daylight hours and with a friend if possible but as a mother, wife, full-time employee, runner & triathlete, that’s not always possible for me.

Do you any have any running in the dark tips?  Anything I missed?  Help me out!

Happy SAFE Running!                                                                                                 Amanda – TooTallFritz

Is Winter REALLY Coming?

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I feel as if the entire winter we, here in the midwest, have just been banking our miles, saying our thanks for good weather and waiting.  We know the snow is coming.  We know this means slippery or impassable trails that will slow and/or hamper our runs.  We know that road running is in our VERY near future.  The weather people say that winter is coming tomorrow, in the form of snow.  Supposedly, we will be getting real snow in the form of 1 to 10 inches.  Way to narrow it down, thanks, I’ll just schedule my snow day now NOT.

In preparation for the possible 10 inches of snow, hubby gassed up the snowmobiles and made sure that they would start easily for Ms. TooTall.  My personal preparations were to make sure I got groceries in a good run.  I certainly don’t want to be snowed in wondering when I’ll get to run next, so while all of you were duking it out at Jewel, I hit the trail.  I wanted my first 4 miles to be 8:30-8:45 so needed to get to the trail early to ensure that could happen.  And once again, it was daylight.  This makes me super happy!  I actually grabbed my music today too, which is very unusual for me but I wanted to push and thought it would be a good distraction.  Sorry about the ear buds coming out of my bra.

Then I hit the trail for some fastish miles with photos squeezed in between, and 2 phone calls, and some txt messages.  So my mile splits were all over the place due to the above:  Mile 1:  8:35, Mile 2:  9:19, Mile 3:  9:07, and Mile 4:  8:51.  I know this looks like a pacing fail but the following pics were taken, in addition to the phone calls, etc. 

As you can see the light is diminishing, which means it is almost time to meet my F’N Running Club!  Whooooop!  So I busted it back to Frankfort with my ipod blaring camera tucked away.

We had another AWESOME group show up for a Wednesday night run because they too were afraid of the impending snow storm.  The F’N Running Club Ladies, Top:  Maggie, Dawn, April, Michelle, Kathy, Aurelia, Susan, & Cathie.  Middle:  Kate LF, Megan, Jeni.  Bottom:  Me & Diane.We had one guy tonight, and here is the proof.  Brian F. posed with us in the front and I bet he can’t wait til Brian P. is fixed up and ready to run again. 

In light of recent events, on a different trail far away, we took a few seconds to remind everyone to be safe, be aware of their surroundings, run with a partner, or pepper spray, etc.  My favorite pepper spray comes from personalsavers.com, I like the wrist saver.  I know I have posted about this before but I like it cuz it fits right next to my watch and is very accessible, not tucked away in a pocket somewhere.  Please be AWARE and SAFE!

And then we were off to run.  As you saw, we had a great sized group tonight!  The group ranged from run/walkers at 3 miles to 9:00 min milers at the 4-6 mile mark.  Lots of in between too!  It was so nice seeing so many of our group on the trail, supporting each other.  Lots of fun and we are really becoming more of a team, trying to help and push each other, rather than just a group who shows up to run.  Nice, I’m proud of all of you!

In total, I had 10 miles in 1:32 today.  Good Wednesday Pre-Snow run!

What do you do before a “possible” snow storm? Do you run, get groceries, gas up the snowmobiles, or put the plow on the truck?  For the record, I did stop on the way home to gas up my car, just in case the snow really does come.

Cheers!                                                                                                                            Amanda – TooTallFritz

Halloween Hangover

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I must say that I enjoy Halloween but am happy to say good-bye to it for another year.  Each year it is a fight with the kiddos as to how much candy they can stuff into their faces before I notice convince me to let them eat.  And I must say that it is also a struggle for me in an attempt to not stuff my own face limit my consumption.  I think we did pretty well last night with the kiddos not getting too out of control and I had 3 fun size Almond Joys.  Now, we still have a GROCERY BAG of candy left in the house so we will see how it goes from here on out.

Prior to the Trick or Treat extravaganza, I made a last-ditch effort to pad my mileage close out the month properly.  I decided on a Midlothian Reservoir/Yankee Woods run that would be about 6 miles.  The Reservoir, with a connect to Yankee for 1 loop, plus return is slightly under 6  so I parked my car a bit further from the trailhead becasue I’m OCD so that I got in a few extra steps to make it a full 6.  The intent was for a quicker pace, speedy turnover type running without wearing myself out. 

Since these trails are somewhat secluded in parts, I grabbed my Wrist Saver pepper spray and I was off.  If you need a pepper spray, this one is AWESOME.  It velcros onto the wrist and doesn’t move!  I love it and also attach it to the jogging stroller and/or Aby’s bike when we are running/hiking as a family.  The watch is the Nike+ Sportwatch GPS, another great product for a very reasonable price.  I am of the opinion that all technology is somewhat disposable due to the constant updates and changes.  I refuse to pay a lot for something that will be obsolete before the end of the month.  One of my favorite things about the Nike+ watch is that they frequently update it thru the net.  You plug-in for a charge, or to upload a run, and get a message that a new upgrade is available.  I purchased the watch on the pre-order before it even hit the stores so got an “original”.   They have made SEVERAL updates via the net to add features that were requested by consumers.  I really appreciate this rather than them just putting out a newer and better model that turns my original into a dinosaur.

Midlothian Reservoir:

The Midlothian Reservoir section is pretty short, about a mile, then you need to run a path by Central Ave for about a 1/2 mile to get into Yankee.  Once you hit the Yankee sign, one loop is 3 miles and  you can fly right back to the Reservoir to your car!  Yankee  Woods:

6 miles – 52:15 –  several photo stops and a road crossing x2

“Run”way Fashion – Freebie Alert:  RunGirl shirt from Women’s Running Magazine.  Great Magazine!!  And they give a free shirt with a 2 year subscription.  I don’t wear a lot of freebies but this one fits perfectly!

CWX Compression 3/4 tights.  Yep still wearing them and love them EVEN more today but I need more pink shirts!   Frogger –  I looked and they do have 3/4 for men.  You might want to talk to Mel; I picked these up at Running for Kicks.

Cheers & TRY not to eat too much Halloween candy!                                                  Amanda – TooTallFritz