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FRANCE 2012 – DAY TWO- Chambre D’hotes

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Darcee Yates

France 2012 – Day Two

After a good nights sleep*8 hours* we had a lovely breakfast with Madame Dessin’s, homemade jam, and yogurt and bread and hot chocolate and, of course, Madame’s Homemade Apple Cider.

Note: We stayed at Chambre d’hote’s each night for our stays in France.  They ranged in price from 45 Euro to 59 Euro for the night. ( About  70-85 U.S. Dollars).  That is the least expensive end of  Chambre d’hotes and yet …..We stayed once in a 300 year old house.  We stayed in new houses, in a stone cottage on a working farm, and in a farmhouse near Carnac that had its drive lined with stone megaliths. We stayed in houses furnished with beautiful works of wooden furniture older than America, and one woman had antique crocheted bedspreads made by her grandmother on the beds, which were carefully folded into her antique armoire after we took pictures.  Our experience has been that those people hosting the Chambre d’hotes want to interact with foreigners. They take great pride in making your stay a pleasant one. They are a fountain of information on the best local places to eat and sights to see.  If you want to have a good French experience, chambre d’hotes beat hotels hands down.

After Breakfast we went to the U.S. Cemetery at Omaha Beach. This too is hallowed ground.  We spent time there reflecting on the  great courage and sacrifice of so many people who have given us the freedoms that we so often take for granted. Truely, freedom  is not free. We went on to Utah Beach. The beautiful white sand beaches of the NorthWest of France were mostly unpopulated all the days that we visited them.  Every beach we visited had evidence of the concrete bunkers left behind by World War II and that great evil machine that Hitler in his thirst for power drove relentlessly forward, trying to destroy the human rights of everyone.  I feel so grateful for the courage of that great generation to which my mother and father belong.

We had lunch at St. Marie DuMont.  Our first Crepes and Galettes in France.  Galettes are wheat crepes with hot breakfast or lunch food in them.  Sausage,or ham or mushrooms and gravey. More varieties than you can shake a stick at. Whereas crepes are the same only with dessert food in them. Think whipped creme, berries, sugar, ect.  I had a galette with mushrooms, cheese and ham and then a buttery sugared crepe for dessert.  Delicious.

We walked Utah Beach and then went back to the town of Bayeux. I collected prayers in French from the Bayeux cathedral and took pictures of flowers.

Flowers grow big and beautiful in France.  The wisteria and hydrangea were so lush and they wantonly draped themselves everywhere. There was also another lavender-blue  bloomer that I fell in love with this trip. In the pictures it is the evergreen looking bush, with clusters of tiny purpleyblue florets.  One of the names for the bush is a creanothus repens. 

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One last note. While in France, look for L.Eclerc if you need something–shampoo, sunglasses, groceries, etc.  It is the walmart of France. They also have books and media  if you want to bring home your favorite novel in France or music cd,or  a magazines, or  you name it, you can find it there.

 

 

 

Filed under: France, Places I've REALLY Seen | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Road Trip- Normandy, Brittany and the Loire Valley of France

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Darcee Yates

Road Trip- Normandy, Brittange and the Loire Valley- with the Love of my Life.

DAY ONE- Charles de Gaulle Airport to Normandy!

It finally arrived! Our long awaited trip to France. And it was everything and more than I hoped it would be.

We had decided to leave on Thursday, the 10th of May, as the flight loads, flying first class that day, looked good. Just before going to bed about 9 p.m. on Wednesday(like I could sleep!!), I checked the loads one more time and they had changed drastically and the flight was now overbooked. So at 9 p.m. we changed our plans, and set our alarms for 4 a.m. to catch a flight to a different gateway city  in order to get on a flight that was less full, thus ensuring a first class seat to Paris.  Which we did get!

We arrived in Paris about 7:30 a.m. Friday morning, after an aproximate 10 hour flight through the night.  There were no customs form to fill out and thus no time to get our bearings and calm our nerves while standing in a long customs line.  We were a little overwhelmed by the size of Charles De Gaulle airport especially after climbing in our tiny, tiny rental car (only $267 Euro for 10 days) and facing the monster that was the freeway system surrounding Paris and trying to find our way out into the countryside toward Normandy and decipher the meaning of their signs.

“Does that mean that road will take you to the A86 or that that road is the A86?  We  soon discovered that you can get to anywhere in France from ANY road in France.  That’s because it is a huge maze- and it is possible to go in circles for hours, all while following the signs, suppposedly, leading to your destination.  Once we figured that out. We began to do much better.  Two hours after landing we were finally out of the suberbs of Paris and driving through fields and fields of golden flowers.  These are flowers from  which cooking oil is made- and which the name was told to me in French several times and is now lost in the vast wasteland that is my mind. But here is a picture.

Glorious golden fieldsThe color was electric.  I took a lot of pictures of this the first day. And the second and the third.

NOTE: while driving the freeways in France (which aren’t, BTW, free), note that if you are driving in the extreme left lane, you must hug the shoulder to the left as motorcyclist EXPECT you to give up half your lane to them and they WILL run you down.  And yes, in our tiny rental is was easy to feel intimidated by a motorcycle.

Once outside of the city we stopped at a TOTAL gas station on the autoroute and picked up a good Road map book for all of France.  There were several times in the next two weeks that we did not know exactly were we were on that map, but we at least always knew exactly where we wanted to be. Once we had the map we felt comfortable getting off the major roads and driving on the smaller tributaaries, the more scenic routes, as we made our way north.

We passed through Rouen where poor Joan of Arc met her demise, but we just werent ready to stop, so we kept going.  The beaches of Normandy were calling my husband and we drove.

At 2 p.m we arrived in Bayeux and we really liked this small town. Here’s a picture of the church. A famous tapestry is located in the town that depicts the conquest by William the Conquerer a thousand years ago.

By now we were also hungry and we walked the village streets and found a family run place that fed us(even though it was past the regular hours for lunch).  The Madame was very gracious and the food was delicious. It set the tone for the whole trip.

We took pictures of the old church in town and checked out the times for visiting the Bayeux tapestry for the next day that I wanted to see and a World War II museum that Rob wanted to see. By 5 p.m we had found a Chambre d’hotel  ”LA FERME DU CLOS TASSIN”  in Coleville sur Mer,  very close to the beach.  Madame Tassin made and sold the best Apple Cider I’ve ever had. And she assured us it was non-alchoholic.

We dumped our stuff and went for a look at the beaches.

Rob was probably prepared for what we would find but I was not.  The enormity of what happened there hit me right in the chest and took my breath away.  Before I knew it tears were flowing. It’s just a beach, I told myself.  Only it’s not.  It’s hallowed ground.

The concrete German bunkers are still there.  As Rob explained to me their gruesome purpose and the sun began to set, a new apprectiaiton of what ‘The Beaches of Normandy’ meant- for the war, for the French people, and for our young men, hit me hard.  Rob told me everyone should visit here to understand the cost of Freedom.

This is just one of the many memorials to the men who gave their all.

And the sunset was beautiful.  ~~*~~ Mia Mormon~~*~~

Filed under: France, Places I've REALLY Seen | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

FRANCE!! And Rosetta Stone

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Darcee Yates

This is my official countdown to France!   I’ve been studying French via Rosetta Stone online since Thanksgiving Weekend.  Almost exactly four months. I’m just finishing the second of five levels and feel confident in asking:

Where are the bathrooms?  Ou sont les toilettes?

Is this the bus to the Louvre?  Est-ce que ce’st le bus aller a le lourvre?

How much is this dress?  Combien coute cette robe?

I would like a ham sandwich and a salad and some water, please.  Je voodrais un sandwich jambon et un salad et du l’eau, sil vous plait.

I had originally hoped I could go through a level a month. But as there are 4 units in each level, and 4 lessons in each unit, and 5 to 10 drills in each lesson- that’s about 120 drills a level.  And I find it advantageous to do the drills several times. So, I’m doing fairly well to get a 1/2 a level done a month. And still retain what I am learning. Which is fine,  at that rate I should finish all levels before my year is up.

Rosetta Stone online lets you utilize ALL levels of Rosetta stone for a single year for a set price.  At thanksgiving time I got that for $190? or $180 for the whole year.  One or the other. I kept checking back to their website before I finally decided and the price kept changing.  So, If you are thinking about buying Rosetta Stone online- keep that in mind.  The price seems to fluctuate almost daily.  Wait for the best deal.

One of the best things I like about Rosetta Stone is the AP companion for the iphone.  It turns car time or sit time anywhere into study time.  It has speaking flashcards that show a picture and speak a sentence (from 30 to 60 or so flashcards per lesson).  Then it waits for you to repeat and gives you a’ twinkle -passing sound’ if you spoke correctly or a ‘failed -try again’ noise if you didn’t.   Once I say the words well reading them on the screen, I don’t look but just listen and repeat.  By not looking on the screen, I’m able to polish my listening comprehension.  It is a great tool.

I am way excited to go to France. Just 5 or 6 more weeks, and as soon as there  is an open pair of 1st class seats for dear husband ‘mon mari’ and  ’moi’, we are outta here.

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Another One Bites the Dust

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Darcee Yates

Statistically- at least at Wingless Air, and I suspect other airlines as well,  the greatest number of flight attendants that quit, do so at about nine months of employment. At six months they think they can stick it out but by nine months they feel totally beaten down.

I always tell new-hires, “give it one year before you give up.”

After passing the one year mark, flight attendants can begin to see light and an end to their torment. There is usually a substantial-and much needed- increase in pay at then end of one year. If I haven’t mentioned already, a first year flight attendant makes diddly-squat for pay, while getting the worst possible routes, the worst possible hours and the worst possible homebase.  One that he/she is probably commuting to and from and he is seldom seeing family. This was Emmaline’s case. Add to that her actual home is a popular tourist destination which made commuting to and from work even more difficult.

So, My dearest Emmaline found it in the best interest of herself and her family to find employment closer to home this past month, quitting the airline industry- after nine months of employment. Emmaline, So glad we were able to work a couple of flights together- ‘living the dream’.

In her short time at Wingless Air Emmaline was able to visit relatives and friends and get re-aquainted with people she had not seen in eons. She added about a hundred ‘firsts’ to places she’d never been before and she ended it all with a whirlwind tour of Japan. I hope her short flight into adventure was worth it.

My loss is Emmaline’s family’s gain.

~~*~~Mia Mormon~~*~~

Filed under: Flight Attendant in the Making, Life of a Flight Attendant | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Poetry in Flight

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Darcee Yates

I’ve often wondered if breathing recycled air, like we do as flight attendants, is detrimental to our little gray cells. Like, can it make us dumber faster or hasten the onset of dementia?

I do know that sharing a galley with over 2000 flight attendants can make me feel like I’m losing my mind.  Obviously not all 2000 flight attendants can fit in a galley at once. But- eventually- every Wingless Air flight attendant will be on every plane in the Wingless Air  fleet.

At Wingless Air, like every good airline, there are galley diagrams showing the agreed upon locations for storing cups, sodas,  snacks, napkins, water, coffee, trash bags, and etc.  All of these items are restocked after nearly every flight.  This adds another group of people into ‘my’ galley.  These are the provisions people. They come in and stock ‘my’ plane according to the agreed upon galley diagrams, thus ensuring I will have all the cups, sodas, snacks, napkins, water, coffee, trash bags and etc., that I will need for my flight.

But what happens when another flight attendant decides that the bin for storing cups isn’t convenient to their way of thinking?  Or the way the drawers are set up on the cart isn’t quite right?  Or the trash bags would be better here, than there?

To add insult to injury, the galley diagrams are always changing, because the routes, and service details are always changing.  I.E.- Now we serve snacks and sodas, now we don’t. Or, we do serve but only on flights over 600 miles, or we serve peanuts on Monday through Fridays and cookies on the weekend.  OR, We start serving boxed meals, but only to those cities with names that start with an M.  When this happens, everyone , both flight attendants and provision agents, gets  to learn a new storage location for cups, sodas, snacks, napkins, water, coffee, trash bags and etc., to accommodate the new items.

The provisions agents usually get it right  according to the diagrams the very FIRST day of change and maybe the next  day or two as well.

But then the Flight Attendant gets on board.  She has been given the updated diagrams too, but she’s been used to being very efficient in her service. She is poetry in motion, having done the same movements over and over.  She can serve 100 people in 20 minutes or less, in heavy turbulence.  She can restock a cart, in less than 90 seconds, even on a steep decent, nose-down toward the runway.

But now, instead of swooping her cups from the first bin to her right above the coffee maker with one hand while lining the cart with the other, she’s stooping down awkwardly to her left and reaching behind the hot cups searching for the cold cups.  But that’s only after opening and closing five other bins, one of which broke her newly manicured thumb nail, and none of which had the precious cups she was looking for, and now….Well, now, she’s not poetry in motion anymore.  She’s a clutz losing at a child’s game of memory, with a bunch of metal bins that keep changing their content.

“And,” she’s thinking, “having the cups down and to the left just seems plain inconvenient and inconsiderate of whoever thought that up.”

So, for her two-hour flight she’s going to put them right back where ‘she thinks’ they belong, up and to her right.

This process is repeated multiple times throughout the day with other flights, other flight attendants, other service items and other planes.  Every time provisions tries to provision the plane, it’s a mass of confusion to them.  They give too much of one item to one plane and none at all of another.  And—They no longer care.

After a week of this, some planes have all the cups and some have all the sodas.  Which is just great if you have passengers who either want to spit into  empty cups or drink soda from their hands.

In my ten years as a flight attendant I’ve  found it pretty consistent that it takes about a month of mayhem before everyone is finally unhappy enough to give the ‘new system’ a try.  Then about 75% of the flight attendants, galley diagrams in hand,  begin supervising the stocking of their galleys, by provision Agents, to make sure they have what they need, when and where they need it.  Unfortunately, it takes another month or two before the rest of the flight attendants hop on board.

So, if you happen to see a flight attendant opening and closing every bin in the galley during your flight- you are right, she is looking for her mind.  Once she finds it she’ll be right back to being poetry in motion again.  That is, until management decides to change the galley- AGAIN.  (Repeat scenario ad nauseam.)

~~*~~Mia Mormon~~*~~

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Emmaline Update and the Joys of Jumpseating

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Darcee Yates

The adventures of Emmaline continued…

Emmaline is doing very well with her first month as a flight attendant for Wingless Air.  But then I’ve already mentioned that she is an exceptional individual.

Since graduating class and passing her inflight experience  in Chicago with her seasoned-flight-attendant -trainer, and then relocating far, far away from her home in sunny Florida, to sunny California she’s learned tons.

Mostly she’s been learning the ins and outs of getting back and forth to work, by far her biggest challenge.  With five days in a row ‘on call’ to every two or three days ‘off’ in which to make it home, kiss the hubby  and grandkids and fly back again, it’s been a busy month.

Her first week home she discovered jumpseating.

A jumpseat refers to the seat a flight attendant sits in during take-off and landing.  It also refers to an extra seat in the cockpit(which by the way is a term no longer considered politically correct,  probably because there are now ‘hen’ pilots), or cabin.

A cabin jumpseat is  any vacant passenger seat that a crew member would occupy ‘gratis free’ mainly for the purpose of getting to and from work.

Most airlines have a network of other airlines that they share agreements with allowing each other’s crew members to fly – free of charge.  Before you get all warm and fuzzy about that- consider that jumpseaters are at the bottom of the list.  And when I say bottom , I mean sub-basement level.  After all the standy-bys have been cleared, including all current employees, and special sky reward members using accumulated ‘travel points, all buddy passes and all retirees,  IF ! – there are any seats left, then they will be offered to a jumpseater.

Emmaline’s first flight home, she occupied such a seat. All other avenues home being ‘full’,   she managed to ‘jumpseat’ to an airport about a 5 hour drive from her home around midnight.  Her flight was late departing  making her miss the last late flight from Miami to her home. Had it have been me, I would have slept in the Miami airport for the night and taken the first flight the rest of the way home in the morning.

Not Emmaline.  She was already thinking, in flight, cross-country.  She hooked up with two other crew members from two other airlines that shared her destination.  Upon arrival in Miami, they rented a car and drove home between midnight and 5 am.  She spent one day off with kids and grandbabies at the beach and hitchhiked (Skyhitched, non-revved, jumpeseated) her way back to work, stopping halfway across country to share dinner with me.

This job is not for the faint of heart.

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Flight Attendant in the Making, Inflight Entertainment, Life of a Flight Attendant | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

No Whining

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Darcee Yates

Graduation!

Any place where there is a hierarchy there is bound to be, from time to time, whining at the bottom.  I’m reminded of a Dr. Seuss book about turtles. Do you remember the one with the turtles piled on top of each other in a muddy river? Yeah, I’d hate to be at the bottom with someone’s foot in my eye.

The truth is though– life is what you make it.

Any airline that I know of- including Wingless Air, is organized by seniority.  Trips are built by the company and then bid on according to years of service with the company.  The flight attendant with the most years, months, days, gets her first choice- the 2nd most senior flight attendant then gets her choice of what is left, and then the 3rd most senior, and on down to the bottom of the list.

If you are the very last flight attendant on the list and what is left just happens to be exactly what you would have chosen as your first choice,  you’re in luck!  Which is where the saying- “happiness isn’t getting exactly what you love in life- but loving exactly what you get” comes in handy.   Because if you adhere to the second half of that saying, you’ll always be happy, even as a reserve flight attendant. And going into this job, knowing what to expect, makes all the difference.

After nearly 30 grueling days of power points, power struggles, drama queen moments, testing and retesting, nearly all of Emmaline’s class made it through the obstacle course that is flight attendant training.  Hurdle #1 accomplished.  They now each face training in the air- moving to a new location somewhere far from home- and then, most probably, a year of reserve before their life is fully their own once again.

I don’t believe a single candidate in Emmaline’s class got the home base he/she desired.  One person actually quit because of the disappointment.  Yeah, I don’t get that either.  But it happens nearly every class.  Of all the bases Emmaline could have gotten with Wingless Air- she received the one farthest from her home.  We may have one base just a tad bit farther, but not much.  But, she’s a trooper, no whining from Emmaline. She’s even excited to work on our cute Barbie-sized-planes.  And, she is excited for the small towns our Barbie planes service- another plus.

Last month I bid a trip that went through Huntsville, Alabama.  Not exactly our most popular destination.  What the heck is in Huntsville anyway, you ask?  Take a look at this.  And the temperature that day, between 7 and 8 in the evening, was  nothing short of phenomonally soothing. 

Run Everywhere

Life is good. Fly anywhere.  Run everywhere.   Love Life

~~*~~Mia Mormon~~*~~

Filed under: Flight Attendant in the Making, Random Overnights | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

My favorite place, New babies and Missed flights

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Darcee Yates

Not flying this week.  There is no place like home.

But then, you probably already knew that.

A lot going on right now on all fronts.  I got a Brand New Granddaughter this week, bringing the total of my precious gems to THREE. (And I have hopes of that number officially doubling soon.) Each one is so perfect.  To make sure I got to see the new Granddaughter with all of the BRAND NEWneess still on her, I took the week off. I got to hold her twice, watch my husband hold her, and best of all- the one that brings tears to my eyes–I got to watch my son- the big oaf, hold his new daughter, with about a billion times the awe and trembling in his eyes, hands and voice than is there when he’s stoked about his favorite gun, motorcycle or football team.  It reminded me of the picture of George Washington praying by his horse at Valley Forge.  A mighty giant of a man expressing humility is so powerful.

Because of all of that, and Emmaline’s upcoming day off- (remember Emmaline, my friend,the Flight Attendant in training?)- I took the whole week off.

New to the world of standby travel, Emmaline’s husband of thirty years will attempt to fly space available across the continental U.S. and come out to see her for her 36 hour vacation.  He’s already been two whole weeks without her. If he should not get on the flight, I can already imagine the screaming and anguish of soul.

I’ve mentioned this briefly before, but it takes a special temperament to travel standby.  You have to, in essence, not care. Your frame of mind has to be, ‘Well, if I get on good, but if I don’t, I will do thus and such and be just as happy.’  I can only remember once in my ten year history here at Wingless Air, when I was not in the proper frame of mind for standby travel and it wasn’t good.

I’m not sure I was as bad as the women in this link- CRAZY WOMAN MISSES FLIGHT - but it was close.

I’ve got my Fingers and toes crossed for Emmaline and her sweety.

~~*~~Mia Mormon~~*~~

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The Road to Kolob

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Darcee Yates

The Road to Kolob.  I refer to Kolob Reservoir.  The road that leads there is just above my subdivision. I ran 10 miles along the road at an elevation of 9000 feet today.  Long time. Run, run, run.

There is plenty of think-time when I’m running and thoughts flit in and out,  in between counting the number of songs that play on my iphone- it takes about 18 and 1/2 songs to make 5 miles, running at my very slow pace, at which point I turn around and head back to the truck.   I ran my 10 miles much slower today than yesterday. I ran between 2 and 4 in the afternoon and did I mention the elevation was 9000 feet? The air is definitely thinner at 9000 feet. 

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Actually, there was a lovely breeze going-on which, coupled with the magnificent scenery, made the overall experience quite nice.  I thought about the several books I’ve started writing and not finished. I thought about the new ones I wanted to write.  I thought about what I have to offer that’s different from what anyone else might have to offer. And I thought about Kolob.

Kolob- in case you are not familiar, comes from Mormon- Latter-Day Saint -Scripture(Book of Abraham, Chapter 3) and refers to the planet closest to the place that God resides. A nice place to be running toward. Putting aside the fact that I believe The Latter Day Saint religion actually has God’s sanction as being His one true religion on earth, there are several things that I’d like about being a Latter Day Saint, anyway,  even if I didn’t believe that, if you follow.  One of them is Kolob.

The idea of knowing the actual name of- if not God’s actual address, then- the name of his closest neighbor, puts  ’concrete form’ to something I can visualize a whole lot better than a vague reference to ‘Heaven’, or,  ’up there in the sky’.   It’s a finite idea that I can wrap my puny mind around and makes those things that I must accept on faith more substantial.

Then I contemplated about my own life and whether or not I was running in the right direction- toward Heaven- that is. Or just stopping short of Heaven, at Kolob.  I am so very earthbound.  I get jealous, angry, shortsighted, and at times I lack compassion and understanding.  I’m working on it, but I have miles to go.

Then I thought, Kolob might not be Heaven but if it stands between here and Heaven, I’m obviously going to have to pass it on the way. So, I’ll just keep plodding along. Slow and steady.

The last mile of my run today, when I could see the truck in the distance waiting to take me home, I suddenly had a burst of energy and finished quite strong.

If I ever get there, to Kolob, that is, maybe I’ll see Heaven in the distance and it will spur me on for the last leg of the journey.

Filed under: Fleeting Thoughts, Places I've REALLY Seen, Running In Place | Leave a Comment »

The Right Way to Train for a Marathon

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Darcee Yates

I sit on the back row a lot.  And you can hear a lot of scuttle on the back row of a plane.  One day  I sat by a lady that had escaped an abusive relationship with a cheating spouse, lost 100 pounds, and found her dream job in Alaska, making more than twice what she was previously making. Yep, she was moving to Alaska, her childhood home. She chattered nervously to me about it during our long taxi time before take-off. She was hopeful and nervous about how her two boys would respond. They were with her that day,  one preteen and one in the midst of the tumultuous teenage years.  For all of her nervousness, she exhibited a lot of hope as well. She nearly glowed with it. She seemed to me,  to be a beacon of hope that dreams and good things can and do come true.  If you try hard enough.  I was floored just by the ‘lost 100 pounds thing’.

“How?” I asked.

“I just changed the way I ate and stuck to it, every day.  I chose, meat, salads, vegetables and fruits.  Stayed away from fat and carbs.  And I exercised, every day.”

Every day.

Yesterday I sat by a women who had just finished ANOTHER marathon.  It wasn’t her first, it wouldn’t be her last.  Being as I’m in training for my SECOND marathon, (the first was over 2 years ago) , I quizzed her a bit about her training.  She said that she’d taken 23 minutes off of her previous time.

( I could take 23 minutes off of my previous time and still come in last.)

She did much better than I, finishing at just under 3 hours. That’s just under 7 minutes a mile.  That’s a full two minutes faster than I set my GOAL pace for this time,  the pace I’m shooting for, that I haven’t achieved yet, that I’m reaching for, that I can only do in 3 mile sprints so far.

So I asked her how she did it.  What did she do to get her speed up.  Was it speed drills?  (I thought surely it was speed drills, that’s what I had been reading.  All the books are all about speed drills.)   Nope.  Wasn’t speed drills.  It was miles.  She said she ran an average of 65 miles a week, putting in at least 10 miles every other day.  That’s a lot of miles.  And then she added that she didn’t do as many miles as the elite athlete did.

So, I thought about the miles that I put in.  Now, I know that I’ve only been in training for 6 weeks and I’m proud of my progress, going as I have from wheezing my way through three miles to being able to do 10 for my LONG weekly run. But… Maybe I needed to look at my long term goal and re-adjust my thinking.  I thought I was doing great to build up to about 25 miles a week  and keep it steady there, maybe eventually building up to about 35 miles a week right before the race.

That kind of thinking earned me dead last, last time.  I did finish though, which was my goal.  Last time.

Maybe I should set the bar a bit  higher.  I don’t have an abusive husband to shake off or a 100 pounds to lose.  But- I wouldn’t miss it if I lost 20, and I have finished a marathon before.  Perhaps my goal this time should be something more.

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