OBX Half Marathon Race Report

Sunday November 11, 2012

Nags Head-Manteo, NC - Outer Banks Half Marathon

For those who prefer to skip to the chase - my official time was 2:44:38.2*

The REST of the story:
PRE RACE thoughts - the last time my lovely partner Donna and I raced was almost exactly TWO YEARS AGO.  A lot has happened (like a whole year without training, much less racing and a whole other year of trying to get our mojo flowing again) since then.  Have we forgotten how? Have we trained enough?

We live about four hours away from the Outer Banks and luckily for us - it was a GORGEOUS weekend for a drive and a race.  Temperatures in the fifties and sixties, sunny with nice breezes.  Ideal for me.  We picked up our registration packets (and cool red technical shirts!), made a round of the expo, dropped off our canned goods for the Hurricane Sandy relief effort, and headed to get dinner at Kelly's.  I don't know about anyone else - but eating supper between 4:30 and 5:30 the night before a race is PERFECT for me.  I have time to eat and still go to bed early; I wake up feeling fueled but also hungry enough to eat what I need to before the race.  It's just all good.  Kelly's was offering specials for racers (though we ordered a regular entree which turned out to be as economical as their special because they gave us their early bird discount - woot!) Back at the hotel (we recommend Nags Head Inn!) we laid out our gear and each did our own night-before thing.  Turns out my night-before thing isn't complicated enough to make me feel comfortable when "all" I'm doing is getting ready for a run the next day.  I was somewhat bereft without a half dozen checklists, multiple bags, tools etc.  I kept looking at the wee pile my shoes, three Gu's, skirt, jog bra, tank, and race number made.  In fact - I could hide everything UNDER my race number.  (Not that I whiled away my time by arranging and rearranging my stuff trying to make smaller and bigger piles to see which soothed my anxiety or anything.  No, no.  Not implying that at all.  Erm. Next topic!)

I have crazy, mad sleeping skills.  Acquired the hard way in boot camp.  While I was Navy, not Army Infantry - I relate to this -->
I fell deeply asleep very early and slept the whole night through.  Donna - not so much.  I think there are a very, very few times my sweet girl hates me but I'm pretty sure they all occur while she is staring at the ceiling longing to fall asleep while I am completely zonked out next to her.

RACE MORNING:
Another difference between us is that I like to be at the start early.  Some people have abandonment issues. I have "OMFG I'm going to be late" issues. And I'm an introvert so the crowds and the music and all the excitement freak me out a bit**.  Somewhat counterintuitively, being at the start early helps me get through the worst of my adrenaline. I get acclimated to the noise; I short circuit the anxiety about being late; I get centered for my day. I relax and start to enjoy being there. Donna - not so much. Donna needs to stay as calm as she can for as long as she can on race morning. That ends up looking like getting to the start as late as possible and still being lined up before the gun goes off.  We were sherpa-less for this race so there wasn't an easy way to go to the start at separate times.  We split the difference and got there earlier than she wanted, but later than I wanted.  Unlike some compromises - I don't think this one worked so well.  Adrenaline mismanagement issue number one.

It helped that we had gone to the beach and put our toesies in the Atlantic before driving over.  That was nice but after that I was a bunch of worry spikes. I was stressed about being late; parking was a bigger issue than I expected; we thought we were walking to the shuttle but turned out we were in a flock of hearty souls walking to the start which was closer to us than the car was when we figured it out, etc. It was all FINE.  Really.

We had time to pee.  We had time to get cold.  We had time to take this cute picture of ourselves.  -->
We had time to wonder what that weird thing was, hovering up in the sky.  (Turns out it was a remote controlled drone/video camera filming the fun.) We had time to be moseying over to our corral when a giant BOOM! sounded.  WTF?? Nine minutes before the start and someone is firing a cannon?! Note to race directors - when you have a crowd full of military folks on Veterans' Day - maybe unexpected, loud, large caliber gunfire is NOT a good idea.  Just sayin.

I spent the next nine minutes preparing for another round of cannon noise at the actual race start. (Not a fan of cannons.  Oh no.  I am not. Adrenaline issue #2.) I tried to think calming thoughts - to savor beautiful images from the morning already.  Like this image.  Ahh.  Pretty sunrise.  Beautiful Atlantic Ocean.  No need to worry about cannons.  Dammit.  Stupid cannons. Big countdown over the loudspeakers - and then ... nothing.  Just the surge as the speediest ones took off and the rest of us shuffled up closer.  Huh.

The RACE ITSELF - Yay - our turn to start!  Run! Well sort of.  You know that crowded stepping, weird pace thing at the beginning.  Still.  We were almost running.  RIGHT through a cloud of cigarette smoke.  The two women next to me actually started coughing from it.  One said a very bad word, which made me smile and hope the smoker heard.  (Don't you wonder just a little bit about someone who stands there smoking while watching the start of a race with thousands and thousands of runners? Baffles me.)

We ran.  Woo hoo!  Running.  It is a straight forward activity isn't it? The first mile was on pace.  The next two about thirty seconds faster than our usual.  I was having trouble breathing - my chest was tight.  Donna said, "Let's slow down.  Recovery run."  Good call.

The course was ok.  Flat.  Some of the views were amazing.  Especially in the neighborhoods along the lovely Carrituck Sound.  One long stretch was on Croatan Highway.  That part was ... less than optimal for me.  I don't know if it was that the view was mostly strip mall businesses, or if it was the exhaust fumes from the traffic idling and passing us.  For me that section was no bueno!  The volunteers were great.  There was a group from the aquarium - with someone in a Shark Mascot type get up.  I totally got a high five fin! There were signs on the course that were HI-LARIOUS!

Like this one.  There was another one I didn't take a picture of that said, "I started training for this marathon when I realized I would be the first to go in Hunger Games." Bwa ha ha.

To make a longish race report only a little shorter I will ffwd to mile 8 where once again I was having breathing problems.  Not wheezing - just my chest was tight.  I felt slow (which isn't new) and remarkably heavy (which also isn't totally unheard of for me while I'm running but this was truly a leaden feeling.  Not the same as the heaviness from a brick.  This didn't wear off.) You know how you usually have at least a mile or two during a long run that's pretty awesome? Yeah - I never once had that feeling during this race.  I had these thoughts about being out of shape and undertrained - but you know what? I had that amazing mile (or three) feeling on the Golden Gate Bridge and I sure as hell was more fit and prepared for this race than I was for that one.  I couldn't figure it out.  Whatever.  Trudge. Trudge.  I was ready for the race to be over.  Downtown Manteo is quaint.  The weather was perfect.  They had weird and very loud music about two miles from the finish but not much music or hoopla at the finish itself.  Interesting.  I didn't actually care.  Yay!  The finish line.  I was about ten yards away when a woman comes charging from behind me, elbows me out of the way screaming, "Coming Through! Um-kay.  I was already over to the right but go girl if you've got that much juice at the end.  Could have done without the elbow knocking me aside but I was so glad to be done!  I had sent Donna ahead a while back.  We train together and in running races we usually stay together for some of it.  Ultimately though we run our own races.  She was in stronger space so I sent her off with our trademark launch phrase, "Go baby, go baby, GO!"  I saw her waiting in the finishing chute for me.  Big smile.  The nice lady put a pretty medal around my neck.  Somebody else tried to hand me something blue.  I was weaving my way to Donna and went to take a breath.  No air.  None.  Lots of panic.  But no air.  I reminded myself about what they say in the swim - that when you panic and feel like you can't breathe in, to focus on breathing OUT.  Blow out and your body will take care of the sucking air in as a response.  Tried that.  You know that sensation when you try to suck a really thick milkshake up into a straw? THAT is how it felt.  I tried to say I couldn't breathe.  I think Donna and the nice race volunteer had figured that out already.   My head was swimmy but I could see Donna and there was someone at my arm, holding me up. I got steered to the medical tent.  First time I've ever been sent to the medicos!

 I had all these random, rapid cycle thoughts and questions forming a chaotic, looping internal monologue.  "How many minutes can you go without air before brain damage occurs? Five people bustling about but what can they actually DO? Are they going to give me oxygen?? Do they know I need oxygen?! How is that finger clamp going to help me get air? What good is the squeezy cuff on my bicep if I pass out? Weird whistly sounds are good, right?  Because they mean SOME air is getting past? Leaning and arching my shoulders back seems like it would help more than it is helping.  Oh hey, my legs hurt.  That's a good sign, right? Because surely the brain doesn't care about legs if the lungs are shutting down.  Lungs trump legs.  I read that somewhere." Gradually the elephant slid off my chest.  My answers to their questions went from one word gasps to short sentences to longer sentences.  I hoped that if I proved I was ok by talking they would let me go.  It worked eventually.  Signed some papers.  Got told that it was probably a lung cramp.***Had to promise I would carry an inhaler with me from now on. (How much good do inhalers do if you can't, you know, INHALE? I would have been ok if I could have inhaled!)

Left the medical tent in search of food****.  Got a nice person to take our "Yay We Did It" picture.  We met some really nice ladies who were all dressed up as Wonder Woman.  Ten or so of them!  They do the race every year and dress up.  I love these people!!  Clearly I wasn't completely back to normal because I chopped their heads off in this picture.  (But don't you love their WW socks?!)

While waiting in the line for the shuttles to take us back to the start, we got to talking to some other great folks.  One girl was relaying the ups and downs of her day and said, "I don't know what happened.  I reached out for water and ended up getting a handful of BioFreeze instead." She mimed holding her hand out, then looking at her palm and then shrugging her shoulders.  "Guess I looked like I was in pain.  Not sure how to look thirsty."  It was fun to laugh and connect with the other runners.  Finally we were back to the car, then the hotel.  We showered and just made our checkout time.  (Extended for runners until 1. Sweet!)

POST RACE - We ate a recovery lunch and headed home.  As we debriefed in the car, I began to put together how sore my chest was, how many different ways my breathing had been compromised (smoke, exhaust fumes) and restricted (adrenaline) throughout the day.  My holistic nutritionist buddy Kim reminded me that muscles need oxygen and when your breathing is restricted everything has to work so much harder - your heart, your lungs, your muscles.  Good information!  I had a crappy recovery run two days later.  My chest muscles were still sore; I was in bad mental space; and I rolled my ankle two miles into it.  However, I babied my ankle that night (ice, fish oil for their anti-inflammatory properties, some gentle stretching, and soaking in epsom salts) and it was FINE.  I had a super seven mile trail run day three after the half marathon.  I'm learning how big of a toll stress and adrenaline take on my running!  I had hoped the half marathon would be confidence inducing as we work our way towards the marathon.  Wrong pie face! I am seriously doubtful that I can get all the way there in the nine weeks I have left before the Miami marathon.  I guess we will see!  We are going to keep training.  Race fees are paid.  Miami seems like a great place to be at the end of January, whether I can run 26.2 miles or not.  Happy Thanksgiving.
Peace y'all!

*2:44:38.2 - Really? I guess they need that kind of precision for the Fasty McSpeedypants folks up front but for me the .2 is totally wasted.  It is NOT like that .whatever is going to be the part that gives me a new PR.  Cracks me up.  Like putting an aero helmet on a snail.  .2 - wheee!

**If you read "freak me out a bit" as "SCARE THE BEJEEZUS OUT OF ME AND SPIKE MY HEART RATE INTO THE 200'S!!!!!" then imma guess you've seen me in person on race day morning.  (Lucky you.)

***Lung cramp.  Bronchial spasm.  Whatever.

****By "food" I mean "beer" :D

It's A New Day. And A New Plan!

This past Saturday was the B2B.  You know, the race I didn't get to do.  So...after wallowing in my grief about that (and a few other things) for the entire week leading up to it, Donna and I decided to start looking ahead.  We began by getting away for the weekend.  Sadly, we couldn't afford to actually go anywhere.  

Instead, we put up an AWAY sign on our door and pretended the weekend was a rejuvenating retreat.  I played Julie McCoy* and made a fun poster of possible activities (games, movies, surprise field trip (to get spa pedicures), and fun meal options) that Donna had to select.  No money = creativity!  

Saturday morning - the day of the race - we did look at the weather in Wilmington (yikes - cold, windy, possible rain - although with SNOW from Marlyland thru New England that day, I suppose the B2B-er's were lucky enough). And then? We went for a run.  Not just any run.  But we went for our first run on the official path to IRONMAN FRANCE 2014!  Coincidentally - it was also my first run of any kind in two months. 

 See these pictures?  Bare feet+puddles+soccer field+(hard-to-photograph cold temps)=FIRST  RUN!
"Why did you run barefoot?" you ask. I will tell you.  That is all I'm allowed to do! Barefoot runs, 100 yds or so - about three or four times in a session.  Yep, my first run didn't even equal a quarter of a mile.  Sigh.

But I'm not going to be a barefoot runner from now on out.  Just for a little while.  Until I learn to run.  (Remember how my left leg missed some basic instruction at left leg school years ago? Apparently BOTH legs and my feet missed the day they taught "How to Run". I tell you, my whole body is going to end up with a diploma from remedial body school before this PT stuff is done!)

Anyway - I "learned" to run in Boot Camp.  By running a mile and a half for the first time in my life on the very first day my company formed. For me, running in Boot Camp was muuuuuuuch more about surviving than form.  We ran every day. After the first day, never less than two miles. For nine weeks.  Sometimes in chukka boots**. Sometimes in the running shoes we were told to bring with us. Which brings us to the first pair of running shoes I ever bought.  The day before Boot Camp.  I went to a real running store, manned by a condescending asshole trained professional running shoe fitter who took one look at me carefully analyzed my running gait before handing me the perfect (and ridiculously expensive) shoes for a runner like myself.  He said, "Here, these are the best ones we have for a heel striker."  "What's that?" I asked.  "Don't worry about it.  Slower, heavier runners are almost always heel strikers.  Trust me, these are the right shoe."  I bought those Saucony Jazz shoes (but never went back to that store) and I pretty much just bought the updated version of that shoe every once in a while until about four years ago.  Then I went and had an actual analysis done (guess what - still heavy, still slow, still a heel striker) and switched to Brooks Glycerin. (To be 100% honest - I didn't have a scientific reason for the switch - even with the electronic pressure mat thing measuring whatever they measure. The Brooks felt fine, were in prettier colors and on sale that day. And? They were the ones Donna wore. So I switched. And still never learned any more about the heel strike business.) Which brings us back to the "learning how to run" bit.  There is a crap ton*** of debate (here's one article and follow up comments as an example) about how to run. I don't so much understand all the minute particulars.  I don't aim to. My PT's goal is to get me in touch with my body's natural gait and to help me learn to minimize the extraneous movement and rotation.  That's her idea of teaching me to run.

I ran!  It was glorious!  I was sore from running less than a quarter of a mile.  Which hurt my feelings.  But still...RUNNING AGAIN!

What do y'all think about the heel strike stuff? Any advice on changing or not? Any of my blog buddies POSE folks or CHI RUNNERS? Any anti- those methods?

It is fascinating to me how many facets of our sport(s) there turn out to be.  Peace y'all.

TODAY I LOVE: running (duh!) and also puddles (though I prefer the ones that aren't almost frozen!)


*Gosh darn it. Now I have that stupid song stuck in my head.
**I wanted to post a picture to show you exactly how NOT-designed-for-running chukka boots are were.  But the google search turned up about a million and twelve images of boots none of which were remotely similar to what we wore. However, I did find these two gems.  I realize that those of you who clicked either/both of those links just learned waaaaaay more about Navy footwear issues than you ever wanted to know, but you gotta love the word "boon docker" doncha?
***That's the scientific term for "A LOT" if you were unaware.

Four Things I'm Doing

Eating Veggies:
You know how I was going to do this vegan thing for six weeks starting April 1st? Well, I did it and then some. Actually, I guess I never became totally vegan as I take fish oil capsules every day. Also, I "cheated" by having sushi a couple of times. (Mmmmm. Crunchy shrimp rolls. Turns out they are more addictive than cheese. Who knew?) I guess I'm a mostly vegetarian girl with vegan tendencies. I will add back in eggs as soon as our friend who has an organic farm starts selling her chickens' eggs. I know those chickens are happy, healthy, and having wonderful little chicken lives. I don't think I'm going to add back in skim milk or cheese like I thought I would. I have found a substitute cheese that I like just fine. I know some people are all het up about soy products but I don't eat a lot of them so I'm not worried. In fact the only processed food I eat these days are my vegetarian refried beans, fat free pretzels, and my veggie shreds! Even so I try to limit them because, oh my, they have a surprising amount of sodium in them. The rest of my diet is fresh fruit and vegetables. I eat fruit and only fruit in the mornings, a big honking salad and sometimes a tostada for lunch, and mostly cooked veggies for supper. For snacks I have my pretzels, raw almonds, natural cashews, and a half an avocado here an there. I feel more fueled and more content about food than ever before in my life. I don't feel deprived or have food cravings at all. I have no idea how I'll feel in the Fall - as fresh fruit is harder to come by and I get cold. (Being cold triggers all kinds of food things for me!) But for now I'm relishing my happy relationship with healthy foods.

Getting Faster:
Sunday we had a longer double brick - bike 20 miles, run 3, bike 20 miles, run 3. Poor Donna was dealing with some serious hormonal grumpies and discomfort already but then at the very start of our first ride, she had a bizarre allergic reaction to something (maybe on her chin strap?) She itched and had welts and was miserable. But she refused to quit even when I suggested we stop and put the whole thing off until the next day (Memorial Day.) I had the first great ride I've had in probably a year. It was hard but I was in a great zone. And then we ran our first three mile set. Our paces were 11:17, 10:45, and 10:31. HOLY CRAP that's fast for us! (Seriously - a good day is when I can have a couple of miles that come in under 12 min/mile.) But our average for those three was 10:51! And it was POURING rain. (Miraculously it rained only while we ran, not once as we biked for the whole day. It was a little odd.) The rain was nice in a way because it wasn't stormy (just wet) and it cooled us off - but WOW were we soaked. My second run wasn't as fast, averaging 11:43 over the three miles, but each mile came in under 12 and I felt great when we finished. I'm thinking the consistent training, the new hill workouts, and the group runs with speedy folks are beginning to show some results. Yay!

Weirding Out During Recovery:
I think I need to learn even more about recovery. I keep having a significantly "down" day after big workouts. Sometimes I feel feverish, sometimes just out of sorts, but always needing not to be around other people for awhile. I'm sometimes a little sore, but not in a way that would keep me from working out if it weren't a recovery day already. (In fact after Sunday - the only part of me that was at all sore were two new bruises and the muscles in my arm from what Gazelles would call a "small falling down incident" when I tried to make a u-turn on my bike too slowly.) So I think I have my nutrition down but what's up with the blues?? Anybody else have this happen to them or know what I can do about it?

Balancing Everything:
I LOVE being a blogger. I thrive on the community and connection. Y'all are totally fabulous and my triathlon journey would not be the same without you. And my life journey wouldn't be the same without triathlon. But I'm having a hard time being consistent in keeping up - so here's my new plan. (OMG - I LOVE plans. I'm now addicted to them after following training plans that actually get me to my goals!!) I've been torn between limiting my blog reading or limiting my commenting. I've decided to do a bit of both. I've narrowed my reading list as much as I can (mostly weeding out the Russian blogs I used to follow that took me too long to translate anyway - so sorry Glaven - no more weirdness coming your way from them.) And I've got a plan to comment, not on fewer blogs - but less frequently, like once a week. I'll be in a perpetual state of catch up for some blogs, but I'll recover my sense of blogpeace. So - if you don't hear from me for a while, don't think I've stopped being a fan! I've got some great things going in my 3D world - like my kids all being home for the summer (yipee!!), a book project that's going well, and launching a new career that will dovetail with my writing/training/whole life. (<--More on that when I finish my training and the thing's taking off.)

TODAY I LOVE: bath pillows and dumpster diving (in the magazine recycle bin to make collages)

A Mixed Bag

Swim:
I'm beginning to loathe the word "descend".
And in what world does 3x200, 2x200, 3x150, 4x100, and 4x50 add up to 1750?? I want to talk to the person who wrote these swim workouts. And his grade school math teacher!!

Bike:
We bailed 8 miles into the first of three bricks that were scheduled for Sunday. It was rainy and windy. We got soaked through and battered. Then the temperature dropped 15 degrees. Then Donna had a flat. The weather got worse all day and yesterday the low was near freezing. In May. A week after I nearly had heatstroke in a 10K. My mental state about missing those bricks swings about as much as the weather. I waffle between thinking it was a smart move and feeling like a wimp.

Run:
We have a 6 mile run tomorrow, a Team Sakina trail run Thursday night, a 10 mile run scheduled for Friday, a Team Sakina long run on Saturday morning, and 6 miles (spread over two bricks) on Sunday. Ever heard the phrase, "Something's gotta give?" Yeah. I'm thinking it'll be the 10 miler on Friday. And possibly the Thursday night trail run too. I have the chance to go see a documentary about Meinrad Craighead which is hard to pass up!

Other:
On the plus side, my writing has been ON FIRE! I used every minute of my recovery day yesterday to write and had to force myself away from the page today in order to go swim. I've launched a new project, finished the outline on the current project, and gotten the better part of two chapters completely drafted. My newfound courage to show up on the page consistently is a direct result of honoring my training commitment and following my nutrition plan. I feel more solidly aligned than ever before. I love my life. And? Today is our daughter's birthday.

TODAY I LOVE: my Ninja Princessa - 14, I can't believe she's fourteen!

Was THAT The Hill?

Last night was our first official run with Team Sakina. It's exciting to be a part of a women's running group, especially one like this. Team Sakina operates on many levels: bringing together women runners to encourage them individually and to build community among them; supporting the mapping, care, and use of local running trails; and supporting academic and health initiatives in a small village in Tanzania. I love it!

And yet I was nervous about going. Shocking? No. Not so much. Not if you've read, say, any other post I've ever written. I pretty much operate in the world by vacillating between peppy enthusiasm and abject nervousness.

It would be lovely if someday I felt worthy of being in the group I'm attempting to join. Don't get me wrong - I'm totally fabulous and they're lucky to get me - but in terms of fully meeting the running requirements of the group...it's a bit of a stretch. I can do what they said are their requirements. When they said 11 to 12 minute mile pace, I took them at their word! I can do 12, but I bet they were hoping for closer to the 11. It's very clear I'm the absolute slowest one in the whole group. And it turns out, there is also an unwritten agility requirement for Team Sakina. (I may not have mentioned it recently, but I am not the most graceful land creature.) Last night we met up and then jogged (i.e. everyone else bounded like gazelles while I huffed and puffed) along the highway for a half a mile or so to get to the field/trails. Then the thirty of us hiked another quarter mile through the damp mugginess until we got to a narrow, slippery pipe bridging a creek which the gazelles (all 29 of them) pranced across. (Ok - Donna would sooooo object to being called a prancing gazelle! But she bravely and sure-footedly traipsed across that pipe.) My options were to slide down the creekbed and climb up the other side as quickly as I could or attempt the pipe crossing, fall, crack my head and die. Hmmmm. Let's see, which should I choose? (When Donna saw the pipe, she didn't even say anything - she just held out her hands in an offer to carry my towel and water bottle for me. There is a lot to be said for a partner who knows you so well and loves you anyway.)

So before we even got to the trail, I was an adrenaline-charged mess. I was grateful that we did some team building stuff (=name games and "What does running mean to you?" type things) before we started in on the hill workout. The other women were kind and funny and admitted to not being as confident as they all looked. Then it was time for the not quite mile long hill loop. Somehow as we started off, I ended up about three quarters of the way back in the line. Not good. I was totally stressed about holding up the gals behind me! Flat, flat, turn into the field and then up, up, up. As I (finally) crested the hill I heard one of the ladies up ahead of me say in an incredulous voice as she started the descent, "Was that the hill?" So. Demoralizing. But inspiring in a twisted, rankling kind of way. I want to be the person who gets to the top and doesn't even think it qualifies as a hill!!!! I want to be that strong. I'm pretty sure I need to run a lot of hills to get there. Sigh.

But it was gorgeous! The sun was setting and the trees were literally shimmering in the light. The uphill part was on a mowed path through the tall grass and the downhill was along a shady trail through the woods. It was humid as only the South can be, but so heart wrenchingly beautiful. The second loop was still physically hard for me but mentally and emotionally more comfortable. The third loop - when I'd finally managed to get everyone ahead of me and could run at my own pace - was much smoother. It was 30 seconds slower but my breathing was better and I actually enjoyed it. I could have done a fourth but I was glad to stop at three and rest on my (relative) laurels. I'm looking forward to Team Sakina's long run tomorrow morning.

TODAY I LOVE: my 39 year-old (today) sister!!

Capital City Classic 10K - May 9, 2009

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for the Capital City Classic 10K in Raleigh. It was my first standalone 10K and I may have mentioned I was oddly stressy about it. I had a hard time getting myself out the door - in part because registration for Team Sakina was online, limited to 30 women, and starting at about the same time as the race! (John sent our registrations in for us. Thanks honey!) I felt discombobulated - did I have my inhaler? Water? Gels? Body glide? Was I missing something?

(There is something unnerving to me about running races because once you're dressed, there's just not that much more to do to be ready! No bike to check, no transitions to plan for, no wetsuit or goggles to keep up with, etc. Weird.)

This 10K takes place in the heart of downtown Raleigh. In spite of the lack of directions on the website (the link didn't link anywhere - fail!), it was easy to find and park (for free in a parking garage that wasn't charging for the day - yay!) Packet pick up was inside the Sheraton and smooooth. Also? While there were a couple of porta-potties outside near the race start, I was all about using the nice hotel facilities. It had been a little breezy and slightly overcast but was clearing up (and heating up, dammit) just as the race started (later than advertised). Oh well. I had expected a much bigger crowd (possibly because the race had billed itself as friendly for beginning runners and walkers.) It looked like there were only about two hundred people. And almost all of them looked fast. Oh well.

For us this race was an extra training run (on top of an extra trail run we'd already thrown in on Thursday night) and we still had a big swim ahead of us that afternoon and a brick on Sunday. My goals were to enjoy the experience, see Raleigh in a new way, and to run the whole thing. Not to leave you in suspense, I accomplished a measley one out of three of my goals. Sadness.

The beginning of the course was interesting - winding past big, downtown churches and into great neighborhoods with jungley sidewalk gardens and huge, wraparound porches on display. The volunteers were fantastic and there were cops at every single intersection holding traffic and pointing the way. That was great. Our first couple of miles were fast (for us) - but they always are in races. The tightness and worry I feel starting out gave way in short order to a smooth pace and good rhythm. At mile 2 I snagged a cup from the water station. Donna was smart enough to grab two and pour one on her head. It was getting hot! I was wishing I'd gotten more than the dinky little two swallows but knew there'd be at least one more stop along the way. Mile 3 was a bit slower and mile 4 seemed to be entirely in the sun. There was one fantastic view of the city skyline as we ran over a highway overpass. Part of me wished I had my camera with me and part of me didn't give a flying ratfuck. That's a bad sign.

The heat was getting to me. I felt melty inside and my skin felt weird. I had to slow to a walk a couple of times to try to bring my heart rate down and feel better. I didn't feel better. I was looking forward to the water stop which we guessed would be at the 4 mile mark. It was! But when we got there - no water. WTF?! It was in the upper 80's or low 90's in a not-crowded race billed as beginner friendly - and they didn't bring out more than one cooler of water?? (Seriously - my son's lacrosse team of 20 boys always has three or four coolers of water. This race had one.) My bad attitude about the lack of water may have had something to do with me making a total newbie mistake to compound the issue. I took my gel when I saw the water station and all the cups. Calories and water get me through hot runs. Calories without water? NOT good. Feeling as bad as I already did from the heat, having ingested a gel with no water to chase it much less to rehydrate me, and knowing I was stuck for the rest of the race - sucked. Totally sucked. Note to self: no gel until the water is in hand!!!

I tried to re-set. I focused on smiling at the volunteers and thanking them. I sent D on ahead because even though it was hard for her, she was still running. I resigned myself to walking the rest of the way. I had chills on my skin but my insides were still boiling. My brain was hazy. I was mad at myself for not having my own water with me - though almost no one else in the race did either. I was disappointed and felt like a loser for not even being able to keep up a slow jog. But I was just too hot. And I was not about to get sick or fall and hurt myself by pushing hard in a race that essentially didn't matter! Still...loserdom. I finished in a terrible 1:19:something or other. I didn't care. It was minutes slower than my PacGrove Oly Tri 10K. I was not, however, DFL. There were at least 4 people behind me. The announcer called them the last finishers but later (like 5 minutes or more?) the announcer was talking about even more finishers coming in. I was too busy sucking down water and trying to adjust my attitude.

There were LOTS of people complaining about how challenging the course was and how hot it was. I did not add my voice. I'll admit though, it did make me feel a bit better when a local running star, Victor (who won the 10 miler last weekend) told me he'd gotten cramps and quit at mile 5. He said, "Some races are like that."**

I know this is long already so I'll say one last cranky thing. Since it's only the second year for this race, I was all set to cut the race directors slack (except for the water station fail). I thought "resourceful" instead of "tacky" when I noticed that they were using race numbers/timing chip holders with last year's date on them. I forgave the late start and lack of working links for important things like directions, parking and race photos. But I just saw that the "overall" race results end inexplicably at least 15 minutes before the last finishers crossed the line. I'm not in the results. Donna, who finished 5+ minutes ahead of me, isn't even in the results. Beginner and walker-friendly my ass!!

Saturday continued to be odd and disconcerting. It took me quite a few hours to feel like my body temperature was stable enough to attempt the swim workout. Then about three quarters of the way through our swim (just before my final descending 50's) it started getting really dark. I was still processing the fact that we must be swimming waaaaay slower than I thought for it to be getting dark already when the lifeguard pulled everyone out of the pool. Lightning flashed, thunder thundered, and the power flickered. Sweet. We did vindicate ourselves on Sunday, though. A Mother's Day Brick: we biked for 58 minutes (avg pace 13.3) and then ran for six miles - including warm up, cool down, and fartleks in the middle for speed work!! (mutter, mutter, stupid 10k, take that, mutter, no water mo-fos, muter, mutter)

And (last thing - I SWEAR!) we went to see Star Trek. It was fan-flippin-tastic! I loved every minute of it. It's a total must-see.

TODAY I LOVE: science fiction everything and fresh pineapple!

**I had the hardest time not responding to Victor with , "Even in Australia."

When The Word Brick Is Followed By An "S"

First, a little Linky Love because Blogland is so awesome right now:

• Have you seen Benson's Swine Flu post?? OMG - I've had this open on my desktop for days now and it cracks me the hell up every, single time I see it!!
• If you haven't already - head over to Brian's for the chance to win the Big B Swag Bag (including a piece of The Wall!) from his upcoming Great Wall Marathon on the 16th. He needs some songs for motivation and you can help. BTW, how freakin' cool is that for a marathon??
  
• Don't go to DCRainmaker's blog unless you want to see some gorgeous pictures of Seattle and the first ever picture of his elusive Girl. Jeanne once called him the enfant terrible and that name totally made me chuckle. I love his blog even though it puts mine to shame. He travels and trains and eats gorgeous food 10 times more often than I ever will and he blogs about it all practically in real time with amazing pics. Good thing he's so nice or I might have to hate him.
• I've found two more B2B peeps! Missy is doing the half and KrissyGo is doing the full. Yay!
  

Now about those brickS! Bricks - we all know and love bricks. What's not to love about jumping off the bike and trying to run when your ass feels like lead and your legs may or may not even be down there anymore - oh wait, you can see them and there's a vague thudding sensation nearby so your legs must be kinda sorta working? Some bricks are better than others. I don't really mind swim-bike bricks. (Those are still called bricks, right? I know the races like that are called aquabikes but the training plans I've read still call those workouts bricks.) See, all of this talk about bricks plural and it's no big thing. But then our training plan (that I may begin to hate Formulaic for) called for bricks plural on Sunday. Us - two bricks, one workout. As in "15 mile bike followed by 2 mile run, times two." (BTW - we're doing this 18 week plan twice through - once at the "beginner" level and then after a two week break, a second time at the "intermediate" level to end at our first half iron in good shape. The double brick is the beginner level. Next time through it will be a triple brick. Help me, Sweet Baby Jesus.) Do you get the idea that this thing scared the kee-rap out of me? We'd already had a big day on Saturday so I was not sure at all I could do this workout as prescribed.

Guess what? We KICKED it. As in a) we finished both bricks and b) the pace of our final two miles on the run was 30 seconds faster than pace of our first two mile run - which was already slightly faster than our "normal" pace to begin with!! Boo-yah! (So, Form, you are safe from my wrath - in fact, I may owe you a great big, sweaty hug!)

All through the first brick we kept looking for ways out of the second. It wasn't happening. The weather was great, there were no mechanical issues, and even me leaving my bike glasses at a bathroom stop couldn't be turned into more than an excuse to ride an exta mile out of the way. So Donna and I started talking about how we didn't have to do anything but finish the second one. It didn't have to be as good/fast/easy as the first one. It merely had to be done. We could do that - just finish it. Every wheel revolution and run step taken on that second brick was gravy. Every bit was pushing into new territory - doing something we'd not done before. Gravy, gravy, gravy we kept telling ourselves. We were more than a little punchy at the end. Can you tell? Guess those endorphins had finally kicked in. The second brick turned out to be smoother, stronger, and faster! Forget it being plain old gravy. It was transformational gravy! (Which we decided would be a great name for a folk group but would suck as a punk band name.)

I'm still not sure how we did it but I'm beginning to trust and love the training process. Of course, I might not feel that way for very long. I still have an hour worth of sprint, hill, and leg drills on the bike trainer this afternoon. Peace peeps!

TODAY I LOVE: transformational gravy and recovery days (like yesterday - still savoring it!)

Philosopher's Way 7K Trail Race Report

Woo hoo! I ran a trail race! It was only my second ever trail run - and it was fantastic!! I have no idea what my "official" time was but my watch said 1:00 flat. (I didn't stop my watch at the water station or when I took pictures. Donna did stop hers so her watch says we managed 58:11. The official time is sure to be a bit more than an hour because it wasn't chip timed and it took us a bit to get to the line.) What a great race! And what super weather we had. Overcast and only in the upper 70's. Here are some pictures from the morning:

This is the 15K start. (We didn't do the 15K because aside from seeming like too much to bite off for a first trail race - we still have a 2100 yd swim and a 25 mile bike ride on the schedule for today.)

We were running on the mountain bike trails in the Carolina North forest so there were all kinds of coolie things along the way like this banked ramp.

They had PBR and pretzels at the water station. I LOVE trail races!!

Here we are at the water break. I carried my camera in my hand the whole time - so you can tell I wasn't terribly concerned with my time. I wanted to enjoy the experience and record what was different about trail racing from road racing.

Pretty much everything was different! There were rolling hills throughout. A few tougher climbs but mostly rolling, rolling, and winding. The above picture doesn't really do justice to this cute little curvy bump and tree bridge along the trail. I was fascinated by how different it feels to be in the forest. I got into a zone but it was an entirely different type of zone. For the first mile, we could hear the music from the "expo" area drifting over and through the trees. After that faded away, we heard each other - a little chatter, some huffing and puffing along the single track line, and the crunch and tramp of footfalls.

There was an entire glade of ferns at the bottom of one of the downhill curves. I love the lush mystery of ferns.

And rocks!! There were gorgeous rocks everywhere. Rocks make me happy. Seriously happy. At the start, we had chatted with a teacher Donna used to work with (Kirsten) and met some of her friends (Kristy and Blake) who were doing the race. Afterwards we compared notes about how great the race was and we might start our own training group! (Maybe even to include our dogs in some way.) How much fun is that?! This training and racing thing just keeps getting better and better! Peace.

TODAY LOVE: Mother Nature and the athletic community

**Hey RBR - look! I posted a race report on the very day I ran the race!!**

Home Alone

For the first time in a long time I am home alone. (Or at least - I'm the sole human. I have plenty of crazed, furry company in the form of two squirrel-mad dogs.) Today is John's first day of work! Yay! It's so exciting.

In training news - I did in fact go for that run (with Donna) last week in the rain for track drills and then 40 minutes at Zone 2. I think we were supposed to do 15' at Zone 1, but as I've said before, I don't have a Zone 1 run (yet). If I slow down enough to stay below Zone 2, then it's a walk. Sigh. I hope as I build up aerobically and drop weight that I'll end up having a Zone 1 run. Then, in an exciting development, our next run was a 4 mile run which I kicked ass on. We have a trail close by that's a flat 3 miles. To get in the extra mile we ran there and back home again which we don't usually do because from the trail to our house is STRAIGHT UPHILL. But we did it - and even with the hill, I had the fastest pace on any run since the triathlon last year. Woo hoo! (Of course it hurt and was hard and I wanted to stop pretty much every step - but I did it anyway!) Total "yay me" moment. We had a swim over the weekend with the main set being 50's at Zone 3 then Zone 2. It was bizarre how consistent I was. In Zone 3 my times were :44, :45, :44, :45, :44, :45 and my Zone 2 50's were all :47 with two of them being the exact same to the millisecond (or whatever that next smaller number is called.) I am enjoying the swim workouts right now. Oh - but someone please answer me this - what exactly is the point of doing a kick drill with fins on? (The lady in the lane next to me freaked me out by lapping me on the kickboard until I realized she had some help of the blue plasticy kind.) I don't really understand the point of fins in the pool. They make a TON of sense to me in the ocean when you're snorkeling and want to be able to stay out longer and move faster with less energy expended - but in the workout pool?

In nutrition news - I am a wack job. I'm totally turning into one of those health nuts. I'm seriously considering doing this six week vegetarian food plan. The hardest thing for me is that I don't like beans. At all. Or tomatoes. They totally (and completely!) squick me out. Legumes. I don't even like that word. It sounds ridiculous. Like there was once a contest to find the word that sounded the dorkiest when you said it and that's the word that won - legumes. Still - the more studies I read, the more I learn about nutrition, the more I think I have to go gonzo on the fruits and vegetables (and legumes) and step away from the animal products. I can eliminate meat with very little problem. Probably won't even notice that part. It's the cheese that I love with all my heart and every fiber of my (chubby) being. But I am committed and serious and focused about finally (finally, finally) losing this weight! I want to be my right size when I toe the line in November. Eating healthy food is so much EASIER than working out with all these extra pounds on me. If someone said - you can keep eating all the stuff you like right now, but you have to wear this 40lb rucksack for every workout from now until November - I would absolutely say forget it, skip the anchor - hand me the health food. The Zone Diet has been a great start for me but I need ... more. Nutritionally dense food - here I come! Do you think giving up cheese will be as hard as giving up caffeine? ('Cause that took me like two years - and I only have seven months!) Wish me well.

I'm sorry I haven't been by to visit/comment much since last week. I'll try to catch up soon - but today is another four mile run and upper body weight training. Tomorrow, pals.

TODAY I LOVE: learning about nutrition

In Which I Am Hardcore And Eat Bee Pollen

Did you get that? I am hardcore and I ate bee pollen this weekend. (Not I am hardcore because I ate bee pollen. The bee pollen is totally a side gig.) I am hardcore because yesterday I rode my bike on the trainer for 45 minutes then went OUTSIDE in the RAIN and FORTY-FOUR degree weather to do track drills* and run three miles and then went to the pool for my swim workout. That is the hardcorest (hardest core?) I've ever been.

[Insert your own segue here because I can't come up with one] on Saturday, Donna and I went to Whole Foods with the following list:
(<--)Bee pollen, wheat germ, kale, edamame, wine**, eucalyptus soap, barley malt, flaxseeds, and almond butter. The barley malt is for John's bread making endeavors and the soap is Donna's favorite. The rest of the bizarro things on the list? All for eating. I put them on the list. Me! Eating shit like kale and flaxseeds!! How did this happen?

As little girls in the 70's, my sister and I got dragged to the Good Life Health Food Store. It smelled weird. The walls were harvest gold, the letters on the sign were chocolate brown. (Those letters were the chocolatiest things in the whole place. Who on earth came up with the idea that "carob" is an adequate substitute for chocolate? Can we shoot that person?) Anyway, my mom wasn't uber crunchy but she loved that health food store. At seven, I tried to like it too, for her sake. The flowery herbal hair conditioner was nice. The vanilla protein snack sticks were ok. The carrot candy and oily peaunut butter? Not ok at all. They squicked me out. Did I mention the place smelled weird?

Then along came the 80's - woo hoo! High school meant my mother (whom I no longer wanted to please) was working as a news producer (i.e. never home). My friends & I were hanging out at McDonald's, the arcade, and the food court in the mall. Coca cola! French fries! And also bulimia! The 80's - not so healthy for me.

Then I was in the Navy and it was back to someone else being in charge of what I ate. I assume the food at the chow hall was moderately healthy. To be honest, I don't remember thinking about it one way or the other. What I do remember is lots of black coffee on watch, lots of exercise at 5 am and lots of alcohol on the weekends I didn't have watch.

Then I was in college - and ridiculously poor. I ate the most substantial food I could given my $15 a week (yes, a week) budget. There was a "Co-op" on campus that my friends dragged me to once in a while. (I was never entirely clear on exactly what the cooperative aspect of it was.) It was in a corner of the basement of the student union. It was part health food store, part weirdo cafeteria and was staffed by people with dreads and berets crocheted out of hemp. You know the kind of people who rub lava rocks on their pits and try to tell you that it works just as well as the toxic and environmentally irresponsible deodorant you use - when you know for a fact it doesn't work at all, much less as well - because boy, do those people smell bad? Yeah - the co-op. It was enough to put me off health food again for another decade or two.

Then came mommyhood and moderation in all things. I was now only moderately poor but also moderately obsessed with walking the right line between health food and junk food to feed my family. Of course I wanted my kids to be healthy but I also did not want them to be picked on. No way was I going to be that mommy who uses applesauce instead of sugar to sweeten brownies or the one who puts rice cakes soaked in carrot juice into the Spiderman lunch box. I was the kind of mommy who had family dinners by candlelight (because kids who can't see that it's green eat it without rebelling) and also the kind of mommy who would mix peanut butter and gummy bears into oatmeal. I think I must have found the right balance somewhere along the way because even though my kids live to be allowed energy drinks and pop tarts - they also eat their veggies. Saturday night the dinner menu was roasted chicken and veggies (broccolini, carrots, potatoes, garlic and kale) with Bakerella's Cake Bites (by way of Pioneer Woman's blog) for dessert. At the end of the night - there were some leftover cakebites but the kale and broccolini were gone! Three of the five kids had gone back for seconds on the kale. Woo hoo!

Somewhere along the way - I've found the right balance for me too. I no longer see the world divided into two camps: the smelly, lentil- loving, breathing-through-one-nostril, yoga folks on one side and the mostly manic, chardonnay sipping, tiny, overly perfumed and estee laudered, aerobics ladies on the other. I can be a little of both and neither, all at the same time. I can have my Zone and Eat Clean too! I am excited about my training for the half ironman and love learning more about nutrition so I can fuel properly. I'm braver in all ways. I don't mind trying a supplement or two. Bee pollen (for energy), wheat germ (for fiber)***, flaxseeds (for a healthy heart, hair, and skin) - sure I'll try that!
<---Tosca Reno is pretty damn hot - and she puts all that muck in her oatmeal*** every morning. You BET I'll try it! Did you know she's ten years older than I am?! Yeah, she doesn't look like she smells weird either. So now I'm off to eat a bowl of crunchy fiber twigs ****while I read race reports from the weekend! Ciao.

TODAY I LOVE: trying new things (even if some of them turn out to be yucky)!


*Didn't fall down once thankyouverymuch. And? That karaoke one? I ROCK at that! Those long ago tapdance lessons and aerobics classes (where we did the same thing but called it the grapevine) paid off more than I thought. Woo hoo!
**See? We may be turning into crunchy weirdos but we still like our White Burgundy every once in a while. Only, RATS! We forgot to buy wine even though it was on the list!! I think we got too distracted trying to figure out where barley malt would be.
***Do not believe anyone who tells you wheat germ tastes good sprinkled on popcorn. It doesn't. It tastes vile. And weird. And since I'm throwing out advice on this hippie food - let me also tell you that bee pollen is not sweet and delicious like all those bee pollen pushers say it is. It is dry and a little rank in a citrus-y kind of way. It tastes the way the froth from an Orange Julius smells. If you mix it in your oatmeal, you are condemned to a whole bowl of that taste. Next time just pop a teaspoon of it into your mouth and wash it down with a glass of water. Same burst of energy. Way less suffering. (Oh - and skip it entirely if you're allergic to bees or honey.)
****Crunchy fiber twigs?!! Who the hell thought the idea of eating twigs of any description, much less crunchy and fibery ones, was a marketing bonus? If that is the best that can be said about this cereal then I'm giving the rest of the box to my hound dog who eats deer poop. I'll let you know how it goes.

Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine":
I'm trying not to be grumpy about going back to dark mornings. I'm trying to be happy for all the people (like my love) who now have an extra hour of afternoon daylight in which to squeeze their training.

'T' is for TRAINING and TONSILECTOMY (neither of which had a thing to do with my week):
My training hit a rough patch last week. I had a run that could have been great if I could have gotten some oxygen to my lungs. Sadly, nary an oxygen mote showed any inclination to make that arduous journey. My legs felt super, my energy was fine, my back and arms were relaxed - nothing was tense. I felt really strong. But I could NOT breathe. I did the miles at an okay pace. I was simply frustrated to be *this* close to a fantastic run. Then the morning of my "key" swim, I woke up with a crick in my neck. No breathing on the right side for me. And if that weren't enough, I got a serious case of hiccups in the locker room right before I hit the water. What a mess!! What a lurchy, splashy mess. Again, I did manage to get in the yardage at an ok pace. We'll label the inadvertently inhaled water a bonus chlorine nasal rinse and move on, eh? But we can't move far because I totally bailed on my ride yesterday. The weather was great. I had plenty of time. The issue is that I am a chicken. Riding alone is terrifying for me, even in the middle of the season when I've been on my bike and have everything lined up. As it stands, I don't have things clustered, much less lined up. I need to do some adjustments on Vivian to make sure she's road worthy; I have to remember routes (and find some that avoid UNC/Duke basketball game traffic!); I have to find my contacts (which I only wear for cycling); and then I have to face the fear of being on my bike outside for the first time and alone on the road. I couldn't make all (any) of that happen yesterday.

All Quiet On The Stresstern Front:
My other love, John, is waiting to hear back from the company he had his fourth interview with last week. Did I mention that his "fourth" interview consisted of a two hour phone interview on Wednesday, a six hour interview on Thursday where he gave a presentation, and a two hour follow up interview with the CEO alone on Friday?? He is the only one in the running and it was a wonderful experience. He is excited about the company and what they do in the world. This job would be a great fit in that he has experience in an area this company desperately needs. It all seemed to go well and now we are waiting. I am not good at the waiting part. Look at him! So handsome! So corporate with his newly clean shaven face, lack of earring and tattoos all covered up!
And wearing the lucky tie in honor of IMNZ! Can you see it? Here's a close up. How can he not get the job, right? We are hoping to hear in the next couple of days. We are well past the point of even pretending not to have hopes up. So if there is no offer on the table this week - then my beloved interweb buddies - you are going to have to take us out and shoot us get us drunk to get us over the disappointment.

Now that I have been cheery and peppy and kind and positive, I will take my charming self to the towering stack of mail I haven't wanted to deal with to find the last two bits the accountant needs to file our taxes. Happy Monday all!


TODAY I LOVE: sunshine, even if it is an hour late

Foto Friday

A few images from the week. (They should all be clickable for better detail.) A new community center pool opened about 2 miles away from me. It is clean and bright and has ten lanes just for lap swimming.

It has this little pool over on the side for swim lessons, aerobics, etc. Note the wide ramp. It is so accessible! My only question is if there are two separate pools then why oh why oh why do they keep the temperature of the lap pool at 80*?? It's nice for that first 50 meters but after that I'm sweating in the pool!
Another great thing about the new pool is the amazing, artsy, mosaic-ish floor in the lobby. I wish the colors had come through in this picture. The glass stones are in jewel colors.
It is beautifully reflective and crisp looking. I'm sure there were cheaper flooring options, but I'm so thankful they went with beauty. I stand and look at that floor for a few minutes every time I go to the pool.

This past week, Donna and I switched rooms.* This is my new space. (Fancy bedside table I have, don't you think?) Donna has much more traditional furniture. It's beautiful. But I have more books. You would not believe how much I love my books. This is the other side of my room now. The magic table makes me happy. (I found it for free the day after I said, "I'd sure like to have a plain, white wooden table big enough for my art quilt projects and small enough to be a writing desk." Hence the magic-ness of it all.) I will confess to tidying up the running shoes (and flip flops and doc martens and slip on clogs) out from underneath the table for the picture.

This is a picture of a delicious pasta dish that John had at a very shi-shi restaurant. I had one bite - which was heavenly and perfect - but I think I enjoyed looking at it almost as much as tasting it. So pretty!

This is the guard bunny right outside of Donna's door. (It's a rock.) It is completely whimsical to have a tiny rock painted like a bunny to guard you when you are sleeping. I love it so. These two are the real guardians. (Ha!) Tallulah is nesting in my pillows, on top of her most favorite pink blankie, using fluffy Wasabi as a pillow. She could only be happier if she simultaneously was perched on top of one or more humans. She takes snuggling seriously.
I am out the door for another three mile run - this one with those crazy drills I mentioned the other day at the track first. I ran three miles yesterday and this workout wasn't scheduled until Sunday - but the weather is not cooperating with the half iron plan. Today is supposed to be near seventy degrees and tomorrow rainy and 40, Sunday rainy high 30's, and Monday possible snow. Bleck. So the Upper Body/Core and a swim with intervals are on the weekend's agenda instead of a run. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

TODAY I LOVE: the focus on intentionality that Lent brings me


*Different poly relationships solve the bedroom dilemma different ways. We each have our own space. Given the number of kids we have - that is a LOT of bedrooms for one house. Someday- when the kids are flown - I hope to have the part of my quilt studio that is in my closet have it's own space. But for right now - I am thrilled to have the room I do! Please ignore the half built glass brick wall. It has been a saga to get it this far. Remember the day I raced Donna to go get stitches in her leg? Yeah - it's the same wall. *

Rapture

I love Fall! I love the Bolin Creek Trail! I love my fabulous Brooks Glycerin kicks and my purple Timex Iron Man watch. I love my iPod with its songs that make me laugh or go faster or slow down and breathe. I love RUNNING!! I swear* to you that if the Rapture comes when I am out for a run like the one I just had, I won't notice it. I will miss it entirely. (Of course if the Rapture happens the way some people think it will - I'm getting left behind anyway. Might as well be having a fabulous run in that case, eh?) Today is a great day. I am in seriously good space. Except I stink. So I'll go fix that and hope the rest of you are having super terrific days too.

PS - *I first typed "I sweat" instead of "I swear" which cracked me up. And is true. Fixing that. Now. Really.

A Miraculous Trail Run

We are talking miracles plural. Miracle A - I ran! (It's been a while.) Miracle B - I managed not to go tail over tea kettle while running down the boulder strewn gully trail. Late fall afternoon gloom, the already shady Bolin Forest, a marked lack of natural agility, not to mention severe myopia - all factors contributing to my fantastic tumble along a rocky ravine trail run. It is a good thing I chose to leave the HRM at home. I'm pretty sure it would have had a hard time measuring a million beats per minute. I highly recommend trail running for anyone who needs to up their adrenaline production. (And for those in need of a shot of humiliation, there is always the option of attempting a trail run at the same time the middle school gazelles cross country runners are dashing around.) I think I would have cried and tried to take a shortcut back to the car (and probably gotten lost in the woods) if Donna hadn't been a calming and encouraging presence beside me. It is ridiculous how stupid I felt - how awkward and out of shape and useless. But it was amazingly good to be outside, to be with Donna, to be running (no matter how poorly). I can't wait until we go again. (This running thing? A sickness. I promise you, it's a sickness.)

San Francisco Half (The Retro Race Report)

In keeping with my fabulous tradition of posting race reports weeks, months, and sometimes years after they happen - here's my after-the-fact take on the San Francisco Half Marathon. If you missed it, here is where I posted the bare bones. Now for the flesh! Here's a shot of my loot from the weekend:

I bought the socks and the headband, the Power Bar swag was from the tri-clinic the day before but the rest was stuffed into our SF goody bags. I also got a long-sleeve, technical shirt at the expo for $5 that I wore on race day. Score!

Did I tell you about our rather complicated travel plans? We'd driven from Las Vegas to San Francisco on Friday (the race being on Sunday morning) so that we could check in, get our race numbers, hit the expo and then drive south again to stay closer to Pacific Grove for the night. We got up early and spent all day Saturday at an amazing triathlon clinic in PG and then drove back to San Francisco. We had booked a room Saturday night at the Omni, which was one of the partner hotels for the race, to be close to the start and not have to figure anything out. The discount rate for racers made it a super deal for San Francisco (at a mere $200/night), but it was still a splurge for us! It was worth it, though. We knew ahead of time that both Friday and Saturday would be long days for us. And they were. Saturday evening - after a day in the sun and the Pacific Ocean - we show up at the Omni looking like ass. (And not in a good way.) We had tried to organize it a bit ahead of time but we still resembled bag ladies after valeting our car ($48!) and checking our bikes with the bell hop. We schlepped into the fancy schmancy lobby trying to exude an air of confidence and belonging, despite our crunchy hair and salty clothes. That lasted until the concierge we approached redirected us to a different, special issues concierge (in the corner). I totally thought we were being booted out. The Omni, however, is not like that at all! The concierge was incredibly professional yet nice and explained to us that they had a guest who'd had a family emergency and needed to extend their stay. The Omni - due to the race - was booked solid but wanted to help these people out without adding to their stress by making them move. Would we consider moving to a new hotel? Crap. We didn't want to be the bad guys, but we were tired, we'd just unloaded all our gear - including taking the bikes off the roof and checking them with the Omni's staff, and we didn't want to be further away from the start in the morning. Much polite conversation followed but the gist was that the Omni was offering to comp our parking valet, store our bikes, send us in a limo to the other hotel - which was a tenth of a mile further from the race start, pay for our cab ride back to get our stuff the next day AND pay for a suite at the new hotel. The new hotel being The Four Seasons. Um, yeah. Ok. If you put it like that. SURE!

So the crusty bag ladies were dropped off at an even fancier hotel around the corner. Here are a few pictures of our suite at the Four Seasons. This is our living room:

Our office:

Our bathroom which had an INCREDIBLE bathtub for soaking in. I didn't get a picture of the fluffy robes and slippers, or the marble counter with the baskets of fabulous shampoo, French milled soap, and lotions galore. (I do have a picture of the separate potty with the PHONE next to it but I can't get it to load.) I also didn't take a picture of the bedroom with the king size bed and giant flat screen tv. You'll have to imagine it was as sumptuous as the rest.


This is one of our two walk -in closets. We don't have two walk-in closets in our house. Who are these people that need two closets in their hotel room?
Did I mention we had a corner room? Here is the view out one window:

One thing we had been worried about was getting something to eat. I know, I know, San Francisco is a foodie's paradise but our pre-race nutrition is not very exciting. Plain and nutritious - that's what we were going for. And fast! We needed to eat and get to bed. Once we were done exploring our free (!!) room we decided we could now afford to splurge on room service. We still ordered boring food - chicken noodle soup, chicken sandwich, plain french fries and apples. Here's how it arrived:
Silver baskets, linen napkins, orchids! And the food was all freshly prepared. My soup was light and savory with the best carrots and the most tender chicken. Donna had been soaking in the to-die-for tub when the food arrived and she wasn't particularly interested in getting out for a chicken sandwich. I think my description of the steaming bowls and fresh cut flowers finally got through to her, though. (Wish I had a picture of her face when she saw the table all laid out!) A far cry from our original plan:
Ok enough with the night before! Race Day: We got good sleep, woke up with nerves and sunburns from the day before, and headed down to the race start. It was not quite light yet, cool, and misty. We hit the porta potties and got to our corral just as it was starting to move up to the starting line. (That is Donna's favorite kind of timing. Show up and run. I'd have preferred a half hour more to wander around being nervous but it worked out just fine.) The start:

As much as I love triathlon, it was nice to have nothing else to think about other than running! There were hordes of people at the beginning but it didn't take long to open up. There weren't a lot of spectators - which was pleasant for me. We wound around the wharves and down the Embarcadero up towards the Presidio. There was a marching band/group of cheer leaders there at about mile 3 and that was the most organized cheering section until the finish line! It warmed up enough that I took my long sleeve shirt off for about two miles, but as we got closer to the Golden Gate bridge it got windier and windier. I put it back on and left it on for the rest of the race. Given that it was SF - it was a very flat course (thank goodness)!

I felt great the whole time. I never once hit that dark, icky place. I was completely and totally jazzed to be in the moment, to be in San Francisco, running across the Golden Gate bridge in the fog, and to know I had friends with me and waiting for me at the end. My lovely partner Donna did not have as positive an experience. She'd worked harder in the clinic the day before, doing the bike and the swim and she started having leg pain at about mile 2 of the half marathon. The next 11.1 miles were a battle for her. She's done seven or eight half marathons and this is the first one she has ever wanted to quit. She didn't want to bring me down and she didn't want to be a quitter, but she was tired and in pain from the beginning. Not the kind of pain where she was injuring herself by pushing through. She knows the difference. But it was a mental and emotional struggle to have to spend what little energy she had just to keep herself running. She wanted me to go ahead of her but I didn't want to leave her. Finally somewhere on the bridge she dropped back and growled at me when I slowed down. Then she sort of smiled and made me go on saying she'd catch up. It's hard to know what to do. I was having a great race and wanted to share some of my positive energy with her - but how fucking annoying is it to have Polly Perky running next to you when you're struggling?! I wanted her to have what she needed and giving her a chance to get into her own zone, dig deep, and decide for herself whether to stay in or get out seemed like the best thing. Here is a picture of Polly Perky from the official photographers: I found out later Donna spent most of the first half of the bridge in tears. Miles 5 through 10 were across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. I hit the water station at the turn around/far side of the bridge and walked looking backwards until I found her. She seemed to be in slightly better space but she still tried to make me go on. I told her I'd leave again if that's what she needed, but what I wanted was to share the rest of the race with her at whatever pace, in whatever way - walking or running - that she needed. She was worried we might not make the 3 hour cut off for finisher's medals. (She hadn't worried about that before - her times are usually well under three hours. Before the race I had been the one stressing about the cutoff because I've never run that fast. And I had made a big deal about wanting the medal.) But at mile 8? I was having such a good time - in the race, on the trip as a whole - that I just didn't care about it. I wanted to be together. If we made it in time, fantastic. If not? Ok fine. I was having an amazing time being in the moment. It was so different from any other running experience I've ever had. I think the end of the race was better for Donna because she knew it would be over soon and because she was proud of herself for pushing herself more than she ever had. (Not faster - but just through more pain and ugly voices than ever before.) We finished together before the cut off and got our medals. We did buy this picture but I haven't scanned it yet.

Here's our "OMG it's finally over" photo from my phone:
(I did wear my medal for the rest of the day because I was so proud of myself for having such a good race. But it's a darn good thing I wasn't attached to the medal itself because I haven't been able to find it since. I thought I stuffed it in my bag that night, but it is gone, gone, gone!)

My chip time was 2:50:22 which was a half an hour faster than my only other half marathon and which was a half an hour slower than Donna's PR. Even though she had a crappy race, Donna had a good day. We got to meet and hang with Wille and the RBR girls before heading back east. I loved this race and would do it again in a heartbeat. Peace!