Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect - Race Report

Despite that awful picture I posted, the Megatransect is really a pretty amazing event. The folks who organize it do a great job and the volunteers were all over the place making things go smoothly for the runners/hikers.

Friday night we got to the start/finish area to collect our goodie bags and race numbers. We were greeted with music, a nice fire, and food. They had typical happy hour stuff: cheese and crackers , chips and dip, salsa, some pizza squares, and some mini meatballs and some other kind of sausage type thing. Good snacks but not a real meal. It also looked like there was beer and wine, soda and Red Bull, but I was only interested in the water. Lots of runners were camping out and socializing at the pre-race party.


The goodie bag was fine – nothing too exotic but Brian did get lucky and found a really nice nalgene bottle in his bag. There were also some Clif bar samples and some Hammer Gel in the bag. On the table of food there were also boxes of Hammer Gel and the Hammer version of e-caps with signs that said “Take as many as you want”. So I helped myself to a couple of each flavor. I haven’t tried them out yet but it will be fun to finally have a new gel in the rotation.


It also included a nice gray Asics tech shirt with the logo on the left breast. It’s a very nice shirt –much like my shirt from the New York Marathon. I was hoping for something a little more flashy since this is such a strange event but it’s fine. I was a little jealous of the guys wandering around camp with the long-sleeved cotton shirts from years past because those had nice elaborate designs. Oh well. It’s not about the shirt, right?


Saturday morning, we were up and out before the sun rose. We arrived at the start/finish area and had time to collect our chips, use the rest room (indoor, yay!) and have some breakfast. I had some scrambled eggs to augment the Oatmeal-to-Go bar I had eaten in the car. They also had two big pots of oatmeal (one with raisins, one without) and a ton of bagels and cream cheese and peanut butter. It also looked like they had coffee and maybe juice but I’m not 100% sure. At this point, you could even see the pigs cooking away for later.



As the sun rose, and 7am approached, the race director addressed the crowd, thanked us for coming and did a quick survey to see who was returning for their 5th time (a shockingly high number) and how many were attempting the Mega for the first time. It seemed like at least half of the group were first timers. After that they wished us luck, started to play the Rocky Theme and then somebody shouted GO and we were off!

Take note of Brian's Camelbak in the photo. If only we had known what was ahead of us, he never would have dared to wear that sign!

The first three miles are on paved road through a little town and it leads to the base of the mountain and the first big climb. At this point most people were just walking at a decent pace -- the runners were out of sight right off the bat. We were sizing up the competition and didn't see anybody particularly scary. I'd seen some seriously fit women during breakfast and in the ladies room but I was sure they were at the front of the pack. The folks in the back looked like us -- just normal people. Some old, some young, some a little pudgy.




We thought we'd be able to hang with this group. HA! We stopped along here for a brief - like maybe 5 minutes - of stretching and they left us in the dust. We caught a few people by the time we got to the first climb, called the Jump Up, but we lost what little ground we had gained as we ran into a little bit of trouble getting our hiking poles to lock into place. So, we started up the mountain in close to last place.

The climb up the mountain is just beyond brutal. They warn you that it's steep but it's worse than you think it can be. I don't know how anybody could do it without poles. It's like completely straight up the slippery, muddy, side of a mountain. We were actually able to pass a couple of people here who were just huffing and puffing beyond belief. We were huffing and puffing too, but we did get up to the top. I was slightly encouraged here because I knew it was hard but I could tell I didn't feel quite as bad as some of the other people around us.


This is a really hideous close up of us at the top of the Jump Up. You can totall see how sweaty and gross we were already. We have 21 miles to go! At least we're smiling. That didn't last much longer. On the next stretch of trail, which was made of up of gradual rolling hills on super rocky and slippery terrain (so tricky that a few times I felt the rocks starting to pull my shoes off!) that Brian says "I'm not having fun". Behind us I can hear another couple talking and the woman asks the guy what his Garmin is saying about pace. We're moving at 1.9 miles per hour. We haven't even reached mile 6. This is when I had my first gel in anticipation of what was to come.




Mile 6 is the Boulder Field called the Bald Spot. We're greeted at the base by a group of volunteers who offered us encouragement, advice and candy. We made a mistake here and didn't pack up our poles so we spent the next hour or so climbing up the boulder field and handing them off to one another. This part is hard, but it's actually fun. The views are really quite spectacular and since there were no snakes (at least not that I saw) it was enjoyable. Really hard, but enjoyable!





This picture is taken maybe a quarter of the way up the boulder field. You can see the brown patch in the center of the photo - that's where the volunteers were and the woman in the picture (she's on the left and she kind of blends into the rocks) is one of the people we were able to pass on the Jump Up. She eventually had to drop out of the race because she couldn't make it to the Checkpoint before the cut-off.






The views from here were incredible and this part was well worth doing. What's the reward for making it to the top of a mile of boulders?
A trip on the technical, rocky Crossover that race descriptions call the part of the course most likely to cause a twisted ankle! If you look in the photo to the left you might see some people wearing red shirts. The girl that was part of that couple fell three times during the descent on the Crossover.

At last we came upon the first aid station/checkpoint and were rewarded with a variety of sports drink (Gatorade, PowerAde, Heed) and water. They also had tons of food: fig newtons, bananas, oreos, chocolate chip cookies, gel, peanuts, m&ms and more. I ate a section of banana, and a fig newton and had some gatorade. Our brief lift at arriving here was ruined when runners started passing going in the other direction -- they were at mile 18 and we had barely reached mile 7. We had until 12:15 to make it to the first official Checkpoint at mile 10.2 and we had about an hour and a half to do it. Time to hustle.



Luckily this section is kind of an old rutted dirt road and we were able to power walk and jog along here to make up some time. About a half mile from the Checkpoint we found a runner who was lost - she had been running around in circles and couldn't find her way to the aid station. We showed her the way but had to keep moving, hoping that she would keep us in her sights. She did manage to make it to the cut off in time.




We arrived at the Zindel Park checkpoint with abou 15 minutes to spare. We were able to take a port-a-potty break, refill the Camelbak (I was carrying 70 oz. of Gatorade in mine. Here I was about 3/4 through it and I topped it off with water), and get some snacks. I drank two or three cups of Gatorade, ate a small cup of peanuts, a small cup of Raisinettes, and a half of peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread. I can't even begin to list all of the food options they had here. PB&J, Just PB on both wheat and white bread. Cookies and candies of all sorts. Awesome spread and lots of it! With a warning that we had just 7 minutes to leave before the cut off we, made our way across the chip mat. Our band of back-of-the-packers included: me & Brian, the couple in the red-shirts, Mr. Green shirt who had been close behind us since the Jump Up, and a family of three that was a mom & dad and a college age daughter. Brian joked here that our best possible outcome for the day was finishing DFL. And we'd be lucky to manage that!



Next up was the newest and most difficult section of the race. It's called the Goat Path and it's a seemingly unending climb straight up a ridgeline and across the face of a cliff. It goes up and up and up and it tries as hard as it can to kill you. I stopped halfway up to ditch my long-sleeved shirt and to take some Tylenol 8-hour. My legs were feeling OK still but my wrists were killing me from the hiking poles. Our merry band of slow people were passing each other all over the place here - leapfrogging one another and then falling back again for one reason or another. It was just brutal.


On the way back down, on the section called the Lightening Bolt (it's terribly steep) Brian really started to suffer with IT band pain in his right knee. He was really struggling to keep a decent pace and talked to a couple of EMT guys who were along the course. I gave him some 8-hour and told him about a couple of stretches but nothing was really helping much. At about mile 13 the EMT guy told him that it was probably just pain from doing this unusual activity and that if he kept going he wasn't going to do permanent damage. He said everybody had been moaning about that downhill and that he'd probably be OK once the pills kicked in. Brian wasn't ready to quit yet (rats!) so he took an Ace bandage from the EMT and decided to press on and see if we could make the 3:45 cut off at the next checkpoint at mile 18.1.




While we were waiting, all the people we knew passed us, and so did the lost lady, and an old guy with a pink bandana. Mr. 500, the guy with the Garmin who was going at 1.9 mile pace also passed us. He told us that his girlfriend had to abandon the race because she couldn't make the Zindel Park cutoff. We were officially in last place and in real danger of having to give up.




Luckily, the pills started to kick in and the terrain leveled off a bit and we were able to pick up a little bit of speed. We were hoping to make it to the next checkpoint,and thought we could, but we weren't sure. It would be close. Have you noticed that I don't have any pictures to post? That's because we couldn't spare a minute to take any we were so worried about not finishing!

We passed the old guy with the pink bandana and the Lost lady and then we came upon a different lady in a red shirt and passed her just at the approach to Fleming Way, another wickedly steep climb. On this climb we also caught up to Mr. Green Shirt and the Red shirt couple, and Mr. 500. We all wound up at the water stop at the top of Fleming Way but were sad that there was no water left. Thank goodness for the Camelbak!


Brian took a minute to eat a protien bar here and then we started to book it as fast as we could along the flat section. We really did great here and passed everybody ahead of us, including the family of three who we hadn't seen since Zindel Park. Eventually though, we came across another downhill section that killed poor Brian. The leapfrogging started to happen again but we pulled ahead of the gang by the time we got to the 18 mile checkpoint. Along here I ate another gel and a Soy Joy bar. We were less than 15 minutes ahead of the 3:45 cut off when we arrived. The best part here was that we had reeled in another person! This was a new guy in a red shirt. I was so thrilled by this fact because I couldn't believe that nobody ahead of us had fallen off the pace. Finally we had reeled somebody in!


This checkpoint was low on food by now, but they did have peanut butter and animal crackers as well as water and gatorade. I topped off my Camelbak again and chowed down on some animal crackers. Time was still ticking and we had to make it to the base of the Chilkoot by 5 or we'd be swept. No time to waste.


I think the trail here was pretty but I'm not even sure. There was a stream along one side but mostly we were just like zombies moving along the trail trying to get where we needed to go. It was around 4:00 and we had until 5 to make to to the checkpoint and it was 2.5 miles away. We should be able to make it with ease but you can never be sure after you've been on the trail for nine straight hours. You heard me right -- nine hours! And just about every step of it you had to be concentrating on where to put your feet to avoid tripping and falling. You just can't imagine what it felt like. Luckily, my legs felt pretty good and I was in shockingly good spirits. I think I was just stunned that we were still moving along.


At last we got to the checkpoint and we were in the clear! It's only 4.4 miles to the end and one cheery volunteer kept saying "and three of them are flat". Unfortunately, that part wasn't true. Two of them were flat. The others were either brutal up hill, across rickety boulders with lots of weeds and bees, or an incredibly steep downhill made up of loose dirt and rocks that was a total knee killer. But I'm getting ahead of myself!


We got to the checkpoint first, but soon Mr. 500 and the red shirt couple caught up to us. We had a few more snacks (more raisenettes for me) and then quickly moved on. We couldn't wait to get done.

The Chilkoot starts with a trail so steep that the race people have installed a blue rope that you can use to pull yourself up. This is a shot of Mr. 500 heading up the rope. We let him go first while we stowed our poles.


This part was hard too but sort of fun in a bizarre way. What was at the top of the rope -- not so fun. This was another boulder field, only this one had smaller, more unstable rocks and also had a bunch of bees. It also tricked you because you got to the top, and there was a flat road, but then the boulders kept on going. I hate you, stupid boulders!





Towards the top a college kid was waiting and warning you steer clear of the bees nests.


He was nice, we were all joking about how slow we were but he was really nice and told us how impressed he was that we were all sticking it out and getting through it. While we were here taking some pictures, the Dad from the family of three popped up over the top of the mountain surprising us all. He'd taken a different line up the mountain but he still made it. That was pretty funny.


This is us smiling before we begin the descent from hell. I don't know how Brian toughed it out here -- his poor knee was killing him every step of the way. We got passed by everybody here except for the Lost Lady, the old man with the pink bandana and the sweeper. It was so hard for him I wished I could have made it easier but there was no way down short of making some kind of makeshift sled out of our backpacks or something.





Luckily, at the bottom of this hill we were back on the pavement and with that came our ability to use the Turbo Boost to catch some people Brian's fastwalker ability came to him and I started to jog along side him and before you knew it we were passing the pair of Mr. Red Shirt and Mr. Green Shirt and then the red-shirt couple. Amazingly we were not going to finish in last place!! A small victory, but HUGE to us.


It took everything I had to run (I can't even imagine how slow I was running) along that road to the finish. It seemed to go on forever even though it was only a couple of miles. I kept thinking to myself what good practice it would be for the final stretch of the New York Marathon and then I remembered that last year, along Columbus Circle I saw that guy ahead of me with the "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". That mantra got me over the finish line in Central Park and it did it for me again at the Megatransect.

Of course between repeating the mantra in my head I would talk to Brian and my grouchy, miserable self was saying stuff like "we're not going to make it in 11.5 hours" and "they might not give us a medal" and stuff like that. I should have known that wouldn't happen because as we were running it in people were driving out of the campgrown beeping and waving at us and shouting encouragement from the windows. It didn't seem like the kind of crowd that would deny us medal for finishing a few minutes past the cut off.

As luck would have it, we crossed in 11:38 just as the sun was setting. We were greeted by loud applause and a guy shook my hand as I finished and said "Congratulations, Megatransector!". Which made me think that's probably as close as I will ever get to hearing "You are an Ironman!"


We stopped and they handed us our medals and my legs were just shaking from being so tired. I've never had that happen before. This is certainly the hardest medal I've earned.


We were able to sit down and eat our awesome pork BBQ dinner with yummy peach/berry cobbler for dessert and I also scarfed down a couple of slices of Domino's pizza too. We watched the last few people finish: first the red-shirt couple about a minute behind us and then Mr. Red Shirt and Mr. Green Shirt finished together about 8 to 10 minutes after us and finally, about 20 minutes after us, Lost Lady and Pink Bandana guy.

Hats off to all of them and to the absoultely mind-boggling fit people who finsished this crazy thing in 4 hours, and of course, all the other people who got through the ordeal.

I think if Brian didn't have knee pain, and we didn't take pictures, we could have been at the very most an hour faster than we were and probably not that much ahead. We were just completely overmatched by the whole event and I'm really, really proud that we were able to stick it out and finish even though we were close to last. Brian especially impressed me since he had pain for at least half of the course. He's tough.

We hung out and socialized for awhile after we ate and people seemed to be having a great time, drinking beer and talking and listening to the music. We were just beat so we headed back to the hotel (by way of Dairy Queen for some ice cream) and then snuggled into bed for some much needed rest.

Here's a shocking thing: we slept for 9 hours -- less time than we were on the mountain!

It's Monday now and my legs feel pretty good. My right calf is pretty sore still, but other than that, just typical soreness that you'd expect after a marathon. Brian's knee is feeling loads better and he's happy about that.

So that's the tale of the Megatransect. By far the hardest thing I've ever done.

I'd like to say thanks to the Megatransect people who really put on a great event. It was hard for us, but it was really well done. The fault wasn't theirs, it was our inability to grasp just how intense this thing really is that did us in.


As the red shirt girl said at one point along the way "This is clearly for crazy people - not typical Outdoor enthusiasts." She couldn't be more right!

Megatransect Report

I think this photo sums up the Megatransect perfectly.

This was on the course in the middle of a steep boulder field at about mile 20.5 of the race. That's how we all felt at that point.

It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Like sheer torture for most of the day. We finished in 11 hours and 38 minutes and just barely avoided coming in dead last. It took every ounce of determination we had to finish at all.

More details to come.

Disney Vacation Plan

This is turning into quite the busy trip!

1/10 Arrive late in the day just in time for bed
1/11 Expo / possibly the 5K at the Animal Kingdom
1/12 Run half-marathon
1/13 Run Marathon
1/14 Sunset Safari + dinner at Jiko
1/15 Fort Wilderness Segway Tour
1/16 Do nothing (at last!)
1/17 Aqua Seas Tour - (swimming/scuba in the Living Seas Tank)
1/18 Do nothing again
1/19 Fly home

Obsessed with the Megatransect

Last night I went to REI to get myself a new Camelbak. I have one that's small, and holds about 35oz of water and fits into the small of the back. I stopped using it once I took up running and figured it was about time I invested in a comination hydration system / backpack.

I've occasionally carried a pack while hiking on vacation. It tends to hold our lunches, water/gatorade and binoculars and camera. I use a pretty ratty backpack for this, and it doesn't have a lot of structure. I'm also the supplemental water supply -- meaning that I share the water that Brian carries in his 70 oz Camelbak. Sharing means that we have to stop when I need to drink because I either have to drink using his mouthpiece or I have to take off my pack to pull out a bottle. It's not very efficient.

Since we're planning the long hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon next year, I thought that this would be a decent time to invest in the hydration pack since I'll need it for the Megatransect too.

I bought a Camelbak Daystar that's cut for a woman. It's a cute blue color and it holds 70 oz plus has lots of room for other stuff. I even read in some reviews that it can hold several more liters of fluid in bottles in addition to the water bladder. That's good for the GC hike. I think that this is going to be a lot more comfortable for me at the Mega even though it's breaking one of the big rules -- don't do anything new on marathon day!

The weather is still looking PERFECT for Saturday! Fitness Index of 10! The high is supposed to be 73 with an overnight low of 45. Seriously, the best it could be. I hope it's really true. I'm still scared of this event but I don't know why. I'm pretty fit, I can walk forever and I'm a fairly experienced hiker. I have nothing to fear. Except rattlesnakes. (And they should be pretty sluggish from the overnight chill!)

We can check in with the race folks on Friday night at the "welcome party". I wonder what that's all about?

Weekend Long Run

Horrible, horrible, horrible! That's the only way to describe my 10 mile run on Satuday. My legs felt like they weighed 400 pounds, I couldn't breathe and it decided to pour rain for a few miles in the middle of the run. YUCK.

The only good thing about it was that it probably helped secure an Eagles win in NFL Runnerbowl.

No more running for me until after the Megatransect.

Stay tuned for a post on that subject.

Sweater Update

I sent an e-mail to customer service about the cashmere sweater. They want me to send it back using the prepaid return slip.

I'm in a snit but I know it's the right thing to do.

Good-bye pretty cashmere sweater!

Baseball

I've been thinking about baseball lately since the Phillies are making a run for first place and are only 1.5 games out of first and 1.5 out of the wildcard spot. It's interesting, even for somebody like me who doesn't normally follow baseball.

Tonight I came across this story about the guy who bought the Barry Bonds 756 baseball at auction. He has a website and he's letting the public vote on what to do with the ball. Your choices are: Send it to the Hall of Fame. Have it branded with an asterisk and then send it to the hall of fame, or have it shot into space on a rocket.

Here's a link so you can vote:




I chose the Brand It option.


In other news: I did go to the park and had a very mediocre run (with tons of walking thrown in) my legs weren't quite ready for all the downhills at Valley Forge.

Running / Recovering

Today is typically an off day for me but since Brian & I both had lingering stiffness in our legs yesterday we didn't meet at the park after work. I did get out for a lunchtime walk but it was pretty slow and only about a mile and a half.

Tonight is a perfect day to get out there and run (or walk) since the weather is good but I'm really busy at work and I don't know if I can beat the clock and get out of here before it gets too dark to run outside.

Tomorrow is our normally scheduled run in the park and I should easily be able to do it since I have a work-related class which will get me out a little earlier than usual.

I really can't go tonight but I want to because I need the miles for the NFL Runnerbowl challenge.

I really can't make up my mind! A smart person with this problem would be WORKING at work instead of typing this silly blog post.

Call the fashion police!

I was shopping at Garnet Hill (Awesome but super expensive company. I check the Sale of the Day every day!) and I decided to splurge on a couple of skirts from their fall catalog. I also added one of the 'sale of the day' items to my order - a plain black v-neck t-shirt that cost $16.

When my box arrived it had the two skirts I'd ordered but instead of the t-shirt they sent me a black, v-neck, cardigan, cashmere sweater. It's very nice and if my investigations on the website are correct, it costs $138.

So here's my dilemma: Do I just consider myself lucky and keep it or do I contact them and try to give it back?

I am dying to keep it since it's nice, and it fits, but I think I feel too guilty to do it. I just sent them an e-mail about it and I'm hoping they never respond so I can feel like I did the right thing and yet still get to keep the sweater.

My thoughts turn to the Megatransect....

Check out the course profile. Is this enough to scare you away? It's scaring me!

I'm hoping that there is a lot more of this:

and a lot less of this:

It's a Beautiful Day in Philadelphia!

Nice medal, huh? Course record for me at 2:23! Yay!

I'm back from my half marathon today and I had a pretty good day overall.

Here's my race report done as a tribute to one of my favorite kids books (it's called Fortunately).

Fortunately, Philadelphia was blessed with perfect race weather today! Beautiful blue sky, and sunny with a light breeze, in the low 50s at the start. Even now, at about 3:00, it's only in the mid-60s.

Unfortunately, this gorgeous setting had me off and running way faster than my normal snail's pace.

Fortunately, I knew that was not good, so I tried really hard to force myself to slow down.

Unfortunately, that totally ruined my rhythm for the first 5 miles.

Fortunately, things started looking up when I spotted some friends and they kept me on track for the next 3 miles.

Unfortunately, they stopped at a port-o-john and I was on my own again.

Fortunately, the course takes a turn at mile 8.5 and heads into a long straightaway to the finish.

Unfortunately, my fashion choices started to backfire on me on this stretch. (Cute running skirt, why did you decide that today was a good day to chafe?)

Fortunately, I am too tough to let a little chafe ruin a PR for this course!

Unfortunately, they moved the finish line this year so my finishing kick ran out of juice a little short of the finish like so it was really more of a finishing shuffle.

Fortunately, they still gave me a totally awesome medal!

Also Fortunately, my 15 year old niece did the race too and finished with her own PR of 2:16 and Mr. hmonkeyruns also finished with a PR.

Pace Splits & times from the website:

5K: 10:40 33:07

10K: 10:43 1:06:43

10 mile: 10:55 1:49:04

overall: 10:59 2:23:49

Very worried

I'm doing some more reading about the Megatransect. I'm very worried. It's going to be so hard.

I really thought we were going to be off the hook!

Different Sort of Weekend - Bikes & hikes

I was completely frazzled by the end of the workweek and I also noticed that my right shin was feeling pretty sore so on Friday night I decided to skip Saturday's PhillyFit run. I decided to cancel mostly because the run was being held downtown, at Kelly Drive, and that meant at least a 40 minute drive to get to the starting point instead of the usual 10 minute drive. That was just a little too much sleep for me to give up so I opted for sleeping in.

Brian had a plan to ride our bikes for awhile and then follow up with a walk but we wound up just riding our bikes. We went about 15 miles, mostly on the flat, but there was at least one killer kill. I found it pretty fascinating that I was able to pedal the bike to the same point on the hill before I had to walk it as I managed when I was running. It's at least 3/4 of the way to the summit and probably more than that...maybe 4/5 of the way to the top. The big difference was that when I was running, I probably didn't have to stop at all but I did when I caught the runner ahead of me. It was a mental shift down not a physical one. On the bike, I was ready to die by the time I got to that point....I really couldn't pedal anymore and it seemed like FOREVER before my HR came back down.

As it turns out there was a huge cycling event going on in Philadelphia on Saturday so there were tons of "real" cyclists out on that hill at the same time as us. They were doing either 65 or 100 mile rides and I was happy to see that they were mostly struggling up (or even walking up) the hill and hurting nearly as much as me. These are people with might lighter bikes and more cycling experience than I have. Of course, they'd also ridden at least 40 miles at that point, so I suppose they were in a different spot than me.

By the time we finished our ride, we were starving and it was pretty hot out so we just blew off the walking segement of our workout. That was OK with me because we had a plan to go hiking on Sunday and I really didn't want to stress my sore shin because of the Distance Run coming up next weekend.

On Sunday we went out for a test hike to see if Brian's hip would be cooperating enough for us to still do the Megatransect at the end of the month. It wasn't 100% but I think he did well enough for us to do the hike. We were out at French Creek for about 3 hours and we tested out our new trekking poles and stuff. All in all, a good day. Today my wrists and hands are sore from the poles but other than that I think I really liked them.

Post hike we came home and watched that horrible Eagles game on Tivo. I think I could field punts better than those guys. Tonight I plan to watch the Men's final of the US Open even though I already know what happened.

On schedule this week: a couple short runs plus some walking to rest for the Distance Run on Sunday. The early weather forecast looks awesome -- sunny with a high of 68!

Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon - personal Course Record

So the Rock'N'Roll Half was on Sunday and once again the weather tried to kill me. Actually, the weather was probably the best we've seen for this race. I'd say it was in the low 70s when we started running, with a nice breeze, and relatively low humidity. By the time I hit the finish it was probably just over 80.

I had one and a half Oatmeal-to-Go bars with a small cup of Endurance for breakfast and sucked down a caramel PowerGel right before our corral started around 7:20. I wasn't wearing my fuel belt. I started the run with the 2:22 pace group and hung with them for the first half of the race but between mile 6 and 7 (Camp Pendelton) I faded, despite taking a gel at mile 5 with the specific intention of avoiding the doldrums at Camp Pendelton. I'm convinced that my fade was totally mental because while it was sunny in that section, there was a great breeze and I should have been able to run right through. Instead I slowed to a walk and kind of took stock of things. I didn't feel able to keep up with the pacers and according to my watch they were running close to a minute ahead of the pace and that was just too hard for me to maintain.

Anyway, as we left the Camp I was a little bummed out that the neighborhood gang that usually has the best cheer station was missing. I guess their leader must have moved away. I did Ok on the return miles and walked over the bridge but I did manage to run on the roundabout section. I tried running as much as I could down Atlantic Ave but this section (about 2 miles) always seems to me like twice as far. I really wish they'd put a water stop in the middle of Atlantic Ave. I ate my last gel right before 10.2 when they handed out the free ones on the course.

Rounding onto the Boardwalk I still felt OK but I knew that there was no chance of hitting 2:22 but I knew that I would be unde 2:30 which was my primary goal for the day. The Boardwalk was really sunny, like usual, but there was a breeze blowing from behind and slightly off the ocean so it didn't feel as awful as it has in years past. I also knew that the whole distance was about 2 miles and that's really not far and that helped me feel better. At this point I was really feeling tired and I was thinking I was dehydrated, despite drinking at every water stop. I'm really used to taking in much more fluid on my long runs and I was beating myself up for not wearing my fuel belt.

Along the boardwalk I also started to take extra cups of water to pour on my neck and back to cool me off a little and I did head into the misting stations when I saw them. I usually hate that kind of thing but at this race it feels really good and I know that even if my feet get wet, I'm really close to the finish line.

I was playing this annoying game of pass and fade with a racewalker guy -- who was really awesome and kept an incredibly steady pace -- but I think I finally passed him for good about mile 12. It was around that time that my crazy Nike+ decided that I'd finished the race. There's nothing quite as pesky as hearing a voice tell you that you're all finished when you have more than a mile left to run!

I ran it in, and felt pretty strong in the last quarter mile or so. My final time is 2:25:16, which is about a 9 minute improvement over last year (2:34:11) and is by far my best time on this course. I probably could have been more disciplined and run more in some sections when I let my brain get the best of me, and I think I would have run better if I had my fuel belt (if only for a security blanket). My point is that I might have shaved a minute or two of the 2:25 but there was no way in the world I could have bested my PR of 2:19 yesterday, and therefore I'm pretty satisfied with my overall race.

I'm hoping to do better at the PDR in 2 weeks but we'll see. I'll be wearing my fuel belt!

They served Accelerade on the course, which I actually liked quite a lot, I just don't think I drank enough of it.

Blogger is going crazy and is squishing this whole message into one giant paragraph even though when I look at it in the editor it has normal paragraph spacing. Hopefully that will sort itself out and this post will be more readable.

Easy Run (not so easy) and race prep

I went for my typical Valley Forge run last night but since my fuel tank was very low (I forgot to bring a pre-race snack) I found myself struggling at times and did more walking than normal. I guess that's OK since I shouldn't be knocking myself out since I really hope to have a good race in Virginia Beach on Sunday.

I hear that the weather in Virginia Beach is supposed to be great this weekend (Weather Channel Fitness Comfort Index of 8 for race day!) and I hope that means that I won't get killed by the humidity like I normally do at this event.

I'm trying to decide how to pace myself and what I want to shoot for but I think the best idea is just to go with the flow, see how it shakes out in the second half, but think about running a PR race at the Distance Run in Philadelphia when the weather is almost sure to be better for me.

I think I'll try to run with the 2:22 pacer and see how that goes. My major plan is to finish under 2:30, hopefully under 2:25 and on a perfect day, under 2:19 for a PR.

LiveStrong Challenge

What a totally fun day! I am dying to run out to the bike store to buy a road bike so I can be in this even on a bike next year. It was still cool on foot, but the runners really were just sidekicks to the main participants on bikes. I look really nerdy in that picture, I know!

The day had a 5K run and walk plus 10, 40, 70 and 100 mile bike rides. There were thousands of particpants, mostly on bikes. Lance was there and I managed to get his photo when he was on stage but when he was 2 feet away on his bike, I only managed to catch his left arm. That's him riding right out of the frame. He's the one with the watch. I don't know who his unidentifiable sidekick is. (You can click on the picutes to make them bigger!)

The weather was hot and humid but it was overcast in the morning, which was a blessing since the run was still hard even with the cloud cover.

I took a lot of pictures before during and after the event and you can see them all by clicking this link to the slideshow.

I don't know how I did because I was struggling a little with the humidity and I stopped a few times to take photos. I did, however, run as fast as a I possibly could at the end from the point where I took this photo to the finish line which you can see if you look close -- it has to be no more than a quarter mile from the photo point. Maybe less. The point is that I ran hard enough at that point that the kid barely had time to unhook the timing thingie from my ankle before I totally hurled over the corral fence into the grass. I have done 20+ races and I've never even had a hint of throwing up from exertion before but here I was doing it for Lance. Crazy!

My friend from work was here today too doing her very first 5k ever and she did great and had a great time. She was as excited as I'd hoped she be when she finished.

Since is is all about fighting cancer, if you'd like to Donate some money to the Lance Armstrong Foundation you can do that by clicking on this link.

The t-shirt we all got was neat too. It has the LiveStrong logo in the center and it's surrounded by these yellow words:

LiveStrong means....knowing not all heros wear capes
LiveStrong means....honoring my child with every mile
LiveStrong means....challenging myself
LiveStrong means....having the courage to take a walk
LiveStrong means....defining my own finish line
LiveStrong means....pushing through the pain
LiveStrong means....having the courage to take a ride
LiveStrong means....turning tears into sweat
LiveStrong means....having the courage to go for a run
LiveStrong means....channelling attitude into action
LiveStrong means....pedaling my heart out
LiveStrong means....pounding the pavement to make a difference
LiveStrong means....knowing that courage is taking the first step
LiveStrong means....digging deep when I want to quit
LiveStrong means....knowing not all winners finish first
LiveStrong means....being scared and showing up anyway
LiveStrong means....believing in myself
LiveStrong means....knowing it's about the journey and not the finish line
LiveStrong means....knowing I'm stronger than I thought
LiveStrong means....never, never, never giving up


Unity is strength. Knowledge is power.

Saturday Long Run - 10 miles

Blah! Yesterday was gross. We started the run at 7am and it was about 74 degrees and 100% humidity. You heard me, 100% humidity. I think Bobby Julich (yes, the real one from the Tour de France...I'll explain later) said it best when he said it was nasty like being in a rainstorm but without the actual rain. The day would eventually heat up to the mid-90s and we had a heat index of 105 degrees.

Brian was at PhillyFit testing his hip for next week's race and I wasn't all that interested in running 12 miles with the group because of the icky weather and because I was running a 5K on Sunday morning at the LiveStrong Challenge. We wound up doing a solid 10 and spent the rest of the day rehydrating and complaining about the oppressive heat.

We went over to the LiveStrong Expo to pick up our numbers and stuff and it was just horrifyingly hot. Just standing still in the sun had sweat just pouring off of you. Even the inside of the gym where they were having the displays and handout was oppressively hot.

Bobby Julich was at the expo signing autographs and mixing with the people. I've always liked him and I'm still a little sad that he didn't win the Tour when he had the chance and now I can say that he really is very nice. I had nothing of interest to talk to him about, but he really spent time having actual conversations with the people in line ahead of me and he sat outside (in a tent but it was still really hot) signing autographs for FOUR hours in 100 degree heat. Lance wasn't doing that and it was his event! I got my picture with him but I forget how to get to it so I probably won't post it here but I did meet him.

So now my exciting celebrity autograph collection is: Deena Kastor, Grete Weitz, and Bobby Julich.

Thursday Walk/Run

We met at VF last night and did a test run on Brian's sore hip. He's trying to ease back into things and figure out if he'll be able to do the race next weekend at Virginia Beach. He's looking positive but he's not sure. I think PhillyFit tomorrow will tell the tale for him.

I did mostly walking and then a slow run at the end up the big hill. It wasn't a great run but it did help me clear out my head of some of the stress that's been building up at work.

I'm worried about tomorrow's long run since the high tomorrow is supposed to be 93. The heat index is 105 and the humidity is supposed to be pretty bad. We have a 12 mile run scheduled and I'm not sure I want to tackle all 12 in such conditions -- it'll be cooler at 7am when we start but it's still probably going to be a hard day. I don't know if I want to put myself through that with the race next weekend looming and with the Livestrong 5K on Sunday.

But part of me really does want to run all 12 so I'll have a better idea what to expect next Sunday where I know conditions will probably be hot and humid.

Megatransect in Jeopardy!

We might not be able to go! Brian is having a flare-up of his hip problems and I'm not sure he's going to have enough time to get better and put up enough training miles to tackle the Mega.

We both really want to go but I don't think I'm brave enough to tackle the hills and snakes without him and I really don't want him to get hurt out on the course.

Stay tuned...

Saturday Long Run - about 12 miles.

I had an absolutely great run on Saturday! The weather was awesome -- very cool and no humidity and the group went out for 9 miles on Forbidden Drive. It was so easy it felt like half the distance.

I ran most of the 2nd half with a guy in the group who is also running at Virginia Beach and he's training for Marine Corps. We decided to tack on a couple of extra miles and wound up running about three extra miles. We had to cut it a little short since there was a pit bull on the loose on the trail. The dog didn't seem mean, but it did run right up to us a couple of times, and while it stopped short of jumping up it seemed like it was pretty fiesty. Not aggresive and scary, really, but since it was a pit-bull and it didn't have a collar, we weren't taking any chances so we turned around. If it had been a lab or something, we probably would have kept on running.

In any event, the run was fabulous and other than being a little sleepy in the afternoon, it was like I hadn't done anything at all. Way to go, legs!

Sunday was super rainy so no running.

Saturday Long Run - 10 miles

We were scheduled for 10 miles today and we went to Forbidden Drive for the run since the weather was supposed to be pretty bad. The forecast was for mid-upper 90s with high humidity and while it wasn't quite that hot when we got started, it certainly was humid. Blech!

Not far into the run, maybe a mile or so, Brian stopped to do his normal stretching and since none of my normal running buddies were around I decided to stay with him. That was probably a good idea since it was just shockingly humid and he wasn't having a great day so it was good for him to have a buddy to walk him in for the last mile or two.

I actually felt quite good during the parts of the day that I was running. I took plenty of walk breaks and walked all of the last 2 miles, but while I was running I felt suprisingly strong considering the weather. It gives me hope for VA Beach!

After our run we changed shoes and went for a short hike to give the Megatransect shoes a slight workout. We were both kind of grumpy and not too into it though so we only went about 2 miles.

Sunday we broke out the bikes and went for a short, flat 10 mile ride. This was a test for Brian's sore neck. Hopefully it didn't set him back any and we'll be able to do some more riding. There's an awesome bike trail where we're going this weekend (Pine Creek Gorge) so I hope we'll be able to get some cycling in.

Reality Check - we need to schedule some big miles!

Last night, while we were walking the loop, Brian mentioned that we really need to be upping our miles before the Megatransect.

I'm such a dope! I've been so busy worrying about shoes, hiking poles, and water supply, that I didn't even consider the fact that it's 25 miles long! Sure, 25 miles of hiking, stretched out over up to 11.5 hours, isn't quite 26.2 at your best effort, but a lot of it is uphill and no matter how you slice it, it's 25 miles! We have to start making some changes.

The good news, is that our milage isn't so far off yet. For instance, last week we probably should have put up 15 but we did 12 instead. This week, the schedule counts 10 for both the group we run with and our Mega schedule. Where we get into some trouble is when we should be putting up a 20 mile hike. Our group is only doing 11 that day so I think we'll be on our own for sure. The other thing is that it falls on the "off" week between Virginia Beach and the PDR.

Here's how my next few months shake out - Long Runs only.

Blue is Mega miles, Green is NYC, Red is running group

Aug 4: 10 12 10
Aug 11: 13 9 12
Aug 18: 13 12 9
Aug 25: 18 8 12
Sep 1: 12 11 8 1/2 marathon VA Beach
Sep 8: 21 15 11
Sep 15: 8 10 15 1/2 marathon Philadelphia Distance Run
Sep 22: 6 13 10
Sep 28: 25 18 13 Race Day! Megatransect
Oct 6: 12 8
Oct 13: 21 12
Oct 20: 8 21 Urban Dare
Oct 27: 6 8
November 4 - New York Marathon

Oh yeah, and I also need to be planning for the Goofy Challenge!

Death-eaters at work?

I am a horrible person because the more I read about the bridge collapse in Minnesota, the more I keep thinking about the first chapter of the Half Blood Prince where Fudge is explaining to "the other minister" that it's Lord V. and the death-eaters who are causing all kinds of problems in the muggle world. One of the primary examples is a completely unexplained bridge collapse.

It's such an awful, real-life thing that I feel guilty associating it with a book but I still can't stop thinking it!

Spending money is so easy on the Internet...

I just blew about $300 in just about 5 minutes.

First, I registered two of us for the Philadelphia Half-Marahon and then I bought a pair of "limited edition" hiking poles. Is that the most ridiculous way to spend money?

I am pretty skeptical of the whole hiking pole thing but it seems as if most folks in the Megatransect use them and that they are highly reccommended for the Grand Canyon hike. I was shocked when I saw how expensive they were at REI.

Today, when I was over at the website for the American Hiking Society I saw these nifty limited run of LEKI poles that have the snazzy AHS logo on them (it looks like a boot print). I loved the cool print but the price tag is what really sold me. A bargain (HA!) at $67.50. The cheapest I saw at REI was $59 and that wasn't a LEKI, which seems to be the unquestioned best.

Hopefully they'll arrive before we head up to the Grand Canyon of PA next week.

A new medal! How could I have forgotten this?!

Do you believe that I forgot to report that our PhillyFit coaching team handed out medals at the end of our run on Saturday?

It was great. It was a big fat gold medal on a ribbon that was even engraved with Philly Fit and the fact that we'd run 10 miles. We got the medal after a particularly humid 12 mile run but the medal was for people crossing the 10 mile benchmark the week before. It was very nice and I know a lot of our runners have never run that far before so it was especially nice for them.

We were having a picnic after our run so the medals added a nice extra zing to the party atmosphere.

Phantom Ranch

I'm going crazy thinking about the Grand Canyon.

We've been talking about trying to book a trip to the GC with the focus of hiking down to the Colorado River and staying for a few nights at Phantom Ranch. It would be awesome! Unfortunately, I hear it's close to impossible to book such a trip for when we want to go. Rooms at the ranch can sell out in less than an hour. Tomorrow I need to be on the phone dialing like a mad woman to try to secure a reservation for late September 2008.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to get through to book a room. Which has me hunting all over the internet to find an outfitter who can produce the same trip for me. I found one that seems ideal but it's super expensive. Still, a night at a North Rim Lodge, 2 nights at Phantom Ranch and then another night or two at a South Rim ranch. Sounds fantastic! Plus, they'll lug my gear and cook my food. I totally want to go!

Saturday Group Run - 12 miles and shoe shopping

I was dreading Saturday's run because the forecast said it was going to be really hot and humid. It was very humid, but it wasn't as hot as I'd feared so things went OK.

My Nike+ went bonkers and decided I'd only run about 2.5 miles when really I'd gone at least 4 on the trail. I killed that workout and restarted and it seemed to work a little better but over all I only got credit for about 9 miles instead of 12. Very peksy!

I bought an awesomely cute pair of pink Saucony Triumphs on eBay but I suspect they are some kind of fakes because they were inexpensive and I've never seen pink ones on sale before. I love them though.

I also got a much uglier pair of Merrell Moab Ventilators too. These are for the Megatransect. Outside magazine says they're an awesome all purpose shoe. I really wanted the KEEN Targhee II because they were awesomely comfy and super cute (the picture isn't doing them justice) but they were so heavy compared to the Ventilators I just couldn't do it.

First sign of success!

I've been putting up a lot of miles but I haven't really seen any clear signs of progress until my run last night.

I made it up the hill from hell at VF. I hate that stupid hill and I remember when I thought that I would never, ever be able to run all the way up it. I overcame that last summer but have been really challenged by this hill all over again this year. Until last night when I got right up it without even thinking of stopping! YAY!

Of course, I didn't make it all the way around the loop without stopping. The brutal approach to the visitor's center after the big downhill gets me every time. That's the next goal.

Tomorrow is 12 miles with PhillyFit. I'd be looking forward to it except it's going to be hot and very humid and possibly raining. What a lovely combo! I guess it'll be good training for Virginia Beach.

In other news, I'm doing a lot of research about hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It seems like it might be impossible to get a reservation at Phantom Ranch, which is what I really want to do, so I might have to consider actualy backpacking and camping. Yikes!

Goofy Challenge Here I Come...

I'm feeling very excited since I just booked my flight to Orlando for the Goofy Challenge.

I'm really spending a lot of money today, aren't I?

But the flight was a good deal for sure $203 round trip with all fees and taxes at the times I wanted to travel.

Now I only have to get through 24 weeks of training, 2 other marathons (well one plus a 24.9 mile race), and 4 or 5 half-marathons. Should be a breeze!

I love Running Skirts + I love Sales

I just ordered these three awesome new running skirts for 50% off at Skirt Sports!

Now I better actually do some running!

The book was AWESOME! and I also ran about 17 miles

So Saturday dawned and it was the perfect day. Sunny, cool (like low 70s with a breeze) and very low humidity. Awesome day for running.

The group went out for 10 miles and it was a particularly nice run for me since I was with a lot of different groups of people. I didn't even mind the giant hill we had to tackle. We were done by 10 and even with all the post-run snacks and chatting I got home before 11 and my book was there waiting for me!

I couldn't wait to rip the box open....but then I kind of didn't want to read it. I knew I had to finish it by the time I got to work on Monday but I tried to stretch it out as best I could. That's what allowed me to get out on Sunday morning for about 7 more miles on the Perkiomen. The day was like a carbon copy of Saturday and the Sunday run felt Ok after I got into it.

It started out kind of rough -- heavy legs, bad rhythm just off but by about mile 3 everything smoothed out and did a mix of running and walking (mostly running) as the mood struck me. I really didn't see a need to push the running but I was glad to get some back to back miles in. I really need to work out a strategy for building my tolerance for this kind of thing as we get closer to the Goofy Challenge.

I finished the book by about 4 on Sunday and then spent more time on the web reading what other people thought of it. I need to re-read some sections to fully figure out how it all works but overall I was very pleased with all of it.

I only wish that there was a book 8.

Running around the Thunderstorms + Harry Potter Predictions

Amazingly, we got in a good workout last night! I drove home through some of the worst rain I've seen since Spring and found myself at home where everything was bone dry and not a cloud in sight or on the radar screen.

After dinner we hit the trail and I got in a solid run. About a mile and a half of easy walking warmup and then I started a new Nike+ run and got in another 4 miles and change. Just about all of it running. Despite the killer humidity, I felt really good for the run and I'm actually looking forward to the 10 miles on Saturday morning.

For the first time in ages I ran without a hat or a visor and I was astonished by how much sweat those things soak up. Granted, last night would have been an especially gross outing anyway since it was so humid, but it's still pretty shocking. I won't be doing that again.

I'm mostly on a media blackout until I'm done reading Harry Potter (I really don't want to see any spoilers) so I'm having a hard time doing my typical web browsing because I'm so afraid I'll come across something and now that we're soooo close I can't risk it.

I can't wait to get my hands on that book!

For the record here's what I think:

Harry, Ron, Hermionie all live.

Draco or Snape will die.

Lord V will die (of course).

Harry is NOT a Horcrux.

Regulus Black is not really dead.

Fleur will turn out to be important in some surprising way.

I heard somebody put forth a theory where Dudley turns out to have magic because they think Petunia made a deal with Dumbledore to supress Dudley's magic in return for her keeping Harry under her roof. Now that Dumbledore is dead, that magic will go away and Dudley will suddently have powers. I hate Dudley, but I think that's a pretty good idea since it explains why Petunia really put her foot down when Vernon wanted to throw Harry out. I also think that it might soften them (the Dursleys) up a little if Dudley actually wants to use his magic and learn about it -- it will kind of give Harry back his family.

I also like the theory I heard about how Neville will be the kid who returns to teach at Hogwarts. They think he'll teach Herbology. I like Neville so I want that to be true.

I'm back from vacation!

I don't think I mentioned this before, but we were down the shore for a few days last week.

We drove down on Wednesday night and spent four days loafing on the beach and doing some running/walking (mostly walking) through town and on the boardwalk. We had a really lazy approach to things and wound up getting late starts every day which made running really awful since it was in the mid-upper eighties and pretty humid everyday. The scenery was nice though, so I can't complain.

Our route was the same all three days we were out -- sometimes extended a little longer, and sometimes so pitifully slow that I turned off the Nike+. I'd say we got at least 6 everyday and up to 8 miles on our best outing. I think the most I ran at any point was 3 miles. I'm so lazy it's scary.

Tuesday had us back at home and over at VF. We did the loop in reverse, and while it was hot out, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I walked up the first killer hill (I should start running it in anticipation of the Megatransect) and continued walking and assessing the heat factor until we got around to the Chapel -- a little over a mile into the loop. I ran most of the way after that and it was a pretty good workout.

I had a guardian angel runner towards the end of the run: I was chugging up and small set of rolling hills and had convinced myself that I was going to take a walk break at the next crest but then this guy running in the opposite direction gave me a shout out and said "don't you stop, you can do it" or something to that effect. Which propelled me forward and I ran the whole way back to the car, which felt really good. I have such a bad tendency to always quit and take breaks even though my body really doesn't need to do it. I have to have moments like that to remind me that I'm not as frail and wimpy as my brain tells me that I am.

The weather forecast for tonight is pretty grim (thunderstorms abound) and it's incredibly soupy and humid so I am bagging the local 5K and planning a run for tomorrow instead.

10 miles on the agenda for Saturday and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm not sure if I'll get another run in on Sunday -- it depends on how much progress I've made on Harry Potter and if I can risk going out in public and the possibility of being spoiled on the ending.

Weekend Running

I'm not sure how to rate this weekend. I logged a lot of miles, but I'm not sure how good they were.

Saturday we had 6 scheduled with PhillyFit. I wanted to do more than that and I also didn't want to jump out of bed at 7:15 so Brian let me snooze it a few times and we headed out to do our own thing a little bit later in the day.


He's still nursing a sore hip so he wasn't sure what he was up for speed/distance wise so we kind of compromised - we covered about 11 miles, being sure to incorporate the big hill at Spring Mountain as a little bit of practice for the Megatransect. He didn't push it and kept himself to a pretty moderate pace. I tried to run the middle miles but I did my fair share of walking with him as the day heated up. I'd say I probably ran 7 and walked 4. I had some trouble with the Nike+ because it kept turning itself off so my effort was broken into three different segments. I'm not sure if this was operator error with me hitting the center button instead of pause or if it was related to my ongoing problems with humidity.


Sunday was hot and humid and we got off to an even later start. We just walked but we covered close to 9 miles. It was good to get out there for back to back long-ish walks but I really need to pick up the running now that New York is only 16 weeks away.

This should be strange week with the heat wave and our trip to the shore. I'm hoping to get some good running time logged.

We're trying to plan some hikes into our summer so we can prepare for the Megatransect. I think we're going to try to get to Delaware Water Gap, the Grand Canyon of PA, and out to Hawk Mountain. Maybe even a trip to the Boulder Field we visited a million years ago. We have a lot of work to do!

The only other thing I did this weekend was watch Tennis. What a totally fabulous match on Sunday! I can't wait for the US Open and I really, really, really hope we get a Federer/Nadal final. I can't even believe how good they are and how awesome that match was. It killed me to see it end. I love both of them so it was hard to even pick a favorite. I guess I was rooting for Nadal slightly more than Federer but I love him too and they both deserved it.

Excuses, excuses!

I can't get anything together this week!

Tuesday I didn't run because I had to shop for our 4th of July party. Then we went out on the 4th but we were so busy talking about the plans for getting our house in order for the cookout that we walked the whole time instead of running. Last night we were surrounded by thunderstorms and rain and I didn't remember that I have a gym membership until I was home. I can't believe that I totally forgot about the gym option.

Maybe tonight I can get out there since tomorrow I have a shorter run scheduled. We're heading into a heat wave so any miles I can get in before that would be best.

On a side note -- I am worried that Gatorade Endurance is really hard to find in stores. I think it's being phased out! oh no!

Weekend Running

Saturday morning was the PhillyFit run at Valley Forge and that meant 8 miles of hills.

We had a pretty interesting guy come to give out some tips on form and warming up properly but that cost us 45 minutes of shade before the clouds moved on and the heat started to kick in. Saturday wasn't a particularly hot day but the comination of hills and lack of shade made for a very tough day for me. Nike+ gives credit for 8.88 miles and a 11:19 pace. I was thinking that was more miles than we actually ran, but when I look at the map provided by the park, I think it's pretty accurate. Interesting!

Feeling pretty defeated by my Saturday run, and being blessed with temps in the low 70s with a breeze and low humidity on Sunday I went back to the loop and ran 5 miles on my own and felt amazingly better. Nike+ put this one at just over 5 miles and a 10:30 pace. Had it been earlier in the day, when less bikes and baby strollers are on the trail, I might have repeated the Saturday workout and gone for 8 miles.

I don't know why I'm always surprised when heat & humidity cause me such trouble on the run. It happens every time so I need to just expect it.

Hot weather walk

It was 90+ degrees last night and super humid so Brian & I decided to walk at VF instead of running. I'm not sure that was the best decision because there was a surprising amount of wind along the trail and we saw more runners than we usually do in that kind of weather.

Either way, I got 5.5 miles under my belt. I hope to get in at least one real run this week but tonight I need to meet the cable guy so I probably can't do it tonight and tomorrow we're supposed to get a ton of serious thunderstorms. I think I might have to actually go to the gym. Yuck!

Sunday - Our first PA hike in years

On Sunday Brian and I went up to Green Lane park to do some easy walking and hiking as the first step in our training for the Megatransect. On a scale of 1-10 in terms of difficult hiking this was like a 1. There was one section that might be called a 2. But it was rocky with roots and uneven terrain so it was a good way to get back into the swing of things without getting too far away from home.

We started the day easy with a casual walk on the Perkiomen and covered about 5 miles. Then we had a picnic before moving to the part of the park with trails. The map called the round trip on the trail 6 miles but I'd be kind of surprised if it was really that far.

Overall, it was a nice day out, we got some good slow miles under our belts and I learned that I absolutely need new trail shoes for this race because I got an icky blister on my heel from my trusty Merrells. I love those shoes and they've taken me to a lot of cool places but they have had it.

I'm frustrated that none of those miles counted towards my Nike challenges. I really wish that you could set it to track walks or runs so a long walk/hike would count but wouldn't totally tank your average pace. Then again, why do I really care about the average pace? It's true considering that I do quite a mix of walking/hiking and running and will continue to have this type of mix through September. I'm really going to have to think about this because I look lame having only a 7 mile weekend when I really did more like 17.

Update on Monday morning:

I can't believe it but that lame hike actually made me sore! The back of my heel -- I guess it's the achellies tendon area. It's not awful but it's new and it's gotta be from the hiking. Very interesting.

Brian is considering doing the Baltimore Marathon 2 weeks after the Mega. Not sure if that's such a good idea but I hope he decides to do it so I can run the half there!

Saturday Run w/PhillyFit

Saturday was just the most perfect day to run. It was cool, there was no humidity, it was just great.

We ran for 7 miles out on the Perkiomen and according to Nike+ we came in at an even 10:00 pace for the day. I think that's off a bit since it gave us credit for 7.33 miles when it probably wasn't quite that far. Still, I think we were at or below 10:30 and for 7 miles that's pretty good for me.

What's perplexing is that my friend and I were running pretty solidly and while we were chatting we weren't going slow enough to have a regular conversation. Still, we were left in the dust by the majority of the red group (10 min pace and slower) and they finished a few minutes ahead of us even though we all started at the same time. The real mystery is that one of the guys running in the lead pack of runners said his Garmin gave a pace of 10:40. There is no way they could have been running slower than us and finished so far ahead of us. And while my Nike+ might not be perfectly accurate it's not a minute off the pace.

I think both of our devices are inaccurate but I'm still puzzled by how things turned out. I don't know why I care. Even if the Nike+ is wrong, it's always rating me against the same calibration scale so if I'm improving on Nike+ I'm improving for real.

Another Virtual Half Marathon!

This one is the Nike+ Women's Half Marathon where they will give a Tiffany & Co. keychain and a tech t-shirt to anybody who registers (and pays an entry fee) and then completes a half-marathon using their Nike+ on October 21, 2007.

I love it! It's called Run Together.


In other news, I walked last night instead of running. Tonight I'll probably do nothing and then I have 7 on the schedule tomorrow morning.

Evening Run

I skipped my run on Tuesday because it was 90 degrees and looking like a thunderstorm. I went out for dinner with my Mom and sisters instead. That was fun but not good for my calorie count -- especially when we added a trip to the ice cream place on after dinner.

Last night I was hoping to hit the trail at Valley Forge and was about 5 minutes from the park when I got a call from my sister (who is staying at my house this week) to tell me that I left my running clothes at home. This was very bad news since the weather was just PERFECT for running last night.

Luckily it was the longest day of the year so we had plenty of time to detour back home, grab some dinner, get changed and still get to the trail for about a 6.5 mile run before dark.

It was a really good run. Easy walking warmup for about a mile, then slowish walking and chatting until I felt good and my legs took me out a little ahead of Brian. I had some fast stretches along the way and kind of lost my edge in the last half of the run but I tried my best to hang in there and keep on running and as you can see from the Nike+ chart I did a pretty good job of staying steady. My average pace for the whole run was 10:48 and considering that I walked more than the first mile I think that's pretty good effort.

I'm at 340 miles for the year according to Nike+. I know I'm really 13 miles more (because of the half marathon I ran when the Nike foot pod didn't work) but I have to go by what the computer says. I'm in a challenge to run 1001 miles in the year. I'm obviously off the pace but it's not as bad as it could be, especially since I hope (and expect) my miles to really increase, especially in the fall when I start to prepare for Goofy. I really want to hit that goal even though it doesn't mean a thing.

Weekend Run

PhillyFit met on Saturday morning for a 6 mile run. Brian & I decided to head out early and we got in a nice warm-up walk of about a mile and a half and then about 3/4 mile running back towards the group meeting spot before we ran into the runner's heading out. I really liked that chance to warm up slowly and it made for a really good outing for me.

Those first two sets wound up at about 8.5 miles long and during the 7 mile segment I averaged a 10:18 pace which is really pretty good for me.

Following that run, after rehydrating and chatting with the group for awhile we decided to head out for a couple more miles with my sister (who is training for Baltimore) and needed a couple extra miles. What started out as a short stroll turned into a 5+ mile pretty decently paced walk.

Overall, it was about a 13 mile day. Really very good overall.

I wore this new skirt in yitro print and it felt great with a pair of cheapo Target compression shorts underneath. The flaw is that my water belt kind of rubbed some spots the wrong way so it kind of screwed up the fabric. I'm surprised, but I still really like the skirt.

Sunday I had great intentions to ride my bike and do a run (my first brick!) but I never got around to it because I was getting my house in order for my houseguests. (Sister and nephew visiting for a week or so.)

Other exciting news is that we made our plans for the Disney marathon and we'll be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge on our trip. I can't wait for January!

Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect

I did it! I signed us up for this adventure. According to the website the Megatransect is a 25 mile wilderness hike/run that is second to none! It's not a race, it's a personal challenge. According to their website:

"The Megatransect is designed to appeal to the hard-core trail runner, dedicated hiker or those reasonably fit persons out for a real challenge. You will be given 11.5 hours to complete the course. Runners' times will from 3.75 to 6.5 hours. Hikers are likely to take 6 to 9.5 hours. Those that do a bit of jogging in the easy sections should be somewhere in the middle. Although timed, the Megatransect should be considered more of a personal challenge rather than a race."

We're not trail runners so we'll be doing this just as a timed hike. The course is open for 11.5 hours and I think we're going to need most of them. It starts off with an oatmeal breakfast and ends with a pig roast and we even get commemorative coffee mugs.

I love everything I've read about this event except the part where it says to watch out for rattlesnakes. I hope it's chilly day and not a muggy nightmare.

Get a load of those rocks!!

We have until September 29 to get ready for this. That's 15 weeks away. It's going to be interesting getting in my training for New York and getting ready for this -- I think it's going to really help prep me for the back to back days of the Goofy Challenge.

Celebrating Entry with a Day off!

I blew off my first run after getting into New York. We were having thunderstorms and I didn't even think about going to the gym. I'm not sure why I didn't.

Anyway, no run yesterday. I have my stuff with me today, so maybe I'll run tonight as long as the weather cooperates. I have to come up with a training plan. This is one of my favorite parts of the whole marathon experience -- filling in the calendar with all my long runs and figuring out who to arrange my life around them.

It'll be more complicated this time since we're going to have to plan some long hikes too so that we can get ready for the Megatransect. I guess the back to back long workouts will help me get in gear for the Goofy Challenge in January.

Nike+ Thing

I just posted a widget so that you can see my last 5 Nike+ runs.

The graph that shows is my most recent run and if you click on the tiny little gray arrow to the left of the green graph line you can scroll back to the previous run.

Pretty nifty!

New York, New York!

I got into New York again! I am 2 for 2.

My sister got in too -- which is also good news.

The bad news: my husband didn't get in.

I feel just awful about that because I really want him to experience the whole race. It's not fair that we're getting 2nd chances before he even gets his first chance.

I might defer so that we can run a different race together.

This is such a different feeling from last year when I was jumping out of my skin. Now I'm sad about Brian and worried that I won't like it as much as last time if I do run.

Worldwide Half Marathon

I just signed up for this while I'm anxiously awaiting the results of the New York Lottery. It's driving me CRAZY not to have a real marathon goal for the fall. I'll either have a half-marathon training run or I'll sign up to run the half at Baltimore to participate. I think I'm going to e-mail the Phedippidations guy and get the logo so I can have a t-shirt made for myself at Running Banana.

I've been doing a mix of running and walking in the past few weeks. Partly because I was burned out and partly because I've been a little under the weather and running was a little too difficult for a couple of weeks. I think I'm getting back on track now though -- just in time for the high temps and humidity! Lucky me!

We're considering doing the Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect in September, which will be a fun (maybe) alternative to the kinds of races we typically do. I think I can pull that off and still run Philadelphia or New York in November just as long as I don't get a rattlesnake bite during the hike.

I think I failed to post any comments here about the Broad Street Run back in May. I was in a big snit because my posted time didn't match my watch because of a chip malfunction. They recently updated their site so now my real time shows up! yay! I get credit for my 1:43 run!

Belated Report: Lehigh Valley Half Marathon

That's me wearing the magical Quadrathon shirt that powered me to a big PR at the half marathon. It's kind of a miracle that it happened since I spent the week leading up to the race in Jamaica. I landed in Philadelphia at about 6:30 on Saturday night and at that poitn I didn't even know what time the race started on Sunday morning!

Anyway, we drove up to Allentown and checked into our hotel where I had the worst night of sleep ever. It had nothing to do with the hotel -- except the change from King bed on vacation to double bed at this hotel really did not work for me. Brian on the other hand, had a great night of sleep and had his very own great race on Sunday morning.

Weather was ideal for racing: slightly overcast, light breeze, mid-50 temps. We had no problem at all picking up our stuff pre-race (nice long sleeved tech shirt and free teddy bear (?) and best of all Goldenberg's Peanut Chews!) and we checked our stuff before heading to the start line.

At this point I discovered that my Nike+ had died. My iPod had been acting funny in Jamaica, freezing up at times, but I determined that was due to wild fluctuations in humidity. This was something different altogether. After I tried to start my workout and the lady says "walk around to activate your sensor" nothing happened. Try as I might, I couldn't get it to link. I tried to reset it a few times but no go -- I had to just run without it. I did manage to time my race with the iPod stopwatch (which even has lap features but I am not sure how to do that) and that was good since I wasn't wearing a watch. Of course, even if I did know how to work the lap counter, I couldn't have used it since I saw almost no mile markers all day long. I was the only one to miss them, so I must have been in some kind of zone.

I positioned myself between the 2:20 and 2:30 pacers and my plan was not to get in front of the 2:20 pacer until the very end. This turned out to be an ideal plan because I started slowish and then caught 2:20 lady but didn't pass her. She dropped me at about mile 8 when we hit a pretty big hill but then I caught up again and passed her.

I felt really good through most of the race (until that hill) and those last few miles are hillier than the beginning portion of the race and I found myself walking on hills and running the rest. I just listened to my body until the final mile and then tried to push as best as I could. I still walked a bit towards the end of the final mile because the race finishes on a high school track with lots of spectators and I did NOT want to walk during that segment. Instead, I walked a bit on the lead up (and the nasty Marine Corps Marathon-esque hill into the stadium) and then ran as fast as I could to the finish. I even tried to nab the inside lane but I didn't quite get there.

Post race food was really good (soup, vegetarian sausage, muffin tops, bananas, and water) and we even got mylar blankets which felt great because the wind was kicking up and it got kind of cold waiting for everybody to finish.

I really enjoyed the race and can't wait to do it again next year. The course is pleasant too, mostly through a park. Some people did not care for the gravel path that a large portion of the race is run on but that didn't bother me since it's my typical running surface.

Broad Street Run: good, bad, and ugly

The good: beautiful day, good race, another PR

The bad: we were late, the race felt almost as awful as a marathon

The ugly: we were late, which caused me to be in a HUGE snit, and made us at least 5 minutes late to the start, and now there is a glitch in the results reporting so my 1:43 PR is showing up as a 1:51 Personal Worst.

Still, this is a good race, and I'm happy with my (unofficial) time of 1:43:44. I figured I'd run 1:45 and considering how much I struggled, I'm thrilled with 1:43.

I'm going to have to do a lot of training for the Goofy Challenge because this race was way too hard after yesterday's Urban Dare.

Urban Dare Philadelphia - Super Fun!

I'm pretty sure we came in 6th place yesterday at the Urban Dare. I was sort of in a daze as it finished so I'm going to have to re-check with the race director to be sure.

Pictures, clues and story to follow soon.

Trying something new! (If I don't chicken out)

I signed up for the duathlon event at the Philadelphia Women's Triathlon. I'm fascinated by triathlon but I really can't swim well enough to even consider doing a tri this summer. The duathlon distances are certainly in my realm though, even with my lame granny bike, and I think concentraing on the 2 and 3.1 distances required for the run will help me stick to some speed training that will help me overall to get ready for my fall marathon. (I can't wait until they pick the lottery in New York. It's driving me crazy not being able to make a plan for fall.)

This reminds me that I'm considering registering for Marine Corps on May 9 figuring that I can just defer until 2008 if I get into New York. If Brian gets into New York, and I don't, I think I want to run Baltimore in October so I can get the crab medal and avoid the hassle of back to back out of town races.

Decisions, Decisions!