Two runs this weekend

We had a pretty good weekend. My sister ran the NYC marathon. (She said it was fabulous and that everybody should run this race at least once.) I went for a run myself on Saturday for about 4 miles, then gave blood and did my good deed for the weekend.

On Sunday, Brian and I went to Valley Forge to cover the extended 7-mile loop. We ran the beginning and end and walked on the river trail portion. That was pretty good for me considering the Saturday run and the blood donation. I felt good and was a little worried that my legs would hurt today but they didn't. Yay!

I posted most of the Utah pictures up on Winkflash. There are a lot of them and the best ones are not even there because they're panoramic and don't show to best advantage at this website. However, these guys did really nice prints from Hawaii and they are cheap so that's where the photos live for now. Click here to check out the long slide show. Click here to see me & Brian posing like dorks on a rock in the middle of the Virgin River trying to take our self portait with the camera on a tripod.

Hills Hills Hills

I just checked the Car-A-Mile page, as I do 400 times a day, to see if there were any updates. Today there was! They've posted a course map and an altitude profile. As you can see, it's hilly. UGH!

The good news is that one of the best places to run around here is Valley Forge which is also full of hills. I guess I'll have to force myself to run on the hilly loop instead of on flat trails so I'll be ready.

All my other races have been like pancakes. This should be interesting indeed!

Ironman

I set my Tivo to tape anything related to Ironman Triathlons. It's awesome! The people who do these events are just amazing. I have no interest in ever doing such an event but I do love to watch them on TV.

What I find most amazing is that the race is so hard that even the pros walk and DNF and just struggle with it like the regular people do. You don't often get to see that.

Happy Halloween!

I'm totally out of shape.

Sure, I managed to run 3 miles on Saturday without feeling bad but on Sunday.....OUCH! I didn't go to the 5K because I know my quads would not have cooperated. I'm embarassed at how sore they are after such a short run.

I need to run some more before the 8K and the Turkey Trot.

In more exciting news (kind of) I did register for Car-A-Mile. I hope it was a good decision.

Happy Halloween!

October 29, 2005 - Trying to run again....

Can you believe it's been more than a month since my last running outing? I've been so busy I couldn't believe the truth when I finally figured it out.

This morning I was planning on going to a local 5K that was raising money for Hurricane Katrina but last night when I realized how bad I've been with keeping up with a running plan I kind of chickened out and decided to sleep a little later and go out for a run myself just to see how it felt.
I'm thinking of doing a different local 5K tomorrow and I still might -- we'll see how the weather looks.

Anyway -- the run went well! It was good weather, chilly but not once you got moving. I only went 3 miles including the first bit I walked while I warmed up and got my iPod situated and it took just over a half hour. So I feel quite sure I can handle the 5K tomorrow without making too much of a fool of myself!

In other news, I think it's going to cost me about $300 to get my treadmill repaired. The closest place that will do it is in Harrisburg and that's FAR from where I live. That's nearly half of what I paid for the stupid thing which makes me mad that we didn't just splurge on a better one to begin with. What worries me the most is that I'm going to hire the guy, he'll come and then he'll have misdiagnosed the problem and it'll cost even more. Blah! I wish it wasn't so dark in the winter so I could run outside all the time.

My sister and I have decided to sign up for the Car-A-Mile Marathon in May 2006. It's a new marathon in NJ that's associated with a long running 15K so I'm not worried about a first time race director making a lot of mistakes. The premise is that this is a race for the average runner with prizes for the average guy not the elites. They're going to give away a car (a lease, actually, but still fun) at every mile of the race. You need to line up in the corrals to be in the pool of winners. They're going to post the name of the winner at every mile. It sounds totally fun, I think. Plus, it's only about an hour from my house. I'm thinking that if this becomes and annual race it's my big chance to be one of those people who runs a race every single year it exists.

We're also going to do the MORE marathon together in March. That's the one in NYC for women over 40. I'm not 40 yet but you can register as the side-kick of a 40 year old woman and then both run a half-marathon. That's what we did last year and we had a great time.

My long range goal is to run Philadelphia in November 2006. What other races I'll insert along the course of the year I don't know. I still haven't figured out what to do about the San Jose, Disneyland, Distance Run dilemma.

Brian & Helen at Kolob Canyon Overlook

Brian & Helen at Kolob Canyon Overlook
Originally uploaded by hdunn1012.

This is a (bad) photo of me & Brian from the first day of our trip to Utah. We were freezing up there at the Kolob Canyon Overlook in Zion National Park.

We're most of the way through our photos and are trying to get the best ones into a slide show and we're trying to see if flickr is the way to do it. I'm testing the flickr blog posting feature with this picture.

Totally bummed out!

They cancelled the Urban Challenge! It's (was) my favorite race in the world and now it's gone.

I'm mad too because it's only about 2.5 weeks from now and it's all the way in Phoenix so I have a bunch of travel plans I need to cancel too.

This stinks. And it's raining outside. What a rotten day.

A really fun poll from HER SPORTS magazine

Click on this link to add your two cents to the Her Sports Opinion Poll.

I'm still working on my entry and some I don't think I'll vote on.

BEST NAME: Half Wit Half Marathon, Reading PA
BEST COURSE:
BEST SCENERY:
BEST WEATHER:
BEST RACE-BAG GOODIES: MORE Marathon, NYC
BEST T-SHIRTS: Baltimore Marathon
BEST EXPO: Rock'N'Roll San Diego
BEST PARTIES:
BEST FOR FIRST-TIMERS:
BEST FOR WOMEN: MORE marathon, NYC
BEST FOR FAMILIES: Walt Disney World Marathon
BEST FINISHER'S MEDAL: Philadelphia Distance Run
BEST FOOD:
BEST (AND MOST) PORTOLETS:

UTAH was awesome!

I'm finally back from my vaction and all I can say is that if you have never been to Bryce Canyon NP or Zion NP you must book your trip immediately and get there as soon as you can.

The scenery was just spectacular and since we stayed at the NP lodges for most of the trip we were kind of "unplugged" from the world because there was no TV or internet or anything else. Early to bed and early to rise made for a superbly relaxing week away.

We did great hikes in both parks and spent lots of time just hanging out looking for animals and drinking assorted coffee drinks (they had a really good coffee bar at Zion). We (well Brian) took an enormous number of photos and as soon as we have some time to plow through all the digital images I'll link to a slideshow for you to view.

I have learned since my return home that they have a half marathon at Bryce Canyon. Very Interesting....

Dilemma: California Half Marathon 2006

I have a dilemma - I have to choose between two new interesting races.

I think I posted before about the new Disneyland Half Marathon in September. They're going to have a castle medal. How cool is that? Anyway, I just found out that there is going to be a new Rock'N'Roll Half marathon in San Jose in October.

I want to do both. Both have potential for good pre or post race vacations. Both offer new medals. Both are races I'm sure I'll like. I think I'll probably get a better shirt at Disneyland if the Disney World marathons are any indication. Plus it gives me a reason to go to those parks that I'd most likely never visit without the half-marathon incentive.

However, I love all of the Rock'N'Roll races. And I wonder if I'd get a special prize if I did VA Beach, PDR and San Jose? I'd be earning a new medal: the special 26.2 for doing two rock'n'roll half marathons plus the VA Beach/PDR combo and maybe an extra special one for doing all three? I don't know. It's going to be hard to choose.

Walk for the Wissahickon - 11 mile hike

Brian & I spent a good part of Sunday on a hiking adventure to "preserve open space". The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association sponsored a hike along the Green Ribbon trail which runs along the Wissahickon Creek. You could take a 21, 7, 11 or 4 mile hike along the trail. The hikes were stuck together and were led by a guide who worked for WVWA and they provided water and snacks. All in all it was a pleasant way to spend a gorgeous fall day, although neither of us is dying to do it again.

We opted for the 11 mile hike. The guide was a guy who kept a nice pace -- we never felt trapped or like snails and since they made clear in the registration packet that kids under a certain age, dogs and strollers were not welcome at this event things went great. They had weeded out the snails ahead of time so we were left with a good crowd of speedy hikers.

The trail was mostly flat with the typical eastern PA rocks. You had to keep your eyes on the trail to keep from tripping. There were seven creek crossings but they were simple since they had laid planks and ladders across the creek so you didn't need to get wet. We're at the end of a particularly dry summer though so this could be more interesting/challenging if the water level was higher.

We only stopped a couple of times for street crossings and bathroom breaks and the WVWA folks provided a steady stream of water, granny smith apples (my fave!), bananas and an excellent assortment of candy. At the 7 mile mark we stopped for about a half hour for lunch and most of the group hopped on a bus back to the start of the hike. About a dozen of us pressed on to the 11 mile bus back point.

I think the only problem with this hike was that it was all business. Because we were all herded together there really wasn't any chance to just meander along and take in the pretty creek views or look for wildlife. It was a nice day, and being with the other folks wasn't bad, but I think we would have had more fun alone and maybe more fun later in the season when the leaves had turned color.

We spent the afternoon watching the Eagles awesome comeback on Tivo [We were clued in by the happy shouts pouring out of our neighbors house that the 2nd half was worth watching] and playing with our new espresso machine. We got the machine on Saturday with some gift certificates we've had since the wedding but haven't managed to spend yet. So far the machine is fabulous and we're both sad we waited this long to buy the gadget!

5 days until Utah!

Random Stuff

I have been brainwashed by the breast cancer people. I almost bought these pants last night but didn't want to wait in a long line at the store so I didn't. But I can't stop thinking about them and I think I need to go buy them at lunch time. [They are breast cancer awareness jeans -- mostly they are just regular jeans with a pink design on the pockets and a cute belt and they give money to Susan G. Komen if you buy them.]

I need to get my treadmill fixed. I haven't run since the PDR and I actually kind of miss it. I don't think I'll be running until after Utah though just because I won't have time to do it.

I can't wait until Utah! We leave next Saturday!

This weekend I'm doing a trail walk or hike or something. It's a guided hike on a mostly flat trail so it might be really annoying but Brian & I figure it will be a good way to spend time outside on a different trail than we usually use and if we hate it we can just ditch the gang and take off on our own. They offer 21, 11, 7 and 4 mile options and I think we're doing the 7/11 hike. I don't think I have 21 in me this weekend!

The 3-Day: the last day

The final walk of the 3-day was short in comparison to the other two. About 14 miles. Unfortunately for the people with sore feet, knees, etc. there were lots of hills.

The last day is really different because they have a special closing ceremony and they hold all the walkers in a special holding area about a quarter mile from the real finish area until the ceremony is supposed to begin. This is good because it forces the faster people to slow down and take in the atmosphere. I tried to stay in the middle of the pack on the final day and I saw a completely different scene than at the front. It was still great, but lots more crowded and that meant a less pleasnt time at the pit-stops and more crowding on the route. But it also meant more people to talk to and more rowdy crowds. All in all though, I prefer the front.

The whole ending of the weekend was pretty cool. Approaching the final section of the walk the streets are lined with walkers who have finished, friends & family, and crew people who are screaming and clapping and cheering while music blares. You can hear them well before you see them and it's more dramatic than any race finish line I've experienced. I think this must be what it's like to be on the red-carpet. Once you finish you get your cool "victory" shirt. These are blue for walkers, pink for Survivors and white for crew people. They're very nice.

After all the walkers have come in for the day. They send the spectators up to the stage and separate the particpants into three groups: walkers, crew, and Survivors. Then we proceed into the closing area (through more throngs of cheering fans) where they put us all into concentric circles -- walkers on outside and then when we're all in there the crew comes in to be applauded by us. And boy, was the cheering for the crew amazing. I actually felt the ground shake. And they deserved every second of it. They really are amazing and they spend four days doing it and get less rest than us. They were great. Lastly, the survivors make it into the innermost ring and raise up the 3-Day flag. [Actually, they raise a blank flag symbolizing a world where there is no cancer and thus no need for the 3-Day. Nice sentiment, but I think they should use the regular flag.]

Anyway, during this final section a whisper went through the crowd telling us that the 3-Day tradition is to remove one shoe and hold it above your head in tribute to the Survivors. Let me tell you, it's pretty hilarious to see thousands of stiff, sore people trying to bend over in a tightly packed corral to remove a sneaker from a blistered foot. However, the sneaker salute was very neat. At least to the walkers, I'm not sure what anybody else thought of it. Later I noticed that the picture on our victory t-shirt is of three walkers holding up their shoes.

You might also notice in the photo that the person in the center is a man. I was surprised to see so many men walking. They were treated like extra-special heros but there were plenty of them there. I think they should market more to men because all the guys I talked to expressed a reluctance to particpate but were all glad that they had decided to do it. So tell all the guys out there -- come and walk!

My last words on this [finally!] are that it was an excellent experience, very well run, and something that I think you should do if you're even slightly interested.

The 3-Day: Camp Two + THE ESCAPE

So things at camp on Day Two were good! My friend Lisa, who was working on crew, met me at the finish for the day and took pictures and it was really fun. Plus, I still felt great after 40+ miles. Life was good, and hanging at the camp with Brian and my sister who visited was really fun too. I was glad they got to see what it was like and take it all in.

As the day wore on and the last walker made it back to camp and raised the 3-Day flag [see photo -- they make a big fuss over the last person to make it back] my exhaustion started to kick in. I was beat -- so you can imagine just how thrilled I was when they announced that in the morning of Day Three they'd be taking us by bus to Chestnut Hill College. Awesome! My sister, who was still at camp, lives across the street from the college! And that meant that I didn't have to sleep in the tent!!! I'd get a real bed and a real bathroom and that I could sleep late on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, the 3-Day folks make a big deal of scanning the walkers in and out of camp each day so they know everybody is safe and sound. When I asked about how to make that happen even though I was leaving the camp they told me it couldn't be done.

So I escaped. I packed up my tent and my duffel bag and snuck out of camp. We did recon at the college to make sure we could find the pit stop and route markers for the next day and then I hit the sack.

Check out my fugitive picture -- that's me leaving my hide out and making my way back to the route on Sunday morning.

The 3-Day: Overnight + Day Two

I enjoyed "camping" quite a lot. [Did you check out my huge puffy air mattress? I was completely not roughing it!] It's fun to be surrounded by people who are totally immersed in the same thing as you are, all obsessed with the walk, the aches and pains, etc. I was also amazed at seeing the people hobbling around camp, bandaged and hurting and how they were all still planning on heading out on Day 2. I still felt great at this point -- a little stiff maybe but good. Some of these folks were wiped out.

Anyway, I was in bed by 9, asleep by 9:05. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of tarps flapping wildly in the breeze. I found my trusty headlamp and wandered to the porta-potty (although there was so much moonlight I hardly needed the light) and made it back to bed in one piece. I was up at 5 to start the day with a totally huge and awesome breakfast [eggs, hash browns, biscuts, bacon, oatmeal!]. Seriously, they feed you like you would not believe at this thing.

I packed up the tent and was out on the road by about 7:20. We had 19.5 miles on tap this morning so I was glad to see that the weather had changed and it was a lot cooler on day 2.

Day 2 was cool because I was passing through a lot of familiar territory. My huband's hometown, my sister-in-laws neighborhood, my old office park to name a few. I called the family and tried to help them figure out how to meet me for lunch. The 3-Day folks never really give up too much info on the route but I knew which mile would be our lunch stop (13.1) and where the nearest "cheering station was" (13.1) so I told them to get a map and find a park in the vicinity and come find me for lunch.

I got to lunch, and was right at home -- the theme was NERDapolooza! Brian and my sister were at lunch and my Mom was up at the cheering station a few miles later. Amazingly, after 33 miles and change I still felt great. Thanks to a couple Spenco second skin squares on my heel hot spot my feet felt great, and so did my legs. Right about now was when I started to regret not signing up for Disney's Goofy Challenge.

Brian walked with me for about 3 or 4 miles and I got back to camp in the front of the pack again. He met me back at camp, helped set up my tent and then took off while I got in line for the shower. This time things weren't going as smoothly because they had trouble finding a level spot for the shower trucks and they opened late. How dare they?!

The 3-Day: Camp One

I hobbled into camp the first night and made my way to the gear truck to pick up my stuff and my tent. I have no idea at all what to do with a tent or how to put one up but luckily the nice crew guys were there to help all of us do the tents.

After setting up the tent and my air mattress I collected my clean towels and went to the shower truck. The hot showers are an awesome feature -- I really can't imagine this without the showers. Since I was in the front of the pack I didn't even have to wait in a line, I just walked right in. Fabulous!

So, now I'm clean and my bed is all set up. It was time to explore the camp. It's really pretty impressive. They have the whole tent city, a giant dining hall with tables and a stage for entertainment, plus a medical tent, a 3-day merchandise tent, and a place to hang out and relax and read and just chill out. It's pretty cool.

The 3-Day, Day One - I don't think I'm going to like this

I left for the 3-Day on Thursday night. Walkers were supposed to report to Sesame Place no later than 6am on Friday morning and since I am not a morning person AT ALL I thought it would be best to stay at a nearby hotel. In the morning I waited in the hotel lobby by myself surrounded by packs of women decked out in pink gear who were all eager to get started. This made me kind of sad that I was alone and I was worried that this was going to be a long, miserable weekend.

Getting to Sesame Place, still in the dark, I dropped off my gear and was handed a pack of Mike & Ikes by the cheery crew guy who collected my bag. This was indicative of things to come: really nice crew people and free food! I made my way to the stage and waited, nervously for the next hour or so until the sun came up and the ceremony to start the walk began. In the meantime more and more packs of women crowded the area. Some of them were actually wearing fake styrofoam boobs on their heads. Many of them were chanting annoying boob-themed cadence chants and singing boob-themed songs. I thought to myself that if this kept up I wouldn't make it through even one day.

The ceremony was nice, a series of people talking about why they walked and coming to the conclusion that we all walk because we believe in a future without breast cancer. [For the record, over 400,000 people die each year from breast cancer. Every 3 minutes a new person is diagnosed. Every 13 minutes somebody dies. That's a lot of people.] I have to say, it was a total tear jerker of a presentation especially when lots of people around me started bawling I guess because they were remembering the people they knew who had died. I felt kind of like an interloper because I have no connection to the disease. (Thank goodness!) They also told us that Philadelphia had about 2000 walkers who raised 6 million dollars. Nice work!

Finally, about 7:15 we got started. We left the staging area and headed out onto the course -- and the whole first section was lined on both sides by cheering, clapping crew members who were handing out high fives and 3-day bandannas. (more free stuff!) It was very uplifting and fun.

The first day of walking covered 23 miles between Langhorne and Warminster. We walked through a couple of beautiful parks, and some cute towns. Spectators were few and far between except for the designated cheering stations but there were some notable exceptions like the lady in the Yellow car who kept popping up and telling us we should feel "damn good" about what we were doing and the nice lady in Newtown who set out snacks and opened up her house to the walkers so they could use her bathroom. This is a huge deal -- all we do the whole time is go to the bathroom. Porta-potties on the horizon cause the crowd of walkers to cheer with excitement. It's crazy -- but they push water and gatorade on you constantly so pretty much all the time you are scrambling for a bathoom.

I felt great all day, even towards the end when the sun beat down on us and things got a little more difficult. But over all the day went smoothly. It was so different from marathons where it's all about pushing hard and going as fast as you can. Here it was about making friends, and talking, and stopping to stretch and eat and relax every 3 miles or so.

At every pit stop along the way, the crew would wear costumes and play themed music as they provided food (string cheese, peanut butter and bagels, raisins, bananas, crackers, chips, pretzels, Pria bars) and bathrooms, and medical attention and of course STICKERS! How nerdy am I that I liked getting stickers more than just about anything?

I was back at camp around 4:00 and was one of the first hundred people to make it back. More on camping later.....

It was great!

The 3-Day is over and it was awesome. I highly recommend this event -- if you're considering it even a little bit I think you should do it. It's fun, and well run, and for a good cause.

I was going to post some pictures but blogger seems to be going a little crazy today so that will have to wait. Booooo.

Packing

Oh my god! The packing was TERRIBLE!

There is a 35 pound limit on the stuff you can lug to the 3-Day. That does not scare me after the 30 pound seaplane limit from our trip to St. Croix.

What I hadn't counted on was how difficult it would be to wedge everything I needed plus an air matress (yeah, I'm bringing a matress, I'm a big wimp) and a sleeping bag into one duffel bag. I had to move from the one I was planning to bring to a different larger one. Thank goodness I had that option. Right now it's about to pop open and explode everywhere. Tonight, after I get to the hotel, I'm going to unpack and try to put everything in there in a more coherent way. Right now it's just all wedged in however I could make it fit.

It's so funny -- after I get to the hotel I need to take off all my work clothes and get into my pjs so I can send all the dirty clothes/shoes home with Brian. I also need to send home my handbag and everyother extra thing I have on me today so that it won't clutter my 3-day bag. This is so crazy.

The weather seems like it will be OK. Cool on Saturday -- a high of 73? -- but mostly dry. At least I hope so.

I'm trying to hook up with my team but so far not much luck. Keep your fingers crossed there will be no rain and some cool people.

These 3-Day people really know what they're doing...

So, my last post was all about feeling panic over the weekend. Then I open my e-mail and find a link to a short movie from the 3-Day people. It's just scrolling text with dramatic movie soundtrack music playing. Here's what it said:

WELCOME TO THE 2005 3-DAY

You’re about to join in a bold experiment.

An experiment with a goal no less than to rid the world of breast cancer.

It’s hard to imagine a challenge so great could begin with something as
simple as tying your shoes.

Something you do every day.

Soon, you’ll tie your shoes with a courageous purpose in mind:
to change the world.

We’ll have a big advantage. Because there will be an awful lot of tied shoes out there.

And they’ll all be headed in the same direction.

Toward the same goal.

Some will walk fast. Others slow.

Groups will fall in step, while others will keep their own rhythm.

You will find that some shoes are old. Some brand-new.
And that they come in different sizes. And shapes. And colors.

None, we hope, will have high heels.

As you were tying your shoes this morning, maybe you were thinking about all the things you need to pack. You know, an extra pair of socks, sun block, maybe a picture of the kids.

Now that you’re reading this, you probably just thought of something else.

There will always be something else.

Don’t worry.

You’ll be okay.

The most important thing to bring to the 3-Day is something you can’t forget.

You always have it. You just have to remember to share it.

Kindness.

Kindness is like water. Everyone needs it.

Some more than others. Some times more than others.

For at least three days, let’s try to give out more kindness than we ever have before.

Don’t be afraid to tell someone if their shoes need tying.

Reach out to your fellow walkers, in hand and in heart.

Give a crew person the hug they so richly deserve.

If you find yourself in camp early try setting up a tent…for someone you don’t even know.

You’ll find, kindness is contagious.

Kindness makes everything better.

Even sore feet. Even using porta-potties.

Which is good. Because the 3-Day isn’t easy.

It’s a long road.

Soon, it will begin to move beneath your feet.

It will be the start of something big.

Something bold and challenging.

Walking 60 miles in three days. That definitely falls into the “big” category.

That’s what sets you – and the 3-Day – apart.

The little voice inside your head that said, “What is the most I can do?”

That’s the stuff this world could use more of.

This adventure will begin with a single step for each of us.

It will reach out for generations to come.

Galvanized by purpose and guided by the irrepressible light of hope, we are taking a stand against breast cancer. Working together,we have the power to do the most extraordinary things.

Know that our boldness will bring about change.

Lives will be saved.

Hope for humanity will take a giant step forward.

And just think, it all starts with the simple act of tying your shoes.

See you on Friday with your walking shoes on!

Now I wish it was starting tommorow.