Unexpected Long Run

I think I'm going to run 15 miles with my sister tomorrow. The weather looks great, and I want to show her a new trail connection.

Who would have thought that there would ever be a day when I would run 15 miles just for fun?

My boss overheard me talking about it and she thought I was doing a race -- you should have seen her face when she realized that I wasn't.

In other news, I joined LA Fitness (with my sister). I have an appointment on Monday at 4:30 with the trainer guy to work out my "fitness plan". That should be interesting!

Photo from MORE

I look better than I feel! They took all the pictures on the UPHILL sections!

Totally Unfair!

MORE half marathon in NYC

I ran the MORE half marathon with two of my sisters on Sunday. It was my 13th half-marathon and my 3rd of 2007. I finished in 2:27 and change -- and that includes a pit stop early in the race since the pre-race porta-potty set up was horrendous. Much worse than in previous years.

As usual, the Central Park hills kill me -- especially on the 2nd loop of the park. I tried to push as hard as I could on the downhills and flats but was pretty wimpy going uphill on the second lap. Even the first lap was bothering me, enough that I popped some 8-hour and considered the possibility of quitting at the half-way point. Luckily that thought had left me by the time I actually ran through the finish area.

I'm curious how I'd do on this course if it wasn't my 2nd race in 2 weeks and my legs were fresher?

In any event, this is my #2 time of 2007. Caesar Rodney is still my PR but this was a course record for me at MORE.

Caesar Rodney Half Marathon

I had a great run! The weather was awesome and I finally got to have some of the awesome post-race food so it was a great day. I was still really at the way back of the pack but I'm really happy with my race -- that's was like a 4 minute PR I think! You gotta love the downhill!

An Update on my November Update

In case anybody comes here from ALOTTFMA (a totally awesome blog) I thought I'd post some thrilling updates to life since the Philadelphia marathon:

1) I won my office football pool and used the proceeds to buy a totally awesome 4G red nano and a Nike+ sport kit. I am totally in love with it.

2) I used my snazzy Nike+ sport kit to start an Amazing Race themed running challenge where actual runners are paired with TAR teams. I hope to win my challenge since I have managed to get paired with Romber -- a thing that can only help since I haven't been running much.

3) I ran a half marathon in Pheonix in January on the coldest day in Ariziona in the last 16 years. Seriously -- it was 21 degrees! I had a great day though and the best part was collecting an inflatable Southwest airlines jet hat. I'll have to post of picture of that soon since it totally rocks.

4) I guess I don't actually have four new things to post!

Update

I guess it's taken me 10 days to get over running Philadelphia!

Amazingly, my legs didn't suffer a whole lot after the fact. They killed me on Sunday afternoon and Monday but I was back to normal by Wednesday. Still, I'm not doing anything that crazy again.

Since I last posted we had a lovely Thanksgiving where Brian & I played host to his family. All of our dishes were a success and I'm happy to report that my gravy (with helpful input from my Mom) was "the best I've ever had". Secret tips: add carrots and celery to some water in the bottom of the roasting pan for added flavor & color, pour off most of the drippings but keep some in the roasting pan and then add flour directly to the pan to create a roux, this prevents greasy gravy (worked like a charm), and lastly use a mix of chicken broth and the broth made from simmering the giblits and some carrots, celery, and onion on the stove.

We skipped both a Turkey Trot and a Jingle Bell run over the holiday weekend but we did take ourselves out for a relaxed 5 mile run walk. We need to get it in gear soon to stay in shape for PF Chang in Arizona.

I'm looking into joining a gym to keep fit over the winter and to add some strength training to my workouts. I have been neglecting this for far too long and it's only because I'm too intimidated to learn how to use machines and weights. I need to get over that. I'm also just beginning to consider getting over my swim phobia so I can eventually do a triathlon.

I spoke to a woman at the expo for Philadelphia who was promoting the Philadelphia Women's Triathlon in July. I mentioned my swim issues and she encouraged me to take some lessons over the winter and then join a gym with a pool and I'd be ready by July. I think she's right and it bugs me that the only reason that I can't do a tri is because I am too wimpy/chicken to learn how to swim properly. That's not a very good excuse.

And then today I got an e-mail to buy Christmas gifts from the LiveStrong store. I went there and saw the Lance Armstrong Foundation Manifesto. It's much longer than this but I really liked the first paragraph:

We believe in life.
Your life.
We believe in living every minute of it with every ounce of your being.
And that you must not let cancer take control of it. [so I don't have cancer, let's change that word to fear]
We believe in energy: channeled and fierce.
We believe in focus: getting smart and living strong.
Unity is strength. Knowledge is power. Attitude is everything.

So I need to remember that I should be fierce and live life to the fullest and maybe for me that means learning how to swim like a grown-up in 2007. Maybe.

Speaking of Lance. You know how he said he'd never run another marathon after New York? he's already changed his mind and announced he's running New York again in 2007. This time he's going to train. I wonder how badly he'll smash his PR?

I'm a little bit crazy!

Brian and my sister were planning to run the Philadelphia marathon on Saturday. Since it was so close the New York Marathon I thought I'd run the new half marathon and the hang around to cheer them in for the full marathon.

When I got to the expo, the half marathon was sold out. When faced with the decision to run an 8K or a full marathon, I went for the full 26.2 because:

1) nice t-shirt
2) nice medal
3) I was going to be downtown the whole time anyway
4) I am a crazy person

So on Sunday I did my 2nd marathon in 14 days. Amazingly, my time was better than Delaware and very close to my time in New York.

I survived, and I mostly had fun, but I have to say that this is a pretty bad idea overall!

New York Marathon 2006 - random details

Expo: Amazing! It ran like clockwork and I didn't wait in a single line to get my chip or goodies. My bus pass was not printed on my bib and a very nice volunteer led me directly to the place where it could be fixed. I couldn't have been happier. It was very congested at the Nike section but the rest of the place wasn't too bad.

Expo highlight: Accidentally stumbling upon Grete Weitz autographing posters. (see photo). She was super nice and I mentioned that my last star autograph (Deena Kastor) coincided with a PR race and Grete said she hoped her signature would shave a few minutes off my time. Looks like it worked!

Money spent:

• Donation to Sponge Bob for markers, signs and a Sponge Bob sponge. I have no idea what the donation actually went towards.
• Cool souvenier t-shirt with description of the course in words
• Red shoelaces from Saucony - donation to their new foundation to fight childhood obesity.
• Marathon pin. I always buy one of these.
• Saucony running shirt: it says Triumph NYC 2006. I couldn't resist this since I wear Triumph sneakers. The new model is awesome metallic green. I hope they feel as good as the model I wear now.
  

Lessons Learned:

• Pasta party: lame, lame, lame! Even amoug pasta parties which are typically lame. Despite the organization of NYRR, we were misdirected on the way into the party and the way out. As a result we didn't get our dessert/goodie bag and were forced to return to the party via an exit and ask a bouncer guy to fetch the bags for us. Why? Because I can't stand not getting free stuff. Contents of goodie bags obtained from bouncer guy: apple, wheat crackers, cookies, snazzy Barilla pasta timer, italian water ice. Goodies others had that we didn't get from bouncer guy: full boxes of Barilla Plus pasta shapes. Contents of goodie bags found abandoned along the walkway near Tavern on the Green: Same as bouncer bags plus 10 bags of mini carrots. Very odd indeed!


• Being a paranoid rule follower, I got to the NY Public Library bus stop very close to 5 am. I was at Ft. Wadsworth by 6:15. It was FREEZING and BORING over there. Next time, I'm taking a later bus even though the runner guide tells you to be at the busses by 5 am

General Observations:

• A guy waiting at the Fort with inflatable lazy boy chair, lots of people in sleeping bags.
• A guy hopping out of the race at Marcus Garvey Park to buy a hot dog and hopping back in while still eating it.
• Mile 10.2 - Nike folks in yellow handing out whistles and seeing yellow chalk messages all over the street
• The cool neighborhood in Brooklyn with the "High Five Station" with signs ahead of it letting you know that it was coming.
• The area around mile 5 or so that was blaring YMCA and had people dressed up as the Village People (at least the Indian Chief with the long feathered headdress)
• The Soldier running in fatigues and pack and carrying his flag.
• The Save the Rhino guys running in rhino costumes!
• The folks in the Bronx doing the electric slide
• The people who had tamborines along the way. What a great spectator accessory!

New York Marathon: Best Day Ever!

Wow! All I can say is Wow! The marathon lived up to absolutely every bit of the hype and I loved every single (painful) second of it! My legs are still sore today and every time I stand up or sit down and my quads scream I remember that race and I get a big, fat grin on my face.

I seriously can not wait to do it again. It was that good.

I started out with the five hour pace group and hung with them until just before the half-way point when they seemed to have fallen slightly off the pace and I kept going try to keep up my momentum. They caught up to me at about the mid-piont of the Queensborough bridge and I stuck with them until 1st Avenue but then they just left me in the dust. I guess it was a combination of them speeding up just a smidge to make up for the time they had lost and me tiring out and slowing down but I could never catch them. I'm still thrilled with my performance though and I made it through the first 16 miles with no walk breaks except at the water stations. That's a first for me and I'm really happy about that.

Of course, once the walk breaks started they were hard to stop. I kept pushing as best I could through the end of the race but you can see how my time just dropped. I think I was a lot more consistant than in past races and I know that I ran more than in past races and I'm certain that I gave my very best effort.




Here are the splits:

Mile 1: 11:05
Mile 2: 10:40
Mile 3: 11:37
Mile 4: 11:26
Mile 5: 11:22
Mile 6: 11:38
Mile 7: 11:25
Mile 8: 11:48
Mile 9: 11:35
Mile 10: 11:23
Mile 11: 11:50
Mile 12: 11:23
Mile 13: 11:28
Mile 14: 11:18
Mile 15: 12:10
Mile 16: 11:48
Mile 17: 11:09
Mile 18: 11:27
Mile 19: 12:24
Mile 20: 12:19
Mile 21: 12:30
Mile 22: 12:12
Mile 23: 11:49
Mile 24: 12:35
Mile 25: 12:20
Mile 26: 12:12
last .2: 2:27

It's time for me to do some work now, but I will write more later and post some more pictures.




Total Time: 5:07:27

I'm getting very excited

Marine Corps Marathon 10K

Yesterday I ran the first ever Marine Corps Marathon 10K. I had a pretty good race (especially since it was just a training run for next week) and I love the medal. The t-shirt is very nice too. The logistics of the race were crazy and I hope they improve in the future.

Logistical problems:

• Confusion at the start: 10K runners were in the wrong place since there were no pre-race instructions for us. We were lined up on both sides of a grass median behind the marathon runners when we should have all been on one side. They told us this after the marathoners had started running so many 10K people (myself included) had to hop over a couple of guardrails to get where we needed to be.
• All of us were facing the wrong way. We lined up ready to run in the same direction as the marathon but since the 10K runs in the opposite direction of the marathon we couldn't line up in the right spot until the marathon runners cleared the area. Loudspeakers instructed us to move beyond the red starting arch and then turn around and "face the sun". It was crazy. Nobody really undsterstood what was going on and people were wedged in like sardines and couldn't really do anything as the marines were yelling "turn to face the sun!". People on the wrong side of the timing mats so they kept telling us to back up while the loudspeaker kept reminding us the race had to start in 5 minutes (or whatever I forget) and that it couldn't be delayed. All of the confusion resulted in the slowest runners (who had been lurking at the back of the pack) being closest to the starting line and the fastest people were at the back of the pack. As an added bonus, they also thought it would be a good idea to drive a set of school busses through the pack of runners prior to the start. I have no idea why they did that.
• The reverse of the fast/slow runners made for a pretty chaotic start as runners were dodging slow people and the fast people tried to get to the front as quickly as possible. There is an element of this in every race but it was particularly bad yesterday. I might be exaggerating since I was really worried about having a mishap and falling/twisting an ankle or something that would screw up my race next weekend but it seemed very bad.
• Midway through the 10K the wheelchair marathon racers came up on the runners and this caused a huge problem! The 10K folks were totally in their way and were, unfortunately, very oblivious despite the screams of "ON YOUR LEFT" and "WHEELCHAIRS COMING" that were coming from the runners, the wheelchair athletes, and a bunch of marines.
• The race started late enough that there were still pretty many slow 10K people out on the course as the marathon winner came into the finishers chute. I don't think that was supposed to happen.

My time & splits:

Total: 1:07:50

M1: 10:53

M2: 10:51

M3: 10:32

M4: 11:24 (wheelchairs arrived and I stopped to walk and yell at people to get out of their way)

M5:10:41

M6.2: 13:26

I had time to finish my race, eat some food and then head over to mile 16 to catch up with Brian and my sister who were running the marathon.

More later...

Bib Number: 45600

I finally got my start color: ORANGE

And my bib number: 45600

I really can't wait for the marathon. It's just 10 days away. I'm obsessing about the weather (still looks good as of last night) and I'm glad I have MCM this weekend to distract me a little bit.

I haven't posted much lately and I have no excuse for it. My running has been spotty but good when I actually get it done.

Three weeks ago I did 20 miles and felt great during and afterwards. Two weeks ago I was hoping to get in an 18 mile run but wasn't motivated at all on Saturday and only did 10. In a fit of guilt I ran another 7 on Sunday, so the weekend wasn't a total loss, but it wasn't a good long run.

Last Saturday I set out to run 10 miles with my running group, who were all doing 20 in prep for the Philadelphia marathon, I wound up running 14 instead to keep my buddy of the day company during her tough last few miles.

No running since then. My legs have felt great and I think I'll do fine in New York.

I'm not looking to break any records but I want to feel good and not struggle through the race. I think I can do that and maybe break 5:15 too. Who knows? I just want to have fun.

I'm leaning towards running the 10K at MCM this weekend but I think that's going to be a game day final decision.

Now I have to go check the weather forecasts.

What do I have in common with Paul Tergat?

Paul Tergat's invitation to runners world-wide:

"Join me in the Fight Against Child Hunger. Run with myself and others as part of World Run Day November 5th "

(Paul will be running in the NYC Marathon on World Run Day)

Hey, isn't this blog about running?

Whew! I just got back from my 20 mile run today and now I have my feet up and I'm drinking a Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks. I even got the whipped cream this time. It's a suitable reward for a pretty good day.

I could have run a marathon today. I'm glad I didn't have to but I certainly could have.

Chatty Vacationers

I noticed that lots of people were chatty out in Yosemite. I don't know if it was because people are more friendly or because I was wearing more interesting clothes...

• A guy noticed my t-shirt said Wyeth on the back (they were a big sponsor of Collegeville 5K) and started asking me if I was a drug rep for them because he and his wife were both retired pharmacists.
• A guy stopped to talk to me in the store when he noticed my Broad Street Run t-shirt. Evidently, he grew up in Media and had run the race a bunch of times before moving to the west.
• A guy commented to Brian about his Disney 1/2 marathon t-shirt saying he did the race the same year (although upon further reflection that guy was kind of an oddball and I think he just made it up)
• A lady struck up a conversation in line at the store because she noticed my NYC Marathon hat. She's never done a marathon but it's thinking about taking up triathlon training.
• A lady started talking to us in the cappuccino line and told us that McDonald's premium coffee marketing scheme was just that - a scheme. Same coffee, new cups and ad campaign. Further converstation involving the new style WaWa cups revealed the fact that she was from Delaware.
• A park employee commented on how cool my ugly spotted LL Bean fleece is.
• Two little girls on a class trip asked me about a million questions while I was riding the bus with them. Questions varied from where had I hiked that day (Half Dome) to how many states have I been in (too many to count on the bus ride) and what color is the liberty bell.

Yosemite Trip Day 2: the Valley

We spent our second real day of vacation exploring Yosemite Valley. This means that we went to the visitor center, checked out the Indian village and a cool museum of Native American baskets and clothing (interesting how they use the term Native American for the museum/artifacts but stuck with Indian for the village. I wonder why that is?).

We also walked along a lot of the paths through the meadows and along the edge of the Valley and just marveled at Half Dome. It's hard to do anything while you're there but look up at Half Dome. It's so big and so unusual that you just stare at it. The picture I have posted I just found on the internet -- I'll replace it with one of ours when I get a chance. That's one of the most popular views of the mountain and it looked a lot like that on our trip -- but there was no snow on Half Dome during our trip.

Later we explored the area called Happy Isles where there had been a huge (scary) rockfall in 1997 and then took a walk up to a place called Mirror Lake. Mirror Lake isn't a lake anymore (the park people used to dredge the pool but they stopped doing it in 1970 so now it's almost totally gone) but a giant sandbox at the base of Half Dome. You can stand there and let yourself feel like a tiny ant as you look up the face. We didn't see any climbers on the rock but evidently people do climb up. They're nuts.

Yosemite Trip, Day 1: Wawona + Mariposa Grove

We arrived in San Francisco around noon on Saturday and drove to Yosemite that afternoon. We chose to take the long way and enter the park via the South entrance near Wawona because we had a room at the 'historic Wawona hotel' for our first night.

We thought this was a good plan because we'd be in the park ready to go on Sunday morning instead of having two travel days. It really was a pretty good plan except for the fact that we were up at 4:30 AM in order to get to the airport on time and driving the 4+ hours from San Francisco to the park was rough. Especially towards the end when it was dark and the roads were scary and twisty. Thank God Brian was driving!

We fell into bed at about 9:00 and slept with the windows open to let in the very chilly mountain air. The chilly mountain air was even chillier in the moring when we got up and I actually got to wear my convertable mountain pants on the very first day of the trip!

We headed to the Mariposa Grove of giant Sequoia trees after exploring at the cute Wawona hotel and visitor center. If you haven't seen a giant sequoia in person I can't explain to you how incredibly massive and cool they are. They're just mind bogglingly huge. And very cool. This was a nice easy way for us to ease into the park because the trails were gentle and mostly short. It flashed us back to our trip to Sequoia National Park five years ago and since we had such a great time on that trip it really put us into a good mood.

The most memorable thing about this day was a strange encouter with a crab working at the Wawona store. I ran in there in the afternoon to get some sodas and pretzels before we made the drive up to Yosemite Valley. I went into the store and picked up two 20 oz Cokes and a bag of Rold Gold pretzels. The total bill came to $5.07

I pulled my money from my pocket and see that I have a $5 bill and a $20 bill. I said out loud "oh rats" when I looked at my money and I hand the check-out guy the $20 bill.

He does not take the money but instead looks at me and says again that the total is $5.07. I don't reply, still holding out the $20.

"Do you have .07 cents?" he asks in a disgusted tone.

Just for the record, I was wearing hiking clothes (t-shirt and shorts) and was covered in dirt so I clearly didn't have a purse or anything with me.

I hold out my money clip with the $5 bill in one hand and the $20 in the other hand and say out loud "I have a 5 and a 20".

He then lets out a power sigh and says "well, maybe I can find .07 here". And he starts rooting around in some unseen penny jar behind the counter. He doesn't come up with the money -- gives me a dirty look -- and says "I'll check my pocket". And then he roots around in his own pocket to find the .07 cents.

Then he says "Give me the $5" like he's doing me a huge favor.

So I did and left with my food.

It was totally bizarre and extremely off putting. Am I crazy for thinking he was a big jerk? I mean I tried to pay for the stuff -- I had the money to pay for the stuff -- he was just unwilling to accept my $20. That's not a ridiculous bill to be using, it's not like I was trying to pay with a $100 or something crazy.

I stink at running!

I went to the park to run last night and it was AWFUL! I don't know if it was taking all that time off from running (nearly two weeks!) or if it was all the extra miles I put in hiking at Yosemite (probably 70+ miles over the week) but I felt pretty terrible running the loop.

Too many walk breaks, a totally inconsistent pace, sore knees on the downhill (this I know is TOTALLY from the Half-Dome hike) plus I had shin pain. I never have shin pain. It wore off so I'm sure it was from starting too fast. Blah. Just an awful run. The only good thing was that I got this bad run out of my system so I hope it will all be out of my system by the 20 miler this weekend.

I'm hoping to get back to the park tonight but I don't know if the work schedule will allow it.

I'm back! Vacation was great

We had a really good time at Yosemite and I'll post pictures and comments about the trip soon.

My fears about not getting in a 20 mile run were eased by our trip up to Half Dome. Whew! What an incredible ordeal! Somewhere between 14-17 miles, ascending (and then decending) 4,900 feet up to the top at 8800 was pretty intense. The first half of this hike was by far the hardest thing I've ever done and I didn't even make it to the top! (Brian did though!)

If you check out this snazzy picture that I snitched from The California Hiking Page you can follow the red line and see the route of the very end of the hike. I made it to the point where the red line stops zig zagging and Brian kept going up to the very top. He, and everybody else who does this hike (and there are tons of people who do it) is crazy.

Yosemite National Park

We're leaving on a week of vacation to Yosemite National Park tomorrow! Yay!

I'm afraid this means that I will not be doing much running and that stinks because Brian and & both should be doing long runs these next couple of weekends. I'd be more worried if we were trying to break important time goals in our marathons but I don't think the lack of training will have a huge effect on our races -- we'll probably just be a little more sore.

We plan do do tons of hiking and I expect we'll do 10+ miles a day for just about every day we're in California. We'll also be spending a significant amount of time at a pretty high elevation which should make our workouts a little tougher. I'm not even bringing my real running shoes though so no running.