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.