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Actual: 3.5"

Plus, the roads were filled with a plethora of stoopid drivers, who so thoughtfully stayed on the roads for this morning's drive in to work.

I think that means I win. Oh, you didn't know? There was a contest, a snowfall prediction contest. It wasn't fair, though, any idiot could have won. And look, any idiot DID win!

Speaking of idiots, I raced home (at 10 mph) after work, shoveled a quick path, changed into ski clothes, put some kick wax on my skis, found my ski gloves, and hopped back in the car to head to Como where little boy was racing. I got about halfway there and realized that I couldn't remember putting my boots into the car. By that time I was far enough that it would have been stupid to turn around and go back home, so I hoped it was just an early senior moment. Nope. I got to the park and looked in the trunk - no boots. I waited around and soon enough little boy showed up and we drove home and finished shoveling.

That much traffic was enough for me to veto orchestra rehearsal across town. So we stayed home and I made chili & cornbread and we watched House, which I never get to watch.

I went out this morning to run in the snow wearing my screw shoes. Mine aren't as dirty as the picture here, this is from the website that showed me how to do it. And my clumsy self did not fall at all. Of course, running on the Gateway Trail through what is now 8" of snow, and which appears to have been commandeered by XC skiers, was not the easiest thing I've done. I highly recommend screw shoes. Much, much cheaper than YakTrax. I think I paid less than a buck for the 40-odd 1/2" sheet metal screws that I bought.

It was also something like 8 degrees with a 14 mph north wind. Brrr! I had to break out the face mask and wear two pairs of gloves.

This is for my mandaroo:
Skiing at lunchtime with coworker Kerstin. Fun! There's a golf course conveniently located just across the highway from our worksite. Hmm... golf course. You can ski there! So we did.

little boy has an orchestra concert at school tonight. We have to be there early-ish. Why can't I find my knitting that's missing? Could be because I haven't worked on it since I took it to Russia. Hmmm... I feel like I've looked everywhere, but of course I couldn't have. There's a set of needles in there that I want and a project that I really should finish before the holidays.

We stayed home for that??

or, The Meteorologists who Cried Wolf.

I whined in a previous post about how today's weatherpeople are sorely lacking forecasting skillz. They rely so heavily on computer models that (here I go sounding full of superstition) I don't think they have anyone in their offices who has an ounce of weather sense. A little weather sense is a good thing for someone claiming to forecast the weather to have.

Saturday's "Winter Storm Warning" (alert! alert! everyone be afraid! something bad will happen unless you all conform!) amounted to a blowy, slightly drifty, completely ordinary and manageable 4.5 inches. Yes. I said four and one-half inches of snow. Less than what they called "flurries" when I spent a weekend in St. Cloud in 1987 (their flurries totaled 6 inches that day). Even Saturday morning, the weatherpeople were all excited about getting 8 to 12 inches of snow in the metro area. By noon, they were still insisting that 10 inches would fall in the cities. Uh uh. Nope. Not even close.

They're saying 3 to 7 inches of snow for today. My prediction: 2" or less, especially if the storm tracks away from us. But I'll go out at lunch time and look around a little to get a feel for things.

Edited to add: Maybe 4". I'm going skiing after work! I also predict a 100% probability of stoopid drivers.

The run before the storm

It was 17 this morning when I woke up at 7:30. The wind was blowing, but not terribly. Sky & I headed out for 7 miles. I took the Gateway Trail because I wanted to avoid the wind. Sadly, whichever direction I ran, the wind was in my face, despite the trail being lined on both sides with trees. Ugh. But I got in 7 at a decent pace, 9:00-ish.

Then SO wanted to seal up the roof where we got new aluminum on the sunporch before the snow started. We did that and as we were finishing, the first flakes were hitting me in the face. We covered up the patio furniture and firepit with a tarp and weighted it down with bricks. We put the ladder away (I didn't get hit in the face with anything this time) and what else? Headed to the grocery store with everyone else in the Twin Cities because the snow might prevent us from having access to purchased food for the next 18 hours. It was crazy busy at the store. The parking lot was practically full. The lines were insane.

Then, to Menard's to get SO's bday and xmas gifts. She'd changed her mind on what she wanted for her bday and the tools were on sale until tomorrow, so off we went. Mmmm. New hammer-drill. New jigsaw. Nice. And a halogen lamp cuz all our other ones seem to have broken. (It was way fun trying to put housewrap on above the sunporch using a flashlight. Luckily, neighbor Ken took pity on us and brought his over for us to use.) And a couple of sawhorses because they were on sale and we only have two and we're going to build a new garage sooner or later (but not today).

So now we'll just hibernate in the basement for the rest of the day and watch movies and eat lots of food. I already had some Bailey's and coffee this morning. Yum. And I made some pumpkin chowder for lunch. There may yet be caramel apples or apple crisp or pumpkin pie in our future. little boy has a skiing appointment tomorrow afternoon. He was waxing skis last night and he waxed mine today.

In other news, my mom got a new car yesterday. Yay Mom! It's been, what 13 years?, since she bought a new car. It looks like this:



Mmmmm.... it looks speedy! And fuel efficient. And environmentally friendly. And speedy!

5, then 8 , then 4, then snow?

I just realized that November has been a slow month for blogging. It's not only me, it seems that other blogs I regularly read have been hibernating to a certain extent as well.

Despite the darkness, the cold, the alternating pains in my right foot and left hip, post-marathon madness, and my general tendency towards inertia, I managed to get in 82 miles this month, the lowest mileage month since June. And in June, I was here:



It turns out that if you run 82 miles in a month instead of say, 211 like I did in September, then you gain weight. Well, unless you're in Russia and you're walking 9 or 10 hours a day and not eating enough because you didn't learn any food words and don't eat meat. But here in the good old U.S. of A., I sit and think for a living. So now I am in the unenviable position of not having my pants fit and having to be rigid about food (yay! just in time for the holidays!). Until whatever is going on with my foot/hip clears up and I can run normally again. And by normally I mean 40 to 50 mile weeks.

It was stinking cold again this morning. On Tuesday, it was 5 when little boy & I left the house for early orchestra rehearsal. On Wednesday, it was 27 in the morning when poochie & I ran 6 miles. It seemed warm and I wore a jacket and was too hot. Yesterday it was 8 when I drove little boy to school. This morning it was 4 with a 17 mph wind. I had clothes laid out for running outdoors, but I saw the weather and headed for the treadmill. That's too cold for people (and dogs, well, unless they're huskies) to be outside for an hour.

They're forecasting a snowstorm for tomorrow. I hate to be pessimistic about it, because I do like my snow, but for the past several years the weatherpeople get all in a tizzy about a storm and then it does something weird like split itself so it misses the cities or tracks south and we get nothing. Here, in Minnesota of all places, there is now a measurable distinction between a "trace," a "dusting," a "coating," and "up to an inch" of snow. That's pathetic.

(Now for my geezer hat) I remember when there was no talk at all about snow from the weatherpeople, merely calling it "flurries," unless there was going to be at least four or five inches of the stuff. And that was back in Wisconsin, where they actually close school when there's 7 inches of snow. When we first moved up to Minnesota, we got a decent storm that amazed me, being from the south. It snowed for almost 3 days straight, there was like 15 inches of snow, and school did not get called off.

Well, here's hoping that we get enough snow for skiing (little boy has two races next week) and that my boss's plane manages to get back here from Mexico. Those aren't competing interests at all, in my mind.

Freedom 10 Mile

Ten miles is kinda far. But it seems less so when running with an imaginary internet running buddy (who conveniently became real for the race, as did I) and knowing that someone is waiting at the end of the race with beer!

I got to run with Brandy, and baggio was there (he took 2nd in the 30s men category I think), and BigG, and McTortle, and korbel, and RunningFromTheLaw, and coworker Kerstin were all there. It was way, way fun. I ran with Brandy the whole way. She asked me about 1/2 a mile into the race if I could keep up that pace for 10 miles (we were running about 8:15 or 8:20) and I said that I hoped so!

We did indeed have very even splits. Here's what I have:


1 - 8:24
2 - 8:14
3 - 8:19
4 - 8:20
5 - 8:18
6 - 8:11
7 - no mile marker!!
8 - 16:51 for 7 & 8, ave pace 8:25.30
9 - 8:15
10 - 8:02

Total time - 1:22:58. Average pace - 8:18. Dunno what clock time was, I didn't look. I'll have to check it out when they get the results online. It's a PR of at least 6 minutes. I think the fastest I've run 10 before has been right around 1:29.

We had the most awesome spectators at the end. We stood around drinking beer (not in the park, which would have been illegal, but we had 3 lawyers in residence, we could have handled it) for a couple of hours after the race was done. I got home and managed to find some wireless signal, which can be spotty. I have to do something with the avocados that are sitting on the counter, so I think that guacamole, chips and perhaps, more beer is in store for tonight.

When expectations collide with reality

So, on Halloween, SO & I went to visit friends RC & DD and their new baby, James C-D. Well, he's actually two months old now, so this visit is quite overdue. But his socks were finally done and his parents were more than ready to show off their newest accomplishment. I gotta admit, generally I'm not much of a babies person. James is one mighty cute and sweet baby, though, so apparently I'm hooked. So, while I expected to be all "oh nice baby, is there any wine?" I actually had a really good time and embarrassingly enough, I can't wait to invite myself over again. I guess when you really like the people, you're much more likely to really like their progeny.

My right foot is still goofy. I don't know why. I'm also still tired. T I R E D. I expected to be back running well by three weeks after the marathon, but it ain't happening. I'm having to revise the whole spring based on what's happening here in November.

*grumble*

Surprise!

And holy cow, was it ever! After spending a week and a half duping me into thinking my out-laws were coming here to spend the weekend of my birthday, thereby coercing me into cleaning the entire house (I even bought new shower curtains, people!), SO and little boy (and coworker Kerstin, without whom it would not have been possible) threw me a surprise 40th birthday party on Saturday night.

It was awesome. Friends were there, neighbors were there, coworkers from all three post-law-school employment adventures were there... I managed not to cry (which was good), but if they'd finagled a way for Big Boy to be there, too, I'd have lost it. I have to be much more careful, apparently I'm surrounded by professional connivers. SO and Kerstin had apparently been plotting since the beginning of October. There was an enormous stash of food & booze in Kerstin's basement. Her hubby Chris ate salsa all week, but still didn't manage to make much of a dent.

The out-laws will be coming this weekend, actually. And SO starts her new job at the union on Monday. For some silly reason, I'm going to be running (not racing, mind you) the Freedom 10 Mile this weekend. Well, it's not a completely silly reason, my imaginary internet running buddies talked me into it.

All-Conference

little boy is All-Conference. His team won their conference meet last week.

Weds., Oct. 17
CONFERENCE MEET (at Como Park, 5K)
Central 24, Highland Park 53, Como Park 91, Johnson 100, Arlington 126, Harding 148, Humboldt 209
Top fifteen individuals (qualify as All-Conference): Kemal J, Central, 16:55; Ben M, Highland Park, 17:30; Kelin D, Central, 17:35; Sam S, Central, 17:36; Rick D, Highland Park, 17:39; James D, Johnson, 17:41; Jonathon R, Central, 17:43; Ross A, Como Park, 17:50; Tom C, Central, 17:55; little boy, Central, 17:56; Ben S-H, Central, 18:04; Abdurahman H, Arlington, 18:09; Evan V, Como Park, 18:16; Aidan B, Highland Park, 18:16; Liam R, Highland Park, 18:20.

The Section 4AA meet is this afternoon.

There's nothing much to report in running news for me. I had four runs last week, three little dinky 2 milers and 3 miles on Saturday. For the most part, everything feels ok. My right soleus is a little weird at times other than running, but I'm sure it's marathon-induced. My right heel feels a little bruised, similar to how it felt after the Trail Mix 25K in April (it's not PF, no panicking out there!). This week I'm running 3, 4, 3, 5, and 6 on Saturday.

I'm feeling a little post-marathon letdown syndrome, I think. A bunch of my imaginary internet running buddies are doing the Freedom 10 mile race in November, perhaps that will help. I haven't yet decided if I'm up to it. We'll see after Saturday's run if everything holds together.

What I did over summer vacation

Alternatively: My first marathon.

We headed up towards Ashland, Wisc., on Friday after picking up little boy from school. After deciding on the scenic route, I drove forEVER, and we ended up in the vicinity of our destination about 4:30pm. However, there was some roadwork on Hwy 2. My most favorite kind of roadwork, where there's only a single lane and the highway guy with a walkie-talkie lets 10 cars go at a time. Coming from the west, there were at least 5 miles of cars backed up. We waited a long time to continue on east.

After arriving at the cabin, we met up with my mom and Big Boy (!) who had driven up from Milwaukee, and headed to Ashland to pick up our packets and scout out some dinner. We stayed in Iron River, Wisc., which is where the start of the race was (this was a point-to-point marathon, meaning that you just run 26.2 miles from the start to the finish, no looping back or running in big circles). So the long drive to Ashland kept reinforcing how freaking long the marathon was going to be. We got our packets, scored a $6 pair of running shorts for little boy at the expo, and waited forever for pizza. Back to the cabin (26 miles!) and forced ourselves to sleep.

It was a beautiful day for a race. Cold, at first (27 degrees!), but beautiful. The race information was really insistent that there was no possibility of spectating at the start of the marathon (no parking, blah blah blah). We headed back to Ashland so little boy and I could catch our respective buses to the start of the half and the full. Our plan was to have SO, Big Boy and my mom watch little boy's half marathon race and then loop back to catch me first around mile 16.

The bus ride to the start seemed really long. I sat next to a 60 y.o. woman who was running her 91st (!) marathon. She'd only started running at age 40. She was shooting for a 4:30 to qualify for Boston (I found out later that she missed it by 3 minutes). Her advice was to have fun and not take it too seriously. Sadly, I did not take that advice.

It was still pretty cold waiting for the start. It seemed like no one wanted to relinquish their warm clothes and put them in the drop bag trucks. Hundreds of people were huddling in small groups, listening to the race director talk about the trail conditions. Yes, this was a "trail" marathon, of the easiest variety. No hills, no altitude, no mud, no ice, just ~25 miles of fairly well-packed gravel trail reclaimed from an old railroad track. Of 673 people who started the marathon, only 6 did not finish. As we waited at the starting line, someone came along offering garbage bags, one of which I gladly took. I ran the first three miles wearing that thing.

My plan, such as it was, was to aim for running between 8:30 and 8:45 mpm. That pace had felt really easy the past couple of weeks and McMillan's prediction calculator said I should be able to run that pace. I was also going to run the first mile really easy and not waste a lot of energy jockeying for position. I had my hand-held, strap-on water bottle filled with powerade and a supply of clif shot bloks with me. I figured I was as ready as I was ever going to be.

Suddenly, we were running. I started my watch & my forerunner as I crossed the timing mat. There were some spectators on the hill watching the start, despite the warnings that no cars and/or spectators were going to be allowed up there. This annoyed me a little.

The first mile seemed to take a long time, and it did, 9:52. Hmm... I wondered if it was marked slightly wrong, because I didn't feel that slow. My forerunner was having a hard time maintaining a signal through the trees (which were beautiful, when I noticed them), so I couldn't gauge my pace well at first. The next several miles just seemed to go by without me noticing them. I don't really remember anything until about mile 8, except that I was just about at the right pace and I felt good. A couple of people ran with me for awhile, telling me that I was setting a good pace. Ok, fine. Thanks.

At mile 10, I still seemed to be on target with my pacing and I still felt fine. The sun was out intermittently and the temperature was in the high 40s. Just perfect weather for me. At the aid station at mile 12.7, I stopped and a volunteer filled my bottle with water and I switched to shot bloks. I passed the half marathon mark at 1:56 and some seconds. I was looking forward to seeing my family, who I thought would turn up first either at mile 16 or mile 20.

I saw SO in the distance at mile 16, then my mom (bright orange vest! thanks Mom!), then my boys. I said hi, they said hi. I said, "Wow, this is a really long way!" I heard laughter as I continued on. About then is when I noticed that my right hip was feeling kind of stiff. little boy ran about a mile with me, then turned back. He'd said, "Mom, you look fabulous! No, really!" Oh shoot! I'd totally forgotten to ask him how his race went!

I was trying to pick up the pace, but my forerunner seemed to have forgotten that we were racing, and had no idea where we were or how fast I was going. I knew I was going slower, though.

I next saw the fam again around mile 21. By then, both hips were hurting. At this point, I was pretty confident that I could finish, but any thoughts of a speedy time were out the window. Big Boy (wearing jeans and a leather jacket) and little boy jumped in to run with me. little boy told me all about his race (1:24! 1st in AG! course record!) and Big Boy & I chatted in Russian. Strangely enough, by this time, I could only grunt in English, but still converse in Russian. Weird. Because SO and my mom couldn't find the very next spectator point, the boys ended up running almost 4 miles with me. They were completely sweet. Even though I was running so slowly, they kept encouraging me to try and pick off the next runner ahead of me. More of little boy telling me that I looked so much better than some of the other runners they'd seen go by. I think we picked off 4 or 5, several of whom were walking by this time. little boy also dashed off to get my bottle filled with powerade.

SO and mom were at the next spectator point and the boys peeled off to head to the finish. And so began the freaking longest couple of miles I'd run in a long time. I ran mile 22 in 10:45 and I wouldn't have another sub-10 mile for the rest of the way. It just hurt too much. This was different from my 15 mile total-bonk run from a couple of weeks ago. On that run, I just had zero energy and I was running 12+ minute miles and I just wanted to sit down and cry or nap or something. The last five miles of the marathon just hurt. My hips were just killing me. Mile 24 took me 10:50, my slowest mile.

Then, somehow I sped up a little bit. The trail ended and I was on city streets. There were more spectators, and I managed to high five the little kids and say thank you to the traffic-control people. I did just about start crying when a guy told me, "Only 7 more blocks!" ARGH! I didn't think I could go 7 more steps, let alone 7 more blocks. It just seemed impossible. Just before the turn to the last stretch before the finish line (I think this was just at mile 26), little boy comes jogging up and says, "You can do it, Mom! Come on, Mama, just around the corner!" Ok, then I did start to cry and I think I babbled something about how I absolutely could NOT do it and that I was going to quit right now. (Poor kid, now I'll have to pay for therapy.)

I did somehow manage to turn the corner and started a feeble sort of kick when I saw FINISH ahead of me (mile 26 was the fastest since mile 21). I heard them call my name and I saw SO and mom and Big Boy and little boy and I saw the mat and then someone was taking off my chip and asking me if I was ok. Then I got a space blanket and someone gave me a medal and my mom was there and I said, "That sucked. I am never doing this again."

Then there were donuts. And water. And powerade. And yogurt. And texting my buddies while laying down on the floor. And 10 oh-so-short minutes of massage. More donuts. And my finisher's shirt. And a slow walk to the Army-Navy surplus store for some sweatpants for little boy and me. And pretzels. And beer. Then there was the awards ceremony and little boy got a train whistle and lots of applause. We ordered pizza and drove it ~25 miles back to the cabin. I stood in the lake for 10 minutes and it was cold. We had a fire, it was nice, but the wood was too wet.

little boy was asleep by 7:30. I followed about 45 minutes later. The next morning, we were the first ones up. We headed to the sauna, then packed up the cars and headed down the road to the diner for breakfast. We'll see Big Boy again at Thanksgiving.

Will I do it again? I don't know yet. But the woman on the bus was right, I should have not taken it so seriously and concentrated on having fun. There's a 25K in April that I ran this year and know is fun. We'll see about that. There's also a 50K option.

Splits for those who are interested:

1- 9:52
2- 8:33
3- 8:54
4- 8:38
5- 8:49
6- 8:49
7- 8:44
8- 8:54
9- 8:51
10- 8:33
11- 8:45
12- 8:44
13- 9:00
(13.1- 1:56:xx)
14- 8:46
15- 9:03
16- 9:15
17- 9:17
18- 9:03
19- 8:58
20- 9:23
21- 9:48
22- 10:45
23- 10:18
24- 10:50
25- 10:15
26-10:09
0.2~ 2:xx

Finish time (chip) - 4:03:11.8
Pace - 9:17
AG place - 9th of 30 finishers
Overall place - 371 of 667 finishers

If the marathon was only 25 miles long, I'd have qualified for Boston. But there was that pesky 1.2 miles at the end.

little boy first

Ok, this isn't my race report, it's little boy's. Because, frankly, his is much more exciting than mine.

We knew what the course record was for 12-18 y.o. His 5K time (PR 17:46 set last week) suggested that he could break that record if he didn't go out too fast. He'd been training for the half marathon distance with longer long runs on the weekends than the cross country team was doing; his longest run was 14 miles. We talked about running the first couple miles conservatively and then gradually speeding up until he was running a "comfortably hard" pace.

He started towards the front of the pack. By 6 miles in, he was in about 25th place. The last few miles, he just kept passing people. Here are his splits:

1- 6:48
2- 6:28
3- 6:31
4- 6:40
5- 6:14
6- 6:21
7- 6:10
8- 6:20
9- 6:24
10- 6:29
11- 6:41
12- 6:40
13- 6:40
0.1~ 0:19.6

Finish time (chip) - 1:24:45.6*
Pace - 6:28
Overall place - 15th out of 1105 finishers
Division place - 14th out of 456 male finishers
Age group place - 1st out of 4 finishers
*New course record for 12-18 y.o.

We waited around for the award ceremony. They handed out train whistles as prizes for those who placed in age groups. And the announcer told the crowd that little boy had set a new course record, which earned him a very enthusiastic round of applause.

YAY little boy!!! Woo-hoo! I am so proud of him!

Next year, he thinks he'll try for the 10K. A half marathon is a little much in the middle of cross country season. The guy who won the 10K this year ran a 38:xx. little boy has done easy training runs of that distance in 36:xx.

Weather update

I had a nice, easy 4 miler last night after work. And people, I am NOT an evening runner. Despite my hip feeling weird all Sunday and yesterday, my legs felt light and my feet felt all bouncy. Every time I looked down at my forerunner, I was conversationally running at an 8:25 pace (who knew not running made you faster? I may have to explore this further). The pooch was happy to come along, but it's hard to run with a dog who hates all of dogkind during prime dog walking hours.

I'm trying to concentrate on good carbs this week: lots of brown rice, green veggies, fruit (maybe not so much apple crisp and more just plain apples), and everyone's favorite, tofu. No beer (insert sad face here), but SO bought a case of Grain Belt Premium to take up north this weekend. If things go bad, I'll have her hand me a beer.

I am mulling over the concept of breakfast before the marathon. Normally, I don't eat before I run. Can't do it, even when the run is a 20 miler. When I ran that 25K back in April, I woke myself up early and ate a power bar type thing about 4 hours before the race. I don't know whether it helped or not, but it didn't hurt. The race is at 9am and I usually wake up four hours before that, so breakfast is a possibility, I guess. I always have coffee before a race, so coffee will be happening.

It was cold-ish and blowy this morning, so I decided to save today's 4 miles for tonight while little boy is at orchestra rehearsal. Having somehow forgotten that wind makes things colder (although in my defense, it's easy to forget that when it's 85 outside), I need to keep an eye on the wind forecast for this weekend. 56 is all well and good, but if it's blowing 25 mph off of Lake Superior, I have to rethink the clothing issue!

Daily Details for Ashland, WI

Today Wed, Oct 10 Thu, Oct 11 Fri, Oct 12 Sat, Oct 13 Sun, Oct 14 Mon, Oct 15 Tue, Oct 16 Wed, Oct 17 Thu, Oct 18 Day Night Partly Cloudy High 56°F Precip 10% Wind: SE 7 mph Max. Humidity: 71% UV Index: 3 Moderate Sunrise: 7:18 AM CT Avg. High: 58°F Record High: 84°F (1995) Partly Cloudy Overnight Low 37°F Precip 20% Wind: SE 3 mph Max. Humidity: 81% Sunset: 6:21 PM CT Avg. Low: 35°F Record Low: 19°F (1988)

Last Updated Tuesday, Oct 9, 10:24 AM Central Daylight Time

Yikes

It's hot again, hot enough in Chicago for them to call the marathon due to heat and lack of water. My virtual running buddy from NYC wisely DNF'd at the halfway point, but her sis is in the hospital.

I saw all my peeps, virtual and actual, here in the cities. It was too hot to walk around; they are way, way strong and determined people for finishing today. My virtual buddies who were running in Milwaukee are accounted for, too.

Waiting on SO to come back home from SoDak. I have more chowder in the crockpot and some pear/apple crisp in the toaster oven. Hmm... we should maybe be eating salad, instead.

October 6th?

It's 88 degrees out. I think that is just a little bit crazy. It's October. In Minnesota. little boy had cross country practice this morning at 9, which ordinarily would have been just fine, but given that he was out until 10:30 last night at the homecoming dance, seemed kind of early. I dropped him off at school and then headed home for my last "long" run before M-day. Eight miles at an 8:59 pace. Except for the rain, humidity and overall way-too-hotness of the weather, it was fine. It just felt hot. And I only ran 31 miles this week. It seems like vacation. A vacation my lazy, slacker legs liked just a little too much, I fear.

little boy & I went for pancakes at Victor's. Well, he had a Spanish omelet and a banana pancake and some yuca frita, but let's not argue over details. I should be thinking about something for dinner now, but I'm still full from breakfast!

Now begins my week of obsessively tracking the forecast for Ashland. It looks perfect right now.

Daily Details for Ashland, WI

Today Sun, Oct 7 Mon, Oct 8 Tue, Oct 9 Wed, Oct 10 Thu, Oct 11 Fri, Oct 12 Sat, Oct 13 Sun, Oct 14 Mon, Oct 15 Day Night Mostly Sunny High 55°F Precip 10% Wind: W 8 mph Max. Humidity: 71% UV Index: 3 Moderate Sunrise: 7:18 AM CT Avg. High: 58°F Record High: 84°F (1995) Showers Overnight Low 37°F Precip 40% Wind: WSW 4 mph Max. Humidity: 86% Sunset: 6:21 PM CT Avg. Low: 35°F Record Low: 19°F (1988)

Last Updated Saturday, Oct 6, 4:22 PM Central Daylight Time

I will also begin to pack and repack, with an emphasis on running attire, of course. I got two new pairs of running shorts from the Title Nine sale at the state fair grounds. Well, I got some other stuff, too, including a way cool pair of pants made out of hemp and recycled poly that were over 60% off. I went to the sale again today (only my second time, I'm not that much of a glutton!) and it was much more relaxed and there was no line at all. Of course, it seems like all the small and medium women in the cities came and bought up all the good stuff. There was still a lot of XS and L and XL, but not much to speak of in the small and medium categories (did you notice how I totally managed to avoid calling anyone an S and M woman? umm... until now?). I did find that second pair of running shorts, though. In blue and $2 cheaper than on Thursday.

TC Marathon weekend

Ok, don't anybody get excited. This isn't my marathon. I have buddies, both real and virtual, who are going to be running this weekend here in the cities. I got a text from co-worker Kerstin, who despite swearing she would buy nothing at the marathon expo, says that not only is the expo way cool but that she wants to buy everything!

Sending vibes to Kerstin: must.resist.the.shopping.impulse.

M and I are going to be spectating from an undisclosed location near the end of the marathon. Ok, it's not undisclosed - we haven't decided yet. But we'll be somewhere on Summit, hoping for cool temps and no rain.

I also got an email from my mom and she has off the weekend of my marathon! Woo hoo! She and Big Boy will be driving up Friday night and the cabin I've rented is more than big enough for the five of us. (As a slightly pathetic aside, next weekend will have been six weeks since I've seen Big Boy. That's the longest I've not had him around for his entire life. We've come close, a month at camp, 5 weeks at his father's one summer... but six weeks is a long time. Just ask little boy, who's thoroughly sick of me and rethinking his desire to be an only child.) So, I'm increasingly anxious about the marathon, but thrilled that I get to have both my boys in one place at one time with me.

2nd to last tempo run before M-day

So, I wasn't real optimistic going into this run. First of all, I still feel like I should baby my knee. Second, the mysterious taper pains (completely distinguishable from labor pains, if anyone was wondering) come and go at all hours of the day. Third, I haven't tried to run "fast" (it's all relative, people!) for two weeks. Fourth, the schedule called for a mile each warm up & cool down with 5 miles at 8:15. That's the fastest tempo pace yet!

I should add that the dog is very happy this week. She gets to come along on every run because they're all shorter than 9 miles. Taper is good for dogs, I guess.

Here's how it panned out:

1-9:01
2-7:43
3-7:38
4-7:38
5-7:28
6-7:59
7-9:03

Average tempo pace-7:41. New 5 mile PR-38:26. Overall pace for 7 miles-8:04.

And although I slowed down on the last tempo mile, I was definitely not racing, nor was I maxed out as far as speed goes. The first tempo mile felt a little uncomfortable, but I was breathing pretty well for the ones that followed (it was definitely not a conversational pace, however!). The fastest speed work (mile repeats) that this plan had me doing was 4 x 7:43 with half mile slowdowns between each repeat. I guess I blew that out of the water.

Makes me wonder if I've been a slacker.

Nahh, I don't wonder about that. I know I'm a slacker.

When you're too lazy to make actual cookies

Try this:

2 c oatmeal
1 c flour (or whatever substitutes for flour for all my GF buddies)
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c splenda (the stuff that measures like sugar in the big bag, or just use a whole cup of brown sugar if you don't like/have this)
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 c dried sour cherries
1/2 c roughly chopped pecans
1 dark chocolate bar, broken into pieces
half a stick of butter, melted
1 t vanilla
1/2 c applesauce
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the dry ingredients together. Melt the butter and add the other wet ingredients, being careful not to cook the egg. Combine wet & dry, press evenly into a 9x13 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, let cool on a rack.

little boy was dubious at first, but once he tried them, half the pan disappeared pretty quickly!

Speaking of little boy, that child is going to run himself into orbit. Yesterday's JV meet was a great one for him, even though he placed 9th in the JV-A race. New (40 second) 5K PR - 17:56.

Taper madness

It's not even in full swing yet, I suppose. I've read a lot about others who are tapering and feeling lazy and crazy, but now it's my turn. Am I doing it right?

I feel lazy. I ran 8 miles this morning. Venus is crazy-bright. The full moon was bright enough to cast shadows and I didn't really need my headlamp (except for those stupid early morning drivers: umm HELLO! runner here! dog here! don't hit us with your car! you have lights, I know you see us!). My knee felt fine, but I had other phantom pains that came & went along the way. Ow, my shin hurts, why is that? Ow, my other knee hurts, why is that? Ow, my hip feels itchy-funny-weird, why is that? Is my gait off? My foot feels funny. Am I running too slow? Too fast? Sheesh, this is only 8 miles, this is nothing! I'm done already and it's still dark.

I feel crazy. How can I run 26.2 miles on the 13th when it will have been six weeks since I've run 20?? This taper is too long. My legs will forget what to do. I know my legs, and they're not real smart. They do things like make me fall up stairs, slip and fall on ice, and walk full speed into unseen desk corners. They walk me into trouble all the time. They truly are not the brightest appendages on the body.

Taper can't be good for you. If nothing else, it's bad luck. I walked into a desk last week. Co-worker Kerstin tripped over her cat and fell down the stairs this week (her marathon is Oct. 7). My imaginary internet running buddy baggio fell down while running and smashed himself up this week, too (truly insane, cuz baggs runs like a million miles a week! his marathon is also on Oct. 7, but in a different state). I am considering doing a study of taper-related incidents and thereby proving one way or the other that bad luck exists (ok, not).

12 miles tomorrow. Forecast is windy with a thunderstorm. Alrighty then. SO finally returns from the west tonight, only to leave us again Sunday, when she heads to St. Cloud for work. She'll be staying with a buddy of hers who lives up there and coming home on weekends.

little boy does it again!

The city grade meet was a good one for little boy. Here are the results:

Tues., Sept. 25
GRADE-BY-GRADE MEET (5.29K)
Top three individuals
Seniors
Rick D, Highland Park, 19:11; Jonathon R, Central, 19:35; Dan N, Central, 20:21
Juniors
Sam S, Central, 18:50; Kelin D, Central, 18:53; Ben M, Highland Park, 19:02
Sophomores
little boy, Central, 19:40; Ben S-H, Central, 19:44; Seyfu A, Arlington, 20:29
Freshmen
Liam R, Highland Park, 21:38; Evan H, Como Park, 22:33; Elliot P, Central, 23:23

That makes a new 5K PR of 18:35!

I was lazy this morning and didn't run. I have 8 to run either this afternoon or tomorrow and 12 for Saturday. My hip felt a little funky after Tuesday's TM run and I'm not sure if that's a result of the stupid knee or the TM, so another day of slacking is fine. This is taper, after all.

And I'm not entirely lazy, little boy has to be at school by 6:30am for honors orchestra. Welcome to our new Tuesdays & Thursdays!

ouch...grumble...ouch

Ok, it's getting a little better. I had to wimp out on my highest-ever mileage week and I missed my last 20 miler. Stupid knee still hurts, but I'm not lurching around anymore. RICE is on the menu for the foreseeable future.

I managed 6 miles yesterday with the dog (some things felt weird, knee felt slightly painful and tweaky, like the ligaments weren't tracking just quite right) and 9 this morning on the TM (which felt pretty easy, cuz I set the speed super slow, but it was kind of boring, even though I was watching Pre).

However, I think the cajun breakfast I had on Sunday came with some extras. I was sick enough not to sleep well last night and it's lasted all day today. Ugh. Just what I needed - food poisoning on top of a crabby weekend. Don't you just hate the feeling of being hungry and nauseous at the same time? The extreme sweating alternating with clamminess is darn fun, too.

Ok, there's another thing that I finally fixed after it's been bothering me all weekend. I moved the computer down to Big Boy's room and since I moved it, the speakers wouldn't work. So I tried everything. Yes, first thing - power? speakers & subwoofer all connected to each other? correct line-in port? device manager say anything about something not working? unplug everything and plug it back in again? run a virus scan to check if there's some weird trojan horse that targets speakers? check yet another time to see if it's plugged into the correct port? update the driver? uninstall the driver? reinstall the driver? do random searches on the internet to see if I'm the only person in the history of the universe to have this problem that seemingly has no fix?

I finally got it. Now all I have to do is find myself a new, working wireless optical mouse for a 3+ year old computer. Fun!

and BOOM just like that

the ride is over.

Last December, I fell twice on my right knee. The orthopedist I saw said to treat it like a car accident, like when someone's knee is smashed into the dashboard in a crash. It prevented me from running for two months and it took many, many weeks for me to work up to running even 10 miles a week without pain.

Yesterday, SomeOne moved some furniture around, because a bookshelf I'd ordered arrived. Instead of telling me this...

I walked full force into the corner of the desk that was in my path. It was dark. I wasn't expecting anything to be there.

My right knee, you guessed it.

I pretty much can't walk right. Running is out of the question.

I guess the ride was fun while it lasted.

I wonder if this counts as a double?

So, yesterday was a crabby day, the second Monday of the week, as far as I'm concerned. I overslept, and getting up at 6:45am does not allow for running 10 miles before work. Grrr.

little boy had orchestra rehearsal last night, and I was going to be by the Minneapolis lakes anyway, so I thought I'd try for 10 while he was doing his thing. I had 2 1/2 hours and that was plenty of time. The only whiny things I have to say about that are (1) I don't run well in the evening and (2) thunderstorms were forecast.

We got to rehearsal on time and I headed for Lake Harriet. It was sprinkling as I started off. About half an hour into the run, perhaps a third of the way around the lake, it started to downpour. No thunder, no lightning, but it was raining so hard that it was a little difficult to see. I'd already made up my mind that things were going to be wet and the rain wasn't cold and it was about 70 degrees outside, so other than feeling like I was running in the shower, it really wasn't bad. The deluge abated somewhat for awhile, then it just rained, then it poured again, then drizzle, then deluge (and some lightning, but not much), and just about as I was done, the precipitation pretty much stopped. I ran 10 miles in 1:37 or so, for a pace of around 9:40. I went into the park building and changed into sweats and had fun wringing the water out of my socks, shorts & shirt. I had dry socks and dried my feet with the hand dryer (more fun!) but my shoes were a soggy mess.

Then I tried to go to Trader Joe's, but it had just closed by the time I got there. So, on to Whole Foods to get some fruit and snacks. I got back to pick up little boy at 9:34, and I saw him walking back across the street towards the building where rehearsal is held (it ends at 9:30). I'd told him to meet me in the parking lot of the park across the street, but I wasn't there. He looked really crabby when I honked at him. He got in the car and told me he was scared cuz he thought something had happened to me, that someone got me while I was running. Poor little boy! I apologized for being late and he seemed to be somewhat mollified by the Brown Cow cream top cherry vanilla yogurt I'd gotten him.

So, home again. Sleep. Up at 5:30am (I set two alarms this morning!). Out for 9, including 6 miles at tempo pace. Poochie came along for the run and she was quite pleased about it. Here are the splits:

1-9:05
2-8:05
3-8:34
4-8:20
5-8:30
6-8:09
7-8:54
8-9:25
9-9:28

Target tempo pace was 8:20, I managed 8:25. Overall pace was 8:44. Not bad for having run 10 miles less than twelve hours previously. Does it count as a double if you sleep for seven hours between runs?

PRs all around

little boy had a race in Rochester this week and ran 18:42 for the 5K. At first, he thought he wasn't going to be on varsity for the next race (they run the fastest 7), it turns out he beat two other guys so he will be.

I ran the James Page Blubber Run 5K yesterday. The beer was good, the company was even better, but despite what their ad page says, they only had brats. Ugh. My forerunner acted up, although there weren't really any trees or buildings to speak of in the way of the gps signal, so I don't know what the problem was. I never saw a mile marker until mile 3. I got a side stitch during what I think was mile 2 and I slowed down a bit to try and make it stop. If I hadn't done that, obviously I would have finished faster. But hey, I'll take a 2 minute and 12 second PR any day. The clock said 23:05 when I crossed the finish line.

Ok, so I'll never be able to race with little boy. But it's an unfair comparison now that his legs are longer than mine! (we'll just not mention the fact that he's 25 years younger than me which might be a mitigating circumstance as well)

I have to move the computer down to Big Boy's room, and there's no internet down there, so this will have to be short and poorly edited. Luckily I downloaded the thing from the revisor's website that I have to work on today.

Followed by a couple of good ones

My 9 milers this week have been going great. Monday, my pace was 9:30mpm; Tuesday, 9:40; today, 8:58. little boy had a cross country meet last night and PR'd by 15 seconds, for an 18:58 5K. The weather was perfect for running, low 60s and sunny with no wind or humidity. Then, on to orchestra practice, since we were already in Minneapolis. This year it goes until 9:30, which turns out is a little late for both of us! But the location is closer to home, so it didn't take 40 minutes to drive home. Still, being out until 10 on a school (work) night is a bit much considering we get up so early.

Today it was in the high 30s at 5am. It was the first run of fall, I guess, because I had to wear gloves and a ski hat along with my warm long sleeve top. But I still ran in shorts, so I know it's not winter yet! The pooch and I had to run a little faster than usual to keep warm, but I felt strong the whole time and the pace felt easy. The was just a hint of twilight in the eastern sky at 5 o'clock and Venus is as bright as I've ever seen her. I have to remind myself to watch the ground in front of me and not the sky, or else I'll end up doing a faceplant in the street (that's called "pulling a crane" for those in the know)!

I suppose my paranoid fears of bonking and blowing the marathon are just that - paranoia. Lucky thing I'm good at that.

SO is headed to Vegas tomorrow for some carpenter-type stuff (the international union headquarters is located there, it's not some carpenters' gambling club or anything like that). I don't want to jinx it by blogging about it, so I'll just say that little boy and I will be on our own until Sunday night. I wonder what kind of trouble we can get into?

I'm a lemming, courtesy of Cravey.

The WORST run of the summer

Saturday, 16 on the schedule. Remember how last week, I ran 20 miles at an average pace of 9:27? How does 15 miles at an average pace of 12:00 sound? And I walked the last mile home only because SO & little boy didn't answer the phone when I called to ask them to pick me up. It was two hours and fifty minutes of sheer hell. Or maybe it was 15 miles of THE WALL. Nothing hurt, but nothing felt right. I felt just an overall pervasive weakness. It was probably due to a lack of carbs on Friday. Yuck. It was all my nightmares of how the marathon might go wrapped into one sucktastic morning. At least there weren't spectators.

Today, however, 9 miles at better than 9:30 pace went just absolutely fine. Sky came along and was she ever thrilled about it. She even ran the last mile ahead of me even though I know she must have been tired. I'll take her again on Wednesday. She's had almost two weeks off because the runs got too long for her. This is a cutback week, so 9s x 5 days will be 45 miles.

There was more rearrangement of Big Boy's room. The sofabed was removed to the junkyard, so it's no longer in the dining room. Instead of buying something that is couch or bed-like, we repurposed his old twin bed into a couch (with the help of some new pillows from costco). His chest of drawers now houses the upstairs tv. The desk (soon to be outfitted with the computer once I move it) is in the corner. It looks a lot less like a big empty room now, and he'll have a place to sleep when he comes home. I feel a little less panicky this week, but I am still not in normal head-space yet. I wonder if I'll ever be?

Back to school

Big Boy is at college. little boy is back at high school (with the whole place to himself now that his brother is gone). I'm back at work. I think I need some new crayons, though. Maybe a glue stick or two.

My friends, RC & DD, just had their first baby on August 31 - a beautiful boy named James (after his grandfather, but it's funny, he looks like a James). How soon is too soon to call and bother them and ask to see the baby and check up on RC to see how she's feeling? I probably ought to get his gift finished first. Right.

Lots of running to drone on about. First, I found a spare pair of new shoes in the closet that I didn't remember I had! Yay! The miles pile up fast on shoes when you're running 50+ mile weeks and the things only last up to about 300 miles. I'm rotating 4 pair at the moment, the new pair of Asics 2110, an old pair of the same with 250 miles on them, a pair of Asics Enduro II with 150 miles on them, and a pair of Asics Eagle Trail V with 75 miles on them.

How do I know how many miles are on the shoes, you non-runners ask? Easy. I run with a Forerunner and download each run to my computer. I not only can get a satellite image of where I've run, the program I have has a drop down menu that indicates which pair of shoes I used for the run. Ok, so it sounds a little obsessive, but it makes you feel less crazy when you think something is up with your knees or your hips or your feet and you look at your shoe mileage and realize that you're running on worn out shoes! So you're not falling apart, or getting too old to run, it's just the shoes. And shoe shopping keeps you young! Or at least, that's what I've been telling myself.

So, Saturday's long run was 20 miles. I ran 20.61 miles in 3:14:52 for an overall pace of 9:27. I ran along Lake Michigan (from Veterans Park up to Whitefish Bay and back) with Big Boy riding his bike with me for company. Plus, I wanted to look like I had a posse (I guess I need more people for that, I'll keep that in mind next time). It was a weird out and back and around the pier and out and back again sort of route, but it got the miles in. I tried to run the last three miles at goal marathon pace or better and although the Forerunner got a little wacky, my average pace for those last three miles was just under 8:00. Which I think would make it my fastest 5K ever.

A couple of 11 milers this week, one at 9:40 mpm, the next at 9:30 mpm. A 7 mile tempo run this morning, with a mile warm up & cool down (you know the routine if you've been reading this blog at all). Target pace was 8:29 for the 7 miles. Here's how I did:

1-9:17
2-7:56
3-8:12
4-8:24
5-8:24
6-8:25
7-8:41
8-8:25
9-9:52

Tempo pace-8:21 mpm. Overall pace-8:37 mpm. I am so glad that tomorrow is a rest day and next week is a cut back week.

Well that was weird

I was out for 9 this morning. I had this odd encounter as I was finishing my second loop. This guy reverses direction and starts running around the lake clockwise, like me.

guy: So are you training for Grandma's?
me: [thinking do I totally bust him and say, you mean the marathon in June? but apparently, either my mom raised me right or I'm completely Minnesotan now so I say:] Uh, no, I'm doing this marathon in Wisconsin in October.
guy: This October?
me: Yeah.
guy: So you always run in the morning...?
me: Yeah.
guy: How much are you running?
me: Well, 9 this morning, but 55 miles this week.
guy: And you've been running all summer. Wow.
me: Yeah, uh I think I'm running 11s next week.
guy: So not like 15 miles or something like that.
me: No, not in the morning before work.
guy: Well, you certainly look like you know what you're doing.
me: I hope I do, I'd hate to crash and burn.
[we come up to the turn off to my street]
guy: You'll do fine, you must really like running.
me: Well, it's something to do.
guy: I've never thought of it like that before. So this is where you head home.
me: Yeah, have a good run.
guy: Good luck on your marathon.

So, I wasn't creeped out or anything; it was light by this time and there were other people around, and even after 9 miles I'm pretty sure I could have outrun him. But the way in which this guy said some things made it sound like he's been watching me, which does sort of creep me out. But maybe he was just a clueless newbie and I'm bound by running ethics to impart any knowledge I have, unless of course it slows me down. And I've got to say that I would be the worst eyewitness ever. What did the guy look like? I dunno. White guy, 35-45, taller than me, shorter than my boys, he had on a blue shirt. I think his hair was short. Good info.

It was weird for several reasons. The runners in my 'hood wave or say g'morning. That's the way we do it. No one has ever talked to me before on a run (except people I've actually planned to run with). Oh, I take that back. There was one guy on the Gateway one Saturday morning. We were both going the same direction and we chatted for about a mile until he turned off (which was good because he was a little too fast for me). Certainly no one's ever turned around and started running with me and attempted conversation. Weird.

In other running news, little boy had a cross country meet yesterday. He ran a 19:13 5K, which was a 17 second PR over the race he ran last week. The race was really exciting (for me) because at the halfway point turn around, little boy was leading the pack! He ended up finishing fifth. He was fast enough to qualify for varsity, so at his next meet, he'll be running with the big boys.

And then there were three

Big Boy left yesterday for college. Yes, it was sort of sudden and unexpected and last minute. I'd been planning to drive him down over the long weekend with all of his stuff, but when he finally got around to figuring out when/how to register for classes, it turned out that the only time available was TODAY at 11:30am. He told me this yesterday at 10:35am. I checked the megabus website, of course they only have one bus a day and it'd already left. Then greyhound, which claimed it had a bus leaving at 11:15am and that was the only bus that would get him to Milwaukee in time.

Frantic racing around ensued (not by me, I was at work, all I could do was be pissed off and worry). He was not packed, although earlier he had claimed to be finished. I called my mom, who had to rearrange her work schedule in order to be able to pick up the Boy at 2:50pm. SO drove him to the bus station, bought him a ticket, and they find out contrary to the website, the bus actually leaves at 1:30pm. They drove back home and more crazy packing occurred (although he forgot all the stuff I told him specifically to take along). I called mom again and she rearranged things again to be able to pick him up at 8:30pm. SO got him to the bus and he traveled through thunderstorms and claimed to stop in every town from the Cities to Milwaukee.

I came home from work and went upstairs and watched tv. The vultures had already taken apart Big Boy's room and rearranged all kinds of furniture. There's now a craptastic old sofabed sitting in the middle of the dining room. I'm not in a very good mood. And I'm not hungry, either. I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday. And my stupid garmin made me think I was too slow and unable to do my speed workout this morning, so the whole thing was just crap. If I'd known that the first speedy mile was actually faster than I needed to run as opposed to 45 seconds too slow, then perhaps the three other speedy miles I had to run wouldn't have seemed completely impossible. The run just sucked.

Tomatoes... and running!

The dog. This is one of the few pictures I have of her where you can see that she's got one brown eye and one blue eye.

We have people coming over for food that I haven't yet made, so this will have to be quick. Tomato plants above. Yummy stuff. little boy finally got the dog to sit still and we snapped this picture of her.

I ran 16 miles yesterday - 13 easy and the last 3 at hoped-for marathon pace. The weather was good, 60s and not nearly as humid as it has been. I also had the mp3 player along, which I haven't been able to do in the mornings as it's quite dark at o'dark thirty and I have to be able to hear cars and crazies should I encounter them.

Splits for those who're interested:

1-9:37 9-9:01
2-9:00 10-9:26
3-9:08 11-8:49
4-9:35 12-9:09
5-10:03 13-9:09
6-9:07 14-8:39
7-9:23 15-8:35
8-9:16 16-8:34

Pace overall-9:09, fastest pace-7:22 (thundering through North St. Paul on my way back home, American Idiot came on. how can you not run fast to that??) It was a 53 mile week. Next week is 55 miles with a 20 mile long run. Woo-hoo!

Bloodvein Buccaneers

Pictures will do a better job than I will of explaining this.


Big Boy is second from the right. No, that's not a canoe they took along.

These five guys spent 26 days in Canada along with two canoes, 240 pounds of food, and one tent. I'll ask Big Boy if he'd like to guest-blog an entry to give details. If you look at the map, they canoed (and portaged) from Red Lake (eastern side of the map) to Lake Winnipeg on the Bloodvein River.

I got to drive up here to pick him up (and yes, I did manage to get up at 4am and run 9 miles). You can't actually get to camp by road. You have to go across the lake, and camp is on that sort of boot-shaped protrusion northeast of the green arrow. It was very fun and the kids are all great, which one can't always say about teenagers. I'm thinking about crashing the women's trip next summer. It's only a week, not a month! And how could you not like the scenery?


Morning, view off the point.


Late afternoon, behind the Engage cabin.


Sunset, from the hammock.


The Buccaneers on the dock.

Rain, rain

The only good part about it is that I don't have to water the garden. The grass is now growing and we have to mow. The basement, on the other hand, did not flood.

I ran into former co-worker Sue walking her cutie-pie pooch this morning. Her dog, like mine, is adorable and has issues. I like me a challenging dog. (Well, not too challenging. Not homicidal or anything like that.) I got a little gossip from Company, Inc. I can't believe that Poofy and the K-man are together again. And that they get salsa! Jerks. (it sounds like I'm crabby about it, but I'm not, and they would so totally get it)

I went over 1000 miles for the year last Friday. This is one of the monster weeks of running (9, 10, 9, 9, 16. total: 53). Longest tempo run of training was this morning. 1 mi warm, 8 mi at 8:33 pace, 1 mi cool. Yikes. I was a little intimidated by that staring at me from the schedule. Here's how it panned out:

1-9:23
2-8:17
3-8:28
4-8:06
5-8:36
6-8:12
7-9:07 (ran into Sue!)
8-8:20
9-8:34
10-9:39

Average tempo pace - 8:27/mile. Despite it being scary, I did it. I still don't know how I'd keep that pace up for 26.2. Or even an 8:45 pace, for that matter. But I'm remembering how easy it was to keep a speedier pace after all that time I took off in June. Maybe taper will fix things.

little boy had an audition for MYS tonight. We'll find out in awhile where he's placed and then decide whether he'll stick with GTCYS or switch to MYS. He needed new dress pants. Huh. Well, growing half a foot a year will do that, I guess. (he didn't really grow that much over the past year, but he added a couple of inches, anyway) We found some, luckily. They don't seem to have too many 29/34s in dress pants, at least not at Sears. The good thing that we did find out, however, is that his bones have grown enough and he's put on enough muscle that he can wear 30/34 Levis 505s. The bad thing, though, is that this probably means he's going to keep growing taller. He's probably a hair under 6' and goes about 130#. On a heavy day.

I drive to the Gunflint Trail tomorrow to fetch Big Boy from camp. We'll see how that goes, as I have 9 miles on the schedule. I guess that means getting up at 4am so I can be on the road before 6. Fun!

Ok, then

20 miles is a really long way. To be precise, 20.46 miles in 3 hours, 20 minutes and 55 seconds, for an overall pace of 9:49. It was hot (high 70s, dewpoint 68). The first 12 miles were pretty much a good time, then I started slowing down. Mile 13 and onward, nothing was under 10:00 mpm.

That little orange line is the route I ran today. In the first half mile, there was a large tree down, but it went down in a good spot, i.e., it didn't hit the house or any cars. That was some crazy thunderstorm we had early this morning. Maybe it's been too long since we've had one, but that seemed to be the craziest, fiercest storm that I can remember since moving up here in 1999. Wheelock Parkway was completely blocked eastbound by several downed trees. The trail was actually in better shape than the roads seemed to be, which was amazing, since the trail is lined on both sides by trees! I ran past a couple of guys on bicycles just past White Bear Avenue who had a hand saw and were working on a tree blocking the trail. They were successful; the tree had been moved to the side by the time I made it back there.

My feet are a little hurty and my knees are a little stunned at what I've done to them, but no major damage to the corpus. Since I've been home, I've had pistachios, chocolate soy milk, iced coffee, an everything bagel with eggs and cheese, and some Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries. Oh, and I scrubbed the downstairs shower, cuz something scary was growing there.

I've got another Mad Lib! The inimitable mandaroo has contributed a list of words. Here we go!

When I arrived at work, I turned on my graham cracker to listen to the morning tomatoes being broadcast. While digging my coffee, I unfolded my tight newspaper and caught up with the day's current feets. Then I booted up my napkin and read my e-pillows. Hank stopped by my cube and we discussed last night's episode of Photograph and Order in smooth detail. When he left, I realized I was late for lunch with roo at the Bistro Leaves. She taught me how to play Coffee Hold'em on her laptop while we waited for our blankets to be served. This solved my baaad problem-what to do at the office for the rest of the afternoon. I won almost every owie toe I played! Too bad my boss is back tomorrow.

Now I think I have to take a nap. I'm headed for the hammock in the backyard. There may yet be mass quantities of food. After all, little boy checked out the triathlon bike course this afternoon.

The Mad Libs continue!

[I should have credited this particular mad lib to co-worker Kerstin!]

When I arrived at work, I turned on my tofu to listen to the morning skis being broadcast. While running my coffee, I unfolded my delicious newspaper and caught up with the day's current eggplants. Then I booted up my zoo and read my e-lawyers. The mean ex-cello teacher stopped by my cube and we discussed last night's episode of Water and Order in succulent detail. When he left, I realized I was late for lunch with Hot Tattoo Mom at the Bistro Puzzle. She taught me how to play Dive Bar Hold'em on her laptop while we waited for our beers to be served. This solved my fairweather problem-what to do at the office for the rest of the afternoon. I won almost every lower back I played! Too bad my boss is back tomorrow.

Alright, I cannot stand the scary burger king king-guy. Creepy. But, this site is pretty fun: simpsonizeme.com. Here's me:



This is way more fun than it should be.

What I did at work today: Mad Lib version

When I arrived at work, I turned on my corn to listen to the morning clouds being broadcast. While sleeping my coffee, I unfolded my fuzzy newspaper and caught up with the day's current tablecloths. Then I booted up my ink and read my e-octopi. Rob stopped by my cube and we discussed last night's episode of Table and Order in expensive detail. When he left, I realized I was late for lunch with Penny at the Bistro Flower. She taught me how to play Cowboy Hat Hold'em on her laptop while we waited for our leaves to be served. This solved my sticky problem-what to do at the office for the rest of the afternoon. I won almost every eyebrow I played! Too bad my boss is back tomorrow.

(Thanks for playing, Maureen! Penny sure is one talented puppy!)

It's review time at work and because I don't actually do what I was hired to do, my boss had to rewrite my position description. You gotta love a job where you don't do what you're supposed to and instead of getting canned your boss rewrites your job description for you. My co-worker and I are both happy that my position description includes the following phrase: "While performing the duties of this position, the employee rarely/never smells at work except faintly."

Oh! Another picture from down by the river:

Mad Libs

I loved these things in high school. My friend Katy and I even kept sending them to each other once we'd left for college. I use "left for college" in a metaphorical sense, I guess, cuz I lived at home. Anyway. I know there are at least three people who read this blog. Gimme some words, people!

1. noun
2. plural noun
3. gerund (the mad lib sheet says: verb ending in "ing." o.k.)
4. adjective
5. plural noun
6. noun
7. plural noun
8. person in room (male)
9. noun
10. adjective
11. person in room (female)
12. noun
13. noun
14. plural noun
15. adjective
16. part of the body

Tomorrow we'll play fill in the mad lib. It'll be fun, I promise!

Yes, I know, I know. Russia pictures. I still have tons. I have not been resizing and cropping and posting snarky comments to the best of my ability. I plead crappy sleep and other blog-inhibiting circumstances. But I did save $400 a year on my car insurance. (Not Geico) For anyone not already bored to a crisp with my marathon training, I got in 50 miles last week with a long run of 16. This week it's 51 miles and my first 20 mile long run. I have yet to sucker someone in to biking along with me. SO and little boy are uninterested in crewing for me.

90something

Degrees, that is, this past weekend. My uncle was in town, visiting from Palo Alto, California, where it apparently doesn't get that hot. Ever. In an effort to cope with the heat, we took a riverboat ride down the Mississippi from Harriet Island to Fort Snelling. Here are some of the things we saw:







After the boat ride, we decided to try and actually get down to the river. We ended up in Mill Ruins Park, which is just up river from the 35W bridge.









We still couldn't get near the actual river itself, so we took off down West River Road, crossed the river at Lake Street (or Marshall Avenue, if you're from St. Paul) and tried the east bank of the river. We were then able to climb down to the river and this is a little of what we saw:

We're all ok

Big Boy is in the Canadian wilderness somewhere (and it's his birthday today - Happy 18 baby!), little boy is up at camp, and SO & I were safely at home when the bridge collapse occurred.

More blogging later... with pictures of the weekend... because we were just right there on Saturday with my uncle.