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.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, October 15, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
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!
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 | |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Updated Tuesday, Oct 9, 10:24 AM Central Daylight Time | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday, October 7, 2007
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.
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.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
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.
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.
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 | |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
Friday, October 5, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)