Assorted photos and running

There was a little running this weekend. Here's Big Boy & little boy (lined up at the front!) at the start of the quarter marathon. I don't generally start at the front, as the resulting getting trampled would not be helpful in finishing the race. The middle is just fine for me. Coincidentally, that's where I'm typing right now.

I never get how blogger uploads photos, so I'm always making it upload things and then I have to mess around with the html. Such fun. It's been rainy here the past two days, which reminds me, I have to check my rain barrel. Oh, and probably water the inside plants. They might appreciate it. I ran this morning in a cold steam room. It was outside, but let's pretend it was a room. Humor me, people.

little boy: fast, nice gams.

All those people looking at little boy thinking, wow look at that kid go! Here's another one where the two of them are running together.

little boy: fast because his feet don't touch the ground.

There wasn't a finish line shot of Big Boy, but there's this one of him running and look like he's having tons of fun.

Big Boy: why did I sign up for this again??

Here's the finish line shot of little boy.


Alright, alright. There was one of me. I'll post it with the caveat that I'll then post two of me having a good time at the Great Dane with my imaginary friends.



I have approved the following photos:

How are the children?

Madison Marathon 2008
Quarter Marathon Results

little boy

bib number:	7516
age:	16
gender:	M
location:	Saint Paul, MN
overall place:	5 out of 801
division place:	1 out of 26
gender place:	5 out of 308
time:	42:00
pace:	6:25
10k:	38:19
chip time:	42:00

He said that he wanted to start with the front runners, so he did. He kept up with them for the first two miles (5:25 and 5:30, I think), then remembered that he was supposed to take it easy, so he decided "to breathe through my nose and run easy so that's what I did for the rest of it." Sheesh. Next couple of miles were around 6:30 and the last he kicked in at a 7:00 mpm pace. Check out that sub-40 10k time. The four guys who beat him? In the 25-29 age bracket. They thought he was a senior. He got a plaque for being first in his age group, which is now above his bulletin board.

Since I can't do much but haiku lately, the reason being that until this week I've never been able to, here's one for little boy.

Quarter marathon
In 42 minutes flat.
little boy kicks ass.

In other little boy news, he ran the 2 mile at sections yesterday. Although he didn't qualify for state, he ran a PR of 10:25.

Big Boy came along to Madison for the ride and stayed for the running and the festivities. He started off the quarter marathon with his brother and ran a PR 5k of something like 19 minutes. But then, the lack of training and a surfeit of biking ripped the wheels off. He finished just over the hour mark, but still in the top 2/3 of all the men.

No more haiku after this, I promise.

My young chaperon,
Not my brother, but my son.
Please don't buy him beer.

So I ran last weekend

Apparently, there's some internet rumor floating around that there was a gigantic party of 30somethings, the odd 40something and a couple of random 20somethings at the Madison Marathon.


heh.

It's all good, tho, I had my boy chaperoning.


Darn cougars.

So, running. Yes, I ran the Madison Half Marathon. I had a fine race. I wasn't sure how it would go because I've only been doing low heart rate stuff for six weeks now and haven't tried to run fast (relatively speaking) in a long time. The weather proved to be better for running than had been anticipated: it was cloudy and low 50s at the start. Unfortunately, that's not a great temperature for standing around in sweaty running clothes after you've just run a half marathon.

We (Big Boy and maccabeth were my roomies) took the hotel shuttle (aka Party Bus) to the start at Capitol Square. We walked around looking for other 30s, but didn't find anyone. The marathon started first, and we saw Nettie take off. As soon as all of the marathoners were out of the start area, the half marathoners started lining up in the corral. Thanks to their rocking orange visors, I found Brandy and Maria and we started off together just behind the 2 hour pacers. Ummm... they went out much faster than a 2 hour pace (9:09 mpm). Maria lost us almost right away; she's a speedy one. I lost Brandy at some point, always thinking that she'd catch me on an uphill, cuz I am sooooo slow on the ups.

It was fun running around town. I got to see stuff that reminded me that Madison was once home. I got to run down Willy Street. We ran along Lake Mendota on the same path that Nettie & I had run the day before. I had to run up Monroe Street. I got to run by Lake Wingra, where the boys & I used to swim when they were little.

My only idea for running is that I would run what felt comfortable and would not let myself get to the panting/gasping stage. Ain't no shame in slowing down. Breathing was great. Slow & steady the entire time. I had a blast running down the hills, as usual. I walked through 4 or 5 water stops. I was ready for it to be over about mile 10. My tooth started throbbing around mile 11. The course was very odd in spots: narrow so thousands of runners had to squeeze through 2 abreast on the path, a hairpin turn here & there, and this weird footbridge thing toward the end which allowed us through 2 by 2 in a spiral all the way and then all the way down. ??

Here are some splits:

1 - 8:14
2 - 8:32
3 - 7:25
4 - 8:29
5 - 8:46
6 - 8:45
7 - 8:47
8 - 9:04
9 - 9:00
10 - 9:00
11 - 9:29
12 - 9:12
13 - 8:31
0.1 - ?

Chip time - 1:58:41.

The rest of the weekend? How about haiku-style?

Stand in a circle
A pleasant time had by all
Talk talk never leave.

Running around

And lots of it. I ran 15 on Saturday. Was it just me, or was it almost stinkin hot out there? Anyway, it took forever and I was tired when I was done. I did three 5 mile loops, stopping at home for water in between. Sky ran along on the first loop. I finished all of my runs last week, giving me a total mileage of 48.51. That's the highest mileage I've run since the first week of August last year, as well as completely violative of the 10% rule. But I feel fine and nothing hurts, so I must be doing something right.

little boy was slave-laboring for my boss (who, by the way, pays too well. I told her I'm going to quit my state job and go to work full time for her doing landscaping!). SO was out scouting the rummage sales (and found cool stuff, as usual).

After the long run, I dropped off lunch for little boy and the headed out of town to Milwaukee to pick up Big Boy, who will be home for the next month before camp starts. I consciously decided to annoy all the other drivers on I-94 this weekend by setting my cruise control at 2300 rpm (also known as 67 mph). As diesel is $4.439 in Wisconsin, I wanted to see how well the VW could do going at a more sedate pace. As it turns out, pretty darn well. There was about 100 miles of mixed city/highway driving on this tank before I started off for Milwaukee. I got 656 miles on the tank (best ever) before the light went off and averaged 48.9 mpg. I'm sure it would be even better with an entire tank of sedate highway driving. But it cost me almost $60 to fill up. Grrrrrr.

6 miles this morning and I really noticed that it was a lot cooler than Saturday. (Of course, running for an hour at 6am is much different from running for three hours at 8am.) My pace was much better, too. The first mile was 9:55 and overall pace was 10:39 with average HR of 140, peak HR 161. That might be my first mile under 10:00 (not that I'm competing with Runnin-from-the-law or anything, because this is all about personal betterment, NOT competition). I wanted to run faster this morning, too. My legs were all twitchy, saying Let's GO! But no. I resisted.

Now that's random

My American Gladiator Name is FORSAKEN.
Take The American Gladiator Name Generator today!

In other news: California Affirms Right to Marriage.

From the California Supreme Court's opinion:

"...upon review of the numerous California decisions that have examined the underlying bases and significance of the constitutional right to marry (and that illuminate why this right has been recognized as one of the basic, inalienable civil rights guaranteed to an individual by the California Constitution), we conclude that, under this state’s Constitution, the constitutionally based right to marry properly must be understood to encompass the core set of basic substantive legal rights and attributes traditionally associated with marriage that are so integral to an individual’s liberty and personal autonomy that they may not be eliminated or abrogated by the Legislature or by the electorate through the statutory initiative process. These core substantive rights include, most fundamentally, the opportunity of an individual to establish — with the person with whom the individual has chosen to share his or her life — an officially recognized and protected family possessing mutual rights and responsibilities and entitled to the same respect and dignity accorded a union traditionally designated as marriage. As past cases establish, the substantive right of two adults who share a loving relationship to join together to establish an officially recognized family of their own — and, if the couple chooses, to raise children within that family — constitutes a vitally important attribute of the fundamental interest in liberty and personal autonomy that the California Constitution secures to all persons for the benefit of both the individual and society."

Well then. We're people after all.

Hips don't lie

Uh yeah. At 5 this morning, my hip said NO to running, so I slept for awhile longer. It's such a nice day, though... Maybe after work...? I think it's the transition to outside that's annoying my hip. I've got quite a few months of treadmill to work out of my system.

little boy ran a PR 4:49 mile at the track meet yesterday. I ran very, very slowly around Lakes Calhoun & Harriet while he was at his YCEP meeting. It didn't rain, but it was cloudy and gloomy. My total mileage for yesterday was just under 13 miles.

Sophie needs transmission work. She's 12 years old and has a little over 184,000 miles. She also needs new tires. The tires I can get for around $300, but the transmission is going to be expensive. Perhaps up to half of her bluebook value. Maybe it's time to put her out of her misery, but Big Boy should learn to drive, and there's no way I'm going to let him learn on Wolfie.

SO wants a pickup truck, but doesn't like that they all seem to get about 15 mpg. Well, the Ford Rangers get better mileage if you get the 4 cylinder version without 4WD. But they're so little and powerless then, what's the point? If there were a Wolfie cousin circa 1999 or 2000 in the diesel wagon available anywhere, I'd jump at the chance. But why would anyone in their right mind part with such a vehicle? I'll take Sophie in to get an estimate for the transmission, I guess. If it's going to fail at some point soon, no one would buy her anyway.

That looks like a lot...

Hmm... what with all the Mother's Day-ing and family visiting and concert activities over the weekend, I never had time to get my long run in. So, that 13 miler you see scheduled for today is actually 6 in the morning and 7 while little boy is at YCEP tonight. To get the rest of this week's running in, I skip my day off Thursday and insert today's run that was filled with last Saturday's run. Uh huh. We'll see. That would make 58 miles for this week and that's probably way too much.

Poochie has been quite happily running along with me on the past three runs (6 on Saturday, 7 yesterday, 6 this morning). I think the roll of chub on her back is almost gone already. If only it were as easy for me! (unlike my imaginary internet running buddy Cindi, low heart rate running hasn't resulted in weight loss. but that's ok, when the famine comes, you'll all starve to death and I'll live forever) This morning's 6 ended up with an average pace of 11:05 and average HR of 140. My right hip feels a little goofy, which could be a function of old shoes (new pair - check!), running outside in the real world (as opposed to the treadmill) or the new reel mower I broke in yesterday.

Running, running, running

But for my imaginary friend really kind of kicking my butt on Tuesday, running under the influence of vertigo has been fine this week.

I had one short lunch time run with my new shoes ($50.40 at Sierra Trading Post), which seemed to work just fine. I ran a really sleazy (slow & easy) 6 miles yesterday morning, ave. HR 138. Although it felt like I was on a boat in the ocean with 12 story tall swells when I woke up the past two days, things seem to settle down when I run. Actually, that's really fortunate, cuz if I was as dizzy running as I am walking in the morning, I sure would fall down fast.

little boy ran a 4:54 mile on Tuesday. He's buying our friend DD's bike tonight. We're supposed to be cleaning as we are expecting an influx of relatives this weekend. Eh, a few dust bunnies never hurt anybody (but ours are huge!).

I'm planning on 13 either tomorrow afternoon as I wait for my mom to arrive or on Saturday morning before little boy's orchestra rehearsal.

Vertigo, round 2

As I rolled over in bed this morning, the room kept going. Uh oh. Vertigo is back. Not so much fun, but at least I know what to look forward to. If it goes like it did the first time, it will be over by next Tuesday. Subtract 50 or 60 IQ points and delete any semblance of cogent verbal expression. And I'll have one really spinny day before it's done.

It also seems to exacerbate my right/left "issue." Ok, I can tell left from right. Honestly. I can. However, when trying to express the concept of right and left, I get it wrong about 75% of the time. I have trouble with mirrors (that "objects may be closer than they appear" thing? wow. that was hard to learn.) and mirroring people (could never do aerobic classes, never. now, I can't fathom pilates. nope. not at all.). But I have no problems reading (however, I have a little performance anxiety with reading aloud) or spelling. Apparently, my grandpa has this issue, too. Well, anyway, the vertigo seems to make this little issue expand and gobble up my typing abilities... I'm getting my fingers backwards and it's really, really weird.

But I ran. 4 this morning, 3 at lunch. Tomorrow, 8-ish with my imaginary internet running buddy Brandy.

little boy has an insane day tomorrow. Early a.m. honors orchestra, plain old school, track meet, YCEP in Mpls at 5 (until 8, but...) and GTCYS orchestra from 7 to 9:30. Fun!

April running stats

105.77 miles.
20 hours and 10 seconds spent running.
Average pace 11:25.
Average heart rate 144.

I ran about 4 fewer miles, but about 3 hours longer than in March. My average pace in March was 9:xx. My garmin thinks I burned more calories running slowly, too.

Six word memoir

I got tagged by Cindi to write a 6 word memoir.

Google - where I keep my brain.

Slacker lesbian attorney. Vegetarian runner mom.

I'm glad I work for the state.

I'll try being nicer, er, no.

For someone so terse - I'm verbose!

I can't pick just one!

I am tagging Kerstin, Karina, The Turkey Family, Sasha, and Dr. Mandy.

No soup for you!

Or, lots and lots of soup for you if you had oral surgery last week. I am sick of soup. I am sick of smoothies. I want texture. I want crunch! But my stitches haven't dissolved yet and that temporary crown isn't real permanent, ya know. I'm going to ask my dentist next time if I can have a copy of the x-ray that shows the big freakin machine screw that's now in my lower jaw. The picture here shows two of them, but I only have one. (And one was plenty.)

The diameter of that screw is about the same diameter and length as the root of my 2nd bicuspid (tooth #20). It's screwed into my jaw in place of tooth #19, which was lost due to a crack that went down to the nerve.

I am really looking forward to making this baby artichoke asparagus risotto tomorrow night. Rice is soft, I'll overcook the veggies just slightly, and everything should be fine.

Running has been very slow, but Tuesday after work was almost speedy at an 11:25 mpm pace and 140 bpm average heartrate. The pooch was overjoyed that we were outside again. Dare I say, at this point, she's more out of shape than I am!