RUNNER GIRL KNITS

Almost next year

2011-12-30T13:06:00.000-08:00

I just realized my poor blog is in serious need of updating, but that's not happening right now. This is just catching up. I realized I never posted since I had my foot sliced.

When I went to have the stitches removed the doc told me it turns out that I didn't have a ganglion cyst; I didn't have a cyst at all. I had what the lab called "fibromatosis." Which led to my delight in saying I had fibromatosis on my toesis. It's the little things in life. Anyway, a fibroma is a little benign tumor. Although they are common on feet, they're common on the bottom of the foot, not the top. Usually they're in/on the plantar fascia, not the big toe tendon. My doc told me the chances for it reoccurring are low. Ish.

Since the incision wasn't totally healed he told me I could run when there was no stinging when I swiped the wound with an alcohol wipe. And no cheating or toughing it out, stinging is stinging. As of today, 4 days later than expected, there was no stinging. So I'm good to start running again, yay!

My toeitis on the other foot isn't gone, but it never hurt horribly until I was at about 8 miles so I won't know for a while how healed it is.

I'll have 2 whole weeks to run and then will need to take another short interruption. I had a couple of moles sliced off the same day as the foot surgery (along with freezing a shitload of other moles and freckle-type-things, ouchy). One mole had benign atypical cells, so more has to be removed. It's located high on my thigh, right over the hip flexor. That's going to be a tough one to work around because it's one of the hardest workers in my body.

But when that's healed, I'm back to running. No matter what. I can feel my mood souring from lack of endurance endorphins and lack of sun. Since I can't control the weather I need to get back on the trails, or at least the treadmill.

Have you been running? Can you control the weather? Do you have any good toe jokes?

Tis the (Off) Season: Holey Monday

2011-12-12T13:59:00.000-08:00

I did TOO spell that correctly. No religiousness or faith involved here, just a scalpel and 5 stitches.

Back in the fall I developed, almost overnight, a big cyst on the top of my right foot. The doc thought it was probably a ganglion cyst and since he's the doc, I figured that was a good enough diagnosis for me. We tried draining it twice and that didn't make any difference. Since excision would involve a few weeks of no running I decided to wait until December to do anything about it. I haven't another paid race on the schedule until the end of January so technically this is my off season.

By this morning the cyst was greatly reduced in size but hadn't disappeared. After considering all the options (one of which was totally ignoring it for the rest of my life) the doc and I decided to go ahead and remove it. The worst part was him sticking a big ass needle in the top of my foot to give me the local anesthesia; he kept saying I was used to more pain than that from running marathons. He had a point (heh heh), but it still hurt oodles.

I'm a big medical weenie. I can have medical things done to me with no problem at all, I just can't watch any of it. From my allergy shots (which I've been getting on and off for 40 years) to major surgery, I'm fine as long as I don't see it. But today I decided what the hell, I'd watch until I felt like puking or fainting. And just to amuse myself, I'd take pictures.

The picture taking amused my doc too. And no, I'm not posting a single one here. Ew. Yuckyuckyucky. I was able to watch most of it although several times I averted my eyes. But I saw him cut open my foot and snippety snip the cyst, saw him squeeze out anything else, saw him sew it up. And it was completely gross, lemme tell ya. And I have pictures to prove it.

So now my foot is all wrapped up in bandages and it's supposed to stay that way for 2 weeks. Yeah, no washing or changing the bandages or anything. I asked him what happens when my feet sweat and get gross and he said they've done this lots of times and don't worry about it. Most importantly, no running or weight bearing exercises for at least 2 weeks. The doc said I could get some good upper body workouts in, even ride an exercycle if it feels ok, but no walking or running. It will even impact some of my TRX workouts because of foot positioning. I have the cutest little orthopedic shoe to wear for 2 weeks.

I asked the doc if I could run a half marathon at the new year and he said no, the skin would be too new and could possibly split. I didn't even bother asking if I could run back-to-back half marathons on 12/31 and 1/1. Sigh. Sounded like a fun way to ring out the old, ring in the new.

The best thing about this is it'll give my toeitis on the left foot another 2 weeks to heal. It's improved but not gone, and I don't particularly want to schedule marathons without knowing how much pain will be involved (the best amount, of course, is "none"). I feel odd not having a marathon to plan for, to train for, to obsess over. I know which ones I'd like to run in 2012 but I'm holding myself back right now.

After work today I'm having some moles removed. Although my skin doc thinks they're all fine and dandy and benign, they look iffy to me and so I asked her to cut them off today. Hell, I can't run anyway so I may as well get everything done, right? It's been 2 years since my diagnosis and treatment and these will be the biggest batch of moles being removed since then.

Something tells me this will be an advil and alcohol evening.

Have you had anything removed from your feet? Do you have any suggestions for marathons in 2012? Is this your off season or are you in deep training?

Mount Desert Island Marathon Race Report

2011-11-07T22:50:00.000-08:00

I loved the Mount Desert Island Marathon. I also disliked the Mount Desert Island Marathon, but simply because I wasn't in prime shape to run a race that had a vertical gain of 17 billion feet (that may be a slight exaggeration). I wasn't even in prime shape to run a race that was dead flat and there was little enough of that.

I don't often go into marathons thinking that this will be my very first DNF. For 4 weeks following the Fox Cities Marathon I had no confidence that I could finish this one. My plantar plate didn't magically heal itself, my cyst didn't magically disappear. Also, between the races I gained a few pounds and my asthma acted up. Almost as if my brain was trying to give my body a reason to sit down in the middle of the race and quit. Well, I ignored that and soldiered on.

Saturday morning there was an optional free fun run (with a $10 breakfast afterward, should you chose to stay). We decided Friday night that we'd all walk this, just to get our legs freshened up from the traveling the day before. Sis, Tracy and I met Sandy downtown at the start. The race club handed out special bib numbers for all the runners and after a few words, we were off! Or rather, they were off and we started walking. Everyone else was running and out of sight within minutes. The route was less than 2 miles, to the Atlantic Oceanside (where the expo was being held). It was a lovely morning for a walk and it was very nice to spend time with Sandy.

We hung around at the hotel so we could go to the expo when it opened. There was more than we were expecting. Packet pick-up went very quickly. The race shirt was a green quarter-zip wind shirt with the race logo on the front. This was a nice change from a typical tech or cotton tee. The expo also had a few booths selling merchandise, including one that had everything -- and I do mean everything -- that you could need to pick up for last minute race prep.

MDI offers an early start option for walkers and slow runners who think they'll take over 6 hours. Since all of my marathons this year have been 6+, I opted for that one extra hour. So did oodles of other people. There were well over 100 of us out there waiting for the sunrise and the gun. Being back-of-the-packers we all kept moving -- well, back. Nobody wanted to stand on the line. We're used to letting the quicker people go ahead of us. Yes, most of us would rather not have people jostling us aside because we're in their way. The race director finally said "This is YOUR START" before any of us moved forward. Since this seemed like my only chance, I stood right at that start line.

You go first. No, you go first. No, I insist. You go first.

The gun went off, and so did we. Relatively slowly, but still. I'm proud to say I led that race. For at least 3 minutes I was the leader on the road. Then someone running about an 11:30 mile passed me. My time in the sun was over (figuratively; it was overcast). Also, that's when the first hill started and I slowed down.

My plan, such as it was, was to run as much as I could since running hurt my foot less than walking. But I also knew that my asthma wasn't going to let me run many of the uphills. I intended to run the flats (I don't think there were any flats), the downhills (there were a couple throughout the day) and the slight inclines, then walk the steeper hills. That actually worked well for a while.

In the early miles there was a lot of fighting for a good position. Yup, I made that up. We were a friendly crew out there, most of us doing some form of run/walk. We had a lot of space, even though we really were just on the wide shoulder of the road. I started running with a woman who was doing her first marathon and we stayed together for over an hour. Then I started dragging while she was obviously holding back for me so I sent her on. (I did see her much later in the race, walking, completely over the whole idea of running a marathon. I saw her again at the end and was so glad I had a little teensy part in helping her finish her first marathon.)

The weather was great, except for the very strong head-wind. It was cool-ish, overcast with short periods of sun. But that cold wind off the water, smack in the face, made running up all those bazillion hills even harder. Luckily the spectacular scenery more than made up for any wind and hills. Otherwise I do think I would have just sat down and pouted for a few hours until someone came to get me.

Seriously, the sheer beauty of the Bar Harbor to Southwest Harbor route cannot be understated. To me, Big Sur International Marathon had all other races beat for scenery, but now I can say it has a rival. Despite my west coast bias I think the 2 races tie for utter beauty. I've seen the BSIM route several times, both during the races and in a car, and spent a lot of time on the MDI route (and drove it both before and after the race) and I think everyone who can should run both of these and make their own decision. I couldn't; I loved them both.

But back to the race. My foot started getting a hot spot very early on and I had seen in previous races that the hot spot turned into pain quickly. I made it to about mile 8 before it hurt and by the halfway point it really hurt. Running hurt, walking hurt more. With the wind in my face I couldn't run as much as I'd like so I just slogged on.

There were aid stations about every 2 or 2-1/2 miles. They were well staffed with very cheerful friendly volunteers, even during our early start. There was water and some sort of -ade and I'm pretty sure that later stations had fruit also. One station at about mile 17 had gu.

Because of the narrow roads and lack of alternative routes around the race, there weren't many spectators except at official spectator spots (there were about 8 of those). There wasn't much traffic until we got to mile 20-ish and then the road got very busy. We were really confined to the road shoulder then and the condition of those shoulders was poor. This was where the 5 hour runners were passing the 6 hour runners so it got crowded. Still, everyone remained polite. I love small races!

Miles 20-25 were uphill, some of it just a middling grade and some of it real hill. It was one road, going in one direction, and I tried to studiously stare at the scenery and ignore how craptastic I was feeling. I was walking as much as running at that point. Mile 25 is the "Top of the Hill" and supposedly it's all downhill from there. Uh, not quite. I'd say it was more downhill-ish, with a couple of uphill grades along the way. Also, the road got very narrow and crowded with all the earlier finishers driving away. For about a half mile we were confined to a sidewalk-path-thing; very narrow with broken asphalt and curbs. Since my agility had departed some 4 hours earlier I wasn't sure I'd make the last half mile without breaking something.

But make it I did, even beating 6:30. Barely. My dear sister and brother-in-law, along with Sandy and her husband, cheered for me as I attempted a finish line sprint. This was my slowest of all marathons but at least I wasn't sitting somewhere on the road by Somes Sound crying my eyes out. I got my medal and my space blanket and waited for my cheerleaders to find me. I was pooped and not about to go looking for them. I had given my all, what little "my all" entailed, and was glad it was behind me.

There was a tent with food for the finishers. Ice cream! Pumpkin and blueberry! Without spoons. I grabbed some of that and told my sis that if she could find a spoon I'd share with her. My very resourceful, ice cream loving sis did indeed find a spoon and I realized that ice cream wasn't what I wanted so I passed her the entire cup. I went back in the tent and saw there were bagels, some with cream cheese and some with peanut butter. I wanted a combination that wasn't pre-spread so the nice volunteer cut a fresh bagel and smeared it for me. There were also lots of little bags of chips (cheese doodles!), baskets of candy, an energy drink and I think other drinks. Somewhere I think there was a beer tent but I never went looking.

I had worn my Marathon Maniac short-sleeve shirt for the race and received many comments both during and after. Every Maniac who passed me (which was most of them) gave me a "good job, Maniac" or "looking good, Maniac." Many people asked about criteria for joining and I think this race probably added to our numbers. It was fun wearing a conversation starter. The weather was perfect for wearing a black shirt, shorts, calf sleeves and my buffs. I pulled the buff over my face a couple of times when the wind got high. I also had gloves which I took off after a couple of hours and tucked into my belt in case it got windy later. I was wearing a MM cap and was initially afraid that it would blow off in the wind. I managed to keep my head tucked during any gusts and it stayed on. Probably because for most of the race my sunglasses were up on my head too.

I'm glad I did this race. I wish I could say I ran this marathon but that's inaccurate; I ran part of this marathon and just pushed forward for the rest. It was a great experience and a wonderful vacation. Maybe I'll write about that next.

Have you ever been to Maine? Do you prefer the East Coast over the West Coast (or are you just happy to see any coast at all)? Have you ever run a race with 17 billion feet of vertical gain? Let me know!

It's a bear in a lobster suit! How cute is this??

If you run a race and don't write about it, does it count?

2011-10-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

I did indeed run the Fox Cities Marathon in Wisconsin, followed by the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in San Jose. I will be writing about FCM where the race was wonderful and my performance was mediocre. I probably won't write about RnR-SJ again since it was almost the same as the previous years.

Right now I'm dealing with a couple of aggravations. In addition to the ganglion cyst which doesn't seem to want to disappear by itself, I have an injury to the plantar plate on the other foot. I can run for about 2 miles without anything hurting, then it gradually gets worse and worse. The cyst will be removed in December, between races. I'm waiting for ice baths and taping (and lots of wishing) to help heal the other problem. I won't be running until my next race while trying to keep my conditioning at the top.

Have any of you experienced plantar plate injuries? How about bible cysts? Tell me your stories!

Zombie Runner Vasona Lake Run Half Marathon

2011-09-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

My 20 mile training run went well. For a long run it was -- long. The weather ended up being great; it never got too hot and the sun didn't even come out until my final hour. I ran the last 12 miles alone, greeting all the other runners, walkers and cyclist as they passed by. I ended up tired, with a sore foot but no other problems. I'm pretty certain that's why I asked Bree whether she'd be interested in running a half marathon on Labor Day Monday (... that, and the fact I thought she'd say no).

I thought that Bree would decide that 13 was more than her aggravated ankle wanted to run. If not that, she'd see the profile of this run and decide I was crazy. Imagine my surprise and delight when she wanted to run this! So early this morning I drove down to the South Bay and met up with Bree at her new apartment. We drove, along with another friend of hers, to Los Gatos Creek Park.

We picked up our bibs and shirts and goody bags. The women's shirts were a light purple tech shirt, sized properly (men's shirts were in green). The goody bags had a bunch of ginger chews, a gel and a Zombie Runner pen. We pinned on our numbers and waited for the start.

This is a small race, about 150 people for each of the 5 mile and half marathon races. Both started together down the Los Gatos Trail for the first out-and-back, where the 5 miles finished. We continued on for the hard part.

Somehow when I looked at the website I read that the surface was all asphalt. Notsomuch. When we got to the fire road I wasn't too surprised. I supposed that we'd be on the same fire road part that was run during the Jungle Run. Again, notsomuch. I apparently forgot the hilly part of the run too.

After a very short stretch of fire road we started climbing single track. Knowing that I'm (1) a klutz, (2) afraid of cliff-type edges, and (3) not used to dirt, we slowed down. Since this was an out-and-back route, the ~~mountain goats~~ other runners were coming back down the trail we were creeping up. We stepped aside as much as we could, knowing they were going way faster than we were. The trail continued on in an upward direction. Running had become walking was becoming mincing our way along the rocks and roots.

If we hadn't been out of water I think we would have just turned around and called it a day and a DNF. I knew there'd be water at the turnaround so we kept going. Then it became a downhill. A very, very steep downhill. We didn't run there either, since it was too incredibly rocky and steep. It was absolutely the worst part of the route, even though the route widened. The very scenic view of the Lexington Reservoir made it a little better.

We got to the bottom, refilled and started back up the hill. We had to stop and rest a couple of times - total dead stop while we caught our breaths. After that it was mostly downhill, back the way we came. Funny how in this direction we were running much more than the other direction. I was determined not to spend another 22 minutes on one mile. When we hit the single track we walked, the fire roads we ran/walked. After what seemed like forever we returned to the asphalt trail.

The whole time we were struggling up and down those hills, we saw families with small kids, cyclists, moms pushing strollers, going the same way. Maybe it was that they hadn't already run the first 7 miles, but they were making us look like slugs. Dirty, sweaty slugs.

The route was perfectly marked with some chalk arrows on the ground and pink or polka dotted ribbons hanging from everything that needed to be marked. I think I could have still gotten lost (I'm talented that way) but Bree set me right each time.

We finished the race, and both ended up NQL (not quite last, remember?). We were 152 and 153 of 158 and well within the cut-off time. We were cheered in, given our medals and directed to the fluids and food (pretty decimated by that time, but there were still watermelon slices, candy, chips and pretzels, other fruit and a couple of cookies).

Water stops were about every 2-1/2 miles and well stocked with water, some electrolyte drink, defizzed coke, candy, salty snacks and fruit. Since I had prepared for a 2:50-ish race and ended up with a 3:20 race, I ran out of gu and drink powder before I ran out of race. I grabbed a few gummy bears at the last couple of stops and sucked on them as we ran. The sugar gave me enough boost to keep going.

Taking another glance at the website it turns out the run was 68% asphalt, 20% fire road and 12% single track. It also says the gain was 945 feet. It doesn't say that all the elevation was in the 32% not asphalt.

I'm glad I ran this race. I don't think I was really properly prepared for that much not-road, nor were my legs really happy with 13 miles after last week's 20. My foot was again sore starting at about 2 miles. I probably won't become a trail runner any time soon, I enjoy asphalt too much. This race was very well done, especially considering how small it is. I don't think it would work as well if the single track got more crowded so this was the perfect size.

Oh, and the weather again was close to perfect. It was forecast earlier in the week to be hot by 10 am, but it never got close to 70 degrees while we were out there. Even when the sun came out we were running through at least intermittent shade so it didn't get too hot. So we had great scenery, I had good company on the run (thanks, Bree!), the shirt and medals were nice, the course support was great. I recommend this run.

Now I recommend going to bed.

And then he stuck a big needle in it

2011-08-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

I've ramped up my mileage in training for my upcoming marathons. This cycle I've run quite a few 15-16 milers and a couple of 18 milers hoping not to hit a wall at 20. We'll see tomorrow, when I run said 20. Since this could be my first hot run of the summer (and how did that happen??) I'll have a good measure of where my fitness is for Fox Cities Marathon.

I'm gratified and confused that an August 27th run is the first hot run of the year. Normally that happens in March or April. While we've had a couple of spells of a few days of heat, none have been on long-run scheduled weekends (or indeed, on weekends at all). I'm not particularly looking forward to sweltering but since September in Wisconsin could be hot (and hey, these days October in Maine could be hot) I'd like to get a long hot run under my belt.

Not under my shoes though. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a lump on top of my foot after a run. I figured my shoes must have been too tight and didn't worry about it. Then I noticed that it got worse for a while, then better, then worse. Then I realized that it wasn't really changing at all, it was just big. Wiser minds than I determined that I should go see our friendly neighborhood sports podiatrist so I made an appointment. Imagine my disappointment when the lump didn't go away, even after making an appointment. Since the only time the lump causes pain is when I wear shoes, and because I'm wearing sandals unless I'm running or at the gym, it was mostly a curiosity rather than an impairment. Unless, of course, I was running.

So I went to see the doc today. After poking, prodding and an ultrasound he said it was probably a ganglion cyst and we could drain it and hope it would go away. Okey dokey, draining sounded good to me. In theory. In practice he took a needle the size of the Space Needle with a syringe the size of a large silo and started poking around inside the cyst, guided by ultrasound. He dragged the tip of that needle up and down inside the cyst and urgh, TMI at this point. Anydoodle, there wasn't any fluid being extracted so he pulled out the needle and just started to squeeeeeeze the cyst. That sounds much more painful that it actually was, the squeezing didn't hurt at all (probably because my foot was so relieved to not have the needle in it). Not much came out then either.

The hope is that it'll drain and flatten over the next 5-7 days, go away, and never bother me again. That's unlikely to happen. He said he wouldn't want to drain it more than a couple of times, and if it reoccurs would recommend removing it just to see what it is. That would involve a little incision, a couple of stitches. No big deal, right? Wrong, it would involve no running for 3 weeks. Yikes! I have too many races to take 3 weeks off! I'm going to believe in fairy tales and believe that the cyst will go away. Quickly and without any worry from me. Right?

For my long run tomorrow I'll just use some felt to cushion the cyst area from my shoe and everything should be fine. I'm very much looking forward to this run, sore foot and high heat notwithstanding. Every long run is a challenge, every long run proves once again that although I might not look like it, I am in fact a runner.

Have any of you had ganglion cysts? Anyone had it flattened by the family bible? Anyone grossed out by hearing about this?

Hey, look behind you! It's July!

2011-08-02T15:13:00.001-07:00

I've misplaced a month, have any of you seen it? Two months, or even three. One minute I'm enjoying April and the next I realize I'm dating things "August." Zip zip zip and summer is gone without even starting.

Yes, I'm going to first whine about the lack of summer weather around these here parts. While the rest of the country is baking, sweltering, melting under the heat of a hundred hot boiling flames, we've been dressing in jeans and sweatshirts. We don' need no steenkin' sandals here! Nobody has to worry about their summer wardrobe fitting because they have to cover it up under a couple of warmer layers. Yoohoo, summer? Over here! I'm waiting for you!

I'll probably pay for that plea later in the month when I go to run 18-20 miles and it's 97 polluted sunny degrees instead of the 57 we've been running in. Fine! Bring it!

During the past month I upped my trainer workouts to thrice weekly. Probably just so I'd have a chance to say "thrice." Mondays at 7am, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6am. We're still doing a lot of TRX which I'm still enjoying. Today I set the goal of a set of real, non-girly pushups by summer's end. I can almost, sorta do 1 sloppy real push-up now. I can do 3 sets of nice looking, good form girly pushups. Katie reminded me that it's August and summer is almost over. Nuh uh, can't prove it by me. Pushups by summer's end. And apparently I'll decide by then whether or not to hyphenate "push-up."

For the most part Bree and I have continued running, or run-walking, once a week around Lake Chabot. A little over-doing it impacted a knee on each of us and we decided that bombing hills wasn't the smartest idea when our training schedules have us running long on the weekend. We're taking it easier there but finding that hill work definitely has it's benefits (strength and endurance) to go with it's negatives (swollen painful knees). The Lake has been lovely to run around in the early evening and it's almost lost all of it's negative connotations from my first run there way back in 2001.

Knitting continues apace. I've been working on several separate projects. My attention span could be better. I'll knit for a few days on a scarf, then on a shawl, then on another shawl, then another scarf. Nothing seems to be getting toward completion. The lace class we were scheduled to take was canceled, of course after we had bought the yarn for it (yes, I bought yarn for it even though I had 2 other perfect yarns in the stash I could have used. What's your point?). So Ann and I intend to get together weekly and figure it out ourselves. In the fall, when it's quieter. Meanwhile I'm hoping to finish a scarf or two.

I ran one of my favorite local races a couple of days ago, the second half of the San Francisco Marathon. I may even get around to doing a race report one of these days. Like past years I enjoyed the race, not so much the finish area mess. They change that part every year and so far, last year was best (in my opinion of course, yours may vary).

I've been reading a lot, which is one reason my knitting is suffering. Still haven't figured out a way to get quality reading and quality knitting done at the same time. I'm not much for audio-books since I like seeing the written word. I'm having enough trouble adjusting to a Kindle instead of paper. And adjusting to being able to buy all the books in a series at a single button push. Or several other books by the same author. Ooopsie, now I have even more to read!

What have you been up to? How's your summer going? What are you knitting? What are you reading? Hot enough for ya?

Oz Marathon Race Report

2011-06-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

Since I began running marathons in 2001 it's been my fond desire to run one on my birthday. Unfortunately marathons on my birthday weekend, assuming my birthday even fell on a weekend, were few and far between. I had the poor fortune to be born right around Patriot's Day. As any rabid marathoner could tell you, there's only one marathon that matters on Patriot's Day: Boston Marathon. As I have as much chance of qualifying for Boston as I have of flying to Boston under my own power, I had to scrounge up a second choice.

This year my birthday was finally on a Saturday; next year it'll be Monday because of Leap Year. This was my chance to find a race. Good thing I'm trying for all the states so I had a few choices. I wanted an interesting and relatively "easy" race and ended up picking the newly rebranded Oz Marathon, formerly the plain old Olathe Marathon. I talked Sandy into joining me in collecting Kansas and we made plans for the great birthday marathon of 2011.

Getting there was easy enough. Southwest Airlines flies to Kansas City, MO which is a short drive from Olathe (oh-lay-thuh with the emphasis on 'lay;' Olathe is an Indian word for "beautiful"), KS. We met at the airport, gathered our rental car and headed out on the freeway. In less time than we'd expected we arrived in Olathe and found our hotel, the Fairfield Inn and Suites, and checked in.

We started Friday the best way possible: in a yarn shop! Knit Wit is in a little strip mall (as is everything in Olathe that isn't in a large mall). They had a very large selection of yarns and knitting implements. I managed to walk away with just a couple of skeins of a local yarn. I took pictures but they're so bad I don't want to reflect poorly on the shop which was charming and well stocked. The woman working and the one other customer were very friendly and helpful.

Packet pickup (not an expo) was on Friday only, at the Big Bass Pro Shop. Big shop. Big big big. Selling everything from sun hats to boats. There was a short line of incredibly friendly people from all over. We picked up our bibs and our white cotton tee-shirts, passed by the various tables of local vendors trying to sell assorted services and merchandise and went our merry way.

There was a storm brewing, cold air blowing and rain intermittently dripping down. Very cold, very windy. I had brought all sorts of choices for running attire and it looked like I would need all of it, in layers.

The start was at Garmin World Headquarters (which seemed the total extent of Garmin's involvement in the race). We arrived for the planned 7:00 am start and it was freezing. Literally. Wind chill was 28 degrees; the wind was blowing with 40 mph gusts. All of the signage and postings were blowing around and people walked back and forth, shivering. This was a small race, about 500 marathoners and 500 half marathoners. Possibly there would have been more if the arctic front wasn't present. People seemed to stay in their cars until the last possible moment which overwhelmed the dozen or so porta potties. Many people were still in line when the race started.

I kept moving back through the crowd. The time limit for the course was 6 hours so I knew I'd be one of the back-of-packers. Despite my two long training runs (Napa Marathon and Oakland Marathon) I knew my time wouldn't set any records because of asthma; my two biggest triggers are cold and wind and there was plenty of both. At the back of the pack was the 5:30 pacer (the last pacer) so I decided to stick with that group for a bit, depending on how fast they started. I thought they'd actually keep me from going out too fast and I was correct.

A note about my clothing choice: As I said, I wore everything. I had on running tights with my calf sleeves underneath. I wore a long sleeved tech shirt, a light weight windbreaker jacket and a sweatshirt over that. Gloves, hat, ear warmer and a buff completed my winter-in-April apparel. It was still cold and my toes were numb by the start, despite my Injinji toe socks. I was nicely coordinated in red and black.

There were about a half dozen people running with the 5:30 pace group. I'd never actually run with a pacer before (really, even after all those marathons and half marathons) and it was kinda fun. She told us her philosophy was to walk 1 minute at every mile, start slowly, go slower uphill and faster downhill, and she guaranteed we'd finish within 59 seconds of 5:30. All of that sounded pretty good to me! We picked up Sandy and assimilated her into the group at about mile 2 or 3.

I had my buff over my face to keep the air warmer for breathing, but like always I managed to lower it and smile for the pictures. The funniest part of this picture is my ponytail blowing in the wind; we have a joke that mine is the only pony that never moves when I run. Well, it did on this day.

The first part of the route was very boring. We ran down one of the main streets, looped around a commercial area, then circled the parking lot of the Great Mall of the Great Plains. Apparently back in the '80s this was a hot shopping spot. Now it's a mostly deserted group of buildings that play host to special functions. The almost 2 miles around the parking lot was windy and cold and boring. The street control was very good, the cops and volunteers all friendly and helpful.

The pace group was going along at a slow, then comfortable pace, but at about mile 5 the pacer stopped the walk breaks and picked up the pace to way faster than I was comfortable with. Since I could feel my breath tightening up I let them run ahead and continued at my own pace and started my regular 9:1 run:walk. I managed to amuse myself as I normally do during long runs.

It didn't really warm up but after about 2 hours my sweatshirt was bothering me so I tossed it aside. I still had my long sleeved shirt and windbreaker, and still had my buff covering my face. It would be like this for most of the rest of the race. I finally took off the gloves and the ear coverings at about mile 23. Then I put the gloves back on a little while later. I zipped and unzipped my jacket according to whether we had a head or tail wind.

At about mile 12 we moved onto a multi-use trail that we'd be on for the next 13 miles (6.5 out and back). It was pretty, winding and rolling. In theory the outbound direction was downhill; in fact it was the rollingest downhill I've run. The website map doesn't do all the little ups and downs credit. There was very little that was good old fashioned flat. But it was pretty, scenic and there wasn't any traffic. It was fun for me seeing all the other runners on their way back.

My asthma was very bad and I wasn't even trying to push the pace. I would have liked to run faster, finish faster, but that wasn't going to happen so I just ran and walked when I felt like it. At one low point of the trail, a man and his son were putting hay down to soak up the huge puddle that covered the trail and the surrounding area. Seeing me coming, he threw out pieces of hay as stepping stones. I came to a dead halt, knowing my balance wasn't anywhere near good enough to make it through without going ankle deep in water. The man, wearing high boots, took my hand and walked me across the riverpuddle, his son cheering the entire way. Thank you mister nice man! By the time I returned the hay covered the entire area so I didn't need an escort.

Blah blah running, blah blah asthma, blah blah cold, blah blah relentless wind. The only bright spot of the return journey, and a bright spot indeed, was a Cardinal flying along side of me. I think he was flirting with me, believing my bright red jacket was some lady-bird running along the trail. I saw him on and off for a few miles, tweeting happily from tree to tree.

I walked a lot of those last couple of miles. The sun was starting to come out, the temperature was probably all the way up to the upper 30's, I was tired and I'd already used my inhaler 3 times during the race. Despite how late it was the street control was still there with officers keeping traffic from killing the last runners.

Finally the end was in hearing, then in sight. I ran toward the end, hearing my name over the loud speaker. Sandy was waiting for me, having finished quite a bit before I had. I got my medal and a bottle of water, but she thought the food was all gone. Then we noticed the really big grill with something cookin'. I crossed my fingers that it was something I could eat and yep, it was. We each grabbed a chicken sandwich. The beer table was shutting down and unfortunately they were out of beer. Nope, they were out of the light bottled beer, but still had some of the keg beer, a local brew. We scored!

We sat down at one of the empty tables (they were almost all empty by then, nobody was hanging around in that weather) and consumed our goodies while elevating our legs and watching the final few people finish the race. Once again I was NQL. That's "not quite last" and yes, I did make that up. Three marathons in 6 weeks and NQL at all of them. Nothing like consistency.

There were finishers tech shirts but by the time we got there the women's shirts remaining were small sizes so we took the men's shirts. Bright yellow and a little ugly, but a finisher shirt nonetheless.

Final thoughts: if the weather had been better I would have had a great race and a fun time. For a small local race they did a very good job. The branding of the race wasn't apparent except in the name itself; there weren't any special touches to make it Oz-like. Several runners were in costume but I'm seeing that in lots of marathons, even those without themes. The course support was excellent, the course itself half-nice. The 2 shirts were (ugly, and) the same for all the races. I'd rather have one nicer race-specific shirt but as we know I'm pretty opinionated about my race shirts. The Olathians were almost all friendly and helpful. Olathe has every chain store and restaurant that I've ever seen, plus a few that were new to me. I would recommend this race for any 50-stater or Maniac out there!

Scarecrow Bear

Random Friday

2011-06-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

The sun is out! The sun is out! The sun is out!

I'm amazed at how much my life improves when the weather improves. I've always said I was a child of the sun (hello skin cancer!) and this just proves it. My energy level has increased, my appetite has decreased, and my mood is (sorry) sunny.

Speaking of skin cancer, I don't have any now! My latest skin check was normal and I'm now able to push the check-up appointments to 4 months apart instead of 3. My paranoia still knows no bounds and I check my skin daily for new spots and I wear sunscreen under jeans and long sleeves.

Speaking of sunscreen, I'm thrilled that our government has finally set some standards for the multitudinous purveyors of the stuff. It's interesting that they're saying that those 15 SPF moisturizers aren't doing much of anything, and that SPF greater than 50 doesn't increase your protection (and may even increase a risk since the chemical load is higher). I have a feeling that next year some of my favorites will disappear but hopefully better products will arrive on the scene.

Request to sunscreen developers and packagers: please please please start putting sport sunscreens in little disposable packages so I can easily carry it with me to reapply during a long run or race. I don't have room in my gu-filled pack to carry the big bulky non-compressing tubes and bottles. Now that we know the sunscreen isn't waterproof, and we know that some runners sweat heavily, please provide something easy to use and carry. Thank you in advance.

So last night Bree and I decided not to do our weekly run at Lake Chabot. There were various reasons including our planned run for Saturday at hilly Inspiration Point. I decided that since I'd worked with my trainer in the morning I didn't need to run anyway. Then I remembered that I ate a big lunch and didn't have any calories left for dinner. So I grudgingly dressed for a run and headed out my front door. I ran some, I walked some, I ran some more and when I got home I felt wonderful.

Startitis is my problem. I should get a big banner in my house that tells me to just get moving. Once I'm in motion I love it. I really love to run. I just don't like the whole changing clothes/sunscreening/water filling/getting out of the house part.

I've been wearing my Fitbit for the past week or so and I'm having lots of fun with it. It's ~~really just a fun toy~~ another tool in the healthy life style arsenal that aids in tracking. It's interesting to look at my sleep records (or lack of sleep records), to see how many steps I'm taking during the say, to see how much activity I'm getting during my desk sitting workday. When I add it to my food tracking on Lost It! I'm getting a better picture of why I gained weight over our 9 month winter. It's helping me lose that weight and restart good habits in a rational, reasonable and easy-to-use manner.

I decided to add another morning workout with the trainer, Mondays. This will give me a reason to get out of bed (see startitis, above) and we'll be able to work more of my body than we can do in 2 days. I'm not sure how long I'll keep this up but I've found I'm more likely to run or walk in the evening if I've done a trainer workout in the morning. Since the sun has already risen when I leave the house it's easier to go be active. I'm not sure how well it will work when I've run a Sunday race but I don't have another one until the end of July.

Did I mention the sun is out?

Race review backlog

2011-06-07T13:24:00.001-07:00

I'm behind, way behind, on my race reviews. I'm blaming it on the weather. Yup, our Junuary cold and rain when it should be bright, sunny and hot, is driving me buggy. I don't think I've ever experienced Seasonal Affective Disorder in June before. Normally by February (or March at the latest) I'm over the depression, sleepiness, lethargy and irritability that I experience every winter. All I feel like doing now is hibernating, or curling up with a good book. Not much gets written that way. In fact, not much of anything gets done.

I do intend to write about my third marathon and first two half marathons of the year. Just as soon as we have a few consecutive days of sunlight and warmth. That should stimulate my brain enough to be excited about those runs and glad to relive the freezing/short course/too much champagne races (in order, Oz Marathon/Mermaid Half Marathon/See Jane Run Half Marathon).

Meanwhile I'm still working out with my trainer twice weekly. Some time in the past weeks I hit my one year anniversary of training which is both gratifying for my sticktoitness and scary for the money I've spent there. I enjoy those workouts (not so much the getting up at 5 am) and can see the difference in my strength and stamina. I'll continue these trainings as long as I think they're beneficial.

I also started running once a week after work at Lake Chabot. I have a love/hate relationship with that place but have to admit that even a few weeks there have improved my hill running ability. I'm hoping that Bree and I continue those runs throughout the (hopefully warmer or hot) summer and into fall.

Meanwhile I'll go back to scouring my weather reports in hope of good news!

Monday, Monday

2011-05-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely non-Judgmental weekend. Saturday morning I met my running buddies at what's become our go-to trail, the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. Sometimes running there feels like cheating since the return direction is down-grade and we always fly back. I know most races don't mimic those conditions but it sure is great to feel good when you finish.

We ran a little more than 11 miles, talking non-stop. Weather was perfect for running, including the outbound headwind -- which resulted in a return tailwind. Sweet: downgrade and tailwind. See, perfect! Like usual we had negative splits for the run.

I'm trying new shoes since I finally exhausted my hoarded Saucony's. I'm incredibly fussy about my running shoes since I don't want another stress fracture and I don't want to re-injure my knee. I'd rather have blisters or black toenails than hurt bone, muscle or tendon. I don't just need support, I need the right support. I got the new version of the Grid Stabil and it isn't quite right. The Asics I got don't seem to give me the right support for a long run, although I could do 4-6 milers in them. I have hope that the Brooks will be good, and that I'll be able to rotate them with the Saucony. As always I wear my stripy Injinji toe socks which have really cut down (in fact, mostly eliminated) my blisters. (Note: if I was trying to promote any of those brands I would have included links.)

After spending several hours with mom, doing our usual momday stuff, I celebrated my birthday with Bree and Anita. What's that you say? My birthday was 5 weeks ago? Yeah, but we hadn't done anything yet. We went to Walnut Creek Yacht Club, one of the best seafood restaurants in the area (if not the best). Oh, yummy. From the cocktails to the dessert, we were well treated and well fed. Ever had lobster mac and cheese? You have to try it. The softshell crabs were exquisite. The Remember the Maine (kind of a fancy schmancy Manhattan) was so tasty I wish I had a much higher alcohol tolerance so that I could have had several (Bree was designated driver, I was designated drinker). The sundae with the candle was the topper and we powered our way through it.

Being so stuffed we decided to walk around downtown Walnut Creek for a bit. And wouldn't you know it, we walked right past the cupcake shop! What a coincidence! Ok, maybe not so much a coincidence since there are several in the area. But this is the best one and of course we had to get a little cupcake each. That was it, we were full, stuffed and sated. Somehow I think we way outdid the burned calories from our little morning run. Good thing birthdays aren't daily affairs.

Sunday was a nice, peaceful day. I picked a bushel of lemons from my overbearing tree (not really an exaggeration) and picked weeds from around the peonies (which are starting a glorious bloom). I did the minimal house cleaning necessary to keep me from sneezing my head off or being grossed out, and several tubs of laundry. When I ramp up my exercise/running the dirty clothes seem to multiply way beyond what I thought I'd been wearing. I ran my errands, went shopping, took a short nap, paid bills, made a huge fruit salad to enjoy all week, read my book, knit my shawl. Typical Sunday and what I like best.

Hope you had a good weekend too! What did you do? Do you like runs that finish easy or finish hard?

Oakland Marathon Race Report

2011-04-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I ran the full Oakland Marathon, a part of the Oakland Running Festival. Well, I ran most of the Oakland Marathon. I hobbled most of the last 6 miles. It was hard and painful and I finished with a smile on my face. It was a major difference from my last marathon where there wasn't a smile to be seen.

I expected much different results from when I ran the half marathon last spring. I went through that season with serious breathing difficulties that affected every run. My breathing this year has been easy and most effortless. That was just one of the differences in the race this year.

It started with the expo. This year there was an actual expo at packet pickup. There were many vendors selling all kinds of stuff, anything you'd need for a race. I dropped a nice piece of change, mostly on boxes of very fairly priced Gu. Damn, I go through a lot of that stuff! The goody bag had a bunch of samples of foods and stuff, and lots of pamphlets for races.

The only disappointment was the shirt. Since the sizing was sex differentiated I had ordered the biggest women's shirt available, the XL. The full marathon shirt was a long sleeved, quarter zip white shirt with black trim. The front was plain, the logo on the back. I got my shirt and saw that Greenlight Apparel sizes their shirts the way Nike does: very small. There was a place for shirt exchanges. A woman who had ordered a small shirt tried on my XL and it fit her. I ended up with a men's shirt. It fits, but a zip on the shirt tends to chafe whatever it touches. Yup, on a woman that can lead to odd markings on cleavage. And, ouch!

Sunday morning I showed up early, the way I usually do. I was willing to pay $5 so I got an excellent parking spot in a close-by lot. The start area wasn't marked well but it was compact enough that I could find everything. I chatted with a few people I knew, hit the porta potties a couple of times (and there wasn't any line any time I went), checked my sweatshirt and went to the corrals.

The full marathon started well before the half so only marathoners were gathering. I was wearing my running skirt, a long sleeve shirt, leg compression sleeves and gloves. I was chilled but not terribly so; the weather promised good running conditions. I walked to the back where the 12+ minute milers were supposed to be and imagine my surprise when I saw nobody was there. Usually, even in a very small race, there will be people contesting to be last. Since this was a 7 hour race that welcomed walkers I had thought there would be, y'know, walkers! There were very few.

The anthem was sung, the confetti flew and we were off. I was hanging with a group of TnT newbies who were about my speed, possibly a little faster. I tried to keep to my plan of starting slowly but even the back-of-the-packers were faster than I wanted to be. I sped along with them, feeling pretty good, keeping to my 9:1 run:walk.

The first5 miles were flattish, a couple of inclines here and there. That changed once we started running along Highway 24. I knew it was hilly. Hell, I drive that way all the time and I can see the hills. I ran on, walking the very steepest parts. I was still feeling good, pushing but not killing myself. I peeped over my shoulder and saw one of my favorite views in the world: right down the center of the bay with Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge in the middle. Gorgeous. Miles 7 and 8 were through Montclair and were hillier than I had expected but it was pretty so I didn't care.

About mile 8.5 I saw my bro and sis-in-law standing on the corner, cheering me on. This was a great boost for me. It's the first race where they've ever come to cheer (and that's through about 30 full and 50 half marathons). On that chill, overcast morning they stayed on the corner for about 45 minutes waiting for me. It gave me energy to finish up the hills.

I had thought that the worst of the hills were gone. Hell no. We ran alongside Highway 13 on Traflagar and Monterey and it went up and up. I walked lots of that. Just before Lincoln we took a little detour through a parking lot and it was even steeper. I felt insulted until I saw the fabulous view of the entire bay area. Gorgeous and worth the struggle.

Going into this race I knew that although there was a lot of uphill running, the elevation was all lost in a 2 mile stretch. I really felt on that street that I would go ass over tea kettle if I tripped so I was very careful of each step. Ok, now I'm wondering where that ancient expression came from; where would you have an ass over a tea kettle? Anyhoo.

The downhill was just as hard on my body as the uphill had been but my lungs were very happy for the break. I finished the hills and ended up in the Fruitvale, running on International Bldv. (or, East 14th Street as my brain keeps insisting). Know that this isn't the best part of the city. Know also that Oakland Police and marathon volunteers kept the street open for me. That's how it felt since the runners were so stretched out by then. My street. All by myself. I could just see the next runner ahead of me. It was pretty cool having this entire boulevard to myself.

By mile 16-17 I was having my normal slump. I was tired and a bit nauseous and my legs were starting to cramp. I made sure I was taking my gels every 40 minutes, confirmed that I was drinking enough of my Ultima and I took a salt tablet just in case. As I ran by Laney College and by Jack London Square I saw more runners and they seemed to be struggling just as I was. We'd chat, then run on.

Closing in on mile 19 I ran through the fire; the Crucible had set up a flaming arch for the runners and I powered through it. It was just about the last powering I could do. Bree was meeting me near the West Oakland BART station and right after I filled my bottle at the water stop I saw her. She joined me and we started running.

Then we stopped running. My legs were cramping horribly. I'd toe-off on the run, my toes would curl under and the cramp would follow straight up my leg. Owie owie ouch ouch. If I walked in a shuffle I didn't cramp. Run=cramp, walk=not cramp.

When I registered for this race I was torn between wanting a good 20 mile training run for my next full marathon and wanting a good full marathon to make up for my crappy Napa run. It looked like I would end up with the former. I wanted to run and I wanted to get it over with but even when I could run it was so slow that Bree just sauntered alongside of me. I snarled at her that she had to pretend to run if I was running. Heh. I'm not always nice after 4 hours of running.

It took me a good (er, a bad) 2 hours to go those last 6 miles. Oy, they went on forever. Except for miles 23-25 around Lake Merritt we were having a good time and just accepting that I couldn't go any faster. I got decidedly cranky when I had to wade through the mud around the Lake; the entire batch of halfers and almost all of the fullers had already churned the sodden path into a puddle, from the water to the wet muddy grass. Tiptoeing hurt!

We finally got back on the paved road and I sent Bree ahead to cheer me on. Actually I was just exceedingly grumpy and wanted to be by myself. Knowing me well she laughed and went up the road before me.

Even as late as it was, there were still people cheering, there were still some crowds, there were still cops keeping the streets clear. My name was called and I crossed the finish smiling. My medal was draped around my neck, a heat sheet was draped around my shoulders, I was handed a bottle of water and I walked on. There wasn't much food left but there was fruit. I crammed a banana in my mouth, hoping the potassium would help the cramping.

Each runner received 2 booze tickets attached to the bib. There was a choice of Barefoot wine or bubbly or that light beer. I went with a beer, feeling I'd get plenty loopy with wine and I could also use the fluids to rehydrate (that's my story and I'm stickin' with it!). I gave Bree the other ticket. She retrieved my checked bag so I could have my sweatshirt and we found a bench near the finish line that wasn't already occupied by a street person.

We drank our beer, we chatted and cheered the few remaining runners and watched the volunteers dismantling the finish line. I reflected on the race and I was happy. I could have (maybe should have) quit when I started cramping but I stumbled on to the end. I like to finish what I start!

Final thoughts. I thought the organizers did a wonderful job here. The only things I didn't appreciate were the poor signage at the start, the mud at the Lake and the tiny shirt. I fully appreciated the efficient packet pickup, I liked the expo and the easy parking, I enjoyed the incredible course volunteers and the Oakland Police who not only kept the roads clear and safe but cheered when I passed. I loved the 2 beautiful views from the tops of the hills. The people of Oakland supported the race and the runners for hours while the stragglers finished. The weather was almost perfect for running, cool and overcast with some wind. I was in pain and still enjoyed myself. The first half was one of, if not the, hardest half marathons I've ever run, but it was so scenic and well supported that it was a good challenge instead of a pain in the neck. The second half was grittier and showed the best side of Oakland. I highly recommend this race!

this little bear needs a name

p.s. Thank you to Bree for running and walking and staggering with me and for putting up with my foul humor at the end. You're the best!

Napa Valley Marathon Race Review

2011-03-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

Full disclosure first. The Napa Valley Marathon has a firm 6 hour cutoff. When I registered for the race I was on track for a 5:45 full marathon, easily. It didn't happen. I finished the race in 6:04 as they were pulling down the finish line so I'm not an official finisher. I'm not listed in the results. But I ran the course, got the shirt/pack/medal so I'm an unofficial finisher.

I got to Napa on Saturday morning and went straight to the expo. Pickup of my bib, shirt and most excellent backpack was quick and easy. They use the D-Tag for timing instead of a chip. There was a choice of a black or dark gray bag or a dark gray backpack. Since I have very nice bags from Flying Pig and TnT I got the backpack. A friendly volunteers wrote my race number on a plastic tag so I could use the pack as a sweat check bag.

The race shirt was a lightweight, long sleeve white tech fabric. We all know how little I like white shirts but I'm apparently a minority. The logo, on the front of the shirt, was very cool.

The expo had a few booths selling various things and promoting other races. The only things I wanted was a race-branded running cap (which they didn't have) and Gu Chomps (didn't have those either). The whole thing took me about 10 minutes.

For the past 10 days I had been obsessively checking the weather forecast and it kept telling me it would rain during the race. I very much hoped that the meteorologists were confused but for once they were entirely correct. It started raining early Saturday evening.

I had dithered about what to wear during the race and had brought every possible choice with me to Napa. I decided that since it was going to be warm-ish (low-50s), rainy and windy that I'd go with my running skirt, calf compression sleeves, a cap sleeve running shirt and my lightweight running jacket. I had buffs and my hat, throw away gloves and a throw away poncho. I wore my heavier weight rain jacket and decided I could throw it in my sweat bag before the start.

My alarm went off at 4:05 am and it was raining heavily outside. I did the morning stuff and checked out of the hotel at 4:55 - it was pouring. I drove to the school, the finish area, parked my car and walked to the bus line. The race uses school buses to take runners to the start in Calistoga. The drive was in the dark and I stared out the window at the rain.

My bus arrived and the day got lighter. The rain didn't. Although we were allowed to remain on the bus until about 15 minutes prior to the start I decided to try to get to the porta potty lines before they were too long. There weren't many porta potties and the lines were already long. I waited almost 15 minutes and I know the lines got even longer behind me. When I was done I decided it was warm enough to leave my light weight jacket in my pack and to go with my poncho and gloves.

I checked my bag and walked to the back of the start area. There weren't any pace indicators so I just kept backing up as more people joined the crowd. I didn't have long to wait before the anthem and the start. I moved forward and I was off! It was raining enough that it was annoying. Not just our usual California mistordrizzle, this was rain. I tied up my poncho so it didn't get in my way and ran on. There were lots of people running my pace or run:walking my pace and I would see the same people over and over for the next several hours.

The first 23 miles of the race were directly down the Silverado Trail. No chance of getting lost on this race! I always try to run tangents but wasn't able to here. The road was very curvy and each turn was heavily banked. Running a tangent would have cut the distance at the cost of running up and down each slant, including running on the canted portion for quite a bit. The flattest part of the road was the outside turn, the longest distance on each corner. I ended up picking each individual route based upon what looked easiest to me. The road wasn't crowded so it was easy to run anywhere I wanted.

I felt well enough, if a bit weather-grumpy, for the first 6 miles. That was the last time I felt well. In the immortal words of Randy, I just wasn't feelin' it, dawg. I was hoping I wouldn't see anyone I knew at the infrequent road crossings where the few soggy cheering people gathered; I was ready to hop in the car of the first acquaintance. Luckily, my friends were all smart enough to stay away.

It got worse as I kept running. The rain continued, varying from heavy rain to mist. The entire time I was out there it never completely cleared up. That wasn't the worst though. There was also a very steady headwind the entire morning. The good news was that I wasn't freezing, just cool, wet and miserable.

I got through the half in good time, not breaking any records but still on track for a decent finish. I had my upper teen slump and I didn't think I'd get out of it. I wasn't having fun, wasn't enjoying myself. I kept trying to jolly myself out of the grumps but didn't have much luck. Soggy wildflowers and mustard, dormant grapevines and a never-ending road got incredibly boring. Race policy is no headphones so I didn't have any music. Of course, it probably would have shorted out in the rain even if I had brought my iPod. There was nothing to do except circle through my thoughts over and over and most of those thoughts weren't pleasant.

Once I got to the 20s I was done, toast, baked, finished. I honestly didn't care if I finished but I didn't know any way to get back to my car except to keep moving forward. I had stopped a few times to refill my bottle but otherwise never stopped moving. Not even to remove the little stone that got in my shoe during mile 7. My feet were so wet that a little rock didn't make much difference to my comfort.

that's a dime - with the stone that accompanied me for 19 miles

I knew if I could just keep my pace during the 20s I would finish well within the allowed 6 hours. I tried, I really did, but my legs and brains had a big disconnect. I tossed my gloves, wrung out my skirt for about the 12th time and moved on. I kept up my nutrition, sucking down a gel every 40 minutes. I made sure I was hydrated even though I wasn't thirsty. I moved onward.

At that point I was still within the race's timeline but the road was opened to 2-way traffic while I was still on Silverado. I didn't mind the cars speeding past (too much) but I didn't need the buses and RVs spewing diesel in my face. My breathing got bad enough that I slowed to use my inhaler but that didn't help much.

Finally turning off Silverado gave my brain a boost but my legs got even slower. I knew, KNEW, that if I didn't maintain my speed I wouldn't finish in time but I just couldn't move faster. There were still quite a few other stragglers with and behind me. I finally got to where Mr. Garmin was telling me the end was close. I knew I was at least .2 ahead of course markings since I hadn't run tangents. I had to figure my math to include at least 2 minutes more than planned. It turned out that wouldn't have helped.

There were only a few corners left but I knew I was too slow by that point. I heard a crowd coming up behind me, some TnT people running in their friend. One broke off from the group and told me she was running me in since they were in the process of tearing down the finish and we only had 2 minutes. I blearily looked at her and realized I could still finish and possibly even be counted. I picked it up. She told me to go faster and I did. I was huffing and puffing and she was encouraging and cheering, the first really friendly person I'd seen for hours. She left me at the fences and told me to get going. So I did. I could see that the first timing mat was still there but the second was being removed. I crossed, had my picture taken and a volunteer draped the pretty medal around my neck. I turned off Mr. Garmin, took a peek and knew my 26.4 miles would be unofficial.

look - it spins!

The volunteer wouldn't let me stop (since I was gasping for air and shaking) but handed me a bottle of water and kept me walking. I got a heat sheet and was pointed onward. Another volunteer pointed out the building with hot soup but I couldn't stand the thought of food, I just wanted to lie down for a few hours. I retrieved my pack (very easy since there were only a couple dozen left) and went to the locker room.

Hot showers were available but I was too pooped to take advantage. I finally got the energy to strip off my soaking clothing and put on dry clothes, stretched a bit, and went to my car to start the long drive home.

My final thoughts: yuck. The route was pretty but unchanging. Even had it been sunny and clear it would have been 26 miles of the same stuff over and over. Even paradise gets boring after running through it for 6 hours and this was not paradise. I'm perfectly happy running by myself for long periods (time and space) but that was too much. It was monotonous. The race was well organized, premiums good, but I don't need to do this again. Without the relentless rain I think I would have felt better about the entire thing but I still would have been bored.

Thanks to the rain I'm blistered and chafed in places I don't normally chafe. I'm much more sore than I've been after my last few marathons and that's probably from the canted roads. I'm not happy with my performance so I'm hoping to redeem that in 3 weeks (and again 3 weeks after that). I can do better.

Damn the weather, full speed ahead

2011-03-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

I keep telling myself that I'm resigned to the fact that my first running of the Napa Valley Marathon will involve rain, wind, cold and plenty of obscenities. I repeat to myself that I've run freezing marathons (several of them in fact), rainy marathons (Erie), windy marathons (Shamrock), hilly marathons (lots of those too). I remind myself that I'm well trained and perfectly capable of running fast enough to make the 6 hour cut-off. Then I finally decide that it doesn't matter, I paid my money and I'm running this thing unless the earth opens up and swallows me first.

Whatever happens, it's sure to be interesting.

Why I won't be running Boston

2011-02-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

For those marathoners who have been hiding in a closet this week and missed the news, the Boston Athletic Association just announced new qualifying standards for their glorious marathon. The Boston Marathon, or "Boston" for those who are close friends, is one of the few marathons left in the US that require the runners to meet certain standards of speed for entrance. Standards which used to define "runner" but now just define "faster runner." Mind you, non-elite athletes can meet these standards. The times are graduated for sex and age (the older and femaler you are, the slower you can run).

It was JUST BARELY POSSIBLE that if I maintained my current PR of 5:30 until I reached 80 years old I could qualify. Now that dream has been taken away from me. The new qualifying standard for an 80 year old woman has been dropped to 5:25. While that's a 12:24 minutes/mile pace, I can't even hold that for a half marathon, let alone a full. Thanks a lot, BAA, for changing my future.

Fine, I'm joking. As a confirmed back-of-the-packer who has dreams of being a middle-of-the-packer, I have no problems with the change of standards. Lots of people are running marathons and why shouldn't the fastest runners have some way of showing off their speed. If too many people apply then raise the standards. If it's still too crowded then raise them again. I always thought that even though I might be running the same route and day as a 9 minute miler or a 7 minute miler (not even counting the elite 5 minute miler), the race experience is entirely different for each of us. This just confirms and gives them their own race. Most of the Rock 'n' Roll/Competitor races are for my people, the poky ones. Let Boston skim the top tier and RnR skim the bottom.

I'll keep running whatever race allows for 6 hours, keep trying to beat my best time and hope that there is a medal and a bagel left for me at the finish.

First taper of the year

2011-02-15T20:43:00.001-08:00

My 18 mile training run hurt. My 20 mile training run hurt worse. When it came time for my 22 mile training run I was worried. My breathing hasn't been great; better than last winter/early spring but I've had a cold and allergy things and a never-ending cough. We planned the run for Sunday and the forecast was cool and overcast. The Sunday part worked out but the forecasters were wrong.

Anita and I showed up at the parking lot of the Lafayette-Moraga Trail at 7:00 am and it was freezing. Literally. Although the temp was rising it showed on my car thermometer as 32 degrees. The sun was rising and not a cloud was in in the sky. In the 5 hours it took us to finish the run the temp rose by 30 degrees. Seriously, how are you supposed to dress for a run when there's a 30 degree differential?

The run went well. Miles 1 through 7-1/2, the outward direction, went beautifully. It was cold but finally around mile 5 we could feel our toes again. After the hill at 7 miles we were sweaty and drippy. We headed back the other direction and the run still was going better than the previous 2 long runs. We chatted, finally starting to run out of conversation (and steam) when we got back to the parking lot.

At that point Bree met us, a breath of fresh air and a new source of stories to keep us aware and amused. These were the hardest 3-1/2 miles; upgrade and endless and away from the cars. There were too many walk breaks and too much grumbling (by me, of course). The turn-around was wonderful and we were able to walk less and run more. Slowly, but running nonetheless. Our 9:1 run:walk had changed to a 4:1. And it was warm. But downgrade so yippee and hurray. We "sprinted" to the finish with Anita actually sprinting and Bree and I trying to catch up. 22 miles in the book and within the cut-off time for the race.

After cramping up so badly after one of our runs I was determined to work on my fluid, electrolytes and nutrition. I confirmed once more that I have a drinking problem. No no no, I mean a problem drinking. Twice I managed to choke on my Ultima, once spewing a large mouthful in all directions. I drank a lot of Ultima. I also focused on my Gu's, sucking down a gel every 40 minutes. Espresso Love to the rescue, with a taste of Mandarin Orange and Vanilla Bean for variety. When I got good and sick and tired of the gel I ate a couple of Sport Beans. I can always eat candy, even when it comes loaded with performance/energy benefits. It worked, no cramping at all.

In fact, although I was exhausted and tired and sore, there was no pain. No pain on Sunday, no pain on Monday, no pain on Tuesday (until after Katie was done with guiding me through my workout). Sore, sure. Tired muscles and weary legs. Sore back, sore arms. No pain. No blisters and no black toenails. Very nice.

Sunday night we went out and celebrated Anita's birthday. It's only fair if you burn 2700 calories that you can eat and drink without counting nutrition. After 2 Orange Peel Manhattans I was feeling great. I was less hungry than expected but managed to consume more than I normally do in one sitting.

I'm excited (and still a little scared) about the upcoming race. I've wanted to run Napa since my first year of running marathons, 10 years ago. If I have a bad day it'll be a slog. I don't think I will though. I think it's going to be a good day, a good race, a good time. Stay tuned!

Single track

2011-01-31T15:28:00.000-08:00

Somewhere in the past couple of months I've lost my ability to successfully multi-task. I used to be able to knit and watch television, now I end up frogging more than I'd started with. I used to knit while listening to music or while in company and the end result now is tangles. I could read while watching television and enjoy both the book or newspaper and the program in front of me. Now I have to re-read or re-wind. I run on the treadmill while watching television but again, re-wind. I can no longer even edit pictures on my computer while the television is on. All that is to say that I need quiet and a lot of time or I'm not writing at all. Which means I haven't updated in ages. Here's what's been going on this January:

- I had a cold. It went away. Then a few weeks later it came back in the form of rampant allergies. Doesn't matter what caused it, it all involves sniffling, sneezing and coughing.

- I ran some long distances. The big problem is I haven't run the short distances. See above sinus problems for that reason. Without the weekday runs, the weekend runs are nowhere as enjoyable as they should be. Yes, 20 miles is hard no matter what but I enjoyed my fall 20 miler much more than then one last week. Ditto the 18 miler. I have my fingers crossed for the 22 miles.

- I registered for one marathon (Napa) and made travel plans for another (Oz) and daydreamed about many many others. I'm trying not to plan too far ahead or put too many races on the calendar because I don't want to pay for something I can't complete.

- I spent a lot of time in Summitt Hospital's emergency room with my mom (she's ok now). Then I spent time with her while she was an in-patient there. Then back in the emergency room. Just when you think the worst is behind, it isn't. But I repeat, she's ok now.

- I knit a lot. I also ripped out a lot of what I had knit. I decided to keep one mistake in a shawl and called it "planned." I finally cast on for the second sock of a pair of socks since I'd love to wear them some day. Preferably while it's still cold out. I've dreamed of other projects I'd like to start but the shawl, sock, other shawl and scarf sitting on my counter keep me from doing that.

- I've started planning the end of my life. No, seriously. I was told that my view of "fuck-em, I'm dead" toward my heirs having to go through probate, etc. was a little rude. Since I'm single and childfree, without a will or any planning my sis and bro would have a major pain in the ass if I dropped dead in the middle of a marathon (I'd be pretty pissed off too). Not that I have Walton-type money, but I do have a house and some retirement accounts. Not to mention all that yarn, those bears and those books. So I've started talking with an attorney and planner about the documents and other stuff. Also, for those friends of mine who care, I've instructed my sis to hold a big yarn party for my friends and give it all away (but if you hate red or black or gray, stay home).

- I pulled out the huge box of historical family pictures my mom ~~dumped on me~~ gave me when she moved and started trying to find wall space for everything. I've hung a few of them and the rest are scattered on my dining room floor, like jigsaw pieces awaiting some final form.

- Each Tuesday and Thursday morning I continued going to the gym and meeting with my trainer for a killer workout. From weight bars to mountain climbers to kettle bells to TRX to push-up after push-up, we're doing it all. Dark, cold, fog don't matter. At 6:00 am I'm at the gym ready to go.

- I fixed my screen door that's been broken since last summer. I removed the square wheels and replaced them with spanky new round ones. Remarkable how much better the door rolls when you do that. Even if the door frame is old and warped, round wheels make a door move better. Then I replaced the door handle which has been broken for years. Now I can open/close the door no matter which side I'm standing on. I can even lock it. For added measure I cleaned up all the leaves that came off the trees this year.

- While I was on a roll I cleaned out all the dead leaves from under my jasmine hedge by the back door. As usual the jasmine fought back and I was cut and scraped all over. I managed to do it on one of the very few beautiful warm days we've had this year. Unfortunately the leaves were all rotting and dusty and see about about allergy problems.

- I changed out a couple of the broken landscaping lights around my house. I need to get to a hardware store so I can replace a couple of others too. A light bulb change worked for a couple, but others are just dead as doornails.

- Haven't lost any more weight but haven't gained any either.

- I've played way the hell too much Bejeweled 3. I warn you, do not even think about following that link. If you do, don't download the free trial. If you absolutely have to try the game, at least don't buy it! If you end up playing for hours and hours and hours while your health (and your blog) deteriorate to nothing, don't blame me!

That's about it. How has your month been?

Big Sur Half Marathon Race Report

2010-12-28T21:00:00.000-08:00

In mid-November I ran the Eighth Presentation of the Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey Bay. This was a later addition to my race calendar; my sis and bro-in-law were coming to town for an event that ended up getting canceled so we took advantage of our vacation times and went to Monterey for the weekend. And since the timing was right, I registered for one of my favorite races in one of my favorite towns. I ran this half marathon in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and enjoyed myself each time.

In the days leading up to the race I was thinking I might end up with a DNS. My knee had been bothering me, and sometimes even walking was a pain. It was sporadic and unreliable and I wasn't going to take any chances of permanent harm (assuming that permanent harm hadn't already occurred). We did a lot of walking and took a hike the day before the race and my knee was slightly swollen and sore. Uh oh.

This year we stayed at the Hotel Pacific, a wonderfully odd conglomeration of buildings thrown together to make an all-suite hotel. We had great mini-suites next to each other on the top floor of one of the end buildings, away from the street. Little did I know that being on the top (4th) floor would give us clear access to hearing the sea lion barking frenzy each night. It was so incredibly annoying that it finally was just funny hearing the loud exclamations from the local wildlife all night long.

The expo was held at the Conference Center right across the street from our hotel, very convenient. We went there Friday afternoon and packet pickup was very quick and efficient. Race shirts were tech fabric; gray for men and a purplish-red for women and as usual, their XL women's shirt was too small for me. Since I expected that, I wasn't upset (I haven't yet gotten a BSIM shirt that fits). The timing chip was the disposable D-tag that so many races are using these days.

back of shirt

front of shirt

The expo was so complete that my sis and I managed to shop 'til we dropped - a bad habit we have when together at race expos. One thing I bought that ended up being wonderful was a pair of 2XU compression calf guards. Sis had a pair of their tights and was singing their praises so I decided to fork out the pile of dough and give them a try. This turned out to be a great idea. I also got a good deal on Gu and one or two (or four) other things.

Race morning dawned very early for me after being kept awake all night by exclaiming sea lions. I had no idea how my knee was going to react so I decided I could bail out at any point with no regrets, even if it was before the race started. Since it was supposed to get warm I dressed in my running skirt and the new compression calf sleeves. I topped that with a long sleeve shirt and throw-away gloves, and my usual hat and buffs. I thought about wearing a disposable poncho but already at that hour it was warm enough not to.

The course had a little revision since I had last run it, mostly having to do with placement of the start. Instead of being right outside the hotel it was a couple of blocks away, nearer the Bay. That gave me the chance to walk and feel out my knee. So far, so good.

My corral was towards the back, as usual. I had hoped to be seeded before the majority of the walkers and that ended up happening. Of course, there were walkers scattered throughout the crowd but that always happens when you use the honor system to give your estimated finish time (I'm not sure if there's any other way to do it). I stood around, watching the sun rise, watching the very energetic crowd, and waited for the start.

The crowd of about 6,000 people started off fast at the gun. Despite being way back in the "H" corral I was across the start very quickly. I ran at the side, determined to go carefully and slowly and trying to see how my knee was reacting. Still fine. We made a little loop around a park with a lake, through downtown, back past the hotel. I had thought this would be where my race would finish but my leg felt surprisingly good so I continued on. One thing that helped was the crowd was thin enough that I wasn't having to jig and jag around people everywhere.

We ran to and along Cannery Row, on Oceanview and then up the hill to Pacific Grove and Lighthouse Avenue. The Pacific Grovians were out in force (including, I think, the mayor) and we got a very warm welcome. Neighbors were on their porches watching or cheering, drinking their morning brews and wishing us well. I was still running with restraint, still feeling good. We headed back down the hill to the water. Memories of my first triathlon floated through my head. Glad this run didn't involve swimming in kelp!

The next part of the race was out-and-back along the Bay, exactly the same as the cycle portion of the triathlon. From Oceanview to Sunset Drive, watching the faster runners going the opposite direction. The course is a little rolling here, with a definite upgrade in the outward bound direction. At the top of the hill at the turnaround, about 7-1/2 miles, they had a bottle refill station. This is something I haven't seen at any race before and was a welcome addition. Since I'm so poky I always carry my own bottle and fill it with my own Ultima Replenisher and course water. Often this means stopping to pour water from several cups into the bottle. This time there was a crier with warnings of the upcoming station, giving me enough time to pull out the bottle and the Ultima packet. Another volunteer walked along side of me and poured water from a pitcher into the bottle so I didn't have to stop. Very nice.

I felt good at the half, very good indeed. My knee didn't feel exactly right, but it wasn't hurting either. I decided I could pick up the pace a bit without danger to myself. The weather could not have been nicer; sunny, clear, warm-ish but not hot, slight breeze. The view of the shoreline was great and I enjoyed seeing all the people who were, surprisingly, slower than I was.

Lots of times I can go a whole race without talking to anyone except for thanking the volunteers at the water stops. This race I chatted with several people as we ran along. I did my normal 9:1 run:walk and noticed many other people also running intervals. I guess most back-of-the-packers these days throw in some walking. At least they do toward the end of a race.

At almost mile 11 we ran onto the Rec Trail. I was feeling very good, no pain at all. I also was feeling surprisingly energetic for being 11 miles into a race. According to Mr. Garmin and my rapidly deteriorating math skills, it was possible that if I knocked myself out I could PR. One problem was that I wasn't exactly sure what my half marathon PR was, I just guessed. I also wasn't sure I was adding up the mileage correctly. But I decided to go for it, the worse that could happen would be having to hobble the last couple of miles.

I picked up the speed until I was huffing and puffing. Down the trail, back along Cannery Row, back to the trail again. I kept revising the time I needed, kept forgetting what I had just decided, realized I had no idea if I could make it in time. Then I realized that I might just possibly have started my finish line sprint a couple of miles early. Uh oh.

I cut my walk breaks down to a half minute and kept on running, kept wheezing and puffing. I started counting all the people I passed but then I'd forget and start trying to do finish time math again. I realized that my brain was no long reliable since I wasn't getting any oxygen. So I ran hard, tried not to do anything except watch my foot placement and look ahead, and finally saw the finish line. I gave one final extra push and crossed the line. I stopped Mr. Garmin, took and look and saw PR, Baby! At least I thought so.

I got my ceramic medal, gathered up my sis and bro-in-law and walked through the food lines while recovering my breath. I was terrifically excited about my fast time and the lack of knee pain. In fact, the total lack of any pain. I got water, a bagel, a banana and a cookie and we walked back to the hotel while I munched on the food.

It turned out that I had beat my 2002 half marathon PR by 2 full minutes. I beat my previous course times by 6 minutes, 6 minutes and 12 minutes. I can't think of anything I had done differently from any of my other recent runs, which made my knee hurt like hell and were slower, except for the compression calf sleeves. Yes, that means I'll always wear the darn things now.

The BSIM organization puts on a fabulous race. I may have some issues with their hoity-toitiness ("Eighth Presentation" anybody?), price ($95-$115 for a half marathon) and belief that women runners only come in very small sizes, but they sure know how to set up a race course. They benefit from two of the prettiest courses around (the full and the half) but they also get wonderful and knowledgeable volunteers and course support. Well done. I'm very proud to say that both of my PRs, full marathon and half marathon, are from Big Sur races.

Marine Corps Marathon (delayed) race report

2010-12-18T22:50:00.000-08:00

It seems like it was months ago that I was in Washington, DC to run the 35th annual Marine Corps Marathon along with about 22,000 of my good friends, including Bree and Sandy. The fine details have escaped into the mists of other, more recent races. What I remember of this Halloween day race follows.

Bree and I took a red-eye flight and got into town early enough on Friday to get to the expo not long after it opened. Packet pickup was uneventful. I don't remember much of the expo except it was big and complete. A variety of goodies were in the bag or given as handouts. I had bought lots of stuff at my last race expo so I didn't need to buy much here.

The race shirt was the MCM traditional black long sleeved cotton mock turtleneck. And very very large. I don't like tight shirts so I tend to order an XL, whether it's cotton, tech, unisex or otherwise. Once in a while this turns out to be a poor choice, as in this instance. It will make a very nice mini-dress. Too bad, since it's a nice shirt.

front and back of shirt

Our hotel was in Arlington so it was just a hop, skip and a jump to the start. We walked the couple of blocks to the Rosslyn Metro station. Unfortunately thousands of other runners had the same idea at the same time. I'm vaguely claustrophobic at the best of times and the way we were packed into the train, with more and more people trying to cram on, was horrifying to me. I think if there had been room I would have run screaming through the train. Of course, if there had been room I wouldn't have needed to. Luckily it was a very short trip to the Pentagon Station.

In that dim pre-dawn hour it was hard to see anything, but clearly the enormous building next to us was the Pentagon. Marathoners were herded along the path, this way then that way, then the other way. Marines lining the paths told us which direction to go and kept the massive crowds moving smoothly.

We reached the pre-staging area and were a little confused where things were located; the Marines were helpful but the signage was poor. We found a rather underused bank of porta potties and hung around there for our first and second visits. We tracked down the baggage check trucks and had to decide which layers to check and which to keep on. It was very cool but forecast to get warm. I decided to check my sweatshirt and my throw-away jacket but to keep my throwaway poncho and gloves. Sweat check was very smooth and easy.

Then we had to find the start line, which was another short walk. The starting area seemed to be a multi-lane road, with paces clearly marked along the side. Sandy and Bree decided to make one last stop so I went on alone. I decided to start just behind the 5:30 pace group since I was hoping that if it was a good day, I could stay by them for at least half the race. Then I observed that the other side of the grass median was also being used for starting although very few people were standing there. So I hopped the low border and walked over to that side.

I knew the race had started and the crowd slowly walked forward. My side of the road moved much faster than the other side and I found myself parallel with much faster pace groups. I edged to the side and slowed and still got to the start before the rest of the people in the back of the pack. Oh well, that meant less weaving around slower people. I tossed the poncho and started running.

It was very crowded, for the entire race. Wider roads allowed freer running but corners and narrow roads packed us in. Even as far up as I started I was keeping up easily with the others around me. I was feeling good except for a slightly aching stomach that I decided to ignore (since I couldn't do anything about it anyway).

For a good part of the race I paid as much attention to the other runners as I did to the scenery. Sure, I noticed and admired the landscape (brilliant fall colors just fading to brown), the history, the monuments. It was a prettier area than I had expected and a very interesting course. There were a couple of bigger hills in the first part of the race but the rest of it was flat to rolling. Except for the finish.

I warmed up immediately and it got warmer as the sun rose in the sky. There were some scattered clouds but mostly the bright sun shone. A very brisk breeze helped cool us down but sometimes got pretty annoying when it was in our faces. I was wearing my running skirt, a short sleeve top, my buffs and a hat. The gloves got tossed very early on.

I had a very good first half, not my fastest recently but far from my slowest. I was well within the cutoff times for the race and hoped to keep close to that pace for the entire race. That's when my stomach started acting up more than it had been. I've found that a Gu every 40 minutes keeps up my energy and that the Ultima Replenisher keeps my electrolytes in balance. Normally I can tolerate both of them quite well but the gel I ate mid-race kept threatening to come right back up. I slowed down.

The second half of the race runs past many of the famous monuments and the National Mall. The White House is totally off the course and out of view, but most other DC highlights are passed once or twice or could be glimpsed in the distance. Unfortunately I was feeling quite nauseous by then and was paying more attention to moving forward than to the surroundings.

As a Halloween day race there were a significant number of people running in full costume. I alternately admire and laugh at those running 26.2 miles while burdened by excess accessories or clothing. After a couple of running hours I get tired of my necessary clothing, let alone anything decorative. There were superheroes and monsters, cartoon characters and fantasy persons. People with big rigs on their shoulders and runners in full makeup. They made the many groups of Marines running in full uniforms, boots and packs look positively sane.

My grumbly tummy and I finally reached 14th Street Bridge; the "Beat the Bridge" landmark at about 20 miles which you had to reach before the 1:15 pm cut-off time. I couldn't remember where I had to be at what time, just that I had to be across a bridge at some time. I had slowed considerably but that bridge kept going and going and going so I sped up just to get the hell across it.

I knew that I needed to keep drinking but every sip of water or Ultima was nauseating. The gels were worse but I forced myself to take at least one each hour to keep up my energy. My 9:1 run:walk deteriorated to a run:stagger: walk:plod. At least I kept running, although slower.

Finally it was apparent I was reaching the finish. I had heard there was a nasty hill at the end and I thought it was the grade I was running up to mile 26. My mistake. The hill was AT mile 26 and went straight up. I had been trying to run the last bits but just shook my head in disgust and power walked up. The way was lined with encouraging Marines shouting at us to keep running. I ignored them. I reached the top of the hill and then started to run the last .1 to the finish. According to Mr. Garmin I had run 26.66 miles. I got a cold bottle of water, my space blanket, my medal and walked along. Finisher pictures were taken in front of the Marine Corps War Memorial.

More Marines moved the crowd along toward the food. I think we were given a bag with the normal after-race foods, plus offered more water and some energy drink. I was glad to just be done running, and I was quickly cooling down. We had planned to meet at the beer tent so I walked that direction although I preferred to find the baggage check first. Once again as at the start, the signage was poor and the distances far.

The finisher area encompassed several blocks. Unfortunately the UPS baggage trucks were in one direction downhill, and the beer tent was the other direction downhill. It would mean going back uphill to get to the beer after getting my sweatshirt so I gave up on the beer. I texted Sandy and Bree to let them know where I was and then plopped down on the curb.

Once they finished and joined me, we walked back to our hotel. Luckily Tom knew which direction to go. The security was incredible; there were vehicles from every branch of the armed forces and every emergency responder agency. Cars, trucks, fire engines, ambulances. All surrounding the vast finishing area. And ohbytheway, the entire time we ran through the Mall area there were helicopters overhead. I had thought they were media choppers but apparently they were security. In a way that made me feel very secure, in another way it made me think things were very sad when a marathon causes so much extra security in our nation's capital.

We got back to the hotel and I headed straight to the bar - with my friends trailing behind. I wanted something hot to drink and my heart was set on an Irish Coffee. We sat there in our grungy damp running clothes, draped with our medals and space blankets, and ordered drinks and munchies. My stomach was feeling better since I was no longer moving so I felt free to gulp down my very hot drink before ordering a nice Manhattan to go with the food.

Overall I thought this was a wonderfully organized race. Except for the confusion at the start and vast distances at the finish, everything was well done. Course support was good, water stops were frequent and efficient, premiums were good. I would recommend that you run this one!

... and don't forget the hat

2010-12-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

My busy fall schedule of half marathon following half marathon following marathon and so on, is over. I'm a little (!) behind in reviewing all the races, but they have mostly been fun, entertaining, quick (for me) and enjoyable.

I just spent a few days on a vacation in Vegas. The purpose really was to get away on my own, pretend that real life had gotten easy and smooth, kick back and relax. In place of the normal Vegas-gala show, I spent my money on a half marathon and a Santa Run 5k. Running is my joy and my hobby and I'd rather throw my money there than at someone who sings or dances or pulls rabbits from his hat.

This was my 6th race in the past few months (and well over the 100th since I started running marathons in 2001) so you'd think I've learned how to prepare. I have a list that I normally check while I'm packing but this time I started packing earlier than the night before the flight and thought I'd throw things in as they occurred to me. Bad mistake, as it turned out. To my list I'll have to add "don't talk on the phone while placing items in suitcase."

Since I don't think well in the morning I always set out my race gear the night before. Clothing and accessories, in the order in which I'll need them, all neatly placed for easy grabbing. In a hotel room my habit is to raise the ironing board and use that. I did the same this past weekend. Once I decided that it would be crispy cold at the start but warm by the end I picked out my clothing from the piles of choices I had brought with me. Running skirt, sports bra, long sleeve top, compression leg sleeves, socks, shoes, hat ... hat ... hat??

I checked through everything once. Then again. Then emptied my suitcase and checked again. Once more for good luck. No hat. I have a gazillion running hats since I collect them from most races. I forced myself not to buy a hat at this expo since I have a RnR-Vegas hat and many other RnR caps from other races. So for the one of the very few times, I didn't even have a new hat from the expo.

Further checking revealed that I didn't have a buff either. I use the buff on cold mornings to not only cover my ears, but to breathe through so that cold air doesn't exacerbate my asthma. No hat, no buff. But that wasn't all. I have many ear warmers, all of them in my garage at home. Lots of scarves, many of tech fabrics. All at home. The morning was forecast to be about 40 degrees and I had nothing whatsoever to put on my head.

Since the little cancer scare last year my sun paranoia is sky high. I can tell myself that between abundant sunscreen and a rim on my hat that the sun doesn't touch my face. My hat is not only to keep the sweat from flowing into my eyes, not only to keep the little ends of my hair from flying all over my face, but to keep my sun exposure anxiety from driving me nuts. The thought of being hatless for a half marathon on a day that was supposed to be mostly sunny pushed buttons I wasn't prepared for.

It turned out ok, the world didn't end and I had a good run. Lots of squinting, lots of wiping the sweat from my eyes, lots of pushing my hair away. It didn't make me run faster but it didn't slow me down either. I didn't get sunburned but I did worry while I was out there.

Reminder to self for next time: pack TWO hats.

Still here, didja miss me?

2010-11-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I guess I've been a busy busy girl since I haven't posted since before I went to DC for the Marine Corp Marathon. Yes indeedy I ran it, and ran it well (yes, I will review it at some point). I also ran the Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey Bay and ran that well too. In fact, I ran that one well enough to set a new PR, breaking my old half marathon PR from 2002.

My training is going well, with my trainer continuing to find new and inventive ways to hurt me while increasing my strength, flexibility and endurance. My diet is still on track, although I'm just aiming for maintenance over the holidays.

I've been reading a lot, napping a lot, spending time with my family. My 3 current knitting projects are slowly getting knit. Very slowly, since I'm spending more time reading and I still can't manage to do both at once.

I didn't write another "What I'm Thankful For" post this year because I'm thankful for much the same as I was last year, and the years before. Mostly this year I'm thankful for the good health of me, my family and friends. Quiet is good, routine is good, status quo is good.

I hope you had a good holiday with loved ones, and hope we can all have many more.

Update on training and fitness

2010-10-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I was going to write about each training session. Yup, I was going to update the blog with my fitness stats. Whoops, haven't done either for a while, leading some to think that possibly I've fallen off that fitness wagon. Again.

I didn't! I'm right there on the wagon, churning along. I continue my twice weekly sessions with the trainer, continue my long runs on Saturday (or Sunday if it's a race weekend) and run or run/walk or walk 2 additional days. Some days those additional run/walks are the afternoon of the day I've trained, sometimes it's the between mornings.

My current training is, all things considered (including my improved strength, flexibility and balance), easier than the earlier sessions. Don't tell Katie I said that. I think because my miles have been so long and my races so frequent, we've been careful to not injure me. My "easy" routine is a set of wide leg squats while holding a 10 pound ball, superset with a combo mountain climber/side plank move that Katie made up the night before she sprung it on me. I was shocked I could actually do it, me, the woman who couldn't even do a regular plank when she started. Three sets of those, then into v-ups superset with this thing where I'm on my back, my feet are on a big ball and I roll it up toward me while my hips are elevated (was that clear?). I can feel those from my ankles up through my glutes. Three sets of those, then into side twists with the 10 pound ball (I do love those, I have waist definition for the first time ever), and one-leg squats (which are really one-leg sit-downs because otherwise it hurts my knee). If I speed through all of those I'm rewarded with push-ups. I'm now up to 25 girly push-ups on the floor (plus many more on the bar). If you remember, when I started I could do a total of zero girly push-ups on the floor. I'm aiming first for 30 girly floor push-ups, then I'll start trying to do real ones.

My food consumption continues to be healthy, for the most part, and I'm still logging every single bite I swallow on Lose It!, a great program. I'm less strict about my food quality or nutrition balance after long runs or during long run weekends but I've mostly managed to stay within my calories. Right now, I aim for 1500 daily calories with a 60 carb/20 protein/20 fat balance. If I've exercised I'll up that depending on how much I've burned (and mostly I aim to add protein calories), but I try to not eat every single exercise calorie. That means if I'm starving, I'm more likely to get my ass in gear so that I can eat more.

It's working since I've lost 15 pounds. My weight is now just a couple of pounds from the lowest I've been able to be since I stopped smoking in 1992. I know I can lose more since I'm highly motivated (and just a little obsessed with logging my food intake and activity), I just don't know if I'll be able to keep that weight off. I look in a mirror now and even though my pants are literally falling off, I feel fatter than I've ever been. I truly feel like I have more fat and flub and lumps and jiggle than I had before I started this, even though I have more energy, move better, feel healthier and run faster than I have in a long time. It confuses the hell out of my rational brain.

I'm not quite ready to throw out the fat clothes yet. Hopefully by spring I'll be ready for a new wardrobe, and hopefully I'll feel thin enough (or at least not too fat) to shop for it!

Nike Women's Half Marathon 2010 Race Report

2010-10-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

I was trying to come up with some new way to describe the very same race I wrote about in 2009, 2008 and 2007. All I could think of was to say "... as I said in my report last year ..." and that was boring. So pretend that I said the same things all over again: dumb expotique Thursday night, shopping at the Nike store where most things were very small, getting up early Sunday morning (this year the parking at the ballpark was not available; we had to pay $30 to park downtown); crowded start area, ridiculous corral system that everyone ignores, wait for 20+ minutes after the start before crossing the line, weaving and bobbing among all the walkers, WORST RACE ETIQUETTE EVER, gorgeous views, lovely scenery, walk the uphills, run the flats and downhills, laugh about the impending rain, laugh less as it started to really rain, cross the finish, get the blue box, small tech shirt (not as small as usual), food, retrieve bags, wait forever in line for the bus, freeze my ass off and turn blue.

This year for the first time Bree was with me. Our paces are different enough now that we don't usually run too far together, so was fun staying with her the entire race. I wasn't in the slightest bit worried about my time and didn't want to walk the hills alone again. The weather for most of the race was perfect: high overcast, cool temps and a breeze. Perfect for running, not bad for walking. A few drops of rain fell here and there until about mile 12, then the rain began in earnest. By the time we walked past the food at the end we were wet. Luckily we had warmer things and rain ponchos in our checked bags, but we got wetter and colder. I felt very bad for anyone running her first 4-6 hour marathon in that wretched weather.

Here are the highlights in pictures:

very cute goody bag, doubled as sweat check bag

finish bag, big (and dry) enough to hold our Tiffany box, shirt and food

hot pink tech shirt, slightly larger than most years

THE BOX

THE NECKLACE

Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon Report

2010-10-06T13:56:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday was my third running of the Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon and my best run there to date. The route was identical to the past years, and other things were the same or similar to the last time I ran it in 2007.

I went to the expo with Bree early Saturday morning before the crowds hit. Bib pickup was first, with the D-tag timing device attached to the big green bib. Next was the race branded clothing, none of which appealed to me (except for my usual race hat). The goody bags were the usual Competitor large plastic sling bags filled with the usual assortment of ads and a couple of samples. Tee shirt pickup was at the back of the expo. They've done away with the white cotton beefy tees and now have unisex tech shirts. As a word to the wise, these are big. And this year, they were very very green.

The expo surprised me again this year by not being very large. I guess since fall is marathon season, October being the height of it, vendors can pick and chose where they want to display and sell their goods. Since I had done some spending at the Women's Half expo a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't too disappointed to get through there and out in a hurry.

We arrived for the race nice and early the next morning and we wandered around for a bit while Mr. Garmin tried to pick up a signal. Sadly, Mr. Garmin is on his last legs and in addition to eating some of my run results, he takes forever to locate a satellite. Looks like I'll be getting a replacement soon (any recommendations?). We saw several friends in our wandering. The start area was mostly very well organized and laid out, except for one glaring foul-up. We were in corral 13, out of (I think) 16 or 18 (or possibly more). The corrals up to about 10 were nicely spaced with banners separating them. After that they were completely shmushed together. Several thousand people were crammed into space enough for just a couple of people. It was like they had decided they couldn't block the next cross road, so they just piled the corral signs next to each other. It made the early line-up feel like a cattle drive and we all know how I feel about cattle.

This year it didn't seem that they spaced the starts out at all, I think they were all let loose at once. While it meant we started quicker than I had anticipated (6 or so minutes after the gun) it also meant the crowd never thinned out. Ever. Even with the use of full wide streets there was still a lot of dodging the entire route.

Bree and I started out at a quick pace and decided we should slow it down some. Then we sped up. After a couple miles of this Bree decided we should run our own paces and sent me on ahead. I figured I'd just run at a comfortable pace until I was tired and then slow down. This was supposed to be a training run for me, not a race.

The weather was again almost perfect. Aside from a little drizzle in the first miles, it was mostly coolish and overcast. The sun peeked out here and there before making a full appearance in my last couple of miles, but the breeze kept me cool enough. The air was clear and my breathing was very good. I wore a sleeveless shirt and my running skirt, along with a cap and a couple of buffs for my neck and wrist and felt like I was dressed correctly for the weather.

Water stops were plentiful and, as far as I could tell, well stocked with water and something-ade. I was able to run past the first few since I was carrying a bottle with my own Ultima. The weather earlier in the week had been breaking the 100's and I'm not sure if there were more fluids than normal because of that. One thing that was definitely added was the salt stop where they were handing out little packets of salt. I grabbed one of those and, after spilling it all over myself, licked the remainder off my fingers. I think I managed to ingest about half the packet which helped.

Somewhere around mile 9 or 10 was a Gu stop, with several flavors being handed out. I grabbed one just in case but didn't need it to supplement those that I had with me. I'm now taking a Gu every 40 minutes during a run, varying between the double caffeine Espresso Love and the single caffeine Tangerine Orange, Tri-Berry or Vanilla flavors. I sure would like some of the flavors that they have in their Roctane but after the disaster when I took the Pineapple, I won't try them again (and as a complete side note, their new Chomp flavor, watermelon, is yummy).

There was a lot of music along the course, some of it quite good. The Cocktail Monkeys, in particular, were good enough that I was sad to have to pass them by. Both times, since they were playing along a stretch that we ran past in both directions. It seemed that there was more music this year than in the past, but maybe it was just louder. I started listening to my own music at about mile 9 but half the time I couldn't hear it because of the bands. I would have turned it off but it was too much fussing and fumbling.

I felt good. I ran along at my usual 9:1 and kept telling myself that sooner or later I'd be slowing down. Well, not at mile 10. Not at mile 11. Not even at mile 12. After that, I decided the hell with it, I'd just go for it. I didn't see the point in running hard and fast and slacking the last bit. So I skipped my last walk break and powered it through. I wasn't sprinting down the finish line until I saw lots of people trying to pass me. Nuh uh, I don't get picked off in the home stretch! I had to speed up too.

I crossed the line, stopped Mr. Garmin, looked at my time and started giggling. I was 7 minutes faster than my unstated goal, 7 minutes faster than my course PR, about 15 minutes faster than what I expected. The funny part was how good I felt. Yeah, my knee hurt (don't tell anyone), but it was sore from my second step. I wouldn't have wanted to run much longer at that intensity, but I was feeling good from the 13.25 miles my watch told me I had run.

Once across the line I was handed a bottle of water, which I promptly chugged down. Then they again had ice cold wet towels, which I used to wipe the crusted salt off my face and arms. I knew it would be a few minutes until Bree finished and I didn't want to go too far and risk missing her. I walked down the secured area a bit and got my medal, then saw that they were handling out bags of ice at the medical tent. They were also wrapping ice on various limbs and I thought that might be a good idea.

I waited a couple of minutes for someone to be free and then placed my cold towel under the ice, and had her wrap it onto my knee. The woman doing the wrapping couldn't understand why I would want to use the towel against my skin. Cautionary tale, folks, freezer burned skin hurts. It's very easy to damage yourself with ice and I was surprised that more care wasn't being used. I saw dozens of folk with melty ice taped to various body parts and I don't think they were even paying attention to the condition of their skin underneath. I only left the ice on for about 10 minutes but it was perfect and I didn't have any swelling or any more pain.

After Bree finished we walked down toward the food tables where they had exactly 3 bananas left (and they were icky looking), many many bags of Wheat Thins, granola bars, bagels, maybe something else. We grabbed a couple of things. I was starving, something very unusual for me after a long run (normally I'm vaguely nauseous and don't want anything for a while). We walked over to the beer tent and got our free MGD Light (or maybe it was some other 64 calorie tasteless beer) of which we took a couple of sips and then dumped out.

I enjoyed the run, enjoyed the race. My only complaints would be about the other people doing the race. How completely oblivious does someone have to be to come to a dead stop in the middle of the road when they're surrounded by runners moving forward? Or when then don't finish their water and drop the half full cup directly in front of someone who then gets soaked? Or when they walk 4 abreast right where the road narrows and nobody can get past them? Or when a 14 minute mile runner starts with the 10 minute milers and everyone has to dodge around them for the first few miles? And on and on. A handout on race etiquette should be distributed at every Rock 'n' Roll race since they get so many beginners. Or maybe people should just listen to their mothers and be POLITE!

Ahem. Where was I? OhyeahIremember. Enjoyed race, enjoyed run, would do it again if it falls on an empty part of my schedule. Even as cookie cutter identical as the Competitor races have become, the locales and weather play a big part of the race. Having a nice one in my back yard is convenient, and will be again in future years.

Women's Half Marathon Race Review

2010-09-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

I dreamed that I was running through a sea of Pepto Bismol. Pink --- pink everywhere! Soft baby pink, bright hot pink, flamingo pink, Barbie pink, cotton candy pink, bubble gum pink; pink pink pink. Then I came to my senses and realized that I wasn't dreaming, I was running the inaugural Women's Running Magazine's Women's Half Marathon in Nashville and pink was the girly color of the day.

We all know I love to run races, we know I love to see my sis. This race offered the chance to do both. It sorta kinda fit right into my training calendar, between my longest training runs. So I registered, bought my plane ticket and headed to Nashville for a weekend of family and fun.

We went to the expo Friday, arriving early enough to be first in line when before it opened. For us, it was simple to pick up our (pink) bibs, emblazoned with our names and race number. We moved along and picked up our very cool goody bags:

They were filled with an assortment of stuff and the usual ads and papers. The expo was definitely womencentric with all the girly clothing and gewgaws a (female) runner could want. I spent a teensie bit of money there, walking away with a pair of shoes, a running skirt, a couple of headbands, a couple of boxes of Gu, a pair of sunglasses and my usual running hat. We remembered to pick up our race shirts which were, surprisingly, pink. They were also, surprisingly, big enough. A very nice tech shirt with some shaping and no ads.

In total disregard of the old saw that you never do anything new on race day, I decided to wear my new running skirt and my new cap. I figured this was going to be one of my shorter runs for a while, I was supposed to treat it as a training run, so no big deal. I crossed my fingers and hoped I wouldn't regret the decision.

Early Saturday we arrived at the starting area. Still dark, it was bustling with excited runners and walkers preparing for the race. We headed over to the line of porta potties and the sky exploded. It was truly bizarre; the potties were lined up under a row of trees that were apparently the resting place of a very large flock of birds. There were many hundreds of these birdies who took wing as the sun started to rise. Sweeping back and forth and back again, the birds wheeled around the sky as runners and walkers and spectators covered their heads and hoped.

My sis and I knew we couldn't run together since she isn't running these days but we lined up together in our corral. Then we noticed that we were ahead of the pacers holding up signs for 2:30, 2:45 and 3:00. That was wrong so we moved back. My goal was to take it easy, have fun, not get hurt. I didn't want to start too fast. Her goal was to finish walking a half marathon when she just wanted to run.

Finally the race started and we split up right at the mat. The race was, to be brief (hah!), great. It was well organized, well supported, well routed. The course was varied through business areas, residential and parkland. We ran on streets and trails. The police were wonderful keeping the routes clear of cars, the volunteers were friendly and helpful, the water and ade stations plentiful. It was hillier than I had expected from the course profile but it wasn't bad until about mile 12 when we had to run on an overpass in the blazing sun in the heat and humidity. But after that it went downhill or flat until the end.

I ran:walked my normal 9:1 until that overpass when I walked and ran when I felt like it. My splits were pretty even (except for my fumbled water bottle fill at mile 8 that took an extra 2 minutes) until then, and my last 2 miles were slow. I had realized finally that I was running a little harder than I had intended, it was hot, it was humid, so I slowed down. That's my story and I'm stickin' with it!

I crossed the finish line to the sound of my name (according to my bro-in-law who was waiting, there were lots of finishers with my name), had my huge medal draped around my neck, and was handed a bottle of water. I wandered down the line, greeted my bro-in-law, had my picture taken and headed to the food tables. They were filled to bursting with bagels, muffins, granola bars, bananas, apples, probably more that I didn't notice. There were buckets filled with icy water and bottles of energy drinks and water. I grabbed a cold one and went back to wait for my sis to finish.

After a while I saw her and her friend cruising across the finish line. They had made excellent time on their walk and both looked fresh and happy to be done. We hung out taking pictures for a bit, then moved along to the food tables which still were groaning under the weight of lots of food - even after 3-1/2 hours. I'm not used to anything being left at a half when I finish, let alone much later. Then we walked over to the cookie place. Yes, a set of tables just for cookies. Not quite a beer tent, but second best.

The medals were made just for this race in Music City. They're a two-piecer, with a center piece that could be removed and put on a necklace. Which coincidentally they were selling at the expo and after the race for a mere $10. Yes, we had purchased them at the expo and worn them during the race with the intention of having the charm hung after the race. There was a booth with helpers transferring the charms and there was no line so we were through there quickly.

Final thoughts: great race. It's not east for an organization to put on such a successful inaugural race. Soup to nuts, everything went right. There was a medical tragedy on the course that was quickly handled with sensitivity. The expo, while not as huge as the bigger races, carried just about anything a runner or walker could want for a race or other fun run. Packet pickup was efficient. Amenities (bag, shirt, medal, food and drink afterward) were ample and fun. Course support, both police and volunteers, were ample and cordial and friendly. Participants ranged from newbies who had never done a race to experts hoping for a PR. The weather even cleared up; hot and humid to me but cooler and drier than it had been. I'd do this race again, and I'd do another of their races if I had the weekend free. Give it a try!

Race season starts this week

2010-09-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

Most of you know I love running races. Even if I'm just planning on cruising along at a slow(er than normal) speed, I love the hoopla, excitement, fuss, course support, other runners. Yes, I like small races too, the ones without the hoopla, excitement, fuss. Give me course support and enough other runners that I don't get lost and I'm happy. Throw in a shirt and a medal and I'm thrilled. Easily excited, that's me.

That's how I find myself with 6 upcoming races, starting this weekend in Nashville. Run a half marathon with my sister? Sure! Run a half marathon in San Jose? Yeah! Run a half marathon in San Francisco? Heck yeah! Run a marathon in DC? You betcha! Run a half marathon in Monterey? Of course! Run a half marathon in Las Vegas? Bring it on!

On top of that I have a couple of long training runs for the full marathon, the first of which was this past Saturday. My 20 miler went just about as expected: it was long and tiring. I was slower than I had hoped but I finished, always a victory. Bree and I were lucky with the weather (again) which was drizzly and humid and warm to start and overcast and humid to finish. Good training weather, if warmer than optimal. We ran together for about 5 miles then split off to our own paces and routes. As a treat I listened to music the last 8 miles, hoping it would give me a boost to keep going. It did. But 20 miles is 20 miles and it's a long time to keep running. I was happy as a clam to finish.

Along the way I had a close-up and personal encounter with a Great Blue Heron. This huge, majestic bird was posed along the trail, not 5 feet away from where I was running my 19th mile. I slowed to a walk so as not to scare it away (and because hey, it was my 19th mile) and it remained there, ignoring the passersby on the crowded trail. Amazing. I was also treated to views of all the other seabirds including the pelicans sunning their wings on pilings and egrets shuffling along the shallows. I saw one silly wabbit (fine, it was a jack wabbit) (I mean rabbit) playing chicken with cars along the road. In the dark the jack wabbit -- er, rabbit -- looked like a very misshapen kitten since I couldn't see the dark tips of it's ears. Once it got lighter out it was more obvious what type of critter it was.

I tried a new gel a mile 15, wanting to see how it was during a long run. My go-to gel is always Gu, normally the Espresso double caffeine flavor, sometimes the Berry or Vanilla or Tangerine or Blackberry. At some expo or other I had tasted one of their Pineapple Roctane gels and thought it was yummy. I hadn't tried a Roctane before and wondered if the added ingredients would boost my performance. It gave me a boost all right; almost boosted the contents of my stomach all over the trail. My mouth was happy with the taste but my stomach rebelled almost immediately. Luckily I had just 5 miles to go. Unluckily that would take me over an hour to do. Note to self: stick with the regular Gu that works so well.

A couple of days after the run my legs are still somewhat fatigued, a fact I noticed clearly while working with the trainer this morning. Since my knee is very tender (that same old problem) we skipped the toe taps and jumps and I'll be resting instead of running for a few days. I don't have time for any injuries or aggravations.

I fly to Nashville to join my sis on Thursday. The race is Saturday and I'm looking forward to it. It'll be interesting to run in the hot humid weather that's expected. We've had such a mild summer here I've forgotten how ugly it can get when it's hot and drippy. That should be enough to convince me to keep my speed and ambitions in check. This is supposed to be a fun race, a rest week, so I need to be smart about how I run. But it's a race. I never know until I toe the line how I'm going to feel, what the conditions are, how it will go.

Do you like races? Will you do anything for race bling? Would you sign up for 6 races in a season?

The marathon of my dreams

2010-09-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

In the past I've had many marathon anxiety dreams. Mostly they involve starting late: "oh no, I forgot my shoes!" or "oh no, I got caught in traffic!" or "oh crap, I can't find the start line" although I have gotten lost on the course a time or two and I've taken several days to finish once or twice. Last night I had the marathon dream of marathon dreams.

I got lost. Over and over and overandoverandover again. I think it was a smaller race, , possibly in the 5,000 runner size, and probably a Team in Training benefited race (we were all wearing TnT colors and logos). Because the course was routed through several shopping malls, and a couple of international monuments, and through some very dense forests, it was hard to find which way to go. Not to mention all the twisty, winding streets which branched out in several directions. Despite very good water stop support - almost a buffet of food at every one - none of the nice volunteers had any idea which way I should go. And then the elevator got stuck on the roof and I couldn't get down the stairs because they were blocked with furniture (and wouldn't the Fire Marshall be angry about that!). And the hills in the park turned into a loop and I couldn't get out. And then it got dark and they made me stop even though I was at the finish line (I still had about 10 miles to go) which was next to a food court and a very fancy restaurant.

I'd awaken and fall back into a restless doze and the damn dream would continue, often in a different venue. I got up and went to the bathroom and when I fell asleep again the dream went on. It was relentless and when my alarm went off I was exhausted, as if I had really run 20 miles overnight.

I'm wondering if that counts as my workout for today. What do you think?

Little of this, little of that

2010-09-09T12:15:00.000-07:00

That didn't last long. I enjoyed our 4 days of summer, could use a little more. I feel like I should be wearing boots and a turtleneck with gloves and a scarf. I'm confident we'll have at least a day or two more of heat this year, but it'll probably show up mid-November.

The craptastic weather has been good for one thing only: running. Good thing that my favorite running conditions are overcast and mid-50's since almost every single weekend run this year has started that way (and most of them have ended that way). Last Saturday was no different. I was running alone since my running buds had better things to do, and I needed to get 14 miles in. Well, I needed to get at least 12 but since 14 was on the schedule I wanted 14.

Bright and early I met up with Nobody at the Lafayette-Moraga Trail and told myself that I had to at least get to the Commons and back. Unusually for me I listened to music almost the entire time. With one ear bud in, one ear bud dangling, I ran a little faster than usual and made it to the 7 mile turnaround with no problems. The return trip took more effort but I was very happy with my consistency and effort.

I'm only getting a little faster but running is much more comfortable to me these days. Go figure, running on a regular basis, cross-training on a regular basis, eating right and losing weight improves running. Who knew? Oh wait, I did. I don't get a runner's high, but I have great enjoyment plodding along. A couple of times I'd see graceful runners flowing along the trail and think that I look like that too. Then I'd see my shadow galumphing along and realize that I'm a runner of a different species. No matter, mostly I can ignore that and just stay happy within myself while I run.

Cross training is hard. The stronger I get, the harder it gets (my trainer makes certain that it gets harder, that's her job). But the results are so obvious that I bought another training package so I'll be going for another 4 months. There are days when I feel strong like ox, days I feel weak like silly putty. Today I felt like I could be pressed onto the Sunday Funnies and lifted with multi-colored pictures. What?? You never did that with silly putty? WHAT??? You never HAD silly putty? Sheesh. Kids today. Hmmph, go play with your electronic gadgets and get off my lawn.

What really makes it feel like fall to me, in addition to the lower angle of the sun and the fallen leaves underfoot (... and the cold air), is my list of races in the next few months. Look at the list over there, on the left. No, the other left. Yeah, that one, the one most people call the "right." I'm going to attempt to not race every single race and just treat some of them as fun 13.1 mile outings. We'll see how that goes.

I'm having house renovations done. Originally I was just going to replace some carpeting with tiles but then I saw the lovely work the tile-setter does and I had him re-face my fireplace. I've always hated the fireplace; the bricks were impossible to clean, even to dust, and they just looked dated. Now it looks spectacular. The process was messy and dusty and smelly but the result were worth it. I'm looking forward to new bathroom floors. I'm not looking forward to the process.

before, and

AFTER

Which do you prefer?

Random not quite Friday

2010-09-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

The oddest thing happened as August ended: summer arrived. Heat and smog and pollen, hand in hand like old buddies. I'm enjoying wearing sleeveless tops and capri's but there's a slight hitch. In early May I bought a few pairs of shorts and capri's because nothing in my closet fit (uh, as in too tight). Then I spent a few months exercising in fact like I had only been doing in theory, and very carefully watching every bite I ate and now those new pants are very loose. Like, falling down loose. Like, I look like a teenage boy with pants on the ground loose. I'm not complaining, especially since I'll be able to wear older stuff now. Also, I'm pretty sure the heat won't last. Prove me wrong Mother Nature, 'k?

The twice weekly training continues and I like it so much I just signed up for 4 more months. I like me some commitment! And I still think that word should have 3 t's instead of 2. My workout routine changed on Tuesday, right when I was getting the hang of the old one. Katie kept some of the oldies but threw in some new stuff too.

When I started this I couldn't do one single girly push-up, let alone the real ones. Now I can do 3 sets of 15 girly push-ups. Plus the ones I'm doing on the bar. Yippee and ouch. I didn't say I can do them painlessly, just that I can do them. I went from being able to hold a plank for a grand total of about 2 seconds. Now I'm doing them on one leg. Yippee and ouch. Still doing the twists with the 12 pound ball, the one exercise I can definitely see benefits on my body. I'm back to doing sit-ups with the 8 pound ball. Since my knee whined when I did up-and-over a bench, I'm doing quick deep squats instead. The mountain climbers made a surprise appearance at the end of the workout.

A new one for me is jumping onto a ledge. Mind you, this ledge is maybe 6 inches high and is part of a piece of gym equipment. I jump up with both feet together, then step back down. That is, I jump when my brain allows me to jump. To my combined amusement and horror, my body completely froze when I tried to do it. I swayed forward, then backward, then forward, then back again. I was pretty sure I was telling my knees to lift and my feet to move but they weren't listening. A combination of errant depth perception and a bit of vertigo tied up with acrophobia kept me locked in place for what seemed like 20 minutes - although it wasn't. I managed to jump/trip once, then to jump correctly. I even made it through the set. But the first time each set I'm still needing to convince myself to jump. Hopefully after a month of this my brain will catch up and get with the program. At which time Katie will probably increase the height.

I had a great run last Saturday, almost all 18 miles of it. Again the weather cooperated by staying overcast and cool, albeit quite windy. I ran with Bree for about 5 miles and alone for the rest of it. I love running with my buddies but I'm remembering that a few hours running completely alone isn't too bad. Lots of time to think, and lots of time to not think. And then just lots of time.

The sock is coming along well. At this rate by Thanksgiving I'll have knit one complete sock in this pattern with this yarn. I love the yarn so I'm hoping I don't end up with second sock syndrome. A pair would be very nice.

I'm going to be starting some home renovations soon. Don't be silly, I'm not doing the work myself, I'm paying someone else to do it. After 12 years of high sun (and that one flood) my carpet is rotting out and needs to be replaced in a couple of rooms. As much as I'd love a whole house overhaul I know the mess and fuss and noise and dirt and schlepping stuff around would drive me crazy. Not to mention drive me broke. So I'm just doing flooring now and maybe someday I'll do more. I can't believe I've lived here for 12 years.

I'm looking forward to only running about 13 miles this weekend. I love that finally it's back to "only" running 13 miles. I'm still glacially slow (although with global warming I think the glaciers might be quicker than I am) but I'm enjoying running as much as I ever have. Since I'll be running alone I think I might try running with some music, just in case I get tired of my brain jabbering at me.

I think I should go try to sleep now.

A little late: San Francisco Half Marathon Report

2010-08-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't really said much about the race, other than how much I enjoyed it. I think I mentioned that I missed the race last year because of family issues and missed it the year before because of injuries. I ran the second half in 2007 and wrote all about it afterward - I'm not going to repeat all the details of the route since you can read it there. I'll just note the changes and my own personal thoughts.

The expo was at the Design Center again. We went early Saturday morning. Packet and shirt pickup went very quickly. The shirts were different for each race and sex. The Half shirt was cute, although girly sized (which we all know I don't like much):

front

back

The goody bag was a very nice backpack. One side had blanks for writing your bib number, so that the bag could be used before the race for sweat check. I'm afraid I don't remember exactly what was in the bag, but there were lots of freebies at the expo.

We wandered through the booths, registered for the San Jose Rock n Roll Half Marathon, bought some shorts, bought some gels, looked at other races, tried some foods and drinks. A very nice expo.

There was a little problem Sunday morning - the approach to the bridge on I580 was closed for repair. Thanksalot Caltrans. I met Bree at her house at what seemed like the middle of the night and we detoured our way over. We had allotted oodles of time to get there so of course we were early. We ended up parking at the Embarcadero Center (which would later prove to be a mistake) and walked over to the bus.The line-up for the bus was long, wrapping around the corner. Loading was going very slowly but as we approached the next bus the people in charge figured out a faster way to load the people. We boarded and took the long ride across town.

We arrived at the second half start nice and early and immediately lined up at the porta potties. We wandered over to the route and saw one of the nicest things I've ever seen at a race start: propane heaters. There were several, all with formerly shivering people huddled around. We found a spot on the periphery and tried to warm up.

There were a few waves for the half and somehow we managed to start with the wave before the one where we should have been. That, and the first half mile being downhill, got us off to a way too fast start. I told Bree we had to slow it down and we did, but our first mile was a smoker.

I like the route a lot (probably the reason I've run that second half in 2010, 07, 06, 05, 03 and 02 and the full in 2004). The weather was good for a race: cool and overcast without being cold, with a light breeze. I was feeling pretty good. I stuck with 9:1 run:walk, except for a couple of bigger hills. I'm very careful on big downhills so where other people bomb away, I mince my way along, trying not to re-injure my knee or crush my quads. Or fall.

There's really not much to add about the race itself that I didn't say last time. I got tired around mile 12 and told myself to just run and get it over with. I finished in 2:47, much better than I had anticipated and my fastest half in years. I got my medal and space blanket, a bottle of water, had my picture taken a couple of times, grabbed some food.

The food available was impressive: scones, bagels, chips, fruit, Jamba Juice, granola and yogurt, and much more. I walked through the choices and grabbed this 'n' that, wandered on and looked for the sweat bag pickup. Along the way I noticed a race booth for the Loyal Runners. I figured since I had run the race so many times, maybe I'd be included in that group. I told the volunteer my name and was handed this lovely water bottle. Nice!

I tracked down the baggage and quickly retrieved my bag. Bree arrived shortly and we sat down on the curb and chatted for a bit. Then I noticed the beer tent. I have a rule after races: if there's free beer, I have to have one. It's the principle of the thing. Heh. So we walked over and convinced the guy checking IDs that I was indeed old enough to drink (I don't carry my license when I run). Sheesh, I haven't looked under 21 for a few years. Or decades. We got our beers and sipped enough to make it clear that we were really hungry and wanted to leave. The balance of our beer was dumped in the trash since we couldn't walk down the street drinking.

We got back to the car and were completely blocked in. We were on the bottom level of the lot and there was gridlock. For over a half hour there was no movement at all. Not even an inch. We pulled the car back in a spot and went out to lunch. By the time we returned, we were able to slowly exit the lot.

I like this race and I think it's improved every year that I've participated. At times I've thought of running the first half, but since it's normally too foggy to see a view from the Bridge, and since the route is hillier than the second half, I'll stick with with I know. I plan to run it again next year!

Random thoughts for Wednesday

2010-08-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

I stayed out too late last night. In my world, "late" on a workday means anything past 9 pm and I wasn't home until about 10 pm. I had a very fun girls' night out; drinks, appetizers and the girly movie du jour, Eat Pray Love. Despite the evening having 4 complete flaws (1: staying out late; 2: drinking a cocktail during the week; 3: eating fried and gooey food whilst dieting; 4: chick flick) it was a lot of fun. Surprisingly enough I enjoyed the movie and stayed awake the entire time. Now I have to read the book.

I didn't get up to run this morning because I got to bed too late (see above). I didn't get up to run Monday morning either so I ran after work. I kept telling myself to take it easy since I had a trainer workout early Tuesday, then I ended up running 4 outside miles faster than I've done for a couple of years. D'oh!

That didn't translate well to Tuesday's training session. My legs were still fatigued and my arms decided to keep them company. I made it through the workout but wasn't my normal sparkling self. Wait, I don't normally sparkle, no sparkles here. I made it through the squat/ball tosses without dropping the 10 pound ball on my head (or dropping it at all, for that matter), I made it through the mountain climbers without pulling my groin (which I did last week), made it through the traveling lunges without toppling over (it was close, I had to keep grabbing the rail to get my balance), made it through the v-ups, twists, push-ups, tricep pull-downs, bicep curls without collapsing on my face. I wasn't a happy camper like I usually am when I finish, just relieved to be done.

Saturday was a long run, the first 18 miler of the season. We lucked out again with the weather. The cool, overcast, drizzly, breezy conditions were perfect while running. Kinda sucked when we finished; it took a half hour in a hot shower, warm sweats, thick socks and a blanket to warm me up afterward. Summer? Not here. We ran on the always lovely Alameda Creek Trail in Fremont. Since we hadn't run there yet this season we didn't know that the trail going toward the Bay is closed, while the other end's construction is cleared out.

Refueling and rehydrating on Saturday were amply supplied by dinner at my bro's. I picked up my mom and we went to one of my bro's and sis-in-law's patented food fests, this one Tacos Two Ways. Which could also have been called Margaritas Two Ways. Or Dessert Four Ways. Good thing I burned a couple thousand calories running so I could eat (fish and carnitas tacos with the trimmings), drink (ginger/tangerine margaritas and blackberry/mint margaritas), pray (that I wouldn't fall asleep during the meal), love (that I was still under my allotted calories for the day).

I missed knitting so I picked up the sock I started so many moons ago and tried to figure out where I had left off. Somewhere in the gusset so I continued on the row I thought was correct. I'm not sure the pattern is written right for across the instep but I'm going to blindly follow it. Heck, I can do it correctly on the second sock if this is wrong. Nobody looks at my feet anyway.

Now that I've worked out with the trainer a couple dozen times, gotten up at the ungodly time of 5:15-5:30 am to train or run during the week, counted every single thing that I put in my mouth, I'll have to say I'm seeing results. I've lost some weight (lots more where that came from), gotten a bit faster with running (it's relative, I'm still snail-slow), gained some upper body strength (some day I'll be able to do a real push-up). I detest getting up so early but I'm getting better at it. "They" say it takes a couple of months for a pattern to become habit. I'm still waiting.

Where oh where has our summer gone?

2010-08-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

When I look out the window it's hard to remember that it's August. Overcast, windy, cool, drizzly. Yeah, lots of Bay Area summer days start this way, but this year it doesn't clear out. Except for a few days where the sun shone and the temps rose to the 90's, it's been cool and gloomy. I'm not complaining (oh wait: yeah, I am) because it's perfect for those morning long runs, but it's strange to have SAD in the middle of summer. I wouldn't want the sweltering heat that the eastern and southern parts of the country are experiencing, but sunshine would be welcome.

Saturday morning I wasn't complaining about the weather (oh wait: yeah, I was) while I was running. I deeply appreciated the cool temps in the 50's, appreciated the overcast, didn't mind the mist that made water drip off the brim of my cap, but I wasn't too thrilled with the constant wind in my face for the first 7 miles. I was running merrily along in my tank top and shorts, passing walkers bundled up for the arctic. These people had on parkas and gloves and scarves while I sweated my way past them. We all looked at each other as if the other were crazy.

The run went well. I met Bree at the Lafayette-Moraga Trail at 6:30 am (yawn) and we started running together. We ran together for less than 2 miles and then I sped up to a more comfortable pace and she slowed to her own comfort zone. I stopped at the bathroom at Moraga Commons to release and refill fluids, then continued on. The trail that was so beautiful in the winter and spring was dried and weedy, with only the prickle vine weed (whatever it's really called) and blue star thistles showing any color. A few of the oleanders are still in bloom, adding bits of brightness to the overcast gloom. Strangely enough, I really love the look of dried California summers. Whether you call it golden or brown, it looks like home to me.

I kept up the 9:1 run:walk except for the 9% grade hill leading to the end of the trail where I extended my walk break. That gave me a chance to talk with a little bunny hanging out on the side of the trail. No, he didn't talk back (sheesh, bunnies don't talk!). I ran to the end of the trail, tagged the post and started back the other way. I passed Bree going the other direction, continued on.

Back at the Commons I refilled my fluids again and then went on. With the wind at my back it was easier to breathe but I was getting a bit bored. Luckily the trail was busy with walkers and runners and I stayed busy saying "good morning" or "hi" to everyone. There weren't many cyclists on the trail (except for family groups), probably because those weeds are excellent at puncturing tubes.

Another way I kept myself busy was tying to figure out how far I had to backtrack to get in my 16 miles. My math skilz are absent once I've been running for an hour or so. I really didn't want to run more than 16 but I wanted at least that 16. Lessee, according to Mr. Garmin it was 7.3 miles to the turnaround. That makes the trail 14.6 round trip. That means I need an additional 1.4 miles. If I turn around at mile 2 and head back toward mile 3, I only need to run ... oh! lookit the rose blooming in that yard! Wow, I'm thirsty. Is it time to walk yet? What was I doing? Oh yeah, it was 7.3 miles to the turnaround. That makes the trail ...

Pitiful. I ran past the Senior Center, deciding that I'd run to the 2.25 marker and back and then stop to refill and empty fluids. All of a sudden I saw the 2 mile marker and realized I'd gone too far. I certainly wasn't going to run an extra half mile so I refilled my bottle at the fountain behind the fire station. Bree and I encountered each other again (hey, how'd she get ahead of me??) as I headed for the last couple of miles.

I ended with 16.2 miles. The sun was just starting to peek out and it was getting warmer (oooh, it was in the 60's!) so timing was good. I stretched out and waited for Bree who wasn't too far behind me. I was happy with the run; it was the most consistent long run I'd done in ages. Consistent not in the TnT definition of slow (although it was that) but in the true meaning of equal (and almost negative) splits.

A shower and a nap would have been a good thing, but Saturday means Momday so I headed over to see her. We're in the process of putting her condo on the market and she's decided that she needs to be in control and sign everything, so I took the massive pile of forms to go through with her. I read them to her, explained them to her, showed her where to sign. We answered the gazillion disclosure questions, marked those that were questionable, she initialed and signed. In the middle of it all she insisted it was lunch time so we went out for some truly mediocre Chinese food (which had the added benefit of being a zillion calories). Back to reading, explaining, re-reading, more explaining, signing and initialing. We had a major difference of opinion when it came to setting a price; my mom wants to list the place at about $100,000 more than anything has sold for in the past couple of years. I think that's ridiculous and a waste of everyone's time. I told her she needs to speak with the agent who can hopefully get her to see the light.

Next weekend's run will be 18 miles, starting the long runs early. I'm looking forward to it!

New routine in training

2010-08-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

My personal trainer switches her trainee's routines on the first of the month. That meant that the old routine, the one I was just getting to be able to do, is mostly out the window. I was a little apprehensive and a lot excited about the change, just looking forward to something new.

Of course, the first exercise this morning was almost my last. Hold a ball (10 pounds? I don't really remember) and squat. At the top of the squat jump a little, raise the ball and thrust it over your head; catch the ball and lower while squatting. If you're picturing this correctly, you see a loose ball hovering over my head for a second or two. Further, you see the loose ball slipping through my fingers and clonking me on the forehead. Ow. At least that part only happened once, in the middle of the first set. Still, ouch.

Superset these with traveling lunges. That means climb the stairs, lunge along the walkway, climb down the other set of stairs. Be very careful of the bad knee. Watch your balance. Don't knock your trainer over the railing. Avoid other people doing their own workouts in the same area.

We're sticking with push-ups. I've been doing them on the bar railing and doing them well (ok, I've been doing the first couple of sets well, the third set notsomuch). I decided to see if I could now do a girly push-up on the floor. Bended knees and lookie there! It wasn't pretty, it wasn't totally down to the floor (... or close to the floor) but I went down several inches and back up, 10 times, before I collapsed. The next 20 repeats were back with the bar, and I did 3 sets that way. My goal is to ace the modified girly push-ups, get to true girly push-ups, then to modified real push-ups, then to a full set of real push-ups. Maybe by the end of the year.

Along with those are the twists with the 10 pound medicine ball. It's the one place on my body where I can actually see a small difference since I've been working out, so I'm glad to continue with them. But boy, that ball gets heavy and I get dizzy after twisting for a minute.

But that's not all! In the challenging to me department, Katie introduced another floor exercise. Lie on my back, arms and legs extended, hands holding big ball. V-up, switch ball to feet, lower arms and legs to floor. Repeat and switch ball to hands, lower. Yup, there was ball droppage involved here too. At least this big ball wasn't painful when it landed, just frustrating. I was not able to complete full sets of those without modifications so I'm looking forward to August 31st when there's been improvement.

Oh wait - somewhere in there were mountain climbers too. I can do full sets of those now without falling on my face, but when she extends the time on them there's still a chance of collapse. Hopefully I'll get strong (and balanced) enough that I'll improve quickly.

As a last treat there was running up the stairs and coming down. People who know me well know that stairs are not exactly my forte. This is a coordination and balance thing, along with a bit of vertigo. But I'm tough! I can do it! There was no grace or delicacy involved, probably looked like a drunk elephant lumbering upward, but I got it done.

I don't think you can convince me that this workout only lasted 50 minutes. Sky-high heart rate, trembling limbs, flushed and drippy face. Jeez, no wonder I never wanted to work out in public. (Note: running in public is different; I don't care in the least how I look when, or after, I run.) This whole gym-going, personal training thing is eye opening (especially when a ball is dropping on said eyes) in many ways. I'm glad I'm doing it.

Now I need a nap.

Early race report (without any detail)

2010-07-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

I had a great San Francisco Marathon (Second) Half Marathon today. While I pushed (... it was a race, after all), except for the finish line sprint I never felt like I was killing myself. The result was my fastest half marathon since March 2006. I was 6 minutes faster than my best case scenario.

I guess all this "training" stuff really does work!

Three weeks in

2010-07-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

I'd like to report that after 3 weeks I've lost 20 pounds, reduced my minutes/mile to 10 and lost 12% body fat. However, seeing that I live in the real world and not some fantasy Biggest Loserland, that hasn't happened. What has happened is that I'm slowly dropping bits of pounds, gradually increasing my running speed and endurance and meanwhile getting a little stronger. That counts, right?

Seriously, I have GOT to stop watching those quick weight loss shows which skew my vision of normalcy. Since I've dieted in the past (... once or twice) (... yearly) (... since I was a teenager) I know how my body reacts to calorie restriction and increased activity: by (figuratively) yelling "Help, I'm stranded in the Sierras and out of food and I must conserve all my resources by holding onto all this lovely life-saving blubber so that I don't have to eat my neighbors, the Donners." It's a big annoyance but sooner or later, quarter pound by quarter pound, I lose weight. Along with that I lose fractions of inches. I just need to be patient.

Training is going very well. I have indeed gained a bit of strength; I no longer fall flat on my face during planks. In fact, I no longer fall at all during planks (but don't ask me about mountain climbers). I'm doing so well at the little girl push-ups that I might soon graduate to big girl push-ups (not so close on regular push-ups though). I'm getting through the sets quicker, easier, and less exhausted. Katie is able to correct my form since I'm getting strong enough to actually have form. Still not liking the whole getting up early, but I don't think I'll ever be a happy early morning person.

I've made it through another week of also getting up early on Mondays and Wednesdays to run on my treadmill. This is also going better. I'm slowly increasing my speed while cutting out walk breaks. Since my legs like it better I'm also running at 1 degree elevation (whatever that really is on a treadmill). This has the added benefit that I can catch up on my recorded television shows.

It just gets more and more fun to enter my foods into my Lose It! app. It was strange on Saturday when my activity wiped out all the calories I ate; negative calories for the win! I spent a very long time on the internet last night trying to figure out a fair nutritional basis for the very large fruit salad that I made. Deliciously ripe cantaloupe, watermelon and honey dew with some blueberries, raspberries and bananas. I finally tracked down something like the Melon Council and just averaged out several melons per cup. Tasty and all I have to do is make sure it isn't the only thing I eat all day.

Saturday's run went very well. Bree and I again met at the Alameda Ferry, this time to run 15 miles. We only stuck together for the first 2 and then I continued on my 9:1 way. I kept up the 9:1 through 13.1 miles and was happy to see my half time was much quicker than it's been recently. I slowed to a 4:1 for the last couple of miles and it was a struggle, but I mentally wanted to get through the run without unscheduled walk breaks. It was luckily still mostly overcast when I finished although the sun was flirting with a grand appearance. The wind was unnoticeable when it was at my back, but the last 2 miles it was in my face. Although it felt nice for the cooling effect, it made my breathing worse and slowed me down. It was about 60 degrees when I finished, a vast difference than if I had run in my own neck of the woods.

It was great to see Iron Phil out there running with his Iron Team (although he was the only person I recognized). I'd been running along and trying to figure out what team had chalked the "TI" on the sidewalks. Then I realized that without dyslexic-vision it was really "IT." I still didn't know what team that was until I was crossing the bridge and heard someone behind me call my name. Luckily Phil was taking his 1 minute walk break so we could chat for a second. At the foot of the bridge he broke left while I broke right, but we again passed each other around the other side of the island. Good grief, he's gotten speedy as hell and is going to kick ass and take names when he does the Iron.

This weekend will be the San Francisco Marathon, where I'm running the second half as usual. I always like this race and was sad to miss it last year at the last minute. I didn't run it the year before either, since I was in training for the tri and my knee wasn't healthy. The year before that I had a great time running it. I ran the Half (always the second half) in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and the full in 2004. I've finished between 2:42 and 2:55 (with the full at 5:39) and more than likely this weekend will be toward the slower end. I don't mind. Being able to run a half marathon just because makes all the the early mornings and food journals worth it!

Lose It!

2010-07-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

My run this weekend was a vast improvement from the week before. Last weekend I ran 4 good miles before hitting a brick wall; this weekend I ran 8 great and 2 good miles before getting tired. That's (for the mathematically compromised) 6 more at-least-good miles. I also continued for another 4 miles and they weren't horrible, just tiring and slow and somewhat more uncoordinated.

Helping the quality of the run was that Bree and I ran in Alameda this weekend, a cooling improvement of about 20 degrees. It was overcast almost the entire run and I don't think it got much above 60. There was a slight bay breeze - incredibly stinky at the start since the tide was way out. We did the first few miles together and then split up, meeting back at the lot after 6 miles. I did those at 9:1 and had a good average. I slowed down after heading back out but kept up the 9:1 until I passed 10 miles. I rejoined Bree at that point and we finished at 4:1 and all of those "1" times made me very happy. My last 4 miles were about 1 minute per mile slower than the previous miles but my overall average was still about 25 seconds/mile faster than last week.

Also helping the quality of the run was that I was so tired during Thursday's workout that I was slower than before and didn't mange to complete the extended workout of Tuesday. I was sweating like a Miami thunderstorm and sliding all over when I was on the mat. I fell on my face twice while doing planks. I'm weak enough that I do it on my forearms and they kept sliding out from underneath me. Katie had to keep correcting my form. Since my legs are so much stronger than any other part of my body, my unconscious tendency is to let them take all the weight and effort. As the purpose of all of this is to build some strength in my core and upper body, it can be a problem. I was pooped when we finished and worried about the run, needlessly as it turns out.

I'm not loving the whole get-up-at-5:15 am thing. I'm barely tolerating it. The good part is when I wake up at 4 or 5 am, I know I'll be getting up soon and I'm not as anxious about getting back to sleep. The bad part is -- well, the getting up. One thing is not sleeping, another is moving. But I'm determined to continue the running on Monday and Wednesday and training on Tuesday and Thursday, and hoping to throw in an after work walk or run.

A very nice side effect of this is I'm losing weight. No, not from the consistent workouts alone. I'm dieting. Yup, real live honest to pete dieting. Holy Food Journal, Batman! I've been using Lose It!, a free app on my cell phone, and I really like it. Between being able to input full nutritional data on my own foods and their own extensive database, I feel I'm keeping honest track of not only calories, but the balance of protein, carbs and fat. I think their calorie burn for exercise is high but I try not to consume those calories anyway. I really don't think I burned 1,871 calories during my run yesterday but it's a fun number to see. The website has some incredible reports for those of us who like to obsess about what we've consumed. I could spend an entire day playing around with this.

I miss my lazy way of eating. These days there's no popcorn and wine for dinner. No late night 100 calories carb-loaded snacks. Hardly any chocolate. No cartons of ice cream on my lap. Instead I'm roasting veggies and eating fruit. Except for yesterday when I splurged with a soft shell crab sandwich (and kettle chips and cole slaw) after the run (yes, I had an almost 1,000 calorie lunch and it was goooood!).

Anyone want to place bets on how long I can keep this up?

"You'll get used to it"

2010-07-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

I didn't have a great run on Saturday along the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. Apparently ramping up my training, especially the Tuesday and Thursday workouts with the personal trainer, took a big toll on my legs. The first 3 miles were good, then I sped up a tad on mile 4. Then I ran smack dab into a big freakin' wall. I thought that perhaps I was a little late on gu'ing, or maybe I hadn't eaten enough breakfast. Probably I'd get a second wind once I passed the little hills. Or I'd feel better after taking a short break to refill my water bottle at the 5.5 mile fountain.

As I was under the little delusion that any minute now I'd be feeling better, I continued on to the 6 mile mark before turning back. On the contrary, when I got back to the water fountain I had to take a break and refill the bottle again, just to take the 60 second pause. Walk a little, run a little, walk, run, take more gu, drink more water. At the Senior Center at the 3 mile mark (9 miles down) I refilled again.

Did I mention it was considerably warmer than I'm used to? Wahhh, boo hoo kitty poor me. While one part of my brain was actively thrilled at the beautiful day, the flowering oleanders, the deep green of fresh grass and shrubs, the other part of my brain was in whine overdrive. It's quite tough trying to run on legs that feel like grossly overcooked linguine. Not even al dente. Wobbly and shaky I continued along the trail, trying to keep my pace within something resembling a run.

I finished the 12.1 miles with my average almost 50 seconds/mile slower than the previous week when I'd been feeling great.But I finished, which is a good thing.

On Monday to celebrate my day off I treadmilled at home. I'm once again having Comcast issues (I'm on my third cable box/dvr for the exercise room) so I ran for 40 minutes while watching the local morning show. I even managed to not throw my shoe through the television screen out of sheer boredom.

Today was another workout with "Katie." Although I've been sleeping a little better recently (almost 5 hours each night!) last night was back to old habits. I think I managed an interrupted 2 hours total and when the alarm went off at 5:15 dark am, I wasn't too happy. Money talks though, and told me to get out of bed and to the gym.

The first thing I told Katie was that my legs were toast for my run on Saturday. She told me that it was just my first week, I'd get used to it. It wasn't until a couple of hours later that I realized I didn't know if she meant my legs would get used to the extra workouts and running would be easier, or if she meant I'd get used to running while my legs were toast. I don't think I'm going to ask her to clarify, I might not like the answer.

The workout was hard because of the lack of sleep. It was the same as Thursday but because of the lack of sleep my heart rate kept rising and my breathing wasn't smooth. I did all the exercises while Katie had to continue correcting my sloppy form. As I won't not try to do something she asks me to do, I was at definite risk of falling flat on my face. Shaky arms and legs made this workout -- uh -- interesting.

There were still a few minutes left after completing the sets I had done last week so Katie threw me a curve ball (not literally). She added a set of mountain climbers (I think that's what they're called) and I did indeed fall on my face. These were superset with oblique situps. Maybe superset is a misnomer since I managed one set of each this time. She generously called it a test set. Something to look forward to on Thursday morning.

I was tired all day and had a lovely nap after work. I've also been starved all day and have eaten every single calorie allowed, and then some. I think I've been shorting myself (I really liked seeing that scale drop last week) and I know that's a bad idea when I'm increasing my activity.

This is going to take some practice before I get it right, but I'm going to keep trying.

All that, and more

2010-07-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I rolled out of bed and was surprised to realized that nothing hurt. That lasted exactly until I finished my 40 minute run on the treadmill. Then my legs were aching and my arms hurt and my abs were tight. I spent the entire day feeling the effects of Tuesday's workout and feeling smug that, once again, I was working out enough to make things hurt.

When I awoke this morning I lay in bed trying to pretend that I was still asleep, thinking it was my usual 3-4 am wake-up. Imagine my surprise when I peeked at the clock and saw it was already 5:15 am, mere minutes from my alarm going off. Time to get up!

I had set my alarm a few minutes earlier since Tuesday I was so rushed and that's not my favorite way to start a morning. I made it in to the gym in time to weigh myself before my workout, something I plan to do every Thursday. Since my weight fluctuates so much on a daily basis, I'm happy with just a weekly weigh-in so as not to drive myself crazy. I was hoping for a sizable drop since I've been excellent with my consumption and burn this week and was rewarded with a 3 pound loss. Although that isn't Biggest Loser big, it's huge to someone who always averaged no more than .25-.5 pound loss weekly on previous bouts of Weight Watchers. I don't expect that much in the future but it's nice to see for the first week.

Day 2, Week 1 of training started the same as Day 1, Week 1: weighted squats superset with step-ups, 3 sets. Then medicine ball sit-ups superset with twists, 3 sets. Then push-ups with planks, 3 sets. Since we didn't need to do any time wasting paperwork today, there was time enough for more workout! We added in lying on my back, pulling in my legs (we had tried the raising and lowering of straight legs but my legs were doing the work, not my abs, so she modified it) superset with sideways up-and-over the step. This is a tall square step, not the little aerobic step that I'm used to (and I never did do the 2 risers on that aerobic step). I was huffing and puffing away with that. I managed to not fall over once, quite a feat for someone with my bad balance.

We weren't quite done though. I had to go up a flight of stairs, 2 at a time, then run down, twice. By then my legs were wobbling something fierce and I was toast.

I had thought that maybe doing 15-20 more minutes of cardio after this workout would be a good idea. Until I was done with this workout and realized I had no more cardio to give. This was made clear to me when I tried running across the parking lot to get out of the way of a car and my legs didn't want to carry me.

Thus concluded Week 1's workouts. I'm happy that tomorrow I have an exercise day off, before Saturday's mid-length run. I think this is going to work!

First personal training session: Take 2

2010-06-29T08:33:00.001-07:00

I was a little apprehensive after last week's aborted training session. Would the roof fall in? Sprinkler system malfunction and spray the room? Toxic gas release?

None of that happened and I had my very first ever session with a personal trainer. As a little background, I have done absolutely positively no upper body training since my tri season, 2 years ago. That training was shortened because of injuring my back, although I did continue swimming which granted a bit of upper body toning and strength. And last year I did the bike century but the only upper body workouts I did was holding the bike upright, nothing extra. Before that, I might have lifted a weenie weight or two when I started running, but for real weight work it's been since I was married. Since I divorced in 1990 we can see that it's been a while since I've paid true attention to strength work.

All that is to say: oy, what have I gotten myself into? I arrived at the gym at 6:00 am and "Katie" was set up and ready to finish the paperwork and measurements. Again, oy. Dudes. I'm really big. As in, big. I'm continually surprised that I let it get this far (again...) although to be fair, I've been bigger in the past (uh, yeah. Like that matters). We finished the paperwork and headed to the ~~torture chamber~~ workout area.

First up, squats. No problemo since I already do lots of squats, right? Hmm. What's this big old contraption? Squats with weights, huh? Never did a weighted squat before. Fifty pounds?? Are you out of your mind?? These were superset with step-ups. I only tripped the first couple of times on each foot (especially my left foot). Three sets of each and my legs were a little wobbly. Wimp.

Next were sit ups. With a medicine ball. After almost smacking my knees with the ball (and I warned Katie to get out of the way so I wouldn't accidentally knock her out) I made it through the first set. These were superset with twists. After 3 sets my arms were a little wobbly from the ball. Wimp.

Then my nemesis: push-ups. Since I have oodles of body weight and no upper body strength, these are a challenge (understatement). Push-ups were superset with planks. I kept falling on my face. The last set of push-ups were while standing and I still wasn't doing very well. Last plank I managed to hold the entire time without collapsing, but I was shaking so hard the people around me probably thought there was an earthquake. After that my arms were very wobbly. Wimp.

Thus concluded my first session. I felt so wiped out that I signed up for 22 more sessions. Obviously the blood had completed left my brain to do something like that. But to be perfectly serious for once, it's something I have to do. I'm not only trying to build strength, I need to lower my weight to ease my running. I need to be accountable to someone other than myself (in this case, my trainer and my wallet) and this will do it. I want to be pushed in a way that won't make me want to cry or quit, and be taught the correct way of doing the exercises.

I'm happy with how it went, enjoyed working out with Katie. The timing worked well to get home afterward and shower and still be on time for work. The only downside is getting out of bed so early but since I'm normally not asleep anyway it shouldn't be an issue. I think I'll be sore tomorrow but I need to remind myself that it's a "good" sore that I earned with hard work.

Stay tuned!

Powerless

2010-06-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to report on each of my workouts with my new personal trainer at my new gym. This morning I dragged out of bed at 5:30 am, took a quick wake-me-up shower and walked in the gym at 6:00. My trainer, who I'll call "Katie," was there waiting for me with forms and health questions. I filled out the forms and then she weighed me (verdict: heavy). Either she's an excellent actress, or she really thought I weigh at least 20 pounds less than I do.

After finding out that the gym's scale is very similar to mine, Katie took out the calipers and measured my body fat (verdict: lots of it). My guess was that I'd be about 40% BF and I was close, it was 38% (good grief, what would it be like if I didn't run??). Then Kathy pulled out the tape measure to find out my starting dimensions (verdict: none). Just as she was about the wrap the tape around my neck, the lights flickered and died.

The entire gym was silent and dark. And stayed dark. I don't know how extensive the power outage was, if it was just that building or if it was the neighborhood, but the gym was out. All the employees, including Katie, had to scurry around leading people out of the building. Yeah, even those in the dark dark showers.

All I could picture was the power going off and people flying off the back of their treadmills, like a bad comedy. I don't know if there's a fail safe that slows them down, but I bet there was a whole lot of swearing over in the cardio section. And in the pool. And in the pitch black bathrooms.

I went back home and decided that I might as well get to work early. Then I decided the hell with it and got on the treadmill. Three miles later I was tired out and ready for bed again, so I got ready and went to work.

And thus ended my first day of personal training. Hey, not sore at all!

Once more, starting over again. Again.

2010-06-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think I should just rename this blog "Another New Start." Apparently I'm not that great at follow-through and I'm pretty shabby at keeping up with my plans to change my life and improve my health.

After I ran my last marathon I told myself I HAD to make 2 changes before I ran another. First I needed to cut my hair since it was heavy and hot, slapping me on the back and the arms and spraying water everywhere and just an annoyance I didn't need. That was easily taken care of (although if it had been that easy, why did I wait for 8 months between cuts?). Less easy was my second issue which was to lose 10 pounds and get in better running shape. That's where I have to start over.

On Monday I did something I haven't done since I was married: I joined a gym. Yup, the woman who has her own workout room with treadmill and exercycle and weights and a step. The woman who as 3 -- count 'em, 3 -- bicycles in her garage. That woman: me. I not only joined a gym, I joined a gym that will cost me a lot of money. All so that I can pay even more money to work with a personal trainer. In the morning. Before work. At 6:00 am. Holy Early Riser, Batman!

It was Claudia's fault. Just like when I joined the tri team and when I joined the century team. Heh. Way to take some personal responsibility, Amy. Actually, it's all on me with just some friendly assist from Claudia. See, she gets up in the middle of the night and drives to the gym and works out with a trainer. If I had someone to meet I'd actually show up too. Especially if I have to pay for it. So she escorted me to her gym (which is 5 minutes from my house), introduced me to her trainer, and now I'm committed to not only paying the money, but to showing up. And by showing up, to work my ass off.

And since it doesn't make much sense to get back on the regular exercise wagon without paying attention to my food intake, I've started keeping a food diary and counting points. By writing it down I can see exactly how much I'm stuffing in my mouth and get a handle on controlling my out-of-control diet.

I think we all know I'm not good at dealing with new and uncomfortable situations. My anxiety level is through the roof right now (full disclosure: not all of it is due to the gym/trainer, some is due to family). My normal sleeplessness has degraded even further. Even though I'm awake at 5:30 am (... and 4:30 ... and 3:30 ...) I find I'm too weary to get up and run, although I'll be getting up and meeting the trainer twice weekly. When I get home from work I'm so pooped I just want to nap, again getting in the way of my running. The biggest thing I'm going to have to change in my life is to convince myself that even if I'm exhausted, I still have to get in my workouts. Regularly and constantly. Otherwise I'll be back here in 4 months starting over again.

See Jane Run Half Marathon Half-Assed Race Review

2010-06-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

I just realized I hadn't yet written up a review of the See Jane Run Half Marathon in Alameda on June 5th. One reason is that it was almost exactly like last year and the year before. Another is that it took me so long to write up the Vermont reports. So this will be a report without pictures, just because I'm lazy. This is a very expensive race to run, so expectations were high.

The ways in which it was exactly like last year:

1) early packet pickup at the store in Oakland (and available at the other stores);
2) goody bag made of plastic containing a Luna bar and not much else;
3) tech shirt in white with similar design to last year;
4) horrific lines to check sweats at the start;
5) stupid long lines for the porta potties at the start;
6) late start;
7) crowded path after the bridge;
8) abundant water stops;
9) abrupt stop after the finish;
10) I clocked the first mile .1 mile too long and the finish at 13.25 miles (even on tangents);
11) champagne glass with chocolate;
12) regular medal on a ribbon;
13) abundant finish area food;
14) many vendors selling stuff and/or giving samples.

The ways in which it was different from last year:

1) the timing chips had to be picked up race morning, meaning another long line;
2) Anita and Bree were running this year;
3) there weren't enough volunteers, most of the water stops were self-service;
4) there were a lot more walkers and slow runners, so it was crowded for longer on the route;
5) the bubbly was free-flowing. Very free flowing;
6) it was hot and sunny.

I was overwhelmingly disappointed by the lack of course support. It's ridiculous to have to pour your own water as if it's a training run. Yes, there was plenty of water (and some electrolyte drink) available, but with only 2 volunteers at each table, they couldn't keep up with the crowds. I recognize that it was warmer than it had been and people were taking more than 1 cup at a time, but even so it was poorly planned.

The starting area is a mess. I've said it for the past 2 years and I'll say it again. They should have this down by now, the organizers should be able to have better flowing traffic and they should be able to start on time.

That said, I still like the route. Of course, it's almost exactly our normal Alameda training route, but I like it. It's pretty and scenic running along the Bay. It's fun to see all the regular people on the trail trying to figure out why there are so many women with numbers pinned on their chests. I like running in the middle of the street instead of on the canted parts. I love seeing women of all shapes and sizes and talents and ages running in a pack.

I didn't have an easy day, which I expected since I had run a full marathon less than a week earlier. Also, my lungs were still crapped up from the smoke in Vermont. We all ran together for a couple of miles, then Bree dropped back to a different interval. Anita and I ran together until about mile 8-9 where I just fell apart and told her to go ahead at her own speed. I walked for most of a mile but when I crossed the bridge for the final 3 miles I was able to start running again. My goal had been to finish the race under 3 hours and I didn't. According to Mr. Garmin, I finished the 13.1 miles under 3 but it took me a couple of more minutes to finish the long course and I'm a believer in official times.

Will we do it again? It's unlikely. It's a hell of a lot of money for a training run with fringe benefits. I don't like the shirts and I could buy lots of bottles of champagne for the entry fee. On the other hand, I like supporting women's races where any rookie can feel secure in her first race. But there are so many races out there, lots of competition for my buck, and I think they'll have to work harder for it.

Vermont City Marathon Race Report

2010-06-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

The Vermont City Marathon was both the best and the worst part of my wonderful vacation in Vermont. My 32nd marathon (I know!) in my 20th state (I know!) was completely memorable. Even those parts I'd like to forget.

We went to the expo/packet pickup on Friday, late in the afternoon. Although the set-up was a little strange (go upstairs for your number, go downstairs for your shirt, visit the vendors all over), we quickly were able to retrieve the necessities. The goody bag was a backpack (in my colors of black and gray) with the race logo and was filled with this:

my first goody bag with maple syrup

nice sturdy bag to carry all my stuff

There were no advertisements, no leaflets, no coupons. All of that had been contained in our "e-bag" that we had received earlier. How very green of them, and I for one was quite thankful to avoid the massive waste. I had printed a couple of coupons that I intended to use and the rest of the items took up only cyberspace and not my trash.

The race shirt was quite a treat. It's a nice technical fabric, short sleeved bright blue shirt with all the relevant info and the logo. The other races (a 2 person relay and a 3-5 person relay) had another color shirt, so the full marathoners were set apart.

a race shirt I'll wear for running

The expo was pretty good for a small race. Yeah, I said small for a race that had about 3500 marathoners and 700 relay teams. I guess I'm getting so used to those megathons. I prefer this smaller size, it just seems that most races have 10,000 or 20,000 (or 40,000) participants. Smaller is definitely better. But I was talking about the expo which was indeed impressive for a race this size.

Heck, any expo where they're giving away samples of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and Cabot Cheese and Oikos Greek Yogurt and fancy Vermont peanut butter is a-ok in my book. Throw in vendors selling everything possible you could need for a race, often at a discount, I'm happy. We spent a lot of time there, not because we needed to but because, well, why not? We looked at clothing and sweatbands and watches and socks and assorted food and other races and had a good ol' time. I bought very little, but made sure to get my requisite running cap with the race logo (oy, like I need another running cap).

The race was using a type of timing device I hadn't seen before. It's like 2 little plastic strips on the sides of the bib, meaning nothing to attach to (or fall off of) your shoe. But it means no bending or folding the race bib either. I know there was a little trouble with the timing (just ask Sandy who really didn't massively PR at this race) but I don't know if that was related to the devices or something else. The volunteers at the counter explained the thingies carefully to make sure you didn't fold them or lose the bib.

The VCM provides a shuttle service to/from the race from various local hotels. Sunday morning we easily caught the yellow school bus (adults should never have to be subjected to those awful things) to the start area. Once there, it was unclear where we should go or where anything was located (including the start). It was very crowded with racers, families, pets, volunteers, assorted community members. I didn't see any signage at all but we did manged to get where we needed.

There were ample porta potties in a couple of areas. Bag check was difficult since there weren't any bags. It hadn't been made clear whether a cheapo bag would be provided or whether we should bring our own, so we didn't bring one. There were no bags available, except one volunteer took her lunch out of a plastic grocery bag and let us use that. My thanks go to that anonymous lady! This was one of the very few organizational missteps of the day; there was nothing about this that I could find on the website and nobody at the expo knew either. But for us, at least, it worked out ok.

The race area wasn't too well organized either. There were a few pacers standing around with their signs, the last of which was (I think) 4:30. Uh, right. The race was officially open for 6 hours and 4:30 was the slowest pacer? There weren't any signs showing where different paces should line up, so we went to the back. As did everyone else who was slower than a 4:30 marathon pace, so it got crowded. Knowing how slowly I've been running, I headed to the back of the back.

I was nervous. I was already warm, and jittery, and scared. My training for this race suffered from, in part, the 2 long-lasting colds (and the sinus infection and bronchitis) with asthma related breathing problems. My training also suffered from my not eating the right stuff all the time, and just not training enough. Sure, I got all my long mile runs done, but the short, strength building runs were highly absent. So yeah, I was nervous that I hadn't prepared well enough for this race. I knew I could do 26.2 miles, I just didn't know if I could do it in time.

The gun went off (or whatever it was, I didn't hear it as usual) and the crowd shuffled forward. Finally we crossed the mat and were off! My short-term plan was to start strongly enough to get me past the cutoff at 8.5 miles where you absolutely positively had to be running faster than a 13:25 pace, even with a bigass hill at the end. My long-term plan to to save enough from that to bank a little time in case I fell apart in the last miles. I intended to run:walk my normal 9:1 plus walking water stops through the half, then to reconsider and see what I could do.

Surprisingly enough, it started according to plan. The first bit was uphill, through the downtown area. We ran up Church Street which was thronged with people cheering while they drank their morning coffee and had breakfast. Crowd support, through almost the entire race except the freeway bits, was incredible. I normally don't care if anyone is out there cheering, but it can't help but make you feel good to see how much the locals enjoy and support this race.

Past mile 3 is the start of a long out-and-back section on a closed freeway. Many people were complaining about this section, but I thought it was pretty. The first half was a sharp downhill, but it's very obvious that the second half would be that same pitch uphill. I got to see the leaders of the race as I plodded along and they sped up the hill.

I was struggling to keep a decent pace going. My body and my brain just weren't into the whole "I'm running 26.2 miles" thing. I 9:1'd it downhill and then 9:1'd it back up again, and saw I was well within my time limit. I eased it back on the pace as I was flushed and nauseous and breathing heavy. This area had quite a bit of cant on the road but I was able to run straight down, then up, the middle which also served to help me cut those corners and run the tangents.

Before mile 9 I was hating the race and hating myself for getting into this. We ran back down Church Street where the crowd, while having thinned out a bit, was still cheering loudly for all the runners. For the next several miles I was seriously in doubt that I would finish the race. I was thinking this would be my first official DNF and I didn't care because Vermont is pretty and I could come back and do it right. I was hoping that I'd pass out, or that I'd fall badly enough to hurt myself enough to stop. I was thinking I could quit if I thew up, then I remembered that marathoners always continue on after they vomit so that wouldn't work. I saw a sign that said "beware falling rocks" and hoped that one would hit me on the head. Nice. Throughout this section I switched to a 4:1 with little effect.

All the while this was going on in my head I was moving forward, and enjoying my views of the city, the crowds and the other runners. Go figure. My appreciation for the water stop volunteers soared each time they helped me fill my water bottle and quickly sent me on my way. I took my gels, drank water and my Ultima moved on.

Somehow at the half point I got my second wind. It might have been the view of the Lake, it might have been the fresh breeze cooling down my fevered brow, it might have been the quiet flat path, it might have been all the fluids I had taken in. Whatever it was, I changed back to 9:1 and for the first time that morning knew that I would indeed finish the damn race, and I might even do it on time. Life was grand, life was wonderful, and I was out there doing it.

That lasted until I hit the hill at mile 15. All I could do was wonder what sadistic sonofabitch had designed the course with that gratuitous hill. I walked almost the entire 6 blocks of it, and even so was huffing and puffing and wheezing and almost crying (when I wasn't ready to burst out in obscenities at anyone who told me "lookin' good!"). I hit the top of the hill and was officially fried. With 11 miles left to go.

But what's 11 miles to me, I thought? That's a mere training run, a mere jaunt on the treadmill, a ... oh, who was I fooling. It was 11 more freakin' miles to go and I knew at that point that it would be unlikely that I'd finish in time (although I knew for a fact that I'd finish at some point). I did what any marathoner in her right mind would do: I continued on.

The day started getting warmer. The overcast skies were clearing and the sun was popping out. The temps felt like it was in the low 70's but it could have been cooler or warmer. It was very humid which was great for my asthma but not for my cooling system. An intermittent breeze drew cooler air off the water and was very welcome when it arrived.

The route took off through a couple of neighborhoods and even at that late hour, that far into race day, there were still people out on their lawns or at block parties or sitting with a hose full of cold free water to spray down hot runners. It was embarrassing to sadly trudge past these friendly cheering throngs, so I'd suck it up to look good until they were behind me, then start trudging again. My 4:1 deteriorated to what was probably a 2:2 at that point, but I was still running regularly.

When the route turned onto the bike path at mile 21-ish I knew without a doubt I wouldn't make the cutoff but it didn't stop me. Official or not, I was finishing. Although there were signs posted that the path was closed for the race, it's a busy route and many people were using it for recreation and transit so it was crowded. At this point I was telling myself NOT to fall, NOT, to throw up, NOT to pass out because it still wouldn't stop me, only delay me. I got to the point where I stopped looking at my watch and just ran when I could, walked when I couldn't.

There were several race personnel on bikes riding back and forth to make sure (1) that none of us laggards were dying on the path, and (2) that we were going to finish the race some day soon. They were kind, considerate, funny, and also annoying to a grump like me who just wanted to be finished, not to converse about how I was doing. Still moving forward, so I must be ok, right?

I was right when I had thought, 2 days earlier, that the changes in grade would irritate the bejeebers out of me. Walk up, run down, rinse and repeat. Run around that person, walk around the other. Get passed by someone else. Pass them again in turn. Drink more, breathe deeply, try to smile, move on.

I finally saw the finish area ahead, saw the crowded pathway leading to the finish, and tried to pick it up. Right after the 26 mile marker I had to pick it up; the beer tent was directly along the path and everyone inside was loudly cheering and clapping. What could I do but pretend I could run it all the way in? There were 2 tight corners to turn (at one of which I almost collided with a little girl who came to a stop right in front of me), then pound it on home. And I was done.

I don't remember exactly what happened next. I know I got my medal, got my space blanket (which I didn't need yet), got my water. There was a table with food but I had no interest in it. I needed to cool down and and steady my breathing. Sandy came to meet me and we walked around for a couple of minutes. I let myself start feeling the pain I'd been ignoring for hours but I couldn't remove the smile from my face. Then I remembered: free beer!

Not that I was interested in beer, but it's the principle of the thing. If there's free beer after a race I always at least take a sip. This time I was more interested in sitting down before finding the bus. Sitting down with a beer was just a bonus. The tent was starting to clear out so we got a table along the route to see the last few marathoners bring it in. No, I wasn't the last person!

Despite their stated 6 hour cut-off of services, I felt fully supported the entire route. Sure, lots of the later water stations had gone down to 1 table and they were sweeping up cups in front of me, but there were still lots of people handing out that water and cheering. The finish line fencing was being taken down but the finish line stayed up until the last person crossed. I don't know of the variety, but there was still at least a little to eat for the late finishers. There was certainly beer.

We had a wait for the bus, but when the last one showed up the driver offered to take everyone, whether they were on her route or not. All of the tired runners, all of the tired family members got that one last favor.

Overall impressions of the race? Incredible. One of the best organized of the races I've done. One of the best supported by volunteers. Some of the best crowd support I've seen and embraced more by the locals than any I've seen before except for maybe New York. The route had a few more twists and turns than I like but we got to see various parts of the town, the Lake, parks and businesses. The topography was varied from dead flat to grades to bigass hills. There were a few problems such as the disorganized start area and sweat check, the mile markers weren't too clear (I missed at least 3 of them), the rumors of ice cream at the finish were only that, and people were allowed to cluster on the finish route while others were still running. Other than that, it was a great race. I'm glad I did it. And glad I don't have to come back to do it again!

Vermont Teddy Bear Company Factory Visit

2010-06-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

Nine years ago I ran my first marathon. Not only did I discover that I love going the distance running but I also love going the distance to get to the race. When my number of completed marathons reached somewhere in the upper 20's, and my number of states where I had run those marathons reached the upper teens, I admitted that I would very much like to run a full marathon in every single state of our United States of America. I've completed all my local, close states and now I'm going for those that will take more effort on my part.

Along with my own obsession with running marathons is a country-wide growth of obsessed runners and the corresponding number of marathons. I decided that I'd like to combine my joys and travel to areas for marathons that also have something else that interests me. Thus, the Vermont City Marathon and the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. Hey, it's not that strange for me considering I ran a couple of half marathons in Chicago only because I wanted to be there the same weekend as the Stitches yarn market (and I've also visited yarn shops in every marathon city I've been to since I started knitting).

A common misconception among people who know me is that I collect teddy bears. Nope, I don't. I've just happened to accumulate a whole crapload of them! I got my first bear when I was in high school and somehow, many years later, I have a house full of bears. Big bears, little bears, tiny bears, black/brown/tan/purple/white/red/pink/gray/younameit colored bears. Hard bears, stiff bears, funny bears, sad bears, floppy bears, ornamental bears, fuzzy bears, naked bears and dressed bears.

I received my very first Vermont Teddy Bear in October, 2002. My sis sent me a bear to wish me good luck when I ran the Silicon Valley Marathon. On the back of this Superstar Bear's shirt is embroidered "Go Amy," which I did in the race by knocking 12 minutes of my previous fastest race time. That was the start of my sis and me sending each other Vermont Teddy Bears.

For birthdays, for achievements, for illness or injury or just because, one of us would go online and send the other a bear, usually as a surprise. Along with this, I started getting bears from the Vermont Teddy Bear Company for myself. First it was for special occasions, then for commemoration, then for "just because I like her!" or for no reason at all. All of a sudden, I realized that when I put together all my Vermont Teddy Bears, it looked like this:

yes, there are 14 bears on my sofa

Slightly disturbing for a grown woman, hmm (especially when you can see the other bears in the background)? But that didn't stop me, because a couple of years earlier I had discovered a full marathon in Vermont only minutes away from the Vermont Teddy Bear factory. Too many bears or not, I was going to see the mothership, I would get to tour the home of them all. I would just have to put on my big girl panties and not buy out the entire place.

You might remember that a couple of years ago I was contacted by a representative of the Vermont Teddy Bear Company and offered a free bear (an offer which I happily accepted). He's the little guy in the tux in the upper left hand corner of the picture. To satisfy the latest full disclosure laws regarding product reviews (which I guess this really is, in the long run), yes, I got a freebie. But that was after I already had bought oodles of Vermont Teddy Bears for myself, my sis and my friends and in no way changed my admiration for this "product."

Anyhoo, when I realized I would be in Burlington, VT in just a week I sent an email to VTB (sorry, tired of typing the entire thing out) and asked if he'd be available to meet me when I showed up. To my delight, he indeed would be there and would be able to come out to say hello.

Sandy and I arrived at the VTB factory early Friday afternoon. I seriously felt like a little kid going to Disneyland or having her first Christmas morning (full disclosure: I never went to Disneyland as a kid and I'm Jewish so I never celebrated Christmas. But I felt like I would imagine a kid would feel at those times). I was actually giddy. Sandy was amused.

We paged Nate and he came down to the shop to say hello. More than say hello. We got the grand tour, the behind the curtain view of Emerald City. We were introduced around ("this is the crazy lady who has as many bears as the factory and who runs marathons"), shown things that most visitors never get a chance to see, and made to feel right at home. Ok, maybe not right at home, I think Nate sensed that I could easily move right on in if given half a chance. Hell, I think he was a bit taken aback to see the tattoo on my leg (it's their logo bear. But only because it's the best line drawing of a teddy bear that I could find. I'm not their "biggest fan" and I'm not going to lock the employees in some room and break their legs until they design my perfect bear. I promise.).

Nate spent quite a bit of time with us, answered all our questions, gave us a good idea of the workings of the company and the sister companies (go to their websites and check them out yourself. I'm busy writing here). Since he then had to go perform his actual job, he left us in the capable hands of the general tour guide, where a tour was just starting. Thank you Nate, for a memorable time!

We joined the tour in progress and followed along with the (about) dozen parents and children. We seemed to be the only adults without little ones, which was a little surprising to me. But the kids on the tour added to my own wonder and joy at the whole experience. I took lots of pictures which I won't be posting here, mostly because of blogger's annoyingly inept picture interface.

It was fascinating to learn about construction of a VTB. Since obviously mine all arrive in one piece, I had no idea how many little bits it takes to make a bear. There were actual employees assembling little teddies while we watched (and kudos to them for not pacing nervously back and forth the way a caged bear in a zoo does). We were shown the bear hospital where injured teddies are repaired (yes, fully guaranteed, even if they're chewed on by the dog or spit out by a lawn mower). This tour was short, probably because a little kid doesn't have the greatest attention span, but quite complete.

Y'all know that I can be quite the grump when it comes to screeching kids. We didn't hear any of that during the entire tour (or indeed, the whole time we were there). Yes, there were a gazillion kids, both little and big. Yes, they were noisy. But they were happy laughing giggling noisy, not cranky greedy noisy. They were running and playing and not one screech came out. A small miracle in itself.

Along the tour route I found my newest friend, but they wouldn't let me take him home:

oh c'mon, he likes me! he wants to move to California with me!

Then came the tough part: the shopping. There's a room with almost every single bear that they make. Shelves and tables and displays of bears. I walked around and pointed out that "I have that one" "and that one" "and that one" "and that one" and on and on. But there were even more that I didn't have. Many more. And I had told myself I could have 1.

Hahahahah! Yeah, we all know how well that would work. The one bear I had permissioned myself to buy was a dark brown colored version of this sweet girl:

For some reason this lovely, soft, floppy, squishy, huggable bear had disappeared from the website and catalog and I hoped that I could find another one. I knew they originally came in this golden color, the dark brown, pink and pale blue (and maybe yellow, or maybe I'm just imagining that). Luckily I saw an entire display shelf filled with these bears. Unluckily I then had to instruct myself that I only needed to get the dark brown, and not the pink and blue.

But I didn't stop there. There was a bear that I had never seen, that belonged in my house. Most of you who have seen my knitting and my yarn know that my colors are black, red and gray (or white). The previously unseen bear was black fur tipped with white. Wait, maybe it was the other way around, white tipped with black. Anyway, he was a beautiful bear and matched my furnishings so he had to be mine also. Oh hey, I just found him on their website. Mine doesn't have the tie, he's nekkid and don't need no steenkin clothing.

But wait, there's more! I've wanted one of their little bears, but they're normally only sold with the mama or grandmama bears as a set. I just wanted a lil 'un for me. Ok, and one for my sis too.

No, I wasn't done yet. I've never been to the stuff-it-yourself bear emporium and VTB has their own select line of stuffers. Including a fluffy bright red teddy bear. I got the thrill of being there for the stuffing of my very own Friend for Life (Conceived by Vermont Teddy Bear, Born Abroad, Stuffed in Vermont) red bear.

At that point my arms ran out of room, my wallet ran out of money, and the day ran out of time. Sandy walked out of the VTB showroom with 3 bears, I walked out with only the one brown bear. One day this week, hopefully soon, the others will arrive in their cozy box.

I had the BEST TIME EVAH! Honestly, the people couldn't have been nicer, the merchandise was irresistible, my dreams were fulfilled and exceeded. If you're ever in that part of the country, even a couple of hundred miles away, you have to go visit.

Tell 'em Runner Girl Knits and her large family of bears sent ya!

MINE, ALL MINE! Bwahahahah!
oh wait, my sis gets one of the little ones

Runner Girl's Great Vermont Adventure

2010-06-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I gleefully hopped a plane to head to the eastern part of this country. I arrived on time in New York and proceeded to go nowhere fast. They were experiencing thunder and lightning at JFK and didn't think we should try to fly in it. Sissies. On top of my expected 3 hour layover, there were an additional 2 hours of delay. BORED! (Which is completely sad since I had 2 books, my knitting, several movies on my computer, airport internet, etc. etc.)

I finally arrived in Burlington, VT before midnight and made my way to the motel. Sandy had an easy drive up from New York and was comfortably snuggled in her bed. I made sure she was awake and we popped open a bottle of wine to celebrate seeing each other again. Chatter chatter until the wee small hours when we finally realized a little sleep would be helpful.

In a move that surprised both of us, we decided to actually go for the run we had talked about before sleeping. I slathered on sunscreen and dressed in a tank top and shorts - first time for sleeveless this season. We drove to the waterfront and after driving in circles for a bit, parked and started on our way. The plan was for 4 easy miles on the lakefront trail.

We were ignoring that "easy" means a different pace for us both. Although Sandy tried to slow down to my slug-pace, I'm easily rabbited and when she'd get ahead of me, I'd speed up too. The remarkable thing was that as long as I stayed slow enough, my breathing was better than it's been since that first cold I got this winter.

The trail on which we were running, the Burlington Bikeway, is part of the marathon route, toward the end of the race. I knew that even though it was "flat" or "flattish," the little changes in grade would drive me batshit beyond mile 20. The trail was well maintained asphalt with glimpses of Lake Champlain on one side and greenery or houses on the other.

It was fun to me to once again be in the type of vegetation in which I grew up (I grew up in a house, not a garden, but you know what I mean) (don't you?). I had just missed the Lilac bloom which was too bad since it's one of my favorite woody plants and they don't grow well in the East Bay. I seemed to hit peak Peony time though, and from what I could see they weren't the ant attractors that mine are. It was nice to see the varieties of maples and oaks and other hardwoods that don't grow as well (or as big) in the Bay Area, and the green green undergrowth of ferns and vines and flowers. I really felt completely at home. I also realized that I've quite forgotten the names of all the viney plants and wildflowers. They were pretty to look at, whatever they were.

It was a warm, breezy, sunny morning and after about 2-1/2 miles I started getting lightheaded. Because we had forgotten to eat anything or have coffee before starting. D'oh! Here I was, pushing it just a little past my comfort zone speedwise, and I was empty. Dummy. I should have known better. Luckily I had some Sport Beans in my pack and I knew it was only 4 miles. We made it to the end, feeling quite righteous.

After cooling down we returned to the motel for their free breakfast and then showers. We had a full day ahead of us and had to get on the road. Luckily Sandy had a GPS unit since the Gmap directions I had brought with me were complete confusion. We started out for our yarn crawl.

After a while of driving in circles we arrived at our first stop, Northeast Fibe r A rts center. Since my stash is a bit out of hand I was only going to buy yarn if it was from a local sheep/spinner/dyer/company and whatdaya know, I found some. I bought a few skeins of a lovely electric blue hand dyed Vermont Border Leceister. [Note: this was very odd to me since I was reading John Scalzi's "The Android's Dream" which involves a sheep with bright blue wool, which I picture as looking exactly like this yarn. ]

I also fed my sock yarn addiction and bought a skein of E lla Rae Lace Meri no. The shop was lovely and welcoming and the owner (I think she was the owner) showed me around and pointed out local yarns. The selection of yarns was great but I was being reasonable and stopped while I was ahead.

I thought See's was the candy store for knitters, but I stand corrected

That didn't stop us from moving on to the next yarn shop, Kaliedoscope Yarns. Although this looked from the outside to be someone's home, inside it was all yarn. Once again I was helped by the friendly staff, although they weren't quite as willing to just let me look at only the local items. Because of this, I walked out with a couple of skeins of Madeline Tosh DK Yarn in Tart as well as the relatively local (at least to a clueless Californian) Lobster Pot Yarn's Lobster Sox in Salt Rose (and I would have bought another skein in the gorgeous Lobster Bisque had it been in stock). If you're in the area I recommend visiting both of these shops!

We were getting hungry by then but didn't want to take too much time out of our busy touristing, so we found a local sandwich/Vermont-y store and got sandwiches. We gobbled them down and headed off to my real goal of the entire vacation, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company factory. That will be a story in itself. A long story with lots of pictures. And bears bears bears.

mine mine mine mine mine

After many hours (yes, we went well beyond "couple" and "few") we bid a fond, expensive farewell and left. Next stop, right up the road, was a brewery with free tasting. Marathon, schmarathon, we wanted beer!

The Magic Hat Brewing Company tasting room looked like a combination between a pub and a tourist store. I'm pretty darn certain I was the oldest person in there. Their beers were all listed on the wall and the kind servers poured us whatever we wanted. Between the two of us we tasted most of the choices, liking some more than others. We decided to buy a bottle or two for that night, although we never did end up drinking them (too much wine, I guess). Sandy got to take them home with her, lucky girl!

We were heading toward our motel when we remembered that we were supposed to go to the race expo between 4-7 pm. Funny, all that yarn and bears and beer and we forgot why we were in Vermont in the first place. We went to the expo, which I'll talk about in the race report, then finally made it back to the motel.We were exhausted by that time so we just had dinner at the motel's pub. Very healthy option: salad bar and wings. Well, we needed protein, didn't we? Then we headed back to the room to attempt to sleep.

We spent a night tossing and turning (usual for me, not as much for Sandy) and decided we should eat the free breakfast and get a move on. Again, we had lots to do. Our drive was a little longer this time, out to the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory.

ice cream cows!

We were just in time to catch the next tour and walked around the factory. Since it was a Saturday, nobody was working on the floor but the guide was still able to show us how ice cream would be made, if anyone was working. At the end of the tour we got our taste of one of the newest flavors, Boston Cream Pie. Very delicious. In fact, when the tour guide asked us to please take seconds because otherwise they'd be thrown out, we were happy to comply.

waste not, want not

a decent tour would let us taste each of these

From B&J's we moved down the road a bit to A Special Place where our first stop was the C abot Cheese Annex Store. We sampled all of their tasty varieties of cheddar cheese and ignored the fact that this wasn't quite the nutrition we needed for the race. We ignored that even more at the Snow Farm Vineyard Tasting area, where we tried mouthsful of their wines from the Champlain Islands.

Next up was Lake Champlain Chocolate factory outlet, where the samples were ok and the chocolate was expensive. We bought not one thing there, the first place we'd gone to without spending money. Since we were there, we also went into the Danforth Pewter shop and browsed through their pretty merchandise. I didn't get off as cheaply there, I bought a hair clip and a letter opener.

Since we hadn't tired ourselves out enough, we decided to next (and last for the day) check out the Church Street Marketplace. This is a street that's closed to traffic and made into a pedestrian mall lined by restaurants and shops. And cows. Seriously, the cows came home to Burlington. For a change, these didn't scare me in the least.

the cow jumped over the moon

how pastoral

a porcelain bovine

groovy, man

ok, maybe this one scared me

a little busy

gift wrapped!

I'm seeing spots

mooing in a winter wonderland

We decided it would be nice to rest a little so we headed back to the motel and both took a short nap. We wanted to be lazy once again and had dinner at the motel restaurant for a second time. We tried for an early night but it didn't look like either of us would be having a lot of sleep.

We were right. Although it was late for a marathon (the race didn't start until 8:00 am) the alarm went off at 5:40 am. I spent the night with bizarro oddball dreams and nightmares and didn't mind getting up to shower.

The race was long, and hard, and wonderful and the race report forthcoming.

Sunday afternoon we didn't make it back to the motel until 4-ish. We took turns standing under the pouring hot water in the shower and each climbed into our bed for a little shuteye. Not much sleep, mind you, just resting. The vast quantities of caffeine Gu kept me from sleep.

No motel restaurant for us again, we wanted pizza and beer! We queried the motel staff and were told of a close-by pizza joint, Marco's Pizzeria & Grill, that was very good. A couple of minutes later we had ordered a Go Greek pizza (feta, sundried tomato, artichoke and black olives), wings and beer (that protein thing, again!). Despite not having had anything to eat all day except performance food, our eyes were much bigger than our appetites.

While we were lazily eating our pizza and drinking our beer, we noticed (couldn't have failed to notice) 2 little kids running around the restaurant and playing together. They were loud but not screeching. The sound of their laughing and giggles was fun to listen to. It turned out the family was part of the owner's family. We were talking to the owner's sister and told her we had run the marahton. She was so impressed that she offered to buy us another round of beer. Neither of us was too inclined to drink more but neither were we inclined to move, so we happily accepted her gracious offer. When we got back to the motel Sandy had to pack, I just had to pack it in. I crawled into bed, read a little, and hoped the beer would help me sleep. Notsomuch.

Although I was staying another day, Sandy had to drive home. We had breakfast and decided to go to the waterfront and take pictures. Upon stepping outside we noted it was very hazy. And very smoky. As people who live (or lived, in her case) in a place where a season is called "Fire Season" we knew there was a big fire somewhere. We didn't know there was a huge forest fire in Quebec and the smoke was drifting southward and piling up over Vermont. It was way beyond nasty. Our photo op was spoiled by the thick haze. We went back to the race finish area and walked around a little, but our breathing was bad enough that we didn't go too far or stay too long.

pretend you can see New York and a lovely shoreline

Oddly enough we were getting hungry again so we decided to take another look at Church Street and find a restaurant. We walked up and down and the air was clearing just enough to make it ok to eat on one of the shaded patios. We picked one of the very similar restaurants and I had my annual or semi-annual Reuben (I normally don't eat beef, but I make that exception). Along with the brightly fluorescent orange sweet potato fries, it was utterly delicious. A couple of quick stops later Sandy packed up her car and deserted me (sorry Sandy, just kidding).

yum, orange food!

I intended to take a walk, or knit, or read, or load picture onto the computer. Instead, I closed my eyes and took a nap. Mostly a toss and turn, but I think I grabbed a wink or two. Afterward, the rest of the day went quickly. I did a little of this and that, went for a walk and got a sandwich for a late dinner, watched a little tv and went back to bed.

And that was it. A great vacation with a great friend in a great area. I can't say enough about the friendliness and kindness of the Vermonters we met. Almost everyone was welcoming to these Californians (which isn't always the case). Even the worn areas around Burlington are pretty and lush and green. When I win the lottery I'm getting a summer home there!

Waiting for Lost

2010-05-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

It turns out that margaritas and a burrito are not, in fact, a good dinner the night before a run. Who knew, right? Oh wait, I DID know that. But they were both important in keeping me from exploding on Friday night.

Every afternoon when I leave work I call my mom and talk with her for the drive home (and for a long time after I reach home). It's quite easy to keep the majority of attention on the drive and still converse with her. Friday night I was almost off the freeway when the very loud noise started. I had been fighting the wheel the entire drive since it was windy as hell, but otherwise nothing different from normal. This noise was not normal. Nor was the bumping and pulling on the right side of the car. I realized I had a flat and hung up on my mom so that I could devote full attention to my car. I pulled into the first parking lot and went to look at the tire. It was not only flat on the bottom, it was square and flat all over. Whoopsie, that wasn't good.

I called CSAA and had a conversation with a woman who seemed to speak very little English. I gave her all my information and she told me it would be up to 45 minutes before someone got there. Y'know, Friday night commute. Within 10 minutes another woman called me and asked me why I didn't have lug nuts on my wheel and how the tire had stayed on the car. Huh? No, I thought the first woman had asked if I had locks on the wheels. Heh. I was told someone would be out within the half hour.

The truck arrived, the nice AAA man whipped off the dead tire and put on the mini spare and I was ready to go. To Costco, to see if they could sell me a new tire. That was a big nope; they had the right type of tire, but it was for a big truck. They sent me across the street to Big O tire.

I made it just in time. They had a nice set of cheap tires that met the specs and they could install them right then. The guy told me they were closing in 14 minutes. I asked how long it would take to install the new tires: 14 minutes. It actually took about twice that, but I handed over my overused credit card and was on my way.

Thus, the margaritas and burrito. Therapy!

The run did go well, even with our poor manner of fueling. Bree and I went 8 miles at Inspiration Point on a beautifully clear, windy morning. The damn cows stayed out of my way this week, leaving only their large runny piles in the middle of the trail (and may I say, if the ranchers can graze their beasts out in the public park, they should have to wash down the trail too). We were slow, taking our time. The wind was bad enough that I pulled my Buff over over my head (look, it's babushka woman!). That took care of the wind blowing in one ear and out the other.

I was working on slamming down the hills as hard as I could, something I wish I had done more than one steenkin' week before the marathon. I know I won't be able to run fast uphill, so I want to make up the time going downhill without blowing out my quads. I felt good afterward so the pounding didn't cause any problems.

I left Bree with one mile to go and ran in it as strongly as I could. It was my fastest mile of the morning and although I was glad I was done, I felt great. Cold, windblown and gritty but great. It was a good taper run.

So that marathon? Bring it on, I'm ready!

Top ten reasons I'm looking forward to the Vermont City Marathon

2010-05-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

10. It's my vacation;
9. I have almost a full week off work;
8. Reviews say it's a well run race;
7. I love running marathons, even when I'm not in great condition;
6. I'll get a lot of knitting done during my 3 hour lay-overs at JFK;
5. I'm going to visit at least 2 local yarn shops;
4. It's been even warmer in Vermont than it has been here;
3. I get to see 26.2 miles of this beautiful area up close and personal;
2. I get to see Sandy;

and the number one reason I'm looking forward to the Vermont City Marathon:

1. I'm going to tour the Vermont Teddy Bear factory!

Slower than usual

2010-05-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

It's currently my turn to have the office cold. I've had possession for the past week and I'm more than willing to pass it along to the next taker. Yes, it was only 3 months ago that I got the last cold that devolved into a sinus infection and bronchitis. Hopefully this one will depart my lungs and sinuses without having to resort to antibiotics. I've been making good use of OTC remedies though, popping pills and sipping syrups in hope of relief.

Despite not being able to breathe well, my longest training run for Vermont was scheduled for Saturday. Each night last week I went to bed hoping I'd be better the next day; week morning last week I wasn't. I was determined to do the best I could, knowing in my heart I couldn't run 22 miles but wanting to get 5 hours on my feet.

I planned the run for Alameda. Since Mary Ann had made a surprise visit to the area, she joined Anita and me bright and early for a couple of 6 mile loops. The first loop went very well, even though right now my "fast" pace is still about 13 minute miles. We chatted, admired the spring scenery, and ran along. Since Mare was getting over a cold and Anita will go along with whatever I decide, we slowed down even more on the second outing. I decided to just do an out-and-back that time and thus bypass the verdant weeds and grasses, hoping to skip a little pollen.

Bree joined us about a mile from our cars and ran back with us. We said goodbye to Anita and Mary Ann and headed out for the last 10 miles. By then I was completely pooped. Even walking briskly was hard for me, but I knew I needed the time on my feet. I was trying very hard not to move so fast that I'd wheeze since that would set off coughing.

By then it had warmed up a little, probably just about 60 degrees, but the cold cross winds were always in our faces. There were some clouds, and when the sun was covered and the wind blew it got very chilly. That was pretty good incentive to keep running instead of walking. The morning's intervals of 9:1 became 4:1, then 2:2, then finally 1:2. Sometimes we'd run to a light standard, or to a garbage can, or to a pole. But except for mile 17 where my exhaustion triumphed, we continued to run as much as I could.

It was great having Bree there encouraging me to run, cheering me on, keeping me moving. Seriously, I would have just collapsed on a park bench somewhere and snoozed for a couple of hours if I had been alone. I didn't get my 22 miles, or even 21, but I got 20.2 in the bag. And funny enough I finished at 4:59, just at the 5 hour mark that I had wanted (of course, I had wanted 22 miles at 5 hours, not 20 miles, but I'll take what I can get).

The one thing that kept me going was how glorious it was out there. Seriously, how damn lucky are we to have places like that in our neighborhood? ("Neighborhood" used very loosely here.) The Bay, the hills, bridges, wildflowers, gardens, egrets, ducks, geese, dogs, cats, millions of ground squirrels. All with a well tended multi-use asphalt path with fountains and bathrooms. Support your East Bay Regional Park District, because boy howdy, it would be much tougher getting out there while sick if all we had were busy urban streets for running.

I'm glad it's taper time now, time to start worrying about making the time cut-off at a race where the cut-off shouldn't be a problem. I'm appalled at how slowly I'm running and I hope that during taper time my cold, allergies, sinus woes, breathing issues and all that drippy stuffy wheezy crap is cleared up. My determination, stubbornness and will can only go so far, my body has to play along too. I've been looking forward to this race (and vacation!) for a long time. Three weeks from today I'll know my capabilities.

Mermaid Half race review (finally)

2010-04-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Last year I "competed" in the Mermaid Duathlon and decided that I liked the way they organized their races. I knew they held a half marathon in the early spring but it never fit with my schedule. This year the race had changed venues to the other side of the Bay, and was the day after my birthday. Since normally the only marathon/half marathon the weekend of my birthday is that famous one on the other side of the country (for which I will never run fast enough to qualify), I grabbed the chance for a (day after) birthday race and registered.

My training runs had been going well, even though my earlier half marathon in Oakland had, quite frankly, sucked (me, not the race). I was a bit concerned about the Mermaid Half since the pollen levels have been off the charts and my breathing has been poor. But the weather forecast was for a great day and I figured I'd enjoy myself no matter what.

I arose early, at 4:50 am, and forced myself to eat some breakfast. It's getting harder and harder to fuel before a run or a race; food of any type is completely unappetizing. I know I can't get past an hour of activity if I haven't eaten something like oatmeal but physically it's a struggle to choke it down. I met Anita, who had decided to run the race with me, at a parking lot in San Leandro and we drove together to Mountain View. I knew the start was in a park near Shoreline Amphitheater but the exact location was unclear. We did find the parking lot though, and were nice and early.

We parked and used the clean and fresh porta potties, then went to packet pickup. The goody bag was a very nice reusable bag, the tee shirt was good quality and cute. There wasn't much in the bag other than our bibs (with the disposable D timing tag), the shirts and a Luna Bar, along with a bunch of ads. The bag itself was the goody. And damn, for someone with borderline dyslexia, "goody" is hard as hell to type. It's also a very strange word to look at. Goody. Goody. Goody. Or, goodie.

Yeah. We went back and sat in the warm car for a while then waited in the rapidly lengthening line for the potties. It turned out that line wasn't long, it was the line to wash hands at the portable sinks, an option usually not available. Funny, at races without sinks everyone just walks away, but with a sink it become imperative to wash up.

In addition to the half marathon there were also a 10k, a 5k and a "mini-mermaid" race. The starts were supposed to be staggered with the half beginning first, but the loud speakers were very garbled and I don't think most women heard anything other than "start." There were clearly runners of the other races beginning at the same time as the half; the bibs were different colors.

We started off slowly in comparison with everyone else, but a bit quickly for us (like maybe 10 seconds per mile faster than optimal). It was overcast, breezy and cool and we knew it would warm up while we were out there. The crowd quickly thinned out along the path as we headed along the Bay.

The first part of the run was on asphalt trails and was very enjoyable. The scenery was lush and overgrown with the mustard plants taller than both of us. Other delicate wildflowers and grasses grew along the trail, leading to the Bay. All types of water birds (collectively to me as "ducks") and fowl ("geese") were watching us run past. We were enjoying the beautiful morning.

Then the trail changed to a dirt fire road. I immediately slowed down, even though the effort remained the same. The road at this point was well graded dirt and relatively easy for running (for someone who isn't as uncoordinated as I am). We continued winding along the road, slower and slower. Then the trail turned to ungraded, rocky rutted road, much harder to run on. I was sure I'd turn an ankle or fall if I didn't keep my entire attention on each step. Too bad, because it was really pretty along that part of the race.

The water stops were spaced a couple of miles apart and were manned by some of the friendliest students I've ever seen at a race. Normally anyone younger than 20's is a little grumpy at having to stand around for hours, but these (high school aged) students were wonderful and helpful.

The route was an out-and-back with a loop so we got to see everyone running back toward the start. There were a couple of incredibly speedy women and each one took the time to smile or wave to cheer for those of us plodding along at the rear. And plodding we were. By the turnaround my lungs were heavy and wheezy and my legs were tired from wobbling on the rocks. I couldn't wait to get back to the paved portion of the run.

Slower and slower, until I was sure that we were going to have the chance to be DFL, something I intended to take great pride in. But no, there were a couple of girls who were challenging us for that "honor." We ran when we could, walked when we couldn't. The sun came out, the breeze increased, and we marveled at the lovely scenery around us. We made up names for plants and birds, something easy for 2 middle aged women who don't see that well. Blue duck, huh?

We got back to the pavement and were able to pick up our pace a little but by then I was burned out. Then we saw the return route wasn't quite the same as the start; we left the pavement and returned to dirt. We could see the finish line and could also see we weren't last. Anita fell back behind me; as a birthday present I got to finish first. Heh. "First" being relative since 98% of the runners had already finished.

We were handed a bottle of water and a little bag containing our medal/necklace. There was a pancake breakfast but as usual my stomach was in no shape for food. There was fruit, pancakes, juice, candy. A group of booths were set up with different vendors including Luna, a big sponsor of the race. We wandered through as we cooled down, looking and tasting. The award ceremony had taken place some time before we got there. The last few finishers wandered across the line and the race remained open until they crossed.

I was again impressed with the quality of the race, especially considering how much cheaper it was than the big 'uns. Everything essential (water and electrolytes, well marked route, porta potties), good premiums (the bag, the shirt and the necklace), food at the finish, friendly support personnel. Throw in a gorgeous route in spring and I'd do this race again in a heartbeat - assuming I get my breathing under better control.

Afterward my lungs still hurt, badly. But I was heartily amused when I discovered that I was third in my age group; because Anita dropped back and let me cross first, I placed in the race! Too bad the award ceremony had taken place earlier and you have to be present to get any awards, but I still get a giggle that someone as slow as I am can place.

Not the race report ... yet

2010-04-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

I've been putting off writing about the Mermaid Half Marathon until I get the pictures from my camera to my computer but since that's taking forever, I'll write around it.

Friday was my birthday, the latest of many others. It astounds me when I think that I'm in my mid-50's since I don't feel that different from how I felt when I was, oh, in my teens. That same sense of self, of "this is me" is there. Yeah, I have a different body and different life outlook from when I was younger but it's still the same Amy inside my head. I still sound like me to me, I still have my same feelings, but the calendar and my mirror tell me that yes indeedy I'm middle aged. Not complaining, mind you. I know the only alternative to getting older and it's not something I want. Age over death any day, thankyouverymuch. It's just that it's so odd!

My celebration included going to work, since that's what I normally do on Fridays. Luckily I like my job and I like my co-workers. I had purposely scheduled a race for the morning after my birthday so I would have an excuse to stay home Friday night. Partying late is something I got out of my system when I was much younger. Like in my 40's. I had an easy, enjoyable day, heard from friends and loved ones and got in a nap, reading, knitting and even some sleep. Oy. I am old.

Saturday morning I got up at 4:50 am (just about the time I used to roll into bed after a birthday celebration) and got ready for my race. [Pretend you're reading a race report here.]

Saturday afternoon I was able to crash on the sofa for a while before going out to dinner with a friend. Her birthday is a week after mine so we always try to celebrate together. Sometimes that doesn't happen until June, but we were both available so we scheduled an early dinner at Casa Orozco. We each felt we'd be home and getting ready to settle in by 7:15 - wild and crazy girls are we!

Instead, we had a great dinner (with only one margarita each, mind you) and sat chatting away until we realized it was 8:30, the restaurant was crowded and we were taking up a table. Oopsie, so we retired to my house with a glass of wine and continued talking until after 10:15. That's what happens when we don't get together that often.

Whether it was the conversation, the wine, the food, the race, the pollen-stuffed lungs or something else, I was wired (ha! betcha thought I was going to say I couldn't stay awake!) and jittery and didn't bother going to bed until close to 1 am. I tossed and turned and dragged myself out of bed early Sunday morning and set to the day's chores.

Sunday was mom's day, and we shuttled back and forth picking up more things that she decided she needs to have. She's slowly cramming her new apartment full to the rafters (figuratively; there are no rafters where she lives) and the old house still has enough stuff in it to furnish another apartment. I'm trying not to think about having to sort what's left, but at least we're not in a horrible hurry to do that. I think my mom still hopes that someday she'll be able to go live there again. Yeah, that'll be right around when they invent those youth pills we've been told about or when someone discovers the Fountain of Youth.

Frequently when I go to a store these days there's someone with a petition for something. "Don't let your freedom to [whatever] be taken away, sign now!" or "No representation, we must be able to vote on [whatever] now!" or "Save the [parks/taxes/children/animals] now!" they say, "add these to the upcoming election." The only petition I'd sign is one I haven't seen yet. That would be the one creating an 8th day of the week, to fall on the weekend between Saturday and Sunday. I'd call it "Momday" but I'm willing to let someone else pick the name if that isn't acceptable. "Momday" will be a day for people to take that extra step for their family members, either the elderly or the young. The day would be spent either with the family member, or for the family member's behalf. It would still leave a 2 day weekend for recreation and errands and housework. C'mon, wouldn't YOU sign that petition?

Forecast: rainy, windy and cranky

2010-04-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

I was sure winter would be over by now. In many places rain is a sign of spring and growth and birth and blah blah. Here it's a sign of, well, rain. Those of us who look forward to getting over our Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) assume the Bay Area's weather will be mostly clear and dry from March until late fall or winter. We know the fog we get only lasts a couple of days. But this rain in April stuff? Unnatural. Makes me want to hibernate. Or yell at someone.

I had a great 18 mile run on Saturday, before this latest storm hit. Anita, Bree and I met up again in Lafayette to run on the Lafayette-Moraga Trail (which has become my go-to place for long runs) (and short runs). Since she's coming back from a bit of a layoff, Bree only ran about 1-1/2 miles with us. Anita and I continue to almost the end of the trail, about 7.2 miles, then turned around and ran back to mile 1, looped back to 3 and ran it on in. We started slowly, finished slowly, and ran slowly in the middle.

The weather on Saturday was cool and overcast and very windy. It was the swirly type of wind which meant whichever way we ran, we had a headwind. A couple of miles we managed a small tail wind or cross wind, which was nice. There were a few sprinkles but not enough to get us drenched or frozen. Actually not a bad day to run, notwithstanding the high pollen counts.

I'm concerned about my speed. Rather, I'm concern about the lack thereof. I truly don't mind going slowly, being slow, taking so long. But there's a 6 hour cut-off for my next marathon and I'm currently running slowly enough that it's going to be very very close. Even if I'm able to (1) maintain a consistent speed and (2) not stop at a bathroom, I'm going to be right at the wire. I have 2 more long runs and a bunch of short ones before then so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. But with a hilly course I might be doomed. Ok, that's a bit dramatic. I might not make the cutoff, which would annoy me terribly.

I spent the rest of Saturday with my mom (and managed to stay awake the entire time) and that gave me Sunday to spend by myself, for myself. I love those days which I can take my time doing whatever I want, as long as I know I complete the tasks that must be completed. I cleaned my house, did many tubs of laundry, waited hours and hours for my laundry to dry (I really need a new washer and dryer), read, napped and knit. Really, how perfect is that?

Spring unsprung

2010-04-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

I have to keep checking my calendar to confirm that it is not, in fact, January. I look outside and see the pouring rain and blustery winds and my confusion is reasonable. The fact that I keep thinking it's October is not reasonable. That's plain old craziness.

After last week's fiasco of a race I had a lovely run on Saturday. The plan was to run 18 miles in Alameda to train for the New Jersey Marathon. At about mile 11 I changed that plan. Saturday early morning was cold and hazy and as we ran the cold wind picked up. I felt good, much better than the past Sunday, for no reason that I could discern. Anita and I chatted our way along the shoreline, running slowly but consistently, and at about mile 9 realized we were getting a little tired. Since we were in no hurry we slowed down even more, changing our intervals from 9:1 to 4:1.

Somewhere around mile 11 I decided that I felt much too good to continue running; I wanted to end the run on a high note instead of beating myself up running 18 miles. I thought that accelerating my training schedule wasn't one of my smarter ideas. Sure, I could do it, but how good would I be feeling at my real goal race in Vermont? My end decision was to not run 18, to not spend about $1,000 running an extra race (even if it would give me another state), not to beat myself up more than I had originally planned. That decision made our last mile much better and in fact, it turned out that it was our fastest mile of the day. Go figure.

I'm very happy with that decision even though it means that next weekend I'll be running that 18 miles. I'm planning on that 18, two weeks later to run 20, two weeks after that 22, then the traditional 3 week taper before the race. That way I can run a half marathon on April 17, which I've been wanting to do. I have 2 months before a marathon instead of one month and my body thanks me for it.

Although I've been bitching and moaning about the rain, at least for several hours afterward the pollen is damped down and not making my allergies so whacked out. Also, the wildflowers are glorious and will remain so for a bit longer. I'm not really pushing for those 98 degree runs, or blazing sun, but it would sure be different!

Just one of those days.

2010-03-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

Well. That could have gone better.

I had high hopes of a good run at the Oakland Half Marathon. My training has been going well; a few mid-teen runs and a couple of hill runs had me feeling I could easily enjoy the day and not exert myself too much. I was looking forward to seeing old friends, chatting a little, running 13.1 miles and going home to get through my weekend stuff. It didn't quite work out that way.

Saturday I went to the "expo" and picked up my race packet. It went smoothly and easily, first getting my card, then my number with the timing tag, then my tech shirt. The expo was a disappointment because there was no there there (sorry Oakland, couldn't resist). There were mostly local purveyors of services, a couple of other marathon booths, a Gu tasting booth (although they weren't selling it), a Clif booth (they weren't selling either), and race merchandise which I didn't even look at. My "goody bag" contained a bunch of literature and fliers, a teeny bottle of EVOO, a sample sized bag of Gu Chomps, a wrist sweat band from an insurance company and that was it. Not so goody after all.

I carpooled Sunday morning with Ellen, a great chance to catch up with my original running partner. She's substantially faster than I am now (... everyone is substantially faster than I am now) but we had the ride to chat about everything. We decided to park at City Center since it would only be $5 and that way we wouldn't (1) lose the car and (2) have to walk too far. We got there way early and were able to sit in the warm car for a while before heading out.

The morning was cool, sunny and a bit breezy. I wore shorts for the first time this year (with 100 SPF sunscreen on my legs, paranoid much?), a long sleeved top and throwaway gloves. Because it was supposed to be partially overcast turning to total overcast, I was wearing black. Not my smartest idea, but it turned out to not be a huge factor.

I met up with a few people I knew and then went to stand in the front of the back of the crowd; I wanted to be in front of the walkers but behind everyone else. It was pretty good placement although many walkers seeded themselves way up front since I continued to pass them for the first couple of miles. Finally the anthem was sung, a few words from the mayor (which we couldn't really hear), then the horn and we were off! "Off" being relative, of course. It took a few minutes to cross the start line and start running.

I felt really good that first mile, holding myself back so that I wouldn't be pulled along with the crowd's enthusiasm. My plan was to go 9:1 the entire race, plus walk through water stops. That worked for all of one whole mile. A short way into mile 2 my legs felt heavy and my lungs started heaving. I was dizzy and my stomach was queasy. I seriously considered just turning around and going back to the start but figured it would work itself out in the next couple of miles as I warmed up. It didn't.

The race was very well run, the waterstops were frequent enough and well stocked and staffed. The street closures were handled professionally by the Oakland PD and the majority of Oakland's residents were happy to see the race and runners (except for the honkers in their cars trying to get somewhere important). The route was varied and interesting and I saw a few areas of Oakland I'd never been through. I tried, really tried, to to get into the spirit of things and my body didn't want to cooperate.

I knew by mile 2 that I wouldn't be sticking to my plan but I really thought things would improve. I reviewed the route in my head and tried to figure out how far I'd have to go to walk back to the finish, compared with how far I'd have to go to stay on the course. It always worked out shorter, or even, to continue the race.

I tried gels, I tried drinking water and electrolyte fluid, I tried running and walking and shuffling. If I ran either my lungs couldn't get enough air or my legs felt like cement posts. If I continued running I got dizzy and nauseous. While walking I just felt dizzy. My muscles and joints ached and I felt like I had the flu. I was alternately hot and chilled. I tried to see the beauty of the sunny day, tried to enjoy the fact that I was out there. I kept telling myself that any day I could run, no matter how poorly, was a good day.

At about mile 10 I saw one of my old TnT buddies, now a coach. I was telling him that I was having one of those days that every runner has, but that you hope comes on a day you haven't paid to run. My timing was just off and I told him I hoped that it meant my crappy run for this training series was over. He walked with me for a couple of minutes and we talked about our upcoming plans and races, then I ran on.

I was pretty sure if I continued my shuffling I could finish before 3 hours and that became my last goal. As I came around Lake Merritt I shuffled to the next light post, walked to that car, ran to the parking meter, shuffled to the corner. Repeat as necessary. It became apparent that I would not, in fact, break 3 but I wanted to finish strongly. Then coming down the last hill (and one of the only hills on the route) I saw my coach and stopped to hug and talk. I stopped for several minutes and didn't care about time any longer, it was more important to talk with him. Finally he sent me on my way. At that point I was shivering from the cold since we were talking in the shade.

There were lots of people cheering in the runners and I managed to run, slowly, the last couple of tenths. I crossed the finish line, grabbed a medal and a heat sheet, and trudged along. I got a bottle of water and a quarter of a bagel and made myself eat and drink, trying to stop the shakes and ease my stomach. It didn't work too well. I saw a friend and chatted for a few minutes, glad to be standing still, then went to find Ellen who was meeting me over by the beer tent.

I found her and figured that beer wasn't going to make me feel any worse so we stood in the long line. I got a few ounces and we continued to walk around. The beer tasted good but I only had a very little since I didn't want to get sick on the way home.

I went home, showered and collapsed on the sofa. I felt as if I had just run a particularly hard full marathon. All of my muscles, all of my joints, all of my internal organs hurt. I guess it was from pushing myself while I didn't feel well. I didn't want to eat but I forced myself to have a few slices of turkey for the protein and to drink water to rehydrate. I napped on and off for a couple of hours but mostly just lay there reviewing my race.

Today I'm sore from the top of my head to my toes. That poor performance took a lot out of me, but I'm not going to let it get me down. I've had those good training runs recently and I think the bad run was the aberration, not the good runs. I'm looking forward to my longer runs, looking forward to getting back out there.

Any day you can get out and run, or any day you can get out and walk, is a good day. It might not feel that way at the time, but I'm lucky I get the chance.

Return to the hills

2010-03-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago when I screwed up my knee, I quit running or walking hills; it just hurt too much. I didn't mind little inclines or declines but even walking up steps was bothersome. When we decided on a marathon last year we picked the flattest one around, Chicago. Our training included no hills whatsoever and that suited me and my knee just fine.

This year I decided I wanted to run Vermont, so hills are back in the picture. Our longer runs have had a little hill here, a little hill there. But nothing like the hills I'll face in the marathon. Seeing that the race has a 6 hour cut-off and seeing that I'm running slower than I ever have before, I realized that I need to get a bit of hill training. Or a lot of hill training.

The return of Daylight Savings Time meant I could do a short hilly run after work. We've avoided Inspiration Point (and the damn cows) except for a couple of easy walks, but it was time to give them a try. Yesterday after work I met Anita for a planned 4 mile run. Our (my) intent was to do a firm 9:1 for 2 miles, turn around, and 9:1 for as long as we could before I blew up on the hills. It actually worked as planned, with a couple of exceptions.

We started out slowly (... like I'm running any other way lately) and the first hill had us both huffing and puffing. I literally gasped my way to our first walk break and never did catch my breath before that short little minute was gone. We made it through the first mile, continued on. A 9:1 with our pace usually has us running the hill leading up to the short forested part and sure enough, despite checking my watch desperately to find the walk-9, it was all run. I was determined to suck it up (heh) and keep going, so keep going we did.

When we got to the 2 mile marker I decided we should go out to the 2.5, turn around, run our complete 4 miles and then walk the rest. We kept going but right around the corner, to my cownsternation, was a large bovine on the side of the trail. My heart sped up a bit, but I decided to tough it out and edge around the far side. We ran a bit further and as the path opened up I saw on the other side of the trail: 3 more big -- really big -- cows gazing at us. Getting to the 2.5 marker would have meant squeezing past in both directions.

That was all I needed. We turned it around and hoofed (heh) it back down the trail, away from all that beef. Seriously, I wish they didn't cause my heart to race, my teeth to clench, my brain to freeze. It's dumb. It's silly. But the whole thing about a phobia is that it's irrational. Cow anxiety, sheesh. As if I don't have enough things in life now making me anxious.

It turned out to be for the best. Except for one slightly extended walk break we 9:1'd it right on back again, including the hill I had said on the outward bound that I'd be walking on the return. Yeah, I was wheezing like a bellows and at one point I think my quads were yelling loudly enough to be heard at the Golden Gate, but I kept on running. Heck, it was just 4 miles, right?

What made this a good run was the scenery. Yeah, it was gorgeous. From the views straight across the Bay, as far as that Golden Gate, to the vistas of the spillways of the reservoirs in the other direction. It was every shade of green imaginable. The wildflowers were yummy yellow, baby blue, sparkling purple and orange orange. We saw a murder of crows soaring on the thermals and perched on the pylons. The lowering sun, blowing wind and low-60's temp created the perfect conditions for running.

Today my legs are a little sore, my lungs are very irritated, but my spirit is high. I'm a bit more confident that the run in Vermont will go well, including the hills. I'm hoping to get to IP several more times before the race, increasing the mileage and my hill stamina. I'm glad I got to see the area in all it's spring glory!

Random Tuesday

2010-03-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

Bits and pieces of this and that.

Yesterday was a beautiful day to run, but I didn't. The sun was shining, it was quite warm, the wind was gently wafting through the grasses. But the pollen count was off the charts and I still had a sore throat so I decided gulping in great breaths probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. Excuse? Possibly, but at least a good one. I've had my cold this year and I'm fighting off this next one for all I'm worth.

Saturday morning I ran 15 miles with Anita, again on the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. We went from the parking lot to the end and back and averaged about 45 seconds per minute faster than the week before. It was a scenic run, but there was lots of dodging everyone else who was taking advantage of the cold, sunny dry morning. We're still horrifically slow, but the nice thing about that trail is we finish running faster than we started. I take it as a good sign that although I'm tired after these runs, I'm not in the least bit sore.

I finished the feet on my second pair of socks. That's a good thing, because I don't really like the yarn. I have a blue streak across my finger, where I wrap the working yarn, so I have a strong feeling that I'll have blue tootsies when I start to wear the socks. There's still the leg to knit but I've decided to make these short, probably 3 inches of pattern and 1 of cuff.

I figured we weren't going to have any more hard freezes this year so I started cutting back my frost-burned jasmine. A little late, as it turns out. I had to carefully clip around all the new growth. I also decided that this year I absolutely have to find a new gardener. The current ones keep the grass short, but I think they do that by killing it. Anyone who knows a good, affordable gardener/landscaper in this area, let me know.

I took my nephew out on Sunday to buy his Hanukkah present. Yeah, we're a little slow but at least we did it sooner than last year. He's an enjoyable kid to be around and we have fun together on our little jaunts. I can't wait to see what he's going to come up with to get for his 13th birthday, this October. Knowing us we won't be shopping for that until the following January. He's going to be an interesting teenager.

I'm having my usual trouble adjusting to the spring time change. I like it being dark in the morning but I think it's going to take a couple of weeks to reset my sleepy switch at night. Right now I think I could sleep from about 5:30 pm to midnight very well. That's actually more than I usually sleep but then what would I do from midnight on?

That's all I've got for now.

Buzz kill

2010-03-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

I was sitting on my sofa tonight, content and tired from my lovely 4 mile run. I'm trying a newish thing: change at work, walk out the door to the trail, run at least 4 miles. I had intended to run yesterday but wussed out when the weather turned wet, cold and windy. Those 20+ mph winds and driving sheets of rain sent me home. Today I watched the skies cloud over, the trees start shaking and decided to run anyway.

My run was faster than expected, a reason for all the wheezing I did. "Faster" is of course relative. One dude on the trail kept passing me, stopping to stretch and then zooming past me again. The only people I pass are meandering along either in conversation or with a pokey pup. But I was consistent in my "speed" and felt great when I finished.

This renewed my newest commitment to consistent runs. I figured it's light enough out that I can gradually increase my mileage to 6 and still finish before it gets dark and creepy on the trail. Little did I know that it's already creepy on the trail. As I sat here tonight, blissed out from a good run, I came across this article. This happened right when I was starting my run, exactly where I was running:

WALNUT CREEK — A woman walking along a trail was robbed of her iPod by a man who claimed to have a gun, an East Bay Regional Parks Police Department spokesman said.
The woman was walking on the Iron Horse Trail, north of Newell Avenue, at 4:15 p.m. when the robber walked up to her and motioned that he had a gun in his waistband, police said. The woman did not see a gun, but handed over her iPod.

Crap! Now what should I do? Continue running and hope this was an aberration? Run the other direction (which has always seemed the creepier route)? Start later? Start earlier? Run on my treadmill (uh, yeah. Right. That's worked well all winter)? Carry a large stick? Run faster whenever I see someone?

I don't think I'll sleep well tonight.

Twenty years later

2010-03-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

[Note: I wrote this two weeks ago and never realized that I didn't post it. D'oh!]

Last Monday was a big milestone for me. It was 20 years to the day that I started a new job. New boss, new responsibilities, new co-workers (and new paycheck). Back then I was a 35 year old, married, non-running, non-knitting, very lonely smoker. My new job ended up being one of the best thing that's happened to me.

At times hectic, at times boring, sometimes repetitive and often instructive, it's really been several jobs working for the same person as the company changed around us. I've spent more time with my boss and co-workers than than anyone else in my life. These people have seen me though divorce, death and marathons. They've become good friends, my family away from family. We've had tough times at work and some personality conflicts but like a functional family we've resolved any problems and moved on.

Twenty years.

First run of Spring

2010-03-04T18:40:00.001-08:00

I realize that technically it isn't Spring. I also realize that it isn't even my first run this week. Today was the first time this year I felt it could be light enough after work for me to run alone, safely and in the daylight. I've been slacking on my running, slacking on my cross-training and all that slacking is making me grumpier and crankier and sadder. I decided I'd run after work come what may and if it ended up raining on me, or if it got dark before I finished, tough luck.

But it was gorgeous out. Probably mid to low 50's. Storm clouds passing by but never dropping rain. The sun low but still in the sky. Very little wind. The recent rains have left everything looking clean and fresh and growing. The grasses were that lovely shade of new green, bending in the slight breeze. Fruit trees had their fragile pink or white blooms. A few early poppies were closing up tightly for the evening to come.

I slowly wheezed my way along the trail, enjoying every breathless (literally) moment that I was running. Pollen is not my friend but it was so enjoyable running off a cruddy work day that I didn't mind my lungs working so hard. I may have scared a few people as I noisily gasped my way along the trail but I smiled to let them know I wasn't at risk for dropping dead in my tracks.

When I finished I felt fabulous. Tired, sweaty and dripping,wheezing. But fabulous nonetheless. Not a traditional runner's high, just a run well done, an accomplishment of which I was absurdly proud. My plan and my hope is to do this at least a couple of times each week after work. I doubt I'll get anything else done tonight but I don't care. Once again, I am a runner.

Blocked

2010-03-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

Tongue tied. Wordless. Mute. Inarticulate.

I've had lots to say lately, but it never looks right when I type it out. It's stilted, jumbled, cold and ends up looking like endless whining (which it is, but doesn't have to look that way) or senseless babble (which it also is, but ditto). So bear with me.

There's been a little cross-training, a little running (very little), a little sleeping, a lot of knitting, a lot of family, a lot of eating and drinking. When the sun shines I've been happy and energetic and when it's gloomy I want to scoot under a shrub and hibernate for another month.

Every night at bedtime I think in panic "ohmygod I'm running a hilly marathon in 3 months" and tell myself that tomorrow's another day and I'll do a good run then. Once in a while I run that run but more often run/walk and even more often than that I plain old walk (or sit on my ass). I'm having a lot of asthma problems, some of them I'm sure related to RWF since there's been weight gain but I'm at that precipice where I need to run to lose weight but I can't breathe well enough to run until I lose weight.

Changing the subject to yarn, I bought oodles of gorgeous yarn at Stitches West. It seemed that this year every independent dyer had an Amy colorway (which would be true-red with shades of black and gray or white). Splendiferous yarny goodness in every booth and thanks to my new love of knitting socks, I didn't feel at all bad buying 15 many skeins in variations of those colors. The fibers ranged from 100% merino to wool with additions of tencel, or silk, or cashmere. All soft and touchable and they'll be wonderful to knit and to wear. I wore my self-knitted socks with shoes for the first time yesterday and even after those long hours of up and downing the Stitches aisles, my feet were happy. The sole of the socks showed some wear (I'm notoriously tough on my socks, which is why I wasn't ever going to start knitting socks) so I think I'll end up learning how to darn also.

We celebrated my mom's 82nd birthday this weekend. Like the Energizer Mummy, she keeps on going. There are good days and bad days with a couple of very good days or very bad days thrown in. It's hard being her main emotional support and I have to keep telling myself that it doesn't matter that I didn't sign up for the job. I'm hoping that the good days will continue and the bad days are kept to a minimum.

Anyone know any 12.5 minute milers who want to run about 5 miles in the Valley area after normal work hours a couple of days each week? Maybe what I need is just a running partner!

Doldrums

2010-02-23T08:29:00.000-08:00

With the return of the gray, overcast and drippy weather came a return of my S.A.D. I'm not just down in the doldrums, I'm all over the doldrums. Maybe I just like the word: doldrums. Say it with me: doldrums. Dooooooldrummmmms. Strange word. Defined as "the state of boredom, malaise, apathy or lack of interest; a state of listlessness ennui, or tedium." Doldrums.

It could be a lack of sleep, too much over eating/over drinking during the weekend, realization that my next extended time off isn't for months.

I'll blame it on the weather.

Where did the time go?

2010-02-16T08:37:00.000-08:00

For weeks I've had nothing to say, but time to write it up. I'd sit and stare at the screen and try to think of something interesting to relate. Blank. Now I have lots to share and no time in which to share it, so I'm going for the twitterized versions:

1) I finished knitting my very first sock. It's very cute. I'm quite hooked on sock knitting.
2) I ran 12 miles on Saturday. It was a great run, both physically and psychologically.
3) I saw the Billy Joel/Elton John concern in Oakland on Saturday. For old men they really rock out!
4) I started knitting my second pair of socks. Toe up this time.
5) I spent Valentine's Day with my mom. Because every little girl dreams of growing up and spending that very special day with her mother.
6) I'm going to Vegas this weekend!
7) I ran and worked on my day off yesterday. Got a lot done.
8) I made my plans to go to Vermont in May to run the marathon.
9) I registered for the Oakland Marathon Half.
10) I'll elaborate later!

Less than 4 months to go

2010-02-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

I figured this past weekend was as good a time as any to get serious about training for my next marathon. I've breezed through many a training season in the past but that was when I was running several marathons each year. A little slacking and I still made it to the finish lines by the cut-off times. Since I only ran one marathon last year and none the year before I thought maybe I should make the effort to improve my running performance. Better late than never, right?

I scheduled a 10 miler for Saturday and got rained out. Yeah, I'm a wimp. I'll run a race in windy cold downpours but I have no intention of resuming training in that weather. So I sucked it up and hopped on my treadmill. With only a couple of short breaks (whoops, forgot my inhaler; whoops, forgot to eat beforehand) I ran for over 2 hours, getting in 9 miles. I moved the elevation from "dead easy" to "at least pretend you're outside" when I remembered that anything over a couple of miles on a level treadmill hurts my knees. When I finished I felt good. Not great, but good. I hadn't run that much for a couple of months and mentally at least I was glad I did it.

Sunday was supposed to be drier so Bree and I ran 5 miles on the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. We were very slow but it was good to be outside in the fresh air - or mostly fresh air. There were 2 spots along the trail where homeowners were burning wood and the smoke threatened to clog my lungs. Luckily the air was still so we ran right past those spots.

Today my legs are fatigued and sore, but in a good way. I have the tingling feeling in my toes that says I ran for a long time. My knees feel great, my back feels fine. I have a long road ahead of me (pun not intentional) but this was a good start. Lo0king forward to calling myself a runner again!

Thrice

2010-01-31T21:35:00.000-08:00

I was quiet last month, hmmm? As it is, I think I posted as much as I ran. No reasons for either, just excuses that I won't re-babble. Busy and tired but nothing that more activity and more posting wouldn't have helped. February will show improvement; that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

A very nice thing happened yesterday: the sun came out. I am such a creature of brightness and the last couple of dark gloomy months have made me want to hibernate. This is the same every winter and usually at the end of January I shake myself and tell myself to snap out of it, dammit! So now that it's February I'm going to snap out of it, dammit!

I've been reading, I've been knitting, I've been eating, I've been napping and working and most of all I've been helping my mom get settled. She's doing well, or wellish, and turning her rather institutional apartment into a glorious, comfortable museum setting. But since it's a new facility she is just about the only resident. She's certainly the only person on her floor, so she's lonely. I'm filing the roles of daughter, friend and confidant as well as packer, mover, sorter, carter and the usual bookkeeper, mail clerk, health insurance coordinator.

During a long talk I told my mom that I miss my old life. The greatest thing in my life is my friends and I've been neglecting most of them for months. Yes, I mean you. You too. My email friends and my phone friends and my running friends and my knitting friends. I miss socializing. I miss going out for a run and chatting for hours. I miss having a glass of good wine with a good friend. I miss having a stitch 'n' bitch at my house. I miss going to bed and sleeping soundly the entire night -- oh wait, I never did that. I miss my routine.

So that's the goal. Reconnect. Write call visit entertain. Less time napping, more time conversing. What do you think?

I didn't think this day would come

2010-01-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

This past July and August my mom was in the hospital (actually in 3 hospitals). She had been over-medicated and mis-medicated and was suffering deep dementia-related symptoms. She was agitated, raving, hallucinating, confused, angry, delusional, violent. She was so weak she couldn't stand unassisted and had to be helped with the most basic tasks of living. Her diagnosis was multi-infarct dementia and the doctors assured us that the condition was permanent. She would need life-long confinement and constant care.

I'd like to tell all those doctors that BULLSHIT YOU JERKS, it was the medication after all. Today my mom moved into a brand new assisted living facility. She has a very minor level of care, 3 meals daily, medication oversight and complete freedom of movement. There are a lot of things she can't do, but so many more that she can. She can't live alone again but she doesn't need to be locked away for her own protection or watched constantly.

A tough part of this move was my mom's having to acknowledge that the large part of her independence is gone. She's been her own support system for most of her adult life and to have to depend upon others, to have to ask for help for basics, is foreign to her. She'll never again drive a car, never balance a checkbook (or even write a check), never set her own daily schedule. She won't be planning her own meals, won't be cooking or shopping alone. All her financial decisions are out of her hands.

But the hardest part was having to downsize her possessions. For almost three quarters of a century my mom has been a collector. When I was a little girl she started collecting antiques. She scoured old barns and out-of-way shops and had her own personal antique store owner who would call her first when something good came in. Lovely, heavy dark woods; fancy intricately designed upholstery fabrics; antique pewter mugs; old red glass. Then she started traveling around the world and collecting more things. First there were the fine art objects, then the folk art.

Two years ago she moved from La Jolla to a smaller home up here. She needed to be closer to me, closer to my brother, closer to a support network. She went from about 2000 crowded square feet to about 1500 square feet. She didn't pare down her possessions, didn't sort anything, didn't discard anything. Everything squeeeeezed into the smaller home. But now the space she moved to today only has 750 square feet. Lots of things needed to go.

As the main packer it was my job to talk my mom into sorting her possessions. We started with big furniture, went through books and then sorted objects. We packed what she absolutely wanted. We stuck books to donate to the library in a far corner. I set aside a large table for questionable items. About the only thing that convinced my mom to not take everything was the idea that her choices weren't irrevocable. We covered that table, then surrounded that table, and went through rolls and rolls of bubble wrap. Boxes were marked as "books" or "fragile" or "very fragile" or "the most fragile."

Everything we moved - packed or piled - had a story. "I found that in an old store in the U.P." Or, "Noreen called me when this came in and I rushed to get it. " And, "I bought that in Alaska" "Russia" "China" "Mexico" "Egypt" "China" (she liked it there, went a few times to different places) "Cuba" "Mexico" (went there a lot too; I went with her a few times) "Thailand" "Detroit" "Jupiter" (I made that up to see if you're paying attention) (but she would have gone if there were interesting things to see).

There is memory loss, with some things there's lots of memory loss, but my mom remembers where her beloved belongings are from. She remembers who she was with if she wasn't traveling alone, she remembers how she bargained and often how little she paid. She doesn't remember when she went to many of these places. I thought that putting aside her stuff was remarkably brave and it broke my heart to see her have to go through this.

It only got worse when we got to her clothes. My mom has always lived with plenty of closet space so she has never had to get rid of things. Before arthritis crippled her fingers she made most of her clothes; she was a fabulous seamstress and had a great eye for colors and great touch for fabrics. She made timeless classics and, apparently, kept them all.

She went through her first closet by herself and almost everything was in the keep pile. I took her into the next closet and told her that everything had to fit onto one hanging rod; everything else would go on her bed. When it was all "keep" "keep" "keep" I made the same bargain about the clothes that I had about the other items: nothing is irrevocable. Once the movers took the clothes she definitely wanted, I'd re-hang the rest of them and she'd have plenty of time to change her mind. That got things moving.

I'd ask when she had last worn something. Point out any spots or worn bits or tears. Ask if it fit. Cajoled her. Jollied her. Laughed. Rolled my eyes. Admired dresses while telling her she had no use for them. Asked her if she planned to move back to Detroit to wear some of her warmest clothes. Took things away while she was undecided.

But I knew exactly how hard it was to put aside a couple of articles. One was a gorgeous red lace (backless) party dress that she wore when I was a little girl. Yup, that was in the 1960's! She has kept this dress, moved it about 8 times and probably hasn't worn it for 40+ years. It's still in perfect shape, still stylish. She will never wear it again, I could never wear it (although I'd love to); it will just hang. She finally gave it to me to put on the bed and it looked like she was going to cry. I felt like the meanest meany who every meaned.

We never even touched the folded shirts and sweaters, that will be another job for another time. We didn't go through any of her paperwork, didn't touch the garage (oy. The garage). I met the movers this morning and in the pouring storm they spent a couple of hours loading our carefully packed boxes, the bed, the sofa, the desk, the chairs, the end tables, the lamps, the mirrors, and more more more. When they left the house still looked full.

They brought everything to her new apartment in her new home. The movers carted in the goods and I unpacked some things while my bro and sister-in-law took my mom down to the dining room for her first meal there. I emptied the wardrobes, filled the mini-fridge, set up the bathroom. I placed things in drawers and in the closet and on the shelves. I didn't touch the boxes of "stuff" but made sure my mom had the things she needed for her first night.

When my family came back from lunch, raving about how good the food was, I had a surprise for my mom. I directed her to the closet, stuffed full of her clothes. And there, hanging front and center, was her beloved red dress.

I'm such a pushover.

Is it spring yet?

2010-01-12T13:03:00.000-08:00

Foggy, drizzly, overcast, cold. Come on, if it's going to be ugly outside at least we should be getting some measurable rain so that when it's 100 degrees here in 6 months we'll be able to water the lawn. But no, just enough precip to dampen the freeways and my spirits. Although I think the cloudy sky and waving trees are beautiful, enough is enough. Gimme some sunshine!

Gah. I vastly dislike having deadlines and it seems that lately everything has a time cut-off that has to be met. Personal life, family life, work life. I end up overwhelmed and having to recheck everything I do for stupid errors and hmmph.

The only good thing going on right now is I'm not exercising. No, that in itself is very much not a good thing. What's good is that when I exercise I don't sleep. When I do nothing my sleep improves. Totally bassackward but that's what I've found. Last night I took a 1 hour nap, got up and was productive for a few hours, then slept for 6 hours, got up once to go to the bathroom and slept another hour. I've had many weeks when I haven't had that much sleep. And I'm still tired. And don't want to run or wii or cycle or anything.

I'm happy I didn't make any resolutions because it would be pitiful breaking them so early (except the sunscreen thing; despite there not being any sun whatsoever, I'm still applying sunscreen to exposed skin).

We've found a new home for my mom and she's supposed to move next week. We won't be selling her current home for a while to make sure that she has everything she needs, but it's still a move with all the attendant problems. Throw in her physical problems and it's challenging for us all. The great part is that she's doing so well, is so stable cognitively and emotionally that it's enjoyable spending this much time with her. Of course, that increases my guilt about not being able to spend even more time with her. That also gives me a (somewhat) valid excuse for not having time to exercise.

And thus I come full circle. Where's the sun?

Gratuitous Bear of the New Year

2010-01-03T20:19:00.000-08:00

About a year ago I decided that I really had to curb my bearaholic tendencies or else Hoarders would come and start an intervention at my house. I told myself I could continue with the Medal Bears, as long as they were small, but I needed to stop accumulating big bears. This notion was reinforced last summer when I faced the prospect of winnowing through my mom's possessions. I felt that my needing to own more things was unnecessary and was just a displacement of other emotions that I wasn't facing. Nice little self-psychobabble, huh?

My one medal bear last year was from Chicago for my Chicago Marathon medal and was in fact small. I never found a bear for my Solvang Century medal; neither a bear representing cycling nor the Solvang area. I counted my Tri Teddy as a 2008 bear, even though I really dressed her in 2009.

I slipped in my conviction during the summer when I was in Las Vegas. We were wandering around the shops and cruised into a toy shop (I know, what was I thinking?). Apparently while I wasn't paying attention Steiff started a line of less expensive bears. I certainly wouldn't have bought a $150 classic teddy, but these were different. This is a line of "cloud soft plush" bears that come in their very own suitcase for a reasonable low price. My resistance slipped away and Bree and I spent quite a bit of time finding the perfect bear to take home with me (you know, of course, that if you're buying a bear in the store you must find the one with the best facial expression, best balanced body, etc. You can't just buy one willy-nilly off the shelf). With help from my sis I named her Bubble, because she looked like a big, soft bubble.

During the later summer when I was so frantic with trying to care for my hospitalized mom, my sis sent me Tinkerbearr. This sweet fairy bear helped me cope and gave me comfort when it was badly needed.

In fall that crack-dealer to bearaholics, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, started developing new types of bears. The one that struck me the most was the Soft, Floppy Bear (which by the way, VTB, is really hard to find on your website). It just looked so CUTE! And it was low priced and I was depressed and yes, I once again displaced my feelings of sadness and despair with buying a new bear. It worked. Wow, what a bear! I was very impressed by the warm, squishy softness of a bear that seemed to hug back. I did manage to not buy one of their Go Green Bears (but give me time ...).

Last fall, this early winter, in fact the entire year was a tough one for not only my own family, but for so many of my friends. There were job losses, there was illness, there were injuries and there was death. If ever the comfort of a bear was necessary, it was 2009.

There was one more bear to come, one more surprise, one gift above all gifts. After our walk on Saturday, Bree gave me a gift and told me it was for various and assorted occasions (birthdays past and future, Christmas, Hanukkah). It was a large box, wrapped in very cute paw-print wrapping paper. I tore open the top of the wrap and knew immediately from the box exactly where it had come from. Yes, I know a VTB box when I see one.

My hands started shaking and I sat down. I broke the tape on the box and lifted out a bear I had coveted since I first saw it on the website. My eyes filled with tears and my breath caught in my throat. I lifted out the beautiful little bear and gave it a hug.

I reached a little deeper into the box and pulled out the bear's little stuffed penguin. Nothing like a bear having her very own stuffie.

Having spent not a little time with me in a toy shop choosing a bear, and even more time trying to find a perfect medal bear in varying locations, Bree knows exactly what a bear means to me. I don't think she realizes what receiving a perfect bear from a friend means to me. I've received many bears from friends, some damn fine bears from some damn good friends. But Bree had an even tougher 2009 than I had. Despite that, she spent time to think about me, to go out of her way to visualize what I'd like, to order and surprise me this way with something very personal and meaningful to me.

Do I have the best friends, or what?

Thank you Bree!

(L-R) Tinkerbearr, Feather, Bree LaBear and her mighty penguin Nitro

Looking forward

2009-12-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

A year ago I was filled with hope and positive thoughts and visions. I hadn't much enjoyed 2008 and was sure 2009 would be a vast improvement. It was not.

People look back on this past decade and are doing best-of and worst-of lists and I don't even have to go to the way-back machine for that. Best-of for me was running my first marathon, then my second marathon, then finding through running a group of the best friends I've had in my life. Worst-of for me was family and health related, including losing my dad to cancer and almost losing my mom to dementia and over-medication. For the most part the best and worst are evenly balanced with one or the other periodically tipping the scales.

I only have one resolution for the next year and next decade, and indeed, the rest of my life. Too many years I've resolved to eat less or eat better or exercise more or start lifting weights or be less cynical or c'mon be happy and I'm tired of circumstances giving me an excuse to ignore those goals. I've found I have very little control over most of my life and most plans I've made for the past couple of years ended up getting shot to hell, so spontaneity will become part of me whether I enjoy it or not.

I do indeed plan to at least mentally register for a marathon, to set up a training schedule with runs and Wii's and rides and even weight lifting. I doubt I'll be exercising or engaging in any physical activity every day but I will again make it a habit instead of an oddity. I also plan to cut the crap out of my diet again, mostly because I feel better when I eat healthier choices. I'm not saying I'll totally give up popcorn, wine and ice cream for dinner but it will become a rarity instead of a usual meal. I will also not berate myself when circumstances have me chewing my nails as both a meal and an activity. Life happens and I'll adjust.

There's only one commitment, one goal, one resolution that I feel I can hold to. Indeed, I must hold to. I'd be happy if each and every one of my readers adopts the same goal, convinces others to share this goal:

WEAR MORE SUNSCREEN!

I hope you all have a happy end to this crappy year and a wonderful start to the new one!

Sunny skies, foggy brain

2009-12-22T08:46:00.000-08:00

I seem to be in my typical holiday mood: cranky, anxious and jittery. Normally the bright sunny days improve my state of mind but today I'd like the thick fog to return so that my grumpy wouldn't seem so out of place. The holidays aren't the reason for the mood, it's the entire December-short-days, get-everything-done-by-the-end-of-the-year thing that gets to me every time. I'm quite ambivalent about the holidays themselves. Having two days off work doesn't bother me at all.

In an effort to improve my attitude I've attempted to increase my level of activities from "lacking" to "low." I'm trying to get in at least a little extra bit of movement each day but my energy level is riding as low as the sun in the winter sky. I've been using my new Wii Fit, more for the entertainment value than the exercise value, and that's gotten me off my posterior most days. I don't think it's intended for a dedicated, hard-core fitness freak but right now my dedication is lost in the holiday mail and my core is flabby so the Wii is doing what needs to be done. It's less mind-numbing than a treadmill, I don't need any special workout clothes (I just start stripping off layers as I get warm and I'm using it barefoot now), and I don't need to even go into a different room.

I've also attempted to correct some of my sloppier eating habits but you wouldn't know that from my tendency to have popcorn, ice cream and wine at night and call it "dinner." I've limited my consumption of holiday ~~crap~~ goodies to no more than one each day, I'm eating healthy lunches and if my evening eating isn't quite what's recommended I'm not going to drive myself crazy about it until January. As long as I'm getting some good nutrition each day I'm sure I'll maintain.

My obsession with sunscreen might be getting slightly out of hand. I don't know why I think I need to wear sunscreen on my legs when they're completely covered with long pants and boots. I've been wearing an SPF 15 moisturizer on my face for years, but now I'm spreading it on my neck and ears too. I've also been hovering around the moisturizer/lotion aisles trying to discover a lightweight, non-oily, non-pore clogging, higher SPF goop to spread on my face but I haven't found anything yet. I like the Neutrogena sunscreen that I use when running but not for all day use on my face. I like the Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion with Menthol for the rest of my body but it doesn't have a sunscreen (and Aveeno seems to be trying to discontinue that particular lotion). I figure I have, at best, a couple of months before it gets warm enough that I'm outside with parts of my limbs uncovered and by then I hope to be fully sun protected.

Meanwhile, even with the sun exposure I was getting before this my Vitamin D levels were low. That was while taking 1000 mg daily. Well, almost daily. I tend to forget my vitamins and supplements on weekends. I doubled the D during the week and I try to remember to take it on weekends. I can see it now: lovely pale skin and rickets. Nice.

Whine whine whine. I told you I was feeling cranky.

Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon Report

2009-12-13T20:48:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm not running as many races it seems to take me forever to write up a report. Now that I'm not running much it seems to take me forever to write anything. My life is filled to the brim with uninteresting things that I'm not having a bunch of fun experiencing the first time, let alone reliving them for public consumption. Will that stop me from writing here? Nopers it won't!

Anyhoo. RnR-LV. I registered for that right after I ran the Nike Half Marathon in October. I wanted a relaxing get-away and of course I can't justifying travel without a race involved. So I made my flight reservations, and my hotel reservations at what I thought was a swank Vegas hotel and I signed up for the race. In between that time and last weekend a crapload of stuff came up and I wasn't as excited as I had been. Nonetheless, I had spent the money and decided to hie meself forth. Or something like that.

We all know how excited I get about freezing (thus, moving from Michigan to California right after college graduation). I wasn't happy when Chicago ended up being the freezer of arctic races and I was less happy when I discovered that Vegas was going to be experiencing their first hard freeze of the year. Oh joy. I packed all my warm race stuff and decided what the heck, I'll live.

I got to Vegas in the early evening and checked into my hotel, the name of which I won't say except it rhymes with "Nonte Darlo." I had reserved a 2 queen, non-smoking room on a high floor. I got the high floor, a non-smoking floor. The room had 1 king bed which ended up being a non-issue since I was alone (although I like that second bed because the rooms are usually larger). The biggest issue was the smell. No, not the regular smoky Vegas smell. This was a nasty, overwhelming chemical-floral smell, as if the entire perfume industry had dumped their wares on the carpet. Over and over again. It was vile.

Luckily my window opened - an inch since it was the 31st floor - and there was a strong fan in the room. I managed to clear the worst of the smell out. The only time it smelled good on that floor was, oddly enough, when someone was smoking. Yes, the smoke smelled better than that perfumey miasma. I figured out it was probably something they were cleaning the carpets with. Ew.

That wasn't the only thing wrong with my room at the Lonte Barlo. There were 3 lamps in the room, all set to "dim." Unless I was directly underneath one I couldn't read or knit, or even see very well. The shower faucet slid by itself from "warm" to "scalding" if I didn't keep holding it. The room didn't seem clean. The curtains stuck. The television had hardly any channels. The safe needed a credit card to use it. Internet access was about $20 with the taxes. The worst was there was no coffee pot. Nada. Nor would they provide one. No, said they, call room service and spend $15 for a cuppa. Huh. Good thing the tap water reached scalding levels.

Yes, this is a race report. I'm getting there. (No wonder it takes me so long to write these things...) Saturday morning I headed over to Mandalay Bay for the expo. It was a typical RnR expo: huge. Lottsa stuff. Packet pickup was quick and easy. This year RnR was giving tech shirts (aww, the last of the big races with crappy white cotton tee shirts has crossed to the bright side). The half marathon shirt was a black short sleeved generously sized (very generously) Sugoi tech shirt. I was astounded when my XXL was tremendous. I'm so used to Nikesizing that I was unprepared for something too big. Whoopsie.

For this race RnR had jumped on the red and black bandwagon that Nike's race-branded clothing had at both Chicago and SF-Women's races and once again I was unable to resist my colors. I only bought a(nother) running hat but now I have 3 red and black running hats from this years' races. Between what was already in the goodie bag and what I picked up at the booths I got a ton of swag including dog treats (that was a first), oil and vinegar (another first), a full box of mac and cheese (yet another first), gel and bars and drink mix and more.

Vegas was busy last weekend. Not only were about 30,000 people there for the race, plus their family and friends (sniff, except for those of us all by their lonesome), it was again the big Rodeo finals (and I don't know the correct name for it, sorry, not a big fan of cows y'know) and also the big NASCAR finals (or some race car thingie, not a big fan of that either). My most amusing times all weekend were wandering around and trying to decide which of the groups a person and their companions belonged to. The cowboys (and cowgirls) were the easiest: big hats, boots, big belt buckles. The runners were wearing sneakers and some piece of race-branded clothing, carrying water. A very few of them also had the big buckles but the ultra-buckles couldn't be confused with the cowboy buckles. The race car fans were the out-of-shape drunks carrying a large beer. Oh No! See RunnerGirl unfairly stereotype people!!

Sunday morning I arose early. The race was starting at 6:15 and I knew it would take me about 20 minutes to walk to the start (I had timed it the day before). I ate my oatmeal, drank my surprisingly good instant Starbucks Via (thanks again Ponte Farlo for no coffee pot), bundled into all my running gear and headed out the door at 5:15 am. Ew smelly hallway.

The thing that saved the day for me was the instant I walked outside I covered my nose and mouth with my buff and left it that way until I started running. I managed to not inhale any of the icy cold air, and lemme tell ya, it was icy cold, about 30 degrees. I joined the throngs heading to the start. I was in corral 23, way at the back. It didn't take me that long to get there so I decided to go into the hotel/casino to stay warm and to go to the bathroom. Being in the very big and typically confusing casino I think I walked for a half hour before I made it to the bathroom and back out again. I exited through a different door than I had entered so I was way up by the front and had to fight my way to the back of the crowd.

RnR was doing a challenge with the elite women and men where the women started about 20 minutes before the rest of the crowd. There was a bunch of stuff that was apparently going on at the front, like entertainers and tigers and such, but we didn't know about that until after the race. We could see part of the fireworks that were going on but the trees in the median strip blocked the best of it. Finally the race started, I think. Because of staggered start times I didn't cross the start line for almost 45 minutes after the gun. Brrr.

The half marathon was run entirely on Las Vegas Blvd. except for a very short loop at the half way turnaround. I've got to say that the road surface was very good; I didn't trip once. Not a single time, and that could be a race record for me. It was both a good route and a bad one. I didn't mind running back and forth but some people were complaining toward the end.

I was surprised by the course support. Although water stops were frequent, by about mile 6 the tables were mostly broken down with only a couple left having water or Cytomax drink. There was Gu at just past mile 9 and when I saw it while wunning the other direction there seemed to be plenty. However by the time I got there, there were literally only a half dozen packets of Roctane left - nothing else, none of the regular Gu. People must have been grabbing handsful as they ran past. I feel bad for people behind me (and yes, there were lots of them) who hadn't brought their own gel and weren't carrying bottles. Let that be a lesson to you kids, even the best organizations sometimes run short. I had my favorite Gu's and Sport Beans with me, plus the freebie Gu that had been in my goodie bag, their new seasonal flavor Gingerbread. I tasted that one and threw it out, preferring my Beans.

My plan for the race was to wun my normal 9:1 until at least past the turnaround, hopefully to at least mile 8 (which was as far as I had trained), and then see how I felt. I ran straight out for the first mile and a half and unless the course was mismarked I unintentionally kicked ass. I still think that first mile was short. I wore my Nike+ for amusement value and it said I only ran about 12.25 miles total. Huh. Have to calibrate that thing. I convinced myself to stick with 9:1 for the entire race, mostly because it was cold and I wanted to finish while there was still beer left at the end. Nope, didn't make sense to me either.

Once the sun came out it "warmed" up to the high 30's, but when we turned around it had started clouding over and I discovered I'd been running with a tail wind. I had taken off my jacket at about mile 4 and I put it back on at about mile 10. The gloves and ear warmers were removed at about mile 5 and I didn't need them again until after the race.

It was crowded the entire time I was out there, which was almost 3 hours because although I felt like I was wunning my little legs off, I was going slow as frozen molasses. Again. I did a lot of zigging and zagging and because I was there for fun, and was only running 13.1 miles, I didn't really care. I had decided that I would enjoy the race simply because I was able to run it - I was healthy enough to run, I was monetarily capable of a weekend getaway, I could drop all of my responsibilities for a couple of days. Enjoy it I did. I was grateful that I could do it. Freezing air, crowded course and all.

At the finish they draped the big medal around my neck and gave me a bottle of water. I wandered until I found the space blankets, which are now generic "Rock 'n' Roll Race Series" blankets (guess they have to save money somehow with so many races now). There were tables full of plain bagels and bananas and oranges, pretzels and some energy bars. We were able to have our pictures taken either alone, or with a frozen showgirl. Very funny, they looked miserable standing there in their outfits trying to smile while some smelly stranger crowded next to them. Yes, I had my picture taken with one. Then I tried to track down the beer tent because I guess I wasn't cold enough.

(I just bought a new camera so hopefully this is the last of the crappy pix)

After wandering in circles I found that beer tent. I didn't need to dig out my bracelet showing I was over 21 (frozen face wrinkles were all I need to prove my age) and I was handed my can - yes, an entire can - of MGD 64. Hey, it's almost water, right? I was rehydrating! Vegas being Vegas, I was able to walk back to my hotel with beer in hand and it was far enough that I had finished the beer long before I reached the Ronte Garlo.

Also Vegas being Vegas, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the squads of running Elvi. Why is it that all impersonators dress as Fat Old Elvis instead of Hot Young Elvis? It's not like any of them can sing like him. There were also many couples who married, or remarried, while on the course (at about mile 3.5) and ran wearing wedding apparel. Always something interesting to see during a race!

Would I do it again? Yeah, probably. It's still a good excuse to get out of Dodge, it's an easy course, a cheapish trip. Although I love small races, there's something to be said for the large corporate ones too.

Will I travel by myself again? Yeah, probably. Among other things I discovered that you shouldn't go out for sushi meals alone (7 bites and you're done. Literally. Then what?) and that they'll put Amy in a corner. I never felt weird, didn't feel lonely (cell phone!), didn't have time to get bored.

Now I have to figure out what I can race next. Right now it feels good slacking off a bit, giving myself an excuse to let my leg heal without taking the chance of ripping stitches. This won't last long, I like having plans (even if I end up canceling them) and a schedule to follow. If you have any suggestions for a race, let me know!

"I need to remove a bit more"

2009-12-08T22:05:00.000-08:00

Last week I had my annual appointment with my dermatologist. I've been having yearly full skin checks for about 10 years. Before that, for several years, the skin checks were twice annually. That was because about 15 years ago we found my first basal cell carcinoma. The day my doctor called me back to her office and gave me the diagnosis I was crushed. All I heard was "you have skin cancer" and the rest of the discussion sounded to me, and I remembered as "lalalalalalalala."

I finally absorbed the fact that my days as a sun bunny were over, that I had a skin disease that was harmful and dangerous but probably wouldn't kill, disable or disfigure me. About two years later I found my second basal cell carcinoma and redoubled my sunscreening efforts.

From that point on I learned my skin very well. I had found both carcinomas and my doc was surprised each time that they were indeed not benign. There were none of the usual ABCDE signs (A=asymmetry, B=border, C=color, D-diameter, E=elevation), they both looked more like pimples that wouldn't go away. I'm a very mole-y person, especially my multi-sunburned back.

In the intervening years I had several spots that I had my doc remove, several sliced and even more frozen. I'd gotten a bit slack about the "annual" part of the visit and had stretched things to about 18 months this time. I'm careful with sunscreen, I wear a hat with a brim when I run, but I'm still outside for long periods of time. Because I run so slowly my long morning runs often go until mid-day in full sunlight.

My doc has pictures of many of my moles so that she can compare from year to year. When I went in this year I had a few spots that I was concerned with and she decided that one spot we'd been watching for many years looked darker. So I had 3 spots frozen (and lemme tell you, freezing a very large mole on your spine hurts like a bitch) and 2 excised. The slices were on my face near the hairline (the doc thought it was just a cyst but I thought it was ugly) and above my left knee (the mole that looked darker). The doc warned me that the lab she was sending them to requested additional tissue about 10% of the time and I shouldn't worry if I had to return.

So I wasn't worried when she called me Friday and told me to come back and have the knee mole re-excised. She said she'd have to put in a stitch or two and I wouldn't be able to be active for a couple of days. She didn't say, and I didn't ask, whether the lab had given any diagnosis. I had a big weekend ahead of me and I just assumed that everything was ok. In my wildest thoughts I felt it could be another basal cell. Maybe, if horrible things were wrong, it could be a squamous cell carcinoma. But I was pretty confident that everything was fine. Because apparently I also believe in unicorns and pink puppies and rainbows with pots of gold at their ends.

I've been going to this same dermatologist for probably more than 2 decades and I know her, she knows me. So when I was there today and the first thing she did was pause, and look at me, I knew something was wrong. She told me that the diagnosis was "evolving melanoma in situ" and paused again. She started explaining, showed me the lab report and I asked if I could get a copy of the report because after "melanoma" all I was hearing was "lalalalalalala" and all I could think was "I have cancer."

My doc showed me pictures of cross-sectioned skin depicting the different parts and layers, and explained the type of melanoma ("I have cancer"). She talked of the Clark levels, where mine is Level 1 ("I have cancer"), she spoke of stages, where my is actually 0 ("I have cancer"). She told me about the treatment, which was cutting that bad boy away ("I have cancer") and spoke of prognosis, which was that once it was cut away, there was only about a 2% chance that it would reoccur in that spot ("I have cancer").

I had an odd reaction, freaked out and buzzed and focused and nauseous and very calm on top of it all ("I have cancer). I started talking too much, asking lots of questions (most of which I forgot all the answers to), babbling about this that and the other thing. Meanwhile the doc prepped my leg, I lay back and pretended that I was doing A-Ok ("I have cancer").

When she was done I had a long vertical purple line on my leg, held together on the inside with 3 stitches (she used extra strong thread since I'm a runner) and 8 stitches on the outside. She placed a nice dressing on it, taped it all together and I was good to go. I got verbal and written instructions of care and was told repeatedly to call her if I had any questions or problems ("I have cancer"). I was told I can shower tomorrow and can run when then tight wound feels like it won't split.

I made my followup appointment, went to my car and started crying. The same thing that I had done so long ago when I got my basal cell diagnosis. I went back to work and obviously couldn't focus very well. I went to my mom's house to get her mail (which the post office didn't deliver even though my mail-hold specified delivery today). I went into her house, checked a few things, went to leave and couldn't find my car keys. I looked all over for them ("yes, I looked there" "I looked there too" "of course I looked there, six times!") and an hour later gave it up. I had that little temporary key the dealer gives you and tells you not to use in the ignition and I used it anyway. I needed to get home.

Eight hours later I'm feeling a little more focused and a little less freaked out. Thanks to Mr. Google I know that if I had to get melanoma, I got the best type. Chances are very good that every little bit was chopped off today and it won't return. The odds are in favor of my getting more somewhere else, at some later date. But I know my skin, my doc knows my skin, and we'll keep on top of it. Right now I know intellectually, and I'm trying to feel in my heart and my nerves, that "I HAD cancer."

Evolving Melanoma in Situ

2009-12-08T15:17:00.000-08:00

I'm ... speechless. Kids, use sunscreen.