So I got into work early today so I could try to beat the sunset for a short run. Didn't quite beat it. Dang it gets dark early!!! And rush hour traffic sucks!
I still got in a 30 minute easy run. Around 3.25 miles. The weather was nice, a bit warm even. There were leaves all over the path. What I could see was rather pretty.
So I think until I start official Boston training I am going to try to run more often but less miles. AKA more than 3 days a week but less mileage each run. My running pals call this kind of mileage "junk" miles. But really I want to give my body some rest while not gaining any holiday weight and I think exercising 20-30 minutes a day when I can squeeze it in is better than nothing. For some reason I have a really hard time fitting in longer runs unless I absolutely have to during these "dark" months.
Plans for the night include watching a bunch of crap on TV because after tonight we are getting rid of cable for good. It shouldn't be a big deal. We mostly watch movies anyways so we will probably just rent more DVD's. Nix that, hubby is zooming to football so plans include bed! :) Maybe I will wake up early and swim!
Blast from the past
So I am trying to pump myself up for Boston 2006 and was reading through my 2005 report over on tblog. Eventually I want to transfer all of my entries over here to blogger. But that is a long way off.
But I think this one is worthy of reposting here. This is more for my own searching ease than anyone else so don't feel any pressure to read unless you really want to!
Boston 2005 Race Report (Originally posted here)
But I think this one is worthy of reposting here. This is more for my own searching ease than anyone else so don't feel any pressure to read unless you really want to!
Boston 2005 Race Report (Originally posted here)
"Okay here is the scoop on Boston FINALLY!
Woke up at 5 am Monday morning and couldn’t fall back asleep. So I showered grabbed my stuff and headed down to the subway. It was completely empty! One other runner got on the train at my stop.
So all my stressing the night before was a HUGE waste of time. I got to the girls hotel way early so I ate a bagel and banana and hunkered down on a sofa with a copy of Runner’s World.
About an hour later the girls came down and we headed to Boston Commons to get on the bus! Yes that’s right big yellow school buses are the official transport to the start of the Boston Marathon :) (Unless you are a pro of course they get those fancy shuttle buses, with police escorts!)
We got in line and saw some of the guys. MG, SG, and a friend of theirs got in line with us. We pissed some lady off when MG “accidentally” jumped into a middle of a bus line but we ended up finding a shorter line anyway.
So it took about a half hour to get on the bus and once on it was another 45-60 minutes before we got to Hopkinton. I just relaxed and listened to everyone else’s conversations. I found out you can actually enter the Boston Marathon without qualifying through certain charities. I don’t know how much they have to raise, but I hope it is a lot!!! These people are certainly much better than the bandits though :) All a part of the traditions of Boston though so I just took it all in.
Most people hang out in Athlete’s Village once they get to Hopkinton but my club goes to a church and lounges in the basement. This ended up being really nice for me because I think I might have freaked out being around 20,000 other runners for two hours before the race. The church atmosphere was pretty low key and I was able to eat, sunscreen up, and take care of any pre race jitters, etc. without worrying about anything else.
About 30 minutes before the start B, R, and I went and dropped off our bags on the yellow buses then headed to our Corrals. Corrals in Boston are by number so I was in the 13th Corral, far behind the Elite runners!!!
I realize then what a newbie I am to marathoning :) The guys had told me to pin my gels to my shorts and tuck them in. Which works great as long as you pin your gels on the top above where the actual gel is :) I actually punctured both my gel packets on accident and realized in the start that I had some gel sticking to my thighs and the inside of my shorts :) Lovely.
After about 5 minutes in the Corral they started the national Anthem and about then you start to realize how amazing this is standing in a crowd of 20,000 other runners getting ready to run the granddaddy of all marathons. The elite women at this point are already about 25 minutes into their race. And the gun is getting ready to go off.
All this excitement builds up and then you realize how much different this start is than other races. In no race I have ever done has it taken over 12 minutes to actually get to the starting line. So it was slightly anticlimactic but still really amazing after you come over a small hill and hit the starting line you look out in front of you and all you can see in front of you is road filled with waves of runners. Absolutely incredible.
From there until Wellesley everything seems pretty similar. The crowd never thins out and it is rolling hills with a net decline until the half way mark. Surprisingly my IT Band wasn’t bothering me at all and my shoulder didn’t feel too bad. My feet started to blister REALLY early in the race, like mile 3. So I knew that wasn’t going to look pretty when I finished.
Right before I got to Wellesley College I could feel my legs chafing. It was about 71 degrees on the course and not a lick of shade to be seen. Luckily just as I thought to myself “this is going to get ugly” I heard the medical tent volunteers crying out “Vaseline!” I sprinted so quickly over to their side of the road and grabbed a Tongue Depressor covered in Vaseline and smeared it all over my legs. Nice visual huh?
Unfortunately that left me with Vaseline all over my hands too :) I added that mess to the gel on my shorts and continued on.
Shortly after the Vaseline stop I hear this roar of sounds. At that point you can’t see where it is coming from about a half mile away you see the Wellesley College Girls! They are all lined up on the right side of the street held back by a fence. Most of them are leaning far over the fence high fiving runners as they go by. Others are holding signs like “Kiss me if you’re from Oklahoma.” They are all cheering at the top of their lungs. I had been running on the left the whole way so far but moved over to the right to high five pretty much all of the girls. Their energy was so amazing. It gave you this incredible boost of energy. Which is good but sad because you are going to need that energy a lot more in just over a mile.
All this time I have been getting water and Gatorade from the stops every mile on the left and walking through the stops. No need to waste energy trying to gulp down water while running too fast. I made it to Boston now that I was there I should try to enjoy the ride.
Most of the water I took ended up getting dumped over my head. I was feeling pretty hot and it seemed to help. I also jumped at anyone who had ice and held it in my hands for as long as I could stand to help keep cool.
Shortly after Wellesley and the half waypoint you start to add in some serious up hills to the rolling hills. At this point my quads were pretty much already a wreck from all the downhills, and my left calf started to bother me.
The rest of the race I pretty much ran water stop to water stop. I didn’t feel good but I could have felt worse for sure. I didn’t walk at any point except through the water stops. And I made it up the Newton Hills and Heartbreak Hill in pretty good time. I think I ran a 9:22 mile up Heartbreak. So I was happy with that.
I was expecting my parents and David to be pretty close to the finish but they ended up being a little before the 26-mile mark. I heard my mom screaming as I passed, I turned and waved, then trucked on up the small incline before you turn onto Boylston Street and can finally see the finish line.
I didn’t have any amazing last mile splits like I did in Richmond, but I was still proud, and unlike Richmond I was actually happy as I crossed the finish line. And despite the stresses I have been having I have been pretty happy since!
After the marathon my legs felt pretty bad, but I was expecting that. I walked along with the crowd, grabbed some water, took off my chip, got my Mylar Blanket, and traded my chip for my finishers medal! And trekked over to the buses.
I got a frozen smoothie drink from some volunteer and spent most of that time trying to open it. Finally before I grabbed my bag I had to have a volunteer open it for me :) He had a hard time too so it wasn’t just post marathon jitters keeping me from the frozen deliciousness ;)
I got my bag and headed to the family meeting area. I threw my stuff down near the H sign and worked on getting out of my shoes, into flip-flops. Out of my soaked sports bra into my Boston tank, and tried to stretch a bit. My parents and David showed up as I finished off my smoothie and was getting ready to start looking for them.
I got a phone call from my favorite aunt ;) you know who you are :) wishing me well. I definitely felt loved at that moment.
We walked all the way over to Boston Commons to avoid the mad rush to the subway near the finish.
Got back to our hotel and our handicap room payed off. I was able to sit on the edge of the tub and spray my legs with ice cold water. My baby sis called while I was spraying, and I was glad to hear from her. Her support at this point in my life is very important to me and I am blessed to have such a great sister. We have not always gotten along but I am glad we come together when it really counts.
After I talked with her for a bit David and I met my parents down at the pool. I dipped my calf in the hot tub and took a lap around the pool then we got ready to go out for dinner.
We met a bunch of the SERC group at Joe Tecces. I had three beers and a steak! I felt I definitely deserved it :) We had a good time and it was nice to hang out with everyone after doing the marathon together. Everyone from SERC did well and I am proud to call them all my friends. I can’t express how blessed I am to have met up with such a great group of runners.
I was pretty wiped out after the three beers and multiple trips to the restroom (of course stairs were involved). So we headed back to the hotel. Climbing down the stairs to the subway was a trip! I must have looked horrible.
We packed our stuff (well David did anyways, and I attempted to help), and then headed to bed. We had to be up really early to catch our flight home. I actually made it to work and managed to work 6 or 7 hours before I couldn’t manage anymore :)
Since being back I have run twice and I can tell my quads are still sore but I feel pretty good and am looking forward to the summer racing season. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this. I really appreciate your support!"
Marathon Photos from Columbus
I got my Columbus photos! Woot Woot! Worth $50? Maybe, since now I can print as many as I want and post them here without worrying about copyrights ;)
Thanks!
To everyone who commented on my last post. I appreciate your input.
That post has been deleted because I think I dwell on the negative too much sometimes.
So something positive. I cleaned the Focus last night and my father-in-law helped me to finally get my license plate onto the front bumper. (MI cars are not made for front bumpers, which are required in OH)
I know, not extremely exciting, but it is nice to have a shiny clean exterior sometimes!
That post has been deleted because I think I dwell on the negative too much sometimes.
So something positive. I cleaned the Focus last night and my father-in-law helped me to finally get my license plate onto the front bumper. (MI cars are not made for front bumpers, which are required in OH)
I know, not extremely exciting, but it is nice to have a shiny clean exterior sometimes!
A Good Day
Totally forgot about time change this morning. Really wish I had remembered. I may have dragged myself out of bed for the group run. But since I didn't I have been trying to be efficient on the home and work front this morning. I got three loads of laundry done and ran a load of dishes in the dishwasher.
I got some work done that I wasn't able to finish Friday. I still don't have everything done that I wanted for Monday, but I am only one person. It is frustrating when I can't get something done as quickly as I thought I would.
Yesterday was great. Starting the day off with a PR was a nice bonus. After that I went into work for a few hours to get make some headway there. Then Hubby and I ran some errands and hung out until the party.
We went to lunch at Chipotle. I had never been before (at least not that I remember). I must have been really out of it. I had a very similar opinion as Eostre does about the whole subway experience. The board said exactly what you got on the burrito so I assumed I order and: wham bam thank you they serve me up my chicken burrito. Well, not so fast. They are going to ask you what salsa you want (it is very busy and noisy and you can't really hear their question) so you say "everything." Assuming he just asked you which of the toppings on the menu board you wanted. So I watch as he pours on three different salsas and corn! Yikes. I am thinking oh crud I just ordered something spicy. Yikes! Move on to the next topping gal. She asks if that is it? "No" you reply. You want sour cream and guac also. So she adds those and goes to wrap up your burrito. Lo and behold your burrito does not fit in one tin foil wrap, she has to go get a second! Then you move onto drinks. For some reason your sight doesn't register the soda pop at the bottom of the menu and you are thinking geeze, I have to decide between beer and margaritas? So I order a bud light. Much too early for margarita's! After I show my ID I look around the restaurant and see the soda fountain. Oops. Oh well, too much trouble to change now. Hubby is highly amused by all of this.
What I ended up with was a quite tasty, MONSTROUS, chicken burrito. I managed to eat about 3/4 of it and had the rest for lunch today. A little spicy for my taste, but it was quite good.
After getting lunch we headed to Toys R Us to pick up a scooby doo doll for our costumes. Hubby was dressing as shaggy, and we weren't sure that the green shirt and shaggy hair would be enough.
After that we headed to the park. The leaves were so beautiful yesterday and I knew that it might be one of the last pretty fall days. Took the camera and conned my husband to take some pics of me and I had fun taking some amateur shots of the scenery. We walked around a bit and enjoyed the sun.
Tree Hugger
Strawberry Pond
Then it was off home to get ready for the party. We got to the party a wee bit late but it was still only at a simmer. Eventually though a ton of people showed and we enjoyed an evening of being social, in costume! We didn't really know many people there and hubby had to work this morning so we ended up leaving semi early. Nothing says costume party like pics so I will let those paint the picture later. I may even add some video!
Shaggy and Velma
Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful day! I am off to wash the car and have dinner with the in-laws.
I got some work done that I wasn't able to finish Friday. I still don't have everything done that I wanted for Monday, but I am only one person. It is frustrating when I can't get something done as quickly as I thought I would.
Yesterday was great. Starting the day off with a PR was a nice bonus. After that I went into work for a few hours to get make some headway there. Then Hubby and I ran some errands and hung out until the party.
We went to lunch at Chipotle. I had never been before (at least not that I remember). I must have been really out of it. I had a very similar opinion as Eostre does about the whole subway experience. The board said exactly what you got on the burrito so I assumed I order and: wham bam thank you they serve me up my chicken burrito. Well, not so fast. They are going to ask you what salsa you want (it is very busy and noisy and you can't really hear their question) so you say "everything." Assuming he just asked you which of the toppings on the menu board you wanted. So I watch as he pours on three different salsas and corn! Yikes. I am thinking oh crud I just ordered something spicy. Yikes! Move on to the next topping gal. She asks if that is it? "No" you reply. You want sour cream and guac also. So she adds those and goes to wrap up your burrito. Lo and behold your burrito does not fit in one tin foil wrap, she has to go get a second! Then you move onto drinks. For some reason your sight doesn't register the soda pop at the bottom of the menu and you are thinking geeze, I have to decide between beer and margaritas? So I order a bud light. Much too early for margarita's! After I show my ID I look around the restaurant and see the soda fountain. Oops. Oh well, too much trouble to change now. Hubby is highly amused by all of this.
What I ended up with was a quite tasty, MONSTROUS, chicken burrito. I managed to eat about 3/4 of it and had the rest for lunch today. A little spicy for my taste, but it was quite good.
After getting lunch we headed to Toys R Us to pick up a scooby doo doll for our costumes. Hubby was dressing as shaggy, and we weren't sure that the green shirt and shaggy hair would be enough.
After that we headed to the park. The leaves were so beautiful yesterday and I knew that it might be one of the last pretty fall days. Took the camera and conned my husband to take some pics of me and I had fun taking some amateur shots of the scenery. We walked around a bit and enjoyed the sun.
Tree Hugger
Strawberry Pond
Then it was off home to get ready for the party. We got to the party a wee bit late but it was still only at a simmer. Eventually though a ton of people showed and we enjoyed an evening of being social, in costume! We didn't really know many people there and hubby had to work this morning so we ended up leaving semi early. Nothing says costume party like pics so I will let those paint the picture later. I may even add some video!
Shaggy and Velma
Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful day! I am off to wash the car and have dinner with the in-laws.
Bench Bar Halloween Run
So I finally ran again!
Went and ran the Bench Bar 5 miler this morning with Su. Weather was perfect for it. Wasn't sure how I would run since I haven't raced anything short in awhile and I have only really ran twice since Columbus.
I did okay though! Second place overall and 1st in my age group. 35:46ish
This is the only size shirt they had left!
This is the costume participants. The guy on the left is the CIA leak. :) Last year he was a hanging chad!
Grover says drink your juice kids!
They had some awesome food and beverages afterwards! Cider and Donuts! Now I remember why I wanted to run this one again!
Su came second in our age group just shutting down the other girl on the finishing hill!! Woot Woot!
Here are my splits
Mile 1: 6:43
2: 6:52
3: 7:10
4: 7:48
5: 7:10
Everyone I talked to had a slow 4th mile so that one may have been mismarked a little bit. But at the time I was thinking crud I am slowing WAY down! And had to pick it up if I wanted to finish under 36. I really need to work on running an even split race. Obviously my first two miles were too fast. If I had just gone out a 7 minute mile pace I may have been able to hold on for 35 even.
Next year more track workouts and I will go back and crush the blonde lawyer girl with headphones who took first ;) (Or so B has informed me!)
At mile 2 my contact fell out so I ran the rest of the race with it in my mouth! It survived and is back in its proper place!
My legs are tight now from standing around in the cold after the race.
I have to get some work done and then I am off to go home and hang with hubby before the party tonight!
Went and ran the Bench Bar 5 miler this morning with Su. Weather was perfect for it. Wasn't sure how I would run since I haven't raced anything short in awhile and I have only really ran twice since Columbus.
I did okay though! Second place overall and 1st in my age group. 35:46ish
This is the only size shirt they had left!
This is the costume participants. The guy on the left is the CIA leak. :) Last year he was a hanging chad!
Grover says drink your juice kids!
They had some awesome food and beverages afterwards! Cider and Donuts! Now I remember why I wanted to run this one again!
Su came second in our age group just shutting down the other girl on the finishing hill!! Woot Woot!
Here are my splits
Mile 1: 6:43
2: 6:52
3: 7:10
4: 7:48
5: 7:10
Everyone I talked to had a slow 4th mile so that one may have been mismarked a little bit. But at the time I was thinking crud I am slowing WAY down! And had to pick it up if I wanted to finish under 36. I really need to work on running an even split race. Obviously my first two miles were too fast. If I had just gone out a 7 minute mile pace I may have been able to hold on for 35 even.
Next year more track workouts and I will go back and crush the blonde lawyer girl with headphones who took first ;) (Or so B has informed me!)
At mile 2 my contact fell out so I ran the rest of the race with it in my mouth! It survived and is back in its proper place!
My legs are tight now from standing around in the cold after the race.
I have to get some work done and then I am off to go home and hang with hubby before the party tonight!
Not Perfect
But it will have to do...
Warning: Do not attempt to throw together a perfect costume in a 20 minute run through JCPenney's. You WILL NOT succeed.
Note: No orange knee highs
Note: Skirt is not red
Note: Shoes are not Red (Found perfect shoes but for $40 I just couldn't do it)
Note: Glasses are not big enough
Note: Hair is red, not brown. (But I will not give in to bangs with my real do!)
Note: Sweater is more of a peach than orange.
Meh.
Can you even guess who I am supposed to be?
Tomorrow night should be better when I have hubby and props in tow.
I got Leid...
at the TNT Kickoff!
No workout today. Woke up a wee bit late and tonight was the Team in Training Kickoff.
We have a HUGE group doing the Cleveland Marathon and the Wildflower Tri has pulled in a very big group for that also.
I am exhausted.
Mentor KR is a superstar and she got all of the triathletes lei's. Coach K was nice enough to give me his so I didn't feel left out. (I am still a triathlete at heart, just can't join in on this one)
I should have lots of fun pictures coming from the next couple nights! Halloween parties galore! I still have to go get my outfit. Here's hoping I will find what I need tomorrow before the party!
No workout today. Woke up a wee bit late and tonight was the Team in Training Kickoff.
We have a HUGE group doing the Cleveland Marathon and the Wildflower Tri has pulled in a very big group for that also.
I am exhausted.
Mentor KR is a superstar and she got all of the triathletes lei's. Coach K was nice enough to give me his so I didn't feel left out. (I am still a triathlete at heart, just can't join in on this one)
I should have lots of fun pictures coming from the next couple nights! Halloween parties galore! I still have to go get my outfit. Here's hoping I will find what I need tomorrow before the party!
Tight
My calves are TIGHT! We went to the tow path tonight and ran in the rain. It had been a week so anything shy of a tornado and I would have been running. It was nice to have some crazy friends along for the ride.
We got in 6.5 miles in 57:22. Somewhere around 9 minute miles. I definitely didn't feel like I was out for a stroll but I didn't feel like I was racing a 10k either so that is good.
It was pretty cold and it got dark pretty quick so I was struggling to see towards the end. I forgot my contacts so I had to run with the glasses and I bailed on those because they were getting fogged and wet. Looked pretty ridiculous in my Tiger's visor, wind jacket, and $3 Boston shorts :)
We all went to Hoggy's afterwards for some grub. Su gave in to the dark side:
I was disappointed but I guess it will make it easier to cook for her ;)
Tried to take care of all our insurance/hospital bill woes today. My goodness the hospital billing department is incompetent. I think I solved the collection agency problems, but during the process I found two other bills that never went to insurance, as well as three claims from insurance that we never got hospital bills for. YIKES!
What is up with the word verification for posting? Does blogger think a spam bot is going to post to my blog? Is this only because I was using Hello to add pics or what? This could get annoying...
On a good note me and B2 are official 2006 Boston entrants, who's coming with us?
We got in 6.5 miles in 57:22. Somewhere around 9 minute miles. I definitely didn't feel like I was out for a stroll but I didn't feel like I was racing a 10k either so that is good.
It was pretty cold and it got dark pretty quick so I was struggling to see towards the end. I forgot my contacts so I had to run with the glasses and I bailed on those because they were getting fogged and wet. Looked pretty ridiculous in my Tiger's visor, wind jacket, and $3 Boston shorts :)
We all went to Hoggy's afterwards for some grub. Su gave in to the dark side:
I was disappointed but I guess it will make it easier to cook for her ;)
Tried to take care of all our insurance/hospital bill woes today. My goodness the hospital billing department is incompetent. I think I solved the collection agency problems, but during the process I found two other bills that never went to insurance, as well as three claims from insurance that we never got hospital bills for. YIKES!
What is up with the word verification for posting? Does blogger think a spam bot is going to post to my blog? Is this only because I was using Hello to add pics or what? This could get annoying...
On a good note me and B2 are official 2006 Boston entrants, who's coming with us?
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