Christmas Eve Morning Run

Adventure Cats

As our new running buddy Katie, who chose to go to the gym this morning instead of run with us said, “You’re kinda like the Postal Service, you run in anything.”

That we do.

This particular run, with all the snow and unplowed streets was ridiculous and funny and fun.

Thanks for the run girls.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Talking talking talking

There are so many things about running in the dark of the morning that I love.  One of them happens to be the company I keep and the discussions that occur.  It’s almost a data dump of the mind and then we confer and then we move onto the next subject and then we are done and ready for the day.

Today we talked about the following:

An amazing play Erika saw by a Polish playwright
Big M’s trip to Turkey
Crohn’s Disease
Odawalla Dan and how his new baby changed his life
Recent car accidents in the news
Upcoming trips over Thanksgiving
Then a lost dog, Stella, found us.  We tried to figure out where her home was for several minutes, then her owner showed up with not even a thank you.
Finished up discussion of upcoming trips
Chess Club
Yoga
My dad

For me it’s like doing the Artist’s Way morning pages but running and using my mouth as my pen.

No ticket to Bean Town today

Marathons are funny.

Marathons are hard.

There is a reason it takes people six swings at it before many get the time they need to go to Boston and live the dream.

The weather was perfect.  In fact, it was beautiful.  My head was on straight.  I was feeling good.

The first half of the race we were on pace, if not a touch fast.  21 minutes in, toe number 4 and five both went numb.  54 minutes in, toes number 3 went numb.  Just remained positive and tried to put it behind the door.

Once we hit Fort Snelling and started running around the lake on a dirt path our times slowed.  It was lonely down there, not a lot of spectators and the run was getting tough.   Then you get to run up a 1.5 mile incline back out, this added insult to injury.  The quads started yelling uncle along with T-odd who was telling us we needed to pick it up and there was not alot of time to give away.

Around mile 19 we got a shot in the arm by seeing our families, these things could not be done without them.  My friend Kuan was on his bike and followed us a long bit of the way and Vincent showed up to cheer Laura on.  I was hoping to get a free dinner invitation to Vincent’s, but no luck.

I’m not sure what mile it was that Laura and I knew this wasn’t going to happen, maybe on the slow incline up, 19, 20, who is to say?

My legs started cramping severely during those last 6 miles.  It was not just my quads, but then my calves got into the action and then came another hill.  Where I ran with my feet locked into a flexed position due to cramping…THAT WAS AWESOME.  But guess what, no toe pain OR bunion pain, they all went back to normal.  Or maybe the cramping just over rode it, does it really matter?

It’s at this point where I am saying to myself, it’s not for lack of training, it’s not because I gave up, it’s not because I am not digging deep enough. 

My mantra for the first half was what Adam told me right before I went to bed, “Whatever you do, don’t give-up.”  My mantra for the second half, “Pain is only temporary!”  Over and over and over.  I came to peace with the fact that I was digging as deep as I could today and that will be good enough.

In the end T-odd finished strong, Laura pulled away and worked her magic like only she can.  And then I saw them, the rest of the running group (plus Becca) waiting almost at the top of the last hill.  They ran me in and they cheered me on and without them I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have made it under 4:00 hours. 3 hours, 59 minutes and 46 seconds to be exact.

Still a PR, so I can’t get too upset.

Marathons are funny.

Marathons are hard.

And for me, marathons take a village.  Hats off to you my village.

Thanks for being there, every last one of you:

Adam, PJ, KP, CT, Roxi, Jay, Becca, Nana, Papa, Ted, Lovie, JC, Teddy, Megan, Jen, Erika, Nathan, Sam, Pete, Ann, Elie, Finn, Kuan, T-odd’s mom and sis and Laura and T-odd.

Positively thinking my glass is half empty

“The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals.”

Hal Higdon

This Sunday is the Minneapolis marathon. The many miles and many hours of training are now done and gone.

We have done everything we can do to ready our bodies for this race, specifically for the goal we are looking to attain. The goal, 3:45.

What’s with 3:45 you ask? That is the Boston qualifying time for old hags like Laura and I. So, when we turn 40, we can be there with bells on. It doesn’t matter to me that it typically takes people 6 attempts before they hit qualifying time. We’ll just disregard that study.

Like I said, we have readied our bodies. T-odd will be pacing us, holding us up with all his witty banter, keeping the monsters at bay and telling us to stop bitching. Mrs. B will be running too. Our families and running buddies will be there like beacons of hope at the top of the hills and around the most important corners.

My mind on the other hand…that is a different story. It gets real dark in those corners when there is pain.

So I just keep telling myself:
It’s going to hurt.
But I have trained.
My toes will start going numb around mile 5 with a burning tingle and move on to utter agony by mile 13.
But I know it is going to happen.
My bunion will be screaming from the start.
But my hot podiatrist and I have done everything we can for it.
I will be exerting myself and pushing myself harder than I ever have at this distance.
But I gave birth naturally to three kids and still lived to tell the tale.
I will get dizzy and tired and think I can’t go on and want to stop.
But I won’t.
I know all these things and will let them go one at a time as they come up, there will not be any surprises (ok that’s a crock of shit).
We have trained hard.
We have trained well.
We can do this.
We will do this.

YES WE CAN!

Let me hear you say it people…

Just funny

The other day during a morning run, T-odd told us about the new tri top he purchased for the upcoming season.  Then he went on to tell us about his struggles gettting it on.

It got even more funny when he blogged about it and added photos.

Running wild

I run with people because I am an extrovert, getting my energy from others feeds my soul.

Clearly I am emmitting negativity about the upcoming race to my compadres.

Nothing like getting a little love and support via the internet.

Being of weak mind, body and spirit

Mrs. Bickerson shared this quote with me.

I will now be the gazelle.

The seriously hunted gazelle.

Always surprising

This past Saturday, our little running trio, had our first 20 mile training run.  T-odd is The Pace Guy with his super duper Garmin 405, it usually tells us we are not going fast enough and/or that our predetermined route is too f*&%)#& short.

And so, on this day, at mile 19 we knew we needed more.  When we got to what should have been the finish we still needed another 1/2 mile.  We decided to just keep going until the almighty Garmin hit 20.  Seriously, passing what you think should be your stopping point is painful, if you are in pain or not.

So for the next 1/2 mile I am asking “Are we done yet?”, “It’s gotta be close!”  “T-odd, seriously, are we there yet?”  Laura, per usual,  is quiet and stoic and most certainly not complaining.  So we continue, T-odd kept telling us we were close and calling out distances, which by this point I couldn’t even decifer.

We turned the corner and started running up a hill, I continue to complain and couldn’t believe we were not done yet.  T-odd is running about 3 feet ahead of Laura and I when he says, “Ok, that’s it…done…20!”

On his word, I stop.

Until Laura snaps and starts yelling…MARY, MARY…RUN, KEEP RUNNING, YOU HAVE TO RUN TO TODD!

And for the rest of the way to the car we laughed at the insanity in her voice and the fact that I really did want to stop 3 feet short but thanks to her, I didn’t.

Just one week ago

Last weekend’s long run:  15.5 miles of joy, happiness, excitment and disbelief that I was back at the long runs and feeling this good.

This weekend’s long run:  16.72 miles of hell, back pain, ankle pain, sluggishness, negativity, and wanting to walk at only 5 miles into the run.

Oh the sweet ups and downs of training.

Ready…Set…GOOOOOOOOO!

Today starts my first day of triathlon training for the 2009 season.  Enough of the slacking off, drinking too much on Tuesday nights for no reason and eating whole boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

So I have decided to make a few changes.  I’ve increased my training a level this year to level 2.  (level 1-for those short on time or newbies, level 2-those who think they can be at least a little bit competitive in their age group, level 3-are people who have no life outside of working, working out and then obsessing about their races, times, heart rates, power output and wattage)  We will see where it gets me, if anywhere.

The other change to this year’s training is that our marathon is a whole month earlier.  That may or may not be a good thing.  We are also trying to go for a specific time, which is a little bit different than in my past attempts at running/enjoying marathons.  I pretty much know that this isn’t going to be one of those fun runs.

All that said, no more excusses to stop after thre miles for coffee or just blow off the swim.  It is written down and when it is written down on my to do list, it gets crossed off…or else.

This first week looks like this (this includes mileage for marathon training too):

• Monday:  Off  (I love starting this way)
• Tuesday:  run: 8-10 miles marathon pace, swim: 6×25 yard sprints (plus warm-up, cool down, drills)
• Wednesday:  bike:  8×30 second sprints
• Thursday:  swim: distance to be determined, run:6-8 miles and hills
• Friday:  bike: 50 minutes
• Saturday:  swim: 800 yards, run:  14-16 miles
• Sunday:  brick:  35 min. bike and 10 min. run

Off to the races.