running's my favorite

Hey peeps! Long time, no blog.

So, I've been trucking along, loving our new house, walking a lot, working even more, running a few races and trying to resist the siren call of gluten-filled goodies.

Did I mention that I got a 5k PR with my non-running, non-training plan? No? I haven't mentioned that yet?  Well.......

I got a PR! It was in the Women Run the Cities 5k. (I was signed up for the 10 mile but I downgraded due to my joints, blah, blah, blah....) Anywhoo, I have no idea how the hell it happened but I'll take it. Look, here's a picture!

I've run some other races too, a few trail races, some new ones I haven't run before.... all with the goal of having fun, seeing running friends and finishing.

Here's a little collage of my running exploits since my last post.  (Ok, maybe "collage" isn't exactly the right word; its more of a collection of photos.) Here goes!

Women Rock 10k in August. Yeah, it's another race that I downgraded in distance, but whatever. At least I got out there!

Muscle Milk Woodsy. My favorite trail race. The hills of Murphy Hanrehan park kick my ass every time!

Monster Dash 10 Mile.  I loved this woman's shirt! 

Salomon Autumn Trail Series #4. I'm digging the trail races.

Urban Wildland 5k. It was the husband's first sub-30 5k!

Run for the Apples 5 mile run through an apple orchard. I met all these women on the internet. Seriously.  I love the internet!

Before and after at the Monster Dash 10 mile. Yes, those are turkeys on our heads. And I got to wear the skull arm sleeves that I couldn't wear last year. Bonus!  

As another bonus, the friend that I ran with (and who purchased our awesome turkey hats) is a midwife. So I knew that if my uterus fell out mid-race, I'd have a professional by my side, and would suffer no ill effects.  Plus, she's an absolute blast and one of my favorite people in the world, so I knew it would be a fun 10 miles.

Speaking of the midwife - she invited me to run the Fargo Marathon with her next spring.  My response? I did what any rational, reasonable person who has been backing off on distances all year would do - I signed up for the marathon.  

I never said I was smart.  What can I say?  Running's my favorite!

diva dash 10k

My official time was 1:03:41.
And I'm pretty sure I ran the entire 6.2 miles
but GarminElectra disagrees.

I haven't run in three weeks.  Three weeks!  I've walked a fair amount but walkin' ain't runnin' now, is it?  So here's where my head was at..... I went to packet pickup yesterday and almost switched to the 5k. But I ultimately decided if I'm going to drive 20 miles, I may as well run the 10k, however slow it may be. Then this morning, the friend that I was going to run with had to cancel due to illness.  And it was thunderstorming out. And kind of windy.

So I considered skipping the race.

Seriously. Unless I'm really and truly sick or injured, WHY do I ever even entertain the thought of skipping a race?  I have NEVER regretted getting out there and running, regardless of how slow I end up going.  It's never a wasted effort!  Even if it does end up being a tough run, there's always more good than bad going on.  So I just need to quit that behavior.

Looks like he's a master at
getting rid of crabby pants.
 source

So....back to the race.  Due to my pre-race waffling, I left the house late (another pattern I need to break!) and was worried I might miss the start.  It was raining and I was crabby.  I was all, "I'm going to have to park a million miles away and walk in the rain, it's late and I still need to go to the bathroom, WHY am I doing this????"  So I thought maybe some tunes might help.  I hooked my iPhone up in the car and God bless Ricky Martin, he was instantly there for me with "La Copa de la Vida"  ("Do you really want it? Do you really want it? Here we go, Ale ale ale!!  Go, go, go! Ale ale ale!").  The version I have is awesome, it's like being in the middle of carnival....

I heart Ricky and his simple, vapid, yet immensely appealing songs! You just know the guy has to have a good sense of humor.  Plus, he seems like a genuinely nice person.  And....he's kinda pretty to look at.

Ricky snapped me right out of my crabby pants mood.

And really, after Ricky intervened, everything seemed to turn around.  I got to the school where the race was being held and noticed that for some inexplicable reason, until now, NO ONE had parked on the road in front of the school.  So I (along with several other late comers) got to park right out front.  Score!

Then I'm heading for the porta-potties and I see the incredibly long lines....will I be able to get through the line and get to the start on time???  But then I see some porta-potties in the back of the school, and there are NO lines.  Can you hear the angels singing? Score again!!

My business complete, I headed for the start line, crammed in with about 600 other 10k runners and we were off.  I have to kind of laugh about this course.  I actually love it - it's very pretty but probably not the best race to try for a PR.  About 1000 feet from the start we had to squeeze through a very narrow opening in a fence - the whole crowd had to walk though it, going around was not an option.  And we were running on a narrow bike trail for a most of the race.  Tight quarters for sure and not the best for speed, but it really is beautiful.

Five minutes after the 10k runners started, the 5k runners were off.  You know what's next - the fast 5k runners were on the the slow 10k runners like a pack of dogs.  Add in the fact that this was an out and back for the 5k runners, the front runners had to pass the 10k runners again on their way back.

One of the coolest thing about this race is that "new runners" make up a huge portion of the participants. But that also means that many runners are clueless about moving to the side to get the hell out of the way of the faster runners, not running (or walking) 4 abreast on the narrow trails, etc..... It was surprising to me that people didn't move over when they saw the other runners.  I'm slow so it didn't matter much to me, but it must have been frustrating for the front runners.

My splits - I'm not ashamed of them! Was the course short,
did GarminElectra fail me again, or....
is this the correct distance??   We may never know.

Anywhoo, I was loving the run today!  It was the first run I've had in a long, long time that felt effortless!  And I was only (almost exactly!)  four minutes slower than last year!  (No protesters this time though, at least not that I saw.)

My training (if you can even call it that) for the past several months has been so sparse, I'm grateful that I was able to RUN the entire distance (with the exception of the two water stops, of course).  I could tell I was moving a little faster in the last mile and was totally digging the feeling of being able to pick the pace up a tad. I didn't push it at all, though.  It's probably bad enough that I'm off running six miles on no training, pushing it might lead to injury and I've done my time in THAT funhouse.

It was a great race to end the year on.

Now I need to set some new goals for 2013.  I already have a time goal....... I just need to decide which marathon to set my sights on next..... and maybe some other goals to push me out of my comfort zone a little more.

A sprint triathlon, maybe?  Intriguing for sure, but the swimming portion scares the hell out of me!!

diva dash 10k

Squinting into the sun with TenacityChris, my marathon
coach.  She'll be coaching me again for Grandma's 2012!
Oh, and the headband.....I wanted to keep my ears warm but
didn't want to wear a hat or heavy-duty headband.  Can you
say "fivehead"?
<sigh> Another unfortunate race-day apparel choice.

Yesterday was the Diva Dash.  I ran the 10k and got a PR!  My goal was to finish under an hour and I just squeaked 'er in at 59:40!! Still waiting for the official results to be posted (the computer crashed, apparently) but GarminElectra says I PR'd so that's good enough for me.  Yeah, I know, she's unreliable and all, but I guess when it benefits me, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.  I'm shallow like that.  UPDATE: Official results 59:30. YeeHaw!!

It was a really beautiful morning for a run.  Temps in the high 30's at the start and by the time we were done, it must have been close to 50 degrees.  Sunny day, just a slight wind....the kind of day that makes you feel so happy to be out in the fresh air, running!

This race was a benefit for MOCA - Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance.  Nasty silent killer cancer.  My first mom-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 OC back when SS was 6 weeks old.  Here it is almost 19 years later (and after a battle with breast cancer, too, if you can believe it) and I'm SOOO happy to say that she is healthy and with us today!!  So to be able to give back a little bit to MOCA was a bonus for me.

So anywhoo, here are my splits.  Please, take a moment, have a cookie, a cup of coffee, or maybe a beer, and bask in the realization that there is not one 10 to be seen!  

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	59:39.7	6.17	9:40.6
1	9:41.1	1.00	9:41.1
2	9:40.1	1.00	9:40.1
3	9:32.2	1.00	9:32.2
4	9:47.2	1.00	9:47.2
5	9:51.5	1.00	9:51.5
6	9:36.9	1.00	9:36.9
7	1:30.5	0.17	9:08.1

I was pretty tired between miles 4 and 5 and walked a couple of times, stopped to blow my faucet of a nose (in a lady-like fashion - because this was a women's race, I used kleenex rather than show off my awesome snot rocket skills; women seem to get more grossed out by that than men) and tried to rally the troops (legs, lungs and brain).  Got my act together again and pushed it though mile 6 to the end.  I was pretty proud of myself!

Hangin' with the Tenacity Fitness HoneyBadgers and
swilling bloody mary's after the race. These women are fun!
And see how slutty we all look?  I can TOTALLY understand
why that group was upset by women's running clothes.

Downer of the day, along with a big huge WTF:  a family or two protesting the race. Yep, you read that right, they were protesting the race.  Apparently, feminism is bad, and so is women's provocative running apparel.  So they protested this women's-only race that was helping to support the fight against a women's-only cancer.  They held signs imploring us to read the gospel and heed God's word.  So sad, really.  They had kids out there with them, holding those mean-spirited signs.  The only negative to the day.

Oh, and I guess I'm kinda competitive.  There was this chick in pink who would pass me, then I'd pass her, then she'd pass me..... this went on for pretty much the second half of the race.  So we're heading for the finish line and all of a sudden, she's gunning for it and trying to pass me one last time.  I actually said out loud, "Oh HELL no!!" and bolted to keep her behind me.  I *may* have run into another runner at the very narrow finish line (why do people STOP as soon as they cross the finish???) but I did apologize to that runner.  I think I may have pissed off the pink chick a little bit, too, but only 'cuz I smoked her.  (Yeah, like she wouldn't have done the same thing if I'd let her. But I didn't, did I?)  Hahaha!!  Oh my....... I hope I'm not turning into one of "those" runners.

Anyone else smoke another runner during a race and feel kind of bad about it, but not really?