shallow to the core

Ok, so I admit I'm more than a little bummed I didn't run yesterday.  This cold is really kicking my ass so I know it was the right decision - trying to run 10 miles in this condition would have been an absolute suckfest.  But still.......

Why am I bumming?  Because I didn't get to try to improve my time from last year? Yeah, partly.  It's a great course that's mostly downhill so I was looking forward to trying for a shiny new PR.

Because it was a missed opportunity to run with the husband?  Of course!  I love running races with him.

Because I didn't get my precious bling?  Well, duh.  You KNOW how I am about the bling.

What's missing from this picture? Oh yeah, THE FINISHERS MEDAL.
Dammit!!

But the biggest reason I'm bummed about not running in yesterday's race?  Not the chance to rise to the challenge of a new PR...... not the opportunity to run with the husband....... nope, I'm bummed because I didn't get to wear the arm warmers purchased specifically for the Monster Dash.

My awesome arm warmers

In addition to being a bling whore, I am a gear whore.  And I was looking forward to rocking my newest gear!

Extreme arm warmer close-up.  Aren't they cool?

Oh well, there's always next year, right?  And really, who says I have to wait a whole year?  Skulls are always appropriate - I'm sure I can find another opportunity to rock 'em!

monster dash 10 mile dns

I was all set to run this one again but alas, it was not to be.  <cue the violins.....>  I have a nasty, terrible, no good, miserable cold, complete with clogged ears, sore throat, sinus pressure, sneezing, excessively running nose and I'm coughing up all sorts of yuck..... I've been blowing my poor nose so much that it's all red and raw and painful.  Just imagine, with the cold weather and the way my mucous production has been in overdrive, I would have been the queen of snot rockets out on the course today!

I would have needed something like
this if I tried to run in today's race.  source

But enough about me (said the self-absorbed blogger.)  

So yeah, I didn't run in today's race but the husband did!  Believe it or not, it's the first race he's run solo.  He likes to run but isn't a bling whore like I am, thus, he gets enough satisfaction just from the act of running.  I could use the weak argument of, "I usually run by myself so I like to run races because then I'm with other humans...."  but really, we all know the truth, don't we?  

Anywhoo, back to the husband..... I'm so proud of him!!  It's his longest run since Grandma's and he killed it!

He's done way more than his share of showing up at races to cheer me on so I decided I would do that for him.  So Jane and I piled into the car headed over to the big city to see our man run. My original plan involved catching him at a couple of places along the course, but princess that I am, didn't quite feel up to being out in the cold for that long.  We'd have to settle for watching him cross the finish line.

I conveniently forgot the little factoid that approximately 10,000 people signed up for this race, and that numbers like that might impact my ability to park close to the finish line.  Luckily, I got lost and ended up on a lonely side street, where I stumbled upon a parking spot about 4 blocks from said finish line.  Score!! 

volunteering with the boy 2010

Jane and I wove our way through the throngs of runners and spectators to the finish line and waited about 20 minutes for the husband to cross.  Holy crap there were a lot of runners!!  It's definitely a different perspective being on the sidelines rather than in the race. Surprisingly enough, it makes me want to volunteer again.  

Side story: Sweet Son and I volunteered at a 7k race in 2010 but were sent out to direct traffic to and from the race, which meant we didn't get to see any of the runners actually run in the race. I was hoping that seeing the huge numbers of folks running would inspire him to run a race someday, but it didn't quite work out that way.  Oh well.  On the up side, he was pretty impressed with the huge number of runners who thanked us for volunteering.  So that was cool!

The husband striding to the finish line!
I'm dying to know the story of the woman next to him. Maybe
she thought the finish line banner was really low....

Back to the husband and his awesome race today.....

I got up with him this morning and was all, "Did you have breakfast?" "Do you have some type of energy food to eat during the race?" "Do you have gloves?" "Are you going to wear a hat?"  "Make sure you use the bag drop, you don't want to be without warm clothes like we were two years ago when we had to wait forever for that damn shuttle!" 

Last time I checked, he's a grown man who is able to take care of himself.....guess I sort of forgot that for a few minutes.

Anyway, back to the husband again....I was super excited to see him looking strong and heading toward the finish line!  I shouted (croaked) his name but he didn't hear me.  Jane went crazy when she saw him.  (The German Shepherd in her HATES it when we're out in public and not right next to each other.) We had to try to weave through the crowd again to find him.  When we did, Jane leaped upon him with relief. He looked like he hadn't even been running! Just looked totally relaxed, like he'd been out for a walk.

The husband and a much calmer Jane post race.

I drove the husband back to his car.
Sort of a side note: This is a point to point race. The 10 mile course for this race ends 3.1 miles before the half marathon finish (I'm a math whiz!) so the 10 milers have to take a shuttle to the half marathon finish to get their stuff from bag drop and to be closer to their cars.  The line to the shuttles was indeed long, and it wouldn't have made a damn bit of difference if the husband had listened to me and relied on the bag drop for quicker access to his warm clothes. Yeah, he didn't listen to me on that one. He ignored me about the hat and gloves, too. Always exercising his free will.  
Anywhoo, while we were driving, I asked him about the race and how it went.  He said the first mile flew by, the next couple of miles went pretty fast as well, but the last three, not so much. And that was it.  It would appear that, unlike me, he doesn't get verbal diarrhea when describing his races.

A coffee for the husband, and a little treat for the wife.

But I think he's pretty proud of himself.  And he PR'd!!  1:43:13. Did I mention I'm proud of him too??  I am!!

Being the good wife that I am, I offered to hit Starbucks on the way home and get some coffee for him to drink while he languished in his ice bath. (A REALLY good wife probably would have made coffee at home but whatever.) I saw the Pumpkin Spice Latte on the menu. It looked soooooo yummy!  Right away I'm thinking "Damn, too many calories." But then I remembered a very important fact.  You always feed a cold.  Feed.A.Cold.  Feed all those luscious, flavorful, fat-filled calories to your nasty, terrible, no good, miserable cold.  Use it to make that cold your beyoch!  So that's exactly what I did. I included the whip cream for good measure.

And I got a coffee for the husband too. :)

redemption! chapter 2

I'm just in it for the hardware

Monster Dash today and I did NOT walk through the finish chute!  Goal met!!

I have to say, I got up this morning and I was just not feelin' it for this run.  My ankle has been barking a little bit and frankly, I was kind of worried that I haven't been running much, and my longest run since Grandma's (Really? I haven't put in ANY long runs since June 18??? Holy shit!) was 5.2 miles.  So to go out and run 10 miles seemed a little, uh, daunting.  Plus, I wanted some form of redemption, remember?  My fear was that I was going to completely hit the wall around mile 6 and lose the will to live.  But then I figured, well, at least I'll be out there. And I paid for the race. And I want that medal.  Plus, I'd have to own up to not showing up and I didn't want to have to do that.  So off I went.

My saucy mask

But let me back up a little bit.  Even though I was going to run this one solo, I thought it would be fun to wear some type of costume.  I think I over-thought things.... I was all worried about finding something that would be comfortable, not too warm, wouldn't flap all around, wasn't going to pose a chafing threat....too much criteria.  I found a really cute bumblebee costume that would have worked except the sleeves were too restrictive.  So that was out.  Oh, and have I mentioned that I don't have a creative bone in my body?  Making something from scratch was not going to happen.  So anyway, I finally settled on a hot pink Mardi Gras-type mask.  Very low key and I could rip it off my head and throw it away if it bugged me too much.

So this morning as I was getting ready, I thought, "Hey, I should put on some bright pink lipstick to go with the mask!"  I mixed a couple of my long-wearing lipsticks together and ended up with a pink that was really quite striking, especially against my pasty white skin.  This lipstick is amazing folks, I could be in hurricane force winds, pelted with sheets of water and still emerge with my lipstick intact.  It's that good.

Anywhoo, between the half marathon and the 10 mile, I think there were about 5000 people in this race.  The starting area was complete chaos.  I was heading to the bag drop when a group of women asked me to take their picture.  As soon as I said, ok they all started pulling cameras out of every orifice and I ended up taking about 18 million pictures, two with each camera, "Just to be sure!"  Back to my quest for the proper bag drop bin when I ran into a friend and chatted with her for a couple of minutes.  Then back to the quest....finally located where I needed to leave my bag.  Did I mention how cold it was this morning?  29 degrees!  So I had to take off my gloves and my warm coat and put them in the bag....grab my chapstick and kleenex and honey stingers....then I hear, "Get to the starting area, the race will begin in 5 minutes!"  Crap!! Stuffed everything in the bag and headed to the start.

In the starting area, I noticed people look at me with a quick double-take and I'm wondering WTF?  Do I have something on my face?  Hanging out of my nose??  Then I realize, damn, I forgot my mask!  And I also realize, shit, I'm wearing scary-ass bright pink lipstick.  With no matching mask. Or costume of any sort, for that matter.  I'm just looking like the aging crazy woman who is getting ready for her close-up.  And if you recall, that lipstick possesses incredible staying power so removing it at this point is not an option.  <insert effenheimer outburst here>  As with my poor race-day wardrobe choices (e.g. the jacket tied around my waist for about 23 miles during Grandma's marathon), I had to just put the unfortunate lipstick choice out of my mind....it helped that I couldn't see it.

On to the race....

Here's me with Jane after the race.  Can
you see the pink lipstick?
And do I not have the world's
most ginormous melon-head ever?

Despite a pretty chilly start, it was a beautiful day for a race!  Sunny skies, no wind, and we started on Summit Avenue in St. Paul right by the cathedral.....the fall colors were glorious and spectators lined the streets.  Due to my history of low mileage, I decided I would just go nice and slow and see how things went.  I had no intention of pushing things at all.  I was wearing GarminElectra and as usual, she had to pull something just to let me know she runs the show.  After the start gun went off and we were shuffling to the actual start mats, I looked down and saw that she had shut herself off again.  Beyoch!  Got her up and running just as I ran over the mat.

This was a super easy run for me.  The course was awesome.  With the exception of one steady climb right after mile 7, it was all flat or downhill.  Gotta like that!  I just ran along, happy as could be and the miles went by pretty easily.  I didn't bother looking at GarminElectra, as long as I heard her beep with each passing mile, I was happy. I have pretty low expectations where she's concerned.

Husband bonus: I didn't think he was going to make it to this one because DSD had hockey practice and SS had play rehearsal but there he was, with Jane, just after mile 7.  It's always such a treat to see him at my races!  He also found me at the finish line.  I think he likes me.

Back to the race.....Get this: I beat my previous PR (Women Run the Cities 2010) by 8 minutes 41 seconds!!  How the hell did that happen??  My official time for the 10 miles was 1:40:07. That's 0.01 FASTER than GarminElectra had me at 9.93 miles.  Su-WEET redemption!!

So it was a good day for me. And no serious ankle pain. Yay!!  I have a couple more 5Ks to round out the year and then I start training for Grandma's.  I can't wait!

Here are my splits.  Again, I came up short in the mileage - I must ride those tangents like they're Secretariat.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:40:08.8	9.93	10:05.4
1	10:18.0	1.00	10:18.0
2	10:02.9	1.00	10:02.9
3	10:02.8	1.00	10:02.8
4	10:02.8	1.00	10:02.8
5	10:09.2	1.00	10:09.2
6	9:58.6	1.00	9:58.6
7	10:29.4	1.00	10:29.4
8	10:12.6	1.00	10:12.6
9	10:01.1	1.00	10:01.1
10	8:50.9	0.93	9:33.

Happy fall to y'all!!

running with jane

I'm grooming Jane to be my running partner.

Jane isn't the most attentive runner.  I should clarify - she's not attentive to the running aspect of our runs.  She likes to stop A LOT to investigate items she comes across on our runs, and I'm pretty sure one of these times she's going to rip my arm out of it's socket.  So she's attentive to what she deems important.  And I guess we do come across some pretty interesting things: geese, rabbits, SQUIRREL!!, deer, garbage, the occasional sock or shoe, discarded food containers, and a plethora of animal crap from dogs and other creatures.   I suppose if I were her I'd want to check stuff out too.  I'd draw the line at literally sampling crap that we come across on the run, however.  That's just gross.  But then, I'm not a dog, so it's really not my thing.

Anyway, she's fairly young (not quite 8 months) so I don't like to push her too much.  She needs to finish growing and I don't want to be responsible for wrecking her joints.  One of us with bad hips is enough.  So far we just walk/run around the lake by our house - the distance is an almost perfect 5K.  On the up side, Jane's always ready and willing to go out for a run, and she never complains that it's too hot/cold/late/early/windy/rainy, or how her shoes don't fit exactly right, or the fact that running tights emphasize her cellulite and do nothing for her butt....that would be me doing that.  Not out loud, usually.  It's more like a thought scroll under all the other stuff I think about (Did I turn off the coffeemaker? What time is that meeting today?  Do I have time to take a real shower or do I have to settle for a baby wipe cleanup?, etc....)

After I run with Jane, I still feel like I need to do a "real" run, one where I'm not walking half the time.  I can usually talk myself out of it though. Guess I don't like to push myself too much, either.

My next race is the Monster Dash 10 mile which will be on October 30.  I'm going for a run this morning (sans Jane - we have a date at the State Park later today) after I have my coffee.  Gotta fuel the machine first!