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!!

havin' some ketchup

So yeah, my 2012 trend of poor blogging habits continues....


It's been tough to find time for blogging, Life, ya know?? And did I mention the weather?  It's been impossibly hot and humid for the majority of Summer.  Crazy weather!  Not that the weather interferes with my blogging but.....

Anywhoo, I've run a few races since Grandma's, for fun and for training.  Thank goodness for the races because my training for Chicago has been less than stellar. I sure hope something magic happens and transforms me into a race-ready marathoning machine come October.  I like to keep my dreams realistic. 

Perfect heart-shaped mud smear post-Warrior Dash.

Let's see - What was first?  Oh yeah, Warrior Dash. June 30th. The husband and I did this one again. Sad to say, it was lots more fun last year.  Maybe because we were in the 2:30 wave this year and the temps were in the high 90's with tropical humidity levels had something to do with the "less fun" perception.  Plus, we did the first obstacle (a leap over walls/crawl under barbed wire mix) and I felt something *pop* in my left quad. Not too painful at the time but then I was all, "What the hell am I doing this for when I'm training for a marathon???" So I decided I was going to make it a 3 mile walk with obstacles thrown in.  Luckily, the husband wasn't too jazzed about running up hills either (did I mention the race was held at a ski resort? Frickin' HUGE hills) so he was totally cool with that. He rocks.

Here are some photos of the day:

The backside of the first climber.  This was scary!  The steps were spaced about 2.5 feet apart - you could easily stip through and fall to the ground. There was a girl laying across the top trying to swing her leg over to climb down. she looked at me with a terrified look in her eyes and said, "This is f*cking intimidating!"  It was!

That's me on the left heading to the most refreshing "obstacle"of the day.  It felt so good I went through it twice.

The husband making his way down a cargo net.

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The next race was supposed to be the Stillwater Log Run 10 mile race.  July 21st. 

Race morning I woke up to a thunderstorm.  I took my time getting ready, hoping the storm would quit.  It didn't. 

I drove to the bus area (runners were bussed the 10 miles to the start) and waited in the car hoping the storm would quit.  it didn't.  

So I got out and asked a race official if the race was still on. Yep.  He told me to hurry and get on the last bus heading out. So I ran through the rain to the bus and climbed aboard.  AND I WAS THE ONLY PERSON ON THE BUS.  I knew it was going to be a small race, but come ON. 

Off we went to the start. The bus driver: "I had no idea the weather was going to be so gnarly out today!" Gnarly??? I liked him already!  He was super nice and we chatted the whole way to the start. I mentioned I wasn't sure running today was such a great idea, and he said, "Well, I have to come back to town anyway so you could always stay on the bus.  I'll bring you back to the parking lot." 

Long story short, there were about 125 runners waiting in a parking lot at a Lake outside of town, watching the fabulous lightning display. No shelter. After about 15-20 minutes they called the race due to lightning. Works for me!  I have no problem running in the rain, but running out in the country in a thunderstorm?  No thank you. So I headed home, changed my clothes and hopped on the treadmill.  I was feeling so good I threw in a few more miles for fun and ended up doing 13.6 miles on the treadmill. I think that's a TM distance PR for me.

Read it and weep.  13.6 miles with Millie!

=======================================
On to race #3.  The Boler Dash 5k. July 28th.  According to GarminElectra, I finished in 30:46.

TenacityChris organized this race to benefit one of the trainers at her studio whose house burned down in June. The family lost everything in that fire. TenacityChris did a fantastic job and had a great turnout considering it was pulled together in a month!  In addition to the race, there was a brunch and silent auction, along with drawings for prizes.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the brunch but I heard it was lots of fun. 

TenacityChris snapped a photo of me heading for the finish!  Don't you just love my awesome blue shoes?

==============================================
Catch-up post #4  Minnesota Half Marathon 8/4/12 - 2:25:27

I think my center of gravity it too high to
rollerblade. Plus, I'm super clumsy so I don't
think I'll be doing this any time soon.

I decided the morning of the race that I'd run it. Had I registered for it yet? Nope. But I made sure they had race day registration before I drove the 20 miles to the start. I'm all about the planning, people.
My goal was to use this as a training run. I knew the course was a little bit hilly and that's cool, I like hills. I had a 14 mile run on the ol' training plan and I just wanted to be able to run and not carry my own water or have to plan a route. So I guess it's fair to say I ran the race out of sheer laziness.

Overall, other than a nasty pain in my side, it was a good run. The pain continues to be an issue a week later so I guess I'll have to get that checked out. 

One of the fun things about the race was that it could be done as a duathlon (running and inline skating). I've never seen an inline skating race before so that was really cool. There appears to be strategy and skill involved in that type of racing, however, so I should probably stick to foot races. The weather was FINALLY cool (although humid) so it was still a sweatfest, but a very tolerable sweatfest. The sky was overcast and it started to rain lightly during the last 2 miles. I enjoyed myself!


==================================================

Cheesy post-race pose.

Last, but certainly not least, the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon 8/11/12 - 2:21:35 (Garmin) PLUS 3 mile warm-up.

Yet another race-as-training run on my journey to the Chicago Marathon. 
The course is awesome, it starts in Minnesota and finishes in Hudson, Wisconsin (hence the name). Because the start is only a few miles from my house, I decided to run there so that I could get all my training miles in for the day. I was feeling kind of crappy before heading out to the start of the race, but I figured worst case scenario, I'd call the husband and have him come pick me up mid-course. Luckily, the warm up miles seemed to kick out whatever was ailing me - by the time I got to the start of the race, I felt great! 
This was sort of a new race for me (I did the 5k last year) and I loved the course. It was fun to run through my hometown, there were more downhills than uphills, and lots of well-run water stops. The weather cooperated, too. Sunny, no wind, cool temps....heavenly! 
The husband met me at the finish after doing his own run this morning. It's always so nice to see his smiling face in the crowd! He took a couple of pictures for the ol' blog.  He knows me well.  Then to cap the day off, he grilled up some surf & turf for dinner. Tenderloin and king crab legs. Did I mention he rocks?  Yeah, he totally does.

So there you have it. I'm all ketched-up now! Better late than never! 

You know what's strange?  The fact that I RAN THREE MILES TO THE START OF MY HALF MARATHON. I know "real" runners do that kind of thing all the time, but I guess I don't classify myself as a real runner.  And I know I've run longer distances, and that I've tacked on miles AFTER a race to meet the mileage on my training plan, but still, I ran, RAN, to the start of a half marathon.  

Is it just me or is that batshit-crazy-sounding??  (But in a good way!)

made it to grandma's 2012

To the finishers go the spoils!

You know me, this is the first marathon post.  I can never sum it all up in just one measly post.

So.....Grandma's marathon was just as fun this year as I remember it being last year, but for different reasons.

The husband rocks.  He's been so unbelievably supportive of me through all my training over the past couple of years, and this year he quietly trained for Grandma's....no dailymile account, no blog....(I guess there's only room for one attention-seeker in this marriage).....he just logged his miles and mentally prepared to run 26.2 miles.

As soon as he signed up for his own marathon adventure, the husband always said he wanted me to run my race and he would run his, and we would meet up at the end. So on the eve of the marathon, I was all set to try for my 4:30 goal,

5:15 a.m Ready to get the party started.

But then, on marathon morning, I had the realization that this may be the only marathon he ever does and as such, my only opportunity to run a marathon WITH him, not just be in the same marathon on the same day.  That made the PR not very important. I decided I'd much rather share the experience with him from start to finish and save the PR attempt for another day.  Hell, I can try for it in less than four months!!

So we ran together. And it was awesome! We kicked ass in the first (warm, HUMID) 13.1 miles, and then needed to dial it back significantly in the second half.  We walked every water stop from start to finish (and those water stops are lonnnggggg) and threw in additional walking as needed.  Our splits were all over the map.  See for yourself:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	4:52:18.6	26.31	11:06
1	10:14.4	1.00	10:14
2	10:10.1	1.00	10:10
3	10:38.1	1.00	10:38
4	10:06.8	1.00	10:07
5	10:00.9	1.00	10:01
6	10:51.8	1.00	10:52
7	10:07.8	1.00	10:08
8	10:47.5	1.00	10:47
9	11:34.0	1.00	11:34
10	9:50.5	1.00	9:50
11	10:32.9	1.00	10:33
12	11:47.9	1.00	11:48
13	10:25.8	1.00	10:26
14	11:21.2	1.00	11:21
15	10:17.4	1.00	10:17
16	11:40.1	1.00	11:40
17	13:07.5	1.00	13:07
18	10:35.5	1.00	10:35
19	11:17.9	1.00	11:18
20	12:43.2	1.00	12:43
21	12:45.3	1.00	12:45
22	11:56.6	1.00	11:57
23	11:57.0	1.00	11:57
24	11:12.7	1.00	11:13
25	12:06.7	1.00	12:07
26	11:00.4	1.00	11:00
27	3:08.9	0.31	10:00

When all was said and done, we had a PR for the husband and a PR for the bitter hag!!  Our official times were 4:54:09 for me and 4:54:10 for the husband.  Not sure why I beat him by a second but he's a good sport and seems ok with it.

Post-race!  Ready to nap and then go out for a meal of red meat.

More to come on the day itself.  But I just had to share the proof of my war wound from the day:

Is it dirt?  Nope.

Yep, that's blood on my precious Injinjis. Around mile 25 it suddenly felt as though my toenail had been ripped off.  Nothing so dramatic actually happened but it hurt like a sonofabeyoch. But at mile 25?  No way was I walking at that point! I just kept on going to the finish. I even managed to smile for the MarathonPhoto folks. Yeah, I'm a honeybadger like that.

More stories about marathon day coming up, including the visions of the guy lubing up with vaseline in full view of everyone, and women dropping trou to pee mid race, also in full view of everyone. Runners are gross.  But that's part of the fun!

The honeybadger at mile 25.5.