To Race or Not To Race

It’s probably a silly question.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love racing: going fast is awesome.  But on the other hand, I’ve let myself get way out of racing shape.  Mostly by running long and slow but also not taking care of myself terribly well this past summer. In retrospect maybe I could have done things differently but whatever, I did what I needed to do.

That said, once I moved here I jumped on the chance to run/train/race.  I met one of my friends in the Dallas area last December (actually I met in real life a lot of people that December) at White Rock.  We keep in touch via RW and now FB as well as, duh, real life.  She’s part of a running group (The White Rock Running Coop) that meets twice a week, very informally, to do a LR on Saturday and then a speed workout in the middle of the week.  This past week they actually met three times because the afternoon heat has made speedwork hard, so that was changed to an early am session and the night run is a recovery one.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that ever since I’ve known I was going to move here (as in once I had actual plans to do so) she invited me to the FB group for the group and I’ve been excited ever since.  Training with a group is awesome. Don’t get me wrong I love my solo runs. But I ran a long run with them last Saturday and their training mindset was infectious.  After Boston I had vowed to take off racing for the year; I was definitely overtrained, injured and just tired of push push pushing.  These guys are all training for fall races, ranging from Chicago to White Rock, and it got a little bit of the “hey I want to do that. Hey I want to follow a training schedule and have workouts with NAMES again.”

thanks google images

Now I haven’t gone off the deep end and registered for any races yet (I have registered to become a member of the Dallas Running Club and with that you get 8 free races.  I’m not counting those, especially since this one on Saturday is going to be after a 9-10 mile run as part of the long run) but I have some on my little “I want to do them” list.  A couple have price increases as of September 1st and I hate having pressure on me, especially since I still don’t know what I’ll do.

So the title of this post may be a tease because I clearly have no information as to my fall race schedule to give myself, much less you.  I am, however, training as though I’ve committed.

The first week that I was here (and for those of you who missed my last post I am not longer in Providence RI but now in Dallas, TX) I just ran easy.  No shock because that’s what I’ve been doing all summer. It was all about A) getting acclimated to the weather (it’s been 100+ every day with the lows being PVD’s highs!) B) exploring the area — both via bus/rail and running by getting out on the “trails” :

DallasCounty.org

While the trails can be pretty, there are the quote marks because it’s concrete. My legs are taking a beating due to it!

After being here in TX a week, I decided last Thursday (the 25th) to do a speed session. After actually making the move to Texas I felt that my life was less chaotic and during the exploratory run the previous night I felt the itch to do something structural with my running week. So on Thursday I set out.  In 85* @ 7am weather. Excellent.

I’d actually only been in Dallas for a day at that point due to the apartment fail but I had found a nice field on my previous run and thought it’d be good to use for speed work.  I was secretly hoping for a track there but it wasn’t too be.  I used a soccer field instead and did the following workout:

• 4 X 3 laps of the field (~1000m) with 1.5 laps of recovery (~500m)

After some “extensive” google searching I took the average of all the measurements out there to be that 3 laps of a soccer pitch is ~1000m, and for my pace calculation I took it to be .6 miles. Good enough for me. How’d it go?

1. 4:32 (7:33)
2. 4:31 (7:32)
3. 4:37 (7:43)
4. 4:39 (7:45)

I guess I’ll take it? It’s slightly slower pace wise then when I did my 4 X 800m three week prior but slightly faster than when I did my 4X1 mile two weeks ago.  Since I really have no idea how long the entire field was, my paces ranged from 15 seconds faster (if you assume I ran further than the distance I used) to 30 seconds slower (if you assume I ran shorter). With all that guesswork involved I’ll just say that I’m happy with it because it felt hard and very taxing.

Just an interesting note that I saw lightning off in the distance during these early bird hours of running. Weird to me to have those t-storms so early; in MA/RI those storms crop up in the late afternoon. And there was a creepy kid doing soccer drills in the field.

No apologies for this one. Once I wrote lightning I had to watch it. And then share

This past Saturday was my first group LR.  I think I’ve run by myself for long runs with the exception of maybe 5 total.  This was the day that I started really feeling the itch of having a marathon on tap this fall.  The plan was to go for 15 miles, but a few wrong turns from the group leader got us to 15.6. NBD in my book.

We started at 0600 to try and get the bulk of the miles before the sun came out (sun rises around 7 in these parts) and the run was okay.  With my summer going how it went and the Texas heat I started out with the group that was running 9:45 pace and stuck with them.  At first I felt like I could have gone faster but I’m glad one of the guys told me not too.  I felt great until mile 11.  Miles 11-13 were eh.  After that I just wanted to be done.  I did finish: 15.6 miles @ 9:45 pace. As one of the guys told me at the end:

“Welcome to Texas”

Also just a note, because this is getting sooooooooooooooo freaking long!, I started a bare bones strengthening workout this week that I plan on doing 2-3 times a week (found it in a recent RW I think).  Nothing major but it makes me feel like I’m doing something.  At some point I’ll add to it or actually hit a gym but it’s good for a nice quick 10-minutes-and-I-feel-better-about-myself lift.

• 20 walking lunges
• 50 crunches
• 10 pushups
• 20 squats
• 30-45 seconds of plank

I’m going to call this past week (August 22-28) my first week of training.  For what? Who knows. But after those two workouts above, re-starting a strength plan (hadn’t done anything like that for arms/core since May and legs was probably December) I’m beat and wearing compression socks to bed.  I’m sure adjusting to the heat has something to do with it too. No injuries although, as I mentioned above, my legs are feeling achy from the concrete. Regardless I finished up with 62.7 miles. Lower than I’d like but a solid place to start.

Wow I didn’t realize how much I had to say about my running lately. Sure makes up for my lack of exciting running this summer! I’ll post my track workout that I did this morning (it was the group workout that I had missed Tuesday morning because I wasn’t going to walk in the dark to get there!) tomorrow or Friday because it was a doozy and put some things in perspective in terms of races and this fall, as well as the group recovery run I’m going to tonight.

“Don’t Let That Smile Deceive You”

Boston Marathon 2011: 3:48.46.

Easily a PW. But, hey, it was bound to happen at some point, right?

And according to baa.org

	5k	10k	15k	20k	Half	25k	30k	35k	40k
	0:24:34	0:48:44	1:13:35	1:39:25	1:45:00	2:05:52	2:35:15	3:04:51	3:35:52
Finish:		Start Offset	Pace	Proj. Time	Offl. Time	Overall	Gender	Division
		–	0:08:44		3:48:46	13033	4077	2711

I mean, I’m alive and all buttttt as a precaution remember I packed my id, money and *insurance card* into my sports bra because I felt that it would be a bad race.  And, while I didn’t use anything of that yesterday (but ended up in the medical tent), I will on Thursday as I fork over a co-pay to see the doctor (annoyingly the first appointment available)

Race day started out decent, I was awake wayyyy earlier than my alarm because of anxiety but  I was actually excited for a race before race day for once after the dailies dinner! This feeling faded on Sunday but Saturday night I was pumped.

Dear friends who have given me more support than I probs deserve!

I got to the start around 0730, actually got to use a porta potty that hadn’t been used yet (!!) and hung out for  a bit chatting with some of my RW friends. (Kevin and Nick). Kevin’s first words to me? “You don’t look happy to be here”.  Which was true by the time Monday morning rolled around and we chit chatted about lots of things. I looked for another friend, Sarah, but never found her before the start despite us texting to find each other.  Nick and I walked to the start where he so graciously let me wear his throwaway sweatshirt! We found our corral, talked strategy, wished each other luck and we were off.

The race started out well for me.  The first two miles were probably a little faster than I should have run them (7:45, 7:30) but that’s roughly the goal pace I set for myself (I was targeting a 3:20 remember) and they felt good.  After mile two, my knee started hurting.  Not that much so I settled around 8 minute pace and readjusted my goals.  All the while, wearing the tiara and trying to feed off the energy of the crowd.  Everyone loved my tiara.  I had my first initial permanent marker’d on my leg so I got a lot of “Go Princess K!” cheers.  The little kids loved the crown too. One older gentleman told me “You keep up with those big boys Miss America”.

I don’t really remember much of the middle miles except trying to feed off that energy.  Because I was in pain.  The crowds at Boston are SO AWESOME. (And Caroline I looked for you at that DD by BC in the late miles! Couldn’t find you though) So I slapped every single hand that was outstretched and did enjoy myself in that respect.

But I cannot tell you the number of times I thought about dropping out (because I stopped counting) and when a train flew by in Natick? Yeah I thought about that $20 in my bra. By mile 16 the pain was lingering up my hip and down into my feet and continued on for the rest of the race.  I really wish that I had seen one of my friends who was on heartbreak because I needed to have someone tell me to htfu.

Im in the all black and tiara. Taken by a friend (runningsnake) around the mile 19 water station

And then around mile 21/22/23 (I can’t really remember) I felt something pop and then radiate pain up and down my leg.  This is also soon before the moment where I accepted beer from the BC boys (who among all the people on the course loved my tiara the most)

My pace dropped off SO MUCH during the last half and especially post-heartbreak and I know I looked like death in the late miles.  It was such a struggle. I wanted to stop and cry so many times.  I knew that I couldn’t stop (although you all will be proud to know I did for water THREE TIMES!) because if I did that then I wouldn’t start up again. I feel bad for my family because they didn’t know if they were going to keep getting the next 5k split text. They were all in Boston waiting for the call “heyyyyy I’m not going to be there”

As I rounded the corner of Hereford and Boylston I saw my family this year (last year they missed me) with my sister blasting her vuvuzela and that gave me the kick to push hard at the end.  After crossing the finish line I meandered over to the medical tent where they had no ice (wtf?) and got seen by a doctor because I couldn’t bear weight on my leg.

With the above said, I finished the race not meeting my hopes but doing MUCH better than my expectations. Despite the real pain of my leg (and not just the pain that comes with hauling your body over 26.2 miles) I can’t say that I’m really pissed off about it or angry.  That doesn’t mean I’m overjoyed with the actual race itself (or my foolish pride in sticking out the whole thing) as I know I did lots of things wrong leading up to the race. But my expectations heading into Athlete’s Village were not the greatest and therefore not being in surgery right now is a plus (because that was my fear going into the race)

This is the second year I’ve run Boston and the second year I’ve run the race overtrained and injured and the second year Boston knocked me on my ass (because despite PR-ing last year at Boston it still wasn’t all it could be).  Good thing I’m moving to a new hometown and can have a new hometown race 😉

"I F$#%ing Hate This Course" <-- one fleeting thought that passed through my head in the late miles.

I met up with Lindsay (and I have to apologize to her because I was really irritated with my family and cranky because I couldn’t find her and they all wanted to leave the city.  And I’m pretty sure she witnessed it! But once I saw her I instantly relaxed. So thanks girl!) and we wandered a bit and got lost trying to find the T because streets were shut down. Stupidly I didn’t get a picture so you’ll just have to trust it happened.

Again, thanks to all who tracked and texted and commented on my last post and fb’d. And read this whole damn thing (I swear someday I’ll learn to be concise with my words). Also to note: other than the blistering sunburn I have and my knee, I feel good. I kind of hate my fast recovery time after a marathon because it makes me want to go out there NOW and run rather than bask and recover, because like I’ve said to a few of you, I have to be happy with my performance given how I was feeling this weekend (I really downplayed how bad it was. Silly pride)

Fingers crossed I get something resembling good news at the doctor on Thursday.  I’m just trying to relax. I took today off of work too and I’m glad I did, although relaxing is hard to do with a sunburn! Ouch! And trust me: there will be no running until I get the go-ahead from my doctor. Not that I really could anyway. I really can’t in good conscience. The medic at the tent told me he thought it was a tear in my flexor tendon. Because when he placed his hand on my calf and told me to push down I couldn’t.  We’ll see in a few days though. In the meantime I have some jokes to read. Holler.

WR Splittage and Thoughts

I can’t get over how it’s been a week plus since WR! How’d that happen?! A week ago from when this post is going up I was celebrating a fantastic race at the Texas Roadhouse drinking

Texas Love

I promised some splits when I first wrote my recap last week but I wasn’t wearing the garmin so I didn’t have them.  But now I do. Thanks sis 🙂 So enjoy if you’re into this sort of thing.  And I’ve tried to add new commentary so it’s not just straight up numbers but I don’t want to really make it another race recap.  Because I’ve already done that. I was hoping to have some actual WR pics up by now but I still can’t figure out how to take the pics.  Anyone want to do it for me? Then I can relive this race through another post with pictures hahah! The pics that follow are camera shots from my Cannon so I apologize for the icky quality, which is why I only included one at the moment 🙂

mile 1: 7:10
mile 2: 7:12
mile 3: 7:09
mile 4: 7:11
mile 5: 7:14
mile 6: 7:11

The “easy” miles.  Or rather the really fun miles because me and Liz were just so excited to be doing this thaaaaaang! Can you say practically dancing in the streets?

Funnnnnnnnnn

mile 7: 7:12
mile 8: 7:15
mile 9: 7:09
mile 10: 7:11
mile 11: 7:12
mile 12: 7:12

More of the same laughing but getting a bit more serious because the initial “omg we’re doing this!” was replaced by “jeeeeeeeez it’s real”.  This is where those boys were making comments about our legs.  Silly boys.

mile 13.1: the HALF Marathon mile: 1:34.00
mile 14: 7:17
mile 15: 7:14
mile 16: 7:11
mile 17: 7:12
mile 18: 7:13

Passing through the half at 1:34.00 which is 3 seconds slower than my half-marathon PR that I ran back in September.  It was scary to think I was running my marathon at such a fast pace! But a good kind of scary.

mile 19: 7:26
mile 20: 7:21

Slooooooooooooowage.  My legs were hurting. Bad.

mile 21: 7:09
mile 22: 7:04
mile 23: 7:01

The Dolly Parton “hills” were in here somewhere.  My legs and hammys were burning and on FIRE but I saw someone where a BC (Boston College) sweatshirt and gave a holler to him. That lifted me up a lot. It also lifted me up to see my friend playing trumpet around mile 20.  It was awesome!

mile 24: 7:00
mile 25: 6:49
mile 26.2: 6:42

I’m going to just repost what I originally wrote on my recap:

• Holy @#$& these last few miles suck.

• Holy #$@% I could break 3:10 (thought at mile marker 26)

• Holy !@#$ I just did (thought at finish line)

Again: Final official time was 3:09.26

And more interesting stats:

• Over the final 25% of the race I passed 84 runners and only 1 passed me
• I finished ahead of 96% of male finishers (holllleeeerrrrr)
• My average overall speed was 8.3mph
• Broken down by quarter my speed was: 8.2, 8.3, 8.2, 8.5

Obviously a great race and I’ve kept meaning to do a post-WR post but I’ve been (obviously) putting it off because I don’t *really* know what to say. Oops.

But I guess the overall gist is that post-WR I still don’t really feel like it happened.  Don’t get me wrong: my body feels like it happened but the trip was so amazing and awesome and was just wonderful (from the people I hung out with to the 26.2 miles run) that it just seems surreal.

Especially since I only really trained for 5.5 weeks! I do think this helped me immensely and was definitely a factor in my successful race.  I don’t know if I’d recommend this strategy to anyone but I got that mental monkey off my back. Other things that helped me for this race:

• Rest days.  I’m notoriously bad at taking them but I didn’t run at all the Friday or Saturday before.  I did walk about a great deal but no running
• Pure track work.  I did speed work sessions before Boston last spring but I felt very focused on it this time around and I fell in love with the high school track.  AKA not the TM where I was doing my intervals before.  And keeping it *just* track work.  In my zeal last cycle I also remember doing hills after intervals.  While that sounded hardcore at the time it might not have been the best.
• Training for the course.  While with Boston I made sure to get those hills in, for WR I didn’t need too.  Or at least I didn’t need to do them specifically.  RI is plenty hilly enough, Dallas not so much.  My regular routes had just enough to keep me prepared.
• Tempos.  I hate them.  With a passion but I executed them very well.  I may have run a few of them “too fast”.  At least for what my original goal was (3:20) going into the race
• I hate to say it but the dreaded 2 X 3 miles.  I hate this more than tempos but in the end I smashed my goal so it was all good.

I Freaking Love Texas.

I had lots of money in the bank.  And now I’m broke.

This and most of the other pics are Liz's because she remembered to bring her camera! Oops.

There were so many things I was going to title this post (my absolute favorite being “We’re doing it Longhorn style”) but in the end I went with my motto throughout the entire Dallas White Rock marathon that I ran this past Sunday.

If you’re my fb friend (or if you read on other places that stole my thunder) then you know that I ran really well.  Like really well.  So I guess I’m not spoiling anything by giving the stats first:

Dallas WR Marathon

• 26.2 miles (or I’ve been told that it was actually 26.45 but whatevs)
• 3:09.26
• 7:13 average pace

I don’t have the exact splits but you can wander over to my running sistaaaa’s blog (whom I ran with and she did amazing as well!) because I think she’s going to post them when her in-depth RR goes up.  Regardless the above stats garnered me this (and keep in mind there were A LOT of people who ran it.  I have no idea how many but this is a HUGE race) (these are updated results from the WR website post-FB status)

• 126th overall
• 9th woman (annoying because when I checked yesterday I was 8th)
• 2nd AG

I’m pretty much on freaking cloud 9 right now.

But first let me back up and kind of recap the whole weekend (or as best as I can in one post. So beware this is going to be long).  I left work Thursday night to head up to my good ole childhood home so my mom could drive me to the airport Friday.  I slept very well (and in my sister’s bed because I no longer have one there. Sad face) and when my alarm went off at 0600 I woke up with a start and had NO IDEA where I was.  Legit.

Once I got my bearings I got up, threw on some clothes and headed to the airport (btw the shoes I was wearing were the ones that I wore to work the night before: heals).  The flights were unremarkable which was incredibly nice because the last time I went to Texas all hell broke loose from the skies and the travel was a nightmare.  I actually landed at DFW *early*.   On my flight to Philly I actually sat next to a marathoner (2:45) from Dallas and we chatted about the race and he gave me general advice.  Very cool to have that happen.  Anyway, he told me that he’d be cheering for me on Sunday (he wasn’t running but was going to cheer peeps on)

When I landed I hung outside the airport while I waited for Jess to pick me up.  It was really nice to sit in really warm weather.  When I left Boston it was 28* and when I landed in Dallas it was 75*.  LOVE IT. Jess drove up from Houston that day, with a friend who was also running the half, and they were amazing to pick me up!

We hung out in Dallas for awhile where we meet up with a friend of ours to chill before the RWOL Dailies dinner.  We ate nachos and dip.  Talk about good pre-race food 😉

Then we headed to The Angry Dog to meet up and eat and drink with my peeps:

They are the NICEST people EVER.  It was an amazing time.  We talked about running (duh) but also life.  It was great to put names to faces and hear voices.  I owe A LOT to these guys (and obviously those on the forum that weren’t there).  Lots of laughs were had.

I was originally going to spend the night with my running sis but plans change (another saying of mine this trip was “This was such an ill planned trip! I pretty much just hopped on a freaking plane!) but I had a friend who graciously let me crash on her couch for the night.  I slept really well.  I slept until 0900 Dallas time.  Ummm that’s 1000 my time? I NEVER sleep that late.  But it was good.

Rather than do a shakeout run (which I had wanted to do) the two of us went out for coffee.  Then Liz came by and picked me up to head to the expo.  Traffic was brutal and (yet another “theme” of the trip: we’re glad we made it there alive hahah).  We picked up our packets and shirts and chatted with some really nice Texans (seriously the nicest people in the world).  We also ran into Jess and her friend there.  Well okay, Jess and I had been texting each other to try and meet up.  But it was nice to see her again as I didn’t actually see her at the race itself.

Liz and I also bought these babies:

I actually won a pink pair in a giveaway but they haven't arrived yet and I really wanted these for the plane ride back to Boston. So worth it!

Then we left the expo and got coffee (more for me. YAY).  Then I met back up with the friend I spent Friday with and we headed up to dinner with her parents and her parents running friends (her mom was running the full too). It was cool to spend another night with runners who were able to give advice.  As well as laugh and have fun.

I tried to get to sleep early Saturday night but I couldn’t.  I was never really worried but knowing that I had to get up so early the next day for, the race, I obviously couldn’t sleep.  So I settled for time off my feet.  I woke up before my alarm, which was nice, drank some coffee and ate a pb and banana sandwich.  I had stayed with my friend and her parents overnight and, since her mom was running the race too, they drove me to the start.

Traffic was horrible and I thought I was going to miss the start.  For real.  But I didn’t. I actually saw Lesley at the bag drop off for about 5 seconds.  I can’t believe you recognized me girl! And thanks for saying hi! And luckily I found my running sister at our corral (B. Holler for us putting a fast projected time down).  I probably would have cried if I hadn’t found her. I was in spandex shorts and a spandex top.  No gloves.  I was shivering (I mean, I’m from New England but 37* is chilly no matter what) but it’s all good.  Sure my hands went numb early but whatever.  I was running a marathon.  Comfortable? What’s that? 😀

While we waited for the gun to go off we were dancing and jumping around.  Maybe we should have saved our energy for the race.  But we were excited.  Then we were OFF.

I don’t have the exact splits (Liz was wearing the garmin but when I get them I’ll update this post as well as post them in a future post) but here are some highlights of the race (aka thoughts I can remember):

(splits to be put here when I get ’em 😛 ) I do know that the first mile was 6:58 and we were pretty consistent with our pacing around 7:11 the whole time.  Our slowest mile was around 18 (?) and it was 7:22.  And I do know that we picked it up A LOT at the end and the last 3 were sub-7.  Holler.

• We went out really fast.  Like really fast.  But it felt good.  So we we said to each other “let’s just go at what’s comfy”.  So we did.  Because we were in Corral B we weren’t with the 3:20 pacer but we actually caught up to him.  And then we passed him real early on.  And never looked back.

• Around mile 12ish I hear something to the effect of”At least we have two nice pairs of legs to pull us on this pace”.  To which Liz and I replied “Like 2 girls pulling a pack of 10 guys? Oh well.  See you at the finish” hahah.  Later one of those guys passed us and called us mean for ditching the old guys.  That’s us: heartbreakers.

• The Dolly Parton hills? Really? Yes I saw the sign that announced them (mile 22 maybe?) and I heard people complaining about them but I honestly never felt a hill the whole race.  Silly Texans.

• Also silly Texans with the Chuck Norris signs of varying degrees. And the “run b!tch run” one. They were hilarious and I high fived the guy with the latter sign.

• Regardless of what I felt hill wise, I was feeling the effort around mile 19/20 and luckily there were shot blocks here.  I’ve said this time and time again but I am SO not a model runner.  Because I haven’t eaten anything on long runs (nor have I ever had coffee before a run but I did that on Sunday too!).  And I ate these guys.

• As soon as I ate them I thought that it was a bad idea because it threw off my stride and breathing and stomach.  But I’m glad I did because they did make my legs feel better.  It could just be mental but I felt it.  I also thought at this point that I really can’t vomit at the end because the shot blocks were red and that it would look like I was vomiting blood.

• Holy @#$& these last few miles suck.

• Holy #$@% I could break 3:10 (thought at mile marker 26)

• Holy !@#$ I just did (thought at finish line)

So yeah:

“I love Texas”

I think I said this about every minute.  The crowds were great and I just felt the love. I even got lei-ed in the first half and wore the red lei for the rest of the race!  Liz and I also tried to join in the Texas love by throwing up the “hook ’em horns” at some of the cameras.

Like this but during the race

I adored it when people cheered for us passing the guys and calling us girls and ladies.  I know some people get offended (like really?!) but I love it.  It made me feel really bamf and hardcore.  I definitely chicked a lot of people in the last 4 or so miles.  It felt great.

As fun as the run I was I was there to race and, that said, I was in absolute shock when I finished and realized that I did, in fact, break 3:10.  Totally smashed my goal of 3:20.

We walked through the finisher area together (after jumping around like idiots at the actual finish line) where we were given hats because we were in the top 100 females and told that we were also very likely top 10.  We got our medal, finishers shirt and FOOD.  And BEER.  I’m not at all a big beer drinker but I crave it after races.  So I indulged.  It tasted awesome.

We took a finisher photo together and then met up with Liz’s friend who had driven down from Tulsa to cheer us on.  We had thought he was going to jump in at the last few miles to keep us going but he didn’t.  Lame hahah.  We then headed back to where we were spending the night to eat and shower.

And then go out to drink. Let me just say this now to all you Texans: y’all know how to drink on a Sunday night.  Did I mention I freaking love Texas?

Did I mention I love us too?

After drinking we chilled at the house and ate more before heading to bed.  I actually had a semi-fitful night of sleep and at 0530 whispered to Liz “Are you at all asleep?”.  Nope was the reply and we got up to just move the legs before leaving for the airport.

I guess I should talk about how my legs felt Monday.  They were sore.  I don’t think they couldn’t be after such a hard effort.  But I could do stairs normally and everything.  I was probably more sore after Boston.  Sitting on my long flight back to Boston was rough but I was never in immobile mode.

That said, Monday was a rest day (as was Friday and Saturday btw).  Simply because of the travel.  Which is good because I am sore.  So that tells me there’s damage and running would have been bad.

In any case I arrived on time in Boston and my mom made me a HUGE dinner that night.  And my biggest fear was realized: as I hopped into the car to drive home it was SNOWING  (and the predicted weather this week is snow and below freezing).  I cursed, like a trucker to which all members of my family yelled at me for, and then I said something to the effects of jumping on a plane back to Dallas.

I also foam rolled Monday night after getting back to my apartment and I almost vomited.  It hurt.  I think because I didn’t sleep much Sunday night the muscle soreness didn’t really set it.  It’ll be an interesting next few days to say the least!

So if you made it to the end of this BEAST then congrats. It was a pain in the ass to write because I didn’t write it race day so I’m sure I forgot to include *something*.  Oh well.  It’s all good. This race was wicked awesome and a perfect way to end my 2010 racing.

Because I still feel on top of the freaking world

And I’m Off. For Real This Time.

Slow and steady wins the race.  Except in a real race.

Skinny Runner (or at least I stole this from her blog at some point)

From google images.

A perfect likeness no? Except I don’t have blue eyes. Oh well.

Oops if you thought this was one of those quickie how-did-I-do posts. It’s not. Because I haven’t run the darn thing yet!

But I am ready to ROCK.

This is scheduled to go up at 0800 CT.  AKA I should be starting to run and racing and attempting to hit that puke threshold.  Hopefully I can make it the whole 26.2 miles before that happens 😉

I’m not quite sure what to think or feel  because, given I signed up for this race 5.5 weeks ago, I’m not quite sure what to expect. That said, I think that my training has been great and stellar and “money in the baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank”.  Obviously there is the potential to do VERY well.  It’s just how I’ve been rolling this fall.

I wrote a bunch of paragraphs about this race being a way to meet people that I’ve only known through RW and blogging and play catch up with those that I’ve been fortunate to already know.  And how the end goal is to HAVE FUN. So no matter what actually is going down right now in Dallas, TX that is Mission Accomplished.

But then I deleted it.  Because, while I know that I’m having fun on this trip (Of course I could be miserable right now and it could be snowing or hailing or tornadoing.  In which case the RR should be lovely to read when I get back to New England hahah), and I just wrote the end goal is to have fun, let’s be honest here.

At this very moment the goal is to race until I feel like I’m going to puke, remember?

The trip can be about fun and hanging out but this race? Puking. And I think the puke threshold is about a 7:30 pace (which is ~3:16 marathon, a better seed for Boston, automatic qualifier for NYC and a PR.  I dream big, no?).  I don’t know if I want to be right on that account or not. Puking isn’t very fun.  Or sexy.

To wrap up a rambly post: this race’s tagline is “Run the Rock” I was going share some type of song that was a pop pump up song referring to rocking.  Instead  I will share this lovely gem.  I actually began the outlines of this post earlier this week and, while driving to work one day, I heard this song.  And though EFF YES.

Let’s hope that Texas (and WR) is going to bless me

Remember The Name. I’m a Racer!

When in doubt, DON’T

Benji Franklin

Well if I’ve learned anything this fall it’s to not doubt myself.

 

I'm so glad that I have ppl who tell me that I'm (and I may be paraphrasing a bit) HOT SH!T 😉

 

Aaaaaaaaaaand I’ve also learned that partying with your childhood friends the night before a race might be a good idea.  Because that’s what I did the night before the Tufts 10k.  In all fairness we were celebrating my bestie’s birthday.  I tried to cut out early.  I always think that this is possible buttttt it never is.  Darn.  At the very least I tried to tame my inner Ke$ha 😉

While I’ve always maintained that my best runs come after a late night I don’t think I’d EVER think about applying it as part of a race strategy.  Live and learn right?  Or not because, as you’ll see, things turned out most excellent.

I drove back to my hometown on Sunday afternoon.  I was meeting up with Lacey beforehand and we were heading into the race together and my mom’s house is closer to the spot we were meeting than my apartment.  So I figured I’d get more sleep this way.  Well, I ended up getting WAY less sleep than if I had stayed put because of said party.  But it was fun. And I got to see peeps I hadn’t seen in awhile.  If anything it was a good way to take my mind of off the stuff that’s been making me mopey lately. No regrets.

Anyway. I met up with Lacey and we headed into Boston together. It was our one year anniversary as we met for the first time at this race last year.

 

Picture from last year's Tufts 10k. AKA the first time we ever met 🙂

 

I feel like I’ve known her forever though!

Pre-Race

We actually got there pretty early (if you’ve been reading for awhile you’ll know that last year I had to hop a fence to make it to the start on time!). It was a noon start and we hopped off the T around 1030 in time to pick up our bibs and goodies.  There was SO MUCH FREE STUFF.  We didn’t hit up the expo until afterward (and literally loaded up our bags) but there was tons to see.  We, of course, sat down and tried to relax/get amped up.

I also put a ribbon in my hair, which Lacey tied the bow for and then said “Now you’re a real girl”.  Gee thanks 😉  I also wore my black spandex booty shorts and a black tank.  Because I truly believe that (in ANYTHING in life) how you dress is how you’ll preform and affect how you feel.  So that outfit = bamf.  And I had a pink bracelet on and the ribbon to soften it.  I may or may not overthink these things.  Oopsies.

The announcer started calling everyone up to the start and we headed to the very beginning of the 7:00 pace group.  I’ve never actually seeded myself that fast before.  It was all Lacey’s doing 🙂

But it was cool to actually be able to see the elites (because this was a national championship for the 10k) in front of us as there weren’t many women in front of us in the 6:00 and 5:00 pace groups.  Someone sang the national anthem and BOOM we were off.

Race:

Mile 1: 6:36 (6:36)

“Ummmm this is fast.  Can I hold on?” and then “ummmm this is close to my 5k pace. Holy #$%@” I was just trying to keep up with Lacey early on.  My lungs felt like they were on fire.  I developed, what I call, “smokers lung” and my lungs stayed COLD for the rest of the race. (in fact, as I sit here Monday night typing this my lungs still haven’t felt back to normal.  Boo.) And I lost my headband which threw me off for a second.  Oh well. 

Mile 2: 6:35 (13:11)

I tried to pull ahead of some of the women in front of me, as they looked fast and I wanted to pass them.  It was really tough but I wanted to keep trying to hold onto this pace because I wasn’t quite sure how long it would last. I just kept chugging along and I do remember thinking to myself that “after the first mile my body will adapt to this pace”.  Hey, I can dream right?

Mile 3: 6:51 (20:02)

Suspiciously close to my 5k pr time.  I definitely remember being SCARED of this thought as it meant that I could really DOMINATE this race.  Or I could crash and burn.  It wasn’t even half over at the 3 mile mark! Especially since I really felt the slow and the fatigue creep in.  Hence the almost 7:00 minute mile.

Mile 4: 6:55 (26:57)

Another bit of a slow mile. But I should say that my strategy going into this was a fast first 2, hold for 2, kick for 2.  So I can’t be too upset with this mile.  And it was still sub-7.

Around mile 4 we had to do a hairpin turn and then run the opposite way of where we just ran (on the other side of the yellow lines of the road.  If that makes sense)  As I turned and passed the 4 mile mark Lacey was headed the other way on the road and as we passed each other we slapped hands and said something to each other.  Likely this was along the lines of “keep it up” or “push it” and it lifted me immensely.

Mile 5 : 6:35 (33:32)

Another thing that lifted me immensely was picking off people.  I’ve also learned this fall that I’m WICKED competitive.  So picking off the women in front of me was a BOO-freaking-YA.  It made me feel really good to be going so fast.  Of course my legs hurt a bit but I’m truly a long distance gal and the longer I was out there the less my legs hurt.

And as I passed the 5 mile marker there was a little boy, maybe kindergarten age who was yelling personalized things to the runners.  Mine was: “nice ponytail”! Which made me chuckle and I turned to give him a big thumbs up!  I was also running down same area as Boston Marathon, and at the Comm Ave / Hereford intersection I remembered pushing hard there.  And it gave me some kick to fight home.

Mile 6: 6:37 (40:05)

I rounded the corner to the finish at mile 6 and I got maybe halfway down this stretch and was KICKING the heck out of the course.  I was probably close to a full out sprint (or at least as close as I could be after the effort) and Joan Benoit Samuelson was being announced as crossing the finish line (she ran a 40:30 I think).  Which was cool because she is FAST and I wasn’t too far behind.  Of course, she had just smashed some marathon record the day before in Chicago (2:47:50!!) and was not running her “A” game here.  But it was cool nonetheless.  As soon as she crossed the line she turned around to high five all the runners coming in, like she always does at this race.

But during this final stretch I was determined to not let any of the women pass me.  And I actually passed one or two myself.  Which is exciting. And made me push through the fact that my legs didn’t want to run any faster.  But I made them dammit.

Total: 41:27 (clock)

41:23 (watch)

41:20 (chip) 6:40 pace

This is a 3:49 minute PR

Age Group: 41/1594= top 2.6%

Overall (and women because it’s a all women race): 72/6690 = top 1.1%

OH SNAP.

Post-Race:

So I’m VERY proud of myself for this race.  I really wasn’t feeling it mentally.  Like I’ve said (and it’s probably come across in the tone of my posting lately) I’ve got a lot on my mind lately and being able to focus on one thing RACING is hard.  Concentrating on one thing PERIOD is hard. Granted this worked out for me in my 5k where I really let my mind wander but I’m happy that for 6.2 miles my mind was on racing.

And I’m happy with how I executed it too.  Like I said above, my strategy was go out strong and fast for the first two miles, then hold on for the next two, then kick it to the end.  And my splits reflected that.  The next step is obviously holding a strong pace for the WHOLE 6.2 miles 😉

I will say that, as happy and on cloud nine as I am, my pace (6:40) is not that much faster than my 5k PR pace (6:26). Hmmmm.  I don’t really know what that says.  And my legs didn’t feel drained and completely done-zo at the end.  Another hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Especially since I met up with a high school running buddy for some “easy miles” which *felt* easy but were at 8:00 pace.  And since I had a big mileage weekend beforehand (silly weather being so tempting!)

Oh well.

I’m extraordinarily happy with how my fall “racing season” (if you want to call it my three — untrained for and not really planned — races) went.  I smashed records (my own of course 😉 ) left and right.  I may have a Jingle Bell 5k that I’m thinking of doing in December but all my “serious” races are done and over (as the December one would be a costume-y one. YAY).

But seriously.  I learned another thing this fall: I am a racer. I live for this. Granted every single time I step to the starting line I want to back out.  But I don’t because I love the thrill of pushing myself.  And the feeling of wanting to vomit because apparently I want to do it every time I cross the finish line.

Therefore I want y’all to

Remember. My. Name.

This is 10% luck,
20% skill,
15% concentrated power of will,
5% pleasure,
50% pain,
And 100% reason to remember the name!

YAY for the Tufts 10k

 

Blurry because I'm running so fast!

 

I’m going to be mean and just share that picture.  Lacey has a mini-report up already but I’m still writing my full recap.  Suffice it to say that I did well.  Very well. How well you ask? Check back sometime tomorrow (Tuesday).  Yes I am that mean.

Even though I appreciated the good lucks and confidence comments you guys gave me.  And this is how I repay y’all 😉

But I’m also exhausted.  Racing takes SO MUCH OUT OF ME.  It’s a completely different kind of tired.  A most pleasant one I might say.  So I’m off to bed because my eyes can’t stay open anymore.

I’ve Got The Magic In Me

aka Elijah’s Race aka the Swanzey Covered Bridges Half Marathon

2010 Edition

Thanks for all the kind words on my quick recap after the race.  Y’all are great and I’m glad you had faith that I’d run well.  Be still my heart! 🙂

So I guess by now you guys know that I spent the long weekend up in NH with Lacey doing fun things like racing.  So I’ll just jump into the race report?

Since we were staying really close to the race I got to get up at 0715 on race day! It felt really good to be able to sleep.  Because A) I’ve been a bit sleep deprived lately and B) race day.  I ate a light pre-race meal and then we were off to register and race. We listened to this, which was in my head all 13.1 miles.  It was fantastic.  And no, that’s not sarcasm.

Annoyingly I can’t get the official video.  Oops.  But the song is still awesome regardless!

We wandered about the start / registration area a bit and while Lacey did some dynamic stretching in the gym (at the school where the start was) I contemplated what my race strategy would be.  It’s obviously not a secret that I wasn’t “trained” for this race.  Sure I have a bunch of miles under my belt butttt does that mean I was ready? I certainly had hoped so.

(Sidenote: I think the fact that I hadn’t trained for this race made it so that I could run it well.  I definitely have shown up to…I want to say all…my races overtrained.  Not the case here.  It was just my body)

The weather was really amazing for running that morning too.  Hurricane Earl didn’t hit us, like, at all.  But the rain left FALL weather.  The temp at the start was probably 55*.  Ah-maz-ing.

My MO for races is to start out slowish and then progressively get faster.  Lacey’s MO is to go out HARD and then hold on.  I opted to go with her strategy today.  I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to hold a really quick pace from the get-go but it was worth a shot.

I mean, as of last Wednesday of last week I wasn’t sure if I was going to even be racing this race or not.

The gun went off and we took off FAST.  Like way fast.

Yay first bridge 🙂

Here are the splits with a little commentary:

Mile 1- 6:56 (whoa there!)

Mile 2- 7:29 (on a dirt path — definitely the best part of the race. Part of me wishes that we could run the race backward and END with the path).

Mile 3- 7:23 (just trying to keep up with Lacey — my thought process was keep to her because it’s easier to keep up a hard pace than try to make up ground)

Mile 4- 7:07 (off the dirt path and onto the scary highway)

Mile 5- 7:14 (the hills start here, and continue through mile 11. Pretty basically a really mentally hard stretch!).

Mile 6- 7:05 (this is where Lacey and I split up.  Major props to her for pacing me SO WELL and getting me started to just go! And check out how the rest of her race went HERE.  Not a spoiler per se but she did pretty effing awesome too.  A real bamf!)

Mile 7- Unknown but likely somewhere between 7:00 and 7:30 (I tagged along with some guys that were running fast and clearly were good runners.  We all pretty much took turns leading and lagging over the course of now until the end.)

Mile 8- 7:13

Mile 9- 7:24

Mile 10- 7:00 (Really thinking a PR was possible and a great one at that.  Before this point I still was doubting.)

Mile 11- 7:08 (Ouch my quads really hurt.  Like a lot.  Tomorrow is going to suck)

Mile 12- 7:12 (ummmmm hello major hill.  But I managed to power up it.)

Mile 13.1-6:55 (I’ve got the magic in me. I TOOK OFF)

Hello finish line! And despite looking pretty good, if I do say so myself, my first words when I crossed the finish line were "OMG I want to puke"

A PR by 7 minutes and 59 seconds.  If I had known I would have hauled a little more ass to get an even 8 minute PR!

• 4th Woman overall (out of an unknown amount)
• 3rd Just re-checked online and FIRST in my age group (out of 15)
• 32nd place overall (out of 201)

(stats according to what was posted when we left the race) Apparently I found out after later that night that I WON.  But Lacey and I left after thinking neither of us placed or won anything.  Oops.  I feel like such an ass hahah. And an result reading loser because apparently double dipping does NOT occur with races and therefore the women who placed top 3 in the overall category do not place in the AG ones.

I guess if I really did win then I get a prize. I like prizes 🙂

Lacey awarded me one instead (edit: and we both emailed the race director who is WICKED nice and we’ll both be receiving our prizes shortly.  Courtesy of pick up by Lacey’s mom. Thanks so much!)

I guess I won one round of mini-golf at TwinkleTown!

But race thoughts:

So my splits were kind of all over the place.  But the course is really hilly so I’m not worried about it / didn’t worry about it. Of course the average like I said yesterday was 7:10 for the whole 13.1 miles 😀

We had driven the course the night before which was both good and bad.  Bad because I realized just how long 13.1 miles is.  And that hill at mile 12? Definitely is not present when driving because neither Lacey nor myself felt that it was there despite remembering it from years past. But good because I was mentally prepared for that looooooooooong rolling hill stretch from miles 5 to 11.  It really was tough and hard to stay “on”

As far as my racing strategy went I’m very pleased with it.  I’ve always been a self-doubter to some degree despite y’all and others trying to tell me otherwise.  So I race that way I guess. I go out slower because I don’t want to crash and burn and I want to get faster over the course of the whole course.

Apparently no matter what pace I start at I go faster throughout.  Something for me to think about.

I also think that I might have been able to go harder.  Sure I wanted to vomit when I stopped but I think I could have held that pace for another couple miles.  Maybe that’s just me being on cloud nice post-race though hahah.  But my legs don’t actually really hurt either.  I still consider myself a racing newbie so I’m not sure if that’s good or not.  But no real soreness.  I did ice down my shins after the race because they were bothering me a little from the hard effort (when was the last time I raced that hard?!) but nothing really says to me that I ran an 8 minute PR. Go figure.

After the race we chatted a bit with some of the other runners, congratulated those that we “knew” (Lacey actually knew them but I just did from tagging along with them this race) and then jumped into the local pond.  It wasn’t really that cold but it felt good regardless and then we headed back to Lacey’s parent place (where we were staying over the weekend) to eat lots of pancakes, go apple picking, mini-golfing, drinking champagne while icing our legs then celebrating at a bar.

Whew. Here are the highlights in pictures.

On the wagon out to the field.

Reeeeeeeeeeeeach! And yes those are the socks I wore.  Clearly I wasn’t thinking when I headed up to NH and didn’t bring pants.

Yay apples 🙂

FYI: I am a terrible mini-golfer. I think I’m too impatient for it.

I love us. And celebrating.

A very full and fun weekend!

Getting Ready To Put My Miles To Use

I’m glad everyone agrees that ANTM missed out on this:

I believe we are trying to "shake it like a salt shaker" here. Ahaha I ❤ my friends. Oh to be young and drunk again!

Can you believe that they told me that in order to be a model I had to either A) lose 15-20 lbs to be a regular model or B) gain 15-20 lbs to be a “full figured” model.  Ummmmmm no?  Oh well.  Like lots of you said: their loss!  Sorry Tyra but you missed out.

Whew.  I had such a long day on Thursday at work! It was our lottery day.  Since we’re a free clinic, in order to be fair to enrolling new patients, we hold a lottery at the beginning of each month.  I’m not going to do into great details of it but let’s just say that any type of lottery is crazy.  It counts double for people without health coverage who want to have health care.

While I felt like I had aged about 10+ years after leaving clinic, the upshot was that I got to fall asleep at 2215 on Thursday night.  This is about 1.5 hours earlier than I usually go to bed.  And since the next day was Friday and  I only had to go into work for a few hours to generate some monthly numbers I got to get up an hour later than usual.  Netting me an extra 2 hours (not 2.5 because I think I was tossing an turning a bit)

Plus even with the sleeping in I got to do a longer run.  It was one of those runs where, given that I have a half marathon this weekend, was stupid to run so far.  But I was feeling REALLY good by the end and wanted to capitalize on it.  Hopefully it doesn’t hurt me on Sunday. I doubt it because I’ve done it before.

Gosh I really have such bad habits for a runner!

Here are the stats for my run on 3-Sept-2010 (Friday)

• 1st loop: 4.1 miles @ 9:08
• 2nd loop: 4.1 miles @ 8:51
• 1st add on: 1.1 miles @ 8:23
• 2nd add on: 1.1 miles @ 8:16
• Total: 10.4 miles @ 8:51

Annoyingly (and I literally ran these numbers many many times) the second 4.1 loop was the exact pace as the overall.  Which bothered me because I felt that with two “add-ons” the average pace overall should have DROPPED.  But DUH the total of those two loops was small.  So the overall impact is small.

I like to think of it like baseball.  At the beginning of the season, small fluctuations in strikeouts and hits make big impacts on batting average but as the season goes on (and like with my running where my loops are big vs. small) then there is more data into the stats and the small stuff doesn’t impact the overall picture.  I have no idea if that made sense or if it is random hodge-podge but my brain is fried and I felt like typing that out.

You love my randomness 🙂

After work (where after last week I decided to skip the coffee haha) I loaded up my car (in the rain because silly hurricane Earl decided to bless me with his presence) and headed back to my hometown.  Driving in a hurricane? Since I was born and raised in New England I can safely say that I can drive through anything.  I wish other drivers could say the same.  My thoughts are that if you don’t feel like you can drive in bad weather (the same goes for winter snow) then don’t go out.  Because I’m going to curse at you and be angry.

Especially when the hurricane isn’t really a hurricane.  I realize that there were times when I couldn’t see but there were also plenty of times where there was no rain at all.  And thus no need to drive 20 mph.  Granted I see no reason to ever drive 20 mph but hey…to each his own haha.

So that’s where I am now (home). Although since I wrote this Friday and am posting on Saturday I might actually be in the car with LACEY heading up to our half.  I’m pumped for it.

This will be my third time running this race.

I ran it for the first time in 2007 as my VERY FIRST RACE EVER (so wow 3 years of racing?! My how time flies).  And I remember thinking how hard it was running fast on the hills (NH = hill country) and I also remember telling my friends who was there to support me how I could not see how it was possible that they had run TWICE that.  Oh how things change, right?

But it was a solid debut race for me (1:47:47 if I’m not mistaken) and I was bitten by the racing bug.

I didn’t run it in 2008 due to logistical issues with getting there and some school commitments.  But I ran it again last year and actually found out after the fact that Lacey was there! I didn’t know her at that point (I think we met later that month?) but very small world!  I pr’d this year (and was in the top 5 women? Can’t remember and I’m too lazy to check haha) which is always fun.  It’s my current PR of 1:41:56, as I haven’t run a half since then.

So I have some history with this race.  And I’m running it WITH someone rather than all alone.  This makes everything so much better.  Especially since I’m also staying with Lacey overnight.  Yes she really is as nice as she is on her blog 😀

I’ve run a couple races with her too.  The Tufts 10k last fall as well as the Eastern States 20 miler this past March. Hopefully this experience will be much better than Eastern.  Like infinitesimally better.

I mean, we’re hardcore bamfs and all buttttt a little nice weather and aligned stars wouldn’t hurt 😉

Since I’m going to be away for the weekend, and thus not taking my computer with me, I hope everyone has a fabulous Labor Day weekend! I’ll be back with how the race went though sometime soon.  So don’t you worry!

But a giveaway from Miss Zippy first.

Old Men Love Me

Title to be more explained later in post.  But it’s true.  Every single old man that is out on my pathway when I’m running smiles and waves.

Ummm it’s August 31st.  Whaaaaaaaaaat?!

I realized that today when A) I saw the “monthly totals” box in my log book that needs to be filled out and B) saw that it’s labor day weekend this weekend.

As much as I love the fall (and cannot wait to go apple picking in the next few weeks!!) actually seeing the calendar roll over tonight will be sad.  It marks the end of summer. Sure, fall doesn’t officially start until the 23rd but September really does mean fall. And school.

I’m surprisingly not as sad as I thought I would be that I’m not going back to college.  Sure it’s weird, and I still feel like I’m playing grown up but, but having grown up taking care of lots of others I really am liking this this whole be-on-own thing.  Hopefully I still want to head off to school next year if I apply to and get in to medical school haha.

Fall also means that racing is going to be going on and holllllllllllllller.  I’m 99.99% sure this half marathon with Lacey is going to happen.  Yay.

From the Tufts 10k last fall.

I’m also still looking for other races.  I have possible ones in mind but it’s just a matter of registering.  I mean, I’m not even registered yet for this half!

And if I’m going to get serious and do races this fall I should probably do more specific runs rather than 2 X 4.1 easy!

Despite it being a Tuesday (and thus a clinic day) I still got up at 0530! I had a meeting (for non-work related stuff) and I wanted to make sure that I could get my run in as well as shower.  Going to meetings all sweaty is not likely a good thing.  I’m sure the people I was seeing appreciated my showering capabilities and were happy that I gave up a little sleep to do so.

And since the fall really is drawing near this means the sun is getting up later and later.  So it was pitch black when my alarm went off.  The sky lightened a bit by the time I stepped out the door (and the sun was fully risen by 6:10) but man, I always forget how rough it is to drag my butt out of bed with no real sunlight.

What am I going to do in winter when the sun won’t have risen at all during my runs?!

Oh well.  I guess I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it, right?

My legs felt fresher today than they did yesterday.  Still a bit sore though.  Maybe from my LR this weekend? I know that I’ve been feeling a bit tired lately muscle wise but I’ve been chalking it up to my lack of sleep the past week or so.  It’s quite possible that 13.5 miles + 90* heat could be a contributing factor.  Plus all that walking for Waterfire (which I’m glad y’all loved! Seriously: if you are in the area on September 11 or October 9th then you MUST go to it!).

Another Waterfire pic. Although deer in headlights much?! 🙂

And the antibiotics.  Which are never fun to be on.  But thanks for all the well-wishes on that front yesterday.  (click that link if you missed the deal-io on my toe as well as my Waterfire recap) I have a primary care follow up appointment for Thursday (yay for being seen in a timely manner!) but I’m not expecting much.  These infections really are just regular bacteria infections that just cause a really big reaction for me.  I still think it’s stress related though which is why they get so bad.  Too bad life isn’t stress free haha.  Where would the fun be in that?

Due to the fact that it was so dark out I opted for my 2 X 4.1 miles again.  Like I mentioned about it was faster than yesterday.  Not by a whole lot but it felt faster too which is always a good thing

• 1st loop: 4.1 miles @ 9:05
• 2nd loop: 4.1 miles @ 8:28
• total:         8.2 miles @ 8:46

Obviously the first loop leaves a little to be desired but I really picked it up for the second loop.  Maybe that’s why the run felt so fast.  I wasn’t even trying to race anyone this morning! The pathway was full of lots of walkers but very few runners.

I did have one (old) man tell me “You’re making this look too easy #4” (I have a lucky number 4 tattoo) which put some extra pep in my step and actually did make the rest of my run — which I was on lap  by then — easier.   As much as I think old people are grumpy and cranky and not fun to be around, I find myself loving the cute old men that are really nice to young girls.  Not in a creepy way but a “I’m being nice because you could be my granddaughter” way.

And there may be a little flirting on their part.  But they’re cute old men.  How can I get mad at that?!

But it was a good run.  Nothing awe-inspiring (except to my new old man friend) but a solid run.  It made me feel better about Monday‘s run being much slower than I’m used to.  A fluke.

And I really wanted to insert this quote that I read from The Daily Sweat and give some witty or motivational anecdote for it but I can’t think of one now and I don’ t want to sit on it.

you just have to give into LIFE and go LIVE

Very VERY true. I think I’m doing this and living by this at the moment.

And if I wanted to get all sappy I could say something about moving in my own place and having a real job.  Or I could just direct you back to my Waterfire night and drinking beer in the streets.  Whatever works for y’all 🙂

And check out the giveaway from Marcia and Kim