Run Like Pre

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift."
Steve Prefontaine

The above quote was on the back of a t-shirt I saw while running the Big Sur Half Marathon last Sunday. It helped me get through to the finish.

Not that I have a gift for running, as Pre did. But I was running to the best of my ability, chasing a PR. And I did it--2:26:35, an 11:11 pace!

My fastest half-m time prior to that was 2:28:57, back in May 2007 at the Fargo Half. But that's because I started the race with someone way faster than me, who pulled me along for the first 8 miles, until I couldn't keep up with her any longer. Most of my other half marathon times were well over 2:30. At Disneyland, Sept 2007, I finished in 2:39:05 and at the Big Sur Half 2006, I finished in 2:52:04--a 13:08 pace. So even though I was trying for an 11 minute pace, I'm happy with the result. :-)



This race I dedicated to Irene, who had fractured her hip back in May and required surgery. It's been a long recovery for her, but she remained strong and had a great attitude. Although she couldn't run the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego, a race she had been training for, she still went out on the course and supported the other runners. I'll always appreciate the big hug she gave me at mile 20.

Anyway, after spending all summer recuperating, Irene ran her first race since injury--a 5K--on the same day as my half. That took courage, the kind she displayed these last few months. When I tired during my race, I thought about how tough Irene was in dealing with her adversity and in comparison, tired legs didn't seem like such a big deal. She was expecting a Personal Worst, but I think she did better than that. Her PW is a good 5K time for me. You can read about it on her blog.


My training partner, Bunny, and I planned to meet before the start of the race. She was in a faster corral than me, but we met at MacDonald's at 6:15 and did a warm up jog around the grounds. Then we hit the portapotty lines, dropped off our gear and went to line up in our respective corrals. She was in corral B and I was in C. It was chilly, and had started to drizzle while we waited for the start. I wore a short sleeved top, but decided to wear my jacket, because a good part of the course runs along the ocean and I was concerned about getting too cold. I also wore my running cap, which helped keep the rain off my face.

The rain didn't last, though, and we went through the first couple of miles through town. I looked for SD, but didn't know where he'd be. I had been so self-absorbed, that I forgot to find out what mile markers he'd be out. As we headed to mile 3, we went through a tunnel. There were some spectators on the bridge over the tunnel entrance and I spotted my husband. I called out to him and he took my picture, but I don't know if he got it. I wasn't going to stand still while he focused--I had a PR to catch!

The race headed down Cannery Row, then around mile 5 we turned away from the ocean to run through Pacific Grove. That was the biggest hill, and I slowed down but ran all the way up. It didn't match the hills from my training runs. Then we turned and headed downhill to Lover's Point. The course is an out and back, and right around that time, I saw the male leader, and he was running alone. I was barely past the 5 mile mark and he was at mile 11!

Then we ran along the rugged coastline that makes this race so special. Since I was trying to run 11 minute miles, I only walked at the water stations. I did wear a water belt, but I took a glass at the aid stations. I also didn't stop at a portapotty until past the mile 8 marker, even though I had to "go" since waiting in the starting corral. The lines were too long and I didn't want to lose valuable time, but by mile 8 I couldn't hold it any longer.

As I was running on the left side of the street toward the turnaround, the faster runners were heading back on the right side of the street. I headed toward the middle of the road and looked for Bunny. I finally saw her and called out to her. She was struggling at that point and I later learned that she wasn't feeling well. It was her first race in over 2 years, and she was hoping for a sub-2 hour time. It didn't happen, but she still finished way faster than me.


Finally I got to turn around and was immediately hit with wind. Most of my mile splits were under 11 minutes, but mile 9 was over 14! Dang portapotty lines! I had some catching up to do. I had calculated the elapsed time for each mile based on a 2:23 finish, and knew I had to be at 1:50 by mile 10. So I ate a Gu and picked up the pace. SD was there and called out to me but I didn't see or hear him.

By mile 11, I was pretty tired. At mile 12 I started to question why I run road races. But I nipped that in the bud; I've learned that during long races it's important to keep a positive attitude. I reminded myself that I have the gift of health and strong legs, and to not use it is to waste that gift. And I thought about Irene. That got me through the bad patch and I ran toward mile 13. I was really booking, and told myself, "Just 1/4 mile more. I can hold this pace for 1/4 mile." I saw a woman up ahead who was sprinting towards the finish and she was my rabbit. I didn't catch her, but she still paced me. I was so happy to cross the finish line!

I got my medal, picked up my gear bag, and headed to the food tent. As I waited in line, the sky opened up and it started pouring rain. I'm glad I was done with my race by then! I was also glad that I had a change of clothes in my bag.

Here are my mile splits, per the Garmin:
Mile 1 10:57
Mile 2 10:17
Mile 3 10:14
Mile 4 10:55
Mile 5 10:45
MIle 6 11:23 (this was the hill to downtown Pacific Grove)
Mile 7 10:30
Mile 8 10:51
Mile 9 14:51 (Ouch!)
Mile10 10:50
Mile11 10:59
Mile12 10:57
Mile13 10:27 !!!

Bunny and I trained hard for this race, and I'm happy with my result. If I hadn't run 11 minute miles for the Monster Dash 10 miler, I would never have gone for it for the half. I'm seeing improvement and have hope that with more training I can have the marathon time that I dream of achieving. I don't have all my races planned for 2009, but I signed up for the RnR Seattle at the end of June!

But enough about me. I want to thank SD for taking pictures and putting up with my pre-race bitchyness. And there are a whole slew of congratulations to give out for recent races. My sister Deni, a walker, finished the Nike Women's half with her training partner, L. Twenty-first Century Mom also ran that race, while Juls and Taunya ran the marathon. Laurel ran the Philadelphia Marathon, Michelle ran the Marine Corps Marathon and Sunshine ran the Indianapolis Half-marathon. Danielle ran the Twin Cities Marathon and her race report is truly inspirational. Way to go, everybody! If I missed you, leave a comment and I'll read your race report. I'm so behind in reading everybody's blogs, since I've been traveling so much. I haven't even read all of the race reports of the women I just listed! I hope to catch up by Thanksgiving.

We Did the Monster Dash

"This one's for Stephano," I proclaimed as I crossed the starting line. I was running the 10 mile Monster Dash in Minneapolis and I dedicated the race to the Black Knight, who will be undergoing another surgery on October 31st. He is an avid runner and the recovery will have him sidelined for a while. But hopefully he'll be running faster than ever when this ordeal is done.

I was visiting the City of Lakes for the weekend. A friend was having a 60th birthday party and since SD had to be in town for work, I tagged along. I had always wanted to run the Monster Dash, because they have a cool t-shirt--a running skeleton! Yes, I will run for a shirt. :-) I was disappointed with the color, though; I was expecting a black technical shirt, but this year's was grey. The Monster Dash started a few years ago as a 5K, then they added a half-marathon. This year was the first 10 mile distance, so I got to run an inaugural race!


Some members from my old running club group ran the half: AmyBee, Mary, and Marcia. Coach Gary was a course marshal. I had contacted Marcia a week ago to let her know I'd be in town and that maybe we could all go for a run together. That's when she told me about the race. Since I have a half marathon coming up in two weeks, I didn't want to run that distance. The 5K wasn't far enough, so the 10 miler was just right. Of course, when I realized that I wouldn't be getting in to town until midnight Friday and I'd have to get up at 6:30 the next morning to race, I had my doubts.

The sky that morning was overcast and the temperature was chilly. The Central Coast was having unseasonably warm weather, so I went from running in tanks and shorts to tights and long-sleeves. Smartwool socks, jacket, gloves, and ear warmers completed the ensemble. I kept all my cold-weather gear, and I'm glad I did! I picked up my race packet and as SD was taking my picture, Marcia and the others came up. So we took a group shot, and as we did, a guy dressed as the Grim Reaper walked by. He was wearing a mask and everything, but Amy yelled out, "Hi Steve." It was triathlete Steve-In-A-Speedo, and it was pretty funny that Amy immediately knew who he was.



The race started at 9 and the starting line was at the Rose Garden, near Lake Harriet. That was a different starting line than the half, and a lot of people got confused. I jogged over to the start and did a couple of strides to warm up. There didn't seem to be more than a handful of people as the race started. The first thing I noticed was there was no chip mat, which worried me since it was supposed to be chip timed. I had my Garmin, so I wasn't too worried, but I did want this to be "official."

My strategy was to run 11:30 minutes per mile for the first half, then kick it up to 11 for the final five. Well, I never seem to manage to stick to my plan. As we went out, I realized this was a fast field and if I slowed down to 11:30 I'd be running by myself. I forced myself to slow down, but ran faster than I planned. I felt OK, though. The other thing I did differently was I didn't take any walking breaks, although I did walk through the two water stops.

We ran along Lake Harriet, and then down Minneahaha Parkway. There were stll fall colors and I was really happy to be running there. I have a lot of memories of running the lakes and the parkway--it's part of the Twin Cities marathon course. As I ran east, I saw a familiar person--Coach Gary! I haven't seen him in almost a year and he wasn't sure it was me, either. I high-fived him and kept on running.

A few people were in costume and one runner was wearing a red suit. I had to ask her who she was--she was also carrying a baby and a (toy) gun. Her answer: Sarah Palin! She ran the Twin Cities 10 miler a few weeks ago and hadn't run since. I saw her a few times on the course and would give her encouragement. When I saw her cross the finish line, I asked if I could take her picture.


Anyway, I was feeling strong on this run. I hooked up with a guy named Kevin for a while; he was a veteran of many marathons but can't run that far any more. We chatted as we ran, and he was a good rabbit, then I peeled off to use the portapotty. That was around mile 6 and I decided to pick up the pace. I passed a lot of people that had passed me and then I finally caught up and passed Kevin. He gave me some encouragement as I went by. There were a couple of small hills at that point, but I thought about the hills I've climbed on my training runs and took them in stride.

At around mile 8, I said, "OK, Stephano, let's go!" and pushed myself. I was breathing so hard, I sounded like a charging rhino, and people would give me encouragement as I ran past. My heart rate peaked to 177, so you know I was hurting, but I thought about Stephano's courage and kept on. Then in the last mile, the back of the 5K pack was on the course. They were walking their dogs and strollers but I wasn't about to sacrifice my PR. "On your left," I shouted, trying not to be obnoxious about it. People got out of my way and I thanked them. The Black Knight's spirit was with me and I crossed the finish line in 1:50--an 11:01 minute per mile pace!

When I looked up the results, I saw that there were only 3 of us females in the 55-59 age group. I was number 2--I placed in my age group! Did I win anything? Uh, no. The awards category was age 50-99. :-(

No matter. I hooked up with Coach Gary and we waited for the half-marathoner's to come in. Amy came by first, and I tried, unsuccessfully, to run ahead to take her picture. I did better when I saw Marcia coming in.



Here's a picture of the proud finisher's and running club friends Cheryl and Gary.



Afterwards, we carbo-loaded at AmyBee's house. Her hubby kindly made pancakes for all of us and Coach Gary brought real maple syrup. Now that's what I call "Minnesota Nice". :-)

A funny thing happened at the airport. I was in L.A., waiting in the lounge during my 3 hour layover to SLO, when a guy wearing running shoes and a Boston Athletics jacket walked in. Uh, oh, you know what that means. I had the decency to let him put his luggage down and get a bite to eat before I pounced on him. He ran Boston in 2007 and we talked running and marathons. I recommended Twin Cities to him, saying it was a pretty course and told him what a great city Chicago is. It turns out he went to high school in the same town I did, although he attended a private school. He mentioned that he'll be running the California Int'l Marathon and I asked his name, saying I'll look him up in the results. He looked surprised, but he told me and I introduced myself. We talked about Runner's World magazine and just before he left to sit down, mentioned he was in the "Green Issue." Hmmm. I looked it up this morning and it turns out I was talking to California State Assemblyman, Lloyd Levine! I imagine he thought I was talking to him because I knew who he was. You can read about him on page 76 in the November issue. It's a good thing I wasn't able to work up the nerve to ask if I could take his picture for my blog; he probably would have thought I was harassing him. :-)

Bow When You Say That

Greetings from Tokyo. I’ve been having a wonderful time. SD was here on business, so I joined him at the end of his week and we are spending a week vacationing here. SD has been to Japan many times over the years and has made a lot of friends. Since he’ll be retiring at the end of the year, this will be his last reason to travel to Japan for business purposes. So this is a bittersweet trip for him.

This is the second time I’ve been to Japan—I spent two weeks here 5 years ago and it was one of my favorite vacations. SD was here on business then, too, and we were treated like royalty! On this trip, we are only staying in Tokyo, but we took a side trip to the Hokone National Park, We were there for two nights, and stayed at a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. I’ll tell you more about that later; I’ll start with the beginning of my trip.

I arrived on Friday night, and went straight to dinner with SDs business associates. I was kind of proud of myself, as I got to the hotel from the airport without any mishap. I don’t do well in strange situations. In reality, it was very easy and SD gave me very good instructions. We stayed at a very nice hotel, and I slept comfortably for about 5 hours. I woke up about 3 a.m. and stayed awake. That’s been the pattern ever since, but I’m able to stay awake longer during the day.

Imperial Running
“You never let rain keep you from running before,” SD pointed out when I whined about getting out of bed for this, referring to the threatening sky. I hate it when he does that. So I bucked up and laced up my running shoes. The weather in Tokyo had been extremely warm and humid, so I packed accordingly—running skirts and tank tops. Unfortunately for me, the weather changed and it was drizzling when I headed out. I had on a windbreaker and figured that would have to do. We are staying in the Ginza district, and I headed to the Imperial Palace, where there is a 5K path.

There were a few other runners out, and I wasn’t the only gai jin; nor was I the only woman. I was however, the only woman gai jin. So I felt self-conscious. But the running felt great! The path around the Imperial Palace runs alongside a moat; I’m sure that is the first time I ran along a moat before! The grounds were beautiful and I was able to pick up the pace on some of the long, straight stretches. There was supposed to be a path inside the grounds as well, but I didn’t see it. Besides, the light drizzle at the start of my run turned into rain. I wished I had packed my running cap to keep the water off my face.

After the Imperial Palace run, I crossed the street to Hibiya Park, a beautiful park in the style of European parks. It may have been the first one in that style. I ran around there until I reached 5 miles, then headed to the Segafreddo where I met SD for our morning latte and croissant.

Culture Shock
Tokyo is quite modern and cosmopolitan, especially in the Ginza. The rain never let up all day, and since it was Monday, the museums were closed. So we went to the movies, something we never do in a foreign country. Our concierge was very helpful and found a English-speaking movie for us to attend. Movies here are expensive--$17 per ticket! And the seats are reserved, like in a theatre. We saw Ironman, which we missed at home. It was a good movie, in case you haven’t seen it. It had Japanese sub-titles, so there were a lot of Japanese people there. No one made a sound through the entire movie—the Japanese raise politeness to an art form!

Seaweed. It's Not Just for Breakfast Anymore
On Tuesday, we took the train to Hakone, the mountain range west of Tokyo. We stayed at a Ryokan there, a traditional Japanese inn. We sat on the tatami to eat our meals and slept on the tatami at night. It wasn't the nicest ryokan, but the food was excellent. We were there for two nights and were served traditional Japanese dishes for breakfast and dinner. Lots of fish and pickled vegetables. In truth, I didn't know much about what I was eating, but it was all good. The only thing I disliked was some smelly condiment they seem to be quite fond of.

One of my favorite things about Japan is the baths. They are communal, but segregated by sex. You sit at a shower area and wash from head to toe, then climb into the hot tubs. It's kind of like a small swimming pool, but filled with mineral water from the nearby hot springs. There are several different pools, with hot, hot water that comes up to your chin. It feels so wonderful! They also had an outdoors pool, which was within a garden. I like the outdoor ones the most because of this.

When you have all the heat you can stand, you climb into a cold tub. I think the Japanese must have created the ice bath. :-) The first time I climbed in, I could only go as far as my knees, but after climbing back into the hot tub, I was able to immerse myself in the cold water on the second try. It's a strange sensation to sit in such cold water. You get a little lightheaded and it feels like you're breathing in menthol. I made myself get out before I fainted or something.

On Wednesday, we did the tourist thing in the Hakone area, which was fun but the rain followed us there. At one point, we were on a ropeway, kind of like the sky ride at Disneyland, and hovering up into the mountains. It was a little unnerving, but the clouds obscured the emptiness below. The sun was shining the next morning, so we went back up and were rewarded with a birds-eye view of Mt. Fuji! It was great.

Sushi for Breakfast
Back to Tokyo on Thursday and we stayed at a fabulous hotel called the Conrad. It is not the kind of place we usually stay (too expensive), but SD cashed in his Hilton points so we didn't have to cough up any money. I figured that was my reward for all the years of shoveling snow while he was off on his business trips. This hotel had a beautiful spa and workout room on the 28th floor and an infinity swimming pool with walls of glass. It was just the thing to loosen up after a day of traveling.

On Friday I wanted to go out for a ten mile run. The web site that I found mentioned a river that was a good place for a long run, because it had bike paths. Unfortunately, that was too far away, so I went back to the Imperial Palace. I ran through Hibiya Park and then once around the palace. There were a lot of runners there this time. Then I reversed direction for another loop around the palace, only I found another park and ran through there for a bit before finishing the loop. I managed to go 8 miles and I had it. I like a change of scenery when I run, and this wasn't any fun. Plus, I had no one to talk to, so I went back to Segafreddo for a latte.

Back at the hotel, I got ready for lunch. We had reservations at a beautiful Japanese restaurant where SD had dinner last week. We sat on tatami and were served course after course of delicious food by a kimono-clad waitress. Don't ask me what I had, but it was all good. We had a private room which looked out to the gardens. Lunch lasted three hours! We skipped dinner and just wandered around the Ginza that night.

This morning, Saturday, we went to the Tsujiki fish market, where the majority of fish comes in for the country. Wandering around there is like walking through an old Humphrey Bogart movie. It's old and foreign and just wonderful! In addition to the fishmongers, there are peddlers selling other things. SD wanted to buy a knife, so we found a good place for one.

My plane is boarding now, so I have to run! I'll post pictures when I get home. Sayonara, Tokyo. Arrigato gazaimas!

It's hard to imagine fall when the temps are in triple digits, but there are subtle signs. This is my first autumn on the Central Coast and I was surprised to see apples at the farmer's markets already. But the leaves are starting to change on the grapevines and the poison oak is bright red! I'm very careful to not brush against it when running in the country, but it grows awfully close to the road.

We rode 30 miles last Saturday and the temperature was 50 degrees at the start. I'm embarassed to say I was freezing! I wore shorts and a cap sleeve top, but I also had arm warmers and a wind jacket on. And fingerless gloves. I left the arm warmers on for two hours, until it finally got warm enough to take them off.

Arm warmers are a clever thing that bicyclists invented, but they're good for runners, too. Another crossover is Nuun, electrolyte replacement tablets. I can't get Ultima at my local store, so I've switched to Nuun and really like it. How handy for long races--all I have to do is drop a tablet into my water bottle when I refill. It's a lot easier to carry.

The temperature was a little warmer for Sunday's 11 miler. I wasn't taking any chances and wore a short-sleeve shirt and a long sleeved pullover. I ditched the pullover within 5 minutes; it was much warmer than I thought.

Sunday's long run was tough! It was Bunny and me, and we started out pretty fast. We followed the same route as last week's 9 miler, but added a couple of miles. The run was pretty hilly, although we had about a half mile of a good downhill. I "flew" down, but realize I need to improve my hill form. I made the same mistake at Nike in San Francisco and my knee let me know it. My average pace for this "long, slow distance" was 11:47mm, with the mile splits ranging from 11mm to 12:20. We ran/walked 6:1.

Registration is open for the Big Sur marathon. I want to sign up, but am, quite frankly, chicken. The six hour cut-off is serious and I made the mistake of reading my 21 miler race report. I guess it shouldn't matter if I don't get a medal, or a finish time; the finish should be its own reward. I did so badly in San Diego, that my confidence is shaken. I want to do a spring marathon, I'm just not sure Big Sur is the right choice. I'll see how the half marathon goes.

SD and I will be going to Tokyo in a little over a week and I'm concerned about my training. I looked up places where I can run, but Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of California time, so I don't know how quickly I'll get over the jet lag. We'll only be gone for a week, but I'd like to continue my track workouts and long runs. There's a track in Central Tokyo that I can run on (gotta love the Internet!), so that will be good.

This will be my second trip to Japan, but the first time as a runner, so it will be nice to add another country to my running memories. In my spinning class, the instructor has a section that she calls seven hills, and it reminds me of Lisbon. Maybe someday I'll be one of those people who travels to foreign countries to run marathons! :-)

Every Day's A Speed Day

...when you run with people faster than you.

I've started training for the Big Sur half and my goal is to run faster. To achieve that end, I'm dabbling in speed training. My training partner, whom I'll call Bunny, and I run around the track every Tuesday. The track is good, because she's so much faster than I am and this way she doesn't have to wait up. Bunny is also training for Big Sur.

Wednesday is a recovery run and Friday is a tempo run. Today was the first time we actually tried tempo running. We ran with the beginners group for almost 3 miles to warm up, then picked up the pace. Since we were on a trail, I told Bunny to wait for me at the end. We were aiming for 20 minutes of tempo, but only did 14 minutes. But what minutes: average pace was 6.4 mph, with a maximum of 7.6! I was running 11:36 min/mile for the warmup and I thought that was challenging. I guess I'll have to stop referring to myself as a 13 minute miler. :-)

Our long runs are on Sunday, but they are only long and slow for Bunny. Last Sunday we ran 9 miles at 11:49 m/m. Another woman joined us, but she's more Bunny's speed, and they're both so competitive I just let them go. They didn't get too far away, as a courtesy to me, but I need to get people more my speed to run with us.

Last Saturday, SD and I rode 43 miles with the store group. We didn't expect to be riding that far, but we were following the leader. She was gauging how we looked; unfortunately she didn't know I had a nine mile run planned for the next day. Our longest distance before that had been 26 miles, so it was quite a jump in miles and the back of my knees were sore for three days! SD got a flat tire--his rear tire--so now he knows what to do. The store owner helped him fix it. Hopefully, he'll be around in case I ever get a flat, since they were on the freeway when it happened and I was waiting at the exit. Anyway, it's nice to know I can ride that far. SD and I are going to sign up for a 50 mile ride, which occurs in October.

I haven't been keeping current on my blog or reading yours. Sorry. No excuses, I just haven't been able to keep up. But there are a few races that deserve a shout out. First, AmyBee and Nat competed in their first half-Ironman on August 17! You can read Amy's race report here.

And Donald recently ran his first 100 mile endurance race! He wrote a fabulous race report.

AmyBee has a triathlon coming up this weekend, and Donald is competing in a half-Ironman, also this weekend. Good luck to them and all of you who are racing this weekend.

Games People Play

You don't ever have to put an age limit on your dreams. -- Dara Torres, 41 year old Silver Medalist

I've been getting into the Olympics this year. Dara Torres is an amazing athlete, beating the bathing caps off of swimmers more than half her age. Personally, I think her team let her down, although it's easy for me to judge. But Michael Phelp's team didn't let him down--eight gold medals! It's been really exciting to watch him pursue--and attain--his goal. Just incredible.

What was also incredible was the women's marathon. I was disappointed that Deena Kastor was injured; I was looking forward to watching her compete. Paula Radcliffe showed how much heart she has by finishing even though she was obviously in pain. But the Romanian, Constantina Tomescu, blew me away. I didn't think she'd be able to maintain that pace and the crazy lead she had for so long. She really can focus! I know what it's like to be running in a marathon all by yourself--'cept for me it's because I'm so far behind everyone. :-) And at age 38, she's almost in Master's territory.

It was cool to watch the elites race the marathon. I studied their form; the way they open up their chest to take in oxygen. I felt for them, running in 72 degree weather at 8 in the morning with ridiculous humidity. I worried when it looked like they weren't taking in enough water. And I marveled at how they carried stuff in those skimpy little outfits they wear!

Watching the swimmers helped me understand what my swimming instructor was trying to get across about strokes. And watching the runners put together what I read in magazines and running books. I can see how tempo runs are so important to develop stamina.

I've been keeping up my training, but it makes me tired. Maybe it's the late nights that are tiring me. My feet hurt, too, so I think I need new shoes. It kills me to buy shoes here, cause in Minnesota I got the 15% running club discount and I didn't have to pay sales tax. When shoes cost $150, that's a significant savings! My local store doesn't sell Asics, which are what I've found to be the best for me, so I'll either have to try something else, look for a different shop (which makes me feel disloyal), or order (gasp!) from the Internet. I do like to support local retailers, because they support the community.

Other than exhaustion and sore feet, my training has been going well. I'm trying to get a strong base before the 10 week training plan starts. I've got a schedule, of sorts: Sunday, run long; Monday, rest; Tuesday, track; Wednesday, recovery run; Thursday, cross train (bike); Friday, tempo runs; Saturday, long bike ride.

So that's the plan, now I just need to figure out the mileage for each. I'm training for the Big Sur half, and the schedule I was going to follow has too many weekly miles, starting at 35, when I've been averaging 20. That's too big a jump. I've got a stack of magazines with plans for 13.1. I want to get up to 15 mile long runs and I'd like to start at 10 miles. I have two weeks to find a plan and ramp up my distance.

Bicycling's been going well, too. I have less than 150 miles on my bike, but I'm getting more confident. Haven't fallen since that one time and am less in fear about it. Mostly I go on group rides of about 26 miles, but the other day I went out by myself. It was only 9 miles, but they were hilly. At one point I was in too high of a gear and the hill was steeper than it looked. I can't believe how quickly a bike can slow down! I thought I was going to fall, but managed to unclip in time. As I continued on, my legs were shaking from the adrenaline! It made me think about Jeanne's close encounter with a trolley and how she unclipped in time.

It's funny how you guys are always with me, whether I'm running or riding. Usually I'm composing a blog post, even though lately they never get written. And I think about what you've written and the encouragement you give me. I learn from your experience. The 21st Century Mom left a comment when I first got my bike about how she used to be worried about falling down, but she kept riding and eventually she stopped thinkig about it. Although I haven't lost my fear of falling, I think about it less.

Oh, by the way, the swimming and cycling that I've been doing are in NO WAY related to a desire to do a triathlon. I just want to be a better runner, specifically a better marathoner, and the other stuff is just a means to that end. I know I can turn in a faster marathon time; I just haven't proved it yet. The cross training and speed training should help me do just that.

It's Supposed to Hurt

Summer is in full swing on the Central Coast, and I thought I'd show you how it looks. The grapevines are filling in, the hills are a golden brown, and the sun shines daily. These are scenes I witness when I run and ride through the country.
I don't know what kind of flowers these are, but they sure brighten up a field.

The grapes will be ready to harvest in October. This vine is at the Turley vineyard, and I'm guessing it's a Zinfandel grape. It's the old Pesenti winery and the vines here are "head trained", rather than trellissed. I think that's customary for zin, but I don't know why.

This is more typical--they train the vines on a trellis. I'm not sure which vineyard this is. There are over two hundred wineries in the North County alone, and SD is trying hard to hit them all. :-) The California Central Coast comprises Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara counties and wine is a big industry in all of them.

On another note, did you see the September Runner's World? The Athlete's Palate column featured my favorite chef: Vincent! I know I've mentioned him before; he has a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. I've had many happy meals there, including a memorable lunch with running buddies AmyBee, Marcia, and Marianne. He gives his recipe for Salad Nicoise but I'm surprised he didn't feature his Vincent Burger. It's made with short ribs and many claim it's the best hamburger they've ever eaten! He offers them at happpy hour for $8.

There is a 5K coming up in a couple of weeks that I've been training for and I've been following a 5-week "get fast" plan. Usually I've done the workouts on a treadmill, because I didn't know where a track was. Now I do, and I headed there with another runner, who is also training for the Big Sur half. She's much faster than me, but that doesn't matter on the track. I did a 2.5 mile warmup, then ran 1.5 miles to get an average pace. Some article I read said to do that, but I have to find it to figure out what to do with this information. However, I was happy with the result: 14:29, 9:39 mpm!

Next, we did 4x800 with 2 minute recovery, only I forgot to set El Garmin to metric, so it was 4x.25 mile. I ran them hard: 2:19.75, 9:19/mile; 2:21.53, 9:26/mile; 2:17.71, 9:11/mile; 2:10.99, 8:44/mile (!). I'm not sure I did these right; aren't you supposed to maintain a steady pace and at race pace? I just ran as hard as I could, just to see what I could do. But I have to think that it was helpful in some way. Course, I was breathing really hard on those laps. The workouts were the reason for this post title.

While we were running, the drummers of the marching band were practicing. It was like some marathons I've run, having drummers beat out the pace. Well, you are supposed to simulate race conditions, right? :-)

Finally, a big "Way to Go" for Running By, who rocked the San Francisco half on Sunday.

Train Hard Race Strong

As luck would have it, the August issue of Runner's World arrived with an article written by Dean Karnazes on how to run a faster marathon! That is going to be one dog-eared page.

With the Rock and Roll marathon almost two months behind me, I need to start some serious running. I followed a five week recovery plan and am gearing up for a 10K in September. Without a race, I get complacent, so last week I started following a 5 week plan that incorporates speed work. It appeared in the July Runner's World and it's for a 5K, but I figured speed work is speed work and I just add more miles on the weekend long run.

Tuesday is interval day and last week and today I ran 4 x 400 on the treadmill, with two minutes recovery between intervals. I set the incline to 1.5 to compensate for the belt and run the 400s at 10mpm. That's my 5K goal--to finish in 30 minutes. I'll bet reading this makes you feel fast, doesn't it? :-)

On Thursday I do tempo runs. I'm not really clear what that means, so I run for twenty minutes at an 11 mpm pace. That's what I did last Thursday, and it was tough. Maybe this Thursday it won't be as difficult.

The reason I'm running on a treadmill is that for the past month I've been taking swimming lessons on Tuesday and Thursday, so to save time, I run before my swimning lesson. It's not a heavy-duty swimming lesson; it's with the women I trained with for the marathon. I took swimming lessons when I was ten, and it was one of the best things my parents did for me. But four and a half decades later, I'm not a strong swimmer and wanted to improve. Besides, I keep hearing what great cross-training swimming is.

I've noticed an improvement! Although my basic form was good, I had developed some bad habits and the instructor showed me how to improve. We do drills and practice breathing. I wear fins and they helped me kick stronger, although today I loaned them to one of my teammates and did fine without them. I even managed to swim two 50 meter laps without stopping! I once told my triathlete friend Marcia how winded I get when I do the freestyle, so she advised me to just go slower. So I did and it's much more relaxing! With this class, I've discovered the joy of swim goggles and even wear a swim cap, something I remember from the bad old days and thought I'd never do again. It keeps the hair out of my eyes, so that's a good thing. My silicone cap is a lot easier to put on and off than those old latex ones with the fake flowers on top. God, I hated those things!

I also had a killer bike ride last Saturday. Four of us rode from the store; two women (one was the store owner) were very experienced and the other one had my level of inexperience. We rode through the country for 28 miles, which incorporated hills, flats and freeway. Not flats as in flat tires, but flat road. I'm still learning my gears and shifted up instead of down while climbing a hill, but I only made that mistake once! The other newbie would follow me too closely, so I fell back about 5 bike lengths to bring up the rear. But at one point, where the road was pretty flat, I overtook her and flew past. Actually, my bike flew past, I just went along for the ride. This was the day that I appreciated what a great bike I have; I hadn't noticed on the hill climbs. The women that I passed envied my endurance (!) and decided that it must be because of the marathon training. It's pretty nice for this 55 year old back-of-the packer to have someone envy her fitness. But I'm pretty sure it's the bike. :-)

I had company Sunday, so did my long run on Monday instead. I ran nine miles of rolling hills, on a road that I trained on for the marathon. It's been a long time since I had been on that road and it was very enjoyable. I saw quail, deer, and wild turkeys. I kept my eyes peeled for skunks, but fortunately, didn't see any. The running was difficult, but I pretty much kept to my 6:1 run/walk schedule. I was proud of those nine miles once I was done, but where the heck did my fitness go? During marathon training, nine miles wasn't even a challenge. I thought I'd be able to bang out 18 miles runs whenever I wanted. Now I find I have to build up to that again. Oh well, it's good to have goals.

If I Knew Then What I Know Now

I recently turned 55 years young and have been thinking of a post to commemorate that. I was going to list the things I witnessed in each decade (color TV, long-haired men, disco, Olympic marathon for women [go Joanie Benoit!], fall of the Soviet Union, rise of terrorism, and finally a women presidential candidate--oh wait! Scratch that one.) But today I had a dentist appointment and I have significant bone loss, which is bad when you consider it's what holds your teeth in. So I came up with a different list, one of things I would do differently if I had a second chance.

Regret is not something I wallow in. I realize that life experiences are what made me the woman I am today. If I had taken a different path, I wouldn't have met my husband, etc. I'm generally a pretty happy person and grateful for the life I have. But I'm feeling reflective, so for what it's worth here's my list:

I would have gone to college straight out of high school. In high school I was a terrible student, and couldn't wait to be out on my own. No one in my family went to college, and certainly not women. College for women was considered a waste of money, since she would just get married, stay home and have children. Only unmarried women went to work. I also thought that college was for people who knew what they wanted to do in life--doctor, lawyer, that kind of thing. I didn't know about a liberal arts education. I finally got a bachelor's degree in 2002, at age 49, and it was one of the proudest days of my life. But I was frustrated in my work life and I think if I had a college degree when I was younger, my career would have advanced and I would have made more money.

I would have started saving money when I was twenty and let the magic of compound interest work in my favor. It's hard to do when you're earning minimum wage, but it can still be done. I didn't understand any of that when I was twenty. I didn't understand a lot of things.

Mickey Mantle said, "If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." He got that right! I would have eaten better. Less sugar, more protein. My weight went up and down like a Duncan YoYo. And even when it was down, I had a low body image. One year (1973) I was looking for a New Year's Eve outfit. I maybe weighed 110 pounds, which was not a lot. I can remember trying on an outfit and rejecting it because it "made me look fat." Sheesh.

I would have started exercising early and often. Actually, in 1978 I started jogging. I was twenty-four then and married to my first husband, a smoker. The only running gear I owned was a pair of New Balance shoes--blue and lime green. I didn't know anything about pace or speed work; I just wanted to live a healthier lifestyle. One time I ran seven laps around my block and to keep going when I was tired, I envisioned people on the sidelines cheering me on. But I didn't even know how to find a race, much less run one. Remember, Google wouldn't exist until a couple more decades. Later when I met SD, we used to go jogging before work. We had a dog then and he would heel beside me as I ran. But we gave the dog away and eventually I stopped exercising. It's interesting to me that 30 years later I'm running races and people on the sidelines cheer me on.

Which brings me to pets. It wasn't until I had my last cat that I learned the way to your pets heart is to feed him. You can pet and coo all you want and they'll lap it up, but their loyalty is to the one who places the food dish on the floor. I also now believe that once you accept an animal into your home, you keep him for life.

Finally, back to the reason I started this post: I would have taken better care of my teeth. Although I haven't had a cavity in years, I've had my share of them. But more significantly, I would have heeded the warning to brush after every meal. And floss daily. That's not to sell more toothpaste, folks. It's because plaque forms from the saliva in our mouth and brushing removes it. When plaque isn't removed, bacteria adheres to it and starts to eat away at the gums and eventually the bone that supports the teeth. This is the bad news I got at the dentist office today. There's no replacing the bone that's lost. All I can do is try to halt further deterioration. "Ignore your teeth and they'll go away." Oy.

So that's the bit of wisdom I'm passing on. I hope it wasn't too much of a downer. I'm in a new age group now, and in theory I have a chance to rank higher. I don't have any expectations of coming in at the top, however. But if any of you want to pass on your own bits of wisdom, say how I can become a 5-hour marathoner, I'm listening. Now excuse me, I have to go brush my teeth. :-)

A Mile High

Greetings from Denver. I've been in town for a couple of days to take care of some personal business. I had a free day today and looked for the perfect place to run six miles. Nothing went as planned, but I did get my run in.

I had a light breakfast at the hotel, and left at 9:30. I was going to go to a state park, which I envisioned as being miles of trails with large green trees to provide shade. It took a while to get there and then it wasn't what I expected so I left. I found a map that showed bike trails through downtown, so I switched plans and headed back north. By the time I parked and actually got going, it was 11:30 and hot, hot, hot! I know better than to run at high noon in the middle of summer, but I didn't want to put this off. So I ran along a bike trail aside Cherry Creek. It was not very pretty, but very few places are in the middle of a scorching day. It got better as I headed north, and the creek converged with the South Platte river. There was a nice park there and kids were playing in the water. I confess that I wanted to join them, but I kept going. I did take note that there was a Starbucks there and after 3 miles I turned around and stopped for water at Starbucks. It was adjacent to REI, so I went in there to use the bathroom and bought a GU.

It was hard going, but I don't think I can blame it on the altitude. I'll blame the heat! I thought I'd do some 30 second intervals, but I didn't last more than 20 seconds--once! At the start I took walking breaks at every mile, but after the third mile I was struggling. That was discouraging, but I made it the full six miles. I carried the refrigerated bottle of water that I bought at Starbucks and by the end of the run it was as warm as bath water. I never saw a weather report, but I was easily in the 90s and I wouldn't be surprised if it broke 100.

Afterwards I went back to the Starbucks and had a sandwich and latte. Then I shopped at REI. They were having a clearance sale, so I bought a bike jersey for SD and a long sleeved jersey for me (for when the weather gets cooler), plus some cute bike socks. :-)

When I got back to my hotel I went into the fitness room to refill my water bottles. I spotted an elliptical machines and since I was still in my running clothes, I hopped on for 20 minutes. Don't ask me what got into me. Then I sat outside by the pool. I was exhausted, but some people were in the pool and it looked so inviting that I put on my suit and jumped in. It was the absolute perfect thing to do; the swimming loosened up my muscles and the water invigorated me. Then I showered and went out to dinner. I went to a nice little neighborhood restaurant named Duo--I highly recommend it if you're in the Denver area. Started with a roasted beet salad and had gnocchi con pesto for my entree. The entire dinner was only $25 and it was delicious. I went to Oceanaire the night before and spent more than that on just the salmon, but I was familiar with Oceanaire since it was started in Minneapolis. I actually went there because a guy that worked at the Starbucks I used to camp out at in Minneapolis, moved to Denver a year ago and worked there. So I went to see him; he was surprised to see me of course, but knew who I was. The maitre d' introduced himself to me, and then the executive chef came over! I guess they were impressed that I would look up N., but it's just a Minnesota thing.

While I've been in Denver, SD has been in Minneapolis. It's been weird for me to be alone in a strange town. And to have a hotel room all to myself! I had all three drawers to myself, and the king size bed. We both get home tomorrow, where we'll resume getting in each other's way. :-)

Riding with the Big Girls

Thanks, everybody, for being so supportive of my marathon. You really are the best!

Sorry I've been away so long. I haven't been licking my wounds, I've just been trying to keep up with life. I've been following Hal Higdon's marathon recovery plan, to ease myself into training. I've also been riding my bike!

I think I mentioned that I bought a bike. It's something I've wanted to do since I moved here and SD and I finally got some road bikes a couple of months ago. And although I can ride a bicycle, riding with clipless pedals is a whole new dimension. I really wanted training wheels to attach to the bike, but they don't make them in carbon-fiber. :-)

Because of my fear of said pedals, I waited until after the marathon to try to ride. I wasn't about to throw away three months of training because I fell of my bike and couldn't run. So a couple of weeks ago, I went on a store ride, from the local bike shop. It was a women's ride, and there were about eight of us that showed up. A lot of them were inexperienced, too, but I was the only newbie with clipless pedals. We rode out of the store and within 300 yards reached a red light. Uh-oh. I panicked and didn't clip out before I came to a dead stop. You know what that means--I fell down in front of God and everyone. Someone once told me it doesn't count as a fall unless it's done in front of witnesses. This one counted! I scraped my leg and elbow, something I haven't done since I was ten years old, and got bruises. It shook me up, but I continued on the ride without mishap.

It was nerve-wracking though. We rode on the freeway, technically the highway at that point, from one exit to the next. We rode along road construction, where there was no shoulder and very tight lanes. We rode through the Farmer's Market, where pedestrians crossed in the middle of the street without looking. But we also rode out in the country, past vineyards and beautiful scenery.

That ride went about 26 miles, but we stopped alot, mostly because of me, but sometimes for the others. I kept dropping the chain, but Debbie, the store owner, showed me how to get it back on without stopping. I made it back without mishap and learned a few things. Not bad for the first ride.

I didn't ride the following week, because I volunteered at a local bike ride. That's worth a post in itself, and I'll show you some pictures. Last Saturday, I went for another store ride. Debbie's husband was supposed to run the Western States 100, which was canceled because of the wildfires, but they went up anyway for the clinics. So she wasn't going to be there and no one else showed up. Just as I was loading the bike back up into the truck, a girl drove up. She kindly rode with me, but was way more experienced than me. We rode about 25 miles in two hours, which is a lot faster than the first ride. We headed south and it was really nice. She was fast and I couldn't keep up with her, but she'd wait for me and let me rest once in a while. Sometimes I'd go uphill in too high a gear, but I guess that will come with experience. I dropped my chain once, but I think I figured out what I was doing wrong and didn't have any more problems. And I didn't fall once. :-)

That ride really helped my confidence and I feel that I can go out alone without incident. As long as I don't get a flat tire!

Rocked and Rolled Over

The race is over but I'm so disappointed in my finish time that I've been unable to bring myself to write about it. I'm also embarassed by it, but that's my ego and I'll get over it. My goal, which I thought was conservative, was 5:40. I was off by almost an hour! The stats:

Chip Time 6:36:31
Age Grade 42.5%
Pace 15:08
10K 1:22:13
Half 3:06:23
21 Mi 5:14:31

That is my second slowest marathon. Only Grandma's was worse and at least I could blame that day on the 98% humidity and sitting down to ice my knee. I have no idea why I performed so poorly this time. I trained, carbo loaded, rested, hydrated. Maybe I need to strength train.

The race started at Balboa Park and I arrived at 5:30 after choking down half a bagel with peanut butter. I wore my water belt and packed 6 gels. Eight women from my running group were also racing, but I stood in the portapotty line until about 6:20 and didn't see them when I went to line up.

The race started about 10 minutes late, but soon I crossed the starting line and started to run. I set my watch for 1 minute walks every 4:30 minutes. I was careful to not start too fast and hydrated often. Around mile 4, three of my team mates caught up to me and I took a walking break with them. Then they were off and told me the others were behind me. I figured they'd catch me, but I never saw them until after the race.

My sister Deni was race-walking her second RnR SD, and told me that the portapotty lines would shorten at mile 8. They didn't, and I kept going until I spotted some about a mile later that had no line. I was out within a minute. Unfortunately, that was not the case at mile 13, where I waited in line for over 5 minutes. I looked for some bushes, but there was nowhere to hide. That was my last portapotty stop,though.

The race was most fun at the beginning, when we ran through the park. There were lots of bands and crowd support. The best were the Team in Training cheerleaders in drag. They were guys who were not trying to hide the fact, wearing wigs, skirts and falsies--they were hilarious! There were also plenty of Elvis's running.

The bands were good, too. There weren't any on the freeway, which was too bad because we were on the highway for several miles. I thought it would be cool to run on a freeway, but it really wasn't. The road was heavily slanted and I tried to keep to the flat part. It was also a little hilly and more than a little hot.

Hot was the theme for the day. Although SD claims the temperature was 70F, it seemed much hotter to me. Some people talked about the humidity, but compared to Minneapolis there wasn't any.

Shortly before the weekend, my brother-in-law, Deni's husband, learned he has prostate cancer. He will have surgery in a few weeks and hopefully he can recover and that will be the end of it. I dedicated my race to him, since he will have his own "marathon" to deal with. My dad is cancer-free and so is Bev, the woman I dedicated my Big Sur race to. I may not have told you about her. She had a double-masectomy and when I saw her a few weeks ago in Minneapolis she looked fabulous. She's a runner and attributes her rapid recovery to that.

SD was there and was able to cheer for me at a couple of mileposts and the finish line. When I saw him at mile 7, I was feeling so alone that I stopped and gave him a big kiss in gratitude. It's really nice that he supports me in my running and I appreciate all he does in that respect.

At mile 13, SD gave me a Lara bar and a gel that I had packed. I wasn't hungry but ate the bar anyway. I'm not sure how many gels I ate, but there were lots. About 7, but maybe more. You'd think I'd be Speedy Gonzales with all that glucose. My left knee was starting to hurt just a little bit, so I took 2 8-hr Tylenols in order to be pro-active.

But my strength was zapped. I could walk, but not run. I reset my run/walk breaks to 3:1, then I changed it to walk/run. And I sauntered. I didn't even think about walking fast until a woman speedwalker went past. I started to swing my arms and tried to match her pace, but she was quickly out of sight and there were no other rabbits. I knew I was off my 5:40 pace, but I didn't realize how slow I was until I got to mile 20. "Oh, crap!" I said out loud, "I'm going to be over six hours." A woman looked at me like, "You're just figuring that out now?"

I spoke to some women along the way. I told one woman, Carmen, about my blog so maybe she'll stop here for a visit. (If you're reading this, Hi Carmen!) Another woman had just lost her mother, and was running with a herniated disc. She was in pain, but she was running in honor of her mother. I was wearing a bunch of elastic bracelets that I had picked up from the Nike marathon expo that had various "strength" words printed on them. I gave her the one that said "Heart" because I told her that's what she has.

As I passed other women, I'd hand out bracelets to help inspire them. But I kept the one that said "pride" for myself. Even though I was so off my goal, I knew I would finish and finish within the time limit and I was proud of that. I needed my own motivation and dedicated various miles to people that were going through some sort of adversity. I even dedicated a mile to Hillary Clinton! Now there's a woman who doesn't give up. :-)

At mile 23, I saw blogger Irene. She was volunteering at the San Diego Track Club station. She called out my name and I started babbling about being so far off my goal. She gave me a big hug and it was just what I needed--thanks Irene! I dedicated my next mile to her. She just had surgery for a hip fracture and is getting around with a walker. Talk about inspiring!

Even with 5K to go, I couldn't run. I wasn't hurt, I was just out of gas. So I kept walking. At least I was moving forward. "It only hurts when I run," I remember telling somebody.

Finally we were on the marine base. I looked forward but couldn't see the finish line. "Through that building," a TNT coach told me. I forced myself to run. As I started to walk again another TNT coach blared through the bullhorn, "Only 200 yards to go." Before he even finished I started running again. Finally I could see the finish line, then I saw SD. I started towards him and he shouted for me to go to the left side. So I did and raised my arms and howled as I crossed the final mat. I later asked why he wanted me to go to the left and he said it was so he could get the clock in when I crossed the finish line. He's an experienced race photographer! :-)

Deni and her friend L. crossed 10 minutes later, but unfortunately I didn't get to see them as they crossed. We got together shortly after, however. I also saw my teammates, all but two had finished before me. They did great--two finished under 5 hours and one finished in 5:15. Not bad for a first marathon.

Time to Rock and Roll

Hi Everybody. Writing this from San Diego, two days before the Rock n Roll marathon! SD and I drove down today and it took us a lot longer than we expected. But that's because we took the scenic route, and sometimes the traffic was horrendous. I've gotten spoiled living on the Central Coast with its relatively low population. :-)

So I'm ready to run. I'm not too nervous, just a little bit. I've trained for the distance, although not for speed, so I don't expect to PR by an hour. I do think that if my knees hold out I can finish in 5:40. That would still be a PR for me, but that's not saying much. Running the 21 mile race in Big Sur gave me confidence.

There are nine women from my running group who are running the marathon, and this is the first marathon for seven of them! They're ready though, and I'm excited for them. We bought pink singlets from One More Mile to wear for the race and had our club logo silk-screened on the back. They started out in a running class called, "I Hate to Run" and so the logo has a heart around the word "hate".

My sister, Deni, is walking the race with her friend L.. They walked the marathon together last year, so this will be Deni's second marathon. L. is getting married in a few months, so wasn't sure if she would have the time to train this year, but the call of the marathon is hard to resist.

After the race, I hope to catch up on what you guys are doing. I quickly perused some blogs and a lot has been happening! Firefly graduated (congratulations, Denise); Jeanne bought a new bike and continues to conquer her fears; Marathon Maniac Michelle ran yet another marathon; Nat had skittles in her gall bladder; and Stephano, the Black Knight, finished a 5K in May! He had an accident which caused considerable damage and it is a miracle that he even can run. Sadly, Irene got sidelined with a fractured hip and won't be able to run on Sunday. She just had surgery, so it will be a while before she's able to run again. Stop by and give her some encouragement when you can.

Now it's time to Rock and Roll!

Race Pictures

Here are some pictures from the Big Sur race, photographed by SD.

Early morning wake-up call.

Fortunately for me, this Denny's was just across the street from the hotel and open 24 hours for pre-race nutrition.

Love is walking your wife to the bus before the sun is even up.

How far is that marathon?

Medaled!

Michele and Eric met us for some post-race coffee later that night. They're wearing their "I Survived Hurricane Point" shirts. They're too modest to wear their medals; however, I wore mine all day and to dinner! The marathon finisher's medal has the Bixby Bridge on it--that's the one I want next.

On the Ragged Edge of the Western World

I am so glad I ran this race!

Good thing I'm too cheap to back out of a race I already paid for. :-) I was concerned about the hills; concerned about my inadequate training. But I finished and I enjoyed myself.

But let's start with the Blogger meet-up. Donald had graciously arranged for us to meet for carbo-loading at an Italian restaurant in Carmel the night before the race. SD and I attended, along with Eric and Michelle, and Darrell, a blogger that I didn't know but the others did. He was there with his teenage son, Tyler, who was running in the relay. Donald was also running in the relay--the Hurricane Point leg!

Michelle and I met last year at Nike and I felt like I was hanging with an old friend. But the other's I have never met. There weren't any real surprises in meeting these people in person, except that Donald is much younger than I imagined. He is a really nice guy, which usually is a euphemism for someone who's lacking in the looks department, but not in this case. I am in awe of both him and Eric for their athletic capabilities. Actually, I'm a little in awe of Michelle, too.

Dinner was at 5 p.m., because we racers had to get up in the middle of the night to get to the starting line. The buses left Monterey at 4:30 in the morning to get the runners to Big Sur and then get back to Carmel so the road would be clear before the race started. SD and I got up at 3, I dressed, filled my water bottles, and headed across the street to Denny's for a bowl of oatmeal. It was the graveyard shift and I guess they weren't expecting anybody to eat before running 26.2 miles or some portion of that, because it was hard to get any service.

SD walked me to the bus and then headed out to take pictures. The bus left later than they said it would, so I only had 15 minutes to change out of my sweats, drop off my gear bag, and get in the portapotty line before the race started. Fortunately it wasn't a very long line and I was able to get out before everyone was gone.

The 21 mile race was on the same course as the marathon; it just started at mile 5 and 15 minutes ahead. Now that's the way to do it! We had the course to ourselves for the first 4 or so miles, then the leading man came running up, just past the Bixby bridge. Taiko drummers were pounding a slow steady beat, but when the marathon leader arrived, the pounding became fast and furious, which was how we knew he was approaching. That and the screaming. :-)

When the lead female passed me, I didn't get a good look at her number, but I commented to somebody that she didn't look like an elite. She was muscular and not matchstick thin, but she was sure running. And there were no other women close to her. The marathon winner was Kris Lawson, and her number was 38 and her age is 28, so it may have been her that I saw. How cool is that--I got to run with the front runners!

And then I got to run with the mid-packers. Life is better at the front--I never ate so much during a race. There were oranges, apple slices, and Gu packets being handed out all along the course. Plus fresh California strawberries at the Carmel Highlands. Usually this is stuff I only hear about, because by the time I get there everything is gone.

I expected to see Donald or Eric run past, but I never did. They must have gone by while I was in a portapotty. There were portapotties, like, every mile and I must have stopped at each one. At least I didn't disgrace my family by peeing in public! Food, entertainment, portapotties: I'm telling you, this race was perfect. :-)

And the course is STUNNING. SD and I have driven on Hwy. 1 many times, but it is different on foot. Climbing up Hurricane Point and then looking back to see where you came from was an incredible feeling. Watching the surf crash on the rocks, and just taking in all the natural beauty, made me so grateful to be a runner.

Lest you think it was a stroll in the park, there were some hills to deal with. And wind. I drafted off of people when I could and just bucked up when I couldn't. We had to climb a hill just to get onto Hwy. 1, because our start line was at the state park. I set my watch for 5:1, but just walked whenever I felt like it, which was often. My longest training run was 18 miles and even though I tried to be conservative, I was getting progressively fatigued. But I just played mind games until I crossed the finish line.

SD was there waiting for me and took my picture as I got my medal. I was exhausted, but it was a good tired and I felt proud for finishing. My finish time sucked, but I still feel like I ran a good race. And confident that I'm ready to Rock n Roll in San Diego!

Place Overall: 255 out of 588
Women: 204 out of 491
F Open: 0 out of 0
AgeGrade: 38.11% Place: 197
FINISH: 5:11:09 pace: 14:49
Chip Time: 5:11:09
Gun Time: 5:12:59

I looked for Michelle, but she came in sooner than I expected. If you haven't already, go read her race report. She rocked the Big Sur marathon!

Next stop, Big Sur!

Holy, moly! I can't believe three weeks have gone by already. I had a great time in Portugal, but it's not much of a city to run in. The streets (and sidewalks) are paved with cobblestone. It's really pretty, but not a very forgiving surface.

I managed a few training runs on my vacation. I did do the 16 mile run that I mentioned in the previous post. I wish I could say it was spectacular, but it wasn't. It was too crowded to run in the street, so I had to stay on the sidewalk, and there weren't a lot of bathrooms. I tried to be positive, but the best I could come up with was how cool it was to be running along the mouth of the river that Vasco de Gama sailed out of when he sailed around the tip of Africa and discovered an alternate path to India. Yes, I read that out of a guide book; I never would have remembered that tidbit from 5th grade geography. The run was so blah that I postponed my 18 miler until I got home. It worked out much better for many reasons.

We drove up to Porto with some friends of ours, and on the way stopped in at a town called Coimbra. It is home to one of the world's oldest universities in continuous operation. We arrived at night and went out to dinner. I tried what I was told was a typical Portuguese meal, octopus. It was cooked in red wine, so it took on a hideous color. I ate it, but I didn't like the way it looked. I had two more opportunities to try octopus, but each was prepared a different way than the first dish and it was absolutely delicious.

In the morning I went for a run along the river, while SD went for a walk around the university. I ran through a park with well kept gardens and admired how pretty the town was. When SD returned from his walk I commented on what a nice town it was and he had just the opposite impression. I guess I got lucky that I ran where I did.

All this leads up to Big Sur. The race is this weekend and I'm nervous but excited. I did an 18 mile run ten days ago and it was tough. But I got through it and so I guess I can get through Sunday. My goal is simply to finish and enjoy myself, but as I said in the previous post, there are some killer hills!

I'm looking forward to a blogger meet-up with Michelle, her husband Eric, who likes to read hot chocolate cups, and Donald who organized the meet-up. Donald's post from last year about Big Sur is the reason I'm running it. I've driven that route many times, but how often does a person get the opportunity to run with the highway closed to traffic? Uh, once a year.

While I was in Portugal, my dad was having the tumor on his neck removed. He had been going through chemo for the past year, treating the tumor on his neck as well as his lung and kidney. He was supposed to have two years of chemo, but the spot on my kidney is gone, the one on his lung is the size of a pencil point, and so they were able to operate on his neck. He's recovering nicely and is overjoyed to be rid of the cancer. Now he can get on with living his life. Way to go, Dad!

Oh, I got a comment today from a woman that ran the Nike marathon. She came across my Nike race report and I mentioned her in it because we ran together for a little while. This is one of the reason's I like to blog, because it gives me running friends on other coasts and other continents. :-)

Dutch Masters and Seven Hills

Well, I had a wonderful time in San Francisco. Had a great run to the Golden Gate bridge, which brought back memories from the marathon. And had my virgin Irish Coffee while talking to an Irish cop from New Jersey. How appropriate.

But that was then and now I´m in Lisbon with SD. We left California on Sunday night and arrived in Portugal on Tuesday morning, just after midnight. It took so long because we had a 9 hour layover in Amsterdam. We made use of the time by taking a bus into the city center and visiting the Ryjks museum. We were pretty tired by the time we got to Portugal, and had no trouble sleeping through the night!

Although SD has been to Lisbon one other time, he was here on business so didn´t sightsee as much as he would have liked. He has a business meeting next week, so we took vacation time and came early. This is my first time to Portugal, but it feels so comfortable. I told SD that I´m a European at heart. :-)

Of course, I brought my running shoes. When we went to San Francisco two weeks ago, we drove north on Highway 1, right through Big Sur and the course of the marathon. It makes the Nike Marathon look as flat as Calysta Flockhart. There are some serious hills and it freaked me out. I´ve been training since then on the highway near my house, in order to be better prepared.

Lisbon is built on seven hills, which makes for some good hill training. I ventured out for a 5-6 mile run, but didn´t get too far. It took me 1.25 hours to run only 4.75 miles. Sheesh. I´ll blame it on the hills. And the stop lights.

We´re leaving for Porto on Saturday, so I´ve scheduled my long run for Friday. I´m planning to run 16 miles, then 18 the following week. The best course I found is along the river, which hopefully won´t have too many hills. I´ll let you know how it goes. Adeus for now.

Proud 2B Half Irish

One evening, twenty-two years ago, I was sitting in a classroom in Santa Ana and wishing I was in San Francisco. It was St. Patrick’s Day and I wanted to be celebrating with an Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista. They specialize in Irish Coffee, making it with Tullamore Dew whiskey.
Instead, I went home from my night class and turned on a Clancy Brother’s special. I grew up on the Irish songs of the Clancy Bros. On my TV screen, Tommy Clancy was talking about the success the group and the toll it took. He talked about the parties every night and how much drinking he was doing. He knew he had to stop or it would ruin his life. Then he looked straight into the camera and said, “I haven’t had a drink in ten years.” Whoa!
I couldn’t believe someone could go a week without drinking, much less a decade. I quit drinking couple of months later and whenever I wanted a beer, cocktail, or glass of wine I would repeat Tommy Clancy’s words. The power of positive thinking: what the mind believes, it can achieve.
Today is St. Patrick’s Day and I’m sitting in Starbucks on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, kitty-corner from the Buena Vista. It’s the first time I’ve been in this city on this day. I’m going to go for a run to the Golden Gate bridge and when I return I plan to toast the Irish with an Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista, hold the Tullamore Dew.
In keeping with my tradition of a joke on this day, I leave you with this.


What It Means To Be Irish:

1) You will never play professional basketball.

2) You swear very well.

3) At least one of your cousins is a fireman, cop, bar owner, funeral home owner or holds political office.

4) You think you sing very well.

5) You have no idea how to make a long story short!

6) There isn't a big difference between you losing your temper or killing someone...

7) Much of your childhood meals were boiled.

8) You have never hit your head on a ceiling.

9) You spent a good portion of your childhood kneeling in prayer.

10) You're strangely poetic after a few beers.

11) You are, therefore, poetic a lot.

12) You will be punched for no good reason...a lot.

13) Some punches directed at you are from legacies of past generations.

14) Many of your sisters and/or cousins are named Mary, Catherine or Eileen... and there is at least one member of your family with the full name of Mary Catherine Eileen.

15) Someone in your family is incredibly cheap. It is more than likely you.

16) You may not know the words, but that doesn't stop you from singing.

17) You can't wait for the other guy to stop talking before you start talking.

18) You're not nearly as funny as you think you are...but what you lack in talent, you make up for in frequency.

19) There was not a huge difference between your last Wake and your last keg party.

20) You are, or know someone, named Murph.

21) If you don't know Murph then you know Mac. If you don't know Murph or Mac then you know Sully. Then you probably know Sully McMurphy.

22) You are genetically incapable of keeping a secret.

23) You have Irish Alzheimer's... your forget everything but the grudges!

24) "Irish Stew" is a euphemism for "boiled leftovers."

25) All of your losses are alcohol related (loss of virginity, loss or drivers license, loss of money, loss of job, loss of significant other, loss of teeth from punch...) but it never stops you from drinking.


Ahem, I can relate to many of these! Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Vote for Waddler

Fellow blogger, Waddler 26.2, is trying to get a full Ironman sponsorship from Evotri. They are offering 3 sponsorships to the blogger with the most votes. Go to Waddler's blog (http://1waddler.blogspot.com/) to read her very compelling reasons for wanting this and if you agree then help a girl out and submit your vote. Voting ends March 21, so there isn't much time left. All you have to do is copy the URL of her blog and paste it in the subject line of an email. Waddler has all the links in her post.

She's the only one I know trying for this, but if YOU are looking for the same sponsorship, go ahead and mention it in the comments. And accept my apologies for not giving you a shout-out.

Sidelined

I can't run!!! Actually, I can, but I'm afraid hurting myself more. I'm fine when I run, but then the next day my foot hurts.

In the previous post, I mentioned that I thought I hurt my sciatic nerve--I had pain from my butt to under my big toe. That was about 3 weeks ago. After the 10 mile run in Minneapolis, I took a week off. I woke up on Sunday with not even a twinge and the next day ran 3.5 miles with my running group. After that run, I may have had a smidgeon of an ache in my arch. The next day (Tuesday) I ran/walked 3:2 for 20 minutes. That was my last run, because my foot hurt and my calf felt tight. My running coach advised me to take two weeks off; I'm in my second week.

This is making me very nervous for Big Sur! I have not run any further than 10 miles and although I gave up any delusions of running for time, I would like to finish and get a medal. Big Sur is 8 weeks away and Rock N Roll is 13. Yikes!

My shoes are new, so I don't think they're the problem. Although maybe they are. I actually have two pair--Asics Gel 3000, which are stabiity shoes that I wear on the road and longer runs, and Adidas Supernova Cushion. The Adidas don't offer any support and I was wearing them on that ill-fated treadmill run. I also wore them yesterday as I used the elliptical for an hour. I noticed that my foot starting hurting on the elliptical, even though there is no impact. I guess I'll just run in the Asics, when I start running again. I've been lucky in not getting injured and I hope this is a passing phase.

It was great to see AmyBee and go to Spirit of the Marathon with her. And it was cool to be in a theater full of runners! I loved that movie and got a kick out of how much of the lingo I got. I was amused how even Deanna Kastor got excited over a new pair of running shoes. And of course, I related to the back of the packers. But mostly I just related to the runners, regardless of their talent, and that was a good feeling.

In other news, Spring is coming to the Central Coast. The fruit trees are flowering; they smell great and look so pretty! And wildflowers are blooming on my property. Mostly lupine, but some California poppies. We haven't done any landscaping yet, and the weeds are coming up as well. I don't want to cut anything down, though, until I know what it is.

I spent the weekend taking care of two dogs for my friend. She had to leave for the weekend and I offered to feed them. They are not well-behaved so for the first couple of days I wouldn't put them in my truck, I just fed them at their house and walked them around their yard. But on Sunday I loaded them into the back of the truck and tied their leashes so they couldn't jump around. I let them run loose on my land, since it's all fenced. They loved it and never seemed to tire of running around. It's been 28 years since I've had a dog and I'm ready for one, but SD wants to wait a couple of years. He wants to be able to travel when he retires and doesn't want to have to find a caregiver for the pets whenever we want to go somewhere. And putting them in a kennel will be too expensive. Anyway, it was fun to have some canine company and to see how happy they were to run around. They're only a year old, so have lots of energy!

I allowed myself to go look at bikes the other day. I've been avoiding them, since we didn't have the money to buy one, but now we're getting close to having the money. I found a couple of Felt bikes that I'm considering. One is a women's specific bike, and has good componenets. I like the idea of women's geometry, especially since I'm under 5'4", but this bike has pink trim and I've never been a fan of pink and black. Pink and white, maybe. The other bike is an affordable all-carbon, but it's more unisex. I'm leaning towards that one, even though the WSD comes with slightly better components. I guess I'll just have to go for a test ride and see how they feel.

Frosty

Greetings from Minneapolis! No, I didn't move back; I'm just visiting. I went for a run around the lakes last Sunday, when the weather was 30 degrees, with an 18* windchill. I had all my winter running gear and was proud of myself for not being a weather wimp. It was a pleasant 10 mile run.

However, I have not run since then! The mercury sank like a fruitcake and barely reached double digits above zero. Yesterday it was -10 when I took SD to work and only reached 10 above late in the afternoon. Today's high will be -1. Good thing I have my SmartWool tights. I'm spending the day at the Mall of America. :-)

Tomorrow I'm going to see Spirit of the Marathon with AmyBee. It was not playing in my county last month and I really wanted to see it. I guess a lot of other people did, too, because it sold out at the Eden Prairie theater we were supposed to go to. We're driving to Egan instead. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie and AmyBee.

I spent the day yesterday cleaning my old house. It's empty, but we've had a lot of people going through it and it was filthy. Since I want to get top dollar, I spent the day spiffing it up. We actually got an offer, but it was a lame offer and the guy backed out 2 days later. I see this as an opportunity to get a better offer. I'm optomistic that the house will sell in the next couple of months. We dropped the price by $100,000 and that should get some attention.

We bought a bed finally. We were sleeping on an air mattress since we moved, because we put our old bed in the guest bedroom. I got tired of sleeping on the air mattress and now we sleep in the guest bedroom. It's nice, but not as nice as our bedroom. Anyway, Room and Board has an outlet in Minneapolis and you can get some good deals there. We bought a platform bed, nightstand, and an Aeron chair and they'll deliver to my house for a flat fee.

SD is expecting his bonus check soon, so we're suddenly flush. We still need to by some office furniture--I'm getting tired of typing at the card table and folding chair. I've been having problems with my left leg--it hurts all the way from my hip to the back of my foot--and I think my sciatic nerve got damaged from sitting too long in the folding chair. Of course, I haven't confirmed this with a doctor... But rest seems to be helping.

SD has been promising that we can buy some bicycles when he gets his money, so I'm looking forward to that. I've been avoiding looking at bikes, because I want to buy every one I see. But I found a store that I like and I think I'll let them guide me on a purchase. They rep Felt and Kuota, so I may end up with one of those. But if you have any suggestions, I'm open to that. The highest elevation is around 1700 feet, so I need something that will get me up the hills! I'm leaning toward carbon, for the light weight, but SD is leaning toward price--the lower the better. My budget is around $2000, with pedals, clips, and seat. My goal is to do a Century, and maybe some short races. I don't expect to win any races, but I'd like a bike that isn't going to make me feel like I'm pedaling backwards. :-)

Time to go to the mall! See you later. I'm be home on Friday--yay!

Girl from the North County

Gosh, thanks for all the comments. I didn't think you would be checking my blog anymore, since my posting has been so sporadic.

Life is good, but I'm still adjusting. It's hard to get used to how far away everything is; I drive 15 miles in either direction to shop or get my mail. The post office won't deliver to my house because you need 7 addresses within a mile and we're the only one within 3 miles. We finally got trash pickup straightened out, but no curbside recycling. SD just wants to throw everything away, but I can't bring myself to do that, so cardboard and bottles are stacking up in the garage. I finally found a place that will take all our recyclables, so now I just need to pack up the truck and bring it in.

The most frustrating thing has been the lack of customer service. It took 14 days for FedEx to deliver a package that had been sitting in a local warehouse for the past 10. And that's with me calling every day and burning up cell phone minutes. Oh yeah, I don't have a land line, because the telephone company wanted 50K to bring one over. There have been other customer service issues, but this post is rapidly descending into a rant.

And I don't want to rant because really, I LOVE IT HERE! It's quiet, peaceful and beautiful. When we come home at night, there are a billion stars out. On any given day, I'll see deer, hawks, or bobcats. My favorite time to be here, though, is sunset. The sunsets from my deck are spectacular!

I haven't been to a movie, but I have gone to see the elephant seals at nearby Piedras Blancas. It's the breeding season and the beaches are covered with males, females, and babies. They first starting showing up around 1993--locals were noticing that the "rocks" on the beach were moving. It's an awesome sight to see.

Oh yeah, I've also been running! I'm incredibly behind on my Big Sur 21 mile training, but right on schedule for the San Diego Rock and Roll marathon that I signed up for last week. The running club I'm with are training for their first marathon, so I figured I'd do it too. I'm not even going to try for time at Big Sur, but it would be nice to finish. I easily ran for two hours on Saturday and that gave me some confidence that I'll be ready. It was the longest I've run since Nike in October. I don't know if I'll be running a 20 miler before Big Sur, but I'm hoping I'll at least get up to 18 miles before I have to taper.

My running coach is a personal trainer and I'm taking some lessons from her. I'm also taking a sculpt class. I've been woefully lacking in muscle strength and I'm hoping the weight training will make me a stronger runner. No more 120 pound weakling for me! Charlie Atlas, here I come. :-)