Tagged. for 7 random things about my self

TriFolk has tagged me for 7 random things about myself.
My mind is already on vacation so I will just go with it!!

7. I loved sports throughout school. I loved volleyball, basketball, softball and track. Problem was that when I was a freshman I could not run track and play summer softball as high school softball was the same season. So I ran track my freshman year and had to switch to softball the last three because I missed it too much.



6. My bus driver used to say we should rename our road to Evans street because my entire dad's family lived on the same stretch of road by my grandparents farm. Growing up on a farm means lots of farm chores, kickball with all my cousins while doing hay, getting lost in swamps chasing cows and many hilly-billy sounding stories!!! And...I love cows! I used to have a collection of lots of cow stuff. Even as a kid when I was sleeping, all mom had to say was "Janet, Look at the cows!!" and I would instantly wake up and look around everywhere for my beloved animals.

5. People sometimes laugh at me when I Q-tip my ears because I always do both at the same time. I have to, otherwise one feels so jealous. Such a good feeling!!!

4. My dad, being the accountant penny-pincher type, has instilled this sort of deal finder gene in me. Sis got it too, maybe worse!!! I will shop around the mall for the best deal which drives my husband crazy. I love restaurant coupons, Dick's coupons, big sales, etc!!!! I do draw the line with grocery coupons though.

3. Huge, huge music fan. Always embarassingly rocking out in my car and pretty much anytime I do anything. Music must be loud for housecleaning. I spent over $70 at Best Buy just yesterday on CD's. Choices included the newest CD's Static X, Linkin Park, Nine Inch Nails, Saliva and Tim Armstrong. If only the new cd from The Used would have been there, I would have bought that too (darn, I really wanted that too)!

Quick music note on Tim Armstrong's A Poet's Life (from Amazon's Editorial Review): This began as a thank you from Tim to Rancid fans, to be released one track at a time on the Internet to tide fans over until the next Rancid full-length. But when KROQ in LA began heavily playing the explosive track, "Into Action", plans changed. So here's Armstrong's first solo release, backed by some of the strongest radio support since the days of "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho". With a killer old-school two-tone groove, helped along by Hellcat label mates The Aggrolites, "A Poet's Life" is loose, punky, infectious, and shamelessly danceable. Bonus DVD features videos of every song and a cool featurette on the making of the album and videos. From what I have heard, this sounds like a fantastic laid back summer CD!!! You can sample it here!!! http://www.amazon.com/Poets-Life-Tim-Armstrong/dp/B000OY8NEM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-4213706-2772922?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1180098577&sr=1-1


2. A few years ago I got my tongue pierced. It hurt so bad and proceeded to swell so big my tongue was fatter than the barbell ends and I could not eat very well for a week. During this time, I tried to hide it from my parents (even though I was 25 at the time). At the family gathering, I was so hungry and I got busted because I barely ate and was cutting my deviled egg up into the tiniest pieces just trying to get something into my hungry belly. Sis knew something was off and called me out. It always seemed to agitate me, but it hurt so much to get, that I kept it out of spite for 3 years before deciding I could not take it anymore! The husband still has his.

1. One time when I was probably about 7, I was sitting on our basement steps playing dollies with my sister. I kept scooting over to make room for all our dollies and I scooted to far and fell off the one of the top steps of the stairs. I managed to grab the railing and looked to my sis for help. She ran up the stairs screaming for mom and I fell. I landed on my head on the concrete basement floor and had a nice concussion. Does that explain it???


I will now tag TriShannon, Mallie, and Jen...

Your it.

So now what?

Well since the marathon the week has been busy getting ready for our trip departure THIS FRIDAY NIGHT!!! The plan is leave Friday after work in the van and trailer our motorcycles down to Joey's family's place in Ider, Alambama. Ider is on top of of a mountain about 15 minutes from both the Georgia and Tenessee state lines and is absolutely beautiful!

We will sleep for 4-5 hours and then hop on our motocycles to ride up through the Great Smoky mountains and Deals Gap, which rate among some of the most popular motorcycle roads in the country. His family will already be up in that area which is about 3 hours away riding horses up at Pigeon Forge, TN over the long Memorial Day weekend. We will be staying in a little cabin in Townsend, TN for the weekend with my husband's aunt, uncle, cousin and his wife. While they spend the days horseback riding, we will ride motorcycles and then regroup in the evenings for dinner and perhaps a dip in the hottub!!! Sounds like a weekend I can handle!!!

Then Monday we will all ride back down to Alabama to relax for the rest of the week by the lake where I will relax by the water. I see some fishing, jet-skiing, and a lot of swimming (in the lake pictured above) in my near future. The forecast looks beautiful and I am so ready for a vacation!!!!

So the next week will be another very light training week. This week I have took it very easy, resting Monday and Tuesday, went for a short 30 minute easy run Wednesday, did a easy 30 minute spin and a quick upper body workout. I may try to fit in another easy run or swim tomorrow AM and then after that, I will just be pretty flexible and fit in what I can while enjoying the getaway with my husband!!!

I will leave ya with a few afterthoughts from the marathon....

1) My feet have hurt the worst of any body part these last two marathons. I wonder if any amount of training would ever change that due to the fact that I seem to run on the balls of my feet so often.

2) Perhaps I could avoid blisters on my feet with some baby powder in my socks and I even heard to Body Glide the bottoms of my feet. Hmmmm....

3) Speaking of Body Glide, there is no pointing of stocking up on some, if you are going to forget to use it on race day. Yes, I don't know how I did this, but I guess there were other things on my mind. And I have so many random chaeffed spots!!!!

4) My husband was a pretty good pit crew for the marathon and I really appreciated his support although I am fairly certain it is not his thing.

5) Changing tents after marathons are genius!

6) The gel flask race belt idea thing totally did not work for me. The minute I started running it was bouncing around like crazy. Then, I still had trouble with getting the gu out of the flask. Perhaps it was the thick Powergel (even though) I had diluted it with water, but I think I will try something different next time around.

7) One of these marathons I will make it though without hitting the port-o-potty. I know I cut my stops down this time around by at least half, so that is progress!!!

8) My head must be insanely round or oddly because any sort of headband sort of thing no matter the type (rubberized, thick fabric, whatever) all falls off.

9) In the face of wind, tucking in behind someone makes a huge difference.

10) Someone to talk to and keep your mind off things, really is helps!!!

11) Although I don't think I have drank chocolate milk in 15 years, something made me grab it and it was the best tasting thing after a marathon!

12) SO much of the marathon is mental.

13) I can not say enough about having great training buddies to get to the marathon!

14) I don't think I like the chocolate Powergels anymore but I have a lot of them left in the case I bought.

15) Knowing you have trained properly is a huge mental boost!

16) Reaching your goal at the end of the day makes it all worth it!!!!

Cleveland Marathon Part II

At the half way point I was feeling fine and was doing a mental check of where I thought I might finish. I figured even if I faded, I should be able to keep around a 3:30 marathon time which would be just fantastic.

The scenery heading out east was pretty boring and there was not a lot of crowd support. Just before mile 14, I squeezed as much gel as I could out of my little flask which was not really cooperating and walked to get in some water. Mile 14 8:03.

Miles 15 through 18 just ticked away and I was just counting down the miles. I think back as being pretty bored during this time. The Ipod tunes were ones I had heard a million times and all I could think about was there was still a lot of road to go. 15-8:14, 16-8:11, 17-8:11

I started to really look forward to water stops as I was so thirsty and hot and I was looking forward to my 10-15 second walk breaks as I took in water. My feet were already just killing me (as usual in my long runs) because I run on the balls of my feet typically and they already felt pretty bruised.

Mile 18 8:20

I was happy to come around by Case and have some more enjoyable scenery and was starting to dread coming all the way back on Marginal against the wind.

Mile 19 8:46, Crap my pace is starting to slide and seven plus miles is going to be a long road back. I just kept thinking I can do this under and hour.

In my head I decided I was not going to push myself so hard to hit the 3:30 paces, that as long as I made sure I was on track to be under 3:40 I was very fine with that.

Mile 20 The stomach started acting up again and somewhere around Mile 20 / 21 I hit the port-o-potty again. Mile 20-8:51 Mile 21 -9:02

There was this van that must have made a wrong turn and decided to totally cut off one runner and to turn around right in front of us. The closest lady which he really affected smacked the van in dismay as myself and another guy both commented on what a jerk move that was. As if that lady was in need of another obstable this late in the course.

The miles now seemed to go by soooo slowly and the water stops seemed so far apart.

Upon heading back into town it was tough. I kept seeing folks taking walk breaks and I was yearning for one myself. The city looked so far away. My feet were killing me and the wind was so tough. A few times I would try to tuck in behind someone to shield me from the wind and it was amazing the difference I could feel. There were no spectators and a couple times down this stretch I let myself walk for 15-20 seconds knowing I had the time in the bank. The gel flask had me irritated as I really could not seem to get gel out which I attempted every time I was saw a water station ahead. Mile 22 must have included some walking as I was discouraged to see the mile split at 10:17.

That time was unacceptable and I was not going to miss my BQ goal so I tried to pick it up. "Gosh, why did I have to go and tell everyone that I was doing this and I was confident that I would qualify? If I fail, I will feel so stupid!!!" Must suck it up!!!!

There was a tall guy that I tucked in behind and pretended I had a rope connected between us. It helped some and hope he did not mind. I got excited to see friends LE and GH on the course cheering. A small mental boost such as seeing them meant so much at this point in the race. It is really too bad this long last stretch for the most part is so lonely and boring.

Mile 23 9:01. I was gaining strength as I knew I was coming into the city. I repeated the mantra I have used for in my training so many times and throughout this second half "Boston Baby!" I knew I had it in me to get there under 3:40. As we came around the stadium I saw Salty one and tried to manage a wave but I was so exhausted I am not sure it was much of one.

Then there was the uphill climb into town that we did at the 1.5 mile mark. Oh my goodness, it is sooo much harder now!!! I shortened my stride and ran up that hill just dying to get to the top. I hate this stupid climb that I have done in so many races! I think I hate it because it is usually near the end of a race when I am already tired. Being back in the city was a huge mental boost. I knew the last hill was over and there was again crowd support. Mile 24 9:33.

My feet were absolutely killing me (yes, this is all I could think about!) and I could not wait for the next water stop. At this point I was totally in get-to-the-friggin-finish-line-already mode and in usual Janet fashion, this is when I stop hitting the splits on my watch.

There was a water stop at 25 that I decided to skip as I knew I just had 1.2 miles to go. Only 1.2 miles to go, which felt like the longest 1.2 miles ever!!!

I kept thinking we should be getting there and making the turn in soon, but it seemed we ran down the street forever before making the turn to come back around towards the finish line. I desperately wanted to walk but my stubbornness pushed me on. I was so excited to see the finish line and as others around me started their final push, I picked up my pace as well. Final 2.2 miles 19:47

My official time was 3:38:32. (Second half 1:55 compared to first half 1:43--ouch!!)

I was so excited (and relieved) to have come in under 3:40. However as I started to walk, my breathing became extremely labored. I was wheezing so hard and could not catch my breathe. Volunteers were handing me water and a medal and all I could try to do was to try to catch my breathe. I shoved some stuff to my friend, Bob on the sidelines and continued to try to walk. Every step hurt so much. I even tried to talk to myself (as I remembered talking helped before) as I staggered around like a drunk around the finish area trying to recompose myself. A good three or so minutes later I finally was able to catch my breathe.

I grabbed a banana, a couple water bottles and a chocolate milk before heading out to the grass. I downed a water and then I drank the best tasting chocolate milk in the whole world. I kept trying to stretch as I drank as I kept getting horrible tight charlie horses randomly in the calves. After getting in some fluids and stretching I walked around to see a few other folks before heading back to the CTC drop site to sit down. I did not want to step on my feet anymore as I whinced in pain with every step.

I was so thankful that that Cleveland West Road Runners had a changing tent that I could use to put on some dry clothes as I was freezing. As I took off my socks I could see what part of my problem was...the pads on the balls of my feet were horribly blistered. I was so excited to see ESpeed at the end of the race with her positive energy. I had hoped she had been able to have a decent experience as well and when she energetically remarked that she had partied her way through the marathon, I knew all was good. She had another ugly blister on her foot too!

I had intended to stay down at the race longer to cheer on others but even though I was excited and happy, I really felt just too exhausted and sore to enjoy it.

So at the end of the day, even though I felt just totally drained, I was so excited to have scored the BQ and now I am just waiting for the pain to go away so I could get back there and pound the pavement again!!!! Time to make some Boston plans!

Cleveland Marathon Race Report

Pictures to come. I will spare you some of the icky ones that I could have took afterwards!!!

Race Prequel
I was pretty optimistic going into the weekend. I knew I had trained and tapered very closely to plan. Saturday I met MT and Espeed for some breakfast and race talk before we headed up to the expo. I was psyched that ESpeed had signed up to the the full mary and that I would have some company! After grabbing some goodies and a new sweet coat, I was off to go help my sis move. (Yup, so much for a nice relaxing day before the marathon).

I tried to take it easy moving things, but I could feel a little strain in my back and my legs were tired. As usual, things took longer than planned and finally my hubby and I rushed home to get in a late dinner. I had some ceasar salad, garlic dough balls, and penne pasta with marinara and mushrooms which was oh so good at Jimmy Dadonna's and headed home to pack up my stuff. I crawled into bed just after 10 and fell asleep without too much difficulty.

Race Day
I woke up at 4:45 AM and was ready to go. After my normal mini wheat bagel with some black raspberry jam, I was in the car rocking out with some tunes driving downtown. You know you are up too early on a weekend when the radiostation I like on Sirius still has the club dj spinning tunes b/c some people are still partying! Anyways, I found a sweet free parking spot close to the race finish and met up with Espeed and a bunch of other CTC, SERC and many others prior to the start.

As Espeed and I were feeling ready to go that morning we lined up close to the 3:30 pace group and planned to keep them in sight and stay steady around an even 8 min/mile pace. The temperature was pretty comfortable and although there was some wind, I was delighted that it was not raining!!!

The energy at the start was amazing. Espeed was hollering it up finding all the SERC girls at the start. With the announcements, we were off. As usual with all the people it was tough to get moving at planned race pace and we were OK with it. We were still just bouncing off the walls with all the excitement and taking in the crowd. Mile One - 8:28

Very early on in the race I had the realization that my gel flask on my race belt was never going to work as it was bouncing around like crazy, so I had to carry that. Thank goodness it was light. Later I found that my gel was so thick that it was a project and a half to get the gel out of the flask even though I had put a little water in it which I thought would solve the problem. I will do something different in the future about this!

The first little climb came about 1.5 miles in and with all of the excitement, it really seemed so minor. The second mile remained crowded and we were still totally psyched- 7:59

Mile three was out onto the highway. There was wind hitting your face and although I knew it would feel good to have at my back the middle of the race I knew it would be at my face the last long stretch. (not liking that notion!!!) Espeed and I were trying to reel in the 3:30 group which had gotten ahead due difficulty getting around the tight crowds 7:39

Some of the partipants were great. There was one guy who saw a bunch of kids lined up on the bridge who yelled, "Who has high fives?" and proceeded to high five all the smiling kids!! I would see him later in the race as his high energy must have waned as well.

The miles seemed as though they were flying by effortlessly and I passed Mile 4 to see a split of 6:57. Whoa, I don't think it felt that fast so I am assuming it was short.

Around mile 5 it started to sprinkle and Espeed told me she was thinking she was going to need to slow and for me to go ahead when we hit the 6+ mile water stop. I just wanted her to do whatever was going to work best for her as I felt confident I was on target for a strong race but I was going to miss her company. Mile 5- 7:58

Mile 6 had a bunch of great spectators sitting out in there lawns and lining up the streets. It really makes a huge difference! Espeed and I hit 6 at 7:46. With a parting cheer from Espeed, I was off to catch up to Kathy, one of the other SERC ladies in my sight. About this time I rolled though the water stop and saw TriSara handing out water and with a shout and a wave, I continued on.

Mile 7 I picked up the pace a bit to catch up to Kathy and now I had the wind to my back. 7:25, half of me thought that I really need to slow down as I was trying to run even 8's but the other pig-headed part of me thought maybe I just could hang on and have a really great race.

I was happy having someone alongside to talk to and the miles effortlessly came and went. About Mile 8, I thought I should take some water in as I had not yet had any at this point and I had to work a little to catch back up to Kathy. For me, it is still takes less effort to just walk the water stops so I can get in some water and then try to catch up vs. me trying to get it in on the run. Mile 8 7:31, still fast.

I seem to recall a few uphill grades on the way back on the boring highway and I had pretty much resolved myself to the fact that I better try to level off closer to 8's as I had a lot of race to go. I was chatting along and miles were flying by. Mile 9 - 8:03, Mile 10 7:58.

Around mile 10, I took my first gu and all was well. I had carefully planned out when I was taking my gels based on water stops and I thought I had it all figured out.

Mile 11, we were heading up the long bridge back into town. 7:59

Around mile 12 from out of nowhere I saw JT and I was so excited to her and her smile!!! With a few words as she jogged with me I continued on. By mile 12, I was trying to psych myself up to run the last half alone. I was looking forward to coming into town knowing my husband and friends would be there cheering. Mile 12 - 7:51

As Kathy made the turn to head into the half finish, I wished her well and continued on my way. I saw my friend Bob hollering and waved. Then I saw my husband taking a picture and holding my headphones out. Sweet, hopefully these are just what I needed to get me through. And as quickly as the crowds had come, they disappeared again and now it was just me and my headphones.

For a bit I kept them turned down and thought about starting up a conversation with some random person. I decided it was my race to run and I was going to go ahead and do this on my own now.

Now I will back up a bit....at the start of the race I decided that I really had to pee and I was awful nervous as I had not been able to go to the bathroom that morning. Well after mile 12, I saw a port-o-potty and decided I was just going to go ahead and go, more of preventative maintenance as things were feeling a little off. Mile 13 including stop 8:48.

I crossed the halfway point at 1:43:19 (~7:48 pace even including my little stop!) Now if only the second half was so easy!!!!

39 Minute PR and a BQ!!!!!

I guess the offical time was 3:38:32, which is cool by me!

The long and the short of it are as follows-

-Went out too fast (usual style)
-Hit bathroom twice
-Painful feet, chaffing and blisters
-but...very excited that I sucked it up and scored my A goal!!!!!!!

Final countdown to marathon day!!!

I'm anxious, nervous, optimistic, over-thinking, ready, excited and a million other things at the moment.

I suppose I am as ready as I am going to be for Sunday's marathon. I am excited to do my first ever Cleveland marathon in this town I call home! I am excited I will see so many familiar faces out there on the course. Oh bring it on already!!!

Hopefully will my body will agree come Sunday.

The A goal is a BQ time of 3:40 and anything below I will just consider icing on the cake. I don't want to consider a B or C goal.

I found out there is no 3:35 pace group. I have yet to settle if I want to roll out with 3:40 or 3:30 pace group. I flip flop on that one every other hour. I guess I will just see what way the wind blows at race time when I line up and just make my decision then!!!

I guess I will wear my headphones...another source of debate over the last couple weeks. If I have company I will just keep them turned off but if I should happen to be solo later in the race and I need some extra motivation, I will have them. And as I type this I keep thinking maybe I won't bother and just take it all in. So another one I will figure out later I suppose!!!

I will be heading to the expo tomorrow morning with ESpeed and MT, two of my long run buddies. This entire journey of working towards this marathon was made so much easier by having their company along as well as my other friend, BL (who will be rocking Bayshore next weekend!!). I have totally appreciated all the company and fun along the way!

My one and only favorite sis in the whole world is moving Saturday. Yeah the timing is not ideal, but I will be happy to have her closer! I am hoping I can help her a little but not do anything too exhausting so I can be fresh for Sunday.

So I guess this will be it until after the race.

Tracking is available here for the marathon and half marathon. Best of luck to all my other friends who will be out there running Sunday!!!
http://www.doitsports.com/results/MSG-signup.tcl?sub_event_id=194589

Cute fix

Okay so not much in the way of training updates. Wednesday, did an upperbody weight workout and this morning I went out for the scheduled 3 mile run. 3 mile runs seem like cheating and I am just getting warmed up. However, I am trying to follow the taper recommendations here!!! It was nice to sleep in a little longer and still get in the scheduled workout!!!

Here is a story I found out about on my favorite golden blog http://landofpuregold.wordpress.com/

It was so cute I thought I would share!



Dog nurses Tiger triplets at China zoo
Associated Press

BEIJING — It’s a dog’s life for three newborn tiger triplets in eastern China. The cubs, whom officials at the Jinan Paomaling Wild Animal World in Shandong province are so far just calling “One,” “Two” and “Three,” have been nursed by a dog since they were rejected by their tiger mother shortly after birth, said Paomaling manager Chen Yucai.

The trio’s adoptive mother, a mixed breed farm dog called “Huani,” is expected to nurse them for about a month or until their appetites outpace her supply, Chen said.

Chen said it is common for Chinese zoos to use surrogate dog mothers to nurse rejected tiger cubs and that Huani has nursed tigers before.

Not the brightest....!

Okay so maybe I need to realize I am not a superhero. I am not invincible and apparently accident prone!

Friday, my crosstraining was an easy day of rollerblading. Now I had a training buddy that thought this may be a bad idea, but all went well for me! I headed out with a friend out at the Metroparks for some catching up. Note to any potential new inline skater...do not attempt to learn on a hilly course!!!! Lucky for me, I have spent my share of time on my skates and my main workout that day was my right shin muscle from riding heavy on my brake escorting my friend down the hills!

Saturday morning, I went out with BB for a leisurely ride out in my lovely country roads complete with lots of nice rolling hills. I was totally pysched to find they had finished paving the one main road by house with a buggy lane. The road was so smooth like glass!!

Saturday night I gambled with my well-being again when I got to my grandpa's 81st birthday party. My uncle had stored his dirt bikes there for the winter and so what's a group supposed to do??? I hopped on the Honda 250 and ripped around through the long yard as other family members raced around on the Yamaha 125 and the Tomos Moped. I watched my uncle crash the moped when a pedal got caught in the ground. Then my ornery husband hoisted a wheelie aimed at my cousin on the Moped which scared him. This caused my cousin to crash the moped as my husband cried with laughter.



Then I went tearing down the yard on the Yamaha 125 and grabbed a handful of front brake and it spit me off the bike around 20 mph. I sailed through the air and slid across the grass, just barely escaping the impending face plant. I got a fair amount of grass stain, a nice bruise on the inside of my right knee, but I just brushed myself off and hopped back on. Grass stain shows character, ya know???



After many laughs and a moped / dirtbike collision, we put the bikes away and called it a night!

Sunday I woke up feeling a little sore from my prior evening's oops. I slid on the right side of my rib cage but my left one feels a bit sore. It did not really bother me, but I can feel there is a soreness there. I am not sure if I pulled something or if it is some sort of bruise. Oh well, so goes my clutzy life. I headed out the door for a beautiful 8 mile run. No rib pain at all, but could feel the bruise on my knee a bit. I ran it at a pace a good clip above my planned marathon pace without struggling. I had slept in and was running a little late on the days events which led to me running a little faster. Yes, me feeling pressed for time is a very frequent occurence!

Monday, I met up with an instructor from a training seminar that I took back in November. During the week long class we had got to talking about cycling. He lives in Columbus and brings his bike up here to ride when he is in town so we had talked about riding together. I mapped out a course out of Valley View as he was staying right down the road in Independence. Unfortunately it was one hilly route and he was struggling to get up what he said was the longest hill he had ever climbed. I don’t think they get a lot of hills in Columbus. Thankfully I was able to enjoy one of my easiest rides of around 20 miles.

Tuesday, I woke up for my last scheduled speed workout. I did a 1.5 mile warm-up, 6x400's at a 6 min pace with .1 mile recoveries and a short cooldown. I was slightly pressed for time again as I was slow to drag my butt out of bed. The run went well, but when I was really pushing and breathing heavy I could still feel the soreness in my rib. The bruised knee is no longer noticeable unless the husband pushes on it!

So minus the dirtbike incident, all things going well. I am feeling ready for the race and vow that I will be careful these last few days! I have a really light next couple of days planned. Contrary to what some of you may think, I am enjoying having a reason to take it easy this week!

Random Taper Thoughts

Due to being overly busy, I have not had trouble with tapering!!!

Monday-recovered from the busy weekend

Tuesday-FIRST Speed Workout--10 min warm-up, 5X1000's at 6:15 pace, 400 rest intevals, short cooldown. Lunch hour upper body lifting session.

Wednesday-1000 yard swim--First swim in well over a month, started thinking about August Half Iron and realized I best be getting my butt back in the pool. (No New Vision Cycling tonight :-( due to mutual fund Board Meeting I had to attend for better part of the evening)

Thursday--FIRST tempo workout--2 easy-3 hard-1 easy scheduled...6 miles ~43 minutes. Returned home faster than expected and had time to kill, so I took Mr. Matches for a easy jog around the big block which is just over 1/2 mile. Mr. Matches is out of shape and laid down on me twice. Summer goal is to get overweight dog in shape too---slowly but surely! Lunch hour lower body / core weight training session.

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I keep flip flopping between which pace group I want to go with-3:40 or 3:35. I really think either would be fine...but ???

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A little over a month ago I won tickets on the radio to Rock on the Range, the first concert I have been excited about in forever. Woohoo, was I excited!!! The line up is:

Whitestarr – 12:00pm
2 Cents – 12:45pm
Breaking Benjamin – 1:15pm
Operator – 1:50pm
Buckcherry – 2:20pm
Black Stone Cherry – 3:00pm
Three Days Grace – 3:30pm
Puddle of Mudd – 4:10pm
Chevelle – 4:40pm
Papa Roach – 5:20pm
Hinder – 6:00pm
Velvet Revolver – 7:15pm
Evanescence – 8:35pm
ZZ Top – 9:55pm

Now does that look like one heck of a good day of rockin out or what???

Sadly, I was not paying attention to the date -- 5/19. Notice anything? Oh yeah, is that the day before big marathon that I have trained the last several months for? Yup and if that was not enough the concert is about 2.5 hours from home.

Sadly I gave my tickets to the sold out show to little cousin. Sniff, sniff!!

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I so wanted to go to the concert, but I guess I have learned you do have to make some sacfices with racing and training. This lifestyle is afterall worth it in the end!
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I am a little sad I will not do a long ride this weekend with such beautiful weather in the forecast...repeat to self...taper time!!!

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This weekend, I will do a short ride one day and a 10 mile scheduled run the other day and have plenty of time for other things!!!! Too bad there is so much work to be done, including a deck staining the hubby is trying to put off.
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Tomorrow I am excited to head out rollerblading (for the first time this year) with a friend. Oh it is nice to have time to do other random things when you don't have a ton of mileage to get in. Yes, I will take it easy and be careful!
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Okay, I am done rambling. Being holed up inside while tapering in this nice weather is not cool. Crossing fingers for nice weather next weekend too.

Time To Taper

YAHHOOO!!!

After this last busy weekend, I am sooo ready to start my taper.

Friday I rested knowing I had a tough weekend ahead of me.

Fourth and final 20 miler
Saturday I met MT and BL down at Lock 29 on the Towpath to start our run at 7:45 AM. We headed north up to Station Rd. I felt a little off a few miles in but made a pitstop at about 6 miles in and was good to go after that. We turned around and headed back south taking in all of the beautiful scenery including deer, woodducks, a turkey, goose, buzzards and more. As we chatted it up we headed back south towards our starting point and kept on further.

I was trying out a new fuel belt which was annoying at first because I must have not had the water bottle in just right and it kept launching out. After the 3rd ejection in the the first 6 miles, I think I figured out the trick. I had thought about wearing this in the marathon but I now think I may want to just get a little gel pack to put on my race belt. Always a good idea to test these things out in advance so I know if I will like the way they feel and work!

Finally we made the final turn and we headed back towards our cars. BL was feeling the effects of the 8:40 pace we had been keeping and slowed a bit while MT and I picked up the pace the last 1.5 miles to the finish. My plan for Cleveland is to stay steady with the 3:40 pace group until 18-20 and evaluate how I feel for a pick up at the end. So this run was a good simulation for picking it up at the end and I felt like there was plenty left in the tank. This final 20 was yet another confidence booster as I finished feeling good...minus the chaffing issues that had been plaguing me the last 1/2 of the run. Thankfully my bodyglide, Houdini, has been replaced and will be sure to be used on race day!

After the 20 I went home and continued moving furniture and cleaning until 5PM and decided I was done being on my feet. So after a much-needed shower, the husband and I celebrated Cinco de Mayo at our favorite Mexican restaurant with some Dos Equis and margaritas. Then we stopped by our friends for a couple beers and catching up. My plans of going to bed early with some Biofreeze on my legs went out the window as I crawled into bed just exhausted around midnight.

Sunday Du
Oh did that alarm come too early! I dragged my butt out of bed and loaded up all my gear. I was running late as I left my directions at home and then found there was a road closure and had to go the long way around. I got there with about 20 minutes before race start and took the advice of my favorite local RD to set my bike up along the fence as pretty much all rack positions were gone. The forecast for the day was sunny and 70. However it was only around 50 and I was shivering with the gusty winds. This was not good as I had not even brought my cycling jacket, arm warmers, or any warm clothes. Oh well, I kept my own sweatshirt on until the race start and just hoped I would warm up quickly.

The field was relatvily small for this race, probably around 100 competitors. I had not taken the time to warm up as I was still just feeling slow from my tiring Saturday. However with the horn we were off. We made a right out of the parking lot and were heading uphill against the wind. My lungs tightened fast and I thought this may just not be a good day...too many beers, too little sleep, sore & fatigued muscles. But, then a woman passed me and I decided to work to stay with her as we made the turn still against and headed up another hill. Mile 1, 6:53...I figure that is fine as the RD warned us Mile 1 was tough and not to get discouraged by a slow time. During the second mile, I made a couple attempts to pass this other woman but everytime she would pick up the pace and I did not want to to go any faster. Mile 2 6:53. Mile 3 was nice. You turn into the park on a path and the wind is at your back and you know you are going faster. I came across the 5K mark right at the heels of the other female at 20:30 which is close to my 5K best.

I struggled a bit to get my helmet snapped and ran to the mounting line. I was out before the other female and then I heard the rubbing noise. Crap, my front brake was dragging. I was trying to adjust it while I rode and one guy passed me and before long so did that female. She said 'nice run' as she passed and with the brake adjusted I worked to keep up. I would pass her and awhile later she would pass me. Finally about 1/2 way through I passed her and never saw her again. Then a lady from the Second Sole team flew by me on her bike. So I dug in a little deeper and tried to keep her in my sights as it seemed she kept pulling away. I could tell I was working harder and passed the male at around mile 12 that had been in front of me who passed me at the start. I was working so hard that I never was cold on the bike in my tank top and shorts, even as I was covered in water from my aero water bottle as I hit the railroad tracks so hard with each of the 3 loops. Finally I pulled into transition (17.5 miles and 56:58 minutes later) and the leading female was still there.

I pulled my shoes on as quick as I could and went out about 300 yards behind her. Oh the legs hurt but the leader was in sight and I was totally zoned in on the task at hand. I passed one guy a bit down the road and started gaining ground on the leader. The hills and wind were still rough and by mile one (7:16) I had caught her. I thought about waiting a bit to pass but I decided to just go ahead and make my move as the worst was over and my legs were coming back. Mile 2 7:03. Mile 3 I headed onto the path and with the wind at my back, I started passing many of the biathlon racers. I sailed into the finish to take the overall female winner and surprisingly felt pretty good at the finish. I am not sure what the finishing time and split was because as usual I get so excited to be done that I never stop my watch but I think the last 1.1 was around 7:11 to finish with a total time around 1:39ish. Holy crap, this was not at all the outcome I was expecting at the race start with the way I was feeling.

It was great to hang out with so many friends after the race from CTC and ER. However before long I packed up my bike and went out to lead the CTC group ride before the picnic. Thankfully it seemed all of the group ride people pretty much had tired legs from some weekend event and we rode just over an hour at a fairly comfortable pace. Of course we did have to go up a couple hills to really drive home the fact that my body was friggin just exhausted.

After some good stories at the club picnic I headed off to finally shower and head to another BBQ. I was so exhausted and tired by this point that I could only think about going home to go to bed. This morning I skipped my AM ride as I woke up sore and tired and figured an extra rest day might be OK. I am soooo ready for this taper AND the upcoming marathon!!!!!!

Quality counts!

The busy weekend has left me geared up for some more quality training!

Monday morning I hit the gym for some hard core stationary bike as I had slept in a tad too long to make the 6AM spin class. No worries though I pushed myself through a decent 60 minute interval workout and I think there was a rain cloud dropping all kinds of water by my bike. I returned at lunch time to get in my upper body workout.

Tuesday, I crawled out of bed after hitting snooze a few times to get in my treadmill workout at the gym. I did a quick 10 minute warmup and started into (8) 800's at a 6:11 pace and a 1:30 rest interval. I managed to hit the pace each one without too much difficulty which made me very happy on the day. Then I eased into a 8 minute mile pace for my cooldown to give a a total for 7 miles on the day. As a side note, I love how comfortable an 8 mile pace feels after all the fast intervals.

I returned at lunch to the gym for my lower body and ab workout (yes, the door guy made fun of me asking if it was my 2nd or 3rd time there for the day!!). My goal was to do a light lower body workout as my muscles have been somewhat tight so after a quick lower body workout, it was on to abs. Some of my favorite ab exercises include utlizing the ab/ dip /chin up station for some side leg raises, medicine ball exercises and my favorite which is the stability ball pikes peak. In this exercise you start in a push position with the tops of you feet on the ball and you use you core muscles to pull up your butt into a peak position which is similiar to a handstand feeling.

Pic 1 is the starting and Pic 2 is midway. I focus on using my core muscles and my breathing and sometimes do my peaks at varied speeds as it really makes a difference in the difficutly of the sets.

Wednesday morning I slept in purposely knowing that I was going to my first New Vision Cycling outdoor training of the session in the evening. I got stuck in a traffic jam on the way there due to construction. So I had under 10 minutes to park, change and get my bike together, water bottles filled, etc. No wonder I am not bad at transitions...lots of practice! Anyway the group was leaving and at the last minute I decided to skip checking the tires as I figured they should be fine since I last checked Sunday.

Upon leaving the parking lot I made a hard right and my rear end slid out fast. Somehow I recovered without a spill and right away I thought something was off. I pedaled a little further down the road before I stopped and looked at my rear tire to confirm what I already knew. Flat! Just great. Now I have only ever had one flat which was my first ride ever. Now I have a flat on the rear, even worse. I walked back to my car about a 1/2 mile down the road wondering if I was going to be able to figure this out on my own. I got back to the car and was definitely pondering how to do this and I started trying to do it on my own.

My little savior for the day, DH was directing the latecomers where to go and asked if I was alright. Even though I wanted to act like I knew what I was doing I asked for help as I figured I might really need it. He helped me through the process (pretty much did everything) and I cannot even begin to say how thankful I was. I watched carefully and tried to help as I need to be able to have the confidence to do this on my own. Finally, with a fixed tire, we rushed off to the staging site for hill repeats.

We were doing a pyramid of 1-2-3-4-5 minutes of hard hill climbing followed by timed recoveries and then a descending pyramid 5-4-3-2-1 minutes. I had missed the first one and two minute climbs but jumped in on the 3. I felt better this night than I had all last year doing these climbs up the long Everett Rd Hill. As I sailed down the hills with every recovery I was so happy to be back out on my bike again!!!

Thursday morning I had planned to do my scheduled tempo run at the gym but I looked out the window upon waking up and thought I would be stupid not to do it outside. I had an hour so I modified my strategy a bit for my scheduled 5 mile tempo run and ran a slightly slower tempo for 8 miles. It felt fantastic! The morning was beautiful and I sailed down the buggy lane next to all the morning commuters and arrived home in under an hour from my 8 mile run. Truly a fantastic way to start the day!

Random thoughts Wednesday

If I had a dollar everytime I hurt myself I could be rich by now. The current list of hurt body parts include-

- The deep bruise on my right calf I got when shifting my weight standing on an upside cupboard while helping to hang shelves caused from a playful finger to the ribs by funny husband which caused me to jump off balance which sent the cupboard on its side and into my calf. It is a week and a half old and still looking ugly!

- The bruise and gouge on my left knee from helping my husband carry an air compressor downstairs where I accidentally moved my leg too far forward going down stairs and drove my knee into the screw on the bottom of the stupid aircompressor.

-The chunk missing on my thumb from smashing my hand between a dresser and the doorway seconds after my husband said to watch out...too late!

Maybe the first three things I will just blame on my hubby or doing too much work around the house! Either way, I realized that I still remember swear words...!

- The blisters just under the creases of both big toes from running in wet shoes at the Hermes 10 miler ...I think the fact that my old shoes which I wore were slightly past their prime and the fact I run so much on the balls of my feet might have contributed!

- The three toenails I have trying to come off...blah, just in time for sandal season! Sexy!!!



Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.

Sometimes things you thought were long gone, have a way of resurfacing, especially if you finally just replaced them.

Finally replaced my long lost running coat with a navy one that I was not as excited about but it was a good price at Marshall's last Saturday. Monday, I moving furniture only to find a drawer-full of my workout clothes including my running coat, CTC jersey and more that I had randomly stuffed in the empty dresser at some point. Figures...but happy to see the stuff all the same!!!

Hinckley Du Pics!

So thanks to Kurt from SERC and CTC, I have my first ever smiling event pictures. Usually my face has some sort of contorted "I can't breathe" or over the top serious look on my face! So thought I would share. The pictures clearly show how much I was enjoying myself out there at the du this weekend!!!

Finish lines equal smiles...at least in this rare case!!

Bike positioning could have been better but give me a break!

Race Reports!!!

Hermes 10 Miler
Woke up early for the Hermes 10 miler race and drove downtown Cleveland. As I drove downtown the temperature fluctuated between 48-50 with periodic rain spells. After picking up my packet I took off my coat and hoped I could stay warm enough. About 35 minutes before the race I headed out for a 20 minute warm up and took in some of the nice scenery of Cleveland such as Jacobs Field and the Q. On my warm-up I managed to work up a decent sweat but I noticed that the wind was a little strong and my arms and hands were sort of cold. Oh well, too late now! I was getting cold quick and right before the race started, the rain drops started to fall. Great timing!

Anyway, with the bell we were off. I fell in behind some of the women who I knew I was not going to try to keep up with and headed in a loop around the town. I felt OK this mile, just getting warmed up, Mile One 6:38. "Hmmm, this may be a little fast for a 10 mile pace, should slow down." Mile two included a long bridge out towards the West Side Market with a slight uphil grade 7:18. Things sort of were progressing along keeping close to a 7 min mile pace for miles 3 & 4. Mile 5 we were coming back into Cleveland and I looked down at my watch to see that instead of my split button I had hit stop and I was bothered by this. I tried to convince myself that I was not going to let it bother me I was just going to not worry about the watch the rest of the race and I did.

We headed out past Cleveland Browns stadium down to Marginal Rd. I was getting passed by runners so I figured I was slowing a bit. Every woman that passed me troubled me a bit but I just let them go as it seemed like there was still a lot of road ahead. My hands and arms kept going numb and I would smack them against my legs to try to keep feeling in them. As I approached the turnaround, it was good to see all the other racers going back. The two leading females were on each others feet and went on to win 9 seconds apart with a 6:28 and 6:29 pace for the 10 miler. WOW!!! As I hit the turnaround the wind really made its presence known and I could feel myself tiring as I tried to save some energy for the hill coming into town. Finally the hill came and I shortened my stride and made my way up. As I climbed, I could tell my heart rate was spiking and my breathing was labored, but after that I knew it would be pretty flat...thank goodness.

I did my best to pick it up the last mile and managed to pass a few people and had some left for a strong finish. I ran across the line, grabbed my medal and then walked for awhile trying to catch my breathe. I finished in 1:13:45 for a 7:23 pace. I was not thrilled with my performance as I was hoping to stay closer to a 7:00 pace, but I was not going to beat myself up over it as it was still a decent improvement over last year when I ran a 1:17 at a 7:44 pace. So I did a short cooldown run to my car and grabbed a change of clothes and warmed up at the House of Blues watching a decent cover band, with a couple of beers, conversation with friends and grabbing my second place age group award.

Hinckley Buzzard Duathlon
Sunday, after packing up a bunch more stuff than I usually have to bring to my running races, I drove out to hilly Hinckley. It was a beautiful morning and it brought out so many participants that even though I was there early, I had to park at the overflow lot. I grabbed my stuff and threw it over my back and hopped on my bike to pedal to the transition site. Luckily I was able to find a spot open on a rack end so I had plenty of room. Bonus!! There were several CTC and Team ER people so it was nice to catch up with them over the course of the morning. I decided to do a short warm-up with a few laps around the parking lot. My legs were not feeling fresh at all, but that was not a surprise.

We lined up for the race start and within minutes we were off straight up the first decent-sized hill. What a tough start!! Another Team ER lady(who took 1st--good for her!!) was taking the lead and I was content to let her go. I was happy to see AW close to me and we exchanged a few comments as we made our way up and down the hills. Dang, I felt tired. I came around to the transition in around 20 minutes and quickly I was off on my bike...second time outside this year!
Oh and there was that darn hill again and my legs were tired. However somewhere shortly into the bike portion started enjoying myself. I was just having so much fun being back outside on the bike. "Wow, I have missed riding outside and this is such a beautiful morning that I think I could just ride all day." Crap, there goes a chick from Second Sole racing, now I am in third. I figured I bettter quit enjoying myself so much, so I tried to pick it up. It was a 5 loop course and it was crazy the different speeds I was seeing ranging from 12 to 36 all due to the hills!! The cheering section was fantastic and I could tell their encouragement was helping. I came into the bike transition in around 49 minutes. With the mounting of the bikes and a smile to our camera man I was off running up the hill.

Wow, now my legs are really tired. Mental note, time to start practicing bricks after the marathon. I also must have drank too much water mounted in my aerobars on the bike as I can hear it swishing around. I am missing my headphones a bit but I must get used to this for the multisport races. One guy passed me about a mile in and about 1.5 in, I passed a guy who looked like his legs were cramping. I was happy to pass the lap counters as I made my way back past the last two of the climbs and was just in finish mode. A guy running by shouted encouragement and "swing those arms" and I did and it helped. I suppose my form had gotten a little rigid at this point. As I descended down hill there was no one close enough that I could catch and with a look back, no one who would catch me, so I took it easy into the finish with a modest push at the end. I crossed the line feeling pretty good surprisingly in around 23ish for the last 3 and transition.

Even though I thought I could have worked a little harder on the bike and could have done better with rested legs, I was pleased with taking 3rd place overall female with a time of 1:33:13. I was even more excited when I looked up my time from last year to see the improvement over my time of 1:42:16. Holy cow, over 9 minutes!! Sweet!

After the race I caught up my some fellow Team ER members and CTC people who had some impressive performances. One thing I talked about was that my schedule has been a little too busy and I was planning to cut back on my races a bit. 4 races the last 2 weekends has been a bit much and it makes it hard to get in some of my long running training and bike rides that I really enjoy. The next thing I know I heard my number called as they were giving out prizes. I trotted up there and looked at the RD (as I had not been paying much attention as I was talking). "What did I win," I asked. He responded with a season pass to their events. AWESOME, a great prize I can use!!! Now I may just have to reshuffle my schedule a bit to fit in some more NCN races...while I attempt to cut back a bit as I said 10 minutes earlier!!

Chicago - prelude to another weekend double

So continuing on from last weekend...

After the 10K, I caught the 3:30 flight out of Cleveland and arrived in Chicago at 3:40. Gotta love that! With a taxi ride to Wrigleyville and a change of clothes my cousin and I headed out for a jog along the beach. We headed out to the Lakeshore which was slammed with people taking in the beautiful run and we took it slowly due in part to the stiff wind and in part to my cousin's hungover body from the prior days Cub game and subsequent bar hopping.

After the run we headed out for a nice dinner at Kooba and then had some drinks while a old college friend met up with us. I woke up early the next morning to take the L to my conference (1st experience with that...a little intimidating as I really did not want to get lost). After the conference, I headed out to my cocktail hour for wine, where my cousin met up with me. We left there and had some delicious Ahi Tuna and drinks at Carnival and then continued on with some more drinks. She did make sure to introduce me to all of Chicago's beers like 312, Gooseisland, and some others like Fat Tire which I dug. After some sleeping, we woke up Tuesday for a 6.5 mile run to her gym the Lakeshore Athletic Club. That place was 6 floors stacked with a huge climbing wall, sushi bar, regular bar, amazing lockerooms with everything a girl could want, saunas, hot tubs, and a million other totally amazing things!! We stayed at the gym about 20 minutes in which I did 6 of my scheduled (10) 400's (about to die). I guess we were both exhausted partially from the run and in large part to the lack of sleep and drinking. And after finally eating some more food, I was homeward bound. Spending some time in Chicago was definitely a blast due in large part to my friggin awesome cousin!!!

And then I came home...

The rest of this week has been somewhat low key as I was beat and wanted to spend some extra time just hanging with my husband. I figure that some low key time will serve me well as I have another double racing weekend on tap which will include a 10 mile race on Saturday and the postponed hilly Hinckley Du on Sunday (3M Run, 15 M Bike, 3M Run).

I am looking forward to some decent weekend weather in the forecast and seeing some friends and teammates, although not having real high expectations for Sundays race as I am sure I will feel less than fresh! That is fine, though!

Catching up!!

Things have been sort of a whirlwind the last several days so we will just start at the top.

Race One Saturday AM-5K
I met up with my ladies MT & BH and headed over together to the Old Oak 5K Race which was part of our road races series, out on the other side of town. We arrived with plenty of time and it was warming up fast! Woohoo, I was excited about running in shorts and a tank top. I went for about a mile and a half warm up with MT and we discussed race strategies.

With the bell we were off. There were two girls in front of me, one of which I knew I would probably never catch as she always beats me. She passed the other female leader about 0.75 in and I tried to hang. Mile 1 was 6:15 and I already felt like I was fading. We entered into the fairgrounds for a few turns and I kept alternating between times I felt strong and times I was pretty exhausted. I hit mile 2 and glanced down at my watch which had not picked up the split for some reason. Bummer, this bugs me! I keep the leader female in sight as we head back the last 2 roads. The only little uphill comes about 0.5 before the end and although it was not big, I was certainly feeling it. I was pretty tired as I tried to pick up the pace at the end. I have no idea how close anyone is behind me and I managed to pick it up enough to pick off two guys.

As I crossed the finish line with a time of 20:28 (not by much, but a new PR ~6:35 pace) I tried to catch my breath. The coughing started and I was excited to see MT come in right behind me. She has been right there every race and claimed 3rd overall female. I picked up my cool little 1st place age group coffee mug and headed over to Panera with MT and BH to meet ESpeed and TriSaraTops. It was a gorgeous day to sit outside and 5 dedicated chicks who love running definitely makes for some good animated conversation. :-)

The rest of the day consisted of running around on the motorcycles to visit my snowbird grandparents that just came back, order carpet, hit the bank, eat, go to the store...I crashed after having a few beers pretty early that night!

Sunday I awoke for Race Two!
I headed downtown bright and early for my first 10K race of the season. MT and I again regrouped for a scenic warm up run over from the west bank of the Flats over to the East Side to check out all the construction. Maybe the flats will make a resurgence some time again! I could already tell my legs were definitely not feeling very fresh this morning, but without any real goal I was just going to see what I could do.

With the bell I was off. The 5 K and the 10K started together and it was tough to know who was racing what. There was 2 girls in front of me at mile 1 which I crossed at 6:28. Hmmm, well perhaps I want to slow down a bit to make sure I can finish strong. At the 1.5 mile mark, one of the leading female turned back at the 5K turnaround. Sweet, now I am in second. The other female that I had never met before really started turning on the heat and pulling away just totally kicked butt that race comng in 6th overall before a lot of the fast guys.

I was just kind of running a comfortable race and passed mile 2 at 7:09...not so bad. Just before mile the end of mile 3, there was a mean uphill. It was long a few people around me started walking. It was grueling but I shortened my stride and kept a pretty even turnover and hit the turnaround for the downhill. Mile 3, 7:33. I was feeling pretty relaxed at this point and was passed by another female, but I was not worried because I was saving some for the end. Mile 4 7:18. As I plugged along I started wondering where the heck mile 5 was. Also being an out and back course, I was wondering how it was possible that it appears I am coming around to the end of the course already. I was all sorts of confused as I tried to pick it up a bit at the end which had sprung up on me.

I finished in 39:25, 3rd overall female, 1st in my age group. I was definitely perplexed by this time and the non-existant 5th mile marker and with some conversation I learned a big barge had come through and although the RD had called to make sure the bridges were not supposed to go up, they did. So the course was rerouted in the middle of the race and it was short. I give the RD a lot of credit b/c I know they were working hard to try to do what they could here, although it really impacted the 5K race. After some fun conversation and awards, I rushed home to fly out to Chicago for some more running....to be continued!

Never slowing down!!!

I slept in a tad this morning. I was exhausted from all of the remodeling my hubby and I have been putting in. I did manage to squeeze in a short outside run before hopping on the bike to come to work...not a bad way to start a Friday!

You see we thought it was this great idea to buy a home, originally built in 1810. And while it may have character, it seems everything just takes longer than it should to fix. I guess at one time the house was a duplex, so we have been slowly trying to open it up. The house had two sets of steps heading downstairs and upstairs, and there were two bedrooms on each side of the upstairs; but you could not walk across to the other side as it was blocked off with a wall. So we closed off one set of steps, framed in some closets, peeled layers and layers of wallpaper off, had to texture one room because the plaster and lathe was crumbling with the wallpaper removal, and all sorts of other fun stuff. Last night we finished the last of the painting on one half of that upstairs. I was rejoicing just before midnight that we were pretty much done with all that crappy work. Now we are just ordering carpet and getting to hang some shelves and decorate---the fun part!!! I will be so excited to see the finished product and finally have a nice bedroom and guest room!

The other half of the upstairs, which will include a bathroom installation will wait until next fall! Thank goodness my husband is pretty handy at this sort of stuff because I just help where I can. I have become a pretty good painter living in this house!

This weekend is more racing!! A 5 K Saturday followed with breakfast with the TriSara & ESpeed and then a 10K on Sunday, both races are part of my Hermes Road Race Series. It is set to be a gorgeous weekend (which I am sooo excited about!) and then then best part is after Sunday's race I will rush home to grab a shower and my bag and head to the airport to fly out to Chicago!!!

I have a conference in Chicago Monday but am heading out Sunday afternoon and staying on until Tuesday night to spend some extra time with my cousin, Arlene. We always have too much fun together so I am just stoked. We plan on a nice combination of some running and some cocktails!!!

Look out Chicago as we are just getting geared up for that October Marathon we are signed up for!!!

Where do my clothes go??

OK so I have been searching endlessly for my favorite running coat for a month now. I have tore apart everything this week I realized that it might have took my CTC jersey with it too.

...Maybe I changed after some race or run and forgot my stinky bag.

...Maybe it is hiding in my closet or house.

...Maybe it decided it was so stinky that it was time to disappear.

....Maybe I just have too many clothes. But as soon as I get rid of something I suddenly decide that I need it. I turned a whole bedroom into a closet at my house and come next winter, it will be a bathroom... so it is definitely time to downsize. I think I may need to have a clothing purging party.

My husband complained today that while he was ironing he stepped on something wet on the floor (I knew b/c I stepped on them this morning too...ewww!). I laughed as I said it was just yesterday's running clothes and that I got some more wet ones in my bag to dump out when I get home.

I just need to get a better system someday with my wet, stinky, training clothes! Yet...wet stinky clothes = good, hard workouts!!!!!

Getting Crazier!!!

OK so after some debating about what to do about my 20 miler, I decided that was what was going to take priority for the weekend.

Thursday , I emailed Mel to see if she would be up for a Saturday run and then Thursday night at the running club ladies Boston send off party (GO BOSTON PEOPLE!), I talked to Liz about the possiblility of squeezing in a 20 miler Saturday. Well, Liz's family was in town so her only option was super early Saturday morning. I am all for company so I decided I could handle that and told her I would be willing to start as early as she needed. So then Friday, Mel emailed, and I could not believe she too agreed to meet at that early hour for a 20 mile run.

So the three of us planned to meet at 5:20 AM Saturday morning to run a hilly 20 miler. I think my husband thought I had lost my mind when I told that I was meeting at that hour on the weekend for a run. He proceeded to go on that the craziest thing was that I even had two other crazy people meeting me at that hour. Aghhh, these are the runs that you remember and are a little special, in my opinion though!

So hopped out of bed rather easily that morning just after 4 and headed off to Bedford. Actually Mel and I were a little late as I was a bit off on where we were starting, but after some phone calls we found the right place. Thank goodness for cell phones!!!

Liz had a headlamp and I had a little flashlight that lit the way as we took off on a metropark trail. The course started off with a nice long climb. We started out in Bedford and ran out towards the S. Chagrin reservation and then headed back the same way. The funny thing is that when it is dark, you can feel yourself working harder, but you definitely don't realize how rolling a course is until it is light out....and there were a lot more rollers on the way back that I had not noticed on the way out!

The morning was really a perfect one for a run and Liz and I were both stripping our coat off before we got too far along. Before long, the sun had risen and we were done with our run.

This was 20 miler number three in my FIRST training and I am happy to say they are continuing to go well. I attribute so much of this to my company. This run was not one of the faster 20 milers (and my watch kept messing up which may have been a good thing!!!) but it was easily the hilliest. I also will admit that I kind of enjoyed starting the long run earlier as not only was it gorgeous, but I also had a nice long Saturday morning which consisted of other activities besides running.

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Duathlon update
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The duathlon scheduled for Sunday was postponed for two weeks given the weather. I saw the notice on the race website, got an email, saw a post from the NCN Race Director on the Clev Tri Club site and then even got a call from the Race Director who was personally calling everyone. Talk about going above and beyond!!!

Honestly I was thrilled at the news. It snowed over night Saturday and was sleeting, windy, and very cold on Sunday. I would have froze my butt off and there was no way I wanted any part of riding a bike outside in those conditions! So everything worked out perfectly! Now we just need the weather to turn around!!!

Scheduling Issues

Sunday 4/15/07 Forecast -

Rain to SnowHi 42ºF, 6ºC Lo 34ºF, 1ºC

Sounds lovely for the first du of the season, doesn't it???

OK, forgive me but I am set to continue my rant about my distaste for our current weather....

Awhile ago I signed up for the Hinckley duathlon but now the weather is going to be so crappy that I am not looking forward to it only on account of the weather. Regardless, I committed to the event and it is one of the events my team is supporting, so I will do it! BUT, why must the weather forecast be so crappy. I can handle running in this but I hate biking in this!!!!

On the other front,I have been going forward back and forth all week on where to fit in my 20 miler on the schedule. I can't do it Sunday because of the du. I want to do it Saturday as I could probably have company. However, clearly if I do a 20 miler Saturday, I will be less than fresh for the du. Does it matter??? I donno how strongly I feel about it.

The trouble is that A: I really don't want to do 20 alone. B: With my work schedule and daylight hours it is pretty much impossible to fit in 20 on a week day.

So I guess my options are Saturday and be tired for the du or split it up on a weekday and do it alone :-( Not feeling like there is a great option here. Any thoughts???

PS I have decided for long runs sake, Saturday races are ideal for me right now.

PSS I have been stretching the booty and it is feeling better!!

PSSS I want warm sunny weather already! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, WHY DO I SEE SNOW IN THE FORECAST FOR TODAY, TOMORROW, SATURDAY & SUNDAY??? ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!!!!

Some races feel harder than they should...

Several weeks ago I signed up for the spring classic, known in the area as a flat, fast half. I thought I had a chance to really see what I could do on the half marathon distance and it would give me the opportunity to gauge where I was in terms of my marathon preparation.

Until I saw the weather forecast for that week...so much for a "spring" classic. Snow, wind advisory, just lovely! I am fine with sucking it up for the winter but it is April and now I am in full complain mode as this weather is just WRONG!

I awoke that morning to lots of snow and a sketchy drive over to the race. I met up with two others half way to ride the rest of the way together. I was so mad five minutes down the road from the meeting place as I realized I left my running glasses in my car. "Oh well, I don't really need them," I mistakenly thought.

We arrived a little later than planned as the drive took awhile and we did not want to be one of the many cars that were in the ditch /median/ etc. that littered the roads that morning.

We parked about a half mile away and I was cold fast. My fingers were painfully numb by the time I went to the bathroom and and grabbed my race packet. I jogged back up to the car and started my short warm up with Elizabeth who had been jogging around since I had arrived.

We lined up at the start together and took off with the whistle. The first mile we joked around a bit and came across mile one at 7:00. Whoops, probably a little fast! My goal in my own little head had been to break 1:36 (7:19 pace). I knew it was ambitious, but I always had my B goal of 1:45 to fall back on. I figure the whole rule of doubling the half and adding 10 minutes would make my B goal the 3:40 marathon I am looking for.

Hit mile 2 with a split of 7:10. I am still ahead of the pace!

Mile 3, 7:45. Crap, there goes all the time I thought I had in the bank. I look to Liz and comment that I hope it was a long mile because the effort felt the same.

Mile 4, 7:24---better

Mile 5, 7:24 ---staying consistent

Mile 6, 7:51---somewhere between 5 and 6, I turned on my Ipod. I had started to feel like I was struggling with the pace, my feet were soaking wet, cold & numb and feeling heavier by the step. I knew I really could not talk anymore and I hoped this would give me the boost I needed to continue. I knew already that I had started too fast. I fell into my own little world of suffering a bit.

We looped around a field on an icy path by the finish and I got a momentary surge of energy with race announcer, Mickey shouting my name and some encouragement!

And then it was back out on the road for another loop.

Ughhh, not feeling this at all. And then it started. My eyes were fogging up as if I had glasses on and my vision was blurring.

What is this? Is this some terrible time of fatigue that I should worry about? Are my eyeballs freezing because I am really cold? Do I blink less than the average person and should I try blkinking more? WHY? What is this???

I guess at this point I will back up. When I was a kid I had 3 surgeries on my eyes for extropia, basically lazy eye as most people know it. I had one in 3rd grade, 5 grade, and one in 7th grade. Normally one surgery corrects it, but I was not so lucky. Basically they go in and cut the muscles along the side of your eyes and re-attach them. You can still see the scarring on the sides of my eyes. After the surgery, my eyes bled for a day, then I could see another day later and then for about a month or so after each morning I would go though the process of releasing my eyes lashes as the eye gunk over night would hold them shut in the morning. Too much info? All that is to say I have crazy sensitive eyes now. They pour water when it is bright and I don't have good glasses on. I remember leaving several functions early as I child because my eyes were a teary mess in some smoke filled reception. At any rate, although it was unpleasant, I am so thankful my parents spent the money to take care of this so I do not have trouble with this anymore.

So with this in mind, I think between the cold and the wind, my sensitive eyes are just responding in their own way.

So everything is foggy and my feet are so cold. I am so much colder today than normal because my feet usually are dry and today they are soaking wet. I am seriously hurting and the worst is I cannot see. Where is the next stupid mile marker???

I look down and see my watch over 10. I must have missed it. Now I am happy that at least I must be past 7, but it is bad mentally as I wanted to see the marker which is always a boost and also to see my pace.

Keep putting one foot in front of the next. Where is mile 8? I missed it too. I am so frustrated. I can't see well and I am missing mile markers. I am too stubburn to consciously slow down.

Finally at mile 9, I see the marker. 23:15 for the last 3. I already know A goal is out the window and I don't even care. I am feeling miserable. Why can't I just see normal???

Mile 10, 7:41. We are on the way back now, just a 5K. That annoying wind keeps randomly hitting me!!! My legs hurt a bit, are they freezing? I kept thinking, "Some "SPRING" classic this is!!! It was 80 Tuesday, come on, this is ridiculous! I HATE OHIO!"

Mile 11, 8:04. I feel like crap. Cold, can't see...I want to stop. Why am I doing this? I refuse to let myself stop, it is just a pride thing.

Mile 12, 7:51..."please just one more mile"

I am so friggin happy to come into the final icy loop around the field. I am hoping I can see good enough to watch my footing and had one short slip which scared me for a split second.

Mile 13, 8:04

.1 Mile, 0:49 --mananged a small kick, nothing impressive. I started breathing heavier and heavier. I managed to say my age as they were giving awards out there but I needed to walk. As I stopped for a second my breaths became deeper. I can't stop for award now, I needed to walk. The nice volunteer found it as quickly as he could and I try to recompose myself. I saw my dad's friend and forced some conversation while walking and all systems came back shortly.

My breathing that spiked after my kick (and stop which I just can't do at the end, sometimes I really need to keep walking) returned to normal and within a minute my vision came back.

I finished in 1:40:21. 4th overall female, 1st in my age group. I had suffered a lot.

I was excited to see that my running ladies, Elizabeth and Melissa took 5 and 6th! Sweet! Between the 3 of us, we claimed the 1st place age group awards for 20-35!!!

Things learned.

#1 Don't start out too fast.
#2 Cold and windy requires glasses.
#3 Even when I feel very miserable, I can keep going for a long time.

Met the B goal with plenty of room to spare which puts me in great shape for my marathon goal. I PR'd the half marathon by over 7 minutes! So feeling OK on the day.

One Dirty Dog!

Mr. Matches spent the Monday and Tuesday outside playing in the gorgeous weather at the mother-in-law's kennel. I think he had way too much fun!

P.S.: For those wondering about the puppy pics before, my mother in law breeds and shows goldens.

P.S.S. There is little doubt in my mind why my house gets so dirty all the time!

The Old Gym

Everything feels a little messed up this week.

For starters, the weather.

We had beautiful 80 and sun Tuesday and now it is so blustery out that we were awoke in the middle of the night because my husband had to go salt and plow. Yes, got to love Ohio. The worst part is it will be hanging around and now I see a high wind advisory for Friday and Saturday. Perfect half marathon weather!

The gym-

Tuesday I headed my normal gym for a workout only to realize the super nice Jewish Community Center I go to was closed for Passover on April 3, 4, 9, &10. Ooops, not being Jewish I still forget when the holidays pop up. I suppose I should pay better attention to the signs as I rush by on my way out to the office. What am I going to do since I typically hit the place at least once a day during the week?

So I took the opportunity to go back to my old gym Wednesday morning.

Yes, I am pathetic and have 2 gym memberships. My old one was a small, yet nice community gym out 7 miles southeast of where I live which is the opposite direction of work. Work is 27 miles from my house west and the Jewish Community Center is a little over a mile from there, so super convenient. So when I started my new job 7 months ago I joined the gym by the office and though I pay my old gym under my contract, I haven't went in months as the convenience thing always wins out (plus the bigger pool, spin classses, more equipment, ...). It was weird to be back this week. The equipment is moved around and they now have tanning and massage there. There was a new face working...strange I say! But as I took in all the changes I hopped on the treadmill between two familiar faces...some regulars from months ago. At least those have not changed! It just felt so wierd to be back after going there almost daily to this long hiatus and now to be back again, with several wondering what had happened to me.

I suppose I will be hitting the old gym tomorrow since I am off work and not driving to Beachwood and probably Monday and Tuesday due to the holiday closure. The old gym folk will really wonder what is up!

Cleveland Marathon come already!

Ever feel like you are ready for an event and you just want it to get here as you are afraid something is going to pop up and make things more difficult down the road?

I feel confident about my goal for the Cleveland Marathon.

My training has been going well. Lots of long runs in the bag with no problems. The dread of the 18 and 20 milers has disappeared.

Yet....

I have been having issues for the last week with a wierd pain in my butt. It does not hurt bad, and I don't really notice it when I run, but it is always there when I sit or stand, just a tight, gripping soreness in my behind.

Whazzup with dat???

I am thinking a tight left hamstring is the root of the evil. Must focus on streching.

I just want marathon time to come now to ensure nothing else more serious crops up!

But I guess it can wait a little while as I am disappointed by this weekend's half marathon forecast--snow and high of 31. What is going on with my half marathon weather this year? This will make 0/2 in good weather! Grrrr!

A First for me!

To start, hats off to JT on her first half ironman. What a fantastic performance!!! It was totally not a surprise given all of your dedication that you really rocked out there in Cali!

The 5K this weekend was called Jog into Spring, and the night before the race I sat making up my Itunes playlist for the race. I burned a copy of it out for my car and one for my cousin who will be running Chicago marathon. I called it Sprint into Spring as it was packed with fast, up-tempo tunes which were sure to get your feet moving!

Saturday, I left bright and early to head out for the race after a restless nights sleep. I think I have started to overthink races these days and get excited yet very nervous the night before and then I have trouble sleeping. This makes sense to me as it is really the only time I have ANY trouble sleeping!

I arrived early to pick up my stuff. It was a cloudy cool morning that should be great for a race. After seeing some familiar faces, my ladies, Mel & B and I headed off for a 10 minute warmup before the start. With the gun, I was off to run my own race. Sometimes I think I get caught up in trying to pace with others and I had decided the night before I was not going to get caught up in that. We headed out down the road, hung a right by the the track which had a slight incline and I could already feel my chest and lungs tightening up as I went up. I kept moving my feet to the beat and kept making turns and approached Mile One-6:22. Another turn, another incline and I felt like I was working hard. To my surprise, I was thinking that I had not seen any females in front of me so I kept thinking that I was going to have to keep pushing to stay in front. Mile two 6:38. "Gosh, I am really sucking air it seems. Is it cold, am I sick, or is it just think pace that is hurting me?" A guy passes me, but unfortunately he does not seem to be going any faster than me. I was bothered as he seemed to always run where I wanted to run. Every corner he would cut in where I wanted to go and for some reason it felt like it was messing up my rhythm. I could not get around him so I just fell in behind him because I did not want to burn out before the end. I did not get the Mile 3 time as I had enough of the guy in front and decided it was time to sprint it in. Final time 20:29 (6:35 pace). Another PR!! The best thing about it was this course had 4 small inclines and lots of turns, so it was not even one of the courses that I would call fast....not that it was really hilly or slow, but just not super fast.

I was not sure if I was correct but I was thinking, "Holy cow, was I actually the first female?" The awards confirmed it and I took home my FIRST first place overall female plaque ever. Woohoo, that doesn't happen everyday so I will enjoy it! I finished 1/127 females and 25/287 overall.

On to Sunday...another long run with the running pals. 18 miles came and went. I thought we were in for a really rainy morning but it ended up being a pretty nice morning for running. It was actually fairly warm and at some points the rain even felt refreshing as I had worked up a decent sweat. We were pretty consistently hitting the mile markers at 8:30 - 8:45 pace and I felt good the whole way. Between being in better shape and the tremendous company I have had this year, I have come to really enjoy and look forward to my long runs in a way that I did not know was possible before.

Saturday night, my sweetie of a cousin was in town from Chicago and we had a family get together. My cousin has recently started running on a regular basis and is looking forward to her first marathon in October-Chicago. Guess what cousin can't wait to go out there and run Chicago too??? Needless to say, the icing on the cake of a good running weekend, is getting to talk running to an excited running family member!!!