I Ran

Saturday I ran a half marathon. 13.1 miles in Indianapolis. It felt good. Wheels started to come off around mile 11, but I managed to keep my rusty bolts together and crossed the finish line near my goal. Need to reset/confirm a goal here soon to keep it up.

Here We Go Again

I’ve done this before. Sadly, I’m having to repeat myself. I started off well tonight.

See, I’m once again sick and tired of being sick and tired. I’m irritable, irrational, irascible, ireful, and otherwise ill-natured. I’m tired of the house, the kids, the husband, and just about everything else, including myself. None of my clothes fit, I feel crummy in my own skin, I’m making faces at myself in the mirror because I can’t stand the sight of me.

So today, I committed to a seasonal challenge. Eat no candy. None of the Halloween junk, nothing brought in by friendly colleagues. Double Bubble doesn’t count, right? Miss MommaK of Petroville fame, and toga-party-hotness has challenged several of us to keep our mouths shut in relation to ingesting chocolatey goodness.

So, tonight I went one teeny step further. Several of my fellow soccer moms have decided to make good use of our ‘down time’ during the time our daughters are passing, dribbling, crossing and punting. so we walked about five long loops around the soccer fields. At a fast pace. Got my heart rate up for over 45 minutes. Yay me.

I’ve been way too lazy, and my ass spread shows it. I wasn’t exactly perky and trim before, but I wasn’t as flabby and soft as I am now. I have a couple of cute skirts and dresses I haven’t been able to wear in over a year. Next spring I’m fitting in them.

Ready, Set, GO!

Forecast

There are more thunderstorms forecast for our area today. Possible tornadoes, golf ball-sized hail, and strong, damaging winds up to 70 mph. Hold on to your hats ladies and gents. And watch out for witchy old ladies on bikes riding past your window.

I turned around on my way to work today to go back home and bring Wrigley & Tori inside. I didn’t know the storms were going to start so early. I think they were glad. Pray for my tree. That it continues to stand. And doesn’t come crashing down on my house. I need to find a chain saw.

Tonight Elle and I are supposed to go to the Mavericks game and ride the train down with her team. I hope the weather’s not so bad that we can’t go. I haven’t got to go to a game all season, and I most certainly won’t get playoff tickets. Yeah, Mavs are in the playoffs. They have home court advantage all the way through. Go Mavs! Go Dirk! We want a trophy!

I finished my first week of running 101 too. I’m feeling better already!

12,250 Down

Calories that is. I weighed myself this morning, and I’m down 3.5 pounds from the last time I weighed two weeks ago. I need to be more consistent about stepping on the scale. But it was that week and I hate stepping on the scale then.

One has to burn off or avoid intake of 3500 calories to lose 1 pound. I’ve also determined my ‘cardio zone’ heart rate versus my ‘weight-loss zone’ heart rate, and I try to watch that when I’m at the gym. Did you know that there is actually a point where you can exercise that you are burning glycogen (muscle fuel) and not fat? When exercise at over 80% of your max heart rate, you hit that ‘anaerobic’ zone and you start to burn glycogen. This is important if you want to lose weight. You can determine your max heart rate, and with your resting heart rate, you can then figure out your own ‘zones’ for exercise.

My friend Judy is trying to tempt me. She sent an email out looking for runners for a relay race in Reno-Tahoe. Be-yoo-tee-ful. How can I not want to run there? And I think I’ve found a half-marathon to run right before my full marathon training begins. It’s local, in my ‘hometown’ in fact. And I think I could get Elle and Zed ready to run the 5K event. Elle’s been doing so good on her Marathon Kids endeavor, and Zed’s been heading to the gym with me. I think they need a challenge!

Why do they do it?

This weekend was the Ultracentric National Championships, held right here in Texas. Grapevine to be exact. These are people that have decided that the marathon is no longer enough. That they need to run 50 or 100 or more miles to get the job done. It’s beyond me, but I left feeling like a total slug.

My friend Judy ran the 24 hour event. She rocks! She made it 52.8 miles (double marathons, plus .4 miles for good measure) before she gave in to blisters and pained hamstrings. She decided not to push it any further after 13:04:03.75 of forward motion. After all, she’s pushing for a sub-4 hour PR at the Tucson Marathon next month. It’s a great course to do a PR on (all downhill!) and she’s really been putting in the miles. Go Judy!

I went out to the race at 8 pm to cheer her on. I walked her second-to-last loop with her, and she did the last loop on her own. Then I volunteered at the aid station until 1 am, serving up hot soup, burgers, pasta, rice and sweet and salty snacks to runners.  They were cold and tired, and some had been running for 36 hours or more in the 48 hour event. Most with smiles on their faces. I admired them all. Even the grumpy ones. Hell. I’d be a bitch-on-wheels too if I’d been running that long!

And I couldn’t do the same 2.4 mile loop over and over. Nope. I’d need to be like Forrest. Just put a long road out there and tell me to run. And put some barking dogs behind me.

Results.

The Hills

The hills they are steep. Yes indeedy. But they’re even more steep in Colorado. In fact, there, they’re not even hills. They are mountains. If you recall last August 11 other crazy runners and I traveled to run the Wild West Relay. Well, we’re headed back. Bigger and better this time too. Well, bigger anyway. Last year we were a 12-person team. This year we have a 12-person, a 9-person and a 6-person team. Fewer people on a team means more runing for that team. I’m not stupid. I’m still on the 12-person team.

So last night I ran hills. At Arbor Hills. I love that place. But it was HOT. Damn HOT. So, I was running even slower than my usual snail’s pace. But I hit it on the hills. Head down, and don’t look up till you end up on a flat.

This morning, I ran again. A 1-mile warm-up, then the Nordstrom’s parking garage at the Galleria. It’s supposed to simulate long hills. 6 stories up. And then back down. Ouch! Tomorrow morning I meet with my trainer, and then I plan to try to get in some more hills on Friday night. I think that was the hardest part last year. Or maybe it was the lack of oxygen. Hmmm…can’t breathe versus long hills? Hmmm…

Best Laid Plans…

…don’t always go as you planned. Last year when I trained for my first marathon, I had the ‘no excuses’ attitude. After burning myself out trying to do too much too soon (a marathon, a half marathon, a 30K, and another marathon in 6 weeks) I started to make excuses again. So, I took some time off and then made excuses about getting started again.

Now I got into the NYC Marathon. Who ever gets in on the first year they apply? I mean really. My plan was to apply and get rejected. After three straight years of rejection, you’re an automatic entry. I had never been hoping for a rejection as much as I was hoping for this one.

But noooo. My lottery number had to come up. And of course, while I never win the monetary lottery, I manage to win this one. But, because I’m so good at making excuses, I’m not in good enough shape to be training like I need to train for that one.

So, my plan is to defer till next year. I can cancel my entry for this year and have guaranteed entry for next year. A second reason for cancelling this year is the date. The ‘thon is scheduled for November 5. My mom has a milestone birthday November 3. I can’t miss it. And it’d be a bit selfish of me to ask my family to give her a trip to New York with me so that I can run the marathon. Hey. I thought about it. But that’s really, really selfish.

So, now I’m in a pre-marathon training class. This class will roll straight into the White Rock marathon training class. I’ll run White Rock in December, and then another marathon in the spring next year. Then, New York will be in my sights. That’s the plan anyway.

Ooops, I did it again…

Last week I submitted an application. But not just any application. An application for entry into the 2006 ING New York City Marathon. I don’t have to qualify on time like Boston (maybe when I’m 60!); it’s a lottery drawing instead. Only 35,000 (yeah, only!) people get entries into NYC each year, but thousands more apply. Supposedly out of US applications, approximately 50% are accepted. I’ll find out sometime in mid-June. If I don’t get in this year, I can apply again. After 3 continuous years of applying and not being selected, that 4th year you are a guaranteed entry.

My back-up races are Harrisburg or Steamtown (Scranton to Forest City, PA). Both are very small marathons, run in PA in the fall. And, then of course, there’s White Rock. I have a friend considering the full, and another considering the half, so of course I have to be out there to support my girls!

Recommended Reading

I heard about this guy by accident last week. I’d heard his name before on an AT board once. But I didn’t read much about him. But after hearing about what he’s doing next, I had to buy his book. I started and finished it yesterday, in one sitting. Dean Karnazes is going to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. And you people thought I was crazy. Nope, not even close. I’m quite sane compared to this guy. But after reading his book, I think he’s totally amazing. He does a lot of his ultra runs now as charity fundraisers for children needing medical care. I can understand the why because I’ve asked myself some of the same questions under much shorter distances. I could relate to some of the pain he’s described, and I’ve felt some of those same feelings. Why? Because it’s there. And I want to see if I can. I’ll definitely watch out for when he’s in Dallas. He’s using the White Rock Course as his Texas stop.

Ever see the sun set behind a dust storm?

If you’re not from the southwestern U.S., probably not. Friday’s drive down to Gatesville was windy. A front was blowin’ across Texas, and a dust-storm from West Texas was comin’ with it. We were between Waco and Gatesville, almost to our destination, and witnessed a special treat!

The Komen was fun. I have several suggestions for the race director, but being only the 6th Komen run in that area, I think they’re still ‘learning lessons’. The 5K started late, but the course was flat, and there was plenty of water. Of course, the water tasted like dirt, but it was still wet. The course was an out-and-back. And the back was straight into the stiff wind. Afterwards I was chilly and hungry. I found some orange slices and had a little fun.

Saturday night Bubba grilled pork chops and we had baked potatoes and corn on the cob. Mmmmm good. After, we played a cut-throat game of Mexican Train dominoes. I won. YAY!

Sunday morning we were up and out the door, headed back to Arlington Texas, home of the Texas Rangers, to watch a bit of the grand ‘ol game. It was sunny and warm, and the beer was cold. So, it was a good game. The first couple of innings were a little rough, with Padilla giving up a run in the 1st and 2nd innings. In the 3rd inning, the Rangers scored three runs, giving us the lead. Detroit tied it up again in the 4th, but two runs in the bottom of the 6th, and good relief pitching solidified the Rangers’ win.

After the game, we got another special treat! The fans were invited to run the bases! Holy cow! When else in my life am I going to be in the right place at the right time! We jumped on the chance, waited in line and got to run on a major league ballpark field! I hit all the bases around while Nick took pictures. And of course I stepped on home plate! Then it was Nick’s turn. We had a blast!