Let Me 'Splain

...No, there is too much. Let me sum up:

from where most of my daily speech is derived

 

For every day that passes, without a blog post, the stories just start to build, exponentially. There are so many mundane, boring cool things I want to share! The longer it takes, though, the longer the blog-in-my-brain gets. No one wants to read the accumulation of the last two weeks. Right?

 

Tangent Alert!!

I should take blogging lessons from family members. For example: The Husband. Short, sweet, and to the point. Or I could make my posts extremely clever and awesome,  like my sissy's.  My Aunt, however, is an actual, real, live author so I have marginal chances of competing with her witticisms. Maybe I'll just be more like my dad and take a never-ending hiatus...

 

Anyway... here are a couple of quickie highlights. I sincerely hope to re-cap a couple of things, at length. I'm generally pretty good at following through with those threats plans.

 

I had a really, really, REALLY good half-marathon!!

 

ignore creepy background guy...and my frizzy hair

 

I made a 10-foot ReptileFriend on my latest trail run!!

I would've totally befriended the 4 ft gator, too, but the big one had already started eating him

 

I started working, part-time, with a company I love, doing work I love even more!!

Pretty much sums up "win-win"



 

I'll be running my third and (hopefully) fastest Marathon, this Sunday!!

 

I don't have a photo to include with this. It hasn't actually happened, yet. This is the race, though. I was part of the marathon relay, last year, and stupidly decided to run all of those miles by myself, this time. Woo hoo!!

 

We'll all catch up, soon. You bring coffee or tea (your choice) and I'll bring the ice cream.  

 

What flavor would you like?

 

 



 



 



 

 

 

 

Answers for Un-Asked Questions

Alternate Title : You never asked, I'll answer anyway!

Also, thanks for weighing in on the last post's questions. If you didn't, yet, there's still time! You'll totally win a prize for providing the best answer, too! (Not!)

A lot of bloggers get asked enough questions, that said bloggers can create entire posts dedicated to quenching their readers' thirst for knowledge about them and the life they lead. I don't really get asked any questions, specifically.

This fact will never lead me to believe my life is un-interesting, though. My readers are simply left reeling from the burst of excitement I inect, into their (your) days, with each and every pointless post!

Imaginary Question #1: Haven't seen you around the interwebs, lately. Have you still been running? Yes. I've run in 81 degree afternoons and 40 degree mornings, all in the same week. (Florida weather's pretty interesting, huh?). I expertly avoided a PR in a 15k relay, this past weekend.

not a jump of excitement. The timing mat didn't register me the 1st (or 2nd) time across

 

I counted the 5k as my speedwork and threw in a couple, double-digit runs, too. Everything's been going well and I'm excited for my last few races of the season. I have another 5k, this weekend, that I get to run with some family members. Very awesome.

 

Next weekend, (wow. Is it really coming up that soon?!) I'm going to try to beat last year's time at this half marathon. I love the course, after party and family events there. The two bridge crossings are not real high on my "love" list, but they probably won't kill me.

 

I'll let you digest those two races for a couple days before we dive into the rest of my schedule.

 

Imaginary Question #2: Did you just stop typing up this post to peek through your blinds to watch your neighbors scream at each other? Yes. Yes I did. Lesson : Scream at your spouse inside your house. It's very likely your nosy neighbors are watching when you do it outside.

 

Imaginary Question #3: Do you often, silently curse your dad for giving you chronic Achilles tendinitis? If you're reading this and you ARE my dad, then the answer is no. Of course not. If, however, you happen to be anyone other than my dad, then yes. Yes I do. Out of all of his amazing attributes, he decided to pass on bad teeth and hopelessly weak tendons.



thanks a bunch, dad

 

There are countless other questions no one has asked me, that I feel the need to answer. For now, though, I have to continue to clean up Birthday Weekend 2013. The Oldest and Middlest's birthdays are one day apart, so the partying aftermath tends to look a little something like this:

They had fun and that's all that matters

 







Pretend I asked YOU a meaningful question and go ahead and answer it :

Poll Time

I love getting up really early to work, only to find out the remote server I connect to is down.

NOT!

I'm trying to resurrect that phrase. Let me know if you're on board.

Today's regularly scheduled drivel will be replaced by something beneficial to me only for all of us. The potential racers will be grateful and you, the reader/commenter will be rewarded with a feeling of pride and satisfaction at how helpful you were.

Win-Win.

If you were to be offered a One Mile Race, the weekend of Mother's Day, would you want it to be on Saturday morning (the day before Mother's Day) or Sunday morning (not too early)? The race would be Mom-Themed and very family-friendly. It would, of course, not be limited to those celebrating the holiday, though.

Soooo...that's about it, for now. Two simple questions :

Which day should the race fall on?

How do you feel about incorporating NOT! into your daily conversations?

Oops. Can't have a picture-less post!

"honey, does that say "the clam was hot"?"

"Yes"

"Why?"

"...because the water was hot, mom."

Only Nineteen Left

As would be the case in a marathon, that phrase is far from encouraging. These posts aren't nearly as painful or sweaty, though. Ooh! Maybe I'll give myself a medal upon completion, too?!

 

a small part of my collection. Definitely needs a Blogging Streak addition.

 

Today's Topic : My Six Worst Running Experiences (in no particular order)

 

•  The final run before my Stress Fracture diagnosis. Read all about it in this post. The worst part? Up until the point where I was fighting back embarassing tears of pain, it was one of the most successful Tempo Runs I'd had in months.

 

soooo not worth it

 

• The attempted Tempo Run just prior to the aforementioned Disaster Jaunt. I have no post to bore you with, as it was prior to my blogging. In retrospect, the looming Stress Fracture might have had almost everything the teensiest bit to do with the failed workout. I warmed up for a mile and could not. complete. a single tempo mile. I was a physical and mental mess. We have all had failed workouts. This one was bad enough to stick in my mind as one of the most demoralizing training runs I've ever had. It was particularly bad because it followed...

• The OTHER attempted Tempo Run just prior to the aforementioned Disaster Jaunt. Yes, it was Summer. Yes, it was disgustingly hot and humid. Yes, I had nagging pain which eventually turned into a full-blown injury. At that time, in my training, though, none of those factors were able to erase the defeat I felt when I was unable to complete this speedwork. They were workouts I'd done before. The pace was slower than my 5k pace, for goodness' sake! Those runs lead me to question everything about my running, for the first time, ever. I know how dramatic that sounds, but I had never before had to wonder "why am I even putting myself through this?" Up 'til that point, running had been fun. Even when it was competetive, it was still fun, for me. Now, with a goal of "Marathon", everything began to unravel. It was a very dark time, indeed.

"ooh, how artistic! See how she uses the photo to simulate the shadow falling on otherwise happy times!"

 

• This 10k was so awful for so many reasons.

ugh

I was so excited about this race. It was the first in a set of races appropriately named Tour De Pain Extreme. The 10k was held in the morning, followed by a 5k the same evening and a half-marathon the following morning.

 

I realize that concept doesn't seem tempting to any most people.

 

I love 10ks, though, I love the idea of running fast after a morning race (the 5k) and would have a perfect excuse for why I sucked it up in the 1/2 the next morning. (uh...I just ran 2 races, yesterday...). In my usual form, I failed to peek at that above course map, prior to the race. Apparently, the "Extreme" portion of the title wasn't a fluke. There were four bridge crossings. In 6.2 miles. It was hot, hideous and such a disappointing start to the fun weekend I'd built up, in my mind. For the first time, ever, I didn't even look at the posted results, after the race. It was that bad.

 

•  This 5k. Other than the quickie Genuine Mile race I'd done, it was my first post-injury race. I was so happy to be in racing shape, again, and had set my expectations way too high. I was simply not as ready as I'd hoped I was. It was so discouraging and, for the first time, made me question if I ever wanted to race a 5k, again. After some time, I was able to shake off the race, but it still haunts me, a bit, when I look at my upcoming race calendar.

somehow, the bands on the course had the oppostite effect of "motivating me"

• And, finally, my first 18-miler. Again, pre-blogging days, so there's no link to an overly-dramatic and blurry photo-filled post. It was supposed to be a "long, slow day". My furthest distance, to date, had been 16 miles, so I thought it would be totally do-able. Five miles in, I had the first inklings of panic, about the heat and the way my body was feeling. When, at seven miles, I realized that I would have to finish out fourteen miles, just to get back to my car, the full-blown nausea and defeat set in. (it was an out & back, paved trail). I remember hating the lucky people on bikes. I shot desperate looks at anyone who passed, hoping they'd offer me some sort of solution to this situation I'd gotten myself into. 

  I stumbled to my car, at mile 14 and ripped off my sweat socked socks & shoes. I literally had to wring them out. A frustrated, whiny phone call to The Husband somehow provided the kick in the butt I needed. I shoved my blistered, wrinkled feet back into my shoes, and set back out to finish out those four miles.

Luckily, the experience provided me with a comprehensive list of "What Not to do on Long Run Days".

Bottom line :

To acheive runs that leave you feeling like this:

 

 

 

...sometimes you have to go through ones that make you look like this:

 

 

In lieu of Today's link sharing, you get the above picture.

 

You're welcome! 



 

 





 

 



Pink Feet 10k/5k Recap

Aka : Weekend, Part Two. In case you've just joined us, the previous weekend wasn't that exciting. I just got tired of typing it all out, yesterday.

Mysterious Miles :  Ideally, I would like to have used a local half-marathon as a tune-up race for my Full. Unfortunately, those are few and far between, this time of year, in Florida. Having no desire to tack on travel expenses to races fees, for a glorified training run, I set my sights on using a 10k, instead. (Obviously, the distance is less than 13.1 miles, but the overall concept remains.) It just so happened that an inaugural 5k/10k event was being planned for the Sunday right before my marathon.

Bonus :  Some of the Pink Feet 10k/5k/s proceeds would also be donated to the local hospital group (Florida Hospital) for Breast Cancer research. Our family participates in some sort of event, every October, specifically for this purpose. This way I could kill two birds with two pink feet!

It's easiest to say that I wasn't going into this race with PR (personal record) expectations. However, that's not necessarily the most truthful statement. In reality, all of the miles I've put in for marathon training, (minus that whole injury hiatus) should enable me to run shorter races, faster. When I raced my fastest 10k, last November, the conditions were near-perfect, all around. That aside, I felt very strong and confident this past Sunday morning, too. I was shooting for a sub 46 finish and would not have been surprised to see a 45:xx on the clock at the end.

spoiler







I'm still trying to come to terms with what went wrong.

My first mile was an easy-feeling 7:22. The second and third were slightly slower, on purpose. I was suddenly starving (a new and unpleasant feeling, for me, mid-race) and didn't want to burn out too early. The whole experience, though, was nothing like last month's icky 5k, so I was still feeling cautiously optimistic.

I turned on my music at the 5k split and felt like I was coasting on auto-pilot. After an extensive "status check", I happily realized nothing hurt. There was a male and female in front of me, but I had no desire to pass. Using them as pacers seemed a much better plan.

There were a couple of issues, towards the end of the race.
1. The enormous hill, right at the end of mile 5, sputtered out my slowest split (8:04)

2. The guy in front of me walked off course, apparently finished for the day, right before mile 6. (wth?) I stopped, thinking there was a problem. Still not sure if he never intended to actually race, was my own, little hallucination or was a secret plant to mess with my head. Either way, it was weird.

3. Lack of signage/direction coming around the final turn. I couldn't find the finish line, or the race leader. The lady with the megaphone was lovely and encouraging but would not, for the life of her, just point a finger in the right direction. I had to (again) stop to say "which way?!". Her ever-so-helpful response : "Girl! You lookin' GOOD!"

I agreed, took a gamble and turned the blind corner. I knew, long before this point, that my overall time wasn't great, but I was very happy with how well I was feeling. Little did I know, the way I was feeling on the inside, was definitely not reflecting outwardly :

Holy Geez. What am I even doing there? At least this explains why my right hip hurt, afterwards.

 

After uglying up the Finisher's Chute, I saw my guys, got some amazing news about some 5kers, took a few sips of water and headed out to finish my run. If I'd waited any longer, I would've definitely talked myself out of those last, hotter (but slower) six miles. My lovely sister-in-law kept me company for most of them, so it wasn't all bad. 

 

The Good News :

1. I felt really strong and happy and ended up winning 2nd, overall.

treat for them : they got to put the medal around my neck after I ran an additional 6 miles!

 

It was a small race. Just a little over 250 participants and most were walkers or people who chose the 5k. First overall was actually a female, too!

when I grow up, I want to look like that when I finish a race

 

2. For an inaugural race, there were very few hiccups. The parking area was over a mile from the start line. Not ideal, but we knew in advance and the directors did everything they could to make it more pleasant.

Packet pickup was IN the parking lot, so you could stash your stuff before making the trek to the start.

They also semi-lit the super-dark, in-the-woods, paved trail so we'd be able to see the bear/bobcat coming to eat us, long before it pounced.

It was supposed to be chip-timed, at the start, but didn't end up being so. Don't know why.

I'm not real sure about the post-race amenities as I was out running while others were enjoying them. I do know they had a kids' race, very cute medals and lots of pink.

 

3. Hot on the heels of my medal-winning sister, our partners-in-crime/running, destroyed their former 5k PRs on this fine, Sunday morning.

beat her best time by TWO minutes!!

 

Kristi-Anne's time was good enough for third female, overall, in the 5k and Kim's (above) medal was for placing first in her division!

 

To paraphrase my new, directionally-challenged volunteer friend  : "Girls, you lookin' GOOD!"

 

I'll have plenty of time to figure out how to make those great-feeling race miles faster. I've done it before and am confident I'll do it again. For now, I can ride high on the happiness of this past weekend with family and friends and enjoy this low-maintenance, high-stress taper-time!!

 

Giveaway coming soon!!