St. Patrick's Day 5K 2014

This is just how it goes sometimes.  I started drafting a race recap the day after this year's St. Pat's 5k and never quite finished it.  I'm super busy at work today but wanted to post SOMEthing and started browsing my list of Unfinished Business... and here we are:

Race conditions:  VERY cold.  VERY windy.  Jason agreed to come and volunteer at the water stop though, despite the weather.

I didn't bother with my iPod, but I really should start using it for races again.  I think it makes a real difference in my pace and how I'm feeling throughout my run.

How I ran it:  No stops.  They don't even do a mid-course water stop for this race, so no walking the water stop this time, either.

Early on - maybe 5-6 minutes in, thought to myself,
Self:  "OK this is a comfortable pace, let's keep this up for the whole race.  I think we can do that."
Better Self:  "Nope.  Stop that thought right now.  This is a race!  It's not supposed to be COMFORTABLE!  What is this "comfortable" you speak of???  If it's COMFORTABLE you want, stay on the fucking couch.  [Side note:  yes, I swear a lot, even inside my own head.  Just imagine it's in an Irish accent.  It is St. Pat's after all.] This should be HARD. This should be a little UNcomfortable!"

So the remainder of the race, that was my mantra:  "A little uncomfortable.  A little MORE uncomfortable."

Results: 
Time 37:40, 12:09 pace -not bad.  Not stellar, but coming off of the winter weather, etc.... I'm OK with that.
25th in my age group
422 overall (of 475)

Full Garmin stats can be found here if you're into that sort of thing.

Photos:  I didn't take any.  It was REALLY cold.  There were some volunteers from the Club that posted pictures afterward, but I couldn't locate me in any of them.  If you want an idea of what conditions were like, and to see a few nice costumes, you can view them here.

But I can't stand closing this out without at least ONE photo... so here's me at the 2013 St. Pat's 5k!

Miller Park Zoo Stampede 2014

Better late than never, that's my motto!  I was, however, MORE than on-time for the race the morning of March 2 for the Miller Park Zoo Stampede.  There was some confusion about the start-time of the race.  Packet pickup ended at 9:15am, and I was trolling the web the night before trying to figure out the start-time for the race itself, and found conflicting information.  My calendar said gun time was 10am, but the event's web site didn't have the start time listed (what??? I know.  They're great people, they run a local zoo for a living, they don't plan and organize races for a living.)  One of the running club sites indicated a 9:30am start, so I showed up at 8:30am.  Got a terrific parking spot and there was practically no line for the packet pickup (a nice change from prior years when the line was thick, crowded, and disorganized).  I confirmed with the volunteers at the desk that the start time was, in fact, at 10am.  I wasn't the only one wondering about it, they'd gotten quite a few questions, so I didn't feel too badly about it, but I was left with about an hour to kill before the race.

The weather was cold and windy, no snow this year, but sort of damp, so I went to my car to play with my phone, check my gear, and generally warm up.  I also needed to come up with a goal for this year's race.  Since I'm "coming back" I knew that going for a PR was just not in the cards, but that doesn't mean there's no goal.  I just need different goals for the time being.  I had such an amazing racing year in 2013, nearly every race was a PR - of 16 races, 10 were either PR or first-time running that distance or type of course (trail runs, etc).  Perhaps by the end of this season I'll find another PR, but for the time being, I need goals that are not time-based.  Since I've been struggling with endurance and taking "too many" or "too long" walk-breaks, I decided I wanted this to be a full-on run, with no breaks other than walking the water stop.  This, at least, would be the way I ran all of my 5ks last year, not as fast, but the "rule" for last year was "NO STOPS during a 5k."

Just before the start time, I got out and ran a little to warm up, found some friends, and got our "first race of the season" selfies:

Mid-Race - check out my cool new warm-weather running tights!  FLASHY!  Makes me look faster, right?

This is historically the first race of the season for most of us.  I did run the Chilly Chili this year, but that's really more of a "fun run" than a race.

So, off we went - and I did make this my first "real" run of the year - with no walk breaks other than the water stop.  That felt very good.  It seems like most races I end up with some sort of mantra going through my head, and for this one, that ended up being:  "Just be glad you have a body that will do this.  I feel grateful for this body."  I really focused in on knowing that I could run this full distance, even though I haven't run that long without a break in quite a while.  I knew that I could and that I wanted to, and I wanted to appreciate that ability, regardless of pace.

"We are all striving to build our own confidence and self-esteem. This sport of ours can do and has done just that. "

Dave McGillivray 

Several minutes into the race, I felt my legs begin to loosen up, and really started to feel like I'd found my groove, the pace I could maintain for the 3-mile distance.  I checked my Garmin and noted it was less than 8 minutes in.  I made a point of NOT looking at the pace, just the time.  With the cold temps I was surprised my body warmed up that quickly, to tell you the truth.  From then on, I just focused on keeping that rhythm and staying in that groove.  I didn't have my iPod, so no music, no dog... just me and my thoughts, and the run.  The Effort.

Speaking of No Dog - before the race, several people asked "Where's Coty?" - I had forgotten to check whether they allowed dogs in this race or not, and left her at home.  I've brought her to this race a couple of times, I think... and they noticed.  Oh, that dog is such a great partner, and everyone loves her.  I'm so glad to have her!

Race Encounters:
I have one funny thing to share with you about this race, and other than this, it was pretty uneventful... but I can't get this out of my head!
There was a woman, a fairly new (or maybe returning) runner, as I found out over the course, who was running just ahead of me at the start.  We leap-frogged many times during the race and I noticed she was doing something that I used to do when I was trying to learn how to run:  she would start running (SPRINTING may be a better term) and get ahead of me, but she'd run out of steam after just a few minutes and then walk, pretty slowly, to recover.  She was ending up pretty well in line with my slower running pace, but I think she was more tired than I was.  Wish I knew her name so I could see where she ended up... but if I remember correctly, I passed her for the last time with maybe a 1/2-mile to go and didn't see her again.  It reminded me of the importance of pacing myself and all the great tips and tricks I learned in my first year with the running group in 2010.

But here's the thing that's funny:  The course is on the neighborhood streets around the zoo so there were volunteers at each intersection keeping an eye on traffic and making sure we could run the course without interruption.  Typically, I try to say something to most of the volunteers, or if I'm out of breath, just a wave and a smile at the least, but usually a "Thanks!" or "Thanks for being out here!" as I pass.  This woman had a particular way of thanking each and EVERY volunteer. It was exactly the same, EVERY time.  She would SCREAM at the top of her lungs:

"THANK YOU FOR KEEPING US SAFE!"

Exactly the same way, exactly the same tone, exactly the same insane VOLUME, every time.
I recorded a "voice memo" to give you the idea, but I don't know if it will work... I'm not sure how to upload it to the blog...

It was driving.  Me.  CRAZY.  She seemed very nice and it was a very thoughtful and I'm sure heartfelt gratitude... but the volume.  When we passed one another, I could hear the music coming from the ear buds on her iPod, so I'm sure the volume was affected by that... Oh, and she periodically stopped dead in the street and danced, arms all akimbo and hips moving.  She was having a blast, and running her own race.  I don't want to make fun of her or diminish in any way, but... Seriously, it was interrupting my whole flow and it was really distracting for me. At one point I got the giggles and could hardly contain myself.  If I wasn't so concerned with maintaining my pace and running the whole way without running out of gas and having to walk later, I would have sprinted for a few minutes just to get some distance from her.

Oh, and one other thing, through most of the race I was behind this woman - heavyset like me and wearing a really cool blue jacket which made her very visible in my sight line - and I wasn't really "trying" to catch up to or pass her, but toward the end of the race, I did catch up to her.  I could see she was flagging a bit, and as I approached I said, "I've been behind you this whole time - don't slow down now!!"  We ended up running the last bit together - a little less than half a mile I think.  Turns out she is returning to running after several months recovering from a serious car accident, and she'd driven up from Decatur to participate in the race with some family members.  This was her first race, post-accident.  She, too, was feeling grateful for a body, imperfections and all, that has the strength and endurance to do this thing.

Race Results:  

I came in 200th overall, 13th for my age group.  Official time (not a chip timed race): 40:02.4 with a pace of 12:55/Mile.  I started my watch just as I crossed the start line, so I'm sticking with my Garmin time of 39:46.
Past results for this race:
2013 35:49
2012 41:07
2011 44:59

Wow, look at that - yes, it was about 4 minutes slower than last year, but still 2 minutes better than 2012 and 5 minutes better than 2011.  I think I can feel pretty darn good about that.

Post-race:
I had a weigh-in on that Sunday and was down a bit, but still no real movement on the scale.  I did some research and decided to try increasing my calorie intake a bit - from 1,450 to about 1,600 - to see if that would shake things up at all and get my body back on track.  I decided to let that sit for a few weeks and see how it settles.  If I end up gaining several pounds... well, I guess that's probably not the solution.

Race Recap: 2013 Race to Wrigley

I was afraid, a little.  It's been over ten years since we've spent real time together.  What if we don't have anything in common anymore?  What if it's just awkward and weird after all this time?

I needn't have worried.  People grow and change, yes.  But a person's basic Personness, the essence of their being, what drew you to one another and connected you through space and time... that is constant.  I don't believe a person can change their basic nature, any more than they can change their DNA or their ancestors.


We talked about the present, we talked about the past, we talked about the long-ago, and then we talked about the future.
Put another way, we talked about what matters little, then about what used to matter, and finally we talked about what matters most.

It was... Restorative.

I broke every rule in the book as to how to prepare for race day. (Here's another good post from Run Eat Repeat)

• Drink lots of water!  (Yeah, I might have had a bottle of water.  I may also have had about 32 ounces of soda, which is somewhat counterproductive, especially on pre-race day.)

• Don't drink alcohol!  (Um, there may have been a glass of bourbon.  Or two.  Or three.  Actually, it's possible there were more than three.  Let's not talk about it anymore.  *burp.)

• Go to bed early! (2 a.m. IS early!)

• Get plenty of sleep! (Does 4 hours sound like "plenty" to you?)

• Eat your Normal Race Day Breakfast!  (I failed to pack my normal PowerBar Trail Mix bar, and my substitute breakfast was far from Normal.  It WAS familiar, however, as it was Dunkin Donuts.)

• Don't wear anything new!  (okay, I didn't wear anything new, so that one rule remains intact.  I also managed to remember to pack AND charge both my Garmin and my iPod, so I had that going for me.)

We took tons of pictures:  

of each other, 

of our food, 

 of our drinks, 

of each other taking pictures of the food and drinks.

All in all, we had what is lovingly and respectfully referred to in my house as,

A Giggly-Poo.

Yup, it was a right true and proper giggly-poo, and I couldn't have appreciated it more.

So thank you, Joe, for suggesting and inspiring this trip.  Thanks for spraining your ankle so it ended up just the two of us girls.  Thank you to Liz's man for having a family commitment requiring him to be out for the night as well.  And thank you, Liz for being a wonderful friend and still being the You that you always were.

Oh, right.  This is a race recap.
The race was pretty awesome, despite what can best be described as a mild hangover and lack of sleep.

I'm not sure how many people I expected, but there were about 3,000 runners at the starting lineup.  It's hard to believe after all the times I've been to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game (admittedly, not as many times as i'd like), I have never gotten a Touristy Photo in front of the famous marquee!

We checked our gear, took care of business, made a plan for where to meet up after the race, and lined up just in time.  (Oh, there's another Race Day Rule broken:  arrive early and warm up with a 5-10 minute jog before the race starts.)  My plan for the day included zero walking - just run for 3.1 miles, even thought of pushing to keep all three under 11 minutes.  After all the longer runs I've had in recent weeks, I had not-too-secret hopes for a PR.  (Which were quickly being revised as I took into consideration my hangover, lack of sleep, and generally poor preparation for the day.)  PR or no PR, I was having one freaking fantastic weekend in Chicago and I was going to enjoy every moment!

And off we ran.  I was feeling pretty good, given the circumstances, but the lack of a warm-up left me wondering if I could get through the whole thing.  This shouldn't be hard.  Suck it up. You sucked up all that booze last night, you can shut up and run now.  I took 30 seconds to walk the water stop, but otherwise, just played Jillian Michaels (aka devil's advocate?) in my head and reminded myself that my legs will do what they were meant to do.  The only failure possible here is a failure to maintain mental focus, control and confidence.  I did get lapped by a fat guy pushing a stroller at one point, though.  That was discouraging!

The end of this race is SO COOL!  I didn't realize (having never reviewed the course map) that before you cross the finish line, you race through the concourse, not just outside the ballpark, and finish beneath the famous Wrigley Marquee!  There were racers pausing to take photos or video at that point, but I was so near the finish line I couldn't bring myself to slow or stop:  I still thought I might have a chance at a PR.  It was close!  (We went back through after the race was over and took some photos, but it's really not the same without all those racers flowing through...)
Once you exit the concourse you're only feet from the finish line (another photo from after the race), and I checked my Garmin:

Yes, another PR!  About 20 seconds off my previous best.

Afterward, we sneaked into the ballpark and took some more pictures:

I believe this photo was taken WHILE we were being scolded and asked to leave....

The famous ivy...

So here's the thing:  the race results are WAY off and MUST BE IGNORED.
Official "Results":

There are also photos "of me" based on my "finish time" - I am in NONE of the photos.  Because that is NOT my finish time.  So while I loved the experience and will happily run it again because I had a BLAST, I must say this race was NOT well-organized.  I'm sticking with my Garmin time of 34:13.58 with a pace of 11:08/mi.  And I'm happy to have the photos I have.  Though it's sad, because it's only $7 to download all the photos... too bad none of them are of me!

More shenanigans ensued after the race, involving the bar next-door... a lovely place called Murphy's Irish Pub (big surprise, an Irish-themed sports bar next to Wrigley Field?) which had a novelty:  a Bloody Mary bar!!  This was new to my experience:  you order a drink, they hand you a glass of ice and vodka, and you head over here: 

Choose your version of Bloody Mary mix and additives!

Liz, having too much fun?  

Too many great fixings for your beverage!

When we'd had our fill of Blood Marys we discovered hunger.  Liz took me to a fantastical, magical place called Tweet, where we ate (and drank) like queens.  

Finally, it was time to head home.  One last photo and I hit the road.  What a day!!

I have one last thing to say:

GO CUBS!!

2013 St. Patrick's Day 5k Race Recap

Found on Facebook, posted by diaryofanaspiringloser.blogspot.com - check her out!

Another awesome run in the books for 2013.  You know I've had this great optimistic feeling that this year's racing season is going to be full of great things, right?  Well, so far, so good.  The weather was chilly - about 30 degrees - but not too breezy.  Jason and i drove over together - he was working the finish-line / water stop - and hung out at the VFW for a while, mingling with other racers before the start.  When it was time for him to go help set up the water stop, I took about 10 minutes to jog and warm up.  It was cold enough to wear my windbreaker, but I wasn't sure if I would still want it once I was on my way.  I knew I'd need the gloves for most of the run, but the jacket... I was pretty cold.  I decided to keep it.

Here's a pic from before the race:  It's not an awesome pic of me, and you can't see the green in my tights! 

And off we went!  I remembered how much jostling I had to do at the start of the last race and tried to set up a little closer to the middle of the pack today.  It's crowded up in there!  Still had a lot of trouble in the first few minutes making sure I did trip over anyone's feet in front of me, but eventually I found my spot and settled into my pace.  I was wearing my Garmin (of course) and tried to just push without focusing too much on the watch, just running by feel, trying to ensure I felt like I was running a hard, but at a pace I could maintain for the full 3 miles.  It's tricky, because with all the adrenaline I don't want to go out too fast, but I don't want to cheat myself by pacing too conservatively either.  

At about the 1-mile mark, I couldn't take it anymore and took my windbreaker off, wrapped it clumsily around my waist.  I should have known better!  I was all warmed up and too hot!  Kept the gloves though!  (Actually, I ditched those before I hit the 2-mile marker...)  I glanced at my watch periodically to check my current pace and focused on keeping it below 11:30.  I did catch it occasionally a little below 10:00 (but also a couple times over 12:00, so who knows?)  On the home stretch, once you get to where you have about a half-mile to go, it's a straight, flat shot and you can see the finish line the whole way, so I concentrated, refocused, and kept repeating my new mantra:  my world, my record, my pace.  As soon as the Garmin chimed at the 3-mile mark, I ripped the jacket off my waist, threw it to the side of the road and BOLTED just as fast as my body would go.  

I could see the timer and groaned aloud as I watched it go from 34:59 to 35:00 and on as I approached in the last 10 seconds or so!!  ACK!  I really thought this might be the day I beat that 35-minute goal.  

I stopped my watch right as I crossed the finish line, didn't even look, I was just out of breath and looking for some water (and my husband!).  When I found them, I looked. 

Guess what?  All that jostling at the beginning of the race?  Yup, I crossed the start line about 30-40 seconds after the gun went off, so my time:

WAHOO!! HOLY WOW!!  I DID IT! 

And I'm so happy that Jason was there with me today - he was so supportive and proud of me.  I couldn't speak, I was still so out of breath when I got to him - he asked "How did you do?" and I just showed him my watch - he knew just what it meant and he was SO SUPPORTIVE and PROUD of me!!  "You did it honey!!  You are so awesome!"  Best.  Moment.  Ever.

So here are some stats for you, for comparison:
Last year (the weather was crazy hot at this race last year, and you can see that reflected here):  I came in 56th in my age group, out of 62, # 627 out of a total of 657.  My time was a whopping 41:31, average pace 13:24 per mile.  That was about 30 seconds slower than the Miller Park race two weeks earlier.
Today's results:  for my age group, I came in 58th out of 77, and 567 overall of 692.  Race time 34:31, for an average pace 11:08

Here's my Garmin stats for the run:  Check out how consistent those times are for each mile!!  I didn't get negative splits, but damn, those are some solid times.

Full Garmin stats here if you're interested

In review:  2013 Fitness Goals:  
1.  Hit the gym more often for weight training (in progress)
2.  More sit-ups and push-ups.  (Oops this has gone by the wayside... hmmmm)
3.  Complete a half-marathon (planned for September)

2013 Running Goals:
1.  Run 500 miles (in progress - 134 so far)
2.  5K time under 35:00
3.  10K time under 1:12:00
4.  Run a half-marathon (yes, this made it onto both lists...  I've been known to repeat myself.)
5.  Test mile under 10:00

Two down, which will fall next?

Oh yeah, and it's Sunday so I weighed in this morning... down 1/2 a pound.  Yeah, I'll take that.

2013 MPZ Stampede

Saturday morning it was (once again) snowing.  I became momentarily fascinated with my footprints on the driveway and took this photo... then realized it was really similar to the logo for the Miller Park Zoo Stampede, for which I was preparing to head out and run!  

http://www.mpzs.org/

I packed up my pre-race PowerBar, a big bottle of water, and my coffee, and bribed my dear husband to take some quick pics before he headed off to work at 7:30am...

Of course Coty got in on the action!

The race didn't start until 10am but I had read somewhere (or maybe I read it wrong...) that packet pickup would be ending at 8:30, so I got there shortly after 8am... really early for a 10am start, but I sure had plenty of time to get ready!  I got my bib & shirt, then went back to the car to warm up and finish my coffee. When I came back in, I found my friend Peg and chatted with her for a bit.  About 9:30 we decided to walk for a while and get warmed up.  We ended up at the start line with still about 15 minutes to go, so we used that as a photo op (see below for "before" and "after" - we had a similar photo op last year!) and then I headed off on my own to jog for about 10 minutes and get loose.

Peg & me, last year's MPZ 5k.

Peg & me, one year later!

 It was preeeety cold, but 10 minutes of jogging did the trick.  My legs felt loose and strong, my bruised thigh muscle wasn't giving me any guff, and me knees were good, too!

I kept looking around for my friend Cheryl but once again I knew she was there and never saw her.  I swear that girl wears an Invisibility Cloak at races!!

Finally, at the appointed time, the gun went off!  I had lined up way at the back of the pack, which was a bit of a misstep, as I had to do a lot of jockeying for position with other runners / trying to pass people during the first 5 minutes.  Annoying, but I wouldn't say it slowed me down much.   That may have even been a good thing, since on race days I have to guard against going out too fast.

Mile 1 felt great... I was wearing my iPod and it was just 3 songs (better known as 11:04)
Mile 2, still going strong, didn't even have an urge to slow down or take a walk break.  Now that I KNOW I can run over 3 miles without a break, I certainly didn't want to take one during a race...  A little slower but still solid:  11:44
Mile 3... hit a couple more rolling hills, they weren't bad, not really, but in Mile 3, a lengthy but slight incline still feels like an obstacle.  Near the end, on the last of those small hills, my body (my mind?) (something) wanted to take a walk break.  The guy running next to me at that point may have thought I was losing my mind, because I just suddenly started speaking to myself.  Yelling, perhaps.  Nah, just firmly talking myself through that moment of doubt.  It went a little something like this:  "No.  Nope.  No way.  Why the hell would you want to do that now?  You're almost done and you know DAMN WELL you can do this.  You don't need a break.  Shut the hell up and pump those legs!  You're strong, you're fast, you're light as air.  Move your ass!"

So I got through that, no walking. With about a hundred yards to go, I pulled out all the stops and did a dead sprint to the finish line, where my friends Meg and Robyn were working as volunteers and cheering everyone on!

Results:
We've been over this:  ultimate goal for the year is a 35:00 minute 5k.  My official personal best was 37:18 last October. I have an "unofficial" best from a few weeks ago of 36:12.

Official results for the race can be found here.  I was # 237 overall out of 323 participants.  The race was not chip-timed, so I crossed the finish line 10 to 15 seconds after the official clock was started.  My official time was 36:06 - a record on its own, but I'm sticking with my Garmin time, which I started as I passed that start line.

Can I make this photo any larger??  No, it turns out I can't.  We'll just have to live with it this size.  :-)

Hell yeah, 35:49!!

Needless to say, I'm very happy with the results!
I'm really proud of myself and that 35:00 goal is SO within reach this year!

Here's the Garmin chart of distance, speed & elevation.

Full Garmin stats here if you're interested.

Check out that sprint speed at the very end!  Garmin "says" I hit better than 7-minute mile pace (for a second, at least!)

For comparison (and because I'm a bit of a stat-nut) here is some data about my performance in last year's MPZ Stampede:  #303 of 326 (this year #237 of 323!!), official time was 41:07.  (Yes, I actually had to re-check that - it was over 41 minutes, just one year ago!), # 27 in my age group, pace over 13 minutes per mile.  This year I'm #17 in my age group, pace just under 11:40 per mile.

I have some more to tell you about the day, and the rest of the weekend... but it's bedtime again, so let's see if I can get another post together tomorrow night.

BOO-YAH!!

It's been a few days since my last post but luckily I've had a pretty mundane few days...  Wednesday was my last post so you know that was a Gym Day, but all running, no strength training.  Thursday was supposed to be another gym workout - all weight training - but it turns out that was also a holiday of some sort... what's it called?  Oh yeah, Valentine's Day.  So here's the thing... I came home to change clothes and got... um...  distracted by a nice dinner & movie night with my dear husband.  No Thursday night workout for me!  oops.

Friday was another rest day (this one planned - I really hate working out Fridays after work and then having to take another shower & get dressed to go out),  

So back to the routine on Saturday:  here's a hint:  my Facebook / LoseIt! updates yesterday afternoon looked like this:  

"AWESOME RUN TODAY! Walked 1/2 mi, ran 1.5 mile, then felt so good I decided to reset my timer and run a 5k to see what kind of time I might get - so another 3.1 miles followed by a 1-mile walk (the rest of the way home) - THAT'S RIGHT I set a NEW Personal Record for 5K today, just screwing around on my dog-walk!! And total mileage for the day 6.2.

BOO-YAH!! :-)"

Here's how it happened: (gotta share because it just felt kind of magical)

I headed out with a loosely-defined plan of running & walking 5-6 miles, heading to Constitution Trail from the house and going south.  I walked the first 1/2-mile, then combination walk / run (mostly run) another 1/2-mile to warm up.  Then I really felt ready to get going and ran a full mile. During that mile, I kept noticing my mind wandering and I would think - "Oh crap, I've slowed down!" and check my watch... only to find it was solidly between 11:00 and 11:30 each time, which is a fine pace for me.  "Easy run" for me is in the neighborhood of 12:00 - 12:30 and I wasn't looking to push for speed, just a basic endurance run.  But MAN, it felt so good and I felt really comfortable (Note to self:  this is what it feels like to have two days off before a long run.)  Then my mind got to wandering again and I started thinking about the upcoming race schedule.  I'm excited for this year's races, feel like it's going to be a very successful year for running.  Now I'm getting off on a tangent, but that's exactly what it was like.  The first 5k of the year is just two weeks away, and you know how goal-oriented I am... I began thinking What should I have as my goal pace for the MPZ Stampede?  My stated goal for the year is to run a 5k under 35 minutes... but man if I'm feeling comfortable right now at 11:20... what does that work out to?

Yes, I'm an accountant; I could totally do that math in my head, but who cares about the MATH??  I decided I wanted to know what I could do, like NOW.  So when I hit the 2-mile mark, I decided to walk a few minutes, reset my Garmin, and start the clock over.  I'll run a 5k today, in the middle of this long run, and see just how fast I can do it.  Simple plan, plus it had the added benefit of Immediate Gratification.  

I filled Coty in on the plan; she seemed to be on board, and off we went!  No walking, and I tried not to check the watch too often, just run as fast as I felt comfortable doing, and with the exception of a couple of emergency pee-breaks requested by the dog, kept moving as fast as possible until the 3.1-mile marker.  At the end of the run, the watch said 36:15!  My previous 5k record was 37:18 last October at the CISAR 5k Leg Lifter, so I shaved MORE THAN a FULL MINUTE off my previous PR!  And check out those stats!  I managed a negative split on mile three but that first mile (which was Mile 3 if you're keeping track from the start of the day's workout) was a SOLID 11:25.  Sweet!

That.  Was.  Awesome.  

Here's a photo of my tired, happy dog after what turned out to be a practice 10K run on Saturday.

Man, it's hard to capture her eyes - her face always comes out as a black blob.  Oh, and yeah, it's winter.  The yard looks like crap.

Today was a lazy day.  (As most Sundays are around here.)  It was also weigh-in day - I came in at exactly the same weight as last week (believe me, I stepped on the scale 5 times, damn thing never budged!) - so zero gain / loss this week.  I did head out for a 3-mile run / walk with Coty and attempted a Test Mile.  That was a bust, but only because Coty decided to be a jerk and behave in a menacing manner toward another runner on the track, interrupting BOTH our workouts.  I had to stop the watch, put her on her back and scold her, and keep her on a short leash for the rest of the run, including the second half of the Test Mile, as consequences (aka punishment) for her growling and barking at a stranger who was completely within his rights. Bad dog.  

Anyway, the test mile came in a 10:05 - still pretty great for me, but not a new record.  I can feel great about that time, but I'm disappointed in Coty's behavior.  

Well, I'm off to bed, gearing up for another great week at work! Oh and Ride the Wave starts this Wednesday so I'll have a new, structured training plan readying me for the Lake Run 12K the first weekend in May (and in the process, also for my 10K at the end of April!!)

5k Days

Quick post... this week is going great so far.  All-day orientation for the new job on Monday, followed by interval-training run - 3 rounds of 6-minute intervals at "medium-hard" (which I defined as 11:00 to 11:30 pace) and 2-minute "easy" run (around 12:00-12:30).  Total time around 45 minutes with walk / run and got in a 5k!  

Tuesday was my first "real" day in the office, and more training (software I'll be using, company history, staff updates, etc.).  I stayed a little after 5pm and ended up home too late to make my Tuesday night running group (shoot!  That's 2 weeks in a row!) but took Coty out for another 5k in the neighborhood.  My training schedule called for a 30-40 minute "easy" run and that felt great.  Total time about 44 minutes, with some warm-up and cool-down walking thrown in there.

Today was cool - I got started actually doing some real work, reading some recently-issued financial statements & checking out workpapers & audit documentation.  There is a team in the field who had a question and I was able to help answer it for them, and I learned some interesting things about some of my new clients.  Man, all I could think about all day was, "why the hell did I ever leave public accounting???" I loved this job.  I'm excited to find I'm still enjoying it like I used to.

Okay.  Enough gushing about my new job.  It's going well and I'm happy I made the change.  I realize no one wants to hear how much fun it is being an anal auditor accounting freak.

But here's a photo of the name plate on my new office door!

And tonight was a gym night (Jason has the day off work and took care of the dog-walking duties).  My training schedule called for a Hill Workout so I hopped on the treadmill and hit that little button for "Rolling Hills" (a button which I have never before pressed) and set the timer for 40 minutes.  My calves were feeling SUPER tight so I did as much running as I was comfortable with and allowed myself some walk breaks.  The hills weren't really the hard part - challenging but not too hard - I think it was just that three days straight of running = tired legs & calves.  I got through it and ended up with - you guessed it - 3.1 miles in about 40 minutes!  (Theme for the week?)

Oh one last thing:  Jason went to the grocery store today & got himself all excited, wanting Rice Crispy Treats.  He bought all the ingredients (even READ the RECIPE) and begged me to make them.  So they are currently cooling in the kitchen, with Nestle Tollhouse peanut butter & milk chocolate morsels spread on top.  I'm going to try not to "help" too much in making them disappear.

More travelling blues?

Last week I was travelling yet again, this time to Solon, Ohio, again for business.  The week didn't start out well:  I arrived at the airport at 5am ready to catch my 6am flight, which was cancelled.  The next flight out would get me to Chicago about a half-hour after my connection to Cleveland took off.  The airline had me on standby in Chicago but couldn't guarantee me a flight to Cleveland until 4pm, which meant possibly a full 8-hour shift at O'Hare... and they couldn't or wouldn't provide me access for the day to the business center so that I could work during my layover... so I opted to rent a car and DRIVE to Ohio.  It was a LONG day (especially since, after making the determination that it would be fast and easier to drive, I found there would be another hour or so's wait for the rental office at the airport to open! It WAS only 5:30am at this point after all.) Along the way, I found I had a very scratchy throat.  By the time I reached Solon and my hotel, the scratchy throat had graduated to a full-on Sore Throat, and maybe a bit of a cough... not good.

By morning I was Officially Sick.  I was a mess, and I was in a hotel and scheduled for lots of meetings with lots of people.  I'll skip the gory details of my week, but it was long, there was NO exercise, but I didn't have much trouble avoiding "bad" foods.  My hotel has a little kitchenette, so when I arrived on Monday I headed straight to Trader Joe's and picked up a week's worth of groceries.  I was able to have a healthy breakfast and bring a lunch to work each day, and - what I'm going to call "reasonable splurges" for dinner each night, cooked in my little kitchen.  For a travelling week, it was an unmitigated success!  (And I forgot to weigh in so not sure where that stands.  I'll find out this weekend.)  My flights home on Friday went exceedingly smoothly and I arrived home before noon, no driving for me.

I was feeling marginally better by Friday, which was good, because I had PLANS.  Friday was the 10th... the first day of my Birthday Week, and my friends' band, Triple Charge Time, (oh, and check out their YouTube page here) was playing at a new venue in Peoria.  I took the dog for a walk, took a nap, and then got cleaned up and took every bit of cold medicine in the house to ward off the gunk, and headed out for the night.  Jason had to work in the morning so I was flying solo - which was kind of a fun change of pace, but also meant I needed to take it easy on the beer, as I would be driving myself home.  All good things actually, since if you remember from my Glendale post, I had a race Saturday morning, the Evergreen 5K out at the lake.  An early evening going BIG on the music but small on the beer worked all the better for me.  I had a wonderful time, got to catch up with my friends and see a few people I haven't had a chance to talk to since I left the firm three years ago!!  It was great.

Saturday morning's 5k was... well, fine.  I was feeling better, but definitely not over my cold yet.  I decided "Hey, I've paid the registration fee - I'm going!" But didn't feel well enough to run at all.  So I compromised.  I took Coty with me, and we walked the whole thing.  She enjoyed a new route in completely unfamiliar terrain, I enjoyed the INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL weather, nice, flat course, and a lovely 3.1-mile walk.  We finished last and really enjoyed ourselves.  I picked up my t-shirt, commemorative pint glass, and visited with some of my running buddies during the after-race festivities.  Our unofficial time was about 56 minutes... a far cry from a record!  (Though maybe not my LONGEST time...?)

I spent the rest of the week in "recovery" mode.  I'm nearly over this cough, and last night when I walked the dog, I tried some running, to see how my lungs responded.  I managed some intervals:  2 minutes (then about 8 minutes of walking), then three, then four, and after more walking, I found we were about a half-mile from home and tried a 5-minute interval.  After each interval, I suffered a ridiculous hacking coughing fit, but I was able to get through it well enough.  I hope by Friday I'll feel well enough to do a long run.  I'm still training for that 10K next month, and I'm pretty sure there's another 5K in the meantime, for the McLean County Autism Society.

Aside from that, the most exciting thing I've done the past two weeks has been watching Boardwalk Empire.  Jason and I have watched the whole first season On Demand - I like it!  We've started in on Season 2 tonight while I've been writing.  Guess I'll get back to it now.

Have a lovely evening, all...

Ah, woe is me! Race Recap: MCATF 5k

This week has been another busy one! Saturday was the McLean County AIDS Task Force 5k race at Tipton park. This is fun, conveniently located just a couple of miles from home, and for once the weather gave me a break and it was lovely weather for a run.

 I didn't get up all too early but as it turned out I was the first participant to show up and get checked in. I was surprised by this but didn't think much of it at the time. I've run it once or twice in years past and it's a small race but well supported by the community. Or at least it has been in the past. We'll get to that.

My first clue that this would be an Especially Small Race came when I told the volunteers that I was per-registered, and they said "oh, YOU'RE the one!" This is not a good sign. I was the only person in the entire community - a community of over 100,000 people and with a lively GLBTQIA community as well as several active and engaged running groups - the ONLY person to register ahead of race day. I was truly shocked to hear it. It got worse...

I have a dear old friend who volunteers for the MCATF and whom i really only see once or twice a year at events related to the Task Force. I hung out in the check-in area and we talked for a bit while the other racers arrived and checked in. I took a 10-minute walk around the park to warm up and headed to the starting line. The race started a little late; I think the organizers were hoping more people would show up. When we finally got going, there were exactly TEN runners. TEN!

I could hardly believe my eyes. Five men (well four men and ontoilette boy on his bike - oh so cute riding while his mom ran!) and five women. I felt just terrible for the organizers of the race - I imagine they must not have raised enough money in registratin fees to cover all the T-shirts they'd printed! We were joking at the start line about how everyone was likely to get a trophy or ribbon today, just out for showing up! 

So the proverbial gun went off and we headed out. It really was a beautiful morning for a run around the park. I was, of course, dead last (the dreaded DFL). In a group this small I had no illusions of beating anyone to the finish line. It's ALWAYS just me, competing against myself, in every race, but never quite so literally as today. I initially planned to run about a half-mile at a time, with short walking breaks, but in the first leg I felt so good - like it could just keep that pace up forever - that I decided to run the full first mile before taking any breaks.  I had my Garmin on and saw my pace for that first mile: 11:11 - good but not so good I was worried about going out too fast and bonking half-way through. Of course, a 5k isn't as much of a stretch as it once was! It's not unusual for Coty & me to head out on a 3-mile run on a Monday night.

So I'm feeling great, still in last place (I preferred to think of it as being in 10th!), but you know, I found there's a certain clarity of purpose that came with the knowledge that, yes, I'm going to be THE last person to cross the finish line today. This race really was All About Me. I decided to shoot for a PR. Time to beat today was 37:41, or a pace of 12:20, and it was looking totally do-able! I never lost sight of the older gentleman who was next ahead of me. He looked around periodically and I knew he was checking to make sure I was still hanging in with him. With so few racers and volunteers only placed at the mile markers, we runners we're looking out for each other. I was only about 20 seconds behind him at the first mile, but he was pulling away (slowly, but definitely pulling away).

 I ran all of Mile 2, as per my revised Plan for the race, and hit the water stop with a pace of just under 12 minutes for Mile 2. I walked a bit longer through the water stop and poured some on my head, as it was beginning to get quite warm. At this point there were runners passing me going the opposite direction, after the turn-around point which was around the 2.5-mi mark. Everyone was passing on a good word as we passed one another - "Keep it up!" "You're doing great!" I was keeping an eye on my Garmin, checking the average pace and starting to get excited - it looked like I was on track to beat my Personal Record, but it was going to be close.

 I did take another short walking break about a quarter of a mile from the finish line, gearing myself up to run hard the last leg. My last mile was at a pace close to 13 minutes, but the Garmin had my final pace at an average of 12:06!! Alas, the Garmin was giving me credit for time I wasn't moving, like when I picked up water at the stop, etc., and my total time was actually 38:11, so no PR for me today. Still, a good pace and I really enjoyed the race. Plus, I was still looking forward to my first (and likely ONLY) ribbon for placing in the top 3 for a race!

 The overall women's finisher was a young girl (woman I suppose), maybe 19, maybe in her early 20's. Aside from her, there were four of us women and I figured at least one of them was under 30, so it was reasonable to think I'd get 3rd place ribbon for my age group, and I had spent about 38 minutes of my 38:11 running time enjoying the prospect. But it was not to be. Go figure, 5 women compete, and ALL FOUR of us were in the same age group!!

The male competitors (including the little boy) were spread out a little better between age groups, so each of them won a ribbon of some level. I was the only participant in our little 10-participant race who went home empty-handed. Ah, woe is me. :-)

 After the race, I got home and realized there was no one else to walk the dog(!) so I decided to take her out while I was still enjoying the remnants of my runner's high. Believe it or not, we ran another 5k! Albeit much more slowly, as we needed lots of walk breaks and of course had to pee on everything as we went (that's Coty, not me - I swear). It was lovely.

 Next race will be about 2 weeks from now if I remember correctly: the Evergreen 5k, out at Lake Evergreen /Comlara Park. I think it's a Trail Race (as opposed to Road Race) and if so, it will be a first. The time since Saturday has been very busy; I've been traveling and got to see the family (some of the family, anyway) but I'll have to update on that another time, as this post is plenty long enough as it is. Suffice to say I'm writing from sunny southern California (or it was sunny when I started writing in any case; it's past dark now) and won't be home for a few days yet. Till then...

Race for the Cure

I kept myself pretty darn active last weekend and didn't give myself much down-time.  A run-down of the weekend's events:  

• Friday I left work a bit early and enjoyed some time at home with Jason.  I had to get up at dawn to make it to an early-morning race, so I was good and stayed home, made myself a reasonable dinner, got my gear together, hung out with the dog, read my book, and went to bed early.

• I got up a little after 5am and headed out.  I arrived at the race with plenty of time to find a parking space and get a warm-up walk and jog in, and check out all the vendors, goodie-bags and swag they were handing out.  (This is actually a critical point because the Peoria Komen Race for the Cure is an enormous event with approximately 25,000 participants.  Numerous businesses and other local organizations have tents set up and it's an absolute madhouse, really fun, but you HAVE to give yourself time to check it out, roam around, and navigate through all the people!)

• Race results:  totally awesome!  I stuck with my plan of running 10 minutes and allowing a strict 1-minute walk break.  I completed the 5K in 37:41 my personal best for a 5K!! (and a 12:20 minute-per-mile pace!)

After the race

• I called my mom from the finish line and wished her a happy Mother’s Day. 
• Back at home, we took Jason’s grandmother to lunch for her Mother’s Day celebration and then she helped me shop for new shrubs to replace the ones we tore out last weekend.  We went out with friends Saturday night and had a blast.

Brunch on Saturday.  Ummm, Grandma & others were there, but OK you got me, I'm really only including this photo because I look great in it!

• Mother’s Day I woke up to find my step-son had made me breakfast and left is all wrapped up on a TV tray with a lovely card – what a treat!
• After breakfast I spent the rest of Sunday digging in the dirt and setting everything up right with the landscaping. 

A word about the Race for the Cure:  I’ve run this 5K nearly every year since 2005, when I didn’t do any running at all, just walked.  Each year I’ve raised as much money as I could and hounded all my friends and co-workers for donations until they were downright sick of hearing about it.  Here’s why:  My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 1990.  The tumor was found to be malignant and over the next 8 months she underwent chemotherapy.  (There’s probably an entire book’s worth of material describing the experiences of those months, but for today I’ll suffice with saying this:)  It was an incredibly difficult year for my entire family, but this year she is celebrating over 21 years as a breast cancer survivor.  Race for the Cure day is a day for me to remember that time, celebrate my mom, support other survivors, raise funds for further research, and reflect on how far we have come since those dark days in 1990 and 1991.  I always get very emotional during and after the race – I get uncharacteristically overwhelmed at the finish line and I really wish my mom was there with me.  I wish we’d gone together more than just the once before she moved away.  I also wish I wasn’t wearing that ill-fitting hat in this picture.

Me & my mom, Race for the Cure 2006

At any rate, it was a fantastic day, I’m really pleased with my performance, and all-in-all I had a pretty awesome Mother’s Day weekend.