On Your Left...

The 2010 Boston Marathon

2010-04-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

Time for a race report!

Leading into Boston:

After a fantastic spring of marathoning, I headed into summer of 2009 with a solid base and a training goal of a 3:20 fall marathon only to be slammed hard by a stress fracture in August. That left me derailed and dejected, and with 12 weeks off running, destroyed any 3:20 fitness I had. I headed into November bumbling through 10min mile stress fracture recovery runs and hurting the whole time. After a few weeks trying to get back to work, I was out again for a few weeks thinking I had another stress fracture only to find out it was a poor shoe choice and I was out running again.

The Training:

This was my 3rd Boston and I had never headed into Boston training with a bigger deficit. However, with 13 weeks of solid training I ended up with the best Boston training cycle to date. I went into this race with no excuses. I did nine 20+ milers, regular mid-week long runs of 15 miles, and averaged 60-70 miles per week. Although I was not able to completely regain speed I had last summer, I certainly had the confidence in my endurance. I knew I didn't have sufficient hill work under my belt but I didn't feel strong enough to commit to that and worried about incorporating that strain and risking re-injury so I did the best I could.

The Goal:

I went into Boston 2008 with 2 calf strains and a goal of 3:50. I ran a 3:50:41. Last year I had lesser calf issues and a goal of 3:35. I ran a 3:34:34. This year the goal was 3:30 or better. I'm pretty good at analyzing my training. My marathon pace training run was a 7:52 avg. After factoring Garmin time vs marathon time, and the hill factor, I thought 3:30 was spot on but was greedily hoping for anything better.

The People:

A huge part of the Boston experience is the people. It becomes a weekend with 26,000 of your closest runner friends. Every runner is a rock star. Every volunteer is a treasured hero. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun without being able to travel with friends and have several meet ups with other runners from all over. Of course, there is the blueberry ale! Bostonians open their city and their hearts to the marathoners and the hospitality is unmatched.

The Race:

Heading into the race I was trying to figure out what strategy I'd use and decided I'd go with ole faithful: run as hard as I could the entire time. I was ready to rumble and I had to really consider the Boston course advice, easy the first half so you don't blow up on the second half. I wasn't worried about an energy fade, I knew I had hills to contend with and hills are not my strong suit, so I decided to attack the hilly course like I would any other. I bank time around the hills to make up for my slowness on the hills.

I decided to run a 5k race. My goal was 24:30 5k times and I only had to do that 8 and a half times. I was number 10176 and started in corral 10, the middle of the first starting wave. According to my Garmin I ran 26.48 miles in 3:30:22, so I'll share my garmin splits but official 5k split times.

Miles 1 through 10:

7:49, 7:53, 7:52, 7:43, 7:59, 7:51, 7:44, 7:54, 7:54, 7:53, 7:49

the first three 5k splits were 24:26, 24:40, 24:30 only because everytime I saw a 5k mat ahead, I sprinted to get in on my goal. By mile 2 I was straining. By the 15k I was slightly worried but hoping to loosen up and get comfy. I felt like I was physically desperate already and by mile 3 it was all mental. I said 3:30 and by golly, I was gonna break a leg doing it.

Miles 11 through 16:

7:56, 7:44, 7:43, 7:50, 8:04, 7:33

next 5k splits were 24:29, 24:35

Enter the Newton Hills. They say the marathon doesn't start until that final 10k, but Boston really starts with the Newton Hills. This was the first year that I was in good enough shape to appreciate the challenge they really are. That 8:04 hill was just a teaser but by mile 17, my right quad wasn't laughing. It started to seize up and I was a bit startled at this new pain.

Miles 17 thru 21

8:16, 8:19, 7:52, 8:24, 8:46

next 5k splits were falling, 25:23, 26:00

I made it! I kept looking down at my watch as I ran up Heartbreak Hill. It was here that a huge sub 3:30 was out and I was just clinging to maybe 20 sec better than goal. I knew I had to give it all I had. Halfway up I felt the stinging pain of a blister bewteen my toes and willed it to pass. The quads were screaming louder and eventually it all dulled.

Somewhere around mile 22ish I passed a guy in full cardiac arrest, medics were doing full chest compressions and running out on to the course with a gurney. I was a bit freaked out and raised my hand toward the guy and just started praying and tried to keep from stopping to walk and crying. I later found out he made it, so glad to hear!

Miles 22 through 26

7:47, 7:59, 8:01, 8:04, 8:01

last 5k split was 25:23

I was at the end of Commonwealth and for the first time of the day, I was starting to pay attention to the crowds. Hereford was finally there, I took the right and waited until I rounded left onto Boylston to look at my watch. I had a good .25 to .30 left to go and my quick fuzzy math said I'd only get 3:30:40. I never ran so hard in all my life and yet my legs could only do so much. That last .48 on my garmin was a 7:19 pace, topping out at a 6:25 at my fastest.

Official time: 3:30:19
Overall Place: 7201 out of 22,540 finishers
Overall Female: 1346 out of 9468 finishers
40-44yr Age Group: 199 out of 1672 finishers

I'm extremely happy and proud of myself for this race. So much about it. My body wanted to give out several times and even my brain wanted to but I managed to talk myself up and not down. I earnestly prayed more during this race than ever before and a lot of those prayers for those in front of, behind, and beside me, especially my friends who were at various points in their own races. Physically, this was right up there with Soak City 08 where it rained and gusted 25+mph winds the entire race. Even my 3:25 PR race in San Antonio felt easier.

I leave this Boston course, once again, thankful that God allows me to live out my dreams and pursue my passion, humbled by the course, and honored to be a part of the rich history of the Boston Marathon.

Thanks to all my Facebook friends for enduring my weekend of mobile pictures and in case you aren't on FB, here's one final picture:

What does The Boston Marathon mean to me?

2010-03-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Forgive me blog, it has been 7 months since my last entry and... I have no excuses. Well, other than that stress fracture thing that kept me from running for a very long time. But here I am, ready to ramble.

So, I was perusing the forums at RWOL today and saw a question, "What does Boston mean to you?". I've often wondered how to explain this to people. When you say you're running Boston, most non runners (if their eyes aren't glazed over in boredom) want to know what it is, followed by how far is that? So to begin the answer let's start with the basics.

The Marathon is always 26.2 miles. The Boston Marathon is the oldest running marathon in the world and takes place on Patriots Day (a day that apparently, only Bostonians know about because most people I know have never heard of it.) To run the Boston Marathon, you must complete a USATF certified marathon with a qualifying time (or BQ-Boston qualifier) based on your age. For a 40yo woman (me) the qualifying time is 3:50:59. There is a whole history behind the distance, Patriots Day, and qualifying times and you can find out more at the Boston Marathon website.

Now on to what it means to me.

I am the youngest of 3 kids, not very socially outgoing, and definitely not a trailblazer. I've always tended to be a coattail rider...my friends were the friends of my brother or sister or whoever my boyfriend was at the time. It was just easier. I got jobs because of friends or they just fell in my lap, not because I pursued. I got parenting and birthing ideas mostly from friends and books recommended to me. I started running because my Dad ran, then quit because no one else ran, then started again because my boyfriend/eventual husband was a runner. Do you see a pattern? Maybe I'm laid back or maybe I've never had a personal goal to attain, but driven was never a word you would use to describe me.

I played with running for 13 years. Never running more than 6 or 7 miles, never keeping track, never had a plan. I had a friend from playgroup who trained and ran the San Diego Rock and Roll marathon back in the late 90's. I have to say, I was extremely hurt that I wasn't invited to train with them. I thought it was the coolest thing but didn't know the first thing about how to do it, so I kinda wrote off the idea.

In 2005 I started running more seriously and consistently. I had a friend talk me into doing a half marathon with her and I loosely followed whatever she said to run, not having the gumption to go online and figure it out myself. She ended up not running it. With very poor training and a whole lotta nerves, I finished that half marathon in August and couldn't walk for a week. How on earth do people run marathons!?

It took me a few months before I was off and running again. For some reason, I decided I was going to run the 2006 San Diego Rock n Roll marathon. No one wanted to join me and surprisingly, I trudged on with my plan. I found a marathon training plan online and then set up a running log to keep track of my training.

For the first time in my life, I was doing something by myself. Something big. Something that consumed my every day, something no one around me seemed to pay attention to...but I was still doing it. The more I trained, the more confident I became in myself.

I learned about Garmins, intervals, long runs, gu, hydration, and The Boston Marathon. I was out on a solo run and ended up running with a complete stranger and she explained to me that you can't just sign up for Boston, she and all of her friends had run several marathons trying to qualify for Boston and she was finally on her way. I thought, I'm running neck and neck with this chick, I can qualify for Boston.

That year my BQ time was 3:45:59 I had experienced runners tell me I was over training, I should just hope to *finish*, and that I was looking at best, a 4+ hr finishing time. I finished that marathon in 3:48:54

In January of 2007, I started this blog to chronicle my experience and training on my road to a BQ at the 2007 Rock n Roll Marathon, the culmination of that dream was realized when I ran a 3:42:44 qualifying time at the 2007 RnR Marathon, my second marathon.

Here I am, 3 years, 10 marathons, and 3 ultra marathons later, heading into my 3rd Boston Marathon. For me, it's been a personal journey of triumph, injury, and determination. No one cares about those 7 mile tempo runs, they don't understand why I'm up running at O'Dark thirty in the morning, and 70+ miles of running a week is just weird. But some people do understand The Boston Marathon and even if they didn't, I do.

All of those hours, sunrises, and miles of praying, singing, thinking, hurting, hurrying, pounding, and imagining are worth it when I turn the corner of Hereford St, left onto Boylston St. and see the balloon decorated arches over the finish line that reads THE BOSTON MARATHON, and hear the deafening screams of spectators cheering for us runners. I know that there is only one reason why I'm there and it's not because I was riding some one's coattail, it's because I did it.

2009 Yosemite Vacation: Day 2

2009-08-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

I figure I can do one day at a time...so where was I?

Monday morning I got up bright and early thinking I'd try to run. HAHAHA! You have to understand: it's Yosemite...think trails, high altitude, scenery that'll bring you to tears. Well, it wasn't my day (or week) so I settled on a very painful .25 mile run before I turned back to camp. Jackie and Traci had a great run, see what I mean by beautiful running?...I was jealous!

We decided to hike up to Vernal Falls.

Curran only made it a mile before he turned back with Traci. Here we are at Happy Isle Bridge.

Onward and UPward to Vernal Falls and Emerald Lake!

Scenery...

Our destination...Vernal Falls

I think Louis is tired from late night poker games...

Jackie and I on Vernal Falls Bridge.

The squirrels (and all of the wildlife) were freakishly fearless. That was Cole, "not touching" the dirty squirrel.

We climbed and climbed and climbed...we were hearing people say the downhill was worse!

Cooper was having a hard time but perked up the closer we got.

We're almost there!

I finally got Cole to slow down so I could take a picture...

Jackie got this shot...amazing huh? God blessed us with a beautiful rainbow!

Finally, the top! I was really glad the railing was there.

Standing in Emerald Lake (soaking my legs in the blissfully COLD water) and taking a picture of the edge.

Cooper and Cole swam out to this lone rock in the center. Cooper adopted a signature picture pose that eventually was banned!

I wish Curran was in this shot!

We hung out at Emerald Lake for over an hour, enjoying snacks, the cool water and the views.

Next year we will get there...Nevada Falls in the distance!

Jackie and I again...

Connor dipping his head in the water. The boy is 6'1", 135lbs, sz 14 shoe, and still growing!

We ended the day with a trip to Curry Village for some pizza and beer! A mule deer was not worried at all.

Alright. This has taken me for.ever. so I'm taking a break. Hopefully I'll have day 3 up tomorrow.

2009 Yosemite Vacation: Day 1

2009-08-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

Early this summer Louis and Jackie invited us to camp at Shaver Lake with them. Fortunately, the weather was horrible, we cancelled the trip, and Louis decided to try to find a spot at Yosemite. Not an easy task but he managed to find us a great spot in Yosemite. Six days and 1018.8 miles with the boys...Probably the most fun I have ever had on a vacation and even more surprising, the most fun I've ever had camping. Oh yeah, our super cool Yosemite guides and camp mates, Uncle Louie, Jackie, Skye, and Traci helped make the trip all that more fun!

Sunday, the kids and I hit the road at 7am for our long road trip to Yosemite. After successfully drugging them with Dramamine, the number one fear of a vehicular puke fest, was no longer a worry. I highly recommend Dramamine even if they don't get sick because it makes for a quieter 7 hour drive, trust me. We made great time, stopped to eat at In n Out and got our first photo of Yosemite...El Capitan

We spent about an hour setting up camp and getting all of our food into the Bear Locker. Our double lot was perfect in every way! One of the great things about this trip was that the boys are so much older and I definitely had more help than ever despite the fact that Mike wasn't with us. We had the tent up in about 15 minutes.

A short walk over to the river to try out the water and cool off. The weather was perfectly warm during the day and cooled down nicely at night. You can see Cooper on the bridge, the other boys are looking for sticks and trying to skip rocks across the water.

Cole was brave enough to fully experience the water that first day. It felt great after your feet were numb! With my lame calf injury, I spent a lot of time enjoying long cold soaks in the water.

We returned to camp, fixed dinner, and Louis began Poker Camp with the kids before the S'mores.

Jackie and me...good times!

I'll work on Day 2 tomorrow.

A Last of The Firsts

2009-07-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

Coming back to blogdom to update on life. Will start with the most precious...

Sweet Precious, aka. Curran, called me at work today to tell me he lost his first tooth! At first I was like, "How exciting! Don't lose it, I want to see it when I get home!" Then, immediately I realized...it was the first First that I missed as a working mom. Fortunately, I caught up when I got home.

The happy, toothless boy and his lost tooth:

Take note of the body art. I'm happy that this was not wall art. The really cute thing is that everytime he draws a smiley face (whether it includes his belly button for a nose or not) he always draws glasses. Speaking of, he needs new ones.

Now to hail the Tooth Fairy and see how the economy is effecting her generosity. What's the going rate for a First Tooth?

2009 PCT 50 Mile Ultramarathon

2009-05-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

An Ultra-Long race report.

The Pacific Crest Trail 50 mile endurance run was re-routed to be the Cuyamaca 50mile run after a military helicopter crashed near the original course last Wednesday. Two Marine pilots were killed in the crash and our prayers are with those families in their time of grief.

Race Director John Martinez and his band of capable and miracle working helpers scrambled to make this race happened. Their coordinated efforts along with the countless volunteers made for a safe and epic day for many runners.

This was a goal race for Mike. Our training and planning for this began last Fall. We signed up with SDRI's trail running group, ultimately named, Dirt Devils. Dr. Victor Runco was our fearless leader and over the course of the next several months, he organized Saturday and Tuesday runs on various trails here in San Diego. I was able to run with the group several times but stopped training with them in early March to avoid any possible pre-Boston trail injuries. On the other hand, Mike was diligently training during the week and meeting up with the group on the weekends. Having never even run a marathon, he was making sure he put in the time and miles to make his first Ultra Marathon a good experience.

Knowing this was a goal race for Mike, I understood when he decided to book a room at a nice little hotel in Alpine. The thought of driving or even riding in a car after the 50 mile race did not appeal to him at all and though I am cheap, I didn't put up much of a fight,hahaha. Friday afternoon we met up with a RW friend, Ryan, at Pat and Oscars for a pre-race carb loading dinner. We had a fun and relaxing dinner then dropped Ryan off at his hotel and headed to Alpine.

The hotel did it's best to give that rustic lodge feel...we were met with this monstrosity as we walked up to the front desk.

We got to bed early and the 4am wake up call came toooooo early for me! I stayed in bed while Mike did his warm up stretching and exercising. I was still full from the night before so I just had a red bull and stuck the second red bull in my hydration pack. We headed to Camp Cuyamaca at 5:15am and arrived just in time to get in one potty stop.

So the question of the week became the question of the morning...who are you running with? are you running with Mike? will you hang with us for a bit? and on and on. That morning it was too much for me. I was suddenly stressed about keeping up with anyone, slowing someone down, or hanging back if I really wanted to take off. I just decided to stand at the start and run. 50 miles was going to be hard enough, I was going to be selfish and just worry about how I was going to get through the day.

We were all lined up at the start, waited for last minute details and then John yelled, "alright, GO!" and I laughed, hit start on my garmin and off we went.

The first mile or so was a fire road and by the end of the day I would regard fire roads with much disdain. Not quite a pretty trail and not quite an easy road. I settled in to running but I was irritated. I have no idea why. I can't recall ever being this irritated on a run. It was a beautiful day, the sky was clear, the flowers were in bloom...it was breathtaking! No reason to hate, right?

Most of the pictures I snapped were taken while I was running so I didn't really look to see what I was focusing on. Here you can see the promise of the yellow and purple flowers that lined miles of the course that day...

This was about 5miles out, just before the first aid station, looking back over a valley. If I knew where the heck I was, I not only would saved myself much frustration later down the trail, but I could probably tell you the name of that valley. Pretty though, eh?

Right around this time, I finally heard Sam, Ryan, and Lori come up from behind and pass Mike and I. All of them are super fast runners and Lori is a seasoned and gifted ultra runner so I wasn't surprised to see them come and go. I hit the first aid station, drank a cup of cola & a cup of water, grabbed a handful of pretzels and kept walking. I was alone. It was nice for a bit. The crowds and the chatter stopped and I finally felt like I could relax without worrying about anyone in front or behind me.

I ran along starting to really enjoy the run. It was early on but I felt like I was keeping a comfortable easy pace. We were at the top of one of several climbs and the views were incredible. I wish you could see how vividly blue, green, yellow and purple this looked in real life. You can click on the pictures to see a larger version.

Here's another section where everyone was catching up with me again...You can see Mike waving and Ryan, Sam, and Lori in the distance.

They would soon pass by Mike and I and we all ran into the mile 13 aid station together. I fully expected the threesome to already be well ahead of me and in the back of my mind, I was thinking if I'm this close to them, maybe I'll blow up? GAH! I drank a cup of water, a cup of coke, grabbed a quarter of a sandwich and kept walking through the aid station. So far I was sticking with my plan to run my own pace (not try to kill myself keeping up with anyone) and spend less than 30 seconds in an aid station.

This is where it started to warm up. The temps would hit the mid 80's before we would finish the day and I started keeping better track of my salt tablets...one an hour, or one every half hour I was in direct sun light. I was wearing a white longsleeve shirt so I felt pretty shaded. I remember Mike running with me saying he was going to fall back and slow up a bit. So as we got to the mile 19 aid station, I grabbed some stuff and kept walking. We headed onto a nice horse trail along the main road, then crossed over to the other side where the 30 mile route started. Unbeknownst to me, this was where Mike took a wrong turn and ended up running 2 miles off course, discovering his mistake at the mile 42 aid station he turned around and made his way back, a total of 4 miles off course at this point, and I had no idea. I was still on course at this point. Lori and the guys met up with me again. This part was a steady climb on the shady side of the mountain with lots of thick covering. Somewhere along here Lori fell back behind me to wait for Sam and I went ahead.

Thinking they were *right* behind me I kept on for a while and fell in step with a guy who complimented me on my socks. hahaha. We talked for a bit and then found ourselves lost. We came out at the 38 mile point and wondered where we had made the wrong turn. I was SURE we should just follow the pink tape and he INSISTED that would lead us further off course. I felt too weak to argue and followed this complete stranger down a trail, off the course, headed back to Paso Picacho where the next aid station should be. The trail said .6 miles or did it? a while later it said .8 miles...or did it? I was furious. I totally doubted this guy. I was thinking after ALL of this...the months of prep, telling friends, 25 miles of trails, blisters I could already feel...after all that, I was going to DNF? oh heck NO. When we hit the main road, I was still not talking to John. He kept telling me to hitch a ride back with someone. I wasn't talking to him. I was furious. If I had been properly hydrated, I'd have been crying.

Finally I saw some runners across the road on a trail and they said the aid station was just up the road. WHEW!! I ran the rest of the way there, jumped the fence and frantically asked what mile it was. Mile 25! My Garmin read 27.22 so I wasn't too far off. I was seeing people who I knew I was ahead of at the last aid station so I asked where Mike was and he hadn't checked into that aid station. I began to worry about him. This is also where I ran into Rachel, who was white as a sheet, thought she'd broken her finger and was asking what she should do. I was already in a state and all I could muster was, "drop, just drop if it's broken". I also saw Stephen and Tom from our Dirt Devils running group. I think I saw more people but again, I was still trying to mentally recover from the last 35 minutes of being lost and thinking I was going to DNF.

I grabbed what I needed and took off. Somewhere in this next section, I found myself running with Tom. I know this because as I was following John again (from a distance) I had inadvertently made ANOTHER wrong turn and Tom yelled, "JEN! WRONG WAY!" and waved me back on track. Thank God. Seriously. Thank God. I was ready to cry again.

We crossed the main road again and were at the mile 32 aid station. I finally had my hydration pack refilled and loaded with ice. Grabbed 3 sandwich quarters, pretzels, gulped water and coke and took off. That was my longest aid station visit yet. This next section was pure hell. It had to have been like 2 miles up on this winding dirt fire road. Later I heard that Doc had named it Mt. A$$hole. Appropriately so. It just.would.not.end. This is where I seriously began to see flaws in my training plan. The part of the plan where I never run hills. It did have breathtaking views at the top...blue sky, green growths, red dirt all stood in stark contrast to the dead trees that remained after the last wildfires.

On the other side of this mountain, I made my way down to the mile 36 aid station. Still looking for Mike, #63 still hadn't checked in. I could not fathom how I could go 2 miles off course and still be ahead of him...I was really worried. I had all kinds of guilt for not staying with him and wondering if he was as miserable as I was. At this point I could feel the blisters on both feet and the toenail that was being destroyed by every downhill stretch of trail. I had my hydration pack filled again. Felt like I was staying on top of my water and salt tablets but the thought of food was making me ill and I was starting to go longer and longer between gulps of water because I was feeling sick. I grabbed a cup of coke, a few pretzels and left the aid station.

This is where things started going fuzzy. I kept trying to do mile/time math but my brain wouldn't work. When I passed mile 38, the place where John and I had found ourselves lost earlier in the day, I was finally able to appreciate how he managed to talk me out of going further off course. I was so thankful he was there and got us back on course! I hit mile 40 majorly disheartened because I knew I was really at mile 38. ugh. see? It's like I was 2 miles behind but was really 2 miles ahead and I was so confused. I don't remember much of that until we came back out near the road and headed under the bridge to the last aid station. This would be the last picture I took because between here and the finish, I lost my camera.

I vaguely remember that last aid station. I remember trying to stop and swaying. I have this problem with never stopping gracefully once I'm spent and this was the first time of the day that I felt that feeling wash over me. Doc's wife Krista was there again, she'd been at most of the aid stations all day helping. What an angel! I don't know what I was babbling to her but she thought it was pretty funny. I think there was a lot of cussing going on. Shocking really.

Somehow. someway. By the Grace of God Almighty. I made it through that last 8 miles. It was another fire road situated perfectly in the blazing sun which for the first time of the day, started bothering me. Then narrow, narrow, trails that were freaking me out! I was sure a snake was going to bite me. Every time I found a creek to cross, I stopped and plunged my swollen hot hands into it for a minute or 2 and there were 2 more spots along this section where I was able to take a moment for this trail luxury.

I heard and saw where people were finishing a good 10 minutes before I wound my way around the trail to get there. I came upon a lady about .2 miles from the finish and she said, "it's right around the corner" and I sorta pathetically whined, "really?" knowing full well this was a regular spectator offense where they like to mislead runners with "you're almost there" screams when we really have another mile to go. Sure enough, I rounded that corner and there it was. Sweet Jesus! I just kept saying, "Thank you God" over and over again.

Everyone was at the finish. Sam, Lori, and Ryan had finished 20 minutes ahead of me and were still there hanging out. Rachel had DNF'd but was there with her boyfriend too. Krista and Tom's wife were there waiting for them. Lisa from church had been at a few of the aid stations and was there at the finish too.

Without skipping a beat, I of course go straight into pathetic mode. I was completely spent. Done. I just wanted to get my legs up...my feet and legs were throbbing so bad. I had a coke and some pizza and eventually made my way to a sitting position. But someone was kind enough to capture my feet up moments of misery...

From left to right: Lori, Rachel, Sam, Ryan, and then there's me laying down.

Stephen and Tom arrived about an hour after me, Mike was soon after that, followed by Doc and Whitney. Then Erin, a girl who had was with our group but I hadn't met yet. Notice how everyone is smiling? I'm trying to keep my eyes open but I had major broken blood vessels in both eyes and could hardly see. Nice.

From Left to right: Mike, Whitney, Me, Doc, Tom, Tom's wife, Krista (Doc's wife)

Front row: Stephen and Erin

I was inadequately trained for this in as much as I did not run enough hills. However, in 19 days I ran 3 marathons and one 50 mile ultra marathon so maybe my legs were a little fatigued? I did manage to escape the last 3 weeks with no injuries (blisters and lost toenails don't count) and I have a new found confidence that I am ready to up my training to incorporate hills, more trails, and speed work.

There were 111 starters and 89 finishers. The highest number of DNF's (did not finish) in years. Official results have me in 11hours and 5 minutes...I did not make my sub 10 hr goal, nor did I place where I wanted but oh well. I swore, literally swore, that I'd never do that again. Now that my toenail has come off and quit oozing, and John Martinez found and returned my camera to me today, I'm thinking I'm going to have to go back and kick this course's butt next year.

OC Marathon, May 3, 2009

2009-05-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

I decided that since it was the last local marathon until fall (besides the San Diego Rock n Roll which I'm already registered for), I'd have to do this one too. I registered for it last Sunday, the day after I ran Hard Corp. After being sorely disappointed by what I thought was going to be a flat course at HC, this seemed like the flat course I was looking for. Plus, I'd be running another marathon at about 75% and thought that would be good training for this weekend's 50 miler.

The race was scheduled to start at 6:30am and I realized I'd have to be up and driving by 2:30 to make it there, yuck! A fellow maniac, Sam, and his wife, Tiffany,who live near the race, offered me their very comfortable couch and I couldn't resist! I was so thankful! Sam also picked up my race package on Friday and saved me an extra trip to OC...whew! I got up there Saturday night and had a great time hanging out and chatting with them.

OC Marathon had new race directors this year and did a pretty good job of organizing this race. They did FAIL on the porta potties...there couldn't have been more than 20 at the start for, I dunno, like 8,000 runners. It was bad.

My only goal this week was to run hard enough to beat my time at Hard Corp and remain injury free. I was pretty nicely situated in the corral. I wished Sam well, he was aiming for a sub 3 and hung out and talked with Jeff, a RW friend, who was running the half.

The race started off with a nice gentle downhill slope the first several miles. I was feeling good but every time my garmin beeped a mile, I was noticing I was running sub 8's and sorta kicking myself...too fast. By the 13.1 mile, I was at 1:44:xx which put me on track for a 3:30 finish. heh. That would be nice.

I was passed by a girl named Cindy and caught back up with her at around mile 17 or so. She was aiming for a BQ of 3:40 but started to fade. I stayed with her a bit but she started walking so I ran back and offered her my last gu and she took it. I regretted that by mile 21 when I started fading and cramping. Oh well. I knew I could still go sub 3:40.

At mile 23, Brandy showed up with her kiddos and I was so happy to hear someone cheer for me! She took a bunch of pictures...don't I look happy?

:insert chick commentary: I can't believe my thighs are THAT big :end of chick chat:

I saw her again at mile 26 but at that point I just kept hoping the course would be short, I was DONE! No such luck. When I rounded the final corner, I gave it my all. Finished in 3:36:28 and got another 3rd place in my age group. Got to hang out with friends at the finish and had a nice breakfast at IHop with everyone. A really, really good time!

All in all, it was a great race, I liked the course (many didn't), and I plan on doing it again next year.

Last night a Navy Helicopter crashed in the mountains near the trail we will be running this weekend. We won't find out until tomorrow if the race is on. I'm on the edge of my seat.

2009 Camp Pendleton Hard Corp Marathon

2009-04-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

How do you recover from running the Boston Marathon? sign up for another marathon 5 days later. Pure genius!

I decided that my Marathon Maniac status, though well deserved by completing 2 Ultra Marathons and 1 Marathon in 77 days, needed an update. Alright, so big whoopty doo, I know others have done far more extreme streaks but this is my first, so bear with me. With my ongoing cycle of train-race-injury, successfully completing 2 marathons in 5 days, injury free, is a huge feat for me!

It was a perfect day starting out...sunny, 57 degrees. Last minute, I decided to take off my long sleeve and put on my Marathon Maniac racing singlet that I have never worn. That was probably a great move since it was warming up. I thought this course was going to be a nice flat recovery race, so I skipped our group 30mile run in favor of Hard Corp. I was wrong. I felt like if I wasn't going up, I was going MORE UP. gah. The winds were more than I'd usually volunteer for, coming in 20+mph gusts for the entire first half and other parts later in the race.

I was heading straight for a digression run as opposed to a PRO-gression run when you aim to slowly speed up, I was clocking progressively slower miles. Midway, I was thinking I'd come in under 3:40 but as I hit mile 20, I stopped looking at my watch and started picking off the female competition. I passed 8-10 women that last 10k and tons of guys, many bent over rubbing out cramps or staggering with them.

I finished with a 3:41:50 and won 3rd in the 35-39yo Age Group. How's that for a small race! I even got some extra hardware for that title!

Snakey and Me

2009-04-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, in a lifetime far far away... Our family did karate for a few years. The sensei was a snake fanatic. Seriously. We went to his house for a BBQ and he had almost NO furniture. He did have one room entirely dedicated to his snake collection. Rare, poisonous, numerous snakes. and mice factories that provided fresh food for his crew. This all means absolutely nothing other than it's just weird.

For some reason, we decided to go to a reptile show with him in July of 2001. It was love at first sight. Ok, that's a stretch. I'm pretty sure the reasons we settled on Snakey went something like, A. I wanted to get the heck outta there. B. he was non-poisonous and C. he was cheap.

Being the incredibly creative people we are, we thought long (5minutes or so) and hard (not really) about naming the newest member of our clan. Snakey was a unanimous choice and easy to remember.

He was so cute.

That fall Snakey disappeared. The snake container went into the garage.

Spring of 2002, he was found in the office. We put him back in his container.

We moved to our new house in June of 2004 and Snakey immediately escaped. The snake container moved to the side of the house with our trash.

Late September of 2004, he showed up a few houses away. We put him back in his container.

Spring of 2008 Snakey bit me for the very LAST time! After Mike pried him from my finger, he threw him into the canyon.

Today, as I was minding my own buisness, sitting on the patio, look who has returned!

The snakey container is GONE.

113th Boston Marathon

2009-04-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

Boston 2009...incredible!

I met Jackie and Louis here in Boston last year. Louis BQ'd at his first marathon in Surf City and was ready to set a PR at Boston. Jackie caught the bug and BQ'd at her second marathon in Tuscon. We have been running buddies this cycle and it has made long runs incredibly enjoyable to chat away for 3 hours. We flew out on the same flight and kicked off the weekend with a picture in front of the first poster we found at the baggage claim.

Headed to Legal Seafood for dinner, we had to wait for a table and killed time in lululemon. Fortunately, they were offering complimentary food and drinks, and a banner to sign with our goal time. I wrote "Jennifer 3:35" right under "I will"

After a yummy lobster roll at LS, we headed over to the Runner's World Forum Encounter at The Beerworks. Time for blueberry ales with my Cali peeps!

Sunday morning we headed to the Race Expo at the Hynes Convention Center

OOOOH, the excitement...time to pick up the bibs!

another amazing volunteer...they are all celebrities! Bib: check

Stopping to watch a video of the course. That little section of the expo was packed for every loop of that video. It seems really long when you sit and watch.

Walking up Boylston after the expo, picture of the finish line. Sweet!

Heading over to try to get tickets to a red Sox game: FAIL This is THE CITGO sign we look for at mile 25...you know you're almost there! This is behind Fenway park.

I was really scared this horse would hurt me but I couldn't resist...hahaha!

We have to pass through the Circus Tent while in line to the pre-race pasta dinner. Because a man in spandex, doing acrobats with a chihuahua, is supposed to ...nevermind. You can see.

Race morning at the Boston Commons, Red Bull in hand, getting ready to load the bus for the trip to Hopkinton.

Off the bus in Hopkinton and you see a few of the porta potties lining the Athlete's Village.

Entering the Athlete's Village to wait for a few hours.

The Famous Sign...

Finally found Marion in the Village!

After the pictures, we headed to the porta potties, dropped off our gear bags, and made our way to the start line. I needed to go to the bathroom again at the start but knew I wouldn't have time so I waited until just after mile 15 where I lost 1:47 waiting for a bathroom. ARGH! oh well. I was on pace until then...pretty on course for a 3:30 which was my pie in the sky goal. After losing the time and fighting to catch back up, I lost too much time on the Newton hills to recover. The winds were picking up, I was getting cold but once I hit mile 21, I had a huge surge of energy...only 5 miles to go!!! That last 10k was by far the best. I made my last turn onto Boylston and was brought to tears again. Incredible.

The worst part of the race was the finish line...it was SO cold and windy! I finished 3:34:34 which was fine. A course record for me and just under the 3:35 I had estimated, so I was pleased.

Jackie came in strong and I was SO happy for her! Tiny little thing ran the entire course in short sleeves...I was cold just looking at her.

Our post race dinner at Beerworks. Barb and Jackie both had marathon PR's here and it was quite the celebration! I scarfed down the biggest hamburger and order of fries...and then secretly wished I had chocolate chip cookies and milk.

Cooper James hits the double digits!

2009-04-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

It's early but the festivities have begun! Cooper James turns 10 on Monday, April 13. Cooper was my first homebirth and my fastest birth of the four boys. My water broke, contractions began and 35 minutes later Cooper arrived minutes after the Midwife. I tease him that he was in hurry to get here and he still hasn't stopped running. Literally. The boy runs EVERYWHERE. from kitchen to bedroom, from house to car, from any point A to any point B. If he needs to get somewhere, he runs. And funny. Cooper is our entertainer. He always has us cracking up and he is a joy to be around. He's flying through 4th grade this year and looking forward to running MORE races. I don't know where he gets that from...

Keeping with that theme, one birthday request was to do the Jr. Carlsbad again this year. It was cold at the start and I brought the race blanket

he did great...1 mile in 8:06. He got a cool medal!

Today was his birthday party at UltraZone...a LaserTag place. Mike and I switched off being the 8th member of our team and I had a BLAST! hahaha! We had pizza, soda and cake in bewteen games. His brother made sure he would be in every picture...

and a rare picture of the two of us together. I just love this guy!

blog? oh yeah, that.

2009-03-22T17:37:00.001-07:00

It's been a while. Lots happening but with Facebook being the ultimate in one sentence updates, I've gotten lazy about blogging.

Training is going great. 8 weeks into marathon training and I hit an all time weekly mileage of 83.3 miles. I feel good today...tomorrow might turn into a rest day. 4 weeks left until race day and that's when we will see why 18week marathon training schedules are better than 12week schedules.

I did make a last minute decision to run a 10k last weekend. That's a KILLER distance to race. I came in the ever-dreaded-and-quickly-forgotten-4th place in age group. It was a personal best though, so I was happy.

Boston bib numbers are posted...I'm 9968. Exciting to move up from the 17,000's last year and land in the first wave. This year I will start at 10am and the Boston Marathon website will have live tracking.

My brother will be coming home stateside for a mid-deployment R&R. Cooper turns 10 in 3 weeks and gets a dollar a day helping the neighbor girl with her homework. Connor has mad guitar skills! Cole is, yet again, immersed in a book. Curran is reading and has perfected writing his name in cursive!

I've still got a job, YAY! It's a huge help considering the orthodontist bill we just got for Cole's phase 2. I think this whole 2 phase orthodontics is a bunch of BS and a rip off. They slay you in phase one and use up all of your insurance, then hand you a $5000 bill for the second phase. I feel violated. :(

Rain Rain GO AWAY!!!

2009-02-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

I decided today was a good time to take the 4 days running, one day off, advice. It's COLD, 25+ mph winds, and rainy. This weather always brings back PTSD from Surf City '08.

Running has been good...and bad, lately. Good that I've been able to run and even got a 15miler in on Saturday. Bad because it still hurts (not as bad) but with each finished run, I worry if I'll be able to run the next day. I hurt a lot yesterday and a bit today so I'm hoping the rest will make tomorrow's run better.

Pictures from Curran's bowling party. He had a blast!

He picked the Creme de Minthe cake for his party on Sunday.

and he picked Daddy's Special Icecream Cake for his actual birthday on Thursday. Crushed oreo cookie crust, chocolate chip icecream with snickers chunks, topped with more oreos and chocolate syrup. YUM!

and these are the kind of pictures Mike takes of me. Out of 10 pictures, at least 9 of them are me with food in my mouth or at least trying to rid the food from my mouth. He either lacks a photographer's eye or I eat too much.

Creme de Minthe Cake

2009-02-06T16:21:00.000-08:00

don't be scared...try it. Trust me. This is a recipe I got from my mother in law many years ago and I have never known anyone who didn't love this!

1 yellow cake mix
2 small pistachio pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 C oil
1/3 C Creme de Minthe
1 C sour cream
16oz chocolate chips

mix together (don't be scared by the thickness of the batter). pour into greased/nonstick bundt pan. Bake @ 350 for 50min. Let cool and dump out of pan onto plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Random pictures

2009-01-26T16:25:00.001-08:00

Today Dr. Runco gave me a pep talk re: Boston and told me I needed inspiration so he gave me this poster. This is a picture of a sign in Boston. Fitting. Although, after doing a few ultra marathons, 26.2 doesn't seem like such a beast anymore.

While I was going through pictures, I found this one of Connor and Curran from last November. My kids are brothers through and through, there are times they get along and other times they seem like mortal enemies. One of the treasures of being a homeschooling mom is capturing moments like this. Big brother doing school with little brother. This is actually a pretty regular combination and I love it. Considering the huge 8 year age gap, this is a memory building activity for both of them.

01-26-09 Registration CLOSED!

2009-01-26T14:58:00.000-08:00

Registration for the 2009 Boston Marathon closed today. No waiting list, no day of race registration, no bib transfers, no last minute Boston Qualifying times for those planning to squeeze in February races. Bummer! I'm SOOOOO glad Marion didn't hold out for Myrtle Beach!

So now I need a roommate.

Oh and there's that pesky buisness of trying to build a running base and train for a marathon in 12 weeks. HAHAHA! So many numbers running through my head. I wonder what kind of day it will be? Will I barely manage a sub 4 or can I bring my best game to The Marathon of marathons this year?

I am running again. Sometimes it hurts a little, sometimes it hurts more, someday the pain will pass. I long to pound out a 20 miler around the bay/ocean front. If I can just get off the DeAnza Cove boardwalk and make the 8mile loop around, I'll be happy I've made some progress. For now, I'm happy that I wake up pain free and only hurt while running. That's progress.

Thankful for every mile.

2009-01-23T18:30:00.000-08:00

I ran 1 mile last night. Awesome. Didn't hurt really bad until the halfway point but woke up this morning pain free. Another 2.5 tonight, wishing it was longer but it was still painful. When I say painful, I mean 4-5 on a pain scale. It used to hurt just putting my foot down in a running motion but now it's a bit higher up in the calf.

Trigger Point Syndrome. Which is sorta like myofascial pain syndrome. Which really just means, really sore calves that have been trashed. Classic case. Huge knotted muscle spasms in my calves...not just in one spot but several. I've been having myofascial release work done to the point that I have big bruises on several of the spots. Myofascial release is basically, very deep tissue massage intended to break up the muscle spasms and scar tissue. IT feels like hot knives being ground into my leg. I just figure a few minutes of that is worth the eventual hours of running I will be able to run again.

So as I finished up tonight, feeling that pain and a little disappointed I had to stop at 2.5, I met Martin. He finished his run behind me and asked about my Surf City shirt I was wearing. Sometimes you have divine appointments that just puts everything in perspective. Martin has terminal Leukemia and just underwent his first round of chemo. I felt like crying when he told me his story. He wants to register for AFC in August but isn't sure he can plan life that far in advanced. We talked for a good 30 minutes...running, injuries, races...he thanked me for stopping to talk and I thanked him. We laughed and encouraged each other...he wished me well with my injuries, I told him I hope he kicks Leukemia's butt.

I'm thankful for every mile and the idea that I feel like I can plan life, 6 months in advanced.

A pain free day

2009-01-21T15:40:00.000-08:00

What is this? No pain today?

Monday I saw Dr. R and rented a TENS unit for a week. I used it on several different places on both legs, Monday night and again yesterday. I felt almost immediate relief on Monday night. Today... no pain when my feet hit the ground first thing out of bed. No pain walking fast. No pain getting up and down. No pain when I do a very gentle running motion. I'm not sure if I remember what no pain feels like.

Thank you God! I could just cry!

So, I'm giving it another day. More TENS tonight and massage tomorrow and then Friday. Friday is the day. Friday I try running.

A great moment in American History...

2009-01-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow's the day!

2009-01-16T23:15:00.000-08:00

gonna take the legs for a spin! Hopefully my morning walk will be a run/walk.

The inlaws are in for the weekend so time is not my own. They took Coop and Curran with them to the hotel to spend the night. They have a set of bunk beds in the room-????? Why not?

It is a TOTALLY different vibe in this house with just the 2 oldest boys here.

Almost 20

2009-01-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd get there. Funny, just 6weeks ago, I'd log 20 miles in 2 days, now I'm just hoping to get to 20 in a week. No such luck. I needed 3 today and after 356ft (according to garmin) I couldn't stand the pain anymore.

To add salt to my miserable wounds, the Chargers are losing.

Ok, so it's not that bad. Earlier at the bay, I was watching a family walking together, pushing a young person in a wheelchair. I gotta think I'm blessed that I can be up moving around and cognizant of my surroundings. I am blessed. I'll run again.

First run of the new year!

2009-01-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

In the last 4 weeks, I've run 18 miles. After weeks of massage, ultrasound, and mostly NO running, today's run felt just as awful as it felt 3+ weeks ago. I might even say it felt worse.

I'm beyond frustrated.

I ran 6 miles this evening and it hurt every step of the way but it felt SO good to be out there. I left the bay and headed straight for the office and did some ultrasound with Sombra. I won't really know how bad it is until morning.

I'm running in the morning unless I absolutely can NOT walk.

Park Day

2008-12-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

We finally took Curran's training wheels off today. A year later than the other 3 but at least we did it before he turned 6, hahaha!

Curran brought his Adventure Joe with him and they went on the swings.

Adventure Joe's swinging FAIL

and here's Boston...

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T15:43:00.000-08:00

Let me just preface this with the fact that I have only run 2 times since my last race on Dec 7. I have a marathon on Feb 1. I can't get in to see my fix-me-up Dr. until Jan 2. You do the math. So, I'm grumpy. and I can't take a decent picture with my camera to save my life. now that that's out of the way...

So Christmas. It was fun in a usual fun sorta way. Christmas seems to be either magical or one colossal mishap after another. This was a healthy dose of both.

I did all the Christmas shopping and spent Monday night at the office wrapping gifts and figuring out that I hadn't shopped evenly. Ignoring what was going on with my body. By Tuesday midday I was feeling like poop and had no energy to do anything in between shifts. By Tuesday night I was in the ER with a raging UTI. They didn't let me leave until 2am. Work on Wed was rough. I came home and spent the afternoon in bed while Mike took the boys out to do his Christmas shopping. Later that afternoon, we snuck out for final stocking items.

By 8pm I had my first meltdown but recovered in 15 minutes. We had a lovely fire,
watched a movie
and sent the kids to bed so we could finish up.
Unfortunately, I fell asleep on the couch but Mike actually picked up the slack and took care of everything, including cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Christmas morning we opened stockings.

The big kids helped the littles with Legos.

I sat with my new laptop.

The big hits were the legos, wi, Mike got a new backpack, and of course my new laptop.

And then the photo opportunity of the year was lost in screaming chaos. Christmas morning I had prepared a roast...complete with red potatoes, onions and too much garlic, yum! Threw in some onion soup and basted with red wine all day. It was finally done in the afternoon. I pulled it out for a while and decided to set it back in oven to keep warm while I set the table with our finest china and crystal, cooked the asparagus, and poured the Christmas ale. Almost time for pictures! As I pulled the roast out of the oven, the disposable aluminum pan it was cooking in, collapsed and roast, potatoes, and yummy juices went all down the front of my legs. I was screaming...half in pain and half in terror as I watched my dinner spill all over the floor. Mike ran in and yanked my pants off of me(he's such a pro, lol) and got me into a cold water shower. Then he went back and rescued what was left.

Sigh. they said it was good. Oh well. The burns weren't bad at all...only one blister.

Oh, the memories.

Hope you all enjoyed the Reason for the Season. We are blessed.

Rock n Roll Trio

2008-12-23T07:17:00.000-08:00

The musical note medal came yesterday! From left to right is the '08 San Diego Rock n Roll marathon medal , the 08 San Antonio Rock n Roll Marathon medal, and for completing 2 Rock n Roll events in 1 year, I got the extra treble clef (sp?). Kinda fun. Some year I'm going to clear my calender and run all the RnR events just for the heck of it.

In some circles the cool admission is that you don't care about medals...you stick em in a box, give them away to your kids, or toss em. I have a hook over my desk that is straining to hold them all...I may need another.

Spandex is Fun!

2008-12-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

Just a shout out to an online friend from RW. I ran the entire 32.9 miles of my first ultra with Lori and we talked pretty much the whole time. It was probably the most fun I'd ever had. Well, Lori is pretty awesome. Ran her first marathon in June and went straight for the world of Ultra Marathons. I have no idea how many she's done but I do know she's pretty darn good. Even TrailRunner Magazine thinks so.

Did you know that according to a scientist, in 10 years I will need to have the cartilage in my knees replaced? I learn something new everyday and every day I am less impressed with the lone Dr. in the room who sees their chance to pretend they know everything. I hope I know this person in 10 years when I'm still going strong. nevermind that darn calf of mine. LOL.

Maniac

2008-12-13T08:18:00.000-08:00

I'm a Marathon Maniac.

I even have a number for my stupidity, 1231.

I don't feel any different, in fact I feel a bit stupid-er because I can't physically run right now. The bronze entry level is 3 marathons in 90 days, I completed 2 ultra-marathons and 1 marathon in 71 days. Some of the different levels are crazy. I don't think I'll ever open that crazy. I just wanna run.

That's it.

2008-12-11T22:52:00.000-08:00

I guess I'm doing it. After today's painful massage therapy, why not? Boston 09. I just made flight arrangements and registered. I'm actually excited because I'm on the same flight and staying at the same hotel as another couple from here, so we can share cabs. Plus, they are fun people!

I just stayed up late to make chocolate chip banana bread for the boys...they are going to be SO excited tomorrow when they wake up! Tomorrow, Cole is going to help me bake a Creme de menthe cake for the office party tomorrow night...if I can find some creme de menthe.

Cole and Cooper are going to be in the Christmas play this weekend. They missed dress rehearsal last Sunday so I'm very nervous for them. So then I try to help them practice and I sound like a stage mom.

Tomorrow I pay Connor to climb up on the roof and put the lights up. I can't. Mike doesn't. 13 more days until Christmas and our house sits at the end of the street like a dark cloud. Maybe we'll get a tree on Saturday...and Christmas cards? gah. I'm running out of time!

uh, honey. you got some 'splainin to do.

2008-12-08T17:06:00.000-08:00

caught red handed! That is NOT me...that's the female winner.

Oh there are so many things I could say about this picture. Mike was mortified when I relayed the news. This is a friend from our trail running group and when she hit mile 29 at the High Desert, her hamstring seized and Mike was trying to help. Unfortunately, it was too irresistible for the photographer to pass up.

here I am...half smiling, half crying as I hit mile 29 because Mike was there to run with me for a bit.

High Desert 50k

2008-12-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

ok, so I am sick. and broken. but race day is race day so never mind that.

Mike drove the kids up to Tehachapi to see his dad on Thursday. I stayed behind to work and hit the road mid-day Friday. I had taken the camera battery out to recharge it and then, you guessed, I forgot it.

FIL~Jim, turned 75 on Saturday. We celebrated with pizza on Friday night after I arrived. Doug (Mike's brother) was there with Finn(5)and Catie(3), and the kids had a great time. Saturday we visited Doug's ranch and the kids got to play with the dogs, the cats, the goat (Henry) and the horses. It was a short visit. Evidently they cleaned before we got there, ahem, and still there was no clean place to sit down.

Mike and I left for Ridgecrest at about 3. It was a beautiful drive through Red Rock Canyon...we want to take the kids there someday to camp. We checked into the hotel and headed out to find the start line of the race and then over to pick up the race packets and meet other ultra-runners at the pre-race pasta dinner. It was yummy. I wanted to chuckle at the crowd. Very...mixed. Lots and lots of older folks who just do their thing. Ultra after ultra after ultra. Mellow, easy going people.

I slept horribly, again. My head just aches at night...my ears hurt and my sinuses were so painful. ugh. That and my calf just would.not.stop.hurting. Mike kept giving me sideway glances but didn't dare suggest I don't run. I spent a good 2 hours coughing but that was ok since I fell asleep at 7am and was ready to get up by 4.

Two red bulls, a bag of funyuns, and all my race gear together, I headed for the hotel breakfast. Settled on a piece of toast and good conversation with a few other runners. I wasn't nervous...I was more just dreading the day and wanting it to be over.

We arrived at the college and made our way inside the gym to make potty stops and acclimate to the cold. I slowly stripped off my warm ups, vest, and ear wrap and took them back to the car. Mike and I headed for the start. Ha. They said a prayer and most people were quiet and after it ended, "in the name of Jesus Christ we pray" everyone cheered AMEN! That was a nice way to start. oh, well... someone said GO! and away we went.

Around the parking lot and onto the road. Every step hurt and it was really hard for me to breathe, was already winded by mile 1. It was crowded and the road was mostly deep soft sand which is a fine how-do-you-do to my achilles and calf. I dropped my chapstick and Mike ran back to get it. How was I going to make it without him? It was pretty much up hill for the first 12 miles. Ok, so some would say a gradual ascent but I call it uphill. I lost Mike at the first aide station...grabbed some chips and proceeded to cough on them for half a mile before I gave up and threw them down. Mike split with the 30k'ers at the 5 mile mark.

I fell in step with some guy with a thick spanish accent. Every once in a while, if I really focused my brain on what he was saying, I could understand him. I don't know what he was doing with his nose but every few seconds he sorta blasted or snorted or something. He was nice enough but I was glad to leave him and his snortling behind. It started getting steeper and I began to walk the ups and fall behind people. Then I'd catch up. Then I'd walk the ups and fall behind. Then I'd catch up. Didn't these people understand Ultra 101. ? WALK THE UPS!!! I eventually left those I was with behind, and moved up in the crowd.

The scenery was gorgeous. Someone said it wasn't a very scenic course but I enjoyed it. The trail was rough, rocky, sandy, tedious but wide. And uphill. Did I mention this yet? Fortunately I gained lost time on the downhills. I was trying not to favor my right side in hopes my left wouldn't follow suit. The aide stations were ok. I mostly just grabbed gatorade and either chips, pretzels or an orange slice and kept moving.

By mile 15 my hands were hotdogs. I was thinking Mike was almost done and I was jealous. I waited until mile 19 to call him on my cell phone and congratulate him. He sounded great and he finished in 2:48 which was really great too! I was getting more and more frustrated with the constant uphill and the fact that I'd pass people and then they'd pass me all over again while they RAN the uphill. I was thinking maybe *I* was the one with the wrong strategy. Finally at mile 24 I pushed ahead and passed 8 to 10 people I'd been leap frogging and took off.

Mile 25 was no mans land. I was lonely. Tired. Pouting. and a little freaked out at how alone I was. I couldn't see anyone and started looking around for mountain lions. So I called Marion. We chatted. I needed to bend someone's ear. It started raining and it was getting colder. I thought about the gloves I had shed and stuck in my hydration pack but I was too tired to try to retrieve them so I just hunkered down.

About mile 28 I started singing. I dunno. whatever. I was moaning too. I guess I was doing more moaning than singing. When what do I see before me? way ahead, like a tease? The college! I was coming up on a turn and could see a photographer in his truck and Mike was there! I started to cry and frantically wave my hands. I was never so happy to see him. He fell in step beside me and the only person to catch me, passed us by as I started pouting and walking up ANOTHER UP. There was a turn onto the road and a photographer coming up and Mike and I held hands and smiled. He walked from there and I ran the final bit down and around the parking lot.

I had my finish all planned out. Stop with dignity. Well, I actually planned to run across the finish and walk away with dignity when someone blocked my path and started tugging on my race bib. Dignity lost, I was swaying and crumbling.

It was cold. windy. cold. windy. I was never so glad to be done. I grabbed something and kept walking. Everything in my body hurt which was an odd comfort that no one part of my body hurt more than the other.

Pizza. coke. a change into warm clothes and we were on the road. We met Mike's dad at 1:44 and I walked into our home at 5:10. The longest drive ever.

Mission accomplished: I reached Marathon Maniac status.

I'll post pictures later this week.

I am NOT sick.

2008-12-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

I don't get sick. Ok, so I get the occasional migraine but that's not really sick that's just needy. However, the current vision impairing pressure in my head, soreness in my throat, and overall yucky feeling I have been suffering from the last 2 days could not be sickness.

I was up all night with painful ear pressure and Dr. B adjusted them (read: tugged really hard on my earlobe until something popped) this morning and now they feel completely better.

If this were a normal, average running week, I'd still be running. Since I have a big race this weekend that requires the entire family traveling some 5+ hours away, I'm being hyper-vigilant and taking extra good care of myself...before I get sick...because I'm not sick.

Thanksgiving was good. No pictures because I forgot the camera. It doesn't matter...I haven't been uploading pics because the uploader isn't working and I think one more picture will send my 6yo computer over the edge. Was saving to get a new one but we just spent over 1k in car repairs. gah. It'll be a few more months.

San Antonio Inagural Rock n Roll Marathon

2008-11-22T13:23:00.000-08:00

San Antonio, November 16, 2008. The perfect race destination...I get to see my sister, Marcy, and her family AND run a race. Without Marcy and John's help, this trip would not have been possible. Thanks sis! Along the way, I hooked Marion with the idea of running this race in hopes of her getting a Boston Qualifying time and a roommate in Bean Town in 09. There is also the added bonus that I would get a Rock n Roll extra medal for doing 2 RnR events in a calendar year. Ultimately, my motives were truly selfish in that I had one good run this year. Then injury struck and I found disappointment in Boston and the San Diego Rock n Roll. I was determined to come back from my spring failures, stronger and better than ever.

Training

I had one plan post injury: stay healthy and run a LOT. I embarked on a 20 week training plan. The first 2 weeks were recovery/base building. Then I hit 50miles per week and never looked back. Previous marathon training cycles, I peeked at 40-50 miles per week and ran 2 to 3 20 mile runs. This training cycle I ran 16 weeks of 60 to 75 miles per week, five 20 mile runs, one 21 miler, one 22 miler, one 23 miler and a 32.9 ultra marathon. The majority of my runs were 60+ seconds slower than my marathon goal pace (MGP). After suffering a pretty bad sprain during my Sept ultra, I knew I was teetering on dangerous ground...needing to do some speed work but also avoiding injury. I did one long run at MGP...16 miles at a 7:44 pace. From that I extrapolated a 7:50 overall marathon pace. That put me at 3:25. I had more people who believed I could do it than I did so I was going to be content with a sub 3:30

San Antonio

I arrived in SA Friday night and met my new best friend Marion. This lady has the energy of the energizer bunny! Amazing. We immediately hit it off and pulled an all nighter Friday night and got up to run 4 miles on the treadmill to work off the last minute jitters. Be jealous...not everyone can look this fabulous at 5AM.

Marcy and John picked us up to take us to the expo. Leonor and Johnny, my niece and nephew were true heroes. They followed us around to all the marathon festivities with nary a complaint. The sweetest kids ever!

The expo was crazy. The wind was HOWLING on Saturday and I absolutely HATE running in the wind. I kept saying silent prayers to please let there be no wind on Sunday. We headed into the Alamo-dome and it was way too packed. I just wanted to find compression socks and gu Roctane. I found the Roctane and was DONE!

We left the expo for some lunch down by the river walk and a bit of Red Bull tomfoolery. My niece is in the background...possibly horrified at my antics.

We stopped off at Marcy's friends house for a lovely round of carnitas and caramel nutty apples. Mar and I were exhausted so we headed back to the hotel to get our gear ready and get in bed early.

Race

We both woke up before the 4:30 alarm...it was 3am and I was ready to go! I ate half a ham sandwich and Mar and I shared a pre-race toast to our race goals. I struggled to get my compression socks on and helped Mar with the new fangled timing strip.

Marcy and John were there to pick us up at 5am sharp. We headed off to the drop off spot and just as I had hoped, we were some of the first to arrive. We decided to hang out and keep warm while anxiously awaiting the 30,000 other runners who had better be on time! Where were they all? Texans must surely be laid back.

We finally left the car and headed to the start. Everything was perfect. The weather, no lines at the porta potty and the company. We chatted with several people and the mood (my mood) was anxiously excited. I was trying to stay calm and reassure Mar just how ready she was and how great she was going to do. I knew her body wouldn't fail and I wanted her head to stay in it.

The gun went off and I went into race mode. Mar and I agreed to run our own race so it was no surprise when I realized we were not together. I knew she'd be close behind. I never saw the alamo. The crowds were great in the areas where they were. The course was perfect...flat and fast. There were a few little hills but I was feeling strong. We hit mile 10 where the half marathoners split off from the full marathoners and that threw me off the next few miles. I kept thinking that 10mile mark was the halfway point.

I stayed on top of the water and roctane. Roctane at 5 miles and 11 miles. Water until mile 15 then I started alternating water and cytomex to keep my electrolytes steady. I was really irritated with the 3:30 group who I finally passed at mile 17. They were WAY ahead of pace and blocking the entire width of the road. The course was starting to get longer on my garmin as I started weaving around people who were slowing down. At mile 19 I passed this HUGE guy...he had to have been at least 6'3" and 250lbs. I thought, how on earth did this guy stay in front of me for so long? I took more gu at mile 16 and by mile 19 felt another surge and started steadily passing people. I even passed the girl with the pink shirt on that said, "You've just been chicked" and resisted the urge to say, "yeah, so have you!"

I took my last gu at mile 21 and soon we merged with the half marathoners. By mile 23 I was sorta feeling done and pushed it harder just to get done. I kept thinking of Mar and saying prayers...stay strong, you're almost there, don't stop! just willing her along. My splits kept coming up in the 7:40 range but I was running a long course, according to garmin, and knew that translated into a 7:50/3:25 finish.

As I came around the turn at mile 26 someone shouted, GO LONG SOCKS!!! I resisted the urge to e'splain myself but I had a good chuckle. Marcy and John got a pic of me in the final .2 stretch. There was a short hill that felt like a mountain and I hunkered down, determined to grab my 3:25. As soon as I reached the top and turned the corner, I sprinted like my life depended on it. The crowd was going crazy and all I could think of was, I can stop soon. I crossed... 3:25:02. Two seconds short of goal but holy smokes was I happy! Never one to end a race gracefully, 30 feet in I was swaying and had medics on either side of me handing me water and steadying me. I walked it off and snuck back up as close to the finish as I could get so I could see Mar cross. I knew she'd be in and I screamed when I saw her. I snuck back through to meet her and hug her. WOW. What a moment! I didn't know who I was happier for, her or me! She came in with a whopping 34 minute PR of 3:34 and a Boston Qualifying time!!! WOO HOO!!! It was a great moment. Really.

So there we are. Victorious!! Mar came in 17th in her age group, 88th woman overall. I came in 5th (out of 667) in my age group, 45th woman over all. There were 3511 women runners. We kicked butt. Perma grins the rest of the day...dare I say, week?

It was the perfect race for me. My splits were incredible. I ran a 1:42:28 the first half, and a 1:42:34 the second half. Mile one was 8min and the rest were 7min miles...20 of them in the 7:40 range. Nice and steady.

I've spent the week trying to catch up on sleep and get back into the training groove. I have another ultra in 2 weeks. Mike will be running the 30k. I ran 20 miles yesterday, 18 miles with Mike...the furthest he's ever run! Oh, I have plans for him...he has NO idea.

Welp. Back to ignoring the news.

2008-11-05T17:17:00.001-08:00

The name of my blog has everything to do with running etiquette and nothing to do with politics. I'm so far right, I'm on your left.

I had to stifle the bile that rose in my throat after yesterday's election results. I must say though, I was a little disappointed... I mean, I expected to be so wrong that the sky would be a bit bluer, some Disney-ish birds would be following me around tweeting happily, and possibly a check would arrive in the mail. Nothing. Nothing happened.

The one ray of sunshine is that here in California, the people have decided that marriage should be defined as a union between one man and one woman. I know. I know. Outrageous you say? Indeed! No worries. A judge will overturn what 53% of the population agrees on.

On the other hand, now your 14yo can go out and get an abortion without you, her parent, ever knowing. You do not have the right to counsel your own child in something as traumatic and possibly life/anatomically changing as this procedure. Good times, eh?

But on the other, other hand, while your minor child is getting an abortion without your consent or knowledge, we can now breath freely that chickens will be able to spread their wings before they are killed for food. We Californians have priorities!

Ok, for real. At least it's over. Right? I'm really hoping that the slack jawed, glassy eyed worshippers are right. Things will be better?

San Antonio is just 11 days away!

Let the Taper begin!

2008-10-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

Just over 2 weeks until San Antonio! My last 21 miler was Sunday. I did ok. It was the first time in months that I felt completely wiped out after the run. See, that makes sense to me. It's sorta like childbirth (don't I always use the childbirth analogy?), just when you think you can't take it anymore, one good push and, VOILA! you're done. Currently, I'm pushing.

Crazy people have me considering crazy goals. I was hoping that I could run sub 3:30. Now people have me all overconfident in that goal and suggest that I go sub 3:25. My only goal right now, is to run my butt off.

I got a new cell phone. I actually carry it with me and if you call, I will probably pick up...because it's SO cool! My 4 year old phone had reached relic status when Boston decided to put it out of it's misery. BAD DOG!!!

Good dog and BAD dog...guess who is who?

Watch me hit 300 miles for the month. See, now I'm all over this. Halloween and costumes? Not so much. I keep deferring to Mike and he in turns defers to me. Halloween is in 2 days. We need costumes and candy. bah humbug.

In closing...I realize the saying is, "it's not rocket science" or "it's not brain surgery". But it's SO much funnier when you say, "it's not rocket surgery." So when you hear someone at the gas pump use this version, don't correct them. You kill the funny. It's even deader than it was after I had to explain the funny.

The Continuing Saga of The Ankle

2008-10-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

The ankle. Remember? the one that snapped at mile 19 of my 32.9 mile race 2 weeks ago? Oh wait, here's a picture I never posted...

Two weeks later it looks like this

It was feeling great earlier this week after Dr. R worked on it and taped it up. Then this morning when I was wrestling with my compression socks, trying to get them on, I was a little too forceful and the ankle audibly SNAPPED again. gah. It hurt immediately. I did what any sane runner would do, when they are awake at 5AM heading out for a 22 mile run in the dark...I went. By mile 15 my planned 22 withered to 20. I managed 8 at MGP of 7:50, they felt easy and natural. However the pain in my ankle and ball of my foot did NOT feel easy or natural.

The problem is that I'm working 5 days a week for Chiropractor A and have to sneak off to Chiropractor B to seek treatment for my running injuries because he's just more specialized than Chiro A in the field of running related injuries. I feel like a cheating wife.

I'm going to do whatever it takes...even if that means a few days off running. gulp. I can do that. 3:29. That's the goal. Not weekly mileage. Not yearly mileage. Not pretty little bars on my graph. 3:29. I write it on my hand in sharpie every day.

I'm at about 40% confidence with this goal. I'm hoping that by looking at this number long and hard enough, I muster up what it takes on race day.

2008 Noble Canyon 50k

2008-09-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

Course:

32.9 miles from start to finish. The course covered the Noble Canyon Trail (NCT), a section of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and another bit of the Big Laguna Lake Trail. Mostly single rocky lane trail with sections of relief in the form of hard packed dirt.

Over 10,300ft of net elevation gain and loss.

Training:

I'd been back from injury and running consistently when I decided to check on this race again. It was a goal race for this year but since I was injured for the better part of 4 months and 2 marathons, I had pretty much written it off the list. I checked the registered runners list and saw an old friend Jill registered. Jill, another girl Jeri and I hooked up for 2 training runs...one 22 miler on the PCT and one 20miler on NCT. I felt pretty confident after those 2 runs. I was keeping my mileage in the 60-70 miles per week range and felt strong. All told, after I had recovered from injury, I had 13 weeks of training for this race.

Race:

I hate to even call this a race. Ultra-runners are a kick back group of easy going people. This seemed to have been as much of a social event/reunion as it was a race. Jill introduced me to several of her buddies as we stood around the conference center in the wee hours of the morning Saturday. I had gotten there at 6AM, it was pitch black and blissfully chilly. The moon was just a sliver and the stars were SO bright, that I even take note of that shows what a city girl I am.

I was hanging out with Jeri, Jill, and Steph. Thinking I would stick with them. Then I saw Lora, a fellow forumite from RW, and sat to talk with her a while. As we stood at the start, we all agreed the rule of the day was, "run your own race". No timing chips. We just stood at the start area and waited for the bull horn to go off. I just decided to go with whatever happened. I knew I didn't want to be back of the pack going TOOO slow, yet I didn't want to burn up and go too fast either. Lora caught me on the road to the trail head and thus began a 6 hour friendship.

The first part of the race, the 11.3 mile UP NCT was a lot of ups. I just kept my eyes on the feet in front of me. Once I realized Lora was behind me, we fell into easy conversation. Conversation was really key for me. "Key" as in, oh geez! we're already at the end of NCT! I felt great. The aid station people were awesome...they took off my camel pack and filled it up with water. I grabbed a potato, some pringles and a handful of chips. Snapped open the Red bull I had in my backpack, guzzled it down and headed back out with my hands filled with food. I didn't want to spend more than 60seconds at any aide station and I was out of there in record time.

Off to the PCT. Lora passed me and the guy in front of me on a down hill. I thought, OH NO!!! must not lose her! So about 5 minutes later I had caught back up with her. I was feeling pretty happy and chatty when at about mile 19 I snapped my ankle really bad. I admit that I used a few choice words. I thought, oh hell no am I going to DNF (did not finish) at mile 19 with a sprained ankle. We slowed a bit and I made it to the next aid station. We asked for Advil and someone took off to his car to find some but we had already left the station. He ran up the trail and caught up with me. Another angel.

Now we were on the Big Laguna Lake trail. This is a beautiful restful time of the race. Lots of hard-packed dirt and the terrain was just overall friendly. My ankle was feeling much better. Next thing I know, we are at the aid station getting ready to head back down the NCT. WOW! That was quick! I saw Lisa, from church there. I was pretty pumped up and giddy and really have no idea what I said. They filled us up and Lora and I took off together again.

At this point we were at mile 21 or so, probably 4hours? of running so far and we both finally had to go pee. That's a long time! Only one person passed us during our break. This last part of NCT was the hardest part of the race. The overall fatigue combined with the extreme rocky terrain and steep up and down hill made for dangerous footing. I fell 3 more times, and Lora fell once. We would pass this one guy, gain some ground, one of us (me!) would fall, and he'd pass us again. We repeated that several times and he was eventually able to hold the lead. We passed 10-12 runners that last 11 miles. Seems a lot of people were having problems with the downhill...by now the quads and knees can be trashed if you aren't prepared and pacing yourself.

It was really hot by the time we hit the last aid station 4 miles out. They offered to squeeze water on my head but I know from experience that my whole body would cramp so I just had them ice my hands. My hands were hot, swollen, and tingly from too much salt. I wanted to cut them off.

Those last few miles were really hard. Funny how I hit the wall at about 21-22 miles in a marathon. In this race I ran straight through the 26-27-28 mile feeling no pain. By the time we hit mile 31 I was DONE. It was steep downhill and super rocky and I was TIRED of falling! I ran with my hands out in front of me, positioned to catch me should a fall. Fortunately I didn't.

Somewhere around mile 20-28 I remember telling Lora, "when we hit the road, let's go all out to the finish." HA! That was the euphoric stage of the race. We hit the road and all I could do was moan. I felt like Lora was just hanging back to be polite...I'd have walked if she hadn't been there. I even said, "go ahead!" she said, "why? so I can beat you? no way. Let's cross together!" and we did.

I have not found a picture of us kissing the rat. The race director, Scott, announced that to be an official finisher, you had to kiss the rat that hangs over the finish line. I did. Then he handed me my San Diego Bad Rats Noble Canyon 50k Finisher's mug.

It's really hard for me to stop at the end of a race. I seem to always do so with a bit of drama. It's kinda like trying to walk after you've roller-skated for 6 hours...it's just hard to stop. Lisa was there urging me to sit in the shade. I was trying to go that way but my body was sorta drifting the opposite direction. They caught me, helped me lay down and put my feet up and poured cold water over my head. aawwwww. much better.

Post Race

Lora and I were tied. Our Offical time was 6:14:23
6th female finishers overall
29th finishers overall out of 136 starters.
Lora came in first in her age group. I came in 3rd...which really means nothing,hahaha!
Jeri was also a first timer, like me, and she won first in her age group too! Congrats Jeri!!!

32.9 miles of falling down and getting back up...

Lora and I post race. and geeeez! I know. I look awful! why'd I take off my visor and shirt!?!?! QUICK someone give that girl a cheeseburger or 6!

All in all...I had the time of my life. This was not my usual sappy, mushy race report. I dunno why it was so different. I was seriously happy, giddy, chatty, elated the entire time. It was awesome. I can't wait to do more!

I took 2 days off and was able to run 9 miles this morning. Pretty comfortable and no real pains to speak of other than the normal post-50k fatigue. Looking forward to a 25 mile trail run with Jill and Jeri this weekend!

Guilty of Neglect

2008-09-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

gah. Things have been so crazy. I really should be better about blogging daily like Marion. and dang girl. I evidently need to take more pics. Do you ever take a bad picture!?

School started. Curran is not happy about school but he's progressing. Cooper is in 4th grade and doing great. I remember when Connor was in 4th grade and it seemed so old...I can't believe Coop is already there! Connor and Cole are at an Independent Study Charter School for grades 7-12. I love it. They like it. They walk to school and are there 2 hours a day, 3 days a week and there is a LOT of at home work but I don't have the full responsibility so it's nice. They think it's a lot easier than Abeka, LOL!

Thank you God for Michael Phelps. We've tried for the last couple years to get the boys into swim since it's 5 minutes from home. To no avail. But 8-8-8 changed our world. Michael Phelps appeared in The Cube at the Olympics with his finely chisled abs and chest and suddenly swimming was a must. The boys are all about muscles. Cole has named his biceps, Lumpy and Bumpy. They spend too much time lifting weights, doing push ups (remember when this was punishment?), pull ups and now, swimming. Connor muttered the other day, "I wish swimming was 5 days a week! why is it only 3?" I'd need to start a grocery fund and accept donations. It's crazy.

We've lost a piano teacher but gained free guitar lessons via a new group at church. The boys went again last night and by 7am this morning they were both up, strumming away. In fact, Connor got his birthday gift early...a black guitar. It had to be BLACK so it didn't look like Cole's. It was over budget so he didn't get a case, strap, and some extras he wanted but he's going to do that with his birthday $. I must have gotten 5-10 hugs,kisses, and thank you's a day from him for a week after I got him that! He's really good too.

Finally, tomorrow I become an Ultra Marathoner. I'm doing my first 50k. This is 32.9 miles of trail except the less than a mile from the start to the trailhead and then crossing Sunrise Hwy. Temps will be in the high 90's. The heat worries me but my body feels great. No aches, pains or injuries and I feel completely rested. No excuses!

Noble Canyon Trail

2008-09-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

This morning, Jill took us out on a tour of the first part of Noble Canyon. We met at 6AM, up in Pine Valley at elevation of 4500+. The sun was starting to come up, the starting temp was 51 (NICE) and 94 when we got back to the cars. Jeri and Stephanie joined us today...I'll have to get a link to Steph's blog.

You can click on the photos to see a bigger version.

Starting out it was nice and cool with the sun just threatening to show itself.

Ah. There it is...and me!

Much of the first 10miles looked like this...rugged, jagged rocks going up hill. This will be the toughest part of the 50k so I was glad to get to experience it beforehand.

Then there were some lovely spots down in the canyon...we shared it with swarms of bugs. ACK!

This was a trail sign mid-way.

The turn around at the mile 10 water pump. Old pump, heavenly COLD water!

Ultra-snacks! Boiled red potatoes and a pickle.

I have this major fear of a mountain lion attack after an Animal Planet most extreme attacks show. This was a comforting notice on display...at the halfway point.

On the way back, looking toward the Cuyamacas. It looks sorta grim, thanks to the fires, but in a year it'll be filled back in nicely.

A creek crossing down in the canyon...a lovely oasis that would have been more enjoyable if it weren't for the swarming BUGS!

Almost done! I wanted to stop and get a picture of the big cumulus clouds overhead...the condensation on the camera was purely coincidental.

Thanks again Ladies for a great morning! See ya in 2 weeks!

Pacific Crest Trail

2008-08-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

Today was probably one of my best running days EVER! Not the farthest I've run, not even close to the fastest I've run but it's the beginning of a whole new adventure.

A month or so ago I was checking out the website of the Noble Canyon 50K and noticed an old friend, Jill, was registered to run it. I haven't spoken to her in 4+ years, I knew she was doing ultra marathons and had been googling her for the last year+ to see if I could track her down. I emailed the race director and he hooked us up. I've declared her to be my ultra-running-mentor.

Jill took me and another girl, Jeri, up to the Lagunas this morning for our first real trail run. It was a slice heaven!

We hit the PCT at around 6am. Jill decked me out with a water back pack (awesome) and some gaiters to keep debris out of my shoes. Off we headed southeast on the trail. It was cool 60's and after yesterday's rain, conditions were great. We were at about 5000ft elevation and according to Jill's estimate, we ran close to 4000ft in elevation gain. It took a mile or 2 to adjust to the elevation but it felt comfortable. The first half was a 6mile out and back to the "ball". I don't know what it was. We stopped to chat with a friend of hers who offered us hot coffee and rest at his *ultra runner's* cabin. Nice people.

The trail was as expected...I had to keep my eyes on the feet and ground in front of me on the narrow single lane trail. The terrain was constantly changing. We stopped to enjoy the breathtaking views of the high mountains. The battery in my camera was dead and I could cry!

We did the first 12miles and stopped for a few minutes at the car, refilling water, eating grapes and boiled potatoes, and I grabbed my now slushy handheld with powerade in it. I was feeling great. Boiled red potatoes will be my fuel of choice!

We got back on the trail and headed north past the end of the State trail with sweeping views of the Anza Borrego Desert below. It was amazing. We saw a few people...one lady was cute in her skirt and holding an umbrella.

I had a great time with Jill and Jeri. (I know I'm probably misspelling her name, sorry!) I felt like we were all in sync and the conversation was enjoyable and came easy. At mile 6 I was taking Jill's advice and still not planning on rushing into the Noble Canyon 50k but by mile 16 I was convinced I could do it and giddy at the notion because Jill and Jeri will both be there!

We finished with 22miles on the dot! I felt better than I could have imagined!

I'm so wound up right now, I wanted to get this all down before anything fades but I'm sure I'm missing something. It was a great day, a super run and the beginning of something new. Ultra marathoning.

It WORKED!!!

2008-08-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to fatoldtrailrunner for his advice yesterday.(thanks again!) I wore my damaged Gamin today and uploaded a 12mile run!!! Now I need to call garmin to see what I need to do/pay to have it refurbished.

Sunday I'll be running a mountain trail run with my new ultra-running mentor and friend, Jill. She's got an extra Garmin 301 for me to borrow, go figure. Wise words of advice to other scatter brains like me: Pick friends who are clearly more put together than yourself.

The boys and I got home from surfing yesterday (they surfed, NOT me!) and found the contents of the trashcan spread from the side room, through the kitchen, dining room and into the boys bedroom. Boston can open screen doors. GAH! I've discovered that shunning him only worsens the problem so he has been my very well behaved shadow since.

Last but not least. We are going up to order our school cirriculum today. I am *THAT* behind, yes. ::blushes::

I feel sick

2008-08-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Our 8 mo golden retriever, Boston, chewed up and destroyed my Garmin 305. I'm crushed. I don't have the money to replace it so that means I have to do my runs on the marked board walks...the longest one being 7miles round trip.

I just wanna cry. It was my most prized training possession.

2008 America's Finest City Half Marathon

2008-08-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty uneventful day aside from the porta potties at the start that all had padlocks on them.

Just like I like it, I was on the third bus to Cabrillo and hung out talking to runners for those 2 hours. It was a full moon and a spectacular sunrise over downtown San Diego. At the start line, I met up with a few people from Runner's World online. It makes those few pre-race minutes easier and helps with the jitters.

The AFC course is great. Beautiful start at Cabrillo National Monument, running past the National Cemetery, down through Point Loma, along Harbor Drive, turning downtown with the Star of India sails as a picture perfect backdrop, a bit of a climb at mile 12 as you enter Balboa Park, finishing just past the Organ Pavilion.

It was hot. and sunny. and hot. I did get a 10k pr time of 47:04 and gave myself a silent cheer. I felt pretty good the entire race but obviously faded at the end. The really great part about the race is I was completely pain free. No hint of lingering injury!

I got some RW support at the bridge into Balboa park. I started pumping my arms and coasted to the finish feeling strong. I needed that encouragement! I came in 1:42:44/7:51 pace...the course PR I wanted. Hey, they called my name at the finish!

I feel good about the time even though it's not a HM PR time for me, it's a good place to be in my training. All things considered...the heat and the only 8min mile up that hill (8:41), I think I'm still on track for my marathon goal in a few months. I ran back to find Charlie and Amuse and they were gone. I stayed until 2:25 looking for Susan and anyone else but I must have missed y'all.

my mile pace splits for a garmin distance of 13.46 ( I really tried to run the straight line too!)

7:56
7:47
7:11
6:49
7:29
7:36
7:33
7:41
7:40
7:53
7:50
7:34
8:41
6:45

Great day, fun race, and a good place to be with just 3 months until the San Antonio RnR.

standings...

Overall: 512/6461
Women: 99/3332
Age Group: 19/532

That went by fast!

2008-08-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already August!

Not in the mood to blog much lately but thought I'd update.

2 weeks ago, Connor went to camp for a week. He had a blast! That's really all I can say. I mean, they had lots of weird food contests, games, etc. Someone paid him $10 to drink some hot sauce. Atta boy!

Last week Cole went on a two day sailing trip to Catalina. He had a fun time...his cell phone went dead so he couldn't take pictures of all of the sights and was really bummed. The trip did cause him to rethink his school options this fall and he's ready to homeschool again. It's interesting and fun too see them grow into their own and develop their own internal standards. I'm glad Cole's are set pretty high right now.

This week Cooper and Cole are away at camp. They were both really excited! We get daily updates via the camp website and they look like they're having fun. Cooper had 3 friends going with him this year, so he was super excited. It is remarkably calm around here. It's amazing the difference in the numbers. I feel like I can pretend to have it *together* for a week.

Mike and I did the Surf Monkey competition in Oceanside this weekend. He did the 1mile swim/5k run and placed 11th overall/3rd in his age group, so he got a surf monkey award. I did the 5k beach run and placed 27th overall/ 1st in my age group, so despite the slow time, I got an award too! The pictures turned out glare-y but this one turned out ok. This is my award, Mikes looks just like it, a little smaller and says Kane (male) instead of Wahine (female).

It was a really fun race and we definitely will do it again next year. I'm having fun tagging along with Mike and doing events he picks out. The kids were great too. Since our races started 30min apart, Mike set them up by the finish before he left to start his race and they all cheered for me at the finish. We got to cheer for Mike at 3 different locations along the way and boy, he was bookin it! His 5k time, after the swim, was 21:46! I still can't keep up with him, LOL!

Sri Chinmoy Swim Run

2008-07-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

Mike and I did the Sri Chinmoy Swim Run this morning. I'm pretty sure this was a debut for Team McD.

Lessee...the race. Dropped Mike off at the cove for the swim portion and headed down to the shores. Did a 1 mile warm up on the beach while they were swimming. Mike did the one mile swim in about 25 minutes, we tagged and I did the 10k.

It was a one mile loop that we did 6 times. that was tedious.

I looped around for the final .15 mile sprint to the finish and saw a girl coming toward me, right behind me. Everyone started screaming and cheering and the guys kept yelling, "don't let her beat you!" I thought they were pullin a Charlie (RW forumite who used trickery to spur a fellow racer on) on me but I heard her footsteps behind me and turned it on. It was a photo finish for sure...I just barely edged her out. But she did the swim too, so props to her! My time was like, 49:21. Not great but I finally have something to go off of. Sadly, that was a very hard effort on my part so I have a lot of work to do.

Mike and I won the mixed relay. Sri Chinmoy is kinda fun...sponsored by some vegetarian restaurant...Mike and I each won an apple pie, a basket of fruit and goodies and 2 coupons (4 altogether) for free meals at the restaurant.

I finished up a post-race run for a total of 15.2 miles today and 50+ for the first week of marathon training. Will take it easy this week as the slant of the beach started taking it's toll on my knee.

Make a wish baby

2008-07-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

so I'm heading home from a fabulous 9 mile easy does-it run this morning and listening to my favorite easy listening station, because I'm old and I like old music. Anyway, I'm bee-bopping along when this song comes on. So I pull into my driveway at like, 8:30AM and I have this happy song blaring!

it's been stuck in my head all day.

Going to pick up the little man tonight. He's been at Jr.High camp all week and I MISS him!

A case of the Mondays

2008-07-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not in the mood to blog.

actually, I am. Just not nice blogging.

I've been blissfully running again. Getting caught up with time to myself to think about people and things.

People are overrated. So are dogs. I'd rather be running. I like runners.

no, wait. That's not even true. There are more and more of them lately that I'm not liking.

Maybe after another week and 50+ miles or so, I'll be all caught up and will like people again.

I bet if I were out there right now doing Badwater I would appreciate people. 135 miles from Badwater, Death Valley (280ft below sea level) to Mt. Whitney (10,000+ft above sea level)...that's a lot of time to think. and...sweat. and bleed. and halucinate. sounds like fun.

The AMA vs Homebirth

2008-07-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

As a woman and homebirther, this really hits home. I've had 2 children in the hospital and they were experiences I lived through. Although loathing the interventionist hospital staff and having to fight them off of me and my newborn was reason enough but the desire to home-birth also originated with necessity...I birth quickly and was too far from a hospital to avoid the ever dreaded "car-birth".

My first birth was horrible. I arrived at 8cm quickly progress to 9cm, I was crowning and told to wait for the Dr. I didn't fall under the first time mother/1cm/hr rule and threw them for a loop. The Dr. ran into the room and within seconds was prep'ing me for an unnecessary episiotomy that took over a year to recover from. I was in the hospital less than an hour before I gave birth...no medication, no complications... 4 pushes and baby was out, I never even started to push when I was cut. Number 2? When you are in the hospital for less than 5 minutes and have to physically fight a nurse who wants to attach an EFM for NO medical reason, only to give birth 20 minutes later, it's traumatizing to have someone YELLING at you and physically struggling with you when you are in transition.

I chose wisely as my 3rd labor and delivery was 35minutes long and my 4th about 45min. Homebirth filled the need but it also became so much more. To have the choice to be comfortable, in my own home and without the fear of being treated like a stupid diseased person, is empowering. It's comforting to know that no one is going to try to commandeer my body, take my baby away for any amount of time,or in any way, usurp my own mothering abilities by trying to take over for me. Birthing women aren't flawed or broken. Most don't need to be rescued and many of them that do need rescuing are in need because of unnecessary medical interventions. It is well documented that the risk for complications rises dramatically with every well intended and requested intervention.

There are people, times, and places for hospital births. It's just not for everyone. Women deserve to feel comfortable and safe in the birthing location of their choice. If that's in a hospital, more power to you. If it's at home, so be it.

With that I leave you with this:

Introduced by: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Subject: Home Deliveries

Referred to: Reference Committee B
(Craig W. Anderson, MD, Chair)

Whereas, Twenty-one states currently license midwives to attend home births, all using the certified professional midwife (CPM) credential (CPM or "lay” midwives), not the certified midwives (CM) credential which both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) recognize ; and

Whereas, There has been much attention in the media by celebrities having home deliveries, with recent Today Show headings such as “Ricki Lake takes on baby birthing industry: Actress and former talk show host shares her at-home delivery in new film” ; and

Whereas, An apparently uncomplicated pregnancy or delivery can quickly become very complicated in the setting of maternal hemorrhage, shoulder dystocia, eclampsia or other obstetric emergencies, necessitating the need for rigorous standards, appropriate oversight of obstetric providers, and the availability of emergency care, for the health of both the mother and the baby during a delivery; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association support the recent American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) statement that “the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers” (New HOD Policy); and be it further

RESOLVED, That our AMA develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the AAP and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers.” (Directive to Take Action)

Fiscal Note: Implement accordingly at estimated staff cost of $1,929.

Received: 04/28/08

and in response, this petition:

The petition
Whereas, women maintain the basic human rights of privacy, bodily integrity, and the rights to choose their care provider and place of birth;

Whereas, the practice of giving birth in hospitals attended by doctors has coincided with rapidly rising rates of cesarean section, induction, epidural, and surgically assisted vaginal birth;

Whereas, many of the physicians attending births in the hospital setting have contributed to the rise of the use of the aforementioned interventions, and have been unable or unwilling to change their training and practices to reverse these trends;

Whereas, the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' positions against home birth are not based on scientific evidence, but on the financial and professional concerns of the physicians that participate in their organizations;

Whereas, for the past century certain physicians have carried out campaigns to eradicate the practice of home birth to support their own professional gain;

Whereas, home birth with either a Certified Nurse Midwife or a Certified Professional Midwife in attendance is scientifically proven to have outcomes equal to or better than hospital birth with fewer interventions and higher levels of satisfaction;

Resolved, that the undersigned concerned citizens object to any legislation, either at the state or national level, which restricts a woman's right to choose her place to give birth, including her right to choose to birth at home.

Off and running...again!

2008-07-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a LONG time! I've managed to run the last 3 days and a feeling pretty good. I'm trying to be a good little base builder, so I'm taking today off. That's hard.

I'm enjoying the summer and all of the yummy fresh fruits and veggies. This being my favorite dish...I have this or some variation of this, at least once a day.

The boys are having fun with the Jr. Olympic Kayaking. It starts at 6:30AM! It's hard to get going but they come home energized.

I had to include this shot of Connor and Tonka. Tonka is 6yo and definitely Connor's companion.

Happy Birthday Honey!

2008-06-22T20:47:00.001-07:00

Today was the big 43 for Mike! We celebrated at the beach with a couple hundred people...the Sri Chinmoy Biathlon. A 1/2 mile open water swim around the pier followed by a 5k run. Since I'm currently broken and this was a gift, I got to be in the cheering section! Although, if ever there was day I would get in the ocean, today was it! It was almost in the 70's, clear and perfect! Mike's been dealing with a sore knee all week and was ready to back out of this race last night but I talked him into it.

The race started south of the Pacific Beach Pier. It was a mile course out and around ending up north of the pier. Finishing up the swim and heading for the transition...

The run was an out and back that went under the pier. just out of the transition and passing under the pier at the start of the run. I tried to sprint ahead to get some shots but he was TOO fast!

Passing back under the pier...I wanted to get more of the pier with the cottages showing.

The photo finish!

During that time I took a bazillion pics of the boys. I liked this one.

First Piano Lessons

2008-06-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

Curran's been begging to take lessons. He's always sitting down and carefully tapping out a song for me so when Ms. Nancy suggested we try 15min lessons, Curran loved the idea.

Learning how to hold his arms/hands...

and practicing his finger exercises.

and that would be the last time he sat at the piano, LOL. That may be the last lesson for some time. I tried to get him to practice today and he wanted to play guitar instead. Oh well.

Water Dog

2008-06-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

One of my number one rules about a dog and pool combination is that the dogs are NOT allowed in the pool. However, the kids could not resist...

and now, neither can Boston. I catch him taking a dip several times a day. grrr. Time to put the pool fence back up. Fortunately, Tonka, being the hairier of the two, is scared of the water.

I guess I can't blame him. It's been really warm and for some reason, flies have been plaguing these poor dogs. We've never had this problem! How in the world do you keep the flies from landing all over the dogs.

Animal House

2008-06-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

Evidently my kids are past the age of garnering photographic attention and we've moved on to the animal kingdom.

First update: Boston is growing. and growing. and growing. He and Connor are in the Bambi stage together...all limbs and no agility. Tonka seems tolerant.

We had an over curious bird this morning. Or maybe it just had a death wish?
Either which way, it rammed into the sliding glass door and spent the last 10 seconds of its life twitching for Boston who managed considerable self control.

Then there was the alligator lizard that Curran found and I was given the task of catching. We need to rethink our current bug box.

Yes, we managed to extricate him from the lid. We decided to put it in the pool to see if it was really an alligator lizard. It was. Don't worry, this guy survived the day and was released later that evening.

Seeing Dr. R again. Yesterday was the first visit...a sprained soleus. The muscle that runs from the achilles to the mid calf right below the gastrocnemius . It is pretty swollen. He thinks I'll be good to go in another week and a half. I see him this Saturday for a gait analysis to find new shoes. He hates the ones I have...he says they are TOO big for me...I'm too light and fast to be wearing such heavy shoes. I'm a little excited yet worried to switch considering all of the problems I've had the last 4 months.

Coronado 8.2 Mile Low tide Run

2008-06-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

I ran the Coronado Low Tide Beach Run Sunday morning. 8.2 miles of beach from the Surf Camp in Imperial Beach to the beach in front of Sunset Park in Coronado. Mike took the kids on vacation for 5 days so this was MY last day of vacation treat to myself.

Hadn't run all week and went to church Saturday night thinking, at least I wouldn't miss church again. Out of NOWHERE, my knee hurt so bad, I limped in and out of church. I swear, it has to be mental...or guilt or something. I was thinking maybe it's a sign from God that I shouldn't run.

anyway, badda bing badda bang, I DID get up in the morning and headed down to Coronado. First one on the bus, AGAIN, because I'm tweaky that way. Immediately fell into conversation with a couple behind me. Older couple. 60+ they just ran BOTH the 5k and 10K races in Idyllwild yesterday and won their age group in BOTH races. how cool is that? (mental note to self, must not let them beat ME)

Ran into Lynn again. I swear, we rarely ever call, never see each at all unless we are running around the bay or at a race. LOL. Her STBXBF (soon to be exboyfriend), the swat officer (who has the winning personality of a baseball bat) decided he would bike along side her (since it was a ride and stride event).

So we started out. slow. chatty. still slow. I'm edging away because I don't wanna chat, and I hurt. and dang it that old couple wasn't at least a .25 ahead of me and I was working hard. as hard as I could, yet my garmin told me just how out of shape I was.

Finally at the 4 mile, I just started picking people off and concentrating on leg turnover. Right after we hit the 7mile marker,I passed the little old couple (FINALLY) we had a little .2 mile jiggy jag through soft sand. I didn't like how that threw off my pace but I recovered. I had 4 people in the pack in front of me, including a guy with a jog stroller who I'd been following all day. I passed them all...I passed the guy with the jogger about 100 ft from the finish, LOL.

Good times. I had fun. Glad I could do it. It benefited the Limbs For Life Foundation that provides military amputees with prosthetics.

Official time has me at 1:07:11/ 8:12 pace and 4/45 in my Age group, 10/155 women, 50/299 overall. which isn't all that spectacular but oh well.

I think there might have actually been a photographer there but until then, you'll just have to take my word for it.

2008 San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon

2008-06-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

aaaahhhhhh. I did it! My 3rd marathon in 4 months. My 5th marathon in all. I feel very satisfied!

For one, I finished. It was a daily/hourly mind game for the last 5 weeks...would I run? should I run? could I run? I was determined to run this race since I had already registered and I didn't want to DNR like I did San Francisco last year. I'm sick of explaining that I'm injured and then running a race and doing pretty darn good. It seems pretty unbelievable...even to me. So why am I wasting all of this time NOT running trying to recover for the next race? GAH! I can't wait until I'm not hurting anymore...I'm going to do some major pr'ing.

Had another great Forum Encounter with the people from the So. CA forum at Runner's World. So far the only online community that will actually do an FE and make it fun to boot! There were almost 50 people there...I met people I'd run with before and someone I knew from when Connor was in school many moons ago. One of the locals, who wasn't even running the race, brought a couple of prize gifts for the person who came the longest distance and the person who answered a marathon trivia answer. We ate at the Spaghetteria in Old Italy near downtown and it was some yummy carbo goodness!

Race day:

First off. Race day is not just a fashion show anymore. I ignored any and all good fashion sense and stuck with complete comfort and functionality. I wore compression socks. let.me.tell.you. These things are wonderful for my severe varicose veins. So laugh all you want, I'm rocking these things!

The breakfast of ~~champions~~ seriously nutritionally challenged insane runners. Why yes, that is Red Bull (number 1) and a big piece of Tombstone Pizza. That was consumed at 4AM... Mike and I left for the start line at 4:30am to avoid traffic so I was at the start line, relaxing on the grass by 5:15...the next red bull was consumed at 5:30AM.

Saw a couple of girls from the church running group. Wished them well, then headed out to corral #3. Stood and talked to a guy I met at the FE. He was aiming for a 3:30 finish. The gun went off and he and about 1000 other people passed me in the first few miles. It was a bit demoralizing but I stayed cheerful.

I was trying to think of anything but the pain in my leg/knee. I felt like if I could get past the first 5 or 6 miles, I'd hit the numb zone and not feel it quite so bad. I was taking my time and going pretty slow and steady, not wanting to blow up too early. I hit the 10k at an 8:30 pace. Got up to the 163, which is notorious for it's awful slant (camber?) and the hill but all I could think was, wow, it's not nearly as bad as I remember. Then, it wasn't nearly as long as I remembered. Next thing I knew I was running down mile 11 to Friars road thinking that aside from the pain in my legs, I felt great. My energy and my emotions were UP. I hit the halfway point, 13.1, at an 8:31 pace. Not bad for Miss Limpy here.

I saw Nancy, the kid's piano teacher at mile 15. I was sad to miss Tina from our church group, and I also missed Brenna and Darren...and they were all right where Nancy was. How on earth did I miss them. I just remember gasping, "run with me" and Nancy hoofed it over the bridge and about 1/2mile with me, mostly in silence, but it was what I needed. I left her there just past mile 16. I stopped in front of the high-school to use the porta potty and just rest. LOL. I just sat and took my time. I thought, I'm actually going to finish this thing under 5 hours, I can take a break here.

I felt good the next few miles...too good. I walked up the last bridge by Sea World. I knew the mile 22-23 was going to be tough and I was still trying to conserve my legs that were threatening to cramp on the up hills. Memories of Boston were fresh in my head to I didn't want to push it. I was walking through water stops starting at mile 17, and this helped too. I hit mile 21 and my pace had dropped to 8:48. No worries. I could still sub 4. HOLY COW! Better than I had hoped for! I rounded the turn at mile 22 on Friars and ran to where it started going up and then I walked again.

I got going again as I reached the end of Friars and headed for the mile 23 freeway over pass. I saw one of the RW people who were out there cheering us on. So nice to have a friendly face in the crowd. But that wasn't the best. That came just past mile 24, I saw them, Susan, Charlie, Shacky, the whole RW support crew screaming at us with Chariots of Fire on the boom box! It was so encouraging but moments after I passed them, Charlie ran up with an ICE COLD WET towel! HEAVEN sent I tell ya! I think that towel is what kept me from walking between there and the finish, hahaha!

1/2 Mile to go and I saw this blessed sight!

and they saw me...that girl behind me passed me in the first 2 miles. I distinctly remember her wearing the "The Bachelorette" sash, thinking, what in the world?... It hurt a little to see her pass me then but revenge 1/2 mile from the finish was sa-weet!

I did it. Crossed the finish in 3:55:36. The rest of the numbers are unimpressive BUT I did finish and felt victorious! woo hoooooo! I got past the finish pads and thought for sure I'd make it through without being hauled off to the medical tent and then BAM! my legs buckled. Fortunately, a couple med aids steadied me and I was able to make it on my own. I tried to stop and talk to a few people but couldn't stand still too long.

I met Mike and the boys and headed straight for the ice.

I reserve the right to add to, edit or start a completely new post with new thoughts on the subject. I might even have the energy to address the idea that 26.2 is EVER a cake walk. I want to meet the person who thinks that. Because I expect sweat, salt, injuries, and maybe a bit of blood and tears. This means, slanted roadways, imperfectly paved roads, hills, and yes, surprisingly enough SUN in So. CA. Why would any of this be considered shocking or outrageous when found on a race course? A marathon is a competition of endurance and a race to overcome adversity...otherwise it would just be a 5k. One person's sucky race conditions are another person's personal record conditions. It's the beast called the marathon.

This was supposed to be my shortest race report ever since I really didn't have much to say but it was a 3 Red Bull day and I was feeling spunky.

The Stupid Scale

2008-05-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

Running a marathon is like giving birth. The first time is really scary because you have no idea what to expect. I mean, you read and hear all of the stories and wonder where your experience will fall on the difficulty and time scale. The second time you are just as scared because you KNOW what to expect but realize, it could be better or it could be worse, but you know it's gonna hurt like heck. The third and fourth time, I resolved myself that I could live through it. I haven't experienced that fifth time. I feel like I'm looking at an unmedicated c-section.

Tomorrow is my fifth marathon...the 3rd in 4 months which doesn't even give me a marathon maniac number let alone any kind of tough chick points. I haven't been able to really run since 3 weeks(9weeks) before Boston. I don't remember what a pain free run even feels like. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being fully prepared with 18 weeks worth of a marathon training program under your belt, and 1 being, gee, I think I could do 26.2 tomorrow, why not give it a go? I land somewhere around 2. And to add insult to injury, I'll be throwing all fashion sense into the wind and wearing knee high compression socks. The pictures are gonna be fun.

Where's the So. CA May grey?

2008-05-18T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's been gorgeous here the last few days. Sun. upper 80's. We hurried through school Thursday and Friday and spent the late afternoon, until dark, at the beach. Yesterday was crazy with things to do so today was a whole lot of nothin.

Cole and Connor went with youth group to see Prince Caspian so we spent the day lounging by the pool. Then the boys got home and they brought the neighborhood with them!

We've also had a chance to DVR the first 3 Indiana Jones movies this weekend. I don't care who you are, you cannot resist the theme music to these movies. We can't wait to see the new movie THIS week!

Oh, the joys of puppyhood...

2008-05-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

BAD PUPPY!

BAAAAAAAAAAAAD PUPPY!!!

X Terra Malibu Creek Challenge

2008-05-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

Finally, a chance for Mike and I to get away and do something we both love...RACE! This was Mike's baby! He trained long and hard for this 22k/14mile run. I was registered to run it too but since I haven't run more than a handful of miles in the the last 3 weeks, I decided to skip the 14miler and try walking the 4 mile trail run.

We drove up to Calabasas Friday evening. We had to make a quick stop at REI to pick up our race numbers so we didn't have to scramble Saturday morning. We did a quick dip in the hotel hot tub and called it a night early. Saturday morning went off without a hitch. We got to Malibu Creek park with plenty of time and parking. It was beautiful...cool and overcast. Perfect running weather. Mike was aiming for a 2:35-2:45 finish and I told him NO! This is what you've been training for...don't hold back. I knew he had a 2:15-2:30 finish in him.

These first few pictures are borrowed from Billy's blog. He's a fellow So. CA runner from Runner's World. He did the 14 miler too and we met him at the finish...

The 14miler started at 7:30. This was somewhere around the top of the course...

Meanwhile, I headed to the start of the 4miler. I was limping, still. I stayed back toward the rear of the pack since I was pretty much feeling like I wasn't going to be able to run. No timing chips. Looking at the results, I could kick myself now. I don't know what it is about a bib# and a starting gun, but I have a feeling nothing short of a compound fracture would keep me from running. I started out slow and cautiously. I let people pass me while I worked out the rusty legs. We hit the first hill at mile 1 and I started passing people...because I hate hills. Then we hit the single lane trail and I just stared at the feet in front of me until one by one, the person in front of me would step off and I'd pass. We went up, up and then up some more. Mike was wearing my garmin so I had nothing to do but look at the trail and the feet in front of me. We hit the road to the finish and I let my legs go nice and steady. I was just getting warmed up and there was the finish. 35:33. I got 4th out of 47 in my age group and 8th out of 129 overall women. Had I known I could run, I'd have been more aggressive but I was glad to feel like I still *had* it.

I stopped for a post race massage and I really think that helped a ton! I had just enough time to get back to the car to get the camera and back to the finish to catch Mike. I KNEW IT!!! Check him out...

He came in at 2:12:45 !!!! He was SO ahead of his goal!! I was so proud of him! He came in 25 out of 93 in his age group. This was such a great race for him...he trained hard and smart for this and performed better than he expected. Congrats Honey!

We stayed for some post race massage and I won a pair of injinji socks. I wore injinjis for the first time at this race and I'm sold! I can't wait to see how they work at the RnR.

Here's Mike, Billy, and I post race. Congrats to Billy! I'll see him at the Rock n Roll in a few weeks!

And we finally got a picture with the Faith Community Church mug! They have this thing at church where people post pictures of themselves with their Faith mug at unique locations. I missed my chance to take it to Boston but we did the finish line and map pose here.

Post Boston

2008-05-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

It's been over a week since the big race. I think I'm just now settling down. I wanted to share my finish line moment in very bad video... click here at about 4:19 in the very center you see me manuvering for open space as I cross the finish at 4:23-24. If you have a few minutes, check out this guy's slide show of 26.2 miles with a camera. I just watched it and had fun reliving and remembering the things that went by too quickly. Pay attention to the billboard messages, they were inspiring to see along the course.

I've run a few times since Boston and I think I might be resting for a while. Yetserday I felt great all day and went for a late afternoon run and hurt the entire way. I should have stopped at mile 2 but I was hoping it would fade like it did on race day. I ended up running 4 miles and for the first time ever, my knee hurts to walk. So, no running for me until the trail run on May 10th. I'm going to try at home rehab since I can't afford to keep getting treatment at the Dr. I know I have time now, so I'm not really worried. I was feeling so high after Boston, I was thinking I'd pr at the Rock N Roll marathon but now I'm back to thinking my goal should just be to finish.

Boston Marathon: The Mastercard Commercial

2008-04-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

4 pairs of shoes and over 1000 miles of training runs: $375

race registration, airfare, hotel accomodations: $2000+

crossing the finish line at the Boston Marathon: priceless

edited to fix the mistake in the title. duh.

2008 Boston Marathon race report

2008-04-23T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here struggling with what to write. It's so odd because I've been writing pieces of this race report in my head...for almost 2 years. Right now, I still feel so completely overwhelmed but I'm going to give it a whirl.

Training

It's been 10 weeks since my last marathon. Five of those weeks, I've logged little to no mileage as I nursed calf injuries. I knew I had enough of a base to finish Boston but I wanted to give it more. I think I've done 2 hill workouts in the last 4 months. I kicked around a lot of strategies and goals over the course of the last month but I knew I wouldn't really know what I would do until race day. I had a plan to divide the race into a series of 5k races and finish each of them in under 27 minutes.

Pre-Race

I left for Boston on Saturday morning...limping. There were several Boston runners on the plane, all wearing their jackets! I landed at Logan International and ended up taking a taxi to the hotel because the shuttle service Mike had booked for me, had shut down it's Boston hub. I finally arrived at my hotel, The Taj Boston. It was formerly the Ritz Carlton and it was everything a 5 Star Hotel should be and more. It was right across the street from the Boston Garden...a beautiful area right in the center of town.

I quickly checked in, freshened up and headed over to the Boston BeerWorks to meet up with the Boston Runners from Runners World online. I asked the front door guy the best way to get there and he offered me a private driver/car, compliments of the hotel on Saturday nights. I was feeling a little pampered. Nicest, friendliest bunch of people I've ever met. This picture doesn't even show half of the ones there. There was a lot of back and forth about race goals, injury status, and a lot of helpful hints from veterans, about what to expect race day. I had a really great beer with blueberries in it, yum!

I had a hard time falling asleep that first night and last saw the clock at 1:50AM Sunday morning. I woke up with my alarm at 7am so I could get going. The US Olympic Marathon Trials would start at 8am and I wanted to try to get some pictures. They were not only preparing the streets for the Trials but also the marathon the following day. Not sure what the lifeguard perches were for...

Here's Deena (First place winner in the white hat) and Blake(3rd place finisher, in black and red racer) trailing behind Magdelena, who managed to get almost a 2minute lead over the other girls early on but couldn't hold it the final 10k and Deena powered through. Great race. Deena, Magdelena and Blake will represent the USA at the Olympics in Bejing.

After the trials I went into the Expo to get my chip and number. It was huge...just a tad bigger than the Rock n Roll the first year I did it. There was too much going on and I was freezing, sleepy and feeling cheap. I picked up my stuff and bought my one and only item (since I already had the jacket), this shirt. I love what it says. Makes me a bit weepy.

I got back to the hotel in time to meet up with Dad and Carol who would be here to cheer me on. We all headed back to the Expo to look around some more and get their Pre-Race Pasta Party tickets. We got back to the hotel and turned right around and left again for the aforementioned pasta party. It was a lot of fun and very yummy. We sat down and eventually 6 other runners joined us and I'm sure you can guess what we talked about! It was getting late and all I wanted to do was crawl in bed so we headed back to the hotel. I laid all of my gear out so it'd be ready in the morning...

crawled in bed and barely slept a wink before the alarm went off. I ordered banana pancakes with room service to be delivered at 6AM and they were 30 minutes late, flat and horrible. My only complaint about the hotel and it had to be my pre-race meal they ruined it!
I was out the door at 6:45 to catch the bus. Walked with another lady, Cynthia, who was also staying in the hotel and we would hang out and talk until a few hours later when we entered the corrals. The wait for the buses was long...we waited at least an hour. Then the bus ride was long...we sat on the highway for at least 30 minutes. People were jumping off buses and running in the woods to relieve themselves. When we finally pulled into Hopkinton where the race starts, there were hundreds of porta potties on our right and on our left, dozens of exposed bare bottoms in the woods. Too funny. We managed to get through the porta potty line with 7 minutes to spare. The sun was just starting to shine and I was sensing warmth...do I take off my long sleeve or wear it? A cool breeze hit me and I decided I couldn't chance a chill so I left it on, dropped my gear off at the bus and pushed my way through the crowds to get to my corral.

The Race

I heard something loud and people started moving forward and I asked around, "was that the gun?" and no one knew. Then someone said, "this is it!" and we had crossed the start line timing pads so I quickly hit start on my garmin and went with the crowd. It was a mix of walking and jogging as we were all packed shoulder to shoulder. The first mile was so exciting I was ignoring the pain in my calf. At the top of each downhill I could look down in front of me and as far as the eye could see, there were runners making their way through Hopkinton. It took my breath away. I was between tears and euphoria.

The first 5k was uneventful. There was no way to go any faster than the crowd around us. I was comfortable with my pace and trying to ignore my leg. The calf pain eventually radiates to my knee and when I crossed the 5k marker, my knee was killing me but I was going to ignore it, thinking I could still manage 26.2 at that pain level. In the end, the calf and knee pain wouldn't be what stopped me.

I got lost in the crowds. I think I had a perma grin on my face the first 10 miles. I spent entirely too much time high fiving people along the side of the road and screaming back at the roaring crowds. The weather was perfect and every once in while I felt the cool breeze and was glad I kept the long sleeve on. The pre-race red bull hit me at the start and somewhere around mile 10 I stopped for a potty break. I saw 2 girls run in and thought by the time I got there they'd be out but man, they took for.ever. I wasted 1:12 right there. But I'm glad I got that out of the way.

I hit the 15k mark and I think I was ahead of my 27min 5k goal. We hadn't really hit any hills to speak of, yet. I was taking a gu every 5 miles and felt ok there. I was afraid to drink the gatorade because my stomach was burning and the water was tasting great. I wanted to keep with the water but I knew my legs were tightening and the tell tale signs of imminent cramps were there. I knew I needed electrolytes but my tummy was too upset so I foolishly stayed with the water.

We passed the Wellesly Girls around mile 16. It was so much fun. Again, I was enjoying myself with high fives and stopped for a hug. Have I mentioned the crowds? They were amazing. The screaming was SO loud, I don't know how they do that for hours!

I had a lot to think about during the run. I knew going in that I would designated specific miles to pray and think about my family whose support, prayers and encouragement fueled me and kept me going. I can't even begin to relay all of the ways Mike and the boys have been there for me during this entire process. They are amazing and I love them to peices! I also had the support of the running group and members of my church who prayed for me the entire time. The prayer support of so many of them was felt and much appreciated. I knew my extended family, mom, sister, brother, Carol and John in Arizona and so many more, were cheering me on too. It was so great to have Dad and Carol with me and knowing they would be at the finish spurred me on.

I was too cold to wear my Team Tawyna race shirt. Tawnya was someone I knew from one of the parenting message boards I visit. Tawyna had a long battle with cancer and eventually succumbed to a brain tumor last December. She left behind her husband and 2 small children. I was not a close acquaintance but her story touched me. When she commented in her final days, "I have always wanted to run a marathon, I think I will in heaven" I felt a connection with her struggle. She was one of my many inspirations during this race.

I was on pace until I hit mile 19. It was then I slowly started to crumble.

I believe this was a long slow uphill. I was fine with it since it wasn't so steep but those cramps hit full force. My toes would curl, involuntarily and my whole foot and calf would seize. Since I was running along the edge of the road, I would get cut off here and there and every time I had to slow myself, the cramps would hit and then I went all noodle legged. I was moving forward in my mind but my legs were taking me sideways. I tried walking a bit until my toes uncurled and kept walking for a minute or two. I eventually made it through but I couldn't handle Heartbreak Hill and had to walk a minute up it too. Then the cramps hit again at some bridge after Heartbreak. Then again a while later...I don't know where I was at that point. It was just past a water stop and I got splashed with cold water and both my legs seized. I sorta fell to the side of the road and a group of people caught me and helped stretch it out. They cheered me on my way as I left them. Another "great people" encounter. I was still ahead of my 27min/5k pace all the way up to the 30k.

Suddenly, up ahead in the distance I saw it. The red triangle on the Citgo sign. It meant I was almost done! The crowds were HUGE...I mean people shoulder to shoulder cheering so loud you could hardly hear yourself breath. When I turned the corner and saw the last turn onto Boylston in front of me I slowed to take it all in. I couldn't wait to turn that corner and there it was in front of me...the Finish line. I could see the arches that said Boston Marathon and I took my sunglasses off and started sobbing. I kept looking side to side to see if I could catch a glimpse of Dad and Carol but it was impossible with all of those people. I started throwing my hands up in the air waaaaay before I ever came near the finish but still crossed it with my hands up and the biggest smile ever.

I can not put to words that moment.

It will stay in the clearly remembered for life category of my brain. Right next to the day I gave my life to the Lord, the day Mike proposed, and the birth of each of our sons.

my splits:

5k 0:26:27
10k 0:52:00
15k 1:18:41
20k 1:44:39
Half 1:50:12
25k 2:10:43
30k 2:38:17
35k 3:08:42
40k 3:38:03

Finish time 3:50:41

The next few blocks involved a lot of smiles and a lot of tears of happiness. God bless the woman who took my timing chip off and placed the medal around my neck. I thanked her profusely. We made our way to the buses to pick up our race gear and I called Dad who would meet me at the hotel a block away.

I grabbed a celebratory beer and I know it was wrong, oh so wrong, but I took a soak in a hot tub and started calling people. After I talked with Mike, I called Marion, a fellow marathoner/blogger/cyber buddy and part of my online cheering section. I had a huge support group of online friends and I was thankful and blessed with every kind word of encouragement and support...it means more than I can convey. Just about everyone else I called wasn't answering their phone which was nice because I was done. Dad and Carol treated me to a lovely dinner in the hotel restuarant. In my head, I wanted to go to the post race party at the Roxy but my body was very reluctant so I stayed at the hotel.

How do I end this? It was a dream come true. I am truly blessed. It sounds a little cheesy when I say I was privileged to run on hallowed ground but that's how I felt. It was worth every step along the way. This was my fun year at Boston, next year I'm going to kick some butt!

How to manage pre-race jitters

2008-04-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

Start planning your next race. Mike is registered for the Malibu Creek XTERRA Challenge in May. I think it's a few weeks after Boston. My father in law will be down for some Dr. appointments so I will be able to go to the race with Mike! Since I'm going to be there anyway...yeah. I'm waiting until after Boston to register. If it's still open I'll do it too, if it's not I can be race support. Mikes been training really hard for this race. He did his longest run ever a few weeks ago...15miles. At least 13 of that was trails. I'm so excited for him! Check out the elevation chart...starts at 500ft and peaks at 2500ft.

Last appointment with the Dr. today. No more running until race day. I'm insane running a marathon with this kind of taper and nagging injury but insanity is where I perform best. I go from wanting to disappear for a few weeks to madly blabbing excitedly about it. I'm such a girl, hahahaha.

Oh SHOOT! Cooper James turned 9 on Sunday. I'm such a horrible mom for not posting about it! We had THE most unseasonably HOT day that day and I was sick sick sick. We had a bunch of kids over to swim after we got home from church and they had a blast. Then Cooper and I went out on a date that consisted of a trip to Toys R Us to let him pick out what he wanted...it was to hard to decide before hand. He picked out 4 light sabers, one for him and each of his brothers. They've been gleefully whacking each other every spare minute since. Then we headed off to Hometown Buffet. He LOVES that place. Imagine my 5 guys and a buffet. No, don't stop. That's what it was like. We left and as we were walking along the store front sidewalk, we saw Happy Cuts was open! Voila! all 4 boys got their mops cut amidst very heavily Asian accented comments like, 'you like numbuh 3 o 4?" "ooooh, you hair to heavyyyyyyy. Dis much bettah!" Good times. The ladies did a great job. I'll have to take pictures. I'm embarrassed to admit I've taken pictures of my Boston jacket and not of my newly 9 yo. oops.

Puppy love

2008-04-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

After a long drive home that included a stop at Petco for a bath and doggy gear, Boston just wanted to sleep.

Is Tonka jealous? hahahahaha. What do you think? After foaming at the mouth and frantically sniffing Boston for the first hour, they finally settled into this agreeable position. Boston sleeps. Tonka watches. They stayed like this for an hour or 2. Every once in a while Tonka would nudge him or stand up and poke him with his foot. Tonka kept looking at us like we'd given him a bum toy that didn't work right.

We had to carry him everywhere...he didn't get the leash thing since he was used to roaming the horse ranch with 11 other litter mates and 3 other adult Golden's. He was a little better on our 2 walks today and it was so hot, all he could do was flop on the cool patio.

The weather for Boston is looking like it will be perfect for the race. I got my new shoes today and they are FINALLY a different color other than purple. I ran 4 miles...felt ok I guess. I've been having migraines the last 3 days, I'm losing my voice and my throat is killing me! I walked the dog barefoot and the pavement was so hot I got blisters on my unseasoned feet. I'm glad I'm getting all of this nonsense out of my system before next week! Now if American Airlines will quit cancelling flights, I'd feel almost smug.

This Run's For Cassie

2008-04-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

Wanted to give a shout out to my RunningAHEAD cyber buddy, Rick. If you haven't been to Rick's blog, This Run's For Cassie, head on over there and meet a great fellow runner, husband and father.
He's been training for the Glass City Marathon which is this Sunday, April 13th. Spending 18weeks training for a marathon is hard. But Rick lives where they (supposedly) get that white, cold, wet, flaky stuff called snow (supposedly). Evidently when this mysterious stuff falls out of the sky, it makes for cold, wet, icy, slushy conditions.(supposedly) And he says he had to put screws in his shoes just to keep his footing!
Oh, and it's super cold. (supposedly) Living in So. CA, I have to take his word for this because he's Rick, and seems like an honest guy and all but I am somewhat suspicious. (supposedly) Despite all of the inclement weather, this ~~crazy~~ incredible guy thought it would be a good idea to embark on an 18week marathon training schedule in the dead of winter. But he didn't just do it for himself...he runs in honor of a special person in his life who can't run. Go check out his blog and read more about Cassie.

What I am not suspicious of and what I firmly believe is that Rick has worked long and hard for this and he's gonna do GREAT! 18 weeks and over 540 miles of training runs is going to pay off.

God speed my friend, we'll have the cow bell ringing for you here!

Edited because I typed Dave, not ONCE, or TWICE but THREE times! it's RICK! DOH!

today is the day!

2008-04-10T13:28:00.000-07:00

I ran 2 miles this morning. Wanted to do more but played it slow and safe. Felt a little twingy but then again, I've only run 4 miles in the last 10 days so it seems normal. I go see the Dr. one more time today.

Meanwhile, Mike was supposed to get off work early today to go pick up Boston. He called me a few minutes ago...he was coming in from a rescue and got stung by a stingray! UGH! It happened over an hour ago and by the time we had talked a minute or two he had to go back to the hot water bath because it was still hurting so bad. Poor guy! Those suckers HURT! Contrary to popular belief, the only thing that helps a stingray injury is HOT water...rubbing alcohol does NOT help and neither does having your buddy pee on it so save yourself THAT embarrassment.

Why you not bwing me home wit you?

2008-04-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

Ok. ok. we pick him up on Sunday...or sooner if I can swing it.

Boston! What do you think of the name? I don't think we are set on that yet. Would you vote in our name poll up there in the top left of this page?

but right now everyone is calling him Boston. Kinda fitting under the circumstances since this is ~~the dog they've been begging for~~ my Mother's Day gift so it's really all about ~~naming it anything that will make me happy to ensure I don't change my mind~~ me!

Time for some humor

2008-04-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

I just can't stop cracking up at these. And I've been landing on the front page of google for several of my posts so I avoided the obvious title.

*Chuck Norris doesn't hate Mondays; if he did, they wouldn't exist.

* When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.

* Chuck Norris doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

* There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.

* Outer space exists because it’s afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris.

* Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

* Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.

* Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.

* Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.

* There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.

* When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.

* Chuck Norris is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.

* Chuck Norris’ hand is the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush.

* There is no such thing as global warming. Chuck Norris was cold, so he turned the sun up.

* Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.

* Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.

* Chuck Norris gave Mona Lisa that smile.

* Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.

* Chuck Norris does not get frostbite. Chuck Norris bites frost

* Remember the Soviet Union? They decided to quit after watching a DeltaForce marathon on Satellite TV.

* Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy, it is a Chucktatorship.

* Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer. He has never cried. Ever.

Jr. Carlsbad 2008, race report II

2008-04-05T11:54:00.001-07:00

Curran's report: I had to wait so very long for my race. It was cold so I was under mommy's race blanket.

uh, when the gun shooted, I kinda started running. I was thinking about somebody tripping me but nobody did.

I was kinda tired. Lots of tired. Then I felt like, when is this race going to stop?

Then I finished and I saw the medals and I got one! It was kinda good race. I really like my medal! It's so sooo cool!

offical time results: 1/2 mile in 6:04

Jr. Carlsbad 2008, race report I

2008-04-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

Mom's version: Cooper James turns 9 on April 13th and his birthday request? To run a race. His goal is to one day have more medals than mom. He says one day, he wants to run a marathon with me. Awww. That makes my heart melt!

We were up at 6am, bibs pinned on, timing chips secured and on the road by 7am. Cooper's race was at 8:45 and Curran's was at 9:35 so the spread was enough that I could see them start and then run a few blocks over to catch them at the finish.

Cooper's report: The gun went off and I just wanted to get in front of as many kids as I could. Then I started to relax. I wanted to walk during part of it but I never did. I saw some kids start to walk and thought that could be me.

I saw the finish and I was like, FINALLY! I looked around me and saw kids trying to get past me and I ran harder. I wanted to beat the two kids next to me!

I was really happy to finish but I was also tired. I was so excited to get my medal!

offical time results: 1 mile in 8:22

Deena's Form

2008-04-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

Deena Castor will be running at the Women's Olympic Marathon Trials on Sunday April 20th. She is an amazing athlete. Even though I will never be an elite runner, I can always have goals inspired by the greats, eh?

I can only hope that some day, in some race, my form will be this great. Check her out...she's the one out front. Notice her slight lean forward, arms pumping and nothing but air under her feet? Look at the girl directly behind her. That's what I look like in all of my pictures. Sigh. Someday.

I'm excited to see the Trials. The course runs *right* past my hotel at mile 2 so I'll have time to do a jiggy jag to the finish and see them a second time!

Pool Running

2008-04-03T07:57:00.001-07:00

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Mike is right, cold water is my kryptonite. I don't like it. If the water is cold AND the air is cold too, it could be a fatal combination. I'm not sure what kind of crazy took over yesterday evening but I decided that I just couldn't go another whole day without running. I decided to run in our pool. As much as one can run in a pool. I found the full wetsuit and an old pair of running shoes and walk right in with a determination that was bigger than my fear of being cold.

It was actually not bad at all. I was warm. really warm. I was running around the edge of the shallow half of the pool and then crisscrossing to change directions. It was a little awkward but I played with different motions enough to feel like I got a good workout. I got out after 35 minutes, peeled off the wetsuit, and jumped on the bike trainer.

The trainer is worse than cold water. There is nothing more mind numbingly boring as riding a bike trainer. Seriously. I was done after 2 minutes and thought how lame I was, I had to go at least 10 minutes. After 10 minutes I was completely dripping with sweat and mesmerized by watching the planes line up and coming in for a landing at Lindbergh Field and then taking off at the other end...never knew the view from my back patio was that good. So I rode for 25 minutes.

All in all, not a bad. I guess I'll do it again today.

(spell check doesn't recognize kryptonite, LOL!)

Running news

2008-04-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

Got my 22 miler in. Did an 8 mile hill run the next Monday. Ran the next several days and by Friday, I had to cut my run short. My leg or calf or knee, I dunno. I really wanted to do my 20 miler on Saturday but took the day off to heat and massage my legs. I went to the SDRI to order new shoes, hoping to see Dr. Runco. He wasn't there. Got a pep talk from a guy named Alan Wagner...he just ran the Olympic Marathon trials in November, coming in 25th place with a 2:18 time. Very down to earth and encouraging.

I was up and running Sunday at 6am in the cold, dark, rain and wind. I did my last 20 mile run and felt great. I was on a high the rest of the day. Monday I went for a short 3mile recovery run that hurt every step of the way but met my monthly mileage goal of 200+ with 214 miles for the month of March. Couldn't run with the group on Tuesday and headed out to see Dr. R again. He said, Shin splints!? You are too experienced of a runner to get shin splints! Don't mess with this, take a day or two off. But today, the back of my calf and my knee hurts. I don't know what's real and what's phantom pains. I'm so very very frustrated.

Aside from that, I ordered my Boston Jacket.

So, that in and of itself motivates me to take a few days off and keep with the attitude that I want to make it to the start and then finish. I'm not going to worry about my time. Quote me on that. Because I seriously HATE running a race that I don't get a personal best as far as time. The one reassurance I have is that there was a poll at Runner's World online and out of over 200 runners, less than 20 bettered their qualifying time at Boston. So I wouldn't be alone. I guess that should make me feel better.

Easter

2008-04-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

I know, I'm totally lagging in my blogging duties. Easter weekend was a flurry of activity. I ran a 22 miler that Saturday, came home and immediately headed out for our Church's Easter Egg Hunt. Well, not exactly a hunt more like 5000+ eggs spread out over a huge grassy area, a megaphone command to "GO" and about 8.9 seconds later, they were gone.

But here's Easter pictures. I decided, what kind of mother would I be if I didn't cave into the annual ritual of Easter egg dying? OK, I didn't really care but with a big enough uprising, I was convinced it was the thing to do.

Coloring the eggs...

decorating the eggs...

and almost immediately, eating the eggs...

17022

2008-03-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

that's my bib number for Boston.

Boston Marathon: Athlete Tracking

How can family members track my running from home?

The B.A.A. will broadcast every 5Km split to its web site and family and friends can track your progress by logging in and entering your name or bib number. The "face" of the Boston Marathon web site will change on race day and the process on how to enter the search will be clear.

In addition, beginning in late March, runners may register up to three wireless devices or e-mail addresses using their bib number by logging in on the B.A.A. website: www.bostonmarathon.org. Alerts will be broadcast from the 10-kilometer, 1/2 marathon and 30-kilometer marks and the finish as the runner passes those locations.

Training is a big game of catch up at this point. I felt great after last Sat.'s 17.5 mile run and will peak this week with a 20-22 mile run. Intervals are dismal and hill work is non-existant, but I'm hopeful.

A date run

2008-03-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

It worked out perfectly today. I didn't have a long run yesterday and Mike is on a cut back week so we finally hooked up for a run together. It was a PERFECT day. Nice breeze, about 68, and a beautiful 10k trail about half a mile from our front door. We took an old camera with us to try and get some pictures. After less than a mile, we had taken all 8 pictures it could hold without a memory card.

Here I am heading down into the canyon.

Lots of tree covered areas, a few creeks to run through and too many hills to count.

We ran all the way to the Tecolote Trail Head where Heather and I used to meet to run with the boys. We purposefully set out to go slow because it's Mike's rest day and I'm coming back from injury...but honestly? I don't think I could have gone any faster. It was tough! But we had lots of time to talk, laugh and connect. Can't wait to do it again!

Tina (a co-leader) and I got up in front of the church and talk about our Running Group and shared a little bit about what it's like being a leader and being involved in a group. I have no idea what I said. I felt so out of breath, it was like I had just run a 10k race! Public speaking is NOT my cup of tea! But hopefully others will be brave enough to step out and share their passion with others and form new friendships! I can't say enough positive things about this adventure. I've made several new friends and it's such a blessing to share running with others who enjoy it too.

Happy Anniversary to Us!!!

2008-03-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

Who'd have thought these two littles would one day meet...

and pledge their hearts to one another, before God and man, and live happily ever after? We look so young and clueless, LOL!

I can't believe it's been 16 years! We have officially hit the comfortable years...he got me a huge container of Endurox recovery drink and I got him some injinji socks and we were both thrilled...we're easy like that.

My Brightroom order came!

2008-03-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

First off is the Carlsbad Half Marathon picture. A beautiful, mostly oceanfront course, made for a great backdrop. This is probably one of my favorites. (I think you can click on the pictures and see a bigger version)

Here is Surf City. This was taken after 3 hours and 30+minutes of rain, at somewhere around mile 25.8 I've never been so excited to get such a horrible picture of myself. I am so proud of myself for doing this race and doing it so well. That was probably hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. Harder than any birth, by a large margin. I was soaked to the bone, it was about 52 degrees and the wind was gusting at 20-30mph. On top of all of that, I beat my previous best marathon time by over 6 minutes and got a Boston Qualifying time for 2009.

I was going to rest today because of a sore knee (don't know where that came from, grrrr) and I had another Dr. appointment today. They worked on my hamstring...actually, we think the knee pain is coming from the hamstring insertion point just below my knee. Whatever. It just needs to be done with. So this evening I ran a mile with Connor and then another with Cole. Connor is just fast. We were going *slow* and he still did it in 8:14. He's 5'7", 105lb soaking wet, and wears an 11.5 in men's running shoes. He's 13. I have a feeling he's nowhere near done, LOL!

Dogs RULE!! and some serious training

2008-03-04T20:07:00.000-08:00

Our almost 6yo Golden Retriever, Tonka is spoiled. Rotten. He's the indoor dog I thought I'd never have. He follows me around and sleeps on my side of the bed. He thinks I like him, LOL! (I do) He puts up with a lot of lovin! The boys take Tonka on walks 2 times a day with strict instructions from me that the front door will not be unlocked for 15 minutes so WALK SLOW! They've made a few friends in the neighborhood. Piper is 18mo and the kids stop and play with her and talk with the parents, almost everyday. I've never met them. The Dad told Cole to ask us if he could go flying with him some day. He was a fighter pilot in the Navy for 10 years. YIKES!! The thought of sending my kid up in a little plane scares me but he REALLY wants to do it so we are trying to make plans.

Our entire family will be doing the 2008 Jr. Carlsbad and Carlsbad 5000, respectively. It's been 3 years since our family did this race and everyone is on board. Mike takes the kids out 2 days a week and does drills with them and I send them out with Garmin and a wave of my hand to run laps up and down the street. Connor is supposed to do the entire 5k distance so he's got a bit of work to do. The kids have really caught the race bug since my last marathon so they are on the look out for fun things. The following weekend we are going to do a family mud run. That should be...dirty. Here they are doing some warm ups before heading out.

The last time we did this race was in 2005 with our good friends Bud and Heather and their kids. We had such a great time. Bud and Heather are now stationed in Sigonella, Sicily and have been gone for a year and 5 months too long!

Test Run

2008-03-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

I got out there today and did 3 miles. NO calf pain whatsoever but a lot of pain in my piriformis and hamstring. Both, I can run through. I'm hoping it was just first day back kinks. I went to the Dr. today and it's actually my gluteus minimus (Mike said it was a good thing I had a small butt), not my piriformis. Either way, my butt hurt. I'm going to be having treatment on that. We are trying to figure out what is going on with my right knee. He thinks it's either a Baker's cyst or a hamstring insertion problem. We are working on that too.

He said I could add ONE mile a day to my distance. That means I won't even hit a 10 miler until next Monday! YIKES! I keep marking days off the calendar and getting more nervous with each passing day. GULP.

I don't know what is going on in our family as far as schooling goes but I think there are some major changes coming. We are just praying for direction in this and I need a whole new attitude. I wish I had homeschooling friends to talk with but I haven't found anyone...actually, I'm not really looking.

Thursday J's mom is taking him and Cole to Disney for J's birthday. I wish I could go too! I think Cole has been to Disney more than I have, HAHAHA!!! I'm so glad he has such a good friend. It's been a long time coming. J invited him over Friday night to play with the new Wi he got for his birthday...Cole came home extremely SORE from playing Tennis, bowling and baseball, LOL!! I'd love to be able to switch to this system for this reason alone. (o:

I get to run 4 miles with the running group tomorrow, woo hoo!!!

Saturday afternoon therapy

2008-03-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

We had a very chilly picnic at the bay with the running group today. Lots of fun! But we also had to make it to our Art Class. Today we were supposed to bring our favorite chess peice and create our own version. We watched an instructional video for using a pottery wheel and oooh boy, that looks like fun!

Last week the video was on different pottery techniques. I decided instead of a chess peice I would try to make a miniature version of a pot made using the coil technique.

So I started with a small 1.5 X 1.5 in. square as my base. Then 4 pieces about this size:

Then I rolled them out about like this:

Then I started the first one on the little base I made and just wrapped it round and round.

After all of the coils are in place, you need to carefully pinch/rub the coils together. Starting at the base, to make sure it's firmly attached. It was so small it took a while to get the inside smooth but eventually I did. Then I added the handles.

you just have to use your imagination to picture it much larger, better formed,and glazed. I love working with the clay.

How To Give a Pill to a Cat!

2008-02-27T00:11:00.000-08:00

1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth & swallow.

2. Retrieve pill from floor & cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm & repeat process.

3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.

4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden.

6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.

7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.

8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.

9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink 1 beer to take taste away. Apply Band-Aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.

10 Retrieve cat from neighbor's shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard, and close door on to neck, to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.

11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot, drink. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw Tee shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.

12. Call fire department to retrieve the damn cat from the tree across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil wrap.

13. Tie the little bastard's front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table, find heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of filet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.

14. Consume remainder of scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.

15. Arrange for SPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

How To Give A Dog A Pill

1. Wrap it in bacon.

2. Toss it in the air.

All the King's horses and all the king's men...

2008-02-25T19:56:00.000-08:00

couldn't put Humpty together again.

Fortunately for me, I found a Dr. armed with ultrasound, TENS and deep tissue massage who is putting me back together.

I've been ignoring a few issues for quite a while but as Boston grows closer, I knew I had to deal with it. I called my HMO Dr. and her specialty is Internal Medicine...not exactly promising. So I went to the San Diego Running Institute today to see Dr. Runco. He's a marathoner and ultra marathoner and didn't look at me like I had 3 eyes when I told him my mileage and running habits. He checked me out and both pairs of running shoes I rotate through. He decided that my shoes were perfect for me and weren't causing my problems.

I sprain/strained my calf muscle at the Carlsbad Half marathon. Although I was able to make it through Surf City, it definitely was the proverbial straw. The good news is that it is in the calf and did not extend to the Achilles area. I'm able to stand on one foot and raise up on my toes...which apparently is good.

He did some massage on my leg and then used the ultrasound on the area, followed by the TENS treatment. A TENS unit is a small device that delivers low voltage electric impulses to the nerve endings, through electrodes placed on the skin, to stimulate the nerves for the purpose of relieving pain. He also sent me home with a TENS unit that I will be using twice a day. We are hopeful that I will be able to run in the next few days. I already feel a slight improvement. Again, I am also suffering from an acute case of Piriformis Syndrome. Because the piriformis is located so close to the sciatic nerve, it can irritate the sciatic nerve and cause lower back pain and shooting pain down the leg. Hence, my issues over the weekend. He showed me a few new stretches that I need to do a lot...he suggested that to really impact the area, I should do the stretches every hour. Hey, I'm desperate. We also did some work with the foam roller and added a few new techniques to what I had been doing.

All in all, I'm glad I went. I have another appointment on Wed and then 2 next week and hopefully I'll be much better. I really need to run. He was pretty reassuring in that he thinks I can totally recover from this and do Boston without a hitch. That's what I wanted to hear!

I'm such a wreck.

2008-02-24T22:59:00.000-08:00

So last week I stopped running because my right hip and right calf hurt really bad while running and it started hurting when I wasn't running. Aside from that, my left knee hurts at night while I sleep...no other time.

I haven't run since last Tuesday. By Saturday afternoon, I could hardly walk. Yep. My back. I dunno what happened but over the course of the day, it just went. Felt like I had fallen on my tailbone. I could hardly get up and down. I missed church today because I just couldn't move well enough.

I'm better this evening but I'm having slight panic attacks when I realize that Boston is 8 weeks away. The last 5 days of no running feels like a month and makes me scared to think my training is tanked.

Took this picture this morning to post on one of the boards. I tried *flipping* my hair up a bit. I still don't like it.

Ultimate Frisbee

2008-02-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

This was ultimate frisbee week so we packed up Tonka and headed out. It was 81 when we left, perfect sunny day. I got tons of shots of the players before I realized I didn't have the camera on sport mode. grrrrr.

I did get a couple of other good shots. Cole and Tonka resting in the shade...

and Curran trying to be cool.

No long run today. That felt weird. I had a great 8 mile run on Friday afternoon and was really excited to do 14 today. By the time I was ready for bed last night the same old pains were worse than ever. I need to give my body a break before it breaks. Going to do a trail run with Mike tomorrow.

My cyber friend and fellow runner Marion is revving up to run her first marathon, the Myrtle Beach Marathon, next weekend, Saturday, Feb 16. She's such an inspiration and her dedication and determination is going to pay off. She's probably going to be a bundle of nerves this week so maybe you could stop by and give her a cheer! Run Strong Marion!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Curran Noble!!

2008-02-05T21:38:00.000-08:00

My baby is growing up! Today we celebrated Curran Noble. This was our last baby and only time we had professional belly shots and because I never have a real reason to share these, I'll create an opportunity right now. These were taken 5 days before he was born.

Curran was born at home, into his father's hands. We finally had our 4th boy and I couldn't imagine a single day without him.
He loves legos, bionicles, Planet Heroes and xbox. He is a super good swimmer and can ride his scooter like a champ. We are working our way through Get Ready For the Code Book A and he's learning his letters and sounds. He still loves to find me in bed (it's a treat since I'm usually off running before he gets up!) and cuddle and play with my hair.

Today he woke up to balloons and a pile of gifts on the kitchen table from everyone in the family. He opened them one at a time over the course of the day. It was a Birthday holiday, so no school. The big boys helped him build his Chicken Walker Lego set, bionicles, and playskool race car. They played with him non stop. Then we headed over to the park with Tonka and played frisbee and climbed around. We finished the day with dinner...his choice, Soup Plantation. He likes the mac n cheese, chicken noodle soup, and self serve icecream. We had his pick of homemade spice cake with cream cheese frosting, chocolate sprinkles and blue lettering, and blew candles out when we got home.

Happy Birthday Sweet Precious!!

The Day After

2008-02-04T07:43:00.001-08:00

I felt fine yesterday. Today...not so great. Even my fingers are sore.

SURF CITY USA Marathon!

2008-02-03T15:53:00.000-08:00

It wasn't at all like the pictures. You know, the sun, blue sky, visions of a sunny So. CA surf marathon?

Saturday we arrived at the expo and met up with some people from Runner's World. We had lunch together and talked running the whole time. It was a lot of fun! We made it to the hotel and everywhere I turned I was meeting fellow runners. Everyone was so nice and excited.

As we sat in the car this morning, it was about 47, the winds were 17-20mph and the rain was steady. It didn't get better. In fact, it got worse before it got better.

Going into this race I was confident in my training. I was to the point I could see a 3:30-3:35 finish. Then the taper hit. I don't know what I did, but my lower calf has been hurting all week...like, every time I start to run the pain was a level 7-8. By yesterday, there was no improvement and I questioned my ability to run at all and even dreaded the DNF (Did Not Finish). I changed my goal to just being happy to finish.

I headed to the start line at about 6:40 for a 6:50 start time. The rain was steady, the wind blowing hard and everyone around me was soaked like they'd been standing in a shower. We were all cheerful despite the conditions. I was between the 3:30 and 3:40 pacers. 3:30 said he was going to go steady, 3:40 promised they'd get there by 3:39. The gun went off.

I was really cold and wet but by the time I hit mile 1, my leg was not an issue. The conditions were the immediate concern. 3:30 group was far ahead of me but I wasn't going to worry. If I could just get the sound of 3:40 guy talking to fade away, I'd feel better! I did NOT want him hot on my heels! My feet were squishy soaked by mile 2 and numb by mile 5. I wouldn't have feeling in my feet until hours later when I was in the car with the heat blazing.

We ran up along the coast on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) for a couple of miles and then headed into some neighborhoods eventually looping in and out of a beautiful park area. I decided hopping over puddles was useless and started to ignore them. I ran with a guy from AZ from miles 6-8. He was in long pants and rain jacket and we were laughing at the strange wet stuff falling from the sky.

8.06
8.05
8.07
8.20
7.40
7.52
8.00
8.02

At mile 8 there was a big uphill and we were running into the rain. By the time I was coming up on the 15k, the rain was blowing so hard into my face, I had a hard time seeing and the water was flowing off of my visor. We finally made it back out to PCH and started the out and back section where I could see people heading back my way. The wind was going every which way and I couldn't tell when it was head on and when it was at my back. I made the first turn around and was confident I was going to finish. I was suddenly so thankful...the first time of the day I thought to be thankful and I started reciting Psalm 23. Out loud. I don't know why. Over and Over again. ...I shall not want...He leads me beside still waters...He restores my soul...Yeah, though I walk through the valley of shadow of death (was this it?) I will fear no evil...my cup runneth over. People all around me were making the best of it. The surf was rough and choppy and there was no relief in sight. But I knew where my strength was coming from.

Mile 16 was the next turn around and we were headed North on a pedestrian walkway that ran parallel to PCH. Now I could see all 3 rows of runners. It looked and felt like a bit of a death march of sorts.

Volunteers. What can I say? They were there in the pouring rain, cheering us on and handing out water under the worst conditions. I was never so thankful for each and everyone of them. I couldn't even be upset when by the time I hit mile 17, I started finding abandoned water stations or just a few people handing out drinks. I missed several stops since there was no one to hand it out. This was getting tough and I was ready for the final turn around somewhere around mile 20?

8.29
7.57
8.02
8.07
8.04
8.12
8.22
8.07
8.19
8.23
8.37
8.24

I thought, this is where the race begins. I was pretty sure there were no more than 20 women in front of me and I was still comfortably passing people. My feet had been so numb for so long, I knew it was affecting my gate and my piriformis/hip flexor were enraged at me! It felt like I had rocks under the balls of my feet. I kept looking at the ocean and thinking, there aren't even surfers out! The small up and downs were getting harder and harder and somewhere around mile 25 we went downhill a bit and I realized there was one more turn around and I'd have to run back up that hill. I realized that, for the first time all day, it wasn't raining. Thank you Lord!!! It was really hard and I was sorely tempted to walk halfway back up it but I realized I only had a mile or so to go and I took off. I had not walked at all during the race because I knew if I stopped and walked, I'd never get my legs going again. I was back on PCH and everyone was headed toward the finish and it was really crowded with Half Marathoners. I heard the finish was right up ahead and I just turned it on and ran as fast as I could...all I could think of was getting warm clothes on!

8.17
8.33
8.41
8.37
8.13
8.39
2.44/.37miles

50yards from the finish I was passing this guy and I shouted let's go! It's RIGHT THERE, SPRIIIIIIIIIIINT!! and he said, You're right! and we sprinted neck and neck through the finish!! AAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!! Who knew it would be so painfully hard to switch to walking. I wasn't that far in when I saw Rudy...I met him at the Expo. He's the race announcer and we spoke awhile and he said he announces all of the San Diego races. He saw me, remembered my name and hugged me! That was SO nice.

I was soaked to the bone and eventually found Nancy after I had already walked to the car, changed into dry clothes, walked back to the beer garden and had the beer I thought I should have. I was just thankful to finish. Honestly. Of course, I'm bummed I didn't sub 3:35 but I was just really proud of myself for sticking out despite the conditions. Thankful to God for His strength in doing something that was so far beyond my own abilities.

Bib: 554
Gender: F
Age: 38
Hometown: San Diego CA
Place Overall: 108 out of 1087
Women: 17 out of 419
F 35-39: 6 out of 90
AgeGrade: 66.02% Place: 72
FINISH: 3:36:49 pace: 8:17
3 Mile: 24:28 pace: 8:10
6 Mile: 48:36 pace: 8:06
12 Mile: 1:37:22 pace: 8:07
20 Mile: 2:43:58 pace: 8:12
Chip Time: 3:36:49
Gun Time: 3:37:04

My stats! Can you believe it!!! I can't believe I really was in the top 20 female finishers and number 6 in my age group. I am just ecstatic!

Thanks for reading and thanks for all of your support!
Adding pictures of my 2 favorite medals...Surf City Marathon and Carlsbad Half Marathon. Afterall, I did say I was doing it for the super cool medal!

Laughter...

2008-02-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

we all need more. You Tube is the place to go and find videos of the funny to the inspiring and everything in betweeen.

We don't have sound on our computer but I sat watching this little guy and found myself chuckling along just imagining his laughter.

And this one...All together now...awwwwwww!

small heart attack

2008-01-31T19:01:00.000-08:00

I was just checking my bib number at the Surf City website and it took me 5 tries to get it! WHEW!!! I can't believe it's case sensitive. grrr. I'm number 554 but they don't have any kind of live updates so it doesn't matter.

I'm SO nervous. That nervousness never goes away, no matter how many times I race. I went grocery shopping last night and bought anything that sounded good...whether it was healthy or not. I need FUEL! but I also need to be able to eat and I have the worst case of pre-race-jitters-nausea!

At the very least I am well rested. I've been going to bed early and waking without an alarm clock so I know I won't be exhausted on race day. I can't believe it's already Thursday...I still need to do laundry and figure out what I'm going to wear. It would be really nice if I knew what the weather was going to be. Also on my packing list:

3 chocolate GU
visor
garmin
shoes
shorts/socks/jog top
longsleeve dri fit (which one!? a white race shirt or an ORANGE one?)
rain jacket (please God, don't let it rain the whole time)
RED BULL!!
gloves
biofreeze packets from my chiro (pray my calf and knee feel better!)
camera

I pick up Nancy, Saturday morning and we plan on being in Huntington Beach by 11AM. We are going to find a Soup Plantation and stuff ourselves. I'm planning on bringing pizza to eat later that night and when I wake up in the morning.

Welp. signing off. I'll be back with a race report. I wanna hear some COW BELL!!!!

Oh and don't forget to cheer for my husband Mike...he's doing GNARLY 15k trail race the same morning. It's supposed to be wet...which means muddy and yucky. He's trained so hard and smart, I know he'll do AWESOME!! I just wish I could be there to cheer him on!

Lost my groove

2008-01-28T12:49:00.000-08:00

My knees hurt, my back hurts, my feet hurt, and my calves hurt. It's cold (55 yes, that seems COLD to me today!) and rainy and I just can't get out there and run. I feel like I need to do my 6miles today just to see if I'm as bad off as I feel I am. Yet, I don't feel like I could comfortably do 6 today let alone 26.2 on Sunday. I'm unraveling.

I need to shake off the funk!

Spirit of the Marathon

2008-01-27T09:01:00.000-08:00

I had a huge post ready to submit the other night and lost it. grrrr. So I gave up for a few days. Let's see if I can get my facts straight here...it's early and I'm only halfway through my red bull... Thanks Rick for posting the poster in your blog, I borrowed it!

Thursday night I went to see Spirit of the Marathon. They had a nationwide 7:30 showing in select theaters. It was sold out at the first 5 places I checked and I was almost in tears thinking I was going to miss it but I ended up in Mira Mesa, which isn't really so bad. It was a jammed packed theater and I was sitting down in the pit.

The movie itself was excellent. If you watch the trailer, it's all that you'd hope it to be and more. It follows 5 different runners who are training for the 2005 Chicago La Salle Bank Marathon. Olympic Bronze Medalist, Deena Kastor, Kenyan, Daniel Njenga are two elite marathon runners they featured and it was interesting to see some of their training and learn more of their personal background. There was a 70yo man training to run his 5th marathon with his daughter. My favorite quote from him was: "Everyone talks about the runners high...the only runners high I get is when I stop running!" He started marathoning at age 65. There was a newly divorced mother and a graduate student both training for their first marathon. Another couple were training and hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

The movie went into the history of The Marathon itself...from the first 25 mile run to Greece to declare victory, to the extending of the course in London to 26.2 miles in order for the Royal Family to see the runners. They showed clips of the Olympic Games in Greece where the marathon was run. Members of the Boston Athletic Association were present and decided we needed a marathon course in America and so the world's longest running, organized marathon, The Boston Marathon, was established and run on America's victory day, Patriots Day. We got to see pictures of Katherine Switzer as she was attacked by the Boston Marathon Race Director when he spotted her on the course with a race number. She made history as the first woman to run the Boston Marathon.

The film was motivating and encouraging. I laughed and I cried. It was inspiring to see all of the people at every level share their stories, their training, and their victories. If you've never run a marathon, it might be the catalyst that has you looking for training plans. If you know a marathoner or are married to one, this will give you a better understanding of what makes us tick.

If you missed it the first time around, there will be an encore showing Feb 21 and you can check the website for theater locations. I hope you can make it!

2008 Carlsbad Half Marathon

2008-01-20T12:20:00.000-08:00

I was up at 4AM and had my very scientific, perfectly calculated pre-race meal...a small slice of cheese pizza and a red bull. :D Gathered my gear and was out the door at 4:45 to pick up my gf who was planning on walking the half...it's her first time. As I walked out the door, I was greeted by Mister Moon...he was a kinda wonky shape, trying to get full, but impressive nonetheless. As we pulled onto the freeway the moon was an incredible orange/yellow...wish I had a camera but my batteries were dead in the little point and shoot I brought.

We got a little lost on the way but found our way to the parking and headed out for our first porta potty run. It was dark, cold, and we had our blankets. We waited in the car chatting, did a second pp run and one last one as headed to the start at 7:15. It was 37 when I left the house and it still felt that cold but remembering last year, I left my fleece vest behind and went with the gloves.

Are you ever ready at the start? I was feeling like I wouldn't be able to go all out and super nervous. Away we went!

This course doesn't have an elevation chart because it doesn't have enough elevation changes. BULL. I'm a flatlander and those were HILLS. non-stop. Fortunately, since I'm not a hill person, I don't know any better and kept on. At about mile 5 I was thinking I went out too fast, didn't think I'd hold it. I took my gu. Got to the turn around and then some and suddenly woke up and I was in the race...I looked at Garmin and I was at 7.91 miles. whew. half way there.

I started pacing a guy with a White Rock marathon shirt on. Just behind to the side of him. We kept each other going and chatted a bit. It really helped. I lost him at around mile 12. Mile 13 was down hill and I thought, TUCK n ROLL!!! There I went! I couldn't believe I was almost done!

My mile splits:
7:59
7:23
7:37
7:30
7:42
7:26
7:37
7:24
7:17
7:17
7:23
7:18
6:59
1:47 (.30) garmin measured me at 13.3 miles

chip time: 1:38:37 / 7:32 pace and a new PR. WHEW!!!!

I waited at the end and shook White Rocks hand and thanked him.

I feel really great. I woke up with sore knee and put some biofreeze on it and it felt great in minutes. My piriformis was bugging me by mile 8 but I think I'm just used to that at this point.

It was a great race. I'm really happy. Didn't get my 1:37 time but still, better than I had hoped for. Last year, I pr'd this same course with a 1:47:19 so this was a great improvement.

Surf City Marathon in 2 weeks!!!

Wanted to come back and add a few things. First off, 2 girls from the church running group, also ran this race. Tina came in at 2:20 and Christina (the one who rode up with me) came in at 2:36 !!! Christina planned on walking but I talked to her husband and he said she realized she had been running about 6 miles so she went with it! How great is that!

Official results came in and I was ecstatic with my placement!

Field Placement: 432 / 6334 (6.8%)
Age group: 35 – 39
Group Placement: 21 / 631 (3.3%)
Gender Placement: 96 / 3702 (2.6%)

The race predictor takes this race time and predicts a 3:27:59 marathon. HOLY COW! so maybe I can do a 3:35? I'm going to enjoy my rest the next 2 weeks.

I finally did it.

2008-01-16T22:22:00.000-08:00

This is what I looked like last summer. Let's just put it out there, I don't like having my picture taken, yadda yadda yadda. So I always look super dumb and uncomfortable. But. Here I was. Now, between then and this afternoon, there was a whole lotta time and about 4 to 5 inches of black roots as I bravely decided to stop having my hair highlighted...it was TOO blonde. Today, it looked really bad...this picture makes it look too good, it didn't look that good.
Today I got it all chopped off. About 10 inches off the back...it was down past the center of my back. I sat there telling her I didn't want to have any color. She gave me the look. That irritating look of chastisement that people give you when they think they are a close enough friend to give you that look ...and no one is ever close enough to give the look. So I said, maybe just a tad bit of highlights of front. She went on to explain in hairstylist gibberish, why that wouldn't look right and how bout she just give me a few lights up front and then some brown to match my original color (from 13 years ago when she first talked me into just a few highlights.) So, I went all slack-jawed and mumbled some kind of ok and off she went to mix her color potions. A few foils up front and then she started dabbing other stuff on and just when I though she was done, she continued on ALL OVER MY HEAD! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! I didn't know if I was going to puke or cry when the towel came off. Anyway, it's done. darn it. It feels great but I still can't get a decent picture.

I look like two completely different people. I don't even recognize myself. ugh. This is going to take a few days to get used to.

Stage 1 Complete

2008-01-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

Cole got his braces off today, HURRAY!!! I can't even remember when we started...18months ago? He had adult teeth growing behind baby teeth so he had 2 rows of teeth. He had 7 teeth extracted! He was so happy today. Stage 1 Orthodontics complete on the first 2 kids...2 more to go.

Rally weekend at church, people were challenged to get out there and meet the Group Leaders. Whenever you *engaged* a group leader, you received a ticket to enter a drawing for a 4G iPod Nano. As I shared before, Cole signed up for several Groups because he was interested...not for the iPod. He had 5 ticket entries. This past Sunday was the drawing and you can imagine the gasp I let out when they announced Cole McD! Can you believe it!? What in the world is he going to do with an iPod Nano!? I think he should let me borrow it, LOL. He's already got games on it and Mike is going to have to help him geek it out a bit more. Not only can you download music but you can also get movies, TV shows, and pictures on that thing. Isn't that amazing? Anyway...what an incredible blessing! That's quite a treat.

I was supposed to run 5 today, wanted to run 12, but ended up running 6. I was really tight and sore from my tempo run yesterday. I need to be ok with backing down on my mileage. I want to be well rested for this weekend.

Art Class

2008-01-12T21:21:00.000-08:00

was a LOT of fun today! We meet at church since this is one of the "Groups" and the leader is a very patient older man named Kareem. Super nice and a very good teacher. The deal is that we can either draw, paint or work with clay. I thought for sure Connor would wish he had his drawing gear with him but no! he was totally into the clay. We left class and he had a box similar to Chinese take out and later on this evening it morphed into the little monster you see. Cole made a mushroom house and I did the shoe.

I ran 21 miles today...my last long run before Surf City. This week I do lots of S L O W miles to taper for next weekend's race. After today's run I've decided to change my goal...I'll be happy with anything under 3:40.

As soon as I got home from my run, we took off for Ultimate Frisbee. Connor and Cole played for over an hour. We missed the Geo Cache group today because I was still running. Next week is the digital photography group and I'm hoping to get some helpful hints on how to get better pictures.

I'm going to do something really ... scary...but FUN. Jan 26, SURVIVOR will be in San Diego and doing auditions. Mike and the kids have really encouraged me to go for it. Wouldn't that be a hoot? I might. It's a bit out of my comfort zone. But I might. I'll have to look at the online suggestions. I would SO totally kick butt on that show, LOL!

YAY!

2008-01-10T20:52:00.000-08:00

Dad and Carol booked a flight to Boston! I'm so excited! They'll be there at the finish.

I'm starting to get really excited! Mike got me a room right near the finish which is also near the Expo. I'm not even going to rent a car...just take an airport shuttle to and from the hotel. I about had a heart attack when the hotel offered me a private car to take me to the start line, for $179. I was kinda ticked off because I found out later, there is free start line shuttle service for all runners. Gee, Funny how the hotel didn't tell me this. grrrrr.

I did a very slow 10miles today...tried to keep my heart rate low and I feel pretty good. Instead of cutting back mileage next week, I'm just going to continue to take it easy so I'm ready for the Carlsbad Half Marathon on Jan 20.

We have spent all week reviewing and trying to get caught up with a full day of school. Too many days off and it's chaos! Some of them had tests scheduled for their first day back and of course they needed to go back and review. They finished their first real day of school today. We are still on track to finish by May 30. That seems like a loooooooooong way away.

I have reservations!

2008-01-08T22:26:00.000-08:00

It just hit me! Mike made reservations for Boston! The sad part is that I'll be going alone but the good news is that I get to go!

We decided that the trip was far too expensive for us. I had originally registered for this race when I was SO sure I would have a job...well, that didn't work. Jim(FIL) is up with the BIL and is looking for a job so we have no child care options. It's ok though. I'm still going to have a great time...I'll have a kingsize bed to myself! Hopefully, next time Mike can come. Maybe I'll meet up with some internet friends and have dinner...I might even get someone to take some pictures for me. Still, there's a part of me that's kinda sad that noone close to me will be there to cheer me on.

I did 10 miles today with some speed work in there. My piriformis is really acting up so I'm gonna back down the rest of the week. I got my race number for the Carlsbad Half Marathon...7035, no 2's or 6's, bummer! It's just a number...

The Running Group is taking off. We have over 20 people interested, who signed up at our Rally this past weekend. I'm SO excited! We have a wide range of abilities...from walking/runners to marathoners and even someone training for an Ironman competition. I have heard from SO many people, that they have been waiting for someone to start this group! Our first meeting is Sunday after church.

Speaking of Groups. Cole signed up for 5 different groups. Of course, he couldn't remember them all but I have gotten 3 calls this week about, "I don't know if you knew or not, but your son Cole signed up for _____ group..." Yes, he signed up for Choir, Dance Worship (did this last night and decided it wasn't a fit), Art Class (we all will be doing this on Saturday afternoons), digital photography, GeoCacheing, and Ultimate Frisbee. I'm exhausted just typing all of that out.

Tonight...someone, somewhere is telling a funny story about the runner they saw

2008-01-06T00:16:00.000-08:00

running in the rain and wind. So intent upon forging ahead, the runner was keeping her head turned down to keep the rain and wind from getting in her eyes. This was such an effective technique, that it also kept her from seeing the BIG, WOODEN, GREEN SIGN that was at her head level. She never saw it coming...she just hit it HEAD ON, so hard that it knocked her flat on her back, her hat flying behind her. She lay there for...however long, before she reached over to do the very most important thing a runner would do when faced with this trauma...she stopped her Garmin time. Then reached up to make sure that all of her teeth were still intact. Relieved that the jolt left her with a potential future smile, she reached up to check for the blood that surely must be pouring from her frontal lobe. No blood. So she got up from the muddy bed she was lying in, retrieved her hat, hit start on her garmin and ran 2.5 more miles to complete her 17mile LSR.

sleepover and over

2008-01-04T17:58:00.001-08:00

The boys each had a sleepover this week. We took Connor's buddy out to play tennis on Wednesday. Thursday, Cole and his friend J, wanted to do a geocache. We headed down the canyon because Cole wanted to do the "toychest" geocache that we have already done a DOZEN times! but it was easy. We were careful to not collect lobsters or snakes.

While they were doing their boy stuff...throwing rocks in the stream, swinging sticks and searching for the stash, I tried my hand at stacking rocks. Apparently this is an art because I only managed 4 and the guy at Balboa park can stack them head high. Although satisfying, in a zoning out kinda way, I'm just not sure how impressive rock stacking really is.

They found the stash and read the info. There was a travel bug but we left it because...well, I never know when we'll get to another cache. J had a blast and I promised him that next time we'd do another one. Maybe we'll do the geocaching group at church.

Cole and J seem to hit it off great. I'm really glad. He's a super sweet kid. I met his mom in a bible study I was attending 11 years ago...we were both pregnant. I had Cole in Nov and her J was born in Feb. We lost touch for about 9 years and hooked up like old friends when we moved churches. Our only problem is that we can't stop talking...my throat hurts when I get done visiting with her, LOL! It's so great to have someone to pray with again.

Running is perfect. I've hit over 200 miles a month the last 2 months and am on track to do so again this month. Most days I love the challenge. Yesterday I did my first hill workout since November and was pretty darn fast! Today I did 10 miles...was scheduled to do a 10k or 15k race so I ran 10 miles. The first 3 at an easy 8:19 pace and the last 7 at a 7:45 pace. I registered for the Carlsbad Half Marathon on Jan 21. I plan to run it as a training run for Surf City, 2 weeks later. I'm going to actually try to race it and get a better calculation for my marathon pace. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and I'm not excited about 17 miles in the rain, ugh.

'Twas the day after Christmas...

2007-12-26T21:09:00.000-08:00

and all through the house...

creatures were being made

and hiding about

one boy was reading...

the others were strumming

and strumming

and strumming

mom had enough and left to go running!

eh. I didn't really run today, but it worked. I took the kids to the park today and we played tennis and frisbee for a few hours...I don't know who was more tired, them or me!