Foto Friday

Time for Foto Friday again over at Nike Mom's blog! She picked a them for this week: America's Next Top Runner. Hmmmmm. I was trying to think of ways to get all creative, but I couldn't come up with anything. So you get a picture of me running! This is leaving T2 at Heritage Park in 2007. I couldn't remember if it was 07 or 08, but based on my shoes it was 07. They were my one foray into Mizuno's, and then it was back to Adidas for me.

This weekend I'm skipping RE on Saturday because I'm hosting a baby shower at my house in the afternoon that I need to get ready for. So, I'll be doing my long run on Sunday all by my lonesome. I'm scheduled for 12 miles, and I dont know that I've ever run that far by myself. I think the closest I've come is doing my first 10 miler with just Court a few years ago. So, I'll strap on the ol' fuel belt and make sure my ipod is charged up and see how it goes. Maybe this would be a good time to figure out the "training partner" function on the Garmin. Guess I should figure out a route too!

The Biggest Liar

So I admit it, I love watching the Biggest Loser. Even last season with horrible Heba, Ed, and Vicky did not diminish my love for the show. Well things have changed, my friends!

A couple weeks ago when Blaine got kicked off, they filmed him at the end preparing for an "Ironman". Except, they showed him talking about the race, and the numbers didn't add up. They didnt even add up to a half Ironman. Whatever, I just chalked it up to him being a newbie and not knowing what the deal was. I was a little irritated though when NBC stated that he would be competing in an IRONMAN, when that clearly wasn't what he was training for. Why exaggerate? Doing a half ironman is an amazing accomplishment. They dont need to diminsh that by making it sound like he was planning to do a full. Not to mention, NBC airs Kona every year, so you'd think they know what is involved in an actual full Ironman!

But last night took the cake. Blaine's cousin, Dane got kicked off. In the clips at the end, they show him talking about doing a marathon with his wife, and then SHOW them "finishing" a marathon. The clock shows a time of 5:53. Then, NBC states that Dane and his wife completed the marathon in 3:53. The hell?

Wellllllll.......come to find out, they didnt even run the whole damn thing! They got picked up at some point, it sounds like around mile 17, and then dropped closer to the finish. They didnt even tell the race officials they got a ride, they collected their medals. It took other racers reporting them to the race officials before they were DQ'd!

Here is what pisses me off. If this formerly 400+ lb guy ran even a half marathon, that is AWESOME. But for NBC to blatantly lie about his accomplishment is a slap in the face to everyone who HAS actually trained for and completed a full marathon. I dont care how long it takes you, I mean, look at my times. I'm slow as hell. But finishing a marathon is a huge effing deal, and NBC just completely shit all over it. But, for a show that promotes "average" weekly weight loss to be double digits, and trains contestants to think that a 5lb loss is somehow poor, I shouldnt be surprised.

There have been a lot of cleberities in the past few years who have gotten some press for running a marathon. That has just led to the perception by the general population that completing a marathon is no big deal. Well, it IS a big deal. And it takes a LOT of hard work and effort. It really saddens me to see a major network feeding into the misconception of how NOT a big deal doing a marathon really is.

Here's some more chatter on it:
http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2009/02/the-biggest-los.html

I cut it short AGAIN

I was SO not feeling an 18 mile run on Saturday. I didnt feel like running at all, let alone 18 miles. I went out early to do 2 miles before starting with the main group at 7, just to get myself done a little quicker at the end. I almost just went home after those first 2 miles. It was cold (about 20 degrees) and windy and my legs were tight after just a mile. Fantastic. I had even doubled up on my pants, had a layer of tights on under my wind pants, and my muscles were still not having any of it.

But, I decided it would be ridiculous to wake up so early and drive over to Grandview just to run 2 miles, so I kept at it. I ended up only doing 16 instead of the 18 I had planned because the other two gals that I normally run with were doing 16. That's a bad habit I find myself falling into, and I need to get out of it. They arent doing the same races I'm doing, so of course they won't be doing the same mileage on our Saturday runs. I will most likely be skipping this Saturday's long run because I'm hosting a baby shower at my house that afternoon, so I'll have to get it done on my own Sunday.

Our course started off at Grandview High School and we made our way up to the trail at Longview Lake. I HATE that trail. It is so broken up and uneven, it is just a really poor runninng surface. So by the time we got done, my ankles and feet were killing me. I felt a lot better after stretching out and taking a shower (and of course consuming my usual 1100 calorie Chipotle burrito), but my left foot was still pretty painful. It's much better today though, so I'm thinking it was probably just a tendon or something that got a little over-used.

I finally loaded the Garmin software onto my computer last night and got all of the data from my last few runs uploaded. It is so cool! I can totally see where all the aid stations were based on my speed, and it's neat to see how a change in grade affects your speed. Although, Garmin better check yaself, because I do not appreciate my pace being classified as a "slow jog"! I need to spend some more time playing with the actual unit, because I know it's got a bunch of features that I haven't even touched yet.

Foto Friday

Time for Foto Friday again! This week it's one of my wedding pictures. The hubs thinks I never talk about him on my blog, so here ya go! We got married Thanksgiving weekend in 2006, so it's been a little over 2 years. Some days it feels like not a day has passed, and some days it feels like eternity ;) Just depends on my mood I guess, and if you ask him, he'll probably tell you that I have a lot of "moods"!

Up this weekend, an 18 mile run, and of course, Chipotle! My original plan had been to lift on Sundays, but it is hard to get motivated to go to the gym after doing a long run the day before. Especially when I usually spend the rest of the day on Saturday laying on the couch watching Lifetime movies or catching up on my DVRd shows, which leaves me with the cleaning and grocery shopping to do on Sunday. I keep reminding myself that when I was training for IM, I'd do my long run on Saturday and then turn around and spend all day Sunday on my bike. I dont know how I got anything done then.

Speedy Gonzales

So, it turns out that I can run a little faster than I actually have been. *gasp!* I dont know why I always thought that I HAD to be so slow, but thanks to my handy dandy Garmin (which is about the best thing ever invented, by the way), I've discovered that I can in fact run faster than 11:30-12:00 min miles.

Saturday our run was up at Cliff Drive. Which I LOVE because it is such a pretty run, but, those of you in KC know it's not exactly the best area. We're talking, a mile away from Independence Ave where all the hookers hang out, it's been a dumping ground for dead bodies, that kind of thing. And Cliff Drive itself is pretty isolated, in fact, they gate it off on the weekends to keep cars out of there. So it was nice to be able to run without worrying about traffic. But I definitely wouldn't want to run here by myself.

Anyway, Saturday I had volunteered to be pace group leader (PGL) for the 11:40 group since Kristi was out of town. Every session, the Cliff Drive run is not very well attended, so we ended up with only about 6 people in our group. Our course was a 5 mile loop instead of the usual out-and-back set up, I assume for safety reasons. Everyone else in the group was only doing 5, and I had 10 scheduled (well, 12, but decided to make it 10 for simplicity's sake). So I stuck with my normal group for the first 5, and honestly, I felt like I was crawling. Something about being able to actually SEE what pace I was running made it feel really slow. I wanted to go faster, but since I was PGL, I tried to keep on pace.

After we finished the first loop, I was able to hook up with the 11:20 pace group for my second loop. Now, the 11:20 PGL is known for going faster than 11:20. But I didn't realize exactly HOW much faster. Pretty much ever time I looked at my watch, we were under 10:30. And half the time, we were under 10:00. So, for me, that is a little quick. But you know what? I felt just fine. In fact, it felt downright COMFORTABLE to be running at that pace. Did I mention that pretty much the entire run was uphill? The first mile was flat, then there was a really sharp downhill before we got on Cliff Drive which was completely uphill for the 3 or so miles we were on it. But I still felt good going faster than what I'm used to.

So, that is pretty exciting! I did 2 last night and finished with an overall pace of 10:46, which included walking up part of this hill by my house and then having to wait for a bunch of cars before I could cross the street. So, I actually RAN faster than that. I feel like I for sure can break 5 hours in a marathon this year, and I know I can blow my half mary PR out of the water too. I think I'm going to do the Olathe Half next month just to see how I do.

And this is off topic, but for those of you that have seen the new Friday the 13th, how is it EVEN appropriate to take a 10 year old kid to that!? Dan and I went to see it Sunday night, and there was some woman there with her son, he couldnt have been over 10. All good classic horror flicks follow the same formula; sex, drugs, and gore. And this had PLENTY of all 3. I'd even venture to say that it had more than any of the earlier versions. It's not the 80's any more, films have gotten raunchier. Maybe I am just getting old, but there is no way in hell I would take a 10 year old kid to see that! Oh, AND she didnt even make him sit with her. The theater was pretty empty, and she let him about 4 rows behind her. Which meant that he could (and did) get up and move around during the movie without her seeing him. And then she didnt bother to make sure he picked up his trash after the movie, and he left a half full bag of popcorn spilled out on the floor. Parenting at it's finest.

Foto Friday

Time for Foto Friday again. And since Janice over at Run Far & Strong posted a pic of her tat, I thought I'd share one of mine (I've got 3 more, but I'll save those for another day).

When Corky got married last fall, she had her photog snap a picture of us and Robo lined up with our Mdot tats. Way cool. And I loved my shoes (I'm on the right), but seriously, I will take my running shoes over a pair of stilettos any day. I still need to get an actual copy of that pic from Court (I snagged this one off her photog's website) so I can put it up in my red room/bike room. I've decided that's where I'm going to hang all of my race stuff, at least until it turns into a baby room. Shhhh. Yes, I said it. Everyone that comes over to the house says "oh, this would be a great BABY ROOM!!!" when we give them the tour. So yes, I will admit it, thats the plan. At some point. Just not quite yet!

Doing Your Best

As I was finishing my run on Saturday, another group of girls was finishing at the same time. I overheard them talking about their 22 mile run. And for a second, I was embarassed that it had just taken me the same amount of time to run 16 miles that it had taken them to run 22. Just for a second. I remembered an article I read a while back about doing your best. I've read that article a number of times, and I just read it again. To remind myself that there is nothing embarassing about how fast or slow I run, even if there are people out there that run twice as fast as me. I think we all need to be reminded of that from time to time.

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Penguin_Chronicles__Doing_your_best.htm

New shoes!

Having to take Walter to the emergency vet for stitches on Friday night at 10:00 did not bode well for how the rest of the weekend was going to go. Luckilly, that was really the only bad part of the whole weekend.

Saturday was another BEAUTIFUL day. We've been pretty lucky with our weather this winter. Aside from a few really cold snaps here and there, it has been pretty mild. It was a little chilly starting out, but was supposed to warm up to over 70. And since I was running 16, I knew I'd still be out there when it warmed up. No long sleeves for this girl!

Now, I dont know WHAT I was thinking, but I didnt take any GU or electrolytes with me. I guess I am just not in "long run" mode yet. Stupid! I felt pretty good the first 5 miles or so, but by mile 6 I was getting pretty warm and wishing I had something with me. They do have Gatorade and pretzles and such at all of our aid stations, so that saved me. But still, I really could have used a few GUs. I was with several other people the first 8 miles, but when I turned around, I was all by myself. I usually have at least one other person to run with on those long runs, so it was a little weird. I'm also used to having my ipod when I'm running alone. So this actually reminded me a little bit of Ironman....running a long way by myself with no music. It really wasnt that bad, but I do prefer some company.

By mile10 I was really wanting to be done. It was so much warmer than I'm used to, and my feet were blistering up BAD. Before I headed out that morning, I had meant to paint up the sides of my big toes with New Skin. I tend to blister there on my long runs, and the New Skin totally helps. And of course I forgot. It didnt help that my shoes were in dire need of replacement. So, in addition to the bottoms of my pinky toes which blister up no matter what, I had some rockin' blisters on my big toes too. Awesome.

Right after I left the mile 12 aid station, I passed a couple of high school girls running the other way. Obviously, not with our group. I looked back, and sure enough, they were stopping at the aid station. Despite the huge sign that says "Reserved for Runners Edge Participants". UGH! I HATE people that break the rules. I am a little weird in my love for rules. I felt like hollering something at them, but didnt want to be "that" lady. And given that I'm about twice their age, I would in fact be a LADY. I really hate that term. And ma'am. Anyway.

Made it back to the start hot and tired and blistered, but really no worse for the wear. Since we had started at Garry Gribbles, and any time we start at a GG store we get 25% off instead of our usual 20%, I decided that it was time to break down and finally get some new shoes. I had been running in the same shoes since about August of 07, and they were the shoes I did IMFL in. Plus, they were the shoes that I bloodied up. So, I guess you could say they had a little sentimental value. And really, I barely did any running last year. So it's not like I put in a huge amount of miles on them after Florida. But it was definitely time. They were really broken down and starting to make my arches hurt. New kicks are always fun, now I cant wait to dirty them up a bit!

I met Erin out for Chipotle that afternoon, and I'm embarassed to admit that I actually wore my Crocs in public. But hey, my feet were swollen and blistered and just wouldnt cooperate with me putting anything else on them. I know I promised to never wear them in public, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

Lets Make a Deal

I made a deal with the devil. Ok, it was just Dan. Being that I'm all adult and stuff, and have grown up responsibilites (ie, bills to pay) I have been thinking a lot lately about how to prioritize the stuff I want to spend money on. Becuase there is a lot of stuff I want to spend money on, and I just can't do it all. I'd be able to spend money on more of the stuff I want if it wasn't for this stupid house. Well, the house isnt stupid. I love our house. But, I'd have a lot more free cash if we still only had a $900 mortgage payment! Our new one is, uh, more than that. But then again, we'd still be crammed into an 800 sqft house with 3 dogs. And that wasnt very fun either.

Anyway. I was planning to do KS 70.3. Honestly though, I wasn't really looking forward to it all that much. I was, but not the same way I am looking forward to my marathons this year. I dont know WHAT my deal is, but I just want to run my ass off this year. So, in the interest of being more running oriented, I made a deal with Dan. I'd forego the KS 70.3 and it's $250 entry fee (I know it's published as $225, but after all the Active fees, it's way more) and get a Garmin Forerunner instead. Yay! I ordered it yesterday, I cant wait to get my new toy. Maybe actually seeing my slow ass pace while I'm running will motivate me to go faster. Yeah! Thats the ticket!

And, I'm almost feeling like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders in not having to train for a 70.3. That's a pretty serious distance to take on after I pretty much took all of last year off. So, I will be runner girl this year and just do a few of the shorter local tris.

Chic Runner's giveaway

Chic Runner, one of my favorite new bloggers, is giving away a copy of "Eat This, Not That" in honor of her 100th post. What a great idea! Stop by her blog for a chance to enter!

Well....

Ok, so I know I just said 2 days ago that I'm not going to do Steelhead in the interest of saving money so that we can go on a vacation that doesn't revolve around a race. Buuuuuuut, some people on Saturday were talking about this race, and I wanna do it! Here are my reasons:

• It starts at midnight, and that sounds pretty awesome
• Get to run through the desert in the middle of the night
• It's out by Area 51, so I might get to spot a UFO
• Breakfast after the race at the Little A'le'Inn, which if you havent seen on the Travel Channel, you are living under a rock
• Host hotel is in Vegas
• They bus you out to the race and back
• It's a good excuse to go spend a couple of extra days in Vegas
• Can check Nevada off my list

I think I have convinced the hubs that it is a good idea. He could do the half, then just hang out and eat while he waited for my slow ass to finish the full. So bloggy peeps, who else wants to do it? I know some of you have got to be looking for an August race....

10 and done

It's so funny how sometimes a run of a certain distance can totally wipe you out, and then the next time it will just feel like nothing. I did 10 on Saturday, and spent the rest of the day feeling like I had done 18. The weather was PERFECT. Not "perfect for January", just perfect. Maybe 40 or so when we started out, nice little breeze, sunny, warmed up maybe to 50 by the time we finished. Per-fect. It was a new course for us, which is always nice to throw in a little bit of variety. We started off at 68 Inside Sports, and ran over through Downtown OP, so right through my old 'hood! I ran a lot of those same streets before we moved, so it was pretty fun. I felt amazing the entire run, felt like I could have easily done another 4 miles or so.

Then, I just crashed. Actually, I got home, watched a little bit of a movie, showered, and headed over to Chipotle for my normal post-run burrito. The problem occured when I left the last quarter of my burrito sitting on the coffee table to go outside and pay for the Girl Scout cookies that the neighbor girl was delivering.....and returned to find Penny on the floor devouring the remains of my burrito. I need the whole burrito to fully recover from a long run. That had to have been the problem. So I spent the rest of the day feeling like hell. Next time I will be sure that the entire burrito makes it's way into my belly.

Last night we had some friends over to watch the Super Bowl, and even *gasp* let them bring their kids. Being that we're literally the only childless couple out of D's group of friends, we've pretty much come to the conclusion that if we want to get together with them, kids are going to be involved. And for people such as ourselves, who are used to only dogs running through the house, the thought of 6 little kids running around is a bit much. But they all kept themselves entertained down in the basement, with no crying or screaming or destruction of property involved. Maybe we'll let them come over again :)