21 Random Facts: GBA_gf

I was tagged by TMB @ Racing With Babes to post 21 random facts about me me me.  Seems like all I do is talk about myself, but ~ what'ev, it's my blog~.

CORE 4:
Richmond marathon '11

 1. CORE 4:  I run with a lot of strong women.  But there are 4 of us who just fit together like a puzzle.  We're all very different, from our ages to our upbringing, but we love to run.  And that love & purity for our sport, plus the understanding that "this isn't a game" and that "any competition you have is really with yourself", is ingrained in us.  Together we're pretty much unstoppable.

 2.  NAME SAKE:  My family's roots are in Virginia.  Very very much so.  My Grandmother is a fried green tomatoes, bacon, fried apples and fried okra kind of woman.  So my entire life I believed I was named for the beautiful state in which I was born.  Uh, Grandma Hannah informed me a few years ago, I was, in fact, named for VMI.  ~um~ sure, why not.

snow run!
and yes, I'm in a skirt

 3.  RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!:  I love Monty Python, but more than that, I love to run OUTSIDE no matter the weather.  Snow?  No problem.  Cold rain?  Absolutely.  115 degree heat index?  Sure, why not...  So, don't ask me to join you at the Y on a dreadmill "run".  I will be busy that day.  Unless you plead your case really well or are particularly hot and there are mirrors.  And a bribe doesn't hurt either...

 4.  SINGING THE BLUES:  After my marathons I'm typically shut down with a short term depression that promotes some beautiful writing.  And crankiness.  But this year, I didn't have that.  I didn't have time.  I was sick.

 5.  OFF KEY:  Actually, I used to sing.  I had enough talent that I ~ yeah ~ ok, I didn't suck.  But at a young age I suffered a serious ear infection that left me unable to hear myself very well, and I lost my Mo-Jo.

 6.  COWBOY UP:  When I was in highschool I worked on a ranch wrangling horses.  I wore a western hat, long sleeved shirts, and jeans 90% of my time.  I didn't wear skirts.  Couldn't stand them.  ~irony~.  I bottle fed calves, mended fences, and was on a horse for about 4 hours a day/5 days a week during that time in my life.  It didn't suck.

 7.  FASTINISTA:  Imagine what your reaction would be if Sarah Bowen Shea of Run Like A Mother: The Book called and asked for an interview for the magazine article she was writing for Runner's World on women's running fashion?  Yeah, well, I wasn't NEARLY that cool in real life.

 8.  BQ or DQ:  A few years ago a woman posing as my running coach told me I could never be a fast runner and that I could never qualify for Boston.  I stupidly believed her and have always told people I was never interested in a BQ.  Only, you know what?  I ran a 37:41 8K this year.  That sort of performance suggests to me that maybe, just maybe, I've been selling myself short.  So for the record:  One day I'm going to Boston.

 9.  BADA** IN LEVELS:  me ~ "I hung out and chatted with Bart Yasso tonight... I think that makes me a little bit bada**."  Q ~ "Tonight, you are a little bit bada**, on Saturday, you're going to be Galactically BadA**".  Oh, that Saturday, I totally was....  Anyway, my initials are gf, as in Girl Friend.  Thus, GBA_GF.

10.  BFF:  Speaking of Bart Yasso, he actually claims me on Twitter as his BFF.  And Facebook.  And at the San Francisco Marathon/Half Marathon.  So... I guess, yeah, I'm Bart Yasso's BFF.  You're jealous.

11.  PLAYGROUP DYSMORPHIA:  I started running because I was jealous of all my friends who were runners.  They seemed convinced that "I could do this too".  I kept running because we made a habit of "running playgroup".  That is, we would meet for a BOB run, and then let the kids play afterward.  Life was good.  Eventually we were just running with out the playgroup.  Poor kids rarely even get to play anymore....

12.  HEY WAKE UP!:  Hey Wake Up is a Sandra Boynton book.  I love her books.  Particularly But Not the Hippopotamus.  I also get up freakishly early.  I am comfortable with  a little less than 6.5 hours of sleep a night.

13.  FITS OF LOVE:  Bike fit is everything.  I never believed that until I believed it.  Believe it.  I owned a stupid brand new pink schwinn for over a year and rode it about 5 times... I bought a TREK sl1000 used and rode it about 5 times in the first 5 days I owned it.

14.  WEIRD HOBBIES I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR:  I love to decorate cakes.  I don't have time to do that.  I love to draw.  I don't have time to do that.  I love to write.... I make time for that one.

15.  WRITE STUFF:  On a whim I submitted something to a publication this year in April.  I'm now a regular contributor for a local running publication and I LOVE IT.  It's just the right amount of writing for me.  There's no pressure.  And the people who run the magazine seem to rather enjoy my articles, so that's nice too.

16.  BACK IN BLACK:  I'm not elite.  I can run though.  Still, when the advanced "black" team coach asked me to join them this year for a day, I wasn't sure it was a good idea.  Turns out it was one of the smartest things I did in 2011.  My Advice To All My Readers - sometimes it's a good idea, once in a while, to go run with people who are much, much, faster than you are...  Trust me on this one.

17.  OBX.  I go to the OBX the way some people go to the grocery store.  Yeah, like frequently for small trips.  But I love it there.

18.  I DON'T CAMP.

19.  PHOTO FINISH!  My finish photo from Suntrust Richmond Marathon this year should be an advertisement for Lululemon, Brightroom photography, and the Suntrust Richmond Marathon.  I mean seriously, who looks like that after running 26.2 miles?

20.  RUNNERS ARE WEIRD:  I came to this conclusion a while back.  Runners are weird.  We will talk about anything, whether it's appropriate or not.  Many are socially awkward.  Some are geeks.  Some are nerds.  Some are safety Nazi's.  But weirdness abounds.  Even the coolest runners are a little weird.  I get up at 4:30 almost every day so I can run before the sun "wakes up".  who does that?  A weird person, that's who.

21.  ~SAVOR THE RUN~:  I could write 10,000 words about why I say ~savor the run~.  Or I could write 3.  "I love running".  The truth is, I love to run so much that I wish I could taste it, let it melt on my tongue, let it slide down to the back of my mouth so that the flavor assaults my senses.  I would want to smell it first though, to get a hint of what was to come.  For that matter, I might look at it on my plate and just admire the vibrant colors.
I have a sensitive stomach and I'm allergic to shellfish.  If I'd known that mousse would make me sick every time I ate it, I might have really savored that first and last taste.  If I'd known I would become deathly allergic to shellfish out of the blue, I would have slowed down and enjoyed that last bite of lobster.  I would have eaten slowly because that was the last bite I would ever get.  Sometimes I think we're (Americans in general) very focused on getting to the next thing.  We're impatient as a society.
I try to be in each moment for as long as possible while I'm running.
Do I savor every run?  No, not a chance, but I think it's an ideal I can strive toward.

Now I am supposed to TAG 10 bloggers - forgive me if you've been tagged, I'm a little behind on my reading!

Alex @ Tales of an Iron Housewife
Rene @ Amherst Shuffle
Jen @ Setting you Free
Mer @ Thereputic Runnings of a Mom
Red @ CAUTION:  Redhead Running
Chris @ Heavy Steps

Shanz @ Shanz1913's 
Pam @ Life Began at 30
Jenny @ Small Beginnings
MCM @ MCMMama

Photo Finish

The photos from RVA were pretty awesome...   well, the ones that were awesome were awesome.  

mile 21

mile 26.1

can I just say, Young Stephanie & I are seriously bad ass here?  Like, seriously.

finish line!

Congratulations!  Probably one of
the greatest moments of my running life...
so. not. kidding.

And Then What Happened....

Richmond Marathon Race Report 2011

Slept in a hotel down town with Pixie Green the night before my race (scantily clad pillow fights aside, I slept really well...).  I woke up early and walked to the meet point.  I had connected with a runner on the SunTrust Marathon Facebook Page who needed someone to please pick up his packet.  5 emails and three weeks later, I handed him his race packet on the steps of SunTrust Bank.

I got some pre-race love from SpeeDee.  Connected with the posse.  And got a hug from Coach Black that made me feel down right warm.  At this point, I was pretty sure that TODAY WAS MY DAY. I had a goal, a back up goal, and a basket goal.

In the start corral there was snuggling, it was cozy, Jess & Jodi joined the fun, and we all saw DeNiece “off to find her group”.  It was the last time I would see DeNiece until we finished, and as she walked away I thought – go get it Denise.  Go get that BQ.

Miles 1 – 5 Karasmatic & Q, 3L & KC, & I had way too much fun talking about… well, NOT talking about Lickable Abs, Cycling, and other random sh*t.  There was hazing, razzing, and general love in the air.  I felt PERFECT.  I am certain I drank at least 8 oz. of water in the first 6 miles.  Stingers on schedule.  I felt great, and when it was time to decide on my pace for the next 6 miles, I decided to go for the UBER goal pace.  It wasn't blistering, I run 8:50's all the time.

Saw the fam in the Party Zone at 6, cruised through to the hill at 10.  We held each other in check, I refilled my empty bottle.  There was something on the edge of my mind that wondered why my joints were achy at mile 10.  I brushed it back with a positive thought about not thinking negative thoughts.

Miles 10 – 12 Blair! The KING of Pink Nation. It was GREAT to see him, he has the most epic smile – but I admitted to him, I didn’t feel quite right at this point.  I couldn’t put my finger on the “why” of it.  I dropped back into a slightly more “easy” pace around a 9.  I wasn’t looking at my watch, just running on feel.

So then what happened?  Well, I GOT A HALF MARATHON PR – 1:56:48.

After the half mats I saw Cozy & 3L for the last time and I thought to myself – go get it girls.

Around 14 I had a bad moment where the entire world spun.  This is a distance I normally find pretty easy… so… I was weirded out.  I couldn’t walk a straight line & stumbled a few times.  My head came back to me, and I started jogging.  MTT Coach Val spotted me…  “I’m dizzy”… and so we started walking together.  She was so sweet.  “I had to stop 3 times at Chicago” ~ awe, thanks Val. 

I left her, and turned for the bridge.  I think I was running again, but maybe not.  Who knows, the entire run at this point became a play of "how long can you run before the world spins?" SpeeDee jumped in with me.  I told her that I was chomping down honey stingers and drinking, but something wasn’t on track. 

And then what happened?  “GBA_GF, WHY ARE YOU WALKING?”  And T and I connected again. 

I said, “Oh good, I was waiting for you.”  We left SpeeDee, and I thought, I’m with T now, I’m invincible.

MCM found me on the course at the junk food stop. I was going to refill my hand held.  Uh, that only works if you haven’t lost the lid… so I tossed my hand held away.  Along with my white Nike visor, which, was the enemy at that point.  Not sure why I thought that, but ~ what ev.  Runners are weird.

T, to be honest, I don't remember feeling as strong as we
look right here.

T & I made the turn onto Main Street together.

Oh, and remember that time we made running a marathon look easy?  Yeah, me too.

I gave T a salt pill, and she suddenly couldn’t hang.  Hindsight:  I should have walked with her then.  But I didn’t know how long until my next dizzy spell, so I was afraid to walk when my head was OK.  A bad decision that seemed sane in the moment.

I kept plugging forward until on Main Street at an intersection somewhere near the pastel houses, the Richmond Marathon course actually spun. 

Like, a 360. 

And so when it stopped spinning I was standing on the side of the course with my hands on my knees.  I stood up took two steps, staggered, and reached out as the course spun again.  My hand connected with something metal, the rusty paint bit into my fingers, and I held on for dear life.  I was on the sidewalk, holding a street sign.  When I lifted my head a cop in the intersection pointed at me.  I waved him off and gave him a thumbs up.

I was lying, but ~ runners are weird.

After a minute, I started walking again.  And then jogging again.  Connected with Karen.  And then El.  El gave me her drink & lots of advice.

I made the turn to Boulevard, and then, out of nowhere, Wine Not Whine was with me.  I don’t know how it happened or where she came from.  She ~ shoot I’m all teary thinking back on it ~ she says, “I’m feeling a little super hero formation here…”.  And then Pants Guy joined us for a few steps (Thanks Pants Guy).  So WnW and I made our way to the Party Zone and my head spun again.  I was so happy she looked so strong and amazing as she ran off… and I thought – go get it WnW.

Then I saw H, and said, “hey, it’s not my day.  Its going to take me a while to get there from here”.  I kissed my kids, ate ½ a banana, a salt pill & took a bottle of water.  Got some love from my BFF PAULIE!  (thanks Paulie) Something made me glance back here, and T had caught up.  I waited, we did a GU exchange and T and I, with our bottle of water in hand, set out to finish this race. 

“We’ve run this 100 times.”  Stadium to the Arch.  We saw Cherine (thanks Cherine) and then Illusive at a water stop; (thanks Illusive, you were great).  Into Bellevue, through the arch  (Yeah, Blair, I saw the sign… and Coach Black, was that the Black Team’s sign tacked onto the bottom?) and I let T go… and I thought to myself, “She can still get it… I SO hope she can get it". - go get it T.

I turned my watch screen so it only showed "time of day."  See, I had another spell that stopped me in my tracks and I thought, “Your race is over.  You’re now in survival.  Stop trying to kill yourself and be smart.”    

I walked a water stop keeping strictly to the shade, ate a stinger, and walked while I waited for the spinning to stop.  I started running again at a slow jog with the hopes that I could catch Young Stephanie (who I could see in the distance).  I thought, the sooner you finish, the sooner you can go to bed. 

My head ached.  My body ached.  I was sleepy.  I could not imagine why I felt this way, but I thought, “It’s a marathon, it’s supposed to hurt.”

I saw The White Rabbit on Brook Rd… and when the white rabbit took my hand and said, “com’on you’re running” I started running, and then I ran until Lombardy, AKA, The Lombardy Wind Tunnel.

El, Young Stephane, (me in the back), and Karasmatic

I don’t know if I was walking or running when I heard my BiolaBud (I pretty much love you) with yet ANOTHER Stephanie on the course inviting me to join them.  We picked up some random runners, and ran together past the Lululemon corner!  (Cheers to you all, you really know how spectate runners).  And then we caught Young Stephanie and gathered her into the fold, and I was determined we were going finish this together.

Chronologically things are a bit blurry.  It was running punctuated by world spinning.  

I looked down Grace and saw a pair of Viking horns. I thought, “oh, I’ve really disappointed Q.”  (hey, we’re honest here on the blog).  I heard his voice all the way down the street, “I thought I’d missed someone!”  He ran back to me and fell in beside me to run with me…  “What happened?”  Not accusatory, more... curiosity.

“Well.  It wasn’t my day. I got dizzy, and walked through the dizzy parts…  I think that added a lot time to my run today.”

He looked/sounded a bit shocked.  “Well, I think it probably subtracted a lot of time from your hospital stay…” I laughed as he continued, “so yeah.  If you run through dizziness they get to scrape you off the ground.”

We chatted a minute and he left me in the capable hands of beautiful Karasmatic! Young Stephanie, Karasmatic, El & I made our way in SUPER HERO FORMATION down the street.

Southern Comfort joined us and I realized:  Today wasn’t my day, but THIS was how it was meant to be.  

I was running in with my posse, I was with 2 of my favorite coaches. We were laughing about my disastrous marathon.  We were laughing, and I can prove it.  (Photo credit to Kty J) 

 

And then what happened?  I made peace with my day at mile 26.  It wasn’t my day.  But it was a great day for a run.  And well, we all know how much I love my run.

I have a saying I came up with a few years ago…

“When something goes wrong in a marathon, it doesn't go wrong by 2 minutes.  It goes wrong by 26+ minutes.”

Well I missed my goal by 26+ minutes.

10K 55:57

Half 1:56:48

20 mile split 3:09:57

Chip Time 4:26:19

At the finish, when I connected to H, my son G was laying on the sidewalk “spectating”.  He was asleep in a sunny patch.  Turns out G was pretty sick all day.  

And late last night, after the race, I joined The Vom- Squad complete with fever, chills, & body aches.  So there’s an explanation as to why it wasn’t my day, or an excuse, however you want to look at it.

Some Final Marathon Thoughts

There is no such thing as the wall.

Parcheesi is no longer in my vocabulary.

"It's all mental until you pass out.  Then it's physical" ~author unknown~

My bib # is 2297.

a letter.....

Jess says I need to write myself a letter..... she's pretty wise.  She's probably right.  My letters are freaktastic...

Ok.  So what do I know about me... because that's usually how I start a letter.  I think about what I know about the runner I'm writing for...  and so knowing me, what would I tell me?

Dear Galactically BadA** gf,


“At every moment of our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss.”
― Paulo Coelho


Paulo is my favorite.  Probably because he's pretty much a genius.  And he rocks.  And ~ yeah ~ he gets it.

GBA_gf....  You freaking rock.   You rock like Paulo.

You'd rather epically fail trying for excellence than fully succeed at mediocrity.  No. Problem.  Mediocrity is so not your thing anyway.

And you KNOW that about you.  So capitalize on that knowledge.  Set the bar high and FREAKING reach for it.  

It's time to do this like a NIKE ad.

...but still, it's always a plan to review a few key points... no time for a power point presentation here...  We're just going to have to wing it.

Galactically Bada** is not just a catch phrase. It's a state of being.

You did not train for twenty weeks not to bring it on race day.

The only thing you have to fear, is fear itself... and chaffing.

Don't tackle the Red Shirts, chick them like you mean it.

Believe in yourself under all circumstances.

Run the race you've trained to run.

Make that bridge your bitch.

You do this cos it's hard.

Respect the distance.

This is your season.

Be in the moment.

Try not to suck.

Savor the run.

Always epic.

Cowbell.

regards,

gba gf

Taper Island

Imagine for a minute that your entire social circle is made up of runners.

Runners who love run like heroin addicts love H...

Add in that you're all training for a fall marathon or half marathon.

You see these runners every-freaking-where.

You see them ....

At Preschool.

In Micro Biology Class.

At Play Group.

On Facebook.

In your Neighborhood.

In Blog-land.

Some of these people are your closest friends.  Some of these people are the ones that you rely on to keep you sane when you're crazy... only guess what?

You and your 12 or 15 marathoning friends/acquaintances/relatives/"random people you know" are all accustomed to running 50 - 60 miles a week....

Only now it's time to taper.

And you can't run.

And neither can they.

Let the madness begin.

We've arrived on Taper Island.

Taper Island Day 2

20 Mile Prep Talk

I don't need therapy...
it's just duct tape...
wrapped around a running shoe...
what?

As my H prepares to take ALL.3.Kids camping this weekend (without me – cue the music), I’m prepping for my last 20 of this training cycle.  There’s a little part of me that’s skipping about doing a happy dance in anticipation of no more long runs before Richmond.  That's right.  I'm packing my bags for Taper Island! 

and...

There’s a little part of me that’s thinking it might be time to get the prescriptions filled because I don’t know if anyone here remembers what the Taper was like last year, but it was ~ah~ entertaining?...  Maybe entertaining’s NOT the word.   I did produce some really weird (and pointless) art last year during the Taper-Tantrum… 

So it’s my last 20.

So, a jug, a triangle and a roll of
tape walk into a bar...

It’s the first 20 for some runners this weekend.  I met two the other night, and I remember walking away from them thinking, “Oh, wait, they have their first 20 this weekend…I should say…” and then, like an ADHD 8 year old I immediately lost my train of thought.  It's not my fault, there were 2891 people vying for my attention.

Ok.  2.  There were 2 people… 

I think though, that what is so exciting about this weekend’s 20 miler is that I know something that the novice runners don’t realize.  There’s NOTHING like laying down a 20 mile run.  No matter how (well) or (not well) it goes. 

Don't Panic!

If it’s EPIC, you can come off euphoric with the knowledge that you are a FREAKING RUNNING MACHINE and you are going to CRUSH the Richmond Marathon.

If it’s an EPIC FAIL, you can come off the run with the knowledge that on race day there’s going to be THOUSANDS of people lining the streets of RVA ready to cheer for you and you are going to CRUSH the Richmond Marathon. 

It’s funny, at the end of my first 20, which was, um… yeah… I remember thinking “huh.  It’s so anticlimactic.”  We were an hour or so later than we should have been.  We were dehydrated as we slogged back down the street to TMB’s house to finish the run.  But we'd RUN 20 MILES, and there was nothing waiting for me except a ride home in a sucky beige minivan. 

On race day, it will feel NOTHING like a 20 miler.  I assure you.  

I’m not sugar coating it, it’s still going to be hard, but seriously people, no one signs up to run a marathon with the idea that it’s going to be easy.  AND if they do, they’re sadly living in The State of Denial.  Heckfireandshoot – they’re probably the Governator of that State…. 

But ON the day of The Show.  When you come out to RUN LIKE SNOT (or to be COOL LIKE SNOW) (or to TRY NOT TO SUCK) (or to COWBOY UP)… or to just hunt down and chick every Red Shirt you see… it won’t be anything like that 20 miles to nowhere.

It will be so much better.

~savor the run~

Marathon Advice from The Witch Dr.

I saw my Witch Dr yesterday.


I love him.

You know he's ~like~ a serious Iron Man triathlete who runs sub 3 hour marathons?
yeah.  He knows athletes.

But that's not the only reason


I love him.

Here's why 


I love him.

We had a little chat while he was casually manipulating my foot about how the pain first presented.  And I told him I'd had an epic pain free 20 on Saturday.

Then...

I confessed that I ran 16 of my 20 miles at race pace, and waited for him to say, "boo."  Instead he broke into a HUGE grin and said, "YEAH!  Now THAT's what we're talking about!  Love it... you must feel great about the marathon, huh?!?"  um. yeah. i did, until i worried i'd hurt myself.

"No worries, this isn't panic worthy."

5 minutes later I stepped on the foot and while it wasn't pain free, it was pain reduced.  Diagnosis was along the lines of, inflammation caused by too much crack smoking.  He had some advice...

"...baby it this week with ice, and plenty of cross training, don't run through the pain.... then finish your training on schedule, ease into your taper, and CRUSH the marathon."

Witch Dr., I heart you.

little setback

Dear 20 Mile Run...

Dear 20 miler,

I’m sorry I crushed you like that….  Next time I’ll let you have a little more say in how it goes down.  Today, I just didn’t hear your protesting over the sound of the bada** soles of my sweet new shoes hitting the street….

Yeah, that’s ~pretty much~ how it went down.

 

I got up, ate breakfast, AND took 4 TUMS as part of my ‘nutrition’ strategy.  TMI details on why I did it, but suffice it to say, I determined that it was at least worth trying.  I have 1/2 a post dedicated to my nutrition strategy already written, I promise I will overshare next week.  

I was totally discombobulated when I got out of the car today, had to run back to get 1/2 my belongings. I ran into discombobulated 3L… arg!  This was NO WAY to start a 20.  So I stopped a second and regrouped and made a joke about something inconsequential.  Then I knuckle bumped my WonderTwin, turned on my watch... and just like that - I was good to go. 

Before I knew it, 3L, KC, T, Kristi, WineNotWhine & I were out on the roads for 20 miles.  Our first mile was nice and easy 9:40’s. 

And then what happened?  Well….

It was cool.

I was with my domestic partner.

Uh, it was cool?  

I have no excuse except that I don’t know how to read the new watch, so I ran on feel.  And I felt good.  Sure it seemed like we were passing a lot of people but, I was running on feel so…

PinkJ, SpeeDee & Lyon

ROLL CALL!!!  Here, here, here, here,…. Yeah, we were hilarious coming out of the 2^nd SAG.  The course was familiar and industrial and neighborhoods and, after running a blistering 8something pace down the Grove Hill, we dropped T at mile 10….

And picked up SpeeDee, PinkJ and Lion at 10. 

I intended to slow down.  Um.  So not how it went down.  

After Belle Isle we had a few wicked climbs… and I was with the Posse climbing through the city, thanks to WineNotWhine insisting on “SUPER HERO FORMATION”.  WnW is so cute that when we passed some construction workers on a coffee break they called out, “Hey, wait up!”  With those 3 men watching us like we were the frosting on a cupcake WnW throws her arms up and says, “c’mon” and did a little shimmy.  So I threw my arms up and joined her.  ~The whole shack shimmied~ 

SAG again, Q again, Southern Comfort, laugh again & then off again.  

Kristi & WnW

Now, we’re getting tired but we’re not really slowing the pace much, and then what happened?  Well, it’s Typical GBA**.

A runner passed us. 

A beautiful male runner.  

With Lickable Abs. 

And I sang, “This ain’t no country club… This is L.A.”

And the NEXT thing I knew we were all singing Sheryl Crow while running sub 10’s through the city of Richmond at mile 16 of our 20.  

PinkJ, Lion, SpeeDee, g., 3L, WnW, Kristi & KC

~High~ and smiling I quoted VWB, “I never knew training for a marathon could be this much fun.”

We finished strong.  Life was good.  And did I mention we were FREAKING HIGH?

We had to snap some photos at the end of the run…. cos... 

see above about ~high~

Running Mates KC & 3L

And we had to hit Starbucks on the way home, of course. 

 

<---  And, um, then of course… we had to call a PLANK OFF at the Starbucks.

Cos that’s how we roll.

~savor the run~

SUNDAY FUNDAY MTT!

Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing.  

~Oscar Wilde

Today my posse will show up at my house in a few minutes and we will drive down to Sports Backers Stadium in my beige mini-van.  Our destination won't be realized until November 12, 2011 when we stand at the start of the Richmond Marathon.


Today marks the first official day of marathon training. We will meet the coaches and other participants for Sports Backers MTT 2011.  While only about 300 (plus or minus) of the 1100 MTT participants will be part of the SUNDAY FUNDAY crowd, it's still interesting to think about this many people moving toward the same destination.  


26.2


The large team is broken down into color group "sub teams" of about 70 - 100, and the GBAs are going to be on Team YELLOW this year.


I believe that good things are bound to happen whenever you put this many runners together in one place....


Because remember?  

Runners are weird... 

...and I am a runner.

Gazelle versus Barney Rubble

"So a Gazelle, a Kenyan and Barney Rubble walk into a bar…"

Sometimes it’s hard to feel graceful on the run.  It’s hard to feel fast.  

I run with some wicked good runners.  They’re stellar.  I mean, my regular posse typically AG’s at the local races.  And I’m not talking about those 5K’s with 18 runners signed up.  I’m talking about a 1000 runner charity 5K.  I’m talking about some large club races.  These are seriously serious runners I run with…

Someone recently said something to me about my MTT team choice.


If I was overly sensitive I would be hurt by what was said.  But I wasn't really.  Because it was mostly true.

I am probably running on a team that is qualified as the slower MTT Intermediate group.  This doesn’t bother me a bit.  My GBA posse and I signed up for the team to be with El.  Could we have “qualified” for the fast team?  Sure.  All but one of us could have.

Guess who the ONE GBA is who doesn’t have a qualifying time?

That would be… me.

No worries though.  I could have done one of two things.

I could have encouraged, or insisted, that the GBAs run fast with SNOT.

Or I could have asked the MTT coaches for an “allowance” or presented a 5K time, and I suspect they would have put me on the fast team.  I chose not to do that though because I’d rather be the “fastest” (not literally THE fastest) on the slow team than the "slowest" on the fast team.

Still, what was said to me was, “I am worried about 3L.  How in the world is she going to run with you?...” (awkward pause)

I had to chuckle.

I know 3L is fast.  

Everyone in the 50-55 year old A.G. in Richmond knows 3L’s name because she’s always there at the top of her group.  She beats me at every race we do together.  It’s not like it never occurs to me that 3L could leave me in a hott minute.

But I looked at the person who said this to me and replied, “I'm not holding 3L back.  We've been running together for more than a year now.  She chooses to run with me & the gang, and on the days she wants to run fast, she does.  She hunts down some poor red shirt and chic's him.  I don’t worry about her."

That said, I'm not here to hold anyone back.  Including myself.  3L will run where she wants, and I will run at my (awkward pause) pace.

I'm still not going to sign up for the fast marathon training team in an twisted or confused effort to "get faster", because being the sweeper every week for 23 weeks seems counter productive to my goal of building confidence and becoming a stronger runner.

Friday's Thursday post...

yea... it's like that.  Yesterday I started to write a post...  instead I spent the day researching legal euthanasia in the netherlands for my ethics paper... so... here's my post, plus a few other thoughts...


1. Now that I’ve gone, and now that I’m back, I can say with conviction…  Vegas is not my cup of tea.  Vegas is like a slice of imitation cheese wrapped in plastic.  It looks like cheese, sort of, but it’s fake, and I don’t think there’s really any milk in that stuff…  so Vegas is fun, but it’s more like the “idea” of fun…  like the idea of cheese…

2. This week Pixie Green (PG) came down to The Glen for a business meeting.  It was too fabulous for words.  She is funny, and fun, and we had a great time at dinner, and then the next day on an early morning run.  Once a while back I had raved about sushi on my facebook wall, and PG mentioned always wanting to try it, but…  So, I decided that if we ever got together, we would go for Sushi, and I would bring her over to the “dark side”.   And I did, she loved it.

3. My level of exhaustion is palatable.  I can taste it in the food I eat, the air I breathe and the run I savor.   School is completely crushing my spirit, requiring me to wear brighter socks, more pink and lime, and generally do everything in my power to keep myself going.  I would never recommend a mid-semester trip to Vegas the week of class registration.  Just saying.

4.    Oh, one other small and nearly insignificant detail...  I signed up for this little race called the Richmond Marathon, and plan on training (again) with the Sports Backers MTT...  Can June just get here already so I can RUN MTT?

Do You Remember That Time?...

Richmond Marathon Recap - 11-13-2010

To start the day.  I got up after a really good night's sleep.  Dressed, got my pre-race pic by H (imma little bada**), and snagged a ride with Ocean, DeNiece & 3L.  I was calm.  I was focused.  I was Centered.  Spent my last last few minutes reviewing my plan, my strategy, and gathering what mental strength I could... and tried like heck to push that mental strength onto DeNiece as much as possible.  

Two things I remember saying to myself.  There is no such thing as the wall.  I will not call Parcheesi.

DeNiece and I split from Ocean & 3L (who kicked the Half Marathon’s butt to the tune of 1:53 and 1:47 respectively), and went to meet the Snot Team at the bank.  Q gave us some words of strength - but the most memorable for me were, “Try NOT TO SUCK.” and “YOU TRAINED FOR 24 WEEKS TO GET TO TODAY, DON’T. SCREW. IT. UP. NOW.”

Here’s the deal.  When you train with the Sports Backers MTT, the coaches all spread out along the course (getting rides from point to point) so that at every mile you will be spotted by a coach.  It won’t always be YOUR coach, but there will be a coach for you at almost every mile.  The deal is, if you look good and happy, they leave you alone.  If you don’t... they step out and run with you for a few minutes.  Good deal.  I’ll take it.

The MTT Snot coaches were split into groups to pace people out at the start, and Karasmatic was running between a 9:30 -9:45 pace.  So I told her I would like to go out with her... Q hears me say it and asks, “Did she ask you out?”  Um.  Actually YES she did!  Smartest thing I did between miles 1-5 was to go out with Karasmatic & DeNiece.  Wow that was SO FUN!  Love that girl.  Her energy and spunk were AWESOME.  We did... um, OK with the pacing.  

Q stopped in at mile almost 5 with us and reminded us to relax our shoulders.  So I decided that every time I saw a coach I would try to replay that advice.  Can you say, best thing I did early in the race?  DeNiece and I separated around 1 hour into the race, because I knew she wanted to run faster than I wanted to run.

... ok, so about 1 hour and 3 minutes into the race, I was having a little trouble finding my rhythm, so I sped up down the hill and reconnected with DeNiece.  I knew that I was better off with someone I knew.  I took at AccelGel at mile 6ish.  Saw my family at mile 7ish and threw H my sock sleeves!  Those things have been with me for more than a year now, I’m SO happy I didn’t have to throw them away.

Once we crossed the H bridge, DeNiece & I did separate.  I fell into a really comfortable pace and I looked at my watch and it said, Mile 8.  And then I heard my watch BEEP and I thought - oh no, my watch is freaking out... only, what it said was MILE 9 9:13.  AND then, like 3 seconds later, it BEEPd again... and it said the mile 10 9:15.  “LOOKING GOOD GREEN PLAID SKIRT!”  Smiled and waved like CRAZY at the person.  And mile 11 actually didn’t exist for me, because the next BEEP I saw was mile 12, so I took a GU.  Somewhere around mile 12 I saw the PINK NATION head coach Blair!  He’s great and gave me a HUGE shout out!

So, to recap - things were going great.  I was running along Forest Hill and Semmes, and saw coach after coach after coach from Sportsbackers MTT, and every one of them said, “HEY!  Way to go!  Looking Strong” or some other encouraging words.  I saw H at the Party Zone, and waived to the kids.

I crossed the HALF mat at... what?  2:04:27... OH MY WORD!  It’s a HALF MARATHON PR!?  Heckfireandshoot - I need to find a Half Marathon to run this winter.  Around here I heard a familiar voice yell - “HEY!  It’s the Green Plaid SOCK Girl!”  And I said, “HEY DON!” to the head coach of MTT.  It made me smile, and that was priceless.

The next miles melted away, I plowed through them all while shouting at spectators and pointing to cheer leaders and thanking cops left and right, and remember looking up and thinking, “but... that’s the turn for the Lee Bridge.  How did I get here?”  

So, I took the turn and my eyes got a little big.  With the bridge spanning out before me as a mile long expanse of beige concrete, I knew I had once again arrived at the dreaded Lee Bridge.  BUT, I was feeling GOOD.  Really GOOD.  And I thought, the bridge is so demoralizing, I’m just going to fall in behind any large man and run his pace.... no matter WHAT it is.  I believe my exact words were, “I don’t have time for this..  I’m going to make this bridge my b*tch.”

And while I was SHOPPING for a man to SHAMELESSLY USE on the Lee Bridge, I spied DEE & Marine Corp M!!!  YEAH!  I got some smiles, cheers and knuckle bumps and continued on my way.  It. Was. Awesome.  Frankly, looking back on it, I probably took the bridge too hard and would have been better off conserving a bit of energy for Main St, but...  WOW, It was actually FUN to scream across that bridge in the wake of a strong runner.

I grabbed 2 pretzels at the Junk Food Stop coming off the bridge and thanked the girls for volunteering.

So, remember my new bestie, Bart?  Well, as I came off the bridge and started making my way into the city, I saw him!  I pointed with both hands and yelled at the top of my lungs, “IT’S MY NEW BEST FRIEND, BART!!!”  

And he yelled, “LOOKING GOOD!  YEAH!  AND BY THE WAY, NICE SOCKS!  I’M GOING TO NEED TO GET ME A PAIR OF THOSE!”  If it wasn’t for MTT, I would have never become best friends with Bart Yasso at the Richmond Marathon.  I’m just sayin’.

More coaches, more words of encouragement, I was HIGH on my Lee Bridge Victory... and then... 

I turned the corner into no-mans land.  Um.  Hello, when did Main St suck so much at the Richmond Marathon?  Ok, I’m feeling tired.  I think I’ll slow down and give myself a little break... oh, that doesn’t feel so good.  I think I’ll pick it up for 30 seconds and THEN slow down and see what that feels like.  This trick worked GREAT for me.  I took some time to chill out, the UBER goal was still in play, the Back Up Goal was a near Lock.  The SUN was BEATING DOWN by now and in the back of my mind I knew had to keep on pace because I KNEW if I fell back, it was only going to get HOTTER.

So, then, because it was mile 18- I took another Gel.  

And my stomach ROLLED over.  And I thought, this could be bad.  

Around now I also noticed I felt really grainy... and took a salt pill.  Probably one of my smarter back half decisions.  BY the way, did you know that salt is a really good exfoliator?  Uh.  Yea.

I caught up to Coach Karen, and for the fist time in the race I was too unenthusiastic to be “passed” up by one of the coaches.  She hopped right out and joined me.  We only ran together for a minute, but she stressed the key point that I was SALTY.  VERY salty and needed some liquids.  So we discussed my strategy, I told her I was feeling a little sick, and then I got some surprising news...  DeNiece is right there.  WHAT???!!!  She pointed and just ahead I saw the fleur skirt.  I sent her off to run with someone else and sent myself off to catch DeNiece. 

At Mile 19 I saw H, Jen and the kids.  They were cheering, and had a HUGE sign up fo me-  it was great.  I was SO happy to see them.  H jumped in, offered me a banana.  I should have taken the banana, but I was feeling really bad and I didn’t.  Memo to me.  Next time eat the damn banana so you have something in your stomach to actually throw up and can just get on with feeling better already.

I found Coach El at the Diamond.  She was great.  She tried to convince me to stick my finger down my throat and throw up.  I declined.  She promised it would make me feel better.  I declined.  More on THAT topic later.  We ran past another MTT yellow shirt and  El slowed to his pace and I was off and running again to catch DeNiece, who, made it really easy by stopping to stretch.

DeNiece and I ran together for about a mile... and then, we picked up COACH KARASMATIC!  Now, mentally I was feeling great.  I knew I could do this.  I still had some sense of humor.  I wasn’t in nearly as much pain as I’d been in the year before.  But, my stomach was kind of pissing me off.  She made me drink a bunch of water and PowerAid, and really, that was a smart thing.  It did make my stomach roll a bit more, but frankly, at this point I was already pretty sick feeling, and it got me some sugar and water.  I can’t wait for the pictures though... ha ha... because I suspect I look as GREEN as Karasmatic’s HAIR!

We hung together, I was sucking, and then I looked down the street and saw... pink socks.  long sleeves.  and argyle.  OH.  YES.  And I said to Kara - It’s T!!!  It’s T!!!  

So.  skip this next paragraph if you’re sensitive to the bodily fluid talk.  OK?

After I picked up T, I did “pull over to the side” and stick my finger down my throat.  All it caused me to do was painfully dry heave.  All that pain and upset in my stomach was for naught.  There was NOTHING there.  But, I wasn’t aware of that enough in the moment to recognize it.  Now I’m a little pissed that I didn’t realize it and just suck it up a little more.

Suddenly, on Brook Road, I heard my name.  Ocean and 3L were on the course!  And they ran beside me for a mile?  I have no idea. I could feel them there, I could hear them there.  I just couldn’t acknowledge them in the moment.  I’m Sorry ladies that I was SO FAR GONE!  I am so blessed to have SUCH GREAT friends.

Around 23 we also saw Q.  He picked up the 3 runners ahead of us, and as he did, he looked back to scan the yellow shirts and we made eye contact.  He nodded to me.  And I smiled to myself as I thought of EXACTLY what I would say when he asked me how I was feeling.  I mean here I am.  I’m at frickin mile 23 1/2 of a marathon.  I’m crushing my PR.  I’m running with my POSSE.  I have stopped to (unsuccessfully) vomit on the side of the course.  Yup.  I knew what 2 words I would say.

At mile 24 Q dropped the other group, and I was rewarded for my patience.

“How you doing?”

“Galactically BadA**”.  

We all smiled (well, I think I smiled, honestly, my memory is a tad foggy).  I know HE smiled.  He says, “Is T pacing you in?”  “Yup”.

Yea, OK, maybe my memory of the moment is a little foggier than I’d LIKE to admit.  I know he spoke to me, I know he called me Doll, but if my life depended on telling you all what he said, well... ANYWAY, moving on to the BEST LINE OF THE DAY.

I was suffering.  Stopping to dry heave while protesting, “I’m not calling Parcheesi, I’m stopping to heave” and T says, “you can puke while you run”.  Um.  OK.

T was “pulling” me along by running 1 step ahead of me.  We’re on Grace, in the last mile + of the race and suddenly out of the blue T says, “Remember that time when you were about to crush your Marathon PR and all you had to do was climb up that little hill there and turn two corners to get to the down hill finish?”

It COMPLETELY made my day.  But I was still sucking... until she followed it with:

“You did not train for 24 weeks to NOT bring it for the last mile on Race Day.”  And so, I brought it.  I did, I just dug deep and sucked it up.  I was running hard, I turned the corner, and T says, "I have to leave you here..." but here’s the thing.  She didn’t leave me.  In my peripheral vision I could see T pacing me down the steep hill.  I was in the chute, she was outside the chute, but we were together.  It was such a great moment.  That pink blur was my strength and I focused everything I had on running through the finish.  I think *emphasis on think* that my arms were up in the air as I punched my way across the finish.  The CLOCK said 4:21:something.  

As I stepped over the second mat BART YASSO caught me in a hug, looked in my eyes with a HUGE smile on his face and said, “Thank you!”

Bart Yasso is such a stellar guy.  Why was he thanking me?  Oh right, probably because I’m his new best friend....

SO, here’s where things start to get a little fuzzy.  I got my picture.  Walked around for a minute with T.  Went to get food, walked from the sunshine into the shady tent, and then, T’s hands were on my arms and I realized, oh hey, I’m not actually fully conscious am I?

We “walked” to my car, I got to experience the dry heaving again - that was AWESOME.  And I came home to an icebath and cup of hot tea and oatmeal.

Today, I woke up sore, but not toast.  I’ve been more sore after a race.  Hell I’ve been more sore after a 5K.  I worry that the lack of soreness says that I ran a little conservatively (read that - mentally lazy from mile 17 - 20).  I know that the stopping to dry heave added 3 - 4 minutes to my time.  Not a big deal, it’s just something that happened.  I’ll fuel better next time.

I also hit the pool today for an easy recovery swim.  And... tomorrow, I’m hitting the pavement for an easy 3 miler.  Oh yeah.

Richmond Marathon 4:18:02, a 37:40 PR.  Galactically. BadA**.