Mondays in Love: My Maiden Voyage!!

Ohmygoodness, I have SO much to catch y'all up on after taking last week off from blogs while the circus* was in town for the kiddo's birthday. Some of it you're gonna have to wait for the Weekly Check-In to catch up on. But the most exciting piece, right here, right now:

I WENT FOR MY FIRST POST-BABY RUN!!

I did a 3 mile run/walk with my neighbor on Saturday. You know what? It put a HUGE smile on my face. Was it slow? Yes. Were my legs sore the next day? Yes. Did the effort level feel like I should be moving way faster? Yes. And I loved it. I am BACK! I can't wait to hit the roads again. 

My next time out I'm planning to do regular run/walk intervals and pick up the pace a little bit during the run intervals from what I did on Saturday. I am 100% OK with the fact that it's going to take a while to get back into top racing form. I'm just thrilled to start the journey! 

* circus (n): the congregation of my entire family at one time. That's 4 kids ages 4 and under, my husband and me, my brother and his wife, my parents and my MIL. 

I have a lot to cram into this post. It may sound silly, but I didn't want to post earlier in the week because I just didn't want to interrupt all the Boston recaps.

The recaps got me all choked up pretty much every day last week. It's hard to communicate to non-runners the excitement of the day. It's like our Super Bowl, except most of us know at least one athlete participating, and we actually participate in the sport ourselves. running love

So all that stuff to cram into this post? Well, some of it is going to have to wait. Clearly. Here's a sort-of recap of my week in the meantime.

Monday
5 miles easy. I decided to finally take a camera with me to get some spring pictures of the park. Here's a pic of my favorite spot in the park. Sometimes I forget to look up when I run (just ask Meg). But I never miss this spot. I am so incredibly blessed to have all of this at my feet in the middle of a big city. It is such an incredible freedom to be able to run in this gorgeousness. I have a whole set of "come take a run with me" pictures from this run, appearing soon.

Tuesday
I just absolutely had to get some sleep. It was becoming non-negotiable.

Wednesday
My fave, fave, FAVE speed workout. It sounds so freaking innocent. It's not. I love it.
1mi warm-up
4 x 1mi @ 5KRP with 800m recoveries
1mi cool-down

Thursday
3 miles easy

Friday
5 mile pace run. I bumped it up to 6.3 just for funsies. I'm having a hard time running pace at marathon pace and not half pace. Problem? I think not.

By far the more interesting part of Friday was the evening weather. This happened. Oh yeah. My MIL was scheduled to fly in at just about exactly the same minute that a tornado was ripping through Concourse C of Lambert Airport. The Southwest website said she landed. What it didn't say was that she landed AT MIDWAY. You know, in freaking Chicago?!? She buddied up with another passenger and rented a car, getting here about 3:30am. Today while I was running I just kept thinking about all the blessings in my life, including our safety here during the storm and hers while traveling into it.

Today
I reeeeeally wasn't sure how I was going to get everything crammed into my day. We were forecasted for an Easter Egg Hunt all morning and rain all afternoon.
{mid-post rant: our hourly weather forecasts are damn near useless. For my zip code, the forecast is actually for a place 25 minutes from here. It's not exactly helpful. Sometimes the current weather conditions are even wrong.}
I got hopeful and optimistically ate a bagel at the Egg Hunt. Carbs, you know, in case the weather forecast was wrong. Shockingly, it was. Wrong. I had just enough time between easter eggs and rain to run 20 miles. #WINNING. (sorry, couldn't resist)

There were some tough spots in it, but overall it was a GREAT long run. I averaged a 9:35 pace and felt good through most of it. And it made me SOOO happy that when I stopped at the Panera for my recovery smoothie, the barista recognized me and asked if I'd been out running (clearly). I told him I'd just finished 20 miles. When I turned to leave I heard the other barista repeat the number 20 incredulously. :) I just smiled.

Next question: picking a race pace. Stay tuned. I'll need some input.

Race recap: Martian Half

Pre-race
The kiddo and I flew into Detroit on Friday night. Landing after 6pm, I was focused on getting out of the airport ASAP so we could go pick up my race packet. I got into ODP's car to discover that he'd picked it up for me; I was sad to miss the Expo but so relieved that it was in-hand and we could just go eat dinner. We headed to his place for a yummy pasta dinner with the fam. And to take this picture. Just so there's no question here, this is K-dot flipping off my shirt (which I only own to spite her) and I'm wearing a ribbon that I pulled off their birthday present to me and put in my hair to be silly.

It took a while to get the kids settled into their sleeping arrangement, and not long after, we all headed to bed for the night. I had everything all laid out so morning went pretty smoothly. Just a few minutes behind schedule, ODP, the kiddo and I were off to the start line, thanking God for the glorious weather! It didn't take long to find The Redhead, decked out in signage and sparkle as promised. She had an awesome goody bag put together for the meet-up. I'm ganking her pic from pre-race.

I pre-Gu'ed and headed to the start line with ODP and the kiddo there to see me off.

Miles 1-4
After reading good reviews online, I'd decided to use a Pace Band for this race, since, as I'd told Meg, I was going to audibly cuss if I didn't break 2 hours. Using their modified warm-up strategy, I forced myself to take it easy in the first and even second miles, settling into the race. I totally looked like a newbie with the pace band though, manically checking my left wrist to read the band and my right wrist to read my Garmin.
mile 1: 9:13
mile 2: 9:03
mile 3: 8:57
mile 4: 8:58

Miles 5-8
The pace wasn't supposed to vary much since the course was pretty flat. So I held the pace and attacked the rolling hills and felt awesome. My Garmin kept chirping away at each mile marker. Well before the turn-around I started seeing the fastest runners coming back toward us, which is fun. There were some hoots and hollers of encouragement when the first chick passed us coming back. Then this happened:
Mile 6--Garmin chirped, ran past mile marker
Mile 7--Garmin chirped
Me: "Huh, I must have missed the mile marker."
About 0.3m later, the mile marker.

I had no idea what had happened. I couldn't figure out how I'd lost more than a quarter mile between miles 6 and 7. I thought maybe the mile 7 marker was misplaced, but when markers 8 and 9 came 0.3 later than my Garmin, I was just confused. And a little worried. If I was off 0.3 miles, then I was also off pace by just shy of 3 minutes, and how in the world was I going to make that up?
mile 5: 8:55

mile 6: 9:00 (Gu)

mile 7: 8:49

mile 8: 8:44

Miles 9-12

I kept running sub-9 minute miles and I kept feeling great! I couldn't believe how easily the miles were ticking by and how much energy I still had. I had a brief moment of fatigue around mile marker 11. I backed off a few seconds then found I was ready to attack all over again. After that moment passed, I knew the remaining distance was short enough that if I felt good, I should just go for it!

mile 9: 8:41

mile 10: 8:38 (the extra 0.3 on my Garmin is in here somewhere, I'm just not copying it)

mile 11: 8:46

mile 12: 8:45

Last 1.1

I felt great! I kept looking at the total time on my Garmin, sort of in disbelief that I was going to finish under 2 hours even though I'd somehow tacked on an extra 0.3 miles. Thinking of all the times I'd envisioned finishing this race this way--under pace, in gorgeous weather, feeling great, and thrilled. 

mile 13: 8:19

mile 13.1: (0.12 actually), 50 seconds, or 6:51 pace

About that extra distance

The turn-around was in the wrong place! I wasn't crazy--the race really did measure 13.4 miles. Race officials are handling this appropriately and will issue adjusted finishing times soon. 

All the stats

Gun time: 1:59:39

Chip time: 1:58:37

My totally unofficial adjusted 13.1 time: 1:55:56, a 10:13 PR.  

Overall place: 624/1836

Age/gender division: 33/136

Post-race

The Blogger/DM meet-up was a blast. I got to meet some new people and some people whose journeys I've followed online for a while, including my bloggy friend and co-conspirator for the Martian Invasion in the first place, Jess!

The trip home

This morning. The kiddo was tired. I was tired. We were both a little cranky. It was not fun. So why mention it? Because just after we got home, ODP called asking if I had his....wait, let me look, oh I did, how did that get there? Seriously?!?

His keys. Car keys. House keys. Office keys. All his keys. Hitched a ride to MO in my purse. One overnight mail envelope to Detroit, please!

On Training Eve

So here I sit, on the eve of my spring training cycle, with some concerns and some things to admit. 

Concerns--that I don't have the time necessary to train for a full marathon. That the pain where my left hammy attaches to my butt bone will get worse (the doctor wrote "buttock pain" on the MRI order. I can't make this stuff up. And I'm skipping the MRI). That other injuries will surface--which every, every runner worries about. 

Things to admit--I love my job. LOVE it. But I'm also pretty overwhelmed with my current workload. I am more than a little bit stressed out. And I hate to even blog this because I hate not to be upbeat. Negative Nancy I am not. But it's what has kept me from blogging here recently. I definitely need you guys--to tell me that no one hits their training plan perfectly, that I *can* get through this. Even, and this is my real hope, that all the running will help me deal with the stress. 

On a lighter note, my brother had a job interview here last week. He flew in a day early so we could hang out and I could show him the city. We had lunch at a fantastic place in my neighborhood. He liked his sandwich so much that he wrote down its description from the menu to read to his wife. While on the phone with her he says, "If we move here, it's pretty much going to be for this sandwich." 

And to answer a question from The Black Knight, no, I am still on the dreadmill! I am super impressed by all you Michiganders and Canadians (wait, what's the difference??) who are running outdoors still. Y'all are crazy. This was my street this afternoon. Completely gorgeous, but since the park rangers don't shovel or salt the paths through the park, I'm inside for a while. 

Two last things to leave you with before training starts tomorrow. First, I joined sparkpeople about a month ago and am quite proud to announce that I've lost 4 pounds! Six more to go to reach my goal. I am *so* excited to get back to a race weight I'm happy with. It makes me feel better, look better, and will help me lower my race times. Updates to follow.

Second, a while back I said that a goal of this training cycle is to re-incorporate XT into the week. Well, I signed up for an hour long PowerFlow Yoga class on Tuesday mornings. I am pretty excited about it. Can't wait to get some flexibility back and work on core a little bit.

I am so much better positioned to beat the hell out of my training cycle than I ever have been before. I'm more experienced, I'm not pregnant, postpartum, or breastfeeding, I'm not defending a dissertation, moving, or starting a new job. And for the first time, I have a training schedule that I put together with help from RunningFirst that's personalized for little old me. Are you ready? I'm as ready as I'm going to be. Let's do this thing.

Wish lists and creepy men

After hitting my mileage goal last week I decided it was time for a well deserved week off. I did enjoy the down time and today, for my first run of the new year, my legs were happy and rested and ready to run. Too bad The Vengeance wasn't.

Maybe a tenth of a mile from the house I looked down to check my pace (I thought I was way fast) only to find that The Vengeance still thought I was standing in front of the house. Yep, "30 seconds in and you haven't moved one inch," she scoffed at me. S.O.A.B. So I stopped. Found a new satellite signal. Get 'er all started up again. Ran.

At the far end of the park I ran past a bright blue Hummer. All the doors were open and the person responsible for it was standing on the other side, so all I could see were his boots. Guys are probably thinking, "What's this dude doing with all his car doors open?" Ladies are probably thinking, "did you run away as far and as fast as possible?" And yes, yes I did! Crap like that completely creeps me out! What, did he have bad car stench, like that episode of Seinfeld? Was he taking pictures to list it for sale, and if so, why in the middle of the park? Was he just driving around town and on a whim decided to sell his car? The only explanation I could come to was that I should be scared.

So here's my truth: I'm a big scaredy cat. There is nothing in the world I'm more afraid of than burglars. Creepy man and his Hummer are a near cousin of the burglar, as far as I'm concerned. Something men don't understand about women (and I generally hate blanket statements about the genders) is that we think about personal safety a LOT. For some women, it's a few times a week. For some, it's every day.

Which brings me to my point (I DO have a point, wait for it). Since I started endurance running in April of 2007, I have virtually never run with ID on me. Only when it's cold enough to wear a jacket, and even then it's only sometimes, and it's a driver's license zipped in a coat pocket. You know, super convenient for EMT's to find (yes, that's sarcasm). And somehow, despite my concern for personal safety, this never bothered me. My mother, yes. She nagged counseled me regularly on the need for ID.

I can only imagine her delight when she found the Runner ID on my Christmas wish list. Last week it occurred to me that even though I was running on treadmills, I should probably still go ahead and put it on my shoe. I mean, if I fell off the treadmill (again) and knocked myself unconscious, how would anyone know who I was? Did I put it on my shoe? No. So before my big return to outdoor running today, did I put it on my shoe? Still no. Until I saw creepy open Hummer man in the park. And now I have Runner ID.

Thanks, Mom.

A bloggy meet-up and joint race announcement

The time has come for race announcements! And not just any race announcement, but a joint announcement with my bloggy friend Jess over at Run Jess Run.

A while back I put out a call for suggestions for spring races in the Midwest. Meanwhile, Jess was looking for a half-marathon (her first!) to register for. She lives in Michigan and I have family there, and the stars aligned and calendars worked so that we both decided to run....

THE MARTIAN HALF-MARATHON

which you can check out here. I am so excited to get to meet her! Also, I'm really looking forward to racing again in Michigan. Although it was painful (due to an injury), I really enjoyed running there a year ago (race recap here). AND I get to see family. Awesome piled on top of awesome.

And, although I'm nervous about the timing, I've also picked a spring full marathon. It shall be:

The Cleveland Marathon

I'm nervous because it's only 6 weeks after the Martian Half. I'm also nervous because I've never done a spring full. But, as Mamarunsbarefoot (a fabulous blog I just found) says:

"Everyone who steps out of their comfort zone, works, sweats, and yes even cries comes across that finish line changed forever, and yes they all win!!"

Time to put together my spring training plan and get excited about Half #6 and Marathon #3!!

Rule 104.3B

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas. Personally, I ate my way through the entire Detroit region and had a great time doing it. I even ran one day on the hotel treadmill--oh yeah! My family did a vaguely-white elephantish-stocking stuffer exchange, where we all bought three random items less than $5/each and traded them amongst ourselves (kids' stocking stuffers were chosen much more intentionally). Among my items, I took a pair of red and white women's knee-high socks with white faux fur around the top. I was really hoping my Dad would get them, but no such luck. But that was actually my third gift exchange of the season. One was with my boys (and MJ & family by phone) before we left, and one was before that, with The Beastie.

I love her to pieces. I really do. We were young enough when we met that we exchanged Christmas and birthday gifts. We have continued this tradition and we always have fun with it. Our birthdays are only 4 days apart, so it's sort of a semi-annual party tradition. Anyway, this year, since we live far apart, we mailed the gifts then had a Skype gift exchange. Complete with this photo of us in front of her Christmas tree. Silly? Maybe. Fabulous? Absolutely.

What do you do to keep in touch with far-away friends?

So, Blogger Rule 104.3B, as invoked by TnT Coach Ken: if you blog it, you must follow through. Yeah, yeah, guys, I know. I'm ridiculous for obsessing over the difference between 720 and 730 miles. I get it. But do you know how much it would bother me to run 727 miles and know I was *this close* to what I said I was going to do? Have you ever read my self-description on this blog? Compulsive over-achiever. Stick with me until the end of the week--let's see how close I can come. Right now I'm at 713.6. Hellooooooo treadmill!

And....race announcement coming later this week! Stay tuned.

Uh, oops. I'm supposed to be good with numbers.

A Beautiful Bah-Humbug

Don't get me wrong--I love Christmas. Really, I do. I have great memories of sitting around the dining room table as a child, eating dinner on Christmas Eve, looking into the living room at the softly glowing tree, with all its ornaments and the gifts beneath it. All the childish anticipation of Christmas morning. Then the late night Christmas Eve service, which was always beautiful. We lit candles in church and turned off the lights, some years we processed outside onto the sidewalk, singing Silent Night with our candles, sometimes in the snow. It was all lovely.

And then yesterday on the phone with my brother I heard myself saying, "We're all excited, but I don't have time for this *%!$!"

And sadly, it's all beautiful and true. Beautiful--the stocking I finally finished knitting for my niece. My son who keeps talking about Jesus's birthday. The wrapping of gifts so lovingly picked out. True--that I don't have time to do things like clean my house and buy groceries while knitting said stocking, working, running, and continuing to settle into our house. The buying holiday cards, sending them out, buying gifts, shipping gifts, decorating, all of it. It's not that it's no longer fun--it's still beautiful--but for the first time in my life I'm finding all of this stressful.

The Dreadmill

After last Sunday's failed attempt to run, it got icy out. That's where I draw the line. Ice. So after a few busy days at work, I made it over to the rec center and signed up for a month's membership. I got two runs in, a 4-miler yesterday and 7 miles this morning. I'm really thankful for a safe place to run, but why does it have to be SO boring?!? I know we're all suffering the dreadmill right now. It gives me solace to know you're all doing the same thing with me. Time to recharge the mp3 player.

Oops

First, the good news--I hit 700 miles today! I know a lot of you passed that milestone back in August (or earlier), but this is a big hairy deal for me! It's a first!!

The bad news--I went back to my January blog post this morning just to double check my 720 goals and discovered, much to my dismay, that I actually said 730. Crap!! I sort of feel attached to the 720 goal. I can reach it at this point, and it's what I've been planning for. But it's not what I said a year ago! I feel conflicted. Time to write down a new plan for the next 13 days and see what is realistic.

Clarification and Gobble Gobble

Ok, people. I've received some questions about "popping the deuces." There was a trace of concern. I feel you should receive an urban education on this topic. Per the Urban Dictionary:

"Poppin' Deuces--to peace out, to throw the peace sign and leave."

So no, my husband was not doing anything questionable. The man is a peace loving albino!

(note: no, he is not actually an albino. but...close enough)

Ok, moving on. Today was my first ever Turkey Trot! It was called the Gobble Gobble 5k. Seriously. Gobble gobble, a recap.

The race website (as well as the active.com registration page) was almost entirely devoid of details. Pesky things like start time and location. I finally found an address last night, looked it up, wrote out directions, laid out my clothes, and went to bed. This morning I was up, dressed, and out on time and headed to the race.

Except I got there and found an empty parking lot. Gaaaaaah! I called Mr. Joanna, who was still sleeping and couldn't hear his phone. I called a co-worker who I knew would be awake, but didn't get an answer. I finally called my mom, only because I knew they have a land line phone and it would wake her up.

Now, let me tell you how seriously I had to consider this decision. Rule #1 of my family is never under any circumstance take driving directions from my mom. When my sister-in-law joined the family, it was practically the first thing I told her. My mother's directions have never, and this is not an exaggeration, never gotten me to my intended destination. And working with her to get directions while you are in motion is another whole debacle. So it was with great consternation that I called her.

I have to hand it to her, she came through for me today. Not only was she totally gracious about the fact that I called her at o'dark-thirty on a holiday, and the fact that she knows how I feel about her navigation skills, she got me from point A (aka, lost) to point B (start line) very smoothly. So here it is Mom, in writing for all the world to see: GOOOOOO Pepper!!! Great job on the directions and THANK YOU!!!

So I finally got to the race, picked up my packet, jogged around a little bit to warm up, looked (unsuccessfully) for my runner-girl co-worker, and lined up. Now, usually at races, I'm a mid-packer. No use in being all cocky and lining up in front and having everyone have to run around me. I try to line up in the proper starting corral. But at Gobble Gobble there weren't corrals. It was a 5k, after all. And the field is startlingly different than the field at any large half- or full marathon. People in sweats...in the rain. Mothers announcing that they have snacks just in case anyone gets hungry during the race. You get the picture. So I moved up a little farther than I normally would. I still spent the better part of the first half mile dodging around people and having to slow down to get around them, but it thinned out and I took off and I smiled ear to ear.

It had been 12 years since I last ran a 5k. This felt so different than I remembered it. Three point one felt like a long way to run in high school cross country. Today it felt like, run hard, run fast, it's so short! I put my head down and just kept my legs moving under me. It was over before I knew it. I finished over two minutes faster than my high school PR. Woot!! Today I finished in 25:19. And I had a great time doing it. And I know I could do it faster. Now I can't wait for more 5ks!

I learned a lot today. Nerdy girl list time:

1. My Garmin rocks my face off. It was so nice to know where I was on the course and how far I had to go and how fast I was running.
2. I shouldn't be afraid to move toward the start line at a 5k. It's such a different bunch of runners. It's a lot more people who are just out for something to do and a lot less people who are serious runners.
3. I can push harder through a 5k than what I did today. At no point was I sucking air or considering throwing up. It's not a distance I'm comfortable pacing myself for....yet. But I will get there. After all, once upon a time it was the only distance I knew.
4. It was a good call to take an extra layer to change into before heading home.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving today! Some of you have had great posts about the holiday. I am incredibly thankful for my family, the best friends a girl could ask for (even if they are all far away), a job I love, a warm home, and the ability to run my heart out!

Three Things Thursday

I know, I know. A lot of you are totally consistent about doing Three Things Thursdays and/or other themed blog days. I am not. But from time to time I do enjoy participating. So here you go.

1. THANK YOU all for the comments about my taper. I know it's a necessary step. I know it's going well. I know I'm reasonably prepared for race day. So, per Coach Paula's instruction, I'm gonna chill out. :) 10 days to go!

2. Here's a quick glimpse into my life. #1: The little magnets at the top are from The Beastie. #2: The WV magnet under that is from The Original Bestie. #3-4: The two under that are because I'm a runner. #5: Penn State Forever. #6: Katrina clean-up, because I believe in helping people when they're down. #7: kdot, ODP, and the Princess of Detroit. *love them*

3. I'm considering the Martian Marathon in Dearborn Heights, MI in April. Well, the half actually. Does anyone know anything about it? Any MI people wanna meet up and run it with me? I'm undecided.

thanks & praise~a baby in Detroit!

I'm doing a Two Things Tuesday, even ON a Tuesday this week. I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself! Here's why:

1. THERE IS A BABY IN DETROIT! My brother (ODP) and sister-in-law (Kdot) were expecting their second child to arrive sometime around last Tuesday. As last Tuesday came and went, my level of excitement and anxiety multiplied. Last night around 12:30 my time, I got the call--the baby had been born and it was a girl! Mother & baby are doing fine. I just got off Skype with them, so I sort of got to see everyone. She is a beautiful, perfect little thing! (can you tell I'm excited?!?) I don't have pictures yet, but in the meantime, here is a very pregnant Kdot. How could you not love this chick??

2. The second part of my Two Things Tuesday is drastically less exciting, but really, unless I learned to shoot fire out of my eyes, what could possibly compete with a healthy, beautiful, brand new niece?

After my run this morning, I am officially over 100 miles for August (101.4 to be exact). I'm pretty sure this is a first for me. Also, I'm only about 20 miles from surpassing my 2009 total. Pretty pleased about that!

Mileage: 454.8 + 4.4 = 459.1 (rounding error annoys me)

Moving edition part 2: the importance of moving truck insurance

Ok, ok. It's been a while. I know. But, I have good news! I've found at least one AWESOME running route here in my new city! But before I get to that, I'm going to give you the blink-and-you'll-miss-it version of our move.

On the 22nd, I drove down with my Dad for the closing. All went smoothly and by evening we were unloading the cars into the new place. Over the next 4ish days we painted 5 rooms. I had to laugh at us when, well after dark, we were both crammed in this little half bath with a ladder trying to paint. The room is so small, it was comically stupid to move either of us or the ladder. And without sunlight, we couldn't reasonably tell if we'd painted well or not. All said, I think the painting projects turned out well. Even if the guy at the paint counter at Home Depot was on a first name basis with us by the end.

Living for 5 days on just the stuff we could fit in our cars (which were mostly full of the things we didn't want to put in the moving truck, like crystal) meant vaguely camping in a house. For instance, this is the extent of our available dishware.

While it was just Dad and me here, I took him to the Botanical Garden and to lunch at my new favorite lunch place, as a belated birthday present (he knew I had something planned, he just didn't know what). We had a nice time, and it was nice to learn a bit of the history of this town when we toured the "country house" at the botanical garden.

Jump to Sunday (6/27). We headed back to the old place to help round up the last of the packing, then pick up the truck on Monday. We had moving helpers come to load the truck. When they were finished I moved the truck out of our driveway and to the curb for the night. In the process of doing this I....

(Photo courtesy of one of The Minnesotans, who outed my driving skillz on Facebook)

Yep. Drove over our mailbox with a 26' moving truck. Tire tracks and everything. *$!@!!

(And a HUGE thank you to our wonderful, wonderful friends for helping us finish up the loading that night!)

The actual drive to the new town was pretty easy. A little slow, but not bad. The guys we hired to unload did a great job. And thus we commenced living in a box village.

With Pepper, my Dad, Mr. Joanna, me, and the babe (who is adorable but the opposite of helpful), we commenced unpacking. And unpacking. And unpacking. And figuring out that the guy who lives behind us can open our garage door with his garage door opener, which is sort of another comical story. All told, we're getting there. One day hopefully soonish, we'll live in something that looks like a home. I'm smiling thinking of how close we really are!

On the training front, I went WAAAAAAY too many days without a run (11 to be exact) during this epic transition. BUT, I got back to training on Friday and found an awesome path. I will post pics soon!! There is a park near my house that is almost 4 miles around, tons of trees, water fountains, non-car paths. Basically the perfect running route. I am one happy Joanna Running. So, re-commence training for Lewis & Clark! The Friday run was a little rough. I mean, 11 days off. It was a little rough. My lungs wanted to know who I thought I was kidding. But the longer run on Saturday was awesome. It felt so good to be back at it. Time to rack up some miles.

mileage: 293.3 + 3.9 + 3.6 + 5.1 = 306.1 miles (I know that doesn't add up...I've given up on reconciling and am just relying on runningahead to keep it right)

And to be clear, even though I haven't elaborated on all my goodbyes, that is not an indication that they were easy. We only moved about 3 hours away, so I'm very hopeful that we will be able to see our friends who are still there from time to time. Today was great but really hard. The Beastie and her husband came to visit for the 4th, and when they left, they left to go home and pack for their huge move back east. I wasn't ready for that.

Graduation Edition

I apologize for leaving you hanging for so long. Believe me when I say it's been a whirlwind. A mostly good one, but a whirlwind. My last week of work (last week) was hectic, then the glorious insanity of graduation weekend started. Welcome to JoannaRuns: Graduation Edition.

Friday evening

Family arrived into town on Friday, bringing our household to seven adults and two toddlers. With Kdot's help, I had planned out meals for the entire weekend and everything ran smoothly, thankfully. A bit of a circus, but a smoothly run one. With a very generous and sentimental gesture from Pepper.

Saturday morning

A comedy and a tragedy. The comedy: Meg and I ran in our "look at us we're doctors" hoods (for about a tenth of a mile) just because we could. The tragedy: it was Meg's last long run before her move.

With RunningFirst, we tore through the first 2.4 miles. I'm guessing it was about an 8:45 pace. Meg's knee started bothering her, so she walked for a while and RunningFirst and I ran another two miles or so. It was a good two miles. Plotting about our fall marathon. Running to keep from freaking out about moving a toddler to a new town. And gorgeous weather. But that was all there was time for, at least for Meg and me. We had places to go...

Saturday lunch

For me, I had my little boy's birthday party to come home and help get ready for. I carried the cake in, so I don't have pictures, but Salt & Pepper (my mother and MIL) and Kdot have promised to share theirs. So check back for that. It was fun. Kdot made some awesome food. The babe looked so surprised when we started singing to him. And gift bags and tissue paper and Thomas are awesome. Naturally. I learned the meaning of the word "obsession" when he opened his new Thomas train set from Pepper. I can't believe he's 2.

Saturday afternoon

When we moved here from the east coast, I brought a bottle of my favorite wine, always with the idea of drinking it with my brother upon my graduation. After I moved here, I amended that idea to say "drink it in a cornfield with my brother." Why? Because I'm surrounded by corn and it sounded like fun. So that's what we did. O.D.P. and I walked to the nearest cornfield (2 whole blocks), stood between rows of sprouting corn, and drank a bottle of wine. Until it started raining anyway, at which point we retreated to my front porch.

Saturday evening

My White Sock (graduation) Party!! I've been looking forward to this party literally since I started my PhD program. And it was everything I wanted it to be. My family, my West Virginians, my runners, my church family, my co-workers and friends all got together to eat cake and celebrate. And my Dad told the story that inspired the party's name. Again, back away slowly if you can't roll JoannaRuns-style, because this is about to get eccentric in the way only academics can pull off. Here's the story, paraphrased, told from my father's point of view:

When I was in graduate school, I would go sometimes with a friend of mine over to the student union for lunch. This was in the era where wigs were all the rage in women's fashion. There was a not very bright woman who worked at the union who we called the Wig Lady for all her hairdos. Well, the Wig Lady had a crush on my friend. She would get nervous and flirt with him. One day she was rearranging plates on one of the cafeteria carts and in doing so accidentally spilled cold coffee and cigarette butts on the man at the neighboring table. Flustered and embarrassed, and thinking she'd burned this man with the coffee, she turned to my friend and said, "Can you help us?! We need a doctor, I've burned this man!" My friend turned to her and asked why she thought he was a doctor. "You're wearing white socks," she replied.

O.D.P. and I were 6 and 5, respectively, when we first heard this story, and we didn't get it. We thought it meant that only doctors wore white socks. And so for the rest of our youths, we both avoided wearing white socks. Sometime around my 19th birthday, The Beastie (aka The Bestie--she's requested a blog name change, and this is me granting it) escorted me to the athletic sock aisle of our local Wal-Mart and strongly suggested that I invest. Apparently, I looked ridiculous running around campus in black cotton socks with my running shoes. I called O.D.P.; he'd only been brought up to speed on the sock issue a week before.

But now, since I am finally a doctor (albeit PhD rather than medical), I can wear white socks with a clear conscience. And so I threw myself a White Sock Party.

As I said, a beloved few of my West Virginians made the long trip for the party. Sadly, I don't have a great picture of The Original Bestie (I have two best friends, which is sometimes confusing. There's The Original, who I grew up with, and there's The Beastie, who I met in college) or Will. But I do have a good picture of Sherwood, who has never appeared on this blog but has played a big role in my life as a runner. We ran cross country together in high school. She motivated me. She inspired me. She also generally kicked my a$$.

Sunday morning

My hooding ceremony! I was hooded by my advisor with my father (because he's also a PhD) attending. It meant so much to me to have my Dad by my side at this huge moment in my life. I sincerely doubt I would have become an academic without him. That's my advisor in red, me in the middle, and my Dad on the right.

Mr. Joanna, the babe, O.D.P. (brother), Kdot (SIL), The Princess of Detroit (niece), Salt (MIL) and Pepper (Mom) were all there as well. And I could not have been happier.

Well, until I was made even happier.....by several lovely graduation gifts, including a Garmin (!!) from Mr. Joanna and Salt.

Sunday afternoon

More graduating, this time at the University-wide ceremony. Most PhDs in my field don't attend this ceremony. But I did because I've been in college for over a decade and would walk all day if they'd let me. Also because I wanted to walk with The Beastie and her husband, who were also participating in this ceremony. (Admittedly not the best picture, but I'm having internet connection issues preventing me from downloading the other renditions of this picture)

It's hard to explain what it meant to walk with The Beastie, but I really want to try to explain.

In May of 2003, we posed for the picture below as we graduated with our undergraduate degrees. L-R: Ellyn, me, The Roomie (my college roommate), and The Beastie. We'd all lived in the same hall of a dorm during our freshman and sophomore years. When this picture was taken, I knew that I was moving South and The Beastie was moving to the Midwest. We'd planned to talk on the phone one night a week to stay in touch. We both thought then that we would be lucky to see each other a few times a year. There was no way of knowing that after I finished my Masters degree, I would matriculate to the university where she was studying. There was no way to know, in 2003, that we'd spend five of the next seven years living about 4 miles from each other. There was no way to know that we'd seen only the beginning.

We've been through a lot together, personally and academically. And so it was a blessing that I could share the stage with her at our graduation this weekend.

Monday morning

Was insane.

7:45am: drop off the babe at daycare.

8:10am: return regalia to campus

8:30am: pick up rental truck from Home Depot

8:50am: arrive at White Sock party venue to pick up rented tables

9:15am: return rented tables to vendor

9:45am: return truck to Home Depot, incurring a nasty blood blister in the process

10:05am: return home to say goodbye to O.D.P., Kdot, and The Princess of Detroit

10:30am: get on the road to return my parents to the airport

3:30pm: return and drop off thank you gift to our Sunday afternoon babysitter

4:15ish: return home, pick up Salt, and pick up the babe from daycare

5:30pm: go out to dinner to relax

Tuesday

8 loads of laundry, taking out the overflowing recycling, etc.

Wednesday

Helped Meg move out. And that deserves its own post.

PAUSE please

I need for someone to please press the Pause button for a few minutes. This running recap is so long overdue because these are literally the first free minutes I've had. My Google Reader was overflowing with your wonderful posts, which I'm getting to (!), and now I can turn to this.

Tuesday (4/13): After a busy day at work and playing with the babe, I was left to race against sunset to get my run in. So, foolishly, that's what I did. I just ran as hard as I could for a 2-mile loop around the neighborhood. It felt awesome, and I had a blast, but I payed for it later (read on).

Wednesday: Our regular track was out of commission for some needed repairs, so Meg, RunningFirst, our teammate AM and I decided to run the neighborhood around there instead. It seemed like we started out way fast but somehow our first mile was our slowest. We ended up doing 3.3 miles in 30:57 for a 9:20 pace. Not bad for an "easy" run.

Thursday, o-dawn-thirty, aka, the only time Meg and I could do our dress rehearsal: Meg and I met at 7am at a Meijer (the Midwest's improved version of a Wal-Mart), left one car there with Powerade, left another bottle of Powerade in a park along our route, then parked at our starting/stopping area. It was dress rehearsal time for the upcoming Illinois Half. How did it go? Good and bad.

Let me explain. One thing Meg and I have markedly improved on during this training cycle has been strategy for long runs. We have had at least 2 long runs at each mileage (2 8-mile runs, 2 10-milers, etc). Each time we've had a mileage hike, we've used the first time to ease into it, then the second time to really attack it at race pace. So, our 12-miler dress rehearsal was hard. Really hard, for me (thank you, Tuesday sunset run). But it was good. Why? Because we got through it, and fairly respectably at that. Because we now know what to expect of the course. Because we are now past our peak training run.

This week we run hard. Next week we taper. Then we race, May 1. The goal is to PR (2:06:09); the dream is to sub-2.

After our run we grabbed some breakfast before I dashed home to get cleaned up and drive 2 hours to pick up my mom (nickname: Pepper) from our nearest metro airport. The return trip was eventful, but that story is for another day (Meg is my hero).

Friday-Saturday: Mr. Joanna and I got up with the babe, got his day started with Pepper, then left for the 3 hour drive to our soon-to-be-hometown to go house hunting. I'm not ready to post details about the trip yet, but I will give you this. On Friday night we had dinner at an Italian place. For dessert I ordered 2 profiteroles. In France, 2 profiteroles makes a nice, reasonable dessert. Here in the obese U.S. of A., it's enough food to feed a family. Not that I'm complaining. We all know I'm a total sugar addict. Why do you think I run?!?

Sunday: We got back around 1 and found, to our great dismay, that Pepper had taken the babe to the grocery store. We couldn't wait to see him and practically smothered him in hugs when they got back. I got in an easy 3.9 miler that afternoon. It was good, even if just to loosen up. And bonus: the babe used his potty successfully THREE times (twice while we were gone, once after we got back) over the weekend. I realize that this may seem like TMI to those of you who don't have kids....

Monday: I took Pepper back to the airport, worked on some stuff around the house, and played with the babe until his bedtime. I got a picture of one of his recent quirks that I wanted to share. He routinely lines up all his trucks/trains when he plays with them. I love this. I also love that he puts them away when asked. He's a pretty orderly kid. And yes, that's a giant duck laundry hamper in the background.

Mileage:

193.2 + 2.0 + 3.3 + 12.2 + 3.9 = 214.7

Detroit Marathon

It's official--I finished my first marathon! This is my recount of the weekend, in all its sweaty glory.

On Saturday we (Brendan, Elliot and I) flew to Detroit. My brother met us at the airport, took us to get settled in at our hotel, then went with us to the race expo. Based on an email I'd received before the race, which said they were expecting 50 vendors, I didn't expect the expo to be as big or nice as it was. It was great! They even had a family area, where Brendan played with Elliot while I walked through the expo with my brother. It was fun to introduce him to the world of running, complete with our full line of tools and products, which were all on display at the expo. It was fun to answer questions about technical fabric and runner food (gels, sport beans, etc). We also got to goof around some, like this picture he took of me. He helped me pick out a Detroit Marathon shirt (which I will proudly be wearing to work in a few days). I also picked up a nice Adidas running hat and a 26.2 sticker. He (and me too, if I'm being honest) got a kick out of the fact that I had to present my passport in order to pick up my race packet, it being an international race and whatnot.

In the afternoon, everyone went to the park while I slept, apparently. I have only photographic evidence of this (see below, bundled up and leaving for the park). I honestly don't remember much of it other than presenting them with my niece's First Year scrapbook. We were up around 4am to catch our flight and had been up late packing, so I was really out of it. That evening, my wonderful sister-in-law made us more pasta than 10 of us could have eaten. It was really sweet of her (not to mention delicious), helping me carb load. My brother couldn't get over Elliot's love of cup holders. I have no idea where Elliot got it from, but he has a strong preference for his sippy cup to be in a cup holder if possible, which became apparent while we were eating dinner. Well, his daddy is "function man." :)

Back at the hotel we got settled into our room, which was amazing. The room itself was nice--well appointed, comfortable, and attractive. But its biggest feature was the view! We had an amazing location--the 38th floor of the RenCen Marriott (the official race hotel) overlooking the Detroit River, right across from Caesar's. I took a picture that night. You can totally see me and the whole room in the reflection but I'm posting it anyway. Brendan took one the next day, which I'm also posting.

Elliot went to bed fairly easily. After he was down, I did one last check to make sure everything was in order for morning, then decided to try to get some sleep. No sooner was I in bed than I came to the sickening realization that I had left my knee sleeve at home. Of course I jumped out of bed and uselessly checked the suitcase anyway. All I could think was, "How could I have done this?" The answer is pretty simple: I had stopped wearing it for short, mid-week runs, and it had gotten left either beneath my desk or in the back of my car, out of sight and out of mind. I panicked. It was true that my IT band had more or less stopped hurting, but I hadn't run without the sleeve in weeks. I told Brendan all of this. Without hesitating, he got back up, got dressed, and went out to find a drug store to buy me a new one. The cab fare turned out to be more expensive than the sleeve, thankfully. What would I do without this man? Set for morning, I finally coaxed myself to sleep.

I had to be to the start line no later than 7am. Not knowing how long it would take to get from the hotel to the start area, especially considering I was planning to take public transit to get there, I left myself 45 minutes. A little after 6am I quietly left my boys sleeping in the hotel room and made my way to the elevator. A few floors down, someone clearly involved in the race boarded the elevator. Scratch that, he bounded onto the elevator, carrying a 3:30 pacer sign. This meant that he was a pace team leader, one of the many runners on the course who help runners match time goals by setting a timed, per-mile pace, in his case, to reach the finish line in three and a half hours. I asked if I could go to the start line with his group. He responded, "I'm going to jog over. We might have some pacers who will walk. You're welcome to join us." And with that, the elevator doors opened and he bounded out, jogging. Too much.

So, I made my way to the People Mover (a catastrophic failure in public transportation--it's actually the "don't do this" box in urban planning textbooks), which carried me the half mile to the start area. Rather than stand around in the dark and cold, I walked up and down the start area for a while, checking in with my Teammate Nick and sipping my apple juice. Slowly I made my way to the start area. I was nervous. And cold. Mostly nervous. I just reviewed my strategy in my mind: 3 mile run, then commence 6:1 timed run/walk, run more toward the end if possible. Eat beans/Gu at miles 6.5, 13, and 19.

The race finally started. Before long, we were running over the Ambassador Bridge as the sun rose. To my left, I saw our hotel perched on the river, and thought with so much happiness of my boys, snug in their beds, or awake and talking about "momma's race," or even looking out the window at all the runners on the bridge. I ran a bit past my three mile mark, until we descended off the bridge into Canada. I was having a blast. A few miles through Canada, then the "international underwater mile" through the tunnel back to the US, and all of a sudden I was at mile 8, the spot Brendan and I had agreed on trying to see each other. As soon as I saw them I started stripping, the hat, gloves, and zip-up jacket all had to go. I was sweating and warm. I was so glad I didn't have to throw any of my articles of clothing to the side of the road like several hundred others had done. I love my gear and wanted to keep it! So I tossed it to them and kept going. I saw them again at the 13 mile mark, just after the half-marathoners split off. My brother and sister-in-law were there too. It was SO much fun to see them and hear them cheer for me.

After that, the course followed Lafayette for about three miles. Somewhere in the middle of it I witnessed a loud and heated argument between a runner and a woman walking to church. I have no idea if they knew each other or what they were arguing about, but it was...entertaining. Around there also, a woman on her cell phone disregarded a police officer and started to drive into the race route, nearly hitting a runner about a quarter mile ahead of me. By the time I got there the officer was absolutely reaming her out. Her response? Embarrassment? Heavens no. She was screaming right back at him. Naturally. The few miles after that were through an amazingly gorgeous neighborhood. Some of the residents were handing out various items to runners, including, beer, jelly beans, and Vaseline. By this point Nick and I had passed each other a handful of times. We ran a mile or so together through part of this neighborhood.

Crossing onto Belle Isle was gorgeous, and the island itself is worth a visit if you're ever there and not running a marathon. By the time I got to mile 21 or so, I was starting to wear pretty thin. My feet hurt and I was getting worn out. At this point, blatant rationalization and self-coaching starts to kick in. I just kept telling myself, run this 6 minutes, then walk 1. Walk 2 if you have to. Ok, 6 minutes, 5 if you absolutely can't do 6. Just do it. Just start running. It was around this point that the 4:45 pace team finally passed me for the last time, which was fine with me. Leaving Belle Isle, there was an "entertainer" who was yelling at people that they had only 4 miles left to go and why were they walking (I made a point of running past him so as not to be yelled at). I really wanted to put him on notice.

Then at mile marker 23 nausea kicked in. I'd had a LOT of Gatorade, beans, Chomps, and adrenalin. I walked almost all of that mile, until finding port-a-potties right before mile marker 24, where I collected myself and set my mind to finishing this thing. I ran most of the rest, not quite a 6:1 interval, but something close. I took a sip of Gatorade at the very last fluid station and rather than throwing the half-full cup at the trash, where two men were tidying up, I walked over, folded the cup, and put it in the bag. One of them said I must be a mom, to do that, to which I smiled and said I was. Soon after, a spectator yelled that it was just half a mile to go. I ran that half mile. Coming around the last corner and seeing the finish line ahead of me, it was honestly everything in me to keep myself from sobbing uncontrollably. Not from physical pain, but from exhaustion, mental and physical, and seeing the end of this long, incredible process and life goal. I was so focused that I almost didn't see Brendan, my brother and SIL and the kids. I did see and hear them finally, and in my mind gave them a huge smile, which Brendan later said was more like an exhausted half-acknowledgment. And then I was there, crossing the finish. I looked up at the clock--5:09. I'd crossed the start line around 15:00, which meant I'd finished the race in under 5 hours.

I more or less wandered through the finishers' area, getting my medal, having my picture taken, finding what there was of post-race food, then leaving and meandering half-coherently to the after party half a block down, where the reunion area had been staged. It took a while for all of us to find each other, and by that time I had pulled myself together most of the way.

After putting on my warm-up wants and a jacket, we left the reunion area. I promptly called Coach Mike, Meg, and my mom to let them know I'd finished. Coach Mike looked up my chip time--4:54:54. I can absolutely live with that.

Checking out of the hotel was quite the process, but I'll save that story for another day. Once back to my brother & SIL's place, we spent the rest of Sunday and Monday morning relaxing, eating, hanging out, and shopping. We had such a good time. And if you're ever in Royal Oak, I highly recommend this place for dinner and this place for sweets.

To wrap it all up, the weekend was great. It was more than great. Brendan and I got to hang out with family, and just as importantly, so did Elliot. As for the race, I'll say that I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad it's over. I don't know if I'll do another full marathon yet. We'll see. And finally, you know I can't post this without the mileage update. Officially over 400 miles for the year!

370.5 + 3.3 + 2.0 + 26.2 = 402

Gearing up! Errr, ramping down I mean

It's the final week. Excitement level is up, mileage is down, hence the title. I went to the running store today and bought a thing to carry an arsenal of Sport Beans in, plus the beans themselves. I'm mentally starting to make a list of everything I need to take to Detroit, and what of those things cannot be trusted in a checked bag. What can't I replace at the expo if my luggage doesn't make it? What can I run without? I am so excited!! My knee seems to be doing much better, so I'm lacking confidence, but feeling very encouraged about race day.

Saturday I was scheduled to run an hour. After the first 2.4 miles, Coach Mike said I was running a little faster than a 5 mph pace, so I should aim at running a little over 5 and should not get carried away and do more than 6. Starting the back half of the run, I was warmed up (it was maybe 40 degrees out, so the start was chilly), excited, and just couldn't help myself. I ran as fast as I wanted. I had a ball. It was great. I did 5.4 and came back at around the 55 minute mark. I got glared at a little bit for going so much faster than my race pace, but I just smiled. It was a great way to end long run training. Into the week now, I ran 3.3 today and will probably do the same tomorrow, since the rain is heading back in by Wednesday.

Here is an update on miles. I would like to point out that I have officially passed what was always my annual goal in college, 365 miles, or a mile a day for a whole year. It always seemed like such an easy goal and yet I never did it. So, big smile for that.

361.8 + 5.4 + 3.3 = 370.5

I have a million other things going on, though at the moment most notably scrapbooking. I went to another crop this past weekend and had a GREAT time. I finally finished my niece's first year album! I'm still working on coating a page that's having some issues with ink drying, but the actual making of pages is finished. I will be giving it to them this weekend, which will be another part of the fun. I'm excited about this weekend--can you tell?