2013 in Review

Hello hello, and welcome to 2014!! I realize this recap post is a bit late. December turned out to be a wee bit on the crazy side, so I decided to give myself some time away from the blog. I'm excited to be back and have lots of stuff planned to share with you over the coming month or so.

Where was I the last month? The wee crazy was also lots of fun. There was a lot of travel, which was kicked off with a Thanksgiving trip to Florida (see here), then back to my beloved St. Louis for a perfect weekend (here, it was a work trip for my hubby and the rest of us happily tagged along for a very abbreviated weekend). Then the following weekend I was off to Detroit solo to meet up with ODP, Kdot, my neices, Big Pete and Pepper for ODP's graduation. (idea: I should add a tab to my blog that gives the cast of characters. That would be fun to put together!! Yes! This is happening. For the time being, see the footnote on this post if you're not familiar with my peeps) I seriously could not be prouder of my big brother, or more thankful for Kdot for being his rock through the whole adventure. Love you guys!!

My parents (Big Pete and Pepper) flew back to SLC with me that weekend. They stayed through the New Year and while Christmas was lovely, and I made great strides toward learning to sew, and our bathroom remodel Part 1 was completed, the real headline was that Pepper managed to wreck two cars while seated in the back seat of my Prius. I really wish I were kidding. GAME: I'll give you two images of the damage and you try to figure out what happened. Leave it in the comments. The more outrageous detail, the better. 

Shortly after the accident, it was NYE and time to summarize another year of running (not my best segue, I know. Leave it alone). Here are the basic stats:

Total miles: 737. I'm pleased with this. I ran a grand total of 281 in 2012 (had a baby people, quit gawking!) and estimated that I'd cover about 700 in 2013. 

Total other workouts: I honestly don't know because I didn't track most of them, but I'm really pleased with my yoga work this past year. I went to several great classes with my good friend LW back in STL, and I attended at least 1 class per week from early August through early November, then a few after that. I enjoyed it so much that I signed up for another class that runs through May. 

Types of run workouts: Every year I post a graph like this. I love these. 

I joined the hundo club twice in 2013 (woot!!) and built in a good variety of workouts in both of my training cycles. July's dip in mileage isn't surprising considering the cross-country move that happened that month!

Races: As anticipated and planned for, I completed 2 half-marathons in 2013. First up was the Lincoln Presidential Half-Marathon in early April (race recap here). My goal was to come in under 2 hours and I just barely did. I ran the whole thing with a smile on my face, SO THANKFUL to be out there racing.

My BRFF and I ran the Raleigh City of Oaks Half in early November (race recap here). The course was a bit hillier than we anticipated, but 6.5 years after setting our goal to sub-2 together, we finally did. SO proud of how we ran this race, and even happier that we got to run it together.

Acclimating: As I said, we moved across the country in July, and to a climate unlike places we'd lived before, and at an elevation I haven't lived at in many years. For longer than I'd care to admit, I was sucking wind while running, but eventually my body did adapt to the dry, thin air. Now that I'm used to it, I see it as a training benefit of living here. Racing at sea level should feel great! Acclimating is more than that, though. It also means settling into life here. We've slowly started to make new friends. We've made some investments in making this place our home by buying bikes, finding other outdoor gear, and renovating large parts of our new house. I'm even checking out a running group with my neighbor this weekend! Here's to expanding my circle of running buddies in 2014.

Looking forward: I have big goals for 2014. Two very specific ones, to be exact. I want to set new PRs in both the half and full marathon. Admittedly, I'm way more committed to the idea of a new marathon PR, as I still, badly, want to avenge my last 26.2 (Cleveland 2011--I know it's been a while. I had a baby, people!). I'm strongly considering registering for a half in the late spring/early summer, and it seems like PRing that would lay good groundwork for PRing the full in September. 

I'd also like to set a new mileage PR in 2014. After digging around my blog, it looks like that PR stands at 830 (and I was pregnant for half of that year?!??!!), which might be tough to top! I will plan to train for my races, and if that means posting a new annual mileage number, wonderful, but I'm not going to stress over it. 

How did your 2013 shape up? Did you hit your goals? Did you get inspired to set new goals? 

Cast of Characters:

ODP: my brother

Kdot: my sister-in-law, ODP's wife

Big Pete: my Dad

Pepper: my Mom

Mr. Joanna: my husband

BRFF: Best Running Friend Forever, Meg

Salt (not appearing in this post): my MIL

Mondays in Love: Peak Long Run

We are t-13 days until the start line of the Raleigh City of Oaks half and I am READY! This weekend was the peak long run of the training cycle. I turned in 13.0 pleasant miles on Saturday afternoon, winding through two city parks and several neighborhoods.

A few posts back I highlighted some of the aspects of running in UT that distinguish it from running in the Midwest. One was the hills. I've been building one particularly grueling hill into my long runs the past few weeks. It is not to be taken lightly! But you know, perseverance wins. I swear it's getting easier week by week. But seriously, check this chick out.

The green line is elevation. This hill climbs about 220 feet in just under a mile. Hmmm...that doesn't sound like it feels. It feels like climbing Mount freaking Everest. I feel like my own personal George Mallory when I get to the top. Aside from that whole dying-in-a-mountain-of-ice business.

All this hard work culminated in this weekend's long run. Though the taper is not pronounced, it does exist in this training plan, and we're there. High five!

In other news (read: completely not related to running) from the weekend, on Sunday we visited a nearby state park, Antelope Island. What an amazing place!! If you ever visit SLC during the spring or fall, it's totally worth seeing.

Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon Race Report

Warning: long post!
Race Eve: Friday
I was able to wrap up some things for work late Thursday evening, allowing myself all day Friday to get our house show-ready (it's on the market--first showing happened Saturday!), have lunch with a friend, and pack, and it took EVERY minute of the day to do all that. I even called Mr. Joanna to ask him to come home a few minutes earlier than planned just to help me carry the loads of stuff from upstairs to the basement, trash, or to the Goodwill pile forming in his trunk.* We finally got on the road about 3:45.

We arrived in Springfield just in time for our 5:30 reservation at Saputo's, a well-regarded Italian restaurant in downtown Springfield. The wait staff all knew the patron's names, and the tables around us seemed to be groups of 60+ year old friends who had been gathering there for years. We finally decided that tradition must be keeping this place open, because it was one of the least inspired 3 plates of Italian food we'd ever seen. Everything was either from a can or freezer. It made me wish I had Robert Irvine on speed dial. Regardless, it was a plate of carbs, and that was what was in order. Mission accomplished!

From there we headed to packet pick up, after I may or may not have typed the wrong street name into the GPS. This caused my husband to panic fret over getting lost finding our way in the small and lightly trafficated metropolis of downtown Springfield. I might have also told him to turn the wrong direction once. Seriously, I am the worst navigator ever. We got there. And I wish I'd taken a picture. It was the tiniest packet pick-up I've ever seen for a 13.1. There was exactly ONE vendor there, the table to pick up the bib and shirt, a table displaying the age group awards, and a bulletin board to look up names and bib numbers. That was it. It was probably for the best though since my boys were waiting for me in the car. In, out, and on our way.

We drove just a few blocks from there to the race hotel and got settled in for the night. The baby was just so excited about his first out-of-state trip that he couldn't sleep. It was about 9:30 before he finally gave it up and dozed off. At that point I laid out all my gear for morning and turned in.

all bibbed up and ready to go

With my trusty security blanket, the pace band. The one

on top was for 2:02, but I raced with a 2:00 one on. 

Race Day
Per the usual for race day, I woke up ahead of my alarm and forced myself to stay in bed a while longer. At 5:50 I was up and getting dressed, then made my way downstairs to the Starbucks to pick up pre-race food and breakfasts for my boys. My older son was up when I got back, so he and I sat together in the bathroom and ate our breakfasts together. A little later than I had intended, I did my final pre-race list-checking and headed down to the start line. I found my friend Rachel at the start line, and we stood and chatted for a few until it was time to line up. She headed for the 1:50 pace group, I hung back closer to the 2:00 group. She suggested I get behind them then pass them if I wanted to, but I told her I didn't like being behind pace groups.

Well, that didn't work out for me! We weren't 0.25 miles into the race when the 2:00 pace group passed me. Alarmed, I checked my pace band and Garmin frequently for a while, and I was staying true to my target times, so I decided not to worry about it.

The course is nice--mostly flat, winding through a historic area, downtown, a variety of neighborhoods, a cemetery, and a park. There are a few pretty rude hills toward the end that left me sucking wind for a second, but fortunately I knew they were coming (thanks for the intel, Rachel!) and adjusted accordingly. I got to see my little cheering section (husband & two boys) just after the start, around mile 2, and at 13.0. I can't explain the joy it brings me to see them on course, and to hear them cheer for me. Magical. Precious.

I had support from afar, too. My old friend Coach Mike had left me some words of encouragement pre-race, and they became my mantra throughout: "Run easy, run free." I love that! And that's how this race felt--comfortably hard, like race pace should feel, and FREE. I was that crazy lady smiling all the way through the race, thankful that I am able to do it.

I have to give a huge shout out to the race organizers. Especially for a race of only ~1500 participants, it was put on very well. There were gobs of volunteers at every aid station, the aid stations were well placed, and they had just the right combinations of water, Gatorade, and even Gu available at just the right places. The start and finish areas were managed well too, and the post-race spread was impressive.

All the way through, I relied on my trusty pace bands, hitting each mile within a few seconds of the target pace, with a few more like 10-15 seconds faster. I didn't catch the 2:00 pacers until about 12.6 miles, which kind of freaked me out more than once, but at each mile I checked my overall time and my mile pace and knew I was on target. Rachel had told me that if I had anything left when I got to 12.0 to just let it fly because the last mile was flat, so I did. I was having a blast. When I saw my boys at 13.0 they captured the moment--me (in the red) with a big smile plastered on my face.

Just after this picture, I rounded the last corner into the straightaway. I knew I was under 2 hours and just focused on finishing strong. 

Final Garmin time: 1:59:20

Official time: 1:59:21

with Mary and Abe and our giant honking pennies at the finish!

This was not a PR, but as I said, I wasn't aiming for a PR. This was my post-baby return to racing. Rachel asked me at the start line if I had a time goal. I hesitantly said I was hoping for sub-2, but that the stars would have to align just right or it wouldn't work. I'm thrilled that the day came together with 39 seconds to spare. 

Post-Race

After the race and getting cleaned up, we headed to Champaign to see relax and see friends. We had a great time! We stayed Saturday night with some of our favorite people (who happen to be our boys' Godparents!), and on Sunday had breakfast with an old, wonderful friend who just successfully defended her dissertation (Dr. Ears!!), and went to our old church and saw friends there. 

It was a great weekend. I enjoyed the race (I smiled on and off all the way through!), finished strong, saw friends, and had relaxing down time. Honestly, I am so thankful that running gave us the extra encouragement to plan the much-needed, long-overdue trip to central IL.  

* true story: my husband's car was once burglarized while it contained nothing other than a Goodwill pile. It was great. Totally saved us the trip, and probably got to someone who could use the stuff any way. Ah, life in STL. 

Mondays in Love: Thanksgiving Edition

I'm back from Thanksgiving and about ready to get back to the blog world (seriously, I'm really behind. I'm not trying to ignore you, I just haven't been home!). This very American holiday was nothing short of fabulous this year. We don't have any family in Chicago, but decided to meet up there anyway because, well, why the heck not? We got a fancy schmancy name-your-own-price hotel easily within walking distance of Michigan Ave. We made reservations for Thanksgiving dinner out, saw Being Elmo (fabulous! seriously for all ages), went to the Shedd Aquarium, did a little shopping, and fulfilled one of our very few family traditions: the mid-generation pre-Christmas martini night out.

Me (rocking the Shirley Temple), Mr. Joanna, Kdot, and ODP

This tradition started almost a decade ago when my brother and I escaped from our parents' house for some last minute Christmas shopping and from listening to Anderson Cooper at 14 decibels (my mom finally, years later, got hearing aids, thank goodness). We found ourselves at an outdoor mall near noon on a Monday feeling like.....um, yeah.... I looked at the predictable Applebee's, looked at ODP, and told him we were going in for a drink. So there, noon on Monday before Christmas, we had martinis. And a tradition was born. I love this tradition.

We got back from Chicago late Saturday night and today we're fully back into the swing of things and I'm back to running. THANK YOU Cyber Monday for letting me buy my coveted maternity running top at $15 off!! Can't wait for it to arrive. In the meantime, give me a day or two to get caught up with blogs! 

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!

March recap

this will be my last transmission from Earth's Central Time Zone, er, this will be my last blog post before the Martian Half. The kiddo and I head out tomorrow and we're ready for an awesome weekend. Mr. Joanna is ready for a long weekend of mostly yard work at home, sadly. But before heading out, the March Recap!


Miles planned/ran: 141/128.9
Rest days planned/taken: 5/6
Highest mileage week: 36.8
Long runs planned/ran: 4/3.5 (because this happened)
Pace workouts planned/ran: 3/3 
XT days planned/done: 5/5
Tempo or interval runs planned/ran: 5/5
Favorite run: I'm going to have to say my 16-miler. I had some fun and confidence-boosting tempo and pace workouts, but the 16-miler had gorgeous weather and I got my pacing right FTW. 
Current goal: sub-2 half on Saturday!!
Current obsession: see Current goal.
Current need: new dress pants, because nothing I own fits. See "current excitement," and no, I am not pregnant. 
Current excitement: too many to choose from~the trip this weekend, my continuing weight loss (thank you, sparkpeople!), and a visit from The Beastie next week!!
Current bane of my existence: the big toe on my right foot. Yep, still hurts. 
Current wish list: Crabtree & Evelyn lavender shower gel. I'm almost out and I always feel like it's a luxury to buy it. 
Current indulgence: As an early birthday present, my Mom bought me a necklace that I fell in love with while we were strolling around a boutique a few neighborhoods over. It's gorgeous and I love it! 


Special March Addition to the recap:
I've finally picked a name for the new Garmin: Clepsydra. This was a nomination from RunningFirst and I really like it. It's Greek for water clock/water thief. What better name for a running accessory could there be?!? Thank you for all the name suggestions! 

Heading into Martian!

I haven't posted in a week?!? A week?!? Things have, admittedly, been busy. About three weeks ago my parents called and said they wanted to visit during their spring break. We explained that if they were OK with the fact that we are never home and work constantly and could not be their tour guides, then sure, we'd love to have them visit. They readily agreed and bought plane tickets. So on Saturday (a week+ ago) I picked them up at the airport. We wasted no time. There was a room to paint!

That's Dad in his "Diva Pants." When we told them to bring painting clothes, we thought he still had pants here. Turns out they were Mom's. Brand: Diva. Oops.
{sidenote: I am LOVING having some direction on interior decorating choices. It took a while to figure out what I wanted my "grown-up house" to look and feel like. And it was equally fabulous having help from the parentals!}

On Sunday we basked:

And just in case you can't tell, that's SPRING there under my Mom.

And then the week started again. Even with my hectic work schedule, I was able to meet them for lunch twice and we had a lot of fun. Then Saturday rolled around and we got this craptastic news:

I called my SIL, in freaking Detroit, where there was NO SNOW. I LIVE IN MISSOURI. What is this crap? She said it snowed just to piss me off. Eleven miles later, and still snowing and slushy out, I felt a renewed appreciation for the treadmill.

So all that brings me to the running portion of this post. Yes, I ran 11 miles on Saturday. Yes, my toe hurt when I was done. I thought I'd given it enough of a break. I took y'all's (I get can away with a double contraction like that because I'm from WV) advice and XT'ed until Wednesday of last week then cautiously tested it. The toe was fine after the Wednesday run (which I nailed--good confidence boost pre-race), so I thought I was in the clear. I think my choice of work footwear is part of the problem. I'm forcing myself to wear flat shoes (or at least shorter heels than normal) to work this week and keep the miles easy.

Am I ready for Martian? Yes. More ready than I've ever been for a half. Am I nervous? Yes, because I *really* want that PR. Am I excited? YOU KNOW IT!! To meet a bunch of you, see family (& let the kiddo see family!), and hopefully post a great race. I LOVED racing in Detroit in 2009--hoping for another great race!

730.1 AND DONE

Guess what? I DID IT! Today's 6-miler put me one little tiny tenth of a mile over my yearly goal. After all the confusion and re-planning, I can officially say that this year is in the books. DONE. And as proof of this (and proof that I don't post only the nice pictures), here I am the minute that treadmill stopped. And btw, and you can quote me on this, you know you're a runner mom when you wipe sweat off your brow at 4.3 miles and realize that your hands smell like Play-Doh. 

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all of your support and encouragement, not just here at the end, but throughout the year. It's been a totally crazy year. I liked the list approach RunningFirst took, so I'll do the same. Here's a good/bad recap of the year in roughly chronological order.

1. I got to run a half-marathon with my much-missed Meg
2. I PhinisheD my PhD! And had a great big party. My West Virginians came and everything. 
3. With the Team, I ran my first trail race the morning of my son's second birthday....and had an emergency appendectomy that night. And an open house the next day. 
4. We sold said house. (well, sort of. It's complicated, but is occupied by people other than us)
5. My parents came to help finish packing, moving, and painting the new place. I drove over our mailbox with a 24' Uhaul truck. We had movers pack the truck, but still needed help at the end. Some of our good friends came to our rescue and helped us get the job done. Then I drove all our worldly belongings to our new house in a new city and state. 
6. The Beastie and her husband came to visit. Saying goodbye was really hard, knowing that they were moving many states away. We'd lived nine of the last eleven years within a few miles of each other. Thank goodness for Skype.  
7. Mr. Joanna and I started new jobs, the kiddo started a new daycare.
8. I endured the hottest long run in history (let's assume no one's ever actually run Badwater). 
9. I tripped and ate massive quantities of asphalt while running...twice. Consequently gave up wearing statement tees, such as one that might have said "Kick Asphalt" that I might have been wearing the second time I fell. 
10. RunningFirst came down to run L&C with me, my second marathon. I set a new PR by 27 minutes, which I'm still pretty proud of. 
11. I got to see some of my college girls, meet some of their other friends, tour San Francisco and run a half-marathon there, including going over the Golden Gate bridge! Not my fastest race, but fun. And I got to run it with Frank (and her "passenger"!).
12. Two trips to Detroit, one for the baptism of my newborn niece and the other for Christmas. 
13. After months of repairs and breakdowns, Mr. Joanna finally got a new car that includes such luxuries as a radio and working windows. Then wrecked mine. (I got glared at for that last part, but it's true. Although it was a minor fender bender and it's been fixed). 
14. I met my running goals for the year and did it injury free!!

I hope I'm not forgetting anything. I probably am. There were so many big moments, not just in our lives but in the lives of our friends.  

In conclusion for 2010, here is the monthly mileage report from runningahead. I'm really grateful that RunningFirst introduced me to this site this year. It's been great for helping me track everything. It's no surprise that June was my lowest mileage month, given the appy and the move. What this graph also tells me is that I clearly need to be doing more tempo and interval work. I also know from my incredible (and historically unprecedented) inflexibility that I have to do more cross-training (read: I need to do some, any cross training).  I'm on it. In the next few days I'm going to start putting together, with help from RunningFirst (aka, Coach Mike) my training plan for spring. Here's to high hopes for my spring races!!

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.

On your recommendation...

First things first: I thought you would all want to know that I have banned Statement Tees from my running wardrobe until L&C and the US Half are over! A few of you recommended this move and I think it's a good call. :)

I also decided to do more of my mid-week runs in the park, which has neither concrete slab sidewalks to trip on nor traffic. So I headed down there on Wednesday. It was one of those days...I got to the edge of the park and realized I was grinning ear to ear. The weather was gorgeous. The trees were beautiful. The park was calm. And I was just gliding through it. I didn't set out to do a tempo run, but when I realized how comfortable the run was, I turned it up and did a tempo run for the day.

Friday morning I got up super early to run before a hectic day at work, only to find that it was raining just a *smidge* too hard to run. Coach Paula told me to rest up last week anyway, so I figured it was all good.

I'm so anxious to get to this part of my week, I'm sitting here smiling. After work on Friday we packed up and headed back north to C-U to visit friends! We had a baby shower and a birthday party to go to. It was a fantastic weekend. I got to see Ears (& her hubby, who I don't have a nickname for), RunningFirst, The Minnesotans, MJ and a group of people I'll collectively refer to as the World's Biggest Illini Fans. I think this is my favorite pic from the weekend--Ears playing with the babe while I got The Princess of Detroit's birthday present in the mail.

It was a great weekend. It was so comforting and fun to see our friends, laugh, gossip and catch up. *love you all*

So that left me this morning to get my all-important 20-miler done. How to put this positively...I am going to have to trust the logic that a bad dress rehearsal makes for a good race day.

Miles 1-6ish were fine. But the energy just wasn't there after that. I totally hit the wall at mile 12 (scary early, I know) and took 2.5 more miles to snap out of it. Miles 15-20 went easier than the middle chunk at least. The whole thing was slower than I'd have liked. I don't know. I'm nervous now about L&C. I don't know if I'm ready. I don't think I've done enough speed work. I think I had an insufficient base and didn't average enough mid-week miles through this training cycle. On the other hand, I'm WAY more prepared than I was before Detroit. No question about that. I'm just...nervous. That's normal...right?

So stay with me through the taper! It promises to be hilarious. I'll keep a list of all the crazy things I freak out about. We can laugh together. 21 days until L&C!!

485.8 + 4.0 + 19.9 = 509.7 (and YEAH let's hear it for breaking 500 miles!!)

Quick update

I'm doing a Two Things Tuesday.

On a Monday. What, I totally knew it was Monday when I typed that.

Look, semantics. That's not the point. Two quick updates, because I have to get back to beating my forehead on my desk in an effort to make my data cooperate.

1. I spent the weekend traveling, having a blast, and being sick. I thought I was going to be smart and skip doing my 12-miler in unbearable heat & humidity and instead do it on a hotel treadmill. Until I realized I felt way too much like poo for any kind of 12 mile run. So...that didn't happen. Which leads me to my second update:

2. I have a running date for tomorrow morning to do said 12-mile run!! When I came back from my run this morning there were two runners standing in front of my house talking. Turns out one owns (& leases out, she actually lives in MD and was here visiting) the house next to mine and was the former running buddy of the other person, who lives a few blocks over. We stood and talked for a little bit and the one that lives a few blocks over and I decided to do the long run tomorrow! I'm SO excited (can you tell?). It's a path he knows and goes through some areas I haven't explored yet. So excited!!

Moving edition part 1: How to dry 3 baby socks

So we're all kinds of crazy up in here these days. We are waist deep in the move. Literally. The house is piled with moving boxes at pretty much every turn. That's the short version. But let me give you a slightly more turn-by-turn rendition of one runner's move.

Thursday

My parents are the Rock Stars of Moving. They drove 726 miles, packed my house, then took me out to dinner. Totally unjustified. This is Pepper packing my kitchen. This woman could pack all of East Asia in under 90 minutes.

Also on Thursday, our house officially sold!! It's such a relief. And the family that bought it is really nice, from what we can tell. As I told The Beastie, I knew God had called us to our new town, but I was still prepared to be shipped there in the belly of a whale. But the Big Guy's arranged for so much more for us than we could ever have asked for. No hitching rides with whales. Everything is, miraculously, coming together.

Friday

We packed like completely insane people. And learned a few things. Did you know, for instance, that the newspaper office will give you, for free, as many rolls as you can carry of unprinted newspaper (well, the ends of rolls that they didn't use) to wrap stuff in? It works pretty well! Lesson #2, when you all of a sudden have 3 wet baby socks and you don't know how that happened, there is no need to put them in the dryer. No! Hang them on a curtain rod in an east-facing window. Effective. And adorable. Ah, the things my parents dream up.

Saturday

My last Team run, at least until I feel like I know enough people to fundraise with the Team in our new city. It was an odd last run, too. Parts of our course were flooded, forcing us to find ways around, using access roads and stuff. It was crazy humid out, so my miles were slow (the fastest was 9:33..the slowest was close to 10 minutes).

mileage update: 287.7 + 5.6 = 293.3

We had a going-away picnic at a park on Saturday evening. I hate to say it, but I have no pictures. FAIL on that front.

Sunday

Father's Day. Today was some forced relaxation. We took the time to hang out and enjoy our church picnic. I have to say, I'm incredibly blessed to have one of the coolest dads I've ever even heard of, and I'm married to a man who is beyond fabulous with our little boy. Great Dads to celebrate Fathers Day with. Here's a picture of me with my Dad, today. He knows those sunglasses are crazy looking. The hat--that's just him. He's a guy with a straw hat. And I love him for it. Not the best picture of me, but it's what I have for today.

And this is me signing off for a while. I leave Tuesday morning to close on the new place and commence the Paint Like It's Your Job portion of this move. I may or may not have internet access while that happens. If I do, I'll post some pictures as we go. Keep blogging and running everybody! I'll catch up with you next weekend. Hopefully then I'll be able to share some new running paths I will have found around the new place. I can't take a lot with me this week (Moving Day is the 29th, and everything will go then), but you know I'm taking my running shoes and The Vengeance.

Death March of Crazy

Meg and I went all Kara Goucher on our 8-mile long run this morning. Okok, no, we did not actually set world records, or appear as a blur along the path. But we did run fast for us. We didn't time the run, but from the pacing work I've done this spring I'm pretty sure it was at least 15 seconds/mile faster than what we've been doing. It felt good to run the last 8-miler at race pace, especially because it was windy and cold and any reasonable person would have rather sat inside drinking coffee. But oh no, our chapter of Overachievers Anonymous over here kicked our long runs in the pants. At one point I accused Meg of setting the pace at "Death March of Crazy," but I secretly loved it. The other 6 people from the Team who came all did 10 milers (at least), because they're awesome. I'm not sure about their times (though I'm sure they were great) because Meg and I started & finished early. A move about which The Gangsta had some choice words.

I promised belated pictures from Detroit and here they are. First, it was not a can of tomatoes. It was canned pumpkin. Duck taped. True story.

And second, proof that you CAN fit 3 adults and 2 toddlers in a Honda Fit. And everyone looks sooooo happy. This cracks me up.
Mileage: 113 + 4.0 + 8.0 = 125.0

Duck tape & kimonos

Maybe 6 weeks ago I called my brother, ODP, and we randomly picked a weekend that looked good for a visit. So this past weekend the babe and I went to Detroit to visit Kdot, ODP, and The Princess of Detroit (their 1 year old--this is their nickname for her). It turned out to be a great weekend for a getaway. We've had SO much going on in our lives here that the away time and silliness was much appreciated, plus it was a great excuse for the kids to see each other. Here are some highlights from the past week, including the trip (which I'll have more pictures of in a few days).

The Bestie

I had to cancel my weekly lunch with The Bestie last Tuesday due to a house-related meeting. I was pretty bummed about this. So when hunger struck at 11am on Wednesday, and my brown bagged lunch looked unappealing, I shot her an email asking if she was up for an impromptu lunch together. After a few emails back and forth we decided to make a dash for it and make it work into our essentially conflicting work schedules for the day. I know an impromptu lunch doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's pretty unusual for us and it was a great time. I also learned a few funny things about her but I think she'd kill me if I posted them here.

Meg

With me out of town and with her constantly hectic work schedule, Meg was left to fend for herself for this weekend's 8-miler. But oh man, am I sorry I missed it. I had this email waiting for me upon my return:

"Dude, running 8 miles without you on a cold, overcast, windy day sucks....And I lost my shorts around mile 5. Yes, I was wearing tights, but it was not a hot look."

Enough said.

ODP

My college roommate had a Redneck Point Allocation System for estimating how redneck someone might be. She allotted me a substantial number of points simply for being from West Virginia. It is true that when you're from where I'm from, you are given a certain amount of redneck points at birth. I've heard it said (jokingly) that all babies born in CA are given sunglasses and bathing suits at birth. We're given redneck points.

I choose to display my allotted redneckedness in a few key areas. I have a healthy level of suspicion about both The Man and the government. I am more or less completely undiscerning about food unless it's escargot, wine, or chocolate, which we can safely blame on my time spent in France. I have a totally unwavering love of sheet cake. And I slip a casual "y'all" into conversation every now and then. ODP, on the other hand, keeps his redneck points in a Swiss Bank Account, metaphorically speaking. He would really rather pretend he didn't have a redneck point allocation stemming from birth. And you would almost always believe him. We wears a kimono as a bath robe (it's not as crazy as it sounds, actually--you'd have to see it). He likes Russian baby names. He owns an espresso machine. And all sorts of other things he would kill me for posting.

He even almost had me convinced that he'd sold or somehow dispensed of his redneck points. Until I discovered the stewed tomato can in his refrigerator. After using part of the can, he'd resealed it....with duck tape. I wish I'd gotten a picture, but fortunately for him the camera was in The Princess of Detroit's room and the kids were napping.

Today's Run

I tried to run in Detroit, I really did. Friday afternoon I was beat, and it rained the rest of the weekend. So, no dice. But it was OK. I really did need some down time. So today I made up my missed 8-mile long run. I could hear Meg cursing the windy, overcast weather she'd faced, as I faced it today (although it wasn't cold, at least). I did a 4-mile loop around my neighborhood twice. Between loops I stopped at my house to ditch my jacket and grab some runner food. It's been a long time since I stocked up, so I was stuck with my Gu Chocolate Outrage that I got at the Detroit Marathon in October. During the race I carried it as a back-up (read: security blanket) in case of an energy emergency. Since then I've been pretending it wasn't in my kitchen. Truthfully, I've always dreaded Gu. I always thought it had the consistency of half-set Jello, which makes me want to wretch. So it was with MUCH apprehension that I tore open the pack today and tried it.

It was freakin' delicious! Look at this--I squeezed that packet until it was FLAT! It was way more like chocolate cake frosting than half-set Jello. I might be a new believer. Maybe.

100.4 + 8.1 = 108.5 miles

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