March of Dimes and bday recaps

The last few days have been a really happy time for me. My birthday was nothing short of fantastic and I got to run a 5k on Saturday for a good cause. {long post warning!}

Reasons my birthday totally rocked:

• My little boy held a bouquet of flowers for me and stood by the front door waiting for me to come home on Thursday. Unfortunately I came in through the back--oops! Completely adorable anyway. 
• My hubby bought me a few, small things that I would have considered luxuries to buy for myself. I think those are the best gifts! Not spending tons of money, not going over the top, but thoughtful things. AND he brought me donuts at my office in the middle of the day. He rocks my face off! (and no, I did not eat them all myself, but I thought about it!)

• I lunched with two girls I've gotten to be friends with at work, then Thursday evening went out for drinks with one of them. We had such a good time! AND, she brought me fresh eggs from her landlord's urban chickens. Because I kind of have this thing with urban chickens. I mean, honestly, people do that?!? Apparently yes. 

• I got thrown out of a colleague's office, lol. He had seized an opportunity earlier in the day and I was beating myself up for not having thought of it. He reminded me that I don't think of these things because I'm new at the job. He asked how old I was (he's my dad's age). I told him it was my birthday, actually, and told him how old I was turning. And he said, "Get the hell out of my office." I <3 my co-workers. 
• Yesterday Mr. Joanna and I went to see A Prairie Home Companion live. I've wanted to see it for years. Probably since I read Lake Wobegon Days in high school. If you're from a small town and you've never read it--do! After the show we had dinner with a group of friends and hung out with some of them until late in the evening. It was such a good time!!
• I got a ton of messages from friends on Facebook, through email, and a few phone calls. It put such a smile on my face! Not to mention the earlier celebrations I'd had with The Beastie, my parents, and my MIL. 

All told, it was a great birthday/weekend with friends near and far. And the weekend was great for another reason, too--I got a new 5k PR in a race put on by a great organization, March of Dimes. I'm pretty sure the swag was worth more than what I paid in entry fees--talk about a win-win! Here's the recap: 

The 5k was much smaller than the 2 mile walk, and started 5 minutes earlier. So the line-up was small, and there wasn't a starting mat. Everyone's start time was gun time, even though it was chip timed. They counted down and sounded a loud horn and we took off, going immediately down a short hill to start. I couldn't help myself, I just took off! I looked at the Garmin about a minute in and saw that I was under a 7-minute pace. Ooops! Had to rein it in, so I did, at least a little. The first mile ticked off pretty easily, at a 7:32 pace. 

Early in the second mile I caught up to a dude about my age. As I came up on him I saw him look over at me. He might as well have said it out loud--he did NOT want to get chicked! He picked up the pace and got about a shoulder ahead of me. He held on for about 30 seconds then "pulled over" and slowed way down and let me pass him. I'm pretty sure it was my only chicking of the day. I'll be honest--it made me smile. :) About half-way through the second mile I was surprised I was still holding my pace and feeling good about it. It started getting hillier and windy farther into the mile. Mile time: 7:45. 

At the beginning of the third mile I faced the steepest hill yet and was running into stiff wind. I was working hard and not moving very quickly. I kind of wanted it to stop for a minute, but I knew if I gave up for even a second I would hate myself for it at the end. I remembered my mantras and dug in and pushed. My pace follows the same curve as the elevation changes pretty closely. Mile time: 8:01.

In the last tenth I took off, per the usual. As I crossed the finish the timing crew started waving a thing like a ping pong paddle at me. Have any of you ever seen timing done like that? No finish mats, but hand-held sensors? It was a first for me. I wondered how they would handle the clumps of people. 

Total time (and new PR): 24:13. woot!!

I made a new local runner friend while waiting for the awards announcement. Then the awards came and something totally unprecedented happened: I took second overall for the women! Even though it was a really small race, I couldn't believe it! I got a little trophy, which my son has since confiscated and calls it the Piston Cup (since, of course, all things revolve around Cars). 

After the race, I headed out for a loop around the park to finish off the rest of my miles for the day (12 total). It's really not my favorite place to run, but the change of scenery was nice, and the weather was great. Overall, it was a great birthday and weekend. Thanks to everyone who was a part of it!

Post-half training

I noticed that JoannaRuns got a few new followers this week--welcome, and thanks for joining my journey!!


I learned a lot this week. Primarily, that I left too much on the course last Saturday. But it took me a few days to figure this out. Going into this week I had 40 miles on the schedule, which is a first for me, ever. I kept telling myself, "Sure, it's 40 miles, but it's an easy 40." Um, right. Just because there was no speed or pace work doesn't make the distance any shorter.

• Monday: 5 miles, easy. My legs felt like J-e-l-l-o for about 1.5, then it was fine. 
• Tuesday: our yoga instructor didn't show up...again. So my yoga buddy and I went out to breakfast instead. Yeah, I'm hardcore like that.
• Wednesday: 8 miles, easy. It was pretty unremarkable. Average pace 9:46. 
• Thursday: missed the 6:40am text from my neighbor saying she needed more sleep. So I waited 10 minutes then headed out to hit our usual route. Soon thereafter I went to the airport to pick up The Beastie for our epic scrappy weekend, which included this:
  
  
• Friday: due to a scheduling conflict I decided to switch my rest day from Sunday to Friday, then run Saturday and Sunday. So I rested. 
• Saturday: Friday night I stayed up late eating cake and drinking wine, so an early morning run wasn't happening. That left me 6:30-7:45pm to run. Conveniently placed right after dinner, I wanted to puke every.single.step of the way. It was a really bad decision. I finished 6.3 of my 8 mile run before it got dark and I *really* wanted to hurl. Gross. My stomach hurt all night up to and including,
• Sunday: at 4am, when I woke up to take The Beastie to the airport. I got home at 5:30am, crawled back into bed, and just fell asleep before The Kiddo awoke at 5:45 demanding chicken nuggets. WTF. Even though Sunday is my weekend day to get up with him, Mr. Joanna took the bullet and let me stay in bed. i love that man so much. 

I really never did recover enough today to be productive. It was hard enough to walk to the park and sit on a bench while the kiddo played for an hour. And grocery shopping was almost torture. It was only this morning that I accepted the truth: I PR'ed by a bigger margin than I expected last weekend. Then I didn't decrease mileage at all (just intensity). Then I ran 6.3 miles about 20 minutes after eating dinner. Then I got up at 4am and slept in snippets through the morning after that. The outcome:

the 16 miles just wasn't happening today.

I've accepted that life got in the way of my best laid plans. I also acknowledge that I have a tendency to over-schedule myself, but honestly, that's how I'm happiest. Even so, I've accepted all of the following about today's FAIL:

1. I'm afraid. I have a marathon in 5 weeks. I only have 2 more really long runs, and I've only hit 16 miles once so far this training cycle. So I'm afraid. Am I really going to be able to PR by the margin I've imagined?
2. I'm relieved that I allowed myself to rest. I needed it, and it was the right decision. 
3. I have no idea what time I'm going to pull at Cleveland. 
4. The recent heat wave (90? In April? Really?) has me scared about weather on race day.
5. I now understand what it means to "leave too much on the course" 

Tomorrow begins a new week of marathon training. I'm going to nail this week. It's another 40 mile week, and it includes speed and pace work, and I'm determined. The next 2 weeks are absolutely critical. Stick with me. 

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!

So were I am in Week 2 of Highest Mileage Ever Weeks (for a while, anyway). Not sure how to introduce this, so I'll just say it: I've had a pain on my left butt bone for about 13 months. The hamstring attachment point has been one huge knot of a muscle for that long. At lower mileage weeks, it was a low, dull, yet constant ache that I could pretty easily ignore. But as mileage has grown, it's gotten harder to ignore. So in January I started fulfilling my XT workout with yoga. It was love. And last week I finally bought a foam roller.

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funny sidebar: my 2-year-old rolls his whole body over the foam roller, which he calls a "steamroller" and says, "Oh, it hurts!" Can you say parrot?
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The pain has not gone away. So I decided to go for the trifecta: yoga, foam roller, and sports massage therapy. I went to my first appointment today, fully prepared for it to hurt like a sonufabitch. And it did. The therapist started and said, "well, your hamstring is tight, but I don't feel a knot. Up an inch? Oooooooh....that's a big knot." Yeah.

I learned a lot:

1. I actually have 2 injuries, both on my left side. One at the hammy attachment point, and another on the muscle between my bottom rib and the side/back of my hip. Both contribute to the pain I've been feeling. 
2. The rib/hip injury is very likely from carrying my son on my left hip all the time. The truth is, I love having my baby on my hip. But he's almost 3. He's heavy. So Momma has to cut back on carrying the kid. He rarely needs to be carried. I just like doing it. 
3. The hammy/butt bone injury is sort of a weirdo, because the surrounding muscles that should also hurt don't hurt nearly enough. 
4. I knew I was flirting with IT soreness, but I didn't realize how closely I was flirting with it. The left side is definitely tender. I've been stretching, but will be more careful about it. 

And just so I don't leave you picture-less, Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all. 

A lesson learned. Maybe.

I've had THREE, count 'em, three firsts on my runs recently. 

1. I saw someone I know while doing my pace run last week. I was shocked! And thrilled! 
2. I topped 30 miles last week. Believe it or not, this was a first for me! Like I said, kicking a** and taking names this training cycle! Look for a February recap probably tomorrow.
3. This past Friday night Mr. Joanna and I hosted a new city/new friends get together at our house. It was so nice to feel like we've met enough people to throw a party like this. And it felt so good to laugh with friends. Even the kiddo had a blast, and upon waking up Saturday morning asked if he could go downstairs to see all the people. Say it, collectively, awwww. He's adorable. But enough gushing. How does this pertain to running? It meant that I was not getting up early Saturday to run 14 miles. So the 14 miles got put off until Sunday afternoon. This is where the lesson learned/first while running enters the scene.
   
   I got through my 14 miles more or less unscathed. There was some fatigue in places, but nothing unusual or unexpected. When I got home I grabbed some water, stopped to put my distance into Running Ahead, check email. Then I realized that my stomach was cramping and I was freezing. Time to quickly jump in the shower. I tried. I really tried to take a cold shower to help my legs. But I was so cold to begin with that I just almost cried when the water hit me. I could only stand it for about 15 seconds before I had to turn up the temp at least a little.
   
   For at least 6 hours after my shower, my stomach hurt and all things digestive were off. So here's what I need to know--was this caused by:
1. The fact that I consumed 3 Gu's during the run--one before, one at mile 7 and one at mile 13, and all 3 had caffeine in them. 
2. The fact that I did this run on Sunday afternoon and probably hadn't eaten enough (since 7am I'd had a bowl of oatmeal and a PBJ, the run started at 1pm)
3. The fact that I'm on a zpack for the sinus infection (yes, still--it turns out I was allergic to penicillin, but that's a whole other story). 

I think the lesson learned is not to take 3 caffeinated Gu's, but I don't know. All I know is that it was an awful experience post-run, and I want to do everything in my power to avoid it happening again. Have any of you ever had this happen? What went wrong?

Inexplicable popping of the deuces

Sometimes you run and you're focused on the run. Sometimes you look at the scenery. Sometimes you don't look at anything or focus on anything. Your mind just wanders. And then you snap out of it and realize several miles have passed. Today was one of those runs. My mind just wandered and processed my work week and things to do before Thanksgiving and a hundred other things. Like my header says, this is my me time.

My 4-miler yesterday and my 5.8 today reminded me that I need to pull it together and get back to the consistent running I was doing all fall. For one thing, my 4-miler left me a little sore, which is unacceptable. It reminded me how quickly endurance drops off. And, it reminded me how much more enjoyable running is when you're running consistently and it feels easy. And then there are those upcoming races. That's right.

I signed up for my first ever Turkey Trot! It's a 5k on Thanksgiving (this coming Thursday).

I am super excited about this. I haven't run a 5k since high school cross country. I'm not only pretty sure I can beat my fastest time (I remember approximately what it was), but I know I'm going to have a great time doing it. Pictures and race recap will follow!

Finally, Running Diva Mom's post about hitting her goal for the year reminded me that I haven't posted miles recently. I'm at 659 for the year. I realize this is really low for a lot of you and high for others. Back in January, I set a goal for 720 miles for the year. Just 60 to go! With just about 6 weeks left to go in the year, that means about 10 miles per week. I've got this!! How are you doing with your goals this year?? Do you already know your goals for 2011?

632.6 + 13.1 + 3.9 + 4 + 5.8 = 659.3

In non-running news, Mr. Joanna and I went out without the kiddo last night. Once a month the kiddo's school hosts a parents' night out, where the kids stay and eat dinner, watch movies, hang out in jammies, all that. They have a blast and we get a night out. We had SUCH a good time. We went out to a low-key dinner, went to a Blues game (hockey, my first NHL game!), and got ice cream afterwards (growing up, my family always went out for dessert after outings--it's a nice tradition). I think more Blues games are in our future! We only took 2 pictures at the game. I had a hard time choosing between this goofy pic or the one where Mr. Joanna was inexplicably popping the deuces.

Race Report: Lewis & Clark Marathon

The last 24 hours have been such an incredible experience. Marathon #2 is in the books and I cannot wait to tell you all about it!

Pre-race

RunningFirst came into town yesterday afternoon. We picked up our race packets, spent some QT with my boys, and had the traditional pasta dinner. I turned in pretty early in anticipation of the 4:50am alarm.

At 0-dark-fifty I dragged myself out of bed. Attempted to eat some oatmeal. Nervously checked and re-checked my do-not-forget-these-things-under-any-circumstance list. Worried about my back, which was giving me some shooting, pinching pains 'cause I slept on it funny. Took the obligatory pre-race picture. Packed up. Headed out.

At 5:25 we left my sleeping boys behind and left to head to the race.

It was probably 40 degrees at the start line, but warmed up quickly once the sun came up. We pre-Gu'ed (ate runner food), put our bags in the bag drop, and lined up right about 7am.

Miles 1-5

After just a mile I'd warmed up and was just enjoying the sunshine. My strategy was to run the whole race and walk the water stops. So, dutifully, I walked through the first water stop. And then my right shoe was off. You read right. The guy behind me stepped on the back of my shoe. RunningFirst helped shield me from the stream of runners (I was *right* in the middle of the road) while I put it back on. Shoe back on, and we were off again.

9:59

10:31 (shoe incident)

9:43

9:45

9:54

Miles 6-10

Were pretty easy. I Gu'ed at mile 6, as planned. Around mile 7 we hit the bridge over the Missouri River, which was lovely. Shortly thereafter we turned and started running along the river. We talked our own ears off all the way through mile 10 (read: I talked non-stop and RunningFirst responded every now and then), which helped to make the miles pass a little faster.

9:33

10:10

9:56

10:29

10:02

Miles 11-15

Gu'ed again at mile 12. As we approached the half-marathon finish I started scanning the crowd for my boys, since the plan was to see them at the half and at the finish. I looked and looked and looked and didn't see them. I started to fear that I'd missed them. Then we were past the halfers' finish and getting toward the start of the Katy Trail and I still hadn't seen them. I was holding back the tears with everything I had. I hated thinking that they might be out all morning and we missed each other. I worried that they'd gotten lost or run into trouble along the way. Seeing them in a race is always incredibly emotional for me, and the idea of missing them tore me up. And then, just as I was giving up hope, I saw them! My boys! They both yelled "Momma!" and I just beamed. And maybe cried just a little. You would too. Don't lie.

10:20

9:55

10:07

9:32 (this was through the half-marathon finish, and it just pulled me along)

10:02

Miles 16-20

One word: hilly.

9:53

10:17

10:27

10:04

10:38

And in case you were wondering what my boys were doing to pass the time, I give you this:

Miles 21-25

I still hadn't hit the wall. In fact, I kept waiting for it and it kept not coming. Score! At mile 23 I took about half a Gu. I was starting to tire out, but I kept going. Between 23 and 24 I really wanted to walk, but there was no way I was going to run that far and walk when I had less than 3 miles to go. Plus, I knew my time was way under my target and was starting to believe I might hit a 4:30. At mile 22 I told myself to get to 23 so I could Gu. At 23 I told myself to get to 24 and see how I felt. At 24 I told myself I had to wait until 25 to pick up the pace. At 25 I was not fast, but I was determined.

10:06

10:15

10:28

10:32

10:17

The Finish

I saw the finish line from about half a mile out. I just went for it. My Garmin was showing lap time, lap pace and total distance, not total time. I knew from what people around me were saying and a quick mental math estimate of time, that I was close to a 4:30. I didn't know if I was going to do it or not. As I passed my boys, Mr. Joanna yelled "Great time!! It's a great time!" I knew he also thought I might be under 4:30 but also wasn't 100% positive. Neither of us could see the clock on the finish line yet AND I didn't know what it had said when I started. I smiled at him (or tried) and went for it.

When I went over the line, the clock read 4:33:28. I didn't know what the start clock had said, but I knew it was going to be close. Two things that didn't occur to me at this point: 1) to stop The Vengeance (my Garmin), and 2) to check my history for the total time. It turns out that I remembered to stop it 65 seconds later, and didn't think to check the history for about another 5-10 minutes after that. Do you know what it said?

4:28:28

Somehow, beyond my wildest dreams, I'd come in under 4:30. Chip time puts me at 4:27:23. 27:31 faster than my PR. I prayed in thanksgiving. I made a few calls. I gave Mr. Joanna the whole run-down of the race. I beamed.

RunningFirst came in a little over 5 hours. I am super proud of him for toughing it out to finish. And still thankful for his company over the first 13.1. I don't know if he'll blog this or not, but if he does, be sure to stop over and tell him congrats.

What Lies Ahead

The US Half, November 7. Time to get faster and shorter. But for now, a week off!! Thank you all SO much for your encouragement, advice, and friendly support that got me to the finish line!

543.5 + 3.8 + 26.5 = 573.8 miles

My send off

Maybe it's because when I trained with the Team, the last track practice & long run before a race was treated like a big send off. Who knows. But my "long" run (of 6 miles) had the distinct feel of a send off this morning. It was just me and me, preparing myself mentally for the journey ahead. Coming to an end of the marathon training cycle, and giving myself some closure on that. I just breathed it all in, the morning, the sunshine, the cool air, the park, my me time, and savored it.

A six mile "long run" is an oxymoron, by the way. Long runs are meant to be LSD (long slow distance) running. Usually slower than race pace. But at the end of a marathon training cycle, 6 miles feels very short. It's hard to run that distance and not feel like I need to tear through it. But I heard the good angel on my right shoulder (and Coach Paula) telling me to hold back. Good thing there were two voices on that side to reason with me.

For a while now I've been wanting to share a little more of the park I run in. The problem is, I hate running with a camera. Solution: send my boys with a camera when they walk down there to go to the kids' play area during my long run. This is what they came back with (this is one entrance). I seriously love this park. More pictures will come. After the race.

529.6 + 3.5 + 4.0 + 6.4 = 543.5 miles

Just a couple of 3-4 mile runs this week and then RACE DAY!!

Weekend Update

Oh, I miss Norm MacDonald.

I have a heapin' handful of updates for y'all. So, per the unpredictable nature of SNL, here there are in no particular order.

1. More Taper Freak Outs

Taper Freak Out #4: That I'll eat so much between now and the race that my shorts won't fit.

Taper Freak Out #5: That I'll get to the start line and realize that I forgot to Body Glide.

2. Cutting down on miles

Yesterday over lunch I crammed (and I mean *crammed*) in a 3-miler. It felt unnatural. I honestly can't even remember the last time I stopped after 3 miles. Probably right after my appy. This cutting back on miles thing kinda weirds me out. Is that just me? Thought so.

3. I love Dove chocolates just as much as the next girl

...but this is bullshit

4. The collective need to harass RunningFirst

One of my old TNT teammates/coaches has filed two DNS's this year and has registered to run L&C with me in 15 days. To date, his long runs have peaked at something like 15 miles (which he ran-walked once). Injured? Nope. Without running buddies? Not a chance. So what's the deal? I have no idea. I dialed down the harassment for a while. Maybe I shouldn't have.

5. Spring Races

So, a while ago I asked you to stay tuned for a spring race announcement. Well, the decision I thought I'd made got un-made. Hence no update yet. I haven't forgotten. Far from it. I'm just trying to figure out what the crap I'm going to do. I like the pattern I did this year: spring half, fall full, possible second half before or after the full. Smaller races as the desire strikes me.

So here it is: I'm asking you to nominate spring races. I'm generally open to anything in the Midwest, particularly Michigan, Illinois, or Missouri. I need a plan.

6. My totally Type-A son

Is still totally Type A. This CRACKS ME UP. I make a point of not going on ad naseum about my kid, because I get that it's not interesting to most of you. But this cracks me up. This is all him. Oh, and the other day he got a napkin to wipe the liquid off the kitchen floor when he dropped an ice cube. Did I mention he's 2?!?

7. Pain in my rear end

After my fall races are over, I'm going to a sports medicine person. My left hip/butt bone has hurt almost constantly since spring. It is definitely related to running, but doesn't hurt when I actually run (except when I'm starting out it's crazy stiff). But basically every other moment, it hurts. It's like my hammy is ridiculously tight where it inserts at my butt bone. What in the world is going on?? Anyone ever had this happen before? It's getting old.

Mileage: 509.7 + 4.8 + 3.0 + 12.2 = 529.6 miles

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!!)

Oh YEAH! That just happened.

I just beat my 2009 total mileage. Today. September 4. With nearly a third of the year to go. YEA, that just happened!

In 2009 I ran 463.3 miles total. Today I ran 18.1 miles, bringing my 2010 total to 481.5. Woo!!

To say I was apprehensive about today would be an understatement. My 16-miler last weekend was pretty awful, so I'd talked with Coach Paula in the middle of the week about how to handle the rest of the training cycle. I thought I should repeat the 16-miler and peak at 18 miles. She convinced me to just go for it--do the 18 and 20 milers then start tapering. She felt confident that my difficulties last weekend were more about the weather than about my fitness.

It looks like she was right. Today it was about 15 degrees cooler than last weekend, and it helped SO much. I was also running the neighborhoods/parks near my house, so I was on more familiar ground. I did three loops, each beginning & ending at my house so I could hydrate/Gu. The first went through a neighborhood a lot like mine, then through the park. The second went through our own little Beverly Hills then the park. The third loop, I went over to the Brewery (and didn't even get lost this time!) and back, with another pass through our mini-Beverly Hills. The third loop was the best, which I'm taking as a good sign that I was ready for the distance.

And the day wasn't over yet. Next up, family trip to the zoo. Featuring my favorite quote of the day, from the babe, "bye-bye elephants!"

I thought those were warnings!

"I thought those were warnings!"

"They were warnings"

"No one warned me."

Anyone? Anyone know that movie? Clue: Vaughn and Stiller. And I love it.

But seriously, this heat. I was warned. I was told when I interviewed here that the summers are hotter even than in ATL and other cities you'd expect to be insanely hot. I was warned. But I didn't, truthfully, believe it. I thought, oh sure, I've lived in hot places before. I lived in Phoenix one summer. I can handle this. This is not a big deal.

Wrong. This is a big deal. We were under an "Excessive Heat Warning" for most of last week. The city has set up shelters for people who live without air conditioning. People died. This is serious heat.

What does that mean for yours truly? One.miserable.long.run. Yesterday at 6:30am I headed out for a 10-miler. The first 4.5 or so weren't too bad. I actually kind of enjoyed them. It got miserable after that. I was running through sprinklers and poured water over my head to cool off a few times. What didn't occur to me until I got in the shower (wincing) was that wet fabric (even technical fabric) rubs more...and eventually that becomes problematic. I'm glad I got through the run. It was pretty critical for my training cycle. High five for that.

mileage:

335.2 + 3.9 + 10.2 = 349.3 miles

AND...I promised pictures of the crazy beautiful neighborhood I've been running through. Today I took the babe for a walk through that neighborhood, so I can finally share!

I don't want to over-sell. Not every house in the neighborhood is like these. But enough of them are that when you walk, run, or drive through, you can't help but stare just a little. Welcome to New Running Path #2.

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.

Indignant/Love

First, a rant:

I just watched the movie "Marie Antoinette" after taking over a year to read the book it's based on. The movie is so bad I am almost indignant about it. And I am not a movie snob! Really! C'mon, I love Talladega Nights, Dodgeball, all the stupid humor. And some serious things. Not a snob! They should have called the movie "All the Pretty things Marie Antoinette Lived Among During Her Time at Versailles." That would have been a more accurate title.

Second, running:

I went to track practice last night. It was the fall Team's first track workout, so it was meant to be pretty easy. We did:

1 mile warm-up

6 x 400

1 mile cool-down (of which RunningFirst and I did half a mile)

It was generally believed that I should take it a little easy, it being my first really serious workout post-appy. The more senior Team members (i.e., people who have watched me run now for 3+ years and know my running habits sometimes better than I do) were sure I wouldn't be able to keep myself in check. But I showed them! Reality: I took May as an "easy," "between races" month, then had an appendectomy. I'm a little out of shape. And yes, eventually my stomach started to hurt a little. Spin: I totally kept myself under control and really intentionally slowed down a few seconds per interval. I ran them each in about 1:46.

Which brings me to my first totally intolerable Garmin gush-fest. I FREAKING LOVE THIS THING. I just synced it to my laptop when I got home and boom all my intervals, total time and distance, everything was just there. And easily transported into my runningahead log. No need for anyone to write down times at the track. Or email them to me. Or for me to then manually copy them from email into runningahead. It's just done.

272.0 + 3.2 = 275.2 miles

I have an easy run planned for tomorrow and a 6-miler (assuming compliance by my abs) for Saturday. Tomorrow's could get ditched though depending on how the babe is feeling in the morning. He had immunizations today and had a rough evening. Poor little guy. Keep your fingers (a word I invariably type first as "gingers" and have to delete) crossed for him!

Joanna Lite

What happens when I am unemployed (technically) and ordered to "Lite Duty," i.e., can't lift anything over 20 pounds or engage in strenuous exercise? Oh, breakfast is still eaten at Panera on Saturday morning. Oh yes. But the week gets filled with none other than those crafts projects that had been on hold.

The first project was the babe's Christmas stocking. He's 2. It was time. I'd given myself 6 months to finish it. I am, after all, the woman who once took YEARS to finish a scarf for my Mom (a vaguely fancy one, but a scarf nonetheless). And it took me less than a week! A week!! It still needs to be sewn up (it was knitted flat rather than in the round) and I still need to duplicate stitch his name onto it, but neither of those things should take too long. Plus I don't exactly know how to do either very well and need to call in help again.

And of course, old pictures found their way into an album at long last. These are from February 2008 and had been printed and on my scrap desk for almost as long. I put this together on Friday and finished it with The Beastie last night over popcorn and ice cream. She and her husband just bought their next house, in far, farawayville. I'm thrilled for them, but...

I am not ready for the continuation of goodbye-themed blog posts. I am moving in less than a month. Other people keep leaving (Meg left, The Gangsta leaves Tuesday, MB leaves later this week). And yet I remain in denial.

June is going to be big. We'll be packing up the home we've loved for 5 years and moving to a new state and a new town and settling in. It could get emotional, logistically complicated, and/or hectic. Buckle up.

Buffalo Trace and.....EPIC FAIL

Buffalo Trace Trail Run (5 mi.)

Yesterday morning was my first ever trail race! If you'd put me in a black & gold uniform, I could have easily been convinced I was reliving a high school cross country meet. It felt just like it. Running on a hilly path on mowed grass trails. This one was a bit muddy, but that was half of its charm. The course was five miles long, through the same park we run every Saturday. We always run the bike path and I'd actually never been on the trails, so it was a fun switch up.

It was crazy foggy when I left my house. At the parking area I saw RunningFirst and The Gangsta (Music Says it Best). You can see behind us how foggy it was. We walked over the start area and got settled in.

RunningFirst, Damaris (The Gangsta), me, pre-race

I'd never run a truly local race. The feel of it is so different! It was much smaller (188 finishers), no timing chips, very relaxed. I really enjoyed it. RunningFirst took off way fast, but I suspected I would eventually catch him, which I did around mile 3.75. We chatted for a while before he sent me on ahead to the finish. Allison TORE IT UP, winning third place in her age/gender division with a time of 42 minutes and some change.

Allison with her Buffalo Trace trophy

The Lifesavers came to cheer for us, and on man did they ever! We must have seen them 3 or 4 times throughout the course, including the finish. It felt really weird to be out running on a Saturday at the park without Meg. WEIRD. We all missed her. My finishing time was 46:48. Not as fast as I think I should be doing; I've seen slacking since the Illinois half and was just out for fun. Or that's what I'll tell myself, anyway. :)

Our group post-race: me, Lifesaver, Allison, The Gangsta, Mrs. Lifesaver, RunningFirst

After the race we went out to breakfast and basked in the sun. It was such a beautiful day. We came home, disassembled a futon to give to The Gangsta, and then.....

The EPIC FAIL began

When Mr. Joanna, the babe and I got home from breakfast, I said I wasn't feeling so hot. I didn't think much of it. One of The Minnesotans had a cold and I thought I picked it up from her. By 3pm I suspected I was coming down with something more flu-like. By 5pm I'd confined myself to the bedroom/bathroom, engrossed in my misery. By 6:40 I was on the phone with the patient advisory nurse at the hospital, who told me that since the pain started before (and likely therein caused) the nausea, I should go to the ER immediately.

By the time we were halfway across town I was more or less in tears from the pain. The babe kept saying "Momma hurt? Sowwy. Sowwy." I told him it wasn't his fault. I think he associates apologizing with painful situations rather than with blame. It was adorable, although I really didn't want for him to feel responsible. Mr. Joanna dropped me off at the ER so he could go home and get the babe to bed. I was in all-out crying mode at this point, and just cried through registration and triage, even accepting the wheelchair to go the 10 feet between the two. They immediately took me to a room, where I practically begged for anyone to do anything to make the pain go away. The nurse put an IV in me and went to get a doctor to prescribe Demerol for the pain. It was probably less than 10 minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Once the nurse injected it into the IV, it was probably less than 6 seconds before my hands were tingling and the pain was completely gone. It was incredible. I felt loopy and fine.

While hanging out, pain-free, I called Ears to ask if she could take me home when all was said and done. She said she could, but that she would also come and sit with me in the ER so I wouldn't be alone. Around the time she got there, the doctor asked if I would consent to a CT scan. Long story short, I did, I drank the radioactive Gatorade, and they put me in the giant donut-esque machine.

About 30 minutes later, back with Ears in the ER room, the doctor came to tell me I had appendicitis and they were prepping the OR for me. That a surgeon would be down shortly to go over the procedure with me, and it would be removed that night. I'll be honest, I was a little scared. I got changed into my super-fashionable hospital gowns, hugged Ears, got back on the bed, and was rolled down the hall to the OR.

In the OR, I didn't really think about why there was a mask on my face. I thought we were chatting and setting things up and it would be a few minutes. Wrong. The next thing I knew I was waking up the recovery room with Mr. Joanna next to me (Ears had gone to stay the night at our house with the babe, because she's amazing like that). I'm told my speech wasn't too coherent for a few minutes, though I was trying really hard to keep it together. One of the first things I asked was how soon I could run. I was heartbroken when they said two weeks. Two weeks?!? Are you flipping kidding me?!? But to be fair, I couldn't run right now if I had to, so I guess it's a good estimate. I have three small sets of stitches and some other gory details I'll spare you of.

After I could talk reasonably and could get up to walk around a little bit, they discharged me and we came home. I slept until 11ish this morning, then got up to, of all things, help Mr. Joanna get ready for our open house. He was amazing. He simultaneously prepped the house, watched the babe, and took care of me. He's amazing. We got the house ready and left to hang with some friends. I can't believe we still held an open house. Ridiculous, but it needed to happen.

So, I'm on a lot of drugs for the next day or so, can't bathe or drive until Wednesday morning, and can't run or lift heavy objects (including my son-sad!) for two weeks. Looks like I'll have plenty of time to make headway on the babe's Christmas stocking, which I finally started (with some help from Dorie) on Friday.

Last thing--mileage update. I realize I'm a bit behind on this:

258.5 + 4.2 + 2.0 + 5.0 = 269.6 miles (how do I keep getting screwed up by a tenth?!)

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.