Girl In Motion

This weekend, I had an epiphany, an eye-opener of the widest kind.  But before we get into it, I’ve got some ’splaining to do.

As you all know, I loved marathon training, found it challenging but not difficult using the plan I’d chosen, Pfitzinger’s 18/55.

I admit that during this period, I fully expected to end up faster in other distances simply by dint of “the marathon training process”.  I’d read enough accounts of easy PRs gained, both during and soon after such training periods, that of course I expected it to happen for me.  How unhappy-making then, that my one race in the midst of the plan (a measly 4-miler) ended up with such disappointing results.

To understand just how disappointing is to look back at my Spring PRs: a 5K in April (23:06) and a 10-miler in May (1:19).  Both of these races are in the same ballpark of McMillan’s calculator.  Yet here was this 4-miler in September at 30:48!  I attributed it to the marathon training process, tired legs and the fact that it was a short race when I’d been training to go long.  I played it down.  But in my critically thinking head, I was a bit dismayed.

Fast forward to this last weekend, my 10K race.  Yes, it was a sizeable PR and I’m genuinely satisfied with my performance, but if I compare it to last Spring’s PRs, it was not good.  In fact, as far as McMillan goes, it’s right on par with my shitty 4-miler!  When I realized this (and that my Marathon time also fits in the same McMillan range as well) I had to recognize it as a trend, not a few unrelated blips.

So I began investigating the Big Picture and it quickly became apparent to me what was going on.

#1 Revelation:
My mileage build for the marathon was no great shakes.
Note: These monthly graphs include all training runs, but exclude races.

Or rather, since I was no stranger to 45-50+ mile weeks, it was stupid for me to expect that doing the same thing would give me some kind of bonus.  Sure, I had a peak month, but the surrounding ones don’t look any different than assorted previous months.  The fact that my marathon training mileage was apportioned differently (spread out across 5 days instead of 6) certainly helped my endurance, but the mileage itself wasn’t a stress factor, and stress (or increases) are how envelopes get pushed.

#2 Revelation:
My average pace got slower…much slower.

See anything notable starting in June?  That’s where marathon training began and with it, recovery and much slower long runs.  Quite an obvious difference, huh?  Back in the Spring, I not only ran all my easy and long runs faster, I was also doing both a speed and a tempo workout each week.  For marathon training, I had weekly speed or tempo, never both.  So no dramatic mileage growth and less fast stuff, too.

How silly, then, to think marathon training should have given me a speed boost, why would it?  I didn’t stress either speed or mileage - just longer long runs.  That said, I gained beautiful endurance which was completely the whole point anyway - I never could have run a marathon back in the Spring.  With this in mind, I consider my marathon training 100% successful, I have no regrets or complaints.

The important and freeing thing though is that I now feel totally OK with where I’m at speedwise, even if it seems I’ve regressed a tad, because I understand why.  It’s not because I’m all washed up, that I started too late or used myself up too soon (yeah, I actually was thinking this crap).  No, it’s an obvious reaction to a lack of stimuli.  Duh!

Does this mean I’m abandoning everything I learned during marathon training?  Well, you can see from the last month on graph #2 that I’m still doing some slower stuff, though honestly, it won’t be doing those 10+min recovery runs unless I really need them.  And expect this month’s avg. pace bar to become a lot shorter starting with next week’s dual quality sessions.

But this doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll approach the next marathon much differently, either.  I’ll try to increase the mileage, but a main priority for me is keeping training fun and I’m not sure how many miles it’ll take before fun turns into drudgery.  And I love that I was able to avoid injury the whole cycle, so keeping the fast stuff to once a week sounds wise, too.

The main thing is realizing that everything requires it’s own proper attention, that no one training cycle is going to cover all race bases and to keep expectations in line with that training.  I’m only beginning to understand how all this works, how I work.  As they say, “we’re all an experiment of one.”  It sure is fun figuring it out.

Yet another fun day at the races - huge this year, 2269 finishers, plus about 1000 walkers.  It’s a 10K that goes over and back on the Ben Franklin Bridge, which takes care of the first 5K, then the next 5K goes into Camden, NJ on the waterfront, ending in a stadium.

I park the car and approach the stadium when some guy jogs by me and says, “Flo?”  It was Progman2000 who I know from the forums and this blog.  We had planned to meet afterwards, but it was lucky that we met up first because we ended up missing each other at the finish line, though amazingly, we caught each other again as he was driving out after the race.  Not to mention, we had separated before the race started, then I turn around and there he is at the start line, right behind me!  Think about it, we’ve never met each other, there are literally thousands of people around, yet we hook up three times.  Freaky.  Anyway, he’s a truly great guy, and I felt really happy to hang out with him before the race.  Thanks Progman!!  Oh, and a shout out to ShoreTurtle, Progman’s cool friend who was standing with him at the start.  Talk about a couple of great guys, they kept my mind from going all nervy on me and the waiting time passed in a flash.

As far as the weather goes, I was a little overzealous when I saw the updated weather report, I thought it’d be near 50, so my race outfit was shorts and tank, but it ended up being low-mid 40s and breezy.  Maybe two other guys were dressed as bare as me, so yeah, I was self conscious and chilly, but it ended up being perfect for racing, so no regrets, though I did wait until the nth moment to check my stuff in.

My wishes for the race were #1) a PR, #2) 48:something, #3) everything-goes-right sub-48.

I was looking at my logs from last year when I ran this race and laughed to myself last night, “Hah! Ain’t no way I’m running a first mile at 8:15 this year!”  This ended up to be true…my first mile today was far worse.  There was a big traffic clog at the start and it took me a long time to feel race-ready, plus you’re going up a bridge, so with all that happening sub-48 was outta the question right off the bat.

Now before the race even started, at the line-up, I see my local nemesis standing right across from me.  She’s actually a nice woman and in my last 10K back in April, we were neck and neck for the whole race.  Anyway, we waved to each other before the start but as soon as the gun went off, she ran ahead, so my main focus on the bridge was to keep her in my sights.  That said, my bridge running was atrocious, so when I saw her getting even farther ahead, I said screw it and let her go without a fight.

By the time I got to mile 5 though, she was right in front of me and I was wondering what to do.  Part of me felt like passing her and saying, “C’mon girl, let’s go for it!” but the other, sneaky, lazy part (because why make this harder than it has to be?) won over.  I ran ahead without a word and hoped to god she didn’t notice me in my hot pink shorts and white tank (impossible).

The race goes on several surfaces, gravel, brick, road and grass, so that’s part of the reason my pacing was a bit crazy (the other part was because…I suck), but here are my splits:

8:25 bridge (I suck)
7:59 bridge (I still suck)
7:37 bridge (better)
7:32 (mo better)
8:00 (gravel, turns and traffic clogs, I suck)
7:41 (almost home)
1:25 (7:05 pace for the last bit)

My time for the race was 48:39, 8th in my AG out of 118.  It’s a 44 second PR and I beat my nemesis by 36 seconds.  No complaints…and coming from me, that’s huge.

Just got back from the dentist for a teeth cleaning where something disturbing happened.  As soon as the hygienist looked into my mouth and said, “Not much plaque this time.  You’ve been keeping up!” I elatedly replied by touching her shoulder and saying, “Praise be.”

Praise Be? WTF?? I’m an athiest Jew. I mean, I was really relieved to have a good checkup (it’s only recently that I started accepting floss into my life) but still, no matter how happy I am with a dental visit, that was just wrong.  If all it takes is a lack of plaque to make me see the light, my next question is, what am I?  Amish? Church of Christ?  I’m so confused. I mean, Praise Be could even mean I’m a polygamist, don’t those people use that phrase a lot?

But let’s stop this devil talk and get back to running.

Call me a n00b or a dweeb, but I purchased a race photo from Steamtown, just got it in the mail yesterday.  I really love the picture and it wasn’t too expensive, since I bought the 5×7 and scanned it (instead of paying crazy money for the digital version).  If you’ve seen my avatar at Runners World, you’ve seen the photo, but if not, here I am in about as ecstatic a running moment as I’m ever going to have.

Pure Happiness.

No comments on the gait, I’ll probably never get my feet under me, but as long as I’ve no injuries, I can’t complain.

Back to the present, I’ve had a fun week running without a schedule, did 8 yesterday in the chilly wind and will do 7 w/strides after I’m done writing this, then tomorrow I pick up my race packet and go for a short run, Saturday’s off and then on Sunday, while my BQ girls are running the NY Marathon (go Audra, Jana, Ela, Hooliganette and MirRunner at Indy!), I’ll be having fun with my 10K on the Ben Frankin Bridge.

Beyond that, I was looking at Pfitzinger’s 5K plan from Road Racing because at the end of the month I have a Turkey Trot I want to shine in, so I’m going to do the last 4 weeks of Pete’s 5K plan.  It works out perfectly because, according to the plan, this week would have been a 10K tune-up, so it couldn’t be more convenient.

Yes, I’ve been loving these couple of freeform running weeks, but truth be told, I’m a true sucker for following plans.  Probably more so because I’m self-employed and my time is my own, so it’s entertaining to have some structure to follow.

Let me leave you with one more bit of happiness in Flo World…the results of my blood/pee tests from last week (the ones to make sure the dehydration weirdness was finally back to normal) are perfectly fine.  I’m back to being a confidently healthy old coot with many miles ahead.  Praise Be!

Warning: Ridiculously Long.  I am always pro-skimming, so pick and choose, my feelings won’t be hurt.  It’s just that this was an epic event for me, my first marathon, and by writing everything that sticks out, I’ll remember it for later.  Cut to the chase: 3:51:44 and a BQ.

We arrive in Scranton and the Expo just in time for a panel discussion by three well-known runners on how to run Steamtown.  Leaving the auditorium, I recognize Audra (Dogpound) who has Fran (LongIslandChick) with her.  Audra and I have been PMing (private messaging on the RW forum) for months about this race - we had the same goal, so decided to team up and run it together in a no-pressure, “run your own race” way.  I’d never met her before, but knew she had some great tattoo work on her arms so she was hard to miss.  Hugs and introductions, then Nick and I leave the Expo.

Getting in the car, Nick (who was the BEST support a gal could have during a marathon) suggested we drive the course from the Scranton end (the finish).  The written course directions were all over the place though, and we were getting lost until Nick noticed the race markings on the road and just followed them.  So we managed about 10 miles, but then there’s a trail that you can’t drive, so we gave up there.  Still, it was great to drive that portion of the course, familiarizing myself with the final hills and the rollers before that.

After the course tour, we go to the FE (Forum Encounter for you non-forum readers, where forum folks meet up in real life) at an Italian restaurant.  Totally fun, sweet people, lots of laughs and chatskies, then back to the hotel, but not before making a plan with Audra and Fran to meet at the buses at 6:15 the next morning.

Racerbabes at the FE: Fran, Audra and Me.

While on the bus, Audra and I had a lot of time to talk about running and game-plan thoughts.  Her main focus was to start easy and stay relaxed for the first few miles - an idea I embraced because I knew if left to my own devices, I’d go out at goal pace from the start.  And while we both wanted to run 3:45, that was her cutoff for a BQ, so I knew it’d be wise to follow her lead.  I should also mention that besides doing a bunch of marathons before, she’s also an Ironman three times over, so much adoration on my part.

The race starts. The canon goes off (yeah, a real canon), and we cross the mat, I press my Garmin Start button (I think) and about a minute later, I realize I somehow fucked up this most elementary thing.  The Garmin hasn’t started, so I press the button for real this time, realizing that now I have to do math (add 1:07) for the whole damn race.  Oy.  Like I don’t have enough to think about.  But in the end, it was the best thing that could have happened because I paid less attention to the total time.

On to the run: The first couple miles I was thinking, “supposed to be really easy, this feels kind of easy but not really easy, oh my god, can I do this for 26.2?  It’s early, I don’t know how it’s supposed to feel, etc”.  I don’t breathe a word of this to Audra because I know it’s first-time freakdom and that it’ll get better, it has to.

And it does.  She keeps us at a calm pace for the first couple miles and I start to loosen up. We both figure 8:30s are what we want to shoot for as goal pace, so we follow Audra’s chant of “nice ‘n easy”.  Feeling good.

Btw, I never run with anyone save an occasional shorter run with my fab friend Lara, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to like this “running with somebody” thing, but it turned out that Audra was an instant BFF and we chat sparingly, but easily.  At one point, I’m thrilled with how easy it actually is to talk, like I hear my words and feel my breathing and I sound relaxed.  Yay, confidence is returning.

Audra zooms through the water stops, so impressive, while I was able to hold off for the first ten miles, thanks to my handheld and the cool temps.  Speaking of the handheld, it was absolutely wonderful to race with, and if I wasn’t Nick’s woman, I’d totally marry it.  Seriously, I imagined myself having to stop dead at tables to put cups of water in, but in reality, I ran through like everyone else, grabbing 4 cups in succession at each stop without slowing down.

I took a gel around 6ish, maybe 7, and at this point, I’m getting a little nervous about the time - we’re racking up more than I’d feel confident of making up later in the race, especially with hills in the second half.  We’d already done the steepest hill back at mile 4, and I knew we were soon to run out of good downhills, so at mile 7, I took the downhill a little harder and though it broke my heart some when I realized Audra wasn’t next to me anymore, I kept on pace.

Now I’m on my own and it’s different, I’m alone, checking out the other runners.  At one point, I’m behind a cluster and someone to the side is telling his friend, super loudly, about all the operations he’s had on his feet and about the car crash and the cuts from putting out signs until the rest of us start rolling our eyes and making jokes about it.  Then this one woman and I start running faster than normal to get away from that horrible, boorish voice which is absolutely ruining our zen morning.  I see her again after the race, btw, and we laugh over our getaway.

The course is very rural with small towns and everyone is out on their porch or on the street cheering us on.  It’s touching, such incredible crowd support (and I usually don’t give a crap about such things).  Lots of people even put out their own tables with water or candy or bananas.

And the bands!  School bands and some of the cutest little groups.  There was the senior citizen brass band composed of, yes, senior citizens, but not without the token teenage drummer, standing a little off to the side by himself, looking bored out of his mind, like Grandpa made him do it.  So funny.

As far as gels, I had a flask filled with 4 (and some water for thinning).  I also took an extra gel pack for fear I might drop my flask, so better to be safe.  However, and I’m glad I did this, when the time came for the second gel, I used the pack, because I knew it’d be harder to eat a straight gel nearer the end of the race, if I wanted all of them.  It worked out great because at the end when I was dying (yes, I’m getting there), I was happy to empty my gel flask.

We get to mile marker 13, and I hear this girl say to her partner, “We’re halfway!! woohoo!!” and like the wet blanket I am, I pipe up with, “hey, you know what they say, the halfway point is 20 miles”.  Which is how I was considering the race, btw.  Half at 20.  I take an S-cap.

I was doing body checks, and hearing in my mind all the wise forumites who say 13.1 should feel easy, and it did.  I was keeping the pace in the 8:30s, and was more concerned with feeling normal than making my original goal.  The Garmin start button idiocy helped with treating the outcome more casually, but more important was that I had a lot of leeway for that BQ (the old lady consolation prize), a 15 minute window to play with.

First 15 splits:
8:50
8:55
8:43
8:25
8:41
8:36
8:42
8:20
8:34
8:33
8:34
8:41
8:35
8:35
8:33

We get to the trail section (which was lovely and cool) and there’s Nick, camera in hand!  He pulls a great trick when, about 1/4 mile on, there he is again!  I yell out, “How the hell’d you get here so fast?”  His reply, ” I have a car.”  Lol and duh.

I’m still feeling good at 18, I’m not keeping 8:30s because the trail was a natural slowdown, as were some rollers, so at this point, I’m around 8:40s.  Again, totally cool in my head with it, knowing I’ve pulled some good miles, whatever will be, will be, and as long as I feel good, I’m golden.

Around mile 19, I start getting hot and need more water.  There was a little hill there and I went up too fast, could feel my heart rate going overboard, so I decided to walk a few feet.  Please note, I’ve only ever walked once on a long run, never during this training cycle, but going into the race, I made a deal with myself that it was fine to walk if I needed to, so I did.  It was only a short distance, but it seemed to help, and I got going again.

Miles 16-19:
8:49
8:36
8:35
8:57

Once I did my little walk, I said “screw 8:30s, I’ll be happy to keep it in the 8:40s if I can feel comfortable.

Now through the whole run, my legs felt good, even to the very end.  I mean, they were tired, my whole body was tired, but I had no tendon or muscle twinges at all. However, what I did have, and I think I noticed around mile 19, was hurting feet.  My toes were smarting bigtime, but I sucked it up.

Miles 20-21:
8:47
8:43

Then in mile 21 or 22, I made a huge tactical error.  The waterstop cups were half full, so I did my requisite 4 cups, but that only filled my handheld halfway.  What I should have done, was stop at that point and fill the thing up completely, because I ended up walking/running a few more times when I probably could have held it together better.  I know this in retrospect, because my ugly finish was punctuated by an empty handheld hanging off my stupidly weak hand.  But we’re not there yet.

The weird thing I’m finding, because I feel like I’m starting to die, is that my pace isn’t being killed as much as I’d think it would be for starting to feel truly exhausted. I’m surprised I’m not doing 10:30s frankly.  But the one nice thing is, lots of people are walking, though they all look stronger to me than I do, and even in my discomfort, I’m passing people that passed me earlier, so that was a nice boost.

Miles 22-25:
8:51
8:59
9:56 (I walked up the evil hill)
8:54

It’s hot, I’m really feeling miserable, my feet are hurting bad and I want this to be over 5 miles ago, but I’m almost done.  I don’t know what my time is and I don’t care.  I just want to stop running.

Finally, the piece de resistance, the last mile with the hill that seems like a mountain at that point.  I was out of water and didn’t notice anything except what was in front of me.  People on support bikes would be “it’s less than a mile, c’mon you can do it” and I was just thinking “thanks, but fuck you.”

I come to the top of the hill and there below is the Finish Line, it’s all downhill from here!  So here’s where my kick should of come in, but there was no kick, there was no nuthin’, I tried to run and felt all wobbly legs, would walk some, then freak out because I couldn’t even stand up straight anymore, yet here is the finish to my marathon, some great finishing photos, yikes.  Eerily reminiscent of my last half, sigh.

Mile 26: 10:25
Not sure of .2 because I left my Garmin running.

I shuffle over the mat and immediately get sat in a wheelchair and handed a bottle of water, then someone reminds me to stop my Garmin, so I have no idea what time I got.  I’m feeling shaky as hell and mad that my big day ended up so ickily, but then Audra passes the finish and I call out to her, so we trade stories and she helps me up to find a place to sit that’s not medically related.  I’m feeling truly deflated about my finish, but as I start to gain back strength, realize that I, Flo, just friggin BQ’d!  My first time out, I BQ’d!  Hey, that’s no small potatoes.  In an instant, I feel great.

Sweet Audra, btw, mentor extraordinaire, missed her BQ by a hair, but got a PR, so it was a success for her as well.  I have her to thank many times over for keeping the brakes on in the beginning, I think that really made the race be as good as it was till it wasn’t.

Anyway, we go find her mom and Nick, and Nick tells me he has photos of the entire finish, but I’m not allowed to look at them, they’ll bother me too much.  What he is able to offer me is a huge bouquet of flowers, so I felt like Miss America with a medal.

She and I go back to the runner’s area to find Fran, which we magically do among all those people.  She got a PR as well!  Happy girls.

I was going to take a shower before the drive home, but I was so beat, I hugged all my new friends, then  Nick and I leave.  As soon as I’m in the car, I take my shoes off to find blood blisters on both second toes (under the nail and over the top of the toe) and regular blisters on the underside of two toes, not to mention whatever’s lurking beneath my red toenail polish.  Oh, so that’s why my feet hurt.

I loved this marathon.  The size was wonderful, 1892 entered (1582 finished), the crowd was great, the buses to the start so easy, volunteers amazingly helpful and friendly.  I’d do this one again for sure.  As for the course, I knew ahead of time from reading blogs that the elevation chart on the Steamtown site is way more simple than reality.  Lots more ups then pictured.  But my downhill training proved enough, quads were a-ok throughout.

Before I sign off, I want to thank you sweet fabulous people yet again - you were with me every step of the way.  Between you, Nick, Audra, and the rest of my fabulous gal-pals on the Women’s BQ forum, I had the ultimate support crew.  I’d like to say “party at my house!” but I’m a sucky host, so cyberhugs and smooches will have to do.  You deserve something for getting me through this thing.

And with that, I leave you with a series of finishing photos, scary as they are, I really couldn’t stand up anymore.  Don’t worry, everything’s fine - I even forgot to take ibuprofen till just now and it’s past midnight, so all my parts are feeling fine.  But yeah, this looks, and was, embarrassingly brutal.

First off, huge props to Nick.  Yesterday he went on a 100-mile bike ride from New Hope, PA to NYC and arrived home at midnight, so the fact that he woke up early this morning (on his birthday, no less) to drive my nervous ass out to West Chester, PA was a big weight off my back.  Not to mention being photographer for the day.  Thank you, birthday boy!!

We get out there at 8am for a 9:00 race.  The weather is pretty nice, 66 and sunny, and the downtown area/race course has a lot of trees, so I know I won’t be able to blame the heat if I suck today.

I get my bib and walk with Nick to the nearest Starbucks so he can read the paper while I leave to stew in my own juices until the race starts.  I walk around some, repeating my new mantra to myself “I am fast, relaxed and strong” hoping it will somehow “take” during the race.  At 8:30, I do a couple warm-up miles with some strides thrown in, but I’m not feeling good about the strides, seems like I can’t get my usual pace on those, so I go back to the mantra and try to chill.

Gratuitous Standing-in-Starbucks-with-idiotic-hair-but-good-abs shot.
(I really do not have a mullet, but clip my hair back for running, so…eh)

The course is a 2-mile loop done twice with some uphills (not real steep, but a few blocks long) and thankfully with accompanying downhills, so I’m thinking ok, not killer but no free rides.  I don’t do the entire course because the volunteers are still walking around at this point with cue sheets trying to figure out where they’re supposed to stand, but I can see how it’ll go pretty much.

Time to line up and we’re off.  It’s a small clog at the start and I settle into my pace.  For the first half of the race, I’m behind a woman in blue, and though I eventually pass her, I realize on the 2nd loop that she’s sticking right behind me because the volunteers keep saying “great job, ladies” and I just know she’s the other lady.

I felt good this race, held back a tad on the first loop since I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I passed a lot of people, so that was a happy thing and on the second split when I saw I was a bit slower than my projected pace, I didn’t bitch at myself at all, just said “fast, relaxed and strong” a few times…and meant it.

After the last hill, just before the finish, I turn the corner and Blue Lady makes herself known, picks up the pace and speeds in front of me.  I take the challenge and stick on her heels with all I’ve got, both of us egging the other on.  She beat me but gave me a high-five the moment we stopped, saying “good race, I was following you the whole time.”  Laughing, I told her she was my carrot the whole first half.  Anyway, she’s 9 years younger, so that’s ok.

Home stretch, Blue Lady on left and me looking ever so determined to catch her ass.

My time?  30:48.  Not quite what I was shooting for, but considering I’m in the midst of some serious marathon mileage, it’s A-OK by me.  My splits per the Garmin were 7:37, 7:41, 7:20, 7:33 and 6:45 for the last .1.  Obviously, this doesn’t mesh with the clock (7:42 pace), but whatever.  They only had the one clock, so I just let the Garmin Autolap every mile.

Afterwards, Nick and I are walking to the restaurant and who should I see but that cute runner girl that had told me in passing that she reads my blog.  We finally introduced ourselves properly and I have to say, that girl’s a firecracker!  She’s doing Pfitz as well for NYC and it’ll be her 7th marathon, so I was totally impressed.  She mentioned that her Garmin had 4.1 and so did mine, so hmm…thought I was good with those tangents today, but anyway, just sayin’.

Finally the results are posted, I’m third in 40-49, but alas, only prizes for 1st and 2nd, so no goodies for me.  We meet up with Nick’s friend Marie for a birthday brunch and finally head home, me feeling good that one more race is over with, Nick dreaming of a long luxurious nap.  All in all, a fantastic way to spend a morning.

In the past week or so, for some inexplicable reason, I’ve begun to drool out the right corner of my mouth while running.  It’s not a huge stream of spit or anything, and passers-by wouldn’t be able to tell, but I am having to wipe the corner of my mouth every so often.

Now, I know I’m not running with my head sideways and my dental work hasn’t changed, so it’s a mystery as to the cause.  Meanwhile, I can only hope this is a passing phase and doesn’t develop into a full-fledged rabid dog foaming at the mouth type of situation.  My race pictures suck as it is.

Today’s run was 13 with 2 trips up Smile Hill.  Good run in general, even with the hill, averaged 8:53.

Don’t know if any of you are familiar with the underground comic strip, Zippy The Pinhead, but I realized today, while looking at the elevation chart, that Smile Hill looks a lot like Zippy…don’t you think?

In non-running news, I’m waiting for the UPS guy to bring me the case fan so I can repair the power supply in my computer.  My workaround, while extremely effective, is somewhat unsightly and takes up a lot of space. It’s also causing me to sit a little crooked from my monitor.  Hey…maybe that’s why I’m drooling!!

That’s it from me today, later kids!

No, I didn’t actually get any new ink, but check out my lower back from Sunday’s 21.

How ironic, I make a design about chafing in places you’ve never heard of and I end up doing just that to my own body.  I mean, who chafes on their lower back?  Is nothing sacred?  Shitty shorts, is what it was.   They were soaking wet the whole time and they have a pocket in the back that I had a couple gels in, which probably didn’t help, but I think the main offender was some poofiness of fabric surrounding the waistband elastic.  Anyway, it’s two days later and the tramp stamp is still there.  I’m a branded runner.

Moving along, last week my total mileage was 55, this week Pfitzinger takes it down a notch mileage-wise with a total of 48. Today was an easy-shmeasy, 6 recovery miles, tomorrow is a mid-long 15, then a couple more 6-mile recovery runs (Saturday’s with strides), then come Sunday…my first Marathon Pace run!  I’m looking forward to it, actually.  It’s also 15 but with 12 MP in the middle.  My MP at this point is 8:23 (for a 3:40 marathon), so we’ll see how it goes.

Today’s most fabulous song for recovery was Wild Sweet Orange’s “Ten Dead Dogs” It makes me really sad, but in that beautiful bittersweet way only a good breakup ballad can do.

As the runs get longer and the heat gets hotter and wetter earlier, I’m finally starting to pay attention to the nutritional side of running. For the most part, I’ve been pro “train your body to go farther with less” (touted by a couple important running gurus), so gels and supplements haven’t shown brightly on my radar.

I practiced using gels a few times on long runs last Fall and learned that you need adequate water with them or you can get the stomach cramp of death. I also learned they can be sickly sweet and that chewy alternatives (beans and bloks) can be more annoying by glomming onto teeth with glue-like tenacity, not to mention the high choke factor. I did eventually find Hammer Gels were palatable without being too sweet and didn’t cause cramping, but since I wasn’t using them on anything less than 16 miles, water and maybe some Gatorade were my mainstays.

For the last few days, I’ve been voraciously reading everything on energy/fuel and now question the “train your body to go without” theory. I mean, why? If I can have a better run with some fuel, why not take advantage of it? The hard part is determining what really works and what works due to the placebo effect.

And then there is the whole electrolyte question, which I’d conveniently ignored until now, because the subject always made my eyes glaze over like a Dunkin’ Donut. No more! I thought lack of electrolytes was just responsible for making you cramp, but before that happens, it will start to zap your energy - especially if you’re a salty sweater, as I am.

Gatorade has electrolytes, but about 1/4 of what you’d need in an hour, plus it’s all acid and sweet and I know one day it will make me want to puke, and besides, who wants to train with whatever drink the race provides when water and a salt pill will do ya? So, after reading shitloads of posts in trail and ultra running forums, I ordered some S! Caps from Succeed. It was between them and Endurolytes from Hammer, but the S! Caps have more sodium per capsule so you don’t have to take as many. Hopefully I’ll get them before my long run this weekend. Experiment #1.

Experiment #2 was today on a sweaty 10 miler, when I finally put to use this handy removable pocket I got last year (super light, didn’t even know I had it on!). I knew I’d be out for an hour and a half which is an appropriate fuel-worthy amount of time. The problem is, I don’t get hungry on runs, sometimes it’s hard to want to eat, so I accounted for both sweet and savory by filling it with pretzels and a gel. I figured between the two, I might find one appealing.

Here I am today, in all my accessorized, sopping glory. This clip-on pocket worked perfectly and unless I find a particularly fetching pair of pocketed shorts, I’ll use it in the marathon.

I ended up chomping a few pretzels, and again, more cheers for the pocket…I didn’t even have to open the flap, just stuck my finger in and pulled out one at a time. Pretzels also happen to be a good high sodium alternative until my S! Caps arrive.

Looking ahead, Saturday is a recovery run, then Sunday I’m doing 16. The challenge there is that I’m opposed to wearing a hydration belt ever again, so it’ll be my first time running with two handhelds! Mark that down as Experiment #3. Watch out people, Mad Doctor in the house!

First off, thanks for all the comments on the previous installment, you lovely people. If I could, I’d give you all a big fat hug for sticking with me to read this mush, so virtual hugs for everyone!

End of Day 9 - Yellowstone, MT

If you’re as unenlightened as I was about the geysers of Yellowstone, check out this photo of a geyser when it’s not spouting. I had no idea they were such a beautiful blue:

And this is how it looks when it goes off:

There’s this cool area in Yellowstone where you walk among a grouping of geysers that go off randomly. You have to stay on the boardwalk though, because it’s boiling water all around. Unexpected and weird….exactly what I live for.

Days 10 & 11 - Zion National Park

In the morning before leaving for south Utah, I ran an hour around West Yellowstone. I dressed warmly because it was sleeting outside (in June!) and found a snowmobile trail near the hotel to explore. It was another high altitude run, so slow going but by now, expected so ok.

One day-long drive later, we get to our hotel in Cedar City, UT. It was the closest place with vacancies near Zion Park. Now we know for next time to book stuff way in advance when you’re doing the park thing. I should mention we had brought a tent for the trip with the idea to possibly camp, but between the crazy temperatures and rental gear availability, we stuck to hotels.

Zion National Park is good and bad. The good is Kolob Canyons, a smaller area north of the main park that’s absolutely beautiful and not at all high traffic. The bad is that cars aren’t allowed in Zion park proper, so everyone takes shuttles to the hiking spots, which is great environmentally but meant more crowds of people than we’d experienced anywhere on the trip. We kept saying “and this is just the beginning of June, can you imagine this is August?”

Speaking of unexpected, in a tiny town before Zion Nat’l Park we passed this Ostrich ranch. They could probably hear me in Idaho yelling “Stop the car, stop the car!!!”

Here’s my squinty self in another tiny town right after the ostriches, Virgin UT, with our spiffy little rental.

While in Virgin, it’s customary to visit their only store and fondle the Native American Indian security guard. It was in the guide book, I swear.

Day 12 - Kolob Canyons & Las Vegas

The hotel had a treadmill so I got my last vacation run in, then we returned to Kolob Canyons for a final 3-hour hike before hitting Vegas again. Las Vegas is an especially unpleasant place to be after a total submersion in Nature, but a fitting end I suppose.

Home

Back to reality and one more foot/ankle crap update. It was on the mend, but with a single swimming kick on our first day in Vegas, it hurt again, so while on the road I made an appt with Matt’s wonderful podiatrist for this afternoon.

Hallelujah!! Diagnosis is an inflamed bursa sack in my heel. The doc said I probably was dealing with two separate things as I’d suspected and what’s left is this. It’s no biggie, I can keep running, just ice afterwards and do some exercises.

Nice byproduct is that I brought my running shoes and he was surprised by the lack of wear on the 300 mile pair, so I’m good to go till 500 miles. That should save me some cha-ching. He also said that while I’m a heel-lander, I shouldn’t change my gait unless it’s causing me problems and I guess bad photographs aren’t exactly “problems”, so maybe I’ll finally relax on that score.

And that, my dears brings me back in front of a computer again, on a 104 degree day in Philly. The desert was so much cooler!

I hope I can keep this feeling of spaciousness and perspective from the trip for awhile. I was in a rut when I left and now I feel refreshed with the world. Lucky for us, America is huge, gorgeous and always open and summer camping in the East will be heaven.

With that, I leave you one last road picture from the Wild West:

Grab a snack and have a pee, this is a long one.

Day 1 - Las Vegas

We picked up our rental car (a cute red convertible) and checked into a cushy Jr. Suite at the MGM Signature hotel.

That evening we enjoy wonderful pre-dinner entertainment reading the exorbitantly priced menus at the restaurants in MGM Grand. My favorite was the tasting menu at $385 per person. Per Person! For Food! Vegas is a ridiculous place in so many ways.

After dinner we saw KA (an amazing gravity defying Cirque de Soleil show), then I lost $20 on the slot machines but managed to take a long time doing it, so I believe I got my money’s worth.

Day 2 - The Grand Canyon

My first vacation run! It was sadly hilarious as I waved bye to Nick, told him I’d be back after 7miles so expect me in an hour, only to find that I hadn’t accounted for altitude - 7000 ft. makes a difference. It was disconcerting expecting to bound like a gazelle only to wheeze out the slowest miles I’ve done in forever. My ego and lungs got the best of me and I cut it to a short but painfully slow 4.5. Check out the satellite photo of my run from SportTracks. Wild, huh?

The next day was the famous Mule ride down the canyon. They take you in groups of 6 and yes, it’s scary because you are right on the edge, but the mules are so sweet and surefooted that you just give in to them knowing what to do. Here are Nick and I at Plateau Point, where you eat lunch before heading back up the canyon.

Day 4 - Mexican Hat, UT

We stayed at the Mexican Hat Lodge on our way to Moab, UT. I’d picked this lodge out from the internet. It had good reviews on Trip Advisor but I hadn’t seen photos.

Here is the lodge.

Here is the lock to our room (note the door is sliding glass).

That evening before dinner we drive out to Valley of the Gods, a miniature Monument Valley that is so beautiful and secluded that you think you’re the only person on earth. So what a surprise when Nick says, “Look!” and out of nowhere comes a small group of runners with their support car in tow. In my excitement, I jumped up in the convertible and yelled like a madwoman, “Go Ultra Runners, Go!!!” and got some surprised and delighted expressions and waves in return.

Valley of the Gods was so intensely gorgeous with all it’s stark monuments, we drove out again when it got dark and sat with the convertible top down, watching for falling stars.

Days 5 & 6 - Moab, UT

This fabulous little sporty town is a bicyclist mecca and a big rafting haven due to the Colorado river being right there. It was 91 degrees the afternoon we arrived, so I scrapped the idea of an outdoor run and got 7 in on the treadmill. The elevation was only 4000 ft. so it wasn’t at all as hard as Grand Canyon.

The next day we went on a full-day rafting trip down the Colorado. There are two rafting guides when we get to the loading site. One is smart and experienced, the other is a young cute guy who is dumber than a box of nails. He reads out our guidelines and instructions from a card, stopping occasionally to say, “Whoa, that’s on there? that’s cool” inspiring little confidence but giving Nick and I much to laugh about.

We start down the river, 2 large rafts of people, then Nick and I in an inflatable kayak. Nick is an experienced kayak guy, so I feel safe with him, but it’s a little scary since it’s only my second time rafting. No problem though, we manage the rapids well and the guides compliment us during a rest stop, saying we look like we’ve got it together and they’re not worried about us at all.

Then the young stupid guide says, “Hey, you wanna get wet? Just follow me”. That sounded exciting, so Nick and I line up to follow as he takes his passengers across without incident, then it’s our turn.

About 2 seconds into the rapids, a 4-foot standing wave lifts the front of the kayak (where I am) and I see the tip of it rise higher and higher till it’s vertical. It flips backwards, throwing me into the rapids, dumping Nick out a millisecond later. There were long moments of absolute panic as I swallowed gulps of water, the raft out of reach so nothing to hold on to, and Nick on the other side of the raft calling my name and swallowing the river too, unable to see me, thinking I hadn’t resurfaced. It gives me chills thinking about it.

I finally float from the rapids and give the OK signal to the larger rafts. Nick is relieved to see I’m alright and eventually one of the larger rafts gets close enough for me to hold on, but the current is so fast I can’t get pulled onboard for a while, so when I’m finally pulled in from the 50 degree water, I begin to shake and shake and shake so hard it’s unreal. Shock mixed with cold.

Undeterred, we finished the rest of the raft trip without incident, albeit on the stupid guy’s raft.

Day 7 - Jackson, MT

We got an adorable cabin in this great little town outside the Grand Teton National Park. We drove 10 hours to get here and what an eye-popping drive it was, from the red desert monuments to snow-capped mountains. Actually it’s been a huge eye-popping experience wherever we go. The American West is spectacular, that’s all I can say.

Day 8 & 9 - Tetons and Yellowstone, MT

Spent yesterday morning and afternoon driving north, exploring the Tetons, hiking a few hours around a lake, then continuing on to Yellowstone, looking like idiots driving with the top down in 45 degree temp, but it was too gorgeous to want to put the top up.

Just for a “what a freaky world this is” reality check, this was our environment on the morning of day 7:

One day later at Yellowstone:

We’ve seen marmots, bald eagle, elk, mountain goats and so many bison, I’ve lovingly dubbed them “The Cockroaches of Yellowstone”. Here’s the sweetest coyote sitting on the side of the road checking out all the people checking him out.

That’s it for now. Tomorrow we leave West Yellowstone for (I think) Zion National Park. We’ve left the last days open and Zion looks like a cool destination. Stay tuned for the final installment.