Strike 1:
Strike 2:
?: 
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
I'm Not Doing Anything After Midnight On July 20th Anyway
So I signed up for El Scorcho, organized by ultra-monster Gandaman. No ultras for me though, I'll be doing the 25K. I can think of a few things I'd rather be doing from midnight to 2:30-ish AM, but you only live once, ya know? That's me, living on the edge, a real risk-taker.
Note to self - get off your a$$ and get moving with the low heart rate training already!
In less traumatic news, I'm on T-shirt Thursday. Thanks Kara!
Note to self - get off your a$$ and get moving with the low heart rate training already!
In less traumatic news, I'm on T-shirt Thursday. Thanks Kara!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Bling It On!
A big thank you to the Black Knight, Bex, Running Jayhawk and TxTriSkatemom for sending in their bling! Go on over to 26.2 Bling to check out their pics. We've got 10 different marathons represented so far from 1990 to 2008.
Alright people, I know there's more shiny stuff of yours waiting to get displayed. Start digging out those closets and shoeboxes! And fer sure, there's gonna be some new ones this weekend - good luck to Austinites Runner Susan and TxTriSkatemom, and Mr A1A David. Bring it on home!
Post update: just in case you're wondering, there's no exclusive limit - send in your pic even we have already have your race represented. I think it's just as cool to get little known obscure races as it is to see how many people ran the same race you did!
Alright people, I know there's more shiny stuff of yours waiting to get displayed. Start digging out those closets and shoeboxes! And fer sure, there's gonna be some new ones this weekend - good luck to Austinites Runner Susan and TxTriSkatemom, and Mr A1A David. Bring it on home!
Post update: just in case you're wondering, there's no exclusive limit - send in your pic even we have already have your race represented. I think it's just as cool to get little known obscure races as it is to see how many people ran the same race you did!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Slowing Down
Things have slowed down since my last race. Down are the number of runs per week. Down too the number of official and unofficial meals a day. Most of all, down is the heart rate. Yup, I've started low heart rate training.
The only thing up so far is my pace, going up in the wrong direction! Granted I've only got 4 very short runs under my belt with this, but the first one was a shocker at 13:12/min mile average pace. My last run was better, at 11:52/min miles. I won't belabor the details, except to say this is the fastest I can go while still keeping my heart rate at 141 - presumably my aerobic threshold.
If all goes well, after a minimum of 12 weeks at this, I'll be running more efficiently, burning fat (gasp!) instead of glycogen, able to go farther and run longer. Most appealingly, the afterburners on a long run will have a reasonably full tank of glycogen to dip into, instead of my usual fumes! Sounds almost too good to be true.
The only thing up so far is my pace, going up in the wrong direction! Granted I've only got 4 very short runs under my belt with this, but the first one was a shocker at 13:12/min mile average pace. My last run was better, at 11:52/min miles. I won't belabor the details, except to say this is the fastest I can go while still keeping my heart rate at 141 - presumably my aerobic threshold.
If all goes well, after a minimum of 12 weeks at this, I'll be running more efficiently, burning fat (gasp!) instead of glycogen, able to go farther and run longer. Most appealingly, the afterburners on a long run will have a reasonably full tank of glycogen to dip into, instead of my usual fumes! Sounds almost too good to be true.
Monday, January 28, 2008
26.2 Bling!
Tired of losing your drink because all wine glass charms look the same? Don't know what to do with that medal you spent 4 months pounding pavement for? Voilà!But seriously ...
If your hard-earned medals are lost in the clutter somewhere like mine, I've got an idea. Send me a pic, and I'll post it on 26.2 Bling. You can search by marathon, by year, or by yourself, to see everyone else's medal. Display case? We don't need no stinkin' display case. We've got ourselves here one giant online display case for everyone to share!
Full instructions are here. If you like the idea, pass the word around!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Carpe Diem
I was inspired by Spirit of the Marathon to finish my 2-week break and start running again. The weather and my warm bed conspired to stretch the break one more day. By 8:00-ish, I was out driving the kids to their weekend activities, and I saw a few brave souls pounding the pavement, misty-breathed, fighting the chill. I've been there done that so many times myself, and I'll bet so have many of you, yet why did feel a tinge of regret that I'm not out there in the elements too? All runners are masochists.
My last marathon training took me from July 07 to January 08. For the first time since last summer, I'm:
a. Not stuffing myself at every meal
b. Back in cahoots with red wine - yay!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Spirit Of The Marathon
Encore presentation on Feb 21 in case you missed it tonight. I highly recommend it. It'll make you want to get up and sign up for that next marathon immediately.
Plus, I now want to run Chicago one day. After NYC, and London, and Austin ...
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Disney - The 2nd Half
After David drifted off, it was just me and the 2nd half. The next ten 1-mile segments pretty much went like this:
1. Run
2. Don't walk, don't walk, don't walk
3. Where's the #*&^!(! water stop already?
4. Do the marathon shuffle
5. Stumble into water stop
6. Drink 2 of whatever they're offering
7. Walk to end of water stop
8. Bite down and go back to #1
This method took me through the Animal Kingdom and several miles of primo Disney highway. Despite not having any cramps, and not walking except through the water stops, I steadily lost pace all the way up to mile 23.
At mile 23, in the middle of Disney Hollywood Studios, the crowd really started coming on, and I decided it was time. Just suck it up and keep running. I picked up the pace, ever so barely, from this point on.
The crowd, the pavement, the boardwalk, the traffic cones, it was all beginning to be just a blur. Finally we turned the corner into EPCOT, and I knew we were close. A mile and change to go! But.so.brutal. We started running around the main circular lagoon, which looked as big as the Pacific Ocean from what my mind registered. You could see tiny people the size of ants running clear across the other side of the lagoon, and every time I looked across, it seemed like I wasn't getting any closer. I thought the damn thing would NEVER end.
Finally we get off the lagoon and we're almost under the EPCOT silver globe thing, and the end has to be around here somewhere. I'm way beyond running on fumes by now. Note to self: next time pay attention - you saw the Finish area at 5:30 am this morning - it's not INSIDE Epcot, but OUTSIDE Epcot. So, a bazillion turns later through myriad "Cast Member Access" only pathways, we eventually get to the finish line.
After collecting my medal and blanket, I stumbled to the curb and sat down for a few minutes, ok, maybe several. I was a bit nauseous, ok, maybe a lot nauseous, and I wasn't about to risk standing up! Some officials half heartedly asked us to move on "as soon as we were ready". Eventually I did, and went through the drill - pick up more Powerade, a couple of tangerines, and got my picture taken.
I went outside to the meetup area, and David, patience of Job, found me after a few minutes. We chatted for awhile, during which I swore off marathons for a long long time. It was late in the morning and we were now baking in the middle of a large converted parking lot. We said our goodbyes, David headed to the monorail to pick up his car, and I headed out to my parking lot, where I promptly spent 20 minutes and another mile looking for my sister's silver SUV which I parked 100 yards from the finish. Go figure.
1. Run2. Don't walk, don't walk, don't walk
3. Where's the #*&^!(! water stop already?
4. Do the marathon shuffle
5. Stumble into water stop
6. Drink 2 of whatever they're offering
7. Walk to end of water stop
8. Bite down and go back to #1
This method took me through the Animal Kingdom and several miles of primo Disney highway. Despite not having any cramps, and not walking except through the water stops, I steadily lost pace all the way up to mile 23.
At mile 23, in the middle of Disney Hollywood Studios, the crowd really started coming on, and I decided it was time. Just suck it up and keep running. I picked up the pace, ever so barely, from this point on.The crowd, the pavement, the boardwalk, the traffic cones, it was all beginning to be just a blur. Finally we turned the corner into EPCOT, and I knew we were close. A mile and change to go! But.so.brutal. We started running around the main circular lagoon, which looked as big as the Pacific Ocean from what my mind registered. You could see tiny people the size of ants running clear across the other side of the lagoon, and every time I looked across, it seemed like I wasn't getting any closer. I thought the damn thing would NEVER end.
Finally we get off the lagoon and we're almost under the EPCOT silver globe thing, and the end has to be around here somewhere. I'm way beyond running on fumes by now. Note to self: next time pay attention - you saw the Finish area at 5:30 am this morning - it's not INSIDE Epcot, but OUTSIDE Epcot. So, a bazillion turns later through myriad "Cast Member Access" only pathways, we eventually get to the finish line.
After collecting my medal and blanket, I stumbled to the curb and sat down for a few minutes, ok, maybe several. I was a bit nauseous, ok, maybe a lot nauseous, and I wasn't about to risk standing up! Some officials half heartedly asked us to move on "as soon as we were ready". Eventually I did, and went through the drill - pick up more Powerade, a couple of tangerines, and got my picture taken.I went outside to the meetup area, and David, patience of Job, found me after a few minutes. We chatted for awhile, during which I swore off marathons for a long long time. It was late in the morning and we were now baking in the middle of a large converted parking lot. We said our goodbyes, David headed to the monorail to pick up his car, and I headed out to my parking lot, where I promptly spent 20 minutes and another mile looking for my sister's silver SUV which I parked 100 yards from the finish. Go figure.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Disney - The Day After
I'm walking absolutely fine now, but it wasn't so pretty the day of and day after Disney. The family units who have never seen me after a marathon were momentarily alarmed, and did not exactly buy my explanation that this was completely "normal", to wit:
I still need to post about the 2nd half of Disney, but I couldn't resist this little snippet.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Disney - The 1st Half
When I hit the half-mary mats at 1:58 and change, I wasn’t sure which emotion would take over. There was relief that less miles lay ahead than were already behind me. Unfortunately, there was disbelief that it had taken this much gas out of my tank to get this far.
It all started as well as well can be:
04:10 Left hotel
04:35 Pull into EPCOT parking spot, barely 100 yards from finish area
05:00 Leave car and walk to finish area
05:05 Marvel at people buying hot dogs from concessions, must still be carbo loading
05:10 Realize it’s a FINISH area, not a START area – ah so
05:30 Complete ½ mile walk to the START area
05:35 Wander into Corral A – stake position at back-most spot
05:40 Visit edge of tropical forest for 1-1 nature time
05:41 Wander back into Corral A
05:45 Speedoman enters corral – boo hiss eeww
05:50 Obligatory speeches begin
05:58 Barriers between corrals are removed, crowd surges forward
05:59 Fireworks overhead
06:00 GO!
When the crowd surged forward, the 4:00 pace group from Corral B moved up and I pretty much started with them. The first 6 miles were uneventful, running in the dark, a loop around EPCOT, just keeping up. The pace seemed fast, and Garmin said I was averaging 8:50's instead of 9:09. I was also drenched immediately from the humidity. A storm passed through the previous night, and it was still foggy and misty. I'm not sure when this pic was taken, but can you see my clothes sticking to me? Good thing I remembered nip guards!
The next 6 miles took me towards and through the Magic Kingdom. The pace team was still in sight, but creeping further and further ahead. We pretty much ran through all the major areas, Main Street USA, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Frontierland. The highlight of course is the signature run through Cinderella's Castle. Disney cast characters were everywhere, and several people stopped to take their pictures with them - must not be trying to PR. If you really want to mess with some runners, next time stop and do a little shopping in the gift shops along the way - that will psych them out!
Once we left Frontierland, I knew I was in for a lonely 5 mile stretch of highway to the Animal Kingdom. It was approaching 2 hours and my 3rd GU. From this point on, it would be a GU-fest every 30 mins.
It all started as well as well can be:
04:10 Left hotel
04:35 Pull into EPCOT parking spot, barely 100 yards from finish area
05:00 Leave car and walk to finish area
05:05 Marvel at people buying hot dogs from concessions, must still be carbo loading
05:10 Realize it’s a FINISH area, not a START area – ah so
05:30 Complete ½ mile walk to the START area
05:35 Wander into Corral A – stake position at back-most spot
05:40 Visit edge of tropical forest for 1-1 nature time
05:41 Wander back into Corral A
05:45 Speedoman enters corral – boo hiss eeww
05:50 Obligatory speeches begin
05:58 Barriers between corrals are removed, crowd surges forward
05:59 Fireworks overhead
06:00 GO!
When the crowd surged forward, the 4:00 pace group from Corral B moved up and I pretty much started with them. The first 6 miles were uneventful, running in the dark, a loop around EPCOT, just keeping up. The pace seemed fast, and Garmin said I was averaging 8:50's instead of 9:09. I was also drenched immediately from the humidity. A storm passed through the previous night, and it was still foggy and misty. I'm not sure when this pic was taken, but can you see my clothes sticking to me? Good thing I remembered nip guards!
The next 6 miles took me towards and through the Magic Kingdom. The pace team was still in sight, but creeping further and further ahead. We pretty much ran through all the major areas, Main Street USA, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Frontierland. The highlight of course is the signature run through Cinderella's Castle. Disney cast characters were everywhere, and several people stopped to take their pictures with them - must not be trying to PR. If you really want to mess with some runners, next time stop and do a little shopping in the gift shops along the way - that will psych them out!Once we left Frontierland, I knew I was in for a lonely 5 mile stretch of highway to the Animal Kingdom. It was approaching 2 hours and my 3rd GU. From this point on, it would be a GU-fest every 30 mins.
It was also along this stretch that I hit the half-mary mats. I was lost in my relief vs. disbelief debate with myself, trying to muscle down that 3rd GU pack, when someone pulled in behind me and to the right, and said "how're you doing?". A bit startled, but too tired to react instantly, I must've turned my head in slow motion and lo and behold it was David grinning from ear to ear! I wasn't expecting him, but it sure was good to see him. That's how I felt, but not what I said - I barely mustered 10 words total - pretty sure "tired", "tough", and "hard" were in there somewhere! David said something about see you at the end or something, and then he was off.
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