Category Archives: Running

Week in review (long)

What a long weird week.  It all started (for me) on Sunday morning, very early, for the world’s hottest half marathon.  (not really, but it felt like it).  Let’s remember, I did actually throw up a little.  How awesome am I?

I don’t FEEL awesome.  I feel like the race sucked.  I want a do over.  I thought I’d have that awesome race feeling all week and instead I just felt like a failure.  I guess that’s life?

(I’m going to give you some more of the race pictures if you can make it to the end of this post—you’ll love it.)

After Sunday…came Monday, and Monday sucked more.  Auditions are torture.  I was a little maudlin.

The rest of the week has flown by.  My hamstrings have been ridiculously sore.  I’ve done some great teaching—IMHO.  I even set up the recital date for the kiddos.  It should be a good time!  I am really loving some of my students lately, even when they are super whiny like many of them were yesterday.  It’s okay, I felt whiny too!

I’ve also decided to take the plunge and go with shorts for the rest of the summer.  I have a few more pairs on order, of a few different kinds.  They DO show off a bit more leg, which I am self-conscious about, but I like the coolness.  I’ll just have to deal with it.

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Maybe if I pair them with knee socks?  Or if I had those legs?

Last night Chris and I went to “The King and I” for dinner.  It was a nice dinner out after a long week.  I ate too many noodles, but…oh well!   What’s funny is that even though I feel like I’ve been eating pretty crappy for awhile, I tried on a pair of jeans that had been too small (yes, sometimes I buy clothes small) and THEY FIT!  Guess all that working out is doing something.

I’m writing this while watching “Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix”.  I tivoed it a few weeks ago.  I am a huge Harry Potter fan!!  I haven’t liked all the movies, but I loved the most recent one, and I cannot WAIT for part II.  I actually don’t care for this movie, but I wanted to watch it anyway.

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That’s also why I’m so random this evening.  I’m distracted.  I’m tired.  I’m waiting to go meet up with friends after the concert, but that’s hard when I don’t attend the concert.  I’m sure it will be a fun time, but for now I’m just decompressing.  And wearing shorts!!

OH!  So I found this on the internets recently–

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I’m not a huge fan of the captions, but it’s ANOTHER cat that looks like the fatness!  Do YOU have a cat that looks like the fatness? Please reply in the comments!

I’ll end this post by giving you a few more race photos–

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And Jen, looking good! Especially the middle one where it looks like she’s whistling…

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She looks so hardcore!  I was referring to her as the ninja runner all day.  Well, all morning, until I become catatonic.

And then there’s Mike (and he knows I looked at these, he looked at mine too, I’m not being stalky…oh, except he may not be a blog reader…should I have asked permission?  Meh, I didn’t ask Jen either…) And it’s totally not fair that he had more pictures—I guess when I’m faster I’ll be ahead of the pack more and get more pictures, right?

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Obviously he was feeling a little better than we were at the end.  I couldn’t even fathom doing a picture at the end with my medal.  Maybe that’s why I’m upset?  That was my favorite picture from Phoenix…it’s on my mantle!

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Maybe Jen and I should put our (clean now) outfits back on and take some medal pictures together?  Or we’ll just have to try to feel better at the end of the next race, so we can be awesome rather than puffy, red-eyed and near death.

Men are different

I can’t find my Garmin watch.  I know I had it on Sunday afternoon/evening.  I can’t recall if I charged it or not.  I usually put it on my dresser.  And I can’t find it now—I wanted to charge it to use for a run tomorrow afternoon.  I looked for 45 minutes and nothing.  It must be somewhere in the house!

That said, my legs are feeling pretty good.  I met Mike today at the gym, and he made me do some workout stuff…including legs/hamstrings stuff.  BOO! 

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We also shared race stories.  He said he waited around watching for me but no dice.  He DID see his ex-girlfriend, who {evidently} decided to run the half out of spite for him.  Back story:  a few weeks before, he mentioned to her he was running the race.  She said, oh maybe I’ll run to.  He said, really?  As if he didn’t think she could do it.  This was the last straw for her and that is when she dumped him.  So then she finds him after the race and is all, oh, look, I ran it after all.  I think that is just fantastic!  I wonder if I would have had any easier run if I had had spite pushing me forward rather than fear of failure/desperation?  (Obviously I am guessing here, she may have had other motives, I don’t know her at all.) 

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Mike already knew I had thrown up during the race, but I mentioned how at the end I was crying by the car, and that my friend Jen had also been rather emotional.  He said, wow, women really are different. (Do men generally not cry at the end of races?)  Is that what my mother meant when she said “Men are different”?***

 

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Who wants to do this race with me?  There are a few folks planning, the more the merrier, plus, I think costumes are definitely in order.  That’s my next race!  I am shooting to break 30 minutes, which I HOPE should be easy even in a costume.  Maybe?  Who even knows…maybe I’ll just end up at the side of the road crying and throwing up.

****My mom (who reads this) probably doesn’t even remember the Men are different story.  It was several years ago and I was visiting home.  I believe my sister Leslie was there as well.  I was complaining about something or another about Chris (you know how we women are prone to do that.)  She cleared her throat, sat up straight, and said, “You know…men are different.”  Leslie and I leaned in, waiting with bated breath for an elaboration.  How were men different? Why?  What could we perhaps learn from her marriage of 40 odd years? 

No explanation came.  She didn’t speak again on the subject.  Evidently all was said in those three little words.  Men are different.

I have taken that advice to heart, and any time Chris, or a male friend or colleague, does something I think is strange, or crazy, or ridiculous, or downright moronic, I take a deep breath, and say to myself, “men are different.”

Go! St Louis Half Marathon Race Recap

What a day!  I already recapped the expo here.

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The forecast was for 70 degree temps at 7 am going up to about 75 by noon.  On the hotter side, but not unbearable.  Or at least the last time I checked (the night before?)

Jen picked me up at 5:50 am and we headed downtown.  It was already warm. We parked in a lot a few blocks from the start for $3.  Then we headed towards the start, stopping at the porta potties.  There were plenty and they were NOT BAD.

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I debated putting in the second picture, but it’s fun too!  I’m not doing what it looks like, I’m stretching my calves.  Sorry it’s blurry.  You may already have gathered I am not a real photographer.

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Jen was stretching too!

I felt great!  I was pumped and ready to run some 11:30 or so miles.  Jen felt good too.  We got into corral D together and waited for the start.

 

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The view of the arch/our corral sign (technically I was supposed to be in E but we found the opening for D and it just seemed easier). You can just barely see the start line!

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We asked a lady to take this—for some reason she thought the first one wasn’t so good and we needed another.

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Ah!  That’s better.  Lost the crazy eyes.

It took about 15 minutes and then we were off.

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Passed this right at the start!

The first five miles were FANTASTIC!  We headed out towards Soulard.  It was fun when the route doubled back because we saw the leaders coming back already (and Mike not that far behind—he looked like he was doing well and far ahead of the “pack”)

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Okay, so that’s Mike—my trainer—not from this race though, but I’m very good at the internet so I found it (from the Lewis and Clark).  Now you can picture him!  Someday maybe I’ll take a picture of us together but I’m always, you know, sweaty and at the gym and stuff.  Plus then I wouldn’t get to use my awesome internet stalking skillZ, right?

Anyhow—like I said, I was feeling fantastic!  The first five miles were GOOD.  Right on track.  Then I started to get hot.  Now, yes, I do work out now, but I still don’t do well with the heat.

The next mile was awful.  We kept running (and I should say, I did have a bottle of water with me) but I was really struggling.  I wanted to stop and walk.  I did briefly around mile 6 and kept thinking I would feel better.  Usually that is what happens—I run, I have a rough patch, but I run through it or take a short walk break and then I feel great.  Not so.

I told Jen to go ahead.  She seemed to be doing well, so I didn’t want to hold her back.

I ran slower, and realized I was going to be hard-pressed to meet my goal.  I thought, that’s okay, that’s okay.  But then my mind went to some VERY dark places about my failures in life and how perhaps I weigh too much, or hadn’t trained enough, or always choke under pressure and here I was choking under pressure just like I do in all the orchestra auditions.  Then I started to worry this would affect Chris’s day tomorrow and decided that we were both failures at life…  Tough times!  I can be super emo when called upon.  Suffice it to say: Mile 7/8 SUCKED.  Then I thought, I really need to pull out the ipod or I just might commit suicide.  I actually considered calling Chris for inspiration, but figured he would just think I was weird!  (Also, didn’t want to bother him—originally I had hoped he would be able to come cheer me on for the race, but it turned out he had a rather important audition the following day.  Oh well.)

Then I ran into some women who used to train with Joe, and we chatted briefly.  They had schooled me in the Lewis and Clark, but here I was right near them!  We were both walking through a water station and one of them said I looked like I had lost more weight and that helped me feel better.  (Totally haven’t…but maybe I did in the first 6 miles of the race.)

Then I learned that they had shut down the marathon course to new runners (it turned off from our route around mile 9) due to the severe heat.  Evidently it was 85 degrees and many people were collapsing.  So…it wasn’t me.  I wasn’t a total failure in life.  I just wasn’t prepared for the heat!  Mentally that was huge.  It gave me enough energy to take a GU.

I started running again, and soon found myself on another road (forest park parkway) which was doubled back, and I saw Jen!  She looked good still.  I called out but she didn’t hear me.

I started cramping up, and I was still really overheated.  I kept dumping water on my head and back but that was only temporary.  We were on Forest Park Parkway nearing where it goes under Grand Blvd and I realized I was going to be sick.  I “pulled over” to the side and did a bit of…throwing up.  I tried to be quick because I was afraid if anybody saw me they would try to get me to stop or something.  Then I kept moving.  At that point, I thought…well, now I just need to finish.  If I finish that is all that I can do.

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My splits.  You can see the collapse…

I did run the last mile.  It was so hard.  I was afraid I was going to pass out.  I wanted to finish as strong as I could.  As I got near the end I kept looking for Jen, thinking maybe she would be nearby, but I didn’t see her.  People kept calling out my name (on my bib) and cheering me on—I am sure I looked AWFUL.  I don’t even really remember crossing the line.  I stopped running and started walking slowly and a medic came up to me and asked if I needed help.  I said I didn’t know but maybe.  He walked alongside me a bit and poured water down my back.  I got some water to drink and the medic said there were other medics if I decided I needed help.  I was really disoriented, but I didn’t see any others!  I think I likely DID need help, but they must have been really busy.  I couldn’t eat anything, I couldn’t focus, I just sort of wandered.

I did get a medal!

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I left the finish area and decided the best move was to head for the car.  I had my phone on me but Jen didn’t have hers so our backup plan was to meet at the car.

Where WAS the car though?  I was so upset!  I just started walking, trying to remember where we had parked, and finally found my way back.  I hoped I would see Jen there, but no.  Instead I sat down and started to sob.  This was seriously the hardest race I’ve ever done, and I had high hopes for it and instead ended up just barely making it.  And now I was just sitting by a car… It turned out that I probably walked right by Jen and didn’t notice—she too had had a really tough finish and was feeling really lousy (and continued to, poor thing!  We didn’t even get to go out for a celebratory lunch AND WEAR OUR MEDALS IN PUBLIC.) But she did great, finished her first half-marathon in about 2:36, a great time!  My time was 2:40:02 (8609th place). I think I could have met my goal IF the weather had been normal.  Or maybe I started too fast.  I don’t know…but I do know that I don’t have another long race till fall so I’ll have plenty of time to work on my speed.

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Total fail from the 6 mile to the 11 mile…

I texted Mike that “I may have thrown up a little on the course.”  He replied “It was very tough out there.  Congrats either way!”   (He finished in 1:29:06, 70th place overall)

Overall:  I’m just glad I finished.  I’m bummed I wasn’t able to do as well as I wanted, but I learned that 13.1 miles isn’t easy, and that every race can’t be a PR.  Oh well!  Oh, and I guess I do have a nervous stomach.

Race Expo!

I convinced Chris to take a short practice break and head down to the race expo (for Sunday’s Go! St Louis Half Marathon) with me today.  It was at the Chaifetz Arena on Compton, just a few minutes from my house.  We lucked out and got street parking, saving the $5.

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It was very easy to get my bib—I had already memorized my race number (13325) so I just told them, showed my ID, and easy-peasy.  Then we went down the hall and entered the expo area.  It was on the floor of the arena.  I got my t shirt and a reusable shopping bag, and went searching for a free samples.  There were a few—lara bars, icy hot, rice, granola, 5 hour energy—but not as many as in Phoenix.  There were also several shop areas, but I had recently done some online shopping (got three pairs of running shorts today, actually, woo-hoo!) so I resisted any temptation.  (I prefer online shopping rather than dealing with people…surprise.) Good thing to know:  bring your boyfriend to collect extra lara bars and other samples!  Then he just gives them to you anyway.

We were in and out in about 30 to 40 minutes.  It was well run and not at all crowded (yet…) at 2:30 on Friday, but didn’t grab my attention that much.  Oh well!  I took a few pictures.

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My name on the race number, yay!

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Didn’t everybody get an adorable kitty cat?

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Very nice reusable shopping bag—I can use it for hauling around my doughnuts!

Before the expo today, I had a nice upper body workout with Mike.  My legs are resting in anticipation of my super fast running on Sunday…I really want to break 2:30…wish me luck!

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I should memorize this, I guess!  If I stare at it long enough, it’ll make those 11 minute miles easier…right?  RIGHT?