Take That, Snow!

Just got back from one of the more satisfying runs I've had in a looong time. It was just under three and a half miles (3.37 to be precise) and not one of my faster runs, but it felt awesome, the weather was stormy and I beat the more serious snow by like 10 minutes. HA!

And yes, I'm engaged to Brandon now. :) I'll post a photo or two probably early next week. :)

Hi Everyone

Hey...been awhile since I've blogged...so I'll kind of fill you in on the latest.

My theme for November is Explosiveness. It's time to hit the weight room again, regain the muscle I have neglected for a few months and also explode in other ways...like the pool and the pavement. Bottom line is, I'm going to be hard on myself this month. And make my body explode.

In other news, come January, our blog is going to have a different format. Instead of updating you on the mundaneness of our otherwise very boring lives, it's going to be more specific, with issues and whatnot that we come across. I'm hoping to update it nearly daily, so keep coming back!

And in other news, we are no longer boyfriend/girlfriend...we are engaged!!!! I'm sure pictures of the ring and whatnot will follow shortly.

Snow and Moonlight Runs

So, as I blogged yesterday, I've done two fun runs this week. Neither of them were that long (and one wasn't even timed), but both were enjoyable.

The first was Wednesday. As you may have read/heard about, a big ol' snowstorm hit Colorado this past week. Well, I had either a run or a cycle penciled in for Wednesday as I was off work and it's a bit hard to ride one's bike in a snowstorm. So, I ran. It was cold and wet, but I ran.


Me all bundled up and ready to go!


The view outside. If you look closely, you can tell it's still snowing.

At this point, I shoveled a bit of the driveway so I had a path to the street and I took off. Given that the sidewalks were barely shoveled off but the roads had been plowed, I took advantage of the fact that pretty much no one was out on the roads and ran in the street. Not the safest thing and not something I would normally do, but in this case, it worked.

I did a short loop around the neighborhood; I felt great and warm and could have gone longer ... had I remembered a scarf/neck gaiter. The bottom half of my face kinda froze due to the snowflakes pelting it and the wind that kicked up every now and then. If I had something covering my face, I definitely would have been able to pull out a longer run.



Path I'd shoveled ALREADY almost recovered in snow.

Frozen me post-run. You can see my delightfully rosy cheeks ... and chin ...

In any case, the short run I managed was fantastically fun. It was also probably the best test of the Drymax socks so far as I apparently ran through some puddles and never noticed until I noticed my shoes were pretty wet when I got home. Oops. Still, my feet were bone dry!

The next run was what I'm for now terming the Team Baby Dino Annual Hallow's Eve Moonlight Run. (yes, i'm a nerd)

I came up with the idea for the run when Brandon and I were thinking of things to do on Halloween. Going out and drinking really wasn't an option as I had to be up this morning to be at work by 6. So, I thought that we could get black t-shirts, paint them with glow-in-the-dark paint, grab our cameras and run around the neighborhood, taking pictures of cool jack-o'-lanterns or whatnot in the process. It wouldn't be a serious run; just a fun way to enjoy the holiday now that we're too old to go trick-or-treating (boo).

So ... we did.


Us! Front of shirts.


The back.

So after taking a few pictures of our own jack-o'-lanterns, we were off. Sadly, there weren't that many good Halloween displays/jack-o'-lanterns, but we did get some fun pictures of us running.


Brandon ... who ditched his hat at one point.


Me enjoying myself.


Flopped in the snow.


Getting some snow resistance.

If you made me guess, we only did a couple of miles. I couldn't even throw a time out as we stopped at my brother's house at one point to take pictures of him and his girlfriend in their freaky costumes (they went to a bar). Still, it was a way to ENJOY running. Make it something we want to do more often.

As a result of this run ... we want to do it again next year. Make it the second annual version. We're also thinking of making our own shirts for the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot we're doing (four miles!).

Because if we've got to run, we might as well make it as enjoyable as possible, right?

Fun Runs!

Yes, I know I haven't updated much here, but!, in the past week, I've pulled off two relatively short but totally awesome nonetheless runs.

One was Wednesday during the crazy-ass snowstorm that hit Denver (yes, during the snowstorm) and the second was, oh, just about 30 minutes ago.

I'll blog more tomorrow (with pictures!) with the tale of both runs.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Eat sugar, but not too much (if you must at all)!

A book for you all to read

I just finished reading Born to Run, a book by Christopher McDougall. It basically describes the author's journey from trying to diagnose a foot injury to finding the Tarahumara Indians that live in a remote area of Mexico. These people are the greatest runners in the world, covering long distances without pain, injury, or suffering. With the help of a strange, reclusive man named Caballo Blanco, Chris discovers what makes these people love something so simple as running, and gets caught up in the greatest race the world never saw. From the Leadville Ultramarathon to Badwater, you can discover why we as humans today dread to run, and how to recover this lost ancient art.

I know that sounded like a bad book review on Amazon, but seriously, this was an amazing book. T and I discussed it at length. Do we over-analyze running? Is this really a simple thing that we are meant to do? Are we so absorbed by the comforts of society that we have forgotten how to run?

What I took away from it, if there was only one thing to take away, is keep things simple, in any sport you do. Focus on enjoying yourself when you're out there. The second you concern yourself with making running something you HAVE to do, it no longer is enjoyable.

Catching up...

Sitting in Rapid City, I have a chance to reflect upon what has been a so-so time period of working out and where I'm at...and where I want to be.

This morning, I went for a run in Rapid City. It was 28 degrees when I started my run. Moreso, I'm fighting a cold right now. Nonetheless, I pushed myself through it and ended up doing 2.13 miles in 24:19. Not a good time, obviously, but you know what? I don't mind. Because that brings me up to my next point.

Everything I do in this next year is important. Every time I work out, every time I swim, bike, run, weightlift, play hockey, etc. I am doing something to my body. I'm changing it. Therefore, I have decided my theme for this next year will be called Breaking Down Walls. It's got numerous meanings, including what I just mentioned above. Another one is I want to push myself continuously. Every workout, I want to break down a wall. And obviously, we're both looking at doing an Olympic triathlon and a half-marathon. Yeah, breaking down those walls. :-)

Last week, I ran 5.23 miles in Wichita. It might not seem impressive, but consider this: I was fighting a cold that week (and still am), and I ran 13.02 miles that week. That is a record for me in terms of mileage in one week. I'm really happy about that. This week was a letdown due to a lot of circumstances, but honestly, I'm ok with it. Normally, I probably wouldn't be, but hey, we're breaking down walls. :-)

Born to Run and a New Personal Achievement

I first have to preface this post in that I shouldn't be blogging and SHOULD be working on my WCHA season previews instead ... but I wanted to post this yesterday and didn't so I need to do it today. Yes.

Anyway, after reading an excerpt in 5280 Magazine and I'm pretty sure this one in Men's Health, I decided to pick up Christopher McDougall's book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.

Long story short, it was AMAZING. McDougall, a writer for the aforementioned Men's Health, wanted an answer to a simple question - "How come my foot hurts?" He'd been told that it was due to running and the high stress that it puts on one's feet. In figuring out exactly why running hurts one's feet, however, he learned about the Tarahumara, a group of running people down in Mexico. The Tarahumara are basically the world's best ultramarathoners, having come to one such race (the Leadville 100) and kicked everyone's asses. They are also kind people, have very low injury rates and are pretty much perfect (so McDougall describes them).

Anyway, the book tells of McDougall's tale of finding the Tarahumara and then learning how to run and train like them, finding out that he can run further and longer as a result with no injuries.

McDougall winds his story in along with the basic history of ultramarathon-ing as well as the history of how our foot problems (due to running) came about. Basically, as humans evolved and moved upright, we were born to run and run long distances. Barefoot. The human foot was made to run barefoot and all the correcting crap we do to our feet with our running shoes and stuff basically makes it worse. In other words, since Nike came out with the first cushioned running shoe, runners started getting injured and injured a lot.

If you like running, a good story, history and a touch of anthropology mixed all together, I highly recommend this book. I just picked it up from the library, but I'm thinking it's one I may need to buy to have for the personal library.

___________
After finishing the book yesterday, I was motivated to go running around the park barefoot ... but knew I had to get in some miles. So, I decided to go for a long run. I tinkered with my form a little - keeping my back straight and my steps as light as I could make them ... and I did well. I tried to enjoy the run and not feel miserable and for the most part ... it worked.

I didn't have to walk until just past the 3.2 mile mark and only seriously walked when I got to this murderous hill near the end of the run (100 feet in elevation gained in under a half-mile). All in all, I did 5.12 miles in 1:00:16 ... which is the longest run I've EVER been on. EVER. It was the first time I've ever cracked the five mile mark. My quads started hurting a bit near the end as did my stupid buniony feet, but it also felt AMAZING at the same time.

So, that's where I am. Except for pretty much my total lack of bike riding lately (oops), I think I'm well on my way to early prepping my way for an Olympic distance triathlon next year and maybe even a half-marathon next December (2010, people) ...

Yay for Tim!

This is just a quick post saying CONGRATS! to our friend Tim. Tim was Brandon's roommate in college and this past summer, he was training for his first marathon. He ran the Twin Cities Marathon yesterday and completed it in 3:54:27 ... for just under a 9:00 mile. For a first marathon? Hot damn. Mine, I just want to finish. So yes, we're both simultaneously jealous AND extremely proud of him.

Congrats Tim!

Race #6 of the Season: Autumn Color Run

This recap is a week late, but for good reasons:

1. I hadn't uploaded pictures yet.
2. I've worked a whole ton.
3. It's been emotionally stressful (pretty much lost a long-time friend this week ... no, she's not dead ... she just apparently did a 180 in personality. yeah.).
4. The crappy, dreary, rainy, cold, gloomy weather hasn't helped either.

In any case, I finally uploaded pictures and the sun's FINALLY come out again, so yay, race update.

Anyway, this year's recap is somewhat similar to last year's recap ... right down to the crappy breakfast. We managed a better meal the night before (and our pre-race sushi for lunch instead!), though.

So, last Saturday morning, we woke up, I tossed on my winner underoos, got dressed and headed the 30 miles down the road from our hotel to the race site. Circumstances this year prevented us from pre-registering, so we got there with plenty of time to go do that.

After registering, we wandered over to the perma-restrooms (not the porta-potties), did our pre-race business and then warmed up, finding a sunny spot to stretch in.


Brandonpants ... chilling prior to the race.


Trying to stay warm!

Soon enough, it was time to hop the bus to take us 5K down the road to the abandoned drive-in race start. We got off the buses, looked over at the turkeys at nearby house that were gobbling away and then lined up ... about 100 feet back from where we normally start. We waited for the Boy Scouts to drop the flag and tell us we were off ... I love this start. Really.


See all the guys setting their watches? The green stomach you see ended up winning the race in 14:40.8. Yeah.

The usually-not-very-organized start was even less organized this year as we were to soon find out. Anyway, this race didn't feel that good. It's a small race that's been getting bigger and bigger every year and becoming not as fun, honestly.

In terms of pain, this race also didn't feel that good. I hadn't had a chance to get in much in terms of a halfway decent run (or two) the week prior and the ones I did get in sucked. I just kept watching people pass me and pass me and pass me ... and I had no hope at all for a decent time.

Still, I kept plodding along, passing a few people along the way. I never felt like I settled into a groove, however, and my sports asthma and crappy breathing kicked in near the end of the race. Since I parked right near the course this year, I was hoping to pick it up once I saw my car, but I couldn't manage a sprint until I was already in the "chute" (i use the term lightly).

I was crying as I finished, due to my breathing issues and just the overall crappiness that I felt. I waited for my breathing to subside and then walked to the car to change into flip-flops, stopping for a few pictures first.


The race fairy!


Me with said race fairy.

After changing shirts and shoes, we headed back to the park for some post-race snacks, grabbing a silly picture in the process.

We like oranges!

After food, we waited around the park a long time for our results, neither of us having any clue of what we finished in. Brandon had heard a time close to his, but also the news that they were having timing issues (... which was probably why our start was even less organized this year). After a while, we said, ah, screw it and went to the car to go home ... and realized the battery was dead. I remember my purse handle getting caught on one of my light steering wheel lever thingys and I thought I had put everything back to normal ... but apparently not.

So, we walked back to the park to find someone with jumper cables. In the process, we found out our times - I finished in 27:35.5 - 8:52.85/mi ... my second time under 9:00/mi this year.

I didn't believe it. Add the 50 seconds of wonkiness the race people were talking about? Yeah, I'd believe that. But, what the race people say goes, so I'll take it.

After finding out our results, we also found some nice EMTs who had jumper cables in their ambulance, so we bugged them to help jump me and send us on our way home.

As Brandon said, the race was our last official one of the season, even though we're planning to do some sort of Turkey Trot-type race on Thanksgiving. We'll see how that goes, though, as this week has been a struggle in terms of working out. Damn stress.

Autumn Color Run - My Course

Earlier in the year, girlfriend and I decided the Autumn Color Run would be our last official 5K of our running season. We both like this run and last year it gave us our P.R's last year. Here's our last year's recap.

This year, running hasn't exactly been our cup of tea. For girlfriend, she's been struggling with it pretty much all season...for reasons we don't quite understand. As for me, I've done pretty well with it, but still have yet to get into that groove that I did last year. Nagging injuries have plagued me all season long and the week before this race, I thought I might be dealing with a muscle tear in my right calf. I took a few days off from working out though and I think that did the trick.

Regardless, we drove up to Buena Vista and Salida to accomplish what we had been dreaming about all year long. We dealt with some construction on 24 which didn't make either of us happy, but eventually we made it to Salida. We checked into the hotel and went to a little cafe to get something to eat. Then we stopped at Wal-Mart to get some stuff and went back to the hotel to relax and sleep.

Woke up very early and headed over to breakfast. Powdery scrambled eggs, paper-thin bacon, and raisin bran were my breakfast, along with water, milk, and a banana. We ate, changed into our running stuff, and packed the car, ready to head to Buena Vista.

We got there and registered. With plenty of time to kill, we hit the fixed bathroom that we found last year and began stretching and warming up. The sun was definitely warming the place up, but it was still very chilly. I also began thinking that this year wasn't my year to get a P.R. I just wasn't sure I could pull it off.

We loaded ourselves on the bus and headed 3.1 miles up the road to the turnoff where our race began. For whatever reason, they started us further back from the road this year. Don't know why they did this, but I digress. Someone said 3-2-1 and we were off!

I was in 1st place for maybe .01 miles, but still, I have officially lead a race in my life! I sprinted across the road so I could run down facing traffic and attempted to settle into a groove. I forgot how they really don't have mile markers for this race, so there's really no way of knowing where I'm at. Also, there's no water tables, which would have been kind of nice...not going to lie.

I saw the town and figured I would be close to my P.R., which is 27:17. I had to remind myself not to push it yet. I had been trying to catch this one guy the entire race who I would estimate was no more than 5 seconds ahead of me; yet I couldn't catch him. I saw the turn towards the finish and kicked it into high gear. And I passed the guy! I hit the finish line at full speed and quickly asked the time guy where I finished. He said they were at 27:15 but had problems with the timing. Oh great, I thought, another year of a botched time. And this year, I didn't keep track on my own. I started walking towards the turn and saw girlfriend booking it in. I cheered her on to the finish.

We both took in a lot of the snacks and pastries they offered us post-race and waited...and waited...and waited...apparently they had a big problem with the timing. The race director dude said he wants to go to chip timing or some other form of electronic timing. We decided to not wait around and just head home. Of course, girlfriend's car didn't start, so we had to try to get it jump-started. First though, we would see if the resluts were posted. And then we saw it. My time...25:57! I was shocked and amazed. Apparently they had major issues with timing, but that was the accurate time. I was blown away. Girlfriend finished in 27:35, which is her best time in the past two years. Happy, we decided to skedaddle. I decided to ask the ambulance driver if he could help us. He jumped the car and home we went.

A great way to close out my racing season.