Freakishly Flexible 5k (FFFK) !!

Imagine my shock upon finding this!!!

I gasped, I laughed, I cried... you guys are so cool. USJogger set this up: a race in my honor!! I really don't know what to say. Thank you so much. I so wish I could run it with you. Go to his site for more details. I'm still cracking up that he used that picture and made a logo.

I am hanging in there. My surgery is March 6th. Thank you all so much for your prayers and kind words. All the support is really helping me.

I can't wait to see the outcome of FFFK.

Pfour Days in Minne

In Minne(apolis) for a pharmacoecomonimics seminar and other training. WOOO HOOO! :D

We had a Pfour k Pfun run. Yeah. don't ask.

I ran.

I sweated like a pig.

I finished ... somewhere between most of the runners and the walkers.

but mostly neck and neck with the interval run/walkers.

whatever that means.

some of them said it kept them going to see me not ever stopping.

So, I'm slow but inspiring?

whatev.

I forgot garmin but it was 2.5 and felt a little fast (that's a relative term).

Had no idea at the Millenium Hotel that we were so close to the sculpture garden. I came here once with the hub. It was our first trip "away". Good memories. Here's some pics if you've never had the pleasure. Our "pfun run" went to the sculputure garden, around it and back to the hotel.

Later tonight, we went to a dueling piano bar. What talent. What fun. Good friends. Good time.

Adventures of the Bowling Pin and the Walking Stick

That was my back up title for my race report. :P Now you can see why lipstick is so near and dear to my heart (keep your eyes up top on the skinny half) and why Viv's weight loss challenge is a must for me. This is about 20 yards from the finish.

Early morning bus ride

Training pals: Nancy, Amy, Art

Nancy, Art, Tom and Amy

notice Tom was wearing his Runner's Lounge Tshirt and I was wearing one from Any Time Fitness. The guy that owns my gym said he'd reimburse me the race fee if I ran in his shirt. Since he gave me a cotton wife beater (DOH!!!), I elected to wear it at the start and then bag it. Amy took a pic for me for proof! :D Not sure if this will fit the criteria or not, but I'm used to paying for races anyway, so no biggie.

No, we did not need the ambulance. :D

Yes, my long last lipstick even lasts through a hot 20k race.

Dam to Dam 2008 Race Report

Dam to Dam: The Biggest 20k Road Race in America. If you are a runner in Iowa you have to do this race. Okay, I guess, I will then! Been training with Art and Amy for several weeks and hoping for something in the 12's. We had a great run a few weeks ago that gave me lots of hope but it wasn't exactly meant to be. Still, we had a blast and we finished.


Besides Art and Amy, my friend Janna and my sis in law decided to do the race too. My SIL is a speedy mcspeedster who is very competitive and I figured she'd drop me at the first Dam, but not so. I shouldn't judge so quickly. She came to run with me from Chicago! and run with me she did. I was very touched that she stayed with this old snail. :D


We enjoyed the traditional bus ride out to the dam and took lots of pictures. It was pretty relaxed and fun. We were at the waaay back of the 5000+ pack, which is not great when the event is not chip timed but whatev. It took over 5 minutes with the clock running to get to the start!


We met lots of cool characters and joked that all the interesting stories are at the back. (the bride, the tae kwan do lady who has run out of people to spar with her in her age group - 50's!?, Brian who lost 105 pounds and has 100 to go, the very elderly gentleman who joked about his heavy breathing behind us) .




The gun went off and we didn't move for a looong time. We joked, "this is easy, what's the big deal? We can hold this pace for a long time!" Yep all the stories are at the back. Or at least that is what we slow people say so that we enjoy the race ! :D

The view from the dam is fairly breathtaking, you can see some little buildings on the horizon just to the right of center (look very closely, they are small) that are the skyline in downtown Des Moines. Holy crap, we are going to run to

those!!


We started off fast for me and I was pretty much pouring sweat within one mile. I thought this might be a problem but I was full of hope. We started with Janna, Amy, Art, my SIL and me. Janna dropped us pretty quick as she felt great and went off to find her groove. I am soo excited for her as this was her first time running this event and really her first good sized race. She did absolutely great and finished strong.


We pulled off a few miles in the 11's which is pretty speedy for me and then took our first big potty stop where Art decided he didn't want to stop unless he had to. He went on and had a good inaugural race too -- yeahhh Art!!! After that we hit a stretch of very open, very hot road that slowly zapped us a bit and was followed by a good sized hill. We had plenty to drink but personally I think maybe the early miles a little fast and the heat started to take its toll.


Amy got progressively sicker and we walked more to accomodate some stops and recovery but seriously I don't think I could have continued the pace without the stops, in fact I welcomed them. That poor thing. I wish I had fully understood how sick she was...


There were several points with giant speakers and music blaring, live bands, people in their yards with sprinklers, dogs, cheerleaders, signs. What fun!! There weren't huge crowds on the route, but they were great people. The volunteers were fantastic and a lot of young kids were

handing me drinks. I tried really hard to thank them all!

At one point a guy was blaring Pretty Woman on some speakers and he was singing and talking some. Amy said she'd give me a dollar if I sang in his microphone. I probably would've just done it on a dare!!

The picture isn't as dramatic as it felt or sounds but I'm glad Amy got a pic!! Of course, right when I got to the microphone, I had no idea what the words were. Oh well, we all cracked up which we needed at this point.

My SIL was so fresh and unaffected by our slow pace that she gave the cheerleaders a show dancing and jumping around doing 360's. They cheered extra on seeing this and it helped to break up the grind and pain as we kept moving.

We trudged on and on, finishing with the fast 5kers at the end and just trying to stay out of their way while willing ourselves to keep moving. We rounded a last corner with about .4 or .5 to go. Amy picked it up, I know she was absolutely just dying to be done and go home, the poor thing. I felt so bad for her. What a trooper.

My SIL says, my HR is 124, are you wearing your monitor. Are you freaking kidding me? I cracked that I wasn't and if I was, I wouldn't tell her how much over 180 I probably was at the point. :P I thought the B word, but she was pretty nice to me and I decided not to say it even jokingly. I did later though when we recounted the siti-ation to the fam and she thought it was pretty funny. :D We started scanning the right side for my in laws and finally saw the finish shoot and the family with lenses up! (I am waiting for a few more pictures but this is getting old so I will post them later.)

I got a little teary about finishing, not finishing like I wanted, and mostly about speedy mcspeedster coming all that way from Chicago just to run with her snail SIL. She even told Amy that I was the one that inspired her to run and now she just can't stop! It meant so much to me to run this race with Amy and my SIL and to have my friends Janna and Art also in this thing with me for the first time. I've mentioned before that I've often been of awe of peeps who did this race and wished that I could be in shape enough to have 12.4 miles in me. What a difference a year makes!

We ran through to get medals, and THEY WERE OUT. We filled out mailing envelopes but, this significantly cuts down on the tears in the moment! HA HA. (that and seeing a guy go by half dead on a stretcher after the 5k. Oh man, he looked bad. I couldn't help but thinking that at least I'm standing but I also hope he is okay and have thought of him several times.) After a few pics with the fam, we headed off to the beer garden. Amy had headed straight for her car and we texted a few times to see how she was. I told her I would take one for the team and drink her celebratory beer for her. I only wish she could have enjoyed it with me. Never have I felt so much like I had earned a beer.

11:39
11:20
11:53
12:02
15:40
12:49
12:44
15:02
13:40
15:46
13:44
14:53
14:44

2:52:01 ~ 13:50 pace ~ 12.4 miles

Dam to Dam Update

The data center that houses my website literally blew up over the weekend, so the site has been down. I had this ready to go. My full report with pics will be forthcoming.

We finished !!!

It took over 5 minutes to get to the start and this wasn't chip timed. I had about 2:47 but my official time is 2:52:01 - 13:50

We ran the race we wanted for about half of it,

then things started to get rough. Amy's blog has some of the highlights.

11:39

11:20

11:53

12:02

15:40

12:49

12:44

15:02

13:40

15:46

13:44

14:53

14:44

More later....

I'm No Kenyan

Just in case there was any confusion. No, I'm a big, big, slow, slow, white girl. I tried to go out and run a little faster. I thought there might be pain, but you know, proportional pain. Go a little faster, have a little more pain. This was more like the kinetics of Dilantin. Not Linear. Not Proportional. Hard to take. I kind of felt like I don't deserve Garmie. I considered packing him up and just sending him to someone more deserving. I guess there's always the next run, right? Now, where's my club?

1 - 11:10
2 - 12:00
3 - 12:20
.2 - 11:34
3.2 miles ~ 37:45 ~ 11:48 pace

I'm planning to do a long run tomorrow (with Amy and Art) and a quick girls night (with Amy) and then it's off to Boca Raton. I'm not sure if I'll be on while we are gone, but I am planning to run with Wendy while I'm there. I can't wait. Hope to have stuff to share when I get back.

I'll be thinking about all the Boston Homies. You guys have a great time and drink up the experience. (Bill, Nitmos, Reid, my speedy friend from Iowa - Jennifer) Good luck to everybody racing this weekend no matter where you are. It's not about the finish. It's about that you're out there and you had the courage to start. Y

Friendly Sons of St. Patrick 10K Race Report

Today the Catholic boys were holding a race kind of in my neighborhood. I've been eyeing this one for awhile since I've never done a 10k (instant PR), it was close to home and pretty cheap, and I need the miles as I start to ramp up for Dam to Dam at the end of May (20k). How can you beat an 11am start and a t-shirt? Although I'm guessing they might have expected me to be in church beforehand. :P

I've been having some major GI issues the last couple of days. I'll spare the play by play, but suffice it to say that it was touch and go up until the end and heavy pharmaceuticals were on board. Thank you science.

Art heard I was running this and we arranged to meet up at registration. He told his group he was looking for a girl and they said, "well, maybe we can help, what does she look like?" Art said to look for red lipstick and one of them spotted me from across the parking lot. :D That's so much better than look for a girl with really wide hips. :P

I think the plan was loosely something like we'd love to run this in the 11's, but realistically we need to just keep each other going, and if someone is having a great day, don't be afraid to go with it. I secretly thought I'd be the lag behinder in the 12's.

We started out at a nice clip and did some chatting. I got a side stitch during mile 2 and Art had to one sidedly chat. After that, the gradual inclines started and kept going through mile 3, 4 and 5!! Those damn sons ain't so friendly. I was breathing heavier than normal but nothing hurt and we just kept going. I kept telling myself, this is a race, okay to push yourself and be breathing heavier. Art was really a dear, I know he could have gone a lot faster, but he claimed he really wanted to run about this pace and not over do it. He has been sick and was also concerned about breathing but he ran it seemingly effortlessly. Thanks, Art!!! You totally ROCK.

I had two pretty good lines for the sparse talking. "Jesus Christ!" (then, started thinking, is that weird to say J.C. during this race? It's probably not a very good thing.) My other one was, "I'd talk more, but all I can think of are cuss words." hee hee.

As we went on and we continued to keep it under 12, I was hoping to do it for every mile. You can see that the only water station during mile 5 kept me from that goal. Somewhere around 5.2, I set Art free and he moved out. He was yelling, "run your race." ~ "you're doing great!" ~ "I'll be at the finish, you'll be right behind me."

1 ~ 11:02
2 ~ 11:34
3 ~ 11:50
4 ~ 11:37
5 ~ 12:01
6 ~ 11:56
.27 ~ 10:26
Garmin reads 6.27 miles ~ 1:12:49 ~ 11:37 pace
(wow - race site says 1:12:52 - for once my garmin trigger finger was right on.)

Once again it was one of those really bittersweet things. Absolutely great to be running, great to be running with someone, great to be running 6 miles and nothing hurts much, great to be running this pace for 6 miles, great to be experiencing improvement, beautiful day to be running. I'm still at the back of the back of the pack. (there were officially only 6 people behind me and I was 24th of 26 in my age group. Geez.) I just don't look back. I'm extremely pleased.

Capital Pursuit 2007

I did Capital Pursuit today, a beautiful 10 mile run in downtown Des Moines and through the Drake University area of town. This was my first race since I began training regularly. I was a little nervous this morning, mostly because I knew this is typically a pretty fast field. The course was secured for a 12 min pace. Yikes....My paces lately have been pretty high, depending on the day, some in the high 12's, 13's and even some days I have been in the 14's with more walking. I've been joking about whether or not I needed to memorize the course. I knew I would finish with some walking, but I also wanted to have a decent race and get an official time. My husband encouraged me to treat it like any other long run and also just to have fun.

I felt pretty out-of-place at the start. I didn't really know anyone and they all looked like amazing athletes to me. I did strike up a conversation with another gal who had a water belt on -- we were practically the only ones. I felt like such a novice and joked, doesn't anyone else need water? I told her my fear was the stations would be closed when I came through. She laughed but I told her I was hoping for around 13 pace. She was so encouraging and nice and said a year ago she had 70 pounds to lose after her 4th pregnancy and could barely move. I told her she looked amazing. Then someone came by and congratulated her on her last HM pace of 8:30. GULP. I asked for her to cheer for me at the end!

Finally we got going and I felt pretty good. Most of the pack had left me by about .5 mile! The first mile seemed to take forever and I thought I must be doing a good job of conserving. 10:59? Uh oh. I kept moving and didn't seem to have any ill effects from the quicker pace. I found some other women back of the back of the packers. For the first 3 or 4 miles the course continued to be secured, and I tried to keep with the 12min cop car. I had to fall back alittle but kept it in my sights and only walked through water stations. Some gals were run-walking and I stayed with them somewhat.

At mile 5 we were all together and I saw my husband and kids. I said, "my babies!" and got a little teary. They had gatorade and a little cup of Sports Beans. They tasted awesome. I caught the walkers and each took a bean. Then I left them for good! What a boost. This was a strange part for me though. I was nearly maintaining a 12 pace, totally shocking myself (and I think my hubby too) and for all intents and purposes, having the run of my life, yet, I was behind the cop car and nearly last. I tried to tell myself not to be lonely or get down and just think of it as my normal run. It was a little hard, though, definitely humbling, but fun and I was so happy that I was running well and my body seemed to be holding up.

The water stop at 6 was out of water and packing up. After that, I struggled to stay with the pack up van! :) No problem, I had my own little crew. Hubby kept driving ahead and stopping. The kids would yell, "GO MOM GO!" Thank God, because I hardly saw anyone else!! One lady asked me, "what is this?" My smart alek reply: "the back of the pack!" I turned the corner at 7 and thought, 3 miles, all down hill, I can do this!! I continued to see my crew and then the pack up crew. I think 8.5 to 9 was maybe the hardest, but not that hard and I kept moving. I kept thinking that I couldn't believe how well I was still moving and feeling.

When I got back into downtown for the last mile, I started seeing people leaving with medals. I really was the only runner I could see looking forward. I never looked back though. I thought it might make me sad. Most people cheered and that kept me going. I could still see the cop car! I should have never looked at myself in the storefront windows, I thought I looked horrible but also was proud that I was finishing. My sweet crew was a few feet in front of the finish, they cheered me in and saw me get my medal. I walked over to the gatorade and then back to my crew. I remembered to stop Garmin at the gatorade stand and was astounded to see 2:04 for 10.24 miles ~ 12:10 pace !! I really hadn't looked that much and had originally thought I would be around 2:15 or even 2:30 possibly. I must have started Garmin a little early and of course, didn't shut it off right away, but I was still fairly amazed. ** official time** 2:00:58

We were standing there a few minutes when one of the gals I had passed (I think there were only 3 or 4!) came in, I cheered for her but I don't think she heard me. Right then, they started taking down the finish line!! It hit me then, that I should at least get an official time!! I walked back and saw Tom Green from Runner's Lounge and my shoe guy and spoke to both briefly.

For my first real race, I really don't think this could have gone any better. My hydration and energy were great and my body held up. Feet are a little sore but they were troupers. I never really was that winded, which I just can't believe at this pace. I am humbled by the 900 or so people that finished well ahead of me and wonder if I could've pushed myself a little more. I will update if/when I get an official time. My crew was the best. Thanks Curtis, Nate and Jay!