I Did It!

Ha ha! I did it! I ran 13.1 miles without stopping. Many thanks to my friend Trisha who left me the Forest Gump voicemail the morning of the race that said, "Ruuuuun, Deeee-nnnna, Ruuuuuuunnnn!"

I'm disappointed in my pace, but happy at finishing. I think I went so slow because I was concerned about tiring and so kept telling myself to "pace yourself, pace yourself." Looking back, I wasn't winded at all during the run and could have run harder.

As it stands, I finished in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 12 seconds which is 9:52/mile.  I finished 107th in my age group but have no idea what that means as I don't know how many women were entered in my age group (hopefully at least 108).

It was a "brisk" 25 degrees at 8 AM when we began. I was concerned about keeping warm and overdressed with 3 shirts where two would have been adequate. The amount of throw-away clothes on the race course was amazing. People just toss aside hats, gloves, shirts, and jackets as they warm up. The race committee collects all the toss-aways and presents a huge pile to the Salvation Army. I myself tossed away a pair of gloves at 5 miles and the socks I was wearing over my gloves at mile 12.

Lots of people stood on the sidelines or outside their homes, cheering us on. This gave me a huge mental boost.  There was also a band at mile 3 and 10 and the beat really pumped runners up and kept us running.

I saw a guy running in a gorilla suit and people running in shorts and jog bra (brrr!). My favorite experience was when I was running behind a guy who was wearing a Santa hat. We passed a family on the side of the road and a 4-year-old boy raised two chubby fists in the air and yelled, "Run, Santa!"

I feel good. My left leg is throbbing but it always throbs after a run. Blair was here cheering me on and shot some video of me in the home stretch. I'll post pictures (assuming I don't look too horrid) once we return home.

I want to do it again next year, but train to run a 9-minute pace. I don't know if I'll ever get to marathon level. I think I could have hung in to mile 15 or 16 but that's a good 10+ miles short of the finish.  A marathon involves a lot of mental dedication. My neighbor Royce pulled up with a hamstring in mile 5 and still toughed his way through to complete the full 26.2.  Amazing.

So it's been a good weekend. The villa we're staying in is stunning and right on the beach. We went for a 4-mile run the day we got here and yes--I need to live in the million dollar mansions on the beach.  I'll put Blair on that.

I want to say many heartfelt thanks to all of you who have encouraged me--either through posting on this blog, e-mailing me, or calling me. You all have been patient with my probably interesting-only-to-me running posts and knowing everyone was pulling for me really did make it easier to run. So, thank you. And you are hereby released from running duty until June/July of 2007 when we'll fire it up again.

It's 8:18 PM and my friends, I am off to bed. See you back home tomorrow.

Dena

All That & A Bag of Chips

• 2 sets winter pajamas
• 3 pair jogging shorts
• 2 pair jogging pants
• 3 sweatshirts
• 2 long-sleeved t-shirts
• 5 regular t-shirts
• 1 running jacket
• 6 headbands
• 1 flannel hat
• 8 pair socks
• 4 bras
• 5 pair underwear
• 1 pair jeans
• 2 belts
• 3 sweaters
• 1 swimsuit
• 4 packs of GU
• 1 pair running shoes
• chapstick, contact solution, straight iron, birth control pills, lipgloss, hairdryer, Advil, books, laptop, umbrella, pens, business cards, cell phone, cash

Lock 'n load, baby. This runner is ready to roll.

Warm Beer, Fat Farms, & Working Vacations

My best friend Trisha called the other day to say that she unexpectedly had some free time in late January, and what did I think of the idea of taking a quick 4-day vacation together? "Somewhere warm," she said.

We aren't looking to spend a ton of money, so we tossed around the idea of Florida. "Hey, we could be ugly girls with cheap beer again," she said, referring to an event from our junior year in college where 5 of us piled into a station wagon and road-tripped to Florida for spring break.

Upon arriving we were tired, gritty, and make-upless but nevertheless grabbed a six-pack and strolled the beach. Guys waved at us from distant hotel windows. "If only they were up close, they'd see we're ugly girls with cheap beer (Milwaukee's Beast)," we laughed. Because you can laugh at those things when you're 20 with taunt skin. Even at our worst, we were still pretty darned cute.

"Time changes things," I reminded Trisha. "Now we'll be ugly women with a sad taste in choice of alcoholic beverages and that's just nowhere near as fun."

We talked about taking the high road and spending time on a working vacation, maybe repairing hiking trails in the Florida woodlands or going west and working at a dude ranch. But then I opened my mouth and the conversation took a sharp nosedive.

"Oh hey," I exclaimed, "we ought to go to one of those spas where they teach you to cook gourmet meals or--" and now I really got excited, "--you go there and work out and come home 7 pounds thinner."

"That's called a fat farm, dearest," said Trisha. "And I'm in."

Here's the kicker. Fat farms (or "luxury spa experiences" as the brochures prefer to tout them) are damned expensive. If I had that much money to spend on losing the weight I'd just hire a personal chef to cook healthy meals for me to begin with. And it's not that either of us are fat. But the idea of leaving the house and returning a size smaller holds a universal appeal. Which made it that much more of a bummer that we couldn't partake.

"I can't believe we can't afford the fat farm," moaned Trisha over the phone.

"What's happened to us?" I asked. "Since when did we grow old enough to a) want to spend our vacation losing weight and b) be bummed out that we can't make that happen?"

"I wonder if I have any Milwaukee's Beast in the fridge?" said Trish.

So we're still looking. Mexico is a forerunner at the moment, although I'm holding out hopes for a last minute spa/hiking/biking/yoga/pilates/swimming/skiing resort deal.  I'm not too worried about it. As Trisha said, we could hole up in a Motel 6 in the middle of Kentucky and have a good time.

That's what best friends are for.    

Go Gu!

I have a new best friend and it is GU Energy Gel. Gu is the goop that eats like a meal and is the secret force behind many a runner's unflagging energy. I did my last long run (8 miles) yesterday before the half-marathon this Saturday. At the halfway point of my run, I tore open a packet of Vanilla Bean Gu and sucked it down.

Ka-ping! I was off. My energy remained high for the rest of the run and I finished the last quarter mile at a sprint.  Gu is touted as a "Carbohydrate Energy Gel" and it's also packed with caffeine. I was still wired hours after my run. But I'll most certainly be noshing on some Gu during the half-marathon on Saturday.

I know you're probably all sick of reading about it, but this is the last week so bear with me. I can't help but be worried about the race. The early forecast is for rain, 20-mph-winds and temperatures in the low 40's.  That's going to make an already challenging run that much harder.  I'm concerned about finishing in perfect running weather--can you imagine what headwinds will do to me? 

My running partner has said the throngs of runners and the excitement of the race will help pull an extra couple miles out of everyone they didn't think they had. Although I'll take any finishing time, I'd really like to run under a 9 1/2 minute pace, regardless of weather conditions.

At this point, training is all but over. I'll do a quick 4-5 mile run tomorrow and maybe an easy 3-mile run on Wednesday and then chill until Saturday.  On the bright side, after running my 8-miles yesterday I woke up today with absolutely no side effects. No stiff joints, no aching back, nothing.  I couldn't even tell I had run the miles. That's a big change from earlier this year when I believe I slept for 5 hours straight after running my first eight and popped Advil for a solid 24 hours.

My mind is fuzzy this week. My attention is already on the race on Saturday and everything else is a distraction.  But I do have a few work and home related items to take care of before I go and I best get to them. One of my tasks is to clean out an area sporting store of all available GU. Go GU!