Running on Empty

I had a great race last week in Mystic. It was cloudy and about 40 degrees with a little bit of wind. I usually tend to overdress, but my very successful marathon-running friend always tells me to take off some of my clothes - very platonically!! So today I braved the elements and took his advice. I ran in only shorts and a t-shirt, I was a little cold at first, but the other nine miles were much more pleasant for me. I realized how nuts I get when my long sleeves get all sticky sweaty on my arms.

Jon over at chocolaterunnersblog.com provided photographs of his marathon, critisizing virtually everything about his form. Well, I thought he looked pretty good actually, but was I ever glad to have a friend in need when I got my pictures back from this race. I felt totally awesome, refreshed and felt at the end I could have run even faster even though I achieved a personal best (1:25:45 for ten miles). BUT my photos tell another story! Oh my goodness, I look like I am running the 25th mile of my worst marathon. My form is awful, I look exhausted, YUCK! I guess I kinda like the finish line photo. The photographers were stationed on uphills, so that might explain the funny facial expressions or the over-exaggerated forward posture. You can see for yourself, if you want a good laugh at
islandphoto.com. Then press Mystic Places Marathon. Then put in my bib number 1679. Sorry I couldn't figure out how to link you! Even my arm swing is so obviously bad. Aughhhhhh! I really feel like I suck sometimes.

Anyway on to the next race. This Sunday I will run a 5K in my hometown hopefully the running chick won't be there!! Just kidding, Dianna, I love getting beat by you! Report to follow the race!

October 16, 2005 To MP3 or Not To MP3?

I have been dealing with a dilemma for awhile now. I must confess to my fellow running enthusiasts. I have been running with a musical device. There I said it, I mean wrote it. Last summer, I bought a middle of the road MP3 player after having music envy of my son's expensive IPOD. (he received the IPOD from my parents as a gift, I couldn't afford to get a 12 year kid a 300.00 toy) I flippin' love running with my MP3 player. I must confess to feeling overwhelming guilt while I use it though. All I can hear in my brain is all those disclaimers about the dangers of running under distraction. I swear I make sure I can hear cars and dogs, but I have been getting spooked by all the boogie man noises that happen at 5:30 in the morning now that it is pitch black.

My favorite music to listen to is the Dixie Chicks Live album. I love the cheering in the background, I imagine it's for me while I am finishing the Boston Marathon. I also love listening to Bonnie Raitt Road Tested. I have a variety of softer stuff from the 50s for when I am tired and just want to veg out and jog. It also has a radio option if I want to hear the news. So now it's out, my dirty little secret. I hope you all can forgive me and still read my blog.

I getting psyched for the Mystic Ten Miler. I haven't raced since August 5th. I am chopping at the bit to get back in there. I hope to finish the race under 90 minutes. I have been able to do that the past two years. I should be able to do again this year. Usually it is rainy and windy for this race, hopefully we got the rain out of the way this past week. Today was the first dry day in nine days!!! I was so depressed from the rain, I could never live in Seattle or London. I hope it is a nicer day this year for the race, so we can play a little on the beach after the race. Well, have a great week everyone!

October 10, 2005 Getting Your Groove On

I am now training for the Mystic Marathon Ten Mile Race which will be held on October 23, 2005. I am recovering nicely from whatever was going on with my right leg, the pain travels from behind my knee up to the outer hip and sometimes the front hip flexor. But whatever injury it is; rest, stretching and taking a break from racing has helped a lot.

Since I haven't put in a ten miler in about a month, I was nervous to go out and run a tempo long run to get ready for this next race. But once I got out there this morning, I felt flippin' sweet! I don't know if it was because this morning it finally stopped pouring rain, so mentally I was just happy to be outside without be drenched or what. This weekend I unfortunately had to miss the Hartford Half Marathon due to a totally cool wedding in Boston, but I did get in six miler before the wedding in the typhoon conditions. The whole run I was thanking my lucky stars I had to go the wedding rather than running a half marathon in that mess.

But running in the rain is one thing, it's actually kinda fun. Let me tell you about being a soccer mom though. Sitting in the pouring rain watching your kids play soccer gets old pretty fast and of course our town hosts this huge tournament this weekend with hundreds of teams. The whole town is taken over by minivans and on a rainy Columbus day weekend every restaurant and store is filled with dirty, I mean dirty, little soccer players. When you are a kid, the dirtier you get, the better you must have played.

But let's get back to my totally sweet run this morning. I slept like crap because I am either getting a cold or suffering from my allergies, either way I can't sleep because I can't breathe. So it was easy to wake up and run at 5:00 because I wasn't sleeping anyway. I chose to run alone today because I wanted to push myself and really get the pace I want to run the race integrated in my body and groove. It was so easy and effortless and felt so good I swore I was never going to run with a partner ever again. That idea won't last long because I save myself millions of dollars every year in therapy bills due to running with my friends and venting about well, of course, my husband mostly. (We do talk about other things though!) Eight miles flew, I mean flew by. My body was just a machine, running its most comfortable "fast" pace with no pain anywhere. I was soooo happy.
Let's just leave it at that.