Back for a hot minute- Kure Beach Triathlon Race Report

Okay, I know I'm supposed to be staying out of blogland for a little while, but I did just complete my first triathlon since 2008 and really and truly, no one in my real life (except my mom- not because she's my mom but because she is obsessed with racing) wants to hear the full race report. And since one person asked for a review of my tri shorts I know the virtual world is clamoring for the results of the Kure Beach Triathlon, I just cannot deny you! (It may also be because I'm just a little OCD and want to properly record my results on my online log.)

In any case...

I was a little bit nervous about this race last Sunday because I really had not trained like I should. My husband looked at me in the rear view mirror as he drove my mom, sister, and I to the race start and said, "Now, we can all admit you haven't trained for this. So no one's going to judge you if you need to quit." Obviously, that was ridiculous. Even if they didn't judge me (and my mom and sister SO would, in a very loving way, of course) I would drag myself across the pavement and sand before I put up my first DNF. (I'm not saying it couldn't happen someday, but this was too short a race to let that be a possibility.)

It's been over two years since my last triathlon, so I did a lot of double-checking with my transition things. Overall, though, I felt way more prepared material and experience wise than I ever had at any triathlon. My mother graciously loaned me her fancy race bike (I've previously been the slow misfit on the mountain bike), I had on my new two piece triathlon suit (which is at least four times more flattering than my old one piece), I finally broke down and bought a race belt (I wished I had had it dozens of races ago. It makes so much more sense than safety pinning, especially onto a wet suit in the middle of a triathlon.), and I packed a gel into said race belt.

I made a few friends on shore before our wave started in the ocean, but once we hit the waves, I didn't see them again. The ocean swim was longer than I remembered from last time, but I think they may have shorten it that year because of the crazy waves. I remembered to dive under the big waves and not worry about swimming out too fast against the waves and everything went fine. (My tri shorts worked just fine in the water, Dana. I didn't even think about them once while I was swimming.)

I have to admit I was a little winded when I came up on shore and didn't think that was a good indicator for the rest of the race. After pulling on my socks, shoes, and race belt, I had a little chance to breathe and felt better as I started out on the first run. I decided to go ahead and have my chocolate gel while I was running. It was then that I realized this was the first time I've had a gel when it's hot outside. (I didn't start using energy gels until last September.) That hot chocolate goo while I was already hot and nasty was just a little bit too much, even for me. I was pretty sure I might throw it up, but I got the whole thing down. The rest of the 1.5 mile run was pretty uneventful...it just seemed really long for only a mile and a half.

I was very excited about using the race bike and I finally got to use the three words I've always wanted to say during a triathlon, "On the left!" I only actually passed about five people and was passed by approximately a hundred, but it was definitely the most pleasant bike portion I've ever had. I felt like I was going pretty fast for me, but I held back a little to save my legs for the second run.

The second run was actually much easier and turned out to be faster than the first. I was kind of doing a shuffle-run more than real running, but it seemed like that was the game plan of most and I ended up passing a few people. By the time I got to the ocean, it seemed like a wonderful idea to end in the cool water, but I realized immediately how worn out I was. I took it sloooow and easy on that last swim. My attitude was, "I'll get there when I get there."

Surprisingly, I was not sore at all afterwards and I wished that I had pushed it more on the bike. Race results came out that afternoon and I immediately compared them to my 2006 times.

Kure Beach Triathlon
Swim, 375m-13:34

Run, 1.5 miles- 17:00

Bike, 12.4 miles- 41:56

Run, 1.5Mi- 16:31

Swim, 375 M- 9:00

Total Time with Transitions: 1:38:01

Kure Beach Triathlon 2010
Swim, 375m-8:34 (5 minutes faster than '06)

Run, 1.5 miles- 16:10 (50 seconds faster than '06)

Bike, 12.4 miles- 43:11 (1 minute, 15 seconds slower than '06)

Run, 1.5Mi- 15:27 (1 minute, 4 seconds faster than '06)

Swim, 375 M- 11:12 (2 minutes, 12 seconds slower than '06)

Total Time with Transitions: 1:38:01 (3 minutes, 28 seconds faster than '06)

So, in conclusion, I'm running faster, biking slower (even with the race bike!), and swimming is inclusive (and impossible to judge between these two years because the swim course in 2006 kept being adjusted by the ridiculous waves from the offshore hurricane). Even though I wasn't properly trained, I really enjoyed the race and hopefully will figure out a way to train for future races!

Now, I'm sneaking back off for the rest of my blog break (unless I have another race report that just MUST be shared)! Pretend you didn't see me!

Taking a Blog Break

I've been contemplating a blog break for several weeks now. I love it here in blogland; I've met so many lovely people, read so many lovely things, and wrote so many random and/or pathetic things, so I don't think I want to shut down and exit entirely, but there are some other factors that have been weighing in as well:

• My husband is sick of my laptop. (Although it's very common for him to be sitting on the other side of the couch on his own laptop.)
• I'm kinda sick of my laptop. Between school, work, and home, I'm on this thing a lot.
  
• It is waaay too easy for me to get sucked in and blog-hop on indefinitely while time passes by without me noticing.
• I'm piddling around with my little races and whatnot now, but I'm really not doing anything that exciting or blog-worthy in the running arena right now.
  
• It's summertime and I want to be out and about (or cleaning out closets or other such exciting things!)

I was still on the fence until today. You may recall that I'm a elementary school teacher. I'm on my feet almost all day, every day (yes, even during lunch) and though I may check my email and update my website while my students are at the library or whatnot, I'm rarely just sitting in front of a screen for more than 15 minutes at a time.

Well, it's summertime, of course, which means I'm not teaching and I just started working on my grad school internship. Over the course of the summer, I'll be organizing web resources for teachers, students, and parents for my school district and I'm extremely excited about the process and the outcome.

Today, though, on my first full day, I had a very quick realization, "Wow...I'm just going to be sitting in front of my laptop allllll day long. Is this what most jobs are like?" It's not necessarily bad, because I'm really enjoying the project I'm working on, but once I closed that laptop at the end of the day, I did not want to open it again for any reason whatsoever.

So, that pretty much sealed the deal. I'm sure I'll still do a least a little blog lurking (you know I couldn't quit cold turkey, right?) and who knows, I just might not be able to stay away and start posting again in a week! I'm pretty sure I'll return at some point, though...I've still got 365 consecutive runs to get in someday!

Just so you know...

I went back and conquered the bike with the clip-on pedals. I rode 11 miles yesterday and didn't have any problems (except for being sore because I never bike). I've had a lovely week at my parents' house and have enjoying a little running, biking, and swimming throughout the week, so I'm minimally prepared for this triathlon next week.

I did get a new triathlon outfit though! I'm way more excited than I should be about spandex, but it's a big improvement from my one-piece triathlon suit that I got on sale five years ago. I went to the biking store first and they only had 2 options for tri shorts. I wasn't really jazzed up about either, but I thought that was about as good as they would get. So I bought a pair, then went to Fleet Feet and immediately fell in love with these cute Skirt Sports outfits. After much deliberation, I decided to get both the tri top and shorts there and then had to go back to the biking store to return the less flattering shorts.

Images are from www.skirtsports.com

I tried the shorts biking, but I couldn't really judge the comfort because I was still sore from biking the day before. I'm really excited to try swimming in my new outfit! I'll let you know how it goes. (I know you're just waiting by your monitors to find out!)

Biking = FAIL

Since I'm going to be participating in the Kure Beach Triathlon just two weeks from today, I decided it was time to get out the bike. (Obviously, I'm not going for a PR here.) I kinda hate biking and therefore hadn't yet brought my mountain bike home from my parents' house, so there has been absolutely no bike training in a looooong time.

When we raced our first triathlon, I used my mountain bike my parents gave me for 13th birthday. It took until my 16th birthday for us to actually go out and buy the bike, but in any case, it was a bike purchased for playing and not for racing. We knew my mom would have an advantage with her road bike, but even with that, I managed to beat her by a few minutes. Within a month, my mom had purchased a slick race bike with clip-on shoes and skinny tires. That, combined with her superior training, led her to an easy victory over me in the next triathlon.

She loves that bike.

Which is why I was slightly surprised when my mom offered to let me borrow it for this upcoming race. She was insistent, however, that I practice a lot with it this week while I'm visiting to get used to the clip-ons and gears. So, thinking it couldn't be that difficult, I snapped in the shoes and went off on a biking adventure!*

*Biking adventure may or may not have consisted of me falling off the bike in the driveway, walking in my socks, dragging the bike through the yard, taking 10 minutes to figure out how to unclip the shoes, making about a 1/2 mile of progress before goofing up the gears, falling off the bike again-this time attached to one of the pedals and landing in the barn driveway and embedding gravel into my hand, cursing, turning around, and going home and awaiting a tutorial from my mom before getting back on that bike.

I decided to remove the flat tire from my car for exercise instead. That actually worked.

By the way, the China Grove 5K Main Street Challenge was a success on Friday! My mom, two sisters, and I all ran and dad even came along to hold our race packets and eat race refreshment leftovers. For as little running as I've been doing lately, I was happy with my time: 26:42, but I think it would have been more fun to use my Garmin if I could look down and see better paces.

Upcoming Races!

There's just 2.5 days left with my 3rd and 4th grade babies! Even though a part of me is aching a little to lose them (they're a good, albeit quirky, little group of kids), the vast majority of me (and them!) is ready for summer! I've got a full summer schedule (think 3 weddings and accompanying parties/showers, an internship with my school system, teaching swim lessons, and a trip to Las Vegas!) but I'm just really ready to drop the stress and fuss of school.

And I'm ready (and desperately need) to get serious about working out again. I'm itching to really put my Garmin to work, finally fetch my bike from my parents' house, and it looks like I'll even have a place to swim this summer! So here's the plan:

June 11: China Grove 5K Main Street Challenge
This is a fun night race and I'll get to run with my mom and sisters!

June 27: Kure Beach Triathlon
I haven't done a triathlon in a few years and I'm ready to get back in the saddle. The Kure Beach race is fun because it's a double sprint (swim, run, bike, run, swim), it's an ocean swim, and it ends on the beach!

I did this race in 2006 and it was quite interesting. There was a hurricane off in the Pacific and the ocean was intensely rough. They encouraged weak swimmers to skip the swim portion, but I thought that was wimpy. I saw the first wave of swimmers go out and when a few of them came back, I thought that was wimpy too. When I went out into those raging waves, I didn't think it was so wimpy anymore. It was r.i.d.i.c.u.l.o.u.s. Every stroke I took, I was pushed back 3. I was tumbled upside down and backwards and my goggles couldn't stay on my head. I ended up grabbing a floating lifeguard's rescue tube and sobbing, "I'm a freaking lifeguard! Why is this so hard?!" After resting for a minute and getting some reassuring words from the lifeguard, I was able to move on and finish the swim. (Meanwhile, my never-panicking-relentlessly-practical mom is on shore, scanning for me for my bobbing head for over 13 minutes and praying for God to rescue me from the sea.)

The run and bike were quick and easy, but my mom was waiting in the transition area attempting to convince me not to go back into the ocean, "It would really be fine if you just skipped the second swim. You don't HAVE to do it. We all know you COULD but maybe you it's not what you SHOULD do." My mind was made up though: I wasn't going to let that ocean defeat me. I jumped back in, but instead of fighting the water, I just took it slow and easy and glided right through that last 375 meters with no problem. I learned you can't race in a hurricane.

So now it's time to tackle Kure Beach again!

September 4: Take the Lake
This is our big local event. It's not really a race, just a particiption event, but I'll be keeping times. I swam the lake a few years ago and last year Mom and I ran, so both of these should be old hat. Except 4 miles is a looong way to swim. And 15 miles miles is a looong way to run.

September 19: Warrior Dash
I'm so excited about this race I can't put it into words! You get to crawl through mud and under barbed wire, leap through fire, and scale walls...all while running. How could it get better? By combining it with a long weekend trip to New York state to see my best friend and first running buddy, Sarah! I found out about this race from Heather at Run, Mommy, Run, but I hope that Sarah and I can get through it injury-free. Rest up and recover soon, Heather!

And the big event is.......



Undecided.

I want to run my next marathon this fall, but still haven't made the final decision of where/when. The two finalists are the Outer Banks Marathon and the City of Oaks Marathon in Raleigh. What do y'all think? Have any of you ran either of these or heard anything about them?

Running with ID

How many of y'all run with ID? I know that I'm supposed to, but that's just one of those things I haven't got around to yet. I don't know if I should spring for the real thing, or just cram an index card with my name and my husband's phone number in my shoe.

It kind of seems like a moot point here in my husband's (small) hometown though. If I were to ever fall off the sidewalk, not see an approaching car, or get attacked by a wild cocker spaniel, I'm pretty sure I know how it would play out...

Lady who discovers me on her power walk: Oh dear! Mary Jo, there's a fallen runner in the road! Call your nephew over at the fire department!

Mary Jo whips out her cell phone and the paramedics are quickly dispatched. Mary Jo and her friend wait with me (unconscious) for them to arrive.

Mary Jo: Hmm, they say that that running is bad for you. Bad for your knees, too. My cousin's uncle that lived up North was all into that running mess and, bless his heart, died from a heart attack while he was running. It's unnatural, Thelma.

Thelma: Goodness, isn't she ________'s wife?

Mary Jo: I knew she was familiar! ________, from church is his mama. Call Derb and have him get their number from the Presbyterian church directory. Let her know to meet us at the hospital.

By this time, the volunteer fire department paramedics have arrived and Thelma is on the phone.

Paramedic 1: Alright, what we got here? Oh! I've seen her before, but she's not from around here.

Paramedic 2: Oh yeah...she's married to ______________. Remember, I used to date his cousin in high school?

Thelma: Oh, you mean ________________. She's such a sweet girl, how's her daddy doing?

By this time, they've loaded me up in the ambulance and the whole town, including my husband, in-laws, friends, and church circle have been notified. It's a closed case.

So it seems a little silly to worry about being Jane Doe here, but I do occasionally escape from this small town. Maybe I'll order the Road ID after all.

*By the way, this is the post that I complained about Blogger eating a few days ago. The reason that I couldn't find it is because I started it as a draft many months ago and never finished. So when I finished and published, it posted back in August 2009. I just recopied it here. There's your tech tip of the day! (Although I'm pretty sure most of y'all could have figured that out before me.*

What's up, blogger?!

I wrote a long post Thursday and it has totally disappeared! Not in drafts, published, anywhere. Either blogger ate my post or I'm going crazy.

Oh well! After a very rough couple weeks of testing and retesting at school, I'm now very happy with my students' performance and am finally relaxing for the first time in weeks. This 3 day weekend, I'm going to enjoy being lazy. I brought two books to the lake: my Kindle with the unauthorized Oprah biography for my guilty pleasure read and a HTML/web design book that I'm reading cover to cover to indulge my web geek side and get ready for my summer internship. I may go for a short run, but I'm not stressing about mileage or much of anything until Tuesday!

I hope all of y'all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Running in the Rain!

A few weeks ago, I received a facebook invitation to a 5K Fundraiser at my high school, on my high school cross country course. I thought about how fun and nostalgic that would be and tossed into the virtual trash since I live 4 hours from my hometown.

When I heard about the race again, however, I realized that I would be home that weekend for my friend's bridal shower! (Yay, Heather!) I decided that the 5K would be a lovely event with my mom and sister to round out my weekend and even had fantasies of my husband making it his first official race! (Oh, by the way, you should know: the former Mr. "I-don't-understand-the-appeal-of-running" is now officially faster than me. He does have the advantage of his legs being about a foot longer than mine.)

Saturday morning, however, I was glad that we weren't able to talk him into it. As soon as the starting gun went off, the rain fell down. It poured the whole race and created messy mud slides on the trails. I love running in the rain, (I first realized running could be fun during "dry practice" for swim team my freshman year of high school, sprinting laps around the track in a downpour, giggling with my girl friends) but I knew good and well that that type of thing is not my husband's idea of fun.

With the rain, mud, and hills (this is still my original home course and I know it's the toughest in the conference!), I had to adjust my time expectations. I was keeping an eye on the Garmin, watching my time and for signs of distress from being soaked, and decided early on that I'd be happy if I got in under 28:00. Even though I'm slower and fatter, I felt fantastic running around my high school course!

It was good to see a few people from my high school past as well. I could not believe my high school track coach remembered me and was happy to see me! (I was pretty sure he was still holding a grudge from me skipping out on track my senior year.) My cross-country coach, my true running hero and teacher, was not there, but I'm sure I'll get to run with him again someday!

One of the race volunteers caught a picture of me along the course and I think it's really funny because I'm pretty blurry but the dumpster is prominently center and in focus! Even that dumpster reminds me of high school cross-country though, because that's right where we would park (run 5 miles at practice, but too lazy to walk across the school yard to our cars?) and stretch at practice.

Anyway, it was a lovely little race and fun to revisit my running past!

Excuse me, Jillian, have you ever run a marathon?

You've heard me sing Jillian Michael's praises before, right? I have the book, the DVD, have watched approximately 5 seasons of Biggest Loser...yeah, the whole 9 yards. Even though she sometimes takes things to the extreme (i.e. yelling at people who are barfing and falling off treadmills with exhaustion.), I've always had a great deal of respect for her and her methods.

Until last night.

Last night, they aired the "Biggest Loser Marathon." They've done this for a few seasons now and in fact one of my marathon goals last October was to beat Tara's 4:55 finish from last spring. Each time, I've wondered how much actual marathon training the contestants have done. Most runners (like myself) devote months to preparing for their first marathon- building up to longer runs, trying out different fuels, drinking massive amounts of water, and rearranging their eating habits. They don't show any of this on the show. In fact, they don't show any of this (aid stations, water, GUs, etc.) along the run either. They completely downplay all the preparation that goes into an event like that. Bob and Jillian only seem concerned about the weight loss and don't question the contestants at all about their marathon training.

I know this season's winner, Daris, was taking his training seriously though. He smashed the previous Biggest Loser record by crossing the finish line at 4:02 last night. (Anybody want to guess what my new marathon goal time is?) It was clear that he had crossed over from "reality show contestant" to "runner" and I was happy to welcome him into our fold.

A few hours (or maybe a day, I'm not quite sure about the timeline) later, however, it was time for Daris to defend his title as a "weight loss contestant" and step on the scale. I cringed a little. I lost about 6 pounds training for my marathon and I thought that was pretty lucky. Many marathoners gain weight from all that necessary carb loading. The week of the race, however, as I geared up for the big day, I ended up gaining back a few pounds. The day after, the scale showed all 6 of those pounds back on. It was just a temporary increase from all that extra water and food, but that water and food got me through 26.2 miles!

So, I was not surprised at all when Daris had a 2 pound weight gain. He said (without really any regret or apology) that he had been more focused on the marathon than on weight loss. "Hurrah!" replied me and runners around the globe. Obviously, this guy has found a healthy activity that he's passionate about and will continue with in the future. He's already under 200 pounds and in great shape.

Bob and Jillian did not share our enthusiasm. Bob was livid and Jillian dropped something that had to be bleeped. "What do you mean it's hard to lose weight while marathon training?" "Don't tell me about how you are just running and gain weight. That doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense."

Beneath all their accusations, Daris' pride quickly morphed to shame and backpedaling. I was h.o.r.r.i.f.i.e.d. Bob and Jillian know that gym backwards and forward; they know all there is to know about weight training and cardio pump and "last chance workouts" but apparently they don't know _____ about running a marathon.

I've been lurking around the internet (obviously, this has been irking me!) and discovered that Bob has, in fact, run 3 marathons, but I'd be real interested in seeing his times. I cannot find any evidence that Jillian has completed a marathon. I did however find a lot more people irked by all this! Like Jamie, Tall Mom on the Run, Run, Momma, Run, J at Kissing Frogs, Amy, and Laura.

So, Jillian, let's see you lace up for 26.2.

Why am I only attracted to bad runs?

I know I should be attracted to nice runs. I should be content to trot along quiet sidewalks and around neighborhoods, but I'm not. Nice runs are too calm, too quiet, and they just don't keep me interested.

Now, a bad run, however, I just can't resist. I know they're not what I'm supposed to be doing, but I just fall back into the same patterns.

Right now, I'm pretty out of shape and I should have got out on a nice run around the neighborhood and called it a day. Even though I knew I shouldn't, I let a bad long run talk me into going out tonight.

We were supposed to just go for 2 miles or so, but a naughty run can always talk me into going further than I know is right. At first, it was "just to the bypass" and then "it wouldn't hurt anything to go off the sidewalk and keep going" and then it just feels so natural and you just let one thing lead to another....and you end up doing something very bad, like a 5 mile loop.

Whoops!

A Salad a Day

So the running has exactly been stellar lately. I just am holding out until the end of "busy season" at school and then hoping to get back on track.

Usually when I'm not working out like I should, I tend to just let my eating habits go south as well. (I'm kind of an all or nothing kind of girl, if you haven't noticed.) The past couple weeks though, I've accidentally embarked on a healthier food track. It all started with a bag of lettuce that was past its expiration date....

I love to buy groceries on sale, in bulk. (I ALWAYS have at least 3 boxes of oatmeal in my pantry.) I know the Food Lion sales cycles and it usually works out for me. Even if we don't eat something before the expiration date rolls around, there's always the freezer. Meat, vegetables, bagels, it's all up there- bought at the peak of sales and lying in wait frozen.

There's pretty much only one thing that I can't freeze and that's lettuce. So when I discovered a bag of salad greens (only just a little) past the expiration date in my crisper, I had to take immediate action and pack a salad to take to school that day. And it still seemed to be okay the next day, so salad again it was. Then, when I shopped that afternoon, I just couldn't resist a buy-one-get-one-free coupon on two fresh bags of spinach and lettuce! At this point, I'm packing a salad each day for lunch just trying to keep a little ahead of the expiration dates.

(I should mention, at this point, that I've only been a salad eater for a few years, and really only started "craving" salads in the past months. I think I was served a salad about once a year in my childhood, so it didn't really catch on. It's really amazing in itself that I'm making or eating these green dishes at all.)

Anyway, my students seem to be amazingly obsessed with whatever I'm eating, sometimes trying to get their little faces and hands alarmingly close to my food. I feel pretty lame and a horrible example when I get questions like, "Oh! What kind of Hot Pocket is that?!" ("Kids, it's a Lean Pocket, okay, that would be totally disgusting if I ate Hot Pockets on a weekly or more basis. Those 10 fewer calories are a really big deal.") or "Why can't we bring Mexican leftovers to warm up?" ("Well, kids, you have to be a grown-up to eat this much melted grease off melted styrofoam in the cafeteria. Oh, wait! I forgot you're eating cafeteria food.")

(It's obvious that I don't actually say those things, right?)

So, I always feel better when I pack something healthy and their little eyes light up just as much over whole wheat sandwiches, fish, or yogurt. It's been a real treat though, to field their questions over two weeks of salad: "Agh! Are you eating leaves? Did you forget that you're a teacher and not a giraffe?" ("Dear children, that's real greens with nutrients you see there, not the iceberg filler they put in your side salads.") and "What are those chunks of stuff in your salad?" and especially, "Don't you need to put some ranch on that, Mrs. ______?" ("No, kids, no one needs 3 packets of ranch dressing for one salad or really anything on this earth.")

I hope I don't sound like a food snob here (remember I'm the same girl with the Lean Pockets), but I'm just kind of fed up with this whole cafeteria food thing....but that's an issue for a whole other post. It did make me smile though when one of my students said proudly last week, "Look, Mrs. _______, I'm just like you! I'm having a salad and a bottle of water!" I'm a little bit less ashamed of my example now. Let's see how many more salads I can show off between now and the last day of school!

Mission Accomplished!

Forgive my absence. I've been...

• finishing up my third semester of grad school. (I was so thrilled to be able to turn in my assignments one day before the deadlines!)
• Prepping my babies for end of year testing. (One of my fourth graders came up to me outside, running his little hands through his buzz cut panickingly, and said, "I just need a break! I need to go to the beach and just forget all about this EOG.")
• attending my sister-in-law's graduation.
  
• directing the first annual Farmers Market Fun Run and Walk!

The race was a big success and I'm so tickled about it! We had 116 finishers and filled out all our age groups categories 1st-3rd except for one. (Those males age 20-29 must be slackers!) Everyone seemed to have a really good time and things went smoothly. (Later, I'll post a detailed run down of how everything was organized/timed/recorded/etc. and what I've learned during the process.) All our volunteers (including my lovely sisters, mother, mother-in-law, and husband) were wonderful and many participants had lovely things to say about the event.

My favorite comment from the whole event though, was, "Running this was actually really fun! You might have turned me on to something."

Mission Accomplished! : )

Pre-Race Jitters!

I've got the pre-race jitters big time. It's not the usual fretting about my time or performance, though, in fact, I haven't trained at all. This race is my big event: my first adventure as a race organizer and director!
When I decided to put this event together about 3 months ago, I jumped blind into the deep end of race planning. Fortunately, I've had a lot of support and help along the way (and will in the final few days and race day) and I've been really excited about the response. 115 runners and walkers are registered for the 1st Annual Farmers Market Fun Run and Walk and there are 3 more days to sign up!

Even with all the planning and work that's been put in so far, I've still got butterflies about the big event. I'm laying awake thinking about all the "what ifs" and hoping and checking to ensure that all my ducks are in a row. I have many friends, family, and volunteers helping out, but there are just a lot of little things that I personally have to check off my list!

Even though I'm nervous, I'm very excited that race day is almost here! The t-shirts look great, we have wonderful sponsor support, volunteers are lined up, and most importantly, we have over 100 runners and walkers! I'll let y'all know how it goes!

Oh! In other news, I enjoyed reading your responses to my Running Barefoot post, which as I was corrected by Barefoot Johnny O, : ) was not necessarily about true barefoot running, but some almost barefoot alternatives. To the disappointment of my Vibram-wearing friend, I'm not ready to go that far yet, but I am interested in mixing in some barefoot or near barefoot training. That definitely won't be happening before Saturday though!

Running Barefoot

Caught your eye, didn't I? No, I haven't actually been running barefoot but I've spent a good deal of time (that I probably should be devoting to other matters right now) lately reading/thinking about it.

I probably spent more time than most barefoot as a child. As soon as it was suitably warm, we were allowed to play outside without our shoes and I can recall the feelings of many different textures beneath my feet: grass, rocks, mud, asphalt, and pretty much everything in between. I was frequently caught at the barn without my shoes on and you can imagine that wasn't always a great idea. Like the time I stepped on rusty barbed wire and my last tetanus shot was at a fuzzy undetermined date in the past. (My parents decided I'd probably be fine without the shot. I lived.) Or the time I was standing on a fence and a calf thought my foot would be tasty. (Calves are pretty harmless though; it's just a strange sensation to have your foot in a cow's mouth.)

My dad bragged about his barefoot running on his track team in the 70s and I marveled at the way my grandma could walk across hot gravel without anything between those pointy rocks and her feet. Being barefoot in the elements seemed like a way to prove your grit.

So, of course, I fell hard for the the new "barefoot running" trend of the Nike Frees when they came out in 2005. I was training for my first marathon, was in great shape, and raved about my light, flexible shoes that taught my feet muscles to be strong. I logged hundreds of miles in my first pair while studying abroad and one of my first purchases when I arrived home was my second pair.

Shortly thereafter, however, I started having problems with my knee. I desperately tried to train through it, but a month before my marathon, it was just getting worse. 17 miles into a long run, my knee hurt so badly all I could do was limp home and I had to admit defeat.

I was advised by a doctor with running experience (who may or may not also be my mom) to quit running for at least a month or two to let it heal. After my time off, I went to the running store to seek advice and the owner was horrified when I showed him my Nike Frees and described the training I'd done in them. He said they were definitely the cause of my injury and shoes like that should only be used for short muscle building workouts on a treadmill or track.

I banished the Nike Frees and the dream of near-barefoot running to the back of my closet and moved on with expensive, supportive running shoes. I haven't had any significant knee problems since and was able to go on and finally run that marathon last year.

So, you can imagine my horror when my when best friend and first long run partner caught the latest barefoot running craze: the Vibram Five Finger. I warned her and cautioned her and reminded her of my follies, but to no avail. She insisted these were different and even worth the stares you receive when you wear something that resembles reptile toe socks. I sighed and waited for the inevitable letdown or injury.

Well, she's been running in them for months now and is still loving her Vibrams. Injury free, which is wonderful, but I considered that some kind of lucky fluke of nature. Somewhere along the way, Sarah passed me her copy of "Born to Run" and implied there was some connection between the Vibrams and the book, but that it was mostly a story about running. I started the book months ago and would pick it up now and again, but it was a really slow story to get moving. I took the book to the beach yesterday though and have almost finished it today (like I said, I probably have other things to be focusing on right now, but I'm kind of a compulsive reader...once it gets good, I have a hard time stopping until the end.)

It turns out that "Born to Run" is not only a passionate story about running and its history, but a very compelling piece of propaganda for Sarah's point of view and this whole barefoot running thing. (I think she was well aware of that when she loaned it to me.) It's got me really, really wanting to ditch my shoes and just sprint off into the distance, despite my unfortunate falling out with near-barefoot running before.

The whole logic behind the barefoot running movement is that barefoot is natural, running is natural and running shoes are not. The rate of running injuries has increased dramatically since the advent of specialized running shoes and many competitive runners all over the world and throughout history train barefoot. There are some interesting ideas and research in the book and it's prompted me to explore around the internet on the topic too.

Anyway, have y'all read "Born to Run" or had any experience in the whole barefoot running department? I highly recommend the book even if you think trading in your padded shoes is crazy. I'm kind of on the fence about which side of the debate sounds crazier now, so, Sarah, consider this a win in your book. : )

Blah................

In the next two weeks, I need to get my kids ready for the End of Grade tests, finish my grad school final projects, direct my first 5K race (almost 100 runners and walkers signed up!), and attend 2 out of town graduations. There's a lot to be done. I'm getting there but I feel like I'm dragging my feet all the way.

Running/exercising/healthy eating has not been a consistent part of my life lately. I've got the big time blahs about it. I think my husband is draining all the "health energy" out of our house. (Did I mention that he went running twice in one day last week?) I was so thrilled to get my Garmin and he's ended up using many more times than I have so far.

I think part of it is post-birthday let down. When I look towards every birthday, first day of school, race, wedding (okay, there was only one of those), summer, or any other semi-significant event, I always picture myself at that magical, ideal weight/speed/health level. And every time that event passes and I'm just the same, I'm just a little disappointed. (Once, when I was in high school, my aunt told me,"If a woman can't lose weight for her wedding, she can't lose weight for anything." That off-hand comment stuck with me...especially when I could not lose weight for my wedding.) By now, I should understand cause/effect and just accept the consequences of my actions. (Don't I ask my my students to do that all the time?) The only times I've been successful in losing a decent amount of weight have been when I was marathon training. Which is kind of frightening because it tells me I'm ALWAYS eating enough calories to support 26 mile runs, even when my only current exercise is grading papers.

I need a new race (preferably a marathon if I want to lose weight) or crazy goal. I don't seem to function well without one.

Belated Blog Birthday

(I just couldn't resist the alliteration!)

So I completely didn't get around to celebrating my blog's 1 year birthday yesterday because I was too busy celebrating my 25th!

Although the original intent of this blog was to keep me accountable for all 365 days of running (and that has obviously been a FAIL on my part), I have definitely reaped benefits! I have so very much enjoyed discovering all of you lovely people and your blogs. Y'all have definitely kept me accountable for many a run and I've learned so much from you in the fields of running, food, and just life in general!

So thank you for a lovely blog birthday! I'm looking forward to (and will soon let you in on) my goals for this year of my life and blog!

Reorganizing

If you've popped by my blog anytime this week, I apologize if you've encountered a mess. I just discovered "blogger in draft" and feel foolish for going so long without it!

I'm still moving things around and figuring this out, so let me know if you see anything you love or hate. I'm working on my masters in Instructional Technology and have pretty much become a huge tech nerd so I love this kind of thing. Between school, life, and grad school, I'm created a ridiculous amount of websites, blogs, online courses and projects over the past year. I live on my laptop. I'm pretty sure my husband's going to throw it out the window one day.

Tomorrow's my blog's birthday so I better get it together!

I tried to tell y'all....

I can't believe some of y'all were happy to go to the 25-30 age group! There must be a different breed of runners in your areas because I need you to check out the age group results from the 10K I ran on Saturday....

Yay! I came in second! If I had known 1st was less than a minute ahead of me, I could have pulled out a little more push that last mile.


Umm...yeah. I can't compete with people who run almost 7:00 minute miles. Especially when they are able to run 6 consecutive 7:07 miles.

Maybe I'll have some kind of speed epiphany when I turn 25. I doubt it. I'm not really into aiming for specific times right now, but I could see myself really getting into that and training for speed at some point. Especially if I had a competitive running partner.

Any of y'all really get into speedwork and drastically drop your times? What age group are you terrified of or overjoyed about?

Oak Island Lighthouse 10K

I went back and forth about registering for this race since it was over an hour drive and it's been a different kind of week, but in the end, I decided to sign up and I'm so glad I did! There are few running events within driving distance of here, so I hardly ever get to do casual short races unless I'm home visiting family.

One thing that prompted me to sign up the realization that I'm going to be moving up an age group in just one week! Unfortunately, this age-group move, is NOT going to be benefical to me. (Unlike my mom's last age-group move; She was THRILLED to be turning 50. "Now I won't have to compete with those 45-year-olds anymore! I'll be young and spry compared to those 54-year-olds!")

The 19-24 Female Age Group is not that competitive. Really good runners in that age range are on college track and cross country teams and not messing with the weekend races. Many others in that group are still in bed at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning. So the few of us that are out there are pretty likely to snag an age group award!

The 25-30 Female Age Group, however, is a whole 'nother ball game. Those former college cross country stars need somewhere to keep competing and you better watch out for those hardcore new moms with the jogging strollers!

Anyway...back to today's race: the Oak Island Lighthouse 10K. It was a decent sized race with over 400 participants between the 5K and 10K so I was surprised they didn't have chip timing. They trolley-ed us out to the race start, which was at the bottom of the bridge that leads out the island. (I was more than a little nervous about running over this huge bridge on a windy morning. Luckily, though, they had the road blocked and we got to run right up the center of the road, away from the low railings and the potential tumble to the waterway below.) I guess since we were right on the bridge, they couldn't set up a starting line. We were all just milling around in a pile when they called "Start!" without much fanfare or warning.

The bridge was windy, but not so bad, but within that first mile, my legs started doing funny things. My right shin was hurting so badly that I had to stop to stretch twice and I was running on the sand and grass beside the road because the pavement just made it worse. Before mile the halfway point, both calves were cramping and I was just in general, not happy with the way things we're going. It was hot and I had no idea what my pace was since I was stopping to stretch. I was fantasizing about my soon-coming Garmin (which actually arrived later today!!!!) and frustrated because I didn't see any mile markers after Mile 3. Somewhere along the way though, my legs worked themselves out and I started to get myself together. I felt pretty good by the time I reached the end and was pleased and surprised to make it in under 58 minutes!

I didn't feel like sticking around for awards, but my friend that happened to be there for the 5K texted me later to tell me I won 2nd in my age group! Like I said though, this is my last race in the 19-24 group, so I better savor this, because I don't anticipate another award for a good decade or so.

So, all in all, a good run! Have any of y'all experiencing random shin/calf pain out of nowhere like that though? I hope it was just a fluke!

Go hug your grandma!

My husband's grandma (the destination of all those "grandma loop" runs) passed away this week after almost 91 years of excellent health and then a gradual decline over the past months and weeks. I'm very close to my own grandma at home and other the past couple years my husband's grandma has been a kind of a surrogate grandma since we live here instead of near my family.

She was an exceptional, caring, funny lady and will be greatly missed by everyone in my husband's family and the countless people who she loved and welcomed as family. We're so grateful though that we were able to have her so long. All she asked God for was to live long enough to see her three children grow up that they could take care of each other. According to her, after her youngest child (my mother-in-law) graduated from nursing school, anything after that was "borrowed time." She was surprised and felt blessed that she was able to see her grandchildren grow up too and even meet a few great-grandchildren.

Obviously, life as normal take a pause during a time like this, and running has dropped by the wayside. I'm making the time to call my own grandma more often (when I can catch her between tilling her garden, mowing, and watching my little cousins. She is NOT allowed to use the bushhog or climb on top of the garage anymore though!) and want to make sure I don't take her, my other grandparents, or anyone in my life for granted.

Now, you make sure to do the same! Go hug your grandma!