2008 Recap

I'm really not big on New Years Eve, New Years Day, or the resolutions that people make. I understand that it is nice to reflect on the past year and contemplate the good and bad decisions that were made to try to make the next year better. 2008 was extremely kind to me...

• I made it through my job flying solo at multiple meetings. I traveled to Mexico and Florida for work. I also got the standard raise and a performance-based raise this last year.
• I paced the Austin marathon last year and with my partner, Jennifer, won the Pacer Queen award.
• Chad and I got married and took a fantastic honeymoon in France. It was a trip of a lifetime.
• I trained hard over the entire summer only to become injured during the first week of my taper. It was humbling to have to put aside my goals at the last minute because my body would not cooperate.
• I made lots of new friends and reconnected with many old friends this year.
• Erin and Tara both moved back to Austin after living away for awhile. Overall throughout the whole year, it has been a great year spending time with girlfriends.
• We sold and bought a house this year and had our first Christmas together as a married couple in our new house.
• I am being treated for hypothyroidism (finally!) and other hormone issues and am finally feeling like myself again.
• I learned to cook lots of new things this year.

This year has brought me patience, confidence, more self-awareness, frugality, and overall a better sense of the woman that I am becoming. I can only imagine what the next few years will bring.

Happy New Years to everyone. Cheers!

Half marathon...and more

I'm get it. I understand. There is a difference between normal training for a race and training like Team Rogue trains.

With no disrespect to anyone who might be reading this who does not do this kind of training, I feel the need to talk about my 'medium long run' that I did last night. Fourteen miles is by no means the furthest distance I will run on a Tuesday or Thursday coming up in the next few months. It is, however, the longest weekday run I have ever had scheduled in all of my training groups so far to date. I remember when Mac had 12 on the schedule for a mid-week run during my first Boston training group and I thought he was insane.

I met Tara for the first 7 miles...my legs were feeling a little sluggish the first mile or so. We started to get into a rhythm and before we knew it our seven miles ended at a 1:03:26 or a 9:04 pace. Not bad. I ran the second seven miles by myself with my iPod. Since it was beginning to get dark, I guess I picked up the pace out of subconscious fear of the boogieman. My second 7 miles was 1:00:53 making my total 14 mile time 2:04:19 (or 8:53 pace).

It didn't dawn on me until I got in the car that my run was anything I would consider to be special. Then I started thinking...I know people who would love to do a half marathon in 2:04. I remember when I would love to run a 2:04. Then I realized that I ran the whole 14 in 2:04 and I needed to figure out what my time would have been for a half marathon at that pace. If I had been running a half marathon last night, I would have clocked 1:56:22. That is freaking cool! I reminded myself again that I did run a half marathon last night..and more. On a random Tuesday.

I am not a badass. I am faster than some people and slower than some people. However, running 14 miles a respectable race pace for my age group on a random Tuesday night is super cool.

You know you missed me.

It's great when people post on their blogs. When my blog friends stop posting for a while, I miss them, too. Life has been so full of things lately that blogging seemed like a chore. I'm close to being back to my normal routine, so hopefully blogging will be more routine as well.

Running Update - sound familiar?

One of the things I've been looking forward to about training with Team Rogue is to see how my body/pace responds to the high mileage. My normal easy pace has been somewhere between 9:00 and 9:30, depending on my overall fitness and mileage.

I remember reading all of the blogs of folks who participated in the high mileage build-up last summer being a wee bit jealous that their easy pace kept getting faster and faster. I was doing so much quality/speed work over the summer that I had trouble recovering in time to bump up my easy run pace. Every easy mile felt slow because my legs were always recovering from some brutal workout on the track.

Now that I'm building up my mileage without all of the quality workouts, I'm finding that my easy pace has started to drop...as in getting faster. The past 3 runs that I've done have been a 16 miler, a 6 miler, and an 8 miler. I did these three runs in 8:58 pace, 8:48 pace, and 8:55 pace respectively.

Do I expect every run to be under 9:00 pace? No, definitely not. However, I'm excited to know that three runs in a row have felt okay and have been surprisingly 'fast'. Hopefully my legs will continue to feel strong enough after this 60 week...70, 80, 86, 90, 90, 90...

Coffee Firsts...

I used a couple of our wedding gifts for the first time today...

Cuisinart Grind Central Coffee Grinder



It was very easy to set up and use. I followed the directions and used some whole coffee beans that I purchased at Whole Foods in their bulk bean section. I like how you can store the ground beans in the stainless steel bowl with the plastic lid they give you.

Cuisinart Brew Central™ 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker



The instructions were a little more complicated than the bean grinder, but I managed to figure out the water filter set-up and figured out how to brew a small batch of coffee. I like how there is a setting for 1-4 cups so that I get a hot cup even though I'm only brewing a little bit. I also like how easy this coffeemaker is to work, despite having a few bells and whistles over the basic coffeemaker. Plus, it's stainless and a little bit retro-looking for the kitchen.

The results? I liked my gigantic cup of coffee, though I think I'm going to experiment with the brands/flavors/grind setting/measured amount so that I get it exactly the way I like.

How do I take my coffee? No cream, just sugar (preferably raw sugar to get the yummy caramel/molasses flavor). My favorite coffee? Kona coffee, medium-dark roast.

Back at it officially

I am fully paid for Team Rogue Spring 2008 as of today. I have been officially training for 3 weeks and just finished a 55 mile week. This week is 60, on my way to 90.

Chad and I are also both officially registered for the Country Music Marathon in Nashville on April 25th. Soon after that we will be in Maui for a week...I hope I look really good in my bikini by then.

Christmas Pics are up

They are here.

The Move

We moved! Pics of the house are on my Picasa page, but there are lots more that have been taken since then. Our close date was on Dec 18, we had movers scheduled on Dec 21, and we had told our family that we would have them over for Christmas Day festivities. So...much to do.

We packed and packed and packed. I spend the whole day on Friday doing shelf paper and cork drawer liners in the kitchen to replace the nasty, ugly shelf paper that was already there. I also unpacked 90% of our wedding gifts and unloaded them all into the cabinets. We had already opened all of our wedding gifts and some of the items had already made it into regular rotation, but there were so many things that couldn't be opened because of lack of storage space in our old condo.

After the move, I spent the entire day on Monday unpacking while Chad had to work. I also spent half of the day on Tuesday unpacking boxes. We were able to put up the tree and decorate the living room by Tuesday night...finally, it felt like Christmas!

Here's Felicia posing in front of the tree.

Much Belated...Snow Pics

It snowed in Austin a while back (some places more than others). Chad and I were still living in the condo off of SW Parkway, and the snow there was thick enough to stick on the cars, roofs, and on the ground in a few places.

The snow on the roof did not melt completely until midafternoon.

On the ground.

The snow on the big houses behind our condos.

WWY loves the snow!

Lots to catch up on...but first...

This is my new favorite song to run to. Single Ladies - Beyonce. If you're reading this in Google Reader or the like, you can't hear it. Seriously, it makes me run faster, and I'm not even a single lady.

Week 2 - midweek check-in

I'm on week 2 of my 90 mile build. The schedule says 7-12-7-5-off-14-5 for a total of 50 miles. Last week I had to adjust my schedule and take Wednesday off instead of Friday, and this week has turned into the same situation. I had plans last night with a friend and knew that it would be easier to push the 7 and 5 milers to Thursday and Friday because of my flexible work schedule.

Monday - Tara and I ran 7 miles on Shoal Creek in the afternoon. It was freezing with a strong headwind as we ran north. BRRR!!!! We are tough chicks, though, so we finished just fine.

Tuesday - I needed to run 12, while Tara needed to run 10. I got my 2 miles in and met Tara to finish the rest of the 10 that we needed. We ran on Town Lake and used Chad's Garmin to free-run in South Austin a little. We went to Stacy Pool (which had water and a bathroom) while we wandered through Travis Heights. At the end of the run we were lucky enough to be able to run the trail of lights before it was open to the public at 7pm. I think we caught it at about 6:10pm, and it was pretty enough without every single light being on. Oh, and since it was so cold, it was the second day of running in tights in a row and was the sixth day of running back to back days. My hips were starting to hurt, which always happens when I have to wear tights.

Wednesday - off - I learned how to make crepes from a Belgian exchange student who is here in Austin staying with the family of one of my friends. It was awesome seeing the 'recipe' come out of her head...it is something that she just knows how to make. I got to practice making lots of crepes last night, so I know I have the cooking and flipping part down. Hopefully when I try to make them on my own, they will turn out just as good. We had them with Nutella, but I'm looking forward to making the 'sucre citron' version with fresh lemon juice and sugar. They sure were delicious!

Thursday - this morning I met Tara to run at 5:30 am. The fog was nice! We ran 5 miles together and then I tacked on two more to make it a seven miler. I'm relieved that I only have 5-14-5 left for the week! Oh, and running through fog makes your skin feel really nice. It was kind of like a steam bath, but cold instead.

Boxes, Boxes, and More Boxes

I'm in the middle of packing up our condo. Most of the crap here is my crap. Chad's stuff other than clothes is mostly in boxes already. I didn't realize how efficiently I had loaded up my condo...seems like everytime I think I'm almost through with an area, I discover at least 2-3 additional boxes worth of crap. I think I must be about 60% finished because I'm at the point where I can start to see the end but know still have a long way to go.

This afternoon we close on the house. Wahoo! I plan to have a carload of easy stuff to take up to the house this evening. My goal is to get a bunch of kitchen stuff to the house tonight as well as the big computer and at least one of the big TVs.

Tomorrow we have the carpet cleaners coming to steam clean at 9am. I plan to clean and unpack kitchen items tomorrow morning while the rest of the house is unavailable for foot traffic. Our Time Warner appointment is between 1 and 5 so I hope to get a carload or two from the house around the lunch hour before they call and continue the unpacking in the new house after the carpet has dried. I also can work from the new house using my blackberry as a modem. I only took half of a day off Friday, so I need to get a legit 4 hours of work in at some point in the day.

Saturday we have the rest of the day to pack up my condo and have a Christmas party to attend in the evening. My goal is to be completely packed before the party, but I don't know if it will happen.

Sunday is the big move. We hired movers (thank goodness!), but there is a chance that all of our stuff won't fit into the truck. At this point in my life I don't like having to haul boxes myself. However, if it means that our movers can make everything in one trip on Sunday, I'm glad to take trips between now and Sunday morning to help transport the little stuff and our fragile items.

Running in Red

The topic of red running clothes came up this weekend on our long run. Brian saw Tara and I and noted that he knew it was me because of my red shirt. My response to a remark about red running clothes is always this - 'Red makes you faster'. It is the truth. If you are wearing red, it will make you run faster.

It's just a superstition that I have. Red is fiery. Red is hot. Red says you mean business. Red is a power color. Try wearing red during a race...see if you don't run faster.

Back to Rogue

I guess I can talk about my spring goals now that I have started running again. I took about 6 weeks off of running after St. George to let my legs heal. Once I could run again without any pain I started upping the mileage and have been running with Tara earlier in the day. It has been really nice to run starting at 4-5pm rather than having to wait until almost 6. There have been so many days that we have been done running by 6pm and can just chill out the rest of the evening. It's also nice to not have to run in the dark these days.

So, what's next? Tara and I have been talking about joining Team Rogue. We went to hear Steve talk about the upcoming season on Dec 9. I know that the high mileage training will work for me and I'm excited to already be building my miles. I completed week 1 of the 90 mile build-up last week and am now on week 2. So far, the only thing that has been painful was the overly-hilly 14 miler that we ran on Saturday (which was really 14.65 according to gmaps) and the freezing cold temps this week. Other than that, I'm not hurting with the mileage increase, yet. I'm looking forward to running the medium long run (12 miles) this afternoon.

I've sent Steve an email with my recent running history and a little bit about what I would like to accomplish this spring. I'm looking forward to talking to him at office hours next week about his thoughts on my running. My body's response to the high mileage training is the unknown in all of this. I know my body has handled multiple 65-70 mile weeks in a row with 2 quality workouts a week. I've peaked at 70 miles in two or three different seasons thus far. Ninety miles as my peak weeks should be a goal that I can shoot for, so hopefully my body will cooperate. If not, I won't be too disappointed about running fewer miles.

I plan to run the Country Music Marathon in Nashville. It is the weekend after Marathon Monday in Boston. I have no official time goal yet, but I know that this is not my ultimate goal race...I'm saving that for the fall. We'll just have to wait and see how my body responds to the training and see if I will be running 3:40, 3:35, 3:30 or better come April.

House Stuff

We've got lots of house stuff going on this week! Yesterday we closed on the sale of Chad's townhome...YAY! I've never been through the process of closing on a house, so it was somewhat interesting to sit in the meeting and listen to what happens. Being on the seller's side, we had it pretty easy. The couple that bought his house seem like nice folks and since they have been living in a 1BR apartment, I think they're really going to enjoy the extra space and the garage.

We close on our new house on Thursday afternoon. Now that it is getting closer to the actual date, I'm super excited! There is a ton of work that I have to do at my house to get packed up. We have the carpet steam cleaners coming on Friday morning, cable and internet appointment between 1 and 5 on Friday, and the moving truck is all set for Sunday morning. We'll probably be moving some things by hand on Thursday night through Saturday just because we are excited to be moving in. I can't wait to be in the new house and set up our Christmas decorations!

That's all for now on the house front. Wish me luck packing boxes!

Pounded by a Sledgehammer

My body was pounded by a sledgehammer. My bones ached. Moving my body was impossible. I may be exaggerating a little, but last night was so painful as I realized that a stomach virus was settling into my body. My stomach and intestines rumbled and grumbled for hours. Within 30 minutes, my headache turned into a shoulder ache turned into a backache turned into a full body ache. After a round in the bathroom screaming out to Chad after every embarrassing sound...'This is just wrong'...'I'm hurting my feelings.'...trying to control my laughing at how miserable I felt.

Immodium came to my rescue as I tried to crawl back into the couch and get comfortable. My bones continued to ache all evening. At my breaking point, I realized how badly I was hurting and begged for Advil. I tried to sit up and it felt like my bones were breaking in two. Of course at that point I started crying like a baby. What a mess!

An hour after Advil my body still ached and I took my temperature again and again...99.1, then 100.8, then 101.0. Yikes! Full blown stomach virus with fever.

Do I feel better today? Somewhat. My bones don't hurt, but my abdomen does. I had a low grade fever when I woke up - 99.1. I expect it will rise slightly during the day. My plan to get better? Sleeping, eating peppermints, drinking water and decaf hot tea, cuddling with kitties.

Tagged!

I got tagged by Diana, and since I obviously don't mind sharing, I'll continue the game.

Here's how this all works -
*Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog
*Share 7 random/weird facts about yourself
*tag 7 other people and link to them at the end of your blog
*let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment

Seven random things about me:
1. I was accepted to UT by the College of Engineering and by the School of Music (as a Music Performance major). I chose Engineering on a whim when I was finally forced to register for classes. I sometimes wonder how much my life would have been different if I chose differently.
2. I have never been stung by a bee, but mosquitos love me.
3. I can feel seasick when standing on a dock.
4. I held a couple of Texas age group state records in swimming when I was younger.
5. My senses of smell and taste are apparently well above average.
6. I attended Pond Springs Elem., Deerpark Middle, and McNeil HS all during their first year as a new school.
7. I regularly dream things that come true.

I tag:
Melissa - who needs one more thing to take up her time.
Mike - who probably has lots of fun random things to share.
Ken - who has been quiet lately.
Kate - who has also been quiet lately.
Leah - who rocks.
Erin - who I know so much about already.
Laurel - who is like and unlike her sister.

What's been goin' on?

I was reminded by Mike today that I hadn't blogged in a while. Here's what has been going on with me/us...

• We got an offer on Chad's house. We made it through the inspection and option period with the buyer, so now we're waiting on the close date to be scheduled by Dec 15. Yay!
• After we got the offer on Chad's house, we officially started our search for houses (even though we've been looking for about a year). We found a place and put an offer on it, contingent on the sale of Chad's house. We're beyond the inspection and option period on our new house, so we're looking to close on or before Dec 18. Woohoo!
• I've been running more and more without pain. I've done lots of 7 mile runs and even did a 10 miler this weekend.
• I ran the Turkey Trot. My performance was much better than I thought it would be because I've been injured and haven't done any speed work for about 2 months. I ran an 8:10 pace with the following disclaimers - I started a minute back in the crowd and had a crazy first mile weaving around folks. I was wearing headphones. I helped Monique push her double stroller up West Lynn. An 8:10 pace on that course with those disclaimers amounts to a 7:50 pace on a flatter course where I don't help with a stroller. Regardless, I'm extremely happy with the time.
• We had 4 Thanksgiving dinners again this year. I will not ever do that again if I can help it. Next year I'd rather cook at my house than have to eat 4 separate meals. I love our families, but sheesh! Enough is enough.

There's not much else...What do you want to know?

Unintended Side Effect...The Need to Shop

If you've been following some of my more personal posts over the last six months, you know that I have been dealing with some thyroid issues as well as 'lady problems'. I've been seeing an endocrinologist and have been taking my new prescriptions now since the end of September/early October. My follow up appointment with the doctor is next week and I am due to go in for a round of bloodwork today to check my hormone levels.

Anyhoo...There has been a development (err, should I say 'developments') over the last few weeks that has become much more noticable in my appearance. I suspected my boobs were bigger a couple of weeks ago, but put it off as just having gained a couple of pounds. You lady runners know that if you stop heavy training for a while, you gain a few pounds back and start to get back some of your 'padding' to fill back in some of your curves. What I started to notice however is that I have my 155 pound breasts instead of my 145 pound breasts. I've only gained five pounds since the end of my 55-70 mile running weeks, so I don't really weigh all that much more to warrant these ladies up here...I should only have the boobs that go with my 145 pound body. Over the last few days they have really begun to look bigger. They are not huge melons...I'm dreading what my male audience must be picturing at this point. Most people probably wouldn't even notice a difference. I've just been a small chested girl for as long as I can remember and these breasts are the biggest I've ever had in my life.

So, I had to finally go shopping for bras yesterday. They should list 'need to shop for lingerie' as a side effect on the medicine warning labels. You ladies know that it can be torture to try on 15-20 bras to determine the right band/cup ratio for each brand in the store. You have to have a smooth cup bra for t-shirts and clingy things. You need at least one 'nude' color and one black. Potentially a strapless or convertable strap bra is also on the list. Bra shopping takes forever and it is expensive. It's not like you can be a man and just go get a multi-pack of boxers or briefs or boxer briefs and be done with it at a small cost. In the end, I bought four...nude and comfortable (un-sexy), light pink t-shirt bra, black t-shirt bra, and a strapless bra that was on sale. Ouch for the wallet, but my day-to-day life will be much more comfortable now.

Am I complaining about having bigger boobs? No. Not at all. It is awesome for now, since I've never experienced them. I just think it is really weird to be 'growing' at 31. And, no, I'm definitely not pregnant if that's what you are thinking.

Kitty Lovin'

I caught the following love-fest between Miko and Beans this morning. Miko loves to lick his head. We say she is trying to lick him to death. The look on her face at the end confirms it.

Milestone for WWY

My car (WWY) reached a milestone over the weekend. She's a 2000 Honda Accord, so she has been on the road a long time. However, there have been a few years of her life where she did not accumulate many miles on her odometer.

She reached 100,000 miles this weekend and we were able to document the rollover on video and in pictures. (A note about the video...I hadn't had a shower in at least 24 hours and we had just come from hiking. Close range video of my face and profile was probably not a good idea. And yes, I know I sound like a hick sometimes.)

Pinching Pennies

During the month of October (and still today), we were pounded over the head by the media about the economy, living within our means, living on a budget, and the overall financial state of American families. Oprah regularly airs programs with Suze Orman discussing all sorts of financial issues. Suze helps families dig out of financial holes, educates them on how to live within their means, and just overall provides examples of everyday things that we should watch out for to make sure we are not wasting our money on unnecessary things.

I don't consider myself someone who has dug herself into any kind of hole. Chad certainly is conservative with his money and spending habits. This post is not intended to boast or brag about being in a good financial situation. Everyone, regardless of their financial means, has a responsibility to use their money wisely and prepare for the future. It is sad to see people with good jobs who make more money than me living paycheck to paycheck simply because of poor spending habits.

I'd like to share some new things that I've taken to heart about being frugal and pinching pennies. These are things that many people do, so if you think 'Big deal, Sadie, I've been doing this for years', then whatever...keep doing what you're doing. I just think there are a lot of people out there who won't do the easiest of things to save little bits of money.

• I've used coupons in the past, but now I'm trying to maximize my coupon usage and put the saved amount into savings. On my last trip to HEB I saved $7.50. Over the past couple of weeks I've saved close to $30. Coupons are in the paper. They're online. Use them.
• I'm not ordering iced tea (or other beverages) at restaurants as often...I order water. At about $2.oo a pop, I've been saving $4-10 a week. That amounts to $200-$520 a year just on iced tea. Ridiculous! Plus, we all know we shouldn't complain about our weight and order soft drinks.
• Another beverage issue - wine. I'm trying to limit the amount of wine I drink in restaurants. It is simply an expense that I can give up most of the time. Most of the wine in the casual restaurants we go day-to-day serve 'cheap' wine at an unreasonable price. I'd rather buy an entire bottle of a better quality wine for the price that I'd pay for two glasses at a restaurant and enjoy the wine at leisure at home. It is a better experience getting to hold the bottle, read the label, and share with Chad rather than getting an undersized wine glass and a mediocre drinking experience. On special occasions, I'll still have wine in a restaurant, but the regular choice of saving the restaurant wine money for bottles at home is a wiser choice for me.
• We've been watching more movies at home using our NetFlix subscription. While we will still enjoy an occasional movie in the theater, it just seems like a waste to spend $15-20 dollars on tickets (plus $20-30 for food and drinks at the Alamo Drafthouse if we go there), when we can get a whole month's worth of movies for $15.
• I save bars of soap from hotels that we visit and use them at home. There is the thought that taking the smaller bottled products from hotels is wasteful and not 'green' because of the waste of the packaging and such, but I figure the bar soap doesn't require as much packaging. I haven't bought a bar of soap in two years for my own use, and any liquid soap that we use has been purchased for Chad or was a gift. I've probably saved $10-$50 dollars if you consider the cost of replacing bar soap with liquid shower gel.
• I own a no annual fee AmEx card that pays up to 5% cash back per year on items that I charge. At the start of the year, before a certain amount of annual spending, it pays 0.5%-1% on charges. Once the annual spending hits the certain amount, I earn 1% on regular purchases and 5% on purchases in grocery stores, pharmacies, and gas stations. This card has no limit on the amount of money that it will pay you per year (my no annual fee MasterCard has a similar structure, but it has a limit per year of how much it will pay you and I've hit the limit in years past). At the end of this year, we're likely to get somewhere between $400 and $600 back as a credit on our account. I charge just about everything on this card and pay it off every month. I haven't paid AmEx anything in interest or fees since I've opened the account and last year enjoyed about $350 at the end of the year. That's free money, folks.

There are still things I'd rather pay full price or a higher price for. I'd rather pay a higher price for free-range/cruelty free eggs and meat for Chad. I'd rather pay a higher price for some organic foods. I'd rather pay a higher price for quality products versus a cheap version of something that will end up in a landfill when it breaks or becomes useless. Sometimes brand names really are better.

I don't shop at Wal-Mart or Target because I usually don't need the items that I buy there. There is just way too much temptation for wasteful spending at those stores. I tend to spend too much money on useless items just because they are priced low. It also takes way too much time to navigate the parking lot, the aisles, and the checkout lane. I feel like I'm wasting my life and money in there. Am I crazy for thinking that?

In the meantime, I'll keep doing what I can to pinch the pennies in areas where I am willing to give up a little. It makes me feel better about the occasions I do decide to spend our money on a brand name (or a vacation).

Do you have small things that you do to save money?

Current Affairs

I don't know what to blog about. Here are some things that have happened in the past week or so to me or are things that interest me.

• Book club was this week. We met at Laurel's house, so it was neat to get to see Elle for the first time and to see their house. I mostly enjoyed American Wife, so it was nice to discuss the book with everyone else. If you haven't read it, go to the link and read what it is about. I recommend for both men and women, despite the fact that the cover has a bridal gown on it.
• We've been trying to come to a decision on our housing situation. Chad's place has been on the market for 5-6 months. Just as we were starting to make up our mind and getting excited about the coming few months...surprise! A couple saw Chad's townhome over the weekend and seem very interested. They've asked for a bunch of the paperwork as if they are ready to make an offer. There is no offer, yet, but we are excited at all of the new possibilities.
• My Synthroid and Parlodel are starting to work. My BBT chart looks promising this cycle. We are still not trying to conceive, but it is nice to see that my body temperature graph is looking more like a 'normal' graph than all over the place. I'm crossing my fingers that this month will not include more than one or two days of spotting instead of 7-8 days like in the last two cycles. Usually it starts on day 18, so I have at least four more days to cross my fingers.
• Work is starting to ramp up. A few people at my company have been really bad about responding to my emails and it is causing me some underlying stress. Unfortunately I'm the low person on the totem pole in each situation, so I'm just going to have to find a way to contain my own stress levels. I can't make them email me back, after all.
• My leg was feeling better. Then, it started hurting again. Now it feels somewhat better. I am hesitant to run over 4 miles.
• I have already made my Christmas music mix this year and I love it! I've actually put it on my iPod and have run to it a few times. Maybe if you are good this year, you'll get a copy.
• The Tech game was pretty sucky. I don't really care that Tech beat us. Mostly I care that Texas was not on top of their own game the first half. Most teams have a few series where they hit a 'slump' in the middle of the season. You hope that the slump hits when you play Baylor or Kansas. Oh well. The big grumble that I have about Tech is that they think they are our rivals and that they are a big deal in Texas. Whatever. Most UT students do not consider Tech their rivals...A&M and OU are. Also, Tech is a back-up school for most people. A lot of people end up going to Tech because they couldn't get into UT or A&M. (Maybe that's a little harsh, but it is somewhat true.) I consider them 2nd tier. I hope OK State pounds them.
• I'm so glad Obama was elected president. I voted for him. If you know me, you know I lean to the liberal side of things. I am finding that I'm even more liberal as I age, which apparently is opposite of the trend in America. I like to think that I am more compassionate and aware of the social issues as the years pass. I am becoming more tolerant. I do respect the opinions that are different than mine, however I prefer to listen to the opinions expressed by people that know the issues and have taken the time to educate themselves. It was amazing to see how many people forwarded all sorts of crazy, misinformed emails around (for both parties) before the election. It made me sad to think that people fall for those things. Every time I got one, I tried to do the backgroud research to confirm or deny the statements that were being made. Anyhow, I enjoy belonging to the following demographic categories when the TV people start bringing up the statistics - white non-hispanic female, college educated (some post-graduate), educator (at least formerly), middle income, straight, married, no children, goes to church occasionally. Maybe I should have posted separately about this...this bullet point is getting to be long.

That's about it for now. What else do you want to know?

Birthday Meal Pics

My mom and I have several meals together to celebrate our birthdays in October. On my mom's birthday (October 12), we went to brunch at Olivia on South Lamar. It was so yummy and the day was just beautiful. Here we are.

In the restaurant...

And trying to find our 'good side' outside on the patio. I think this one is the best. Doesn't my mom look great for 55?

To celebrate my birthday, we went to the Grove wine bar. Here we are getting ready to leave.

The weather was also beautiful that evening. We enjoyed sitting on the patio eating our yummy food and trying some flights of wine that we had not tried before.

Chad and I with our multiple wine glasses. Cheers!

Like riding a bike...

...except I don't fall off of it and fracture my arm.

I guess you never forget how to swim. Getting into the pool again felt pretty good. The last time I was part of a team training for anything swim related was seventeen years ago. In the last 17 years, I can count the number of times I've swum laps on my two hands. I really don't like having the smells of the pool on my body, because inevitably I will still smell the pool on my skin long after my hot, soapy shower.

I didn't get back into the pool with an easy distance, either. This morning I swam 2400m. I even crafted a see-how-it-goes workout. 400 free, 200 breast, 200 free, 100 breast kick, 100 free kick, 10x50 free on :55 (it amazes me how slow my freestyle has gotten), 10x50 breast on :55, 100 free kick, 100 breast kick, 200 cooldown (free, back, breast, free). My heartrate was up for a little while, and I can definitely feel that my arms are going to be sore. My stroke technique is still there. I can still turn at the walls. I still have an awesome breaststroke pull-out. I wish I could swim faster, but I guess I can't expect to be as fast as I was in an instant.

Hopefully this is not a random workout and I can start a new swimming habit again.

And, yes, I can still smell the pool stench on my body and in my hair. Ugh!

Thrill the World Austin!

Dancing Thriller was so much fun! Thanks to Erin's post about a week ago, I found the link to the official Thrill the World website and learned the dance using their online videos. Poor Chad had to suffer listening to Thriller about 20 times over the last week while I subjected him to my dress rehearsals.

I got to the Long Center terrace early (as recommended) and put on my zombie make-up and 'grim reaper' dress.

Here's the before (with make-up) -

And the after -

The organizers were pumping Thriller through the speakers all morning for people to practice their moves. There were folks still learning the 'spoken cues' so we had to sit through several rounds of the super slow and the slow version with the cues. The official dance here in Austin was done without any cues, which means that most people were going to have to know the dance without any help. Thankfully, I had done my homework :).

Erin got there and danced a few of the rehearsals without the cues. Here are some shots of us rehearsing.

Booty Bounce -


Zombie March -

and Roar! -


Scare!

Can you see us? Erin's hair makes it easy to spot her :)

The whole process for making this official was really well organized. We all had to sign in as official dancers. We had to wear wristbands. They had to dial in to the official teleconference and record the teleconference as it was in process. The video of the event included part of the teleconference and the countdown. Around the world we all dialed into the teleconference to sync up with the official time. At the end of the dance, we all had to sign out. I hope that we set the world record for our 880+ crowd in Austin.

Thanks very much to Chad for recording our official dance. This isn't the official recording (that was done from the balcony above to our right). Please enjoy. It was so much fun!

Here is the link to the photos from the Statesman online. Very fun!

Here is the link to Statesman Video.

TGIF - Party Time!

Birthday weekend has arrived! I've modified some plans for the weekend, but I think it is going to be very fun regardless of the specific plans that we make. It is all in your state of mind, right?

Tonight we are going to stay in and order our favorite pizzas from Austin Pizza Garden. We have Eastern Promises in on our Netflix, so we'll watch that and drink wine. Hopefully we'll also have an early bedtime. I love my sleep!

Tomorrow will definitely include the Thrill the World event (dancing Thriller at the Long Center)...come and watch...be there by 12:30 to see us dance at 1:00. I've decided on my outfit and makeup and am really excited about it. I'd also like to go to the farmer's market and watch the UT game. We get to go to dinner with my mom.

Sunday will involve whatever...maybe some pumpkin carving, planting fall flowers, sleeping in, enjoying the beautiful weather...followed by our dinner at Zoot. That is one meal that we're splurging on this weekend.

Monday on my day off, I'm definitely sleeping in. I'm going to try to run. I'm also probably going shopping to spend a gift certificate that I have. No massage for me Monday...I had to schedule for Tuesday. Really, I can do nothing and it is perfectly relaxing and can have a perfect birthday. There is a good chance that we will not go out to eat with the in-laws on Monday because Chad's mom is experiencing excruciating back pain and it doesn't seem to be resolving. They also can't find a specific cause for the pain other than some inflammation, so there is no telling when she'll start to feel better. It's okay, though. I don't expect to be taken to dinner on my b-day.

Also, I'm so happy that the weather has turned and that it is so gorgeous outside. This time of year is so beautiful. I'm lucky that my birthday is almost always this pleasant in the weather department.

So whatever you're doing this weekend, have an extra glass of whatever you're having to drink for me...Cheers!

Here comes my birthday!!!

I'm starting to get excited. My birthday is almost here! Last year was the worst birthday ever. My birthday was on Saturday and I turned 30. It should have been a wonderful weekend. How did I ring in my 30s? On the floor of Chad's bathroom, puking my guts out all night long. See here, here, or here if you don't remember.

My birthday is next Monday. Tentatively, I have the following plans -

• Friday - movie at the Alamo, wine drinking
• Saturday - sleep in, walk/run, possibly Farmer's Market, possibly Thriller dancing, watching UT football, dinner with Mom (who knows? maybe @ Mr. Natural)
• Sunday - sleep in, walk/run, who knows what else, fancy dinner at Zoot with Chad (Farmer's tasting menu with wine pairings...mmmm)
• Monday - I have the day off from work - approved vacation day! Sleep in, maybe a massage, lunch with Chad, dinner with in-laws at Olivia (maybe, because Chad's mom is having back problems and we may not be able to go out), otherwise - a low key evening with Chad.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend.

MIA - with time on my hands

I would say things have been really busy lately, but mostly I have just been living life away from the regular routine that I had been in since April. St. George and its corresponding vacation weekend came to an end two Sundays ago. My legs continued to ache, hot spots on muscles, tendons, and just overall fatigue plagued me most of last week. Evenings presented new opportunity for fun, family time, and just overall flexibility of life.

The flexibility of life is so much fun...I had forgotten what that was. Seems like once you devote your energies into training for a marathon, you somewhat self-righteously give up a certain amount of flexibility in your life. Most runners I know are slaves to the schedule whether they will admit it or not. Their life is about eating, working, running, family obligations, and sleeping. There is little time for much else. It is amazing when you drop one of those five things how free you can feel (except the eating and sleeping of course).

Last week we went out to dinner with family in the evening. We watched TV. I went on a walk. We slept in on Saturday. We shopped. We drank wine. It was great!

Sunday was my mom's birthday (which when I get around to it will get a post of its own). We enjoyed brunch and the early part of the afternoon with her. I spent the rest of the evening preparing for my business trip.

I typically only expect to travel twice a year for meetings...January and June. When I took over the job from Molly, she mentioned that sometimes I might be helping with a Q4 meeting, but last year did not involve me traveling anywhere. When I found out that I would be expected to travel to LA this week, I was somewhat excited about it. I would be helping with the logistics of the meeting like I normally do, but instead of staying 5-6 days, I only needed to travel 3 days. As an added bonus, I would get a chance to go to our corporate office and meet some of the people that I know through email only. It was so nice to put faces with names.

Monday I flew to LA and arrived early into LA. I checked into the hotel and took a cab to the office to pick up a projector and some boxes and to meet a few people. The rest of the evening was pretty low key. Tuesday was a full day of meetings. I was 'working' from 7:30am until about 11:15pm when our final dinner/activity was over. Some of our folks continued into the night playing cards, but I just could not stay up as my body clock still felt like it was 1:15am.

So, this morning (Wednesday), I had some time to myself before my flight. I was able to get to Hermosa Beach where I enjoyed a simple breakfast of fruit, muffin, and tea overlooking the ocean. Nevermind that the fruit was a huge bowl of fresh sliced strawberries, the muffin was an oatmeal raisin muffin that had to be baked by The Muffin Man himself and the weather was a perfect 70 degrees and clear. I have not had a morning like that in a while. Fabulous. I walked up and down the boardwalk/sidewalk through Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and up to almost El Segundo. I knew when the power plants started to loom in the foreground that my scenic adventure needed to come to an end. The walk was glorious. I saw surfers, beach volleyball players, lots of people walking their dogs, and beautiful beachfront homes. If I ever have a chance to stay awhile, Hermosa Beach will be a place I'd like to come back to to just chill out and decompress.

I'm arriving back in Austin this evening and looking forward to the rest of October. I hope to stay in non-schedule mode for a few more weeks before I really decide how to start training again. My body is starting to feel better. My mind is certainly more quiet than ever. I'm in a good place.

Fixed!

I've been so frustrated with my computer! My work laptop has been working great...I can do my work, get the internet, and do everything I need to do on it. My personal computer has been acting up. I had some kind of bug on my computer that completely messed up my internet browsers (both IE and Chrome were not working) and I have been completely frustrated for the past 3 days.

Today I renewed my pc protection software, ran a scan of my system, clicked a few other buttons...voila! My internet browser works like a charm! Technology that does not work properly can be so frustrating.

Tara made the St George photo essay!

http://thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=G3&Date=20081004&Category=PHOTOGALLERIES10&ArtNo=810050802&Ref=PH&Profile=1006&Params=Itemnr=20

St George - this time around

Some of you might have looked our finish times up. Mine was 3:48:39 or something really close to that. Did I make my A goal? no. Did I make my B or C goals? no. Am I disappointed? somewhat, but not because I didn't make my goals. I'm disappointed that I was unable to run well because of the pain in my calf. I am, however, glad that my calf issues (strain, pull, whatever you want to call this injury) occurred on a horrible weather day. If my body was perfectly healthy and mother nature gave me a bad day, I might wonder how much faster I could have run.

It rained the entire race. It is the first time in the existence of St. George that it has rained. There was also a strong headwind the entire race. My shoes were waterlogged from mile 1. I knew at about mile 4 that my left calf muscle was not going to cooperate with me, so I took two Advil at mile 6. I knew I was still in the hunt for at least one of my goals, so I tried to keep Tara in my sight to judge my pace. After the hill at mile 7 and a slow mile 8, I gave up on my 3:30 goal and focused on keeping a decent pace. I saw an ambulance at mile 9 and seriously contemplated getting in to avoid the pain of what was to come. Tara easily got into a steady rhythm and somewhere between 9 and 10 I lost sight of her. I was off pace at miles 9-12 and I was thinking more about quitting. My calf was definitely flaring up and starting to cause me significant pain. The Advil never really kicked in. At the half, I was on pace for a 3:40 finish (my C goal), but I knew that I didn't have it in me to finish the second half as fast as I had already run. Again, I contemplated the DNF. By this point the rain was coming down in sheets, the wind was blowing harder than ever and we made the bend to start the major rolling downhills. I thought that my legs might feel a little better with the downhill and that it might be easier to keep pace.

I was wrong. The downhill sections were like sledgehammers on my legs. My right leg began to flare up as well, probably from compensating for the other leg. The pain was excruciating. I gave up on all my time goals and just decided to keep moving forward. I didn't think I would even finish. I thought I might go into a full cramp in either leg and need medical assistance. I had no idea how bad it was going to hurt. I was happy with my decision to give up my goals...I just wanted the pain to go away and still get my medal for finishing. I saw Amy at the tough uphill at mile 18. She looked like she was focused and Mark (who was running with her) slowed a bit to chat with me. I think they might have felt sorry for me because of my leg, but I was A-OK with my race plan from that point. I wasn't in the ambulance and only had 8 miles to go.

During the last 8 miles, I made a pit stop in a port-o which probably cost me a couple of minutes. I also made friends with a lady named Allison who had been walking when I caught her. She looked like she hurt as much as me, so invited her to jog with me. We ran together from 19-22 and distracted each other from the pain of the race. We also matched with our super cute pink and black outfits! don't know how I got through all of the pain to finish, especially in such a good mood. I enjoyed receiving cheers from the crowd starting at mile 23. I high-fived the kids in the street, even the littlest ones. The high school bands played songs that I cheered to. I finished with a smile on my face.

Please don't feel sorry for me and my time. I'm incredibly proud of a 3:48 finish with a potty break, strained leg muscles, strong headwind and rain. It was the most painful marathon day I have ever had, but I can definitely take some good away from the race. I now know a new pain threshold that my body can handle, that can only make me tougher in the future. 3:48 is a sub 9:00 pace average, something that many women dream of doing. I can't complain that 3:48 was my time on my most miserable, painful marathon day ever. I love that my body endured that race. I love that my mind outlasted my muscles, even with all of the negative thoughts. The last miserable marathon day for me was Austin 2005 (the hot year) and I ran a PW of 4:14. I beat my personal worst by 26 minutes and was in much more pain this year.

Thanks for all the support this summer throughout my training. My little blog-reading family is great, and I thank you for all of the well wishes that were sent.

The wonders of technology

It is totally amazing to me how road trips these days differ from the ones we took when I was a child. I am currently blogging from my laptop computer, getting a live internet connection from my blackberry...this in the front seat of a hybrid vehicle getting 51 mpg through the Nevada desert. We're listening to a CD that I burned of some fun road trip/running trip songs that I downloaded from iTunes.

Times sure have changed from the cars of the past, listening to the radio or perhaps a tape if we were lucky, with no knowledge of the cd, cell phone, laptop, much less the internet or the wireless internet. Damn...we are so lucky to live in this country.

So...we arrived in Vegas safely. We're now on our way to St. George. My leg is feeling a lot better than this weekend. Chad says hi.

Revvin' your engines?

We giggled about this dinner last night...What would it sound like if two Toyota Priuses pulled up at a red light and wanted to drag race?

Chad and I always joke about 'those sneaky silent cars'.  We're going to be driving one tomorrow.

Race Prep - 212b and 214b - Travel Documentation and Final Packing

212b and 214b are continuations of courses 212a and 214a.

212b - Travel Documentation - In course 212a you double checked your reservations with the airline, hotel and rental car companies. You also verified times, addresses and reviewed maps of the area. Course 212b involves printing any travel documentation you need from the computer (boarding passes, maps, reservation confirmations) or at least writing down the confirmation numbers, phone numbers, and addresses of necessary reservations. We have been to St. George before (twice in my case), so I technically do not need a map anymore. However, I do have back-up directions from the airport to remind me the highway number and exit number of the hotel.

214b - Final Packing - Hopefully you have already gotten a good start on your packing. Hopefully the clothes that you plan to pack are clean and perhaps you have started to gather some of the necessary items for your trip. Finish packing as soon as possible the day before your trip so that you have some time to unwind before bed. Set aside your last minute toiletries and clothing to travel in so that you are organized and ready to leave when it is time.

Make sure you have necessary cash for your trip as well so that you are not rushing to the ATM on your way to the airport. Yeah, yeah, there are ATMs everywhere, but do you really want to worry about finding an ATM when all you want to do is relax and prepare for your run?

On a personal note...Chad and I both made a major dent in our packing for this trip last night. We (he) is notorious about waiting until last minute to pack and often has to stay up late the night before we travel. Not this time! :)

Race Prep 214a - Preliminary Race Gear Prep and Packing

Course 214a is a prerequisite for Course 214b - Final Race Weekend Packing and should not be taken concurrently to avoid stress.

Race week is here! Start preparing your race day items! Prepare your overall trip clothing today by ensuring that all of your clothing is clean. Check your closet, do laundry, and either take out your luggage, or set aside a space in your home to start accumulating your weekend gear. Assemble all of the parts of your race outfit that you can already set aside. Have a plan for any item that you need to pack at the last minute. Decide if you need to make a list of last minute items.

• These are things that I'll set out today as my official race outfit..shoes, socks, shorts, sports bra, top, chip, hat in case of rain, gloves, throwaway shirt.
• I'll also set out items for me to take to the start to stay warm and comfortable - fleece top, warm bottoms, wind breaker, ear warmers, hand warmers (I may need to go to Academy), towel for the ground.
• Other necessities for race morning...GUs, Aquaphor, Ibuprofen (need to buy more), Luna Bar, my favorite tea bags.

If there are other items for the weekend that I can start preparing, I'm going to start setting them aside today. I'll probably make sure my camera batteries are charged, that my camelbak is clean (for post-marathon activities), and that all of my other clothes are clean.

Don't worry, I'm not going to really 'pack' everything. I'm just going to start gathering items so that there are not any last minute surprises.

$10 wasted...or at least part of it

I really tried to follow Drs orders when she wanted to prescribe me a pre-natal vitamin to start taking. Chad and I are not planning to start trying to have a baby until around this time next year, but the doctor said it wouldn't hurt for me to start taking prenatals. So, I agreed. I thought it would be better to use the prescribed version of prenatal vitamins, not even thinking that I would have any issues with them. I figured the prescription would cost less than traditional OTC prenatals when my insurance was applied. $10 is a pretty good deal, I think. Plus, if I go through my insurance, then it is easily applied to my flex-spending account.

Ugh! The prenatal vitamins contain a separate capsule for DHA that are fish oil capsules. Ummm.....I DON'T EAT FISH!!!!!! Also, the other pill that comes with it contains iron, which can cause constipation. Ummm....the hormone that I was also just prescribed can also cause constipation. I'm not going to be plugged up with poop for the next year if I take two pills a day that are going to stop me up!

Grrr...so I resigned myself to the fact that I would at least try to take the vitamins instead of wasting the money. I was going to wait until after the marathon Saturday to start them, but I went ahead and tookboth of them this morning. Now I know that I will definitely not be taking the DHA capsules. I have been burping fish stank for the last two hours. I cannot handle it. It is disgusting. I've also decided to wait until after Saturday to try taking the other pill again. I don't want to risk the constipation now that I know the fish pill is so disgusting.

I might have to go browse the aisles of the drug store or Whole Foods to find a better match for me. Surely there are some vegan (or at least vegetarian) versions of prenatals, especially a replacement for the DHA caps.

Race Prep RTF 214 - Running Movies for Inspiration

RTF (Radio-Television-Film) 214 is a recommended elective for runners preparing for an upcoming race. For inspiration and focus for your running, pop in a good running movie in the DVR/VCR.

There is lots of information on the web about running and/or sports related movies. This is just one site that I like.

What are some of your favorites? I've only seen a few...

Race Prep PSY 212 - Taper Madness

PSY 212 is a required course.

Taper Madness - Dealing with antsy behavior

Inevitably there is a time during your taper when you begin to feel rested and full of energy. Your workouts are shorter, you have time off, and all of a sudden you don't know what to do with all of your excess energy. You might start to feel little muscle twinges and you immediately fear injury has occured. Loved ones may behave as if they are annoyed...they are. You have been MIA during the hard part of your training, and now you are around all of the time with all of your energy. Your loved ones are wondering why you don't have somewhere to be already.

So, what do you do to deal with all of your antsy behavior? Definitely don't go for another run or go to the gym. You still need to rest. Don't start a new gardening project. Don't clean the garage. If you feel you must do some household chores, set a time limit of an hour and do something productive like clean out your closet of worn out running shoes and old race shirts.

Mostly, you need to rest. Here are some other ideas to fill your time...
-go see a movie (or two)
-start a new book (or just go browse the bookstore for an hour)
-rediscover some of your favorite music from the past (but don't hurt yourself dancing too much!)
-begin planning your next vacation
-brush your animals
-go get a manicure or pedicure (or both)
-blog
-call someone you haven't talked to in a while
-learn a new runner-friendly recipe

Race Prep 232 - Confirm Paces - Pace Group decision

Some people like to wear a pace band on their arm to help them reach a specific time goal. If this is you, think about printing a pace band in advance for your 'A' and 'B' goals, even if you intend to pick up a pace band at the expo. There may not be any pace bands for your time left by the time you arrive.

Instead of wearing a pace band, I like to write 3 splits on my arm/wrist in permanent marker. I like to write 7 mile, 14 mile, and 21 mile time goals on my arm. I don't like to worry about adjusting the pace to fit the course or anything fancy like that. I simply like raw information during the race to let me know some 'benchmark times'. If I was to run even splits, where would I need to be at 7, 14, and 21 mile splits?

This is what I plan to write on my arm -

A goal - 3:28.......7 miles - 55:32.......14 miles - 1:51:04........21 miles - 2:46:36
3:30:00.....................56:04............................1:52.08.........................2:48:12
B goal - 3:37........7 miles - 57:56.......14 miles - 1:55:52........21 miles - 2:53:48

Also, if your marathon is going to have a pace group, you need to decide whether you want to run with them. You may want to wait and speak to the pace group leaders to hear their strategy for running the race. It may differ from what you want to do. They may bank time instead of running even splits. They may be running a negative split race. Either way, you need to have a plan for yourself so that you do not have to rely on anyone else to get you to the finish line.

I don't intend to run with a pace group. The race start at St.George can be terribly crowded and usually the 3:30-3:40 groups are too far back in the crowd to have a nice even start. They typically have to make up time too quickly for my style. I'm going to start on my own and do my own thing. I also am going to try to ignore any pace group that is near me so that I can run my own race.

Race Prep 304 - Race Website Exploration

Of course when we select a marathon, we peruse the race website to get the essential details of the race. When, where, course description, see pictures, etc. As it gets closer to the race, it is essential that you take some time to revisit the race website and remind yourself of the most important details. A lot of these details are typically found in some sort of 'runners guide' that is provided by the marathon. I also like to spend some time browsing the website.

St. George Marathon Official Website

Questions I found answers to -

Where do I load the bus on race morning? - here - At Worthen Park - near the corner of 300 South, 400 east is where we've loaded in the past.

What time do the buses load? 4:00-5:30am - I plan to load between 5:00 and 5:15.

What is the start line going to look like? - here - This is in Central, Utah on Hwy 18. There will be bonfires, a ton of portopotties and a bag drop area.

What time does the race start? 6:45 (ouch!)

How are the water stops distributed? - 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, and the finish

Will there be some sort of gel/gu given out on the course? - Yes, Clif Bars and Clif Shots will be at 7, 11, and 18 (I only remember there being mini clif bars at mile 7 when I ran it, but it is probably because I don't take Clif Shots.)

On the way into town, where does the course turn? - Left onto Diagonal, right onto 300 West, left onto Tabernacle, right onto Main street (there is a traffic circle here, if I remember correctly), left onto 300 South to the finish line.

What does the finish area look like? - here - I remember the misters and getting my medal. I also remember the post-race food kind of turned my stomach. There were slices of bread with tubs of butter to smear on them, ice cream treats from Blue Bunny, and probably some other food that wasn't vegetarian so I don't remember it at all. The massage area is great - get your massage ticket as soon as you get there.

Where do I pick up my bib on Friday? - At the Dixie Center.

When is the expo open? 9am-9pm on Friday

Trash Talk - You didn't want to get chicked?

I'm gonna try to make this short to get to the good stuff...If you want to skip to the best part, skip the next paragraph.

You know the placebo effect? Well, on Wednesday night I began taking my prescription to help correct my endocrine issues. I got the information from the doctor and the pharmacist about the possible side effects and did thorough research on reputable websites to discover how the drug works in my body. According to what I have read, the drug binds to dopamine receptors in my body and may cause nausea, dizziness, lightheadedness, low blood pressure and a few other uncomfortable things. Most of the bad side effects, if felt at all, should only be present the first few days of taking it and improve. I have not had much of an issue with any of the side effects...in fact yesterday I think I felt a little too good. Was it the placebo effect? Most definitely. I highly doubt the tiny little dose of my medicine that I had taken for one day now caused me to feel as good as I felt yesterday or caused me to be more productive the entire day. What I wonder about is my goofy behavior last night on the trail (dopamine receptors anyone?).

So, I've blogged in the past about passing people on the trail (here and here) and how competitive I can be. This is the latest episode of crazy competitive trail running. Last night I was running on the trail and ran up behind two 30-something dudes running together. I wasn't sure I wanted to pass them because they weren't going too much slower than me. Perhaps I wouldn't need to 'open that can of worms' and initiate a round of competitive passing on the trail. If they were running my pace, I would have backed off and let them run ahead of me. I made sure to run behind them long enough to get a good sense of their pace so that I would know exactly how much faster I needed to run to get by them.

After I passed and was running in front of them, I heard one of the guys make a comment under his breath and the other one kind of laughed. Whatever. Surely it wasn't about me passing them, or was it? I hate it when dudes try to re-pass me, so I made sure to keep up my faster pace. After about 200 yards, I could tell that they were still behind me, but further back because I heard one of them talk to the other. Sure enough, one of the dudes comes bounding by me (on the right) with the most ridiculous stride. I mean really ridiculous.

What a dork. He clearly had picked up his pace. As he passes me, I don't know why I said it, but it came out...'You didn't want to get chicked?' Oh crap, I actually said it out loud...that was supposed to be my private thought! What the hell happened to my filter?! What is funny is that he didn't respond. He must have been so focused on running fast to pass me...clearly it wasn't his conversational pace. I cringe at myself for saying it out loud, but then start to feel really fired up about it. How awesome! I just trash talked a dude!

He continues to run ahead of me with a gap of 10-15 yards for a while. I notice that he is having trouble dropping me after the pass (no surprise). I intended to keep him in my view so that I could witness him breaking with fatigue...after all, these guys always end up breaking in the end. Sure enough, after another 200 yards he slows down and pulls off to 'get some water' at one of the random water fountains on the trail. Mostly, I think he pulled over to wait for his running buddy...he is a total tool who left his friend to pass a chick.

Did I ignore his moment of weakness? Did I let it go and continue with the personal satisfaction of knowing that I outlasted him? Normally I would have. It must be a new side effect that they need to list for my medication - confidence, cockiness, competitiveness, removal of personal thought filter - whatever you want to call it. As he lamely pulls over to the fountain, I turn and continue my trash talking loudly in his direction 'You know, it's okay to get passed by a girl!'.

What in the hell has gotten into me? Why am I talking smack at random dudes? I can't believe I did that, but it felt so good! I shared the story with some of the people in our group and got some giggles.

So, next time you are out on the trail and pull that kind of crap with me on the trail, you just might get some trash talk of your own. Was I nervous about his response? Nah...I clearly can out-run him. :)

Endocrinologist Update

The long test and the wait were worth it!  They found something wrong with me!  While it may seem like something wrong is a bad thing, just knowing what is abnormal is a start.  Now we can treat it!  Yay!  

One of the issues that I have been going through is with my pituitary gland.  My pituitary is producing higher than normal levels of prolactin, which completely messes with women's reproductive cycles.  (and no, my boobs are not producing milk...I know some of you are wondering...prolactin...boobs...milk)  The doctor confirmed that my levels did not indicate that we were looking at a tumor, but that my response to the prolactin stim test showed a problem with the higher than normal response from my pituitary.

I also had my thyroid tested again today and will potentially be on thyroid medication within a couple of weeks.  My levels have been consistently slightly above normal and my symptoms have not gone away.

 

Race Prep 109 (Field Course) - Pre-Race Massage

After your hardest week of training, your legs will likely feel exhausted, sluggish, sore, and otherwise craving tons of rest before you are finally ready to run your marathon.  During the taper period, I like to get one last massage to get rid of the funk in my legs and to help them feel fresh.

Note:  If you don't regularly get massages during your marathon training, you are depriving yourself and possibly a crazy person.  I wouldn't get a massage for the first time this close to your race...just think about them for the next time around.  

Today I had my final pre-race massage with Lisa today.  I've been hiding a secret from you guys...my left leg is experiencing some abnormal pain.  It doesn't feel localized in one spot, but it does hurt pretty bad in the whole lower leg when I walk or run.  I feel like someone has been pounding on my leg bone with a hammer.  Lisa (who admitted that she is not a doctor) said that the way I described and pointed to my leg sounded like a compressed nerve and did a really good job trying to relax and loosen my left leg and hip today.  What I can say is that while it was my entire leg that hurt, the fact that the pain only remains in my lower leg is a good sign.

I have decreased my mileage significantly and took an extra rest day on Monday.  I will follow orders to stretch well this week and take it easy on my leg.  The pain does go away after I have been running for a little while, so it is either my endorphins or loosening of the muscles that help mask the pain.

Race Prep 108 - Post Race Celebration Planning

Note - This is an elective course, but is highly encouraged.

As part of your race preparation, you will undoubtedly be visualizing yourself completing your race goals at this point in your taper.  You see yourself cross the finish line below your targeted goal time.  Hopefully you visualize yourself getting your medal.  Beyond that, what do you do?  How do you plan to celebrate?

Have some simple ways to celebrate, such as taking lots of finish line pictures and eating your favorite meal.  Heck, we all love to wear our marathon finisher's medal around.  Wear it for as long as you want...you earned it!  If you are participating in an out of town marathon, enjoy the local area and take a day of vacation just to have fun instead of focusing on your run.  Get a massage.  Go crazy!

What am I hoping to do to celebrate?  I want some good finish line pics, a post race massage, possibly a good soak in the pool of our hotel.  I want a fun day in Zion on Sunday and a good 'Sadie' meal within a week. (My kind of meals are kind of hard to come by in Utah, so hopefully we can make it to a special restaurant when we get back to Austin.)  Other than that, I'm not too picky.  The goal time will be good enough for me.

What are some of your favorite race celebration plans?