Back of the Pack

Hellooo, September

2011-09-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

What kind of posts do you find on a running blog authored by a chick who hasn't been running much? NO posts, apparently. At least, that's what you'd find here. If you looked. If you're still here (which, apparently, you still ARE, because I have something like 90 subscribers in Google reader, even though it's been months). That's amazing. Who ARE you tenacious people?

I've really been taking it easy on the running lately. Like, waaay easy. No races, no training plans, no goals, not even much running. I still just don't feel like it. So there. I've been quite active nonetheless, with some big ol' bike rides, some scattered running. And Crossfit. Oh yeah, Crossfit. I think THAT's where my physicality has gone lately, and I am eating. it. up. I've been going regularly since April, and have noticed changes in my strength. I'm developing some guns! Well, more like little teeny-tiny pistols, maybe, but still. It's toning me way more, all over, than running ever did, or maybe has added a LOT to the tone that running has given me. I go, I hate the class while I'm doing it, as soon as it's over I'm all THAT WAS AWESOME, I love this! And then I'm all, I'm a fking bad-ass! Et cetera, et cetera.

Not that much of a bad-ass, really. My goal here? I want to be able to do one, I repeat, ONE, unassisted pull-up by the end of the year. December 31. ONE. This is not the goal of a true bad-ass (who could probably do 10, 50 at least), but one of a wannabe bad-ass. That's ok. I'm happy as a wannabe.

I'm also happy as a hiker, and that's why Tom and I found ourselves backpacking 40 miles of the PCT over 3 days this weekend.

Happy, happy, happy! We went ultra-light, with backpacks that Tom and I (mostly Tom, mind you) made ourselves a few years ago. Fully loaded, water, food and everything else, my pack weighed in at 24# and Tom had 28#. Not too bad for 2 nights and 3 full days.

This light pack, and my general awesome bad-assitude (hah!) allowed my to try something I've never done backpacking before . . . I ran! Well, it was more of a shuffling-kinda-trot thing, faster than a walk, not a full on jog. 24 pounds does add up! I was unable to run the uphills, I just lacked the power, but was able to move along relatively quickly on the flats and downhills. Over the three days, we gained around 7600' and lost around 5000'. In retrospect, there wasn't much flat.

There's Tom, way ahead of me on the trail. He's a superfast hiker, and -- as we all know -- I'm a superslow runner. With the combination of him motoring along, and with my mix of walking and trotting, we actually made really really good time, 10-15 mile days.

I also added another new thingy to my running inventory . . . a stick. I've used it for about a month now, and only on really technical stuff. I fall down - a lot - and this thing has helped with that. I'm using the Black Diamond Z Pole, pictured here:

They come in pairs, but I only use one (I think two would trip me up). Tap, tap, tap down the trail I go. The thing is super light (9.8 oz for the 120 cm size. I am 5'7, and in hindsight should have bought the 110 cm length. Next time. The 120 does work, but I find I want to not swing my arm much, and with a shorter stick it would be easier, if that makes any sense). It folds and unfolds super quick and snappy. For a while I dithered about trying to figure out where to stow when I was running and didn't want it (previous to this trip) -- hold it? put it on the side of my Nathan running pack? It was awkward. I ended up just tucking it into the bottom of both straps, length-wise across the small of my back. Sounds uncomfortable but isn't, and worked really well, even with my backpacking pack.

This stick thing has been awesome, and sure made running this weekend easier on my feet and knees. I used to kinda snicker at all the walkers with their funny ski-poles, tapping around and looking foolish, but now I am a convert. I have yet to fall over with the stick, and this from a runner who falls down nearly every time I go out. This weekend it was indispensable.

Anyhow, we walked and hiked and ran. We saw tons of wildflowers (soooo late this year, they're usually all gone by July or early August, but all the snow we had . . . ), oh and we saw snow (still out there in these mountains, for sure), got chewed on by mosquitoes, ate reasonably tasty homemade dehydrated morsels, had lots of great views, laughs and sore body bits. Here's a couple of pics. (I left out the one of my poor, mosquito-bitten legs.)

The Food and I

2011-06-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

It has taken me no fewer than 43 years to admit that I don't "just eat the food that tastes good" but, in fact, am quite a picky eater. There's lots of things that have caused me to make The Yucky Face, of which I surprisingly don't have a digital photo, but involves me squinching up my entire face, much like a child eating beets. Or, this:

With the eyes all squinchy too. Certain things are just . . . gross. No matter how you slice it, stuff like . . . okra, for instance . . . is just slimy and doesn't taste good and I see no reason why I should eat it. This makes me picky? I'd rather think it makes me, say, the possessor of a delicate palate. Discerning. Able to state my preferences.

OK, so I'm picky. There are certain foods that I would rather not eat. Until a month ago, two foods that were definitely on that list were Yogurt (oo! Slippery! Sour! Curdled! ALIVE!) and Honey (oo! Sticky! Sickly Sweet! Remembrance of the childhood hate of Bit O'Honey candy! Gloopy!). Never would either pass my lips in an unaltered form (seriously mixed with plenty of other foods? maybe). Just, instant Yucky Face.

And then. Then! While I was in Greece, I was presented with (certainly did NOT order, oh no) a breakfast of Greek yogurt -- just called "yogurt", mind you -- drizzled with honey. Omigod, not one but two! foods that I don't like, mixed TOGETHER in a bowl for fuck's sake, that I'm supposed to consume for breakfast, a meal I don't even eat. WTF? Tom's just like, try it! and -- with a sense of vacation adventure, but fully prepared to make The Yucky Face -- I DO!! And, holy shit, my immediate thought is WHERE HAS THIS FOOD BEEN ALL MY LIFE???? And that is how this:

has become a daily staple in my diet. I am right now counting down the hours until it won't be unseemly to stuff my face with some more. Seriously, if you haven't tried this particular combination before, go right out and get yourself some because, like properly prepared fiddleheads, this is the food of the gods. Mix in a little granola and I see no reason to really ever have to eat anything else. It's that good. Low calorie, full of protein, the definition of deliciousness. You can even buy it with the honey in a cute little sidecar, all ready for the mixin'.

All of which leads me to wonder . . . hmm, if I mix some other of Gross Foods together, might the same thing happen? I'm thinking . . . banana and eggplant? cooked fruit and offal? marmite and fruitcake?

Living and breathing

2011-06-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

What's been happening?

I returned from GREECE ON JUNE 2.

I ran the Reno Tahoe Odyssey 178 mile relay RACE ON JUNE 3-4. I am damn sure my 11 teammates, especially the 5 in Van #2, thought I was certifiable, for I did not sleep nor shut the fuck up for 27 hours. Someone saw fit to give me a cowbell, a move they surely regretted. WooHoo, go runners! Woohoo! CLANGCLANGCLANG!

Somehow, my team adopted my standard race outfit of tutu (and various other pink items) and we were called the Truckee Tutus. They were awesome.

And, lo and behold, I ran . . . fast!

Leg 8: 4.6 miles, 51:21

Leg 20: 4.2 miles, 37:03

Leg 32: 3.9 miles, 32:05

No, I'm not going to tell you how much elevation ~~loss~~ change there was, either. Let's just say I have found that I'm really NOT a slow slow runner, I just need to run downhill more often.

I ran another maybe three miles in support of a lagging teammate. So maybe 15-18 miles all together? After I was done, and for the next day and a half or so, I swear I felt like I had run a marathon. Joe Cocker-ing all over the place, stairs one at a time, gimping around like an old lady. I was not expecting that!

ON JUNE 16th, the SNOW finally FINALLY melted from our yard, assisted by a prodigious amount of shovelling. Yes, in Tahoe we shovel our yards.

Also ON JUNE 16th, I returned to work. Quite a chore after 6 weeks of, well, NOT working. The time off has seemingly done the trick (so far). As far as I can tell, my raging case of burnout has lifted, because I no longer seem to hate everyone for simply breathing in my airspace (fear not, funderson, I still hate everyone for plenty of other reasons ;-), and once again I look forward to going in to work and can leave 12 hours later with a smile on my face. Hopefully this state of mind lasts at least until a month or so before my next vacation in December.

ON JUNE 21, I WEIGHED 145 pounds. down from my all-time OMG! high of 158 what, 2 1/2 months ago? I did my little detox diet thing, and haven't dieted or anything since then. What I DID do, however, is cut almost all refined sugar out of my daily diet. No candy, no sweets and, most importantly, almost no coca-cola. The last is a huge one for me, the drinker of usually 3 cokes a day. I haven't sworn off cokes (or sugar, for that matter) absolutely completely forever, because I don't think I could actually do that. I just try to make decent choices, mindful choices, and go with that. This means maybe 1 coke a week? and a dessert or whatever if I really want it. Mostly, somehow, I don't. Funny enough, once I made it through the 3 weeks of no sugar, all of those cravings kinda went away. I am very, very happy with the food I am eating these days. I've been keeping to Crossfit two times a week (and oh jeepers that's a fucking killer of a class, I always suck, I'm always gasping, I'm always last, I love every minute of it (at least in retrospect) which no doubt has helped with the weight loss (or muscle gain). I'm fitting into clothes I haven't worn in a while. I have a sort-of goal to be under 140 by August.

Running? Yes, I've been running. This year, for the first time in a looong time, I don't really have any plans. No upcoming races, no goals, no nothing. I THOUGHT that I was going to do a couple few 50k's this year at the very least, in preparation for my 50 mile goal of next year. My knee injury in December, and the looong wait for my mojo to return (has it? maybe.) have made me toss the 50k distane (and, seemingly, races all together) out the window for now. You know what? I just don't care. I am perfectly happy going out 3-4 times a week, running 5-7 miles a go, taking my sweet old time and not following any kind of schedule at all. This is a first! I'm just plodding along and not telling myself this week it's 20 miles, next week 30 and I must increase my long run right now! LONG run? What's that?

Funny, I don't feel at all lazy or unmotivated or pressured to do more, do better. Not that I've ever done better, but you get the drift. I'm . . . content. Just running 20-25 mile weeks, slow as I ever was, trotting out there and back. This is pretty comfy.

Having said that, I'm considering a 50k in October, and still want to run a 50 miler next year, so I'll have to whip together some plan sooner or later. Right now I'm just a-cruisin'. Do I want to run today? Yes? No? My only rule is, make it at least 5 miles a pop.

I should make an adjunct rule of, run, then Come Home and Blog About It, because then maybe I'll have more than one post a month. Thanks for hanging in there!

An excellent question from The Mayor

2011-06-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

Found in a guidebook in Milos, our next destination after Santorini. This has provided us with, quite literally, hours of entertainment. But we are slightly odd ducks. Your milage may vary.

Please don't mind me, I'll just be over there, trying to block air in a skin bag.

Return to Normalcy

2011-06-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

I've returned to "normal" (as evidenced by my lack of posting, hee hee). I have fixed the previous post, which was simply FUBAR'd, but is now all legible and matched with photos and all that fancy stuff. And worth going back and taking a look at, if'n you care to. When it posted for the umpteenthh time all jangled up, back when I was still in Greece, I just kinda lost all tolerance and stopped blogging while ~~intoxicated~~ international. I've been home now for a number of days, and lots of stuff has happened in that time. I'll be working on a post soon. However, there was one important enough thing that happened, relayed in that previous FUBAR'd message that prolly no one read, that bears its own little bit of repeating.

Back in ol' Santorini, an island famous for its sunsets, we was hanging out under this sunset:

and Tom proposed to me, and I said Yup!

More posting, coming soon,

Thanks for hangin' in there.

The latest news (for the third and final time)

2011-05-27T12:48:00.001-07:00

Well, Santorini turned out to be all that we had expected, and more. We are presently on a ferry (really quite comfortable -- I hadn't known what to expect) bound for the island of Milos, which ought prove to be of a very different character than Santorini.

As for the former, we decided to see a bit more of it than our feet would allow and had the hotel arrange for us a couple of scooter rentals. Alas, despite the fact that I drove a motorcycle for some 5 years and Tom is, well, Tom, without a moto license we could only rent this piece of shit:

I'm sure if we had rented in person we could have haggled around the license issue because subsequently I saw plenty of folks on scooters who had obviously never even sat astride such a thing before, never mind having a license, but whatever. We got the beast.

This thing was a huge piece of shit, beginning with the fact that well, it's a quad, compounded by the fact that it was thrashed to within an inch of its life. Certainly there were better quality quads available, because we SAW the fancy ones with all the bells and whistles like, you know, functioning mirrors and blinkers and stuff. Bits of ours were literally held together with bailing wire and staples:

Nevertheless, we clambered on in good faith and headed out to explore the island. I left the driving to the much-more capable Tom. A wise choice, as driving the thing turned out to be less about driving and more about just keeping it from crashing. The engine sounded just like a refrigerator with two hours to live, GAAARRRRrrrrrrrrGAAARRRRrrrrrrGAAAAARRRRrrrrr! What a pig!

Being volcanic in origin, the beaches of Santorini are not the typical white sandy things of the rest of the Cyclades, instead offering some more unique varieties. We spent some time at a black beach:

a red beach,

and, my favorite, a kinda gray beach:

and had ourselves a really nice lunch at a traditional Greek taverna. The island is covered in vineyards. Interestingly, due to the hot, arid climate here the grapes are not grown in the fashion you might see in Napa or, presumably, France. Rather, they wind the vines into "baskets" on the ground, which hold in as much moisture as possible, and thus the vineyards look like this:

We stopped at vineyard and got ourselves a great bottle of the local wine for about 12 bucks. Super tasty!

Yesterday we once again headed out on foot for the town of Oia. Knowing the terrain better, this time we covered this distance in record time, though this time Tom pretty much beat me. Walking. Then asked me to pose for this picture:

Meanie!

We had a delicious seafood lunch at this picturesque spot:

Well, mine was delicious. Tom ordered calamari, so he got what he deserved. Granted, it was probably the best calamari I have ever tasted, but in my mind there's a built-in limitation there.

We returned to our room, I cooked up a pretty tasty dinner, we downed yet another bottle of the local wine, and under this sunset:

Tom proposed to me and I, of course, said yes.

Whopeeee!

Live from Santorini

2011-05-24T10:02:00.001-07:00

I did one more long-ish (10 or 12 miles) run in Switzerland, up and down and all around, it was complicated and variable and beautiful and there was a lot of elevation and terrain changes. It would have made a fine blog post (and someday may still do so) but for now that ship has sailed and lots of other stuff has occurred (like a day in Athens checking out the Acropolis and other ancient treasures), more time passed and we find ourselves in Santorini and it's simply awesome. This place is super busy and quite expensive in the summer, but I think now is the best time to come because it's a slower pace, much less people and actually quite reasonable in price.

We got here yesterday morning, wandered around a bit, inquiring at different guest houses and villas and "apartments". There are some super duper fancy places here, costing well over $400 per night, even now in the off season. We oohed and aahed and then avoided such places, eventually finding an awesome little room that would undoubtedly be off of our radar in the high season, but which we snagged for a cool 60 Euros per night We got a funky room in the Santorini cave-house style, complete with kitchenette and stunning view. The cave-house thing (built to better withstand earthquakes) really lends a lot of character:

It's a small little 7 room place, perched along with tons of others on the famous Santorini cliffs. We feel like we really lucked out with this place and are getting a huge bang for our buck, especially after this was delivered to our little private balcony this morning:

It doesn't get much better than that!

Well, actually it does because we got up this morning and decided to journey to Oai, a little town some 6 miles away from where we are staying in Firostefani, via a twisty-turny up and down, concrete cobblestone kinda-pavé sometimes dirt sometimes gravel always changeable path that runs along the cliffside from here ...

... to there ...

And I found out that, much to my chagrin -- at least in this type of variable terrain and constant elevation changes -- Tom's super fast hiking speed and my super-slow running speed are, ~~embarrassingly~~ conveniently just about the same. I'd trot past him on the flats and downhills, he would invariably catch up to me (even passing me once, oh the humanity) on the uphills, averaging out to a really enjoyable time for us both.

Who could this be?

We tackled the 6 hot miles in perhaps an hour and a half (we both walked at a reasonable pace for the first and last half-miles -- too crowded for speed). We then wandered around the little town of Oai for a little while.

If I haven't mentioned it (and oh, I think I have!) Greece seems to have a lot of dogs that .... just wander around and then fall asleep, like, everywhere.

Santorini, obviously, has the same canine population, as well as the feline version:

and no one seems to really care much at all (except for the tourists -- including me -- who were crowded around taking photos of both of these animals. Dumb tourists!). Perhaps no one really minds because this, this! surrounds us all:

Oai.

So we wandered around and around, then had a nice leisurely lunch, did a little grocery shopping for tonight's dinner and then . . . ran the 6 miles back home. In this way I achieved a couple of things: got the exercise I've sorely been missing the past couple of days, got in a two-a-day in preparation for June's big 178 mile relay race (remember that commitment?), received solid confirmation of just how fking slow I really am (though I prefer to think of it as how fast Tom is), and made room in my belly for this little snack (please note the lovely view -- later, we'll photoshop out the power lines):

ps. I think I've swapped my CocaCola habit for a beer habit. I'm considering that to be an improvement.

pps. Santorini is known for its sunsets. Here's what is happening right now:

ppps. Lost 2!!! followers today! Where'd you go?

My morning

2011-05-23T23:25:00.001-07:00

So it's been a little difficult to blog, due both to Internet issues (now non existent) and Bootchez laziness issues (always existent). We have made it out of Athens and are now in amazing Santorini. Right now we are on our deck overlooking the Aegean Sea and omymy, I'm just in heaven. Check out our view:

((because I said Internet probs nonexistent, the photo wouldn't post. I'm blaming it on BlogPress, though. Damn. Imagine beautiful, world class view, fancy people doing yoga, dogpuke. Sorry!)

Taken just now. Wow. On the little deck below us, some group of tourists (and this place is crawling with them) is doing a yoga class. Five minutes ago one of the stray dogs (plentiful in Athens, less so -- but still present -- here) ambled over to the class, laid there, got up and vomited -- twice. Right in front of the class. Giving new meaning, I suppose, to Downward Dog. Upchuck Dog?

Sure, I can manage not to blog for days and days, but as soon as a dog pukes, I'm all over it! (the instructor covered it up with an overturned plant pot).

Oh, sorry!

2011-05-21T12:38:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the last post! Man, I was pissed! It was such a looong post! Remember, save and save often. I think the network timed out? I dunno but I'm mad at BlogPress because it sure acted like it was saving.

Anyhow, I did what any good runner will do, and I went out for a run. There's some really nice trails right out the back of the hotel. I ran some, I picked some flowers, see?

Then I came back to the hotel, showered, and bought myself some of that wine out of the vending machine, see?

So now I'm feeling better. I'm sitting here at the red table in the little hotel lobby because, even though it was advertised as such, it does NOT have wireless in the room. If I were paying for the room, I'd complain, but I'm not so I'll cope.

Speaking of the hotel, the company Tom's working with booked us into a place he hasn't stayed before, the Hacienda Hotel. Yah, we come all the way to Switzerland to stay in a "Mexican" hotel. Before we left, Tom and I had a bet: on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being Holiday Inn and 10 being, oh, any Mexican restaurant in America, exactly how kitchy would this place be? I went with a six; Tom, whose been to Switzerland numerous times, chose a more reserved three. Actually, we were both wrong. With the exception of the requisite sleeping Mexican etched into the glass doors . . .

. . . (well, perhaps not so visible in the photo but I ain't going back upstairs, trust me it's there), it's like . . . Ikea. Like a -1, maybe.

And see how thick the cement walls are? It's like a fucking bomb shelter. Hence, no Internet in the room. The people in the next room could be having an orgy and we'd be none the wiser. There's NO airflow, and it's tiny in there (also, twin beds!), but again, it's comped, so I'm happy.

Though still pissed at the internets.

Ok, did I actually break the internets? Now I can't even sign on. If you're reading this, it means I've actually gone UPSTAIRS and am sitting in the hallway, the HALLWAY! signing onto the network that's supposed to work in the room (but doesn't). The freaking PHONE can sign on, but the iPad can't. Meaning you might not see another post from me till Saturday, when I actually might have some access. I'll just post this, write a bunch, and post it when I can. I take back the "sorry".

I'm still drinking all the wine, and might buy myself another bottle even.

Note: this post is a little old. My "lost" and redone post is a few deep back there, it posted for the day I typed it, not the day I posted it. It is called Route of the Counts, so check it out. Who knows where this one will post. Now I have SOME email access, but not the best. Traveling, you know. Had a great run yesterday, will get to that. Arrived this evening in Athens, within spitting distance of the Acropolis, oh my oh my. Just had an awesome meal, and now relaxation time. I'll be in touch, with yesterday's fun time and all the fun to be had in the coming days. Thanks, folks!

Darn

2011-05-19T10:43:00.001-07:00

Ok, so the internets seemingly have broken my iPad. All of the sudden, it refuses to be recognized. Perhaps it's still digesting the lovely post I wrote? In any case, whatever. I'm not writing big long posts on the phone. Just forget that noise. I'll be writing posts, you'll just have to wait until Saturday or Sunday (or the return of my iPad's sanity) to be able to see them. If you've been a longtime reader, I think you can cope with a few days of silence from me. I'll be back, and I'll be writing and running. And, oh yeah, during all this computer frustration? I've been drinking the wine out of the vending machine.

Hang in there. Soon, there will be a veritable FLURRY of posts for you to read.

Mmm, vending machine wine ...

Oh my fuck!

2011-05-19T07:28:00.001-07:00

I just typed a super long post, complete with funny and pictures, and the shitty wifi at this crappy hotel just ATE the whole ficking thing. I want to cry! An hour and a half it took! Fuuuck! I'm going for a run. I'm sooooo pissed!

Route of the Counts

2011-05-19T05:52:00.001-07:00

Alright, I'm done complaining for now. I'll just save a lot, and somehow marry all this text with the photos at some later date.

Ok.

So, yesterday's run was labeled as "Route of the Counts". I found it, and a .gpx of the route (which I had major technical difficulties with, natch, but I managed to sort of get it on my phone, though not on the Garmin) on a Swiss tourism site. I also, happily, printed out the halfway decent topo map provided. It's good to have some backup, as we will see. I'm not sure why it's called Route of the Counts -- parts of the trail were well marked with lots of info, paragraphs! of info, but it was all in French and, well, you know. There were lots of little chapels and I guess the Counts had something to do with them. Alls I could think of was "ONE kilometer! Ah! Ah! Ah!" like, 15 times. I'm a simple, simple girl.

Random bus or train photo. You can't go wrong here.

So, I took a bus, then another bus, then a train -- omg I love the trains, why don't we have them everywhere? -- to the end of the line, Montbovon (ok, add a "ó" and maybe a "ć" and perhaps a ' or two, drop the "t" and the last syllable and fake a French accent, very good!). If you've never seen a "village" "nestled" in the "mountains" then by all means visit Montbovon, because really?

. . . you can't make this shit up. I know in the US -- Tahoe, anyone? -- we sometimes try to replicate this look, but it ain't nothing like the real thing. Just, amazingly lovely. So I got off the train, sat and just looked at things for a while, headed into the woods and promptly got lost. Not lost lost because, despite the fact that I can't seem to ride a bus in a foreign county without making a spectacle of myself -- never mind what I said a few posts ago, I've screwed it all up since (twice!) -- I can read a map, and I for sure was not where I was supposed to be, and couldn't figure out how to get there. THERE was on one side of the river, and I was on the other, and I couldn't really care less about it because I was seeing things like this 17th century bridge

and this, too

And I've never seen anything like that outside of New England. There were just wonderful sights everywhere, proper Route be damned. So I just kept on trotting along, finding myself in the village of Lessoc (Pronunciation? Lé Sóck, in my head) around mile 3 (Ah! Ah! Ah!).

Right in the center of this picturesque village there was this freshwater fountain. Seemingly in every Swiss village, town, city, everywhere, there's a fountain or a trough or some kind of potable water flowing, I don't know what for. There's even a stone trough just down the road from the hotel (not rural), and last night I saw them in the capital city of Bern, too. Maybe they're for these guys

who are also everywhere, mooing away, with big Swiss cowbells clonking and everything! I was right, there's a shitton of cows in this place! There are also a shitton of these in the fields

Yeah, turnstiles, which never failed to make me laugh in this odd setting. I kept on looking for somewhere to put a quarter.

In the next village after Lessoc I managed to cross the river and find the "proper" trail, some 4.5 miles (Ah! Ah! Ah! . . . ok, I'll stop now) in. Back into the woods! The whole run was fantastic, paved roads (true one-laners, like driveways), dirt roads, single track, fields and cowshit, the whole gamut. A not-so-rickety bridge over a deeep gorge

and, man, the scenery was simply off the hook.

Basically, I ran alongside a big ol valley, maybe 500 feet up, along the edge of the fringing mountains. They call them "hills" around here, actually the "pre-Alps" because compared to the ALPS, well. They're still mountains to me, Tahoe girl. I don't know what my elevation gain/loss was, that'll have to wait till I get home. I'm guessing maybe 1500 feet for the whole run, perhaps less.

This is maybe halfway through the run. My new haircut, which is shorter than I've worn it in years, isn't exactly suitable to the running outfit. I look like I have some kind nimbus around my head in the shadow I cast.

It occurred to me perhaps the trail would be better named Route of the Cords because the last maybe 4 miles (Ah! Ah! . . . oh, forget it) were lined with enough cordwood to make a wood-burning (and -gathering and -cutting and -stacking . . . and re-stacking) girl like myself fairly swoon. If you are a fellow wood-burner, you understand.

I've never seen anything like it. These loooong sections of 20" cordwood, beautifully and precisely stacked, maybe 8' high with corrugated tins roofs, going on for hundreds of feet. This is something I've since seen time anytime again here, everyone must have wood stoves. Ad they're always precisely, evenly stacked, like by a machine. Or a Swiss.

(((please imagine a nice pic of a horse in a field of wildflowers. Technical difficulties))

I stopped here for about two minutes (I stop a lot when I run, so what?) and all I could hear was the horses going "snuffle-tffddd-tffddd" or whatever that contented sound is that they make, the wind swishing through the flowers, and the ubiquitous clanking of cowbells in the distance. Quintessential Swiss scene right here.

And I ran a bit more, then I got tired. I don't know how far I had really gone at this point, because throughout the run, Gary kept losing satellite reception (for the first time ever) but he was telling me 9.5. I think it was more like 11. I was supposed to go another 3, but down in the distance I saw a village, and a village means a train, and a train meant I could rest my tired ass. The fact that it was down to the village really spoke to me, and I answered and headed on down. I took this random picture just to show what the average Swiss country house (chalet?) looks like:

and to point out that decorating with tacky plastic animals seems like a universal affliction. That's a plastic swan on the front step. My goodness.

So I missed the train by all of three minutes (punctuality, people, punctuality) but I didn't mind a bit, as I just sat at this tiny little station for an hour looking at the pretty scenery. It just doesn't get old, or boring.

Train, bus bus. I include this last photo only because these two teenaged girls:

each had pet rats, which crawled all over them for the entire ride. I think the girl in grey's rat is crawling up her sleeve, and the girl in black is either looking at her rat nesting in her décolletage, where it spent an inordinate amount of time nestled between her breasts with its little head peeking out. Either that, or she's wiping rat shit off her chest. There was a lot of that going on, too.

(((eh, the first draft was much better, of course)))

ps. OMG, not only is Tom's company providing the wireless that is making this post possible, they are also letting us use their in-office washing machine. Awesome! And, it's true, nowhere in this urban area is there anything approaching a laundry mat. Maybe everyone just buys new clothes . . .

I can ride the bus!!!

2011-05-19T01:19:00.001-07:00

So, I have to say, Switzerland is probably the most civilized country I've been to. The place is clean as could be, it is stunningly beautiful, the people seem super friendly, the public transportation is amazing (I knew the time on my phone was a bit off because the bus was always 4 minutes late. My bad, of course. Phone time is now correct.), and omg! did I say how beautiful it is here?

The only "problem" I've had is that very small area I am in does not have a lot of English speakers, it's all French and German. Like I said before, I just speak Spanish and smile a lot, and, well, I'm still here. Ive been getting by on my own, but miss Tom's German. Though I can't for the life of me find a laundromat in this city -- even the tourism office, which of course speaks english, says there's no place here to do your own wash. I went to the place they suggested and was quoted the equivalent of $10 just for a pair of pants. Um, no thanks. So I've gone out to eat instead, with my laundry at my feet like a homeless woman. And here I sit, eating a $23 plate of rice noodles -- they're really good!

I'm also drinking -- a glass of water! If nothing else, my little 21 day detox diet has broken (at least for now) my terrible cocacola addiction. I didn't drink a single one for weeks. The other day, though, I had a coke because it was offered to me and why not? but I drank it, fine it was okay but held no real power over me. Oh, and I've lost somewhere around 10 pounds, I think. And I'm eating much, much healthier, even while on vacation. My unofficial goal is to be under 140 on my own scale at home when we return from Greece. We will see what happens, I'm not overly stressing about it.

So yesterday I went on a probably 12 mile run through the countryside. That's what this post was supposed to be about, but somehow sans Internet connection my pics have all disappeared from my local draft and, really, it's all about the photos. So I'll get back to that when I get back to the hotel and can reconnect.

Today I had another 20k run planned, but no. I dunno if it's the fact that it's three days into a huge time shift (why is everything always worse on day three?) or yesterday's run, or the fact that last night I slept for maybe four hours, but I woke up this morning feeling super tired and lazy and uninspired and the long bus trip and semi-grueling run I had planned just didn't seem very attractive in the light of day. So, that's for tomorrow. Today, my plan is:

Laundry = fail
Funny, interesting blog post with lovely pics = fail, so far
Learn more French = fail (it's the pronunciation that gets me)
Little run 'round the hotel later today = hopefully not fail
Manage to get on the bus, the CORRECT bus, get a ticket and pay for it, smile and say thank you and sit down until I get to my destination and then get off, WITHOUT creating undo drama, screwing up the language, fumbling senselessly with the currency, misunderstanding the process or in any way drawing unnecessary attention to my foreign self = SUCCESS!!! (it did take 3 days and like 7 bus rides, but still, yay me!).

It's important to have at least a few reachable goals.

Alright, so I just got back to the hotel, and here's another way the Swiss are more civilized:

Yup, that's beer and wine in the vending machine. Gotta love it.

Swiss!

2011-05-17T06:42:00.001-07:00

I have arrived in Switzerland! The trip was long, long, long, but happily uneventful. Tom has gone off to work on our first day here, and will be working long hours for the remaining four days we are here. What's a girl to do?

Well, first off, I'd better learn some damn French. I've travelled quite a bit, but NEVER alone internationally, so it's just a bit daunting. We are in the French speaking area of Switzerland, and while it seems that a good portion of the people speak at least a smattering of English, I feel waaay out of my depth. In fact, right now I am sitting on a bus, waiting for it to turn around and go back to the station because, well, it's the wrong damn bus. No worries, as we've just passed through some lovely countryside and I was able to see more of the area. It really is beautiful out here.

The lack of knowing the language is tough. It really makes me appreciate the small amount of Spanish that I have, because it is JUST enough for me to get by on the basics (in a spanish speaking country, natch) I am very much at a loss with French, though, and am super lucky that english isn't too much of a rarity. Also, Tom speaks pretty fluent German, so when he's around I'm covered. When he's NOT around, I just smile a lot.

Nevertheless, I'll make my way around. I've got train and bus tickets lined up for my first run, tomorrow, outside of Gruyere (Ooooh, like the cheese). It's a 17 km run through the countryside. Whilst this is not the run wherein I actually get to eat cheese, I'm sure it will be pretty spectacular. Two other very cool runs planned while I'm here, hopefully I don't screw up the public transportation again. I think I have it dialed in, though. This afternoon I've just "wasted" a couple of hours due to my own ignorance, but I did get some really nice views.

Tomorrow I will try to get my shit together, both with photos and mastering the train and bus. Meanwhile, Tom and his company have invited my out to dinner for tonight, and I'm looking forward to that. I may have an hour or so to squeeze in a run (assuming the bus I am NOW on is the correct one!) before then.

It was snowing when we left Tahoe, I am simply thrilled to be in this lovely spring weather!

On the launch pad!

2011-05-14T18:50:00.001-07:00

What's the point of this photo?

Let's see, is it to highlight the shoes? Just your average pair of trail running shoes, right? That's what I've thought, lo these six months they've been hiding in the back of my closet, patiently waiting for the snow to melt so they could feel the trail once again. Look closer, as I failed to do, and you might notice a few things. May I point out:

1. They are two lefts. Whilst I have been accused of "having two left feet" I am, in fact, normal in some ways, and that includes having both a left AND a right foot.

2. Ergo, they are from two different pairs of shoes, as one can easily tell by noting the fact that one is blue and the other is green, if one were actually paying attention.

3. Which means, some time ago, I WAS NOT paying attention, you know, when I was gathering stuff for Goodwill, and I must have taken only ONE of my worn out trail shoes, matched it with ONE of my mostly brand new and very slightly used trail shoes, and then donated the fuckers, I guess to some one legged trail runners? Like, months ago. Therefore,

4. Highlighting the shoes must NOT be the point of the photo, because why? would anyone! *ever* (much less publicly) admit to not only throwing away a perfectly excellent -- and pricey!-- pair of running shoes, but also rendering them completely and utterly useless TO ANYONE at the same time? (also, writing sentences that are probably quite hard to read. oops)

So, the point of the photo?

?

To show off how nicely this morning's pedicure (suggested so wisely by Rose and Lauren!) covers up the oogy toe of the last post, of course.

No other point here, folks.

Tomorrow will find me on a plane -- for 15! hours -- headed for Switzerland.

I have plans for Switzerland. Fribourg, to be exact. I'm gonna go running through the countryside. I have whole bunch of runs planned, with topos and .gpx. I'm gonna be a running fool.

There's even one run where I get to stop and sample cheeses along the way.

Seemingly lots of cows are around, too.

Stay tuned.

stuart . . . i cannot get the earring image out of my mind, even a week laterr. just, ewww!

Really oogy photo in here

2011-05-02T15:45:00.001-07:00

Sure, read the last post and see what kind of running I've been doing lately. HOWEVER, whilst busy not running, today (!) I passed a runner's milestone (somehow). Behold the evidence:

THAT is my Morton's toe, and that would be the toenail separating itself, for no apparent reason, from the nailbed. Yes, folks, I am on my way to the true distance runner sign, ugly-ass feet.

How this happened when I haven't been running a lot, I dunno, but there it is. 10% off my next pedicure??

Ahem.

2011-05-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well, Hello Blog! And people! New readers and followers! 6 new ones in the past month, a month in which I have not blogged a word! Wow! How does that happen?

We've been here before, folks. Yes, another [insert long stretch of time here] has passed and I've not blogged, read much or in any other way contributed meaningfully to the blogosphere. I've REALLY retracted this time, though, and have blown off my coach, my training plan, and perhaps even my running plans for the fall. I even considered permanently pulling away from my digital existence COMPLETELY ala Pieces of Me, Formulaic et al and just getting on with life.

But. BUT! I keep on writing these cool blog posts in my head. Even if it never makes it beyond my head (see the last month), somehow that voice just doesn't go away. I've thought about how my running has just been dribbling along, I have this awesome coach that I am avoiding hugely (so easy to do with email!) for no real reason, I'm continually finding things to do other than running, and I'm all, What the hell do I have to blog about, really? Not the great distances that I've been piling up, the tips I've learned I can pass on to another, not the pain and triumphs whatever yadda yadda yadda, so what's the point?

Well, perhaps the point is that I'm struggling a little bit here, moreso than I have at any other time in my running life and maybe I should be documenting that, too, because that has to be a part of at least some runners' lives. So, new readers, if you want to read about some fine, motivated "real" runners who run when they should, blog when they should, do speedwork allowing them to run at faster than walking place, follow plans and are generally all-around good schmoes, click on just about any of those links on my sidebar. If, on the other hand, you want to be abandoned with no warning for looooong lengths of time, read sporadic posts consisting mainly of why I haven't posted in a while, interspersed with an occasional witty remark (often about shit) or photo of a very cool place, plus, oh yeah, a very occasional post about actually running (albiet slowly), well then you've found the right place! Pull up a chair and settle in for blast summary of the month of April, after which I will probably fade back into the woodwork again and not post for weeks.

I've never really excelled at positive affirmations, obviously.

Oh, and I also recently got an iPad . . . therefore I must blog.

THE RUNNING
It's been happening, though less than it should be. I dunno, I often just don't feel like it. No reason, not too lazy (because I've been doing other things than laying on the couch), just . . . ? When I run, I'm as happy as a clam, Yay! Whoppee! Look at me, I'm a runner! Loving it! and I just want to do it forever. But making the first step out the door has become a bigger and bigger obstacle. I have NO idea why, and I'm not even upset about it and I have NO idea why. ? Sure, me, fancying myself a Long Distance Runner with Ultrarunner aspirations, me of the can't-run-fast-so-I'll-run-long-instead "fame", yeah, me . . . has been averaging 10 mile weeks. Yes, me, who went out and hired a coach and has a professional training plan and all that to see what my potential is, . . . me, continues to ignore training plan and everything that goes with it (Genuinely sorry, SUAR). I guess my potential is for, 10 mile weeks? Wow!

But you know what? For some reason, I really don't much care. I'm quite ok, for now, with my sporadic flailings. I'm not kicking myself for my lassitude, as I have done in the past. I'm not thinking myself a lazy, no-good runner. I don't feel guilty (except, a little bit, for how I've handled (not handled) the coaching commitment). I'm just . . . waiting. For this period to be over. Someday, and I think its going to be someday soon (or, not), I'm going to wake up (and after 15 minutes of bedsuck) and suddenly feel like, Hey! In July I'm gonna run a 50K or whatever (hopefully that happens soon, or, no 50K in July!) so I better lay down some miles in a hurry here! Until then, I really am enjoying my little 5 mile runs. Training? Naaaah!

THE CROSSFIT
Certainly accounts for at least some of my running ennui. Because with this I have been challenged. Weight lifting, cardio, and general hard fuckin' work can be found in the walls of a Crossfit gym. I am WORKED here, one month in (and, yes, I suck hugely and am easily, easily! the slowest, weakest person in the class, time and time again) . . . and I love it. I've humiliated myself, hurt my tender arthritic back, dropped weights on the floor clang!, drooled and come very close to vomiting, and I love it. Twice a week (I've missed 2 classes all together) I head in all chirpy and ready and twice a week I slink out of class all shaky and weak and I love it. I'm waiting here, too, because I just know I'm gonna wake up one of these days and just you fucking watch me do a push-up, then a pull-up, then just take a look at my guns, man, because they're gonna be spectacular.

THE DIET
Oh man, oh man, I am on a diet! I have never dieted a day in my life, but woke up the other week (here I go with the waking up thing again, maybe if I just stayed in bed?!?) and weighed 158 pounds (on my 5'7" frame) and thought, Holy Shit! I'm gonna be 45 and FAT! And I took a look at all the Cokes and potato chips and 3 am vending machine visits (what else are you gonna halfway through a shift?) I've had and am like, surprised?!? So I did a little research and overheard a conversation or two and made a phone call and got myself on a Detox Diet.

Let me say first off that I don't believe in diets. I think that if you're heavy and want to lose weight you need a lifestyle change, and to eat less and exercise more, and all the cabbage soup and lemon-and-cayenne you can slurp up is not going to make any effective, long term change in your body type or overall level of health. It's not rocket science. Eat less, move more, get over it. And I eat a fairly healthy diet, most of the time, and I exercise more than many and am pretty healthy for an old broad. But. BUT! I have terrible habits. I drink an insane amount of Coke in any given day (not even diet coke), I skip breakfast, always! I love my jalapeno potato chips, late night snacking and second helpings. Chocolate! Cookies! Yummy! After all, I'm a runner, right?

This kind of thinking has got me to almost 160 pounds. Fit pounds, but a lot of big jiggly belly and wiggly arm pounds nonetheless (though my ass and legs look great, thank-you-very-much!). And before that 160 turns into 170 turns into 180 (as, inorexibly (sp?), 130 has turned into 140 and 150), it's time for me to break my shitty habits and re-style my way of thinking about food.

Thus, I'm doing this 21 day, dietician-supervised "detox" diet. 3 weeks to make a habit, 3 weeks to break a habit, right? I'm one week into this plan, which (briefly) consists of: No wheat, dairy, alcohol, refined sugar or corn. No calorie restriction, not really. Very balanced, organic meals of lean protein, mostly unlimited veggies, and a little bit of healthy fats (I typed "farts", and there's that, too!). Tea and sweet-tasting, no-calorie fizzy herbal energy drinks. LOTS of protein shakes, which also replace some meals. 3 "meals" a day, including breakfast (yes, Bootchez, breakfast!). The point is to wean myself off of all potential dietary "toxins" and see what happens. For me, the point is to learn a new way of eating. Force myself into good habits. Pay more attention to what I am fueling myself with. Balance. I don't intend to come off of this diet, and then continue with it. I don't intend to go back to my soon-to-be "old" ways, either. I intend to balance it out, and move forward eating healthier, eating organic, eating more balanced meals, and laying off the damn Cokes all the time. I intend to pay attention. If, in the 21 days, I happen to lose 10 pounds, that's all well and good but it's not the main goal. I did weigh myself the morning of day one (154 pounds), and won't weigh myself again until just before the end.

So far, it's been going amazingly well, I am totally surprised with myself. Minimal cravings, really tasty foods, and I'm leaning to cope with the protein shakes. I'll write more about the details later, but essentially I am eating super healthy, absolutely NO PROCESSED FOODS and . . . I am not curled up in the corner wishing for the sugar gods to visit. Not yet, anyway, 6 days in. I haven't cheated (oh, well, I guess I have as I have had 2 shots of tequila, but whatever), I haven't been too too hungry, and I'm really enjoying my (organic, health-food-store-purchased) meals. It's way too early to say, but I am very optimistic.

So, anyhow, that's April for me. I feel like I'm right on the verge of . . . something. Don't know what. Headed to Switzerland (running!) and Greece (running! and beaches!) in a week and a half, and am so totally burnt out from work that that seems far too long away. I'm happy, active and eating well. Life is pretty damn good. I'll try to keep up with the blogging!

Some things

2011-04-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

Yay! for running. I feel like I'm really back into it now, making my milage (sort of), running to a schedule, running in Marin (wow!), just enjoying the whole thing. The month of February and part of March was kinda like, Eh, I guess I have to go running. Lately, I've been way more into it and enjoying running again. I feel as though I've fully recovered from my ITB injury (which I am convinced happened because for one run only I ran on a really cambered road, and no other reason. I will stay away from such roads in the future, and hopefully will never have ITBS again). Now that I'm starting to put down long-ish (over 6 miles) runs again, my bowels are dis-remembering how to function while running and, oh, yesterday's run? 5 miles. 4 port-a-potties. 3 poops. Jeepers. Hopefully they sort themselves out quickly.

Yay! for Crossfit. I started this high-intensity strengthening program 3 weeks ago, and it. kicks. my. ass. Due to my wacky schedule, and the fact that this shit is pricey! I have only gone 2 times a week. So far, this is plenty. Some classes I can get through relatively easily, meaning that whilst I am inevitably the slowest person in the class and have to have a number of exercises modified to make up for my complete lack of upper body strength, I can, in fact, complete it and go on with my day. There's been two classes so far (emphasizing upper body strength, natch) that have floored me, leaving me weak as a kitten, trembling and ready for a nap. In one hour. Very powerful stuff! I'm totally into it, and am learning to lift weights and do all these other exercises that will strengthen my core and upper body (as well as lower body, which is pretty strong already). I really like the variety and the intensity. This is NOT for the faint of heart, and I'm really enjoying the challenge. Even though, like I said, I suck hugely at this (no surprise) and am the only weak, jiggly middle-aged woman in the class. But they all had to start somewhere, and I can only get stronger and improve. I'm ready. What HAS been a surprise, though, is that since I started attending I HAVE GAINED 8 POUNDS. Now, I assume that this is muscle or whatever, as I don't feel any heavier, and muscle weighs more than fat and yadda yadda yadda this I know because I actually weigh more (like, 10 pounds more) since I've really been running a lot (say, the past 2 years) even though I am thinner and clothes fit better, etc., etc., etc., but holy shit! I weighed myself this morning and (Tom, don't read this!) ZOMG!!! I weigh 158 pounds. This is a huge number for many reasons, not the least of which is ZOMG!!! 158 POUNDS! (I'm 5'7", medium frame), I've never NEVER weighed so much in my life! and, WOW! That's just, big (for me!). The other big reason this is a huge number is (and this is totally tongue in cheek, well, 90% tongue in cheek, you know) TOM weighs 158 pounds, most of the time, and I long ago decided that I. Will. NOT. weigh more than my partner, no way no how. Been there, done that, and I coulda squished him (AND I weighed like 140 at the time, so he was just a skinny little fuck). (OK so Tom just went in to the bathroom and with clothes keys and shoes on he's bringing down 162. But I weighed myself naked this morning, so.) We have always had a running joke that once I outweigh him, that's IT and we're done, 7.5 years together notwithstanding. We have reached that point and oh!

Boo! for 158 pounds. Now, obviously, I'm joking in the preceding paragraph. He won't leave because I outweigh him (will you, honey?), no no no. BUT! Some kind of rubicon has been crossed and I need to get my shit together., weight and health wise. I continually think, Hey! I'm a runner dammit! I can eat whatever I want because Hey! I'm runner dammit! and now I'm about to top the scales at 160 so, now, NOW something's gotta give. Yeah, it's just a number, and, It's how I feel, and, It's how I look, and, It's how my clothes fit, and, [insert platitude here] and . . . I'm sure that's what a lot of people have told themselves on the way to 200 and beyond. So I've reached a point where, gasp! I'm considering a diet/no bullshit self-assessment/habit change. I generally eat well, but have terrible snacky habits and drink an astonishing amount of Coke. I eat late at night. I eat way too many carbs. I'm ready to start to think about changing this. I've started researching some options. I should have some kind of plan together soon. I'm ready to take stock. Change is a'coming.

Yay! for plans. Big news! I am taking 6 weeks (6 weeks!) off from work starting May 9. I need to reset my slightly burnt-out brain (after 10+ years in Emergency Medicine, I am just starting to feel a little bit frayed), and am hoping this will do the trick. Tom has to go to Switzerland on business, and I'm tagging along with him. 5 days in Friborg (mostly alone for me, as Tom will be working lots of long hours), then we are heading to . . . Greece for 10 days. I'm thinking a day or two in Athens, and then The. Greek. Islands. Oyes. We are planning on spending time on two islands, I just haven't quite figured out yet which two. Any suggestions? After which, we'll return home and I'll have another 3 weeks to chill out some more. I'm planning on running a lot, and sleeping a lot. Not much more.

May 9 can't come fast enough.

What Garmin tells me

2011-04-03T17:59:00.000-07:00

In the past 30 days, I've run 12 times for a total of 60 miles. Average pace around 12:00. 3 days a week. Definitely getting on track after the minimal running in the preceding months. I'm getting used to paying attention to my pace now, and -- wonder of wonders -- I am just beginning to watch my pace fall a bit. So I *just now* looked back at some random runs from last month, and the month before, and the year before and -- I am surprised, but Gary don't lie -- my pace is pretty much the same. A bit more consistent from run to run, but pretty much the same. I'm surprised because it feels different, I think maybe I'm getting . . . not faster but stronger? (dunno how I can say that directly after my last post, but whatever). The past two times I've been in Marin, I've done the un-doable . . . I've actually ran, instead of just hauling my running bag back and forth like I have done the past, oh, year.

I am getting there.

Long Run FAIL

2011-03-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

Ech, went out for my 10 mile, 11:50 pace run today and failed on all fronts. Well, I did manage to get out there, but that's where the success ends. 10 miles? More like 6 something. 11:50 pace? Well over 13:00. Nice circular loop and come home with head held high? Naw, sheepishly call for a ride home. I'd have my head hung low but when it comes down to it, I don't usually fail quite so stunningly so I see this one as a gimme.

I dunno what happened. I started out with lotsa sleep, a happy stomach, beautiful weather (it must have been 60 out there, lots of melting happening!), the right clothes, all the time in the world . . . and I never got anywhere with it. Just never had the mojo. Never got the "high". I got super bored. I stopped like every three minutes, not for any reason, just to stop. Look around. Put my hands in the snow (it was hot out!). Decide which turn to take next. Start running again. Till I stop. Again. Eventually, I didn't get going again, and walked. A bit more, then what the fuck am I doing out here? and I called, oh yes I called Tom for a ride home. If every run were like this one, I would not be a runner!

Happily, this run is now behind me.

2011-03-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

There's a warming trend in town, so maybe someday we'll see the yard again. It is melting fast and furious around these parts and soon all the snow will slide off the roof. Hopefully, this year it does NOT take out half of our walkway. I think we'll have snow in the yard well into June. Let's say, June 7th is the last day there'll be appreciable snow in on the ground at our house.

Two big changes on the running front. First, and perhaps the most interesting, is I am picking up my pace a bit. I have never paid much attention to pace, except mostly in an after-the-fact kinda way. Or, having a glance at the Garmin, I'm running that slow, really? realization in a very idle way. While I am NOT laying down any even remotely quick miles, I AM paying more attention to how fast I am going. Not that I'm necessarily succeeding: each of my runs these days has a given pace, though I find myself using that pace as a suggestion rather than a mandate, and I'm averaging about 30 seconds slower than my "goal" pace. Overall, though, my running speed has definitely improved over the past month. I'm much more consistently averaging a a sub 12:00 pace. Seems like it, anyhow.

I don't know where I intend to go with this. I can't imagine ever going out to run a sub 4 hour marathon, or anything even approaching that. I guess I'd like to think that maybe I could trot out a good 5 hour one, though, and finish strong and easy. Maybe I'll pick a nice pace and learn how to just churn it out, hour after hour, and be solid and consistent with that.

The other big thing is that I am finally managing to run while I'm working in Marin. These five days, every other week, have always been my Achilles heel. I always chose sleeping or reading or just not moving for a while over any kind of run in the midst of working a whole lotta shifts. The past two times I have been there I have gone running, and no, it hasn't killed me. So I don't know why I've had such a hard time in the past. I feel much better for banging out those runs.

Another thing? I seem to have forgotten how to blog, or at least how to write a funny ol' post. Jeepers.

Springtime in Tahoe

2011-03-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Someone said something about it being spring now? I think maybe this means different things to different people. It has meant different things to me at different times of my life. When I was growing up in New England, it meant soon it would be warm and rainy and green and flowers. When I was living in the Vigin Islands, it meant the sea would warm back up from the cold cold 75 degrees up to 78 degrees and I could swim again (my blood got thin, I think). Now that I'm living in Truckee, spring means . . . not a whole lot. Not this year, anyhow. Here's our house . . .

. . . it's somewhere there, under all that snow. (Compare with this photo from back in February, which I thought was a lot. Little did I know). Know that our house, like many in Tahoe, is elevated well above ground, and the part that's in shadow in the pic is an elevated walkway from the garage, and is perhaps 15 feet or so above the ground. So that, my friends, is a shitton of snow. A couple feet of it is snow that has already been shoveled or has fallen from the roof, making it higher right along the house, but we must have at least 8 or 10 feet in the yard itself. I guess we'll have snow in our yard well into June!

This is the view out of many of our windows. Again, the ground? Is at least 10 feet from the bottom of the sill.

There's another 4 feet or so forecast between now and Saturday. Spring? Hah!

All of this snow, of course, has had an impact on my running. I don't mind running outside in the cold, but visibility is crappy when it's snowing so I don't go then. Usually the day of and the day after a storm, there is so much snow in the road that there's just no shoulder to run on. On these days I can run in the gym, but can only manage at most 5 miles before I lose my mind. We've had a load of snow this week, so I've pushed my long run and tempo run to the weekend, while I'm in Marin. This is a terrible strategy, as I can barely manage to run while there, but I have to change that habit damn quick and get three (!) runs in this time. Yeepers!

The Skiing

2011-03-19T16:27:00.001-07:00

It was epic!!! Light powder, fat skis, good friends. Now onto a sushi party. Running? Did not happen. Powder days are one in a million, or so.

Today's activities

2011-03-19T08:46:00.001-07:00

Two feet of fluffy fluffy snow has fallen, the truck is loaded with skis, and we are off to play in the powdah!!!

p.s.

2011-03-18T17:12:00.000-07:00

And I totally went on that shopping spree . . . my friend Debbie and I went to an upscale consignment shop, Target and then Macy's, I dropped a wad of cash (mostly at Macy's, natch) and got all kinds of cool clothes, came home and readied for donation three garbage bags full of ratty clothing (nearly every item I owned). Now all I have left is new, much nicer stuff. My closet hasn't looked so nice in years.

I never did The Great Race (the 30km skate skiing adventure). The night before and day of the race was warm and rainy rainy rainy, perfect conditions for a really sucky skate ski. I'm not that committed. I bailed.

The Ladies Night Party? Was a blast! Few (publishable) photos exist, but here's a blurry one of me before all the hoopla started:

My hair (a wig) was about a foot tall!

Dearth

2011-03-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

At least I've been running (somewhat) more frequently than I've been blogging. I don't know why I've been so lax, both in writing and in reading. Blog slump? I guess so. At least my other slump, alluded to in previous posts, is over. Them February blaaaahs . . . so much better now with the time change and (perhaps) the light at the end of the winter tunnel is just barely perceptible (I guess so, anyhow; as I type this, we are just getting the first inkling of the "weather pattern" that promises maybe 5 feet of snow by Monday. What fking light am I talking about??). Meanwhile, I've been filling my days with lots of skiing, a healthy (if not excessive) amount of running, plus there's some new interests on the horizon. I've managed to more or less get some of my physicality back, hopefully I can do the same for my blogging!

The running? I've been following my coach's plan, with my own standard modification. The "modification" consists mainly of running about 80% of what's prescribed, a percentage that has held steady through 5 years of running. Underachieve much? Actually, I had a bit of a slow start with the plan, but am getting more on track every day (I say this having missed -- so far, there's always tomorrow -- this week's long run, as I settle on the couch for the afternoon. Denial is a way of life!). I even managed to run (twice!) in Marin, which has been unheard of, and I think that'll be a jumpstart.

The other very cool thing about my running plan and all is that I have been running to a pace, or at least attempting to, which is something my lazy ass has never managed to do before with any consistency. I'm even doing tempo runs for crying out loud! Surprisingly, I am actually enjoying this, at least after the fact. I usually just go out and run, just, whatever pace comes naturally, and on the road that's usually around 12 minutes, or slower even. Plod plod plod. Now I'm not laying down any blazing times or anything, but every run I do has some kind of goal pace that I try to stick to. Reasonable paces that are just challenging enough but not unattainable (thanks, coach!). This is where it takes some getting used to. My last tempo (ha ha! me running tempos, hee hee!) run was supposed to be at 10:50, fine, then, run at 10:50, no big whoop, running running along then I look down a minute or so later and damn! I'm running 11:45 or something, I've just naturally slowed down without even knowing it. I guess the more I run the better I'll get at keeping to a pace, an accurate one. I've thought about setting Gary's alarm to beep at me if I drop below the prescribed pace, but then it would probably beep at me so much I'd disown it. I'll just be working on consistency, thanks.

So I would have gotten my long run in yesterday, but halfway through I get a call from Tom asking me to join him and a friend for lunch. Did I continue running, or go have a tasty Cobb salad? What do YOU think?

The other interesting thing as of late? I've been a little bored with yoga lately, and haven't managed a class in a week (or three). Lots of social stuff, skiing, running, working and other things going on and I've just not been really interested enough to force myself to go, even though I always feel better after I have gone. Yesterday, a friend brought me along to her CrossFit class and ooooh, I think I've found my new obsession. Basically, a gym-type place where you come in for an hour class wherein they run you (and a few other folks) through a brisk warm-up, KILLER workout that changes every day, and a bit of a cool down. The focus is on high-intensity weightlifting, cardio and bodyweight exercises. There's a lot of personal attention, and modifications for jiggly middle-aged women like myself. The people in the class are FIT, man, doing pull ups and handstands and all kinds of enviable shit. Stay tuned, because I think I'm gonna swap yoga for this. It's pricey, which is why something else has to give. Unlike, say, a few years ago, I think I can handle this super-intense kind of thing, and am ready for more challenges. This will provide, in spades!

So, omg, between yesterday's (albeit aborted) run and intense Crossfit class, and today's downhill ski rampage and the freaking blizzard going on outside (things have progressed since I began this post, snow is falling fast and furious, holy shit), any thought I might have had of running today has been shelved. Honestly, I can barely walk down the stairs without pausing at each step. My thighs are toast.

Hopefully tomorrow I can catch up with my schedule!

Where it's at

2011-03-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

Pretty much nowhere, actually. I am in a big huge ol' puddle of "I suck!" I just returned home from Marin, where I did not run one iota (what the fuck is wrong with me??), where I got all bitchy at my job, where I got next to nothing accomplished due to . . . malaise? indifference? burnout? Now I'm home, and things are looking up, as the house is clean, the bills are paid and the boyfriend is more awesome than ever. I got my tax refund back, and it's substantial (for me), meaning another HUGE bill can be that much closer to being paid off, I can go on a little shopping spree (I haven't bought any new clothes in, literally, years), I can breathe a little easier. Our carpets are being professionally cleaned as I write this, and happy flooring = happy house, yes? Skiing with the Master's tomorrow (or friday, perhaps), fun ladies' night party on saturday, Great Ski Race on sunday, my ugly cold sore face (you've been spared, mercifully I didn't post any pics) is getting better and oooh! the new iPad comes out next weekend (I've been waiting for 6 months for the new one before I leapt in the fray with the purchase). Plus I've got new followers here and new subscribers on Google Reader even though I haven't bothered posting regularly in, like, months, so some people are interested, at least. I'm in a big physical funk for no real reason at all (except we're in the bowels of winter, there is that) and getting fatter by the second and I'm really looking forward to . . . looking forward, and to spring, and to getting off my fat ass and getting some physicality done. Some yoga, some running, some skiing and some blogging. I'm in a big rut and I Want Out!

Am I going to hunt prey? Run a 50 miler? BQ?

2011-02-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

No, none of that. Well, not yet (the 50 miler is next year's goal). I'm not going to suddenly become competitive in my age group, train for a sub-4 marathon, run blistering track workouts or wear a running skirt (I don't know what THAT has to do with anything).

What the hell do I need a coach for?

I've been asking myself the same question ever since I originally had the idea, about 6 months ago. I certainly don't need a coach. I'm not a talented runner. No matter what I do, how hard I try, I think the best I can ever be is mediocre. I've been running now for 5 years; it's not rocket science. We're made to do this. Put one foot in front of the other. If you want to run fast, run faster; run long, run longer. Eat well. Drink consistently. Prepare to get your poop on. Change your shoes regularly. Wear good socks. Don't increase distance by more than 10% a week, or distane and tempo together. Run regularly. Wrap your toes in duct tape to prevent blisters. Tuck and roll. Take rest days. Cross train. Listen to your body. Keep moving forward. If you just want to go running, really, I think this is all you really need to know. It's all I know, and it's served me just fine. I run road, I run trails, I run mountains, I run flats, I run 5ks and marathons and ultras, I run in sunlight and darkness and have run (mostly) pain free, and recover quickly when injured. I've read a ton about running and have it dialed in -- I know what works for me.

So, what the hell do I need a coach for?

Well, I don't need a coach. But I want one.

Why?

Well, what if? What if I ran consistently, and followed a training plan? What if I didn't roll back over and go to bed when I didn't want to go for a run? What if I ran paying attention to pace? What if I run at a pace that's uncomfortable for me? What if I hit my target milage? What if I'm accountable to someone other than myself? What if I really have a good base of fitness? What if I toe the line of a race and know that I have adequately trained for it, instead of doing just enough to get by? What if I stop calling myself a loser? What if I expect more of myself?

What am I capable of?

?

For three months, I'm going to try to find out. I need help doing so. After three months, I very well almost certainly may go back to my just-get-by lazy ol' ways, because hey! it's worked for me so far, and I think it's pretty awesome that I'm a runner at all. But for three months I just want to see what I can do. My goal is simply to be consistent, and serious, about running. That's it. No massive changes, no I'm gonna run sub-10 miles, no crazy track workouts. Just be steady, and challenge myself a little. Within that consistency, challenge and dedication, what am I capable of?

?

Stay tuned.

2011-02-21T17:08:00.000-08:00

So here's a couple things you may or may not know about me. I'm so very much not a natural athlete. I did not start running (or really doing much at all, fitness-wise) until the year I turned 40. I was not a total couch potato, but I couldn't have run a mile if you held a gun to my head (not EVEN if you said there were jalapeno potato chips and cokes at the finish). Yeah. I started running because I got a bee in my bonnet about doing triathlons. I was all, Let's see how long this idea lasts! None of it came quick or easy. I started the C25K program in January, 2007 and remember staring at my watch, counting down the seconds, dying for the :90 run portion to be over. I could barely run for 90 seconds. The first time I ran for 20 minutes without stopping (something like 3 months later, man it took me a long time to get there!) is one of the most memorable moments in my running memory. I did a couple of triathlons and then, typical for me, I lost interest.

But the running thing, somehow, stayed with me.

At times I ran a little, at times I ran a little more. A few years passed and I find myself running a marathon. And then some more. During this entire time, I don't really pay much attention to my pace. Or my schedule. Or the amount of miles I run a week. Or any of that stuff. The only reason I pay any attention at all is because I'm obsessed with my Garmin and the way it keeps track of all my nice crunchy numbers and it effortlessly puts it all into a pretty calendar that I can look at and marvel, Wow, I RAN ALL THAT SHIT! Plus I had some sort of training schedule to reach the marathon distance, a schedule I followed a little more than half of. Three years ago it took me 1 hour to run 5 miles (on the road, on a good day, minus all of the pee, tie my shoes, look at the grass moments), it takes me the same amount today. I'm happy with that. It's nice and round and makes long runs easy to calculate. It's a nice easy pace. Sure I've run a marathon, which I was about three-quarters trained for. Sure, I did an ultra, which I was maybe a little more than half prepared for. I'm a lazy runner. I lack discipline. When all you folks are forcing yourself out of bed first thing in the morning, talking yourselves into going out for that 7 mile tempo run in the rain and earning well-deserved accolades for your ballsyness and commitment to yourself, your body and your sport, I'm rolling over and never even waking up. And that's fine by me. Different strokes. And different speeds. I have no athletic ability whatsoever and am probably made up entirely of (really, really) slow-twitch fibers. I have come in DFL in at least 5 races, and deep, deep in the back of the pack in the all others. Happily, I truly couldn't care less (except maybe it would be nice to finish earlier, you know, when there's still food available. Or people there. But that's all). Basically, I am the slowest, most undisciplined, laid-back and unconcerned runner I've ever heard of, with a little asterisk there signifying that, ok, she does run long distances. Other than that, bleehhh, really, I suck. I run because it zones out my brain and lets me eat a lot of food without getting fat(ter), I race because that gives me (some) inspiration to run, I keep track of my pace because I'm a little gadget freak. I'm slow, I'm lazy, and I just don't care all that much.

So, guess what I did? I went out and got myself an honest-to-goodness running coach! Oh yes indeedy, I've signed up for a couple of months of coaching from none other than SUAR.

Why Beth? Because I personally think she's just awesomeness personified, a totally inspiring and talented runner, she's an actual coach who's as funny as they come and can probably dish out the appropriate can -- and brand -- of whipass that I need, she shits in trees, leaps massive hurdles, runs with freakin' Dean whatshisname, AND she GUARANTEED me that after three months of following her training plan I would have arms and abs just like hers!!*

*She didn't. I won't. But wouldn't that be awesome?

Why a coach? for, ME? And what do I hope to accomplish? and , yeah, um, WHY? That'll have to wait for the next post, because I've got dinner plans and Pam's comment from the last post made my laugh like crazy in the yoga parking lot and I hate to think of her dying because of my lack of follow through.

Is this thing on?

2011-02-20T16:02:00.000-08:00

Ahem, yes, hello there. I'm back.

There has been so much stuff going on! Let's get up to date, shall we?

Guess what? It's been snowing in Tahoe! Endless sunny days for six weeks, lovely but not the best for a ski town, sunny sunny then this week? Snow. A shitton! Like, something like 6 feet(!!) in three or four days. It stopped snowing, finally, sometime Saturday. So. Much. Snow. Shovel shovel, snowblow, ski in powder up to my chest, my chest you guys!, shovel shovel, snowblow, repeat repeat repeat. What a week!

Our front door. It's there, somewhere.
(from the railing in the distance, the ground is about 12 feet down)

The view from the sliders to the side deck.

Guess what? I've been running. Running running. 5 miles at a stretch. A couple times a week. Painlessly. I have not had knee pain in weeks and weeks, and today was Officially Discharged from PT. I'm back! I'm ready! I'm running! And I have some really wacky news in the running department, something one really wouldn't expect from me, totally out of character, something that really rocks my socks. Something you can read about in the next post.

Meanwhile, I've also been trying to master (in my feeble, feeble way) skate skiing. I'm starting to get the hang of it, just a little bit, and hopefully will not implode when I debut my skills at the Great Ski Race 30K on March 5. It'll be an adventure!

Guess what? Remember my henna party? I got totally inspired (in a very different way than Tom did, but that's besides the point) and decided right then and there that this was something I needed to learn more about. So I got myself some henna and a couple of weeks ago I did this on Tom's shoulder:

And I thought, hey! This is cool! And I read some more and got some more stuff and learned a little bit more about the whole technique and last night I tried out all of my new skills on myself. Here's me with the henna paste still on my skin (it took about an hour to apply):

I taped it all up for safekeeping, then 10 hours later removed the tape and the paste and here's my dyed skin:

It should get darker over the next 24 hours, and lasts a couple of weeks? We'll see. I'm really intrigued by this henna thing . . . I think I'm going to henna everyone in reach!

Progress!!!

2011-01-24T17:00:00.000-08:00

I ran (well, ran/walked) for 45"! on a treadmill! before PT today, and then went right up for my appointment. PT Joe says . . . I am recovering very, very well! I ran mostly pain-free, with just a little achey-ness in the joint and a touch behind the knee, but none of that ouchy! oh shit! ITB pain. The ache represents lingering inflammation and is to be expected. Considering I skied (downhill) for a couple hours this morning, then the run on top of it, Joe says I am doing wonderfully well. He then proceeded to rub and ice and rub the knee some more for like half an hour. Oh, how I love PT . . .

He's given me a become-a-runner-again schedule, one that I am totally psyched about: run/walk intervals of 3" x 45" three times a week for two weeks (being really sure to ice afterwards, and stretch the quads in the middle), and if I remain mostly pain free, then drop the walking. Then see him again.

So what this really means is, if all goes well, by mid-February I should be running/no walking and then can get back to base-building or milage building or whatever I want, don't look back, oboy I might be a running runner again in just a couple of weeks! WHOPPEE!

(I sooooo feel like I have really dodged a bullet here, I read of other folks that struggle for months and months with the same injury, and here I am looking at getting back in real action in just a couple more weeks. I know I shouldn't be counting my chickens yet, but I really feel like I am over the hump with this and I'm just very, very pleased.)

100 Pushups . . . omy, this makes me laugh . . .

2011-01-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

. . . at myself, for sure. I've never really been able to do a pushup (a chinup is waaay out of the question). I'm not sure why, because I have these huuuge broad shoulders that once (ok, 20 years ago) could row a little boat a long long way. I guess the issue lays with my arms, which are puny and a little on the flabby side, and with my determination, which is sadly lacking. I get down to the ground ok, and then when I start to push UP, I make it about 2 inches and then whooosh! my form collapses and I'm kissing the floor. This is a basic truth.

"Waaah! I can't do a pushup! Pushups are haaaaard! Pushups are for dudes, or really fit people, not normal(questionable) people like me. You'd have to be craaaazy to want to do pushups. Only obsessive people do that. There's something wrong with them."

This is pretty much the way I feel about pushups. Swap "pushups" for "running" and that could've been a direct quote from me say, five years ago. Now I can run a marathon, and even further.

So when I read this post by Cyndi, I thought SUUURE! why not! sheesh, I had to start running one day didn't I, why can't I start this? and thought about it and downloaded the app for it and planned on starting it and then, in true ME fashion, promptly pushed it from my mind and forgot all about it.

And then. Cyndi called me on it, said she had already completed Week 1 and how was I doing? Um, whoops, I was kinda hoping YOU forgot about it, too.

But I do well when called on my behavior, and today I manned up and started the program. Well, I did the initial test, which is to see how many "good form" pushups you're capable of. Me? A big fat "0". So, it's "girlie" pushups for me, those ones with your knees bent and ankles crossed -- this supposedly takes up 50% of the weight. In the initial test I did 5 of these with good form, count 'em, 5! According to the program, this gives me a ranking of "1". I suppose I should be happy to rank 1 in anything . . . (yeah, there's 7. 7 isn't worse than 1.) At least I can do the knee-type; there is a modification that has you standing next to a wall and pushing off that, if you can't do any other type. So I'm not that bad.

I figure I'll do the full 6 week course, doing the knee pushups the whole way, and then perhaps I'll gain enough strength to do "real" pushups -- then I'll repeat it again, the "proper" way.

I'll try to stay honest!

Anyone want to join us?

2011, Let's Do This!

2011-01-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

So today I've been putting some thought into what 2011 might look like, race-wise. It's a little hard to do this, to even think about me running, since I haven't really run since December. I know, however, that this will soon be changing AND I know that, unless I have some damn goals, I'll just languish around, running little runs whenever I feel like it and not a bit more, and I'll end up fat and out of shape by May. Taking into consideration the fact that I probably won't be running without some kind of limits until March, here's what I've come up with.

DEFINITE:
March 5 Great Ski Race
This oughta be real interesting. A 30K XC ski race that's a local classic. Hopefully I can ski by then, otherwise DFL here I come.
April 2 Pardee Party
This is a 25K bicycle road "race" that's really just an excuse to get back in touch -- after the winter season -- with Tom's mt. bike peeps and have a party and listen to live music and sleep in the truck and get on with Spring. Tom and I will be on the tandem.
April 16 Cycle for Sight
See above paragraph, but maybe we'll do the 50K.
June 4-5 Reno-Tahoe Odyssey Adventure Relay
My "A" race, so far. I'll be on a team of 10 women, and will have 3 legs of the 178 mile route. Everyone says this is just the best thing ever, and I'm really looking forward to trying a new race experience. I know ONE woman on the team.

So what follows is just speculation. I really have no idea yet, "after June" is just so far off. I've picked these races based solely on location; they're all pretty damn close to home. I've decided that anything over the 13.1 distance should be on trails (I've kinda had it with roads, and they with me). I know I want to do 2 50Ks this year -- I want to get nice and comfy with that distance. I know I fill in the calendar as time draws closer. I can't race whenever I want, 'cause I work every other weekend. I am COMPLETELY open to suggestion, if any of you know of any other "can't be missed" races that are in the west, please leave a comment. And, here's a question, are there ANY (trail) 50Ks that don't have huge (>4,000ft) elevation gains? I'm still just a little hung up about hills, I know I have to (and will) get over it, but still. Anyone?

POSSIBLE:
April 30: Parkway Half Marathon, Sacramento-ish
This is on a bicycle path, and reasonably (I assume) flat. I might, just might, try to PR this distance (2:21 or something). A girl's gotta dream . . .
July 23: Golden Gate Trail Run (5k, Half, 30k, Full Mary, 50K), Marin Headlands
Who knows which distance? Probably the 50K. Advantage: I could train on some of these trails. Disadvantage: Lots of elevation gain, over 5,000 feet. Get OVER this, you-wanna-call-yourself-an-ultrarunner, Bootchez!
Sometime in October: Goblin Valley 50K, Green River, Utah
Funderson suggested this. I can't find a date, so I don't know about the work-conflict thing. If it falls on an off-weekend, I'm almost certainly up for it. If it doesn't -- as I'm afraid of, based on last year's date -- I might still do it. I'm already taking time off for the relay race, so what's another week? And it would be fun to actually do a race WITH someone.
October 1: Gold Country 34M/21M/25K/8 Mile Run, Auburn
Very close to home, all of those distances, what's not to love?
October 15: Rock'n River 50 Mile & Trail Marathon, Auburn
Definitely the marathon distance (50 miles = so far off!). Might be a can't miss date, if the Utah thing doesn't pan out. Difficult, on lots of Western States trails, would be a challenge!
Nov 12: Folsom Trail Runs 50K/25K/7M
Again, a few distances to choose from, close to home.
Probably some kind of Death Valley/Ridgecrest/Southern California thing in December
Because I always do something like that in December. This year, I might just stage my OWN little race . . .

That's it. Subject to change. Open to suggestion. Ready to kick ass. Prepared for DFL.

Gettin' my ski on!

2011-01-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

So my running has been limited to little flurries of 3 minutes running followed by 3 minutes walking. Repeat. Do this every now and then. This does not a blog post make, even considering I'm trying to ice (hah!) and stretch (Hah! Hah!) around the run. And do 1/2 hour of PT every ~~other~~ day. Suffice is to say, Yay ME! I can run for 3 whole minutes and it's easy! There was a time, not so long ago, where running for 3 minutes (in a row!) was beyond my scope, so I'm being happy with 3 minutes. Plus, my knee has NOT hurt at all, I have not had to brace it to get through my 12 hour shifts, it does not "feel funny". More things to be pleased about, if an uninteresting procession of events.

So, not much on the running front. I'm a lazy ol' gal, prone to bed suck, couch potato-ness, and spending lots of time watching reality TV, web surfing and reading mindless novels. Have I been passing the winter doing all of the above? Yes!! Is that all I've been doing? Surprisingly (hey, I have a medical condition!!) , the answer is NO!!

Why?

Because I live here:

That, in the distance, is Lake Tahoe, and there is just sooo much stuff to do around here. Downhill skiing I take for granted, and don't even blog about because, Tahoe, duh! and I can actually muster up some little skill at the task, so I can't even really make fun of myself. Well, I suppose I could, but SOMETHING's got to remain sacred, and I guess for this blog it's the downhill. Unless I do something ridiculously ridiculous, and really it's only a matter of time for that, but as a day-to-day thing, just assume I ski often. I do. (Tonight Tom and I are almost certainly going night-skiing, which I haven't done since I was learning how to ski, back in New England, back 15 years ago and OMG I'm getting old!)

Then there's yoga. I'm kinda failing a little at my 2-classes-a-week minimum! goal, having a number of 1-class weeks. Assume I try to go as often as possible. Assume I fail. Assume, when I DO go, I'm the one falling over. Still. My PT guy laughs at me, very nicely and very appropriately, but laughs at me and my inability to stand on one leg. I also find this quite humorous.

So, my latest and greatest obsession these days is skate skiing. I'm starting to get up to 10-15 mile weeks, which probably isn't all that different than what I would be running at this time of year. This milage WILL be increasing. I know you all wanted a video of my attempts and I was all set to comply, but you know what? This is so weird for me to say, but I'm actually starting to get the hang of it and I think the window for laughing at my ineptness might have closed! For reals! I mean, I'm still a waaay beginner and my technique has much MUCH room for improvement, but the hilarity of watching me fall from a standing, not-moving position for no apparent reason might just have to be saved for every-day life (yes, it happens, I also fall UP the stairs -- and into boxes - I'm looking at YOU, funderson!) ) instead of with skis on my feet. I'm no gazelle (as IF), but I'm learning the glide balance glide balance glide don't forget the arms! thing, and feel as though I'm making huge improvements every time I go out. Eventually, time-wise, I can even picture myself making it into the below-average rankings (as opposed to, Did she come skiing today? Have YOU seen her?). I'm even going to do the Great Ski Race in March, which is a notorious 30K (and lots of elevation change) race from Tahoe City to just about my back yard. 30K seems a long, loong way for me right now, but I figure Hey! It's like 2 months away and that's an eternity and why not? I'm sure I'll have PLENTY of reasons why not when the race is a week away, but for now I'm all, I'm signing up, why not you? and being all ballsy and badass about something I'm just learning how to do. Humble pie will be a dish served later.

I did get a taste of it yesterday, though, as Tom and Debbie and I did 10 freaking miles yesterday! And our "moving time"? 1:33:52, which is a 9:33 pace and that's waaay faster than I can ever run, so I'm feeling like a rockstar! I'm sure if I compared times with other skateskiers I'd probably feel more like a high school band member than a rockstar, but I'll be the one to chose the comparison, thankyouverymch, and a 9:33 pace! Wow!

The humble part? It was wicked hard, and required lots of rest stops, especially at the tops of the ~~little hills~~ mountains we climbed. And at every hut we came across.

Here's me and Debbie, who's also just learning, and OMG she's at my pace! which is something that never ever happens and makes me feel righteous! I think, in this photo, that's a boob grab that's happening, and well, that's all there is about that.

Here's Tom (and Debbie, very fondly referred to as his other girlfriend), who's also just learning, and could wipe both me and Deb off the fking map with the speeds he's already putting down. Studly bastard. Hate!!

ps Have I told you what an awesome boyfriend I have? Last night he pampered me to the nth degree, and this morning took me out for breakfast. For no special reason. Love!!!

PPS. Yeti! I did not know you read this thing! HI! When are you coming back?? I have a plate of golumpki with your name on it (tho by now you might actually be tired of golumpki, in which case, Burgers! Meatloaf! Some kind of tasteless American food! Frozen lettuce! Whatever you want!)!

I'm back!

2011-01-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

I am SO trying to be a good dooby and smart when it comes to my weak knee. And! I am sitting here typing this with an ice wrap to the darn thing, post-run! (sanctioned by PT) . . . a run during which I actually stretched! and kept to a limited time and alternation of run and walk.

Icing something! I never ice. Stretching? Stretching is for yoga, and with the exception of a nod towards some sort of calf-stretchy-thing when I had shin splints a couple years ago, stretching and running are mutually exclusive (for me). And my alternation between running and walking is usually dictated by my pressing need to pee*, take a picture, inspect my footprint or see something shiny, not by dictated time intervals. So I really am trying to Do The Right Thing.

And today that took me out for 30 minutes of movement, running 3 minutes walking 3 minutes, to the tune of 1.92 miles. My first run in over a month. Plus, yesterday I ran .6 miles! on a treadmill! OMG!

Right now, just being able to run this exciting milage (2.5 miles! Superstar!) pain free is a relief. Hopefully in a week or two I can drop the walking all together. Funny enough, it turns out that I'm having this IT band issue not because the band is tight (my right one, in fact, is tighter than the affected left), but because when fatigued, my left knee turns inward and increases the tension on it, thus: irritation. So says PT Joe. Therefor, he says, I've just got to strengthen certain muscles and pay lots more attention to my alignement and this issue should essentially go away over time. So there's that.

For now, I've just run very short distances very pain free. For now, this is totally fine.

*I ran this little run through my neighborhood. Begging me, the nearly constant trailrunner, to ask: where do you fking pee? Yeah, I know it was only 30 minutes, but still. This remains a mystery to me. Yes, I peed in a snow bank, two tenths of a mile from my home.

It's her Burfday: a Virtual Race Report

2011-01-11T14:53:00.000-08:00

Back when my knee was (thought to be) solid and dependable, I signed up for a virtual race in celebration of Pam's 31st birthday -- a 5K, naturally. Well, my intentions were good but my body was weak, and running was certainly NOT in the cards. Now, I've bailed on plenty of races, real and virtual, without ever telling anyone, and for much less valid reasons than an injury (It's hot, it's cold, it's too far to drive, I'm hungry, it's early, it's late, all = I am lazy). Tell me I should run, and I'm all The couch is soooo comfy! and I'll find a million and one reasons not to go. Tell me I CANNOT run, though, and out comes the determined bitch and suddenly running and fitness is the most important thing in my life and nothing will stop me, lest of all rules. Billed as a running race, obviously a participant should actually run it, yes? Well, sorry Pam, but I didn't run it and I'm making up my own rules. I skied the damn thing, and think I should earn equal billing with the other runners, and no "handicap" or anything for them or me, even though we're using different methods of locomotion. Look, we all know I suck as a runner, and guess what? Surprise! I suck even more as a skate-skier!

I've gone skate skiing (it's cross country skiing, but like they do in the olympics, with skinny skinny little skis, super fast and balanced and using that skating motion on flat, smooth packed snow) a total of 3 stumbling, bumbling times. I can downhill ski pretty damn well, but this? doesn't have anything to do with downhill. People who've mastered it just glide around like angels, hardly expending any energy, yet eating up the miles and elevation and all that; there was recently a 10K skate ski race in the area, and I think the winner did it in something like 24 minutes? So, yeah, it's fast and a skier shouldn't be compared to a runner ever.

But.

I don't think I've mastered the skill quite yet. Sure, I slide and glide, but generally in the wrong direction. I fall. I slip backwards. I trip over myself. I can't seem to climb any kind of hill with anything other than short, choppy stepping motions. I ski over my poles, then drop them. I stumble. I laugh at myself and my inability to move forward while everyone around me is seemingly floating by. (Actually, minus the poles, this is exactly how I run, too!)

My best ever 5K (running) was 30:38, and I nearly lost a lung throwing down that time. One of these days, I'll get that under 30:00, and then I'll never try to run "fast" again. I thought maybe on skis, skate skis, maybe I could get under 30? After all, in that local race of a few days ago, the last, DFL skier had a time of 27 something in the 5K, so maybe?

So I went out on Saturday and did my 5K (I actually went a few more miles afterwards).

OK, race report stuff. Let's say, a summary.

Slide slide slide, gasp gasp oops! fall down! Slip slide stomp trip slide slide slide. Oooooh, downhill! Remember your inhaler! Still, gasp some more, slide slide, slippy trippy ooooooh! downhill! Slip, step step step, done.

So here it is, my official time in this new super fast sport:

Heee! I have a long way to go.

Happy Birthday, Pam!

Return to movement

2011-01-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

It's been, oh, just about a month since the Death Valley marathon. That was the last time that I really ran. True, I've been on a couple of short forays, all ending quite abruptly due to knee pain, but for the most part I have done NOTHING since the race. 3 runs, 3(?) yoga classes, a couple of downhill skis, a few cross country skis, that's what's been going on here for the past 30 or so days. Not much of nothing. Definitely spurred by the IT issue, this has been a much-enjoyed month-long ol' hiatus. Now, if I were SUAR, I'd surely be spending my time here on the injured list making quality choices, staying fit and hanging out with old ladies, but. Dedicated I am not. I'm a lazy, lazy runner and I've spent my time avoiding choices, getting fat and hanging out with the remote control. I try for these 30-day physical naps once a year, every year. Not because I read about it in a magazine or heard about it from a fellow runner, but because it just seems like a good idea. And, oh yeah, I'm lazy! and relish any opportunity to lay down.

And, yet. Scratch me deep and I bleed runner, and I hereby announce the cessation of the hiatus. I've sat on my ass long enough and it's time to get up and get moving. My muscles are calling me, hey! get busy! and I'm going to have to get busy, here.

Oh, yeah, that whole knee thing. To be honest, I just figured I'd give myself a couple of weeks, some rest and a foam roller and just solve this thing bingbangboom! and I'd be all better faster than you can say "oh, that shit never happens to me!" and I'd one day soon just throw on my running togs and get out there and magically run, say, 5 pain free miles.

How's that plan working out for me?

Not so good. Even though I haven't run a lick for 3 weeks, I can feel that it's just . . . not right. Still, it hasn't bothered me at all in that time, no pain or anything, so I'm being optimistic. Until a few days ago, anyhow. Last week, working the 4th night shift in a row (I'm an ER nurse, on my feet for 12 hours a pop), it started to hurt and hasn't really stopped (albeit in a very minor way) since. Regression. I tapped yet another ER doc friend, this time for a prescription for physical therapy. Which starts on Monday. I wave the white flag.

So I'm holding off on any kind of running until I see the therapist. Meanwhile, I will be active in other ways (really, I have to. I haven't been running like a runner, but I sure have been eating like a runner!). I'm definitely committing to some regular yoga (2 classes a week, ok?), and will be spending the lion's share of this weekend on some cross country skis. Ever cross country ski before? Do you understand how klutzy I am? Hilarity, no doubt, shall ensue.

I was going to go slide around the snow this afternoon, but Tom and I pulled roof duty instead. What, you might ask, is "roof duty"?

Around here, it means roping up and climbing our very high and very pitched roof to chop down the frigging ice dams (overhanging the eaves by a foot or more, and a foot or so deep) with a big ax. Don't break the windows!

(Thanks everyone for your tips about the photo links. Thanks especially to Iron Mike for giving me the heads up that it was all Blogpress' doing, and I'm innocent, INNOCENT I tell you!)

The Problem

2011-01-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

My linkage problem is not what I thought it was. All of the Picasa album photos are fine; it's the ones I (maybe uploaded directly? took with my phone? I'm not quite sure what the commonality is) DON'T have in my album that are broken. Where had they been living? I dunno. Why did they go away? This I dunno either, though I'm pretty damn sure I did SOMETHING to screw it all up. That's my way!

In any case, now I have to laboriously go through, post by post, my entire blog, find missing pictures, (if I can even remember what the damn thing was), look for it in my hard drive or, most likely, my phone, then re-upload it. Huge pain in the ass, and I'm sure I still don't have all of the photos, maybe 90%? It all needs some reconstruction. Aaahh!

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I'm sure this was NOT Blogger's fault, just mine. My whole damn computer has had to be revamped, software and storage-wise, again NOT because of anything that IT did, but rather because of my own damn foolishness and propensity to happily click on buttons just for fun. In the end, I've ended up with my computer very neatly organized (I didn't actually lose any files) and running like a top.

What happened with the blog, I don't know. I've been moving and deleting and retiring lots of files, and can only imagine I've screwed up somehow with the blog pix (though I thought they were all online, so . . . I just don't now). So I guess the re-linking of pictures, where possible, will be an ongoing project for me. Happily, it's not all of the pictures, just some. Like I said, pain in the ass, I won't bore you with any more details.

Now, back to my regularly scheduled lack of posting . . . !

Ouch! My blog is busted!

2011-01-05T22:33:00.001-08:00

What follows is purely technical. Feel free to move along.

One of the
excuses
reasons for the dearth of posts lately is, as a direct result of my own really, really silly actions, I nearly killed my trusty MacBook pro. happily, it survived my attempts at annihilation, but has needed a lot of tender loving memory repair. It's back to normal now, with no lingering effects.

So I thought. Today I noticed many of my blog photos have lost their links. Normally, shennaninigans on my computer shouldn't affect my blog, but I do remember reinstalling Picassa, or somehow or another renaming my Picasa web albums, or some such nonsense. I think because of this, I have somehow disrupted Blogger's link to my uploaded photos and >pppopphhhfffft< failure on my old links. All the photos are still there online, but ...

Do any of you clever peeps have a clue what I'm talking about (I barely do myself!)? Can anyone offer me some guidance on how to re-establish a link? Am I raving?

Meanwhile, suddenly (and almost certainly coincidentally) I am suddenly unable to post from my computer, due to some seeming glitch within the Blogger post editor?

WTF?

Year End

2011-01-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

OK, I guess it's obligatory, the whole year-end post, cute pictures and witty captions, wry musings on what transpired in 2010, followed by thoughtfully optimistic goals and hopes for the 2011, all wrapped up in a timely, sentimental bow of self awareness, self improvement and deeper understanding of oneself, others and the surrounding environment.

Bootchez style?

A week late and a post (or 3) short.

In 2010 I ran 798 slow, klutzy miles.
In 2011, I might run 1,000 of them.

Thanks for stopping by!

It's igloo time

2010-12-30T01:49:00.001-08:00

Tom done built hisself an igloo.

Here's how. I think this is SO cool!

Death Valley Marathon: A Race Report!

2010-12-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

Ready? (if not, you should be. This is only, like, a month after the fact). Here we go!

Let's start off with location, location, location!

I first came to Death Valley 3 years ago, for a race of course, and just fell. in. love. I've lived on the sea, I've lived in the mountains, I think I very well might live in the desert one of these days because the desert is simply magnificent and speaks to me in a way that's hard to quantify. I love the views, the geology, the plants, the harshness, the weather, the expanse, the climate. Well, the climate in December, anyhow. I think August might have a thing or two to teach me, but in the winter I'm all over it. I think I'm meant for the desert. Death Valley is the pinnacle of all that is desert and I smile smile smile all the time that I am there. Love.

This race could have been designed with only me in mind. I love the venue, the weather (on this day, cool and overcast, not the best for photos but the best for me!), the view, and the profile. Check it out:

We ran from Nevada into California, so I guess I've got two states covered? Isn't this a pretty satellite shot? Really, though, it's all about the elevation profile, and this is the sweet spot for me.

Climb climb climb, then descend descend descend, and descend! To the tune of 3,125 feet gained and 6,359 feet lost, per Gary (I just looked this up just now and am really quite shocked with those numbers. I knew it was a lot, but not THAT much! Holy Shit!). Holy shit!

So anyways we all meet up at Furnace Creek at 6:30 am, check in and all that, I drop a deuce (happiness!) and get intimidated by all the other runners for a while. I'm not in a tutu-wearing mood for some reason, so I've left that piece of gear back at the truck. I ready myself for 26 miles without headphones because this is a no iPod race and they seem pretty damn stern about it, so I decide not to cheat even though I want to. Pre-race stuff, then we all load onto buses for the half hour trip to the start line.

Some 300 people pour from the buses, and all the dudes just line up and let 'er whizz.

I'm jealous and consider doing the same (I mean, modesty? Now? Who am I kidding?), but I use the portapotties like a lady and then, 3-2-1 Go! and we're off.

And away I go. This race is all on a fire road, and this one is one of those insidious sloooow elevation gains, such that it doesn't feel like you're actually climbing, it just takes even more effort than usual to maintain your regular pace. I fall in line and start the slow churn upwards.

Along about the beginning I hear someone talk about how they're from New Mexico and a variety of other little tidbits and lo! and behold I get to meet Misty from Athena Diaries! She's someone I've been reading for a looong time, and runs around my speed, and seems like an all-around cool chick, so I was super psyched to fall into conversation with her (try not to be an idiot, Bootchez, don't say stupid things, don't be a potty mouth, be clever and GOOOD, I hate social anxiety!). This long time later I can't remember what we talked about, but I know that I enjoyed the conversation.

We ran somewhat together until about mile 5 when oh! hey! remember the knee? It twinges. Just a little bit, but every time I lift my leg up, oooh, a little bit of a twinge. Not to worry right now, thinks I, but one element of it bears consideration . . . the knee does NOT hurt at all if I maintain a certain pace. At this point, that pace is around 12:30 or so. Any slower, any faster and twingetwingetwinge, so FINE then, I let my knee dictate my pace. This happens to be just a tiny bit faster than Misty is running, so bye bye to her (for now). I get to know some of the other back-of-the-packers which comes in handy later on, as I spend the next 2/3 of the run passing, and being passed by, and passing again, then ultimately being passed permanently by, about 20 of the same people.

I remember miles 11-13 being mostly pretty damn tough, with the slope getting darn steep, then steeper, then downhill for a bit, then WOW! Really steep! and then I'm walking. Little stabs at running, followed by a long stretch of walking. I don't walk much during races, but this shit was steep!

There is not much distance between the road below me and the road I'm on, and it's 100 feet higher. Steep.

But then, yay! Mile 13 rolls around and I know it's all downhill from here. It's all easy, and gravy, and beautiful to boot! I'm going to looove the second half of THIS race, I tell myself.

And, for a while, I do. Stride stride stride, run run run, I'm happy! I pass a young lady, Bethany, at mile 16 or so who's walking, limping, she doesn't know what happened but she heard something snap and by the way she's walking I think she's done in her Achilles. She's been in tears, you can tell by her face, and I'm all Cheer up, little camper, you'll be just fine, eventually! I don't actually say this, of course, just offer some words of encouragement and keep on keeping on, but I'm happy with the way my knee is holding up, and I'm not imune to a little hubris at times.

A couple miles later and I fall into conversation with another gal, Caroline, who chose this! as her first marathon, ballsy girl. Turns out the week prior she was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff (shoulder), making her even more of a badass. She's struggling a bit at this stage, and we fall into a great bit of conversation and take each other's mind off of our miseries for a little while. We've got tons in common (same-ish age, both live in ski towns, seemingly same sense of humor and she knows about and shares my love for my Favorite Place on Earth . . . ) and I'm happy to have met her.

By this time, we are well into Titus Canyon, and the scenery is spectacular. I just love Death Valley and all it has to offer . . .

So Caroline and I run together for a bit, but again my knee will not let me run at a pace of my choosing, and I must leave her, and I do. Which turns out to be a good thing, because for whatever reason my belly starts acting up a bit and I drop a present on the roadside (keep in mind, canyon road = canyon = very little privacy). Just as I'm finishing up, one of those 20 new back-of-the-pack friends passes and I'm, Just having a pee here! I'm not pooing, not me! and I gather myself and head back out there and pass this guy, who happened to have passed me once before while I was having a pee (a real pee, that first time). I'm simply shameless.
So all is well, for the most part, and I pull into the 20-mile aid station. I know that my pace has dropped considerably over the past 5 miles due to the knee, but I've already resolved to not care a whit about my time and I couldn't care less. Yuumy tasty food, a little to drink, a nice little chat with the volunteers and I happily head off for the last 6 miles . . .
And the fking wheels fall right off.
My knee, which has been a loud whisper till this point, suddenly is a ROOOAR! Seriously, my first running step nearly drops me to the ground. In fact, I do stop right quick and I'm all hunched down and what the fuck is all this then? with the knee. Ouch ouch ouch. Misty comes cruising on past, inquiring after me and I'm casual and all, I'm fine! Just the knee hurting a bit! and that's a total lie because I'm NOT fine and the knee really hurts and even my leg feels weak and it's hard to pick up my left foot and move it forward. To get beyond a walking pace I have to literally stagger, two hops on the right, hard step on the left, two hops on the right, repeat a couple times and then I'm running again, after a fashion. Oh boy! says me, knowing if it had felt this way at mile 10 I would have dropped out then and there, but this is mile 20 and I've come this far . . . so I stagger on down the road.
I've gone from happy knee happy stomach happy runner to UNhappy knee, (though still) happy runner in the space of 100 yards. The tide has turned, and for the first time in my fledgling running career I am face to face with injury and pain. If that's not enough, what else has turned? Those in the know, know, and that would be my stomach. Another quarter mile beyond the aid station and it's OK NOW, EVERYONE OUT OF THE POOL! and I frantically look around and, people, there is NOWHERE to go, as the canyon walls are now a mere 40 feet? 35 feet? apart from each other, and 20 feet of that is road, leaving a bush? a rock? on either side and omy it doesn't matter because what's inside wants to be outside and I've got no choice and I shuffle off to the "side of the road", hah! and what's inside? A cubic meter of rippling gas, wetrumble!pttttthhhhh!!BANGBANG!!faaaaahhhhrt! (and a tiny little poo), that went on for, no lie, like 20 or 30 seconds, rising and falling, one of the longest farts of my life and certainly one of, if not THE loudest because you know what happens to noises in canyons that are super narrow and hundreds of feet high? ECHOS happen, amplification and ECHOS Echos echos, that's what happens and here, Pam, in answer to your meme, transpires my Most Embarrassing Running Moment because literally a second, ONE SECOND after the inside stuff gets outside, as I'm chuckling to myself because farts are funny and loud ones even funnier, that same guy from before comes around the corner not 4 feet from where I'm crouched behind a ~~pebble~~ rock, getting ready to wipe myself with a rock. Having heard the whole thing, no doubt, because the echos were seriously loud, as was I. He goes trotting up to me and on past, and what can I do? I know, and he knows, and I know he knows, and . . . I just kinda smile weakly and twiddle my fingers at him as he passes.
Oh my goodness.
So my stomach's in a riot (be assured, this was not my last roadside donation, o no), my knee is SCREAMING, my pace is truly pathetic, truly, but there's only another couple few miles to go and I'm in Death Valley so I'm happy! and I've never, ever ever looked forward so much to the end of a race. Miles 20-24 were a bitch, bitch, bitch.
23 miles in and this, this! is where they have the official photographer. There's tons of photos of me, and in most of them I look completely miserable, my leg all weird and swung out to the side, in pain.

Here I said to the photographer, Oh, this is where I'm supposed to look all fucking happy and shit, right??? with not a trace of humor or smile in my voice and she says No, you're supposed to look like you're finishing a marathon! and I ask, deadpan, So you're telling me I look like shit (which, of course, I so obviously do!)?? and she is taken aback a bit, then I smile and laugh and let her see that I'm my usual smily happy runner self despite being a wreck.

A wreck I am indeed, though. stomach knee knee knee stomach and then I get cooold and feel crappy and my mind is crying a little and then mile 24 and the canyon ooooopens and ends and there's sunshine and wide open spaces and an aid station, where I stop and it's soooo hard to get going again hop hop ouch! hop hop ouch! then running and I start chatting with a fellow runner named Kat and I can tell she'll run with me the last 2 miles so I'm feeling sunnier and like the end is near and attainable. And then! Caroline catches up with us and we three are really sooooo happy and so looking forward to the end, after some 5 hours and 45 minutes, and then Bethany limpingly catches us and we all band together and carry each other along and it's sooo funny because we're ALL wrecks, me swingling my leg out stiff with every step, Caroline with her shoulder and all those first-time-marathon pains and Bethany barely able to even walk but here she is running and Kat, well, she didn't have any injury but she was wearing those Vibram shoes so she just LOOKED funny and we come staggering down the road with minutes to spare before the 6 hour cut-off and completely enwrapped in the joys and pains of marathons and instant friendship and support and I just love this photo:

Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse
Kat, Me (acting like the freak, natch), Caroline and Bethany

And we all crossed together. Gary said 5:59 by the time I remembered to shut him off, but our official time was 5:56, by far my ~~worst~~ PR!

I then took Caroline and Bethany back to the truck and gave them each a vicodin and a xanax. But don't tell anyone.

Thank the marathon gods for those three women . . . they made those last couple of miles do-able and funny.

Post race thoughts?

I'm thankful that this knee thing turned out to be ITBS instead of something more serious. I loved this race and had myself a fine old time despite the hurdles. I'm itching to do this course again, and really crank out a good time. The uphill then downhill format is my favorite for sure. I CAN run without an iPod! I met some very cool peeps, and that wouldn't have happened if I were plugged in. I think the $12 brace helped tremendously. I'm enjoying the month "off" from running I'm presently in.

I can't wait to get back!

Death Valley

2010-12-27T13:29:00.001-08:00

So here's a video Tom made of our Death Valley trip . . .

Results!

2010-12-20T21:51:00.001-08:00

Just a few minutes ago I had one of the orthopedic guys do a "wet read" of my MRI. I just couldn't wait any more, the damn suspense was killing me! I had all these visions of, well, you can imagine. Anyhow, check it out:

All of that white stuff on the right? That's inflammation, and that means ... IT band!! I'm sure it sounds odd, but I am soooo happy to have THIS injury!! The alternative was frightening!

I can DO IT band! I see foam rollers in my future. The doc said I can keep running, just cut down my weekly milage, take some motrin, don't push it, do some strengthening exercises, etc etc.

I guess I'll take a look on these here interwebs and find some info on how to deal with this. Can anyone recommend any sites for me to peruse?

I guess I've really arrived as a runner now, huh?

Thanks for all of your good wishes, folks. I appreciate you all (even you mysterious non-commentors!) more than you will ever know!

(ps. still working on that race report, stay tuned ...)

The Knee

2010-12-19T10:01:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I went running with a new-to-me group of bay area runners that I met when I did the Boggs Mt race, calling themselves BARF. A great group of people that I am totally psyched about, and which I will write more about later when I am NOT typing on this damn little phone keyboard. We went out for a 12-miler. In an effort to be really smart about my knee, I told myself I would only go out for the first three and if, at that point, I had any knee pain whatsoever, I would turn around and go back. Sadly, that's what I had to do, and walked/ran the three miles back. Boohoo.

When I got up for work in the evening, it STILL hurt, to the point I had to ace wrap it and then limp around for and hour or two. After it had a chance to stretch out a bit, the limp went away, but I was left with the conviction that now this is something to take a bit more seriously. I am not much of a wimp when it comes to pain, and this really doesn't hurt all that much, but instinctively I feel that if I ignore this (like I really, really want to) I will come to regret it. I don't want to screw myself up here at all!

Anyhow, I finished my night ER shift ok, and his morning was happy to see one of my favorite ER docs coming in for his day shift. I pulled him aside to ask his advice about what might be going on. I'm still thinking, IT band? because it's somewhat consistent with my overall symptoms, but he (acknowledging that he's no sports medicine specialist -- but IS a fellow runner, and, obviously, a doctor) didn't think so. His thought? I need an MRI.

Here's where the benefits of my job and the awesome people I work with kick in -- 45 minutes later, there I am getting my knee MRI'd. This is something that most folks have to wait weeks and weeks for, but there I am getting the damn thing first thing on a Sunday(!) morning.

I don't know the results yet, but might get a very preliminary report later today, and should get an official read by Monday or Tuesday. The differential diagnosis at this point is ITBS vs meniscal tear. Obviously I am hoping for the former, and am fearing the latter.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Catching up with things

2010-12-14T14:47:00.000-08:00

Oh, home after a long vacations means . . . chores. I've spent the last couple of days unpacking and rearranging, but happily we only had a foot or so of snow and ice on the driveway, compared to last year's 4 feet (and no power), so we didn't have THAT particular shock waiting for us. Just lots and lots of laundry, items away, piles of mail to deal with, errands and other things. Tom went straight back to work = ( Luckily, I don't have to face that until Thursday. Ahhh.

Yoga: I'm back! I went to class yesterday, it was horrible and I'm so happy!

Race Report: In the works

Google Analytics <---- do you use this? I don't, much, because well I just don't really ~~understand it~~ care. One of the things it shows, though, is how people find/come to your site. A whole bunch of my traffic (such as it is) comes from Beth, she's my number one (should be number 2, but I digress) referral source. Thanks, and Hi, you people! I only mention this as a lead-in to the search feature, which shows what people type into the google search field to bring them to your site. My favorite 3 searches that led people to my site:

3. i run 5 miles daily and three hours later i start to eat and can't stop (yeah, don't I know it!)
2. lazy dress girl (you've found the right place!)
and
1. thick tits (um, really? have I EVER posted about tits? Thick ones? hmmmm . . . )

Anyhow, now I'm sitting on the couch procrastinating when I should be working on my chore list (go to the bank, boxes to be emptied . . . ) and, apparently, I have been tagged! Ooooh, I'm someone now! So awesome Pam has tagged me with some questions to be answered. I'm not sure which ones I'm supposed to answer, as she was fielding two requests, so I'm just going to answer the ones I want. Or, keep answering until the couch gremlins kick me off, or the bank closes, or I manage to haul my lazy ass away, whichever comes first.

What is your #1 indispensable running accessory? #2?

Ok, my answer is exactly the same as hers. Number one? Gary the Garmin. I honestly don't know if I would have kept up the running habit if not for this. My stats are less than impressive, but man I loooove to know how much I ran, when, how fast, all organized into a calendar with reports and all kinds of statistical manipulations, oooh, heaven. And it always provides a decent reality check. If it weren't for Gary I might think I'm some kind of speed demon (you mean people actually run faster than me? How is it possible to go any faster?), but I look down and see that 13:23 pace and Oh, yeah, that's right. Number two? That fking ipod. Running without music just seems so pointless. Bringing me to the next question . . .

What do you mostly think about when training?

First of all, I really don't ever "train" in the purest sense of the word. I try to run far and not die. I might have a "training schedule" but that's really more of a mental game for me, as a schedule provides me with some kind of inspiration to at least get out there. When I don't have a "training schedule" I easily do what I am doing right now, which is nothing. The avoidance of something. When I'm "training" I'm just running for distance and do no real speed work, long run, tempo run, none of that shit. I just plod along. What do I think about? NOT MUCH. I always listen to music, the same damn playlist (more or less) for 4+ years. I sing along and don't think much. My mind wanders, goes blank and sometimes I'm like, I'm here already? and can't remember the last mile run. This is bliss! Sometimes I think of, and write, blog posts in my head. Truly, if all the blog posts I've written in my head were actually written and published in reality, this would be a prolific blog! Granted, there would probably be a lot more google searches for how to shit on the side of the road and wipe your ass with a rock and other topics best left unexplored, so this isn't a bad thing. But . . .

Most embarassing running moment?

SKIP THIS SECTION IF YOU'RE QUEASY or, more importantly, YOU KNOW ME IN REAL LIFE, JUST SKIP IT!!! The tricky part of this question is the "most" part, because pretty much ALL of my running moments are embarrassing in one way or another. I'm NOT someone you want to run with. I spit, fart, sneeze, twitch and fall over at the least provocation. I have GI issues. I used to have major bladder issues, which led to awkward moments (thank you! surgical intervention). I sing (and can't carry a tune in a basket), dance (and am a huge klutz) and sometimes unwittingly shout out loud for no reason whatsoever. I would constantly be embarrassed if I paid attention to myself. But I don't (denial is a way of life!). Looking back, my MOST embarrassing moments all have to do with shit (surprise!). Two things come to mind. One happened in the Death Valley Marathon (and will be exhaustively recounted in the mythical Race Report) and the other? Really? Here goes . . . a few years ago, when I was still a relative newbie runner, I had MAJOR runner's belly (makes me look positively anti-fecal nowadays, which is so not true!), like 2-3 poos every time I ran, no matter what. Back then, my most indispensable running accessory was toilet paper, wads of it. This particular time I went for a run before work, had multiple bad "moments" trailside, came home, sat on the bed, got undressed, into the shower, dressed and then in the car and off to Marin. The bed? White comforter. The problem? What I left on the bed. Yes, unbeknownst to me, I left a fking Rorschach pattern of poop stain splat! on the comforter. Tom, he takes a damn picture of it! and emails it to me, saying Do YOU know what this is?!? My heart just fell plop to the bottom of my stomach, o man I was soooooo embarrassed. Truly shamed. I made Tom delete the photo right then and there and promise, promise, promise! never to mention this incident again, which, bless his heart, he never has. (just, I suppose, so I could go on line! with it, and announce it to the public at large! Oh, anonymity!) I washed the comforter myself when I got home. I'm lucky to have a great guy like Tom! leading to . . .

Is your sweetheart supportive of your extracurricular active activities? How?

He could not be more supportive. I am blessed in my partner for sure (see above). From the moment I came up with the idea that I (of all people) was going to get athletic, he has been 100% supportive. He goes to all of my races, he listens to all of my blather about running, he cheers each of my accomplishments, laments my failures, helps me plan routes, backs me up on long runs, picks me up on the side of the road when I call for a ride home, defeated, and cheers me for what I did run. He thinks me running at an 11:00 pace is superfast, reads my blog, brags about me to friends, commiserates with the struggle, allows me to back down. Just perfect, wonderful and amazing support. Thanks, Tom!

Do you send Christmas/Holiday cards? Why or why not?

Fuck no. I'm lazy and have few friends. I love getting them, though!

What's your proudest moment of 2010?

I have two. Finishing the 50k was huge because, hey! 31 miles is nothing to sneeze at! and the other is finishing the Death Valley run because I was hurting big time and would have been totally justified in dropping, but continued on. I'm a quitter and I'm a wimp and not to giving in to either of those qualities was a personal victory.

Lastly,
Running goals for 2011?\

Oooh, I'll really have to think about this and will probably do one of those Year End Posts that's all reflective and goal oriented, etc. I think I did one for 2010 and will have to go back and see how I fared. Anyways, at this point I can think of a couple concrete things. I want to run well over 1000 miles in 2011 (I think I ran something like 800 this year. I really, really need to improve that number to be able to complete my second goal which is, run some more 50Ks. I want to get really comfortable with that distance, and maybe try for a 50 miler in 2012.

That's enough. I'm off the couch, to the bank and post office! What fun!

A signal!!

2010-12-12T08:28:00.001-08:00

Back in the land of the digitally connected! Hiya!!

We're presently driving out of bishop, ca and are on our way home. I'm anticipating being met with a cold house and 5 feet of snow in the driveway, followed by lots of unpacking. And laundry. And, oh, reality? Coming up fast!

Meanwhile, the brief report (further details, like a full-on race report and maybe some pics and things, will have to wait for a full-sized keyboard, and might just wait forever because I suck like that, but I have hopes!).

Death Valley Marathon!

Yay, what a great venue! Yay! Run, Bootchez, run! Uphill! Cool scenery! Chat with some people, Bootchez! At mile 5, oh yes, there's the knee. It's okay, though, but it dictates my pace in a funny way, ie there's only one speed I can run at that's comfortable. On track, though. Run! Eat! Ooh, it's very uphill, then, it's not.

Then it's 5,000 feet of elevation loss, yippie!

Then, oh my, 20 mile aid station and the wheels fall off. I'm fine when I stop, then when I start "running" again, ouch! knee! not good! Pace drops hugely, my leg's a-swinging, ooh I'm in pain. There's poop, too!!! Plenty of it! By the end of the race I've hooked up with three other crumbling runners, one with a torn Achilles (my diagnosis, anyway), one with a torn rotator cuff, one with no injury but wearing those vibram shoes so she just looked funny, and me, and we crossed the finish line together at 5:55 or so, all damaged and looking like the Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse, all super psyched to be done. I then liberally pass out painkillers to my fellow wrecks, and boogie on outa there. Loved the race, despite the knee breakdown. Had a grand time and got a neat medal and a cool Death Valley Marathon tshirt that looks all badass with a skull on it and everything!

I hope to write a full report because it really was an interesting race for me.

Carrying on, we went on to one of earth's more mysterious places and saw a LOT of this:

which deserves a post of its own, too. Then we continued on and did a bunch of this:

(4-wheeling, NOT the walking, he's just scouting), and miles of this:

to get here:

which makes my heart sing, because that's my Favorite Place on Earth for many reasons, not the least of which is this:

which is a great place to, among other things, a fine place to soak a wounded knee, which I do have. I've run twice since the marathon, an ok 6 miler and then a very aborted run that became about 1.5 miles of knee pain. Haven't run at all in the past 4 days or so (even though I had some AWESOME runs planned in that lovely venue) and think that's helped a bunch because my knee feels totally fine. I've decided to take a break from any kind of serious running (read: over 4-5 miles) for a week or maybe a few because a. Instinctually this seems like the best thing to do right now, knee-wise, b. I usually take about a month off every year, and haven't for the last 12 months, c. Remember when I used to do yoga? I want to be that person again! d. Remember what I said about all the snow in the driveway? That means 2 things: adverse running conditions and ... SKIING!! Great knee activity!

I'm really not too worried about the knee. I'm quite prone to tendonitis and think this is probably the problem. I'll try a little run maybe by the end of the week and go from there. It just seems to want a little rest. If it's still funky in a couple more weeks I might take it to the doctor, but for now I'm going with yoga, rest and skiing.

I'll try to flesh out the details if the past couple of weeks, especially the race, in a future post.

I've gotta spend the next 3 hours or so getting ready for the return of reality!

2010-12-02T18:07:00.001-08:00

I began today's run with a lot of trepidation and a $12 stretchy Walmart-bought knee brace on my left leg. The climate has definitely changed as we've come south because, while it's still pretty damn nippy at night, as soon as the sun comes up it's happy smile warm time all around.

My run took place here, which is somewhere, and there were just TONS of Joshua trees, almost like a forest. That there is some straight road and I ran along it for 2 miles as it slowly graded up, then turned around back the way I came. I don't know if it was the time, the advil or the brace, but I ran pain free and have remained pain free all day. This is tremendous news for me, because I was (and, honestly, remain) quite nervous about this issue so close to my race. I'm now cautiously optimistic, which is a better place mentally than I was a few days ago. I am still fully prepared to dnf this thing if I have to, but I'm beginning to think maybe I won't have to.

Goals for Saturday:
Start!
Make it halfway
Make it all the way
Be close to my PR (5:20 or so)
Better my PR (there's a lot of elevation loss and I like that)
Under 5???

Today's travels took us through Baker, CA. I don't know what would bring you to this town, as its existence seems only to service the highway (I15), but if you're traveling between LA and Vegas, do yourself a favor and stop here:

the Mad Greek, cause they have some damn fine food (really, really good) and baked stuff and ohmy it was a tasty treat.

Baker is apparently "famous" for having the World's Tallest Thermometer, which turned out to be quite the disappointment. I was expecting maybe this huge mercury thing, but it ended up being just a tallish spire with some digital displays up the side. Lame. I was much more impressed by the implications of the businesses nearby this giant
rectal
thermometer, namely Big Boy and the Bum Boy Motel (with free Movie Channel!)

Later on, we found this fantastic hot pond, which is just what you think and very much simply devine.

Tomorrow takes us into Death Valley, and probably out of cellphone range. I follow Saturday's race with a week or so long stay at my Favorite Place on Earth (NOT Disney, btw). I'll try to finagle another post, but this might be it for the next week.

Thanks for reading, all of your encouragement and advice, and have a great week!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-01T15:55:00.001-08:00

Tonight's camp spot:

Warming up

2010-12-01T11:48:00.001-08:00

We did make it out of the cold and into the relative warmth of southern Nevada. The Valley of Fire, to be precise. A very interesting place to spend a day or two.

This is coming into the park and you can see where it gets its name. Amidst the dull coloring of the desert, whammo! there's suddenly a huge swath of bright.

I took this photo on what was to be my 15 miler from the morning. This was afternoon (which is fleeting, omg when you're sleeping outside you become very attuned to, you know, daylight! and there's not much of that about this time of year. Weve been going to sleep at around 7 and getting up a 5-6 am. Weird) and I headed out with light etc. in preparation for the coming dusk. Tom also went out, but he was walking along the road and, get this!, he got stopped by the ranger, who inquired what he was up to because "we don't see a lot of people walking around here." This in a state park! Meanwhile, I was out running on the road in full-on geek gear, Nathan pack, armwarmers, god knows what they thought of me!

Anyhow, while Tom's getting roughed up by Ranger Rick (not) I'm out running my run, enjoying the awesome scenery. Long about mile 8, something distressing happens. I start developing pain in my left knee, something I haven't felt before. I'm a lucky runner and have never been injured and usually only ever have mild little aches pains or cramps when I run, never anything major. This felt weird and just got weirder and more painful by the minute, lateral knee pain and hurts when I lift my leg for the next step. Hmmmm. I cut my run short to 12 miles and hoped for the best.

This is the sunset I saw on my defeated return to the campsite, looks like a major forest fire! Just sun.

I limped on back and hoped for the best. Next day? Knee still hurt, quite bad and now I'm getting worried, not because I think I've got a major injury but I DO have a fking marathon to run in a couple of days, this is the most I've ever hurt from running and what'll happen?

I gimped a bit the next day, but an ace wrap helped tremendously. Yyesterday I did 4 miles or so and it felt ... ok. I figure I'll run once more before Saturday and otherwise rest up. I bought a knee support stretchy thing at walmart and will try and run with that. For the very first time ever I have real, serious doubts about my ability to pull off my race. I haven't dealt with this kind of thing before and don't have a clue how the knee will hold up. It seems much better now, but this is a long run with lots of elevations change so ... ?

On to other things, we've spent the last couple of days driving around finding petroglyphs. We found some fantastic examples of this ancient art form:

Anyhow, at the moment we are on the cusp of Las Vegas, a town we'll be passing through quite quickly. We've got a couple more days of ???, we really have no idea! then on Friday we'll be headed into Death Valley for the race and then for the next week or so. Anybody running this race? Come and say hi to me, I'll be the weirdo in the back of the pack (obviously), wearing a tutu, a knee brace, and being foolish. But you knew all that anyway.

Those Puffy Pants

2010-11-29T14:17:00.001-08:00

Seriously, if you spend any extended time in the cold weather, these things are worth the ($36 on eBay, a couple of months ago) investment. Worn over just a pair of undies, they feel great (fleecy lining!) and just keep you warm, nothing fancy no bullshit.

Here they are at the mouth of the Toyota cave. Can I brag about all the fluffy down in there?

Here's the label on the inside, enough info to get yourself a pair ...

We've moved on to slightly warmer climes, further south. For now, because I find penises in the oddest places, I'll leave you with this:

Complete with fuzzy balls!

Cold continues!

2010-11-28T08:11:00.001-08:00

What's in central Nevada? Who knows? Very much of it is empty, beautiful open space, with an occasional razor-sharp road. The rest of it is Area 51, and we all know what that means.

Little green men!

The Little AleInn (with lots of accent marks, especially over the "e") in desolate Rachel, where we got a couple of BLTs on styrofoam plates, and looked at pictures of real!flying!saucers!

We carried on up north of Hiko, with visions of petroglyphs and long runs in our heads. Take heed, though, of portents in the sky:

Well I guess it's Red Sky in the MORNING sailors take warning, but as Tom so aptly pointed out just now, sailors (and he and I) should be on their toes all of the time, because while we were sleeping the (14 hour!) night away in the truck cave, snow happened!

Can't find petroglyphs under 6 inches of snow, nor can a girl do her planned 15 miler (I think it takes a while for them to plow long, isolated dirt roads in these parts!), so we're off to southern Nevada, to the awesome-sounding Valley of Fire! Named, I believe, for the very cool rock formations and NOT the temperature, but it's bound to be a little warmer. Right?

The things we have seen (so far)

2010-11-26T20:36:00.001-08:00

So the first couple of days have been about slowing down. In my opinion one of the best places to achieve that goal is central Nevada, home of vast open spaces. Really vast. And, it so happens, very COLD spaces, this time anyhow.

Tom and I go places where there's not so many people.

There's a lot of shoes, tho, at least at this apparently famous tree on highway 50 (aka The Loneliest Highway).

There was also this dead, undoubtedly frozen, cow too. It was the cow that made Tom turn the truck around, because by now we've seen the tree a half dozen times. The cow was a new addition.

Did I mention it was cold? It was. Cold. Like, really fking cold. Our first night at Spencer's was 5 degrees, under the cap over the bed of the truck, meaning -5? -10? outside. Meaning really cold.

Here's an early morning wakeup shot. Alls I'm saying is, it takes some extreme weather to make the kind of frost formations you can see on the cap interior above Tom's head. Trust me on this one.

Oh, and the other thing I'm saying is, hot springs definitely make cold weather tolerable. So does beefcake ...

The other, lesser, thing that makes cold weather tolerable is a good pair of puffy pants, seen here:

Seriously, Tom bought these for $8 at the local thrift store, then promptly went and bought another pair for $36 on eBay and now we are both the proud owners of these 1980s era military ?air force? fleecy puffy totally warm yet feels like you're naked and toasty warm no matter what pants. And that's a damn fine thing to have when it's very cold out, and that's the truth.

And this is an awesome place to spend the day.

If you happen to find this:

seeming to be haphazardly forgotten in the bushes in what amounts to be the center of town, I guess you can tell it's not your everyday town. Unless that town happens to be somewhere in the huge, empty expanse of central Nevada, in which case you can drop in here:

and have a shot and a beer with the four people who make up (no lie) a little more than 50% of the town's entire population, and then feel like you've pretty much had the perfect start to your road trip vacation.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On the road

2010-11-24T15:15:00.001-08:00

It's been pretty quiet here on the blog front, but I've been busy in life. Never mind all that, today we have hit the road for our annual desert road trip. No plans except soaking in hot springs and traveling on. I've changed my plans from running the ultra in Ridgecrest to running a marathon in Death Valley, so will be off on that adventure december 5. Until then, long desert runs and hot desert springs.

No time for blogging now, but there are bound to be plenty of "moments" in the near future.

I'll try to keep it posted.

Boggs Mountain 50K -- A Race Report!

2010-11-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

So, I had my doubts, but I never doubted for a minute that I would finish this race. Incongruous sentence? So what. It's pretty damn incongruous to me that I, a (then)40-year-old, goofy, lazy, completely unathletic, unmotivated, physically untalented, soft, klutzy cross-eyed woman*, could even contemplate running a mile, nevermind haul my fat ass off the couch, teach myself how to run that mile and then go on to run that plus 30 more of them, in a row! a couple few years later. But I did, I did, I did it!

*OK, so now I'm 43 and athletic, but the rest still applies.

Especially, perhaps, the goofy.

The weather for the whole time was cool misty rainy and wet. Really crappy weather for camping and living outside (2 days of it), but exactly my favorite kind of weather for running. And a start time of 8:30am! Soooo much more suitable, IMHO, than the usual ungodly 6am. Another yay! feather in my cap.

Yet another encouraging sign was that I did get some "action" prior to the race . . .

. . . which, if you've read this blog for any length of time, you know is always a race issue of mine. Fear not, we'll explore this topic a little more a little later.

A sad note for me was to find out, 10 minutes before start time, that RBR was not going to be joining me for the run. I was disappointed since my elaborate plan of kicking her and leaving her holding her ankle at 31.01 miles as I sprinted to the finish and thus assuring myself of NOT finishing DFL was foiled, dammit. Thanks a lot! Seriously, though, I was bummed that I would not be meeting her, but don't blame her one little bit. The lack of my new friend did require a bit of last minute mental adjustment (from "OMG I'm gonna have to meet this new person and be socially appropriate! Aaaagh!" to "OK, I can sing and fearlessly shit in the woods! Aaaagh!"), so I hooked up my music and got ready to boggie.

Did I mention it was cold and wet? Once again, everyone around me at the start was all kitted out in armwarmers and leggings and jackets, while I stood around in little more than a tutu and a shirt and wondered if I was nuts for not wearing more. Am I the only one who wears as little as possible to run if it's over 30 degrees?

Apparently not.

I never saw this guy, or pretty much anyone else, for the next 31 miles. Those 31 miles, by the way, were just beautiful. Quite a few of them were on fire roads (it stayed misty all day, but it was especially heavy in the first couple of miles):

. . . but there was plenty of single track, too. A couple of portions were technical . . .

. . . but most of it was just smooth, lovely single track.

Miles 0-12 were all about WooHoo! I'm running in an ultra! These trails are so pretty and I'm so awesome! It's all downhill! (it wasn't) WooHoo! Yay me! This is easy! etc., etc.

There weren't a ton of people doing the 50K, maybe 30 or so. Maybe less. In any case, they all dropped me within the first mile, except for two chatty women just behind me, pretty much running at my pace. My "race plan," such as it was, consisted of running the whole thing at a 14-15 minute/mile pace. I did manage that for this section of the race. Those chatty women stayed just behind me, and the little bits of conversation that I heard (Dating Bad Men, Hot Springs, Being Irresponsible) all sounded simply fascinating to me, and I lobbed a couple of humorous (to me, anyhow) conversational volleys their way. Alas, within the first couple of miles it was pretty clear they did NOT want me joining their little club, so I slapped on the earphones and ran just enough ahead of them so I didn't have to hear their (now incredibly annoying to me) chatter.

I had no more than a nibble at the first aid station, and carried on. There was a little out-and-back section around mile 9 (just to make it a true 50K) and it was here that I (and the ~~snotty~~ chatty women) passed two other runners, the only people I'd pass all day. Somewhere about here the course photographer grabbed this shot of me:

I tried my theory of jumping for photos so my feet are actually off of the ground so at least it looks like I'm running, but I just ended up looking like ~~myself~~ a goof! And no feet, even!

Soon after, I hit the next aid station. Here I lingered a bit, and the chatty women came and went. Never saw them again. Bye, now. The runner I had passed came in just as I was leaving, and I heard her talking to the other runner about dropping after 25K. Leaving me, happily, in last place.

Just in case you're wondering, last place is no bad place to be, for me. I know for some of you guys, that's like the worst thing that could happen, ever. For me, not so much. In fact, I kinda like DFL. There's even a certain cache to it, in my mind. Hey, I'm slow, and I'm never going to "place" in a race, so I might as well have last place. Sometimes you even win a prize. There's nothing special about being second-to-last, but last? There's only ONE last place, and it's mine, bitches!

Where was I? Mile 10? Still enjoying myself! That's about to change!

Miles 12-16 were all about Gah! Is any of this fucking run fucking flat?! (it wasn't) Ouch! My right knee hurts! My left ankle hurts! My groinage hurts! Ah! Gah! >sputter<

This was definitely the nadir of the whole run. I was totally surprised to be wingeing and hurting and tiring so early in the race, and seriously wondered how I would be able to complete another 16 miles. My pace went straight to hell, all kinds of things and bits ached (and I don't usually hurt when I run), the trail was technical, I was unhappy and moving on to miserable. What the fuck?

(In retrospect, I think what happened here might be related to exercise-induced asthma. Before the start, my inhaler shit the bed (empty? I think maybe it was just too cold to work right), whatever, I never got a good satisfying blast from it. I noticed at the second aid station that I was a tad wheezy/phlegmy once I stopped, an ominous sign.)

So I sputter in to aid station #3, halfway through the race and some 4:15 spent (There were a lot of hills, ok?). I immediately hit my drop bag where Tom had stashed another inhaler when I had such trouble with the first, and I hit that thing hard! Yay! Breathing! Meanwhile, a volunteer is following me around, saying How are feeling? Are you OK? Are you OK? and I'm all, I'm s-l-o-w, I'm not dead! and This is my first ultra! and Hi! How are you? to which he says I'm only asking because you are facing the time cut off! and I'm, like, . . . what? He tells me right now I am 20 minutes under the cut off. I'm . . . ?? and still fucking chatty cathy, while he's trying to impress upon me the need to eat and drink right now, which I do (even breaking the nothing-new-on-race-day rule, at his urging, and pop an endurolyte capsule, which turns out to be an excellent move!) and I keep on chattering till he's like Shut the Fuck Up Already and Start Running Now! (but much nicer). The next aid station is in 6 miles, get there!

So I finally shut the fuck up and get the hell out of dodge.

Miles 16-31 were all about What time is it? What if I get pulled off the course! Do I care? yes. What if I finish but don't make the cut off (9hrs)? Do I care? no. Yay! I love running! It's raining! I love running in the rain! I've never run this far before! Yay! Please don't shoot me!

So I don't know if it was the food, the salt tab, the inhaler or the threat of DNFing (my guess is a combo of the first three) but I headed out of that aid station a new runner. Gone were the aches and pains and doubts and for the rest of the race I had myself a good time. True ultra-style, I walked some of the uphills, but un-Bootchez style I did NOT get lazy with this and only walked when I felt I absolutely had to, and ran again as soon as I could. I maybe walked 1 or 2 miles total, which I think is pretty good given the 4400' elevation gain. Have I mentioned that gain before? Yes, I have. It was hilly indeed.

I ran, and ran some more, and ran some more. Then, in the middle of absolutely nowhere, I see this:

So I'd crapped before the start, plus I had one good "field" crap already and I don't really feel like I need to go again, but who the hell am I to turn down an outhouse? In I go, and surprise! another crap down the hole. I'm all psyched 'cause the shitter's clean AND there's even toilet paper so I feel all luxurious and shit, so much so that I feel the need to take a damn picture of the site so I can blog about it, even though I'm facing a friggin' time limit here! and that, right there, tells you all you need to know about what's important to me as a runner.

Run some more.

There must be some back story here that I missed, but these:

were all over the place, big ones little ones, even those huge paper-y looking ones. I never saw a wasp nor bee, but the trails (especially in the first half) were positively littered with them. I have no idea why.

There were two more aid stations, where I ate and drank heartily (and took an endurolyte at each one. My new fave!). At both stations my time was ok, still 20 minutes shy of the cut off, even though my pace has dropped a bit. At the last station, the volunteers are There's a cut-off? Supposedly, yeah. I still feel fine 26, 27, 28 miles in. I'm barely paying attention to time, now, as I know I'm going to finish and that's all I care about.

Round about here, my iPhone starts getting all weird in playing back my precious music. I think it's the earphones themselves, but the controls are all wonky and the volume's going up and down and the music's fast then slow and I stop and fiddle and go again and stop again and go again and this all goes on for about 5-8 minutes before I finally say Fuck it and pack it up and put the damn thing away for good. I'm completely addicted to running with music and I don't know why because I'm now just as happy running without it and don't feel bored or anything. Maybe it's because now I'm 28 miles in and my runner's high is like at heroin level and I'm just Whoppeee! I've run so far and I'm still having fun, Yay!

OK, so here's a reason that running with earphones may (or may not!) be a good thing . . . mile 29 and my unadorned ears start hearing gunshots. At various places along the trail I have seen shotgun shells, so this is not too much of a surprise, but it's really close. Blam! Blam! Blam!Blam!Blam! <pause> BLAMBLAM! and it's almost like I can hear 'em pull the trigger it's THAT close! I start yelling (and believe you me I can yell VERY loud!) Please don't shoot me! I'm a runner*! Don't shoot! Please! You don't wanna shoot a creature who's wearing a tutu! Please don't shoot me! word for word, yes. And Gary says that mile 30 went by three and a half minutes faster than mile 29, and that's 'cause I was hauling ASS.

(*I just barely managed to restrain myself from yelling, I'm an ULTRArunner, 'cause I'm on mile 30!)

Some little bit after this I look at the time, the real time, and realize that it's something like 5:28 and no, I'm not going to make the time cut off (which I've completely forgotten about) and I resolve right then and there that I for sure don't give a flying frig whether I make it because I AM going to finish and, well, yay!

And then, and THEN! I come down the hill and out of the woods and there it is the finish line and I'm DFL and I throw my arms up in the air and yell I'M HERE! I'M HERE! and the few people still standing around and of course Tom and Debbie turn around and start yelling back and whooosh through the chute and I'm done! An awesome volunteer (Gail?) has to actually stop me from running as I sprint away from the finish line. "You're done! You don't have to run anymore!" she says.

I do. I stop. I'm happy and laughing and getting hugs and congratulations and I'm asking Did I make it? because it suddenly occurs to me that I do NOT want to DNF and someone says No, you didn't and I'm kinda bummed. The clock says 9:03 and I'm thinking, wow I've been running for nine whole hours and that's ridiculous, isn't it?

Whopppee!

Celebration, high fives and hyperventilation happen. I've finished and I'm super happy!

I ask a volunteer in the know (turns out, the same guy who gave me such excellent advice (eat! stretch! drink! shut up and go!) at the midpoint) and he tells me that even though I didn't make the cutoff I still finished and will be recorded as finishing, not DNF. I just don't get an "award" and who cares? because the award turns out to be a water bottle and I have enough water bottles to build a boat, seriously. I could not possibly care less because I finished and still felt strong and gosh darn it no matter what you say it is a fact, an unalterable fact that I, indeed, came in

DFLast Place!

Oh my my, that was such a good time!

So much thanks go out to Tom and Debbie, who took such wonderful care of me all weekend, and especially right after I finished running (I was in quite a state for an hour or so). I couldn't have done it without them.

This was taken yesterday, on the 4 hour drive home. I'm all nested and ensconced in the almost non-existent "backseat" of the extracab of Tom's truck, happily floating in a sea of down sleeping bags. I think I look like I'm in a space capsule.
Yesterday and, to a lesser extent today, have been spent Joe Cocker-ing (about :35 in? That's how I've been moving, truly) about the house, feeling very self-indulgent.
Speaking of indulgence, this is my next big adventure. I can't stop!

What do you call the person who's DFL in a 50K?

2010-10-31T12:13:00.001-07:00

You call her an ultrarunner, and that's ME!

Boggs Mt, 9:03:14.

Awesome!

Tattoos!!! (very much NSFW)

2010-10-29T12:19:00.001-07:00

Somehow, last night Tom and I hosted a little dinner party wherein I made a bit of soup and some lady friends came over for the express purpose of getting some henna tattoos. In honor of tomorrow's race, I elected to have my calves done. My friends? Went for other areas. I'm not sure exactly how to blog about this. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words. Be warned, there's tits and things ahead.

First up, A settles in for the "tramp stamp" ...

The process is pretty cool. The henna goes on really thick and black. You have to leave it in place for an hour or two to let it dry.

Apparently, if you eat only raw foods until dinnertime, you can have a figure like this. Personally I'd rather eat chocolate and jiggle. Nice tat, yes?

I'm up next.

I really like the designs she does on my calves!

Here's the finished product, after all the residue is scraped off, and some time has passed:

Moving on, my other friend (after checking with me) whips off her shirt and goes for the boob tat, shown here in a privacy-preserving illusionary mirror shot:

We have to wait an hour or two for the stuff to "set", so we settle in for some dinner.

As you can imagine, Tom (also good friends with these women, obviously) really suffered through this evening!

Jitters

2010-10-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

Boggs Mountain positively looms! On the one hand, I am very nervous about this race, and think I'm quite justified in being thus. Consider:

The longest I've run is 26.2.
In the past 2.5 months, I have only run about 50% of my scheduled runs.
These translates to about 60 miles a month.
I'm going to run 30 miles in a day.
2010 is the first year that I've truly run long distances.
4400' of elevation gain.
And loss. As Windnsnow suggests, I just might thrash my quads.

On the other hand, I am stoked. Rightfully so. Consider:

When I DO get on with my long runs (and they're often long; I don't do many 3 mile runs anymore. I don't know if this is a bad thing or a good) I've been running, kinda . . . effortlessly. I did 20 miles recently, and whilst it was slow (4:42 moving time, not counting all the fiddling and standing around time, which was considerable) it was pretty easy and enjoyable. I suffered a bit around 16-18 miles, but I'm finding that's pretty usual for me there, and I perked up nicely right after. I feel light on my feet and strong on my legs and capable of running long distances.

I run hills pretty much all the time now. I'm not running up mountainsides or anything, but my average 10 mile run encompasses about 1200' elevation gain, regularly. Hills slow me down, but don't take it out of me. I think I can handle the terrain without any big problems. I think.

I am completely unconcerned with time. If it takes me 10 hours to finish, so be it. If I hurt, I'll walk. If I break, I'll dnf. Pretty much any outcome is completely acceptable to me.

I'm hoping the facts that I'm very slow and very easy on myself, and feeling just on it and fine physically, add up to me having a fun, safe run on Saturday despite being so undertrained. I feel solid and confident.

What's the worst that could happen?
That's rhetorical. Please don't answer!

It seemed like a good idea at the time

2010-10-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

This is the elevation profile for the Boggs Mt. 50k. That I'm doing next weekend. That I am wildly undertrained for. That's 4,400 feet of gain. I think I looked at it once before, like 3 months ago (when I, of course, figured I would be totally ready for it). I thought, Oh, no prob, I can handle that.

Now I'm just wondering, what the hell was I thinking? I think the only "flat" thing about it is when I fall FLAT on my face, as will surely occur. OMG, my ass is going to be so thoroughly kicked. Plus, I'm running with someone, I've got friends coming specifically to cheer me on, I've got a 20 mile Napa bike ride the next day, my longest run was yesterday at 20 miles (more about that in the next post) and I'm a lazy, lazy girl. I'm going to absolutely flail out there.

Ya know what? I CANNOT wait! I'm gonna have a blast!

Nike Women's (Half) Marathon -- Race Report!

2010-10-18T09:14:00.001-07:00

also known as THE FUNNEST RACE I'VE DONE (so far!)
I've probably run 20 races at this point, I don't really know. All of them have been pretty low-key, low-attendance little local things with a couple tens of runners, maybe a couple hundred. I think the biggest event was probably the Reno Marathon, where there was maybe a thousand folks doing the half, but 106 doing the full (I came in 99th!!). I think every bib I have (and I've saved them all) has a 3-digit number. I'm small potatoes.
Or, at least I was. Running this race in San Francisco, with 19,999 other runners, was a whole different ballgame. The expo in Union Square, the night before, was positively thronging with people. Tom and I waited in line for about 1/2 hour for packet pick-up. Both of us just got a little overwhelmed with the bright!flags!music!people! I grabbed my bag and we headed for the side door. The volunteer was all, Don't you want to check out the Expo? I say, I don't do crowds so well, then skedaddled. So, if I don't do crowds so well, why choose such a big race? Because come to find out, Being in a Crowd, and Running with a Crowd are two very different things.
My very favorite part of the crowd was Lisa, who was running her very first half marathon. We found each other in the huge mass of people (thanks, cellphones), met and then bid goodbye to family and headed out into the sea of people.

There were pace groups! Assigned corrals (sort of)! Flash bulbs and humanity masses and, just, hordes! It's 6:30 in the morning and everyone has on tights and sweaters and hats and gloves and I'm standing there with my Tahoe insulation wearing (mostly) nothing but running clothes. Lisa and I chat and get to know each other a bit. Far away you can hear loud speakers going wawawa and waves of cheers pass through the crowd, but we are so far away from the start line where all the action is, we don't know what we're cheering about. I cheer and hoot and holler anyway, figuring Lisa better decide right now if she really wants to run this with some loud, obnoxious out-of-control woman she's never met. Bless her heart, I don't scare her off (or, she can't get away 'cause the crowd is way too tight) and eventually 7am rolls around and someone somewhere says Go! or whatever and the cheers really go up and we just . . . stand there. When you're in the 10:00 to 12:00 mile group, I found, you don't start at Go. You stand around and clap and shuffle a few feet then stand around some more. Later, you turn one corner, then another, and then . . . !! You see it! The start!

Right after I took this picture, I pick up or come into possession of or am given, I dunno, but somehow end up with the crown for my running outfit, a pink feather boa, which I wrap around my neck like Carol Channing (she had a boa, right? Whatever, I'm like an ostrich. Go with it.). 15:04 after the start (this becomes an important detail later on, methinks) Lisa and I cross the line! Woo hoo! We're off! I listen to about 20 seconds of my music, then turn it off and stash it for good. There is waaay too much entertainment going on for me to need my iPod (and this, friends, is a first). First, I'm surrounded by people and it's all I can do not to fall over, bang into someone, trip over discarded clothing or poke someone in the eye (I actually did poke some woman in the eye right after the finish, she was mad and shook her head disdainfully for 30 seconds like, The nerve of some people! while I muttered Sorry! and slunk away. But that's later). We're banging on downhill for a while, then it levels out and we're trucking along at a nice pace and Lisa says Look! Everyone's passing us! (it's true, they are!) and I, in the wisdom of my years of running, say There, there, Lisa, we'll pass them all later when we're strong and they're pooping out because they started out too fast! when in reality I don't know fuck-all about it because everyone always passes me and I never see them again, ever! but I want her to like me and not think I'm lame and slow (even tho I'm both) so I pontificate and then shut up. For a minute or so.

And then, wow! We're running through the early morning streets of San Francisco and this is just cool beans. Pass the TransAmerica building (sooo tall) then bang! onto the Embarcadero and it's so awesome being here and participating in this event that there's never a moment of boredom. First up we have a whole choir, for reals! and I'm excited because whilst I don't have a religious bone in my entire atheistic body, I simply love gospel choirs and their energy and clapping and big voices. Alas, they must have figured out that I was not down with Jesus because they were silent as I ran by, but still swaying and smiling and that was good, too. Lo! and behold, we do re-pass some of those people from the start and we continue to pass people for the rest of the race! (We were passed plenty, too, but that's nothing new for me, so why mention it?) Then there was more stuff going on all the time, breakdancers and Parkour dudes and tons of energetic, cheering volunteers (oddly, predominately asian?) and actual cheering stations and loud booming music and folks in costumes and weird hats and at one point I turn to Lisa and say (because this is, after all, San Francisco) "I expect to turn a corner and find a group of gay guys dressed up in leather and chains (ala Folsom St. Fair), cheering us along waving big dildoes at us." Actually, I left out the dildo part, but Lisa still looked at me strangely and didn't really respond. Sure enough, though, at one point there was a crowd of gay (or very secure-with-their-sexuality hetero) guys in hot pink body suits and make-up, handing out hard candies to us runners. From this I learned 2 things -- I really like hard candy when I run, and will brings some along with me in the future, and 2. You can dress more wildly than me and still go out in public. Introducing my new racing outfit:

The boa turned out to be too hot wrapped around my neck, and ended up around my waist for most of the run. My shirt's a little twisted up in this pic, but you can admire my pink tutu anyways. What you can't see is my hot pink dirtygirl gaiters, which complete the outfit. I'm thinking of wearing this get-up to every race ever, including the upcoming ultra. Whaddya think? Too much?

Lisa went with the pink theme, too, but because she's thin and beautiful (and not obnoxious in any way) she presents a much nicer visage:

I look like Petunia Pig. Bossy, too. ("Hey, don't take a blurry picture, random stranger with my phone! Dammit!")

OK, since this was a running race, let's talk about the running. Yup, we ran. In general, our pace was around 11:30 for most of the course. But the course? Was pretty damn hilly!

Lisa ran the first big hill at mile 6 like a darn billy goat, and that hill went on and on. She has virtually no practice running hills, though, so we decided after that one that walking them might be a better idea. Yay! I look for any excuse to slow the fuck down, even during a race, so I was happy to walk them. And there were a lot, it turns out. This profile might look kinda "eh, there were some hills" but you know what? That's 1,100 feet of elevation gain! In a half! That represents a lot of climbing!

And we climbed a lot and ran a lot and I paid no attention to time or pace or anything at all and just totally enjoyed every minute of the experience. Truly the best was being part of Lisa's first-time-ever experience. The last couple of miles were tough, tough, tough (them damn hills!) but she never flagged or lost her smile and I was so impressed and it was all just very cool. Yay! Finish line!

The finish line area was huge! There was sooo much going on! For the first time, I got one of those mylar blanket thingies and I was like Look! I'm an athlete! It was a good thing I got one of 'em, too, because as soon as we stopped it got cold and really rainy and I woulda been a mess without it. There was another bag to procure and groceries to get (Safeway was a major sponsor, so yes, there were groceries). Plus a finisher's tshirt (nice Nike thing, technical fabric and bright pink!), and a slew of firemen in tux's with Tiffany necklaces to hand out and well, you just don't see that every day. Lisa says "Oh, I gotta get mine from a hot one!" so here she is with her hot fireman!

This morning, I got an email from Nike with my "Official Time" of 2:56:53. There's nothing wrong with that, but I think it's bogus. Gary (who I forgot to make "raceready" and left on autopause) said 2:37. I stopped and peed once (only once!), so he can't be more than a couple of minutes off. I think they forgot (or haven't yet) figured the time it took us to actually cross the start line. I distinctly remember the clock saying 15:04 right before we crossed, so I'm calling it 2:41. So there.
So, all congratulations go to my new friend Lisa and her new PR! I had the best funnest, happy time during this half, and hope she did too (being her first, it had to be the superlative, right? She can run with somebody normal some other time!)
Yay! to Lisa!
And, oh, fuck me, I gotta run 20+ tomorrow.

Routine run

2010-10-16T14:29:00.001-07:00

I STILL have been running less than I'm scheduled, but I've been doing better. The fatal flaw is when I'm down in Marin for my week of work. Getting motivated to run at all in between busy 12-hour night shifts has proven increasingly difficult for me. I did well when I had (for a brief time) a running partner, but left to my own devices I just decide to lay in bed a little longer.

When I'm home, I do fine. The other day, after not having run for a week, I went and cracked off a nice 17 miler. This was surprisingly easy to do, and the "easiness" gives me hope that I will be able to complete my ultra in two weeks without too much difficulty. (Hah! It might actually take me two weeks!). Oh, I know that 17 does not equal 31, but let me delude myself a little while longer.

I ran the Emigrant Trail, site of many long runs for me. I usually leave my car at one end and get dropped off at the other (I'd show a map, but I'm writing this on my phone and that's just way too complicated). Depending on exactly where you park, you're either in for 8.5 or an 11 mile run. This time, I parked -- and doubled it, for my 17 miler. A lovely Tahoe day.

Parp?

2010-10-07T07:20:00.001-07:00

This is perhaps the best blog post I have ever read.

Yer comments!!

2010-10-07T05:31:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure what the proper blogging etiquette is regarding responding to comments ... Do you respond in the comment section (requiring readers to come back again)? Via email (seems so laborious)? In your head (uncommunicative)?

Whatever, this latest batch of comments is crying for attention.

In regards to the previous post ... I totally appreciate all of the Good job!s and Way to hang in there!s -- I'll take all of the strokes I can get. Thanks! But. The run outlined below wasn't a particularly bad run, or one I need validation for ... that, or some slight variation thereof, is what EVERY run is like for me! The half hour prep time, the endless gear misplacement and fiddling, the two miles of dwadling, the constant peeing, even the falling over into the dust (usually singing something like Domo Arigato Mr Roboto) ... this shit happens every day, folks.

OMG, I may be even odder than I think I am.

EMZ: Still, 3 minutes?!? Way to make me feel good!

LISA: I'm totally looking forward to meeting you, too. We'll be visions in pink!

EWA: Welcome #38! We'll see how envious you are when I'm shoveling out from under six feet of snow. Or waiting for the last of the snow to melt from the yard, in June. Or shopping at Safeway in December (a topic to be explored here at a later date). I kid, of course, Truckee's awesome. Most of the time.

SUaR: I would guess one would make Fucking Cheese by pounding the hell out of it. That's some cheese I do NOT want to taste! I once had a guy break up with me because, amongst a myriad of other failings, I swore too much. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, motherfucker. He also thought I was too fat (size 9), too dumb, and not funny enough. I mean, c'mon!

FUNDERSON, Funderson, Funderson: My lack of preparation is in a different league than yours? Dammit, you're my litmus test. If even YOU are concerned with my lax running, I'm officially in big trouble. And I look forward to the time we meet up for a run. I travel lots. It's only a matter of time!

IRON MIKE: I only fiddle so obsessively for the first two miles or so. After that, I run like a normal person, more or less (minus the dancing, peeing and falling. Oh jeezus). Opposite of grace? Bootchez.

And last but most certainly not least, PAM: the leaver of this comment:

"So do you ALWAYS take your shoes off to take a shit, or was today special?"

I read this while filling my gas tank at some anonymous station near Sacramento and proceeded to wander around for the next five minutes laughing and chortling like a madwoman. Oh. My. God!!!

I seriously did not even think about what I wrote, or how it might read, until I read this comment. Too, too funny! To explain: ours is a strictly No Shoes household. I know, pretty out of character for me, but I pick my battles. On this day I chose not to flaunt defiance, thus Ready, remove shoes, pad over to the bathroom, shit, pad back, shoes on, etc. THEN do something like walk on the not-yet-dry deck.

Now I'm gonna be thinkin' that any day I shit with my shoes on is NOT a "special" day ....

To all of you: thanks for reading, and especially for commenting. I enjoy you ALL so much!

How to Run Like Me!

2010-10-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

Wake up, late. Anything earlier than 9 is very optimistic. Tell your wonderful boyfriend all the things you plan on doing today, including cleaning both bathrooms and moving rocks around in the yard (a frequent activity around here). How you plan on being a rockstar girlfriend. Make a list of the many things you'll get completed today. Think about running. Wander over to the computer and spend the next hours adrift on websites and blogs. Feel it's suddenly vital to post something to your neglected blog, after over a month of inactivity. Fret. Post. Immediately and repeatedly, check for comments . . . Emz for the win, in 3 minutes!

Think about running some more.

Boil some pasta, fold clothes and spend more time doing nothing on the computer. Read. Realize it's 2:30. Nothing's done, no cleaning, no rock moving, you could always start on that . . .

OK, gonna go running now.

Spend no less than 20 minutes wandering around getting items. Mostly looking for running socks. Get your running clothes all together, start getting dressed, realize you already have running socks on. Sigh. Fiddle with everything for another 20 minutes. Water, belt, music. Headphones. String headphones around your clothes in a method only you understand. Realize you've done it for the wrong hydration system. Re-string headphones. Put on belt. Realize you're driving to your running destination, belt must come off. Undo headphones. Water, belt, music, put on shoes. Take off shoes. Take a crap. Shoes back on. Put belt and headphone assembly on without realizing it. Walk on newly stained (and wet) deck. Curse. Retrace steps, crawl through the woods (avoiding deck) to the car. Undo headphones and belt. Drive a mile to the trailhead. One mile.

Sit in car and continue to get ready. Take single key off of key ring, put on belt, string headphones. Sip of water, inhaler puff, get out of car. Realize headphones are caught up in seatbelt, re-string. Curse. Begin to doubt ability to function as human being. Lock car, double tie shoes, press "play" and hear Play That Funky Music, run 100 yards. Stop and remember to start the Garmin. Run another 100 yards. Stop and fiddle with waist belt, phone. Run 300 yards. Stop and pee. Walk a few steps, then continue running. Run 500 yards! Trip and fall, tucking and rolling in the dust. Giggle. Sit in the middle of the trail for a few minutes, then get up and run some more. Hack and cough and feel short of breath. Stop and restart the Garmin again (stopped after the fall -- you wouldn't want to mess up your speedy times now, would you?). Run another 500 yards, stop. Pee. Blow your nose. Run a little more (oooh, quarter mile?). Take some walking steps, because you deserve it. Pee again. Run some more, stop and look at the pretty view, have a sip of water. Try to tell yourself other runners do this, too. Fail to be convincing. Continue to fiddle and dwaddle for two miles. Pee again. Finally start to "feel" the run and get on with it (knowing that "getting on with it" doesn't mean you'll actually run any faster, just means that you cut down on the dwadling. Somewhat.) Sing along, loudly! (and wildly off-key), to your 70s soundtrack, sometimes throwing in dance steps and jazz hands. Hope no one sees you. Leap! off the trail in a flurry of clutzyness when a mt biker comes up behind you, startling you out of your Cher chorus. Trip again, pee again. Think about turning around at least 3 times. Run, run run.

Reach the car, bleep! off with Gary, hack up a lunger. Think about stretching, but don't. Take 3 minutes to find car key (which is in the same pocket it always is). Get in car. Drop and pick up key. Close car door on dangling earphones. Sigh.

Think about how none of your plans for the day happened, and you've just left more chores to cram into the next day.

Try to convince yourself that you are, indeed, a rockstar. For running.

For running four whole miles!

Fail.

BuhBye September

2010-10-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

Wow! No posts AT ALL a whole month!

How much do I suck? Lemme count the ways . . .

1. Yeah, no posts for a month.
2. Haven't even been *reading* many bogs!
3. I've been sick (but that only counts for like 4 days, so . . . )
4. Running . . . hah! I think I've gotta be the most untrained runner out there, maybe with Funderson.
5. August: 47% scheduled miles run.
6. September: 30%. 30!!!
7. Today I'm blogging instead of running. Lame, for one who blogs as little as I do.
8. I've got all kinds of new running gear, like a Nathan pack and cool Moeben armwarmers, new trail shoes and 2 pairs of road shoes. Would be easy to justify if I, you know, ran.
9. Oh, yeah, that ultra at the end of the month. My first. 50k! That's like 31 miles, yo!
10. Guess how long my longest run has been lately? 15.7 miles.

How much do I NOT suck?

1. Yesterday I ran 15.7 miles, mostly on new local trails, and totally loved it! I felt like I coulda run a lot further, but it got dark AND I was super hungry. I called for a ride home (rightfully, this should go in the "I Suck" column for coming in early, but I really loved the run, so suck it).
2. I'm running the Nike Women's Half in two weeks. This is awesome because:
   a. I *think* I'm trained enough to run for 13 miles.
   b. I'm meeting and running this race with Lisa. This a big step for socially-awkward me. I'm wearing a tutu and looking forward to hooting and hollering and having a great time at this, my first big-venue race. (I may be awkward, but no one calls me shy!)
3. I'm running the Boggs Mt 50k at the end of this month. This is awesome because:
   a. OMG, me! running an Ultra! Even ~~when~~ if I crash and burn, just the fact that I'm contemplating such a thing gives me a mental boost (AND physical terror, but hey).
   b. I do believe that RBR might be joining me. Another social leap! This is especially thrilling because I think, in each other, she and I might find the perfect (read: slower than imaginable, and potty-mouthed) running buddy.
4. In the past few months, I have totally embraced my slowness. I may have paid lip service to this concept before (and secretly thought sub 10:00 miles were the shit), but lately . . . well. Fuck it. I run 14:00 trail miles, a little faster on the roads, and that's what I do. I won't ever run faster, I won't try to run faster, don't want to run faster, this is who I am and if you want to run with me that's the speed we're running because that's the speed I run. I am a slow runner. YAY! I'm a runner!
5. I think I have the capacity to run really far, especially if I, you know, run.
6. I have 37 followers (and 53 subscribers) on this blog!
7. I am teaching myself how to cook Indian food. Yesterday I made my own fucking cheese!
8. I plan on running today after finishing this post.

Thanks for hanging in there, readers. I hope to start posting with a bit more frequency, but don't hold yer breath!

Dear Blog

2010-08-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

I've thought of you often in these past few weeks, really I have. Oh, the posts I wrote in my head! The pictures I took! The times I mentioned Oh! I'll do a blog post tonight! You haven't been far from my mind . . . but you have been far from actuality. I've neglected you, tossed you aside in the pile marked "Later," trading you in for summer fun. Oh, you poor, poor blog.

I will make it up to you. I will post, and post some more . . . maybe even two days in a row. OK, maybe not, but I do promise to get better. To try harder. To remember all of my wonderful readers, who are no doubt shaking their heads, wondering Where O where has Bootchez gone*? (prolly not, y'all know I'm a lazy girl, but still . . . ) I'm off now to go for a run with a 73 year old woman (god, I hope I can keep up) and think I can get a post up about the last few weeks' adventures by tomorrow or thursday at the latest.

Next year, I will just state right out that I'm taking the damn summer off from blogging. That way I won't feel guilty.

OK, I don't feel guilty, just lame.

*One place I HAVE gone to is Words with Friends. Takers? Look me up, my user name is Bootchez . . .

Run Summary

2010-08-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

No blog posting, but lots of running! Which, I guess, is as it should be. I managed 91% of my 110-mile goal for July, which I am happy with as I strive to hit 80% (I came across this figure because, historically, that is what I average. Therefore, I inflate my training schedule by about 20%, so 80% is good. This kind of math trickery works on my mushy old brain, such that I keep my car clock 5 minutes slow, I believe it, and thus am always on time. Simple minds.) In actuality, I ran 99.56 miles in July -- I would have run the extra .44 if I had known. Quite a few of those miles were really pretty awesome, like the one I did from Watson Lake.
There, through the trees, in the distance, the lake. Tom and I camped there for the night, had a great night's sleep in the truck (natch), then he dropped me off and drove home. I, being dropped off, then ran home, maybe 6 juicy downhill miles of 06 fire road, then ducking into the woods for the final 6. My elevation loss was over 2,000 feet! Now, you would think I would run that quite a bit faster than normal, yes? You would be wrong, I ran it as slow as ever, plod plod plod, but it was a nice, easy jaunt and a run that I am likely to repeat.

Finally, things are starting to grow in my yard. I believe I've posted of my adventures in gardening before, but I can't rightly find anything. Here's a brief summary: buy a house at 6200 feet, look at lots of dirt and rocks and a few weeds and no topsoil. Remember that on the east coast you had a bit of a green thumb. Think, How hard can it be? and buy hundreds of dollars worth of plants. Plant them. Watch them grow for a little while. Imagine how lovely everything will be in a year or two. Try not to cry when one morning (truly, the night before Lots of Plants) you walk out of the house and all your plants (except for catmint, salvia and daisys) have been mowed down, scattered and eaten by rabbits, squirrels and other murderous rodents, those that haven't already been eaten by the deer, of course. Next year, throw an ugly net over the few plants (catmint, salvia and daisies) that survived both the voracious appetites and the brutal winter. Think you can try again. Throw around topsoil and try to enrich what soil there is. Plant more plants. Watch them die. Throw seeds around and see what grows (sweet william! and . . . nothing else!) When at first you don't succeed, redefine success. Plant lots of sweet william, catmint, salvia and daisies. Stop caring, start "naturalizing". When spring rolls around, cut down the obnoxious weeds, let the cool ones grow, spend a total of $100 and 10 hours on gardening duties, and pretty much give up. The result:

Flowers! Growing! In my yard! Not much, but an improvement over what was, quite literally, cruddy parched dirt and lots of rocks.

Then it's off to Marin, and Stephanie and I find a new place to run . . . nice trails around Tennessee Valley that run to the ocean:

Not a very pretty day, but the area is awesome and there's a whole network of trails to be explored. We decide to do just that on Monday.

Yeah, not so much. We were both exhausted from our 12 hour shifts, and very nearly chucked the whole run in favor of breakfast. This was our last run together, though, and we decided we'd muscle on through. This marks the beginning of the string of bad runs I've had, of which this one was undoubtedly the worst. We were both tired, cold and heavy-legged. What we had planned to be a 10 mile, 1100' elevation gain, romp through unexplored trails awesome run turned into a 2.8 mile, flat, gloomy sufferfest. Fittingly, .5 miles from the parking lot my bowels turn to jelly. Presented with this alone, I merely run into the bushes and leave a little road gift, but what do you do when you're with a new friend (one that's NOT Beth)? You hold onto it, smile, and pretend nothing's wrong, "but I think I need to walk for a little bit!" What happens when you hold it? Oh, no, it doesn't go away, that would be too easy. It gets worse, you try focused breathing, slamming your butt checks together, look helpless. Admit defeat to your new friend (who is sympathetic, bless her heart -- she's a newbie runner, so she knows). Hope you can make it to the parking lot. Make it to the parking lot! Yay! Offload! Watch your friend drive off! Spend another 20 minutes (20 minutes!) hovering around the outhouse, offloading 3 more times.

Shitting in the damn woods is so much easier!

Anyhow, Stephanie and I worked one more shift together, and now she's gone, off to another assignment in LA. I'm super bummed about this, because I am a terrible friend-maker and very much a loner and am sad to see my rare, new friend leave. She gave me a bunch of hand-me-down clothes before she left, though, and that's like a shopping spree for me! Ah, well, yeah I'm bummed. I was also bummed that our last run was a crappy one, in so many ways.

More crappy runs followed, though in the descriptive, not literal, sense. My bowels have gotten back in line! The other day I went for an exploratory jaunt with Tom, wherein I was supposed to run some long milage thing, but ended up being overwhelmed (by either tiredness -- I had just got off my week o' work -- or by the altitude (<24 hours of acclimation), or just by laziness, I dunno) and only managed 2.8 miles (that number again!) before I gave up and walked the rest of the way with Tom. Blech! This is no way to become an ultrarunner!

Maybe I can become an ultrarunner by running a section of the Western States Trail! Yesterday, Tom and I headed out for more exploration (we've been doing LOTS of this this summer!) and I've got a 12 miler planned, Tom's got his mt bike. We find ourselves in the backcountry around Forest Hill Divide, south of Soda Springs, 4 wheelin' down dirt roads, climbing up up up! And, lo! there's the Western States trail, maybe 6-8 miles out of Squaw Valley. We park the truck and we're off! Tom heads one way on his bike, and I head the other. My section is right on the Forest Hill Divide, meaning a lovely mountain ridge at 7500'. The views? Phenomenal, look left and wow! look right and wow!, and I am again amazed at what a beautiful place I live in.

So the views are awesome, the trail? Sucks. Bigtime. Short, punishing ascents and short, punishing downhills. Sounds maybe nice, but totally not. Huff and puff up, then struggle (don't run!) down. Repeat. Again. Omigod! I have a set time to return to the truck, and when I hit the turn-around time, I'm only 4 miles in. Running amazingly slowly, even for me. Even slower on the way back. I am sure that both ways of this out-and-back run were uphill.

So I just checked the Gary data and, fuck me! no wonder why I had such a hard time! This was a 2,000 foot elevation gain/loss over 8 miles (yes, once again, I did not run my goal milage. Too fucking bad). 8 rocky, slippery, soul-sucking miles. Check it:

OK, so now I feel better. Tom, having run into difficulties on his route, met me on mine just after I turned around. I'm glad he did, because I was quite late for our meeting back at the truck, and am glad he was spared the worry. What he was not spared is the difficulty of the route, which he says was hard even on a mt bike. The 8 miles took me 2:30 to run, which is saying something right there, even for slow ol' me. Brutal. I have the utmost respect for the Western States runners. 100 miles of this is impossible.

Here's my Runner's Glamor Shot. Me, running the Western States. Feast your eyes:

I don't think this'll be happening again any time soon!
What is happening soon? I'm finishing up this post, then off for another float down the Truckee River. Another run today, god knows how long (I've stopped forecasting, hell if I can run 3 miles I'll be happy). The, on Sunday, I've committed to a 21 miler on the Tahoe Rim Trail. Here's 5 fun facts:
1. I've hiked exactly this section before (Tahoe Meadows to Brockaway Summit). It took 2 days.2. I'm going with two guys. They are 8 minute milers. Oh lordy.3. Starts at 6 am! I barely function before 9.4. The last time I ran 20+ miles was in May. May!5. This run tops out at 10,500 feet.
I hope I make it!

Summer Fun the second

2010-07-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

(what follows is a long, kinda crappy and very disjointed post, hastily written in bunches at different times. at least I'm caught up to the present. sorry for my absence, and lazy posting!)

One of the most uncharacteristic things that has happened in the past coupla weeks is that I picked up a running partner! Whoda thunk? Stephanie started working in the ER in Marin a couple few weeks ago. Somehow she heard that I was a runner, and we decided to get together. She was a little worried "because I'm slow" . . . ha! Come to find out, our paces are about exactly the same (very slow), and she's a little kooky, too, and somehow we've managed to have a fine time in a number of runs together.

She's only been running for a couple of months, but this chick likes to go out and run 7 or 8 miles AFTER a busy shift in the ER, so you can guess what kinda stuff she's made of. As an interesting point, she has previously run with other, faster friends, and always felt really stressed and overworked with group runs because she was always pushing it, trying to keep up. She tells me that she likes running with me because then it's OK to run slow, and so much nicer. Like somehow I've "given permission" to be a slow runner. A convert!

Last weekend we got ready in the hospital parking lot after a night of work, and trotted off onto the sidewalk to begin our little run. We'd run together a couple two times together at this point, and whilst here at Back of the Pack we are all well aware of what a klutz I am, falling down at the least provocation, I thought maybe I should introduce Stephanie to the fact that, sometime soon, I was probably gonna bite it. We were in our first 1/4 mile, right in FRONT of the hospital, and I tell the story of how it has taken me most of 7 years to teach Tom (the ultimate gentleman) NOT to freak out and rush to my aid if gravity should happen to assert itself in my presence, as I will mostly just brush myself off and continue on, no need for panic. Right as I'm relating this information, there's a hummock in the sidewalk that I catch wrong and Whoosh! down I go, hard on my left knee and hands and elbows. Fucking pavement! I lay there with my water bottles scattered, my knee bleeding and my hands all skinned up going Ow! Ow! Ow! and Stephanie stands there, hands on hips, and deadpans "Oh, falls like this?" LOVE her!

Alas, she is a traveller and thus a temporary worker and thus only around for another couple of weeks. I'm already sad about that. However, we have a standing date in her remaining time here to run Saturday and Monday mornings directly after work, and she is all the motivation I need to get out there. Otherwise, as we all know, I just go to bed. I do believe she is the first person I have comfortably run with. Us slowpokes have a hard time!

Moving along, last week Tom and I and the Tandem spent a couple days touring around Napa Valley. This was supposed to be an overnight trip, but we had such a good time riding around and eating delicious food (not much wine, for some reason) we extended for another night. So Napa is just beautiful, endless rolling hills and grape vines and verdant, growing things and the bike is a great way to see it. In two days, we saw something like 75 miles from the tandem, and enjoyed it all. I saw a lot of this:

from the road, and some nice bike trails, too.

I did manage to run on my last morning there. I only managed 5 or 6 miles, because the elevation was steep and technical and I was spent and lazy.

On Saturday, I fulfilled a long time desire and went running at night! in the dark! A friend from my running group invited me and 6 other folks for a 10pm, full moon run around Donner Lake. I think I've mentioned on here that I have this unrequited desire to run in the dark, but always get tired or chicken out. This was a great opportunity

My training schedule calls for back-to-back long runs, so 10 hours later (Sunday?) I headed out with Tom and Debbie (on their mt bikes) for a 10 miler over in Tahoe City. The purpose of these back-to-backers is apparently to familiarize myself with running through fatigue and, lemme tell you, I most certainly learned a lesson today. This run was excruciating.

Yet another journey through trails unknown, this time I had the artistic guidance of Tom and Debbie, who left me these goodies at every questionable trail intersection (kt = my initials):

I know, awesome, right? These things were the highlight of the run.

The scenery wasn't bad, either:

I dunno if it was the late night run the night before, the back to back runs, the relatively few hours in between, or the sad fact that I once again skipped a real breakfast, but this one was hard. The first 2 miles were slow and painful, there was a bitch of a climb followed by a long, slow uphill, thunder and lightning and rain, o my!, a couple of fine miles and then I nearly bonked in the last 2. Uh, I certainly enjoyed parts of the run, but I was glad glad glad to be done. 10.5 miles in 2:30 and I was so done. Everything screamed Go directly to couch! and I listened, and here I remain, hours later.

-------

Ultimately, what I've been doing since I last posted can all be boiled down to one thing: injuring myself. Right now, I am feeling bruised, battered and beaten. As I sit here (ok, be honest, as I lie here, today's run took its toll!), I can see -- and feel! -- concrete evidence of all of the below "mishaps"

From . . .

some unknown incident, Abrasion to Left Shin

walking -- hard! in the dark! -- into the business edge of a boat trailer, Divot missing from Right Shin

the fall way back when, healing well but still Scarred and funny looking Right Knee

the fall detailed above, Scraped Up Ugly Left Knee, Skinned Right Elbow (on the inside, no less), tender Abrasions to both Palms

getting caught between a 40 lb round of unsplit firewood and a very hard object, ooogy Subungual Hematoma to Right Index Finger (and it still fucking hurts, over a week out)

Saturday's extreme tubing adventure (another on our continued effort to tube the entire Truckee river, saturday found us in the wildest section yet -- gnarly!), Bruised and wicked Tender Right Upper Arm, generalized Right Arm Pain, and some kind of weird Hand Injury that announces itself when I try to move my thumb in a specific way. Last, but quite far from least, this painful and sure-to-evolve-into-something-much-more-colorful (alas, presented in this highly unflattering shot, sorry!) Bruise, Swelling and Ouch! to Left Thigh:

(now, a few days later, this is VIVID!)

Tom came up with the idea that I could do an advent calendar cataloging these owies, just click on the knee and you get a Scrape! but my blogging skills are sadly lacking. All together, none of these things is even remotely concerning, but happening all at once I think I look like a skinned-up 8 year old, and feel like an arthritic 60 year old. Hence, this afternoon's couch-bound blog post!

To end with something a little nicer than my leg, here's a shot of the lovely Napa Valley:

Summer Fun #1

2010-07-14T17:08:00.001-07:00

So I felt a little relieved about my lack of blogging as of late when I realized that just about everyone else's posts have been, shall we say, less frequent as of late. You know who you are. Thanks for making me look not quite so bad.
So I wrote the above line something like 2 weeks ago. OK, I look bad, enough said. Seriously, with all the summer activities I've been up to, plus some healthy doses of laziness and procrastinations, eh -- blog posting has fallen way off my list. I don't even know how many posts I've got to catch up with in Reader. Too many. I suck. Let's move on, shall we?
So, what have I been up to? Here's the condensed version, aided by some iPhone photos.
We have been sleeping outside. A LOT! This is soooo easy to do, especially when some of this:
is right outside your back door. Well, OK, this particular lake was a little bit of a drive, but utterly deserted and totally wonderful. Tom and I have the car camping thing down to a science, man. Really. Within 20 minutes of making the decision to spend the night elsewhere, we'll have the truck totally packed with everything we need, including food, mattress and all manner of niceties, and will be backing out of the driveway. With 15 minutes of reaching our destination, we're unpacked, the bed is made, and I'm doing this:

in someplace like this:

On other fronts, we've got the tandem dialed in and rolling. Sometime last week or the week before, we met up with our friend Yeti -- who is all the name implies -- for a trip down in South Lake. We were originally going to go up Blue Lakes road, but about 1/4 mile into the ride Yeti's tire went pow!ppppthhhhhhhhssssssss, with a big ol' hole, and that was that.

Oh, sadness.

We regrouped after a bicycle change, and instead went riding in the Minden/Gardnerville area of Nevada, and put the bike through its paces. Verdict? We are in love with this bike. It's a fucking dog on the long uphill, but downhill and on the flats it's a beast and motors like nothing else. On this ride, we were easily -- effortlessly! -- hitting 20-25 mph on the flat, and topped out at 38mph (no pedaling!) on one of the downhills.

I saw a lot of this:

And will undoubtedly see a lot more of the same thing, with some scenery shifts. It is so cool for me to be on the tandem, 'cause otherwise I have no hope of keeping up with such cyclists as Tom and Yeti (or, really, pretty much ANY cyclist, but these guys in particular are hard core). It must be something like being a little kid, living in the adults' world and spending all your time looking at peoples' thighs, and then having someone lift you up on their shoulders and Oh! Brave new world! Or something like that.
What else??? Oh yeah, um, running! Yes, I've been running. Plenty. I haven't really changed anything in my running as far as speedwork or anything goes, but I am slowly inching up the mileage and really inching up the elevation gains. Here's a profile of a run I did (last week, the week before? Whenever these distant activities occurred):That's 1500 feet of elevation gain, which is becoming about my average for almost any run. I ran this one with the mountain bikers, in a place I've never run before. Tom, bless his heart, insisted that I download the .gpx track to Gary, and I took a map along with me as well. I started 45 minutes ahead of the bikers, and within 30 minutes I was, not lost, but rather misplaced. I wandered around for a bit, looked at the map and couldn't really make heads nor tails of it (and I am a woman who can read a map), scratched my head and decided I was way off track. I then put the map away and merrily continued on my run. What a concept, I gave the Garmin a glance and realized, in fact, exactly where I was and how to pick up the trail again. From this point on, I listened only to Gary and, despite a few wrong turns quickly realized, I found my way around. This was a very interesting navigational test and lesson, and learned me to rely on the .gpx. At times. Here's the path:Interestingly enough, about 3/4 of the way into the ride, I stumbled upon the mt. bikers, and THEY were lost! By this point, I had Gary all figured out and knew where to go. By the time I finished the 12 mile run, it was getting a little dark out. Still, before the last of the light left, I got a great view of Prosser.

More to follow in a bit, I will try to get caught up to the present time. Hopefully, this mythical post will arrive before another 2 weeks pass . . .

Return

2010-07-09T15:20:00.001-07:00

Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned. It's been a ridiculously long time since I've blogged.

I've gotten over it.

What've I been up to? Well, finally, it really truly is summer 'round these parts, and it's about time. I've definitely been out and about and enjoying the weather and all the things that go with it. I guess I could go on and on and try to fill in all the blanks between my last post and today, but I'm on my phone (in the car! on the way to another adventure!) and that's just too fiddly. So, here's some random photos of the missing weeks (happily, I've been running aplenty!)

A few weeks ago Tom and I joined some good friends and headed out to Huntington Lake, CA for a sailing competition, class racing on Hobie Cats.

I spent much of the time running, and found this gem at the turn around point on one of the runs:

Rancheria Falls

(at least on the phone, I look like I have HUGE boobs in this pic! I do not)

Of note, Tom came with me on this 6 mile out and back, he hiked I ran and (at least on the uphills) we were about evenly matched. 'nuf said.

We all put on our sailing hats took a turn at crewing during this multi-race regatta and, lo and behold ...

... we won our class! I was certainly surprised!

We came home, I ran a bunch more times.

Lots of it here, tons of trails about 1/2 mile from my front door.

Weeks passed. The past 2 days we spent out and about with the mountain biking group over in Downieville -- mt biking Mecca an hour or so northwest of Truckee.

They all road, and I did some serious trail running. Mind you, while I've been gone from this blog, I've been running lots and lots, and (surprisingly) LOTS of hills. Like, I've probably averaged a thousand or so feet of elevation gain per run in my last, oh, 5 runs or so. Downieville blew that out of the water.

First run was something like 7 miles with over 2,300 feet. Also, lots of bear poop,but also this idyllic little spot that I will return to the next time I find myself here:

Seems like a nice place to spend an afternoon!

Yesterday I shuttled the riders around the Lakes Basin area, and took myself out for a run.

Lotsa lakes ...

and some super-technical single track. It took me well over an hour to run 4 miles -- 600+ feet gain in 2 miles is challenging for sure, especially with supertricky footing.

The run was way finished by the time it got stormy, but check out these clouds:

Anyhow now Tom and I are headed to sleep outside again somewhere tonight, and will be taking a tandem ride with friends

I hope to get caught up with google reader one of these days, I've got like 600 posts to read. I've been lazy with my online existence but OMG summer!!

Summertime!!

Catching up

2010-06-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've been super busy lately, somehow I've gone from zero to sixty in about 5 days. Winter finally releases and Holy Shit! Summer's here and get busy!

So the brief running update . . . Had the running group 4 mile trail race around Martis Valley, wherein I performed pretty much as I have been, with a time of 43:30 or so. It's a great little racing series, and we're even lucky enough to have some photogs in the group, which explains this pic:

Perhaps the complete explanation would include the fact that I've decided that each race pic of me should show my feet off the ground, ala the San Rafael pic of a few posts back. So I've decided to leap around like an idiot every time I see a camera. Bob, the amazing guy I'm running next to, creamed me in the sprint to the finish.

Yesterday I went out for an 8-miler and FAIL! Uh, one of those terrible runs that just doesn't come together at all. This is what I get for, once again, not eating before I head out, compounded by the fact that it was a morning run, meaning I hadn't eaten in a frightful amount of time. Predictably, failure ensued and I just couldn't get it together. I had a huge fall at mile 1.5 and managed to fling myself to the ground in such a way that I did NOT scrape an inch of skin off my leg, but I did manage to smack my right knee against a huge rock and that sucker hurt. I struggled on for another half mile, then came to my senses and realized I was just an injury waiting to happen, turned around and walked/ran home. Utter failure, only 4 miles but eh, I'll make up the milage (or not!).

The knee was really painful at times last night, but seems better today and I don't think it will amount to anything. I'm off to Marin for my week of work, and I'm hoping that I can squeeze some runs in there.

TRT training run

2010-06-14T10:23:00.001-07:00

Coming along in July is the Tahoe Rim Trail ultra 50K, 50 miles, etc etc. While I am not participating in the race (I'm definitely not yet ready for these distances, plus it's on a working weekend anyhow), I tagged along for what was billed as a 20 mile training run. I thought it would be good to get out there on these take-no-prisoners trails, especially if someone was going to be feeding me snacks at reasonable intervals. The entrance fee was only $10, and what with all the aid stations, plus BBQ and beer directly afterwards, PLUS more of an introduction to the whole Ultrarunning thing, and I was all over it.
Though not without a little trepidation. Mind you, I have barely run at all since May's marathon, a few short club races, that 20 mile Bishop run, the one mile run, and maybe once or twice I dragged myself out there for a slog around the trails. So I figured 20 miles might be do-able, but given this past month and a half of sporadic running, I was a little skeptical of the distance. The longest run I've had since Bishop, back in the middle of May, has been about 6.5 miles. So 20 miles? Um, sure, why not!
I got out of my car at the starting venue, and was again reminded of what Tahoe is capable of on an early June morning . . . it was fucking cold! All of the runners in the parking lot looked at each other and smiled, grumbled and shivered.
At the pre-run briefing, we all discovered that plans had changed. Given the fact that the snowpack was 10-15' deep over much of the planned course, the run was modified to an 11-mile loop instead. Even that came with lots of scary warnings from the Race Director about A LOT of snow still remaining over perhaps 50-60% of the course, to the tune of "Bring your yaktrax and trekking poles if you have them (not me!) and make sure you all buddy up, and remember you're all ultrarunners (Um, yeah, definitely not me - yet!) so you don't have anything to prove, turn around if it gets rough" etc etc etc. The use of the words "snow ice path cliff" all in the same sentence was more than enough for me, so I opted for yet another offered route (which is not part of the official race route, but what do I care?) which was promised to be mostly snow free. This route was a 6 mile loop, and already I knew this was going to be much better for my underused legs than the 20 miles I had singed up for.
Again, this ultrarunning stuff is so, so low-key. The race director finishes with the Q&A session, and without fanfare everyone just kind of wanders off. It takes me a minute or two to realize, Oh! They've started! I whip off my jacket and follow the 50 or so runners up the ski run to the top of Diamond Peak. Just about everyone is walking (walking! I am so simpatico with this crowd!) up the steep, steep path. I follow! Everyone looks at little askance at my outfit, shorts and tank and nothing else while everyone else is in tights and jackets and gloves and things, but with 2 minutes I am comfortable and running/walking at my optimal temperature. I am beginning to think I'm a bit of a freak with my cold weather tolerance (only when I'm actually running, though -- I'm the first one to add layers when just hanging in the cold, or even mild, weather).

It looks flat enough here, but it soon got very steep, hence the walking. Here's the elevation profile for the whole run (I did not fall off a cliff at mile 4; instead, I forgot to turn Gary back on for a while):

At the top of the climb (rather, where I turned off for the snow-free pleasure path) I turned around and snapped this. It was way steeper than it appears, but Lake Tahoe in the background is really this blue:

From this point on, the trail (the upper, less-famous part of the Flume, for anyone local) is blissful single-track running, and is better recapped with photos.

There were a couple of bits of the trail covered in snow . . .

. . . but most of it looked like this:

With a number of these:

(I partially fell into this one, natch)

And lots of views of this:

An anonymous shot of me:

And quite a technical descent, of which I managed to run 98%, and no falls!:

I looped back around to the starting aid station, had a bite to eat (I'm liking the oranges and Oreo combination) and decided I'd head out for another loop, which I did. I finished the whole run, which in actuality was about 12 miles, in about three hours (and 2 pathside poops, for those who wanna know). It felt great to get out there again, and I do believe my little spring running hiatus is over, as I'm beginning to feel that inner need to run that's been lacking lately. After the run was over, the organizers laid out an awesome lunch of burgers and snacks and beer and soda. All this for 10 bucks! If anyone asks me a year or so from now why in the hell I ever took up ultrarunning, my answer will be It's all for the food, man, all for the food.
I followed the morning up with a visit to the Beer Festival happening downtown. Now, I am NOT a beer drinker in any way, shape or form, but the alcohol stars must have been in alignment for me because I proceeded to drink more beer in 3 hours than I have in the past . . . lifetime? Possibly!
This was followed by a new little social adventure. A week or two I left a comment on fellow Truckee-ite (Truckian? Trucker?) and accomplished ultrarunner Gretchen's blog Daily Adventures, and lo and behold with just this one comment as an introduction, she drops me an email inviting me over for a BBQ with some other runners on this night. So Tom and I head on over there and have a great time talking to her and the other runners. This is my first bloggy runner get-together and I had a blast (and was so relieved that I was NOT the one to clog the toilet!). Go on over and check out her blog, she's a helluva runner, writer and picture taker . . . and a great hostess, too!
Yesterday I did another 4 miler, and have the TRC miler coming up tomorrow. Summer begins now (despite my last post!)

From the middle of my run

2010-06-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Some parts of Tahoe still look like this, on this lovely June day:

BTW

2010-06-10T19:50:00.000-07:00

From the San Rafael Mile . . .

I think this is the first photo of me running that I didn't instantly loathe.

It is also the first photo of me running wherein both feet are actually off the ground. Are these two statements connected?

This was taken right before the finish. I have absolutely NO idea what I was smiling about, or even that I was capable of smiling.

Gettin' Wood

2010-06-10T18:19:00.001-07:00

There are signs that winter has finally left Truckee, and summer has arrived (I dunno about spring this year). Time to put away the skis, program the sprinkler system (both on my chores list), put away the down coats (but don't bury them too deep). Another way you can tell winter's gone? We are starting to think about winter again. Specifically, restocking the wood supply.

Every year, Tom and I obtain a permit to retrieve deadfall wood from state forest land. Last week we hit the fire roads, looking for the elusive motherload. We found a stash of freshly cut (last year?) de-limbed trees that were apparently downed for a new (possibly improved) powerline that was remarkably close to both the fire road (a few couple hundred feet) and our house (couple few miles). Jackpot!

I'm a Lumberjack!
Actually, years and years ago Tom and I came to the mutual conclusion that one endowed with such ~~abject klutziness~~ physical talents as myself really shouldn't fool around much with power tools, nevermind ones that can really mess you up.

Ergo, the actual cutting of the wood fell to Tom (he's a handy kinda guy), while I busied myself marking the trunks at 16" intervals (I did my intervals today!), hauling the wood around, taking pictures and sussing out other fallen trees.
We spent the afternoon working, and procured a little over a cord of wood. Tomorrow morning we're at it again, aiming for a total of around 3 cords. We then purchase a cord of hardwood to round out our selection, and then . . . let it snow.

About 1/4 cord

How fast can I run a mile?

2010-06-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently in 8:36. I ran the San Rafael One Mile Race way back on Sunday morning (after a 12 hour night shift with drunks, crazies and other assorted denizens of Marin). This was a USATF sanctioned race, so the other runners were fast, fast FAST!

My goal was to come in under 9:00 - I really had no idea how fast I could run a mile, but this seemed reasonable to me. This mile race was on the streets of downtown San Rafael, CA. I started at the back of the pack, and then everyone else passed me. The first 1/4 was slightly downhill, and every time I looked at Gary he said 6:29 (I should say that I screwed up the button pushing, so have NONE of this on the Garmin, much to my chagrin). I don't think I have ever run that fast for any length of time, so. At this point, the course turned with a slight uphill that lasted the next half mile or so, and I slowed down accordingly. This running fast stuff just blows. I tried to keep my head up and my arms pumping, but this uphill portion just sapped me. At this point, everyone passed me and I was sure I was DFL, which I consider a bit of an honor. We came to the turnaround, and the corresponding slight downhill was a relief. I sped up, kept running, and looked for the finish. There it is! I picked up my pace significantly in the last hundred feet (meaning, I suppose, I could have picked it up sooner, but what the hell do I know about pacing myself for a mile?), and clocked 8:36. I had no air in my lungs, a stitch in my side, and my legs felt all wobbly. There was no one anywhere near me, and I had a little personal celebration for my awesome DFL, only to find out there were 3 more finishers after me, with 11:xx + times. Freakin' people, stealing my DFL. Damn.

Thoughts:

1. The one mile distance is far, far easier than trying to run a fast 5K. I'll take a mile any day.
2. I ran as fast as I possibly could, and that netted me 8:36. This is a moderate marathon pace for lots and lots of runners. This simple fact is utterly amazing to me. You people run SO FAST!
3. There were superfast runners there. My fast friend from Tahoe came down for the run, and her finish time of 5:36 or so put her firmly in the back of the pack in her group of runners. Amazing.
4. I'm reluctantly intrigued by this distance. I might try to improve my time. Don't hold your breath, though.
5. For the $18 entrance fee, I got a t-shirt and a gym bag. Good schwag!

In the end, I was pretty damn pleased with my slow 8:36. I really gave it an honest shot. I have not run another stitch in the past week (still having problems motivating in the face of back-to-back-to-back 12 hour night shifts). I'm home now, and will lace up my sneakers either today or tomorrow and hit the trails (yay!). This saturday I have a 20-mile supported run, which is a training run for the Tahoe Rim Trail ultra in July, which I am NOT running. The training run ought to be a good kick in the pants, though, and I am looking forward to it. I imagine I will be very, very, very slow as there is some wicked elevation gain, high altitude and challenging trails, and my running has been a bit lazy as of late. So, slow I go.

Running fast

2010-06-02T09:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I got a very cool Atayne tshirt in the mail from the Wilderness Running Company, courtesy of Stuart from Quadrathon. I usually run in a tank top, not a T, but I really like the fit and hand of this shirt, plus it's a v-neck (crew necks choke me) and pretty flattering, so I just might make an exception. It's also made from 100% recycled plastic bottles, which somehow makes a very nice technical fabric.
Stuart seems to be the source of just about everything I've won on internet (I probably forgot something, somewhere, ooops in advance), so let's take a tour, shall we?

The aforementioned shirt (won in a drawing), plus a stretchy headband (won for being the first person to post, at something like 2 am) and, my fave, a perfect Asics running bag that I bought with a gift certificate won as part of a weight loss challenge (in which overall I lost no weight, but had a fluke good week). So, in addition to being the first running blog I ever read, the source of endless inspiration and an all-around good read (and podcasts!), Quadrathon is also a great place to score schwag (but don't tell anyone).
Also yesterday, I did something highly unusual -- I tried to run fast. The wonderful Truckee Running Club Underground race series continued with another 5K, and for some reason I decided I would try for a sub :30, which would -- to the best of my recollection -- represent a 3 or 4 minute time shave for me. Ambitious! One of the fast club runners (who am I kidding, they are ALL fast, and I mean that seriously -- these folks run!) was feeling a bit punky and decided to run from the back with me -- yay! a pacer! I told him my goal, and he awesomely helped me along my way, talking me through the course and running me to the finish. This was a hard, hard race for me -- I do NOT have a gear greater than "plodding"! I tried to keep the pedal to the medal, was 15:08 at the turn-around, tried to pick it up throughout the second half, but when it came to that last .1 I just could not lay it down any faster and came in at :30:38! Just off my goal, but a PR and a time that will definitely fall sometime this summer.
Something that just doesn't make sense to me. Here's my splits (from the Garmin):
Mile 1 9:31Mile 2 10:01Mile 3 10:02Mile .1 9:42 (I tried!)Average pace 9:51
Now, fine, I'm sure it all adds together nicely and mathematically and all, but it just seems to me, LOGICALLY, that if one were to average a 9:51 pace, one should be able to run a 5K in under 30 minutes. I guess it's that pesky tenth of a mile. Fucking metric system.
Trying not to die!
Lessons learned from this race: I do NOT like to run fast. Sure, I like to push myself and suffer with the best of 'em, but this Run Fast make your legs hurt and feel empty and your stomach churn and oh yeah that breathing thing? give it up for a while! stuff is NOT FOR ME! Omygod, do you people really DO this? This should come as no surprise, but I'll take my 5+ hour marathon finish any old day over this run-as-fast-as-you-can bullshit.

I've been waiting for an appropriate time to post this.
To that end, this morning I signed up for the Downtown San Rafael One Mile Run taking place this Sunday morning in Marin. After a 12 hour night shift in a busy ER, no less.
What the fuck am I thinking???

ps. Tom read yesterday's post and said "You really went public with the Paul Lydne thing?!?" He understands the gravitas of me telling that, my deep dark secret, to the blogging world. That's one of the aspects that makes him the best partner of all time. Too bad, Mr. Lynde. heehee!

7

2010-05-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

I got tagged by Lisa. So here are 7 very random -- and fundamental -- things about me:

The oddest job I ever had was selling cocktails in an airport to people waiting for their luggage to come around on the conveyor belt.

I met my true doppelganger while at work at that job.

I hate bananas.

I have absolutely no depth perception.

I lived on a sailboat in the Caribbean for 10 years.

I got busted for shoplifting a pack of gum when I was 5 years old.

I also had a major crush on Paul Lynde around that same age.

Sunday running

2010-05-31T14:50:00.001-07:00

My longest run this week is supposed to be 5 miles. Yesterday I went out and did 6.5. Certainly, this over-achieving will NOT last. This run, though, it was hard to stop. I ran about a mile on the roadto get to the 06 fire road, gateway to trail-o-rama. I am elated to put the pavement (mostly) behind me and get back to wonderful, wonderful trail running. While I was busy not running, the snow melted and the ground has reappeared. I feel completely rested and everything just came together and felt . . . correct.
This was what I'm lately calling a "recovery" run, which by my definition includes plenty of dwaddling about, pee stops, little bits of walking and sightseeing and lollygagging for a sip of water. And pictures!

This may or may not end up in next winter's woodstove.

Looking down 89 and the Truckee River towards Squaw.

Mule's Ears poking through the ground!!
Amidst all my dwaddling, I did 5 110 meter hill repeats. I am planning to take hills very seriously in the near future. This was a nice little introduction. I really liked it (once I was done, anyhow).

Activity resumes

2010-05-30T10:51:00.001-07:00

So it finally stopped snowing (although we still have a huge pile that's several feet high in the front yard), Tom came home from Europe, I figured out my next race venue, yesterday it finally warmed up to a temp reminiscent of spring, we received the last of the parts for the tandem, and thus . . .

We took the big purple beast out for its maiden voyage!

(pardon the crappy backlit iPhone shots)

Since this huge thing is like a boat, we decided to have a proper christening party, complete with champagne poured over the front tire for luck, then poured down our throats for the intoxicating effects! The bike shall hence be referred to by the carefully considered name ~~I came up with in the driveway 20 minutes before said ceremony~~ La Bamba. Thus fortified, we hit the road.

And, omy, a tandem is a different beast all together. Tom did a great refurbishing job, and everything worked well and smoothly. I had some issues with my seat (and am today still having issues with my seat as a result . . . ) but other than that it ran smoothly. We rode about 25 mostly flat miles, and let me tell you that thing hauls ass. We had our friends Andrew and Jane with us (they rode regular bikes) and it was hard to go slow enough not to completely smoke them. We kept up a pace of 20 mph with little to no effort, and reached 26 mph using the tiniest bit of muscle. I think if we put the hammer down hard we could reach -- and maintain -- some pretty significant speed. At least on the flats and downhills, apparently uphills are a tandem's huge weakness (I can relate!). Tom and I both really enjoyed the experience, and think we'll really put La Bamba to good use this summer and in the future. We have always batted about the idea of bike tours, but our paces are so different it would be a little challenging. This bike solves that problem, plus it'll be really nice to be able to talk to each other, etc., over some several-hour ride. Plus, as the Stoker in the back seat, I can probably surf the net, watch videos and even cobble together a blog post on my phone while riding. We plan to throw some knobbies on there, too, and hit some of the more gentle mountain bike trails. A very cool new member of the family. I think between the two of us we now have six bicycles!

We finished the bike ride, had a bit to eat and then decided we'd all like to spend the night outdoors. We headed over to Jane and Andrew's, had a lovely soak in their hot tub, then drove all of a mile to Prosser Resevoir (however you spell it).

It got pretty darn cold pretty darn quick, as evidenced by the liberal use of fleece, hats and down coats. I think we're going to completely bypass spring this year and head right into summer. I'm ready for that to happen.

Even though it was just a little chilly, the venue and the view were fantastic . . .

This is Prosser just after sunset. It is so awesome to have such cool sights and places just minutes from home. I've done a lot of running around here, but never camped. I think this might be a future destination for those not infrequent nights when at 7pm we're like, What should we do tonight? It's that close to home . . .

We woke up this morning to the weirdest sound ever -- it sounded like a dragon was breathing just a few feet away. We poked out heads out of the sleeping bags to find . . . a hot air balloon! Definitely an interesting way to travel!

So after this posts I'm off to resume running on a regular basis. Today is the first day of my training cycle, and I'm all for 5 miles in the woods!

Numbers

2010-05-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

Oboy. I just laid out my training schedule for Boggs Mt. and it's . . . extensive. I've got some serious milage planned. I'm a little overwhelmed with some of these numbers.

I start out next week with a 22 mile week. Some 20-odd weeks later this milage peaks with a 54 mile week. My monthly milage will leap from a 100 mile month (this is a milestone I just reached) up to a 170 mile month. This just boggles my mind! I don't want to think about it too much.

Traditionally I run about 80% of the miles I schedule myself for. 80% of 170 is still a completely ridiculous number for me to comprehend at the moment. Running 5 days a week, back-to-back long runs, serious weekly milage, I've got to figure out nutrition, motivation, time management (seriously, will I have to get up before 9am to make some of this work?), gear choices, food choices . . . ahhhh! My mind just wants to split open.

My body just wants to do this (maybe without the hail):

UltraRunning from Matt Hart on Vimeo.

I start on Sunday.

Gah!!

2010-05-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that's snow falling. I'm so fed up with this fucking weather I can't even get irritated with it.

The Next Step

2010-05-27T16:41:00.000-07:00

As I sit here surfing the web, watching the snowfall (!true!), I've come to a Decision. The Decision!

Here's my next Big Thing:

Boggs Mountain 50K, on October 30. I haven't yet registered for it, but I will. I've been looking at the maps, the elevation profile . . .

. . . (that's 4400 feet, seemingly about average for a 50K) and trying to put together some kind of training plan. I think I'm going to start with this one and then modify it to my needs. I don't know what those modifications will be, but I know I've got to change it around to fit my weird, weird schedule (I do know to keep the two long runs back-to-back), and I know that I should probably incorporate dictated hill work and perhaps (but realistically, I doubt it) some dedicated speedwork. I've spent some time reading about training for ultras, and race strategies for ultras, and it's all Walk! Slow Down! You'll Run Slower Than You Think! and I'm all Yay! I Can DO That!

The training plan I've picked is for 26 weeks, yet the race is something like 22 weeks away. I'll just lop off the first 4 weeks, I guess. Week 5 starts out at 22 miles/week. Excepting the last 4 weeks, this is a little lower than the milage I've been doing, so I think I'll do just fine with that as a starting point. Knowing me, I'll skip enough miles anyhow.

I'll put the schedule into play beginning Monday, and will undoubtedly get off my ass and into gear.