Another Reason Why I Run

Today, I had the pleasure of "pacing" Marc in a local 5K this morning.  I put "pacing" in quotes because he only needed my expertise in the last quarter of the race.  Marc has been making some serious progress with Crossfit in recent months, and even though he hasn't run outside of Crossfit, he beat his previous PR for this race by almost TWO minutes!  That is a boatload of time in a 5K.  Initially I was going to race it myself but given the recent travel, I hadn't really done enough speedwork that I felt right about going for it.  Plus I did a much-needed 9.5 miler with a good friend (loved catching up, CP!) and a weightlifting yesterday at NW Crossfit, so I was kind of tired.

I let Marc dictate the pace for the 1st mile just to see how he felt, but I knew the math to get him in under 25 minutes, which was still a big improvement from his previous time of 26:17.  Well he crushed the 1st mile in 7:45 so ok then.... He got a bit tired at the start of the 3rd mile, but at mile 2.5, I told Marc we needed to pick it up a few pips and bring it home.  He didn't disappoint and came in at 24:24!  Wow!  And the look on his face was great, although it may have also had to do with the anticipation of eating my doughnut and his.  After all, the 5K was sponsored by local favorite - Top Pot!  

This is why I run.  Marc, on the other hand, runs outside of Crossfit so he can eat my doughnut.  Whatever works.  He ran a great race today as a result of training hard and I am proud of him.

Miami -- Sure, Why Not?

We had to fly through Miami airport to get to/from Barbados, so we figured we would make a weekend out of it. It worked out that Lisa and Jarrett were going to be in South Florida at the same time, so it was great to spend some unexpected time with them.

We also got to see a former teacher of both Lisa and mine from Massapequa - Mrs. Ross, who now orders us to call her "Sue". :-) We also got to meet her husband over drinks, which was a ton of fun.

I'll have to say that the restaurant scene in Miami is pretty underwhelming. I used Eater Miami and the concierge at our hotel to figure out where to go, but most of the recos were very generic "steaks & non-local seafood", unseasonal cuisine or just really unhealthy options. We were advised to check out Pubbelly, which was excellent. The restaurant at the hotel, Edge, actually exceeded my expectations and Marc actually ate some scallop tartare! Hakkasan at the Fountainbleu wasn't very distinctive and Joe's Stone Crab was ok.

[NOTE: Links in above paragraph were inserted after the entry, but very relevant.]

Miami was nice and relaxing, and once again, we were able to find a local Crossfit (Crossfit Vida Brickell), and I was able to get my run in.  The 6+ miles I ran in Miami were even more picturesque than I was expecting! I left from our hotel in downtown Miami and ran along the causeway towards Key Biscayne. 

I guess you can say Crossfit is also pretty similar to running in the sense that you can make up a workout on the fly that requires no gym equipment, which will still leave you gasping for air.  

The palm trees, sunshine, light blue water and skyline made it a really picturesque run.  And normally I don't like headwinds, but I'll take 20mph of those vs. the typical south Florida humidity!  It was totally worth bringing cab fare for my return back to the hotel so I could see more of the area and not do an "out and back" (which essentially means seeing the same scenery twice).

Taking in Barbados.

So after we made it to Barbados without getting arrested or having our bag confiscated, we were able to focus on fun and relaxation. Greg, Kate, Conor and Ryan were really tremendous hosts between loaning us a car with GPS (very necessary), recommended sights to see and great perspective on their lives abroad.


We checked out beaches all over the island and got to see Bathsheba and have a lovely lunch at a quiet resort away from much of the hustle and bustle taking place on the rest of the island. Given it's location, you would think Barbados would have an overabundance of fresh produce. Not so much actually. It's been so overdeveloped, the only crop that is really grown here is sugarcane, which is used for making rum.  We actually were able to take a tour of a rum factory while we were here and Marc's love of fine rum was rekindled.

Greg and Kate took us to fun and casual restaurants. One was a shack literally on a secluded beach where I was able to sample some local seafood and Marc had jerk chicken, so we just took in the atmosphere and enjoyed it all. I managed to squeeze in a run on one of the morning's we were there and may have discovered new sweat glands. It was so humid that I was asked when I was done if I was rained on because I was so drenched. Go figure. I also made up a Crossfit WOD with jump rope and a few other things just to keep active since walking around the island wasn't as much of an option as we were hoping. The roads aren't conducive to pedestrians.

On one of the days, we golfed at the famous Sandy Lane resort. We didn't golf on the world renowned 'Green Monkey' course because a round of golf cost $12000 USD (no, that isn't a typo). Marc and I are all into having a great experience but that was a bit steep for us. We golfed the more reasonably priced 'Country Club' course on the property and had lunch afterwards, where it proceeded to DUMP rain down in buckets! Wow, we got lucky on our round. The course was ok, but Marc and I couldn't fathom what would be so great about the 'Green Monkey' that would make someone pay that kind of cash for a round of golf. Maybe to golf with someone on the PGA Tour? Anyway...

One of the other days had us going on a snorkeling and whale watching tour. The weather was a bit iffy in terms of rain/clouds, but it was sure hot and humid. We spent the morning walking around Bridgeport and then getting on the boat. We enjoyed seeing some fish and an ancient shipwreck up close. The 2nd half of the trip got very interesting in a hurry as a couple of whales were out and about, plus the wind was picking up. It was a fun roller coaster ride and we definitely saw plenty of whale action! Wow. We weren't sure if this was the season for them to be around, but who cares... we got lucky and had a really great time!

Marc and I really enjoyed our time with Greg, Kate and their sons. We learned a lot about some of the regional challenges facing the Caribbean from political, sociological and economic perspectives, which we appreciated. Plus we talked about some of the challenges and sacrifices that they make for Greg's career. Many things that we take for granted. Heck, Kate was beyond ecstatic that we brought in stuff from Trader Joe's when we arrived! And she misses Costco.... a lot! 

I think Marc and I have seen everything there is to see on Barbados, so we are thankful that we had the opportunity to see and learn about a part of the world that probably wouldn't have happened had we not known Greg.

All We Need Is a Golf Bag, Contraband and What Else?

A crazy set of circumstances had us making plans within a month to spend a good chunk of April gallivanting around to 3 destinations -- San Diego, Barbados and Miami. It's a long story how that came to be, but don't worry, a tale will be told.

Marc's friends from high school and college, Greg and Kate, live and work in Barbados, and have extended many invitations for us to come down. So when the opportunity presented itself, we coordinated and made it happen. 

Greg is avid fan of some of the things that we have cooked and posted on Facebook, so I knew that we needed to figure out how to make something epic. The problem is that even though Barbados is a tropical island, fresh produce and good meat is scarce. Hmmm. To further complicate things, I was told that Fed Ex'ing items in would be likely confiscated by customs. Drats.

But not to be deterred, I launched "Operation Duck Confit" and proceeded to assemble items to make a cassoulet to smuggle down to Barbados. We were bringing my large golf travel bag anyway, which can fit a body in it in addition to my golf clubs. All we needed was some frozen ice packs and A LOT of luck.

We obviously couldn't fly direct to Barbados, so we had to connect via Miami. So not only did we have to make our connecting flight, but our checked bag had to as well. Then we needed to get there on schedule so everything didn't melt. And last, but certainly not least, we needed to get through customs at the Barbados airport without my bag being inspected, particularly by dogs.

Greg and I were exchanging emails about what I *MAY* be bringing over, but I wasn't telling him what. I just promised him that it would be worth it if he had to bail me out of jail with the contraband and that it was all legal in the US. But I kept inquiring about the customs piece and how to "move things forward". Finally as we were sitting in the Miami airport waiting for our connection, Greg finally sent over a message that had something "actionable" in it for handling customs.

Of course, Marc wanted nothing to do with this so I was on my own when I filled out the customs form. I may have inadvertently left things off due to "jetlag" as we did red-eye over from Seattle. Oops. 

We get through immigration and I see a number of valets waiting for new arrivals. Marc conveniently hits the bathroom. Wimp. I ask a gentleman to help us with our very large bag and say that I need to get this through customs. I MAY have also prematurely tipped him for his service. Come on, have some faith. The valet goes and talks to someone else working at the airport.

Magically my bag appears outside of a side door. OK, good sign. The bag made it all the way from Seattle. Now for the walk outside. The valet smiles nicely as the customs agent, who looks more like a flight attendant with her uniform, waves us through. Ah, thank goodness for premature tipping! 

We see Greg and meet his older son, Conor. Greg asks us if we want to go to the beach. Sure. After we drop off a bunch of stuff off at his house and he may want to tell his wife, whom I haven't met yet, to clean out the fridge. We get to the house and I start chucking stuff to Greg to throw in the fridge, which included artisan cheeses, meats, all ingredients for a cassoulet, chocolate and stuff from Trader Joe's.

"Operation Duck Confit" was an amazing success. BTW, my golf bag weighed 71 lbs on the way over. It weighed 31 lbs on the return back to the States.

Oh, and the cassoulet? Totally worth all of the effort.

Just Figure Out A Way To Get It Done.

Technology Is A Blessing... No Really!

Yes, I know.  I just said not too long ago that technology can be a blessing and a curse. In the context of that blog entry, it was a curse. Since then, it has been a blessing.  I'll explain below.

I have one of those watches that has GPS on it and allows me to actually see a cool map of where I run when I download my running stats. This has enabled me to have runs, hikes, and even some kayaking recorded in some pretty unique places like Bordeaux, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Southern California (OC, Santa Monica, Huntington Beach), British Columbia, Hawaii, Boston, Cascade Mountain Range, Olympic Mountain Range, Lake Washington, and of course, all over Seattle.

Knowing that my watch captures this data, it definitely provides incentive to bring my watch when I travel - especially when the vistas can be pretty interesting and unique to the region I am going to.

The other thing with running is that you just need some clothes to run (or not... err, I guess), your sneakers and that's pretty much it.  You don't need a fancy gym with specialized equipment.  It's essentially just you and your kicks (aka sneakers, trainers, etc.). 

You can run by tourist spots or you can run by other areas of the area you are visiting to get a better sense of the locale.  But you have no excuse not to get your workout in, which is the whole point.

We had the opportunity to hit some travel destinations in warmer climates over the month of April.  I had a great 5.5+ mile run in downtown San Diego that cut through Gaslamp & East Village as well as along the harbor.  Apparently it wasn't early enough because I was weaving in and out of a boatload of tourists, but the scenery was really nice to take in.  It was also nice to check out another Crossfit (we went to Crossfit East Village, which was very nice - thanks Coach Mike!) on our visit and get in a workout during our stay.

Other highlights on this trip include squeezing in dinner with +Dee and Bruce, as well as having a nice afternoon/evening on the water watching the Masters in Pacific Beach and enjoying a lovely dinner in La Jolla at George's at the Cove. Fortunately on this visit, my chocolate dessert was safe from Marc's clutches. The last time we were at George's, I had to resort to building a fort around my dessert. A story for another day.

Trail run? Really?

So we are two weeks post-NYC and the best thing I could say about my recovery period since then is that I actually rested.  Not really by choice, but because I caught whatever cold/flu thing has been going around as we returned home.  It has really knocked the wind out of me, but I finally had enough and decided to venture back to Crossfit yesterday.  I took it really easy, but was happy to get back it. And clearly I did enough squats to make my rear end sore.

I didn't know what I would be doing today, but last night one of my friends (and running buds), AK, decided to e-mail me with an interesting proposition -- do a 4-5 mile trail run near our respective houses.  For those of you that know me, trails are NOT my thing.  I tend to do dumb things like sprain an ankle, lose a shoe in a bog of mud (yes, this happened), etc.

KK and AK's collard greens with bacon!

I decided to accept because I needed to get a run in and having an excuse to take it easy, and AK has been wearing me down to get me on the trails.  We had her, her husband and some others for dinner last weekend and she was definitely doing some lobbying over some amazing pulled pork and collard greens.  :-)

As I was chatting with Marc last night about it, I said one of the things that I need to focus on during a proper trail run is that I need to ignore pace and focus on effort, along with the experience of just being on a trail.  Turns out that AK asked me about that same thing as we drove to the park, and she concurred that I needed to just recalibrate what I should expect to get out of a trail run.

We went out this morning and it turns out that it probably ranked pretty low on the technical side, and didn't have 'too much' on the "Rocks and Roots" side (H/T to other friend: RP).  I trusted AK to know a course where I could feel challenged in a good way, and have a good time, and of course, I was right.  It also seemed poetic after the body of "Caballo Blanco" was found yesterday. His story was a major focus in Christopher McDougal's, "Born To Run", which I read last year and enjoyed.  RIP, Caballo Blanco.

Big Green Egg Pulled Pork!

AK was great in giving me some tips and at times, she was more aggressive on the downhills (my weakness on trails - all mental).  It was good.  She would slow down to let me catch up.  While it felt hilly, it wasn't too bad on the elevation scale.  It did feel like a harder effort just because I hadn't run in 2 weeks (or done much of any physical activity) and because of the lingering cold.

Unfortunately I had some issues with the Garmin so I am showing AK's capture of the run.  The weather ended up being pleasant, and while it was pretty windy elsewhere, we were protected from it in the trees (as predicted by AK).

Paleo Twinkies by MMKR!

Going back to the pulled pork (which was smoked in the BGE!) and collard greens discussion, one of our good friends MMKR brought over one of her baking creations known as "Paleo Twinkies".  While a couple of tweaks needed to be made, they were tasty and Paleo!  Other dishes have been conjured up at Chez Beck recently like smoked whole duck, cassoulet, lasagna (made with leftover BGE pulled pork - holla!) and some Bo Ssam for Super Bowl Sunday -- and of course a Big Blue win!  OTBN, as usual, was a huge success with great friends, amazing food and some stellar wines.

Marc, Erik and Dave getting ready to carve one of the smoked ducks!

Finally we are officially into baseball season, although you wouldn't really know it.  You probably missed it that the Seattle Mariners played 2 real season games in Japan against the Oakland A's.  And yes, those games counted and pretty much no one in those markets saw the games because they were at 3am PST.  But somehow MLB Network and ESPN are advertising "Opening Day" for this upcoming week.  

I think it was a disaster all around because the Mariners have now gone back to playing pre-season games after playing 'real' games.  Huh?  One of the many reasons I, along with many others, continue to think Bud Selig is a schmuck.  But hey - Go Yanks!

Before I forget, special congrats to my awesome coach, Kim, for her awesome performance in Texas this morning in her Ironman!

Technology: Blessing and Curse

Yesterday I had my 1^st race of the year, which was also my 1^st race since last year’s NYC Marathon.  The course and the weather conditions made it primed for a PR, and after coming up just short of my goal in the half marathon last year in Lake Stevens, I was ready to attack.  I had done the work at NWCrossfit, the training assigned by Coach Kim of TN Multisports, and got my training runs in with different folks once 2012 kicked off.  A couple of aches and pains as the season started, but overall, things seemed to be going ok.

As luck would have it, this race was the NYC Half Marathon so there we were – trekking back to the east coast for a race.  It coincided with a big family gathering to celebrate my niece, so it was going to be a busy, but happy, few days in Beck land.  The course for the NYC Half changed slightly, but it wasn’t anything that I would consider material in terms of looking at previous years on the Garmin Connect website.  I like looking at the elevation profiles of courses I race so I can get a sense of how to plan a race if hills are involved.

As some of you may know, I wasn’t a “runner” when I lived in NYC so I was surprisingly unfamiliar with the nuances of Central Park, which was where the 1^st 10k of the race took place.  I was told it was hilly and it was going to be a bit tough.  So when I worked out the race plan with Kim, I figured that I should play it conservative in the 1^st half of the race and then “let it fly” in the 2^nd half of the race which was pretty much all downhill and flat.

It was a pretty hectic few days leading up to our trip to NYC plus our visits to the homeland always end up being fairly jammed packed.  This trip was no exception, and I knew I didn’t get the amount of sleep I had hoped for in the 2-3 days before the race.  Whatever.  Gotta only look forward, I guess.  

The wake-up call came in at 5:30am, had some breakfast and met a high school classmate so we could head to the start together.  We had a heck of a time getting a cab, to put it mildly, which meant no time to warm-up since I knew I would have to hit the always wonderful porta-potty line prior to the start of the race.  It was good to see TR and have some laughs.

TR and I were in different starting groups, so we split and I literally walked out of the bathroom at 7:27am with very little time to spare before the start!  OK, relax and have fun.  Remember your race plan, Jill.  About 9 minutes after the gun goes off, I text Marc and cross the start line. 

Miles 1-3: It was surprisingly uncrowded even with 15,000+ runners and I was easily able to create some space between myself and other runners.  The less weaving in and out, the better.  Yes, we had some rollers but after Victoria, they were pretty much non-events.  My new watch kept things at a steady pace and wasn’t jumping all over the place like my last watch was, so I was pleased.  It felt a bit humid, which was odd because the temperature was about 47 degrees.  I was taking in more water than I was expecting and I know I was properly hydrated in the days leading up to the race. Hmmm....

Goal pace for 1^st 3 miles: 8:20 per mile.

Actual times for 1^st 3 miles: 8:18, 8:30 and 8:25.  OK, better to be slightly conservative in the beginning.  Good start.

Miles 4-5: This is where the “hills” were going to be, one of which was Harlem Hill.  The person in NYC whom I have used to stretch me out pre-race told me that this hill looks like it is over and then “it isn’t”, so I knew not to get too excited when I first saw the top because it wasn’t.  These hills were the types of hills that I walk everyday to and from the bus, so when someone yelled “Great job! You got to the top!”, I chuckled.

Goal pace for miles 4-5: 8:30 per mile.

Actual times for miles 4-5: 8:19 (the one with Harlem Hill – grin) and 8:35.  Again, good….

Mile 6-6.5: Wrapping up Central Park and heading into midtown.  I looked at my watch at the 10K point and I was really pleased where things were at.  I thought that if I could get out of the park feeling good and with an average pace of 8:25, I would be in a good position for the 2^nd half.  Mission accomplished - almost exactly.

Goal pace for mile 6+: 8:20 per mile.

Actual time for mile 6+: 8:12.  Nice… feeling strong and ready to go.

Miles 6.5 – 8: I knew at least Cousin Claire and Marc were going to be out in this section of the course, and I was super pumped to see close friends, the Kaye family, out in full force cheering me on.  Claire and Marc were exactly where I expected them to be.  

But something strange was going on with my watch.  Yes, my new watch.  It had me running a 9:00 pace, which I thought was very odd and I started wondering if because I was running on 7^th Avenue in between lots of really, really, really tall buildings, if the watch wasn’t calculating distance properly.  Unfortunately I started to pick up my pace too and at this point, the race changed for me.  When I hit the mile 8 marker on the course, my watch was now in total sync with the course.  This means that part of my run wasn’t “recorded”.  In other words, I ran 1.5 miles in what the watch thought was 1.2 miles.

Goal pace for miles 6.5 – 8: 8:10 per mile

Actual pace for miles 6.5 – 8: ~7:30 per mile.  Uh-oh.

Miles 9-10: I was on the West Side Highway and my stomach started to feel not so great.  I knew the watch was working properly again, but unfortunately I had slowed down from what my goal pace was.  I was in such disbelief that I was so dumb about not listening to my body and being a slave to the technology (especially after I managed the 1^st half so well), and it was costing me my real goal time that was totally achievable.  Mentally, I was pretty down at this stage plus the headwind didn’t help. 

Goal pace for miles 9 – 10: 8:10 (mile 9) and 8:00 (mile 10).

Actual pace for miles 9 – 10:  8:17 (mile 9) and 8:24 (mile 10).  “Jill, you’re a schmuck” was a constant refrain in my head at this stage. 

Miles 11 – 12: At this stage, the math calculations started in the head about getting in under 1 hour and 50 minutes.  OK, if you can keep around 8:15, this is doable but darn – it is going to be close.  I remembered my experience at Lake Stevens about letting up a bit to recover after a bad hill, and that is what cost me my goal in that race.  The conversation with myself then shifted to me repeatedly saying “Jill, don’t you ****ing quit! You will never forgive yourself. We will NOT be repeating Lake Stevens.”  I saw Marc at around 11.5 and that cheered me up, although I suspected that he knew I was hurting big-time. 

Goal pace for miles 11 – 12: 8:00

Actual pace for miles 11 – 12: 8:16 (mile 11) and 8:12 (mile 12).  We passed by the WTC site and I thought about my friend, Vinnie, who perished on that horrible day 10+ years ago, and quickly cycled through my experience on that day, and again implored myself to not give up regardless of how crappy I felt.

Miles 13+: I was in pain and then I thought that if I could still beat my PR of 1:50:10 and really get in under 1:50 (an additional 11 seconds) feeling as awful as I did, I would be so grateful.  The last time I was *THIS* miserable in a half marathon was when Andria and Michael paced me to my 1st sub-2:00 half at the Seattle Half Marathon in November, 2009.  Heading into mile 13 was just a matter of not leaving anything on the course and giving everything I had.  Of course, we went into an underpass and my watch didn’t track again (!) so I had no idea what was going on and how much I had left in that last mile plus.  Conversation vacillates between “Seriously?” and “Come on! Finish this now, Beck!”

I get out of the underpass and the sign says 800m left (1/2 mile) and of course we had a slight uphill which made me think back to that evil little dip under Aurora in the Seattle ½. Heh.  My watch was at 1:45+ at this point.  I am going so hard, pumping my arms and just trying to will my way to this finish line.  Again, “Don’t you give up!  Stay with this!” I get to the 200m sign and the watch goes to 1:49.  “Come on, Jill!”  I cross the finish line and I was pretty sure I got in because by the time I hit my watch to stop, it said 1:49:56 and I err on the side of hitting the watch after the finish.  I guessed my time was 1:49:51, but the official results were nowhere to be found.  But I was exhausted and cautiously optimistic that I came in under 1:50.

Goal pace for miles 13+: 7:50

Actual pace for miles 13+: 7:20.  This takes into account the “lost 3/10^th of a mile in the underpass.  Wow.  I don’t even know if I have ever run that fast in a 5K and I did that in the last mile of a half marathon.  Actually I just checked my 5K PR.  I haven’t.  Uh, wow.  I guess that’s why that 7:30 pace in the middle of the race really hurt.

Sure enough – say hello to a new PR: 1:49:51 – official chip time.

Some excellent lessons learned here, most notably:

• The fact that I didn’t let up when the times got tough was the difference between getting the PR and not. Lake Stevens taught me a good lesson last year.  Don't ever give up.  And the fact that I pushed through pain like this in November, 2009 was a good mental note as I had to fight through those last 3+ miles.
• The plan I had was good and it worked really well in the 1st half.  Unfortunately I didn't make adjustments quick enough when things went awry.  Need to do better on this because I know this will only help me in future races of all distances.
• Technology can help you be smart in training and racing, but ultimately you need to go with “feel” if things do not look right with the technology.  As soon as I knew the watch wasn’t “right” with the distance and pace calculation, I should have run that section based on how I felt and not try to force the pace to appear on the watch.  What a dumb move, but hopefully one I will not make again.

Post-race was great.  I received a nice text from TR after she finished.  I saw my friend, Mike, and we walked over to Marc, who, as usual, was ready with my sweatshirt and sweatpants.  Then we had a really fun lunch with the Behar crew (my sister’s family) and the Kaye family (who were out on the course really early to cheer me on) at OTTO.  Pizza and gelato is a great post-race meal. Played with the niece and the nephew, napped and then went to dinner with another friend.

I slept really well last night.

And yes, I was and still am very grateful for that PR given how bad I felt for the 2nd half of the race.  :-)

2012: New Year, New Goals, and NE 70th Still Sucks

Well it’s definitely been awhile since the blog has been put into use.  Most of the blogging towards the end of last year was around running and after NYC, I really needed to detach from all things related to running for a bit.  The timing of NYC works out well for that because you have about 7 weeks until the end of the year to start fresh. 

Then I got superstitious with Big Blue starting to get on their winning streak, so I decided that my blogging would definitely have an effect on how the Giants would do in the playoffs.  Clearly it worked.  That also delayed the inaugural blog entry for 2012.

We have been doing some cooking along the way so I am going to break up the blog entries into where I am at with my running, and then write a separate one about the Giants along with the culinary experiments taking place in Chez Beck.   All in all, 2011 was an excellent year on so many fronts and we were so fortunate to share those good times with great family and friends. 

So many positive things happened in 2011 but I knew that I needed to figure out what I could improve upon in 2012.

The more I thought about it, the more I kept going back to my nutrition strategy and how it played a huge role in both marathons I laced up for in 2011.  One of the takeaways from running a marathon was understanding that while a marathon is twice the length of a half-marathon, it doesn’t exactly work like that from a fitness and nutrition perspective.  It’s almost as though you’re running 17 or 18 miles in the 2^nd half as opposed to running 13 miles.

Continuing on the nutrition theme, I also decided that I started focusing on marathon nutrition strategy only when I decided I was going to run a full.  While that seems logical, it takes awhile to figure out what works and what does not work as you exert yourself for longer periods of time.  So I got some guidance, which has worked so far.

I made a commitment to start early in the season on assessing how I could have more energy later on in the marathon distance.  Even though I will not be building up to long (16+ miles) for at least a couple of months, I want to get my body used to certain fueling strategies early on.  The benefit will be that when I ramp up my mileage that the tweaks should hopefully be minimal to keep the energy levels consistent in a marathon.

Other things to work on – increasing upper body strength and mobility via Crossfit, more “business” massages (aka – nothing relaxing, but productive), sticking with the heart rate zone training with Kim at TNMultisports.

The past couple of weeks have been really positive on the training front, and I feel like my fitness is close to where I’d hope it would be after the break.  Also when you get some of these runs in with friends to laugh and chat about life, that’s a double win.

Today’s run was listed as a strength workout mixed in with a long run.  READ: HILLS.  That called for me to dust out the plan for NE 70^th.  The last time I did 70^th was on some hill repeats last year with Melissa and Meagan of NW Crossfit.  I recruited CP to join in the fun since she destroyed me and drew blood (no, really!) the previousTuesday during a track workout.  

Well this morning’s run didn’t disappoint in terms of the suckage factor on NE 70^th and I think we were just relieved to gut it out.  This was one of those runs where the overall pace didn’t matter and finishing did.  Um, a round of ice baths for everyone.  Yippee!  

Geeky Race Report from NYC.

OK – Here we are with the “Running Geek” version of the NYC Marathon report. This is for my running buddies, coach or any other insane folks contemplating a marathon.

I’ll admit that the past 10 days have been a bit more of an emotional roller coaster than I was expecting. Most of the questioning has been around “how do you feel” and “when is your next full”. And I have been pretty much all over the map on both, which is generally unfamiliar territory for me.

BTW: Pics here and here. Additional race thoughts here.

So here we go:

Wake-up call at 4:45am. I had to leave the hotel by 5:30am to walk to Central Park South to catch the JDRF bus. I know of at least one friend who was very jealous of my cush transporation situation, but it was still early. Even with the clocks going back. While it was pitch black outside and you wouldn’t expect to see too many people walking around midtown at that time, I saw endless amounts of charter busses and people with clear bags (the only bags allowed in marathon village).

The drive to the start was a pretty one catching the sunrise. It was going to be a clear day out on the course. Maybe a bit warm for this PNW’er, but at least it wasn’t snowing like it did the week before in NYC! All of the charities have tents in marathon village in Staten Island, and we got to chill for a bit. When all was said and done, I probably had about 3 hours from when we got to SI to when I started. And believe it or not, it went really fast and before I knew it, I was walking to the start with another JDRF teammate who also lives in the Seattle area!

I knew I wasn’t going to start exactly at 1010am, so I texted Marc as I crossed so he would know how to gauge progress.

Mile 1 – All uphill and very crowded on the V-N bridge. Already wrote the mile off before the race and told myself not to expend energy worrying about pace here. Stayed relaxed, waved at the police officers along the bridge cheering us on and took it all in. It was crazy but the views were not to be missed. My stomach was a bit unsettled, but I thought that would work itself out.

Miles 2 – 5 – Still stayed relaxed. Kept reminding myself not to push. When we got off of that bridge, the crowds in Bay Ridge were ready. They were awesome! Brooklyn probably had the rowdiest crowds and cheers, and I loved it. That said I was starting to get concerned if Marc was going to be on the left side of the road as is our usual plan because of the amount of runners, and NO ability for spectators to cross. Stomach still a bit tight though. And my right foot (injured one) started to ache a little.

Miles 6 – 9 – Saw Marc, Tisa & Dan (all of Team Elway). They had great signs but given the crowds, I didn’t see them until the last minute. About 3 miles later, I saw Lisa, Jarrett, Mary & JoAnna (all of Team Tebow). Again, I didn’t see them until the last minute. Both groups were great and I kept trying to stay focused on being conservative by not weaving in/out too much, as I tend to do. By the end of mile 9, the foot wasn’t an issue anymore. Good. And the crowds continued to be amazing. It was complete sensory overload.

Miles 10 – 14 – One of the miles really bottlenecked, but I kept around a 9 minute pace overall and I was just where I wanted to be. I kept telling myself that you can’t “win the race” at this stage but I could “lose it” at this point, which meant my time goal. Cousins Dan & Scott appeared out of nowhere to give me gels, which was awesome. I didn’t see Marc with them, which I attributed to subway problems. I wasn’t too concerned.

Miles 15 – 17 – I saw Team Tebow on the other side of the road, which was a lucky break since I told everyone that I would be looking on the left. I didn’t plan for the fact that depending on subway exits that crossing streets would be near impossible. They had their signs and enthusiasm, plus my beverage, so that was good. But I really started to get slowed down at this stage by the crowds. The bottlenecks were more and more frequent, and the water stops were absolute clusters. Normally I carry all of my own liquid, but every expert said you didn’t need to because of all of the water stops. Mistake. I probably lost about 5-10 seconds per mile ducking and diving.

The Queensboro Bridge back into Manhattan really hurt. I was warned that you come to a very slow pace, and then my watch stopped tracking my location, so I was really messed up. I just decided to walk uphill since my pace was slow anyway and save my energy. It helped mentally, but the leg cramps start up once you start walking. Whatever. I kept going. I still had a chance at my goal. Coming into Manhattan off of the bridge was pretty surreal. This is where I watched the marathon many years ago for a long time. I had to keep things in check as I still had 8+ miles to go. But I definitely slowed down in this stretch.

Miles 18 – 21 – Marc and Tisa made their way to 103^rd Street, and informed me that Team Tebow were not going to make it to the Bronx. I needed to take whatever I needed. I didn’t know if anyone was going to be at mile 24 at this stage, but I was feeling less than stellar and I just said, “I’m fine” and continued on. At mile 19, the foot cramps struck hard. I had been taking salt tabs every hour and gels every 30 minutes, so this was pretty disappointing. I was drinking fluids at a good pace as well.

Decision time. My goal time could happen, but chances were dwindling and I had to decide if putting it all on the line for a goal time was more important than finishing in a really positive state of mind. Given the shirt that I was wearing for JDRF, this was a quick discussion with myself and I went with the latter. The Bronx had more spectators than I was expecting, with lots of firemen lining the route cheering us on. So I walked/ran it in for most of the homestretch.

Miles 22 – 24 – I think it was safe to say that I was feeling less than awesome at this stage, but I knew I was going to finish. I recalibrated with some new goals (i.e., run 5 minutes, walk a minute), and I was so pumped to see the merger of Team Tebow and Team Elway! Lisa, Jarrett, Tisa, Dan, Scott, JoAnna and Mary were loud, proud and saved my bacon because while I wasn’t in a real negative place, I needed something motivating. The crowds were great, but seeing my team really lifted my spirits. I might have shed a tear if I wasn’t so freaking tired. Ha! Tisa and Lisa ran with me for a bit, asking me if I needed anything. I couldn’t really muster any words. I soldiered on and saw another friend on the sidelines, which was a great boost!

Miles 25 – 26.2 – In Central Park and doing everything I can to finish strong. I actually couldn’t believe that even though I didn’t hit my goal that the 4+ hours went by so fast. The crowds and neighborhood diversity are both so overwhelming to take in when you are inside of the ropes that it all becomes a blur. But I was proud that I was in a good place and kept my promise to Marc (and myself, for that matter). That said, I was so ready to be done when I came into Central Park by Columbus Circle. The last “.2” really hurt. Marc saw me with 300 yards to go, but I didn’t see him unfortunately. My parents were at the finish line, but missed me crossing (a slight communication breakdown).

Final time: 4:14:04

I also reminded myself that when I crossed the finish line that I was not to touch my Garmin until I was past the official photographers so I actually had a good photo op. Mission accomplished. After being herded like cattle out of the park, I finally found my gang and was so elated to see them. I say this over and over, but running is not a solo sport. It takes a team, and my team absolutely made my experience so much better than it could have been with me just doing this on my own. All of the hard work and decisions made paid off in being able to share a “bucket list” item with some very important people to me. The cheers that came in from near and far meant so much to me, in addition to all of the donations for JDRF.

Bottom line, I am so glad I waited until I was ready to do a full on my own timeline, not someone else’s. No, I didn’t hit my time goal but November 6^th was truly one of the best days of my life for the reasons mentioned above, and for that, I am forever humbled and grateful for the opportunity.

Until I decide on what’s next, stay tuned…..

Say What You’re Gonna Do. Go Do What You Said.

Well it’s been over a week since I did something that I thought would be impossible one day, and that was to run a full marathon – 26.2 miles. Well it probably ended up being 26.5 miles with some weaving in and out of the crowds, but yeah – it’s a long way to run.

To say that I was fortunate to be on a team to run for something other than myself is an understatement. It was absolutely the best decision I could have made for NYC. We do a fair amount of fundraising for JDRF (you can still donate HERE if you haven't already) and I was pretty excited when they allocated me one of their spots back in April. But the thing is when you run with a charity team is that when the going gets tough, you know that you’re running because someone else has it tougher than you. So really, it’s not that tough for you as the runner. You know you are lucky to be healthy enough to even consider, let alone finishing, a marathon.

When I realized that I wasn’t going to hit my goal time, I’ll admit that there was some disappointment but it didn’t deteriorate into anger or frustration. I’m proud of myself for that as that realization occurred at mile 19 or 20. I had been out there for 3 hours at that stage and was working pretty hard, but I am thankful that I wasn’t delirious enough to forget why I was out on the course. I never got to that “dark place” that sometimes happens when you have a crappy outing in an event that lasts a long time (long is a relative term here).

The day was so special because I had the chance to have my family and friends out on the course cheering me on. They definitely wore out their Metrocards chasing me down from place to place, and while they didn’t hit every planned stop to see me at, they did a phenomenal job. Cousins were thrown into duty at the last minute and did a more than admirable job. Friends got thrown into the mix with crazy signs authored by Marc, my sister, my brother-in-law and my nephew. And of course, we had team t-shirts.

My parents, who have lived in the NYC metro area all of their lives, got to see a true NYC event for the 1^st time ever and the spirit that goes with everything that is the NYC Marathon. It was a treat listening to them tell stories of their fellow comrades in the finish line cheering section. You can tell they were impressed with it all and trying to take it all in. The fact they missed me going across the finish was kind of ironic and a bummer, but I know they were anxious for me and cheering no matter what the outcome was.

And obviously Marc did his thing with ensuring that I had absolutely everything I needed from him – from taping me up the night before to making sure I had everything before I left to catch the bus to the start to having cheers and gels on the course to having clothes for me to jump into after it was over. I have no idea how I would have been able to pull this off without him there by my side.

The cheers came in from all over the place via phone,e-mail, cards (via USPS!), texts, Facebook and Twitter. It was a big deal having that kind of support. While I wanted to deliver an awesome performance with respect to my final time, I know that they were all proud of me for just keeping it simple.

“Say What You’re Gonna Do. Go Do What You Said.” That I did. I ran a marathon.

Final time: 4 hours,14 minutes and 4 seconds. A new PR.

And we'll have a geeky post on the run itself in a few days. Stay tuned.

The Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Round... Until They Don't

So where are we now, huh?

Most of you are on Facebook, so you’ve probably heard about me pulling out of the Victoria Marathon on Sunday afternoon. It was a tough call, but it was the right one, and I can still say that 4+ days later, which should tell you something.

Two main culprits contributed to my 21-mile outing, as opposed to what should have been around 26 ½ mile outing – 1) going out too fast, and 2) nutrition.

You can never have too much body glide on. Yep, there I said it.

That said, I woke up on Sunday morning feeling pretty positive and fresh. There was no rain in sight and the temps were in a good place. All of the things that I didn’t have under my control were going in the right direction and I was excited about that. I didn’t know how my foot was going to hold up, but I made my peace with that by Friday when I finished up my pre-race blog entry. If the foot was in too much pain, I was going to stop and I was ok with that along with everyone else I had been discussing this with in detail.

Mile 1 (9:05) – The course is a bit annoying in that there are lots of narrow streets and turns in the 1^st half of the 1^st mile. Obviously it is more crowded at the start. But I had myself targeted for a 9 minute pace, so 9:05 didn’t concern me. I saw Marc and felt good.

Mile 2 (8:53) – The uphill here didn’t really phase me, and I was really trying hard to keep the pace for the first 5 miles.

Miles 3 & 4 (8:46) – Rolling makes it hard to keep an accurate pace and get into a groove, I am finding. A bit fast, but hey – if I can get a few seconds here and there without going crazy, that’s ok. Finished one CarboPro bottle and was taking some water at each water station to throw on my back and take in. Foot started to hurt – about a 4 of 10.5 miles between 8:50-9:00. So obviously – good here.

Mile 5 (8:28) – OK, that wasn’t supposed to happen. Told myself to take it easy. Like I said, the rollers made it hard for me to settle because you were either going uphill or going downhill as you can see from the course profile. Foot continued to hurt, but nothing significant – same as previous mile.

Mile 6 (8:41) – The goal from here until mile 20 was to stay within 8:40 – 8:50 pace. I figured in some places I would make it up on the rollers. Foot was still hurting, but pain wasn’t increased. I honestly felt like if I could stay like this, the day was going to be good.

Mile 7 (8:42) – Foot stopped hurting, but my hip flexors definitely tightened up. Still taking in CarboPro (about 8 oz. every 4 miles – more on this later). Still felt like things would be ok because I felt eventually the hip flexors would loosen up.

Mile 8 (8:45) – Hip flexors still tight, but I am feeling strong. Enjoying the scenery. Finish 2^nd CarboPro bottle. I found myself consuming things a bit quicker than I expected and this is where I should have adjusted (again – more on this later). Still taking in water at water stops.

Miles 9 & 10 (8:27 & 8:36) – A little fast in these two, but I was feeling good. Saw Marc twice. I knew I had some work ahead of me, but when I made the turn to head out past the Golf Course for the out and back, I was in a good place.

Miles 11 – 13 (8:39, 8:40 & 8:45) – Got some CarboPro from Marc. Pace was good, but was having some trouble flexing my left foot. It was troubling to me, for sure, but I was happy with the paces. Finished more CarboPro and kept to my loading schedule.

Miles 14 – 17 (8:42, 8:55, 8:55 & 8:55) – Deliberately tried to slow down a bit because I knew I had a long road back, including the slow, gradual climb at 23.5 which you pass on the way out. Yes, I was laboring, but again I felt ok – not awesome, but decent. Decided to get more CarboPro from Marc than I expected. Felt something pop on one of my toes, which I figured was a blood blister (this proved to be correct, along with 7 other bloodied toes).

Miles 18 – 19 (9:07 & 9:09) – And then the wheels came off. I was battling right here and now. “The proverbial wall”, I guess? It all happened so quickly. Tried to take in more fluids, my HR had to be super high. I knew I was going to see Marc relatively early in mile 20, so I wanted to keep on running. The legs were starting to feel like bricks. I was hurting. At this point, I wished that my foot was what I was concerned about (no, it didn’t hurt – go figure). And I thought to myself – really? Another 8+ miles (more on this later). Taking in as much as possible.

Mile 20 (10:49’ish) – Run/walk. Saw Marc. Got extra CarboPro. Tried to stay positive. Felt my HR starting to get really high, so figured that I would try walking it out for 5 minutes and see if that would calm me down. It did.

Mile 21 (9:27) – Pushed up another roller, but was just fading. And then I felt like my legs had absolutely nothing. Nothing. The gait was modified and I couldn’t get it back to “normal”. So I made the decision to stop. It sucked.

After 10 minutes of waiting for the van to get me, I started to get cold so one of the bike medics gave me his fleece. My abs muscles hurt like they have never hurt before. I bent over to stretch and keep loose/warm, and I had a pain that I never experienced. That concerned me, but later found out from the massage therapist at medical tent that if you’re breathing heavy for a long period of time, that is typical. My calves and feet felt fine. My toes hurt. Hips were very achy, as were quads. Took about 35-40 minutes from the time I stopped until when I hit the massage table.

Got a massage and couldn’t bend over. She took off my socks and we noticed my toes were pretty bloodied. Not surprising. That happens with me, although not to this extent. She gently worked my abs and some other lower extremities. I was too pissed off about the Giants losing to the Seachickens to notice, although I probably did tell her that my quads and hip flexors hurt so I imagine she worked on those. I was able to bend over again without my abs hurting too much so that was $20 well spent. The sheet on the table was soaking wet.

Went back to the room and didn’t really want to eat. Just started drinking some water a bit, and then Marc got the ice bath ready. Getting clothes on and off hurt like hell because of the sports bra issues and where my fuel belt was on my waist. Then the ice bath hurt – more from the chafing than the shock of cold water. Shower was worse, but needed to get warm. Packed up and walked to Clipper. Opted not to eat because if the ride back was bumpy, that would have made me nauseous, and that would not have been a good outcome on a boat. To be honest, I wasn’t hungry and was just sipping some G2. Tried to walk around and stretch on ride home but things were stiff.

Lessons Learned/Questions:

· I think the adrenaline of racing expended more energy than a training run. I am used to handling it in a half marathon, but obviously not in a full. My normal ratio of 8 oz. of CarboPro/G2/Water for every 4 miles wasn’t enough. I think it needs to be every 3 miles. I need to load up more in the beginning, so I have more in the tank to be able to climb that “wall”.

· I have to figure out the electrolytes issue. My clothes and Garmin were covered in salt. Fortunately got some recos for the same product from 4 different people. It’s been ordered and will be tested out between now and early November but I was definitely in an early stage of severe dehydration.

· I didn’t really start paying attention to everything I was eating until Thursday morning. I clearly needed to start on Monday for a Sunday race. But I felt like I ate well from that point on, and was alcohol-free from the previous Sunday morning.

· The good news is that I will be up probably 4 hours before my start in my “target full” because of the bus schedules out to the start. That means I will have plenty of time to eat solid food before the race. But I need to be more precise on my calorie intake pre-race.

· A marathon is not really a doubling of a half-marathon with respect to fueling, endurance, etc., because you are going to be more fatigued so it kind of has a multiplier effect.

· I need to stretch my hip flexors and IT bands a lot between now and NYC. Maybe some squats and lunges (no weights)?

· The massages and Dr. Perry totally worked for my foot. Obviously am going to keep the treatments going through NYC and then re-evaluate.

· And of course, you can never have too much body glide on.

I learned a lot on Sunday and am feeling good enough to live to tell the tale, so that’s as good of an outcome as you could hope for when talking about a DNF. I’m disappointed and wish I could have a do-over on the fueling part. But that’s life and you live and learn. And I got in a 21-mile training run, albeit the hard way. :-)

Special thanks to Marc and PNak for being right by my side....

Now Let's Take This Baby Out For A Spin & See What It Can Do....

Today I am running in a marathon. I have no idea how it is going to go, especially in light of the peroneal tendon injury that has been nagging me for the past month. But sometimes you need to celebrate getting to the start line and the people who helped you get there. That is what this blog entry is about.

If you click on this link, you’ll mostly have a series of blog entries that chronicle the different aspects of my training until this point going back at least until early 2008 when I was training for my 1^st half-marathon. I’d be lying if I said it was all ‘strawberries and champagne’, but for the most part, I have been very lucky once I decided to embark upon this mission. Lucky in terms of health and support. For the non-runners out there reading, training is maybe 50% of the equation on race day. So many other factors figure into things – like raceday weather, how you slept, waking up not feeling awesome, or any other logistical thing that can go wrong on the big day.

A marathon has 26.2 miles, although most courses measure more than that. Highly probable that I will be running closer to 26.5 miles based on crowds, etc. So I am going to call out some folks who have been instrumental to me in my training. This isn’t an all-inclusive list, by any stretch, and some people may make the list again for the 2^nd marathon I am signed up for in just over a month’s time. Let’s just call these “Thank You Miles”, ok?

Miles 1 – 6: Medical professionals –

• Dr. Jay Weinstein: My primary care physician from when I lived in NY. He probably doesn’t even know that I am doing this (running 2 marathons in one month), but I was referred to him by my cousins in NYC who worked with him closely. I remember one time I went into Dr. Jay’s office just being a whiner about not being fit and feeling like crap from my rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which was pretty painful at that point. I mentioned that maybe I needed a nutritionist. He clearly had enough with me complaining and said, “Jill, you need to work less, eat better and exercise more! That’s it! You don’t need a nutritionist!” Truer words never spoken. It took me awhile, Dr. Jay, but I got the message. Please don’t still be bitter that I never used my GS connections to get you a table at Luger’s.
• Dr. Rosemary Agostini: I saw her when I first started running way back and encouraged me to strengthen areas as opposed to having surgery on what was a balky knee and who knows what else. Dr. Agostini got me going “the hard way” and her kind, but straightforward manner was very motivating.
• Suzanne Melby, LMP: I walked into her office 3 weeks ago because she was close to my office and she was been working her tail off for me ever since trying to fix this nagging peroneal tendon injury. Suzanne gets paid to inflict massive amounts of pain on me and is nice as heck, but she takes her craft very seriously. Thank goodness for that as my grand master plan would have been in jeopardy.
• Dr. Brian Perry: Another pro who helped me rehab at the beginning of the year from another injury, and who is helping me now. Dr. Perry has made himself available to me on short notice and given me some great advice/treatments.
• Dr. Ellen Frechette: My current primary care physician. A smart lady who knows how to balance modern medicine with not always prescribing pills.
• Dr. Ian Gan: I had some stomach issues back in June, which caused me to miss Seattle Rock ‘n Roll this year. Dr. Gan got me back on track to have a fantastic result at both Ragnar less than a month later and a really good result at Lake Stevens just 3 weeks after that.

Miles 7 – 10: Coaches –

• Tony Williams (2005 – 2007 – on and off): Owner of Always Running and I found him because he was really close to Greenlake (the park itself) near Marc’s house a few years ago (pre-wedding). He taught me how to run (running on a treadmill doesn’t count) and the importance of really pacing myself.
• Lesley Mettler (2007 – 2010 – on and off): She believed in me when I didn’t think I had it in me that I could run a sub-2:00 half marathon in November, 2009, a major milestone for this marathon endeavor. Lesley paired me up with some great people that I am still friends with even though I don’t train with that group anymore.
• NW Crossfit (Dec., 2010 – present): This includes Megan, Melissa, Kelsey, Paige and Tyler – Your collective help in keeping me focused while I was “learning” the basics in addition to keeping me honest when I come in has been awesome. Thank goodness for the variety of WODs as that has been the downfall in previous core training programs. The one day I almost passed out in class and then almost cut my finger off while making lunch right after was “entertaining”. I’ll also be thinking of the “Toughen Up” WOD completed on 4/11/11 during some of the “more challenging parts of my run”. J
• Kim Pancoast (Dec., 2010 – present): Kim’s support and guidance has been well documented in this blog in 2011. Her positive attitude and honesty have been critical as I rebounded from injury #1 in 2011 and as I recover from the current injury. She never complains about my questions, always has a positive attitude and calls things like she sees them. Kim is a part of the TN Multisports team, and her guidance throughout the year has been timely and constructive. I told her that I enjoy Crossfit, and while most running coaches would run the other way or try to talk me out of it, she stayed with me on it. Her relentless pounding into my stubborn brain about heart rate zone (HR) training has definitely helped me this year and I look forward to seeing more of those results next year. This crazy experiment doesn’t happen without you, Kim. Know that I know that. On a separate note, Teresa and Mark run things in a transparent and straightforward manner which makes things much easier for me as a client. They are accountable and accessible.

Miles 11 – 15: Friends –

• Virtual Running Buds/Athletes From All Pursuits: The crew here are people that I exchange running stories with on either Facebook or e-mail. I can’t even begin to name everyone but know that you all rock and help inspire me to continue to push to do my best. Some days that doesn’t necessarily mean faster, but it means just doing your best on any given day and “not mailing it in”. In particular, understanding the difference between an ‘ache’ and a ‘pain’, and finding a way to push through it.
• Non-Runners: I receive a ton of support from folks who do not run at all for whatever reason. If any of you are still reading and think you can’t be a runner, you are most likely wrong. There, I said it. I was a non-runner until I wasn’t, which meant I was a runner. Think about it. Start slow. Set a goal. Work hard. Stop the excuses. Do your best.
• Running Teammates (current and former): It’s hard to capture everyone here but I will do my best. The knowledge and good cheer that you have all shared with me as I have been on this quest has been so valuable and appreciated. The “Team Clif Bar” crew from Ragnar – thanks to Amanda D. for asking me to participate. Mind you, we don’t always talk about running, and those conversations are really the ones that I have valued.
• Crossfitters: So many people to include here too because Crossfit is such a inclusive group, as opposed to exclusive. Yeah, way too many people to mention here but a number of these folks have run marathons and have shared their stories. Special mention to Gerard, a fellow MHS ’89 grad, for getting me addicted to Crossfit.
• Runners: These folks have joined me for a run or two outside of my running teams and I have really enjoyed their company on our runs. Again, we most likely aren’t talking about running but talking about other things that are going on in our lives. But special shout-outs to Michael, “Swimmer Dave S.”, Shannon, Ed, Mike L., Nat and CP. Thanks, kids! And I know I left people out for which I’m sorry.

Miles 16 – 19: Family –

• The “Consor Crew”: The support from the immediate family has been great, even if it did take some of them awhile to grasp why on earth I would run 13+ miles and how you would build up until that point. That all changed when the ‘rents came to watch me run the Long Island Half Marathon in May, 2010. Don’t worry – I will figure out how to incorporate ice cream in honor of Mollie once we’re done.
• The “SoCal Becks”: From the positive words of Dee to Tanya’s journey over the past 7 or 8 months, the “in-laws” have been beyond supportive of my running endeavors, in addition to being a great family to marry into. I would be remiss if I didn’t specifically mention Bruce, who ran his 1^st marathon at the age of 60, which was one of the kick-starts that I needed to really get my health into gear. If my father-in-law could run a marathon at age 60, I could do it as well.
• The “California Cousins”: We’ve definitely made up for lost time for the 1^st 20 years of my life that we weren’t connected, and the positive encouragement since then has been nothing short of spectacular. Of course, I say that I run because I love food and wine, and am so fortunate that many of our gatherings involve laughs along with that good food and wine. They are led by Claire, who is someone whom Marc and I consider to be extremely important in our lives.
• Aunt Joyce: A role model in the sense that I won’t divulge her age, but her fitness level is inspiring between walking in the pool, pilates and just generally walking/taking the bus everywhere. A couch potato, she is not. But because how fit she is, she inspires me in terms of aging gracefully by doing many of the right things, including working out.

Miles 20 – 24: “Special” Mentions –

• Andria: Author of Puddle Thumper, and the one who executed flawlessly a race plan on someone whom she had never met previously. Yep, that would be me. Constant words of encouragement and advice. I’m grateful for all that she has shared with me.
• Elisabeth: The person who has shown me that it’s never too late to make changes, if you really are committed. Her journey over the past 18 months has been so inspiring to watch. She has done it the hard way, with no gimmicks or anything like that. See point made by NYC doc in mile 1 of this blog entry. It’s been remarkable to be on the sidelines to witness. She has made no excuses, hasn’t done shortcuts, and epitomizes hard work. And our dinners with fellow partner-in-crime, Jill A., always leave me with a smile.
• PNak: It took me awhile to catch up to you on long runs and in track workouts, but I finally did. It’s enabled me to get to know you and watch you achieve some great things at Ironman Canada 2010, Mercer Island, Ironman Lake Stevens 2011, etc. The fact that you have donated a fair amount of your time to provide crew support to me on a couple of my long runs is beyond humbling. Thank you for being a good friend.
• Tricia: I’m not sure where to even start except for the fact that I’m looking forward to us both recovering after this insanity and kicking off 2012 with some serious political chatter on our runs. After all, it is an election year. Seriously, you have been a great mentor and role model on a number of fronts, and I feel so privileged to count you as a good friend whom I happen to run with.
• Lisa: While technically you are part of the “Consor Crew” entry, you get a special call-out for who you are as a person and what you do. And it doesn’t hurt that I receive daily pics of my nephew and my niece exhibiting all sorts of cuteness generally before I head out to work or on a long run. Thanks for stepping up on a regular basis, including on 11/6.

Miles 25 – 26+: The Hubs –

• Marc: Yes, he gets his own section and he definitely counts more than one mile. For all of the folks who think it is crazy that I am doing this, blame Marc. No joke. He is the one who said I should start running because I was experiencing so many issues with my RA, etc. I guess this may fall into those “be careful what you wish for” scenarios because while it took me a long time to get this point, Marc has been as supportive as possible every step of the way. He is just awesome and having him by my side on this journey has been really tremendous.
• Marc (Part Deux): My husband provides raceday support in terms of holding my liquid bottles and being ready with good cheer at different points throughout an event (sometimes even doing a bit of running himself getting from place to place). In addition, Marc provides support on some of my longer practice runs (remember when 10 miles was a really, really long run?) and has now learned how to apply Kinesio tape. His constructive feedback at key points in my training has been critical. Contemplating this 4-year journey doesn’t even start without his support throughout the whole process. How I got so darned lucky to have Marc as my husband and partner-in-life, I’ll never know but I’ll thank my lucky stars anyway.

Jill = "Co-Co Crazy"

I used a different term with some folks over the weekend to describe my quest, but since we may have a youngster or two reading the blog, I am keeping it family-friendly.

For the past few months, I have been documenting my quest to run a full marathon and now we are in the homestretch of training. The marathon I have been referring to is going to be very personally meaningful for me, and as I was starting to think about planning, strategy, goal times, etc., it was clear that much of the fun was going to be lost. Back in mid-2010, I actually had what some would call a really crazy thought. Some may say a “Co-Co Crazy” (CCC) thought.

When I started running races, a difference definitely existed between my 1^st race at a distance and a 2^nd race at the same distance. So I started thinking maybe I should target a “practice” race at the marathon distance leading up to my “real” race. I broached this topic with my former coach over a dinner in June, 2010 when she paced me to a new PR. Her face is definitely not one that should be used to play poker, unless you wanted to win some money off of her, so her reaction was along the lines of “uh, not sure about that.” Now it’s not as though she was off-base in her response as I had not ever run more than 14 miles in my life at that point. But still – it wasn’t the response I was looking for. After all, we would have had plenty of time to execute this plan and I had come a pretty long way as a runner to this point. I then mentioned it to a few other people over the course of the summer – runners, non-runners and a couple of medical professionals I was working with. The response was not positive.

I put the idea on the shelf for awhile and focused on the Disney ½ and a few other things going on in the 2^nd half of 2010. I rested up and wanted to come back into 2011 with a vengeance. I took an exercise class that I really didn’t find enjoyable at all in November, 2010, which highlighted some physical weaknesses. So it was a good use of my time because I had some lingering injuries from running and clearly a lack of strength in certain areas was going to be problematic if I decided to run a full marathon, whether it was one race or two. Off to Crossfit I went in December, 2010, and that has been nothing short of a great move for me – the people, the workouts, etc. have really complimented my running and given me some much needed variety in my training.

I also switched running coaches, which meant that I decided to dust off the “CCC” idea again and share it with Kim at TNM at our 1^st meeting just to see how she would react. She was definitely more enthusiastic about it, and little did I know that she would actually be crazier than me… more on that later. I went on a trail run in late January and definitely did something Achilles/Plantar related, so that knocked me out of my 1^st targeted race of the year. I was disappointed, but I knew that “the prize” was in the 2^nd half of the year and I needed to be focused on staying healthy for that. It was in Spring, 2011 when I told literally a handful of people that the “CCC” plan was back on the radar for 2011 but with a twist (CCC+).

The “CCC+” plan is “racing” the 1^st race because of the course profile and “enjoying” the 2^nd race because of the location and personal significance to JDRF. Yep. I have to thank Marc for really battling with me to stay focused, express his concerns in a constructive and positive way, and just being super awesome. This decision was one that I didn’t fully commit to until late July right after I had the awesome Ragnar experience. But still I didn’t want everyone knowing -- in the event I got cold feet. All in all, less than 10 people knew about either “CCC” or “CCC+” being a reality until Saturday evening when I told our guests at our annual JDRF dinner. The only reason why I even told that many folks prior to the dinner was because we were invited to TWO weddings during the weekend of the 1^st race – both very good friends, and I felt they deserved more than a “NO” response card to the wedding invitation. Both couples couldn’t have been more gracious and understanding of what I was trying to do.

So yep, my 1^st full marathon is coming up soon…. it's local so that helps. I’m now officially in taper mode, although it doesn’t feel like it since I had to ratchet down some of my training earlier this month when a peroneal tendon issue came up. I’m doing some pretty aggressive massage and anti-inflammatory treatments, which are starting to work. I still managed to do elliptical cross-training, hit Crossfit and get in one solid run per week once the injury happened, and I gleaned some good data points from those runs, particularly last week's run.

I have done the training (running and Crossfit). Kim has helped me get there. So has Marc. So have Tricia and PNak. So have countless others. I’m nervous but I also know that this experience of having one full marathon under my belt will serve me well in my 2^nd one later in the year. Kim has a plan to help me “recover” in the month between. That must be an eternity for her since she WON an Ironman triathlon one week and then raced in the World Championships the next week and placed in the Top 10 in her age group – yes, one week apart! LOL. But yeah, she might be crazier than me.

I have no idea how this will all pan out, but I intend to honor a promise I made to Marc when I conjured up the original CCC thought. And as long as I give both races my best effort that I can summon on those days, then I’m good. That said, I think the ½ marathon is a way more civilized running distance to train for. J

9/11: What It Means To Me.

Some of you know this. Some of you don't. I was there.

There = across the street from the World Trade Center on 9/11 and seeing the 2nd plane come in sideways to crash into the tower.

I don't particularly like talking about it, and I go out of my way to avoid news coverage. I don't need to see what happened in 9/11. I know it and feel it every day. Yes, every day. It is now a part of me, whether I want it there or not. I know families were torn apart by this.

When that plane hit, I went into shock and had to literally be told by a colleague to evacuate because I was so stunned by what I just witnessed. Someone said we were under attack. I honestly didn't believe it.

I evacuated to someone's apartment close by and then we watched people starting to run like it was a movie, except it wasn't. That was the 1st tower going down. So we evacuated again. Cell phones not working. Trying to track down my folks. Walking up the West Side Highway to my place in the West Village.

You have to understand that for the folks in NYC -- we had no clue about Shanksville, the Pentagon, etc. Nothing. So it was a very confusing time in trying to piece things together. It wasn't until a couple of hours later when a bunch of my colleagues and I were back at my apartment, and we saw on TV what was taking place. Then it was literally going through my Palm Pilot and seeing who would possibly be down in that area that morning.

A few hours later, I heard some really loud engines which sounded similar to the sound I heard before the 2nd plane hit. I thought we were getting attacked again. Turns out it was the military doing flyovers over NYC. It took years for me to get used to the Blue Angels doing their shows out here without freaking out because the sounds were similar.

I was so thankful to get called back to work because I didn't know what to do. I was watching endless news coverage, which probably wasn't very helpful. I couldn't sleep. I had nightmares. In this rare situation, work saved me for the time being.

In the weeks and months following 9/11, I saw the makeshift memorials, missing person ads, etc., and they made me feel worse to put it mildly.

About 2-3 months after, Merrill Lynch restored our e-mails from that day before the server went down. I was at work when these e-mails started coming in and I literally got physically sick. I had sent out my annual JDRF e-mail the day before and people started using it as a way to track me down because people didn't know the difference between the World Trade Center and the World Financial Center. There were about 50 e-mails flying back and forth that re-lived that very morning as news unfolded. No one knew where I was.

I am so thankful Marc didn't have to go through that. Not that I take any relief from the people in my life who did. We met about 10 months after 9/11.

I knew people who were killed and lost someone who was a good friend. When I think of Vinnie, who lost his life at the age of 25 because of same cowardly bastards, it hurts. It doesn't go away. Ever. It doesn't just appear once a year. And people died after 9/11 who were victims of that attack. You just don't hear about them as much. But they are there.

9/11 is a very conflicting day for me because it changed my life.... for the worse and for the better. It made me truly re-evaluate. I would never wish it to happen again, but it did and fortunately I had some sense to do something with that experience.

My life is so much better than it was 10 years ago. I am thankful for that. I can't imagine my life being better than it is right now. Marc is a huge part of that. But while I avoid news coverage, I live life on my terms and don't settle. I did that before and probably do it even more now, particularly with certain people who used to be friends. Why bother?

But telling folks to remember what happened on that day is really lost on me because I live with it everyday, just like so many others who were there with me. Just like the teachers who had to keep their students calm because their parents might have been victims. Just like the police, fire and EMT teams that went in. So many scenarios of people who were truly personally impacted. The random events that enabled people to be late to work and survive the attack.

Everyone has their own story. This is mine. Thanks for reading.

RIP Vinnie Bag O' Doughnuts.

Jill is Marathon Training and Raising Money

Support the cause - a cure for juvenile diabetes:

If I can do it, you can too -- 20 mile milestone....

So in the midst of this training for the fall marathon I am doing to raise money for Type 1 diabetes (click here to donate), we have "birthMONTH+". Well, it was only supposed to be birthMONTH because it is one of those milestone birthdays, but then I decided to make a summer corn chowder (from Eric Ripert's 'Avec Eric' cookbook) and inadvertently caused some "issues". Marc had purchased me for a little tool that allows me to get the corn off the cob in a more efficient way as one of my birthday gifts, and even though we were a couple of weeks away from birthMONTH, he decided that I should have the instrument. Oops! But it did help a lot and the soup was darned good.

Anyway the onslaught of restaurants has commenced for the month, and Marc is concerned about surviving what is planned for the next 4 weeks. I told him not to worry and that he should hit Crossfit more. Meanwhile I am thankful that I am training for the marathon so the increased calorie consumption can be offset by mid-week speedwork/tempo runs and long weekend runs. That said, we do have a pretty good line-up of restaurants on tap so I am very excited. Plus I have a feeling that the arsenal of cookbooks will be getting some use with the upcoming social activities at the house.

Last night, we were finally able to celebrate the summer fun and achievements of "Team Surf and Turf Squared" at one of the best restaurants in Seattle - Crush. Tricia, Don (T's husband) and PNak joined Marc and I, and we had some laughs, including finding out some new facts about Tricia that will eventually come up on one of our future runs. Don is a huge baseball fan, particularly in the history of the game so I always enjoy learning from him.
Tricia and PNak have been a huge part of the running chapter of my life, and they have moved from "running buddies that I am friendly with" to "friends that I run with". They both are not training for anything for the time being, yet they both continue to show their support for my 1st full marathon by taking time out of their free time to provide support to me. I was telling my Dad about them this morning and his response was "it says a lot about those people." I told him that I couldn't agree more.

Last week, Tricia rode her Vespa alongside of me for 2 1/2 hours (plus travel time). This week, PNak ran and then provided roadside assistance for 3 hours (plus travel time, etc.). Last week, I didn't set a goal for my 17 mile run in terms of time. I just wanted to finish it. But after seeing that I finished the 17 miles in at 2 hours and 30 minutes, I decided that I wanted to get 20 miles in under 3 hours. I know - given my typical pace, it doesn't seem like it would be a problem but you never know how fatigue is going to set in the later stages of such a long run.
I caught a break in that the morning was supposed to be much cooler than it has been on my previous couple of long runs. When we met in Redmond at 7am, it was 49 degrees. You're talking a 15 degree temperature swing from the past couple of weeks and it felt great. I also changed my pre-long run fueling strategy. Those two things made a huge difference in yesterday's run.

The 1st 9 miles of the run had some hills, and PNak said it was to keep me honest. I felt good and maintained a decent pace. PNak wasn't going to run 20 with me, but she said she would run the 1st half and then periodically check on me in the 2nd half. I left a cooler in her car at the halfway point and that also worked out well for me to swap out empty liquid bottles for full ones.

The 2nd half was pretty flat and on a trail. I didn't reverse split as she predicted as I was trying to stay within zone 2 of my heart rates, but I did feel pretty strong in the last quarter of the run. My heart rate did creep into zone 3 in that last quarter but I felt steady and relaxed, so I didn't really care. Sometimes the numbers don't correlate with how you feel and you need to just go with it, which I did.

In mile 16, I started to ache a bit on my right side. I just decided to push through it and ensure that my form stayed solid. This is where injuries can get you, so it's important to be smart. My right foot is a bit sore today so I may get it checked out on Tuesday just as a precaution since we're now in crunch time. The other bonus was that I had a pretty tough workout at Crossfit the day before, and I didn't feel it during my run.

In last week's run, I was counting down 1/10th's of a mile because I was so tired and, most likely, dehydrated. Yesterday was just completely different. If PNak told me that I had to run another mile to see her, I could have. Granted I was happy to be done, but my litmus test on these long runs is when I feel like I can run another mile or two without much difficulty. Last week, I didn't pass the test.
When I first announced I was doing a full marathon for JDRF in mid-April, I made a mention about PNak and 20-milers (see 3rd paragraph). It's funny that she was an integral part of my 1st 20-miler given that mention almost 5 months ago. I definitely hit my goal for the run and came in at 2 hours and 55 minutes. The run went as good as I could have hoped and for that, I am grateful.

17 miles: Closer To The End Than To The Beginning

Another couple of weeks down in the training books. Miles are starting to pile up as Coach Kim and I really ramp up the load. No turning back now. Marc & I also did Swim for Life a few days after Lake Stevens where he swam with 3 great friends, and I kayaked along side of them. It was a gorgeous morning and great seeing so many friendly faces at Medina Beach with all of the mates there....

Of the 6 runs I have done since the Lake Stevens Half, I would say that only one run wasn’t in the good category. My 2 recovery runs, which help get things moving after long or race-day efforts, have been excellent. They are somewhat relaxing and I generally don’t even wear my Garmin on those runs. It’s really about running how I feel, as long as it’s not moderate/hard. On one of them, a neighbor and teammate of mine spotted me at Green Lake and we chatted about his upcoming full Ironman that he was doing in Penticton, which he ended up rocking. Go John S.! Also HUGE congrats to my mates from TN Multisports who all did awesome at Ironman BC!

My 1^st tempo run post-Lake Stevens was on a day when it was probably in the high 70s. I passed by a fellow 85 Broads member, who is also running NYC – wacky because I literally just found out the day before she was running NYC, and worked on pacing. The strides part of the workout wasn’t as strong as I would have liked, but I was really pleased to have hit the paces that were laid out for me, especially given the sunshine and relative warmth (I live in Seattle, remember?). I had to run 4 1-mile intervals at a 7:30-7:45 min/mile pace with some light recovery running in between. The legs held up well after hitting Crossfit, so that was another bonus.

The “not-so’-good” run was completed a week after the half marathon and it ended up being pretty warm even though we started at 8am. PNak came along for the 1^st half of the run, and showed me a new path from Golden Gardens through the Ballard Locks before cutting over to Lake Union, heading south and around Eastlake to the B-G. I stopped at 12 miles with about a mile left until I hit home, and then just walked the rest of it.

It wasn’t a bad run by any stretch, but I ended up consuming a full extra bottle of liquid that morning than when I had run 14 miles two weeks earlier so clearly hydration was a factor. I was glad to have finished and happy that I was smart enough to walk the last mile home. Fortunately Marc had made Belgian waffles for our houseguests (and great friends) who joined us for a dinner party the previous night on a houseboat on Lake Union. While I tend to stay away from the waffles, etc., it was hard to resist after he put in so much effort. :-)

The tempo run last week felt great and it was 80 degrees. Again, the tempo runs are all about hitting specific paces and I came back from that run feeling really positive about my times, the distance (9 miles!), how I felt post-run, etc. Coach Kim was really happy too.

Then it was time to map out a route for my long run on Saturday, which was going to be a new high. I worked it out with Tricia, who is nursing a broken toe, to run along Lake Washington Blvd. and around Seward Park, starting from Madison Park. She figured it was around 16 ½ - 17 miles, so I said I wanted to go for 17 miles. Since she can’t run with a broken toe, she kept pace along side of me in the Vespa. It was quite the sight, but come to think of it, it was probably one of the few times that we were at eye level (Tricia is a foot taller than me).

I was a bit slow out of the gate and I am starting to realize that I need to figure out how to get calories in my system for long runs in the morning on the weekends without getting up at 4:30am. If I eat solid food too close to a run, then that could be problematic so I need to get creative. I have a way of taking in calories during the run, so I may need to start drinking a full bottle of that stuff as soon as I get up. I could run later in the day but summer has finally arrived and it doesn’t make as much sense to run when it is 80 degrees since my race will most likely not be in those temps (knock wood please). Plus it impacts our entire day. So the pre-run fueling effort is now my #1 area of focus to work on.

The temps were in the high 60s when I started, so not cool. I settled down and once I got to Seward, it was nice…. Tricia was great company. We talked about the usual stuff. It worked out that Tricia had the Vespa because I was able to keep an extra bottle of liquid with her, which I ended up using on the run. Definitely going to have to keep extra bottles on stand-by during these runs as they increase.

As I hit mile 14, I was starting to feel it. Definitely was less chatty. Tricia stayed with me and kept my spirits up. I thought about a friend who is going through an incredibly tough time and thought that I definitely have it easy so stop it and get on with it. Mile 15 sucked and I was definitely not in a happy place, although I knew this was new territory for me in terms of mileage so I tried to focus on that. Tricia guided me until we hit mile 17 and then I was happy to walk for a bit. I was pretty spent by the end of the workout.

But hey – I ran 17 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes. That is a new high for me in one run, and that is something to be celebrated. While more work is to be done, I am so thankful to the people who have been so supportive along the way. The amount of folks who have offered to ride along side of me or run with me for part of my long runs is beyond humbling.

Better Late Than Never - Ragnar Recap!

So Ragnar. Yeah. Given that we had the team party last night, I figured it was about time to type up some thoughts on a crazy 27.5 hours of racing amongst 12 people covering 190 miles.

The basic deal with Ragnar is that 95% of the teams are comprised of 12 runners and you are assigned a set of legs that you cannot swap with another member. So as runner #11, I had legs 11, 23 and 35 with varying difficulties. What is cool about Ragnar is that they organize some of the legs so that a newer runner can have an easier set of runs to complete and still feel like they are an integral part of the team.

I was nervous about Ragnar as we were getting closer. I had the stomach thing that forced me to back out of the Seattle Rock 'n Roll less than a month earlier, and it's safe to say that I wasn't 100% when the van left Seattle back on July 22nd. I probably packed more drugs than I did clothes, which really didn't make me happy since we didn't have a ton of room in the van.

I hadn't spent a ton of time in the areas where the race was (started in Blaine, WA and ended on Whidbey Island in Langley, WA), so I was excited to hopefully see some new and interesting things. Since our van was the 2nd one of our team, we were able to get off to a later start and didn't have to be up at the crack of dawn on race day.

We met up in Seattle and made plans to meet at the 1st van hand-off point in Bellingham, WA. Had no issues except for the fact that van #1 was on track to finish over an hour ahead of schedule so that put our 1st runner in a bind since he had just eaten. Fortunately, Emmett, who also had the toughest set of legs in our van, got through his leg and we were off.

It was amazing that teams missed hand-offs and a runner would be stranded waiting after they worked so hard to complete their leg, but I am told that this happens more often than you would think. It was still odd to me. Anyway, our runners continue to power through and then it was my turn. I was NERVOUS!

Everyone was running really well and you didn't want to be the one to let the side down. It's a completely different mindset than when you race on your own. I got a break when van #1 of our team showed up around the time my leg started, so I had some extra cheers as I climbed up a long and steady hill. I ran hard, passed a bunch of people and then had a bit of time to cool down after my run.

On my run, it was warm and sunny, but I also got to see some pretty countryside in Skagit County (home of some amazing tulips and other produce). It helped pass the time. That was the other thing, I thought we would have a lot more down time than we actually did. You spend a fair amount of time keeping tabs on your current runner, driving to the next hand-off, eating, etc. And sometime in there, you try and sleep. Uh-huh.

Our van finished at around 5:30pm and we made the very smart call to head to La Conner to grab dinner before getting situated to rest. By the time we left the restaurant, there were about 50 other teams looking for places to eat. And then before we knew it, it was our turn to run!

Since we were running at night, certain rules go into effect and they are non-negotiable. LED, blinking reflective vests, head lamps, etc. And there are good reasons for them. The roads aren't always well lit, and it's hard for people to see you. We only had one person get lost and fortunately we caught them very early.

Our runners continued to kill it, and then I was getting ready for my 2nd run! Of the 3 runs, this was the one that I was the most nervous about. It was going to be in the middle of the night so I didn't know how my body would react from a muscle and fueling perspective. Also I don't run in the middle of the night so there was a certain uneasiness for me. And finally, it was a very hilly leg with lots of steep up and downs. Ugh!

Michele came in and I was off. Just relax and get into a groove. Focus. The 1st mile was pretty decently lit. And then, it was pitch black. Unpaved and no one around. Lovely. I did see a police officer keeping watch on the course, but it was really hard to see. Plus I would hear rustling in the trees along the road and that would elevate my heart rate. My mates were trying to stay along side of me but they couldn't block the road and couldn't tell if there was a shoulder or a ditch along the side of the road.

I reached the final climb and I was working as hard as I have ever run in a race. I slapped the wrist on to Sam and yelled something along the lines of "mother****er". I was cold, thirsty and definitely stressed out. I had never really run when I was so uncomfortable and the fact that it was done was a huge emotional boost for me. My stomach was ok, and the team was doing well. I was a bit bummed that I came in a minute over my projected time, but mostly, I was also so relieved to be done with that leg.

We headed to Coupeville to "sleep". Some people showered. Some folks slept on a gym floor. I slept in the van. I was definitely hitting the delirious stage when we had to get everyone up for the last set of legs. My last leg was my easiest of my 3 runs, so I was happy about that. I decided that I would know in the 1st 1/2 mile whether the run was going to go well or not. 'Well' was defined as running my leg in under 30 minutes.

It was definitely starting to get warm, and we got to watch a gorgeous sunrise on the coast as Emmett took off. Good for him. Crappiest legs of our van and he gets to run in awesomeness. Times like that are why you run. Jennie goes, then Amanda, then Michele and then again, I'm ready to go.

Amanda was kind enough to offer me an extra tank top since I already used mine for my run the previous day. It, uh, kind of clashed with my compression socks, but hey - it was about the fun! So I start the run and I push fairly hard to see how the legs respond in the 1st mile. They're moving, but I need to pick things up to meet my goal.

I start to see people on the course, but for another mile, I can't gain any other ground. It's hot with no shade and I am getting legitimately pissed off that I am not catching these people. WTH! Finally I yell some expletive at myself along with some other choice words about fighting through this phase, and the pace picks up by a few pips. Before I know it, I pass 4 people! Come on, Beck!

But then I knew it was going to be close for the sub 30 minute run. I just kept pushing and pushing. I saw the final turn sign, and don't see Sam in the transition spot but across the street. I yell to Sam and just hand off the bracelet. I was done in 29:17! Woo woo! Now to rehydrate and watch Sam finish, which he did and we all got to cross the finish line with him - all 12 of us!

To say that doing this gave me a boatload of confidence for my full in NYC is an understatement! Not to mention the amount of fun I had, especially given the lack of sleep. My 11 other teammates were great and the only bummer was that we couldn't spend more time with the 6 gals in van #1. But when captain Lissa asked us at the finish if we would do it again, without any hesitation, all 12 sets of hands went in and said "YES!"

Go Team Surf & Turf Squared!

So taking Ragnar (more on that in another post) and the goodness that came with it, it was time to prep for Lake Stevens Half-Ironman Relay. Marc got to swim 1.2 miles and our friend, Tricia, got to bike 56 miles. That left me running 13.1 miles in the end. After running 14 miles the week before Lake Stevens and the experience from Ragnar, I felt ready thanks to Kim of TN Multisports and her guidance.

The drive up to Lake Stevens on raceday was uneventful, except for the fact that we were up at around 4:15am – 4:30am. Based on our calculations, Marc was going off in the water at 7:08am, and then based on Marc’s time, Tricia would be going off at around 7:40am (including transition). Finally Tricia was expecting to come in somewhere around three hours and 15 minutes, so that meant a start for me around 10:45am – 11:00am. So we had a plan until….
Marc was walking around in his wetsuit around the start and got a bunch of grass on his feet. In his haste to get the grass off, he rubbed his foot on the stage he was standing on and managed to get a monster splinter in his foot. Ouch! I went to go find a medical tent, but of course given that the race hadn’t started yet, it wasn’t open for another 15 minutes! Crap!

We didn’t pack tweezers, so we found a nurse outside of the medical tent who said she would take the splinter out if we could find a pair. Fortunately, I noticed the market across the street from the start was open AND they sold tweezers. Things were looking up! Bought a pair, and nurse Anne said it was one of the biggest splinters she has ever seen. Errr, way to overachieve, Marc!

Marc warmed up, and I hung around with some of my teammates from TN Multisports. We had a fair amount of athletes competing. A big tent was set-up right near a key point in the course. Saw another friend of mine, David, who ended up rocking the course. Eventually all of the waves started going off and the relays went off last. Marc had a lot of people to pass just because he is such a strong swimmer. Teresa (yes, the Teresa of Teresa Nelson Multisports) is an amazing swimmer and came out of the water 1st of all of the folks doing the relay.

Marc came out within a minute of his time, and then passed things off to Tricia. We had no way to track Tricia, so I told her that we would be there about 15 minutes before her target time. So off to clean-up Marc, eat and cheer on some folks. The time ended up going by pretty fast and before I knew it, I was changing into my race gear. The weather was being fairly schizophrenic with the temps and cloud cover, but I just decided to stick with my original plan of what to wear.

Tricia came in 7 minutes ahead of her projected time and I was off. I had to remember that my time didn’t start until I left the transition area and was out on the official course.

• Mile 1 (8:15): Whoa Nellie! Need to keep calm so emotions/adrenaline don't get best of me.
• Mile 2 (8:40): Solid on the gradual uphill. No complaints here.
• Mile 3 (8:22): Felt good. Maintained cadence.
• Mile 4 (8:20): Felt great after throngs of people yelled my name, including some unexpected support from people that I didn't know were going to be there.

That 1st mile was tough because I saw Kim and her boyfriend Rusty (another very well respected coach and triathlete) right out of the gate, so I was excited to see them and I needed to calm down (see split above). In the 4th mile, you pass by an area which is fairly chaotic. TNM set up their tent along the side of the road here. Because this course is a double-loop and then a double out and back, you end up passing by this area on the course 4 times. It’s hard to explain, but if you click on the Garmin link HERE (hit the play symbol and scroll down), you can get a better idea.

In any event, I turned the corner and sure enough I heard a whole bunch of people yelling my name. And then I even heard someone else yell my name across the street. It was one of my colleagues at Tableau! Brandon and his girlfriend were there cheering on another friend. Wow – double bonus for unexpected cheering section! I was beyond amped at this point.

• Mile 5 (8:26): Very solid on the uphill. Helped having Marc stationed at the top to keep me focused on getting to him so I could throw him a water bottle. :-)
• Mile 6 (8:24): Tried to keep things in check on downhill and return uphill. Saw Marc again. Woo woo!
• Mile 7 (8:19): Got massively pumped hitting the tent area and then got a bit amped having to run around the person hogging the lane. Fast.

I start the 2nd half and I am feeling pretty good. The legs are starting to feel a bit tired, but I press on. My paces to this point seem decent, but I wasn’t tracking as well as I should. I came back into town at around mile 10 and my shoulder was starting to ache. I knew I would see the TNM folks again, and there they were yelling for me. What an emotional boost and Kim was front and center. I just started high-fiving the team along the way. It was so awesome to have that support. Nice to see Eileen too!

• Mile 8 (8:43): Fatigue started. Tried to keep it close to mile 2 timing. Off by 3 seconds. Not bad.

• Mile 9 (8:40): Took foot off of the gas and didn't take advantage on the downhill/flat. The goal was "lost" here. Needed to be more aggressive.
• Mile 10 (8:24): 2nd wind coming into tent area. Stayed positive for remaining 2 "mini-climbs".

I saw Marc again and threw him another bottle. He asked how I was doing and I told him that I was doing the best I could, but he wanted to know if I was following Kim’s instructions of reverse splits. At this point, I knew I probably did the 1st half faster than the 2nd half.

• Mile 11 (8:41): Saw Marc again. Definitely felt slower going up the hill this time around. I expected that but 15 seconds was a big jump.

I approached the sharp turnaround and felt a pain in my left calf. It was a cramp of some kind and I just literally yelled out loud, “Oh no you don’t! In 20 minutes, you can do whatever you want! No cramps now!” When I told this story to Marc over dinner, he laughed and said that he heard some very interesting things on the course while waiting for me. It made me chuckle.

• Mile 12 (8:26): The calf and quads started to ache at the turnaround. Legs felt heavier, but I was pretty impressed with that mile split. Noticed at 11.5 that 1:50 was going to be really tight.

I looked at my watch for my overall time and saw it was going to be REALLY cutting it close for my goal time. Move, darnit, move! I saw the tent again, heard the cheers, sprinted around a couple of people and Tricia

then ran ahead to see me at the finish. As I turned the final corner, I saw that my watch had just turned to one hour and 50 minutes (my goal time) which bummed me out, but I still pushed as hard as I could.

• Mile 13+ (7:49'ish): Ignoring obvious pain. Even when I saw watch hit 1:50, I still pushed as hard as I could to finish.

Final time: 1:50:10 – 2+ minute PR, 11 seconds shy of goal.

Saw Marc and Tricia, got medals, hugs, etc. Found Kim and debriefed. Thanked the teammates for cheering me on. As I changed out of my sneakers into my sandals, I let out a huge scream because of my calf. When Marc saw the face I made from outside the car, he knew it was bad.

All in all, a very good day even without hitting the goal. The goal was lost on mile 9. I let up on a much easier stretch of the course. Lesson learned for next time.

And now the real miles begin for the full marathon. Here we go.

Meeting Miss Mollie, SF, and Go US Women's Soccer!

We recently added a new niece to the already existing crew of nieces/nephews with the arrival of Mollie, daughter of Lisa and JB. Mollie is named after our beloved grandmother, who passed away in late 2004 just shy of her 93rd birthday. She is incredibly cute, if I may say so myself and I was happy that I had a quick window to hit NY for a couple of days to meet her and see my other nieces and nephews.
A few words about Grandma Mollie. She was everything that you would expect a grandmother to be. She spoiled us, gave us lots of ice cream, laughed with us, cheered us on at our soccer and baseball games, and let us have fun sleepovers at her house. I could go on and on, but to have a Mollie namesake is pretty special. Unfortunately my grandfather, Poppy, passed away when I was very young, although the stories about him are pretty legendary.
Anyway it was really great to see the family, even for only a brief period of time, and spend time with Lisa so soon after she had Mollie. She and JB are doing really well, and lil' JB is embracing the big brother role. It was actually kind of cute how much his friends loved looking at Mollie when we came to pick him up at camp. Harrison, Blake and Ariella, who are Glenn and Gwen's kids, are also doing really well and keeping their parents VERY busy. And of course, Puff Daddy and Sunny D are very happy to have another grandkid to fuss over.
My flight back to Seattle was delayed a bit, which made things challenging as I was flying with Marc the next day to San Francisco for the weekend. After unpacking and repacking, plus an 8 mile run and Crossfit workout, we boarded our flight to SF to spend some time with the California Cousins.
My cousins, Chris and RS, snagged a table at Benu and we did the 18-course menu. Yes, you read that right. 18 courses. And we did the beverage pairings too. They ranged from beer to dry sherry to sake to Burgundy. The portions were actually very small so you didn't feel full nearly as much as you think you would. Some of the beverage pairings were hit and miss, but overall, it was a fun evening with the cousins. Marc and I tried dishes that we wouldn't normally try so that is always a bonus.
The next day, we played nine holes of golf with Cousins Claire and Arnie on their home course, and the only thing I will say is that I did get better as the round progressed. Guess I need a couple of holes to warm up, eh? The weather was looking great, which I was excited about, because Marc & I invited the cousins to the SF Giants game at AT&T Park. I had never been to a game there before, and it's really a ballpark that looks so majestic on TV, especially when the sun is shining.
Marc & I decided to do a late lunch at a place called 'The Slanted Door'. I have been there a few times but it had been awhile since I had been there and Marc has never been. Let's just say that it was even better than I remembered. It was probably the best tailgating meal I have ever had, and the bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape probably didn't hurt either. Our table overlooked the water and we just started seeing the hoards of Giants fans getting off ferries and heading to the ballpark.
We got to the park a couple of hours before gametime and scored some wacky black and orange socks as a gameday promotion. The opponent was the NY Mets and given the amount of NY'ers who live in SF, I expected to see a decent amount of royal blue and orange. I was surprised that more Mets fans weren't in the crowd but that's a testament to the loyal fans of the Giants. The stadium was sold out and it was absolutely awesome baseball atmosphere. I was loving it.
I didn't really have a team that I was rooting for. I know Tim Lincecum is a dominating pitcher so I was hoping to see him at his best. It was really a pitching duel because after the 1st inning, no one gave up a run until the 7th inning. The score ended up being 3-1 with the Giants coming out on top. Most fans stayed until the end, and I left thinking that I was glad we made the trip to check out a game at AT&T Park. It should be on your list of stadiums to check out, unlike the Oakland Mausoleum (oops, I meant Coliseum).
We headed back to Seattle today, which normally wouldn't be noteworthy except for the fact that the US Women's Soccer team was playing Brazil in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Both teams were considered favorites to win the tourney, so this was a very big test for the US gals.
This game had everything - US losing a player due to a questionable red card, Brazil scoring a goal against themselves, inconsistent rules enforcement, play acting by the Brazilians to gain sympathy from the refs, etc. The game went into overtime at 1-1, and Brazil scored again early on. Somehow the US kept their composure (keep in mind, they were playing with one person less than Brazil for around 60 MINUTES!) and got a goal to tie it up again in the last minute of overtime.
I was so bummed that I couldn't watch this live as we were going to the airport at the time. Then it went to PKs (penalty kicks). I monitored the game on Twitter once we got in the car and just as I got to the TSA checkpoint, the game was won by the Stars and Stripes! Wow! I told Marc that I would stay up to watch the replay, which I never do. Watching sports when you know the outcome can be boring, but this was an exception.
It brought back memories of a day exactly 12 years ago with my sister when we watched the US beat China in the Women's World Cup final. We both played soccer growing up and she came in to watch the game with me at a sports bar. It was definitely a special afternoon watching that game together, and today's game and epic finish just made me smile as I thought back to that day with Lisa. The texts between us back and forth are illustrative of what a fantastic day that was for us.

Crazy week for sure, but all for good things. I am one lucky gal.