Mud Part Deux

Running a looped course is like trying to run from your problems, it really doesn't get you anywhere  you end up right back where you started.   Isn't that how it works, the harder you try and run away from something the quicker you end up right back in its lap?

I ran a different loop of Bluff Point tonight and still ended up at the same place.  Go figure.

The dogs licked off a lot of the mud...

My mom has Lung Cancer.  She is 5 years post diagnosis. 15% of people with Lung Cancer make it 5 years.  That is a shocking and sad statistic that has not moved since Nixon declared war on Cancer in 1971. It is important to note the Breast Cancer 5 year survival rate climbed to 95% at the 5 year mark.  My mom's mom passed away with Breast Cancer in 1976 after a 2 year battle.  Way back then Cancer was discussed in hushed tones in the back of the room.  Now, Breast Cancer is out there, Save The Ta Tas, Pink Ribbons...  it is always in our face.  People donate, they care, oh you have Breast Cancer, "I am so sorry".

I remember telling the first person outside of my immediate friends my mother had Lung Cancer.  His first question was, "Is she a smoker?"  I had no idea how to answer that question or what drove it.  My mom smoked until she was 40.  She quit in 1984, it was torture for all of us, especially her.  Smoking is a bitch of an addiction to kick. Statistics say that 20 years post quitting your chances of developing Lung Cancer are that of a non-smoker.  I said "She was." and the conversation ended at that point.   The smoking stigma slapped me right in the face.  I had no idea what had just happened, NO IDEA. I stopped talking about it and only to my closest friends.  It wasn't until 2011 that I started to wake up and talk about it, more and more and more.  Now it is a main topic of conversation.

A bit of history on my mom, January of 2007 my mother starts having these awful pains in her back and shortness of breath.  Doc ordered an x-ray, nothing.  Her smoking history wasn't considered, she was technically a non-smoker, so her primary care physician prescribed painkiller after painkiller   Nothing worked. The pain was so intense and constant nothing was numbing it, nothing. Eventually the question of Cancer came up.  Why is this the LAST thing considered?  From January 07 - July 07 the tumor grew around her ribs and spine pinching nerves (the pain she felt) to a whopping 8cm when it was finally diagnosed as Lung Cancer.  I am blathering towards the why this has me all twisted up at the present time.  Next week by this time we will know if that bastard tumor, which has been dead for the last three years, remains dead.

I came home from my run muddy and crying.  Hubb called me when I was about a minute from home, too late for me to even attempt to pull myself together.   My poor hubb can't understand me through my sobbing and just looks so desperate to help me.  He did say, "Well at least you are muddier than yesterday.  So maybe I'll believe you, this time."  That garnered the giggle it was meant to. I had so hoped he would be off at his evening commitment so I could just collapse on the kitchen floor and have the dogs demand their dinner.  I don't like to explain myself, I just like to be left alone until I am feeling my normal sarcastic smart-ass self and then live on, avoiding talking about whatever...  That poor man, God love him, I know I do, just sat there trying to figure out what was going on and be supportive to this hot muddy mess standing in front of him.  Seriously, I'd rather have the dogs deal with me, they would just lick my tears (and my muddy legs) and breathe their stinky wonderful dog breath on me and eventually one of them drags over a toy as if to say, OK, enough, let's play and most likely box me in the face!!!  We would play and wrestle there on the floor till I felt better.

Hubb just said, "Hon, it is OK, your mom is more energetic and positive than she was this time last year, everything is fine. All is fine.  You had me worried there for a second."  And he suggested that I was a little muddy and ripe and wouldn't a shower feel good, he turned up the hot water heater.  A super hot shower, hmmmmmm....

So crying and running doesn't work so well, you become more of a mouth breather and erratic ..  oh well, at least I felt like I was beating something evil out of me through every footfall, as erratic as they were.

All in all the run helped, I got to splash through a couple puddles, I didn't want to do all of them, MCM is happening in less than 4 weeks, I cannot be injured and that includes blisters. First rain post MCM and I'll be hitting ALL of the mud and the puddles.  After all I am a 12 year old boy disguised as a middle aged woman.

Stats:

Summary

The loop from yesterday starts and ends at the green dot but through the green area....

Yeah, lacking consistency.  The trail was so beautiful.  

Sincerely,
Beth, the hot mess.

History Lesson

Quick catch up.  Monday night was TRX.  Great class, love those gals they really make the time go by fun and fast.  Although I do need to do a little googling around to find out if drinking alcohol really does make you sweat more and more quickly.  I read somewhere when your body is in shape it sweats more quickly and more profusely.

I did smell my sweat to see if it smelled like Jim Beam Red Stag (Black Cherry), it didn't, it smelled like, well, sweat.  Hmmmm  Note: I am still a Jack girl, one of the cooks at work suggested this and it is MIGHTY tasty!!

Tonight was The Battle of Stonington 5K race.  I haven't run a 5K race in quite a while.  Girls on the Run the first weekend in June doesn't really count or does it?  I was a running buddy for that race, it was HER race not mine.

Anyhoodles the guys at work, always supportive of my running, asked why on earth was I in the CT office on a TUESDAY.  I fear I may have messed up one of their diabolical plans or something?  I explained that I had a race tonight and as luck had it my project team meeting was changed to Thursday so I'd be in NYC then.  Ah they said, the fates lined up for you, are you sure your 'charms' didn't have anything to do with this meeting moving?  I am quite certain I had nothing to do with this meeting change.  Some times things just work out.

This is when I found out there was an ACTUAL battle in Stonington CT, in August, during the War of 1812.  Holy crap.  I sucked at history, and as the daughter of a history teacher, this pains my mother to no end.  To help me learn a bit about history she always offered me historical fiction to read.  So my Civil War knowledge came from "Gone With The Wind", African slaves from "Roots", and so forth.  Even now I tend towards the historical fiction novels, what can I say, I like a story, maybe a little romance, with my history, it holds my attention.

At the start, do I ever not smirk?

My goal for the 5K was sub 30 minutes.  My girlfriend suggested I aim for 27 minutes.  Ok so that was the stretch goal.  I suppose had I not stopped at my car, to get a drink of water, I may have made it. Oh yeah and there was a lady handing out water, you can see on my pace where I stopped and hydrated.  I'm a hydrater...  we all have our vices!  I'll have to remember my friend Rod's comment.  "Your SUPPOSED to suffer in a 5K."  He has a very valid point.  There is a 5K in my town next week I think I'll sign up and work on that suffering business! And I'll bring my 7 oz handheld with me!

Stats:

Splits, not too bad

FLATNESS!!!!

Can you pick out the water stops?

So according to this time I could estimate my Marathon time right around 5 hours.  I am sure I will need to work on my speed, BIG TIME, but hey this does give me some encouragement and I will work on my speed and those hill workouts definitely do increase my VO2 max, I could feel that even after one (or maybe that was psychological?)

Sincerely,
Beth now a sub 30 5Ker, woot.

I May Have Drowned My iPod Shuffle

Today was the 2nd leg of the United Health Care Triple Crown.  A three 1/2 Marathon race series.  The first was in Providence.  Which was also my Team Lung Love run!!!  The second, today, in Jamestown, RI. The third October 14th in Newport, RI.

I set out with a goal of 2:10 for the race.  This is aggressive.  My Providence time was 2:17, and the Jamestown course was far hillier than Providence, and the weather warmer and wetter.  Generally July is warmer than May, and it was bound to be humid, and the sprinkling rain was great (really, I love to run in the rain).  No complaints, no excuses, just the facts!  And I didn't have Carrie there keeping my pace up!

I kept up my desired 10 pace for the first half of the race pretty well (I'll insert my splits), or at least I felt like I did when I was running!  I finished with a time on my watch of 2:23... I'll update with the official results when they are posted.

The day did not have an auspicious start.  My alarm was set for 4:45, giving me enough time to wake up, eat a peanut butter sandwich, drink water, brush teeth, shower, dress and make sure I had every thing and saunter out the door 5:15 at the latest.  Reality:  I slept through the alarm, I have to remember to turn up the volume.  I woke with a start at 5:13.  Fortunately it was really 5:08 because we keep loosing power and my alarm clock goes a head a few minutes, so Pshew...  I scrambled around.  Thankful I had laid everything out the night before and pinned on my race bib (geek).  Quick scrub of the teeth, quick rinse in the shower, make the PB sammy grab some water, kiss the hubb, run out the door shoelaces untied.  FORTUNATELY I did not trip.  Because, yeah, I looked down and thought OH SHIT I'm going to bite it on my own front walk, wouldn't that suck?  I made it to the car, tied my shoes, took off, 5:25 a.m.

Friday when I picked up my race packet I also bit the bullet and got a RI E-ZPass.  They cost $20.95 and I couldn't see paying that for a transmitter when, wait what?  it costs me $4 EVERY trip across the bridge with the NY E-ZPass and it would only cost me $0.85 with the RI E-ZPass.. Hmmmm  One will pay for itself rather quickly, so yeah, lets get one.  Of course it isn't active until 6 a.m. the next morning.  Well with my oversleeping issue I hit the Pell Newport Bridge at 5:59:30 and shoved the NY E-ZPass in the foil package and put up the RI E-ZPass.  Well how about that GREEN light AND the velcro things were the right distance apart.  If I was on my original time schedule this would have cost me an additional $3.15.  Woot!  

The last shuttle left the Newport Grand lot at 6:15 (we had to be bused to the race start as there was no parking on the Island of Jamestown, as it is quite tiny).  I was on the straggler shuttle. When the traffic director said that, the guy behind me just laughed, I said, yep, stragglers!  Got to the starting line with just enough time to use the porta potty.  Yeah I hate 'em but they are necessary.  The porta potties, sans toilet paper were being delivered as I arrived.  There were lots of angry people and even angrier when they discovered there really was no toilet paper.  Just as my turn is coming the guy delivers the toilet paper.  WOOT.  So maybe this is all working out WAY better than I thought it would when I woke up 25 some odd minutes (oh you do the math between what the clock said and reality, 25 minutes seems fair) late.

Ok so the race starts.  Mile 1, is a tough one for me.  I need to find my pace, my feet, my rhythm.  I'm noticing that it is nice not running in the sun and I enjoy running in the rain, so hey this might not be so bad.  Mile 2 presents its usual "Seriously, Beth, what ARE you doing, you aren't a runner, come on lets just walk, please"  Mile 3 marker pops up and everything clicks, really clicks.  I have my cadence my tunes are awesome, found a couple people to pace with and I was loving it.  Feeling on top of the world, I can do this all day long.

Miles 5 - 7  Hill, the big one.  Take a gander at this elevation profile:

I knew 6 topped the big hill and was happy when it was over.  Somehow the remaining 6 or 7 climbs (depending on how you look at it) didn't exist in my mind, but trust me my rear knew they were there!!!

Mile 9  I realize I am not going to hit 2:10 and just relax into the run.  I pass on the down hill, hey I am taking advantage of gravity.  I pass this guy, he starts to pass me on a flat and we just run next to each other for a few hundred yards.  I say, "Hi" he says "Hi" he keeps up for a while and eventually falls back.  Huh... can I call this chicking a dude?  Yeah, no, it wasn't, that only counts at the end of the race...

Mile 12 nice view of the Narragansett bay, bit of a breeze.  Only one mile left.  Wait, what? ANOTHER hill.  You are freaking kidding me.

Mile 13  THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. is all I can think.  All of a sudden my dragging feet get moving.  Really feet?  You couldn't do this at mile 10?  Maybe we would have hit 2:17?  (refer to elevation chart, there was a hill, perhaps the feet were doing the best they could?)

I love running through the chute with all the cheers.  These people don't know me, they are just cheering and it is wonderful.

I love spectators that cheer at races.  The ones that sit there, and wait until the person they are cheering show up, they suck.  They do, they suck.  Just cheer ALL the people on.  OMG what a lift it gives, what a lift.  Just that good job, clap, smile, wave.  I always say thank you, and I mean it  THANK YOU, it helps so much to cheer on the runners.  They may be having a great run or a poor run or an ok run, but you, you dear spectator, cheering us on, we LOVE it.  Or I do...  Guess I can't speak for all runners.  Runners?  What are your thoughts?

During the race I thought about various things, in no particular order:

• Multiplication tables, I still can't get 8x8 right... grrrrr.... but it sure does help to focus thoughts not on running.
• Level Renner's article about the cost of races, which all I took away from it was, I wonder if this guy considers me a "Tourist" in races.  I really do think of myself as a runner, and I am my own worst critic, maybe I shouldn't think of myself as a runner?  To his credit and to his point, races are getting expensive and I have no need for a finisher medal, especially if this jacks up the price, which most likely it does.  Finishing and having my results posted on CoolRunning is so totally awesome, that is all I need.  Dude, I can google myself and see race results, that is awesome!
• Wade and Rod -  They inspire me to be the best I can be.  To keep on keeping on.  Both are fitness professionals, and really do treat their body like a temple and are proud (not arrogant, not boisterous, beautifully and subtly proud) of their accomplishments, and what makes me admire them so much more, they are proud of their students (and their friends) accomplishments. 
• My mom and dad - what a time they have had the last 5 years, and just this year.  How much I miss them and admire them for all they have accomplished and done.  
• My friends - JoAnna because I could hear her clanging the cow bell.  Sheila because I knew she was up sipping coffee crocheting cheering me on.  Michelle because I knew she had her ass in bed with her gorgeous husband. Matthew because how can be be so damn good at WWF, he is killing me, killing me!!  Don every time I would slouch or strike my left heel heavy, I would straighten up, like someone pulling a string out of the top of my head.  Julia, Carrie, Diane, and Nelia my TLL Team Mates, because I simply admire them.  Running with Cupcakes because, damn I wonder which one of these women I've passed or who has passed me is her!
• My husband - my iPod Shuffle started doing funny things, like saying stuff in the middle of songs "nice song"  "great running song" I thought, what the devil did he do to my iPod, and how sweet, wonder if he will have any other encouraging words.  I also wondered if he actually remembered me kissing him good bye. 
• Running -  IKR, I'm running and I'm thinking about running?
• What am I going to write in the blog. 

Splits - I have no idea what to do with this data, but it is data there for it is good and should be collected..... and cause I referenced them and I'm sure one of you can pick this apart?  or not?  or like me just like data!

After the race is when I began to realize that my iPod was actually malfunctioning, while my husband is a wonderful guy neither one of us touch each others computers... I must have drowned the iPod.  I was dripping wet, seriously, DRIPPING wet with sweat.  I clip the little iPod guy to my left bra strap and he got soaked.  I will let him dry out and see if he is ok.  I really like the 3G iPod shuffle, totally basic, no screen no scrolling.  I need to find a new place to clip him.  Damn the bra strap worked so well, but eventually he isn't going to recover from his salt baths. And that is how I may have drowned my iPod Shuffle.