Three Things Thursday

One:  Lessons Learned are Lessons Earned

Wow, the world did not end because I quit a race.  But damn is it ever hard to even say that word quit.  Thanks to friends and my mother things are in perspective:

"I get that you didn't finish the mountain race. So how did you quit - turn around and go back to your car? I sure can understand needing to stop when you have had enough - I learned that the hard way. Love, Mom"

I love learning, and I learned a few more things about myself and other people as a result.  Loved the comments I got from various interactions:  topping the list:  "you're one of the guys"; "you're a strong woman"; "you're playing it smart"; "DNF = Did Not Fail"; among other things...  all very much appreciated!

Will I ever tackle those crazy bitches again? Of course, I won't be 'racing' them.  That's not my cup of tea.  I'll enjoy my runs along sane and sedate Burlingame trails, even more now!

Two: Sportsmanship is important

The mark of an athlete, to me, is how well and quickly they recover and how they treat others.  One of my work running friends finished his first 50 miler on Sunday.  Rock the Ridge in the Mohonk Preserve in NY State.  He finished 15th 8th in his age group.   Training for this over the brutal New England winter was quite the challenge for him.  I ran into him in the cafe on Monday morning, looking great and fresh, yes, a tad bit stiff.  Tuesday he was back to his usual peppy self.  I had to comment on how awesome it was he was in the right kind of shape to run the race he ran in the time he ran it for his first go at that distance.  I don't think he bothered with the intermediate 50K step!

I remember when I was training for my 50K, Eric always was right there asking questions and encouraging me.  I did the same while he was training for his 50 Miler.  The gleam of anticipation in his eye when he told me what he had committed to was memorable.

Yeah sure we all have bad days and temporary bad attitudes, they come and go.  Holding on to that glimmer of positive does draw in the grouches, I need to remember to not feed on that energy and let them suck the positive out of me. 

Three: Blather

Hmmm I don't know if I have a third thing....  Top of mind are yoga and stretching and how important they are and having yoga'd on Tuesday and slept well, I know how much my body misses it...  but I don't want to give up my Tuesday rides.  So maybe this is about prioritization and compromise?

After my run today I wound up stretching with two gals I talk to fairly often about a variety of things.  I generally keep to myself so it was odd to engage with not one but two people at the same time.  We talked about cooking and cleaning, and how there is so little time for these domestic chores.  One offered to send me the info on her house cleaner, as we live fairly near each other.  Someone to dust, vacuum, clean the bathroom and kitchen would be lovely.  At least I'd have less guilt about not doing these things as often as I should!

Cooking?  I leave that to the weekends, otherwise it is chicken on salad, boom, done.   Like I tell Dave, if you wanted a housewife you shouldn't of married me, and he seems fine with that, most of the time.  

Sincerely,
Beth, trying this three things Thursday again.

February is a wrap

Holy cow, February is over, the weather set many records, yours truly?  Not a one, at least not one that comes to mind quickly!

Two weather records that come to mine are:  32 inches of snow in 28 days with an average temp of 18F. 

I logged a surprising 91 running miles and a measly 14 walking miles.  Poor Gizzy, I can definitely see the impact 25% of the usual miles he gets has had on him both physically and mentally.  Amazing what exercise does for living creatures.  

In the beginning of our walks he has troubles lifting his leg to pee, the first 1/2 mile he tips over occasionally.  Poor old guy.  By the end he can lift either leg and wiz.  There really is something to this exercise stuff!  Plus he sleeps so much better.  He has lost pretty much all of his hearing and he has been grumbling a lot more.  Perhaps this is to make a noise he can feel or hear, we aren't sure.  Dave reports Gizzy'z waking up and shifting in bed and grumbling are far and few between the days he did get a walk.  I know I sleep better with some exercise, not too much mind you, a particularly heavy day and I sleep like crap.  Of course when I do sleep I sleep like the dead tetrised in between three dogs all snuggly and comfy.

Nahhhhhhh!!!

Otherwise what is there to say about February?  It is over...  on to March, and maybe a thaw?  please?  pretty please with sugar on top?  (yeah yeah, Gru says "The physical appearance of the please makes no difference.")

Sincerely, 
Beth, who used to hate February, now is indifferent towards the month

Back Road Ramble 5K - Recap and Other Musings

The local YMCA hosts a "Back Road Ramble 5K" at camp Watchaug.  I signed up, knowing that it would be on somewhat familiar grounds and with the usual suspects and really a reason to push me to run with a bit of intention and support the Y, or who knows...   plus one the WTAC president mapped out the course and I was curious to see what hell fun he would come up with.   If I was smart I'd of paid attention to his Strava feed, wait, I like surprises so why ruin the fun?

Mike B mentioned it started up hill, why of course it would...  At least it wasn't this run in the RI desert the same day! 

Camp Watchaug was somewhere I've never been, beautiful facility on Watchaug Pond.  I had a deprived childhood, no summer camp -- in my parents defense I did have 80 acres of fields, woods, ponds, dirt bikes, and go karts -- I really didn't know what to expect and was just stunned when I walked down the hill to the camp and thought what an awesome place for kids and families.  I think Friday the 13th movies were my impression of summer camps!

Anyhow, I pre-registered, easy bib pick up, forwent the t-shirt, I have plenty of them.  It was hard, it was red and that is my favorite color.  Did a little warm up mile, I hadn't run since Wednesday, plenty of biking and dog walks.  My legs were tired or I'm not really sure and decided I'd stop thinking about running and enjoy the view.  

The course was well marked and easy to navigate, showed the best of what the area has to offer with back roads, tarmac in the camp area, and single track  (well that SHARP left off the single track was a little bit hard to see).  I think this was the first time I'd run Burlingame since I did 3 laps of the 8 mile loop back in April.  Tons of volunteers cheering people on.  I always like that.  I got passed, passed a few people towards the end and the guy on my tail, who I said "Just let me know when you want to pass"  he said he was fine with my pace and then the last little incline on the dirt road before the finish, my weak spot, he over took me and while I tried to watch his feet to close the gap, nope, oh well.  I was still on track for a good off road 5K for me and that was just fine and dandy.

Results here

My results  32:13 

Photo Courtesy of Jana Walker!  Thanks for waiting for me to finally get to the finish!!

Overall  I am happy with the race.  50K in May and a 5K in June, I think the 5K was harder, ha!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Went for a no real route in mind bike ride after the race.  Dave was out fluke fishing so just me, no planning required!

A dangerous time for a biker is when they are going straight and someone is turning left.  Yep the left cross.  Had I trusted the driver I might have gotten smushed. Fortunately I noticed he had on his left turn signal was turning left and not looking at the road.  I was more shocked he used his turn signal not that he wasn't looking where he was going!  

And again, it seemed like the route I chose was into the wind most of the way...  good training right?    Saturday North on Rte 91 was into the wind, today South on Rte 91 was into the wind.  Gahhhh, can I ever catch a break?  Um... no?  Oh well...

A long slog West, wind, of course, on Atlantic, by the ocean wasn't too awful, again, good training and always an interesting glimpse into humanity 'down the beach'.  It seriously cannot be warm enough to be on the beach sunbathing or even in the water, can it?  There were quite a few beach umbrellas up, so maybe yes? Then again I'm not a lay on the beach sorta person, so what do I know?

Got home to discover --> no food in the fridge!!!  Crap.. guess my dad doesn't live here and isn't doing the grocery shopping (he took over for mom after she got sick).  Time to be done being a child running around in the woods and biking in the neighborhood, time for grown up stuff, grocery store (yuck) and a trip to the Pack (always fun building my own 6 pack).

Sincerely, 
Beth, not so keen on this grown up stuff, well the grocery shopping part.

Burlingame - Clockstupid

Sunday:  R: 10 / W: 3 / O: 0
  

Dave was off to Arcadia.  I planned on running Burlingame clockstupid (you know the opposite of clockwise -- opposite of how I usually run it) and continue on my quest to not get side tracked off Sammy C's trail. 

 

Off I went, hard top first, very strange, the little bit of a rise felt tough, my legs felt goodish, way better than when I poured myself into bed on Saturday night. My toes weren’t sore,  always a good thing.  On to the single track and finally on Sammy C's trail.  It was marked with orange tape.  Was this from the King of Burlingame the race the weekend before?  The orange markings were nice because I seem to lose the trail mostly on the ledges/domes.  But shouldn't they have been removed? Right foot left foot repeat. 

 

Enjoyable, not to muddy, teeny technical, I took my time, enjoyed the scenery and the sun. Right foot left foot repeat. 

 

Got to the dome, the intersection of Sammy C's / Secret Trail / Out and Back.  I chose the path I hadn't traveled.  Out and Back. Yeah the whole Sammy C's plan went out the window, the joy of running alone.  Oh my.  Dave rides this on his bike?  “How is that possible?” I though as I scaled up the sides of ledge.  Hmmmm.... I may want to up his life insurance or at least his accidental death and dismemberment.  Here I figured it was going to be me dying first, running more than 2.5 hours a week, let alone at a time...   Right foot left foot repeat. 

 

Running this direction on the Vin Gormley was weird; different and familiar all at the same time.  Wow, it was pretty torn up from the rain and the bikers.  Then I noticed the blue streamer markers on the trail.  Really?   Right foot left foot repeat. 

 

The deer hide was still all over the place, no carcass though. The only people I saw on the trail were two women walking their dogs.  Cute pups.  Got to the massive section of bridges, holy cow the bridges are all over the place.  Last few rock gardens and ahhh, the nice flat even section as I neared the end of the trail into the camp ground and spied an orange marker from the Brrr-lingame course leading the runners into the campground and the sand pit area...  I pulled it and ran with it.  Figured the orange caution "slow moving vehicle" flag in my hydro-pack would be kinda funny.  Right foot left foot repeat.

 

Sincerely,

Beth, glad to make a change from the usual, left foot right foot repeat...

 

1Q14 - stick a fork in it, done!

The last day of the quarter started with the horrid realization I had to lead a meeting at 8:30 a.m. as I was scrambling into the building at 8:25.  Fortunately only I knew how this presentation was supposed to go as it was a glimpse behind the curtain of a system I manage which at this point still appears as a lot of smoke and mirrors to anyone outside of Claire, the tech team, and I.  PSHEW, how's THAT for a run on sentence?   How does that saying go, baffle them with bullshit?

Along those lines it was also the due date for my work goals.  Lots of "manage" and "lead" sprinkled in there as my manager (past and current) are prepping me for a promotion.  Net net, I enjoy my job, I really do -- I get to do what I like: help people succeed and occasionally be the smartest person in the room --  I don't know that I really want that next level, yet.  I think this may be the same with running?  I love it, do I want to be anymore serious about it?  Not so sure... 

Let's see what progress I've made on my 2014 running goals  *flips back through blog posts*, hmmm, didn't look like I set any, just focus on the 50K and take it from there.  I've done my best to honor my training schedule.  The Brrr-lingame race perhaps could have been a distraction, however it offered a great lesson to be learned.  Thank you for your feedback Mike (Super RD and runner who is NOT left handed or even ambidextrous)  that I should have run the miles before the race and not after. I had a good 20 mile road run two weeks before, I'm not all that concerned I didn't get in my full long run for that weekend, I did have a lot of "time on my feet" on the trails that weekend...   Taking Mike's advice to heart I will run Big River with my 13 miles done pre 1/2.  Based on the glimpses I've gotten into the course sounds like I may be best of doing 13 road miles versus the course first.  Sounds wicked technical and exhausting...  thoughts?

Why I'm even running Big River is a mystery to me, due to a family vacation (not mine, the one I married into, my families last and only family vacation was in 1978 - I think it was the basis for the movie Vacation, no seriously yellow station wagon and surly pre teens) I won't be able to Run With the Beavers, so no Triple Crown of trail or road racing in RI (the Jamestown race is the same weekend).  But who knows, there could be some horrible natural disaster and we can't go (is this something people should or shouldn't light candle for?) I'm keeping my options open?  or hmm....  not sure... It all boils down to me not being keen on someone else planning my life.  My mother's commentary, always with a smile on her face:  "From birth you've been stubborn."  And, well, she'd know best.  She still hasn't forgiven me for refusing (at less than a week old - way back in the dark ages they kept mother's and children in the hospital for more than a few hours) to wear home the sweater she knitted for me while I was in utero. Or to wear the pretty dresses she picked out.  Or... Or... Or..... Stubborn much?  Mother's daughter much?  The only one amused by this was my maternal grandfather, who was so glad his eldest grandchild was going to hold her own with his eldest child!

1Q14 Mileage:

Running:  350

Walking: 117
Biking: 15

Not too bad.  Extrapolating, for the year I'll be:

Running: 1,400

Walking: 468
Biking: 60 (ha ha ha)

Think I'll stick to 30 miles a week running and just let walking fall where it may?  Biking will pick up with the warmer weather, and Dave and I will go out on 20 - 40 mile rides on the weekends.  After the Ice Age 50K hill training for Mt. Washington and bike training for the Pan Mass Challenge (PMC) ramp way up.  Oh goodie I won't have to seriously address the lack of control in my diet for a few more months!!  Swimming will fall in there somewhere...

Sincerely,
Beth wondering really Mike B, a hat?  It wasn't that cold out today!!