Spending a week away from my adult home, in my childhood home was nice. The down side is it does cause one to get behind on things like eMail and blogging, oh yeah, and current home chores. I left with a critical yard clean up weekend on the horizon. Apparently, I was missed, Hubb took care of his own laundry and did one hell of a job with the fall clean up of the yard. Meanwhile, as I was busy not being home, I did keep up on my running, and even ran a race while I was in SE MI! As to eMail, I was behind before I went away I may never catch up, oh well... Kinda like when I was in Grad School and just starting out after graduation, if the bill came in an envelope with red lettering, it meant last possible chance to pay this before what ever was shut off, those got paid first. I'll follow the same protocol and look for the notes with the red flags!
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| Just cause it is flat, doesn't make it any less pretty!! |
Southeastern Michigan is flat, it really is. A whopping 71 feet of elevation gain on the dirt roads by my parent's farm and 88 feet of elevation gain for the Ann Arbor 5K Turkey Trot. In comparison the Mew's Beer & Gear 5K course had 152 feet of elevation gain. A hill is a hill, right?
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| Cute Shirt! Love the look on the turkey's face!! |
I ran with Cyndi and her Daughter. Well Cyndi and I ran together her daughter took off with a goal to beat her last years time, and she did! She bettered her time by nearly a minute! Cyndi is just getting into running and we ran walked the course. Studying the pace elevation charts for the RI and the MI race, the pacing with Cyndi seemed was much more consistent while we were running, but then there was a HUGE hill in the beginning of the RI race. (you can click on the images to see them full size)
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| MI race - Ann Arbor Turkey Trot 5K Pace Elevation |
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| RI race - Mew's Tavern Beers n' Gear 5K Pace Elevation |
So who knows how to make a comparison between the two? Or if there even should be a comparison made? Both races were run with different goals. I ran the RI race with an expectation of using the last hill to gain some progress on my 5K PR. I ran the MI race to spend time with my friend and to encourage her. At one point she said "Beth, say something encouraging." I said "Your lapping everyone on the couch." "Just think this was Rod's first 5K in 2009." That helped, I think. The suggestion to count backwards from 100 going up the last hill, which was a pretty steep hill, wasn't too helpful. I meant for just me to count out loud and she joined me, making the hill worse... alas, communication, I think I recall a previous race with a little bit of miss-communication in it! Two data points don't make a trend so don't go jumping to conclusions on my ability (or inability to communicate), okay?
Tomorrow I have 19 on the schedule, wowza. It is 8 weeks out from the AZ Rock n' Roll Marathon. What exactly was I thinking signing up for another marathon so quickly, and then being 99% committed to one on April 27th in KY? I may need to be committed, that is if I don't end up injured. Feh, I think I am slow enough to not get injured, it is speed no distance, right? Shhhhh.... just let me believe it is speed, my mother will assure you no one can convince me there isn't a Santa Claus and to just let me live blissfully in my own happy place.
Saw a beautiful sunset on my drive through NY, along the Southern Tier expressway.
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| Chautauqua Lake, New York -- November 19, 2012 |
Sincerely,
Beth, in her happy place, plotting the 19 miles for tomorrow!
