Let't talk about the weather....

It has been a year since my parents moved back into their house since the fire.  The evening of December 26, 2011 was life changing for my parents for sure.  Not as life changing as July of 2007.  Nor as life changing as October of 2011 either...  Ok well hard to know what was most life changing.  Although it could have been my mother's realization Tuesday night that her eldest and only daughter is a few years away from 50 and contemplaing running a 50 miler to celebrate that milestone.  She was more dismayed at the fact she could be the mother of a 50 year old...  ok so it is nearly 4 years away...  rather than her daughter doing yet one more bizarre and un-understandable thing.

Ok so that was a lot of information with not a lot of background in that opening paragraph.  December 26, 2011 half of my parents house burned.  Hell of a Christmas present, right?  After a lot of craziness with rebuilding they were in nearly a year later.  Thanksgiving of 2012 was when they were officially moved back into the house, half had to be rebuilt and the other half gutted and re-insulated, plumbed, electrical pulled, dry wall hung, re-finished?  Yeah, yeah it should not have taken that long, especially with the craptastic economy in MI and most of the trades desperate for work.  That is another story and it has been sorted out, obviously, as they were moved back into their re-constructed house.

Light switches aren't where they used to be and the step down to the 'new' part of the house on the second floor, pre-fire isn't there any more and everytime I take that route to go down stairs I end up slamming my right foot against the floor because there is SUPPOSED to be a step there, there was one for over 30 years...  

The other dates all relate to my mother's lung cancer diagnosis in July 2007, with October 2011 being her first full year with only one scan, the scan was the same as it had been since April of 2009 when she decided to stop treatment.  October 2012 the same, the radiologists lay one scan over the other and they are identical.  October 2013 had the same result, her oncologist, said he may consider the tumor dead.  October 2012 scan was very scary for all of us, with all the stress from the fire and the trauma with the rebuilding, IF something was going to happen it would have happened then, this was the conclusion my siblings and I came to.  October 2013 scan was a non-event to us because, mom is just fine, and you know what, she is.  

After a tense 13 hour drive from RI to MI on Tuesday, rain snow rain snow rain and just past Elyria OH it all stopped, dry pavement, I hadn't seen dry pavement since CT!  Whoop!  Watched quite a few cars twirl around on the thruway and end up in the ditch.  My dad and I stayed up a little too late talking (and drinking).  He was diagnosed with COPD in October.  At least he now knows what is causing his shortness of breath and has medication to slow/stop the progression and has to learn to just slow down and not get out of breath and wear himself out.  It was nice to see he was dealing with all of this just fine and making adjustments where he needed to.  

Wednesday greeted me with sunshine, in South East Michigan in November, are you kidding me?  This NEVER happens.  I quick checked the temp on my phone and found it was 59 and rainy back home and it was 19 with the windchill 6.  Huh... Well the sun was out, and here I thought Monday's run would be the last one in sun! 

Brrrrr......

Huh...  that sucks...

 I ran down to the main road and back to the house, this would give me a good clue on the temps and which direction was going to be colder.  Of course , the direction for the return to the house from the long part of the run was going to be into the wind.  Blargh.  I managed 3.7, I just couldn't do the extra few feet to make it 4 or to Lindsey road.  I was cold and still had to run BACK in the wind.  



The sun was out and it gave me the opportunity to run with my shadow!

SUN!!! 

Beautiful Sunset!

Sincerely, 
Beth, looking forward to seeing friends and family tomorrow. 

Wimp

I’m not going to call you out specifically, but really, no long sleeved shirt keeps you inside? On a gorgeous 40F day like today?  Really?  Well both of you, so you know you aren't alone.  Women maybe the slower of the sexes however we are the more hardy, a little chill in the air doesn't keep us inside.   And if you need a long sleeved shirt, I usually have an extra, and sometimes they aren't pink!  HA!  Extra because I’m not sure which is going to go with what, because after all it doesn't count if you don’t look cute doing it! 

Yeah, I’m a little amped up today.  First run since Sunday.  Monday was batshit crazy, with what I have a hard time remembering, but wow, by the time I got to TRX my head was spinning and I practically talked Joy’s ear off.  Tuesday I was in NY and managed to find 40 minutes to take a few block walk, I was driving my boss bonkers with all my wiggling.  She said “Beth, do you need to go out and take a walk?”  That was my not so subtle hint my leg wiggling was reaching a 10 on the Richter Scale, time to scrub off some excess energy with a brisk walk around mid town.  She is so funny.  Wednesday was a whirlwind of meetings and no free hour. I lost focus about 3 p.m. and remembered Dave and I needed to straighten up the house before his parents arrived Thursday afternoon.  4 hours of epic cleaning and putting away resulted in a respectable level of chaos on the first floor, we really need a garage to put the bikes in, or maybe a decorative stand for them in the dining room, make them into some sort of an eclectic mobile hanging from the ceiling?  I can only imagine what that Zoning meeting would be like trying to get a variance, even for a shed in the back yard. Pass on that...

Today, finally, a run, not quite 5 miles (totally forgot about the 10K anyway challenge I still have a few days), it was beautiful out, probably didn't really need a hat or gloves, but they were nice as the wind picked up just a skitch towards the end of my run.  I took a left out of the guard shack and not my usual right.  I need to mix it up a little and thought maybe I’d nip down Thomas and do ‘the bitch’ or just stick with the long slowly rising hill climb on Shennecossett. I picked the climb and focused on keeping stead on my pace, I slowed a bit...

My watch is still set to biking, I have to remember to switch that after I get off the bike.  Or just leave it on running and not mess with it.  I ran about 6 MPH so 10 minute miles, I’m happy with that.  Just a gorgeous day to be outside even if it was a little chilly for some!

 


I skipped back into the office to deal with a stack of papers I've been using as weight training for the last several weeks.    They get lifted from my drawer, walked across the hall to my desk, deposited, scattered about, re-stacked, lifted, walked across the hall and deposited back in my drawer, repeat daily.  Well not when I’m slogging half the stack and my lap top around midtown Manhattan, in heels, medals should be handed out for that, I’m NOT kidding! 

A big project launched on Monday and about half that stack were drafts and notes and things that could just be recycled, very little had to be filed.  I even found a stack in my only filing drawer to recycle, whoop!  Yeah, someone needed to run if recycling paper is getting this big of a cheer…

Took Ro's Spin class, cleaned up, and scampered home to see what Dave cooked for the dinner with his parents.  Indian Chicken, well done.  We use the same recipe and no matter what his turns out different than mine.  Funny how that works isn't it?  Pumpkin Pie for dessert and the FIL and I polished off a couple bottles of champers (hence the spin class), not a bad night.  

Sincerely,
Beth, planning ahead for the eating season!

Li'l Rhody Run Around - Recap

Racing locally is more and more fun because I not only recognize the names and/or faces I am also starting to get to know some of the runners.  And meet new ones, thanks for introducing yourself Amada hope to see you at more races!!   Plus who doesn't love running in their own backyard?  I haven't run in Burlingame since April 21st plenty of short hikes with my Gizzy, one or two bike rides, just no running.  Not sure why, just didn't pan out and the closer it got to the marathon the less I wanted to risk injuring myself, and oh yeah that overly ambitious race calendar kinda left no time on the weekends for fun running.  Deffo something to fix going into 2014.

Maybe I want to back up a bit here. Running the 4th Season Races series was my introduction to trail racing and racing in general.  My goal for 2012 was to run one race a month and I found a race in December of 2011 and signed up and as Mike can attest to I signed up for a couple all at once (I think the Resolution Beach and Ryan Park). Then there was this whole series thing and the race locations were so cool I did them all!  I also started looking for more trail races and didn't find many.

I remembered seeing the Li'l Rhody Run Around last year (2012) and I had already committed to Mews Beers and Gear (my 5K PR of 27:27) well crap.  The website had a map so I ventured out to run the course at some point in the fall of 2012.  There was a biker with an NBX shirt noticing I looked rather perplexed, he said "Hi can I help you?" and I thanked him and asked about the trail and he said, just go down the dirt road, through a play ground and look for the yellow arrows.  OK, and off he went and off I went.  It was fun, bridges, rocks, roots, and then there was this wall of granite ledge to scale.  Oh my, have I wandered off course?  Up and over I went wondering how the heck did the mountain biker get through this, did he carry his bike?  (later Dave showed me how to get around the granite ledge - ah ok, not sure which I prefer).

Anyhoodles I put a mental note I wanted to run this in 2013.  As 2013 progressed I got to know several of the WTAC runners, and several other runners!  I felt less and less conspicuous as a slow runner, and more and more and more like I just like to run in pretty places, and no one seems to mind if I come in last or when I finish but they were as curious about me as I was about them and some friendships have formed and some acquaintanceships have formed.

As races have progressed through the year, it has been so great to see so many familiar faces, put blogs together with people, get to know current and former co-workers with similar passions.  This is my last racey race of the year, really, it is!!  Ok, the Ann Arbor Turkey Trot is to get together with a friend and her daughter, not to race, plus they have a super cool t-shirt!!  So this race felt a little like graduation of sorts.  Maybe graduation isn't the right word...

The race itself is put on by WTAC, it benefits a scholarship fund.  This race was the highest participant turn out ever.  The day was perfect, low 50 F temps, slight breeze from time to time, cloud cover.  The best part was after the last runner came through the chute and everyone gathered a light sprinkle started.  Thank you weather gods for holding off!  I understand it was pretty icky for those having to clean up the course, for the participants, or at least me, it seemed like the perfect end.

The race itself.  It is hunting season in RI and the law requires 200 square inches of orange.  I received a note from a friend (Phil, one of the former co-workers I had no idea was a runner until he saw me at Tarzan Brown a few weeks ago) he asked if the Tarzan Brown shirt would work.  I really didn't think so.  Growing up in farming and hunting country, we didn't leave the house with out our hunters orange from October till March.  Besides shotguns at every door there were also orange hats and vests.  And yes, bullets in every jacket my father owned - this possibly explains why I didn't have a second date until I moved out of the house. I assured Phil the Tarzan Brown shirt wasn't appropriate and there would be shirts available, and I would bring my stash of hunters orange shirts and hats.  Not to worry.  He did buy a shirt and hopefully left the tags on it to return it!!

Middle, Eldest, Youngest - and Amile the Shih Tzu with her own orange vest (in the background)!!  Thanksgiving 2012.

Check in was super easy, Crutch was there and recognized me in a minute.  We both exchanged our current knowledge on how our girl Nicole, of Running While Mommy, was doing at the Philly Marathon, her first Marathon.  Crutch had run her last two long runs with her and did a great job pacing her.   She was doing great and running strong.

I had my favorite new orange shirt on "What part of princess don't you understand?"  so all I had to do was wait in line for the porta john and pin on my bib.  Of course I remembered to bring along one of the bazillions sets of 4 pins I have pinned together and pin the bib to my shirt, #107, 7 is generally a good number for me.  Either way it was going to be fun, beautiful day, perfect running weather.  Ran into Buzz as he was scurrying down to get his bib and take care of all that pre-race business.  Tom was in line and we discussed the map of Burlingame I shared with him earlier in the week and how to get to the Sammy C because it is such a beautiful section of trail with all the ledge.  I didn't see Phil, huh...

Lining up I found Crutch and Amanda found us!  I spied all the fast guys in the front.  John Hammett asked which race this was for me for the week.  Ha, thanks...  And we were off.  John's words of advice were don't get to far back or you'll be stuck.  I managed to stay in the middle of the pack for the big bottle neck as we entered the single track and kept up a too fast pace for a few miles.  Phil eventually caught up with me and eventually passed me assuring me I would pass him as I did in Tarzan Brown.  HA!  I doubted that was true.  At the opportunities to pull off I did and let people get by.  It sucks passing on single track and I was enjoying my run.  Eventually I was where I wanted to be, alone, listening to the leaves crunching beneath my feet, reminding myself to step lightly and if you think you need two steps take three and just enjoy this time. A little walking up hills.  Watch the damn rock gardens.  I could remember every place I've stumbled or took a spill, and chuckle to myself.  Well except for that rock garden before the ledge to scale, that spill was a little frightening.  I just minded my Ps and Qs at that point and still managed to roll my ankle a bit but not fall!!!

I totally forgot how rocky and rooty it was after that ledge.  I was a little tired, I'm sure the bike ride and all the hill climbs wore my legs out, and I was getting a little spacey.

Eventually there was the light, the end of the forest and the tarmac.  Crutch was there waiting for me.  OH crap was he going to make me actually run in this last mile?  Oh HELL yes he was.  My fastest mile of the race, I do believe.  The tarmac helps, as does someone pushing me so I don't get lazy, because yeah I think my problem is I'm lazy!  He chuckled when I said "You're pushing me." and he did back off a bit but picked it up a few seconds later.    It was the though of a goose coming across the path that kept my pace up.  Foul fowl they are....  And off to the finish line I sprinted.  Thank you for that, means a lot.

I was surprised to see Seth out there waiting for Amanda, I couldn't imagine she would finish after me, even though she claimed she would be slow.



All in all a great race and a great run for an awesome organization and cause!

Sincerely,
Beth, looking forward to just running for fun for a while till training for something starts depending on what happens on December 15th.