Weekly Recap 7/28 - 8/3

Monday – Dog Walk 1.9

My legs felt kinda heavy from the Blessing?  Not really sure.  I didn't bike hard at all on Saturday (26 miles - I never did update last weeks recap) and was a slug on Sunday after volunteering at the Crabman Sprint Tri. So not really sure what my deal was Monday.  I wasn't that busy at work.  Quiet Mike B.

Yeah, volunteering for Crabman, I do like volunteering, it is fun to watch the competitors and to cheer on the ones I recognize. Also looking for people helps keep my mind occupied.  The weather reports were saying it was going to be miserable rainy on Sunday and it wasn't until the afternoon.  Thank you to the weather gods for small favors.

Nice quick stroll with Gizmo. Dave was a little perturbed with the delay in the start of the evening TV watching.  He wanted to finish up the last 3 episodes of season 3 of Game of Thrones and I have actually been paying attention so I wanted him to wait.  We managed to finish them up.  There were some good episodes and some rather weak ones.  Will be interesting to see what season 4 holds.  Shhhhh don’t tell.  We won’t see it until it is released on DVD and we can check it out of the library.

Oh fishing report.  Dave went fishing on Saturday, he and Jim netted 10 legal Fluke, Dave 7 Jim 3.  I didn't pull any further data out of Dave, other than Jim got the bulk of the haul.  He does own the boat after all!  We enjoyed a nice fluke dinner on Monday night!

Tuesday -   Run 5.5  / Dog Walk 1.2

Dave’s birthday.  Yes, my imaginary husband has a birthday.  Why I made him a Leo is still a mystery to me.  Since he didn't want anything frivolous there was no present, just dinner out.  Plum Tomato in Colchester.   Yes a 45 minute drive for pizza, and it is so worth it!  Works for me.

New shoes on my lunch run, trying the Asics Nimbus, they are stability versus my usual stability + shoe.   Found a past model year on sale and I’ll give them a whirl and see what happens.  They come in more colors than my Kayanos which is one reason to try something new and the other one is to just try something new.  I liked the shoes didn't really notice any difference from my regular ones.  My legs felt heavy, residual Blessing or my slothfulness from the past two days?  Doubtful it had anything to do with the shoes.

Wednesday -   Walk w/Ro 2.6 /  Westerly fun run – one lap 1 mile / Bike to/from fun run 10 miles / Dog walk 2.8

Stepped up the activity level.  I was going to bike into work; I was a little concerned with 36 miles on the bike especially after my legs felt so heavy on the run yesterday.  Better to give them a little break and just bike to the fun run to get out on the bike.

Met up with Ro for a walk, sorry Mike B, we didn't hear you whistling at us, again.  Obviously we need our ears checked.

Biked out to the fun run, figuring I could pick up my shirt and run, maybe.  Well my reading comprehension is fairly poor and the shirts weren't expected to be in until August 6th, not expected to be picked up by August 6th.  Ran a mile lap 9:02, not my best effort, certainly not my worst effort.   Really a shame to waste the great weather for a run with only a mile, it was fun to cheer people in as they finished the full 5K.  I did feel peppy for the bike ride home.  Jeff asked what my excuse was for only running the mile.  I had a list, he didn't have time for the whole list so I settled on “I’m lazy”.

The weather was dry and cool and perfect for a nice long walk with Gizmo.  He was quite energetic and just kept turning away from home so we kept on going.  Dave did call (I keep the ringer off on the phone most times and missed the call - setting in even more panic I guess)  to see if everything was ok, he thought we were gone longer than we were.  We both worry about our geriatric Gizzy.  I assured him all was fine as I discovered Dave walking towards us on the sidewalk to see if he could find us.  Whoops!

Thursday -  0 (well 20 bazillion trips up and down the stairs packing, checking lists, finding things)

Figure I should rest up for this two days on the bike?    Plus packing and obsessively watching the weather, 50% chance of rain Sat and Sun, takes up a bit of time.  I think of it this way:  Cancer isn't easy and this ride shouldn't be easy.

Friday  -  Not sure

Saturday  – Pan Mass Challenge, Wellesley to Bourne 84 miles 

Sunday – Pan Mass Challenge, Bourne to Provincetown 80 miles

Sincerely,
Beth, feeling like a sloth...  although not quite as fuzzy or funny as Sid.

Wordless Wednesday

Blessing 2014

Sincerely,
Beth, I can't stop laughing at this and the other pictures....   file:  bad race photos.

Blessing of the Fleet - Recap

Sigh...  who doesn't love a race on a Friday night in the throws of the heat and humidity of July?  

I have no idea why I subjected myself to this 10 mile race.  My longest run in the last month has been a whopping 6 miles.  I'm barely breaking 10 miles a week, ok maybe not THAT bad...  It was a long shot to have a successful race, and I knew that.  Still I set my goals high  A - 1:40  B - 1:45 C- don't die.  Yeah, C was probably a sure thing.  

I was feeling very confident and good about the 1:45 for the first 5 miles then I'm not sure what happened in my mind.  I walked at mile 4, and again and again.  Even the caffeine loaded GU at mile 5 didn't help much.  To little to late. 

Ah lets rewind a bit and revel in the camaraderie of the middle of the packers who aren't trying to beat the crap out of their frenimies.

Met up with quite a few people I wanted to see pre-race.  Sorry Mike B, Muddy said you and Gazelle were off warming up.  Looked for Seth, Chris, and Johnny (can't wait to read about your 1/2 marathon wedding run and then the Blessing).  

The gun went off and I couldn't remember if this was chip timed from the start or not, so I started my watch.  Then the rush and the stop and the mat, ah.  Maybe I'll remember that for next year.  I was consistently 1/10th of a mile over, but then I noted in the Strava feeds most people had that same extra 1/10th  of a mile.

I remembered to just go slow, and not get caught up in the down hill or the crowds, I was successful.  The last two times were some pretty fast starts for me and that didn't help in the middle few miles.

About mile 2 I saw a gal who was running her first 10 miler and her first Blessing.  I cheered her on and she actually recognized me from our interaction on Facebook.   Kudos to Michelle for giving her some props on this race.  Plus her skirt was freaking adorable and hard to miss!!  Great job Emily!

It was the normal slog up Ocean road, is this ever going to end?  A headwind was actually nice, yeah, I just said that, kick me, please!

Rounding the corner on Knowlesway, into the sun, and a little hill, ok a speed bump.  I walked.  Pretty much sealed the deal I better just enjoy this as a long run and not get all bitchy and pissy, what is the point in that, right?

Point Judith road, another one of those is this ever going to end?

Finally in to the nice shady curvy Kinney Ave.  Then the left turn back on Pier Road to run past the start and down Avice.  I was dreading this.  Until...

Right there on the corner, at mile 7.7  a Marine Corps flag and an adorable pup.  Oh this must be Ed!  I finally got to meet Ed and his pup Everett.  After months of stalking each other (Ed and I, Everett doesn't have his own FB page , yet) on FB, it was nice to put a name and a live person together, plus seriously Everett, is freaking adorable and was happy to let me pet him and hopefully pull out some puppy power. Ed let me know Jennifer was a few minutes ahead of me.  Oh good!  She is in the throws of Marine Corps Marathon training and this is a good long run to complement her training.  Ed is dealing with PF right now, and hopefully with a little break will be back to training for MCM.

I stumbled through the next couple miles and then noticed a couple I recognized on the corner of Robinson and Kingstown Road.  Dave's Uncle Billy and his Aunt Susan!!  Needing moral support (yes, with like 1/2 mile to go) I ran over there, they looked at this sweaty disgusting runner and I said, "Hi, it's Beth"  they had a glimmer of recognition (so funny when you run into someone out of context) and a big AH HA and gave me a hug.   Hey I'll take any support I can get.   Their granddaughter Skye was there and she was a little leery of all of this and did recognize me but was good with just saying Hi.  She is a cutie.  We chatted and I said "Oh I probably should finish this race."  Billy and Susan agreed that would be a good idea.  

I had a little push of power for the last 1/10th of a mile.  Happy to cross the finish line.

Was this a success?  Not really, did it go better than it could have? Most definitely.  I have been biking more than running and then there was that lost week of training I spent drinking...  I didn't die and could navigate the 1.5 miles back to Mary's with little pain, other than stepping off and on curbs, while passing pedestrians, at just a bit slower than my normal walking pace.

It was a mental battle for me after mile 5.  Walking did me in and gave me the licence to walk more.  I wonder if there is any runner therapists out there, how does one get out of their own head?  

Sincerely,
Beth, overall happy with the end result of the race, I didn't die.  HA!