Weekly Recap 3/9/15 - 3/15/15

	Run	Walk	Bike	Notes
9-Mar			12	Spin
10-Mar	3.7			Weights / Yoga
11-Mar	4.3	2.0
12-Mar	4.2
13-Mar		5.4
14-Mar
15-Mar				NY Half

Monday - Spin.  I was very ouchy and tired from the 1/2 on Sunday.  Spin at NOON, felt good.  Sorry Jeff 5:30 a.m. may never work...  I know how bummed you are....   Monday night was a work event at the Ocean House.  Holy cow, very nice place.  Rich food and two glasses of wine and I slept okayish.

Tuesday - so not ready for speedwork and really debating if I was going to be able to run.  My Garmin was nearly dead so I used Strava on the iPhone and had really no clue what I was doing.  Quite a surprising pace, no wonder I felt like I was dying!

Jennifer and I did back / arms / abs for weights then Yoga.  After a particularly tough pose Renee will ask "Are we still friends?"  Love this.  At the end of class Jennifer and I were zombies and said, "We are best friends, this was perfect."

Neither of us won at music BINGO, oh well.  Fat Belly's was uber crowded, guess the nice weather brings people out.

Wednesday - Faith had to help her boyfriends kid so we couldn't run together, it sucked,  Really.  We aren't always able to get together and I"m really starting to like running with people.   How about you?  Solo runs or runs with a friend or runs with multiple friends?  Pros / Cons  Likes / Dislikes  My Garmin was charged and I ran my usual route, just not the face on the head (the path I run at work is a head)  so it was a Faithless and Faceless run, ha ha ha....

Took Gizzy on a pre-dinner stroll.  The closer it got to 6:30 the faster his pace, funny how that works!

Thursday - windy run, I should have done the usual route clock stupid, may have been less of a biting wind.  The wind off the river was unpleasant, no that it too tame, it SUCKED!!

I got home feeling slightly domestic and cooked and knitted.... it happens.

I've been mega ditz lately and when I looked at the rice I cooked to go with the Chicken Teriyaki it looked off.  Even tasted off.  It wasn't until Dave sat down at the table and talked me through how I cooked the rice.  "Two cups of rice and two cups of water."  He suggested my ratio may be off.  I looked at him like the dogs look at us, with my head tilted.  Eventually it dawned on me 2:1 ratio not 1:1 ratio.  Obviously, I am in need of a vacation.  We had a nice laugh and I poured some more water in the pot to get the remaining rice correct.  

Friday - Jennifer's bike came in so she went to pick that up and get it fitted, blowing off our 5 at the beach.  Hey, I'd do the same if it was my bike in at Stedman's.  I did find a post on women's rides from Stedman's on Tuesday nights, starting in April.  Think that will fit in nicely to both of our schedules!!

Ro and I finally walked at lunch, it wasn't too cold for her.  And I took Gizzy for a stroll before dinner.  He is enjoying the rising temperatures.  The snow banks are still keeping him pretty contained to the sidewalks, so that is a good thing.

I thought about going for a ride when I got home.  Driving home on the wet, potholed, sandy roads I decided that can wait another week.

Saturday - Travel to NYC for the NY 1/2 expo, probably will get in not much of anything.

Sunday - NY 1/2 Marathon - ok so goals A)  2:20  B) 2:30 C) 2:40 D) do not die.   This is a race with 40,000 people, this is NOT my thing.  I will enjoy catching up with my girlfriends before and after the race, and maybe even during.  I will enjoy running around Central Park, through Times Square, down the West Side Highway and through Battery Park.  My finish time will be what it will be.  I did take it much easier this week recovering from last weeks 'long run' at Ocean's Run.  Maybe I can surprise myself, maybe not.  This one was never about the race or the time, it was about seeing "The City" from a different vantage point.

Sincerely,
Beth, embracing perspective

Three Things Thursday

The spring weather is springing forth like the damn clocks on Sunday.  I'm still not recovered from that lost hour of sleep.

When I opened up this post I had three things top of mind and now that the post is open and I'm typing, I'm clueless.

Oh yeah

1)  vocabulary.  In an effort to "tart up" the jackasses I work around we've all subscibed to a word a day thing.  Not many of them stick.  This one did, of course it did.

bor·bo·ryg·mus

ˌbôrbəˈriɡməs/

noun

technical

noun: borborygmus; plural noun: borborygmi

1. a rumbling or gurgling noise made by the movement of fluid and gas in the intestines.

So when I sat down with my lunch of some sort of taco salad created by the cafeteria, it started flying...  the banter, not the gas. 

 

Of course a little googling around and wouldn't you know a comic...

 

Fitting considering we work on a research campus

 

 

2) it is a small small world.  Jennifer went to Chariho High School, as did her brother, some how it came up in conversation that many of the fast runners in the Westerly Track and Athletic Club are Chariho graduates.   

 

3) no good deed goes unpunished.  I was attempting to solicit some support for a project out of headquarters.  In my notes I put "commitment issues, finding someone new"  meaning, the person was upfront and said Beth, I can't, I'll find you someone who can.  I forwarded my Excel spreadsheet list of 'champions' and notes to the team leader to let her know where I was with the project.  Well, she forwarded this on, to let the rest of the team know good progress was being made, and then my phone starts ringing.  First, a call with the persons boss about the 'uncooperative' person.  Then a follow up call with persons bosses boss to make sure that what I said I meant by what I wrote was the truth.  Holy guacamole.  I'll never get that time back. 

Sincerely,
Beth, happy it is Thursday!

 

 

Ocean's (not quite a) 1/2 Marathon - Recap

Let me be completely honest, I haven't run long since the 1/2 on October 12th (Newport).  Long to me is 10 or more miles.  I've run a couple 9s, maybe a few days of doubles touched on 8. Seriously, this was at best a training run.  I had a goal of a sub 2 for this 1/2, the first 1/2 of the year.  The training didn't happen so it didn't happen.  Am I upset? No.  Am I disappointed? No.  Am I happy?  Yes, why wouldn't I be?  I smiled across the finish line.  I finished, I didn't call a cab, I had enough fitness, stamina, and gumption to get from the start to the finish, granted it was "only" 12.7 miles it was not 13.1.

Going into this I knew it was going to be a struggle sub 2 hours was off the table.  Even a course PR (2.17) was questionable.  I set my goals as such:

A)  1 hour after Muddy (who I also predicted would win)

B)  2:30

C)  Don't call a cab

D) Don't Die

Ok so how did Muddy get wrapped up in this whole thing?  The first time I ran this I was in decent condition, I think I am a bit fitter now, although I am two years older and nearly 10 lbs heavier - shit happens with these cold winters, don't judge.   2013 Mike Galoob won at 1:17 and I was 2:17.  Completely arbitrary.   It worked for me.

I dropped back to 2:30 because it is a nice 'round' number, very curvy!

Rhode Island has had snow, wicked feet of snow, it was not going anywhere.  This bunged up the start and finish line.  Kinda hard to start and end on a field when that, and all the rest of the fields resembled those in "Fargo" - you know the one where Steve Buscemi's character, Carl Showalter, buried the briefcase of cash by a fence and put a red ice scraper as a marker. 

Snow covered, and while there wasn't 'blizzard fencing' there were stone walls (New England has more stone than they know what to do with - walls everywhere).  I vowed if I did see a red ice scraper I was digging for the brief case of cash, because yeah, that could happen!!

The roads, for the most part, were clean, there were spots of ice and snow, mostly easy to get around.

Because of all this snow the ample parking was not so and we were asked to carpool, cars of 3 would be allowed to park in the close lot.  Being one who really does like to follow the rules I arranged to meet up with Jennifer and Angie, to make 3 to a car to get to the closer lot.  As we pulled in and saw cars of 1 I was annoyed, really?  But Kathy said, cars of 3.  The three of us went a bit out of our way to meet up to be a car of three.  Grrrrr....  my only bitch.

The course is nice, three out and backs where you can see the front runners.  Saw the guys and gals from my track club for the first one.  The second one, my pace slowed and I only caught a glimpse of Mikey and Shara as they floated by.

Jennifer caught up with me at Mile 4 and said "Momma this isn't like you."  I wished her well and assured her there was a porta potty at the end of this road, there was but damn the road was longer than either of us thought!  And chased her down the road.

We were coming on the third time we'd pass the front runners on an out and back.

Thing was there was a 30 minute head start for those figuring on a 3 hour finish, nice thing for Kathy to add, this started to get confusing at this point in the race when I saw people coming towards me that were definitely slower than my pace.  Hmmm did I make a wrong turn?

Eventually I saw Muddy, looking solid, but I wasn't sure if he was in first or second.  He was certainly working hard.  Along comes Gazelle, The Illustrious Seth, Mikey, and Shara.

About mile 7 water stop I started stopping and chatting with the volunteers.  Why not, right?  Gave me a break and perhaps entertained them? Perhaps not?


I had a porta potty break at mile 11, it wasn't going to wait.  Did make the last mile feel much better though, why hadn't I done this earlier????   

At the end of the day it was a fun race, I live in a beautiful area and am happy to run these roads for fun or competition, well more for fun.  I need to work on the competition part!!

As we were walking back to Jennifer's car Angie announces this was her first Half Marathon!   What a secret to keep!  We had not only not dying and not calling a cab but a first to celebrate.  We met up with some friends (Don and Steve) at the Rathskeller in Charlestown, lured by a free beer (it was bud light, Steve and I passed and opted for a Berkshire Brewing Company Coffee Nitro Porter (my favorite) and a bottle of J Lohr Cab for Don, Jennifer and Angie to split.  Hmmmm, guess we did call a cab, ha ha ha ha.... yeah that was reaching.

The swag was nice a soft cotton long sleeved shirt and a pint glass!

Oh and I finished in 2:25:59, and Muddy in 1:13:46 he came in second by seconds.  Full Results Here.  I met B,C,D goals.  I'll call that a win and enjoy drinking a nice porter or stout from the pint glass.  Or maybe water? Maybe I should work on losing the beer gut!

Sincerely,
Beth, first long race of the season, done, benchmark for the rest set!

PS the beer tasted better than water...