Christmas Eve 9

Despite the overwhelming desire to sleep in on Saturday morning (especially since The Pilot came home late Friday night), I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed to run. I made it out of the house about an hour later than planned but I told myself it was ok, it was a holiday!

As I was leaving the house, I told The Pilot I was planning to run somewhere between 9 and 12 miles. After rolling my ankle, I didn't want to push it too hard. Mentally, I wanted to get in another 12 miler. I tend to hit the wall at 10 miles and by pushing past that in training, it makes it easier to push past it during the race. It's technically taper time though so getting in fewer than 12 miles is not a big deal.

I got off to a rough start. After my usual warm up walk, it felt like I was learning to run all over again. My legs felt heavy! I was instantly regretting the lack of water and sleep the day before. Oh well, I kept pushing, knowing that by mile 3 or 4, I would start to feel better.

The thing is, I really struggled through the entire thing. When I got to mile 4, I was already dragging. I made the decision to turn around at 4.5 so I could finish up with a total of 9. No shame in a 9 mile run on a holiday, during what should be the taper period, right? Miles 4-6 weren't too bad but after that, my stomach started to feel a little hollow and I was dragging. By mile 7, I started a run/walk. My walk breaks were only about 30 seconds but with my energy levels dropping quickly, those 30 seconds were much needed. I know that on race day, I won't be feeling this way. I'll be properly hydrated and rested the day before and I'll properly fuel during the race. I don't mess around before/during a race when I have a specific goal in mind.

The last mile felt like it lasted an eternity, even though I was averaging race pace for that mile. I was ready to be done and go home and spend time with The Pilot.

Despite the entire 9 miles dragging on an on and feeling worse than last weekend's 12 miler, I still finished in 1:56. Just a few seconds off race pace. Again, very reassuring since I took several walk breaks.
For the rest of the day (and even into Christmas day), my legs felt heavy. They were fatigued, tight and sore. Boo! I didn't expect that. Let the taper madness begin! I did remind myself that it was nothing like what I was feeling last Christmas when I was chugging through my peak week and then taper madness right before the Goofy Challenge. Never.again.

Despite the set backs in the last couple weeks, I'm feeling pretty confident that I will nail this PR in 10 days. We also found out that The Pilot will be able to be my sherpa super spectator again. I have already informed him that I might cry either way- if I PR or if I don't. No guarantees either way. I like to keep him on his toes like that. It keeps our marriage interesting if you ask me. ;)

A Tradition

For the past 20ish years, my family had gotten together with some longtime friends to watch the movie, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and eat what we affectionately refer to as the "Christmas pizza." The attendees of this annual Christmas tradition have varied over the years as some of us "kids" have moved around a little and have gotten married but this year, we were all in town, including The Pilot. If you're not familiar with the movie, you may want to stop reading now because the rest of this post will seem INSANE.

To spice it up a little this year, everyone was to either bring a prop from the movie or dress up as a character. We've talked about doing this for years and we finally went for it.

Having no shame, The Pilot and I dressed up and so did my brother and his family.

"Why is the carpet all wet, Todd??"
"I don't know Margo!"

The Pilot and I were Todd and Margo, the Griswold's next door neighbors. We didn't go all out and purchase silver sweat suits to really be authentic but I did try to make my hair as large and as frizzy as possible.

Cousin Eddie, Catherine, Ruby Sue and Rocky

My brother's kids are probably wondering what the h- is going on....especially since my nephew's hair was gelled and their dad was wearing a women's bathrobe. These poor kids are going to need therapy for sure.

Some of the movie "props" included:

Aunt Bethany, does your cat eat Jell-O?

She wrapped up her damn cat!

Have you checked our s**tters, honey?

SQUIRREL!!!!

I'm not kidding you when I say that all of us....as in everyone in attendance...has a Beanie Baby squirrel tucked into our Christmas trees. Doesn't everyone do this? I guess not because I had some explaining to do last Christmas when I was telling The Pilot about my family's Christmas traditions.

Unconventional? Maybe, but this is one of my favorite annual traditions. We always have fun watching the movie (and saying the lines along with the movie) but it's great to spend some time with wonderful friends...friends who appreciate your sense of humor.

Happy Festivus

As The Pilot's birthday approached last year, I asked him what he wanted. His response was "Nothing, I don't need anything." I should have accepted the free pass but I'm a gift giver. I enjoy picking out gifts for other people. And I love birthdays. I think everyone should have a day to be celebrated! So I told him, that I was going to get him something. Realizing he wasn't going to win that battle, he made one request. He asked for a Festivus pole. I didn't exactly know what Festivus was at the time but I had heard of it and knew it was some kind of Seinfeld reference (I was one of the few people alive in the 90s that didn't like the show).

So The Pilot wanted a Festivus pole but he also had stipulations. While it was ok to spend money on the pole, it had to be purchased used. It couldn't be something purchased new in a store. I could find one, steal one or purchase a reused/recycled pole. What?? I was a little stumped but I did what any grown woman would do in a jam....I called my dad. I explained the parameters of the gift. He told me he'd call me back. Ten minutes later he called and said he had 2 options. Seriously? I stopped at my parents' house to see my options. That man had a aluminum fence post in his basement along with a steel rod from an old vaulted ceiling fan. Who has that stuff in their basement? My dad.

So for The Pilot's birthday last year, he received the Festivus Pole. I think the only day I've seen him happier was our wedding day...kidding. So I guess we are a Festivus celebrating family as this has now reappeared in the living room:
Yes, it's as tacky in real life as it is in bloggy pictures. It is tied to the basement stairs railing with some string.

I love me some Christmas though so it's a split household and the Christmas tree is also in the living room:
Still not sure if we will "celebrate" all of the Festivus activities such as the airing of grievances:
Frank Costanza: "And at the Festivus dinner, you gather your family around, and tell them all the ways they have disappointed you over the past year!"

Or the feats of strength where the head of the household selects one person and challenges that person to a wrestling match. The verdict is still out on who is actually the head of the household but considering there are only two of us, there's going to be a wrestling match somewhere in the living room between the Festivus pole and the Christmas tree. Once the head of the household (whomever that is!) is pinned to the ground, Festivus is officially over and we can move on to Christmas.

This is all totally normal, right?? Happy Festivus!

Is it Spring?

We are just days away from Christmas and it got to a high of 61 here in Central Ohio yesterday. Are you kidding me? It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it's that warm out (and you aren't used to it). But you know what that temperature does get you in the mood for? An outdoor run.

I emailed Lisa yesterday to see about a run tonight but she wasn't available so we opted to go last night. And the weather was great. It had been stormy off and on all day but it cleared up and we were able to run. It felt strange running without a coat, multiple other layers, gloves, etc.

Lisa has helped me a few times with some speed work but last night we opted to just go a little longer at a steady pace. When I run with someone, I can fairly easily pick up the pace a little so just by running a steady pace with Lisa, I was running faster than I do when I'm on my own.

The first 2.5 miles were nearly all uphill and into the wind and while I whined a little, I knew it meant it would be smooth sailing once we turned back around. Ha....that is until we were crossing a dark overpass. It was hard to see and with water on the sidewalk, I couldn't see that there was a hole in the sidewalk. Naturally I dropped my right foot into said hole and rolled my ankle...again. Ouch. It hurt pretty bad so we stopped to walk. We had less than a mile to go. Boo! I really wanted to see how fast we could get in all 5 miles though so my stubborn/competitive streak won out over the sore ankle and we started to run again. It actually felt better to run so we cruised on back to Lisa's house.

5 miles in 1:02....faster than my goal race pace! Even with the walk breaks and a rolled ankle. And only a few seconds slower than my last 5 miler....also known as the sweatfest.

I'm sort of glad to see that the crazy weather today was short lived. The high today is supposed to be 48 and the high on Friday is 38. Gotta love Central Ohio...but I do prefer it to be cold for Christmas. :)

12 miles...

I'm totally catching up on my mileage posts. It was 11 miles two weekends ago and 12 miles this past weekend.

So after dropping 5 pounds in 4 days, I was FULL of energy for my planned 12 miler. Not so much. I had only been eating normal meals for less than 48 hours when I set out for 12. It was also my first run since rolling my ankle (can you say hot mess?). The Pilot was home and I promised him that I would take it easy and turn around for home if there was any pain in my ankle or otherwise had any trouble. Normally if The Pilot is home, he would tag along with me on his bike or roller blades but I gave the poor guy my cold so he wasn't feeling so great. We were both hoping that I didn't pass along my stomach bug as well.

We were planning to leave for Indiana around noon to visit with his family so that meant I needed to get out the door and knock out the miles so we could get on the road. Because of the time constraints, I didn't meet up with the team at the normal trail and instead headed to the trail near our house.

I had to do a run walk combo for the first 3 miles. That was pretty discouraging. I just couldn't seem to find my groove. My ankle felt fine but my breathing was all out of whack and my shins were giving me trouble. But like usual, once I got past 3 miles, I finally found my rhythm and chugged along.

Proof that my stomach was still recovering from whatever I had, my Shot Blok at mile 5 didn't sit well. Blah. I considered turning around but with only 1 more mile until my turnaround, I kept going. I texted the Pilot at mile 6 to tell him that I was indeed going to do all 12 miles....at the 6 mile turnaround, I didn't have a choice.

A lot of people around here hate the Hilliard Rail Trail. Personally, I don't mind it unless it is 90 degrees and the sun is out. There is NO shade on this trail (it used to be a railroad track). It's straight, flat and kind of baron, especially once you get past the 3 mile marker. You don't see too many people once you get past mile 3. Usually the only people out there are the other marathoners and the occasional cyclist (or lots of cyclists in the summer). Most people would be bored out of their minds out there but for some reason, I enjoy the open space. The sky feels bigger out there and I really think it gives me the chance to clear out my head. No claustrophobia out there. For some reason, this song comes to mind.

As I took in the open space, I ate another Shot Blok at mile 7. This one didn't go over well either. Despite drinking lots of water with it, my stomach was angry. All I could think about was how many miles I was away from the World's Cleanest Port-a-potty. After about 1/2 a mile though, my stomach seemed to settle down. This is when it started to snow. It was a real fine, wet snow that wasn't sticking to the ground but it was pretty cold on the side of my face. It was a cold 4 miles to back to the car.

Normally I don't listen to music when I run/walk but 12 miles alone is a long time so I brought along the ipod. When on the trail though, I only put one ear bud in so I can still hear my surroundings. I have officially decided that I am in serious need of new music. It was the worst running playlist ever. I tried to throw some songs together that would keep me moving but it was pretty lame. And then I must not have read the playlist correctly because it should have been just long enough to last for 12 miles. At mile 10 though, the playlist ended. Fail. Mile 10 is my "bite-me mile." I mentally have trouble getting past that mile. This is the reason the 11 and 12 milers were so important to me. I needed some mental toughness so I don't stop running and walk the rest of the race. I dug the ipod out of my coat and flipped to another playlist, which was equally as lame. When I say lame, I mean that the 1997 Jock Jams was involved. If anyone has any suggestions for a new and improved playlist, I'm open! I need something with a beat that will keep me moving faster than 12:45 per mile!

I was hoping to avoid eating another Shot Blok because my stomach got so weird with each one but just before I got to mile 11, my stomach was growling something fierce. Since getting sick, I can't let my stomach get empty without starting to feel nauseous (and for the record, I am not prego!). I knew if I didn't put something in my stomach, I would get nauseous and dizzy. I ate one tiny bite off the last Shot Blok. It was just enough to settle my stomach from feeling hungry but within minutes, my stomach was all kinds of mad. I did a random mix of running and walking for the entire last mile. I was really disappointed but kept trying to remind myself that I was going to make it all 12 miles as planned. Not bad considering my health (or lack of) over the past couple weeks.

I came strolling back to my car in 2:35. Which, when I subtract the time I had to stop for cars to cross 2 streets, is right at the pace I need to PR at Disney in a couple weeks. In other words, I would still have 18 minutes to run in the last 1.1 miles. I could walk the last mile if needed. I'm feeling confident with my training and where I'm at right now. I think I will do one more 11 or 12 miler before tapering off to rest up for the race. Only 16 more days! Woah.

11 miles...

It's the week of Christmas and I've already had 4 Christmas celebrations (5 if you count the luncheon at work) in addition to all of the sicknesses. That's my excuse for lack of blog posts and I'm sticking with it.

On December 10 I headed out for what I was hoping to be an 11 miler. I had somewhat low expectations because I was recovering from both the sinus infection that turned into a cold. I loaded up on antibiotics, Dayquil and headed out the door. This girl has a PR to smash.

I headed out early so I could get in some miles before meeting up with my teammates. With the wind chill it felt like 11 degrees. Chilly! I did my usual 3 minute warm up walk and then tried to run. The lungs and the legs both felt like they had never run before. Adding to the challenge was this:
Large portions of the trail were flooded and because it was so cold, it looked like a skating rink. After climbing through the bushes to get around some of the water/ice, I kept heading north until I saw this:
Crap. I went onto the mulch path that runs parallel to the paved trail (and further from the river) but I prefer the pavement. The mulch would normally act as a cushion which is good but the ground was frozen so it just made it difficult and unstable to run on. I felt like I was going to roll my ankle so after about nearly 2 miles, I turned around to head back to the team's meeting place. I also texted the other coaches and suggested the team head south on the trail and hoped there wasn't as much flooding in that direction.

I took a short break after close to 4 miles to meet up with the team briefly and then headed back out to finish up the remaining 7 miles. My normal run buddies weren't there but it was nice that the others were out there because as I was still heading out, the others started to turn around and pass me in the opposite direction. It's nice to have familiar faces to wave to and cheer for. Maybe that's just a TNT thing. We don't just say hi, we almost always exchange encouraging words. And I needed it. I was a snotfest. The lingering cold was really putting a damper on my run. I was sort of bummed out that I was still not 100% but at the same time, it felt great to be getting some fresh air and some time to clear my head.

When I made it back to the starting point, I somehow still had 1/2 mile to go. Crap. Some of my fellow coaches and teammates were still standing around and started cheering for me when they saw me coming closer. I love them! I yelled out that I still had 1/2 mile to go and kept running on by. When the Garmin said I had traveled another .25, I turned around. When I got back to where everyone was waiting though, that darn thing said 10.99 miles. Pre-Garmin I would have said close enough (well, pre-Garmin I won't have known I had shorted the run by such a small amount) but I couldn't very well post a picture of my Garmin with a 10.99 reading and called this blog post 11 miles now could I? So I jogged around in circles until that Garmin showed this:

11 miles in 2:25. Not race pace but considering the trek through the bushes, slowing down for icy patches and the snotfest in general, I was ok with the average time. I was pleased just to get 11 miles done!

Through the afternoon, I felt pretty good. Not too much soreness from the run and my snotfest seemed to have finally ended. And then it went to hell again. Right around bed time I started to feel a little nauseous. And then a lot nauseous. I then spend the next 4 days not able to eat real food but I already whined about that. I'm not really catching a break during this PR smashing training season but I'm still plugging along. I like to think that I'll be mentally tough come race day because of all of the challenges!

Weekday Veg

I loved the encouraging words from my Turkey Free Turkey Day post. Jana, over at Running Vegetarian, recently made her own post about how even being a "mostly vegetarian" can be healthier and more environmentally and animal friendly. The video she posted really sparked my interest so I thought I would share.



It's pretty incredible to think how much environment damage can be prevented just be eating less meat. I won't even get started on the animals. What I like about this video is that it's not all or nothing.

I know The Pilot would admit that being a vegetarian isn't always convenient. Especially when he's often stuck in airports or hotels near the airport where there is an abundance of fast food restaurants. Can you say processed, factory farmed beef and chicken? The combination of his lifestyle and his job means that he has to take some extra steps to prepare his meals but he makes it work because it is important to him and now it's probably like tying his shoes, he just does it.

But for those just starting out, it's a challenge. Some may get discouraged and give up. While a full-on vegan or vegetarian might say that is a cop-out, I think it's the truth. The average American isn't going to go cold Turkey (no pun intended) and quit eating meat. They might have good intentions but it may prove too difficult or like with any elimination diet (Atkins or anything else that eliminates a certain type of food), they may just miss certain foods. The "weekday veg" seems like a great compromise for those not ready or wanting to become a full time vegetarian.

While I am falling into that "week day veg" category, I think my reasoning behind it is slightly different. The Pilot has really opened my eyes to where my food comes from, which has led to some of the changes I've made in my diet ( I don't think I've eaten ANY chicken nuggets since I found out exactly how the meat was processed). Also, I don't like to cook so when The Pilot is home, he cooks and is obviously making vegetarian meals. My challenge is eating out and in other social settings like potlucks or menu tastings. As an event planner, I sometimes have to go to menu tastings. I haven't figured out how to approach that if I do decide to become a full-time vegetarian. But, as a "week day veg," this isn't a problem.

So is that enough? Am I doing enough to reduce my footprint on the earth? Am I doing enough to show compassion for animals? Who really as the answers to those questions anyways...but it is some food for thought. Pun intended.