this is why

So the Trek was cold and rainy and fantastic. All night at Sunday River I listened to the rain beating down (and to the 8 other people in the little dorm room snoring and tossing and turning) and thought about how horrible of a ride it was going to be. It would be wet and I'd be riding without my friend. But in the morning, I sat and ate my power bar and sipped coffee and chatted with strangers and started to get excited. I met up with Anne and found Ken, and we took off. I was drenched by the bottom of the first hill. But from that point on, I couldn't get any wetter so I just rode. I cranked up the 3 mile hill, and then just bombed down. My heart was pumping, the rain was pelting me, dirt was flying up into my face and I was laughing. The second 30 miles went by in a blur. I felt so good, I just kept pushing and pushing.
Saturday morning my legs felt pretty dead and I was afraid I'd pushed too hard. But after 15 or so miles, I got into it and felt good again. I rode alone and kept a comfortable pace. I did gorge a little on pizza and ice cream at the end, but I deserved it right? There was a great band playing, Sally and the Smelts. It was nice to just sit and sip a beer and listen. We ate an early dinner and then just sat and talked for a couple hours. I felt very comfortable with everyone the whole weekend. I'm fine being alone, but I never felt that I had to be alone.
Sunday we were up early again, and I started with Anne and Kim. I lost them fairly quickly, but ended up riding with a couple for a long time. I forget how brutal the third day is. The hills are relentless and the wind was against us. The 3 of us took turns pulling the other 2. I'm not sure how much we were really drafting, I think it was mostly mental, just having company. Ken came up as I passed the last rest stop, and we pushed it to the end. Like the first day, something came over me and I just was on fire. Coming down the final 2 miles, with people lining the streets cheering and screaming I was peddling as fast as I could. It was over too soon.
Every year I think about not riding because I hate raising the money. But every year I am so glad I do. Everyone riding is just so supportive and into making it a fun experience. It's hard, but not impossibly so. It's about doing what you can do, and having fun doing it.

Rainy forcast

I'm off to Maine this afternoon for the Trek Across Maine, which is a 3 day ride that I've done for the past 4 years. It's a lot of fun, but this year I'm not that excited. First, my friend Quincy that I always ride with just moved to Texas so she won't be riding this year. Her mom is still riding, and I know a few other people riding as well, but well they're all older. It's not the same as Quincy. We usually pass the time making up stupid songs and telling stories. Secondly, the forecast is for rain all 3 days. Yuck. 6-7 hours a day in the cold rain doesn't sound fun. I'm trying to be positive. It's 3 days off from running, which I need because my heel is still hurting a lot. And it's 3 days away from work!

Birthday ramblings

So today is the big day- the 25th birthday. It's a lot less exciting than marathon day. Particularly because today is a Monday and I have all day meetings. However I got 2 great birthday presents. First it was sunny on Saturday. It rained all of last week and Saturday's forcast wasn't good. All I wanted was a day at the beach. In the end I got it. We did get stuck in Boston for about an hour and half because of the parade, but made it to the beach by 1:30 and stayed until 5. I dragged 2 of my friends on a walk, which they claimed was too long (it was maybe a mile) and would have done more (walking, swimming, frisbee) but everyone else just wanted to lay in the sun. So I did too, and maybe that's good for me to stop once in awhile. Then we went to a great litte restaurant right on the water and sat on the patio and had beer and dinner, followed by ice cream cake at home.
Sunday, I went to my aunt's where I got present number 2- a garmin 405. This I had directly requested as my only big present from all my relatives. I love it! I was so antsy waiting for it to charge last night so I could play with it. I took it on a 9 mile run this morning. After 3 months without my nike i-pod +, it's so nice to have that feedback. It was a little discouraging too though because I wasn't going very fast! Still I felt good on my run this morning. I definately didn't have the empty tank issue I had last week. At my aunt's yesterday I had dark chocolate brownies, then I met my Dad for dinner at an Italian place that has the BEST rolls and dipping sauce. I had 3 rolls drenched in the olive oil sauce and then could only manage a bite of my BLT pizza. I recovered enough on the car ride home to eat 5 of the chocolate chip cookies my sister made. I refuse to feel guilty it's my Birthday!

A pain in the...... heel

So for the past couple weeks I've been feeling this twinge in my heels, especially my left heel that has slowly gotten worse. I'm pretty sure it's plantar fasciitis, which I've never had before. I've got the typical symptoms- it's worse when I wake up in the morning (which is of course when I run) or after a prolonged period of sitting (which is what I do at work all day). It's not unbearable, so I'm doing what I always do, running anyway. I'm always reluctant to stop running, especially since I'm actually seeing some progress with the weight-loss, I'm down to an even 140 pounds. But it's making my runs not much fun, and I'm starting to worry that I may be doing permanent damage.

biking=great, running not so great

I had a fantastic weekend of activity. Saturday I rode with my usual biking buddy to a homemade ice cream place and farm. It was a rolling 22 miles there and the sun came out half-way. It was nice to have slept in, had coffee and breakfast, and then be out in the air. I had an amazing small coffee heath yogurt ( I had to restrain myself from getting more), and then we ended up meeting up with another woman on the ride home. It was nice to have some new company and she really pushed our pace. Heather and I have gotten pretty complacent and just chug along at 13-14 miles an hour. Saturday though we averaged 15-16. I felt so great, that I decided to bike to get my hair cut after I got home (sorry again to the poor hairdresser who had to deal with my sweaty head), bringing my total for the day to 55 miles. Saturday night we went out to the bars, and I realized yet again how over that scene I am. It's not worth the money or the calories (both the alcohol, and the pizza that I inevitably want at the end of the night). So Sunday I slept in and then went out on my own for about 25 miles on the bike. I felt great again and would have done longer, but I tried a new route and ended up back home too soon. In the afternoon I took my kayak to the lake and had a nice long paddle. The real work-out though is getting it up the huge hill and back onto my car at the end. By that point I was sunburned, tired, and starving. So I had an early dinner (this very interesting grilled watermelon with goat cheese and basalmic that I saw on TV), and then fell asleep around 8:30. Super early even for me.
Then, this morning I suffered through yet another run. It was a combination of tired legs, the humidity, and the fact I hadn't eaten in like 14 hours. And, I planned a route that was shorter than I thought, so I was back in about an hour instead of the 80 minutes I wanted to do. It's hard to make myself run circles on the side streets, when I have seen my house. On the plus side, my weight was down when I weighed myself this morning.

back on track

So I'm doing much better with the eating this week. I've been making healthy lunches and dinners, and stopping at reasonable portions. Best of all, I haven't been snacking all night. So my conscience feels much better. However physically, I'm hungry, and I feel like my running is suffering. I run first thing in the morning, literally right after I roll out of bed. Sneakers on, contacts in, i-pod in hand, and I'm out the door. The smaller dinner and the lack of night time snacking though, means I have nothing in the tank for these morning runs. Wednesday I tried to do hill repeats. They were slow painful shuffles for the first 6, and I ended up walking half-way up the last hill. I don't think there's a good solution. I need to loose this weight, and I'm not going to get up earlier to eat and then let it settle before I run. Besides, if I ate breakfast at 6 am I would be ready for lunch by 10. Ideas?

And now what??

I haven't been writing, because I've fallen into the same pit that everyone falls into after a marathon. I don't know what to do with myself. Physicially I felt great! I forced myself to take 1 day off completely, and then stuck to the elliptical and swimming for a week. This week I was back at it full time:

Monday: 7 mile run, pilates
Tuesday: Kickboxing in the am, then punk rope at night (a ton of fun!)
Wednesday: 6 mile run (hills)
Thurs: 20 mins bike, 40 mins elliptical, hour and half of cardio kickboxing (with like a million squats and lunges
Fri: 50 minute run with 8 minute pick-ups.

I was exhausted this morning, but I think that's just from the million lunges last night. And I'm exhuasted in general, which i think is fair. I haven't slept past 7:30 am in months. In the past month I've been to Dubai, ran a marathon, and moved.

And now I'm done with it all and feeling a little lost. I do have the trek across Maine in June, but I'm not looking forward to it as much as usualy because Quincy isn't doing it. And I'm having a lot of trouble fund raising. Any one want to pledge me?

http://www.mrsnv.com/evt/e01/part.jsp?rid=895389&id=2078&acct=8010308676

feeling good

So I'm almost at the 48 hour post marathon mark and I feel shockingly good. Enough soreness to remind me that I did something, but nothing terrible. I was more sore after the half, and 20 miler in all honesty. Yesterday I forced myself to take the day off, which for me is huge. Today I did 45 easy minutes on the elliptical. I felt fine. I'm really tired today but I think that's just because I didn't sleep well. Too much green tea with my sushi, and then noise in the hotel.
I'm finding it hard to grasp what I did. A marathon. I ran a marathon. The same girl who the first day of track in Junior High though she was going to die during the half mile warm-up. I was wearing these horrible un-lined wind pants, which were plastered to my legs. I was a gymnast- I could launch myself into the air, flip around multiple times, and land on my feet with no problem. Yet the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other seemed impossible. By the end of season I could manage the warm-up with no problem, and decided to run a mile a day during the off season to stay in shape. That mile turned into 3, and then 6, and then 13. Each time I did a new distance I thought that was the farthest I'd ever go, and then I went farther. And now 26.2...... will that be it?

26 done now for the 25!

Hey, guess what I did today? I ran a marathon! I have never been so nervous before a race in my life. I was awake at 5 am yesterday and today, and could barely choke down a few sips of coffee and some dry cereal. I was glad it was an 8 am start.
The start was pretty disorganized: the half and full runners were all together, and not sorted by pace. I was too near the front for my liking, but everyone went out slowly. I almost started crying when the gun went out. This is something I've been thinking about for 5 years, and I've run enough to know how hard it would be.
It was hard, but not horrible. The course was hillier than I expected, but not as hilly as Maine so I was okay. It wasn't quite as senic as I expected either. A lot of industial warehouse areas. My biggest complaint is that the food and water stops weren't spaced properly. The only goo was at 8.5 and 21, so I carried my own, but there was no water in the 6-7, and 13-14 mile ranges when I wanted to take it. So I took my first gel at 7.5, the second at 14.5, and the last at 21. It was perfect, I never hit the wall and I never felt overly queasy.
The whether was decent too. It was fairly sunny the first hour, and then clouded over. I went from being a little hot to a little cool, but never too much so. I brought my i-pod, which I'm very glad for. I wasn't running with anyone and it did help distract me. I ran with another woman my age for about 4 miles in the middle and it was nice to have someone to talk with.
I didn't lock myself into a plan. I drank when I wanted too, and then the last 6 let myself walk a minute every mile, plus one hill. I was ready to be done, but I wasn't dying, and I really kicked the past .2
Then I had my space blanket, but I couldn't find my Mom, so I borrowed a cell phone and called her. She was back at the 25 mile mark freaking out because I hadn't gone by and she thought I was hurt. I got 3 bottles of water, which I drank right away, and streched while I waited for her. Then, I had a heavenly massage because my neck was killing me. I was still moving pretty well, so we walked over to the mall for a frozen yogurt which was the only thing I could stomach. Then my fantastic Mom treated me to a pedicure, which actually hurt a lot because I have a huge blood blister at the tip of my big toe. But my feet look a heck of a lot better.
I'm on the bed at my hotel now, trying to muster the energy to get some ice. It might not happen.
So the 26 is done. Now it's time to move into the new house and celebrate the 25th birthday.

Swine Flu?

I just haven't been able to recover since I got back. When I was in Dubai I was sleeping 4 hours a night and I felt great. Back home I've been sleeping 12 hours a night and feel horrible. I had a sore throat, stuffy nose, fever, and my stomach didn't feel great. I was hoping it would go away, but instead it's gotten worse. Today I had to leave work because I was so sick to my stomach. I've managed about 6 saltines and a few sips of water. And the marathon is 3 days away...... And of course this swine flu epidemic is making me nervous. I'm sure I don't have it, but I was a lot of airplanes and in a lot of strange places.

Dubai day 2

Just a warning, this post has nothing to do with running. But my training this morning was cancelled, so I have a few extra minutes and I want to document this, if only for myself.

Yesterday was a long day at the hospital, 8:30-6, but actually pretty interesting. We went on a tour of the entire facility, and then the afternoon was meetings. But, luckily most of the meeting pertained to my module so I got to speak enough to keep myself awake. I was amazed at how receptive everyone is to my input. Basically the MT USA is like God to them, they'll listen to everything we say. I feel a little bad for the MT South Africa consultants because they get ignored. But they are amazingly knowledgable, and are very used to finding work-arounds for non standard situations. Obviously they have to be because their hospitals are so radically different, from rural barely functioning facilites in Botswana to state of the art facilties here in Dubai. I'd actually love to work for them for a year- but I'm not sure MT USA would let me go. And, I'm quickly setting into my spoiled comfortable life.

We had about 45 minutes after we finished and before we left for dinner, so I set out to find an alarm clock. The hotel is quite luxurious, but doesn't have alarm clocks and their sense of time is a little lax here for asking for a wake-up call at 6, means you'll get one sometime before 7. There was this really nice juice bar on the way to the shopping plaza, and I'm on a mission to have as much mango as possible so I stopped. It was delightfully cool inside, and they treated me like a princess. I was just going to get a smoothie to go, but they pulled up a soft stool for me, helped me go over the menu, and then brought me free samples, and a puzzle for while I waited. I feel a little wierd being served like that, but that's the way it is every where here. The smootie was amazing, big hunks of mango and berries.
We went to Jumeriah Madinat Souk for dinner, which is this fancy tourist souk over by the super expensive hotel. It was like being in a movie. It was canals and candle light and fancy shops. I convinced everyone to go to the Persian restaurant instead of the steak house, and it was amazing. They brought pita bread, cheese, and all these fresh herbs (lemon basil, mint, chives, anise) for starter, and then I got this spinach with fried onions and dried yogurt as an appetizer. For my main course I got this stew with chicken, walnuts and pommegranite. It was so dark and rich and amazing on top of fluffy, light jasmine rice. I was tempted to go back to the hotel with the early crown, but I fought my loser intincts and stayed late. We wandered the stalls, and then went to the center open bar for drinks and a hooka. I actually liked the hooka, it's not like a cigarette at all, it's light and smoky. But, to preserve my lungs I only had a couple puffs. It was warm and lovely, and great people watching. There's no typical person here, it really is a global city and you hear hundreds of languages. You see burkas and traditional dress next to mini-skirts and high heels.

Dubai

So I survived the 14 hour plan ride, but just barely. I think I slept for maybe 3 hours, and the rest of time I tried to watch movies and read. But I couldn't get into either. Mostly I sat and worried about what this was doing to my body. At one point my left quad really started to hurt and I was sure I had a blood clot. The guy in the isle seat was passed out the whole time, so every time I wanted to get up I either had to jump over him or wake him up. Neither was pleasant, I limited myself to 4 outings. I did some yoga in the bathroom (not an easy feat) and walked the length of the plane a few times.
I brought my running shoes, and thought that I might get in a few early morning runs before it gets too hot. However, there is no such thing as not too hot here. It was still 95 at 8 pm last night. Plus, even though people say this is an extremely safe city, I don't feel comfortable running alone, especially in little shorts and a tank top. Compared to other Middle Eastern countries this is pretty Westernized, but women should still dress conservatively. This presents a problem, when it's a 100 degrees out. I am dripping sweat after a 5 minute walk, much less after a run.
So the elliptical it is for me, which I suppose is probably good for my shins, but it's not so good for the mind.... I get so bored! Oh well, I need some way to burn off all the curry I'm eating!

ready or not?

I'm at the point in my training where I'm starting to worry that I haven't done enough, but it's too late to do anything about it. On Saturday I did a 2.5 hour run. I was at home, on Southport, which is much hillier than where I run in MA during the week. I really don't think there is any stretch longer than 1/8 that is flat. I barely made the 2.5 hours. In the marathon I'd still have at least an hour and half to go. I know Providence won't be as hilly, but it might be hot, which scares me even more.
Sunday, I was feeling guility after eating massive amounts of Easter candy and treats, so I went out on my bike for about an hour and half. Again, in Maine there's no such thing as an easy ride because of the hills.
Subsequently, my legs have felt dead all week. Monday, I chugged through 5.5 miles; Tuesday I pretended to squat and lunge my way through kickboxing; and today I pushed out another 6 miles. Am I trying to do too much? I just really feel like I need to get in as much as possible this week, because starting Saturday I'll be in the desert of the Middle East. The heat, and a very busy work schedule, will severely limit my running. Then, I'm back and it's just a few days till the race. Clearly, I am not good at letting go and trusting that things will be okay.

this thing called life

Life needs to slow down. All of a sudden I feel like I'm being pulled in a thousand directions, but none of them is helping me prepare for my marathon. A friend was looking to move and asked if I'd be interested in sharing a house for her. I said yes, and boom, all of sudden my nights are taken up with looking at houses. Finally last night we found the perfect house. Now, I'm rushing around like crazy trying to get it. I have a feeling they're going to want me to move in for May, aka the same weekend as my marathon. I don't exactly consider moving a taper, more like a mad sprint. And I can't wait and move after the race, because I have back to back work trips.
So that's the moving problem.
Then there's work. Somehow the way my travel schedule worked out, I've been sitting in the office for the last couple months, and now I'm basically gone for the next 3 months. When I'm on the road, things just pile up. Plus, it usually involves me running in the dark in some strange place, not sleeping much, and eating a lot of crap. Also not the best taper.
And then there's grad school, I'm taking an epidemiology class this spring and it just started getting hard. It's not that hard, but I just dont have a lot of time and energy to devote to it.
I could go on, but I'm sure you don't want to hear it. Plus, I'm kind of bumming myself out, so I'll try to end on a positive note. I tried the 6 am spin class this morning and it was actually fun. I had this idea that I totally hated spinning, but I didn't today. So that will be a good low impact, early morning alternative.

me + steven runner = perfectly timed marathon

I was listening to Pheddipidations yesterday morning when I was running and Steve was talking about how he now has 5 weeks to train for Boston. Basically he has to cram for his marathon. I have the opposite problem. I did my 20 miler, and now I have a whole month before my marathon! If you averaged the two of us out, you'd have a perfectly timed marathon.

I'm not sure what to do with myself in these weeks before. I don't want to run too much, because I know my body can't take it, or my mind for that matter. The idea of running 16-20 miles by myself for the next few weeks is not a happy one. Everyone else is doing Boston, so I've lost all my running buddies. Plus, I've got a trip to Dubai thrown into the mix, which I'm sure will do a number on my body. It's going to be a long plan ride, not much sleep, and probably a lot of eating and not much running. I hate treadmills and I hate the heat, so that doesn't give me a lot of running options in a desert.

I'm going to stop now, because this post doesn't have much of a point, much like my running these days.