Thursday, February 24, 2011

I see Spring things. Thursday 13.

Dear Diary,

13.  WELL.  I was vastly disappointed to find that the Bighorn Trail 50K was full.  FULL.  I hadn't planned on doing another 50 mile run this year...so, shit.  I signed up. But you know, the 50 mile run is only 10 dollars more than the 50K - that's a bargain.  For only $90 they'll bus me 50 miles out, where someone will say, 'alright, get the hell out.  See you in 15 hours.'  so there it is: my June run.

12. CORD.  I lost my computer cord.  How does this happen?  I have a special knack for losing things that are in constant use.   It's just annoying.  The third day, I finally just said, to hell with this, and ordered a new one.

11. MOUNTAIN GOAT.  I got a new pair of trail shoes! the Wave (Mazuno) 5.  Men's, of course, size 8.  It has been suggested to me that one of the reasons I had so many hotspots in my other trail shoes is that the midfoot is too narrow - I've had good luck switching to men's road shoes, so I'm giving this a shot.
I took them for a short hike up/run down a trail near home that had 1000 feet of elevation gain in 1 mile.  They took me up those trails like I had steel spiked on, and up and over boulders like they were nothing.

10. OOF.  I did a 10-mile road run on Saturday.  It seemed unusually slow, and by the time I began the return trip, which is completely uphill, and then turned into a stiff headwind at mile 7, it was downright punishing.  I was feeling pretty discouraged until I realized - oh yeah, I did that 50-mile run two weeks ago.  Last time I did that distance it took nearly a month to feel like I was back on top of my legs again.

9.  YOWSA!  I mentioned before that Sweet Baboo had joined the National Guard.  He's a Captain, owing to his education and prior military experience.  I haven't seen him in a dress uniform yet but I have seen him in his ACUs.  We went to the base for the first time as an officer and his wife, and when we went through the gate, the guard ran Baboo's card and then snapped a salute.
Now, I can't for any reason fathom why this would be such a turn on for me, but there it is.  I'm increasingly attracted to the external.  I'm all, yessir, Mr. Baboo sir.  May I have another? Is that crazy?  AM I crazy?  I don't care. Yowsa.  


8.  SO ANYWAY.  The BX on base is kinda cool.  It has little sections that are kind of like Macy's, and a section that is kinda like Bed, Bath and Beyond, and others.  They have an online place.  They tend to be pretty nicely discounted, and tax-free.  The commissary is a good store, and has just about everything we might need.  Best of all, few crowds and NO PANHANDLERS.


7.  TSK, TSK.  You're taking things way too seriously if you feel the need to scold me about a blog post. Is all I'm sayin'.

6.  SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY.  I had an incredibly fun and productive day.  I have purchased The Indian Slow Cooker Cookbook and made a huge batch of wet curry, used my Zojirishi rice cooker to make large batches of brown rice and white basmati rice, and slow-cooked a bunch of chick-peas, and chicken barbecue.  All of these are cooled and then frozen in zip-lock bags for easy meals.  I try to make 3 days worth of meals on Sunday, so that when I'm at school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, Sweet Baboo has dinner waiting for him.
Also, my whole house smells divine, like curry.

5.  ONE DAY TO THE DAUGHTER PROJECT.  My daughter, who I blogged about a few weeks ago, arrives tomorrow . Ulp.  Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. Just not 100% that I'm completely ready to share my space again so soon.  I mean, I just got the last kid out of the house in 2009.

4.  SPRING!!!!  The days are getting longer.  And slightly less frigid.  And, midterms are in two weeks.  Again I will mention that this is my final semester of coursework.  Did I mention that this is my final semester of coursework?  OH BY THE WAY, THIS IS MY FINAL SEMESTER OF COURSEWORK.

3.  PARANOID.  I am a bit paranoid about possible overuse injuries. I get whispers from time to time from my IT band.

2. FEARLESS.  I find, as I complete each crazy thing (50 mile, 100k, whatever) that I am increasingly fearless.  I used to hold back when describing myself to prospective employers - thinking that one doesn't brag, it's unseemly.  No more.  I updated my resume, and I just decided, to hell with it, I'm going to make sure my resume shows prospective employers how good an employee I am.  I've worked hard to be a good addition to anyone's clinical staff.  I won't downplay that any more.

I wonder if I"m the only one who has this experience.  I realize that running, triathlon, multisport, are all very personal in the experiences that they bring to people, and the feelings that people have in accomplishing them.  So i'm wondering, what's changed for you as a result of accomplishing your goals?

1. RE-RUN.  I did not know that "control freak" was a clinical term, but it must be, because it was in a report I read this week.  Among the many other gems that were reports I read this week:
  • He suffers from hygiene.
  • He was in a fatal accident when he was four.
  • He could not use the service.  Because it was too painful.
  • The client struggles with laziness. 
Yes, these are writtem by people with master's degrees.  Sad, but true.

...

Thursday, February 17, 2011

It's Mordac's fault that I'm late: Thursday 13.

Dear Diary, 

13.  Why I'm late.  Mostly, it's because of RatBastard, the IT guy.  Last week I had asked him to delete some shortcuts from my desktop, because it was very cluttered.  I'm not administrative-y enough to do that on my own.  Most of them I don't use, and one of them was even for an accounting folder from 2009.

For some reason, he seemed very put out by this, explaining why universe-ending paradoxes would ensue, etc.  During this period he also pointed out to me that I had a very large folder, "To FIle" on my desktop.  Okee doke.  I deleted it, permanently, and told him that I had.  Then, two creepy things happened.

1) First, he deleted the shortcuts remotely, while I was working at my computer.  This tells me that he is able to access my computer while on working on it and see what I'm doing.  Given my penchant for emailing occasional annoyances and personal problems with DP, this is especially creepy.

2) Then, for some reason, five days later he presented a list of everything that was in the folder that I had deleted to my supervisor, with perhaps five files in it marked, and asked her "can you please have this employee delete these files; they appear to be personal files."  WTF?

Anyway, now I'm too paranoid to work on my blog from work.

12. New title.   I have decided hereafter that RatBastard shall be called Mordac.


For the record, back when we were still on friendly terms, I showed him this cartoon.  I asked him first if he enjoyed an occasional laugh at his own expense, and he said of course, (for the record, I now know better, almost nobody enjoys a joke at their own expense.) and then he read the cartoon and got all serious saying, well, it depends on what you mean by usability.  


11.  Work. I meet a very interesting kid this week.  He was described to me in advance as mentally retarded and extremely verbally aggressive, especially to women.  What I found was that he can't read a sentence, and he can't read expressions on people's faces or any social cues.  But, we had a conversation about the merits of the new Star Trek movie and he explained to me in detail using very age-appropriate vocabulary all the things that were wrong it, referencing early Start Trek movies and the series.  Then, he threw a couple of words in Klingon at me.

And so it is that my GeekGirl status is intact. For some reason, I am very easily able to converse with kids who are very Asperger-y.  This has always been the case.  When I was a teacher, some of the kids with high-functioning autistm would gravitate toward my room during lunch, where I kept the lights off and played Enya, and play cards.  One of them suggested that I read a book called, "The Curious Case of the Dog in the Nighttime."  Which, by the way, I highly recommend, along with, "Born on a Blue Day."
Anyway, I think these are just about my favorite kids.  When asked.  Also, "Adam".  Fantastic movie.

10.  Dog house.  Chloe the wonder dog made the decision to save me from one of a pair of leather gloves I've had for over ten years. Yes, she's still alive.  But not before incurring my wrath.  No, I didn't hit her.  I just threw the ruined glove at her and yelled a lot, and she slunk (slinked?) around for a while, knowing she was in trouble.  Then the next day I forgave her because I figured she probably couldn't remember it anyway.

9.  Leg.  A new dress I bought made it's own decision that I wasn't showing enough leg, and for the first couple hours after I put it on, I had to tug at it constantly to keep from looking like a hooker.  Just one of those things that women deal with.

8.  Hair.  It's about time I learned how to put my hair up in some sort of semi-professional way.  I guess I'll check out e-how for that.  Today I wore it using a pen as a hair stick to hold it in a bun, but that's interesting when it's used rarely.  More than that, it just looks sad.  I'm looking for easy things to do with it.

There's nothing that I love better
than, well, everything.  
7. Weight.  We are approaching spring.  This means that for the first time in as long as I can remember I will not have gained any weight over the winter.  I shall celebrate with lots of food. Oh, yes I will.  I'm thinking Chinese Super Buffet.

I've made it no secret that I am neither discerning nor a picky eater.  I'll eat anything.  Hospital food, airplane food, whatever.  It was never a problem when I had a working thyroid, but once menopause hit and my thyroid tanked, I had to take up endurance sports.  Remember: the freedom and scenery are just gravy to me.  I run for food.  

6.  Running. I went out earlier tonight and ran my beloved Green Dress loop on the trails, and did it faster than I ever had.  Of course, it didn't hurt that I was trying to outrun the impending darkness.  The sun had set and it was getting dark. Still: faster. I felt faster. And I had this odd, tall feeling that I have had on rare occasions, but it lasted througout this entire run so I had time to be with it and figure out what it was that I was feeling.  What I was feeling was that each step took me further, and I didn't have to push as much.  Of course, I still can't run up hills well.  I was too breathless.  But it's getting warmer out, and the days are getting longer, and I'M STOKED.

5.  Spring. I love that I can go to work in a sweater these days.  I can't wait for real spring to get here.  February is fake spring in NM.  Experience shows me there will be another horrible icy snow storm in March, and one in mid to late April.  But all-in-all, the days will be warmer, and longer.  The large drift on our driveway is down to being only about 6 feet long and 10 inches high.

The fluffy, kitten stage.
Just don't feed them after midnight.  
4.  Nerd.  More proof of what a nerd I am: I downloaded the torrent and eventually the file for soundtrack music from all the episodes of Bones, the TV series.  She's like, my hero.  One of these days they'll have her run a 5K, swoon, and then I'll have to buy the Temperance Brennan action figure.

3. Hairless cats.  DP got a pair of Sphinx kittens.  While these have, admittedly, a face only a mother cat could love, I am intrigued by the report that they love water, need to be bathed, and obviously, don't shed.  Very intrigued.


2. The daughter project.  My daughter has not arrived yet.  Still waiting.

1.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.  I have a contact lens stuck up under my eyelid.  I can't really feel it too much, but I know it's still there. I rubbed my eyes the wrong way last night, and it folded up and got stuck up there.  This has happened once before, and a couple days later it worked its way out, looking pretty gross, after my eye got all red and runny.  If it's not out by the weekend I guess I'll head on over to the eye doc.

Meanwhile: I'm an idiot.
...

Friday, February 11, 2011

Recovery week.

This has been a recovery week.  During the week, I dropped 6 pounds of water weight.  I don't think I've gotten around to reading why I put on 5 to 6 pounds of water after a marathon or endurance run, and remember, I. Am Lazy.  So if anyone knows it, you can post it here and that way I don't have to work hard to look it up.

This weekend, my training plan is to run 5 miles each on Saturday and Sunday.  Next week, I'm to run 4 on Tuesday, 6 on Thursday, and 10 on Saturday, for a total of 20 miles.

I have a new running partner of sorts for weekends, a regular whipper snapper in her twenties who is new to running.  She just did her very first 10K at my current PR.  I don't expect that my runs will be much challenging for her for long.  She's joining my multisport club so she'll have fast people to run with if she wishes.

The terrible winter storm, thankfully, did NOT burst my pipes (but did manage to completely freeze over our large pond from no ice to completely frozen over, complete with a burned-out pump, in four days) seems to be past.  It's supposed to be in the upper 50s and low 60s coming up.  Yay!  I"m going to spend some time planning this week how I'm going to fit in running 4 miles. I'm thinking I may go to class early and either run next door at the Y on a treadmill, or drive almost to my class and run on the north diversion channel before class.  Fingers crossed that I can overcome my laziness on one night between work and class to pull this off.

I'm also interviewing a new lunch partner at work.  You see, I like to eat lunch out from time to time, but I like to have a partner to go with.  They don't know they're being interviewed.  I have to be really care about this because, frankly, most women are just downright silly and full of drama and some are really needy,  know what I mean?  The last thing I need is someone who sits around and picks at her food and says, I wish I could lose weight, but I just don't have the time to exercise.  I've been thinking of getting a gastric bypass to get this last 20 pounds off.  

Oh, I'm up way too late.  I shouldn't have had all that Mountain Dew.

...
 

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

My Week of Luck - Thursday 13.

Early, post-sunrise at
Rocky Racoon
Dear Diary,

13.  On Monday I had a scheduled day off so, and spent the day FINALLY cleaning out the spare bedroom, the one I've been talking about for months that I want to turn into an exercise room.

12.  Tuesday, it was bitter cold (of course) but I went into work anyway.  There is a girl I work with, Daisy, who is young and perky and happy. She kept frowning at me in cute, pouty way and telling me I needed to go home because the streets were getting worse.  I finally took off around noon, and grabbed an extra day of cases on the way out, just in case.  I got home in time for things to get worse, and hung out with the dog.

11.  Sweet Baboo dropped his Blackberry early Tuesday morning while scraping snow and ice off our cars.  It fell somewhere in the thick snow in front of our house.  "Well, that's that," he said, "the water will ruin it."  We tried calling it, but the wind was howling and would couldn't hear anything.  
You can tell its cold - not by the shorts, but
by the gloves.  Himself only wears hats, also,
when it's bitter cold out.
The next afternoon, he found it and not only was it not ruined, it was still running - all because it was so bitter cold that the snow hadn't melted yet.

 10. Wednesday, I called in sick.  In truth, I had tweaked my calf muscle.  I spent the day building a fire and hanging out with the dog, who was thankful to be inside - I know because she told me - and finished all of the cases I brought home.  I also watched a lot of "Cold Case," "NCIS," and "CSI" on TV, because I'm all about the quality that way.

9.  Thursday I went in, making it the only full day I worked that week.  I took Friday off to travel to Huntsville, Texas, for Rocky. I had thought it would be nice to rest-up the week prior, but didn't count on a major winter storm canceling school (including night classes) all week long.  Rested, I was!

8.  Friday, our first flight was canceled.  When we arrived the next morning to check in our baggage for the next flight, we were the only ones in line.


Early, still cold, out by the lake.
Thankfully, no alligators. 
Which exist . In the Park.

7.  When we arrived in Huntsville, we found out that only the stretch between Houston and Huntsville was ice-free.  All other areas east, north, and west were covered with ice.  Some people just did not make it in for the race.  After spinning off the road more than once, they had to turn back.  

6.  It WAS cold at Huntsville.  There lots of frosty beards and hair, and several people using water packs had frozen tubes.  The sucky thing on my bottle clogged with ice once or twice.  One guy told Sweet Baboo that the tip of well, IT was frozen and hurt like hell (poor guy.  Never so happy to have my bits tucked inside me, where they belong).   One barefoot runner had feet so numb, he didn't realie the damage that was happening to them.  Later that night, 4 people were picked up off the course and taken to the hospital for hypothermia.  This is what comes of losing too much bodyfat, I will insist.
But, it was warmer than Albuquerque, and it was about as cold as most of my training has been for the past month.  I was acclimated.  It was perfect.

5.  I made it all the way to the kickoff without knowing who was in the superbowl, my annual goal.  I would have made it all night if it weren't for that damned fight attendance who announced the score throughout the flight.  No, I don't watch sports, and enjoy looking at someone blankly and saying, "Oh, that again?"
Unless I personally know who is in a competition, have met them, gotten to know them a bit, I just don't give a shit.  Okay, well, I do watch track and field during the Olympics, and sometimes triathlon and swimming.  Otherwise, I don't give a shit.

"Have you seen my blue ox?". 
6.  When I got home, I was up 6 lbs, but my Tanita said my bodyfat % was 27.  Normally it trends between 32% (morning, or after a long run) and 29% (evening, after I'm fully hydrated).  When I first got i in early 2009, it trended between 42% and 45%, I think.  So this means that either I left several % of fat out on the trail in Texas, or I'm incredibly bloated, or both.  Given the sudden jump in weight, I'm guessing more bloated. By Wednesday, I was already back down 4 lbs.

5.  For this race, I tried two new things, which you should never do, but they worked: a non-hydration vest, just for carrying things, and E-gels.  I heart the E-gels.  They 150 calories each, which means I can take them every 45-60 minutes instead of more often, and they have more electrolytes in them.  Plus, they are tart which makes them more palatable. For my first loop, I drank mostly water, after that Heed until late afternoon, when I switched back to water and started eating the potato soup they offered, as well as a couple of Newtons. Also on each loop: a small Lara bar, about 100 calories.

4.  Oh, and the vest worked well, too. In the back, just in case, I carried a tiny foot care first aid pack, and a wipe in case I had to go in the woods.  In the front left pocket: egels.  In the front right pocket: empty egels and other trash.

Coming in to the finish of loop 2 - I'm running out
of clothes to take off .
3.  This coming weekend, I'll be home, and so be able to do the first runs (5 and 5) of my new traning plan.  I have no injuries, no blisters, so this week has been a rest week.  Next week, I run 20 miles for the week, and my training will be mostly a short recovery run on Tuesday and one slightly longer on Thursday, and then back-to-back long runs on the weekends.  I'm training for the back-to-back marathons, and possibly the Bighorn 50K.  We'll see.

2.  Things I've learned that are important, this week: Always have some sportslick with you, at all times.  Have something warm in every drop back you can, or tied around your waist.  Always have spare batteries for your headlamp with you.  Don't leave your albuterol inhaler at home.  AND: Always have a spare pair of shoes.  My first pair of shoes were great the first 10 miles, and then they were agony.  I have a small neuroma that pops up if I don't have enough padding, and I hadn't noticed this at the Ghost Town because that had lots of climbing and descending, whereas this was lots of just flat-out running.  The last 3 miles of that loop were agony.  THen I switched to my beloved NBs.  Ahhhh. 

1.  This week I visited kiddos (girls) in kiddie prison.  One of them never had a chance: a family so dysfunctional that she was found passed out alongside her mother, also passed out, after they played a drinking game.  THis was at age 13.  That's just a small sample of her life.  Another girl had a cracked skull at a young age, but never received any special education or treatment for it, and nobody ever bothered to find out why she had such poor impulse control. 

When I leave these visits I listen to mellow, pensive songs and realize how lucky I am..  Here's one I found recently - enjoy.



...

Saturday, February 05, 2011

In which I am as fearless as a big old Armadillo: A race report.

Dear Diary,


Pre-RACE DAY

I think I must, must have it. If I can't find it, I'll
have to make it.  
Up early-ish, and to the airport.  Our early morning flight was canceled, something about winter weather, so we were put on a later flight.  We arrived at the airport and were the only ones in line.  We breezed through and headed for our gate, and settled in to do laptop stuff while waiting to board.

I was momentarily annoyed that the place where we usually get our pre-flight supplies (quad latte for him, diet redbull for me) was all out of diet redbull.  Then I had to laugh at myself: I'm running 50 miles tomorrow.  I think one 110-calorie redbull won't hurt.

I.  <3  RedBull.  It gives you wings, you know?

On the plane, I worked on my schedule for the spring, copying and pasting info from my three syllabusss (syllabi?) into one master sheet so that I can keep track of all that has to be done every weekend.

We arrived in Houston, where the first smell upon walking off the plane and into the airport was fried--something.  Fried anything is the official smell of the south, after all...especially the southern Gulf.  In Houston, it was cold and grabbed our rental - we purposefully chose a hideous lime green midsize - and headed north to Huntsville.

We checked into the Days Inn and I was apoplectic to discover an abundance of outlets!  They were everywhere!  My biggest pet peeve is the lack of outlets in hotel rooms.  I ran around the room, exclaiming over the outlets, and then plugged in my surge-protector strip, which contains an ipod charger, cell-phone charger, two garmin chargers...and plugged in my computer.  Then we headed to packet pickeup.

At packet pickup two years ago, I was handed a thick, shit-brown sweat shirt that.  Now, while I definitely want to just, oh, so casually, wear something that says I went 50 miles on it, it is the type of thick sweat shirt that says, and yet I'm still this fat, and ugly too.  

This year, however, I was handed a deep purple hoodie.  Su-weet!  By this time, we had also found out that magically, only the corridor between Houston and Huntsville was free of ice.  Huntsville, and much of central Texas, was full of hiways that were sheets of ice.  Many people would simply turn back and not make the race after spinning off the highway more than once.

Post-race dreamin'
I scarfed down pasta, some cake, and cobbler, and said Hi to Ja-ja-jogger, and still before 5 pm, we headed for Kroger, where I bought two large Nissin Noodle Bowls and a large, Mocha Starbucks Coffee + Energy.   There's tons of sodium in there, too.

On the way back to the hotel, I was all, OOO!  POPEYES CHICKEN! But himself talked me out of getting some.  "We'll get some for lunch, after the race, okay?"

Well....okay.

It should be no secret to anyone that I was raised primarily in Alabama (first 12 years) and Dallas (next 13 years) and so my favorite foods are those I associate with my childhood: fried chicken.  Actually, fried anything.  Steak, eh, okay.  I do like me some sushi.  But fried chicken will stop me dead in my tracks.  I will actually lose my train of thought for a moment while I inhale deeply, mmmm, fried chicken.  The 7 years I spent as a vegan were difficult ones, especially when Sweet baboo and I worked out at a gym right next to a KFC.

But back to the noodle bowl breakfast.  This, after all, is the secret to all this and why I do it: The best way to get a fast, 1000-calorie pre-race breakfast in is simple carbyhydrates.  The best way to burn it off is to run.  I, being a glutton AND vain, have had to give up my other vice: Sloth.

Lets face it, the true key to fitness and being slim is when vanity wins out over sloth or gluttony.  I choose to give up sloth.  Hence: my pursuits.

We were asleep before 8.  If you've ever had trouble falling asleep early on race night, I recommend Advil PM or Tylenol PM.  Zzzzzzzz......

RACE DAY

It's the most important meal of the day, you know.
The alarm went off at 3 am, and I set about making two noodle bowls.  You need to eat at least 3 hours prior to start time.  Sweet Baboo relayed a dream that he'd had that I recognized as the "college student" dream, the one where you suddenly realize that you've forgotten to go to class all semester and suddenly show up on exam day, and/or you can't figure out where teh room is so that when you arrive everyone has already started.

However, in this dream, instead of starting the race Sweet Baboo and I lay down to take a nap and missed the first 6 hours of the run...

Being neurotic is so awesome.  You have the most entertaining dreams.

I dressed for the 25 degree start in CW-X thermal tights, injinjis, Zensah calf sleeves (under the tights), an underarmor l/s shirt with another, slightly larger shirt over that, a bill-cap.  I carried a Nathan handheld and wore a vest that doesn't carry hydration - it's just a vest that carries stuff and I can't find it on the internet anywhere so apparently, Sweet Baboo had it made by elves.  Anyway.

Over the billcap and over my ears I wore a fleece headband that has speakers in it.  I found it three years ago on Ebay and haven't been able to find it since.  They come out for washing.  You can still hear sounds around you when you wear them, which makes them ideal for running a 16-mile loop on which 600 other runners may be at any given time.

I was told by Sweet Baboo that Scott Jurek was going to be at this race.  Hmm.  I wonder how many times he'll lap me?  It's very likely that he will finish his 100 before I finish my 50.

I watched a couple of YouTube videos for some inspiration, lounged around a bit, and then we headed out.


THE RACE


I kissed Sweet Baboo good-bye at 5:45 am and he took off on his race at 6 am. Then I went to hang out in the car and take a short nap, but I was too nervous about missing the start to do that.  It was in the 20s at the start, so I wore a thin fleece neck gator that I pulled over my nose and mouth so that my asthma wouldn't be triggered by the cold.

The trail is easy enough; it's not flat (disappointingly) but it's nothing like, say, the Javalina trail.  The roots didn't see as bad this year, at least not until the 3rd loop when I was dragging my feet.  Still, I didn't go down.  No face plant for me.  The drama of 2009 no withstanding, I wasn't truly suffering until toward the end.  This year, I did the the loops faster, and spent far less time in aid stations.  (less than 10 minutes, which I recorded as part of my loops):

Loop 1: 3:35
Loop 1, I started out slowly, warming up that tweaked calf muscle.  I started out with water, which I refilled throughout this loop. I took an e-gel every 45 minutes or so.  Finally towards the last half of the 17-mile loop, I felt confident enough to run full out, so I did.  good.  I ran.  I ran more on the way back then on the way in. I kept up with my nutrition.  It was cold, and when I came in from loop 1 I was able to discard my jacket, leaving me with two shirts and gloves.  Anton Krupecka, who is a champion 100-miler, passed me twice, and so did Scott Jurek.  More importantly, on every single loop, I got to see Sweet Baboo who would give me a nice smacker on the lips and we'd check in briefly with each other.

Loop 2: 3:45
Still feeling good, but new concerns were creeping in.  Achilles wasn't happy about the tight calf sleeves, and the tweaked calf was starting to ache, just a bit, so I sat down to pull the calf sleeve off the right leg, where my Achilles ached, and put it on my left leg, where my calf muscle ached. After this, my Achilles on my left leg ached, but it was either that or  my calf muscle, so what the hell.  I stopped and dropped off my gloves in Sweet Baboo's drop bad at the Dam Aid station, and wound up picking them back up on my way back through on loop 3.
Anton passed me twice again. Scott passed me once.

I also saw JaJa Jogger several times as of the posting of this blog she looks to be on track for a finish.

Loop 3: 4:43
Total time: 12:03.  Ish.  On loop 3, about mile 7, a BIG old Armadillo waddled across the path in front of me.  I saw him/her standing by the side of the path, and then as I approached, stuck his/her nose up in the air and pretended s/he didn't see me, and waddled across about a foot away in front of me so that I had to stop and wait for it.  No hurry, no sense of danger.

This is the first time I've seen one close-up that hadn't been run over by a car, and HOO, they are UG-LAY. But now the new symbol of fearlessness to me--
-= I was as self-confident and a big old Armadillo. =-


This one was about the size of two footballs.  Other than some ducks, that was the only wildlife I saw...the alligators were probably all burrowed down in the mud, being as it's so cold.
I got slower, and slower, and slower.  I'd hoped to beat the sunset, but the last 4 miles were run with a headlamp. I have an awesome headlamp.  I could land planes with this thing.  Still, it slowed me down even more than I already was.  My IT band was starting to speak to me.  It said, hey, remember me?  I'm your IT band and I have had just about enough of this shit.  If calf and Achilles won't slow you down, I sure as shit will.
Toward the end of the loop I trotted along behind Scott Jurek for a while, which was only possible because he had probably gone over 90 miles and was not wearing a headlamp.  Damn, that man can walk fast.  2 miles from the finish, I passed Sweet Baboo for the final time, and got a nice kiss and a "well done".
Total time: 12:03.  My super secret double fantasy of 11:15 and missing sunset wasn't realized, but my fantasy goal of 12-ish was.  Woot!

OW. just ow.  I took my medal, and my drop bag, headed for the car, and drove straight to my hotel.  Then I drove 2 miles more to a Popeye's chicken, and ordered 5 pieces of chicken (white meat), a side order of cajun gravy, and mashed potatoes, and DO YOU KNOW THAT BITCH DID NOT GIVE ME MY GRAVY, GAVE ME THREE BREASTS AND TWO THIGHS, AND GAVE ME WHITE RICE INSTEAD OF MASHED POTATOES?  and charged me 15 dollars?  I MEAN, WHAT THE HELL?  But i was too out of it when I got home to do anything but call and complain about the gravy.  Truthfully, I shouldn't have been driving.

I earned 182 points today, according to WW.  I intended to use them.

I took a hot, hot bath to try to stabilize my core temp, and then fell asleep, woke up after an hour to text my displeasure at not having gravy to anyone who was awake and gave a shit. Then I fell asleep again until about 1:30 am, when I woke up to check on Sweet Baboo's time.  All this time, I was hobbling.  OW.   I took some Advil, and felt better.  Washed my hair.  Felt better still.  Ate the last of the chicken.  Mmmmm.

My next-door neighbors in the Days Inn about to incur my wrath.  The reason I am up typing this a 2 am is because they came in, NOISILY, and talked loudly, slammed doors, and turned on the TV.  I am getting ready to start a rumble if they don't shut it down.
I'm tired, and when I'm tired, I'm fearless.
Like big old Armadillo.

I'm also disinclined to correct typos.

Soon, I'll go get Himself and tell him that his name was drawn for Wasatch.  Guess I'm coming to Utah September 9th!

...

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Dear Diary,

13.  Skinny jeans and thongs do not go well together when you're past 40.  Don't ask.

12.  I'm planning my drop bags for Saturday, which may be rainy and muddy.  It will be my first rainy muddy event.  I'm stoked!  I'm also packing lots of vaseline for my feet, a rain jacket, and some sort of protection for my iPod.

12.  Okay, not so stoked a few days later.  It's either going to be A) very cold, or B) very wet, or C) both. Bah.

11.  I feel bad for men who are sucked in by ads for Valentine's Day jewelry, because they're bullshit.  "Surround her with the strength of your love," indeed.
The best way anyone ever surrounded with the "strength of his love" was to provide me with a safety bubble of top-rate health and car insurance and AAA.  THAT is love.

10. Oh, but wait - I can totally be bought with candy.  Especially really high quality chocolate.  Not that Russel Stovers crap - that's for stocking my desk the day after Valentine's Day (I work across the street from a Walgreens.) NO, I'm talking about high quality, locally made truffles.  Surrounding me with love in the form of chocolate, well, that's okay.

I can be bought with these.  
9.  Tuesday we had a nasty snow day.  Thick, black ice covered with a fine powder of snow and the wind howled for more than 24 hours straight, gusting up to 40 mph.  I drove to work slowly, but by noon, things were getting worse so I drove home.   The key was patience, something I learned driving 10 miles per hour through white-outs when I attended college in South Dakota.

At the end of my commute, it rises 1000 feet, and the last 500 feet is in the last 2 or 3 miles, and the closer it was to my house the icier it was.  I crept along slowly up the main road towards my neighborhood, passing a BMW that was spinning slowly back down the street, (he had been in front of me but accelerated too quickly.  Idiot).  I passed an Audi that was staying place, spinning its wheels.  I passed an Infiniti, abandoned by the side of the road.  Further along, I passed a Jeep Grand Cherokee whose owner didn't know how to make it go up the hill.
Yes.  I've been bragging about this all week.  Me and my tiny modest Honda Fit - we crept up the hill in 2nd gear and went home.   At this point, my engine block is probably completely frozen.

8.  Wednesday, I called in cold.  I worked on cases from home and built a fire.

7.  I went outside briefly to take a picture of how snowy the house is and slipped--not a lot - just a couple inches.  Pain shot through my calf dammit, dammit, dammit!!  Hopefully, this will subside by Saturday morning.  On Wednesday, I put two compression calf sleeves on it and by the end of the next day, it was feeling stiff, but better.

6.  Wednesday night, I watched "Where the Wild Things Are." This was a book published the year I was born and which, unbeknownst to me, was apparently some movie producer's private Rorschach.  Baboo thought it was, "fascinating".  He hadn't really read the book.
The book was one that I learned to read by.  I read it to my children when they were little, and it was a lighthearted bit of whimsy about a child with an active imagination who had a dream.  But the movie.  Oh, the movie.  I was disturbingly reminded of "Labyrinth," another movie that gave me a bit of a queasy feeling.  I was also reminded of many kids whose cases I assess.  Only those kids don't sail away and become king of all wild things.  They get inpatient treatment.  And chemical restraints.

5.  Sweet Baboo having joined the National Guard recently, he has to do a 3+ week training in Texas at the end of March.  This will be the longest we've ever been apart.  I think the longest before this was about 3-4 days, and even that's been a long time ago.

4.  I am so totally loving Dove's new ad campaign.  Apparently, men don't have skin, they have MAN HIDE.  Why do I love this?  Well, because women have been cringing over stupid ad campaigns aimed at us for decades.  Time for guys to feel the pain.

3.  Why would anyone send ten pages of illegible, handwritten treatment notes as "information" about a client?  Seriously.  Who thinks this is appropriate?  Stupid, stupid stupid.  Here's a hint: if you can't read it, then I can't read it.

2.  I am so happy that they are making frozen sweet potato fries now. 15 minutes in my little toaster oven, and those babies are MINE.  Oh, and Sweet Baboo's.  Meanwhile, I realize that I can't ever, ever, work from home.  I lack the self-regulation needed to avoid eating constantly.  I ate a lot on Wednesday when I was home all day.  Too much.  Thank goodness I'm running 50 miles on Saturday.

1.  FYI, my goal for Saturday is to beat the 100-mile course record running the 50-miler.  The female course record for the 100-miler is about 14 hours.  I'm hoping to beat that time running *50* miles.

In other words, I want to be able to run at least half as fast as a top female runner.

Everybody has to have a goal; this is mine.

...

Moved.

 I'm no longer involved in multisport or endurance sports. I've started my own business, a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety d...