Recovery.

Dear Diary,

I've been having a hard time recovering from my100K a month ago.  I mean, I can go out pretty fast on tiny little short flat runs, up to about 10K, but somewhere around 11-12 miles I've been blowing out on my long runs.  It's as if my legs are slowly recharging and each little run empties them out again.  I start slowing down pretty dramatically and my legs feel HEEAAAAVVVVY.

I hadn't been running any trails until earlier this week for the first time since then, and felt like I had never ever run trails.  Ever.  I forgot that running and climbing these hills is kind of like climbing stairs.

Today, though, I felt better.  We did a hilly 10k behind our house, Baboo and I, along with Bones, Wingman, and DP, and the first part I was having a hard time catching my breath but then I felt like I found my stride.  Baboo carried a flour bottle and marked turns in the run because they were so far ahead, which was helpful. I finished about a 10K and then finished my 10 miles by running down to Einstein's bagels,  and got a bagel thin egg white sandwich thing, which is "a limited time only" but I hope they offer it longer because it was just enough.  I got a total of 10 miles in, and felt like I could have run longer, which is the first time I've felt anything like that since Javalina.

So maybe I'm finally coming back.  But am I coming back enough to do the double this next week?  I imagine that whatever's in my legs today will be gone by next Sunday night.  I'm leaning back towards just saying, fuckit, put on my Elvis costume and wig and run the half, and have fun at Vegas, where they insist on telling me that I can run the full OR renew my vows on the course, but I can't do both, given the whole 5:30 cutoff.  Turds.

But I have hope.  I have hope that this winter I'll be able, somehow, to keep running.  This will be quite a trick, because I'll have classes Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  I'll be tweaking my training plan to adjust for the fact that three days, I simply can't run during 14 hour days. Thursdays I'll try to knock out a 10K, and then on weekends, I'll load up the missing miles by doing back-to-back long runs to condition me for the doubles I'm doing in May.  One of those long runs will have to be on trails.

I'm having some whisperings from my IT band.  Actually, it started as whisperings and now has worked its way to muttering.  I think it might be because I've been using the same shoe constantly.  I'm going to go back to switching my shoes out.  And speaking of shoes, I found out that there is a trail show built on the same last as the shoes I already love, which are mens shoes.  I'm going to get a pair and see how I like them.

...

Thirteen things I'm thankful for.

Dear Diary, in no particular order:

13.  I'm thankful for cognitive behavioral therapy, and Aaron Beck.  Earlier this year I couldn't go on long runs because of panic attacks and worrying.  Saturday I ran from our house at the edge of town to downtown, where a friend picked me up and took me home.  I'm running all over the city, and there's lots to look at.

12.  I'm thankful for doggies. (although I know one doggie in particular that's going to lose a piece of her nose if she doesn't keep it out of my food)

11.  I'm thankful for psychopharmacological interventions. 'Nuff said.  Everyone complains about how over-medicated people are, until they get the right medication themselves.

10.  I'm thankful for my job.  As much as I complain about the low pay, I'm thankful to have a job.  I like it, and they're nice to me.  My office is air-conditioned and heated, and has a door that locks.  I park 20 feet from the door.  It could be much, much worse.

 9.   I'm thankful for my feet.  In addition to running, I've also been conditioning them to tolerate high heels.  At the beginning of the year, I could barely stand to be in them, ever.  Now I can wear them all day.  I can run a long ways, and I can wear purty shoes.  Win-win.

8.  As always, I'm thankful for my friends.  They forgive me for the times (or months) when I'm cranky, or depressed, or whiny.  I love them for that.  My friends are funny, interesting people and I'm happy to know them.

7.  I'm thankful for my new favorite cocktail: diet cranberry juice, ice, and diet mountain dew.  (Add vodka if you must.)

6.  I'm thankful for kittehs.  

5.  I'm thankful for fireplaces, for fires and the Baboo who builds them.

4.  I'm thankful for marshmallows.  They are little puffy pillows of joy, whether in cocoa, on candied yams, or stuck on the end of a fork and waved around inside a wood stove when Sweet Baboo is in another room.  Hypothetically speaking.

3.  I'm thankful for my in-laws. Yeah, you heard me.  All of them.

2.  I'm thankful for my legs. They do good stuff!  They've taken me places I never thought I'd go, up mountains, down valleys, through canyons, and across rivers.   They make it possible for me to eat baskets full of food, and then burn it off. They make it possible to see things that most people only get to see on those cheesy motivational posters.  They've made my heart rate drop by 20 points in the past 5 years.  They've made my family doctor all happy and giddy whenever he sees me, because very few of his patients do anything but complain, and few of them make lifestyle changes that stick.

1.  I'm thankful for decongestants and expectorants.  If you don't believe me, you can come spend a day listening to me when i don't have any.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mother reported hygiene as "Meh". Thursday 13.

Dear Diary,

13. Weekly wish.  I'm finding out that many of Sweet Baboo's relatives are getting into running.  That's pretty awesome.  I just wish my sister would start running. Or walking.  I shouldn't worry, but I do.  Both are parents are dead, and everyone in my mom's side of the family.  We don't have good genes.  So, I worry.

12. Superstition. I had a really great race on Sunday, and before the race I ate 2 packages of Quaker instant grits.  It's so funny the way I get superstitious about something like that.  I had a great run, so I was all, Eating grits makes me faster! 

(Of course:-->I ignore the whole "training, my ass off" thing and decide, yeah, it must be the grits.)

My fantasy of what I look like running.

11.  Non-runners.  Last friday, Sweet Baboo and I were emailing back and forth our weekend running plans.  My last email to him said, "I'm supposed to run 10 miles on Saturday and 8 on Sunday, but I"m going to run a couple extra on saturday since we have that 11K on Sunday.
"I'm not sure why you're running so few miles," he replied.

Now, when I received this there was a young, new therapist in my office, and she heard me chuckle, and looked over my shoulder and read that line.  "What does he mean 'so few miles'?"

"Well, it means that I'm running only 18 this weekend, he's wondering why it isn't something more like 25 or 30," I said.

How I actually feel

"That sounds like a lot of miles to me," she said.  And then (you'll love this) she tried to stage some sort of an intervention.  Which was ADORABLE.  

• What was behind my "need" to run so much?  
• Did I feel uncomfortable when I didn't run my scheduled amount?  
• What did I imagine would happen if I didn't finish my full schedule?  
• Did I feel less worthy if I ran less, or ran slower than I'd planned?  
• What kinds of thoughts did I have before and after running?  Etc.

See what I mean? Adorable. 

"Don't try to therapize me," I said.  "Save it for the kids. I'm comfortable with my obsession."

"Well, as long as you're comfortable," she said, in her very concerned, patient, I'm-wiser-than-you-at-age-twenty-six-even-with-far-less-education voice .

10. Addiction.  I now have the following apps on my iTouch: Netflix, Fandango, facebook, Google, The Weather Channel, WeightWatchers, AllRecipes, Ebuddy, Amazon, Youtube, Amazon, Alarm Clock Pro, iHandy Level, Flashlight, two different sudoku games, and a couple others.
Oh, and there's music on there too.  I'm set.

9. Vernacular.  This week it was pointed out that I had put this sentence in one of my reports: Mother reported client's hygiene as "meh".  What did that mean?

"Well, it means that when I asked mom about the kid's hygiene, she shrugged and said, 'meh'." I said. "I put it in the summary."

"Oh.  well, if that's what she said, then that's what she said.  But maybe next time add a translation for the rest of us." 
I suppose it is a bit presumptuous for me to use contemporary neologisms in a technical report.  Next time, I'll say something like, "mother indicated that client's hygiene was not bad, but could be improved, either way she was unconcerned."  But "meh" just sums it up so nicely.  There are few words so simple, so succinct, as "meh," don't you think?

8. Local Races.  Sunday I did a Veteran's Day 11K, a smallish race in downtown Albuquerque.  I wasn't planning on doing all that well, as I ran 13 miles the day before, but I was very pleased with my results.

The funny thing that happened was that in the last 20 yards or so, a woman I had passed a mile or so back was suddenly at my shoulder, pulling ahead.  I didn't even think, I just hauled ass. 
WHAT was THAT all about?  When did I start caring if a twenty-something beat me by a few seconds?  What kind of person have I become?

Anyway, she lost.   >:-)

(Oh, btw, after the race, they gave us chocolate milk.  Best. Race. Ever.)

7. TRAINING.  This week, I start ramping up.  I'll be running 40 miles throughout the week. It goes up from there.  I'm getting very nervous about my chances of finishing the Las Vegas marathon under the cutoff.  But I keep reminding myself, I have already done it once, and it doesn't mean I'm not me if I don't finish it.  Still: Nervous.  It's coming up -=FAST=-.

6. NEW INSANITY CHALLENGES.  Marathon "doubles".  I'm now signed up for the Wisconsin marathon, May 7 and the Kalamazoo marathon, May 8.

5.  HILL WORK.  There is this nice, straight street near my house rises 200 feet straight up over about 0.8 miles.  I finally managed to jog up this thing, something I've been wishing I could do since I moved here.  I'm going to make hills repeats part of my run workouts.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Hill repeats are the heavier runner's friend.  It's like stealth speed work.  It's at the end of my new favorite 5-mile run.

My new favorite 5-mile run.

4.  OTHER STUPID THINGS I MIGHT DO.  I'm on the waiting list to do the 50-miler at Rocky Racoon.  The last time I did it, I had to walk the whole thing and it took me an insane amount of time: like 18 or 19 hours.  This time I hope to do it faster.  At Javalina, which is harder, I hit the 50-mile mark before 14 hours, I think, so I'm optimistic.

3. TUNES. "Sabotage" by Beastie boys.  Best running song.  Ever.  Here, see for yourself:

The song is cool, even though the video is kinda lame.  

I got back in touch with this song via the new Star Trek move, which I adore.  

Because remember, it says GEEKGRL on my license plate for a reason.

2. FAT PILLS, aka "candy".  Fresh from the dangers of Halloween candy in bowls on coworkers desks, comes Holiday candy on coworkers desks.

See, there is a woman down the hall from me who sells candy bars.  Good ones.  Reeses, Mounds, Kit-Kat, Almond Joy, Payday.  I deliberately do not bring money to work, figuring that if I get the impulse to buy a candy bar it will be somewhat tempered by the fact that I'd have to walk across the street to Wal-Greens and use my debit card.  Most of the time, this works well.

But open jars of candy bars on people's desks?  Oh, this is bad.  I know without looking that many of those jars will be full of various kinds of Hershey's kisses.  This is bad.  Very bad.  I can avoid the candy if it's not right in front of me.  It's so sad that I'm up in my office, hiding from chocolate

1. WILLPOWER.  But I am determined that this will be different from all other winters for the past 7 or 8 years, in that I will NOT gain weight.  No.  Not doing it.  We are supposed to have a mild, dry winter, and I expect to be able to run the whole time.

...

Several long examples of me thinking out loud: Thursday 13

Dear Diary,

13.  I am  considering back-to-back marathons "Country Music" and "Flying Pig" next year.  Two marathons, two new states, one weekend.

12.  Also considering back-to-back marathons "Kalamazoo" and "Wisconsin" next year.  The Wisconsin marathon calls itself "the cheesiest".  The finisher's medal is a piece of cheese in metal.  How could I not?

11.  Flying pig.  The Cheesiest.  OMG!  I can't decide!  You know...I might have to try and do all of them.  These pairs just happen to be on subsequent weekends in May.

• Pros: Two weekends, four new states.
• Cons: Well, I mean, c'mon.  It's four freakin' marathons in two weekends. I suppose I could think of it as two 50-mile runs, but with long naps in the middle of them.

10.  I went to this all-you-can eat Brazillian grill buffet thing Saturday night.  Meat, meat, and more meat, and salad, too. I saved up WeightWatcher activity points and everything.  But as I have often found, I can't shovel in the food like I used to.  It's hardly worth the effort to go to buffets, because the "all you can eat" is sort of wasted.  Still.  I ate bunches.  It was delish.

9. On Wednesday, our I.T. guy (hereafter known as "RatBastard") walked into my office on the pretext of looking out my window.  It is next to my CPU.  Into my CPU I usually have plugged an external hard drive on which resides a virus protector, music player, and my entire music library, as well as a portable sudoku game, for when I need a break AND YES, I KNOW THAT IS AGAINST COMPANY POLICY but anyway.

So RatBastard, who is apparenly passive-aggressive, mumbled something about the weather and then left.  Two minutes later, I got a call from the HR person downstairs, who is all perky and friendly and said what she had to say all in one breath:

HiMistyThisisMaggie!
Heyjustafriendlyreminderthatit'ssagainstcompanypolicytohaveexternal

harddrivespluggedintoyourcomputer. Okay? Okay.  Bye! >Click<

RatBastard.  I had a 2 GB thumb drive that is approved for use on the computers, so I loaded some albums onto that, for now, along with my precious sudoku.  I'm sure that will frustrate RatBastard, but I'm not breaking any rules at this point, so Bite. Me.

Meanwhile, Sweetface, who is a major gadget geek (currently majoring in computer science at UNM), mentioned casually that he just happened to have something called an iPod "touch" laying around laying around, mind you and did I want it?  I had to look it up (??) because I'm apparently out of the loop so I Googled and read about what it is and OH HELL YES I'LL TAKE THAT OFF YOUR HANDS.

The MORAL of this very long story is this:

Sometimes it pays to have kids. 

8.  Last week, I wrote about starting with week 5 of the training plan.  I was all yeah!  I'm a running goddess!  I don't need no stinkin' recovery.  

Well.

The legs had other ideas.  I ran 12 miles during the week, and then on Saturday, I headed out for 14 miles.  I stopped at 10.  My breathing was fine.  My feet felt fine.
But the legs.  Oh, the legs.  Bitch!  Why do you hate us? They said.

Whatever glycogen seeped back into them after last week's 10K (and the 10 miles I did the day before) got sucked out.

7.  So.  The iTouch thing.  I could get hooked on playing with this thing.  Like, not eating or managing my personal care hooked.  I love Genius.  And I owe a huge apology to all my friends with iPhones that I've mocked over the past couple years.  It has a KINDLE app in it.  I've been jonesing for an ebook app for quite a while, and now I have one.  Now, I need to find an ebook that I might be interested enough in to read on a 3 x 4 inch screen on an airplane, then I'm all set.

6.  I said recently that my "season was over".  I guess that's kind of an old habit from when I exclusively did triathlon.  What I was saying was that my A race was done, so I'll mostly be training and fun stuff.  When I say fun stuff, I mean good old marathon stuff.  And yes, I'm aware that saying a marathon is "fun" sounds strange, but there it is. 

Now, Baboo and I are still planning on doing the 3 marathons in 2 weekends thing.  This is to accomplish two things; going up to the next level in Marathon Maniacs, and renewing our vows at the Las Vegas marathon. 

However, the 2nd marathon, the Las Vegas marathon, has a glitch: they suddenly made the cutoff 5 1/2 hours.  Fuckers.

Now, Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but I'm doing the Death Valley trail marathon the day before.  Also, we're stopping at mile 3 to renew our vows 45 minutes after the marathon starts.  That leaves me less than 4 hours and 45 minutes to finish the other 23.2 miles.  Or less, if the vow renewing thing takes longer than they say.  This requires slightly over 12 minute/mile pace.  For 23+ miles.  My marathon PR right now is about a 12:23 pace.

Now, when I say "cutoff" what I mean by that is that at exactly 5 and a half hours after the race starts, the will pull all the aid stations and timing mats, finish line, course markers, etc.  Leaving me to wander the streets.

Now, I had been mulling this over, and figured I would just drop down to the half marathon.  But if I do that, I won't go up to the next level of marathon maniac.  So, what to do?

Well, I'm gonna go for it.  12 minute miles are faster than anything I've done at this distance, but it's a road marathon.  The worst that can happen is the exact same thing that would happen if I did the half; I don't go up to the next level of Marathon Maniacs.  As my friend Holly used to say, What are they gonna do, take your birthday away?  

5.  Oh, by the way, the half marathon in Las Vegas has a 4 hours cutoff.

4.  One more thing.  The 5-1/2 hour cutoff at Las Vegas is one of the shorter ones out there.  I figure this is a product of all the snobs out there who have bitched about how fast you have to go to say you "ran" a marathon.  Or not.  I don't care.  It doesn't take much for people elitists to ruin it for novices, so that they can feel better about themselves.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

3. I love the singing hamsters on the Kia commercial.  You can get with this, or you can get with that.  

DO - WAH -  DIPPITY!

2.  Sometimes, life is messy.  Distressingly, disappointingly, heart-heartbreakingly messy.  And that's all I'm going to say about that, for now, until a time comes that I'm ready to talk about what inspired that thought.

1. Here's what I had to say to a parent this week at work:
"I/We cannot magically transform your child back into his prepubescent self.  Sorry."

What I didn't add but really wish I could: 
"Your precious baby boy, your hito,  has been transformed by the magic of hormones.  He is now essentially a homeless man living in your house, eating your food, and telling you to get fucked.  That's life.  Actually, that's parenthood.  Meanwhile, there's wine. And xanax.


...

Dear Diary,

13. Thinking ahead to 2011, I think I want to do mostly 50k runs.  I've done a marathon or longer in AL, AZ, CA, ID, KY, MS, NM, NV, TX, and UT.  I'd like to add 3 or 4 more to that this year.

12. At the race I did Sunday, a woman I know, Tove, smoked me.  She's a cat-something cyclist, but has gotten much faster as a runner lately.  She started the 5k about 5 minutes after I started the 10K, and about mile 2.5 blew by me like I was standing still, running a 7:22 pace.  She's 60.  Sixty. SIXTY.  So just in case you have a friend who's all, I'm too old to do anything like that, well, there you go. 

11. I guess my season has come to an end.  Next year, my fantasy would be to run a marathon in about 5 hours. To do that, I would have to be able to bring my half marathon down closer to 2 hours.

GAWD that's so pathetic.  How sad am I, that my wildest (well, maybe not my wildest but certainly one of my wilder ones) fantasy includes running 26 miles in 5 hours?  Shouldn't one have more interesting fantasies than that?

9.  I am a bit nervous about my ankle.  It is huge, bruised and swollen even though it doesn't hurt and I've had several perfectly good runs on. But now as a result of it being that way, I'm nervous about trails again.

8.  I'm not training for anything above 50 miles for 2011.  I'll be too busy. Internship stuff.

7.  Earlier this week I was assessing a kid who has impulse control issues.  While walking him and his family to my office, the father said, "hey, do you ride a horse?" and then proceeded to insist that I was bowlegged even after his wife AND his son told him to shut up.
Are impulse control issues inherited?  I'll leave it to you to decide.
Meanwhile, I just said, calmly, "I had no idea I was bowlegged."  He kept on it, saying to his wife, "See?  See?  Look at her.  She walks on the outside of her feet and everything."

Am I now a bit self-conscious about this, despite his obvious frontal lobe deficits?  Oh, hell yes.

6.  Okay.  Men in tutus.  What is the fascination in wearing a tutu during a run if you're a guy?  I don't usually see women wearing ties, or cups, or loin clothes.  But I do see many more men dress up as women when it's time to dress up in costumes, than women seem to dress up as men.  Why is that?  Is it just me noticing it?  Penis envy, my ass.  I think something else is being envied here.

5.  This week I start my new training cycle.  I'm starting with week 5 of the 50-mile training plan from the Santa Clarita runners club.  What am I training for?  Well, nothing.  I just like the training plan.  NO, I'm not OCD.  It made me a better runner, I think, and helps keep my weight down.

4.  I found out I can eat lunch at work for $1.75 a day.  I'm not saying it's health food.   Just sayin' it's food.  For $1.75 I can pick out what I want and ask for seconds on the healthy stuff, while skipping the unhealthy stuff.  It's not fancy. It's not Whole Foods. It's edible.

3.  About a month ago Sweet Baboo and I were surprised when our gasoline card was declined while on a trip.  I tell you it is a joy to be utterly humiliated this way. 
Anyway. We found out someone had gotten my card number (I still had my card) and used it to charge exactly $100 worth of gas at two local gas stations in the worst part of town.  About six times.  And yes, we shred everything.  No idea how my number got out.  2010 has been the year of being victimized.

2.  I had a horrible run Wednesday, the first run of my new training cycle.  My legs were tired.  My lungs were asthmatic.  But it was beautiful out, and I'd rather be dragging my wheezing, tired ass through that fall day than just about anything else on earth.

1.  Sunday I dressed up for Halloween as a door that doesn't open, on a house with lights that are turned off.  I know, I know, I'm a terrible person.  But I just forgot, believe it or not, to get candy, and remember, I. Am Lazy.  So I turned out the lights and hid.

...

Great Pumpkin Chase 10K 2010 6- Race Report

This morning I ran a 10K.  I didn't really think I'd do all that well.  My legs felt pretty good, but I was coughing like crazy.  My training doesn't start until Tuesday for this next cycle, but the 10K I did today was kind of a big deal.  It was the first 10k I did five years ago. I'd been trying to do it again since then, but something would always get in the way.

In 2005, when I did this one, I got to about 4 miles before I had to start taking walk breaks, alternated with jogging slowly.  I had to walk most of the last mile or so of the course, and it was warm, and everyone else was finished.  They'd already given out the awards, and people were leaving, while I was still out on the course.  I can't find the results from that race, but it was about 90 minutes into the race when Baboo came out to run in with me, for a finishing time somewhere close to 1:45 or so.

But that was 2005.  This is 2010.

So. This morning, I figured that I'd probably come in between there between 1:06 (my 10K PR) and 1:15.  I have a cough, and ran nearly 5 miles miles yesterday, and there was that thing I did last weekend.

This race is held in the valley in the Country Club neighborhood.  I love late fall and winter races, because they start later.  :-).  This one nearly starts at 9 am.  The guy that puts on this race is the same guy that does the Cherry Garcia race, and the Chunky Monkey race.

It's nearly perfectly flat except for a brief rise as you run up onto the bike path.  You run 2 miles through the neighborhood bordering Kit Carson Park, then out onto the Bosque bike path for an out-and-back, and then repeat the whole thing.

There's a 5k that takes off about 5 minutes later, so that everyone can have the wonderful experience of having fast runners blow by them at some point during the race.  Afterwards, there's a kid's K.  It's a good race.  Cool T-shirt.  Adorable kids in costumes running around, on a beautiful fall day.

I started out a 9am in crisp weather with a single hand-held bottle.  It was about 50 degrees, and I was wearing a long sleeve wicking shirt, a short sleeve wicking shirt over that, a pair of CW-X tights, and ran at what I felt was a reasonable pace.

I'm not lying about the flatness.

I looked down at my Garmin and saw that my pace was somewhere around 9:30.  "That won't last," I thought.  "No way I'm going to last more than a mile at this pace."

My first three miles were about 9:30 or so, and my last three miles were around 10:15 or so, because I was starting to cough more and wheeze a little.  No drama, nobody I was trying to pass, just a nice run on a beautiful day.

The only thing unusual that happened was that a woman I know, Tove, blew by me like I was standing still.  What made that so unusual is that Tove was running the 5K, which started 5 minutes after the 10K, and Tove is 60.  I so want to be like Tove when I'm 60.

I got a new PR! And if that wasn't enough, I was surprised to find out that I was 2nd in my age group.

Then afterwards, I tried not to throw up or pee from the force of the coughing fit I had when I stopped running.

Then, I ate some bread (why no pumpkin bread, I'm wondering.  Or pie?  I'm just sayin')  by one of the sponsors (Great Harvest Bread Co.,) and watched the kid's K.  They were adorable.

 All-in-all, a beautiful way to spend a beautiful fall Sunday morning.  

...

Plan Work Whine Reflect: Thursday 13.

13.  Plan. I'm going to spend some time getting good at 50-milers for 2011.  That's my goal.  I'm considering Old Pueblo again.  We'll see.  Baboo may not be available for Old Pueblo, so I'll have to find a way to get out there and back.  Normally, I wouldn't mind that, but the last time I tried to drive after being up late I nearly killed myself.

12.  Work. I was offered the teaching job after all.  However, it turned out to be a temp job with stimulus money.  I couldn't see quitting a permanent job for a temp one, so I turned them down graciously.  Meanwhile, I'm relieved to have been picked, considering the dismal performance I put on at my interview.

11. Whine. I have a cold, and it sucks. Turns out that running 100K does NOT boost your immune system in the short term.  In fact, I think the moment I quit running all the virii and baceteria in my body went, WHEEEEE! and ran through the unlocked gates to my respiratory system.  Everyone gets their cold somewhere a little different, with me, it's my voice.  I lost my voice yesterday in the middle of giving a kid an IQ test.

10.  Reflect. The other good thing about my experience: I did love the training plan. I was able to stick to it.  I became a stronger runner.  I'm going to be using that training plan again, starting at the beginning. Soooooo, next Tuesday: big 2 miles run.  Yeah, baby.

Another picture stolen from Raj.  

9.  Plan.  On the way home from JJ, we stopped at Dairy Queen. I had a salad.  OH YES I DID.  I will not gain weight during recovery.  I'm not saying that, as salads go, it was the healthiest.  I mean, it was Holbrook, Arizona, and it was Dairy Queen. It was middle-aged iceberg lettuce and some cheese.  I think I saw a tomato in there somewhere.  Still, I resisted.  I even threw away half the dressing.

8.  Work.  My one year anniversary is coming up at the children's hospital.  That means in another year, I might get a raise.  >:-(

7.  Whine. See above.

6.  Reflect.  I have new respect for the distance. (100 miles).  For the first time, stubbornness alone was not enough.  Which means I have to try again, some day.  I hate having a DNF that is unfinished.  So far, I have finished every race I DNFed in except one: Barb's Race.  My bike tire blew out completely that day, on crappy poorly maintained roads.  I finished the run, though.  Just not interested in going back to wine country and finishing a race on crappy roads in 96-degree heat.

5.  Plan. I am now searching for a good running jacket for winter.  It must be close-fitting, vented, have a zipper up the front, and reflective.  Any suggestions?

4.  Work. There are stairs leading up to my office.  Stairs.  I never really minded them until Tuesday morning.  It was a slow trip up that one flight of stairs.  I felt almost normal until I puuuuuuuled myself uuuup that third stair


--> For the record, I'm one of the few people where I work who consistently uses the stairs.  In fact, there's more than a couple people who use the elevator exclusively.  Even when coming down from the 2nd floor.  And no, it's not faster.  It's one slow-assed elevator.  

3.  Whine.  Actually, this isn't a whine.  It's an affirmation.  I publicly declare that I alone am absolutely 100% reponsible for not getting to 100 miles. I'm not going to blame the trails, or the weather, or the staff, or the race director, or any manner of things we are tempted to bitch about when things happen.  I trained for 100k.  I finished 100k. 
What I don't need is anyone telling me that I could have sucked it up and pushed harder to finish another 40 miles.  Or that I could have eaten better or drank better and finished another 40 miles.  I've accepted the fact that I wasn't trained up enough.  To say otherwise would be like saying that someone who hasn't trained for a marathon only needs to just eat and drink right, and show up, and they'll finish the whole thing.

Anyhoo....

2.  Reflect.  I was very curious about the magic wand that the guy at the Coyote Camp aid station tried to use on my knee.  I tried Googling lots of things: metal stick, metal healing rod, magnetic pain stick, magnetic rod.

Finally, just for fun, I typed in metal wand healing and started getting links to this product:

 It should be noted that, retail, this wand is $304.00.  But. if you are a distributor it will run you only around $284.00. 

Yes.  It's true.  Not only can you be scammed by the whole concept, but you can be scammed by being sucked into a multilevel marketing scheme. 
It's two-click-two-click-two scams in one!

I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking that my general wet-blanket skepticism kept it from working. Another reason not to buy it.  Advil and Tylenol work for me whether I believe in them or not.


1.  Relax.  Just for the record, the number of WeightWatchers points earned running a 60k for this GeekGirl was 82.  I didn't spend any, however, as they were all earned Saturday, and my tracking week ends Saturday at midnight.  :)



Just kidding.



You know me better than that.

I had a big-assed bowl of pasta from a decent restaurant Sunday, covered with a heap o' fatty old cream sauce.  Alfredo, I think.  I don't know.  And it was probably 3 servings.  I ate it all ALL.  Sweet Baboo ate a 16" pizza



> urp <

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