It's all in the wrist.

Dear Diary,

16. After months of dragging my ass around the hills at negative miles per hour, I finally feel like I'm coming back. I had a great run this week, running up most of the hills. I did it without feeling like I was gonna hurl, and felt great at the end. Stinky, but great . I'm pretty stoked. Between this and my PR at the 50K a few weeks ago, Point Defiance 50K (in less than 2 weeks!) is looking pretty good.

15. However, I'm completely out of vacation days. In order to take the vacation time in Seattle next week, (YES! I'll be posting my blog from SEATTLE!) I will be working two saturdays this month. I'm really fortunate to have a job where they let me do that.  But that six-day week, well, maybe I'm just older than I used to be.  By the time Sunday (today) rolled around, I was all, nope, don't feel like running.  I feel like sleeping in (7 am, to those just tuning in) and relaxing.

14. I can't remember the last time Baboo and I had to vacation and mosy. I'm totally stoked. Me and my boots and hat will be on a plane Wednesday morning, with a layover in Love Field.

Me and a fellow therapist
who was working just as
hard as I was that day.
(Photobooth app)

13. My oldest kiddo, aka "Sweetface", turned 27 this week. (Holy shit, I am OLD.)

12. Hey, what the hell is up with Lean Cuisine. Why aren't there any vegetables in their lunches? It's not like they're incredibly expensive. I'm sticking with Healthy Choice, I think. More fiber, fewer refined carbs.

11. Weight, by the way, is holding steady at 152. Ish.  It was starting to creep up, but then it came back down when I started running. 

10.  After some experimenting, I am using the WatchR app. It's free, and although it doesn't have a food base, it automatically deducts activity points and weekly points. Cool.  I also use the GoMealsHD, which uses the Calorie King database.  And, I still use AllRecipes pro, which I <3.

9. Thursday, Sweet Baboo wrote me an email me, telling me that they are having some budget cutbacks at the VA, and so they are taking the Blackberries from some of the program heads.  Sweet Baboo is, unfortunately, one of them, and so we need to go get him a phone.
So we went to the Verizon store, where we found out that all this time (like, 5 years) if we had put it in his name, we'd have been getting a 15% discount, because he's a federal employee.  So that's what we did.

I took this picture Saturday morning, when I realized there
was snow on the mountain.

8.  We also got Android X2 phones.  These are like the coolest thing ever.  Sweet Baboo picked them out because Consumer Reports like them best, and, well, they are pretty damned awesome.  I have been playing with mine and it does a lot of things better than my iPad, like uploading pictures.  The camera is great. I suck, suck, suck at taking pictures but this makes it so much easier.  I can time/place stamp a picture I've just taken and then share it using a built-in facebook app OR THE BLOGGER APP!  WOOT!.


7. Best of all, there is a built-in navigator and when I have music playing through my car stereo (through the phone) it fades the music to give me another direction, then brings the music back up.  So, right in the middle of Lady Gaga, it's all ...'CAUSE I WAS BORN THIS...TURN LEFT AT MONTGOMERY BOULEVARD...
It's a deaf agorophobic's dream toy, I tell you.

I did not take this picture. Wish I had.  It was taken Saturday morning
of the Balloon Fiesta (yesterday)

6.  Unfortunately, since Sweet Baboo doesn't enjoy playing with things to see how they work, and I am the family nerd. So when I worked Saturday, since three of my appointments never showed up, I spent the time playing with and learning how to use my phone.  Then, teaching Sweet Baboo how to use it.

5.  It also pulled in and integrated all my contacts through facebook, LinkedIn, and Google contacts. And allowed me to combine them.  COOOL.

4.  Sweet Baboo just took off for his run. I did not.  I will make him a fried-egg sandwich.Meanwhile, there is new technology to play with.  It is windy, cold, and damp out.  Noooo thank you. Not quite ready for that yet.

3.  SO of course, I've been changing my Ringtones every other hour.  For instance, yesterday, my ring tone was "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode.  But, I underestimated how much Sweet Baboo hates that song.  Not just hates it, HHAAATTTTEEEEESSSSSSS it.  So I'll be changing it.  I am not a sadist.  I won't force him to listen to a song he hates.  Not when there are so many other annoying songs to choose from.

2. Now, with respect to #16, I also have had these days where I just don't want to do anything.  I've been running at least every other day, so that's good, but I really need to get my shit together, and start running 5 days a week.

2.  I volunteered to pace the 5:30 group at the Duke City Marathon in two weeks.  I think the idea of pace groups is that they are usually groups for the Boston qualifying times, but what if you just want your own personal best?  It suddenly occurs to me, oh, my, God. I am going to be possibly leading people to make a certain time.  That's like, responsibility and shit.  Am I ready for this?

1.   THREE DAYS TO SEATTLE!!!  
That is all. 


...

Thurs--er, Frid--er, I mean Saturday. Something. Okay: Saturday Something.

Dear Diary,

14.  BUSY.  I just simply ran out of day yesterday and again Friday, and didn't get this posted.  It's MYCHILDISDRIVINGME FUCKINGNUTSSOCANYOULOCKHIMUPPLEASE?  week at the children's place where I work, so everyone is showing up for their appointments meaning, of course, that I have to actually work.Maybe this will become permanent: Saturday Something.  Not to be confused with Saturday Somethin'Somethin', which is completely different, and not suitable for all audiences. 

13. GROWNUP: FAIL. I am here to tell you that my original thesis (Grown Children Should Not Live With Their Parents) holds true. In case you'd been wondering if you should do this some day, now you know. Yes, I threw myself on that sword for you. You're welcome.
For instance: several pieces of my beloved Fiesta Ware went missing.  missing.  How is this possible?  What on earth could have happened? We bought exactly four of everything for dishes when we bought this house, because it is designed for people to visit for short amounts of time.  On purpose.  So yes, I noticed when the pieces turned up missing.
UPDATE: The pieces were found, used, in a dresser drawer in the guest room.  WTF is that?

We'll go ahead and pretend these
sculpted arms and abs are mine.



12.  Keeping the girls at bay.  I am once again in the market for a bra, having lost enough back fat (you're welcome for that visual) to need a smaller band size.  No, I will not translate mysterious bra language for the males out there - ask your wives or sisters. Anyway, all the bras I have are too big in the band, so they slide around and chaffe the hell out of me.

I do have one fantastic bra made by Hanes and I've never been able to find another, of course.  OF COURSE.  

This month, I'm testing out this bra: The Moving Confort Juno bra.  I like that it has a T-back, so that I can terrify (riiiiiiiight) with my Mdot tat, and it comes in pretty colors.  If it works out, I'll get more pretty colors.  I also like that it could actually be worn as a top owing to the lack of plunging in the front.  I'll keep ya posted.

11. Two wheeled misery.  I am going to do - gasp - not one, but TWO sprint triathlons this summer.  Yes, that's right.  I am going to get on a BIKE.  One of them is in Fort Sumner, and the other one is in Socorro.  Since I rarely swim or bike any more, it should be interesting.  I actually got on a bike YESTERDAY and rode it a whole 9 miles.  Just to see how it felt.  Yep, I still hate it.  But I'm willing to do it to do a sprint triathlon, because those are fun. 

10.  iPad adjustment.  I still have no way to do blog posts without coding in HTML from my iPad.  It's not that I can't code in HTML, it's just that I'm lazy.  I was coding in HTML back in 1995.  So, I've gotten into the habit of jotting things down in the Notepad throughout the week on iPad, and then posting that at the end of the week.  However, if I want pictures, I have to go to a computer.

9.  Crappy weather.  It can't decide if it's super muggy here or dusty and windy, or both.  Bleh. Mornings are fantastic, cold and crisp, and then from out of nowhere, the afternoons are moist and hazy. 

8.  Himself.  Sweet Baboo is going to be gone during July.  Army stuff.  :-(   Starting in July, I'll be training for the Duke City Marathon in October.  I've never done it before.

7. I'm still lazy.  I was trying to explain to a coworker about the concept of I. Am Lazy.  but she didn't get it.  "you run marathons," she said.

It means you are more efficient with your time and how you spend your energy.

You have to understand, it's all relative.  Most of my friends are like Jack Russel Terriers - leaping all over and twitching their fast twitch muscles and  
HEY!  LET'S DO A 70 MILE BIKE RIDE ON SUNDAY!

HEY!  LET'S DO A DOUBLE-CROSSING OF THE SANDIAS ON SATURDAY!  

HEY!  WANNA COVER 100 MILES OF THE ROCKIES ON FOOT, INCLUDING 13K PEAKS, IN FOUR DAYS?!?!?
NO?  OH, C'MON!  it'll be FUN!

 and I"m all mmmmmNah.  There's a "Bones" marathon on TV.  and that roasted red-pepper hummus isn't going to eat itself, you know.  

and there's always this one (my favorite) BUT...BUT...IT WILL BE AT AN EASY PACE!

Yeah, right.  I'm not falling for that again.  Every single time something, anything, was an easy pace, well, let's just not go there.  Let's just say that "easy pace" is, like laziness, all relative.

You have to understand, many of my friends win races.  Win them.  Not like me, who wins because all the people in my age group stayed home that day, or the real serious runners didn't show up, but because they are faster than shit. So, there you go.

I hasten to say: I love them.  I love all my friends; they are awesome.  And, I know they love me.  Even though, I.  Am Lazy.

The upside to having super fast friends, of course, is that nobody ever feels intimidated by me.

Seriously.

Nooooobody.

6.  Breathe in, breathe out.  Something strange has happened this spring: Suddenly one day my asthma got better.  I say one day because I ran out of Advaire and remember, I. Am Lazy. So I kept putting it off day after day, getting the refill, and, well, nothing happened.  If anything, I breathed a bit better.
I'm not saying it's gone, but suddenly much better than it used to be, even given the time of year.  Yes, my chest was a bit tight when the thick smoke from ARIZONA blew over here yesterday (thanks for that, by the way, Arizona) but I wasn't up all night wheezing.

I'm not sure what to think of this, except that I quit smoking in 1995 after being told that a small amount (I think it was 10%) of my airway was blocked by scar tissue and I'd have emphasema if I didn't quit.  I've heard that it takes several years for your lungs to recover from smoking; I smoked for about 15 years, I quite 15 years ago, who knows.  All I know is that it's much better than it used to be. I tried googling for this, and couldn't find anything about it anywhere. 

5.  de-Hoarding.  I have to post this, it was sent to me by a blog reader that I think it's fantastic: Zen Mind: How to Declutter

4.  MYSTERY.  Facebook told me they had to remove something because it violated their terms and I didn't have any right to post it but I don't know what the hell they're talking about because everything seems to be in place.  whatEVER.

3.  Sweet Baboo never actually swooned over the new iPad as I did when I first saw one, but he sat closer and closer to me, asking questions, until inevitably he went and got one newer, with a faster processor, more storage, and a camera.

So now we are a two-pad household.  And I have iPad2 envy.

If I haven't mentioned this before, well, I'm the unofficial tecchie in the household.  I set up the wireless router and such.  I fix computer crashes and problems.  Even more importantly, I know when I'm out of my element so I can cook dinner for the youngling who comes over and wrote code into the router to make it do what I want.  
So, now, Sweet Baboo has an iPad, and I'm once again in the position of responding to frustration while he learns it.  It won't take long.  It's just that he hates technology and doesn't play with it to see what he can make it do, like I do.
Did I also explain that I break into hives when I hear exclamations that indicate there are problems with the computer?  Yep.  But it's all good.  He puts up with my messiness, disorganization, emotional lability, and general scattered-ness, and I fix computers, thermostats, electrical things, and automatic sprinklers.  It's all gooooood.

2. NO BITTERNESS HERE.  Lest I come off as bitter or angry (regarding #13) it behooves me to make the following, very serious point, which I believe is congruent with most of how I live my life: I would have rather taken my daughter in and found out that it didn't work and wasn't a good idea, then to have not taken her in and always wondered if I should.  I live my life that way.  A very wise man taught me that you have open your heart to live and be happy, but you have to be willing to risk the bad things that might happen and be willing to accept them, too.
(It's altogether possibly that the very wise man was telling me this to get me to go out with him.  It doesn't matter.)

The POINT here is that, there are few things that can't be undone.  So, why not do them.

1.  HOT FLASHES.  This is stuff men will not, or should not, be interested in, unless they have a loved one with this problem.
When I was told two years ago by the pharmacists "no soy, not ever" with respect to my damaged thyroid, I stopped drinking my daily soy latte.  I didn't know it then, but that daily soy latte was what staved off the worst of menopause symptoms.  These come early in my family.
So. I started having hot flashes of the worst kind - I'd wake up sopping in the middle of the night, shoveling all the covers onto Sweet Baboo, who would protest mildly in his way. Then, four minutes later, I would be freezing and grab them all back again, and then some.  (Yes, I know he's a saint.)

Sometimes in the middle of the day, during a meeting, I would suddenly feel like I was bursting into flame.  I would feel little cold pinpricks of sweat on my legs and I would calmly excuse myself, to to the ladyies room, and then press myself up again the cool, tile wall....ahhhh.

Most of the estrogenetic over-the-counter stuff has soy in it.
Then, I found Estro-Care.  It's not cheap, but it's available at drugstores and online, and it has a pump, so I like to think it somewhat standardizes how much I get.  I use it about every other day.  (If you have periods, you have to use it 3 weeks on every day and then 1 week off, but I don't have those, thanks to our local minimally-invasive women's surgeon) so I just use it about every other day or so.  Voila: no more hot flashes.

But I do have oily skin.  So I'm weighing the pros and cons of having my makeup slide off every day vs. not having hot flashes.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.  I hope that it's useful for someone out there.

...

Eventually, if you wade through enough of it, you stop noticing the smell. (Thursday 13, the early edition)

Dear Diary,

13.  I mentioned last week that I had been in school continuously for 20 years, and a couple people commented to me on it. Yes, it's true.  I am that pathetic.  But part of the cure is admitting you have a problem, and I do: I am addicted to finisher's prizes.  At least now they are less expensive and help get rid of stress instead of causing it.
Meanwhile,

I can feel myself wearing down, and just in time, too.  I'm actually doing better than last year, when I was worn down by February.  I'm tired, depressed, anxious, and having bad dreams that involve rejection and abandonment.  I am, finally, and predictably, getting Too Old For This Shit.

I know it's just the whole grad school thing. I know it, but I can't feel it.  I just want to lay on a couch all day and do nothing.  I don't want to go anywhere, run, or write a paper, or make a phone call, or clean, or arrange.  Just lay.  And maybe drink cool, icy things. Which may, or may not, have ETOH in them.

12.  Saturday, I was bitterly disappointed to find out that Sweet Baboo got an email saying he'd been selected in the lottery for the La Luz Trail Run, and I had not.

Then.  A friend messaged me later to tell me my name is on the list, here:   http://ultrasignup.com/entrants_event.aspx?did=12328

So, I will begin training for this May 25th.  I'll still have a 50K to do in June, but other than that, I'm winding down for about a year of shorter distances and speedwork.  I'll still be running 5 days a week, but for much shorter distances.  I'll probably be keeping a 50K training plan recycling throughout the 2011-2012 school year while I'm interning.  My goal: Sub 2 hour.  Which, if you recall the profile, is quite ambitious.

11.  Saturday I ran a local half marathon while Baboo ran a 10K.   I had to run 15 miles Saturday, per Coach Baboo, and this seemed like a good way to do most of that, so he signed me up.  We like to support local races whenever we can, for reasons I'll mention in a bit.

It was beautiful, cool and just a bit breezy, and other than the smell of horses, the run through Albuquerque's North Valley area was lovely.  We ran past vineyards and farms and over acequias, and YES ALBUQUERQUE HAS THOSE THINGS, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TOWN AND THAT'S WHY I LOVE IT SO and underneath old, old cottonwood trees that arched high overhead, providing shade.

We finished at a local elementary school. It was one of those lovely local races where you get to see people doing their very first race of some distance, and their friends and families hold signs and cheer wildly for them.  I think everyone, no matter what distance they wind up doing, should support local races.  It's incredibly inspiring to see people doing their very first anything, whether it's a half marathon, 10K, or 5K.

10.  Sweet Baboo also did a race at the same time; he did the 10K.  It was on the same route except that halfway through they turned into another direction.  His race started 15 minutes after mine and so, predictably just before his mile 4, he blew by me at what seemed to be a dead sprint.

Trust me, it was startling to see him running that fast - he was running faster than others around him but was much larger (Remember, he's 195 lbs and 6' tall). He is qualifying for a military running team by running a 44-minute 10K.  I can't even imagine being that fast--I'm still trying to break an hour on my 10K time.

My time for the half-marathon was 2:16 and some seconds, by the way.  I was holding my own the first 7 miles, but then I started fading. Next time, I need more water.  And faster legs.

9. This past weekend I had my last big weekend.  The marathon Saturday was followed on Sunday by...nothing.  My legs hurt, especially the upper part of my quads.  So, I rounded out a 36-mile week.  Yes, it does still freak me out to see that written, even when I write it. I can still remember the first time I freaked out of a "5 mile slow jog".  It was supposed to be more, but I'm having trouble with energy.

8.  Last Friday a kid ran by my office, closely followed by people talking into radios.  They tend not to run, as there's not a whole lot of places where he can go, so they run in a loop.  When he ran by again they were further behind.  He stopped and threw a small rock at me, hitting me squarely in the right side of my $5 reading glasses.  Good thing I had them on.  I'm imagining his treatment review:

The client's strengths include good hand-eye coordination. 

Because, you know, it's all about focusing on strengths.   

7.  A woman asked me recently how I lost weight.  What could I say?  No, it wasn't easy.  No, I sometimes will think about chocolate cake. The woman, who is large for her height, said that she just couldn't see depriving herself.  Yes, it's true, I do deprive myself at times.  But I know the following is true:

• In life there are choices.  I made mine.
• There will always be chocolate cake.  I choose when and how to have a taste.  
• Chances are, the craving will pass.  It always does. 

6.  "Ever wish vegetables didn't taste so vegetal-y"?  Says the V8 splash commercial.  Uh, well, no.  I like it that vegetables taste vegetable-y, just like I like that potatoes taste potato-y, and chicken tastes chicken-y.  If I want something that tastes Fruit-y, I'll eat fruit.  Thanks.

5.  Last Thursday I woke up at 3 am.  No idea why, but I couldn't get back to sleep.  I lay there for an hour or so, and then went out in the dark and ran 4 miles.  During my run, several cars stopped at stop signs, and even though it was dark, they saw me.  Because they, you know, STOPPED.  at the STOP SIGN.
But not this guy.  No, the guy in the old geep grand cherokee blew the stop sign, and then slowed somewhat for just a second when he saw me.  Then he went ahead and turned in front of me.  I smacked his car with my open palm.  yes, he was so close that I could simply lift my hand and do that.  I didn't reach.  He blew his horn at me.  Baby.


Then, for some reason I cannot fathom, he drove up the street, turned around, and drove up alongside me to give me a lecture.  Now, I really wanted to say, you blew the stop sign.  Now go blow yourself.


But because of my new year's resolution, *I* am a calm person in charge of her faculties.  So I waved as I ran while he rolled alongside me, and I called out repeately, Have a nice day!  Have a nice day!  Finally he gave up and yelled "dumbass" and drove away.  Ooo. Ouch.

That was fun.  If all I have to do to piss people off is be nice to them when they are steaming mad, then there you go.  Win-win.

WHAT is up with people like that?  Seriously.  If you go to the trouble of turning your car around to follow someone on foot and tell them how they should behave, how sad is your life?  

4.    Thursday, I blew off my afternoon run.  I hadn't seen my doggie all week in the sunlight.  I was tired as hell.  I also wanted to make a special meal for my daughter to celebrate the fact that SHE GOT A JOB, YES, THAT'S RIGHT I got the internship.  I won't tell you what we ate.  It was a bit of hedonism.  Okay, I'll tell: it was a couple of bacon-wrapped fillets from the local commissary.

At one point, she looked at them and reported that her father (who I haven't been married to for two decades) told her that these were too small, and that he could eat several of them.  Well, of course he could.  Most of us could.  That's not the point.  Yeah, no shit.  But I have tried to teach my daughter two important rules in life, and one of them is: Just because you can eat all of it doesn't mean you need to do so.  Anyway. We had the tiny fillets, and I talked to her about eating it slowly and enjoying each bite, because when you do that, you don't need more food.  We also had steamed vegetables and baked sweet-potato fries.

3.  Oh, by the way, the other rule I've tried to teach her is: Just because you can get it on doesn't mean it fits. Words to live by.  They should be posted, like, EVERYWHERE.

2.  I met some kids this week that, frankly, reminded me of how awesome I have it.  That's it.  That's all you're getting.  HIPAA, you know.  Okay, so I'm a bleeding heart.  Bite me.  Seriously, what do you expect from someone in my line of work?  I don't know too many Social Workers that AREN'T bleeding hearts
But.  I'm a bleeding heart whose politics are based on evidence, not the "energy" I feel.  Not the "gut feeling".  Evidence.

1.  What I am about to tell you will make you hate me.  A while back SweetFace came for dinner and was playing with his new iPad. As he is my son, SweetFace is a serious tecchie gear whore.  I tell you, I was smitten.  I have absolutely no reason to buy one of these things; I mean, I've finished all my coursework DID YOU READ THAT, HAVE I MENTIONED THAT I'M FINISHED WITH ALL MY COURSEWORK, but I jokingly said to SweetFace, you should give your dear old mother this for mother's day.

"Why should I do that?"

Because they wouldn't give me any drugs and you were nearly 9 pounds.  

We laughed.

Then, a couple weeks later, Daughter joked with him about getting me one.  He pondered that for a while, and then said, "I think I will."

Why?

Well, it turns out that as a teenager back in '02, SweetFace wanted a particular motherboard of mine, so unbeknownst to me he swapped it out with another motherboard that had a lesser processor.  It was off a PC that I wasn't using at the time, and I don't remember it, so I must not have been aware of it. (Sign of a true nerd, by the way.  He didn't break into my room to steal money or prescription pills, no, he took a motherboard.)

It furthermore turns out that himself the SweetFace has a low threshold of guilt tolerance. As well, he wants a new 2G ipad and only by giving me his 3-month-old 1G iPad can he justify that.
I, of course, am torn.

• Do I be the "good mother" and say, "don't spend all that money on me?" or 
• Do I acknowledge that yes, he was a pain in the ass teenager and so I'm totally entitled to cool stuff, being as I raised him alone most of his life? or
• Do I simply allow him to assuage his guilt by accepting a very expensive (and very cool) trinket?  

The tie-breaker, of course, is that it's INCREDIBLY COOL AND I WANT ONE.  

So, in addition to the new Garmin 310XT that Baboo brought me, guess what else I'm getting for mother's day? :)  Yeah, I know.  You hate me.  Go have some kids of your own and instill work ethic and low guilt thresholds.  It will take about 20 years, but it's totally worth it.
...

[soon to be sent from my iPad. if there's an app for that.] 

.

Other People's Race Reports: The Leadville Trail 100 mile endurance run.

Dear Diary:
Map of the course can be found here.

It's hard to put into words how awesome it was to be able to accompany my husband in finishing this dream he has had for so long, the "race across the sky".

But you know I'm going to try, right?

I didn't even know how important it was to him myself until after it was all over. He'd become increasing preoccupied, churning out spreadsheet after spreadsheet of pace charts, food charts with calories and grams of carbs.  I would sometimes find myself talking to him, look up and see him staring out the window.  Huh?  What? 

Now, about ultra running.  The aid stations are not water tables.  They are small cities, with places to sit for runners, and scales where they must weigh in. If they've lost too much weight, they have to stay and drink. There is am area for special needs bags, knowledgeable volunteers milling about, several tables of drink (coke, sprite, Gatorade, water, coffee) food (ramen, boiled potatoes, sandwiches, tortilla roll-ups, small candy bars, m&ms, chips, crackers, cookies) and supplies (Vaseline, bandages, Tylenol, etc) and one or two medical personnel on hand.

That might sound like a ridiculous amount of crap food, but deep into a race you want to have things on hand for people to eat regardless of how finicky their stomach is. It isn't important that pop-tarts might have some transfats in them. It's important that they have carbohydrates that are simple and easily absorbed.

And now you know the secret of why we love these things so much.  Unlike triathlon, which pounds efficiency and sleekness into you, ultrarunning is a 31- 50- or 100-mile buffet of the crappiest food that you normally do not touch because, OMG, it's how many damned weight-watchers points?  

Anway, my job: make sure he had 500 calories each hour, watch his hydration and his feet.  And to be there.  This might not seem like much, but it should be noted that of the four 100-milers that Baboo has attempted, the two he did not finish were the two where I wasn't there.  Coincidence?  I think not. Yeah, I know.  AWWWWWW.

Don't stick your finger down your throat at me. It's cute and you know it.

Ultrarunning is hard core. You will, at some point, cross a river, climb a mountain, eat some dust, get rained on, run through snow banks in July, trip and fall, and your feet may be a bloody mess of blisters. Getting help does not necessarily disqualify you, either. Both Sweet Baboo and I have had the experience of a volunteer wrapping our feet in duct tape and kicking us out of his aid station.  Suck it up, princess, you're got 40 more miles ahead of you and a pass to climb.
The worst can be altitude: Many people will train at lower altitudes, not knowing that they are one of the 20% of people who are sensitive to high altitudes.  For those 20%, the ascent up to Hope Pass doesn't leave them breathless, it might leave them with pulmonary edema.  Dean Karnazis attempted this race twice before finishing on his third try, so maybe this was his issue. It's mine.  I'll never be able to do this one, because I'm one of the 1/5.

My first stop of the day was a boat ramp.  The race had started at 4 am, and silently we stood in the dark and cold, seeing our breath, on the shore of Turquoise Lake. Then came the first flicking lights of a miles-long line of small lights flickering and bobbing along the shore, reaching back into the distance.  The runners came through, having completed their first 7 or 8 miles. They ran through silently, watching the ground intently, since it was still pitch black out, and disappeared back into the darkness.

Of course, ultra runner peeps have cowbells. Of course, they were rung. And air horns. At least one camper came down to complain.  Oh, C'MON, fisherman.  You can sleep later.  This is a race!

At the May Queen campground aid station, 13 miles into the race, I had to park over a mile away and hike in supplies. I was continuously pissed off that official crews, with special vehicle tags, had to fight for parking with spectators, who mostly stood around and got in the way. What were the point of those vehicle tags, anyway? This is the largest race of its kind, and there needs to be a "crew only" designated area, so that we can take care of our runners without tripping over someone's 6-year-old who is pitching a fit because she wants some m&ms from the aid station.

This isn't a grumpy issue. It's a safety issue. My need to take care of my runner supersedes your need to take pictures of the race, Cowgirl, so back the f&*# off.

At each aid station I check his pace, time, and prepared a baggy of food for him to take on his way, before he gets there. I also had two prepared bottles of Nuun for him to swap out his old bottles with. Sometimes I had spare shoes, if he had just crossed a river. Sometimes I had spare socks. Usually, I would prepare two bottles of Nuun, and two bottles of water, so that he could grab what he needed. 

At Twin Lakes, about 40 miles into the race, I got there 2 hours early, since the runners had to climb up and over Sugar Loaf Pass to get there. I had a snack, relaxed, and then around 10:30, set up a small "Baboo" aid station, laying out things he might need. My job is to get him out of there as quickly as possible, and to do his thinking for him.  Twin Lakes is gorgeous. 

Now, he was expected about 12:17. I didn't know that he was running really well, so just before noon, I headed for the portable toilets to, um, well.
Dammit, wouldn't you know at that exact moment, he came into the aid station, running past the portables. I exited and walked down to the place where runners were coming into the aid station, not knowing he'd come in.
So there we were - 20 yards apart in a crowd of people. I waited for him to come in, not knowing he was there, and he wandered for a bit, then got some fluids and left the aid station, headed for Hope Pass. After about 30 minutes, I thought, he CAN'T be this slow. I texted a friend and was told he'd come through 40 minutes earlier.
I was devastated. All I could think of was him crossing the river and then going up and over Hope Pass, in the heat of the day, without enough food or fluids, without a change of shoes. His race would be ruined, and it would be my fault.  I would go down in history as the worst wife and crewer ever.
Friends that I shared this with told me not to worry, he'd gone in and gotten fluids at the aid station, but still, I worried. 

I headed back to the hotel and picked up Tim, who was to be his first pacer. Pacers are people who run along with you, usually after dark, keeping you on the trail, talking to you to keep your mind off your discomfort, and they are allowed at Leadville after the turnaround at Winfield.

Winfield was mile 50, and it was a nightmare. We had 15 miles of really rough dirty road to get in. We shared it with the runners for the last 3 miles, and needed to drive 5 miles an hour to avoid sending up clouds of dust. Many non-crew vehicles ignored this, and ignored people telling them to slow down. There was a long wait for parking, as I had to wait until someone else left before I could go in. Many non-crew people ignored the requests of the race organizers not to go into Winfield, so again I had to compete with them for space. The aid station itself was crowded, and looked a lot like an outdoor rock concert, with dogs, kids, etc., running around. It was hard to get to a position to see Baboo behind all the people holding up signs of encouragement and holding 3-year-olds on their shoulders.  yeah, I know, Find your inner Polyanna, Misty.  You know what you can do with your Polyanna, right? 

So.  Baboo was expected at 4 pm.  I joined up with DreadPirate, Bones, and others, who were crewing for Mo, and they helped me with Baboo, getting things he needed. Baboo came in as sweaty and tired around 4 pm as we thought he would.  He sat for a while, tired, but happy.  Tim held an umbrella over him for shade. I gave him a wash cloth dipped in cold water to wipe down his arms and legs, lots of coke, ice, some food, and eventually sent him on his way, to climb back up over Hope Pass with Tim. I headed back to Twin Lakes. The sun was setting, and it had cooled off. I hoped Baboo would perk up now that it was cooling down. I hung out with DreadPirate at Twin Lakes, and then after seeing him off at Twin lakes, I went back to the hotel briefly to get a bite to eat.  I felt somewhat guilty about having a pre-made meal of punjab eggplant and rice, but not too much.  I didn't sign up to starve and beat myself up over 100 miles, why should I suffer?

So.  By the time he came back to a place called Treeline, it was after midnight, and I was tired. Baboo had set up an area in the Element that had a thick futon mattress and thick quilt on it, and I lay on that and dozed, despite the cold. I kept the engine running and the back hatch open so that he could spot me. When he came in, I got him his supplies while he retaped his feet.

Then I headed for Fish Hatchery, mile 75ish. At this aid station he cut the socks off his compression socks, because he said they were squeezing his feet together.  That left him with compression leg sleeves. His pacer, Tim, had gone 25 tough miles with him and was relieved by another friend of ours, Mark. Mark would take Baboo up and over Sugar Loaf pass to May Queen, about 13 miles. Mark had already paced another friend of ours that night, so his plate was full.

I headed back to May Queen, mile 87ish (the course is 102 miles) and got a decent parking spot, since it was well after midnight and most of the spectators were tired and had gone away. I set my alarm for 3:30 am and got about 2 hours of sleep, the first I'd had in 24 hours. Then I took off my jeans, under which I'd put on running tights, and grabbed my headlight and running gear. Baboo came in about 4 am, so after loading him up with foods and fluids, I headed out with him.

Now, I was pretty sure that even at mile 90, he was going to be able to outrun me, so my plan was to switch off with Tim again at the Boat ramp, and Tim could take him the last 7 miles in. We moved so fast, however, that they weren't there yet. We yelled for Tim a couple times, and then just kept going. Luckily for me Baboo did start to wind down a bit, so it was easier for me to keep up with him.

We each have awesome headlamps, so running through the woods alongside Torquoise lake in the dark was no problem. As we circled the lake, still at a good pace (mostly running) dawn came, and the sun rose. We left the lake and headed back into Leadville. The last few miles were cruel: long uphills, the last being a long uphill, short downhill, and another uphill to the finish line.

Baboo finished in 27:35, far less than he had predicted. He was hoping to finish under 30, since that was the cutoff, and had fantasized about being under 29. He never thought he'd be able to finish in less than 28, and the knowledge that the course was 102.5 miles was just that much sweeter.

Pacing him the last 15 miles was a really fantastic. Not only did I get to see parts of the course I would not have gotten to see, but I felt those weeks of him being distant and preoccupied disappearing. At one point, he started moving ahead of me, thinking he would move ahead of a runner he thought he could finish ahead of. Even at mile 90, he was faster than I.  He saw me falling behind, and slowed down. When I pointed out that he shouldn't have to worry about leaving his pacer behind, he said, "But I'm not leaving my wife behind."

I know, I know. Say it with me now: Awwwwwwww. Hands off, he's taken.

So, we finished together. Whenever we came near people, I would drop back a little and motion wildly for people to cheer for him, which they did. As we approached the finish line, I peeled off, and he broke the tape and got his finisher's medal, one of the 52% of those that finished that race, of the nearly 700 who started.

So, is this for everyone? Maybe not. I've heard that, like a lot of intense things, crewing your spouse will take your marriage in whatever direction it's going and send it that way that much faster. This is the third time I've crewed from Baboo, and I enjoy it each time. Normally Baboo is the strong one who takes care of things for me, so it's nice for me to take care of things for him for a change. I really, really like the ultra running community, and I like being in beautiful places, and it's unlikely I would ever do this run myself, given the difficulty and the altitude - so I get to participate this way. 

Plus, Baboo has always stood behind me and supported anything I wanted to do, or try to do, so it feels good for me to be able to be part of him succeeding, as well.  Call it being supportive, or call it storing up brownie points, it works. 

Mostly, I like the opportunity to run alongside my husband, something that I can normally only do if he's already gone 80 or so miles. ;-)

Next up: Rio Del Lago. I'm doing the 50K alongside Cuteness Herself, RBR, and then we'll crew Baboo as he finishes the 100-miler.

 ...

Finding your way with a map and Baboo.

Today Baboo and I headed out to San Pedro Park Wilderness to do some hike/walk/running.

On my training calendar was 20 miles, and I didn't want to do it running back and forth on a crowded bosque trail, sharing it with weekenders cyclists pedaling 5 mph with no helmets, families walking 4 abreast, or roller-bladers and YES I am just that kind of snobby.

If I have to run 20 miles, I want my own section of trail.

We headed out with a trail map to do all this at 10,000 feet.  It was beautiful.

We even saw the magic mountain cows of San Pedro Parks.  

What the map didn't tell us was that on July 31, 2010, about 70% of the trail we chose would be under water.  

At first, I was all dainty, hopping from rock to rock to avoid getting the feetsies wet...but after several hours and several marshy, swampy meadows, it was clear to me that we were running down and up a stream with occasional dry areas. 

I just stomped through each wet area. 

For about half the run, Baboo appeared to be working diligently to stay 50 yards ahead of me - I would speed up and try to catch him, but as soon as I started running he would head off at a dead sprint until he was nearly out of sight.

He said it was because his knee hurt when he tried to run as slow as me.  Or something.

Anyway, he was able to take lots of pictures of me, and the run, and he fully redeemed himself with a talent of which, before now, I was unaware.


Now, because the trail was interrupted with so many marsh/swamp/meadow areas, it was the case that either the trail had been completely overgrown since the last time people used it, or more likely, people saw the wet marsh/swamp/meadow and turned back.

Either way, there were vast areas of unmarked areas that interrupted the trail, and you couldn't see where it picked up on the other side, and we're all spoiled by races in that we expect either flags or a corner marshal: there were neither.

I knew that Baboo had studied, oh, what the hell is it called, "Land Navigation" in college, or so I thought.  Actually, he studied it in the Marines, and just for fun, did extra training in the art and science of finding your way.

I had my very own Marine land navigation specialist - all to myself!

It's amazing to think that I would be surprised 11 years into our relationship, but there it was: he didn't just take us straight across large, unmarked, untrailed areas, he led us precisely to where the other end of the trail was.  With a map.

Don't get me wrong; I can read a map, and I can follow the sun...but I'm not sure I could be as precise as he was.




He also specialized in driving vehicles over rugged terrain, so I just sit back and relax when we bounce along the graveled roads of NM.

He also takes awesome pictures, 

and picks awesome places to run.  Where I can have my very own trail.  

and no, he's still taken.  And so am I.

...

The adventure--or insanity--continues. Thursday 13.

Dear Diary,

13.  My training is now focused on Redman in September, my "A" race for the year.  This is where I did my first half iron, and so I've seen the course.  I just have to do everything I did twice.  At Kentucky, my goal was to finish.  At Ironman Couer D'Alene, my goal was to beat the moon (moonrise that day was around 11:20.  I finished around 11:16 pm).  So, my goal at Redman.  Well, it's mostly flat.  There might be wind, or rain, but barring too much crazy weatherness, I've decided I'd like to come in before 10:30 pm.  We'll see.

12.  I've had to put a lot of stuff on hold this year because of grad school; it's severely limited my ability to train.  But it hasn't limited my ability to have completely insane ideas.  Having said that, I am considering the Javalina Jundred.  It's usually Halloween weekend.  The JJ is a 100-mile course that is six 15.5-mile loops and then a shorter loop at the end.  If you make it through 4 loops and then drop, you get the 100K "Wimp Out" buckle.
I totally want something that says I "Wimped Out" by only covering 64 miles.

11.  I will almost certain do the Ghost Town 38.5 in January.  Because I.  am an IDIOT.  But mostly because I like the folks at this race.  This year, I think we're going to find a hotel outside of Kingston or Hillsboro; since they hate runners so much there I won't burden them with my dollars.

10.  I am also considering the Rocky Racoon 100-miler this next February.  I've seen nearly all of the course, and run the 50-miler at Rocky.  It's cool, shady, and nearly flat.  Here's my race report on that.  You may recall that this race is where:  Alligators Exist.

In the Park.

9. The first weekend of December is Rock n Roll Las Vegas.  When we first did this a couple years ago, we thought that the run-through wedding chappel, that is usually before mile 5, would be a cool way to renew our vows.  We tentatively decided at that time that we'd do it at year 10.  That's this year.  So: Las Vegas, here we come.  Time to get out the Elvis and Pricilla outfits again!       

8.    Each week at work has a theme.
Some weeks, the theme was "solidly psychotic young children".
Another week it was "hey, can I drop off my PITA teenager in your psych ward?"

This week's theme appears to be, "hey, is it okay if I show up for my appointment 20 or 30 minutes late?  This has included people calling me 15 minutes after their appointment asking me where I was located. Then they get all pee-pee hearted when I tell them they have to reschedule.     

7.  I have an ambitious plan to try to run to the "Y" next week on Wednesday morning (3.5 milies), swim, and then run back home (total of 7 miles).  I'll write about how it goes.  It's not a flat run I'm contemplating.

6.  I've been blending cold watermelon into my Crystal Lite Peach and Mango Green tea, and drinking it after each run.  Oh. My. God.  It's unbelievably good.  I'm tempted to buy some more, cube them, and freeze them just for this purpose.  I thought was allergic to them, but it turns out I'm allergic to cantaloup melons, not watermelons.  Yumm.

5.  How creepy is this picture?  I ask you.  

I found it when I did an image search for watermelon.  

4. I'm all out of contacts.  Due to my tragic habit of procrastination, I'm wearing my big old nerd glasses until I make it to the eye doctor.

3.  I've learned that high winds make Chloe nervous.  Ever had a 55 pound dog jump up in your lap and try to curl up for protection?    

2.  Baboo bought me some slacks for work since mine don't fit anymore and YES, he is good at picking out clothes for me and NO, you can't, he's taken.

Anyway.  The pants have swishy flared legs. I didn't think I'd like them, but now I'm hoping the style sticks around for a while, because I like the swishiness when I walk.  I feel all cool, like I should be doing the Hustle.  If you don't get that reference, then you're probably too young to understand the occasional "hot flash" references I make here, too.

1.  I'm so glad to be running again.  I'm a bit worried about a pain I have on the top of my right food after each run.  I has that "sprain" kind of feel but it's on top of my foot and I only feel it when toeing off straight forward.
Hopefully, it will turn out to be nothing.  I'm not up to being injured again.

Greeting from Hot Springs, South Dakota

There are some activities Sweet Baboo engages in ONLY in hotels.

First, as Baboo is descended from the wooly mammoth people, he first marches over to the AC and cranks it, full blast, so that I spend the rest of my time in the hotel shivering under blankets or taking hot baths. Doesn't matter where we are or the actual ambient temperature.

The other thing he does is get up early, and quietly get mostly ready (fine). He does this without waking me, and then as I begin to wake up he starts saying, over and over again, patiently and evenly, "so, are you ready yet?" He then commences to all sorts of gestures and sighs to indicate that he is being extremely patient: He lays on the bed, stares at the ceiling, walks around flapping his arms, and continues to ask, very nicely I might add: "are you ready yet?"
This is exclusively hotel behavior; it does not appear at home. Ever.

But if that's the worst that there is then I'll take it, so just put your paper and pencil away because he's still "taken".

Anyway.

I like to think that I 'grew up' in South Dakota because it was here that my frontal lobes finally reached that crucial stage of development such that I one day sat up, looked around the small rent house from which I was about to be evicted, and thought: I have to change my life. And I did.

Only in the tiny town of Volin, SD, population 200, could I have done it the way that I did it: buying a $2,500 house, and $60 car, and going to a small midwestern university while supporting three kids.

It was a peaceful life, where I was able to learn to become self-sufficient in the absence of a convenient urban center. It had all the important things you need in life: available food, safety, and shelter, with none of the things I didn't need at the time: crime, complications, shady people. My kids went to school in an old sandstone schoolhouse where they actually rang a big old bell to signal school starting. In the 90s, when they were installing metal detectors in schools in the US, my kids had to show their trays to the principal, who knew every single child by name, only to be told, You can eat a few more of those peas, Derek...Jon, you're finished. Go ahead and scrape your tray. After eating their bread, freshly made that morning, and the rest of their meal, they then had to put their silverware, (not plasticware) in a tub of soapy water, and scrape off their plates.

But, I left Sound Dakota in 1999 because there were no jobs for me. That's actually the only reason I left. There were, and still are, a lot of things to like about SD; here's a short list:

1) Pink Roads. They use a chip-seal method of maintaining roads here, and the "chips" that they use are made from ground-up red quartzite. The result: pink roads. Not road-bike-friendly, but cute.

2) People are hard-working, but laid-back about it. This is hard to explain, but mostly, it's a mind-my-own-business and do my work sort of thing.

3) Lack of pretentiousness. Nobody cares what kind of car you drive, what kind of jeans you wear, or how edumacated you are. Of course, in some venues, the right tractor says a lot.

4) Safety. You can, literally in almost the entire state, leave your car running while you go into the store, gas station, coffee shop, whatever, and your children can wonder free.

5) Stuff grows like crazy here. Especially large, colorful flowering things, and things that smell crazy good, and stuff to eat.

6) Large critters. It's kind of cool to be doing an early morning run through just a regular neighborhood and come upon deer, hanging out in someone's front yard. They didn't even seem upset or concerned, though they kept their eyes on me.

I like the town we're in right now, Hot Springs. I have noted the presense of not one single teenager here, which might explain the lack of vandalism and litter. Refreshing. There is also a small VA here. Interesting. The people, of course, are super nice.

We ate this morning at the Flat Iron Grill, and I had mixed feelings about it: I loved the atmosphere, and the food, what there was of it, was good. However, my feeling is that if you want to serve small, expensive portions of food in a semi-formal garden in a historic inn, along with an expensive latte, then you should put it on a real plate, not a not a throw-away plate, and the same with my coffee. Second, you can be generous with cheapter ingredients. Baboo, for instance, ordered oatmeal as part of his breakfast, and got about 3/4 cup of it in a large soup bowl. I mean, c'mon, oats are not expensive; fill the darn bowl. Other than that, it was pretty good, just kind of expensive for the amount you got.

Tomorrow I won't be posting much, because I'll be crewing for Baboo. His 100 mile run starts at 6 am, and I'll be meeting him about every 4-6 miles at aid stations through the day and night.

...

Aggggghhhhhh!

Macaroni and cheese is NINE POINTS?

NINE POINTS?

I'm alloted 22 points per day, and 1 cup of macaroni and cheese is 41% of that?

Just kill me now.

In other [good] news, I seem to have lost a couple pounds already. The last time I was on weight watchers I lost about 3 to 5 pounds a week for 2 months. Then I stopped doing weight watchers and never lost another pound. That was in early 2005.

I feel good, not weak or hungry. But oh, my mac and cheese! how I'll miss you! Perhaps this is how I"ll spend some of my "activity points".

Meanwhile, Sweet Baboo is getting all hunky and stuff. The other day I said, "nice package" to him. He was all embarassed; it was cute. But when he's talking to me at home and getting dressed at the same time, I'm finding it difficult to focus on what he's saying.

...