See Nat Run

Volunteers Wanted

Hi Folks,

Once again, I've been tasked with finding volunteer course marshals for the Hintonburg Centennial 5K and Newswest 1K Kids Run. It's the coolest race in the best 'hood. (And the hottest race director... might I add... )

The Event is July 19, 2009. We'll need folks to be at their intersection for 8:30 a.m.. The course goes through the heart of Hintonburg (and part of West Wellington) and there are a tonne of intersections. Race is usually over by 10:30/11 a.m. and everyone is welcome back at Parkdale Park for cake. Everybody loves cake.

Course marshals have two important jobs. (1) Make sure cars stay off the course and (2) cheer like mad as the runners and walkers go by. There are also two water stations that need to be staffed. Cake after the event -- everybody loves cake right?

As an added bonus, I'll be in your debt until next year when I ask you do it again.

Interested?  Leave me a comment.

Now Given that it's such a wonderful wonderful event, some of my runner friends might want to sign up at Running Room.

The usual t-shirts for the runners, kids run is free and we usually have to some sort of swag for them as well.

Soldier on...

I'm a runner.

This is The Boy running dead last in a relay at a track and field last week. Note he is running and smiling. He knows that it's hard, he feels bad that he can't win... I know this because we talked about it. I talked to his phys. ed teacher, she said he just sucks it up does it, with a smile. (I am paraphrasing -- I don't think they let you teach if you use words like 'suck')  I've talked about it before. It's hard because most of The Boy's in his class are jocks.

Little C is stupid fast. He finished the 100m dash a good 15m head of the other kids. When he won the other kids in the class hoisted him up. (He's at the end of lane 5 here.) First first place ribbon of the day. I remember this feeling well, I never even placed either.

Still he soldiered on and never let it show that it was getting to him. There was no I don't want to run. NO, I'm too tired. Just getting out there and getting it done.

Possibly there is in here for all of us.

Can't finish the marathon by sitting on the couch.

Stroller Derby: Ottawa Race Weeekend 5K

At some point last week, the lovely but injured Lilly wrote a touching post about not running this past weekend. She'd planned to the marathon but her knee had other plans. She sounded ok with it, but you know, it made me realize that perhaps I needed to get out there.

My buddy Miss Vix signed up for her first 5K clinic and was doing her first race. And well, superstar triathlete Treena was doing the 10K... two really good invites. My bad planning  made the decision for me. The 10 was sold out. The 5K it would be.

Thinking back now I don't think I've ever tried to run this 5K. I usually am with people who walk it. The Boy, the gang from the previous work. Vixx though planned to run it. Because when I signed up it said running was ok. I got the impression that it was encouraged and perhaps even do-able.

This is the scene at the start. We decide to stand near the back. (We should have been closer to the front.) The start line is just ahead from the first building on the right.

When I signed up for this I figured it would be a lot of passing. I figured it would be a lot of weaving in and out. I had a swollen foot post-run earlier in the week. The goal honestly was to beat the time it took me to do 3 miles on Wednesday. It's a slow start no problem. Seems to me there are a lot more people than last year. (This is good, I guess.) Seems to me there are a lot of people pulling things -- wagons, tricycles, I can deal. I am too far back I think.

Finally we cross the start. It takes a while for me to have enough room to run. In fact, it's 3 minutes before I can even get some semblance of pace going. We loop onto the Canal. I have to slow because this group is walking abreast taking up most of the lane. (Ok, people, I get it, this is a big day but you have to let people through.) Gah. I run for a solid five minutes. (I decided on five and ones -- my shins ache but it's so bad.) Vixx says she's doing 10 and 1s and runs off. (I wish her luck. Tell her I hope to see her at the finish.)

I walk my one. Start running again. About a minute into the interval, roller derby begins. Buddy cuts me off with his running stroller. He grazes my right ankle. He doesn't notice. Keeps trying to push through with his stroller.  Not amused. I run for another 500m or so, and it happens AGAIN. Doofus #2. This time he really hits my ankle. He apologizes. I tell him in very colourful language to watch where the fuck he's going. Then about 100 m later, he nicks someone else. Clearly this is not right.

During the course of the race, I also nearly trip over a wagon. (Evidently this is my fault for running.) Seriously... people here is the deal...

I love The Boy with all my heart. I understand wanting to involve your kids in your running. I get it, I'm the same way. But strollers have no business on a course with 3,000 people on it. None. There is a 2K, which is designed for kids. It's a family run. Run the 2K with your kids... and I finish the course with fully functionning feet.

That being said, all the walking was ok. It meant I had to take it slow. (Though the ankle thing hurt, and my shins were not happy.) The heat didn't prove to me much of an issue. (Wooohooo.) I don't understand how the Distance Run in Philly can handle 15,000 runners so well. While these people couldn't handle a third of that... the line ups for water, and food where insane... and it just seem very badly organized... I just don't get it. It didn't seem that bad last time I did it.

And Vixx and her sister finished their first 5K. She's looking for a 10 for this fall.  Congrats to both of them.

As for National Capital Race Weekend, I think I am writing it off as an event. I'll stick to places where they can handle it.

Farewell Mr. Christie. You make good cookies.

I spent all week marveling at what a creature of biochemistry I am. (And missing my Four Score and Seven Blisters crew...)

Remember when you were 18 and you could rock 'n roll all night and party every day. Evidently as you near 40 this ability lessens somewhat. I can still do that. Problem being that it takes a good week to get over it.  But I am back, as are the photos.  And let me tell you, people, the news is not good.

I'd post an example but really, no one needs to be traumatized by the site of me in running gear. Clearly, I love the Oreos more than they like me. Perhaps it's that they like me so much that they don't leave and they take up permanent residence in my ass. Whatever the reason, the end result ain't pretty.

I remember sitting with Dan and crew for a pre-race meal and was talking about gaining back some of the weight he'd lost.

"I"m not one of these people that whines that they don't know why they're gaining weight. I know why...." 

I know why too.  Too much food, not enough exercise. I know the rules, somewhere along the way I decided they didn't apply. So. Enter Operation 26.

The goal is simple I need to lose 26 pounds, and I want to do it right. So a pound a week for the next 26 weeks, combines better food choices, smaller quantities and gasp... fewer cookies. Every week, a few goals to meet.

This week's goal is simple. Eat breakfast every day before work. Exercise five time (walking home doesn't count.)

Maybe you'll have me to kick around once more. :)

Relay Report: American Odyssey Relay

Winners Best Team Name: Four Score and 7 Blisters
Number of media hits for the name: 3 (NBC news, Washington Post, and the Record Herald)
Total team distance covered on foot: About 200 miles
Distance (gmaps) between Gettysburg, PA and Washington DC: 83 miles
Time at start: around 30F/OC (brrrrrrrrrr...)
Time at finish: 92F/33C (too fucking hot...)
Length of Bruce Springsteen concert: 2h50 (faster than my last half. Click on link to see my review.

Most photographed man on the course: The Man having a smoke. (Courtesy of Matt who is probably not going to read this.)

I hesitate to call this a race report because, honestly, the least interesting thing about this was the actual running.  The course had a lot more hills than I'd imagined. It was definitely challenging for the weekend warriors among us, doubly so if she has a propensity for Oreos.  I come away knowing that it is as important to learn to run down the hills as it is to run up them, and that I probably should have downgraded my skill level to easy.

But let's back up a bit, about a year ago. Karen, who needs to get her ass back to blogging, posted about looking for members for the American Odyssey relay. I hopped aboard. She said she needed men on the team so I volunteered The Man. It's a 12-person 200+ mile relay from Gettysburg to DC (not a direct route) run over 36 hours. Because that's not challenging enough, we decided to throw in unknown group dynamics with 12 people who, for the most part, knew only one or two people on the team. You know what... it was so much fun. I'd do it again.

The vans loaded up with folks, drop runners off at one point and pick them up at another while dropping off the next runner.

This is the gang from Van #2: From left: Me, The Man (not smoking), Katie, Juliet, Jaqualin and Cheryl.

And Van #1: From left Matt, Taryn, Jeff, Karen, Ann Marie and Dan.

Leg 19 which started around 1 a.m. found me running along some very secluded farm land. The van would disappearing around a corner, or at the bottom of a hill. Creepy. (It's not evident where you can pull over even along these roads.) Yet, every runner that passed (happens a lot), every van and every car asked if I was ok. The entire race was like that, there was definitely a sense of community among the runners. It was so much a race, it was more of a big group run. 

Back to the night run, I would have run all night. Peaceful yet I was happy to see the van. I'd love to try that loop again when I wasn't worried about unseen potholes and cracks in the road. Reminded me that perhaps I need to get back into early morning runs. The running was hard overall, and I walked most of my last leg because of the heat. It was 95F, my hands were like sausages, and well, running made me wheezy. Felt bad that The Man had to waste his last run with me, still I was glad to have him there. 

What I will remember is an amazing fun, kind, hysterical group of people, who made the most of a 36 hour period to make the most of what is a really silly situation. I'd run with all of these turkeys again in a heartbeat. Although I hear Van #1 found some sweet sleeping spots in the battlefields among the snakes and the cannons. (That reads like a misplaced Leonard Cohen line.) Bring your own blankets.

All in all, I think I did ok sleep wise. Pre-leg 19, both vans meet up that "oasis" at a high school in Boonsboro. The idea is that all the runners meet up at this high school and can interract. Unfortunately, it's sort of a carnaval atmosphere with a lot of noise. After dusk, what runners really need is a quiet spot to rest. I had a much better time at Transition 11-12 where we chilled. (I think it would make more sense to have the oasis there.)

But back to Boonboro. I pay $15 for a 15 minute massage. I would have gone for longer but it's all I have in my wallet and I can't track The Man down to raid his cash. Still I reckon at most he'd have had, was about $100, which is still not nearly long enough. The massage helps my very sore quads/shins. I can face the 5.5 miles in the dark. Wandering out somewhere betwen Zen and zombie, Karen stops me.

Karen: Nat, you need sleep. Come sleep in our van. The Man's in there.

Nat: I just had a leg massage you should go do that. Why is The Man in your van?

Karen: Because he needs sleep too. Come on... I'll come get you when Taryn leaves for her 3.3 miles.

I settled into the driver side van. Karen finds a blanket and tucks me in.  I think we may have had a short chat. I look over. The Man is smelly, and drooling -- soundly asleep. 

Nat: You know we're totally having sex once you leave.

She gives me that "you didn't just say that" look, shakes her head and closes the door, 30 seconds later I was asleep. Awesome.

I'd hold the no-dead of night runs thing against Team 1, but I am pretty sure I slept through a lot of the night. I have these huge gaps in my memory.  For instance, at some point we were looking for the transition between Jaqualin and Katie, The Man and I were both asleep in the van. But it seemed to me that we were lost in an odd Twilight Zone kind of place where the darkness seemed to permeate everything -- and we didn't seem to be going anywhere. I'd wake up every few minutes to try and help, but I couldn't shake sleep ... but it didn't seem we'd gone very far. Yet clearly we'd been moving all along. (Cue eerie music here.)

Some guy handed me toilet paper at a portapotty in the middle of the night but I don't know where... or who was with me in line. Katie perhaps? Was it near the canal at the last transition... I just don't remember. 

I learned that way way way before sunrise the roosters start crow.

The gas station attendant in some burrow along the way sent us to a Menonite bakery that made the best cinnamon donuts EVER. I think they may have been suitably scandalized by our lovely smell/dress combo.

We drop pick up Katie. Jeff, The Team captain, points us to a closed outlet mall. It's early morning, near a highway. We all drift off for two hours and wake up around the same time. 

Gang of slow poke that we are. We had to skip a few legs, and The Man and I ended up stranded for about an hour at the end of our last leg while our van ran around dropping the next team off. (Luckily the volunteers left us water.) Lesson learned -- planned which routes you'll skip and make sure all vans are relatively near the runners specially at the end in case the other needs back up. I'm ticked. The gang wins me back. Slowly but surely.

We arrive in DC, wait for van #1 (stuck in traffic or something) at the finish and medal together. Get the snark out. We kiss and make up. Well, no one kissed Van #2 folks ... we really smell. Still feel like it's not quite done because of those two skipped legs.

Maybe it's an excuse for a resurrection of the team in a few years -- do it again with all these lessons learned.

Soon we've tidied up, and are sharing a huge Lebanese meal. Dan and I discuss cannons and fish, in the kind of conversation you find in David Lynch films. We meet Debbie, Mrs. Jeff, who is having us over for brunch. She packed us cookies. I love her for the cookies. I love this gang. I miss them so...

We sleep the sleep of the dead. (Hence why we got the king size bed.)

The decisions taken over brunch to follow... 

We'll run 'til we drop and baby we'll never go back...ooooooooh*

I may be back with stories to tell...
But first we are off to Boston to see The Boss. (He looks yummy in this picture.)

 

Then I'm meeting 10 people I only know through the Internet, to run American Odyssey Relay. (Go check out Jeff's post -- he's got the roster. And well, he's infinitely more brilliant than am I. Also he's team Captain, I reckon he'll make me run in the REALLY  hard and/or REALLY spookie legs.) He's got all the links for all these beautiful people. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

___________
*Yes the ooooooooooooooh is mandatory.

Third times a charm...

A different kind of race report. A virtual training run as it were.

Jeff and Pokey challenged us to a virtual training run in order to get ready for American Odyssey Relay WHICH IS LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY. Jeff is out doing 10 miles worth of hills -- just thinking about that makes me cry.

Leg 1: 5.7 miles -- (Actual leg 7 -- 4.9 miles including large chunks uphill. It makes me cry to look at it.) It was a gorgeous sunny midday. Sun is not my friend in these thing. I am overcast runner. Still it's cool enough that it doesn't make too much of a difference.  I am happy to find even sparse shade. I planned a whack of hills.  The route is a reverse of the one I run when I'm tired, which is to say it's a lot of uphills. All the way through I keep thinking, if I stop running Pokey is going to kill me. Still it was a nice day for a run even though I was way way way overdressed. I promise to switch to shorts and a t-shirt.

In between, I go shopping pick up a new pair of runners (the other are too cooked to wear), a pair of shoes for the boys and do the groceries.  Pick up jujubes, juice and shushi. Pre-run lunch of champions. I have to move the run up a few hours because of Girls Gone Bowling.

Leg 2: 5 miles (Actual leg 19 -- 5.5 miles which does not look so bad mostly downhill except it's in a residential area and I am convinced I'm going to get shot at. You know right to bare arms and bear arms.) I actually got the distance from leg one and leg two confused because I didn't check and I'm a moron. Anyway. This one hurt. I ran it only four hours after the first leg because it was Girls Gone Bowling night, and I can't miss that. I was slowed by the rolling hills along the river and the fact that there are still parts of it that are ice covered.

Taryn would have set her mob on me for this run. It sucked. It's not the cardio that is going to hurt. It's the legs.

IT bands and my piriformis are NOT happy. I end up walking the last half mile. Still end up making not bad time. Definitely within the parameters I'd set for myself.  I have a long long stretch when I get home.

And head off to bowling.Because nothing makes sore legs better than bowling. BUT there is beer involved. Beer doesn't make the legs bette, it just makes me think it doesn. Turns out, I was parched, and perhaps consumed more than my fair share. Evidently running 10.7 miles in one day makes a girl thirsty. I stumbled home having crossed the beer line. (Does anyone know if 25 camels for a girl is a good offer?) I haven't laughed that hard in weeks. The girls kick ass.

Somewhere along the way, I convince myself that getting drunk was part of the plan -- a plan to make the last run hard. Really. (Not buying either?) I'll do anything to improve my running including getting really drunk the night before.It's hard to be a weekend warrior.

I get home around 11 p.m. -- eat half a left over steak and all the jujubes. (I decide that jujubes are like manna from heaven.) Then, I go right to sleep... I'll leave it to your imagination what the other side effect of alcohol is. Eventually -- we get to sleep. Last clock check was around 1 a.m.

The plan called for a 7 a.m. run. At 6:30 a.m. I wake up with the hangover fever. (Don't ask I get really really oddly hot.) I drag my carcass out of bed make coffee. It takes 15 minutes. I want to die.  I get it going, pop 2 advil sinus and cold (or it may have been immodium who the heck knows really I could hardly keep my eyes open) -- decide that death is not condusive to making the team run. Also I am terribly stupid to think I can drink this much and run at 7 a.m. I crawl back into bed and sleep until 8:30 a.m. Many many weird dreams. None about running.

Then I get up and wonder why I feel like death and am now dealing with gastro-intestinal issues of the southern variety. I am reminded yet again, that although he plays all friendly like Alexander Keith is not my friend. (But he's so good going down you know?)  The Man has a thing at 10:30, I don't have time to eat and run. So I push it back. Given the 'ISSUES' it's probably for the best.

Also it's pouring rain. I know I know it could rain. It's also windy. Fuck me. I have a slight flashback to the Virginia Beach Marathon.

The Man comes home announces he's doing a radio interview at 1. The house looks like a hurricane hit it. I push off the run, clean. Decide that reporters in the house do not need to see my ass in a tank top and undies.  Figure if I am going to change, I should put the gear on. Give myself the suck-it-up you weak little white girl talk. It may be a 24 hour deadline. But I've just blown it.

Leg 3: 5.25 miles (Actual Leg 31 -- Distance is 4.6 miles (oh it's much much shorter than I thought) It's pouring rain. I am under-dressed. Fucking hangover. I take an easy course along the Rideau Canal. It's a great run, fastest of the three. But man am I wet and cold. This is by far the easiest of the course... still it feels good and my legs aren't too bad. I rang out my bra when I got home.Fucked up what chafes when it rains. My feet are soggy. Damn. But I did it. I honestly and truly did it.

Maybe just maybe I can do this.

Lessons learned:

• I am going to need three distinct running outfits. Including three bras and three shirts and three pairs of socks. Hats.
• Body glide and lots of it
• Towel... I am going to need a towel... just like Dirk Gently.
• I need a mid-run snack.
• Fluid is my friend.
• Perhaps beer between legs is not such a good idea.
• Bowling however was fun. 
• The legs are a weird distance, between sprint and long distance...
  easier than a marathon or even a half. But I had a full nights sleep.
• Guns would make me run faster. Cookies too. Oreos. Must stop and get oreos.

This evening, I am sore. (Which is unusual -- usually I feel the pain the next day. This scares me.) All in all happy with the whole thing.

I still feel under-trained. But I am bit more prepared for what might hit us out there.
Hope you enjoyed the sunshine.

Shit!

Lily keeps asking me what my next goal race is. Well, I am running up and down a lot of hills in preparation for the American Odyssey Relay. But, one of my goals was to do a try-a-tri this year. (Ottawa River Keeper.) There is one in late June just up the street from my house.

But I keep reading about all the freaking raw sewage, that is getting pumped into the Ottawa River either by run off or through some power failures or whatever else the City's excuse is for pumping shit into the River. Unfortunately, the City, political machine that it is, does not always see fit to tell us about it. I just remember my last jaunt into the Ottawa River resulted in a stench on me which was definitely more latrine in nature. And well, the level of the contaminant of the week really make me hesitant to take The Boy swimming there ever. (In fact, we usually opt for pools when it's hot out.) All this can't be good for the river and it can't be good for the humans.

You'll pardon the pun, but this shit is tired and it's time we worked to clean it up. It can't be good for the river's ecosystem (I'm sure the fish and frogs have the incorrect number of limbs and eyes -- some too many and some too few.)  I started running in order to figure out the mind body connection, but as with most things, I suppose you pick a renewed appreciation for human/earth connection too. Must admit I've always been a save the planet, walk when you can kind of girl -- still it's a deeper appreciation, I suppose, when you know that those smoggy days mean a treadmill run or when the river is so polluted you can't swim in it. Food for thought...

Time, time, time

I am neglecting you aren't I...

I've written about this before but I think it's catching up to me. Changing jobs is always more stressful than I imagined. I am just exhausted. So I'm going call in a "gonna take today off".

Springs has sprung, and I seem to be nursing either allergies or one of those colds that starts and just doesn't go anywhere. And man, am I tired. My soul could use a good run but my body is saying "can't we just rest"... and the lovely three day headache. I am just whooped. But it's sunny and gorgeous outside.
That kind of back and forth in my head. But look, it's sunny and perfect running weather. But gah... it's all I can do to get another glass of water from the kitchen.

I haven't forgotten you. I'm just taking a bit of break today.

Walking on sunshine

Evidently I have jinxed us all with more winter weather. (Sorry gang.) Last week, I was convinced that everything was heating up nicely and that I could put the lined running tights away, then imitating wall street the mercury plunged. 

Still I don't like to miss a Sunday run, well, a longish weekend run. The Fabulous Ms. G. has gone south for a few weeks. It's the home stretch of winter that gets to me from time to time. This year I am handling it by changing jobs, how does it go, a change is as good as a rest. Sore foot, tequila night, scheduling has meant that I didn't run at all last week. I officially suck.

Today's run was very very good. Faster than last week's 10K by 90 seconds, which is good given how much the last mile hurt. I'm happy to report that it was definitely a shoelace issue last week. I had a sore left foot for a bit, I'm starting to think that my left foot is the bigger of the two. I had the same problem with these shoes last time, I just couldn't face getting new shoes.

Now,I bitch and whine about the weather but today's was ideal. IT was sunny and well, the sun is a lot stronger than it was a few weeks ago and well, cold or no, I have decided that spring is in the air.