What are you trying to say?

Ok, google reader…I know I haven't been the best little everyday athlete/ back-of-the-pack triathlete but you don't have to be rude!

 

My suggested reading used to be running/tri-specific blogs and now they've started just recommending food blogs. I shouldn't be mad; google just calls it like it sees it I guess.

 

Jerks.

 

 

Speedy has been frantically emailing me about how "bikini season" might morph into "sweatsuit season" if we don't get a grip soon; my bigger worry is that "tri-season" will morph into "dragging-ass season" if I don't get busy.

 

60 days until Issaquah!!!

Why Speedy is in charge!

On Friday, I was feeling SO SLUGGISH. To combat this, I emailed Speedy all the marathon ideas I had.

Her response is below (in Blue, my thoughts on it are in green):

 

I thought about this during my run yesterday (Yes, I did run... my workouts for the week are coming your way).  Who says we have to be "marathoners"?  Why can't we be "Half Marathoners"?  I say we do the RnR 1/2 in as many cities as they offer.  Wanna know my justifications for this brilliant idea?  Here we go:
 
1) Lets face it, the marathon kicked our asses

Yeah, it really did (although I hate to end it when the score is Marathon: 1, Amber:0) but it really did kick our asses and laugh at us.

2) With both of us being lovey-dovey, who has time to train?

Agreed, it was already hard enough to persuade myself to drag myself out of bed and run for 4+ hours straight but now… there are higher priorities.

3) Do you really WANT to train again?

No, the thought makes me kind of queasy. I just looked at my marathon training log and saw that I got up to 38miles/week, now I just can't even fathom it.

4) You can train for a half in no time
I don't know that she is right about this except that 13miles is not nearly as scary as it sounded 2 years ago, heck, 1 year ago it was still daunting.

5) It's not as intense, but still kinda fun

Absolutely! HM are the best because you can still make fun of the crazy bastards doing the full.

6) You still have to be motivated, just not as motivated (or crazy) as for a full
I whole-heartedly agree with this too. 13.1 miles is NO JOKE. At this distance I still have to worry about hydration and nutrition and proper pacing. This is not a throwaway distance by any measure but there is less risk for burnout both mentally and physically. I am so glad that I escaped my marathon training unharmed (except for the residual trauma of being that sick and having to run) but injury is no joke. With a half, I feel like I can train smarter since I feel like even the long runs can be done on weekdays. During marathon training I was VERY stressed about having to skip a long run because there is not good time during the week to run for 4+hours.
 
What do you think? 
I think Speedy is the best! Oddly, she plays both devil and angel on my shoulders. Damn her for getting me into this and bless her for helping keep it semi-sane!

The better late than never, WAY subject to change, looks a bit overly optimistic, Race Plan

Race plan 2009 (pathetically still in progress)

Race	Distance	Location	Date
Kirkland Half Marathon	13.1 mi run	Kirkland, WA	5/10/09 (Sun)
Issaquah Triathlon	Sprint	Issaquah, WA	5/30/09 (Sat)
Seattle Rock 'n' Roll	13.1 mi run	Seattle, WA	6/27/09 (Sat)
ChelanMan weekend	Oly (A)	Chelan, WA	7/18/09 (Sat)
Anchorman (they dump you off a boat!)	Sprint	Vashon Island, WA	8/9/09 (Sun)
Some run in San Diego/SoCal the weekend I am down there for reunion…maybe with HS chums?
Black Diamond	Oly	Enumclaw, WA	9/27/09 (Sun)

Are they drunk or just stupid? (St. Pat’s Dash report)

Just stupid.

Over 1month since my last entry…almost as pitiful as my "training" has been in that span of time. I am SO meandering but that will be my next post (possibly in a month). This is a race report.

______________

St. Pat's Dash

Seattle, WA

3/15/2009

Distance: ~6K

Time: I don't know! (they posted results that have the clock time and it is really bugging me)

This is the 2^nd anniversary run of what was my first race ever in 2007. I didn't do it in 2008 and they changed the course for this year so it was different in this way but it was different for so many more reasons.

I was cajoled into running this by my new boyfriend; we'll call him The Captain (although he and his friends don't seem to do the blog nickname thing I will anyway to protect the innocent.). Captain was running his first race ever and I wouldn't have missed that for anything.

Wardrobe is always tricky but especially so for this race. I wanted to be festive but I was going to try to run hard so I needed to be functional. This is also when I should mention THE WEATHER SUCKED. It was snowing/raining when I woke up in the morning. I also have the added complication of needing a pocket for my iPhone. I went with a St. Patty's day t-shirt & socks for the festivity, my fave Capri running pants, a windbreaker type jacket, arms warmers and disposable PJ pants for warmth before the race.

The Cap and his running buddy came by my place where we met up with his friend/running mentor (I have to work on names for these guys…I'm not clever enough for this). We all piled into my car and headed to the race start.

It was nasty out. The snowflakes were huge and blowing sideways. UNCOOL. This was however the first time I've had someone I could huddle with for body heat; this was awesome and I selfishly hope he keeps running just for this perk! Speedy and I are close but we try to stay appropriate.

I was sad for him that it was such crappy weather cause we missed all of the race day excitement. Bottom line, we were ready for our wave to start. It did. I ran. I felt really good for the first portion (I had no gauge of distance, I didn't see any mile markers and had no helpful technology). There was a lot of bobbing and weaving. The first half was slightly uphill and this seemed to really stress my ankles. I was getting concerned about my ankles and cursing myself for not being warm/stretched when blissfully I saw the turnaround. I tried to pick it up since I was going downhill. I have no idea if that worked.

One big, exciting difference between 09 and 07 was that 2 years ago I was dying at the finish, I started walking towards the chute. This year, I was also dying in the lungs but I pushed harder. The finish chute was a disaster; it was getting backed up to the point where people almost couldn't cross the finish line. The Cap's running mentor must have finished pretty close to me, and we went to watch him and his running buddy finish.

I was so happy for him and I hope he was proud of himself. In my life there have been few things as personally satisfying as crossing the finish line at St. Pat's 07 and I just hope he got that same sense of satisfaction and I'm so glad to have been there.

Post race festivities should have been super fun but it was freezing and we were soaking wet. So we made it quick and headed out to breakfast.

All before 11am, not too shabby.