Nike Women's Marathon 2009

(what a boring title... but I can't think of anything else right now...)

Ran the Nike Women's Marathon this morning with Colleen! I came in at 4:33, and while it's definitely no PR, I think we did pretty well, considering all the walking we did in the latter part of the race due to my right quad cramping up and Colleen's knees and mild fever! Despite our ailments and my now aching body, we still had a lot of fun! Highlights were: having a great first half of the race with Colleen, chatting and enjoying the course, and seeing our supporters! Sam at mile 8, my aunt and uncle at mile 10, Wayne at mile 24, and Sam and Albert at the Finish. (Special thanks also to Albert for being Race Day chauffeur once again). Oh, and the food at the end of the race tasted SO good... nothing special--just bananas, bagels, and granola and yogurt... but it must be the 26.2 miles, because it was the BEST banana, bagel, and granola and yogurt we've had, haha.

Colleen and I are trying to decide which race to do next. Perhaps Big Sur in April!

my first race as a To!

and this is a funny picture of me and Colleen sniffing flavored oxygen at one of the booths at the expotique.

At mile 24! (and Colleen with her shirt/scarf around her neck)

and jumping for joy after finishing!

running out of time

The Nike Women's Marathon is fast approaching, and I am so not ready for it. Between the trips, busy work schedule, recent house painting, and other excuses, I haven't been running at all! But this past week, I found a marathon training schedule online to help me stay focused. It's an 18-week training schedule, but since the race is in mid October, I have to jump right into week 7! That means that I did my requisite 3-miler on Tuesday, 6-miler today, and I'm scheduled for a whopping 14 miles on Saturday!!! Just like that! Although I suppose it wasn't intended to be such instantaneous torture, but that's what I get for missing the first 6 weeks of my training. yikes... I hope I'm still alive to enjoy Josh and Melissa's wedding later that day.

oh, and P.S. Our bedroom walls look like toothpaste! I had envisioned a soothing seafoam, but got Colgate, instead. :/

running with Lucy

Oh, my goodness. Running with Lucy is not as great as I thought it was going to be. She doesn't like to run! I'm sure she CAN run, but she insists on trotting or walking, and so for three miles, I'm pretty much tugging this big puppy behind me, chirping repeatedly, "Come on, Lucy! Let's go! Come on!" It's actually quite a ridiculous sight. I got fed up today and took her leash off during a stretch where there were no people, which worked out a lot better. She ran behind me the whole time, trying to keep up, and didn't wander off, even when there were ducks and squirrels vying for her attention. It was really, really cute! I'm sure that when she's a little older and bolder, but not yet fully trained, I won't be able to just let her off her leash like this, but for now, she's still a very good puppy who just wants to be everywhere I am. And hopefully, she'll also start to understand this whole running thing and become a better running partner.

"You, Mom? RUN?!"

confession: I haven't run in a long time... a really long time. I blame the cold and the dreary weather, but I know I can really only blame myself and my lack of discipline.

I had a little conversation with Lucy today that was pretty convicting. It went something like this:

Me: Hey, Lucy. I see a clearing in the rain. I think I'm going to go for a run!
Lucy: You, Mom? RUN?!
Me: Yeah... why do you seem so surprised?
Lucy: I don't know... I've just never seen you exercise before. I mean, MoMo's mom does a lot of yoga and goes to bar method classes, so I can see her being physically fit. You just kind of sit around and stay home a lot. I just didn't know you were into stuff like that...

Ouch. But you know what they say, kids and puppies say the darnedest things, but also speak the truth.

So I laced up my shoes (took me a while to find my running hat; it's been so long), and went for a quick 3-miler--nice and short to start out with... and turn this thing back into more of a habit than an aberration.