2:03:30

I did it!  My first half-marathon went down yesterday and I not only survived it, but beat my (very conservative) goal time by 27 minutes.  Ha ha!

Training for this race went wonderfully and aside from a nasty cold about 3 weeks before that waylaid me for a couple days, I was injury free and just enjoying the ride.

I was so lucky to have a great training partner towards the end...a good girlfriend who's completed marathons (and even an Ironman!) ran my last 3 long runs with me leading up to the race.  It was so helpful to be able to pick the brain of an experienced distance runner.  She was supportive and encouraging, convincing me that I have what it takes to run a half and even a full marathon.

Yesterday, race day, I woke up with butterflies but managed to choke down a Clif bar and a banana- a breakfast that's been proven (for me) to stay down and not cause any 'gut-bomb' feelings.  Oh, and coffee, of course.  My friend and I rode down together (the Husband and Kiddo were planning to leave later and meet us at the finish line).  It was good to have company and conversation to distract from the nervous energy I was feeling.

After sunscreening up, deciding on how much/how little clothing to start out with (it was in the 50's but sunny so I opted for a tank and shorts, leaving my arm warmers in the car at the last minute) and peeing (yay for lots of porta potties!!) we were ready to go.

There were a shit ton of people at the start...I read later that nearly 1500 people finished the race.  By far the biggest race I've done!  My buddy moved ahead in the pack, knowing that she wanted a faster start.  I hung back, knowing that the first 2 miles of the race were straight uphill, my strategy was to go easy and then pick it up later when the course flattened out again.

And suddenly, we were off!  People clapped and cheered and photographers took pictures and we all started the (torturous) climb up the first "bitch" (I learned over the course of the race that the 4 hills are commonly referred to as the 4 bitches.  Heh.)

The breakdown:

Miles 1-2: My plan to start easy and make my way up the first and biggest of the hills really paid off- after the first two hills, I was feeling strong and seeing many folks who had bolted ahead of me starting to flag and we weren't even at mile 3! 

Miles 3-4:  Uh oh- even though we peed 20 minutes before the start, I kinda need to again.  I spend the next 20 minutes or so thinking "Should I stop?  Should I hold it? "

Mile 5:  The 2nd aid station and a porta potty with no line- I make a split second decision to stop.  Best 30 second investment I could have made!  I can now run comfortably and think about something other than my bladder.

Miles 5-8:  We roll along over a couple more hills, along a reservoir, and through green farmland (complete with manure smells).  At one point we pass a pen with Shetland ponies and I nearly cry out "Look, its Little Sebastian!"  But quickly check myself realizing that 1) no one will probably know what the hell I'm talking about and 2) people with think I'm "off" either way. 

Mile 8.5: The course at this point leaves the road and goes onto a bike path- I power chew a GU Chomp at this point and gulp down some water.

Mile 9-11:  These are the hardest miles for me.  The bike path leads through an open, exposed field with a quarry or construction site of some sort on one side.  The scenery is boring and the cement path is starting to feel hard on my joints.  I manage to keep my pace but am constantly looking ahead for some hint of trees or something more interesting.

Mile 11.5: Another chew and some more water.  We're in the home stretch now!  I concentrate on keeping my pace up and maintaining my form even though I'm getting tired.

Mile 13.1:  Somehow, I charge the finish line, digging deep and ending strong.  I look for the husband and Otto but after waiting a while, they pick that exact moment to be crouched down putting on sunscreen :(  They didn't see my triumphant finish or get to snap my picture (sad!) but are proud of me just the same.  I collect my finisher medal, my free beer glass and water.  My friend (who finished 8 minutes before me) and I listen to live music as we sit in the grass and rehash the course.  Otto asks, "Did you win, Mama?" 

After the race, we forgo the heavy BBQ post-race lunch (just the smell turns my stomach) and opt to leave and go for light, fresh Mexican instead. 

Today, my legs are tired and a little sore but I'm still riding the high of finishing my first half.  So proud of myself and already looking forward to the next one!

Chucky Jesus

On weekend mornings, its become habit for us to allow the kiddo to watch an hour or so of PBS.  Mostly so that we can sleep in.  An hour of Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers is less harmful than a cranky, under-rested parent for an entire Saturday.  Or so we tell ourselves.

Anyway, even though PBS doesn't air commercials, all the shows have sponsors that have announcements and Otto pays as much attention to these as he does the actual shows.  Consequently, for weeks and weeks now, he has been singing the praises of Chucky Cheese's - When pressed to explain what, exactly, Chucky Cheese's is, all we got was "Its where a kid can be a kid, Mom!!"  So otherwise, he had no idea WTF the place is.  All he knew was that its COOL.  This was simultaneously adorable and completely annoying. 

On Saturday, due to some kid swapping as a result of run/biking schedules, after a 10 mile trail run, I ended up alone with Otto in the big city for a bit.  We went thrift shopping and then I nonchalantly suggested we get some lunch.  Against every instinct in my body, I made a decision based solely on the desire to gobsmack my child- and it worked.  As we pulled into the parking lot and he saw that huge weird cartoon mouse staring down from the sign, the sheer joy and surprise on his face was priceless and totally worth the 2 hours of beeping and booping and robotronic animal singing and screaming children I was about to live through.

"HOLY GUACAMOLE!!!!" he said from the back seat. 

What followed can only be described as an orgy of shitty pizza (he ate 3 slices and honestly, after my run I was so hungry, it even tasted good to me), video games, and excited exclamations of 3 year old ecstasy.  The place was way cleaner and better run than I had expected and honestly, although we won't be going back any time soon, it was super fun just to watch my kid be that. fucking. happy.

At the altar of cheesy, noisy, crazy 3 year old joy

That said, its gonna be a loooooong time before we go back.  One can only handle so many surprise cheesy, noisy pilgrimages in a lifetime.  Heh.

The One in Which a Good Run Equals a Temporary Lapse in Judgement

So I did something mildly rash two days ago.  I registered myself for a half-marathon.  In less than a month.

Let's all pause for a moment to ask, "WHAT THE EFFING EFF WAS I THINKING?"

Ok. Let's continue.

My original plan was to very sloooooowly ramp up my mileage (dutifully following the 10% rule) and run my first half in July.  I went on a trail run this weekend, planning on completely 6 or 7 miles and somehow ended up running almost 11.  What can I say?  It was a beautiful day, it was the first dry trail I'd seen in months and I was running with some new running buddies and the conversation was good. 

Anyhow, one of them clued me in to this great half-marathon taking place next month only an hour a way.  Its a gorgeous course, at a gorgeous time of year.  And dudes, the finish line for the thing is at the New Belgium Brewery. 

So here's my plan:  I'm going to (as gently as possible) ramp up my mileage in the next 3 weeks while cross and strength training and doing my darndest to avoid an overuse injury.  Good nutrition, rest, etc. and I should be ok right?  What are rules if not to be broken?

My boys (both the husband sized one and the 3 year old sized one) are being incredibly supportive although they may be secretly laughing at me behind my back.  They're tolerating the long weekend runs and my general complaints about soreness, tiredness etc. 

The kiddo is insistent that when he's big, he'll run a race with me and win.  We'll see, little boy.  We'll see.

Book Report (plus Hair)

Though Otto still loves picture books and will sit and read as many as we are willing to commit to, I recently made the decision (after reading somewhere on the internets that this was a good age) to begin reading some chapter books aloud at bedtime.  Typically, I lay in bed beside him and we whip through 3 or 4 story books before lights out/snuggle.  Starting chapter books was going to be an experiment to see if one story (with little or no pictures, no less) could hold his attention for about the same amount of time. 

And holy crow, I had NO IDEA how well this would go over.  The kid's attention span is EPIC.

So far, we've read three chapter books recommended for preschoolers that I was able to get for next to nothing used on Amazon:   Mercy Watson to the Rescue, Moongobble and Me: The Dragon of Doom, and Three Tales of My Father's Dragon.

Three Tales of My Father's Dragon is by far our favorite (even though the others are quite good).  Written in the 40's by Ruth Stiles Gannet, this little book is highly enjoyable and right at Otto's 3 year old level.  My Father's Dragon is about a little boy named Elmer Elevator (the narrator's father, natch) who hears of a baby dragon who's trapped on an island of ruthless, wild animals.  In the first story (about 13 chapters), he travels to the island and has a series of adventures while trying to rescue the dragon.  He meets all sorts of animals and comes up with all kinds of clever tricks to escape their clutches and eventually attempt a rescue of the dragon.  The writing is simple yet descriptive and its fun to imagine all of the creatures he encounters.

It does have some minimal, black and white pictures but for the most part we're getting to use our imaginations to picture the story and Otto LOVES it.  Every night its "one more chapter?  Pleeeeeeeeease??" 

Since these books have gone over so well, I can't wait to start on some others.  Anyone have more suggestions of good read-aloud chapter books for this age?  I think he's still a bit too young for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Hobbit which are two that I'm really looking forward to reading.

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 On the adult side of things, I've read several great books lately.  My favorites have been Shadow of the Wind  and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  I also (finally) read The Book Thief.  So I've had a bit of a WWII (and aftermath) sort of month. 

 Now, for bookclub, we're reading Devil in the White City which, quite honestly, is proving difficult for me to get through.  In a nutshell, this book juxtaposes two semi-related storylines:  one of the designers and developers of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and one of H. H. Holmes, a serial killer in the city at that time.   So far, I'm finding the stuff about the architects and developers exceedingly dull and for as much tolerance and even enjoyment I get out of some horror, I've never been able to read/watch stuff about serial killers.  I think its because while zombies, monsters, devils, etc. don't REALLY exist, serial killers are very real.  And just...ew.

But I'll give it my best effort or at least read enough of it so I can bullshit my way through bookclub in a couple weeks :)

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As an unrelated post-script of sorts, I  DID cut my hair BUT I only went for the shoulder length.  Figured I could always go shorter, but its hard to go back if you cut too much off.    Here is a shitty picture taken in my car, but you get the general idea.  I had her make the ends super choppy which helps with the bulkiness and I can either air dry (a la below) or straighten depending on the time and effort I'm willing to invest on any given morning.  Long story short (uhHAHAHA), I loves it.

Hairmergency

The picture above is a (crappy) example of what my hair looks like right now.  Longish.  Relatively lifeless.  Weird layers.  I pretty much only ever wear it down or in a pony tail for workouts.  Sometimes I do braids but not very often.  I've never been talented at updos and all that business.  And maybe its spring fever but I can't stop fantasizing about cutting it. 

Here are some examples of where my imagination has been taking me lately:

Option 1: A mid-length bob:

Really, I wouldn't be losing a ton of length with this but it would clean it up, add some choppiness to the ends which could be cute.  And I'm not saying I look at all like the lovely Gwenyth but I do think that our face shapes are sort of similar.

Option 2:  A chin-length bob:

 This one just makes me salivate...the feeling of getting all that hair off my neck and shoulders?  Cute ear-tucking length...sigh.  The only drawback would be not being able to ponytail it for workouts.  I also wonder how long this would take me to style in the morning...although I doubt it would take much longer than the looooooong time I take blow drying and straightening now.

Option 3:  Leave the length alone, maybe even continue to grow it but try to clean up the layers?  Even add some color maybe?

This one is the safest option and will keep me from haircut remorse.  But it won't be all new and bright and shiny feeling either. 



Thoughts? Let's do a poll!

Complaining in Run-on Sentences.

Otto and I were sick all weekend - him with a fever and and complaining of a tummy ache and just generally wearing his toddler cranky pants and me with sinus pain and congestion and headache and even bigger, mom-sized cranky pants.  That said, somehow all the chores managed to get done because one thing I have learned is that when you are a mom THERE ARE NO SICK DAYS.  Sorry to break it to you, aspiring mothers, but better you should find out now.

And then this morning, I slept through my workout in an attempt to kick the crud and was dreaming all night about softening the blow of a sick Monday morning with a bowl of cereal with blueberries and cashews but then when I went to make said bowl of cereal, the cashews had MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED but I suspect a CERTAIN SOMEONE who was drinking beer and watching the Oscars last night.  Ahem.

And so, this week is 0 for 2 and but at least we still had green tea and honey and today is payday so we can finally afford to really go grocery shopping. 

Bring it.

Running Update

Holy shit.  My daily mile tracker (see it over there?  on the right?) says I've gone over 500 miles since I started tracking.  Wowza.

Its been a challenge, frankly, to keep up the running in recent weeks.  We've had several cold snaps that dropped temps to well below zero (think -45 with windchill) and that's too cold, even for me.  I've decided that I draw the line at zero.  And so does Ruby, the poor dear. 

So, I've been doing more workout DVD's in the basement and in spite of cultivating a minor case of cabin fever,I've gotta say...my guns are looking pretty rockin' at the moment.  Maybe I can keep it up until temps are actually warm enough for bare arms...you know, like July.

The slight reduction in mileage, while not good for my mental health, has been advantageous for my pesky right knee, I think.  It's feeling better (knock on wood) and I've done the past 2 five milers without my knee strap. 

As the weather warms (gradually...very gradually) I'm looking forward to beginning to train in earnest for some spring and summer races.  There's a 10K I have my eye on in the spring and then a half-marathon in July.  Better get runnin'!

At any rate, at least I'm keeping up some semblance of an exercise schedule...because we keep doing silly things like going to Fort Collins on day trips and eating at Smashburger.  Yum.

Der Burger!