She Do Run Run: May 2007

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Mission Accomplished

My sugar-free diet has finally paid off--I just bought a pair of Size 6 jeans! To reward myself, I splurged on a pair of David Kahn's. Last December I was wearing size 10, and now my "fat pants" are in the closet. I was going to give them away, but experience tells me that as I age, my metabolism will undergo yet another slowdown, so I might as well be ready. But I hope that doesn't happen.

SD and I (and my David Kahn's) are off to an Italian vacation. We're visiting Rome, Florence, Milan, and the Black Knight! BK and I are planning to go for a run and although he runs twice as fast as me, he promised me it would be a "touristic pace". I'm looking forward to meeting Stephano, but I'll probably find out that I've been mispronouncing his name this past year. :-)

I probably won't post for the next two weeks, but if I get a chance, I'll do some drive-by reading of your blogs.

Ciao, baby!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Race Fargo

The race began at 8 am and started at the Fargodome. There were shuttle buses to the start, but they were on the other end of town, so I just drove to the Fargodome. Bev, who is in my running club, called to see if I was there yet. She was running the half while her husband Patrick ran the marathon, and we planned to start the race together. She was calling from the Fargodome and I asked how crowded it was. I was worried about finding a parking space. She laughed, saying, "This is Fargo!" and assured me there was plenty of parking. I'm used to large races, but the Fargo marathon is only three years old so hasn't caught on yet.

We met at the appointed spot and then hooked up with Bev's neighbor, who is originally from Fargo, and some of her (the neighbor's) family who still live in Fargo. We emptied our bladders a couple of times, then went out to the starting line. It was cold! The day before, the temps were in the 80s, but on race morning it was low 50s. I had planned to wear shorts, but I brought leggings and my jacket as a backup and I'm glad I did because that's what I wore. I even had gloves, which I wore much of the time. It was very windy, as evidenced by the flag in the picture.

The marathoners (blue numbers) and half-marathoners (red numbers) started together and finished together. We hung around the starting line and then it was time to line up. We tried to get to the back, but it was too crowded, so we lined up with the 3.5 hour marathoners! While we were waiting, I spotted a certain green mutant and took his picture for YaYa.

I was worried about going out too fast, and also about blocking the fast people, but I tried to stay out of their way. Bev's friends ran ahead, but she ran with me at the start. It was nice to have company and we chatted as we ran along. Bev ran this race before and had nothing but good things to say about it. Now I know why: it's well-organized, the hotels don't jack their rates up, and it has nice crowd support. Besides that, it's mostly flat which makes it fast. Keep that in mind if you're trying for a Boston qualification.

As we ran down Broadway through the downtown area, I pointed out my hotel. Bev said she saw what looked like a good coffee shop, so I had my eyes peeled for that. After all, I hadn't had my espresso yet, and planned to get one as soon as the race was over. We also passed the Fargo theatre, whose marquee I saw on the route map, but didn't understand what it was. It was built in 1926 and was recently restored. Next time I'll have to go to a movie there so I can see inside.

We ran along a beautiful Elm-lined street, um...it may have been called Elm Street, and there was plenty of live music and crowd support. Some of the "acts" were far from professional, but that added to the charm. The group I really got a kick out of was the square dancers. The "caller" was singing a song that was familiar although I can't remember now what it was. But it was a rock song and it was weird to be hearing it as a square dance. It worked though, and the dancers were in full western dress.

We ran along the Red River of the North and saw where it overflowed its bank. Ten years ago, it flooded and wreaked havoc on the town. Fortunately, it wasn't that bad this weekend. It was very pretty, then we crossed the bridge into Moorhead and ran a little bit in that town. As we were running across, I spotted a huge sign on an office building that read, "Find your happy pace."

I was not at my happy pace, and soon fell behind Bev. I could see her and surged to catch her, which I did, but I couldn't keep it up. She said she hoped I didn't mind, but she was in a zone and wanted to run ahead. I was actually relieved, because I was getting tired and still had several miles to run. I wished her luck and told her I'd see her at the finish.

Then I started to walk. I had been taking my customary 1 minute walk breaks every 9 minutes, but I continued walking to get my hear rate down. Then I picked it up again. I wished I had my iPod, but I left it in the car so that it wouldn't weigh me down. So I started singing to myself to get my feet moving. Sometimes I'd pick up a cadence from the local cheerleaders and run with that. "You can do it, you can do it...I can do it...I can do it."

At some point, the front-runner marathoners caught up. First was a wheeler, and I cheered him on. Next was runner 2; he was on the same road as me, but then his route turned off to the right. I actually stopped to watch him go past, PR or not. He turned out to be the marathon winner. His name is Chad Wallin and he finished in 2:31:20. That's kind of slow among the elites; the purse must not be big enough to attract the Kenyans.

There were plenty of aid stations and Gu was handed out at one of them. I took a packet, even though I had my own, and saved it for my next scheduled gel. It was vanilla bean; yum! I'm going to buy some of that. The gel helped me get through the rest of the race. At mile 11 I looked at my Garmin and saw that 2 hours and 6 minutes had elapsed. Holy buckets, if I run the next two miles in 12 minutes each, I'll finish in 2:30! I started moving, passing runners like they were cars on the freeway.

Finally, blessedly, I could see the Fargodome. I ran into the parking lot, towards the entrance. I could hear the finish line announcer, but I couldn't see the finish line, so I just kept running. "Where the hell is the finish line?" I yelled out to no one in particular. Oh there it is, inside the Fargodome. Cool. I ran into the stadium excitedly, feeling like Joan Benoit running into the LA Coliseum. Knowing I had successfully beat my goal of 2:30, I almost cried!

Bev was there and I gave her a sweaty hug. I think the early push helped get me in under 2:30 and I was grateful for her pacing. My Garmin read 2:29:13, but the chip time 2:28:57, an 11:23 pace. Yee haw! Bev came in at 2:23:36, and she had just run a half-marathon 2 weekends ago! We got some food, then went to the finish line to watch Patrick come in.

Patrick came in at 3:08:25. He was a little disappointed, because he wanted to run sub 3 hours. He probably would have but for the wind. The wind blew many caps off; I know because I'd pass them on the street as I ran by. My own cap was blown off twice and I would have lost it if it hadn't gotten caught in my ponytail.

I asked Patrick what his Boston qualifying time was, thinking that might have contributed to his disappointment. "Oh, he always qualifies for Boston," Bev answered for him. He PRd at Boston! I think he did a sub 3-hours there. His BQ is around 3:15. Yesterday, as I was going through the pictures I took, I noticed how muscular his legs were. See for yourself, in this picture I took of Bev and Patrick before the start.

I was pretty sure before the race that I would PR, but I wasn't sure I could do sub 2:30, since it would require an 11:30 pace. The fact that I did I attribute to the training class I'd been in, especially with the speed workouts. And of course, long runs with Gary. These are the splits:

Mile 1 10:24
Mile 2 10:43
Mile 3 10:39
Mile 4 11:02
Mile 5 11:02
Mile 6 11:12
Mile 7 11:36
Mile 8 11:10
Mile 9 12:23
Mile 10 11:56
Mile 11 12:10
Mile 12 11:35
Mile 13 10:52
Mile 13.23 10:27

Here are my past half-marathon times:
Big Sur Oct 2006- 2:52:04
Lake Minnetonka May 2006- 2:43:18
Urban Wildland August 2005- 2:47:53
Urban Wildland August 2004- 2:48:22

I've got a good start. Now I hope I can keep this momentum up so that I run a great race at the Nike Women's marathon this October!

Run Fargo

The Fargo Half-Marathon was a blast! A well-organized race in a friendly town. It didn't hurt that I PRd--2:28:57!
My concerns about bad organization were for naught. The reason the course map wasn't updated was because the Red River had overflowed its banks, so part of the race was re-routed.

There's an old joke that Minnesota has two seasons--winter and road construction. I drove up to Fargo on Friday afternoon, and what was supposed to be a 3.5 hour drive turned into 5, because the interstate had only one lane open. I have no patience for stop and go traffic, so I took Highway 10, which runs along I94. It was a pleasant drive and I took it to St. Cloud, then got back on I94.

Driving through central Minnesota, I got to sample plenty of rest stops. The rest stop in St. Cloud on Hwy. 10 had turquoise blue counters! But it was clean and someone had placed a vase of lilacs on the counter. I thought that was a nice touch and told the woman at the info counter to thank the custodians for me.

St. Cloud is granite country, and as I passed the prison, I couldn't help but notice its granite wall. I stopped to take a picture of the building, hoping I wouldn't get arrested in the process.

Hungry, I stopped at Barnes and Nobel and got a Starbucks and a large pretzel. It was the only thing without sugar that I could eat while driving. Then I got on I94 and continued my northbound journey. There was light traffic and I enjoyed the scenery, but I have no idea why it took so long to get to Fargo.

When I finally arrived, 5 hours after my start, I checked into the hotel then went to the expo. I got my race packet, which included a nice, long-sleeved technical shirt with a quarter-length zipper. I had missed Dick Beardsley's talk, but caught part of Bart Yasso's presentation. I was excited to see the creator of the Yasso 800s, and took his picture with my cellcam. Since it was indoors, it didn't turn out, so I won't post it.

I didn't shop, since I have enough running gear and my friend Mari was going to meet me for dinner. She lived in Minneapolis, but got married last year and now lives on a farm outside of Moorhead, which is adjacent to Fargo, but on the border in Minnesota. And she's seven months pregnant with her first baby!

My hotel was in the downtown area, and there were plenty of restaurants to choose from. We ate at the old Hotel Donaldson, now called the HoDo, and while we were there a big thunderstorm came through. Lightning and hail and lots of rain, but it ended before dinner was over. It cooled things right down, and after dinner we just went to my hotel room since it was raining lightly.

We visited while the next lightning storm came through. Weather dot com predicted isolated thunder showers for race morning and I was dreading that. I'll run in snow and rain, but try to avoid lightning. The lightning continued all night, but thankfully ended by morning.

After Mari left, I took a relaxing hot bath in the jacuzzi tub and laid out everything for the race. Mari had given me a good-luck card and a button that said, "GO", which I pinned onto my shirt. SD stayed home, because he couldn't leave work early and I was anxious to get to the expo and pick up my race packet before it got too crowded. He could have come later, but it seemed silly to have two cars up there. It's too bad there isn't a commuter train between Minneapolis and Fargo. All we have is Amtrack, and if you've every ridden Amtrak, you know how bad it is. So I was on my own, but it was only for one night.

I set the alarm for 5:30 and turned out the lights at 11:30 pm, ready for a 6 hour snooze. Instead I kept hearing voices. It wasn't ghosts, it was people returning from a wedding reception that was at the hotel. My great room was near the elevator and people would talk in normal voices, which went right through the walls. So from about 12:30 until 2:30, I kept waking up. I even opened my door and yelled at people a couple of times. Then I called the front desk and yelled at them. They sent security up to quiet things down. It took all my willpower to not start talking in the hallway when I left at six in the morning and everyone else was sleeping off their hangover!

Since I was staying in the hip downtown area, I went looking for a latte and bagel. Unfortunately, the coffee houses were all closed, so I ate breakfast at the hotel. Eggs, orange juice, and toast. Carbs and protein; a good start for a race. :-)

I'll talk about the race in the next post.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Countdown

Sorry I've taken so long to update. I was in California two weeks ago, and then trying to get caught up last week. No time to blog!

I did have time to catch up on some of you, though. First, I want to congratulate the racers from a few weekends ago. Wannabe finished her first half-marathon at the end of April. I love this line from her post, "I could not run 60 seconds 11 months ago, but now, somehow, I am a half marathoner." Waddler finished the Flying Pig on May 6 and is on to new goals. That same weekend, 21st Century Mom and Donald competed in the Wildflower Triathlon. And my running friends, Coach Gary and Bev, ran the Wells Fargo Half Marathon in respectable time.

Finally, Back of the Pack "You say maniac like it's a bad thing" Michelle ran her fourth marathon in four weeks last Sunday. Ouch! What she has to say about it: "I learned that running four in a row is doable, but hard on the third and fourth." No kidding. Way to go, everybody.

When I was in California, I ran 6 miles on the treadmill, and ran myself into a relapse of whatever I had the week before. So I took a week off, then ran a hill workout last Wednesday. I don't know why I thought that would be a good idea, because I was plenty sore afterward. Then Gary and I ran 6.2 miles last Saturday and I ran 4 miles on Monday. My half-marathon is Saturday and I'm trying to catch up and taper all at the same time. I think I'll run tonight, then rest until Saturday.

I'm not sure what to expect from Fargo. This is only the third year they've done this race and I don't know how well organized they are, but I suspect not very. They don't even have the course map up on the web site. Bev is also running the half, while her husband runs the full, so I'm going to start out with her. I'll head up on Friday for the expo, then drive home Saturday after the race. It's supposed to be a fast course, so hopefully I'll have a PR!