Ghosts of Races Past

I know I mentioned earlier that I had found a bunch of old race bibs while getting things situated for our upcoming move. I am not very organized, and I make piles, so these were found some in the filing cabinet, and the rest in piles in drawers and such. Since I found so many, I started searching them out in the house. A few were still in the car (yikes!)

I found my first marathon bib with pace team bib from Oct 2004. It was in the filing cabinet all nice and neat. It seemed very appropriate timing given my race this weekend. That was a long time ago, before kids, when training only had to be balanced between me and my husband. For a full recap, check out my guest blog post over at Chasing Atlanta that I wrote recently. I finished in 4:00:36, with one pit stop at White Castle, of all places, to use the restroom. I didn't own a Garmin yet. I just noticed yesterday that White Castle was the sponsor of the pace team. How appropriate!

I also came across this one with pace bib AND split chart, my second marathon in Oct 2007 and first real attempt to qualify for Boston: Big Time Fail! I did finish, and I did have a PR (3:54:12), but I mentally shut down around mile 22/23. I had stayed on Boston pace until about mile 14/15, and then the wheels fell off. I tried just running the rest for fun as my friend Dave suggested, who saw me on the course right after I fell of pace to qualify. It got hot. I hadn't trained properly, I was a fairly new mom (Keira was only 16m) and didn't get in the miles I needed, either mentally or physically. I found myself calculating ridiculous splits in my head (I am a math person) as far as how fast or slow I had to run to beat my past PR. Like, can I walk an 11min/mile to beat 4:00? Thankfully, I did pull myself together to finish with a PR by a few minutes, but my second half of the race was something like 14 or 15 minutes slower than the first.

Fast forward one more child and several years, a couple halfs, and my first season of tris to here, April 2010: Last year's Martian Half bib. I didn't really train for this race aside from swimming through the winter for a spring Olympic tri and doing a few 8 and 10 milers. I was running because I had girlfriends running it and I said I would if they did. I remember looking at the calendar and thinking, oh no, I need to get in a 10 mile run tomorrow to be ready, uh oh! I had a blazing PR of 1:42:21. I started out fast and just kept going. I kept waiting to have to slow down, and I never did. It was with this time that my friend Dale, and ultra runner, convinced me that I should run a fall marathon to try to qualify for Boston. The charts said I could do it. Well, if the charts say so.... OF COURSE I can do it, right? I ended up spraining my ankle at a mountain bike race mid summer and took a month off running. I got too far off my marathon training plan to get back on mid plan, and decided to go on vacation marathon weekend with my husband so he could race his mountain bike. I was pretty bummed out about this and felt really down. I found this race to do as a consolation race. I really surprised myself with another PR here, given the course and the recent ankle. It still hurt, but my physical therapist said it could still hurt for a long time, and if I was able to cope with the pain and it wasn't getting worse, that eventually it would get better while continuing training. It has, for the most part gotten better, but it needs ice everyday still. The first 5 miles were downhill. The second 5 miles were uphill, and the last 3 were sort of rolling. It was also partially on cinder trail and dirt roads, so less impact for the wobbly ankle, but also less stable. I felt my ankle a lot on the trail portions and it made me slow down, as well as the hills. I somehow pulled out a 1:42:08. I had a couple fun runs since, but nothing really to test me. So now we are here, a few days from Marathon #3. I learned a cool bit of trivia today, the .2 at the end of a marathon is actually shorter than the .2 of a 10K. It has to do with the fact that a marathon is 26 miles and 385 ft, where the 10K is converted to miles. The difference is about 22ft, but they both round down to .2 miles. I am oddly excited about this. It means that when I hit the 20 mile mark, I will have LESS than a 10K to go. It is small, but according to my husband, anything that makes it feel easier has got to help, right?

I feel really good, except I have been having nightmares about qualifying for Boston. Two nights ago, I dreamt I got to a point in the course where no one knew where to go, and I ended up 2 miles short, afraid to cross the line because the timing would get all messed up, with no minutes to spare. I was doing more math in my dream, I had to do my 2 miles in 8:00 and I would get 3:40 exactly, even after the mess of getting lost. I wanted to just cross the line at 3:24 and call it done, but then I woke up before anything else happened. This is really silly because this course is an out and back, and I know that I won't be running alone at any part, or that the volunteers will be that confused. Last night I had a dream that we all got this horrible flu so I couldn't run. I am hoping tonight won't be so strange.

I also had a friend ask me if it was comfortable to run at race pace or if I planned to be uncomfortable the whole time. For a 5K, I hurt the entire time, but it isn't that long. I hope to not hurt for an entire 3:30/3:40 (or longer). My run on Saturday averaged to be an 8:01 pace, and while it felt quick, it was not painful, but it was only 8.65 miles. To do that 2 more times will likely hurt a bit. Adrenaline is an amazing thing. I do expect it to be hard, and I just hope I can keep going through the pain. I want this, and I AM going to do it.

In the clean version of Eminem, "Success is my only option, failure's not" "Feet fail me not this may be the only opportunity that I got" "You can do anything you set your mind to"

On a more spiritual note, this will also be keeping me going: D&C 89:18, 20 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

I Made the Team!

Team Aquaphor 2011!

I just got the word last night, so I will have more info hopefully to come soon! This also means I will have something to give away once I get my samples!

T-9 Days.....

I am feeling ready to get me some bling, and a BQ (image stolen from Running Fit's f/b page). This the medal for the full Marathon, and the half is similar.

I am feeling really ready. My 4 miler today was 1 mile warm up at 8:20, and then the rest was at 8:00, my goal marathon pace. It is the pace that I plan to start at, and hopefully hold onto. The course is out and back, and slighlty uphill for the first half, so slightly downhill for the final half. There is a slight hill (both directions, goes up and down) around mile 4/22. I am not afraid of this hill, the course is much flatter than Kensington, and I love running on Hines.
My only reservation right now is that I had to send back my test Reeboks. Today. What was I thinking, testing a pair of shoes mid marathon training while I am shooting for a PR and BQ? I thought I would be saving 100+ miles from my favorite shoes and earn a free pair of shoes. Frugal me who loves free stuff was not thinking about the consequences. Little did I know that I would LOVE the new shoes (well, they had their quirks, but I can't go into any details of them, aside from the fact that I did in fact wear their shoes for the past month). I wore my "regular" shoes yesterday and the just felt bulky and small. Not really sure what I can do about this, aside from keep get my feet back used to them. The Reeboks felt different in the beginning too, so I am sure my shoes will feel back like my shoes in another day or two. I have an 8 miler in them for Sat, and I did my first 20 miler in them already, so I know I can do it. I just can't let it bother me.

Also, I am trying to clean out papers and junk from our place before we move (see, I am being useful during my taper). I found some awesome race bibs from the past. I need to get them photographed or scanned and posted for you guys later. I am so disorganized, it made me super happy that I was able to locate as much as I did!

Spring is Here- Stroller Jogging/Running Tips

With it officially spring, I thought I would get down to business and offer up some helpful tips on getting your kid(s) to last as long as you do with the jogging stroller.

1. Start them early. If you are lucky to be a runner before pregnancy, and are trying to come back after having a baby, you are fortunate to be able to just teach your children that spending a long time in the jogging stroller is just a normal part of everyday life, like riding in the car. I am not a dr, so please check with your dr and your pediatrician before starting a running/jogging plan. The recommended age for most jogging strollers is 6 months. I have the BOB Ironman single stroller and BOB duallie Revolution stroller. Both can be fitted with an infant seat adapter, so my pediatrician did not see any harm in having my children ride in their car seat in a stroller at 8 weeks of age, as long as the pavement was not terribly bumpy, and in the beginning, I was not going fast at all. I do think BOB prefers that you not "run" with the infant seat adapter b/c the center of gravity is changed and the stroller is less stable, but you would need to check it on your particular model. I didn't really worry about this reason, nor have any problems with it.
2. Start slow and short. If you have an infant/younger baby, it can be helpful to stay close to home in case of any issues that need to be addressed immediately. My Keira tended to throw up in any moving vehicle (stroller included) if she was put in too soon after eating. Sometimes that happened while running, and I had to go home immediately to clean her up. If you have a short loop you can do repeatedly, this works well. It doesn't work so well as your child gets older and realizes you have already been there, and then will start asking to go home each time you go around. You have to build your mileage slowly with the kids so that they get used to it.
3. Be Fed or Eating. I had to watch with Keira as an infant that she had at least 20-30 minutes after a feeding before running with her otherwise she would likely throw up/spit up. It was hard, because I had to make sure I could run with her before she needed to eat again. Having a hungry child in the stroller is not good at any age. The nice thing about older children is that I will sometimes plan for their snack to take place in the stroller, as long as it is something that is not a choking hazard, and have special snacks that are only for the stroller to help "bribe" them and keep them happy. When we go for really long runs, I will feed them a meal first, and then pack a variety of snacks for mid-ride, as well as milk and water.
4. The course matters. I like to run at state and metro-parks where the path is wide, smooth and there are things to look at along the way. I also preferred flat in the beginning, but now welcome hills for training. We will also stop from time to time to look at wildlife, especially if we see a deer, frogs, or something that the kids might like. My kids do really well on long or short out and backs or long loops. They hate repeating, but that is just them. Also, it can be nice to run in the neighborhood where I know people. We have counted the houses to get to a friend's house and even had to make a pit stop at another friends to get through the run.
5. Being tired isn't the end of the world. For the kids, not you! While having the kids nap in the stroller means I miss out on quiet time at home, it also means I can have a nice quiet run with no whining or bickering! They can't be overtired where they won't nap, but running in naptime can be nice sometimes, and help me get more done during the day if I can do stuff outside the house while they are supposed to be awake. The hard part can be the transfer back to bed. I have carried my entire single stroller into the house before (we have no garage), and parked my double stroller which won't fit through the doors here in our privacy fenced backyard to avoid waking a sleeping child and still be able to keep an eye on them.
6. The Reward. I usually try to make it fun. The nice thing about running at my favorite state park is that there is a playground just a tenth of a mile in the opposite direction of where I run, close to the parking lot. We head away from the playground, do my run, and then run to the playground if there has been little to no whining or fighting in the stroller (Keira and Soren are big enough to touch each other side by side, which is my biggest issue these days). We have also run to a playground, to play, and then run home again. This is sometimes a problem when they don't want to leave, but it is nice for doing speed work with a recovery in the middle. My favorite reward is to do a really long run at Island Lake or Kensington, and pack bathing suits for swimming after. My kids have endured a 2 hour 12 mile run with the reward of playing on the beach afterwards. We make a whole day out of it, and leave the suits in the car until the run is done(we pass a few beaches on the route).
7. Don't give into tantrums. I don't end a run for disobedience, that just teaches them that crying can end the run. If there is something legitimately wrong, like sun in the eyes, cold, hungry, ect, I try to address it as best as I can and may end early if there is a legit issue.
8. Remove or tether things that can get lost. When my kids were small and it was warm, they never wore shoes in the stroller after we nearly lost a croc. Those things are expensive, and thankfully, it was chucked out at the spot where the mountain bike path my husband was on crossed the paved path I was on, at the halfway point for me. He saw it and grabbed it. Otherwise, I would have needed to double my workout, going all the way to the turn around where it was lost. If you have a burley or chariot and you can zip the kids inside of a mesh screen, you have it made in terms of no lost things!

Anyway, I hope these tips are helpful. I am grateful that my children have embraced the jogging stroller lifestyle. If anyone else has some helpful comments, please leave them! I would love to hear how you do it too!

Cupcake Marathon- DONE- Race Recap

I finished up the Cupcake Marathon yesterday with a 12 mile run at Kensington with Cristina. She was also doing the "virtual race" too. It was a beautiful sunny day. Finally, we were able to run without coats, snow, ice, rain, or other weather problems. The loop at Kensington is officially 8.5 miles long, and we were able to run down an extra drive to a parking lot at the top of the "big hill" as well as run out on the peninsula of turtle cove to make it almost exactly 12 miles. We didn't have to do any extra out and back once we got to the parking lot like we anticipated.

We have been so coordinated the last few times we have worked out together, and today was no exception since we had matching Live Like Andi race shirts, although mine was black from the first race and hers was last year's blue (we did not plan this or any other matchy matchy days, aside from both wanting to wear the TIA shirt for the picture with the bib, and I said it was a great shirt already!). I guess that is what happens when we both own the same race kits from Team Stayput and Team Marathon, are both members of TIA, and have run an assortment of the same races. The odds are stacked in favor of matching.
Me:

Cristina:

For today's run, we ran 12 miles in 1:40:07.

This was very good considering we took a couple walking breaks for fueling. I used a Gu Rocktane sample that I picked up this morning at a tri clinic. I was a little afraid of the cherry lime flavor they were giving away, but hey, it is a practice run, and all the rocktane flavors are a bit out there. It was great, and now I think I need to buy some for the race. The final total for me for the Cupcake Marathon is:
3:40:43

Too bad this isn't a real Boston Qualifier, as that would actually count since I am allowed 59 seconds over the qualifying time. I am pretty sure this time would not get me entered, though, based on how fast registration filled up before. This would only get me good enough to sign up on the 7th day. I feel really happy about this total though, because there were very few instances this past week when I felt that I was going at 100%. My speedwork on Tuesday had me going that fast (actually, faster than I intend to run a full marathon, more like 5K/10K race pace), but I was also walking, and those walking times were included with my total to bring the pace down. We also had a bit of walking yesterday. Miles without walking were right around 8min/mile, a few above and a few below. I am feeling very confident about the Martian, especially because I plan to leave it all out there and don't need or want to have anything left once I finish.

Cupcake Marathon- Day 3, Playing it Safe

I can't decide if I was playing it safe, being lame, or being a wimp today, because it is beautiful outside, and what did I do? I went to the gym and ran inside while the kids played and watched TV. I needed to do 8 per my marathon plan, and it was just too risky to try to have the second stroller run of the year/season be that long. I was going to have to drive out to Brighton and run at either Kensington or Island Lake to get enough path to do that by either going out and back or a loop, and that would have added about an hour to the outing, as well as limit my stretching afterwards, as well as the 10 minute ab routine and shower that I can do at the gym. I need to build up to 8 with them, after doing several 3-4 mile runs, as well as some 5s and 6s first. I also don't want to kill myself, since I am supposed to be starting my taper, and running at either Kensington or Island Lake would be a bit more challenging from a terrain standpoint than my typical neighborhood run with them.

Here are the stats from today: The treadmills automatically switch into "cool down mode" at 1 hour, so I need to stop it and reset it at an hour.

AND:

I know those are hard to read. The total is 8 miles, 1:07:55, total avg pace, 8:29min/miles.
The gym underwent management changes in the fall, and moved all the treadmills from an upstairs balcony that overlooked the floor to the front windows. I am not sure that I am loving the change, especially today. It was incredibly hot with the sun blaring down on the windows, and it just made me wish I was outside more. Also, there is NO people watching since you are facing out. I understand from a safety consideration that they can't be turned the other way because you don't want to risk falling off backwards into a window, but boy will I be glad when I can just run outside full time. Maybe they will move a few once it gets really hot in the summer.

I did see one funny thing today. While I was doing my abs (which is super short, only about 10 minutes, but rather intense), I saw a guy get on the elliptical, but then get off again, all within a couple of minutes. He must have noticed that I saw him get on and then off again, because he just starting shaking his head as he walked to the locker room. At least he recognized that about 2 minutes of elliptical weren't doing much good. Everyone has a bad day now and again, and I admit, anyone who was at the gym on a nice day like today (including myself) probably wasn't quite right in the head. I did get some vitamin D today once we got home by playing tag and making chalk art with the kids. Hopefully we can get out the bikes after nap time!

Finally, I added a few things to my blog in the last few days. Not sure if anyone has noticed or not.
1. Daily mile accomplishment sticker, 13.1. For some reason, I felt guilty about adding the 26.2 sticker since I haven't done a marathon since 2007, and especially not since I started blogging. I haven't RACED an 13.1 either since I started this site, but have run the distance. However, since I consider this blog a continuation of my Compex blog, and I did run 2 half marathons that I blogged about last year, I didn't feel bad about it. I figure I can wait another couple weeks to add the 26.2, even though an actual one is on my car and fridge right now.
2. I added a button to link to the Live Like Andi Foundation. Their entry is really down (I need to hurry up and enter too), and they really would rather pre-registered runners than race day registrations. It is a great run on May 14th, 2011, in Novi, MI. This will be their 4th year, and I have run in all of them so far. They offer a 10 mile, 10K, and 5K run, 5K walk, and a fashion walk. Please check it out and show your support! In the past, as well as being a great cause, they have had a great shirt too! Last year, I did the 10K, and the year before I did the 5K with the kids (see picture at top), and the first year, I did the 5K while pregnant. It is a family friendly stroller friendly race.

Cupcake Marathon Day 2- Jogging Stroller Run

I was able to run outside today with the kids in the jogger! Yea! Finally, since I have started this site, I am able to write about running with the kids in the stroller. Since Wednesdays are usually my run for time day at the gym, and I had to skip that class today due to volunteering at Keira's school, I was happy to be able to just run the "usual" neighborhood loop. When Keira and Soren asked what we were doing today, I told them a stroller ride. It was met with mixed reviews. Soren was excited, Keira was not. We had been discussing McD's drive thru as a possibility, so I told Keira that if there was no run, there would be no McD's. This was risky, because rule #1 of running in the stroller is that everyone needs to be either fed first or eating in the stroller, because hungry kiddos make for big complainers. I got them their food on the way home, including a Shamrock Shake for me. Yum, my once annual treat, and since today was "Green Day" at school since Keira doesn't go on Thursdays, we celebrated St Patrick's day today, essentially. So, I have now eaten a shamrock shake, a few bites of apples, and 2 McNuggets (Soren was working on his version of Jack Black's McSurf and Turf Delux, eating half a cheeseburger and half a carton of nuggets, while I am doing my best to resist the double filet o fish sandwiches. I have not had one yet this year). Usually I just eat the apples and the diet coke from one meal, and the kids split the fries and chocolate milk from the other, and I make a salad at home. Soren at the apples today, though, and only gave me two, so I ate two of the nuggets since Keira just eats the fries. This is such the lunch of champions (NOT!!) Today is going to be a calories in less than calories out day, which means when I eat junk like that, I just have to cut other calories elsewhere. I usually don't gain weight that way, I just feel cruddy.

Back to the running. We were all fed (?) and I loaded everyone up with their blankets and toys. Wouldn't you know it but as soon as I turned on my Garmin the battery died? Seriously. We had an issue last night setting up my new bike because we couldn't find the tire circumference anywhere for my 650x25 tires, and it sat on for a while not being used. Eventually, we just measured it with a tape measure for last night, but we can let it calculate it once I get outdoors. I am not sure if the stiff, slippery, metal English tape measure I used and converted to metric is more or less accurate than Garmin's satellites or not. Of course I was trying to get data from it for my Cupcake Marathon, but I only needed 1.2 miles of data, and I know my loop, so I just timed it with my Timex. If I have to make it up next week, whatever. We did our 3.4 miles in 27:50. I must say I was very pleased with this time, especially since it was a bit windy and I had eaten the most stellar meal prior to it. This is way better than last year, but I was trying to run fast instead of leisurely, since this is a race and all, and I was technically shorting myself 1.6 miles from the plan. I had always justified that being OK with my cross training, but I didn't do that today. 5 seemed too long for the kids' first time out, and it would require an additional loop of the lake. I am going with 9:49 for my 1.2 for the Cupcake Marathon, based on my average pace for the run. Hopefully I won't have to take a picture of my car odometer, but I can find a run just like it (just not as fast) from last year with the same distance.

Tomorrow has 8 miles on the schedule. I am torn. That is quite a long time to have the kids in the stroller as their second ride of the year. I feel like they need to be "broken in" gradually, and build up to an 8 mile run. Also, there isn't a good 8 mile course that I can do here without looping, which makes the kids nuts. They can't stand repeating mileage, and they know where "home" is, so when I go around again, they go crazy. I could drive them out to Kensington, but that would be pretty hilly and also we can't go swimming afterwards (which was always the reward last summer for going all the way around). Island Lake is a possibility, because we can run out 4 and turn around, but there is no playground for reward. So, it may be that I run indoors tomorrow, with my tunes and my childcare included with the gym membership, and a shower afterwards. Decisions, decisions!

Cupcake Marathon Day 1

Well, today is technically day 2 of the Cupcake Marathon, but it is Day 1 for me. Mondays are a planned day off from running, but I also took the day off from the bike (unplanned) due to being tired and I went to bed really early for me instead. I am going to make it up tonight, I hope. I kicked off the Cupcake Marathon with a speed workout that was courtesy of Dave Peterson. I couldn't swing the workout with the group, but I did 4x800s followed by 4x400s, and did enough warm up/cool down/rest between sets to get to a total of 5 miles for the day. Per the "rules" of the marathon, I am to document the mileage via photographs and spreadsheets. I really had a hard time getting a decent photo of the treadmill. I either had horrible glare or the reflection of myself. If you click on the picture, it will get bigger and easier to read, but it says 5 miles in 40:56. Sprints were done at 7:08 pace.

Also, they wanted a photograph of me in the race bib. I wished my TIA shirt was clean, and will take another picture in that later this week.

The plan for the Cupcake Marathon (for me) is the following:
3/15 - 5 miles - speed workout, plus indoor trainer ride
3/16- 1.2-3.4 miles - hopefully outside! I will miss my morning gym workout due to another commitment
3/17- 8 miles- long weekday run, probably inside, although the weather forecast is excellent. If it is outside, it will be a stroller run, perhaps an indoor trainer ride too
3/18- no running, 1.2 miles of swimming
3/19- 12 miles at Kensington
That should do it for me, and with a full week left. Tomorrow would normally be my indoor brick workout where I run sprints and just make up a distance based on the time, but since I have to miss it, I will just be doing a "normal" run outside. I haven't decided if I will stop at 1.2 to take a picture or just do my usual loop of 3.4 and hit my lap reset at 2.2 to get a decent time for that 1.2 miles that need to be accounted for.

Taper Time!

I am feeling pretty good! I made it through my marathon training (for the most part). I did ALL my long runs this year (Christmas day was the only day that I missed), regardless of the weather. A big Thank You goes out to Cristina, who would not let me quit no matter what the weather was doing. We lucked out this past weekend, and had a great 20 miler. While we missed out on the sunshine of the morning, we did stay dry in the afternoon. We finished up our run in 2:47:24, thanks to Monica who joined us for the middle 6. She was running late, and in a hurry to get home, so we pushed the pace. While I felt ready to be done at 20, I did ask myself mentally if I could do another 10k today. Probably not, but I just felt tired going into the run. I had a big cross training week, and I also was pretty congested. It is awesome to feel myself getting stronger. I felt so much better after this 20 miler than the last, and that one was better than the first. Here is the progression of what I was capable of doing after my 20 mile runs (after a long hot shower, of course)
1st- wanted to crash and didn't leave the house at all that evening, ordered pizza and made Ryan get it.
2nd- didn't want to go anywhere, but didn't want to be a party pooper so I put on makeup and went out to dinner with the family with wet head; Ryan took lead on kid wrangling
3rd- Ryan needed to work on a church talk so I did my makeup & BLEW OUT MY HAIR (this happens maybe 3-4x/month) to take both kids to Pei Wei to bring back take out for us.
Now, I can just enjoy my taper, and hopefully get rested and healthy. I feel really ready for anything with all this crazy weather I trained in. I am glad I have the Cupcake Marathon starting tomorrow to give me something to work on while I taper. It is 26.2 miles total between March 14-28th.

In case you need some extra motivation

Rick and Dick Hoyt are by far my most inspirational athletes. I loved the book, "It's Only A Mountain" by Sam Nall which tells their story.

Cupcake Marathon 2011

For those of you who know me well, it should be no surprise that I am doing a Cupcake Marathon. I have a wicked addiction to baked goods, cake in particular. The photo above is of cupcakes I made last year to celebrate my "Birthday Big Brick" workout, which was an Olympic distance bike/run group training ride/run. Thanks to Kim (Just Trying is for Little Girls) for posting it on her blog, I am now signed up. It is a virtual race, where you can do either a full or half marathon over the course of 2 weeks, starting March 14th and ending March 26th. You do not need to run the whole thing at once. Check out the link here for information on how to get signed up. All participants will receive cupcake recipes, and they are giving away real cupcakes and cookies to the winners of the half and full. The best part is that the winners are chosen by random, so don't think you can't win this one! The nice thing is that the purpose of this race is to help people prepare for their spring marathons, so that fact that it won't be requiring any extra miles on my part is not cheating at all. All I (or you) need to do is track my mileage on their spreadsheet and take photos of the treadmill and Garmin screens as proof, plus take a photo wearing their cute race bib:

My spring marathon on April 2nd fits in perfectly with the timing and it should make my taper a lot more fun. I am curious to see if my total time will be faster or slower than my actual race. I am personally expecting it to be slower than race day, as I have some hills, intervals, and some easy runs scheduled for those two weeks as part of my taper. I miss being able to count my final 20 miler as part of the event by a couple days, but that should hopefully speed things up a tad. I do expect it to be faster than my most recent marathon in 2007, though.

Please let me know via comments if you decide to do this! I hope you do.

ABCs of Me

It seems like everyone is doing their ABCs. I first saw it at Just Trying is for Little Girls, but other blogger friends, Meredith, Colleen, and Leah have done it as well. Here are mine:

(A) Age: 33 for running, but I am already considered 34 for tris. Had to think really hard when I filled out my most recent race application, as it is just a few weeks before my birthday.
(B) Bed Size: Queen.
(C) Chore You Hate: Cleaning the bathrooms, but if you saw my house, you could assume all of them!
(D) Dogs? None, Ryan is allergic.
(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: Breakfast, I am pretty grumpy before I eat. Last year I drank a glass of chocolate milk, but since I have started avoiding dairy, it is now oatmeal.
(F) Favorite Color: Purple
(G) Gold or Silver? White Gold.
(H) Height: 5 ft 2 in,
(I) Instruments You Play: I used to play the piano and violin, but can’t do either anymore
(J) Job Title: Currently a Stay at Home Mom, but formerly a Product Design Engineer for Ford Motor Co
(K) Kids: Keira is 4, Soren is 2
(L) Live: Michigan, Detroit Suburbs
(M) Mom's Name: Miriam.
(N) Nicknames: Mel, Bones, M1
(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? One for each child, plus one when I was a child having a cyst removed
(P) Pet Peeve: Using the word "orientated" instead of "oriented"
(Q) Quote from a Movie: "Whoever said that orange is the new pink must have been seriously disturbed" Legally Blonde
(R) Right or Left Handed? Right, but left handed in gymnastics and my left arm seems to have gotten stronger lately because I always carry children on that side to be able to use my right hand to multi-task.
(S) Siblings: 1 Sister and 1 Brother
(T) Time You Wake Up? Until Keira and Soren wake me up, usually a bit after 7am
(U) Underwear: For running, Body by Victoria, for tris, commando (or bathing suit) I am an endowed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(V) Vegetable You Dislike: Zucchini, unless it in baked in a bread
(W) What Makes You Run Late: trying to do too much before leaving or expecting my children to do more for themselves to get out the door than they are capable. Changing a poopy diaper also makes me late from time to time.
(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: Lots, both ankles many times, elbow, hip, back
(Y) Yummy Food You Make: I love to bake, and love the Levain Bakery copycat recipe for their chocolate peanut butter chip cookies.

(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: Ginormous bats at the Columbus Zoo.