October Update- Training and a bit more info on Boston

Wow, how did it get to be October already?  I LOVE fall!  LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  There really isn't that much better than a nice run outside through pretty scenery.  I say this, however, my last two runs were not scenic at all.  Saturday was a big day for us.  We had our son's 5th birthday party, so I opted to forgo two different group run opportunities to run before Ryan's ride, and sleep.  Lame, totally lame.  Did I skip my workouts?  No, I did not.  I just skipped out on running with Oldham County Multisport at 7, and also running with the YMCA at Norton Commons group at 8.  Knowing that the party was going to stress me out and be a long day meant that I did not want to wake myself up early on purpose, and as long as the kids would sleep, I would let them.  They would need to be well rested.  What I did was go to the YMCA and run at 9:30am, indoors, on the treadmill, while Ryan rode outside.  Could I have gotten up early and be home by 9:30?  Sure, but school, work, and extra curriculars just wear me out, and I had been up early the past several Saturdays for training or racing reason.  Sometimes you just need to sleep, even if your workout isn't perfect, but you can still get it done.  I ran a quick 6 miles on the treadmill.  I did my long run of 10 miles last Thursday, outside. 

Then yesterday, I opted to ride my mountain bike on the road for my iceman training.  I rode out in Oldham County taking 329B to 1694, to 42, 393, to 146 into Crestwood, stopping at Time Warner Cable (we've had internet problems off and on for a week now), and then home for a total of 24 miles.  Goodness, that is hard.  There is a reason road bike and time trial bikes are made with skinny tires and stiff frames.  My mountain bike is heavy and squishy.  I made it, though.  Whew.  It was really a fabulous day for running.  When I got back, I ran a short 2 miles in my neighborhood.  Also not terribly scenic, but again, getting it done.  I did really get to enjoy the nice fall weather and the start of the leaves turning on my bike, though.  In fact, that was one of the only things that made this ride tolerable, as it is just so difficult to ride a bike like that on those hilly roads.  I did ride a little on a gravel shoulder and on some grated road under construction, so I appreciated my mountain bike on those sections, but the brand new section of 42 wasn't as noticeable as it would have been on my TT bike.  It was smooth like butter, and I could tell on the mountain bike, but not a huge difference. 

Keira had a cross country meet  yesterday, so she got to enjoy the pretty day.  It was a tad warm by race time, but she did great.  The kids received popsicles when they finished up.  I ran with her for part of it, in jeans, carrying my son, so my legs were trashed last night.  I think today will be a rest day, which is fine.  If you add up everything I did yesterday, it is about 2.5 workouts, and a lot for one day.  I have my long run tomorrow (outside!!!), and I am in taper mode for Iron Horse anyway.  Not the time to push, and I have a big ride on Saturday planned with Ryan.  I'll post more on that after the fact, because it is contingent on my parents coming into town to watch the kids, otherwise I am just going as a spectator.  Also, the weather will be a deciding factor too.  We are not signed up, so if the weather turns bad (which is shouldn't), I don't think we will ride.  That's what I love about running.  It isn't so dependent on the weather.  You can run in the rain just fine.  Riding, on the other hand, is much more difficult.

Now, back to the Boston update.  I posted last week that I got in.  I didn't elaborate on the circumstances.  I was in the final group to sign up, those people that met the requirement.  We had about 5 days to sign up, and then after that, registration would be closed and they would rank everyone by how much time they had beat their required time, and then make a new cut off time based on the entrants.  It is very scientific.  I am a math person, so it was causing a ton of stress.  By the end of the first day of registration, it was estimated that 7500 people had applied for what we thought was 5000 spots.  Using the assumption that the entrants' times were evenly distributed amongst the 0-5 minute range, the new cut off time would be 1:40.  I was 1:44, so for every additional registrant, it would raise that time.  By week end, the reports were up to approximately 8000.   That meant that if it was evenly distributed, I was out.  You'd need to be around 1:52 better.  What we didn't know was the shape of the distribution.  Would it be a normal distribution?  What was the mean and sigma value?  Would it be biased to the faster people because only the fast people submitted and the people with the slower times that beat it by only a second or so even be in that pool? 

I tried to not worry about it, since it was out of my control, but it was really hard to avoid thinking about it.  Thankfully, I got one of those rainbow loom things, and that kept me off the internet stressing about it and on youtube learning how to make bracelets!  I have made so many of them, and have even taught some of the neighbor's children to make them.  This is a small sampling of what I have made. 

I knew the announcement would be made on Wednesday, the 25th, but I didn't know when.  I figured it would not be at least until 10am EST, because all of the registration times started at that time.  I hoped it would be before 5pm, because that is when things needed to close.  Every noise my phone made stressed me out. Was it an email?  I was afraid to look during work because I didn't want to have a breakdown there, either way.  I was really unsure that I would get in.  I had been trying to be hopeful, but at the same time not be devastated if I didn't get in.  I got home from work and got online.  Surely people on facebook in my same boat would have heard or not heard.  I got the email around 1:30, and just cried.  I couldn't believe I was in.  6 seconds was the difference between my time and the new cut off time.  Talk about cutting it close!!!  You had to be faster than 1:38, and I was 1:44.  Wow!  I get to run the 2014 Boston Marathon on April 21st.  My birthday.  How often will that happen that 1, the race is on my birthday and 2, I am actually qualified.  I don't know, and I wanted to take advantage of it!  Yay!  Cristina is in, and I am excited that I finally get to run it with her.