Bunny Hop 5K Race Recap!

I have been having some blogger issues with the laptop. To be honest, I am not even sure how I fixed it, except for turning the "compatibility view" on and off was the most recent thing I tried that allowed me to hit the "publish post" button and have it do something.

This past weekend was the start of the move to Louisville. We stopped in Westerville, OH to spend Easter with my parents. Ryan's parents actually joined us after the race too.

We got into Westerville on my birthday, just in time for some dinner at Cap City Diner. They have the best chocolate cake, which was free for the birthday girl! Whoo Hoo! On Friday, I had some Chipotle for lunch and then pizza for dinner. Not exactly the best pre-race foods, but whatever, it was a "fun run". I was more interested in eating food that I can get everywhere, like Donatos Pizza. So Good! Ryan, Dad, and I picked my packet and the kids from the Westerville Community Center. My dad wanted us to check out the place. I must say, the pool scared me. You had to swim across the diving well. SO SCARY FOR ME (or am I just crazy???- Ryan thought I was). I was glad I wasn't swimming and it made me have some new criteria for finding a gym in Louisville. The packets were nice. I got a technical shirt and the kids got cotton tees. We all each got bunny ears, a free loaf of Great Harvest Bread, AND a Cheryl's cookie. Have I mentioned my sugar cookie addiction? I think it started with these cookies, made in Westerville. I used to buy them from the school cafeteria all the time in high school and it killed my lunch budget. They also came in a reusable fabric bag with logo. It was the first year for the race, so I was really impressed with all the swag.

The plan for Saturday morning was uncertain when we went to bed on Friday. Ryan needed to ride, but the weather didn't look good. The 5K was also a lot earlier than the kids race, so I wasn't sure if we were going to ride together or not. As it turned out, the kids woke up right in the nick of time to leave. We needed 2 cars since Big Daddy Diesel sent info to me for a 50 mile ride for Ryan to do, and Ryan would be leaving shortly after the race ended to make it to the ride on time. We needed to stick around because their was an Easter Egg Hunt after the kids race. It was really a great family event.

I had planned to run in my bunny ears, but it was just too windy to keep them on. It was a small group, and I lined up at the start. I learned that the course was a bit short today due to flooding on the course. I was in second place for about the 1st mile, and then passed the first place woman as we hit the wind. My big brick in the wind and cold prepared me well for this run, as it was really windy off and on since the course was sort of an out and back, with a loop around this pond at the end. I can't really count it as a PR, since the course was announced that it was short. We ran through some big puddles as it was, I hate to see what it was supposed to be like. I finished with a time of 21:10 for 2.99 miles according to my Garmin. It wasn't as fast as I have done in the past, but with the wind and the puddles, I have to be happy. It was also good enough to win, and I ran as fast as I had to. I was only 9 seconds ahead of the second place female. I think my prize is just a certificate. I need to have my mom pick it up for me. They also had more Cheryl's cookies on a table for finishers. YUM!

This was my first "official" overal female win, so I was very excited. I received the award at the Salem Rocks 5K in 2008 where I was technically 2nd, but the winner was the race director's daughter, so she did not need the prize- a free race entry into another one of his races.

After I finished up, we had the kids race. Soren was done at this point and just wanted a hug. I think he was tired of being outside, and had no interest in running. Keira was pretty excited about it. She wanted to run in her ears too, but they wouldn't stay on her head either. I ended up carrying Soren while holding Keira's hand for the race. It was fun, and each child got a Cheryl's cookie as a prize. They ate theirs right away.

Also, with all the children's craziness, I had the priveledge to meet BDD! The race was only a few minutes from his home, so he stopped by before the egg hunt. We joked about all the waiting around for a minutes worth of egg hunt. My race was at 8 and I was done by 8:22. The kids race was at 9 and done by probably 9:05 (they had multiple waves and lots of photos before each), and the toddler egg hunt for Soren didn't start until 10, and Keira's until 10:30. We hadn't had the best luck with egg hunts in the past, but my kids got it this year, and with the wet weather, I think it helped up the egg to child ratio. There were a zillion eggs, and it is crazy how fast these hunts. Soren managed to fill his entire egg basket and I stopped him. The hunt finished up a few seconds later. I looked at my watch and it read 10:01:51. Less than 2 minutes! Keira's hunt was on a bigger field and less dense, but it still was finished in about the same time. She finished up with a packed basket too. All in all, it was a great day.

Big Birthday Brick 2011

Today is my birthday (technically, since this post is likely going to be done late at night, while icing).

What a difference a day makes! Thanks so much for all your support! I really apreciate it. While I did "lose it" a few times today, I was able to have a great time at my annual "Big Birthday Brick".

Last year was the first year it was a brick workout, but the whole, go out and see what you can do started when I turned 30 and decided that I needed to run a lap of Kensington just to show that I could do it. Keira was pretty small too, so it was quite the accomplishment for me at that point in my life, especially since I hadn't trained much through the winter that year. I can't remember what I did for turning 31 (we may have been living in Ohio), and I was pregnant with Soren for 32. Last year, to help me prepare for my Oly tri, I did the "Big Birthday Brick" where I biked 25 miles and then ran 6.2, what I needed to do for the tri. This year, with my birthday being midweek and the move, we opted to do it on a Wednesday night to coincide with the start of the TIA Wed workouts. This also meant that time was a concern, and that I could not plan to just ride 50 miles on a wed and run 13.1. I don't know that I plan to do that at all in training for my 70.3, and doing it now in my current condition would just be asking for an injury.

We had planned for weeks now to bike 30 (2 laps at Island Lake) and then just run some amount. I can't publish an amount because Cristina will hold me to it. Some sounded good to me. The week started rough. We had SNOW!!! The forecast was also really bad all week. Accuweather just started charging (or I just noticed) for chance of precipitation. Are you kidding me? Maybe I don't get the membership thing and it is free, but it was more involved than what I wanted to do today. Everyone was asking me about my backup plan. What?? We are going to DO THIS. Really, I was thinking the back-up might be dinner??? I got tons of calls all day, are we doing this? It was COLD!!!! In the 40s, and it was raining in little pockets everywhere off an on. I was praying for it to not rain so we could have a safe ride. I kept telling myself, I am HARDCORE! I ran zillions of miles in BLIZZARDS for crying out loud!!!! I can spend a couple hours on a bike in the 40s!!! Right?

Well, thankfully, the weather, although cold, onminous, and WINDY, was "acceptable". There was no precipitation on us, and the road was fairly dry. We had a small crew, the same 4 ladies from last year, Me, Cristina, Kristel, and Valerie. We didn't have Ryan or Kent, but Tom, TIA's fearless leader of the Wednesday night workouts came out for the second lap! My pace was not so stellar, but the WIND, OH MY! It was pretty bad. At one point on a downhill I had to switch to a bigger ring in back because the WIND was pushing me so hard uphill! When we did this extra little road north of the Dogde Parking lot it was awful! I screamed. I didn't drink any water while riding for fear of wrecking because of the grip I needed to just stay in control. The forecast called for gusts of up to 40mph, and I am pretty sure we caught a couple of those on that little road. We (I) averaged about 15.5mph. I was the LAST to finish on the bike, and my garmin got full and stopped recording at 20 miles, which meant it beeped at me for the remaining 10. I couldn't make it stop and ride at the same time, I got a bit behind fussing with it and realized I couldn't fix it and ride, so it just BEEPED FOR 10 MILES.

My feet and legs were so cold once we started running. I couldn't feel from my knees down, and then I just felt PAIN in my feet as the feeling came back. It took about 2 miles for them to fully warm up and all of the toe pain to stop. We flew out with the wind over to Kensington to get in a total of 3 miles. That middle section into the wind uphill heading back in Island Lake was tough! I think we finished up in around 25ish minutes from looking at my watch and my paces. My garmin gave me a pace readout but wouldn't let me start the timer.


I am so grateful I have such wonderful (and insane) friends who came out to support me! Thanks so much! You guys are awesome, and I will miss our rides at Island Lake! I have 3 tris on the schedule at IL for this summer, so it is not "goodbye" yet, it is "see you later".

A Big Mess

Sorry I haven't had much to say lately. Everything is a mess. Literally. There is mess all around me right now. Over the weekend, our desktop really freaked out and I spent the weekend backing up files like crazy once we got it to turn on again. That was a scare. Then, Ryan's profile got some virus that won't let it open any programs. Mine seems to be OK, but some of the programs are being blocked right now.

The house is a mess. I am packing up all the clothes I need for me and the kids to take down to our furnished apartment in Louisville. We are going to Ohio for Easter, and then continuing on. More mess, lots of laundry everywhere. How is it that 2 children seem to have more clothes than me and theirs are smaller? I am sure it would have helped it if had not suddenly got cold here and I had to dig out all the winter clothes again that I had not planned on using for months. I have also not had time to sort out last years clothes to see what still fits, so I have all of that to deal with. I guess I will sort it there because it is not getting done before we leave. As long as I have room, it is all coming with me.

Aside from the laundry, the rest of the house is just plain messy too because all I have been focusing on is laundry. I wanted to have everything really clean, but being tidy will just have to do, if I can even manage that.

The weather is a mess, aside from being cold, it is also very wet. I am supposed to go on a 30 mile goodbye/happy birthday to me ride tomorrow, and it is supposed to rain. Ugh. At least the snow is gone.

Finally, I am a wreck. I should be writing about how excited I am that I finally signed up for a bunch of races but instead I am freaking out about the move and being sad. I am going to miss all of my friends here so much! I can't believe that I have to leave them. I wish I could just pack them up and take them with me too! I really hope we can have a good ride tomorrow, because maybe that will help me have one last fun workout before heading out.

I knew that this move was such a blessing, and things were going so well that I was on the lookout for something to be bad or hard, or even fall through (that is still a worry bead of mine, but I can't even bother with that now). I now know the hard part. Saying goodbye. I am in tears writing about this.

The good news is that the summer is going to be a lot of back and forth, but hopefully it won't make every time I come back harder to say goodbye. I don't want to be an emotional mess every time I come back. We will be back for almost 2 weeks in June and Keira will even go back to her school for that time. I have a lot of races planned for SE MI, so hopefully I can stick to my schedule of coming back once a month for a week and see how it goes.

Guest Post- Negativity by Liz Finch

I am fortunate to have a guest post to share with you from Liz Finch at Feet Dominating Pavement. The topic is very fitting right now considering my last post had "freak out" in the title. I hope to be able to apply this as I shift into full blown tri training. After all, I have a sweet ride just begging to be ridden! PLEASE give me some good weather!

Negativity

By L. Finch

What do you do when the thoughts in your head scream “NO”, “CAN’T” or even “YOU’RE STUPID FOR EVEN TRYING”? I fight those fights almost daily. Do you?

I especially fight them when I need to go running. It’s almost like breaking a bad habit – not running – and trying to replace it with a good one – running. See, the “voices” liked where I was before, sailing along with my life, not really making a difference or a change.

Let’s try to put this in a different light.

I cry every single time I see videos for the Disney Princess Half Marathon. Guess why. Yep, my little voice of “can’t” starts shouting in my ear, “No, you can’t do that. Running is only for special people, and guess what, you’re not it”. The voice then continues, “you skipped your workout two weeks in a row when you had a 5k coming up that you needed to PR in! Who are you to think that you could adhere to a half marathon training schedule!” and so on and so forth.

Today, though, something was different. As I watched the videos, I silently defeated the voices in my head with, “Next year, that’ll be me. Look at that toned woman running to the finish line – Next year, that’ll be me.” And you know what? The more I repeated it, the more I believed it and the quieter the voices became. After all, the problem wasn’t that I had negative self-talk going on, the problem was that I doubted my own abilities.

Think for a moment. What areas of your running do you doubt yourself? Hills? The final few miles? The preparation leading up to the race? (That’s me!) I’d encourage you to find a power word or phrase to use while you are doing… well, whatever it is that you think you “can’t”. Words like “fighter”, “courage”, or even “Going for Gold”. Google “mantras” for more ideas if you’re stumped.

I really hope this helps you! If it doesn't, please consider leaving a comment below and Melissa and I will do our best to help you out.

Cheers!

L Finch

Liz is an off-and-on runner from Junction City KS. Her other hobbies include noveling, reading, and of course, fighting off the voices in her head. ;) Her next race is the Mother's Day 5k, check out her blog for more running thoughts!

The Half Ironman Freak Out

I am getting stressed about doing TWO half Ironman distance tris this summer. I am really worried about the bike. I am glad to have my new tri bike and just need to log some miles! With the upcoming move, I have been attempting to organize and clean once the kids are in bed, but I have been sick since the marathon and just have not been getting things done. I don't have an official training plan, and I probably should have one. A willy nilly training plan I make up entirely myself works fine for sprint tris and even the Olympic tri, but I am not so sure I can "fake it" through a half IM. Well, I am confident I can get through it on my plan, but I want to do more than "get through it".

I need to sign up for Racing for Recovery this week and really decide if I want to Steelhead or Muncie. I can't do both. It occurred to me this evening that perhaps I could do them both if I didn't do R4R, but that is the least expensive of the three races and gives me the most time between the two. I feel like the R4R race will be a good "practice" race. It is fairly local (to MI), and won't require any hotels. It will only require a trip "home" from KY, which I have planned for and already paid for Keira to attend school the weeks following it through the end of the school year and my next race. I can do 2 races on 1 trip home. Bonus.

It will be a confidence booster that will show me that I can in fact do the distance before spending a large chunk of money and causing my mom to drive all over the state to help with the kids. I told her that for her to come with me would only add about 3 extra hours of driving to her weekend. She has a crazy weekend lined up on account of my dad doing a bike tour called the "Shoreline West" that goes from New Buffalo MI to Mackinaw City. My dad will ride through Benton Harbor a few days before the IM. My mom need to pick up my dad in Mackinaw City the day after the IM. The drive there from Benton Harbor is about the same as the drive from my house to Mackinaw, so the only added driving is the distance from my house to Benton Harbor. See, it all works out, right? I have a hotel booked already and it is on the way to Mackinaw to help her out (since I waited to long to get something in St Joseph). But, it requires hotels and lots of gas, which is VERY expensive right now.

My facebook status today was that I finally am over our old Explorer Sport Trac, which up until this afternoon at Meijer getting gas, I missed every time I saw an older one on the road. That tank would cost around $100 to fill up, and we had to do it VERY often when Ryan would drive it back and forth to work. When prices were very high before, he drove my car and I drove the truck. He liked driving that truck, which is why we didn't always do that.

Back to the Muncie race. It is on a Saturday. I usually don't race on Sundays for religious reasons, but I tend to make exceptions for bigger races. I did not want to try to qualify to Boston on a Sunday marathon. I felt I needed all the help I could get. Steelhead was on a Saturday last year, so I had hoped it would be again this year, and TIA has a lot of athletes there. There was also a huge charity event there last year that was organized and supported by members of my club. I will have people there I know, which is always important to me. I don't like going to big races all by myself. Cristina is tentative on it.

With Muncie, Valerie is planning to do that one since it is on a Saturday. I ran it by Ryan's boss, and at the time, he was told that he would not be able to go anywhere in July due to work. Now, things have changed with the timing of his work. He might be able to go. It will be a lot closer to go to Muncie from KY. The new tri club that I plan to investigate will have a lot of people going there. I am learning about more people going there. It is not a great lake swim, also a plus. It is a tad cheaper, will require only 1 hotel night, and a lot less gasoline. I feel like I need to get this figured out pretty soon because I need to sign up for R4R pretty quickly. Like in 2 days before the fees go up. The entry fee is a lot for a practice race, but before I make some big trip out of a race, I want to know that I can at least finish the distance. I don't want to haul my family all over and make them jump through hoops for me to finish my FIRST half IM. I want to go into the race where I need a ton of help with the confidence that I can do it and have more than just finish in one piece as my goal.

Advice anyone?

First Ride Outdoors!

I hope Cristina doesn't kill me for this, but here is HER first ride of the season: Shhh, don't tell anyone that the Easter bunny is borrowing storage space in the back of Ryan's truck, so I just happened to have that adorable red bike with me as well. I whipped it out as everyone was oo-ing and ahh-ing over my new tri bike. It is ALMOST as cute as Keira's bike with fairies on it (her first ride of the year was LAST month, I was so jealous!) We have a picture of Ryan riding it in his racing kit covered in mud at a race that is as awesome as Cristina on Soren's future bike, but I KNOW he would object to that one being posted. I picked up a 650 tire last night so I could have everything I needed to change a flat. I am really glad I didn't let those guys at the shop talk me into getting the $20 "bag" that goes inside the $50 black "draft box". It was a tight squeeze getting a tube, C02 cartridge, mini pump for CO2, and a couple tire levers. Oh, and Ryan also included the instructions for the pump, since I have never changed a flat. I have seen it done a zillion times since my dad is a cyclist and former triathlete/marathoner. I grew up with bubbling bike tubes in the sink all the time and think it is totally normal for men to shave their legs. I digress...I also finally put a water bottle cage on the bike since I forgot about getting the aero drink bottle which I really REALLY want since I can barely get my bottle out with the space. I can only fit a 16oz bottle and have the clearance to get it out with the cage I have.

So, getting back to the REAL ride. Shortly after we put the Hotwalk away, Cristina is off puking in the grass. Something she ate DID NOT agree with her, and neither of us has felt stellar since our race. I think I have a sinus infection that is slightly upsetting my stomach and I have just felt off and been coughing all week. We had a nice sized group today, Cristina had invited Kari and Gary, Bill, and Julie to come out. I was a bit unsteady on my new bike at first. We were biking at Island Lake doing our "usual" course. I felt comfortable with the positions, but the bike was so much lighter that I felt like I just didn't have the control when I shifted. It took me a few miles, but then I got the hang of it. We lost Cristina for a few minutes as she had to stop to yack again. Gary got a flat right around the half way point. I stopped and offered to help out with my new "supplies", only no one had a 700 tube. Cristina caught up and she would have been the only one I would be able to help out, aside from myself. Bill was already off to go get the car to get Gary. I had to dodge some vomit from Cristina on the way back, as she was able to puke and ride at the same time! Kari and I got back to the cars first, as Julie tossed a jacket on the way out, and needed to get it, and Cristina probably had to puke again. I think she puked 7 times on the ride. I averaged 17mph for the 15 miles. I was pleased with this, being post marathon week. I also didn't drink anything during the ride. I did not feel coordinated enough, and it wasn't that hot. I'll need to work on that.

We got everything all situated for the run, and Cristina and Kari were OFF. They were flying. Julie and I felt like we were running with bricks for legs and I couldn't feel my feet at all since they were cold. We ran 2.5 miles in under 20 minutes. Cristina stopped ahead of us back at the parking lot, and usually she can't end a run in the middle of a mile. I convinced her to do another half with me and Julie. We ended up finishing our 3 at just over 8pace. Not too shabby! I just can't believe with all the puking, I still couldn't keep up with Cristina on the run! She is hardcore, but also had gotten everything that was offensive to her stomach out, and was feeling a ton better.

Oh, Ryan is watching the end of the Paris Roubauix on TV right now and they just announced that if you are over 5% slower than the winner of the race, you are not even considered a finisher! How sucky is that??? I am glad all of my races I do I just have to beat the course cut-off, not some moving target. I would hate to ride all that way (over 200km) and not even be recognized as a finisher!

Brad Pitt on the Treadmill!

This evening, Ryan stumbled upon the movie, Burn After Reading, on TV, shortly before the treadmill part. How on earth did I not know that this movie was about Brad Pitt playing a dude who works at a gym! We realized it is on again later, and will be setting it up to tape on our DVR to be able to watch the rest. I immediately had to search on you tube for a video of this part, and found this really funny montage for you to enjoy! It makes me really want to rock out my next treadmill run!