Notes of a Non-Runner

Labels: Race Report

I never thought in a million years that I could make it to the Olympics but here I am doing a brand new event: the virtual 8 miler for running bloggers. WOO HOO. I hear there are quite a few entrants and it doesn't really matter how fast you are. Am I dreaming?? Someone pinch me....


Well the new event is going off with a bang. Did you see that opening ceremony?

I can't wait to read all the other reports. I will be reading, logging and providing a Race Results post in the next couple days. Thanks so much for joining me to celebrate the start of the Olympics.

Do you have Olympic fever now? :D

Labels: 08/08/08, Race Report, sloooow, virtual race

Dam to Dam: The Biggest 20k Road Race in America. If you are a runner in Iowa you have to do this race. Okay, I guess, I will then! Been training with Art and Amy for several weeks and hoping for something in the 12's. We had a great run a few weeks ago that gave me lots of hope but it wasn't exactly meant to be. Still, we had a blast and we finished.


Besides Art and Amy, my friend Janna and my sis in law decided to do the race too. My SIL is a speedy mcspeedster who is very competitive and I figured she'd drop me at the first Dam, but not so. I shouldn't judge so quickly. She came to run with me from Chicago! and run with me she did. I was very touched that she stayed with this old snail. :D


We enjoyed the traditional bus ride out to the dam and took lots of pictures. It was pretty relaxed and fun. We were at the waaay back of the 5000+ pack, which is not great when the event is not chip timed but whatev. It took over 5 minutes with the clock running to get to the start!


We met lots of cool characters and joked that all the interesting stories are at the back. (the bride, the tae kwan do lady who has run out of people to spar with her in her age group - 50's!?, Brian who lost 105 pounds and has 100 to go, the very elderly gentleman who joked about his heavy breathing behind us) .




The gun went off and we didn't move for a looong time. We joked, "this is easy, what's the big deal? We can hold this pace for a long time!" Yep all the stories are at the back. Or at least that is what we slow people say so that we enjoy the race ! :D

The view from the dam is fairly breathtaking, you can see some little buildings on the horizon just to the right of center (look very closely, they are small) that are the skyline in downtown Des Moines. Holy crap, we are going to run to those!!


We started off fast for me and I was pretty much pouring sweat within one mile. I thought this might be a problem but I was full of hope. We started with Janna, Amy, Art, my SIL and me. Janna dropped us pretty quick as she felt great and went off to find her groove. I am soo excited for her as this was her first time running this event and really her first good sized race. She did absolutely great and finished strong.


We pulled off a few miles in the 11's which is pretty speedy for me and then took our first big potty stop where Art decided he didn't want to stop unless he had to. He went on and had a good inaugural race too -- yeahhh Art!!! After that we hit a stretch of very open, very hot road that slowly zapped us a bit and was followed by a good sized hill. We had plenty to drink but personally I think maybe the early miles a little fast and the heat started to take its toll.


Amy got progressively sicker and we walked more to accomodate some stops and recovery but seriously I don't think I could have continued the pace without the stops, in fact I welcomed them. That poor thing. I wish I had fully understood how sick she was...


There were several points with giant speakers and music blaring, live bands, people in their yards with sprinklers, dogs, cheerleaders, signs. What fun!! There weren't huge crowds on the route, but they were great people. The volunteers were fantastic and a lot of young kids were handing me drinks. I tried really hard to thank them all!

The picture isn't as dramatic as it felt or sounds but I'm glad Amy got a pic!! Of course, right when I got to the microphone, I had no idea what the words were. Oh well, we all cracked up which we needed at this point.

My SIL was so fresh and unaffected by our slow pace that she gave the cheerleaders a show dancing and jumping around doing 360's. They cheered extra on seeing this and it helped to break up the grind and pain as we kept moving.

We trudged on and on, finishing with the fast 5kers at the end and just trying to stay out of their way while willing ourselves to keep moving. We rounded a last corner with about .4 or .5 to go. Amy picked it up, I know she was absolutely just dying to be done and go home, the poor thing. I felt so bad for her. What a trooper.

My SIL says, my HR is 124, are you wearing your monitor. Are you freaking kidding me? I cracked that I wasn't and if I was, I wouldn't tell her how much over 180 I probably was at the point. :P I thought the B word, but she was pretty nice to me and I decided not to say it even jokingly. I did later though when we recounted the siti-ation to the fam and she thought it was pretty funny. :D We started scanning the right side for my in laws and finally saw the finish shoot and the family with lenses up! (I am waiting for a few more pictures but this is getting old so I will post them later.)

I got a little teary about finishing, not finishing like I wanted, and mostly about speedy mcspeedster coming all that way from Chicago just to run with her snail SIL. She even told Amy that I was the one that inspired her to run and now she just can't stop! It meant so much to me to run this race with Amy and my SIL and to have my friends Janna and Art also in this thing with me for the first time. I've mentioned before that I've often been of awe of peeps who did this race and wished that I could be in shape enough to have 12.4 miles in me. What a difference a year makes!

We ran through to get medals, and THEY WERE OUT. We filled out mailing envelopes but, this significantly cuts down on the tears in the moment! HA HA. (that and seeing a guy go by half dead on a stretcher after the 5k. Oh man, he looked bad. I couldn't help but thinking that at least I'm standing but I also hope he is okay and have thought of him several times.) After a few pics with the fam, we headed off to the beer garden. Amy had headed straight for her car and we texted a few times to see how she was. I told her I would take one for the team and drink her celebratory beer for her. I only wish she could have enjoyed it with me. Never have I felt so much like I had earned a beer.

11:39
11:20
11:53
12:02
15:40
12:49
12:44
15:02
13:40
15:46
13:44
14:53
14:44

2:52:01 ~ 13:50 pace ~ 12.4 miles

Labels: Dam to Dam, hot, humble pie, Race Report

Great photo by
Laurel - thanks!!

Please email me if I have overlooked anyone. I checked posts to my blog but not my entire blogroll. I'll be happy to update if there are more results. Updated 5/13/08.

Labels: 10k on the 10th, club, Race Report, virtual race

Labels: 10k on the 10th, inspirational, Race Report, virtual race

Today the Catholic boys were holding a race kind of in my neighborhood. I've been eyeing this one for awhile since I've never done a 10k (instant PR), it was close to home and pretty cheap, and I need the miles as I start to ramp up for Dam to Dam at the end of May (20k). How can you beat an 11am start and a t-shirt? Although I'm guessing they might have expected me to be in church beforehand. :P

I've been having some major GI issues the last couple of days. I'll spare the play by play, but suffice it to say that it was touch and go up until the end and heavy pharmaceuticals were on board. Thank you science.

Art heard I was running this and we arranged to meet up at registration. He told his group he was looking for a girl and they said, "well, maybe we can help, what does she look like?" Art said to look for red lipstick and one of them spotted me from across the parking lot. :D That's so much better than look for a girl with really wide hips. :P

I think the plan was loosely something like we'd love to run this in the 11's, but realistically we need to just keep each other going, and if someone is having a great day, don't be afraid to go with it. I secretly thought I'd be the lag behinder in the 12's.

We started out at a nice clip and did some chatting. I got a side stitch during mile 2 and Art had to one sidedly chat. After that, the gradual inclines started and kept going through mile 3, 4 and 5!! Those damn sons ain't so friendly. I was breathing heavier than normal but nothing hurt and we just kept going. I kept telling myself, this is a race, okay to push yourself and be breathing heavier. Art was really a dear, I know he could have gone a lot faster, but he claimed he really wanted to run about this pace and not over do it. He has been sick and was also concerned about breathing but he ran it seemingly effortlessly. Thanks, Art!!! You totally ROCK.

I had two pretty good lines for the sparse talking. "Jesus Christ!" (then, started thinking, is that weird to say J.C. during this race? It's probably not a very good thing.) My other one was, "I'd talk more, but all I can think of are cuss words." hee hee.

As we went on and we continued to keep it under 12, I was hoping to do it for every mile. You can see that the only water station during mile 5 kept me from that goal. Somewhere around 5.2, I set Art free and he moved out. He was yelling, "run your race." ~ "you're doing great!" ~ "I'll be at the finish, you'll be right behind me."

1 ~ 11:02
2 ~ 11:34
3 ~ 11:50
4 ~ 11:37
5 ~ 12:01
6 ~ 11:56
.27 ~ 10:26
Garmin reads 6.27 miles ~ 1:12:49 ~ 11:37 pace
(wow - race site says 1:12:52 - for once my garmin trigger finger was right on.)

Once again it was one of those really bittersweet things. Absolutely great to be running, great to be running with someone, great to be running 6 miles and nothing hurts much, great to be running this pace for 6 miles, great to be experiencing improvement, beautiful day to be running. I'm still at the back of the back of the pack. (there were officially only 6 people behind me and I was 24th of 26 in my age group. Geez.) I just don't look back. I'm extremely pleased.

Labels: hills, humble pie, milestones, Race Report

(Nancy and Amy, finished - with hard earned t-shirts. Pic borrowed from Amy)

Thoughts ~

• No problem at all finishing YAY :D I was going to make out a will and leave all my earthly blogging blatherings to Scott, but turns out I didn't need to. Sorry, Scott, maybe next time.


• The bike was brutal at the end but also, I'm guessing not typical, and I made it through.


• I haven't biked or swam much so I'm sure improvement can be found.


• I am capable of improving my running pace. Whoa.


• If I had that many mirrors around all the time, I would never eat.


• Level 14 at the end of a bike ride suuuuucks


• I now tell strangers I ROCK. See Amy's post for explanation.


• I cheer and scream like a kid when I hear 10:10 and it is about me


• I.Like.Tri !

Labels: Biking Nightmares for $100 Alex, Race Report, Triathlon

Once again, the results are in and the race reports are posted. This virtual thing seems to be working out.

I might be a little more sappy this time (understatement) -- I think because I realized a bunch of people are out there running 9 miles, because I said I needed a reason to keep training. You are all SWEETHEARTS in my book and certainly, you are all WINNERS. Thank you so much for getting out there and for indulging me on these virtual races. If you are new, check out the inaugural race, 8 on the 8th.

A word of thanks to Gretchen at heArt-a-day for designing our lovely logo. She's a budding artist and we met by chance on-line, only to find out we live only 100 miles apart. Thanks for the perfect logo and your generosity for our little shuffling blogging gang. XOXO

Again, the race reports are pretty fun so I've provided some official race pictures, links to reports and highlights for your perusing pleasure. It was quite a competitive race, lots of reports of fantastic race directing, aid stations and crowd control, and the pacers seemed to be well accepted although some people brought their own (Derek Jeter, Beckham, etc). There were some reports of attempting to bribe the RD with lipstick, G2, Cliff Bars, and Sport Beans. Well done! :D My most favoritest thing to hear, "I wouldn't have done this today if it hadn't been for this race." AMEN. Mission Accomplished.

Before I get started, special shouts to Laminator who had wanted a second shot at the title and instead is recovering from a broken bone, we all hope you are recovering well; Bill, our previous KING, who is tapering and planning to completely ROCK his marathon next week, and my nemesis, Scott, who thought about running 9 minutes and thought that should count for something. My friend, after Rocky Raccoon, you get an honorary finish.


Be sure to use your titles wisely. You have so earned them. Make your significant other use them at least once. If you don't have one, at least you got called a cutesy name for Valentine's Day. (know that you are loved!) Although, doesn't everyone just want to be a Lasting Lover? That was one of my better ones. :D Also, the hearts are your race medals. ENJOY!!

Labels: 9 on the 9th, Race Report