Wine and Dine Recap

Now that I've had a week and a half to think about the Wine and Dine half marathon I'm ready to recap the race.

First, as per usual, I had a really good time.  Races are fun.  As I've said before I enjoy races because the attitudes are infectious; everyone who's there wants to be there.

Jenn and I got into Orlando on Friday night and spent most of Saturday enjoying the expo, lunching with her family, and trying to take naps since the race was a night run.  Overall the race was a lot of fun.  I started strong but like the Disney Princess, it was really frustrating to get around people who were going slower.  I would be running at a good pace behind someone and they would just stop in the middle of the path to walk.  If a runner needs to walk that is fine.  I walk.  But I jog to the side of the path before I stop running so not to get in another runner's way.  That's a consequence of being a huge race, there is just no room to maneuver.

I held up really strongly until mile 8 or so.  After that my legs felt like lead.  I needed more and more walking breaks and started shuffling.  My goal was to finish in under 3 hours, knowing that if I maintained a 13 minute   mile average I could finish in a bit less than 2 hours and 53 minutes.  

I finished in 3 hours and 31 seconds.  So close to my goal.  I know that if I had just taken fewer walking breaks I could have at least met my original goal.  I'm not surprised that my legs struggled after mile 8 though.  I never trained farther than 9 on my longer runs and I only did that once.  In order to get ready for the Disney Princess race I want to adjust my training significantly differently.  More about that later.

Getting ready for the Wine and Dine half marathon!

One of the things that B and other people regularly comment on is just how much stuff that I. and many other runners, take with us on runs.  Now I don't really need all of these things; I just enjoy them.  I like running with music and I like a lot of the information and comfort that some of these things give me.

Here is a list of the things I regularly use on a run, especially anything over six miles:

Brooks Adrenaline Series 12 shoes with two inserts per shoe, one overall insert and one metatarsal insert

Garmin GPS and heart-rate monitor- tells me where I am, how far I've run, calories I've burned, how fast I am going, and other pieces of information I like to see

KT Tape- I use this to tape and support muscles that are injured

Fanny-Pack  Spi-Belt for holding things like keys, IPhone, ID

IPhone- I used my phone to take this picture so my ear-buds are standing-in for this gadget

Bloks- shot blocks are like gel Gatorade.  I eat them for energy if I am running more than 7 miles to replenish salt and sugar

Body-Media- I wear this all day, everyday now.  It keeps track of my sleep, calories burned, and some other pieces of information that I find valuable

Nu-Skin- I put this on places that I already have blisters or am likely to blister on my feet.  It is like a liquid band-aid

Not pictured: my Road-ID.  I forgot this but I always wear it when I run on my isolated paths.  It has my name, my allergies, and my contact information in case something happens to me.

Camel-Bak- if I am on a training run I pack water.  I won't carry any water with me tonight because Disney is very good about lacing the path with water stations.

Also, check out this awesome shirt that I chose, B picked the slogan, and Jenn ironed on the lettering for me to wear tonight for the race!

As this is the Wind and Dine Half Marathon I thought a food related shirt was a great idea.

October Recap

October was a really busy month.  It almost always is for everyone because it is the beginning of the holiday season, anyone on a semester schedule like B and I both are is feeling the crunch as the semester hits its stride, and election season is in full swing.  Everyone I know should be busy right now.

Add to that my training for a half-marathon and that I am finishing and about to turn in my prospectus and I am stuffed to the brim with busy-ness.

One of the really fun things that B and I did was go to a local church and buy some pumpkins to make jack o'lanterns.  I've bought pumpkins from them before to decorate my front steps but I'd never carved a pumpkin before.  We went to the patch and we both wore our most Halloween type shirts.  B wore a Ghostbusters shirt and I wore a Count Chocula one.

This is a picture of me and my pumpkin, I nicknamed him Ted.

That night we watched the straight to DVD Trick'r'Treat.  One of our fall goals was to watch scary movies and this was one that I had not seen and that I could handle.  It was sufficiently creepy and gory but not about torture or demonic possession; movies about those things seem to impact me deeply.

Another fun thing was the Flint RiverQuarium Zombie Obstacle Course 5K.  This race was a really fun race overall.  You ran an out and back course with strategically placed zombies.  All runners wore a belt with two 'life' sashes.  The zombies' goals were to take your life sashes.  When those were gone you were still able to run the race and go through the obstacles.  This is different from other zombie themed races where you either lose your life and become a zombie and attack other runners or you lose your life and the race is over for you.  I will say that the zombie parts were really fun because it was a rush to get chased and sprint around them.  They had to stay in certain areas that were clearly marked; they were not hiding and jumping out at you.  It was fun to sprint around them.  The obstacles, however, were a total let down as I was expecting something more like the Warrior Dash and less like a fifth-grade P.E. class.

This is one of our friends, B, myself, and a random zombie after the race.  Doesn't he just look thrilled to be in our picture?  

Other fun things this month: bonfires on the farm but there aren't any really good pictures of that, Halloween even though I didn't have that many trick or treaters, seeing Argo in theatres, some good training runs for my upcoming race, lazy Sunday afternoons, getting to see my parents after a long time gone, going to the South Georgia Throwdown in Albany and watching my CF friends be awesome, and savoring the good times of fall.

November is going to be great.

A year ago.

Sunday night was the season 3 premiere of The Walking Dead.  B and I decided to watch it together.  We always say that our love for zombie lore and for the love of the show specifically is what started our relationship.

If a year ago you had told me that I'd be watching the season three premiere with my boyfriend at his parents' house in southwest Georgia, after a potluck lunch at a Southern Baptist congregation of about 85 people I would have thought you were seriously confused.


It was a lot of fun.

The above picture is from a very early date when I made sequin headbands and wristbands for bowling in Thomasville.  I now know it was probably me testing him to see how spontaneous and indulgent he was to my whimsy.  He didn't even say boo about it.  I won the second game; he wants a rematch.

Just a funny thought...

B and I were talking last night.  It was late and we were both kind of goofy.  

I was wondering aloud 'what if, instead of Jesus washing the disciples' feet, instead he insisted on giving Peter a pedicure?'  Oh, the phrase 'go and do likewise' takes on a whole new meaning to me now.

A funny conversation!

B- Guess what I'm eating....

Me- What?

B- A frosty!

Me- You're eating a frosty without me?  You frosty-cheater!!!

B- I'll bet you've eaten some frosties by yourself before.

Me- Not since we started dating!

Bwahahahahahah!  I am so hilarious; I can hardly handle it.

Training starts today!

Training starts today!

I signed up to run the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon the second weekend of November and I am stoked to begin my official training.

I have 68 days to get ready to run 13.1 miles with thousands of other awesome runners.  I love big races like this.  Everyone there really wants to be participate so the attitude and atmosphere are unlike anything else in which I've ever participated.  

Now I've maintained a pretty reasonable level of fitness this summer with CrossFit and Hot Yoga but before this afternoon I had not run anything longer than 2 miles since June 2.  I mean, I've built some muscles this summer but running is a very different level of fitness.  It's about lung capacity and muscles working together and asking those muscles to work for a long time, at least 45 minutes but by November 10 I'll be asking my body to do cardiovascular work for somewhere around 3 hours.  

So here's the schedule of work: on Tuesday and Thursdays I'll be doing short runs, on the treadmill until it cools down.  Some of the runs are as little as 2, some as long as four miles.  Shorter runs will be about sprints, fartleks, and other speed work.  On Saturdays I'll be doing my longer slow distances.  Today that was 3 miles, next week it will be four, and so on until I get to 10 miles.  

So, my three miles today?  Really hard and really slow.  The temperature was okay but the humidity was unreal.  

It took me 46 minutes to finish 3 miles.

(I jogged the first mile, walked the second, and fartleked the third.)

My treadmill runs have been much faster, averaging 12 minute miles (roughly) but they're inside and I'm not running in and around other people like I was at the park.  I'm certain that as it cools down and as I get in better running shape I'll get faster and more comfortable.'

I love running season.  It's the most wonderful time of the year.