UA Memorial Day 5 Miler 2008

There are plusses and minuses to the way I run. One of the plusses…I’m a very good pacer. I can run pretty much the same pace for every mile run. While this is great for races like marathons, this is bad for shorter races like 5 milers. One of the minuses…I have to start slow in races and build up to pace. Again, this is great for marathons, but very bad for shorter races.

Yesterday I met my friends (Mary, Helen, Andrea, Dave and myself) for the Upper Arlington Memorial Day 5 Miler. I run this race every year in celebration as this was the first race I ran. We all started in the corral together. When the gun went off, Andrea quickly dashed to the front, Dave stayed behind a little, and Mary, Helen, and I took off at a fast pace. It was too fast of a pace for me. I hit the first mile at 7:40 and fell behind. I just can’t start a race that quickly! My second mile was 7:23, but that’s deceiving as it is mostly downhill. The girls were still in sight. At mile three I was really starting to hurt, 7:59. And in mile four I just fell apart, walking twice. WALKING! IN A 5 MILE RACE! Even still, my 4th mile was 8:31. Once I hit one mile to go, I just did what I could to get through. My last mile was a 7:50. I finished in 39:28, which got me fifth in my age group. Helen got 2nd in the 30-34 age group; Andrea got 3rd in the 30-34 age group, and Mary got 2nd in the 25-29 age group. Dave ran a 41:XX and set a PR.

In 2005 I ran this race and kicked its butt with a 36:49. That same year I was training for this very same half Ironman I’m currently training for. My training back then was different, though, as I only did about 1 bike a week, followed all my swimming plans, and was still running 30 miles a week. Now I’m doing a little more varied training with 3-4 runs, bikes, and swims a week. I’m not even running 20 miles a week, though. I need to be doing more running and I haven’t the foggiest how I’m supposed to be doing it. The schedule is crazy! Tomorrow I am supposed to do 3 workouts! How am I supposed to fit that into a normal day?!

I am tired of writing race reports saying how disappointed I am. But I am disappointed. I want to be faster. I want to be a totally badass runner and triathlete. What more can I do?

Painting a Picture

I’ve been noticing it around town. It must be late May. All of my former track kids who have graduated and are now in college are back for the summer.

Today I ran into a former graduate at lunch. I sat with her a while and talked to her about school and her plans and running. She goes to a great school, is doing wonderfully there, has a fantastic summer internship lined up, and she has big plan for the future—even running the Marine Corp Marathon in the fall.

I once was in a women’s Bible study where I was the only married woman in it. The other gals talked about their plans to meet and marry their dream guy and live happily ever after. Being the cynic that I am, I brought that dream crashing down. No lie, they kicked me out of the study.

As I listened to my former student today telling about her plans for majors, Peace Corp, and graduate school, I wondered what life will really be like for her in 2-3 years. When I was a sophomore in college I was majoring in mechanical engineering and wanted to become an Imagineer for Disney. There was no room in my plans for husband or serious boyfriend (instead I just kept boys on the side!). But I had this grand plan for the big picture. Now at the age of 30 my big picture is rarely in color and usually the size of a postage stamp.

Often the perception of high schoolers is that they’re slackers and into drugs, drinking, and sex with no respect for anything. I have been so lucky that I have coached the cream of the crop. Sure, kids will be kids, but these were also kids who were taking accelerated classes, got into premier schools, and even had MySpace pages that were safe for the whole family. Their grand plans may be grand in nature, but I would be surprised if they didn’t achieve their big plans.

Honestly, I may never have kids of my own. I’m just not mother material and I don’t have the yearning that most women my age (or younger) do. But, every young woman and young man I have coached has brought something special to me. And to hear them talk about their achievements and their dreams makes me very proud that I could have ever been a small fraction of that. My picture in front of me may be small and dimly lit, but the picture behind me is filled with beautiful smiling faces of those facing their futures. And for them and the impact they’ve had in my life, a small hug and a thank you brings warmth into any picture.

Like a Baby

Dave and I are 8 weeks away from the big race and the workouts are getting long and intense. It's only Wednesday morning and I've done 4 workouts since Monday. I don't know if it's the fresh air or all the working out, but I have slept like a baby this week. And that's highly unusual for me. These past two nights, I don't even remember turning out the light. I can't get enough food either. I'm burning almost every nutrient I put into my body.

What's going to happen when we start training for the Ironman?

Race for the Cure 2008

As a runner, I don’t like to run the Race for the Cure. It’s too crowded and you never get up to pace and it’s just not an event you do to run. As a human being, I understand the Race for the Cure and its purpose. The last several years I have not done the Race for the Cure because I am a runner and have a hard time justifying spending nearly $10 per mile to run it even though I know it’s going toward a good cause. Since I now work for one of the title sponsors, I got my admission for “free” and decided to run it.

The race had over 40,000 entrants this year. That’s as many as the Chicago Marathon! But this year they actually separated the running and walking participants. Yay! Still, I lined up at the 7:00 pace and saw that many people around me didn’t look like those who would be running a 7:00 pace. So, I just thought I would treat this as a training run. I saw a friend of mine from Nationwide and we spend the majority of the run talking about Ironman.

Even so, I set a PR in this race…quite possibly for my slowest 5K ever.

26:57

But, I’m glad I did it, appreciated what the race represents, and reflected a lot on those I personally know affected by breast cancer.

Swimming Time Trial

Last Friday we had our second (my first) 1000 meter/yard swimming time trial. I recently set my goals for Muncie (and they will remain private), but I knew I needed to swim 18:55 to be able to have a chance to reach those goals.

I took a small warm-up in the pool and did it with limited breathing to get my heart rate up. I struggle a lot at the triathlons because I can't relax and have a hard time getting my face in the water and breathing correctly.

I swam HARD in my time trial. I pushed until I couldn't push anymore. I breathed when I needed to and kept reminding myself to stroke long instead of hard. And it paid off. My time:

18:06

Awesome! We still have one more time trial before the race and I'm going to try to get until 18:00. Everything seems to be falling into place right now.

Tri-ing to Push, Lovingly :)

The cover story on this month's Runner's World is all about world class running couples. Now Dave and I are now world class, not yet anyway :), but we do tend to pick the same races. As runners we rarely train together as he prefers to work out in the morning or during lunch and I run after work, he doesn't like to do high mileage and I do, and we do not run the same paces. But now that we are both doing triathlons, we're actually doing a lot of our training together (except for the running). He pushes me on the bike since I hate to bike, and we do a lot of our swims together because it's nice to share a lane with someone you know.



Wednesday as I was leaving for work I saw Dave putting his swim stuff into his bag. I figured he was heading straight to the gym to get his swim done before work and then he'd be doing his run at lunch. That's usually his schedule. When I talked to him later in the day he said that he had just gone straight to work, did his run at lunch, and it went horribly. He wasn't planning on doing his swim and just wanted to go home and nap. I told him I would be home late because I still had to do my run and swim. He kept going on and on about being tired and so I said...



"You don't have to do the swim, but I'm going to. And just remember, I'm going to kick your butt in Muncie because I'm putting in the effort."



He was mad, but it was the motivation that worked. At 5:15 after I finished my run and made my way to the pool, there he was in a lane doing laps. Now, he was doing "drills" which looks a lot like floating but it go him in the pool.



Guess next time I want to skip a workout I should just not tell him. :)

Stuckeybowl

As I approached my 30th birthday this year, I knew I wanted to have a really great party. I wanted to invite a lot of people and I wanted it to be interactive and fun. I wanted people to be talking about it and remembering it for a long time. My first thought was to rent out a hall and have a Mexican fiesta complete with tacos and margaritas and sombreros. We would bring over our fussball table and the Wii and have a great time. But the halls all seemed very expensive and I would have to do a lot of the work myself regarding the refreshments. It all seemed like a lot of work. Then I was on Craig's List one day checking out my own add for our photo booth and lo and behold an ad spoke to me. The ad was to rent a bowling alley for private parties. It was perfect.

Immediately I contacted the bowling alley and picked a date. We would get free bowling, have a cash bar, and there would also be billiards. We could bring in food. And the best part is, they would close the place to the public and it would be all ours.

The party was last Friday and it was awesome. I had about 30-40 of my friends come by, bowl lots and lots of games, enjoy food and beverage, and the best part....take part in the photo booth. Yep, we had our photo booth there and people made great pictures and even put them into a guest book for me.

I truly loved the party. I wish I could do it every weekend. It was old school and fun and perfect for a bunch of 30-somethings. Thanks everyone who helped out and who attended. I love all of you. And for those who couldn't make it, you missed out on a great time. You'll just have to wait until my 40th birthday!

Check out some of the photo booth pictures. What a bunch of hams!

What To Do Now

Now that I've been shut out of two marathons I'm starting to wonder if a fall marathon is in the cards. Maybe it's a sign that I should be starting the Ironman training ASAP. But, I really wanted to run a fall marathon because I've lost my qualification for Boston and I wanted to secure that in case (a) the coach let's me run it in the spring in the middle of my Ironman training (not likely) and (b) after the Ironman is over I may want to go back to being just a marathoner and run it in 2010. Either way, I was really looking to redeem myself and really go after the elusive 3:30 that's been haunting me for three years.

It was mentioned in the last post to try Top of Utah, but that race is in September and I have already signed up to run Reach the Beach in September and I don't want to compromise either race. So, I'm really looking for a marathon between October 1st and the end of the year and something that's not going to cost me a whole lot as I'm going to be spending a small fortune in the quest for Ironman next year.

I had breakfast/lunch with Mary on Saturday and she discussed giving the marathon another try this fall. She mentioned she might want to enter the lottery for New York. Will a third lottery be the charm? I've always been a little leary about entering New York. I had a friend who ran NY a few years ago and hated it. He said he'd never run it again. Plus, I also happen to have that deathly fear of bridges that might be a little hard to overcome by the race. In addition, it's not exactly an easy course and probably not any place I could shoot for a 3:30. Dave and I have also been talking about the Honolulu Marathon, but financial restrictions might limit us. We also threw the Portland (Oregon) Marathon in the mix, but we've vacationed in Portland before and really wanted to go someplace we haven't (although we've spent a good amount of time in NY too).

For right now, I'm without a marathon and without a vacation as they were going hand-in-hand this year. Maybe this just is going to be a one marathon year and I can concentrate on saving money, doing half marathons, and saving for Ironman.

0 for 2

We did not make it into the St. George Marathon.

The search continues...

Waiting

Patience is not my strongest suit, and I'm really being tested this week. Dave, Dad, and I entered the St. George Marathon lottery together and results were supposed to be announced yesterday, then by today, and now by today at 5:00pm. Come on St. George! There are vacation plans riding on this!

Ranting, Raging, and Raving

I get a lot of hits on this blog. Not as many as I'd hope (to be the super-star I want to be), but definitely a lot more than I can actually could have conceived when I started this blog. Most people who are reading this blog I don't even know either because they don't comment or I have never met them. But I also have some of my real family and friends who do read this blog. The title of this blog is "This Runner's World" which I've always meant to be writings about my life as a runner, whether that meant running adventures or real-life adventures.


My real-life friends really like it when I pull out the soap box and go to town on the blog. But, most things I would love to do rant, rage, and rave about I simply can't because I'll (a) lose my job and (b) lose my friends and (c) look like the most horrible person ever. It's no secret that I am opinionated. You give me a topic and I've got an opinion on it. And, let's just say that my speech in real life is quite colorful. But, on the blog, I really try to refrain.

This week has been kinda hectic. We're throwing a totally awesome birthday party for your's truly tomorrow, we've cranked up the triathlon training, and I might have gotten reprimanded for something at work in which I was doing nothing wrong in the first place. So, I have a lot for which I could probably pull out the soap box. But let's just leave it as I'm stressed, I'm cranky, and I'm looking forward to Friday.

My dear friends, that's as much soap box as there will be today. Sorry for the disappointment.

OSU Triathlon

Just like the Olympic flame currently in Asia, there was a passing of the torch yesterday. Yes, yesterday, I lost to Dave.

Sure there are a lot of excuses I could make, but hands down he’s a better biker and that’s going to make all the difference. Of course, my sister says that Dave should put a big sign in the yard proclaiming he beat me and have people honk as they go by. Such a nice sister!

It didn’t start well for me. I don’t know what it is about a triathlon swim, but it just freaks me out. And this was in a pool! I couldn’t get my heart rate down and therefore, backstroked half of it. HALF OF IT! Funny part is, I’m a really strong backstroker and I started catching people, so I turned over and stuck my face in the water just went. I caught Dave and was right on his toes. We got out of the water at the same time and I beat him to the transition. And I beat him out of the transition very quickly.

I actually thought the bike was going pretty well. I probably only had about 10 people pass me—much better than normal. One of those people was Dave and he passed me within the first three miles. But I should have known I wasn’t doing that well as the only people I passed were mountain bikers. Finally the bike was over and I made a good transition to the run.

I got shoelace clip-thingies for my laces, but I like my laces pretty tight and had plenty left over so I had to stop a few minutes into my run and tuck my extra laces. That’s when the one and only person passed me on the run. I caught him again later, but he passed me back up. Anyway, I had a great run even though I think the miles were short. My first mile was a 7:47 and I thought that was good. HA! My second mile was a 6:58. It was in that second mile that I saw Dave. I gave him a high five and said, “You proved you’re more superior.” The woman behind him (his dentist, by the way) smiles. I kept catching people and getting faster. I sprinted my way to the finish. My last mile was 6:42. I was cooking on that run!

I must say, it was a bit discouraging. I gave up trying to tri three years ago because I couldn’t figure out the bike mystery and wasn’t willing to put in the time to solve it. This time I’m a little more willing to put in the work on the bike, but I don’t want to sacrifice my running. A longer race, and I would have done pretty good, but the truth is—I’m a runner trying to fake it as a triathlete. We’ll give it the summer and then really decide if I want to try Ironman.

Oh, but I did beat my goal yesterday which was 1:30. I ran a 1:19:51.

Swim (400m) = 9:32
T1 = 1:33
Bike (20K) = 45:45 (16.3 pace)
T2 = 1:27
Run (3 mi) = 21:34 (7:11 pace)
Total = 1:19:51

April Totals

Now that I'm getting into the swim/bike/run of things, here are my totals for April.

Run: 82.55 miles
Swim: 12,950 yards
Bike: 4 hrs 45 minutes

Expect A LOT more of that coming soon.

And now the rest of the story

You don’t think I spent four days in Boston and the only thing I have to talk about is the actual marathon? Heck no! There was a lot of fun that went down!

We started in the airport at Columbus by shaking our fists at the Skybus airplanes, but then smiling because we didn’t have to get up at four in the morning to catch our plane either.

Our plane ride was made fun by our flight attendant. We got lucky and sat in the front row and held great conversations with her. She told us all the stuff she doesn’t say in her speeches and even told us about her professional wakeboarding boyfriend.

Once in Boston we met up with fellow blogger Meredith, who has a husband named Dave, who has a brother named Jeff. So weird! We had a fantastic pasta dinner and chatted much about running and triathlon. I hope we get to meet them again because I didn’t get a picture. What was I thinking?!

Sunday morning we watched the women’s Olympic trials. It was magical. I especially enjoyed cheering for some of my favorites including Deena Kastor, Desiree Ficker, and Joan Benoit Samuelson.






After the trials we hit the expo which was a mistake. For those of you who don’t know me in real life…let’s just say I have some personal space “issues.” As in, I don’t like to be touched, but I don’t like crowds either. It was absolute chaos just trying to get my number. I yelled at the women handing out the shirts because for the second time in 3 years I was denied a size small because they were out. Come on, BAA, get it right?! Put the shirts in the bags and give people what they’re assigned, not what they ask for. I did apologize to those women but it was also nice that they agree with me. From what I hear, they ran out of mediums too. I would have been pi$$ed had I received a large when I ordered a small. I must say, though, I got a medium and it fits me pretty well. I ran in it yesterday. Although, Andrea, if you’re still interested in switching, I’m willing to switch. The expo was so crowded that I never saw all the merchandise (didn’t matter—I had purchased mine online before the event) and I never found the posters. I really wanted a poster since they usually have all the participants’ names on them. Next time, I’m making sure my flight gets in earlier enough to go early on Saturday.

After a nap, we met our friends for dinner. All 27 of them! The restaurant handled our big crowd very well and dinner was fantastic. Dinner was followed by a trip to Mike’s Pastry where I got a canolli and a Boston cream puff. Riding back on the subway a woman asked me if those were for tomorrow night (Monday after the marathon). I laughed and said no. I was going to have them tonight (Sunday before the marathon). Shoot! The whole race was a celebration and I was going to eat my canolli. Helen and I were a little put off by her comment.



Monday after the marathon we all met up for a pizza dinner. It tasted like a small slice of heaven. Or a small slice of pepperoni and sausage pizza. :) The group dispersed pretty early in the evening as many had early flights to catch the next day and we were all really tired from running the marathon.

Tuesday morning Dave and I spent together. We had breakfast at a wonderful Greek restaurant we found in 2006. The French toast tasted so good. I love eating after a marathon. J Then we went to Niketown where I debated long and hard about getting a new running hat. I always run in a hat and I almost always run in my Boston 2006 hat that my parents got for me that year to celebrate my marathon and my birthday. In the end, I didn’t get the hat and I’m still kicking myself about it. I did sign the wall and wrote: “Meredith just finished her 10th marathon” and scribed it with what I hope my tattoo will be.




Dave and I took morning naps (gosh I love to nap) and then treated ourselves to an ice cream lunch (who doesn’t love ice cream as a meal) while sitting in Boston Common watching the people and enjoying the great weather. Finally it was time to head home and did ourselves good by working ourselves into an earlier flight since ours was delayed and we were going to miss our connection. Dave is so good at customer service.

I had a great time in Boston and thoroughly enjoyed my vacation. I don’t know if I’m going to get to go again next year due to the Ironman training (and I have to requalify) but I love Boston and will go again.

My New Best Friend

Dave and I were at the pool together last Wednesday doing a speed workout. There was a girl in the lane beside us who was water running. She was working hard and it appeared she was rehabbing an injury. Dave and I were racing each other during the 50s and I’m sure splashing everybody in the one mile vicinity of the pool.

When we got to the end of the pool she said we were fast. We smiled and said thanks even though we knew she must know nothing about swimming, cause we are far, far away from fast. We asked her if she was rehabbing and she said she was. She had suffered a stress fracture in the half marathon a few weeks ago. She asked if we ran it and I said no because it was the week before Boston.

As we were talking she was getting out of the pool and she was ripped. She was so skinny and all muscle. Then she said….

“I won the race. I ran a 1:19.”

Dave and I smiled big and laughed a little. I said, “Who are you?” Then she said she was Lyndsi Benedict. I knew exactly who she was.





The best part is, she was really friendly. She said goodbye to us and memorized our names. I saw her again on Saturday at the pool and she said hi again both in the locker room and in the pool. I told her I had a long workout and she said she would stay in the pool as long as I was in the pool. She didn’t, but I thought that was super nice. I look forward to seeing her more and watching her kick some more butts (specifically mine) at races this summer.

I Suck!

Yesterday I took the maiden voyage on Lucy, my bike, outside. My workout called for a reverse triathlon: 30 minute run, 60 minute ride, 30 minute swim. The run went really well despite having run a marathon just a few days earlier.

Then, the bike. Oh yes, the bike.

When I did my first triathlon five years ago, I had grand delusions that I'd be really good at it since I'm a pretty good swimmer and a good runner. The problem is the bike. Truth be told, I really don't like to bike. It takes so much longer to get in a good workout than running, it's boring and lonely, and it hurts my lady bits. :) Most races I would struggle to keep up a 16-17 mph pace and that would put me dead last in most triathlons. Thank goodness I could catch them in the run. But imagine what it would be like if I could keep in contact on the bike?!

I always blamed my biking skills on my bike I had. It didn't fit and was painful to ride, so I just didn't. And therefore that's why I sucked. Now I got this new, fancy bike and I thought it was going to solve all my problems just because it fit better. It does feel a lot better on my back and my privates and therefore, I enjoy riding it more, but yesterday's ride was one hour and I only did 14.42 miles. Therefore, I SUCK!!!

Seriously, bikers/triathletes out there. You've got to help me. I've read your blogs; I've seen your times. Y'all are FAST! What's up? Sure, I've got to put more time on the bike. That's a given. But what else should I be doing? Do I need to be doing squats and lunges? Are there other exercises? Is this because I'm a runner and my hamstrings rock but my quads are toast? Am I doomed to just be mediocre?

I've got another ride today and based on the weather, it's going to be inside. Maybe with no wind, it will go a little better.

Boston Marathon 2008

I believe it was Dickens who said, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

Or I’d say it as, “Sometimes The Beast kicks you squarely between the legs.”

Boston did not go at all as I hoped, but exactly as I anticipated. And I don’t really know what to say about it. It was what it was.

The day of the race started off roughly as we went out to catch the bus and the lines for the buses wrapped all the way around Boston Common. Luckily we found the shortest line possible and got on the bus fairly quickly. However, it took the bus over and hour and a half to get to Hopkinton. We arrived in Hopkinton at 9:00am. That gave most of our group enough time to go to the bathroom and head for the starting line. I was starting in the second wave and had enough time to scarf down my bagel, go to the bathroom twice, and head to the start line. I was in corral 14, which was the first corral in the second wave. There were so many runners that I never made it to corral 14. Instead with less than three minutes to spare before the starting gun I was able to make it to corral 22. Seriously.


The race started fine. Doug, Grace, and I ran together for the first six miles and then I could no longer keep contact. We spent a lot of time dodging slower runners and big groups and it was already taking a toll on me. By mile 10 I knew it was going to be a long, rough day. I committed to myself to at least run to the halfway point. Because I knew things weren’t going to go really well, I decided to have fun. I slapped every girl’s hand in Wellesley. I took cups of water from the little kids. And my favorite was the Flav-o-Ice popsicle I grabbed from some woman. At the halfway mark, I decided to keep up trucking until mile 16 and then I could start walking since there would only be 10 miles left. And that’s exactly what I did. At mile 16 I enacted a plan that would keep me together and help me finish the race. I would walk one minute and run 4 minutes. That’s what I did for the last ten miles.

Here’s the weird thing. Those who know me in real life know that I have not had a single can of any type of soda since I was 14. Midway through this marathon I started craving Coke/Pepsi really badly. I mean REALLY badly. I looked all over the course for a spectator who was drinking soda and finally in the last couple of miles I found one. I stopped and ask the guy if I could have a sip of his soda. Wouldn’t you know he had whiskey in it?! Good grief! I passed on the offer and kept on searching. I never found one, but I did get Dave to buy me one after I finished and I drank half of it. Obviously I needed something in that soda because I felt a whole lot better after I drank it.

By the time I got to the later miles in the marathon I was really suffering. My feet were on fire and my legs just would not go. At mile 24 a medic asked me if I was okay. You know you’re looking bad when a trained professional thinks you need help. I kept trucking on though and saw Dave at mile 25ish. I was crying by this point. He gave me a hug and that’s all I needed to make it to the end. I shuffled my way to the finish line with a 4:01:42.



Really, that’s not a bad time. And I only lost 11 minutes between the first and second half. But I felt so badly the whole race that it’s hard to be excited about that.

Now it’s on to the half Ironman this summer and I’m going to work much harder for that than I did for this marathon. And if I happen to do a fall marathon, I’ll be ready. Thanks for all the nice messages and e-mails I received since the race. I really appreciate it.

14061

If you want to follow along with the marathon on Monday, my number is 14061 and my start time is 10:30am.

Many Thanks

Thanks to all you out there who left me birthday wishes, sent me e-mails, and wrote on my Facebook wall. It was a pretty good birthday.

My parents "surprised" me with tickets to the Michael Buble concert last night. It was everything I hoped it would be. He was funny, charming, and HOT! And oh yeah, he can sing too. :)

Dave got me a new point and shoot camera since mine went belly-up a few months ago. He got me the Canon SD 870 IS. It's a monster and takes great pictures. I'll have it with me in Boston this weekend and plan on using it, A LOT.

My in-laws got me a gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods which I already spent on a new pair of bike shorts and a medicine ball. Those two things are going to get a lot of use in the next year.

I'm having a party for my birthday in May. I've rented out a bowling alley. Yeah, a whole bowling alley. It should be a whole lot of fun.

April 16th, 1978, 12:18AM

Goodbye twentysomethings...today I am 30!

Twentysomething

Because you'll find out tomorrow, but today we'll celebrate. :)

What am I doing?

It's funny how motivation works. Back in the day, when I was a gymnast, my coach struggled to find ways to motivate me. His poison was always yelling at me, which never worked. Instead I would cry, but try not to cry, thus hyperventilating and every time he would kick me out of the gym until I could control myself. After 4 years of our relationship, he finally figured out that I would need something different. Being that I've always been a rewards person, he would reward me for each trick landed or series of tricks landed instead of yelling at me for being too frightened.

When I coached I would not yell but would also use the reward/consequence system. This worked pretty well and only a few times did I have to pull a kid aside and discipline or work with an kid individually to find out how to motivate him/her.

As an individual athlete with no coach, I have struggled with motivation and this year has seemed exceptionally difficult. I used to reward myself for things like running all my miles in a month, losing a few pounds, etc., but being that I haven't followed my training plan whatsoever for this marathon, that hasn't worked. Being that I am extremely competitive watching my friends kick my butt used to motivate me but now I've kinda said, "What does it matter anyway?"

There were two events that I followed this weekend. The first was the Columbus Distance Classic, which is a big half marathon here in Columbus. A girl who I have trained with for a few years and who recently I gave my training plan to ran a 1:39. This is awesome! But, I've wanted to go under 1:41 for years now and I'm not even close. My old self should be motivated by this, but I'm not. It almost makes me want to stop running with my group. They're not helping me get faster anyway. The second event I watched was Ironman Arizona. All day long, Dave and I were checking the websites to watch Carrie complete her first Ironman. And she totally smashed it! I truly am so proud of her and can't wait to read her account of the race. Since I am about to start my training for the half Ironman and Ironman this should motivate me as a first timer, but truthfully it scares me to death. And why should I even try?

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a while. I am excited to get a few days off; I am excited to spend the weekend with my running friends; and I am excited to run my 10th marathon. There is a part of me, though, that can't wait for this weekend to be over. My training has, in a word, sucked. I ran 15 miles last week. FIFTEEN! Dave has been training consistently for the half Ironman and it is starting to show--not only physically but he's starting to get faster and it has me worried a little (seriously, I have to beat him). I am ready to start training for triathlon. I just want the marathon to be over so I can move on.

And yet, I want to do better. I want to beat that elusive 3:30 that I cannot seem to break. I was really disappointed when I didn't get into the Nike Women's Marathon. I had decided that this was going to be a one marathon year and that I would just concentrate on triathlon for the next year and a half. What did I do this morning?

I put myself in the lottery for the St. George Marathon on October 4th.

What am I doing?

And now an announcement

Since there are a lot of you that read this blog and a little of you that read my photography blog, I will make my spring portrait announcement here too.


Introducing Meredith Gordon Photography’s Spring Portrait Days!

Here are the details:

• Who–You and your family, you and your friends, you and your significant other
• What–A full portrait session
• When–April 26th and 27th
• Where–To be determined by the photographer and the client
• Why–Or a better question, why not?
• Cost–Only $35!! Print prices and options can be found on the website.

There are only eight time slots available (4 on Saturday, 4 on Sunday) so don’t delay. Contact me today to reserve your spot. E-mail me at meredith@meredithgordon.com or call me at 614-314-4794.

Thursday Things I Shouldn't Admit

I don't sleep very well almost every night of the week. I would say mostly it's because I'm not in love with my job and I get really anxious and angry that I have to go to work the next day. Most nights I'm really tired, but I can't close my eyes and actually fall asleep.

I shouldn't admit that most nights I do not sleep in the same bed as Dave. He sleeps like a rock. A snoring rock! Instead I go upstairs to our twin bed and sleep in my sleeping bag. Yes, I sleep in my sleeping bag more nights of the week than I sleep in my own bed in my own sheets.

I'd ask for suggestions to help my insomnia, but I've been this way since I was a child and I've tried it all. I used to do Benadryl to help me fall asleep but now I can't fall asleep with it and it makes my restless leg syndrome much worse, which of course, keeps me from sleeping.

So, my days are spent in a sleepy state and after 30 years of it, I've pretty much gotten used to it.

Rat Tat Pooey!

Much to my mother's dismay, to celebrate my 10th marathon I am planning on getting a tattoo. But after doing some reading I realized that I am going to have to wait a whole lot longer because you can't swim with a fresh tattoo for two weeks.

Now I'm not going to be swimming again until after the marathon. So the questions becomes do I wait until later this summer when the half Ironman is over or do I get it now before the 10th marathon? Would that be like wearing your race T-shirt before the race?

Athens Half Marathon 2008

WARNING! This post might be too graphic for certain people. If you are a runner or triathlete, you will be fine. The following post is rated PG-13.

It’s two weeks until the big marathon and usually I like to do a half marathon race two weeks before. This year it was the Athens Half Marathon. I had heard good things about this race. First of all it’s small. And it’s flat. So, in my head I decided I wanted to go hard and see what happened.

What happened is that I caught a cold on Monday and I have felt like crap ever since. If only this is the worst thing I was going to talk about today. :) Because of the cold, I really didn’t prepare for the race really well. I didn’t hydrate AT ALL. I ran a hilly 6 miles the day before the race. And I was taking lots and lots of dehydrating decongestants. Again, if only this was going to be the worst part.

The smallest marathon I’ve ever done was the Towpath Marathon in Cleveland, but the Athens Half Marathon and Marathon might have that one beat. This sucker was small! So small, in fact, that there were real bathrooms before the race. You could walk up and register the morning of the race. There were no timing chips, for crying out loud. It was small. With five minutes until the race, I walked to the starting line and waiting. The canon went off (holy cow was that scary) and I found my pace quickly. I like to take the first mile or so slowly and then build my speed. And I did. The first mile was 8:31. But then I was feeling good; I was passing people like they were standing still. My second mile was 7:35. Third mile 7:44. It was then that something started going wrong.

A friend had recommended a vitamin to me called Acidophilus that is supposed to be the good germs that your body needs. It’s supposed to be good for your digestive system. What they should have put on the label is that this vitamin is going to totally mess up your insides. Let’s just say I’ve been a pooping machine since I started taking this vitamin and that is a category I already had first place in, thank you very much. So at mile three my stomach revolted. I passed a port-o-john at mile three and wished I had stopped. Mile 4 was a 7:38. Dude, you can only prairie dog it for so long. At mile 5 I had to stop. I have been racing for 7 years now and this was the first pit stop I was going to have to make during a race. Even with the stop, mile 5 was an 8:57.

Then I got stupid. I felt like I had to make up the time I had lost.
Mile 6—7:33.
Mile 7—7:45
Mile 8—7:51
Mile 9—7:57
The wheels are falling off now. And I’m starting to wonder why I’m doing this stupid race.
Mile 10—8:15
Mile 11—8:25
Mile 12—8:22
I’m so parched I can’t even lick my lips.

Finally we reach the track where you have to do 1-1/2 laps until the finish. I see Dave there taking pictures.
Mile 13—8:07.
I sprint with all the might I have toward the finish line. My time is 1:45:XX (final results yet to come out). I was so disappointed. I was on pace to break my PR (which I may never break another PR again) and failed. In my head, I ran a stupid race, but on paper with all I went through during that race, I still did pretty well. I crossed the line, they yelled out my age group and lo and behold, I had won. Seriously? What a rotten time to be winning an age group. But, I’ll take what I can get. Plus, this is my last race in this age group and I think my first win in this age group.

Did I get a shiny medal or cool plaque? No, my prize was a mug. I don’t even drink coffee! And, it wasn’t like it was green and white, Ohio University’s colors. It was purple. PURPLE!

Needless to say, I am not going to take the acidophilus anymore. And even with the troubles that I went through during this race, a first place finish certainly wipes away the stomach pains.

Pictures to come later today. I need to download them at home.

Damn Skybus!

*Shakes her fist!!!*

Last night my parents called around 9:45. They were leaving today on a vacation to Florida. But, the airline they were traveling, Skybus, folded last night at 9:30pm and all flights starting today had been canceled.

Why is this an issue for us? We were flying Skybus to Boston for the marathon. Now we have to pay TWICE as much to get to Boston. Luckily we were able to find a flight. My parents toiled all night whether to drive or fly down to Florida and finally in the middle of the night got a flight today costing nearly $800 when they had purchased two tickets on Skybus for a price of $10 per person one way. I had another friend that canceled his vacation to San Francisco next week altogether.

Skybus was unique in the airline industry in the US. They modeled themselves after Europe's RyanAir where 10 flight on every flight was $10. Skybus flew to smaller airports but airports that were positioned close to major cities. They were a no perks airline where you had to pay to check your bags, pay for drinks and snacks, and pay for priority seating. But it was an airline that brought a lot of money to Columbus and it's airport. They blame the cost of fuel and the weak economy for the demise, but personally, I hope they can figure out a way to rework their business model and go back into business. It was really revolutionary and I'm sad to see it fail.

None the less, we're getting to Boston.

April Showers....

...bring running in the rain. And since Dave and I both had an interval run and there is only one treadmill, running in the rain it was.

We ran two miles together and then started our intervals. Dave's workout called for 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off and my workout was 5 X 600 at 5K pace with a 400 jog in between. A 5K pace for me is right around a 7:00 mile, which would equate to a 2:37 600. I absolutely suck at pacing these intervals. My intervals were this:
2:24
2:29
2:31
2:31
2:34
By the time I finished I realized that I hadn't done enough warm-up to equate to 8 miles total (including my cool-down) so I had to do an extra long cool-down. My cool-down was WAY faster than my warm-up as it had started to rain heavily and being that I already have a head cold, I just wanted to get finished. Overall, it was a great workout and I am psyched for my half marathon this weekend and Boston in 2 weeks.

And did y'all see my beloved Buckeyes rip it up in the NIT final? Yeah, it was awesome!

Thursday Thoughts

Even though I'm two weeks away from the marathon and only two weeks away from really digging in deep to the triathlon season, I'm finding it increasingly hard to stay motivated. I have found that after 9 marathons the fire isn't there to train properly or maybe even care. And even though I don't have a whole lot of experience in triathlon and I'm really looking forward to the coming two years of triathlon, I can't quite get my butt in the saddle or my goggles strapped on to get my training going.

Maybe it's because it may be winter here FOREVER!

Any way, I'm not very motivated. So, what keeps you motivated? What helps you stay motivated?

This Sucks

I checked the website today and it appears I did not get into the Nike Women's Marathon in October. I really had my hopes up for this one and I have to admit that I'm deeply disappointed.

Here's the thing that gets me...I had a 66% chance of getting in and I didn't. And looking at the results from last year, I would have placed in the top ten of my age group, which means I'm faster than like 85% of the women who are going to run this race. Shouldn't you be able to send them your running results and they should be able to select you based on your performances?

Now I'm without a fall marathon. Any ideas? Any suggestions? No offense to my friends, but I really wanted to run a different marathon than them this fall. I wanted to experience a race on my own. Or maybe I'll forgo the fall marathon all together and dig deep into the pockets and go see the Ironman Hawaii.

I'm really blue. :(

I wrote this post right after I found out and I was disappointed to say the least. Usually I thoroughly think out what I'm going to write so that I offend the least amount of people. I did not intend for this post to come across as "I am fast and therefore, should have gotten into the marathon." Frankly, I'm not even that fast. I hope I did not offend all of you out there. Everyone should have the chance to run a marathon no matter what their finish time is going to be. Finishing the race is reward enough.

Be Smart. Be Safe.

At 8:00am on Saturday, Dad and I were the only ones at the group run. Slowly others started to trickle in. I should have taken this as a sign of the odd things to come. In total there were six of us split into two groups: Andy, Dante, Brian and Doug, Dad, me. Less than two miles into the run, we came upon the first group. We saw Andy and Dante, but it appeared the third was on the ground. As we approached we saw it wasn't Brian.

The first group had found a female runner face down on the side of the trail. She was breathing and her heart was beating, but she was unconscious. Brian ran up to the houses to call 911. I went through my CPR and first aid checklist. She breathed heavy and you could see her heart beating in her neck. We took off our jackets and put them over her. She moaned a lot and her eyes were open but completely glassed over. We asked her some commands and she didn't follow any of them. Finally, the parametics arrived and awakened her and she had no idea what had happened or anything. She looked completely frightened.

Here's the moral of the story. She was not carrying any ID. I checked her pockets and I checked her shoes. Nothing. She had been running by herself. Please, if you have to go running by yourself, carry ID. I got Road IDs for myself and my family last year and now I know why it is so important. Please, be smart and safe out there.

Jinx

My first Boston should have been in 2004. Instead, I got a stress fracture in my foot and had to sit out. I ran Boston in 2005 and 2006, but despite training and going to the race last year I decided to skip the race due to the weather conditions. I ran the Flying Pig Marathon a few weeks later to make up for it. This year I'm determined to run Boston, but I'm starting to feel like it's a jinxed race for me.

I have had the weirdest sensation in my foot, and I'm starting to get a little worried it may be a stress fracture developing. I have no pain in my foot, but I do have this weird numbness and pins and needles thing going on. It's like there is a shaft inside my foot that sometimes it contracts and sometimes it releases. I'm hesitant to talk to the doctor about it because I HAVE TO run Boston this year.

There is only a few weeks left of training. I am going to eliminate the speedwork and add in more cross training. This is my 10th marathon and I don't have another one planned so it's important to be able to get to the finish line AND the start line.

Bonus: If you want to know the outcome of my National Anthem audition check it out here.

It Was Electric

I was trying to put into words what it was like to be at the Ohio State game last night, but this commentary pretty much sums it up.

March Madness

It’s about four weeks until the marathon. This is my least favorite time of training. Not only are the miles high, but the soreness is at a premium. To say this week’s training has gone badly is an understatement. It’s Friday and I’ve run a whopping 7.35 miles. Total. My calves are so tight they feel like rubber balls. And I’m not talking about Nerf balls, I’m talking about dodge ball balls that should be soft but really aren’t.

But I have been doing some cross training this week so it’s not a total loss. Wednesday I swam 2500 yards: 4 X 200 warm-up, 1500 main, and 4 X 50 cool-down. Yesterday I got on my bike and spun for 45 minutes.

This weekend I have a 20 miler on tap. And I HAVE TO do it. The finish line is in sight, but I need to pull it together and concentrate for the next two weeks.

Thursday Things I Shouldn't Admit

This really isn't something I shouldn't admit, but has been a little embaressing this week.

When I was let go by the shoe company I worked for years ago, I continued to have my discount for several months. The last month the discount was available Dave and I bought 8 pairs of shoes between us. One of them each being a pair of running shoes to use as sneaker.

Side note: here in Ohio no one says sneakers. We use the word tennis shoes to imply sneakers.

Being that it's been 2-1/2 years since I departed the company, our shoes were starting to break down. Dave's had developed holes on the top and both of them had absolutely no tread left. So, this weekend we bought new sneakers to replace the old ones. I <3 my new shoes and I have worn them every day this week (I also <3 having a job where I can wear jeans and tennis shoes). But, now that they have tread on them, I have tripped all up and down the hallway at work. I tripped two times going from the front door to my desk just this morning.

Until I hit the deck, though, I just kinda shrug, smile, and say "new shoes!"



Another side note: Treaster, send me an e-mail, please. I need your e-mail address.

Live Life

The husband and I are not your typical Mr. and Mrs. We started dating around the time that most of our friends got married. We noticed that when our friends were dating they would becoming a couple and only do couple things with their couple friends. Dave and I had been friends before we started dating so when we said, yes we're going to be a couple, we made a decision together to not cut out our friends just because we are now a couple. And we've kept to this promise. Eight and a half years later we still hang out with our single friends, as a couple. We still hang out with our friends with kids, as a couple. We still work really hard to be good friends with people even if we're not at the same point in our lives as others.

Dave and I choose to live life. We always have and always will. We don't like to follow rules or adapt to societal norms. That's just not us. And we do things because we should without really thinking about it.

Last year Dave and I took our epic trip to Italy for two weeks. People said to get it out of our systems because we wouldn't be able to travel like that once we have kids. We crinkled our noses and said, why? Why would we not want to teach our child the love of travel and allow them to see the world? If we ever do decide to have a child, we would not put our plans on hold, our plan would include him/her. And travel would definitely be in the plans.

Next year we're going back to Europe. Since Jeff let the cat out of the bag in one of his comments, we're going big with Ironman. Why drive four hours down the road to Louisville for the biggest event in our lives? We're flying half way around the world to do this epic adventure in Austria. Yep, we're doing Austria.

2008 and 2009 are all going to be about going big. You all know the life list, right? Things are getting checked off the list fast. This weekend, I'm hoping to accomplish another on the list. I have been accepted to audition to sing the National Anthem at a Clipper's game this season. The Clipper's are our Washington Nationals AAA farm team. Sure it's not Idol, but it's on the list. Then it's on to my 10th marathon and my first tattoo in April.

There are little things too that may not on the list that we just do because why miss out on the opportunities? Our beloved Buckeyes didn't make the NCAAs this year, but they are a #1 seed in the NIT tournament. Last night they hosted UNC-Ashville (with 7'7" Kenny George). Dave and I went and sat courtside. On the floor! Go big! Live life! On my birthday (April 16th) we're going to see Michael Buble in concert. Why? Because I'm a fan and he's coming to town. Do I know the price of the tickets? Nope, but that doesn't matter to me either. Finally, we're planning with a friend this summer to tour a few states on a weekend and see as many major league baseball games as we can.

Dave and I live life. We grab it by the horns and hold on tight. We love the adventure.

Are you living life?

I need a bigger rack!

No, not that kind of rack!

I'm talking about a clothing rack where you put your clothes to dry. As my marathon and triathlon training is ramping up, and Dave is also putting in two-a-days, we have huge loads of workout clothes that completely fill our drying rack without being able to put anything else on it. I either can't do all the laundry in one day or I need to get another drying rack.

I live right next to Meijer. I think I'll be getting another drying rack. :)

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

A good friend of mine just finished reading “The Catcher in the Rye.” Although he didn’t like it, I loved it. But, the last time I read it I was a senior in high school, going through a very rough patch, and really identified with the main character, Holden Caulfield. High school was a nightmare to me, as I’m sure it is for a majority of the population. I went to a really small rural school where I graduated with 51 other people most of whom I had gone to school with since kindergarten. By the time we were seniors, we hated each other and gossip was the main form of communication. Being that I was a little socially awkward to begin with, most days were just hell.

I went to Ohio State for a couple of reason, but mostly because it was the largest school in the nation. Not only were there endless possibilities, it meant there were possibilities to find new friends. Or I should say, friends at all. I dove in head first at OSU making the crew team, being in honors engineering, getting involved at church, joining a sorority. And I made great friends. Life long friends. I’m still really good friends with the first person I met at college. She still lives in Columbus and we keep in touch occasionally. I have friends who has met, married, and had children with other friends. We still hang out. We still talk on the phone. These were the kind of friends I always longed for.

At my previous company I made these types of friends. The days they weren’t at work were painful. When I got offered a new job, I thought long and hard about leaving and truthfully it was because of them. I hated my job there, but I loved my friends and I thought the sacrifice might be worth it. In the end, though, I chose the new job. Leaving was hard. Many tears were shed on the way home on my last day. Since then I have spoken to them every day either through e-mail or phone calls. We’re having dinner together in a few weeks and we’re planning to get together throughout the summer. I have had a really tough time adjusting to the new job. I like the work better, but I have only made one friend here and that’s only because I basically said, “do you want to be my friend?” I am so happy to have made my friends at my previous job and although I miss them painfully every day, I know they are a few clicks or one dial away. They will always be my friends.

Since I graduated college, I have coached high school track. I looked forward to it every spring. Last year some things changed so I decided not to come back this year. Practice started on Tuesday without me. I met Andrea yesterday at the school for our Wednesday midweek long run. I got to the school early and checked out track practice. There were lots of “Hey Coach Gordon’s” and lots of hugs. I miss the kids, but I feel empty without being around the other coaches. Those other coaches over the years have become my friends. They made standing in the snow for 8 hours bearable. I always wanted to stay after practice and hang out with them even though I had 12 miles to run. I would smile every time I got an e-mail from any of them or they called me and said hello with a “Hey baby!” Yesterday the head coach let me know that my contract has not been taken by anybody else and if I wanted to come back I could. He said I could coach anything I wanted. And….I’ve paused. Truthfully, I can’t go back. I left for very specific reasons and those reasons haven’t changed. But I also feel that coaching is like gravity and I just can’t seem to get out of the force field. There is no doubt that I’m going to be around, a lot, but I’m not sure I can dedicate the time to it that I need. For now, I’ll continue pausing.

In six weeks I turn 30. This is a milestone I have been looking forward to and dreading for years. After tumultuous teenage years, my 20s rocked. I have done the coolest things and experienced things I never dreamed I would do. And I couldn’t have done it without my friends.

So for my friends out there who read my blog, this is your virtual hug. Thank you for being my friends.

Reality Check

Yesterday afternoon my nephew called me.

“Aunt Meredith, do you want to go swimming with us?”

From there it became a 5 minute long conversation of, “when?” “Swimming!” “J, when?” “Swimming!” “No, J, when?” “Swimming!!” “J, put your mother on the phone.”

The kids wanted me to join them at the Y, where Amy and I would work out first and then join the whole family for swimming. I thought, well I can get in my nice easy run while Amy is walking beside me on the treadmill, then I’ll play with the kids for a while, and finish with my 2000 yard swim I had scheduled. After 27 years of having a sister, I should know there is no planning with Amy.

As I meet her at the Y she says to me, “do you want to take a cycling class with me?” Oh crap! I wasn’t prepared for a cycling class. Not only I had done an 11 mile threshold run on Monday, I only had a pair of running shorts with me. The class was small and not all that intimidating (you know what I’m talking about). The teacher was intense, though. She would say things like, “turn your dial to the right two times.” TWO TIMES! By the end of the class I thought I was going to throw up and had to spend the last 15 minutes just pedaling it out in the seated position.

You know, I have these grand plans: do a half Ironman this summer, do the full Ironman next summer, but I guess I didn’t fully think out what the heck I was getting into when I decided to make these plans. Truly, I haven’t been on a bike in three years. That includes not even taking a spinning class. And, oh yeah, I don’t particularly like to ride a bike. If I can’t handle a one hour spinning class, how in the world am I supposed to ride my bike for 7-8 hours and then run a marathon?

Today, I’m a little bit more nervous about all this than I was yesterday.

VIP Photo Booths

If you don't read my other blog, which there aren't many people who read it (yeah, I keep stats), then you wouldn't know of our really cool new business.

Introducing, VIP Photo Booths. We designed and built our very own photo booth available for rental at events like parties, wedding receptions, bar/bat-mitzvahs, etc. There has been so much fun inside the booth. If you're planning a great event, don't forget to include VIP Photo Booths.

I'm Meredith Gordon, and I approve of this message. :)

What it snows, it pours?

Dear Mother Nature--

This weekend, we got snow. A lot of snow. So much, we made the national news. Yep, we got over 20 inches of snow in two days. Saturday we were stuck in the house. It was the longest day ever. Sunday we managed to dig half our driveway out, move our car, and go sledding. My mom was there taking pictures. Hopefully I can post some soon.

Needless to say, I didn't run. Who cares? Nobody was running. Unless it gets warmer this week, there's not going to be a whole lot of running outside at all. There is snow everywhere.

Desperately hoping for spring...

Sincerely,

Meredith

Kids Say the Funniest Things

I have one niece and two nephews. My youngest nephew is less than a year old so he's not saying anything yet, but the other two say some of the greatest things. My five year old nephew offers some of the best things I have ever heard. I could write a whole book with quotes from him.



Two years ago he used to always say to Dave, "Hey, I didn't know you were coming," as if seeing Dave was a strange occurence. Although this doesn't seem funny to the outside world, J has a way of saying it so it is funny. He's also very good at the computer and used to talk to the mouse pointers saying, "Hey, get back here."



These are just the beginning. In the last several weeks he's been on a roll. It started on his fifth birthday when we bought him "Star Wars." We put it in the DVD player kinda late and he immediately fell asleep. An hour later Dave offered to take him upstairs and put him in bed. He woke up halfway up the stairs and just said, "Pause it." He he he!



Last week I was at my parents house and I was letting them know that Dave bought a suit. J piped in, "Was it a supersuit or a swimsuit?" By the way, a supersuit is scuba diving gear.



Finally Mom told us J's latest famous words. He was at the doctor for his 5-year check up and before the doctor even said hello to him he said, "There's no blood in this eye because it all went to this eye. I saw it in the mirror." Where did he come up with that?



I never plan on having more than 1, maybe 2 children, but I am so glad my sister has a middle child. He is the best form of entertainment.

Thursday Thoughts

It's been a while since the Thursday Thoughts so I thought I would post one. I've been having A LOT of new visitors to the site (thank you--I love it!), so it is time for a little participation. I ask a question, you answer it. Simple as that.

Winter seems to be dragging on FOREVER in these here parts. I cannot wait for spring to get here.

So, what's your plans as soon as winter is over?

I Need Your Help!

Alright smarty-pants, I need your help.

Although we haven't signed up for the Ironman yet, the step of purchasing our bikes pretty much seals the deal. There's no way I am spending that much money on a bike without making it useful. Now for the next step.

I had applied this year to be part of Team Polar, but the team fell through and therefore I didn't get any really cool Polar gear. I currently train with a heart rate monitor from Timex. Don't tell Timex, but I think it's a piece of crap. I've had it for maybe two or three years and it has seen better days. The rubber on the outside is peeling off, combined with having to replace the battery several times, has made the watch unusable in the water.

Here's where I need your help. I'm in the market for a new heart rate monitor, but I'm looking for real gadgetry. In addition to heart rate monitoring, I also would be interested in GPS. I have a love/hate relationship with the GPS, but I'm starting to warm up to it. This heart rate monitor has to be useable for my swims. Also, because I'll be spending SOOO much time on my bike, I'm looking to have it integrate with a bike computer. Currently I own no bike computer either.

I should also mention I'm the owner of a Mac so it should probably be compatible with that too.

Any suggestions that would do all that stuff?

Back to the Basement

I really do love running in the winter. Makes me feel fresh. Makes me feel alive. I love that I’m the only person out there. I love the sound of your feet hitting the snow. I love the silence of running while it’s snowing.

It’s been said that if you don’t like the weather in Columbus to just wait a day because it will change. Not this winter. It has literally snowed every Tuesday in February. Then it kept snowing until Saturday of each week when it warms up enough to fool you, yet won’t melt the snow. Then Tuesday it starts all over again. The schools have been cancelled so much here that some of them will be going extra days in the summer.

With my lack of motivation this winter, I have found it difficult to get out in the cold and snow and run outside. Instead I have been spending my evenings in the basement on the treadmill. Or shall I say, the dreadmill. Yesterday I had had enough of the basement and told Andrea we’d be doing our 12 miler outside come hell or high water.

I should have stayed in the basement.

We started out and it was cold. Super cold. The wind was in our face and it was snowing. The area we run in has nice sidewalks and walking trails, but you couldn’t find them as it was all covered in snow. I had no idea if I was on the sidewalk or the grass until I caught the edge and rolled my ankle—4 TIMES! The snow was so deep in parts that it was up to our mid-calves. What parts weren’t under snow were pure ice. To say it was a tough run was an understatement. When we reached a turnaround point we both proclaimed we weren’t having very much fun and decided to call it quits when we reached our cars at the 6 mile point. By the end of the evening my ankle, my foot, my hip, and my back were so sore I had a hard time sleeping.

So, back to the basement today.

Mid-Lent Check Up

I think this is about the halfway point of lent. It’s time for a check up.

In our last episode it was revealed that Meredith would be giving up TV for lent. Duh, duh, duh! For those who know me, you know that is a HUGE feat. I watch TV like it is my lifeline. The first couple of days, and probably the whole first week, I definitely was going through withdrawal. I had the shakes; I would sweat; I became violent. No not really, although the violent part was more like really grumpy. Then it became “normal” and I started to get a lot of things accomplished and stopped thinking about all the TV I was missing.

I haven’t been 100% off of TV, though. When I’m over at my parents’ house I usually watch. It is on 100% of the time at their house—how do you think I became addicted to TV? Dave and I will turn on the TV to watch OSU basketball games. And we will turn on the TV if we have finished everything we need to accomplish and 8:00pm is too early to go to bed. But, we have only been turning it on to watch something specific and will turn it off as soon as that show is over.

So, for my midpoint check-up, I’d say I’m doing okay. I’ve found that I can live without TV. I’ve found that I also really enjoy the silence. I’ve gotten a TON done. And I’ve been reading enough to keep the library system alive all by myself. The no TV project will not last forever, but I think I can tone it down once Lent is over.

Word of the Day

What's the best way to describe how my training is going?

HORRIBLY!

I am doing a horrible job at following my training plan. I have yet to run 30 miles in a week and last week I was supposed to do 46. By taking those two months off after the fall marathon I got a taste of "the good life" and now I have no motivation to run.

But the word of the day is rededicate. Starting this week I rededicate to my diet, my core exercises, and my miles--all my miles. The weather is supposed to be bad again this week.(Seriously, I thought there was global warming. What's with all the snow and ice?) But I've got to dedicate to doing my miles even if that means hours on a treadmill.

Rededicate.

Am I Too Old...

...to Facebook? Because I totally just joined up. I thought it would be a good way it help promote my photography business and to network. Do you Facebook? Do you want to be my (real) friend on Facebook?

Uh oh!

Oh yes I did! And here she is...



And let's not forget Dave's new beauty...

Thursday Things I Shouldn't Admit (on a Friday)

Okay, this really isn't anything I wouldn't normally admit, but it was pretty funny when it happened and normally would cause me quite a bit of embaressment.

I started a new job a few weeks ago, and I have yet to make any friends. :( I eat lunch all by myself. This isn't so bad because I've been bring a book to lunch with me, and I get a lot of reading done during that time. Yesterday I didn't have any food to pack at home so I purchased my lunch in the cafeteria. That would mean, the only thing I was carrying back from the cafeteria was my book. Well, the bathroom is on my way back from lunch, so I stopped in before I headed to my desk. It wasn't until I was walking out with book inhand that I realized what it must have looked like carrying a book out of the bathroom. I swear, I was only going number #1!!!

I Hate Decisions

Three years ago I felt it in the pit of my stomach. And when my friends nudged me a little, it was a no brainer. I signed up and trained for a half Ironman.

Since that time, I have not gotten on my bike. Not once. No desire, whatsoever.

There's something different this year, though. My stomach feels it again and there's somebody now inside my head saying it's time.

I HAVE to do an Ironman.

Committing to this Ironman, though, is like committing to have a child. And y'all know my fears of having a child. An Ironman takes a full 9 months to train for and you need to sign up a year in advance. The costs are astronomical. My goal would be to do Ironman Florida in 2009, which pushes back my timetable of logically having a child until at least 2010. I'll be 32 in 2010. Is a life goal more important than a life? Is this fair to Dave?

I recently got rid of my bike I hated so much. And this weekend I am going to potentially buy a new bike. If I drop a huge wad of dough on a bike, I'm committed.

I HATE MAKING DECISIONS.

Last Chance for Boston Marathon Relay

We awoke yesterday morning to rain and howling wind. Not exactly ideal conditions for a marathon relay around a one mile loop. After calling and talking to my dad we decided to go for it. Dave and I met Dad at the race site and he was NOT happy about the weather. And you know what's funny....Dad was the only person of our relay who got rained on.

This race is very unique as it's a one mile loop that you can do as a 5K, 10K, half marathon, full marathon, or as a relay. A lot of people use it as a warm up for events in the spring as you can drop out at any mile marker you want to. I ran into my friend Helen at the start and asked her how far she was going and she said until she felt like being done. She ran the whole thing.

We had planned for Dad to run the first 7.2 miles, Dave the next 3 miles, and I would run the remaining 16. Dad did his legs fairly quickly as did Dave. I started off much faster than I anticipated and started cranking off 8:05s for the majority of the miles. By my 11th mile I was feeling pretty tired so Dave took over for 2 miles and then I ran the last three. We came in at 3:35:06 for 11/19 relay teams and 2nd for 3-person teams. The thing that gets me is that my PR for the marathon is 3:35:05 and we didn't even beat that. Next time, Gadget, next time!

There was a photographer at the race and hopefully I'll be able to find some pictures soon to post. I took my camera but because of the rain, I left it in the car.

Neurotic, Psychotic....

....or just plain tired.

Before we went to bed last night we vacuumed all the smoke detectors in the house. But at 1:12am (yeah, I checked the exact time) all the detectors went off. Without hesitation, and thank goodness it wasn't a real fire, we grabbed the vacuum and headed upstairs to the one smoke detector that is giving us trouble. Five seconds later it had stopped. Dave made it stop for good, though. He took the sucker right off the ceiling.

I don't do well with interrupted sleep. Did I mention I don't have kids?

My Ears Are Ringing

It happened agained!

At 3:15 this morning all the smoke detectors in our house went off. We felt the doors, smelled around, checked the basement, the attic, outside, and found no trace of a fire. We tried turning off the smoke detectors individually like last time, but they wouldn't shut off. We called the security alarm people and they told us how to disconnect the alarm, which didn't shut off the smoke detectors either. We called the fire department who were no help. We called the alarm people again and they told us to take a vacuum to our smoke detectors and finally they shut off. The time was now 4:15 and the alarms had been going off for an hour.

At 5:15 the smoke detectors went off again. This time Dave marched straight upstairs to the vacuum and they stopped immediately. Around 5:30 I finally fell back asleep until 5:53 when I woke myself up. Needless to say, it's been a long morning.

Here's the part that pi$$es me off. The alarm company said the smoke detectors are not their responsibility. I understand that because we don't have our house monitored, but if we did have the house monitored as soon as those alarms would go off, they would have dispatched the fire department and everything would have been taken care of. So, if the smoke detectors are not the alarm company's who's are they? Who can I call? If I call the home builder, they'll just say they're not under warranty. From this I've learned one very important lesson...my next house will not have hard-wired smoke detectors.

Ruined My Birthday :(

I got an XM radio in December and ever since then I stopped listening to local radio. Combined with turning off my TV for six weeks, I have no idea what's going on in and around Columbus. This morning I drove the other car to work and heard on the local radio station that Michael Buble was coming to town. I LOVE Michael Buble! The station said they were giving away front row tickets on Thursday for the concert, so I kinda assumed the concert was Thursday too. I called the husband and asked him to purchase tickets, that I HAD to go. By the time I reached work I didn't have any messages or e-mails from him. I was sad. So I looked up the concert myself and saw that it was on April 16th. My 30th birthday! I called him again and asked him to purchase the tickets. He told me not to purchase them myself. A few minutes later I got an online greeting card from my mom. It was a birthday card. Weird, since my birthday isn't for another two months. Turns out, my parents had already purchased me tickets for my birthday, and I ruined the surprise. Either way, it is a great birthday present, and I can't wait to spend my birthday with Michael.

New Shoes

10 weeks to go and 350 miles to put on these new puppies. Which, by the way, I got two pairs for $100. (footlocker.com) Can't beat that!

Big Thank You!

Thanks, you guys! I hit a new high for unique visitors to this blog yesterday. 97!!!!

I'm sure it had something to do with the fact that Team StayPut sent out an e-mail blast yesterday and I am the current featured athlete on it. I hope you all continue to come back and visit this site as it's b!tchin! Or at least, I think so. :)

And while you're surfing the internet, feel free to hop on over to my photography blog and website.

It's Official

I registered for the Boston Marathon this morning.

Thursday Things I Shouldn't Admit

I might have talked about this one before on the blog, because I know I've told some people.

To this day, I still believe I'm going to hell for this one.

Despite what y'all might think, I have always been compassionate. I just have a tough exterior, like an M&M. :) Back in third grade I wanted to do something nice so I took a small box and started collecting money from my friends at school to be given to the local children's hospital. When I brought the money home that night, my mom wasn't happy with the decision I had made and made me return the money. The problem was, I didn't know who gave me the money. So the next day at school I gave all the money to a friend and told her to keep it. I don't know what she did with the money, but to this day I still feel bad about that decision.

Time Is On My Side

Today is Fat Tuesday, which means tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Although I'm not Catholic, I have always appreciated the Lenten season and have always tried to give up something, and usually something really difficult. In the past it's been chocolate and soda and eating out. So far, they've been difficult but doable.

I might have met my match. This year I have decided to give up TV. Yep, my sacred, glowing box. I don't know what I'm going to do with my time. Work on sewing, maybe. Or read more books.

And this isn't going to be easy to do even since there is a writer's strike. I have replaced my regular shows with other shows like Mythbusters and Intervention and anything on HGTV.

Am I crazy? Is this going to be too hard? What would you do with all this extra time?

January Statistics

January was the month I started back to running after a long break after the Columbus Marathon. It's been a rough go-about with a lot of life thrown in, but I did get some miles in.

Running-71.5 Miles

And I think I went to yoga 5 times in January also.

Thursday Things I Shouldn't Admit

Near my parents' home (and kinda near my home) there is a reservoir that's the water source for all of Columbus. It's a man-made reservoir and it's pretty big. There are several parks that surround the reservoir and then there are also some places to "park."

When I was in high school I was friends with many guys. And they were pretty typical guys...doing bad things, getting in trouble, causing trouble. I'm not quite sure why my mom let me hang out with them. One of them drove a jeep and on his jeep was a police flood light and he even had an intercom like a police car. I would often ride along in the jeep, go down to the dam, and we would use the flood light and intercom to totally bust people for getting it on in the back of their cars.

One of the cars we pulled up to one time had all the windows steamed up and looked like a great one to bust. So we did our thing. Lo and behold the couple gets out of there and it was a girl we went to school with. Even worse, I was on the tennis team with her. After that embaressing encounter, I didn't go "hunting" again.

I Had a Dream

Before I went back to school in the fall, I had a dream where I couldn't remember what classes I was taking and where the classes were located. I also had a dream where I was going to my final exam and realized I had never attended class that quarter.

Yesterday I started a new job and wouldn't you know, on Sunday night I had a dream where I couldn't remember what classes I was taking and where the classes were located. People kept telling me what my schedule was and I kept forgetting each time I stepped on the bus.

I might have issues.

It's All About the Benjamins

Today marks 12 weeks until the Boston Marathon. I have a hard time staying motivated in my training so I usually reward myself by purchasing something each month I complete all my miles. In the two years since I started following a stricter training plan, I have only rewarded myself once. It's a variety of excuses: life gets in the way, I get sick, the miles are too much for this body to handle.

This year I'm changing it up a bit. I am going to reward myself for each run completed. Each week is worth $10, and since I only run five days a week, that breaks down to $2 per run. So, for each run I complete in my training, I get to $2 towards something for myself.

Dave doesn't like this idea. He thinks it is giving me permission to skip runs. I get that, however, I have a hard time when it comes to the end of the week and I've already done, like, 40 miles and I have another 10 miler to go and I just can't handle it. Therefore, I don't have to throw away the good runs I have already done that week.

I've started off today well. I got up early and completed 4 of 6 miles on the treadmill before Dave even crawled out of bed. After work today (today is my first day at the new job), I will complete the other two miles and reward myself $2. :)

Happy running, friends!

Thursday Things I Shouldn't Admit

Week 2 of Thursday Things I Shouldn't Admit....

In college, I would often stay in on Friday nights and watch Boy Meets World. As if that isn't bad enough, the show series finaled while I was in college and I stayed home to watch it. And...I cried. Like a baby!

Yogi Bear

Back when I was a gymnast, I was really flexible. Shoot, I could wrap myself into a human pretzel. Ever since I started running, though, my hamstrings and other tendons have just gotten shorter and shorter. Now a days, I can barely sit cross-legged without a little bit of pain. I know improving my flexibility will help my running, so I've decided to do something about it this year. I've decided to give yoga a chance.

Two years ago when I was unemployed I went to yoga twice a week. At the gym I belong to, it's called Fitness Yoga. What I like about Fitness Yoga is that you don't hold the poses and fluidly go through a dancy/stretchy routine. Now I'm taking Fitness Yoga with a different instructor and she is into tranditional yoga.

And let me tell you, I SUCK AT IT!

Maybe it's because I run four miles before I hit the mat and I'm a little bit worn out. Maybe because I have the concentration of a two year old. Maybe it's because I am severly out of shape right now. But all excuses aside, I am going to keep on trying.

I've Been Tagged!

Yeah, I was tagged last July and now's the first time I'm seeing it. Jeesh!

Here are the rules…. each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment. Or I'll just let people decide if they want to play the game. Gosh, I love lists!

1. I cut my fingernails every week. Yeah, I'm not much of a girly girl. I can't stand my fingernails being long. It physically hurts my fingers. I also can't stand the tap-tap-tap on a keyboard of people with long fingernails. Funny enough, I believe my sister gets her fingernails done. We couldn't be more opposite.

2. I have watched every episode of ER since it came on the air 14 years ago. And I don't mean on DVD. I schedule my life to watch it every Thursday. I scheduled my life in college to be able to watch it. In fact, my mom and I used to call each other every Thursday and discuss what happened on ER.

3. I hate to do dishes. But I love to do laundry. It works out well. Dave and I have an unspoken agreement that I will do his laundry if he does the dishes.

4. Dave and I have season tickets to Ohio State's women's basketball. Don't knock women's basketball until you try it.

5. I purchase and wear children's clothing. It fits and it's cheaper.

6. I absolutely dread going out running. There is never a day where I say, "I can't wait to go running today." That being said, I rarely have a bad run. I enjoy running once I'm doing it. It's just hard for me to find the motivation to go out in the freezing cold or scorching hot (which there is no inbetween in Columbus).

7. I have yet to set my 2008 goals and resolutions. I love resolutions and goals and yet I'm really struggling with what 2008 will hold. Hopefully I'll get to that this weekend.

Thursday Things I Shouldn't Admit

For a couple of years now I've been doing Thursday Thoughts, where every Thursday I ask a question or questions to be answered by you the readers in the comments. It's fun and interactive. This year I'm going to switch it up a bit. This year it shall be named "Thursday Things I Shouldn't Admit." I really don't need to explain this.

A lot of people who read this blog know me personally and know I have super straight hair. But, it was 1989, and like, everyone had a perm right?

But seriously, look at those leg muscles. I was 11!!

Write this Down!

Yesterday, January 7th, 2008, I ran outside in shorts and a T-shirt and I was sweating after only two miles. Global warming?!

And...this is my 400th post today. Let's throw a party!

Note To Self

Self? Next time you decide you want to take two months off with absolutely no running or working out of any kind, laugh it off and get your butt to the gym!

2008

It’s here.

I have typed and typed words here and backspaced all of them. I do not know what to say about 2008.

I took a much needed break for the holidays. This break I needed to clear my head and define clear cut goals for myself for 2008. Most of the break I spent screaming about how miserable I am with my job and how I was not going to return to work. Today started with many choice four-letter words as I headed out. It was supposed to be a good day as I had an offer in-hand from another company and was ready to put in my notice. As it turned out, though, my manager never came to work, my friends tried to talk me out of it, and even after discussing it with my manager’s superior I was more confused than when I started.

This would be so much easier if….
I won’t have to do this any longer when….
I’m only committing a year….

I want to run more. I want to set a new personal best in the marathon. I want to take more pictures, attract more clients, and go full-time with my photography business. I want to get a tattoo. I want to throw a big party for my 30th birthday. I want to be a better friend. I want to pray more. I want to watch TV less. I want to spend less money. I want 2008 to totally rock!

I love resolutions. I love goals. I love lists. But today….I’m just trying to make it through today.