Pseudo Hills

The motto of the Columbus Marathon is "Fast, Flat, and Fun." The Columbus Marathon is one of the best places to qualify for the Boston Marathon because the course is really flat and because there are only a few thousand people in the marathon. Living and running in Columbus is great because there are no hills, but when you need to do a hilly running workout you need to improvise.

Yesterday was my hill workout. I went to the high school and ran 4 laps around the track, twice through the stadium steps, 4 laps around the track, twice through the stadium steps, and then 4 more laps around the track. I usually do this workout with my dad, but he's on vacation so I had to do it by myself. It was much harder by myself. I also started doing some ab exercise so maybe I can try to get rid of that flab I'm not happy with. My tummy is pretty sore today.

Tomorrow I am doing a ten mile race in my hometown. I'm scheduled to do 16 miles, though, so I'm going to run 3 miles before the race and 3 miles afterward. I'm not going to race it (he he--I say that about every race). Plus, I'm going to PR anyway. It's been years since I've done a 10 mile race and my miles/minute average for that race wasa an 8:40. I think I could run backwards at an 8:40 pace now. :)

Have a great day, y'all!

Thank you, thank you, thank you

I would like to personally thank all of you who have been visiting my blog and also thanks for leaving such encouraging messages. It means a lot to me to know that people are stopping by and enjoying my adventures. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

In running news....it's really weird to go back to running full time after my summer of triathlon. I am running every day now and I have to admit I'm kinda sore. I had a good run yesterday. The freakin' hot weather finally broke and although it was still humid (which I think it always is in Ohio) the temperature was more bearable and running seemed easy. I did 4-1/2 miles. The cooler weather is supposed to continue so I'm looking forward to the running days ahead.

Life's Frustrations

It's probably because I'm a complainer or because I don't know how to be happy about anything, but life, in general, is really getting me down.

First is my job, but I don't want to be one of those people who is fired because they blogged about it so I'm not going to say anything here.

Secondly is my hair. (Go ahead and laugh.) I've been growing my hair for what seems like forever but I just don't think I am meant to have long ahir. It's really nice to have the ponytail for running and because I'm too lazy to fix my hair, but I can't wear my hair down and therein lies the frustration. My hair looks great right up to the ends of it and then it just has an attitude. And it doesn't matter if I trim it; it still looks bad on the ends. I would like to continue to try to grow it, but I'm really tired of wearing the ponytails day after day, but I would like to keep the ponytail for running. Maybe I'll just make an appointment to get it cut and then upon talking with the stylist will make a decision about what to do.

My last frustration is my weight. I've guess I've always had the thought that I run so I can eat, but recently I've been putting on the weight. Truly, every time I step on the scale I've gained another pound. Yesterday I maxed out at 117. Now I know that's not really all that bad, but I'm 5'1" and I exercise all the time. I should probably be under 110. I've never had to diet and I really don't want to. I know I need to eat better and smaller portions, but I'm so dang hungry all the time. My plan, right now, is smaller portion size, NO alcohol, NO chocoloate (I'm a candy baraholic), and eating better stuff.

These seem like really stupid frustrations, but they seem to encompass my entire life. Maybe at the age of 27 I should stop watching so much MTV. I'm not a teenager and I should stop wanting to look like a teenager. Sometimes I really feel like I'm going through this quarterlife crisis as I approach 30. Maybe I just need to do some yoga and stop complaining about the glorious life I have.

That's my girl!

Hey check out the Muncie post below. The pictures are there now.

I come from a running family. My dad has run 19 marathons, my mom has done a marathon, my cousin is a marathoner, I've run four marathons, and now my husband is training for his first marathon. Now the Running Richardsons are continuing.

Dave and I were over at my parents' house for dinner on Friday and mom and dad were watching Shelby and Jared. Dad asked Shelby if she wanted to show Dave and I how fast she could run. Dave gave her an objective--to run around the far tree and back--and then we set up little races between Shelby and Jared, Shelby and Dad, Shelby and Dave. Shelby is so competitive. She would scrunch her eyebrows and get this really competitive fire in her eyes and she'd run as hard and as fast as she could. She would even throw out an arm to keep the other person from winning. After each race we would ask her if she wanted a drink, and she would say no, get that look in her eyes again and line up once more.

That's my girl!

The things of this world that are going to cause me a heart attack

Yes I know I have some anger management issues and it's probably something I need professional help to fix, but there are just certain things that really get me heated. This is one example.

So there was a spot on ABC Nightline last night about Sarah Reinertson. She only has one leg and tried last year to do Ironman Hawaii and is going to try again this year. I thought the special was going to be on Primetime. I stayed up last night to watch it and it wasn't on. This morning I found out it was on Nightline which is on way too late for me to stay up. I searched ABC's website and found the video. I clicked on the vieo and ABC had a special Real player that had to be used to watch it. ABC makes you sign up to use this service. It's free for 14 days and after that it's $12.99 a month. I tried to sign up for the 14 day trial, but I was prompted to put in my credit card number because it would start charging immediately after the 14 days. Come on ABC! You've got to be kidding me! Now I know why I like NBC News better. It's free!

The Muncie Endurathon

Pre-Race 

This past Saturday was the big race--the half Ironman. My goal for the race was just to finish, but I figured I would probably do between a 6:15 and 6:30. I didn't really mention to anyone, except Dave, how nervous I was about this race. The week before I had broken out in hives and had many sleepless nights. The nervousness showed as I started the race.


Looking forward to the swim. 

The swim was daunting just looking at the course. From the starting line you could not see all the buoys on the course. The swim went off in 8 different waves and I was in wave #5. It was a no-wetsuit swim, but I swam in mine anyway since I really had no realistic chance of placing. As my wave got started, I freaked out and couldn't get my heart rate down. I was floundering and treading water by the first buoy. The people on the boat yelled to check if I was alright. I said yes and really I was but my pride was destroyed. I said to myself, "my parents would be disappointed if I dropped out this early." I yelled back to the boat, "um, I don't think I really want to do this." They yelled back that they would send a canoe. A man on a surfboard swam up to me and he said I could hold on for as long as I needed until I was ready to continue. I held on until I saw a friend swim by and heard the next wave go off. I had already wasted five minutes but I reminded myself that I just wanted to finish. I started to swim and didn't stop again. My swim time including the run up the hill to the transition was 48:15. My watch coming out of the water said 46:00. Too bad I wasted 5 minutes or else I would have had a really great swim.


After the swim running to the transition. 


Heading out of the transition to the bike ride. 

I knew the bike would be long and lonely, but to tell the truth, I kind of enjoyed the ride. The bike was flat and it rained the whole time. I think these were two conditions that really helped me. I enjoyed riding in the rain as it kept things cool and leveled the playing field. I finished the bike in 3:10:30 which is about 20 minutes faster than I expected to go.

It stopped raining just in time for the run which was pretty hot and steamy. I had done a smart thing in the transition and had placed my running shoes and socks in a plastic back so I started my run with dry feet. I began pretty quickly doing in the 8:00s but slowed down as I began walking through the waterstops. I caught up with Grace around the 3 mile mark and ran with her until 5 miles. She took a long stop there and I kept going. Run time = 2:04:40.


At the end of the run and still smiling. 


More running. 

Overall, I had a good time. I smiled a lot, waved to people, thanked volunteers, and just remembered I was there to finish. I did better than expected which has kind of left me feeling empty and wondering if I could have done better if I tried a little harder. I'm done with triathlons for the summer, but I will keep up with the swimming and biking because it has helped my running and because maybe I'll do it again next year.


Finished! 

101 Things About Me

I've read a few other blogs with this post, so I decided to do my own. I don't get many hits so for all my friends out there..this is a reminder of who I am. :)

1. I have trained for 6 marathons.
2. I have run only 4.
3. I was a sprinter in high school.
4. I took up distance running after college.
5. In college I was on the rowing team.
6. I was the coxswain.
7. I'm onlly 5'1".
8. I've had the same shoe size since the fourth grade.
9. I wear a 6-1/2.
10. I have a state title in gymnastics.
11. I was 4'11" in the nineth grade.
12. I put on 12 pounds of muscle when I started running.
13. I currently weigh 114 pounds.
14. I'm scared to death of being fat.
15. I'm scared to death of being pregnant.
16. Obviously, I don't have any children.
17. Or any pets.
18. I've been out of the country twice--once to Canada, once to Haiti.
19. I've been to Hawaii which seems like a foreign country.
20. I've been to Disney World 8 times which is a small world.
21. Literally, we saw our neighbors there.
22. I live in the same small town I grew up in.
23. My high school graduating class was 52 people.
24. I coach the same track team I was on.
25. The first person I coached with was a teacher of mine in high school.
26. I studied engineering in college.
27. I got my bachlor's in industrial engineering in 2001.
28. I don't want to be an engineer.
29. I want to make a lot of money.
30. I want to own a business.
31. I want to live on the beach somewhere.
32. Or a lake.
33. I want a house where on the outside it looks like a barn but on the inside it's all airy and has really open architecture.
34. I have a really quick temper.
35. I'm really opinionated.
36. I cuss like a sailor.
37. I only have a few close friends.
38. My friends are nothing like me.
39. My friends are mostly my opposite.
40. So is my husband.
41. He's my public relations director.
42. Which means, he cleans up my messes.
43. I hate to do dishes.
44. I love to do laundry.
45. Except folding all the socks.
46. I love a clean house.
47. Our house rarely gets cleaned.
48. I am super-creative in my head.
49. I have no idea how to express these creative thoughts outside my head.
50. I have never had a cavity.
51. I never got my wisdom teeth.
52. I never got my 12 year molars on the top gums.
53. I never had braces.
54. I was a virgin until I got married.
55. It was a personal choice. (See number 15.)
56. I don't speak a foreign language.
57. I know a little sign language.
58. I've actually used my sign language in real life.
59. I took 7 years of piano lessons.
60. I'm not very good at the piano.
61. I played the xylophone in high school band.
62. I joined because all the cool kids were in band.
63. I married a band geek. (Just kidding, hon!)
64. I don't like to follow rules.
65. I've been written up at many of my jobs.
66. I don't understand a 40 hour work week.
67. There's too much to do outside of work.
68. I had Lasik surgery in February.
69. I had worn glasses since I was eleven.
70. I broke my very first pair of glasses the day I got them doing flips on a trampoline.
71. My uncle (my gymnastics coach) dropped me on my face.
72. I am quilting a double wedding ring quilt currently.
73. It is taking freakin' forever!
74. I'm making it as a wedding present for a college roommate.
75. She got married this past March.
76. I've got a year, right?!
77. I played tennis in high school.
78. I love Andre Agassi (always have, always will).
79. I had a poster of him on my bedroom wall when I was a teenager.
80. I am goign to the US Open this year just to see Agassi before he retires.
81. I tried out for the tennis team in college.
82. I didn't make it.
83. My roomate in college played volleyball.
84. She is 6 feet tall.
85. I wear tennis shoes to work.
86. I usually wear jeans to work.
87. I work in a warehouse.
88. I check my e-mail hundreds of times a day.
89. I rarely get any.
90. I love hand written letters.
91. I actually have a friend who writes me letters instead of e-mail. (Hi Val!)
92. I hate chain letters and spam.
93. I don't know what I want to do when I grow up.
94. I know I don't want to do what I am currently doing.
95. I hand wrote this whole list before I put in on my blog.
96. I wish more people read my blog.
97. I wish I wasn't so mean.
98. I wish I had longer hair.
99. I think my chin and face are fat.
100. I wish this list didn't have to end.
101. I'm really bored today.

Running Skirts

Being around the triathlon scene this summer I've seen a new breed of running apparel--running skirts. I've seen them worn with biking shorts and used to bike, I've seen them worn with a swimsuit under them and used for running. I've seen some that have shorts or spankies and others that are just a wrap-around skirt.

Well, I don't know if you know, but I am pretty handy when it comes to sewing. Shhh, don't tell anybody, but I spend almost everyday doing some kind of sewing, usually either quilting or working on curtains for somebody or myself. I'm even taking sewing classes to learn how to sew my own clothing. So I was thinking about prototyping a running skirt and see what happens.

I played tennis for years and years so I'm quite comfortable in a little, little skirt. Would any of you out there be interested in running in a skirt or might want to be part of my test market for my prototype? (Of course, I have to find some wicking fabric which is a little harder than I thought.)

Let me know.

My Alarm Clock

Okay this post is going to have nothing to do with running or triathlon but I have to tell about my poor alarm clock.

I have the sweetest alarm clock. Dave got it for me a few years ago because my last alarm clock didn't work so well anymore. My alarm clock has great features. Probably the coolest is that it has a CD player in it that you can set the alarm to wake you up to whatever song you want to set the CD to. Pretty cool, but I don't use that feature. It also has this really great waking system that starts at zero volume and keeps increasing. I like this feature because it takes a pin drop to wake me up which means the volume hardly gets loud, it doesn't scare me, and doesn't wake Dave up. You never have to turn on the alarm. It is always on. My favorite feature of my alarm clock is the "weekend slumber" feature. Basically I can set the day on my alarm clock and then on the weekends I can hit a button which keeps my alarms set but doesn't sound them on the weekends. Totally cool. The last thing I love about it is that there is a huge off button right on the top so I don't have to deal with little tiny buttons on the side of the clock.

All of these features I love and they all work great. But, unfortunately, my clock is on the fritz. My clock is backlit instead of the numbers being lit. And it even has another feature where you can adjust the backlighting. I always keep it super-bright so I can identify the numbers when I wake up in the middle of the night a million times and so I can change my alarm to go off at 5:00 instead of 4:45. Now, however, the backlight does not work anymore and I can't see the numbers on it anymore.

I went to Target last night to buy a new alarm clock but I didn't see anything that interested me or even had any of the same features of my clock. I just might have to use my Ironman watch until I can find even a close substitute.

My poor clock!

Westerville Rotary 5K Road Run

Yesterday I ran the annual Westerville Rotary 5K Road run on the fourth of July. I am tapering now for Munice so my plan was to run the race easy and just use it for daily miles. And I felt like I went pretty easy, but I PRed huge. There were no mile markers on this run so it was hard to tell what pace I was going. I latched onto a guy I knew because I liked his pace and just ran beside him for most of the race. Around the halfway point the crowds cleared and I saw Tom Gleason in front of me and knew I must be running pretty fast. I caught him around the waterstop but I slowed through the stop and he stayed just in front of me the rest of the race. My unofficial time was 22:04. I guess I am in really great shape right now.

I'll post the official time once it is posted.

Official time is 22:05 and I finished 14th overall and 6th in my age group. There must have been some fast 25-29 year old chicks out there!

June Totals

Yesterday was the last day of June so I added up my totals. Pretty consistent with May except I really bumped up my swimming (although I am wondering if I added wrong in May).

Run = 74.3 miles
Swim = 15,450 yards/meters = 9.5 miles
Bike = 490 minutes = 8.2 hours

Paranoia

About a week ago I went to the doctor's office to have some things checked out and when they weighed me it said 118. The doctor's scale is always a little high so I didn't think anything of it. That afternoon while waiting at the pharmacy I did the self-diagnostic thing and weighed myself and it said 117. Dave said it was always off so again I didn't think anything of it. Yesterday I did my swim at the gym instead of the outdoor pool and stepped on the scale. It said 116. Okay so all the scales must be right, which means I've put on four pounds since I've started training for this triathlon. My mom says it's all muscle and it's all in my calves, but I'm paranoid about my weight. I don't like weighing 116. 116 is close to 120 and I just think that's unacceptable for myself because I workout so much and because being only 5'1" any amount of extra weight shows. Just look at the pictures below. One is of me and one is of my friend Jeannie. She and I have about the same workout regimine and look how much skinnier she is than me. I've got to start eating better and buy a scale.

Okay I am having trouble getting the pictures to work correctly. I'll try again later, I guess.

Maybe All This Training is Paying Off

Yesterday was the Wendy's Triathlon. It's a huge triathlon at Alum Creek that attracts a lot of first timers and is very poorly organized. It's a sprint triathlon that consists of a 1/2 mile swim, 16.8 miles of bike, and a 5K run. I spent all day Saturday working on the patio with Dave and my dad and really didn't feel like racing yesterday, but did really well.

I struggled a little in the swim just because there were a lot of people and no one could swim a straight line. The water was really shallow and at points I would stand up and walk just to get around people who were in my way. Swim time = 14:46.

Knowing that the bike was a lot shorter than what I have been riding I decided to do the best I could and really went after it. It was fun to actually pass people instead of being the one passed all the time. I had a scary moment when I took a turn too quickly and clipped my pedal on the ground. I didn't fall but did veer off into the grass, but recovered well. Bike time = 57:53.

The run went really well, as always, and didn't get passed by anyone. I finished second in my age group on the run only behind Jeannie who's a beast. Run time = 22:36.

Overall I went 1:39:54 and finished 8th in my age group out of 26, which is a much better showing than my previous races. Maybe if I keep working on my bike, I might be a triathlete yet!

Alum Creek Multisport Festival Pictures

This must have been on the first lap of the bike because there are actually people behind me. 


At the finish.  

Alum Creek Multisport Festival Update

The results were posted from the triathlon this past weekend. I finished first in my age group, actually beating somebody. Here's the breakdown of my race:

Swim-32:18
T1-2:29
Bike-2:19:48 (16.0 mph)
T2-1:38
Run-51:43 (8:21)

I don't know about this multisport stuff. I thought I had done pretty good on Sunday despite the horrible bike ride, but now I am thinking that I suck. I thought I was one of the first ones out of the swim, but it turns out I was 10th out of 14. Surprisingly, I was not the worst person on the bike. There were actually three people slower than me (although I think they were all BIG guys). And I was 7th out of 14 on the run, which I think is acceptable. I just really hate being average. I'm not average in running and I want to be better in both multispot and running. There are just not enough hours in the day to get all the training in that I need.

Alum Creek Multisport Festival

Yesterday I did the longest triathlon I am going to do prior to Muncie. The race included a 1.5K swim, 62K bike, and 10K run. The swim was a two loop triangle that was awesome. I love to swim. After I rounded the first buoy I had a hard time seeing the second one and panicked a little. I treaded water and cleared my goggles and freaked out a little about how deep the water was. Then I did a little backstroking until I got my heart rate under control and started to front crawl again. I rounded the second buoy and found swimming into shore was pretty easy because of the current. My second loop was pretty easy and I found I was passing people and was generally just having fun. As I approached the last buoy I was a little disappointed that the swim was over and now it was on to the dreaded bike. The swim took me about 32 minutes.

The first transition was kinda funny. I was really dizzy from the swim and found myself walking sideways through the transition. Eventually I got everything straightened out and I was off on my bike.

Right out of the transition I saw two bikers run into each other and the a woman fell off her bike. I hope she was okay and her skin didn't turn into hamburger meat. She was only wearing a sports bra. The bike was a two loop course and I knew everybody was going to catch me. I took my time, drank when I needed it, and kept my heartrate down. The funniest thing I saw happened going down a hill. This guy flew pass me looping like the wicked witch of the west and he was pedaling like there was no tomorrow. Just as he passed me, his chain fell off and he had to stop to repair. Just made me laugh. Once the first loop was done, I was all alone. In fact, a volunteer told me I was the last person. Great! One of the first out of the water and one of the last ones off of the bike. I sang songs and tried to eat a powerbar (nearly impossible to do on the bike). I encouraged myself by talking to myself and I waved to the volunteers and thanked them. With only about 5 miles left on the bike I got passed by somebody which gave me encouragement that I might be able to catch someone on the run. As I came into the transition area I stood on my pedals and stretched my calves and hamstrings. My bike took about 2:19.

The run started off a little shaky. We ran right down by the beach which was slippery and then we ran on a grass trail which had horrible terrain. I walked this part mostly to take my bib off my shirt and attach it to my short. Then I took my shirt off and ran in my sports bra. It was pretty humid and the shirt was wet and weighing me down. As I got to the road I noticed that there were quite a few people on the run not that far in front of me. So I took little steps and just chopped away at them. By the end of the race I was averaging in the 8:00s and had passed probably 6 or 7 people. I finished in about 3:47.

I have no official time yet or placing, but I feel a lot more confident about doing Muncie.

I hate the 5K!

I hate the 5K. It's just an awful race. It's too short to pace yourself, but it too long to out like a bat out of hell. But a bat out of hell is what I went out like and I crashed and burned. In fact, I walked twice during the race. My first mile was a 6:29 which is just way faster than I should ever be going unless it's a one mile race. Just after the one mile mark I got a severe stitch on my right side underneath my ribs. I tried to slow down my reathing but I was weezing and felt like I was going to have an asthma attack. So, I stopped and walked. One of my high schoolers caught me and said, "What are you doing coach?" So I ran with her a while until I felt better and then took off again. At the turnaround there was a waterstop but the water was in plastic cups and there was ice in it so it was hard to drink adn too cold to pour on yourself. The second mile was a 7:45 which included walking and a waterstop. By the third mile I was starting to feel good again and started picking people off again. But with only a 1/2 mile to go I felt like I have been hit by a truck and did a little more walking. My third mile was a 7:38. My overall time was 22:42 which is a PR by 4 seconds. I should be excited because it's been years since I PRed in a 5K, but I raced so poorly that I am more disappointed than excited.

Why the darn bike?

Why does a triathlon have to involve a bike? Why can't it involve anything else, like inline skating or something? I really hate riding a bike!

Yesterday a group of us met at Alum Creek to do a triathlon run through. We did about a mile of swimming, which for me went pretty well. I decided not to try to spot anything, just try to swim in a straight line and if my hands start hitting bottom, then I know I'm pulling to the right. It helped a lot. Then we did about 16 miles of biking which I totally got left behind. I know I'm not a good biker, but I was really struggling yesterday. Then we did a 5K run which was short of a 5K, but I still did pretty well on.

Thank goodness I had a good 10 mile run on Saturday and the running is what is really important to me.

This week is a fall back week and then I have a long triathlon this coming Sunday.

A picture from the duathlon

I found a picture of me from the duathlon I did this weekend. Don't I look tan? 

Summertime

Don't you just love that song by Will Smith...summer, summer, summertime. Makes me want to dance, but you don't want to see that, unless you've been drinking a lot or I've been drinking a lot and then it's just downright funny.

Anyway, yesterday was a swimming workout that I did in an outdoor swimming pool, hence the reference to summertime. (Get it now?) My swim was 6 X 500, which should have been 6 X 20 laps, but I think the pool was actually a 20 yard pool and I'm not quite sure how that calculates. So, I did 6 X 20 laps anyway. Being that it was a public pool there was only one lap lane and it was full when I got there. I swam beside the lap lane because there were still lines on the bottom of the pool and I thought no one would bother me because there wasn't really anyone close to that side of the pool. As soon as I jumped in, though, people seemed to swarm to that side of the pool and I had to keep the lookout because the others seemed to always want to be in my path. Made me angry. Then the lap lane came available and I moved over there. During the last 20 laps of my swim, I shared it with some other dude. Well, at least I can head back to the gym after this week's renovations.

Today is a bike/run workout so we'll see how that goes considering it's going to be over 90 degrees.