I ran the Nike Marathon almost 3 weeks ago, and unlike my first marathon where I a wrote up a race report immediately, I haven't had much desire to write up my Nike report. Not that it went bad, it went very well. I just haven't been in a writing mood (I've been too obsessed with the election).

Nike Marathon is very different from my first marathon the California International. I don't know why I expected it to be similar. The CIM had only 6000 participants and was a marathon-only event. Nike had 20000 with a mix of marathoners, half-marathoners and walkers. At CIM I lined up in the back to get that psychological boost in passing runners as I ran all those miles. With Nike (though I can do 11/min mile for 26.2 miles) I lined up around the 12-14 minute mile mark (not the last, but enough to try that trick again) not expecting walls of walkers from Mile 0. I'm not sure why the walkers didn't line up at the last group, whatever the case I spend the first 8 miles trying to get around rows of walkers by jumping curbs and barriers.

Other than that frustration I will say Nike was extremely organized. You can't beat the scenery in San Francisco. There were lots of water stops, changing areas, and handsome men in tuxes to hand you your hard-earned medal. However my friends (thanks to fuzzyradar  and tigercub for coming MILES and across states to cheer me on) didn't get the shuttle to the cheering places as promised for $15 at bus pass -- only from the beginning point to the end point. That sucked, but with so many runners I doubt they could have found me anyway.

I trained well for the hills, they went well (though again so many people walked the hill). It is an exhausting thing to do, run all those miles. At mile 22 I really wanted to punch everyone that said "GO TEAM" (and I was a happy participant of Team in Training last year, but if you are not with TNT at Nike you do feel like the cat at a Dog Fancy convention). However it is fair to say at mile 22 I probably was grumpy enough to punch anyone.

I was able to get a PR (4:51) with a harder marathon (CIM is net downhill! YEAH, Nike, I believe, has the second hardest hill in a marathon). And I felt perfectly fine and fit after I finished. No real soreness the next day. I should be thrilled that I got through training and the marathon without so much of a stiff muscle.

I won't run the Nike marathon again, but will put in for their half marathon lottery next year.  I have to choose my runner up marathon for next year if I don't get into New York City Marathon (my dream).  Either local or the Mardi Gras Marathon (my homestate, though I am kind of pissed at Louisiana right now).

But yea, I am still wishing I could just go faster. During my off time I am going to concentrate on interval training.

As everyone on plurk, facebook, etc already are tired of hearing, I ran 14 hilly miles yesterday.  You say, Oh that is good girl, but you've run 26.2 miles before so big doo doo.  It was just that I was thinking a year ago I was saying "I hate hills, never, no way jose, uh-uh" and "Never you mind I can't run in the mornings, legs to tight, noway jesus, uh-uh".

Yet here I am  running hills in the early hours  of the morning. I even beat the Israeli senior group who walk those hills together (en masse, blocking the whole path I should add).  I get to see all the baby bunnies frolicking before the old people's boisterous debates in Hebrew and those speeding bikers in their neon bloomers scare them off.  If I wasn't so sweaty and unfeminine at that point I would feel like Snow White with all those critters scampering around me.  Lalalalahaha.  Aren't you glad I didn't use voice blogging.

Hills ain't easy, but I'm doing them. In the mornings that warm bed feels good, but I get up.

So never say never, unless, of course, you say you'll never vote for McCain.

Thank you for applying to the ING New York City Marathon 2008. We're sorry to inform you that you were not selected in the random lottery drawing. Although we wish everyone could be accepted, we have to limit the size of the field to ensure the best experience for each of our runners.

So I guess I'll stick close to home and do the hilly Nike Marathon. Meep.

10 miles in 1.5 hours.  Now if I could keep that pace for 26 miles I still wouldn't qualify for Boston (old lady category).  But maybe finish a half in under 2 hours! :)

A few weeks ago I signed up for the New York City Marathon's lottery.

Today I signed up for the Nike Marathon lottery.

If I get both? I'll do the Nike half instead (but don't tell anybody, I don't think they encourage that) and go the NYC and stay with my cousin or aunt/uncle-in-laws (all incredibly cool people).

If I get one or the other: hot damn, perfect. Try again for the one I didn't get into again the next year. NYC will let you in after 3 losses.

If I don't get either. Damn, I don't know. I'll cry and kick the air. Think about another marathon somewhere else.

After seeing The Spirit of the Marathon last Thursday night, I was inspired to do some research on Kathrine Switzer.

During the 1960s the Amateur Athletic Union declared that the longest runs allowed for women were 880 yards in track, and 1 1/2 miles in cross country. This, of course, meant that women's distance running was non-existent.  Yet on April 19, 1967, Kathrine Switzer, a 20- year-old Syracuse University junior, under the name "K.V. Switzer", became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with an official number issued by the Boston Athletic Association.

When a race official, Jock Semple, discovered that a woman was attempting to run the all-male Boston Marathon, he sought to bodily remove Switzer from the course. He almost succeeded, but Switzer's boyfriend at the time, a nationally ranked hammer thrower known as Big Tom Miller, rammed him with a block that leveled Semple (see the very famous photo on the left). And Semple, being just a mere old weanie man, could not run a catch up to finish taking her down thus leaving Swtizer to race to the finish line in an estimated 4 hours, 20 minutes.

Afterwards, the AAU expelled her from their organization for : a) running more than 1.5 miles, b) fraudulently entering the race with her initials, c) running the Boston Marathon with men; and d) running without a chaperone.

It wasn't until 1972 women were  allowed to officially enter the Boston Marathon.

Switzer went on to win New York City Marathon in 1974 ( 2:51) and set up  the first Avon Women's Marathon in Atlanta, GA, in 1978.  But her greatest achievement for womankind came from that act of civil disobedience in Boston that April day.  So I raise my Gatorade bottle in her honor, as well as in honor to all those women like her that helped to  disintegrate the unfair barriers preventing women from competing in running events beyond 1 1/2 miles.  Thank you.  Now  "girls" make up nearly half of the total number of U.S. marathoners today.



 

( more photos! )

One month and 4 days after my marathon and I think I'm completely healed. I have been fine for over a week now. I have heard so many stories about stress fractures and people needing orthotics that I went to a very well known and famous podiatrist in Marin to get my running analyzed and my feet examined. The little pain in my foot was gone by the time I got to the appt, so the doctor was unimpressed with my injury. He said I must have had a little tendonitis and that I will only get stronger and less susceptible to such problems as time go on. We went over my running with his video camera and he said I looked good, anymore arch support would turn my knees in so I'm lucky that I don't need more.

This podiatrist is AMAZINGLY COOL. He runs ultra-marathons in places like the Amazon and Africa to observe big game animals like elephants. His medals hang all over his waiting room making my one marathon medal look small and insignificant.

So I walked out of the office without needing $300-500 orthotics and a clean bill to start training for something again (**pats my sturdy peasant Quichua genes on the back**). I'll put my name in for the NYC Marathon lottery and use the Nike Marathon (gotta have that Tiffany necklace bling) as a backup. That gives me many months to get my life in order before I have to start that all-consuming training again. Eventually I want to do the city of my birth's Mardi Gras Marathon (2010), and maybe meet molly_mcb for the Chicago Marathon in 2010. I'll do some half marathons or 10Ks this spring just to keep me lithe. The let down after a marathon is bad, I have to get motivated again.

Well, those are my plans so far. I reserve the right to change them of course.

I apologize if I appear sexist, but from my random sampling it is always a "real life" (vs LJ) male that I gives me this reply:

"Oh you ran a marathon. Well, I bet I still could beat you in a 40 yard/ 100 yard/ 5K , etc."

At first I just laughed, but after the 4th or so time a man said the same thing I began to get a little mad. One has nothing to do with the other -- other than being both physical and in the realm of a "sport". If I said "It took me 3 hours to cook this Crème brûlée!" would anyone really answer "Well, I bet I can beat you in making a quick scrambled eggs -- so there!!" (Ignore that in reality the reply in my case would be "how long did it take the fire department to get there this time?")

Marathon training is about time on the road running, learning to pace yourself for those first 5 miles and cross-training to build up muscle.  Even then, after 20 miles you need to be a little insane to keep going.  Only one person "wins" the marathon (and usually a Kenyan--not an American), so it isn't about winning, it is all about Personal Record.  I want to beat my PR, not some guy in a foot race, that means nothing to me. Oh, what painful and disheartening self-importance lie in the hearts of some men that makes them immediately see someone else's accomplishment into a threat to them.

Hell, and even if I didn't win with speed after the  40 yard 100 yard or 5K?  I guarantee afterwards I won't be clutching my back and heaving as they might be.

So far I've raised $2,350.00 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!

Today: 20 miles (started at 7am!)
Time: 3.5 hours
Bath: 5 minute cold bath (suppose to be 10 min but I just couldn't take it. I only knelt in halfway to my thigh)
Time for: a nap ....

20 miles is hard, it is damn hard. But I did it with no "hitting the wall" and with energy to pack up and drive back home. Adding 6.2 to that number? I don't know. THAT will be grueling. THAT will take every ounce of stubborn will I have. THAT will take all my reserves and then some.

I AM INSANE. Just like 999,999 other people are this year: http://www.marathonmovie.com/home.html

It was my intent to run 12 miles today. I was going to tackle my big psychological hurdle: HILLS. We were running the Nike half marathon trail today which goes through some of the steepest hills in San Francisco. I thought I would be lucky to do 12 miles. I can do rain, humidity, heat, winds, and recently I can even do MORNINGS (oh the horror). But hills have always been hard for me and I avoid them. Perhaps because in Louisiana the biggest mountains I had ever tackled were ants mounds (and those suckers were harsh!).

But, hey, I learned to drive a stick shift on San Francisco hills, I could learn to run on them too!.

The first 3 miles were the harshest, and the steepest, but by the time I was passing back by Robin Williams SF Mansion I was feeling charged because I was doing it. I was still feeling good handling the lesser slopes in the pouring rain by the time I got to Golden Gate Park. Even though soaking wet with muddy legs and soggy socks I still felt pretty good but my other nemesis came into play: my geographical-challenged brain. I passed the 12 mile turn around at some point and ended up doing 14 miles! Woot! My longest run and in the rain with steep hills!

My TNT mentors were impressed though they always think I'm sort of on the weird side for always missing their well indicated markers, and that I don't run with water on me (I can't carry or hang stuff on me). They said if I can do 14 miles of heavy hills that 26.2 miles of a net (read net) downhill marathon shouldn't be that hard. We'll see, I'm effing exhausted now.

xposted to runners

Guess where I'm off to at 5:35 in the morning!

Ugh. Yea.

I'm shallow. The thing that is getting me going is the fact I can put my hair in two braids now.

I ran the ME Half Marathon today, 13 miles. I came in first and last in all categories because there was just one person, ME. Hehe.

I wear my bracelets. One is a friendship bracelet Stella made me a year ago that is falling apart and my Team in Training band (Train Endure Achieve Matter) and my ecuadoran thingy. Not sure they'll last until the marathon;

Well almost.

Guess who got up at 5am to go running? I know you are choking on your bagel right now thinking it can't be Carrie. But yes, I got up and pulled on my running clothes and met my TNT coach and other runners at 5:50am *to run*. The run itself wasn't very long, most of the time was spent on motivational talk and such. I've already timed that I can sleep in 10 more minutes to skip that. Yes, I AM SO CYNICAL. But I know what I need to do, run, and thus my team is so appropriately called "just do the damn thing".

My form must be OK because the coach didn't call me on anything. Or he didn't notice me, which is usually the case.

I've never met a happier bunch of people at 5:50am. Before today the only genuinely happy people I've ever run into at that beastly hour were either drunk or randy. I can't say I've been transformed into a happy morning runner yet. I went home and took a quick nap after barking at the kids to get ready for camp. Grumpy.

I am dedicating Saturdays to long runs. Today I pushed all the way, appropriately, to the Rosie the Riveter park in Richmond. Six miles in, so that made me have to run six miles back home. WOOT! My longest ever (outdoors): 12 miles.

Nice site to run around:


I have the worst runner's tan though. Pale feet, dark legs up to the shorts line. I look fully dressed in beige clothes naked.

Now I must drive to get my daughter from a playdate. I'm way too tired to get behind the wheel ... zzzzz

It happened again.

One of the reasons I like running on a treadmill is that I can "zone out" without worrying about being run-over, or having a curb suddenly changing my horizontal plane (I don't like to fall) or having weird smelly people coming too close to me. I assume the latter won't happen in a gym because I believed if one has the income to afford a nice gym then they could afford things like deodorant, toothpaste, wicking fabric or water for baths.

Oh silly me. The foulest smelling man had to take the treadmill next to me again. I wasn't sure if it was his breath, or his pithy bathing habit (or lack of a habit at all), but I seriously could not go on without envisioning rotting corpses uprooting from muddy eroding graves. Although I knew it might be rude and obvious, I had to stop and move to a treadmill to the OTHER side of the room.

But I still could not concentrate because I knew the guy noticed my sudden departure. He probably was one of those men that have no luck with women and think it is because we, the whole damn gender, are shallow and superficial never realizing that it is his own lack of personal hygiene is the cause for this dating glitch. I am thinking this, and thinking that I am the straw that broke his grimy back. I am the final woman that reminded him that he is just another vortex of uncoolness and horrible male design in a world where woman only want actual cleverness and personality. He was going to hunt me down and kill me in the parking lot not knowing I just wanted to get away from his stink.

Well, I'm still alive because I made sure I wasn't followed. That was easy because I could probably SMELL him a mile away.

It is very very cold here. But I went for a run in a t-shirt and shorts because I knew I would warm up.

I did warm quickly. It was a nice run. I grinned at all the runners in hats and gloves and leggings. I am tougher!

Then, when I finished my exercise, I found out I locked myself out of the house. I waited on the porch for an hour while watching the sun go down as my body cooled and sweat all over me started to feel like ice.

I was not happy.

Now I will crawl into bed with my warm comforter and Barack Obama (his first book, that is).

I ran almost 12 miles today then I took a 3 hour nap. I can go from spritely to sluggish in 10 minutes flat. Needless to say, I was popular with the cats during the sluggish phase of my day.





Then I took a meme. Bad punctuation, but what can you expect from memes.



Intelligent and insightful, you are a gifted individual, who although may sometimes be buried in academic affairs, is friendly and welcoming.

But I was only 2 percentage points from getting this one, which I really wanted.



As Minerva McGonagall, your strict facade is complimented by a warm heart, and you always do what is for the greater good.



I finished my fourth Douglas Coupland book. So to change genre I'm off to read Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects by Bertrand Russell and slug some more. I wonder if solar_diablo has read this.

It works! it works! Be prepared for terabytes of smilies coming your way!



While I'm here I should say my pilates instructor complimented me on my "dedication" this morning. I wanted to reply to her that I do it all out of compulsive fear. That I fear that if I stopped in an instant I would become a hunched over octogenarian-looking frail woman only able to view the ground one foot in front of me. I fear I would compress a vertebrae from running with my unsecured weak back. Without running my leg muscles would look like quivering jello fruit molds. I would become sullen and lazy and depressed and one of those crazies on the street I like to write about because life ahead would be too clear when unequipped with appropriate shock absorbing exterior. I will be like a big wide walrus on land. My heart will atrophy into a little pebble, lodge in my intestinal tract, causing diverticulitis and kill me. Like not brushing my teeth would cause me to fear my breath would remind people of overturned graveyards, I keep going, keeping my core strong so I can keep running so I can keep ahead of the game.

Instead of all this I just replied to her a simple "thank you".

That only sounded a little neurotic right? You are wondering how I dodged Darwin?