Flying Pig Half Marathon 2011

I'm taking a break from the 24 Hours of LeMons reports to write a quick report about the Pig. This past weekend was awesome. I hung out with friends all weekend. Sunday a bunch of us ran the Flying Pig Half Marathon...on a soggy morning after many many soggy weeks. It just hasn't stopped raining here.

This was by far not a very good run for me. I started out feeling great: strong, breathing easily, and no leg pain (which I was worried about happening given the past few runs). I soon realized I was repeating the Pig Half I had in 2009. Once I hit Gilbert and the hills following, I was done. If I wasn't going downhill, it was a struggle to run. I wouldn't even call what I did after mile 6 "running." More of a ...slog...

But it didn't matter. I was out there, moving, enjoying all the others around me, and especially enjoying that so many of my friends were running the race too - that was the best. I was happy to be there. I know I was very under-trained. At about mile 10, I was thinking up summaries up in my head that best captured this race experience. The winner was: Races are a lot more fun when you train for them properly! :)

I'll have to post pictures of the awesome shirts Jess and Daryl made for all of us. They were so great!

And now it's time to pick out some fun races and events for the summer!

Gingerman 24 Hours of Lemons: The Car

Make: Chevrolet
Model: Chevette
Year: 1983 (while people were rocking out to Mr. Roboto, I would just like to point out)
Color: blue-rust-other with a lovely pin-stripe
Condition: well...

Randy, Spanky, Brian, Greg and Casey spent some many hours and/or weekends working on this car, eventually turning it into this beaut:

And then it was put in a semi and driven up to South Haven, Michigan, along with a cousin Chevette as company for the long trip, for the 24 Hours of LeMons race. A bad screen grab from video of the the cousin:

Randy and Spanky left Thursday to drive the semi full of Chevettes and tools up to the race track. Casey and Greg left Thursday afternoon (after getting our truck back late from our mechanic) to head up to Perrysburg to pick up the pop-up camper we were going to use for the weekend. Turns out something wouldn't hook up right with the lights from the truck to the camper. So, Friday morning everything was transferred from the truck to the van, and they left pulling the camper with that vehicle instead. Jannelle, Brian, Neil and I left from Cincinnati Friday morning and traversed the boring, windy highways of Indiana up to South Haven, Michigan.

There's a lot to write about this weekend...small chapters might be the best. Or maybe I'll just pare it all down for the next post.

Gingerman Raceway: 24 Hours of LeMons

I am soon to write at post (or posts) about our weekend up in South Haven, Michigan...where it was cold, wet, windy, wet, windy.... and there were a bunch of dedicated guys trying to get the '83 Diesel Chevette up and running to drive in the 24 Hours of LeMons race.

Here is the car. Themed "The Carbon Footprint," the number was CO2.

More soon!

Spring

Spring was here briefly, but now seems to be hiding again. 25 degree nights with green grass...how very odd.

The dogs love warmer weather. Harley will stay outside any time of year, while Dexter demands to come back in after he's done with his business by barking at the back door. But even with sunny 40º temps, they are happy.

I took this picture the other day when it was warmer and windy. Dexter loves to lay on this wooden stoop outside the garage. And Harley is so very hairy.

Spring means it's baby critter hunting time. There haven't been any baby birds yet, but I'm anticipating a high kill year. Recently, the dogs got a rabbit. This wasn't a baby rabbit, but an adult, so I guess that means they've honed their skills for the hunting season early. I'm assuming it was both of them, though I'm sure Harley is the one to get credit for actually catching the rabbit; Dexter is way too slow.

It was a stealthy, morning kill that went unnoticed by the humans. I did notice the dogs lingering around an area when I got home from work the same day. So I investigated while they were inside eating and discovered the scene of a rabbit mauling. The head was gone. Organs, a foot and fluffy fur was strewn about this part of the yard. Gross, guys! I'm glad I didn't see it happen.

I put up some police line do not cross tape (not really) and cleaned up the disgusting mess. I learned that I have an iron stomach. :)  I was literally scraping brains and unidentifiable organs off the grass with a stick onto a shovel. A couple times I just dug up that part of the yard to remove stuff because I couldn't get it up. So nasty! But it was kind of funny to me all at the same time. The cute, cuddly creatures I live with are also killing machines.

I feel I need to keep a tally of their kills. This is what I believe it to be as of now:
moles: 3
snakes: 1
baby birds: at least 5
baby raccoon: 1
rabbits: 2

Run-ins but no kill:
cat: 1
opossum: 1
toad: 1

Surprised there hasn't been a casualty of:
squirrels! Oh how they taunt Harley, running along the fence rail. One little slip, my chattering friend, and you're toast!

Notable of the above was the baby raccoon kill I unfortunately witnessed. It was cornered in the woodpile. Dogs barking and baying, I could not even begin to convince them to lay off. Then the baby made a fatal error of trying to come out to fight or escape. Harley and Dex each took a side and shook. It was dead pretty quickly...and the dogs were so so very pleased. I've never seen such pure satisfaction on their faces. They were happy, proud, glowing even...and exhausted. Both collapsed in the kitchen while I cleaned everything up. Pretty fascinating.

The rabbit kill did not come without some (expensive) consequences. Harley got very ill from her consumption of...well, whatever it was she ate of the rabbit (I'm pretending the head was eaten by some scavenging bird during the day). She spent the day at the vet where she underwent some tests and was x-rayed for bones and blockage. 8 cans of special food and a round of antibiotics later, she's all better. Dexter either didn't partake in the feast, or just didn't get ill. Harley does seem to get gastro-intestinal issues pretty easily.

So, spring is here. Baby animals be warned!

Broomball...and Checking

Saturday was our 2nd broomball game and I got checked into the boards. Well, I think it would be better described as checked over the boards. It knocked the wind out of me a little and I coughed. I tried the soccer move where I whined and rolled on the ground holding my leg in order to get a penalty (not really). I am surprised there was no penalty, since there is no checking.

Anyway, a couple of hours later I had my diagnosis of a fractured rib cartilage. It's in the area next to the bottom of my sternum. Not sure what all it means yet. I do feel like it's getting more manageable. Last night I biked for an hour, breathing hard with no pain. Just soreness afterwords. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can run. Fingers crossed!

This weekend at broomball I will be joining my friend Drew as coach. Maybe I'm co-coach? Or I should be The Coach of Flair, teaching the team to have a little more grace and clown-like presence on the ice. :)

It's a New Year - Hello 2011!

Some running and biking fun ideas/desires for the new year:

1. Cincinnati Heart Mini Marathon 15K
2. Flying Pig Half Marathon
3. Biking more and finding people to bike with
4. A duathlon or two? Tri for Joe would fall nicely after the Pig.
5. More trail running? Maybe do the Dirt Days series, which is a series of trail runs throughout the spring and summer
6. Columbus Marathon
7. Weekend runs in different parks all over the city

So far this year I've had ups and downs with getting back into a schedule. The weather is rough, motivation is rough, blah blah blah. I feel like I've started over 10 times already. It's not far into the year yet though, so I suppose it's still not too late to start again.

I Just Got Accountable

The week on the page... right in my face...

Broomball at Fountain Square - Season 2. Party In My Tummy is Going All The Way

I've decided that broomball conditioning starts today. Boooyah! It's season 2 at the Fountain Square League for me. And thanks to last year, I know what it takes on the little ice skating rink downtown to be a kickass player.

Our games start January 8th. That's 3 and a half weeks of conditioning fun.

Really we aren't that competitive. There's not even off-sides. But I am desperate for something to motivate me into doing something. And I think a 3 and a half week period of time to get used to sprinting again without my chest exploding is a good thing to aim for.

Party In My Tummy is ready to hit some ice. And we're ready for crepes after every game.

A Dog-like Goose

The neighbors at the corner have a pet Canadian goose. At least that is what seems to be the case.

I noticed back in the summer they had a baby goose in the front yard. It was fenced in with some chicken (goose?) wire and there was a blue plastic kiddie pool in the area. It kept getting bigger and bigger and soon turned into an adolescent goose. And then one day as I ran past, there was a goose chasing me. Like a territorial dog, the goose started at one end of the yard and flew-hopped low to the ground along the property as I ran past. If it could have barked, it probably would have. It cracked me up.

In my recent running hiatus, I hadn't been paying attention to the whereabouts of the goose. Plus, I just figured it probably flew away once it was big enough. But the other day as I was heading out of the neighborhood, I saw the goose in the yard again, watching me and following the property as I ran past. On my way back I noticed that the back yard is fenced in with the chicken wire, a bigger area this time, and the pool is back there as well. I saw the goose sleeping in the pool.

Perhaps this goose can't fly and ended up in their yard so they started taking care of it. Or perhaps wherever a goose lives when it's young is where it likes to stay. Maybe it just enjoys its kiddie pool and chasing runners. If I ever see these neighbors outside, I am definitely going to ask what is up with their unexpected pet.

Time to Schedule Some Time to Make my Schedule... what?

Yesterday I spent some time working on a new training/workout schedule to start following. I have been using a very loose schedule approach for the last year or two. But I think I'm going to start following a less loose (dare I say tighter) approach for a few weeks and see what happens. Also, this is how a beagle flops down beside you to help with your training schedule development:

A brief background: I love schedules and planning. In the past, especially when I first started running, I looked up plans and copied them down on calendars or in notebooks so I could follow them daily. I would plan out races and workouts leading up to them, but without really knowing what I was doing. As time went on I started tweaking the schedules more and more, realizing that I wasn't always going to be able to do what the schedule told me to do, be it because of my fitness level or because of my day. I soon became frustrated trying to follow too religiously, missing workouts and feeling like everything was ruined when that happened. So eventually I adapted a training guideline kind of approach. Last year when I trained for my marathon, the only real scheduled runs were the weekend distance buildup, Track Tuesdays, and I ran during the week with Krista every now and then. I think I just tried to run as much as possible the other days of the week.

That kind of approach really does work for me in accomplishing consistent and happy running: Tuesday track, midweek with a partner, long run on the weekend. However, it only works if those things are present and, most importantly, I have the motivation to carry through with them. Which brings me to the current State of the Running Union. The State of the [my] Running Union is weak.

My motivation is at an all time low, so it's time to make some changes. Enter brand new, shiny, still-has-that-new-car-smell training schedule! I've reflected a lot about my running hobby and how it fits into my life. I'm not so sure I've ever taken this approach, but I do believe it's imperative for developing a successful schedule. I also thought about what my goals are, another crucial element. They are pretty simple. I love running, so I want to run. I love biking and believe I might have some unleashed potential there, so I want to bike. I really like the challenge of improving, so I want to push myself and enjoy the rewards.

Here are the boring details of it all, an overview of the next few weeks. I'm going to "spin" (indoor trainer) 3 days a week and run 3 days a week. I've scheduled times for this to happen that are realistic and current. I'm not going to run in the dark by myself, so morning runs are out and have instead been moved to lunch time. Spinning works after work, unless I work late. That happens from time to time, and for the past month has been pretty much every single night. So, I am just going to bite the bullet and get up earlier so that I ensure myself the time on the bike. I really don't mind getting up early, and it's dark anyway. It's just that I would prefer to not get up that early :)  On the weekends, I will do a long run and a long bike session (Spinflix-style).

I have the daily details scratched out on a piece of paper. I'll be ramping up my mileage and time on the bike back to respectable amounts. I figure I will test this through the rest of the year, and then see what I want to do when January hits. I might want to focus more on one or the other sport, or start training for the Pig. I have some big ideas/dreams about it all, which don't seem to look right on this blog right now. I feel like I'm all talk with nothing to show for it. So for now, it's just about doing what I like to do, and improving at it. When there are results to show, that might warrant more discussion.

Spectating the Mason Half

Sunday, track-BW3s-and-otherwise buddy Roman ran his first half marathon: the former Mason Fall Golden Mini (15K) turned into the Mason Half Marathon. And he did a great job too! He came in 12th in his age group and 43rd overall. 7:35 pace...Not bad!! Congrats, Roman!

We saw Roman start and then headed over to a spot that was around the 4 and 10 mile, since it was partially an out-and-back course. Spectating was fun. We took Dexter to help rally the runners :)  A lot of people glanced at him and smiled, as he shivered in his plaid coat. Why on earth that dog gets so cold with all of the blubber he has to keep him warm is unknown to me. Greg and I took turns running him every now and then to warm him back up.

The other highlight of spectating was chatting with another spectator, Meredith. She joined us at our spot. Her twin sister, Leslie, was running her first half this day also. Greg, Erin, me and Meredith talked the entire time. Looking back, it was crazy how much we actually discussed in the time it took Roman to run 8 or 9 miles. Meredith is from one of the Carolinas (I forget which now). Her sister lives in Columbus and they drove down for the race. Leslie is also leaving for a 2 year stint in the Peace Corps in Guinea, Africa – where she will have no running water or electricity. Meredith does research on Autism, but doesn't do much actual interaction. It is more data crunching from the parents' info. Her parents are divorced and her Dad has done Boston. She ran cross country in school (I don't think college) and thinks a 10K is very very far. :) She and Greg had a lot in common about running. Her mom is a pediatrician and her dad a chiropractor. Her boyfriend is in school to become an art director. She is a vegetarian. She had a book with her she is reading that we all talked about, around the subject of food and good healthy eating. She also had a box of Kleenex in her bag, which made me smile. Someone else in the world prepares themselves with Kleenex at all times. Meredith was really fun to talk to. All in between cheers of "woohoo looking good! way to go runners/walkers! keep it up!"  I was a little sad to leave!

The finish line had some bumpin' music playing, and Roman crossed the line to "California Girls".  Gag!! I was dancing to keep warm. And to entertain anyone that passed. But I think the most success I had was embarrassing Greg. :D  Overall, spectating was very very fun and inspiring! It's been the year of the half. We went to Columbus for Erin's, Roman came to Cincy for mine and Casey's, and Erin and I went to Mason for Romans... and Greg was at all of them :) He gets the award for Best Spectator. Let's call it Best 'Tator.

Happy Early Birthday to Me

I just bought this today off Amazon on mega-sale: the Garmin Forerunner 205.

My old Garmin GPS Speed + Distance system that I've had for 7 years has officially died. Check out the magnitude. It is interesting to see where the technology has come in 7 years I guess. The watch still works, it is the GPS signal-getter that doesn't.

Watch:

Strap on GPS unit... it was like running with a Walkman strapped to my arm.

It was great while it lasted. Greg got it for me when we lived in Florida, so I could just run all over the place and know how far I went without having to try to map it with the car. I guess this was before MapMyRun.com or my discovery of Google maps? (Geesh it was only 7 years ago...hmmm) I don't know - but I loved this thing. I'm sad to see it go, except for the fact that now I don't have to wear the hugeness on my arm, which got annoying in the summer.

I really like going out for a run with the ability to check my pace, see how far I've gone, etc etc. If I want to change course, I can – more freedom with planning routes with these crazy GPS things. The new Garmin seems to do everything except lace up your shoes for you. You can program what information it displays, which is nice...so you don't have to toggle through things you aren't interested in measuring. It also has a virtual training partner. I hope the partner that comes with mine is a pleasant conversationalist who enjoys movies, long walks (or runs) on the beach, and beer. Hopefully we'll become fast friends.

Cincinnati Half Marathon Race Report

Saturday I ran my 5th half marathon, got a PR and had a pretty decent race! My official time was 2:09:49, which averages out to a 9:55 pace. I'm very happy to have averaged under 10s. While I'm super happy with my end time and met some of my goals, I also have some disappointments, namely that I couldn't keep the pace up the entire 13.1 miles. But in the end, I have learned quite a few things from the race.

I had three goals I was keeping in mind for the race. This wasn't going to just be a "go out and run and see what happens" kind of race. Training with Casey, I have gotten a little faster. I wasn't so lazy on my training runs as I have been in the past, by myself. It's very easy for me to settle into a comfy jog. But during most runs we did, I was pushing a little bit. And during the long runs we did, I was running at paces I had never ran before at those distances. So I had plans for this event. I actually "raced" it, for me anyway.  My C goal was sub 2:15:48 which would be a PR. B goal was to run a 10:00 per mile pace (2:11:06). And the A goal was a 9:50 pace, which would be a finish time of 2:08:54.

The race weather was perfect. It was cool, calm, morning around 45º probably. Parking was kind of rough–we tried two garages before finally ending up along the water on the boat ramp. It was free, so that worked out. I got to the start line not too much before it was time to find a place in the crowd. Casey and I said our "see ya laters" to Jannelle and Greg, and tucked into the middle of the pack.

The horn went off and we moved along smoothly. I felt good and calm. Casey realized he had given his gels to Jannelle–doh! But she knew, and when he saw her at the corner down the street a bit, he was able to grab them quickly. That might have been around a half mile? We passed the 1 mile marker in 8:50-something. I immediately thought that was too fast for me. Soon after that, Casey pulled away and I lost sight of him pretty quickly. I settled into my pace, clicking along around 9:15s it seemed from what I heard people with GPSs saying around me. I felt great, but wondered about later.

The course didn't have many hills. There was a hill coming up into downtown, and a couple of long slight inclines here and there. My breathing told me before anything else if we were going up or down. At mile 7 I took a gel. I was happy to have that over with and felt I could concentrate better on just running. I had another to take, but wasn't sure when I'd take it and wasn't worried about it. At mile 8, my watch said 1:16:00 flat. That was a 9:30 pace! I was very happy. With 5.1 miles and about an hour of time left, I knew that unless something horrible happened, I would at least met my C goal of anything sub 2:15:48.

After about mile 9, I began to struggle. People were passing me left and right and I didn't feel like I was maintaining a decent pace anymore. I tried to just stay with 10s and be content with that. I think between mile 8 and 9 was a 9:50 pace. Then between mile 9 and 10 there was a hill coming out of the park that wiped me out. Around mile 10, my knee started hurting from my pesky IT band. What was this? It hadn't hurt during training! I was mad. With 3 miles to go, I didn't know what would happen and all of my progress towards the finish line felt extremely slow and iffy. On top of that, my stomach was cramping and I got a sharp side stitch. At one point, I tried to do some math and figure out what my pace would have to be to get in my A goal of 2:08:54. I thought it seemed possible, then realized I wasn't maintaining a fast enough pace. I gave up on that in favor of just being able to run the entire time. Stupid IT band.

At mile 12 there was an S turn down and over railroad tracks and then into a park. The path was winding concrete sidewalks with sudden ups and downs. Not ideal. I thought about the cobblestone finish of the State to State Half (my first half) and how I had the same thoughts then...this is mean, Mr. Race Director.  I hobbled along, people passing me left and right. Just keep moving forward smoothly, I told myself. I could see the big yellow bridge in the distance and knew the finish was somewhere close to that. My knee hurt really bad. I tried speeding up to see if that would help, but it hurt worse, so I kept it steady.

I saw the finish line and upped the pace to what felt like a respectable hobble. I was cutting it close, but managed to finish just under 2:10! I made C and B goals!!! I was so close to my A goal... it's pretty rough knowing that. But there is something to strive for in my next race.

Me and my high arms...

So, in summary, I am very, very happy that I PR'd and ran well in the beginning! My disappointments lie in the fact that my IT band hurt to a debilitating level and I don't know why it did, and that I couldn't stay strong in the end miles of the race. I wanted to run even-ish splits, not go out quickly just to run out of oomph with 3-4 miles to go and then have the quick miles make up for the slow ones. I suppose if my knee hadn't hurt I might have suffered through it differently. I don't know...

Casey had a super race and finished 1:57:18!!! His first time racing this distance, and he beat his 5K race pace! His running progress has been inspiring and enjoyable to watch.

This was an excellent race. It was the first year for it and was well done. Most importantly, Greg, Jannelle, Roman and Christen were fantastic spectators that I thought of often while out on the 8 mile stretch far away from them! I couldn't wait to see them again. Hopefully this entire report doesn't sound too whiny or down. I'm still in the analyzation phase I guess. Perhaps the fact that I am thinking about it so much is a good sign for what's to come. I have a lot of hope for having more fun at races in the future!

Cincinnati Half Marathon - Complete!

Official time:
2:09:49  |  9:55 pace

Race report coming soon...

Cincinnati Half Marathon is Tomorrow!

Here's the course map!

It's going to be great weather! Chilly for the 'tators, but good for the runners!