I Dream of Running

It must be even years. Even years must be my Running years. Cause this year, I am absolutely salivating, dreaming, itching, DYING to run another marathon. I am craving the long slogs slogs through training lows. I am craving the completely satisfying all-out tired of running a 20-miler on a Saturday morning. I am longing for Garmin-frenzy, track workouts, tempo runs, and sucking down pints of water at my desk. I am desperate for a good, hard sweat. I am pining for my stick of Body Glide. I am web-stalking marathon guide.com and blog stalking all my old favorite RFBs. I have registered for my spring training 1/2 marathon. The weather is uncharacteristically cooperative for January in Nebraska; it's training heaven!

Small problem.

I am 8+ mos pregnant. So all of that is going to have to wait a couple more months. Oh, the AGONY! (insert slightly off-color joke about the impending agony of childbirth here)

I did manage a moderate pregnant 5K a short-while back. Though now I am resorted to walking. But mentally, I am back, baby. 2012 is my next Year of the Marathon.

I'm thinking Chicago?

My, What Big Wind You Have

I am back in Nebraska for yet another annual pilgrimmage to my husband's small home town of Columbus for the rockin alumni basketball tourney. (Let me say, yes, this basketball thing was hot when all the boys were in their 20's and could cruise up and down the court like shirtless, be-abbed, sweaty-but-tough ninja-gazelles, quite possible still drunk from the previous night's beerfest at Glur's...now that they are in their 30's with desk-job-abs, hairy chests--where does the hair come from all of a sudden???--and kids? A little like Eastbound & Down, only with self-glorified high school basketball players. But they love it and it's an immutable annual tradition....one I now find myself taking PTO days from work to participate in. Who knew Nebraska could be considered vacation? Well, I mean besides folks from South Dakota?)

And on the schedule for this weekend's long run: 20-miler. Now, this is a small town and one that I strugled to find 10 miles to run in last year. How the heck was I going to make 20 miles?! Answer: laps. Yes, 3 miles over to the other side of town...3 laps around the 2.5-mile Wagner's Lake loop, a couple out-and-back laps on that rails-to-trails thing on the Platte River levee that I think I am not supposed to be on but that I didn't notice the sign for until I was coming off of it, 3 miles back to the inlaws' donut-shaped lake, and 2 laps around the 1.5-mile loop there. Whew! I did it! And it was the most completely, gloriously, hideously FLAT 20 miles I have ever seen. Who knew flat could get old?! I was actually longing for my Colorado hills at a couple point, just do I could shake up my legs (and get a little downhill action). Luckily, the wind provided all the exciting challenge that I normally get from hills. What, 40-mile per hour winds don't excite you? Yeah, me neither; welcome back to Nebraska.

And in an unrelated-yet-related note, they finally posted the race results from the Downtown Runaround 5 mile race I did here back in July. I pretty much knew my time, but had no idea how I did overall, as they didn't use timing chips and weren't quite as hi-tech as I am used to with the CO races. Well, turns out I finished 8 in my age group, which I think is my best finish to-date (hubs also finished 8 in his AG; we're Identical Age Group Twins, yay!). It wasn't a very big race, but was definitely skewed to younger, speedier runners, so I am happy with that finish (the top 100 finishers out of only 254 runners were all under 8:00 pace). One of these days I'll get an AG award...though I may have to stage my own race to get it.

Yaktrax: 1, Blizzard: 0

I am back in good ole Nebrasky for the holiday festivities again. Luckily, we arrived at the in-laws the day before a nasty, windy, wintry blizzard hit. However, Shortie2 being the not-good secret keeper she is, inadvertently slipped and mentioned that one of my Christmas gifts was a pair of Yaktrax. SCORE! So, when the snow rolled in on Wednesday, I promptly started begging (and pleading and whining and begging some more) the hubs to open that gift early, so I could go for a run in the snowy glory. (I may or may not have used guilt and dangled the horror of another broken bone or head-injury possibility, resulting in a costly medical bill and sad, sad holiday in front of him. And more importantly, in front of my young, impressionable, and easily frightened Shorties. Yes, yes, once again I get the Mother of the Year Award...)

Of course I won. Gift swiftly opened, instructions skimmed, rubber contraptions strapped on, winter tech layers laid, fleece headband secure.

I had a superb 6.13 mile run in the snowy, non-windy goodness. It was the perfect snow run and after 2 days cooped up in the house due to the horrid 50-mph winds, I am extra glad I weaseled the Yaktrax gift and went. Plus, the looks of shock and open-mouthed gaping stares on the faces of all the snowblower folk and neigborhood drivers was well worth it, "Is she MAD?!" Why yes, I am. Thanks for noticing.

Thursday brought a slightly less-satisfying indoor 3 mile run at the local Y before it closed for the holiday/blizzard. On a 1/20 mile elevated track. Yeah, that was 60 hardcore laps. You better believe my ass was cruising faster than usual to get that over with. But, now I don't have to feel guilty about the holiday goodies and extra beer consumption. Here's to hoping the snow wind ends and I can get those Yaktrax out for another spin.

Happy Christmas! Hope you all are enjoying food, family, and good running [gifts] yourself.

Downtown Runaround Quickie

Full race report coming, but for now: great race, nice and flat, 5mi PR 41:38. This being Columbus, NE, the race was full-on Old Skool with no timing chips...so obviously the race results are not posted, so don't know exactly how I did in the field of about 900. Stay tuned folks.

VAY-KAY

Ah, vacation. How sweet you are...and so where am I, you may be wondering? Am I in beautiful San Francisco, preparing to run the half or full marathon? Negative. Am I by the beach, sunning and relaxing? Alas, no. Ah, perhaps camping in the serene Rocky Mountain wilderness, with nothing by my wireless card and a bear-proof cooler, and a long leash for Shorties 1 and 2?Still no.

If you have been reading this blog since my last "vacation" in the spring (though I wager most probably haven't) you may recall that all my "vacations" involve trekking back to the Motherland: Nebraska. Nebraska. Nebraska. In July. Yes, folks, I am once again in the Flatlands, visiting relatives. While calling it vacation might be a bit of a stretch, a Polish family reunion is the impetus for the trip. I know there will be Polocks, of course there will be beer; I am praying for [drunken] polka.

While it is nice to have a couple days off work, and it is fun to see the in-laws, the best thing (ok second best--the best is that it's flat here despite being wetly humid and exponentially buggier than Denver) is that we arrived in town today to have the father-in-law announce that there is a 5-mile race on Saturday, and were we runners interested in participating? Hell yes. So, just like that, my "fun" family (by marriage only) reunion turned into a racing trip, whee! Since we actually remembered the camera for once, I will attempt some action shots of the excitement that is sure to be the Run Around Town.

Tomorrow I will show my full geekiness and write about my and semi-failure (which turned into a-bit-less-of-a-failure due to my sheer and utter stupidity) on my current training plan for the Denver Marathon in October.

Back in the Game, Baby

So after what felt like an extraordinarily long time away from blogland (really only a week), I am back. Where did I go, you might be wondering? Did I go somewhere lush and vacationy like Hawaii? Did I go run a marathon in some exciting venue? Did I land in the hospital after my kids came after me for dumping them in the gutter face first last week?

No, my bloggy friends, I went to Nebraska (insert snarky remark of your choice here).

Anyway, after runinng my highest mileage training week to-date just two weeks ago, last week was an utter fail. I managed some shorter runs of 4-6 miles (which involved me quite literally dragging my dog behind me as she clung, paws-outstretched, toenail-deep, to the few shady spots in the 85-degree humidity of the Cornhusker state), but didn't manage to cram in a long run. I felt horribly guilty and quite cranky about this, but then decided to rationalize it by telling myself it was an intentional easier "rest" week built into my training. So that's where we sit.

This week I'll do a 14 or 15-miler. I swear.

Nebraska is really...flat.

I am on "holiday" in Nebraska. What, you are wondering why in God's name anyone would willingly go to Nebraska for any type of holiday recreation? Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing...

But the bonus is that normally running in hilly terrain at 6300 feet and then running on the positively, absolutely, nastily, gloriously! heavenly! flatness here made my recovery run yesterday a breeze. I set out to do 2-3 miles, to just let the legs loosen up after the speedwork we did at the track on Wednesday night and ended up doing 5.2 miles. It was a little windy--damn Nebraska wind--but overall it was pretty nice. Nice tree-lined streets, nice smooth sidewalks, relatively few cars, no stoplights. Nice little jaunt.

Today was bitter-cold and [of course] windy so I took the day off. Here's to hoping tomorrow is warmer, if not less windy, for my 10 mile long run.