Smuttynose "Will Run For Beer" 5k
The best race I've been too, and yet the most unpleasant and my worst 5k time to date. Whatever though, there was free beer and really ugly race tshirts. (Seriously, guys. Comic Sans? Is it discounted or something because it's such a joke? I don't know how this stuff works. Oh well, free is free.)
The four of us (me, Claire, and racing newbies Pat and Jenna) set off for the Land of the Free at around 8:30 after some confusion about our Zipcar (mainly that it wasn't there). We arrived in plenty of time, and went to pick up our numbers (on a super-immature sidenote, Pat was dissapointed that Jenna & I got numbers 67 and 68 and he somehow got 219 even though we'd all registered at the same time. Oh, ha ha).
While the race was chip timed and pretty well organized, it was still very casual. There was a guy with a mic who just said "go!" and it got clogged up for a minute or two at the front.
It was shaping up to be a hot day. Many of the good residents of Newmarket had placed sprinklers on the side of the street and I made it my business to jump through all of them. I seriously think I might be the sweatiest skinny white girl on the planet. When I'm doing a hard run, my face gets so red people stare at me in alarm. Just sayin'.
Pat immediately took the lead of the four of us (of course), and then Claire was behind him and Jenna and I jogged together for a minute or two before I started pulling ahead of her so none of us ran together the whole time. There was a loop-around where other runners would pass us, and Claire passed me at the corner and waved, then when I came to that corner Jenna was running into the loop so I waved at her. She yelled "THIS SUCKS!" at me, apparently making a lot of friends in the back of the pack.
I managed to run mile 1, but was getting really fatigued going into mile 2. I really didn't want to walk, since that's been my main goal in all of this, but my vision started to go a bit blurry so I figured it'd be best to walk a bit so I slowed right before the water stop. I drank one cup and dumped another one on my head. The rest was kind of a blur, running through sprinklers and trying to keep my pace up but I ended up walking for probably 3 or 4 minutes on and off.
The last part was an incredible steep hill, and I charged up that, collapsing on the grass with a lame stupid time of 35:12 (11:22 min/mile). Pat did great with a 28:16, Claire did 31:02 and Jenna came charging up the hill at 35:56.
Surprisingly (or not?) we all really did want a delicious, cold, frosty beer after that. Smutty is one of my faves so I was pretty excited. There was also tons of free pizza, wings, chili, bananas, various sports drinks we lumped together as "Haterade", and of course karaoke to set the mood. We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking Shoals Pale Ale and Smutty IPA and eating pizza and chilling at the Old Stone Church. Really really good times.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
All in your head
I read somewhere that running any distance beyond 3 miles is all in your head. I can only really run 3 miles, so I wonder if that means I have a weak mind. That's a depressing thought, but I wouldn't doubt it. How do I make my mind stronger? Jedi mind tricks? Wiggling my ears and rolling my eyes at the same time?
Or how about just flipping running more than 3 miles? Just DOING it. Somehow, I feel like there's some secret thing I need to do, some magic spell, some person I have to become and then POOF, I'll be able to run 10 miles. Telling myself that's not true doesn't seem to get the concept through my head though. Feeling guilty and weak just discourages me into not trying anymore, and that's no good.
The physical benefits of my quasi-running are obvious. My cardiovascular fitness has improved monumentally, for instance. When I started, I'd easily break 180 bpm running an 11 minute mile, now I'm at a comfortable 140-160 running a 9 minute mile. Can't keep up the 9 minute mile for more than 5 minutes, but hey.
Maybe the key is to just stop obsessing about 5 minutes and 9 minutes and 3 miles and just run all these silly thoughts out of my head.
Or how about just flipping running more than 3 miles? Just DOING it. Somehow, I feel like there's some secret thing I need to do, some magic spell, some person I have to become and then POOF, I'll be able to run 10 miles. Telling myself that's not true doesn't seem to get the concept through my head though. Feeling guilty and weak just discourages me into not trying anymore, and that's no good.
The physical benefits of my quasi-running are obvious. My cardiovascular fitness has improved monumentally, for instance. When I started, I'd easily break 180 bpm running an 11 minute mile, now I'm at a comfortable 140-160 running a 9 minute mile. Can't keep up the 9 minute mile for more than 5 minutes, but hey.
Maybe the key is to just stop obsessing about 5 minutes and 9 minutes and 3 miles and just run all these silly thoughts out of my head.
Friday, May 16, 2008
No Stopping Now
Today I ran 4 miles. I almost didn't want to since I'd forgotten my iPod at work, and I had so much cleaning to do, and I am chock full to the brim with excuses, but I did it anyway and feel all the better for it.
It's lilac season and the Fens smelled like all of my best childhood memories. I crossed over to do the Riverway loop, and it was teeming with fluffy goslings. You really can't beat that kind of a cotton candy a rainbows evening. Not having music made me more aware of my surroundings, and looking up at the street signs that read "NO STOPPING ALLOWED" was oddly inspiring. So I didn't stop. Except when I would have otherwise been run over, which I think is fair.
No music also made me more aware of my own stride and my breathing pattern, which made me realize I really wasn't nearly as winded as I'd thought. And it also made me start humming very odd songs to myself, like old stuff from church camp, folk songs, stuff my mom made up, Christmas Carols. Before I knew it, I was home and couldn't feel my toes or my right arm.
Maybe it's just my low expectations of myself, but I'm still pretty excited that I can run more than a mile. I never in a million years thought I'd be able to run four. It's really shown me that just because something is possible, doesn't mean it's possible NOW. I always thought three miles was such a short distance that I should be able to do it right away, and that's the kind of thinking that has been derailing my progress for the last several years. It wasn't until I found a plan that enforced slow progress that I started to make any progress at all.
I am a slow learner at physical things. It always took me far longer to learn dance combinations, it took me three months to learn how to dive, and I fell thirty-seven consecutive times before I finally got up on waterskis for the first time. But you know what? Most other people would have quit long before I did. I had to get rugburns on my feet from practicing, spend hours at a time in the deep end of the pool, and faceplant into a lake thirty-seven times in a freaking row. And in the end, I accomplished what I set out to do. That, is the important thing. So I will continue to pat myself on the back for baby steps.
It's lilac season and the Fens smelled like all of my best childhood memories. I crossed over to do the Riverway loop, and it was teeming with fluffy goslings. You really can't beat that kind of a cotton candy a rainbows evening. Not having music made me more aware of my surroundings, and looking up at the street signs that read "NO STOPPING ALLOWED" was oddly inspiring. So I didn't stop. Except when I would have otherwise been run over, which I think is fair.
No music also made me more aware of my own stride and my breathing pattern, which made me realize I really wasn't nearly as winded as I'd thought. And it also made me start humming very odd songs to myself, like old stuff from church camp, folk songs, stuff my mom made up, Christmas Carols. Before I knew it, I was home and couldn't feel my toes or my right arm.
Maybe it's just my low expectations of myself, but I'm still pretty excited that I can run more than a mile. I never in a million years thought I'd be able to run four. It's really shown me that just because something is possible, doesn't mean it's possible NOW. I always thought three miles was such a short distance that I should be able to do it right away, and that's the kind of thinking that has been derailing my progress for the last several years. It wasn't until I found a plan that enforced slow progress that I started to make any progress at all.
I am a slow learner at physical things. It always took me far longer to learn dance combinations, it took me three months to learn how to dive, and I fell thirty-seven consecutive times before I finally got up on waterskis for the first time. But you know what? Most other people would have quit long before I did. I had to get rugburns on my feet from practicing, spend hours at a time in the deep end of the pool, and faceplant into a lake thirty-seven times in a freaking row. And in the end, I accomplished what I set out to do. That, is the important thing. So I will continue to pat myself on the back for baby steps.
Monday, May 5, 2008
When does it get easier? I did almost 4.5 miles today, but much of that was quick walking breaks and wanting to vomit. How do people just start running and keep going? Not worrying about their knees or lungs or stomach or the traffic or how totally insane it is to be running around in a circle for 45 minutes?
Still, I do feel kind of awesome about it now. Maybe that's some sort of answer.
Still, I do feel kind of awesome about it now. Maybe that's some sort of answer.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Race report #2
Architecture for Humanity 5K
30:52
Way too early this morning the stove caught my favorite (okay, only) coffeepot on fire. The gas flames got too big for their britches and had an unfortunate meeting with the one plastic part on the thing, and now my stove is covered in melted plastic, the kitchen smells like crap, and I am down one coffeepot. The coffee came out fine, but when your favorite coffeepot has just caught on fire, there's nothing that can't be made better with some strategic cursing and a liberal splash of whiskey. So, at around 8am, I set off slightly intoxicated and pissed off to my second 5k race of the year/my life.
Long story short, when I finished the race I was no longer either of those things, so yay running!
This was an awesome race around the Charles River out by Harvard/Allston. The weather was perfect, sunny and breezy, and the course was almost all flat. I actually passed ten people (I counted), and though I only beat my previous time by a minute and am still running at around 10 min/mile, I was quite pleased.
Nacho and his friend Matt were there, which was a very nice surprise. They waited for me at the finish line and gave me high fives and back pats, which I must say, are even better than free race t-shirts (which I did not get). Hopefully will see them again tonight.
The Charles River Cleanup event was also taking place, and many of the volunteers participating paused their work and stopped to cheer and give high fives and yell encouragement to the runners. I realized then that running piddly short charity races is probably the closest I will ever get to my childhood dream of being a professional baseball player. And that's okay with me, it's probably closer than lots of people get to their childhood dreams of being ballerina astronaut pony farmers or whatever.
I'm starting to feel like running twice this distance is maybe not as much of an impossible feat as I originally thought. Not quite ready to try it out yet though. My new shoes are awesome, and what I originally thought might be stress fractures in both my ankles doesn't seem to have gotten any worse.
My back hurts, my feet hurt, my legs hurt, and I feel good.
30:52
Way too early this morning the stove caught my favorite (okay, only) coffeepot on fire. The gas flames got too big for their britches and had an unfortunate meeting with the one plastic part on the thing, and now my stove is covered in melted plastic, the kitchen smells like crap, and I am down one coffeepot. The coffee came out fine, but when your favorite coffeepot has just caught on fire, there's nothing that can't be made better with some strategic cursing and a liberal splash of whiskey. So, at around 8am, I set off slightly intoxicated and pissed off to my second 5k race of the year/my life.
Long story short, when I finished the race I was no longer either of those things, so yay running!
This was an awesome race around the Charles River out by Harvard/Allston. The weather was perfect, sunny and breezy, and the course was almost all flat. I actually passed ten people (I counted), and though I only beat my previous time by a minute and am still running at around 10 min/mile, I was quite pleased.
Nacho and his friend Matt were there, which was a very nice surprise. They waited for me at the finish line and gave me high fives and back pats, which I must say, are even better than free race t-shirts (which I did not get). Hopefully will see them again tonight.
The Charles River Cleanup event was also taking place, and many of the volunteers participating paused their work and stopped to cheer and give high fives and yell encouragement to the runners. I realized then that running piddly short charity races is probably the closest I will ever get to my childhood dream of being a professional baseball player. And that's okay with me, it's probably closer than lots of people get to their childhood dreams of being ballerina astronaut pony farmers or whatever.
I'm starting to feel like running twice this distance is maybe not as much of an impossible feat as I originally thought. Not quite ready to try it out yet though. My new shoes are awesome, and what I originally thought might be stress fractures in both my ankles doesn't seem to have gotten any worse.
My back hurts, my feet hurt, my legs hurt, and I feel good.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Marathon Monday
This afternoon, as I was walking my L.A. to the gym after leaving work early for no reason, I was so inspired seeing all the marathoners limping back from the finish line. Many covered in big silver capes, like the superheroes they probably are.
So I went to the gym, pumped to slog through my typical three miles on the treadmill, only to find out, after I finished dressed, that I had not brought any socks.
After some considerable colorful language, I tried to give myself the "Do It Anyway!" pep talk, like I do when I forget my iPod or headband, but there is only so much insanity that one can pep talk oneself into. So I went home.
I think I either have to am about to have a stress fracture in my right shin. Still, I signed up for another 5K for this coming weekend, even though I haven't been able to run the distance since the last one.
This is probably a bad idea.
So I went to the gym, pumped to slog through my typical three miles on the treadmill, only to find out, after I finished dressed, that I had not brought any socks.
After some considerable colorful language, I tried to give myself the "Do It Anyway!" pep talk, like I do when I forget my iPod or headband, but there is only so much insanity that one can pep talk oneself into. So I went home.
I think I either have to am about to have a stress fracture in my right shin. Still, I signed up for another 5K for this coming weekend, even though I haven't been able to run the distance since the last one.
This is probably a bad idea.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Motiva...what?
Since finishing the race, I've been having a really hard time getting back into my running. I know it's totally mental, I know. But it doesn't help. I was jogging along at my typical 10-min mile pace today, and it was the most beautiful evening in the Fens, and there was really no reason to feel like I couldn't go on. I was just so uninspired.
Then it hit me.
Run faster.
So I ran faster.
And it felt really, really good.
The downside is, I realized that my lack of motivation was only partly mental and also partly something wrong with my lower legs, so I had to stop eventually anyway.
I need some big fluffy cloud shoes to run in.
Then it hit me.
Run faster.
So I ran faster.
And it felt really, really good.
The downside is, I realized that my lack of motivation was only partly mental and also partly something wrong with my lower legs, so I had to stop eventually anyway.
I need some big fluffy cloud shoes to run in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
