Towards 13.1

It's over!

2009-08-07T08:03:00.001-07:00

So we did it! We survived a half marathon and it wasn't much of an ordeal...just the last three miles. L beat me by 35 seconds although it seemed much more than that. She zoomed out of sight as I ran out of gas. We ran together most of the way, enjoying the scenery--vineyards on either side of rural roads, horses in pastures running with us, hot air balloons in the distance. Very scenic. I gave some help adjusting a Garmin Forerunner to a tiny 70-ish woman while we waited for the start. Her Moeben sleeves should have warned me she was a REAL racer--she ended up beating me by five minutes! Her name is Imme Dyson and she is a nationally known uber age grouper. My chip time of 2:06:17 was pretty pathetic, but it won my age group, so I was happy and surprised. My winnings-- a bottle of wine, of course! Additionally, there were at least a dozen vineyards conducting wine tastings under tents at the finish. L and I found some very nice Zinfandel and Pinot Noir to guzzle under the warm California sun. Our trip also included some nice meals, a Segway tour of Sonoma wine country, horseback riding and visiting a few more wineries and a cheese factory. What a great time!

on winning

2009-07-16T13:29:00.001-07:00

Winning has nothing to do with racing. Most days don't have races anyway. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up.

-Amby Burfoot, The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life

Napa to Sonoma map of race

2009-07-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

Napa to Sonoma Wine County Half Marathon
Find more Runs in Sonoma, California

I'm not sure what to think of the elevation (click on "show elevation"). Looks like the "butt burner" at the beginning is only .5 miles long. I don't like the slight uphill during the last 4 miles though : (

It's almost here!

2009-07-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

Mom and I will be running a 1/2 marathon in less than a week! Ahh! I can't believe it's already upon us. We haven't been good about updating the blog, but trust us, we've been running. I've been nursing a strange psoas or deep ab (can't tell which) muscle pain for about 2 months, and for the last month I've had a cramp in my right side ribs at all times. Perhaps it's from dehydration since it's been getting hotter lately, but it's always with me, even when I'm walking briskly to or from work or the grocery store. So that's annoying.

Last weekend I ran 11 miles, and it's the longest I've ever run. I went out at mid day and it was HOT. I also, stupidly, went north instead of down to the mall where there are water fountains galore. An uphill at mile 6 and vendors selling bottled water while I ran by penniless made it pretty difficult.

There's an article about destination races this month in Runner's World. Mom and I are gearing up for winery tours, museums, and lots of relaxing and site seeing post-race!

What happened to May?

2009-06-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

I spent the month of May trying to build back some mileage. My weekly totals were 7, 12, 16, and 20. I spent a weekend with L in DC and had a grand time. Our run to the Mall was leisurely because it was hot, but allowed me an overview of the monuments. We ate well, travelled around on the Metro and took in some museums. Then I spent a week in Kentucky as an oral Boards examiner, so that set me back a week without exercise. My last "long" run was 7 miles--I hope to run an 8 miler this weekend. It'll be slow due to the warm temps and high humidity. We don't have much time left to prepare!

Hamstrung

2009-04-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, I was disappointed with my Bridge run 51:47 chip time/51:55 gun time, about a minute slower than last year. My goal was to win my age group for the 3rd time in a row but it didn't happen. I was 4th. Well, really 3rd because Number 1 was a woman who has never been in a race before, i.e., whoever ran with her name/bib number wasn't a sixty-ish woman. I was mostly disappointed, however, because I was in terrific shape until I injured my hamstring at the Gift of Life 5K three weeks before the Bridge run. I did some more damage to it while in Maui at a medical meeting, running hills with a much younger friend. The uphill segment of the Bridge run tore it up some more. But the old Broad still beat the young'uns. (Of course, I had a head start from a better starting corral., a perk of high end past performance.)

So now I sit on ice bags a lot and try to stay in shape with deep water pool running. I haven't run more than 2-3 miles a week in the past month. I am seriously worried about how I will get in shape for a half marathon in less than 3 months. I've injured this same hamstring three times before and it always takes me 3 months to get back to just normal running. But, L, you better take advantage of this setback and get some mileage goin'. Mama never gives up, y'know!

Spring Update

2009-04-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we're finally getting warmer weather up here in Capital City, which bodes well for my training. The longer days, too, mean I can get runs in outside after work.

Mom and I recently ran the Cooper River Bridge run in early April in Charleston. Mom, despite a sore hamstring, of course beat me. I beat my time from last year, however. And, more importantly, my friend Rob. He may have been tired from running a marathon the week before but really, that's no excuse : P I ran a 52:31. Last year I did 54:00, so I'm happy.

So let the Spring training begin. Ten weeks out from the 1/2 marathon, I'm going to start a program Ryan Hall put out on Runner's World. Until then, I'm just gonna run as much mileage as possible very slowly.

YES!

2009-04-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

VALIDATION:

"Ultimately, the best runners are the ones who are willing to work very hard but who have a little bit of a lazy streak in them."

BENJI DURDEN, Coach

That was the quote of the day today from Runner's World.com. 'Nuff said.

2009-03-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

Dr. Bayne Selby and I with our age group lighthouse awards at the Charlie Post Classic 5K at the end of January. It was a cold day!

It's my parents' fault...

2009-02-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

L--of course I will enjoy the California sunshine and the fermented fruit juice! But perhaps some family history will provide perspective on my urge to strive for excellence.

I can remember my Dad at the dinner table pronouncing, "I win!" gleefully, after he finished every evening meal before my mother, brother and I. I could never beat him.

When I was about 4, my mother and I were sitting on her bed looking through the childhood treasures which she kept in a cigar box. Among the saved items was a blue ribbon which she won as a girl at a County fair race in her native Selby, South Dakota. I was intrigued by that prize and asked to have it, but she said I would have to earn my own some day. Bummer! That set the stage for my competitive running career. Out of 200 plus races, there are fewer than a dozen times when I've gone home empty handed. If you aren't the winner, then you're first loser, and who likes that???

Stopping to drink the roses

2009-02-13T20:16:00.000-08:00

I got off work early today (we always close at 3pm the day before a holiday) and took advantage of this to go for a run on the national mall. I hadn't been running outside here in DC for a couple of really cold months, but we're having an unseasonably warm spell. That combined with the days getting a little longer, and I was able to once again get down to the Washington monument in time for the sunset (and yes, this means that even though I got home at 4 I still didn't get my butt out the door until 6:00, and in fact it was seeing mom's post about winning every race ever that made me put on my running shoes and head out the door). Anyway, it really is spectacular to see the sun set behind the Lincoln memorial and mirrored in the reflecting pool and see the planes take off from Reagan once I get down there. The run back (especially on a Friday) is the leg that the view has to make up for: dodging people and breathing in secondhand cigarette smoke and smog, etc.

I'm trying to slowly build my mileage throughout February and March so that I can start a training program in April for the 1/2 marathon. And hopefully I'll have the Bridge Run and a 5k in Baltimore in between for some short-term goals.

I've noticed a trend...My mom's posts are all about win, win, win, go, go, go, and "training schedules," and discipline, whereas mine are always more about the visceral experience of running. I'm hoping she can stop to smell the roses (er, drink the wine?) a little in California and just enjoy it. You will mom, right?

Sold Out!

2009-02-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

Just checked the Napa/Sonoma website and they reached their cap on the half marathon registration on Jan 28th. So it sounds like it is a popular race that will keep its unique character and not get overrun.

My Charlie Post 5K finish time was 24:46, exactly the same as the Resolution Run, with an excuse for not improving being that it was not a goal race and I "trained through" it. I was pleased to win the Grandmaster trophy, a cute little replica of the Sullivan's Island lighthouse, my 5th at this race. Owing to the natural physiologic slowing that occurs with age, most big races have a masters (fastest over 40 years of age) and grandmasters (over 50) winner for both males and females. Some really progressive races add a senior master category for those racers over 60. I'm waaayyy over 60. I got the GM award because a speedy 50 year old lady beat all the over 40 ladies, giving her the Masters award.

I am looking forward to the next race, an 8K (5 miler) weekend after next!

Training in the cold

2009-01-19T08:47:00.000-08:00

Generally, I prefer cold weather running over hot, but the cold and dark of mostly night time training is killing my motivation. Having laid a decent mileage base, I am just starting the speedwork phase of my schedule which means back to the track on Tuesday nights. Maybe that will perk me up a bit. The track workouts mostly entail trying to avoid getting trampled by the much younger guys who show up to do the same thing, only faster. Much faster.

This month's Running Times has a page devoted to the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon which is what L and I are training for this summer. It is a HILLY course, worrisome when you hail from the Low Country. I sense some painful hill work in the future.

I have another 5K race coming up at the end of this month, so it will be good to see if I can trim a few seconds off my finish time. Keep plugging away on the treadmill, Laurel, stay warm and get fit!

Winners all!

2009-01-17T14:01:00.000-08:00

Mom, Steph, and Me with our handmade plaques. While Steph and I were significantly slower than the Nance, we still posted a respectable time in the Resolution Run, especially for not having trained for a 5k, and, in my case, not having run much at all. (What was our time, Steph, just under 27:00?) Since other women our age are actually really fast and won the overall awards, Steph and I placed in our agegroup. The lesson here? Mediocrity pays off.

...
On that note, I haven't done so well keeping up with my running since I've been back in DC. I blame the weather (11 degrees on my walk to work yesterday, and that's not counting windchill) and the excitement over the inauguration.

Mom got me a subscription to Runner's World AND Running Times for Christmas, so hopefully that will inspire me to get going in the new year. I saw some people running outside from my 7th story view while on the treadmill at the Y, and they looked very, very cold. Nonetheless, they made me feel very very wimpy.

One final note: I have got to get around to calibrating my nike+ iPod thingamajigger. While it's nice to think that I'm running 8:30 miles on my easy runs and covering twice as much ground as the treadmill tells me I am, I shouldn't live under that delusion for too long.

The New Year

2009-01-09T11:19:00.000-08:00

Laurel and I and her friend Stephanie and Steph's Dad, Chris, all did the 5K run at Hampton Park on the Saturday following New Year's. Running conditions were perfect, and the venue of Hampton Park, Citadel grounds and Joe Riley Stadium was flat and scenic. I ran a 24:46 which, although not stellar, was a good effort for the first race of the year and good enough to win my age group. There were awards all around, actually, as L and Steph took 3rd and 2nd in their age group and Chris ran off with 2nd in his. We won discount coupons at a sporting goods store and I also won two passes to an upcoming antiques show. The latter will be given away to a friend who has an appreciation for that stuff. The wooden plaques we won were a bit makeshift--no, make that cheesy--I'm hoping Laurel can post the picture of the two of us displaying them. They fed us red rice, beans and collard greens, a traditional Southern meal. While a nice touch, its appeal still mystifies me after all these years of living here, however.

Training secrets

2008-12-27T06:17:00.000-08:00

Dammit L, quit divulging my training secrets!! This is all supposed to seem effortless, and um, easy. Let's preserve the illusion at least!

(The wires go through the holes, Sweetie, with the Ipod in the pocket.....)

....just kidding, I love you! Mom

We're on vacation (well, some of us...)

2008-12-25T11:31:00.000-08:00

Re: mom's claim that over the holidays she'll "run whenever she feels like it without following a particular schedule": bullshit. I've heard all about her schedule to run the bridge, do an easy run, run 9, 10, or 12 miles this weekend, and generally run 6 days per week allowing herself only one day of rest!

My strategy is somewhat different: get really sick just in time for Christmas so I don't have to tag along on the difficult bridge run : ) No, I kid, I kid. I was really looking forward to running here in Charleston while on my vacation, since it is safe to go out no matter the hour, since there's no risk of being run over by diplomats or politicos, and since it's almost 80 degrees, there's no smog, and I'm not in the middle of a frigid city. But alas, my body thinks otherwise. Oh well, Merry Christmas!

Running less, shopping more

2008-12-20T13:08:00.000-08:00

While L spins like crazy getting fit, I have reduced my mileage about 20% these past two weeks, giving my arthritic knees a break. That allowed me to do some Christmas shopping. Laurel received a "Care package" of some old and new cold weather running clothes, a not so subtle hint to do some running this winter in DC. I'm told she was puzzling over the Ipod holes in the high tech Nike jacket I sent...

Although I worked up until Christmas eve, I now have off until Jan 5th, which makes it much easier to get my runs in. The weather has been nuts--some days hot and near 80, some cold and dreary. Very confusing to my cardiovascular system. I've signed L and I up for the Resolution Run next weekend. Although it is supposedly a certified race with chip timing, which qualifies it as a "real race," its label as a "fun run" tells me that other niceties such as reporting and verifying the results per USAT&F standards cannot be expected.

Good friends of mine in NC, Ron and Kathy, emailed that they did the Napa to Sonoma Half two years ago--I'm eager to hear what they have to say about the race and things to do in that area. I'll see them at a Radiology meeting in Hawaii in March. Now for a long morning run.....

On track

2008-12-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

After Month One (November) of my "Phase One: Increase General Fitness" plan ended up being a FAIL (I think I ran an average of twice a week), Week One of Month Two (December) was a WIN!

Mon: Spinning. 60 minutes of heart-racing, sweat-drenching cycling at the YMCA...I'm still trying to find the best instructor--so far there is only one I like, and instead of shopping around (and ending up with narcissistic spinning junkies who play house music and yell at you about when you can and cannot drink your water), I should probably stick with him.
Tues: "Body Bar" with Marsha, again at the Y. A weight training class involving "body bars" (like the large barbells that you load up with different weights, except all the weight is in the bar, and there are varying sizes/weights). My upper-body strength is laughable.
Wed: Rest--very sore from weight workout! Especially in the hamstrings.
Thurs: Indoor run on the treadmill. Whenever I run on a treadmill, I get shin splints. When I run outside, I do not: Discuss.
Fri: Wine.
Sat: Run AND Wine. (Kind of a like a 2-a-day. Definitely not at the same time, though.) Ran outdoors mid-day, down to the Washington Monument and back. Saw the inaugural stand under construction in front of the back of the white house (sometimes I wish I had a camera with me on runs...do they make such a thing? Runner-friendly cameras?)It was about 30 degrees. I froze my ass off. Literally: my butt was numb when I got back to the apartment.

Hoping Week Two is just as successful!

Running sick

2008-12-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

My Reindeer Run race was supposed to be my goal race for the season and I really wanted to better my Turkey Day time. An intervening trip to Chicago and the obligatory cold that followed messed up my plans, however. Despite the liberal use of decongestants verboten in serious running competitions, I ran a seriously slow race, a minute and 20 seconds slower than last week. Maybe I was being punished by the Olympic Gods. Anyway, lesson learned: don't run while you are sick, the outcome is usually not optimum. It is time now to take a bit of a break over the holidays and run when I feel like it without following any particular schedule. Then next month it is back to building a base.

On why my mother will most certainly be better prepared for this than I

2008-11-28T14:39:00.000-08:00

Though I hope to convince my brother to go for a run with me tomorrow in the nearby park here in brisk Pittsburgh (where I am staying for the holiday weekend), my plans thus far to strike out on my own have not gone so well. For one, I'm afraid I'll get lost and end up on the wrong side of the tracks, but more importantly it's just too damn cold, and I'm a wimpy southerner with thin blood who just can't handle it. I also discovered a scale in my brother's house, and weighed myself for the first time in a couple years (I don't own a scale. Ignorance is bliss! And obsessing over small fluctuations in weight has never seemed worthwhile to me. If my clothes start to feel tight, that's my indicator.) And, well, let's just say that even though I walk everywhere in DC, my lack of regular running has had an impact. Phase one of my training for winter 08/09 (to increase my general fitness) has been stalled in favor of an alternate strategy for the holiday season: Eat and Grow Large With Food.
Laziness: 1, Laurel: 0

Preparation by way of racing

2008-11-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

I have a bit of a head start on L on the running thing and maybe the wine thing as well. I ran the Turkey Day 5K race in Charleston, winning my age group in 24:03. That time is not particularly impressive unless you are under 10 or over 60. I'll leave it to your imagination into which category I fall. It was a perfect day for a race, chilly (46 degrees) and sunny with negligible wind. The post race libation was beer--bizarre on a cool morning, but we enjoyed it. It's a fun race and well attended (4000 plus). It's not always the case that a charity run can create an event which appeals to serious competitive runners. I am off to Chicago for a couple of days and then will try to better that race time at the Reindeer Run next Saturday. My most serious local competitors will be doing a half marathon at Kiawah on that same morning. I'm thinking their times will give me some idea of what I might be able to do in Napa next summer.

It's official

2008-11-24T20:14:00.000-08:00

We're registered. That's it. No backing out now! The hardest part about it was not the act of committing to months of training for a grueling race (or the steep registration fee), but whether or not to sign up for the pre-race dinner/wine tasting. That's right, pre-race. We elected to decide on that later, instead assuredly choosing just the post-race wine glass souvenir/ticket to tasting, as running-whilst hungover is not currently part of our training plan.

Update

2008-11-22T16:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm doing REALLY well with the wine part. (I didn't realize we were training for that portion, too, Ma :P) Not so well with the running part, though I did walk about 5 miles today all-told. I did a walk-a-thon for the homeless this morning and I haven't been that cold in a long time. Apparently jeans are no match for the 27 degree temperature + brutal wind along the Tidal Basin. That and a trip to the newly opened American History museum (which has a big exhibit on antebellum Charleston, btw) and I am just about walked out. So, that counts as training...right?

Purpose of this blog

2008-11-20T15:06:00.000-08:00

Just for fun. And to encourage one another. And to encourage friends and family to encourage us. Because I will need all the encouragement I can get to train in the freezing cold for a race that's in July! It is also to document our journey and progress so that we can have a record of how this goes. (Mom and I have the memory of goldfish, so if nothing else this might prove useful as a memory aid.)

We hope that this blog will at least mildly amuse anyone who keeps up with it, and at most provide advice or inspiration for us along the way.

2008-11-20T08:06:00.000-08:00

I'm new to this blog stuff, so bear with me. I am Nance, the Mom, who has agreed to this adventure in hopes of spending some quality time running with my daughter in wine country. How can it not be fun? (Except for my lack of enthusiasm for really long runs.) It is probably good for both of us to get out of our comfort zones and do something challenging and different and enjoy doing it together. I think it will be a hoot! I've even started training--ran 5 miles last night and then had a big glass of really bad, cheap Merlot! So what you doing, Tweetie?

We're doing what?

2008-11-16T15:48:00.000-08:00

So, I'm not sure who convinced who here, but somehow mom and I have agreed (though nothing has been signed yet)to train for, and run (God willing) a half marathon next summer.

The idea launched this summer when mother uttered a series of words I'd never imagined she would: "You know, if you wanted to train for and run a marathon, I'd do it with you." Huh? Up until that point, I would not be exaggerating when I say that mom was adamantly anti-marathon: "Who in their right mind would want to do that?! I have no desire..." And I felt the same way. Running quick, fast 5ks or 10ks (and setting records in them if you're Nance) sounds like much more fun than grueling long runs and eventually running for 4 hours.

But, what's done is done. The harebrained idea has been hatched, and we're in it together. Towards 13.1!!

The race is July 19th in Northern California, and it's called the Napa-to-Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon. Wine and running. What could be better? : )