Dec 17, 2013

Santa Hustle Cedar Point 2013

Joe and I ran the second annual Santa Hustle at Cedar Point on this past Sunday. We had a hell of a trip out to Sandusky on Saturday night with a half-foot of snow having fallen throughout the day. Really different from last year's conditions, which were 50+ degrees and sunny.

Last year I wore a running skirt and was too hot in my long-sleeved Santa Hustle tech tee. This year I wore tights, shorts, a tech tee, one of my Nike Element jackets, mittens, a balaklava, a hat, and a head-ear-band thing. I was pumped to get to run a December race in real December weather. It was much more wintery even than the A Christmas Story 10K I had run one week earlier.

On Sunday morning we got to Castaway Bay where the race starts shortly after 8:00AM. I peeled off my Yak Trax after seeing that the start of the race was free of snow. On our way into the hotel to keep warm a woman, who I'm pretty sure now was the race director, chatted me up for a minute about how diligently they had been working on plowing and salting the route to ensure it was clear. Joe and I then got inside, used the bathroom, stood around, and then made our way out to the start corral a few minutes before 9:00AM. The corral was divided into three waves but with no official estimated paces; a lady announced repeatedly that the front corrals were for "really fast people" but no one seemed to be listening, including us. We snuck our way up to the first wave, but we learned that it really wouldn't have mattered where we started. Before the gun start the race director emphasized that the route was clear, which was met with cheers from the crowd.


The first mile was relatively clear save for some slush. Right before we started crossing the Sandusky Bay on the Causeway the road was suddenly covered in packed-down snow. Most of us tried to run in narrow tire tracks that had melted down a bit from the lead runners, but with hundreds of people that got congested. At the end of the Causeway as we ran through the Cedar Point toll booths the route cleared, but not for long as starting at the parking lot we were again on top of packed snow. When we got out of the parking lot and onto Perimeter Road things got a little better, but we were still all trying to run in tire tracks.

Mile 1: 8:16
2: 8:19
3: 8:18

Eventually a plow came down Perimeter Road on the other side of the road so I ran over there for a while. Just like last year, I was pumped to run past and look straight up at Millennium Force's lift hill. Right after that the wind picked up and snow was blowing off of the bay and into my face. If you're not familiar with Perimeter Road, it's exactly as the name suggests: a road that runs along the perimeter of the peninsula, so we were running along a break wall that divides the road from the Sandusky Bay. Once I got back to Maverick the wind was less brutal until I could feel it at my back as I made the turn around Mean Streak. Right about there was where the packed snow made its return and I pretty much didn't see any asphalt again until mile 9ish.

This year the Santa Hustle folks took advantage of Cedar Point's PA and blared Christmas music throughout the park. The selection was kinda lame as it was mostly Jesus-y Christmas songs that could have put me to sleep if I weren't upright. What about Rudolph? Deck the Halls? Jingle Bells? Feliz Navidad? Last Christmas? Still, music was better than the silence from last year.

The mile markers shifted farther and farther from accurate starting in mile four, eventually being a solid half-mile ahead of where I actually was. This happened last year as well, so I was bummed that they hadn't figured out how to measure a course correctly and fix it. When my Garmin told me that I was at mile 7.49 I was allegedly at the mile 8 cookie station. Yes, the Santa Hustle has cookie stations. That cookie station was the best volunteer spot in the entire race. The boys had pulled the giant flags reading "COOKIE STATION" out of the ground and waved them frantically while they screamed at us runners to pump us up. Also, one high-fived me and told me to finish so that I could go home and watch the Browns. That was the last time I was excited prior to crossing the finish.

The middle 5 miles were significantly slower than I wanted to run because I'm weak and couldn't get my legs moving on all of the snow. Throughout those miles I couldn't stop thinking about how badly I wished I had kept my Yak Trax. Then I reconciled that I was in the middle of the park and thinking about it wasn't helping me at all, so I just tried my hardest to keep on moving. After so many miles so far from 8:00/mile I knew that I wouldn't PR, so I was just going to enjoy the scenery.

Mile 4: 8:14
5: 8:29
6: 8:51
7: 8:56
8: 8:44
9: 8:51

Perimeter Road on the way out of the park was way better than earlier in the race. Plows and salt had been through so there was way less slush. Unfortunately the parking lot was still covered in snow, but I distracted myself by thinking about the Santa hat lying on the ground that I had watched another runner toss off on the way into the park. I wondered if someone would retrieve it or if it would stay there to die and go where ever dead Santa hats go. Then there were the street cones on which someone had hung the Santa beards that runners abandoned. Deep thoughts.

The Causeway was again really bad. We were all running single file and occasionally I'd get a spurt of energy or I'd get annoyed running so closely behind others so I ran around them through the snow. After the bridge the road was clear, save for M&Ms that were spilled here and there along the road. I think the volunteers were giving them out, but I prefer to believe that it was reindeer or elf poop.

Somehow the mile 12 marker was where it should have been. I was relieved to know that I would indeed be running a true half marathon, unlike last year when I think it was 12.86ish miles. Simultaneously I was kinda annoyed because I had my hopes up that I would not have to run an entire 13.1. Again, thinking about it does nothing to help so I stopped doing that and just tried to run hard to make up for as much time lost on top of the snow as I could.

Mile 10: 8:22
11: 8:40
12: 8:48
13: 8:29
13.16: 1:12

Official time: 1:52:26

Joe came through the finish chute about a minute after me, we went into the hotel to warm up and check out the post-race party at which they were presenting the 5K awards, then we decided to head back to our hotel to warm up, get clean, and then hit the road for some lunch and home. Of note: We ate at Cheers in the Sandusky Mall. It, like the rest of the mall, is a complete dump, but the chicken wings were freakin' delicious. Also we had a couple of Great Lakes Christmas Ales. I am sad to admit that I like that beer now, although it's got nothin' on Maumee Bay Brewing Company Blitzen.

Later that afternoon on the way home I checked the race results to see where we finished in our age groups.



Lo and behold, I won my age group! I was far from a PR but still managed to beat the rest of the 25-29 females. It made me feel a lot better about how I handled the snow mentally and physically. I feel salty and kinda like a jerk for not staying for the half marathon awards ceremony, but I'm waiting now for the Santa Hustle folks to mail me my not-so-major award. It's a Santa Hustle coffee mug!

I hate to complain, but I have a handful about this race:
1.) The waves in the start corrals didn't do anything to help the flow of the race. Telling runners that a particular wave is for "really fast people" is not the way to get the race moving smoothly. For the first couple of miles I was fighting for gaps in the tire tracks to pass the runners who should have been in the later waves.
2.) Excluding the cookie people at mile 8, the volunteers sucked. Most water stations had a couple of volunteers holding over-filled cups with even more volunteers standing around, not even cheering on the runners. The course marshals who should have been warning us about slick patches were more concerned with socializing with one another. The water and cookie stations were being broken down when I was almost at the finish; given that I was the 83rd overall finisher, that left more than a thousand runners behind me who wouldn't get water or cookies.
3.) The Christmas music selection was depressing.
4.) The miles were inaccurately measured, just like last year except this year they at least corrected it in the final miles. This wasn't a big deal, but it irked me that some of them were up to a half-mile off.
5.) The race director announced at the race and the day before the race via e-mail that the route would be plowed and salted. Although I planned to run regardless (who signs up for a December race on a peninsula in northern Ohio expecting ideal conditions?), it would have been nice to have known that I should have worn my Yak Trax. I wonder if the race director had communicated directly with anyone in the city of Sandusky or in Cedar Point about the conditions of the course or if she just assumed that everything would be clear.

Now that I've complained I'm over all of it. I can't wait to run the Santa Hustle at Cedar Point again next year and I'm confident that the race director will correct all of the missteps.

Dec 8, 2013

A Christmas Story House 10K, 2013

Yesterday I ran my first 10K ever--the first A Christmas Story House 5K/10K. Alyssa, Joe, and I registered for this one several months ago. As soon as I heard about it I was in--despite promising after the Cleveland Marathon debacle that I'd never run in the city of Cleveland again. A Christmas Story is my favorite movie of all time, and that's not just misused hyperbole. I contributed to and attended the A Christmas Story House fund raiser in 2006 before the house was restored to its glory. I waited in line in the freezing cold on the morning of its grand opening in 2007. Also, we have movie memorabilia throughout our house.

25th Anniversary Edition DVD (display only copy)

Leg Lamp night light behind our liquor shelf

Lunch box with a personalized autograph from porn star Scott Schwartz (Flick)

The queen mother of curse words Christmas decorations

 Although I try to avoid spending time in Cleveland, running this race was a no-brainer. Who wouldn't run a race at which the medal is a major award?


Peep that sleeve detail!
We drove out to Cleveland on Friday night, checked into the Holiday Inn Express that was a 5-minute walk away from the starting line, watched BUGS ruin an opportunity for the MAC to get some national love and a crapload of money, then fell asleep. We awoke on Saturday morning a little after 6:00AM in order to have time to walk over to Tower City to pick up our packets, get back to the hotel to prepare for the race, then head back over to meet Alyssa at 8:30 for the 9:00 start. The A Christmas Story House Facebook page and Twitter feed had been warning that race day packet pick-up would be a mad house but we had no choice, coming from an hour and a half away and having jobs and all of that jazz. We got to the pick-up location at 7:00AM and were back to our room at 7:12; so much for all of the hullaballoo.

Joe went back to bed, but once I'm up, I'm up, so I played with my iPad until about 8:10 when Joe woke up. We attached our bibs to our clothes, which is quite a challenge in winter gear because it's all pretty nice, expensive stuff that we wear (jackets, vests, pants) that we didn't want to damage with safety pins, got dressed, and swung by the complimentary breakfast area for a little bite. I normally don't eat before races with the exception of half of a Clif bar before marathons, but it's hard for me to resist the complimentary breakfast at HIE. I had half of a cup of black coffee and half of a cinnamon bun, which are the bomb-diggity at HIE.

We met Alyssa at 8:30 in the Horseshoe Casino and stayed in there until about 8:55 to keep warm. When we went outside I was taken aback by the huge crowd waiting to start--as it turns out, there were about 4500 participants yesterday. At 9:00 we planted ourselves between the 9:00-minute mile and 8:30/mile pace groups and shortly thereafter we were off. The three of us hung together for a couple of minutes before Alyssa and I got separated from Joe. Before the end of the first mile the crowd pulled me away from Alyssa. I looked back to figure out how to get back to both of them to no avail. I finished my first mile in just under 8:00 minutes. Somehow the 8:30 pacer was right there with me. Pacers are terrible.

I mentioned that this was my first ever 10K; that said, I didn't have any expectations or plan. I figured that I was just running for fun--after all, it was a race celebrating my favorite movie of all time. Lots of runners wore pink nightmare costumes, leg lamp skirts, and cardboard boxes reading "FRAGILE." I was lame and just wore normal winter running stuff. At the turn-around for the 10K runners I realized that I was halfway to finished and felt really good maintaining a 7:30ish pace. Eventually I got stuck behind some folks who had slowed down closer to an 8:00/mile pace and I wasn't able to get through or around them--almost the entire road was filled with runners and walkers still on their way out to the 5K point. It was the first of two things that annoyed me about the race. Why weren't there cones dividing the road for those heading back downtown for the 10K? Whatever the case, I didn't let it upset me. In fact, it felt nice to run at a leisurely pace.

Then came the coup de gras--the bridge of Black Bart, erm, black ice death. At about mile 5 a cop directed us onto the sidewalk of a bridge. The sidewalk was covered in black ice. We all formed a single-file line on the outside of the sidewalk, but eventually even that was ice. About halfway across there was some snow accumulated over the ice in the middle of the sidewalk, so I opted to run on that to gain a little traction. I had slowed to about an 8:30/mile pace just to keep myself upright. I slipped a few times, but never bit it nor did I ever feel like I was going down. Even after the bridge the brick sidewalk was iced over. I managed to pass a few people at that point who were running slower, safer, and probably smarter than I. That entire stretch was my other least-favorite part of the race.

I looked down at my Garmin at mile 5.85. I felt really good so I thought about picking it up and making up for the time I lost slowing down on the bridge, but I told myself to wait until I was at six miles where I was just high-tail it.

I could hear the announcer at the finish. I thought, "Wow, that's really echoing loudly around the corner," assuming that I still needed to run all the way back to Public Square since I was only at about 6 miles. And then before I knew it, there was the start and the mats to read our chips.

"Why would they leave those out?"

I guess I'm dumb or oblivious or something. Or my Garmin was way off. At only 6.15 miles, those start mats were also the finish mats. I finished the race and didn't even realize it. And I was bummed that I didn't run hard at all.

Official time: 47:52, good for 8th in my age group.

Post-chocolate milk. I don't drink Ovaltine.
Joe finished less than a minute after me and Alyssa followed soon thereafter. We grabbed our major awards, I chugged a choclate milk, Alyssa stole an entire bag of bagels, and we were finished.


Overall I had a good time. It was an easy race and a nice route. I didn't even mention how fun it was to run past the A Christmas Story house at about the 5K mark, but I have been there so much in the past that I guess I wasn't thinking too much about it. 

I learned a lot running my first 10K and I look forward to running more. Likewise I plan to be back in Cleveland for this race next year, which I'm certain they'll do because it had a huge turnout--thousands of runners! Hopefully next year the city will better prepare the sidewalks. I mean, come on--a December race in Cleveland with a 9:00AM start and you didn't have enough time to throw down some friggin' salt? That's enough complaining about Cleveland, though.

What could have made this race better? Sending us all home with a Red Ryder 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time. Yeah, I said it.

Nov 19, 2013

Ain't Nobody Got Time for That.

"I don't have time to work out."

If you run, cycle, P90X, or do any other fitness routine odds are good that someone has played that card on you. I hear it too often. In full disclosure, the Krista from the past is even guilty of using it in defense of her laziness. Every time I hear it I struggle with how to respond.

Sure you do. Do you mean to tell me that your hands are tied from the moment you wake up until you lay your head back onto your pillow? I avoid this route because it's based on assumption. Maybe my friends are occupied all day. They wake up with just the right amount of time to do all of the requisite tooth-brushing, breakfast eating, peeing and pooping, driving to work, being productive, eating lunch, driving home, cooking dinner, eating dinner, showering (unless the commute was slow and ate that time slot--sacrifices, man), and getting back into bed to start all over. How should I expect them to have time for fitness when they don't even have time for wiping their butts?

Oh, are you suggesting that I spend my days doing unimportant work and sitting in front of the television, just waiting for time to pass? It's kind of true. I mean, I have a job that allows me to show up whenever I want and slip out the door whenever I've had enough for the day. Because my life is so flexible that sometimes I wake up at like, 8:00AM and go for a leisurely hour run, then I shower, get dressed, and sip on some Chai while watching Kathy and Hoda until I feel like driving to work. If I don't get that run in the morning, I just leave work at a time that will allow me to run before the sun goes down. Afterwards I shower, slip into some pajamas, and watch Dancing with the Stars because hey, I've got nothing better to do.

I used to say that, then I decided that my health and fitness level are really important to me. Do you brush your teeth every day? Wash your hands after going to the potty? Eat a couple of meals? Yes? Yes? Yes? So do I, and all of that stuff is just important for me as running is. I make time for doing all of those routine things. Running is part of the routine.

I'm confident that it's true about most adults: We've got a lot of stuff on our plates. We wake up early, we work hard, and we are tired at least some of the time. For a lot of people I think it's as easy as this:

1.) Prioritize fitness. Just like you don't want your teeth to rot, the rest of your body shouldn't either.
2.) Wake up a little earlier. The energy gained from exercise trumps that lost by a shorter night's sleep.
3.) Make sacrifices. You can watch Dancing with the Stars later on Hulu.

How do you make time to work out? Where does it fit into your routine? What are other excuses you've heard to not exercise?

Nov 18, 2013

Good Weekend, Bad Weekend

Some really awesome stuff happened this weekend.

Friday:
Beer and euchre to celebrate a friend's accomplishment.

Satuday:
8.5-mile run.
Tasty mediterranian lunch.
Stumbled upon a wine tasting while visiting the new Kroger in Maumee.
Super fun oil change and car wash.
Bought a brand-spanking-new road bike and helmet at an awesome price.
Enjoyed cocktails and dinner at Registry Bistro finally.

Sunday:
Ran a solid 7 miles.
Failed attempt number four at trivia finals. Damn you, Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Survived the severe storm of the freakin' year.
Lay awake in bed all night fearing that trees would fall onto our house.

And now it's Monday. We've been without electricity since 5:35ish yesterday evening. Nearly 15 hours without power and counting. I took a personal day due to the lack of sleep. P-burg schools are closed, most businesses in our commerce-dense area remain closed, our house is cold, I can't open the fridge, and we may never see the lid to our hose box ever again.

I tried to juice up my phone last night via the laptop, but the power on that source drained before I could get a decent charge. I hung out in my car a little bit earlier this morning to plug it in and listen to the radio--neither of the two we have inside work even with new batteries. What? I came to Starbucks for heat, caffeine, and an internet connection to check on the status of this dang power outage. Ohio Edison is apparently only capable of letting me know that my power is out. Thanks because I wasn't sure.

Here's hoping for a day on the up-and-up. Also, maybe a nap.

Nov 14, 2013

OK, I'm a Runner. I'm Not Over It.

Just one day ago the Wall Street Journal published an editorial from some guy who is really annoyed. He doesn't like it that runners slap magnets onto the backs of their cars and share their accomplishments on social media. Running stores and reflective apparel seem to perplex him. We are a self-absorbed bunch and he's sick of us talking about ourselves.

In one day's time two rebuttal editorials have appeared; one pokes fun at the dude's anger and the other defends us; albeit with a snarky tone. I appreciate the original writer's bitterness, but of course I don't see eye-to-eye with him. Also, I've committed all of the offenses that he loathes.

When I started running I had Endomondo set up to automatically post my workouts to Facebook. After my first half marathon I drove straight to the local running shop to buy a 13.1 magnet and then 26.2 the afternoon after my first marathon. I wear technical tees, shorts, tights, compression sleeves, and hats that reflect headlights with a blinding glow. I really like to talk about how I ran in any given race.

The only point the guy made that I understand as at least slightly annoying is social media brags. When I first took up running I had Endomondo set up to automatically post my workouts onto Facebook. When I ditched the app for a Garmin so ended sharing stats from every run. Still, I occasionally posted about how good it felt to run 8 miles before most people were awake or finally running 5 miles in under 40 minutes. When I run marathons my splits post to Facebook. Just a couple of days ago I asked the world of Twitter for input on my next 26.2-mile race.

Do I want people to notice? Yes! But not for a pat on the back--although anyone who runs farther in one day than many people drive deserves it if not a beer or two. I do it because I want someone else to want to experience what I do when I run. I started running because I had friends posting that same kind of stuff to Facebook; they encouraged me to switch from thinking "It would be nice if I could do that" to "It's time to start doing that."

Running is awesome. People who run are awesome. When I pass a car with 13.1 or 26.2 on the back I immediately have more respect for the driver, even if he's driving like an idiot. I like it when I spot real running shoes and race shirts. Keep it up, runners. It's nice to inspire people.

Nov 11, 2013

It's cold--FINALLY!

It's about midway into November in northwest Ohio. The only consistency of seasons in Ohio is that the weather patterns are eratic. I ran the Fall Classic half about this time two years ago in a tech tee. I sweated my balls off. A few weeks ago snow flakes fell onto my windshield as I drove home from school. I ran the Churchill's half two days ago in shorts.

Tomorrow morning I'll be up shortly before 5:00AM to run five miles. Here's the forecast:


Twenty-five degrees. Fifteen with the wind chill. While many of my friends are already bundling up and loathing the thought of walking from the car into work tomorrow morning, I can't wait. This might be my favorite time of the year to run. Crisp, cold air, less sweating, and the most fun running gear.


Precipitation proof hats, ear warmer headbands, mittens, vests and jackets, Yak Trax... did I mention mittens? I love mittens.

I clearly have a thing for Nike Running stuff. Seriously, Nike makes some good shit. That grey jacket there--I've had that since Winter 2011. It's crazy thin, but it keeps me warm, nay, hot even when temperatures hover at or below zero and that's with a tank or tech tee underneath. I'm only thinking about getting a new one because I want another color.

I have goals for this winter. This blast of cold air is making me want to throw myself earlier than planned into a routine more serious than those of the past two winters. Also, I hope that it snows a lot; I only got to wear my Yak Trax once or twice last year. I get excited for Yak Trax-worthy mornings.

What's your favorite season for running? Any must-have cold weather gear suggestions? How often do you replace pricier items like jackets?

Nov 10, 2013

46.5th Churchill's Half Marathon

Yesterday Joe and I ran Churchill's Half Marathon, version 46.5. Churchill's boasts being the second oldest race in Ohio and is sponsored by my favorite grocer, Walt Churchill. I ran the Churchill's Half in March 2012 while training for the Glass City Marathon. For some reason I didn't run it this past spring, then when the directors switched it up to a fall race Joe and I were on board.

Rob was going to run with us but at the last minute he had to pull out due to a death in his family. We didn't do any real training for this race, but we did just run the Chicago Marathon less than a month prior so we weren't concerned. I mentioned in a previous post that it's awesome that I can now just sign up for a distance race without really preparing myself for it. On race morning we both agreed that it wouldn't be a PR morning; instead we were just going out to run our town and score a nice shirt and medal.

This is a good shirt.

The route was a point-to-point--my first run on such a course. At about 7:30AM we headed out the door to drive up to Fallen Timbers in Maumee. During the ride up there I realized that I had forgotten to apply Body Glide to my toes and deodorant to my pits. Joe offered to turn around and go back home so that I could do those things, but I opted to just go natural.

We parked at Fallen Timbers in Maumee, boarded a yellow Perrysburg school bus, road back down to Perrysburg High School, hung out in their fancy-schmancy cafeteria for about an hour to keep warm (my Garmin tells me that it was 41 degrees with wind at 15 miles per hour--more on that later), then walked outside and to the start shortly before 9:00AM.

Walt Churchill himself fired the shot to signal the start and we were off. Joe and I went out a lot fast than I think either of us had planned. He said that he felt fine, but I wanted to back off early. Admittedly, I am fairly certain that any time I say that I want to back off I end up going faster. Joe and I maintained a pace that was a little too fast to start for about three miles. I totally dug on the route because it took us through our town. It's almost like I felt a home field advantage in a weird way.

No roads were officially closed but cops were holding traffic at intersections. On a Sunday morning on the outskirts of Perrysburg there aren't a whole lot of people out and about, but one lady waiting at an intersection in her soccer mom van was absolutely not having it. With her window down as Joe and I passed her she shrieked that "You can't just close the road without telling anyone!" Those of us who heard her laughed, exchanged comments about motorists being angry about runners, and then seconds later she was flying past us. She thought that she could outsmart the race by turning around, only to be held up again at the next intersection. She was trapped and it was awesome.

Mile 1: 8:02
2: 7:59
3: 7:52

So much for backing off. We encountered our first hill which was a big surprise. Hills? In northwest Ohio? We were running close to the mighty Maumee River for much of the race so I guess that's why it wasn't so flat. Another runner assured me that it would be the only hill for a while--I hadn't said anything, but he probably knew what was going through all of our heads. That's when I unfortunately lost Joe. I'm not particularly "good" at running, but I can handle hills. I hate them so much that my brain tells my legs to get me to the top of them as quickly as possible and that the shorter I'm on the hill, the sooner I'll feel relief. After that hill I found myself passing a lot of my competition. I figured that I'd eventually conk out and that they'd all pass me again, but I was going to milk the energy for as long as I could.

Mile 4: 8:08
5: 8:02
6: 8:20

We spent more than two miles on the same country road. The wind gusts were crazy annoying all up in our faces for a lot of that stretch. Mile 6 would be my second slowest of the entire race. I ate my 6 Gatorade strawberry chews hoping that there would be water soon so that I would wash them down. I can't remember exactly where the water was, but I'm pretty sure it was right before mile 8, which is also where we crossed the Maumee into Waterville. The Maumee River is a damn pretty river and it looked all majestic and shit. As I reveled in its beauty, I caught up to some guy who seemed lonely, pulled out his headphones, and started talking to me about running the Toronto Marathon three weeks prior. Although I was feeling okay--not good and not bad, I wasn't feeling talking to him. I peeled off from him after a few minutes of him talking about himself. The rest the race was hilly as a mofo, not just for northwest Ohio, but hilly by any standards. Absolutely the hilliest route I've ever run, be it racing or training.

Mile 7: 8:08
8: 7:53
9: 7:54

Just before mile 10 I could see a huge incline approaching. Race marshals stood at an intersection announcing that water was just at the top of the hill. The field of runners had thinned out; I'm pretty sure that the hills, which seemed to never have a descent after the peak, kicked some butts. I could see one of my former students running up ahead of me. I made it my goal to catch up with him, say "hi," offer some encouragement, and then hopefully hang with the kid and all of his kid energy. I managed to catch up to him, exchange a few words, and then I was somehow pulling ahead of him. Score for the old lady!

That water "just at the top of the hill" seemed really far away from the point at which that was announced. I drank a sip of water and kept on moving. I didn't know it, but the most hellish of hills to run at the end of a distance race was still ahead of me. When I got there somewhere in mile 11 I definitely slowed down. Some crazy dude flew past those of us struggling to make it to the top, screaming "SUCK THAT AMERICAN AIR!" He freaked me out and I was happy that he passed me. I got to the top to find a short stretch of flat ground followed by another incline to a bridge. After all, how else should I have expected we'd cross a major state route?

Mile 10: 7:48
11: 7:49
12: 8:27

That wind that I mentioned earlier? It was awful at about mile 12.5. We made a u-turn to head toward Fallen Timbers and immediately my eyes welled with tears. I still don't know if it was just a physiological effect of the wind hitting my eyeballs so hard or if I was actually crying, but it sucked, thus the approximately 30-second loss between miles 11 and 12. An older couple stood at the end of the wind tunnel shouting that the beer was waiting for me, then "Oh, you're not old enough for beer." Thanks, old people who think that this 29-year old looks like a kid! I was excited to be out of the wind's direct wrath and picked up the pace. The finish area had an awesome, dense, and boisterous crowd that extended probably 100 meters if not longer. About 50 meters from the finish mat a lady screamed at me that some guy was "right on [my] heels" so I kicked it into even higher gear.

Mile 13: 8:00
13.2: 1:23


Official time: 1:45:40
That's a 32-second PR and good for 3rd place in my age group!

So much for going out with no expectations.

Some lady handed me a bottle of water and Walt Churchill shook my hand then awarded me with my super cool medal.

You did a good job. Here, have some socks!

I planted myself in the crowd of spectators and cheered Joe into the finish. He didn't PR, but he finished with a solid time of 1:50 and some seconds. No worries--he still bears the title for fastest half marathon in our house because he destroyed the Glass City Owens Corning Half Marathon earlier this year. We went to the party tent, had a beer from the Black Swamp Brewing Company (it was a tasty red thing), I got my sad age group award (socks, really?), and then we drove home to clean up and have a celebratory, indulgent lunch at Social. a gastropub (I still don't like that name).

Apparently the Churchill's Half Marathon will now only take place in the fall. I'm kinda bummed because I like the "and-a-half" tacked onto the race number, but I absolutely look forward to running it again next year.

Do you prefer racing in your own hood or traveling to races? Ever run a distance race without training? Does a good run trump an underwhelming award?

Nov 6, 2013

Goodbye, junk food.

I have been eating too much junk. It's time to change that.

As busy as we got in the home stretch of grad school, Joe and I started a bad habit of turning to junk food: stuff like Taco Bell, wings and beer, and pizza became standard meals on the weekly. This happened in spite of the fact that we love cooking and have a lot of above-average quality tools in our kitchen.

After today, I'm done. A couple of weeks back I started to feel crappy. The stuff coming out of my body was abnormally smelly and irregular. TMI? Whatever, I didn't like it either. I figured that it would pass, but it still hasn't. Last night I had an awful headache that lingered into this morning along with some serious gastro-intestinal discomfort inclining me to stay home. It's got to be the shit I've been eating.

Last week we finally started meal-planning. That was inadvertent step one toward improving our diet. I'm still feeling like poo, though. On Sunday night I was grossed out by the stir fry I made and made a naughty trip to Burger King to appease my stomach. Last night I gave in an ordered some pulled pork at Max & Erma's. Oh, and a couple of beers. In two work days I drank three lattes. I have not been good to my insides.

It ends today. Beginning tomorrow morning I will:

1.) Start each weekday with a green smoothie. After all, we dropped a few Benjamins on a Blendtec back in August.
2.) Eat a PB&J and Greek yogurt for lunch at work. Joe makes the best PB&Js. I'm already disciplined in this respect but maybe once or twice per month I forget my lunch at home and end up making a run to Wendy's. It's so hard to order a salad sans dressing when they've got that awesome but terribly unhealthy spicy chicken Caesar salad.
3.) Come home for a snack of vegetables, chips and salsa/hummus, or nuts. No more ghetto nachos or Churchill's donuts. Goodbye, forkfull of melted sharp cheddar.
4.) Drink only one beer in a sitting. I really only have a weak spot for beer during trivia on Tuesday nights. Most often I opt for club soda in lieu of beer, but on those nights that I do drink beer, I end up having two of those tall mofos. I love you, beer, but you aren't good for me.
5.) Only eat when it is time to eat. This includes time for that post-work snack and a similar snack between dinner and bed.

Fortunately we've got a good foundation for all of this started because, aside from the cheese, we don't have anything in our house regularly that I classify as "junk food." Our fridge right now is filled with almond milk, a few beers, Greek yogurt, a block of parmesan, vegetables, soda (I've been fighting that battle for a few years), and hot sauces. Oh, and there is a pumpkin cheesecake in there that I baked earlier today, but I just made that to be a good wife and to keep me busy. Our dry food cabinet is mostly seasonings, grains, and snacks like Clif bars and nuts. A neighbor child actually once raided our kitchen and was whole-heartedly disappointed in our selection.

The problem I have is that it's all too convenient and normal for me to drive over to Starbucks or Chick-fil-a when I have a craving. The next time I get that urge, I'm going to do my best to mentally refer to this blog post.

No more junk.

What can you do to improve your diet? Is your fridge a shameful display of preservatives and hormone-ridden junk that is destroying you or an exhibit of fresh and organic nutrition for your body to love?

Nov 5, 2013

I guess I'll run a half...

I'm in! As of yesterday I'm registered for the 46.5th Churchill's Half Marathon. It's fun being able to just register for a half marathon on whim. Two years ago I would have been nervous. Three years ago I would have laughed at the thought of me running a half marathon. Now it's just another long, weekend fun-run.


I ran the Churchill's Half in 2012 during Glass City Marathon training. It was a mild spring day when my plan had me running 20 miles. Originally I was to run the half then a "cool-down" 7 miles. Then I changed my plan to run to the race start in Monclova, run the race, then run back home, which would have had me just over 20 miles. The night before I chickened out and changed everything; instead I ran 7 miles around Perrysburg then drove to the race location. Had I gone with my original plan I probably would have run significantly faster. I had no serious time goal for that race, though, so instead I ran it for fun with Alyssa and Rob.

I passed on running Churchill's 46th Half Marathon this past spring because the route, assuming it was the same as in 2012, was pretty boring. For reasons I believe to be somewhat political in nature revolving around rival running shops and race sponsors the race director(s) added a round 2 for 2013, thus the and-a-half added to the event number. Why am I running this 46.5th if I didn't want to run the boring route this past spring?


Instead of running the windy out-and-back course in Monclova the 46.5th Churchill's Half Marathon takes us from Perrysburg High School northboud, westward, south, across the Mighty Maumee in Waterville, then back up north along the river all the way to Fallen Timbers. It'll be my first point-to-point race. The route should be a pretty one; I love Perrysburg and Maumee. Waterville: Meh, I can take it or leave it. It'll be fun to cross the river, though! The small joys in life...

What's my plan for half marathon number five? Not sure yet. I'm going to focus this week on running smart and see where that has me come Saturday morning. It's possible that Joe, Rob, and I will run this together. It's also possible that my pride will make me take it too seriously and tear off on my own. I'm in trouble if Joe chooses to do that--his half marathon PR is a solid minute faster than mine. I've got him in the 5K (as of now) and the full, but he owns the 8K and half marathon distances in races that we've run together. We'll see what happens...

The year is winding down, but the races keep coming! Are you running Churchill's this weekend? What's your race schedule for the rest of 2013?

Oct 23, 2013

What now?

I waited four days after the marathon before I went out for a run. It wasn't until Sunday that I got a solid, feel-good run done. Yesterday morning I went out for a quick five under the stars of the 5-o'clock in the morning hour. I'm going to try and drag myself out the door for another five miles this evening.

There is no plan.

There are races coming up but none for which I need any serious training. I might run the Churchill's Half on November 9th and I'm registered for the A Christmas Story House 10K on December 7th and the Santa Hustle at Cedar Point on December 15th. I'm a runner who races, but I'm not running any races to win anything. And because I'm not running with a purpose to win anything I'm not inclined to go out and do crazy things like speed work and hills. Nope, I just keep it simple.

I'm just running to run.

With respect to distance I'll probably maintain the same thirty to forty miles per week. Despite no decrease in miles, it's a lot easier mentally to run without a purpose. I go out the door, wing a route, and about an hour later I'm home and feeling satisfied. The last few runs have reminded me of how nice it is to just get out there.

It's time to run.

Oct 20, 2013

Bank of America Chicago Marathon 2013 - Part 3

Rob's alarm woke us at 5:00 on race morning. I was surprised to have slept through the night, save for waking up once to mistakenly think Jordan was missing. Never before had I slept so well the night before a distance race. A sign of good things to come? Possibly. There was no time to think about that, though; I jumped out of the couch bed, grabbed my gear, and took my turn getting dressed in the bathroom. I slightly adjusted my bib pinned to the left leg of my shorts, ate half of a Banana Nut Bread Clif Bar (Dare I say that it was better than White Chocolate Macadamia Nut?), laced up my shoes, grabbed my Fierce Grape Gatorade Prime, stuffed my Strawberry Gatorade Chews and Strawberry Clif Shot into my above-the-butt zipper pocket, and then we piled into Rob's cousin's car and drove over to where Tammy, Alex, and Steve were staying.

That's Rob leading the way to check our gear.

The seven of us walked about a mile and a half to gear check at Grant Park. Before we went through the security checkpoint Jordan snapped a photo of us at what is probably some iconic Chicago tourist spot.

Cheesy tourist photo

We were cutting it a lot closer on time than Tammy and I would have liked. By the time we separated from Steve, who was in the second wave, and waited in line to get our bags checked it was 7:00 and we needed to be in our corral (D) by 7:20. Tammy and Rob wanted to hit up a toilet but the lines were crazy long. I pressured them to wait until we got into the corral, where I was certain there would be port-a-potties. I was wrong, but it was too late to leave and get back before they'd close off the corrals. On our way over to the corral I drank my Gatorade Prime. That combined with the cold temperature quickly gave me the urge to pee, but I convinced myself that if I didn't think about it it would just go away.

Pre-race announcements took place and some music played. The music was really lame for a race. Glass City and Columbus did a way better job at pumping me up--ACDC sticks in my memory. Maybe it's because Chicago is a hipster town, but the pre-race music was the kind of Death Cab for Cutie stuff that they play on Alt Nation. There was redemption when they played Born to Run (the only Bruce Springsteen song that I enjoy) for the start, which got my adrenaline flowing by 7:37 when we finally crossed the start mat.

Tammy, Alex, and I took off a little bit ahead of Joe and Rob. Throughout the first mile I started to float ahead a bit just because of the crowd and flow of traffic. I found myself out of reach of Joe and Rob and thought about backing off to run with them for a few more miles at least, but the crowd had me amped up and moving happily from the get-go. I think it was at the mile three water station where I totally lost Tammy and Alex. Again I thought about backing off to try to hang with them, but I figured it would be a pain in the butt to try to get through the mass of runners. There were more than 40,000 of us running, after all.

5K: 27:58

The atmosphere of this race was incredible. I can't imagine there is better crowd support at any race--not even the coveted Boston Marathon. For the entire first half of the race I remember fighting off laughing for no reason other than being happy and amazed due to the awesome spectators. Their signs, their chants, and their high fives had me totally high on life. I ate six of my Gatorade chews in mile 8.

Half: 1:52:11

Miles 13 and 14 were my fastest at 8:09 and 8:08 respectively. I was feeling good and I knew at the time that could have been very good or very bad. Initially when I saw my pace in mile 13 I tried to pull myself back in order to conserve energy and strength that I'd absolutely need later in the second half of the race. When I started mile 14 I told myself "Screw it" and that I'd burn some gas in the tank just because it felt good. In mile 15 I got realistic. Also, I noticed that my feet felt a lot more then as they should have in miles 18 through 20--heavy and tired. My energy was high, my legs were moving great, but my feet felt like cinder blocks. I decided then to have my last six Gatorade chews.

30K: 2:39:36

This is when I started trying to do math in my head. I'm so bad at math. Also, it's when The Blerch was creeping uncomfortably close behind me. My pace over the past few miles slowed to something more reasonable (perhaps realistic?)--about 8:40. What would I need to maintain to finish under four hours? Match my past two marathons at 3:53 and some change? I don't think I was entertaining the idea of a PR. Somehow I decided that I could do 9:00+ miles and be safe. Even right now I don't know if that's accurate. I do remember being content when I was under three hours at mile 20. I think that was also what I deemed a good time to take my Clif Shot. This is the point at which I started walking through water stations, only because I was pretty sure that I was good for time. I saved the Clif Shot for last because it had a caffeine boost. I had never raced with a caffeine gel or chew, but I did use the same Clif Shot later in my two 20-milers for this round of training. I'm pretty sure I've perfected my marathon fueling.

40K: 3:37:31

Here is where I started getting all pumpy-pumped up again. I don't look at course maps before races much the same way I don't watch roller coaster POVs before I ride them. I don't want any surprises to be spoiled! The crowd had grown on both sides of Michigan Avenue and I felt like everyone was there for me--have I mentioned that the spectators are freaking awesome?!

As I crossed the mile 25 mark I got butterflies. I realized that, excluding the previous three water stations, I hadn't walked at all, nor did I ever have the urge to walk (unlike at Glass City and Columbus). Because I was so proud of myself and the spectators were killing it, I told myself to go as hard as I could. In full disclosure, I almost cried a few times in that final full mile. I was about to finish THE Chicago Marathon and with a good time to boot, even if not a PR. Or would it be a PR?

I made the right turn onto Roosevelt to be greeted by a short bridge. Yay! Uphill at the end of a race! Exactly what I wanted. I knew that getting to the top of that little hump, which looked and felt like a mountain, would mean that I'd get to run downhill. A sign read "300 Meters"--good! I was almost there! The left turn onto Columbus Drive revealed the finish. I realized that 300 meters was a lot farther in reality than in my head. Or maybe it's the other way around. Whatever the case, I was so stinkin' happy. As I neared the finish mat I could see that the clock was still under four hours. Given that I started seven minutes after gun time, my happiness jumped up like, seven notches.

I crossed the mat and looked down at my Garmin.

Garmin at the finish: 3:49:12
Official time: 3:49:11

That's a PR of 3 minutes and 52 seconds! Although I didn't know my official time yet, I knew that my Garmin couldn't have been too far off and that I had definitely PRed. Knowing that got me through possibly the most trying part of the day--making my way through what felt like the longest finish chute ever. I accepted a Mylar blanket and my medal, took a bottle of water, fought off the desire to fall over so that medical staff would just carry me away to comfort, passed on snacks, Gatorade, and protein drinks, and then did something that I was incapable of doing at any of my other marathons. That's right, I took a beer. That 312 tasted glorious.

After the race I got my gear, changed out of my sweaty clothes, and took off my shoes and socks to find one of these on each foot:

Pardon my crusty nail polish.

It was an hour and a half later when all six of us were finished. We took pictures before I hit up the medical tent to pop those liquid-filled skin bags.

Team Non-Elite, minus Jordan

Although that wasn't the end of the fun for the weekend, it was a hell of a morning. I will never ever forget that race. I used to think that I'd never run the same marathon twice, but I do see at least one more go-around at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon!

Oct 16, 2013

Bank of America Chicago Marathon 2013 - Part 2

On the morning of Saturday, October 12th, Joe and I ran two miles at a 10-minute pace before we met Tammy, Alex, Jordan, and Steve at Rob's. We packed ourselves and our race gear, blankets, pillows, and air mattresses into a 12-passenger van and Captain Jordan drove us to Chicago.

Mature photo booth fun in the big white van!

After making a quick stop to drop off our belongings where Joe, Jordan, Rob, and I would stay for the weekend, we piled back into the van and hit up the expo.

This explains a lot about why we are slow.

The expo was way more awesome than any of the other three marathon expos I've visited. I immediately wanted to head straight toward the giant Nike merchandise area, which was pretty much a mini-Nike store, but I knew that getting my bib, shirt, and bag were of utmost importance. Also, picking up all of that stuff would leave me with a bag in which I could carry all of the junk, free samples, and gear I would buy. The race shirt is really sweet; I love Nike's running tech tees for the feel and fit, so I was pumped to get another. The graphic is pretty BA-looking. I do kinda wish that the bibs could have been personalized, but I'm not complaining that it wasn't an option. The entire process of getting my packet, bag, and shirt was quick and easy, aided by iPads and QR codes to quickly find runner information.

Bad-ass race tech tee on the left, bad-ass souvenir tee on the right.

After the expo we headed to our weekend dwellings and relaxed a bit before meeting at Giordano's for pre-race dinner. When we were deciding weeks ago on where we'd have dinner, a lot of self-proclaimed Chicago experts suggested Giordano's. Steve made us a reservation which ended up being a huge move because when we arrived the walk-ins were waiting an hour to get a table and THEN another 45 minutes for deep dish pizzas. I had planned to eat a thin crust pizza because I didn't want to mess with all of that deep dish crust, but Joe was set on the deep dish so I reluctantly, and with some admitted bitchiness, ate that. I was bold and also ordered a salad with bleu cheese to start and because I was so hungry I ordered a plate of spaghetti with marinara to tide me over until the pizza was ready. The spaghetti was bomb, the noodles being darn close to perfectly al dente. I put down one slice of pizza at the restaurant then I had another before bed later that evening.

Gear and fuel for the race

Yes, that is a ticker above the TV.

By about 9:00 Joe, Jordan, Rob, and I were back at our slumber party apartment. Jordan and Rob filled their air mattresses, Joe and I pulled out the sofa bed, we laid out our race clothes and attached our bibs, watched a little baseball, and I somehow managed to be asleep before 10:30. I woke up one time in the middle of the night and was pretty sure that Jordan was either pooping or sleep-walking. I couldn't see him on his air mattress, which apparently had significantly deflated and swallowed him. Photos of the Jordan Taco will come later...

Oct 6, 2013

The long runs are over

Well, save for that really long one.

This morning we ran our final long run before the Chicago Marathon on next Sunday. We ran in conditions reminiscent of Glass City earlier this year: rain, grey sky, and warm. In fact, that half marathon was the last time I can recall running in the rain at all. I'm hoping it was a good test run for next Sunday. After all, as of right now it's looking like conditions will be similar.


Up until recently I had been banking on so-called "normal" fall weather. You know, 40 degrees, possibly  cloudy, dry. Alas, Mother Nature ain't havin' it. Then again, I hold that 30% of the time meteorologists are right all the time.

The other 30,000+ runners will be running under the same conditions, so there is no use in worrying too much about it. This week I'm going to focus on the following:

1.) Drink lots of water
I'm already kinda flopping on numero uno. Aside from a small glass of water with a pack of Emergen-C and the 1/4 cup of water that was in my smoothie this morning, I'm working on my second can of Coke Zero today. I am going to make an effort to drink at least two bottles of water per day at school this week and absolutely no more soda.

2.) Sleep more than usual
I did a lot better sleeping the nights prior to Columbus and Cleveland respectively than I did the night before Glass City last year. Nevertheless, I need to make sure that my body is well-rested, especially in the case that I have the jitters throughout Saturday night. It should help that I only need to worry about getting up early to run on two weekdays (Tuesday and Wednesday) as opposed to three or four. Joe and I are going to have to know when it's time to turn off Breaking Bad each night. We just started watching it about a month or so ago and are now heading toward the end of season three.

3.) No fast food
For the past three weeks there was way too much fast food in my life. The Germans were here, and so it was often the most convenient way to feed ourselves by going to a drive-thru or Chipotle. Last week Joe was in San Diego for a few days and fast food made me feel less sad about his absence. This week, no fast food. Just good, home-cooked stuff and PB&J sangweeches.

4.) Don't run too much or too little
There are only three very short runs this week. No amount of mileage over that is going to imrove my performance on Sunday. At this point, I've either got it or I don't. I am really looking forward to the two miles on Saturday. Joe has a hard time getting me to settle on an easy, comfortable pace on most of our runs. There is something about the shake-out run the day before a long-distance race that I love. It feels so good and is always fun, probably because I'm excited (ahem, nervous) for the race.


It's almost time.

Sep 30, 2013

What now?

The first month of school was like no other in the previous 6 years I've spent teaching. I've been trying to energize lackadaisical colleagues, prepare my students, their parents, the school, and myself for the annual visit from our German guests, keeping said guests happy for two weeks, and winding down training for the Chicago Marathon. Oh, and there's that whole teaching thing. Oh, and trying my best to maintain a pleasant disposition at home.

As of yesterday, the Germans are gone. I assisted them through check-in at the airport, watched them file through security, and suddenly felt confused. What do I do with myself now?

The short-term answer was to gorge on chicken chunks and beer at Swig. As soon as I was feeling all fat and slightly tipsy, though, I was lost again.

I didn't run today. It probably would have done me some good, but I woke up with serious GI issues so I opted for rest and recovery. Somehow, I still felt high-strung and confused. I re-watched Grey's Anatomy and Siberia to calm my head to no avail. My innate knack for being a good wife usually does me good--cleaning the house gives me peace. I washed bedding and towels, vacuumed, did dishes, mowed the lawn, cleaned countertops, scooped litter boxes, and refreshed the kitty dishies. Still, I am feeling unfulfilled.

My GI issues seem to have subsided, at least for now. Will beer calm my nerves? Some farfalle and marinara? Do I need to bust out the P90X yoga routine? If I resort to that, put me into a straight jacket.

I can't wait to wake up tomorrow and run.

Sep 28, 2013

Rennen in Deutschland

Three months later I'm ready to write about running in Germany. I'm not sure what took me so long.

One day after arriving in Frankfurt I took to battling jetlag head-on with a short run. It was so long ago that I can't remember if it helped or not, but I eventually got into a pseudo-routine. It was a little rough getting used to real hills. Sometimes I felt like I was the butt of some joke, running uphill for miles, turning around, then somehow continuing to ascend farther. I think the experience was a character builder.

The timing of the trip with regard to Chicago Marathon training could have been worse; at least the program started while I was in Germany as opposed to peaking. My longest distance would be 14 miles to take place on the tail end of my time abroad, just two days before flying home. By that point, for the sake of my mental health, I needed it.

On Sunday, 30 June, I laced up my Mizunos and snuck out of my host's house. I didn't tell anyone where I was going or how long I would be gone because at that point I was entirely ready to be home. Although I had previously tried to pretend I wouldn't be running 14 miles up and down in the heat of the German summer, by that Sunday morning I wanted nothing more than to be alone with my Garmin.

I took my phone to document my journey from Istein along the Rhine to Huningue (France) and back. At every mile I took a photo. These are the highlights:

Look! It's German dirt!

Here's a dam and bridge to France, all in one!

I crossed the bridge, ran a loop in France, then took this when I re-entered Germany because I had hit another mile.

I took this one at about mile 7, which was my turn-around point, from the 3-Laender Eck bridge, which crosses the Rhine at the German, Swiss, and French borders. That's why the bridge has its name.
This is a good one on my way back to Istein.

And here is my final photo, the Istein chalk factory in the distance. I took this one shortly before I saw my hosts driving out of the village, apparently on their way out to try and find me because they were worried about me being gone for two hours.

I didn't get any good photos of the bad part of this run, which was when the dirt path became stone and broken concrete. I understand that the Rhine is being re-routed near Istein so the shoreline is completely ripped apart and under construction. I ran nearly a mile in pain resulting in a huge, gross blister on the bottom of my right foot and the death of my Mizunos.

And so it was. This run took me into France and almost into Switzerland. Part of me wanted to run into Switzerland just so that I could see me crossing the borders of three countries on Garmin Connect, but it was really hot, I had no fuel or water for the entire run, and when I had my chance to run over to Switzerland, the desire to get back to my host's home trumped everything else. Maybe next time...

Sep 22, 2013

Just another 20-miler

Today we ran our second and final 20-mile run in preparation for the Chicago Marathon. The way I felt when I woke up this morning, I was ready for a miserable run very possibly to be cut shorter than planned. We went to a wedding last night, at which I wore 5" wedges, drank in moderation, and danced to excess, then had a night cap care of Taco Bell at about 10:30PM and stayed up until about 11:00 to finish an episode of Breaking Bad. At 6:00AM today I was feeling tired, my toes still had that post-squished-into-a-shoe feeling, and there were some serious hangover symptoms.

I bucked up, got dressed, took the Browns to the Super Bowl (FYI, they are winning at halftime against the Vikings right now), sucked down my Gatorade Prime Pre-Game Fuel, and on our way to our running pals we were. Still, I was not exactly in the 20-mile spirit.

I don't know if it was the crisp, cool air (Welcome to Northwest Ohio, autumn!), the Gatorade Prime in my belly, or the running gods being kind to me, but it didn't take long for the karma from last night to wear away. I did make a pit stop at the nature preserve, which is usually closed as early as we run, but the stars were aligned and the cleaning dude was there, so I was able to get in and clear my bowels of what remained after my first morning visit to the toilet. The guy even offered up a roll of toilet paper in case there weren't any in the stalls! In spite of the way I felt early, this run was meant to be.

Around mile 10 I was feeling like a champ. At Side Cut there were lots and lots of doggies for a 1-mile walk to benefit doggy cancer research. Doggies make everyone happy, so they made this great run even greater. On my doggy high, I strong-armed our group into taking the more challenging route out of the park, which involves a solid ascent up Broadway into uptown Maumee. At the top, I felt like Leonardo Dicaprio.

Around mile 13 Joe and I parted ways with the others in our group who weren't up for 20 miles; one is sick, one was having calf issues, another was having blister issues, and the other just wasn't feeling it. The Balwinskis trudged on, even hitting negative splits in the final few miles.

If today's run is any indication of how I'm going to run Chicago in a few weeks, call me a happy camper. Also, hangovers can suck it.

Aug 15, 2013

Social. a gastropub

On my second-to-last weekday of summer, I couldn't resist treating myself to lunch at one of Perrysburg's fantastic local restaurants. I got into my car, headed in the direction of Northwest Ohio's best destination for craft brew and eats, and pondered what I'd have. Over the past three weeks, I've enjoyed a Hanalei salad, hot barbecue and nuclear chunks, lots of fries (sweet potato and regular, the latter swimming in malt vinegar), a butter burger, a half-pound BLT, a smokey Italian beef sammich, and an array of beer. Waiting at an intersection, I began sweating in my attempt to decide what it was on which I'd gorge today.

Then, it hit me.

"Social. a gastropub," a few minutes in the other direction, opened a few days ago. I was curious, not anxious, in a way that I thought, "How cute. Another attempt at mimicking Swig." Last year Barr's Public House opened in Maumee, which I like just fine, but it turned me off when a cocky bartender inaccurately declared that "[They] are what Swig is trying to be." I have never left Swig not feeling fatter and happier than I was when I arrived, so I take any jab as if it is one unto me. Also making me not entirely enthused about "Social. a gastropub" was the name; I don't like misused punctuation and capitalization and "gastropub" is becoming a buzzword, its meaning being stretched and watered down. What really is a gastropub, anyway?

"Gastropub or gastrolounge refers to a bar and restaurant that serves high-end beer and food." Thanks, Wikipedia.

Furthermore, from my experience a gastropub serves those things in unconventional combinations, e.g. replacing the corned beef in a reuben with tenderloin of duck and the sauerkraut with a citrusy-soy slaw. With respect to beer, Great Lakes and Goose Island are too cool to be truly cool in the realest of real gastropubs. Basically, it's the 90s alternative rock of restaurant genres.

I got over my own nay-saying and made my way to Social. The interior has undergone updating from Arnie's; instead of dark, brown, and brassy, Social is dark, blue, and silvery. Tables are arranged long-ways, either to accommodate large parties or to encourage strangers to sit together a la German beer gardens. On this beautiful, wannabe-fall-summer-day I opted to sit outside at the bar. The wicker stools at the bar suck, or maybe the bar is too tall. Whatever the case, my butt sunk into the bowl-like chair and I felt like I needed a booster seat. This eventually made eating physically and mentally awkward.

Also awkward was the bartender who demonstrated a few times that she, probably like the rest of the wait staff, is still figuring out the menu in the restaurant's gastropub's first three days. It was apparent that she either had memorized the menu OR was skilled at reading upside-down. Her descriptions lacked details about the actual food and were mostly unconvincing opinions. "The corn bread with jasmine butter is really good! The pork belly, which is like bacon before it's bacon, is also really good! Our mac and cheese is really good and different!" I'm sure it's all really good.

I was alone and had nowhere to be so I made a tasting out of the afternoon. I ordered a Founders All Day IPA, which came in a hipster mason jar, and ordered the fried green tomatoes. They came out of the kitchen after just the right amount of time--not too long that I was sitting by myself unoccupied and avoiding conversation with the meatheads across the bar, and not too quickly, which suggested to me that they were making them fresh to order. I was surprised to see that they had been battered and deep-fried because my only prior experiences with fried green tomatoes were in Greenville, SC, and Atlanta, GA, where I got the impression that fried green tomatoes are lightly dredged in flour and herbs then pan-fried. I'm not going to pretend that really matters to me, though. Hey, I like Olive Garden and I don't care that it isn't "real Italian food." The tomatoes, served with a side and drizzle of ranch (possibly housemade, but I'm no ranch coinnoisseur) were definitely good, albeit very heavy. I packed up the leftovers, so let's hope that I'm wearing my sharing pants later when Joe is home.

It was tough to pick my entree. The fish tacos, which I think my bartender said are filled with rare ahi tuna, were calling my name, but I wanted to save those for a dinner visit. I'm a sucker for pulled pork, so I leaned toward that sandwich, but then felt guilty eating fries (their fries sounded amazing and I can't remember details other than garlic and parsley). I went with a bowl of cream of golden beet soup, which was the soup of the day that actually changes daily and is made from scratch, and the half-sized warm spinach salad. Again, the kitchen and wait staff did a good job of getting my food out to me. The soup was bomb. I dig beats beets, but had never eaten, nor heard of, golden beets. They absolutely have a different flavor from red beets, but they're also absolutely beet-y. It was a rich soup, though appropriate for a mild late summer day, topped with what appeared to be olive oil and flat leaf parsley. I scraped my bowl dry.

The warm spinach salad was not as happy. I ordered it without egg, but I can't imagine that's why it didn't hit the spot. Rather large for being a half, it was a pile of baby spinach topped with crumbled bacon and honey mustard dressing, surrounded by small roasted potato quarters. I didn't notice which part of the salad was warm, other than the potatoes. Potatoes are my friends, but these potatoes left a lot to be desired; a bit dry and simply salted and peppered. How about some butter and garlic? The honey mustard dressing looked right, but tasted like all mustard and no honey. With each bite, I hoped that the bacon would overpower the flavor of French's, but with each bite, I was disappointed. In full disclosure, I did pretty much lick that plate clean, but that was just because I was trying to eat everything there to rub the mustard aftertaste out of my mouth.

Feeling completely like a fat kid, I asked about dessert. The bartender knew that there was some kind of cobbler, but she didn't know what fruit was in it, and she mentioned strawberry shortcake. She scurried inside to inquire about the cobbler then returned after a few minutes to report that it had lots of berries, which she did rattle off. Although she didn't know if the strawberry shortcake was on actual shortcake or plain biscuits, I wanted it because strawberry shortcake is a dessert that can never be not delicious. After a few minutes, I had a stack of three shortcakes, easily six inches high, with some kind of cream and strawberry slices in their own juices sandwiched between. The entire bar oohed and ahhed and I made a valiant attempt at putting a dent into it. As good as it was, my stomach obliged, "No more, Krista! No more!"

An appetizer, soup, salad, dessert, and a beer came in at just over $30. I don't recommend going to Social and ordering that much food without some assistance, but I'm not at all disappointed in my overall experience. When Joe gets home today I'm going to work on convincing him that we need to hit up Social for lunch this weekend. Also, we're going to be fighting over those fried green tomatoes.

Back to the above "gastropub" rant: Is Social. a gastropub really a gastropub? Most of the beer was on point and the chef is attempting funky things with standard (pulled pork), hokey (I didn't mention the fried bologna), and "high-end" (lobster mac and cheese) ingredients. I approve of your name, Social. a gastropub (excluding the punctuation and grammar flubs).

How does it stack up to Swig and Barr's Public House? Although they are all in some way "gastropubs," the menu here is completely different from that at Swig. I think with some time for the wait staff and experimentation with the menu, Social will find their wheel house just like Swig has and they will tweak it to perfection. The menu is significantly larger than Barr's, but it isn't too long with overwhelming options, and the atmosphere is a lot less pretentious.

Unfortunately, Social. a gastropub doesn't seem to have a website. Find them on Facebook, or just drive over to the former location of Arnie's on 25 in Perrysburg, and tell them that someone is blogging about them!