Dave's Spring MIT 2016 - Week 6

Another week of increased mileage has come and gone. Rather than recap each day's workout, I'll go with the highlights:

Track Tuesday kinda sorta didn't happen. There was a miscommunication between BGSU (where we run track nights) and our MIT leadership. In lieu, some people ran the workout outside at Fallen Timbers.

For Tempo Thursday, we had a strong and mighty turnout with A Flock of Runners. Afterwards, we had beer and food at Beer Barrel. I finally ate the meatball salad. It was sloppy and delicious.

The Saturday long run was great. Fourteen miles nice and easy. Some in The Flock like to run ahead of us coaches. And then they have to wait for us and they get antsy about stiffening up. Stay behind the coaches, Flock. Take it easy.

---

And now it's Thursday of the following week. It's like, 50 degrees outside. That means that I get to wear shorts to run outside! Yass. Yass yass yass.

I'm on the mend from a cold that bitch-slapped me on Sunday evening. I attribute my body's ability to quickly evict said cold to a diet rich in minerals and nutrients and devoid of gluten and dairy. And lots of water. One day I had no coffee. That was sad.

I tried Orangetheory

Here's my disclaimer: If I'm going to commit to a physical fitness pursuit, I have to be into it. I tried Pure Barre on a whim and with a lot of reluctance. I enjoyed my first class. Before the end of my first month, I saw and felt results. Two years later, I continue to see and feel improvement. I'm still into it.

Orangetheory Fitness opened here in Perrysburg I think at some point in January. They offer a first class free, so when a friend invited me to join her for the 6:15 AM class today, I was like, "Okay, yep. I'll try that."

I arrived around 5:50 AM today to do paperwork and become acquainted with the studio. The nice chick behind the desk welcomed me and we did all of that stuff together. She introduced me to my jacked instructor/coach/trainer, John, who briefed me on the equipment and what to expect for the workout. The desk chick snapped on my chest strap heart rate monitor just as the clock struck 6:15.

John started our group on the workout: various intervals on a rower and the treadmill. Per John's commands over the span of 20 minutes, we started at "base pace," progressed to "push," and were to finish at "all-out," respectively 7.5, 9, and 11 miles per hour. I determined those speeds based on my heart rate displayed on the scoreboard-like screen above all of our treadmills. Like, I actually started "base pace" at 6.8, but I was in the blue zone so I bumped it up until I hit green. Even at push pace, when most of the others were in their orange zones, I was still hanging out in the green. I wanted to see my rectangle on the screen turn orange so I cranked it up to 10 to no avail. Their treadmills max out at 12, but my legs don't turn over like that and I sure as heck didn't want to bite it on a treadmill.

On the rower, John said my form was good and he seemed pleased that I was over 200 watts. My rower and treadmill performance didn't disappoint me, but I was a tid bit frustrated that I was running significantly faster than most if not all of the others, yet I was hanging out in the green. I guess it's a win for me and my heart fitness. Right? Right.

After the cardio stuff, we moved along to strength, weights, and dynamic movements--squats, TRX, burpees, yadda yadda. I didn't check my color on the scoreboard at all during this segment. The outstanding early-2000s throwback music made me happy. The work itself was a smidge boring. Like, I'd like a little more motivation from my instructor/coach/trainer. There was one thing that I absolutely did not like. At one point with weights, I went down from 10 pounds in each hand to eight. I swapped to maintain good form. John commented about it, which I perceived to be snark, so I upped to 12s. I still had okay form, but like, WTF? Anyone can pick up too much weight and take the work out of the target muscle group. Maybe I just don't get it. But you know what? It turned me off.

The 60ish-minute workout concluded on treadmills. John gave the option for a rower, which I chose because my lower right calf was feeling tight and not right, likely because I was running 9, 10, and 11 miles per hour on the treadmill. John asked me why I was on the rower. I explained that I didn't want to risk injury. I'm not sure if he accepted my answer or was annoyed, but whatevs.

My sad OTF results.

As a group, we stretched while John read a script of upcoming themed classes and challenges for clients. And then everyone strutted to their coats and out the door they went. John kindly chatted with me for about five minutes about my workout. He explained that if I provide them with my actual heart rate zones, that I'd likely spend a lot more time in the orange. That made me a little less skeptical about Orangetheory and John did a good job of repairing any negative vibes I had about it before I walked out the door.

Then the nice desk chick struck again.

Clipboard and pen in hand, she asked how my workout was and then asked if I'd like information about their packages. My immediate response was, "No, thanks." Then I realized, Oh, shit, this is part of her job. Okay, I'll humor her. So dudette slides the clipboard in my direction and points at the various options and prices, then asks which one I'd like. "You want me to decide now? I'm not going to do that." She seemed confused. I imagine most people aren't so forward about it.

I can't imagine I'll ever pay for a package at Orangetheory. My running + Pure Barre routine excessively satisfies me mentally and physically and I will not cut out any of those workouts to infuse Orangetheory. And, in reference to my disclaimer, I wasn't into the workout. I get my cardio on the pavement, at the track, and heck, even in Pure Empower classes. And I get my strength in Pure Barre classes which, just like Orangetheory, are different every time. Nevertheless, I'm glad that I tried Orangetheory. And I bet that I'll try it at least one more time.

How has your Orangetheory experience been? What do you like and dislike? If you haven't tried Orangetheory, what are your strength and/or cross-training routines?

Dave's Spring MIT 2018 - Week Five

Another week of training is done. Way to go, guys! Here's what we did:

M: 6 miles (easy)
T: 5x1000 (threshold)
W: 5 miles (easy)
Th: 7 miles (2-6 at race pace)
F: Rest
Sa: 12 (easy)
Su: Rest

The long run was fun. And exceptionally paced by Joe. We committed to The Flock that long runs will be at a 9:30 pace and Joe's Garmin data shows an average of 9:28 for the 12 miles.

Why so slow, you may ask? Because that's the plan. I like rules and I'm a team-player, and so if the training philosophy is to run this particular volume of weekly miles including the long run at an easy pace of 30 to 60 seconds slower than race pace, then by golly, sign me up.

I didn't always feel this way, though. Truth be told, it still isn't my preferred style of training. BUT I get it. The first time I coached MIT, back in 2016, I begrudgingly ran 16 weeks of long runs at a 9:30 pace at our absolute fastest. For four months, I pretended that I believed in the plan as to not undermine our leadership at Dave's. And then on race day, it somehow all worked out. Heck, I even ran a PR. And then another PR a month later. So like, it works.

Trust the training!

I'm too busy.

JUST KIDDING. I'm not too busy. Not for you. Never for you.

If you catch me saying any of the following phrases or a derivative thereof, kick me in the shins:

"I'm too busy."
"I have a lot going on."
"I wish I had the time."

To me, they demonstrate an unwillingness to say what you really mean. Here, I'll translate all three into one statement:

"That's not important to me."

Before you react, breathe. Think about it. Isn't that what we mean when we tell someone that we're too busy, have other priorities, or are unwilling to make the time to do something?

I bet that many if not every runner has heard it--"I'd run if I had enough free time."

I do have said free time. Because I make it. Like, sometimes I get three hours of sleep. Sometimes I make dinner at 9:00 PM. Sometimes I'm like, "Joe, let's get some pizza." I make sacrifices (sleep, meals at normal times, and healthy foods) because running is important to me.

Maybe you don't run. If that's the case, then replace "run" with some other activity that you do love. We're all adulting. Adulting is a little different for everyone. The next time that adulting takes priority over something else, by golly, say that. Or challenge yourself--MAKE that "something else" a priority.

Dave's Spring MIT 2018 - Week Four

It's January 2018! I'm a Dave's MIT coach again. This time around, I'm getting a group of about 50-strong to run a 3:45 full marathon or a 1:52 half. We call ourselves "A Flock of Runners" as an homage to the great 80s band "A Flock of Seagulls." And by "great 80s band" I mean "that group that had one of the all-time greatest one-hit-wonders."

I'm not doing this coaching thing alone--nope. I've got this cool dude as my co-coach. Joe! Yes, husband and wife MIT coaches. It's cute, right? We're cute.

Here's what we logged last week for runs:

Monday: 4 miles (easy)
Tuesday: 4x800 + 4x400 (threshold)
Wednesday: 4 miles (easy)
Thursday: 6 miles (2-6 at race pace)
Friday: Rest!
Saturday: 11 miles (easy)
Sunday: Rest! But I ran five for shits and giggles. And because I ate wings the night before.

That was week four of MIT. The Flock is hanging in there so far. The biggest challenge for me as a coach is to get runners to run the easy miles at a truly easy pace. They're all, "We feel good, let's go faster!" And I'm all, "I'm going to start carrying a taser." That said, Joe has been a lot better at keeping a big chunk of the Flock at our official "easy" pace on the long runs, whereas I have sucked at it. Like, I finished our 11 miles with a chunk of the Flock at about 15 seconds per mile faster than where we should have been. Although that's still 45-ish seconds slower than race pace, I have to glue the Flock to our pace.

About those five miles on rest day yesterday: If you're a member of the Flock, do as I say and not as I do! Full disclosure, Joe and I are coaching this specific group because the goal paces are easy for us. So like, the miles throughout the week have less of an impact on us. And as a result, it's okay for me and Joe to throw in extra miles. Now, if you're running the same miles and workouts with us and you feel like they're easy, then you ought to consider bumping yourself up to the next-fastest group. If it does not challenge you, it will not change you. But if it does challenge you, GOOD. You belong in the Flock.

Great Black Swamp Festival of Races 25K

That's a long event name. It reminds me of this:

A solid tech tee

In February 2012 and 2013 I ran the Toledo Road Runners Club 25K. I dig the 25K distance--it's more challenging than a half-marathon and burns enough calories to make me feel like it's okay to eat and drink carelessly for the rest of the day. This year the TRRC didn't offer the 25K in February. Also, there is no more Churchill's Half Marathon in March. Also, there used to be some other "Festival of Races" during this time of year. I think the Great Black Swamp Festival of Races is intended to replace all of those events. Seems to have worked out well; there was a turnout way bigger than the former 25K and possibly even bigger than the old Churchill's Half.

The Great Black Swamp Festival of Races offered distances of 5K, 15K, and 25K. It might have been wiser with consideration to marathon training to only run the 15K because we were only supposed to have run a long run of 12 miles this week. Nevertheless I chose the 25K for us because, like I said, I like the distance. I wanted to attempt a PR, too.

See me and Joe at the front of that photo? That's how we look when we're unaware that someone is taking a photo of us. We had no plan for pace prior to the race. We did end up running the majority of it together. Joe told me after we started that he'd try to stick around an 8:45 pace. Within the first mile we were doing closer to 8:30.

Long story short, the race started at Anthony Wayne High School. We ran, did some turns, went uphill a little bit, hit the Wabash Cannonball Trail a couple of times, passed the Fallen Timbers mall, and ended up back at the high school. It was a pretty solid course because we were on the road a lot but there was hardly any traffic and where there was, cops held the drivers so that we could pass through. I was surprised by the little amount of wind with which we had to deal, especially being out in the middle of nowhere.

I said we ran the majority of the race together; although we did a good job of maintaining an 8:15ish pace, I was feeling whooped by mile 13. Joe, on the other hand, was feeling all fresh and shit so he pulled ahead at that point. The final mile was a "memory mile." During registration there was an option to enter the name of a deceased family member or friend, so I went ahead and put in Jessica Fernandez--my 16-year old cousin who died nearly two years ago. Along with probably hundreds of other signs lining the last mile of the route, I passed Jessica's name twice (once for my registration, once for Joe's). That was nice. Also, it was cool to see how many people took advantage of that memory mile thing.

There's Joe finishing followed by me a little bit behind at 2:08:16. I PRed by more than a minute and I mostly have Joe to thank. Truth be told, I was feeling like doodoo early on but was having a good time running with Joe so I tried my darndest to hang with him. Thanks, Joe!

That 2:08:16 was good enough for third place in my age group. My prize? A beer glass!

Elliott being Elliott.

Wellness Screening 2014

Yesterday I got something awesome in the mail.

Those right there are the results of my most recent wellness screening. My employer and our insurance company are good people and offer the service for free annually. In the six years that I've been with my current employer I had only taken advantage of the opportunity one other time. Truth be told, at the time I wasn't focused on my health so I only did it for the Target gift card giveaway. All that I remember is that the results were good.

This time, I destroyed it. Also, a woman destroyed my arm.

That's my arm a day after the screening. I don't think it's supposed to look like that just from having a little blood sucked. I can only make out two in the photo, but there were actually three wounds. I don't claim to know anything about drawing blood, but given that I've got an awesome vein that you can see on the left, I question why the woman had to tear up my arm. Tidbit: When I had blood drawn back in high school, the woman who did it told me that I've got great veins for shooting up. Only in Lorain. Almost two weeks later I'm still bruised.

Anywho, I screwed up the morning of the screening. On my way to school I stopped at Starbucks for a nonfat latte. I arrived at work, did my regular morning stuff, and at 8:00 plopped myself into my office chair. I opened my Franklin Covey Planner to February 28th, took my first swig of latte, and scanned through my tasks.

A1: Wellness screening @ 7:50

Balls!

Two strikes against me (10 minutes late AND I broke my fast that I didn't know I was doing when I took that sip of latte), I hustled down to the wellness screening site. My late arrival was no big deal but the dude who checked me in said that my results might be inaccurate because of the milk in my latte. If anything, I supposed some stuff would be a little elevated.

Here are the highlights:

Blood pressure: 121/85 (Pre-hypertension, eek)

Total cholesterol: 156 (Ideal = less than 200)

LDL: 91 (Ideal = less than 100)

HDL: 58 (Desirable = 40-59)

Triglycerides: 36 (Ideal = less than 150)

Glucose: 92 (Normal = less than 100)

BMI: 21.6 (Normal = 18.5-24.9)

Percent body fat: 23.4

I'm going to work on decreasing my blood pressure. For a couple of years it was actually interfering with my ability to function at work. A handful of times I ended up light-headed and with tunnel vision in the nurse's office, but it hasn't happened this school year. Admittedly, I can get pretty high strung. Seriously, this weekend I had a meltdown because the house wasn't spotless.

I'm pumped about the cholesterol stuff. Joe and I put a lot of effort into eating good food in terms of flavor and nutrition. Of course we induldge a couple of times per week, but we can do that because of the quality of most of our meals. We're good at portion control, we avoid processed foods, and we eat a lot of good produce. Take a peek at our snack stash and ignore the Gu and Clif bars, the latter of which I've replaced with Kind bars before long runs.

Full disclosure: I ate fish and chips and had a beer at trivia last night. BUT! I only did that because 1.) I ran 6.5 miles (of speed work) in the afternoon, 2.) I had lots of granola and Greek yogurt throughout the day, and 3.) I ate less than half of the meal and brought the rest home.

I'm cool with my BMI but I don't care about it too much because it doesn't account for muscle. I'm also good on my percentage of body fat, but it wouldn't upset me if I were to see that number drop. Joe tries to encourage me all the time to do strength training with him in order to tighten up but I just don't feel a passion for it. Maybe one day I'll get an itch just like what happened with running. Or maybe my bout with P90X turned me off. I could be proactive and make it a goal between spring and fall marathons. Hmm...

And that's that; my 2014 wellness screening. I'm feeling good. It's time to work on better results for next year!

It's still winter.

Yep, March is here. It's been a month since I've blogged. We've been crazy busy--weddings, running, mini-road-tripping. And you know what? It ain't over. You know what also ain't over? Winter.

It's still cold as a mofo here. The snow has tapered off, but it's still on the ground and falling now and then. I can't wait to have our entire driveway back. Since the first snowmageddon at the beginning of January, so much snow has accumulated from the sky, shoveling, and the plows on Joe's side of the end of our driveway that there's just enough room for one car to get through. It sucks on trash day.

The weather is reflecting in my running stats. I've been way more disciplined about getting the miles in than I was at the end of 2013. Last week was my first week over forty miles since Chicago Marathon training last summer and fall. But my pace, it's been strugglin'. This year I'm averaging a sad 6.4 miles per hour. For 2012 and 2013 I maintained a 6.8 average. It's no small task to establish a good pace in ankle-deep snow week after week. I guess that I'm at least getting outside; that's a good thing. Also, apparently Garmin Connect doesn't account for treadmill pace when it's calculating average pace. Although we don't have a treadmill I've managed to do way more treadmill runs in two months than I had done in two years.

To-do list: Buy a house that has a basement so that we can buy a treadmill.

That's reasonable. Right? I've got priorities, man.

I've been killing it on our long runs. The last two weeks we had 17 and 18 miles. The snow sorta helped because it forced me to run slowly, which has gotten me to finally do those real LSD runs. After both of them I felt like a beast and I wasn't sore at all. Okay, that's a lie. I was sore after the 17-miler, but that was because I fell. On ice. Yep, right onto my butt. To boot, there was a Gu packet in my butt pocket, which I had forgotten until mile 14 when we stopped for a Gu break. I reached into my pocket and only pulled out a hand covered in Jet Blackberry. I was mildly upset that I had no fuel, but I think my emotions pushed me through the rest of the run to get home. Note: I've still got a sore wrist from when I broke my fall.

Yes, a Gu exploded in my butt.

I've stuck to my speed work on Tuesdays. I destroyed nine solid half-mile repeats last week. This week I only did five, the last of which was at an incline of two. That was kinda rough at 8.4 miles per hour. But I did it!

Thirteen miles tomorrow. I'll run two marathons in a little over a month. It's slightly-nervous-time.

Speed work: I did it!

Last week I promised myself that I would begin doing speed work this week on Tuesday. We got more crazy snowfall over the weekend which made me worry that it wouldn't happen. Then, during the Super Bowl, a friend revealed that she's got a treadmill in her basement and that I'm welcome to use it any time. Boo-yah!

And so it was: Yesterday evening, before trivia, I squeezed in a visit to said friend's house and hopped onto the treadmill. I planned to do four half-mile repeats.

Warm-up: 1 mile @ 6.5 mph

6x 1/2 mile @ 8 mph

1/4 mile @ 6 mph recovery between repeats (5x)

Cool down: 3/4 mile @ 6 mph

Yep, I manned up and threw in two more repeats. During the fourth I was feeling good. Also, I decided mid-run that I wanted to do six miles instead of five. I wasn't sure exactly what my pace was, but I thought 8-miles per hour was a good place to start. Next week I'm going to instead go for negative splits on the repeats, considering that I know I can go harder. Also, I'm going to aim for eight repeats.

This can only improve my speed and endurance, right? We'll find out on April 19th. Or maybe on April 27th. I should probably figure out which marathon in that 8-day span will be my PR attempt. Or, dare I say it, my Boston qualifying attempt...

Mid-Week Musings. Alliteration--WHAT!

In this unprecedented (for my lifetime) super ridiculous, excessive, frozen weather I've been cooped up at home a lot. Here's what's been happening.

On Monday I needed to get off of my ass so I walked to and from the grocery store--bundled up like Randy Parker. I've never been one to complain about winter in Ohio, even as a runner, but this shit is for real. Yesterday evening before trivia we went to Anytime Fitness to do four miles, side-by-side on the treadmills. I was feeling really good and could have gone on for another mile or two. We might end up there again this evening because it's still cold as a mofo.

I'm just going to put this out there so that I do it: Next Tuesday I will begin doing speed work. Last winter around this time I told myself I'd do it weekly, but that only lasted for two weeks. My only excuse is that I didn't commit. This year I need to do it and stick with it. I want to give myself a better chance of improving on my marathon PR and, save for a miracle or voodoo, that's the only way I know how to control it. Although the forecast is calling for snow on that day, I will do speed work next Tuesday. It might mean that I'll need to give in and actually buy a real membership to the gym. Note to self: Next house must have a basement with a phat treadmill. Yeah, I said "phat."

I'm looking forward to our 15-mile long run this Sunday. Looking forward to a long run?! Usually I'm a teeny bit excited to do long runs because I feel so awesome afterwards, but this one is mounting up to be memorable. We're switching it up from P-Burg and Maumee and heading down to flat and windy Bowling Green to run with Joe Boyle. Joe is a teacher living in BG who took up running a few years ago, then received a diagnosis of kidney cancer. In a couple of weeks he'll begin a new treatment routine, so if he's going to run a marathon, he needs to do it now. We don't know Joe at all, but his story has gone sorta viral over the past few days. His original plan was to run 26.2 miles with a few friends and his doctor. Now, though, it's looking like there will be a solid crowd of northwest Ohio runners joining Joe for portions of if not the entire marathon distance. There will even be fuel, aid stations, restrooms, and spectators! If you're interested in supporting Joe, hit up his blog post about the event at this address: http://boyledonia.blogspot.com/2014/01/marathon-details_25.html.

Now if you don't mind, I'm going to enjoy the bejesus out of my latte. It's so warm, which is very different from outside.

14 Cold, Snowy Miles

Training last week was rough.

Monday: 5 miles

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday & Thursday: 0 miles (excuse: fever)

Friday: 0 miles (excuse: crazy wind chill)

Saturday: 4 treadmill miles

Sunday: 14 miles

Beginning Saturday night we were under a level two snow emergency. We woke up to more snow, still falling, and a sub-zero wind chill. Still, we were determined to get out for 14 miles. The original plan was to run four miles to our friends, six with them, then four back to home.

We struggled to get out of the house, not because of the weather but because of the stuff we had to do to *prepare* for the weather. You know, find and put on all of our layers, fiddle with busted YakTrax (both of us had one break during the 12-miler the week prior), eat a snack, fill the water bottle, and put on watches, gloves, and mittens. It's a process much like preparing to go deep sea diving. That resulted in taking a 2.5 mile route to our friends instead of the planned four.

The weather wasn't bad, save for the periodic low visibility in blizzard conditions. That also kept traffic at a minimum, so we had free range of the entire road much of the way. At least, until we were on our way home for the last 5.5 miles.

At eight and a half miles It got really, *really* cold. Poor Joe at one point couldn't hold the water anymore because his fingers were too cold, even in gloves. Not long after that my thumbs were cold and stinging and I was actually concerned about frostbite. We stopped so that I could try to warm them up and Joe, being the problem-solver he is, told me to just put my thumbs with my other fingers in the big part of the mittens.

Because it was still snowing, most people and businesses hadn't cleared their sidewalks yet. The church crowd had hit the roads eventually so we had less space and usually no discernible shoulders to run. Most drivers were really considerate, moving over to give us a lot of space and even waving and smiling. One driver of a minivan was deserving of a rock through the windshield, though. He didn't move over, didn't slow down, AND lay on the horn while making an angry face. Seriously?

A few minutes later, after trudging through ankle-deep snow on the sidewalk, Joe's YakTrax were jacked up again. He took off his gloves to adjust them and his hands were red. I gave him the top layer of my mittens (Dumb & Dumber, anyone?) to wear over his gloves, which I guess warmed up his hands significantly.

We ran through some more deep snow on sidewalks. A few times I had to stop to peel clumps of ice off of the bottom of my tights. No, not frost or a little bit of snow--clumps. CLUMPS of ice were built up at my ankles. It sucked.

It was slow (10:08/mile). It was cold. It was snowy. Some drivers were asswipes. But we made it through 14 miles. Treadmills are for the weak. Also, they're for the smart people who want to avoid all of that bullshit.

Blender Babes Juice Detox

Christmas vacation this past year was marked glutony. Together Joe and I rang in the new year carrying about 20 excess pounds of steak, conch fritters, alcohol, and all of the bloating that comes with those things. We both felt like doo-doo and needed a serious jump-start to living healthy again. That's why we decided to do the Blender Babes' Juice Detox.

This juice detox isn't your standard drink-more-juice-than-you-can-stomach + starvation diet. It's not even a "diet" so much as it is a dietary reboot. It got me interested because 1.) it's free and 2.) it require us to use our Blendtec a lot. I guess there's a number three, which is that I've never "cleaned out" my system and I really felt, after that vacation, I had never needed it more.

Blender Babes suggest using a Blendtec or Vitamix, but they say all of the recipes are also standard blender-friendly. In addition to the Blendtec we needed to stock up on about $50 of produce and some liquid stevia. You could probably spend less on produce, but I prefer organic. Side note on the liquid stevia: we had been led to believe that agave nectar is the way to go to sweeten drinks, but Blender Babes don't like it, I think due to the processing through which agave nectar goes before it gets into a bottle and to the grocery store.

Blender Babes offer an options pre-detox five-day place to gradually eliminate common problem foods from our diet; they suggest this to avoid shocking the digestive system. By the fifth day we were eating no meat, gluten, wheat, artificial anything, processed anything, dairy, soy, and caffeine. After the fact, we feel that we could manage the juice detox again without needing five full days to clean out our diet. If we do it again, we'll probably take three days instead.

On Friday we started the juices. In the morning we had "morning water," which is just a warm cup of filtered water with lemon and fresh ginger. Throughout the day we had six juices, all but one with a coconut water base and featuring a huge variety of fruits and vegetables, notably beets, jalapeno, and kale among a lot of your standard juicing fruits. Admittedly I cheated between the mid-afternoon and dinner juices. I was craving to chew on something so I had some almonds, a prune, and a carrot.

I thought I was done after one day, which is the standard amount of time to do the detox, but decided to give it a second go on Saturday since Joe was feeling it. Also, I hadn't pooped yet so I thought that maybe I needed more to get everything out of me. I enjoyed the juices a LOT on day two but by the evening I was struggling. Never was I hungry, but again I just really wanted to chew some real food. I gave in and instead of the dinner and dessert juices (numbers five and six respectively), I had a chicken salad. I felt terribly guilty, but I had also gotten very irritable, which made me feel more terrible for how unfriendly I was being.

On Sunday morning Joe and I had a 12-mile run on our marathon training schedule. We woke up, and weighed ourselves, both happy to have been down to our pre-vacation weights! This didn't all happen over the two days of juicing, but started instead during the five days prior. Also, I finally pooped on Sunday morning and I lost ANOTHER pound just from that. Yeah, it was quite a poop. Apparently there was a lot of nastiness just chillin' in my digestive system for way too long.

After juicing we are to follow the same regiment as leading up to the cleanse, only backwards. That made it a challenge to run 12 miles because we couldn't have any of our regular long run fuel--no Clif bars or shot blocks, no gels, no gatorade. We bagged up some almonds and managed to pull out 12 miles, even if they were a little slower than usual.

As we gradually shift back into our "regular" diet, I'm glad that I did this juice detox. It was really easy and I think I could definitely do it again and better--that is, without getting all whiney again. Today I feel good, especially knowing that the juices pushed out so much gunk. Also, beets do funny things to your poop.

Dave's 10 Miler

We ran Dave's 10 Miler on Sunday. This is my recap.

Dave's 10 Miler is "one of the oldest races in Ohio." I put that in quotes because I'm pretty sure its the race's tagline. I think I remember wanting to run it last year, but not enough to pressure Joe into driving out to Delta, which I thought was a lot farther away than it actually is. He was game for it this year and for $27.50 plus my favorite race shirt--a Nike dri-fit cotton long-sleeved tee worth $28 alone, it was a good decision.

Race start wasn't until 2:00PM so we got to have a late Saturday night watching Aziz Ansari's stand-up and then take it easy Sunday morning. It was less than a 45 minute drive to Pike-Delta-York High School, where we arrived around 1:30. We stayed in the car because we aren't big fans of mingling with the sometimes-hard-to-tolerate racing crowd. Everyone babbling about PRs and Garmins and Gu just isn't my style. On the way into the school we passed a woman stepping out of her car, dressed to run with a burning cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She looked so trashy but so ridiculous that I couldn't hold in my laughter. Seriously? Showing up to run a race with a cigarette hanging out of your mouth? There are so many questions to ask and judgements to make.

A little after 2:00 we were off and, as usual, we quickly separated. Joe and I just don't race together. I can be too whiney if I'm not running the way I want and I worry that if we were to try to race together I would end up being unpleasant. It was 35 degrees but "felt like" 25 so it was hard to dress right. Thirty-five is my cut-off point at which I prefer to wear shorts, but with that wind chill I couldn't. I wore running capris (it was a struggle for me to bring myself to buy them because I think they make women look stumpy) and my newest Nike Element jacket, which is really, really warm. I felt good for the first couple of miles, which I finished each around 7:30, but after that I started to get a little too warm. Also I felt like I really had to poop.

I'm not sure if the sweats I had were actual hot-sweats or poop-sweats, but I wasn't comfortable. I refuse to tie any kind of top around my waist because it's not 1994 so that wasn't an option. Also, under the jacket was my Chicago Marathon tech tee and I figured that I'd get too cold without sleeves. I unzipped my jacket and let it blow, annoyingly, in the countryside wind of flat, flat Delta, Ohio. With each turn out of or back into the wind I'd go from hot to cold to hot to cold. The wind was for realz. I determined about halfway through that there was no appropriate way to dress for this race.

At mile 5 I took a Gu from a race volunteer. I lucked out and got some espresso flavor, which was surprisingly good (I've avoided Gu for a long time and usually take Clif Shots instead). I think the delightfulness distracted me from the uncomfortable weather conditions for a while.

The first half of the race seemed to go by really slowly for me, but I think it was just the boring lack of scenery. The second half was way better and before I knew it, I made the final turn for the straight-away to the finish.

See that lady there in black? She was like, way ahead of me. I caught her and passed her just before she hit the mat, finishing one second faster. Go, me.

Official time: 1:21:06, 8:07/mile

(That lady: 1:21:07)

I'll add a picture of the race shirt when I get it out of the dryer. I've worn it a lot in the three days since the race and it needed a washing...

The Cleanse

Joe and I don't mess around when it comes to vacations. We live it up--eating, drinking, and adventure have no limits when we're on the road. After the Bahamas, Greenville (a food-lover's paradise), and a NYE wedding, we were both fat and bloated. Running (for me and Joe) and strength training (for Joe) wouldn't cut it alone to get back to feeling good. We needed to make some kind of dramatic dietary change. Truth be told, we've needed to change the way we've been eating for months; things started to really fall apart for me after Las Vegas in November, but the pieces were crumbling little by little long before that.

Our jump-start is a cleanse. It's not one of those ridiculous, lose-weight-then-gain-it-all-back-immediately-by-fasting-and-drinking-maple-syrup-and-cayenne-pepper cleanses. Instead it's a lot of blending in the Blendtec of dark, leafy greens and a variety of nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables.

Generally I think cleanses are for people unwilling to make real changes to their routines and diets and so they are happy with a quick fix that won't have lasting effects. This cleanse piquied my interest for two key reasons, though:

1.) We get to use our Blendtec more.

2.) It's gradual.

We got the Blendtec back in August and were immediately hooked on preparing smoothies and meals with it. The chicken tortilla soup that we made on the first day was freakin' phenomenal and the high power of the Blendtec got me to really like green smoothies since it liquifies all of the leafy bits and funny textures. Unfortunately we fell out of the habit of making smoothies in October-ish and the Blendtec just sat all pretty on our counter for a while, untouched. For the cleanse we are required to drink six blended drinks each day until we are finished. The Blendtec is going to get a lot of love.

The cleanse is planned in a way that avoids shocking the body. We techinically began the cleanse two days ago with the five-day pre-cleanse meal plan. Each day we have eliminated a few foods from our diet. Here's the long and short:

Day 1: Last day to eat red meat; no wheat, gluten, aritificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, and processed foods

Day 2: Last day to eat poultry and fish

Day 3: Last day to have eggs and dairy; no meat, caffeinated beverages, or soy

Days 4 & 5: Soups, greens, vegetables, beans, legumes, grains, starches, fruits, and nuts

Day 6 (plus however many days you want): Prescribed blended drinks

Then repeat days 1 through 5 backwards.

We're on the third day right now and we've been pretty well-behaved for days one and two. We sort of broke the rules on day one. On the night prior I made corn chicken chowder in which I used canned corn and I'm pretty sure anything in a can like that is processed in some way. We ate the leftovers for lunch on day one, but other than that we were good. Well, then last night we went all out on our last day to have poultry and we had wings. At least they were naked.

The biggest challenge for Joe will be drinking no soda. He's like a moth to a flame when there's Diet Pepsi or Coke Zero in the fridge. The biggest challenge for me will probably be eating no bread. I never thought about how much bread I eat until now. I could really go for some crackers or toast.

Have you ever done a cleanse of any sort? What was it and how'd you feel about the results?

Yes, it's cold. Yes, I'm still running.

Eight days into 2014 I think I can finally get back into a running routine. Fourteen-routine. That would qualify as a rhyme to some rappers nowadays.

On December 1st I made it a goal to run every day in that last month of the year. I thought it was a cool personal challenge. I made it through the 17th then on the 18th I said "screw it." I was neither burnt out from running nor injured. I definitely wasn't bored. The "challenge" just lost its novelty. I ran on the 19th, then the 20th may have been the most overwhelming day of my life. It was the last day of school, which was awesome and relieving, but Joe and I were leaving that night to be away for 10ish days and we hadn't packed. Usually packing isn't a big deal, but we needed to pack Bahamas-appropriate clothes, upscale dinner clothes for four nights, running gear, and clothes for a few days in South Carolina. I was a basketcase doing laundry and trying to figure out how I could pack as few items as possible. Joe got home from work and, being the most awesome husband, friend, and person that he is, told me to play Tetris on my iPad while he took care of what remained to pack. I love him.

Back to the point, from that day on for the rest of the month I was a naughty, irregular runner. I left my running shoes out of my Bahamas bag and so instead of forgoing running for a few days I ran 4 miles barefoot on the beach. That resulted in giant blisters which sidelined me from running until two days after Christmas. Fortunately there wasn't too much time left in December and in the end I managed to still run over 118 miles that month.

Enter the new year. A snow storm pummeled us on New Year's Eve, which kept me inside on New Year's Day. I ran a couple of times last week before we got slammed by another snow storm and 30-degrees below zero wind chills for two days. Since Sunday night I had been stuck in the house because all of northwest Ohio shut down due to the dangerous conditions. Finally this morning the wind died down and the"real feel" temperature was reasonable enough to get out and run--nine degrees. Normally that would sound miserable but after the past few days it sounded and felt like an early spring day.

I knew to bundle up with the proper gear for what I hoped would be the only super cold run of the year: Tights, pants, long-sleeved dri-fit top with a hood, Nike Element jacket, 2-layer Brooks mittens, hat, ear warmers, balaklava, and Yak Trax. Even with Yak Trax I am still always nervous about falling, so I brace myself with every stride making for a more difficult run. This was also the first run for which I was really happy to have a Road ID--I joked on Facebook that I might have frozen in my own tears, but really I was slightly concerned about a driver losing control, forcing me to dive into a snowdrift and knocking my head on a telephone pole, thus rendering me unconcious. It didn't happen.

I felt like I was moving slowly, like 9:00/mile or slower. Every time I looked at my Garmin, though, I was hovering around 8:30. It must have been a mind game from sitting on my ass so long Monday and Tuesday. About a mile into the run I was feeling stuffy and warm so I pulled down the balaklava; only a few times the air got a little too cold for comfort in my throat and I'd temporarily pull it back up. Not long after that I took off my mittens because my hands felt like they were in tiny saunas. I ran past pepole snow-blowing and shoveling in their gloves, looking all cold and miserable and thought to myself, "Suck it, weenies. Bare hands right here."

I had to alter my normal 5-mile route a little to avoid a busier road--didn't want to risk anything with the roads covered in snow and ice and said snow and ice covering the shoulder lines. Stopping a few times to cautiously wait for traffic, I managed 5.15 miles in a little over 45 minutes. It was so much more pleasant than I expected that I might even run again this evening if Joe is up for it. If not, I can't wait to get out again tomorrow. This Sunday we're likely running Dave's 10-miler out in Delta. Those long runs aren't going to, um, run themselves...? Registering for a race will better guarantee that I get back into the double-digits sooner rather than later.

Sorta side note: Last week we were talking to a former XC runner-turned-know-it-all. Among the barage of points he made about running, one that I just couldn't buy was that cold weather running is horrible and that road runners are better off taking a break in the winter months. He claimed that cardio+cold air is dangerous and has long-term effects on lung capacity. Instead of disagreeing, I just listened and nodded. Then I asked Google about it and pulled up a variety of studies proving otherwise. Maybe those researchers are in denial and so am I. Or maybe we're right.

Do cold temperatures keep you inside? How has this crazy winter weather affected your routine? Am I an idiot?

A Future Maniac

I've got crazy plans for running this spring. Before that, though, is the cliche new year's round-up of last year's running:

9 races

2 first place age group finishes

6 personal records

1 DNF marathon

1 most awesome marathon

3 half-marathons

3 new countries on my Garmin Connect history

1498.56 miles run

It would have been cool to have run 2000 miles or a nice, even 1500, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy. I ran about 70 miles more than in 2012 and I'm completely over the Cleveland DNF back in May. Now I look forward to an even more awesome year ahead.

That brings me to my abovementioned crazy plans. My big goal is to become a Marathon Maniac.

Marathon Maniacs do crazy things (http://www.marathonmaniacs.com/are-you-a-marathon-maniac/maniac-criteria). I've got my sights set at the entry level here:

What led me to attempt this? Foremost I want a new type of challenge without going entirely insane and running an ultra--I have no interest in that. Second, I love running the marathon distance. I don't know if I've ever actually said that, mostly because I feel like it's a weird thing to enjoy. Also, I run with some cynical folks who capitalize on such statements with condescention and discouragement.

We're so over marathons.

You're new to running and therefore naïve.

It must be nice to still have the time to train for marathons.

I just realized that I've got enough fodder for an entire post about running negativity.

Anywho, here I am stating it proudly and nervously: I am going to run two marathons in as many weeks. And now I have to poop. Those who know me well know that I need to poop when I get nervous.

The races:

Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon on April 19th

Glass City Marathon on April 27th

We learned about the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon while at the Chicago Marathon expo and Joe had been pushing for us to run it ever since. I'm not too pumped for the non-flatness, but Joe is really excited to run a lap on Churchill Downs. Oh yeah, that means that Joe is also running the full. I could see us running this one together, since we're running it for more of a fun, destination marathon.

Regarding Glass City, Joe and I initially thought we'd be running the relay with our running group, but it has really fallen apart since running Chicago back in October. It's kinda sad, but such is life. After I ran Glass City as my first full back in 2012 I am fairly certain that I said I'd never run that full again. Not that I had anything against it, but I think I wanted to just try new things. Now I'm ready to try it again. Also, the directors have slightly changed the route (less bike trail = good). With the itch to become a Marathon Maniac and Joe's fervor to run the KDF Marathon, all signs pointed to Glass City. Side note: Joe is running the half.

And that's my crazy plan. I will run two marathons in April. Now I just need the right training plan to get me there.

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.

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.

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?

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.