I did something crazy today. Really crazy. I signed up for the Flatrock 50K. That is 50 kilometeres. 31 miles. A really really really long run. I'm not sure what got into my head. Eric, the RD, must somehow put crack into his emails. It transmits through the computer or something. I got an email from him saying if I signed up by July 15 some of the money would go to a charity and if I finish I get a belt buckle. Who cares if I have a belt buckle? I MIGHT DIE! Hey Eric, if I drop dead at the finish line will you give the buckle to my husband? Thanks.
I am not prepared for a race like this. No way, no how. Can I be by the end of September? Maybe. It is quite likely that I will come in last place. I'm ok with that. I just want to finish. I think people say that a lot and they don't really mean it. I've said it before without meaning it. I mean it this time though. It will be a huge victory to just finish this race.
For those unfamiliar with this race, here is the website. Be sure to look at the pictures! It's stupid hard. I'm not sure why they call it Flatrock as none of the rocks are flat. You may remember that I did the 25K there last year and was very happy to have done it. If you don't remember, here is my post about it. While it is extremely challenging, it is also rewarding.
I have 3 months and 2 days to go from running a maximum of 12 miles to 31. Easy peasy, right? I can do this! Maybe. Or not. I guess we'll see!
Over the next three months be sure to ask how my training is going. If I'm not running enough maybe it will shame me into it.
Happy Running!!
~Mel
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Running For Breakfast!
Friday I decided to run to my Dad's house for my long run of the week. He lives 9.5 miles away (not to be confused with the Dad who lives in Wyoming. I will never run to his house). Not far really, but the danger is that I have to run on a highway. It isn't really a busy highway, especially early on a Saturday morning. However, once I cross into Elk County it gets scary. There is no shoulder on the road. Luckily, you can see a long way in every direction, so you know a car is coming in plenty of time to get off the road. I have done this twice now and have discovered that people are less friendly when they pass runners on the highway than they are on country roads. Perhaps because they thing I shouldn't be running there? Well, they are probably right. I did it anyway. I'm such a rebel.
Anyway, the breakfast part. On Friday night I saw my Dad at a baseball game and asked what the chances were of him fixing me breakfast when I got to his house. He told me he didn't really have anything but could fry me some potatoes out of his garden. Yummy! I can't remember the last time I had fried potatoes. Probably because they are terrible for you, but I don't really care after I run. I'll eat anything. When I got there I could smell breakfast as I ran up to the house. I can't think of a better way to end a run. He ended up making potatoes, scrambled eggs and toast. Also, as it turns out, even at 32 I'm not too old to have my dad fix me a glass of chocolate milk. Who knew? Mostly because I've been teasing my dad about cell phones and all the things they can be used for, I took a picture of my breakfast.
I took a few other pics along the way that I thought would be fun to share. This pump in the road is how we always gave directions to our house when I was growing up. The only thing is is good for is being a landmark. I think you can get water out of it but it's not drinkable.
Nothing excting about this, but I ran past several corn fields. This is a terrible picture but the corn is taller than me. In a few weeks it will be stinky and I won't want to run past it anymore.
Anyway, the breakfast part. On Friday night I saw my Dad at a baseball game and asked what the chances were of him fixing me breakfast when I got to his house. He told me he didn't really have anything but could fry me some potatoes out of his garden. Yummy! I can't remember the last time I had fried potatoes. Probably because they are terrible for you, but I don't really care after I run. I'll eat anything. When I got there I could smell breakfast as I ran up to the house. I can't think of a better way to end a run. He ended up making potatoes, scrambled eggs and toast. Also, as it turns out, even at 32 I'm not too old to have my dad fix me a glass of chocolate milk. Who knew? Mostly because I've been teasing my dad about cell phones and all the things they can be used for, I took a picture of my breakfast.
I took a few other pics along the way that I thought would be fun to share. This pump in the road is how we always gave directions to our house when I was growing up. The only thing is is good for is being a landmark. I think you can get water out of it but it's not drinkable.
One room schoolhouse. It was still used for voting not very long ago. I don't remember when they stopped using it. My sister got married here.
Nothing excting about this, but I ran past several corn fields. This is a terrible picture but the corn is taller than me. In a few weeks it will be stinky and I won't want to run past it anymore.
I actually had a really great run. The sun was at my back for most of it. The last mile and a half were almost completely in the shade. There is a really really really big hill at the end that sucks, but I get to run back down it and my dad lives almost to the bottom, so I end my run on a nice downhill.
I'm not really sure how this happened, but when Rick came to pick me up he got breakfast too. Why is it that I had to run there for breakfast and he got to drive? Doesn't really seem fair.
I think next week I will run to my Mom's house, which is another mile and a half past my Dad's on the same road. I wonder if she will fix me breakfast?
Happy Running!
~Mel
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Cross Training
I really like running and nothing else. There. I said it. I pretty much hate exercise. I enjoy walking with friends but don't have the opportunity as much as I would like to. No one in Elk City really walks so if I walk with someone in Independence I have to try to match it up with another trip to town or something. It's hard. But, other than that I dislike exercising. I've tried so many things and stick with them for a few weeks before I'm bored or just remember that I hate anything but running or whatever. Excuses. Mostly I'm one of the laziest people you will ever meet. Don't believe me? I'm sitting in my recliner right now. I paid my oldest son 50 cents to go get my slippers so I wouldn't have to get up. In my defense I'm currently icing so it's hard to get up, but again, excuses. I'm lazy.
I'm getting better though! At the cross training thing, not the laziness. I think I will probably always be lazy. At least as long as I have people like Ryan around who enable me. However, I've been inspired by Jason, aka WyWaterboy from the running forum I'm on. He's a cross training machine. And his running is improving dramatically! I've decided he's onto something. While healing from knee surgery he had to do other stuff to keep his fitness level up so he did. I think I probably would have just given up. He had just started running when he became injured. I'm constantly impressed by his dedication to running and cross training. Basically, I want to be him when I grow up. Except he has a lot of kids. I DO NOT want a lot of kids, tyvm.
In March I started doing a Boot Camp workout that I've done before. It's a good workout. actually, a series of workouts. You can pick which part of the body you want to work. Really, it's great. Except I hate it. The problem is likely that at best I do it two days per week so I never really get any better at it. I'm actually proud that I stuck with doing it for so long. The last couple of weeks have been bad though. I've been skipping workouts and have started making excuses again. A bunch of people I know are doing 30 Day Shred so I decided to do that. I got the dvd today and did day 1!! It was tough, but I finished! My goal is to do this 5 days per week. No way would it happen 7 days. Lets be realistic.
I also got a bike!! Over the winter I tried biking but mostly hated it. I think it was because I was doing it when I couldn't run. Since I couldn't run biking just made me more cranky. However, I decided to get one. Mostly because Rick has been wanting one and I thought maybe it was something we could do together. Soo, I got a super cute purple bike. The best thing about it being purple is that maybe Ryan won't try to ride it. I've ridden several times since I got it and it's really fun! Plus, you can ride during the hottest part of the day and it's way cooler than running. Also, Ryan bikes with me every time and we have a good time together.
Right now my goal is to run 4 days per week, do 30DS 5 times and bike at least two times.
So far this week:
Run: 1 time for a total of 3.4 miles
Bike: 2 times for a total of 10 miles (hey, I'm just starting and my partner is 11. Give me time)
30DS: 1 time. I will only do 3 days this week since I started Wednesday.
I will try to update once a week or so on my cross training so that I feel a little more obligated to actually do it. Saturday afternoon I will be back with my total miles for the week running and biking and the number of times I did 30DS.
And for the record, I have no desire to do triathlons. Not gonna happen. The biking is happening to help my running.
Happy Running!! (and biking and shredding)
~Mel
P.S. I have to give a shout out to my friend Jennifer. She walks all the time. I get totally bored if I walk by myself so I don't. Unlike me, she doesn't make excuses. She walks no matter how hot it is or how busy she is. I'm so impressed! Plus, she's really nice. Way nicer than me. I'm not really sure why she hangs out with me, but I'm lucky she does.
I'm getting better though! At the cross training thing, not the laziness. I think I will probably always be lazy. At least as long as I have people like Ryan around who enable me. However, I've been inspired by Jason, aka WyWaterboy from the running forum I'm on. He's a cross training machine. And his running is improving dramatically! I've decided he's onto something. While healing from knee surgery he had to do other stuff to keep his fitness level up so he did. I think I probably would have just given up. He had just started running when he became injured. I'm constantly impressed by his dedication to running and cross training. Basically, I want to be him when I grow up. Except he has a lot of kids. I DO NOT want a lot of kids, tyvm.
In March I started doing a Boot Camp workout that I've done before. It's a good workout. actually, a series of workouts. You can pick which part of the body you want to work. Really, it's great. Except I hate it. The problem is likely that at best I do it two days per week so I never really get any better at it. I'm actually proud that I stuck with doing it for so long. The last couple of weeks have been bad though. I've been skipping workouts and have started making excuses again. A bunch of people I know are doing 30 Day Shred so I decided to do that. I got the dvd today and did day 1!! It was tough, but I finished! My goal is to do this 5 days per week. No way would it happen 7 days. Lets be realistic.
I also got a bike!! Over the winter I tried biking but mostly hated it. I think it was because I was doing it when I couldn't run. Since I couldn't run biking just made me more cranky. However, I decided to get one. Mostly because Rick has been wanting one and I thought maybe it was something we could do together. Soo, I got a super cute purple bike. The best thing about it being purple is that maybe Ryan won't try to ride it. I've ridden several times since I got it and it's really fun! Plus, you can ride during the hottest part of the day and it's way cooler than running. Also, Ryan bikes with me every time and we have a good time together.
Right now my goal is to run 4 days per week, do 30DS 5 times and bike at least two times.
So far this week:
Run: 1 time for a total of 3.4 miles
Bike: 2 times for a total of 10 miles (hey, I'm just starting and my partner is 11. Give me time)
30DS: 1 time. I will only do 3 days this week since I started Wednesday.
I will try to update once a week or so on my cross training so that I feel a little more obligated to actually do it. Saturday afternoon I will be back with my total miles for the week running and biking and the number of times I did 30DS.
And for the record, I have no desire to do triathlons. Not gonna happen. The biking is happening to help my running.
Happy Running!! (and biking and shredding)
~Mel
P.S. I have to give a shout out to my friend Jennifer. She walks all the time. I get totally bored if I walk by myself so I don't. Unlike me, she doesn't make excuses. She walks no matter how hot it is or how busy she is. I'm so impressed! Plus, she's really nice. Way nicer than me. I'm not really sure why she hangs out with me, but I'm lucky she does.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
10 miles and a 5K race
On Saturday my plan was to run 10 miles. I knew I could do that as I had run 11 the week before. On Thursday I was on a website looking at races and realized there was a 5K race in Bartlesville also. I wanted to do it as I haven't done a race since November. Ryan loves 5K races and has been running with me a bit so it seemed like a good idea. The problem is that I didn't want to sacrifice my long run to do a 5K. Hence, the decision to do both. I knew if I was too tired or sore I could walk most or even all of it. I was mostly doing it for fun and to give Ryan the opportunity to race. I signed us up!
Saturday morning came and it was chilly! I decided I didn't need to leave at 5:30 because as cool as it was the sun shining on me wouldn't really matter. Ha! I was wrong. I didn't leave until almost 6:30. It was cool at first and I wore my arm warmers. I took them off at mile 3 and still wasn't too hot. It was really humid though and the sun was sooo bright. By mile 4 I was really soaked in sweat. I had the bright idea of fueling the run with peach rings. I love peach rings, they are full of sugar, where's the bad? I've heard of people who use gummy bears, so I thought I was good to go. I was wrong. They made my stomach hurt really bad. I was also sweating a ton without replacing any electrolytes, only drinking water. Needless to say by 5 miles I wasn't in great shape. So at 7:30 am I called my husband and begged him to bring me a powerade and a GU. I can't believe I did that. I now feel really selfish and mean. Being the really amazing guy he is, he did it. I won't say he did it with a smile or anything, but he did it. It took him a bit to get dressed and get out to where I was. When he arrived I was puking on the side of the road. That's right. Puking. Remember how I said the peach rings were a bad idea? Yeah. It was fun. When he got there I was at the top of a really big really curvy hill (Sweeny hill for locals). He couldn't stop safely so he drove to the bottom and stopped in a little drive. I drank some powerade and ate a gel and he left.
By that time I only had 2.8 miles to go. Thankfully they were pretty flat. The route I did was different than I have done before. I mapped it on mapmyrun.com and saw that it was mostly a gradual uphill to get to Sweeny Hill where I would go down rapidly. Since it was so gradual I thought I would be fine. I was wrong. It was pretty tough. So, let me repeat. 7 miles mostly uphill, lack of real fuel, sun really shining, upset stomache and high humidity. The makings of a great run, right? Well, the first 4 miles were really fun! After that, all I can really say is I finished.
If that were the end of my day things would have been great. Unfortunately, I still had a 5K to run. Did I mention the heat yet? Well, it was 85 at the start. Also, sun shining brightly. Right up to the time we started I considered just baking out. Ok, I considered it for the first mile too. This race had major hills! Surprisingly, I ran a lotx of them. Ok, I was moving so slow I don't know if you could really call it running. Shuffling maybe.
The most exciting news is that Ryan got 1st place in his age group! There were only 2 in his age group, but he blew the other person away. In fact, he placed 19 our of 49 males of all ages. Quite impressive for an 11 year old. Here is a pic of him with his medal.
Amusingly, I came in 5 out of 9 in my age group. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers were slower than my normal 5K ttime. I know it was the heat, but if I hadn't run 10 miles that morning I would have had a real shot at an age group award! I came in at about the halfway point for women and overall. Not bad. According to the clock I ran it in 38:59. I know, I know. Slow. Even for me! My Garmin said I was at 5K about a tenth of a mile before the finish line. According to it I finished in 37:34. I think I'm going with the watch!
Some more pics:
Ryan at the start
Me at the start
Ryan finishing
Me with my watermelon at the end
Ryan with his watermelon
After the race we went to Dinks BBQ in Bartlesville. Yummy yummy! I ate so much. It was amazing.
This week will be a light week! I ran 24.75 miles last week, which is really too much at this point. I am definitely not running until Wednesday, maybe a little longer.
Saturday morning came and it was chilly! I decided I didn't need to leave at 5:30 because as cool as it was the sun shining on me wouldn't really matter. Ha! I was wrong. I didn't leave until almost 6:30. It was cool at first and I wore my arm warmers. I took them off at mile 3 and still wasn't too hot. It was really humid though and the sun was sooo bright. By mile 4 I was really soaked in sweat. I had the bright idea of fueling the run with peach rings. I love peach rings, they are full of sugar, where's the bad? I've heard of people who use gummy bears, so I thought I was good to go. I was wrong. They made my stomach hurt really bad. I was also sweating a ton without replacing any electrolytes, only drinking water. Needless to say by 5 miles I wasn't in great shape. So at 7:30 am I called my husband and begged him to bring me a powerade and a GU. I can't believe I did that. I now feel really selfish and mean. Being the really amazing guy he is, he did it. I won't say he did it with a smile or anything, but he did it. It took him a bit to get dressed and get out to where I was. When he arrived I was puking on the side of the road. That's right. Puking. Remember how I said the peach rings were a bad idea? Yeah. It was fun. When he got there I was at the top of a really big really curvy hill (Sweeny hill for locals). He couldn't stop safely so he drove to the bottom and stopped in a little drive. I drank some powerade and ate a gel and he left.
By that time I only had 2.8 miles to go. Thankfully they were pretty flat. The route I did was different than I have done before. I mapped it on mapmyrun.com and saw that it was mostly a gradual uphill to get to Sweeny Hill where I would go down rapidly. Since it was so gradual I thought I would be fine. I was wrong. It was pretty tough. So, let me repeat. 7 miles mostly uphill, lack of real fuel, sun really shining, upset stomache and high humidity. The makings of a great run, right? Well, the first 4 miles were really fun! After that, all I can really say is I finished.
If that were the end of my day things would have been great. Unfortunately, I still had a 5K to run. Did I mention the heat yet? Well, it was 85 at the start. Also, sun shining brightly. Right up to the time we started I considered just baking out. Ok, I considered it for the first mile too. This race had major hills! Surprisingly, I ran a lotx of them. Ok, I was moving so slow I don't know if you could really call it running. Shuffling maybe.
The most exciting news is that Ryan got 1st place in his age group! There were only 2 in his age group, but he blew the other person away. In fact, he placed 19 our of 49 males of all ages. Quite impressive for an 11 year old. Here is a pic of him with his medal.
Amusingly, I came in 5 out of 9 in my age group. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers were slower than my normal 5K ttime. I know it was the heat, but if I hadn't run 10 miles that morning I would have had a real shot at an age group award! I came in at about the halfway point for women and overall. Not bad. According to the clock I ran it in 38:59. I know, I know. Slow. Even for me! My Garmin said I was at 5K about a tenth of a mile before the finish line. According to it I finished in 37:34. I think I'm going with the watch!
Some more pics:
Ryan at the start
Me finishing
This week will be a light week! I ran 24.75 miles last week, which is really too much at this point. I am definitely not running until Wednesday, maybe a little longer.
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