Friday, June 30, 2006

Friday afternoons are for art!

So we have a winner folks. And it is not Atomic Corn Parade, but I still thought this was fun to make. Our official team name is "Back off man, I'm a scientist." Can we be sued for copyright infringement for stealing quotes from Ghostbusters?

Anyways, I sent in the registration check today, so we are official. And when I went to buy stamps they had a sheet of 40 stamps called "Wonders of America: Land of Superlatives." And so I scoured the stamps for the perfect stamp to put on our race registration. Longest Hiking Trail? Longest Mountain Chain? And then I saw the stamp to the right and thought "Ah, yes, perfect for a race registration."

Thursday, June 29, 2006

And the winner of the team name voting is...

Just kidding. We have no winner yet. That was just the primaries. We actually had a three way tie. I need to pick a team name by tomorrow, when I need to register. So, even if you voted via e-mail, pick your favorite of these three! Heck, even if you are just contemplating joining our team, feel free to vote! Double heck, even if you just read the blog, put in your two cents. Anyways, the finalists are:




ATOMIC CORN PARADE







BACK OFF, MAN. I'M A SCIENTIST.








FLAT AND PROUD





(Ten points if you get the reference in the last picture :-))

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Will I get groupies too?

So at the expo before the marathon, they had a raffle for free entry into one of the "musical marathons." And sitting on the table was this big honkin' medal. It seriously weighs five pounds or something. And I thought "I want to be a rock star!" And surprisingly, this is not actually some massive running feat. The only marathon you have to do is the San Diego marathon in June. Then you have to do the four other musical half-marathons: January in Phoenix, the Country Music Half in Nashville in April, Virginia Beach in September, and San Jose in October. Besides getting a huge ass medal, you get to enjoy weekends in different cities (and Phoenix is the only one I have ever been to - in June, so I hated it, but I am willing to give it another chance). I think Kori might be game for this. Just so you all know, Kori sadly had to drop out. Her legacy will most likely be our team name, because, as of now, "Atomic Corn Parade" is winning.

Welcome to Melissa, who just joined our team and blog as well! As of now, I have nine pretty firm commitments (I either have their money or it's on the way). I am going to start pumping up my recruiting skills again to see if I can't get some of the maybes to commit. Like I said, we can run short if we need to, but I just did out the legs and if we have 9 or 10 people, someone has to run a marathon essentially. Even with 11, one person has to run 24 miles. We can also relinquish the Flatlander status (as I know non-Flatlanders who will run), but I would prefer not to do that. Well, still over 6 weeks before the relay...

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Hooray for no knee pain

I have run once in the last 2 weeks because of some knee pain I'd been having. I was pretty afraid of it and wanted to give it a chance to try to heal if it was just a bruise.

As of Friday, it was still hurting if I put direct weight on it while standing for a period of 10 straight minutes.

However, I played 3 soccer games Saturday, and my knee feels great. I am pretty happy. I am going to try to get back on my regular training schedule again as of Monday. I don't know what was (or is) wrong with my knee, but if running around outside for like 8 hours didn't phase it, I won't complain.

Yay!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

This one's for You, Canada




Canada has a lot of things that I find awful, gross, and effing weird, but gosh darn it, I love living here.

So next Saturday I am running my first ever 10K race, and I am doing it for Canada.


I guess this run is pretty small-time, which means that Mark is going to kick ass and I'm going to not look like a total wimp, which I hope will psych me up for Colorado.

Here's to socialized healthcare!

Friday, June 23, 2006

I'll take Potent Potables for $1000, Alex

J.D.'s Narration: A wise man once said the human spirit can overcome any obstacle.
J.D.: I can't.
Elliot: Come on!
J.D.'s Narration: That man had obviously never run a triathlon.

So my favorite Scrubs episode this past year was an episode where my other boyfriend is about to turn 30 and finds a list of things he wanted to do before 30 and freaks out because he has done none of them. I totally have this list. A long time ago, when I was a wee 23 year old, "Get my PhD" was on that list - considering I have only 16 months until 30 and I haven't even proposed my topic, that ain't happenin'. But! On that list was "Run a marathon." So check! Now I can rest easy knowing I have at least done something on that list - now, I can work on devoting my energy to getting on Jeopardy :-)

So I have to admit it - not having this running schedule/bible that dictated what sort of running I was supposed to do every week to get ready for the marathon has left me feeling sort of aimless. And I have to keep telling myself that I am completely justified in being lazy, at least for a week. So what does one do when one running training schedule finishes up? She starts another! So now I have this big messy hybrid training schedule for this race (which includes hill workouts and double runs once a week) and training for the Cy-Man Triathlon at the end of August (a tri was also my list). I was going to do the Cornman Triathlon in July, but now I have to go do field work in Florida in July. So while Pete gets to slowly drift by mountains in Sweden on his glacier, I get to slowly drift by menacing alligators in a canoe. (I will be in the canoe, not the alligators - my advisor/"insano yielder of the red pen" would be all over me for that one :-))

This alligator was hanging out where we intended to put our instruments last time.

Oh yes, on a completely unrelated note, I would like to welcome Jessica (the californiowan you might now notice on the sidebar) to our little blog and to our team!

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Hi.

I feel like I should post something. I haven't written anything in a while. I've run once in the last week and a half, because I had some weird knee pain, and I was trying to see what it was from and if it'd go away. I think I was just spending too much time on my feet at work, standing for upwards of 7 hours a day. I started wearing sneakers instead of dress shoes to work (which looks really great with my business casual clothing when I'm in meetings with CTOs wearing suits, btw), and I am slowly feeling better. I really wanted to run today, but I put in a deadly day and all I want to do is watch tivo'd soccer and try to not fall asleep on the couch too early in the evening.

So I decided I'd just post here and say hi, since it's been a while. Hi everyone.

NameName



So, my last post spawned a flurry of suggestions from my fan club over at my "knitting" blog. (Discovery: you can totally up the comment count on a blog by mentioning a random old TV show). I've taken the liberty of highlighting the ones I like best (and actually get):

Tina Yothers Has A Posse
Tina Yothers' Posse
Relayed Up Beyond All Recognition (RUBAR)
We Are Not Afraid of You and We Will Beat Your Ass
Won Baton Soup
The Tom DeLay Memorial Relay
Baton Turner Overdrive
fReelay
Manitoba: Spirited Energy
Take it Take it TAKE IT!
All Your Baton are Belong to Us
Mexican Hand-off
Dan Brown's Sudoku iPod Reality Show

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

we family now



During this morning's 6-miler, which was actually a 3-miler due to the blister that wouldn't heal and my iPod that didn't charge, I thought I'd do my bit to dream up the perfect moniker for our team. I came up with the following:

The Commitments (because we're really committed to this mother, and also that was a good movie)
The Prank Monkeys (who doesn't like monkeys? nobody, that's who)
Team Lazy (it was a good name then and it's a good name now!)
Team Midwest is Invincible (I like names that are complete sentences and, on top of that, complete lies)

After that, I thought of that episode of Family Ties where Alex manages Jennifer's pop group and makes them change their name to "The Dynamic Corporate Raiders", and then I just started thinking about how television just isn't what it used to be.
This made me decide that we should get a family-style portrait taken of the 12 of us, at the local Wal-Mart. (I wrote that in bold so you would take notice.)

Anyhoodle, of Koris hilarious list, I most prefer (in order of much I like them):

* Atomic Corn Parade
* We are not runners.
* Mixed Nuts
* mmmmmmm corn
* I'm doing this for the bling

Sunday, June 18, 2006

I'm new at this blogging

So, I just noticed I can click on all of our names and read everyone's profiles? Did you know that 32 people have viewed my profile while 225 have viewed Lisa's? Lisa, do you have secret nudey pictures stashed somewhere secretly on this website? I'll be there's this secret code on the lower left on the screen and when you click it - -there's lisa. And, I'll bet the entire hacker community has figured it out and thus is driven to view her profile! yup, that's it!!!

Anyone know where I can get a new pair of quads?

Short version of Danielle's first marathon: I finished!

The long version:

Warning! I am going to ramble here, but when else will I get to ramble about my first marathon? Never! Plus, enough people have asked me how it went, that I figured if I write it here, I can just tell them to read this instead of me writing the same things repeatedly :-)

So I finished. But it was rough. I knew it wasn't going to be a good day when I woke up at 3am when Kori had to get up to catch the bus for the half marathon and my left IT band was throbbing near my knee. As I lay in bed trying to massage it, Kecia rolled over and said in a sleepy haze "Do you have fleas or something?"

I felt nauseous all the way to the starting line - the nerves were raging. The thunderstorms held off. For better or worse. It started out foggy and about 65 degrees, but the sun soon came out. By the end of the race it was almost 80 degrees. And humid. Now, I thought I was running a race in northern Minnesota to avoid running in such weather!

I did my 20 mile training runs at about 10:35 pace, so I knew I wasn't going to finish this sucker any faster. Very uncharacteristicly, we actually managed to pace ourselves and ran that pace or so to start out. I think we held this pace for ten miles or so. And then we followed Bill's race advice of "Start slow and taper." By the time we hit mile 13, I was feeling the way I felt at the end of our 20-milers. My IT bands, hamstring, and calves didn't hurt (the usual suspects), but my knees were unhappy the whole way as well as my right ankle and Achilles tendon (which I hurt in March).

But we kept truckin'. Considering I actually felt pretty good at the end of my last 20-miler, I am stunned at how miserable the last 6.2 miles was. It took me almost an hour and a half to do that bit. I think I was almost crying from how much my legs and feet hurt.

We ended up walking mile 25 and started running again for the last 1.2. There was conveniently a relatively short but steep downhill at the beginning of this mile. I am a good downhill runner so I just let go and it actually felt really good to lengthen my stride and when I hit the bottom of it, I just kept going with the long stride - it hurt so much less than my shuffling or walking did, so I went with it. So I booked it the last 0.7 miles or so. Granted, at this point "booking it" was about 10:30 pace, but considering that I was shuffling along at about 13:30 pace before we stopped to walk, that is practically sprinting. The adrenalin started hitting too, especially as I kept passing people and not a single person passed me in that bit.

About 5 miles before the end, I whipped out my ipod because I couldn't keep up with Kimberly and I wanted a bit of a boost. I kept it on until the end, but in the pocket in the back of my shirt, so it was hard to mess with it. During my little sprint to the end, what I thought was the worst song ever for running came on - "Ghost" by the Indigo Girls. But I went with it and totally belted out the entire song as I ran past people (it took my mind off the pain). I figured I didn't care if everyone thought I was weird - they could tell my backside that I was a freak as I ran past them :-) That song ended with the finish line in sight - at 26 miles. Then the song "Look at Miss Ohio" by Gillian Welch came on. While I really like this song (the reason it was on my ipod), this really is THE WORST SONG IN THE WORLD TO FINISH A MARATHON TO. I felt the energy being sucked from me as this uber-mellow song came on. But I finished, yay!

I had three goals. The first was just to finish. The other two were to not walk and to finish under 5 hours. One out of three is good enough! I figure it will be a lot easier to improve my PR if I start at 5:15 :-) And honestly, I was so happy to just finish I didn't care about the other goals. At breakfast this morning, another guy who ran it told me he was hoping to come in at 4:20 and with the heat and humidity he came in at the same time as I did (although I think he may have been overly optimistic about his projected time). But several people who had run multiple marathons before said they were about 20 minutes slower than other runs because of the heat. And if you need proof, Bill actually needed an IV at the end (he had us scared for a while).

Although apparently the heat didn't affect everyone. Barrett ran his first marathon in 2:48 - he came in 68th place. Insane! The boy freaking qualifies for Boston on his first try!

On the plus side, I think I nailed the hydration/energy thing - I didn't feel horribly dehydrated or lacking in energy. The heat kept me slow, but ultimately it was my legs that gave out. I don't know how to help that - do more long runs? Considering I hadn't been feeling great from the beginning of the run, it may just have been one of those days - we all have some days that are better than others for running and it seems largely random which days suck.

We did follow Pete's advice, and, besides being well hydrated, made sure we had a malt at the PortLand Malt Shoppe. Yum. But unlike he claimed, I did indeed notice Lemon Drop Hill - it was actually a pretty measly hill, but, at mile 22, I hurt no matter what I did :-)

But again, yay I finished my first marathon! And my "I can do better than that!" personality means I will eventually do another one. I am thinking fall is too soon, especially since I know from training for Chicago last year that training in the summer sucks. When we are having a slow blogging week, I will write about Kori's and my scheme to become rock stars.

Team Name Ideas

Danielle was giving me a hard time about coming up with team name ideas. I tend to stay away from the whole midwest or iowa thing because I don't like all the stereotyping stuff. But hey. . .here goes.

The agony of dafeet.
Pig tails and corn tassels.
Alcoholics Unanimous.
Git'Er Done
Almost never triumphant.
Flat and proud.
Not all tassels are found at a strip club (there's my corn reference)
We are not runners.
Atomic Corn Parade
Ain't no grandma's run (in honor of Danielle)
B hind Me
Back Seat diversion
Don't pass me
Bad Gas - stay far back
Band O Bandits
Barn Yard Bandits
I'm doing this for the bling (if we get medals at the finish)
bloody toes
Corn state colonic
Rookies, and passing you
Show me your bloody nipples
hills suck
Blistered Buns
Midwest Magic
Mixed Nuts
mmmmmmm corn
Toe Jammers
Midwest Moonshiners
I'd rather be watching movies
If we win, we'll get mullets
Midwest Mush
Naughty As All Git Up
Wild Corn Rookies
Will Run for Food


I'll keep thinking. I'm getting stuck. I'm hungry. mmmmmmm.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Over the river and through the woods...

...to Grandma's Marathon we go. Okay that was lame, but I couldn't think of any other granny phrase. This isn't my grandma, since I have no digital pictures of either, just a random granny I found on the internet.

Anyways, 3 days to go! We leave tomorrow. The weather is still 40% chance of thunderstorms (what do they do if there is lightning? you can't cancel a marathon can you?). But the high is now only 74, so I am good with that. Anyways, since I know the three people that read this blog will be waiting in dire anticipation of knowing how I do, I found out I can text message a post to the blog. The wonders of technology!

In other news, I got money from Kori and Pete, so now I just have to track down a couple more people and then we can register. So that means time is closing in on us to pick a name. I was trying to think of a corn/running pun and the best I could come up with was Children of the Corn(s, blisters, and black toenails). God, I'm lame - we need some left-brained people here...

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

rest...

soccer is my first love, but it is hard on the body. i usually need a day or two to recover after a soccer game, from having been kicked and twisted and kneed and everything else that happens to me every sunday. because of the required down time, i tend to step up my running intensity, so if i play soccer then rest 1 day, i try to run 4 or 5 of the other 5 days in the week. a couple of weeks ago, i hit a little wall. i had done too much and i am still feeling it i can't shake this feeling of being physically exhausted all the time.

i am planning on taking a few days off (2 so far, and at least 1 more), and when i get done with this little mini-break, since soccer is now over, i can just concentrate on running. at that point, i want to try to run no more than 4 days a week to give myself a chance to recover from the badness that i did to myself.

i usually have a moment like this every time i try to train for something, when i get the feeling like i'm not doing enough, so i overdo it, and either get hurt, or just burn out. one day i'll learn. but apparently not yet...

Monday, June 12, 2006

Yet another new shoes story

Seeing as everyone else has a new shoes story I thought it can't do any harm to post another one. So here it is! Throughout my "career" as a competitive runner, which is pushing 9 years now, I've always bought cushioning shoes because they are what I was told to buy all those years ago. However, this time I go into the shop to be told that I'm wearing the wrong shoes and a selection of support shoes were brought out despite my protests... I've since shown my old shoes to the guy in the shop to see if he could point out any wear that would indicate that the shoes weren't any good for me - which he couldn't, but I suppose it's never too late to change. I ended up buying a pair of Brooks, which I wasn't too keen on as their shoes always used to be way to heavy and inflexible for my running style, but these are surprisingly light - and despite intensely disliking them on the first 3 or 4 runs I am starting to get used to them to the point that I actually enjoyed running 15km in them yesterday morning.

In other news, my Canadian race debut will be on sunday in a 10km (which will be quickly followed by a 5 mile race next wednesday and another 10km on July1st). This is going to be my first race since May 16th last year when, completely out of form and unprepared, I ran my worst ever time for a 10km. This time I am very well prepared although I am more interested in seeing exactly where I am with my running and in setting a benchmark (I'm aiming for 7 minute miles but will see what happens). Watch this space...

Yay for collages!

5 more days! As of now the weather forecast is partly cloudy 61/83 for Saturday. I still would prefer about 10 degrees cooler, but if it is partly cloudy, that will do.

Anyways, it was almost all moot on Saturday as I saw my whole marathon training flash before my eyes. My room is on the second floor, sort of in an attic (sloped ceilings and the like), with steep stairs that aren't very wide. I was going to a wedding on Saturday evening and I realized last minute that I left something upstairs and I ran up the stairs in my heeled sandals and on the way back down, I totally fell down the last three stairs. I just sat there thinking "Oh God, please, when I stand up, let nothing hurt." My ankle was a little sore, but that has passed. Phew! That was a close one. Yet another reason why heels are the stupidest things ever.

Just did a quick 3 miler (actually a 5k). I haven't run that short of a distance in forever. It was so much fun. I felt so zippy! I was totally cruising too - I did the 5k in 27:05, which is a PR by over a minute - now I just need to do it in an actual race :-)

In other news, the cash is rollin' in - I just got a cheque (tee hee) from Lisa and Mark in the mail, complete with a collage (Lisa is actually and arts-and-crafts teacher trapped in a scientist's body).

Gotta be the shoes




My first 9-miler from D's training schedule was three weeks ago, and I skipped it because I was too busy hoarking up nastyness from my cold. This is why I spent all most of last week totally dreading the 9-miler of this weekend; just the thought of adding another mile to the long-ass haul through the cemetery was making me want to barf, a feeling which was just barely alleviated by the purchase of my new million-dolla shoes.

On Saturday, I got so unhappy about the prospect of getting up early on Sunday to run, that I decided to just get it over with. What ended up motivating me was that the realization that, really, 9 miles is only three times, plus a bit, around the park by my house --- the circuit that used to be my "regular" run and is now my "easy" run. I ended up doing just under 4 circuits around my park, which I estimate is a bit less than 10 miles.

However...the new shoes. I'd really love to have the "these shoes and I are soulmates" moment that all my friends seem to be having, but unfortunately that's not what happened.

I am impressed at how I ran so far and my body did not feel like it was going to burst into 10 million painful pieces at the end, nor did my back make its usual snap/crackle/popping noise when I bent over to take my shoes off. BUT: that teeny tiny rub that I noticed in the shoestore (and decided was nothing bad because the shoes are so damn supportive)? It left me with two huge blisters (one on each foot, same spot) and one little one.

Maybe this is just the effect of good shoes straightening out my screwed up feet - like a functional relationship after just coming out of an abusive relationship. But...I don't really want to risk another bad shoe relationshiop. Now my question is: do I return them? Can I return shoes that have run 10 miles? Or is it just a matter of breaking them in?

Sidenote: my first social interaction I have after my weekend long runs is usually church, which means that I end up answering almost every question (from "Hey Lis, can you help me lift this speaker?" and "Can you plug in that monitor over there?" to "How's it going?", "Wanna go pray out on the steps?", and "Who's leading worship tonight?") with some variant on "My ass ran 9 freaking miles this weekend." I hope it's not getting irritating.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

New shoes

After I had been running for about a year, I went into the running store in Champaign, IL, and said to them, "I started running a year ago and I think it's time I got some real running shoes. Help." I spent almost an hour there that evening. They analysed my gate, watching me both walk and run. I tried on probably about 15 pairs of shoes as the guy who was helping me explained the slight differences between each pair. In the end, I settled on a pair of Brooks, which I fell in love with. I had never had shoes of any type that were so comfortable.

Since that time in summer of 2003, whenever I have needed a new pair of sneakers, I simply brought the current pair in to the running store and said, "I need a pair of these in size 12." I had no desire to change shoes, they were awesome.

About 2 weeks ago, I felt my shoes starting to have some serious wear. Last weekend, I realized that I had about a week left in them, and I had planned on getting new ones this weekend. Thursday, I was running, and at about mile 6 of a 9 mile run, something changed, and all of a sudden, every step I took hurt. My knees were killing me. My shoes died right in the middle of my run. I only made it about half a mile before I had to stop and limp home. When I got home, I was looking at my poor shoes, content that I'd have a shiny new pair in 2 days' time. As I was looking at them, though, I noticed that the wear on the treads was in a different place than any of the previous 3 pairs, which had all worn in exactly the same way.

I didn't feel like my stride had changed, but apparently it had. So today, I went to the running store with my shoes, and when the guy came to help me I said, "I have had 4 pairs of this exact model in the last 3 years, and I love them. But I had knee surgery in February, and the soles wore out in a different place on this pair than my previous pairs. Something in my stride changed. What do you think I should do for shoes?"

So he got out a new pair of my current shoes, we went outside, and he watched me run up and down the block in them. After watching me do this, he got a funny look on his face, like there was something weird that I was doing that he could sort of see but not quite put his finger on. So he literally sat on the ground and watched me run (apparently to get my feet closer to eye level), and he spotted the problem.

My current model of shoes would no longer do. They would be fine, because normally I had a very neutral stride, and that shoe is great for neutral strided. But I am slightly favoring my knees now, probably a side effect of the training I did early on as I was coming off the injury, since I don't have any knee problems these days. I am running more up on the balls of my feet and not getting a full heel strike, and it's causing me to hit harder on the outside of the balls of my feet (which is where the shoes wore out).

So then I proceeded to try 4 pairs of shoes on, and finally settled on a pair, but, I am sorry to say, they aren't Brooks. I loved my Brooks, but my new Mizunos are specifically for people who tend to run on the balls of their feet. As I ran in them, I could actually feel my feet trying to push out, because the shoes were resisting, and pushing me back more towards center. The first few times up and down the block, it felt weird to feel the shoe actually correcting my stride, but once I got used to it, I really like it. I tried running in my old shoes up and down the block, and I can totally feel the change now, and how the new shoes will be better.

So rest in peace, my faithful Brooks. With four pairs in three years, we had a good run. But my gimpiness has caused me to move on.

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

Even though I have never seen the movie 8 Mile, whenever I run 8 miles, I always sing that song. And Eminem and I both have something in common - our Nike hats. Granted mine is a baby blue visor, so it looks a tad less thuggish. And I definitely don't have that thug mug. Maybe I should try it while I run?

Today was our last long run before the marathon next Saturday. I always hear all this advice about what you are supposed to do the week before, but who knows what actually works. I am still midly concerned about the food issue - I can take about three gels before the next one makes me gag. I sort of feel the same way about Gatorade. And I get really hungry after about 15 miles.

So on both my 20 milers I ate sports bars - a Snickers Marathon Bar and a Clif Bar. That Marathon Bar sunk to the bottom of my stomach like a piece of lead. The Clif Bar was a bit better - today I messed around with them and ate one an hour before the run and then ate almost all of one at the halfway point (I normally only take a few bites at a water stop). I don't think it felt too bad.

I sort of feel like I am getting sucked into this world of "sports" foods/beverages when really what I really need is a banana at mile 15 or so. Unfortunately I am not going to carry a banana for 15 miles and that doesn't fit in my pocket. I am curious what other people eat while running.

I am half tempted to just buy a package of Soft Batch cookies and stick those in my pocket. Yummy, squishy, perfect running and eating food :-) But, since I have never tried that on a long run, probably not a good idea to try it at the marathon.

Friday, June 09, 2006

sweet new gear

Today I am bidding my shittackular Nikes farewell, in favor for this rather pricey, lame looking, but amazingly supportive, new pair of Brooks that I got.




This time I went to a real running store, where they made me run up and down the hallway about 800 times before I decided on a pair. Oh my gosh, I think I'm a "runner" now.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Random observation from today's run

When you tell security at the Pentagon that you spotted a suspicious package next to one of their fences, they react extremely quickly in getting someone to go check it out.

Stupid spammers

So a minor change to the blog. Now you have to do this word verification thing to enter a comment. I got tired of going through and deleting spam comments, so hopefully this will take care of that.

In other news, ten days out from Grandma's Marathon, the weather forecast is partly cloudy 59/66 mostly sunny 55/73. Well, we all know how accurate weather forecasts are ten days out (it apparently even changes during the course of the day). Lisa, you are a weather girl, you want to predict the weather in Duluth in ten days for us? ;-) Okay, back to building bridges.

Speaking of science...

Monday, June 05, 2006

Dam to Dam 20K

This weekend was the first anniversary of my (and Kori's) first race longer than a 10k. It is fun to think that this year this was a taper day and not the big event. I came in at 2:08, shaving 9 minutes off my time from last year. Kori, rockstar that she is, came in at 2:03 shaving 13 minutes off her time from last year - that is more than a minute/mile faster! I bow to her awesomeness.

It was a good race, although it was HOT. I really wished they had Gatorade on the course since I was lightheaded the last two miles. And the hill that totally killed me last year and ultimately led to the asthma attack? I bolted up that thing - I was actually passing people on the hill, which I never do. Take that, hill!

Oh and I wore my new shoes for the first time at the race, going contrary to every piece of advice ever. But they were lovely and awesome and have me convinced even more that there is no such thing as "breaking in" running shoes. Both pairs of my Asics Nimbuses (Nimbi?) have been heaven since the first time I wore them.

Anyways, I spent the rest of the day, mildly sunburned and dehydrated, at the Iowa Arts Festival. Nickel Creek covered "Toxic" by Britney Spears (~hanging head in embarassment for recognizing the song~), played all acoustically, with prominent fiddle and my boyfriend singing and playing his mandolin. Awesome.

Reason why Ames is better than Iowa City:
This conversation has never happened in Ames:
Danielle stoops down to pet a puppy.
19-year old hippie kid: "
I'd rather you didn't." (Makes a hand motion referring to his little teenage hippie posse): "Only his pack."

Freakin. Weirdo. Hippies.

Oh yeah, to finish with some running content, one of the teams from last year put a slideshow up on the relay website of pictures from last year accompanied by mildly corny music.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Apple is so smart

So I was just reading about Apple and their new-fangled iPod Nano ideas. Now they have an adaptor you can connect to Nikes so that it keeps your pace and distance (I think it is pretty much a fancy pedometer). Now while this is neat in and of itself, apparently you can set it up so that when you start slowing down, the Nano will play a preset pick-me-up song of your choice. How awesome would it be to be having a rough patch up a hill or something and then bam! Waterloo by Abba comes on. There. I just admitted I like Abba. At least for running. Too bad I hate Nikes with a passion (they are the only shoes that have made my toenail fall off).

Dam to Dam (20K) is on Saturday, yay! I am excited mainly because this was the first ever race over 10K that I ran. Last year (my first year), my pace was like 11:03. Granted it takes a few minutes to cross the starting line and there is no chip timing and I also had an asthma attack at about mile 10, but all I wanted was to be under 11. So close, yet so far. Anyways, considering I just did a 20 mile run at 10:35 pace, I would have to have a really bad day to not improve over last year. So I would like to think of this as my benchmark race.

Also, yet another reason why Iowa City is cooler than Ames, besides being good at fluid mechanics and having a vegetarian restaurant - the Iowa Arts Festival! So after having a fun run in the morning at Dam to Dam, I get to go listen to FREE! music, including Nickel Creek, who I would pay money to go see.