School pride

Run 3, Bike 11, Run 2

My first year of law school did not equal fun. Plus, I'm old now and a lot more sober. I do not have one fraction of the love in my heart for my current school as I do for my undergrad. BUT, today, for the first time, I felt affection. My teammate had a jersey from our school (b/c he used to be on the crew team and is on the cycling team) and I TOTALLY WISHED I had one. Plus, we were going head to head with another local school (who also didn't have uniforms except for one person) and I was feeling all competitive. Then, as I was rounding the bend to the end of the race my teammate was shouting GO [Insert school name here]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was like BRING IT!! I was so pumped (and busy passing two women in the final stretch) and I haven't raced for a school since HS and I totally felt love for my school.

So my 22 y/o teammate apparently had this crazy finish at the end where it was him and two guys from our rival school, a 22 y/o and a 32 y/o (my ex). They both outkicked my teammate at the end when my teammate started dry-heaving from the effort. (HOW IS THAT FOR PUSHING YOURSELF!!) So my teammate came in second in his age group by about 15 seconds to the guy from our rival school. My teammate was like, it is SO ON for training this winter. The 2008 season opens with this same duathlon and he (who hasn't even been running recently) is so pumped to train.

As for me...I had a strong 3 mile run to open things up (results aren't up but I speculate ~7:40 min/miles). I don't think there were TOO many women in front of me. Then, as expected, I got my butt passed on the bike by maybe...7 women? It was harsh. I could not keep up with anyone over the 11 mile course. Since I'm not a strong cyclist AND I haven't been training properly...yeah, UGLY biking by Audrey.

I also had two less than awesome transitions. The first one I lost my bike and it took a few seconds to find the right rack. After that I just felt like I was moving slowly. I was kind of excited not to be running anymore honestly and fully embracing that by moving slowly. For the second transition I had some trouble getting my arm warmers off (I had them on with my bike jersey and I wanted them off for the run). I also felt like I was moving slowly.

I knew I had a chance to catch a few of the women that passed me on the bike since I had finished the first run before them (obviously, since they came up from behind). PLUS, one of them appeared to be in my age group so I was interested in catching her. This was a 2 mile run. I passed a women at the 1 mile mark, the one who I thought was close to my age at the 1.7 mile mark, and another woman maybe in my age group at the 1.9 mile mark. There were some tactical choices involved b/c I was extremely intent on passing the 1.7 mile woman and didn't know if I should tuck in behind her and pass her at the end (I have a strong kick) so that she didn't pick up the pace if she saw me coming if I chose to attempt to catch her earlier. However, at that point I saw the woman I would eventually pass at 1.9 miles and realized if I stayed behind 1.7 mile woman I would not catch 1.9 mile woman. But I didn't want to go too hard and bonk and pass neither....But then I decided, go hard or go home, right? So I went hard and passed them both, rallied by ex-bf triathlete saying "good job" on the side of the road as I ran by and my teammate screaming GO [INSERT SCHOOL NAME HERE] at the top of his lungs. The passes were successful (the beauty of being slow on the bike is you end up closer to people you should be able to pass on the run) and I hope there are no finish line photos b/c I had hands on knees and was hunched over immediately....This was good for 4th in my age group, 18 seconds back from third. This means in 3/5 multi-sport races this year I missed placing by 11, 12, and 18 seconds respectively.

But my school's tri team is now born. This was our first event. (And my teammate and I totally, to ourselves, made fun of 20 y/o girl (see "Converted" post below) from the rival school who was wearing ugg boots with her spandex after the race). And I do not feel bad about that at all. And I beat her but I don't take joy in that b/c she's really new to the sport and I beat her by a really large amount. I honestly think it's cool she was out there. But she needs to leave the ugg boots at home.

Finally a 10k that I didn't suck ass in...

So me and the 10k have never gotten along.

The first 10k I ran was the Rattlesnake Master, back in Urbana IL in 2003. I don't even really remember my time, but I think it was something like 1:06:something. I also know that I finished second to last.

The second 10k I ran was the Hope Run here in Ames back in June. I finished that in 1:07:something. I think I was pretty close to second to last in that one.

I would like to note that I have run ten milers to half-marathons at faster paces than these two races.

I hate the 10k distance. I start too fast, kill myself, and then have three more miles to run. So I avoid it like the plague.

But I decided it was time to redeem myself. This weekend is simply fabulous fall weather, so I figured perfect conditions to PR in. Plus, the bar wasn't too high for a PR. And for the first year I have lived in Ames, I actually have not been injured for the Run for the Roses, one of the bigger races of the year here.

So I woke up this morning and it was 27 degrees out. Brrr. I bundled up but I knew it was going to get warmer so I decided to race in pants, but with a long sleeve wicking shirt (my GRR shirt in fact!)

My goal was to negative split this race. But... in the first half, I was keeping pace with this one girl and there weren't a ton of people behind us (there is also a 5k, so the slower folks do that race), so I decided to stick with her at our "slightly faster than I would have run otherwise" pace.

But then I had two Ben Folds Five songs come on that made me run faster (BFF is great running music!) so I dropped her on a hill (on a hill! for real! I don't drop people on hills!). After the turnaround she caught up with me again and we ran together until like a mile and a half from the end.

At this point she started picking it up, and the hills, especially this one long one, were making me regret spending two hours on my trainer with Chrissy the day before. Right about this point, my ipod gave me about 15 slow songs in a row, so I kept having to slip through them which is distracting.

Finally I found a good loud Cure song that had a chorus that went something like "I want this to be the end." I found that quite fitting. She was always in my sight, but I was never able to catch her again. About a half mile from the end, I had two They Might Be Giants songs come on (also great running music!) and I tried to pick it up a bit and I was aided by a big downhill before a sharp uphill to the finish.

It was a perfect running weather day and I managed to come in at 1:01:15, so that's knocking an insane 5 minutes off my previous 10k time. w00t! Yay for fall races!

Sorry to disappoint

So I run/bike a lot. And I guess I talk about it a lot. I mean, I don't go on and on about it b/c I know no one wants to hear about it, but whenever people ask me what I'm doing after work or on the weekend...the answer is usually running, biking, spinning, and/or racing. Since I lost a couple of pounds people also apparently think I look like a competitive runner of sorts.

This is very bad, however, because my performances do not meet their expectations by a long shot. I feel kind of awkward about it truthfully. For example, my officemate thought I had to be careful about what I consumed because I was subject to drug testing. I informed him that while that would be extremely flattering, even if I took supplements no one would be suspicious. My sort of boss (not the judge but his clerk) made a guess as to how fast I would complete my duathlon this coming weekend. He underestimated by about 20 minutes-and it's a short race. He said, and I quote: "But you're tiny." Sorry peeps. Small doesn't=fast. And, after running for 7 years, I don't think I'm going to get any faster. This is IT. As has been proven time and again, looks are so deceiving on this topic. I know for a fact I am going to get my butt kicked at this race by a woman in my age group who doesn't look like a typical fast runner. But she is wicked (wicked) fast! And will continue to kick my ass weekly until I turn 30....

Here is a picture of me.

Here I am running. I paid for this pic so I am showing as many people as I can get to look at it. Facebook. Parents. Bloggers. This is me out enjoying the woods. It is a way cooler backdrop than an urban bridge or building, eh?? Also, every running pic I see of myself has me looking like I am about to trip over my feet. Who runs like that?? Also, please note how much harder it looks like Al is running (see below) in his race than I am in mine.

Don't get mad, go running.

I just came back from a 6.6 mile run, the longest I have done since July.

My foot hurts a lot now (although it didn't hurt when I was running).

But my brain hurts a lot less than it did before the run.

Ah, the restorative powers of a run!

PS I bailed on the Pi Run because I stayed up late eating a delicious chocolate cake that my friend made me for my birthday.

Converted...

...to a trail runner.

The Good: I love running

My 9.5 mile trail race today was so amazing. Hot (74 degrees) and hilly (I had to walk up some of the monster the hills) but challenging and beautiful and spectacular. It was low-key (pour your own water at the water stops) and just great. My best parts of the race were around mile 6 when I picked up my pace and passed 6 women and the last .5 mile where I was sprinting at a good clip. Total time: ~1:28. I want to move to the cute town it was in-about an hour from me. I stopped on the way home to buy tiny pumpkins for me and my fellow interns.

The Bad: I'm not in a triathlon mood and I'm afraid I won't be again.

I am totally loving running. It's going well. It's enjoyable. And I don't have to swim! I have little to no motivation to do triathlon stuff. During tri training I was running 2-3 times a week. Right now I'm running 3-4 times a week and I'm starting to think I could up it to 4-5 times a week. But, I can't. I just know I can't. I must keep the injury monsters at bay and return to my tri schedule soon.

The Ugly: I see stupidhead triathlete ex at least two times a week and will until one of us moves out of the area.

As you all know, because I am an oversharer, I broke up with 32 y/o triathlete guy who I am no longer a fan of. I see him once a week at spin class (in the winter it will be twice a week) and at the race today I had the glorious surprise of running into his teammate in the bathroom (thankfully not the 20 y/o he left me for-and yes, they are already fighting and broken up as well) and then basically walked out of the bathroom into him. Woooohhooo. Not. Because we run in the exact same tri cicle I will see him once or twice a week (at least) until one of us moves out of the area which will not be for years on either of our ends. He sucks and I am not even sharing all the sucky details. We're nice to each other in person out of necessity, but Audrey=not a fan. I guess you're never too young (I'm 27) to get left for someone younger, eh?

Time for Pi!

So tomorrow is the Pi Mile Run in Ames. There are actually two 5ks tomorrow in Ames so I had a hard time deciding which to do.

Until I found out the other one is up at the lake where I do my research. It is windy as f#%$ up there these days. I should know - my little meteorological station out there on the lake sends me data every two hours. I would like to where I put this data up on the interweb, but Danielle knows nothing about putting real-time data up, so she has neglected to do so, even though she told the city she would. Oops!

I also know it is windy up there because I ran 6 miles up there yesterday in the blowing pouring rain. I met my running group up there at 5:30 and it wasn't raining and then it slowly started. Almost everyone else was faster than me and running the Des Moines Marathon on Saturday, so I ran with my friend Bill who is training for the Big Sur Half and needed to do a slow 7. Even though I got drenched (hello! white cotton t-shirt not the best choice!), I managed to run it at 9:51 pace - go me! I haven't run 6 miles at once since Big Creek. The foot hurt while I was running, but a night sleeping with the splint seemed to help it out so I don't even notice it today.

But anyways, how happy am I to be back running? I have been sticking to the short distances lately and really it takes at least 3 miles for me to start feeling good. I felt great last night, just being out there.

The other reason I am doing the Pi run again is that this is my 5k PR race from last year. I am not messing with a good thing. I don't intend to PR, but a PR for this year would be nice (meaning anything under 30 minutes). We shall see...

The one negative is that the age groups are 25-34 which means my last race in my 20s will be done in the same age group I'll be in next year. Oh well, I think I'll survive. Plus, with the fast college girls are eliminated, my chances of being first in my age group again get better :-)

Operation do not be a baby

I started indoor spin class tonight. Every Tuesday night for seven weeks. Then we have a break for the holidays. Then it is every Tuesday and Thursday for ten weeks. I am a total wuss on the bike. I don't push myself hard. It hurts. When I'm riding outside people (guys who can't understand I don't have any desire to go faster) yell at me to at least TRY. But I LIKE cruising gently along. I think I found my max heart rate (183) and then proceeded to not get sweaty for the rest of the class. I was talking to the girl next to me about her dog. It was interesting. But. I. Must. Try. 2008 is my biking year. I am going to bike at least 100 miles a week and I am going to do a century. This year I maxed out at 80 miles a week. Twice. That is pathetic half ironman prep (which I am already signed up for in 08). This should be achievable with A) some effort on my part and B) my life being significantly better because I am not a first year law student. That alone deserves a great big WAHHHOOOOO!! Right now I am interning full time and I have no classes and feel like an adult again. Let's hear it again: WOOOOHHOOOOO.



In other news my dad and I went camping this past weekend. We're total newbies. It was hilarious as we checked out all our new gear (LOOK, my nalgene turns into a lantern...and SEE how big this tiny camping towel expands to!!) and a bit hard core and scary (we had to do a bit of wilderness hiking as we got TOTALLY lost on the side of the mountain) and overall truly fun. We're definitely going to go again and also hike the part of the Appalachian trail that is in NJ (only 18 miles).



I hope everyone is having fun fall adventures!!

I'm not worthy!

EDIT: I just got an email full of race photos. And, unusually, I was able to download them, because they used a really simple URL scheme. Unfortunately there was no obvious way to access high-resolution shots, or even properly downsampled ones. I guess if they can't properly code a locked-down image gallery there's no hope for correct image processing. At any rate, the scheme was easy enough that I was able to check out photos of the guy that finished ahead of me, and I liked one of those quite a lot. In this shot, #1358 is clearly sweating at the prospect of my mighty kick (I am the dude back in the distance). He overcame his worry to beat me by 5 seconds. Until next time, #1358!

Eventually someone has to write a race report and bump Kori off the top of the page... and as bad as I feel to do it, running for less than 1/30th the time she did, and in perfect weather on a basically-flat course, I guess I can at least say my run was a total contrast to her run. Short and easy, all about speed.

So my race for the weekend was the Pumpkins in the Park 5k, down in Lincoln Park (the part of the park Lincoln Park that's in the neighborhood of Lincoln Park... I don't think they played any songs by the band Linkin Park at the race, but I wouldn't have recognized them if they did). I was supposed to train through this race, but wound up having a crappy week of training that turned out something like a taper. The race had a 4pm start, and after the intense heat for the marathon last weekend and the cold weather and high winds that followed just a few days later, the temperature rose up to a perfect one for running, with pleasantly normal humidity and no discernible wind for my race.

So the race. Looking at past results it looked to be the fastest field I'd faced in a long time (probably since the Monterey Bay Half Marathon last November), but that says more about my sparse racing schedule than the strength of the field. There looked to be a few guys under 16 minutes in the field, and a few between 16 and 17. At first I felt that despite all my struggles in my last 5k (16:57) that I wouldn't be able to cut more than 20 seconds off; then I looked at what I'd have to do to run even splits and realized that I could run exactly the same through the first 2 miles and still run 16:30. So I set 16:30 as my goal for today. At the starting line I lined up in the second row, figuring that that the front row would consist of the sub-16 guys and the inevitable "unintentional rabbits", well-intentioned runners that would run their mile PR for the first mile and then drop like rocks into the midpack (I have been there, and it's no fun). That worked out just great. The early fast pack was about seven very polite runners; the two sub-sixteeners and one guy chasing them separated themselves early and a few of the rest of us stuck together through the first mile, coming through around 5:10. They all turned out to be rabbit-types, and I never so much as heard their footsteps much after the first mile. So I focused on the dude in blue 40 meters in front of me. He may have gained a bit of ground through the uneventful second mile, which I finished around 10:25. The third mile had more turns and a few short hills as we crossed under and over bridges in the park; I knew I was slower for that mile, but I was pleased with my 15:46 split. It wasn't great but indicated that I at least kept focus and form. And I made up ground on the guy in front of me.

Then there's that last tenth of a mile. It took me somewhere just over 40 seconds to run it (I don't have an exact finishing time yet, unfortunately... usually chip-timed races get the results up fast but this one didn't; I finished a bit under 16:30, at any rate), which is way too slow for a tenth of a mile. Just like the last race. But after the race I figured it out: I've been thinking about the last tenth all wrong. A 5k is not exactly 3.1 miles, it's exactly 5000m. A mile is about 1609m, leaving 173m for that "last tenth", not 160.9. And I'm guessing they probably didn't measure real miles out on the course, but 1600m increments. Which would make the "last tenth" a full 200m. Over 40 seconds is not a glorious final 200m kick (in fact, it's more of a fade than anything), but I certainly didn't feel like I put on much of a kick, so it's at least believable.

So I ran my goal for today, and have now less than 10 seconds to cut in a few weeks! If I have another race with perfect conditions like today's that should be doable; without perfect conditions it still might happen if I really get some good training in. So I'll be sure to do that. 16:20, here I come! I have to run basically the same through the first mile, a bit faster in the second mile and early part of the third, and then I have to get a killer instinct in the last half mile, like I had in track in high school. If I can be 5 seconds faster over the middle, I can make up 5 more by making a legitimate move with a half mile to go. I've done it before. Time to do it again. Yeah! It's so much fun being actually fast again... although according to this calculator even if I run my ultimate goal of 16:20, at age 23, that's less impressive by 1.5 WAVA points or so than my 15:48 3-mile at 17 and by 3.5 points than my 9:52 2-mile at 18 (I've always felt that was by far the best race I ever ran, and the numbers seem to agree). And also, according to that site, my 35:18 10k last spring was pathetic, and I should be able to run close to 34 minutes. And, if I train for longer stuff, 1:15 in the half, and 2:39 for the marathon. Maybe I'm not really the long-distance guy I thought I was, because my short-distance times look lots better than my long-distance ones.

Oh, yeah, and with my 4th-place finish I missed a prize by one spot. Streak broken. If I had an amazing kick I'd have picked off third place. Time to go get an amazing kick.

I've been wearing my new shirt for three days

Thanks Danielle for the intro.

I am a marathoner. I've never felt so amazing strong and humbly weak about my body all in the same day.

I've been sick for two weeks. With a cold. A bad, bad cold with a headache that makes me not want to eat anything. The day before the marathon I was so tired, I slept for 18 hours and only ate twice. I had to struggle to get the food down.

Sunday, marathon day, the day I've been training for for three years came and I could breathe. I was tired, but I could breathe. I was also nervous. Tom sang songs to me to keep me entertained and everyone hugged before we lined up in our respective time slots.

I ran the first ten miles with a nice woman who was also a first timer. It was hot at mile one. Stiffling hot. I decided to walk through every water stop, stretch my knee every five miles and keep at it.

I'm not sure I ever hit "the wall". What I know is that it got hard at mile 14. Way to early for it to get hard. My 20 mile training run was easier than that. At mile 16, Danielle, Craig and Kimberly were there. I almost cried. I was hot and had stopped sweating at this point and was just focused on making it to 20 miles. At 20 miles, Danielle was going to join me.

Starting at mile 19, I had to walk. I got very dizzy when I'd run and my heart rate was too high. I was so glad to see Danielle. She talked to me while I plodded along.

At mile 22, I thought - "this is as bad as it gets. everything hurts and I have no energy and feel like throwing up"

At mile 24, I found out that I was wrong. It can hurt worse. I don't know how to explain it. Some of you have been there. It was a long 6 miles. Those mile markers seemed so far apart.

For the record, I hate powerade. Way to sweet and I drank it 13 times along the course knowing I needed it but yuck.

At mile 26, there were Kimberly, Craig, Sara, Laurie - yeah, that was pretty amazing. They waited more than 5 hours for me. I felt so blessed to have such great friends. And here was Danielle who was being a great sport and walking with me on her injured foot.

I jogged across the finish line. I started to cry, until the lovely Danielle said "Don't cry, cause I'll cry and I hyperventilate when I cry". Okay, no crying. I could do this.

Things I learned:
Amazing friends make all the difference.
It is really about deciding you'll do it and doing it and trusting that the training was enough.
Running while sick sucks.
It'll gross people out when your toenails fall off or when you pull the dead ones off - others (thanks Tom) will show you their feet in return.
You can have post traumatic stress disorder after a marathon (I'm having flashbacks). ha:)
You can never drink too much water - not really.
Ice baths - they hurt - they feel good - it's fabulous. Thanks Danielle for making like 40 trips to the ice machine with a tiny ice bucket just to help me out. Thanks Laurie for sitting in the bathroom with me and talking even though my brain wasn't really working yet.

Today, I'm sick again. It hurts to walk, but not as bad as yesterday. I may have to actually wash my finisher shirt, but it makes me feel so amazing to wear it. I'm gonna go back to bed and get better now. My marathon is done and work and the rest of life is waiting. I can't wait to run for fun without such a large goal looming.

I read about this run where you get a special finisher shirt if you run it naked. Not sure I'm up for it, but hmmmmm. . . .that would be quite the shirt.

Yay for Kori!

So I have to give a shout out to Kori who finally finished her first marathon! I hope she'll write a race report, but for now I just wanted to brag for her!

Kori and I began our distance running adventure together back in March 2005 when we trained for the Dam to Dam 20k with a city running group. We both had to give up on the Chicago marathon that year because of injury, although I didn't even make it to race day, while Kori made it halfway through the race. Last year, she signed up for Chicago again and was all good until her first 20-miler and had to call it quits.

So this year we signed up for the Twin Cities marathon. My stupid foot kept me from doing it, but Kori made it through all the way to race day and on Sunday finally finished! And she had a brutal day - it was 85 degrees and humid. We had a friend hoping to get a 3:10 to BQ who finished in over four hours and another friend who was hoping for a 3:30 who finished in 4:45. (Okay, at least she didn't pick Chicago again - the odds of finishing there would not have been good).

I went up with Laurie and Kimberly to cheer her on (along with the others from our running group). Since I paid for the race, I totally bandited it with my race number and jumped on the course with her at mile 20. She was walking by then, but man she was hauling ass. We walked 6 15 minute miles and can I tell you how sore I am still? I think it is easier to run 12 minute miles than walk 15 minute miles (athough not at the end of a marathon). They closed the course after 6 hours and Kori was really worried about that, but we came in with 20 minutes to spare.

When we crossed the finish line, I managed to duck the medal person, but dammit, I paid $90 so that wicking finishers shirt is mine.

I am totally breaking t-shirt etiquette.

54% of the BAA 1/2 marathon racers are women...

...so why are they only giving out men's shirts?

I raced in 8 races in the last two months. One race t-shirt (GRR) is a women's shirt.

This bothers me...especially as I'm getting dressed and am looking for a casual, long-sleeve shirt to wear under my jacket and none of the huge men's shirts fit under my women's jacket. AWESOME that 7 of my race t-shirts are useless. They make expensive dusting rags.

Do any race directors read this? Is there an insurmountable obstacle to ordering women's clothing? I registered for the BAA 1/2 many many months ago (maybe July?) and Timberman 10 months pre-race.

I love REI. And running.

The course was gorgeous-through the "Emerald Necklace" of Boston (ie. all the parks and zoo)- but I just did not feel good. The temps were cool, but it was humid and my legs felt tired. I'm glad I did it though b/c it was a reminder to me "to suck it up buttercup." The races aren't all going to be PR's, especially now that I've been running for a few years. And, I'm not a professional athlete. I run for other reasons than to be a wonderful stupendous runner.

Just for posterity sake, I looked up all of my 1/2 marathon times:

2001 Quantico 1/2 marathon 1:51:35

2002 Quantico 1/2 marathon 2:10:47 [took the previous two weeks off with a foot injury that had me in one of those blue wooden shoes and had a bone scan. was ecstatic beyond belief to be able to run this race and finish marathon training]

2004 Austin 1/2 marathon 1:46:49 [cool temps and downhill]

2007 BAA 1/2 marathon 1:51:32

After the race was fun. Some people from my running club met up in REI (one guy wanted to buy a coat) and we were like kids in a candy store. [in case people don't know, REI is an AWESOME sporting goods store]. I bought an EXCELLENT bright yellow tapered reflective biking/running windbreaker. I'm in love. Then we went to brunch.

One interesting moment is me standing in the 8:00 min. coral and some guy coming up behind me and hugging me from behind. I catch a glimpse of him and start discreetly pointing at the guy and silently mouthing to my friend from school who was next to us, "That's him!!!" It was my recent ex. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. We made small talk for about 5 minutes while I'm thinking, why are you talking to and hugging me? Then he left to go a few rows back in the coral with some other people he knows and then went on to beat me by 20 minutes.

I actually had a pretty good day despite coming face to face with the fact that being a triathlete is slowing me down....or, by keeping me injury-free, perhaps it's allowing me to make it to race day...hmmmm. Hard to say...

Calculating

I'm not sure how I feel about race predictor calculators. I love them b/c according to them I have the potential to get some PRs. For example, based on my 5K and 10K times I should theoretically be able to cut 55 minutes off of my marathon time and easily qualify for Boston with a 3:30 (a HUGE goal of mine that I've had for many many years). But I also think people have an optimal distance, and mine is not the marathon. I decompensate. I get injured training. I can never get my mileage up high enough to actually train for a marathon (except for my first one). It's all about survival. I haven't really raced enough (especially at 10 miles or the 1/2 marathon) to say what my optimal distance is, but I think it may be around 5K/10K.

I also think the calculator is wrong b/c it says, based on my recent 5K time, that I shouldn't be able to run a 10K as fast as my PR is-but I feel fitter, and less hung over, than when I ran my PR and I think I could smash what the calculator predicts. Also, I am pretty sure I could run a mile faster than what the calculator says.

I'm thinking about this b/c based on my 5K time last week I should be able to get a PR in a half marathon tomorrow by a few minutes. But what if it's hot out? What if it's hilly? What if I haven't (and I haven't) done enough long runs. How can the calculator be valuable when all of the courses and conditions and training for each event are different? It's ridiculous.

What do people think? Are those race predictor calculators accurate? How are they supposed to work?

Repurposing my aerobars

I have a flat on my hybrid that I am too lazy to change so I am commuting on my road bike. One unforeseen advantage to this is that aerobars are a really good place to carry stuff:
Really! They are quite awesome for takeout that comes in containers that may leak!

In running news, I actually ran like 5 times last week. I am sticking to short distances (3-4 miles) but things have been okay! Although my foot randomly hurts a lot today - perhaps it is because I apparently took my night splint off while I was sleeping - no recollection of doing this, whatsoever!

And Kori is two days away from the Twin Cities Marathon! Agony of DaFeet teammate Kimberly and I are driving up on Sunday to cheer her on. Both of us were registered and can't run. Kimberly, who never gets overuse injuries, twisted her ankle on a walnut on a bike path on her second 20-miler, three weeks ago. I can't even begin to complain about my foot, when I got shut down when I was up to only 9 milers. She totally put in the work and now is out of commission. Talk about major suckitude!

Oh and just because this picture was also on my camera when I downloaded the one above - I heart Ithaca! This is from a bridge in the middle of the Cornell campus. This is also a nerdy picture because the old hydraulics lab can be seen under the bridge from back in the day when they used to use the elevation from the falls to drive the flow through the flumes in the lab. How cool would it be to have a lab in the bottom of a gorge? To continue this nerdy exposition, a lab that still uses the elevation from a waterfall is Saint Anthony Falls Lab at the University of Minnesota (it's right on the Mississippi and is also a pretty cool lab). Note that my lab is currently in the basement with a big broken flume and I fight constant turf wars with professors and grad students who think that part of the lab would be a great place for storage of their old crap that they will never use again. I returned to my alma mater for the wedding of a fellow fluid dynamicist -a good part of the cocktail hour was spent stratifying fluids with other fluids nerds. Let me tell you that red wine on top of sprite is quite striking!