Splish Splash...

You guys! So, as usual, it's been a while. My big news, for those who aren't Facebook friends is that I got a permanent position in the UK. In March I will be moving to the lovely town of Bath, where a university finally decided to entrust me with the minds of the young folk, which I hope to corrupt. Bath is all Georgian and Jane Austen-y and almost as ridiculously quaint as Galway. 

In unfortunate running news, I effed up my knee doing too many double-unders and box jumps at Cross Fit and I have been out of commission for two months. It seems to be IT band. I have recently said "Screw it!" and decided to start exercising again, but I can only run a mile before it starts to ache. So an April marathon is not likely, although I hope I can still do the half.

Well, I'm off to my third Christmas party in a row. I think my 9 months in Ireland have made it so that I can likely drink any American under the table now. And I still get put to shame by my Irish friends. I really think they must have a special stomach enzyme for converting beer to water.

All in the name of carb loading!

Connemarathon!

So it's been six months. I make no pretense of still being a blogger.

But... I did just sign up for the Connemarathon. Mostly because of the name. I'm doing Hal Higdon's Super Novice Training Plan, which literally starts with 1.5 mile runs and a 3 mile long run. Considering I have been barely running the last six months, this is perfect for me. My friend is signed up with me and it will be her first and she is at the same place with running as I am. Being the (ahem) experienced marathoner I am, I feel like I need to be the rock in this training plan and make sure not to slack on runs, since I really do think for a first marathon you need to stick to a training plan.

But somehow we already managed to miss our second run.

That's okay! We'll get on track!

So on April 7th, we will be running here:

Greetings from Ireland!

Well, after 2.5 weeks, I am more or less settled in here. It would be nice if I had a clothes dryer that didn't merely make my clothes less damp, but I'll survive.

Assuming I don't get hit by a car because I have been looking the wrong way before crossing.

Since I don't belong to a gym here yet, it's been back to ye olde running exclusively for me. I live in a cute little stone house right alongside a canal that goes between the ocean and campus and has a nice path alongside it. I haven't yet run down by the ocean because it is damn windy here, even away from the ocean.

You know, in the US, I always assumed that bike/pedestrian paths should follow the same rules as roads - you keep to the right and pass on the left. So in theory, here I should keep to the left and pass on the right. But these people! There is no rhyme or reason at all to which side the walk or bike on. THEY ARE DISRUPTING THE ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE. Just like the Germans who cut in the Portapotty lines. Europe, you are whack.

America! Fuck yeah!

Holy crap. Less than three weeks.

My time here is Seattle is rapidly coming to a close. I actually haven't been running lately outside (I do intervals on the treadmill after doing weights at the gym) because I have been trying to squeeze in as much playing in the snow as possible before moving to Ireland!

Skate skiing surely has to be an adequate running replacement! Seriously, I find skate skiing to be way harder than running, both from a cardio standpoint and a muscle strength standpoint. Of course, I look as graceful as these skiers!

I do have one last trail race near Seattle before I head off. I am signed up for the 20 miler, but I think I shall be dropping back to the 5 miler. Weak! To answer Bertie's question - I'm actually stalled out at 55 minutes since I haven't been running. Tomorrow! I swear! If anything, I need to get a few more runs in my favorite places in Seattle before I go as well!

55 minutes

That's how long my next long run should be. This whole "10%/week" things is lame. So next time I have to run 61 minutes? And if you start from zero, how do you increase at all? 10% of 0 is... 0.

But I shall be running none of that this weekend, as I shall be gallivanting in Whistler! Yay snow! I'm trying to smush in as much snow as possible before Ireland, as that is one thing Ireland is sorely lacking in.

ZOMG, Ireland! I have exactly 21 full days left in Seattle. I will be gone for 13 days in February. Nuts! So much to do! So little time!

Mysterious Pelvic Injuries

The area between my pelvis and right leg is hurting. A lot. It doesn't feel quite like the hip flexor, but it doesn't feel like my groin either. All I know is that I am limping all over the place. I ran less than 2 miles yesterday and it is one big hobble fest today.

In good news, I am trapped in the woods in Vermont and running from our house has two options: Up a big hill and then turn around and go down or Down a big hill and turn around and go up. So I don't love running here anyway. (So the hill doesn't look so bad in the photos, but it is uphill for miles and miles and miles without any true flats, so it wears on you. And add the snow.)

We have snow here at least! Yay for white Christmas! I hope you all have a good one, while I sit on the couch and have my mom bring me breakfast. I love my mom.

Dublin 2012!

Hotel rooms are booked. Dublin 2012! Good times! We'll return later to the question of if I really want to run another marathon...

In other news, we rented this cabin by Mount Rainier for New Year's Eve. You have to ski or snowshoe in (or bribe the ski patrol to bring you up on that stylin' snowmobile). It sleeps 14. Party time! Of course, we do have to haul in all the booze ourselves...

Sinister Minister!

Oh my, how did I forget! Team BOMIAS also did a trail relay in Alberta this summer (the Sinister 7)! I had to run 8 miles downhill in the dark being chased by bears and cougars. Even with my huge ass head lamp, it was hard to see and so running was really hard. My hands were cut up from falling and where I had to essentially shuffle down steep banks into creeks because the gravel was so loose that it was hard to get footing.

But it was good times! The race was really well done and we had a blast. Some random Canadian let us stay at their house for free and he slept in his camper. Oh Canada! You're so sweet.

The year in review

Since Glaven needs a place to make suggestive comments in response to my comments on his blog, I thought I would pop in and give an update. It's been over a year, so I imagine approximately three people will read this, but hey! I'm procrastinating!

So I ran Berlin and then proceeded to do nothing for a long time.

Then I signed up for the Avenue of the Giants Marathon with some Iowa friends, got really sick in February (woah, vertigo!) lost all my fitness, but ran the half anyway, despite having a long run of 2 miles. Gorgeous course. The half is totally PR material. I recommend it whole-heartedly.

I organized a team for the Epic Prelay from Portland to Eugene. It was a gorgeous course. I can't recommend running in Oregon enough.

I was going to do the Ragnar Pacific Northwest Relay, but on short notice I got flown to Australia for an interview (for a job I didn't get, but free trip to Australia!).

Here I will gently suggest that you avoid doing Ragnar races in the future. As a relay veteran, I have done two Ragnars and many independently run relays. If you haven't heard, they started a new relay in Colorado, which runs the course of a long standing relay (simply named The Colorado Relay) in reverse. In fact, the Ragnar race organizer was given a free entry by The Colorado Relay as a courtesy, ran the race, and then a week later began the plans to poach the course.

My Ragnar experiences do not trump my independent experiences in terms of organization or support (in fact, Ragnar's Great River Relay has been my worst experience), so this is not a case of the better man winning, simply bullying by a larger organization. There is room for other relays in Colorado (Epic has a new one as well - they developed a unique route and picked a weekend that doesn't overlap with the long established weekends of other races in Colorado). So on principle, I will not be organizing any more Ragnar teams. There are plenty of great races out there without the Ragnar label, so go do those!

Sorry for the diversion! Anyway, it is all moot, since I am moving to Ireland! So I am guessing there will be no relay for me in the near future, but Dublin Marathon 2012? Anyone?

Also, I'm wearing the German chicken hat today for an office Halloween party. Best hat ever!

Hmm... currywurst...

So... The Berlin Marathon...

It was a lot of fun! I think not training very hard makes the whole thing more enjoyable since there was no performance pressure. And I PRed anyway!

Hanging out in Berlin before the race, I drank lots of beer, ate many pastries from the bakery on Lisa's block, and had some German food, which is mainly meat and potatoes in some form or other - It was goooood! I think I broke every pre-marathon eating rule.

Lisa lives in Berlin, so I ran the race with her and her mom. Although we really only ran the first 12 miles together or so, since I had to stop to use the portapotty and then I lost them.

I only walked through the water stops. That was my main goal - to not walk this time. I figured that if I met that goal, that I would probably PR.

The weather was rainy. That wasn't fun. But much better than the heat!

Other highlights:

*Germans are totally line cutters, which makes the portapotty line miserable.

*This was the first race ever where I had to use the portapotty in the middle of the race. I am so glad I finished in 5:11 and not 5:03 or something, or else I would have been kicking myself for the portapotty minutes.

*I only did two runs longer than 14 miles - a 15 miler and a 20 miler. So I was ready for the collapse at mile 18 or so. But by then you are so close, you have to finish!

*It was marked all in kilometers. Thank God for Garmin. Too bad Garmin was a half mile off by the end. (And I even got a new one! Not the old crappy one I had!)

*We ran past lots of historic things of which I have no recollection. This is argument number one against destination marathons - the city is a blur.

*I do remember running through the Brandenburg Gate. That was about half a kiometer from the end, but the way it was described by the race, it sounded like the end, so I totally sprinted through the gate only to see the finish line in the distance. That was brutal. But running through the gate was cool. And there spectators for the last km, even for us slow folks.

*My last 2k were the fastest splits I had all day. Nothing like wanting to finish to get the job done!

*After the race, despite there being a changing tent, everyone just got naked on the grass near the Reichstag and changed there. Oh the Germans! We all would have been arrested for indecent exposure in the US.

*The rain made for some major chafiness. My tank top chafed at the arms holes, by belt thing I put blox in chafed around my stomach, my running skirt chafed in all sorts of unmentionable places that made walking miserable.

*It's a lot of fun to run these big races! All the people makes it more enjoyable. I am thinking of doing Chicago next year.

Er, that's it! I'm off to do an easy 7 miler before I head to Hawaii tomorrow for a conference. Life is rough. I know.