St. Louis Half Marathon

I recently ran the Go! St. Louis half marathon. It was super fun, as usual! I ran with my training partner Sue (she really has to hold back to run with me, but it's more fun together). It started out really cold in the morning, so I kept my long sleeve Go! performance T on until about mile 11 or 12. The sun finally warmed me up at that point. Sue's parents came down from Iowa to watch her race...well, see her for 5 seconds as we ran by! They took pix and chatted with her for a few seconds. I ran on and she had NO PROBLEM catching up with me. I felt kinda wonky and nauseated at the end, but we sat on a bench and ate and i quickly recovered. It's great that I can recover in a couple hours after a half marathon now. I look back on my first half marathon and remember how I could barely get to the car and could NOT drive! Afterwards, I went out to eat with some friends afterwards to celebrate my accomplishment. My time has not improved. I'm still do the same time as in 2006. So now Sue and I are doing a 6 month training regimen to get my times a little faster. We are doing interval/speedwork one day a week (it's killing me!!!), tempo runs, easy runs and long runs. I really hope the speedwork improves my times...It BETTER! :)

Placed Again!

The Comtrea 5k was this weekend and I went to defend my title. I was hoping for first in my age group, but due to slacking on training of late, I only got a silver medal. But that was fun too! It's such a nice race. Everyone was so nice, and even thanked me when I handed them Roll on the River reg forms! They have lots of good shwag too! It was a beautiful, sunny, cool morning...perfect for a race!

Half Marathon Training Plan

Some people have asked me about training plans, so here's a good link. Hal Higdon has been training marathoners and half marathoners probably as long as I've been alive. I think you can cross train on Wed, instead of running. For me running 3x per week is plenty!! I plan to do the St. Louis Half Marathon in April and a full marathon next fall...as long as I stay in one piece! I'm training with my running partner and lifting coach Sue for her marathon in Oct, so maybe i would be able to do a half this fall. We'll see! I'll keep ya "posted"!

South County YMCA Triathlon

My new nick name should be pantie...noooo, not that kind! Read on.
Yesterday, I did the South County Tri, lovingly called Soco. It was a 1/4 mile swim in a 50m pool, 11 mile bike on mostly flat, with two rollers and one hill, and a 5k that was 1/2 cross country. It was fun. Herb, Jason Kelly and my primary care doc were the only racers I knew. It was all new faces. I think most of these people were first-timers or Soco is the only race they do all year.
I was in the last heat for the swim because I had signed up very late. So I didn't get in the water til 8:30am. (I was already dreading the heat on the run at that point) I was in a lane with two newbies, who still kicked my butt on the swim. They actually walked through the water at the end and I couldn't catch them swimming. WTF!!?? Could it be because I haven't done ANY swim training this whole season? heh heh...that's prolly why! *chagrined* Anyway, i enjoyed the swim as I always do, so relaxing and slow. hahahaha
The bike was good. Oh, i should say that I forgot my watch, so I had no idea how I was doing on time. Also, i screwed up my bike computer, so I was clueless as to how fast I was going. Since I was so far towards the back of the field, I felt like I was the very last person out there. I was assured later that I wasn't. The bike was on a nice quiet road, surrounded by trees. Very nice and relaxing. Hmm, do you notice a theme here? I don't think races aresupposed to be about relaxing! LOL Going up the one hill didn't seem bad at all, but when i got back to T2, I couldn't control my breathing. I was on the verge of hyperventilating. (pantie) I drank up the rest of my Ultima drink in T2.
As I headed out on the run, I grabbed an Expresso Hammer gel (blehhh...so hot out, raspberry would have been better...or maybe it wouldn't) and my water bottle. I knew it was gonna be a scorcher out there, so I thought bringing the water along was imperative. That run was sunny and hilly. I guess the temps were in the upper 80's, but it felt like 100 to me. I still couldn't stop panting as I went out on the run, so I decided to walk to gain control. Breathing calmed til I ran again, then the panting again. ARG! It was a death march. There was fun, tho, too. As the run went off road and into woods and lake areas, there were enthusiastic YMCA volunteers out there screaming their heads off for me! There were about 3 or 4 sets of them. Some were even doing cheers! How fun is that!? It really helped me pick up the pace. (It was also a little bit shady in that section). The run back to the finish was up hill...trudge, trudge, but when I got to the top, I got a surge and sprinted in (where did that come from?)
It was a pretty fun race overall, and I plan to do it again next year...but I think I will recruit more friends to do it with me.
Herb did REALLY well! He finished in 1:11. I finished in 1:32. Pix coming soon.

Wrist help

I am fortunate in two ways. My new training partner, Sue, is an awesome athlete AND an awesome Occupational Therapist. She is gonna kick my butt in training for the next few months on running (she is training for the Nike Women's Marathon in Oct), biking and lifting. She said, "you are gonna hate me." That was a little scary, I must say, but I am really looking forward to seeing what I can achieve when I really buckle down and train seriously. The second great thing is she is teaching me how to do all the ADL's that I mentioned not being able to do in an earlier post. I am happy to announce that I can now easily open water bottles and turn the gas cap. She is turning me into a leftie...(using my left hand for everything hadn't occurred to me). Turns out my left hand isn't as dumb as I had thought. :)

Roll on the River 5K 2007

On June 9, 2007, I directed my first 5K! What a wonderful experience that was!! There was a lot of work to do in preparation, but the hard work paid off! It was well organized and ran smoothly. We had almost 300 racers for our inaugural race!! We also had good food and schwag! Everyone loved it. People really liked running in downtown St. Louis. My friends Kate and Kate were invaluable co-organizers...Hugs to them!!! Many thanks to the race committee: Don, Bob, Sue, Tyson, Kerri and Willie for your amazing knowledge and expertise. The pix were taken by Jeff Pomranka of Jeffrey Pomranka Photography
If you want to see pictures of the event click on his link and go to the Sports tab and click on Roll on the River. Thank you, Jeff!

Rec-Plex Spring Triathlon

On June 17th, I finished the St. Peters Rec-Plex Triathlon...barely. Actually it was fine, cept for the run. I got to the start exhausted. Due to my mother being in and out of the hosp, my training was off, and I was just so tired from being at the hosp so much. So I wasn't expecting much from my performance. I just decided to go slow and make it to the end. The swim was ok. Slower than the fall Rec-Plex tri, by a min or two. I was very relaxed...got past a lot! Bike went ok too, though I felt like i was pushing it more than last fall and thought my time would have improved, but it was the same as last year. Oh well. Got off the bike and was spent. I walked half the run, which i've not done before, but I just didn't have it. But even with all the walking, my overall time was only 2-3 mins slower than last time. hmm. I did have fun on the run with the other CMCers and when i squirted Herb with my bottle. He was so surprised! LOL
It was fun to see all my CMC buddies and congrats to Herb, Bob, Mike G, Diana and everyone who did an awesome job at the race! And Thanks to Ron Chapman for cheering me up, mid-run, and running with me.