Post Marathon Blues

This morning I did 11 miles on the spin bike in 35 minutes. It was my first real workout since the Rock and Roll Seattle marathon and I have to say that it felt really good to get back out there (in the hotel gym) and get the blood flowing. I was starting to get a bit antsy and really didn't want to fall victim to the "post race blues".

Call them what you want: Post Race Blues, Post Marathon Depression, Post Marathon Squirts, After Running Blahs. The reality is that post marathon blues are actually a pretty well documented phenomenon. You can read about them on a number of websites. Since all most of my non running free time has centered around baby preparations, I can't help but draw some similarities to postpartum depression. (Which of course is a very serious disease that should NOT be taken lightly...as opposed to how I am going to treat it in this post)

Think about it: You have your shiny new bundle of joy (race medal), you force all of your relatives to stare at dozens of pictures of you all sweaty and red in the face, you're sore in all sorts of places that you never thought could be sore, and you plant the placenta underneath a brand new tree in the front yard. (Ok, maybe some things REALLY only apply to one vs the other.)

Either way, after a big event like childbirth or a marathon, there can be a bit of a let down. I've found that soon I grow tired of wearing my race medal while I'm sitting on the toilet and taking care of baby becomes sooo "last week".

Fortunately, I haven't fallen victim to the blahs after this race - YET. I have in the past and let me tell you it takes weeks to get back into a good flow. While I am not a doctor**, I've found that a sure fire way to avoid the blahs is to set a new running goal. It doesn't need to be a race. Your goal could be as simple as running 100 miles in a month or beating a new track speed goal (e.g. 4x800 @ 8:00 pace). For me, that goal is the sub 19:00 5K.

The real "trick" I've found is that you HAVE to have a plan. When avoiding the blues, it is best to throw away the Ben and Jerrys leave nothing to chance and force yourself to not be "on plan". When you go to bed at night, you should know what is on tap for tomorrow - and more importantly if you were on track for that day. It honestly doesn't have to be anything fancy just something written down on post-its is fine. Just make sure to write it down.

So, on to my goal: Admittedly, I'm a little (a lot) frustrated that I am not going to be able to run my preferred 5Ks because of travel. I know that I'll find something to run - and quite honestly I'll run some "time trial" type runs on my own if I have to. Anything to get the competitive spirit alive and keep my head out of the Ben and Jerry's. Because honestly, that is half the reason that I run as much as I do....to NOT feel guilty about having a bit of Cherry Garcia.

What are everyone's tips to avoid the post marathon blues?

**But I do drink a boatload of Dr Pepper

Behind and the EFS Winner

Well hello there! I know what you are all thinking...Where is Adam? I need my daily dose of sarcasm and running! No, I haven't gone into some sort of shame spiral after my race, polishing off a bag of girl scout cookies while crying naked in a cold shower.....they were oreos...and the water was lukewarm.

Seriously though, I really appriciate the kind words of encouragement about my Seattle race...and maybe some of the back handed thoughts of someone complaining about a 3:45 marathon. Believe me, I realize that this is a GREAT time that I would have killed for 1.5 years ago. Relativity. Moving.On.

I'm behind:
I'm doing my best to get up to speed on work as well as catch up on everyone's blogs. I normally have a pretty systematic way of staying up to date** that sort of went out the window when I was ~120 posts deep. (If I can brag a bit) I actually pride myself in actually reading all of the blogs that I comment on. Very rarely do I skim posts. I figure if someone put in the time to write stuff down then I can give it the time to read it. This means that when I go off the grid it takes me a bit to catch up. Cest La vie.

EFS Winner:
This was really the contest to enter!! If you wanted $20 worth of free stuff, you had a ~ 1 in 18 chance of winning it provided you followed my blog and posted it on your blog. But, in true Karma fasion, the winner is none other than Tricia @ Endurance is Only Physical! I say Karma fasion, because she gives away more stuff than anyone I know second only to EricaH or more recently Angie B. (Hint Hint.... You should go to their blogs often... although Angie B has been giving away a lot of skirts and stuff. I'm not sure how many more of those I can "pretend" are for my wife.)

Scheduling Snaffoo
So, about that race schedule over on the right hand side? ---> Yeah, going to have to redo it. Turns out that the two remaining out of town weekend trips that I have planned are the weekends of two 5Ks that I was 100% going to do. In my head I'm trying to figure out how I can have a summer of speed (trying to break 19 min on the 5K) while only racing marathons. If anyone knows of some Phoenix area 5Ks that are not the same weekend as ARR #4 or #5 cough cough cough cough then let me know.

Ok, enough blabbering, back to work!!***


**A complex algorithm that involves the ratio of fart jokes to sweaty pictures
***Read: catching up on blogs

Rock and Roll Seattle Marathon Race Report

"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours….. That's relativity." -- Albert Einstein

Speed, just like most things in life, is all relative.

Yesterday, at the Rock and Roll Seattle Marathon, I was faster than some, but not nearly as fast as I could have been. As you remember, my A,B,C goals were 3:20, 3:25, and 3:30 respectively. Alas, it wasn’t in the cards for this one. But, like I’m a fan of saying keep drinking, the more drunk you get the cuter I look if it were easy, everyone would do it – and marathon running is not easy:

Time: 3:43:54
Pace: 8:33
Place: 481 / 4080 overall; 60 / 310 Division (my Age Group is evil)

The Expo
If you use the Rock and Roll measuring stick, the expo was average size. However, because I was able to meet up with a few people I knew, I spent more time and had more fun than I have at any other expo.

First, I was able to meet mega-blogger Frayed Laces. She’s having a bit of a rock-star couple of months: Not only is she fresh off of a Kona qualifying tri, she is a Brooks sponsored athlete (although that was a while ago), is GU sponsored…and was still upright at the expo immediately after a red eye flight! I am not sure I could do ANY of those things! She was super nice and even gave me a Run Happy water bottle!

Next was Meb Keflezighi. He’s fast…and SUPER nice. That is what I love about runners. Both Ryan Hall and Meb were the nicest of guys.

Finally, I was able to meet Brad Nelson. He is a metal fabricator by trade and makes some pretty sweet looking marathon metal hangers. Check him out if you are in the market. I think that I’m going to get one to hang all of my RnR medals on.

Here is all of the loot that I grabbed at the expo. I had tweeted back and forth with the marketing rep from SofSole so when I stopped by to meet him face to face he let me have a few insoles to try out. Review in a few weeks after I’m able to give them a shot.

I’ll give you two guesses who arranged all of the stuff all “purdy like”.

Yes, my wife is in full on pregnancy nesting mode:

The Race
Disclaimer: Since I didn’t meet my A, B, or even C goal, this next section isn’t going to be all unicorns and rainbows. I’ll leave the rainbows alone, but if I would have saw a unicorn on the course I would have hog tied that little son-of-a-bitch and rode him to the finish line

I had heard horror stories of people showing up late to races or having to wait in a HUGE line for the shuttle bus so I decided to get there early – 4:30 early. That meant that I was at the starting line at 5:00am. Ugg. I took a little nap under a tree hillbilly style and headed over to the corals to look for Amanda @ RunToTheFinish. It would seem that fate has us meeting at a different race, because we sure couldn’t put it together this weekend. (Totally my fault)

The gun went off and the race started off great. I was hitting my mile splits (7:38) and chatting it up with Rock and Roll James who is running ALL of the RnR events this year. We ran along one of the lakes in what was the prettiest part of the entire race. I was a bit concerned because we were hitting a few rolling hills that I hadn’t marked on my pace band. No worries, though…right? Does the pope poop in the woods? WRONG. He uses the gold plated pooper in the pope-mobile.

Half Marathon: 1:41 (7:43 pace)
The wheels came off. It was right at about mile 13 that it hit me. It was a feeling that can best be described as a combination of my stomach trying to escape out of my throat and my lower GI being punched by Ali. I had felt bloated all weekend and was having “regularity” issues for 3 days straight....I guess something was up after all. Probably the worst thing that could happen to me during a race. After about 90 minutes running my body said to stop running.

This picture at mile 14.5 seems to capture how I was feeling.

Even the dude in the black shirt thinks I'm hurting!

Unfortunately, that is what I did. I stopped running and I became one of those guys who started to do the walk of shame death march shuffle at the half way point. The.Half.Way.Point. Embarrassing. Demoralizing.

30K (18.6 mi): 2:33 (8:12 pace)
The remainder of the race was a combination run/walk that plunged my pace from 7:30ish to 9:00ish. While I was running I was still maintaining my 7:40 pace however after 6 or so minutes I would feel like I needed to barf so I would stop and walk it off. Honestly, I just wished I could have barfed and got it over with! But, no barf would ever present itself. Bummer.

Miles 15 - 26 were all on interstate which was a bit frustrating. That meant that the spectators were few and far between. We were still given awesome views of the Seattle skyline and more hills than I thought were possible. The course was a lot hillier than I had anticipated. For the record, if you are going to be running San Diego and Seattle and want to know which one to go for a PR on? Go for it at San Diego. While San Diego has a hill or two, they are all pretty gradual. Seattle has rollers the entire way.

24 mi: 3:23 (8:28 pace)

At least I could have a LITTLE fun with it. At mile 26:

So, I finished with a wimper and grabbed my free MGD 64. I'm not a fan of MGD 64 beer normally, but without fail they always taste good after running a marathon. But, as an indication of how bad my stomach was, I only finished HALF OF THE BEER. Half!??! I'm as amazed as you are.

As bad as the race was, I do have to admit that looking back I still had a good time. I really do like running and I realize that not all of the races can be PR busting unicorn riding good times. Just like I tweeted as soon as I got back to the hotel: "For the record, still had a fun time....just had 25 more minutes worth of fun time than I would have liked!! :)"

Honestly, that is how I feel about this race. Not ANYWHERE close to where I wanted to be.....but I lived to race another day. Afterall, doing well in a race is all relative - whenever anyone asks me if I did well in a race I'll always tell them that I met my #1 goal: I didn't die.

Funny Foto Friday: The Routine

Ever have one of those days?

Good luck to everyone else who is racing this weekend!

Rock and Roll Seattle Race Preview

Through traveling full time for work, I have had the opportunity to visit the far corners of the United States – with one exception. The Northwest. The closest that I’ve ever came to visiting the Northwest was when I went to Napa….and let’s just say that my trip to Napa is a little wine bottle “fuzzy”. So, since my wife is nearly 16 weeks pregnant and most of our summer trips are to visit family, we’re considering this little marathon trip a bit of a “babymoon”.

I can only assume that the term “babymoon” is the complex ritual where as the husband beats his legs to a pulp running a marathon, proceeds to “refuel” with grain liquor, and has the company of his wife to be the designated driver. If it isn’t, please don’t tell my wife.

We’re pretty touristy when we travel, so we’ve got activities galore planned – which is just the way I like it. Unfortunately, this means that I am likely not going to be able to meet up with a few other Seattle’ians or fellow RnR’ers. BUT, if you’re running, I think I’ll be outside of corral #6 30 min before.

Train for the race you want, race the race that you have
Over the past few weeks (taper madness?) I’ve been wracking my brain trying to decide what my “goal” pace should be. I always like to have a range when I set a goal for a race, because so much depends on the day – specifically the weather. Hot day? Bump it down a bit. Cool day? Have at it. Gut-rot? Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Being a bit of a math dork, I used the McMillian calculator and the Runners World Smart Coach to try to reverse engineer my race goals. For example, I used the Runners World Smart Coach to try to spit out a training plan that seemed to match the miles and paces I ran. The great thing is that the training plans will tell you what pace you should race at! A little OCD? Yes. Did it help me sleep at night? Not as much as the booze did.

I was essentially trying to see if I could justify a 3:20 goal. Welp**, unfortunately it DID say that I could do it, so here goes the goals**:

A Goal: Sub 3:20
B Goal: New PR (3:25:30)
C Goal: Sub 3:30

To be clear, I’m not sand bagging. That is, setting low expectations and then crushing them on race day. These are honest to goodness goals that will require all sorts of horse steroids orifice puckering to achieve.

I’m reminded of the old saying about marathons: A 20 mile jog followed by a 10K race. This couldn’t be truer. (I originally had “more true” in there but grammar check didn’t like it) I can hold a 3:20 pace through 20 miles no problem – it is the last 6.2 that separate the Lady Gagas from the Justin Biebers.

So, I guess on Saturday, that is what I need to decide:

Do I want to be a slightly strange, take no prisoners, hard ass Lady Gaga?

Or, do I want to be a Justin Bieber?

Seems like a pretty simple answer to me. Poker Face Time

**Said with a slight southern drawl and a hint of suspenders

The future, cookies, and runs

Where will I be in 10 "dam" years

Wendy at Never Underestimate the Power of a Running Woman recently tagged me in a post about dams....to tell where I think I will be in 10 years. The "You're Going Places" award - which is funny because most people tell me I'm going nowhere, fast.

Never one to back down from an Internet meme (College Humor - click that one if you have sound, its a good one), I felt obligated to comply:

• Running: In 10 years, I hope to be closing in on my 50 states goal (see pitiful map on the left). By that time I should have ran Boston as I am trying to qualify within the next 18 months. The unfortunate reality is that I will have likely slowed down

• Life: While the changes from 18 to 28 were pronounced (I can buy beer!) I can only assume that the changes from 28 to 38 will be just as drastic (I'm the Parent Teacher Assoc chair!). I'm sure that I'll have a few little kiddos running around and I'll be trying my best to not become a helicopter parent. I'm also sure that I'll also be holding off the urge to buy a convertible but will likely have at least one leather jacket.

What about you? I'm supposed to tag 10 people to tell me where they will be in 10 years, but I'd rather just know where EVERYONE think's they'll be. Living in a van, down by the river is not an acceptable answer.

Rad Treats

About a week ago, I won a two HUGE cookies from Rad Runner. They were "Alternative Baking Company" Vegan Cookies -Mac the Chip and a Colossal Chocolate Chip Cookie. I'm not vegan, I could never be vegan, but I have a lot of respect for someone who cares either enough about their body to only put certain things in there or cares enough about animals to not use/abuse them. Me? I'd like to think I treat my body like an amusement park. Giggity Giggity

The goods

I went out for a 5 mile tempo run on Thursday (in 100 degree heat)

had opened the mail and saw that I had received the cookies while

traveling. I then proceeded to dive in - face first.

The cookies were GREAT. Although, because they were 500 cals each, I think I'd only feel comfortable eating them after a run....or on top of a big bowl of ice cream. If you're going to go, do it RIGHT.

Tough Runs

Sometimes my body doesn't cooperate. This morning, I ran 4 miles at an overall pace of 7:56. Not bad on paper, but it felt like I was running 7:20s. My legs were tired, but more importantly, my MIND was tired. It was one of those runs where I don't really remember the first mile or two because I was still half asleep.

Fortunately though, I had shorts on (I've put my shoes on before my shorts in the morning ) and I made sure to have my iPod with me. So, I must be getting relatively good at getting into a routine. But, I'm the first to admit that they can't all be good runs and if it was easy everyone would do it. So, I got the miles in - and there is not much more to say.

Don't forget to enter my EFS giveaway! *cough cough* inspiREDtorun13 *cough cough* They are sealed unopened packages - promise. Although, now that you mention it, throwing in my left overs isn't all that bad of an idea either!

First Endurance: EFS Review and Giveaway

A while back I was sent a sampler pack of Electrolyte Fuel System by First Endurance. They make a number of endurance fuel products including EFS sports drink powder, liquid shot (gel), and enough pills to make Rush Limbaugh take notice. While First Endurance is primarily geared towards triathletes, I figured that since over a third of triathlon (based on time) is running, this stuff would be good for me too.

I'm a sweaty runner. I lose a lot of salt during any run over 1.5 hours in length. So, I was particularly excited when I found out that EFS contains twice as many mg of electrolytes than any other major brand. (Yes, I realize that sounded like a commercial for Tide laundry detergent.) Also, since this stuff is used in triathlon, I almost always took some out on my bike rides.

It was really powdery (versus gritty) in powder form and mixed really well in small or large batches. But, probably one of the only "real" deciding factors came down to taste. The stuff just tasted a bit.....off. I don't know if it was the fact that it wasn't super duper sugary like Gatorade is or what. Either way, I honestly thought that it tasted a little like home made hard candy - but not the good kind. I tried to make it a touch weaker to see if it helped, but honestly to me that sort of defeated the purpose of the energy drink in the first place.

In summary:

Pros:

• Didn’t you see the bar graph? The EFS' bar was WAY bigger.
• It is made to be mixed at varying strengths. So, you can make it as thick as Paris Hilton’s** skull and it won’t be gritty.
• The liquid shot is very calorie dense - 400 cals for the small 8 oz "flask".

Cons:

• Taste. I just couldn’t warm up to the taste of the EFS.
• Even with a little of the good stuff, I couldn't spice it up:

I really wanted to like EFS. I really did. In my mind, liking this stuff would put me in the same category as lots of super awesome triathletes. All that I would need would be some of those padded underwear and I would be official. But, unfortunately the benefits that it provided were not offset by the taste. It reminded me too much of that very bad batch of hard candy that I tried to make. So, it is with a heavy heart, I set free my fail (killer)whale eating my seal of approval.


**Needs to be thick to hold in all of that air

BUT WAIT!!! Just because I didn't like the taste doesn't mean you won't love it more than you love your kids puppy. So, I'm going to give away two containers of EFS and one container of the Liquid Shot. Honestly, the great thing about this contest is that you get to try something new vs the normal Gatorade, Nuun, HEED, chicken's blood, etc.

Since it isn't a HUGE giveaway ($18 bucks worth of stuff), I'm not going to make it super hard to enter:

1. Comment if you follow
2. Comment if you post anywhere else about the contest (Blog, twitter, your mom's fridge, whatever)

I'll draw a name end of day June 27th!

I received this product from First Endurance. I was not paid for my endorsement - besides, if I was paid, you'd think that First Endurance would have expected something more positive.

Looking Forward

On Saturday, I ran my longest run before Rock and Roll Seattle. 9 miles at 8:05ish pace. Probably a little faster than I wanted to go, but it was hot and being done felt like a much better idea than running 30 seconds slower per mile.

Speaking of wanting to be done, I am officially ready for this Seattle race to be over. I feel like I'm setting myself up for a either a triumphant success or a rather spectacular failure and I'd just rather have it over and done with. Anyone else ever have that feeling?

For me, this is the race where I know that I'm setting a goal just a weeee bit too high but I'm going great guns to get it come hell, high water, or poopy pants. I have to think that all of the great accomplishments in life are usually coupled with the risk of poopy pants - and I've never let that risk slow me down before.

So, what is next? I've found that the usual cure of a slightly bitchy post of mine is to sign up for more races!

If you remember from my 2010 goals post, not only did I want to break 3:20 for the marathon, but I also wanted to break 19 minutes for the 5k. So, I am going to put my quest for Rock and Roll medals on the back burner and focus on SPEED. I've asked on twitter and via email and received a few great responses on 5K training plans. Anyone else have any suggestions? I'm very close to putting together a plan and think that I have finalized my race schedule in the right hand bar.

Finally, a heartfelt belated "happy dad's day" to all of the dads out there. I felt a little strange knowing that this is the last fathers day where I won't get my hands on a little Hallmark created holiday loot. While mom's are under appreciated day in and day out, I think that Chris Rock said it best when he described the special way that dad gets no love:

Nobody ever says, ''Hey, Daddy, thanks for knocking out this rent.''
''Hey, Daddy, l sure love this hot water.''
''Hey, Daddy, this is easy to read with all this light.''

Nobody gives a F about Daddy.

Hopefully all of the dads had the day of their dreams yesterday....and hopefully all of the moms were able to get dad out of the house so that they could get some piece and quiet too.

Funny Foto Friday: 60 years in the future

Recently ShutUpandRun posted about her son’s new iPod app, AgingBooth. The app takes a normally suave picture and turns it into something that looks like you got beat upside the head by father time’s cane. Here was her result:

Before: Ready to hit the town...or luau

After: Ready to yell at the TV...and eat pudding

Bless her heart, she then threw down the gauntlet and asked if anyone else wanted to look like a “homeless, meth-using hag”. Why yes, yes I do. She promised that there would be discounts at Country Buffett, so I dove in head first. Besides, she always says that I have a baby face and I wanted her to have a more “distinguished” mental view.

Before: Handsome, debonair......modest

After: Member of the frequent Polident club

I must say that I do like how all of the age spots obviously reflect my active lifestyle. I must still be running (and not using enough sun screen). And, don't get me started on those dentures they somehow fitted me with.

ALSO, in what I can only assume was a family bonding experience, they used a different app to make me look....plump. Makes me hungry just looking at it. Before you know it I'll be hanging out in a land fill (or whatever that was) saying "hey hey hey!"

Of Sausage and Taper

Lately I've been busier than a Slot Machine on Social Security Check day. Don't get me wrong, part of the reason I've been busy is because of work sponsored dinners and my fascination with reality TV - but busy never-the-less. The good news is that I think I've been able to keep my blog reader only a day or two behind. Either way, here's what has been going on...

Gripped in Reality
As an example of my addiction to reality TV, I just 'found' Pawn Stars. It is like a down and dirty (Read: low brow) version of Antiques Roadshow! Love.it. More because I can probably relate more to the people working in the pawn shop more than I can any of the other reality TV "stars".


Traveling is a huge sausage fest
I haven't gone to a "real" gym in a really long time. While I've thought it before, it struck me on Tuesday morning that there are a disproportionate number of guys who travel for work vs gals. The result is a sausage fest that would make even the Germans jealous. The funny thing is that it wasn't the 15 guys in the gym that made me realize that there was a little too much Kielbasa in the room. Oh no, it was the addition of two ladies! i was on the bike behind them when they were on the elliptical and treadmill. I chuckled to myself as guys would crane their neck to get a glimpse....of course all the while I was making a top 10 list of reasons I love and adore my wife. Pigs.

Foot injury
Speaking of riding the bike, I took Tuesday off from running and instead rode the bike for 40 minutes. The Peroneal tendon in my foot that was giving me troubles after RnR Mardi Gras is ever so slightly feeling a bit wonky. (I'm taking speaking classes from the Chairman of BP.) It doesn't hurt - instead it sort of itches**. Strange, but I know that something is going on. So, since my motto of late has been to not get hurt, I decided to back off just a touch. Hopefully it will pay dividends in the future***.

Taper?
Since I didn't taper at all for RnR San Diego, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around pulling back the miles a full 2 or 3 weeks out from RnR Seattle. Because of injury or one thing or another, I haven't tapered or ran all-out but 2 or 3 times within the last 8 months or so. I know it is the right thing to do and I KNOW that I just need to suck it up. The one thing that is giving me motivation to do it? Math. I read somewhere that tapering for long distance races (13 mi+) can provide anywhere between 2-3% of a performance increase****. Since my marathons are 210 minutes, 2-3% is 5 minutes! I think that speaks volumes to how a little effort over the long haul can make a huge difference....which is exactly why I love running: A little effort goes a long way.

Tues: 40 min on the bike (14 miles) (~21 mph?...which is WAY off - was closer to 18mph)
Weds: 5.8 miles @ 7:56 pace
Tonight: 5 to 6 miles @ 7:30 pace

**That's what she said
***Unlike BP
****If only it worked that way in the bedroom

Goggle Eyes

Alternate post title: "I'm so vain, I probably thought this post was about me"

On Sunday, after I got back from my run and laid around for a while I decided to clean out the pool and go for a swim. I'm still trying to perfect my breathing in the pool in prep for my first ever triathlon in the fall. I'm starting to get pretty good at not sucking water into my noise. Success!!

The one issue is that I am having a hard time finding a pair of goggles that I think really fit. They either let water in (took those back) or feel like they are sucking my eyeballs out of my head (current pair). On Sunday however, for some reason I decided to try them on upside down. SUCCESS! They fit well and weren't TOO bad at sucking my eyeballs out.

I screwed around in the pool for about an hour, got out, messed around in the yard for another 90 minutes, and then showered. When I looked into the mirror after getting out of the shower I thought that it looked like I hadn't slept in weeks! I don't think the picture I took does it justice, but there were HUGE bags under my eyes that are not normally there. You'd think that I was trying to give myself a hickey and instead got the vacuum stuck on my eyeball.



Careful not to look too close.
If you look too long at my soul, you'll start to see the Easter Bunny playing with Santa Clause

I assume that some level of face puckering is normal, but after an hour or so I want to look like my normal opiate induced well rested self! Is this normal or should I go looking for yet another pair of better fitting goggles?

MIA Winner - Scape

"I once was lost but now am found" It has been two weeks since my Scape Sunscreen giveaway. Since then the Scape spokesperson, Craig Alexander, won yet another major triathlon. Now, I'm not saying that the publicity that my blog gave him contributed to his win (yes I am), but it couldn't have hurt.

Getting to the start line is easy, but getting to the finish takes real chutzpah. Unfortunately, while Craig used his chutzpah to finish, the winner of my contest, CCJade23, did not. She has not responded to my post that she won two weeks ago. Side note - if this isn't proof that I truely do pick randomly I don't know what is! Sooooooo, what am I to do? I considered the following options:

• Remove CCJade23's entries and re-randomly pick
• Remove CCJade23's entries and pick the next person down who would then become the #47th person to be choosen

Since I could see the merits of both options, I decided to randomly pick the option!Poop, I was honestly hoping it was the OTHER option (less work for me). Well, here goes!



Random number sure does like that mid 40s number. BUT, what that means is that:

1. I get to reuse the same picture as before!
2. Dr TriRunner is now the winner!

This is actually pretty awesome because not only is she a crazy fast lady but she has had a scare with skin cancer so she'll use this often (as we all should I suppose). So, shoot me an email and I'll set you up!!!

And, since I am a softy, if CCJade23 was just out on vacation or something and does end up responding I'll have something for her too.

Crappy Run

Today, I had one of those runs that will be remembered, just like Amy Winehouse, as a horrible horrible mistake. My run SHOULD have went to rehab.

The run actually started out pretty good. I got a good night's sleep, I woke up when I wanted to and was out the door and warming up by 5:45. The temperature is around 10 degrees below normal so it was perfect running weather. All told, I wanted to do 15 miles at around 8:10 pace.

Because Phoenix likes to torture all of the night owls (and doesn't do daylight savings time) the sun had already rose when I started out on my run (sunrise today was 5:18am). I cranked out the first half with no stoplights slowing me down but was immidiately stopped by two - right at 8 miles. That is when the trouble started.

Because of Garmin's AWESOME pace chart. You can see that I was somewhere between Ryan Hall pace and walking pace for the first 9 miles. That is when I felt a slight gurgle....which eventually turned into full on runners trots. I frantically tried to find a gas station but, like the idiot that I am, whenever I would run by one I was feeling fine so I kept on trucking.....only to be doubled over in cheek clenching 'discomfort' 10 minutes later. Repeat 5 times until I got home.

What did I learn? Other than the fact that I need to find a NASA diaper dealer? No matter how good I feel, if I see a a hidden dumpster or big bush pulblic facility with a working toliet, STOP.

But, isn't that what training runs are for? Training yourself for every situation that could arise during race day? Fortunately this little 'test' hasn't happened to me while racing. But, just like the little kids book says "everybody poops" and eventually "everybody needs to poop at a race". Might as well practice it while I can.


By the way, as much TMI as this post was, aren't you glad I didn't include THIS picture?

Funny Foto Friday: World Cup Fail

I watch a lot of news. Most of the time it makes me lock my doors and never go outside they get their facts right. But every so often, you just have to wonder what they were thinking.

In the spirit of the world cup, I give you two shining examples of media at their best. Happy Friday!

I've got 7 miles on the schedule - going to throw some mile repeats in there for "fun". Hooray!

PMS: Post Marathon Syndrome

Here I thought that I was being all clever with my title and The Penguin, John Bingham, one ups me. C'est la vie

For some reason this week, I'm having a bit of a harder time getting out and hitting the road. It isn't like I don't want to - but resetting my alarm at 5:00am has been much more attractive than actually getting up and pounding the pavement.

I got out yesterday amongst a 6:00am call for work and got in my first 5 miles post marathon. They felt good, in an awkward "baby deer trying to walk" kind of a way. I was going to run 7 this morning, but just couldn't drag my arse out of bed. I think that I may have PMS: Post Marathon Syndrome.

I've heard of this before and it seems like I have all of the symptoms:

• Apathy towards running
• I'm retaining water
• Frequent use of the snooze button (which I never do)
• Questioning my future race goals
• Hot flashes (literally - but I think this one is the 105+ heat)

Alas, I will get out there and get the miles in. What usually helps bring me out of a funk is going out and running some HARD puke-inducing miles as punishment. (Don't lie, we all do it.) Nothing like a humbling run to get yourself out of the shame cycle.

Honestly, I am going to try to use these few runs as a litmus test** for Rock and Roll Seattle. I'm thinking I may try to go out with the 3:20 pacer and see what happens. If nothing else, I'll have the fastest 22 miles I've ever ran - followed by about an hour of walking.

So, what do you do when you get in a bit of a slump? I normally turn to runners world for some motivation. But, since I haven't subscribed in a very long time, I'm going to dive head first into a stack of Triathlete magazines that RunningLaur gave me. If nothing else, maybe I'll finally take the leap and sign up for my first tri. Or, I guess I could spend my life savings and get a sweet sweet Speedo wetsuit. I've always wanted to feel like a human sausage.

**High School science worked into blog!? Check.