Been Tagged

So Amy tagged me . . . so here's my 6 random things (although in reality this blog is just 6 million random things).

1. Reading Chris's random things made me thing of this one. I do get bored easily and it's kind of a running joke between Dave and I. I like that feeling of the new and unknown. I also have trouble staying interested in things after a certain point in time. For instance, once I was a mediocre alpine skier I had to learn to snowboard. After I ran my first 10k I decided to run a marathon. Once I put on a small event I try to make it into a big event. Sometimes I do wish I was one of those people who could stick with something and really master it. I think my attention span is just too short.

2. I would rather speak in front of a group than have to mingle at a party. I'm actually a very socially awkward person and I'm no good with the small talk with strangers. If you watch the Cycle-Smart video and watch the camp promo you'll hear me saying I have a phobia of camps. It's true really and I can't believe I actually went to that camp. (And I tore my ACL there so maybe I really wasn't meant to go to camps).

3. I own a 1969 AMC Javelin (343, 4 barrel in case you are interested) that I got when I was 16. It's purple. I was a punk rock/motor head back in the day. I should sell the car as I've been paying for storage for it almost 20 years. It would take a bit of money to get it running again and even if I had the money I have no where to keep it here in Madison. I'm not usually very sentimental and am pretty good at getting rid of things from my youth or that I inherited. I'm a big believer in keeping the photos and memories but not the stuff. However, I still have this car. Someday I'm going to have to get rid of it but I probably won't face that reality until the storage facility I use is sold and I have to make a decision.

4. Since water has been a theme with Chris and Holly I will just admit that I don't know how to swim. By that I don't mean that I swim poorly . . . I actually mean that I do not know how to swim. The last time I took lessons the poor instructor finally decided that if I could swim with a life jacket on that we would consider that a success. With 40 looming I've been really thinking about trying to learn again. Kite boarding and kayaking sound like appealing sports to take up as I get older and it would be fun to try surfing.

5. In high school I received grades of D- and F quite frequently in Physical Education. I really hated everything about PE. However, I was fortunate that my teachers hated having me in PE as much as I hated taking it. They would always make sure that I got a D- for the semester so I wasn't required to retake it to graduate. They would only give me an F for the mid-term grade. Our freshman year as part of President's Physical Fitness Challenge everyone in my grade had to run the mile. I was the 2nd to last person to be able to finish and I think there was a lot of question as to whether I would be able to make it.

6. At least once a year when the weather is really hot I swear that I am going to give up biking forever.

Okay, that's 6. I'm not going to tag anyone since a lot of people I know already have been.

Levis Trow Run

This weekend was the WEMS race at Levis Trow trails and since Dave had plans to go I went along. I figured it would be a good place to get in my week's long run. Originally I had planned to run the course and I kind of did that although not quite how I had planned. It was all good though.

However, it was tough run. I was having some stomach problems on Friday and they plagued me on Saturday during the run after just short of 2 hours of running. I also had some problems with heat rash even though it wasn't hot (I usually only have that problem when it is really hot but I guess there was plenty of humidity Saturday morning).

Anyway, I ran for 3 and a half hours for some unknown distance that was probably 16 miles or so. I did two laps of a modified course. I ended up not doing the full 12.5 mile course since I missed a turn the first time around (the race hadn't yet started so there was a missing sign and I, of course, went the wrong way).

I started my run at 6:20am which was super painful for me as I am not in any way a morning person. That was good though as the actual race I'm doing starts at 7am so I needed to practice getting up and running. I had a little trouble getting going but once I hit the singletrack I started to enjoy myself. I felt a little stiff but I put that down to the early morning hour. I was feeling pretty good on the Yellowjacket singletrack and the Hermosa Trails. Things were going well until we got to Porkie's Point at which point I took a wrong turn. The next thing I know I can hear the start of the 12 hour race and then suddenly I'm back at the trailhead.

Dave sees me, checks his watch and I let him know that I clearly missed a turn and am now short of the needed mileage. At this point my stomach isn't feeling so great so I just go back out before I loose my drive. I probably should have given some thought to how far I'd run and how far I needed to still go but I just decided I would do the same route again. That was a bit of a mistake.

I had a little trouble getting motivated on the double track start to the course but once I hit the singletrack I felt more motivated. At this point though my stomach is killing me but I try to not think about it. I keep going with the occasional walking break to drink.

However, when I hit the long double track up to the second aid station I'm suffering mentally and physically. My stomach is feeling better but my heat rash is killing me. At the start of the double track climb I just start walking and hope that some Gu and energy drink will make me feel better. I'm feeling bad enough that even when I hear a bike behind me I don't start running but just keep walking along the far side of the trail. Pride be damned! Jesse says a friendly "hi" as he's out getting ready for the SS Championship. I say "hey", keep walking, and think to myself that I must look strange plodding along looking like death warmed over.

Finally I start jogging again as I decide I don't want to walk all the way to the top of the hill. At the top I steal a little water and then hit Porkie's Point trail. I have to alternate some walking with some running at this point. Frank and another 100 mile rider come along behind me and I get out of their way and cheer them on. I think I was actually running when they saw me so hopefully I looked better than I felt. I did muster the energy to finish at a semi-respectable run through the finishing area so I still had some pride left.

I felt totally spent at the end though. It was all I could do to get cleaned up and changed. I drank a soda and ate banana muffins to get the energy to change clothes and stretch. Then I remembered that I should drink my recovery drink. At this point the 50-mile racers are starting to arrive and I try to have coherent conversation with all the people I know. I was none too perky though!

Finally the recovery drink starts to kick in and my energy levels come back up. I finally get enough energy to grab my camera and get out for some shooting. I take along my lunch which I ate in between photos. It was super fun to get out on the course and see the racers. The 100 mile racers were pretty chill and were chatting it up as they went by. Spencer even stopped for some deep philosophical thoughts (photos and philosophy are me!). Then the 50 mile racers started coming by and I got some shots. Then I noticed the time and hiked back to the start area to see if Dave needed anything before his race.

That's when I learned of Lee's injury and made the offer to drive him home since I wasn't doing anything. Plus I knew that a shower and a bed would feel pretty sweet compared to camping. I got Lee home after a fine drive with pleasant conversation. The rest of my evening was cleaning up and eating. I also found enough time to get my photos downloaded and online so not a bad day all in all.

In retrospect I feel pretty good about the run especially given that It was several miles (3-4 miles actually but who's counting) longer than I had planned. I also dealt with running a long time while feeling like crap so I should be fine come July 13. The 25k there will be harder than what I ran at Levis but I think I ran at least that far or farther so I think I'm as ready as I can be. To be more ready I would likely have needed to decide to do this run sooner so I had more time to prepare and run more than 2-3 days per week. Instead I decided to make this as hard as possible but it's still fun and with only 2 weeks to go it's almost over.

Some photogs

A few photos from the Levis Trow WEMS race are online

Cooking

I was supposed to be getting ready for going up to Levis-Trow for the WEMS race but mostly I was making food. I guess we'll have some snacks this weekend.


We had a banana that was not holding up to the heat very well so I made some banana muffins.


I had some rhubarb that needed used and I have a ton of strawberries right now so I made some yummy strawberry-rhubarb bars. I had hoped to have enough time to freeze some of my remaining strawberries but I ran out of time. I guess I'll have some for breakfast, some for lunch, take a few with me and hope the rest last until we get home.


Here's dinner. I made a frittata with kale and garlic scapes and to go with it some sugar snap peas in a great lemon and mint sauce with chopped pistachios (the recipe was in the Vegetarian Times that arrived in today's mail).

Food like this makes me love my CSA even more! It did slow down my packing for the weekend but I think we'll get organized and get going in a timely fashion tomorrow. I've got my running shoes packed and it should be interesting to run the course but I can't promise I'll have enough energy after that to do the race!

What's that . . . .

Oh, I guess that cross is in the air this week. It was first reported by Chris. Then followed up on by another Chris. And then word got out about Josh and his coutdown timer. Craziness!

Of course, I kicked off the week by meeting JPE for margaritas and discussion regarding MCPJPPBC. Thanks to Josh I now know for a fact that there are only 3 months to go. I guess I better get cracking on some news, a logo, some scintillating details, something for the cross fans.

Togetherness

Dave and I decided to take a couple hours off from work this morning and do something together as a couple. Just a romantic morning together really . . . . .

Well, I don't know how romantic it is if you're ski coach is there . . . and you have to work hard . . . while breathing into a mask. I guess different couples approach romance differently.




Here's Dave nearing the end of his test




Here I a mid-test



And here I am near the end of the test

What are the results? Nothing too suprising really. I need to some workouts where I go really easy and then I need to do some harder intervals. It's hard for me to compare where I am at right now as I've never done a VO2 test running before. I also generally am biking a lot at this point in the summer and not running and skiing.

It's unclear if I'm going to actually do anything with the info from the test as I'm pretty happy just living life and doing whatever. The testing is free with Ski School and everyone does it so I felt I should too even though part of me doesn't want to know as I don't really want to train in that organized of a fashion. If I wanted to do that then I probably would need to pick something to focus on . . . I just want to focus on fun. I will admit though that I had already been planning to do some bike intervals starting later in July. I do still want to race cyclocross after all!

I did enjoy riding my road bike last night so that bodes well for my continuation as a cyclist . . .

Some Frazz for your day

From Frazz:

This one is so true . . .



This one is like letting me navigate on a run or ride . . .




And two in honor of a task that I need to take on . . . swimming: