On the mend...

The shin is feeling a lot better and I am hoping to start running again this weekend. I made a lame attempt (meaning I went to the gym once) to do some cross training this week but I just really want to run. I have a dress fitting on Saturday so I am hoping that the lack of exercise and junk food this week won't do me in.

Even though I said I shouldn't do another race before the wedding, I am contemplating doing the Hampton Half and Rockfest .One of my favorite bands, Entrain, is scheduled to play after the race. It always seems so cool when there is a band and post-race party when I sign up for these races but most of the time I just want to head home, shower and take a nap after a race. It's far enough ahead that I have time to train up for it despite this setback and I'll have two weeks to recover before the wedding. May not be such a bad idea...

Ouch!

As I mentioned, I completed the Reach the Beach Relay over the weekend with 11 other crazy running friends. I am normally conservative in my running but I must been overcome with all the excitement of the race and I went out too fast on my first leg. This was also my hardest and longest of the three legs (8.6 miles) that I was assigned to run. This was not my brightest idea. I ended up feeling wasted in my second leg and hobbled through the my last leg. My right shin for some reason decided to act up. When I got home, I showered and went to bed only to wake up at 3 AM in excruciating pain, to the point that I was in tears. Z feel asleep in front of the TV and it took all my power to make it down the stairs. Even though I woke him up, Z was very attentive. Neither of us was really sure what to do. Do I go to the ER? Can I tough it out? Well, I opted for the latter and thankfully some RICE, TLC, and Advil PM helped. I felt a lot better after I slept and even better today although I still have some tenderness. I learned my lesson here about how not to run a relay... and maybe hold off any major races until after the wedding

Reach the Beach Recap

Reach the Beach has come and gone. Reach the Beach is essentially a race you do with 11 other friends that are crazy enough to run 200 miles collectively and continuously for 2 days. It's like a roving party with a little running and, if you're lucky, some sleep, thrown in.

Z captained a team, The Colbert Nation, again this year. Overall, I think it's the smoothest relay that I have done (two RTB's and one Green Mountain Relay (GMR)). I think the relay veterans on the team got this relay thing done to science including how to get the marker off the van windows before returning them to the rental place (diaper wipes work really well).

The race organizers revamped some of the logistics to stagger the runners going through the transition areas (TA's) a little more. That meant that our start time, 11:40 AM, was about 3 hours later than the previous two relays. There was definitely concerns about getting to the finish "before the chicken got cold". We actually did very well with an overall time of 30:39:30 (8:47 min/mile pace), about hour faster than last year even with the additional 6 miles this year. Of course, the time is not all that important.

Third Place in Francestown

Yesterday, Labor Day, Z, B, and I did the Francestown Five race. Z and I have done this race for two out of the past three years and are charmed by this small town race. It's a challenging but scenic course that winds through the woodlands and farms of the town. This course is infamous for the uphill finish. I think race directors in New Hampshire get a kick out of planning uphill finishes for some reason. In any case, it ends at their annual Labor Day festivities in the town center. As I was coming into the last mile, I was very happy to realize that I was going to finish at sub-9 min/mile pace

At the finish, we were replenshing ourselves with baked goods and water and chatting with other folks as they announced the winners of the race. None of us were paying attention until they announced my name as the third place winner for a female in the 30-39 age category. Not only that, Z won third place in his age and gender category, too!

Now, how does this fit into being in a top of the bell curve? Well, I looked at the times at home and found out that I placed 3rd out of 6. So that does put right smack dab at the top of the bell curve. Not too shabby for this adult onset athlete.

I feel old...

I woke up Tuesday morning and felt a shooting pain in right hip. I did manage to run that night although I just felt like I was shuffling along like an old lady. Yesterday morning, I woke up feeling pain in every part of my body, even my stomach didn't feel quite right. I went for my run; I was scheduled to do five miles at easy pace but I only managed to do have half the mileage.

Later on, I went in for my gum graft. Essentially, the periodontist takes gum from the roof of my mouth and then transplants it to my front tooth where the gum is receding. It as much as fun as it sounds. This was my second round, so at least I knew what to expect this time around. I have one more to go. My diet for the next few days will consist of soft foods like pudding and creamed corn.

Hip pain, receding gums, eating mushy food... I feel so old.

Ultramarathon Man

I just finished reading Dean Karnaze's book Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner. Most people know Karnazes from his most recent endeavor in 2006 which was running 50 marathons (one in each state) in 50 days. The book is bascially a memoir of his early running years up to the completing a 199 mile relay race by himself. Karnaze's may be an amazing athlete that repeatedily pushes the envelope on human endurance but his writing style is rather banal. Some of the andecotes are amusing (like projectile vomiting after his first 50 miler and ordering pizza in the middle of nowhere) but the book lacks any depth or inspiritation. Instead of feeling inspired to push beyond the 26.2 mile distance, I was just left the thought of "wow, this guy has a real Type-A++++ personality". I am quite happy with my Type Y (not quite a Z because I manage to some things done) lifestyle, no ultras for me.

I am so cool

On Friday night, I jogged down to the high school track which is about a mile from my house which is perfect for a warm up and cool down when I do my speedwork. As I entered the road that leads to the high school, there was a group of girls that I passed. One of the girls said "that is sick, I want one of those" as I passed. She was referring to my super cool Fuel Belt that I was wearing. If you are not hip on today's lingo, "sick" means cool these days. Yes, I am very cool.