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April 30, 2006
Hug Your Loved Ones...
...because life has a funny way of taking them away from you sometimes. My father died suddenly, very suddenly.
This blog will be quiet for a while. Be well, all.
Posted by Meghan at 11:11 PM | Comments (18)
April 25, 2006
A Wrench
Just when all systems are a go, here comes a wrench.
I can imagine the inner workings of my mental and physical self as innumerate cog wheels turning slowly but surely, connected to some whirling belts, connected to something that makes this whole body tick. The machine itself occasionally needs a little maintenence. Once in a while, you have to get in there and clean things up, change out a belt or two, or tighten a bolt. However, in general, it functions prettly smoothly. Especially as of late, the whole machine has been working efficiently and in high gear.
I liken the weirdness that has become this day to a wrench thrown into the system, briefly shutting it down. I managed to pull the wrench out and get the cog wheels turning again, but I'm still holding this sucker and I have to figure out what to do with it. My vagueness is indeed intentional, but it's my blog and I can write what I want. :)
Today was not the day for a track workout. Instead, today was a day for an easy run requiring no concentration such that I could busy my mind thinking about other things. So, I'm digging myself a hole of hard workouts, stacking them in the second half of the week. Oh well.
I ran 8 miles easy today, floating around aimlessly.
As a side note, for the last 24 hours, we were told not to drink the water coming out of the faucets in our homes or at work. Something happened to the water supply, so we were told to boil or filter our water, or to drink bottled water only. It felt very developing country-esque. The water looked a little brown, even. Ew! They say it's okay today, but we were all instructed to run faucets in our house for an hour first. Weird, huh?
Posted by Meghan at 7:27 PM | Comments (1)
April 24, 2006
Insomnia
I've never had trouble sleeping. People accuse me of falling asleep anywhere the mood strikes me or fatigue overcomes me. I use airplane trips as excuses to catch up on sleep; I'm the girl curled into a freakishly small ball in a single airplane seat, totally unconscious. Once on a ferry off the coast of East Africa and so danged seasick, I thought sleeping was a better option; I awoke refreshed and not green about the gills anymore. And a car? I cannot stay awake in a car if I'm not driving. So, why can't I sleep this week?
If I counted up the hours of sleep I've gotten in my last 4 "nights" (Which are actually days since I'm working the night shift.), the number would be horrifying. I'm pretty tired, but I can't sleep.
There are two problems:
1) Daylight. When I get home from work, it's daylight. I've partially remedied this problem by putting up darkening shades in my bedroom. I can't do anything about the other part of the problem, that I watch the sunrise as I'm going home from work and it just feels like morning.
2) Ground squirrels. I guess they've woken from their winter hibernation. I count 14 ground squirrel holes in my yard alone. I think I wake them up when I get home from work. Like clockwork, I crawl into bed and I hear their ridiculous "Weeeeeeeet!" calls, which, incidentally, strike a painful pitch in the human ear, in addition to their annoying frequency. Living and working in a national park, I'm supposed to be the caretaker of nature and all that crap, but mostly I want to toss Decon down those 14 holes and enjoy some silence.
This morning:
6:10 am. Arriving home from work, I'm greeted by 2 ground squirrel heads poking sleepily out of their holes. Let the game begin, I think they're thinking.
6:22 am. Climb into bed, glance at the clock, stare at the ceiling, shut my eyes into peaceful, sleepy bliss.
6:23 am. "Weeeeeeeet!"
6:24 am. "Weeeeeeeet!" "Weeeeeeeet!"
6:25 am. "Weeeeeeeet!" "Weeeeeeeet!" "Weeeeeeeet!"
6:26 am. Roll over, cringe, pull pillow over head.
6:27 am. "Weeeeeeeet!"
6:28 am. Slide deeper under the covers, with the hope of muffling more noise.
6:29 am. "Weeeeeeeet!" "Weeeeeeeet!"
6:30 am. Drugs. I wish I had sleeping pills. I wish I had Prozac. I wish I had Decon.
6:31 am. "Weeeeeeeet!" "Weeeeeeeet!" "Weeeeeeeet!"
6:32 am. OH GOD!
7:24 am. Finally, the last time I remember looking at the clock. Unconsciousness must have occured right after this.
I've digressed embarrassingly far, haven't I? I did run today, but it was entirely eventful. I ran 6 miles easy with 5 strides at the end. The sun was out but it was still a little chilly. I wore pants and regretted it, too warm for pants. Things are starting to get busy around here as the park wakens from its winter slumber. The roads are opening, people are camping in numbers, the hotels will shortly open. With this, inattentive tourists are starting to reclaim those roads that I had mostly to myself this winter. I'm sad for this, but I'll obligingly give them back and not risk my life and my dog's out there. Fine tourists, take the roads!
Tomorrow's a workout. I will hopefully have more running and less rodent death wishes to write about.
Posted by Meghan at 7:34 PM | Comments (1)
April 23, 2006
A Whole New Day
I mean this in two respects. I felt like pooey during my 1200 workout earlier this week. I felt great today. The weather was 75 degrees, mostly sunny, and calm yesterday. Today it was about 35 degrees with an incredible wind. Indeed, it was a whole new day.
I know, I've complained all late winter and early spring about this wind. There have been some really windy days out there that reek various forms of havoc on workouts and long runs. However, I take back any earlier complaints I've made about the wind and I apply them to today. Today was an amazing wind. And it had impecable timing too, as it raged through the valley in which I was supposed to do a long, hilly run. The hill in which I was to incorporate the hilly part of my long run faced directly into the wind. After 1 hill climb into this ridiculous wind, I had to come up with a Plan B. It all worked out, I found another hill that was perpendicular to the wind, and got on with life.
The Original Plan was to run 3 miles on a flat trail, then 5x1.1 miles uphill at 10k- 1/2 marathon effort, with a return jog back down the hill, 14-ish miles total. I decided beforehand that I was going to do the hills at 1/2 marathon effort, rather than anything faster. After all, long runs are not supposed to be run too fast or too hard, the general point is time-on-feet, right? And, I figured that would be a fine workout by the end. I ran the 3 miles easy through a wind tunnel for a trail, then tackled my first 1.1 mile hill at 1/2 marathon effort. Typically, when I'm running this hill on an easy day, it takes me about 8:45-8:50 to get to the top. Today, while running at 1/2 marathon effort, uphill, into that blasted wind, it took me 9:46. I was going nowhere despite working hard. This wasn't going to cut it, I had to find another hill.
After the hellish first hill climb, I jogged to another hill that I thought would do the trick. Conditions weren't perfect (It was only about 3/4 mile long and it was on a narrow trail with occasionally difficult footing.), but the wind was a crosswind, so I got back to the workout. With Plan B, I did 5x this hill, about 3/4 mile long, at 1/2 marathon effort, with a jog back down. At this point, I was a few miles from my car by trail, so I ran easy back to the trailhead where my car was. By the time it was said and done, I'm still going to call this run 14-ish miles, but I'm not exactly sure.
The exciting ending to this run: While returning to my car on a narrow bit of trail, I met up with a herd of bison. None of us had anywhere to go, as the terrain was steep up or steep down on either side of the trail. They didn't budge, in fact the kept migrating my way, so I jumped off the trail into a huge cactus field. Who knew there were cactuses in this part of the world? June and I were dodging thorns whilst dodging bison. It turned out okay, even the part where I was crawling on all fours to get back up on the trail after the incident, and ended the run.
So, do you want to know how I felt about this run? In case you care, I felt awesome. Once I submitted to the wind and its power and found another place to do this run, I felt even better. In my 5 hill climbs, I ran hard, fluidly, and consistently, making it to the top each time feeling strong. I tried to focus on my form and catering my effort to the various grade changes. It was a good day.
Posted by Meghan at 7:01 PM | Comments (2)
Deena!
2:19.35, a new American Record. Complete and utter dominance. This woman is amazing.Posted by Meghan at 5:32 AM | Comments (2)
April 22, 2006
An Ode to June
I have owned my beloved border collie June for about 3 1/2 years. It was a September day when I visited the San Angelo, TX city pound. I went with the explicit intent of getting a dog, if I could find one that would suit me and my lifestyle. At the time, I was thinking something along the lines of a black lab, an active, outdoorsy dog who wanted to run and play outside as much as I did. And besides, pound dogs are almost always at least partially mixed with black lab, so finding one of those would be easy.
The whole experience of visiting a dog pound is a sad one. Your very presence releases the caucophony of dogs barking, wild posturing, and obsessive/compulsive behaviors that are undoubetly the result of being lost, rejected by owners, and confined without exercise. Some dogs bark unendingly, some spin in fast circles, others pounce at the cage bars as if to attack you. There are also others that don't quite fit into this category, those that quiver and curl into impenetrable balls in the corners of cells. If they do per chance make eye contact with you, their eyes are empty, vacant, they've checked out of this life. I'm sure anyone who's visited a pound will agree that this is a difficult experience.
I can vividly recall rounding the corner to the aisle of dog cages to which June was confined. My attention was not drawn immediately to June, but to another border collie next to her who was leaping vertically in its small cage. With each spring, the dog would bark in wild anticipation of something. Then I looked at the quiet border collie sitting in the cage next to the leaper. This was June. She was sitting at attention, with her mouth wide open in an official dog smile. As she sat, her tail was wagging, sliding back and forth across the dirty floor of her cage. She was neither wild and crazy or entirely checked out like most of the rest of the dogs in that place. I read the sign on her, "Name: June Bug, Sex: Female, Age: 1 1/2 years, Location Found: Owner Release, Removal Date from Pound: Today." June Bug the border collie was scheduled to be removed from the pound and euthanized today.
My original intent had been to visit the pound, interact with a few dogs, leave the pound and think about the decision, and return the next day to choose a dog. It didn't take very much interaction with June to realize that I wanted her. And I couldn't wait with my decision, because she wouldn't be there tomorrow when I returned. She wasn't at all what I thought I had wanted in a dog before going to a pound, but she was okay with me.
I brought her home from the pound that afternoon. The next morning I took her on our first run together. She had some leash manners, but she was clueless as to what we were doing. She was skittish, darting every which way, crossing right in front of me, and generally doing everything but the steady forward progress of a typical run. But border collies are some of the most intelligent dogs out there, and it didn't take her long to figure out this running thing.
I could probably count on 10 fingers the times that I have run without June since I got her. Sure, there have been times when I've warmed up with her, but left her to amble around the infield while I run track workouts. Or, the times that I unleash her while I'm running repeats up and down a trail. Even in these cases, she usually runs right along next to me, at whatever pace I set. She's run 22+ mile long runs across the searing desert with me. She was there when I was 9 miles into the backcountry, alone, and went face-to-face with a mountain lion. She has paced me in any fartlek or tempo workout out on the trails. She even runs with me on those ridiculously slow, exhausted days where I can't seem to put one foot in front of the other very smoothly. The only times that she hasn't been out there running with me was when she has been sick or has had surgery, and you can't blame her for that!
In this time, she has been boudless with energy, never getting too hot, never getting too tired, never doing anything but running with me at whatever pace I set. Until today, June got too hot and too tired. Again, I can't blame her. This poor dog is covered with Wyoming winter fur, it's thick, heavy, in multiple layers, and it covers her entirely. This winter, she's even grown fur tufts over her feet to privde insulation from the snow. This day, this 75 degree day of full sunshine, must have come as a shock to her. I'm sure she will be shedding that hair madly in the next few weeks, but there was nothing for her to do under all that hair today. Poor girl, she stuck it out today (Well, she had to, we were several miles from home.), but she got very hot and very tired.
So, this blog entry has been an ode to June, because, in my entirely impartial opinion, June is the toughest, fastest, most enduring running companion.
I did run today, with the hot dog (Hah!), 8 hilly miles. It was 75 degrees. I wore shorts and a tank top, and it was lovely, so lovely. If only I didn't have to worry about the hot dog.
Posted by Meghan at 7:21 PM | Comments (1)
April 21, 2006
Not Feelin' So Hot
I've had a string of workouts where I felt good and felt like I was getting fit, and I also had one good race so far this spring. But today, I wasn't feelin' so hot. At all. I'm not entirely sure why things felt so bad out there. Plausible lame excuses: 1) I know I got a little carried away during my warm-up run, I was distracted by the beautiful, sunny day such that I arrived at the track with 4.5+ miles steady as a warm-up, a little much and a little fast for me. 2) I just switched back over to working the night shift, and I know I'm a little low on sleep. 3) I did this workout at 6300 feet elevation, whereas I've done all the other workouts at about 5300 feet elevation. Just tossing around ideas, but I'm not really sure. I all I know is that I felt like poo and performed like poo.
The plan was 5x1200 with 600 jog recovery at 5k pace. After the warm-up, I did strides and drills, then launched into the workout. 800 meters in the first interval, and I knew it was going to be a bad day. I ended up running 3x1200 with 600 jog recovery at 5:01, 5:03, and 5:01. Then I threw in the towel, that's all I had to give today! After 3 intervals, I felt as beat as I should at the end of a workout. I ran a few miles cool-down, and I'm calling today a putrid 10 miles.
It was momentarliy heartbreaking, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it at this point. As long as the next workout goes okay, I'm just going to call this an off day.
Posted by Meghan at 3:56 PM | Comments (3)
April 20, 2006
Barely/Bearly Breathing
This title has a double meaning that will momentarily become obvious.
My new washer and dryer are now located in my home and they are presently passing their inaugural test wash/dry of rags. At last check, the machines continued to work and the rags were all in their normal state of raggedness. Additionally, the laundry room is not flooding, the curious dog hasn't been electrocuted, and nothing is on fire. Yet.
I now understand why people have said that you become an adult when you buy a washer and dryer. It's not really the act of buying these things, it's the maturity level that's required to install them in your home. If you can successfully do this task without launching a wrench through a window or cursing more than 10 times, then you are an adult. I will save all the ranting and raving about the usual malfunctions one has while "doing things," such as a lack of the proper tool or the instruction manual being written in English by a native Chinese speaker. Instead, I'll focus on the blatant malalignment of various factors of the universe that led to this adventure. Such as the electrical wiring for the dryer outlet being TOTALLY wrong. And how about the drain pipe for the washer being clogged with something resembling insulation? I shouldn't forget that I have no idea what was wrong with the hot and cold water faucets, but a real plumber had to come and fix those. These are the affects of the good government employees who so nicely remodeled my home before I moved in. I shouldn't be surpised now, with all the original surprises back when I first moved in! Alas, 8+ hours later (and only 2 hours of that was spent on actual set-up of the washer and dryer), everything SEEMS to be working. And, it's possible that I'm still alive, though barely breathing. I didn't even throw a wrench, so I must offically be an adult.
I think this blog is supposed to be about running, so I'll move on.
Yesterday I planned the 1200 workout, and I wanted to do it on the dirt track down the street. When I got to it, it was too muddy. With a limited amount of time, I had to improvise on the spot and change workouts to this week's 10k pace workout. So, I continued on with a 2 mile warm up, 2x20 min at 10k effort with 1/2 mile easy jog between, then a 1 mile cool down. I used a small dirt road loop through one of the maintenance areas for each of the 20 minutes on. The loop must be between 1/4 and 1/2 mile, and I ran many of those loops. I think the maintenance men (and 1 woman) thought I was the loopy one who wouldn't quit running past them. Oh well. This workout felt too easy, good, but easy.
This morning, I ran 6 miles easy with 5 strides at the end. It was a most gorgeous day, the best that we've had yet. I'll guess it was 55 or 60 degrees. For much of the day, the doors and windows were all open in the house! It was truly beautiful, and they're predicting more of it! I was TOO HOT running in a t-shirt and shorts! This evening, I sqeaked in a 3 mile second run. I know, it wasn't 2 days ago when I said that I'm going to suck up losing the easy miles for this week if I can get all the quality work in. But, I just feel so good, and it was a beautiful evening, and a run was a perfect outlet for my frustrations, and, and, and. However, perhaps I can draw your attention away from my mileage mongering by mentioning that I saw a black bear on this evening's run, about 1/2 mile as the crow flies from my neighborhood. He was a big guy, just meandering across the road. I wasn't at all afraid, he was way out there, but he sure got me breathing hard and my adrenaline pumping!
I have to go, my dryer (You know, MY dryer, the one one that's MINE, in MY laundry room.) just dinged.
Posted by Meghan at 8:29 PM | Comments (1)
April 18, 2006
No Complaints
I can't complain. I really can't. I didn't just run a marathon like 22,000 other people over there on the East Coast. So, I'm going to shut it. And, further, I feel fine today anyways. Still, I took it easy today. Just one more day of resting such that I can "git 'er done" tomorrow.
This doesn't exactly bode well for the "higher" mileage week I was originally seeking this week. Then again, I didn't know Sunday's hike was going to be a gruesome physical adventure requiring recovery time. I've got 3 non-racing weeks ahead (including this one) and I wanted to push up the mileage closer to 60 for these 3 weeks. I'm not sure that's going to happen this week.
I ran 5+ miles steady, not easy, not hard, just steady. I was tempted to do a second run to add a few miles to the day. But I didn't. I figured, 2 days of solid recovery and then some quality work later in the week. Oh well if the total mileage is lower if I can get in the workouts that I want to.
The rest of the week is shaping up to be difficult:
1) A 1200 workout at 5k pace tomorrow. I don't know yet if I'll be doing this on the road or a track. The dirt track in the neighborhood had been graded and compacted while I was away in Texas. It looked wonderful! But then there was this freak snowstorm a couple days ago, and the ground is soft and muddy again. I hope I can get on that track!
2) A 10k pace workout.
3) A long run inclusive of 5x1.1 mile hill (because that's the length of the appropriate hill, as measured today) climbs at somewhere around 1/2 marathon (or faster?) effort. After last weekend's race, I Googled hill workouts and somehow found this one. It actually recommended 10k effort, but that seems really hard. So I'm not holding myself to that if it seems impossible. More like, I want to work hard and keep a consistent pace up the hill each time.
On a side note, I think I once heard on a movie that you are officially a grown-up when you buy a washer and dryer. Then, a family member said recently that you can also measure grown-up-ness by whether or not you've bought a couch. Well, my couch is a hand-me-down, so I can't count that towards grown-up-ness, but I did buy a washer and dryer. I try hard not to accumulate too many "things." All of the furniture I "own" was given to me, with the exception of 1 bookcase and my kitchen table. Various "stuff givers" felt bad for me and the fact that I didn't have much stuff. Really, I like it like that, though. Despite this, I broke down and bought a washer and dryer, and tomorrow I get to pick them up. If all goes well, I'll be doing laundry in my own house for the first time, ever, tomorrow night. After absolutely abysmal washing and drying conditons for the last 10 months, I'm ready.
Posted by Meghan at 8:59 PM | Comments (2)
April 17, 2006
Gimping Along
If anyone saw me running today, and I know at least a few did, they probably wondered what was wrong with me. And they probably thought to themselves, that girl should not be running. Today I was running for the exclusive purpose of working some of the lactic acid out of my muscles and of loosening things up just a bit. That is to say that I'm properly gimped today.
Yesterday, when I awoke early to get ready to hike, I was amazed at how my legs felt after racing on Saturday. They were fatigued, yes, but sore no. I was feeling good about them as we started the hike. By yesterday evening, my legs were pretty tired. As in, things didn't want to work well anymore. During the night, I woke up several times and immediately noticed leg stiffness. I felt fairly Frankenstein-esque when I tried to get out of bed this morning.
I took it very easy during the day today, with my hardest activity being cleaning my house. But I was pretty sore trying to bend over and do things like washing the tub! I was moderately ambivalent as to whether I would run at all, and I decided to go out, finally.
I ran for 30 minutes, which I will ambitiously call 3.5 questionable miles, judging from the asymetrical stumble that was something akin to jogging. I felt better muscle-wise by the end. But other various body pieces took their turns niggling their way through the run. My right IT band momentarily seized, my right achilles made a resounding crank, and my calf muscles bordered on cramping every time I tried to go up the tiniest hill. When was the last time I was this sore? Ok, when have I ever raced a 5k and hiked 26 miles on back-to-back days? Still, I make all these complaints with a smile on my face. It's a good hurt, like I've worked hard and I have something to show for it.
However, I'm in an especially injury-prone moment right now, so I'm going to continue to listen close to my body, and only do what it wants me to do until I feel good again.
And now, with my own personal disgressions about fatigue and soreness aside, I'm going to go and read others' accounts of vastly more acute pain, suffering, and joy associated with running the Boston Marathon. Congratulations to all runners, and I hope you recover well!
Posted by Meghan at 6:43 PM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2006
Mimicking the Marathon
In honor of those who are racing Boston tomorrow, I conducted a modified version of the marathon here. I hiked 26 miles. Okay, so there wasn't that much about it that resembled a marathon besides the distance, but permit me one dedication to tomorrow's runners! Good luck tomorrow, all!
When I went to bed last night, the forecast was calling for a 90% chance of rain and snow. That was a moderately concerning predication. I had originally planned to spend today road biking with a group of people, but that forecast caused them to cancel. Rightfully so, as slick, skinny road bike tires and snow on hills don't mix one bit. Instead, I took up a last minute offer to do what was supposed to be a "20-ish" mile hike. We'd be wandering through the same weather, but that weather seemed much more doable for hiking than biking.
We started off in a light sprinkle, donned in layers of clothing and an outer waterproof layer. Within 1 mile, we saw fresh black bear and grizzly tracks right on the trail. Tracks that had been laid since the rain started the night before. Hmmmn. Premonition, prediction, dumb coincidence? We proceeded on with caution.
After about 6 miles, we came to a creek crossing swollen with snowmelt and now rainwater, too deep to cross. Instead, we had to add on an additional 4 miles total to hike to bridge across the creek to proceed with our hike. This was a little mentally challenging, but we made it through that. I was much happier hiking several more miles than risking a bad incident crossing icy cold high water.
Several more miles into the hike we overheard radio traffic from our coworkers (They were working, we were playing.) who were working in the same area we were. We chatted with them for a few minutes via radio, and learned that down the trail from where we were, there was a bear sitting and feeding on an elk carcass. This is a very common and dangerous site in Yellowstone in the spring. As winter progresses, the ungulates die off in what is refered to as winter kill. When bears emerge from their dens, this is their first food source, as carcasses are everywhere and they are an easy meat source. When a bear is sitting on a carcass, it means they've claimed it as their own, they're eating off it, and they're very protective of it. Encountering a bear in this hunger-ravaged feeding-frenzy state can be volatile. We fretted unneccessarily over this until we passed the supposed location of the bear and carcass, and never saw a thing. I was glad to not have a close bear encounter.
The next thing we dealt with was 2 thunderstorms. It never got warm, and we were frequently sprinkled on by rain, and the thunderstorms were just cake icing. It was momentalrily nerve-wracking, as we were in a few exposed spots, being pelted by rain and hail, and watching lightning around us. I was frightened, but the first one was over quickly. The second one came, and we were in an even worse location as the tallest objects in an open meadow. We scampered across the meadow as fast as we could, and as fast as our tired feet would let us.
In the end, the hike was nearly 26 miles, and extremely rigorous. It was through some truly wild Yellowstone backcountry. I was feeling a little like a green newbie out there today, as I forgot all about the toughness of hiking in this place. I'm really glad I went, though! And things will start to feel familiar and normal again, after a little more playing in the backcountry. Days like this really teach you that, while humans are strong creatures, Mother Nature is much, much stronger. However, we humans managed to persevere through all that Mother Nature threw at us on this particular day! Though the hike was tough and I'm not wishing to hike it again soon, I had a great time!
Posted by Meghan at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2006
Saying Stupid Things to Famous People
Rarely does a little country bumpkin like me have the opportunity to interact with famous runners. When given the brief opportunity to do so at today's race, I took my one chance and said something stupid!
My reactions upon seeing her:
Hey, that's ________ ________!
Oh gawd, I'm going to get absolutely schooled by her in this race!
Wow, she's talking to me?!
Oh, I just said the stupidest thing!
I will save the embarassment of describing the interaction in full detail, that's enough for now!
There were 2 races being held, a 5k and an 11k. I had planned to do the 5k originally, but thought momentarily about entering the 11k instead once I got there, just because the course looked hard and fun and beautiful. I ended up registering for the 5k in the end, and as I went out to warm up, I started seeing several of Montana's best female runners show up, 3 of them specifically, including the famous person. All 3 of them ended up running the 11k, creating a great competition to watch. Meanwhile, the 5k field was left talentless and empty, which I the main reason for how I managed to win.
The course was very challenging, first down off of one big hill, up another, across a briefly flat area, down a big hill, up a big hill, then downhill to the finish line, making a loop. I think there was about a quarter mile stretch that was flat the entire race. It was all dirt roads, the grades were steep, the roads were rutted out, and the footing was iffy sometimes. When the gun went off, 2 men went out fast, with me and another man behind them. The gap grew between #1 and #2 and me and the man with me. He ran behind me for about half of the race, then he accelerated, and I didn't stand a chance of hanging with him. The #1 and #2 men eventually switched positions, and the man that passed me overtook them both on the last uphill to win the race. I looked back twice, but never saw another woman. At one point, I did see another man who I thought was gaining, but then he lost touch again. For the second half of the race, I was gaining slowly on the now-fading orginal #1 and #2, but didn't catch them. In other words, for the first half of the race, I was pacing some dude. For the second half of the race, I was staring at these guys' backs. I was on my own out there for the most part.
Notes:
1) Don't gawk and get all silly around famous people. Try to be normal.
2) Gut and glide better. I think I'm a decent downhill glider, but I could be better. More the issue is how I get all caught up in speed on big uphills. I need to just work hard and steady up the steeps, and not worry about the pace. A lot of extra effort to move just a little faster is not worth the lactic acid accumulation.
3) Run harder. I had much more in me, but was nervous for all the hills and that I would die. I should have opened it up earlier. I wouldn't have been able to go as hard as the eventual winner when he passed me, but perhaps I could have caught the other 2 men who finished in front of me.
4) Do more hill workouts. If I'm going to be racing in these mountains, I need to workout on hills.
5) I'm glad I decided to go race afterall.
Watching the 11k come in was almost as entertaining as running a race myself, as it was pretty awe-inspiring to see these 3 highly talented female runners. They are are predominantly trail runners, and trail runners are just built different. Their legs are like thick tree stumps, not huge by any means, but thick with muscle in relation to those of long distance road runners. Tough looking women, solid movers, flowing effortlessly with no extra movement. It was so cool to see! The three of them finished 1, 2, and 3 and then they all went off on a cooldown run together. Little did they know that this little country bumpkin would have done a second cooldown if given the opportunity for a few minutes chatting with them. I wasn't invited. :)
Posted by Meghan at 5:54 PM | Comments (6)
April 14, 2006
Ok, Fine, I'll Do It
There's all this energy everywhere out on the Eastern front. There's a big race this weekend and 20,000 people are promptly rehashing race strategies just one more time, continuing to bloat themselves in carbohydrate-loading heavens, and obsessively checking Weather.com every hour on the hour. There's electric zips and zaps floating around the Boston Marathon blog entries, emails, and phone conversations I've been reading/having the last couple of days. It's all very exciting to watch and witness, from my remote, safe, quiet, wilderness location. Good luck everyone!
However, in honor of that buzz of energy on the East coast, I guess I'll run a piddly 5k trail race this weekend. I asked someone the other day why the race's name has one particular word in capital, bolded letters. After the laughter ceased, they proceeded to inform me that the word "BIG" (just like that) refers to a big-a#@ hill that the race is on. Bring it.
Posted by Meghan at 7:47 PM | Comments (1)
April 13, 2006
Harmonizing with Something
Has any one see the truly ridiculous but still entertaining movie, Failure to Launch? In this movie, Matthew McConaughey is first at odds with nature. When the rest of his life is disharmonious, his interactions with nature are also disharmonious. His hand gets bit by a rare reptile, he gets attacked by a chipmunk, he wrecks his mountain bike, that kind of thing. After he straightens out his life, he also seems to be in harmony with nature. Nothing seems to want to attack and kill him anymore.
I proceeded through my running in fairly harmonious fashion today. I'm not quite sure why nature loved me, but I'll take it. First, there was a raging wind for the first half of the day. There seemed to be some sort of front pushing through, and I dreaded going out to run in it. I put off running as long as I could with the excuse that I had "other" things to do, when really I just talked on the phone to a bunch of friends. Then, when I finally sucked it up and went out there, the wind had calmed and it was warm and sunny. I ran through the lightest of breezes in a t-shirt and shorts, and it was heavenly. Second, I ran about 3 feet from a herd of deer and they just stood there looking at me. I see this and other nearby herds of deer all the time, and usually they wig out immediately, heading for the hills. Today, they just sat/stood/gazed at me as I went by. The weirdest thing, but I was harmonizing with something.
I ran two easy, short runs for a total of 9.5 miles today. I missed a day earlier in the week due to traveling and exhaustion and I'm trying to make up for it with a few extra miles here and there. I meant to run a few more miles in the second run, but I ran out of daylight.
Posted by Meghan at 8:45 PM | Comments (2)
April 12, 2006
A Effortless Run of Effort
Huh?
After an 11-day hiatus from running up here at elevation, I fully expected that a hilly half-marathon pace workout was going to be painful. Not so much. Pleasant surprises abound. I ran 3 miles easy, then 5 miles at half-marathon pace effort. I did time the run, but I ran by effort while I was out there, and my effort was right on pace. Happy camper, that is me.
To race or not to race, that is the question. Shall I drive 2 1/2 hours each direction to race what sounds like a very hilly and very fun 5k trail race out in beautiful Montana? Or, shall I do a 5k time trial here at home, all-the-while saving a day and a bunch of gas? I cannot decide.
What I do know is that if the present weather conditions continue, I will be road biking outside any moment now. The interior roads of Yellowstone National Park remain closed to vehicle travel. They've recently been cleared of their feet and feet of snow and debris and are open to bicycle traffic only for a few more weeks. Friends say that last weekend, with its miraculously warm weather, brought dozens of bikers each day. I'm hoping the weather will hold, and that I can join them for my first outdoor ride of the season here at Yellowstone on Sunday.
Posted by Meghan at 8:39 PM | Comments (1)
April 11, 2006
Pure, Unadulterated Fun
I'm back home, back to work, and I think I've officially caught up on sleep and recovered from my exhaustion. This was a most whirlwind-ish trip. I admit, I'm a high energy, whirlwind-ish kind of person in general, but this trip was busy in the extreme! After rolling back in town just in time to work perhaps the most violently painful 12-hour night I've ever worked, I collapsed into a coma this morning. All I did today was sleep, nearly 11 of the 12 hours I was off of work were spent sleeping, and I needed every little penny of it. Now, after some good sleep, 2 cups of coffee, a decent meal, a rest from all physical activities, I'm ready to return to the Land of the Living. Whew, someone remind me to slow down!
I can hardly recount the events of this trip in this blog without simultaneously writing a small novella and boring my already small readerhsip to death, so I'll stick to some highlights, as I seem to do after long adventures and blog absences.
1) Live music. Love it, can't get enough of it, why is the live music scene in Montana and Wyoming not as good? I went to 3 concerts by the Los Lonely Boys, The Gourds, and The Flatlanders. These are all Texas bands of one kind or another, and it was a joy to hear them in concert. All of the venues were great, outdoor, open-air venues, which I enjoy SO much better than small, dark, smoky bars. There was endless dancing and a fair bit of drinking. I let myself get spun around the dance floors by anyone who looked like they could dance, and I had a great time. I held back on the drinking pretty well, though! We were so busy and physically active that I just couldn't imagine doing too much drinking! But, cold Dos Equis Ambers with a lime really hit the spot on those warm Texas nights after dancing! And the bands themselves put on excellent performances that entertained and energized their crowds.
2) Running. I did a fair bit of it. My shin seems to be fine. The low elevation was heavenly. And the heat wasn't too bad. Since my shin had been sore for a few days, I eased off of doing any workouts, but tried to keep the mileage up on easy runs. I took a few rest days when we were otherwise occupied with big hikes or road bikes, but I got most excellent exercise on those days, too. I'm counting the trip as down time running-wise, and now I'll be back at it again.
3) Friends. I missed these people! While I simultaneously know that I've moved on to the next adventure in life up here in the north and that I don't want to move back to Texas, it was so fun to spend time with all of these friends. My friends hosted a barbeque party for me one night, and we ate and drank and chatted until way too late at night. I loved it!
4) Outdoor activities. I did a few long, arduous hikes. I road biked twice outdoors, on roads, something I haven't done here since last September. I didn't make it out to camp, which I was a little disappointed about, but I was ridiculously busy for those 10 days that I don't know where I would fit it in!
And so now, I'm back. I have several days of work before I have another week off. I'll be staying in the area for this next week off, playing around here and relaxing. I lined out a series of races for this spring, and the first one is this weekend. I'm still debating whether I will do it or not, though, as I'm currently feeling a little travel weary. Going to this race would require a few hours of driving each way, so I'm currently undecided.
And the whirlwind comes briefly to a halt.
Posted by Meghan at 7:11 PM | Comments (4)