Annette K

My actual first CapTexTri

2009-05-27T03:40:56Z

After getting rained out two years ago,and having a not-so-fun volunteer experience last year, I only signed up to do anything related to CapTex 2009 due to one Kirk Offel.

Last year my friend at work Hans told me about Kirk and his cause. I became an informal "mentor" to Kirk (and I guess, ultimately the team). This year, the pressure's on - they want me to join The Team. And one of the races they wanted to take 'by storm' was CapTex. Kirk is a Navy vet and it makes sense that he'd want to have CapTex be a big "awareness" event for the cause of Sarcoma.

Well about 2 weeks ago I got news that my right knee will need some arthroscopy in the near future (AFTER DANSKIN!!!!!!) so I told Kirk I'd be glad to be the cyclist on an Olympic relay team. He paired me with one Doug (I've done IronMan Coeur d'Alene) Thompson for the swim and Karen (I got three kids, and I'm a badass runner) Ayala. Sweet.

We met each other for the first time in the vestibule of Palmer Events Center on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, we were in line behind some poor sap whose team didn't know the whole team had to be present to pick up packets.. well.. uh.. WE DID! so, could you let us through please????

Karen's hubby was doing the sprint (not relay) and they had a committment later in the day, so we wanted to get packet pickup underway so they could see where I'd rack Buzz Yellabike. Well, there are only two racks for Olympic Relay. One at the very last row closest to the lake, and one on the very last row across from the path from the other rack..

Doug followed me to transition to see where the bike was (which was the most important anyway, since I gotta get the chip from him). We somehow lost Karen. But I figured we'd see each other at the tent in the morning.

I arrived about 6am on race day at TxDOT parking lot and thought, "where is everybody"??? So I re-parked about 4 times, finally picking a really primo spot under a tree just behind the strip joint.

Indeed it was a good place cause when I came back later, it was in total shade............

I loaded up the TriZones cooler with icepack and two bottles of gatorade endurance for the bike as well as a water bottle, and my sling chair (race starts at 7:00, Olympic Relay goes off at 8:30.. thought I'd put my feet up) and the 2008 RiverCities Awesome custom-embroidered tribag containing my bike pump, helmet, sunscreen, phone, paper towels, hand sanitizer, bandaids, spare goggles (even though I'm NOT SWIMMING), and extra electrolyte powder mix.

Made my way to the transition area (where I turned my back to

triman so he could see my helmet with number!!) so I could pump up my tires, put down my "never kissed a frog.. never had to" tri towel with my bike shoes, Texas Iron socks and road id on it, and wipe off my rear view mirror and bike computer, then put the two bottles of gatorade endurance on the bike cages. I wandered through transition and found Coach Jen so went to say hi to her.

Went back to VFS tent to hang out. I knew Sarah R was supposedly working in bodymarking. I went over to the tent, but she wasn't there... dang.. Karen, my runner arrived and I explained how we'd exchange the timing chip. Went back to bodymarking tent. Still no Sarah..... whipped out my own sharpie and marked myself while talking to Karen at our team tent and putting on sunscreen (our photographer got a lovely pic of this)

Soon saw Bets walking by on her way to Sprint transition (I also saw her last year! cool to see your friends again and again). I am truly amazed at her "pre-race" meal. she was holding a bagel with what appeared to be chunky peanut butter on it, and a can of diet coke. DIET COKE?!?! BETS!!! you have a cast iron stomach!!! and you seemed so calm about all of this.. (more on Bets later.........)

I saw Heather and she so tried to find me a Water Monster to fill up my waterbottle! Heather was out there solely to cheer for us, that is truly awesome!!Karen & I walked down to swim start and ran into Amber and Rob, stopped to visit for a bit, then wandered down to water where I saw Kendra "meditating" on the ground. I can't really get on/up from the ground so bent over to talk to her. Chris was already in the water, but I knew Kendra was a strong swimmer. Just passing the time............Karen's hubby was getting in line to do the sprint so we went back to team VFS tent for a bit.. very soon we went to transition and not too long after 9:00 heard Doug yell, "ANNETTE!!" so I grabbed the chip/strap, put it on left ankle and ran the bike out of transition. that rocky/bumpy transition. It took FOREVER till I got to the mount line. Then it was time to rock 'n roll. Up 1st street, right on CC.. HEY!!! THERE's NIKKI!!! Thanks!!! Congress Ave will now be known to me as the Wind Tunnel. Saw Amber again as I approached the Capitol. Mentally it was kinda weird, since previously all the events I've done that approach the Capitol from the south were running races. Then after you turn right onto 11th, it's an uphill... then SanJac.... ready for downhill? had some gatorade?? CHECK!!! fly at 30mph down SanJac.................. U-turn, and back up... ugh.. do it all again.. I think it was on 2nd loop that Bets passed me.... I saw trichelle just before I had to head south on 1st for the u-turn.

last few loops, the police let people cross in front of us (hey, can't you see we're climbing here??) on SanJac. I didn't think I'd like the loop course (due to USAT rules, which, at this race are a MOOT POINT), but actually it felt like some kind of NASCAR racing. I really enjoyed it!!

Handed off chip to Karen who really smoked the 10k run!! We even made the front page of today's Austin American Statesman.After we were done, there is evidence that although I raced under VFS jersey, I was ringing a TriZones cowbell for one of my teammates!!

Finally saw Sarah R after I finished, who said she'd be reassigned to water safety.. probably where they needed most help. Thanks Sarah......

Hello LJ

2009-05-08T18:33:56Z

It's been a very long time. Right knee is giving me fits, I went and had MRI done but can't get in to see Dr. Spears to go over results till 5/19. In the meantime, I'm not running. We did a nice little 16 mile ride out Parmer last night - it was designed to get the Danskin Mentors and Mentees out. Ten Mentors showed and one mentee! I hope we didn't intimidate her too much! Tomorrow is brick workout at Lake P-ville and Sunday I'm volunteering at Rookie. Another bizzzzzzy weekend.

it's April now

2009-04-03T03:18:25Z

I ran a marathon in Feb and did a few workouts in March.

Apr 1 I ran about 2 miles.

Apr2 I did nothing except pickup Zooma packet. I can't run Zooma since I've had a sinus infection for 2 weeks and cause Steve got us tix for Leonard Cohen in Grand Prarire tomorrow.
But -- it's tri training season again and I will get with it!!!

It's March already?

2009-03-06T23:47:47Z

At least I FINALLY got into a pool on the last day of February:
Swim: 1600meters
Bike: 75 miles
Run: 65.5 (most of which was a marathon!)

not doing so well so far this month, it's been crazybusy at work. Managed to ride 43 windy miles with friends on Sunday and Wed evening was brick workout training - about 7 miles of cycling (on trainer) and 1.5 miles of running.

I was going to run after work tonight but here it is nearly 6pm again. And my tummy hurts. So I guess I will rest one more day till the big Pedal thru the Pines tomorrow. I'm hoping for slightly less wind, please!!!!

it's that time...

2009-02-18T06:41:56Z

My new best friend

(or.. My First Marathon Race Report)

Let me just say I started running more than 30 years ago to get rid of excess weight after giving birth to my oldest daughter. And to get some time away from my (insert many expletives here) first ex-husband. Running shoes hadn’t yet been invented, which is good because the tightwad wouldn’t have let me buy them anyway. I managed to save 50cents here and a dollar there by budgeting uber-carefully for groceries. The allowance for two weeks worth of groceries for me in 1975 was forty dollars. Cash. I couldn’t just get everything I needed and write a check at the cash register. So if there was anything at all left, I saved it for my next trip to Kmart to get those five dollar deck shoes. I lived in Illinois then (I got to Texas as soon as I could – half my lifetime ago!) and the furthest I would run would be about 2 miles. Which was 2 miles further than about 99% of the population at that time. In the tiny town I grew up in, I became known as the town runner. Running just wasn’t cool (yet).

FF a few years and after extended unemployment in Illinois, we moved to Texas. I was pregnant so it wasn’t until winter of 1985 (a few months after the twins were born) that I took up running again. Ahhh the good old days of running out & back on Cushing Drive in Round Rock with 2lb. ankle weights to make it harder. Got a job as a temp at ROLM in NE Austin which was across the street from a dirt track encircling an office complex. I’m guessing it was probably half a mile and after my day’s work I’d go run a few laps before heading home to the madness. Lots of coworkers also ran around that track and one of them convinced me to think about doing the Capitol 10k. Also to divorce my (?!??!@!) husband, which I did.

After finally getting out from under that burden I also got a “real” job at the health department. A co-worker there told me about the “Huffin’ Puffins” – a small group of Austin area runners who were not particularly fast but enjoyed running and the road trip aspect of running events. Around that time I also joined Austin Runner’s Club (back when the newsletter was mimeographed and was addressed with those labels generated from WordStar mailmerge). A new store dedicated to runners called RunTex opened up near 12^th & Lamar and I got Real Running Shoes – ASICS gel which came with a gray cloth drawstring bag to store their $100 goodness in. My collection of Cap10K shirts boasts as its oldest item the 10^th anniversary edition from 1987.

Everything went along pretty well with me doing several runs a week, gauging the distance by first driving my car on a proposed route. I had a really great 6 mile route which included Hart Lane when it was time to train for Cap10K each year! Then in 1993 I started having a lot of pain in my left knee when I’d get up from extended periods of sitting down. Gotta love PruCare – I had to see my primary doctor, take naprosyn (it wasn’t OTC yet), then darvocet and finally a 3^rd drug before I could finally get referred to an orthopedic surgeon. January 1993 saw me at Bailey Square getting torn meniscus cartilage cleaned up and having my quadricep cut. The doc called it ‘lateral release’ but quadricep cut sounds more fitting to the amount of pain it caused. After this I was told not to run again. So I didn’t --- for about 10 years. I’d gotten remarried and started to pile on more weight than I wanted to carry so I started running again – a block, 2 blocks, half a mile, etc. A co-worker told me his wife had been participating in the Danskin Women’s triathlon for a couple of years and this became my goal. I talked my oldest daughter into doing it with me and I joined Team Danskin Training in 2004. Thus I returned to the world of regular exercise. Then in May, my husband passed away unexpectedly. Michelle and I went ahead and completed the Danskin and I really think this lifestyle change saved me.

Joining the TriZones family has to be one of the most brilliant decisions I’ve ever made. Since I had started out running to get away from people, it took me a while to warm up to the idea of actually seeking out people to run with. There has always been someone from TZ who ran at a pace similar to mine and I realized the value of training/running buddies.. Many times it just “happens” that way at training runs and events. Carol and I ran together for many, many miles including the Freescale half marathon a few years ago. Lee and I fell into a comfortable pace at 3M, Stacy ran along with me for nearly 13 miles at Decker Challenge one year and Diana another. Sue, Stacey, Dena, Maureen, Katie, Kim, Kelly, Kem, Liz, Rita, Shayla, Sarah, Amber…. (I’m sure I forgot some) all helped me wear out many pairs of running shoes.

The plan to run a marathon when I turned 50 was hatched a couple of years ago. I’d seen quite a few of my friends take that big step from 13.1 to 26.2. After that 10 miler in Round Rock where Stacey and I got our finisher’s goodies and then went back out for another five, I figured what’s my excuse? Last year I didn’t run the Austin Half Marathon because there was something wrong with my right knee. It got better with some PT but I certainly did not look forward to the run at the end of every triathlon.

Adding to my daily struggle, I began suffering from chronic insomnia. After one Texas Iron Women’s bike workout – hill repeats on Lost Horizon – coach Susan Farago told me she’d given me a nickname. I was chugging up the hill time after time, just like a diesel engine. But she said that seemed “unfeminine” and had come up with another word to pair it with. Thus I became known as “Velvet Diesel”. A few weeks after that at a run workout we were doing speed work when I took off after Deb. Well, that was a mistake. I pulled my left hammy. OUCH!! It hurt for a really long time. Back to see Pieter for quite a while.

At that point, it was only a couple months till my 50^th birthday and I knew I should be able to run 8 miles “comfortably” to start preparing for the marathon. To mentally prepare myself, I signed up for the Distance Challenge. Went off to celebrate my 50^th birthday in Hawaii (I did a few short runs out there, too!) and came back 10 lbs heavier than when I left. Uh oh, this is not going the way I’d envisioned it.. My general doctor was no help in figuring out why I could not lose weight so I decided to find me a new doctor. In the meantime I kept gaining weight and losing sleep (and my sanity). Texas Iron offered an option to support our long training runs on Sunday and I showed up every Sunday morning for 4 weeks. Then I simply could not get more than 2 or 3 hours of sleep on Saturday nights and ended up staying in bed 10 hours to get 5 hours of sleep. This forced me to self-support my long runs. A 6.25 mile loop around my house, run multiple times usually in late afternoon, helped me get the mileage up.

Did pretty well at the 10 miler, Decker Challenge and (Surprise!) even the 20 miler. At the beginning of each race I’d look for Elle “Iron Will” Shelley because we’re in the same age group and each had big challenges to persevere through this Distance Challenge. I noticed my hands were getting really swollen after I’d run about 8 miles and asked Coach Fish if I was taking in too much sodium and she told me it was quite the opposite – I should try thermolytes (Coach Kim gave me the same advice). As it turns out, the insomnia kept me from doing long runs of more than 8 or 9 miles because at 5:15 when I should have been waking up to prepare for a supported group run starting at 6:30, usually I’d already been awake for 3 or 4 hours after maybe 2 or 3 hours sleep. But, like Elle, I did not give up. I’m deeply indebted to my close friends (you know who you are) for listening to my endless complaining about no sleep followed by boosting my confidence by convincing me that yes, I will finish my first marathon at age 50. Each time I’d go out on a run with my DJ Steveboy podrunner mixes on the iPod, I’d envision what it would be like at the finish line on Marathon day – it was very emotional for me just to consider it. I practiced race day nutrition/hydration during my training runs. I found that I could tolerate pretty much all flavors and types of gels. And, despite initially agreeing with Coach Tracy that I didn’t really like blue PowerAde, last week I finally gave in and went on the last supported long run with Texas Iron, my Jack & Adam’s water bottle filled with blue PowerAde. After a 9 mile run without incident, I declared it okay to put “drink powerade from water station” in my race day plan.

Coaches Tracy and Susan both sent last minute marathon running tips which were very much appreciated. Friday I went to get my packet and the line was verrrrry long. On the stage was Dick Beardsley, who is a great motivator. I’d asked him a year ago when he had the movie screening, “Will this movie inspire me to run my first marathon?” and he answered YES! So I put on the blue bracelet and believed in myself. I saw his wife Jill (who is a friend of mine) go and sit in the front row so I moved up to sit next to her. After he was done speaking, she took me right up there to have him personally wish me a great first marathon. When I showed him that I was still wearing the bracelet, he gave me a hug (more emotion/tears). Then I got a big hug from Jill and got in the line (which was significantly shorter by that time!)

I heard, “Hey Annette!” behind me and there was Kasey. We hugged and talked about the last minute nervousness we were both feeling and then got our packets. Since they gave us a choice of what to put on our bibs (up to 10 characters), I had entered “VelvtDiesl”. It made me smile every time I’d think of how clever I’d been and couldn’t wait to show Susan. Never saw Susan at packet pickup or even on race day but I took a picture of the bib propped up on the shoes which were to carry me 26.2 miles. Coach Tracy’s last minute advice was to trim the toenails to which I replied, “What are toenails?”. I had only 7 left at that point.. I wandered around the expo with the express purpose of seeing just how many people I knew were there. Coach Tracy (more hugs), Leilani, Stacy, Dan, Tracy L (TxI women’s group), Fish, Jamie, Kim C, Tina (former TL for north team)… Finally left the expo to go drive the (actual) south end of the course. The only time I ran the south end during a training run was when it still turned on Lightsey – and I needed mental preparation for the big day.

I realized I’d been handed the wrong size tshirt but figured I’d be coming back up 1^st street anyway, so I ducked back into the expo (Coach Tracy was still there….) and exchanged my shirt. Friday night I took a whole ambien and a whole xanax (I hate pills but was so desperate to have something like enough sleep, decided I’d have no choice). I got probably 7 hours sleep.. nice. I did a little 2.5 mile run around the neighborhood, cleaned up and went down the pre-marathon to-do list. I must have removed/reattached my bib number and nutrition/hydration plan a dozen times. It had to look just right when I finished my first marathon..

For dinner I had it easy. Earlier in the week I’d made Jody’s spaghetti sauce and whole wheat spaghetti. Dinner between 5:30 and 6:00, then watched the end of “Something’s got to give”. With hypertension ruling my life for the past 5 years, the most memorable line from that movie is when Diane Keaton is taking Jack Nicholson’s blood pressure and she shouts “120 over 80! WOOHOO” then throws the blood pressure cuff in the air and it sticks on the light fixture. I’d forgotten it was Valentine’s Day because my boyfriend Steve was out in West Texas volunteering at a mountain bike race.. So, despite wanting to be a good girl, I had a small piece of chocolate after dinner. At 8:30 I took half a xanax and half an ambien and went to bed before 9:00. Didn’t have too much trouble getting to sleep, I did wakeup before the alarm went off but got back to sleep. This time, I DID have The Dream. Except in this one, I woke at 6:40 on race day and decided, “I can make it….”

The alarm went off at 4:15 and at 4:15 ½, Coach Cindy was calling me on the cell phone. Only a true friend would be up at 4:15am, much less have the ambition to call you to make sure you don’t miss your first marathon. A few minutes later, Carolyn called to make sure I was up. Oddly (or maybe not), I did not feel stressed out or worried. The day had finally arrived – the day I would earn the title “Marathon Runner”.

I’d scoped out parking options on Friday afternoon and figured most people coming from my direction exiting on 5^th would probably head over to Lavaca. So I turned north on Rio Grande, then east on 8^th. I found a sweet spot just across from the library at 8^th & Guadalupe. I called Carolyn to let her know that I’d arrived and then I saw Jody walking down Guadalupe loaded up with her More Cowbell Corps supplies. I put my seat back and stretched out, closed my eyes and tried to wrap my head around the task at hand. As I donned my cap, I saw Carolyn & Tom on bikes heading down to the tent. So prepared was I that I even remembered to put the sunshade up.

Since it was a little warmer than the earlier forecasts had predicted, I decided to leave the arm warmers in the car and go with the red TZ singlet covered by my SS Texas Iron shirt (the gloves came along too). I dropped my post-race bag at the TZ tent and went to say hi to Jamie and Kim at the Texas Iron tent right next door. Apparently I just missed the team photo but that was okay. Red & Kasey came by and Heather let me be in one of her pix. The photography crew of Carolyn, Tom & Emmie were also at the tent. Also Ann

& Laura Lee. At about 6:45 Coach Tracy told us the race had a 10 minute delay (see, in the dream I would have been right…) Went to get into the porta potty line -which seemed to take quite a while, but I had time to drink 8 oz of water and toss the plastic bottle into the recycling dumpster. As we were walking toward the start, I met up with Liz and Terri. I hadn’t previously met Terri (at least not that I remember…) but I knew from Carolyn’s time calculations they would most likely be running faster than I could manage.

But as in the past when I thought I’d be running alone but at the last minute a running buddy appeared-- Liz and Terri would become my running buddies for most of my first marathon experience. What a treat! I can’t begin to describe how grateful I am for their company. We saw Kenneth at the corner of Congress & BSR (or was it Riverside??), then Jody with her big “Go TriZones!” sign.

I barely noticed we were running uphill as Liz, Terri and I carried on conversation while running a marathon. That horrid alleyway with the rough surface at the 5K mark was a bit of a downer but hopefully they won’t have that in next year’s route. Then there were the ‘motivational’ signs some joker put out there asking “don’t you wish you were riding your bike 26 miles instead of running?” The little group of kids singing just before we turned onto 1^st were sure cute. Out on 1^st street, there was Jody again at the top of a little hill holding the TZ sign with “Elle” underneath it. We saw Dr. Laurie out walking a dog which prompted me to tell Terri and Liz the thing I remembered most about Dr. Laurie. Once after a TriZones run workout where we convened at Performance Wellness, I remembered her using ART on my IT Band and saying, “People’s bodies are just NOT supposed to endure running a marathon”. I’m sure she was right, but I had that goal of running one when I turned 50… There was some kind of BurmaShave sayings on the left side which (I can’t remember the rhyming exactly) basically asked the question why is it when you go to pass the guy in front of you he starts running twice as fast?

We saw Kenneth again and I noticed off to our left Coach Cindy and Kim Hanford were cheering for us. Carolyn & Tom were out there and so was Emmie but I can’t remember where they were in the early miles. Our little group was running along so well together and I really didn’t want to split off from them so I kept up, hitting the splits at every mile marker. For the first 5 or 6 miles, people kept hollering, “your hair looks great!” and we couldn’t figure out why. Later I found out from someone that they saw a woman wearing a shirt that read something like “how’s my hair look?” Eventually I knew I’d need at least one bathroom break and Liz said she and Terri had planned to stop around mile 9 at the LCRA building. The thought of an actual bathroom kept me going and keeping up with them. Out on Cesar Chavez we saw Sarah and then BlondePam on bikes cheering for us. On Lake Austin Blvd we saw Julie McD and Rita. More cowbell!! Liz used her magic work badge and we ducked into the LCRA building with a lovely bathroom, water fountain for washing down a gel and a place to stretch for a few minutes. When we came out, so did Mr. Sunshine.. That was a long split for that mile, but it was sooooo worth it and provided a good break before that ball-busting hairpin right turn that goes straight up on Enfield... There was another timing mat at the 10 mile mark, then it was the moment of truth – the intersection of Enfield and Exposition. I turned to Liz and Terri and said, “this is it. Do or Die!” Liz said, “we’re going to DO it!” Lots of people were camped out in lawn chairs watching us run by, tempting us with their margaritas and mimosas… sigh.. We saw Julie McD again on Exposition and Terri shed one of her layers.

Up. Down. Up. Down. Someone had stapled a sign that simply said “BEER” on a telephone pole. Funny. Of course there was no beer anywhere in sight. FINALLY we made that right turn onto 35^th and prepared to run across Mopac. Did I mention that we were running a marathon? It sure didn’t seem like it as we got to know each other better. Liz started having some pain (IT Band, I think?) and Terri was developing/had a blister. I can’t say that any one thing was bugging me but at the half marathon mark, I stopped to remove my Texas Iron shirt and stretch a little with Terri. Liz went on ahead and we caught up with her a little while later. We saw lots of cyclists especially on Shoal Creek. This part of the course, while enjoyable because people came out and cheered for you from their front yard, was pretty challenging because there wasn’t the musical acts we had in the first miles (maybe something to do with the neighborhood we were in).

As we approached White Rock I mentioned to Terri that I had just run that section the previous Sunday and it was another one of those sections that you have to be mentally prepared cause it’s kind of a long uphill grind. Both of us stopped just before it turned onto Great Northern to stretch a little bit. This section was a little disappointing too because I’d told Terri I really wanted to see Nick or somebody piping under the Far West footbridge. Alas, no pipers….

We’d talked about how tough that Great Northern section was without cool bands or TriZones MCC out there. We talked about looking forward to at least seeing Jenny at mile 19, when suddenly at Foster & Northcross there was Sandra and Nicole! Hooray! Friendly faces! Terri had the goal of fresh socks and shoes supplied by her hubby at the intramural fields to look forward to, and I was just not able to run as fast as her by that time, so I told her I’d see her at the finish line.

Although I’d loaded the iPod with 7 hours of DJ Steveboy, somehow I managed to run nearly 18 miles without even turning it on. I pretty much ‘zoned out’ at that point and ran my own race. Someone at a water stop took the time to comprehend my bib name and said, “nice name on your bib!”. I began stopping at each aid station to douse my face/neck/hands with water to cool off. We turned onto Woodrow and I looked forward to the next TriZones support – Coach Jenny and Little Pam at Crestview Minimax! I had to stop and get hugs from both of them. As I ran off I was thinking how much time I’ve spent with both of them over the past 5 years and how grateful I am for their friendship. At the 20 mile timing mat, I hit my split and noticed – hey, 4:37! Not too bad – considering the 20 miler in Georgetown (where we got to stop running after 20 miles) took me 4:43. Way cool and I was feeling pretty great.

I heard my name and looked to the right – there was Sarah again with bike cheering for me and reminding me “you’ve got 20 miles down – just a 10K left”.. Secretly I wished to finish at 6:00 or very close to it and with 10K to go, that seemed perfectly reasonable. Turning onto North Loop, I finally had that “Coach Tracy moment”. Coach Tracy is a marathon veteran but I’ve heard her say at the post-marathon party every year that she has a moment during each marathon where it hits her, “I’m running a marathon!”. Well, that’s what it was like for me. After 20 miles, it finally hit me – I AM running a marathon. As I approached the water stop at the intramural fields, I noticed Terri just ahead – I had nearly caught back up to her after she changed her socks & shoes. I bet she stole a kiss and hug from her hubby too!

With new resolve and 163bpm on the iPod, I looked forward to the next TZ MCC – mile 22, Cindy, Kim and Dena. I trucked up that hill (which also featured Tom snapping photos!) and grabbed some of Cindy’s boiled salted potatoes. They were good! Then she whips out a mirror and says, “now check your hair and makeup, you gotta look good at the finish line”.. haha. She’s so funny. I didn’t see Dena there, and when we turned onto Ave H, I thought maybe I’d find her at one of the little “marathon viewing gatherings” in front yards. But I never did see Dena or hear the cowbell. So if you were there, I’m sorry, I missed you somehow!

Things are going along fine, I’m running between water stops (and stopping at water stops to keep dousing myself to cool off) and when I was on Duval approaching 38^th, I thought the police officer wasn’t going to stop the traffic and at that point, I just wasn’t gonna stop because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get going again.. Lucky for me, they did stop traffic as I entered the intersection and I thanked them (as I did every police officer and water station crew).

Then, between mile 23 and 24, which is further than I’ve ever run before in my life, a searing pain shot up from the little toe on my right foot. This would be the toe that got severely blistered and lost the toenail after the 20 miler and about two weeks ago I cut away the dead blistered skin, revealing soft baby type skin underneath. It hadn’t bothered me on the 8, 6.5 and 9 mile runs I had done the weekend before, but did I mention I’d never run more than 20 miles before in my life? Well, I limped for a few steps, babying the right foot when my left quad said, “hey, cut it out”. Looking down at my shoe I noticed a dark area in what was normally bright green. I figured something must have caused blood to leak out. I came to the conclusion that I needed to stop and assess the situation, so I found a shady curb and proceeded to lower myself down to it. Of course I picked an intersection that had a barricade across half of it and after I’d pulled off my shoe and sock to let my foot get some air, a woman in a SUV inched ever closer to me. I looked at her deer-in-headlights style. Finally she said something like, “I live down here” and managed to creep by me. Seriously – my brain is not aware of anything except severe pain in my right pinky toe.

Sure enough, it was bleeding and I whipped out that bandaid that I’d offered about 3 times to Terri earlier on. Couldn’t really determine where or how much blood was coming out but I wrapped the bandaid around the toe, replaced the sock and the shoe and got back out there. My left quad was really unhappy with me babying the right foot so I just decided, “Well hell, I’ve sprung a leak, it’s bound to relieve the pressure and I’m not going to be able to run 3 more miles without putting pressure on the right foot”. Kept putting one foot in front of the other, trying to keep up with the beat on the iPod.. finally passed the Double Dave’s and mentally prepared for (as my fellow runners have put it) climbing the first Mt. Olympus (Dean Keeton). I will admit I walked part of that. Turned left onto Guadalupe and I realized, “I’m really gonna do it! My foot is freaking killing me but I’m really gonna finish running this marathon!” Made the left turn onto (another uphill) MLK and at the top were Vickie (yay!! I did get to see her after she’d worked till 8am), Kenneth, Tom, Kim, Cindy and I can’t remember if Emmie and Carolyn were there or not. It’s a blur..

Made the right back onto SanJac (the second Mt. Olympus) and I will admit, I walked a little bit more. I will claim that I was enjoying the band…. That’s my story.. Where was that damn mile 26 marker? Garmin said I’d run 26.2 already!!! So I hit the split anyway. Then I turned (running!!) onto 11^th and see the sign. D’oh. But guess what? I was in the FINISHER’S CHUTE OF THE MARATHON SIDE!!!!! I saw the “100 yds to go” sign and didn’t believe it. Then I saw Jody with TriZones sign with “Annette” under it! Thanks Jody! You’re my hero! How wonderful to see you at the finish line. When Evil announced my name, I tried to run just a wee bit faster and put my hands up in the air! Woo hoo! Yee haw!! I had done it! I had expected to break out in tears when it finally happened but strangely, I did not do that.

A photographer asked if I wanted a photo next to the backdrop with my medal and I said, “no thanks”. Then I walked 5 more feet and another guy asked me again. How many times do you get the chance to be photographed after finishing your first marathon anyway? So this time I said yes and posed (I think?) for him to take my photo.

The finisher’s shirt tent did not have my size so I went to the t-shirt exchange tent where I heard “Annette!” again and it was Joey Trimyer. I told him I was no longer a marathon virgin and he nonchalantly said, “that is surprising to me. I thought you’d done this before”. HELLO!?!? Isn’t this Joey?? Get excited willya?? <G> a couple minutes later, Stacey Conley came over and Joey introduced her to me as “one of the people behind all this madness”. Hee hee. I’m sure he’d had a very very long day. I made my way back to the team tent area and got a hug from Coach Kim then Coach Jamie. Then Kim Hanford said, “stand still” so I did while she proceeded to cover me in some type of aerosol-shooting confetti foam stuff that placed small oddly shaped pointy metallic objects in places I can’t mention in public.. Cindy had an open small green bottle and handed that to Kim who proceeded to dump it in my open mouth but it was some kind of foamy beverage that leaked out. Oh yeah, I think it was champagne.. I’m no lightweight but for some reason I started feeling a bit weird and decided maybe I’d drink that a little later..

Katie gave me an awesome massage – she was so nice and patient and generous with her time. THEN I had the bubbly, a scrumptious chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting and then one of Coach Tracy’s famous cow pattie cookies. I really wanted a banana at the finish line but all they had were bagels and other assorted stuff that didn’t appeal to me. Again it seems I need to be faster… I should have taken that half a banana the little kid offered to me over on Morrow. Elle came in to claim her massage and I was going to give her a hug but as soon as she got off the table this four-wheeled steed was pulled up next to the tent. Next thing I know she’s in the car while people were telling her husband to take good care of her. He replied with, “yeah, I know the drill by now”.. Gosh what a well-trained husband. Elle, you totally rock my friend and I know how tough the whole series was for you. And to have tragedy strike two weeks before marathon day, then to catch a cold?? that is just plain unfair.

Are you asleep yet? Kenneth handed me a homebrew that I decided to save for later and he & Vick gave me a ride back to my car (THANKS!!!!!) And now I have to mention one more thing that I didn’t tell anybody – Feb. 15^th I should have been celebrating not only finishing my first marathon, but also a wedding anniversary. Somehow I think Jon would have been proud of me.

Many thanks are owed to my coaches (Tracy, Jenny, Cindy, Susan, Kim, Jen, Jamie and Fish) and oodles of training buddies over the past 5 years. Truly I could not have done this without each one of you.

Liz, you are a true friend and a real trooper to allow me to run with you during your first Austin Marathon. I hope you are recovering.Terri – what can I say? It was absolutely fabulous to share our first marathon experience. You’re my new best friend.

It's really gonna happen!

2009-02-14T23:44:20Z

I went to pick up my packet yesterday afternoon and the line was waaaay long. Since doughnut_girl's inspirational hubby was on the stage talking, I decided it was way more worth my while to listen to him than stand in that long line. A few min after I sat down, I saw her go sit in the front row so I improved my position, sat down next to her and kinda waved my "hello". When he was finished, she took me over to personally shake his hand and he gave me a big hug! And so did she! I wandered back to get my packet and from behind me I heard "Annette!" and it was Kasey. I got another hug. We talked about being nervous first-timers, etc. and parted after we got our bags. I wandered around with the express purpose of seeing just how many people I know would also be there. I saw Coach Tracy (more hugs!) and went by HCRC to say hi to Fish, Jamie and Coach Kim. Tracy L from the women's group was there with her two kids. Said hi to Stacy and Dan at the Jack and Adam's booth. Visited for a few min with Tina, a former Team Leader with our TZ North group (she is a police officer and was stationed at the exit of the "official merchandise" shopping area). Eventually went by the ARC booth to visit a bit with Leilani.

With all those hugs how can I go wrong? After I left the expo, I decided to drive the south end of the course since it had changed since the training run I did long ago. Of course, there was an accident with an ambulance right at the corner where I had to turn onto Krebs. But I managed and as I was stuck in traffic down there, I noticed they'd given me a large tshirt. Probably the first time I never checked the shirt out before leaving packet pickup. But oh well, I was still in the area, so I figured as I got back up 1st street I'd park at one texas center and go exchange it. So that's what I did. Tracy was STILL wandering around!

This morning I did my 2.5 mile "Easy" run, am all cleaned up (and now off my feet) and prepared. Took a couple pix for the record:

It's packet pickup day!!

2009-02-13T19:00:17Z

woo hoo!!! I did my prescribed 45 min run (as repeats of 1/2 mile run, followed by 2 min of walking/swigging water) on Tuesday and Wednesday was women's group. We only had to run the 6 flights of stairs two times. I was still a little sore yesterday so I'm taking TWO days off till my little 30 min easy jog tomorrow morning. I've got 7 podrunner mixes of D J Steveboy on the ipod and I see there is a new one today that I might add although 165bpm will be a little faster than my feet will likely be turning over. So I'll put it at the end of the playlist. Or not worry about it till later (like, when I go out for a "Short" 6 mile run!).

the gels and thermolytes are laid out, the bandaids and bodyglide in a ziploc bag, the nutrition/hydration plan is printed (now with locations of cowbelling friends!), the shoes are aired out (I stepped in a puddle Wednesday night), the water bottle is washed, the clothes picked out and I'm as ready as I'm likely to be. I hope a few brave souls are around to see me when I finish - I'm not expecting anything sooner than 6 hours because the longest run was the 20 miler on Jan 11. Since then the longest run I've had was only 9 miles (but it followed a day of 6.5, and the day before that was 8).

Hope all my friends have a great race. If the forecast holds, the weather shouldn't be too darn bad.

Countdown to the marathon.....

2009-02-09T23:03:06Z

I can't believe I'm writing this. ME?? running a marathon? Last week I had conflicts early in the week and couldn't get in a run and on Wednesday afternoon I went to see my new GP doctor. We had a very productive visit and I left feeling like at least someone was listening! she's ordered a sleep study for me and some more labs, plus faxed in a prescription for ambien (which I was just informed is ready for me!). I got so excited thinking after my doctor's visit, I'd just pop over to Schlotzsky's, check the work email, change into workout clothes and meet the womens' group at the park. Cool! I got there like 30 min early and nobody was arriving.. what the heck? Finally at 6:25 I called Susan's phone but she didn't answer. Neither did she call me back... Finally at 6:45 I called Steve and asked him to check the women's group workout location. DUH! I was at the SUNDAY LONG RUN location.. Wednesday was supposed to be Balcones Pool.. silly me. And that was sort of in my neighborhood. By the time I did get to my neighborhood, it was like 7:15 so I just blew off that workout. darn it. I was all ready to go, too.

Thursday evening I couldn't run after work because I had to test some firmware before the end of day. That meant it was completely dark before I was done working.. I decided I'd try to run the equivalent of a marathon over the course of the weekend...

Friday I finally got out there. 8 miles after work-and the temp was pretty warm. Saturday, Steve and I had brunch at Hoover's north and later I ran 6.25 miles around the house (again, very warm!). I got to go to dinner as Mindy's guest for their annual "recognition" dinner, which was at 7:30 at Cannoli Joe's in far Southwest Austin. Mindy had to work till after 6:00, so I went to get her just before 7:00, and we headed down Mopac. We got caught in horrid traffic around the Lake Austin Blvd exit. Thinking it would clear up after we passed whatever wreck happened in front of us, we just kept creeping along. she had to call two of her friends who were already at the restaurant to tell them we were stuck in traffic. It took FOREVER to get to the 2244 exit, then Barton Skyway. THEN, we find out ALL THREE LANES of traffic had to exit at the lp 360/Barton Creek mall exit. Great. And I didn't realize you had to squeeze into the right lane to go straight at the light, so I had to turn left.

I was just glad to get out of the mess and figured I'd find the place eventually. We had to take back roads and such but eventually found ourselves on the backside of Toney Burger Center. Thank goodness I've lived here 25 years and knew what's what we were driving next to. It was probably 8:30 when we finally got there, but they were very nice to us, gave us drink coupons (I immediately ordered a glass of merlot) and the food was really good, even for buffet that was probably not "real fresh" when we arrived. I had to get up early the next day so had to rein in the food intake. I had one plate with salads and one with pastas. The desserts looked scrumptious but I had to pass on them. Mindy was so cute - she ordered a glass of white zinfandel for her first drink and a frozen margarita for the second (did I mention I was driving?).Since we were pretty much the "end of the party", the Great Clips owners came and sat with us and we had a really nice conversation. She's got a pretty good deal with them and they seem like they treat their employees more like family. Really enjoyed that outing and Mindy got a certificate for one year of service.

It was 11pm when I got home (yikes! I wanted to take a benadryl to help me get to sleep...) I had the running stuff already planned out (thank goodness!). Was probably close to midnight when I fell asleep, I woke up once and I guess I went back to sleep pretty easily cause the alarm had to wake me at 6:15. It was again pretty warm as I met the group - since this is the last long supported run before the marathon we all started at 8:00. Susan took a few pix and then we all took off. I kept Praveeta in my sights for about 2 miles, then she disappeared and I was all alone as usual. I got new earphones for the ipod - the kind that hook over your ears-and they had worked well for me.

Coach Kim had our first rest stop at Brentwood school (around mile 3), so I had my gu and water, then she was on White Rock around mile 6 so I had a clif shot & water. I knew the cutoff time was 90 min so I told her not to wait up for me, I'd run the last 3 miles "alone". So I did, it took me 2 hours to run that 9 muggy miles! Went home and saddled up "Buzz". Coach Cindy had concocted an informal bike ride starting at 1:00 at Lake Pflugerville. Windy?? you bet! Kim was there, newly ok'd to ride, and Coach Gina came from "south of the river" with her right knee braced up after the skiing incident.. We had quite a little group - two people I hadn't met before (Jeremy and Jennifer), Coaches Cindy and Gina, Kim, Carolyn, Vickie, Kenneth, Emmie and I took off on a modified "Pflugerville Tri bike course" 13 mile loop. WINDY??!! goodness.. it was just survival.. I was riding just behind Gina when the wind finally died down enough to talk to each other. Gina said,"I'm naming this the Bob Seeger Against the Wind ride!".. Gina, Emmie and Kim called it good after one loop and the rest of us went on for a second one. Cindy's friend Cynthia had showed up between the loops and they tacked on another 4 or 5 miles to their second loop. Me - after running 9 miles in the morning and riding 26 miles "against the wind", I was done.

on my way back home I called Steve and told him I was starving so we met for early dinner (I wiped off the top layer of salty sweat) at Casa Chapala. I like that place - unfortunately he'd eaten most of the excellent chips and custom mixed salsa before I got there!! oh well.. I had plenty of food with the mole negro. Steve ordered sopapillas so I was "obligated" to eat one of those also! When I got home and cleaned up and put things away and got the workout clothes in the washer, I had to smile to myself. I had a decent amount of sleep, I'd run and cycled like crazy and had two very nice dinners. What a weekend! now I have to be good till Sunday evening!

blah........

2009-02-02T23:50:06Z

Well, I managed to do NO swimming again in the month of January. I cycled only 84 miles and ran 82. And I missed the long run again yesterday. I am sick of this insomnia. Literally. I've decided in the less-than-2-weeks left before Austin Marathon, I will take the drugs that my previous doctor prescribed, at least on nights when I simply can't spend 10 hours in bed to get 5 of sleep. I just don't see any other way for the short term. The last long run I did (if you can call it long) was 8 miles, the Thursday before 3M. Of course if I'd known I wasn't going to run 3M, I would have made that run even longer..

off to the ACA meeting now..

Thank you City of Austin..

2009-01-26T18:52:47Z

dammit!! I did a short (4 miles!) ride and 1.5 mile run Saturday, then had lunch with Steve and went to Academy to get a pair of knickers like Vickie told me about. Washed them, hung to dry and set about getting everything ready for Sunday morning.

Since the city of Austin had "upgraded" my electric meter earlier in the week I had to reset the clock & alarm. Well, apparently I set the alarm for 4:50PM!!!!!!! I woke up in the night and it was still dark but I have a rule that I don't look at the clock so as to not get freaked out. this was one time I SHOULD have looked (I felt okay and didn't have a headache, so I would have been okay to go then....) boohoo!!! I went back to sleep (which is strange in and of itself) and didn't wake till there was light coming through the windows. UH OH! I knew that meant it was after 7:00 and sure enough, it was 7:15.. If I was one of those people who can just fly out the door after putting my contact lens in and throwing on clothes, I would have done that. But it takes me an hour to get moving.. I toyed with the idea of driving to somewhere on Shoal Creek and joining the crowd but my conscience wouldn't allow me to do that...

I knew all my friends would be looking for me, so about 10:00 I called Coach Cindy and told her what happened so they wouldn't keep looking for me. She said I could still wear my shirt, so I am!! I also joined all the TZ gang at TacoDeli afterward. As if earned it.. they all said next time they'll set up a phone tree to make sure I wake up (which means I'll have to remember to take the phone upstairs to bed with me..) In the afternoon, Steve and I went to see Gran Torino. We enjoyed it a lot.

quick update

2009-01-23T17:45:11Z

ran 5 miles after work Wed and last night did 8 - but boy it felt like 20!!! it was still so warm when I started out (about 5:00, I think). I went home to soak in cold water and took an advil but for some reason I hurt all over.. weird.

Got one meeting from 2-3 on the afternoon calendar, then it's over to 3M for packet pickup. Tonight is the Markek Pre-3M Carb Fest. I have no idea what to bring, so maybe a bottle of that Ulupalakua Red...

I am so freaked out about how little sleep I'm getting - I may resort to drugs tonight because I know I won't sleep worth a crap Saturday night.
Today's ride to the office brightened my day a little - there was a guy on a mountain bike riding alongside me on Parmer and I noticed how he manuevered through the cones and debris to cross at Mopac. He was obviously dressed for work, plus the bike helmet. He had on a white shirt and tie, covered by a maroon apron! I never saw anybody ride a bike wearing an apron before! anyway, he's got my admiration for being brave enough to commute by bicycle in that part of town..

anetmarie @ 2009-01-21T12:58:00

2009-01-21T19:01:52Z

I did do my first hosted ride Saturday - two ladies training for their first MS150 showed up and we had a pretty good 30 mile ride. I ran 1.5 miles on the trail in the park afterward.

Sunday I should have done the long supported run with TxI, but I again suffered from the dreaded insomnia! dammit! and I never felt good the rest of the day to try and do my own long run. Basically I did a little core work, some housecleaning and that's about it. So the past two days I've felt incredible guilt for not running 20+ miles on Sunday. I was going to try and get in 12 yesterday afternoon, then some today, but got stuck in a staff meeting and it would have been dark before I even strapped on the Garmin. (I've had to forget about trying to work out before work due to the insomnia thing - I can barely get to work by 10 as it is..) I'm hoping like heck that the ht5p and whatever that amino acid (therine?? or something) start working between now and Saturday!

I've got the shoes and gear with me today so today I WILL get out there and run! Not sure how far I'll be able to go but hopefully 8 or so.. then if a miracle occurs and I get going in the morning maybe I can add a couple of loops around the house. Gotta be ready for 3M!!!

It's official! I just got email from the race director: Marble Falls Triathlon is July 19!!!!

January

25 - 3M Half Marathon Austin, TX

February

7 – possibly do another hosted ride @ Wilco

15 - MY Austin Marathon Austin, TX

28 – volunteer for Daisy 5k

March

1 - Moe's Better Half Marathon San Marcos, TX (heard this was fun!) –register b4 2/20

7 - Pedal thru the Pines Bastrop, TX (50 miles probably) – Register before 2/24

14 - Spokes 'N Spurs Liberty Hill, TX – Register before 2/20

21 – maybe do a hosted ride again - TBD

28 - Salado Smokin' Spokes Ride Salado, TX (love the 70 mile option) – Register b4 3/20

29 - CAPITOL 10K Austin, TX – register on paper by 2/21 and use ARC discount code

April

4 - Zooma Women's Half Marathon Bastrop, TX

(4 & 5 - Lonestar Tri Fest Galveston Island, TX – no plan to participate though)

10-12 - Easter Hill Country Bike Tour Kerrville, TX (no firm plans, just an option)

25 - Red Poppy Ride Georgetown, TX – probably volunteer

26 - Texas State Sprint Triathlon 2009 @ Aquarena San Marcos, TX

May

9 - Armadillo Hill Country Classic – Liberty Hill, TX (probably volunteer)

10 - The Rookie Triathlon New Braunfels, TX (volunteer)

17 - Trek Women's Triathlon Series – Austin, TX (no details)

25 - CapTexTri Austin, TX (I will probably support VFS in some capacity)

June

1 – Register for RiverCities Triathlon

?? - Danskin Austin Austin, TX (no details)

July

12 - Couples Triathlon Austin, TX (Mark’s partner)

19 - Marble Falls Triathlon Marble Falls, TX (estimated date)

August

2 -Jack's Generic Triathlon New Braunfels, TX (volunteer)

2 - RiverCities Triathlon Benton, LA (maybe!)

September

7 - The Austin Triathlon Austin, TX (participating, maybe?)

October

11 - Austin Run America Run Half Marathon Austin, TX (no details, sounds interesting)

17 - Outlaw Trail 100 Round Rock, TX

18 - Longhorn Triathlon Austin, TX (dare I set the next Big Goal?)

There might be another Tour de Florence which might be worth checking into

November

4-10 - Ironman Florida PCB, FL (part of the “Iron Squad”)

26 - Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot Austin, TX

December

6??- Cowbell/clothing drop/photo support for Emmie’s 12 min/mile Decker Challenge race

12?? – MADD Jingle Bell 5K

I went to training for this.

2009-01-17T01:14:19Z

so tomorrow I get to have my very first Austin Cycling Association hosted ride. It'll probably not be ideal weather. The idea behind hosted rides is that many people (me included) express the dismay that you have to load your bike in the car, drive some distance/time and then ride your bike for a while. My policy has been "if I gotta drive farther than I intend to ride my bike to a ride, seems worthless". So I did something about it. I went to training to become an Austin Cycling Association hosted ride leader.

I created a 30 mile bike ride starting at WilCo regional park, that is on the ACA website as a hosted ride. It'll be cold tomorrow. Wear lots of layers.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/-cedar-park/829867267445

Took a while..

2009-01-16T04:03:39Z

Finally got around to writing the

Title: Psst. Hey – would you like a banana?

So my marathon training has gone just about as bad as it possibly could. I guess the one “good” thing is that I’m not severely injured.

When I decided a year ago to train for the Austin Marathon 2009, I figured I’d have a year to ramp up and that once I started training in earnest and upping the mileage, the pounds would drop off my 25-lbs-overweight frame. Not a chance. Not only did I not lose, I have actually gained another 20 lbs. Add to that the severe insomnia that comes with being a 50 yr old woman and you have one unhappy marathon virgin. But, since I had no support from my family doctor, I realized I truly was on my own and as long as I could put one foot in front of the other (and it didn’t cause excruciating pain), by gosh, that’s what I’d do. I signed up for the 2008-2009 Distance Challenge. IBM 10K – check. EAS Run for the Water 10 miler – check. Decker Challenge Half Marathon – check.

Then the holidays came and although I didn’t go anywhere, my insomnia was so severe (and still is) that to get a total of 5 or 6 hours sleep, I have to spend 10-12 hours in bed. The cycle goes something like this: go to bed about 11pm, wake at 3 or 4, stay awake for oh… 2, 3, 4 hours.. and hope to get back to sleep for another hour. If I was really lucky maybe the second time I woke, it’d be a shorter time awake and I might get one more precious hour. Reading, watching TV, surfing the Internet.. none of that worked to get me back to sleep. I didn’t get up and try to do anything productive cause of the headache… After Decker, I did a 13.3 mile run on the 14^th, then no running till Christmas Day. My M daughters were supposed to be coming over about 3:00, so I only did a 3 mile run that day (as it turned out, they came over MUCH later and I could have run 10). Ran 6.25 on the 28^th and 12 on the 31^st. I wondered why I was pretty sore on the 31^st then realized I hadn’t run more than 10 miles for more than 2 weeks.

Still suffering from insomnia and obsessing over the looming 20 miler, on Jan 4 I laid out gear and planned to do 3 of the 6ish mile neighborhood loops around my house, thinking if things go too wrong, I can head home. I took enough stuff for 2 laps when I headed out. I kept up a pretty good pace for 12 miles, then headed home for potty and restocking of gu & drink. By then it was getting dark and rather chilly, so I decided I could cut that 3^rd loop short if need be. I managed to run 17.3 miles, the farthest I’d ever run, and gave myself permission to officially quit fretting about completing 20 miles. I did a 5 mile run on Tues the 6^th, a bike trainer workout on the 7^th and rested on the 8^th and 9^th. Did a short easy 2 mile run on the 10^th before the Big Day and went to pick up my packet. I had an elaborate plan worked out according to the race course map water stops. Went to bed at 9:15, read for a few min and was asleep probably by 10. I couldn’t tell how long I’d been asleep when I woke up but did NOT look at the clock. And my head didn’t hurt (hooray!). I actually did get back to sleep pretty soon after. How do I know?? Well, if you’ve read my reports before you know….

I can tell if I went back to sleep by The Dream. BUT!! At least this time it wasn’t the Usual Pre-Race Dream (where I oversleep and miss the race. HA! The word “oversleep” hasn’t been in my vocabulary for at least a year). The setting of this dream was yet another party at our friend Stacy S’s house. Only it wasn’t where she currently lives. It was an even swankier place with about 4 levels, overlooking a golf course. It was so big I kept wandering from floor to floor and room to room looking for people, who had gathered in groups of 6-8 in various places, all munching and drinking (of course!). So it was kind of strange but since it was a “Friendly” dream with reference to our friend Stacy, I decided it was Stacy and all my friends sending me good vibes for race day. Hey – when you’re suffering from insomnia, you take whatever positive thoughts you can muster..

At 5:15, I thought I heard a strange noise – I did, it was the alarm. You never know what kind of music KUT will be playing on “World Café” on race day. Sometimes it’s not very loud… I drank about a pint of Gatorade immediately, then about the same amount of water. No headache and no particular body part hurting a lot. I did a few core exercises (nothing too hard) to get the blood flowing and did a little jogging in place before having my one cup of coffee and getting all the gear into the car. Finally it was time to put on all the stuff – the four barbell sports bra, (bodyglide between toes) socks, long bike tights, TxI ss black tee, timing chip and Brooks Defyance shoes. Grabbed my red LS TZ shirt and headed out. The moon was still full, although behind clouds. Had a little conversation in my head about how well prepared I was, how I knew the area, how well the race would be organized, how only a few people around here would even attempt such a thing, and how calm I was. By the time I reached G-town, the clouds had parted and we were watching moon-set. Pretty neat.

I knew I wouldn’t be early-early but hadn’t expected such a big crowd. There were no parking volunteers (Hannah!! We needed you!), and I should have just peeled off when a couple other cars did near the apartments because that’s where I ended up parking anyway. I knew the venue, but not in the dark! I took a tablet that I buy from my sister called Rhodiola (supposed to help with performance) and some water. Still unpanicked (there were lots of people behind me), I grabbed everything – buff, hat, garmin, ipod, hydration belt, gloves.. and headed over to the school. YES! They had opened it and I know all of us are glad! Saw Kasey & Red and after the luxury of a real bathroom we headed out for the starting line. Elle appeared next to me and I gave her a big hug because I knew this would be quite an adventure for both of us! Amber and Jeananne from TxI were there so I got more hugging. Like Red, I noticed the pace sign so Elle and I thought we were in right place at 4:30.. My Garmin was having trouble getting a fix, but managed to do so about 3 feet before the starting mat! I started out at what I thought was slow, but as usual, in a crowd at the beginning of an event, it was actually too fast.

By the time we got to the school’s pen of leaping goats (one guy said they looked ‘happy to see us’), I’d lost the pace group. For the first couple of miles, I entertained myself by listening to the conversations around me. “I went to see Gran Torino the other day” “oh yeah, how was that?” “I enjoyed it”. Then there’s always the two women running by each other who have relationship problems… We crossed 971 with the assistance of the sheriff’s dept and up against the fence on the right was a large crew of welcoming longhorns so I flashed them the hook ‘em. Mile 1: 11:52.. uh oh, too fast.. This part of the journey I knew well, having driven out to Berry Springs for lots of Cyclopath rides. We got to the “T” intersection and I mentioned to the guy running to my left – “there’s my blue hippo!”. I’m sure he thought I’d already had some vodka or whatever, but there really is a blue hippo right there at north side of the intersection. Off to the left we went and as we passed the first water stop I guzzled some Gatorade from my hydration belt. I got the ipod going with a podrunner 160 bpm mix. Which was kind of slow… uh oh.. We reached Berry Springs fairly quickly and as I ran over the bridge I looked down to realize –there ain’t much springs in there right now. As I got to the end of the bridge, a man climbed up from below the bridge – I’m assuming he was polluting the creek and I noticed he was wearing a red shirt with “Austin Fit” on the back. Hm….

The first water stop was between mile 3 and 4, which is a weird time because in training I’d had my gels and thermolytes every 4 miles. So that first stop cost me about 5 min or so—even in the back of the pack where I was, there was a line for the one porta-potty. I first did the roctane gu, then 2 thermolytes with water, FINALLY got my turn in the PP and headed out. I was looking for all the little animules that had been babies during my bike rides last year but I guess they were all sleeping Sunday morning! We did see some horses and cows. Wasn’t sure if I’d see Cindy and Emmie between mile 5 and 6, so I tried to look pretty… they weren’t there though. I did notice they had Gatorade at the water stops, so that was good, in case I ran out of my own. So just in case, I had some of their Gatorade between mile 5 and 6. About this time, my podrunner changed from 160 bpm to 161. Not much difference..

At mile 8 there was another stop, and this was a “major” stop for me. Time for vanilla gu, 2 thermolytes and water. By this time I was heating up so decided the buff and LS shirt would have to go. It was hard logistically though, cause I had to remove the ipod, pull off the shirt and buff, get the earphone cord tucked back up under the ponytail, stash the shirt and buff on the back of my hydration belt and resume running. Only I guess I have a deformed left ear. I fiddled with the damn earbud for probably half a mile when I decided it just wasn’t worth it and only used the right one. We had just turned INTO the wind so I put the gloves back on. At 153, I saw a barricade where I thought we were supposed to turn, then remembered 153 makes a loop and we turned at the SECOND intersection, where I started hearing a cowbell. Yay! Cindy and Emmie where there. Cindy and I had talked about what I might possibly need there, but it turns out the water stops had taken care of us, so I’m sorry if I made you feel un-needed! The encouragement was good and even the Tough Cookies running next to me said how they appreciated the cowbell. Finally got into some good tunes on the ipod – 163 bpm.

We had a couple of rolling hills on 153 and I wondered as we ascended one of them if I’d see a (live) armadillo in the leaves next to the road like I did on my last bike ride out there! Thank goodness the answer was no.. As we went up what I think is the biggest hill we had to climb, I looked to my right knowing there was a lot of “livestock” at that residence. Sitting on the back deck of a mobile home was an ENORMOUS turkey! Gobble gobble! So I said good morning to Tom Turkey. I’m used to seeing Wild Turkeys (not the 80 proof kind) out there but this was the I-better-hide-the-week-before-Thanksgiving-type.

Somewhere between mile 10 and 11 I ran up beside one guy who was walking up the hill, said “I’ll catch up to you later” and I slowed down to take a few sips of Gatorade. He explained he was walking so he could take a picture of the property we were passing to email to a friend of his who was thinking about looking at this property. Only the friend was too lazy to drive out there and he said, “well, I’ll be out there running Sunday, I’ll snap a photo for you!” now THAT’s a friend.. anyway, he passed me soon after “I need to catch up to my group” and I figured I’d never see him again. On and on we went and pretty soon I was wondering if there was supposed to be a water stop at mile 12. My Garmin had been ticking away for what seemed a loooong time between mile 11 and 12 but when it said 12.3, I clicked “lap” thinking maybe they’d just lost the sign. Well, about 3 min later, there was the sign. Great. Instead of 20 miles I mentally prepared to run (according to Garmin) 20.5 or so. .5 might not seem a big deal to you, but after 20 miles, believe me, it is. I did finally see a big fat armadillo, only this one was dead. Freshly dead, I think. He wasn’t even flattened.. and I had to look closely into his face to see whether he was still moving..

Soon after was another water stop – another “major” one for me. Another roctane gu, 2 thermolytes and a potty stop. At least this time there was no line. Pretty soon I was on my way, nearly to the half-marathon mark. The road surfaces changed as often as Imelda Marcos changes shoes, but NOW we had rough gravel to run on. Just after mile 13, I heard this guy off to my left behind a pickup ask me, “hey, would you like a banana? Or an orange?”. Hm… I’m not accustomed to strange guys hiding behind pickups in rural Wilco asking me if I’d like a banana… But actually it sounded good, I figured it can’t hurt (and might help, my legs were starting to get a little sore) AND it’d be good practice to see how I could handle solid food on a very very long run. I thanked him and continued on the “trail”. About that time the Run-Far truck passed by hollering, “lookin good” – that really helped too. Keeping pace on gravel road after having already run half a marathon was tough. Most of the time I ran alone, sometimes I’d come up on one or two (or three) people who were all taking it “Easy”, and sometimes walking. My 163bpm mix ran out but I liked it so much I hit the repeat button…

I knew at mile 14 I’d see Cindy and Emmie again. Finally the gravel ended. So down the hill I came to the sound of cowbell. Cindy said, “you look better now than you did at mile 9!” and I hollered, “Better tunes!”.. I explained that the race committee was still taking excellent care of us and I didn’t need anything – see you at the finish! As we turned back onto 140 there was the headwind again. I thought to myself, “I bet I’ll read about the race later and people will complain about the headwind”. Actually I enjoyed the breeze cause I was pretty darn hot after running 15 miles. I came up to a water stop and looked to my left and there was Banana Man again, asking if I needed anything, water, fruit, etc.. and I again thanked him for being so nice. He said, “I’m out here to support all the runners”. I should have asked his name, but anyway, thanks Banana Man, whoever you are!

The welcome sight of the water tower was not that far away and I knew what that meant – the turn back onto 152 was near. I really wanted to do one more vanilla gu and thermolytes at mile 16 but there was no rest stop there, so I made my own. Walked along for a little bit doing that and a woman with a red shirt proclaiming “She’s 30” passed me. Oh heck no.. She’s 30, but *I’M* 50!!!! We played leapfrog for several more miles. I hit rewind on the ipod again…. After mile 16 I ran and ran and ran… Garmin said 17.66 miles when I wondered, will we ever see the 17 mile marker??? Turned out the answer is no. It wasn’t there Mentally I made a note – hey, this is further than I’ve ever run before!!. I walked for a little bit and sipped more Gatorade. Ms. 30 passed me again… We did eventually see the mile 18 marker-hooray!!!!

One thing I did NOT see was kolaches. But I guess if some of our team members can see clowns at mile 25 of a marathon, others are allowed seeing kolaches at mile 18 of a 20 miler ;-) My left quad said it was really mad at me and I promised it a massage at the end, and the littlest toe on my right foot hurt-A LOT. Only 2 more miles…. We made the sharp left on 152 to head back toward the finish. A woman to my left said, “that’s the first photographer I’ve seen today!” and I replied, “thank goodness!”. That’s just cruel. Place the one and only photographer at the top of a hill at mile 18.5 of a 20 mile race. Come on!! We turned to the right at the blue hippo and ‘headed for the barn’. The longhorns were still there so I hook’d em again. FINALLY we were back on the school property and someone thought it was a good idea to have a “victory lap” around the front of the school again to get to the finish. As I came into the finish “chute” Cindy, Emmie, Amber and Elle’s hubby were there cheering for me. Yeehaw! I had just run more than 20 miles!!!!!!!!!!!! I went to grab another banana, some G2, water and my DC patch. Cindy caught up to me (I think to check on me) and we walked past the massage tent asking if they were complimentary. Hearing “YES”, we went to wait for Elle. She ran to the finish line all smiles and when I went back to get a massage, they had packed up. Elle was certainly not the last finisher. I think it was cruel they packed up before those of us who needed it most got a massage.

Amber said goodbye, Elle and her husband took off and Cindy and Emmie and I went to Cindy’s car so they could get me back to my car (wherever that was). They hung out with me while I attempted to mix my endurox from one water bottle with the water that was in the other water bottle, but it wasn’t working out so good. So between the 3 of us, I finally got my endurox washed down. Did a little stretching and then we thought it’d be nice to have lunch. Emmie mentioned they had a new Cotton Patch Café (the place we eat in Corsicana on our Road Trips to RiverCities) in Wolf Ranch Center, so we went over there to eat! It was so much fun! I bet that waiter will bring out a cookie sheet of rolls if he ever sees Cindy again! Carolyn called Emmie’s phone to congratulate me while we were having lunch – it was good hearing from her.

Managed to drive myself home, up the stairs to a bathtub full of cold water to soak, then a lovely shower. I tried to keep moving –albeit slowly. I had to put a bandaid on right pinky toe cause not only was the nail turning dark, I had a nasty blister. Other than that, and a sore left quad, I survived pretty well. To celebrate I’d bought a bottle of Moet & Chandon (for which I got plenty of kidding). I ordered pizza and had my champagne to celebrate.

Maybe not everyone’s idea of celebrating that type of accomplishment, but it works for me! Now I’m in the club! The “I can run 20 miles” club! Only 730 of us completed the mission! Thanks to our “run support crew” Cindy and Emmie. Congrats to Red, Kasey, Ann, Elle and the others I know but didn’t see along the way!

not much to report

2009-01-08T22:40:36Z

Finally got a chance to view the video of the 20 miler on Sunday. The Good: I know those roads like the back of my hand. The Bad: the reason is because I've been RIDING MY BIKE out there.. (not running). Oh well, it's better than not knowing, I guess.
Tuesday I did a 5 mile run in 60 min after work (woo hoo). I actualy slept pretty well Mon and Tues nights. Last night, notsomuch, even after I took my H5tP and some other supplement, I woke up at 4:00. After about 30 min it was apparent I wasn't going back to sleep, so she told me to take two more of the (can't remember name) capsules. Well, it didn't help. I think I finally got a short nap sometime between 6:30-8:00. Ugh.

Wednesday although I had a severe headache (lack of sleep, perhaps??), I did manage to get over to Catherine's for our "Small group" bike trainer workout. I'm glad I went. Again didn't sleep so well, Cindy is at the house much of the time, and is sick. I'm obsessing about wiping off doorknobs with alcohol, etc. Last thing I need is to catch a cold just before Sunday.. Me and emergen-C have been right close buddies lately.. Had initial 1x1 with new boss today. I think as long as I do my job and don't screw up, she'll be okay with me - and she came out and said that. I know she's the type that doesn't bullshit, so I got that going for me ;-) today's supposed to be swim/water run. I haven't swum a stroke since Hawaii. I refuse to put on a swimsuit till I'm below 180.

It's 2009

2009-01-05T20:24:53Z

December totals were pretty abysmal, bike 36 miles, run 55.35 miles.
2008 totals: Bike 86 hours (1416 miles), Run 74 hours (355.5 miles), swim 22 hours (39470 yd). There were a few hours of elliptical and core training also due to not being able to run for the first few months.
I guess the "good" is that I can say I did an average of at least 30 min per day of SOMETHING.
the "bad" is that I spent most of the year feeling like crap, gaining weight and battling insomnia. It is so bad that I've missed 3 Sundays in a row of the supported long runs. Finally got in to see Dr. Romy but the lab she called my prescriptions into says they don't have them. I sure hope I'm not in for another situation like with Dr. Wiseman's clinic.. at least I'll be getting back on Armour Thyroid, and am hoping that will help me drop a few pounds before I tackle my very first Marathon...

Managed to more or less start off the new year well:
1/1 - trainer workout at Catherine's - 10 miles
1/2 - run, 3 miles
1/4 - run, 17.3 miles (A new record -- my previous Longest Run was 15 miles and that was two years ago)
so I think I'll be able to "survive" the 20 miler on Sunday. It won't be pretty, fun or painless but at least I can quit losing sleep over THAT. The 3M Half Marathon will seem like a piece of cake after THAT distance..

I've got a new "team" affiliation - although I am not officially training "with" them, I did help support them last year during their first year of triathlon, and might show up at some events this year wearing their jersey: Veterans for Sarcoma.

whole lotta nothin

2008-12-27T20:34:21Z

I SHOULD be working on my self-assessment for Dell but technically we're on vacation. I hate creating LIWF anyway. My right knee decided to start acting up again. Dammit. I missed the Dec17 women's group workout (my digestive tract had been actingup all day), then I missed the long Sunday run because I think I caught whatever my coworker had (he missed Mon-Wed as sick days, then came in Thursday - nice, huh?). In the meantime I re-discovered exercise DVDs. I had ordered a couple from Amazon, and figured even though I felt kind of crappy, I could manage a 35-40 min workout. Strange how I didn't record those - it's weird that I feel like that type of workout "doesn't count", although they were certainly good and challenging workouts. So I thought I'd be in pretty good shape for my 3 mile run in the afternoon of Dec. 25. It wasn't too terrible, I guess but my mind plays games with me "you'll have to run that, PLUS 10 or 11 more next Sunday". And my weight keeps climbing. I finally (I hope!) get to see Romy on Tuesday. And after years of hearing my primary care doctor tell me "I've tested your thyroid, it's fine", I got my own test results from healthcheckusa and my TSH is 4.848. The results came with a little slip of paper saying my thyroid results were abnormal. Seriously, I've spent most of 2008 feeling like crap, and for no good reason. The PCP kept telling me it's either menopause or I'm eating too much. The past few weeks have been so difficult - I'd say bordering on depression. So hard to keep going when it seems like there isn't any improvement. If Dr. Romy can at least get me on thyroid medication, that will be a step in the right direction.

Went over to Carolyn & Tom's on christmas eve -- 6 of us donned blinky lights and rode our bikes about 5 miles around their neighborhood to look at lights. Other than that, I did a 9 mile "trainer" ride this afternoon while watching "the Great Escape". Hope tomorrow's long run is not a disaster. I've registered for the 20 miler and 3M Half Marathon, so I have to do it!!!

eeyore type of day

2008-12-17T22:19:59Z

sure is wonderfully gloomy! I was wondering why I couldn't get anyone from Intel to call me or even email me when I mentioned, "well, maybe they don't have any power".. and sure enuff a quick search of Oregon news said they're having a heck of a winter storm right now and lots of places are without power..

But on a happier note, Happy Birthday tripam !! (I hope it's happy anyway!)

We had a lovely yoga class at HCRC Thursday. This was good in that I needed it. This was bad in that muscles I forgot I had are STILL hurting..

Sunday morning's long run was really difficult. We ran most of the northern half of the Austin Marathon course. I didn't have much trouble remembering where to turn off Shoal Creek cause I knew Tracy was running White Rock! I guess the first 'negative' was it was too hot and way too humid, even though I started at 6:55am. I had also made the drive to Marble Falls Saturday afternoon (1 hr 15 min driving) to see my brother in law and 10 year old niece in "Fantasy Nutcracker" (2 1/2 hours of sitting) following by driving back home (1 hr 15 min). That's about 5 hours of sitting on my ass. Didn't get home till 10:30. Note to self: don't try that again when you have to get up at 5:15 the next day for the 3 hour run. Jamie had me leave before everyone else which was fine, I was going to suggest that anyway, and it didn't take long for Praveeta to catch up to me out on 35th and pass me just before crossing Mopac. Running up Jackson, several others passed me by, Diana and someone I recognize by sight but CANNOT remember her name! hopefully she'll be at the party Friday and I can embarrass myself by asking her again. A few blocks later, I heard Susan's distinctive voice telling a story about some race she'd done when a guy got sick after eating a fried Hostess pie. She said, "I didn't know they made those anymore!" Leary and trichelle and the rest of that pack whizzed by me. Pretty soon Amber went by and she fell into step with another lady up ahead. Finally, out on Hancock Tracy passed me on the left. I said, "oh, you are here after all!" and she replied that she showed up at the last minute, turning the corner on two wheels to the starting point.. Fish and Jamie had our "rest stop" over on White Rock so I stopped to get water to wash down my hammer gel.

There were lots of other folks out running also (probably another training group) but they were all running the opposite way.. weird. I really needed a bathroom stop so had already planned to check out whether the bathrooms at the ballfield behind Gullett were open. No need. There was a strategically placed porta potty just behind home plate. It's lonely at the back of the pack.. sigh.. I had spent probably 2 hours Sat afternoon loading up some podrunner mixes, charged the ipod and had it sitting by the Garmin. I remembered to take it Sunday but when Jamie told me to take off I realized.. duh.. an ipod is not much good without headphones.. so I stuffed it back into the trunk before I started the run. Long about the time I crossed Burnet Rd., I was really wishing I'd gotten more sleep, the run was getting painful. Fish and Jamie met me on Morrow before the turn onto Woodrow and said they'd gotten kicked out of the gas station parking lot. they wanted to make sure I knew where to turn so they said there's a sign that says "happy birthday jesus". I took a gu and washed it down with water and refilled my gatorade bottle. Steve lives over in that 'hood and if they'd just said to turn by Crestview Minimax, that would have made it obvious to me where to turn. I had to consult the map at Romeria but that didn't take too long. Final "rest stop" where I had my 3rd gu and water was on Guadalupe (intramural fields). Going south on Guadalupe there was a bit of a headwind, and I was really really really ready to be done. I walked a little. and I walked some more crossing over mopac. That sidewalk isn't very wide and it freaks me out a little to run on it above Mopac (that plus I knew it was windy - even though it'd take LOTS of wind to knock me over). Finally, I came down that last hill on Exposition and heard someone (Leary?) say, "Go Annette!". Man, that was a painful 13+ mile run.. Fish asked what else I was doing later and advised me to "take it easy". I stayed behind a loooooooong time to stretch. Headed way down south to take some clothing to Cindy, then back up mopac to Steve's to shower and head over to see the Lady Horns play Tennessee. although the score was 31all at halftime, the Lady Horns managed to win it.

I haven't done any more working out since Sunday! that seems to be the theme anymore - after a long run my body seems to require at least 2 days off.. we have TxI women's group tonight, meeting at HCRC for that. I really want to go home and take a nap instead..

running-uh 13.1 miles

2008-12-09T06:07:29Z

Decker 2008 - the perfect weather DC...
I took my Dell VUTO (Voluntary Unpaid Time Off) the week after Thanksgiving, thinking it'd be good to get a few things done around the house and "chill" (read: not miss workouts) before Decker.

Didn't get a whole lot accomplished around the house, but I did get the heating/cooling vents cleaned out and of course I had mold. Seven hundred bucks and two hours later, I had a clean/sanitized blower, clean air ducts and a steam-cleaned downstairs living room carpet (I'd moved all the furniture into the kitchen cause "free" carpet cleaning was advertised in the coupon I used). Also had the garage door inspected/lubed and the pest control done that day.Hoo Wee!!

Wed AM saw me on my bike trainer (since the living room was all cleared out!) for what would be the last bike workout before Decker. I went to the (windy/chilly) TxI women's group track workout at Clark Field. I wasn't expecting to have to dodge quite so many exuberant UT students who had just finished finals, but managed to find a parking spot behind the talking oil well. Since it was pretty chilly, Susan told us to do about 10 min warmup (I did 3 slow laps around the track). The workout was to practice pacing on the 200's. Since I was in Hawaii when they did this at Murchison in September, at least I had no pressure to perform! So the workout was: 200 at 5K race pace, 200 recovery, 400 at 5KRP, 200 recovery, 800 at 5KRP, 200 recovery, 400 RP, 200 recovery, 200 RP, 200 recovery. Devon, Tracy and I were doing Decker so we only had to do one circuit. Lindsay did some kind of modified plyometrics/running - not sure if she's injured or what.. Julie and Catherine had to do 3 circuits. Julie tried to beg off because as a doctor, she had to work Sunday and therefore didn't have the option of doing Decker. Nice try, Julie :) We all did a few cooldown (as if we needed to "Cool down") laps and Susan gave a talk about caffeine and training while we stretched. Catherine had suggested maybe we should have the caffeine talk at a local coffee shop! Also a nice idea, but all of us were ready to get outta there!

Thursday morning I drove to Carolyn's house, then she drove us + Amber over to Centerville to the funeral of our dear friend Emmie's sister who passed away unexpectedly the weekend after Thanksgiving. Emmie was very pleasantly surprised to see us, and her friend Josolyn and husband (also from Austin) were there as well. Emmie helped with the "tribute" part of the service and we are so proud for how well she handled that. At the gravesite, I wore my swim parka, which had last been worn at a Calvert/Abbott 6-man football game. When I reached into the pocket I wondered, "what the heck is this weird thing in my pocket?".. I pulled it out - it was a little purple plastic football with the imprint "First Star Bank supports Calvert Trojans" and I showed it to Emmie. She smiled because she knew Calvert was just up the road! Carolyn, bless her heart, drove us back to her house in the setting (BLAZING) sun. This is where you know who your true friends are -- you spend 8 hours in a car/enclosed space driving to/from a funeral service and you all hug each other when you're back home. Steve had mentioned wanting to have dinner with me, so I called him from my house mentioning my $10 Buca di Beppo gift card (where Coach Jenny had her 50th birthday party) and told him to meet me there. He'd never been there before-we had a pretty nice dinner but after having made reservations, it wasn't right to seat us in the bar next to 5 drunken women. We should have had a decent table. Of course I got lost trying to show Steve where the Pope Room was..

I went and got my packet Friday, went by ATC and got some of the 2XU calf guards recommended by Tom, then by HCRC for Thermolytes, pausing for advice from Coach Kim about how to use them. Had lunch at Potbelly in ArborWalk, got a few items at Home Depot, and put the furniture back in the downstairs living room. Saturday morning I had to be at Texas Bicycle Coalition for Austin Cycling Association Hosted Ride Leader Training, which started at 9:00. We finished a little after noon, a few went out for a ride then, but I headed over to Thundercloud at Parmer/Mopac to use one of my Turkey Trot coupons. It was surprisingly busy and I worried that I might be eating my day-before-race lunch a little late.. but oh well.

Got home and realized.. uh.... I haven't run a half marathon in like.. almost TWO YEARS! I need a nutrition/hydration plan. So, using the map on the Decker site and past "homework" (Coach Tracy always made us turn in a nutrition/hydration plan!), I was able to put together what I'd consume & where. I printed that out, along with directions what to do (didn't want to forget my pre-race thermolytes, etc) and put my mile-by-mile plan in a ziploc bag, attached with safety pins under my race bib number so all I had to do was lift up the number and see what to do at each mile marker.

Finally satisfied with all my pre-race planning, at 5:30 I hopped into the shower so I could get over to Carolyn & Tom's for our "get-together". Thus starteth the 2008 Holiday Party Season.. I brought my leftovers of Jody's Special Pasta since as bad as I wanted to try the THREE flavors of chili and cornbread - "NOTHING NEW ON RACE WEEKEND". I heated my little plastic tub and ate about 6:30 while some of the others were still arriving. Such a treat to see our friend Stacy -- we haven't ridden/rode/swam/eaten/partied with for sooooo long! At dinner, I had some of Carolyn's yummy cornbread and Vickie's yummy salad with the rest of the "gang". It was Cindy's birthday so she lit ONE candle but wouldn't let us sing.. I had a SMALL piece of the cake that Tom made and it was also yummy!! I had to tear myself away about 9:15 (I had intended to leave NLT 9:00, but how can your tear yourself away from all those good friends???) I hastily made my exit, and made one minor modification to my race day plan. Jody had given all of us a few "Meredith approved" cookies and boy did that look like an incentive to complete a half marathon.. so, in the cooler they went!

Original apparel plan was: short sleeve tech shirt (black TxI), compression shorts, 2xU calf guards (Tom said go for it, so I did), coolmax socks, red TriZones cap, Mountain Hardwear gloves. Over that: Red LS TZ shirt, TZ buff (As ear warmer), and before the race: loose nike warmup pants (and Texas Iron bike jacket) Looking at Red's weather post ("Low of 51", etc..and I read no further), I thought, well I won't need LS anything, and even my short sleeve Texas Iron shirt might be too hot... so I guess I put the red LS TZ shirt in the closet and forgot about it. I figured I'd wear some sort of sleeveless running singlet and the TxI jacket over it till the race started. I got to bed between 10 and 10:30, reading some mindless stuff till I felt ready to turn off the light. It's best if I read till I'm a little sleepy -- rather than be rigid about when the lights go off, then lay there fretting.

I slept a few hours -- I never really want to know what time it is when I wake up during the night-- it just messes with my head calculating whether I might get 2 or 3 more hours sleep if I can get back to sleep within 30 min..I drank about half of the gatorade I'd put on the nightstand. For once I didn't have that usual dream - where you are dreaming you're watching yourself sleep and then you oversleep and you miss the race. Nope. This time I dreamed that Steve and I were in Hawaii with a friend of his that he knows from Ultimate frisbee (and the guy's wife), at some kind of convention in a hotel or convention center, next to a dust-covered IBM PS/2 (sorry !!! have no idea why that popped into my dream!!) with a b&w monochrome monitor running some kind of program that calculated how many possums (or maybe armadillos??) their frisbee playing friend "Coach" had killed. I was having trouble getting the program to plot exactly where the possums/armadillos were killed because this crude database had some kind of glitch - which was where Steve's friend came in - he was the programmer.. WEIRD??? TMI?? Yes! (really, this was like dBaseII, which I realize dates me... okay, I'll stop now) actually, I'm glad when I have these weirdo dreams cause at least I know I slept..

at 5:20 I woke to KUT telling me Odetta had died and I listened to some of the previously-recorded interview with her from a few years ago while I got ready. And I WAS ready. Ready to take on the Decker Challenge once again!! During the past week all my friends said, "I won't tell you good luck. You don't need luck. You're Well Trained". Yee Haw!! Heated up a cup of leftover coffee, watched the weather... WATCHED THE WEATHER - HOLY COW!! It was like 30 degrees!! Red - what the heck????So I wondered if I needed to modify the apparel plan, it got closer to 6:15 (when I was thinking about leaving the house) it was still freaking cold! Everything was in the car, I was about to toast the english muffin and decided.. I need that red Long Sleeve TZ shirt.. went upstairs to look - couldn't find it. Came back downstairs... couldn't find it... looked in the car trunk.. couldn't find it.. NOW it's 6:30 (yikes!! I meant to be GONE by then).. one more trip upstairs.. I'd wedged it on the rack that doesn't normally hold athletic clothing........... but I found it!

Finally got out of the house about 6:35, munching the muffin. One thing I do love about heading to races at Decker -- when I'm heading east on Parmer.. the sunrise is not to be believed. Just gorgeous. Not much wait at the light @ loyola, didn't feel impatient out on Decker Lane cause MY race didn't start till 8:00. Safely parked, gathered stuff, headed over to HCRC/TxI tent to drop off my cooler (in the cooler is my endurox and ice/gel pak in case "something" hurts after the race.. and uh.. Jody's cookies!) and chat with Jamie for a few min. Then headed into the expo center in search of buddies. Within a minute or two I was visiting with Red and Kasey and Heather and Ingrid and Emily. Pretty soon Emily and I decided the outdoor port-a-potty would be prudent so we got in line for that. I dropped my TxI jacket and warmup pants in Jamie's truck, got into the chute and saw Genny P. and then Elle. I reminded Elle, "Patch and Medal. That's why we're here". They played holiday music over the loudspeakers. One song was the "Carol of the Bells". After the National Anthem and a while later we finally got to start our Garmins/watches. About 3 min after that I joked to Elle that Red was probably already at mile 1 <G> Elle has been battling achilles stuff but toughed out the 10 miler and was out there yesterday again to conquer Decker! she had 'tunes' and I figured she'd have her own runnin' beat so I took off (slightly) ahead of her.

Out on Decker Lane we passed mile 1, then at mile 2 I noticed.. EMMIE!! YAHOO!!! I smiled for the camera (I hope??) I'd heated up quite a bit and decided I'd shed some clothes there as well as take my Hammer Gel with water. Well, who handed me my water? Emmie's friend Josolyn!! How great!! I pulled off TriZones buff, TriZones LS shirt and Mountain Hardwear gloves and stashed them in my hydration pack bungee-cord-thingy. I'm sure Emmie or Josolyn or even Tom (more on that later) would have taken this stuff, but I like to self-support. At mile 3 I was scheduled to just swig the gatorade I'd mixed in my 32 oz J&A waterbottle. At mile 4, we had the right turn onto Lindell (howdy Tom!!!!), and its water stop where I did one thermolyte with water, and used the porta-potty. After I got going again, there was Tom riding by with cowbell, about a half mile later.

next road landmark: some kind of animal entrails.. I averted my eyes.. "merry merry merry merry christmas.. hark how the bells... gaily they ring.." feet kept turning over to this cadence.. Mile 5 note: drink 5 oz gatorade.Pretty soon I saw Carolyn and Genny's husband at the bottom of Little Mr. Tard. Carolyn was quite energetic with the cowbell and I ran over to her and said, "I need a high five to get up little mr. tard" so she obliged. I ran up Little Mr. Tard. My ego was fine when I looked to the left and noticed the mountain bike rider had to get off and walk and I reached the summit before the bike rider.

Soon was the next water stop where I took Gu and water. then there was the relay bus/10k timing mat. You can't help but remember this is where you BIKE on Danskin, Longhorn and Couples courses. But in some sick way, I'd already done this on foot (several times before) and realized, hey! I'm running a bike course!! And last time I ran this, when Stacy and I got to this location we were chatting away and before we knew it the miles were ticking by!! Mile 7 (which was near a discarded/dirty furnace filter.. and also a red fleece headband.. maybe the headband owner thought s/he'd come back later and look for the furnace filter) I drank 5 oz. gatorade.

And then... Carolyn with cowbell/camera at bluebluff/130 just before mile 8. As we ran up that Long Slow Grind on the access road toward 973, Carolyn drove by cowbelling!!! The relay bus drove by and I repressed the urge to display the middle finger of one of my hands..YOU GUYS ARE ALREADY DONE!! GET A COLD BEER READY FOR ME WILLYA???? At next water stop I had 2 thermolytes and water. Mile 9 or thereabouts, 5 oz gatorade. Let me just say, the water stops were not placed exactly but really.. if you're running 13.1 miles, you do realize you gotta bring a little of your own support..

then there was.. Quadzilla..of course, before that, you get what I like to call "Practice Tard" (you know.. getting you ready for the real BIG MR TARD) I think the only time I've ever felt intimidated is Danskin 2004, when my oldest daughter was behind me on Big Mr. Tard, "Mom, you're working too hard" and I insisted I needed a hard bike workout and mashed the pedals... well, I walked up part of that hill during Danksin 2004 but am proud to say that in training rides, triathlons and prior Decker Challenges, I've never walked since. Several T3 and J&A riders saw me running along this stretch and hollered, "Go Texas Iron". Mile 10 was not-quite-at-the-top of Quadzilla and Tom was there taking pix and shouting encouragement. I had my final gu and water and proceeded to just Hang In There.

Still the Carol of the Bells playing in my head. I fell into step with a man to my left who was wearing some kind of cottony lots-of-pockets-knee-shorts. About mile 11 he heaved a sigh and started walking. I kept on running. Drank more gatorade at mile 11. Never saw the guy again.

Back on Decker Lake Rd. Mile 12!! YEE HAW!!

Right turn onto DeckerLane and back to expo. Red and Kasey heading out for more mileage. Red asked how many changes of clothes I had.. well, its all about layering..

Can't be far now.. running.. running.. oh, Hi Heather!!!! I told her this was my 4th DC as she whizzed by me..Soon saw Carolyn and Emmie again at the final stretch.

We finished within a few seconds of each other. Normally I have no "kick" at the end but(in my mind and what I willed my body to do)I really pushed the last 50-100yds. Finishline!!!!!!!! less than 3 hours! 2:45:28. Carolyn, Emmie and Tom didn't realize that Elle was running, so we went back to cheer for her at the final turn. Carolyn and Tom left to continue their busy day and Emmie went with me over to the TxI tent to help them take it down. I know they appreciated the help. I grabbed some lunch at Wendy's and FINALLy rewarded myself with one of Jody's delicious cookies.

Then there's the showering/Trizones party at Tracy's - which includes my annual petting of the guinea pig..Thanks Elizabeth for letting me do that!! I had no energy to cook or shop but I'd decided weeks in advance that I MUST buy for Tracy the "official" SNL Cowbell since that's what "Started it all".. somehow Jody got it first but figured out it was for Coach Tracy from The Team (wink wink) and turned it over. I hope Brian doesn't hate me..I really had to buy that for Tracy!! at the party I visited with Julie and Lynn and Gina and Heather and Susan and Nicole and Pam and Pam and carolyn and tom and Tracy and.. etc.I missed talking with Lee. Gina shared all the "Thriller Austin" secrets and the details to buy the Jingle Bells Shotgun shells holiday lights!!.

I survived my "first" Decker Challenge Half Marathon (although I'm a veteran of the 20k course) and had a blast. Thanks to Heather also for mentioning me in HER race report! And big Congrats!!! TO xomox on the 50 mile SunMart trail run!!!!I can't hold a pace like that on flat asphalt!

'bout time I wrote in here..

2008-11-30T23:19:46Z

I had the best of intentions. I really planned to follow the prescribed workout schedule. But with my colleague out and me taking VUTO next week, I didn't do the Tuesday workout and my Wed workout did not follow the 'plan'. I did, however, go on a 24 mile bike ride Wednesday after work. I couldn't convince anybody to join me, but off I went to Berry Springs Park on my own. As luck would have it, a nice gentleman in a yellow jersey noticed I was about to embark on a ride, so he accompanied me. Ralph occasionally also rides with the Cyclopaths, lives in Georgetown, and knows those roads like the back of his hand. We got going about 4:00, but had to haul buns to ride before sundown. I hadn't really figured in the cloud cover being a concern of early sunset. As we were heading back, we were treated with the most gorgeous sunset, the two of us riding along looking over plowed fields. I thanked him for getting us back safely (my route would have taken us on 971, which has no shoulder, and it was getting pretty dark by then!), and hoped his wife wouldn't be angry if he was late!

Thursday was the always-fun Turkey Trot (new route this year), but it was a little warmer than I would have liked! (and let's not talk about the parking situation) I met up with some of the TriZones crew beforehand, met Kenneth's parents and Red's "new dog", Kona. Kona was making all kinds of new doggie friends! Pretty soon triman appeared and we exchanged Happy Thanksgiving hugs. Kenneth and Cindy were rarin' to go and Kim said she'd like to run with me (!). It was her first "race" since the bike crash. About the only friend missing was Emmie. She'd emailed that she was going to stay home to do family stuff. Kim and I started off very slowly (well, that IS my race pace!), we saw Michelle cheering from the sidelines and we settled into a fairly comfortable pace. My sunglasses kept fogging up! We stopped and walked thru all the water stops, which I Was glad for because I needed the water to splash on my face/neck. I hadn't run since the previous Sunday, and it showed. So we ran/walked pretty darn slow. Over near Windsor, we came up on triman again and Kim hastily explained her injury as we ran down the hill. After we finished I went in search of a banana, but only got half! Caught up with IP Maggie, triman again (where Kim went into more explanation about the bike crash), hung out with Coach Tracy and the TriZoners for a champagne toast, then Kim & I went up to the top of the parking garage where I had a mimosa and we visited with our Texas Iron crew.

Walking back to my car at 16th & San Antonio, I passed dozens of tailgaters cooking up meat and setting up generators to run blenders for their marnagritas.. made me extremely hungry!! Got to Steve's, showered and we headed over to his parents house for dinner and a viewing of Steve's Hawaii slide show. It was very touching, he put something very special at the end.. awwwwwww! Right after dinner I started yawning a lot. I hoped that didn't mean.... migraine a'comin'... we sat on their sofa for a very long time (lots of foooootball, of course), and that started to take its toll on my back. I got up occasionally to phone some family member and wish them Happy Thanksgiving. Except I only have 3 daughters, one mom and one grandma <G> It was so good to talk to Grandma, I haven't called her in forever. I'm a Bad First Grandchild... Once again, a FABULOUS sunset, which is always lovely viewed from the top of Cat Mountain. We stayed pretty darn late (I didn't get back to my house till after 9pm), and I was hurting pretty bad.

Friday I woke up very very sore and decided to bail on the Longhorn Half Iron course bike ride. I think the only person who did show up is Red, and she said the ride was actually okay,she got back just before it started to rain. Me, I stayed in all day. In the afternoon, Steve and I again journeyed to the Dead Fish Grill for dinner on the way to 6man in Moody. Unfortunately, Calvert lost this time.

Yesterday, Carolyn sent us the news that Emmie's sister had unexpectedly passed away that morning. What a shock. This morning I got up at 6, expecting an "easy 9, maybe 10 mile run" at 7:30 from the stretching rock. We went out LAB, right at Enfield, left on Exposition where Jamie was set up at Casis, I took a chocolate accelerade gel and water, shucked my gloves and 2005 Decker shirt and continued on. Turned right at 35th, ran past Camp Mabry and the Austin State School and kept going (the actual marathon route would have turned left onto Jackson, but our route continued up 35th/38th, took a right at Duval and Jamie had a second rest stop somewhere near 32nd street, then off I went to finish the route. Down SanJac (nicely deserted!!!), RT 11th, LT Congress, back on the trail west to the stretching rock and my finish line for 11.3 miles. Downed a banana, stretched, went to Westlake Great Clips to have Mindy give me a shampoo and cut, ate lunch at Hangtown Grill (Rowdy Burger and Reeds Salad - yum!), got a few groceries at HEB, then back over to HCRC for some gus (they were out of the knee high Sugoi sox that Andrea was wearing this morning) and over to Jack and Adams for some gatorade endurance and a couple more gel options. Finally back home for cold water soak and wash up all the stinky running clothes from the week.

Training totals for month - really skewed! I don't think I've ever run more than biked in a month! (and no swimming.. I'm so damn fat right now I'm embarrassed to put on a suit)

Bike: 44 miles
Run: 82.84 miles

living and running in Austin

2008-11-24T04:39:10Z

well, I never would have believed it a year ago with my knee problems and such but I am actually on the path to train for the marathon in February. I won't be fast, but I hope to finish.

It was very cool yesterday to be part of the Austin scene and doing the 7 mile LBLT loop before noon! Today, the weather seemed a bit weird when the alarm went off at 5:45 (I of course woke at 5:05 and never got back to sleep but I think I got 6 or more hours total, which is just great for me). Temp was pretty warm, but... it was raining a bit. So I opted for the sleeveless Danskin 2007 singlet, black compression shorts and the 2006 Run-Tex 10 miler LS tech shirt over that. We met a little earlier today, 7:30 (I think I might have been a minute or two late, due to fog/rain/slow traffic on mopac). After Coach Kim gave the route and approximate "rest stop" locations, I decided I'd just leave my LS shirt with her, to keep it dry. the sleeveless tank was just fine for running. Today's route took us from BS via the trail to the 1st st bridge, up to 4th, down Nueces, then 2nd to San Antonio, north side of Trail out LAB to Enfield (that hairpin right turn after Mozart's). Only one TxI guy, Howie even ran a little bit with me, but he pulled ahead before SFA high school. I hit the tennis club bathroom, then found Kim to have that double expresso clif shot I got from Susan Wed night, and water. She said she'd be "along Lamar" about mile 7, which was fine and about where I'd "gu'd" during last week's run. Off I went up Veteran's, left on LAB, sharp right running uphill on Enfield and then came up on Coach Kim just after mile 6 (I drank gatorade from my waist pack every mile and was actually walking/drinking when I noticed her). I started running since I figured she had only a little bit of time before getting back to the speedy people. I refilled my gatorade bottle, took a gel shot (I think it was actually strawberry kiwi) and about 12 oz water. That gel is so thick, I have to have lots of water to keep from gagging once I start running again.

She advised me to take the Lamar "Shortcut" since it was obvious I wouldn't make the 11.8 mile cutoff in 2:15 (yesterday's 7 mile run caught up with me about mile 6 today!). Off I went up and down the Enfield rollers till the descent to Lamar, then the weird jig/jog over to the Pfluger Ped bridge, then back down to the trail to Barton Springs. Total running: 10.15 miles, just under 2:15 (this counts the rest stops/potty break). Asked Coach Kim for a bit of advice about the next two weekends: she said since I really wanted to run 12 today but they only had time to support 2:15 run, she suggested doing a 30 min "EASY" run later and that would trick my body into thinking it ran 2:45 in a 24 hr period. Makes sense to me!! Stretched a little bit, grabbed other shorts, changed and went down to soak in BS. While there, as with last week, some other folks came to soak also. Same routine, one guy talked this other guy into running 12 miles today and the "newbie" had the usual "shocked" look as he descended the ramp into the water! but he quickly got used to it and we had a nice conversation about the upcoming Decker run. I got out, made use of the (newly discovered) dressing showering area and took off to eat lunch. I've heard rumor about the dressing/showering area but never ventured back there till today. I'm so glad I did!

I'm going to skip the part about going to the Blood & tissue Center.. went home and tried to relax a bit. About 5:00 I did indeed get up and go for the other 2.85 mile run for a total of 13 miles today. Cool! Finally showered, Mindy came over with her broke phone that I have to send back and we ordered pizza. Now finishing up laundry, getting trash ready and gearing up to go find the on-site HW support guy first thing tomorrow morning since my corporate laptop had died Wednesday afternoon. Next race: Decker Challenge Half Marathon.

uh, I'm purty far behind

2008-11-23T03:00:06Z

lesse, Last Sat ran 4.5 miles then did the first of Tx Iron supported long runs on Sunday. Started out pretty frosty and I had issues with my Garmin so naturally I'm last out of the parking lot at BS heading east on the LBLT. I tried to maintain the distance between me and Praveeta, did pretty well for a mile, but when I looked at Garmin and it said 11:25, I knew I couldn't keep up that pace. We ran past some kind of "gathering"(not sure what it was, didn't see it on news or anything) just before the 1st st bridge - some woman singing that jewel song "what if god was one of us" with a bunch of people behind some yellow police tape.. I pretty much followed Praveeta's red shirt down Congress (we were supposed to run the portion of Austin Marathon starting with Riverside/Congress). I had put on my new black TxI tech tee, my 2006 Decker Challenge shirt and my light blue jacket, plus headband and gloves and was starting to heat up. Fish and Jamie said they'd be out "on Congress". I thought they said near the spaceman but they weren't there, so I kept on running south. Finally saw them off to the right when Garmin read about mile 3. I shed the headband, jacket and gloves, took a gu and water that they provided. I was making pretty good time, about/under 12 min miles. Off I went - next up, right turn Lightsey. Seemed to take forever! I crossed Oltorf, and wondered.. have I gone too far? glanced at map.. nope. So I turned right at Lightsey (about mile 4) and .. uh.. it's uphill. I thought no biggie, on race day this will not be mile 4, it'll be more like 2.5 or something. RT onto 1st, I knew next rest stop would be somewhere "near the hotel". Well, I figured they meant the place we park at for Subaru UAR (I can't remember the name of that place! some kind of suites or something). Ran past triman 's street! When I got to the Roadhouse Relics mural, there was someone taking a family's picture (common sight, I'm sure). Rest stop was in the parking lot of that mobile taco stand place-Garmin read 6 miles. I took another gu, some water and shed the Decker shirt. Jamie said, "if you get cold, run on the side that's in the sun".. haha. I ran back across the lake, made the weird turns to follow the course and got back on the trail (Fish didn't want us running along CC) and met up with them again under Mopac for the final "rest stop" at mile 9.25. I ran back to BS on the trail. Total: 10.75, farther than I've run so far this year (or last year, for that matter)

I collected all my sweaty stuff from Fish, ate the provided banana (thanks!!) and went to change into shorts for soaking. I knew Tracy was out there running also, and her car was still there when I finished, so I figured she'd be along soon to soak also. I got in the water up to my waist, wearing my Keens to protect my feet. Some guy came along and told me he thought it wasn't right for me to wear my shoes in there. I tried to assure him they were water shoes. I guess he thought I wore my running shoes into Barton Springs. I guess I look like a moron. Whatever. I waited. I waited. Made new friends, etc. Finally went to change into dry clothes and just sat on the ledge. Eventually Tracy and pammyaggie came to stretch & soak so I visited with them, and went along with them to have brunch at Russell's Bakery - where tripam also joined us! I only knew where that was because two years ago when shaayla and I were scoping out the SUAR course, we drove past there and I think she told me about it! It was a fun morning for sure.

I needed Monday and Tuesday to recover from all that, and I did not do my Wed morning short run before the workout. the Wed workout was a circuit at BS/Zilker. It was hard. We did a 10 min warmup run, then the workout was: sprint as fast as you can to end of parking lot, run easy back, sprint out again, easy back. Then the LEGS: hover above the picnic bench with both legs, then each one. 10 Jumpups. then the ABS: bicycles and 4step lowering/raising legs (I have no idea what that's called). Then the CORE: one legged plank raises, only with some kind of jellydisc under your hands! Then throw a medicine ball while twisting. Repeat 5 more times. OMG, it was HARD!!! I was sweating a lot. Janie (new person to TxI women) ended up being my partner for the medicine ball throw. I thought my upper body strength was nothing- That poor girl was really struggling. I got a jammed finger or two (like in high school when the basketball caught my hand wrong). The workout hurt, but in a good way. I was really pleased, actually. I would never have concoted such a routine. That's why we pay 'em!!

I needed Thursday and Friday to recover from THAT, then Friday afternoon Steve and I traveled to Moody for a High School Six Man football playoff game. We took some backroads and I have to tell you, if you're ever near Belton Lake or Lake Belton or whatever it's called, you MUST stop at Dead Fish Grill. It's just before you go over the Belton Lake Dam (and the bigger sign is for some other place which I forgot the name of...but it's next door). If you miss it, there's a turnaround on top of the dam. Right on the water, view of the lake, HAPPY HOUR from 3-7 (half price appetizers, drink specials). So, let me tell you about the appetizers. We ordered the steamed mussels. Last time we ordered steamed mussels (I can't even remember where that was, because they were disappointing) they were prepared funny, there werent' very many (thank goodness) and they cost a LOT. Well, if you go to Dead Fish Grill, the steamed mussels are prepared the right way, white wine & garlic and there must have been AT LEAST two dozen in our bowl. You could easily share this appetizer with 4 or more people. Happy hour price? $3.98!!!!! I had a long island iced tea for $5, then a mai tai (couldn't resist that memory of Hawaii) for $5, then we ordered. Each of us got a cup of Lobster & seafood bisque. YUM!!!! Steve got the daily special which was duck breast in Asian sauce, I got the fish tacos. There wasn't one morsel of food left on either plate. Then we got dessert: Chocolate mousse pie (uh.. just one, for us to share). I was hurting when we left! But the whole bill was like $60, AND they had live music that set up just before we left. Some kind of percussion band with two xylophones, some drums, very pleasant. GO THERE!!! We will return for sure (oh, service?? impeccable - our waitress had "attitude", in a good way, she really interacted with us and was rewarded by myself with a very nice tip).

oh yes, then we went to the football stadium. It was a little chilly but not windy (thank goodness). We sat on the Calvert side and they won by the 45 point rule -- whenever a team leads by more than 45 points, they call the game. I think the final score was 56-8.

Some of my friends were meeting/going to LBLT trail this morning for various training groups/running. But since I have to get up at 5:45am tomorrow, I didn't want to be a slave to the alarm clock today, so mentioned that I'd go down to the trail "sometime". Poor Kim got there at 8:30 sharp (thanks to the darkness this morning, I didn't get up till 8:00) hoping to run with me. Boo hoo. So we played some phone tag and I never did meet up with her. I started my run about 9:30, needing to do a 60 min run with 30 min tempo in the middle. I cranked up the iPod with the 163 bpm DJ Steveboy ProForma. At about mile 2.5 I finally drank some gatorade, I checked the phone, Kim had called but didn't leave a message. By then it was too late to do the "short" loop. The trail ended and I popped out to TxDOT parking lot and on to Riverside and the rest of the 7 mile loop. It was good. I made the 7 miles, slowed down at the end (Cause the Long Run is tomorrow!!).

Went to use my run for the water $20 coupon at RunTex Riverside but they didn't have the Brooks shoes I needed, however the Gateway store did. Went on a shopping trip - first to Spec's in Arbor Walk for.. well, holiday spirits AND the California Dreamin' sandwich. Please, if you get a sandwich here, bring a friend. they're way too big for one person. But very yummy. (oh, you never heard of a liquor store who sold sandwiches? plan to spend an hour at your local Spec's - they have some amazing stuff). Then I went to get a new phone. I was finally eligible for an upgrade after my LG got stolen day before Subaru in June. So I got me the LG big brother. THEN I went to get my shoes at RunTex Gateway. And Groceries at HEB. Gotta get to sleep soon cause that alarm goes off tomorrow at 5:45.........

pretty decent day

2008-11-13T05:13:43Z

I managed to FINALLY get to a TxI women's workout! I was pretty well prepared with my cap light, and blue blinky light for the hind end. I neglected to bring a towel but managed to get by pretty well (it was dark, after all, and not as hot as some of those brutal summer run workouts). We were to do a 15 min warmup on the trail thru Pease Park, which was okay but most of the ladies pulled ahead of me and I've never run on that trail in daylight, much less at night. My light was doing a pretty good job but running alone scared me just a little after hearing about attacks on the LadyBird Lake Trail. I haven't dumped the garmin yet but I bet my HR was up there..

After the warmup, Catherine, Julie, Tracy, Devon, Lindsey and I met at the bottom of Rainbow Hill. I'm thinking uh oh.. but I also had faith that I completed the Run for the Water without walking up any hills. At any rate, Susan mixed it up a little. First we did an easy run to a landmark probably 100 feet away, then were supposed to sprint back (4-6 of these, I did 5). then Run backwards up Rainbow to the white mailbox/halfwall. Run back down to truck. Do 10 jump-ups. Do 20 modified planks. Run at a moderate pace down to next intersection, easy on way back. Do 10 reverse chopper (with ball) on each side, then dip ball down, then throw out in front and catch 10 times. Repeat the sequence starting with running back wards 2 more times. Then we did an easy run back to the end of the park.

I told the story how I'd gotten "busted" by Jamie and Andrea while wearing TriZones Sunday! The nice thing is, Susan gave us all a new black coolmax Texas Iron tshirt! Pretty good workout, about 4 miles total running plus all the strength/plyometrics.

Since I was heading north on Mopac and needed a grocery store, I figured I'd head over to the HEB at Far West, but since it was also TriZones workout night, I went and said hello to them and good luck to the San Antonio racers. Ended up eating with some of them at Kneaded Pleasures, which now closes at 9pm instead of 10pm. All of us except Tracy arrived at like 8:55. They wouldn't serve Tracy when she came in, so Tom and Coach Jenny shared their food with Tracy. After the grocery shopping, I didn't get home till 10pm. Hoping I sleep well tonight..

running with Carolyn

2008-11-12T04:27:15Z

today there was a product launch party at Forest Creek Country Club at 3pm. I went to that, then after everyone I worked with left, I changed into running clothes (with thunder rolling outside) and called Carolyn, who was working from home (which is fairly close to where I was). I asked her about a 3-4 mile loop she might know of in the area. So she mentioned if I came to their house, I could run down some (familiar to me) roads, return to their house, and get in 3 miles. Well, parked in front of their house and we took off together for a lovely 3 mile run. Thanks, Carolyn!!

then I stopped at Randalls for a couple items and noticed the sign for "no-wait" flu shots. I'd missed the PS3 flu shot, and hadn't figured out what to do about getting a flu shot. So I wandered back to the pharmacy to find out the cost was $28, they weren't busy and would I fill out this form? After I found the reading glasses (they're always close to the pharmacy, thank goodness), I sat down and got a fairly unpainful stick in my left arm. I've never had a flu shot before. They gave me a coupon for 10% discount on my groceries too. cool.

now, coming home to kid Cindy - that's a different story. Not fit for LJ.

Perfect Weekend!!!

2008-11-09T23:45:41Z

When I went to pick up my packet, as I was leaving I saw this woman waving to me and realized it was Wendy, a friend and co-worker. She and her hubby were just buying running shoes to train for a half marathon. I decided that even though I had previously run parts of the course on TZ training runs, thought it best to drive the route. First thing I did was blow past Enfield (I guess it comes sooner, when you’re driving rather than running). Had to make a Uturn at a school, then came back. I had to turn right and went ugh. Uphill. I noticed mile markers painted on the road and barricades sitting at the ready so I figured, great, I shouldn’t get lost. Wrong. The map didn’t have the actual street names, and even google/mapmyrun didn’t have the detail. But after a few wrong turns I eventually got to Scenic, then I tried to scope out where we were supposed to park. But I couldn’t figure out where “the masses” were supposed to park. However, I did notice some empty slots on West/5th, which was only 3 blocks from the race.

Drove up to see Kenneth at Performance Bike, where I intended to buy new sunglasses, until I told him the reason was to replace a pair I’d bought there before that were defective. He said don’t bother, bring them back and we’ll replace them. Cool!I was supposed to do a short run day before the race but I couldn’t work it into my schedule. So I took a shower and I was starting to be hungry and not sure what would be served at the Texas Tri Series Finisher’s Party, so I remembered I’d made some of Jody’s Recipe pasta (with ground bison) and had some of that. Cindy came to get me just before 6:30. Carolyn & Tom were already enjoying some of the festivities. My new friends Kirk & Dawn were also there, as well as all the people I’d volunteered with time after time (we’re all old friends now!). I felt privileged to get my own personal invite, but imagine my delight with the Finisher’s swag! A nice, fitted, black tech tee, custom black and white quarter length socks, a REALLY nice metal Finisher’s award, and a ticket for a door prize. I grabbed a beer and Cindy got some wine and the guy WOULD NOT take a tip from us. Nice! Pretty soon triman and mstoonces , then Devon and her husband came by and said hello. Got in the food line with Dawn & Kirk – he’s a nice guy but he needs to let his wife speak once in a while! (Maybe it was the beer talking).

I think I might join his Veterans for Sarcoma team – would love to help out with the cause. We sat down behind Cindy,Tom & Carolyn and watched the slide show of events as photographed by Kreutz Photography. During the meal Dan was calling out numbers from the tickets. I won a really nice pink TYR cycling jersey. Pretty soon so did Devon (sitting 2 people away). Devon came and asked what size mine was, and I noticed it was medium. Hers was large – we swapped! Cindy got one too. Kirk & Dawn won prizes also, some kind of CO2 delivery gizmo I think. About that time I went out to see if I could pick up Kim's stuff for her. Who is standing at the table but KIM! She became a grandma yesterday! We continued to eat, then Dan did another round of door prizes. Sometime between 8:15-8:30 he announced the age group time winners and presented medals, then recognized various people – me included for volunteering at 4 or more events (I actually volunteered for 5). For that, we received a nice sandstone (I guess that’s what it is) paperweight/coaster saying “Texas Tri Series All Star Volunteer”, a TYR waterbottle and a NICE black beach towel that will live in my trunk for stretching after those long runs. One gentleman had volunteered for ALL events and he will be going to Ironman Hawaii next year to volunteer at the big time. Dan also recognized the various training groups who had large numbers of volunteers during the events, naming TriZones as particularly helpful with packet stuffing and pickups.

I had one more beer, a very small piece of cake and at the appropriate time, we raised our champagne glasses to toast the Series. Very nice. Dan’s a class act. Finally it was time to draw for the Grand Prizes. Carolyn won a nice Blackwell wheel case, and Kirk won free entry to all the Texas Tri Series events for next year. Dan announced that the CapTex Tri will NOT be part of the series next year. CapTex opted to not participate. This is fine by me because I do not have good things to say about how that race is run (especially from the volunteer perspective). I would have had to do some soul-searching to decide whether I’d do/volunteer at the event. ‘nuff said. Cindy got me home before 10:00, I checked email one more time, fixed my Gatorade and water bottles, made a cup of chamomile tea (a “new thing” but I thought it might help me sleep) and went to bed.

Goals for the race:
Maintain a good steady pace
Finish without too much pain/chafing/blisters/sunburn
Finish somewhere near 2 hours so I could cheer on friends who were doing the 5K

5:00 Race Day – Alarm!!! I drank my quart of Gatorade, one cup of coffee, finalized all the stuff, bodyglided (is that a verb?), then turned on the TV. WHAT?? 48 degrees??? I better get my long pants. And hope that a sweatshirt and gloves are in the trunk. They were (thanks for all the gloves Tracy!!). Bringing my English muffin with cashew butter (!), I got going a few min late and got a little worried that I might not find the “masses” parking lot, so I just parked on West – sure enough there were still a few spots open. I put the hair into ponytail, donned the sweatshirt, grabbed my cooler, locked up and walked to the team tent. For my “Warmup” I jogged across the parking lot to the porta potties with the long, long lines. We all made it though, I ditched my cooler, pants and sweatshirt at the TriZones tent and lined up with the other TriZoners. Elle and I are/were about the same pace but she said her Achilles was acting up and would be running slowly. The sheet of “mantras” that Coach Susan had handed out a few weeks ago came back into my consciousness. I decided my mantra would be “I am a STRONG runner”.

The song playing as we crossing the starting mat was Donna Summer “Hot Stuff”. HA! As Coach Susan would say, it was cold enough to freeze your whoo-has off! But I knew it’d soon warm up.. Elle and I ran together for, oh, two blocks and she said don’t wait on me, I need to go realllllllly slow. So I took off at my own pace, singing in my head, “hot hot hot stuuuuuf”.. down Cesar Chavez, looped around in front of SFA HS. I noticed an emptied package of Jack Link’s beef jerky scattered all around on the ground. That’s probably what I would have done with a package of Jack Link’s beef jerky also. Looked at Garmin at mile 1-- 11:05 – uh oh, too fast (even though I thought I had a really nice pace going). Saw a man with a doggie on the right curb – he was trying to restrain the doggie but the doggie wanted to run so I said, “hey, come on! We only got 8 more miles to go!” At mile 2, Garmin said: 23:00. Perfect. 12 min mile, just what I was aiming for. As we turned onto Exposition a woman passed me on the left and said, “whew! At least we’re not being humiliated by the winners coming back already!” and I replied with, “And now the ‘fun’ begins” (this was a weak attempt at humor since we knew the next 5 miles would be one hill after another).

I had planned to “gu” at the mile 3 waterstop, so I pulled off my gloves and pulled out the gu packet. I stopped and took probably 30 seconds to suck all that down and put away the gloves, then decided, hey I might as well keep track of my splits. Hit the button as I passed mile marker 3 – even with the short delay at the water stop – 35:43. Again, right on. We cruised up and down Exposition till the left turn at Enfield. I knew what was coming. Uphill. There was a lady standing out in her front yard shivering and cheering for us, so I thanked her! Up and down again then the right turn onto Pecos. I knew we were doing hill work that even Gilbert might be proud of, so I just leaned into the hills and ran as best I could. I cruised by mile marker 4 at 47:18 and drank a little Gatorade I had my fanny pack. The weather was just perfect for running and despite the challenging course, I was keeping my pace under 12 min miles!! Between mile 4 and 5 we turned onto Scenic – I played leapfrog with several people who were running, then walking up the hills. Walking up the hills is not for me. One of my current or former coaches might have a hidden camera in the trees somewhere. Several families were out by the curb cheering for us. I remembered to thank all the police officers blocking traffic for us. Swigged a little more Gatorade and hit my split at mile 5 (another challenging mile) at 58:45. SWEET! I did 5 miles under an hour (and on that course) YAY! HALFWAY THERE!!

Mile 6 (In my opinion, the hardest mile) split: 11:59 (Garmin showed this as 1.01 miles) – 1:10:04. I had planned to “gu” again somewhere near mile 7 – or the closest water stop to that mile marker. Again played leapfrog with the runner/walkers. They walked up that neat part of Scenic where the trees grow over the road and that one house has the walkway above the road down to their boat dock. I think the water station for mile 7 was right at the mile marker, so I slowed down to “gu”/water and the split- 1:22:37. Amazing. During the hardest part of the course – still on pace. Before long we were back at LAB and final miles!! At Redbud/LAB there was a boombox playing. The irony/symbolism of Toto’s “Africa” was not lost on me. The race is about getting water to Burundi, and it made me feel good to be part of it all. Mile 8 – Feeling Great! Starting to warm up a little so took some water to splash on my face/hands. 1:34:16. Did I mention, I’d had no pain, no chafing, no blisters? Yeah, I had forgotten about that! I started to wonder if I’d see my boss out there somewhere and for some strange reason the number “9” came into my head. As we crossed Mopac on Cesar Chavez, I pulled over at the mile 9 water stop to splash water on head/hands again and as I threw away my cup, heard, “hey Annette!” and it was my boss so I said hello and ran on to the finish line.

About half a mile away, I heard off to my right, “Go TriZones!” and saw a man and woman. The man said, “is that Annette?” to which I replied, “yes” and the woman said, “go Annette!” then I realized I was “busted”. It was Jamie Cleveland and Andrea Fisher, my head Texas Iron coaches! I later told Tracy and she was pleased that we all cheer for each other. Evil called out my name as I high-fived Em, and my final time was 1:56:51. I was feeling absolutely great! I had a great run, under 1:57 and paced myself well (until I saw my boss, that is…..) Hung around the finish line with other TZ people. The kid’s k was a hoot! All the kids had #1 and they were hauling buns!!! Hannah, Jody and Coach Gina were running the 5K along with triman and mstoonces. I went to stretch, then tried to get a breakfast taco from the Whataburger stand but they were already out! That ain’t right! I finally caught my old friend/co-worker/former boss Peter Rauch at a non-busy moment so went to say hello to him. I’ve known him nearly 20 years but haven’t talked to him in ages. He is really enjoying helping run Gilbert's Foundation . Met back up with Tracy and we cheered in Gina, went to get a banana and I went to watch for Jody, but she was already finished!. Hugs all around, then Hannah came in. Congratulated triman and mstoonces who had just finished. As always I helped take down the tent (this is my function in life!).

On my walk back to my car, I wondered what might have contributed to my great run today. I decided it was Jody’s Recipe pasta. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Thanks Jody. I would like to go to the RnRSA next weekend as a cheerleader/spectator but I’ll be starting my long runs with Texas Iron. Good luck to all the San Antonio Racers! Next “race” for me: the 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning! I’ll have my beanie baby Tom Turkey attached to my cap!.