I've got a plan...

And lets hope it's a good one.

It is time to get back on track after my destination race-vacation. I must have gained 5 or more pounds while gone. "How is that possible?" you ask. Well trust me, it is. It's actually quite simple. I hit up all my favorite restaurants and of course could not pass up my favorite M&M sugar cookies from Safeway. All that equals T.R.O.U.B.L.E. So I have made a plan that will also fit nicely with my new job that starts, oh, tomorrow.

• Early, early AM runs starting July 5
• Evening bike trainer rides
• Back yard weights
• 6 small, healthy meals/snacks a day
• Swim when possible

Speaking of swim...today was my last day of Master's Swim, at least for now. My new job will have me commuting an hour each way so swimming at lunch, at least with this Master's team, is out of the question. The good news is that I got curious and started looking in the town where I will be working. They do have a gym and a Master's program but I know nothing about it. I left a message for the coach and hopefully I hear from him soon. It will take some time to get everything ironed out but for now I will not even be taking a lunch hour due to the commute. Hopefully, occasionally The Hubs will be able to pick LB up from camp or school and that will give me an opportunity to take a lunch during the day We will see how things pan out. The only thing that is keeping me remotely positive is thinking about all you YOU who work full-time jobs, juggle house, husband, children, pets and your workouts. It is possible, right? I can do this. Right? RIGHT?! Right. I can. And I will. I just have to stick to my plan above.

Anyway, back to swim today. We did an easy 2700 yds today. Our regular coach is out of town for the holiday and I am not sure but she may not have given the Kill Them With a 3,700 yd + Workout memo to the sub. Suits me fine. I felt good in the water today. I wasn't sore and I felt refreshed and slippery. Yeah, slippery. That is a good thing when it comes to swimming. I hope I feel this way in a week when I have my next tri.

I am pretty bummed to be leaving the Master's Team. It was pretty cool to work out as a team and train together. I was just starting to get to know them and I even through out the Sig Pose. One of the older men thought I was sticking my tongue out at him. Oops. FAIL. I had to explain that I was actually just tired and was not, in fact, sticking my tongue out at him. Maybe I'll be back if I can get my position transferred to the local office. That would be SWEEEET. Cross your fingers that a local position opens up like Tuesday and I can transfer. Mmmm...kay? Thanks.

Here is a pic of my last workout: Sad day....

I hope you all have fun, safe 4th of July!!! It's one of my FAVORITE holidays!!

Back to the grind...

...It's good to be home.

I returned to a spotless house, thanks to The Hubs. How lucky am I? I don't think I will have to clean for days! The Hubs took LB to Ju Jit Su tonight so I could stay home and I actually got completely unpacked. That is a first! It usually takes me weeks to get unpacked. I put all my new goodies away, including awesome samples that were given to us at our Bloggy Meetup last Friday, Nuun samples, Gu samples, and a gift bag from onlineshoes.com with a water bottle, t-thirt, hand sanitizer and a coffee mug (SCORE!!).

Today I tried to go to Master's Swim but the pool was closed due to some issue with the chlorine. Of course I didn't prepare so I had no tennis shoes or other clothes to run in or go to the gym so I didn't work out today. I wonder what they would have said if I would have tried to go lift weights or hit the elliptical in my swim suit and flip flops? Hm...don't think I want to find out. I really needed to get a lot of work done anyway so I headed back to the office to begin tying up loose ends before I start my new job on Friday. I am feeling a little stressed out about the transition and need to really work out my plan for getting my workouts in. I am thinking early, early AM or evenings. That is my only option. Really I'll only have a couple of evenings a week due to The Hub's schedule unless I use the bike trainer at home, which is a good plan.

Speaking of the bike trainer, I have a sprint triathlon coming up next weekend (not this weekend). I had hopes of doing really well but I have been slacking on the bike big time. I was told it is a hilly bike course too which is not boding well for me. I am certainly starting to see that more is not necessarily better. I have too much (i.e. too many races) on my plate. I need to focus on key races and train my booty (literally) off so that I can do really well in that one particular race. After this tri, on July 11 I a supposed to start my full marathon training. This could workout ok since I only have one other race planned in September.

The idea of marathon training is a bit daunting. During the Seattle Rock n Roll half we joked about being glad we were only doing the half. Actually I'm pretty sure I have felt this way during every single half marathon I have run that has a full marathon too. When I see the Marathon Mile 13 marker I usually say, "wow, thank goodness I'm only dong the half." But, I guess during 2 out of 3 marathons I have done I wished, at least at some point during the race, that I was doing the half. During OKC, my first full, the half never crossed my mind. I was loving the life of a 26.2 runner. During Portland I wanted to be done at mile 12, throw myself off the bridge at mile 17, and wished for a Mac truck around mile 23. During Vegas I was tempted by Tall Mom and the half finish line and declined, I stuck to my goal of 26.2. But by mile 13.5 I wished I had not taken that right hand turn that lead me to 13.1 more miles of fun (term used lightly). With all that being said, I am ready to tackle 26.2 in 2011. I think one this year is respectable. If anyone wants to argue that all I have to say is....Ahem, cough, cough....70.3! With marathon #4 my goal will be to run the race and not wish I was doing the half or for death at any point during the race. I think those are achievable goals. Don't you?

So with the excitement of Seattle Rock n Roll behind me I am going to ride the high for a while. Hopefully it will carry me right through my next tri and into full training.

Finally, I leave you with this picture of LB at the airport in his Cowboy Hat, like Farm Grandpa

Rock n Roll Seattle 5 Style

I had high hopes for Seattle RnR. Coming in to it I had visions of beating my course and standing half PR by a few minutes. After all I had been running in temps at least 35-40 degrees hotter and humidity around 60-80% higher. Why couldn't I PR? I should PR. Or so I told myself for the week leading up to the race. And I still think I could have, if conditions had been perfect. Let me explain.

Are conditions ever perfect? I think they are, occasionally. Last year's Seattle RnR conditions were perfect. Weather was good, my legs were fresh, my mind was right. Everything was just right. This year things were not wrong but I was not 100% right. I hate making excuses but traveling makes it really hard to have a good race. Anyone else agree? Is it ever a good idea to attempt a major goal for a destination race? I think it can be if done correct....Anyway, I flew into Seattle LATE Tuesday night. Actually it was EARLY Wednesday morning. I got back to The ORC's house and to sleep after 2 AM. Wednesday night I stayed up late just the same. Thursday the same...Friday I got to bed a decent hour, probably asleep by 11. While my to-bed schedule was off my wake-up schedule was still normal, I was getting up early in the mornings. I am a person who needs my sleep but I didn't want to waste any time I could have with my friends. I had so little time and as The Hubs puts it, I can sleep when I'm dead.

The second thing that may have affected my race performance in my nutrition. I have been eating six times a day, small meals consisting of protein, carbs and fat. Traveling just throws that all off. Not to mention I wanted to hit up all my favorite old restaurants. I drug poor Jessica ORC to Joy Teriyaki, Silk Thia, Katie Downs, and The Ram. Lots of eating out and little good-for-me food. I tried to make good choices but it's just not the same.

The third factor was just plain old mental exhaustion. Seeing old friends and go,go,going was fun and dazing! But I had little down time to focus on my upcoming race. I was having fun each and every minute, one day at a time and my race plan and goals were really pushed back until it got closer. But before I knew it, it was race day! I was ready, but not really. I was excited to see everyone and I was caught up in the fun and the photos and just being there! It was so much fun! I had on my smiles but not my game face. My game face is necessary to dig within and get focused. It happens rarely but when it does the results are usually pretty good. It is a mental state that takes effort for me to find and sometimes even when I try I just can't get there. Saturday I couldn't get there...BUT that is ok. I had a great time!

Here I am with RED at the start. Yeah, my nose is a little red because I got a little bit emotional when I was mingling with all the others who were running for DetermiNation. I met a lady who is a 4 time survivor. Absolutely inspiring. Her passion is raising awareness and working to find a cure. There were a lot of other stories and so many people who have been affected by cancer in one way or another. I felt so proud to be a part of DetermiNAtion and the $1550.14 raised!

Here are some of the crew who met with us at Corral 6 for the pre-race photo op:

We were having a great time but time was ticking away and it was almost 7 o'clock. Everyone dispersed and headed to their respective corrals. We all wished each other well and new we would meet up again at the B at the reunion area.

Mel, Blonde Ponytail and I headed into what we thought was corral 7 but once in we discovered it was actually corral 6. Oh well...we settled in and waited for the start. Mel had loaned me her toss away jacket, I was FREEZING just as I figured I would be. I was so grateful for the jacket! It was warm and cozy and felt like a ginormous, soft, warm hug! It wasn't until I gave it back to her when corral 4 was starting that I saw her kiss it and toss it. A hug from her dad! She shared it with me!

Our corral start came pretty fast and we were off. The plan was to start off nice and easy so as not to go out too fast. Our first mile was 9:03. Perfect, nice and easy. We were taking in the sights and the people. We were almost to mile 1 when I saw Jessica ORC!! She is so good!! We waved and she cheered!! We continued on, making our way through the crowd. Mile 2 passed in 8:47. I was feeling good but still taking it nice and easy, no where near our 8:24 pace for a 1:50 PR. I think it was somewhere in the beginning of Mile 3 where I said, "Hey guys, in case you are wondering THIS is a hill." Yeah, who put that hill there? Last year I ran, or floated through the course. I didn't notice hardly any hills at all. But this year I noticed speed bumps and mole hills. Mel and Blonde Ponytail laughed a little bit and we continued on completing Mile 3 in 9:08. Still on track for a decent finish.

The miles were certainly passing by pretty quickly. We were just watching all the runners and spectators. We passed mile 4 in 9:04. I'm actually bad at recaps, I should wait and read Mel and Jess's recap so I can remember all the cool things that we saw. I do remember things but I don't really remember where we were in the course. It's like going on a cross country family vacation and remembering the Grand Canyon but not remember where it was or when I saw it...Either way, we saw two people dressed in human clothes with very strange heads. One had a Chicken head and the other was a donkey or something. I was fixated on the chicken head. It was so bazaar looking. And he was dancing and hopping around acting like a looney! It was funny and I just started to think, who does that? We also saw, off to the right hand side, sitting very quietly and still, a cute couple. They were sitting in lawn chairs side by side. But they also where not human, they were donkeys. Or were they goats? Whatever they were it was funny. It was also around this time that we saw the chick with long, flowing blonde hair and it was down, flying around and not put up. How do people do that? I don't get it? Doesn't it drive them nuts? We finished Mile 4 in 9:04.

Blonde Ponytail would inch ahead of us every once and a while, mostly on the uphills, which there were a TON of. Then we would catch up, or she would slow, either way. At some point our nice and easy start just kind of turned into a nice and easy race. I felt bad, like these two should just go ahead and race, run faster or do their best. I was doing the best I could at the time. I just wasn't feeling it. I was tired, my glutes were cramping and I felt starving. This just wasn't turning out to be my race-day. But Mel and Jess didn't want to go ahead, they wanted to run with me! Mile 5 must have been hilly, we came through at 9:26.

I think it was Mile 6 when we saw Amy. Mel was saying, "Is that Amy?" and they stated waving and she got some sweet pics as we ran by! Mile 6 was completed in 9:00.

We knew Chelsea would be around Mile 7 so we made our way to the other side of the road and started looking out for her. Sure enough, she was right where we suspected and she snapped a few great shots too! As you can tell I was started to fade...sig pose came busting out mid race, a few times. We finished up mile 7 in 9:08.

I couldn't believe how fast the miles were passing. I also was wondering where Run to Remember would be set up. Last year they were at Mile 5 as we came down a hill and rounded the corner to Lake Washington. They had the Freedom Riders flags lining the road. While I loved seeing that it is also overwhelming and I had a hard time last year maintaining my composure. Part of me was relieved they were not there, the other part wondered why not. It wasn't long before we saw them, the small photos of uniformed soldiers every five feet or so, killed in combat. Then they had the people, in their blue shirts, lining the road holding a flag. One for each soldier lost at Ft. Lewis. I couldn't hardly look. It is just too much. I worked to get my breathing under control, which is hard to do when you are also trying not to cry. We made it through Mile 8 in 9:18.

We finally made out way past Lake Washington and up the steep hill to the freeway that would take us to downtown Seattle and the finish line. We entered The Tunnel of Sweat and Stink. We saw EMZ flying by on the other side, approaching her Mile 12. We cheered for her and I couldn't help but feel someone starstruck and awe. She looked so strong and like she was running on clouds. I wish I could run like that. Sigh. The tunnel is probably the worst part of this race and there really is no way to avoid it. It is long and hot and stinky and loud. I was getting hotter and stuffier by the minute. We couldn't get out of there soon enough. I feel like my miles are all confused and mixed up, I haven't uploaded my stats to Garmin yet, so I don't know where we were but I feel like we came out of the tunnel at Mile 10. We finished miles 9 and 10 in 10:13 and 10:10. What happened? Hills and hottness happened.

Downtown Seattle was in sight. We were on an overpass and Mel must have been trying to entertain herself. She took out her phone and snapped this shot:

How is THAT for running form? UGH!

We were having a good time! It was so nice to spend some QT with Mel and to get to know Jess Blonde Ponytail. We chatted a lot and I pretty much remained in the middle, an Amanda sandwich. It was awesome. We completed Mile 11 in 10:01 and headed closer to downtown. With 2 miles to go I was feeling ok but it was starting to sink in that not only would I not get a PR, obviously I had given up on that around mile 3, but we weren't even going to go sub 2. What has happened to me? More on that later.....

The streets were lined with spectators. I was actually surprised by all the people out watching. It was pretty cool. I had been getting a lot of cheers along the way for my DetermiNAtion jersey. Apparently there were only four people who joined them from out-of-state, me and Sarah were two of them. They may not have recognized me but I felt the love nonetheless! Mile 11 and 12 completed in 10:01 and 9:52.

Around Mile 12 I told Mel and Jess that this mile was for my dad. While the whole race was dedicated to him I wanted to really spend some time and tap into myself, my thoughts and y reason for running this race. While I chose this race specifically because of it being in Seattle and being able to see my friends my true reason was for my dad and for ACS. I I thought about my dad and what he is going through, about his treatment and how he still smiles, about he has spent a week with my son, his grandson, despite his chemo treatments and how crummy he may be feeling. This mile, this last long mile was for him. I could at least do it for him. Around the time I was thinking I would like to walk I saw an American Cancer Society coach for DetermiNAtion wearing his cowboy hat, just like my dad wears. He was running against the crowd saying "Run with your legs, run with your heart! You can do this!" And he was right, I could do this. I had to do this.....I kept going. Soon we left the viaduct and rounded the corner. "I may have a stride but I don't have a sprint." I tried to finish strong, I finished as strong as I could. We gave our best finish line poses and I hear Jessica ORC yelling at me!! YAY! She made it to the finish! I waved at her and then there we were, crossing the finish line! 13.1 Miles in 2:03. Not bad for being a hilly run. And where did those hills come from again?

In Honor of My Dad!

Bringing it home!!!

J-Ninja and Jessica ORC! J-Ninja came out from NC and ended up not being able to run due to her ITB. Total bummer.

RED, Sarah and me!!

Group shot Sig Pose of course!

What an amazing group of women! I had a wonderful time in the PNW and loved every moment of being back with my Running Posse. I am so excited for them all to come out to NC for the next race! Ok, so maybe I am delusional but a girl can wish. right?

Final Thoughts:

• This was the BEST Inaugural Running Partner Appreciation Day EVER!
• Running races with friends is fun! I enjoy having the company and the distraction! It certainly makes the time and miles seemingly fly by!
• I didn't turn on my iPod at all. I wanted to be able to hear and interact with Mel and Jess and others along the course. Music helps me get into the mental zone and to ignore pains in my body.
• All my PR's have been done while racing solo. Coincidence? I don't know. No clue. Maybe? I think I get psyched out for some reason when I run with others. I think I also get whiny and scared. There is certainly something mental that goes on upstairs when I race with others. I need to try to figure it out.
• I am no longer in any sort of hill condition. I need to find some hills and abuse them. Royally.
• Swimming and biking does not translate to running. I have my work cut out for me.
• I am happy with my time but to be honest I wish I could have done better. Especially given this race was dedicated to my dad.
• I had a wonderful time and was reminded just how good I had it living up in the PNW. Between the races, routes and Running Partners I was spoiled. I hope I can recreate, not replace of course, what I had there with new running partners in NC. I am slowly building my NC Running Posse with J-Ninja, Sarah and Andrea when she moves out in August. I am well on my way to a second group of amazing Running Partners. How awesome it that? TWO supportive, amazing running groups.

What's next? Raleigh Triangle Sprint Tri. I am currently flying high above TN on my way to NC. Tomorrow I hit the pool and the road. Back on track with my diet and routine...There are races to run, PR's to break and set.

Where to start?

I have no idea where to start with any kind of recaps, my week in T-Town and Seattle and the race...it has all been so amazing and I don't even know how to begin or what to say. I'll have to start from the beginning but not tonight. I am still enjoying time with friends up here in the PNW and I want to enjoy my time here while I can. Hopefully I'll be able to get some blogging in on the flight to pick up LB from the farm. Speaking of Lb, man I miss that kid...wow! Six days since I left him with his Farm Grandma and Grandpa and I am feeling pretty homesick for him.

I can give you some teaser pics.

Here we are at the expo, or outside Qwest Field. Inside the expo Sarah and I got to pick up our bibs at the special DetermiNAtion table. It was fast and easy!!!

After hanging out at the expo my friend J-Ninja (also in from NC) and Nikki were awesome-sauce and picked me up to haul me to the Bloggy Meetup Dinner!! It was wonderful to see old friends and meet new ones!! Here, from left to right is Andrea, she is moving to MY town very soon! I am super pumped to have a new Running Buddy and Friend in town!! Of course Kerrie T who was prepping for her FIRST 26.2!!! She did amazing and you must go check out her blog when she gets the recap up! And Jill! Her smile mirrors her personality and she just can't help but make everyone around her smile. I am SO glad she got to see me, just look how happy she is standing next to me!!

Friday night I stayed in the Courtyard Marriot, just like last year, with Sarah (who is a running buddy who is now in NC with me!! YAY!) and RED! Here we are early Saturday morning just before heading to the start.

I decided last minute to actually wear my DetermiNation race shirt. I am so glad that I did! I got a lot of cheers and encouragement along the route and I felt super proud to be running for my cause, for my Dad!

We headed out pretty super early and had no issues getting to the race start with plenty of time to spare...We hung around and at 6:15 Sarah and I went to take pictures with the DetermiNation team. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty tough and emotional and I met some amazing people with even more amazing stories. I was so proud of my efforts to raise money to fight cancer. After those pics I headed to Corral 6 and waited for others to arrive.

I got to snap a seriously awesome Sig Pose pic with THE Abs EMZ

And slowly, others began to wander in and we got some sweet pics! Everyone was excited and ready to run their races! I loved all the smiles, jokes and positive energy!

We snapped a few pictures and then it was time! After high fives and hugs we all headed to our respective corrals...ready to run!!

And that is all you get for tonight!!

Race Day Eve...

Here is my Race Pile...

Everything is laid out and ready. I think. I hope...

If you care to track me or stalk my results later my Bib#7522.

I'll be back soon to fill you all in with all that has been going on! I don't even know where to start!!!!

Is it Time Yet?

....the adult version of "Are we there yet?" ADD blogpost....

I have been having a great time and I am no where near done with the fun! It is really only just begun! Today I got to enjoy some PNW sunshine, granite it was about 40 degrees cooler than my home weather, but it was still amazing! We got to lay on the Tiger Blanket in the yard, like old times! The only thing missing was LB. Then we went to lunch before heading to David's Bridal for some wedding dress shopping with Jessica AKA ORC (Official Race Crew) and looked at some totally awesome abd beautiful wedding dresses and some Bride's Maid's dresses too. Guess I'll be coming back the PNW for a wedding!! Yipee!!!

Jess will be upholding her duties as Official Race Crew come Saturday. And as an added bonus she will be hanging with J-Ninja, who has traveled all the way from NC to run too!! Sad news is that J-Ninja has been suffering from an angry ITB for a few months now. She came anyway to see her friend who moved here from NC a few months ago but is opting out of the race. As luck would have it she met Jess ORC at our Half Iron Man back in May so she will be able to have company and cheer us on around mile 6 and the finish line with The ORC.

Now, J-Ninja has mentioned the fact that she has an extra bib. It is totally not allowed and horrible race etiquette, so don't even ask if you can have it. That would be wrong and not fair and against the rules... With that being said, I am just curious...is there anyone who disagrees? Anyone who would give an arm and a leg (post race of course) to run? I mean, like if someone were to drop their bib on the corner of 4th and Pine and you were to find it, would you pin it on and run? Totally hypothetical of course. Just curious. Shoot me an email or hit me up my FB page.

Tomorrow is a busy, busy day starting bright and early. I have a few must-do things in the AM then off to Seattle with RED and Sarah. We'll be checking into the hotel and then heading to the Expo. Then Bloggie Meetup Dinner at 5! I can't wait to see everyone!! What a day!!! I am sure I will be too excited to fall asleep at a decent hour. Speaking of sleep...yeah I haven't been sleeping very much this week. A three hour time change is huge and hard. Staying up until midnight here is like 3 AM in my world. Makes for a sleepy me....I'll be going to be any minute now...

Don't forget Running Partner Appreciate Day is coming up!! If you haven't already join the Facebook Page and show your appreciation for your running buddies HERE!

Did I mention that I can't wait to see Mel, Jess-Blonde Ponytail, Kerrie T, Jill and Zoe and many many more awesome old and new bloggy peeps? Well I am! I think this blog has been one amazing blessing for me and the people I have met through the blog have become a huge part of my life. I can't imagine not having them, so I'm not gonna....See you all SOON!

I run this town…

…when I can!

Oh sweet UPS track…It was great to see this track again. I put many many miles on this track.

 

I was excited to hit the roads of Tacoma this afternoon. It was maybe 62 degrees, a far cry from the 100 degree temps I have been facing back home. I set out with only 3 miles on the Garmin. I had no plan  or route in mind but I knew I wanted to just run and I needed to keep it short and stay away from 30th and 36th streets. Hill work is NOT on the agenda three days out from my upcoming Half Marathon. I enjoyed every moment of my time on my familiar paths. I actually made a point to run by one of my favorite corners just to see the beautiful yard and flowers. Oh don’t worry, I took a picture.

I am looking forward to another easy run tomorrow!

So many exciting things in store this week and weekend!! I can’t wait to see everyone and meeting so many new bloggies!

Thoughts From Mid Air...

iPhones are cool. I have no idea how I managed before the days of cell phones much less my iPhone. I'm in route to LAX and have been reading the July issue of Runner's World. Any of you read it? If not it's a good one. It is a special edition about cancer survivors and I'm fairly certain the lady next to me thinks I'm a nut, I keep getting all teary eyed. Some of these stories are truly amazing. Absolutely inspiring. Stories of dedication and determination. Stories of mothers and fathers. Stories of survivors.

I will be running Saturday's race in honor if my dad, who despite how he is feeling still smiles, still gets on the floor and plays with LB, still feeds and waters the cows. My dad is strong and positive and I hope I can be so during my short 13.1 mile battle.

> I remember during this race last year I had a thousand different emotions flowing through my body. The Hubs was in Afghanistan and I had only recently found out about my dad's cancer. At the expo I filled out one of those bibs you can wear, In Honor Of My Dad. I wore that and ran the race and achieved my current half marathon PR of 1:55 and some change. Anytime I got tired or stated to doubt I would reach down and touch my bib.

That race I was in a zone. I thought about my pain, my self-imposed pain that really was a moment in time. Insignificant in comparison to all that would be ahead for my dad and others fighting cancer. Who was I to complain? My health was good. I was strong. I chose to put my body through this. This year I will do the same. Although I will be running with others, Mel and Blonde Ponytail have volunteered to pace me to a PR, I know they will understand that this race is dedicated to my dad. I may be within my own head and running with my heart.

I love you dad, and if running 13.1 miles would guarantee a cure for cancer I'd do it 1000 times over. What's another 987 half marathons? Seattle Rock n Roll will be my 14th!