Something happened to me today that's never happened before...I won something on the radio! Cool! No, I didn't have to answer any trivia questions or battle someone else in a game, I just had to be caller #14 and I was! Ha, I just realized that it's kind of funny b/c 14's always been sort of a lucky number for me. Interesting. Anyhow I won 2 tickets to the movies to see the new Tom Hanks movie, "Captain Phillips." I was pretty excited about it and tried to convey that while on air b/c I hate it when people win things on the radio and they show no enthusiasm whatsoever. It was cool too b/c after I got off the phone w/ them they played a couple more songs then I heard myself on the radio! Too funny. I wonder if anyone that I know heard me and recognized it was me!? So, looking foward to a free movie night in the near future :)
Friday, October 18, 2013
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Fall Is Here
It's getting colder now and I don't like it. I've had to start wearing long sleeved shirts on my runs which means tights are not that far around the corner. I've also noticed fewer runners out and about now that the seasons are changing. Where have you all gone my fair weather friends? As much as I don't like running in the cold, I know I'll suck it up and do it. And while running into a brisk headwind coming off the water last week this poem came into my mind...
Sink into the fall
Embrace the long haul
Summer is gone
Days forlornSink into the fall
Embrace the long haul
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Sail
The original version of this song by Awolnation is hard to beat, but this remix is pretty dope:
I liked this song from the very first time I heard it, but have always wondered what the lyrics mean:
I liked this song from the very first time I heard it, but have always wondered what the lyrics mean:
This is how I show my love
I made it in my mind because
I blame it on my ADD baby
This is how an angel dies
I blame it on my own sick pride
Blame it on my ADD baby
Sail! Sail! Sail! Sail! Sail!
Maybe I should cry for help
Maybe I should kill myself
Blame it on my ADD baby
Maybe I'm a different breed
Maybe I'm not listening
So blame it on my ADD baby
Sail! Sail! Sail! Sail! Sail!
La la la la la, la la la la la, oh!
La la la la la, la la la la la, oh!
La la la la, la la la la
Sail! Sail! Sail! Sail! Sail!
Sail with me into the dark
Sail!
Sail with me into the dark
Sail!
Sail with me into the dark
Sail!
Sail with me
Sail!
Sail with me
I've heard these lyrics explained in a few different ways including 1) someone is struggling to fit into society who, for whatever reason, is somewhat of an outcast; this song is a tongue-in-cheek way of telling the norm and everyone who follows it to go screw themselves, 2) more literally in that someone is struggling with ADD or other mental issue and may be having real issues with it but also may choose to skirt responsibility and blame everything on the disease; they may try to laugh off their problems without facing them head on, 3) someone struggling with drug and/or alcohol addiction who is in a dark place and kind of ok with it; they are content to sail away on the next high, and 4) the destruction of a relationship in which the person realizes they have contributed to the demise of the relationship and perhaps even the other person but they can't and/or won't try to fix things even though ultimately they still want to be with that person.
I'm still not sure which interpretation I think is the most accurate or if there is another interpretation out there which offers a better explanation. I'm certainly interested to hear what other people think! However, regardless of the writer's intended meaning, the song is simply excellent!
Sunday, October 6, 2013
First Race Back: Triple Lakes Trail Race
Yesterday I raced for the first time in quite a while and it went....well. Surprisingly well. Especially for being a half marathon, on technical trail, & full of hills! Before the race started I scoped out the competition and picked out a few women who I thought could be in it to win it. I lined up at the start right behind them and figured I'd take it out at their pace and see how long I could hang on.
There was just under a mile of paved road before the single-track trails started and one woman got off to a pretty swift start. So I followed her b/c I thought, "Hmm, this could be the race right here." My Garmin is still broken so I really have no idea how fast we were going. We got onto the trails and I stayed behind her, probably about 30 sec back. However, after a while I felt like I was going a little too hard and decided to back off around 2.5 miles and settled into my own pace b/c I was getting a side cramp - not a good thing that early in the race (or ever really).
At 3.5 miles the trail broke onto more pavement for about a quarter mile and I could see that I really hadn't lost much ground. This was encouraging and as we got back onto the trails I noticed I was gaining on her. Of course this was exciting! It took me until about mile 8 to fully close the gap and I ran right behind her for a mile or so. Then the trail broke into a wider grassy section and she motioned for me to go ahead of her. I really didn't want to b/c I was tired and content to just run at her pace. I wanted to stick behind her for a while then race the last 1-2 miles. However, she wasn't having any of that, so I made the pass with about 4 miles to go. I kept an honest pace for the next mile and we passed 1 guy and caught another who tagged onto us. My legs were hurting but I could tell she was breathing harder than I was so I was pretty sure I could pull out the victory.
We got to an aid station before starting the last trail section and I took a swig of water. I had planned on eating a gel every 30 minutes but my stomach wasn't up for it. I am not used to working at such a high intensity and I felt like I was going to vom from miles 11-13. Anyhow, after the aid station, the woman behind me slowed and the guy and I put a bit of a gap on her. I let the guy take a turn leading, though his draft smelled terrible, and finally when I noticed that the other woman was creeping back up, I re-passed him.
By mile 12 I was very fatigued! I must have hit a root or something b/c I took a pretty hard fall. The guy behind me was like "Whoa! Are you ok???" I got up as quickly as I could b/c I didn't want to concede any time to 2nd place. Thankfully I only had some superficial scrapes on my knee & elbow.
Now, before the race started, the race director informed us that the half marathon was a little long, more like 13.5 miles rather than 13.1. I got to mile 13 in 1 hr 28 minutes and was so thankful to know that at absolute max I probably only had 4 more minutes of running! However 4 minutes went by and the trail kept going. I was like, "OK, 2 more minutes max." Two minutes later, no end in sight... Finally, a full 11 minutes later I reached the finish line!!!! Craziness! I felt completely beat and the volunteers at the finish said "You don't look very good." Gee thanks. Actually, the volunteers were very helpful - they cleaned up all my cuts and filled my hands with pretzels, bananas, water, & soda, which was all much appreciated!
All in all, I was happy with this race considering my state of fitness and level of training leading into it. I had fun, got to run a race I've always wanted to do, and even came away with the win and a respectable time. It definitely motivates me to train more and I'm already trying to decide what race I'm going to do next. It's gonna be another 1/2 marathon for sure, probably November time frame. I kind of like the idea of running a race on Thanksgiving morning so I can spend the rest of the day feeling completely justified in pigging out!
There was just under a mile of paved road before the single-track trails started and one woman got off to a pretty swift start. So I followed her b/c I thought, "Hmm, this could be the race right here." My Garmin is still broken so I really have no idea how fast we were going. We got onto the trails and I stayed behind her, probably about 30 sec back. However, after a while I felt like I was going a little too hard and decided to back off around 2.5 miles and settled into my own pace b/c I was getting a side cramp - not a good thing that early in the race (or ever really).
At 3.5 miles the trail broke onto more pavement for about a quarter mile and I could see that I really hadn't lost much ground. This was encouraging and as we got back onto the trails I noticed I was gaining on her. Of course this was exciting! It took me until about mile 8 to fully close the gap and I ran right behind her for a mile or so. Then the trail broke into a wider grassy section and she motioned for me to go ahead of her. I really didn't want to b/c I was tired and content to just run at her pace. I wanted to stick behind her for a while then race the last 1-2 miles. However, she wasn't having any of that, so I made the pass with about 4 miles to go. I kept an honest pace for the next mile and we passed 1 guy and caught another who tagged onto us. My legs were hurting but I could tell she was breathing harder than I was so I was pretty sure I could pull out the victory.
We got to an aid station before starting the last trail section and I took a swig of water. I had planned on eating a gel every 30 minutes but my stomach wasn't up for it. I am not used to working at such a high intensity and I felt like I was going to vom from miles 11-13. Anyhow, after the aid station, the woman behind me slowed and the guy and I put a bit of a gap on her. I let the guy take a turn leading, though his draft smelled terrible, and finally when I noticed that the other woman was creeping back up, I re-passed him.
By mile 12 I was very fatigued! I must have hit a root or something b/c I took a pretty hard fall. The guy behind me was like "Whoa! Are you ok???" I got up as quickly as I could b/c I didn't want to concede any time to 2nd place. Thankfully I only had some superficial scrapes on my knee & elbow.
Now, before the race started, the race director informed us that the half marathon was a little long, more like 13.5 miles rather than 13.1. I got to mile 13 in 1 hr 28 minutes and was so thankful to know that at absolute max I probably only had 4 more minutes of running! However 4 minutes went by and the trail kept going. I was like, "OK, 2 more minutes max." Two minutes later, no end in sight... Finally, a full 11 minutes later I reached the finish line!!!! Craziness! I felt completely beat and the volunteers at the finish said "You don't look very good." Gee thanks. Actually, the volunteers were very helpful - they cleaned up all my cuts and filled my hands with pretzels, bananas, water, & soda, which was all much appreciated!
All in all, I was happy with this race considering my state of fitness and level of training leading into it. I had fun, got to run a race I've always wanted to do, and even came away with the win and a respectable time. It definitely motivates me to train more and I'm already trying to decide what race I'm going to do next. It's gonna be another 1/2 marathon for sure, probably November time frame. I kind of like the idea of running a race on Thanksgiving morning so I can spend the rest of the day feeling completely justified in pigging out!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Fireballs
I have a new addiction to Fireballs. Haha, yes the hard, red, spicy-yet-sweet candies! Well maybe it's not so new. I've always enjoyed eating Fireballs and would purchase them on road trips. I'd eat one or two and put the rest of the bag in the glove compartment or center console and forget about it. Then the next time I happened upon the bag I'd be insanely happy about it! Kind of like finding money in the back pocket of a pair of jeans you haven't worn in a while. Anyhow, now that I do a considerable amount of driving for my job, I've started purchasing bags of the little red balls regularly and keeping them stocked in driver's side door.
One day recently I asked myself why I liked them so much and came up with a few answers:
1. Every time you eat one it's a challenge to see if you can keep it in your mouth the entire time.
2. Once you get past the firey portion, there's the sweet portion. At this point it becomes a question of how long do you have to wait before you can bite down on it with your teeth and break it in half. This is a bit more precarious than #1 because it's inevitable that you will try to bite the ball too early and thus there is an omnipresent risk that you will break a tooth.
3. They last a long time and only have ~20 calories per ball.
4. They leave you with a nice, pleasant, cinnamony breath.
Moral of this story - buy a bag of Fireballs. You'll enjoy them.
One day recently I asked myself why I liked them so much and came up with a few answers:
1. Every time you eat one it's a challenge to see if you can keep it in your mouth the entire time.
2. Once you get past the firey portion, there's the sweet portion. At this point it becomes a question of how long do you have to wait before you can bite down on it with your teeth and break it in half. This is a bit more precarious than #1 because it's inevitable that you will try to bite the ball too early and thus there is an omnipresent risk that you will break a tooth.
3. They last a long time and only have ~20 calories per ball.
4. They leave you with a nice, pleasant, cinnamony breath.
Moral of this story - buy a bag of Fireballs. You'll enjoy them.
Monday, September 30, 2013
A Race On The Horizon!
I'm kind of excited b/c I signed up for a race today! I suppose it was somewhat impulsive, but when I realized that there's a 1/2 marathon on Saturday that I've always wanted to do (Triple Lakes Trail 1/2 Marathon) and that I don't have to work this Saturday I couldn't help myself. Plus, I haven't raced in over 3 months and have missed the thrill of competition! Not that I will be all that competitive...my training has continued to be sub-par as per my standards. This past week I probably ran somewhere in the viscinity of 35 miles. I'm not totally sure b/c my Garmin has been broken for a while now and I have just been using a regular old Timex watch for my runs. Sometimes this is nice because I can't look down and see how slow I'm going ;) I had planned to run 6/7 days, but ended up skipping one day, for 5/7.
I'll probably see similar mileage this week, as I don't want to kill myself before Saturday. I'd much rather go in rested and undertrained than unrested and overtrained! However, I do want to start upping the mileage soon like I mentioned in my last blog.
Lastly, one very cool thing about my "training" this past week was that I got to run with a seriously fast runner. I met up with a friend for a run and she brought a friend. Over the course of the run, I found out that this woman ran in the Olympic Marathon Trials a couple years ago! How cool is that!!?? Definitely very inspiring and I'm pretty psyched to have met such a bad ass training partner. Now all I have to do is get my ass in gear!
I'll probably see similar mileage this week, as I don't want to kill myself before Saturday. I'd much rather go in rested and undertrained than unrested and overtrained! However, I do want to start upping the mileage soon like I mentioned in my last blog.
Lastly, one very cool thing about my "training" this past week was that I got to run with a seriously fast runner. I met up with a friend for a run and she brought a friend. Over the course of the run, I found out that this woman ran in the Olympic Marathon Trials a couple years ago! How cool is that!!?? Definitely very inspiring and I'm pretty psyched to have met such a bad ass training partner. Now all I have to do is get my ass in gear!
Monday, September 23, 2013
Out of Shape
It's been a few months since I stopped training and I feel so out of shape these days. Still, most people would probably look at me and think I'm in great shape, and if I told my coworkers I wanted to drop a few pounds they'd probably laugh at me.
I also used to eat really healthfully. Like super healthfully. But when I stopped working out I stopped caring about what I put into my body. I still probably eat better than 90% of Americans and if I mentioned to my coworkers that I thought I needed to start eating better they would definitely scoff at me.
But, I can feel the difference. Before I was like a finely tuned machine, everything oiled and running smoother than Roger Federer's shiny hand-crafted Swiss timepieces. My cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems worked effortlessly and harmoniously in tandem, fueled by plants and water. Training was hard, but easy at the same time if that makes any sense. Now I just feel rusty. I can't find a rhythm, my body feels tired, and I'm afraid I'm always one mis-step away from injury. I feel like I'm physically 10 years older than I really am and I can't stand it! I want to feel the silky feeling of fluidity again.
At this point, I'm transitioning into running with a goal of getting up to 70-80 miles per week, a PR half marathon, and a sub 3 hour marathon in 2014. I've decided to continue my blog and write about the process, as well as other musings that pop into my mind and the day to day minutiae of my life. Plus, I realized that I really do enjoy writing and blogging. Like health, fitness, and nutrition, it has become one of my hobbies.
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I wrote the above post a few months ago and before publicly publishing my blog again wanted to succinctly add this. I've been going through a really tough time personally over the past 6 months, which is why I've taken a hiatus from triathlon & social media. I've had to take a hard look at myself and my decisions and how they affect others. Sometimes its not fun to look in the mirror and see where we fall short of our ideals. As someone wiser than myself put it, "introspection isn't for the faint of heart". At the same time, I do believe that life's lessons are the impetus for positive change, as they provide opportunity to grown and to learn more about ourselves. And one thing I know for sure is that even if it's not all sunshine and rainbows, there is no facet of my life in which I ever want to stop learning.
I also used to eat really healthfully. Like super healthfully. But when I stopped working out I stopped caring about what I put into my body. I still probably eat better than 90% of Americans and if I mentioned to my coworkers that I thought I needed to start eating better they would definitely scoff at me.
But, I can feel the difference. Before I was like a finely tuned machine, everything oiled and running smoother than Roger Federer's shiny hand-crafted Swiss timepieces. My cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems worked effortlessly and harmoniously in tandem, fueled by plants and water. Training was hard, but easy at the same time if that makes any sense. Now I just feel rusty. I can't find a rhythm, my body feels tired, and I'm afraid I'm always one mis-step away from injury. I feel like I'm physically 10 years older than I really am and I can't stand it! I want to feel the silky feeling of fluidity again.
At this point, I'm transitioning into running with a goal of getting up to 70-80 miles per week, a PR half marathon, and a sub 3 hour marathon in 2014. I've decided to continue my blog and write about the process, as well as other musings that pop into my mind and the day to day minutiae of my life. Plus, I realized that I really do enjoy writing and blogging. Like health, fitness, and nutrition, it has become one of my hobbies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wrote the above post a few months ago and before publicly publishing my blog again wanted to succinctly add this. I've been going through a really tough time personally over the past 6 months, which is why I've taken a hiatus from triathlon & social media. I've had to take a hard look at myself and my decisions and how they affect others. Sometimes its not fun to look in the mirror and see where we fall short of our ideals. As someone wiser than myself put it, "introspection isn't for the faint of heart". At the same time, I do believe that life's lessons are the impetus for positive change, as they provide opportunity to grown and to learn more about ourselves. And one thing I know for sure is that even if it's not all sunshine and rainbows, there is no facet of my life in which I ever want to stop learning.
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