running: the dawn

This Sunday I had a fabulous running date.  It all started in the spring when I ran the Holy Half Marathon.  There was a group of people from the university where I work that went down for the race and we all of course took pictures after.  Most of the people were people that I’d never met before.  After the race a few added me as friends on Facebook.

One of the runners from that day contacted me to see if I would be interested in doing a long run with her and OF COURSE I would!  I love running with people and anyone willing to embark on an 18 mile adventure is well on their way to being on my list of close friends.  The only problem that I could see going into the weekend: she’s a Gazelle, I’m a Clydesdale.  She is super speedy and built for effortless running.  I have worked really hard to chip away at my times, but alas she still runs her long runs a solid minute and a half per mile faster than I do.  I assured her over and over again that I would not feel bad at all if she needed to head off and get some faster miles done.

We decided that we needed to meet and head out at 5:30am Sunday since she was directing a 5k at noon and needed to be there by 9 to set up.  (She’s even crazier than me!)  I was totally up for going early cause the weather report included highs in the 90′s and all the humidity one can take.  So, Saturday night I set out water along the route, got a good night’s sleep, and woke up ready to get my butt handed to me by the Gazelle.

In what seemed to be the dead of night we headed out away from my house.  I reminded her again that I am much slower and if she ever feels the need to stretch out those made-for-speed legs of her’s I wouldn’t feel offended in the least.  This was an unusual feeling for me.  I felt awkward and unusually self-conscious.  Then it hit me: I have never run with someone faster than me.  I hadn’t ever given it much thought, but usually I’m the established “runner” and everyone else has been friends that I talk into training for races with me.  I’ve run with plenty of beginners and people who are on par with me, but never someone who’s speed would be a stretch for me.

So, how did it go?

Best Experience Ever!  Seriously.  I need to run with Gazelles always.  Well, maybe not always, not sure my fragile self image could handle that…But seriously, it was amazing.  We chatted and ran and chatted some more.  Sure, on the up hills my breathing was reminiscent of a 80-year-old smoker…but I never felt like I needed to stop or slow down.  We didn’t run at her predicted pace (bless her heart) but we ran a full minute per mile faster than I usually do my long runs.  In fact, I ran this 18-miler a full 5 minutes faster than the 17 miles I ran last Sunday!  A mile farther and five minutes faster!

Now, I do understand that long runs are supposed to be slow runs and that you need to run slower so that you can run faster…but MAN that run felt amazing!  It was great to push during a training run and see how my leg/body/mind would respond.  It’s so great to know that there is potential hidden deep inside whenever I need it.

Oh, and did I mention that at 5am it was already 67, well on the way to being 75+ with full humidity?  Take that hot days of summer!

18 miles.  2 hours 43 minutes 43 seconds. 9:06 minutes per mile.

I didn’t realize that a) I didn’t post my weekly summary on Friday and b) that it’s been so long since my last update!  There is so much great stuff going on right now I can’t believe I haven’t shared.  Well, stay tuned tomorrow for my run-down on my AMAZING 18 mile run today.  For now, I’m going to capture my info from last week

This week’s miles:
Sunday–17 with Andi biking along side
Monday–rest
Tuesday–Jazzercise
Wednesday–12 with 6 at marathon pace (8:27 min/mile)
Thursday–9 with 4 at tempo pace (7:50 min/mile)
Friday–5 recovery miles

Total: 43

This was a step back week in days of running and number of miles ran.  It felt really amazing.  The weather has been so much cooler and I’m back in the habit of getting up early and getting my run done first thing in the morning.  I’m still working out my schedule at work, but it’s looking like I will be able to keep doing my runs in the morning!  I’m so stoked about this.  I love having my evenings free to spend time with Mr. Dawn and do more social fun things.

LIKE: Monday we got to go to our favorite pizza place in town with a friend-couple that has a 2-year-old whom we adore.  It was so fabulous after being gone so much of the summer to just sit and reconnect.  We all have so much fun together and the pizza was amazing!  Wednesday we were going to go to a meeting on campus, but apparently it was rescheduled, so we ended up hanging out with the soccer coach (a friend of Mr. Dawn) after his practice ended and several other people we knew happened by.  Thursday we drove down to eat dinner with a couple that I know from high school/college.  We made dinner at their house, played with their two children, and really enjoyed the company.  Friday we were invited to have dinner on the beach with the math/physics club.  It was such a beautiful night and we both really enjoyed getting to know some of the students a little bit better.  Saturday we ate lunch at the beach with a big group and ended up staying there all afternoon.  We were even able to watch the sunset over the lake.  It was glorious.

I am hoping that all of this wonderful socializing encourages me to continue to wake up early so that I don’t have to say, “Oh, I can’t do that tonight, I have to run!”  Cause, it’s been so much fun to just be able to say, “Sure, sounds great, let’s go!”

OHHHH.  One more thing!  We have found a treadmill that is perfect!  It’s cheap and available   It’s not a huge beastly will-last-us-forever thing, but I think it’s just what we need for right now.  I’m pretty sure that I’m only going to use it when it’s insanely hot (which I hope will not be often), when I’m snowed in, or when I need to run but I want to see the Mr.  We haven’t gotten it yet, but we’re hoping to borrow a truck in the next few days so that we can go pick it up and seal the deal.  Hurray!

So much fabulousness…so little time

This morning I was determined to get my run in before work.  All 12 miles.  I had to get up early, but I kept telling myself how amazing it would be to have a free evening.  And you know what?  I was right!

More exciting than the uninterrupted hours that stretch before me is the glorious tired ache I feel in my legs.  What?  You think its strange that I’m enjoying feeling sore?  Well, this is the first time in a really LONG time that I’ve been able to run hard enough to effect my legs.  I’ve gotten used to being held back by the sun shining or the humid air caught in my lungs or my heart beating out of my chest.  But today…oh today!  It was beautifully cool and the road just reached out and propelled me forward.  The beginning miles were moderately paced, and then I don’t know what happened but I started wondering if I could throw down some marathon pace miles.  And I DID!  Six miles of marathon pace.  Hence my tired legs.  It just felt so fabulous to knock the spiderwebs off and see what these puppies can do.

This doesn’t restore ALL of my confidence, especially since I was supposed to do 10 marathon pace miles two weeks ago…but it did remind me that there is still some potential in these tired old legs of mine…

If I wasn’t a teacher, I would still be acutely aware that it is back to school time.  Most of my girlfriends have school aged children who are experiencing (for the first time) what its like to send the boys and girls off to school for part or all of the day.  My facebook news feed is full with pictures of little girls in skirts with their sparkly backpacks or boys giving a confident thumbs up to the camera.  It’s all very cute and sentimental.

I however, as a teacher, have a completely different reaction to the first day(s) of school.  There’s an eagerness and apprehension that the students all bring with them these first few weeks that doesn’t sit well with me.  I understand that they don’t know me and similarly I don’t know them, but I cannot wait until mid-September when everyone calms down and settles in for the duration.  There’s too much peacocking and jockeying for social position here at the beginning.  Without the anchor of routine and consistency, everyone just seems to float around bumping into each other and causing chaos.

Also, I do more talking on the first day of classes then on any other day.  I like to involve the students and get them invested in the learning process, so a lot of my class times are dedicated to group learning and open problem solving.  Basically, I don’t like to hear myself talk.  So the first day is especially annoying to me.

But, it’s over and done with.  In just another week or so the newness of it all will have rubbed off and we can all sink our teeth into the 2010-2011 school year with vigor!

Meanwhile, on the running front…I am so pleased that I was able to get in all 17 miles on Sunday thanks to my running BFF Andi.  She was willing to wake up early, load up her camelback and three other water bottles, and ride along with me for the humid sweaty miles.  I’m discovering that I really enjoy the bike-along running partners.  They are fabulous for conversation, especially when I’m feeling worn out and dragging.  They are able to carry so much water it’s amazing!  They seem to never tire out.

It was a good run for two specific reasons.  One: I was able to run without stopping at all.  Over the past few weeks with the heat and humidity so high I’ve started walking while taking gu and/or water.  I’ve noticed that this makes it even tougher mentally to keep going later in my run when I’m feeling tired.  Then I start walking even when I’m not consuming anything.  I’ve been scared that I was starting to develop a bad habit or dependency on walking.  So, to be able to run my longest distance (this training round) in the humidity and not stop was a huge success!  Two: I was able to keep my pace reasonably low.  I’ve been seeing my average pace numbers creep higher and higher and it has started to really freak me out.  Now, I never saw any marathon goal pace miles, but I did run the second half faster than the first and my fastest mile was my last one.

So, not huge amounts of progress, but enough to keep me going forward.  Hurray!

8 weeks left til the marathon?  Two months is not very long.  Especially since I felt everything unraveling around me this week.  Sure, one could argue, I got in all my mileage, so how bad could it be?  Well, with the exception of the fun GYRO meet up run on Sunday, I dreaded each run and felt miserable almost the entire time I was running.  Gone are the days when I was able to have marathon pace runs.  Gone are sub-9 paces.  Gone is my confidence.  But I’m here, I survived.

This week’s miles:
Sunday–12; fabulous run with GYRO girls Erika and Nicole
Monday–5 miles and Jazzercise
Tuesday–16 miles
Wednesday–rest
Thursday–5 miles
Friday–10 miles

Total: 48

Oh but there is good news!  Next week is a step back week.  Meaning less mileage and an extra day of rest.  Oh I so need that!  Also, Mr. Dawn comes back tonight.  It has been 16 long weeks since we’ve both been at home.  It is going to refresh and restore me so much to have him here.

School starts Monday.  I hope that it means life with become more structured and I will magically be able to run faster…we shall see…

Now that I’m back home for the duration, I have been cut off from one of my favorite food sources: Whole Foods Vegetarian Sushi.  Wherever I went this summer, I would find the nearest Whole Foods and eat sushi at least 3 times a week.  Well, now the nearest one is a good 3 hours away…not exactly convenient.  So, now I need to make my own.  One trip to the asian market, and I have all the supplies I need.

Pickled Ginger, Wasabi Paste, Rice Vinegar, Brown Rice, Avocado, Carrots, and Cucumber

The hardest part?  Cutting the cucumber and carrots!  Seriously, I couldn’t seem to get them the right size…

Ready to Roll

I got brown rice EVERY where.  All over the table, floor, and some even stuck to my shirt.

Finished Product

Yummy!

So, Erika tagged me to share 10 random facts about myself.  I tend to be under-creative in these, so we’ll see what happens….

1. One year when I worked at summer camp, my nickname was Spiderman.  We got there a week early for staff training and the first night they organized a basketball game.  I tend to be somewhat intense with my defense when playing basketball.  Apparently I was so involved with defending one of the guys thought that I was “all over him like spiderman on a wall” or something to that effect.  It just snowballed from there.  Suddenly I had spidey sense and could fling webs.  At least according to all the other staff.  People even gave me spiderman figurines.  Good times.
2. Maybe I’ll make it a nick-name theme…in high school I played basketball.  I don’t know who started it…maybe the guy I was dating at the time…but people started calling me the Terminator.  Mainly because I would foul out of every single game.  For those of you who don’t watch or care about basketball, that meant that I was always up in other people’s business when I shouldn’t have been.
3. Another camp nickname was from the next summer, post spiderman.  It all started because we had a “Little Rascals” themed party the first week.  I decided to go as Darla.  Cute, right?  Well apparently in my plaid skirt, knee highs, and headband I looked more like Mary Catherine Gallagher (from SNL and the movie “Superstar”).  The director and assistant director kept trying to get me to say “superstar!” and do the whole lunge/hands in the air thing.  I was not amused.  This continued all summer.  Then, when it was time for the talent show the program director and I decided that it would be super funny if I hosted the program AS Mary Katherine.  And I did.  And I was awesome.
4. Since those are all the nicknames I can think of…we’ll move on…I love watching football.  I even remember specifically when the obsession began.  It was 1989 and my family had just moved to Kansas City.  The Chiefs season started and the first time I watched a game, Derrick Thomas (greatest player of all time…) rushed the quarterback, caused a fumble, recovered the ball and scored a touchdown.  My love affair began right then and there.  Perhaps that is also the reason I fouled out of all those basketball games…cause my hero was a linebacker…
5. I love shopping for other people.  Much to the joy of my husband.  He has literally not bought a single item of clothing for himself since the day that we met.  One of the earliest dates he took me on was to Khols to spend the gift card that his mom gave him for Christmas.  I get really excited when its my mom’s birthday because I like finding outfits that I know will look fabulous on her.
6. While I love my job teaching math, lately I’ve had the desire to find something that requires more creativity and/or lets me express myself more fully.  Granted, I have no idea what that might be….
7. I hate grocery shopping.  More than anything else that I can think of (right now…).  I hate the parking.  I hate the carts.  [I still just grab a basket.  I'm pretty sure it's just my internal rebellion against being a grown up.  Having the basket makes me feel more collegiate.]  I hate the aisles.  I hate cart traffic jams.  I hate the checkout lines.  Getting the bags to my car.  Carrying the bags into the house.  Putting everything away.  But most of all?  Realizing that I didn’t get everything I needed and having to go back to the store.
8. Sequence is my favorite board game.  The first time I played we were at my brother’s girlfriend’s parent’s house (now my sis-in-law).  It was on a homemade board and we used poker chips as tokens.  I thought it was a made up game, then I saw it at Target and I got SO excited.  When we first got the game Mr. Dawn and I played so much that we had to change the rules to make the games last longer.
9. I love dresses.  More than anything else they simplify my life.  Instead of having to pick out a top AND bottom, it’s all taken care of in one easy decision.  That way I can focus on the important thing: picking out the perfect pair of shoes
10. Last summer the Mr. and I started backpacking together.  He had done it when he was younger and even though I’d been camping lots I’d never carried everything on my back before.  I fell in love immediately.  We spent every weekend we could exploring different trails, rivers, and lakes.  It was so amazing.  That’s one of the things I’ve missed most about this summer.  Since he’s been gone for the past 16 weeks, we haven’t gotten to do any backpacking.    But he comes back this weekend!  And he’s promised me that this fall we will trapse all over the place.  I. Cannot. Wait.

There you go…not really organized…but I guess that’s the point of “randomness” huh?

Here are the three bloggers I’d like to tag:

Savanna at Confessions of a First Time Marathoner
Erin at The Making of a Runner
Michele at Run Michele Run

I went to my first blogger-meet up over the weekend and it was such a great time!  Erika and I have been trying to find a weekend to meet up and run all summer, but this was the first time we were both in town and free.  I was so excited when she said blogger Nicole from Runner Nic was coming too.  I’ve been following Nicole for awhile and have been totally inspired by her running journey.  We met at a trail that was half way between us.  It was hot.  It was muggy.  But I barely noticed at all.  I was having such a great time chit chatting with new friends.  A couple times I laughed so hard I almost fell down.  It was slightly dangerous.

We decided to downgrade from 16 miles to 12 and so before I knew it we were done.  We met up with another member of GYRO (Get Your Run On!) and her husband for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  YUM!  The girls were planning on going to a running store and we all know that there is no WAY I was going to pass up that opportunity.  First we stopped and got those cupcakes from Cold Stone (remember, with the red velvet…and the pink icing…and sprinkles…so yum).  Before I knew it the running date was over and I was headed home.  All-in-all?  Best first running date EVER.

Since then, a few things have not worked out as I would have liked.  Instead of elaborating and bumming everyone out here’s a condensed version of my Monday and Tuesday:

• remembered last minute that I needed to work ALL day on Monday, which meant I couldn’t do my 16 miler in the morning
• worked all day Monday.  Freshmen testing.  Enough said, right?
• FOUND A DEAD BAT IN MY BASEMENT
• dreamt about bats attacking me in my sleep
• ran 2 miles with KT at 6am (the run was fun, the 6am not so much)
• instead of heading right back out to get in my 16 miles, I got back into bed
• ran the long miserable miles from 9am-11am
• worked all afternoon
• almost fell asleep on my desk

So, that pretty much gets us all caught up.  Erika tagged me to share 10 random things about myself.  Look forward to that tomorrow!

Wow.  I was reminded in a big way that marathon training is HARD.  All week long I felt like I was scraping the bottom of my energy barrel.  Every one of my workouts was a battle of the wills.  First, just to get myself out the door, then to keep going…I’ll admit it…there was a lot of walking.  Throughout the week I tried all different kinds of ways to deal with and/or escape the heat.  Keeping hydrated, running in the morning, running at night, running by the beach, but seriously?  Nothing makes running in this weather any better.

Sunday–10 hour drive home…wish I could count that mileage…
Monday–15 miles of death
Tuesday–4 miles;  & Jazzercise
Wednesday–5 miles and a big fall
Thursday–8 miles w 10x100m strides & Jazzercise
Friday–11 miles

Total Miles: 43

Today, KT was willing to ride her bike with me on my 11 miles.  Bless her!  We left by 7:30am trying to beat the heat.  While it was much cooler, the humidity was around 90%.  Craziness.  It was so nice to have someone to chat with along the way.  My garmin wasn’t charged completely so I left her behind.  Which I think worked out ok, cause I ended up running so slowly I think seeing those numbers would have just made me want to cry.

I am so excited to be going to my first blogger meet-up!  Erika has organized a get together early Sunday morning.  I have 16 miles on the calendar and can’t wait to spend it making new friends.  True, it means that I have to wake up at 5am on a Sunday, but I’m pretty sure its the only way I’m going to get those miles done.  If it were just up to me? I’m pretty sure I’d blow it off.  We’re gonna make the best of the horrible weather and then treat ourselves to breakfast afterward.  Can. Not. Wait.

This summer I spent some time at my parents’ house.  While there I found the box with all my memorabilia from high school and college.  Deep down in the box there was a scrap of paper where I had written out a passage about running that I had found in a magazine or something.  This was from the days long before I started running races or setting goals.

I have no idea who wrote this or really where I found it.  I’ve googled it, trying to give credit where credit is due…but I’ve never found it.  If you know the person who wrote this, please let me know!

Even now these words stir my heart and inspire my spirit.  I feel like this expresses feelings I could never find the words for.

“Why do I run? We know that the effects of training are temporary.  I cannot put fitness in the bank.  If inactive, I will detrain in even less time than it took me to get in shape.  And since my entire persona is influenced by my running program, I must be constantly in training.  So I run each day to preserve the self I attained the day before.  And coupled with this is the desire to secure the self yet to be…I run so I do not lose the me I was yesterday and the me I might become tomorrow.“