I Think I Can ...

Train to run a Half Marathon!

There was a time when this sign represented something difficult for me:

 

Two miles was a struggle. Two miles was counting every step, eager for it to end. Two miles was hard.

Two miles isn't even on my radar anymore. Three miles is a short run. If I only run 2 miles it's because it was too warm outside to keep going, or I was in pain. 

I have signed up for the Irongirl Half Marathon, which will take place on 27 April. The Irongirl came to Columbia in 2012; it's a women-only half-marathon and a 5k. I participated in the 5k the first two years, but inside, I was wondering if I could ever run 13.1 miles. It seemed impossible. But then again, there was a time when 5 miles seemed impossible, and I dashed that off this afternoon after work.

Pausing Mid-Run to Photograph Two Curious Deer

 

I can't quite remember what pushed me over the edge of the decision to sign up for the half. I was kind of thinking of it toward the end of last year, then at some point I just made the decision to do it. They're expensive -- more than what a week's worth of groceries cost. But I think the accomplishment, in the year of my forty-(coughmumble) birthday, will be priceless.

I have begun to train. The route for the half-marathon is a bit hilly .... That spot just past mile 5.24 looks pretty rough! Then the entire last half is uphill all the way! Yikes!

So I've been training in Columbia's Centennial Park for my long runs ... steep hills, but not as long as the ones in Columbia:

Elevation Gain:	687 ft
Elevation Loss:	686 ft
Min Elevation:	316 ft
Max Elevation:	383 ft

I love Centennial Park ... once around is 2.4 miles. It's a gorgeous place to visit.

Particularly in the Autumn.

For my shorter runs, I run after work in the quieter parts of the military base in the next county. It's quite scenic in its own way.

Okay, it's prettier in the other three seasons. This time of year it's just kind of barren and dreary. But there is always wildlife! Deer, fox, groundhogs, geese, ducks ...

And a pretty lake...

The downside is the non-stop construction and the heavy truck traffic in spots. For one memorable week, the sewer lines were being replaced. Oh, the odor ... indescribable.

A look back .... 

My first 5k ... the Irongirl

First 5-miler ... Navy-AF in DC

 

 So far, my only relay (8 miles)

 

I am so excited for this half. I'm only up to 7 miles distance, but I have a bit over 3 months to train for it and I'm halfway there. 

So far my biggest challenges are dealing with my blood sugar issues (the family curse) and talking myself out of purchasing any more running apparel. Athleta is my biggest weakness ... and they're opening a store in Columbia next month. I might have to do like gambling addicts do at casinos, and self-ban.

 

First 10k (of only 2 so far) with Slick

 

I'm counting on you all to keep me motivated!

 

Natural Remedies for the Cold and Flu

You're trucking along in your work out schedule, hitting the gym regularly, extra rest at night... and then one of the kids comes down sick. You're in the clear - so far! - and want to stay that way. What can a body try using to keep the fuzzy head, queazy stomach, fevers, etc away even while taking care of the sick kid(s)? And what might help the children recover a little faster? 

Well, in our house, we use natural means over chemicals whenever we can. Late in 2012, we discovered Young Living Essential Oils to help us overhaul our medicine cabinet. My "Crunchy Skeptic" husband was not so sure of their use or that they would really work at first. So we kept the cold medicines, "sniff-sprays", cough drops, Theraflu, Vapo-Rub, and so on in our cabinet for the first couple of months.

The 2013 Celtic Solstice 5-Mile Run

Subtitled, "Thank God it didn't sleet." At Druid Hill Park in Baltimore City.

I like to think the multi-colored potties are supposed to be a tribute to the multi-colored rowhouses around Druid Hill Park

This was my biggest (as in number of runners) so far. I have some crowd-anxiety, and I did not like being packed into the middle of 5,000 people ... growing more and more irritated as the start time of 0830 neared, and then passed. It turned out we were waiting for the pipers to pass through, and it was just as hard for them to get through 5,000 people as it was for us to stand there waiting! We did hear them coming, though, and they passed through quickly.

The pipers were also on the running route. The elder of the two walked it while piping, and the younger stood at the halfway point, playing Christmas carols. 

The Stieff Silver building in Baltimore City.

I wish I could take pictures and run at the same time! There were runners dressed as Santas, and lots of plaid and several kilts. Two women ran inside of gift-wrapped boxes with their arms poking through. I didn't dress up, but in retrospect I wish I had! I was so anxious about the weather (was supposed to sleet) I was trying to plan for rain or sleet, and didn't think about any of the sparkly fun skirts I bought just for events like this! Although I would have needed a plaid one to fit in.

The lady photobombing me is friends with the lady taking my picture. 

My finish time was 54:51. I'm not sure my Garmin functioned properly -- I looked at the graph, and it doesn't show where I stopped for water. Hmmm. 

Druid Hill Park, like all of Baltimore City, is very hilly. My Garmin tells me the route went up 404 feet, and dropped 414. The entire first half mile was uphill, pretty steep, but it was a there-and-back, so we got to charge back down that hill at the end. Most of the time, I was running in such a tight pack I couldn't tell if I was going up or down hill. It was like a stampeding herd. 

Doesn't this look like black coffee? Well ... it's not! Boordy's Vineyard employees were in the tent, dispensing generous servings of their wassail.  It was delicious and warmed me up for the long walk back to my car.

Post Wassail

 

Three-story rowhouses, from the rear

From an overpass

I'm glad I went out for this (I got a super technical shirt with a side zipper so cleverly hidden I didn't even see it till I was in the food line), but the crowd was really a bit much for me. It was difficult to maneuver on the park path, which is about 5 people wide, when there were thousands trying to get up to their running speed and the snow and ice prevented run-arounds. There were no corrals, and it wasn't even possible to line up according to your pace, which would have really helped -- we were all just crammed into this intersection, and it was a big bottleneck. I couldn't even run until I had actually crossed the start line.

On the plus side, the entire run was inside the park, so there were no cars to deal with. When we circled the lake, an older lady walked around us the opposite direction, yelling at us from what I presume was a Bible. I don't know what part she was reading, I just remember how grim and angry she was. Must have been Old Testament. Or Revelations. Anyway, it wasn't anything uplifting or encouraging, judging by her expression and tone! I was a bit irritated by her. We're just out there running, you know? We're not drinking and smashing bottles or watching strippers, we're just running. On a Saturday morning. Maybe she thought the Solstice part was pagan and was preaching against that. 

I don't have any more runs scheduled. There's a zombie run in March I've got my eye on, and the half marathon I'm hoping to do in April, but I haven't signed up for anything yet.

Merry Christmas!

 

A Really Cold 10K

The 2nd Annual Columbia Turkey Chase. I placed about halfway through my age group (40 - 49, seems kind of a big age group!) It was 25 degrees, but with the wind chill it felt like 14. And the wind ... oh, the wind. Look over my shoulder, to the left of the picture, at the silver sheet billowing off of that guy's shoulders. It was terrible. I was so bundled up I'm surprised I could move! My thighs were frozen for most of the day.

It was a great run, and spectators actually came out and braved the cold. I love to run in Columbia. It's so pretty, and the people who are stuck in their cars while we pass don't curse at us or blow their horns (like they do in Baltimore City, which, ironically, is nicknamed "Charm City.")

1:07:25, terrain had a 358-foot rise (it was marketed as a "relatively flat" 10k, to which I say bullarky!)

Next up: Baltimore City Celtic Solstice 5-mile run. 14 December. I never thought I'd see the day when a 5-mile run would be a shorter run for me.

To Your Good (Crunchy, Holistic) Health: Honey!

I know that my two hard-charging, runner buddies Slick and Spinster Beth are pretty serious about their workout schedules, and both have 9-5 jobs they hold every day as well. I have a job too, but it is certainly not 9-5 and my "bosses" can make things difficult to get to the gym. Getting a good workout in, unfortunately, rarely means getting an elevated heart rate. I can get a bit of a weight-lifting workout in with the "Grow With Me" weight system (aka: 5 kids), but try taking a "fast" walk with kids all around!

So to counterbalance the lack of steady exercise, I pay closer attention to keeping my immune system strong. I am a pretty Crunchy person. I don't like going to the doctor, don't like immunizations (a whole 'nother story), I don't like pills - whether prescription or over the counter - you get the idea! So I tend towards holistic methods for health care, for me and the children!

Stretching my Running Legs

Last May, I started moving away from 5ks and into slightly longer runs. I started with a 6k, then a 10k, then a 5-miler (which is 8k), then -- deep breath -- an 8 mile run. It feels really good to be stretching my runs out. I am currently working on a 12-week half-marathon training schedule, but since the halfs I want to run are in March and April 2014, I'm extending the schedule a bit. Instead of increasing one mile during the weekly long run, I'm just increasing a half mile; the other two runs per week are a 3-mile easy run, and a 4-mile run/4 mile run with hill training. There's an extra 3-mile easy run listed, but I am likely not going to run 4x a week.

I can't believe that I have stuck with this! I started "jog-walking" back in August 2011. My 5k time was 44 minutes. Now it's about 32. The winners in my age group tend to come in around 25, but to be honest, I'm only competing against myself, and right now, I'm more interested in distance than speed. And now that the weather is cooler, I can run a lot further.

I ran two races in September; the Navy-Air Force 5-miler (with half marathon), and an eight mile relay, which was half of the Howard County Striders Metric Marathon. The Navy 5-Miler required getting up extra early to drive from Baltimore to the nearest DC Metro Station, which was about a half hour. Then another half hour on the train. If you had told me two years ago that I would be willing to get up at 0500 on a Saturday morning ... to travel an hour to run 5 miles ... I wouldn't have believed it.

Navy 5-Miler (Washington, DC, Potomac Park) 14 September. I loved this run! I'm the one with my arms up, in a pink skirt, just about to enter the crosswalk. My friend Laura lives in DC and skateboarded over to take my picture along the route and cheer me on. Thanks, Laura!

Here I am afterward. I'm wearing my new Wonder Woman t-shirt. Behind me, you can see the Washington Monument in its scaffolding, being repaired finally from the earthquake.

This was an awesome run. It was flat and fast, and I kept a good pace throughout the race. If I remember correctly, I stayed under 11 minutes for the whole five miles, and for me, that's downright speedy.

Howard County Striders Metric Marathon and Relay, 21 September, Columbia, MD

Slick and I signed up for this relay back in July, I think ... and then Slick hurt her knee. The week before the run. Oh noes! I was panicky, she was bummed out, but the race master assured me we could transfer the registration to someone else. Okay -- great! Who do we know that is willing to run 8 miles early on a Saturday? With two days' notice?

Fortunately, our third friend Melissa knows half the people in the state of Maryland and about a quarter of the population of the East Coast. She immediately found someone who was willing to do it, but wasn't too sure she could manage 8 miles on such short notice (two days!), Stacy Y. Slick asked Stacy Wednesday night; Thursday, Stacy went out and ran six miles to see if she was in good enough shape, then she called and said she'd do it. YAY!!! Saved the day!

Slick volunteered at the race, and was at the relay station handing out water, Gatorade, and Power Bars. I started out at 0815 with the 11:30 pacers. Columbia is hilly -- the last two miles were uphill, and there was one really gruesome spot that was a very steep grade, uphill, and I could barely walk up it. It was awful. Then approaching the relay point was another uphill, but I found the strength to get the last of that 8.28 miles out and handed the relay tube to Stacy.

I was running. It doesn't look like it, but I was. 

Stacy Y., coming in to the finish at Warp One!

Finishers! 

 

So, I don't have any more races planned except a Halloween run. I was hoping to run the Run Geek Run in DC this coming weekend, but I've had an unexpected interruption to my income, so I'm going to have to sit out the races until it gets straightened out. Even though I've moved past the 5ks ... a zombie run sounds *really* fun.

Toodles!

A Summer Break

Just a quick post to let everyone know we're still around!

The three of us had an enjoyable vacation together in Scotland in July.

We visited the HMS Britannia ... 

Hit up a distillery ...

Climbed a mountain ...

 Posed in front of some large majestic buildings ...

Went shopping ...

Drove on the wrong side of the road, in the wrong side of the car ...

 We drove down to Hadrian's Wall in England, where a Canadian man expressed astonishment that my friends' husbands "let" them take a vacation on their own.

And we did not eat Haggis.

Slick and I went for a run in Edinburgh, where we predictably enough got lost. Edinburgh is very, very, very hilly. We got a very good workout! We didn't need to exercise anymore after that, because aside from walking ten miles a day, we climbed a freakin' mountain. Seriously. Arthur's Seat. 250 meters! I was sore from that for days. Then at Melrose Abbey, we climbed up a winding circular staircase that was about a half-mile high. So we got *lots* of exercise!

So, on to the races ...

I have only ran four races so far this year, 3 5ks, a 6k, and a 10k. That's five races, isn't it? I'm not known for my math skills. For the remainder of the year, I have signed up for the Navy Air Force 5-Mile run in DC on 14 September, and Slick and I are going to run the Metric Marathon Relay in Columbia, MD, on 21 September. 8 miles each. I'm currently working up to that! I'm at 5 miles now.

Now that I'm in my stride, I'm probably going to stop running the 5ks (except for the Halloween Dash at work, where I hope to be Wonder Woman this year). At $25-$35 each, I'd rather save my money up and run the bigger races. I am hoping to run a half-marathon in April -- the 3rd Annual Irongirl Half Marathon, which is for women only. I have run the 5k portion the last two years. If I take it slowly and am careful, I am sure I can get up to 13 miles by the end of April 2014. It certainly gives me something to work towards.

The last couple months, every time I see one of those 13.1 stickers on someone's car, I am just filled with both envy and determination. I really want to earn one of those stickers!!