Friday, January 29, 2010

10 things that make me happy

I was tagged a few days ago by Cassie and am finally getting this up.

In no particular order, 10 things that make me happy:

1. Jeff- I'm not going to get all sappy or anything, but I love being married to Jeff. He's a great husband and a great guy in general. I'm a lucky girl.
2. Tri Zones- I really love being part of Tri Zones. When I moved to Austin and found Tri Zones I couldn't believe how encouraging and accepting everyone was! Real coaching makes a HUGE difference too. I know I've said it here before but I just can't explain how awesome it is to do a triathlon with so many friends and see even more friends out on the course cheering their hearts out for us! It's just an amazing training group and I'm really lucky to be part of it.Photo by Tom MarekPhoto by Tom Marek
Photo by Tom Marek

3. Connor and Katie- My dogs are the best! They've brought me so much joy over the past 10 and 7 years. I've had Connor just about my entire adult life. I love coming home and being greeted by two super happy chocolate labs! And I love taking them to the park and watching them jump into the water after a frisbee or a stick. I have tried and tried to take pictures of them jumping into the water but it never works.
4. Austin- Austin is by far my favorite place I have ever lived. There are tons of cool little restaurants and shops and new ones open up all the time (they're unique too, not just the same places you have in every other city). I have lots of choices for bike riding and I can even ride to and from work which is really cool. Austin has parks and greenbelts everywhere, I can drive 10 mintues and go hiking or trail running and feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere. I can also drive 20 minutes and go boating on Lake Austin. And people are super friendly in Austin.
5. Sunshine- I am definitely a solar powered human. David once said I must have chlorophyll in my blood. I love sunny days and I love to be outside in the sun as much as possible. I can't wait for summer!Photo by Tom Marek

6. Town Lake- Since my first run at Town Lake I knew I would always love running there, but I didn't realize I would also love kayaking, swimming, and people watching at Town Lake. I'm also amazed at how beautiful Town Lake is, every time I drive or run over the lake I love looking out at the water.

7. Friends-I am so lucky to have some really great friends.Photo by Nicki DuBose
8. Milkshakes- I know everyone thinks cupcakes and gordough's are my favorite foods, but honestly milkshakes are my true weakness, and vanilla is almost always my first choice. My favorites are from the Alamo, Amy's, and Phil's (you would think Amy's and Phil's would have the same milkshake, but they are surprisingly different, but both really good). I guess there are no milkshake pictures on the blog because they just aren't as photogenic as cupcakes and crazy donuts. Maybe that will change after the marathon. The milkshake below is from the Big Top Candy Shop on South Congress, I haven't had a milkshake from there yet, maybe after the marathon.
9. Being a Triathlete-If you had told me 10 years ago that I would do a triathlon someday, I would have said you were crazy. But I have been a triathlete for almost 7 years now. I'm not fast, but I have so much fun that it doesn't really matter. I love the challenge of a tough workout and trying to improve each season.
Photo by Tom Marek
Photo by Tom Marek

10. Accomplishment- I'm blatantly stealing this one from Cassie because I like it. "Hard work and dedication do pay off. I've always been goal-oriented. Its not the goal itself that is what matters - its accomplishing what I've set out to do."
Photo by Jake North

I tag Nicki, Amy, Matt, Maggie, and Richard

Sunday, January 24, 2010

3M Half Marathon

Tri Zones at 3M, photo by Tom Marek

The 3M half marathon is the 6th race in the Austin Distance Challenge. Saturday night Jeff and I had chicken avocado salad for dinner and I felt like I barely slept at all. I got up triathlon early since they were starting the race at 6:45 in the morning! I got to Sandra's office about 2 minutes before Julie, Sandra, Nicki, and Peggy and they immediately told me I was going to freeze to death in a sleeveless shirt, arm warmers and a running skirt. I was pretty sure they were right. The weather website said 55 degrees, but it was definitely not 55 degrees! We ran over to the start and waited, and waited and waited. Turns out the wind was so strong that it was blowing barricades over and the city police and volunteers needed more time to get them set up and secured enough for the crazy strong wind. We ended up waiting about an hour and I was freezing! Me, Nicki, and Julie waiting for the start and freezing. Photo by Tom Marek

Kenneth acted as my wind block for awhile, Nicki found someone's throw away sweat pants for me, and Julie rubbed my legs like a massage therapist- thanks guys!!Julie rubbing my legs to warm them up, I was freezing, thanks Julie! Photo by Tom Marek

When we finally started I was cold for about the first mile or two, but then with the sun I started to feel good. Sandra and I were going to try to run marathon pace, but we knew that would be tough on the fast, mostly downhill 3M course, especially with a 20-30 mph tailwind! Sandra and I just after starting. Photo by Tom Marek

We saw Tom taking pictures right at the start, Mandy passed us on our first walk break, and we saw Rita shortly after that. Just before the first rest stop I saw Carolyn and Tina in front of us, I thought we'd catch them and run with them for awhile, but after the stop, I couldn't see them anymore, I wasn't sure if they got ahead or behind us. On Spicewood Springs we saw Laura, Amy, and Sarah R. and gave them high fives! Somewhere along Spicewood or Mesa there was a group of jugglers on the course- fun! On Shoal Creek and Foster we saw Annette, Tom, Vicki and Emmy. Sandra and I at Shoal Creek. Photo by Tom Marek

We looked for Jeff, but he ended up being a little late to see us, with the long delay he didn't have any way to time when we'd come by.
Running on Foster with the sun right in my eyes! Photo by Tom Marek

By this time I think we had run 1 mile at marathon pace the rest were faster, I kept telling Sandra we should slow down, but neither of us really did. At one point she said, "but don't you think we're dong marathon effort?" I agreed that we were running pretty easy and could keep up that effort for 5+ hours so we just went with it. Just after the relay exchange point we saw Kristen, who had an awesome 6.7 mile run today, her longest yet!

On Burnet we saw Stacey H. wearing a cool Mardi Gras mask, and on North Loop we saw Leah. At a water stop on North Loop Diane caught up to us and ran the rest of the way with us. Duval was fun to run on because it's really downhill and because so many people were out in their yards cheering. We saw Rita again, and Jody on Duval and Amy again on campus. We ran the last 2 miles at a harder effort and I knew even if we didn't speed up, all 3 of us would PR.Coming in to the finish, don't know why I'm sticking my tongue out at Tom! Photo by Tom Marek

We saw a barricade blow onto the course on Duval, it was pretty amazing how fast that barricade just scooted into the street! If someone had been in the way, I'm sure they would have tripped. The wind really was pretty crazy, but since it was at our backs most of the race, it didn't seem like a big deal most of the time.
Showing off my new Tri Zones headband, our Tri Zones Winter Running Goodie. Photo by Tom Marek

We came in at 2:25:05, which for me is a 2:49 PR over Decker in Dec. I'm really happy with that especially considering we were taking it easy and trying to run marathon effort. I had an absolutely awesome time running today! It was so much fun to see so many Tri Zoners out spectating and cheering us on! It ended up being beautiful running weather, nice and sunny which just makes me happy, and a PR was just icing on the cake.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

This is why I love living in Texas

I was going to take a picture of the beautiful weather outside, but then I realized I left my phone at home. So I guess me telling you it's January 21st and it's 75 degrees, sunny, and beautiful here will have to do for now.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

RunTex 20 miler

The RunTex 20 miler is race number 5 in the Austin Distance Challenge. It was also Sandra's and my first 20 mile run. It was absolutely frigid on Sunday morning, 20 degrees and the weather said calm wind, but I could feel a little breeze at times.

This was by far the coldest weather I have ever attempted to run in! I was fairly comfortable in my compression socks, a pair of regular tights and a pair of fleece lined thicker tights over them, a long sleeved wool base layer, my warmest long sleeved fleece lined bike jersey and a fleece jacket over that, light gloves, a balaclava, a hat over that and a scarf. I hoped having a couple of layers over my face and mouth would warm up the air going into my lungs and keep my breathing working well. I hoped to be able to take off the fleece jacket after a few miles. I was only really cold for the first couple of miles but I never got hot and I didn't take off my fleece jacket until mile 13, so I guess I was dressed just about perfect for the conditions (and considering I have zero cold tolerance).

The first 10 miles went by quickly, Sandra and I were feeling good, chatting, noticing livestock and wildlife, and frozen ponds along the way. We saw Kristen and Kendra cowbelling around mile 2 and again a few miles later, of course it was awesome to see them! Both my breathing and my stomach were ok, not great but not terrible either. We made a pit stop at the mile 10 rest stop and I noticed my legs really didn't want to get going again after the stop. Not cool but I figured it would just take a minute to get them going again. Over the next 3 miles they just started to hurt more and more, very not cool because my legs haven't hurt like that in a long time, maybe since Longhorn 2008. They didn't hurt on our 16 mile runs, our 18 mile run, any of my half marathons, so why did they hurt today?? I was starting to think it was going to be a long last 7 miles. We saw Kristen and Kendra again just before mile 13 and we stopped at that rest stop for a few minutes.

At this point, Sandra was obviously feeling great and I was hurting, but she told me over and over that she didn't mind taking the last few miles slow "it's just a training run", she reminded me to drink, asked if I needed to stretch, told jokes, pointed out livestock, and everything else she could do to just keep me going. She talked me into a stretching break at mile 17, but honestly I think the most painful part of the run was getting moving again after that break, oh well, it was worth a try. I knew we would see Kristen and Kendra again between mile 18 and 19 and I just tried to focus on getting to them, since at that point I would have less than 2 miles to go. We saw them at 18.7, they ran/walked with us for a little while then we just had 1.2 miles to go. Finally we made it to the finish line! We ended up finishing in about 4:25, but about 15 minutes of that was pit stops and the stretching break.

I finished the run, and that was really my only goal, but man this one hurt! I don't know why my legs hurt today when they haven't in a long long time. I guess it just wasn't a great running day for me. Hopefully I got my tough run out of the way and the marathon will go well for me now.

Super Huge THANK YOU to Kristen and Kendra for coming out and cowbelling for us today, and especially to Sandra for everything today! You guys seriously helped pull me through today and I really appreciate it!!