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Happiness is a New Skirt (and Indian Food)

28 January 2011, 4:13 am

Look what came in the mail today:

My order from Running Skirts!  Hooray for new skirts!  I also got socks which is pretty cool.  This is my second (really third) skirt from RunningSkirts.com and now I’m super jazzed about wearing it to the 3M Half Marathon this Sunday.  My preference is for the athletic skirt since it has compression shorts underneath.  The last time I ordered, I bought one of the running skirts on clearance.  It’s a bit tight so I haven’t worn that one yet.  One of my favorite things about the skirt is the pockets on the sides.  The fabric is fantastic! 

Although I recently made the point to write that I needed to cook more, Mitch and I decided to go out for dinner.  I did actually buy ingredients for tonight, but we took the night off from working out to take care of some errands. 

However, dinner was healthy and something we wanted to try anyway. Under the recommendation of our friends  Christie and Vincent, we went to Tarka Indian Kitchen.  Tarka is similar in concept to Pei Wei.  They are both the “quicker and more casual” equivalents of their original restaurants, the Clay Pot and P F Chang’s.   

The food was fantastic! Since there are plenty of vegetarian options, I would love to add Indian food to our home menu.  It’s been years since I’ve had Indian food so I was happy to try it again so I could compare the home version to the real deal.  But before I can experiment at home, I might have to go back a few more times.  Just so I can get the spices right.

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Bento Box Please

27 January 2011, 6:11 pm

Today while walking the dogs I gave some serious thought to my diet.   One of the reasons is that last week I rewarded myself with one of my favorite treats for a good run.  Mmmm, gummi bears and Fringe, what more could you want out of life?  Not much more if my thoughts on the subject are to be believed (Rasputina reference). 

Anyway, I was walking along with Blaze and Dora and thought about my choice of treats and of the previous evening’s dinner of potato pancakes, oj, and applesauce.   Although the pancakes were fried in olive oil, it wasn’t too bad of a dinner since everything involved was ”organic.” 

Wink, wink, doesn’t organic mean good for you? Such as the dessert of the Haagen Daz five ingredient ice cream?  It only has five ingredients, how could that be bad?

So the gummi bears and Fringe are not an isolated incident, but rather one of  a few poor choices. My new goal is to try to eat better and to cook more often.  One of the biggest problems is that I eat too many processed foods.  For example,  the Amy’s freezer selections have become my normal staple for lunch.  Although for a frozen entree, they are probably the closest approximation to real food.  However, the sodium levels are unacceptable high. 

Although this is a lame excuse: ever since I went to a vegetarian diet, I’ve lost all desire to cook.  Which is a shame since I was a pretty decent cook and I enjoyed it thoroughly.  Now it’s a chore and I feel like I’ve lost inspiration even though I have a small library of cookbooks.  It’s like a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear.

One of the things I did to find neat ideas for lunches was to google vegetarian lunch. The Vegan Lunch Boxcame up and this gave me some new ideas.  The author, Jennifer McGann, has such a pretty, well done blog.  I would highly recommend browsing her site. 

Maybe it’s not as hard I’ve been making it out to be, maybe I just need a bento box to make my lunch fun again…

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My favorite poem:

19 January 2011, 4:20 am

God Says Yes to Me – Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don’t paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I’m telling you is
Yes Yes Yes
In one of my attempts to be a sunnier person, I picked up the book “Life is a Verb” by Patti Digh.  Unfortunately, mission not accomplished, but I do love the poem above which was feaured in the book.
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Marathon Anxiety

18 January 2011, 4:45 am
Strategy for a Marathon

I will start
when the gun goes off.
I will run
for five miles.
Feeling good,
I will run
to the tenth mile.
At the tenth
I will say,
Only three more
to the halfway.”
At the halfway mark,
13.1 miles,
I will know
fifteen is in reach.
At fifteen miles
I will say,
You’ve run twenty before,
keep going.”
At twenty
I will say,
Run home.
— Marnie Mueller

I am a bad, bad monkey who has yet to sign up for the Austin Marathon, the last race of the RunTex Distance Challenge.  It plagues me and keeps me up at night which makes me feel like a drama queen.  I’ve tried hard the last couple of years to shake off that persona, but it lies dormant in my marathon anxiety.  I keep thinking that I should do the half marathon and drop down to the half track of the series. 
But a whiney voice in my heads keeps saying “buuuttt, I don’t wanna do the half…” Which means that I need to buck up, quit crying and give the nice people at the Austin Marathon my $120 bucks and get over it.
I keep reminding myself that last year I ran the marathon and completed the Distance Challenge which was great in theory.  But afterwards I was a little depressed which can be classified as a normal reaction if you research it enough on the internet.  One of the things that “they” stress is this achievement is a life changing experience.  However, the way the marathon changed my life was that I wrote crazy letters to a couple of people to express my dissatisfaction over services rendered.
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Rogue Fat Ass Trail Series: The Mule

5 January 2011, 4:00 am

The second of the trail series was a few weeks back on November 21, but I think I’m still a little shocked.  For the series, I came in fifth in the women’s open division.  Crazy.

My winning a trophy is a definite example of how it pays to keep on, keeping on.  I’m not going to delude myself into thinking I’m one fast chicken on the trail, but I do keep trekking.  You had to sign up for the series to be eligible for the award that I won.  There was also awards for each of the individual races.

It was fantastic to win award since I’m normally the person taking pictures of the people who are winning awards.  Mitch, le homme, and our friend Vincent have a few cacti from the previous races and toilet paper trophies from the Fat Ass runs. 

One of the things that really struck me about this race was how extremely nice and talented all of the runners were.  Every time I was able to pass someone, they would move off to the side of the trail.  I also had plenty of opportunities to extend the same courtesy to the other runners.  It was amazing how many people were adept at running the trails. 

And… mmm, they also treated the runners to hamburgers and veggie burgers!  The veggie burgers were top notch!  And I mean that in the most complimentary ”Top Notch (best Austin restaurant for hamburgers)” kind of way since I won’t eat “real” hamburgers anymore.

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Turkey Trotting

28 December 2010, 2:59 pm

Ah, the joy of the Turkey Trot! 

Every year when I run the Turkey Trot, I swear that I will never run this race again.  But if I do, I’m taking Blaze and doing it untimed.  This year was no exception, except the thought hit me a little earlier than usual.

The only reason the “trot” irritates me is that people do not know how to line up properly.  Grrr….so frustrating.   The idea behind the line up is that the faster runners with the timing chips are in the front and the slower untimed people are in the back.  This year I lined up with the people who were running an 8 1/2 minute mile which was pretty close to the front, but yet I was still stumbling past people who were walking at the very beginning.

Sigh. 

People need to realize that the rules of the road are the rules of the road.  That means scoot your getting passed ass over to the right.

However, two positives things happened.

The first was that I achieved my goal of “meg-ing”* someone who had been, maybe unwittingly, a little snide.  It was one of le homme’s co-workers who I passed little after mile one.  This was my motivation to go faster than usual since I didn’t want to see him pass me.  It was a quiet victory since I didn’t act like an ass about it.

Since I was running faster than usual, my time was much better than the previous year.  Unfortunately, the course was short and no one knew until the end.  It was shocking to see the time as less than forty minutes for a five mile course.  My bubble was burst when the two men next to me started bitchen about the course being 4.5 miles as opposed to the 5 miles. 

Oh, and something else: I ran an 8 1/2 minute mile pace so I was lined up correctly.  Wink, wink!  Next year, I’m taking Blaze!

(psst..*”Meg-ed” to be passed by me.  I cannot stand the word “chick-ed.”  It’s incredible rude. I’ve run with many women who are faster than most men.)

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Running in the Rain

28 December 2010, 4:24 am

There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.

Hagakure

On Christmas Eve I went for my normal seven mile run throughout Georgetown.  This route makes a big loop that starts from my abode through the city past Southwestern University to San Gabriel park which then completes the circle back to the casa.  One of the reasons I do this loop is that I’m never too far from the house while my store is still open.   A little nutty, I know.

One of the other perks of this run is that it consists mainly of going uphill.  Hooray hills!  The philosophy behind this is that “hills are speed work in disguise” which I definitely need all the help I can get.  It also seems like hills help me prevent injuries. 

Back to the Christmas run…

The sky was threatening a rainstorm before I left the house.  Since I live in Texas, I was unsure if the clouds were an empty threat and I went out despite the gray skies.  Another reason the drab sky wasn’t bothering me was that it was nice that it finally looked (and felt) like winter.  Our weather has been mild (verging on hot) with blue skies for the past few months.

The first half of the run was clicking away with just an okay feeling.  It was hard to keep it together, but my pace was fine.  Like I mentioned before, this is an uphill run so I kept reminding myself the pace would be a little slower.  I was also thinking that on the plus side, there is a stretch of flat up ahead with a nice downhill at the university and past the dog park.  This part of the run went okay.  Normally, I can pull it together at this point, but I  just wasn’t feeling it.  It was a meh moment.  At this point I could have cut the run short, but I know it’s not an option at this point in training.  Since I wasn’t injured and just feeling bratty, I kept going.  Even if the run was so-so, there was at least bragging rights with the family later on.

At mile five, when I got the the last part of the run, the sky opened up and it began to rain.  The rain wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t a drizzle.  I got less than another half mile when the sky opened up and I was stuck in the middle of a horrible storm.  The rain came on so quickly that the water was as high as the curb.  The wind also began to blow hard and it made it difficult to move forward.  One of my major concerns was the drivers on the road.  Georgetown drivers are the worst drivers who don’t slow down in the rain!  I admit I’m a nervous nelly, but these folks are horrible.  My thoughts were “oh, great, I’m soaked and I’ll get flattened by one of these jerks!”  When I finally got home, I was completely soaked.  My i pod and Garmin luckily survived for which I am very grateful. 

This run made me feel a little foolish though.  It’s funny, I’ll run in awful weather for a race.  This means that I’ll pay money to run in shit weather, but I feel silly running by my lonesome.  If you’re wondering, it’s not because I feel like I need to get my money’s worth. As in since it’s spent, I should go run it.  But rather, my thoughts are that misery loves company and we all love to reminisce about it once it’s all over at the next year’s starting line.

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IBM Uptown Classic

3 December 2010, 4:01 am

A few months ago I ran the IBM Uptown Classic as part of the RunTex Distance Challenge.  For those not in the know, this race kicks off the season with the fastest 10k in central Austin.  One of the more impressive things about this race is that it is relatively flat, an oddity in itself for the Austin terrain.  As of yet, this is one of the fastest 10ks I’ve run with a time of 52:29 which isn’t too shabby.  I beat the previous year by about five minutes, but there’s a reason for that gap.

Last year I was an ass.  Yes, an ass.  The sad thing is that I was such an ass that I can remember it easily to this day.

It pains me to admit it but I did a silly, silly ass thing the day previous to the race.  For a week and a half prior to the race I was ill with a bad cold so I wasn’t able to run.  During that time I was able to hunker down with the fantastic book that will motivate even a non runner to throw on a pair of kicks and run around the block:  Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.

From that book, I got the idea in my head that I should run around barefoot on the track of one of the local middle schools in order to help my form…the night before a race.  My thoughts were that it would establish if I was in fact feeling better since I was almost over my cold and it would also help with my form the next day since I was unable to run for the week previous.  Keep in mind that I was running barefoot in October.  It might be central Texas, but it’s still not the brightest idea.  Despite the cooler weather I was felt like I was in tip top shape, but I discovered that tracks are unforgiving surfaces.  This lesson was driven home a few hours later when each one of my toes had a blister. 

Fast forward to the next morning when I (and my ten blisters) headed to the starting line at IBM for the longest feeling 10k in my “racing” career.  In fact this 10k was the quickest to date, but  it felt longer than the ones that took well over one hour.  Of course ten of those reasons were the blisters, but I also cut up my forefoot on both feet.  In a way it worked out, because with every painful step I knew I wasn’t heel striking.  The first half of the race went surprising well considering the foot issues. 

However, the race fell apart after three and half miles when the final stages of a cold decided to act up.  It was an awful feeling when my body took that moment to expel the remnants of the cold. I had a horrible coughing fit that was so bad that it made me gag. 

(An aside:  To the nice lady that was running next to me that day, I sincerely apologize because I know I really grossed you out.    I know you were torn that day between wanting to be of assistance and wanting to get the hell away from me as quickly as possible.  I like to think that I helped contribute to a new PR for you that day. )

Although I could continue my tale of woe, but I’m sure you get the picture of my health that day and the lack of sense that I exhibited the days prior to the race.  In fact when looking at last year’s time, my first 5k was 26:44 and the second half was almost four minutes slower at 30:34 for a grand total of 57:18. 

Sigh.

But to comment on this year’s run, I was disappointed not to run the 10k in 50 minutes which was my goal.  To be honest, those two and half minutes depressed me for a few weeks afterwards.  It’s amazing how long two minutes can actually be.  They were the same two minutes that prevented me from having a half marathon time less than two hours last year.

(FYI in a post to come: I ditched those two minutes on Scenic Blvd.)

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I don’t like 5ks, but it’s okay if you do.

8 November 2010, 5:04 pm

This past weekend I went to the Rally to Restore, the Austin satellite edition, so I decided not to act like a complete nut about not liking 5ks.  

These thoughts on 5ks came to me yesterday on my birthday seven mile run.  I would have run my years, but there was no way in hell I was running 34 miles and to reverse the numbers would have made it worse. (My other thoughts were to run Blaze dog’s dog years, but he’s about even with me and it’s not his birthday.  Plus, his real years would have been too short.) 

Anyway.

So I was running along and the thought occurred that I really dislike running 5ks to the point that I find them distasteful.  But then the wondering began, are they really that bad?  And what makes them bad?

My thoughts went to my run group coaches:

 Our Monday night coach loves them, excels at them, and wins (or at least places in the top ten).  His advice to run a successful 5k was to run it like a smart two mile race and to dig deep for that last mile (and a tenth).  And DO NOT go out too fast. He’s also said that he has some level of discomfort the entire race.

Sigh.  So true.

 The Wednesday coach has never stated his opinion on them to me, but he did make a valid point about running a mile race.  He said that it was completely different pain that you have to make friends with to have a successful race. 

Sigh.  Another good point.

My conclusion was since I am more a mid to long distance runner that the shorter distances hold very little appeal.  Because the ”shorter distances” are about a pain that I really have no desire to hang out with and befriend. For some reason, that’s not the type of friendship that appeals to me at the moment. 

However, here comes the sanity, if you like them than I highly encourage you to run them.  I think they’re great for raising money for charities, for me to volunteer at, and for other people to participate in.  Hell, I’ll even cheer for you.  Which is, by the way, one of my favorite things to do. But I won’t join you at the starting line.

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Rogue Fat Ass Trail Series: the Shore

8 November 2010, 3:24 pm

Here’s a little background on my trail experience:

For the past few years (three almost four), I have avoided trail running like the plague due to an injury that occurred from running at Emma Long Park in Austin.  The end result of a potentially long story is that I  broke my anklein the middle of the trail.  The wobble back to the car was without a doubt the  longest mile and a half of my life.  After this experience I have been hesitant to run on a trail again.

Before I injured myself and got struck with “the fear”, I was quick and nimble out in the woods.  When I ran Emma Long, it was so much more enjoyable than running Town Lake or the neighborhood.  So when le homme races in the trail series every year it strikes a chord of envy.  It seems like everyone who participates in the spring trail series has a blast.  The races are well organized, have a great feel and they give away stellar shirts (always a plus-like they say, never underestimate the power of a free shirt).

Sigh.

That’s why I was so excited to see that Rogue is hosting a two trail race series geared more for the beginner trail runner.  This past Sunday I ran my first trail race at Lake Bastrop in the Rogue Fat Ass Trail Series which starts this blog off perfectly for two reasons: a. it was a extremely positive experience and b. my performance was truly the average of everyone who ran.

The trail itself was beautiful and not at all technical which was a nice introduction back into trail.  Since I had not been out there before, I kept my pace well slower than I would have if I knew the trail was more of a path.  My concern was that the course would become more technical as it went along. Since the course was an out and back I ended up with negative splits which was another hooray.  It was a slow race, but it was a smart race.

In case you’re wondering, you didn’t have to have  a Fat Ass to participate in the race, but rather the term “Fat Ass” refers to particular style of race that has minimum course support and a lack of swag.  It’s normally a longer race with a lack of formality.  (I didn’t know what the term meant until recently when that type of race was featured in Runner’s World. )  However, this race was very well organized as to be expected since Rogue hosted the event.  (I don’t think they could put on a bad race!)

  (In case your wondering: that’s me in the white hoodie and the trademark skirt, Talmedge is on my right and Lisa and Vincent are on my left.)

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