More Random Notes

Love, love, love my new Garmin (Forerunner 10). I love being able to make up routes on the fly. I love being able to get accurate mile splits. I'm going to love keeping track of my pace as I go, once my tempo and speed runs are outside again (and occasionally run on the way to work). Plus, it's bright green.

I'm leaning back towards the FIRST method of marathon training (after seriously flirting with the Hanson method). More cross-training, fewer miles on the feet, an extra rest day each week. I think that will make up for the more frequent long runs that the FIRST method asks for.

It's neat to see my progress from when I first read the FIRST book, back when I was training for my first marathon. In the end I didn't use it because I wasn't where they recommend you be (in terms of mileage) before starting the training, and the cross-training components scared me a bit. But now, three years of running and cross-training later, there's nothing scary about it. Of course they're completely updated the book so I need to buy a new copy.

I had something cute to share about my children but in my sleep-deprived-and-cold-addled state I've forgotten what it was. Oh well. Trust me, it was adorable.

Oh, and we have a new cat. The Dude's sister is moving to Guatemala and needed a new home for her kitty, so now we have her. She is, of course, adorable, but is also 25 pounds of personality packed into 5 pounds of cat. Simon doesn't yet know what to make of her. I'll get some photos up of all the cuteness soon.

Up next: resolutions 2013.

Notes from a Month

Work, holidays, and sickness have disrupted, well, everything this last month.

• The baby's sleep schedule has been ridiculous, making everyone suffer. We've made a plan, though, and it seems to be working. Very happy for the return of Happy Goo!
• I've taken a break from serious training the last couple of months (so thankful that my training break coincides with the work/holiday/illness season each year). But am starting up again as I prepare for a 5K at the end of April and the marathon in October. Haven't decided yet if I'm going to do any significant races between them.
• Eating has been for sh-t, and it's been hard to claw my way back into better eating, especially as I'm not feeling inclined to be super restrictive right now (not that I necessarily recommend that, it's just easier to get back into better eating that way). But as I head back into training mode the food will likely follow.
• No sewing to report, though lots and lots of ideas have been flowing. Still thinking about a plan for the year (I seem to have the most consistency when I have a plan).

My big work event is over, and everyone is happier already. Whew!

My Office Mate Thinks I Should Just Set Up A Cot

Remind me in the future not to plan to have a major multi-event building celebration at the same time as my annual gift drive (700+ kids) and fellowship group Christmas parties.

Oh, wait. I didn't. I just get to make them happen.

To quote a phrase I've been seeing around lately: "Le sigh."

Grateful for Mercies

A comment from a new reader on my "About Me" page had me rereading that page for the first time in months. Boy, was I surprised about a couple of things.

"I am very good at my job. I am not exactly happy with it."
"And somehow make a name for myself. "

I shouldn't have been, these are attitudes I have actively been trying to change for some time. So it is really a joyful surprise, that I have been blessed enough, through the grace of God, to have had such a change in spirit that my previous words are now foreign to me.

I'd been meaning to write more about the graces I have been receiving this last month, but this isn't really that kind of blog and I don't mean it to be. So instead I will leave the words that I have been meditating on that best describe my process:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God --- what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

The letter of Paul to the Romans, chapter 12, verses 1-8.

Resolute

Whenever I pick up sewing again after having let it slide, I immediately get itchy fingers and wonder how I could have ever stopped in the first place.

Pretty much the same way I feel when I've returned to running after a break.

I think it's time to acknowledge that I have these two (often competing) loves and to see how I can satisfy them both.

I know a part of my getting blocked with sewing is that I expect more from myself than I can reasonably hope to. I have an art (history) degree, for goodness' sake! I've been making things (off and on) my entire life!

Yes, well, the same could be said of my running. And I never managed to improve my speed or do more than dream of running a marathon until I started to run consistently and seriously, three and a half years ago. So perhaps consistency is the key to doing something with my sewing as well.

I don't know yet what consistency in sewing will look like for me. I'm open to suggestions.

My New Year's resolution has come early this year.

Along the same lines, I need to stop reading art/sewing magazines and books and comparing myself to the professionals in there. I don't compare myself to professional athletes when I read Runners' World, fer chrissakes.

Sewing Again!

The weather gets colder, the days get shorter, and my fingers start itching to make things again. Thankfully, my mother-in-law is visiting, and could help me think through a problem I was having with my current quilt, so now I can finish it and get started on others. (And as thanks, and because the baby it was for has grown a bit big for a baby blanket, she is going to get it for a lap quilt for Christmas.)

Here is one I finished this summer. That baby was born in March. At the time the baby was born, I had about 2 hours work left to do on it. It took me three months. As usual with my sewing projects, I got stuck because I had more elaborate plans for what to do than what I really needed.*

You can't tell from these photos, but I used the backing material to make the binding (it's a much darker blue than this picture shows). And the quilting was done with several colors of embroidery floss: purple, white, black, and green.

And now I have big plans for more quilts!

*Example, the quilt mentioned in the first paragraph. Example, my thinking about "what I should be doing with my life." But that's another post for another day.

Hot Chocolate 15k - 2012

I wanted to write a play-by-play, but sometimes these breaks in time between posts get to a point where it's just ridiculous. Busy, busy, busy at work, which is where I do most of my computer stuff. So here's the short version.

Despite all my grumbling and worrying and complaining about this race (most of which I spared you, believe it or not), I had a really good time.

I've liked the course every year I've done it (and it's been a new one each time), but it's never been big enough to handle the number of runners participating. So that's been a frustrating experience with bottle-necks and running off the edge of the road and the like. This year they staggered the starts in such a way that it rarely felt crowded on the course, which was lovely. The drawback to this of course was the long time spent standing before the race started (I crossed the start line at 41:50 and was only in corral K - it went through corral T) which then resulted in my needing to stop for a potty break shortly after mile 3 and that early in the race there were still lines for the porta-potties. So I lost time there. But that's a logistics issue to keep in mind for next year or any other race with a lot of participants (I heard this one was just over 20,000).

Oh, and the swag was better this year too (photos below).

Lots of elevation fluctuation on the course, which I like (makes it interesting). Lots of great views.

Right from the start I was running on tired legs because I just didn't get enough rest the week before. So the challenge for me was going to be keeping my pace steady and then, if possible, bring it up again in the last 5k. And I did! There were two key difference between this race and previous ones that I think made it possible. First, I've gotten better at "sucking it up". I've practiced this in long tempo runs, figuring out what I need to do mentally to be able to tolerate discomfort longer. And two, in the past I would have only taken one gel, and this time I had two and also carbo-loaded a bit more the day before and even before the race started --- I could really feel the difference on the second gel and I'm sure that's what allowed me to push harder in the last 5k.

I finished in 1:33:41 at a pace of 10:04/mile. So I didn't make my first or my second goal (to break 1:30:00 or 1:32:30 --- I was so close to that last one but that potty-break is what blew it for me), but I did hit my third one of (nearly) 10 minute miles. Most importantly to me, my last 5k split was the fastest one, at 29:32. (Actually, it was so much faster, it shows me I can do better overall.)

So, lots to work on for next year. Logistically, I want to remember three things:

1. Bring a throw-away shirt for the time between gear check and the start.
2. Don't enter the corral until the last possible minute - I could have entered 20 minutes later and gotten another pee in.
3. Stop drinking an hour or so before when I plan to have my last pee - chew gum instead for dry mouth.

The other thing I want to keep in mind with my training for this next year is to not start training for this race so soon. I'm probably going to train for the Chicago Women's Half again along with this one for my longer races of the year; if I do go that route then I'll make sure to take a longer break after the half so that I'm not running out of steam in October again.

All-in-all, lots of lessons learnt through training for this and running it!

Finally, they have a decent looking item that I have been wearing.

I liked the emblem on the back shoulder - also the little one running through the picture.