Eat Drink Run Woman

This week’s Take it and Run asks “What is your favorite post from 2008?” While my fellow bloggers have posted some terrific posts in the past year, why on earth would I want you to click away from MY site? After all, it is about me, you know. (Actually Coffee Betsy just reminded me about today’s topic and since I’m recovering from my 10th marathon, I haven’t had the chance to peruse others’ sites for my favorite posts).

Picking my favorite was tough, of course. After all, I’m just a wealth of witticism and thought provocation. But I’d say this one is my all-time favorite.

Happy New Year!

If you were to tell me on Dec. 31, 2007 I’d run more than 1,800 miles during 2008 I would have questioned your sanity.  If you told me I’d BQ — twice — I most certainly would think you were nuts.  And if you told me I’d run not one, not two, not three, but eight — EIGHT — marathons during the year, I’d have you committed then and there.

Yet here we are one year later and I’m accomplished all of those things.  Whew!

Goals are a funny thing.  I hesitate to set them since circumstances could change, yet I’d still feel a sense of failure for not accomplishing them.  For example, last January I said I wanted to get down to 150 pounds.  I came close (155), but then realized I like myself with a bit of meat on my bones.  (Of course, should I get down to 150 I’m sure I’ll justify it!).  And despite running far more marathons than I ever dreamed possible, I’m still beating myself up for not getting to the gym as much as I’d hoped.

However, I’m not going to dwell on that.  After all, I learned so much about myself — what motivates me, how best to train.  I’m a certifiable marathon junkie, which means I need to make recovery my No. 1 priority.  If that means taking a day off from the gym, so be it.  That said, I do want to get back into my stretching/core work routine.  I was doing so well goals for maintaining front and side planks (I was up to 97 seconds for the front, 57 seconds for each side), but as it got tougher I found myself avoiding it more.  So now my goal is to do them more frequently, but hold them for less time (one minute for the front, 35-40 seconds for the side).

As for my weight, once again I’ve put on a few holiday pounds, but fortunately I’m starting the year off about 6-7 pounds lighter than last year.  I hope to get back down to my “race weight” of 154-155 by Boston, and then maintain it (at least until next holiday season).

My original mileage goal for the year was 1,000 miles, which I adjusted in July to 1,600.  At the miles piled on I adjusted the goal again; I hoped to finish the year with 1,000 more miles than the 821 miles I had run in 2007.  While I came close (1,810.25 miles), Mother Nature kept me from reaching that goal (not only was running outside out of the question, I couldn’t even drive to my gym to run on the treadmill).  The snow has since cleared, but I was faced with having to run too many miles in too little time.  I’m running yet another marathon tomorrow, so I decided to give my body a rest.

So what’s in store for 2009?  Marathons, marathons and more marathons!

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As you may have heard, Washington state has had a deluge of snow.  While it’s not unusual for the eastern part of the state, here in Seattle snow is rare.  Sure, we typically get a couple of nasty days each winter, but it doesn’t last long.  The rain comes and washes everything away.

Not this time.

I’ve lived here for almost 20 years, and I’ve never seen it this bad.  While it may make for a pretty white Christmas, most Seattleites will be happy once it’s gone.  We just don’t know how to deal with it; the city doesn’t own many plows (why would it?), but we also take the environmentally friendly route of NOT using salt on the roads.  So while the freeways and main arterials are bare and wet, the side streets are almost impassable.  Although the rain has come, the temperatures are still low so the snow hasn’t melted.  Rather, it’s turned into a soupy, slushy mess (which turns into an even nastier, icier mess once the temps decrease at night).

So what’s a runner to do?

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Coffee Betsy posted a 12-month meme on her blog and since I’m too lazy to write a post from scratch, I decided to follow her lead.  Just for fun I’ve also included the 12 months from 2007 (although the first couple of months are from fitness postings on my Ovens to Betsy blog since EDRW wasn’t launched until April 2007).

My story for 2008:

January — Boy, some gung-ho runner I am.

February — I’ve been playing a numbers game.

March — This week’s theme is flexibility, though not in my body.

April — Well folks, this is gonna be a tough post to write.

May — Not today.

June — Although technically my taper officially started a week ago, I feel my true taper started after my BUAL™ workout on Tuesday.

July — It’s not wise to do lunges, squats and wall sits on day you’ve scheduled a 9-mile VO2max workout with six 800-meter sprints.

August — I get home from work today, logged onto one of my running forums and saw the following announcement:  “The newest Rock n Roll marathon is in Seattle on June 27, 2009. If you go to http://www.rnrseattle.com/ today August 5, you can register for half price! You must register before midnight today.

September — Dear Running, I don’t know how to break this to you, but I think we need to cool things just a tad.

October — Today I received the email I’ve been waiting for: “This is to notify you that your entry into the 112th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 21, 2008 has been accepted, provided that the information you submitted is accurate.”

November — Things sure have been quiet in EDRW land.

December — I can’t believe it — I just survived my first double marathon weekend.

My 2007 story:

January — I wonder what this says about me: my iPod has everything from Metallica (”Enter Sandman,” “Turn the Page”) to Iggy Pop (”Lust for Life,” “Nightclubbing”) to Starland Vocal Band (”Afternoon Delight”).

February — My darling has had a love affair with Paris ever since his 6-month stay in college.

March — Last Sunday’s long run was SOOOOO tough… (all of you, in unison): “How tough was it, Betsy?” I had to call on Helen TWICE just to make it through.

April — For the next 23 weeks this will be my life.

May — Although my sinuses are still filled with a bunch of yuck (I swear I’ve gone through an entire Kleenex box this past week), thank goodness I felt well enough to get back to running.

June — Sometimes I get bored just writing about my training schedule (and more importantly, I’m sure you — my faithful readers — get bored as well!).

July — WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST MAY BE CONSIDERED TMI.

August — Question: if you run 26.2 miles and there’s no one at the end to hand you a medal, have you just run a marathon?

September — Just a quick note to say my darling and I arrived in Bordeaux without incident.

October — I’ve read runners are particularly susceptible to colds and flu, especially after coming off of a marathon.

November — Yesterday I experienced a PW (personal worst): 2.8 miles in 28 minutes, 29 seconds.

December — While I refuse to see it as an omen, there sure have been a few wrenches thrown into my Goofy Challenge training.

It was going to be epic — EPIC! I tell ya.  Snow, sleet, 45 mph winds, seagulls flying backwards — all the makings for a truly harrowing marathon experience.  But a funny thing happened on the way to the race.

First, some background.

In our post-marathon stupor after the Ghost of Seattle, my darling and I perused the Marathon Maniacs calendar of upcoming races.  Despite dire warnings from the race director — expect minimal aid and brutal weather — the Ghost of Birch Bay Marathon intrigued us.  Starting just south of the Canadian border, the race offers spectacular views of the North Shore Mountains, the Strait of Georgia and Vancouver Island.  As with the Ghost of Seattle, there were no rules; it basically was a fun run for a handful of antsy Maniacs.

Two days after running the Ghost of Seattle I emailed Scott, the race director, alerting him we’d most likely be running Birch Bay as well, barring crappy weather and family obligations.  But as race day neared the forecast went from bleak to bleaker — there was a doozy of a storm heading our way.  I knew things didn’t look promising once the weather became the lead story each night.  I checked Wunderground, Yahoo! Weather and Accuweather religiously, my hopes dashed as I saw the predicted temperatures would barely break 30 degrees.  Friday’s predicted precipitation was 100%, and while Saturday’s was less, it was still at 50-60%.  Given the temps, that meant snow.

My darling started voicing his concern at the beginning of the week, however, I remained optimistic.  But by Thursday it was clear we were in for a wild ride, so I emailed Scott again, saying it was unlikely we’d be running.  I was so bummed!  But when I awoke Friday morning to see the rain and high winds, I knew we made the right decision.  I had planned on getting in a 10-miler on Friday, but when conditions hadn’t improved by early afternoon, I wasn’t even up for a quick 3-miler.

However, things were again about to change.

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I can’t believe it — I just survived my first double marathon weekend.  As many of you may know, I ran the “Ghost of” Seattle Marathon this past Saturday.  What you may not know is I also participated in the “real” Seattle Marathon on Sunday.  Am I a Maniac or what?

Considering the Ghost was a training run for the upcoming Goofy Challenge at Walt Disney World I took it slow, finishing in 4:25:19.  As with most marathons, I was hobbling afterwards but felt remarkably spry come Sunday morning.  However, my time at the Seattle Marathon was considerably longer — I finished in well over 6 hours.  I wasn’t nearly as sore afterwards; not sure if it had to do with the fact I finished an hour and a half later, or if it was because there was no actual running involved.

That’s right — Saturday I was an athlete, on Sunday an athletic supporter.

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It’s time for a bit of belt-tightening in the EDRW household.  Unfortunately not literally; despite my best intentions a few pounds have crept on to my frame.  No, I’m talking about our standard of living.  As I’m sure you’re well aware, the economy sucks right now (in fact, I spied it bogarting the port-o-potties at my last race).  And tough times calls for drastic measures.

Although we’re self-employed, my darling and I are in great financial shape.  Our only debt is our mortgage, and considering we live in a teensy hovel built in 1906, the monthly payment is more than reasonable.  We’ve both suffered through lean times as we’ve built our respective businesses, and that frugality has stayed with us.  But given today’s uncertainty, we know we could do better.

Our race schedule was the first to suffer the chopping block.  While we’re still running the Ghost of Seattle Marathon this weekend and the Christmas Marathon on Dec. 21, we’ve decided to forego the 12Ks of Christmas on Dec. 14.  It’s a great race (I ran it last year), but I figure if we’re not actually racing it, why shell out $35-$40/person just for another t-shirt?  I’ve also nixed the Whidbey Marathon on March 29.  I originally thought I’d run it as a training run for Boston (I figured the hills would prepare me for the famed Newton hills), but I’ve decided the $70/person could be better spent elsewhere.  Sure, we could probably coax our friends into letting us stay at their condo by the race start, but we’d still rack up additional expenses in travel and food.

We have a couple of big ticket races already on the agenda for 2009 — the Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge in January and Boston in April — so we may end up staying local for the rest of the year.  I’d love to run New York, or at the very least pick up a couple of other states than Washington, but we’ll have to see if our budget allows.

Unfortunately the cuts don’t end with our race schedule.

Long-time readers know of my problem; I just gots to have me some cute clothes!  This year I’ve been particularly indulgent: 4 short-sleeved shirts, five pairs of shorts, two pairs of capris, two running skirts, a rain jacket and a hat.  I swear — I spend more on workout gear than I do on regular clothes.

All good things must come to an end; so too must my rampant spending.  So for the next 14 months (until Jan. 1, 2010), I am to buy NO MORE WORKOUT CLOTHES other than bare necessities such as shoes and socks (and perhaps something to commemorate the Goofy Challenge, but only ONE thing.  Oh, and there’s NO WAY I’m leaving Beantown without an Image Impact jacket.  And maybe a hat.  But that’s all; I SWEAR!)

Things sure have been quiet in EDRW land.  I WISH I could say it’s because I’ve been out earning Marathon Maniac stars by the dozen, but today was the first time I ran since October 25.

Remember that deal with the devil?  Apparently he wasn’t quite through calling in his chips.  After running almost 20 miles over three days (including a particularly speedy 6.5-mile run at an 8:35 average pace), I awoke last Sunday morning with yet another sore throat and skin that hurt to the touch.  It was so bad I canceled Monday’s cook date and skipped the gym for an entire week.  But the worse thing was how my running suffered.  As of Oct. 25 I was just 13 miles shy of a 100-mile month — my lowest for almost a year.

I wasn’t too concerned in the beginning of the week; I assumed I’d be well enough to get in a couple of runs by the end.  My darling and I had booked a room at the Willows Lodge for our dinner at the Herbfarm, and we planned on getting in a run along the Sammamish River Trail before getting ready for dinner.  However, by Tuesday my cold had settled into my chest and I spent several sleepless nights hacking away.  It was clear my 100-mile month wasn’t going to materialize, and I feared my coughing would jeopardize our romantic dinner.

Hoping to stave off a coughing fit, I turned to my neighborhood pharmacist.  He was a bit taken aback when I asked him for recommendations for cough suppressants that could be taken with wine, but I explained to him we’d be dining at the Herbfarm and abstinence was NOT an option.  While he researched alternatives, his assistant jokingly said she always heard the best thing was a shot of whisky with some lemon and honey.  Not being a huge fan of whisky, I decided to see what the pharmacist said.  As long as I took the suppressant a couple of hours before imbibing I’d be fine, he promised.  I grabbed a package of Mucinex and a couple packs of cough drops and headed out.

Before I regale you with tales of our evening’s woe, some background is in order.  (Warning — the following is not for the faint of stomach).

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I blame it on the caramel apples.

You see, that’s where it starts.  Once I see the Honey Crisp apples in my grocery store I’m soon yearning to jab popsicle sticks into them and coat them with a gooey layer of melted Kraft caramel.  As far as sweets go, they’re not too bad.  They have relatively little fat, and you’re getting at least one serving of fruit (more like two given the size of apples these days).  But so starts the slippery slope.

By mid-October the Halloween candies start appearing, and I just HAVE to have me some candy corn.  Yes, they’re sickly sweet, but they’re my once-a-year guilty pleasure.  Normally I can avoid most of the “fun size” candy bars since I no longer work in an office, but many of my clients will have bowls of them out, taunting me.  Of course, whatever doesn’t go into trick-or-treaters hands on All Hallows Eve somehow manages to makes its way down my gullet.  But this year my darling and I will dining at the Herbfarm, so we won’t be handing out treats.

After Halloween there’s my birthday on Nov. 12, which I’ve always used as an excuse to indulge (it typically ends up being a week-long orgy).  Then it’s Thanksgiving with the pies and the wine and the mashed potatoes and the wine and the turkey & gravy and the wine and the stuffing and yet more wine.  Early in December you’ll typically find me in my kitchen whipping up batches upon batches of cookies and “Texas Trash” to give as client gifts (but of course there are leftovers for us to eat), then I’ll gorge myself silly at the Christmas Eve feast.  While New Year’s tends to be a subdued affair, you can pretty much guarantee there’ll be a champagne glass in my hand.

This is all a long-winded way of saying I tend to gain weight this time of year.

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How could I NOT run on a day like today?

My cooking class got canceled for this evening, so I found myself with a day off. Although my sinuses have a bit of residual yuck, I felt good enough for a run (I figured it’d do me good). Nothing too strenuous — just a slow recovery run to my bank and back (about 4 miles).

It felt so good to run, although my chest felt heavy during the hills. As I neared home I decided to head to Greenlake to add another mile, and once there I felt good enough to head south to the Woodland Park hills for an additional mile. It ended up being a 6.5-mile run at a 9:27 overall pace.

So, what’s next? While my countdown ticker shows the Goofy Challenge as our next race, we’ve decided to add two more marathons in between in order to earn “silver” status with the Marathon Maniacs (6 marathons in 6 months). The first will be the “Ghost of Seattle” Marathon (run primarily by Maniacs on a portion of the current Seattle Marathon course) on Nov. 29; the second will be the Christmas Marathon in Olympia on December 21. I’ll be running both of those as training runs for Goofy, but my darling will try another BQ attempt at the Christmas one.

It’ll be great to not have to follow a rigid training schedule, although I may throw in some lactate threshold and perhaps a few VO2Max BUAL workouts. I’ll also run several back-to-back long runs in preparation for Goofy.

The devil can’t stop me now!

P.S. Long-time EDRW readers may find something eerily familiar with the above photo. My camera is dead and I misplaced my battery charger, so I had to repurpose the photo from this post (taken almost a year ago to the day!)