Eat Drink Run Woman

This week’s Take it and Run Thursday aims to answer the question, “What is it that attracts us to the marathon?”  Well, I’m going to take it one step further and attempt to explain my obsession with multiple marathons.  (Quite frankly, it’s a daunting task.  My therapist has been trying to get to the root of this for years).

I’ve been meaning to write this post for some time as I know you, my dear readers, are dying to know what makes me tick.  I’ve been inundated with your emails and comments:

How do you keep from getting injured or just plain burned out?
Aren’t you tired and starving all the time?
How do you find time to work?
Want to pleasure your girlfriend with a super-sized penis?

So it’s time to share my secret:

Run. Recover. Repeat.

There you have it!  Hope this was helpful.  Oh, what’s that?  You’d like more detail?  Fine.  (After all, the above describes HOW I do it, not WHY).  I’m warning you though — I can be quite the Chatty Kathy.  Or perhaps Blathering Betsy.

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As we were starting out on our 8-mile run today hubby asked me if today was the start of my official Boston training.  I had to think a moment, but then realized it was!  You see, I pretty much have been in perpetual training mode, so I don’t really think in terms of a training beginning and end.  But with Boston I was eager to get back into a more formal schedule that includes hill and speed work (both of which I’ve curtailed of late.  I’ve just been getting in the miles).  I’ll be following Pete Pfitzinger’s 12/55 program (12 weeks, up to 55 miles per week), but will be tweaking it to fit in a 50K in February and a marathon April 4.  I won’t bore you with the details as I did last year, but I’m sure I’ll be whining blogging about BUAL™ workouts in the coming weeks.

(Oh my God — Boston’s only 12 weeks away!)

Boy, I sure have some catching up to do, don’t I?  In the past two weeks I’ve run two — yes two — full marathons, plus a half.  While I could bore you with the minutiae, I figure all you’re really interested in is my report for the 2009 Goofy Challenge.  However, there is some background information that’s pertinent, so I’m going to catch you up in the quickest way possible.  Here’s my first two weeks of the new year in haiku:

The First Call to Run
10th marathon overall
3rd in 20 days.

Cold, thick slush on trail
Only Maniacs would run
Of COURSE it was fun!

That said, body hurt
Pelvis not feeling so hot
Must recover, stat.

Planned 2-day time off
Then nasty stomach bug strikes
Toilet is new home.

Severe cramps for days
Is Goofy in jeopardy?
Say it isn’t so!

Finally, relief
Immodium does its job
Orlando or bust!

Because Alaska Air no longer offers a red-eye to Orlando, we didn’t arrive until 5 p.m. on Thursday.  We hoped to have enough time to get to the expo that evening but were disheartened to see the horrendous line to catch the Disney Magical Express to our hotel, Port Orleans-French Quarter.  After checking in we ditched our luggage in our room and boarded a bus to the expo, arriving about 45 minutes before it closed.

I kept my word and only purchased one item — a Goofy running hat.  We were a bit disappointed in the shirts this year — long-sleeved white tech shirts for the half and full, gray for Goofy.  You would think given the cost of running this race they’d have better shirts (or at least more interesting colors).

The next morning we stopped at the hotel food court for some beignets (fried doughnuts with powdered sugar) and a yogurt parfait with berries and granola.  I enjoyed the parfait so much — it was loaded with ripe, juicy strawberries and raspberries — that I grabbed another one to put in our fridge for the next day (I figured there’d only be limited service at 3:30 a.m.)  We then headed to Hollywood Studios, where we caught the Indiana Jones stunt show, Muppets 3-D, the Great Movie Ride and the Aerosmith Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.  (I spent 45 minutes in line for the roller coaster, only to keep my eyes glued shut the entire time!)  We had hoped to catch the Tower of Terror but had to get to Downtown Disney to meet up with some Maniac friends for dinner (besides, I don’t think my heart could have handled it).

Speaking of friends, this trip provided an incredible opportunity to meet many of my blogging/forum buddies in person.  In addition to Maniacs Marie and Lauri, we met several Taper Madness forumites for dinner on Saturday, a slew of Disney Running forumites on Sunday and Monday, and Laura of Absolutly Fit (she ran the full).  But one of the nicest surprises was to meet up with Keith, aka the pink tutu guy.

We originally met Keith in Medoc; considering most of the runners run in costume, we didn’t think anything of the tutu.  It wasn’t until we read about him in Runner’s World that we realized he runs ALL his races dressed like that.  We saw him Saturday morning making his way to the first corral of the half marathon, then saw him again drinking a pint with a couple of friends at our favorite Disney pub, Raglan Road (one of his friends also ran Medoc).  We chatted with them a bit before heading out to dinner and invited them to share another pint with us when they’re out for the Seattle Rock ‘n Roll Marathon.

As we were getting off our bus at Downtown Disney on Sunday I spied another woman who looked familiar.  Just as I was about to ask her who she was I saw her friend’s shirt — the Medoc race shirt!  They too were part of our group.  My darling also met up with a couple of folks he knows.  On our flight to Orlando we were making our way down the aisle when he heard his name called.  It was a guy whose picture Matt had shot a few months back (he had had a double lung transplant 15 years ago and was running his first marathon).  We also caught up with one of Matt’s former co-workers from the UW Daily (the student newspaper).  We gathered everyone together hand-in-hand and joyously began singing “It’s a Small World After All.”

(Just kidding.  Back to the race).

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LOTS to tell you, but just a quick note to say I beat both my times from last year’s Goofy Challenge: 2:13:04 for the half, 4:36:07 for the full.  My darling didn’t BQ (we figured it’d be a long shot), but since he ran with me during the half he was able to pull off a 3:37:xx full.  Woo hoo!

Oh — and yes, we’re already signed up for next year 🙂

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!