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!

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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