{"id":249,"date":"2009-03-19T10:32:27","date_gmt":"2009-03-19T17:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/?p=249"},"modified":"2009-03-19T10:32:27","modified_gmt":"2009-03-19T17:32:27","slug":"play-that-funky-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/?p=249","title":{"rendered":"Play that funky music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boy, you know you’re a lame blogger when you see someone who claims they’re on sabbatical<\/a> has written more than you.\u00a0 Sheesh!<\/p>\n

Yeah, I’ve been in a funk.\u00a0 Some of it is warranted — my 83-year-old dad was rushed to the hospital a couple of weeks ago when he fell at my sister’s house in Arizona.\u00a0 At first he was diagnosed with pneumonia, but the diagnosis kept getting worse and culminated in a quadruple bypass surgery a couple days ago.\u00a0 It’s been a whirlwind of emotions, but I’m so grateful for my sister and everything she’s done (Tucson is known for its world-class cardiologists, so I know he’s in good hands).\u00a0 My darling and I are planning on heading to Maine to visit the folks after Boston, but right now we’re playing it day-by-day.\u00a0 However, it sounds like they’ll be able to travel soon and we’ll be there to help them settle back home.<\/p>\n

Some of my funk is due to general unease over the economy.\u00a0 While being self-employed has its rewards, it can be unsettling at times.\u00a0 Sometimes I feel I’m hanging on by a thread.\u00a0 And then there are the irrational emotions that flow over me during my “lady time.”\u00a0 Something as innocent as a lost shoe will send me into a wailing tizzy:\u00a0 “I can’t find anything in this mess!” “If we had a larger house we’d have more storage space!” “We’re NEVER going to be able to afford a larger house!” “What am I going to do with my life?” “I feel fat!”<\/p>\n

Given all of this I haven’t been particularly motivated to write.\u00a0 But fortunately I haven’t let my funk interfere with my training.\u00a0 Since I last wrote I’ve logged in a little over 130 miles, which included the Ghost of Whidbey half marathon (a small Maniac race) and the St. Patty’s Day Dash, as well as earned a bronze medal through the President’s Challenge (more on all of those in a bit).<\/p>\n

Because I’ve added several races to my schedule, I’ve ditched my plan to follow Pfitz’ 12\/55 plan for Boston.\u00a0 My body has been rebelling of late, and since speedwork tends to aggravate whatever aches and pains I’m feeling, I’ve decided not to follow his prescribed workouts, opting instead to run by feel.\u00a0 Some days I’ll feel speedy and will run an average of 8:20-8:35, other days I’ll take it slow, averaging 9:45-10:15.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Boston (which I’ve been doing quite frequently; my darling simply rolls his eyes), I received some news the other day that got me out of my funk: my bib number!\u00a0 So if you feel compelled to follow me on April 20, I’ll be #19631 (back of the pack).\u00a0 By coincidence my number is the year of my birth, plus the No. 1; I’m hoping that’s a good sign.\u00a0 I’ve also ordered my Adidas celebration jacket and a racer-back tank top (hey — they were on sale; I won’t wear them until after completing the race), plus a really cool shamrock t-shirt <\/a>with the Boston logo (I probably WILL wear that before the race, but will also wear it at next year’s St. Patty’s Day Dash).<\/p>\n

Here’s a quick recap of happenings in EDRW land:<\/p>\n

Ghost of Whidbey<\/a> — since my darling won’t be running either Yakima or Boston, he was jonesing to get in another race.\u00a0 So when he saw the GoW listed on the Maniac site, he figured, “What the hey!”\u00a0 (This was the DAY BEFORE).\u00a0 As with most Maniac races, the GoW is basically a small aided training run that follows much of the same course as the “official” race, albeit backwards.\u00a0 I didn’t want to tempt fate by running the full, and I wasn’t even sure I’d run the half.\u00a0 I figured I’d see how I felt the next morning (I had a run a 10.5 miles that day, and a 9.6-mile run the day before.\u00a0 On race day I was scheduled to run an easy 3-5 miles).<\/p>\n

We awoke at Oh-God-Thirty for the 1 1\/2 hour drive to the finish at Bowman Bay where we then shuttled the full marathoners to the start at Penn Cove.\u00a0 It was a perfect running day and I felt great, so I ponied up the $10 for the half.\u00a0 After dropping off the full marathoners we returned to Bowman Bay where I quickly changed into my running gear and hopped onto the shuttle for the half marathon start (there were only four of us running the half).<\/p>\n

Since this would be my third long run in three days, I took it slowly, averaging a 9:52 pace overall.\u00a0 I got a boost of adrenaline around the halfway mark when a German shepherd decided to chase after me, but I channeled my former mail carrier self and growled at him, “GET OUTTA HERE!”\u00a0 I was feeling strong at mile 10 so I picked up my pace running a 9:28 on a downhill portion and a 9:48 on the uphill at mile 11.\u00a0 Mile 12 took me over the Deception Pass Bridge with an incredible view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.\u00a0 Since I was so close to the finish I picked up the pace again, running it in 9:16.\u00a0 The race ends with a downhill, so I really poured it on.\u00a0 As I made the turn into Bowman Bay I saw the first full marathoner hot on my heels and I decided I would NOT LET HIM PASS ME.\u00a0 I ran the last .83 miles (the course was short) at an 8:18 pace, finishing in 2:07.<\/p>\n

President’s Challenge<\/a> — I heard about this on the Disney Running Forum and thought it would be fun (getting a certificate signed by President Obama will be a real hoot).\u00a0 There are three different challenges: the “Active Lifestyle” challenge for people who currently do not exercise (the goal is to work out 30 minutes\/day, 5 days\/week for six weeks); and the “Presidential Champions” challenges (basic and advanced).\u00a0 The basic challenge limits the number of points you can earn in a day to 750, however, you don’t need as many points to receive medals.\u00a0 I decided to sign up for the advanced program which requires 40,000 points for bronze, 90,000 points for silver and 160,000 points for gold.<\/p>\n

You can back-fill your training log by 14 days, so I was able to count the Goofy Challenge.\u00a0 The challenge rewards you for the amount of time you exercise, so I actually earn more points than my darling for running a marathon since we both run it in the “moderate” range of 8-12 minutes\/mile (however, he earns more points for his shorter runs as they’re in the “vigorous” sub 8-minute range).\u00a0 By running the 50K in 5:45, I earned a whopping 3,500 points.\u00a0 It took 322.2 miles of running, 18.5 hours of yoga\/core work, 6.25 hours of stretching, 12.5 hours of weight training and .5 hours of walking, but I earned the bronze level on March 10 (I won’t order a medal until I hit gold).<\/p>\n

St. Patty’s Day Dash<\/a> — This is a Seattle tradition (I’ve run it 11 times), but I skipped it last year due to my hard-core marathon training (I had run 17 miles the day before).\u00a0 This year I was determined to work it into my schedule and even hoped for a PR (it’s slightly longer than a 5K — 3.75 miles).\u00a0 Historically the race starts at one Irish bar — T.S. McHugh’s in Queen Anne — and ends at F.X. McRory’s in Pioneer Square.\u00a0 You park near the finish then hop on a school bus to the start.\u00a0 However, last year there was a bit of a snafu with the buses (many were late), plus there’s a ton of construction in and around Pioneer Square.\u00a0 So this year they rerouted the course; gone is the section along the viaduct with the incredible views of downtown Seattle.\u00a0 Instead we ran up Aurora, turned around at the Aurora bridge and finished in Seattle Center.<\/p>\n

I got in my 18-miler on Friday, two days before the race.\u00a0 I then took Saturday off in order to be fully rested.\u00a0 Despite having glorious weather all week, by Saturday the rain returned and there was even talk of snow.\u00a0 When I looked out the window Sunday morning I saw a downpour, and indeed, I could see some snow mixed in.\u00a0 By the time we got to the start line it had turned into a flurry of half dollar-sized flakes.\u00a0 Bizarre!<\/p>\n

My darling also hoped for a fast finish, so I kissed him goodbye to let him wind his way to the front.\u00a0 Even though I too hoped to run fast, I didn’t feel comfortable making my way to close to the front; bad move!\u00a0 Even though I was in the first third of the wave, I immediately got stuck behind slow runners and even some walkers.\u00a0 (A little over 7,200 people ran in the first two timed waves; another 8,000+ were in the untimed waves).<\/p>\n

The section to the Aurora bridge is a gradual uphill, however, I had run it a couple of weeks prior and found it to be reasonable.\u00a0 But when trying to wind through all the other runners my pace slowed.\u00a0 Fortunately the course opened up at the turn-around and I got the added boost of the 1-mile downhill.\u00a0 I poured it on, finishing in 32:14 (Garmin registered 3.88 miles).\u00a0 By now the snow had turned back into rain, so I high-tailed it to T.S. McHugh’s where my darling was waiting for a table (our friends joined us soon after).\u00a0 Two pints and a Bloody Mary later I was finally warm and dry.<\/p>\n

It appears I’ve finally shook my funk, even though I’m nursing a sore heel which could jeopardize my participation in the Mercer Island half this Sunday (I figure it’s a good sacrifice for Boston).\u00a0 I had hoped for at least a course PR if not an overall PR (my course record is 1:58, my half PR is 1:53), but I may simply run it as a slow training run, assuming my heel feels better (I won’t be doing any running between now and the race).<\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boy, you know you’re a lame blogger when you see someone who claims they’re on sabbatical has written more than you.\u00a0 Sheesh! Yeah, I’ve been in a funk.\u00a0 Some of it is warranted — my 83-year-old dad was rushed to the hospital a couple of weeks ago when he fell at my sister’s house in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,4,3],"tags":[82,94,96,95],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beantown","category-fitness-musings","category-race-reports","tag-boston-marathon","tag-ghost-of-whidbey","tag-presidents-challenge","tag-st-pattys-day-dash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}