Posts Tagged ‘jonny’

Race facts:
1:32:10
4th in 50-54 AG (3rd was 1:32:08…ouch)
149 out of 9507 femmes
793 out of 16,517 OA
Age-Grade 80.91%

Training beforehand
Might as well post a graph of my mileage since that’s been my focal point for the year.  The graph begins on Feb. 7th after taking a voluntary 2-week running break due to burnout.

Weight
I had mentioned how I was going to lose weight for this race and start counting calories again.  I did for a couple weeks but when the move started, I gave up on the counting and just ate healthy as ever, there was enough stressing without being nitpicky with food.

Turns out that while I only lost a couple pounds, holding at 119-120, thanks to the physical labor of moving to the new apartment, my bodyfat percentage dropped by 1.5%!  It’s been steady like that for about 2 weeks, so while I know my fancy-ass scale can’t be accurate as far as the base percentage (I’m surely not 14.5%) I do believe it’s trustable as a comparison unto itself.  So anyway, while I wasn’t at my best racing weight, the bodyfat thing made it A-OK.

Yesterday
My sweet pal and race buddy Kat arrived in the afternoon. I’d picked up both our packets already, so all we had to do was chat and eat dinner.  I made her accompany me to an old-fashioned diner in my neighborhood that I wanted to try because they served spaghetti and meatballs and I thought that’d be a funny place to go.  We were not disappointed.  It was Early Bird Prime Time so we were the only ones there who still had pigment in our hair.  Was good, made me feel fast.

This Morning
My new apartment is amazing for Philly races -  located 2 blocks from the start, it allowed us to take our time and pee to our heart’s content…luxurious.  We ventured out at 7:30, ran into my friend Peggy who was on the way to her long run.  She wished us great races (so cool to see her), then split up while Kat looked for our friend Lynn to run with.  I did a mile warmup with strides and got into my corral.  While standing there, I see my young friend Steph, one half of the twins I’ve befriended in my racing/running travels.  She didn’t have a firm goal but we decided to run together with the understanding that neither of us were “talkers”, which worked out great.

The Race
No big details here.  First mile seemed right on, then the Garmin went insane as it always does downtown, so for a couple miles I only had the mile markers to rely on, though I hadn’t noted when we’d left in relation to them and I missed the first one entirely, so my Garmin was saying anywhere from 8:46 – 5:xx, and for the first few miles, I thought we were off goal.  Around mile 4 I realized we were dead on, so that was a relief.

I wasn’t very stuck to the Garmin for this race because it was off for a great part of it and required quite a few “catch-up” lap presses (was on Autolap), it told me that for the most part I was running 6:4x-6:5x so after adding the leftover lap press, I figured I was right under 7:00 territory.  I did think I was in line for a sub 1:32, btw, right up until I saw the finish line.

I felt solid throughout this race.  There were points where I recognized my breathing was getting louder or that funny exhale whistle was happening but I would make a point to try and relax at those times, which helped.  Because of my previous collapsing/medical adventures, I was very mindful about how much effort I was putting out and told myself in the days before this that should anything feel strange, to not try and power through but to back off and slow down, race times be damned.

At this point we were at the park, my day-to-day running ground, and as we approached it I turned to Steph and said “home”.  Once there, I had a gel at mile 5 with a half-spilled cup of water to chase it. Never wanted for more, the temps were great (57, though breezy at times with 14mph wind) so it was extremely comfortable out there.

Once we hit Falls Bridge, with about 4 miles left, I felt like it was all downhill from there.  Steph dropped back at mile 9 so I was on my own from that point. Coach Adam/A muse had told me to keep steady till mile 10, then go into L’ Assassina mode, and I had to smile at the thought – while I was able to pick off people, I didn’t have an extra gear so I just kinda kept chugging was all.

About the park: since I started running in 2007, it’s been my gym, my confidant, my shoulder to cry on and an unparalleled source of joy.  I talked to the park this morning and thanked it for taking care of me.  I told it how much I loved it and reminded it where my favorite spot is and that even though it’s been the location of some scary health moments, I know it loves me too.  I communed with that park today.  But back to L’ Assassina…

There was this one girl that I don’t like from the park, she always gives me a bitchy look, and in the last few miles, she jumped into the race to run a few friends in.  When I finally passed them I heard her tell her friends they had to speed up, which I know was totally prompted by my presence so I took pleasure in moving farther ahead and out of their vicinity.

As I closed in on the finish, my friend Kev yelled out “just 1/2 mile more, you’ve got it!” which was great.  But even with all my park adoration, that last 1/2 mile is a scary spot for me, it’s the finish of many a Philly race and where 2 of those silly race collapses have occurred, so while other people were kicking it to the finish, I repeated to myself “feet under you, feet under you, keep your feet…”  and slowed down a tad until the finish line was right there.

After
I mentioned before that I thought I had my “A” goal right until the end so it was a disappointment to find I didn’t.  But really, it’s nothing but a few seconds and since this was my first race since January and I’ve had no real idea of where I was at, I’ve got nothing to be poopy about.  I know this and anything else is just plain Ego.  The main thing is after 2 long years, I finally got a PR when I’d pretty much convinced myself I’d not see another, ever.  I’m also pleased as punch with the Age-Grade and the Age Group placing.  This is such a competitive destination Half, I thought I’d be lucky to be in the top 6, so 4th is a nice bonus.

This race also unveiled the new race me: one that is confident but at the same time, reticent about pushing it to the Nth degree, probably won’t ever again as a matter of fact, but will do what I can within a comfort level that feels safe.  Because of this, I’ll never be a great racer – I believe you do need that balls-to-the-wall ability to do it properly, but I’m ok with that.  I think I have many great races ahead, just within those parameters is all.

After After
Kat and I went out for food and bloody marys before she embarked upon her journey home (Love you Kat, thanks for being such a fun and calming influence).  I sat here for a bit, thinking about the blog post I had to write and looking forward to seeing my ex-hubby tomorrow for the first time in eight years when he stops for a visit on his way home from that 12-week sailing adventure.  But after a few minutes, I said fuck this and went to the drugstore and bought a shitload of shit to stuff in my piehole.  Doritos, Reeses Pieces and Twizzlers.  All huge size.  After being good for so long, tonight I will be bad (or have a really bad stomach ache, whatever comes first).  All that’s missing is a cigarette.

Before I close, I want to thank all my dear friends from the 3:20 thread, even the hopeful crazies who predicted a sub90 (Matt), which I knew was not ever on the table.  Your confidence in me was beautiful, albeit overly hopeful.  And that huge collection of messages from my Facebook friends filled my heart like you wouldn’t believe.  I just love all you internet and real-life pals of mine – you make it all so much fun. Thank you for being so great.

I hope to have at least one ok race picture but until then, here's me and my dinner.

So you all know by now I live in a horrible dump I unaffectionately call The Blue Hovel, named for its disgusting ancient blue office carpet replete with gross holes (and that I recently thought was the source of a scabies attack till I realized it was heat rash), clashing light blue floor tile in the kitchen and more unrelated-in-the-blue-family tile covering the bathroom walls.  Doesn’t help that my couch (bought before this apartment) is also blue.

You probably also know I had a horrible situation with my first upstairs neighbors due to the fact that the ceiling is a GPS for whoever lives above, creaking loudly everywhere, particularly above my bed.  The girl who replaced them was petite and often away on a trip, so I didn’t have a burbling hatred with her at all, though it’s still been a series of intrusions to hear her alarm go off for mornings and naps, the occasional bout of crying, many many sleep interruptions…basically, more uninvited humanity than a person deserves in their own private space.

But it’s cheap.

I moved here after breaking up with Nick and this was the least awful available place in the neighborhood, so I took it.  There are some redeeming features as far as location and…come to think of it, that’s the only redeeming feature.

Because not only is it embarrassingly ugly, it’s embarrassingly small – around 350sq ft.  Luckily, I don’t own a lot of things, yet it’s taken creativity to live here.  Anyone coming over would always say “it’s not so bad!” but they were just being nice.  And a couple friends have witnessed the ceiling clomping, so trust me, I’m not being Princess and the Pea about it.

Anyway, you know I started talking about moving out during the first year while on my Financial Marathon (start with the bottom post and work up, if you care).  Tail between my legs, that didn’t come to fruition in as timely a manner as I’d hoped, so I signed the lease for another year.  Wonder of Wonders, a few months later, the Financial Marathon did come to a successful conclusion!  My income increased substantially and I was finally saving money – a fantastic turn of events, especially because prior to that, my bank account had hovered for over a year between $2-$4000.  Scary at my age.

But now I’ve got a little nest egg building and it’s been amazing to be able to buy the few things I want (very few, I can barely fit an extra pair of socks in this dump) or drop $1000 on the Vegas Half Marathon trip coming up and not even have a second thought.

Cut To The Chase, Flo!
My lease is expiring Sept. 1st and even though this place is utter shit, I had decided to renew for one final year, delaying escape to save more dough.  One reason was that my new income level still feels foreign and since I’m self-employed, I figured another year would let me trust it.  Plus, I really despise moving as an activity and the girl upstairs was gone enough that I figured I could stand it for another 12 months.

But then, a month ago, I saw a U-Haul outside…the girl upstairs was moving out!  All of a sudden, I was in panic mode, knowing that whoever moved up there wasn’t likely to be out of town regularly.

It turned out to be another young girl, nice enough, but who has been here for 4 days and already woken me up every.  single. night. at around 2am.  Luckily, I’m taking that melatonin so I’m able to return to sleep quickly but I have had it!!! And I’m not at all blaming the girl, I used to go to bed at 3am when I was her age – it’s just that this is one craptasticly horrible building.

So I started looking at Craigslist and getting depressed over the listings until I did some calculations and realized…I can afford a nice place!  I’m just so used to being poor, I was still in a mentality of thinking my rent had to be as low as possible.  This is crazy, considering the amount of time I spend at home – if there’s one thing I should spend money on, it’s a place I love to be.  Furthermore, even with a sizable rent increase, I’ll still be able to save while getting TONS more for my dough.

So when my window broke on Sunday, I was all “This is yet another sign saying GO, ALREADY!”.   Hell, I’ve even been toying with forfeiting my security deposit to escape one month sooner but I’ll do my best to stick it out.  This is one move I will not despise.

The Adventurers
Unrelated, I wanted to post this great photo of my ex-husband, Jonny, and friend Andy, who are in the midst of a 10-week sailing adventure.  They started in Long Island, NY and are headed to Disko Island, Greenland before sailing back down again, just the two of them on Andy’s boat.  Here they are yesterday on the Strait of Belle Isle (Jonny left, Andy right) giving a 4th of July toast, which is kinda funny since Jonny’s a Brit and Andy’s Swiss.

Check out the map.  I included Iceland so you can get an idea of how far north they’re going.  This, my friends, is one of the few occasions I reserve the word Awsome for.  Because it literally is.

Though it didn’t seem it at the time…

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen my post a couple weeks back about Zipcars.  My car has been on its last legs for about a year:  it farts blue smoke, has had trouble starting since the winter, clearcoat is totally scabby looking, 141,300 miles on it.

I was thinking about getting a new car, though dreading it, because I hardly use it – mostly to go to one particular recording studio or to the big grocery store and shopping center.  Other than that, I’m walkable to most everything I need, so the idea of shelling out a few thousand bucks for something that’ll be sitting on the street was less than pleasant.

I had decided I’d use Zipcars as soon as my inspection was due (end of October).  Zipcars are cars you rent by the hour, you don’t have to buy insurance or gas, it’s a great deal and there are tons of cars within a few block radius of my apartment.  You know where this is going, right?

So I’m driving to the doctor and am in this single-lane tunnel that takes cars to the interstate highway.  It’s rush hour so there’s a huge line of cars behind me.  I’m the first car at the light and while I’m sitting there, the car dies.  Just dies.  Dead.

I am FREAKING out, have no idea what to do, all these cars are beeping at me and I can’t do anything!  So I call 911 and they tell me someone will be there soon but I have that doctor’s appointment so I’m panicking.  Meanwhile, after the light changes twice, 2 guys push my car out of the way, to a precarious spot behind the museum where a fast moving car or bus could easily rear-end it.  Not a good place to leave a car.

I have 10 minutes until my appointment but here I am waiting for the cops and I have a dead car.  The appointment is about 1.4 miles away.  So I call 911 again and the cop tells me to leave a note and do what I have to do.  I gather my stuff and start running.

Then I realize that I’m running like marathon pace and maybe that’s not the best thing to be doing since I’m going to the doctor about collapsing during strenuous running.  I start walking as fast as I can.  That lasted until about 6 blocks from the doctor’s when I slung my shoulder bag onto my back and ran like a true racer (who happens to be wearing a cute halter top and short skirt).

I get there just in time, covered in sweat, my top totally soaked around my waist, highly stressed and wondering what the hell will happen to my car in the meantime.

The Appointment
As expected, nothing yet.  I’m going to get an Echo Stress test, though my doctor is sure it won’t find anything since it only lasts 13 minutes and I’m too fit for it to have me reach much stress.  I’m also getting a Spirometry test to see about breathing.  She doesn’t  think it’s asthma because you can hear my labored breathing, which she said means it’s higher than the lungs.  I find this interesting since my running pals who report having asthma report loud breathing.  I’m convinced I’ll be left in limbo when all is said and done without anything conclusive.

I was feeling blue when I left the doctor’s office, wondering what I’m going to do without a resolution, but as I started walking home, my mood began to lift.

Unfinished Business
It was night time and I was in the University City area of Philly where all the Frat houses are and where I’m never at, certainly not walking at night.  It was pretty fun though, lots of kids playing, drinking, yelling and having a good time.  The air was incredibly wonderful and I was on the phone telling my story to my pal Lara, then to my ex Nick (who I’d called while stuck in the car but who is in Las Vegas so couldn’t help me out).

So by the time I get near the car, I’m feeling kind of chipper and actually hoping the car isn’t there.  I have decided during my walk that I just want to dump the thing.

I laugh as I approach the museum and see my hazards blinking into the night, realizing how funny it is that I’m disappointed to see it.  I call Geico and ask if they’ll tow my car, permanently.  She tells me I’ll have to pay for it myself, then she hooks me up with Vince, the towing guy who tries to talk me out of wanting any money for it.  I tell him all I want is to not pay for the tow.  Vince is all for that.

So I’m waiting for the tow truck and getting all sentimental about the old Saturn.  It was the only car I’ve ever repaired myself (swapped out a cracked coolant temp sensor, cleaned and replaced the EGR valve to stop it stalling, plus some other stuff) so we’ve had a long bonding process.  Then I call my ex-husband, Jonny.  Since we bought it together back in 1996 it only seemed fitting to involve him in the last rites.

The tow truck comes and after I sign my name, she was gone.  I don’t have a car anymore.  And you know what?  I was smiling and laughing to myself as I headed home in that beautiful evening breeze.

Whatever happens with racing doesn’t really matter that much, I’m still a runner and that’s the important thing.  Beyond that is life and the funny little stories that happen and the people we know.  That is the good stuff.