Sweet Summertime

Ahhhh.....Summer!!

Life has been busy, as usual (not complaining, and I know everyone can relate...just sayin' :)).  Again I find myself lamenting the fact that I don't blog/record details of my races and training as much as I would like.  C'est la vie...  Therefore, this post is going to just be a whole lot of word vomit as I do my best to record the highlights of my past few months.

The name of my game this year has been "having fun."  Last year was very structured as I trained from December 2012-September of 2013 for my first full 140.6.  Nearly each and every day revolved around training.  My afternoon kids at school were used to seeing me with wet hair, rings around my eyes from goggles and the aroma of chlorine emanating from my pores (this was in my pre-TriSwim product days!) because of my lunch-dates with the student rec center pool.  Every "spare" minute was spent uploading data into Training Peaks, packing workout attire bags, washing sinks full of water bottles, doing endless loads of stanky laundry, having a backseat and trunk full of miscellaneous tri gear items (wait...this is still the case!) and watching YouTube videos of swim drills (not to mention the actual acts of swim-bike-running...and somehow managing to run 5 marathons in like 53 weeks).  I don't regret a second of it...but it's not how I personally want to constantly structure my life.

After I finished IMWI in September, I crashed...hard.  After a few fall events (including the NYC Marathon) I was mentally done with the constant training-and-racing cycle.  I slowly got moving again in the spring, but vowed to let myself take it easy and just do what I felt like I wanted to do...without being super crazy-regimented about my training.  Obviously this means I won't be breaking any speed records or anything like that...but when all of "this" starts to become "work" and not "fun," what's the point?  I realize this means different things to different people...and the trick is finding your own personal happy place in it all.  I've been having a lot of fun this season so far...mission accomplished.

"Quick" re-cap of some highlights from this year thus far...

1.  Mother's Day weekend I was home in the Quad City area visiting my family, so I ran the half marathon at the Quad Cities Distance Classic on May 11 with my friend Aaron who ran the 5k at the same event.  Why?  Why not.  I hadn't run further than 7 or 8 miles since the fall, but felt like running a half.  So I did.  It was my first time getting to run a race with this newbie-runner!  Aaron is KILLING his training...as a first-time-EVER runner, he is regularly logging 5+ mile runs at an 8-8:30 pace.  I'm bragging for him, because he would never do it for himself.  I ran my 13.1 mile race in 1:57 or something (if I cared more, I would look it up)...totally satisfactory to me.

Me with Aaron prior to the race...hanging out in Carver and reminiscing about college days

2.  The weekend of May 16-19 I traveled to Knoxville, TN for my first Rev3 event of the season.  Last year, this event was my first-ever Rev3 event...and this year's event was my first Rev3 race as a member of Team Rev3.  It was awesome seeing some teammates I met in March at our Team Summit, as well as meeting some new faces. I LOVE this crazyawesome team!

I had a great time....

...At the Glow Run Friday night.....



yeah....this guy had glow sticks stuck into his epic beard...I couldn't resist snapping a pic (and I asked permission ;))

....Volunteering at the Kids Revvie Saturday morning....

Hanging out with Chuck and Esteban, serious as always, in the kids' transition area.

Giving our final finisher a Rev3-style welcome to the finish line!

....at the practice swim with Kelly....

....at the expo/setting up transition...

....in our amazing condo with fun friends Esteban, Chuck, Richelle and Colleen...

Esteban made us dinner the night before the race (including GF pasta for Richelle and me!)...he's quite the chef!

...during the race...

...and post-race!

Enjoying time in the sun with Kelly after a fun race

I completed the Olympic Distance, and in staying true to my current theme of just having fun...had no real time-related goals for myself other than finishing.  Here are my stats...
Swim:  35:36
T1:  3:32
Bike: 1:33.05
T2: 1:54
Run:  56:55.44
Total:  3:11:03

3.   Saturday, May 31 I completed my first-ever Tri-Shark Classic sprint-distance triathlon.  I did participate in this event last season, however it was changed last-minute to a duathlon (run-swim-run) to eliminate the swimming portion due to some awful levels of nasty crap in the water.  My good friends Dave and Chuck came to visit and completed the race with me...we had a great time!  Love the friends this sport has brought into my life. 

Chuck and Dave were great roomies-for-a-night...we had a great time at the race!

It's no secret that I slacked a lot this winter, so I didn't do as well as I would have liked...but I did get what I deserved :). 

Swim:  12:13.7
T1:  1:44.4
Bike:  40:45.7
T2:  1:22.5
Run:  25:30.7
7th/16 in my age group (F 30-34)

A few weeks after the event, I investigated the results and saw that I had gotten 17th out of 118 women.  So...maybe I am in better shape than I thought.  Encouraging!

My friend Kelly is quite the talented photographer...and gifts us with amazing photos at events she spectates.  She took the following picture:

I think this picture fits with my current goal of "having fun" and not taking this stuff too seriously

4. A week and a half ago I spent the weekend in the Wisconsin Dells with my family, with the Rev3 Dells event being the focus of our visit.  My sister, Megan, and I made plans months prior to complete the 70.3 distance triathlon at the event as a relay team:  I would swim and bike and she would run.

The morning prior to the event, I attended the practice swim with some of my Rev3 teammates.  We handed out samples of TriSlide, Foggies and TriSwim products and took turns making a few rounds around the practice course ourselves.  

Team Rev3 members ready to lube ya up!

I swam a leisurely sixth of a mile to calm my nerves....I hadn't been in the water for a week and a half (at a Wednesday Open Water Swim with my area tri club) and prior to that had been in the water only a handful of times this season. 

 

After the swim, I took my bike out for a bit to run through the gears and spin my legs out a bit...and I'm so grateful I did!  After only a few minutes it became apparent that my chain would not move from the front small ring to the large ring. After fighting with it for a few miles, I turned around and brought it to the bike repair tent at the expo. Some nice gentlemen looked it over and made some adjustments...things seemed better after that. I took it for a few parking lot laps and ran through the gears without issues.  Whew!  After I felt like everything was in working order, I got my transition area situated....love Rev3's personalized transition area tags!

I grabbed a nice solo lunch at Sprecher and then met up with my family who had just gotten into town. My sister had gotten us a condo not far from the area of town where the race was. It was great to have them there to share the race weekend, as well as some other vacation-y activities, with. I took Megan down to the expo and transition areas to show her where everything was. 

Of course we had to take one of the goofy Rev3 VIP pictures at the expo...

Saturday night we ate an early dinner and went back to the condo where Megan and I prepared for race morning before heading to bed relatively early.   

Race morning...we woke up before the sun and prepared for a day of fun. Side note...I find it interesting that on average days I hit snooze 6-7 times before rolling out. Race mornings...I can somehow manage to get up right away or after only 1-2 snoozes.  

We ate some breakfast and got our last-minute things in order. We had a little debacle with the application of race tattoos, but nothing a big black marker one of the staff members brought to the transition area couldn't fix later ;-).

We headed down to transition about 90 minutes before the start, made sure everything was just-so, and did our usual race-morning-porta-potty song and dance. We then walked down to the swim start. The swim at Rev3 Dells is held at the Tommy Bartlett Show area, which is pretty neat. It's very spectator-friendly, as there is stadium seating available...also nice for the time before the race start. 

My fav race buddy

I saw my friend Kelly who wasn't feeling very well. She had re-injured an old back injury and was stressing about her role as the swim leg of a relay team. She decided to go ahead and swim in spite of the injury/pain...and did really well. Spoiler alert:  her relay team got first!

Kelly with me before our swim start

The swim was a time-trial start. We lined up two-by-two within our assigned waves and they had swimmers start every few seconds by jumping off a small dock.  Kelly and I started toward the back of our wave due to her apprehensions regarding the status of her back. Shortly after we jumped in, I lost her as she swam off much more strongly than I am currently capable off. I sent her silent wishes for a strong and incident-free swim and settled into my own rhythm. 

I'm not a strong swimmer, I never have been. I'm very average and very okay with that. I was a bit fearful about the swim at Dells seeing as I hadn't swam anything at or near 1.2 miles since IMWI in November. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the way that I fairly quickly was able to find a rhythm and moved into my mental swimming zone. 

I kept things steady (and slow!) and had no issues. I didn't once feel the need to stop/grab a kayak/flip over/breaststroke...anything. I hung onto my slow and steady front crawl for those 1.2 miles and was astounded to exit the water to see "46" shining at me from my watch. Somehow I managed to swim in 46:09 (pace of 2:23/100s) This is not a "fast" time...but it's certainly decent, especially for someone who has swam only a handful of times in the past 7 months. I was expecting something more in the 50-minute range. I'll take it!  It was a definite confidence boost to be able to do a swim of that distance without any issues after very little recent preparation. 

I ran up a hilly paved area to the transition area where my sister was waiting. She helped strip my wetsuit...I have this uncanny ability to get the darn thing stuck on my ankles and have spent many minutes in transition areas fighting with it. I sat down and she grabbed ahold of it and tugged. Instead of it sliding off nicely, she managed to drag me 10 feet across the grass, still attached to my wetsuit. More TriSlide next time?!

Once that slippery beast was off of my body, I gathered my bike gear and slurped down a Black Raspberry Pear PowerBar Performance Energy Blend (YUM!). I felt great, mentally and physically, as I exited the transition area after 3:48 (clearly I wasn't in any sort of hurry...that's basically enough time to have a quick picnic!).

For the first few miles, I mentally prepared myself for what I knew awaited me on the bike course. This was my third time out on the course. I rode the course last year at the Rev3 Dells 2013 event. I participated in the run on a relay team on race day, however the day before the race I rode the 56 mile bike course solo for training. That was INTENSE. This course is no joke!  It's freaking HILLY!  I have no idea if this is perfectly accurate, so don't quite this as gospel or anything...but I've heard a number of people state that the course had more elevation gain in 56 miles than the entire 112-mile Ironman Wisconsin course (which is known for being hilly and terrible).  Regardless of what the numbers specifically say, the Rev3 Dells bike course is tough...ask anyone who has done it!  My second experience with the course had been just a few weeks prior on Memorial Day at our Rev3 course preview day...so the torturous hills were fresh in my mind.

The weather was pretty nice...not too hot at the beginning of the ride, which was helpful.  I ended up dropping my chain a total of four stinking times on the course.  The first was after only 5 miles or so.  After the second time, I became rather irritated.  After three times...I was borderline mad.  On the fourth time I may have yelled a choice word or two and flipped my bike over so quickly and carelessly that I ended up cutting the knuckle on my right thumb with the cassette.  OUCH!  I finished the course covered in bike grease and a bit of dried blood from that debacle.  (I ended up taking the bike in to a local bike shop immediately upon my return to town on Tuesday and discovered that the derailleur had almost come off of the bike.  Scary!  However, everything is now in excellent working order thanks to the lovely Adam at Vitesse Cycle Shop).

Other than the chain issue, I did enjoy the my time on the bike.  Well...as much as you can enjoy climbing your butt off I guess ;).  On what I consider to be the worst/most difficult portion of the course, I actually (very slowly!) passed three guys who were walking their bikes up the very steep ascent.  I was proud that I never got off the bike and walked on any of the crazy hills...but I would be lying if I said that it never went through my mind!

After 3 hours, 50 minutes and 48 seconds...I rolled into the transition area, more than happy to be done and ready to pass the timing chip to Megan.  However, it had started getting rather hot...so I was also feeling a little guilty about "making" her do her work through the hottest part of the day.

While she set off, I cleaned up my gear in the transition area.  I chatted with fellow Rev3 teammates Nicole, Ron, Tim and Jeff. 

After a bit, I made my way to the finish line where I met up with my parents, Megan's husband and my niece Macy.  We had planned to meet up in the finish chute area where Megan would be running by toward her big finish...and then Macy and I would join Megan and all finish together (one of the coolest things about Rev3 races is the fact that anyone you want can run across the finish with you...it's such a cool experience to watch families finishing together!).  Megan had estimated that she would finish in 1:50 or so, so we were ready to go at the finish about 1:45 after she had started running.

I started run/walking backwards on the course to meet up with her.  After a bit, it became apparent that the heat of the day had likely gotten to her because it took longer to meet up with her than estimated.  When I saw her, she did NOT look pleased.  In fact, she may have informed me that she hated me...or something along those lines ;).  I ran with her about a mile or so to the finish and tried to chat a bit to give her something other than her suffering to think about.

Soon, the finish line was in sight.  My mom handed Macy to me (Megan informed me that she was too worn out to hold her) and Macy immediately began freaking out.  As we made our way to the finish line, Macy's freaking out became a full-on wail.  After we crossed the finish line and got our medals (and awesome cold/wet towels!), it took a while to calm her down...poor thing!  I felt kind of mean for traumatizing her, but the whole experience made for a funny finisher photo:

 

Our final time was 6:51:36...and we ended up scoring sweet medals for getting 3rd in the relay division.  It was a really fun day...and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to share the experience of racing with my sister and family.

After spending some time at the post-race festivities, my family headed back to the condo. I stuck around to cheer on more finishers...including our awesome and inspirational 70-year-old final finisher. To add some excitement to the day, everyone left at the finish line helped to hurriedly tear down the expo as a big storm rolled in!

The rest of the day following the race, I layed low. We ate at Sprecher (again for me!) and I crashed early...then later woke up around 1am still wearing jeans and my contact lenses were disgustingly suction-cupped to my eyeballs. Nice.  However, I woke up in the morning the next day feeling fresh and great.  Basking in that post-race glow is a goooood feeling :).

Monday was spent participating in decidedly non-athletic endeavors with my family. We enjoyed some of the many cliche/touristy attractions the Dells area has to offer...Paul Bunyan's Lumberjack Meals was met by mixed reviews by our group (but was definitely a "won't forget" experience)...the Wisconsin Ducks ride was pretty awesome and offered beautiful views of the area...and Wizard Quest was a unique experience as well (an interactive mystery/game).

My mom, sister and I went on a late-night hunt for some ice cream to commemorate our last evening in the Dells

...and then Tuesday mid-morning we all headed to our respective homes.  It was a great trip!  It was so much fun to share my love of triathlon and Rev3 with my family, and to get some quality Macy Jo time in of course!  I'm thinking we should make Rev3 Dells a yearly family tradition...
 

5.  I had spoken to some friends about my curiosity regarding the Main Street Mile in Peoria, IL.  I decided to go and give it a whirl...why not?  I had NO idea what kind of pace I could hold for "just" a mile and had heard the course was mostly downhill and the event was fun and festive...this event definitely piqued my interest.

I seldom do any real speed work (seldom = never) was hoping to run in under 7 minutes.  My "pie in the sky" time was 6:40.  Somehow I managed to pound out a 6:17.  I was pretty astounded by myself....as were my legs.  I can safely say they've never moved that fast.  A few days later, my shins were still reminding me of my efforts.  Lots of foam rolling, massage and yoga have been the recipe for recovery this week!

Before the race, I saw a man in an Easter Seals shirt that I suspected was Mark Scott.  I decided to be gutsy and introduced myself...it turned out I was correct!  Mark Scott is currently on a mission to run 50 races in 50 weeks and raise $50,000 (though he is really on track to raise $100,000!) for Easter Seals to celebrate turning 50 years old!  Here I am with Mark after the race. What a great guy and a neat idea!

Sooo...what's in store for the rest of my summer?

LOTS!

1.  July 4th is just around the corner, bringing with it races in communities all over our country.  Past summers have brought me home to the Quad Cities and to Peoria for races, but this year I will be staying here in BloNo and participating in Park2Park, a fabulous 5 mile race between two parks in our town.

2.  The following weekend, Clint and I have the crazy idea to run three races...all on the same day (Saturday, July 12).  I'm not sure exactly how this idea was birthed...I think I suggested two, and he countered with three.  Makes sense.  Regardless of how the plan transpired, the agenda is:  8am- Fisher Fair 5k; 6pm- Dog Days 5k and 9pm Moonlight Chase 4 Mile.  This will be a first for me...I once ran two 5ks on the same day here in town (with start times about 2 hours apart or so) and ended up with a stress fracture after that....here's hoping this isn't a repeat of that glorious performance (pretty sure that mishap had more to do with my footwear...ahem vibram 5 fingers ahem....than the mileage ;)).  This hair-brained idea is going to require quite a bit of drama and driving, but is bound to be unforgettable...so I am looking forward to it.

3.  After that, on Saturday, July 19 I will be walking and volunteering at the Walk With Me event supporting Easter Seals of Central IL.  I'm looking forward to a fun day with co-workers (including fellow pediatric therapists) and many of the kiddos and families I have had the privilege of working with over the years. Apparently there's also a dunk tank slated to be present...and I may or may not personally know some of the pediatric therapists who will be "doing time" sitting in it...

4.  That brings us to Bix weekend!  The Bix 7 is hands-down my favorite event of the year.  This will be my eleventh consecutive year running in it...and it is the event that I credit with transmitting the running disease to me.  Love it!  Megan, Clint and Aaron will all be running this year...in addition to thousands of other crazies. Can't wait!

5.  August....is currently wide open.  I should probably think about adding a tri or two (three?) because I am doing the 70.3 at Rev3 Cedar Point on September 7 and I am bound and determined to finish in under 6 hours.  My last 70.3 was Ironman Racine in July last summer and I finished in 6:00:51.  I have no real reason to not finish under 6 hours (aside from slacking off, that is ;)).

6.  The week after that I will be joining my good friend Jillian in Iowa for her grand return to triathlon...we are doing an Olympic-distance race together at the Best Dam Triathlon on September 14 as her first triathlon post baby number two!  This race will be two years almost to the day that Jillian and I completed our first half-iron distance tris together.  I also did my first-ever triathlon with this girl back in May of 2011 (I just re-read my post regarding this experience, "Confessions of a First-Time 'Triathlete'," and was very entertained by the musings and reflections of my three-years-ago self).

7.  October brings my second-favorite race of the year:  Run the Woods.  This trail run offers 5k and 8k distances and is a gorgeous, well-run event.  Ok...truth be told, I am on the committee so I am a little biased ;).  But really...if you're close enough to check it out, do so.  Trail running is so much fun, and the pancake breakfast (boasting GF pancakes as well!) afterwards is stellar!  Ok...end shameless plug ;)!!

8.  My 'A'-Race...The Chicago Marathon.  I'll save the details for another post, but I have high-HIGH hopes for this race.  It is going to be my 11th marathon on the 5th anniversary of my first-ever marathon (which was also in Chicago...back in 2009).  I'm running for my Easter Seals kids again, much more on that later as well.  I think it's high-time for a marathon PR.  We'll see...

Anyway, as per usual I will likely throw in a race or two (or seven) more...but that's how my year is shaking out so far.  I'm excited to see how it all plays out.  Love me some summer...and lots of running (and biking...and occasional swimming ;)).

Happy training...ENJOY this beautiful summer!

Happy National Running Day

 

What better day to jump back into blogging than on National Running Day?! 

I've written numerous times about how running has been an important part of my life.  I am grateful for the gift of running given to me 10+ years ago by my sister, for a body that allows me to participate in the activity, and for the relationships I've both made and strengthened through running.  I can't imagine my life without it.

Me with Megan after I completed my first half marathon at the U of IL in 2009

I've run all over this beautiful country of ours, through the mountains of West Virginia, the beaches of Hawaii, across the bridges of the Quad Cities, amongst the monuments on the Mall in Washington, DC, in the Ozarks, and on my all-so-familiar Constitution Trail in Bloomington-Normal.  I've shared the gift and joy (and frustration!) of running with friends and colleagues who have laced up running shoes after being encouraged (forced?!) by me.  I've run through dark anger, deep sadness, heartache, confusion...as well as with immeasurable joy.  I've run across the finish line of Ironman Wisconsin surrounded by a boisterous crowd including my own friends and family, and I've run along the Hennepin Canal in Geneseo, IL to the sounds of my own feet, birds and flowing water.  I've raised money for the kids and families who receive therapy services at Easter Seals in Central IL while training for and completing my tenth marathon in NYC last fall.  There is not a time in my adult life where running is not a part of my memories.

Last week my maternal grandfather passed away.  He was placed under hospice care on Tuesday and upon receiving that news, I had the immediate desire to get home to see him and to be with my family.  After some discussions with family members, I made the decision to wait until Saturday afternoon to head home.  It looked as if he would hang on...though he was declining last week, it seemed as if it wasn't quite dire.  After all, he was a stubborn and hardy man who had already thrived for 99 long and incredible years.

On Thursday morning I received a text message from my mother, "Call me as soon as you can."  I knew immediately what that meant and was struck by a sick sadness.  Her ever-even, calm voice saying, "Honey, Grandpa passed away a little bit ago," reiterated what I already knew.  She apologized at the end of the conversation for not advising me to come more quickly.  I assured her that it was ok...and it is.  There was no way to know how quickly he would pass and frankly I felt awful that she even had one iota of guilt over her advice to me.  We never know how much time there is.  This was a good reminder of that solemn truth.  Thursday night, though I certainly didn't feel like doing anything other than lying on the couch, I laced up my running shoes and ran with a local group...even a bit faster than I was accustomed to and surprised myself with my ability to keep up.

Me with my sister Megan and my niece Macy (18 mo old);
my two fav running buddies (Macy looks less-than-thrilled,
but she actually does enjoy time in her running stroller!)

After completing the Tri-Shark sprint-distance triathlon in Hudson, IL not far from my home on Saturday morning I headed home to the Quad Cities to be with my family.  Naturally my running shoes were one of the first items I packed, as per usual.  During my time at home I had the opportunity to run a HOT 10-miler with my sister on Sunday morning, 2.5 miles Monday morning during a torrential downpour and a relaxed 4 miles on Tuesday morning with my sister and niece Macy (we each pushed the jogging stroller for half/2 miles).  16.5 miles in the three days I spent in the Quad Cities; I'll take it! 

During my time at home, we spent hours celebrating the life of my grandfather and reminiscing about the ways in which he touched our lives with my large extended family.  Being able to have almost all of us home together for the first time in I-don't-know-how-long was incredibly special.  My brother Dan flew home from San Diego and I was so excited to see him and spend time together I could hardly stand it.  I had the privilege of speaking in the funeral service alongside my sister and cousins Kristi and Michelle.  I firmly believe that the challenge of running and racing has helped me become a stronger person who can endure difficult situations such as that.

While I continue to be very much a work-in-progress, running makes me a better version of "me."  Some days I run to forget, others I run to remember.  Sometimes I run to be social with a group, others I prefer the silence of solitude and intentionally run along less-traveled roads and trails to get away from it all.  Almost always, my day and general outlook on life is better post-run.

In more recent years, I've added swimming and biking to my "activity" regimen.  However, running will always be my favorite part of my "multi-sport" lifestyle.  I'm looking forward to a summer of racing in both running races and triathlons with a variety of friends (including my incredible Rev3 teammates!).  Who knows, maybe I will actually try to buckle down and focus on getting faster...regardless, my biggest goal will be to continue to have fun with it all.

I run...for myself and my mental health, for my family, for my Easter Seals kids, and to be a good example to others.

Why do you run?