Do the Dash, Do the Monster Dash!

So, half marathon #12 is done. It was the Monster Dash in the Twin Cities. I ran this with SM. She was a running buddy from Washington, DC and we had run a couple of marathons down there together. She and her family moved to Minneapolis and I thought it would be fun to visit and run together.

SM had suggested the race. I had hoped, since this is a Halloween race, to dress up in costume, but as you can see. It didn't really work. Although, thanks to GF: I was a panda bear in the dark.

It wasn't the most creative costume, I admit. But it was something. I had wanted to be a bee, but couldn't get my act together in time to make one. I'm glad because bees were a popular outfit on the run. There were some really great costumes out there: pac-man and the ghosts, Sesame Street characters - including the count, angry birds, batmans and batgirls, gumby, crayons, pilots who actually gave away airplane pins to kids along the route, a mustard container - with a sign saying 'I like these buns' running next to a hot dog whose sign said 'my main squeeze.'

But my favorite was the American Gothic painting. I could never have done that. You really need arm strength for that. I could barely lift my arms by the last few miles to pump up hills, let alone carry a painting/picture frame. I don't know how that guy did it, let alone still wear the costume after the race was over! Next time, I will dress up. I think it'd be fun to do a run in costume. Granted - I did do that once - when I was the Statue of Liberty, and I learned from that experience, never wear a toga that goes down to your ankles when you're running through water, mud and over obstacles. I am still proud that the torch made it through the entire mud run intact, though.

Ok, the race report. It was 32 degrees at the start of the race. I know - St. Paul at the end of October - it shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. It was cold - cold enough to see my breath cold. We started near the Cathedral, which was really pretty. Once we started running, it was good. I was able to ditch the gloves (did take off the hood) and actually I think the cold helped me run and helped my recovery. It was a crowded field - over 10,000 runners for the half and the 10 miler. There were a lot of water stops and the route was scenic. And even with the cold, there were people out cheering. That said, the downside was the last 3 miles. The 10 milers ended and got bused to the finish, along the same route we were running. It was kind of depressing. The last 4-5 miles or so was also all highway miles - no shade and not a lot of people. It was kind of sad. We ended down the hill from the Cathedral. There was cups of water, bananas and little brown bags of sun chips and a nut roll to munch on at the end. There was also beer, but it was 36 degrees by the time we finished, and frankly, it was too cold for a beer outside in sweaty clothes. All in all, it was fun run with SM!

But I think the next time I go to the Twin Cities, I'll go in the summer!

Chili Goat Cheese

When I was in San Francisco to run the half marathon, I had this really yummy Cowgirl Creamery Green Chile goat cheese. The shop made a sandwich out of it with jelly.

Last week I was at the Union Square farmer's market and I saw a really cool chili stand. I bought one, thinking I'd use it in a stir-fry. But the more I thought about the more I wanted to try and make that cheese. So I roasted the chili (which I was roasting some acorn squash - multi-tasking - and set out some plain goat cheese I bought.

After the chili cooled, I took off the skin, took out the seeds in from inside and chopped it up. I mixed it into the goat cheese and re-set it in a log shape. About an hour later, i had some with blueberry jam atop a freshly baked biscut. It was yummy! I like the way the heat plays off the sweetness of the jam.

Anyway, instead of running, I thought I'd write about this and fulfill the eating part of this blog!

Lowering Expectations

I tried to run long on Saturday and only really made it 14 miles. I was so tired. I'm lowering my expectations for the NYC Marathon. My goal is just to have fun and enjoy the experience.

Charm City's Running Festival

I finished Half Marathon #11 this past weekend in Baltimore.

I've run this course before, and had a great time running it in 2007 with MLJ (now MLR) and SR (now SM). I knew what to expect, to a certain extent. But still, it was a bit different. The 9:45 am start felt much later than 2007, but MLR said it wasn't. They started in waves, be we couldn't really figure out where the waves starts were. We should have been in Wave 5, but I think we ended up in Wave 2. And that was still 10 mins or so after the gun went off.

I stuck with MLR, who was walking the half, for about the first 2 miles, and then I started running. I know, it's bad. But, and I can't believe I'm writing this, I like running. As one sign said, "Sweat is fat crying." There were some great signs and shirts on the course.

Now ML said she saw the little dixie cups of beer and candy that people hand out, but I must have missed them. And believe me, I was looking. That was one of my fondest memories of the race the first time. The crowds, the beer, the candy - starbursts, swedish fish, gummy bears - that spectators would pass out. I saw bits of it on the ground - twizzlers and red candies, but I never saw them. It's not because I was running fast, but because it was always so crowded. Still, they had lots of water on the course, and around the lake, they offered bananas (unlike the orange slices in 2007) and pretzels/chips.

All that negates the fact that you feel like you run uphill for most of this race. Seriously, until mile 11, I felt like was running uphill the entire time!

The only really bad part was the finish. Trying to get out of the runner's area was tough. There was a bottle neck and it was sooooo crowded.

The other thing I did wrong was, forget to reset my garmin at the end. I tacked on just under 3 miles, by running back to MLR's friend's M's house in Baltimore. I didn't notice until about half a mile in.

My chip time was 2:27:04 (which was better than my 2:36:24 from '07).

Within a Second

I noticed something today when I downloaded my run info from my Garmin. My run yesterday and today started within a second of each other. Tuesday's run began at 7:57:56 a.m. and today's run started at 7:57:55 a.m. I thought it was a freaky coincidence. Nothing else was the same. Yesterday, I felt great. Today, I felt sluggish. I was faster yesterday, not so today. I didn't bring music - so that was the same. But their was a conversation I couldn't help but overhear yesterday (they were right behind me for a good mile).

The quiet on today's run helped me organize. I realized the Baltimore Half is this weekend and I still have to make travel arrangements. I figured out today's lunch/dinner menu will be asparagus risotto. I'm going to try and hit the farmers market and library before work. And I finally updated the software on my Garmin, so hopefully that will help fix some of the issues I've been having with it.

So not a bad start to the day.

Ithaca is Gorges

This past weekend, I road-tripped to Ithaca, NY, where I visited with AA, her hubby J and their daughter J. It was a fun trip. I usually go once a year for a nice relaxing weekend and to catch up with A. A couple of years ago, J turned me onto their normal running route which is an out-and-back to a bridge/highway overpass about 3 miles away. So, now whenever I go there, I do that run.

Sunday morning, I headed out their door and up the very steep hill. You're pretty much running on an uphill to the bridge and a down hill back, but A and J live on a steep hill and I tried running up it, but usually towards the top I just give up and walk to the top.

I didn't bring my iPod with me because I forgot my headphones, so I really could enjoy the scenery. This route takes you past two scenic gorge overlooks where you can see some falls and the lake. It also takes you through Cayuga Heights - which is the pretty suburban neighborhood. What I noticed this year on the run, besides the fact that the leaves were turning, were the little brooks and streams off to the sides. It was really quite pretty.

The other active thing we all did was go on a short hike (J is only 2 years old after all) to a waterfall. It was a beautiful fall weekend for it. There were some short, small falls, but about 3/4 a mile away from the parking lot is one of the tallest falls in the continental U.S.! Apparently, hundreds of thousands of years ago that was by the lake, but it's slowly been moving back. So in another hundred thousand years it might be more of a mile hike.

Still, all I kept thinking though, was if it was summer, I'd be in the water. There were plently of places that could act as a swimming hole or better yet, you could sit down and soak your feet in the cold, clear waters of the river. Alas, it's fall. I had to content myself with the pretty colored leaves that were everywhere.

I Didn't Run This Morning...

and I kind of hate myself for it. I think it would have helped my mental well-being for the day.

Never Again...Until the Next Time

As GF reminded me, after I finished the Marine Corps Marathon I said I'd never run another marathon again. Grete Waitz won NYC Marathon nine times between 1978 to 1988. The first time she ever ran a marathon - NYC in 1978 - she not only won, she set a new world record. Afterwards, she threw her sneakers at her husband, who was the one who encouraged her to run the marathon in the first place, and said "I'm never doing that again!"

Famous last words I can relate to. Afterall, I'm training for my fourth (and hopefully last) marathon. But during my run this morning, I kept thinking of 2012 and how I don't want to have any challenges or goals. I just want to run races that I want to run. And hopefully, they'll have nice shirts to boot!

Three Bridges Run

I signed up to be an 11 min per mile pacer for a 20 mile long run. I did it so I would actually run 20 miles. I couldn't bail. So, I got to Jack Rabbits at 6:45am and at 7am we left. It was a fairly large group (I didn't think many people would show.) Of course, my Garmin was acting up It would say we were running 12:45 when in fact we were running 10:30. If you look at the mile break down, there are not many 11 min mile miles. But I had fun, even if I wasn't a good pacer.

We ran through the park, down the west side, across town via Warren Street and then crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. After, we ran through Dumbo and other Brooklyn neighborhoods to Pulaski Bridge and crossed it into Queens. And then from there to the Queensboro bridge back into Brooklyn. One of the runner's had a knee problem so I ran with her back to the store cutting a bit off of the run. (We were supposed to go back through the park, instead we ran up Lex.)

It was fun running across the bridges in a way. Not the actual bridge itself because it's usually a long, slow uphill, which I hate. But the views off of them were amazing and some had wonderful views of the Manhattan skyline. It also gave me a glimpse of what I'll be running in the NYC Marathon.