Second team run with TNT P.2

Well, I made it a little earlier to my second team run with team in training. Luckily I didn’t have any stomach trouble this time around. Yeah! But I did fall. Leave it to me!

I was running (with my friend Cindy) and we saw some lose dogs in the street. They had collars on. So it looked like they had gotten out of their yard and was on an early morning stroll. I didn’t want them in the street so I was running and trying to call them out of the street. Well, I wasn’t watching what I was doing and I tripped over the curb. Oops! I fell right onto all fours. But I didn’t get hurt. Barely even a scratch! :) But I think the dogs were laughing at me. :)

Second team run with TNT

Second team run with TNT by anjil1206 at Garmin Connect - Details

Vlog coming soon. :) Click the link to see the stats. :)

Second team run with TNT by anjil1206 at Garmin Connect - Details

3 in the morning by anjil1206 at Garmin Connect - Details

I find I'm slower in the morning than evening. But my marathon will be in the early morning. So I better get used to it.

3 in the morning by anjil1206 at Garmin Connect - Details

Fastest 3 Miler Yet!

Click the link to see my route and stats. :)

Untitled by anjil1206 at Garmin Connect - Details

My First TNT Team Run (The Gory Details)

Of course I was nervous about my first team run with TNT. I was worried about getting there late, and not falling behind the others, and other silly things like what if I needed a bathroom out on the run? 

Well I tried to get to bed early and I set my alarm for 5:30am. I walked away from the clock and turned around to check it again. But I stopped myself because I’m a little OCD about the potential of being OCD. Often, I purposely don’t check things just so I don’t get in the habit of checking things. Yeah, I’m a little weird like that. 

So I wake up in the morning... on my own, without the alarm. Which should be my first warning. I don’t usually wake up before my alarm. So I laid there thinking I must be excited about the run and woke up early.  Then I noticed the level of daylight outside the window. 

“Honey, what time is it?” I asked my husband. 

“5:55”

OMG! I had to leave at 6am! I had five minutes to get ready! 

I understand most people have a morning “constitutional”. Mine entails multiple visits to the lady’s room. This morning I was lucky to have one visit. I was hoping my body would cooperate since I had almost an hour drive to the run location and I wouldn’t have time once I arrived to find a bathroom before we started running. 

I made it on time (barely). And off we ran. The route was fun. We ran over a nice boardwalk, then up and over a railroad bridge and onto a bike path which was the majority of the route. 

The group spread out pretty early in the run and I pretty much was running by myself. However, I wasn’t the very last in the group. 

The bike path was nice to run on. There were a lot of trees and clumps of bushes along the route. It looked like an ideal place for transients to form a neighborhood. 

“Good morning.”

I looked over and a man on a bike with four garbage bags overstuffed with cans and bottles hanging off it was riding next to me. 

“There are a lot of joggers out today.” He said, “Are you guys training for something?”

“Yes,” I said. Then I explained the three events the runners were training for. I was happy to see I could still talk (at least in short clips) at this point in the run. 

He smiled very kindly and said, “That’s great! Keep up the good work.” and off he pedaled.

I kept running and soon, my stomach was gurgling again. It had been gurgling on the drive up. But I was hoping it would settle down when my body had running to focus on instead. And it was quiet for part of the run. But now it was talking to me and not very nicely. 

I was in the middle of the bike path with nothing at all around. On one side was a railroad track and on the other field. This path was heading out of town so there weren’t any restaurants or anything. Even if there were, it was too early for them to be open anyway. So I tried to ignore it and focus on the running. 

Finally, I reached the end of the bike path that marked the half way point. I turned around and started running back up the trail I had just finished. My stomach was protesting louder than before. I was starting to worry because I was barely half way through the run and I knew there were no restrooms on the bike path. I tried to ignore the increasing discomfort. But it was hard. 

I kept scanning the area on my left and right. But there were absolutely no signs of even a port-a-potty. Just clumps of trees and bushes. Hhhhmmmm.

First of all, I doubt I could have ducked behind a clump without someone seeing me. Though I was running alone, there were runners all over the trail and the coaches were running up and down checking on everyone. So no way I could be discreet. Besides, any clump of bushes could very well be the home of my new friend “Bike Man”. And well, to use someone’s living room as a toilet just isn’t neighborly. 

I gritted my teeth and kept running. 

I was happy to see the bridge again as I knew that meant there was less than a mile to go. At the bottom of the bridge I couldn’t remember which we way came from. I started running straight and didn’t recognize the area. I thought I must have took a wrong turn so I did a 180 and started running the opposite direction. I didn’t recognize anything in this direction either. I knew I was at least running in the direction of the park. So I kept running. 

As I neared the finish line I heard runners coming up behind me. They passed me without effort and I recognized they were a group of runners I had been following the whole time. I must have made the wrong turn at the bottom of the bridge and accidentally took a short cut. I could only hope they didn’t recognize me. Otherwise, they may think I CHEATED by taking a short cut. Great. My first team run and I had the reputation of a cheater already! 

But that was the least of my problems. My stomach was full on percolating now. 

I was wondering if I should stop at the gas station that was a block away from the finish line. I figured there had to be a restroom at the park and I hate dirty gas station bathrooms. So I jogged right on by. 

At the finish line I kept running. Straight to the large building on the far side of the park. It had to be the bathroom and I had no time to waste. 

To my horror, when I reached the building, it appeared to be a rec building that is closed over the weekend. I couldn’t believe it! I walked all the way around just to be sure. On the far side I found...... the restroom!!!!!

Angels began singing or maybe it was just me. I have never been so happy to find a public restroom. 

With a much lighter step I walked all the way back across the park and checked in with the mentor. You check in so they know you are on the course then you check back when you finish so they know you made it off the course. That way Pete the SAG guy doesn’t have to go look for you. 

All in all, I thought it was a great first run. I made it on time, held my own on the course and though I needed a bathroom and there wasn’t one, I dealt.  I just might make this marathon thing after all.

First Official TNT Team Run!

Happy Update on Maddi!

Hi Everyone. I am excited to tell you that Maddi (my friend who's fighting leukemia) is out of the hospital and is staying at a Ronald McDonald house near the hospital. While it is not quite home, it is a great step up from being in the hospital! She is even going to school like all her friends!

She'll stay at the RMH for the next 65 days while her immune system strengthens and they can watch her closely for fevers etc. If all goes well, she should get to come home after the 65 days!!!! Yeah Maddi!!!!

Thanks to funds raised by Team In Training a drug was discovered that helps bone marrow transplant patients (like Maddi) recover their immune system much faster. So when you support TNT you directly help people like Maddi.

Please feel free to make a donation to TNT by using the "Donate Now" button at the top of my blog page. And please hold positive thoughts for Maddi's quick and successful recovery so she can get home soon! If you are a prayer send those prayers up!!! :)

My first official team run with TNT is tomorrow morning I have to be up by 5:30am in order to make it on time. Yikes! I'll post how it went tomorrow. So please check back.

I will make my first attempt to post a video on my blog. So hopefully I'll be successful and you'll find it here tomorrow!

Thanks all! I have to go. I have to get to bed!!! :)

So.........Chub Rub

Kris hates when I make reference to “Chub Rub”. He hates when I make any reference to being overweight. But I am. And am likely to stay that way.  

Anyway, chub rub effects all types of runners. Chub rub is just skin chaffing due to friction. But it’s more fun to say, “Oh man! Serious Chub Rub!” than “Man I’m chaffed!”

After the Bull Canyon Run this year, I was telling Kris, “Oh Man! Serious Chub Rub!” He glowered. But it was true! The worse of it is on my thighs. Ouch! and I have a small patch on my right arm. Why I didn’t get it on both arms I’ll never know. 

Anyway, the Bull Canyon Run is 6.2 miles. I had done 8 miles the weekend before and no chub rub. In fact I haven’t had any chub rub in....I can’t remember when so why now? 

Duh! It was warm the day of the Bull Canyon Run and I wore shorts and my singlet. Normally, I’ve been running in the morning. Chilly. So I am used to running in lycra from head to toe. 

You know what this means? I need to find some cute capris to run in on warm days. 

I am the only woman I know who hates to shop; except for athletic wear and gadgets! Any excuse to hit the running or biking shop I am there! That happens to be where you go to get Glide (anti-chafing lotion or as I like to refer to it: Chub Rub Snub), or if you are a biker “Butt Butter”. 

Tee hee. “Butt Butter” makes me giggle. It’s ‘official’ name is chamois butter. But “Butt Butter” is funnier. Chafing in the biker world is a whole different monster. I’ll talk about that in another post. 

But for now, I have to get to bed. I have to run in the morning.

3 Before Work

Woke up good this morning. But 3 miles seemed very long today.

Untitled by anjil1206 at Garmin Connect - Details

Bull Canyon Run 2010 - The Second Time Around

This is Officer Cool. He was very kind to me. Especially since he didn’t give me a ticket for going below the minimum speed limit!

I was the last runner in at the Bull Canyon run this morning. 

And my pace was good...for me. 

It is a little disconcerting being the last one in when you know you’re going to have to finish a marathon in a few months. 

Did you know marathons actually have course times? This means that the course is open for a certain number of hours and then it closes. Which means, you can keep running but there is no more traffic control or SAG vehicles. If you are moving so slowly that you can’t clear the course before it closes, my guess is you need a SAG vehicle more than the runners in front of you!

I cleared the course before it was closed. But they were rolling up the course behind me as I ran by! :)

Officer Cool was sweeping the course. Let me pause here to mention two things: 

1- I regret I didn’t get his actual name. But Officer Cool is fitting. 

2- Officer Cool is a great sweep because not only does he stop to ask if you if you’re ok, he reminds you what to think about.

When he pulled up beside me between the 7K & 8K points he said, “Doing ok?”

“Yeah. Doin’ good.”

“Hydrated?” 

OMG! Staying hydrated is the most important thing in running and often times the most neglected. I think Officer Cool has done this before! I never have had a sweep or SAG staff ask me if I was hydrated. I was impressed. 

Officer Cool made a few more sweeps of the course and when I was about half way through the last 1k I heard him behind me. I thought, “Wow! Is he going to follow me the rest of the way in?” (I already knew I was the last one coming in). Then I thought, “Poor guy, this is going to take awhile!”

He followed behind me all the way to the finish. I could hear his bike engine sputter at the slow speed it had to maintain. I didn’t know how he kept the bike upright at such a low speed. Cyclists know what I’m talking about. :) 

It was pretty cool having a police escort in. But I found there were some additional bonuses. First off, Kris was waiting right there at the finish line. I mean he was standing one foot behind the finish line with a big smile on his face. It was the best to see him waiting for me looking so proud! 

Then, since the race was “chipped” the announcer saw my name pop up on a computer screen as I ran across the pre-finish mat. So they interrupted the award ceremony to announce: “We have our last 10k runner coming in right now!” Crowd started cheering. “Here comes Jill Stivers of Santa Maria crossing the finish line right now!” The crowd gave me a great cheer. It was really nice of them! 

A small part of me was bummed about being last....again. But mostly I was glad I made the whole distance. (By the way, I ran the whole distance. No walk breaks this time). :) And I think it was good for me because I think I’m starting to understand that I run because I like the challenge and the way it makes me feel. I don’t have to be fast to love it. Besides, someone has to be last. Why not me? 

So I thought if I have to be the last one in, I would come in with my head high and my signature enthusiasm! :) So I waved, (Yes I still had the strength to hold my arms over my head) and then as I came over the finish line I flashed the “V” for victory sign as if I was the first in. In fact, the “Victory” was clearing the course. 

But the very best part of all was that Kris wrapped me up in his arms and he gave me a big kiss smack on the mouth in front of the whole crowd. I felt like I could run forever then! :) 

Don't forget I am raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as I am training for my marathon. Please feel free to pass my blog address to who may be interested. And always, please consider making a donation! 

Thank you all. See you again soon! 

Bull Canyon Run 2010

Untitled by anjil1206 at Garmin Connect - Details

OMG! What Have I Done??

Well I finally signed up for a marathon. But not just any marathon. The Nike Women’s Marathon in SAN FRANCISCO!!!!  

San Francisco is my favorite city to visit. So that was cool. Then I found out that for a day and a half before the marathon there is a “Spa-expo”. Yeah. Not just a fitness expo as is typical before big sporting events. But a Spa-expo. Free manis, pedis and massages. Oh yeah! 

And, because I’m traveling with Team in Training (TNT) I get to be one of the first ones to hit it! Look out!  

If that isn’t enough, every finisher get a Tiffany necklace!!!! And guess how you get the necklace? SF Firemen dressed in tuxedos stand at the finish line holding silver trays stacked with blue Tiffany bags each containing a finisher’s necklace. And they hand them to you as they cross the finish line. 

So that totally sealed the deal. It’s comforting to know that there will be many medically training firemen at the end of the race. I expect it’ll take at least two of them to carry me away from the finish area and to the TNT tent. I also expect to sit in the ice bath for at least 5 hours before my legs will support me again. I have no idea how I will make the celebratory dinner that night. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. 

Actually, there were a few forces that brought me to the marathon. First, even though I’ve been running for a couple years, I haven’t been improving that much. So I thought I’d find some local people to run with. I had no luck finding anyone in Santa Maria. I know there are other people who run in Santa Maria but apparently they aren’t looking to for people to run with. So I thought about getting a running coach. But alas, I could not find any running coaches in Santa Maria.

So, I knew I wanted to complete at least one marathon in my life. I also knew that TNT provides coaches for their team members. And you have running partners every weekend. Plus the fact that they raise funds for a great cause made it a ‘no brainer’. 

So I signed up. 

Of course now I am scared to death! What if I can’t keep up with the other runners? What if I can’t keep up with the training schedule? What if I get sick or injured? What if so much training makes me cranky and Kris starts to hate me??

But so far so good. Of course training hasn’t officially started. I am just running to keep my fitness up until the official first week which begins May 15th. 

Wish me luck!

Please feel free to make a donation. I have a long way to go and every little bit helps. Also, pass my info to anyone you think may be interested! Thanks all!

Quick 3 Miler

Quick 3 miler after work. Pretty quick. I ran the whole 3 miles without stopping. A first for me! Check out the stats by clicking the link. Check out my average heart rate. I was averaging 91% of max heart rate. Wow! It didn't feel like 91%! :)

Untitled by anjil1206 at Garmin Connect - Details

Near 50 - Stage 5 Pre-ride Bakersfield by anjil1206 at Garmin Connect - Details

They LIED!!! The ride was supposed to be a 40 mile mostly downhill ride. It was not. It was 47 miles with more climbing then I want to do any time soon!

Click on the link below to see the route and stats.

Near 50 - Stage 5 Pre-ride Bakersfield by anjil1206 at Garmin Connect - Details