Saturday 6 Miler

Would have liked to head out to Williamsburg for the 10k they were having, but Tommy has an all-day match and I didn't think it was fair to the dogs to leave them alone that long. So after dog walk (a little later start than we should have gotten but at least it was mostly overcast and a bit cooler after yesterday's rain), went out for a six mile run as per the schedule.

I had done the Observatory walk with the dogs and didn't want to retrace my steps, but ended up doing that a bit anyway. I did my loop of the park plus the Kilgour race route, then added on the Observatory loop. It was just a little short of six miles so i had to add a loop around the block at the end. Being a runner and being obsessive go together so well.

Even though I did not start out until 10:45, it wasn't too miserable. It almost started raining in the last two miles but the rain is still holding off, even now. Glad I didn't chicken out and try to do it on the treadmill.

The top of my right foot has been irritating me, since, I think, the other night in obedience class. I was wearing the tan Addictions and I think I had them tied too tight or had the tongue in the wrong place or something. I'm pretty sure that was when it started. Bothered me some yesterday but I still got the dog walk and run in. Then I wore my new Ghosts around th house for a few hours and it was really bothering me then.

Was going to give the Ghosts a try for a couple of miles today but not with that foot pain. Was also afraid to go with the Newtons because I'm not 100% sure that they didn't cause the problem. So i ran in the Vomeros. Surprise, surprise, they felt pretty good. Guess I won't give up on them quite yet.

Not sure if I am keeping the Ghosts or not. They feel a tad bit big in the toe box, maybe a little too sloppy. I know that I have been complaining about the Newtons being too snug but there is a happy medium somewhere. Oh the other thing bothering me about the Ghosts, and this is trivial, is that I thought I was ordering the white ones with pink trim, and instead they sent me those (I think) kind of ugly denim-ish ones with the teal trim. Not worth sending them back over that. I guess I just went back and forth to the page so m much that I lost track of which pair I was ordering.

Also wore my new running shorts and bra for this run. All was well. Thinking about ordering another couple pairs of those shorts, because I need them.

Tomorrow I am just going to do a little unsheduled three miler, I think. Still waiting to hear back from Cheryl about the fundraiser. Still can't think of a better cause than the Foundation.

Four Miles Around the 'Hood

'm sitting out on the porch again and having a hard time typing because my eyes are itching. Not sure if it is allergies or from sweat, but it's driving me crazy.

Ok, so, today the schedule says four miles. i got a later start than yesterday and I think it's even hotter and muggier. For sure, its muggier. They're saying we might have a thunderstorm soon.

Anyway, I would normally start out by running up the street, but the neighbors' landscapers had arrived and I didn't want to have to run by them. had thought about going on the trails agin but that would also involve having to run by the landscapers.

So instead I went out the patios door and down the trail to Pape Ave. and then out to Erie. i went down Erie, up and around the Broadviewsubdivision, back up Erie and around the Chestnut Hill subdivision, and then back up Erie and around the neighborhood. I had to cross the street early after Broadview to avoid some construction, so it wouldn't quite work out to four until I did a loop around the block at the end.

I had forgotten how steep the hills are in Chestnut Hill. Steeper than I remembered. Wow.

I wore the Newtons. They are still feeling okay. One odd thing about thtem is that they feel fine when you're running but a little weird when you first put them on. A bit snug when I put them on, for example, but it doesn't bother me when I am running. At least on these 4-6 mile runs I've been doing.

A bad thing I am noticing about them is how quick the tread seems to wear out. Kinda surprising on shoes that cost $175 retail. Glad I only paid $55 for them!

I ordered a pair of Brooks Ghosts from RRS yesterday (along with a couple of pairs of shots and bras and socks, and a pair of shoes for Tommy).

My friend Charlene was wearing them at the agility trial last weekend, and we tend to like the same model of shoes. i had considered them before, but I've been in Nikes and doing so well the past few years that I was just sticking with those. I stuck with the Nike also because I like the ability to put the little shoe pod right inside the sole of the shoe rather than having to stick it in a velcro attachment outside. But with the new Pegasus not coming out until August and no guarantee that I will even like it...well, I needed something now, couldn't wait any longer. i don't think the Newtons are going to cut it as marathon shoes for me.

Which reminds me I guess I need to order a new shoe pod holder for the Ghosts.

Its nice out here, except for the allergy part.

In other news, I am corresponding with Cheryl K. at the FCR Foundation about my idea to run my four fall marathons as a fundraiser for the Foundation. It sounds like it will work out and not be very complicated to do. If it doesn't work out, I guess I will look around for another charity but honestly there is nothing that i am feeling all that passionate about or connected to right now.

Longish Trail Run

Today I was supposed to do five miles. It's even hotter than yesterday, and I'm getting a little worried about how much time I am sending out in the sun during the peak times, so I opted for a trail run.

Hasn't rained for a few days so I figured the trails should be pretty dry. My shoes are dry now, too, but they were pretty mud-caked from the last trail race. I managed to get them on without having to clean them off. I'm so lazy.

I have a trail route that I figured would work out to about 2.5 miles, so i decided to just do that twice. While I was out there, I decided a good way to do it would be to run it in reverse for the second half. i don't know why I never thought of that before for the trail runs. It's what I always do when I am out running multiple laps of Lunken.

The first lap worked out to be 2.44 miles, which was not bad. I did not see a soul in the park. The trails were very dry. Just a tiny bit of mud in a couple of spots. Not like you'd even notice. Even the creek was bone dry.

I'm sitting out on the porch now icing my knee and hip, and I forgot to turn my stopwatch on. Oh well. 

I liked going in reverse for the second lap. I don't know if I would prefer that way over my normal route. it did mean downhill on the gravel trail, which is nice, and also uphill on the switchbacks, which is also preferable. I should like it better but I am such a creature of habit.

I saw a couple of old guys with a couple of fairly mellow Viszlas near the end of the second lap. The total distance worked out to be 4.88 miles. Trail running is so hard for me and it takes so much time that I am satisfied with that number.

There's a pic of my trail shoes on the floor of the side porch, where I guess they are just going to have to live from now on most of the time. Today's run did manage to shake most of the mud off them. I should have taken a before picture. These are great shoes, by the way. I wish I could get another pair when they wear out but this model is from two years ago.

That reminds me, I was maybe going to do some shoe shopping today..

 

Today's 4 miler

Gonna get back to writing about my daily run and rambling a bit.

Today there was a 4-miler on the schedule. It is going to be hot and humid, with temperatures climbing into the 80s, which is a bit warmer than we're used to after this cool spring. I walked the dogs a little earlier than usual. We did the Observatory walk, adjusted a little to avoid the rabbit on the stairs. Survived the walk with just one chipmunk and lizard encounter when we made the turn on Brentwood near the end.

I was out for the run a bit after 9. I decided to do the Park + Kilgour route, and I was even able to start out by going up the street because the new neighbor and her many landscapers and contractors were not out there yet. I think she's overdoing things but that is just me.

There was still plenty of shade going up the hill into the park, so I tried to relax and enjoy it. I don't care right now how slow I am. I do feel kind of like a bloated water buffalo, though. I really need to cut back on the beer and the ice cream and the chocolate.

Near the top of the hill, I saw David Dallas out with their dog, Pushkin. I said hello and told him I liked the new color of their house. I didn't stop to chat because I wanted to get the run over with before it got any hotter, and I hadn't even gone a mile yet. Plus i was embarrassed to be seen by someone I knew in this relatively small amount of clothes  (lightweight Sugoi running shorts and Skirtsports bra top) in my current water buffalo condition. That's the problemw ith running in the neighborhood---you are likely to run into people you know.

My knee had been bothering me a bit before I started out but it was okay during the run. I'm icing it now. i wore the Vomeros today even though I swore I was done with them. Didn't want to wear the Newtons two days in a row. I need some new shoes but I don't know what I'm going to get. Not sure I an wait for the Pegasus 30 to come out in August.

The rest of the run proceeded uneventfully even thought it was godawful slow. I didn't try to push it at all so even though it was slow, it was relatively comfortable.   

The Running Curmudgeon Back Again!

Today I saw a FB post from a local running shoe store that asked a question---they called it a poll---about whether customers would prefer shoes that fit great but are not so good looking vs. shoes that looked really cool but didn't fit as well. For reals. They were asking this. A few people responded basically that fit was more important (duh) or maybe that they used to be more into fashion but now that they were buying shoes to actually run in they had decided they cared more about fit.

I could not believe this was a serious question from a RUNNING SHOE STORE so I asked them if this was a serious question and said I had a question for them: do you want to be a fashion store or a running store?

And they answered back that of course it was a serious question and they really care what their customers think and blah, blah, blah.

This is the same store in which the last time I was in there shopping, I forget what for, maybe just picking up a race packet, the clerk had somehow engaged me in conversation enough that I was mentioning the marathon that I had run the week before and he tried to get me to sign up for their couch to 5k program.

So anyway, it seemed like it was time to unlike them on Facebook. The only time I shop there is when they are having a big sale and/or I happen to go there to pick up a race packet. Or if they host a special event in the store that interests me, like a seminar or clinic. And it's one time less often now since they have stopped putting on that Lady Distance Classic 5k/10k event each year.

If they want to be more about fashion that's fine with me. I can get everything I need online. I don't have a reason to shop at their store.

How can that be a serious question? If they got a bunch of people saying they cared more about fashion than how the shoes fit, would they switch their merchandising to focus on that?

I heard a statistic recently that the vast majority of running shoes are purchased by consumers in department stores for non-running purposes. A very small percentage of shoes are actually purchased at specialty running shoe stores, and these are mostly to new runners just starting out who have been told they need to be fitted for shoes by "experts." People who have been running regularly for years tend to make their purchases from catalogs or online.

So I'm wondering what they are thinking at this little running shoe store. Do they think they should be competing with the department stores? 

The Running Curmudgeon

I am turning into the running curmudgeon. I mean to say, when I encounter or am forced to interact with, "newbies," I find it hard to resist reminiscing about the good old days. For me, that is just prior to the invention of GoreTex and polar fleece. When $100 was an unheard of amount to spend  on a pair of running shoes. When people who wanted to listen to music during their runs had to carry a CD player or even a cassette player. When malt Power Bars and lemon lime Gatorade was all there was.

And today, confronted by an irritating post on the Women's Running Community Facebook page, I responded in a perhaps unbecoming and curmudgeonly way.

The person said she had been running for 2 years ( what I would consider a newbie) and had done a couple of 5ks and a 10k, and wanted to train for a half-marathon. But she had a friend who wanted her to sign up for a 5k with her, and she felt like that was a waste of time, with her vast experience and big goal and all (this last part is me interpolating a bit). So she was asking if it was wrong to feel this way. And if she was being a running snob.

My reply was that I thought it was sad she felt that way about the 5k, and if she thought 5k was too easy, maybe she wasn't running fast enough. I thought about asking if she won those 5ks she had entered before, or even placed in her age group, and if so.were there other people in her age group?

So who is the real running snob?

In fact, I might have to unsubscribe from those posts, because a lot of them are just too stupid and irritating. And I am just a curmudgeon.

Flying Pig 10k

 You know, I rely do try to keep up with the blogging about my running and racing, but the dogs are making it pretty damn near impossible. And the ipad is actually harder to write on than the damn netbook. Who would have thought? Even with the bluetooth keyboard, it is hard.

One of the things I am really not liking is what a pain it is to switch between the blogging app and the web. And I need to go to the web to look up thing like what the route was like and what actually are the names f those bridges that we ran across.

Anyway, I ran the Flying Pig 10k on the day before the Pig. After a couple weeks of therapy with Dr. Donna, I thought I was up to it.

I have to admit, I was more than a little jealous of all the people doing the Four Way. That's what they call it when you do the 10k, the 5k (an hour later!) and then the marathon the next day. I seriously want to do it next year. Heck, it will be good training for the double I want to do next summer.

Anyway, I got down there about an hour before the race. I parked in the lot under the Westin. It was just a couple blocks to the start down in The Banks area. The weather was pleasant enough. Geez, I don't even really remember any more what it was like. Not as hot as it is today, that's for sure

I went for a little warmup jog part way across the pedestrian bridge. Not too many people warming up, considering the size of the crowd. I don't recognize anybody! I don't know exactly how many people but there were a couple thousand maybe.

The race starts on Pete Rose Way (and can I just say that I love that Second St. is still called that?) and finishes in Yeatman's Cove.

I was kind of hoping for some pace signs but didn't see any so I just tried to put myself with people who looked about my speed. I guessed right because a few of those people were right there with me at the end.

It took me about 33 seconds to cross the start line. I wanted to run 9s, but my pace was up and down with the hills. There were a few walkers to maneuver around in the early going but really not too bad. The first mile took us around the corner and pretty quickly headed over the Taylor Southgate Bridge to Newport. Mile 1 is near the bottom of the bridge. Then you do a loop of Newport before heading across the Licking River to Covington, a bit past the two mile marker.

Just past the three mile mark, from Covington, you cross back over the Ohio River via the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. Mile 4 is around the corner on the other side of the bridge. You run up Third St., , then there is about another mile around downtown----mostly a tour of the Eggleston parking lots this time--- before coming back down Pete Rose Way to the finish.

Here's a link to the race map.

So it was not a super hilly race. There were a few little inclines in the downtown section moving away from the river, and then there were the two bridge crossings which are also not very steep.

I can't remember a whole lot about this race. I felt okay and there was nothing too remarkable about it. I was glad to be out there doing it, but wishing I could do more.

My splits were 9:22, 8:55, 9:25 9:14, 9:13, 8:46 and 1:38 for the last .2, for a finish time of 56:34/9:08 average pace. This was significantly slower than what I was able to run back in March, but the hip held up and that was the main thing. I was 11 of 196 in my age group, 248 of 2184 women, and 641 of I do not know how many people in the race.

I did not linger too long at the finish, because I needed to get home for breakfast with Tommy and the Chesteks. Next year when I do the 4-Way (notice how I say that as if it were a certainty) I will have about an hour to kill in between the 10k and the 5k. I guess the strategy will be to refuel with food that is very easy to digest, and then truly just jog the 5k. Probably won't push it too hard in the 10k either, if I want to recover for the marathon the next day!

Still Trying the Newtons

Today called for 5 miles, so to continue with my gradual tryout of the Newtons, I split the run in half, more or less. First I went around the park in the Newtons for about 2.7 miles. Then I came home and switched to the old Nike trail shoes for a loop on the trails, about 2.5 miles.

It got hot today all of a sudden, so it was good to do the second half of the run on the trails. Even though it was still morning when I finished, it's heating up pretty quick.

Am wondering what this weekend's racing will feel like. Will I be ready to try the Newtons in the 5k race on Friday night? I think not. Will I be able to run the trail race on Sunday as fast as I did last year? Also doubtful.

Trail Run in the Woods

Did one this afternoon. Found a way to get i over 4 miles without repeating too much of it. Go down the Burr Oak Trail, up the Valley Trail, up the Cliff Trail to the Overlook, up and around behind the playground to the Kid's Trail, across the street through the Friendship Park and across the soccer field to the hole in the woods and the trail that leads back down to Valley Trail, up the switchbacks to the small trail that connects to the Ridge Trail, down the Ridge Trail, and back up the Burr Oak Trail to home.

Had kind of an unpleasant morning and a not especially productive early afternoon, so I really needed this to clear out my head.

Boston

Yesterday morning I tried to watch the live stream of the elite woman's start before I headed off to the chiropractor. Actually, I got to see the wheelchair start before that, and the men's start after. Then I struggled through a bit of the very spotty live feed with the horrendous commentary. I thought it was just as well that I had to leave.

I could have predicted that Rita Jeptoo or Sharon Cherop would win, just from watching the ladies on the start line. Shalane and Kara were fidgeting with their outfits, doing some nervous stretches. Shalane bent down to re-tie her shoes. The Kenyans on either side of them just should there, all loosey goosey and cool as cucumbers, in the zone.

By the time I got home from the chiropractor, the race was over. I had given up trying to get into the wifi network at the chiro's office. And of course, I could learn nothing about the results from listening to my car radio.

Back home, I guess I could have done a Google search but that would've just been too easy. What I really wanted was to watch a race video. Or read a mile by mile account. I didn't really want to know the results too soon. The Let's Run servers were down. I went to the Runner's World web site and read their live blog of the event, which is where I found out I had been right about the results of the woman's race. It seemed like Shalane's race plan wasn't so bad---staying in the pack with the eventual winner---but she made a mental error by waiting too long to make a move. Instead of reacting to the Kenyan move, she should have made her own move, and sooner.

But what do I know?

Anyway, felt kinda bummed about no American win yet again. Headed up to the vet with Maggie, and while we were at the vet's office the bombs went off at the Boston finish line. The first I heard of it was in the car driving home, and from the way NPR was barely interupting their coverage, it didn't sound like it was any big deal.

I mean, I have a kid living in Boston with her husband, and I wasn't even worried because NPR was more concerned with continuing to run its program about exonerated prisoners. An important topic, but  kind of a fail on a big news story, NPR.

Back home, I texted my daughter and verified that she was fine, her husband was fine, they were no where near the site of the bombing, and she didn't know anything more than I did.

Watched the news and found out it was a big deal, after all. Still, the implications of it hadn't really hit me yet. I had acquaintances running but no close friends. Can you count someone who has unfriended you on Facebook?

Kept watching the news---not the best idea---and managed to let it get me all agitated. Tried to text daughter, who clearly wanted to be left alone. Switched TV coverage from MSNBC to CNN because MSNBC persisted in trying to connect the bombing to gun violence. Yes, Americans, if we took away all the guns, those bombs would not have gone off in Boston! Or MSNBC would like us to believe. I suppose on FOX they were telling people that it was all Obama's fault.

Gradually it began to dawn on me that the timing of the bombs going off, around 4:09 into the race, coincided with what might have been my finish time on a good day. In fact, it was my goal time from two weeks ago. So I could then readily imagine myself finishing the race in the midst of this nightmare, or being stopped somewhere just before, with my husband and maybe even my daughter and her husband waiting on the sidewalk where the bombs went off.

And then I started thinking about how this could ruin marathons, ruin the things we love about them. Make it harder for people to casually spectate from the sidelines, Make it harder for our loved ones to join us on the way to the start and meet us just past the finish line. Make us nervous and suspicious as we line up to start (where lots of people are discarding random items) and approach the finish (where there are people everywhere carrying backpacks and lots of drop bags just laying on the ground).

And I thought about the families who had lost loved ones, and the people whose lives had been changed forever by this horrible tragedy. And how it doesn't matter anymore about the results of this race. And that's a little sad, too, because that's another thing the terrorist(s) have taken from us. And how there was almost no coverage of the Boston Marathon in the mainstream media until the bombing, and this morning that was almost all the coverage was about.

I wore my Heartbreak Hill socks today, but it was too warm to wear any of my other Boston gear. The year I ran was, I think, the only year that the gear was not designed in the iconic blue and yellow. Instead, my stuff is red, white and blue. More patriotic but most people probably wouldn't even know what it was about.

Now I wait with the rest of the world to find out who was behind this horrible act. Debating whether or not to go ahead and enter the Flying Pig Marathon. (Current thinking: no). Hoping it doesn't change my beloved sport too much. Wondering if it will now be even harder for me to gain entry into Boston again. (Current thinking: yes). Wishing peace and recovery to all those directly affected by the tragedy. Glad that all my acquaintances are safe, even the ones who have unfriended me on Facebook.

Run for the Green 2013

Run for the Green is the first race in our now annual series of local trail races (Dirt Days). I did it for the first time two years ago but skipped it last year, I think because I was sick at the time. This year it again fell on the Saturday of the Louisville Cluster of dog shows, which helped me decide to only enter the first two days of that show so I would be home for this race.

What I remembered from the first time was a lot of mud. Not particularly hilly but very messy. And last time I was nursing an injury to my upper left thigh that I got when I slipped on some ice while walking the dogs, and it was a week after I limped around the Little Rock Marathon, and the goal was just to finish.

Again this year the goal was mostly just to finish but since I am neither injured (unless you count the knee that has not been quite right since I fell on it a couple of weeks ago) nor ill at the moment (knock on wood) I expected to be a bit faster. But mostly I just wanted an official finish time to count towards the participation awards for the trail series. Had a bit of trouble with that two years ago, when I initially did not show up in the results.

Didn't want to push too hard this year, because I do have that marathon coming up in a couple of weeks.

(I'm trying to finish this up now after starting it a week or so ago! Scary how much I have forgotten about this race already!)

Ok, so, the race started at 9 am so I drove up there around 8. It was pouring down rain during the drive and I got a little lost because the park was not quite where I remembered it being. Also, it did not help that my GPS thought the park was called "Camden-Deerfield Park" instead of "Landen-Deerfield Park." It made it a little harder to look it up since I was spelling it correctly and the GPS had it wrong!

Anyway, by the time I closed in on it the rain had stopped, thank goodness. The parking lot was filling up, so I had a little bit of a warmup jog back and forth getting my goodie bag. Yes, there was actually a goodie bag. It contained a green plastic cup and a bag of peanuts and a coupon for Dick's Sporting Goods. The shirts (I had ordered one because I'm running a little low on long sleeved cotton tees for winter dog walks) were bright green.

Here's a couple of funny memories from the packet pickup:

1) There was a chunky woman (not to be too judgmental) in front of me on line who was kind of snippy and rude when I asked her if she was on line, and then when she got up to the front of the line turned out she was on the WRONG line because she had not pre-registered. Ha.

2) After I got my bib and the goodie bag and was heading back to the car, a kind of goofy, chunky guy shoved his goodie bag at me and asked me if I would take it because he was "running." I had to explain to him that I was running, too. Did I not look like I was running? Ah, but that is the title of this blog, after all. I really don't look like a runner! Anyway, it was a half hour until the race start, and I can understand wanting to go do a warmup as I was about to get going on that myself but that didn't mean that you should expect me to take your goodie bag for you, weirdo. He said he didn't want it to go to waste. So I just said, well, why don't we put your bag here on this table and then if someone wants it they can have it?

I want to emphasize this guy was not a contender to win the race. But he seemed to think that I needed his peanuts. He was in a hurry to go running.

People who live in the Cincinnati suburbs: idiots?

There were also a number of people wearing shirts from the Spartan races, Warrior Dash, and that other thing, Muddy whatever it is called. Tough Mudder, that's it. I have a negative impression of these races, since I have heard and read that the courses are not really timed and you can even finish them without completing all of the obstacles. I don't think of them as real races. A couple of people were comparing whether running through fire (Warrior Dash?) or getting shocked (the Muddy thing?) was harder. I've seen pictures of the obstacles and the competitors and I would say neither is really such a big deal. But these fools like to delude themselves that they are accomplishing the ultimate athletic achievement. When I race, I want to pass as many of these people as I can.

Lots of people wearing green, many wearing the race shirt. I guess I should have tried a little harder to find something green to wear. I do have a couple of green tech shirts.

I headed back to my car, where I sat for a minute while I attached my bib to my little waist belt, which I have grown quite fond of for racing. No more dealing with pins for me!

After a bit, I headed out for some loops of the parking lot, which I knew would not prepare me for the muddy mess ahead. When I felt warm enough, I joined the rest of the participants near the start line. A guy in Vibrams asked me about which way we were starting. I told him what I remembered about the lap of the grassy field that they make us do before we head into the woods.

I looked, as usual, for a spot near people who looked like me. But nobody looks quite like me anymore. They are all so much younger and dressed in more fashionable running attire. I was wearing navy tights, a technical top from the State-to-State race (soon this will constitute half my running clothes since I do that race every year!) and an old nylon jacket which I had already take off and tied around my waist.

I saw one woman whom I recognized from previous trail races. She is slower than I am, so I just put myself a bit in front of her, and that seemed about right.

We started running, and immediately I felt that unpleasant cold wet feeling in my shoes that I remembered from last time as we splashed through the puddles in the field. I reminded myself that I just wanted to get a finish time and not get injured. As we made our loop of the field, the most irritating thing was the back kick and muddy splashes from the large men (Tough Mudders, no doubt).

There was a little bit of undulation that I remembered, a short but steep little downhill and then a little climb uphill, before we headed into the woods. I noticed a woman I had seen at the start whom I thought looked fast, but I was closing in on her. I would pass her before we got in the woods and she would finish quite a bit behind me.

Here's a pic from that early section of the race:

There I am in my black hat from the Delaware Marathon, # 411.

And then we were in the woods. My GPS wasn't going to get a signal, and I didn't want to wear my foot pod because of the creek crossings, so I was making do with just the stopwatch function of my watch. Two years ago I finished in 50 minutes, which included a lot of walking. This time I figured to be closer to 40 minutes even without trying very hard.

The trails in this park are pretty smooth without a lot of rocks and limbs. But the miserable weather had left them very muddy. So the riskiest thing was slipping in the mud. Early in the race there is a little stretch where you are on a narrow singletrack with the Little Miami River rushing by just below you to your right. So if you take a misstep to your right at all you are going to roll down the hill and into the river. That part was a little scary.

Unlike some of the trail races from the first few years of my trail running experience, I was able to hold my position most of the way without having to stop and let people go by. The only way to pass people on these trails is if they let you. I was moving at a comfortable pace, and since the most important thing was to finish uninjured and I didn't want to push it very hard, I just stayed where I was in the pack and didn't try to pass anybody in the woods.

At one point I did let a woman and a little boy go by, because she was making a big deal to him about how now they were going to pass people. Immediately I knew I had made a mistake because they really didn't pass anybody else except me. The woman was fast but the kid really wasn't.

Here's a pic from somewhere in the middle of the race:

You can see how muddy my feet are.

We had to slow down for the creek crossings. The water really was about knee-high on me, and it was deeper if you stepped off to the sides. It actually felt kind of good, because I was a little warm in the tights.

I just kept looking at my watch and guestimating how much more was left. Near the end, it seemed like we just kept going back and forth in the area behind the grassy field. I remembered that part from last time, too. It goes on for a long time like that. You think you're almost done, and at one point you even pop out of the woods but immediately have to go back again, and on and on and on.

(I'm trying to finish this up now because it is the night before my marathon!)
(OMG, now it is after the marathon, days later, and still I am trying to finish this one up!)

Ok, so we snake back and forth through the woods with the grassy field above us just out of reach. Finally we come out and basically make a circle around the outside of the field as we head for the finish line. It's about a quarter mile, maybe less. Now I am no longer afraid of falling down, so I pick up the pace and kick past several groups of runners who are ahead of me, which enables me to move up several places among the women.

Post race, they don't seem to have as much or as good quality of food as I remembered. I got my stuff out of the car and changed in the rest room. My shoes and tights were well-coated with mud, and it was nice to get into something dry. They had posted the results, so I checked to make sure I was on the list. And since I had not won my age group, there was no reason to stick around.

I was 168 of 275 runners, and 47 of 112 women. My time was 42:19, almost 8 minutes faster than two years ago, when I had that nasty hip flexor problem, but I was a bit disappointed because I had hoped to be even faster, and to finish a little higher up in the results. But since I was basically just jogging most of the way and trying to finish the race without hurting myself, I can't complain too much.

As I finish writing this report, I am injured once again, and am thinking that I really should not have been complaining at all!

Food on the Run 2013

Food on the Run is an annual 5k/10k put on by a local Cincinnati organization known as The Nutrition Council. The Nutrition Council's stated mission is to advance child health through nutrition education. I'm always hoping this will mean there will be plenty of good stuff to eat after the race but I'm always a little disappointed!

This year they had added on Chipotle as a sponsor, which isn't especially healthy if you are thinking about chips and guacamole and flour torillas. But I would not have minded if there was some Chipotle at the finish line. Instead, they had coupons for buy one, get one free. That's nice, but I'll just shove it in some corner of the car and forget about it. I'd rather have something I could have eaten immediately after the race.

They did have food after, just nothing terribly exciting. But more about that later.

So, last Saturday morning I did this race for the second year in a row. Both times I had hoped it would give me good news about how my training was progressing, and be a confidence builder for the upcoming marathon. It didn't work out that way last year. In retrospect, last year's goal was too ambitious and the training wasn't there.

This year my goal time for the marathon is slower, and I'm telling myself the training is better (well, I did compare the training logs this afternoon and I really think it is true---at least the mileage is higher).

My goal for this particular race was around 53 minutes or about 8:30 pace. That's about where I should be if I want to be able to run the marathon under 4:10. But I told myself that since I was not tapering for this race, just training through it, and even ran 6 miles the day before which I don't usually do the day before a race, it wouldn't be the end of the world if I ran slower than 53 minutes. I was trying to take the pressure off.

Arguably, I shouldn't even have been doing this race, at least, according to the Hanson's training program. But I like to race. I adjusted the schedule by skipping my tempo run last week.

The race started at 9 so I left the house around 8 am. The start and finish of the race are in Sawyer Point Park. The parking lot was fuller than last year, and this year they were charging $4. That's ridiculous, so I guess I won't be doing this race next year, unless they move it to a venue where we don't have to pay to park.

I jogged to the registration table, picked up my bib and shirt, and jogged back to the car, where I hung out  for ten minutes or so. It was colder downtown along the river than it was at my house. And it had started snowing. I started looking forward to the race being over.

I headed out for my warmup jog, which I did at a faster pace than usual because it was so cold. But by the time I finished, I didn't feel too uncomfortable. Seemed like my attire was going to work. I was wearing my technical top from State-to-State, thick black tights, white hat from Fargo, and the blue plastic pullover top from the 2000 FCR Nationals. And a pair of gloves.

Now that I've seen myself in this photo, I am wondering what happened to my resolution never again to appear in public unless I was wearing a turtleneck. I am hideous.

The first mile of the race takes you away from the river and out of downtown and up Gilbert Ave. (hill!). My watch said 8:35. Okay, just about right and felt okay. The course continues up Gilbert to a turnaround on Eden Park Drive. There was an aid station just past the turnaround on the downhill side of Gilbert, but I didn't want to stop on the downhill so I skipped it.

Mile 2 was another 8:35.We continued downhill and turned back onto the trail in the park. Mile 3 was an 8:28. So far, so good. I started trying to do math in my head to figure out what I needed to run in order to meet my goal.

You run out east along the river, then turn around and head back west towards the start and past it, before you turn around again and finally head back to the finish. So the last 3 miles are a fairly flat loop.

I took my gloves off and carried them in my hands. I remembered how last year I had tucked my gloves into the waistband of my fanny pack and ended up losing one. It was colder this year, so I took them on and off a couple of times.

Mile 4 was 8:07. Things were looking pretty good. There was another aid station around mile 4, and this time I grabbed a cup of water and drank a little.

I missed the mile 5 marker, but miles 5 and 6 were 16:46. We turned down towards the finish and I realized what had made me go off course last year. There was a woman standing in the middle of the path telling people to turn left for the 5k and right for the 10k. Last year I got confused and turned the wrong way before figuring out my mistake and getting back on the course.

Approaching the finish, I managed to kick past a bunch of people. Final .2 was a 1:32, for a final time of 52:16, about 8:26 average pace. So, I went a little faster last year, and well under my goal, which is a great confidence builder for the marathon to come.

After crossing the finish line, I started looking for the food. There was a slow moving line for the following items:

• Very hard assorted half-bagels
• Little packets of Cabot cheese, some kind of white cheddar?
• Boxes and boxes of KIND bars in various flavors (grabbed a bunch of these)
• Scary looking processed cookie snack of graham crackers and grape jelly
• Frozen bananas
• Very cold orange slices

There was another line, actually shorter, with hot (well, lukewarm) soup. They had two kinds: black bean and tomato basil. I didn't realize it was tomato basil for awhile because I swear the volunteers kept calling it "tomato base," which sounded gross, so I went with the black bean. Tomato base soup, what is that? Tomato is just the base for something else? What is it the base for?

So it was better than after most small local races but not by that much. I think they could do a little better. Why not some chips and guacamole? Huh? How about some little mini or cut up burritos? How about that, Chipotle?

While I finished my soup I stood around with a bunch of other obsessives staring at a couple of big video monitors that were scrolling the finish times. One monitor just had finish times. We were not interested in that one. The other had the age group placements. Unfortunately, at that point they only had the 5k results, so we had to wait a little while. Standing there in my wet and now cold running clothes, the only thing that kept me from feeling completely ridiculous was that I was not the only one doing it.

Finally we got the 10k results and I found out that I had indeed finished 3rd in my age group, so I went over to the awards table to pick up my award. Later on I wondered if they had given me the wrong thing, since it says 5k on it, and they did have some nicer looking items that maybe were intended for people who had placed in the 10k. Oh well. This was just a very generic medal that looks like something recycled from last year, with a new sticker on the front for this year. It truly was not worth waiting around in the cold for. The placement was important to me in itself but this piece of crap award was not.

I was 3 of 30 (compared to 4 of 45 last year) and 222 of 966 runners overall, but this is not especially impressive because it is a slow person's race. I did not recognize the names of any of the 27 women who finished in my age group behind me. Did recognize the first two as people I have never beaten!

Something unusual was that there was another race going on downtown on the same morning, a new event called the Bock Fest 5k.  This is part of a three race series that also includes a one mile race on Flying Pig weekend, and the old 14k race that was revived a couple of years ago. I wondered if some of the fast women in my age group had gone there instead since I didn't see them in the Food on the Run results. Turns out they did not, because I didn't recognize many of those names either.

There was one woman who did both the 5k at Food on the Run and then the Bock Fest 5k (10 am start). There was definitely enough time to finish Food on the Run and then jog over to Bock Fest. She won the 55-59 age group at Food on the Run, and then she also won the 50-55 group (not sure why they didn't use standard age groups except maybe they just didn't know any better) at Bock Fest.

Anyway, if it turns out that next year there is free parking at Bock Fest or if it is less than Food on the Run, I might do that one instead.

Just a Few Random Thoughts

The Streak Ends Again

I am so mad at myself. I started again on December 2 and was doing great until I forgot to get the mile in yesterday. I even found a way to get those miles in last weekend while I was in Indy for a dog show. I did laps in the parking lot Saturday afternoon! And then, yesterday, when I easily could have found time to hop on the treadmill for a mile (it was an off-day from my training schedule and I had two agility classes with the dogs), I simply forgot.

I was debating whether to start once again or just bow to the inevitability of never being able to continue a long-term running streak, but I think I've decided that the discipline of trying is good for me.

Oscar Pistorius

I could really see how it might have been an accident, this shooting and killing the girlfriend thing. South Africa sounds like a scary place, and this guy was known to be a little reactive and loose with his shooting. So I could see how if he were surprised he would shoot first and ask questions later. Plus, they'd only been together as a couple since November. I don't get how anybody who is still in the honeymoon phase of the relationship could possibly get so angry that they would want to shoot the other person. Unless you were crazy. Which, apparently, he is.

Training and How It's Going Generally

Not so bad. I like the Hanson's program I am following. I've missed a couple of workouts due to the dog shows but otherwise I am logging a lot more miles than usual. I really like not having the burden of facing those 18-22 mile long runs. This Monday I will do 16, which is as long as you go in this program. I don't have any problem getting my head around 16.

I'm done with the speed segment of the program and now we're into the strength segment. That means longer intervals at slightly faster than marathon goal pace. Now, the only hitch I have is that the tempo runs are also supposed to be at marathon goal pace, and since I always incorporate walk breaks in my training and in my racing, that means that the tempo runs end up being kind of like the strength interval runs also. Or maybe even faster running than during the strength intervals because I am trying to compensate for the walk breaks.

For example, on Wednesday I did the first strength workout. Supposed to be 6 x 1 mile at 9:20 pace, with 400 meter recoveries. On the TM, I end up doing the repeats at 9:22 pace because that is 6.4 mph. 6.5 is too fast. I do quarter mile recoveries, with a 30 second walk at 3.5 mph, then jogging at 5.0 pace until I hit a quarter mile.

And today, I went out for what was supposed to be the tempo run. Schedule is 8 miles, with 5 miles at marathon pace. So, I did a mile and a half warmup, then I started running fast but took at 30 second walk break every mile (1 minute break in the middle to have a GU). When I hit 6.5 miles, I walked for a minute and then did the cooldown jog for a total of 8.23 miles. I did average goal pace for the tempo segment, finishing 4.99 miles in 47:24 (goal would be 5 miles in 47:30). But I didn't get it by running 9:30 pace continuously for 5 miles. A good part of it was much faster in order to average out to the 9:30-ish pace. That makes it more like an interval workout, I guess.

So, does that mean I am not getting the benefit of a true marathon pace/tempo workout? OTOH, I am not going to run at a continuous pace for 26.2 miles, either. That's not how I do it. So what is the point of practicing that way? I think what I am doing makes more sense, since it is practicing what I am actually going to do in the race.

I am pretty exhausted lately, but that is supposed to be normal. I have upped my mileage from 25 to closer to 40 miles a week, which is significant, so I guess I should be tired.

I do wonder when I am going to start losing weight from all this extra running! I didn't think I was eating that much more.

Mississippi Blues Marathon

I'm going to try to avoid procrastinating on my write-up about this one while it is still somewhat fresh in my mind. Ah, but now it is days later and I am still trying to finish it!

The Mississippi Blues Marathon is in Jackson, Mississippi. I've had this one on list of potential races for my 50 states for awhile. The other marathon in Mississippi, Tupelo, takes place in August, which seems like it could be truly ghastly. January seems like a much more sensible time to run in the deep south.

After getting through my Indianapolis debacle, I started looking at potential states with races coming up, and I figured out that I had enough miles for a free ticket on United to get to Jackson. I did try at first to get Tommy to drive there with me, but he was afraid there might be snow in along the way. So I flew there by myself.

I didn't do any special training for this race. The farthest I ran since Indianapolis was eight miles and I only did that a couple of times. I didn't do any speed work except for the two 5k races and the Thanksgiving five-mile race, which did all go pretty well. Although I didn't do any long runs, I have been training pretty consistently---I've had a streak going since early December (would be early November except for the one time on December 1 when I just forgot!).

I wasn't worried about finishing, of course. I hoped to just settle in to a nice, easy jog and get through it in good enough shape so I could do a bit of touristing after the race, and be able to jump right back in to more serious training this week. And basically, that's what happened.

Finding My Way Around Jackson (or Searching for a Neighborhood that Feels Like Home)

I'll admit that Jackson is not a city that I knew much about prior to my visit. It is the capital of Mississippi, and the largest city based on population. Two of its most notable citizens were the writer, Eudora Welty, and the slain civil rights leader, Medgar Evers. The library system is named after Welty, and the airport is named after Evers. Point of interest, they are connected to each other by a story Welty wrote the night she heard Evers was killed, in which she imagines what was going through the mind of his murderer.

I'm no literature scholar, and I really didn't know much about Eudora Welty except I had heard her name. Maybe I read a story by her in a high school American Lit class, or maybe not. Anyway, I decided to download a collection of her short stories to my Kindle to read on the trip. I'm enjoying them. Going to read some more. Someday maybe I will become educated. There's hope.

I love touring old houses, and I had hoped to be able to have time for a tour of Welty's home. Unfortunately, it is only open Tuesday through Friday, and I arrived in Jackson too late to make the last tour. I picked up my rental can and headed for the Marriott. I needed the rental car if I wanted to venture out anywhere because there really isn't that much within walking distance of the Marriott.

After parking the car and checking into the hotel, I walked the short distance (about .4 miles) to the race expo at the convention center.

Packet pickup went pretty quick. The timing chip was attached to the back of the race bib. We got a drawstring gear bag, a short-sleeved technical top, and a harmonica. The gear bag and shirt are useful and well-designed but ugly. And I was expecting a long-sleeved shirt, or at least a short sleeve shirt in a woman's cut. The harmonica is a cute touch, but since it is made in China I could do without it. But I am having fun playing it now and making Eddy & Zen howl.

They also gave us a copy of a CD of blues music that is pretty good. Oh, and a wrist band that would get you on a bus Saturday night that was going to basically go barhopping around blues joints, supposedly a $10 value. So you get a lot for your money at this race.

Overall, I was disappointed in the expo. It was quite small. I guess this race isn't as big as I thought it was. There were just a couple of vendors and no speakers. I bought a tube of something called Skin Sake Athletic Ointment, and yet another fanny pack from iFitness. The ointment did its job, but it does make a mess of your clothes, especially if you are wearing black!

iFitness is a sponsor of The Marathon Show podcast. I bought the fanny pack because I wanted something that would hold all my gels plus have an attachment for my race bib. The little belt I have been using for my race bib doesn't have a very big pocket for gels. Unfortunately, I realized when I finally tried it on that this iFitness belt has the pouch in the front, and I am not used to that and didn't want to try it out for the first time in a marathon. So I ended up wearing TWO fanny packs---my little one that holds my race number, and my bigger one for my gels, credit card, room key, ID, etc.

Here's a picture of the gear bag. I think it's ugly but that's just my opinion. It has a little zipper pocket on the side and is a useful item, nonetheless. I ended up using it as my carry on for the flights home so I could check my roller bag. I know I looked kind of baglady-esque but I did it anyway.

I left the expo and walked back to the hotel. The hotel restaurant was supposedly offering a "runner's menu" that evening. The race had not organized a pasta dinner of its own. I think that is something they should consider, since there is really a dearth of restaurants in downtown Jackson that are open in the evenings. Seems like they pretty much just roll up the sidewalks at the end of the work day. A number of places are open for lunch but very few for dinner.

The "runner's menu" did not look promising. Definitely not the traditional pasta. Instead, something like risotto with asparagus and mushrooms. Also a couple of seafood entrees. Yeah, not really what I had in mind. I just wanted basic Italian spaghetti and meatballs.

I decided to venture out in my car. First I thought I would try to find a shopping center where I might be able to buy a cheap rain poncho that I could wear to the start in the morning if it was raining. I tried to use my GPS and found a place called "Metrocenter Mall" about three miles away.

Trying to follow the directions on the GPS, I found myself leaving the core downtown area within a couple of blocks and getting into what appeared to be a not-so-great neighborhood. It was still a couple of miles to the mall. Then we drove across an area of some empty fields and industry, and I wondered if maybe when I came out on the other side I might find myself in one of those new areas of McMansions and a really nice upscale mall, as sometimes happens.

Wrong.

I did come to the mall, or what used to be the mall. Looked like maybe it used to be a nice mall. Up on a hill with big anchor stores and an expansive parking lot all around. But all the signs had been stripped off the stores, and there were just a few cars in the parking lot. A ghost mall. I guess there are still some small stores in there but no anchors. Looked kind of creepy.

At this point I was getting hungry so I decided to let the GPS guide me to one of the restaurants listed in the race information, a branch of the Bravo chain. It was killing me to have to go to a chain restaurant for dinner but at least these are usually in somewhat upscale areas so I figured it would be okay.

Unfortunately, since the Bravo turned out to be on the second floor of a shopping center on the other side of town (the good side, as it turned out) it was a little hard to find at first. But on the way, I did come upon a supermarket, where I bought the following items:

• A bunch of bananas
• A six-pack of beer (there was a fridge in my hotel room)
• A bag of pretzel rods

I don't know when I thought I was going to eat all these bananas or drink all the beer. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

There was a shopping center across the street from the market that looked like it had some restaurants in it. That was where the GPS said Bravo was supposed to be. I drove over and knew that I must be headed in the right direction, and also had an indication that this was probably the part of town where "people like me" are supposed to hang out: there was a Whole Foods under construction. Go ahead, laugh at me.

This little shopping center, Highland Village, felt just like home. There was a fancy outdoor store. There was a Talbots. There was a cookware store. There was a serious shoe store. I am a little embarrassed that I needed to find a place like this rather than seeking out a more authentic experience. Instead I always seem to seek out the place where I could live if I had to.

So, anyway, after a bit of walking around (there wasn't much signage and it was hard to see the store directory in the dark) I was able to locate the restaurant. Also, by smell! I saw a few other runners (we are that obvious) also on their way to Bravo. There really just weren't many other options for a pre-race pasta meal in Jackson, unfortunately.

If I had taken a closer look in my race packet, or I would have realized that Bravo was giving a 15% discount to runners.

Bravo was hopping, even though it was still pretty early in the evening, but they found me a spot at the food bar.

Maybe I should have had a pizza, but I really just wanted plain old spaghetti and meatballs. Well, maybe not so plain. It's me we're talking about, after all. I wasn't going to drink, since I was my own designated driver, but I decided one glass of Chianti wouldn't hurt. I ordered a salad of field greens with some goat cheese to start, and the spaghetti & meatballs.

While I waited for my salad, I had some bread. Here was a problem. I wanted some olive oil for my bread. The olive oil was in a carafe in front of the woman sitting on my left. This woman, a fellow runner, was deep in conversation with the woman on HER left, another runner. She was turned away from me and I would need to tap her on the shoulder to get her attention.

So I nibbled on my bread, and waited for her to maybe turn a little in my direction so I could just ask her to pass me the olive oil.

And I felt lonely and sad there, suddenly, in the restaurant by myself, and missed the old days when I used to travel to these races with other people. Note to self, really need to rejoin local running club and make some running friends to travel with. Tired of these solitary race weekends.

I would not have minded talking to a stranger, even. And as I listened to these women's conversation, I kinda wondered why they didn't include me. It didn't sound like they really knew each other from before. They were not the same age, and did not appear to be related. They seemed to be two people who had just met that day.

Maybe it's because I don't look like a runner! Maybe that's why they didn't include me! I just look like some weird old woman who is out eating spaghetti by herself the night before the marathon.

Anyway, she did turn eventually and I got my chance to request the olive oil. Which she did but she seemed a little put out about it. Huh. And the worst part? The olive oil was rancid! I was so hungry it took me a few minutes to figure this out. Bummer. I debated saying something to my server, but he wasn't real communicative so I didn't bother. Instead, I posted it on Facebook. The passive aggressive response to disappointing service in the social media era!

The food arrived and it turned out that my glass of wine was probably the best part of the meal. The lettuce was a little wilted on the salad (the goat cheese was good, though). The spaghetti was actually linguine, which bothered me. It just wasn't right. The sauce was bland. The meatballs were okay but also kind of bland. Not great.

I did not order dessert at Bravo. By that point I had a close enough view of all their food preparations, including dessert, to know that it was not going to be worth it. Hoped that the little bakery/coffeeshop I had spied on the first floor was still open.

Fortunately, it was. Beagle Bakery Cafe had a nice selection of fresh, store-made cakes. I ordered a big slice of a chocolate and cream cheese concoction  (kind of like an opera cream cake) to take back to my room. (I would have taken a picture but I ate it too fast.) This cafe, by the way, is a very good place and I wish I had remembered to head back there on Saturday or Sunday.

Back at the hotel, I realized that I didn't get any kind of utensil to eat my cake with. I managed to eat half of it by scooping it up with a lid from a water bottle, and saved the second half for breakfast or maybe after the race.

Race Morning

My usual routine is to get up 2 1/2 hours before the race, which gives me a half hour to drink coffee and finish up two hours before the race in order to avoid needing to stop during the race to use the portapotties. But this time, I really did not want to get up at 4:30 am, even if I had picked up an hour traveling to Central time. I decided that I didn't care if I did need to stop during the race, since my time didn't matter to me anyway. So I got up at 5 am.

I had one cup of coffee, and the plan was to have a banana and maybe a Picky Bar. Or my leftover cake. But I was still really stuffed from dinner! Yes, I have been complaining about the food but I still cleaned my plate! So I skipped breakfast.

I watched the news (rain looked likely late morning), lubed up, settled on my race attire and attached my bib to the fuel belt. I wore black tights, black longsleeved top, black hat from Delaware Marathon (because it is fairly water-repellant) and thin red jacket. Oh, and thin black gloves. So I was mostly in black, which I think will be okay because it isn't supposed to be sunny, and will hopefully make me look less fat in any finish line photos.

The temperature outside was in the low 30s and it was supposed to get up in the 40s but that wouldn't be until afternoon when I was done running. It will rain later in the race (when you tell me 30-40% chance of rain I know that means it is going to rain!) but at least it's not raining at the start, and not very windy, so at least it was not as miserable out as it was for Indy.

I wanted to stay in the room until 6:30 but I got bored before that and headed down to the lobby. Lots of runners down there. The hotel put out some water, and what looked like fruit punch in a bowl, but I guess was Gatorade. But who knows, since they thought we would all want risotto and mushrooms the night before.

I followed along with the crowd as people began walking to the start, which was about .3 miles away. Up at the start, the portapotty lines were long, and I'm glad I didn't need to go. Did not need to stop at all during the race, either, so that part worked out.

I found a pace team guy holding a 5:00 sign, so I decided to hang out with him and whomever else is in that group. My goal was just to finish comfortably, but it would be nice to be under 5:00. If I start out slow enough that's probably about right, but you never know.

This pace guy is not like the ones I've encountered in other races. He's not talking. He's not gathering the troops together and giving us words of encouragement. Great, the one time I actually think I would like one of those overly cheery pace team leaders, I get stuck with this guy.

I chatted a bit with a couple of women. One is from Tupelo, and she tells me that their race isn't THAT hot. Right. The other lives in Jackson and works for Blue Cross so she gets reimbursed if she finishes. Neither one of them is planning on finishing under five hours. But 5:00 is the slowest pace team at this race. Looking around, I realize that it is a lot smaller race than I imagined, which doesn't matter one way or the other but is interesting. It is a small town, small race with big race amenities.

There are a lot of Maniacs at this one, though. Looking around, it seems like a majority of the runners are Marathon Maniacs, and I kind of wish that I was wearing my Maniac gear. Why don't I do that? Why do I always want to be anonymous? I guess because I don't feel like I really belong with the Maniacs, since I am just a Maniac at the lowest level. Note to self: get more involved with the 50 States people and the Maniacs. To start with, maybe try paying my dues this year.

The Race

As we begin running, I settle right into a pace just under 11 minutes per mile. That does feel like a comfortable jog. I pull ahead of the 5:00 pace team leader, and hope that I won't have to feel the shame of being passed by him later in the race. He still wasn't talking, and he was kind of holding his pace sign over his shoulder rather than up in the air, and I was worried when I got close to him that he would poke me in the eye with it.

The first two miles take us away from downtown. The hills are rolling but not bad at all from my perspective. Overall, it was not as challenging a course as I had expected. While it is hilly throughout, none of the hills were very steep or very long. Basically, the course is a couple of miles around the city, then 20 miles or so through the suburban neighborhoods, and then back through the city.

We passed through the neighborhood of Fondren, supposedly an arty area (although it just seemed seedy to me when I drove through it later) which is also where the hospitals are located. Around mile three, we turned off into a pleasant residential area. I enjoyed looking at the pretty houses and tall trees. There were a lot of people out in their yards cheering for us.

The first hour went by almost before I knew it, but it was a little disheartening to think that I had four more hours to go.

Around mile six, we were alongside Hwy 55 and I realized we were right by Highland Plaza, where I'd eaten the night before. Miles 3-17 were mostly residential, with some small, cute bungalows, modest older homes (a few being replaced by McMansions), and one area of actual mansions. It was a very nice course to run.

My pace had crept up over 11 but I wasn't struggling. I caught up with the 4:55 pace team leader, whom I had not noticed at the start. He was running by himself. He told me that he was a few minutes ahead of schedule, and he was wondering if that was why he had lost the rest of his team. Duh. Where did they find these people? Really not like any pace teams I have seen in other races. I ran a little off and on with this guy. Actually the only two people I spoke to during the race were this guy and the 5:00 guy (who did catch up to me and pass me at one point, before I woke myself up and left him behind).

I went through the first half around 2:25 or so. I was still feeling pretty good.

I had a GU pack every 3-4 miles or so. The aid stations came up regularly just about every two miles as promised. They were all well-staffed with volunteers.

There was a period when I was about halfway done that the sun came out, and I actually removed my jacket and wondered if I was going to overheat in my black clothes. But that didn't last for very long!

There was a group of three women I encountered repeatedly in the middle miles of the race. They were pretty, skinny Southern belle types dressed in cute little running outfits, chatting among themselves. I hated them. I was happy when I finally left them behind.

There was another group of Maniac women running together and I was a little envious not to be recognized as a member of their club, and jealous that they probably get to do this type of thing every weekend, being Maniacs and all. I overheard one say that she didn't even start to feel warmed up anymore until mile 20. I passed them eventually, too.

In miles 21-22 we retraced our steps on State Street towards downtown, then we made a loop of the city. This was probably the least attractive part of the race, and I wondered why they didn't do this part first to get it over with. It also started raining around this point, but it was a very light shower and not continuous. Nothing like the horrible freezing rain in Indy. I slowed to a 12:18 in mile 19, but after that I got back down
into the 11s.

We passed the Marriott, and I thought about how much better I was feeling at this race than I had when I passed my hotel in Indianapolis. I felt great, and I pushed harder the last mile to drop down to a 9:28 pace, crossing the finish line in 4:51:58 chip time. For the record, 6 of 26 in the age group (it is apparently a slow person's race), 156 of 289 women, 474 of 740 runners overall.

I got my space blanket and my medal and was going to just hurry back to the hotel to warm up (it was getting cold) but I decided to check out the food tent. I'm glad I did because they had most excellent post-race food, enough that I didn't have to pick up lunch on the way back to the hotel. They had pizza, deli sandwiches (my turkey sandwich!), hot soup (tomato basil) and red beans & rice. So I had a little bit of everything. There were tables set out on the lawn and a blues band playing but it wasn't the kind of weather to sit and hang out. So I ate my food standing up and headed back to the hotel.

Two things from the walk back:
1) There was a pretty park about a block from the hotel that looked rather deserted, and without going into too much detail, let me just say that I surmise that this is where Jacksonians go to buy and sell their drugs.

2) I passed another marathoner, a young woman also wrapped in her space blanket. She turned to me and said "Do you know you are awesome?" I wanted to say, "you are an idiot, we just finished a marathon, big whoopdeedoo, anybody can do it, there is nothing awesome about it." But I told her she was awesome too.

A couple of hours later, when I was ready to venture out for touristing, I could look out my hotel window and she the last of the marathoners finishing and the sag wagon picking up the traffic cones. I would not have liked being out there another two hours in the rain!

Tourist Time

By the time I decided to head out for some tourist activities, there wasn't very much open. I thought I could go see the Medgar Evers home, but I pushed the wrong button on the GPS and it took me to a senior citizen center instead. Then I realized that the home wasn't open to the public anyway.

Next, I had the GPS direct me to the Eudora Welty house. I thought maybe it would be open even though all the info I had said no. I found it in the Belhaven neighborhood, parts of which we had run through during the race. But the house wasn't open. I drove around Belhaven a little more, and then I took another look in the guide book to find something nearby that might be open.

I ended up at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, which is located in a state park not far from downtown. I spent about 90 minutes walking around the museum. On this rainy afternoon, the museum was full of families with young children. They were featuring a dinosaur exhibit, I guess because that is what brings families into science museums, but I was more interested in the displays about the flora and fauna of Jackson.

After a pretty thorough walk around the museum, I headed back to the hotel. I was getting hungry for dinner, but not sure if I would go to the restaurant where I had a reservation, just stay in the hotel for dinner, or go out on the Blues Tour bus to a burger place. The blues tour sounded like fun but maybe not so much for an old woman traveling alone. If I were still in my 20s, heck even in my 30s. And single. Or if I were traveling with a bunch of friends...but by myself, it didn't seem like quite the right thing.

I drove through Fondren on my way back, hoping maybe I'd see some place there that looked promising, but it all just looked too seedy and sketchy. Maybe it's really not, but I'm just saying that as a woman traveling alone that is how it looked to ME.

I mulled my options over while sipping one of the beers (Lazy Magnolia Deep South Pale Ale) I'd bought the night before and munching on the pretzel rods.

Dinner at Parlor Market by myself seemed appropriate, but I was a little worried about the walk there alone in the dark. It was only .3 miles from my hotel, so it seemed silly to drive or take a cab (although I noticed that the was plenty of street parking available when I drove by the restaurant, so I could have parked practically right in front of it). Downtown Jackson is not necessarily unsafe, but very empty and isolated, and there wasn't much activity going on in between the restaurant and my hotel. But I really didn't want to eat in the hotel.

So I decided to be brave and get myself to the restaurant. It was raining, so I bundled up my parka and put up my hood, and I actually sort of jogged there. One block down and two blocks over. I did pass one other restaurant along the way that seemed to have some business, and there were a couple of women on a street corner a block from the restaurant (might have been "professionals") but otherwise I didn't see a soul at 6:45 pm on a Saturday night.

In the end, it was a good decision. The maitre d' welcomed me warmly, and escorted me to a seat at the raw bar. It was cleaner and less hectic than the food bar at Bravo.

My waiter came to take my drink order, and I was thinking beer since I'd already had one and I didn't want a hangover, but they had this enormous cocktail menu---apparently it is a serious cocktail place---and, as the waiter pointed out, I was wearing martini glass earrings, so....I asked him to suggest something. Since I like gin, he selected The Aviator. This is a combo of Plymouth Gin, lemon juice, maraschino liqueur, and creme de violette (whatever that is).

It's not quite frozen, like a margarita, but it's a little slushy. Kind of like a gin slushie. I loved it. It was my favorite part of the meal.

The other things I ordered were well-prepared and tasty, but I found myself wishing I had made other selections. As an appetizer, I had the duck sausage.

This was two sausage links on a bed of grits with a garnish of duck cracklings and some sort of sauce underneath. The sausage was just a little too rich for one person. The grits and the cracklings and the sauce were wonderful, and a good balance for the sausage. Anyway, I ate one of the links and took the other one back to the hotel to enjoy later with my pretzel rods (ended up eating this for breakfast, actually, and it was pretty good that way).

For my entree, I ordered the red snapper, served with mashed potatoes and a sort of corn relish.

A green vegetable as something other than garnish might have been nice in there somewhere. My meal was a little heavy on the corn. If I had known better, I would have gone for a couple of the specials the waiter told me about: the foie gras appetizer, and the hanger steak entree. Umm, I guess that would have been a bit on the rich side, too.

A few other runners came in and sat beside me at the food bar but we did not speak. The woman on my right ordered a cup of tomato soup appetizer and what appeared to be a crock of cheese as her entree. I think I at least made better choices than that!

I did not skip dessert. The night after a marathon is no time to start a diet! I had Parlor Market's take on a s'more, which my waiter told me was his personal invention in college:

 This was sort of a deconstructed s'more. Basically, chocolate mousse in a little glass jar (was kind of hard to get it all out of the jar!) topped with toasted marshmallow fluff, and with the graham crackers on the side. I ate almost all of it.

And at that point, I was totally stuffed. I waddled back home, a bit less nervous than I had been on the way there. The rain had stopped. I did see a bunch of young women on their way in to the restaurant, and a couple of women across the street from my hotel (those two were pros, I'm pretty sure) but otherwise, nobody.

Another Half-Day of Touristing

First thing I did Sunday morning was head out for my little one mile run to continue my "streak." Oh yeah, I'm streaking again. Over a month now. If it had been raining I would have gone to the hotel gym and hit the treadmill, but it was a nice morning so I just hit the street. I thought I might just do a few laps around the block to be on the safe side, but found myself heading up towards the convention center, then down another block and back by the park.

Noticed at least two other people out running. Also saw that they had some sort of prayer service or outreach gathering in the park, where it looked like they were serving hot beverages to, possibly, homeless people. Otherwise, there was nobody out yet. Even the churches were quiet.

When I'm just doing the mile on the treadmill, I have no problem stopping, but it felt really strange to head back into the hotel after just one mile. I was just getting warmed up! But there was nothing to be gained by running any further, so I stopped.

I had considered eating a big breakfast in the hotel, but I was still full from the night before. So I just nibbled on my leftover duck sausage with a few of the pretzel rods before I checked out.

After looking through my assortment of informational brochures, the one thing that looked like it was open to the public on a Sunday morning (besides going to church) was the zoo, which was just a couple of miles away. So that's where I went.

Jackson Zoological Park is a nice little zoo. I was one of their first customers that morning, and for a bit of time had the place all to myself, except for the workers (who kept waving and smiling at me). After a bit, I was joined by a couple of families.

I spent about two hours at the zoo. It was a sunny morning and warmer than the day before, which made for a pleasant walk. I spent a lot of time looking at the big cats (among them, Sumatran Tigers and Florida Panthers) and the giraffes and the birds. The zoo has a nice collection of animals, and although the enclosures were not all exactly state-of-the-art, the animals all looked healthy. It was just around feeding time for most of them and they were pretty active.

Here's a picture of some kind of crazy bird that makes a lot of noise when he flaps his wings:

Here's a picture of the Australian Kookaburra, which makes a lot of noise in general.

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

Merry, merry king of the bush is he

Laugh kookaburra, laugh kookaburra

Gay your life must be!

Walking around I realized that it has been a long time since I've been to a zoo of any kind, and that I had forgotten how much I enjoy the zoo. Note to self, rejoin Cincinnati Zoo. Try to go there more often than once in a blue moon.

So, after I had made a rather thorough tour of the zoo, I still had a little time to kill before heading for the airport. I drove back downtown to the art museum, which would now be open.

I found a parking spot on the street right in front of the Mississippi Museum of Art, which is right downtown next to the convention center. This museum is in an attractive modern building and is free to the public. It took me about an hour to go through their permanent collection of works by Mississippi artists and artists who had spent time in Mississippi. I wish I had stopped in there sooner because it was really worth a little more time. I could have even walked there Saturday afternoon if I had thought about it.

And then it was time to head for the airport. Another state conquered at a slow and steady pace, and a little bit of tourist activity on the side, although not quite enough for me to feel, unfortunately, like I really got a sense of the place. So, I'm going to read some more Eudora Welty in compensation.

My Running Year in Review

I don't usually look at the year this way, because my running log starts anew over the summer and not on January 1. But I decided to take a look at it.

I ran 1336.56 miles in 2012, which is farther than in recent years but not quite up to the 1400 or more I probably ran before my knee surgery (and dog agility addiction!). I completed 18 races, which is also better than in recent years but not what I did "back in the day" (like the time I ran four races in one weekend).

I had what I will call a "post-knee surgery" PR in the half-marathon. Otherwise my race times were about the same as the last few years. At least I am not really getting any slower yet at the shorter distances.

I didn't have a lot of goals for this year. I achieved some of them:

• Got ranked again in the Running Spot newsletter.
• Finished in the top 12 of the Dirtiest Dozen trail series (although I dropped a spot from 7 to 8)

I think that's it if we're just looking at the calendar year.

I also failed on a couple:

• Did not qualify for Boston
• Did not lose another ten pounds. Hahaha. I should give up on that one. I think I actually not only failed to lose another ten pounds, but I gained back the ten I had lost.

So, it was an okay year, not great, not a disaster.