ZOMG Race Photos

Geez.  Go out of town and run a little marathon and ker-BLAM work tends to get a little nuts when you get back, preventing a little running blogger like me from blogging because you pass out exhausted after you get home.  But it didn't prevent me from working out, managing to do a 30 minute bike ride Tuesday morning (skipping my usual speed session in homage to my really tired hill-abused legs) and a tempo run this morning that I ran too fast (supposed to be run at an 8:44 pace) even on my poor tired legs:

Need a tempo run too fast?  I'm your girl.

Of course large dog went with me so I could wear him out and save my baseboards and drywall for one more day from his entropy production.

cheeeeeese

Lazy laying down water-drinking dog being eyeballed supiciously
by a cat.

And would you get a load of all the awesome scenery you get when running at 4:53 AM around my little countryside house?  Just beautiful...beautifully dark and boring.

Beautiful.  Gorgeous.  Wish you were here.

But even though I am still currently exhausted from my running too fast and my crazy work day, I had one overwhelmingly compelling reason to still post instead of crawiilng straight into bed: I got my marathon photos.

Someone gave me this medal at the end of the race for some reason.

So please -- allow me the pleasure of sharing some of the better ones for you.  And by "better" I mean "ones I intentionally screwed up in the name of humor."

#1:

ZOMG the finish just snuck up and surprised me!

#2:

Look!  A medal!  Who knew?

#3:

I'm pointing down to distract people from my
crazy visor hair.

#4:

A picture of me posing for a picture SO META

#5:

And another watch-stopping picture to add to my collection.
Because I don't have enough.

#6:

Could be a pre-race photo...could be me helping to
hold up my sister while she suffers a face seizure.

And finally...lucky #7:

ZOMG a starting line to a race just popped up
out of NOWHERE will you just LOOK at this?!?

Sleepy exhausted post learnings:

• I took way crazier ones on a different part of the course but apparently those pictures have completely vanished from the face of the earth.
• I'm so tired just looking at these pictures of me running is making letter "Zzzzz"s form directly above my head.
• Maybe if I wouldn't run my tempos too fast I wouldn't be so exhausted right now.
• Don't you hate it when a starting line just pops up from nothing and then you just have to run the race?  Yeah, me too.

Tomorrow's workout: 30 minutes or so on the exercise bike staring at a blank wall.

Lessons from the 2018 Cowtown Marathon

This morning the twin and I got up bright and early and headed back to Fort Worth for the Cowtown half marathon (the twin) and the marathon (the idiot who writes these blog posts), both of which started at 7 freaking AM.

She's not much for humor at 6 AM, that twin of mine.

It was a MUCH better weather day - perfect for a nice long 13.1 or 26.2 mile run.  Or even an ultra - Cowtown offers an ultra (50K) option, which is rather exciting for someone who has a few ultras under her hydration belt.

There's that art deco again.

However, I'm not sure I would actually do the ultra after today's marathon experience. Let's run through that experience in a nice bulleted list of lessons from this marathon because, you know, I have an unnatural love of bulleted lists:

• Lesson #1: Don't overdo it on the 10K the day before or your legs will be toasted from mile 3 of the marathon.  I ran WAY too fast yesterday, and I paid for it dearly, especially when it comes to lesson #2 below.
• Lesson #2: The Cowtown Marathon is freaking hilly.  Nothing too steep, but mile 9/10 and mile 14/15 were nothing but one long steady freaking hill.  Like really long - a half mile or longer.  Then throw in the short hills that were all over the place combined with my already tired legs and I was run/walking by mile 15.  Not exactly what I wanted to do; the goal was to run an easy 20.  But those hills had other plans for me.
• Lesson #3: I can't hold the Cowtown Marathon's hills against it because it is really well organized.  They've had 40 years to get it right, and they have the routine down pat.  Plenty of parking (free and paid), a place to wait inside before races to get out of the cold, plenty of start corrals that were easy to find how to get in (you don't know how many times I've been at a race and had no idea how to actually get into my corral and ended up fence-hopping), easy to find gear check, and really well-organized post-race picking up of food, shirts, and challenge medals and gifts.  
• Lesson #4: More races need port-a-johns in the free parking area.  'Nuff said.
• Lesson #5: If you are not aware of all of those freaking hills on the course ahead of time, you will hate everyone and everything by mile 12.  Or at least I did.  I was like a toddler throwing a tantrum between miles 12 and 16, screaming inside my head that THESE HILLS ARE SO MUCH BULLyouknowwhat.  But when I finally got into the groove of my run/walk pattern, I stopped internally sulking about the hills and finished the damn race.
• Lesson #6: Even through my hatred of the hills, I realized that Fort Worth is a nice little big city with a lot to look at.  Well, except for the part of the marathon where they shunt us through residential areas to get mileage in.  But other than that, there were some interesting sights:

ATTENTION: Elvis at mile 3. Or 2.  Maybe 4. I can't remember.

The historic stockyards merited a selfie.

Not sure what this is, but it was at the end of the road
with the stockyards.

Around mile 12.  My face says it all.  

Mile 20 party zone.  Because the cow was the first thing
of interest I saw since that weird wood person at mile 12 

CHOO CHOO.

Bringing it home through Trinity Park.

• Lesson #7: Don't forget to pack your own race hats or you'll be forced to wear a visor you borrowed from the twin.  And then you get race photos with this crazy hair.

• Lesson #8: MORE COWBELL.

And now for another bulleted list of learnings:

• I cannot describe how badly my hammies hurt right now.  They nagged me the entire race.
• I also cannot describe how pissed off I was at the course and the hills.  By far it was the worst mental state I've ever been in during a race.
• This makes me think that those long runs on the treadmill aren't doing me any good.
• But good thing my goal marathon is pretty much flat as a pancake.
• And I cannot WAIT for my race photos.  Heh.

Tomorrow's workout: Moving my legs enough to get me to the airport, on a plane, off a plane, through another airport, to the bus station, and to my car.

The Cowtown 10K that almost wasn't.

Yesterday's adventures at the Cowtown Health & Fitness Expo were followed today by adventures at the Cowtown 10K race.

Now, the weather wasn't really cooperating with us - it was thunderstorming and flashing all sorts of pretty lightning all over the place when we got to downtown Fort Worth.  This necessitated my twin and I to wear very fashionable rain ponchos as we walked to the starting line and while waiting in the packet pickup hall due to the 10K race being delayed by 1.5 hours.

We iz so beautiful.

We also got to traipse through the expo again, hitting up the Bai booth for a quick stupid picture and huge bottles of free water.

As a consequence of having to wait an extra hour and a half to run and bringing no extra snacks with me, I got hungry.  Good thing they were passing out these free boxes of marathon-themed cookies for me to nosh on and take selfies with.

MOO

Anyhoo, the race did manage to go on and then we headed outside into the grey crappy morning surrounded by the intensely art deco Will Rogers Memorial Center buildings and the new Dickies Center under construction.

My goal for the race was to run it in just under an hour, and as you can see below, mission was freaking accomplished.  And you can see that I finally realized in mile 5 that I should slow the you-know-what-that-begins-with-an-F-and-is-a-really-bad-word down because I'm running a marathon tomorrow.

And I also accomplished getting a cool 10K medal with a little guy designed in 1979 that spins around because 40th anniversary.

And for my last accomplishment, some learnings:

• I meant to write this long hilarious post about this 10K, but then I made the mistake of checking my email and was working all afternoon and evening.  We'll never know the post that could have been--so sad.
• This was a well-organized event.  I am impressed as a first-time runner.
• Unlike the Austin marathon, this course is flat with a few hills rather than hilly with a few flat areas.
• I did start out way too fast today, and I'll likely pay for that tomorrow.  It's a good thing I have a small dog to help me recover.

Hooman.  This is how you recover.  Not by
writing stupid blog posts.

Tomorrow's workout: Cowtown Marathon!!

Just another marathon expo with lots of tie-dye.

So I completely forgot to tell everyone that I was running a marathon this weekend.

So hey-I'm running a marathon this weekend!  The Cowtown Marathon, to be specific, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Or the Cowtown Marthon, according to the race guide.

In the past I've run the Austin Marathon this time of year, but I decided to go for something different for this February.  And by "different" I mean "a marathon that isn't so damn hilly and makes me want to cry by mile 12."

So the twin and I (she's running the half) headed into Fort Worth today to grab our race packets and spend too much money at the expo.  It was held at the Will Rogers Memorial Center, which is a collection of mostly cool old 1930's art deco buildings that look like they came straight off a cover of an Ayn Rand novel with old timey murals painted on them.

This place also gave me the opportunity for a selfie with old Roy Rogers himself.

After admiring the architecture and the statues, we made our way into the expo to grab our bibs and our race shirts.  Packet pickup was quick and painless (mainly because we were there on Friday, not Saturday), and the expo, while not as large as I would have thought it would be, offered a wide variety of things I wanted to buy, most of which I could not because I am not independently wealthy.   It even included a booth that sold beef jerky, cheese, and sausage because, well, Texas:

Twin sis is actively purchasing some beef jerky goodness in the
center of this pic.

I did manage not to overspend too much, but I simply HAD to have that new Roo sport pouch, those cushy recovery sandals, and that freaking awesome tie-dye marathon sweatshirt:

TIE-DYE GOODNESS

Please note the other two shirts in that picture.  The one on the left is the official "Sunday finisher shirt," and the one on the right is the "Saturday finisher shirt."  I got both since I am racing on both Saturday (a 10K) and Sunday (the marathon).  And you'll further notice the tie-dye sides on the Sunday finisher shirt and the tie-dye edges to both of the race bibs.

All I can say is that I fully support any race that uses that much tie-dye.  I can also support all of the post learnings listed below:

• You probably noticed that I didn't work out today.  I decided to take an actual rest day with a marathon and such this weekend.
• I have no plans on actually racing either of the races this weekend - just running them both for fun and to photobomb other runners' race photos to ruin them.
• How can you NOT be excited about this much tie-dye?!?!
• I am not excited, however, about the thunderstorms that may cancel the 10K tomorrow morning.  We will see.
• I'll try to get video and pics during the race tomorrow for your viewing pleasure; keep an eye out on Twitter, Insta, and FB!

Tomorrow's workout: Hopefully 10K-ing it in downtown Fort Worth!

How to procrastinate before doing your run - a helpful guide

Work took over my computer last night (I was working on a presentation I was giving at another school district), so unfortunately there was no time for posting facetious garbage on the old blog here.  But not tonight--rest assured that I have plenty of time for facetiousness this evening.  And with that reassurance, let the post begin with how my day began this morning:

Thumbs up for BIKING AT 4:30 AM

I am totally digging my new exercise bike.  Although I've only done rides for 20 minutes or so on it,  that didn't stop me from getting saddle sore, if you catch my drift.  After spending my quality new exercise bike time this morning, I did some Cathe PHA Training and spent some quality time with my beloved heavy weights.

ZOMG is it 3 pounds or 30 pounds?!?  Stupid new math.

 But what about yesterday's workout?  Yesterday's choice of running torture was a 12 x 400m workout @7:30 pace, in the middle of which I lost count and had to stop the workout on my watch and count the little spikes on my pace graph to figure out where I was.  But actually getting on the treadmill and doing that workout was a challenge, especially since it was on a day off from work and my brain went into "LAZY" mode.  I procrastinated hard yesterday, getting dressed for the workout at 9:30 AM and not actually doing it until around noon(!).  So what did I do for all those hours I was dressed for a run but wasn't actually running?  My usual procrastination activities, of course.  They are listed below as a handy "how-to" guide in case you want to work on your workout procrastination as well.

How to Procrastinate Before Doing Your Run:

1) Mentally decide you will do you your run.  The sit in your recliner for a good 20 minutes.

2) Get up and get your running duds on, but do NOT put your running shoes on.  Instead, go for your flip-flops.

3) Put the treadmill down from its folded position so the animals can run all over it.  Go sit in the recliner for 10 more minutes.

4) Decide to have a cup of coffee because, you know, caffeine helps your running, after all.

5) Go online and buy another pair of running shoes while sipping that coffee even though you have two pretty new pairs sitting upstairs in your closet.

6) Look at the clock and realize it's almost lunchtime and decide to chow down before hitting that treadmill.

7) Now that you're full from lunch, you gotta let all the food digest...so you hang out in the recliner cruising aimlessly around the internet on your laptop for a good hour.

8) Look at the clock and realize you have an appointment in the early afternoon so holy crap you better get on the treadmill and get that run done.  Continue to sit for another 5 minutes.

9) Get up and put on your running shoes.  On your way back downstairs, play with the cats that hang out on the landing for at least 10 minutes.

10) Finally get on the treadmill when the hubbs wanders through the house, looks at you, and asks, "Haven't you gotten on the treadmill yet?!?"

Hubbs shaming me gets me to doing my run every time.


Look out--learnings!

• I know you all covet that DVD/VHS combo player in the first picture.  I can feel it.
• My current obsession is listening to scary story podcasts, so you can bet your sweet patootie I was listening to them while I was on the bike this morning working on my saddle soreness.
• It's amazing to me how I can be on the 'mill at 4:30 AM every work day but on every day off  it's all procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate.  I am a moron.
• You know what comes after hubbs shaming me onto the treadmill? Him asking me every 5 minutes if I'm almost done because he's worried I'm going to make him late for our afternoon appointment.

Tomorrow's workout:  Tempo!  3 miles super fast!  Hopefully outside!

My fitness confessions.

Yesterday I managed to complete my 13 mile long run, although not all at one time.

I had every intention of doing the run outside, the first 8 miles with large dog and then the last 5 miles by myself.  But after 1.5 miles this thing called "snow" started coming down pretty thick and heavy, and even large dog kept looking at me with snow plastered over his face like, "Really, woman?  Let's go inside."  So we did after getting in 3 miles.  And then I rented another movie on my Kindle (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) and hopped on the 'mill for 10 miles which, after doing 15 miles on the thing on previous long run excursions, seemed like a pretty short run. 

Sick, I know.  But marathon training does this to a person.  It also makes a person run in tie-dye shoes to make the run that much brighter.

Gaze upon their awesomeness.

Today I have some upper-body strength training planned--both workouts from Cathe's Lift It, Hit It strength DVDs, only with two sets per exercise plus some abs.  I have to confess that I look forward to my weight workouts more than my running workouts most days, mainly because the suffering of lifting heavy weights is over long before the suffering of an intense running workout ever is.  Don't get me wrong, I love running, but it's nice to know that not every day will be a day of "how many more miles??? I'M NOT GOING TO MAKE IT" suffering.  As a matter of fact, I have a lot more little workout confessions like this.  Let's list them out, shall we?

• I also wear bright colored clothing for running on the treadmill even though no one sees my outfit except for my animals.  They are also the ones to see my treadmill anguish.

Mile repeats again?!?  WHYYYY

• When I have a long run to do on the treadmill I stop a little too often to blow my nose or take a drink of water.  Please note that I do these things WHILE running when I'm outside.
• I never, EVER want to do a long run.  Ever.  But I always tell myself just to do 3 miles and see how I feel...and I always feel like a wimp if I quit after 3 miles.  Self-shaming - it's how I get those runs done.
• I always walk my recoveries during speed workouts.  Don't judge me.
• I know I need to back off all the running when I am at the starting line of a marathon and I realize my brain just said, "Uuuuuuugggghhhh I don't want to do this" before I even realize it.  That's why I started dropping to half-marathon training during the summer (and because it's too freaking hot to run 20 milers).
• Push-ups.  I can't stand them.  They are on par with how I feel about mile repeats.
• The main reason I take large dog with me running is so my house doesn't get destroyed and my underwear isn't ripped from the laundry basket and scattered around the house while I shower each morning.
• And finally, I always do way too much intense leg work the day before a long run and struggle to hit my target pace during the run.  Because I'm a moron.

They say confession is good for the soul.  But I'm not sure if my soul is in any way healed from writing that list.


And now, the learnings:

• I meant to post last night, but it was a crazy day and I fell asleep in the chair.  
• I also meant to make a huge deal about the fact that I got the exercise bike put together (thanks, hubbs) and can't wait to use it, but I will wait until I actually use it to bore everyone to death about it.

BFFs

• When large dog begs me to go inside during a run, you know the weather is bad.
• One last confession - I really, really need spring to come so I don't have to do long runs on the treadmill anymore.

Tomorrow's workout: Speed!  12 x 400m, lawd help me.

My day in pictures and evidence that I am easily amused.

So, how was my day?


It started with a total body workout from Cathe's Low Impact Series.

I didn't have a ton of time this morning, so I pulled up the Total Body Express pre-mix (where you do one set of each lower and upper body triset instead of two) and got down to it.  Even though there was no barbell, this is a nice solid workout, and it's one that I used to do all the time a few years ago.  Although this time I was actually using heavier weights than Cathe sometimes, which made me feel kind of awesomely awesome.

So off I went to work, where I got to watch two webinars from the state.  Although those assessment guys like to sneak in my kind of funny when they're trying to tell us which slides in the deck are new when compared to previous webinars.

Gnu!  New!  Get it?  THIS KILLS ME

Anyhoo, after sitting in front of the computer for a few more hours I got to go home, where the BRAND NEW EXERCISE BIKE I bought was waiting for me in such a way as to make it hard to get into my house.

Makes it easier to slide right out of the house, though.

It is also freaking heavy, and it's still sitting outside waiting for a random hubbs to come by and lift it into the house.  Maybe I can get him to assemble it, too, while he's inside.

And speaking of inside the house, my day is ending with the zoo being it's normal crazy self.

He's bed-curious.

Hyooman.  I'm too pretty for your stupid.

Tired from work?  Too bad - play time.

This what I think of your post, hyooman.

The day isn't complete without some learnings:

• That Cathe workout is short but freaking effective.  My glutes are sobbing at this very moment.
• Gnu!  New! IT KILLS ME EVERY TIME
• I think I may be sitting in front of my computer too long every day if that's so freaking funny to me.  Or I need to re-evaluate my career choice.
• So the exercise bike was a late birthday gift to myself and thinking about using it makes me squeal like a tween at a boy band concert.
• That cat isn't fat--he's just big boned.  Don't fat-shame my cat.

Tomorrow's workout: Only 13 miles!  What will I do with all that extra free time? (Probably put my new bike together)