solar squirrel

Well - today we were basically snowed in. We were supposed to go see “We Gotta Bingo” tonight with some friends, but the snow was just insane so we decided to cancel. Instead Todd and I (and the cats) played in the snow. I have only gone snow shoeing once before and boy was it tough! We took the little trail in Todd’s yard to the park and then played around. There weren’t any other tracks in the snow - we were the first one’s there! Todd thought he was being slick and threw snow on me - MULTIPLE times. So I got back at him and went on a rampage throwing snow all over him. It was HILARIOUS because he had it all over his face and eyes. I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard at him. I tried to make snow impressions of my body in the fresh snow by laying in it, it kind of looked weird, though because my arms weren’t out all the way so it looked like a midget with a big body and small arms had laid there.  I sat on a few benches and made butt impressions.  It was a great snowy fun time!

The only bad thing about the snow is that it caused the indoor tri to be canceled. Oh well -at least I know ahead of time.

Here are some photos of our snowy adventures today:

My swimming day was supposed to be Wed., but last week the pool was closed because of the weather, and this week I had to work on my take- home midterm test for my MIDS (system and design thinking) class.  So - looks like I’m going to be a bit rusty for the 20 min swim on Sunday as part of the indoor tri.  It’s ok, though.  I think the difference between swimming and not swimming is not so different for me.  Plus, I don’t know how to do flip turns so I’m already at a disadvantage to the ‘real’ swimmers.  I should probably learn to do flip turns sometime soon…

On a positive note I’ve managed to do quite well this week as far as running and biking goes.  I’ll try to get back on track for swimming next week.

Today was my second attempt at running the Youngstown 1/2 marathon. I ran it last year and seriously almost died. This year although I am in much better shape, I hadn’t ran more than 10 miles since the Buckeye 50k (10 miler was last weekend), so I wasn’t sure how I would do. E-Speed said she was planning on running 8-min pace, and I was like, yea, right, but when I started with her and Daisy the pace felt comfortable, so I decided to run with them. Daisy was coming off of a week of rest and she decided to back it off a bit. I stuck w/ E-Speed and seriously felt great until this dumb HUGE hill around mile 10. My legs just wouldn’t go as fast anymore. I tried to quicken my stride to catch back up, but it was useless. I decided to just do what I could and try to fly on the downhills. I never caught back up to E-Speed, but I did manage to pass a few guys on the downhills and one lady who was going really slow on an up-hill. I told her we were almost done and she could do it - she seemed really tired, though. About a mile left in the race I heard some people cheering for someone w/ a girl’s name (can’t remember now what it was) and I was like - oh there is no way I’m going to let anyone pass me this close to the finish - especially a girl - so I tried to pick it up in my usual hammer-finish style. I’m not sure how close she was to me, but she never passed me, so it’s all good. I finished well ahead of what I wanted to do - with a time of 1:45:38 - about 8:04 pace. I was almost 10 min faster than last year! SWEET! E-Speed and me finished 1st and 2nd in our age group, too.

Todd is SO hardcore and he finished 4th in his age group with a 7:14 pace and a time of 1:34:46. He also improved dramatically from last year - almost 10 minutes, too! I tell you, doing a 50k makes you TOUGH!

Needless to say I’m super happy with how things went today. I love that I am part of SERC - it has seriously made me such a stronger and smarter runner and also given me wonderful new friends.

Youngstown 1/2 marathon splits:
(Note that the mile markers didn’t seem to be too accurate)

1 7:53
2 7:15
3 8:55
4 7:02
5 7:52
6 8:07
7 8:25
8 7:32
9 8:02
10 8:51
11 8:04
12 7:57
13 (not sure…I always forget to stop my watch!)

Final time: 1:45:38

Weekly training recap:

Monday: 1-hour Aerobic / yoga / kick boxing class
Tuesday: 3 mile run easy at lunch
Wednesday: 45 min cycling class (tough!)
Thursday: 4 mile tempo run at lunch
Friday: 45 min. cycling class at work during lunch
Saturday: rest
Sunday: Youngstown half

Weekly totals:

run: 20 miles
bike: 24miles
swim: 0
other (aerobics, etc): 1 hour

My friend Joe who used to work at Philips with me (and was my running partner at work) mentioned a few weeks ago that Kenneth Thomas was going to be at Traffic Nightclub the last Fri. of Feb. (Yesterday). I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to go out dancing with my good friend or miss out on some good trance music so I said HELL YEA! We had a blast! Since E-Speed didn’t have a husband for the night, she decided to tag along too, so it was the three of us.

We met at Joe’s house at 9:30 and then all drove together in my car downtown. First of all - E-Speed looked HOT! She was wearing this cute scarf on her head and a black tank top with jeans that made her look perfect (note to self - try to tone up butt and thighs so I can wear cute pants like that). We should have gotten a picture! (There was this chick there who was taking photos for this spotted cleveland website, but who knows if those pictures will get posted…besides it was dark and foggy in there so you couldn’t really see us.) When we got there it was pretty much empty - but hey we had to get there before 11 to get in for free, and I am all about free! I ordered a $10 martini (yikes!) and got E-Speed one, too. Joe was drinking a glowing gin and tonic. (tonic water glows in black light - it’s pretty neat!) We were freezing cold and I happened to notice that the VIP room had something that looked like the flames of a fireplace, so we headed in there. We stood by the fireplace and chatted and drank our drinks while we waited for the music to speed up so we could get our dance on. I decided to get a beer (my second and last drink since I was the D.D.) and while I was standing at the bar this gross drunkard stumbled up to me w/ 2 red bull and vodkas and tried to give me one - yea right. I shot him down quickly (and nicely, no need to be rude to the poor idiot) and he left. We hung out in the VIP room a bit longer and then headed out for some dancing!

The music was pretty good and it didn’t take long before I was a sweaty mess. (I am SO glad I wore my hair up). Oh - haha - one other funny thing - I wore running shoes so that I could dance without having my feet tire out after an hour - E-Speed attempted to make fun of me but I know I looked good! (well, in my own mind…). It was pretty funny because it seemed like there were way more guys there than girls but the girls that were there were a good mix between the usual buffy-bud lite drinking- marlboro-lite smoking -let me dance on the pole with my friend so guys will look at me - kind and actually girls that looked and acted more ‘normal’. At one point this guy that had been dancing next to us brought me over a drink (yet another red bull and vodka) and I politely told him that I was the D.D. so he proceeded to give it to Joe! He seemed cool, though, he wasn’t trying to hump me. A word of advice, guys - do NOT under ANY circumstances EVER try to dance with a girl like that. If she’s a girl worth actually dating she will deny you immediately hence ruining your chances to further any relationship. Plus - that is not how you dance to trance music. (Go next door to the velvet dog if that’s what you’re looking for.)

After dancing non-stop for about 3 hours we decided to go. (I think we left at about 2 a.m.). Man, I really needed that. I think I’m going to have to try to go out once a month so I don’t forget how fun it is! Next time I think I’m going to rent a limo and get all the running girls to go. Oh - and bring a camera!