solar squirrel

Last Sunday I did the Planet X sprint triathlon - I went into it knowing I was not in the best shape and would be happy with just finishing but I ended up feeling really good the whole time (except during the swim - thank goodness I brought my wet suit!!) I felt good on the bike and I was talking to people - I scared one person when I said hi to her!  Then on the run I was able to run w/ Daisy, until the end where she pulled ahead and beat me.  It was fun and the weather was perfect!  I ended up w/ 3rd female overall - with Mel and Daisy taking 1st and 2nd.  (And wouldn’t you know it - the 3 of us are part of the Akron Marathon relay - LOOK OUT!!)

This was just what I needed to motivate me to get my butt in gear and start a more regular workout routine.  After Sunday’s good turnout, I managed to get in a track workout on Tue, a trip to Westbranch for some mountain biking on Wed, spin class on Thurs, and a solid 12 miles running w/ SERC today in Solon.  Now, for many people I know 4 days of workouts is a joke - but compared to what I’ve been doing this is PHENOMINAL!  I plan to slowly get myself back to 7 days/week.  (Using my swim day as a rest day).  At least for the summer I should be able to handle this, but once school is back in session I’ll likely fall apart again.

Planet X results:

Swim (1/4 mile):  7:12
Bike (11 miles):  36:12 - 18.2 mph
Run (5k):  23:04 - 7:26/mile

At the finish - still feeling good!

Thanks Joey for the pictures from Planet X!  Someone told me they saw pics of me from it and I was thinking it had to be from Joey playing photographer!

My blog needs updates…but I’ll get to it on a day that I don’t have a million other things to do.  For now all you need to know is that my newest goal is to run a 3:30 at Towpath.  (and not die doing XTERRA this year…)

On Monday 4/20/2009 I did something I never thought I would do - I ran in (and finished) the Boston Marathon.  I remember telling Elizabeth there would be NO WAY I would EVER run a marathon.  And then, slowly, sneakily, she managed to get me to consider at least doing a trail marathon.  In my mind that really didn’t count, since it was on single track trails in the lush woods of Michigan.  So in my mind trail running doesn’t ‘count’ since you typically go slower and the wear and tear on your body isn’t as traumatic as running on the pavement.  Plus - you’re out in the wilderness with nature.  It’s natural.  To me running with thousands of people on streets that are meant for automobiles isn’t my idea of fun.  I’m not excited by crowds and pollution.  There *might* be one exception.  Just one.  I would consider doing the Boston Marathon if I ever qualified, but I knew that would never happen, so I didn’t have to worry.

Well, you see, I have this really insane group of friends who just happen to all be a part of this crazy running club - SERC that I’m a member of.  The girls in SERC are some of the best runners in N.E. Ohio, and they got it in my head that I would be able to qualify for Boston, despite the fact that I thought there would be no way.  Elizabeth and Janet informed me that the TowPath marathon was a Boston Qualifier - and it wasn’t a road race.  So I started training for it and incredibly I was able to train at a pace that would just get me qualified - 8:18.  Janet and I ran at TowPath together and both qualified for Boston, so that was it - I was in.

So began a rough training plan, which was interrupted by massive amts. of school work, getting laid off and going on interview after interview in search of a job that I wanted (and finally got!!!), getting stuck for an extra week snowed in in Oregon, starting a new job and immediately traveling, etc, etc.  Needless to say, I was not properly trained going into Boston.  But that was fine, my goal was only to finish.  Enjoy the experience and have memories of doing something that a lot of runners never get to do.

I was lucky that I was going with 2 seasoned veterans - Barb and Elizabeth - who coordinated everything from the hotel and flight to when we would go to the expo and what time we would wake up on race day.  All I had to do was follow their lead.  It was a perfect way to do Boston as a first-timer.  I didn’t have to worry about anything.  Basically the only thing I had to take care of on my own was the actual running and even that was low stress because my intent was just to finish.  I honestly didn’t care what my time was as long as I finished. 

The weekend was so fun.  We went to the expo first thing Sat. am and we didn’t have any crowds to deal with.  Unfortunately I had a terrible headache so I made Elizabeth leave the expo before she was ready so that I could find some excedrin.  We headed back to the hotel so I could rest a bit and then I was feeling MUCH better.  Let me just interject to say how altruistic Elizabeth is - seriously.  I’m sure everyone that is reading this who knows Elizabeth already realizes this, but she is such a great person.  I am so fortunate to have her as a good friend.  Ok - so after the expo and my shopping spree buying $300 worth of Boston Marathon stuff we went to lunch at Legal Seafood.  I guess it’s a tradition to go there Boston weekend and I know why!  The food was so good and the service was excellent.  We ended up having a big group because some of the guys joined us so it was a fun time listening to them talk about their expectations for the race.

Lunch at Legal Seafood

Fast forward to race morning.  We were up early and I stumbled out of the hotel room to the Starbuck’s which opened at 5 am.  Got my coffee and got dressed and the 3 of us (Barb, Elizabeth, and me) headed down to the lobby to meet the rest of the group.  We walked to the area where there were tons of busses lined up waiting to  take the racers to the start line.  For those who don’t know, Boston is a point to point race, not out and back, so you get bussed to the start.  Our hotel was at the finish, so we had to take a bus to get to where the race starts.

Once we got to the race start location we went to the *secret* church location.  Not sure how SERC found out about the church initially, but it was very convenient because it was warm and there were bathrooms without a line (and no one was there except SERC people!).  So we hung out there before it was time for everyone who was in the first wave to leave.  I left with them even though I was in the second wave - I wanted to see the elite men start!  After I left my friends I found a good spot to watch the start and I was able to see the elite men start - Ryan Hall was right out front.

Then it was time for me to line up.  They have corrals based on your qualifying time.  Because I qualified with a 3:38 I was in the 2nd wave.  (Fast people get to go in the first wave).  It was insane how many of us there were…there was some talk over the loud speaker and then we were off!  The first 10k was tough because I was trying SO HARD not to run fast.  I was getting passed left and right.  I knew not to run fast, though, because then I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it as much.  The entire time I just was in awe at the vast no. of people there were!  It was insane - as far as I could see in front of me - hundreds and hundreds of runners!  But the runners weren’t the only people - the crowds lined the course.  The cheering got so loud at one point that my ears were ringing.  When we passed Boston College (I think that’s where we were) there were students holding signs that said ‘kiss me…’ - it was so crazy!  I passed a blind runner who was tethered to a guide.  I passed a man pulling an oxygen  tank, I passed the inspirational Hoyts…  It was just one incredible event after another.  At one point there was a group of old people in wheel chairs waiting to get their hands slapped by the runners.  They were all lined up along the road watching the runners go by.  I hit all of their hands. It was so motivating.  I think I drank too much water because I had to stop 3 different times to use the bathroom, but it didn’t matter.  I was just trying to enjoy every minute of the race.  I took my gels at mile 12 and mile 17.  When I got to heartbreak hill I didn’t realize I was even there.  I think that hill is a bit over-rated.  (Though - I was running / walking super slow, I’m sure if I was racing it would have seemed challenging).  Towards the end I was getting cold.  I took my gloves off and left them and I should have kept them because the weather got colder as the day went on.  I was freezing as I neared the finish and would have been more comfortable if I would have kept them.  The last turn before the finish was great - I knew I was almost done and the crowds were out of control.  I can’t believe how many people there still were all around me running - you would think with such a slow time I would have been alone, but I was surrounded by other runners.  I finished smiling and was pushed through the crowd of other runners waiting to turn in their chips and get their medals.  We all got space blankets and it was a sea of silver crinkled masses.  I was so so so so cold by this point that I was starting to loose it.  I needed to find my bus so I could get my drop bag and then head to the warm hotel.  I had to ask 3 different times which way the Marriot was because I was so lost in the massive crowd of people.  On the way to the hotel I stopped and sat down because my feet were killing me and I was incredibly cold.  This girl came up to me with a wheel chair and asked me if I needed help.  It was so pathetic.  I told her I was fine, I was just really cold and I got up and headed back in the direction of the hotel.

Back at the hotel I was welcomed by Barb and Elizabeth - who had both gotten PR’s.  And wouldn’t you know it, Barb got FIRST PLACE in her age group!  We were going to get to go to the award ceremony with the likes of Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher!  That in itself was worth the trip - seeing so many elite athletes was amazing.  And my friend Barb was one of them!  After the awards we went and ate some wonderful Italian food and then off to the post race party!  The post race party was a lot of fun - including free massages and a free oxygen bar.  I had never tried an oxygen bar and it was SWEET!  They had different ‘flavors’ - including peppermint and floral scents.  It was awesome!  It kind of made you feel a little light headed, but good.  We all tried it out and Elizabeth got some really silly pictures (check them out on her facebook).

It was a great weekend with a great group of people.  I just wish I wouldn’t have had school commitments - but next year I’ll be done with school so look out!!!!!!

Here’s a link to the photo’s that I took:

Boston 2009

Yesterday was a cold, rainy, yucky day.  I told myself if I went running in it I would reward myself with a new pair of running shoes (which I needed anyway - I’ve been running on the roads in my trail shoes because I didn’t want to spend any extra $).  I bought some cute pink Asics which have tons of support.  I’ll wear these at Boston.

So I forced myself to go out in the rain and run.  You know - it wasn’t so bad!  I wore shorts, technical Tshirt, and a light fleece and gloves.  I was cold for about 20 seconds when I first walked outside and then I was perfect.  The rain wasn’t too bad at all, and I was out on the towpath by myself.  I like running on the towpath when no one else is around because you can hear the river.  It sounds really neat splashing along.  Plus you can hear the birds now that the weather has warmed up a little.  I didn’t wear my watch, but I felt like I was running pretty fast.  I only ran like 5 miles because I didn’t have much time so I was running a bit faster than I normally would.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful words of encouragement and congratulations on my new job.  I’ll be posting info about it once I officially start on April 6th.  I’m so excited!

Tonight I’m going to Ray’s indoor mountain bike park.  I’m a little nervous as I haven’t been on my mountain bike for MONTHS!  Oh, well - it will still be fun!

First my training:

Monday:  Swam w/ Brian (we talked a lot but managed to do a ladder)
Tuesday:  Track workout - 2 * 800 and 4 * 400 with ~2:30 rest.
Wednesday:  7 mile trail run.  Fell hard and scraped up my knee and leg.
Thursday:  Rested after falling
Friday:  Swam w/ Kristin and Sharon
Saturday:  No working out - worked on school stuff basically all day
Sunday:  ~17 miles w/ SERC at 8:20-ish pace.  Laid tile in Todd’s basement.  Exhausted.

I need to get on the bike ASAP if I think I’m going to be doing any triathlons this year!  I am so excited about spring and outdoor cycling (road and mountain).

Now a super awesome update:
Last Sunday I got an email from the HR director at Aclara RF telling me she was in the process of putting together an offer letter for me!  This is precisely the type of job I wanted AND in the industry I wanted!  (Product Marketing Manager in the AMI - advanced metering infrastructure - industry).  I of course accepted the offer and I am scheduled to start on April 6th.  If you were wondering, no, I was not working with a recruiter to find this job.  That’s because recruiters told me that I wouldn’t be able to make a career shift into marketing.  Well, I refused to work for an industry I didn’t believe in doing work that I’m not excited about, so I went off on my own and found a growing company in an exciting industry.  I can’t wait to learn all about their products and help them become more successful.  After I ‘officially’ start I will provide more details and updates.

*It was actually 19, but I’m calling it 20.

What a great day for running yesterday was!  I planned to run w/ SERC again yesterday since Dawn showed me a really nice 20-mile route that goes out to the Polo Fields off of Chagrin River rd.  Bridget needed to get in 20 so she and I planned to run together at a pace that was comfortable for both of us.  I honestly don’t care too much about the pace when I’m doing anything longer than 12, I just want to get in the miles.  So her awesome hubby stashed gatorade and water for us at the 8/16 mile marker (that’s mile 8 and mile 16 - same spot) and we were set!

I was really impressed with our pace - which was sub-9 almost the entire time.  We had intended on 9:30’s but seemed to get into a groove at about 8:50 so we stuck with that.  I felt awesome until a little after the turn around.  It could be because we stopped for a while - had gu, drank water, used the bathroom, stretched - I think for next time I need to keep my rest time to about 3 min.  When we started back up I felt like I had stopped for too long and it was hard for us to get back into a rhythm.  (That was ~mile 12).  By the time we were at the top of the hill at 91 I was DONE.  Sore legs and super super super super SUPER hungry.  I was dizzy I was so hungry.  When we were back at the bagel shop I realized I had only done about 19 but at that point I either stopped and ate something or passed out.  Bridget had another mile in her and she kept going!  She’s out of control!!!!  She set out to do 20 and that’s what she intended to do!

I need to remember - one gu for 20 miles isn’t enough.  I need something w/ protein like a cliff bar or I just can’t do it.  Also - thank goodness for the water/gatorade that Steve left for us.  It helped break up the run because we used that as a target to get to.  My legs feel great today - no muscle soreness at all - just a little stiff in the ankles when I got out of bed.  (Which reminds me I have to buy some road shoes…I’ve been running in my trail shoes because I am trying not to spend any extra $, but road shoes are an essential item so I will maybe buy some today - and I may have some super exciting news about a job - you’ll have to stay tuned for that!!!!)

I also have some great news about my ENTP project.  I’ll save that for another post - check back soon!

Sunday was our SERC running club banquet and the Youngstown Half marathon.  Last year I did pretty well - finishing 10 min faster than the year prior.  I approached this year knowing that I would probably be slower due to the fact that it’s been difficult to get a regular running routine down since being laid off.  I know that doesn’t make any since at all, but it’s really hard when each week is different than the last.  I’m balancing an incredibly intensive course-load this semester - 3 classes that all require TONS of work outside of class.  Adding to that are random interviews, career fairs, networking events, etc. that require prep. time and travel time.  I never know what my schedule is going to be from week to week.  It makes it difficult to plan a regular workout schedule.  I’ve been putting tons of miles on my car driving back and forth to school, interviews, networking events, presentations, lectures, class group meetings, class interviews, and class presentations.  My time on the phone has also increased.  I had to increase my monthly minutes from 450 to 900 because I’ve been on the phone so much trying to nail down things for my class projects and getting tons of calls from recruiters who I wish would not bother me.

Side note on recruiters:  I hate you all.  You don’t care one micron about helping me find a career - you only care about getting your freakin’ money.  You are worthless and don’t understand software.  You mispronounce industry terms and don’t say acronyms correctly.  You are totally and completely without credibility or tact.  You are nothing but a poorly trained telemarketer who is lacking social skills and industry knowledge.

Anyway - needless to say I’m having issues staying focused on training.  Sunday at Youngstown I was reminded that I need to start putting more miles in.  I was only a few min. slower than last year - but I was really sore afterwords.  I’m still sore today - 2 days later.  My finish time was 1:47:13 (8:11 pace).  I’m not too terribly disappointed with this, but I would have like to have been faster or equal to my time last year.  In order to do that I need to run more - but I DREAD running by myself.  I just can’t do it.  I’ve only gotten better as a runner because of running with others.  Running alone is like running on the treadmill - I don’t like it one bit.  I used to religiously run Tue and Thurs with work friends at lunch.  I don’t have that anymore and boy do I miss it.  I can’t tell you how much I miss it.  It’s like a part of me is missing.  Ugh.

So here’s the good news:  It’s going to stay bright later now that the time has changed so I can start going to the track again Tue nights.  I’m planning on going tonight.  Bad news is that I’m moving out of Solon because I don’t have an income and my sister and I both don’t have jobs.  Solon is a great place to live if you’re a member of SERC because that’s where the Sunday runs are and we do track workouts at Solon High School.  What am I going to do in April when I don’t live there anymore?  I guess I’ll just enjoy these next weeks that I have while I still have them.  Hopefully I’ll get a job near solon so that I can at least still do track workouts after work without a long drive.  I know I won’t do them if I don’t have anyone to do them with.

Three Sisters: Me, Gretchen, Ashley (friend), and Katy

Friday was my sister Gretchen’s 20th birthday.  Thinking back I can’t even remember my 20th birthday…I must have been right in the middle of some crazy semester at school, trying to work and handle a full-time CS undergrad load.  I do remember my 21st birthday, though.  I had a huge test the next day - I think in either Calc II or DSAII (Data Structures and Algorithms — good lord, it could have been both I took them the same semester…)  Anyway - I remember being incredibly frustrated because I had to spend so much time studying and working on programming assignments when it seemed like a lot of the other majors were going out and having fun.  I remeber thinking - that’s ok - after I have my degree it will all be worth it.

Since then I have realized that sometimes it’s just best to live in the moment.  Who knows what would have happened if I would have partied through college (I would have probably failed a lot of classes and had to graduate later.)  Certain things require dedication and responsibility, but there isn’t this binary black and white border.  There are some greys that I really missed out on because I was so dedicated to school back in the day.  (I was valedictorian of my high school class, too).  Who knows what my life would be like now if I would have spent more time doing ‘fun’ stuff…  Things are different now - even though my GPA is pretty good at Case (3.7), I know I could have a solid 4.0 if I really tried.  I don’t care that much about it anymore, though.  What good is it to spend that extra time?  If it’s between hanging out with my family and friends or having a 3.7 vs. a 4.0 I’m taking the B every now and then!  Getting laid off has really taught me that success means more than job title, grade point average, and your salary.  It’s your overall LIFE that matters; your health; your happiness; your satisfaction with your accomplishments both career and personal.  It’s too bad that it took me a while to realize these things, but I feel like I know a secret now…one that’s so obvious but so hard to realize.

So - we went to the Melting Pot for dinner.  If you’ve never been there I recommend NOT going there for dinner, but instead dessert.  Dinner is overpriced and not very good (they give you raw meat/seafood and you cook it in this pot of broth on your table).  The dessert is also overpriced, but the experience is fun and it’s very tasty.  We decided to do this thing where you get an appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert.  It was $88 per couple.  (I told Gret she could get whatever she wanted).  Here are some pictures:

Spinach and artichoke cheese appetizer

Entree plates (each couple gets one) with seafood and meats

Dessert! 2 pots of different flavored chocolate and plates with strawberries, marshmallows, rice crispy treats, brownies, bananas, and cheesecake!

And yes, we did eat ALL of it!  I may have eaten more of the dessert plate than Gretchen did!  It was nice, though, because going here is more of an event than most dining.  We were there for close to 3 hours.  It was fun to have tons of time to talk and have fun in-between the courses.  We took lots of pictures of each other and at one point were being really silly and taking fake myspace pictures.  (If you have a myspace acct you know what I’m talking about — the over the head self-portrait where you’re trying to look good - yet another reason to make fun of myspace.)  Oh - and no, I won’t be posting those. 

I was out pretty late, but decided I really HAD to get in a long run and there was no way I was doing it by myself so I decided to run w/ SERC .  Daisy and Espeed are too fast for me and Barb was only doing 10, so I joined Dawn and Rich at the 6 mile mark.  They were planning on doing 20 and they weren’t going too fast for me so I ran with them.  They are great to run with because they talk most of the time and made the miles go by pretty fast.  Towards the end I was pretty tired though and barely made it up the big hill in the park.  Luckily Rich gave me one of his gu’s or I would have likely died because I was expending so many calories trying to stay warm!  Man it was frigid!  The wind was crazy and it was snowing pretty steadily so my fleece was soaked from the melting snow.  My eyelashes were covered with snow and ice and I could barely see!  Rich said my ponytail was like a barometer or something because it had so much snow on it that it was an indication of how long we had been running.  I know neither one of them read my blog - but they are such great runners and I’m really appreciative that they ran with me.  (They’ve both done many ultras including hundred milers).  I’m so happy to get that 20-miler over with.  Now I feel like I’m really training.  Let’s see where the rest of the weeks take me!

The DREADmill

So I’m getting over a cold which I am sure would have turned into pneumonia or worse if I would have done the 50k.  I am so so so happy that I listened to my body and rested.  Nevertheless - there is still this small matter of TRAINING FOR BOSTON that I seem to have been avoiding lately.  Yesterday I decided to try the treadmill again since I don’t think I’m quite ready to run outside.  (I don’t want to risk getting too cold and subjecting myself to getting sick again).

I went to the Severance Bally’s since I was already in the area (had a meeting at Case for school).  That place is really nice!  I’ve only been there a few times, but it’s really clean and the locker room is HUGE and has high ceilings and tons of lockers and bathrooms and even seperate changing stalls.  They have TVs hanging from the ceiling and it’s really open and big.  The other nice thing is that they have like 20 treadmills…maybe more, so you never have to worry about not getting on one even during the super busy times.

This time I brought my MP3 player in hopes that it would make running more enjoyable - it actually did help a lot!  (But still wasn’t the best running experience).  I did a 1 mile warmup at 1.5 incline and a speed of 9:03 min miles.  That felt really easy so for mile 2 I increased the speed to 8:12 pace.  That felt pretty good but soon into the 3rd mile I was already getting side stitches!  ARgh!  So I changed the speed to 8:19 and did miles 4 and 5 and then decided I had enough and did the last mile at 9:03 again.  So I did a little over 6 miles.  The music definitely helps A LOT.  Still, I have a hard time knowing how to move my arms because I’m scared they’ll hit something and I also can’t seem to get into a good rhythm.  At least I did it - I was thinking that I was just not capable of running on the treadmill after my last try.  I couldn’t run for more than 4 or 5 min without having to stop and walk.  Must have just been a bad day.

I’m definitely not planning on making a routine out of this - but it’s good to know it’s an option when I’m getting over being sick or when there is freezing rain, 10 ft. of snow, etc.

I’ll be in Solon Sunday morning - hopefully I’ll be able to run with someone!

Yesterday was SERC’s annual New Year’s Eve run in Bedford Reservation.  Since I missed the Christmas Eve run I was definitely not going to miss this one.  (Missed it because of my 5 day flight delay).  When I went to bed the night before it was cold, but there wasn’t any snow on the ground.  Overnight the wind was howling and when I looked out the window at 5 am it was white powder wonderland!  The wind was insane and blowing the snow everywhere!  After my near death freezing experience a few weeks ago I intentionally over-dressed myself with a long-sleeve technical shirt, long-sleeve turtleneck fleece, and a wind breaker jacket.  I wore tights, wicking socks (didn’t have any clean smartwool) and my road shoes because I left my new trail shoes at Todd’s.  I figured there would be NO WAY I could POSSIBLY be cold.  Boy was I wrong - I forgot about the fact that my FACE would be exposed!

Starting off the run was fine - it was slushy and hard to grip the ground, but I was warm and even ended up taking off the jacket.  As we continued running the conditions got worse and worse!  I was running with a small group of people and when we got to the 5.25 mark (turnaround is ~6.5) we decided to turn back early.  I AM SO GLAD THAT WE DID!  The conditions were out of control!  I couldn’t see because the wind and snow were so hard and the right side of my face was so cold it was numb and beginning to collect ice and snow!  My eyebrows and eye lashes were ice shelves and when I turned to look at Barb she looked like she had aged 50 years due to the collecting snow!  At this point I was getting a little worried that cars wouldn’t see us because it was that difficult to see due to the blowing snow.  We were running REALLY slow and in single-file most of the time.  I was lucky to be short so I could hide behind the taller guys and try to get them to block the wind, but it didn’t really help much since the wind was coming at me from my right side.  It was definitely a tough run, and I felt like I had ran more like 18 miles rather than the 10.5 that we did.  We all looked so funny afterwords with all of the snow stuck to our faces.  Frank and Elizabeth got some pictures so I’ll add or link to them when I see them.

I love the fact that I run with such a crazy group of hard-core people!  SERC rocks!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I’m so excited that it’s finally snowing and wintery!