Winter Series #4 Black Forest 10K

Well this was the last of the Winter Series, and what a way to wrap it up!  We had beautiful weather it was is the lowers 40's and the sun was shining which is an ideal running conditions.  The course was covered in about 75% ice, so my yaktrax's were very handy.

I tried to embrace the positive vibes of the day and tried to run to the best of my ability.  I have been battling a wicked cold for the last 4days. Kimmy aka "Dr. Kim" seems to think I have walking pneumonia.  The stubbornness in me doesn't think so.  I just think it is a common cold that I got from one of the lovely cherubs at school, dam those kids! 

I tried to run my best, the first two miles were pretty good and had nice splits, hills and all, but after that my coughing fits and hacking started.  You know when you have a good ruinning parter becasue they doesn't care if you stop every 10 feet to get a rock out of your shoe, they look away when you need to "farmer blow" slows down for you when you need to hack up your left lung. Lets you dig the extra klenex out of their back butt pocket so you don't have to use your gloves.

Along the route I had thoughts of getting a "pussy pickup". I must have been eyeballing the rescue trucks like a starving runway model looks at a medium well jucy burger. Who wouldn't want to sink their chompers in to that?  Ummm, maybe that will be dinner....








The views were stunning, open fields, blue skys and the fresh smell of horse shit in the air.  Between me hacking up what ever is lingering in my lungs and the horse shit I am surprised that I didn't up chuck the peanut butter and toast I had before the race. I like farm animals but I don't like the smell they leave behind.

When I saw mile marker 4 I knew I was almost there. Knowing that I ran the firt two miles well, I figured I can do the last two and come in with a decient time. The last mile came up and I was able to run it in a little easier since it was down hill. I finshed with an okay time, not great but not my best. 

I have trained my body to preform better then I did but somedays I have off days.  This race happened to be that day.  This makes me remember that I am doing something most people only wish they could do and I should be proud of how far I have come in my running journey.  Sometimes days like this brings me back to reality and makes me remember that I am only human and that I need to take care of my body mentally and physically.

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"



2012 Race Schedule

Today I was asked if I have my race schedule posted.  I thought I had posted it, but after reading my post  The Year Of... I realized that I never narrowed down my goals for the year. It looks to be a busy year this year.

January:
14th - Winter Series Race #1 Cheyenne Mountain State Park (3.3 Mile)
28th - Winter Series Race #2 El Pomar Youth Sports Park (4 Mile)

February:
4th - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
5th - Super Bowl 5K
11th - Winter Series Race #3 Santa Fe Trail @ Baptist Road (5 Mile)
25th - Winter Series Race #4 Black Forest (10K)

March:
3rd - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
17th - 5K on Saint Partick's Day (1/4 of The Grand Prix)

April:
7th - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
14th - Villa Sprint Triathlon (Swim 200 meters, Bike 10 Miles, Run 5K)

May:
5th - Take 5 in the Garden 5K (2/4 of The Grand Prix)
28th - Bolder Boulder (10K)

June:
2nd - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
16th - Sailin' Shoes 5K (3/4 of The Grand Prix)
23rd - San Lorenzo River Half Marathon Trail Run (13 Miles)

July:
7th - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
21st - Classic 10K (3/4 of The Grand Prix)

August:
4th - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
11th - Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon (13 Miles)

September:
1st - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
22nd - Denver Rock and Roll Marathon (26.2 Miles)

October:
6th - 5K Great Pumpkin Race (4/4 of The Grand Prix)

November:
3rd - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)

December:
1st - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
So this year is winding up to be rather busy, and I am finding that I am trying to sneak in a few extra races here and there.  I will use a lot of my other races as training runs for my big ones.

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

Signs

Ever feel like there are days that all signs point to go home and forfeit your workout?  But the competitor in you will not let you give in to temptation?  Yesterday happened to be one of those days.

It has been a bit of a hectic week at work and the idea of just sitting on the couch with my usual Thursday night guilty pleasure of a three meat pizza and a light beer while catching the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy sounded ideal.  Deep down I knew I had to peal my ars off the couch and get to class.

I figured by the time that I would get there I would perk up and feel a little bit better. However, from the moment I got there all the signs said, go home. 

Sign One: The Check In
I forgot my card or at least it was not in my gym bag. No biggie they can just look me up. Except today there is a new worker and he looks just like a slightly younger version of Jonathan Rhys Meyers (JRM). He quickly flashes me a smile and his sparkly blue eyes look right at me as I sheepishly ask, “excuse me I forgot my card, can you check me out, I mean in?”

Come on who wouldn't melt over the baby blue eyes, espically if you have ever seen the The Tudors.

Sign Two: Tron is missing a gadget
 After checking about 15 lockers I found one that was not being used, so I started to empty my bag and pull out my gear. Some days I feel like Tron, with my variety of gadgets.  I quickly noticed that I forgot my number one must have gadget! My Nike sports watch!  CRAP! I should go home and just run around the neighborhood. I almost packed it in, but the thought of walking past the blue eyed JRH who checked me in after only being in the building for 5 minutes felt so mortifying, I decided to suck it up, after all I have my heart rate monitor and I know where my “target” heart rate should be.

Sign Three: The Crazy Lady
After watching this meat head try to figure out how to make the water come out of the fountain, this BTW was really funny. I am sure the thoughts in his head sounded something like this, “Mongo Push Button, Mongo Want Water, Mongo Need Water.” I finally made my way up the stairs to the cycling room. I thought that I would have my favorite spin instructor, but instead I spot my not so favorite spin instructor.  I like to call her “the crazy lady” mostly because she yells at you and uses stupid terminology like “attack”, “fabulous” and my least favorite “I see you”, which just sounds creepy. She also likes to sing in class, which I find highly annoying.  Again, I decide to suck it up.

Sign Four: Big Bubba
I dialed in my bike and started an easy warm up.  Just as I neared four miles in walks Big Bubba! Big Bubba chooses the bike right in front of mine and starts to warm up.  Now a man on a bike is crazy sexy, but just looking at Big Bubba’s ass swallow up the cycling seat makes me wonder if that is at all comfortable. Don't get me wrong it is great that he is trying to do something good for himself, I just don't want it in front of me. I adjust my gaze just slightly and keep going.  Letting thoughts pass thru my head I start to find myself in a good rhythm.  Just as class is about to get underway, the Crazy Lady turns on the fans to circulate the air. All of a sudden I am pulled out of my trance and can smell this god awful stench. I realize quickly that Big Bubba is crop dusting!  Oh come on! I know gas is a normal way of life, but please can’t the seat plug up the hole in your ass that is causing that rank smell to seep out! I am too stubborn to get off my bike; after all I was here first he should move! I thought about getting off and walking out of class, but felt that the Crazy Lady would feel insulted so I once again bucked it up!

All thru the class I kept bringing the towel to my mouth and breathing thru it every time Big Bubba let one slip out.  I kept gasping and hacking the air hopping that he would hear me and stop crop dusting!  Thank goodness this class is only 45 minutes. As soon as we wrapped up the “ride” I grabbed a wet wipe and wiped down my bike and got out of the room as quickly as possible.  I took a deep breath in, the smell of fresh sweaty air smelled so much better then the cycling room. The upside to all this is I didn’t give into temptation, but the next time signs start to point to stay home, I will listen.

Now where the heck is that pizza?

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

What's in your cupboard?

If you think about it, as runners we tend to have a little bit of a masochist in us.  We like to inflict pain on ourselves, we enjoy pushing our bodies to the breaking point and keep going just to feel more pain, we brag about how bad something hurts then we are crazy enough to do it again. All because without the pain we feel like we are not trying hard enough.

People often call me stupid, crazy, insane, mental, and even demented! In reality I love to hear those words, because I know that I am doing something that most people can't nor want to do.

With all the wear and tear that runner's put on their bodies, we try to counter react the damage. We turn to the cupboard with our "magic" pills.

I often wonder if these pills are really doing anything for me. I do think the Chia is working, my HDL aka "good cholesterol"  is up from a low 30 to 42. For my height and weight I should be near 60, so I still have a little to go.

Move Free is for my knees. I had LT knee surgery in 2005. Anything that can keep me off the operating table and months of rehab is worth trying.

Nature's Made Vitamin C to to keep my immunity up. I do work with kids after all and they have all types of cuties and I don't want none of that!

Nature's Made for Her just because Mother always told me to take a multi Vitamin. See Mom I still listen to you.

BAYER, for those ackes and pains I talked about ealier
So, what's in your cupboard?

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

Winter Series Race #3 Santa Fe Trail @ Baptist Road

Today when I woke up at 7am I looked out the window I saw snow on the ground. CRAP I thought to myself this is going to suck!  I really thought about calling Kim and telling her that I was going to fold today's run.  I checked the PPRR web site and saw that the run was going to go off as planned, and then Beth's post about Sherry came up.  I really needed to see that because it kicked my butt into gear.

As I got closer to the trail the snow started to come down faster, thank goodness I decided to change out my wiper blades before I left the house.  I do like to run in the snow and in the cold, but 9 degrees and wind chill is a little colder then I prefer.

Not only was today's run the 3rd race of the Winter Series, it was the virtual run for Sherry Arnold. While I was running I kept Sherry on my mind.  I thought about all the people that were running in her honor and what it means to her family that so many people took part in today's virtual run. Every time that I thought about slowing down and giving into the cold, I thought of Sherry and it pushed me thru the lows.

Bleow Kim (on left) and I meet Jeff Gallop (on right).  Later I found out that he writes a blog called, Barefoot Inclined.  He is new to running and I enjoy reading his journey, it makes me remember when I started.

Overall today's run was really great! My time was a little slow but overall I feel pretty good about my times. According to my watch I put out 11 minute splits.  My next run will be a 10K I hope to run it in under 60 minutes, it may not happen since the 4th race is going to be hilly.  So my thoughts could be a little presumptuous.

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

February Nielson's Challenge

My running partner, Kim talked me into yet another race.  The upside to this is it is FREE!  See your parent's were wrong, somethings are free.  It is Nielson's Challenge which is run the first Saturday of every month.

At 7:45am, this morning, the weather was 22* F but with the wind chill it was 2 degrees! We registered and instead of standing around freezing our nips off we went out for a little warm up. Once, the blood gets flowing you feel better. 

I have yet to understand why people stand around white knuckling their hands together against their chest and just stand there and say things like, "look at those people they are waisting their energy heading out for a run."  In reality, I really want to tell them how silly they look.

The Nielson's Challenge is geared more for beginner's and slower runners who put in the training time to get better.  I want to get faster, so to me this sounded like it would be beneficial to add to my training regiment.  This sounds easy right?  Well, here is the kicker, after you have established your base time, this is used to generate your handicap time.  What! What?  A Handicap time, what it that?  Is it like your bowling handicap?  To answer your questions here is the break down of how the Neilson's Challenge handicaps are computed, by Bob Royse:

To finish calculating the handicap, the program takes the average time for these five (or fewer) fastest times. If a runner has enough recorded times to reach the five limit, this average is her handicap.

If not, a "penalty" is calculated for too few times. So a runner must have ten recorded times in the past 24 months to not have any penalty calculated.

The closer you are to reaching ten races, the smaller the penalty. To figure your penalty, the program takes the average calculated above and subtracts 9 1/2 minutes. A percentage is determined by subtracting the number of races run from 10.

For example if a runner has run six races, her penalty is 4%. Suppose the average of her three fastest races is 14 1/2 minutes, by subtracting 9 1/2 minutes, you get 5 minutes. Four percent of 5 minutes is 12 seconds. These 12 seconds are subtracted from her average to get her handicap.

All calculations are done and times stored to the tenth of a second. Since beginning runners show the most improvement, straight time comparisons heavily favor them. But they have fewer races, so they will have a bigger percentage penalty to offset this somewhat. In addition, since their times are slower, this penalty is applied to a larger number, so they get a bigger penalty even for the same number of races.

So, you got that right?  Easy enough, right?  Pppssshhhhh!  I am no mathematician so it is gibberish to me!  I figure, if I study this hard enough I will eventually get it. 

Tomorrow I have the Super Half and 5K run before the Super Bowl.  See you all other there!

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

How many is to many?

This morning I decided that I would clear out a few drawers and move all my big girl clothes in to tubs and down to the basement. After eyeballing what I want to keep, I started to try on what was left. I fit into things I hadn't fit into in years. At my peak weight I wore a women's 10 in pants and a Med or Large in tops. Now I am down to 4 or 2 in pants and a small or XS in tops. So needless to say it was like Christmas!

Finally, I came to my favorite drawer, my running gear. It is amazing how many running shirts can fit into a small place. I am kinda a snob when it comes to technical shirts. I will not register for a race if you get a cotton shirt, they are hot and itchy and take up to much space in my "running" drawer.  

So after looking and counting my shirts I have 34 running shirts...is 34 too many? I wear them once okay, sometime twice before they make it to the hamper, and I do laundry often so I would really never get to wear ALL those shirts. I just can't simply get rid of them. They are like trophies to me. Something I can wear and show people look what I did.

Now what?
What do I do with all these shirts?

What do you do with all your shirts?


"I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I can not run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the ackes and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm, I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"