Like a Virgin and Chasing Tail....

This Saturday during the Chasing Tail 5K run I was like a “virgin” (as my friend Jeffy said) heading into unchartered territory. This is the first time I had actually done a real registered run. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I got there early thinking about the long lines that can occur before a registered bike ride. Boy was that every an overkill on my part. The lines at the registration table never did get very long and they had plenty of wonderful volunteers to help out. In the Activity Barn at Wheeler Farm they even had an area set up with coffee, bagels, and fruit. It was nice.

(Photo: Lucy and Me before the run.)

Dogs! Dogs! There were dogs everywhere; all varieties from a little chow-wow puppy to a huge lovable St. Bernard. But there seemed to be quite a few golden retrievers and golden labs. Which the logo for the Squatter’s Pub Chasing Tail Beer has a golden dog in it. A coincidence? Or maybe, these are just the most popular breed of dogs in the area? All these dogs and not a cat in sight; I could just imagine the chaos that would ensue if a cat did show!

(Above Photo: Who's walking whom? Zeus and Mike.)
I managed to get my lucky number for my runner’s number. Lucky number 13!! The gal at the table asked me if I might want another number which I thought was rather humorous. No, I told her this IS my lucky number. With the registration packet I got a white tech Short sleeve t-shirt. Cool!

It was cold when I arrived at Wheeler Farm. I ended up grabbing a hoodie and a pair of my biking winter gloves. Just before the run, it started to warm up a little. The high of the day was predicted to be in the mid-60’s; just a glorious sunny day! I put my gloves in the car but kept the hoodie on, as all the runners headed over to the starting line. The route would be two laps around the farm with an ending that went towards the center of the farm near the Activity Barn. It was a crowd of about 500 plus people; some with dogs. (Photos: Vena putting Mike's number on. Lucy, Diane, and Annie before the run.)

Bang! The gun went off and everyone started. A mass start can get a little hairy, I discovered. Some of the runners that were up front took off very quickly and as you headed back into the mass there were slower runners and walkers. People were running past me as I was running past others but as we headed into the first turn it kind of started to separate out and thin. I started slow and started to build in speed as much as I could. It was a nice cushy dirt path that we were running on. It was a pretty route running through fall colored trees and among rustic barns. About a half mile along, I had to take off the hoodie and tie it around my waist.

At the one mile mark, they had a water station and another guy that was calling out times with his watch. As I passed, I heard him call 12:15. I grabbed a paper cup of water. I quickly discovered that it’s near impossible for me to drink water out of a paper cup and run at the same time. Quite a bit of the water ended up down the front of me. A lesson learned! I walked until I finished what was left of the water and then started running again.

At this point I started to notice a pair of girls that were running in front of me and were really setting a nice pace. So catching up quickly to them I set in behind and matched their pace. I asked if they minded, watching my P’s and Q’s. (Maybe I should get a running etiquette book?) They said they didn’t mind, and that their only goal was to finish before the pregnant ladies. They continued to chatter on at a good pace while they ran, and I just hung back and listened. I couldn’t run and talk to them at the same time. I was concentrating too much on keeping the same pace.

(Photos: Leah, Mike, and myself after the run, and below-- Diane after the run with the finish line in background.)
The second lap and before I knew it I was at the water stop again. The gals continued and didn’t take any water but being thirsty I stopped running and I took a paper cup from a volunteer. No water down the front of me this time! There was no guy this time announcing the time. I’m guessing that those that were out here now didn’t really care about their time? Just prior to the last turn before the water stop there was a group of faster runners that went whizzing by me.
Just before the last turn into the finish, Vena (all ready finished) was off to the side and cheering on runners. She yelled my name out as I ran by. Into the last turn I ran, and Vena’s friend Leah sprinted past me. I tried to step it up but as I got closer to the finish line she got further in front. Then another girl sprinted past me and I tried for all I can to speed it up. My finish time as I crossed the line—38:39! Basically a 12 minute mile average speed; not too shabby. Shortly afterwards, I spotted Diane crossing the finish line. As we grabbed water bottles and ice cream bars near the Activity Barn, I thought to myself. I would like to do this next year and see if I can beat my time. A beautiful day and a beautiful run!

An Indian Summer & Finding My Mojo

Aww... it's so hard to work on days like this! It's 73 degrees, a bit of a breeze, and a few clouds. The song "I want to ride my BICYCLE!" from Queen drones on in my head as I wish I had one more of those 12 vacation days left. "BICYCLE! BICYCLE!" This is the ultimate " Indian Summer" day with all the trees turning those glorious fall colors --oranges, yellows, reds; all of it against the back drop of the snow capped mountains. Oh, the amazing beauty of it all, and here I am stuck at my desk! Ugh! I TRY to focus on work, (BICYCLE!) but I'm really finding it hard, and darn it I'm to honest to come down with an quick version of sickness that's enough to get me out of work this afternoon. So I sit here at my computer day dreaming about riding through local areas on my bike, and hopefully in the process I haven't hung up on too many customers in the wake of my lack of attention.

Last night I finally managed to get in a run after work. It was only a quick 2 miles but it felt SO good. I found myself inspired yesterday by a fellow blogger who spoke about a wonderful early morning run. (Thanks Actionbell writer of the Growler--her links at right on this blog.) It had been a whole month and 1-1/2 week since I had my running shoes on. I was getting a bit concerned about managing a 5K that I signed up to do this Saturday. I know I could probably walk it, but it's the sheer idea that I would rather be over prepared than under prepared. If that makes any sense. I guess you could say that I'm a bit of an over achiever? But the run was wonderful last night. It was just warm enough with a slight chill to make it really comfortable. While I ran, I enjoyed the sunset as I watched rushed people try to get home in their cars. I'm so glad I only have a 2 mile commute home!

You could say that I'm finally getting off of my duff! I'm finally feeling like I'm finding some motivation to do things. It's like my "MOJO" is back! Yeah, finally! This afternoon I signed up for a Boot Camp that Di had suggested. Three days a week for 4 weeks at 5:30AM. I'm a bit nervous. I've never done a Boot Camp before but I'm willing to give it a whirl. So I guess I better stop staying up until 2am reading and try to go to bed a little earlier, huh? Start doing early mornings instead of late nights-- no problem as long as I get my 5 hours I'll be fine. Awww... the benefits of being an insomniac!

Monday, calls were being made for the annual yurting expedition. It looks like that will be going down in March. Last week, I also signed up for a Cold Turkey 5K run that's on Thanksgiving. You could say the wheels are finally turning in this dense skull of mine, and I'm playing with some ideas.... maybe hitting a half marathon this Spring, and maybe trying for a full marathon later in the summer. We'll see what happens, who knows? I often come up with things at the last minute or opportunity. After all, I started training for September 70.3 Tri at the end of June, and I hadn't ran in 20 years! I can still see that incredulous look that the running shoe salesman gave me. But we'll see what the future holds, after all I like to tool around a little on the path of life and just see what crops up. That's what makes life so much of a fun adventure!

Halloween Fun & Some Ragged Ann Downtime!

One of my favorite holidays!

HALL-O-WEEN!

I've been preparing for a few weeks for this day. In the morning I hosted the 3rd Annual Tricky Treat Costume ride. There were over 20 riders that showed up for the event. I think the beautiful weather helped. It was sunny and in the mid-50's! I went around in my Ragged Ann outfit greeting everyone, offering a treat (from a black pumpkin that had assorted mini clift bars and sports gels), and everyone got a ticket for the drawing prizes. I had some good prizes lined up for a 1st through to 5th place for the costumes.

(Photos: Myself as Ragged Ann with the Genie doing the Door Prize drawings, the whole group, the Hockey Player with color print, Lovable Ralph the dog, Laila as a witch, Janice getting the Applebee's gft card, and Kim with Di in her black-n-white outfit.)

After almost everyone got signed in for the ride. I did the drawings for door prizes-- I had an Applebee's gift card, a color print of my Halloween Bike Ride painting, inner tubes, and a nifty little wine opener. Doug, costumed as the Genie, helped with the drawing. (I really thought he was teasing me about coming as me.) Janice(a witch) won the Applebee's gift card, Tonya ( a tough hockey player) got the color print, Penny (pj'd and rollers with her lovable Ralph in tow wearing a santa outfit and loving the attention) received one of the tubes, Rich ( another cyclist) received the other tube, and then Jay (Mr. Tin Man) received the nifty wine opener.

(Below- Doug as the Genie in all his glory!)

(Above photos- The Wizard of Oz trio, Mr. Tin Man doing his strut!)
Then it was on to the Costume Strut Contest as I had everyone clap and yell as each costumed rider strutted their stuff in front of the other riders. Some were shy; and some not so shy. First place went to Jackie. She was the construction safety cone. (I tell you I've never seen a safety cone signal before!) 2nd prize went to Doug who was dressed as an Aladdin Genie. 3rd place went to Dorothy (as played by Kim C.) and he companion the Scarecrow (as played by Steve H). 4th place was the third of the Oz trio-- Mr. Tin Man (as played by Jay). 5th place was claimed by Wonder woman (as played by Dana). But there were more costumed individuals than prizes but all were wonderful and very creative.(Picture below are the Costume Contest winners with me)

After the Costume contest, we headed out for the bike ride. We headed to the downtown area of Salt Lake and we received quite a bit of attention from everyone as we went along as a group. People yelled, or waved, or honked as we passed, and I felt like I was in a parade as we went down the one way street at the Gateway Mall. It was fun! There were a few moments where we had to regroup. It became the phrase to "wait for our safety cone"; as Jackie was wonderful enough to bring up the rear of the group. We wouldn't be safe without our safety cone! Following the ride, we had a get together where I served soup, cobbler, hot cocoa, and hot chocolate. A great deal of the riders hung out and visited for about an hour after the ride.

(Photo: Di's Neighbor, myself with doll, Anny, and Di.)

Later on in the afternoon, I went over to my friend Di's place and hung out the rest of the afternoon getting a little visiting, trick-or-treating, handing out candy, and a spot of her neighbor's spook alley(their garage). It was fun but by 9PM I was more than ready for bed.

(Photo- Di's neighbor and the entrace to her Spook Alley garage!)

Sunday I figured I deserved some Ragged Ann downtime, and I hung out on my loveseat with my ragged ann doll (made by my Mom years ago)watching some movies. One of which I would highly recommend... Henry Pool is Here. A black comedy movie about a sad depressed man who moves new into a neighborhood. His house that's newly stucco'd has a water stain that a noisey neighbor is convinced is the face of Christ. Things tend to happen and the situations get rather funny too.

(Photo of Ragged Ann Doll my Mom made me.)

My Favorite Time of Year!

Oh how I love this time of year. I love it more than Christmas if you can believe that. My favorite things about this time of year are: the beautiful fall colors, the cooler temps where you can break out those sweaters, dressing up in costumes, and scaring co-workers. As for example earlier today I scared a co-worker who was singing along with his iPod and didn’t see me sneaking up. Boo! Boy, did he jump!

Awwww…. It almost makes me miss those days (five years) when I used to work (volunteer) at a local haunted house. The ultimate compliment for a haunted house “employee” caused a need for the mop bucket. Yes, I did my share of scaring the piss (quite literally) out of people; and loved every moment of it. I may have a bit of a sadistic streak in me.

What I love more than scaring the piss out of people is dressing up into costumes. I have several different costumes that I have hanging in my front closet that I can pull out at a moment’s notice. But this year I have opted to purchase some new items for a new get-up. I’ve been a patriotic clown, Medusa, a variety of Cruella Deville’s, a murdered ghost bride, a flapper, and a mysterious masked caped female. Its fun dressing up and going out into public, a vampire, and watching how people react to the costume. I enjoy getting into the roll of the character of the costume.

So, I’m preparing my last details of a new costume which I will not reveal until the Halloween Bike ride that I put on. (I just hope that the weather holds out for it.) This is the third year that I’ve had the Halloween Bike ride. Some of the photos that have been taken during these have ended up being in one of my paintings and who knows I may have enough inspiration from this years ride to make another painting hopefully better than the painting below. And see if you can figure out which character I was above in the photos.

Runner's Block and/or Lonely Shoes?

Great weather ( mid-70's and sunny) and a wonderful weekend! Got two bike rides worked in among a BBQ, a "DE-Commissioning" Mass, and a champagne social. But with all this I kept on coming up with excuses on why I shouldn't run. I rather felt like a total procrastinating prolific lying wench! (Oh, boy! I might have to go to confession over this one?)

I just can't get motivated to put on those running shoes and go. But yet, I all ready have 115 miles on the bike. It's strange. I'll go to all the trouble of putting on my gear-- shoes, gloves, helmet, arm warmers if necessary. But gee, just to throw on a pair of running shoes with socks and go? It seems like too much trouble! Gee, am I experiencing "Runner's Block"? Is there such a thing?

I hate to force myself to run for fear that I'll hate it, or I'll grow to hate it. At the same time I do need to get out and do it. I've signed up for a 5K at the beginning of November, and then I have another 5K that I'm doing on Thanksgiving day-- the Cold Turkey. (It sounded like fun.) So I need to get it together and keep my running up to prepare for these runs. I, also, have been playing with the idea of trying a half marathon in the Spring. So, I need to get in the game. Hit the road running!

I've heard that if you don't use it you can lose it. So I wonder how much I have lost in the 3 weeks since I've last ran. When do you get to a point where you have to start all over again? I have found that with cycling that it's about 2 months before I really notice much in the off season. But I generally make sure I don't reach that point with cycling. But at the same respect, I trained up enough in 3 months to muddle my way through a triathlon 70.3 with just coming from cycling background.

But those running shoes that are hanging are staring at me, I almost feel like they are glaring at me. They've been hanging around untouched like that since the day after the Slow Salty Dog Tri. Maybe they are just getting lonely, and I'm reading them all wrong but I can't help but feel guilty in the whole affair.

And so I think to myself," Next weekend! I'll run next weekend. Most, most definitely--next weekend." Or maybe I need my bike to go missing and give the motivation that I need? Hmmmm....

Bosses’ Day and Mom’s Birthday, ….hmmmm?

Today October 16th is both my Mom’s birthday and Bosses’ Day. Is it coincidence that they occur on the same day? I don’t think so! Not that my Mom’s overly bossy (though I think we all have our moments) or anything but… come on! Who is the ultimate boss and go-to-person when you are growing up… MOM! And so each year I find it rather fitting that my Mom’s birthday falls on Bosses’ Day. After all, she was my boss the whole time I was growing up, and she still is quite often the authority figure that I go to get answers.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

And thanks ! I hope it’s a wonderful day! I, also, really hope you’ve gotten your birthday card from me in the mail. (I don’t want to end up in the dog house on this one!) And I hope I wasn't too off key when I sang on the phone this morning? Above you'll find a picture of your favorite cake. I wish I lived closer so I could bake it and deliver it. Lots of love!

At the Weather's Whim & Nicknames...

So I'm sitting here at my desk at work and looking out through the windows. There are these dark gray clouds floating in the sky. No blue skies in sight and I'm hoping that it doesn't rain. Please don't rain! Tonight is the last of the Tuesday night bike rides up Emigration Canyon for the season. So here I am at the weather's whim.... please, please... Don't rain!

It's that time of year when there's not enough light to catch a bike ride after work before it turns dark. Darn winter! The sun rises later and sets earlier. It's the opposite of burning the candle at both ends! But I just want to catch one more bike ride after work up the Emigration Canyon, and I'm definitely planning on bundling up for this one!

It's not as though I won't be going up Emigration Canyon the rest of the year. There's still weekends, but it's harder because weekends get SO crowded with other things. I'll probably also be going out for short rides durning my lunches too when the weather is nice.

Oh, did I mention that I bike year round outside? I've had some people call me a hard core bike babe. If the roads are clear, I'm out there! You'll find me all bundled up and pedaling along. What can I say....? I LOVE to bike!

Thus, the nickname that a great deal of my friends call me-- Biker Chick! I can't begin to tell you some of the reactions that I've gotten when new people meet me after most of my friends introduce me. (I tend to wonder if some of my friends have forgotten my real first name.) I think these new people expect me to be in leather, and really tough... perhaps burly with a little bit of chin hair. I smile at the reaction and then say that I'm a cyclist. Then, they say,"Oh!" Like this explains it all. Then I feel like they are looking for the spandex ware. I've been half tempted to lean over and say," I'm prepared I have spandex underware on!" Just to shock them further continue on and say," I left my helmet in the car, but if you really want I can run out and get it. It's pretty cool! It's got Superman stickers on it!" Nah, maybe not!

NOTE TO SELF...

It's always easier to take off layers than to be caught flying down a canyon at 30MPH on my bike and freezing. Yes, the high of the day was 58 degrees and there was a frost warning for the night. There I was racing down the canyon trying to beat the setting sun. I must admit there was some beautiful views all along the way. The leaves turning combined with the red lights from the sunset made for an amazing color combination. (Picture - I got from bing but please imagine it with more yellows, and then the sky turning pink and reds from the sunset. Then you've got the beauty of it.)

I arrived at the bottom as Lady Chattering, but my teeth were chattering so fast I could not have carried on much of a conversation if I wanted to. I had my "light" winter gloves (glove liners), no wind vest (mistake), and one pair of socks that proved not to be enough without my toe covers to cover the mesh part of my cycling shoes.

To say the least, neither my toes or my fingers fared very well at all. In fact, I almost felt like I had experienced hypothermia (but this could be exaggerated). But in this state of mind, I imagined a conversation going on between my fingers, toes, and my delirious brain. Such as follows...

( ***maybe I should be writing a disclaimer about the voices in my head? I actually prefer to blame it all on my artistic nature. There enough said!)

"Hey Mac! (nickname for brain) You need ta haV a talk with dis crazy wench.", says my right pinky with a Bronx accent. " Sheeshh! For crying out loud! Hanging with des boys goin' down da canyon lightly squeezing da brakes. It's CRAZY with a capital "C"! Just a thin layer between me and freezing da death. Whatz wrong with dis broad anyway?!"

"Yah! What was she thinking!?!", pipes in the middle right toe with a Mid-west accent(is there such a thing?). "You bet-cha, we were just freezing down here. One pair of socks is not enough with that mesh in these shoes. She should know better! I hope she considers taking a hot bath after this one."

There are murmurs of agreement all around from all of the body parts.

" Sorry to disagree Chaps!" States the little toe on the left foot in an English accent (don't ask me why?) " But this cold felt downright bloody good! I'm still black and blue from that run in with that chair leg a couple of days ago."

There's an audible silence from all for a bit.

"Ahhh! You oyz was da bit unhinged!" Yelps the right pinky to peels of laughter all around.

Well, that's the short version of the conversation of the voices that I heard in my head on the drive home. I tried to warm up as much as I could in my car, but the heater has never worked very well. When I got home, I started a pot of coffee, and some hot bath water. Ahhh! Now that felt good and hit the spot.

You know, I keep thinking that my learning curve will improve over time but sometimes I wonder if that is possible. Maybe my learning curve is like a credit card and I've just maxed the hell out it. Well, that's one theory.

Oh, and P.S.... I'm getting some flack from Mum about the eating the veggies thing. She doesn't want to be accused of being a bad mother and she was not a bad mother. So let me state this for the record. I at no time was sitting at the said dinner table the entire night. It was just until bedtime... but I will say that to a kid a few hours sitting still at a dinner table can feel like all night long. I was exaggerating with what it felt like as a kid. Sorry mom!

An Update, A Recap, & Gee, What Am I Whining About?

I thought I would continue with the monthly totals update like I did last month. Some of you will find this a little "dry" reading but I'm going to be a little selfish here and use this as a record of what I did. Who knows it might prove to be interesting to you too?

Totals for Sept.2009 ...

Cycling miles-- 337

Running miles-- 23.5

Swimming miles-- 3.5

I looked up my cycling miles that I did last year. I did 475 miles of cycling the month of Sept. 2008. Now keep in mind that last year I was only cycling, I wasn't doing any of these other "disciplines".

FINAL RECAP--the SLOW SALTY DOG Tri (1.2M Swim/56M Bike/13 M Run)

Swim--1 hr. 7 min.

T1: 46 min (I was totally dry for the bike.)

Bike-- 4hrs. 22 min.

T2: 19 min.

Run--3 hrs. 50 min.

Okay, that's the last of the SLOW SALTY DOG. I'm sure all of you are sick of it by now. Now onto the...Gee,What Am I Whining About? I've been dealing with some tiredness of late but last night I watched a video that put all of this into perspective for me. It really made me think-- what the heck am I even whining about.

I watched Running On The Sun. It's a 2000 documentary film about the Badwater 135. The Badwater 135 is an Ultra-Marathon race that's 135 miles through the Mohave Desert. The race is limited to 40 people, and the film focused on 13 of the entrants through their experience. It was just amazing to watch all of these runners test their limits. The emotions ran from despair to joy. I found myself crying as one of the entrants, a man who had lost part of his arm and a leg from volunteering to remove landmines, as he crossed the finish line. It was just amazing and I would recommend the video to anyone that is into any kind of endurance sport. It always amazes me what a person can do when they set their mind on something, and it gives me hope.