IMOO

The Wisconsin Ironman was Sunday. The thought of the race kept me up Saturday night. I was feel anxious. How strange since I was 300 miles from the start line. My mind was filled with memories of 2007 and how quickly that year went by.

I'm saddened by the changes the year has brought. How the 07 crew is slowly drifting apart. I talked to some of the crew about signing up for Louisville. They told me they would train with me but wouldn't be joining me at the finish line in Kentucky. It's funny, our group all finished at different times but we all knew that the others were out there. And some how that was a comforting thought.

Of course I knew that would happen, some of the guys not signing up, time stops for no one and change is almost always good a thing. So, now I'm part of a new group. This year I have some female friends to commiserate with. I don't dare go down the competitive road with these ladies. They're fast and fierce but as nice as can be. I'll learn what I can from them and leave my competitive spirit in check. :)

So, I'm getting my base training in now since the summer was filled with whining, pouting and not much training at all. I'm debating on which plan to use the 26 week or the 13 week. I'm thinking that if I use the 13 week program, in the my winter and spring I'll marathon train/ then spin and swim a couple of days during the training. It worked last time. Unfortunately I won't have the Boston marathon to run but I'm sure I'll find a 26.2 mile run somewhere around here.

Big congrats to all that finished Louisville and Wisconsin and my trailmates that finished Great Illini! :) You guys rock. You definitely keep me going.

What the Heck?

What the heck is happening to me? :) Gil sent me an email 2 weeks ago telling me he has an extra entry to the Oak Brook 1/2 Marathon. Do you want it? He asked. Oh yeah, I love to run and would never turn down a free entry.

I haven't done much running this year. Wait did I just say that? Let me rephrase that, I haven't done much running this summer. I've been trying to get my cycling legs back. My race season was a wash after Rockman. But I have to admit I enjoyed the rest. Swimming, biking and running only when you feel like it was all good for me.

Well, I picked Gil up Monday morning, 5:45. He was ready to go. He has the best spirit. We talked about our running plan for the morning. I would be happy finishing around 2 hours. He wants to see how fast he can go.

The race had about 1500 runners. I started feeling guilty (you can't be surprised by that) thinking here I was running for free, literally crawling out of bed to see what the day brought and most of the runners trained all summer for this day. I did hear some talk about their training plans for the marathon just a few weeks from now. I actually missed the training schedule.

Well, my legs missed the training as well. I was tiring by the second mile. YIKES! I brought my music along on this run, so I was able to let Jackson Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart and the rest pick my pace up when I would start to waiver. I managed to keep a 9 minute pace for about 6 miles. This was an awesome race course. Scenic, hilly, shaded in spots, plenty of volunteers to point you in the right direction and lots of police directing traffic.

Unfortunately at mile 6 I began to fall apart. For me, what I'm about to write is almost blasphemy. I'm a runner not a cyclist, you guys are probably tired of reading that but that's the way I think, that is until mile 10. I see this woman riding her bike. The streets were pretty clear thanks to the great police support. She's sailing along. I actually wished I was on my bike instead of running. What's the world coming to?

Here's a great excuse for my poor performance - other than not being conditioned for a long distance run ..... my diet has been filled with lots of crap - just plain old junk food - remember? .... circus peanuts, ice cream, tootsie rolls - I'm still on the comfort food diet since the kids have gone back to school :( I did my best to forge ahead and managed to finish around 2:13 and change :( - How arrogant can I be? It's time to start training again. Start out slow and low, I know 13.1 miles isn't exactly low miles, let's just say it's a long warm up and work my way back. The thought of turning 44 on Thursday makes me wonder just how close to my old times I can come. With age comes wisdom and sluggishness. Let's hope I'm wrong about the sluggishness.

Oh, here's a kick in my pants about my "not much training - so of course I did poorly excuse". So I cross the finish and there's Gil smiling as usual. "How d ya do?" and he tells me with this huge grin - "GREAT" 1:38 and change! AMAZING! No serious running plan and he spits out 7:29 miles. And, I can't use the age excuse - he's older than me (Sorry Gil) not much older tho. Ok, now I'm sticking to the diet theory. No more circus peanuts - I'll miss them and NO ice cream, well maybe a scoop or 2 with my birthday cake.

Louisville, I'm com'n. It's going to be an interesting year. :)

Ginger Root Tea

I've been dealing with aches and pains all summer. Nothing serious (I dont' think) but enough to nag the crap out of me and to keep me away from training. Blah, blah, blah, wha, wha, wha.

So, I was running a couple of weeks back with Jane. A trimate of mine who I have a lot of respect for. She's very modest and full of great training stories. So I'm complaining while we were running and she suggests that I try some Ginger Root Tea. "Just slice a couple of pieces from a ginger root and a 1/4 teaspoon of temarac (?spelling) to 16 ounces of water. Slow boil for a while and drink." I blew it off but was feeling some discomfort this week from the long ride so thought I would try it. Well, I drank it yesterday and today and I'm feeling relief. Not sure if it's all in my head but have to say I'm not hobbling around or wincing anymore.

If you're gonna try it make sure you drink it while it's hot. I let cool a bit this morning and let's just say drink it while it's hot. :)

100 Miles

Did the Psycho Century ride on Sunday.


Why?

• Because I was asked if I was going to.
• I wanted to see if I could.
• I liked the ride from last year, thought it was easy (what a difference a year makes.)

Sunday was a beautiful day. Cool in the morning. Probably mid 60's. No wind. Some cloud coverage and sunshine. Paid my way and off we went.


Felt good the first 30 miles. Really good. Hey, what do ya know. I haven't lost it after all. Did experience trouble on a hill but made it up and got to the 2nd sag stop with plenty of energy.


Was disappointed to learn someone had stepped on a trimates tire and broke his spoke. He was done for the day. He seemed ok with it. I would have been furious and looking for the person that did it. 2 other trimates drove with him so they headed back to the start. That left me, SI and Nick to finish 70 miles.


The next 18 were uneventful. Started feeling a little tired but was ok. Bob Seger's The Fire Inside was playing over and over in my head. It helped pass the miles. The pace seemed to pick up a little. SI assured me we wouldn't pound and I believed him.


48 miles down and we stopped at the next sag stop. Was feeling shaking so I ate some pasta and drank some gatorade. Checked my front brake it was rubbing just a bit. Nick made an adjustment and told me not to use it. :) Off we went.


The next 20 miles were torture. Sounds a little dramatic huh? What was I doing out here? I kept asking myself. What was I thinking? This ride seemed a lot harder this year. Hmmm. Could it have been the ridiculous amount of riding I did that made it seem so easy last year?


I was about a block back from the guys when I noticed they had stopped. I knew we were only about a mile and half from the sag stop and couldn't figure out why they weren't moving. Just before crossing the intersection and reaching them I did notice a white arrow. I slowly passed them and asked what was going on. They weren't sure which was to go. Come on, it's this way I said, I really didn't want to stop knowing the sag was so close. They followed me and sure enough the state park was right there. I hit a pot hole just before turning into the park. I'm done I thought. I was feeling shaking and tired and just not right. "I'm done". I said it out loud. I didn't like the reaction I got. It was something like just eat, you'll be fine. I wanted to hear, ok, hope you feel better, see you back at the car. I really didn't want to go on. Thought I was done for the day but I buckled under the peer pressure and ate and drank and called home. We stopped for probably 15 minutes. I was feeling better.


We checked the map before leaving and I reminded the guys that the crazy hill was coming up. Shouldn't have put it that way. Every time we approached any type of a incline it was referred to that way. Nick told me that for the next couple of weeks I will probably be referred to as the crazy hill lady. :)


The last 30 miles were enjoyable. Good conversation. The scenery was picture perfect. Saw a turkey vulture and was told that it was waiting for me to drop. :) There was a wind farm but the mills weren't moving. Lots of cows, unfortunately I missed the one wading in the pond, I was to busy watching SI's tire while riding the mantra - don't get dropped.




At 99.5 miles the end was not in sight. I whined to my fellow riders that I was stopping at 100. They would have to come and get me because I only signed up for 100 nothing more. They said they were stopping too. :) UGH, they weren't even letting quit when I was supposed to. We ended up with 101.5. And I was really happy I didn't quit. Am I sure I want to sign up for IMKY?

1st Day

A picture is worth a thousand words ....

What you don't see ....

Me crying once I got in the house.

What you don't hear ....

Silence in my house, so quiet it was scary.

And then, just a few short hours later ....

What you don't see ....

Me smiling

What you don't hear ....

Screaming, hungry children :)

Time

Could someone explain why time goes slow when ....

You are riding in the wind?

You are swimming in a lake with 3 foot waves smacking you to the shore?

You are sitting on a plane with a screaming baby?

Then could someone explain why time seems to go so fast when ....

You only have 5 hours of sleep, you look at the clock it's 11:30 p.m. - you look again and feels like you just closed your eyes but 4 hours and 58 minutes had just passed.

You're stuck in traffic and have 30 minutes and 10 miles to get to where you need to go, what feels like 10 minutes later turns out to be 40 minutes and you still have 5 miles left. You are now late.

And the point of this whole thing, my kids, how did they get to be 5 so quickly? It's seems like yesterday I woke up and they looked like this....Or they were finding trouble ....

A week from Wednesday they start Kindergarten. They will be gone all day. 8:30 to 2:30. They are even taking the bus. How did the time pass so fast?

Ride

I woke up at 4:40 Sunday to ride with Bubba. Did not want to get out of bed. Saw Dark Knight on Saturday. That movie kept me thinking all night. I know it's just a movie but I had some questions about what was going and and why. Like the Joker was he schizo or was he tormented by his dad or his wife? Does it matter. Do I feel sorry for him? Yes or I mean no. You get the picture as to why I didn't sleep.

The ride to Monee was perfect. No wind. The sun was coming up. No traffic. We kept a steady pace. Didn't push. Both of us knew the chance to pick things up was coming at 7:30 when we met with the rest of the group. On our way back to Frankfort Caroline rode with us. Like I said the ride was perfect.

Alot of the trimates did the Naperville ride. We had a small group of about 8 riders. This was a fast bunch of guys. Last week they were averaging 22 to 24 mph. Did I say they were fast?

I was going to ride to the track and see how I felt. If things were good then I would keep going. If I was tired, home I would go. Much to my surprise, I felt good. Had to remind myself that I had to get home. But blew that thought off. Whoo Hoo, riding with the big boys - oh yeah, look me at me!!!

SI told me that he was watching me turn corners and gave me some advice on how to do it without slowing down. Thanked him and told him I had a fear of getting dropped. He laughed and said that's the mantra - "don't get dropped".

About 3 miles from Elwood turned a corner and was hit by a pretty steep incline. Pat said it wasn't really a hill so I won't call it that. My legs and hips decided they weren't going to help me in anyway getting up it. Slowly watched my trimates pass me by. UGH! Strangely enough I didn't let it get in my head. I was so happy with my ride that this was just a bump in the road :).

Got to Elwood and stopped at the local BP. Ate a Powerbar and got some icy cold blue gatorade. MMMMM :) :) Ken and I headed out first. I'm really excited for him. He's riding a 7 day mountain bike ride next Sunday. He's been training since last fall. He's so prepared from his training, his nutrition, everything. He's extremely modest about the entire adventure. He's going to do great.

Dropped back from Ken and rode the mantra. Don't get dropped. Don't get dropped. Don't get dropped.

With that Pat pulls up to me and says. "Ok, there they are. There's the dogs. Oh, they look ok. Oh no, ride fast, ride fast here they come. I looked over and saw a black blur and a a brown dog starting to run. I know I dropped the f bomb. I put my head down. My hips and legs were screaming - "we can't go fast! stop, it hurts!" But my brain was saying, "HURTS? Nothing hurts like getting pushed off your bike and being bit - keep riding - go, GO!" I look forward and see Ken and he's laughing. All I can say is DOG. I'm panting and Ken's laughing. And then someone says they're still chasing us! What! Then I hear, No just kidding :)

Stayed with the gang for the next 10 miles. Feeling good. Smiling. Bubba is thrilled because one of the riders did the Western States. I hear him tell Caroline. Then Pat. Then me. He's got a huge smile on his face.

We are about 7 miles from home and the group breaks away. It's ok. I'm happy. Really happy with how I did. Caroline heads home and Bubba and ride into Frankfort together. I got 71.56 miles in. Bubba wants 80 so he keeps going.

I end up at church, in my bike clothes just in time. Father Greg asked the congregation "What makes you happy?" My husband, children, family and friends and this mornings bike ride :)