2008 Turkey Trot

Thanksgiving in Mesa. It stormed all the night before. I was resigned to not participating in the run, as it wasn't that important to me that I would run through a downpour. Steve and Denise showed up, ready to do their 2-mile event. Well, Steve was eventually ready to do his 2-mile event after some convincing and some borrowing of apparel.

The streets were soaked, but there was no rain falling as we waited for the 1-mile and then the 2-mile events to take place. Brian convinced me to do a little bit of warm-up running. This breaks a time-honored tradition for me. For the last 4 years, any warm-up infringed on my energy stores for the race. This year, 6.2 miles just isn't that long, so I needed to loosen up my legs.

This is the first year that they used timing chips for the Turkey Trot. I love timing chips. I can sit back and let the pushing at the start line happen without me. Brian still got up towards the front. He dislikes having to weave for the first 2 miles around strollers and walkers that push their way to the front of the line for some unknown reason.

And now I understand Brian's reasoning. For this entire race, I passed people. It felt really good to be making what felt like an effortless push to run steady and fast. I had an ipod meltdown at the beginning so I did this race in silence. Well... almost silence. Silence if not for all the huffing and puffing that people were doing around me.

I had meant to run about 10 minute miles for the first 5 miles and then push as hard as I could for the last 1.2 miles. So the first mile I was a little frustrated with how often I was getting stuck behind walls of runners running side-by-side. It didn't seem like I was working that hard, I was hardly even breathing. So I was sure when I got to the 1-mile mark, I would see 11 or more minutes on my watch. So I was pleasantly surprised - and then worried - when I saw 9:20. Oh well, it felt good, I would just keep that up and as soon as it got hard, I would back off the pace and still be able to come back strong on the last mile.

It was perfectly cloudy and cool, but I still got pretty warm and thirsty around mile 4. At this point, I was still right around 9:20 pace so I stopped and walked for a minute to have a cup of water. After all, my goal was just to break 10-minute pace.

So I start running again and around 5.5 miles, I see Brian. I wave to him because he's not even looking for me. He looks surprised to see me. I ask him how he did and of course, he has no idea. He doesn't wear a watch. (We find out later that he broke his P/R as well.) He tells me that I'm really moving. It doesn't really feel like it except when I hit the tiny little uphills. He leaves me with the last .2 miles to go and I put everything I have left into running hard up the final hill. I see a guy panic when he sees the hill and falter. I'm determined to pass him strong. I do.

There's a little bit of confusion when I see there are two timing mats at the finish. Which mat should I push stop on? In confusion (and maybe low blood glycogen), I end up pushing stop some time after I have crossed both mats. Oh well. It's chip-timed. They'll have that information online later that day.

I look down at my watch and am amazed. I have just ran a 58:07 10k. Almost 7 minutes faster than my previous best this February. My final pace is 9:22. My goal was to just break 10 minutes. What a great feeling that was. I felt great after the race. Perhaps I could have gone faster if I wasn't worried what that would do to the marathon a week from today.

It seems like running has been part of my life longer than the 4 years, 3 months that it has. I'm enjoying it more and more and noticing fundamental changes in my body in terms of bone and tendon strength. I've also noticed a huge difference in cardiovascular capacity. I'm excited to see what the next 4 years hold in store.

Committed

After keeping it a half-secret for the past 3 months or so, I'm openly committed to running the Tucson Marathon this year.
I'm still very nervous but my body is holding up extremely well in the training runs so here goes. December 7th is the big day. Check back after then for the update.

Financial Security

I recently happened upon a nice little article about the simplest tips on building personal wealth. http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/105934/10-Reasons-You%27re-Not-Rich

These tips are simple, but very hard to live by sometimes. The greatest enemy to building wealth is our humanness. Of course we know that one of the best ways to build wealth is to not spend too much, but we are human. We want that iPhone and we want it now.

I would add to this article that it is so much easier to grow wealth than to create it. Not having any monthly payments frees up almost all of your income to invest, or to buy that iPhone. At that point, you've deserved it, you've done the hard work to get to that point.

Enjoy.

It's all in my head

The long-standing notion of why a runner could only run so far and/or so fast was that lactate built up in the muscles and thus, created a physical barrier to how far the runner can go. There were other theories, but they were all about some sort of physical limitation to endurance.

Great theories, but it turns out that these physical limits have been very hard to measure consistently. The researchers in this article think they know why: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244--12848-0,00.html

These researchers think that your mind is doing all this stuff to your body, not the other way around. They think that basically, your mind calculates what it thinks it can do and how long it can do it for and then forces that to happen.

I've felt this forced end before in several runs. It's the time that I really just want to stop although I'm not out of breath, I don't feel overheated and nothing is hurting. I just have this overwhelming desire to stop running immediately.

This is good stuff. This means that if I can convince my brain that I'm in no danger of dying if I run 26 miles, then I will be able to do it. I'm not sure it's that easy, but so far it has worked for shorter distances. The first time I ran 18 miles, the 6 miles that I ran THE NEXT DAY seemed like the shortest, easiest miles I've ever done. I'm convinced it's because my brain was all ready for feeling like I did on the 18, but I never got there.

Perhaps this is where good old-fashioned meditation comes in. If I can get the positive and confident thoughts to the front of my brain before I embark on a run, perhaps the calculations made about how long I can go can be affected.

Happy running.

What I did this summer

Other than spending way too much time in Japan for work, I was able to take a week-long road trip with my lovely husband.

The impetus for the trip was the SPIE photonics + optics conference in San Diego. I know, sounds fun, huh? Brian was scheduled to give a talk on 'A planar "on-chip" refractometer using an organic light emitting diode light source and an organic photovoltaic detector' at the conference.

Brian decided that we should have some more fun leading up to the conference, and I suggested something with a shorter title than his presentation had. So we ended up camping for two nights at Sequoia National Park.

The weather was beautiful and there were plenty of these massive trees to look at and... well, yes... hug.

Now for a little tree lesson. First - the coastal redwoods - the tall ones, those are sequoias too. Specifically "Sequoia Sempervirens". That species contains the tallest trees in the world. We didn't see those on this trip. But, a little over 400 miles from those trees, you'll find Sequoia National Park. In this park, sequoia refers to "Sequoiadendron Giganteum", or the giant sequoia. These trees are the largest individual plants by volume in the world. The largest tree by this standard is the General Sherman.

The trees aside, Sequoia Natl is still a great place to do some camping and hiking. To view the trees, the park has put 40 miles of maintained trails around the grove containing the largest of the trees. This makes for very scenic hiking.

And... She's... Down.

I was so dead-set against the idea that my painful throat could possibly be strep that I refused to think about it. Until the middle of last Wednesday night. This is when it started to feel like swallowing would be okay if I could just get around the 7" chef knife that was lodged sideways in my throat. I'm not even exaggerating that much. It was some of the worst pain that I've ever had.
Luckily, I have a very generous friend who happens to be a doctor. Said friend is so generous that she offered to see me the same day that I pose questions to her about the white nasty-looking stuff on my throat Thursday morning. I'm convinced that I'm being a terrific wimp but a combination of Brian's nagging and all the web sites that list horrible complications of untreated strep, finally cajole me to take her up on her offer and drive across town and let someone stick a swab into my throat. (Did I mention that said generous friend was also covering for another absent doctor that day? I'm talking GENEROUS. Thank you, friend.)
Anyway, after the medical assistant had gathered enough of my germs on the swab and taken it back for THE TEST, I started filling out the forms for the doctor. This was kind of a funny part because the forms are asking about medical history of me and my family. This doctor happens to know my family. Even the crazy ones. So when the form asks about any known mental issues in my family, it's hard not to write something like "duh" in that blank. But I refrain so the form is completely professional.
So in waltzes the doctor looking pleased as punch because... I have strep. She pledges to me that she doesn't look happy because of my suffering but rather she thought she would never hear the end of it if she had talked me into coming to her office for her to advise me to "go home and take some aspirin and rest". I also think there was a little bit of glee because of how adamant I had been that "this could not possibly be strep throat, because I've had that before and I know, this is not strep".
Two days of antibiotics later, and I can swallow without excruciating pain. Another day and I can swallow without excruciating pain without even ibuprofen! And on my next-to-last day of antibiotics and I can almost remember what feeling good feels like.

Lessons learned:
1. 15-hour work days are not the best idea if you "feel something coming on".
2. It's okay to take ibuprofen when you are in pain.
3. When you're sick, you are SUPPOSED to sleep a lot. Let go.
4. I have one of the kindest friends around. Thanks doc.

Tiananman Square

Here are Brian and his parents with their very serious "Chairman Mao faces" on.
This is actually a picture of Tiananman Gate which is across the street from the square.
A very interesting place. Very historical and I thought, emotionally-charged place. There were lots of people that were "fixing their camera" for long periods of time. I guess it's known that there are plain-clothed police in the square listening for any sign of dissent but it was still weird to actually be able to spot some of them.

The Great Wall!

What an amazing experience. We just got back from our China trip and everything seems kind of like it was a dream.

The highlight of the trip for me was The Great Wall. It all seems unreal that I was actually standing on this centuries-old structure.

I hope this is not the section that they run the great wall marathon on because it was very steep stairs the entire length of this section, no flat parts here.

Spaghetti & Beanballs

Brian and I ventured out a little from the usual oatmeal and bean burritos tonight. We made Spaghetti & Beanballs from Veganomicon. Some of the strangest-sounding recipes in this book make some of the tastiest food!

At first, Brian expressed a little hesitation. Then when I pointed out that they were completely smooth and devoid of any gristly bits that you get with meat or sausage, he grew to like them. In fact, by the end of the meal we were both in agreement that we liked them much more than sausage or meatballs. Of course it could be that we are completely brain-washed by Isa's funny and energetic recipe introductions... I really recommend the cookbook to anyone that likes to experiment with food.

Bon appetit!

Resting metabolic rate

I had to post this little blurb because I know I've been victim to believing this before...
When I first started dating Brian, for example, I was amazed as to how much he could eat and remained as thin as could be. "Lucky him", I'd say to myself as I tried to refrain from eating that second brownie.
After a few years, this darn voice in the back of my head - you know, the one that uses reason - keeps telling me that perhaps Brian's body type has a whole lot more to do with his perpetual motion than anything he's got going in his genes. And it turns out that reason prevails again.
The following summary appeared in a Runner's World blog:

Don't Read This If You Want To Blame Your Metabolic Rate For The Extra Pounds
Many overweight people blame their resting metabolic rate for their problems, insisting they just weren't meant to be lean. Those folks won't like this new report from the well known Pennington Biomedical Research Center. The researchers followed 10 lean and 10 obese women over 14 days, measuring both their resting metabolic rates (RMR) and their total daily energy expenditure (RMR plus movement calories). Result: There was little difference in RMRs between the lean and obese women. However the obese sat 2.5 hours more per day than the lean, stood 2 hours less, and moved about half as much. The difference amounted to about 300 calories per day. And that, of course, is equivalent to 31 pounds a year.
Source: Obesity. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18223609

LDM 2008

Brian and I traveled to East Mesa this weekend to participate in the Lost Dutchman Marathon events. While none of us actually do the marathon, the whole family participates in three of the five races.
Missing this year was Steve and Denise. Steve, everyone missed your exuberant cheering for the runners. And Denise, I thought about you about a zillion times while I was running (especially the dirt hill at the turnaround - arrgghh - the hill). I forgive you for not being there this year (9 months and 7 days pregnant, after all) but you were sorely missed.
Dale, Barb, dad and Carolee participated in the 2 mile fun run/walk. Barb mentioned after the event that she is interested in walking the 8k next year. (I have to write that down here in case she suffers from amnesia next year.)
I ran the 10k and barely squeaked into a new P/R. I feel really calmly happy about it. Last week, I had a long conversation with myself concerning my expectation that every race will be better than the last, and beating myself up if it's not. It seems to have worked because I didn't even look up my last P/R to compare it with as soon as I got home. Now this is an attitude I can carry with me until I'm 85.
The big news is of course, Brian. We all blew it again and left the race with everyone forgetting that Brian would most definitely be receiving an award at the awards ceremony. He earned himself 2nd in his age division - 4TH OVERALL!!! He's freaking insane! Brian finished the half in 1:24:25 - an average pace of 6:26 per mile. This from a guy who was telling me he wasn't prepared to race this distance.

And while I'm away...

...Brian will play.

I gave Brian an auto-darkening welding helmet for his birthday this year. (Well actually, Chrissy gave Brian the helmet which I had purchased before hand since I'm in god-forsaken Northern Germany.)
It looks like he likes it and wears it everywhere. Even to brunch with his parents.

What's left of the wall.

I went to Berlin last Sunday and got to see where the wall was. There's a chunk of it saved outside of a store right near Brandenburg Gate. You've probably seen Brandenburg Gate before. It's the big arch that is always behind Hitler in his speeches.
Anyway, it's very cool and kind of unbelievable to stand in a spot that has changed so significantly in my lifetime.
It was kind of a quick trip but while we were in Berlin, we also saw the monument with the big gold angel on top and olympic stadium.
The weather was nasty though so we only got a little bit of time to walk around when it wasn't raining and absolutely freezing.

Sunny Tomato Pickin'

Look who I caught feeding Sadie tomatoes from the garden...
I don't believe any of the complaining now about Sadie stealing them.

Mesa Turkey Trot 10K

I finally pestered Steve and Denise into joining us for Mesa's Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot events.
Denise had the idea of wearing the crazy hats. I think that it paid off because some photographer took our picture at the race for a local newspaper!

Brian and I both beat our personal records for the 10k at this race. 39:18 for Brian! He was 33rd out of 2,224 overall and 2nd in his age division! Hooray for Brian.
As for me (drum-roll...) 64:55! (watch-time) Hooray for me. I have moved from the 90th percentile to the 53rd percentile in three years!!!
There's too many exclamation points in this post so I must end now!!!

Fort Bowie National Monument

 
Because the town of Bowie, Arizona was a little bit of a let-down, we decided to check out Fort Bowie National Monument. So we drove about 10 miles south of Bowie on a increasingly rough road to reach a parking lot at the trailhead of the Fort Bowie trail. There was a sign that pointed to "Historic Fort Bowie, 1.5 miles".
After hoofing it about 3/4 mile, we came upon the original cemetery but it only had one original headstone in it. It was still kind of cool though. After another little bit of walking, we came to a reproduction wikieup. We took a few pictures (on Roman's camera, sorry) and then moved on. Finally we arrive at the remains of Fort Bowie. There is a cabin there with a park ranger that can answer all kinds of questions. He explained to us that because of the lack of water for hundreds of miles, the spring near the Fort was an important resource to defend. Of course, it was originally the Apache's spring so that is who the Fort was stealing, er defending the spring against. Anyway, lots of bloodshed and fighting over this spring. It was a large fort with lots of people. It would have been so weird to be there back then. So isolated, it would be like going to live on Antartica but it seems so mundane now. Anyway, here's a picture of me in front of the remains. In the glare of the sunlight you can see the original steel flagpole which was kind of neat that they preserved it in the same place as the old photos show it.

Bowie, Arizona

Brian, Roman and I headed down to visit Bowie, Arizona the day after thanksgiving. Let me answer some questions you may have concerning this trip.

#1 - Where?
Bowie, Arizona is a VERY small town near the Arizona-New Mexico border. It is about 2 miles from I-10 and doesn't see many visitors.

#2 - Why?
As everyone knows, Bowie, Arizona is the birth place of the fictional character Rambo. It seems that Germans, or at least the German that was in the car with us, is way into Rambo and remember the mention of Rambo's home town from the first movie. It seems that Rambo was born to an American father and a German mother. Perhaps that is why it is interesting to them? Beats me.

It turns out, and this may be surprising to some of you, that there is NOTHING to do in Bowie. Half of the buildings are boarded up and the other half seem to be the target of the town's pyrotechnic teenage population. There was a mini-mart that was open and had the friendliest lady working the counter. She was happy to tell us that Bowie doesn't really have much and she herself lives in San Simon down the road. But her mom was born in Bowie and still lives there, bless her soul. This lady was really sad to inform us that there was not a single Rambo monument in the town. So after eating at the Subway on I-10, we took some pictures and went to Fort Bowie National Monument. Here's a picture of the main street of Bowie though to give you a sense of what the town was like:

Fondant!

Finally the shower is over and the cake doesn't have to be a surprise anymore.
For Chrissy's wedding shower, I made a cake with fondant icing. Now before you go making fun of my lumpy cake that you see in the picture, let me explain that the cake is a Rice Krispie treat cake. Chrissy's mom used to make her cakes out of Rice Krispies so I thought I would make her her childhood favorite. I now know that her mom just piped icing on the edges but I thought it would be fun to have the rice krispie part inside be a surprise to Chrissy when it was cut.
I've been wanting to experiment with fondant for a while so this was the perfect opportunity. I looked around online and found that most people hate the taste of fondant and it is used only for looks. The worst tasting fondant is apparently the Wilson brand one that is sold already made at stores like Michael's (I've never tried it, just read a LOT of complaining about it). A few more hours of looking and I finally found a recipe that people seemed to like. Even better, it's main ingredient is marshmallow, which fit the theme of the cake itself quite well.
The final product turned out to be delicious and even with a warning to the guests that the icing may be more for looks than taste, I noted mostly empty plates, including the icing.
I encourage anyone to try this. With normal smooth cakes, I think the look would be very professional but pretty darn easy. Here's the recipe for anyone who would like to try: http://www.members.cox.net/shelleydevere/WhiteChocolateMarshmallowFondant.html
Happy baking!

Brian's 10 Mile Race

The results are up and I just had to post about Brian's incredible run yesterday. He clocked in at a 6:22 pace. That's one second slower than his record 10k he did back in May!
Apparently he went out too fast at the beginning so he was light-headed at about mile 5. He was determined to stay ahead of some random guy that he picked that was pushing the pace from behind. Anyway, he did it, he's still alive and after some time laying on the sidewalk immediately after the finish line, he was still able to come run the last mile with me. What a guy.
BTW, this race was fast. I mean fast. Where do these guys come from? Out of 415 runners who completed the 10 mile race, an amazing 19 of them broke 6 minute pace.

Get Moving Tucson 10-Miler

After almost 3 years of 10k races, I participated in a 10 mile race today. Phew. Those extra 4 miles are just amazingly hard.
It was a very enjoyable course though, winding through downtown Tucson and through the UofA campus. It almost took my mind off the punishment that I was dealing to my legs. Of course I was so stressed at the beginning thinking that there is no way I was going to be able to run 10 miles. But once again, my negativity failed to get the best of me. With only a few walk breaks in the last two miles, I managed to put together a pretty good time.
It always helps to have Brian come back for me and this time was no exception. I found him chatting up the water ladies at mile 9, ready to hand me a gulp of water before diving into the talk about how I was going to 'take the guy in front of me'. Well, I don't think I took anyone that last mile but I did complete another race with a smile. That has become my goal because it is almost guaranteed that I'll get the announcer to remark on how I'm "still smiling after 10 miles".
The best part of the race before the finish line: Going over three bridges downtown. What fantastic scenery.
The best part of the race after the finish line: Easy. Chocolate-covered bananas!