100 Miles to Nowhere

May 22, 2011 is the much-anticipated Roswell, Georgia 100 Miles to Nowhere Ride through the cities of Roswell and Mountain Park, Georgia. The Fat Cyclist started this event as a trainer ride to raise money for cancer research and the idea is to suffer for 100 miles. Every year I read about this ride and think "I should do that." Well, 2011 is my year.

My dad is a prostate cancer survivor. My uncle Joe is too, and so is my friend Allison's dad. Prostate cancer is very common, but you don't hear as much about prostate cancer as you do about some of the other cancers, so that is why I am raising money for both Livestrong and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. If you read this blog and feel motiviated to ride with us or donate, please follow the links shown below and give a few bucks to these good causes. Every little bit helps, even $5. The Prostate Cancer Foundation is a support/research organization designed to help men and their families/loved ones learn more about, avoid and/or cope with prostate cancer. Livestrong is a simlar organization, but they also promote healthier lifestyles for everyone. You can log your food, log your workouts and get information about getting active on their website - all for free!

The "official" 100 Miles to Nowhere event is on June 4, 2011 and you can still sign up by following this link.

Here is the thing, though. This is a virtual event. So, since we are busy on June 4, I've scheduled my 100 Miles to Nowhere for May 22. After I decided that I would do the 100 miles, I thought it might be more fun if some friends did it too. Hmmm. Who could I talk into doing a ridiculous athletic endurance event with me?


NATALIE!

So, Natalie and I (and hopefully Coldfire, Team Awesome, some work and NAMC buddies and others) are riding 100 Miles to Nowhere on May 22. And, because Natalie nixed my idea of riding thirty times around my neighborhood, and because we are fun like that, it is a really hilly 100 Miles to Nowhere. Our 10 mile loop includes the climb from mile 80 of the Hospitality Highway Century. Now, don't you want to ride with us?

If so, here is the route. There is no cost to ride with us and I will give you some of the schwag I will be getting because I paid to sign up with The Fat Cyclist and provide you with GU Electrolyte Brew, GU Energy Gel, GU Chomps and other aid-station fare, regardless of how or when you choose to sign-up.

HOWEVER, if you join us, you must sign a waiver and please donate to either the Prostate Cancer Foundation or Livestrong to join the fight against cancer. You can click on the links in this paragraph to donate online, you can mail donations to either group or you can give me a check or cash and I will donate for you. Failure to donate will result in merciless teasing, name-calling and insulting of your manhood, even if you are not a man.

Doug will be cheering us on with the kids (more cowbell!), so if you poop out before the full ten laps, you can always hang with them.

Please note the following Pros and Cons to the route we have chosen:

Pros:

1. Beautiful sun and dappled shade on a lovely 10 mile loop in Roswell.




2. Fun riding buddies.
   






Horsies.





There might be singing.


Definitely some trash-talking.


GU Electrolyte Brew, GU Energy Gels, GU Chomps and PB&J for your dining pleasure.

Cons:

1. The route is very hilly.


2. It might be really hot.


3. Have I mentioned the hills?


4. We will pass your car every 10 miles. That could be a good thing, though.


5. 
   
   That thing about the hills, I'm not kidding.
   
   

If you choose to accept this mission, please come prepared to identify your division of the 100 Miles to Nowhere race. I, for example, will likely (depending on the heat) be the "38 year-old women with hives division." Creativity is encouraged so that you automatically win your division

We roll at dawn, which is forecasted to be 6:32AM on the day. If you arrive late, you will receive a map in exchange for your waiver and you can follow the turn markers (already approved by both cities! Yes!). And, what good would a ride with me be without rules?

1. Go at your own pace. Since everyone wins their division, you don't need to blow it out.


2. There are speed humps, road bumps, gravel, cars and other road hazards so you must be responsible for your own bike maintenance and safety.


3. I respectfully request that you please wear a helmet and follow all traffic laws. Yes, even the stop signs.


4. Gu Electrolyte Brew, water and an assortment of snacks will be stationed in the shade of my garage with good-natured taunting from Doug and encouragement from the kids. Bring your own water bottles and refill as necessary. You don't think 10 miles is a long way, but it is.


5. I will repeat: YOU are responsible for your own bike maintenance and safety.


6. Mountain Park Road will cause you to curse and beg for your mommy. If you could, please try to limit the cursing if there are children around. If no children around, colorful cursing is encouraged. The hilly part is only 0.5 miles, though, so try to suck it up.

Oh yeah, one last thing. In Ironman training, Doug always says that a ride doesn't count unless you cap it with a run. So, consider that too.

100 Miles to Nowhere - May 22

REGISTRATION FOR 100 MILES TO NOWHERE IS OPEN! If you want to register with the Fat Cyclist and get the tons of schwag, go here now. It will sell out today so get busy if you want to sign up that way. I will be riding 100 miles to nowhere on May 22. This is in advance of the official race day. If you want to ride with me on May 22, registration with Fat Cyclist (or at all) is not required but a donation for Livestrong is strongly encouraged. In other words, I will rib you mercilessly if you do not donate. The route is still under discussion but the two top contenders are the loop in my not-so-gently rolling neighborhood (2.85 miles) or the Mountain Park loop (10 miles), including the hill of doom. Ride as many or as few laps as you feel like. I will have plenty of GU Electrolyte Brew and GU Energy gels to share and other schwag and everyone gets an award. I'll post an official route once I decide which one we are doing and make up some rules. So, mark your calendar now!

You Have to Believe in the Publix GA Marathon

Who didn't go see Xanadu for their 9th birthday?

Go ahead and click the link. You know you want to.

So, I've only ever done one marathon and I was not running it to beat any time goal - I just wanted to finish. I have trained for the Georgia Marathon four times now and finally (FINALLY!) with mucho help from Doug, I did not injure myself and got to the start line this year.

On race morning, we drove Jamie downtown and met up with Natalie, who had graciously volunteered to run with me.

Because Natalie is crazy.

She and Doug had the ridiculous idea that I could break 4 hours in this race. Keeping in mind that my one and only marathon time to date was over 4 hours and 40 minutes. They based this theory on the fact that McMillan's magic running pace calculator says I can run 3:26 if I were fully trained.

Which I am not.

So, anyway, they decided I could do it and I secretly wanted to be able to do it so I went along with the joke. But inside, I harbored both a tiny flickering flame of hope and the nearly empty glass of pessimism (realism?) water ready to dash upon it.

I wigged out about the race and made my tummy sick worrying about it. Then, one day while I was driving home from work, I had an "aha!" moment. Sure, Doug had been telling me this for weeks, but sometimes (all the time), I am hard-headed and have to work it out myself. I asked myself what would be the worst thing that could happen in the race. Performing a walking tour of the porto-potties and taking 7 hours to finish? Well, I've done that and it's really not so bad. And if I only walk the last three miles, that is really not bad at all. It's still a PR.

And that little tiny flame just might light the way to a breakthrough performance.

Maybe.

It is interesting that what makes some people seem great or attractive or talented is that they commit to the performance or finish the drill or give it their all. Lady Gaga isn't worried about looking stupid. Singers aren't worried about someone hearing them sing. So, going all-in was the plan. No reservations. No holding back to make sure I didn't blow up.

So anyway, back to the story. On race morning Doug drove Jamie and me to the race site. I realized in the car that I had forgotten my hand-bottle of water. The one I always run with and had carefully filled and put in the fridge the night before. The one with four GUs in the front pocket for my nutrition.

@#$%*

I texted this (in letters instead of symbols) to Natalie. She was unfazed, so I made up my mind to be unfazed too. No taking it as an omen. I had packed more than enough extra GU, even after sharing with everyone. I could carry my plastic water bottle. No problem. Deep breath.

We met up with Natalie and Brent and all of our other buddies. I distributed GUs to all requestors (plain and blueberry-pomegranate Roctane for Natalie, strawberry-banana for Brent and chocolate and pineapple Roctane for Jamie).

We performed the obligatory line-standing and potty-visiting. Natalie was the fastest and had to wait for the rest of us pokey puppies.

Then, we skipped to our corral and danced to the fun tunes with the folks standing near us.

I tried to turn on my very-carefully-crafted-just-longer-than-4-hour running mix, but alas, the i-pod was dead. Almost bad omen #2. Very disappointed that I would not get to hear "Superfreak" or "Sickbed of Cuchulainn" or Prince on my run, I tucked the headphones in the back of my shirt and put it out of my mind. I have run plenty of long runs without music and if all else failed I could always hum "Tom's Diner" which always works to calm me down. No problem. Deep breath.

Here is the start! Whee!

Just after the start, my Garmin said it was full and I had to quickly delete all of the bike history as I was running, which is not as easy as you'd think. Whew! Crisis #3 averted! Lisa zipped up to us and posed for a quick Brooks Babes photo before she was gone in a flash.

The start was chaos and I kept trying to speed up because I knew we had to bank time in the beginning. Natalie had to tell me to slow down, that we were going too fast. That was not a good sign. I was scattered because of the Garmin and the headphones and the crowds.

We made it to North Avenue and met up with a nice guy named Kevin, who decided he would run with us. We had lots of fun discussing the relative merits of padding in jogbras and other similarly inappropriate topics.

Kevin is in the Army and was running his second marathon in a very short time. Here, we are flexing for Natalie, because we are buff like that. OK, I'm really just sucking my tummy in because my shirt kept showing it, but I told Kevin to flex and he obliged.

We met up with the 4:00 pace group at some point and ran with them for most of the race. They were a nice bunch and Matthew, the guy who ran 20 miles in the mud and rain to pace a total stranger at the GUTS Reactor Run was one of the group leaders. It gave me some comfort to run with them, even if I forgot that they had started behind us. As you can see, the rollers had begun already.

What you don't know is that running with Natalie is always fun. She is the life of the party. Even if you are feeling like crap or having a bad day or your GI is acting up, she sings, makes up distracting games or generally acts silly. And, she takes photos and meets everyone. Just before this photo, she tried to explain a very complicated punch-buggy game to us to distract us from the fact that the hills had begun. Like a couple of drunks, Kevin and I could not follow the logic of the game other than that it did not involve actual punching. Then, Natalie zipped ahead for a potty stop and (apparently) photos with Santa.

I got some water and continued forward progress. Except that this was the aid station dedicated to the Amanda Riley Foundation. Amanda died of cancer at age 17 and her foundation works for children's cancer research. At the end of the aid station there was a poster with photos of her running a race a year before her death. It made me cry. When Natalie came back, she thought something terrible had happened. No, just too sad. And mile 18-ness.

Just after this, I think - it could have been before this, we turned into the hills of Druid Hills. The plan was to continue progress on the uphills and recover/pick up time on the downhills. Natalie reminded me of this, but my legs were already on fire and every downhill step hurt. I told her to go ahead. I did not feel like this until mile 22 of the Kiawah marathon, so it was very upsetting for it to happen so early in this race. So, Natalie went ahead to challenge the hills and I plugged along with (behind) the 4:00 group. Kevin had dropped off before Decatur so I was on my own. This required a small pity party but I gave myself a stern lecture and worked it out.

In Piedmont Park, John, Desiree and Kim were a happy oasis. I knew they had ibuprophen and had planned to stop, but just didn't do it. Stupid, I could have gotten some water here and may have not needed to walk up North Avenue later. Dumb mistake #3? #4? Who is counting?

I was worried about the GI and walked just in that last bit. Once I hit Marietta Street, I knew I was home free so I turned up the pace. It hurt less! I realized I had less than 2 miles to go. No need to conserve anything for any additional hills because Marietta Street is more of a grinder than a hill. Why not see if I could turn it up more? I could! My cardio was still OK. It was just my legs that hurt so I turned it up even more and sprinted to the finish. YAY!

I just missed 4 hours. My chip time was 4:00:55.

It is OK, though, that I missed the "magic number" because I had a fabulous race. It was a complete breakthrough for me. I think I am prouder of this finish than of the first marathon because I didn't play it safe (and I'm a safety girl). I committed to the race and now we know I can run a marathon for time and not be dead at the end and not tour the porto-potties. Yes!

What else could I do if I really tried? If I really gave it my all?

Here we are after some water and food.

So, at several points during the race, I thought to myself "this sucks - I'm never running this fast again" and "Kirk was right - getting fitter doesn't make it hurt less, you just get faster."

But you know what? Those thoughts passed (usually after I had some GU - low fuel makes me very negative) and after the race was over, I found myself making plans for next year and hoping that we would get the great 2-for-1 deal so that we would HAVE to sign up again. And 'lo, Doug has already signed us up for 2012 so there you go. Publix Georgia Marathon, I'll be back to run with Doug and Natalie and all of my other friends next year. : )

If you want the gory race details, here is my BT race report.

GU the Brew!

Hooray!

The new GU product has landed at last! GU Electrolyte Tablets!

The tablets are quarter-sized servings of electrolytes with little to no calories. They dissolve by fizzing into your water in about 2 minutes. You can either drop them into your water ahead of time and let them sit for a few minutes before applying the lid or leave the valve open on your bike or hand-bottle for a few minutes and the extra gas escapes by itself. The tablets are sweetened with stevia leaf extract (unlike the acesulfame potassium/aspartame found in some other tabs). The GU Brew tabs will be great to add to my hand-bottle in longer runs or races when I'm sweating like a fiend or to use on the bike when I don't need the calories of the regular GU Brew.

I got to try the Lemon-Lime flavor and it is very tasty. In the interest of full disclosure, I received a tube (size shown above) of the Lemon-Lime tablets to try for free. I have used it on several runs and enjoyed some while paying the bills after my long run on Saturday and could even imagine drinking it on a hot day at the beach. Just enough flavor and a hint of bubble.

I am very excited to try the Peach Tea flavor and will be ordering some for myself because the Peach Tea GU Chomps are my favorite flavor yet. They taste to me like peach Jolly Ranchers. I did not notice the tea flavor at all, but my riding buddies say that is very smooth and comes in at the end.

I have not tried the Orange flavor, but I like the Orange flavored GU Electrolyte Brew's light taste, so I think it will be OK.

Happy riding and running everyone!

Don't forget the Wiphan Warthog Waddle 5K this Saturday at the Fellowship Bible Church. In-store registration at Big Peach Running Company has closed, but you can still register on-site on race day. Doug is racing for time and I will be running with the "sag stroller" in case Dagny or Annika (or their friends) needs a little drink or ride during the race.

Get Your Motor Running!

Or, How My Bike is More Efficient Than My Car.

I rode my bike to and from work twice this week. With Cobb County schools out for winter break and the nice springy weather, it was a perfect opportunity to reaquaint myself with the joys of traffic on the bike.


I had a lovely time. People waved at me and I got to enjoy the outdoors. You really feel like you are getting away with a good trick and sticking it to "the man" when you use your bike for commuting. And, taking a detour down a pretty street on the way in is almost scandalously fun. : )

As I rode, I was thinking about how on days when the kids are out of school (not as much traffic), I am not that much slower on the bike than in my car. Aside: I know that I would be faster if I rode up to the front of the line at stoplights, but I think that is rude. I only lost about eight car lengths between my office and the Corner Grocery, which is about 3 miles. Pretty good given the hills involved!


So anyway, I began to calculate in my head while waiting at a stoplight and here is the math:


My car goes 30 miles on a gallon of gas. Well above average. Doug's Aviator got 12 miles to the gallon.

A gallon of gas costs roughly the same as a gallon of milk.

A gallon of milk is sixteen 8 oz servings of approximately 125 calories each (2% milk since that is what we use) or 2,000 total calories.

I burn approximately 40 calories per mile on my bike when averaging 3-4 minutes per mile.

2,000 calories divided by 40 calories per mile = 50 miles to burn 2,000 calories.

Therefore, I get 50 miles to the gallon! Almost double that of my car!

Now, I know that my bike (40 lbs when loaded with rack, panniers, computer, clothes, toiletries, etc) and I (125 lbs, give or take) weigh significantly less than my very small car (2,496 lbs) so that means that my legs powering my bike are not *really* more efficient than the car, but it does beg the question of why everyone insists upon driving such large vehicles - the automotive equivalent of carrying your house around on your back everywhere like a snail.

I keep my work shoes under my desk and leave my purse at home when I ride to work because every extra pound makes it harder for me to pedal. Maybe we should think of that when we shop for transportation. Hm?

I Would Go Out Today

The title is a lyric from this song that came to my mind when I started writing. Humming it will make my afternoon happy. : )

My cousin Caroline asked me at Christmas how she should dress for running in the winter. So, I've been keeping a mental log of what I wear at various temperatures so that I could make her a list. Then, I thought maybe other folks would benefit from this list.

Sooo, ta-daaa, here is a very general, Steph-specific guide to cold-weather run apparel. I'll link to actual products that I own and like in case you need to do some shopping.

Below 20 degrees: I don't generally run outside in the teens because I don't have a balaclava and my neck gaiter makes me sweaty. My nose gets too cold to be outside below 22 degrees for any length of time without covering it.

22-25 degrees: Headband, jog-bra, heavy or mid-weight half-zip, arm-warmers, vest, gloves, tube-socks on my hands, running capris, running shorts, running socks, shoes.

25-30 degrees: Headband, jog-bra, mid-weight half-zip, vest, gloves, tube-socks, capris, shorts, running socks, shoes.

30-38 degrees: Headband, jog-bra, lightweight long-sleeved shirt, vest?, gloves, capris, shoes, socks.

39-50 degrees: Jog-bra, lightweight long-sleeved shirt, gloves, capris, shoes, socks.

Caveats:

1. This seems counter-intuitive, but a vest is better than a jacket. You want to keep your core warm but allow any extra heat to escape so that you don't get sweaty (because that will make you cold), so a vest keeps your chest warm while allowing heat to escape at your pits and elbows. Perfect. If you don't sweat buckets like I do, a jacket would work fine.
2. Some people prefer hats and some people prefer headbands but you need to keep your head warm when it is cold. Pick what works for you and what you don't mind carrying if you get hot. Doug prefers a hat, but I prefer a headband. Because I am such a hothead, sometimes I just use the band from my visor to keep my ears warm.
3. The same is true with gloves. You don't have to buy fancy gloves - they just need to keep your hands warm. I have some fleece ones from Sears (gift), some brick-layer's gloves from Home Depot (race gift), and some "official" running ones (volunteering gift). Socks also make great gloves in a pinch if, for example, you have forgotten your gloves while on a trip. Not that I've ever done such a thing.
4. Sometimes your regular gloves are not enough, but thicker (or windproof) gloves won't keep your hands any warmer because your fingers are too far apart to retain any warmth. That is where the tube socks come in. I wear them over my gloves to keep my hands warm. They are also very handy for the inevitable nose-wiping. I read about this on a running board and it works like a charm.
5. I do not notice much of a difference between running tights and capris. I always thought capris were lame, but I bought some because I needed some winter tights and could not find any in my size. Surprise! The capris are actually perfect because they keep your knees/calves warm and you can wear them in a larger range of temperatures than tights. Apparently, you don't get a lot of temperature sensation from your shins because I don't feel noticeably colder in them. If my tights or capris are dirty, I just wear capilene long-johns instead with running shorts over the top.
6. While we are on the subject of the shorts, I will tell you that my bottom gets cold when I run. Doug and I used to joke that this happened because my bottom was so far from the rest of my body. Ha! Anyway, I usually wear a pair of running shorts over the top of my tights when it is under 30 degrees. Men also have this problem with their "equipment," so if is really cold or windy, put a base layer under your tights or wear a pair of running shorts over the top.
7. The slower you run or walk, the more clothing you need. If I am doing a long run at my slow pace in the low 20s, I will put fuzzy long-johns over my running tights. Very good look, I'm telling you.
8. The windier or wetter the weather, the colder you will feel and the more clothing you will want to wear.
9. You do not need brand-new running clothes every season. Running clothes are not like regular clothes because they don't go out of style and they don't seem to wear out. Sure, the labels and reflective stuff may wash off eventually if you wash in hot water (I do) or accidentally put them in the dryer, but the actual clothes last forever. I linked to some stuff on the Brooks site that I have in the 2000/2001 version with no apparent wear except that the labels have fallen off.
10. Go out a little chilly because as your muscles warm-up, you will feel warmer.
11. Layers are important because if you forget to go out chilly or if the wind dies down or the sun comes out, you will need to shuck some clothing to stay comfortable. This is another place where your running vest comes in handy - the pockets. For my run today, I wore my Equilibrium Vest and used the pockets to carry 2 GUs, my ID, $5 (in case I need to stop and have to buy something), my tube socks, my hat, my arm-warmers and my gloves. Granted, I looked like I was about 6 months pregnant with all of that stuff in my vest, but I was quite comfortable despite the gusting wind blowing me off of the sidewalk.

That is all. Hope this helps. Happy Running!

The Ballad of the Resolutioneer

It's that time of year again, when the gyms fill up and everyone starts planning how this year is going to be different.

We are going to get in shape, get ahead at work, get involved at church or do more in the community. For about a month.

And then, that wagon starts a-bucking and a-shaking and we fall off.


I regularly visit a couple of on-line communities for people interested in endurance sports and every January, the whining begins: "The gym is too crowded" "Someone is on my spin bike" "A slow person is in my lane" "People are walking on the treadmill" "I can't get on an elliptical machine" "How long until these Resolutioneers are gone?"

It's almost like people see the gym as an us versus them struggle.

Seriously.

Why not embrace the newbies?

Aren't we all at the gym to get in better shape? Isn't everyone happier as we get in better shape? Aren't looser clothes more comfortable than tight ones?

Full disclosure here => I had to wear a suit to work a couple of weeks ago and I chose one of the ones that I bought and wore before the girls were born. The jacket was fine (one of my work buddies thought it was too big), but the pants turned out to be too tight, way too tight, and hurt me all day. It was torturous. I was seriously crabby just because of those stupid pants. Now, can you imagine if all of your pants felt that way? Like they were torturing you? Biting into your waist all day? Reminding you that you used to be smaller? How pleasant would you be? How much would you be giving (time, energy, kindness) to those around you if all you could think of were those damn pants?

So, give the new folks a break this month. They have taken the first step and are poised on the edge of making activity a habit! That is such a great thing!

Help them out if they don't know how the treadmills work or where to find the paper towels to wipe off the equipment or that they even need to wipe off the equiment. Show them how to set up the spin bikes and where the earplugs are. Offer to split your lane or circle-swim.

Smile.

Say hello.

Give advice or answer questions if someone asks you.

Because you could make the difference between the newbies feeling welcome and coming back and making activity their habit or getting discouraged again and quitting. Soon, those folks that stick with it will be getting in better shape and their pants will fit better and they will be getting stronger and happier and that is good for everyone.

Happy New Year!

What You Don't Know

I wussed out on my run this morning and lazed around the house. And brought a shelf of dishes crashing to the floor, but that is another story.

We ran errands this morning, scoring some after-Christmas deals and using up the gift cards the girls got before we could lose them. Then, we met some Doug's family who were driving through town on the way to Key West for a late lunch at Chilis.

Then, we got back and Doug said I could go for my run. I sucked it up, donned my winter gear and sallied forth.

Into the snow.

It was GREAT! I had so much fun catching snowflakes on my tongue and feeling the flakes melting on my face. Doug had loaded some tunes onto my i-pod since I finished listening to "Once A Runner" and they were great to hear as I was crunching around. Jimmy Buffet has an album called "Songs You Know By Heart" and my running mix today was like that, except that they weren't just songs to which I know the words. They were my up-tempo life's soundtrack. So fabulous. I'm sure I broke into song more than once.

I ran up to the park and around the trails. Even in the wind and snow, there were at least three couples there walking their dogs. They looked like there were having as much fun as I was. I was careful not to slip on the icy bridges, but I still tripped over a root (I think) and Superman-ned onto the path. I tried to channel Doug and roll, so it didn't even hurt.

So, the point is that the people in the cars that passed me on the way to the park and on the way home were totally missing out.

They don't know how much fun it is to feel the soft flakes on your head or to jump into the snowy yard when a car comes too close or to hurdle over the icy patches or to shake your booty when Morris Day says "oh, the THINGS I could do to YOU!" or to wave your hands in the air because the guy on the song says so or to take smaller steps on the turns so that you don't slide out of them (I've made that mistake before!). They don't know the joy of running so fast down that hill that you can feel your legs straining against your tired muscles as you struggle to stay on the path or to race your kid on the last bit home.

I so wish that I could explain it.

Over the Hill and Through the Woods

Doug and the girls and I volunteered at the Pine Mountain 40 mile trail run last weekend. Doug has run the Twisted Ankle Marathon, but that is the closest that we have come to an ultra marathon. To save the trouble of linking, I'll just tell you that an ultra marathon is any running race in which the distance is longer than 26.2 miles. Doug and I have been interested in the ultra-running for a while and who wouldn't rather run on trails than on the road?

So, anyway, we signed up to volunteer for fun and to get a window into the action. Doug may be ready to run an ultra in the next year or so, but it will be a while yet for me to build the mileage. Volunteering was great fun despite the frigid temperatures. The race was held at the F.D. Roosevelt State Park, which is basically a mountain plopped down in the middle of the piedmont near Callaway Gardens and the Little White House. The mountain is hilly and the trail is what they call "single track," which means that there is only room to run single file. And there are rocks, lots of rocks, on the trail and they are covered with leaves, which meant that the race was very challenging.

Here is a photo of the girls on the trail. Notice how you can't really see a trail? You navigate by keeping the blue blazes on the trees on one side of you.



We arrived at the site to find a happy band of volunteers and a very organized set-up. Victor, aid-station director extraordinaire, had lugged three coolers of water, a table and 2 bins of food down the trail about 1/4 mile from the parking lot to the Fox Den location. There was a lot of talk amongst the regulars about how Sally would want to see the aid station. Here is a photo of the famous Sally (who was really darn fast, by the way) and the delightfully tidy and organized aid station.

Here is our happy band, from the left: the guy who runs 100 mile races, Amanda, me, Doug, the guy who was both volunteer and sweeper, and Amanda's husband?

And again, with Victor on the left. Not only was Victor super-organized and seemingly tireless, he had a really nice camera and took photos of all of the runners and got their email addresses to send them race photos. He sent all of the good photos included in this post. The grainy ones are from my phone.

The guy who runs 100 mile races was a trail veteran who started running ultras after he finished running a marathon in all 50 states. He told me all about ultras and was a cool guy. He left us right at closing time because he had to give a guy whose knee was tweaked a ride back to the finish.

So, here we are in action. Doug would grab the runners' water-bottles or camelbaks and fill them while he explained how many miles they had to go and that this was the last chance for calories though there was water a couple of miles down the road. Some of the runners were totally with it and hogged out of the food, while others were loopy and had trouble with conversation. Several runners were bloody from close encounters with the trail. You can see the 100 mile race guy in his chair on the right. He was taking down numbers of each runner and the time they came through. This is a safety measure to make sure that no runners got lost on the trail and that we didn't leave anyone out there when we closed the station.

Here are the girls enjoying a snack. They like to run down the trail and greet the runners and collect their water bottles to bring back to refill. When they got too cold, we put them in the car with a movie on the computer, which worked great. Then they returned to help out with the volunteering and run around like crazed monkeys. Notice that Annika is wearing her Brooks Ghost shoes too. Hee.

Victor put me to work making PB&Js, which is a good job for me, so I did that while I watched for numbers and called them out for 100 mile racing guy (across the trail) while Doug greeted runners and refilled waters with Victor.

It was really cool. We got to see all kinds of folks running in all shapes and sizes and levels of tuckered-out-ness. The guy who won was holding a 7:XX min/mile pace and looked as fresh as I would after 3 miles. He ran down the hill from the aid station like a deer. The two guys behind him were holding an under 8:00 min/mile pace, but they showed a bit more strain.

Some runners brought their own aid crews. Every few minutes some people would hike down the trail with a backpack and ask if their runner had come through. If not, they would hang out with us and bust out a buffet of food/drink from their backpacks and wait. One guy's girlfriend had a whole grocery store in his bag, but all he wanted was jerky. Beef jerky. There is apparently no "I-can-only-take-liquids-on-the-run" in an ultra. People were scarfing down the PB&Js faster than I could make them. This girl volunteered or ran last year (I can tell from her cool beanie) and she hung out with us for a while because she was early to meet her runner. She had on the Brooks Green Silence shoes. I've been lusting after these Green Silences but haven't been able to justify a purchase yet since I'm currently rotating through my four pairs of Brooks Glycerine 8s. But soon they will be mine. Yessss, they will be mine. In case you want some, I noticed that the Brooks site has a bunch of stuff available with free shipping. Whoo!

It was cool to see the different clothes and gear everyone brought. Lots of people had on these cool gaiters to keep the junk from getting into their shoes. They are called Dirty Girl Gaiters. Hee. As an aside, Ms. Dirty Girl looks like a heckuva lot ot fun and they have free shipping too. Score!

So, anyway, a good time was had by all and Doug and I both joined up with the G.U.T.S. crew for the year so we can aspire to trail greatness. : )

Bing Says

Bing (insert sound effect here) advertising on one of the blogs I read says that it takes 200 crunches to burn off one 10 calorie cookie.

1. I hate Bing (except for the cool sound effect). It does nothing but clog up my computer as I attempt to get back to Google to actually find whatever I was looking for. I know my preposition is dangling. Get over it.
2. You can't turn Bing off. That makes me hate it more. Forcing me to use or work around something that doesn't work won't make me like it. Au contraire, mon frere.
3. There is no such thing as a 10 calorie cookie. That would be a crumb.

Gu has a new flavor, out just in time for Kona. Island Nectars Roctane. Click on the link if you will be in Kona for the race because they have free schwag or you can order some online. The advance word is that it is a fruit-punch-type flavor, which sounds awesome to me.

The Ironman

Or, how time waits for no man.

So, Doug and I have been training (with a bunch of friends) for Ironman Louisville. We signed up after Ironman Florida closed out in 30 minutes last year and we missed the registration window.


A marathon. In August. After a 112 mile bike ride. And a 2.4 mile swim.


What a fabulous idea.


We've been talking of nothing else for, oh, seven months.


So, the race number list came out last week. Which means that it is actually going to happen. The race isn't next year, six months from now, next season, next month, later. It is now - August 29th.


I am scared to death.


I am bib number 480 and Doug is number 1941 (appropriate because of his birthday on Pearl Harbor Day, no?). Everyone on the Beginner Triathlete board tries to find meaning in the numbers we have drawn. I thought I was #840 and just had to check it online again. Nope, 480. That number sounded familiar so I went to check the numbers pinned to the wall in our garage and look, there was #48. It was my South Carolina HIM number. Cool.


But, the race. Holy cow. People like me don't do the Ironman. Interestingly, that is what Doug said when we were discussing the "motivation" (quotes are to be read in a sing-songy, derisive tone like Boortz uses to talk about things being "for the children") to do the race. It's funny, though, because I totally could have seen Doug doing the Ironman, even when we first met. He is tough like that.


Me, not so much. We don't camp because it's too dirty and buggy for me. My primary exercise until about 1986 was high-speed popcorn consumption. People like me don't do the Ironman. And I know I'm not fat. I haven't been fat in 24 years. OK, maybe I was a bit fluffy there for a while in the late 90s, but bear with me. Being bigger makes you doubt your worth, your abilities, your possibilities. And it takes a lot to overcome that. Like 24 years. Or the 26.2 miles in a marathon.

Or the 140.6 miles of the Ironman.


I have no affirmations, no motivational phrases, no magic words for my race. I will just keep moving forward until I am forced to stop and hopefully the finish line is where that will happen. Sure, there will be slow-downs or rests along the way, especially if the Fogle GI makes an appearance, but whatever. They give you 17 hours to finish for a reason.


Here is what I've learned in the months of training leading up to now:

1. My husband is awesome. He has planned my workouts, encouraged me in my many moments of doubt and saved me from my own stupid ideas more times than I care to count. And, he doesn't think Madonna-muscles are gross like Tosh.0


2. You have to eat a lot of food to fuel the Ironman training. At least double what you would otherwise be eating. It's a little gross.


3. If you do all of the prescribed training, you will turn into a big slab of muscle. You can't help it. With the calories burned by the hours of training, you might not lose any weight, but the layer of fat turns into muscle. Seriously. Our little gang is totally buff. Six packs and Madonna-ish muscles abound.

Insert musical interlude

-* - * - * - * - * -

So, I never actually finished that post, but I DID finish the Ironman and you know what?

It wasn't that hard.

Granted, I did walk about 20 miles of the run and I was last of the eight people in our triathlon club plus the three other guys we knew, but still. At no point was it insurmountable and most of it was really fun. I will do it again!

In the two weeks before the race, I had an epiphany and realized that by putting in the training, I have become the kind of person that does the Ironman.

That anyone who puts in the training can be the kind of person that does the Ironman. Sure, maybe some of us will never win or even be competitive, but it is fun to your bike and swim and run. It just is.

So there.

If you are interested in my stats, here are the official results - I'm finisher #1793, on page 26. Photos are here. Yes, I was totally crying on the bike and that run photo is very indicative of how I was feeling at the time, but I went on to finish, so it is OK. And, if you do not mind too much information about my GI and poop, here is my race report on BT.

Dancing in the Running Store

This morning I loaded up the girls and drove over to the Big Peach Running Company to talk about my toe problem.

My big toe joint has been hurting me. I came up with several possible problems:

1. Gout
2. Hallux Rigidus
3. Arthritis
4. Running Gods are Angry With Me
5. Bunion
   

Originally, I had dismissed the bunion because I don't have bunions. My sister and Grammy have them, but I don't. At least I didn't. My orthopaedist said that I had a little bump when he did my MRI last spring, and he thought that I probably had shoes that were too narrow that were causing irritation. Really? All of my shoes are mens or wides!

Well, the beautiful Defyance2s that worked so well for me while traning for Kiawah still feel fine. But it turns out that the new Defyance3s in which I've done most of my long runs for ING don't feel as great. There is a line of fabric (like a strap) that runs across the bunion area. This area is frequently called the "bunion window" but my window in the new shoes has a bar across it. Screwed by the shoe revision!

So, I packed up all of my running shoes and took them to the Big Peach to see what they thought. I showed the guy (bless him for putting up with me) all three pairs of my shoes and told him which ones worked and which didn't and why I thought it was. He watched me run and walk. He did not not laugh or say that I was full of crap. He also did not think that I was overpronating and putting too much pressure on my toe. He didn't think I overpronated at all! He thought my feet were swelling and that was causing my big toe to point towards its neighbor toe and that was causing my joint to displace and swell and the swelling was causing the joint to rub on my shoe, which causes more swelling, etc. He offered to "fix" the Defyance3s for me.

Hmmm, what have I got to lose?

So, here is a photo of the new Defyance3s that I was going to return to Brooks, but which I will now probably just "fix" instead. : )

And, here is the altered shoe that I am wearing now and feeling great! : )

It never occurred to me that you could fix the shoes. SCORE!

And, since I was taking advantage of the shoe store's knowledge and expertise, I also bought a pair of new shoes to try out. Ooh, they are coool! They even look fast!

In other news, Annika lost her other tooth so now Dagny can't make fun of her any more.

And tonight, we are doing GNO for the birthday party. Japanese steakhouse for dinner, followed by a movie at the theater. Woo!

Snaggle-tooth

So, as I was reading Anne's blog during my lunch today, I thought "I should send her a copy of Annika's tooth." And then I realized how easy it would be.

Voila - here is the photo Doug sent me while I was out of town on Monday with the following comment, "the other one is hanging at a 45 degree angle, but she won't let me touch it."

That tooth is stubborn. We even let her have an apple for dessert after dinner last night to encourage it to come out. No dice. It is wiggly (so much so that it grosses Doug and me out) but not coming out.

In other news, March is Red Cross Month so get out there and give blood. I will be doing so as soon as my phlegm stops being a color. Really.

The Need for Speed

I've been running very slowly since my plantar fasciitis injury in the fall of 2008. Once I was finally able to run again last spring, I was out of shape and afraid that any attempt at going fast would re-injure my foot.

Now, in 2010, I'm still not fast. I run most of my mid-week (shorter) runs at 10 minute per mile pace. This once was my long run pace. My long runs are 11-12 minutes per mile, depending on how many times I have to stop to go potty.

Last week, I had to get some work done overnight. I decided to get up early and do it since I'm no good after 9pm. I finished my work about 5:10am. It was very frustrating, though, and I was in a bad mood when I got finally outside. So, I took off. I ran the shorter version of my usual loop with the bazillion hills but I went fast. I felt my tension bleeding away with every gasping, tortured breath. It was AWESOME.

I came home with frost on my head (it was 25 degreest that morning) and a song in my heart.

I had forgotten what a joy it is to run without a plan or the i-pod or any brakes. Just for the joy of it. : )

I hope to run fast more often. 6.03 miles - 8:32 minute per mile pace.

Every Little Step

I had a post saved that I started on New Year's weekend. It had resolutions and stuff in it and I talked all about how cool it was to see the bazillion folks at the gym working it out to start off 2010.

But then some life happened and it's February already! So that post got deleted and here we are for February. Bygones.

Today, a friend of mine went back and looked at his last 4 Januaries worth of training for his month-end review and he's at his highest training level ever. I don't have 4 years of logs, but it was interesting to look back and see where I was last January (nowhere!!) and compare that with where I am now (slow, but consistent). So that is pretty darn good. Go me! It was also interesting because I could see exactly what I did to injure myself last summer - three months of over 100 miles of running without any kind of base to do it. It's a good reminder not hold back so that I don't do that to myself again.

Today, as I was working, I made yet another mental note to tell Doug about something later because we can't talk about everything in front of the kids and I try not to bug him on the email during the day. We walk the dog for 10 minutes each night in front of the house and talk about the non-kid-friendly stuff while we are out there. Dagny climbs up into her window to wave to us but she can't hear us. : ) It's weird that we have children old enough to require censoring the conversation. I really like that few minutes we get to spend together. When it's warmer, we take the kids with us, which is also fun because they are a hoot outside.

So anyway, this made me think about how I'm going to have to streamline some life stuff so that all of this working out will fit in as we start into Ironman training. I don't know where it will be yet, but I'm betting it's the facebook and possibly some of the blogs in my reader. I just don't want to give up my 10 minutes of quiet walking. Lent is in 2 weeks so that will give me a head start on whatever it is and by the time Lent is over, it will be a habit and I'll be so busy swimming, running and biking that I won't even notice. I still notice not sending Christmas and birthday cards, though. I miss that. And I miss knitting.

That Guy

I did not write the following essay.

Someone posted it on Beginner Triathlete from Bike Sport Michigan, which is no longer in business. But whoever wrote it is good. It is awesome and just re-reading the pasted version has made me cry all over again. Here you go:


That Guy. You know him. He can also be That Girl, and often is.

It is that guy (or girl) who you see at every race. He's at every one. Everywhere in the country.
He is always more tan than you are. He is usually a good bit thinner too. His calves have those mysterious vertical striations that define each individual muscle; as if to say, "I have spent hours training each individual muscle in each calf- each individual muscle fiber in fact." He/she has triathlon clothing that is super cool that you've never seen before. You have no idea where it came from. If you were to ask him- if you mustered up the courage to approach him- you would get some vague answer like, "Ahh, well, I know Dave McGillicutty at Sweetass Trisports and he got these samples, prototypes really, that he….. blah, blah, blah…." And you just wanted to know where you could buy a pair of those cool trishorts he has. Maybe they would make your ass look like Michalangelo chiseled it too. Prolly not though.

So this guy (or girl): His bike is clean. It is also weird. It has parts you think you may have seen in a magazine and, is that what carbon fiber looks like? Half the stuff he has, no, all of it, is stuff you've either only seen in magazines or never even heard of.

He's wearing sunglasses. But he didn't buy them. They just kind of "got there". He drives a special car just for doing what he's doing now: Getting ready for a ride, a run, a swim workout or the triathlon you're at now. He has stickers all over it.

You know when he talks about "Hawaii" he isn't talking about the state as a vacation destination, but rather, an event that you've only seen on TV. He is either talking about getting into it, having already gotten in, or why his last race there wasn't as good as it should have been. It had something to do with some chemical in his body you've never heard of. "Too much polychondrotineospandoplasm in my maldochondriacts during the last ten miles of the run. I should have know better." Yeah, an obvious mistake for someone like that guy (girl). Another thing that guy knows that you don't. Polywhat in his maldowho?

So you get to the race and there is that guy. Setting up all his stuff in the transition area like he's done probably a thousand times before, or so it seems.

And that guy is the reason why so many people are afraid to give this sport (and many others) a try. Because you know you are not That Guy (or girl) and they will look at you and think "Oh, another novice athlete…." And maybe you are embarrassed by that. I know I have been.

That guy is experienced, dedicated, accomplished, fit, knowledgeable, well-versed and respected in the sport. You are a beginner. So you are at the bottom of the food chain here. You may be the big woman or man at work and at home. But here you feel like the first day of kindergarten and you don't even know where the bathroom is but you have to go. It's been a long time since you felt like that.

And you'll feel embarrassed in front of that guy.

Consider this though: You are that guy. You are that girl.

Don't understand? Let me explain.

On the hypothetical morning we're describing you got up early, loaded up whatever bike you have (the old ten speed you've had since you were 16, that old mountain bike from college, whatever), put the gear you scraped together in your car and went to the race. You stood there in your sweats and registered, set up your transition area as best you could.

Welcome to the show my friend. You are walking the walk.

You made that monumental leap off the couch and into the realm of That Guy. And now you, to millions and millions and millions of people - you are That Guy.

The next time you go to work when the conversation comes up about what you did Sunday morning you will say, "Oh, ahh, well I did this little triathlon, my first one, I'm not really any good, I was nearly last…."

But to the people at work, and your family, and your friends, and everyone else not there on Sunday morning (and some that were) you are That Guy. The guy who does those endurance races. Who works out all the time (even if you don't). Who eats right (even though you don't).
Pretty soon it will get around work, what you did Sunday morning, and someone will ask you, "Hey, ahh, have you ever done that one in Hawaii?"

And then you answer, "Oh, Hawaii, no, I'm not that good. I've never done Hawaii…" And to you now it is just "Hawaii". You are That Guy. To someone out there you are That Guy.

Everyone has That Guy. He's better, faster, smarter, luckier. The interesting thing about That Guy is, to someone - you are that guy. No matter who you are, there will be That Guy. Don't let him bother you. Do what you do. Remember, to someone, you are that guy.

When Pigs Fly

Last night at the Fogle holiday party, my dad bragged on my marathon finish. I can't tell you how great that made me feel. My dad is old-school and doesn't usually see the need to exercise (except for tennis), but now he's thinking about doing some running. He even asked my brother-in-law the cardiologist about his heart rate zones. : )


I can't find the words to convey what a cool feeling it is to finish a marathon. Especially when you are carrying the baggage about weight, body image and sweating that most women seem to carry. All of that stuff is really heavy.


However, I firmly believe that anyone who puts in the training can finish a marathon. The key is that the training consists of not just the three month marathon build-up, but the also the base-building phase where you teach your feet, legs and body that running is a normal thing. The base-building has taken me over 9 years. I don't think this is typical, but on my two prior marathon attempts as I ramped up into training, I hurt myself. My body just wasn't ready to go 26.2 miles (or less). I had built up a good enough run endurance for 6 or 13 mile races, but not 26. For this year's attempt, Doug wrote the plan for me instead of letting me blindly follow a plan I had found in a book or a magazine or on the internet. We built up to 25 miles per week of running my way - by increasing the distance of all three weekly runs at the same rate. That seemed to be easier on my feet and knees. Then, Doug had me add another run during the week and we started increasing the distance of my weekend (long) run. We didn't do any speed work, tempo pace or intervals. All of those things are great for people who want to increase their speed and are racing for time. Those people can already go the distance (not me). So, I ran all of my runs at easy don't-look-at-the-pace speed. That took a lot of pressure off.

On race day, the weather was forecast to be 36 degrees, raining and windy. When it is that cold, my gloves don't keep my hands warm enough. So, I followed some internet advice and added tubesocks over my gloves. Genius! My hands were toasty! I decided that the tubesocks/armwarmers would be a good way to give a shout out to Brooks. Voila - Brooks armwarmers. It turned out not to be so cold, so I only wore them at the start but aren't they cute?


All of my other racewear was Brooks too, but it is so well-loved that the logos have fallen off. Check out my vest - very reflective. This is on the shuttle from the parking area to the race start. I think the blurriness of the photo really captures the giddiness of the morning. We were all smiles.

We stayed with my folks at their new house on Edisto Island. It is on the tidal marsh and is beautiful. On the day after the race, we watched the sunrise (not the actual sun because it was on the other side of the house) over the creek. It was lovely.

Kiawah Island Resort puts on a good race. Here is my official race report on Beginner Triathlete. It was a green race, so they encouraged us to bring our own water bottles, to recycle our shoes and old medals. It was neat. I always carry my handbottle, so that was no problem. The start line looked good in the dawning light.

We went to Joe's condo to stay warm before the race start. Joe was racing to try to get his Boston marathon qualifying time. Here are Doug and Joe before we braved the cold of the start line.

Aren't they good-looking? Joe got his BQ. 3 hrs 25 minutes. He followed one of the Daniels plans (not a high mileage one, Paul) and ran a great race despite nearly (or not-so-nearly) breaking his toe over Thanksgiving vacation.

Our friends Amy and Jerry ran the half-marathon and they looked great as they passed us in mile one. I stayed on plan, though, and didn't go faster than I had trained (10 mins per mile). It was cool to see the miles click by as the race went on. We had Gus every 4 miles (I alternated Roctane and regular Gu) and I drank from my water bottle whenever I felt like it. Doug had some Chomps and also had Gus when I did. My IT band got very angry in mile 14, but as I warmed up again by going faster, it felt better. Whew! I felt pretty good until Doug told me to go on in mile 22. He was a great security blanket for the race. I had a lot better race because he ran with me. It was easier to stay in my plan because he was there. If I had been by myself, I would have been tempted to speed it up or slow it down and that would have been bad.

Then, in mile 22, I was on my own. My molasses pace and his Ironman had made Doug's quads cramp up.

Other than the IT, my GI and the usual aches and pains, the race hadn't hurt until then. Or, maybe they had hurt, but I'd been too busy to notice. But suddenly, my foot hurt and my knees were flashing red pain with every step. The little hills on the path to get it level with the road were suddenly like mountains. It felt like was I doing 8 minute miles when it was really 10-ish minutes per mile.

I cried those last two miles. For the sheer ridiculousness that I was going to run a marathon. I remembered back in elementary school when we had to run the mile for the physical fitness test and how I couldn't even walk it. I remembered how I used to be fat in middle school and how much I hated my body. And it was so great to be coming to the finish. I wanted to share the love with all of the cops, the volunteers picking up trash, the folks giving out water and the other runners. I tried to thank them all without bawling, but ended up only thanking some and just patting the other runners on the shoulder as I tried to keep it together.

Then, our friends were there when I finished and it was awesome. I loved it. : )

Doug is an Ironman!

Last weekend, we traveled to Wilmington, North Carolina for the Beach 2 Battleship half ironman distance race. Doug was racing and I was volunteering and sherpa-ing.

I think that I had as much (if not more) fun than Doug did.

Here is Doug taking his final bags to the car on race morning at about 4:15am. We arrived with all of our stuff at the race location at about 4:50am. I know! I was early! This load of stuff is after he had already dropped off four (4) other bags with his bike on Friday. We don't know how people fly to Ironman (IM) races - there is just too much stuff to bring!

For those who don't know, the Ironman race distances are 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling and 26.2 miles of running. That's a total of 140.6 miles traveled under your own power.

Anyway, our friend Neal was also doing this race as his first Ironman. Here are the two hotties as they came to be body-marked.

So, my first volunteer job was body-marking. That means that I wrote the athlete's numbers on their arms and legs and wrote their age on their calf. While I wrote, I made small talk with the racers and assured them that you really could float the whole swim and still make the time cut-off. They time this race start so that racers swim with the current and it is a beautiful thing.

Here is my new friend, Kelly, who has a 19 month old and is expecting her second child in February. She is a tough lady because she body-marked with me for three hours and then we helped load the transition bags onto the truck and then we stood around watching racers come out of the water and cheering them onto the bike course for a good hour and a half.

Here is the transition area before all of the bikes got there on Friday. 1500 racers if you count the full and half ironman participants.

Here is Doug giving the fist of strength as he comes up to transition area #1 from the swim. No idea who that bike guy is.

After Kelly and I watched all of the full ironman and half ironman racers come up from the swim and exit T1, I went for a little run. The race's swim start was in Wrightsville Beach, NC. This is a peninsula of Cape Fear. I ran to the fancy houses on the north end of the beach and then back south to the older part of the beach to where Doug had started the swim, then I added a loop of the park in which T1 was located (Hwy 74 to Hwy 76) to get to my 10 miles. Little did I know that that loop happened to circle a tidal creek park and was a beautiful sidewalk around the creek in the shade of oak trees. It was so great. What a beautiful run.

Then, after wolfing down some Fat Tony's dinner leftovers, I showered and drove into downtown Wilmington to begin my volunteer shift on the run course. You'd think that with all of my love for Gu, I would have remembered to bring some for my run. Unfortunately not. I thought the PB&H we'd eaten for breakfast would be plenty. I neglected to consider the 4.5 hours that would elapse between breakfast and my run, so that was a big mistake. Still, my run was lovely and I made good use of the Hampton Inn mints in the car to give me some fuel on the way back to the hotel. Speaking of which, the Hampton Inn was totally awesome. It was brand new, had a super breakfast bar, free fridge and microwave, wireless internet and a beautiful clean room and bathroom. And, it was very reasonably priced. Gotta love that.

After checking in at the volunteer station downtown, I took the trolley to the Battleship North Carolina park and situated myself for my shift. I kept using my phone to send updates on the race to Facebook. Natalie wanted to know if I had on a cute outfit.

Um, no. With the temperature falling into the mid-30s, I was rocking the rainbow layered look. Please note, however, the Moving Comfort thermal running shirt with thumb-holes and the Gu visor. Gotta rock the team colors!

I got to direct the bike traffic coming into the Battleship area (the finish of the bike) across Hwy 421. The New Haven Sheriff's Office folks directed the car traffic and I yelled my head off and waved my arms to tell the cyclists where to go. It was super-fun. The officers seemed relieved to have me there. Apparently, they needed someone with a big mouth! I had a good time talking with the officers, encouraging the bikers and yelling for the runners who were leaving the park and heading back in.

Here is Doug and his BT friend Mr.Tony as they came in after their first loop. They were moving!

Neal came by also and though he wasn't going as fast (his IT band had locked up), he was his usual smiling self. I ran with him a few hundred yards as he went back out for loop 2. Then, it got dark. I made another friend (Rebecca) who also had a 19 month old. She and her daughter were watching for Mr. Rebecca to come by. He was having a tough day because the swine flu had swept through their house the week before, but was determined to stick it out. It was so cool to see all of the runners come by and encourage them. As they came by for the final stretch, their strides eased and their limps went away (just like Forrest Gump's braces flew off in the movie) and they started to run gracefully for the final stretch to the finish line. It was so neat.

Doug came by right before 12 hours, just like he'd planned. I had put my backpack on so I could run in with him, but whew! He was still going really fast! He ran it in and finished at 12:01:40. This is rock-star pace for age group (not pro) triathletes. Way to go, Doug!

We got him dry clothes and some food and talked with some of the other BT folks and a nice lady who was waiting for her son to finish. Then, Neal came in and Bep, Doug and I ran in with him.

It was great. I really had a blast. Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach were totally fun and would be a great place to visit with the girls. The beach was lovely and I'd love to go back and tour the Battleship North Carolina.

Doug and I had planned to sign up for Ironman Florida 2010 on the way back to Atlanta. However, we stopped to eat early, so registration hadn't opened yet. So, we decided to wait until we got home. That proved to be a poor decision because IM Florida registration closed while we were still on GA 400. I wasn't too bummed because I knew that it would be a stretch for me to get in Ironman shape in 2010 and Florida is flat, which is hard for me. 2011 would be fine.

Then, we looked online and Ironman Louisville was still open. Sure, it's 2 months earlier, hot and hilly. We signed up anyway.

Ironman Lou, here comes team Bachman. August 29, 2010.