Duh! Winning!

I know you're dying to know how my half marathon went this weekend...

Duh?! Winning!

Isn't that what happens when you have to walk the last 6 miles?

That's right.  I'm cool like that.

I walked (a running race) the last 6 miles.

So, let's back up.

Here we were freezing waiting for the race to start while the 30 mile an hour winds blew.  The only reason we wore our sunglasses was to keep the dirt from blowing in our eyes.  (Which I obviously needed in this picture to cover up my puffiness.  But this was the only picture I had with Niki.) 

(Marcia, Niki, and Kari)  Too cold to show off our matching shirts!

They finally got the race underway (without a starting line banner because it was getting ripped up in the tornadic/hurricane-like winds)

The first 5 miles were fine, (besides Marcia and I getting separated at the 2nd mile water station and not finding each other again until mile 6) but as I passed mile 5 every step I took was excruciating.

So let's back up again. 

Why was I in so much pain?

Well, 2 weeks ago Friday (before we left for spring break) I got my right foot up under me wrong and kind of stumbled over it.  It hurt, but I didn't think much of it.

It didn't feel better the next day, and (unfortunately) hasn't for the last two weeks.  I was just doing the elliptical machine at the gym trying to let it heal.

So while it definitely didn't feel good when I was running on it, the first 5 miles were bearable. 

Around mile 7 I told Marcia I was going to have to walk.  As we started up again I literally squealed out in pain. 

(Now I know I'm dramatic, but running this race was something I really wanted to do, so I certainly didn't want to be hollering out.)

I told Marcia to just go on (Kari and Niki were way ahead of us and finished with amazing times) that I was going to walk.  Marcia was so worried about me she went straight to the medic tent after she finished the race convinced that I had had the medic truck bring me in.

I kept going, so upset I was having to walk and embarrased about my time.

But some time around mile 10 I realized I needed to be happy just to finish. 
I was seriously worried the "sweeper truck"  (It "sweeps" the slow people off the road so they can open the road back up to traffic.) was going to pick me up.

But, I actually did finish.

With a rock star-warlock-tiger blood-duh winning-time of 2:42:52 (12:25 pace) I hobbled across the finish line.

I went straight to the medic tent (where my friends were waiting for me) and asked them to look at my foot.

After handing me 3 Motrin (Thank you very much!) and examining me, the nurse said for me to have my foot X-rayed if it still hurts in 5 days.  (And since it's hurt for 2 weeks, I'm pretty sure I'll be heading to the doctor's office sometime this week.)

But here we are in our cute T-shirts. (They say: Most girls blend in. We prefer to make a scene!)

And where was Niki for the matching shirt photo-op? 

She finished so far ahead of me she was already back at the hotel taking a shower!

Big smile from me. I'd just taken 3 Motrin!

(You can tell Moab's just like Durango.  It's not enough to have the trash and recycling bins...you also have to compost!)

But the weekend wasn't a total lost.
I actually had a blast!
I loved getting to hang out with Marcia, Kari and their husbands (they came all the way from Texas for the race.)

And my Durango friends Cassidy and Kylie came with me to make it a super fun weekend.

One Month From Today

I didn't even realize it until Marcia posted on her blog this morning that we are running the Canyonlands Half one month from today!

I knew I needed to practice racing, so how perfect that I had signed up for the Animas River Trail 5K.
.

Now, like I've said before, running is a sad, pitiful afterthought to the other athletic biggies here in Durango.

(With biking being the king.)

But just because there aren't tons of runners, doesn't mean that the ones that are here aren't good.

They're amazing.

Which means the people who do show up for a 5K in the middle of February are insanely good.

Like today when I overheard a 13 year-old girl talking about how she averages 22 minutes for a 5K.

To say I'm out of my league is an understatement.

But, like always, you know I'm going to let you share in my out-of-leagueness.

Here I am pre-race.
(pre-pony tail and stocking cap) 
Cause as much as I love a hat, a stocking cap isn't the greatest look on me. 
I'm also make-upless...although since I'm turning more and more into my mother each day, I am wearing lip tint Chapstick.

It was a balmy 38 degrees this morning, so I decided to sit in the car til race time (since I wasn't going to run warm-up sprints with the others).

I try to blend in as much as possible, so I wore all black.  Except for my gloves.
 I've gotta have a pop of color somewhere!

(I didn't have my hand on the ground, it just looks that way)

Oh, and I just got some new running shoes.  I've made the switch from my MBTs to Asics.  They felt good, so I'll be wearing these at Canyonlands.

So how do you know when you're a serious runner?

When you show up to run in 38 degrees like this guy.

He came in 3rd.

All in all, I was satisfied with my run. 

I ran it in 31:21. 

When I told Jason he said, "Is that good?"
(It makes me feel better that Jason knows as much about running as I do about hunting.)
 I said, "Well, I was 21 seconds away from running 10 minute miles." 

So for me, yeah that's pretty good. 

Bloody Mary

I wasn't expecting any comments on my boring post about my run last week, and instead I got a whole bunch!

And by 'a whole bunch' I mean 5. But hey, that's a lot in these parts 'round here.

And since I had so many comments, I thought I'd do another run post.

(Now my 5 commenters are saying, 'Ah Man! Why did I comment on that?!")

So I had a much better run today, and was pleased with my time and effort. I ran up all the hills I usually walk, and finished 11 minutes and 52 seconds (but who's counting) faster than last week.

But when I got home I looked at my shoe and thought,

Huh. Wonder why my shoe's pink?

I then took off my shoe to find my sock completely soaked in blood.

Now you know I love a good exaggeration to help out a story, but as you can probably imagine, if the blood soaked out the top of my shoe, my sock was pretty bad.

It looked a lot worse than it was...one of my toenails cut into the toe next to it, and I swear I didn't even feel a thing.

JR felt it though. 

 He was screaming and hollering (as only a dramatic offspring of mine could do)

and I even thought he might pass out.

I said, "JR, how are you going to be a doctor if you can't look at blood?"

JR: "I'M NOT GOING TO BE A DOCTOR!"
*scream, stagger, flail*

Oh that's right.

The only job JR's ever said he wanted was to be a chef.

The child who won't eat a fruit or vegetable wants to a chef. 

Seems to me if you can be a chef although you won't eat most foods, being a non-looking-at-blood-doctor wouldn't be much of a problem either.

And Now This Is All I Got...

As you can tell by the picture of Reed with a Mr. Potato Head mouth, I'm kinda out of blog post ideas.

 I thought about posting the pictures of Kyle and Reed skiing on Saturday, but they pretty much look like the ones from the last time. So I nixed that idea. (You'll know I'm desperate if those pop up tomorrow.)

I usually write my posts in my head while I'm running. 

And as I was running today, I came up with...nothing.

So, I guess I can just tell you about my run today. 

I'm training for The Canyonlands Half Marathon in Moab, Utah in March.

It's billed as one of the most beautiful courses in the country, and they're pretty proud of it too since we had to put in for a lottery to get chosen to run.
Obviously, we got drawn.

Which I don't know if I'm excited or scared about.

I looked up last year's results and the girl who came in "in the middle" in my age group ran less than 10 minute miles.

So yeah, I know I've got to run 13 miles in about 2 hours and 9 minutes just to be "average".

Yep, no pressure.

So how was my run today?

 It wasn't pretty...in all possible ways.

As we were driving home from church I thought, "Oh, the roads are really clear, I'll just run outside today."

It was still about 19 degrees when I started out, so I figured it was important to wear most everything in my closet:

Two pairs of pants, long sleeve shirt, fleecy shirt, vest, gloves, and knit stocking hat.

I caught a glimpse of myself...and with my black hat, vest, and gloves I think I might have looked more like a bank robber.

Plus, I got hot about half a mile in.

I was also wrong about the roads being clear.

The roads in our neighborhood still have plenty of ice and packed snow. 
Packed snow isn't hard to run on, but I was scared to death I was going to slip on the ice.

So there was much more leaping in my run than I like. (And just so we're clear, I prefer no leaping during a run.)

Another problem...

I haven't run outside since October.

October!

Needless to say, running on a treadmill is nothing like the "real" thing.

So here's the recap:
I looked ridiculous, I was dodging ice packs, and I was s-l-o-w.

How slow? Slow.
As in, I might as well take up walking as my new sport of choice.

Soooo Close

I almost, almost, almost hit my half marathon goal and finished in "middle place".  I guess I could say I came in middlish place if I really wanted to stretch it. I came in 391 out of 721 females (I'm just leaving the guys out of the equation) with a time of 2:19:22. 

This half was way easier than the first one I did, but I'm not sure which of these major factors played in the most:
1. Was it that this one was at 5,000 ft and the first one was at 10,000 ft

2. Yesterday was absolutely perfect weather, while the other one was in 40 degree rain

3. And, Of course, the lack of mountains, much less a hill, was a huge advantage

Here I am about to leave the hotel for the race.  Reed wouldn't pose with me, he was too busy watching a deer hunting show on TV.  (What can I say, Kyle is mine and Reed is Jason's.)

My starting line self portrait.

My view from the starting line.  This is what it looks like when you're 5'2" in a crowd of 1,300 plus runners.

Here I come! Heading for the finish! 

When I crossed the finish line the announcer said, "Number 1350 is still smiling."

This is the first picture we took after the race, it was everything I could do to hold Kyle.

My parents drove all the way from East Texas to watch me run. By this time, Kyle and Reed were making me hold them both and I thought my legs were about to go out on me.

So we had a seat to take pictures!

Finished!

I've got my finishers pin and my congratulatory note from Kyle and Reed, so that must mean I'm finished. My handy dandy Garmin watch said I averaged 10:38 minute miles, which I'm happy with. I'm anxious to see where I finished. I'm really hoping for middle of the pack!

Distracting Myself

My run starts in about 20 minutes, and I'm inside the ABQ Convention Center trying to keep my mind off what I'm about to do. Doing races with friends is so much more fun! I have nobody to talk to about cute (and not cute) outfits. Speaking of outfits, check out my running sleeves that came with my new tank. My favorite part is the thumb hole. Loving these things!

Nervous Energy

I'm in ABQ tonight since I'm running in the Duke City half marathon in the morning. I've got all my stuff laid out like it's a school night, and now I'm not sure what to do with myself. A margarita sounds fantastic right about now, but I'm pretty sure that's not the best idea.

Going on a Donut Run

Doesn't every run/walk have a donut buffet before it starts? And don't all the participants carry an extra stash for the road?

Yep, that would be my diaper bag loaded up with, well diapers, and donuts. 

We headed over to Farmington, NM Saturday morning to walk in the BP/San Juan Medical Cancer Walk-a-thon.

We had a rough start figuring out where exactly everybody was going to ride.  (Cause even though it was a walk, there were two Ingys who didn't take one, single step.)

Kyle didn't want to ride in my backpack at first, so Reed got in.  As soon as that happened Kyle started screaming, so I got to walk like this for a few minutes. 

 (I made Jason take this picture of me, to which he said, "You just want to put this on the blog and have everybody feel sorry for you."  Um, yeah. Why do you think I'm having you take a picture?!)

Reed, finally tired of Kyle's cries, traded out of the backpack for a ride on Jason's shoulders. And I have to give it to Jason, he walked for 3 miles with Reed up there!  Reed then decided to let Jason have a break (and take a little nap), while Ayi pushed him in the stroller the rest of the way. 

Kyle made all 6 miles on my back.  He passed the time waving at the other walkers, and giving the Farmington High School cheerleaders high fives.

JR thought he'd take the easy way at first.

But then when I refused to run with him, (I did have a 28 pound excuse on my back) JR got Granny Sherry to walk/run with him.  JR's goal was to "get to the front of the line". And though he never made it to the front, I do think they finished a good fifteen mintutes before we came in.

And, of course, if they give out donuts before the race, sodas are an obvious choice after, right?

Another Apology

I have a little apology to make.

Living below sea level most of my life, I had "altitude running" built up as the end-all-be-all of athleticism. So when I went out for my first run in Texas I was fully expecting to glide around with the ease of an Olympic marathoner. I took a bottle of water with me...just in case.
*Wink*Wink* (Cause, come on, I had been running in the Rocky Mountains. I was an athletic specimen to be beheld.)

My water ran out at mile 3 and I puffed back home with my tail between my legs.

So to you, Heat, and especially you, Humidity, I'm sorry. I salute you.

With my CamelBak full of water, I set out to run the "Too Hot to Handle" with my sorority sisters, Kelly and Marcia. We love a good costume, but even we knew the need to be practical in this kind of situation. Luckily our matching, "Yep, I'm hot!" tanks got lots of giggles.


What you might not believe is that we weren't the only crazies that showed up to run. They capped the race at 3,000 people! Here are our fancy shoe tags to record our times since it takes awhile to even get to the starting line with that many people.


And although it was hot, we had so much fun. We ran together, finished together, and of course...sweated together!

This is What You Look Like

After a 15K race in 98 degrees!

Yep, We're Hot!

Kelly, Marcia, and I will be lining up soon to run the Dallas 'Too Hot to Handle' 15K. I'm not worried about the distance, but this current Coloradan is petrified of having a heat stroke!

I. Ran. A. Half. Marathon.

I'm finished! And way more tired than I thought I'd be! This is a self portrait I took between miles 7 and 8 in the rain and 44 degrees. Woohoo!

Starting Line

Five minutes till I start trying to run a half marathon! The good news, it's not snowing yet. Bad news, I'm feezing so I couldn't wear my new cute outfit!

My Little Iron Horses

Yesterday was the day every true Durangoan lives for: The Iron Horse Bicycle Race. (They ride from Durango to Silverton going from 6,500 ft to 11,000 ft elevation. Out of the 54 miles, 37 are uphill and the goal is to beat the train-which takes about 4 hours.) This is something I have no desire to ever do. My J.Lo butt cringes just thinking about those teeny-tiny bike seats.
But since bicycling and Durango go together like Texas and BBQ, the Iron Horse has expanded to a weekend full of events. And my littlest Iron Horses raced this morning! (My biggest Iron Horse got nervous of all the competitors and bowed out before his race started.) Now Kyle and Reed can't actually ride a bike yet, (although Reed asks me about a million times a day, "Ride bike? Ride bike?") but you'd have never known it with the determination they had has they took off down Main Street this morning.

Not only were they the only ones competing on an Elmo airplane and a John Deer tractor, but they did awesome! They had to make the block and then go back. That's a long way for little 2 year-old legs to push. Here you can see the cheering crowd, and Reed getting a little distracted by the camera crew documenting his historic ride. (That's Harry telling him to keep on going.)

Kyle and Reed have loved their medals they "won". (Which are really nice, BTW) Reed is still wearing his and showing it to me saying, "Bike race! Bike race!"

Now to be honest, this is all second hand information for me. While the kids were racing I ran the Narrow Gage 10 mile run. I was seriously nervous at the starting line since everyone looked crazy in shape. (Even more so than your typical in shape Durangoan.) When I saw a group doing warm up laps around the block I was thinking I was in over my head. And although I had to walk the 2 biggest uphills, (Texans, they are total mountains...almost 1,000 ft elevation change) I still accomplished my 2 goals:

1. Finish in 2 hours (I did it in 1:54:27)

2. Not to be last (I wasn't!)

I don't have any pictures of my run, although at one point I almost got out my phone to take a picture of the ridiculousness I had just come up. (But then I figured if I dropped it, I might not have the energy to pick it up again!) But I do have a picture of us this morning before we left.

Yep, it's been a big race day for us Ingys. And I am so looking forward to eating everything I can get my hands on at dinner tonight!