I'm officially a snark

I try to be a nice person, really I do. But, sometimes I just can't help myself.

So, today, I was doing my recovery jog after yesterday's AWESOME track workout (5 x 1000 @ 3:31-36, 2 x 400 @ 81) just minding my own business cruising along probably around an 8-9:30 minute pace. My morning reverie was broken by some solid panting and slapping of tennis shoes behind me. I like to try and guess what type of person is about to pass me by the noises they make. Usually, the louder the runner,the more likely that they are some man killing himself to beat me because heaven forbid a FEMALE run faster than he does. My inner beast wanted to break free and speed up so that this chump couldn't pass me, but I reminded myself that this was a RECOVERY run and not a RACE. So, the loud panting continued and I could hear this guy huffing and puffing as he worked his way closer to me. I continued at my steady slow pace and he finally passed me and then stabilized to my pace once he got about two feet in front of me.

Grr. I hate pacing with someone almost as much as I hate old dudes that try to pass women to prove something. I decided that I would speed up for 1/2 mile and pass this dude so I didn't have to listen to his wheezing and geezing as he tried to maintain a speed that was clearly killing him just so that he could be in front of me.

As soon as he saw me passing him, he picked it up and we ended up in an all out sprint as he tried to keep up with me. For a second there, I thought he was going to beat me, but after about 100 yards the wheels started to come off. Between gasps, he said, "you. see. HUFF. PUFF. I'm. just. WHEEZE. an old. HACK. Army guy. GASP. and. I. have. HUFF. PUFF. this. thing. with. women. WHEEZE. HACK. passing. me."

Now, I could have been a nice person and just let this old dude beat me. I could have just slowed down or taken a different path and left him with his pride in tact.

But. I'm a snark.

I replied: "Well, you picked the wrong woman to pass." And, I left him in my dust.

First Long Run with the Group and Weekly Mileage

After a horrible week at the track (couldn't finish the track workout or the tempo workout), I had a great long run with the group. It was my first time running with everyone and I was really worried that they would run me into the ground, but we ran a pretty decent pace and it never felt like a race. I actually ran with some girls that I had heard about peripherally through the years, but always put them in the "really fast runner" category that I thought I didn't belong in. Turns out, they were perfect running companions. I think I have a bit of self-consciousness that I need to get over in that I never think that I look like a "hard-core" runner and have always assumed that the "fast girls" would snub me because I didn't have their lithe legs and matching running outfits. I'm trying to change my own self-perception, but I'll always feel like I am too "soft" to fit in with the "fast girls." I asked them about the mileage and one said she runs more than the coach's plan outlines (albeit, not much) and another said she tends to stick to the coach's "lower" mileage because it works better for her. I'm going to talk to the coach tomorrow about throwing in some 2nd workouts in August to get the miles up. I can't believe I only have 3 months to train! It seems like it is going to fly by!

Last Week:
Monday, June 29, 2009: 8.6 miles, Body Flow
Tuesday, June 30, 2009: Track: 1 mile WU, 8x800 w/ 400 laps, 1 mile CD (8 miles)
Wednesday, July 1, 2009: 8.6 miles
Thursday, July 2, 2009: 10 miles
Friday, July 3, 2009: off--traveling to WV
Saturday, July 4, 2009: 9 miles (3 miles STRAIGHT UP MOUNTAIN)
Sunday, July 5, 2009: 12.5 miles
Total Mileage: 55.7 miles

This Week:
Monday, July 6, 2009: 8.6 miles
Tuesday, July 7, 2009: Track workout: 1 mile WU, 1x2000, 800 jog, 1x1600, 800 jog, 1x800, 800 jog (4.75 miles total) HORRIBLE workout...couldn't finish
Wednesday, July 8, 2009: 9.4 miles
Thursday, July 9, 2009: 75 minute elliptical
Friday, July 10, 2009: 4 mile tempo @ 6:09 w/ 1 mile WU and 2 miles CD (7 miles)
Saturday, July 11, 2009: 8 miles
Sunday, July 12, 2009: 16 miles @ 7:52 pace
Total Mileage: ~53.75 miles

"May I have some more, sir?"

I finally got my marathon training plan from my coach. Yeah! Oh, by the way, I should mention that he got me a comp'd entry an October marathon, so I will now be running a half-marathon in November. (Do you think that is enough rest time?)

Here's a sample of the plan:

Week FIVE:
Mon: 6-8 miles
Tues: Track 2000, 1600, 1200, 800, 400
Wed: 5-6 miles
Thurs: Off
Fri: 6-8 miles w/3-4 miles tempo
Sat: 6-8 miles
Sun: 14-16 miles

Week NINE:
Mon: 6-8 miles
Tues: Track 2000, 1600, 1200, 800, 400
Wed: 5-6 miles
Thurs: Off
Fri: 8-10 miles w/4-5 miles tempo
Sat: 6-8 miles
Sun: 16-18 miles

Week FOURTEEN:
Mon: 6-8 miles
Tues: Track 14-16 x 400
Wed: 5-6 miles
Thurs: Off
Fri: 8-10 miles w/3-5 miles tempo
Sat: 8-10 miles
Sun: 16-18 miles

Week SEVENTEEN:
Mon: 6-8 miles
Tues: Track 5x1000, 2x400
Wed: 5-6 miles
Thurs: Off
Fri: 8-10 miles w/3-5 miles tempo
Sat: 8-10 miles
Sun: 20-22 miles

Just thought I would show you a couple of weeks. Seems like the range of miles is 47-62 miles. I thought I would be running more than this to bring down my time. I was thinking more of the 60-70 range. Any experienced runners know if it is possible to break 3 hrs on this mileage? Do you think I should ask for more miles? I had talked to him about doing double workouts and he said a second run of 4-5 miles on 4-5 days a week (not long run or track days) was a great way to get miles up. I'll ask him tomorrow, but just wondering....the little miss "how can I get an A+" in me wants to know!

Appalachian Adventures

Ever since Nathan was born, my husband has been begging me to take him to meet his great-great grandmother Virgie, who lives in south-western West Virginia. A nine hour drive. With a baby. In the same amount of time, you could drive to southern Maine. Or South Carolina. Or fly to the Azores. Heck, I'd even rather go to Las Vegas.

2 hours is my limit for car rides. My hamstring really starts to act up and it usually results in days of pain. In addition, his grandmother lives in a holler...aka NO WHERE. As I've mentioned before, to send her a letter all you have to do is write her name and Matheny, WV and it will get to her because her town is THAT SMALL. The last time we went to visit, John and his grandfather drove one hour to the closest pizza place. Can you imagine having to drive one hour to get take-out pizza? Food being another issue. They don't really eat fruit or vegetables there. Other than pizza, on our last visit we ate hot dogs and doughnuts. Yumm-o.

My husband and I have worked out a little "concession system" in our marriage that quantifies the extent to which you are making a sacrifice for "the greater good." The concession system is on a likert scale with one being "very teeny tiny inconvenience" and five being "HUGE divorce-talking, ring-throwing territory." An example of level one concession: my husband never EVER puts the toilet seat down (I'm sorry, but I don't count 1 out of 10 as "sometimes") and this irks the bejeezus out of me, but I can live with it. My husband's irritation with loud chomping (he swears everything I eat reverberates in my hollow head) is also an example of a level one. Level three ups the anty a bit because it is more than just dealing with different preferences and irritation; level three actually requires an action on the part of another. For example, going to a family function when one would rather be insert personal interest (for example, going for a run (in my case) or putzing in the yard (my husband)). Because we (I) tend to exaggerate, about once a month an issue reaches level five. In reality, we only have one level five issue that I will not concede on, but that is a topic for another post.

This trip falls in the level four category. Seriously. I am a big baby and I hate sitting in the car that long and there's a long drama behind this part of the family that I won't go into on a public blog. But, because I know this is important to hubby, off we went to West Virginia for the third time in a month (but, who's counting?). To make the trip more palatable, we broke up the drive into four days and incorporated stops in the trip so that we didn't have to drive more than 2-3 hours a clip.

Here are some favorite memories from the trip:

• Drinking wine with my aunt and uncle on Thursday night. Having long conversations about politics, religion, and chosing to make your own path in life. Learning that my uncle's favorite memory of church as a youth was that my grandfather would put his arm around him during the homily.


• Stopping for a picnic lunch at Sandstone Falls and taking in the quiet rush of water as Nathan jumped in our hiking backpack.



• Asking the locals for a short cut back to I-64 after seeing Sandstone Falls. Learning that one should never take directions that begin with "what kind of vehicle do you drive?"


• Actually taking the suggested back road and surviving despite much gnashing of teeth and screaming as we rumbled up 70 degree inclines.


• Meeting hubby's grandparents and great-grandmother for the second time and struggling to understand their lilting Appalachian accents. For the record, bear is pronounced "BARE" and a "pole cat" is a skunk.


• Admiring hubby's grandfather's prized trophies for his "coon dogs" and then introducing Nathan to the blue bloods.

• Getting to take a picture of 5 generations of my hubby's family and watching my hubby introduce his son to his great-great-grandmother.
• Picking through old pictures of my hubby and his family, including one very attractive picture of hubby in a LEOTARD and TIGHTS. Yes, folks, he loved dance class as a kid!


• Running STRAIGHT up a mountain for three miles, seriously, STRAIGHT UP (talk about a "hill" workout).


• Stopping for dinner in Lexington with Abbie and her family, talking about life and eating some delicious vegan grub...THREE vegan chocolate cupcakes disappeared in my belly that night (yes, Abbie, as promised, I made sure that hubby got at least one)


• Being surprised when Abbie's beautiful daughter raised her tiny finger to my mouth, waiting for me to kiss it, and cried when we left.


• Making an emergency stop in Luray Caverns in the early morning and getting a tourist-free tour of the caves.

Yasso's 800s

I had THE BEST track workout yesterday. I've been trying to figure out how to eat for my 7pm Tuesday night track workouts and I think I've finally mastered gastronomical preparation. I used to have a stomach of steel. I could run after eating anything. But, then something soured and I can basically only run after eating carbs, carbs, and peanut butter. Which is fine if you are running first thing in the morning. Not so great if a run is the last thing in your day. So, my new eating regimen for Tuesdays involves....all carbs, fruit, for breakfast and lunch and a PB and banana sandwich 2 hours before track. I treated myself to a Smoothie from Smoothie King after track (not smart for a mom with a lactose intolerant baby, but somehow I managed to forget this).

We almost did Yasso's 800s last night. We did 8 X 800 with 400 laps in between. I was pretty consistently knocking out 2:51, 2:52 for the 800s, so here's hoping to some truth in Yasso's theory!

Mr. Grumpy Pants Does NOT Smile for the Camera

Life=Good

I have been too busy to blog lately! We had a great weekend. On Saturday, we met up with Abbie to finish up our photo shoot because it started to rain and Nathan was very cranky during our last photo shoot. I guess Nathan just isn't a very smiley baby because I think we might have managed to get one smile out of him in our repeat photo shoot! We went to a cathedral for the second round of photos and it was AWESOME! It was a beautiful, breezy morning in the mid 70s, which is totally uncharacteristic of late June weather. We had a great photo shoot and I am really looking forward to seeing the pictures. We also went to West Virginia last weekend to celebrate hubby's aunt's 60th birthday. The party was at an old railroad station and featured a local folk band. It was a great evening passing Nathan from family member to family member.

A funny WV family story for you. Apparently, in hubby's family, it is fashionable to use the same first letter to name your children. In addition, many favor using the father's name with different suffix. For example, my hubby's mom's family includes the following daughters and son of Dan:
Danton, Dorretta, Darletta, Dannetta.

I learned that my hubby has aunt and uncles: Wayne, Waynetta, and Wanda.

Wow. What does this mean for us? Should we name our next child Nathanetta?

Here's my running stats for the past two weeks.

Last Week:
Monday, June 15, 2009: 8.6 miles
Tuesday, June 16, 2009: 8.6 miles
Wednesday, June 17, 2009: 8.6 miles, Power Yoga video
Thursday, June 18, 2009: 8.6 miles, Body Pump
Friday, June 19, 2009: 8.6 miles
Saturday, June 20, 2009: 70 minutes elliptical
Sunday, June 21, 2009: 10 miles
Total Mileage: 53 miles

This Week:
Monday, June 22, 2009: 8.6 miles
Tuesday, June 23, 2009: Track workout: .5 mile WU, 1 X 1600, 4 x 800, 1.5 mile CD (total: ~5 miles)
Wednesday, June 24, 2009: 10 miles, Power Yoga video
Thursday, June 25, 2009: 10 miles
Friday, June 26, 2009: 3 mile tempo w/ 1 mile WU and 2 miles CD (6 miles)
Saturday, June 27, 2009: 60 minutes elliptical
Sunday, June 28, 2009: 16 miles
Total Mileage: ~55.6 miles