Pre-race jitters and Tagged!

I leave tomorrow afternoon for Saturday's Dam to Dam race. I'm taking this as a good sign, but I'm quite nervous about it. Anxious, excited nervous, but nervous none the less. As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit of a stalking nut when it comes to running with other people. Who's faster than me? By how much? Can I hang?

Thanks to the glorious Atlinks suggestion, I was able to waste half my work day doing a little research. Of the 8 of us going, 1 is tons faster than me, 1 is a little faster than me, and the others are mostly new runners. Should be an interesting day. I wish I was in a little better race shape, but the competitor in me is coming out. Screw running this for fun, it's on ladies!

Also the hilarious, adorable, lunch box queen MicaPie tagged me. Thanks, lady!

Post a picture of/tell us a little about where you blog.

90% of the time I'm at my desk (Employee of the Month, here I come!)

What are you wearing right now?
Kiewit Middle School wrestling t-shirt from the lost and found and yoga pants.

What’s the last thing you read/what are you currently reading?
Tipping Point and (more accurately) US Weekly

Do you nap a lot?
Oh, I am a napping champion. Any place, any time.

Who was the last person you hugged?
The Husband as a thank you for making dinner.

What’s your current obsession/addiction?
Jewelry from Etsy. Seriously, someone needs to take away my PayPal account.

What (was) for dinner?
Grilled salmon, grilled sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, and milk. (It makes up for the damage done by the husband this weekend when he was in charge of food. Five words: mac and cheese with bacon!)

What was the last thing you bought?
This dress from J.Crew. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it though since those already polled seem quite mixed. I like the top, but I like it much better short. Add in the fact that I really have no place to wear such dress, and it may get returned.

What are you listening to right now?
College Softball World Series.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
Invisibility

What is your favorite kind of weather and why?

Saturday mornings in the summer when it's sunny and warm, but not hot yet.

What time do you usually wake up?
7:30 during the week and 11-12 on the weekends. (I'm going to make the best parent ever.)

What is your most challenging goal right now?
Keeping my life organized and clean.

Favorite pair of shoes you keep going back to over and over again even though you have a zillion others?
These wedge espadrilles I bought 5 years ago that I can't give up. They are trashed, but I loooove them. Judge if you want, but they don't look nearly as bad when my feet are in them.

Name one thing you can’t live without.
Bananas.

What time is bedtime?
Between 12:30-1:00. No wonder I nap all the time. I'm like a little kid the way I fight going to bed.

If there was one place you could be right now, where would it be?
Hawaii! Stop posting pictures of paradise, people!

I tag everyone who need something to write about.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend! Can't wait to read reports on Monday.

BT Memorial Day Run Race Report

Hopefully everyone had as wonderful a Memorial Day as I did. We managed to eat too much, landscape the heck out of the house, and relax on the couch just the perfect amount. Onto the race report:

The Boys Town Memorial Day Run has quite a bit of history for my family and me. Since my mom worked at Boys Town for most of her life, we go way back. Way back to the 80s!

Here is the 8 year old version of me in a giant t-shirt.

Here's the 29 year old version of me running along the same street.

Here's the 9 year old version of me wearing some fierce dayglow spandex shorts.

Here's the 29 year old version of me. Still wearing spandex shorts, apparently, but now half the size!

The weather was beautiful, and I was thrilled that my mom came along to cheer and take pictures. It was a bit strange to pull into campus after so many years. The last time I was back at Boys Town was the day my mom retired over 10 years ago. Everything was exactly the same, except the trees were much bigger and the building seemed a little smaller. Funny how that happens.

The race itself is a quick 5 mile course that curves and loops around the scenic square mile campus. A few hills, but I like how compact it all feels. You never seem very far from the finish.

My finish time was 40:11 and 10th in my age group. I was hoping to finish in 39 something, but since I'm not disciplined enough to do speed work with any consistency, I'm not entirely sure how I thought I'd pull sub-8 minute miles. 8:00-8:05 is about what I thought I'd do.

Overall, I'm so happy I did this race. The humidity has been killing me recently, and it was good to run before noon. Now I remember how it feels when I'm not breathing through a wet washcloth. Plus, my mom took me to a great brunch as promised. I'm sure everyone appreciated my post-race stank. Hopefully the smell of baked goods and bacon covered it up. Mmm, bacon smell.

The Break Up

As I mentioned earlier I had to break up with my beloved Under Armour shoes.They held up better than any shoe I've worn, but they really tore up my feet. (Half my fault for purchasing a half size too small.) I'll spare you a real picture and provide you with the following diagram.

Yes, both big toenails are totally black. Ew, it's sandal season! The red arrows also represent places where I have or had huge blisters. It's weird since they've cropped up in various places throughout the life of the shoe. Usually I just get them at the beginning.

But back to the toenails since that's what finally sent me to the podiatrist. I know it's not uncommon to kill toenails that later fall off, but I hypochondriaced myself into a future scenario where I let it go, it got infected, and they told me, "if only you'd come to us sooner, we wouldn't have to cut off both your big toes."

The doctor told me that toe amputation was quite unlikely (and not so subtly to stop googling medical conditions). And to really earn my $20 co-pay, he said I should purchase new shoes right away. Either Brooks, Saucony, or Asics and never ever Under Armour again. Thanks, doc. Good thing you were hot.

The break up wasn't easy, but it took me all of 5 minutes to find a big ol' bouncy rebound across the street. Check out these little beauties:

Asics Gel-Nibums 10 in white, hot pink, and lightening, baby! (Yes, I'm a pinky pink girl. I no longer fight it.) Just like my old shoes but new and shinny and less likely to give my blood blisters. I've run about 15 miles, and I think I'll like them. My feet feel like they're floating around a little, but that's because I've been wearing shoes too small for the last few months. Hopefully I get used to them quickly.

My Under Armours will likely get a few booty calls for a quickie remembrance run, but they'll be retired to primarily causal wear. I'm just not quite ready to give them up entirely.

Races squared

So I went from not knowing when my next race would be to two races in the next two weekends. Yay!

1. Boys Town 25th Annual Memorial Day Run (5 miles)

This race holds a special place in my heart. My mom worked at Boys Town for almost 30 years, and apparently my 4 year old self ran/walked in the very first 1 miles kid's race back in the day. I'll see if I can find pictures, but this race was an annual family event. I'd have my little ribbon and my dad and I would wait for my mom to finish the 5 mile course. I seriously thought she was superwoman for running that far.

I haven't done it since 5th grade, but it just seemed fitting to do it again on such a large milestone. Plus, it means a lot to my mom who's always supported and stayed connected to Boys Town.

Okay, to be honest, the real reason is because it's a 9:00 start time 15 minutes from my house and I want the shirt.

Okay, the real real reason is because my mom promised me brunch after the race (I'm easy like that), and it's the only way to make sure I'm up in time.

2. Dam to Dam (20K)
One of my girlfriends invited me to tag along with her local friends to Des Moines next weekend for this race. I read about these great racing road trips you all take, and they sound like so much fun. I almost always train/race solo, so I'm excited to share the travel and race experience with some new people.

No idea of my goals, but I'd like to keep it respectable (I suspect I was described to them as "my friend who runs all the time") while still having fun and not puking. Always key when you have to ride in a packed Suburban 2.5 hours home later that day.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

Welcome back, me

Has it really been 11 days since my last post? Sheesh. Pathetic.

I'd like to say those 11 days can be excused away by exciting adventures or shaping the youth of America (a very popular excuse for blog-absence this month), but that would be a lie.

I did spend last week in Salt Lake City for work though. Say what you want about those Mormons running the show, that city is impeccably clean and extremely easy to navigate. Who needs noun street names when you have perfect grid system? Genius!

Highlight: Getting asked by some "talent scout" who was "working for the company that cast High School Musical" if I was interested in acting. (I seriously doubt it was legit, but as I creep closer to 30, I'll take it as a compliment when someone directs the words "High School" at me.)

Lowlight: Trying to run in the foothills and getting my ass handed to me by the elevation and altitude. Seriously. I'll go back to Nebraska where I feel better about myself and suck substantially less, thank you very much.

Salt Lake City?

Or Nebraska?

I vow to post more often now that I'm in town for a bit and actually have some running news to report. Including a breakup with my beloved Under Armor shoes and the Dam to Dam 20k race in Des Moines I might do next weekend. Anyone know anything about it? I've heard it's pretty good, and I'd be road tripping with a friend and her local friends. I'm not really in tip top racing shape, but it sounds like fun to make a weekend of it with new running people. Decisions, decisions...

Pinkapalooza

"I'm certainly not a pinky pink kind of girl"

-X-Country2, March 8, 2009

That's always been my stance. I don't really do pink. Never have.

Until now.

1. The shoesIt started with the Under Armor shoes. They were hot pink and sexy and flashy and I couldn't say no.

2. The race top

Then, I bought this cotton candy pink top the day before the race. It fit my two criteria for an impulse buy: a.) long enough, and b.) on sale.


Color be damned- I'll take it!

3. The tunic
(Excuse the cheese-tastic pose, but it's about to get worse.)Do you follow The Chic Runner? Oh, you really should. Danica is cool for a million reasons, but her deal Thursdays are appointment blog reading. This was a purchase from a couple Thursdays ago. (She even gave it one of her "love this!" comments.) It totally solves my "running shirts are all cut for midgets" issue. I can't wait for it to be hot enough to wear this on the weekends.

4. Recovery Socks

Remember how I raved about these Recovery Socks here, here, and here? And then I shamelessly begged the Recovery Sock people to hook me up with a pink pair? Yeah, they did! (Thank you!) These have all the great benefits of keeping you from getting sore AND they are awesome looking. Get yo'self some today.



So in conclusion, I may be a pinky pink girl after all. I figured I'd quit fighting it and just embrace it all at once.
It's like pink Starbursts and strawberry Laffy Taffy threw up all over me.

Lincoln Marthon Race Report

The short version:

I ran the half (at 1:57:30ish) instead. Half because I got busted for running bandit and half because I wasn't feeling up to it.

The long version:

Since I spent the entire day before the race working, we didn't make it into Lincoln until almost dinner time. I was bummed to miss the expo, but we made it to packet pick up and over to the husband's friend's house in time for a yummy grill out. Made it to bed pretty early.


On the morning of the race, I woke up to a snotty nose, screaming headache and a wheezy chest. Turns out, the husband's cold from the week before had inexplicably hopped to me. (Well... not so inexplicable since I'm up on him like a spider monkey most of the time. I require a lot of affection.)

I drugged up anyway and got ready. The weather was predicted to be perfect, so I focused on that and tried to stay positive. The first task (and the one proved most difficult) was picking up the lovely Laura from Absolt(ly) Fit , in town from NYC. This chick is awesome. Unfortunately, I managed to get lost on the way to her hotel, showed up late, nearly got in a wreck, and babbled incessantly the entire time. I apologized on behalf of Nebraska.

We dropped off our stuff and headed toward the start line. (Notice the different colored bibs? Hmmm.)

We parted ways, and the gun went off. I'm a little biased, but I think this race is fantastic. The crowd support is great; the course is flat, well-marked, and interesting; and the water stations have cups with lids. Lids! You know how much easier it is to drink on the move with lids? Yay Lincoln!

My pace was more than a little erratic since I can't pace on feel with that much excitement going on around me. At some point around mile 3, I went flying past some couple:

Girl: What's our pace?
Guy: 8:30.

Damn. My goal was 9 min miles. I tried to slow down, but then I'd space out and just cruise along with the crowd much faster than planned. Something I clearly need to work on.

Fast-forward to the half/full split at about mile 12.75. It's very clearly marked who goes where, but since my bandit-bib was only for the half, I choose not see the giant sign.

I cruised into the 13.1 water station and was greeted by a lovely volunteer. The conversation basically started with,

"oops, looks like you (and your blue number) missed the turn- this is the full course..."

and ended with

"...because I'd hate to see you banned from future LTC races."

I thought about calling his bluff and trudging on, but after originally deciding not to do the marathon, my heart never really got back in it when I found out I could. Plus, I'd have no problem fake-naming it forever, but "Sarah" might not appreciate the blackball. At that point, the drugs were wearing off and I decided to call it a day. I slowly made my way back to the finish line and collected my half marathon medal.

A couple hours later, I watched Laura cross the finish line in very impressive fashion. (Check out her blog when she posts the race report.) She had a flight to catch, so the husband and I quickly threw her at her hotel and made our way home.

I was pretty disappointed to not run the full, but doing the half was the right thing. I had 10-12 hours of work Sunday-Wednesday, and I was officially a snotty, hacking, probably swine flu mess by the time we got home. I'm still not 100% better, but the coughing fits are less frequent, at least.

I'm thinking of running another half some time this spring/summer to see what my real time would be, but for now, I'm in a good space to just run to run. For now, I have a million other race reports and blogs to catch up on, so I'll just live vicariously through you all. Spring is here, and it's my most favorite time of the year to run for the enjoyment of it all.