Stacking the relay deck

So I've been promoted from "committed alternate " to legit team member for our Market to Market relay team next weekend.

Yay! But... whoa. All the downside things I kind of thought about are rapidly becoming crystal clear. I'm going to half ass an already half ass blog strategy and condense his issue bullets with a relay like this:

• The Stench Factor
• The Boredom Factor
• The Annoyance Factor

All excellent concerns, and I share each of them. (Thankfully I don't smell, can sleep anywhere, and never ever get annoying to people.) I'll add my biggest issue though:

• The Competitive Factor

This relay was originally sold to me by run group captain as "super laid back" and "no one is going to take this serious" and "we're just having fun". Okay, okay, I can buy into that. I run with the boys at running group and have long established my running cred with everyone there. No need to show off in front of these people.

Oh but wait! Running captain has invited some running buddies to supplement the team and you know I Athlinked them .5 seconds after I saw their names on the e-mail. Here's just a few resume highlights from our three newest team members:

• 3:06 marathon
• IM Coeur d'Alene
• 3:19 marathon and 10 hour IM Louisville LAST MONTH

Yeah, I'm sooooo sure these guys are going to "not take this serious". Especially with each other and girls in the van. We've been accused of basically hiring college basketball stars as "interns" to stack the company intramural team, and um, kind of guilty.

And, AND, if that wasn't enough of a reason for me to actually put forth some effort, this clown has been talking trash. Normally I'd brush it off like a gnat at a picnic, but he kind of threw down a 10K PR last weekend. (I'm pretty sure he cheated somehow, but still.) Understandably he's been dying to meet me, and I'd like to make a good first impression.

Sheesh, maybe I should start doing some speed work or something? Although with the race 10 days away, shouldn't I be tapering? Best to just stress about it instead of doing anything, I always say.

Alumni Softball Ga-- THUD!

Driving to Friday's annual alumni softball game against the current team, I had one goal for the night. One.

Do not get hurt below the waist.

Having not pitched or hit in about 365 days, I knew my arms and shoulders would be sore, but with three races the next three weekends, I couldn't afford to twist, pull, strain, or break anything on my legs.

I get there plenty early and spend the first 15 minutes stretching and catching up with these lovely ladies from back in the day.

Another round of retro pics:

The best pitching staff in the conference.

Hello, Arizona. Hello, hottie coach.

While we were 95% hugging and chatting about weddings and babies and 5% actually warming up, this year's team on the other side was serious. Ah, the energy of youth. Full on uniforms, batting stations, and a full infield practice. As to not be stood up, we figured we should take some grounders too.

The first ground ball to come my way: Bounce... skip... (funny) hop-- THUD!

SSSSSSHHHHHHHHIIIIIITTTTT!

Right on my ankle bone. I didn't even touch it with my glove. It takes about 90 seconds to swell to the size of a, well, softball while I hop and drama around. Unbelievable. During warm ups. I get hurt during warm ups in the one place I needed to keep healthy.

I managed to suck it up and end the evening with a spectacular 0-2 performance at the plate and 1 2/3 innings of shut out pitching before giving up a monster home run to end the game. (I'd like to think I just earned that girl a spot on the team.) Excellent time though.

I took Saturday off since putting on socks hurt too much and iced like a crazy person. Sunday was a little better, so I managed to make it out for most of my planned long(ish) run. Not bad considering I ran on this for over 10 miles.

I have 6 days before my first real 5K, so this cankle better stop throbbing real quick.

10 years of hearts

**Caution: Mushy squishy post ahead**

Today is the official 10 year dating anniversary for The Husband and me. 10 years together! 10!! That's more than 1/3 of my life. Craziness. Can't believe it's been that long, but at the same time, it's been wonderful. Couldn't be happier. He's honestly perfect for me, and I can't imagine life without him.

We both attended the same small college and met as teenagers at some random party at his fraternity house. Romantic, no? We'd crossed paths several times around campus (including once in the training room where he sat on the table next to me in full football pads, sweaty, tan, and unbelievably sexy) and started officially dating a year later when I pursued the hell out of him at another party and complimented him on his blue blue eyes. (Our kids WILL get those eyes some day.)

Here's our first picture together taken together a month after we started dating. Nice couch, huh? That's fraternity house chic right there and I don't even want to know what's been done on it over the years.

This was my 20th birthday that happened to fall the same night as "Handcuff Party". Yeah, my Gap sweater, ponytail and minimal make-up are seeeexy.

Isn't he adorable? Yeah, I know.

This was my last college softball game and one of my favorite pictures. I loved this night. (At 5'8", it takes a lot to make me look/feel petite. You better believe I married someone who is big and tall and all masculine meaty.)

Wait, does he kind of look terrified below? I just noticed that. It was the night we got engaged and he kind of looks all, "what the hell have I done!?" Guess he showed up on our wedding day and is still around, so that's good.

And now. So happy.10 whole years of hugs, kisses, love, and laughter, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Boji

I spent an amazing weekend at Lake Okoboji with these 15 lovely ladies. The weather was perfect, and we had a fantastic girly time. My friend E invited all the girlfriends in her life to make the trip to her in-law's house on the lake. We spent the day doing this... (that sa-weet farmer's tan on the legs up front is all me!)...and the night doing this.

There may have been some serious eating and drinking in between too. (And yes, I wore that pink sweatshirt for 3 straight days. Hell, I'm wearing it right now.)

I did find time for 8 sunny miles around the lake on Saturday morning. Pretty impressive pace for me too. A couple miles were along the half marathon course, so it was fun to pretend to be racing. Even ran through a couple church camps. That counts for God points, right? Like I actually went to church?

I knew most of the girls, but since it was E's friends from all over, there was plenty of new faces for everyone to meet. It's always cool to gather a collection of new people. Especially this group of interesting, funny, smart, ambitious, and crazy fun girls.

I was most fascinated by one of the girls' job. She's a food scientist at the R&D department of a major food company that owns brands like Healthy Choice, Banquet frozen meals, and Chef Boyardee, and she's in charge of developing new products. (She also brought a literal bucket of free nacho cheese to much fanfare. That may have beat the puppy chow for potluck winner of the weekend.)

Having read In Defense of Food this summer, I'm super into analyzing processed foods and being much more aware of what I consume. I tried not to bother her with a million questions about preservatives and artificial everything, but what a cool job. She told us all about these new vegetarian soups she's developed, what constitutes "meat ingredients" on a label, and a few things about Chef Boyardee that make me thank my mom for never giving it to us. Overall, it's been added to my top 10 dream jobs.

Hopefully we'll make this an annual event because it was a GREAT time. Weekend success.

Victoria Newman rules

Southern California hosted it's annual Nautica Malibu Triathlon last weekend. Not a particularly noteworthy race other than it tends to draw a few celebs. (JLo did it last year post-twins.) So many in fact, that they give them their own category and it's the very top list on the results. Let's look at this year's crop:

You probably can't read that, but let me tell you, it's pretty a weak list of "celebrities". I'm an Us Weekly subscriber and a E! News Live DVRer, and I recognized FOUR of these people. Pathetic showing Hollywood. Seriously, what the hell is McConaughey doing these days? Get his grizzly ass down there to B-List up the place at least.

Much hoopla was made of Teri Hatcher participating this year. She did quite admirable finishing in 2:06:50.7. (.5M swim-0:17:55.4/ 18M Bike-1:04:51.8/ 4M Run- 0:37:07.2 ) My biggest issue, however was her outfits. I won't even post a picture that's how bad I feel about about it. Seriously, it looks like the old white sports bra I wear when all my fun colored ones are dirty paired with black Victoria Secret high-leg briefs from the 5 for $25 bin. That's what you wear when you know you'll have a million pictures taken?! Come on, splurge on some cute race gear!

But for me, the real star of the day was Heather Tom (who will always be the awesome Victoria Newman from Young and the Restless to me).

She won the female celeb category in a very impressive 1:48.57.1. (.5 swim-0:18:22.2/ 18M Bike- 0:54:38.2/ 4M Run-0:31:22.6 ) That's about a 19.8 mph pace on the bike and and 7:50 pace on the run. Nice.

She placed 5th overall in the celebrity category beating 11 other celebs including the only ones I recognized: ABC's The Bachelor's Chris Harrison and international dirtbag Mario Lopez (who's not as charming, young, or attractive as he thinks he is). Plus every time I read about his Boston Marathon excuses, it makes me angry.

I ran the Boston Marathon in 2002 for a charity called the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. I nearly didn't do it because I hurt my ankle a couple weeks before the race. But I just taped it up and gutted through it. I ran it with my then-girlfriend [ed note: Doritos chick who ditched him 2 weeks after the wedding for sleeping with a stripper in Mexico at his bachelor party], who wanted me to stay with her, and she kept stopping and starting. It was a really leisurely race. We even stopped for lunch. So my time wasn't fast, hovering around five hours. [ed note: Actually it was closer to six. 5:41:41 to be exact] I've done a bunch of half marathons since, and I'd love to do another marathon, like the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego, my hometown, or one in LA, where I live now. But my schedule always seems to get in the way.

Blech. You know that just KILLS him that she finished 15 minutes ahead of him. Shoot, she had time to put on that kicky red jacket and pose for some smiley photag pics with her shinny medal before he even hit the turnaround point. Suck on that Slater.

*****
In my own running news, my plan to get back in distance shape is going quite well. I finally hit 40 miles over 7 days and feel a bit more like myself.

Committed alternate

So it's not exactly the Wild West Relay with its 200 mile, 24 hour run through the Colorado mountains, but Nebraska is hosting a relay race for the second year. It's 86 miles from the Old Market in Omaha to the Hay Market in Lincoln dubbed Market to Market. Clever, no?
My work run group has two teams, and many many months ago they asked me to participate. I said no thanks for a variety of reasons (not the least of which is 12+ hours in a sweaty van with co-workers), but now it's less than a month away, and after reading how much fun you all had running various relays, I think I might want to do it.

I e-mailed the captain and inquired if they still needed people. He told me they were full, but he'd put me down as a "committed alternate." What? What does that even mean? Who knows. I'm probably getting blown off, but whatever.

I politely said to "let me know so I can at least be somewhat ready." He said he'd try but I should "prepare like I'm going to be on the team." Yeah, like doing 2-a-days and stuff. Awesome. So help me, if I drag myself out of bed before dawn to run for the next month to legitimately train for this and DON'T get a t-shirt out of the deal, it won't be pretty.

To give myself a little motivation to actually train and soften the inevitable blow off, I did some googling. (Doesn't googling always solve everything?)

My my my, what is this?
A half marathon the very next weekend in Kansas City! (Anyone done it? Doing it?) My little sister lives in KC, and I'm always looking for an excuse to go shop--... er, I mean, go visit her.

We'll have to see if a few things fall into place before I'm officially running this race, but I still have time. For now, it'll be just what I need to step it up and train for (potentially) running Market to Market. I can't not. I have a reputation to protect, dammit!

OUT FOR DELIVERY

When you're UPS.com-stalking a package, isn't OUT FOR DELIVERY the most exciting update ever? It's like I know my little package is taking a field trip around town and zipping closer and closer to my subdivision. I imagine my neighbors getting jealous when they see that giant brown truck stop in front of my house and the guy hopping out. "Oooh, I wonder what they're getting? I wish I had a package coming my way."

And this package did not disappoint. Let's unwrap the magic together shall we?

Why yes, I would like free shipping both ways, thank you very much, Zappos.

You can smell them from there, can't you? You know the one. That fresh-out-the-box combination of rubber and cardboard and speed.

Ahhhhh. It's like a squishy hug from Santa.

Brooks Ghost 2 in Carolina, blue, and silver. Also known as: The new loves of my life. I was kind of in love as soon as I put them on and hopped around the living room, but I was drawing our names in hearts on my trapper keeper with marker after last night's run.

I'm usually drawn to Asics since they are flashy and very plentiful in running stores around here. Unfortunately, they cause some serious plantar fasciitis that I've been denying were tied to every pair I've ever owned. But I've been reading quite a bit about Brooks in the blogging community and beyond, and they seem like a fascinating company. Clever marketing, niche branding, and an obvious passion for all things running. Working there is officially in my Top 3 Dream Jobs. If they had their headquarters in the midwest, I'd probably camp in the HR department every single day until they gave me an interview.

We'll see how they hold up over time, but our maiden voyage together was a fantastic success. My foot didn't bother me one tiny bit and I felt supported and cushy the entire time. The perfect weather and day of rest probably helped, but I'm giving the shoes credit for one of the best 10 mile runs I've had in months. Love is in the air.

Staycation "training camp" by the numbers

Hopefully everyone had a lovely holiday weekend. Mine was wonderful. The Staycation "training camp" I hosted was a resounding success. So much fun! Thanks for all your suggestions. Here's a summary of my four days by the numbers:

• Miles traveled: 110
• Stairs traveled: 6048 (3024 up and 3024 down)
• Ibuprofen consumed: 24
• Recovery smoothies consumed: 3
• Ice baths taken: 2
• Hours slept: 34 (normal 3 day total: 19.5)

If I won the lottery, I'd train like this all the time. I loved it.

Friday

I worked a half day and hopped on my bike as soon as I got home. Went on a 45 mile ride out to Arlington and back with a few loops around a pretty lake with multi-million dollar homes. (Let me tell you, multi-million dollar homes in Nebraska are huge!) I'm very tempted to open water swim in it some morning. A trespassing ticket can't be that expensive, right?

Anyway, great weather, great ride and went to bed exhausted and happy.

Saturday

Slept way later than I planned, so woke up and set out for a mid-morning run. My legs were like lead, but I wasn't too worried about pace. Just covering distance. Ended up 12 miles and couldn't get a recovery smoothie made and into an ice bath fast enough. Shoot, those 5 minutes of scrambling were by far my fastest pace of the entire day!

Spent the rest of the day half watching football and napping on the couch.

Sunday

I had to be at a family picnic for lunch, so I knew I had to be up early early if I wanted to go for my first (dun dun dunnnn) half century ride. Look! Success!
Okay, so 8:38AM isn't early for most of you to work out, but it's very early for me. Especially on a weekend. Anyway, my pace was ugly and the calories show twice as much as they should be, but I traveled 50 miles on tore up legs and was pretty damn proud of myself.

I tried some new hilly roads and spotted several other smiley riders along the way. Everyone was happy to be enjoying a perfect Sunday morning.

Made it home to recovery smoothie, ice bath, shower, and make it to the family picnic with time to spare. Mmmmm, potluck.

Monday

Slept until 11:00 this morning. Much better. After a relaxing lunch at the coffee table and some serious procrastination, I got dressed and headed out for some stadiums.

The top 1/4 of each set had my quads quivering, but I did the full workout I planned. Half because I was motivated to finish "training camp" weekend strong, and half because the entire high school football team had come down to practice. After my cougar fail last month, I needed some redemption.

Getting out of bed tomorrow should be super fun, and I will have earned every one of those aches and pains. (Still have my eye on that 3-day half IM too. Next time.) This weekend was just the perfect mix of everything and everyone I love. Wish it could always be like this. Have a great week!

Staycation "training camp"

I've read about some of you and some pro athletes going to organized training camps. (Frayed Laces had the greatest adventure ever. Jealous.) Then I read about Run like a girl taking a vacation where she "drank, relaxed, and trained like crazy". The first thing I thought was that it sounded like the perfect vacation. I'd love to do that.

I got to thinking today: why can't I do that here? We have a few social appointments this weekend (football, family picnics, mom's birthday dinner, etc), but by and large, I have plenty of time on my hands. Plus, it's supposed to be beautiful outside.

Now the question becomes what to do? Any suggestions?

I went for a 45 mile ride this afternoon, so I'm off to a good start. Possibilities:

• I'd like to ride 50 miles at some point.
• I'm still on my quest to kick my ass back into distance shape, so I'll do a few long runs too.
• Thinking about maybe a half Ironman over three days, but that would require a lot of planning with finding water.
• Maybe I'll drive to the other side of town and try some new routes.
• Stadiums are always fun too.
• Decisions decisions!

So what's your favorite workout? I'm not training for anything, so I'm up for anything that'll give me a hard workout. If you had perfect weather, nothing but time for 3 days, and a bucketful of motivation, what would you do?

So fresh and so clean clean

Part of my spring/summer/fall running garb is a single arm band. I started wearing one during my college softball days (because I wanted to be cool), but now it's actually quite functional during hot sweaty runs. And this time of year, every day is a sweaty run.

The result, however? Very stinky arm bands.

I alternate them each day and wash them on Sunday, but even if they look fluffy clean, as soon as I wipe my forehead again on Monday, it's rank-tastic all over. After several attempts at scrubbing and soaking with OxyClean, Shout, and a bleach stick, I've finally found the solution to my stinky problem.

Behold:
(If you're curious, those black spots are burns. Apparently microwaving a loaf of italian bread in those foil packets leads to flames. Who knew?)

Anyway, I'd read microwaving a very wet kitchen sponge for two minutes kills the bacteria and thus the smell. I figured the same principle might work with one of my armbands. The key is getting it soaking wet and watching it closely. It'll sizzle and get super hot, so be careful. I tossed it in the wash machine with my whites, and when I took it for a spin on Monday-- no smell! Halle-freaking-lujah!

I'm not sure I'd advocate stuffing all your running clothes in the microwave, but if you have something small and particularly stinky, nuke it up! It'll be fresh as a daisy when it's done.

On another note, I've decided I need to get back into distance running shape. Half for my sanity and half to do it before the weather turns cold and miserable. I ditched work early last night and ran 10 miles before dinner. It was beyond wonderful.