Race Weekend (Friday, October 17): I Don't Recognize You With Hair

Race weekend began early on Friday morning. I arrived at the airport around 5:30 a.m.*, and I waited for a familiar face--and an unfamiliar face that was supposed to have my airline tickets, team jersey, and weekend itinerary. Being the Type-A+ personality that I am, not having every detail of my weekend laid out for me was a challenge. The first person I saw at the airport that I recognized was Heather (Silvey) Butner. She, too, was waiting for her tickets, jersey, and itinerary. Heather, like me, is a Type-A/planner.

Once we got our tickets from our race captain, our team members congregate at the gate for our flight to San Francisco. I met my roommate for the weekend, Ellen Gillespie-Miller. I had seen Ellen at a few of the team practices this summer, but I had not yet met her. She was going to be running her 8th full marathon, and her 6th as a member of a Team in Training Team. I was excited to be rooming with an experienced runner because I certainly had pre-race anxiety, despite knowing that with a broken foot, I wouldn't be setting any records. All my teammates at the airport were groomed and dressed in non-running garb, and there were certainly a few people who did not recognize me, as I was not in my trademark white Nike hat pulled low over my eyes and signature long run pigtails. I did, however, have a heavily-taped foot to protect those broken bones as best as possible until I saw my doctor after the race ended and I returned home.

I sat with Heather on the flight, and we gossiped the entire time much to the very visible displeasure of the other girl sitting in our row. She was quite upset that she couldn't sit with her boyfriend (on a full Southwest flight), and she spent most of the flight pouting and holding his hand--as he sat in the row in front of her. Surprisingly enough, this girl looked to be about my age, not 14.

We arrived in San Francisco (actually, Oakland) before noon, and we boarded a shuttle to our hotel--the Hilton Financial District on Kearny. I was so thrilled to see palm trees and sunshine. Despite having been born in California,** I hadn't actually been there in several years. It was unseasonably warm in San Francisco that day--in the mid-80's. We checked in, and I headed to the race Expotique to pick up my bib number and freebies with teammates Ellen, Heather, Aileen Laughlin, Suzie Johnston, and Becky Denson. The Expotique ran smoothly, and I picked up my number, some granola, a great "shopping" bag, some Laura Mercier bath gel, and a spectator's pass for Andrew.***

Then, it was time to shop. The Expotique (and race start on Sunday) were right in San Francisco's Union Square, right in the heart of Saks, Gucci, Prada, etc. The Nike Store in Union Square had the names of all the Nike Marathon runners in pink and white on the side of the building.

*I am not a morning person. I had gotten up at 4 to finish packing, get ready for the flight (I am not a roll out in public in sweats kind of girl, either), and head to the airport. I had not had coffee (trying to stay hydrated for the race). I was less than pleasant, but my hair looked great.

**Despite my more "East Coast" personality, I am actually a California Girl.

***Andrew was driving down Saturday, and he would be watching the race Sunday morning. Nike had arranged shuttles for spectators that would drop them off at cheering stations along the course, down to the finish line, and back to Union Square.

Maybe you shouldn't always trust your gut? (Runs 30 & 31)

Last Saturday (June 21) marked the end of my sixth week of training, so I am approximately one-fourth of the way done with training. Saturday was another team run, and I seem to always do really well on those. I ran just over 6 miles early Saturday morning.

I tried out an interval-type training run for excelling at long runs, which has been suggested by our coaches. It consists of intervals of running and jogging or running and walking. The intervals vary based on your ability and/or desired pace. The idea is to maintain a better overall pace by giving your legs and lungs a little break every x number of minutes. Interval training is not new, but it seems counterintuitive to go from running to a slow jog or walk to increase your overall pace. But, intuition is not always right (like when my gut said that big bangs and a perm were a good idea)...

I did some ten-minute intervals of running with 45 seconds to 1 minute of very slow jogging and/or walking for Saturday's team run. As a result, I was able to run at an overall faster pace, and I was not exhausted after my 6+ mile run. My pace dropped about 45 seconds per mile faster than it was without the intervals. I'm going to continue to play with the intervals from here out.

Unlike last week, I stretched really well after the long run, and I made sure that I hydrated. I attended a birthday party for my second oldest sister, Shirley, on Sunday, and I skipped the cake (as sugar has become my enemy--I love it, but it wreaks havoc on my GI-tract during runs), so I could complete my recovery run Sunday night.*

*I almost skipped the recovery run out of laziness, but I had been watching Olympic diving trials on DVR, and after watching 18-30 year-olds with 3-5% body fat and super-defined legs, I figured I'd better get off the couch and get in some cardio.

Three Weeks Down, and I end in stitches...

Truly I did not end my run today all stitched up--I actually ended up with a side stitch. I'm fairly certain it's a combination of starting out too fast and wearing too much clothing while running. As has been a theme of these posts, my type-A+ personality really interferes with my ability to do things at which I am not good. As I am a very new runner, I have a hard time recognizing that right now, this is my pace, and it will only improve with time and effort. I didn't expect to be setting world records, but I had hope to be a bit faster.

That said, I have finished all my runs (save number 13), and from May 11, 2008 through today, I ran for a total of 7 hours, 13 minutes, and 51 seconds. This is considerably more time* than I will spend running the half-marathon course in October.

Back to the stitch--I don't think I've ever quite experienced that stabbing/can't breathe sensation that a side stitch brings. Thanks to a teammate (that I don't yet know by name) and my mentor, Marianne, for stopping to help me get my breath and get back running. Next week, I'll try to start out slower and dress more appropriately for the weather.

Finally, in three weeks, I have raised $535** towards my goal of $4,000. I really appreciate everyone who has donated so far. I've gotten a couple of apology notes with some donations from people saying they were sorry that they couldn't donate more. Please don't apologize--every donation of every size helps towards the goal of curing blood cancers.

* I certainly hope that I will be running the half-marathon in under 7 hours!
** Donations can take a few weeks to show up on my fundraising page (located here: http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/nikesf08/rhaynes, so the total there is not always accurate to date).

The Good, [The Bad], and The Ugly (Runs 10 & 11)

Training runs 10 and 11 had completely different feels. Training run 10 ("The Good") was our second team practice run. "Halfers" were running for 40 minutes (for more on my actual training, check out my post entitled "This is how we do"). It was beautiful, a bit breezy, and clear at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 24. My Friday night are not very adventorous, as I have to be asleep in time to get up for my team practice runs--I have eaten a nice carb-y dinner (but, not too heavy) on the last two Fridays and crashed out by ten at the latest. No sugar and definitely no alcohol.

Anyhow, the 40 minute Good run was just that--I kept a great pace (except for the point when I was attempting to take off my jacket and my iPod (which was strapped to my arm on the outside of my jacket)), and I handled a couple of small hills with ease. I know one of my teammates, Susan, was behind me, probably wondering why my running motion was so spastic. After the team run, we had a shoe clinic at The Runner's Soul on Wall in Spokane. The Soul's owner talked us through foot mechanics and why you need a running-specific shoe. Great information. I had actually purchased my first pair of run-specific shoes that were fitted to me at The Soul earlier this year--a pair of Saucony Omni 6 Ultimates. They are ugly, but my feet love them. This was the first time that I had purchased running shoes for fit and not appearance. Don't expect this to extend to other areas of my life! I hear that Crocs are cozy, but I'd much rather wear a tall, pointy pair of Weitzmans anyday.

And now for The Ugly run (it was beyond bad)...Sunday morning. Saturday night I had a few glasses of wine and a Grey Goose and tonic at an event. Saturday afternoon, I was at my best friend Devon's baby shower, where I also consumed some sugar (an eclair "baby"--once you got past the initial weirdness about eating a "baby," they were delicious). Went to bed after midnight before my Sunday morning run, and I generally ate poorly on Saturday. Well, Sunday morning I went out for my easy 30 minute recovery run with Chad. I was dehydrated, sweaty, panting excessively, and I thought I might vomit. The best thing I can say about this run is that I finished it. My pace was a good minute per mile slower (at least) than Saturday's run. We did head to the lookout underneath the Monroe Street Bridge to watch the falls after. For those of you out of town, the Spokane River is at the highest it's been in forever. The lookout allows you to see the river run over the falls and through the dam--it is amazing and powerful. It was so loud we couldn't even hear each other talk, and we got treated to a spray of mist from the water down below (much needed after the Ugly run). I wish we would have taken a picture (I'll try to get one in the next couple of days to post).

Lesson learned: sugar is not my friend when running (which, I should have learned last week), nor is alcohol. I'm not much of a drinker, so the not drinking the nights before a run shouldn't be too hard.

Finally, I met Jan Giesa's sister-in-law Gayle at the baby shower on Saturday (my best friend Devon is married to the son of Gayle's brother-in-law). She was thrilled about my half-marathon training and fundraising, and she graciously offered to help sponsor my efforts. I really appreciate all the support I've received this early on in the training and fundraising. It's pretty amazing how many people's lives have been touched by cancer.

Runs 10 & 11 were fueled by the tunes of: Garth Brooks, Moby, Sheryl Crow, Duran Duran, Blink-182, Counting Crows, Lupe Fiasco, AC/DC, Chingy, Pilot Speed, Does it Offend You, Yeah?, Nas & Jay-Z, The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, The Crystal Method, and Korn.