This isn't the email I was hoping to receive from the Race Director of the New York City Marathon.
{crosses fingers}
Following every superstition to increase my luck, I submitted my entry into the New York City Marathon today. Hopefully, I'll get picked for a lottery spot to participate.
For the last few months I've been revising the 2008 race calendar. I added on a bunch of races mostly in beautiful places. Last year, when I'd consider a race I thought - is it pretty there? Now I only ask, is it flat?
It struck me that I hadn't mentioned all of the changes when I realized I had another race this weekend. On Sunday, I'm doing the Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon up in the gorgeous California Redwoods. At least I hear it's gorgeous. This will be my first trip there. This is strictly a girls trip and it should be a very, very slow "race". We're planning to stop and take pictures along the path. At the start of last week's race I told Marcy that I just wanted to get through La Jolla, but I was looking forward to the Avenue.
For 2008, I ended up dropping the only short distance races I had on my calendar, because I needed the longer miles to train for La Jolla. I'm also dropping my century ride, Disneyland and Reykjavík. I'm really bummed about missing Disney.. Nike Women's Marathon lost my interest when they went to a lottery system. It is a nice race, but it wasn't worth the lottery hassle.
Anyway, here's the new calendar - 13 medals is the goal for 2008. That's one more than I originally planned to accomplish.
| January 20 | Carlsbad Half Marathon | ✔ Complete |
| February 3 | San Francisco Half Marathon | ✔ Complete |
| February 10 | San Dieguito Half Marathon | ✔ Complete |
| April 6 | Carlsbad 5000 | Hill training for La Jolla |
| April 13 | San Diego Mud Run 5K | Hill training for La Jolla |
| April 27 | La Jolla Half Marathon | ✔ Complete |
| May 3 | Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon | ✔ Complete |
| May 18 | Bay Bridge Run/Walk | |
| June 1 | America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride | I didn't like bike riding in traffic |
| June 22 | IronGirl 10K | |
| August 3 | San Francisco Marathon | I'm going to run on the Golden Gate Bridge. Whee! |
| August 17 | America's Finest City Half Marathon | |
| August 23 | Reykjavík Marathon | Not enough vacation time available. :( |
| August 31 | Disneyland Half Marathon | Family wedding |
| September 6 | Big Bear Half Marathon | Added this one because Steve likes Bear Shaped finishers medal |
| September 13 | Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon | |
| September 28 | Lake Tahoe Half Marathon | Added just because it seems pretty. |
| October 12 | Long Beach Half Marathon | Added because it's a local event. |
| October 19 | Nike Women's Marathon | The Lottery was stoopid. |
| November 9 | Big Sur Half Marathon on Monterey Bay | Added because it's at Big friggin' Sur. |
| December 13 | Rose Bowl Half Marathon |
Update! - I forgot the Disneyland Half so I had to add it into the schedule.
I spent a few hours putting together my race plan for 2008. It was tough because there are tons of races I want to do, but there's only so much time and budget. Also, from February until June all of my Saturdays are taken with Team In Training sessions while we prepare for our century ride.
Here is the list with some commentary:
Carlsbad Half Marathon, January 20 - The first (and easiest) race of the Triple Crown.
San Francisco Half Marathon, February 3 - This one sneaked on to the list since we're going to be in San Francisco that weekend anyway. So this is an extra, bonus event.
San Dieguito Half Marathon, February 10 - It's close to home. Plus, the event is hosted by the Hash House Harriers, everyone's favorite drinking/running club. I'm expecting a very good beer garden.
Carlsbad 5000, April 6 - Just because my friend Don promised to buy me pizza at my favorite pizza place after the race.
San Diego Mud Run 5K, April 13 - This just looks like so much fun.
La Jolla Half Marathon, April 27 - Triple crown part two.
Bay Bridge Run/Walk (San Diego) or Bay to Breakers (San Francisco), May 18 - I'd love to do Bay to Breakers, but this is almost the end of TNT season. I'm 99% sure we'll do the San Diego one instead.
America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride (Century), June 1 - My TNT Spring Event.
IronGirl 10K, June 22 - I loved this event last year. Wouldn't miss it.
America's Finest City Half Marathon, August 17 - The final (and hardest!) race of the triple crown.
Reykjavík Marathon, August 23 - Steve and I have been batting this one around. I want to do this one or Athens on November 9th.
Disneyland Half Marathon, August 31 - Whee! Disney!
Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon, September 13 - This one is questionable since there is NO MEDAL. It's at Camp Pendelton Marine Corps base.
Nike Women's Marathon, October 19 - Redo. Steve had to sit it out in 2007; this year he'll be on the course.
Rose Bowl Half Marathon December - It's such a beautiful event and so well organized.
I'm still looking for races in March, July and November. I had to pass on the Palm Springs Half Marathon this year, because that race is February 17. That would have been 4 half marathons in 5 weeks, plus the start of TNT cycle training. I thought that was simply too much.
If I follow the current plan, I'd earn 10 11 medals this year. Not bad. Not bad at all.
I'm not saying that I'm doing any of these marathons but, here is a list of some international marathons that interest me.
March: Rome, Monte Carlo,
April: Paris, Zürich, Madrid, Vienna,
May: Prague, Edinburgh, Stockholm, Beijing,
June: Mount Kilimanjaro, Saint Petersburg, Mont Saint Michel,
July: Perth, Gold Coast,
August: Reykjavik, Berlin, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Isle of Man,
September: Sidney, Warsaw, Moscow,
October: Venice, Istanbul, Auckland, Munich,
November: Athens, Florence, Palermo,
December: Milan,
I'm just putting that out to the universe.
Slowly returning to real life - post-vacation and post-marathon.
For the last few months, I've really focused my workouts on getting ready for the marathons. I've let other types of workouts slip - very little weight training, Pilates or yoga and zero cross-training cardio. In fact, I didn't even join a gym in San Diego; I just walked and walked to get ready for the marathons.
This week I finally joined a new gym. It's nice and it's huge. Yesterday I did some weight work and I was heartbroken by how much weaker I am. I couldn't even bench 70 pounds. Of course, logically I knew that would happen but I'm still bummed.
Now I'm studying the gym's class schedule to determine what I can work into my schedule. This gym has really varied offerings - a LeMond cycling studio, a Gravity Studio, Feldenkrais. I took a Gravity class today and it was a killer.
Here's what I'd like to squeeze in: 1 session traditional weights, 1 Gravity session, 1 advanced Pilates class, 1 pool workout, some other cardio (maybe Tae Kwon Do). I'm also going to take some Feldenkrais classes, but I can't count them toward my workout total. Plus, I'm going to keep up my long walks on Saturday or Sunday. I still need to be ready for the Carlsbad Half Marathon in Janaury.
I finally filled out my recommitment form today. For Team in Training participants recommitment is the real decision to do the event. Before that, you've agreed to train. Now the commitment is financial. At recommit you're accepting responsiblity to raise the full amount of funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. If you don't meet your goal, you're agreeing to donate the remainder yourself. The official recommit date was Wednesday. I've been out of the office so I haven't had a printer to print the forms. Our Team in Training coordinator kindly agreed to bring me a set of recommit forms to today's training session.
For the past few weeks, I've been kicking around an idea. This session Team in Training participants are training for 1 of 2 events - either Nike Women's Marathon or the Dublin Marathon. I wanted to do both, but signed up for Nike since all my friends were doing it. But Dublin just called to me. For the last few months, it seems as though everyone I know has gone to Ireland for work or vacation.
About two weeks ago I asked Steve what he thought would happen if I did the half marathon at Nike (October 21) then the full marathon in Dublin (October 29). Other than the fact that I might get sore, he couldn't find a reason not to do it. I asked a few other people, and they didn't have a good reason either. I'm fit. I'm strong. I train consistently. In truth, everyone is sore after a marathon. Soreness is no reason to skip Dublin.
When I filled out my recommit forms, I was still massaging the Nike+Dublin idea in my head. That's the decision point - not the money, which I'm going to raise anyway - but the event. Selecting the Nike Half Marathon means I can go to Dublin too. It's hard for me to do half of anything, but two full marathons in 8 days is insanity. I stared at the form for a long while, and finally checked off the half marathon box.
That's the adventure I choose - 2 continents, 8 days, 39.3 miles.
Nike Women's Half Marathon and Dublin Marathon - Get Ready, Because Here I Come!
Trying to select my January marathon has been a really difficult decision. The options are:
My pal Zeke came by my office and suggested the I run the Iron Girl 10K with him. He's a marathon/medal junkie - and the Iron Girl has a very cool finishers medal.
It turns out that men aren't allowed to participate in the Iron Girl. I don't agree with that. It's good to a have athletic events that empower women, but I don't see excluding the penis-bearers as empowering to women. It just seems dumb to me, but apparently it works for lots of women.
So Zeke isn't going to do Iron Girl, but he put the idea in my head. Now I'm torn on whether to my standard Team In Training session that Saturday or the Iron Girl.
Pro-TNT:
Training with my friends and training parters
Longer distance - 12 miles (TNT) versus 10K (Iron Girl)
Hill training which I'll need for the Nike marathon in October
TNT location is very close to my house; Iron Girl is 30 minutes away in Solano Beach
Can sleep later on that Saturday morning
Pancake breakfast after training - possibly at the Big Kitchen Cafe
Pro-Iron Girl
Cool event name
Niffy finishers medal
Great event jersey
I had been sick the week before the marathon. Then two days before the race I ate something that didn't agree with my system. Since I wasn't feeling strong, I'd dialed back my expectations with regard to marathon pace. My goal was simply to make it to the finish. At the half marathon point, we were a lot faster than I expected.
As we were walking the marathon course, the TNT coaches for teams from across the country were shouting encouragement to everyone. Our favorite coach was the one with the microphone and amplifier, "Relax your shoulders, unclench your toes, take small steps." He must have moved around the course quite a bit, because we ran into him several times. As we reached D'Anza Cove in Mission Bay Park (mile 15-ish?), a coach from some organization shouted out that we should eat before we got hungry.
Eating sounded like a good idea to me, and I pulled one of my beloved BE Protein bars. These are the most delicious protein bars in the world. 
Unfortunately, the folks at BE have had a little problem in their manufacturing facility and the bars sometimes have mold on them. (BTW, BE has acknowledged and corrected the problem.) Anyway, I had swallowed one big bite of the BE bar and was chewing the second bite. It tasted a bit funny and I really looked at the bar. The bottom bar had spots of white, fuzzy mold.
Let's tally the marathon nausea equation. Sick the week before the marathon + Some spoiled food on Friday + A mouthful of mold at mile 15 = Complete Stomach Revolt. If you're thinking that my tummy wouldn't easily accept food or water for the rest of the marathon, then you're right. I tried to eat and drink, but my tummy wasn't cooperative. Because I didn't drink or eat enough, I started to get dehydrated. After awhile I got cramps in my legs and generally felt like dooty. Linda was incredibly sweet and managed to get me to down a packet of salt and rest for a few minutes. I'm not sure I remember anything from miles 18-22 - except is was hot, blisters tortured my left foot, and I wanted to vomit.
Around mile 22, we ran into Carol who had walked alone from the half marathon point where some of our teammates stopped. I have no idea how Carol made it nearly 10 miles alone. It was so good to see her. From that point onward she and I walked and whined toward the finish line.
The marathon ends at the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot. Once you're on the Marine Corps property you still have another mile or so to go. It's a winding trail so every 10 seconds we'd look a something and say, "Is that it? Is that the finish line? " Also, there's an announcer who calls out finishers. He'd announce the name, hometown, and age (if it was interesting - like a 72 year old). I turned to Carol and told her that if that announcer called out my name, age or weight, then I would pull together the energy to beat him to smithereens.
With the finish line in sight we saw Gretchen on the sideline. She had finished the marathon an hour earlier. Before we crossed the finish we stopped to chat with her. After a few minutes Gretchen said, "Oh, I'm sorry. This is screwing up your finish time." Trust me Gretchen - our time was screwed long before that little conversation stop.
Finally, Carol and I ambled across the finish. We were halfway out of the finishers area before someone told us we'd completely missed getting our finishers medals. Whoops.
Correctly adorned with out medals, Carol went to find her husband and I headed over to the TNT check-in tent. Once I cooled off in the tent, I was hungry, really hungry - I grabbed a PB&J sandwich, a banana and some cookies. TNT had kiddie pools filled with ice water to soak our tired feet - putting my feet in that pool was the greatest thing ever. Ah, the joy of having your feet frozen and numb.
All that makes it sound as thought it was a bad experience. It wasn't. It wasn't as easy as I'd hoped, but I wouldn't trade it.
Linda and I met at my house at 5 a.m. Getting to the race, dropping off our post race bags and getting into the right starting carrel was a bit harried. We snuck into our carrel in the nick of time to hear the National Anthem. Unfortunately, we couldn't find Gretchen, Debbie or Carol, but we did get started.
The TNT coaches instructed us to bring a trash bag to wear against the morning chill. As you can see from the photo, I went with the more form fitting tall kitchen trash bag, instead of the sloppy, oversized lawn and leaf bag. Also, I'd fashioned my trash bag with a vee neck, because vee necks are slimming.
The start of the race is one giant blob of people ambling slowly toward the starting line. Finally you pass onto the course and the mob breaks up into groups of people walking and running a decent pace. Like most extraverts, I love crowds. I spent the entire first half of the race people watching. About a quarter of the people in the event had on purple TNT race jerseys. There were teams from other charities too. There was a pretty good sized group from the American Heart Association. There was also at least one woman running for a childhood tumors organization. Her coach was a barefoot runner and she had a prosthetic leg. On the back of her jersey she'd written Isaiah 40:31. If you're inclined to that kind of thing, then you can look that up. It's a pretty apt verse for someone attempting a marathon.
Whenever I took a break from studying the other participants, I was waving at people who were watching from the course route. It was sort of like being in a very fast moving parade. This is where being part of TNT is fabulous. Along the course, there were people with Go TNT signs, kids with "I kicked cancer's butt" tee shirts, and several people with "Thanks from a survivor signs." I'm not sure where it was on the course, but there was a series of "In memory of" signs too. The runners probably completely missed these details.
The entire first half of the marathon was awesome. We loved the bands, the park, walking through Hillcrest and the Gaslamp Quarter. Somewhere around mile 11, I decided to walk and brush my hair. The velcro in my hat was pulling on my hair and it was bugging me. I actually felt so good, that my hair was my big worry.
I was thinking to myself. "This marathon stuff is easy!" You know that couldn't last.
Backtracking a bit. Here are several pre-race things that will always be memorable to me.
Picking up the button with my uncles photo - This marathon thing started as a way to raise money for blood cancers. My uncle was such an athletic man, I know that it would have tickled him to be in a marathon. The photo is one where he's smiling broadly and obviously happy and healthy. Just seeing that button made me teary.
Getting my race number and timing chip - At that point it's the real deal. I've done a few 5ks and a bike race. Once you've got the number, the event goes from idea to actual.
Running 8 million errands the day before the race - I spent Saturday scrambling to find my favorite nutrition bars, getting my name on my jersey, etc. Note to self: next time rest before the race. Don't be such a perfectionist-dumbass.
Putting together my gear - Preparation is my skill/obsession. I laid out my outfit, race pack and after race bag. I took photos of my gear, mostly so I'd have a list for the next marathon. (Click on the photo and go to flickr to see the entire list.) The funny thing is that all that stuff fit very precisely into my carry belt. Years ago, I decided that I will only travel with 1 carry-on bag. My packing skills are unbeatable.
Entering the pre-race TNT pasta party - About 150 TNT volunteers lined the hallway all with noisemakers and costumes. As the participants entered, it was to a deafening cacophony of cheers and enthusiasm. It was so overwhelming, that it sort of scared me and I ducked off to the side. Finally, one of the mentors pushed me to go through the tunnel of cheering volunteers because that was the only way to the dinner.
Listening to the TNT party speakers - The cancer survivor and family stories were inspirational as always. The keynote speaker was John "the Penguin" Bingham; having him there was awesome. I've read Bingham's monthly column in Runners World since he started writing it. Even when I was completely unhealthy, I enjoyed his take on running. Over the years, he's made marathons accessible to tons of slow runners and walkers or penguins. He's known for saying, “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” That's true of most things, starting is the hardest part.
Next time, I'll post about the actual marathon.
It wasn't pretty and it certainly wasn't fast. But I finished - ahead of the sag wagon and not in an ambulance.
Victory!
The marathon is 6 days and I have chills, sweats, body aches and a throat so swollen that I can't swallow.
Read More......
Or in my case - Walk Together. Nike Women's Marathon, here I come.
Every time I see that logo, I start singing Come Together by the Beatles. But my brain is wired funny that way.
The new fund raising page is here.
Last week I officially signed up for Nike Women's Marathon. There was a very nice TNT Alumni cocktail reception hosted by Nike and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Actually I'm a pre-alum of TNT since I haven't finished my first event yet, but lets not pick nits.
I checked out the fund raising commitment and it's only $1500 even though it's a travel event. I knew it was a lot smaller amount as an alum, but I wasn't sure how much. That's cool.
It's a win/win. I love TNT and the cause is so near to my heart. Nike Women's, here I come.
Okay, I'm barely halfway through training for my first marathon. Yet, I've just signed on for my next marathon - The Nike Women's Marathon, October 21, 2007.
Here is why I couldn't resist -
