tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60800804548396874192024-03-05T13:32:26.869-05:00Do It.Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-19183796019557111572011-03-19T15:57:00.004-04:002011-03-19T21:03:25.363-04:00Vern's No Frills 5K - #24 Race ReportA few weeks ago, I learned about a series of 5K races that takes place monthly in Georgetown, TX (about a 40-minute drive from where we live in Austin). The series is called <a href="http://georgetownrunningclub.com/Vern_s_No_Frill_s_5k.php">Vern's No Frills 5K</a> and takes place on the 3rd Saturday of each month. As the race name suggests, it is a "no frills" event (no awards, no shirts, no timing mats/chips, no clocks on course, etc.) . . . but hey, considering it only costs $1 for adults to run (students K-12 run free), I figured it was worth a shot!<br /><br />After having stayed up WAY too late last night watching March Madness, Wilson and I woke up to the alarm blaring at 5:30 this morning. Ouch. It had certainly been quite some time since either of us had seen that hour! But I, for one, was definitely pretty giddy to be getting back to racing after a 6-month hiatus (9 months for Wilson!).<br /><br />We sipped on our coffee and ate some plain grits, which seemed like an okay idea at the time; but soon I realized that my tummy was pretty darn unhappy with me. Meh. I've eaten grits as a pre-long run meal and have never had any problems; so I'm not sure if it was nerves or what. But let's just say that my gut was making some pretty crazy noises at me. I got dressed and took care of business, which made the tummy feel a little bit better (temporarily). Before I knew it, it was 6:45 and past time to hit the road!<br /><br />Luckily, there was no traffic at all and we managed to arrive at the race site (<a href="http://www.williamson-county.org/CountyDepartments/ParksandRecreation/BerrySpringsParkandPreserve/tabid/808/language/en-US/Default.aspx">Berry Springs Park & Preserve</a>) ahead of schedule. Finding our way around was a piece of cake, as was parking and registration.* We had a good 25 minutes or so until go-time and my tummy was still a little pissy, so we hit the bathrooms (REAL bathrooms, yeah!!) then went for a quick warm up jog, including some strides. Not gonna lie, my legs were definitely all "WTF, chick?!" when I started the strides. I mean, it HAD been nearly six months since I'd done any speed training, so I wasn't at all surprised . . . but still, I started to get a little bit nervous.<br /><br />Now, before I go any further, I should mention that I didn't really have a time goal going into this race. Having done nothing but easy runs since some time in early October, I knew a PR was almost definitely out of the question (current PR = 24:47). I think my biggest goal was just to get out there and leave everything I had on the course, so as to get as accurate a sense of my current running fitness as possible.<br /><br />The start was casual. I wasn't sure where exactly the "start line" was, but I tried to line myself up in an appropriate area judging by the runners around me. When we were all lined up, the race director gave some last minute instructions and a description of the course; then made all of us raise our right hands and repeat, "I promise . . . to be safe". After wishing us good luck, the air-horn sounded and we were off!!<br /><br />Right away, I realized I probably should have lined up closer to the front than I did . . . I was trapped behind a bunch of slower runners. I ended up going off the path and running around a number of them to get ahead. This seemed to be going well until I rolled my ankle a little on a divet in the grass. Ow. Luckily, by that point, I had gotten around enough people that the path seemed to open up for me. I glanced down at Gertie Garmin and was shocked to see that I was running at a 7:40 pace . . . oops! That was WAY faster than I should have been running, given the circumstances, but it really didn't feel that difficult. Still, I knew continuing at such a pace would likely lead to disaster somewhere down the road. I eased my pace a bit and decided to stick behind the tall dude in front of me. Soon, we hit the 1-mile marker, ran around a cone and headed back in the direction from which we'd just come.<br /><br />Mile 1: 7:57<br /><br />After we turned back around, we hit a quick uphill that wasn't particularly difficult; but as I crested the hill, I started to gasp for air. It was at this point that I really began to notice the humidity. Although it was only 64 degrees out, the 92%(!) humidity was making things a tad bit uncomfortable! On top of that, a nagging little ankle/achilles/calf injury I've been dealing with started to rear its ugly head, thanks to the pounding my legs were taking on the concrete path. I knew I had no choice but to pull back a bit more. As I watched my pace fade, negative thoughts crept into my mind; thoughts that would have, in the past, consumed me. "I'm so far off of a PR; what's the point?!" "My time is going to be SO humiliating!" "Wouldn't it be nice to just slow down and jog the rest of the race?" "Hell, maybe I should just drop out." I fought against the nasty voices in my head and pushed as hard as my body would allow. By this time, though, I was starting to fade . . .<br /><br />Mile 2: 8:27<br /><br />At some point in the previous mile, I'd noticed a small child--maybe 9 or 10 years old--who kept trading places with me. Now, at first, I thought this was adorable--I was just thrilled to see him out there racing and having a good time. But then, during the 3rd mile (as I began to struggle more and more), I started to get a little frustrated. The kid would sprint up ahead of me and run for a minute, only to sit down on one of the many park benches lining the course. There, he would wait for his dad (who was somewhere not too far behind me) to catch up with him. Then, of course, he would start running hard once his dad finally caught up to him . . . and pass me again. This went on for the remainder of the race. Looking back, I actually think it was pretty funny. I am positive I wouldn't have been so frustrated with it had I not been hurting so badly at that point. But, BOY, was I ever hurting. I looked down at Gertie at some point and noticed my pace had dropped to an awful 9:07. Ouch. I forced myself to pick it up a bit and pushed myself with everything I had left in me, praying for the finish to come soon. Finally, I could see it up ahead. Unfortunately, so could everyone else around me. Almost immediately, I got passed by another girl. I tried my hardest to catch back up with her, but I was running on empty. On top of that, I could feel myself quickly approaching the puke threshold. I wanted so, so badly to catch this girl, but it became apparent that I just didn't have it in me. I gave it one last hard push and FINALLY reached the finish line.<br /><br />Mile 3: 8:51<br />Last .1 (or .19, according to Gertie): 7:37 pace<br /><br />I was SO glad to be done. But still, I felt like vomit was imminent. I took a moment to compose myself. Finally, after a couple minutes, I felt like the contents of my stomach were safe. I walked over to the nearby pavilion where water and Gatorade were available** and met up with Wilson (who had finished in 22:16; a little over a minute slower than his PR). We animatedly traded race stories and splits for a while before heading back to the car (and then on to <a href="http://www.roundrockdonuts.com/">Round Rock Donuts</a> for a post-race treat--YUM!). Even if this race wasn't the best race ever for us, I think it's safe to say that we're both glad to be back to racing! :)<br /><br />Final Stats (according to Gertie): 26:17; 3.19 miles; 8:23 pace<br />Official Time: 26:19; 3.1 miles; 8:29 pace<br /><br />Some Final Thoughts:<br /><br />1. I LOVE this race series. Everything was run really well and everyone there (both runners and volunteers from the Georgetown Running Club) was nice as can be. I think it will be really cool to get to run a 5K on the same course every month, and a great way to judge my progress once I mix speed work back into my routine.<br /><br />2. As horrible and inconsistent as my splits were, I kind of expected it. While I am bummed at how badly I faded as the race went on, I think I am more depressed that running a 26-ish minute 5K caused me to approach the puke threshold. That's just sad. I knew going into this that I wasn't in 5K racing shape, but c'mon!! My ego definitely took a hit there.<br /><br />3. At the same time, I am in shock that I managed to push myself hard enough to actually approach the puke threshold. I'm sure my icky stomach could be partially to blame for this phenomenon, but I definitely DID leave everything I had in me out on the course this morning. I didn't have an ounce of energy left in me after I crossed that finish line. Considering how badly I wanted to give up throughout much of the race, I'm extremely proud that I sucked it up and found a way to hold on.<br /><br />4. Somehow--and I don't even know how this is possible--I ended up finishing 9th place female. SAY WHAAAAA? I cracked the Top-10, baby! Now, as I mentioned before, this is a "no frills" race and there are no awards (nor age groups). But according to the standings, I finished 9th out of 90 women and 57th overall (out of 194 runners). Um, looks like all of the fast ladies must have stayed in bed this morning . . . but hey, I'll take it!! Sure beats those races back in NYC where I would inevitably finish in something like 394th place in my gender!<br /><br />5. I can't wait to smoke today's time and earn myself a course record at next month's race! ;)<br /><br />Thanks for reading, y'all! Hope you are enjoying the weekend!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*Having never been to the park before, we were a little bit worried about figuring out where to go; but everything was super easy and clearly marked. There was even a really friendly man out directing the parking. He asked us whether we'd been there before and welcomed us when we said we were new. He pointed out where everything was, from registration, to restrooms, to the start area. It was such a nice touch. We felt like VIPs!!</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />**I was pretty shocked that a race that cost $1 to enter--and aims to raise money for the park it is run in--offered Gatorade at the end. How could they afford to do so on $1 a head?! Well, apparently the Austin Marathon--which was run back in February--donated their leftover Gatorade and cups to this race series. How cool is that?! By the end of the race, the thought of Gatorade made me want to vomit; but still, it was a very cool surprise!</span>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-70555281301875735482011-03-15T21:50:00.005-04:002011-03-15T22:05:07.422-04:00Memory Lane . . .You guys! Guess what Wilson and I just found?! Well, remember back over a year ago when I said there was a video that went along with my Goofy Challenge Race Report? Yup. <span style="font-style: italic;">That</span> is what we found. Ah, memories! It makes me want to go back and do it all over again (but maybe without falling on my face this time around)! At any rate, here is my post-Goofy interview. Enjoy! :)<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw7Ems4Zzp5JxOZctE4ZTf4EDbub9PpvtKBvfDxbzBqbeJ_leYwHw5PlloT5a5EdZRjXkzMFYUSDNqp71LX5A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-21356537805682041592011-03-10T12:32:00.003-05:002011-03-10T13:45:29.033-05:00Two Black Cats . . .<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6cTej7o4dT11TJQg0OD8eX-bf2ja0NoGKgZaLMSqOsJlOQcf_Ks0gNTZ0DfnSHAwHkK33l9QpgH_-pjdEBaImLAnuCSVy5Jed9E6RZk8fpQTovaSfk8c2r7WlDKHu8vE_KpOA7WHyHWg/s1600/black_cat_02_139875.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 274px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6cTej7o4dT11TJQg0OD8eX-bf2ja0NoGKgZaLMSqOsJlOQcf_Ks0gNTZ0DfnSHAwHkK33l9QpgH_-pjdEBaImLAnuCSVy5Jed9E6RZk8fpQTovaSfk8c2r7WlDKHu8vE_KpOA7WHyHWg/s400/black_cat_02_139875.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582514541025377202" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Image: http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/Black%20Cat%2002_13987</span></div><br />Wilson and I were out for a blissful 5.5-mile run the other night, when two--yes, TWO--black cats crossed our very path. Now, I know there are cultures that consider black cats to be harbingers of good luck . . . but everything I've ever seen/heard has suggested otherwise. When I somehow managed to dump a huge glass of seltzer water all over my laptop later on that night, I began to get worried. After all, I WAS still waiting to hear back about a job I had been through three long interviews for. The last thing I needed was (double?) bad luck on my side!<br /><br />Well, the bad news is that my laptop's keyboard is totally FRIED despite our best efforts to salvage it. The good news, though, is that I will soon be able to replace said laptop using my very own shiny, new paychecks! Yes, that's right. The nightmare that was our never-ending unemployment saga is finally over. I was offered the job I've been up for yesterday and I accepted it without hesitation. It's a techie job, which I find hilarious . . . I guess I just never thought I'd find myself in a tech position. But hey, it's a job, it pays (decently), and I'll make it work! The semi-bad news is that it's a night/weekend gig, so I'm still trying to work out what that will mean for my running schedule*. But hey, if I managed to figure it out at the old law firm job--where I essentially worked both the "day shift" AND the "night shift" (and more often than not, the "weekend shift" too)--I can't help but feel like figuring this one out should be a cinch! ;)<br /><br />Speaking of which, running has been going just swimmingly! Wilson and I have been running regularly and even threw in an 8-mile long run last weekend. It was ah-mazing! I felt strong enough to really push it through the last mile, so I was definitely very pleased. At this point, we're still working on building our mileage back up, but I am definitely getting VERY excited about the prospect of adding speed-work back into our routine sometime soon. Have I lost my mind?! Perhaps . . . but whatever the case, I am seriously jonesing for some speed!!<br /><br />Well, that and apparently some ultra fun. Hehe, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I am highly considering tackling <a href="http://www.elscorchorun.com/">El Scorcho 50K</a> on July 17. Because what could possibly be more fun than running from midnight until sun up? In July? In the Texas heat? We shall see whether the new job will allow for time off, but if so, I'm pretty sure I'll be toeing the line at my first ultra-marathon come July!<br /><br />Alright, well I'm going to wrap this up now so I can get right to work catching up on what y'all have been up to . . . but thank you so, so much for your kind and encouraging words. They've helped more than you can imagine! I'm sure I'll have some deep thoughts about this whole experience at some point in the not too distant future; but for now, let me just say that I think I've decided that black cats really ARE good luck :)<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br />*You know you're a running nerd when: you don't worry AT ALL about how your social life will suffer as a result of working the night/weekend shift, but DO worry constantly about how you are going to figure out your training/racing schedule!</span>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-44671942782982701652011-02-17T02:46:00.008-05:002011-02-20T18:38:12.574-05:00Quick Update . . .Thank you all for bearing with me during this seriously wacky point in my life. I can't believe it has been almost a month since that last post (it seems like it's been a few days, at most!). But alas, here we are. I keep thinking I should have more time than ever to blog right now, seeing as how I'm unemployed . . . but somehow, the days fly by and there never seems to be enough time in the day. Go figure.<br /><br />So where does the time go? Well, for starters, we're still working on the job thing . . . so that's been more or less monopolizing our lives as of late. I know it's probably healthy to take a break from it every once in a while; but there's a part of me that fears that any second I take away from job-hunting, cover letter-writing, resume-updating, networking, etc. could be the second that I miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime. I've had a few interviews that haven't amounted to anything and I'm still in the running for one other job. But Wilson hasn't found anything at all yet. **Sigh**. Each week that passes gets more and more depressing, and I get more and more desperate for basically anything that would pay. Take the job I'm up for now: It's something I would never consider were we not in such a crazy situation right now. It's a law(ish) job (ugh), but it's a weekends/night shift kind of thing. So my hours would be 4 p.m.-1 a.m. and I would have to work on weekends. It's not exactly what I was hoping for (and not exactly the best schedule for someone who loves training for and running races) . . . but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.<br /><br />On the upside, running has been going a little better as of late. Not great, but I'm getting out there probably 3-4 times a week, which is an improvement. I'm in crappy shape and it hurts, but I know I have to get through this rough patch to get back to the place where running is magical and dreamy (at least most of the time). I did learn recently about a "No Frills" 5K series in the area that takes place once a month and only costs $1 (1 FREAKING DOLLAR!!) to race in. That has definitely given me something to look forward to and some motivation to get training. I'm also starting to think about the New York City Marathon coming up in November, and I really want to make sure I have an AWESOME base going into training for that one. So I'm happy to report that my motivation is improving steadily!<br /><br />On the days that I'm not running, I've been making an effort to get some form of movement in, whether it's going for a hike, playing tennis, doing some body weight resistance training (push-ups, squats, hip extensions, lunges, planks, bench dips, etc.) or vigorously cleaning the entire apartment (totally counts!). I REALLY want to get back to lifting weights as well, so I think Wilson and I are going to sign up for a membership at Planet Fitness in the next couple of days. As much as I tend to be a gym snob--and as much as I REALLY don't want to support a gym chain that makes use of a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ6OrO1f610">"Lunk Alarm"</a> (seriously?!)--I figure I should probably just suck it up and sign up, considering it costs $10 a month and it's a month-to-month contract. You better believe I will be out of there as soon as one of us snatches up a job. But for the time-being, we'll make it work.<br /><br />In other news, some jerk stole a bunch of my running clothes out of the laundry center at our apartment complex. REALLY?! Who does that?! At the present time, I have identified 4 sports bras and 2 pairs of running shorts that are missing (along with who knows what else that I haven't noticed yet). And somehow, this person seemed to know exactly which items were my favorites . . . because the items that are missing are those that were always the nearest and dearest to my heart. You know the items you turn to time and time again when planning your race day outfit? The loyal shorts that stay ever-so-nicely in place? The comfy sports bra that never attempts to chafe/saw your boobs off? Yup, that's exactly what this jerk-face stole. In a matter of minutes I went from having 3 of those trusty sports bras and 3 of those perfect pairs of shorts down to just one of each. GRRR. Well, lesson learned. I guess I will not leave my laundry unattended in the laundry room ever again. And hey, at least it will be that much easier to pick out my race-day outfits from now on!<br /><br />To end this on a happy note, here is a photo of Wilson and I in front of the Texas Capitol on Valentine's Day.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqs9i2MxhqZ-tFOYD1DFsoOsXgUqvd-LUdnBB3WHnVeGWN1XVw-ypEWTaxmOoFeQutzcqSuoCcSoW_Fkbn_zk7XayEs_n_vTJkE-twDz0ZrzaPrAJsBXTeIOaflkCSpqF_QqYRUyId9U2i/s1600/Wilson+Bae+Austin.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 342px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqs9i2MxhqZ-tFOYD1DFsoOsXgUqvd-LUdnBB3WHnVeGWN1XVw-ypEWTaxmOoFeQutzcqSuoCcSoW_Fkbn_zk7XayEs_n_vTJkE-twDz0ZrzaPrAJsBXTeIOaflkCSpqF_QqYRUyId9U2i/s400/Wilson+Bae+Austin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574581395567898194" border="0" /></a><br />I'm not typically a huge V-Day fan, but we DID have a pretty nice evening, all things considered. First of all, it was a gorgeous day as you can tell from our attire--in the mid-70s!! We splurged and went out to dinner at a cute but inexpensive restaurant in an adorable old house. The food was to die for and the place scored extra points because it had its own vegetable garden on site (LOVE!). We haven't been doing much eating out lately, and while I was a little hesitant at first, I'm glad Wilson made reservations and insisted on taking me out. <a href="http://www.eastsidecafeaustin.com/">Eastside Cafe</a> will for sure be a favorite of ours if/when we get back to the point of being able to afford eating out! After our meal, we decided to stop by the Texas Capitol, since it looks SO beautiful all lit up at night. Thus, the photo of us above. Then, we ended the night with some fantastically crappy tv. Not bad at all!<br /><br />Well, that's all I have for now. I'm going to try to get a post up about my thoughts on the <a href="http://www.baa.org/news-and-press/news-listing/2011/february/boston-athletic-association-announces-new-registration-process.aspx">new Boston Marathon registration process</a> sometime in the next couple days . . . so stay tuned for that. Also, the <a href="http://www.youraustinmarathon.com/">Austin Marathon</a> is on Sunday! I'm quite sad I won't be running it, but still very excited to get to participate in the weekend's events. We're debating whether we should volunteer for the race or just spectate and be the best cheerleaders ever. To be honest, the call times ranging from 4 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. will probably lead us to go with the latter, but I'll be sure to post a report either way!Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-69147182602437636552011-01-21T16:01:00.002-05:002011-01-21T16:42:34.337-05:00The state of my running (or lack thereof)So, first of all, a quick but heart-felt THANK YOU to the handful of you still out there in blogland! I'm honestly blown away that anyone even bothered to finish that long and tedious post! But seriously, thank you. Y'all are the best.<br /><br />Now, onto the state of my running. Well, let's just say that I haven't been lacing up the running shoes as often as I ought to be, considering this is the only season in Central Texas where you can run without sweating buckets! Sadly, the motivation to run just hasn't been there. I'd be willing to bet this lack of motivation stems from the fact that I have approximately ZERO races penciled in at this point. Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE and dearly miss racing . . . it's just that Wilson and I really can't justify paying (ever-climbing) race fees at the moment, considering our financial situation. We still make it out to run every once in a while, but not nearly often enough.<br /><br />So, I am wondering . . . does anyone else find it all but impossible to get motivated without races <br />on the horizon? If so, what do you do to snap yourself out of it? I'd love to hear any strategies you might have to offer . . .Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-2854647816671468862011-01-10T14:05:00.014-05:002011-01-15T23:03:27.215-05:00Another Year Gone . . .Well. It looks like I *ALMOST* managed to make it an entire year without posting; not that I'm proud of that fact or anything. But in my defense, life HAS been kind of chaotic as of late. Looking back, I'm pretty sure that my hesitation to post stemmed from the fact that I REALLY wanted to wait until I was sure things were on the upswing before admitting to some of the crazy stuff that has gone on over the past year. After all, who doesn't love a happy ending? But last night (as I lay wide awake at 5 a.m.), I had a thought: Maybe I should be posting about this stuff NOW. After all, I'm pretty sure there are quite a number of folks out there in similar situations. And who knows? Maybe--just maybe--it would help those people to know that they aren't alone. Then, there's the fact that I'm pretty sure that Wilson and I MUST be approaching some kind of turning point in life; and if that turns out to be the case, wouldn't it be nice to have a record of it? So, here I am . . . back from the blogging dead (again). I'm not quite sure whether anyone is still out there; but if you are, prepare yourself for the longest post in Irish Cream history!<br /><br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Where do I even start? Well, I guess we should start with the point at which I left off: I had some exciting news to share (man, what a cliffhanger!). Well, the big news was that I had been offered a job at an upscale, big-name gym, just a few blocks from my apartment in Brooklyn. My instructor at school (who had brought in a recruiter from the company to interview any of us who were interested in the possibility of working for the gym) basically guaranteed me that it would be a great place to work. It was a dream come true!! Or so I thought . . .<br /><br />Instead, the job turned out to be a disaster from the very start. Lets just say that the gym's management left a little something to be desired (understatement of the century, but whatever). Now, in all honesty, I probably should have known this would be the case when one of my potential managers scheduled a final interview with me and then didn't bother to show up to work that day (or when the same thing happened AGAIN upon arriving for my scheduled appointment to fill out new hire paperwork) . . . but a) I was really trying to keep an open mind, and b) hindsight is 20/20, isn't it? Well, I made it about 3 months before I got sick and tired of not getting paid (my minimum wage rate) on time (or at all), and figured I owed it to myself to call it quits before I got into another situation like I was in at the law gig. So that was that.<br /><br />At that point (early May), knowing our lease would be ending in a little over two months, Wilson* and I had a decision to make: Should we sign another 12-month lease in one of the most expensive cities in the world, despite the fact that neither of us was gainfully employed? Or should we attempt to make a move somewhere else (preferably less expensive) in the world? We grappled with this question for quite some time; but in the end, we decided it was probably time to move on and start our lives over elsewhere. After all, I had saved up a pretty huge sum of money while working in law . . . but, if worse came to worst, we knew that large sum would go MUCH further somewhere cheaper than NYC.<br /><br />So Wilson began applying to animation companies wherever he could find them . . . Vancouver, Seattle, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin, Jacksonville, Greenwich, CT. Our Plan-A was basically to go wherever he found employment (after all, I can do what I do anywhere; but there are only a handful of cities that offer animation gigs). Of course, aware that the economy was sucking, we also knew we had to make a Plan-B (in case Wilson didn't find a job before we had to vacate our Brooklyn apartment). So, after much deliberation, we decided Plan-B would be to move to Austin, Texas. Austin was a place we'd visited a while back and had simply ADORED (see <a href="http://doitirishcream.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-irish-ate-her-way-through-texas.html">here</a>). Not to mention, we knew it was a popular spot for video game animation (an area Wilson wasreally interested in pursuing). Well--whadyaknow--six weeks passed without Wilson finding a job, and we eventually came to the conclusion that it was time to move forward with Plan-B. So, we got in touch with <a href="http://www.greenlightaustinapartments.com/">an apartment locating agency</a> in Austin (thanks, Yelp!) and asked them to find us an apartment within our (rather low) price range. Well, bless our apartment dude's heart . . . he found us some really fantastic options!! And after stalling for as long as we could (on the off chance Wilson was offered a job elsewhere, at the last minute), we eventually signed a lease at one of the complexes, sight unseen.<br /><br />Once we signed that lease, we considered Austin to be a done deal. Wilson changed his job search focus to Austin alone, and I worked diligently, trying to figure out all of the rather complicated details that a cross-country move entails (this was especially time-consuming considering we were attempting a cross-country move out of NYC--without a car--and on a pretty tight budget, to boot). We sold most of our worldly belongings (HUGE pain in the butt, btw). We packed the rest (our couch, books, kitchen stuff, and clothing) onto a moving truck in 100+ degree weather, without so much as an ounce of food or drink.** We ate dinners on the floor of our apartment. We visited all of our favorite NYC hang-outs one last time. We sipped champagne out of plastic cups.*** We ate, drank, and partied with great friends until the wee hours of the very morning we were scheduled to leave (always a BRILLIANT idea when you have a 14+ hour drive ahead of you . . . but I don't regret it for a second!). And when all was said and done, we bid farewell to NYC on the morning of July 31, 2010.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSwDv5yW8yCKAIyF2bg9d8sgjr2XQUeMobVyxKX6WF0pxkMGKTcnl0pARrvENF1Mo7M4EZ2MazYBvLnfdkPVXRDU_RNI1foZkTm-BaLWp9qDICyZ7S071tKJ49kYVGo02wkX-JSnWCDeX_/s1600/new+orleans+015.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSwDv5yW8yCKAIyF2bg9d8sgjr2XQUeMobVyxKX6WF0pxkMGKTcnl0pARrvENF1Mo7M4EZ2MazYBvLnfdkPVXRDU_RNI1foZkTm-BaLWp9qDICyZ7S071tKJ49kYVGo02wkX-JSnWCDeX_/s400/new+orleans+015.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562527592098232786" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">So long, NYC!</span><br /></div><br />Now, in an ideal world, we could have driven straight to Texas, stopping for a night or two on the way. Unfortunately, though, our apartment in Austin wasn't being vacated until August 15. This meant we had to find a place to stay for a couple weeks until our new apartment would be ready. Thank goodness my parents are saints and generously offered to let us stay at their winter home in South Carolina during this gap! Otherwise, I'm not quite sure what we would have done . . .<br /><br />Our stay in South Carolina was relaxing and fun. For the first time in several months, we were able to decompress a bit and truly enjoy ourselves. We swam in the lake behind my parents' house as often as we could, caught up on episodes of our new favorite TV show, <a href="http://www.amctv.com/originals/breakingbad/">Breaking Bad </a>(SO GOOD!), grilled out, watched scary movies, went to minor league baseball games in nearby Greenville, spent a fair amount of time cuddling (schmoopy, I know), and we even got to spend a few days with my older sister and 5-year old niece (who came up from Beaufort to stay with us). Needless to say, our time in SC was pure heaven after all the craziness of attempting to orchestrate a cross-country move.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEZoYDnvJWiBtiDcdmdtdSfIFr5QeBnofOeXAvZ0-cWUpr7Ygfo_5Yq6_VqB_y-vUbqMwitrXlxmtZC2c3iBRcaCPjun5SJinLTx-ylmOG4Z9fPMwPK2eChLBLjM39U5smLbcUh11rjoxI/s1600/new+orleans+031.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEZoYDnvJWiBtiDcdmdtdSfIFr5QeBnofOeXAvZ0-cWUpr7Ygfo_5Yq6_VqB_y-vUbqMwitrXlxmtZC2c3iBRcaCPjun5SJinLTx-ylmOG4Z9fPMwPK2eChLBLjM39U5smLbcUh11rjoxI/s400/new+orleans+031.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562527596460268498" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Me, enjoying a "big boss" (aka, delicious hunk of meat) at the <a href="http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t428">Greenville Drive</a> game</span><br /></div><br />After two glorious weeks on the lake in SC, it was time for Wilson and I to continue on our journey. On the way, though, we made a brilliant decision to stop for a couple nights in New Orleans. Neither of us had ever been . . . and we found some REALLY cheap hotel rates (it <span style="font-style: italic;">was</span> the SWELTERING off-season, after all). Plus, we figured it would break up the 18-hour drive from my parents' place to Austin quite nicely.<br /><br />Oh man, did we have fun in New Orleans!! We managed to fit in a RIDICULOUS amount of deliciousness . . . drinks ranging from pimm's cup, to hurricanes, to hand grenades, to absinthe . . . and eats ranging from muffaletta, to cajun fried chicken, to shrimp creole, to seafood gumbo, to rabbit & sausage jambalaya, to red beans & rice, to alligator and crawfish po-boys, to beignets & chicory coffee from Cafe Du Monde.**** We also managed to fit in a very fun Russian vodka bar, dueling pianos at Pat O'Brien's, a lot of exploration/photo time, and a really cool ghost tour. Needless to say, we loved it and made a mental note to return to NOLA ASAP!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMM5B6hT1GG_EbrpBXlo2dmqEtEod_2bBBr7l6lWip5IGm4jR64rh1MWYfJtIVRp-xYI2DqMAZcpoTG04ltTFrVhKWMQ0DvdlKzMnFfqDAQSArFWJXSVeJGzxUFqONDWsWO7dR_nl9nHH/s1600/new+orleans+097.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMM5B6hT1GG_EbrpBXlo2dmqEtEod_2bBBr7l6lWip5IGm4jR64rh1MWYfJtIVRp-xYI2DqMAZcpoTG04ltTFrVhKWMQ0DvdlKzMnFfqDAQSArFWJXSVeJGzxUFqONDWsWO7dR_nl9nHH/s400/new+orleans+097.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562527595195857666" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Cute photo I took of Wilson, trying to find some shade while exploring New Orleans (it was HOT!)<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIifENKXZ0VjvJpLdWBMl62T9w_ZSLegZOxT_Ah7TtpZm_B-aL4cQnI7h0A5I3_R7vfFPETQWaHhjqw2INSiVtdWtzHzjtzH1h7gefVlegO090BMtvHCkfxVtoxNW9E1fNX6_4HFHE_u6/s1600/new+orleans+224.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIifENKXZ0VjvJpLdWBMl62T9w_ZSLegZOxT_Ah7TtpZm_B-aL4cQnI7h0A5I3_R7vfFPETQWaHhjqw2INSiVtdWtzHzjtzH1h7gefVlegO090BMtvHCkfxVtoxNW9E1fNX6_4HFHE_u6/s400/new+orleans+224.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562527598939202738" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Enjoying my first ever hand grenade on Bourbon Street</span><br /></div><br />We were sad to see our time in New Orleans come to an end; but at the same time, we were VERY anxious to get to Austin and check out our new digs.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizeLWVysKLh87DH9nuLyWaaToSvuF3UdirWJJOWUfqpBU_uYLQsYVHNyFlUFGjGPi6l9A-BIXuvULpdNylEkmJ-kvA9mU5_kVmFCHipJpmzGcDbu9dUqtBqJSIjkooNFgzU5aexwpKiMtc/s1600/new+orleans+258.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizeLWVysKLh87DH9nuLyWaaToSvuF3UdirWJJOWUfqpBU_uYLQsYVHNyFlUFGjGPi6l9A-BIXuvULpdNylEkmJ-kvA9mU5_kVmFCHipJpmzGcDbu9dUqtBqJSIjkooNFgzU5aexwpKiMtc/s400/new+orleans+258.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562527604368606434" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Crossing the Texas state line!!</span><br /></div><br />After an 8-9 hour drive, we arrived "home" to our apartment in Austin . . . and it was perfect. It wasn't the newest or most luxurious complex in town, but the location was FANTASTIC. It was about 100 yards from the <a href="http://www.texasoutside.com/bartongreenbelt.htm">Barton Creek Greenbelt</a> (a great location for trail-running, hiking and mountain-biking); not to mention, just a mile or so from <a href="http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/zilker/">Zilker Park</a> (home of <a href="http://www.aclfestival.com/">Austin City Limits</a>) and a few minutes drive (or a quick bike ride!) to downtown.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLdEV6DUXv2cklTIqHn9HHg3XJZ7e3zvitzYrlkiz1mFduZ2jBXDwg8pr0A9A6i5FOl7ATcTW7d6da9D0broXhMkaPiFn1i3LzUd6Poho9ivMVEn1UkpzTmIlVjUuw-YpBlbypJXCR-Gn/s1600/Greenbelt3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLdEV6DUXv2cklTIqHn9HHg3XJZ7e3zvitzYrlkiz1mFduZ2jBXDwg8pr0A9A6i5FOl7ATcTW7d6da9D0broXhMkaPiFn1i3LzUd6Poho9ivMVEn1UkpzTmIlVjUuw-YpBlbypJXCR-Gn/s400/Greenbelt3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562533433309518194" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The Barton Creek Greenbelt, our new backyard!</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZgTLnAnDLXe83PzKIpYVpXWRAxOR_DTBxTjs6YVyAvQBCmDhBRTTUTxc_EQcMRosEBoN8wTDVU-2e6DMLvPtwCokxKmoCtCs_JGP-lJmFv9JQ3oCztvKMLnPGzqJmIdKdOCGXV2d8O95F/s1600/greenbelt2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZgTLnAnDLXe83PzKIpYVpXWRAxOR_DTBxTjs6YVyAvQBCmDhBRTTUTxc_EQcMRosEBoN8wTDVU-2e6DMLvPtwCokxKmoCtCs_JGP-lJmFv9JQ3oCztvKMLnPGzqJmIdKdOCGXV2d8O95F/s400/greenbelt2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562533427221534498" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">More greenbelt . . . </span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgzXmWMwX6Du1d3mgz-DWKQ1VK4xXcLXMarlWBEGtIdZW1-3c4aYv5defYYpaGWOSfFL2_1y4O6k6Er7LPJlurqXP15-GmAnqVKoUKYdnePPxNAJ9jmWkFURe2LjjlgrQ9EoKKmbKF-So/s1600/greenbelt1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgzXmWMwX6Du1d3mgz-DWKQ1VK4xXcLXMarlWBEGtIdZW1-3c4aYv5defYYpaGWOSfFL2_1y4O6k6Er7LPJlurqXP15-GmAnqVKoUKYdnePPxNAJ9jmWkFURe2LjjlgrQ9EoKKmbKF-So/s400/greenbelt1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562533429198927234" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">And still more greenbelt . . .<br /></span></div><br />AND? Our apartment (which worked out to cost just over ONE-THIRD of what we paid for our place in NYC) included a dishwasher, a nice kitchen with new-ish appliances, a linen closet, a big pantry, a good-sized balcony (with storage closet), a HUGE walk in closet, a community pool, tennis courts, sand volleyball court, a small fitness center, and on-site laundry (none of which was available in our shoebox apartment in Brooklyn!). We immediately wondered why the heck we hadn't thought to leave NYC sooner!<br /><br />Of course, everything wasn't 100% peaches and cream. We had no internet (nor smart phones, nor a phone book) for several days, and we had to figure out how the heck to get around a city we were new to. Um, for the record? This is hard, y'all. We ended up calling parents, siblings, friends, etc., and begging them to look stuff up for us ALL. THE. TIME. We were SO annoying. Also annoying? The fact that we had to unload all of our crap from the truck we'd packed it on (again, from a sketch moving terminal) and transfer it back to our new apartment. And since we'd gotten to Austin on a Sunday (moving terminal = closed on Sunday), we had to sleep on the floor for a night (OUCH--I am seriously too old for that crap).<br /><br />I will say, unloading the truck was a million times easier than the loading part (which was great news, considering it was 109 degrees outside the day we did it). I think we also must have learned a thing or two from our experience on the front end . . . because we somehow managed to unload the truck using just THREE trips back-and-forth (as opposed to the FOUR trips it took us to get the truck loaded in the first place). Granted, our strategy in Austin involved crushing me under massive boxes and haphazardly tying our couch cushions to the roof of the car (we like to call this strategy, "whatever the hell it takes to get this sh*t over with ASAP") . . . but hey, the important thing is that we got it done fast! And at that point, we were more than ready for the move to be OVER (I mean, we HAD been at it--in some form or another--for almost a month by that time!).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg57OqchuGAgOkjbZTVQqr36HlOnJocLED9SjtwSX-Vf9RA6blVfA8XLRR6EJSYJMwovMiV1fj69ePnQGgK-Rwgv1tDo68kthKnBPN15_bRNak9NctSW43TPTLG9Eb6xnnyQ8gco_R-HNVU/s1600/new+orleans+262.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg57OqchuGAgOkjbZTVQqr36HlOnJocLED9SjtwSX-Vf9RA6blVfA8XLRR6EJSYJMwovMiV1fj69ePnQGgK-Rwgv1tDo68kthKnBPN15_bRNak9NctSW43TPTLG9Eb6xnnyQ8gco_R-HNVU/s400/new+orleans+262.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562529172556021106" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Hiding under a stack of (heavy!) boxes. The 20 minutes it took to get to our apartment from the moving terminal seemed like an ETERNITY!</span><br /></div><br />Once unpacked and somewhat settled, we spent the first several months in Austin exploring our new city.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1iDJxIvgo0vwS01dGLB4CZnJgiM4Dp7UVhNHk0uADFXTgYPgQavMoe3EbvRzTF290DbwOn9rMJ9xm5P4MbhBHQM4D1zTOaPRAaKI9ISPfJmt8_ZuStWxC-Mwlnry5yFV3ZxuTB4vsqGU/s1600/austin-town%2521+013.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1iDJxIvgo0vwS01dGLB4CZnJgiM4Dp7UVhNHk0uADFXTgYPgQavMoe3EbvRzTF290DbwOn9rMJ9xm5P4MbhBHQM4D1zTOaPRAaKI9ISPfJmt8_ZuStWxC-Mwlnry5yFV3ZxuTB4vsqGU/s400/austin-town%2521+013.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562526131346503778" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Enjoying a cold beverage at Bat Fest, a super fun street festival dedicated to the colony of bats that lives under the South Congress Bridge in Austin</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja_3wi_b4tldT0EBJOclsq06ONZ2ieu1SVKh1E2IllEsickewtZPJRPZnF3ClQzAO1Crq_bBvQ5PhyphenhyphenvzhXsVcHa0bidQCmTqtYedlWfBcwDSYpWZBNG6cJ9kiPRNmp3IIIxkWHwQPJq6B4/s1600/austin-town%2521+011.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja_3wi_b4tldT0EBJOclsq06ONZ2ieu1SVKh1E2IllEsickewtZPJRPZnF3ClQzAO1Crq_bBvQ5PhyphenhyphenvzhXsVcHa0bidQCmTqtYedlWfBcwDSYpWZBNG6cJ9kiPRNmp3IIIxkWHwQPJq6B4/s400/austin-town%2521+011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562526125771343906" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Wilson, sampling chicken fried bacon at Bat Fest. I had no idea such a monstrosity existed . . .</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglIvlsuFEDdc29jHs-3KL6gXCXTyglcVYTALiVY9aykrm81c55opNCNBO0tqTd8pT2zvUgHrY-v1DMIi5lEl5Z8SG6TimADOZQEv1BVpHVmubc6xo4E_6K2DYRHj2i5E6yy8erI1sqLCL9/s1600/austin-town%2521+029.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglIvlsuFEDdc29jHs-3KL6gXCXTyglcVYTALiVY9aykrm81c55opNCNBO0tqTd8pT2zvUgHrY-v1DMIi5lEl5Z8SG6TimADOZQEv1BVpHVmubc6xo4E_6K2DYRHj2i5E6yy8erI1sqLCL9/s400/austin-town%2521+029.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562526122416439186" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Me, at Bat Fest, with my chopped beef sandwich (with extra jalapenos, of course!)</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjraBAzsXLAuSWJECu865irt2iUVBoorLFezRpgLO6f2xIdaG_HfOtPZcu223IiGaY9eZj5r_tFM3ZkPUkodD_tET1FZOf_3_JkPJR-KNJS4OPRABmHVkZJLMXFtQC93myTMs6phvnhuPqG/s1600/austin-town%2521+035.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjraBAzsXLAuSWJECu865irt2iUVBoorLFezRpgLO6f2xIdaG_HfOtPZcu223IiGaY9eZj5r_tFM3ZkPUkodD_tET1FZOf_3_JkPJR-KNJS4OPRABmHVkZJLMXFtQC93myTMs6phvnhuPqG/s400/austin-town%2521+035.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562526136683500914" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Wilson and his ice cream at Bat Fest<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMpowyaLPWTZW4RgN-eJBowZcKSnbemkAkO8buzS8lydP5K-cU7zcKwjgZrZggJ4d2l01t2YHDMW4xck7kzvqaXv6FV1_97C-QP33BfYGuHvLh_x-jwTYxn2BzRsFj5jOqyQcaGI7d4zw/s1600/austin-town%2521+050.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMpowyaLPWTZW4RgN-eJBowZcKSnbemkAkO8buzS8lydP5K-cU7zcKwjgZrZggJ4d2l01t2YHDMW4xck7kzvqaXv6FV1_97C-QP33BfYGuHvLh_x-jwTYxn2BzRsFj5jOqyQcaGI7d4zw/s400/austin-town%2521+050.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562529176101067314" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Showing off my new cowboy boot koozie</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydjBiuQn_8xdht-KIbZpl0xSfNL0RIUE5Jf2Gr7SgByvGAjTiGX0aUv5evMGOH8u72LewWJHoV1eJ8o8iHWo_dUlD9VA1V5s2eVhehLaQkPPugQ7reOmXf_qYfP9tGJhmvShf3lsn_9ND/s1600/8.24.10+007.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydjBiuQn_8xdht-KIbZpl0xSfNL0RIUE5Jf2Gr7SgByvGAjTiGX0aUv5evMGOH8u72LewWJHoV1eJ8o8iHWo_dUlD9VA1V5s2eVhehLaQkPPugQ7reOmXf_qYfP9tGJhmvShf3lsn_9ND/s400/8.24.10+007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562531059860751490" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">First trip to <a href="http://www.saltlickbbq.com/">Salt Lick</a> (best barbecue EVER)!!</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbf6cSRpIjNVYJ0Zg9L-FAHiajaFCWpwgggHct7LPLz5EXTbcx4e5U7WkdWdpDIVLVlQsO8yiOMlvk0G_-xURev8jWUnLfnXZSm2M4uady4XWnTct-LbNiV92GV56mGyXollHkXZ080EmA/s1600/8.24.10+013.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbf6cSRpIjNVYJ0Zg9L-FAHiajaFCWpwgggHct7LPLz5EXTbcx4e5U7WkdWdpDIVLVlQsO8yiOMlvk0G_-xURev8jWUnLfnXZSm2M4uady4XWnTct-LbNiV92GV56mGyXollHkXZ080EmA/s400/8.24.10+013.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562532875980535282" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">You know you're in Texas when . . .<br />Entering the <a href="http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t102">Round Rock Express</a> minor league baseball stadium</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOKGbtcCK5fsuf8OSa1F-oOfsKCEA5vRVT24wnEoVAcsHz_iFqMOFUHs1nyajEtrkCIwYHAON9sEM3eb9Wf0kd2He4Iqem4MzBsN2mXdndwkfv2HvPfU4FubaTDPHckC0skZsQNrPbdEoa/s1600/8.24.10+029.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOKGbtcCK5fsuf8OSa1F-oOfsKCEA5vRVT24wnEoVAcsHz_iFqMOFUHs1nyajEtrkCIwYHAON9sEM3eb9Wf0kd2He4Iqem4MzBsN2mXdndwkfv2HvPfU4FubaTDPHckC0skZsQNrPbdEoa/s400/8.24.10+029.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562532844724669618" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Wilson and I at the Round Rock Express game</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUFpX1BVTJcGeEz97RH3JFr8MwvUA7bamSwHcTPYPv3OlEjzMWARpJLugNYNZLIcUZ3Vf3DJ66sp_s-s3vKsEihgMqGOjk25AWBMH3uUmUhbxl_HVAb_ebKlv7N08BusYhuPKMooj08tYM/s1600/8.25.10+007.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUFpX1BVTJcGeEz97RH3JFr8MwvUA7bamSwHcTPYPv3OlEjzMWARpJLugNYNZLIcUZ3Vf3DJ66sp_s-s3vKsEihgMqGOjk25AWBMH3uUmUhbxl_HVAb_ebKlv7N08BusYhuPKMooj08tYM/s400/8.25.10+007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562532945024225234" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Enjoying a drink on our balcony</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpygvG1JfF507XobE6i9lNZVuI4pfryTQNSf_fH-n5MTOShtn4Q3CEyn8jX6KAXhfMXagQ_ZPeu8aXhFoI9ckQI_U3U40_sV4a6ilgvaMm2_-wEjE6cx40fbjgztRihZ7MOGlh2LGXu2LV/s1600/8.25.10+010.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpygvG1JfF507XobE6i9lNZVuI4pfryTQNSf_fH-n5MTOShtn4Q3CEyn8jX6KAXhfMXagQ_ZPeu8aXhFoI9ckQI_U3U40_sV4a6ilgvaMm2_-wEjE6cx40fbjgztRihZ7MOGlh2LGXu2LV/s400/8.25.10+010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562532934692393010" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Wilson, chillaxing on the balcony with his g&t</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEKdASCYNeIT3OVaX5mm9D9lt04C883NjBDB2tsFvSsG-dlZQcwz0butWO18GrWXFeqfuThi2woLKV4bA8oUOsHNvBHOmt6G4rwDnN4uMsEk90aJBAsz1jbeqroSUtAEShmVlYx7t5OW7/s1600/8.24.10+045.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEKdASCYNeIT3OVaX5mm9D9lt04C883NjBDB2tsFvSsG-dlZQcwz0butWO18GrWXFeqfuThi2woLKV4bA8oUOsHNvBHOmt6G4rwDnN4uMsEk90aJBAsz1jbeqroSUtAEShmVlYx7t5OW7/s400/8.24.10+045.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562532915271569538" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Nico (our cat), trying to steal Wilson's string cheese</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiChT3gRG6zp555awAdjk-Ufe2nQeDNJZua_8QpsYIFBWEVx043H2kN1qf-9ymK1oH8CMjwkfUeIiyMCtbf8P2mBuwpTogZCeuX0EngtS1SXOZDB76Sh4Oyjan7tCrCG8kMf_AsOTOmev-B/s1600/stuff+082.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 286px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiChT3gRG6zp555awAdjk-Ufe2nQeDNJZua_8QpsYIFBWEVx043H2kN1qf-9ymK1oH8CMjwkfUeIiyMCtbf8P2mBuwpTogZCeuX0EngtS1SXOZDB76Sh4Oyjan7tCrCG8kMf_AsOTOmev-B/s400/stuff+082.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562531060166050562" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Me, rocking out</span> <span style="font-size:85%;">in our apartment</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIhBuRt3OoalGoUjgXZWz_t86J5kiilTTTwDr-GUdhpubz1Kezrkb3wFc-4tzfDQ98oztLwagjw-PPHQzVTo8rvo9ssWSd0YFngL4upi8bIQhTzFU8svVJnipwW9pbl7YWQhyphenhyphengOALnqrH/s1600/stuff+035.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIhBuRt3OoalGoUjgXZWz_t86J5kiilTTTwDr-GUdhpubz1Kezrkb3wFc-4tzfDQ98oztLwagjw-PPHQzVTo8rvo9ssWSd0YFngL4upi8bIQhTzFU8svVJnipwW9pbl7YWQhyphenhyphengOALnqrH/s400/stuff+035.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562529179291212322" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas!</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiej_aOlkss7YiA-Iaf2gMwzdqr2hC4l07a4OvP4_6U31fYkhPf3f92Es2_SenLhfPIBS793nGiXZs_L2YB-9qq70pzR0lRYhMknxadJTE6T4IF1d88q0xD7qY13QIEzRvFnZYUNgjJEZBn/s1600/stuff+045.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiej_aOlkss7YiA-Iaf2gMwzdqr2hC4l07a4OvP4_6U31fYkhPf3f92Es2_SenLhfPIBS793nGiXZs_L2YB-9qq70pzR0lRYhMknxadJTE6T4IF1d88q0xD7qY13QIEzRvFnZYUNgjJEZBn/s400/stuff+045.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562529188579386690" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">My cute boyfriend, lounging around at the Gruene Music & Wine Festival</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMW6HO7mLcvEKFmEGiF-dUBezgLVi9lEnpxKXyTreSLsrkFyvgpQZpDRQExLdnIXQuA32fXU9VIPYuHYO5C9HP5gBB5zwOY5-BP-j3C66EiouN9S3Xyh9E4r0C8xu6veDLBFAHpv6mc4dS/s1600/stuff+042.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMW6HO7mLcvEKFmEGiF-dUBezgLVi9lEnpxKXyTreSLsrkFyvgpQZpDRQExLdnIXQuA32fXU9VIPYuHYO5C9HP5gBB5zwOY5-BP-j3C66EiouN9S3Xyh9E4r0C8xu6veDLBFAHpv6mc4dS/s400/stuff+042.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562529186140003714" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Me and Laura (one of my college roomies who currently lives in Dallas) at the Gruene Wine & Music Festival.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWReFY3ZoVgXJHuic8O2cBLJyty4QQX8kCUTAwWLBlJTOdNhfCf8U9ZyPvhOLLxB8IWMpy33Nes4WhudKhJcpQ0Sm1iQTD-gg3Onz3sBA6bEPNiJqe7WTVZoigBk6mx-C5Z_rWlcDsXnd/s1600/Salt+Lick.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWReFY3ZoVgXJHuic8O2cBLJyty4QQX8kCUTAwWLBlJTOdNhfCf8U9ZyPvhOLLxB8IWMpy33Nes4WhudKhJcpQ0Sm1iQTD-gg3Onz3sBA6bEPNiJqe7WTVZoigBk6mx-C5Z_rWlcDsXnd/s400/Salt+Lick.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562531045716808114" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Texas friends (Me, Wilson, Laura, Chelsea & Michael) at Salt Lick BBQ after spending the day at the Gruene Music & Wine Festival</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHWhv9N0raiv04IGIhnVO0V9cZJNtqKngx-0XVN36k3bQei-MBgqypOrTOe3PkADfNM6Xp6g1lkWkLSZZE3-BZAKwLoeuk87C3KHkOG-zh9Rzk1fWXORvz4wh4fSJ-TAopvKoc1YZGcNj/s1600/stuff+055.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHWhv9N0raiv04IGIhnVO0V9cZJNtqKngx-0XVN36k3bQei-MBgqypOrTOe3PkADfNM6Xp6g1lkWkLSZZE3-BZAKwLoeuk87C3KHkOG-zh9Rzk1fWXORvz4wh4fSJ-TAopvKoc1YZGcNj/s400/stuff+055.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562531052424008626" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The Zilker Park Christmas tree</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy4xdDmVGP2fLNDu17dFJdUbrbORSKuQXfpIWXOdTFedUDmHUeMyw9WRAN4qS3zZVy1GSaTkI5OuAy75wYWWNt4uT_sQVtczcVOlv4MZPaYkdlFA6Qj_ygrRP0-Oqc6CjeXPBj6AZNSqTY/s1600/stuff+066.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy4xdDmVGP2fLNDu17dFJdUbrbORSKuQXfpIWXOdTFedUDmHUeMyw9WRAN4qS3zZVy1GSaTkI5OuAy75wYWWNt4uT_sQVtczcVOlv4MZPaYkdlFA6Qj_ygrRP0-Oqc6CjeXPBj6AZNSqTY/s400/stuff+066.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562531057768114434" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Wilson and I inside the Zilker tree</span><br /><br /></div>Throughout those first months in Austin, we also had a TON of traveling to do, including:<br /><ul><li> A trip back to Chicago/NW Indiana/SW Michigan to a) help my parents move, b) attend a Notre Dame football game, and c) run the Chicago Half-Marathon (the day after having tailgated my face off--worst/most bad-ass decision EVER!)<br /></li></ul><ul><li>A good friend's wedding in Massachusetts.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ZP6zOzCpu3J2IKnlTME5-61JSDvufF6f5c0AuNHBzx0pTlm9Z3mMj-Dit1zS8Bu36Foxqibp5qoWnHb0zE-Tw2jKXxEW5fsgPkfmPIKSYmj36V-QhTqJw2FOn4SSh6FoEkyJyouo1AdM/s1600/wedding.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ZP6zOzCpu3J2IKnlTME5-61JSDvufF6f5c0AuNHBzx0pTlm9Z3mMj-Dit1zS8Bu36Foxqibp5qoWnHb0zE-Tw2jKXxEW5fsgPkfmPIKSYmj36V-QhTqJw2FOn4SSh6FoEkyJyouo1AdM/s400/wedding.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562526116451749938" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Wilson and I, dancing the night away at Megan & Noah's wedding . . . </span><br /></div><ul><li>ANOTHER cross-country driving trip (our third in 9 months) back to NJ to return Wilson's father's car, which he had generously allowed us to borrow to move down to Texas</li></ul><ul><li>A Thanksgiving trip back to my parents' place in SC (where we also picked up an old car of theirs to borrow until we purchase a vehicle of our own . . . thanks, Mom & Dad!!).*****<br /></li></ul>WHEW. Considering we had all that stuff going on, we were not exactly in a huge hurry to secure jobs. We figured it best to wait until things settled down a bit, seeing as how it's not exactly ideal to go into a job and immediately request all kinds of time off. But still, we kept an eye out for any opportunities that might be too good to pass on.<br /><br />During that time, Wilson DID secure an interview with a pretty great video game animation company in the Austin area; but sadly, they ended up giving the job to someone else. This was a bit of a bummer, but we figured there were better things to come. Shortly thereafter, Wilson DID end up receiving job offers from one place in Seattle and another in Dallas, but considering neither of them were ideal situations (no relocation package offered, short term work, lower pay, etc.), we figured it better to stick with Austin.<br /><br />I received a job offer in Austin around Thanksgiving, but I ultimately declined it, since it was WAY below the salary-range I was looking for (almost to the point of being insulting) . . . and I just wasn't sure I could deal with working alone with the ONE individual I would be working with. Plus, it was one of the first jobs I applied to. I (erroneously) assumed that if I had landed an offer that quickly, I should have no trouble finding something else.<br /><br />WRONG-O. Fast-forward a couple months to the present. Wilson and I are desperately spending just about every minute of every day searching for jobs . . . and it's exhausting. I have done everything I can think of: whoring myself out to the Notre Dame alumni network, "connecting" with everyone I know on <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/baileyertel">Linked in</a> (and even upgrading to a premier membership), applying to job ads, sending out cold resumes, submitting my resume to temp agencies. I even found an ex-supervisor and a fellow ND alum with connections in Austin who were both kind enough to look into opportunities for me. But sadly, nothing has come of it.<br /><br />I wish I could put into words how demoralizing this whole process has been. I have had friends and family tell me over an over again that I am an intelligent, talented individual and that my trouble securing something says nothing about my worth . . . but rather, makes a more general statement about just how bad things are out there. I know they're probably right . . . but still, it's exceedingly difficult to not lose hope and/or confidence in your abilities when it's THIS difficult to find work. I do have a couple side projects I have been working on (a couple shops I opened on Etsy.com, including <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/baileyallyson">one</a> where I sell some of my photography); unfortunately, they just haven't brought in much income.<br /><br />Wilson has been receiving unemployment since he was laid off about a year ago . . . and he has also managed to find a few days of freelance work, here and there. Besides that, though, we have basically watched our hard-earned savings dwindle down to a fraction of what it used to be. Now, don't get me wrong . . . I feel super blessed that we had a decent net of savings to fall back on. I know many people haven't been that lucky. At the same time, though, we were hoping to put that money towards a house . . . and a wedding . . . and children. And now, it just feels like we're moving further and further away from those things each day that we don't find work. It sucks, to say the least.<br /><br />All this being said, I do want to reiterate that I am still REALLY glad we made the move down here. We absolutely, positively LOVE Austin, and we are quite excited about the prospect of raising a family here (way down the road, that is). I have no doubt in my mind that once we figure this job stuff out, we will be happier than we've ever been. And I am also confident that we will bounce back quickly from this rough patch. We have gotten so good at spending only what is absolutely necessary that I would imagine it will take us no time at all to get our savings back (and then some). But right now, things are just really hard, not knowing when this crazy period of our lives will end.<br /><br />The one good thing I will say is that (minus a few stupid squabbles, which I think are inevitable given the stressful financial situation we are in), my relationship with Wilson has remained strong--and I would venture to say that it has actually gotten stronger. I am not sure how he's dealing with me at the moment, seeing as how I seem to teeter back and forth between complete & utter despair and giddy optimism. But I'm sure glad he puts up with me!<br /><br />Alright, well I think I'm going to cut this off for now, as it is already way too long. But I'm sure I will have more thoughts to share soon. Maybe I will even talk about running--gasp!! In the meantime, though, please keep your fingers crossed that something works out for one (or both!) of us soon.<br /><br />I hope you are all well. I can't wait to get caught up on the great things y'all have been up to once things finally settle down a bit!<br /><br />Hugs to everyone!<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br />*I should mention here that Wilson lost his job in NYC back in January, 2010.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> This was a pretty huge bummer because he had served the company very loyally for 3 years (too loyally, if you ask me--they never once offered him a raise or promotion of any kind) . . . and also, because he had been led to believe that they would hire him on as an animator when he graduated from animation school in June, 2010. Instead, they informed him that his services were no longer needed within an hour of arriving to work one day. They claimed that he had "lost some of his enthusiasm for the job." My question for them would be, "who <span style="font-style: italic;">wouldn't</span> lose a bit of enthusiasm after doing grunt work for 3 years and receiving no discernible reward?</span>"<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />**Because of the location of our apartment in Brooklyn, bringing a moving truck TO us just wasn't a possibility (there was nowhere to park it). Therefore, we had to make a bunch of trips back and forth, between our apartment and a super-sketch moving terminal, where our truck was parked. We had one day--and one day only--to do this. Unfortunately, it took us MUCH longer than we had planned (packing a truck and tying stuff down is NOT an easy task). This meant no time to stop for lunch . . . or even to refill our water bottles. UGH. In the end, we got our truck packed up with about 5 minutes to spare before the place closed; but let me just say, it was seriously one of the most grueling days of my life . . .</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />***We had been saving it for quite a while, thinking we would drink it once we had something to celebrate. Well, 1) we were moving and had to empty the 'fridge; and 2) what could possibly deserve celebration more than embarking on a cross-country journey with your best friend in the world and starting life over in a brand new place?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">****When I posted this on facebook, I think my friends and family were horrified by the amount of food they assumed we had consumed in our 60 hours in NOLA. Sooo . . . I should mention that rather than eating 6 meals a day (as it would appear), we actually accomplished this by splitting things and ordering sample plates whenever possible!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*****On a side note, I should mention that I FINALLY got to meet Lindsay, of <a href="http://www.chasingthekenyans.com/">Chasing the Kenyans</a>, while we were in town! We chatted, drank delicious coffee drinks, and even got to introduce our men to one another. It was so wonderful to finally get to meet her (and J!)!</span>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-88076052269321354712010-02-02T08:15:00.002-05:002010-02-02T13:00:50.422-05:00Goofy's Race-And-A-Half Challenge: A Race Report - Part IIDang, yo. There has been all kinds of craziness happening in the life of Irish Cream as of late. But before I let too much escape me, I wanted to go ahead and complete my Goofy Race Report. I mean, it HAS been nearly a month since it took place . . . yeesh!<br /><br />----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Race morning once again came nice and early, with Wilson and I rising sometime around 3 a.m. We got ourselves ready, chowed down on some breakfast and were out the door before you could say, "Goofy." Once we stepped outside, it hit us . . . it was EFFING COLD OUT. OMG. The temps, as predicted, were hovering in the 20s with a "real feel" in the teens. Ouch. Luckily, I was wearing the warmest $4.00 size-XXL Grinch flannel pj pants EVER over my race clothes. As hideous as they may have been, they were truly toasty. I may or may not have shed a tear when I had to throw them away prior to the start . . . but I'm getting ahead of myself.<br /><br />We zipped down I-4 and made it to Epcot in no time at all. Then came the difficult part . . . dropping trou in sub-freezing temps. I contemplated holding it, but finally sucked it up and went. By the time Wilson and I made it through the porta-potty line, it was just about time to head to the start area, knowing from experience that it was a good 20-minute walk to get there. Wilson hit up gear check on the way, and then we wandered through the dark with the masses of runners gearing up to run 26.2. I don't know about anyone else, but I always find the moments just before the start of a marathon to be SO incredible. I think part of it has to do with the fact that marathon training tends to be a lesson in solitude; that is, unless you are lucky enough to have lots of marathon runners in your life. But you all know how it is . . . you train for months and are more likely than not called "crazy" on countless occasions during those months. Then you finally make it to that start line and you are surrounded by people just like you. How incredible does it feel, knowing that those tens of thousands of people went through exactly what you went through to get there? It is truly awe-inspiring.<br /><br />Anyway, we moseyed over to the start area, thinking we had oodles of time; only, once we got there, we realized that my assigned corral (Corral D), was actually part of the FIRST wave thanks to a split start. Wow, good thing I looked into that BEFORE the race. Oops. Talk about unprepared! Considering the National Anthem had already been sung while we were en route to the start area, we knew we didn't have much time before the gun went off. We found the corral and Wilson immediately hopped the fence, stumbled and fell. Luckily, he just scraped up his palms a little bit, but it was still scary. I, after seeing this, insisted on heading up to the actual entrance to the corral. After all, someone as clumsy as me has NO business hopping fences! This was a good idea in theory; however, once I saw the line of people at the entrance to the coral (where they were very diligently checking bibs) I went into panic mode. Ultimately, I decided to live on the edge and do a little fence-jumping myself. Somehow, I made it over that fence with the assistance of a kind runner man and found Wilson. Whew! We'd made it!<br /><br />Shortly thereafter, the same video and fireworks from the half-marathon the day before went off--and holy Deja vu--it was like I was in my own personal version of Groundhog Day! Only this time, I had Wilson with me, video-taping everything that happened with his trusty Flip camera. Before we knew it, we were moving! And holy crap, it was weird. Our feet were literally frozen after being out in the cold for so long prior to the start. And let me tell you, it was really hard to run with ice blocks for feet! Luckily, within a mile-and-a-half or so, they seemed to thaw up a bit. Of course, shortly thereafter--somewhere around the 1.8-mile mark--I had a bit of an "incident". We were running through the entrance gate area for the parking lot at Epcot, and Wilson dropped back to take a video of the scene. I kept looking behind me to see where he'd escaped to since it was PITCH black, and I was convinced I was going to lose him. All of a sudden, BAM!!! I was on the ground. The collective gasps all around me were enough to let me know that it looked REALLY bad. Somehow, though, I managed to spring right back up onto my feet. I looked back again to see what had led to my fall . . . a frickin' speed bump! Incidentally, there WERE gate attendants hanging out all around, telling us runners to watch our steps. But I didn't really notice that until AFTER I'd fallen, since I'd been so preoccupied with trying to find Wilson. Oopsies. Just as I turned back, Wilson came running up and said, "Did you just fall down?" Yes sir! We were off to a GREAT start.*<br /><br />Mile-1: 10:54<br />Mile-2: 11:14<br /><br />As we hit the Mile-2 mark, I assessed the damage of my fall. I'd tweaked my left wrist a bit, my palms were scraped up and my knees were REALLY banged up--especially my right knee. In fact, I could tell my knees were so torn up that it was best not to pull my pant leg up and check. I figured it was better to wait until after I finished the race before I took a look. Still, I was okay . . . and I counted my lucky stars that such a hard fall hadn't caused a more serious injury. On we ran, albeit slowly, as I tried to get back into some kind of a groove. This, however, was easier said than done . . . especially since the course seemed REALLY crowded; probably because just after mile-3, the split start groups had come back together, so there were twice as many people as there had been for the first three miles. We jogged on, passing people whenever we could, if for no other reason than to get a little room to breathe!<br /><br />Mile-3: 10:48<br />Mile-4: 11:13<br /><br />By Mile-5, I was in pain. My right knee was throbbing with every step and I could tell that it had swollen up pretty good. In fact, I was so preoccupied with the pain that I don't even remember much about the next few miles. We kept moving (slowly), but I was NOT a happy camper. Wilson tried to cheer me up, and I did my best to oblige, but I was really hurting. I started to wonder how on earth I would make it through 20+ more miles. Another crazy thing I started noticing around this point was that the aid stations had turned into all out ice-skating rinks. Apparently the spilled water was freezing over, making for some pretty hazardous conditions. Wilson and I would slow WAY down every time we made our way through an aid station, just to be on the safe side. The last thing either of us needed was ANOTHER fall!<br /> <br />Mile-5: 11:33 (gel break)<br />Mile-6: 10:26<br />Mile-7: 10:38<br /><br />The next few miles were truly miserable. We were on service roads outside of the parks, I was hurting pretty badly and we still had 3 miles to go before we would make it to the Magic Kingdom. In fact, by this point, I had developed a hint of a limp. I remembered an article I'd read once that said you shouldn't finish a run/race if you are limping. So I focused on trying to NOT limp. On top of the knee issue, I could NOT for the life of me get comfortable temperature-wise. I would get warm and push my sleeves up, only to get cold two minutes later and push the sleeves back down. I'd unzip my half-zip top, only to zip it back up 30 seconds later. It was more than a little irritating. But still, I am nothing if not stubborn . . . and knowing I had TWO medals on the line was more than enough to keep me going. On we schlepped, praying for the Magic Kingdom to come soon!<br /><br />Mile-8: 10:09<br />Mile-9: 10:23<br />Mile-10: 11:24 (gel break/Wilson pee break)<br /><br />Finally, we hit the Mile-10 mark and entered the Magic Kingdom. Perhaps I was simply grumpy on account of my fall and subsequent injuries, but for some reason, it just didn't seem as cool as it had the day before. I kept telling Wilson how much cooler everything had looked in the dark. Luckily, he seemed to really enjoy the mile that ran through the MK despite my foul mood. He stopped on countless occasions and took videos of the various characters and attractions. Of course, this made me nervous, since I was convinced I was going to lose him. And knowing what bad shape I was in, I was pretty sure that I'd be done if I lost him. But somehow, we made it through the Magic Kingdom without losing one another.<br /><br />Mile-11: 10:20<br /><br />After exiting the MK, we embarked on another LOOOONG trek between the parks. I started to get really excited about making it to the half-way mark. But still, it was uber crowded, and a lot of the roadways we were running on were super narrow. The one good thing was that there was really a lot of crowd support. I can't tell you how many times I heard people yell out "Go Goofy!" when I ran by (the Goofy Challengers had unique bibs). This gave me a boost every time. In fact, I'm not sure if it was the crowd support or what, but somewhere near the half-way point, my knee even started to feel a little bit better.<br /><br />Mile-12: 10:15<br />Mile-13: 10:22<br /><br />We ended up crossing the half-way point at 2:21:30, and to be honest, I freaked a little bit. As much as I knew we were trying to take the race easy and have fun with it, I thought back to my secret wish to PR in the marathon. At this point, it looked like that goal was out the window, considering I'd crossed the half-way point almost ten minutes faster during the Chicago Marathon (my prior marathon PR). Oh well, guess I'd just have to have fun with the rest of the race. But not long after I'd resigned myself to the idea, Wilson and I got separated at an aid station just past mile-14. Wilson stopped to get some water, and I kept going but slowed to a walk to allow him to catch up to me. When several minutes passed and I still hadn't seen him, I knew we were in trouble. And to make matters worse? Wilson had been carrying one of my gels in his shorts pocket. Crappers. Eventually, enough time had passed that I was convinced that Wilson must have passed right by me without me noticing . . . after all, he WAS wearing the same thing as 90% of the race field: black tights with black shorts over them and the white long-sleeved race tee. I took off in an attempt to catch up with him.<br /><br />Mile-14: 10:45 (gel break)<br />Mile-15: 10:35<br /><br />As I ran on, I came to realize I probably wasn't going to find Wilson. In the past, I would have been beyond bummed about this. In fact, I likely would have allowed it to ruin the race for me. But instead, I thought about how awesome it would be if I finished strong despite so many hiccups early on. After all, I was still feeling pretty good. The knee had been downgraded to just a dull ache. I was getting a little bit tired, but I told myself that if I just made it to mile-18 before walking, that would be good enough. As I ran on, the course cleared up a little bit, making for a much more pleasant running environment. That, and the sun came out and felt awesome beating down on us. I was finally back to my happy running place :)<br /><br />Mile-16: 9:59<br />Mile-17: 9:53<br />Mile-18: 9:17<br /><br />While I had promised myself that I could walk if I made it to mile-18, I got to that point and I actually WANTED to keep running. My last split had been pretty stellar and it had felt REALLY good. Plus, somewhere around this point, we got to run through Animal Kingdom, which was a definite highlight for me. For whatever reason, I was passing people left and right as we ran through Animal Kingdom. That, combined with the awesome cheering of some Animal Kingdom employees propelled me on and gave me a huge boost. Oh, I should also mention that just before entering the Animal Kingdom, I had managed to procure an on course gel to replace the one Wilson had run off with. That was a HUGE relief for me. It wasn't a Roctane, but it would do. As I stopped to gel up after leaving the Animal Kingdom, I came up with a new strategy--a bit of an experiment, really. Basically, I wanted to push myself and see how long I could hold on. I decided that if I could just hold on until the 20-mile mark, I would be thrilled; but in reality, I started to think that maybe--just maybe--I could hold on until the end.<br /><br />Mile-19: 10:14 (gel break)<br />Mile-20: 9:05<br /><br />I crossed a timing mat at the Mile-20 marker, which prompted me to check my time at that point. I looked down and saw 3:30:59 staring back at me. Holy. Crap. I realized at that point that if I could hold on and keep my pace at 10:00 miles or faster, I could actually earn myself I nice new marathon PR along with my two shiny medals! This motivated me like nothing else. I thought of how awesome it would be to say that I ran the Goofy Challenge and PR'd at both distances. Suddenly, what had started as the ultimate pipe dream was within my reach . . . and I knew right then and there that there was no way I would let it escape. Miles 21-22 passed pretty quickly as they consisted of a nice out-and-back stretch. By this point, I felt the strongest I had felt all race. As I hit the turn around point, I kept my eyes peeled for Wilson coming in the other direction. No luck, but I WAS passing people left and right, and that felt AWESOME. I looked down when we hit the Mile-21 marker and saw my first sub-9 split. I was CONVINCED it had to be wrong. How on earth had I just pulled off a sub-9 split at mile-34.1 of the Goofy Challenge?!<br /><br />Mile-21: 8:57<br />Mile-22: 9:14<br /><br />On I went, and before I knew it, I'd arrived at Hollywood Studios. This was super exciting, as I knew the remainder of the course would be in/around the parks. The crowds were thick and crazy supportive. Everywhere I looked runners were slowing to a walk, or pulling off course to stretch, but I was feeling really strong. Sure, I was tired . . . but I had a PR to earn, thank you very much! I stopped for one last gel break during Mile-23, just to give me an extra boost throughout the last few miles. But from that point on? I was all business. I didn't so much as stop to take a sip of water during the last 3-4 miles.<br /><br />Mile-23: 9:24 (gel break)<br />Mile-24: 8:52<br /><br />As I approached the mile-25 marker, I did get super excited about the possibility of seeing <a href="http://cautionredheadrunning.blogspot.com/">my favorite Redhead</a> and <a href="http://runningspike.blogspot.com/">Spike</a>, who were stationed somewhere in the area, complete with balloons and bright yellow posters. Somehow, though--and I still don't understand how this happened--she never saw me, and I never saw her. Perhaps I was a little more out of it than I thought by that point? Whatever the case, once I made it to somewhere around mile-25.5, I knew I must have missed them. Thus, what else was there to do but to pick the pace up and push myself toward the finish? As I did so, I decided that PRing wasn't enough. I REALLY wanted to finish in less than 4:30. <br /><br />Somehow, despite everything that had gone down, I managed to pull off my fastest mile of the day during that last mile. I have NEVER had enough energy left in a marathon to do that . . . and holy crap, was it an amazing feeling to go flying towards the finish line! I started hurting pretty badly with about a half-mile to go, but I was so close I could taste it. There was no way I was backing down now! I crossed the line in 4:28:21 and smiled the biggest smile EVER.<br /><br />Mile-25: 9:18<br />Mile-26: 8:47<br />Last 0.52 (according to Garmin): 4:23 (8:24 pace)<br /><br />I could NOT believe what I had accomplished. Somehow, I had pulled off a negative split by nearly 15 minutes . . . after falling on my face . . . after having run a half-marathon the previous day. Even to this day, I do not know what possessed me to push it so hard that day. I only hope whatever it was sticks around and joins me in future races!<br /><br />Once I finished, I snagged my mylar blanket and my marathon medal . . . and then I made my way to the Goofy tent to collect my third Goofy medal. I was so proud, I was almost brought to tears. To think that just a few years earlier, I had thought I'd never be able to run a marathon . . . and here I was, a Goofy Challenge finisher! It was awesome to say the least. I had my official finisher photo taken, grabbed some food and then tried to figure out what to do about finding Wilson. I figured the best idea would be to wait for him outside of his assigned gear check tent, knowing he'd have to collect his things after finishing. But I waited . . . and I waited . . . and I started to worry that he might have finished ahead of me. So I made my way over to the appropriate family meet-up tent where he had mentioned we would meet his mother after the race. I looked everywhere, but there was no sign of Wilson. Damn. I stood, shivering for a good 20 minutes before he finally came walking up. And holy crap was I happy to see him--he had the car keys in his gear check bag! I begged him to let me go to the car despite the fact that we had not yet located his mother. I was just SO COLD, I couldn't bear to be outside another second! Luckily, we were much more successful at finding the car than we had been the previous day. We hopped in, BLASTED the heat and I attacked my food baggie with everything I had left in me :)<br /><br />As I began to thaw out, I began to realize just how painful my knees were. Ouch. I finally took a peak at them, only to realize they were both cut up and bruised pretty badly . . . and my right knee was pretty darn swollen. Yowsers. I couldn't believe I had gone on to run a PR on those suckers! Ha. Once Wilson finally got in touch with his mother, she came and congratulated us and took a couple photos . . . then we headed back to the hotel, anxious to take a hot shower and get some hot food in us. We opted for some "dirty food" from Applebees, as Wilson called it (beer, artichoke dip and burgers--yum!). I figured that after running 39.3 miles in two days, I'd probably earned it :) <br /><br />After stuffing our bellies nearly to the point of discomfort, we headed back to the hotel and vegged/napped for the remainder of the day. Other than my banged up knees, I actually felt great . . . not even a hint of muscle soreness. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? I don't know, but I might just have to hop on the back-to-back long run bandwagon come my next training period!<br /><br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Whew! Okay, so now that that's out of the way, I have a big announcement coming up soon. Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook already know, but let's just say that it's quite a good one :) Thank you again for being so amazingly understanding about my recent absence from the blogosphere . . . I should be back soon, I promise! And while my Google Reader is far too out of control for me to pretend like I can get caught up with everyone, I should at least be back to commenting very soon. I've said this a million times, but wow, I've missed you guys! Until next time . . .<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />*Unfortunately, Wilson JUST MISSED catching this episode on video. If only he'd kept taping for another few seconds, I'd have video evidence of my spill. Oh well, there's always next time!</span>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-26295694879887507512010-01-12T18:12:00.008-05:002010-01-17T21:04:33.680-05:00Goofy's Race-and-a-Half Challenge: A Race Report - Part 1First of all, let's go <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">waaaay</span> back . . . back to <a href="http://doitirishcream.blogspot.com/2009/07/apparently-recovery-weeks-make-me.html">July 7, 2009</a> (also known as the day I went temporarily insane and decided to register for the Goofy Challenge at Disney World). I had NO CLUE at that point in time that I would soon quit my job and embark on this big <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ol</span>' journey of mine to Orlando. Don't get me wrong; it worked out quite nicely given that I didn't have to worry about travel expenses or taking time off. But let's just say that if I would have known I'd be training for Goofy while working out pretty intensely 5 days a week (at times, twice a day), I never would have registered. The fact is, I was signed up, I'd paid the money . . . and DARN IT, I was going to get those three medals if it killed me!<br /><br />Wilson and I hit up the Expo on Thursday evening in a desperate attempt to beat the crowds. Turns out this was smart thinking, as we were in and out of there in under 45 minutes. We first hit up the Goofy Challenge check-in area, where a kind gentleman presented me with my bibs, chips and some Goofy souvenirs; I then signed my life away to him and he placed a silver wristband around my wrist. As he did so, I couldn't help but silently wonder to myself whether this wristband's secondary purpose was to save time when I inevitably ended up in the hospital, dying of exhaustion and leg cramps at some point on Sunday. But I smiled and thanked the man just the same, and we quickly moved on, hitting up the marathon check-in area (for Wilson) and the t-shirt & goody bag pick-up area (Goofy Challengers got THREE long-sleeve tech shirts--SCORE!). Race gear in hand, we headed straight for the exit, stopping only twice on the way . . . once to purchase a couple pairs of gloves and once to grab some free <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Larabar</span> samples.<br /><br />Fast-forward 24 hours to Friday. I went to school as usual and was semi-bombarded with questions by my classmates. "How far do you have to run?" "What's your strategy?" "How are you feeling about it?" "Are you insane?" Somehow, though, I didn't feel nervous. Sure, I put on the whole "I don't know how it'll go; that's a lot of miles to run in two days and I really just want to have fun with it" act. But deep down inside, I was feeling confident. So confident, in fact, that I allowed a silly thought to creep its way into my mind. I'd thought about it in the past, but had always brushed it aside as ridiculous. But again, there it was teasing me: "Maybe . . . just maybe . . . I could pull off <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">PR's</span> in both the half-marathon AND the marathon. How epic would THAT be?" I was really starting to believe that it might just be a possibility.<br /><br />Well, wouldn't ya know, that confidence faded the second I got back to my hotel room. Perhaps it was the bad news that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">accuweather</span>.com was presenting me with. Perhaps it was the phone call in which my mother attempted to talk me out of running the races. Perhaps it was the twinge of soreness I was feeling in both quads. Or maybe it was simply the fact that the magnitude of what I was about to do had finally hit me like a load of bricks. Whatever the case, I was REALLY nervous. And my anxiety only grew as the predicted temps dropped lower and lower . . . It was official; The Disney Half-Marathon and Disney Marathon would mark the two coldest races I had ever run. Temps for Saturday were predicted to be in the 30s (with a "real feel" in the low-2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">os</span>) and freezing rain; and temps for Sunday were predicted to be in the 20s (with a "real feel" in the low-teens). Can we say <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">BRRRR</span>?! And Wilson and I had brought no running tights with us to Orlando . . . <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">FRACK</span>.<br /><br />After debating for hours about whether we should try to go out and find tights or not, we finally decided to hit up Target. It was a no go. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">FRACK</span> SQUARED. Just when I had convinced myself that I would be fine in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">capris</span>, we drove past a Sports Authority. Round two of desperately seeking running tights. And? We were in business! We both found what we needed, sprinted for the check-out line and booked it out of there without so much as trying them on. Well, I'll bet you already know where this is going . . . but we got back to the hotel, tried on our tights, and mine were HUGE; a size medium that fit like an XL. CRAPPERS. Luckily, Wilson's fit him fine . . . but I had officially given up. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Capris</span> it would be.<br /><br />We ate dinner, I packed all of my race stuff AND my school stuff (I was going to have to go straight to school from the race), and FINALLY, we hit the hay around 9:30 p.m., knowing full well that our 3:00 a.m. wake-up call was coming soon.<br /><br />And did it ever. I woke up, drank some coffee, got dressed and body-glided, ate some oatmeal, drank some water, checked my bags one last time to make sure I had everything . . . and we were out the door by 3:45 a.m., on our way to Disney for Day 1 of the Goofy Challenge! We got there without issue, parked, and I immediately hopped on line for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">porta</span>-potties. The lines were long, but nothing too bad.<br /><br />Before long, it was time to leave Wilson behind and head towards the start line. Little did I know that it was a good 20-minute walk to the start line! I tried to hustle . . . but it was tough to do so with so many people <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">sloooowly</span> making their way over, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the race was about to start. Finally, I felt like we were starting to get close. I attempted to pull my throwaway pants off while walking/jogging, which--for the record--I would NOT recommend! I am lucky I didn't face plant . . . but somehow, I got those suckers off and resumed my jog to the start. All of a sudden, fireworks went off, indicating the start of the first wave. Considering I was in the second wave, I knew I needed to hurry. Luckily, I made it to the start with a minute or two to spare . . . and then another explosion of fireworks went off, and we were moving!<br /><br />The first few miles FLEW by. There's not a whole lot to report, as frankly, there wasn't a whole lot to see! These miles were pitch black, and we were running on some nice, flat highway. Not real exciting. Despite some crazy crowds and narrow roadways, I really had to focus on keeping my pace down. Running was feeling basically effortless; a little TOO effortless. But still, I knew I had to stick to my plan in order to stand a chance at "fresh" legs for the marathon the next day. On I trotted, singing to myself in my head.<br /><br />Before I knew it, we were over 5 miles through the race, and we were rapidly approaching the Magic Kingdom. I felt my heart flutter as we entered . . . it was very similar to the first time I saw the place when I was a kid--only WAY better! The sky was still pitch black and everything was just lit up in the most incredible way possible. There honestly just aren't words to describe it; it was . . . magical :) As I ran through the park, I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear like some kind of goofy fool! It was just SO MUCH FUN! I can say without doubt that this was my favorite running memory EVER.<br /><br />As quickly as we entered, though, we were spat back out of the park for another six miles or so of uninteresting highway running. The only highlight of the section from mile 6.5-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">ish</span> to mile-12 was getting to see Wilson around mile-8. By this time, I was still feeling great, and I jumped up and down like a hyperactive child when I saw him. Ha. I've NEVER ever felt that good at that point in a half-marathon. I think even Wilson was shocked to see me in such high spirits! Granted, I was running pretty easy . . . but still, I was on PR pace!<br /><br />By mile-9 or so, the fun was over. The sleet/hail mixture that had plagued us through the first 90 minutes of the race had turned into freezing, liquid rain . . . and I was SOAKED. And also? I was REALLY EFFING COLD. I knew the smart thing to do was to keep my pace slow; but honestly, I just couldn't take it anymore. I was freezing my arse off! I struggled through one last slow mile, but then I officially gave up on keeping my pace down once I hit the Mile-10 marker. By that time, my one and only goal was to finish up as quickly as possible and get into some dry clothes and the heated car!<br /><br />I booked it through the last 5K to the finish, slapping <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Goofy's</span> hand right before crossing at 2:08:17 . . . a PR by over 7 minutes. Not bad, considering I held myself back for 80% of the race!<br /><br />Splits were as follows:<br /><br />Mile-1: 10:14 (holy crowded start, Batman)<br />Mile-2: 10:33 (road narrows . . . even MORE crowded)<br />Mile-3: 9:43 (AH, open space! Oops; slow down, Irish!)<br />Mile-4: 9:58 ('<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">atta</span> girl)<br />Mile-5: 10:07 (good; keep it there)<br />Mile-6: 10:06 (YES. I am a pacing goddess!)<br />Mile-7: 9:42 (watch it . . . )<br />Mile-8: 9:42 (watch it . . . )<br />Mile-9: 9:35 (WATCH IT . . .)<br />Mile-10: 9:53 (gel break; whew, back on track!)<br />Mile-11: 9:06 (EFF IT! I am COLD and WET)<br />Mile-12: 9:11 (I seriously can't WAIT to finish)<br />Mile-13: 8:41 (GET THIS RACE OVER WITH ALREADY!)<br />Last .1: 7:21/pace (Ah, sweet finish line! It is SO nice to see you!)<br /><br />After finishing, I got my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">mylar</span> blanket (WARMTH!) and my medal, and headed to the Goofy tent to have my wristband swapped out. I then grabbed a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Powerade</span>, had my finisher photo taken and headed straight for the family meet-up area, opting to skip the food tent. Yup. THAT'S how cold I was, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">homies</span> . . . so cold that I didn't give a rat's ass about food. I don't think that's ever happened before! I met up with Wilson, he took a quick video of me (will post it as soon as I figure out how--ha) and then we headed to the parking lot . . . time to go to school for 7 hours of Sports Performance education! Of course, this was easier said than done, considering we couldn't remember where the hell we'd parked! We're city people . . . we don't think about things like that! Ha. A really nice runner offered to let us sit in his car to warm up if we didn't find our car soon; but thankfully, we found it (turns out it was like four cars down from the nice runner dude).<br /><br />Amazingly, despite this delay, we still had time for a Starbucks stop on the way to school. I got a breakfast sandwich and a big <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">ol</span>' piping hot <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Americano</span>, which I had a VERY difficult time consuming. Turns out shivering uncontrollably makes it very tricky to eat/drink without spilling all over yourself; and chattering teeth don't help matters any either! DAMN, I was cold! I had wisely changed out of my wet top in the car, but my wet sports bra was still on. Luckily, I had brought a change of sports bra with me . . . so I changed that sucker as soon as I got to school. MUCH BETTER! The dry clothes combined with the toasty classroom felt like Heaven. Only problem was . . . all I wanted to do was SLEEP!<br /><br />Somehow, though, I made it to our hour lunch break without dozing off. I downed my lunch in approximately 5 seconds and then put my head down to sleep and had the most delightful nap in the history of naps. I woke up 55 minutes later to what was basically the BEST NEWS EVER. Because of the shit weather, our instructor was going to let us out of class 2.5 hours early!! We typically would have had a sports performance workout during that time; but Paul had pity on us and let us leave at 2 p.m., promising we would make up the time during the coming weekend's session. You guys, I am telling you; I have never been so happy in ALL MY LIFE.<br /><br />Wilson picked me up at 2:00 and we headed back to the hotel where I showered (finally), iced, rocked my hot pink recovery socks and basically lazed around until we finally hit up the Macaroni Grill geezer-style (at like 5:30 p.m.) for a good old fashioned <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">carbo</span>-loading meal. We returned back to the hotel, got stuff ready to go for the next day, and hit the hay by around 9 p.m. Let me tell you; I slept like a BABY.<br /><br />To Be Continued . . .Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-60551919751941482032010-01-10T12:45:00.003-05:002010-01-10T13:00:17.062-05:00Guess Who's Goofy?Um, you guys? There are seriously just not words to describe how amazingly the Goofy Challenge went. Despite a million and one reasons why it could have been a disaster*, I somehow managed to pull off PR's at both the half-marathon (2:08:17) AND marathon (4:28:23) distance. I don't even understand how that's possible. I'm actually thinking I may wake up soon and realize it was all a dream! I don't have the time (or the energy) at the moment for a full recap . . . but I just wanted to let you know how it went, since y'all have been SO incredible with your support as of late (despite the fact that I haven't been able to reciprocate that support--sad face). I will try my best to get a recap up in as timely a fashion as possible. But seriously, thanks again for being so awesome. I love you all! :)<br /><br />*Including, but not limited to, my worst face plant ever at mile-1.8 of the marathonIrish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-59039301807869150692010-01-04T23:48:00.002-05:002010-01-05T08:11:30.376-05:00Irish 2.0It's official . . . I've entered the 21st century, folks. New decade, new Irish! :) But don't worry, I'm still just as nerdy as in 2009!<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwqIYjvN2MX8bLSP9QPeggjoIRqiIOMgHX9YVlqrz8vJBjRl6Lt30WiVDnXkaRnkni8OfMNyfgD4yPuE4CTRw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-32535034610576037472009-12-31T23:40:00.003-05:002010-01-01T00:45:14.780-05:00Happy New Year!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOoqvY_umRtTEo7tkFWgto_z5U5p-pFHNTpf9rXPHjYifeae5uAQ4cRWdoEDCmdZcI6TEjIMZf1T7saMvhaaDMWGgN1xFMDzjVHiO2SRvsGW7v4s92iWJuWXSXl0ymlO9u7Yt9MZ0nxWFB/s1600-h/clock_new+year.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 285px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOoqvY_umRtTEo7tkFWgto_z5U5p-pFHNTpf9rXPHjYifeae5uAQ4cRWdoEDCmdZcI6TEjIMZf1T7saMvhaaDMWGgN1xFMDzjVHiO2SRvsGW7v4s92iWJuWXSXl0ymlO9u7Yt9MZ0nxWFB/s400/clock_new+year.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421640051295558466" border="0" /></a><br />Hey runners! Remember when I said that things would settle down after school let out for the holidays? Yeah? Well smack me upside the head next time I mention things "settling down" during the holidays. I mean, really!<br /><br />In an attempt to (again) catch this blog up with my life, I will post some of the stuff that's happened during the past couple weeks in bullet point format . . . because I'd kind of like to finish this before 2011 arrives! :)<br /><br /><ul><li>Finished Christmas shopping AND a huge assignment at school (designing a ridiculously detailed template for my future personal training clients), while still managing to fit two short runs in during the week<br /></li><li>Ran 30 miles the weekend before Christmas (PEAK WEEK!!) . . . it was one crazy-ass weekend. I somehow ran an effortless 10 miles in 1:29:38 (8:58 pace!) on Saturday a.m., went to school all day for my Sports Performance Clinic, went home, ate pasta, went to sleep, got up on Sunday and felt really sick (sinus crap), ran 20 miles anyway, checked my garmin like 40 times afterwards to make sure I had REALLY run 20 miles,* ate fast food (Sonic) for the first time in a year, felt REALLY sick (sinuses and tummy, both) and went to bed<br /></li><li>Studied for and aced another test at school despite the constantly-building sinus pressure in my head</li><li>Survived my car making a WEIRD ASS sound** on the way to Target, checked and added oil to my car (that wasn't the problem; that was more a "just in case" kind of thing); renamed said car "The Little Suzuki That Could" with the hopes that I would make it to my older sister's house in Beaufort, SC without my life turning into one of those Fa-La-La-La-Lifetime movies I'd been watching recently<br /></li><li>"Baked"*** until the wee hours of the morning before heading to one last (entertaining) class and hitting the road for Beaufort<br /></li><li>Drove for 5 hours with my blood pressure through the roof as a result of my fear that my car would breakdown somewhere in rural Georgia with no cell reception</li><li>Made it to SC without incident, ate some homemade gumbo and spent the next day-and-a-half wrapping presents, eating cookies and hanging out with the fam<br /></li><li>Had a wonderful Christmas**** in which I received many running-themed presents (will post photos soon!), new headphones and a telephoto lens for my "big girl" SLR camera</li><li>Spent the next few days hanging out with the fam, attempting to get over my sinus infection that had morphed itself into bronchitis, and being lazy. I wasn't TOTALLY lazy, though . . . my younger sis, Mo, and I did rock the Dance Dance Revolution pretty hard! That game will get you sweating, let me tell ya! I also managed to work in a day of lifting, a metabolic conditioning workout and a bunch of walks around my sister's beautiful neighborhood . . . not much, but I'll take it considering I felt like absolute crap and was getting about 2 hours of sleep a night as a result of my inability to breathe and the fact that I was hacking up a lung every 4 seconds<br /></li><li>Researched rental cars and flights for like 45 hours straight in an attempt to figure out how the heck I'm going to get home to NYC in THREE WEEKS! Yes, you read that right . . . THREE WEEKS!<br /></li><li>Spent one extra day (Monday) at Mallory's house so that I could attempt to deflect some of my niece's CRAZY energy off of her. That child was WIRED!</li><li>Drove back to Orlando, still slightly terrified that my car was going to break down. Made it without incident (whew!)</li><li>Since I got back to Orlando on Tuesday night, I've spent my time polishing my resume, job-hunting, house-hunting in various parts of the country*****, researching a presentation I'll have to do in class in a week or so and prepping for Wilson's visit.</li></ul>Have I mentioned that Wilson gets here tomorrow?****** 'CUZ HE DOES! That being said (and with everything going on at school right now--ugh, SO MUCH), I may or may not have much time to post over the next 10 days . . . or hell, over the next 3 weeks until I'm done with school. I will, at a minimum, let you all know how Goofy goes, though! Um . . . yeah, because that shizz is in just over a week. YIKES! Here's hoping the bronchitis is completely gone by that time!<br /><br />Alright, I better get my booty to bed for now . . . I'd hate to be late picking my man up from the airport tomorrow a.m.! Happy New Year, y'all! Here's hoping 2010 brings us all lots of hugs, runs and happiness :)<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />*It seemed WAY too easy . . . that's never happened to me before on a 20-miler!<br /><br />**Like gravel was jumping around under the hood, in case you're interested<br /><br />***I don't have an oven in my hotel room; thus, I was stuck with "no bake" recipes only<br /><br />****Minus a minor/major argument--ah, family!!<br /><br />*****Yes, I realize this is a complete waste of time until I figure out where we're going to be . . . but I like it, so sue me!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">******Actually today, seeing as how it is now past midnight. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :)</span>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-51820008305182159022009-12-14T22:10:00.004-05:002009-12-15T17:25:42.520-05:00Two Weekends For the Price of OneI swear, I am *THIS* close to hiring somebody to write for my blog. Oy. This time of year is always an especially tough one for me, it seems . . . I just don't understand where the time goes! First and foremost, I'm going to have to blame <a href="http://www.mylifetime.com/falalala/index">Falalala Lifetime's </a>insistence on playing Christmas movies 24/7. Why do I continue to watch these horribly awesome movies with what little free time I have? WHY?! That, and I've been spending a HUGE amount of time scouring the interwebs, trying to find thrifty but fabulous presents for my loved ones. Being a student without any income sucks, yo . . .<br /><br />Anyway, life has been good. Not much excitement happening during the week . . . school, workout, run, study; repeat. Boring, right? The weekends, however, have been great. Thus, I will now tell you about them in an attempt to make my life sound more interesting than it actually is.<br /><br />Two weekends ago, I got to head home to NYC to spend some quality time with Wilson and my beloved Brooklyn Heights apartment (okay, fine--and the cat too). Wouldn't you know, NYC was kind enough to greet me upon my arrival with some kind of freezing sleet/rain crap that felt absolutely LOVELY on my sissy Floridian skin. Yowsers. After that cleared up, though, it was a fabulous weekend indeed. I decorated the apartment for Christmas and helped Wilson bake gingerbread cookies. We also managed to squeeze in a 14-ish mile run along my favorite NYC route (over the Brooklyn Bridge and up the Hudson River--gorgeous). Most importantly, though, I got to eat at all of my favorite NYC establishments that I miss so dearly . . . brunch at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/stone-park-cafe-brooklyn">Stone Park Cafe</a>; Vietnamese sandwiches and bubble tea from <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/nickys-vietnamese-sandwiches-brooklyn">Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches</a>; pizza from <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/lucali-brooklyn-3#hrid:wPQp44n-90EFRNwBvYTbIw/src:search/query:lucalis">Lucali</a>; and Falafel from <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/waterfalls-restaurant-brooklyn">Waterfalls</a>. Ah, how I've missed those places . . . and Brooklyn. Sigh. Only six weeks to go, though, until I get to return back home (and back to the real world--yikes!). How crazy is that?<br /><br />This past weekend, on the other hand, I stayed in Orlando and had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with the <a href="http://cautionredheadrunning.blogspot.com/">the Redhead</a> for 12 miles on Saturday morning. Those of you who have read her recap already know it wasn't exactly smooth sailing for the two of us. First things first, I was scared silly by a strange man laying on a bench right outside my hotel as I left at the early (and dark) hour of 6 a.m. He screamed, "GOOD MORNING!" at me at the top of his lungs as I scurried out the front door into the pitch blackness. I prayed he wouldn't follow me, and rushed to my car. Luckily, he did not . . . so I hopped in and immediately locked my doors. I was on my way!<br /><br />The drive was uneventful (read: I managed to not get lost) and I arrived at our meeting point right on time. The only issue was that the lot we usually park in was all blocked off. FRICK. I pulled into a nearby McDonalds and pulled out my phone to text the Redhead and let her know where I was. As I waited for her to arrive, I could see flashing lights coming from the other side of the McD's, reflecting off of a nearby parked car. "OH SNAP," I thought. "Somebody got busted." I kid you not, 5 seconds later, I got a text from the Redhead saying that she had just been pulled over by a cop in the same McDonald's parking lot I was waiting in. Ha. Luckily, the cop just gave her a warning (whew!). With our usual parking spaces unavailable (we speculated there must be a race of some kind going on), we decided to head over to the Publix to park. Only, when we got there and climbed out of our cars, we realized we were like 10 yards from a big finish line area. Oops! Guess there WAS a race going on, and we'd basically driven right up to it.<br /><br />We moved our cars away from the finish line and finally made our way to the nearby trail we were planning to run on, hoping and praying that the race wasn't taking place ON the trail. Well, I'm sure you know where this is going . . . but yeah, it was most certainly taking place right on the trail. DAMN. Luckily, it was still early enough that there weren't many people around. I should probably mention that right around this time, I tripped over absolutely nothing and just about bit it. Yep, we hadn't even begun running and all this crap had happened. But still, we were determined to have a good run. So, off we went!<br /><br />All in all, the first mile went by without a hitch. Well, other than the golf cart of race volunteers who inadvertently blocked our path and then almost ran over us, that is. But hey, we came away from it unscathed, so that's all that matters. We kept running along the trail, and suddenly off in the distance, we saw a displeasing sight . . . the trail was blocked off with a fence up ahead. Oh geeze. Luckily, there was a lovely orange detour sign pointing us towards the right. We set off on our "detour", laughing ourselves silly about our bad luck. On we ran, praying we were following the detour correctly. After a couple of miles of detour, however, we started to get nervous. We realized neither of us had our cell phones and neither of us had any clue where we were. We attempted to recall how we'd gotten to where we were . . . just in case we needed to turn around at some point. Meanwhile, we joked about how we'd probably never be found, and how the cop who had pulled the Redhead over would later be interviewed on the news, weeping and saying he was the last person to see the Redhead. Ha, awesome.<br /><br />FINALLY, we saw another orange detour sign up ahead, which led us back to our beloved trail. We hopped back onto the trail and tried to figure out how much mileage we had gained/lost as a result of the detour. Um, let's just say we are NOT math geniuses when we run. We got to the end of the trail around the mile-5 point and stopped to gel up. The Redhead had a fabulous idea to add on a loopy thing-a-ma-bob which we thought would make it so that we would hit 12 miles right as we got back to our cars. It made sense to me (which is honestly not saying much) . . . so off we went!<br /><br />I managed to trip over my own feet like 13 more times as we made our way back to our starting point (soooo graceful!). We also managed to take a sprinkler right in the face, which was pretty awesome. The good news is that we rocked that detour like champs on the way back . . . go us! Unfortunately, though, at some point during the detour, I found myself quickly growing REALLY tired. I realized the past week was probably catching up to me . . . because my legs (and my entire body, really) were just PISSED. I tried my best to remain perky, but I was doing a baaaaad job of trying to hide my exhaustion. You know when you get to the point where you are just too tired to be good at holding a conversation? Yeah, that was me. I felt like such a loser, but told myself to just suck it up. Before long, we made it back to the 5K race course area where we'd started, and tried to figure out how to finish up the run without getting in the way of the participants. Luckily, though, it appeared to be just a handful of the far back of the pack who were still out on the course by the time we got back, so it wasn't much of an issue.<br /><br />We got back to the area where we'd parked and quickly came to realize that we were only at about 11 miles. CRAPPERS. Looks like we were a little lacking in the math while running skillz department! Or, to use the Redhead's term, we were "run-tarded"! I debated whether or not to finish the 12 miles off or call it quits. I felt bad leaving the Redhead on her own for the last mile, but I was also semi-worried about time since we'd gotten a late start and I had to be at school by 9:30 a.m. for a 7-hour Sports Performance Clinic. Well, that and I was really starting to struggle. Considering I still had a 2-hour workout ahead of me at school, I thought it might be wise to call it quits and head off. The Redhead, being an example of total awesomeness continued on to finish out 12 miles as I made my way back to my car.<br /><br />I quickly drove over to my school, all the while chugging my gatorade down and stuffing my face with an Amy's Organic black bean burrito. I made it there by 9:10, excited to strip out of my wet clothes and hop in the shower (ah, the perks of going to school at a gym!). Well, this was easier said than done . . . turns out there was NO HOT WATER. Oh dear god. It was painfully cold. I kept expecting to go into shock or something. But somehow, I managed to quickly get cleaned up without dying of hypothermia. I quickly got dressed and made it back into the classroom with a few minutes to spare. Nice! The workshop itself (which will run for the next three weekends minus the Saturdays after both Christmas and New Years) was REALLY interesting. I would love, love, love to work with sports teams some day; so this stuff was right up my alley. Oh, and the workout wasn't bad at all since we were mostly learning about dynamic warm-ups.<br /><br />I got home around 4 p.m. and spent the remainder of the day laid out on my hotel bed (in my hot pink recovery socks, of course), watching Falalala Lifetime. It was early to bed for me, as I had plans for ANOTHER long run on Sunday morning. Weeeellllll, it turned out my body had other plans for me when I woke up at 6:30 on Sunday a.m. Oy. I was DEAD. I pulled the "I'm just going to lay back down for a second" trick . . . and didn't wake up until 10:30 a.m. Um, oopsies! Around 2:30 p.m., I finally convinced myself to head out, which was awesome considering it was HOT out. Don't get me wrong; it was a BEAUTIFUL day (and I know many of you would KILL for some 80s right about now) . . . it's just that running long was not the awesomest thing ever to be doing mid-afternoon. Around the 6-mile mark, I made a decision to slow to a power walk and shoot for "time on my feet" instead of my originally planned 16-18 miles. I ended up covering a total of 14-miles in just under 3 hours. It wasn't exactly what I set out to do, but given my busy weekend and the crazy-exhausting metabolic circuits we'd done in class during the previous week, I figured it was good enough. Plus, slowing down came with some perks: I saw 3 turtles and a couple of wild turkeys along the trail! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have noticed any of them had I run the whole time. So yay. I guess there are some benefits to slowing down :)<br /><br />Well, there you have it, folks. That's what I've been up to. I am STILL trying to catch up on my Google Reader . . . because I am nothing if not stubborn! But I figure if I can just hang on another week, I'll be on a 10-day Christmas break from school and can FINALLY get myself fully caught up. Whew! Almost there! Hope you are all well! I really can't wait to catch up with you guys!Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-30130075122682919062009-12-03T15:53:00.002-05:002009-12-03T16:26:18.835-05:00Balance is a Real Bugger<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Soooo</span> . . . hi all! I'm still alive and kicking, despite what the silence of this blog would lead you to believe! I guess stuff has just been kinda busy lately.<br /><br />The good news is that I aced my midterm; not only that, but I pulled the highest grade in the class with a 99%! What's up, bitches?! <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Hahaha</span>. SO glad to see all of my crazy studying paid off! But the bad news about my crazy studying (combined, of course, with a crazy-fun Thanksgiving holiday with the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">fam</span>) is that I am so far behind in my google reader, I want to cry just thinking about it! I haven't even opened it over the past couple days because the number of unread entries is so overwhelming. But today is the day I start chipping away at it. I simply don't have the heart to clear the whole thing out. Slowly but surely, I WILL catch up on all 202 postings!<br /><br />Now for a little bit of bad news. Don't worry, my dad is just fine; no problems there. But it turns out that I'm not doing so well. Apparently working out twice a day 5 times a week and then attempting two back-to-back long runs every weekend is a good way to end up seriously <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">overtrained</span>. Shit. The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">overtrained</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">ness</span> may actually be to blame for my insomnia according to <a href="http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/overtraining/a/aa062499a.htm">this article</a>. So anyway, I'm in a bit of a pickle. We're getting to the point at school where we are really upping the ante, so to speak; we're getting to training methods like metabolic conditioning that can really kick your ass if you're not careful. So basically, I have no choice but to cut back on everything else a little bit; otherwise, my progress will be seriously halted . . . which is obviously completely unacceptable. <br /><br />So how am I planning to do this? Well, I've decided I should probably cut my evening sessions back to (at most) one a week. While this makes me a little sad, I know it is what my body needs. I've also decided to cut my weekday runs down from two to one, and reduce that one run from 6-8 miles to 4-6 miles, thus cutting my weekly mileage down from the 40-45 range to about the 30-35 range. Hopefully, this will be enough to combat the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">overtraining</span> issue . . . if not, I guess I'll have to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">reassess</span> things further. Ugh, what a drag . . .<br /><br />Anyway, other than that, things are going just swimmingly. We're getting to some really interesting stuff at school . . . and I am loving it! Ooh, and I get to head back home to NYC this weekend to see Wilson (and my kitty), and to do some long runs in NOT hot weather. Not gonna lie, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">homies</span>. I'm sorta/kinda really excited about that one!<br /><br />For now, though, it's time to catch back up with what y'all have been doing! Can't wait!Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-59575172514200234602009-11-18T18:03:00.002-05:002009-11-18T18:40:18.227-05:00Good News!So, first things first . . . I have to thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers and kind words regarding my father. Just to update you, we got word on Monday that my father's bone scan came back negative. This is very good news as it means the cancer is confined to his prostate and has not spread elsewhere in his body. After meeting with the doc, my pops was given options of either surgery or radiation. At this point in time, he is leaning towards the surgery; but that won't take place until six weeks or so down the road (I guess he has to take some time to recover from the biopsy). Know what's awesome about that? It means we'll get to go ahead with the family Thanksgiving as planned! I am so excited, I can't even tell you. In addition to it being Thanksgiving, my adorable niece turns 4 on Thanksgiving Day . . . so it will be one big party at the Irish Cream household! Can't wait :)<br /><br />In other news, I am tired. Like, really tired. I've suffered on and off from bouts of insomnia . . . and guess what? It's back. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Blech</span>. I'm trying to do everything in my power to make myself sleep at night, but for the past week or so, it's been a losing battle. Luckily, I've still managed to get my workouts in and stick to the schedule like white on rice. My first run of the week was a 6-miler on Monday after class. I started out running pretty easy, but then felt like picking up the pace about 1.5-miles in. My splits were kind of all over the place--not sure what that's all about--but I felt good the entire time, so I'll take it.<br /><br />Mile-1: 9:25<br />Mile-2: 9:13<br />Mile-3: 8:54<br />Mile-4: 9:11<br />Mile-5: 8:48<br />Mile-6: 8:19<br /><br />Not bad. Not bad at all. Yesterday was my evening circuit training session at school, and let me tell you, it was ROUGH. I think the lack of sleep finally caught up with me or something because I was SO not feeling it. I still gave my all, but I just didn't have my usual "stuff." Sigh.<br /><br />Today, I got home from school and was equally exhausted. I was SO tempted to blow my scheduled run off. After all, with our big midterm coming up on Tuesday, I had a decent excuse. But in the end, I knew I would feel better if I got out there and ran. I put my clothes on and headed out, telling myself that I could run 4-miles and call it a day. Of course, once I got started, I was very happy to be running and, once again, felt like picking up the pace and getting a little speedy. Somehow, I managed to turn the run into a progressive run, with each mile clocking in faster than the previous mile. Isn't it funny how the runs you dread the most can sometimes turn into your best runs ever? My splits for today's run were as follows:<br /><br />Mile-1: 9:10<br />Mile-2: 8:50<br />Mile-3: 8:34<br />Mile-4: 8:27<br /><br />Now, it's back to studying because this midterm is NOT going to be easy. So . . . much . . . information! Happy Hump Day, folks! We've got a short week next week, so hang in there ;)Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-53578577423011494672009-11-15T11:49:00.003-05:002009-11-15T19:22:34.244-05:00Another Great WeekendAnother weekend is coming to an end, leaving me with nothing but smiles . . . which is actually somewhat shocking when you take into account the fact that I had my first ever experience with back-to-back long runs (a la Goofy) this weekend.<br /><br />I ran the first one on Friday morning before class. Getting up at 5:45 a.m. was a total b*tch due to the fact that I have been suffering from some insomnia lately. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with adding the evening circuit training workouts into my routine. I'm hoping once my body gets used to them, I'll get back to sleeping better. Somehow, despite my lack of sleep, I managed to drag my practically lifeless body out of bed, get dressed and head out the door by 6:30 on Friday morning. It was nothing short of a miracle, folks. Once I got going, I was fine, of course (always am--it's just the waking up that's hard) . . . completing 6.01 miles in 56:24 (9:23 pace). The best thing about the run was the weather--in the high-fifties--just about perfect running weather, if you ask me! The funny thing is that 3 out of the 5 people I passed while running looked at my scantily clad self (just shorts and a short-sleeved shirt) and asked me incredulously, "Aren't you freezing?!" Ah, Floridians. I resisted the urge to point out that it would actually have to be about 25 degrees cooler to be considered "freezing".<br /><br />Saturday morning held another 5:45 a.m. wake-up call, as I was scheduled to meet Morgan from the blog <a href="http://cautionredheadrunning.blogspot.com/">Caution: Redhead Running</a> for my 12-mile long run. As I mentioned in my last post, we were originally going to run long together; but it turned out that she had a 10K to rock the next day (word on the street is that there was a PR involved--keep an eye out on her blog for the race report). Rather than cancel on me, though, she offered to ride her bike alongside me and keep me company. How infinitely cool is that?! Being my usually car-less New Yorker self, I got lost on my way to our meet-up spot (shocking, I know). I've said this before, and I will say it again . . . I should NOT be trusted to drive anywhere, people! Once Morgan figured out where I was and helped me to find my way, though, we finally got to meet. Shortly thereafter we embarked on what was to become my favorite long run EVER. First of all, not only did Morgan ride her bike alongside me and distract me with all kinds of fun topics of conversation, but she also wore a backpack and insisted on carrying ALL of my sh*t for me! Oh, and she also brought me an ice cold bottle of water and carried that on her bike for me too. Talk about being spoiled! Everyone we passed was seriously jealous of my personal support crew!<br /><br />Now--let's be honest--I was slightly nervous about this run going into it. I just wasn't sure how the school workouts plus all the running I've been doing plus the back-to-back long runs were going to affect me. I was secretly convinced that my legs were going to give up 2 miles in and I was going to look really stupid and lame in front of this awesome runner girl who could have just slept in was it not for me! But seriously, the miles FLEW by. We chatted about everything under the sun . . . lots of it running-related, but lots of it not. At one point, we got a good laugh in when some dude biking ahead of us stopped and picked up this HUGE palm branch. He then proceeded to ride his bike while carrying this thing. WTF? Sadly, by the time we realized what he was doing, he was too far in front of us for Morgan to snap a photo. Still, it was definitely good for a laugh or two! Honestly, every moment from start to finish was just so much fun. Isn't it so funny how you can meet another running blogger for the first time and the conversation just flows as though you've known each other for years?<br /><br />In the end, we finished 12.01 miles in 2:01:25; or a 10:07 pace. Things that are awesome about this: 1) I FINALLY managed to keep my pace down. I think chatting with Morgan really helped with this. Ah, conversation pace! Who knew all you had to do to find it was . . . to have a conversation with someone; 2) I felt REALLY good throughout the run. During maybe the last 1.5 miles, my legs started to fatigue a little and it started to heat up a bit; but it wasn't a big deal; 3) I am now feeling much more confident in my ability to do the training for Goofy. Although, seriously? I might just have to pay Morgan to accompany me on all of my long runs from here on out! We have tentative plans to run long together at some point in December, and I can't wait!<br /><br />After we finished, we chatted for a bit longer until we both realized how hungry we were getting and went our separate ways. I headed back to my hotel, ate, showered, got in some phone time with both Wilson and my mother, napped, and then spent the entire evening watching college football and hiding from my classmates who were trying to insist that I go out and get drunk with them. I almost feel badly . . . but not really. I think it's just REALLY hard for them to understand that I'm just not that into "partying" these days. Poor souls. They too will get old and boring someday . . .<br /><br />Today was finally a rest day; so I've made the most of it . . . sitting on my bum and perusing my new favorite website: Care2 Make a Difference (<a href="http://www.care2.com/">http://www.care2.com/</a>). For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it has all kinds of healthy and green living articles; as well as like a trillion amazing and healthy recipes. There is just so much to peruse, I have wasted hours upon hours today doing so. That being said, I was also semi-productive--getting some grocery shopping done, tidying up my room and doing some dishes; not to mention, doing some cooking. That is honestly my favorite thing about not working a job I hate that demands my attention 24 hours a day . . . I FINALLY have time to cook and clean up after every meal. What a blessing! :)<br /><br />Alrighty, well I'm off to hit the books . . . but I hope you all had as super-fabulous a weekend as I did!! Can't wait to see what y'all did :)Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-11923115044784303502009-11-12T20:06:00.005-05:002009-11-12T21:45:45.507-05:00Some things . . .Wow, so much to talk about! I guess that's what happens when you let a week and a half go by without posting, eh? <div><div><br /></div><div>First let's start with some bad news I received about a week ago. I always like to get that stuff out of the way first so that I can move onto happier things :) Sooooooo . . . my pops was diagnosed with prostate cancer last Friday. Bummer, right? Who wants to actually be forced to think/talk/etc. about their father's prostate? Yikes--no thanks! But in all seriousness, if he has to have cancer, prostate cancer isn't the worst thing ever. It still sucks obviously, but there are far worse cancers out there. At this point in time, we're waiting on results of a bone scan to see whether the cancer has spread to his bones at all. Luckily, my father is a pretty fit, healthy dude (he's a runner too) . . . so we're pretty optimistic that no matter what the prognosis, he'll be just fine. Still, we could definitely use all the prayers, happy thoughts, finger-crossing, etc. you can spare!</div><div><br /></div><div>Okay, now moving on to happier items: I am in love with school. I mean, seriously in love. Like, I would probably consider cheating on Wilson if school was a person. Luckily, school is not a person. But I digress . . . it is honestly going just INCREDIBLY. I feel like I have learned such a crazy amount of stuff in such a short time (only 7 weeks so far!). That's the reason I haven't been posting much about what I'm learning . . . it's kind of just like, "Where the hell do I even start?!" The one thing I WILL say is that resistance training can SERIOUSLY improve your running--and yes, it is important to do some resistance training for those legs of yours, homies. Trust me on this one--you WILL see improvements in your running if you train your legs. And we're not talking crappy leg press, leg curl, leg extension machines here . . . we're talking body-weight squats, lunges, step-ups, box jumps, hip extensions, calf-raises, etc. And guess what's awesome about all of that stuff I just mentioned? YOU DON'T EVEN NEED A GYM TO DO IT! Sorry, y'all . . . no excuses. Anyway, I'll talk about this stuff more at some point, but if you don't do these exercises now, think about adding some in.</div><div><br /></div><div>My new favorite thing at school is the "make-up sessions" we can attend on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Basically, we can only have 2 unexcused absences during the program if we want to graduate--and if you happen to have more than 2, you are forced to attend evening "make-up sessions" to cancel out the extra absences. I went to the first of these sessions not really sure what to expect. I'd only missed 2 days (one from my Chicago trip and one because I was sick) . . . but I figured it would be smart to earn my free days back just in case I happen to need them later on. For the first part of the session, our instructor had us clean the gym. BO-RING (and also, EW). But then, he put us through some crazy-difficult circuit training. It was HARD. Two dudes puked--not even kidding--because the point of these sessions is to be so difficult that they prevent people from missing too many classes. But, I am such a crazy masochist that I have decided to just go to all of these sessions I can make (which, lets be honest, is all of them--I have no life!) because I REALLY love having my butt kicked. I figure I might as well get my money's worth and do everything I can at school, no?</div><div><br /></div><div>The only issue with this is trying to figure out when to fit my training runs in. Ha. Between the daily workouts we do--which are pretty hard core (all kinds of super-setting, compound-setting, etc.)--and then these extra sessions, it's hard to figure out when to run. But I think I finally figured out my schedule. It will involve "two-a-days" 5 days a week . . . so hopefully it won't kill me. But if it becomes too difficult, I can always drop the extra sessions at school (or at least one a week):</div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Monday:</strong> </div><div>-Resistance train upper body/interval training (at school)</div><div>-Evening run of 4-8 miles</div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Tuesday:</strong> </div><div>-Resistance train lower body/core/interval training (at school)</div><div>-Circuit training (evening session at school)</div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Wednesday:</strong> </div><div>-Resistance train upper body/interval training (at school) </div><div>-Evening run of 4-8 miles</div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Thursday:</strong> </div><div>-Resistance train lower body/core/interval training (at school)</div><div>-Circuit training (evening session at school)</div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Friday:</strong> </div><div>-1st of back-to-back long runs in the a.m. (7-10 miles)</div><div>-Resistance train upper body/interval training (at school)</div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Saturday:</strong> </div><div>-Long run (12-20 miles); core (optional)</div><div><br /></div><div><strong>Sunday:</strong> </div><div>-REST DAY!</div><div><br /></div><div>So um, yeah. Ha, I guess that's a lot. But I'm feeling stronger than ever . . . and my body composition has already changed SIGNIFICANTLY. As in, none of my effing clothes fit me anymore. I know I shouldn't complain about this, but I AM kind of bummed that I'm going to have to basically buy an entire new wardrobe when this whole thing is over! Talk about unexpected expenses . . . </div><div><br /></div><div>In other happy news, I got to visit my older sister and adorable niece again last weekend. My sis had some girlfriends in town for a "girls' weekend" . . . and I was the designated babysitter/kiddo distracter since my bro-in-law was out of the country on business. First things first, the drive was FAR more successful this time . . . I didn't even run off the road once! Go me! Second of all, Iris and I had A BLAST together coloring, riding bikes, looking at stingrays in the river and doing all kinds of puzzles. The only time we seemed to butt heads a little was when she tried to convince me that Halloween candy and cookies would make a "good lunch." No, no, little one. Sorry, but your Aunt Bailey is learning all about nutrition at school, and she is not going to be fooled into believing that! We settled on grilled cheese, yogurt and a banana. Overall, though, she was VERY well-behaved. I was impressed. Still, I was definitely exhausted come the end of the weekend. Here are a few photos of Iris and I hanging out together that one of Mallory's girlfriends took:</div><div><br /></div><div></div></div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403409462824037074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQUzIP_QicRROcYS-qcIEz_QoU-sSRyILrb6yGT0pLzUoOHBCZXmKc7jhb9ZNaD14TPOmtr9E4eUZYVanfT5oOzE14tMih21sZswOmLO0yubtmohrUO6GMvoJ7RMfzcxOq3_ioceoVDpob/s400/bae+and+iris+2.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403410527525856658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ErMezFmqULJ06Wz9g1GqM8VVK6nSx_j8vIM4_FSdF_mua-wXBlYmaKRywqkPn5L9M8dCZ-3gDt5K1olzmLoHUpmdK40HujBq1JbW-MIW_wTHNCQbLoHJSM2oYFkszmrdQUI72NFyLROQ/s400/bae+and+iris+3.jpg" border="0" /></div><div><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403409459337972978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2dIsJwrbTlWujD_fWAtAaTbZ7PFlIR-RQlD9N-Ng1huaCtPztoRYdkQ2a_IFhnFLg8hsszOmFrsiGCRYD0NXoxKzuc_LaP4c4QPL4bPE2wDmusaAbVAqCnCT17qIGz6f329IlUB_o64O/s400/bae+and+iris.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>Oh my gosh, and I just remembered that I have even MORE happy stuff to talk about. Guess who I get to meet this weekend? ONLY YOUR <a href="http://cautionredheadrunning.blogspot.com/">FAVORITE REDHEAD EVER</a>!! Aren't you jealous? We had planned to do a long run together on Saturday, but it turns out she has a 10K to rock on Sunday. Most people would simply cancel and try again another week . . . BUT NO! She is officially the coolest person EVER and she offered to ride her bike beside me while I run! How incredible is that?! I'm so excited to finally meet her!</div><br /><div>Okay, well I THINK that's all for now. I'll probably think of something else right affter I hit "publish" . . . but I guess I'll have to save whatever it is for the next post ;)</div><br /><div>Hope you all are having wonderful weeks . . . we're ALMOST to the weekend! Hang in there ;)</div></div>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-27383275669126129282009-11-02T15:56:00.006-05:002009-11-02T19:07:25.599-05:00Best Weekend Ever?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheoxIGzX5i9EMTBa-KKT6zrXI7jY0AB1IN70SCc5A-30GskKwauUqgcWDLtUNNR81TxWgJSvzHmIkvUHJcDoCVpGdrWSSEdPTWG36LqKL4ISlIxeJlMmCFPL3Xoybr5wcaBn8jDfvyseGz/s1600-h/philly.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399637217810347922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheoxIGzX5i9EMTBa-KKT6zrXI7jY0AB1IN70SCc5A-30GskKwauUqgcWDLtUNNR81TxWgJSvzHmIkvUHJcDoCVpGdrWSSEdPTWG36LqKL4ISlIxeJlMmCFPL3Xoybr5wcaBn8jDfvyseGz/s400/philly.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Man oh man. Is it just me, or do the weekends just keep getting better and better?! As I had mentioned in my last post, I spent this past weekend in the City of Brotherly Love. And let me tell you, it was THE place to be. There was just SO much going on . . . everything from the World Series, to Pearl Jam playing the last shows EVER in the Spectrum, to Obama visiting, to Halloween, to an Eagles game on Sunday. Holy moly, there was a lot going on!<br /><br /><div><div><div>My flight got into Philly around 9:00 Friday night and I made my way straight to our hotel. Wilson had tickets to the PJ show that night as well, but sadly I couldn't find a flight that would get me there in time, thanks to my school schedule. Thus, he was on his own for the show. I was a little bit bummed, but it was fine. I got to the hotel by around 9:30 p.m., changed into my PJs and sprawled out on the super comfy hotel bed. Considering how crappy I was feeling (thanks to my stupid sinus infection which was, of course, only made worse by the flight--hello severe ear and sinus pain/pressure), this was probably for the best. I fell asleep with the television on, and awoke to Wilson petting my head at around 12:30 a.m. We caught up for a little while and then hit the sack, excited for the big day ahead of us.</div><br /><div>The next morning, we took our time getting ready, and eventually headed out to a restaurant I REALLY wanted to get brunch at. As lame as this is, I had seen it mentioned in the American Way magazine found in the seat back pocket of my American Airlines flight to Chi-town a couple weeks earlier! But seriously, I am so glad I trusted that magazine because the place was just AWESOME. It's called <a href="http://www.jones-restaurant.com/">Jones</a>, and it is seriously the cutest place ever. I highly recommend you check it out if you are ever in Philly. It's just a really fun, lively place. They serve some seriously awesome comfort food dishes, and I just love the decor. Check out this photo taken from the restaurant's web page:</div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399633456418123298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 177px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimUh73p5-3Cs8gHr79dBsYOyqyywPYLs4NY5WK6xCHJGkgvojEdv6fz-4zC-vQDPN8_8mlYMOKgB536euJykisGt5L2WeYFsipw4i9bFzR9G-bl7HXlTsm8vDfMbis1PaNuHE2CZF7p1NJ/s400/jones.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>We were seated very quickly right next to a cozy fireplace, and were served by a friendly waiter dressed up as Lady Gaga (all of the servers were wearing costumes--loved it!). In addition to the monkey bread that Jones is known for, they also had a special pumpkin bread available as a starter. Um, yes please? We couldn't resist, and holy crap, I am glad we didn't! That stuff was DELICIOUS! Wilson went for a yummy looking huevos rancheros entree and I decided on a turkey sausage, spinach and cheddar omelet served with tater tots. The food was seriously awesome. I will definitely go back there whenever I'm next in Philly!</div><br /><div>Next up, we went on a nice, long walk to a movie theater that was showing <a href="http://www.paranormalactivity-movie.com/">Paranormal Activity</a>. It WAS Halloween after all, and we knew we had to do SOMETHING to celebrate the holiday! Okay, fine. The truth is I REALLY wanted to see the movie, but was too afraid to go by myself! Luckily, Wilson agreed to go while we were in Philly so that I could see it! :) Anyway, it was just as freaky as I'd hoped, and definitely set the mood for the holiday (and gave us a lot to talk about to boot)!! When it was over, Wilson and I headed back to a cozy coffee shop we'd passed on the way to the theater and enjoyed a little late afternoon caffeine fix. The best part about this place (other than the delicious coffees) was that the windows were wide open (it was unseasonably warm on Saturday), and we could watch all of the dressed up kiddos walking by with their loot :) Some of the costumes were just ADORABLE!</div><br /><div>After our coffee break, we headed towards South Philly, passing oodles and oodles more trick-or-treating kids on the way. It was so much fun to see everyone out and all dressed up that the walk FLEW by. Before we knew it we were at <a href="http://www.tonylukes.com/">Tony Luke's</a>, anxious to devour some REAL cheese steaks. We knew we'd made the right decision about where to get our cheese steaks* when we saw the long, long line. Luckily we had plenty of time before the concert started to wait it out. When we finally got our grub and took our first bites, it was like heaven on a hoagie. Holy goodness, that was some good stuff! My mouth is watering now, just thinking about it! See for yourselves:</div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399633461913001570" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSk0AJg5-C3RIIvK0DQnlJ7u3sXQ8kY6LlBNrhvt-X1iI40uZo6mCSEnJmEUxt0NB6FMe9deCH7qj4IjiwNrAikH5jAjC2bwdVEZ4PEUxIyGYtQhjYnDZ-QdpN5GHnthvrjvedvd8ZLO25/s400/tony+luke.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>We ate our massive cheese steaks as we walked to the Spectrum for the last show ever before the place would be demolished. We got slightly wet on the way, as the weather turned a bit uncooperative . . . but it didn't dampen our spirits any. We knew we had an epic Pearl Jam concert to look forward to . . . and epic, it was. The boys were in rare form, playing songs they rarely (if ever) play, and just having a blast. They played for 3 1/2 hours straight! It was just an INCREDIBLE night that we were very lucky to be able to experience. The only downside to the show was that I COMPLETELY lost my voice, singing and cheering my lungs off for my favorite band EVER. I just had nothing left by the end of the show. Oh well, it was well worth it!<br /><br />On Sunday, we lazed around the hotel room all morning until it was finally time to check out at noon. While I was getting ready, Wilson--being the sweet boyfriend he is--ran out and grabbed us breakfast (fresh coffee and blueberry/banana filled Belgian sugar waffles--yum!) from this amazing place called <a href="http://www.mybonte.com/cafe-entry.php">Bonte</a>; then after we checked out, we headed out to explore the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/inde/index.htm">Independence Mall </a>area and get a dose of history, since we're geeks like that. We got to see the Liberty Bell and toured Independence Hall and Congress Hall . . . and we spent a LONG time checking out the <a href="http://www.pachs.net/dialogues-with-darwin/exhibition">Dialogues with Darwin</a> exhibit in the Philosophical Hall. I think we were both pretty into that exhibit--yep, total nerds! It was all very cool to see and a GREAT refresher in some of the American History that has slipped my memory since high school. I really do love historical sites like that . . . it's just so cool to be in the same places where historical events took place centuries ago! Fun :)</div><div><br /></div><div>After we finished up with our history tours, we moved on to our last meal in Philly. We hit up the <a href="http://www.readingterminalmarket.org/">Reading Terminal Market </a>in search of some grub.** Sadly, when we got to our intended restaurant, <a href="http://www.readingterminalmarket.org/merchants/view/56">DiNic's Roast Beef and Pork</a>, we discovered it was closed. But no worries, there were PLENTY of other yummy places to choose from. After wandering around a bit and checking out the options, we finally went with <a href="http://www.readingterminalmarket.org/merchants/view/85">Hershel's East Side Deli</a>, where we both ordered the most mammoth-sized corned beef sandwiches I have ever seen in my entire life. See Bonnie S.'s photo from yelp:</div><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399633464671575762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-s9NWEEXv0m1VQooCV3vu36MuL6oNYqe1LhxV9w6xaXBR37cMdzk0fWlTE6z2LtaOFiZIs8eqqkEzoLtXl4s4UkqSgWgJG-Z70JH2O0OLHmMtyRyxRQFfKDnyl2Yonn8wBJpR5xZAK7TO/s400/corned+beef.jpg" border="0" /><br />It was SO good, but there was just no hope of me finishing that thing. I made a valiant effort, and then we headed back to hotel to collect our things and head off in separate directions; I, back to Orlando . . . and Wilson, back to NYC.<br /><div>Wilson was sweet enough to walk me to the train station to make sure I got off to the airport alright . . . and I tried my hardest not to sob as we said goodbye. It was rough. We'd had such a wonderful weekend together, it was really hard to see it come to an end. But at least we'd made some pretty awesome memories together that weekend. What more can you ask for out of a weekend, really? I'm just so glad I have someone to share the best things in life with . . . travelling, eating and running, of course! I am one lucky girl! :) </div><br /></div><div><br /><div><span style="font-size:85%;">*Truth be told, most of our decisions about where to eat when visiting in other cities are made based upon where Man vs. Food filmed while in the city. This is true for Tony Luke's as well.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:85%;">**Again, this decision was based on what we saw on Man vs. Food. We are so predictable . . . </span></div></div></div></div>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-9514656126784849682009-10-28T21:40:00.005-04:002009-10-29T22:32:07.901-04:00Busy, Busy . . . Plus a Monsoon Thunderstorm RunHowdy all! I can't believe an ENTIRE WEEK has passed since I last posted. What have I been up to? Well, there's school, of course. And studying. Then there's running--I've been doing a fair amount of that. Oh, and there's the trip I made to SC to visit my sister, bro-in-law and niece last weekend (5 hours both ways--whew!). There were many highlights of this trip. But first, let's talk about what WASN'T a highlight: My pathetic attempt to navigate my way through pitch black rural South Carolina with a nasty case of night blindness. Holy crap. I seriously can't see in the dark, y'all--I probably shouldn't even have a driver's license! It was super freaky, and I was lost, lost, lost. But luckily, I eventually found my way--only pissing off like 5 or 6 cars in the process--and best of all, I was immediately thereafter greeted with an ice cold pint of beer. My sister knows me too well ;)<br /><div></div><br /><div>Anyway, I had lots of fun catching up with them all . . . especially my 4 year-old niece, Iris (see photographic evidence of her adorableness below). </div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397846905690637826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZrJ7ywd6exliefidcQEHMcbRD8VL83Jz247lFxBQNZSAkugdg91GTzst0sH7FEDlQYaxvY-cUcYqWdJNtcNtJAK1e9CZh5TqnNXI6pR0QGmF9LfLlkc3cKtJa2LdaxVgQ0rZjRf2M94uF/s400/iris+recent.bmp" border="0" /><br /><div></div><div>Iris and I had an exciting day of pumpkins, hay rides and cupcakes on Saturday, and then went on to dance the night away to the music of a live band. This fun was all a part of their neighborhood's Fall Harvest Festival (and by the way, dancing with a 4 year old = pretty darn exhausting). On Sunday, we played together for hours and hours. It's amazing how long you can keep a kid entertained just by making stuffed animals talk! Iris showed me the medal she had earned playing peewee soccer, which led me to believe that she will one day be a marathoner. I mean, c'mon . . . who else would be so darn impressed with a silly piece of metal looped around a ribbon? Also, at one point, as we were attempting to put together a Hello Kitty puzzle, Iris turned into the cutest kid on the face of the planet. Just imagine those gorgeous blue eyes staring up at you with nothing but love and saying this:</div><br /><div></div><div>Iris: Aunt Bailey?</div><br /><div></div><div>Me: Yes, Iris?</div><br /><div></div><div>Iris: I love you.</div><br /><div></div><div>Me (trying not to spontaneously burst into tears): I love you too, Iris.</div><br /><div></div><div>Iris: I really, really missed you.</div><br /><div></div><div>Me: Aw, I missed you too, Iris.</div><br /><div></div><div>It was officially the cutest moment of my entire life. I was definitely a bit choked up. It also made me want to pop a kid out right then and there (tick tock, tick tock). Luckily this didn't happen (although I DID have a dream last night that I woke up one day and was randomly like 7 months pregnant with twins--all I could think about was how I hadn't received prenatal care and my kids were probably all effed up!). Anyway, aren't kids the cutest? I wish I could convey the absolute sincerity with which Iris spoke. It totally broke my heart and made me want to move next door to my sister so that she'd never have to miss me ever again . . .</div><br /><div>But alas, the time came for me to hit the road. Conveniently, this coincided with nap time for Iris. This worked out perfectly because I didn't have to have my heart torn to shreds by her crying and begging me to stay as I walked out the door. Mallory sent me off with a HUGE bag full of veggies from their farm share, as well as half a loaf of homemade banana bread. YUMMY. I got back to Orlando around 8 p.m. and was forced to cram for a test that would be taking place during class on Monday morning. It was not fun. But somehow, I managed to pull the highest grade in the class despite my lack of motivation to study. So it all worked out in the end.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yesterday, I started to feel like I was coming down with something--maybe a sinus infection? Maybe swine flu? Blech. But despite feeling a bit crappy, I still really wanted to get a run in. I checked accuweather and noticed it was supposed to storm later in the evening, but I thought I had time to squeeze the run in before the weather got too crazy. WRONG-O. As is just my luck, I got to my turn-around point at the 3-mile mark (also known as the furthest point from my car possible) and turned around to see the darkest, most ominous sky ever staring me down. Oh shit. I tried to push the pace in an attempt to get back to my car before the storm started, but no such luck. I made it only 50 yards before a torrential downpour began. It was somehow raining sideways and was raining so hard that the rain was slicing into my eyes in all kinds of painful ways. Ouch. I couldn't see ANYTHING. I forged on, praying it wouldn't lightening. Of course, two seconds later, I saw the first flash. Here I was, 2.5 miles from my car on a tree-lined path. If that doesn't make you run fast, I'm not sure what will. I managed to make it back to my car unscathed, covering the 6 miles in 53:18; that's an 8:53 pace for all you keeping track at home. Not bad. Not bad at all. Perhaps I should go running in Monsoon Thunderstorms more often?</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>I also made a roller-blading friend on this run. We were stopped at a traffic light at one point and he decided to inflate my ego by telling me that I was "really cruising back there." Never in my life has anyone described my running in such a way. It felt . . . really good :) I could get used to hearing that kind of thing! We also discussed how we were both clearly in better shape than the high school-aged kids who had run past us earlier, and really looked like they were struggling. Go old folks! Anyway, I came into contact with this man twice more--once as he passed me on his way back to his car in the middle of the monsoon, and then again in the parking lot where he was pulling out as I was walking to my car. "Glad you made it back okay!" he yelled out his window. How nice is that? These Florida folks are much nicer than I am used to!</div><br /><div>Well, I'm off to Philly for a weekend full of Pearl Jam, Wilson and cheese steaks starting on Friday :) Since I will be computer-less, I want to be sure to wish all of you running the NYC Marathon this weekend luck! There are oodles of you! Run like you mean it, kids! I'll be anxiously (and somewhat selfishly) awaiting your race reports! </div>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-57509080955875025802009-10-21T17:56:00.004-04:002009-10-22T19:22:34.740-04:00Welcome to CRAZYTOWNHey runners! Thanks again for all the amazing feedback on the race reports!<br /><br />Recovery has been going just fine . . . or well, maybe a little too good? While I KNOW I should have been running at recovery pace (10:44-11:14 according to the McMillan Calculator) over the last couple weeks, it hasn't quite happened. For some silly reason, my legs are actually UNABLE to run at recovery pace--like it's physically impossible. The first run I attempted was last Thursday. I covered 4 miles at a 10:03 pace. Slow-ish, but not quite as slow as "recovery pace" obviously. Then, on Sunday, I attempted a quasi-long run of 7 miles. I ended up running this at a 9:24 pace. Oops. THEN, yesterday, I ran 3.64 miles at a 9:02 pace. WTF?! Apparently running the Chicago Marathon was not only awesome, but it made me magically faster too. Or perhaps it's all of the resistance training I've been doing over the past month? Whatever the case, I think it's safe to say that I am recovering quite nicely! I'm planning to run 6 tomorrow and 10-12 this weekend . . . so I guess we'll just have to see what happens.<br /><br />Then? Guess who starts Goofy training on Monday? THIS GIRL! I am kind of excited-slash-terrified. I guess I'm just a little nervous about how to approach the training considering I already work out like a crazy person 5 days a week at school. I think I'm going to end up running back-to-back long runs on Fridays and Saturdays so that I can have my Sundays off as a rest day. I mean, call me crazy, but I just don't think I can survive the next 12 weeks without a single day off (which would be the case were I to run the long runs on Sat/Sun). At any rate, I'm excited to see how this crazy little idea pans out . . .<br /><br />Speaking of crazy, I've been contemplating adding ANOTHER marathon in (on top of Chicago and Goofy) at some point in the next 3 months. Basically, I am dying to be one of the cool kids . . . I want to qualify for the <a href="http://marathonmaniacs.com/">Marathon Maniacs</a>! The way I see it, if I'm already doing something crazy, why not run for mayor of Crazytown? Soooo. Originally I was sold on the idea of the <a href="http://www.tamparaces.com/X-Country/">X-Country Marathon</a> in Tampa on November 22. I was picturing myself frolicking with bambi and thumper and all kinds of friendly, furry animals. But then I got nosy and found the TWO race reports that exist for this marathon on the interwebs. And one of them mentioned that the dude ALMOST STEPPED ON A SNAKE. Game over. I spent the next four hours obsessively googling in an attempt to figure out what kind of wildlife I could expect to encounter. It appears that there are many animals that could maul and/or maim me in the Tampa area including alligators, bobcats and various snakes. Um, no thank you. It's a wrap. Turns out I DON'T actually like nature all that much.<br /><br />On to plan B. Now, I should mention my original inspiration for this silly plan was the discovery that one of the criteria for qualifying for maniacs is 3 marathons in 90 days. It just so happens that Chicago and Disney are spaced perfectly apart for me to accomplish just that should I throw another marathon in the middle somewhere. So my next idea was to run either the Atlanta Marathon or the Space Coast Marathon in Cocoa Beach, FL. Problem is . . . both of these marathons fall during Thanksgiving weekend, which totally goes against my belief that Thanksgiving is a time for being gluttonous and lazy. And for spending time with family, of course ;)<br /><br />Finally, I decided to think outside of the box. What if I didn't run 3 marathons in 3 months . . . but instead ran 2 marathons in 3 weekends? I took a look at the race calendar and realized that the Clearwater Marathon just so happens to fall 2 weeks after Disney! Not only that, but it's two days after my graduation from NPTI . . . what better way to celebrate making it through my school program than by running a marathon and qualifying for the Marathon Maniacs! Right? Right?! Anyway, this is the plan as of right now. I, of course, reserve the right to change my mind as I have yet to officially commit myself via registration. I have to say, though, I'm liking this idea a lot. For starters, I think training for Goofy is enough craziness in and of itself. No need to throw another marathon in the mix when I've only got 12 weeks to train in the first place! By choosing to run Clearwater, I can basically slog my way through on my Goofy-butchered legs with my goal being simply to finish (I believe the cut-off is 6:30 hours--SURELY I can do that). And hey, I promise to take it NICE and easy for a while after I get through this next string of races.<br /><br />So has anyone out there run Clearwater before? Any thoughts/advice/etc. to share?<br /><br />Have I officially lost my mind? Comments welcome (I think)! :)Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-2282687797306826112009-10-19T15:53:00.004-04:002009-10-19T21:32:35.735-04:002009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Race Report - Part IIIOkay, now that I'm done being all mushy and whatnot . . . it's back to our regularly scheduled program.<br /><br />Let's see. Where did we leave off? I believe Wilson and I had just crossed the finish line hand-in-hand. Cute, no? Well wait 'til you hear this next thing then. We slowed to a walk, and Wilson said to me, "I'm really proud of you." I tried my hardest to fight back the tears. On we waddled through the finishers' chute. While I had definitely been in pain during those last few miles, it was NOTHING compared to the pain I was experiencing now that we had stopped. I could hardly walk on my own. And then? The lower back spasms started. This came out of nowhere . . . shockingly, my back hadn't bothered me until the last several miles; and even then, it was pretty tame in comparison to races past. Holy effer, those spasms killed. Between the pain and the pride, I could no longer hold the tears back. The floodgates opened, and I began bawling.<br /><br />Wilson did a double-take and looked back at me, concerned. "I-I-I-I'm in SO much pain!" I cried between sniffles. He slowed up, and allowed me to lean on him as we walked. I honestly thought I might throw up, I was hurting so badly. My hips. My quads. My calves. My back. Even my forearms hurt--not even kidding.* I would stop every now and then . . . because more than anything, I just wanted to lay down and die. But Wilson encouraged me to keep moving, mentioning that he'd read that any runners who stopped in the finishers' chute would be taken straight to the medic tent. I definitely didn't want that! So I prepared my response should any of the medics come up and see me bawling and unable to move. "I'm just really emotional" would be my response. Clever, eh? Haha. It seemed like it at the time anyway . . .<br /><br />Wilson steered me over to the side of the chute where we were able to snag mylar blankets. I was super grateful to have one as I was starting to get REALLY chilled now that we were done running. Next we got our medals. Immediately thereafter, our chips were removed. Then, I finally managed to quit crying once I saw the mile-long tables of food. Funny how that works. The selection was pretty great and the volunteers were super generous with it. I grabbed at various items, and on multiple occasions, the volunteers insisted I take 2! My stash consisted of: a bottle of water, a banana, a whole wheat bagel, some cheesy dolphin crackers (x2), pretzels (x2) and some chocolate sandwich cookies (x2). I was really wishing I had some kind of baggie to hold it all . . . I must have been quite a sight, trying to juggle all that, whilst still keeping my mylar blanket wrapped around my shoulders and hobbling--across the finish chute--towards the side of the road. The goal was to find a spot just short of the beer table.** Somehow we made it, and Wilson spryly plopped down on the warm asphalt, as though he'd simply done a warm-up jog or something. I, on the other hand, was a hot mess.<br /><br />It took me probably 3 minutes to figure out how the hell to lower myself onto the ground--my legs were that torn up. But when I finally made it down there, I was in heaven. I sat there and scarfed down a ton of my food; all the while trying to keep an eye out for A. on the off-chance she passed by us. In all honesty, though, we both figured it would probably be a while before she finished based on how she looked the last time we'd seen her (thus, the half-hour long picnic in the finish chute). Finally, Wilson decided we had eaten enough food and drank enough water to hit up the beer table. I got up (very slowly, and with a lot of assistance from Wilson), cursed and then made a beeline for that beer table. "Congratulations!" the volunteer said as she gave me my Goose Island 312. I quickly thought back to A.'s comment at the very beginning of the race and laughed.<br /><br />Beers in hand, Wilson and I moved onward towards the gear check tents. I'm pretty sure my beer was 3/4 of the way gone by the time we made it the 100 yards or so up there. I was downing that thing! Ha, I looked over at Wilson's beer, and realized he had only taken a few sips of his! I'm such a lush! Whatever, I EARNED that beer! We collected our bag and I took a break from my beloved drink to change my shirt and throw on my sweats. It felt SO good to have clean, dry sweats on. I then proceeded to chug the rest of my beer and toss the cup before we even left the finish area.<br /><br />Now, at the start of the race, we'd told A. to meet at the letter "Z" in the family meet-up area afterwards if we ever got separated. But try as we might, Wilson and I could NOT find the stupid family meet-up area (we probably should have studied the start/finish area map a little more diligently prior to the race). We were thinking the meet-up area would be closer to the finish chute than it was; in reality, it was right next to the beer tent (BRILLIANT!), which was a ways off from the finish area. Luckily, my mother called as we were wandering around, and agreed to come to where we were and walk us over to the family meet-up/beer tent area. Whew!<br /><br />We stayed where we were, and before long, my parents came walking up. "So? How'd it go?" my mother asked (keep in mind that they never actually saw us on the course). When I told her that we'd finished in 4:34, I thought she was going to die of shock. Ha. She seemed really surprised . . . which honestly, probably stems from the fact that I kept saying the night before that I didn't think I could ever run an entire marathon without walking. Anyway, we chatted for a minute or two, until I got thirsty again and insisted we make our way over to the beer tent/family meet-up area.<br /><br />We got over to the letter "Z" (situated RIGHT next to the beer tent--NICE!), and wouldn't you know, A. was already there waiting for us!! "Where the hell have you guys been?!" she asked between sips of her beer. Um, oops! Turns out, the girl had seriously rocked it out there even after her pit stop. She ended up finishing not even 15 minutes behind us (and at least 10 of those minutes had been waiting for and then using the porta-potty!). I was SO proud of her! I gave her a big, sweaty hug and then quickly excused myself to grab my free beer (yes, this makes the SECOND free beer of the day--LOVE YOU, Chicago Marathon), while she caught up with my parents.***<br /><br />When I got back, A. entertained us with a story about how she'd lost the free beer ticket from her bib, but had managed to sweet talk her way into getting her free beer anyway. With her long blond hair and baby blue eyes, it was NOT a shock--but entertaining nonetheless. We stood around drinking beer and chatting until A.'s hubby showed up to pick her up. My fam walked her to the corner he was meeting her at, we said our goodbyes (pretending that we might actually have the energy to meet up later that night for another drink--riiiiiight) and then the Ertel clan headed back to the hotel so that Wilson and I could shower "quickly."<br /><br />And when I say quickly, I mean VERRRRRRY slowly. I took off my clothing only to realize--per usual--that my sports bra had attempted to devour me (and yes, I HAD used Body Glide). But that wasn't even the worst part. Where the seam of my arm warmers had been at the top of my arms were HUGE gashes. Yep, my arm warmers had basically attempted to sever both of my arms.**** Awesome. The first ten minutes of my shower consisted of me screaming my head off, while attempting to clean out my gaping chafing wounds. OUCH. All I could think of was a sign I'd seen at one point along the course: "Chafe now. Brag to your friends later." Ha.<br /><br />Finally, Wilson and I were ready to go. I wanted a nap SO badly . . . but not quite as badly as I wanted <a href="http://chicago.citysearch.com/profile/3663723/chicago_il/gino_s_east.html">Gino's East</a> deep dish pizza. And also more beer. We had to wait on line to get into the place (despite the fact that we got there a little before 4--clearly, this was the marathon crowd!), but it was SO worth it. We chowed down on bread sticks and sausage supreme deep dish pizza . . . and we washed that down with pitchers of Sam Adam's Octoberfest. Best. Meal. Ever. Suddenly, all of the pain and suffering was well worth it. And you know what's funny? I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the pizza and beer tasted even better with the side of marathon PR. Just sayin' :)<br /><br />After sufficiently gorging ourselves, my parents kindly dropped Wilson and I off at the front door of our hotel, congratulating us again. After thanking them profusely, we headed up to our room, and I immediately got into my pjs and climbed into bed. I asked Wilson whether 7:30 p.m. was too early to go to sleep, and he said yes. We turned the tv on, thinking we could distract ourselves with that. But for reals, I think I survived an hour--if that--before I finally passed out for good; of course, visions of future marathons danced in my head as I slept for the next 11 hours . . .<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*We later realized the forearm thing was probably a result of my grasping my gloves for 9+ miles. Oops. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">**Wilson, being the intelligent person he is, insisted that I eat some food and drink some water before consuming any alcoholic beverages. Fun? No. Smart? Yeah, fine.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">***A. and I were soccer teammates growing up, and were always spending time at one anther's' houses . . . so we were pretty tight with each others' parents.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">****Ever hear the saying, "don't wear anything new on race day?" Yeah, you might just want to listen to that one, folks! And btw, what works for a 4-mile easy run won't necessarily work for a 26.2-mile race. Duly noted.</span>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-13684321309630061942009-10-16T22:43:00.004-04:002009-10-16T23:30:15.909-04:00Thank you.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnupbLLJonth-mhIHJM_Z2uHXwFHnoHRAyESanBcEofSDBTpFF7lsdwRJ39j7mvQy3SuEpwpvBSxeaTr3l7cVp8qs0x34oL3bgJqPaWOtpDA3PEbp0946PA3tg03nkw2zLLIOkjRo9fjCY/s1600-h/thank-you-card.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393404041148499042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 287px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnupbLLJonth-mhIHJM_Z2uHXwFHnoHRAyESanBcEofSDBTpFF7lsdwRJ39j7mvQy3SuEpwpvBSxeaTr3l7cVp8qs0x34oL3bgJqPaWOtpDA3PEbp0946PA3tg03nkw2zLLIOkjRo9fjCY/s400/thank-you-card.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Okay, I promise I will get to Part III of my race report (the after-party . . . woo woo!) soon. But I need to get something out of my system first before I can continue with that. Just now, I was going over all of the incredible, kind comments you guys have left me since the Chicago Marathon, and I got a little choked up--okay, more than a little choked up--a lot choked up. It was one of those moments where I realized just how crazy supportive and all-around amazing you RBFs (or BRFs, depending on who you ask) are. You guys have stuck with me through some rough times, and never--NOT ONCE--have you ever doubted me. You've always been there, armed with kind words and encouragement, a little motivation or a joke just when I needed it most. You guys are seriously the only reason I've been able to keep going some days. Hell, there are times when I like y'all more than my own friends and family . . . no lie! To be fair, part of that stems from the fact that you'd never say things to me like, "Geez, Bae. That Goofy Challenge thing sounds a little bit excessive to me." Or "Did you win your marathon this weekend?" Or "How many miles was this marathon?" Y'all just get me. And I guess it's unreasonable to expect non-runners to "get it" . . . but just know that I am incredibly grateful to have you people around to help me obsess over the minute details of running.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you. Thank you for always being there when I need you the most. Thank you for attempting to build my lousy confidence time and time again. Thank you for continuing to show interest in the drivel I spew into the blogosphere. Thank you for picking me up when I start to doubt myself (which, let's be honest, is pretty often). Thank you for inevitably putting a smile on my face no matter how bad a day I'm having. Thank you for giving me the motivation to get out there day after day. Thank you for caring about my goals and accomplishments. Thank you for inspiring me in the best ways possible. Thank you for being hilarious, generous, unique individuals. Thank you for your sage advice. Thank you for keeping me honest. Thank you for giving me a shoulder to cry on when things don't go as planned. Thank you for being such awesome ambassadors for this sport that I love so very much. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>I love you guys. Seriously. I realize that may come across as creepy . . . but sometimes when I'm reading your incredible blogs or looking over your wonderful comments, I just can't help but feel blessed to have taken the plunge and started this silly little blog. My life would feel empty without y'all!</div>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-62670179947453456802009-10-14T15:56:00.004-04:002009-10-15T22:02:39.045-04:002009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Race Report - Part II<strong>Mile 1 - 11:30(!)</strong><br /><br />As we crossed the start line, I somehow managed to remember to hit start on my Garmin (Gertie) despite all but bursting at the seams with exhilaration and excitement. I was SO thrilled to finally be running the Chicago Marathon--and with both A. and Wilson by my side to boot. It almost made it worth having to skip the race last year (when I tore my MCL two weeks into training). A. pointed out the Goose Island beer tent as we ran by, and we laughed about how ridiculous it was that we were taking such a crazy, round-about path to ultimately get back to the beer tent. As we ran, we dodged throw-away garments and thousands of other runners. I knew we were running REALLY slowly, but we didn't have much of a choice. I was not about to waste precious energy weaving in and out like a crazy person . . . plus, I knew that if I chose to do that, I'd probably lose my running partners pretty quickly. Instead, the three of us focused on staying together and taking advantage of any opportunity we got to move ahead of some of the slower runners. The highlight of this mile was CLEARLY running underneath Columbus Drive and hearing the sound of tens of thousands of runners' feet clapping against the pavement. We were DOING this (along with 35,000 of our best friends)!<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Mile 2 - 10:47 (!)</strong><br /><br />Things were still VERY congested as we made our way through Streeterville, surrounded by scenic skyscrapers. I didn't even look at Gertie--again, knowing we were moving WAY too slowly--and instead, tried my best to take it all in . . . the plethora of fans lining the course, the beautiful scenery, the companionship of my running partners. It was all like a dream!<br /><br /><strong>Mile 3 - 11:37 (!)</strong><br /><br />During Mile-3, I began to wonder what kind of day it was going to be for me. My legs still weren't really feeling alive, but I figured it was probably the cold temps that were causing them to take so long to warm up. Luckily (?), the course was still so congested that I had plenty to focus on besides my icy legs! *Dodge, dodge, dodge. Omigod, where are A. & Wilson? Oh right . . . there they are. Dodge, dodge, dodge* I prayed that things would thin out soon.<br /><br /><strong>Mile 4 - 10:04</strong><br /><br />By Mile-4, things hadn't really thinned out considerably, but it seemed like we had finally caught up to more people who were running around the same pace as us. For this, I was very grateful. We still had to dodge in and out continually, but I felt like we were no longer getting trapped behind huge walls of people who were running MUCH slower than we wanted to. Also around this time, Wilson pulled over to take off his throw-away top, and told A. and I to keep on going--that he'd catch up with us. This, of course, made me incredibly nervous . . . it was so crowded, I was convinced he'd never find us again. Just as A. and I were starting to get really nervous that we'd lost him, though, we turned around and he was running right behind us! Apparently he'd been there for a while too! I blamed my obliviousness on "marathon brain" :)<br /><br /><strong>Mile 5 - 10:23</strong><br /><br />By Mile-5, I was finally feeling like I was "in the groove." My legs were nice and warmed up, and I was feeling like I could run forever. It was at this point that I started to think that it just might be a good day for me. Still, I proceeded cautiously, knowing that my training hadn't been the greatest ever. I was just praying that if I kept my pace slow I'd be able to hold on until the end.<br /><br /><strong>Mile 6 - 10:12</strong><br /><br />Helloooooo Lincoln Park!! And goodbye, Wilson!! As we entered the zoo, Wilson dove off the side of the course to pee behind a tree, again telling A. and I to go ahead. But what he didn't realize was that there was an aid station just a few hundred meters up ahead where A. and I would be stopping to gel up. As a result, he grossly overestimated how far ahead we were when he got done watering the tree. It looked like us chicas were officially on our own.<br /><br /><strong>Mile 7 - 9:50</strong><br /><br />As A. and I ran on, I continually looked back over my shoulder, hoping and praying that Wilson would magically reappear. I told A. that I was pretty sure my neck would be sore by the end of the race if he didn't show up soon! Admittedly, I was a little freaked out by the prospect of having lost him . . . but I just kept telling myself that even if Wilson never showed back up, I could certainly get A. to the finish line myself. I HAD to stay strong for A. Luckily, before I could start panicking, I heard my jam off in the distance ("I've got a feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas). I realized we must be close to Boystown because I could hear the party raging just a few blocks over. This got me pretty damn excited :) I'd always heard how amazing that area of the course was . . . I couldn't WAIT to get there and join the party!<br /><br /><strong>Mile 8 - 9:48</strong><br /><br />Boystown was just like I'd always heard--one big party! It was definitely one of the highlights of the race. Let me just tell you, nothing gets you smiling like a spunky group of all male cheerleaders! :) And smile we did. This part of the course was so much fun that I was really tempted to start dancing . . . but in the end, I figured it best to save my energy for later in the race when I'd REALLY be needing it!<br /><br /><strong>Mile 9 - 10:21</strong><br /><br />At some point during this mile, A. and I were running along . . . and all of a sudden, Wilson jumped onto the course in front of us! It took me a second to realize what was going on . . . and when I did figure it out, I was so happy I seriously came close to crying. Apparently he had been trying to catch us for the past several miles, until he noticed he was running an 8:00 pace, and the realization that he must have overshot us set in. But being the amazing boyfriend he is, he stopped and waited on the side of the road for a good five minutes until we finally showed up! How sweet is that? Seeing him there was honestly the best part of the entire race for me. I decided I would NOT be letting him out of my sight for the remainder of the race! I'd follow him into a frickin' porta-potty if need be!<br /><br /><strong>Mile 10 - 10:15</strong><br /><br />Right at the beginning of Mile-10, I realized how hot my hands were getting and made the decision to take my gloves off. I thought about tossing them, but realized I'd be seeing my parents somewhere between the mile-12 and mile-13 markers, and figured I might as well hang onto the gloves and hand them off to my parents when I saw them. Also around this time, I started to feel a small drop in energy, and wisely decided to Gu up at the aid station located at the 9.35-mile mark. Almost instantaneously, I felt much better . . . like I had my mojo back. A., Wilson and I continued on, still running strong. We turned onto the beautifully tree-lined Sedgewick St., and I distracted myself by reading all of the spectators' signs. I remembered a long run not so long ago when I felt like I was going to die at the 10-mile mark. Not today . . . <br /><br /><strong>Mile 11 - 10:10</strong><br /><br />During Mile-11, I felt my first twinges of pain in my legs. They weren't anything bad, but I was certainly a little nervous about the fact that my legs were already hurting and I still had over 15 miles to go! I just prayed that I would have the strength to ignore the achiness and continue on until I reached that finish line. Somehow, I really felt like I'd be fine. <br /><br /><strong>Mile 12 - 10:02</strong><br /><br />During this mile, A. and I were walking through an aid station, sipping on Gatorade, when she looked at me with her famous puppy dog eyes and told my her legs were hurting. We were in the same boat . . . under-trained and getting sore. I told her to hang in there--and that I was hurting too. And much to my surprise she got running again right away. 'ATTA GIRL!<br /><br /><strong>Mile 13 - 10:30</strong><br /><br />Mile-13 was spent desperately searching for my parents in the HUMONGOUS crowd of spectators. There were people 4- and 5-people deep in some areas. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember the exact location my parents had said they were going to be; thus, I spent the entirety of this mile looking for them, praying I'd find them soon so I could ditch my gloves. I was REALLY getting sick of carrying them.<br /><br /><strong>Mile 14 - 10:19</strong><br /><br />As soon as we hit the half-way point, I knew we'd missed my parents. I was a little bit bummed, but figured I'd see them at the next spot on the course they'd planned to hit up--between the mile-16 and mile-17 markers. I honestly don't know why it made sense to me that I'd actually see them at the next point, considering they'd have been cutting it close had they actually SEEN us at the first point (and they told us later they never did see us) . . . but apparently it did. Perhaps it just speaks to my high level of optimism at that point in time. At any rate, we hit the half-way mark at around 2:16, a few minutes slower than I was hoping (and actually 4 minutes slower than my half split at Rock n' Roll Seattle). I could have freaked out and given up, but something told me that I could do it. I just had to keep trucking and I'd get that PR!<br /><br /><strong>Mile 15 - 9:50</strong><br /><br />I don't remember much from this mile. It was one of those miles that kind of just flew by. But I DO remember that there was a sign taped on a lamp post that said "8 miles to beer." I got seriously excited, and then realized the sign was REALLY wrong. A. screamed out loud that she wanted to hurt whoever put that sign there. Ha. What a cruel, cruel joke (or some seriously lacking math skills!).<br /><br /><strong>Mile 16 - 10:12</strong><br /><br />Mile-16 was a little bit of a blur as well. I was still feeling fine minus some leg pain, and I was REALLY looking forward to seeing my parents and getting rid of my stupid gloves. I HATE holding anything in my hands while running . . . so I kept switching up which hand I held them in as I ran. It was SUPER annoying. One cute thing that happened during this mile, though, was that A. started to look like she was struggling a little bit, and Wilson said to her, "hang in there. Only a little over a mile until we get to the single digits!" It was adorable. Here he was cheering on someone he'd just met that morning as though he'd known her all her life. It was awesome! :)<br /><br /><strong>Mile 17 - 10:12</strong><br /><br />Well--surprise surprise--we never did see my parents. I hugged the left-hand curb all mile long, desperately searching for them . . . but to no avail. Wilson finally explained to me what probably happened, and I tried my hardest not to burst into tears. I don't know why, but I was really bummed that they didn't get to see me running, looking strong. I guess it's probably because the last time they saw me running was at mile-19 of the L.A. Marathon, dying of heat exhaustion. I wanted them to see just how much I've improved as a runner. Oh well . . . maybe next time :)<br /><br /><strong>Mile 18 - 10:23</strong><br /><br />I was giddy with excitement as we hit the mile-17 marker. At exactly the same time, Wilson and I yelled out to everyone around us, "SINGLE DIGITS!!" (Jinxies!) Yep, we were THOSE people. But honestly, I could NOT believe how great I was feeling, considering my last real long run had been a 20-miler (of which 2 miles were walked) 8 or so weeks prior to race day! I was terrified with every step that I was about to hit the wall, but at the same time, I was REALLY proud that I had made it that far without walking. It was officially the farthest I'd ever made it in a marathon without walking. Go me! It was during this mile that I FINALLY gave up on carrying my gloves. I tossed them to the sidelines somewhere on Halsted, and I was SO relieved to not have anything in my hands! Why didn't I get rid of them sooner?!<br /><br /><strong>Mile 19 - 9:49</strong><br /><br />Still trucking. I believe it was during this mile that we saw a group of guys hand a cup of beer to a runner and tell him to "share with that guy," motioning to another runner. Yep, two random runners were definitely sharing a beer in the middle of the race! Ha. I think if they would have offered me beer at that point, I would have definitely obliged--I was feeling good and having fun--it just made sense! Luckily, no one offered me any beer. But seriously, if you would have bet me a million dollars that I would be "having fun" during mile-19 of the Chicago Marathon, I NEVER would have taken the bet. But here I was, still smiling!<br /><br /><strong>Mile 20 - 10:03</strong><br /><br />A. had mentioned that she needed to use the bathroom at some point during the previous mile, so when we finally saw an aid station up ahead just after the mile-19 marker, we got ready to stop. A. pleaded with us to go ahead rather than wait for her . . . that she would find somebody else to run behind and make it to the end just fine. I was really hesitant to leave her, but it seemed like it was honestly what she wanted. I suddenly realized that she might want to walk, but didn't want to slow us down. So finally, I agreed to go ahead. A. made a beeline for the porta-potties while Wilson and I continued on.<br /><br /><strong>Mile 21 - 10:21</strong><br /><br />I could NOT believe I'd made it 20 miles without walking (besides aid stations). As we had been all race, Wilson and I were continuing to pass people, which was one of the biggest confidence boosters EVER. It felt so good to be feeling strong and running tall, while people all around me were slowing to a walk or a shuffle. I even heard a spectator comment as Wilson and I approached, "man, some of these people look really good for Mile-21 of a marathon!" I have no clue whether or not they were referring to us, but I told myself that they were. After all, I was still feeling strong, thinking that nothing could stop me from snagging that PR!<br /><br /><strong>Mile 22 - 10:06</strong><br /><br />HELLO CHINATOWN! And HELLLLOOOO WALL. Oh. Dear. God. So THAT'S what it feels like, eh? Right around the 21.5 mark, I felt like my legs could NOT move. It was as though some crazy ghost being was pushing me backwards or something. It hurt. I was pissy. But luckily, the energetic crowds of Chinatown carried me along (thank you, Chinatown!). Somehow, despite all the pain I was experiencing, I managed to keep going . . . and at a decent-ish pace. I pretended I was a video game character, and that I would gain strength every time I passed someone. Wilson and I would split around other runners and meet back together in front of them. It felt amazing to be passing people so late in the race.<br /><br /><strong>Mile 23 - 12:22</strong><br /><br />Enter the Mile 22.3 aid station. My hip abductors and achilles/calves were KILLING me. I don't think I've ever been in so much pain in all my life. I begged Wilson to let me stop and stretch as we approached the end of the aid station. He agreed. I grabbed the fence, looking over the Dan Ryan Expressway (I may or may not have been secretly thinking about scaling the fence and jumping into traffic) . . . and tried to figure out what to stretch first. I was so out of it, I couldn't even remember what stretches were appropriate to target my hip abductors. I gave up pretty quickly on that area and instead stretched my calves. That one I could definitely remember. After a solid couple of minutes worth of stretching, we finally got going again. My legs were like lead. I realized right then and there that the easiest and least painful way to make it to the finish line was to JUST KEEP MOVING. No more stopping . . . not until I crossed that finish line! Wilson tried to encourage me by telling me we only had "4.5 miles left to go." I felt tears well up in my eyes. I had thought we only had 3.5 miles to go! I looked at Gertie again . . . wait! I was right! "3.5, Wilson! 3.5! Right? Right?!" "Uh, oh yeah!" he responded. Whew, math is hard yo.<br /><br /><strong>Mile 24 - 10:51</strong><br /><br />Ouch. Shit hurts. Kill me now. Grumpy. Why do I do this?! Wilson tried to cheer me up by pointing out that we were "on the home stretch", AKA Michigan Avenue . . . but I was kind of inconsolable. I just wanted to be DONE! Oh, hi aid station! Why yes, I think I WILL slow to a walk to take my last gel, thank you very much! <br /><br /><strong>Mile 25 - 10:45</strong><br /><br />So CLOSE. So much pain. Why are these mile markers forever apart?! Oh goody . . . another aid station! I don't even want anything to drink, but I'm going to pretend like I do, just to get a walk break! Please, just make this shit end! Now?!<br /><br /><strong>Mile 26 - 10:01</strong><br /><br />Still trucking up Michigan Avenue. Right past the 25-mile marker, there was yet ANOTHER aid station. Wilson asked if I thought I could make it through the aid station without walking, telling me there was just a little over a mile left. In my most pathetic, exhausted voice I replied, "I just don't know." We made it 3/4 of the way through the aid station before I stopped suddenly and said, "I just need a second . . . " Wilson tried desperately to convince me to get going again. There were fans lining Michigan Avenue, looking at me with pity. Within maybe 10 seconds, Wilson convinced me and I was moving again, determined to NOT stop until I crossed that finish line. This stretch lasted FOR FRICKIN' EVER. Dear God. FINALLY, I could see the turn onto Roosevelt. We were SO almost there. The crowd noise was deafening as we turned the corner. We just had to make it up over the bridge, turn onto Columbus, and we were home free! I expected the slight uphill over the bridge to be awful, but it wasn't bad at all. I was so close to the finish I could taste my Goose Island beer! There it is! The 26-mile marker! Push it, Irish! Push it!<br /><br /><strong>Last .2 - 9:53 pace</strong><br /><br />Just as I started to kick a little bit, the turn onto Columbus became a HUGE congested mass of people. I tried to find away around the obstacles in front of me, but I just didn't have the energy. I coasted behind them through the turn . . . and then booked it towards the finish line as soon as I saw an opening. It seemed like the damn thing was moving farther and farther away from me with every step I took! FINALLY, Wilson grabbed my hand and we made it, crossing the finish line at 4:34:05. We had done it!<br /><br />To Be Continued . . .Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-81834580522755197432009-10-13T16:06:00.004-04:002009-10-13T19:25:41.451-04:002009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Race Report - Part IRemember when I said that I thought this race would end up being very memorable? I think I must be psychic. Or maybe it was simply the running gods trying to boost my rather lacking sense of self-confidence. Whatever the case, I was in a state of euphoria from the moment I stepped foot in Chicago on Friday night. I was so happy to be there that not even the cold could get me down. I got off the plane (grinning from ear-to-ear), hopped into a cab and was on my way to the Loop by a little after 9 p.m. At one point, as my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">cabbie</span> was approaching downtown, I glanced out the window and saw a sight that left me a little breathless . . . painted on the facade of a building was the same Chicago Marathon image I'd seen decorating countless promotional materials, including our oh-so-important confirmation brochures. I took a deep breath and tried to keep myself from squealing out loud. Just. Stay. Calm.<br /><br />Once I arrived at the hotel, I found my way up to our room and couldn't have been happier to finally see Wilson after two long weeks apart. While I had been SUPER tired on the plane, I was suddenly wide awake and couldn't help but talk at about a million miles an hour. I don't know how we had so damn much to talk about (we talk every day on google chat and/or by phone), but it was like we hadn't seen each other in years, and I had to hurry to fit in everything I needed to tell him about before I went and forgot it! We ended up staying up chatting, laughing and hanging out until well after 1 a.m. Oops, there goes another one of the rules of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">marathoning</span> . . . but I just didn't care. I was so thrilled to be able to finally catch up that it was definitely worth trading in the extra couple hours of sleep!<br /><br />The next morning (Saturday), I woke up ready to be transformed into the nervous wreck I typically turn into the day before a marathon. Somehow, though, it never really happened. I was nervous, sure . . . but not like I have been in the past where my appetite is actually compromised. Wilson and I took our time getting out of bed, and eventually made it up and out to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Dunkin</span> Donuts for some coffee and bagels/muffins. Right about that time, my parents showed up at our hotel. We sat in the lobby lounge area for quite a while eating our breakfast and chatting away with them. I know I'm supposed to be an adult, and this probably shouldn't be the case, but I always feel so much more calm and composed with my parents around. I was secretly REALLY happy that they had offered to come into town to cheer Wilson and I on (thanks, Mom & Dad!).<br /><br />After lazing around for a bit, we realized we should probably get ready to head to the Expo. We headed up to our room to drop off the throw-away clothing my parents had graciously donated to me, and then made our way over to the Hilton at Grant Park to catch the free shuttle to the Expo. We stood on line for a lot longer than we had planned and ended up getting to the Expo later than anticipated, thus ruining any chance of a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">bloggy</span> buddy meet-up (oops! Sorry, y'all!). We did, however, try all kinds of freebies and checked out as many of the booths as possible before finally heading back to the Hilton. At that point, it was already well past 4:30 p.m. and, having not eaten since breakfast, we were all ravenous. The problem was that we had dinner reservations for 6 p.m., so we didn't dare eat much. Usually, I would have freaked over the fact that my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">pre</span>-race nutrition was so messed up, but I didn't let myself get worked up over it. I decided to just go with the flow and see what happened . . .<br /><br />We checked into the condo/hotel/place my parents were staying at for the night and then grabbed some snacks in a nearby deli--carrots and hummus, bagel chips, pita chips, etc. Oh, and of course, some beer! I gladly accepted one when my parents offered--there's nothing like a nice cold beer to calm the nerves! We hung out snacking and watching football for the next hour or so until it was finally time for our dinner reservations at a cute little Italian restaurant near the Sears Tower, where my Dad works. I ordered gnocchi with meat sauce (my favorite), and ate almost the entire plate, I was so hungry! I also filled up on fresh bread with olive oil--YUM. We sat and chatted for a bit even after we were done eating, and my father filled us in on the details of his one-and-only Chicago Marathon experience (back almost 30 years ago). I don't know how this is possible, but I had never actually heard much about his marathon! It was definitely cool to think that I would be following in my father's footsteps the very next morning! :)<br /><br />Finally, we decided to call it a night, and headed back to our respective hotels. In the past, I'd been pretty sombre at this point of the night before . . . it always seemed to be the point when the reality of how great a task lay ahead of me set in. But for some reason, I was the complete opposite on Saturday night. I was seriously goofy bordering on hyperactive! I insisted that Wilson and I both try on our sexy throw-away looks as practice for "looking sexy" the next morning. Then, we proceeded to dance around our tiny hotel room and carry on like crazy people. Ha, it was seriously a lot of fun. After watching some college football and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">texting</span> back and forth with my friend A, we hit the sack around 10:30 p.m. anxious to see what the next day had in store for us.<br /><br />I fully expected to lay awake all night long and not get a wink of sleep . . . that's what I usually do the night before a marathon. But somehow, I ended up falling asleep for pretty good chunks of time. During one of them, I had a crazy ass dream where I was riding in the passenger seat of my mother's car and she got pulled over by the cops. I figured she was speeding or something, but when the cops got to the car, they told me I was under arrest for committing over a billion dollars worth of credit card fraud. It was terrifying, to say the least . . . no matter how hard I tried to convince them that they had the wrong person, they just wouldn't listen. It was nuts. I awoke in a sweat, confused. But somehow, I made it back to sleep even after that.<br /><br />Our alarms (all three of them) started going off at around 5 a.m., and I was actually kind of relieved to be getting out of bed. Not too long after the relief, though, came the terror. I was FINALLY nervous. Wilson and I got up, made some coffee and turned on CNN as we were getting ready. The reporter on CNN mentioned the Chicago Marathon would be starting in a couple hours and that it would be "extremely" cold. "Have fun with that one!" he quipped sarcastically. I started to get even MORE nervous. Had I chosen the right gear to wear? Would my 18 layers of throw-aways keep me warm enough? What if I couldn't find A? What if the cold killed my sensitive lungs? EEK!<br /><br />I tried my hardest to force a dry bagel down, and made it about 2/3 of the way before finally giving in. I chugged a cup of coffee, took care of my business, threw my stuff into our gear check bag . . . and suddenly realized it was already past time to leave! Yikes! What if A was waiting for us? Wilson and I hurried out of the hotel and down the street to the Art Institute Museum where we would be meeting A. But when we got there, we couldn't find her anywhere! I was freaked that she had already left for the start without us . . . but we were only a couple minutes late. Just as I went to pull my phone out to see if I could get a hold of A, it began ringing. She was stuck in traffic, and having trouble getting to the museum. Nervous, I told her we would wait for her, but encouraged her to try to hurry.<br /><br />After what seemed like a lifetime, A finally showed up. I wish I could explain how crazy it is to suddenly see someone you haven't seen in 10 years walk--or in A's case, bound--right up to you out of a sea of thousands of people. It is just bananas. She walked up, gave me a huge hug and then we quickly took off on the short trek to the start area. We had a LOT to catch up on! The three of us were chatting away for probably a good 5-10 minutes before I realized I'd never actually introduced A and Wilson! Oops! I properly introduced them, we walked and chatted some more, and then we came upon the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">porta</span>-potties--which shockingly, didn't have much of a line despite the fact that it was already past 6:45 a.m. (the race started at 7:30 a.m.). We used the facilities, hit up gear check and then made our way to the open corral. This, my friends, was easier said than done. Our late arrival made it so that we couldn't get up to the 10-minute pace sign like we'd originally planned. Luckily, I didn't care much. After all, I had taken all pressure to PR off of myself . . . and I was was pretty busy trying to keep A distracted from thinking about how damn crazy it is to run 26.2 miles all at once! We settled in somewhere behind the 10:30 pace marker and waited for our turn to begin running.<br /><br />Finally, the gun went off (or so we assumed--we couldn't actually hear it from where we were lined up). A sea of clothing shot up into the air. I wish I could describe what this looked like--it was basically one of the most hilarious things I've seen. A whole pile of sweats landed right on my head. I shook them off and laughed. There's nothing like getting pummeled with old clothing to lighten the atmosphere! I took off my own throw-away sweatshirt, pants and hat. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">BRRRRR</span>. It was chilly! Luckily, all of the runners crammed around us provided ample body heat . . . and but for a few biting wind gusts, it wasn't intolerable. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Slooooowly</span>, us mid-packers made our way up to the start line. At exactly 20:00, Wilson, A and I crossed the start line together. We were on our way!<br /><br />To Be Continued . . .Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-8741461523568149102009-10-12T23:39:00.004-04:002009-10-13T00:37:37.764-04:004:34:05Well, folks . . . I learned something very valuable this weekend: Sometimes you have to give yourself a little bit of credit. I've always held that I am NOT a mentally tough runner. Sure, I'm REALLY tough when it comes to other activities and areas of my life; but running? Nope. I figured maybe I just wasn't cut out for running marathons. Well, yesterday I went out and I proved myself wrong. Despite my training interruptions; despite my lack of a proper taper; despite the upheaval of my life in recent months; despite all the other excuses I gave myself for not succeeding . . . I went out there and I gave it everything I had in me. <br /><br />And this time, it was finally good enough. I don't know what it was--maybe the fact that I was in my hometown; maybe it was my lucky earrings; maybe it was the fact that I had a first-time marathoner depending on me--I can't tell you with certainty; but what I CAN tell you is that when sh*t got tough, I hung in there. It hurt like HELL, but I didn't give up. In fact, at one point my mantra was "Just don't quit." And sure enough, I didn't quit. I kept on running until I crossed that finish line. 4:34:05. For those of you keeping track at home, that's a PR by nearly 8 minutes. But most importantly? I took no walk-breaks (with the exception of aid stations--I'm just NOT coordinated enough to drink while running). I was kind of starting to doubt that it was possible for me to complete a marathon without taking any unscheduled walk-breaks. In fact, I may or may not have voiced that very sentiment to my parents and Wilson at dinner on Saturday night. But I did it. And I cannot explain to you how proud of myself I am for that. I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it.<br /><br />I promise to post a race report at some point this week . . . but for now, I just want to thank all of you. Each and every one of you was on my mind during the race yesterday. I seriously love you guys so much--I'm not sure where I'd be without you. I wanted to make you all proud out there. But most importantly, I really wanted to pay you all back for all of the times you have encouraged me to keep going. And I figured there was no better way of doing so than by . . . well, keeping on going, of course! So thank you to all of you. And also? There's a pretty amazing boyfriend of mine who deserves all of the credit in the world for getting me through the last few miles. I couldn't have done it without him. I actually don't think I could have accomplished half of what I have--in both running and life--without his support. I am truly grateful to have such a kick-ass sidekick :) And finally, I have to thank my parents for their continued support of my crazy little "hobby" . . . and or course, the carbo-loading dinners and post-race beers too :)<br /><br />On that note, it is time for me to wrap up my little acceptance speech and hit the sack. It's back to school for me tomorrow. But seriously. I really do love you guys! You rock my world in so many ways, I can't even count them all :)Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6080080454839687419.post-16837615405573645002009-10-08T08:22:00.003-04:002009-10-08T08:47:44.223-04:00Quick PostHi all! Just a quick post to let you know that I'm still <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">kickin</span>' down here in Orlando. I haven't strangled myself with a barbell . . . or been knocked out by a beer-throwing drunk or anything like that! Things have just been a little bit crazy this week, what with having to take my first exam on Friday.* Oh wait, and then there's also the fact that I've spent nearly every other waking hour (and some sleeping) obsessing over the cold/flu bug I seem to be coming down with (it's been going around my school). Cold-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">eeze</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Emergen</span>-C, Green Tea and water have been my drugs of choice, and thus far, I'm doing decently in my efforts to fight the disease off. Hopefully I can just hang on until Sunday!<br /><br />Anyway, I apologize for not commenting on all of your lovely blogs over the past several days--due to my procrastinating ways,** I have had to force myself to stay out of Google Reader. There's simply not enough time to do that AND get my study on in the ways necessary to ace this test! Thus, I promise I will catch up with you all either this weekend (if I end up bringing my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">lappy</span> to the Chi) . . . or at a minimum, early next week.<br /><br />In other news, my friend A has decided she DOES want to run with Wilson and I on Sunday. I'm really excited about (hopefully) helping her to her first marathon finish! The only problem is that she's a bit of a head case right now. The longest run she got in was an 18-miler--which I tried to tell her was actually very sufficient--but she's all but convinced that she's not going to finish the race. I'm really hoping that she'll change her mind about that . . . I've been encouraging her to think positively, and filling her head with all kinds of positive things However, nothing I've said thus far has seemed to have done the trick. Any advice? I'm actually thinking that maybe I should take a page out of my own book and start minimizing the pressure she's putting on herself. Maybe a "Hey, just go out there and do your best. That's really all you can ask of yourself. And if you don't make it, no worries. There WILL be other marathons when you will have more time to train. And you'll do it then!" would do the trick? At any rate, if any of y'all have ever dealt with a similar situation and found something that seemed to help, do let me know! I want that girl to cross the finish line with me on Sunday!<br /><br />Okay, I guess that's all I've got for now. I'm heading to the airport immediately after class tomorrow . . . and then it's off to Chicago I'll go! If any of y'all want to track my progress on Sunday, my bib # is 29716. I can't seem to come up with any reason why that would be lucky, but then again, maybe I'll just have to MAKE it lucky by getting out there and finishing yet another marathon!<br /><br />Good luck to the rest of you racing this weekend--I know it's a lot of you (many of whom will be joining me in the Windy City!). As I always say, "Run like you mean it!" I think I'll do just that!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*I was supposed to take it the exam Monday, but I won't be getting back from Chicago until Monday night--that is, assuming a blizzard doesn't strand me there--thus, I have to take the test before I go; which is okay by me. I'd rather just get it over with and be able to enjoy my time in the Chi.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">**I even went so far as to make a HUGE pot of veggie chili last night. Rock bottom, I'm telling you. Studying the human joint actions isn't all it's cracked up to be, folks!</span>Irish Creamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17548744329403082452noreply@blogger.com10