RAGNAR 2011
Super terrific Ragnar! All the girls I run with the most were on the team BLING! So we put together a pretty great SLUMBER PARTY ON WHEELS this year!!! With a few new awesome additions! And a last moment RETURN. It was so GREAT!
With the first step of my first “leg” I realized that my hamstring issue (Ive been trying to be in denial about since before PF CHANG’S Rock n Roll Marathon) was going to make this weekend a challenge.
My Mantra for the Trip: Its Only Pain
1st leg:
Ow, ow, ow, its only pain, get through it, don’t have to go as fast as last year…maybe 8 min miles? Upon finishing, my Sweat Sisters got me ice, got me rolling on a foam roller, gave me a protein shake…these girls are so great! I am so lucky to be friends with such Awesome Gals!
Dinner at Olive Garden:
Bring on the Breadsticks Please!!! More Pasta! More Carbs!!! The FOODY in me will take any excuse to CARB LOAD!!! Ill take bread and pasta over brownies! Mmmmm, mmmmm! I did avoid the cream sauce as you never know how that will digest once you hit those mid-thirties! Gotta be careful when your next run is in a few hours!!! And be sure to hit the clean flushing bathroom on the way out- what a treat! After Porto-Johns, a ceramic bowl and a flush is heavenlyJ
Trying to Sleep at the School:
We were able to go in to the basketball court and try to catch a few winks, or go into the Ladies Locker Room and get a shower. After just one run thus far, a nap or a shower didn’t sound necessary yet. We tried for the sleep, but I think only Lisa slept in that Gym. Im glad Lisa got a little shut-eye, cause she has been our Driver, kindly driving her mini- van so that we could chill and enjoy the scenery! Or enjoy a van snooze. Yes we did use mini-vans this year instead of the big kidnapper vans. (When I was a kid I was scared of the big white vans with dark windows and always thought that kidnappers drove them) And less space worked just fine for us. Cause we like each otherJ Id do mini-vans again. Not saying Id turn it down if someone offered me a free kidnapper van…but the mini van was super great!
2nd leg, aka the NIGHT RUN!
Loved this one the most. It was dark and so I didn’t look at my watch much. And party of my run was an off-road trail course. With loose gravel and also sandy patches. At one point the ground just seemed to end, and there was a huge drop- I had to carefully walk down- I considered sliding on my bum! The terrain made it impossible for a speedy run, so I enjoyed the freedom of just letting that go (the need for speed), and just enjoying the night and the change in terrain. I had a good time and a smile on my face the whole time.
Karen reported that the turns weren’t marked very well during her night run, so right before my run I memorized all my turns- right or left, and the names of the roads. Weeelll, maybe not a good idea for me. I took a left on a smaller “Lake Pleasant” just one street shy of the major “Lake Pleasant”, and came to a dead end. Turned around. Ran back onto the correct course. Gave myself an extra half mile on my favorite run of Ragnar. Really enjoyed the extra mileage, but sorry we probably could’ve beat the “Muffin Tops” if I hadn’t gotten lostL
3rd Leg: the Final
My final leg was 8 miles, a very slight down hill for much of it. After getting lost last leg, the first mile of this run made me nervous. Because right off a girl with long dark hair stopped with me at a traffic light- do we turn or go straight she asked me? Turn that way, I guessed. We saw one runner, way far ahead of us, in pink. But she could’ve been a recreational runner and not a Ragnar Racer. I wasn’t convinced that we were on the right route until some young, long-legged, born to run fellows passed me up. Then I was sure that we were all heading the right way. I let dark hair girl take off and get way ahead of me. I wasn’t going to push things with this left Hamstring pain. But eventually I passed girl-in-pink and caught up with dark-hair-girl. I passed dark-hair-girl but heard her right behind me for a long time. Hearing her immediately behind me made me run faster than I intended to. In your head, sometimes, you don’t care about being passed, but its that awkward feeling like you cant just let it happen…so youre thinking “Just pass me already!!! So I can relax!” I didn’t have allot of fight in me for this race, but just enough to not move over and wave her ahead! At the end, for some reason I didn’t see Sarah waiting in the shute, and the (ultra) guy in front of me kept going, so I got a little panicked that I had to keep going! But then I saw Sarah and was so happy to give her the slap bracelet!
Some extra FYI:
*Our dear Brynn got so sick at the last moment. We were so sad for her to have to miss! We were so happy that Sarah with the long flowy hair was able to fill in! And she only found out the night before! Amazing! Sarah only had a baby just a few months ago. And has been running some, but not back to her regular load…but her family rallied and got things covered for her 5 kids, including baby! What a great Husband! And we got Sarah back! I wish we could’ve had Brynn AND Sarah!
*Bridge was our Team Captain again! We were lucky to have her experience and appreciate all the pre-planning and set-up that she does for us!
*We missed others from last year….Jenn Gloria who had a baby recently, Beth who is prego, Sarah who lives too far away to come every year, Sharon who is running with Shadow these days, and poor Brynn who got sick at last moment.
*We got to know some great new people this year…Barb and Aubrey who have been running with us for awhile now, Kecia who teaches our kids art and is a great runner, Lisa’s friend Laura we’ve been hearing about for years, and Barb’s friend Linda who flew here, and also filled in kind of late in the game…
*My favorite rivaling team: You are often around the same teams for much of the race. I loved Victoria’s Secret. They wore big padded bras, panties, banana slings, all of it over their running clothes, and wings too. And usually even RAN their legs with their underwear on. I was very impressed! They were cute and energetic, always had music going and dancing…seemed like a really fun team! We tried to stay ahead of Flamingo Girls, and Cynthia did some trash talking to a cheetah girl. Maybe she can tell us about that in her blog accountJ
*Many had injuries or health issues to work with but still pushed through the challenges and took one for the teamJ Way to go Girls!!!
*Ragnar was all about SAFETY PRECAUTIONS this year, as last year’s Del Sol had a fatality. Im glad Ragnar made some changes, gave some extra safety precautions, and gave us a good race this year.
*I didn’t take pictures, so Im counting on one of you girls to post some Awesome Pictures, because Pictures are the Best!!!
Thankyou Ragnar!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
BLING Team will Run again!!!
So just a short post to express enthusiasm for Ragnar Preparation! We all decided we'd better sign up for Ragnar again, because we remembered the fun lead-up preparation. And Ive been experiencing that a little-
Saturday we had our Awesome team captain- Bridgitte- make a long drive here to run with us. We went to breakfast afterwards at Liberty Market. Im not usually one to want to eat so many calories in the morning that Im stuffed until 7 pm, but after a long saturday run, sometimes it just feels sooo good! Especially with my sweat sisters!
And sunday a few of us snuck in an extra run- a night run. Night runs are fun because they are different than our usual routine and therefore stick in my brain longer. And they make me appreciate the girls so much, because Id never go out running on my own at night. I just wouldnt do it. But we did it, and it was great! I get a funny sensation during night runs- the dark and our bouncing flashlights makes me feel a little like Im running on a trampoline! A little unsteady! But I like it.
Just a couple of weeks now til Ragnar del Sol. Im looking forward to a couple more practice night runs, and to a couple of days of "doubles"- we have to be in shape to go running more than once in a day. Fun stuff!!! Nothing better than having a legitimate excuse to ignore the dishes and go out for a second run!
Saturday we had our Awesome team captain- Bridgitte- make a long drive here to run with us. We went to breakfast afterwards at Liberty Market. Im not usually one to want to eat so many calories in the morning that Im stuffed until 7 pm, but after a long saturday run, sometimes it just feels sooo good! Especially with my sweat sisters!
And sunday a few of us snuck in an extra run- a night run. Night runs are fun because they are different than our usual routine and therefore stick in my brain longer. And they make me appreciate the girls so much, because Id never go out running on my own at night. I just wouldnt do it. But we did it, and it was great! I get a funny sensation during night runs- the dark and our bouncing flashlights makes me feel a little like Im running on a trampoline! A little unsteady! But I like it.
Just a couple of weeks now til Ragnar del Sol. Im looking forward to a couple more practice night runs, and to a couple of days of "doubles"- we have to be in shape to go running more than once in a day. Fun stuff!!! Nothing better than having a legitimate excuse to ignore the dishes and go out for a second run!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Karen's summary of the P.F Chang’s Marathon 2011
When I came home from Long Beach I was not excited about the fact that I was signed up to run the P.F Chang’s Marathon, partly because I was tired and sore, and partly because I was disappointed and didn’t know if I could really ever qualify for Boston and didn’t want to be disappointed again, but now I am so glad I did it. I feel like I took the laid back approach to training this time around and it worked great. We never did really long mid week runs and I even skipped a whole week when I was sick, but overall I did feel pretty good while training so I decided that I would try for 3:40 on marathon day, but I would be happy if I finished in under 4:00. When Lindy told me she wanted to run with me I was really happy and I felt like 3:40 was maybe more of a possibility.
I decided to stuff myself the night before just to make sure I would have enough energy come marathon morning so my family went to rigatony’s for an early dinner, I ate tons of pasta and bread and then was ready and in bed before 10:00 pm. I was so nervous race day morning, but after we started running I started to feel a little better and the miles just seems to keep passing by. I knew that I would see my family around mile 15 and I was excited for that (this was the first time they have been able to see me run in the middle of a race). Reddin had a water bottle ready for me, and I was able to leave my gloves and empty water bottle with him. It worked out great, because I never had to stop for water. Lindy and I seemed to keep a pace around 8:15 or close to it, and it felt pretty good. I only took 2 gels around mile 6 and then mile 19 and the rest of the time I sucked on the pomegranate honey stinger chews. Every mile we would check and see where we were at time wise and we always seemed to be two minutes ahead of schedule according to the pace band Lindy had, I don’t really know what we talked about for 26 miles, but we always came up with something to talk about, which made the time pass really fast. The crowd was great and I did like hearing the music as we came upon certain miles. At mile 22 we told ourselves we only had one loop around the islands left, putting it in that perspective helped. I think the last mile I slowed a little, but I knew I was going to reach my goal of under 3:40 and I was so happy. Lindy and I crossed the finished line together and we were so happy, I couldn’t believe I did it. After the last two marathons I felt terrible at the end, but not this time I felt great I was happy to eat yogurt and walk around, and I was excited to see Reddin and my girls. I had so much fun this race that I wish I was signed up for another one right now.
I decided to stuff myself the night before just to make sure I would have enough energy come marathon morning so my family went to rigatony’s for an early dinner, I ate tons of pasta and bread and then was ready and in bed before 10:00 pm. I was so nervous race day morning, but after we started running I started to feel a little better and the miles just seems to keep passing by. I knew that I would see my family around mile 15 and I was excited for that (this was the first time they have been able to see me run in the middle of a race). Reddin had a water bottle ready for me, and I was able to leave my gloves and empty water bottle with him. It worked out great, because I never had to stop for water. Lindy and I seemed to keep a pace around 8:15 or close to it, and it felt pretty good. I only took 2 gels around mile 6 and then mile 19 and the rest of the time I sucked on the pomegranate honey stinger chews. Every mile we would check and see where we were at time wise and we always seemed to be two minutes ahead of schedule according to the pace band Lindy had, I don’t really know what we talked about for 26 miles, but we always came up with something to talk about, which made the time pass really fast. The crowd was great and I did like hearing the music as we came upon certain miles. At mile 22 we told ourselves we only had one loop around the islands left, putting it in that perspective helped. I think the last mile I slowed a little, but I knew I was going to reach my goal of under 3:40 and I was so happy. Lindy and I crossed the finished line together and we were so happy, I couldn’t believe I did it. After the last two marathons I felt terrible at the end, but not this time I felt great I was happy to eat yogurt and walk around, and I was excited to see Reddin and my girls. I had so much fun this race that I wish I was signed up for another one right now.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Chang's 2011- Lindy's account
Awhile back I decided to run Chang’s for Barb. She has run a full marathon once before, but wont even tell me what time she got- she says she needs redemption- it wasn’t her day. I think we all know what that is like! Some days you’ve got it, and some days you don’t! Of course Im always looking for a reason to sign up for the next marathon, so it didn’t take much for Barb to convince me!
Karen was quick to join on and Cynthia has given me liberty to pick one race a year in which she will be obligated to join me. So I pulled the “race card” early this year, and now have no more power over Cynthia for 2011.
Unfortunately Barb suffered an injury during training, and had to change to the half marathon. I know that she will still get her marathon redemption- but it will need to be another day…it ended up all good, though, because now Barb knows that she is an awesome pacer! Barb ran the Half with Cynthia, and Cynthia had many wonderful things to say about Barb’s words of encouragement out on the course! They had a great race! Cynthia got a PR, despite her saying that it wasn’t “her day”, that she wasn’t feeling awesome that day….way to go Gals!!!
Several weeks before that marathon I got a strong impression that I needed to run with Karen at Chang’s. I felt really good about this, and knew that we’d have a good time together. We did!
Karen was still hoping for a BQ, but after Long Beach, she decided to come with a second case scenario goal in mind too. I was trying to curb my enthusiasm, by telling Karen that a sub-4 would be fine….but in my mind I had my heart set on her getting 3:40!!! I didn’t want to stress her out, but I knew that she could do it! She has been a step ahead of me on our speed drills lately. I feel that she has become a stronger runner even since Long Beach in October. I have been feeling very confidant in her ability to get 3:40. Bart Yasso would agree with me, as our “Yasso 800’s” have been consistently 3:30 or seconds off.
We mustve done a good job carb-loading, because we didn’t need allot of fuel along the way. I think I took 3 gu’s, and shared a pack of pomegranate honey stinger chews with Karen. I went through 3 (20 oz) bottles of water. And I didn’t have that famished, depleted feeling at the end either. I can thank my brother-in-law Ryan for my excellent carb-loading. He recently sent me an article that convinced me I should eat as many possible carbs in the days before the marathon! And Ive given up calorie deficit…who cares about skinny? My Mom informed me that I am totally “Healthy” and “Normal”, and that is Awesome for me! Let the models out there be skinny! Hallelujah to be “normal”!!!
The weather was great. I didn’t feel “too hot” until the last 2 miles, and even then it wasn’t painful hot. I was never too cold, but did appreciate the disposable hand warmers that Karen brought for us to use in the beginning! They are awesome! Several times I said to Karen, “this is so Great, this is so fun, you can only hope for a day like this!” The next day she remarked how Sunday felt like Christmas. I couldn’t agree more!!!
At mile 14.6 we saw Karen’s husband and children. I left my waist pack with Reddin. My pack had been helpful, but had served its purpose. I was happy to shed it. We saw Karen’s family and my family in the finish line stretch. It was fun to hear Noah yell my name, and to look up and see Him, my Parents, my brother David, sister Annie, and my cute Girls. I love the support and was greatful for it!
It was so fun on Sunday to be in Sync with Karen. We fell into a cadence that was comfortably challenging. We were there together- not one of us pulling the other. Noah made me a pace band the night before the race (Awesome Noah!), and every time we checked our miles, we were always about 2 minutes ahead of our goal. We were glad to have those extra 2 minutes, in case we bonked a little in the end. But “The Wall” was not there for us, and we finished with minutes to spare! Yay Karen!!! We grabbed hands to cross the finish line together. We hugged and shed a tear or two…it was SO GREAT!
Im hoping that the Manwarings will be able to join the Evans in Boston 2012, and Im hoping that we will have other friends there tooJ And Im hoping for another day like Sunday, cause I cant get enough of days like Sunday!
Karen was quick to join on and Cynthia has given me liberty to pick one race a year in which she will be obligated to join me. So I pulled the “race card” early this year, and now have no more power over Cynthia for 2011.
Unfortunately Barb suffered an injury during training, and had to change to the half marathon. I know that she will still get her marathon redemption- but it will need to be another day…it ended up all good, though, because now Barb knows that she is an awesome pacer! Barb ran the Half with Cynthia, and Cynthia had many wonderful things to say about Barb’s words of encouragement out on the course! They had a great race! Cynthia got a PR, despite her saying that it wasn’t “her day”, that she wasn’t feeling awesome that day….way to go Gals!!!
Several weeks before that marathon I got a strong impression that I needed to run with Karen at Chang’s. I felt really good about this, and knew that we’d have a good time together. We did!
Karen was still hoping for a BQ, but after Long Beach, she decided to come with a second case scenario goal in mind too. I was trying to curb my enthusiasm, by telling Karen that a sub-4 would be fine….but in my mind I had my heart set on her getting 3:40!!! I didn’t want to stress her out, but I knew that she could do it! She has been a step ahead of me on our speed drills lately. I feel that she has become a stronger runner even since Long Beach in October. I have been feeling very confidant in her ability to get 3:40. Bart Yasso would agree with me, as our “Yasso 800’s” have been consistently 3:30 or seconds off.
We mustve done a good job carb-loading, because we didn’t need allot of fuel along the way. I think I took 3 gu’s, and shared a pack of pomegranate honey stinger chews with Karen. I went through 3 (20 oz) bottles of water. And I didn’t have that famished, depleted feeling at the end either. I can thank my brother-in-law Ryan for my excellent carb-loading. He recently sent me an article that convinced me I should eat as many possible carbs in the days before the marathon! And Ive given up calorie deficit…who cares about skinny? My Mom informed me that I am totally “Healthy” and “Normal”, and that is Awesome for me! Let the models out there be skinny! Hallelujah to be “normal”!!!
The weather was great. I didn’t feel “too hot” until the last 2 miles, and even then it wasn’t painful hot. I was never too cold, but did appreciate the disposable hand warmers that Karen brought for us to use in the beginning! They are awesome! Several times I said to Karen, “this is so Great, this is so fun, you can only hope for a day like this!” The next day she remarked how Sunday felt like Christmas. I couldn’t agree more!!!
At mile 14.6 we saw Karen’s husband and children. I left my waist pack with Reddin. My pack had been helpful, but had served its purpose. I was happy to shed it. We saw Karen’s family and my family in the finish line stretch. It was fun to hear Noah yell my name, and to look up and see Him, my Parents, my brother David, sister Annie, and my cute Girls. I love the support and was greatful for it!
It was so fun on Sunday to be in Sync with Karen. We fell into a cadence that was comfortably challenging. We were there together- not one of us pulling the other. Noah made me a pace band the night before the race (Awesome Noah!), and every time we checked our miles, we were always about 2 minutes ahead of our goal. We were glad to have those extra 2 minutes, in case we bonked a little in the end. But “The Wall” was not there for us, and we finished with minutes to spare! Yay Karen!!! We grabbed hands to cross the finish line together. We hugged and shed a tear or two…it was SO GREAT!
Im hoping that the Manwarings will be able to join the Evans in Boston 2012, and Im hoping that we will have other friends there tooJ And Im hoping for another day like Sunday, cause I cant get enough of days like Sunday!
Congratulations Karen and Lindy!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Im a Runner
A friend of mine posted the link for this clip on facebook. It gave me quite a laugh, especially as it seemed to run true of my life! Embarrassing! "I will wake up at 5 am, run, then think about running all day, eat healthy (i only try here), set out my running clothes, go to bed and get up to repeat the process!". Is this pathetic? Anyway, I thought Id post it to our blog for those of you who havent seen this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw5MHsO-JI8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw5MHsO-JI8
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Christmas Running Party
Islands Running Club after what I hope will become an annual running party! Pictured above are the party attendees after our yummy breakfast. Top row: Karen and Lindy (we let them stand on the fireplace so they could be in the back row of a picture for once.) Front row: Cynthia, Barb and Lisa.
Saturday morning Lindy and Karen started bright and early, so they could have 18 miles by the time we got to breakfast, I joined them 6 miles in for a total of 12 and we picked up Lisa with 10 to go. Lisa was very disappointed when she realized she could have taken an even shorter option to breakfast but we needed her every step of the way! I had mapped 10 miles from my house in what took us in a Z pattern, Lisa of course complained every time we weren't heading directly to the restaurant. :) Barb chose the biking option today and parked at the restaurant and biked for two hours so she would be equally sweaty while eating with us.
The run was great as always. We took a new canal and I really liked it, nice and smooth (no speed bumps to trip on), and it was fun to run through Freestone Park, with lots of runners out and about. We went to Joe's Farm Grill and all got delicious breakfasts. We need to talk to them about adding hot cocoa to the menu though, that was a disappointment. Next time we will have to bring packets and get hot water there.
After breakfast we had a running gift exchange. It was so fun! We had all chosen a running related gift valued in the $10 - $15 dollar range and then we played the 'stealing' game. Karen was first and kept getting stolen from but we all ended up with really nice stuff! Its fun to get and give new gear!
I had left a car at the restaurant the night before so I drove everyone home and hated for it to end. I had looked forward to this run for weeks and felt just as excited for it as I do for races, etc. I hope we can do it every year and I hope more people will be able to make it in years to come, but I'm so glad we had our core group there this time.
Here is an idea of the fun gifts: ininji toe socks, balga socks, blinky light, long sleeve tech shirt, fuzzy socks, aluminum water bottle, ragnar jewelry. Everything was popular, but everyone ended up with the right gift for them. Merry Christmas! I can't wait for next years running party!
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