Pancake Is Cute

Adventures in recovery and sleepless nights…

Clea — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:19:31 +0000

Yogurthead

The little boy is taking a very good nap, so here I am with a couple extra minutes on my hands. Yay!

Marathon recovery has gone really well. Make fun of me if you want to, but I swear those compression socks work. I wore them as soon as I got home, and then to work the next day, and I also skipped plain water and drank Nuun instead. I felt pretty good by Monday afternoon. I am still tight, but I scheduled a massage for this week, and I hope to feel “normal” by the weekend (whatever that is…I think I live in a state of chronically being a little tired and a little sore).

I got a really nice email forwarded to me from someone who took the time to email the marathon officials and say he thought the 4:55 pacers were great. It made my day. I needed something to perk me up. Jasp continues his good nighttime habits revolt, and I admit it has made me a touch depressed. I really questioned signing up for races the night before the marathon when I was up with him, because I have yet to do a race since he was born without a horrible night of sleep the night before. Anyhow, I don’t think the pacers do anything special. It’s a bit of work, but we are all running a race we would probably be doing anyways. It was nice to know someone got something out of it though. I really like being at a pace that allows people to break a time barrier. I think that is one of the main reasons we had more runners this year than in years past. And this year we got some really awesome gear

Mike is out of town and I had to run my loops around the block with the baby monitor. I listened to the latest RadioLab. What a good show. Do yourself a favor and listen.

Ok…time for that little boy to get up. We have a date with some ducks at Central Market. I think I will be treating myself to sushi from Central Market for dinner tonight

Relief…

Clea — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:36:15 +0000

Me and my awesome partner, Korrie

It’s early Monday morning and I am not running since yesterday was the marathon. I am pretty relieved I can check the box that it’s done. Last week was one of my roughest mom weeks ever. Jasper threw any type of schedule we had out the window, and wouldn’t let anyone but me do anything for him. Sleep was bad, bad, bad. The night before the marathon I was up with him at 2am, and he didn’t go back down until 4am. I had to be at the host hotel at 5am, so I just had to stay up. I’d also had a cold all week, and while not feeling terrible, I was not 100%. I always knew I could run the 4:55 assigned pace without a problem, but I didn’t want to hate being there. I am very humbled to be part of the pace team, and get a chance to help others reach their marathon goal, and I didn’t want to have a bad attitude about it due to just being overtired.

Anyhow, things ended up going well. Once I had some breakfast and started my trek to the host hotel, I perked up. The weather was perfect, which was a huge bonus. After chilling in the hotel a bit, eating a little more, and 10 bathroom trips, we were ready to roll.

Last year the weather was warm, and by about half way we had very few people with us. By mile 20 we were alone, so it was a little bit of a bummer to end up pacing no one. This year was different. We had a pretty large group with us the whole way. We had a couple first timers, a couple very experienced runners using us to start conservatively, and a couple of folks who really wanted to break the 5:00 mark. It was a relief at mile 20 to have several people still with us, and we started to talking to folks to keep them encouraged. There is a hill at about 1/2 a mile from the finish that kills everyone, so we kept talking it up telling them not to walk it, not to give up. It actually worked. With about 1/2 a mile to go our whole little group zoomed ahead of us, and we knew they all were going to make their goal. We finished alone, but since everyone went ahead of us, and not behind us like last year, we were happy finishers. The aftermath isn’t too bad: a little sunburn, achy knees (I have to slightly “break” to run what is a little slow for me), and a bit dehydrated. I hope to be up as running tomorrow to refocus on the big prize in April: Boston.

All in all a rewarding experience. It was fun to meet Laura, MommyRunFast, at the expo, and know that other moms have to go into races on a few hours of sleep (I thought it was just me!). The highlight of the run as always was seeing Mike and Jasper on the course and having Jasper run with me a bit. I wish I had a picture of that!

Ok..time to stretch these tired legs a bit and hit the coffee before the little boy wakes up.

Austin marathon weekend…

Clea — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:08:40 +0000

Clearly fashion merchandising is not my area of expertise...

Well, almost….just a few more days. I admit I am looking a little more forward to it. The last week has been rough, and the weekend of all things running will probably be good for me. Jaspy got sick, and while it was nothing serious, he developed horrible sleep. I also got the same cold he had, and while I wasn’t nearly as sick as he was, getting 3 hours of sleep a night on top of it…well, pretty much sucked. I admit one night during a two hour stretch of being up with him I was reduced to tears. Doing my job becomes hard, even thinking that I have to run a marathon in a few days is hard, and I get a stress skin reaction around my eyes that makes them look even more red…as if I need to look worse. Anyhow, I believe Jasper is on the mend, and is slowing relearning how to sleep through the night. He also developed extreme clingy-ness, to where if I am home I cannot put him down. My back was feeling it so I was LOVING going to two yoga classes over the weekend. Only I totally trashed my quads and was super sore in my legs a week out from the 5 hour marathon. Uggg….. I never claimed to be smart…

We are getting super excited to move into our new place. I have faced the fact that we are just going to have to spend big bucks on this move and get movers. I don’t know how else to do it, especially with a big project at work at the same time. I also have faced the fact that our house will not come together for a while. We have a second living room/ media room that will need all new stuff. Some of our current furniture is crap/ hand-me down and I would like to finally do away with it. It takes me a long time to find stuff I like since I am terrible at decorating, but yet still have an ideal in my head that I want to magically create. Plus I don’t have a million dollars. So it will take a while to get everything the way we want it and I’ve made peace with that. I really like to come home to my house in order, but we may have boxes for some time.

Well, I gotta hit a closet or drawer while the little boy sleeps. Like everyone else, we have random stashes of crap I want to get rid of before we move. I really don’t want to pay movers to box up a bunch of half empty scotch tape dispensers, pens that no longer write, and 3 year old day planners that never got used.

Good luck to everyone running the marathon this weekend…

Clea — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:46:14 +0000

Wow, there is time for the blog if I do it at work. Although I don’t have a ton to say. I am in semi-taper mode this week. I say semi because I am only omitting a long run, but keeping up everything else. Next weekend is marathon pacing, and I admit, I will be glad when it’s over. It’s turned into a bit of just something else on my plate. I am hoping to feel the energy on race day and get a better attitude. After that Boston training resumes, since we will be 8 weeks out! Yikes. It’s going well. I did a hard 18 last weekend, and a tough yoga class and was ready to back things down some this week. Mark and I sighed a deep relief that neither of us were park of the Rocky Raccoon 50/100 mile races this past weekend as we have been in the past. I take my 18 and then a yoga class that kicks my butt over that any day. And, speaking of yoga, I heard an interview with Boston marathon runner up, Desi Davila where she says she does yoga as much as she can during her 120 mile weeks. Very cool.

Mike is out of town, so it’s circles in the hood with the baby monitor for me tomorrow. I already listened to all my favorite podcasts this week, so I will need to get creative to entertain myself for all those circles. I’ve even gotten to where I listen to some of my favorite interviews twice. A kinda new good one is “ask the ultrarunner ” on endurance planet. I like the old Endurance Planet better, but on the new version, this segment isn’t too bad. It makes you realize that people really do ridiculous things. Why do so many people feel the need to run back to back weekends of 50 mile runs?

Well time to punch back in. That 30 minutes goes fast. Coffee is calling me. Jasper wakes up once a night now hysterically screaming “Mama, mama!” He does go back down quickly, but will I ever have a night in my life again I don’t have to get up at least once?

This blog could get even more dull…

Clea — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:15:03 +0000

I am about to get a lot busier, and that means the blog time will probably fall by the wayside. We are moving in April. We found a house we really like with the schools we wanted. While I am really excited to get in our new house, anyone who has ever done a move consisting of more than throwing all your belongings in the back of your car, knows it’s a bit of a nightmare. Add a two year old, and having to prep and sell our current house, and I have no clue how we will get it done, but we will. I also have a massive review at work, which is based around the entire reason my department even exists…to get the hospital to pass this review every 3 years. Time off is on a moratorium right now. I also have two marathons between now and then, so every weekend has a big run planned. I hope none of this sounds like complaints…it’s not meant to. Sometimes even really good things in life create some stress. I’ll try to blog when I can, but I may not do much. I already decided I’ll do a full fall marathon training series. So if anyone is interested, sometime this summer I’ll start what will hopefully be a lot of helpful information for anyone planning a fall marathon. I think I’ll have a lot more free time after April. But I am so excited for my new ’hood! There is a really nice park nearby…with a pool…and a little running path….and a grocery store nearby….and I’ll have granite kitchen counters….and a landscaped backyard…..and Jaspy will be able to walk to his elementary school….I’ll keep telling myself these things in the next few weeks when life gets busier.

Art in the Park…

Clea — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:44:43 +0000

3M half marathon + Jasper’s birthday…

Clea — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:13:54 +0000

First off never mix these two. I was so tired last night and pretty sore today. After a really bad sleep night (2 hours in w/ Jasp!), I ran , rushed home, showered, got party supplies from Costco, set up the party, had the party, cleaned up the party, put Jasp to bed and was completely wrecked.

As for the race, ended up with a 1:36:15. Did not break 1:36 which was my goal. BUT, I think I could have if I hadn’t missed the start by about 5 minutes. I already sent an email to a friend that pretty much sums up my stupidity. So here’s a cut and paste since my blog time is limited today…

3M was a bit of a cluster at the start. Got there with 45 min to spare, parked with no problem. Sat in the car for 10 minutes, and decided to get in line for the bathroom . Longer lines than at Boston. WTF. I had planned to do the clothing drop, and I had on a nice fleece from REI. No way was I just going to chuck it on the street. So I hop out of the bathroom line, and into the clothing drop line. Another cluster. Drop it off, 3 minutes until the start. I really want to hit the bathroom and figure the porta potties have to be dead by now. I get in line, hear the gun go off, wait another 3-4 minutes and realize the line isn’t moving at all, dart out of line, find a bush, sprint to the start and hit a wall of walkers in costumes. I cross the start line thinking “I’m not too far behind, this isn’t so bad”, until I pass the 2:30 pace group a mile in. My plan was to start between 1:35 and 1:40. Yeah, I had a lot of catching up to do. At the shuttle at the end, I was chatting to the guy next to me. He said he sat in his car with the heater until 5 minutes before the start and stripped off his warm clothes and jumped in the corrals. Smart guy. He ran the same time I did. I spent 35 minutes shivering in the cold for a clothing drop I didn’t really need and still ended up peeing behind a bush in the gateway shopping center. You would think I would know how to run one of these things by now.

So there you go. thanks for everyone for well wishes. It was fun, I’m glad I did it, despite the night before sitting in Jasper’s room at 1am telling myself there was no way I would run in the morning.

Jasper’s Art in the Park 2nd birthday party went really well. The kids seemed to enjoy the art activities and the weather cooperated. I realize you get what you pay for with a 99 cent pack of 64 crayons….when you open the box up and 55 of those crayons are brown….and were ignored by the kids who much favored the sand paintings. Jasper didn’t have a single bite of cake since trying new foods freaks him out. I brought over 1/2 of a mammoth dinosaur sheet cake to work today since I seem to have a thing for horrible sugary frosted kids’ birthday cakes. I would have been eating that thing for the next month.

Thanks to everyone who came to the party and sent positive vibes my way for 3M. Maybe next year I won’t be such an idiot at the start and actually hit my goal.

Party pics will be posted later….

3M eve…

Clea — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:11:55 +0000

I sit here the day before the 3M half marathon with a little bit of free time while Jaspy naps. Yes, I should be doing a million things around the house that I never get to, but sometimes you just need to sit.

This has been a weird week. Ever feel really stressed out not because things are bad or anything, but because things are just busy and schedules are off? That was my week. House hunting is like a part time job on the side. It’s stressful…who wants to make a bad decision and decide a year from now a location is no longer desirable or a house is just not the right choice? Jasper decided to have a growth spurt or something and woke up every night this week. It was nothing like when he was a baby, but by Friday I was tired…and my neck and back all tight from dozing off in a chair with him just about every night. Plus just a lot going on, family in town, Mike’s party last weekend, Jasper’s party tomorrow…so why in the hell did I sign up for a race!!?!

I mentioned previously I am only racing 3 times this year. Even if I didn’t have Jasper to get home to I seriously doubt I could afford the to race as much as I used to since entries are so expensive now. This is good and bad. It means I really “race”….no just showing up and making a quick and still pain-free run. I really test myself and see what I can do. As my friend Anna said, “who wants a crappy time by their name?” Well, you could probably argue all my times are crappy…hehe….but seriously it’s nice to go out and put an all out effort in and see what that gets me. So while in the big picture of life how I fare at a half marathon is really meaningless…and this race is so dang competitive. I ran the same time in 3M last year as I did in a later half, Zooma. In 3M I was like 20th in my age group…in Zooma I was like 7th overall. Huge difference. So yes, you can run your heart our in 3M, but for the women you seriously need to crack into low 6 minute miles to even get an age group placing. So it’s truly just you against the clock.

So I hope all works itself out by mile one tomorrow. I feel a little bogged down and have those thoughts of “why did I sign up to do this?” I also get so few chances to do this, another part of me can’t wait to see what I’ve got in the morning.

After the race is Jasper’s birthday party. Yes, what kind of idiot plans the ultimate endurance test, a toddler’s party, after a huge race effort? That would be me. Once again, thank god for compression socks, lattes, and birthday cake.

More tomorrow…….

Another weekend wrap up…

Clea — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:25:13 +0000

Another full weekend. I really need to be better about taking pictures. We celebrated Mike’s 40th birthday with a beer tasting at Hops and Grain to start. Jasp and I sat that part out and then we met up at Doc’s Backyard so Jasp could use the playscape while everyone hung out. The party went well. I had some slight nutritional melt down, as Mark and I had done a hard 20 miler that morning and I was beyond hungry by the time I met them. As far as the run goes, couldn’t have gone better. We did the last 6 miles or so as our fastest, and threw the hills of startford in the middle. We started painfully early, but we were done at 800 which was great. Then it was off to the bouncy gym for me and Jasp with me singing the praises of compression recovery socks the entire time(ever go jump on trampolines for an hour an a half after a 20 miler? this is generally not advised). Then the party, more Jaspy chasing, and then a collaspe at bedtime.

This coming weekend I have one of only 3 races I am doing this year, and my only half marathon. I am hopelessly underprepared. I have flopped horribly on getting enough speedwork, and my goal of bettering my time from last year seems laughable. I’ll give my best, but we’ll see. I have to tell myself not to be disappointed if I don’t make this goal. I don’t want to be self defeating, but realistic about where I am currently at. I need more tempo runs that that’s all there is to it. My excuse this morning was 4 hours of sleep after a Jaspy nightmare. I keep telling myself there were plenty of moms in those Olympic trials that have late nights too…so I need to get my butt moving!

We are pretty busy sorta househunting. I have a fantasy that somewhere there is a house not too big, not too small, in our price range, in a neighborhood where the elementary, middle and highschool are all good, and will be a great place to run…oh and will not create the commute from hell. There probably is such a house, but I’m not sure if it is in high traffic, lots of so-so schools, very expenssive to live in Austin. So we’ll keep looking. No rush, but another thing on my plate!

Well, my lunch is about over. My afternoon latte calls. I missed my Ashtanga class yesterday and went to a different class that apparently uses an entire different group of muscles. I hurt from head to toe. Being sore makes me sleepy….I need that latte…and a massage. Everyone have a good week…good luck on yoru running…

Anonymous…

Clea — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:18:47 +0000

Mark and I were chatting this morning (on our 430 am run), that one reason we love the Murakami book, What I Talk About When I talk About Running, is that is such a tribute to the everyday runner. We’re the folks in the middle of the pack that just blend with everyone else and let’s face it, we aren’t very glamorous. No one follows our blogs to see how we did, what we are eating pre-run, or who are sponsors are. Sure we get encouragement from friends and family, but we are mostly anonymous. No one ever will know about mornings of 4am wake ups, weekend after weekend of long runs, the many runs done on few hours of sleep, or the long runs done before a day of all day toddler entertaining. This is not a complaint, as I think most of us feel these challenges build up who we are, give us precious alone time, and help put all of life’s complications into perspective. I loved it on an episode of Marathon Talk when someone had broken some record for running in a superman costume or something, and the show host questioned “why do we celebrate that but not the single mum (it’s a Brit show) of 3 who finished in 4 hours?” Agreed. But, if you’ve read the Marakami book then you understand how well he puts into words that we just quietly go about our running and know that no one will really even notice it but us, but that we know our victories, and that’s enough for us.