a departure from chronological blogging.

Races do not go as planned or hoped for.

Weeks leading up to races do not always do this either.

I have started swimming again...

Just add that contraption with two wheels that I can't seem to 'clip' on and off of very well and maybe I could do one of those tri things! ...

Anyways, last Monday I went for a run and then decided to try aqualand for a little while. After being a 'gator' ( my swim team's mascot ) for years of youth 8-13, I decided to swim a mile. 70.4 laps in our campus' yard pool. I made it...

Pretty proud of myself and smelling of par fum de chlorine, I headed home.

Tuesday, I woke up. Left side of throat was sore... Hmm, did I partake of the pool? Was there a pool water party in my pharynx that had gone a little too late last night? Was I getting 'the sick'? Agh! Just in case, I trotted to Walgreens and bought Vitamin C, echinacea, and Red Bull (give my throat some wings! make it feel better!). 'This should do the trick,' I thought as I chomped on my 500mg orange tablets.

That night I went to my first baseball game with one of my coworkers- The Dash! It was incredibly fun and surprisingly relaxing... Who knew? I now heart baseball. My throat did not...Returning home for the evening, more vitamin c and more echinacea, I started to feel chills ... This turned into a sweatastic fever that kept going til 5am... The chlorine-throat fiesta struck again!

Calling and texting my boss shortly before dawn on Wednesday, I took the day off work and slept until 1pm when I woke up in a hangover resulting from no drinking whatsoever. Wait, I take that back. I drank pool water.

Thursday and Friday I had taken off because I was flying to Michigan to compete in the USA 25k -an awesome race that I had been given the honor to participate in both last year and this year!

On Friday, I was off to Grand Rapids... With 1000s and 1000s of kilograms of Vitamin C and the mysterious herb, echinacea. And that I did.Friday was a gorgeous day in Grand Rapids and so after my groggy pre-race run, I wandered around and took a plethora of photos. It was great. My head was clogged but all I needed was my lungs and legs right?

... And then I became Ariel. The little mermaid.

My voice... Gone, baby, gone! ... That chlorine is some party animal!

Just kidding, actually, I was sick. I took more of my magic vitamins...Not being entirely sure just how the race would go, I wasn't going to let it get me down. I was there to smile and have fun and be around some amazing people ( truly the best part! ).

My roommate was awesome, a runner that I admire. And meeting two of her friends was so much fun. Prepping my my race gear and making sure I was ready to go- a stint of 27 dresses on the tv - I passed out.

Saturday. Waking up after sleeping like a rock, I started to talk to my roommate but ( darn you Ursula! ) was reduced to pointing because my voice was GONE. There was some green and yellow, um, streamers coming from the throat/nose party too. You don't need to talk to run!

My coach simply told me to be smart. Making it to the halfway mark and being relatively near the pace I wanted to run, it was getting progressively harder to clear my throat. I decided to salvage whatever may be left of my immune system and dropped out.
Now, I got to watch and cheer for the other thousands of runners until the van got to me. It is such an incredible experience to watch so, so many people running by- all fired up and all on missions of their own. A true joy to me and a reminder of how cool we runners are... Always in it together.

After the race, I tried to carry on conversations - I was told to rest my voice, but there were too many cool people! I was able to talk to a 61 year old woman who had broken the American record for her age that day and maybe the world record. A lady from USATF who is over the ADP program ( the whole reason I was able to come run and be a part of such an amazing event ) and I talked for a while... And I left even more grateful. Then, I even got to go to lunch with some of the elite athletes and Greg Myer ( last American to win Boston ) and had a ball! ...even though I struggled through every word to the point of hilarity with my cracking voice. I walked away from this weekend not disappointed about the race, but in awe.

How many times in life do we get the honor to travel to such awesome places and then sit and chat AND make new friends ... Friends from all over the country. This is, to me, one of the reasons I love running. We may all be a little crazy, but we all are in it together and we all have our stories our histories our great moments our disappointing days - but above all, we get to share these together. So, onward I say! .... Now, can I have my voice back?

VA Beach

On March 20, I ran a 2:46:08 Marathon. Yes, a 51 second improvement from one month before. No, not a qualifying time for the Trials. Yes, a great race, a story to those eight seconds, ... and Yes, I will try, try again!

It was one month after Myrtle Beach. The entire four weeks were spent with burning desire and relentless hunger and insatiable thirst to do the marathon thing...again. Really, I thought, the third time is the charm right? Technically, this would be my third try...in three months. Some may start shaking their heads at this point, but just hold on one second!

After Myrtle Beach, I was sore, I walked very slowly the next day, I did not run...walked about 4 miles, but did not run. Monday after Myrtle Beach, I took off for a 6 mile jog and the legs were still perturbed with my decision to make them run well basically to Greensboro if I were to leave from where I am sitting right now.

Hmm, I was no different than the green Hungry Hungry Hippo (my favorite color is green, no relation other that, I think). That distance, the marathon, was calling my body, it was calling my mind, -- and I was going to answer. I wanted to run another marathon more than ANY Hungry Hungry Hippo ever wanted to catch and consume those little while marbles...what were those supposed to represent? Jaw breakers for hippos? Hippos eat marbles? Eh, some things I will never know...but what a great game.


Back to the marathon.

We drove to VA Beach where the day before the race was an absolutely incredible day. A light breeze. 70 degrees. A sunset and rising full moon that would challenge any work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, or Camille Pissarro in its poise and impressionistic display of the passing of time - or anything Mr. DiCaprio could incept. Yes, THIS would be the weekend. Let's put this dream to sleep!

The morning of the race, I woke up and danced around the hotel room to the likes of Rihanna, some guy named Wiz Khalifa (Wiz? Seriously?), maybe a little Elvis, and of course Marky Mark 'Good Vibrations.' I was ready to go do this thing! Until....

I heard a whoooooooooooooooooooooooosh! and a rarwrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! ....18mph winds. 22mph winds. 47.3mph gusts. 30 something odd degrees.

Wow, winter.

I jogged to the start which was about 2 miles from my hotel. Running against the wind was comforting knowing I would be running back towards my hotel with the start and the wind at my back for the first few miles. But what about the other 24.2? Hmmm.

A 15 minute start delay led to my jumping from one crowded hotel lobby to the next in effort to keep my legs and lungs warmed up, my body warm, and ready to race. When the start was close enough, I pulled off my layers and down to the red 4-Runners Only sports bra, black shorts, compression socks, and Nike Lunar Racers. Sunglasses, check. Gloves, check. And brrrrrrrrrrr. There are moments when I question my sanity.

It was comforting to look around knowing that I would be running with other thousands of runners that day. It always is a great reminder when I stand at start lines - that we are in this together.

The National Anthem stirs me as I place my right hand on my heart and watch the flag float on against the stiff winds and gusts. Every time I hear that beautiful music, the dream goes straight to the forefront of my mind and I feel the energy begin to pulse and race through me from the tips of my fingers and toes to my core, my heart.

The gun went off....and so did I, with my dream that is now 8 seconds away.

Next, I will tell you about the race that day.

Hiatus.

After my last post, which was on March 10, 2011 - I took a hiatus from blogging.

It has been a long, almost, two months now. However, I will do my best to catch you up.

Gary Allen: A true blessing and inspiration to meet. At the 2011 Twin City Track Club's Winter Seminar, Gary Allen spoke to our club about running two miles....running two miles one way, and two miles back, again, and again, and again, and again until almost or more than 75,000 miles were run on one two mile stretch at a place called Cranberry Island in Maine. He talked about a great deal of other things ranging from Lance Armstrong to Joan Benoit Samuelson to his five marathons in five decades under three hours to what one thinks about while he or she runs the same path back and forth and back and forth - and even to running with eyes closed.

I received a phone call a few days leading up to the seminar asking that I attend a luncheon and the Seminar that Saturday evening. When I walked into lunch, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It was awesome to catch up with other members of the Track Club. Gary eventually arrived and I was introduced to him. Having recently run a 2:46:59 marathon in attempt to qualify for the Trials, he had been told about me...At this point, I was still pretty fired up over that first marathon and more and more ready to run one by the passing minute. However, as the age old logic goes "A day of rest for each mile..." 26.2 days of rest? I DON'T THINK SO.

Here I was, less than a week or so after running my first marathon and wondering if I really did have screws loose in my head...because I was secretly ready and thinking to run another marathon exactly one month after my first one. 2:46:59!....Hal Higdon says 'you are ready to run your next marathon when you have forgotten about the last one.' Myrtle Beach was 'forgotten' the minute I crossed the line; I was ready for the next one.

Now, I must clarify here that I do not mean I just decided to put the first marathon behind me without taking the lessons and amazing memories and individuals I met with me...But I let the disappointment go.

Back to Gary. Gary is one of the most free-spirited and passionate runners that I have ever met. He really embodies one of my favorite quotes, "Some people see things and ask 'why?', I dream things and ask 'why not?'" Gary simply looked at me when I started talking about my next marathon - and the potential of running one exactly one month after my first one - and he said WHY NOT!...If the body and mind and spirit are ready....Why not?

My thoughts exactly.

That afternoon, one of the guys from the track club, Ed Shirley, Gary and I took off for a run through our town. I would later find out that it was Gary's third run for the day equaling 20 miles or so. At the seminar that night, it was cool to listen to Gary tell his story. Above all, that weekend meant a great deal to me. I walked away from spending time with my track club and after meeting Gary Allen with a reignited fire -- and a reminder of WHY I am going after my dream; because running is what I love and through running I have been given incredible blessings and have been surrounded by wonderful people and friends...this is what it is all about.

Moving forward.

I went to VA Beach and ran the Marathon on March 20...exactly one month after Myrtle Beach.

To be continued....not two months from now, I promise!