We’re IN!

 

 

"The Runner's Rite of Spring"^®

April 11, 2010
Washington, DC
7:40 a.m.

RRCA National 10-Mile Championship

Everyone has been telling me that I have to run this race since I’ve moved to the DC area. So last week while discussing it with my coworker, we decided to look up when the registration was. Good thing we did because it happened to be the last day to register.

And not only did we have to register by the end of that day, but we still weren’t guaranteed a spot. Because this race is so popular, registrants had to win a chance to run by lottery. Since both of us really wanted to run this race,  I signed us up as a team so it would be all or nothing.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when it was confirmed this morning…we’re in!

I’m really excited to have been chosen to run this race!

Oh and my computer has been saved! Thanks to Dennis for putting in hours of work toward bringing my computer back to life. You rock Dennis.

The most dreaded Blue Screen

It started with my car.

So when I woke up Sunday morning bright and early as I always do ready to rock and roll with some blog reading and writing, I was devistated when I saw the blue screen of death to my computer.


"An error occured and Windows has been shut down..." blah blah blah

You know the message. Unless you own a MAC in which case, you're just laughing at me.
It's not all my fault though. I wanted a Mac but I'm too poor to buy one. This computer is Dennis' hand me down Dell Inspiron 6000. It's only 4 years old so it's not OLD (well, in computer time it's old) but still!

After spending the entire day letting Dennis run tests on it, he had to reboot the entire system at around 11 p.m. last night (that's how long it took for all the "tests" to run. UGH I HATE WINDOWS)

Now I have to wait until I can call Comcast to see if I can get back online and then try to go through and retrieve my saved files from my backup drive. I really hope it works or else Dennis and I are going to be back to fighting over what's more important: Blogging or Fantasy Sports.

I will be back later with an update on my Slow Cooker meal of the week (cooking as we speak!) And how I dealt with using the Dreadmill for my Sunday long run.

Have a great day!

All Night Long

You know the song. The one by Lionel Richie. The one that’s in the Mountain Dew commercials. Yeah, that one. It’s also the same song my bladder sings to me.

One of the things I’ve been trying to do lately is drink more water. Now that I’m back on a regular schedule I’ve been drinking (water) like it’s my job. I usually go through about 3 bottles a day, plus my morning coffee, plus an afternoon green tea…and that’s just while I’m at work! So yeah, I’m a walking waterworks time bomb and I seriously have to pee every 45 minutes.

It sucks.

My skin has been out of control lately and since I’ve been running longer runs I felt that drinking more water should be a top priority. I still don’t drink as much as I probably should. But how much is enough?

And how much of peeing all night long can I take?

I almost cried on my way home from work tonight because I didn’t think I was going to make it. I went to the bathroom just before I left and I swear as I was pulling out of the parking lot I had to go again.

And to make matters worse, the more I drink, the more thirsty I am. What’s up with that?

What’s the rule on fluid intake and why the hell do I feel so thirsty when all I’ve done today is drink??

I’m off to bed. Hopefully I’ll only get up once…

Running in the dark

I wish I had the balls to run outside in the dark. Shorter days make for darker runs and I just don’t feel safe doing it.

I see people doing it all the time on my way home from work. Fairfax County, VA is notorious for its amazing bike/running trails, and the people around here don’t mess around. I just can’t do it. Since I run alone 99% of the time, I just don’t feel safe. Dennis said he saw a woman running on the Mt. Vernon trail a few weeks ago at 6:30 in the morning and it was pitch black outside. He said, “I couldn’t believe I saw someone running out there—and then I realized she was a woman…” He went on to say how unsafe it is and how he likes the fact that I’m too scared to do it myself.

If I could only find a running partner…

But running on the treadmill…sucks. I run intervals, I run hills, I change it up, but I just never really feel as happy as when I run outside. And I’m sure I’m not alone.

I spent so much time focusing on my running that I’ve forgotten how to enjoy other things, like spinning. I’m looking for some suggestions. How do you guys deal with the dog days of winter?

Grr…if only skiing and snowboarding weren’t so expensive!

Comeback Sunday 15K (ish) and Butternut Squash Risotto

Since I had to send my Garmin FRW60 back to Garmin’s headquarters to get repaired, I had to wing it with this run. I should have been running the Team Challenge 1/2 marathon for Chron’s and Colitis so I decided to run a 15K in its honor.

This is only the second time I’ve run this distance; after the Boilermaker and my stress fracture, I haven’t run more than 8.5 miles. It was nice to be able to pound this out.

Thanksgiving’s 8.5 mile run took me 1:16:37, so I figured if I ran the same route but added 8 minutes to my time (to be safe) I should be right at or around 15K.

It was COLD today so although I woke up at 7 I didn’t set out for my run until 11:30. I wanted to let the sun do its job and warm things up a bit, so I ate at around 8-8:15 to be sure that I had enough time for everything to settle before I ran. Just before I took off, I downed about 4 oz. of my Black Cherry Just Cherry juice and took off. I added .6 miles off the bat by running an extra loop around the park by my house and then continued to run the same loop as last week (I also ran 2 extra blocks at the end to ensure it was at least 9.3)

I felt great except for the fact that it was so cold. It took me about 2.5 miles to warm up since there was a bitter wind that cut me down to the bone. By the middle of the run, I was running away from the wind and it warmed up a few degrees so my fingers stopped feeling like they were going to fall off. (Didn’t I leave the Northeast to get away from this crap? It was 39* with a wind chill of 32, and it snowed yesterday. WTF?)

At around 50 minutes in I ate about 100 calories worth of raisins. I’m not sure if these really did any good for me, since I ended up kind of getting a little bit of a stomach ache from them. Nothing major, but enough for me to notice.

Long story short, after sprinting the extra 2 blocks from where I ended last Thursday, I looked at my MP3 player and it said I had been running for 1:24:56. This includes slowing down for the ice on the sidewalks and having to wait to cross the street at a light. Not bad. I ran the Boilermaker in 1:31:16, but it was VERY hilly. Like, 8 miles all uphill, and that’s not an understatement. I’m not ready to say that I’ll PR next year but this made me feel good about how far I’ve come since July.

When I got home I pounded a small glass of milk and I think this is where my problem started. I’ve been trying really hard to figure out what’s been making me gassy and bloated after my long runs and right now I’m blaming the milk. (Warning: TMI coming) I have been so bloated and extremely gassy, and the milk has to be the culprit. So now I know that milk is not a good thing for me to drink as post-run recovery fuel and raisins might not be the best way to get calories while I’m running.  It’s a game of trail and error my friends.

Now it’s time for my CrockPot recipe of the week: Butternut Squash Risotto

I’ve never had risotto before, so when I found a recipe in my Fresh Vegetarian Slow Cooker book I thought it would be worth trying. The recipe called for 1/4 white wine and 3 3/4 cups of broth but I didn’t have a bottle of wine open. And it also called for dried porcini and cremini mushrooms, which I didn’t have, so I subbed the squash instead.

In my CrockPot went;

• 1  1/4 cup uncooked Arborio rice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1.5 cups butternut squash, dice
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

1. In a pan, sautée the onions for about five minutes.
2. While they’re cooking, put the oil and rice in the CrockPot and stir to coat.
3. Next add the onions to the CrockPot, along with everything else but the parmesan cheese.
4. Cover and cook on high for 2.5 hours.
5. Open the CrockPot and stir to check consistency. It should be thick like porridge.
6. Add cheese and stir once more.
7. Eat. Enjoy.

SOOOO good. I can’t believe I’ve never had risotto before! After reading some reviews of CrockPot risotto, it’s apparently not as good as the stovetop kind where you slave over the pot, but I think it’s awesome. Yum!

Have I mentioned that I love my CrockPot?

Running on apple

I got my car back last night and let me just tell you---boy am I glad this week is over.
First off, I am very grateful that I live in an area that has public transportation available. And I’m even more grateful to work for a company that was so understanding of my situation.

However, this week without a car S.U.C.K.E.D.

It took me, on average, around 2 hours each way to commute to and from work each day. That’s right, 2 hours one way. One night it took me over 2.5 hours to get home. Lovely. Needless to say, I didn’t run or make it to the gym after my quick Tuesday night run. There was just no way. So after passing out at 10 last night and waking up at 9 this morning, I figured a good run was in order.

It’s been snowing all day … a wet, sloppy kind of snow that isn’t really run outside friendly, so I went to the gym to use the dreadmill.

Before I left I decided to continue with my pre-run experimenting and had an apple before I left. (Honey Crisp apples, although I love them, are friggin expensive! 5 apples were $6.32. I had to put 2 of them back because I just couldn’t justify it)

It was suggested that I try drinking orange or apple juice before I run since solid foods might be making me bloated and actually hurting my run. All we had was OJ and the last time I drank OJ on an empty stomach was a baaaaad day for me. So I figured eating an apple would serve the same purpose…we’ll come back to this later.

I planned on running between 5 and 6 miles since that’s about all I can take on the treadmill, but I was only able to run 4 miles in something like 38ish minutes (I stopped paying attention.) I honestly felt like I was going to die the entire time. At one point I actually lost balance and almost fell off the treadmill. That was about the time that I realized it was going to be a shorter run that I planned.

How did the apple make me feel? I have this theory that I am more hungry after eating an apple than I was beforehand. They fill me up in the beginning, but about a half hour to an hour later I’m ravenous. This time, all the apple did was make me feel really full. During the run I felt like I was running on empty, and after the run I was bloated.

I’m finding that running on Saturday mornings are bad for me. I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m exhausted from the week by the time Saturday rolls around, but this run was terrible. And I don’t think the apple helped.

After my run I bought this:

To see how if this will work. It’s pure black cherry juice with nothing else added, which is exactly what I was looking for…just juice, no crap.

Goals for tomorrow:

• Long run
• CrockPot recipe of the week
• Giants/Cowboys game
• Put up our Charlie Brown Christmas tree

Looks like I’ll be takin’ the train…

My car has broken down four times in the past 2 weeks. This morning was the last straw and I was left stranded on the side of the road on my way to work in rush hour traffic. Again.

After trial and error and a little denial on our part, we’ve finally gotten the words we didn't want to hear: Blown Head Gasket.
Which in most cases means it’s time for a new car.

Since I’ve already paid my car off, the last thing I want is another car note. So, after talking it over with Dennis, we decided to shell out the $2K it’s going to cost to get it fixed to save my baby.

This is Dennis getting down and dirty under my hood. (Umm, yeah that sounds gross…take it as you will)

My poor car. I love this car. It’s a 2000 Subaru Legacy GT Limited and I am not ready to give it up. So here’s to taking the train. Son of a….