Ready to Run Again

If you were following this blog, you might be wondering what happened. Did I stop running? Did I quit altogether? Did I run off and join a circus with poor internet access, thus making blogging difficult? No, but for those of you who do know my personal life, you'll know that I have experienced some pretty drastic changes. I'm back and writing because, at last, I feel like I am in a place where I can get back to normal, and part of getting back to normal for me is, evidently, running.

It was around May 2013 that my life as I knew it underwent several major and unexpected upheavals and it's only now that I can report I've reached a point where my life feels more stable. That isn't to say that I didn't run during that time. In fact, as this handy photo demonstrates, I ran quite a bit:

These are racing bibs. You get one for each race that you do. I did a whole lot of racing from May 2013-May 2014

A well-intentioned friend said to me in December 2013 that she was concerned about how much running I was doing. 'I think you're trying to *run away* from your problems,' was her exact phrase. She was right: I was trying to avoid them and running seemed like a perfectly good outlet (and, to be honest, I could have chosen many more destructive outlets). But I wasn't having fun. No race felt really rewarding. I was signing up for events that I ultimately did not enjoy--running on the opening of a new Tampa highway, anyone? While I did a number of trail runs and was lucky to be around a great group of runners who did the same, even that wasn't enough to escape my problems. Training became almost impossible. When I did get out to train, I almost always counted down in my head every step until I was done. There was no real joy, no real improvement, and no solution to my problems.

The same could be said in my personal life, as the events of May 2013 were not easily reconciled, and by May 2014, my situation became even less stable. But still, I kept signing up for races. I did a few blasts from the past: the Jim Kane Sugar Bowl, Beach to Beacon and even revisited my first 10k course with the Tufts 10k. I faced an old nemesis with the Somerville Gobble Gobble Gobble, a race that had not gone so well the last time I did it back in 2006 (I did better).  I was working out--with heartfelt thanks to OutFit Bootcamp, which kept me on track at least a bit--but I wasn't running.

As the locations of these races might suggest, by this point I had left Florida and set up shop in Boston, although my situation was still not stable--so much so that I don't even live in Boston now because in March 2015, I started my first 'real' job in almost a year in Portland, Maine. Working in Maine meant moving to Maine, a burden that I gladly took on because Maine is a great place to live, but one that made keeping up a training plan difficult. And so, running was again on the back burner. Training did not go as planned. However, there was one important change: I ran a race.

On June 7, I completed the Covered Bridges Half-Marathon in Woodstock, Vermont.

It pretty much all looked like this, except for the parts that were even prettier by the river

The course was beautiful, my performance less so. But I still finished, and I even finished in not my worst half-marathon time ever. What I realized from my experience is that I still know how to run a half-marathon, I just need some practice (which should be read as 'miles') to run it better. And I'll need those miles, because I have a crazy plan: next October, I am planning to run two marathons and qualify to be a Marathon Maniac. The marathons in question are the Maine Marathon, conveniently located down the street from me, and Mount Desert Island. Both are in Maine, both should be beautiful, and both should be a lot of fun. I won't go into too many details now, because I'm sure I'll have lots to say between now and then, but I am excited to take on this challenge.

There were plenty of times over the past two years when I questioned my dedication to running and whether I should stop kidding myself about how out of shape I had let myself become. But again and again, I found myself signing up for--and getting excited about--races. While I don't see myself going on the same bib-acquiring bonanza spree as before, I'm looking forward to getting back to a place where running is fun again. Portland helps this, as it is a great city for running, and I'm sure that photos will soon follow. Okay, here's a preview:

I go to places like here when I run now

And also places like here. In fact, this is part of my daily commute.

Back to work! Tonight was the first night of the marathon running plan with a one-hour slow run. And the first day of training is complete.

New (temporary) running blog

I know, I haven't posted in a while. In part, this is because I haven't done a whole lot of running in a while, although since my last post, I did Beach to Beacon in August and the Tufts 10k in October. I beat my previous course records in both of these races--although this is much more of an indictment of how slowly I ran them before than an achievement this time around. Oh well. Take the achievements where you can find them, I say.

Anyway, for the next little while, I am attending an intensive bootcamp to learn how to create web apps. I have noticed that I keep turning to running experiences to explain my experiences with coding, so I have decided to start a new temporary blog during this experience. It's called 'Running Code' and I would invite you to visit me there for a bit.

Upcoming plans include an attempt to qualify for Marathon Maniacs next October/November, so I will definitely be back! See you over at Running Code!

Not enough stairs in Toronto?

Wow, I did not realize how long it had been since I updated this.  And I am not going to lie: I have not been doing a whole lot of running.  I did do a trail run in May, which was a 25k at Sulphur Springs, near Hamilton, Ontario.  It was lovely, apart from the COMPLETELY INSANE hills.  One of which was immediately before the finish line.  That you had to go up twice.  But it was a lovely day and I very much enjoyed the experience, apart from maybe some of those nutty hills.

Anyway, I am currently in Toronto, Ontario (aka 'The T Dot') and was reminded of a classic Toronto song from my teenaged years entitled 'I Don't Want To Go To Toronto.'  Now, the vast majority of this song is completely true (okay, maybe not.  But it is hard to find good bagels and I feel pretty certain that there is a tax on wicker goods).  Except for the part about the stairs.  Because lemme tell you, Toronto has stairs.  I found a set of them this morning on my run.  It was a hill so hilly that it needed stairs to ascend it:

View from the top:

These are the Baldwin Steps, located at Spadina and Davenport.  They are as evil as they look, but today I found the whole experience invigorating.  And kind of fun.  I am hoping that this is a sign that my running groove is gradually returning.

Lovely Sunday in the Woods (Citrus Trail Run)

This month is definitely trail run month, as I will be participating in one for three out of the four weekends, culminating in the social event of the season, Croom Fools Run. I will have plenty more to say about that, I am sure. Last Sunday was the Citrus Trail Run, which had various distances. I did the ten mile one, which I think was a good choice because I am not in awesome running shape right now, but I can definitely handle a ten mile. In fact, I quite enjoyed it. I brought my camera again to get some pictures. The area is north of Croom (near Inverness, FL), but the same kind of terrain.

Nice pine forest

Quiet morning in the woods

I was fortunate to get there right in time for the sunrise colors that were particularly nice as a backdrop to the woods.

View from my parking spot

It was also nice to be out in the spring, since there are flowers.  I went for a run at Croom the day before and saw some of the same.  These are definitely not out year-round; in fact, I am wondering if these are only in March!

The trail itself was very peaceful.  It was the Citrus Trail, and mostly we followed the orange and blue sections.  Relatively easy to follow and lots of signs, so it was easy not to get lost (that being said, some of the people doing the four mile actually did an eight mile by accident).

I think that my favorite part was along some of the fields with lots of grass grown in.  I had recently seen the movie theater broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's Prince Igor, which had a scene set in poppy fields.  If I were going to set this opera in Florida, I would use these fields:

So I spent much of this part of the run with the Polovtsian Dances in my head.  Helped the time go faster, although the race didn't really feel like it was dragging much to me.  It was a nice day to be out in the woods!

This Croom place

Several of the trail races that I have done over the past year have taken place at Croom, an area near Brooksville, FL that includes the Withlacoochee State Forest and other areas.  There is an immense amount of forest, which is why it is so popular for trail runs around there parts.  This is where I did my 50k, my half-marathon where I was first in my age group last year, and that horrid race where I was recovering from the flu and couldn't really breathe.  But you know why you still go, even when you can barely breathe?

All of these were taken this morning during the Long Play run.  This race is put on by Tampa Races, and features a 33 1/3 mile race, as well as a half-marathon and a 5-mile run.  I did it last year, when it was my introduction to Croom and I was pretty much instantly hooked (plus I finished first in my age group.  Of two.  So yeah, legit).  Today, I did the half-marathon and I took my time, enjoying the scenery and taking photos and such.  I don't even know what my time was, actually, because my Garmin was not charged.  I feel like I ran the course more strategically this year, in terms of strategic walking of hills and maintaining a slow-yet-steady pace for most of it.  This year was a little warmer than last year (although last year started at 39F, so there you go), but not enough to be an hindrance.  I enjoyed myself so much that I was a little disappointed when I realized I was almost done with the forest part.  That's right: I wanted to run longer.  That basically never happens to me and I see that as a real achievement in my development as a runner.

I also realized that every race that I have done this year with Tampa Races has put me last out of everyone.  First there was the 50k, where I am fine with my lastness.  Then there was the Flatwoods Ramble, where my lastness was a bit more embarrassing.  But today, I was not last.  I was at least second-last.  Victory.

Incidentally, when you do Long Play, you also get to see goats:

It's like they're posing

An even better bonus?  No alligators!

Everglades Trail Run

When I first started running, I got in the habit of setting three goals before I did a race.  The reason for this is that I am very goal-orientated, and I realized pretty quickly that if I just set one goal and didn't succeed, I would get frustrated with myself and angry.  Fortunately, I had sufficient self-awareness to also realize that if I kept this up, I wouldn't keep running for very long, because who wants to do a sport where you are always feeling frustrated and angry?  And sometimes the goals were good and noble, like when I PRed my 5k time.  Goal 1 was to finish in under 30:00.  Goal 2 was to finish with a 10 minute/mile split.  Goal 3 was to PR.  I PRed with a 10:06 mile split, so I will take that, since it was awfully close to Goal 2.

I'm not sure when I got out of the habit of setting three goals for races, but it probably was around the time that I started doing many more of them and my main goal was simply to get out there and run.  For some reason, I think I brought it back when I did the Philly Marathon in 2012, but honestly I can't remember what the three goals were (probably PR, run the whole course, and finished.  In that case, I PRed).  More often now, I might set one goal; for instance, my one goal for the 50k was finish the 50k, which I did.  I wasn't really worried about anything else, which is good, because I sure didn't accomplish much else with that particular race!

Today, though, I kind of brought back the three goals thing for the Everglades trail run.  This is maybe slightly misleading, since I switched goals during the race, then kind of decided that they were goals 1, 2 and 3.  My first goal, when I started, was to keep a run/walk pattern for the whole thing.  That was abandoned as it got hot, when I started switching goals to try and accommodate a run/walk thing, but then realized that I couldn't keep up any running at all and had to walk the whole remaining course (at around Mile 10 of the 16-mile course).  Then I came up with one goal and one goal alone:

1) Don't get heat exhaustion

And I accomplished that goal.  Heck, I even finished the race.

Lemme tell you, that finishing was no mean feat.  The temperature was unseasonably high today in south Florida, to the tune of 85F in the shade, so around 95F in the sun.  And the last four miles of this course were pretty much entirely in the sun at around 1pm.  This was almost my complete and utter undoing, except for this guy, Norm:

Norm was kind enough to walk me through those last four miles

I am not usually very talky when I run, but I think I am learning to be a more social person.  Although my opening remark to Norm was something along the lines of, 'Has anyone read Stephen King's 'The Long Walk'?  Because this would be good footage if they make a film.'  (Plot summary).  Because that is effectively how most of us looked for the end of the race: walking along at a relatively good pace because no one could run because it was really freaking hot.  Fortunately, no one was shot for dropping below a certain pace.  Whoo!

I do have to say that I thought I was awfully near heat exhaustion, but fortunately that does not seem to have happened.  Trust me, walking for 4 miles with no shade was very tough.  There was a part on the prairie early in the race which was beautiful but warm:

Everglades grass prairie

Some parts were nice and shady:

However, the real killer was the sun and there was an awful lot of it near the end of the race.  The path was nice, but by the time it got to around noon, there was no escaping the power of Mr. Florida Sun.  In fact, I had some pretty choice words for Mr. Florida Sun by the end.

Do you see any shade there?  No, not really

The race itself was well-organized and I plan to keep my ceremonial anti-gator whistle for a good long time.  Aid stations were totally stocked.  One trick that I learned was to add ice to your Camelbak when it is hot because it will cool off your water/beverage for an extended amount of time.  Also, this race had pretty sweet swag in the form of a great bag:

You might be wondering if I saw any fun nature on the trail.  For most of the race, all that I saw was buzzards circling, which seemed quite appropriate.  But there was a bit of fun after a while:

Take a close look

Then this happened (no zoom with this photo):

My theory is that the alligator hit the wall, tried some Powerade, and decided to take a nap instead.

So I definitely got my money's worth!

Bonk

I done bonked in a race today.  'Bonking' is the same as hitting the wall, it is where you just don't have the energy to keep going, although somehow you find minute amounts of energy to keep going but the whole thing is just a world of bad, and then you are last.  Okay, the being last part is not mandatory, but it is a likely eventuality when you are a slow and steady runner in the first place.  Bonk.

I have bonked before, although never in a race.  In fact, I once had what I termed a double-bonk in training, where I was both dehydrated and out of energy.  Bonks usually happen because you didn't fuel correctly and I can attest to that today.  Last night, I didn't really have dinner (long story), then today I decided not to take my caffeinated jellybeans with me, which was a huge mistake on a 10-mile race.  Part of me was thinking, '10 miles is not that long.'  That same part of me needs a crash course in distance.

I think that the bigger problem is that I don't have time like I usually do to keep track of everything and as a result, my nutrition and training has suffered--that being said, I don't feel like today was necessarily a training fail, since I felt pretty strong through the first 6 or so miles and my legs aren't in agonizing pain or anything now.  So I would chalk this up more to a bonk, but one that was in part due to not having enough time to cook/prepare food like I normally do.  In fact, I came up with a few percentages while out there today:

Normal percentages
Work: 40%
Running: 20%
Cooking: 20%
Other stuff: 20%

These days
Work: 60%
Major life-changing events that need to be dealt with: 30%
Everything else: 10%

So as you can see from this highly scientific study, I am much busier than normal with stuff, and as a result sometimes I don't have healthy, nutritious dinners.

I made a conscious effort not to get too upset about today.  It was only one race and I can pretty much guarantee that it was a nutritional bonk.  So I will just try and avoid that in the future. Next week is the Everglades race, which is 16 miles, so I will eat dinner the night before.  Learning.  It's all learning.  Even when you thought you had already learned that lesson, still learning.