semi-vegetative state

I've worked hard. I've been diligent and responsible. I've been a team player. And tonight, I think I am going to give myself a guilty gift that has absolutely zero value in the real world.

I am going to gorge on television.

I've been planning it out. It will involve creating a zone of food/drink/pillows/cats around me, putting on loose clothes, and parking myself in the corner of the couch. Perhaps I'll sit up, feet on an ottoman. Perhaps I'll give in fully and lay down, head turned sideways to soak in the passive entertainment. There may or may not be a blanket involved.

My Tivo has been dutifully recording programs, and I have hardly paid any attention to it's achievement. But tonight, oh tonight, that will change.

Last night I stayed up a little later than I should have, watching videos and playing Vortex on my new iPod. The new iPods really are pretty, and I am going to be gifting my old 30GB photo (which has worked perfectly to this day) to my mom. Ok, ok, her mere mention of possibly using an iPod instead of CDs to hold the music for her various folk dancing groups was all the push I needed to offer mine up and make the jump.

Video podcasts are now at my disposal. Very, very dangerous, as I can now watch telly in bed. On a small screen, but still. Or movies! Video Podcasts! I burned my eyes blowing through a whole set of "Flight of the Conchords" snippets last night. I gave in and purchased "Pootie Tang" (Wa Da Tah!) as my inaugural movie - it was either going to be that or "Zoolander." But I expect I'll figure out how to burn our DVDs to the iPod soon enough, so no need to repurchase.

At the moment I am on our sun porch, with three self-bathing cats, perfect weather, and no particular agenda. "Paid in Full (Seven Minutes of Heaven)" just started flowing into my ears. It's one of those songs (and collaborations, really) that, when I'm feeling sentimental and particularly audiophile-y, I classify under Highly Important Music. This is one of those times.

So far, this whole between jobs state is pretty sweet!

10 miles of success

The Cherry Blossom race was a total success. I more than surpassed my expectations for mile time, finishing in 1:36:44. That averages to a 9:41 pace overall. I'm very happy with how it all went.

I ran with two friends, one of whom had trained hard to go for a personal best. The day prior to the race, she was talking about running as an exercise in pain tolerance, as it is inevitable that fatigue sets in. I thought about thatquite a bit as I was motoring along; the few times I considered stopping (and once when I had even gone so far as to pick a landmark at which I would allow myself to walk for a short distance), I thought about what she'd said, and it helped to keep me going.

I also had a few other thoughts that pushed me along... One was saying to myself, essentially, "It's not that you can do it - you are doing it." Other cheesy gems included, "This is what it feels like to hit your goal" and "[Insert time] until you've finished."

This is an interesting point in my racing life, as I have not run many races at all. That means that every race is a PR. I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

I learned that my iPod Nike+ thing needs to be calibrated for longer distances, as it thinks I only ran 9.67 miles. And that my average pace was 10:03. The optimist in me is glad it was wrong, as I would have been disappointed by coming so close and not making goal. Given that it was so off, it's safe to say I also ran my best 5k (I'm guessing 28 minutes) and 10k (again, an estimate of 58 minutes or so). These are general estimates, as I made a point to not check it very often, and just enjoy the scenery. I'll just have to run some actual measured courses to get some times logged.

Having said that, I see I've gone on for five paragraphs without mentioning the scenery. It was a perfect day for a run - around 60 degrees and overcast. The cherry blossoms were blooming like mad, and other flora was on the verge of popping out. Lots of new spring green was everywhere. Add the backdrop of heavy stone architecture that makes up much of DC and it makes for a largely pretty course.

A nice aspect of this race is that it is an out and back course, so you get to see the front runners as they are heading back towards the start/finish. Some of them looked like they were hardly winded, while others were clearly struggling. Still, off they went, sprinting along. The fastest racer averaged a 4:37 pace. Wow.

Post race we went had brunch at our friends K&S' house; the post race meal is always so tasty. I had a weird craving for bacon (which I have not eaten in I don't know how long), and helped myself to a few delicious slices. Holy crap it was good. Salty and perfect.

Having run hard and then eaten, I was ready for a nap at any given moment. Instead, and just as pleasurably, we hung out for a while and played with K&S' kid and had a mellow morning. I was so happy to be there, and it only makes it better that we'll be back next weekend.

I took today off from work, giving me time to reset, unpack, say hello to the kitties, maybe watch some trash tv. Tonight is the first night of Passover, so we're heading to P's brother/sister in laws for seder. One of my fave holidays.

I'm off to take an early taste of the horseradish that P made yesterday. It's going to be good!

Back in Manchester

Phoenix is come and gone. All in all, a great trip.

A brief recap of the race, and the surrounding trip:

1. The first day I arrived, I went to see Catie Curtis in concert. Totally different than seeing her on the east coast… The crowd was frustratingly sedate. Still, I enjoyed it. Catie is a good storyteller, and generally has an anecdote for each song. Sometimes they fit, sometimes they don’t, but I always find them entertaining, and definitely reminds me of why she is so good to see live. Prior to one of her songs, she looked out into the crowd, asking me to ID myself. She informed the room that I was in Phoenix, hailing from NH, for the road race. She then relayed a story of someone asking her on her plane ride if she was running in the marathon, saying “she looked athletic.” She indicated no, just playing a gig and laughed, as she doesn’t see herself as particularly athletic. (No one asked me if I was running the race on my way out… J ) That little shout out led to some words of encouragement from strangers after the show, which was nice. One guy identified himself as a Nashua native, and we had a little New Hampshire moment.
2. The morning of the race, I went with the rest of the cattle into my assigned corral. I was in corral 14 out of 30. Waited about 30 minutes there prior to starting our actual run – I can only imagine how long corral 30 had to wait… It was an unusually chilly morning in Phoenix – maybe 30 degrees? – and I watched lots of people hopping about trying to keep warm. I managed to find a patch of sunlight, and parked myself there to gather warmth. Between that and my determination to soak in every moment of this, my first ½ marathon, I was fine.
3. The mayor of Phoenix was in my corral. I saw his arms pop up in a political wave when it was announced just prior to our release, but other than that he was just another runner in tights.
4. For some reason, Born Again missionaries decided to post themselves along the first half mile of the race. There were four of them, staggered two to a side, and positioned far enough apart that when one left your site, another one appeared. They were easily identifiable given their enormous neon colored signs letting us know that if we didn’t accept Jesus into our hearts we’d burn in hell (one of my least favorite approaches to making one interested in any particular sect). The first two people were actually yelling at us to accept Jesus, warning us of the consequences laid out in their signage. The last guy was simply wishing us a good run, which I felt was at least a kind gesture.

That whole part was a bit weird, and thinking about it kept me occupied for the first mile of the race. Why here? Why at the start? Was it because we were a captured audience? Do sad, empty-feeling people (which, to me, seem like the most likely candidates for conversion via the neon side methodology) enter into marathons? I imagine this would be a low incidence conversion territory.

Mind you, there were a fair share of deeply religious types running. I saw shirts decorated with “Got Jesus?” or “Running every mile for Jesus” or similar slogans. That seemed innocuous enough, and heck, good for them. It is when it is so forced that it feels somehow desperate.

5. A friend suggested to me that I assign each mile to a person, which I did. It was a soothing exercise. Lots of shout outs to people who hold a special place in my heart. P got both mile 4 and the .1 at the end. J
6. At the 10k mark, I thought back to the Tufts 10K that I had run with P a few years ago, and mentally noted the difference in my conditioning, and simply how my body felt. I still think back to the days of awful back problems and eventual back surgery, and the brief moment where I essentially lost the ability to walk (thank heavens for my fabulous wife!!!). Every time I run I appreciate the various parts of my body working in harmony.
7. Around mile 8, I passed the pacer for my initial goal time. That felt good, and I knew I had plenty of miles ahead of me to methodically break away even further. My time was finally posted: 2:11:47. Works out to an average of 10:04 per mile, which is better than my initial goal of 10:15. Yay, me! My Nike+ thingy should have also provided me with this information, but due to my fussing with it in the early part of the race, I lost about .5 miles, and had to start the workout session on my Nano over again. After kicking myself for the next half mile, I let it go and instead stared out into the beautiful, red hued Arizona hills in the distance. That cured everything, and I was back on my way.
8. All the training really paid off. I felt a blister coming on around mile 10, but as of today I can only feel a little bit of soreness creeping in. My quads might need a little extra attention. But my post race recovery was quick, and I wondered how others prepared when I saw them cramping up. People that, on the surface, look like they would be in better shape than me. Go figure. Perhaps just a bad day for them.
9. I slapped a lot of kids' hands along the way. I have been one of those people that sticks out their hands and yells encouragement to runners from the sidelines, so it was a little like returning a karmic favor. Plus the little kids get a huge kick out of it. I heard a few squeals of pleasure after I made contact and moved on.
10. I did it! I can’t wait to run again.

Next up – the Cherry Blossom 10 miler.

PS – the NY Times article on questions to ask before marriage remains on the top 10 most emailed articles. Crazy. As of today at 8pm, it is back up to #3!

Joining in the gadetgy fray, and race countdown

Ok, so after reading a friend's post, i may have changed my opinion on the iPod phone. Kudos to Apple for continuing their reputation as the pretty electronics people. I envision their employees as wearing high end jeans, tight ribbed sweaters, and cool urban kicks. Maybe a snarky t-shirt here and there, although that seems more of a PC thing.

I remember when the first combo telephone answering machines were coming out. I was nervous to purchase one, as I worried that if the phone broke, thus went the answering machine. It seemed wasteful in a way. Nowadays, more and more people are looking into smartphones, which allow you to carry all of your contacts, calendar, music, and files in one (quite compact) space. What if it drops into the bottom of your laundry basket, or the toilet, or is otherwise lost? I wonder if there is an emerging counseling field specializing in the loss of personal gadgetry and the high levels of inconvenience and personal pain that creates...

I guess you can lead a horse to totally cool water, but you can't make it give up its frugal nature.

In other news, I am five days away until my road race in Phoenix. I ran 10 miles on Sunday no problem (beautiful day, felt great) and haven't run since due to time constraints. That and my unwillingness to get up before 6am. Anyhoo, tonight is my last run (likely 5 miles) prior to the race. I can't decide if I'll be better off for such a light week mile-wise, or if that will hurt. Or if it just doesn't matter. In any case, I fly out to Phoenix tomorrow!

I have started collecting talismans for the race. I got a pair of socks from my wife, who can't make the race in person, which I will wear for the first time on race day. I recieved a beautiful, simple, handmade necklace from friends that I will wear as my only piece of jewlery. Another friend has been sending daily running-related inspirational thoughts and encouragement as an introduction to the running community, which has been really lovely and appreciated. In the less talisman but still fun bucket, I got myself a red Road ID bracelet, both for the race and beyond. As I run alone so much, I thought it would be a good idea.

There's a song brewing in my head about my recent 10 miler, particularly as I had to go through a tunnel that is long and dark. This tunnel previously served as my unofficial end of the line, limiting the distance I would go before turning around. Having run through it (and back) and survived, I think a victory song is in order. Stay tuned!