Thanksgiving Day 10K tomorrow

Big race tomorrow - not going for a PR by any means.

This kinda sums up my race

Above: My OTR 5K bib. 

Number 600: Gertchen Mahan

Even though I registered in person this morning and handed the guy a form with my name spelled correctly, he still made a hot mess of my name. Thankfully, I didn't have to tear this strip off at the finish because I love to document when my name gets destroyed. And thankfully, they only timed the lead 5 men and the lead 5 women, so my 5K time from this morning won't be in the public domain. Let's just say that after a very late night, a humid 5K on an empty stomach doesn't quite equate to PRs. Or even near-PRs like on Monday. Bleh.

So much for raising my game.

'Twas the first 5K of the Summer...

...And all through the town

ran the Hunger Walk 5K,

3.1 miles around.

3 years ago on Memorial Day, Dan and I ran the Hunger Walk 5K in the pouring rain. It was a small crowd of runners foolish enough to persist in spite of their soaked shoes and clothing. The out-and-back course started and finished at the downtown YMCA (read: one porta-potty). At the time, it was my PR (22:54) and I won my age group. My, how things have changed...

Yesterday's weather was beautiful and the crowd for the Hunger Walk was outstanding! The FreeStore Foodbank benefits from this fundraiser, and I can safely say the event has grown exponentially since 2005. This year, I registered through the 5000 Club at Christ Church Cathedral, since a) my running partner/neighbor, Mark heads the 5000 Club and b) the 5000 Club benefits from FreeStore food and services. A win-win all around. 

To sweeten the mix even more, I only had to step out my front door to start the race. MMMM yeah, that's right - the race started in Lytle Park. Now you're probably thinking that this story can't get any better, but what if I told you that my DAD was participating, too? Yes, my dad chose the Hunger Walk as his sophomore foray into the world of road races. Maybe due to the shorter distance, he seemed semi-confident prior to the race and easily blended into the crowd at the start. I, on the other hand, was pretty nervous since I hadn't done a 5K since October. My mouth was dry, my stomach was jumpy. But whatever.

Once the race got started, there was little to worry about. The course was flat and fast, with a nice downhill near the start. Mark and I had practiced the course a few times over the past weeks (albeit not always in the correct direction - AHEM, faulty Hunger Walk course map). The final hill up Sycamore to 4th was less stressful than I expected, and I coasted to the finish in 22:26. It was a way better time than I expected for the first 5K of the summer; only about 10 seconds off my PR.

So, here was the surprise of the day. I finished the race, grabbed some water and sat down with Dan and Mom in the shade to watch for Dad. With about 30 minutes on the race clock, Mom exclaimed, "I think I see your Dad!" I looked at my watch and said no way - Dad was probably doing 15-minute miles and would be around mile 2. But Barb didn't let up, she recognized Dad's orange Bengals hat cruising down 4th Street. He was jogging toward the finish - jogging! Plus, he was about 15 minutes sooner than expected, blowing his 10K splits out of the water. Dan grabbed the camera and I jumped up and down like a fool, waving my arms and cheering for Dad. He finished in 32:10.

Dad Cruising Down 4th Street

Almost to the Finish

Check out the race results here.

Mom and Dad didn't hang around for the awards, but Dan and I casually wandered over to the post-race refreshment / award zone, where he took in some hot dogs and I took home second place in my age group. I truly thought I might win my age division, but given the size of the field this year, I was pleased that I even placed. 

The woman who won the 30-39 age group was pushing a stroller with a little girl in it. I saw her on the course and marveled to myself at how effortless and agile she looked as I struggled to maintain sub-8:00s. 

Time to raise my game. Next weekend - the OTR 5K, followed by a trip to Fleet Feet to buy my dad some new running shoes.

Lessons learned - practice pre-race confidence, push harder on the course to PR, never underestimate Dad.

My Feet Had Soul

I wasn't dancing, but my marathon spirit was reborn. I went out on a lark with nothing to lose, I ran, I walked a little, I didn't fret (much) over my time. I just made sure I beat this one old lady, I can't stand to lose to old ladies. Young ladies, okay. And speaking of young ladies - when did the marathon become a 65-7-% female event. All ages, all events - the girls own the races. What is that all about? I'll tell you the other thing, the ladies crossing that full marathon finishing line in less than 3 hours and twenty minutes were in shape. Now, my other question. Why are the faster runners older? with few exceptions, it seems that the really young runners (early twenties) don't end up with faster times or near as fast as the 3o somethings and even early 40 somethings - male and female. I don't know the physiology of it. one of my theories is that Marathon running is such a mental sport - at the end of the day - that sheer youth and young muscle energy isn't necessarily the edge. It's seasoned athletic ability. People who have faced some adversity in life and know how to persevere and prevail. That's all folks.

otterbob

The Results Are IN

Dan before leaving the condo this morning. Typical race-day expression.

Urban Activity bloggers killed it on the Flying Pig Half Marathon course this morning!

After a delayed start due to a fire on Eastern Avenue, the Half and Full Marathon events took off to the strains of "Eye of the Tiger" - groan.

However, the Pig redeemed itself with a fireworks show erupting over the Roebling Suspension Bridge as the sun rose in the East - nice touch.

Crowd support along the course was outstanding this year, maybe better than it's ever been. Seventh Street felt like a throwback to the "old course" of 2001 & 2002; we ran from one end of the city to the other, with cheering spectators lining both sides of the street. Needless to say, the uphills were challenging, thus guaranteeing that I would NOT run a PR on the course. But the Gilbert downhill let me make up some time without shredding my quads. I finished in 1:48:26 - about 2 minutes off of my PR, so I was pretty pleased considering the course. Immediately after finishing, I ran around to the final stretch and caught Bob cruising down the last half mile. Bob registered on a whim last Friday at the expo, so hopefully he'll post his two cents about the whole experience.

Click here for my results from this morning's half marathon.

Click here for Bob's results from the half marathon.

After spotting Bob, I grabbed my gear, ran home to get the cameras (yes, PLURAL) and stiffly jogged to meet my parents by Adams Landing. We cheered for the marathon finishers tackling the final hill around mile 25, and caught Dan running by. Dan had a great race and finished in 3:40:22. He's within a minute or two of his PR, so it's possible that, had the full marathon course not been detoured by the fire on Eastern, he may have run his best marathon yet. Regardless, he felt great the entire race, so that's an accomplishment in itself.

It was nice reveling in the post-race endorphins for a while, but now Dan is half-comatose on the couch watching Full Metal Jacket. Nice uplifting choice. Can't he just watch something light like the Reds game or Malibu's Most Wanted? Sometimes I do not understand him.

Future post: a list of post-marathon movies to watch (and NOT to watch). Seriously, I can't watch this movie anymore; it's going to give me bad dreams.

Another Future Post: for posterity, a record of my panicked pre-marathon dreams. It never fails that I have crazy, panic-inducing dreams the night before a race and I always remember them.

More later.

Your Face on the Purple People Bridge

Random t shirt on purple people bridge

After the race, Dan and I walked to Newport for some Dewey's. This T-shirt with an ironed-on picture was draped across the side of the Purple People Bridge. WTF? I would be a little weirded out if someone ditched a shirt with my picture in plain view of all river-crossing riff raff. It wasn't like it was lying in a heap so no one could see the photo - someone carefully hung it so everyone crossing the bridge could take a good look. I almost didn't get this picture because three dirty old men were admiring it. Ew.

The post-marathon crowd

Faulkner Pride

Here's my dad enjoying a well-deserved breakfast at FIrst Watch after the 10K this morning. The Flying Pig 10K was his first race and he beat his goal time by 15 minutes. Check out the medal!

In spite of a wet start (he was drenched by mile 1), Dad got out and walked the course. I joined him around mile 2 and walked the course with him, dropping off just before the finish. Fortunately, the rain stopped during the race and we stayed dry as we walked across Downtown and throughout Kentucky. Appealing to his competitive nature, I convinced him to jog a few of the downhills. He jogged down the Taylor Southgate Bridge and to the finish under a 1:29:45 clock. Afterwards, Dad marveled at how exhilarating it felt to cross the finish line with people cheering for him. Watching him finish gave me the same rush and both Mom and I choked back tears. There's nothing like seeing someone you love accomplish a goal.

So, based on this race, I think he's hooked; he's already talking about doing the Hunger Walk 5K in just a few weeks. Maybe he'll jog that one, maybe he'll walk, but I'm super proud of him for "taking the plunge" today. Here's hoping that we'll share many more races and PRs.

Brunchin'

Post-Race LBJR Oven Brittle

Sometimes I like to go out for a brisk 9.3-mile run, then come back to the condo and prepare brunch for all of my runner friends. After that, I like to spend about an hour hunched over the mess in my oven created by a naughty batch of Little Brown Jug Rolls. There's nothing like crouching at oven height after a nice long run, stabbing at burned, baked-on food with a steak knife. This may become an annual ritual: Run the Heart Mini, Host a brunch, Clean the oven.

Background: While baking, the LBJRs overflowed in the oven, resulting in a crusty brittle of cinnamon, brown sugar, butter, milk & vanilla pudding. I thought I was being really smart by doubling the recipe for the "goo" and baking a batch of 36 Jug Rolls - rather than the 20 called for in the recipe. I guess increasing the rolls by 80% requires commensurate baking pan capacity, which, sadly, I didn't account for. Lesson learned.

As my friend, Jody, put it, "At least your oven will smell nice." True.

Click here for results from the Heart Mini.

Heart mini 5k from our window

Runners in the Heart Mini 5K - taken from our window.

Songwriters, hear my prayer.

Please come up with a new anthem that can be used to inaugurate sporting events. If it is specific to running/marathoning, even better. Something is wrong with the world when "Let's Get it Started" and "Start Me Up" are the only two songs played before every football, baseball, hockey, basketball, wrestling, softball, cricket, jai alai, gymnastics, rugby, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, bowling or handball match.

Now the Flying PIg Marathon is offering runners the chance to vote on these and 8 other horrendous songs to hear at the starting line of the 10th Flying Pig Marathon.

Seriously? Eye of the Tiger? Life is a Highway? WTF? Who decided to revive Tom Cochrane's career? Why not throw in the Rocky theme while you're at it? (In all sincerity, I'm surprised the Rocky theme isn't an option.) Needless to say, I have been feverishly writing in options from my personal running playlist. Maybe someone at the Pig will download one of my tunes and take pity on runners who have been bleeding from the ears at the sound of the aforementioned songs. Have mercy on our souls.

Please - something different, something with depth. Something that speaks to reducing your body to a salty, limping, panting, dry-heaving mass in the name of enlightenment. Bonus points if you mention hitting the wall and busting through it. Something sentimental like, "I've seen a million faces, and I've rocked them all." It's a stretch, but you get the idea.

That said, I hereby initiate a contest to develop a new "Sporting event kick-off anthem." Please submit songs to me ASAP. I can't offer a meaningful cash reward, but I'll do my damnedest to get the Pig to debut the song at the start of the 10th running of the Flying Pig Marathon. It will be legendary. Imagine all the people...
Or something like that.

Amen

The calm after the storm

My blogging schedule pretty much mirrors my workout schedule over the past month. I'll admit I haven't been taking it too seriously. Well, last week, Dan and i were in Sarasota and ran the half marathon. It's been a while since I ran a half, so my expectations weren't too high - I figured I'd finish in 2 hours or more. Once the race got started, I felt great - the course ran along the water and I watched the sun come up over the bay. So, i finished in just under 2 hours, which completely boosted my running confidence again. So, the next goal is the Flying Pig Half. Next step: find a 6-week training plan and post here.

Fast forward to this weekend in Cincinnati - 12 inches of snow and ice. My memories of running in 60-degree weather dissolved as blizzard-like conditions conspired to keep me inside. Saturday and Sunday=TV, TV, computer and more TV. I scraped off the car this morning and headed to the newest Urban Active in Bellevue. It was the perfect time to go to the gym - I was probably one of ten people in the place when I got there. I walked on the treadmill and watched the river (photo above), did some core work, did some arm work, then jumped in the pool and ran back and forth in the water. Topped it all off with about 15-20 minutes in the sauna, where the 160-degree temps shredded my edition of Runner's World, but reminded me of summer. The whole experience was very calming and therapeutic. One complaint: UA really needs to turn down the volume of their gym-rock. On a Sunday morning, you just don't want Aly and AJ all up in your face, but that's another blog entirely.

Dan is in Austin this week, so I will probably be Urban Activating in the mornings and/or evenings. Bellevue's UA is a nice gym. I'll probably go there instead of Florence.

My feet in a relaxed position

Ignore the mysterious yoga implements in the background. When relaxed, my feet are completely jeopardizing my posture, my joints, etc.

In the midst of our personal yoga lesson, I complained to Meg about lingering knee pain and pain in my periformis. Meg took one look at my legs and noticed that my hips, knees and ankles are completely twisted. This picture shows the grounding exercise that I need to work on - weight in the outer feet & heels, stretching through the big toe and grounding in the ball of the foot to straighten my ankles, knees and hips.

Rena on meg's yoga contraption

Live from Meg's condo. My friend, Megan, is a yoga instructor and hosted my friend, Nicole's baby shower today. Everyone was wondering what the straps and ropes were on her bedroom wall. Once all the shower guests left, Meg gave Rena and me some personalized yoga instruction. First move - on the straps, against the wall, upside down. Both Rena and I tried it and, in spite of the blood collecting in our heads, we achieved new levels of enlightenment and alignment.

The starfish

Bob's new shoes by converse

Mahan's Best & Worst of Gyms 2007

Happy 2008! All of the year-end "Best and Worst" editions, combined with exhaustive "new year, new you" references spurred the idea that I should compile my best and worst of gyms.

Urban Active will be the seventh gym membership I've held since high school. I've been a member at Body Dynamics (now defunct), Countryside YMCA, Bally's Chicago, Bally's Cincinnati, The Gym at Carew Tower and a one-week tenure at FitWorks. If you factor in my time at university facilities (U of Illinois, Northwestern), apartment building facilities (Fourth and Plum, The Renaissance and my current building, Park Place at Lytle), the gym experience jumps substantially. Needless to say, I consider myself something of a gym connoisseur. After careful thought and consideration, here are my "Best and Worst" of gyms...

Best Weights: Bally's. From 1998-2001, I went before work 5 days a week and loved it. As a morning regular, I was on a first-name basis with most of the staff and members. Sometimes I miss those days of frivolous fitness, but sometimes I relish sleeping in past 5:00 a.m.

Best Variety: The Gym at Carew Tower. Once I moved downtown, marathon training gradually replaced weightlifting, and The Gym at Carew was my most convenient option. For a downtown location, it offers great variety in the way of a lap pool, a whirlpool, group classes, weights and cardio. In winter, there was nothing better than finishing a run on the treadmill, going for a quick swim, then soaking in the whirlpool. I guess Countryside Y would be a contender here, too, but as it's located in Lebanon, it loses on the convenience factor.

Best Towel Service: Bally's Chicago - As someone who actually showers at the gym, I've found that gym towels are universally tiny and insufficient at covering all the necessary parts. At Bally's in Chicago, I was able to take not one, not two, but three towels in the morning so I could maintain some level of modesty in the locker room AND wrap my hair up in a towel.

Best Kickboxing Class: Dale Eads at Body Dynamics - Summer, 1996. My friend Kelly and I loved this class and had a slightly unhealthy obsession with Dale. Mostly because we loved his name.

Worst Gym Trial: Fitworks in Newport, Kentucky. I took the bait of a one-month free trial about 5 years ago and they called me at work every day for a month pressuring me to join. Lesson learned - avoid Fitworks at all costs.

Worst Pickup Line: "You've probably noticed me watching you." Ew. This line was delivered to me mid-workout when I was in college. It's comments like these that require "women's fitness" sections at co-ed gyms.

Worst Apartment Workout Facility: Fourth & Plum. I feel kind of like a traitor saying this since Fourth & Plum was the first apartment I had on my own. Even the pool on the roof couldn't make up for the ancient treadmill, the mix-and-match dumbbells and the "highschoolweightroom" stripes painted on the wall. I'm sorry, Fourth & Plum, but even on a limited budget, I had to get a real gym membership.

Worst Gym-Goer Hygiene: Northwestern's gym - 1998. I think I shall never forget this. My roommate was working as the director of Northwestern's fitness center in 98-99. I showed up after work (aka "Prime Time") to work out and a middle-aged guy in shorts and a tank top hopped on the Stairmaster Stepmill. The problem - he was wearing neither shoes nor socks. The fitness staff on duty quickly pulled him off the machine, informing him that shoes and socks were necessary. Each step on the Stepmill was then thoroughly disinfected, but the machine had been pretty much tarnished by one man's sweaty gym feet. Ew infinity.

Stay tuned for updates on where Urban Active fits in on the Best and Worst of 2008. Also coming: a link to my favorite marathon training plan, as well as the best and worst in athletic gear.