Fresh air

Because I need to share this with someone who will understand...

On Saturday night my son had a bout of the cough-til-you-pukes. We got, literally, no sleep. And to add insult to injury, Hubs hopped in a cab at 4am for a weeklong work trip. 

When kiddo (who finally dozed off at 3am) woke at 7, I made him breakfast then took us both out for some fresh air.

5 miles.
Hills.
Pushing 75 pounds of stroller.
A few trips down the slide at a far-from-home playground.
Finished with breakfast at Whole Foods.

I might pass out at 7pm tonight, and the laundry might never get done, but I'm feeling like a BAMR for getting out there today!

Race Report: Gulf Shores Half Marathon

The start: Low key starting area with maybe not enough port-o-potties. The Gulf Coast Half Marathon at Gulf Shores was definitely a small race (fewer than 500 runners) but what they lacked in pre-race frills, the organizers more than made up for in post-race awesomeness.

The bad: I'm having a hard time thinking of anything negative. So I'm going to stop trying. (Quitter, I know. But this is good quitting.)

This is the best half marathon I've run. Ever. And I don't throw around terms like "best" lightly, at least not with races.

My only complaint today: the weather sucked, but that's not the race's fault. With fog as thick as pea soup, this was a warm and wet 13.1. As one runner told me while we were waiting in the port-o-potty line, it was "not a PR kind of day." But that's ok... because it was an awesome-race kind of day!

When I said "thick fog" I meant it...
Note that you can't read street signs.

The good: Where do I begin...
Spectators were few and far between, but water stations were frequent (one at almost every mile) and the water station volunteers were wonderful. Seriously, a girl could get spoiled with this kind of course support. The Gulf Shores half might have ruined me for other races...

LA Parrotheads water station.
They even had a live parrot!

Water station mascot.

The course was gorgeous. Even in the thick fog, or maybe because of it, the run covered some beautiful scenery -- coastal dunes, salt marshes, pine forests. I want to go back to this part of Alabama when I have time to stop and enjoy the view.

9 runners who look just like me!
(Hubby found a new feature on his camera. I am a fan!)

The finish: Holy after-party, Batman! (Or should I say "Lulu?")
Jimmy Buffett's sister, Lucy, runs Lulu's Homeport in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and man does she know how to throw a party!

The entire indoor/outdoor restaurant was open to runners, which meant plenty of seating and plenty of food. Runners and guests had access to unlimited jambalaya, red beans and rice, fresh fruit, cookies, beer, and sports drinks. And even more important, race-walkers had plenty of hot food still available when they finished (all too often the food is gone by the time walkers wrap up).

A live band played tunes for a couple of hours. If the guests weren't doing the "post-race shuffle" it would have felt like just another vacation day at a beach resort.

My race: If you've been reading awhile, you know I don't run well on hot-and-humid days. But I still shaved 4 minutes off of my last half marathon time. I'm convinced that on a cooler day I'll be able to break 2 hours.

The weather put a damper on my A-game goals, but I solidly accomplished negative splits. I ran smart in the first half, and strong in the second. Unofficial results have me at 40 out of 215 female runners, and I had a smile on my face (almost) the whole time.

I can't wait to go back next year and move up the ranks!
(Hell, I'd go back and run this race again next weekend if they'd let me. It was that good.)

What's the best post-race party you've ever been to?

You might be a runner if...

In case you didn't see my featured post on Fitblogger:

You might be a runner if...

• You think of bad water as an epic race, not a beverage to avoid.
• You think nothing of spending $30 on two pairs of socks, but wonder if you should register early to get the $5 discount off a race entry fee.
• You covet new Mizuno, Newton, or Brooks more than Manolo, Louboutin, or Choo.
• When you ponder the performance-enhancing effects of compression, you’re thinking socks, not car engine parts.
• You can do the math in your head to convert kilometers to miles and race finish times to minutes-per-mile faster than your friends can calculate them with a new iPad app.
• You know what the acronyms PR and BQ stand for, and aren’t afraid to use them.
• You hate the acronyms DQ, DNF, and PF.
• You have left Happy Hour early, because you have a long run in the morning.
• You have enjoyed a beer at 8am, because that’s what you do at the beer garden after a race.



Post-run wheat beer, because wheat has carbs, right?

• You have ever justified having a beer as “carb loading.”
• You don’t understand why Americans are trying to reduce their salt intake.
• You really don’t understand the Atkins Diet’s hatred of carbs.
• You regularly wake up before dawn on the weekend, and not because it’s time to make the donuts.”

What would you add to this list?

For another other amusing "you might be a runner" list, see:
Run. Learn. Repeat.

Fun-filled Friday (even though it's a workday)

How to have a Friday (workday) that feels like you've already started the weekend:

Wake up at 6am.
Brush teeth.
Change into running clothes.
Place THIRD FEMALE OVERALL in a 5k.

Take ridiculous picture showing off race swag.
Buy Hubby a coffee for humoring you by taking ridiculous pictures with his cell phone so that you can post them on your blog.

Rock out to "Pumped Up Kicks" on the drive home.
Confuse fellow drivers at stop lights because you are car-dancing.



Notice fellow drivers laughing at your car-dancing.

Keep dancing anyway.

Return to home office, and start work day still in gross gym clothes, because you got home too late to take a shower.

Start working on a project that is challenging, fun, and will keep you busy long enough that you won't notice the time going by.

Be proud that you're still in your sweaty running clothes.

Dear blog readers,
I hope your whole Friday is as epic as mine has already been.
If I could bottle this feeling and share it with you all, I would.
Have a GREAT day!

PS
Special thanks to the woman who was right behind me in the final stretch. Hearing her footsteps coming up behind me pushed me HARD in that last 800 meters. Girl, you made me run faster than I thought I could run this morning! Thank you!

Heading "home"

Tonight I'm blogging from the Atlanta airport. (Thank goodness for mobile broadband on long layovers!)

I still have one more hop to go to get home to my hubby, cat (Peanut), and my bed. But, despite the long hours of air travel, I am sure I woke up at home this morning. By "get home" I mean returning to the Gulf Coast. But by waking up "at home" I mean San Diego. Seven months after moving to Florida, my brain is still reeling, trying to figure out which one is which.

When I "get home" hubby will greet me with hugs and kisses. Peanut will head-butt me (her sign of affection) then flop over and expect me to rub her tummy. I will be glad to get home, because I miss them both terribly.

But when I woke up "at home" this morning I had the good fortune to run with more than half a dozen of my very good friends, at one of my favorite running places in the world: Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach. The weather was cool -- there was no need for "beat the heat" tricks I use in Florida. (The rumors are true. San Diego weather really is perfect running weather year-round.)

We ran along cliffs towering above the Pacific ocean. We watched dolphins searching for their breakfast. My friend C baked the most amazing peanut butter and jelly cookies for our post-run breakfast. (C, if you're reading this, those are the best cookies I have ever eaten. Period.)

I've covered more than 4,500 miles (in air) over the past four days. I'll probably forget every single one of them. (Heck, I slept through several thousand of them.)

But the six miles I ran this morning will stick in my memory for years to come.

"Enjoy it while you can"

On my run this morning, I started a little earlier than I usually do. Turning a corner, I passed an older gentleman with a cane. He was out for his own morning constitutional.

In typical southern fashion, he smiled and waved his cane at me. I smiled back and shouted a hearty "good morning!" across the street. He replied with:

Enjoy it while you can! Eventually your knees will go and you'll be doing this! (as he waved his cane in the air and laughed)

I replied:

I'm doing this so my knees will work as long as possible!

And then we both continued on our way.

But it did make me smile.

I have no proof that running will keep me young, but it sure as heck isn't making me any older! I am still in that lovely period of running that late-bloomers enjoy: I am considerably faster in my 30s than I was in my 20s.

I am sure my gentleman neighbor has a point. There is no magic elixir that works like a Fountain of Youth, but there are days when racing through a park still makes me feel like a little kid again. And each new PR makes me feel like my body works better every year instead of worse. I'm going to enjoy those feelings for as long as they last, and thank my neighbor for reminding me to "enjoy it while you can."

San Diego Rock n Roll marathon memories

Today, as I'm sitting at my keyboard 2,000 miles away from home, I'm tracking my running buddies at the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll marathon. This is bittersweet for me, as Rock 'n' Roll was my first marathon five years ago, and I've either run or cheered at most of the races since then.

The city of San Diego feels like a festival on marathon day, and I miss the surging crowds, the faces of the runners digging deep to get in the last few miles, and the camaraderie among the finishers. Oh, and I dearly miss Balboa Park. In all the races I've run, I've never found a prettier place to start a run.

However, rather than letting long distance (the bad, you need-to-get-in-a-plane kind... not the good, long-run-on-a-Sunday kind) get me down, I've used remote marathon fever to help me pick a few half marathons for the fall.

Go runners!

National Running Day

So there's now a day, a week, or a month of "awareness" for just about every group, nationality, religion, disease prevention campaign, dollar denomination, fruit, vegetable, breed of dog, brand of laundry detergent, and color of the rainbow. But put your party hats on, people, because June 1st is National Running Day!

And let's face it, National Running Day is quite possibly the only national-something-day that you are going to celebrate by doing something you do almost every day anyway.

So here's to the 43 million of us who admit to being runners.

And, most importantly, the event helps to support a good cause, Shoes That Fit.

Zen running

Last week there was a break in the weather, and we had five glorious days of morning temperatures in the 60s. By the second day, I was literally bounding out of bed in the morning.

I couldn't wait to lace up my shoes and get outside for a run!

While I was out enjoying the cool morning air, I remembered a quote from the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn:

"If we are not aware that we are happy, we are not really happy. When we have a toothache, we know that not having a toothache is a wonderful thing. But when we do not have a toothache, we are still not happy. A non-toothache is very pleasant. There are so many things that are enjoyable, but when we don’t practice mindfulness, we don’t appreciate them."

For a few moments I was reminded of how wonderful it is to be able to just run. Sometimes in the need to stick with a training schedule, or squeeze a run into a busy schedule, running becomes something we "have" to do, rather than something we "get" to do.

And when the weather gets hot again, my runs will remind me of why a cool shower is an amazing, incredible experience, instead of just an everyday one.

Born to Run (and to be anything but a couch potato)

I am about halfway through Born to Run. Having published the latest obesity stats in another blog, this passage struck me:

"Every action flick depicts the destruction of civilization as some kind of crash-boom-bang, a nuclear war or hurtling comet or a self-aware-cyborg uprising, but the true cataclysm may already be creeping right up under our eyes: because of rampant obesity, one in three children born in the United States is at risk of diabetes--meaning, we could be the first generation of Americans to outlive our own children. Maybe the ancient Hindus were better crystal-ball-gazers than Hollywood when they predicted the world would end not with a bang, but with a big old yawn. Shiva the Destroyer would snuff us out by doing... nothing. Lazing out. Withdrawing his hot-blooded force from our bodies. Letting us become slugs."
Christoper McDougall, Born to Run

Today, Colorado has the nation’s lowest rate of adult obesity, at 18.6 percent. In California, with its reputation for athletic-minded surfers and beach bums, one quarter of the adult population is obese. That's right - not just overweight. Obese. In California.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/AdultObesity/StateInfo.html

The rapid change over the past two decades is alarming, to say the least. In 1990 ten states had obesity rates below 10 percent. Today none do. In 1990 no states had obesity rates above 15 percent. Today none have rates below 15 percent.

How has this happened so quickly?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Many communities are built in ways that make it difficult or unsafe to be physically active."

While I agree that wide, sidewalk-less roads play a role in the obesity epidemic, I also think there is a broader social movement at play... Or rather not moving and not playing?

According to Nielsen, Americans are watching more TV than ever - now up to an average of 34 HOURS PER WEEK per person. People are watching television like it's a full-time job.

Somewhere along the way we've lost our collective interest in getting outside to play, and have turned into a nation of couch potatoes.

I'm hoping that by the end of Born to Run, McDougall will present some suggestions for overcoming our national sloth. Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign is a start in the right direction, but I have to wonder if more people will exercise or will just sit and watch her dance in the Dougie video?


Note:
According to the CDC, obesity is “defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or greater. BMI is calculated from a person's weight and height and provides a reasonable indicator of body fatness and weight categories that may lead to health problems. Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes.”

I knew I ran for a reason!

Is it just me, or do you love when news breaks that proves running is good for you?

I get almost as much giddy "See! I told you so!" pleasure out of reading about the health benefits of running as I do from passing people in the finish chute at a race. Today's news is no exception: Apparently running is the Fountain of Youth. (And Juan Ponce de Leon was looking for the mythical fountain in Florida! How wrong was he? Ha!)

In new research, Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky found that mice who exercised the equivalent of three 10k runs each week showed almost no signs of aging, long after their sedentary peers had perished from age-related causes.

I'll add this to the long list of reasons to love running.