Let’s Go!
I had envisioned my last post before the marathon to be something philosophical about going the distance or the zen practice of being out there for hours walking (with no iPod). However, I guess somewhere along the way I became a real athlete because all I want to talk about this morning is my legs.
I realize it may be too late to be trying this – but I’m following coach’s orders. Thursday morning he said to me, “Try The Stick”, which led me to the super cool athlete at the Running Shoe Store, and the patient listener at the Physical Therapy (PT) Store both of whom told me it can’t hurt to get going on my very own foam roller. When I tried to buy the more expensive, “Stick”, from each of them they advised me to save my money and use a roller instead – because they see better results with the roller. Yes, I told them I’m cramming for an event on Sunday. No one advised me not to get rolling immediately. Yes, I’m taking it cautiously.
What’s a roller and what the hell does one do with it? We have some PTs on our team who already got us all acquainted with the idea. Did I pay attention that day? Of course not! Thank God for YouTube:
I started doing this rolling stretch in my office at work last night just to find out if my legs would feel okay 12 hours later. So far so good. I’m going to have one more go at it before I consider myself “inside marathon day”; even though, I guess I already am. . . 24 hours from now, I will be on the course!
The guy at the PT store also gave me a couple fanny pack size samples of BIOFREEZE. I tried it last night to make sure it didn’t have adverse effects. It’s good. Boy is it good. I googled & googled & couldn’t find any mention of it doing harm. Sounds like a common thing on marathon courses. It’s coming with me.
As I left the PT guy yesterday, he clenched his fists in front of his ribcage and offered this, “Be strong on Sunday.” It was the highlight of my day.
Off I go to be strong.
Elvis in Hollywood
Okay, The Police were there, too. “When the world is running down, make the best of what’s still around.” A little too long to be etched on to the back of a marathon jersey, but the line sort of captures my “why” of doing 26.2 miles with Team In Training. Enough about that for the moment – I’m finally going to do a post about something other than the marathon. Ready?
Yes, we were at the Hollywood Bowl last night. Elvis Costello and the Imposters opened up for The Police.
- Elvis brought out some old hits, God bless him! I love that man.
- The Imposters (whoever they are) jam!
- Sting showed up for “Allison”. The two giants shared a mic. One slip and it would have been a love fest (tonsillectomy style). They were great together.
- The old Police songs are sounding a bit Stingafied and this really bummed Andy out. No edge. It’s like that feel good trailer for “The Shining”. Have you seen it? Sting sang “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” like a lounge singer impersonation of his younger self. And I don’t mean in a good way.
- The crowd back in “N” was for the most part, glued to their seats and staring straight ahead for 89% of the show. No, make that 96%. I can’t tell if it was the distance from the stage, or the crowd’s advanced age, or Sting’s lack of edge that mollified everyone. But mollified they were. It made me long for a younger show.
- Thank goodness for the sweet guy next to me who I had just met, who shared my energy & said, “Come on Girlfriend, let’s dance!”
- Regardless of the disappointments, “So Lonely” rocked better than 1979! Andy Summers stopped time and space in the best make me pogo and don’t let up guitar solo I’ve ever heard. (And I’ve been to 27 Grateful Dead shows). There are welts on the back of my calves from crashing into the bench. No exaggeration.
- Closing encore: “Next to you”. A personal favorite love song of mine. Yay!
Earlier in the night, as we made our way east on Sunset, we passed by The Keyclub, The Roxy and The Whiskey. Two of those venues had long lines of black and cherry haired kids out front. I didn’t catch the marquee to see who was worth the wait, but the fans were impossible to miss. Later, as we yawned to “Roxanne,” I told Andy, “In 20 years, whoever those kids are seeing will probably be playing on this very stage; I bet they’re getting a better show tonight.” As much as it hurts to admit that, I can’t help but suspect it’s the truth. I think I’m responding to the fact that there was no tribal unity last night. Too many CEOs out past their bedtime.
Great day
Today started with 8 easy miles walking w/ my new friend K, and our team. It was our last practice together. Most of our mates wore costumes — funny, flourishing costumes. We had a good work out. Even though K’s got feet problems and god-knows-what is up with my knee (IT band?), we clocked in with an average pace of 15:02 minute miles. Not too shabby. (If you’re new to this blog – I’d like to reiterate, we’re walkers, not runners.) Where was I? (Aside from being defensive?) Oh- 15:02 minute miles – and it was comfortable. Cake, really. I learned that Ibuprofen is a MIRACLE GODSEND. I felt the pain, but it wasn’t sharp.
Next, we listened to coaches tell us to trim our toenails early this week, proceed by eating salty chips and chicken noodle soup, getting plenty of sleep Wednesday thru Friday and being sure to keep our feet up “listening to music” or watching a movie in the hotel on Saturday afternoon. Rumor has it, coach Kevin has the low-down on how to use a hotel room coffee maker to make oatmeal (at 3am on race day) Sigh. Such is the life of a marathon athlete. Here. we. go.
I came home to ice down the knee. Amazing thing – ice. Comfy 2 hour nap next to my beloved, followed by primping and heading out to see a WONDERFUL DOCUMENTARY: Up the Yangtze.
Man, I was weeping. What a poignant, educational, and, yes – I agree with The Voice – brilliant movie. More on this later.
After the show, I limped – with pain – to a nearby izakaya, Sasaya, for dinner. Yuuuum, yuuum, yum, yum! The waiter helped point out lots of vegetarian delicacies for Andy. I learned that sake must be an anti-inflamitory. My knee feels fully integrated and silent. Arigato. It’s all made sweeter by the fact that tomorrow is a holiday from work.
In writing this, I just watched one of the trailers for “Up the Yangtze.” It makes me feel so grateful. Yeah, I’m happy to have my knee numb like I mentioned already, but much more than that: so. much. more. than that, I’m filled with awe and appreciation that I could be so lucky in this life. That I could be so rich. So rich. A man in the movie said that to be a human being is hard, but to be a “common person in China” is especially hard. He couldn’t stop from crying.
I don’t want to forget how lucky I am today.
This one goes out to Disa
Just yesterday, I learned that one of my old 30 Voices cohorts, Disa, is training for the same marathon I am! And she’s a runner! Runners have my total respect. She hinted that she’d like a glimpse at my black toe. I wasn’t planning to post this photo . . . but, hey, I’ll do almost anything for a badass fellow marathoner. Disa, woman, sleep well this week. We’re going to need it.
WOW! THANK YOU!
This afternoon I was out w/ some friends doing a good deed. While I was out, I peeked at my phone to check my email and saw that my TNT donations crossed over the $2,400 mark. I had FINALLY reached the required fund raising minimum for my marathon!!
I think it’s really fantastic that this thing that I’d been stressing about for weeks (How on earth to raise $2400??) finally got resolved when I spent some time doing something else for other people. Literally.
When I set up my TNT fund raising website, I purposely chose the option NOT to have the donors names and amounts listed. I did this because I wanted people to feel comfortable giving outside of the public eye.
But I do want to tell you some things about the people who donated. There were 30 people in all (so far). Every person who gave surprised me and delighted me with their generosity.
- Five of the people who gave are blood relatives.
- Two of the people who gave are new friends who have come into my life within the last couple of months.
- The individual who donated the most money hasn’t seen me in many years – and I don’t know when we’ll see each other again (although I hope it’s sooner than later).
- I used to play all night sessions of monopoly with one of the donors.
- One of the donors gave from another continent.
- I used to have an elementary school crush on one donor, but I can’t remember which grade we were in.
- One of the donors still lives on the same street where my long time best friend grew up.
- I had pretty fun “make-out sessions” with two of the donors – in two different decades – but have seen neither guy in over 5 years.
- Three of the donors gave without ever having met me.
- Two of the donors were college roommates of mine – each in a different residence.
- Many people who gave told me they had loved ones who suffered with cancer.
- One person who gave knew an 8 year old who died of leukemia.
- Two women who donated gave birth to baby boys within the last two months.
- One donor is in training to do a 525 mile bike ride for the Arthritis Foundation this fall.
- One donor told me I’ve got chutzpah – and I’m so flattered!
Garmin, birth and surrender
This thing will revolutionalize my life . . . transform my every waking motive and desire.
I limited myself to one mile today (in a continued effort to rest my IT band), but that one mile was enough to show me how much I’m going to LOVE using my Garmin GPS watch after the marathon. I’m going to be putting in miles for the sheer thrill of competing with myself and those little numbers on the screen.
On the down side, even one mile put the whisper of a near twinge in my knee. Not good.
I’ve just caught myself reading other blogs under the tag “marathon”. It’s messing with my mind. Oprah ran a 4:29 marathon?!! Really!?? 6 miles of truth? I realize I have to stop taking in these stories. Why? Because the birthing teacher told us not to listen to other people’s stories. “Birthing teacher?,” you ask?
Today, when I was in the shower totally petrified with thoughts of marathon blogs I had read last night, I finally remembered an important lesson I learned years ago when I had the privilege of serving as the birth coach for a dear friend of mine. She had enrolled us in hypnobirthing classes. This was for the birth of her second baby. Her first birth experience had been highlighted on national TV when she and her husband were the first home birth on TLC’s “A Baby Story”. So when it came time to deliver the second baby, her husband was a bona fide expert. The way I remember it, he said, “Honey, you can take a class if you need to, but I know how to deliver a baby.” So she enrolled in Hypnobirthing and I was the lucky recipient of free classes. Our impressive teacher advised, “Stop listening to people telling you about their birth experiences.” We learned that each birth is unique.
“Your body will take you on the journey you need to go on.”
And so it shall be with my marathon. Tight IT Band and all. Breathe. Breathe. Stop pressing the “marathon” tag link & visualize a comfortable race. A comfortable race. Inhale. Exhale. 8.5 more days.
I have this anxiety about how I haven’t trained properly, about how I can’t have the taper blues because a body can’t taper from what it never really followed through on. And 7 days of carboloading? Hello, my whole life is a carboload! I’m not rea . . . Inhale. . . . exhale. . .
“When women marathoners understand that pain is caused by constrictor hormones, created by fear, they learn, instead, to release fear thus creating endorphins—the feel good hormones. They are then able to change their expectations of long, painful labor marathons and are able to replace them with expectations of a more comfortable birthing racing.”
Mind over matter . . . it’s worth a try.
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POST RACE UPDATE – (June 26, 20008) – For the record ….. yep, it worked. My last 6 miles were bliss. Would I have wanted to do the race without ibuprofen? No. Grateful for the drugs. Still – I had a WONDERFUL experience – and I think it’s because I spent some time the week beforehand visualizing feeling good during those last 6 miles. I’ll write more about the whole race soon in a future post.
p.s. If you’re new to endurance sports – please read up on which painkiller is best for you. Ibu’ is known to cause problems in some people. Acetaminophen is often recommended instead.
Why am I awake at 12:41am . . .
. . . when I have a big day at work tomorrow?
Just found my way to someone else’s blog . . . . she recently ran the 1st training session of her 2nd marathon season. She sounded discouraged, doubtful, determined. And she mentioned a quote I’ve never heard before, “twenty miles of hope, six miles of truth.”
Tonight as I limped away from the grocery store — using the cart more as a walker than I care to admit, for the very first time I thought, “What if the pain gets to be too much?” Then came a whole series of responses:
Don’t even imagine that. . . You’ve never thought like that before. . . You’ll take more ibu and you’ll drink plenty of water. . . Ibu doesn’t upset your stomach. . . You’ll stretch. . . You’ll stop and go and stop and go and cry and go until you reach the finish line. . . Don’t think that way. . . You’ll stretch now. . . It won’t get that bad.
I just keep thinking, “I’m only a walker. How do the runners do it?”
At another blog, I learned about Grandma Lee. She ran her 100th marathon last Sunday. She ran her first one when she was 49. So there’s time.
Today I ordered the Garmin Gizmo. (Forerunner 205). I just realized that after two long walks with GPS pacing, I’m not going to want to face race day without keeping an eye on those numbers. Sometimes I can get down into the 12 minute range. I haven’t been able to sustain it yet, but it’s a goal. If only my IT band will heal or lengthen or whatever it needs to do, then I can get back to work on the speed. Not for this marathon, but for some race in the future.
I don’t want to become a runner. Walking is my sport. I want to walk faster. Coach says, “You’ll beat some of the runners.” I think, Yeah, the injured ones. He’s just being nice. But some day maybe I really will be fast.
My knee is talking to me
Starting at about mile 7 . . . ”Hi, I’m your Iliotibial Band, remember me? We met a couple weeks ago, but you didn’t know my name then.”
Mile 8.5 . . . a little louder, “So, yeah, we’re going to get to know each other really well. You can call me I.T. band for short.”
Mile 10 . . . louder than all my other thoughts, “Every little step you take, here I am. Hello! Hello! Hi there! I.T. Band here.”
Miles 9 – 12 yesterday were pretty much all focused on pain management. I’m thinking that resting and lots of stretching for the next couple weeks, plus a dose of ibu on the day of and I’ll make it through the marathon. Oh, I’ll make through no matter what. The only question is just how badly it’ll hurt. It’s a good sign that I didn’t feel any pain at all for the first 7 miles yesterday.
Coach sent me a whole set of stretches to make the damn thing shut up. It’s really interesting how today after doing a couple stretches, I can take a few steps without any pain. But on the fourth step, there’s a quiet, “Hi!”
But the Top Chefs make it look so easy
Water; not boiling.
Okay. So the salt goes in AFTER the water reaches a boil. Wish I had paid attention to that fact three hours ago when I started this project.
The plan was to make a mac & cheese casserole for a vegetarian friend of mine who just had a baby. I love the custom of bringing home cooked meals to new parents. Then I got this annoying cold and decided that I better not risk infecting the fledging nor her sleep deprived parents with my germs. Besides, I was also a little nervous trying out a new recipe for a gift.
Better to practice on Andy.
It required making a roux and from that a béchamel sauce. Is it just me, or does the word “béchamel” remind anyone else of the Smurfs?
Total success.
I had chosen this recipe because the description said, “The texture is simply amazing – smooth but not runny, cheesy but without clumping or separating.” You know what? It’s true!
Marathon Training Update
Accomplished to date:
30 work outs – 168.52 miles.
(It’s actually supposed to be a lot higher, but I’ve been slacking majorly on my mid week workouts!)
$2330 raised to fight cancer.
Stay tuned as these numbers grow.
Here’s to a cure in our lifetime!
That wicked cold that caused me to stay home from work on Tuesday actually got worse later in the week. Cough, chest congestion, yuck! I’ve been resting all day. Not quite sure I’m up for the 12 mile taper workout (in 700 degree weather) tomorrow. But I think I’ll go.
Even though waking up at 6am on Sunday totally bites, (especially when you’re sick) I kind of enjoy seeing my teammates. I don’t know very many of them by name, but I find being in their presence really inspiring.
Only two more Sunday practices before marathon day. Wow! This is like sitting in the roller coaster, locking that safety harness into place and beginning to hear the motor pull us forward. We’re headed towards that starting line. This is living.
P.S. – I must just point out that the photo featured at this post is an actual candid shot of my teammates working out. I’ve cropped it to protect their anonymity. Each time I scroll past it here, I think, wow, they look just like models on a print ad. They look great! I’m so proud of my mates!
Word of the day: misandry
I thought that the matricide episode was some sort of a Mother’s Day special. But then some awfully violent treatment of Lois came up again tonight during reruns. And it got me thinking that despite Family Guy’s frequently extreme misogyny, my delight with the show continues to increase. This got me wondering: what would this show be like without the hatred of women?
And then I thought, what’s the word for hatred of men? I looked it up: it’s “misandry”. Why don’t we know it? Perhaps because women aren’t that hateful towards men? Or if we are, we haven’t had the power in the last few centuries to exercise it?
I suppose that rather than longing for an increase in the familiarity of the word “misandry” in our culture, I should hope for a decrease in the prevalence of misogyny. Meanwhile, I can’t get enough of little Stewie. Damn men.
Three cheers for my fab niece
I’m so proud of my 13 year old gorgeous, brilliant, confident and generous niece. She just donated most of her hair to Locks of Love. Something I would have been incapable of at her age.
Her new haircut looks beautiful.
Yeah, I’m pretty much a badass
I had so much fun today!! Coaches lied. They promised us a 20 mile work out and we only went 19.77.
I’m so proud of my walking partner K. We both had personal records — walked farther than we ever had before. Coach offered me the use of his Garmin GPS tracker again and our average pace (stopping the clock for each potty break) was 15:10 minute miles. We actually sped up as we went along – which was the goal.
Unfortunately, I needed to make 3 (or was it 4?) potty stops. Once, an entire team of bikers all dressed alike beat us to the 76 station Read the rest of this entry »
Wow!
We’ve just come in from a really beautiful wedding. One of those rare ones that hits all the marks in a good way. As a special bonus, the setting was comfortably populated with this little fellow and several of his family & friends.
“Richard never bought ME a Birkin bag”
I’ve noticed that whenever I’m watching a show or movie lately, I wonder about the characters’ financial situations. I wonder how much they earn each year, how much credit card debt they have, how much is in their retirement accounts, how they invest, how involved they are in making their investment choices. I wonder if they thought about how they’d fund a college education for their child before they conceived. I wonder if they have a 30 year mortgage and if they fell into one of those variable interest rate loans. I wonder if they had help from a parent with a down payment. I wonder if they have trust funds or inheritances.
Take Gilmore Girls, for example. One of my very favorite shows. (No spoilers please, I’m still working my way through old seasons on DVD.) I wonder: just how rich are the parents? I mean, Emily Gilmore bought Read the rest of this entry »
Spring Fever
Earlier this week, I fled work at 5:30pm (crazy!), walked 3 blocks to the coast and down the beach a few more blocks to meet Andy at Shutters for a ridiculously expensive happy hour. After a leisurely sipped lemon drop and a pineapple martini (for me), a Stella and a Becks (for him), and an unimpressive cheese plate (for both of us), we strolled back up the beach to our car. I snapped this shot with my not-so-fab-iPhone-cam. We were standing on one of the pedestrian bridges over PCH. Here’s hoping there will be more evenings like that one.
