Moving forward

Over the weekend, I have the privilege of pacing my friend, Shawn, to a half marathon PR. WOOHOO!!! Go Shawn! It was a cold day for Floridians and very windy on the beach (20mph headwind for the last half of the course) but she made it happen. Pacing another racer to a PR is a daunting task but very rewarding. CONGRATS SHAWN!!!

Other than that I've been working on consistency. My goal is to complete all the scheduled workouts, even if I swap the days. That's a challenging goal given that the new job (starts Feb 4) could involve working nights. However, workouts make me feel happier. Plain and simple. Plus, I want a good shot at breaking 2 hours in a half marathon at Gasparilla.

And if a Boston Marathon qualifying time is ever going to grace my PR books, the post IM weight gain must stop. Based on speed gains after my last big loss, my weight needs to get down into the 130s for me to BQ. The key is consistency: eating fewer calories every day as well as working out every day. Eat like an athlete, not an undergrad.

Speaking of which, it's time to head out for a ride before work.

P.S. Thank you to everyone for your words of kindness and support. Lincoln's death has been hard on all of us but, as always, life goes on.

Sad news about Lincoln

I did not make the Saturday ride.

Friday, we received news that my sweet baboo's nephew had been admitted to ICU. Lincoln had been in cancer treatment for the last 10 months for embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. Just a few days away from his final chemo treatment, he developed a rare viral infection in his blood. The chemo left his body with no defense. The prognosis was grim. Rather than ride with the roadies on Saturday, I coaxed my sweetie out onto the road for a 20 mile ride to the nature preserve.

Despite the best efforts of his medical team, Lincoln lost his battle with cancer late Saturday night. He was almost 14 months old. Our hearts are empty. As Lincoln's mom said it best: there are no words. Thank you to everyone who prayed for Lincoln during his treatment and those of you who honored him during your races. Please pray for his family as they pick up the pieces.

Every day I hope to share the news without crying. Maybe tomorrow will be the day. My poor husband is also dealing with students who feel the need to test the new guy, just what he needs. Chances are that only my husband will be able to attend the funeral but we'll also donate to Lincoln's foundation. Our grief is nothing compared to that of Lincoln's family and we want to support them anyway we can.

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The Lincoln J. Womeldorph Foundation, Inc. was founded to support children with Rhabdomyosarcoma faced with insurance denials or reduced benefits for treatments that are preferred/superior to accepted/established. These superior treatments are often quite expensive and insurance companies deem them as investigational and/or not medically necessary practices to reduce their financial responsibility. Rhabdomyosarcoma is rare and even more rare in an infant. For this reason, there exists little funding to support clinical trials, long term studies, and/or improved protocols that would deem these superior treatments as medically necessary/accepted for Rhabdomyosarcoma. The foundation fills the gap when necessary providing financial relief and offering hope for a more healthy future and outcome for infants with Rhabdomyosarcoma. This foundation has applied for 501(c)3 status.

What a week!

There was a part of me that believed life would settle down a bit after graduation. After all, my degree is official, manuscript is on, time to sit back and finally relax right? ;)

Or not. The holidays were very busy between family visits and work. Part time jobs have a way of becoming full time during the holidays. Recently, my sweet baboo took a new job as the band/music director at a private school. His first day was last Friday. It's been a big challenge but he's a natural. He's an overachieving perfectionist, too, so it will take a few weeks for him to feel comfortable. The 9 month schedule provides the opportunity to pursue his music during the summer while fostering a love of music in his students during the year.

Last week I accepted my first real job with an environmental consulting firm. It's a short term project (Feb-Apr) but we'll have 2 full-time incomes for a few months. All those credit card and loan companies will cry over the interest they won't earn anymore. I had not considered consulting before but it's definitely intriguing, maybe even for the long term. Why not? Outside the box works for me. Ask me again in 3 months. ;) There are a few other permanent positions available with local colleges so I'm working on both short term and long term employment.

My training is finally getting back on track. I had hoped to ride with the 22mph group this weekend but it was not to be.

Workout Why's?

Why do all the "easy spins" during my cycling workout occur during a headwind?

Why does "key swim workout" = "severe thunderstorm warning"? (remember, most pools in Florida are open-air).

So what is your key why?

First ride with the 22mph group

This isn't a race report but I've wanted to join the bike club's 22mph
group during since I first rode my Schwinn Le Tour II in 2000. 22mph
refers to the theoretical maximum speed for the group. I never felt
ready.

Until yesterday. To say I was nervous would be an understatement.
It was a chilly day for Florida which means only the serious riders
came out to play. For all they know, I'm a nervous resolutionist
wearing an IMFL jersey. You're new but bragging about IMFL. It's not a
yellow jersey but I needed to put up, shut up, or be Fred.

So we headed out along the south route. About 20 minutes into the
ride I found myself at the front. It's much too early in the ride for
me to pull but everyone else dropped back, waiting to see what would
happen. My legs only had 7 minutes in them but it was enough to earn
a few "nice pull" comments from the guys in the back. I wondered when
another girl would take the front. I would wait all day. They would
pull up even with the front rider, then fall back. Why bother? But I
digress.

The goal was to prove to myself that I belong with the 22s. Don't get
dropped. But it's so freaking hard to ride 22mph at the front of the
pack all the time. My legs aren't there yet. So I allowed myself to
tuck in behind a few lovely guys who offer the draft of a super
tanker. Ahhhhh.....only....60 seconds later I realize they are only
spinning 20.5mph and the front of the pack is drifting away like a
life raft.

So off I go, to catch them. Like a greyhound on the track, I chase
the bunny. The first 2 times I made it OK but the 3rd time I was just
dying. Dying. 60 seconds of rest was not worth this effort. Phil
Liggett would have said "she's completely shattered". Which is when 4
guys passed me with a missive "nice pull into the wind" and
unceremoniously dropped me. I tried to grab their wheel to no avail.
They left me. They USED me to bridge these gaps and just left me out
to dry. BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!! How many years have I watched Le Tour?
Will I never learn?

The rest of the ride passed without incident except for the public bus
that cut the group in half. Gross tonnage right of way overrules any
egos. I. Made. It.

Better times next week.

First swim since IMFL, Nov 2007

Hot tubs don't count.......the city pool was FULL of hot guys today. Several
college swim teams have rented out the pool for winter training. OMG.
Beautiful bodies everywhere. And I got to share a lane with a well
defined clydesdale.

Which made me think: why don't I go to the pool more often?

For all our news of the wierd, I LOVE Florida.

RR: Florida Half Marathon

So, my sweet baboo (as he will be known ever since he accepted a
respectable job) wants to know why I haven't posted a race report yet.

Um. Well. Because I won second place in my age group. When my
friend Kay asked, the night before the race, "it's a small race, do
you think you'll win an award", I laughed loudly while harfing down an
entire Uno's personal size pepperoni pizza. I'm not kidding. Shawn
as my witness. This did not start as an A race.

My training since IMFL has been the typical half-assed training. Short
runs and rides as the spirit moves me. And the spirit rarely moved me
more than 4 hours. The motivation tank was so low I almost bailed. But
two friends were doing the race. My goals for 2008 are to get faster,
have fun, and train hard enough to place in the top 5 of my age group
this year. At least I could have the fun part, right?

Packing was hurried. On my way out the door I saw my Livestrong
bracelet. Thinking fondly of Layne and Holly, I donned the bracelet
to give me focus on race day. Shawn and I sang our way through rural
central Florida, where orchards and farms abound and the scenery
reminds you more of the Deep South than Disney World or the beach.

Our hostess, Kay, dotes on her adorable, senior doggies and encourages
people to win AG awards. She's insane but we love her anyway. Sure,
there was a good chance I would PR because my last stand alone half
marathon was January of 2006. However, I had no goals except that I
would not walk anything but the water stops. Clermont, FL is hilly, no
matter what the story books say (5 pts), so this was not a time for
serious PRs, just a reality check for February. Anything below 2:32
worked for me.

The race was small. Probably 300 total with 100 of those being
marathoners. We headed out with little fanfare. Running a smaller
race has it's advantages. It's easy to move through the crowd. No
problems getting over to tie your shoe. On the other hand, it's
rather lonely and the trees aren't every good company. At least they
had adequate water for the runners on the course.

And there were hills. Lots of them. Having ridden in Clermont
several times, each turn brought the horrific realization that I'd
have to climb these hills without mechanical advantage. Which is cruel
really. The course started out as an easy rolling course, switched to
decidedly rolling, and became "shade free course from hell" for the
last 3 miles. When you live on the beach, speed bumps count as hills
but we were climbing the back of Heart Attack (aka Hospital Hill)
before moving on to something worse.

Hills may be foreign to this Florida girl, however, heat adaptation is
almost genetic. Heat adaptation was my saving grace, as it turns out,
so even as the beetles passed me and those mental demons came calling,
the only focus was to run. Not another hill. Keep running. I can't
make it. Keep running. How many more hills. Run one more. I'm
leaning over. Holly would give me a hug. Layne would say something
wildly inappropriate. Karen would say that hills are our friends or
some other nonsense. Kurt...well...JFR. Another one down and another
one down, another one bites the dust. Little did I know that these
women were not in my age group but my progress was relentless. They
walked. I ran.

In the end, JFR is all you can do. I wasn't there for indulgence, to
savor the moment over all the little people who did not run that day.
Indulgence is champagne brunch with my sweetie. A half marathon
allows you to prove that life moves beyond indulgence into feeling
alive. As we turned the final corner into a downhill that made my
legs fall off, I felt very alive. Happy. Tracks feel so wonderfully
skushi. Where was this gloriously flat track the last 13 miles?

2:14:27 on my watch. My high end goal had been 2:15 so I was very
happy. Women came up to me after the race to say how strong I looked
in the final miles. It took another 20 minutes and a few hot dogs to
learn it would earn me second place. Awesome! Sharing the award with
Kay and Shawn felt wonderful because they know how long it took to
earn that little plaque. YEAH! Sure, even though I PR'd, 2:14:27
(watch time) does not "deserve" second place in the 30-34. Just ask
any of the "real" runners who have told me as much. But I don's care.
The plaque is fantastic. I'm going to hang it off my refrigerator
door.

So, now the competitor in me is thinking sub 2 half, BQ time in the
next few years. Dare I return to IM as a competitor somewhere down
the road? I don't know. Enjoying the race/process seems to be the
key, at least for me. No amount of schedules on the calendar or data
on my wrist motivates me like racing. Hmmm......

----

The race was fine. They had adquate support for 300 runners but no
more. If they expect more runners next year, they need to grow, both
in terms of course support and administration.

So cold it's raining iguanas

More news of the weird from Florida. There were snow flurries in Daytona Beach today, too. Sure, people in Ocala and Tallahassee see snow every year but those of us south of Gainesville enjoy "shovel free" winters....

From BizarreFlorida.com
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January 03, 2008

It was raining iguanas in South Florida this morning, the Miami Herald reports. Iguanas live in trees and when it gets too cold they start to drop, littering the ground with seemingly lifeless bodies. They're more like in suspended animation, said Robert Yero, park manager at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne. ''We have found dozens on the bike path after a major cold snap,'' Yero told the Herald. "When they warm up in the sun, they come back to life.'''