Great little run

So my sister is in town for my brother's wedding. Today I incorporated "The Manatee Run" into the prescribed 60 minutes. And I totally take for granted that I can promise manatees for a 35 minute run in April. We ran an easy warmup. Saw 3 manatees at the freshwater outflow. My sister headed home.

I ran on. 10 minute run, 30 second walk, pick it up the last 2 minutes of each interval. Repeat.

I really don't know how The Black Pearl from Pirate's of the Caribbean soundtrack found its way onto my run mix but I love movie soundtracks so I let it play.

Creepy pirate music. That's nice, jog along. 2/4 time. No worries. The strings bring the rhythm of the ocean, 6/8, faster than my manatee jog but I can do that. 10 minute miles. In fact I can still match the music when the beat quickens for the chase. 9 minute miles. Then 8. I feel no pain. Heck! It feels so good! The french horns scream the theme. The sails fill. And for a moment I am flying. All the frustration of the last few months came out. I just put my head down and ran. Full out. As if pirates _were_ chasing me. And faster and faster until my lungs were screaming. Hold tight, girl, the theme isn't over, hold it....whew! What a blast! I'm completely spent but my mind is already begging me to try again. A glance at the forgotten Garmin says the pace dropped to 6:40! No way! Maybe it's a mistake!
Try again!

So I jogged along until the next 10 minutes. Technically the run was over at 60 minutes but another 2 minutes can't hurt, right? Toggle the Ipod back to the Pearl's theme. This interval was even more intense, fighting the fatigue from my longest run in months but knowing I could pace this even better. Fill the sails, run like mad.....5:50.

Fan-freaking-tastic!

Now they key is to hold it more than a few seconds. :)

Dream big.

At least I'm not alone

From Cnn: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/27/fall.dogs.cats/index.html

Dogs, cats send 86,000 Americans flying annually

• Story Highlights
• Every year, more than 86,000 fall injuries are caused by pets.
  
• CDC: Dogs cause 88 percent and cats cause 11.7 percent of falls

Marathon Swim Today!!!!

Tony's marathon swim is today. You can follow his progress here:

http://marathonswimlive.blogspot.com

Rain!

It's raining!

Of course, this is totally messing with the swim scheduled for today. 3200 yds? Does my coach think I'm training for an ironman or something? But I'll take the rain. Poor Florida needs all the precipitation it can get these days.

No Tri Content: Best compliment to date

Spoken by someone who ran into me tonight. Someone who knew me way back when 180 was the low number on my scale....

"OMG! I could set a drink on your ass!"

I assume that was a compliment

RR: Linae's Armadillo 5K

Clock time 30:01
Real time????? Don't know. 29-something.

They had a chip mat at the starting line and yelled at us to _walk_ across the mat after the starting gun causing a huge charlie-foxtrot. It took well over 30 seconds to reach the start. After all that, it's clear from the race results that they did not use those data. Whatever.

As for the race itself, the idea was to head out strong but not too fast. The Garmin helped me start conservatively, which was what I wanted. At mile 1 (9:26) I accidentally stopped the timer. But I didn't realize it because I wasn't that interested in the actual pace, just collecting HR data for a hard run. Oh well. I did restart the timer about 2 minutes later but it's value in telling me my "real time" was gone.

But that wasn't really the point. I wanted sub-30. I may not be well trained but I know how to race a 5K. Start strong but not too fast, pick it up at mile 1 and hang on. Mile 1 was a little too easy but soon after that I realized my lungs were going to hold for the duration so I let the dogs out. My fellow runners became the hunted, picking them off one by one, making sure to pass every single one of the preening girls in the matching "boot camp" shirts. Cosmetics for a 5K. Is that really necessary. The last mile was very tough and I resorted to pumping my arms to keep the legs going but the last mile is not time for thinking. It's time for running.

Assuming I did not slow down during the "missing" 1/4 mile, my average pace was 9:15 and, thanks to the magic of Garmin, I know the last half mile was close to an 8 minute mile pace with the last minute around 7:50. YEAH! Given that I haven't run hard in 4 months, I'm very happy. Nothing hurt during the run. Nothing hurts now. I'm back!

Off to find beer,

First race in 4 months

Tomorrow is the Armadillo 5K. It marks my return to racing after 4 long months of recovery after the disastrous Orange Blossom half marathon.

There is so much I want to say about this whole process but what sticks with me the most was the comment from pro triathlete Tamara Kozulina the day of the injury. She told me my body would heal in plenty of time to train for Beach to Battleship but I really needed to worry about the mental challenges of recovery. She was so right. Not being capable of working out really eats away at a person. It kicks you when your down and steals self confidence. It makes you scared to really push because you never want to feel that way again.

But 5Ks are all about pushing hard. There will be no PR, no age group awards. Just pure effort and the pain effort brings.

Marathon swim (seriously 26.2 miles)

No, I am not swimming 26.2 miles. But I know someone who is.

http://www.marathonswim.com/

If you have a spare $10, please consider giving it to Tony, who is walking the edge of possible/impossible for the benefit of kids who don't have a family anymore. There will be no special tattoo. Mike Reilly will not be at the finish line. But it's still amazing.