On again, off again

So once again I've let too much time pass between my blog posts. You know what that means? I will probably have a post a day for the next week. I don't know why I can't seem to post more regularly - oh wait, yes I do. I know you are all sitting on the edge of your seats to hear this illuminating fact about me. Well, here goes. It's actually not anything that special. It just takes me a long time to write something that is publicly presentable. Heck, it even takes me a long time to write an email, and I don't edit those nearly as much - as a few of you are quite familiar. I'm not a slow writer, quite the contrary. I write way too much, and then I have to edit. I've always written this way, and when I was in school and writing scientific papers, the editing was easy. The important stuff just kind of jumped off the page after a read through. I find that editing personal essays written for a specific audience is a bit more difficult. I want to share the details I think everyone wants to hear without making the post so long no one has time to read it. Is this what it's like to write for People magazine?

Anyway, things have been status quo here in Gainesville. Training is good, Brian is good. The weather has been all over the place, but I'm not going to complain about it now. I was feeling a bit under the weather this weekend after yet another cold snap on Friday, and decided to skip running the Gainesville Half-marathon on Sunday. I'm a little bummed, but not too much, since I was basically using it as a faster training run. I slept 9 hours Saturday night after sleeping all afternoon on Saturday so I'm ok with missing the race. Hmmm...I don't think I've got anything else to report right now. Oh, if you are interested in my training check my Twitter updates - I'm going to make an effort to tweet more about it. More later.

Racing fun

A few weeks ago I was in Austin to visit some of my favorite people and run the 3M half-marathon. Last year I set a PR at 3M, and several months ago I had been hoping to beat that time. Joey ran with me last year, and I had been hoping that would happen again this year, but he was recovering from a surgical procedure and wasn't quite ready to start running. My run has been so inconsistent that I re-evaluated that goal, and decided that I would just go for a steady pace, and see what happens. 3M is always a fun race and Joey and Maggie were planning on coming out to cheer me on so I was looking forward to it no matter what my time.

It was really cold on race morning, 37 degrees, and I found myself happy that I had brought my heavy fleece ear warmers, and bummed that I hadn't brought my heavier tights. I do not like the cold and I never really warm up when it's that cold. Most long distance runners think temps like that are perfect for a race. I don't and I never will. It was 55 and party cloudy when I ran the NYC marathon - I think that's pretty darn close to perfect.

Joey got up at 5am with me and accompanied me to the race start. If you are thinking "What a great friend!" you are right. It was dark and cold, and he was tired and not feeling great, and I was really glad he was there with me. We met Maggie at the start - she and Joey were going to travel the course and cheer. Again, another great friend - especially since Maggie hates the cold as much as I do, and standing out in the cold to cheer is much worse than running in the cold. Thanks guys! You are the best! Joey had his sombrero ready to go. I knew I would be able to spot him wearing that hat, and I did. Brandon and Amy - my coach and his wife for new readers - were also out to cheer, but I totally missed them. Bummer! Thanks for being out there in the yucky cold! It wasn't my best half marathon but the race was still fun. Here's a couple of pics. By the way, finding a good hamburger in Austin at 10am on a Sunday is not an easy thing.

This should be on a T-shirt

If you are looking at this picture and don't get it, that means you didn't read my previous blog entry so scroll down and then this will make sense. This painting was done by an artist, Cisco Manzo. Liz Hatch thought it was hilarious, and so do I.

Wear your helmet - just do it!

A few weeks ago, pro cyclist Liz Hatch had a nasty crash. Here is how she described it:

I was participating in the “Ride the Route” fundraiser for the Women’s Tour Of California Criterium. It left from Santa Rosa and went to Calistoga and then doubled back to Santa Rosa. I arrived a bit late due to traffic and was attempting to catch the main group with few friends. On the last descent into Calistoga I was a bit off the front and enjoying a great time down the hill when I came up on a corner full of pine needles a bit too quickly (understatement) and my only choice was to try to lay the bike out or hit the guardrail… Apparently the second choice was better (???) and I went head first into it at 45k. Specialized helmets, THANK YOU! Also, ROOLY glasses!!! I am so glad I was wearing those things, they kept my eyes protected and all of the dirt and pine needles that ended up in my mouth, nose and ears, yes ears, didn’t touch my eyes! Not only that but they look like new post crash, cannot believe it.

Liz is not shy and had no problems with sharing photos of the crash. I'm not going to post them, my husband occasionally reads my blog and he is already unhappy that I go on long rides alone. The thing is I can't promise that I won't be going downhill at 25-30 mph - that's not all the fast for a downhill. I can promise that I won't go that fast on a curving downhill, and I always wear my helmet and bikeglasses. Here is a photo of Liz's helmet just in case you wanted to know what it looks like when helmet meets guardrail at 45kph.

Liz was fortunate not to have any broken bones and seems to be rehabbing well. I am quite sure she is thankful for all the research and development that has gone into bike helmets over the years. While I hope to never experience it first hand, it is a comfort to know that my helmet really is capable of saving my life. Ride well and ride safe!

Flashback

Liz, one of my roommates in college, posted this picture of me and Brian from when we all lived together at the Berwyn House - so dubbed because it was on Berwyn RD in Berwyn Heights. There were lots of good times living in that house. It's where I was living when I met Brian, and it's the first place Brian and I lived together.

I thought this picture was funny because on any given evening, you could walk into our house and find a similar scene. I guess some things don't change even after 15 years. Brian sometimes complains that I am smothering him so when I showed him the photo, he laughed. I told him he had his chance to nip this behavior in the bud years ago and now he was stuck with it. He laughed some more.

By the way, I'm wearing long underwear in this picture. I am very happy that I live in a place where long underwear is not necessary.