OPERATION PUMPKIN

So my cute roommate, Mary, has pumpkin decorations all over the house... 14 of them to be exact. They are the cute type of Halloween decorations, not the scary ones, and they make our apartment look pretty festive. Well, a few weeks ago our friend Adam was over and he made some comments about our pumpkins, although he insisted he wasn't making fun of them. The next week he was back and this time he walks in and the first thing he says is "Oh, lets count how many pumpkins there are!" (That's how I know there are 14, and lets be honest some of them are collages of pumpkins and they are all small so its not like a pumpkin patch in our apartment.)

Well, so having a slightly devious mind, I start to vision putting pumpkins all over his house. The next day as we were driving over there to watch the football game, I tell Mary "I wish we knew where his outlet switch was outside because it would be funny to hang up pumpkin lights". Well we walk up to the house, and there in plain sight is the outlet! SCORE!

So all week I search and search for pumpkin lights and we end up with a nice stash of goods; pumpkin lights on a string, one that hangs on the window, some real mini-pumpkins, and some little pumpkin candy holders - a total of 20 pumpkins in all.

Tonight was the night.. Operation Pumpkin! We knew Adam and his roommate, Dan, would be playing basketball and it was our perfect opening. So off we went! From the pictures you can't really tell how many pumpkins are there, but its pretty cute. And now we wait to hear the reaction.... I can't wait!

Orthotics

For some reason that seems to make me think of old people... yet today, I was fitted for orthotics. Yes I laid on a doctors table while he made a plaster cast of my feet so that I could turn over $380 for some insoles that are supposed to make me run better. OK well let me back up, why do I even need orthotics? Well one of the after effects of running a marathon, for me, was shooting pains in my right foot. The pains came and went and some days I could run fine, but the next day I would hobble around. So I broke down and went to the foot doctor. The result? He tells me I have high arches. Duh. I could have told you that. You might think by looking at the picture of my calves that I lift weights, but that would be untrue. I was gifted with high arches and the consequence? Huge, tight calves that I want to shoot off after just about every run I go on! Now I should say that all this running definitely helped define my calves and they weren't like that before running. And don't get me wrong, I have grown to love them - except when I can't find hooker boots to fit and my jeans won't pull on cause they won't go over my calves. Other than that its great getting referred to as calf girl. A friend (male) was even over a couple of weeks ago and we had to measure to see who's was biggest. I won by 1/2 an inch (ps he is a rugby dude, biker, pretty decently fit guy).

So what happens now? I get orthotics. Will my calves shrink? Probably. So I take a picture and say goodbye (hey a girls gotta have proof so one day when my teenage sons start thinking they are all that I can show them the picture and say, "oh yeah, well back in the day your mom had 17 1/2 inch calves!"

So my adventure of letting my body "learn" how to walk or whatever will begin in a few weeks. I'll keep ya updated.....

I used to wonder if I was crazy.... Now i KNOW I am!

One bleak December I came home with an idea which I proposed to Emily.... "Hey," I said, "I found us a marathon to run!" Now neither of us had run a marathon and Emily had never even run a half. But for some reason that day I was feeling, well, adventureou. Really, I was just putting the thought out there just to think about. Since then I have learned better... Never, ever make a suggestion like that to Emily unless you are serious! Less than 5 minutes after my original remark, Emily had made me "poundsies" on it... I was stuck. No way out! We trained for the Race to Robie Creek all winter, and exactly 1 week later, Top of Utah traning began!

My summer went like this, Monday- run, Tuesday-run, Wednesday - run, Thursday - nope no running.... but 3 hours of Softball.... Friday - run, and you guessed it Saturday - run! Conversations thru the summer included, "how was your run?", "Shoot me in the Calve", "I only have to run 12 miles this Saturday" (are you kidding me, I actually said ONLY 12 miles?), "I hate fartleks" (yes thats a word..... swedish for speedplay), "I'm a mess".

My atire... well... ummm. Let me tell you NO cotton was allowed and ummm, tank tops and short shorts were my best friends! I'm a little scandelous when I run. Oh yeah, and I have 4 pairs of Asics in my closet, that well look basically.

What did I eat? Well, I ate MOSTLY healthy. OK, so I shoud say I ate all my required fruits, veggies and drank all my water... but well. We have a little tradition, OK, more like insatiable craving, for greasy burgers after our long runs and oh yeah, Scotch and Sodas (not the alcoholic kind). Don't worry I didn't lose any weight in all this running. In fact I gained no less than 5 pounds in the last month of training... Another side effect- my pants don't fit. My calves and thighs won't squeeze into them anymore... I had no idea calves could get so big! My hooker boots better still fit....

Anyway, so the weekend came... we travled down to Logan UT on a Friday afternoon. By we I mean Emily, Mary (our official race mom) and myself. Our first stop was to pick up the race packets. At this point I am getting a little nervous, ok maybe a lot. At the "Expo" I found the coolest wood plaque with three hooks on it, it said "Marathon: Run Hard, Be Strong, Think Big" The problem was the board had 3 hooks... yeah, so that means I have to run 3 marathons? What the heck I said, and bought it anyway.

Very soon after we took off to find our resturuant to carb-load. Let me just tell, eating a lot can be fun, but trying to stuff your face with carbs for 2 straight days, is well not the most pleasant feeling! So we ate, and ate, and ate.. and then sat in our hotel room while Mary and her sister ran off to get Aggie Ice cream with out us. How fair is that? But I had sworn off of sugar in anticipation of the race. OK so before you go thinking that was a major feet - let me say I swore off of it for the last 4 days leading up to the race!

Logically, we would want to get lots of sleep the night before right? Well no luck, Emily's brother, cousin and their roommate show up at our Hotel at midnight. They hadn't planned ahead on where to stay and all 6 of us ended up sharing. Ughhh... The one amazing thing - not one person snored all night - well all 4 hours of it!

4:15 am. The alarms go off. We struggle out of bed. I try to cram a bagel down my throat - I only make it halfway. Mary drives all 6 of us to the race start. We get all set and climb onto the buses that will take us up the canyon. We make it up there at 6:40 ish and jump in the port-a-potty lines then literally run to the last bus transporting warm-up clothing back to the start. its about 40 degrees at the race start.

7:00 - gun goes off and I literally jump - it was scary! We take off down the canyon! What the h**** am I doing!

Mile 2, I begin dedicating my miles to people who have influeced me, past and present roommates, family, friends, teachers... etc.
Mile 6 - I think wow, now only 20 miles left! Thats the farthest I ran and that was on fresh legs!
Mile 7 - Must stop at the port a potty!
Mile 10 - I know what to do with those other two hooks - forget the getting 2 more medals, I am hanging pictures on them!
Mile 13 - halfway. This feels good. My pace is good. I might hit my goal time.
Mile 14 - Bathroom stop again!
Mile 17 - Oh there is Mary yeah! Fresh Powerbar Gels! I still feel good, my pace is good.
Mile 18 - The wall. Yes it exist. My pace drops by 3 minutes per mile instantly... I'm becoming delirious. I can't remember who I have dedicated my miles to!
Mile 20 - a 10K left are you kidding?
Mile 23 - ummm.... have to add in some walk breaks
Mile 24 - now I am really delirious
Mile 26 - OK at least finish strong. Didn't hit my absolute goal time, but I'll hit about what I thought!
Mile 26.2 - Its over! Get me some water!

Wow - what a feeling! But, not one to be repeated in the near future!