Just some school ramblings...

Teacher: love your sandals but aren’t your feet cold?
Wendy: Thanks, a little...but I need to air the feet out…..
Teacher: oh…?

Wendy: (I better explain this one)… see I run a bit on the weekends…
Teacher: Oh yeah they are cute... You know this fellow teacher I was talking to is training for the Philadelphia marathon …..

AND SO IT BEGINS……………………..

Teacher: ......he runs all these miles and 6 miles at a time on the elliptical, and ..
Wendy: yeah, I ran the Wineglass marathon on Sunday.
Teacher: .....um, like did you run the whole 26 miles?

THANKFULLY.. SHE DIDN’T ASK HOW MANY MILES A MARATHON WAS……

Wendy: ...Yeah the whole 26 in the cold and rain.. it was not fun.
Teacher: How are your knees? I used to ice skate but cant now because I have knee problems…

OMG WHY DOES EVERYONE ALWAYS GO FOR THE KNEES!??

Wendy: knees holding up, but the body is old, usually stiff and achy.
Teacher: I guess you must really love it, I heard people do it because they get all those endorphins and such.

PERHAPS I SHOULD NOT ANSWER THE LOVE PART RIGHT NOW SINCE I AM STILL IN RECOVERY…

Wendy: I don’t know, I use the time to get away from people, and I like to beat people.
Teacher: (slightly concerned look)…OH...
Wendy: I mean I don’t always win, in fact I don’t always even come close to winning but its fun to race.
Teacher: (still a bit concerned…. ) … At least you don’t come in last... So I know this guy who does these things called triathlons where he swims like 3 miles or something then does a bike and a run.

LETS JUST NOT GO THERE..

Wendy: yeah ......

I have come to the conclusion that normal folks will never understand what I do or why I do it because HELL I don’t really understand what I do or why I do it! And the looks I get from them are usually is she BAT SHIT CRAZY or what!?

So its just best and just a heck of a lot easier to keep hush……

Thankfully BAT SHIT crazy UNDERSTANDS BAT SHIT CRAZY.. so if you are reading this and can relate.. WELCOME……

Wineglass Marathon - MISERY

MISERY – wasn’t there a Stephen King novel called that?

Sunday, October 4th
Way back in the spring, I came across an ad for a delightful marathon that would take place in the finger lake area of New York.

The thoughts of walking hand in hand with my guy amongst cobblestone streets in the crisp autumn foliage, smelling cider and tasting wine… caused such a rush of elation that I signed us both up for the wineglass marathon.

The course was said to be relatively flattish, down hill and then the thoughts of running fast times and of grander and glory then followed.....

I have now realized I am delusional and so glad that joe is happy about that..

Perhaps, the forecast of 42 degrees and rain should have sent up a red flag or a giant flare or something.. I mean why would anyone purposely drive 10 hours (5+ hours up and 5+ hours back ) to run for 4 hours in the cold rain?.

Ok... so perhaps we were a little stressed in having to get mom home from the hospital and make sure she was ok prior to leaving her and the pup with dad… and of course a fight ensues.. because I am a let's get going.. its 7am … and he is more of what the problem if its 8:15am.. .

My biggest fault is I bring a lot of crap to make sure I have everything but all that crap is damn well in the truck at least a half hour before we are “scheduled to go”..

Joe's biggest fault is he can't move or think fast in the am and so everything takes a REALLY LONG time…

so then the fight ensues...I STARE at him(even though I offered to help him move it along) and he glares at me because I STARE AT HIM (EVEN THOUGH I OFFERED TO HELP)..

SO yeah Saturday didn’t start off very good… and to think I have to sit in the truck for 5 hours with him .. f- me.. !!

SO Of course I get hungry about an hour into the trip.. because I have been up for hours WAITING for him… so I ask him to stop at a service plaza on the turnpike because I need some food and coffee NOW…

By the time we got to Corning we were talking again but that was because I was plenty full of sugar and coffee and how can anyone seriously resist me... !??

When we arrive it is drizzling and windy. The expo was cute, people very friendly and nice but I was a bit disappointed that all the 30th anniversary gear was sold out.. but HECK I could buy 28th or 29th anniversary gear if I wanted… sigh

I actually was excited at this point, heck who cares what the weather is like, we are away, somewhere new and it will be fun!!

Damnit I will make it fun!

We get our wine glasses and splits of champagne and walk to find a restaurant that serves a cheap lunch and check into our hotel.


Of course they had jacked up the hotel prices this weekend and we were paying the same price we would for a luxury beach front hotel ….except we didn’t get a beach.. we got a highway instead, and our bed was a tad lumpy (giant bedbugs?) and the indoor pool.. a little too green..

OH but least we could walk to our pre-race dinner at Denny’s, which is anything but really scary but food is food. Then of course Joe went to get gas at the gas station and someone took off without paying and still had the gas hose attached to their get away car… drama follows us like a disease ...

We went to bed thinking omg its forecasted now to be 37 degrees at the start and raining.. whats the point of this again?

Waking up every hour from 1am on is never a good sign on whats to come.. by the time the alarm went off at 4am, and we were dressed and out the door (a little late) by 5:35 am… we jetted over to try and catch the busses that would be take us to the start (26 miles away). OF COURSE I want to catch one of the first busses and of course its once again early AM and JOE NO MOVE VERY FAST…

SO here we go again… me GLARING at him as he takes his time getting his water bottle ready and all his gear… and WTF ....we need to make the bus!!

We “sprint” to the bus and make it on at 6am… and as soon as we get on it goes.. of course there are other busses behind us filling up so technically we didn’t have to get on the first ..

BUT I am glad we did.. because there were suppose to be 3000 people getting on the buses and only 10 port a pots at the start… YEAH I know the math!

So they drop us off at 6:45am at the start… well what we all think is the start.. and its pouring rain out.. its FREEZING..

DID I MENTION FREEZING... and the race does not start until 8am… there is NO SHELTER for any of the runners… YEAH US!… F- us ALL!!

So we stand around in the cold for an 1-1/2 hours before the race (race starts late) and then just because it needs to get a little more exciting, the start is actually 1 mile down the road.. so we all have to walk 1 mile down the road… THANK YOU.. because once we start the race.. if we EVER start the race I won't have run enough so this extra mile is soo helpful.

The course was suppose to be a downward and fast. DAMN I am always duped when it comes to listening to what upstate people say is flat. Sure it was flattish in spots, but it did have some inclines and well for the fast part, heck I don’t know but there were too many turns for me. Flat is SHAMROCK IN VIRGINIA BEACH.. NEVER BELIEVE ANYONE UPSTATE WHO SAYS THEIR RACE IS FLAT.. it is flat to them because the dont run anything but hills!

The first 3 miles I tore it up.. because I am an I-D-I-O-T… I don’t know what is wrong with me.. I have done over 20 marathons now and cannot EVER run them at one pace…

So I FRENCH FRY my legs... I run until i cant run no more.. which this case was... oops 5 miles.. thanks..and have a nice day… I got so warm during this segment of my many hours of delight that I had to take off my jacket and tie it around my waist. I love when I completely trash my legs in the first 45 minutes of a 4 hour run… yeah me.. !!!

I held it all together until about mile 8… and then well.. I noticed that damn it ..I WAS FREEZING... and it was raining really hard... so I attempt to put back on my jacket and my joints were soo frozen that I could not bend enough to get my arm in the armhole... so here is me trying to put on something as simple as a jacket and unable to...

.. this is when you know humanity will be ok... if there are runners in the world... a really nice older gentleman stops his run to help me put on my jacket... chivalry is not dead! Marathon Runners are the BEST!

Once I had my jacket back on I felt a bit better and tried to pick up the pace… but boy was this cold and rain beating me up... I tried to will a shuttle from the half way point to the end… PLEASE.. PLEASE.. PLEASE... LET THERE BE SOMEONE TO TAKE US TO THE FINISH at mile 13.1.. i dont care I will be ok with that.. me no wanna run no more...

BUT NO.. damn I really do have to finish this shit myself....

All the volunteers were amazing… bless them for having to stand in the rain and be nice to us! And I had to take a drink from one little tot who was just too damn cute…. does it matter that I am not thirsty NO>>. that cute little boy with glasses I cannot refuse!!

Although I did refuse the woman who offered me a beer... now if it had been wine.. may have been a different outcome... !not much to tell in the race other than I needed to go from point A to point B as fast as possible and unfortunately my body was not really responding to the fast as possible request.

Life is what you make it.. and I am ok with that. I don’t mind the rain, in fact normally I love the rain… and I usually don’t mind the cold (when I am properly dressed) but combining the two and having to run in it for 4 hours… well.. that’s just a little MISERABLE

I wish I could have said OMG we had a great time at the finish line party… but we were both so frozen that once I crossed the line we left… no pizza.. no nothing… just our medals and left.

Joe finishing in 3:54 and me in 4:36 ish… we got to change out of our wet clothes at the YMCA and take cool showers (yeah I think 3000 people trying to take showers at once didn’t help the water heater)…

I felt like I was in the army with a bunch of smelly half naked woman waiting for a cool shower…

The ride home was fun.. 5+ hours in the rain… with joe and sore legs but we just smiled at each other.. because…

Misery loves company!

FAMILY AFFAIR - Kimberton 5K

Yeah its been a while since I posted.. not that we haven't done anything interesting.. I mean we ran for 12 hours on September 4th... Labor Pains Ultra Trail Run.. Joe completing 50 miles and I completing 35 miles and spraining my ankle.

And yeah.... I started back up at night school again...Anatomy and Physiology... two hours on Tuesday nights and three hours on Thursday nights..ask me anything about plasma membrane and I bet I can tell you... oh and then we ran the Philly Rock and Roll Half Marathon on September 18th and lets see... yeah just spent a full filled weekend on September 24th and 25th running three 5K's. Its almost like old times!

Kimberton 5K - Saturday, September 24th @ 9am
VERY excited to be able to run the Kimberton 5K with my dad and my nephew James. I did this race 5 years ago (in 2006) and at that time it was my 2nd race ever…

I had just started running and couldn't remember why I wanted to do it but did it and won my first medal ever, placing 3rd in my age group (actually I was 2nd in my age group because the 2nd place person was actually a guy but never mind that story for now).. and I have that medal and tshirt hanging in a plaque on my wall to remember WHAT HAS CAUSED ALL THIS MADNESS!!!!

I mentioned to dad that I thought this would be a great race for him to try.. it only had one hill and was local, the price was right and well I knew he had been working on increasing his runs and a little bit of a hilly course would help him with his endurance and so why not!

HOWEVER, you would have thought that 5 years wouldn’t have totally erased my memory of how many HILLS there actually were.

It's when you start the race and realize UH OH…. and it's an "ok" thing if you are solo in the race and didn’t convince your father and nephew to join you.. but when you have other's join in and its an UH OH.. then well its a BIG UH OH!

YEAH, now I remember this was one of the hilliest courses i had done in the area... how the heck could I have forgotten that!!... and mental note… DO NOT FORGET THIS IS A HILLY COURSE....note taken...

I ran fine… placing second age, which thrilled me as I LOVE HARDWARE! ....But what was significantly more satisfying was to see that Dad and James ran exceptional!

My nephew James had just started doing 5K's & training and I noticed that he is a natural....
After the race I spoke to him about the race and he wasn't even out of breath and he mentioned to me that he wanted to walk so many times but didn't and that the hills were tough....
.... That my young nephew is mental toughness. ....
James made a power move on his own within 200 yards of the finish, sprinting passed a kid in his age group and the kids father and held the placing to win third in his age group.

My dad also lit this course up, running his best 5K time ever on one of the hardest hilliest courses! Dad was thrilled with his first place age win... and I was thrilled just to be a part of it all!

I love my family!!!

We scored a first, second and third place medal (in our own respective age group categories) and James won the big doorprize of a bucket of car cleaning items… yeah!

TEAM DUFFY ROCKS!!
Results: http://kimbertonrun.com/5kresults.htm

Warwick Trail 5K - the Wetlands

Not sure how I'm going to piece all these stories together.. but if they fall out of order, just pretend you live my life... it will all make sense.. somehow..

Saturday, September 24th @ 5:30pm
SO I thought how cool a trail 5K at my local park, 10 mins from home and at 5:30pm, how could I resist?

Um.. I didn't resist that is.. there was a slight problem though... the bum ankle was still bum and well it was on trail, so uneven terrain, and well I guess I better wrap the bugger up so I don't break it.. and off i go.. for my second race of the day!

I gotta admit the day started off great.... with the Kimberton race.... but got even better with the Warwick Race.... The Warwick course was rerouted because parts of the course were washed out from all the rain. So as they were showing us the new course...was wondering if they provided a guide with that...

.. Run down this way and then go that way, turn around this tree, turn around this bush, down by this pasture and back.. and all the turns are marked and just follow the people ahead of you... and

...so the new and “improved course” was on the marshlands and had a giant grass hill… and oh yeah me… as I most certainly didn’t get enough hills this am!

Although there were not a lot of people in the race, there appeared to be a few age groupers who I KNEW were in my age group. How did I know?

Well i SPIED out their bibs with my EAGLE EYE BALLS!... LIE.. ok.. so I just casually got close enough to be able to TRY and read their ages on their race bibs and really since I am half blind I DO HAVE TO SQUINT... ok fine... So I glare at them and look really fast to try and catch their age. DAMN.

One of these women looked really exceptionally fast with sleek runners legs, and a toned body and just portrayed an air of confidence...…ok.. not going to worry about it.. i came here to have fun not compete, have fun... not compete.. just to have fun...

So I lined up in the back, not worry about placing.... have fun.. not compete... and then we were off..... It was SOO much fun giggling and squealing through the mud and fields...heck yeah... slamming tons of wet, gooey mud around.. yeah.. to run without any purpose but to have fun.. this is SOO great!!!

Around a tree.. and through the woods... and um wait... i am passing people.. and before I knew it I had caught up to the two women I had checked out in the beginning of the race... uh oh..

Super sleek legs looked over her shoulder at me and sped up … UM OH NO SHE DID NOT…
. and so I was off… chasing her ass across the field....we passed the other gal in our age group and I trailed her ass until the hill..

And LO AND BEHOLD sleek, legs gal… with her beautifully, toned legs .....was not a hill runner!

Not only did I overtake her on the hill … I gained a lead… GOD BLESS that I am a hill runner …

BUT no amount of hill running will make you have more oxygen when you get to the top of a hill in any course… I thought I would pass out and DIE... but now it's no longer about the fun... its about the competition...

And so it begins… I didn’t intend to run so hard … but I couldnt let either of them repass me. HELL NO!

SO not knowing if they were catching up or falling farther behind I just ran like I was on fire… I am not sure if I pushed anyone out of the way or kicked any mud on anyone but no one was getting past me.

I clocking in what I believe was my best trail 5K time ever.. I secured first in my age group and went home oxygen deficient but with an excellent age group award and a smile. OH yeah and all this play is hard work!!

The two learnings from this story are
(1) looks can be deceiving and
(2) DON’T EVER look over your shoulder at me. EVER

Results: http://runccrs.com/results/?p=1923

Philadelphia Zoo 5K - MESS

OK.. so it's not like me to make grumbles about a race.. . because I can appreciate what everyone does.. especially if its for something as important as Cancer...

BUT then again...when i see something that is such a disorganized mess... i gotta wonder if my funds really do go to where they are suppose to... for cancer research.

Sunday, September 25th
DARK AND EARLY.. yeah.. 4:30 am up and getting ready to drive into Philly to run the Philadelphia Zoo 5K...

I was VERY EXCITED for this race..! It was for cancer (so a good cause) and we were allowed free admission to the zoo after the race.. it was a win-win!..

BUT OMG what a DISORGANIZED f-cking mess this event was!

I have been to a LOT of races and this one almost makes the number one spot for disorganized mess. Let me bullet point a few things…

But before I do let me tell you what most runners like to do:
1) Get their racing bib
2) Get their t-shirt
3) Take their t-shirt back to the car
4) Find the potty
5) Warm up
oh yeah.. and preferably … BEFORE THE RACE…

Race is suppose to START at 7:45.. i waited to about 7am while some utterly confused girl tries to sort bib numbers… (I'm sorry is alphabetical sorting too hard for you and shouldn’t this have been done maybe the NIGHT BEFORE.. )

So ok.. I don’t have anywhere else to go but I do have to find the potty and would like to warm up since I am a bit stiff… The T-shirts and Potties are in there (lady pointing to the closed gate)… zoo keeper said NO ONE ALLOWED IN ZOO YET!

Seriously!?.. wait patiently… its now 7:15.. a HALF HOUR before the start of the race.. no one has their tshirts yet.. nor has anyone gotten a chance to go potty.. there are now about 300 people milling around….

So people start SNEAKING in.. swear to god… and you know what… so did I… f-ck that I mean I have to go!... so I get in and get my potty done and get my tshirt and sneak back out. Felt like a damn criminal!

BTW they did not let the masses in until 10 minutes before the start of the race… ridiculous…. Seriously.

So obviously the race is going to start late… and they gather everyone together I thought to give us a description of the course BUT OH NO they START calisthenics…WTF!??

I made friends with a girl in my age group (although they are not doing age group awards) its always nice to see someone you can compete against. AND HOW DID I find out her age?!.. IT WASNT ME THIS TIME.. she asked me! And you all think i am the nosy one!

I find out she did an Ironman before and well.. is a LOT faster than me.. she did Lake Placid in 11 hours and 30 minutes or so many years ago … to my Chessy man of 15 hours and 20 minutes. Was kinda funny when I mentioned my swim time being around 2 hours.. and she just said, "OH… "

heehheee

We come to find out that course will be two loops OUTSIDE of the zoo and then the final quarter or so mile inside the zoo… UM.. but what about the cute little zoo chart with animals on it...

We got to see the back alley of the zoo where the workers parked and where the drunks throw up... and cars... nice.. around and around we go... and as I was coming into the zoo after my second lap I saw walkers ahead of me.. WTF?

They only did one loop and cut the course? (they didn’t have a special finish shoot just for walkers and they didn’t have anything special on their bibs saying they were walkers) so they were being scored with us. PERHAPS that doesnt bother some people... but that damn well bothers me... !

Oh yeah and THERE AINT NO ANIMALS in the zoo at 8am in the morning! They must all be sleeping in.. so I went home and took my OWN animal pictures... .

I didn’t post a good run time and only got myself mad… but it was for a good cause and so chalk it up to a disorganized mess… I just hope the cause actually gets the funds…

Race Results: http://runccrs.com/results/?p=1925