A Journey to the Top (or what's new for 2018)

With 2017 winding down (thank freaking god, did this year suck as bad for anyone else??) I find it fitting to do what any sane person does when confronted with a crappy year....look ahead to what can only be a better upcoming year.  Usually folks wait until the last week of December, but being the forward thinker (ahem) I am, I decided to take the bull by the horns and wrestle 2018 into submission before it decided to follow suit with 2017, that nasty little shit.

This idea started a few months back, so excuse my delinquency, but I had a few mitigating circumstances that delayed the full story :)  Every year, Greg and I watch Lake Placid Ironman with the fondness of our memories there in '10 and '11 - a sort of mixture of remembering pre kids when we could do that shit...and remembering when we were in shape to do that shit!  We hoped to do an Ironman together someday - when Rob and Biz head off to middle school and don't need us as much.  When we sleep through the night.  When Greg isn't working 80 hours a week.  When I am not travelling every week for work.  Ya know.  Life.

Fast forward to the next week.  Registration for 2018 Ironman comes out.  It's the 20th anniversary for Placid.  New promos!  Deferral to 2019 is penalty free till June!  Lower prices for Tri club members!  And...it's on Greg's birthday.  Specifically, his 40th. 

Now, you have to understand that in our marriage, I am the one that comes up with the dumb ideas.  Like hey- how about I do a tri 5 weeks post partum?  Hey!  Let's drive 13 hours with a toddler and run a marathon the next day!  Or even better - let's fly across the country and run a half in the pouring rain the next day?  Ya know.  Things like that.  So I shoot Greg an email telling him we totally should do IMLP 2018.

You know what happened next.

He said "Why not"??  (Dude, you totally dropped the ball on your role).

Gut check.  So many reasons not to.  So many damn. good. ones.  We talked about it.  We thought about it.  We listed out all the bad reasons in the world that parents of two toddlers should not, in fact, dually train for an Ironman.

Then we signed up.

Cause life is too short.  And what else would you do on your 40th "over the hill" birthday than aim to rise for the top? (Of ridiculous climbs??)

That's for Greg.

For me, it's a way to turn the bus around.  This year has been so, so hard for me.  On so many fronts.  There have been times when I have thought hard about walking away and/or just giving up on it all (well, most of it). But then I put sneaker to pavement and it just all makes sense.  Sometimes I can think of a a way to fix whatever is ailing me - my job, my marriage, my ability to find an extra hour to actually do the damn laundry.  Sometimes I can't.  Sometimes I just get that 3....or 6...or 10 miles of serenity to just breath in the air and be at peace with the world.

And that, for me, is what Lake Placid is.  It's the scene of where I first became an Ironman.  It's my happy place.  It's the place to just breathe and be happy, to be alive, to be so very grateful for the opportunity.

And I can't freaking wait.  To train in the pain cave.  To swim at 5am.  To go for evening runs, and reclaim my life one piece at a time.

And did I mention, to party with about forty of my closest tri friends?  Seems everyone has a very definitive "why" for this race - and it will be a Roc party in Placid!

Until then, it's one day at a time.  A journey, if you will, that promises to be every bit as sweet as the actual destination. 

July 22, 2018.  My 3rd Ironman - and you know what they say about the 3rd time!

Lakeshore Marathon 2017 - F$ck the Tangents

State #7 complete.  For some reason I had it in my head that it was #9, conveniently forgetting the half marathons don't count.  Whoops!  On Oct 1, I ran the Northern Ohio marathon to finish off that state for my 50 state plus DC quest to see the country while racing.

Why this race?  It's 4 hours away.  It was $26 for the race.  And....it was the day before my birthday.  All wins.  Grandma agreed to watch the kids, so I even had a chauffeur.  And by luck of last  minute hotel cancellation and Air BnB searching, we ended up with an entire house right on the damn course for $45.  Right on picturesque Lake Erie in Mentor, OH (sense the half sarcasm).

My new Street in Mentor (lol)

Going into the race, I didn't have giant expectations - I had been running fast, but not far.  My long run was 15 miles, because....life, and I averaged about 40 mpw, which I know is enough, but not enough long runs to do damage.  I guesstimated about a 4:15, of course figuring if I felt awesome, I would re-adjust and do as I always do - go out too fast and then figure it out at mile 10.  Ahhh, I do these for fun, right??

Day before the race, we left for Mentor and arrived about 3pm.  Drove the course - flat except an unknown at mile 22-24 which was off road trail (how bad could it be?  BAD) and about 40 turns, which would haunt me later.  Drove back to air bnb (at mile 21!) and got a pizza, which seemed like a good idea at the time (it was not).  We then got the brilliant idea to drive to Cleveland, which was about 45 minutes away, where Greg used to live.  He showed me his old place, and haunts, and we drove back, where I ate another piece of pizza (is anyone keeping track of my bad decisions yet?) 7 hours in a car - check.  4 pieces of greasy pizza - check.  And then I discovered my race socks had a hole in them, so I got new ones...from the dollar store.

Really, this is my comic relief race report.  Spoiler alert - only 1 of these decisions was bad (it was the pizza).

Race morning dawned clear and cold at about 45 degrees.  I donned my new outfit (oh, did I mention my singlet was new, too?), ate my oats, took my Imodium (insurance!) and smeared chap stick on my hot spots (yep, forgot the body glide).  And off we went.  Arrived to race site an hour beforehand, froze my ass off with 400 other people, and we were off.

Miles 1-6 I averaged about an 8:20 pace, which of course is perfect for a half and way too freaking fast for a full.  Felt great.  I saw Greg on the course at mile 6 and waved, kept on my way.  Ate an applesauce pouch at mile 7, taking in Gatorade at every aid station - perfect.  The first 6 miles had a few rollers, nothing crazy.

Miles 7-11 slowed to about an 8:30, still felt great!  I ran for awhile with the 3:45 pacer, feeling pretty baller, until my stomach began to clench.  WTF.  I'll spare you the details, but the port o potty at mile 12 was my best friend - first time since 2013 I porto stopped in a race and prayed it wouldn't be like the "oikos half" where greek yogurt made me stop 4 times in 3 miles.  It wasn't.  Phew.  Still...immodium....YOU FAILED.

Hit mile 13.1 in 1:51, which probably wasn't good, as it's only a minute off my PR....I potty stopped...and had 13 miles to go.  Shit.  Oh well.  I lagged a bit the next 5k, took in a gu to get some sugar, shook out my arms, and got back with it.  I caught the pacer for 3:45 for a bit at mile 16, and even got to hold his sign while he shook off a layer.  I'm such a bad ass.  I was running with about 8-10 other guys at this point, when we had to cross the road ( a busy 4 lane road).  The cops monitoring the crossing waved us by, and we kept going to the end of the road.  Where...there was no one.  WHAT.  We looked left, nothing.  Looked right...runners!  So we turned right.  As we got closer, we realized that all the runners were coming out of a sub development which meant...we cut the course.  SHIT.  I realized this, yelled it out to the guys, and hightailed it back to the missed turn. 

I was the only one. 

Which pissed me off.  I let the cop know what happened (as I came running like a bat out of hell from the wrong direction!) , and he apologized and waved me back in.  My garmin clocked 16.6, and I had no clue where I was or how much I tacked on, but I kept going.  Mile 17.  but....not on the course.  Shit.  I finally hit mile 17 on the course at 17.7 on my garmin, which means I tacked on about 6 minutes and almost 3/4 of a mile...getting lost. 

So, f$ck the tangents.  HOW THE HELL DID I RUN OFF COURSE?? 

I was mad.  Mad at myself, though I reminded myself that there was a zillion turns on this course and It was unfamiliar.  Mad at the cops?  Nope.  It was my responsibility to know where I was going.  Mad at the other racers?  Hell yes.  get some integrity.  They all got about a half mile benefit.  Mad at the pacer?  UM, YES.  Know the course and the people you are leading.  Lame.  I will be honest here....for about .3 seconds I debated going straight and cutting.  But...I didn't come here to run 95% of a marathon, dammit. 

Way to pep talk, right?  I wish I could say it worked.  It didn't.  For the next 3 miles, I kept getting madder and madder as every gamin chime meant I had to run almost a mile more.  I hit "my" mile 20 in 2:55, which was plenty of fucking time to PR.  3:02 on the race course for mile 20.  Guess what?  Still could have.  But I threw a damn temper tantrum.  Met up with Greg at mile 21 where he was waiting outside the house and gave him a piece of my mind, which he nicely listened too and was appropriately consoling.  I'm sorry to say it went over like a man consoling a woman in labor.  Hell to the no.

Now, legitimately, I started to feel like crap at mile 22.  I was averaging about 10 minute miles here and looked down and realized....if I ran a 4:06 or better, but still came out over 4....I would be even madder at my mis direction.  So I decided not to.  I don't care about my time.  I hurt.

Yes, I agree.  I was acting like my 4 year old.  But it's the truth.

At mile 23, we turned out to the 2 mile stretch on the trail which was....on sand.  And rocks.  And all uphill. 

Lights up!

Well, that was the last straw.  My 10 minute miles became 12 minute miles.  Hit mile 24 in 3:52 (race mile 24, my garmin can just go to hell), and I half talked myself out of this mood.  I pulled it together and ran it in the park in 4:12 - respectable for my training and good enough for 5th place in my age group (out of 32), 37/162 for women, and 142/354 for the whole race.

I was pretty annoyed with my 'tude in the race, but it's fair to say that things get raw on the course and it was 100% a learning experience.  I grabbed my cool light up medal and we bounced, before I could see of those lame assed cheaters I ran with at mile 16.

Worth it?  You bet.  The shirt was cool, medal epic, and we crossed off another state.  I also learned that tangent running doesn't mean $hit if you...get lost on the course.  Which is sort of obvious but with the big deal of 26.2 never being achievable (its usually 26.3-4 depending on tangent running)...it means squat if you tack on extra course.  My run ended up being 27.1 miles, which....means I ran an ultra!  Right?  AMIRIGHT?

Greg and I drove home, a slightly painful 4.5 hours but also a great catch up time.  Then I got home to an early birthday gift from my team at work.....

Love these guys.  They are my people.

All in all, an interesting race, to say the least, and quite the wrap up to 2017!  Looking forward to a relaxed, no training approach to October, then it's time for 2018 planning!!  I CAN'T WAIT!