krisalis

Zombie alert for downtown Austin!

With the Austin Marathon now less than a month away, Billie and I needed one final long run under our belts, so we decided to turn the 3M half marathon into a 20 mile training run.

We started out from my house at 6am sharp, and jogged a little over 4 miles to the start line. It was cold and dark, but otherwise a pleasant enough journey. We arrived at the start about 15 minutes before the race was due to begin, which was plenty of time to line up and use the bathroom. We also managed to find Katie and a few of her super speedy friends hiding out in the warmth of the Embassy Suites lobby. And we discovered that the Embassy Suites have swans. Sleeping swans in this particular case. Interesting. And a little bizarre.

Then it was back out into the cold, just in time to hear the final notes of the national anthem. The race started a little after 7am, and we jogged out with the crowds, trying to warm up all over again. The first mile passed by so quickly I didn’t even register it and was very surprised when the 2 mile marker showed up. Surely we hadn’t done 2 miles already? But we had. And that was pretty much how the next few miles went. We were running at a very comfortable pace, chatting and taking in the world around us. There were plenty of spectators along the course, and we saw Mark, Alexander and Rosie at around mile 4, then Matt and Amy shortly afterwards. Then we saw the bagpiper. Then we chatted with some randoms for a bit. And then it was already the halfway point to the half marathon course!

We kept on truckin’, steadily working our way through the miles, drinking at the water stops and taking in gu every hour or so. We chatted on and off, commenting on the cute dogs in the crowd and checking in with each other every now and then to make sure nothing was getting too sore or whatnot. At around 11 miles into the course, which was 15 miles into our run, my left hamstring started to twinge, but nothing too terrible. And by that stage in the run, we only had 2 miles to go to the 3M finish line, it was slightly downhill and we were getting pulled along by the crowds. Miles 16 and 17 were my fastest miles of the whole 20 mile run. Crazy! We crossed the 3M finish line in 2hrs 26min, which is only about 3 minutes slower than I ran it last year, and still a minute faster than I ran it three years ago. And we weren’t even trying to go fast!

Part of me wishes we had just raced 3M rather than turned it into a 20mile training run, because I think I could have run a good time and done a sweet PR. But oh well. Got to keep my eyes on the prize at this point in time and stay focused on the Austin marathon.

We had some water at the finish line and meandered through the crowd for a bit in search of a banana (Billie was hungry), but then we realised we were getting cold, and we still had 3 miles to go, so we just decided to start jogging again and head to Wholefoods.

The final 3 miles were….uncomfortable…..we had cooled down enough to where I was feeling pretty chilly, and without the 3M crowds pulling us on, it suddenly felt a little lonely. I still felt OK overall, but I was tired and cold and ready to be done. Billie wanted to run faster than my hamstrings wanted me to go, and her foot hurt when she slowed down, so in the end she ran ahead.

We finished up at Wholefoods and Billie headed straight for the pizza counter. My dad met us shortly thereafter and took us home to hot baths and clean clothes and warm beds.

All up, the 20 miles took us 3 hours 49 minutes, average pace of 11.27/mile, which is considerably faster than my last 20miler took. So yay. And although I was sore and cold and ready to be done by the end, I actually felt like I could have managed 6.2 more miles somehow. It wouldn’t have been easy, but I believe it would have been possible. And that is a nice feeling to have found.

Here are my splits:
11.49
11.28
11.41
11.44 (wow, we really went out slow for those first 4 miles! But it worked out, so I probably shouldn’t knock it)
11.37 (first mile of the 3M, warming back up)
11.41
11.18
11.09
10.55
11.18
11.05
11.19
11.05
11.20
11.10
10.53 (mile 12 of 3M, mile 16 overall)
10.40 (mile 13 of 3M, mile 17 overall, my fastest mile split of the day!)
12.17 (final 3 miles, after 3M ended. Oooh, cold. Also had to wait at traffic lights etc downtown)
12.26 (traffic lights, puke avoidance on Congress, slow plodding jog)
12.00 (final mile, ready to be done)

[Obamicon fun from here.]

Alexander hit 22 months a couple of days ago. My, how time flies! I never did get around to writing up his 21 month update. I kept meaning to sit down and tap something out but between Myf and Don arriving, Christmas and it’s associated events, my Mum’s 60th birthday, New Year, lots of running and cooking and eating and playing…..it never happened. Oops.

I think Alexander hit another growth spurt recently. He seems taller and leaner. His latest set of trousers now mostly fit him without needing to roll up the bottoms. He can reach things that have been put up onto tables and countertops with the specific intention to keep them out of his reach.

Alexander is currently going through a particularly brutal round of teething – I think he’s getting in his 2nd year molars. He has been grouchy and droolsome, and continually sticks his fingers in the back of his mouth for his tender gums to gnaw on. He’s also been through a couple of rounds of snotty nosed colds. Nothing too severe, just a little…gross…On the plus side, he does seem to have figured out how to help us help him to blow his nose.

Alexander loves: trucks, trains, cars, planes, lego (blocks!) Thomas the Tank Engine (on the telly), apple juice, orange juice, chicken nuggets, cheeseburger (no bun), tomato ketchup on everything and pickles. His absolute favourite food though at the moment has to be strawberries – which he calls ‘draw-bree’.

We let Alexander watch ‘Wall-E’ over Christmas. He loved it! All kinds of moving robot type vehicles are way cool to our mechanically enamoured little one.

Alexander’s vocabulary continues to grow, surprising me on a regular basis with his latest additions. Alexander can correctly identify at least 5 different types of construction related vehicles, including ‘bull dozer’, ‘grader’, ‘loader’, ‘dump truck’ and of course, ‘back hoe’. His favourite word is probably ‘back hoe’. The back hoe obsession comes with an entire vocab of it’s own – dirt, moving, noisy, up up, on on, stop!, man, working, go!, brum brum!, beep beep!. Alexander likes to walk backwards, beeping as he moves, like a truck reversing. It’s pretty funny. Also, he loves sirens. If a fire truck or police car or ambulance pass within ear shot, Alexander gets very excited. Siren!! Wheeeee! Wheee!

Alexander likes to try to count. His favourite number is seven. He also likes five and nine. I thought most kids would start with the basics. One, two, three etc. But no. I start counting one, two, three, and he jumps ahead and goes to Seven! Nine! Five! Also, all colours are either blue or red, and although his accuracy on getting the right word matched with the right colour is definitely improving, he still only gets it right about 70% of the time.

He is making some progress towards managing his own personal hygiene. He washes his own hands at his bathroom sink and gets angry if we try to help him beyond assisting with pumping out the liquid soap. He brushes his own teeth and will not allow any assistance with this task. Which means he mostly just eats the toothpaste and rubs the brush around over his tongue, and barely brushes his teeth at all. If he must have his hair brushed, he wants to do it himself. This results in a hilarious looking lego-flat-head hair style, which I then scruffle up with my fingers back into wild curls.

There are so many other things I want to capture!
- how he asks for more drink then starts shouting ‘coming!’ as we prep his cup.
- how he gets up in the morning, or after a nap, and launches straight into requests for ‘Park?’, ‘Play!’, ‘Side?’ (outside), or ‘Rosie walking?’ to indicate his strong preference to be outside, playing, with Rosie.
- how he refers to all his Grandparents -Grandmas and Grandpas alike – as Meemaw.
- how he pretends to talk on the telephone. ‘Hi!’ K. K. Bye!’
- how he likes to build a cave with the sofa cushions and pretends that our legs are gates that he can pass by pressing a button on our knees.

He is happy, energetic and talkative. He is a delight.

Trifle
Originally uploaded by krisalis.

I made trifle. Admit it. You want some.

Back Hoe
Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Alexander says: Back hoe! Big! Working. Gone. On, on! Up, up! Noisy. Not working. Key? Sit, sit. Back hoe!

Race report. Ish.

20 miles is really far.

Here are my splits:

mile 1: 11.14 (getting started, trying not to go out too fast)
mile 2: 11.18 (clothing drop, water stop)
mile 3: 10.55
mile 4: 11.42 (walked the water stop, some good random chat with strangers)
mile 5: 11.01 (some interesting discussion, mostly on the topic of miniature donkeys)
mile 6: 11.44 (alone again, a bit uphill)
mile 7: 10.59
mile 8: 11.25
mile 9: 11.56 (hills)
mile 10: 11.56 (hills)
mile 11: 11.41 (random chat with one of the original participants of the donkey conversation)
mile 12: 11.26 (still chatting)
mile 13: 12.25 (slowed down at a water stop to drink and eat gu, lost my new friend, decided to plug in my ipod shuffle)
mile 14: 11.59 (alone, just me and the ipod)
mile 15: 12.34 (potty break)
mile 16: 12.25 (windy, cold, filling icky in general, alone)
mile 17: 12.25 (walked a little, actually felt better than mile 16, some random chat with fellow runners who seemed to be suffering as much as I was)
mile 18: 13.17 (some walking, not much talking, saw an emu)
mile 19: 15.14 (lots of walking, felt like death, really wanted to stop, hamstrings very tight, silent, wanted to lay down and cry a few times)
mile 20: 14.45 (end in sight, alternated walking with shuffling, very glad to be at the finish)

Overall time according to my Garmin (which I stopped when I went to the loo at ~mile 15): 4:05:17.94. Average pace = 12.08/mi

Based on this – projected marathon time would be 5hr30mins. EEEK! It’s enough to make me want to crawl under the covers and not show up at the AT&T starting line. Except the only thing worse than doing the damn marathon at this point in time would be NOT doing it.

Pretty
Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Sigh. I miss 2008 already.

1. Complete the Austin marathon.
2. Have people over for dinner once a month.
3. Get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I’ve been so close for so long….and yet….
4. Keep Calm and Carry On.