krisalis

Laksa
Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Thanks Primataste!

The idea for Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts first came up whilst Billie and I were running the Decker Half Marathon event back in December. I had been thinking of printing up race t-shirts with our names on them, but that seemed a little weird somehow, so I was trying to come up with an alternative that would enable and encourage the marathon crowd to cheer for us on race day.

The Cat In The Hat is one of Alexander’s favourite bedtime story books, and somehow Thing 1 and Thing 2 just popped into my head, and I just knew that was what I wanted to race in.

The execution was trickier than I thought it would be.
- iron ons apparently don’t work on polyester/dri-fit type fabrics
- custom t-shirt type places wanted us to use their t-shirts and/or required minimum quantities of anywhere between 6 and 50 pieces and had very long lead times to guarantee delivery.

So we came up with the idea of ironing on the design to white cotton t-shirt and then cutting out the design and attaching it to our chosen red dri-fit Nike shirt.

Mark put together the image and helped with the iron-on process.

Then I cut out the designs and tacked them onto the shirts.

And finally Heather sewed the images onto the shirts.

Voila! Thing 1 and Thing 2!

Yay Things!

Remember the Alamo
Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Love it!

Further marathon notes:

• I’m a total convert to the benefits of ice baths. Although I am certainly a little creaky and sore after the marathon, I still think I’ve been more sore after some of my long training runs.

• That RunTex 20miler was WAY worse than the marathon in so many ways. I’m so glad that my marathon experience in no way, shape or form ever came close to the misery I encountered on that run.

• I definitely benefitted from the extra gus towards the end of the marathon. I had planned on having 4 or 5 gus through the course of the race. I ended up taking in 6 and 2 cola cubes. I’m glad I remembered and was able to keep eating when I started to feel slightly nauseous. Learned that one the hard way during a training run.

• I wish I had worn sunscreen on my arms and taken chapstick with me. I have sunburned hands and arms, and my lips are really dry.

• Marathoning 101: Do Not Go Out Too Fast. I should have taken it easier on Enfield and Exposition. My race turned out ok, but I think it could have done better overall if I had kept a lid on it through those hills.

• Running with a cold is not optimal. I’m glad I still did the marathon, but would have been nicer to run it with fully functioning lungs.

• I made it through the entire course without using the loo (or diving off into the bushes, not that there’s anything wrong with that) en route! I didn’t think that would be possible. Huh.

• My splits (from my Garmin 405)
  

• The elevation profile (according to Garmin):
  

Apparently there was some sort of meteor/fireball sighting during the Austin Marathon! I didn’t see anything at the time, or hear anything about this until the day after the event.

Here’s the CNN report on it:

I guess it’s one more way to keep Austin weird?

There’s more about the incident over here. Sounds like there is some controversy over whether the fireball was a meteor or debris from the collision of two satellites over Russia.

5.45am:

I woke up at 4.15am on race morning, even though my alarm was set for 5am. I stayed in bed, trying to relax and stay as rested and calm as possible. I eventually got up at 4.45am and start faffing about in the kitchen with tea and porridge and whatnot. Billie arrived at 5.30am and we headed out at 5.50am to park our car down on Barton Springs Road.

We walked over to the start line, nervously chattering away about anything and nothing. We were over at the start area a little after 6.30am, which still gave us plenty of time to ditch our extra clothing at the Rogue tent and get through the portaloo line. Then we lined up just behind the 5 hour pace group and waited for the start, which was supposed to be at 7am. 7am came and went and nothing happened, so we waited. And waited. We were cold and full of nervous energy and generally anxious to get moving, and all that waiting around was kind of annoying. I don’t know what time the race actually ended up getting started, but we wound up crossing the starting line at 7.22am.

And then we were off. The first mile went out slow. I spent most of that first mile just trying not to run into anyone and trying not to lose Billie or Aimee. We ran up Congress and soon hit into the first of many hills for the day. Mile two was much of the same – lots and lot of people all over the road. It was cool but also rather overwhelming to see that many bodies swarming up Congress! The 5 hour pace group took off way faster than their supposed 11.26minute mile pace, and we soon lost sight of them after the first mile. The first water stop was a zoo, but I was expecting that, and hadn’t planned on taking any fluids in from the aid station, so I steered clear and had a sip from my own supplies.

Somewhere towards the top of Congress it really hit me that I was running a marathon, and I consciously looked up and looked all around me to take it all in. When we turned right onto Krebs, the road got narrow and the crowd packed in tight around us on all sides. I was glad to make it through that narrow stretch and out onto South 1st street, and into a little downhill stretch for the next couple of miles.

We tried to settle into our pace as we ran back down South 1st and through miles 4, 5 and 6. This section was pretty enjoyable, because there were lots of spectators and bands and things to look at, but I was still feeling uneasy at the thought of all the miles ahead of us, and we were relatively quiet, not chatting or joking much.

Running across the South 1st bridge and onto Cesar Chavez was fun. There were loads of spectators and lots of people shouted for us – lots of “Go Thing 1! Go Thing 2!’ and a few “Go Things!”. “Go Things!” wound up being my favourite cheer of the day. It wasn’t one I had anticipated hearing, and we heard it many times throughout the 26.2 mile course. It never failed to make me smile!

Mile 7 went pretty fast as a result of all the cheering. Mile 8 was much of the same, but with a poorly organised water stop and a short sharp hill thrown in for fun. The water stop at Austin High was a complete shambles. I was ready for some fluids ahead of the Lake Austin Boulevard stretch, and wanted to make sure to take in some water in prep to have a gu before hitting the hills on Enfield and Exposition, and I bet that a lot of other people were thinking the same thing….what a mess! Anyway, we were able to get a cup of water from a single harassed looking lady who was doing her best to simultaneously set out cups and fill them as quickly as possible.

We saw my Mum and Rosie cheering for us around mile 8.5, and then Mark and Alexander were on the side of the road around mile 9. I wasn’t expecting to see them at that point, so I hadn’t been looking for them, and was concentrating on eating a gu when I heard Mark yelling. I shouted back a hasty greeting, and continued onwards.

Runners on Lake Austin Boulevard:

And then we met the big hills. Heading up Enfield felt ok. My legs and lungs were still relatively fresh, and mentally I was feeling ok about the hills having successfully conquered them a couple of times during training runs. Aimee and Billie took off up the hill, and I stayed with them as best I could. In retrospect, I probably should have just let them go and run the hills at my own pace, but at that specific point in time, it seemed more important to try to keep up. I battled up Exposition, feeling a little out of breath, but very alive and really looking forward to crossing the bridge on 35th over Mopac and getting onto Jackson Avenue and into “my side” of town.

Mark and Alexander were waiting for us at the top of Exposition on 35th street. Mark handed me a spare gu and gave me my sunglasses. I said I didn’t want my glasses, and he told me to put them on, because it was getting sunny and I would need them. So I did what I was told, and I’m really glad Mark persisted.

Billie rounding the corner onto 35th St. I’m just behind her somewhere.

Billie and I had lost Aimee by this time, as she surged on ahead up the hills and beyond our (my) reach, so we continued on together. Billie was running a couple of steps ahead of me by this stage, but seemed happy enough to slow it down slightly and run at a pace that was more comfortable for me. I was suffering a bit after attacking the hills, and needed to get my breath back.

Miles 13 and 14 were a bit of a mixed bag for me. On one hand, I knew the worst of the hills were behind me and I was back in very familiar territory, on the other hand I realised I was tiring and I was barely half way through the race, with a lot of hot sunny miles ahead of me. We had almost caught up to the 5 hour pace group around mile 13, but I dropped back on my pace, and so we lost sight of them again. Ah well.

By mile 15, my breathing still hadn’t fully recovered from the hills, even though we had backed off the pace quite a bit. As we turned onto White Rock, I realised I was having difficulties in bringing in enough air. I have been fighting off a cold for a couple of days, and had a nasty chesty cough the morning of the race. But such is life – I wasn’t about to miss the marathon because of an annoying cold. I tried taking deeper breaths, but that just made me start wheezing. Fortunately, Katie, Lennie and Chad were waiting at the junction of White Rock and Great Northern. Katie could see I was having trouble breathing and she talked me down from spiraling towards hyperventilation. She told me to breathe in through my nose, and blow out through the mouth like I was blowing out candles on a birthday cake. She was calm and reassuring and soon I was back to feeling normal again. Or as normal as you can feel after running 15 and a bit miles when there are still almost 11 miles to go.

A-train spectating on Great Northern – he was more interested in the train tracks:

Katie, Lennie and Chad ran up the Great Northern stretch with Billie and me. It was so great to have company during that long, windy, straight stretch. Mark and Alexander were waiting to cheer us on near the Far West foot bridge, and it was great to see them too. Then we saw Mum and Rosie at the top of Great Northern, and they ran alongside us for a minute much to Rosie’s delight. And then we were alone again, at least for a little while. But that little bit of company and cheering and fun and laughter combined with the pep talk from Katie and Lennie made a huge difference to me mentally. As we rounded the corner onto Foster Lane, one of the spectators was shouting “Mile 17! Mile 17! That’s only 9 to go! You’ve made it to single digits!” and I really liked hearing that. I could run 9 more miles. I was back on track to do this thing.

Mile 17 was great. I went back to chatting with Billie, and took the time to look up and take in the race unfolding around me. There were lots of spectators at this stage, and it was fun to hear all the cheering. Somewhere around mile 18, Heather jumped in to run a few miles with us to keep us company. Just having someone new and energetic there to talk to us and cheer us on gave me a huge boost. Heather also gave us extra gu, which was gladly received. I ended up taking in 2 more gus than I had originally mapped out during the marathon – the extra calories were definitely needed by the tail end of the race. Heather stayed with us until mile 21, where my parents and Mark and Alexander and Rosie were all waiting to cheer us on again. We waved hello, I gave Mark and A-train a quick kiss, then Billie and I headed onwards once more.

Billie at mile 21:

Me and Heather at mile 21:

Mile 21 was ok. Mile 22 was not so ok. The course was slightly uphill on Avenue H, and about halfway up Avenue H, Billie asked me if I wanted to walk for a bit. I said no, I’m fine, let’s keep going. And she said, “Ummm. Let’s walk.”. So I did. Apparently I was wheezing again, pretty badly this time. I didn’t think it was that bad, but Billie disagreed. Stupid cold. Stupid lungs. Pah! We walked to the top of the hill and started jogging again as the route finally took us downhill on Duvall.

Superstars Katie, Lennie and Chad showed up again around halfway down Duvall around mile 23. Billie and I were both very pleased to see them. Billie was feeling pretty good, so she took off with Chad, happy in the knowledge that me and my wheezing were safe under Katie’s supervision. Katie stayed with me and she was so calm and encouraging that I was able to get the wheezing back under control and keep running at a slow but steady pace. She ran beside me up the hill on Dean Keaton, and stayed with me along Guadalupe. When we turned left onto MLK, Katie said something about the finisher’s medals being really nice, and it suddenly hit me that the end was in sight and I was really going to finish!

Billie on the homestretch:

As we turned right onto San Jacinto, Katie told me not to freak out. I looked up and saw the hill looming off in the distance, but I just didn’t care anymore. I knew I was going to make it, and I ran all the way up that last hill and over the top. As I started down the hill, I saw Mark and Alexander and my Dad over on the left hand side of the road yelling my name. I looked over and waved, but I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to finish!

I rounded the bend onto Congress and could see the finish line just in front of me. Another runner on my left looked at me and asked if I wanted to race her in. “Sure!” and I tried to put on a surge. Unfortunately there wasn’t much left in the tank for any sort of sprint finish, so I just ran it in as best I could, hoping the photographers would get a good shot of me crossing the finish line. I was all crazy teary emotional smiles and wheezy coughing as I waddled awkwardly down the chute to get my finishers t-shirt and medal.

I hugged Billie, who crossed the line about 4 mins in front of me, and Aimee, who crossed right behind me, and Lennie and Katie and Chad who were there at the finish line too. Then we stopped to talk to Mark and Alexander and my Dad while Katie and Lennie made arrangements to go get the car and pick us up to take us home.

My final time was 5 hours 07 min 17 sec. I had been trying to go under 5 hours, but I’m going to go ahead and call 5hr07min a big win anyway. I’m so proud of myself for going the distance, and I’m so proud of Billie for doing it with me, and happy that Aimee was out there with us too.

And I’m so thankful for all the support we received from our family and friends throughout the training and the race. You know who you are!

There is no way I could have done the marathon without the wholehearted support received from Mark, who happily took on full parenting responsibilities every Saturday morning since the beginning of October so I could do the long runs and who drove all over town to pick Billie and I up after our training runs and who came out to support us when we participated in races and who makes the most amazing post run pancakes known to mankind.

Victory!

There is also no way I could have done the marathon without Billie – truly the best marathon training partner I could have asked for. She was dedicated and determined. She never wussed out of a workout and she kept me going when things got tough.

So thanks everyone. It’s been amazing. I had a blast. I’m glad I did it.

Who knows, maybe I’ll even be crazy enough to do it again…..

Next time, maybe I can beat that 5 hour goal!

Race report to follow.

Making meatballs
Originally uploaded by krisalis.

My boys are hard at work in the kitchen!

Hello Austinite friends!

As you know, Billie and I will be running our first marathon this coming Sunday.

We know you all have busy lives and many of you have church on Sunday morning, but we would LOVE to see some familiar faces cheering us on out there on the course! We’ll (hopefully) be running between 11 – 11.30 minute mile pace.

Here’s the course map.

And here’s a spectator guide.

And here’s a list of the earliest times we expect to reach each of the mile markers, assuming the race starts at 7am on the dot (which it won’t for us..we’ll be at least 5-10mins behind the elites to cross the start line), and assuming we manage a steady 11min mile pace throughout (which we won’t – we’ll be a little slower throughout, which could mean big gaps by the end of the race between the times shown and our reality!).

1. 7.11am
2. 7.22am
3. 7.33am
4. 7.44am
5. 7.55am
6. 8.06am
7. 8.17am
8. 8.28am
9. 8.39am
10. 8.50am
11. 9.01am
12. 9.12am
13. 9.23am
14. 9.34am
15. 9.45am
16. 9.56am
17. 10.07am
18. 10.18am
19. 10.29am
20. 10.40am
21. 10.51am
22. 11.02am
23. 11.13am
24. 11.24am
25. 11.35am
26. 11.46am

We’ll be wearing red t-shirts with “Thing 1″ and “Thing 2″ on them, and we expect to be running together.

Please come out and cheer us on!!! I think we would particularly appreciate support from mile 16-18 onwards!

-Kristen

Alexander is a little fireball of energy these days. Even more so than usual. By the time I get home from work, he’s firing on all cylinders, running around the house, noisily bouncing off the walls and furniture.

Yesterday when I got home, I was tired and hungry and decided to try to harness Alexander’s energy for good. I decided to have him help me cook dinner.

We fetched his stepping stool from his bathroom and brought it to the kitchen. Then I gave him a packet of pasta and asked him to put the pasta into the saucepan. While he was transferring fists of pasta from the packet to the pan, I chopped up an onion and some carrots. Then I gave him cups of cold water to pour on top of the pasta, which he loved doing (tip! water!), and then I gave him the salt to put into the saucepan.

Next up, I put the cold wok in front of him (Yes, I make my spaghetti sauce in the wok. It’s the right size for the job!), and he poured in some olive oil and tipped in a bowl of diced onion. Then I gave him the chopping board covered in diced carrots and asked him to put them into a bowl, which kept him occupied for a long time while I put the onions on to cook and added the minced beef to the wok. Once the carrots were in the bowl, I tipped the contents into the wok too. Then Alexander tipped the spaghetti sauce from the jar into the bowl. He really loved pouring stuff! And then I put that into the wok too.

The whole time he was helping me in the kitchen he kept saying “helping! helping!” or “cooking!” or “working!” and nodding his head at me, and I would tell him what a good big boy he was and he would smile and nod, and then go back to work. Finally, Alexander transferred the frozen spinach from the packet to the bowl and I added that to the wok and switched on the pasta. And then we were done! Or so I thought.

Alexander so enjoyed helping in the kitchen that he was very much not done, and wanted MORE MORE MORE. COOKING! HELPING! I figured that helping with the cooking is something to be encouraged, so we made jello. I boiled the kettle whilst Alexander put berries into 4 little cups. Then I poured the boiling water and stirred, whilst Alexander removed berries and ate berries from 4 little cups. Then I added in the cold water to the hot jello mix and helped Alexander stir it, and then poured little cups of warm jello mix for him to transfer into the 4 cups. The first couple of jello transfers went fine, but we saw some major jello spillage with subsequent pours. But meh. Nothing I couldn’t mop up later.

Once that was done, Alexander was happy to continue standing on his stepping stool, eating berries from a bowl on the kitchen counter while I cleaned up around him. Every now and then, he would nod and say things like “cleaning!” or “messy!”.

We hung out for a bit and watched some television while dinner finished cooking and then took Rosie out for a walk while Alexander’s portion cooled down. By the time we got home, Alexander was ready to eat. As I prepped his plate, I reminded him how this was the dinner he had helped to cook and he was all smiles and nods. Cooking! Helping! Big boy!

He tucked that spaghetti away in a blur of fingers and forks! He even ate the carrots and spinach!

Watch out Jamie Oliver. A-train is on the move, and he likes to cook.