running hangover

 Races, and runs in general, should not give you hangovers, especially when there's zero alcohol involved. They should also not make the random cough/body aches you have a million times worse. And yet...

I was up at 6:15, out the door an hour later. Despite knowing what was ahead, I dared to eat breakfast. Sort of. Cinnamon toast and a scoop of pb. The toast was to make my stomach be temporarily happy. PB was to give me protein that would stick, literally!

Its also worth mentioning that it was 35 degrees outside and raining cats and dogs. Gotta love the fact that I was reading a news story about how Raleigh was in drought conditions, down 2 inches. We got it, EVERY LAST FLIPPIN' DROP, today. I'm confident in it. Okay, so maybe I drove away with a lot of it in my hair and clothes, but w/e.

You see, ladies and gentlemen, I signed up for the Krispy Kreme Challenge. Basic premise? Run 2.4 miles, mostly downhill, eat a dozen glazed Kripy Kremes at, conveniently, a Krispy Kreme shop, show off your empty box, then run back up the 2.4 mile hill. You're supposed to do it in under an hour. Oh, and DON'T PUKE!!!

Waiting for the starting line. This was about an hour into my time of standing in the cold rain?

NCSU's Bell Tower. Number of bells in it? 0

At the Krispy Kreme shop. First, and last, time there!

Smushing #s 6-9

Made it seem like I was only eating 1 at a time. Not 3. Maybe. Not really.

 Since we've already talked about how flippin' cold it was, since it was also rainy, my two survival strategies were conflicting. Generally, I like to layer to keep myself warm, but in rain like today's, the more you wear, the more that gets soaking wet and weighs you down and keeps you cold. 

With this in mind, I didn't wear gloves. The race started at 8:30, I finished at 9:47, and it wasn't until about 11- post hot shower, hot tea, and lots of blankets to snuggle under- that I regained total control of my hands. Well, sort of. They're still "creaky."

This is why all the picture of my hands seem a bit "awkward." Plus, the glaze was making the disgusting taste that it does after about donut #2 in my mouth. BLEGh.

There was a lot of biting, chewing, looking up, hoping the bites weren't going to get stuck in the esophagus, etc. It was quite hilarious watching people crying and struggling over the last few bites. One girl was pacing in between bites. Oh, how I sympathized with her!

Oh, and maybe I just grabbed a good box, or they really can crank the suckers out quickly, but the box I grabbed had nice, fresh donuts. I was actually very disappointed when I bit into them and they were light, fluffy, fresh! 

Curses...

I can honestly say, though, that I will never- NEVER- crave another glazed donut, so long as I live. 

I have been sitting here in the world's worst hangover all day. The only time I felt this bad was the morning of my 21st birthday- and yes, you can imagine the zaniness that happened before, especially since I can't remember! But at least after that night, I could drink water, take pain killers, eat the random food my stomach craved (ceaser salad and roast beef sandwich, both from Panera) and feel better. Today? Buh. Food and water were the ENEMY!!!

It took me 75 minutes, which usually is an awful pace for 4.8 miles, but I ATE A DOZEN DONUTS. I think those took me about 20 minutes? I wayyyy underestimated that! 

KB did it too, and she successfully finished in under an hour- 55 minutes, to be precise! Overall, she got 59th in the female "challenger" division. There were lots of "casual runners"- aka "I'll eat a few, then take the rest with me" crowd. I had a moment of smug satisfaction every time I passed those people on the way back. 

Can not! wait to be healthy and de-donut-ified and go for a run in nice weather, or indoor, and just enjoy it. For now?

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Sunday Pictures!

I was too lazy as I was writing the post to put up photos from Sunday, but after finding the cord and the camera, here are a few...

Start area

Gear Check

First Half-Marathon-er crossing the finish line at about 1:20

KR Making the final turn. As I yelled at all the runners "ITS ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE!" KR just yelled back "WATER!"

8.5

I put 8.5 miles on my legs this morning at the gym, in about an hour. No, I didn't all of a sudden turn into some KR-fast runner (btw, super awesome story if you stay tuned in!)- I walked about a half mile, ran a mile, then biked for 7 miles. One of my goals for 2012 is to do a sprint triathlon, so I'm trying to get my legs used to being worn out! I did the running first and then the biking, but when it comes to the tri, it'll be reverse order. Whatever :) I'm also just trying to re-gain cardiovascular endurance after basically a month and some change off. 

This morning's gym session was actually my 2nd of the week. Since calender weeks start on Sundays, so too do I! I did 20 minutes on a treadmill, alternating running and walking. During an off-season triathlon workshop (which I'll blog about one of these days!) they talked about how training on the treadmill should be done at a 2% incline or more to compensate for the fact that you exert less energy running on a flat treadmill vs. flat pavement. Plus, what road is ever flat?!? Even though I've clearly lost a lot of the endurance, I've definitely gained some speed. I used to push myself to run at a 12min/mile pace, and now that's my slow running pace. My usual training speed is 11min pace, and when I'm pushing towards a distance, not time, I'll crank it up a notch or two. I did a little bit at 10min pace on Sunday and man... the burning sensation was NOT pleasant! 

KR got me an awesome "KEEP RUNNING-SAFELY!!" present: ankle braces! And yes, this is totally a shameless way of showing off our Christmas tree- isn't it pretty?!?! :) Its sort of basic this year, but since the roomie put it up, who am I to complain? :) 

I'm sure that come Christmas, there will be a few more ornaments on it! Both the roomie's mom and my mom will be coming to spend the holiday with us and OMG I'm so excited for it!

Oh and your final story of the day... Its not really my story, but I'm so excited for her and y'all heard about her first race, so I feel like bragging for her like a proud mamma bear. KR did her first half marathon this past Sunday. She hadn't even run 13.1 miles before then and man, did she pick a doozy of a day to run her first 13.1!!! It was rainy, unseasonably cold, and the course had quite a few hills! Given the recent craziness behind the scenes in my life, I went to go cheer her on and figured that as long as I was there, I could volunteer as well. I helped run the gear check (btw, world's greatest invention for >5k races!) with an old retired Navy man named Sid (we laughed about that!) as KR did her trek. 

The race was a fundraiser for the camp where it was held- Victory Junction Gang Camp. Race car driver Adam Petty, of the Petty racing family, HUGE deal in NASCAR, was killed during a practice run and the camp is supported by NASCAR, drivers and NASCAR's sponsors in his memory. (My NASCAR-loving brother-in-law had heard of the camp!) During the summer, different groups of kids spend a week and they have family weekends during the school year. Just from what I saw, they have awesome rec spaces, horse stables, a frisbee golf course, and tons of room to just go, play, and be a kid. What I thought was really neat about the camp was that each week or weekend is dedicated to kids of a specific disability, so if you were a kid with, say, cystic fibrosis, you would be at the camp with other kids like you. It takes away some of the comparisons and heightens the bonding experience to be with other children facing the same struggles as you. Plus, the reason fundraisers like this race, which raised over $100,000 for the camp, are so important is that no family has to pay to send their kids here. Richard Petty himself was at the camp to support the runners!

I met some really neat people, both affiliated with the camp and other runners, as I waited for KR to do her thing. Like I said, it was super cold and rainy out there. The first half marathoner came in around 1:20. He was booking it with under 7 min miles! FOR 13.1 MILES IN THE POURING COLD RAIN! I don't get it. Even crazier, there was literally nobody behind him that we could see. The end of the course had you running down a hill, up a hill and back down a hill to the finish line, all in sight of the finish area. After they'd interviewed him (from Charlotte, his first time running this race, could they please cut out some of the hills), the 2nd runner still wasn't in sight. 

Forty rainy minutes later, I saw the figure in a white top and black tights and I started yelling "Go, KR, GO!" Her one reply? "water!" After she changed into dry clothes, we ate some delicious chili and cornbread, and headed back to the car. In true KR fashion, for her 2nd race, she got 2nd in her age group. We ignored the awards ceremony and left while it was happening because KR was sure she didn't place. I'd been working the gear check so I didn't pay quite as astute attention as the previous race to see if she'd won. Plus, how do you tell a 26 year old from a 24 year old? They look the same, but different divisions! Anyway, it was super exciting to go and see some amazing runners and it definitely inspired me :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

in which I don't run

Yep. A blog where I document running but sometimes you have to document purposely not running, like today! KR and I went to morning yoga, then had some quality time on the ellipticals afterward. I had planned on taking Lucy out on a walk to make her be tired, but smushy-face is getting off easy, thanks to tons of rain! She hates the rain so much, that when it's time to take her out for potty breaks, she goes down the steps, then around towards the house to the area under the roofing. Smart/lazy dog!

I got some awesome news today and am super excited for the upcoming weeks :) Getting the 5k conquered this weekend will actually make me more excited to work out. I'll probably re-start more strength (yoga!) training and other aerobics, like biking! I'm clearly getting burnt out on running, so a nice break from it, but not from working out, is in the works. Besides, I was checking myself out in yoga today- she told us to, I swear!- and realized my butt's getting smaller :) 

On to the next TV timeout- and my first 5k!

-Syd

Seriously.

What is with the rain?!?!

I told my mom last night that it had been raining since Sunday and I got a "oh, haha, yeah, whateveryou'recrazy" with no excitement over my new wiper blades.

12 hours later? I get an e-mail with "oh wow, its actually raining a lot!" after she'd seen news reports about NC getting pounded. There was even a super duty truck at work stuck in mud and a downed power line that cut out power to part of campus. Tropical Storm Nicole remnants aren't messing around!

I went to the gym this morning and knocked out 2.3 miles in 26 minutes and felt alright. I can still walk with minimal pain and that keeps my spirits up! The gym at 6:13 felt freezing cold, but when I stepped outside at 6:45, it felt like a frickin' sauna and I mad the trademarked red face ;)

Before I took my shower, Lucy decided she wanted to yell at me about something.

I got my revenge...