2009 Omaha Marathon

Last month I ran the Omaha 1/2 marathon with two really great friends.



It was my second time running the 1/2 and my third consecutive year running the event. This year though was the first time I didn't feel like I wanted to die ten miles in. I think we were actually very well prepared.



Poor Jen in the pink though looks like she might be in quite a bit of pain. That's because she's an effing rock star and (unknowingly) ran it with a stress fracture. Just thinking about that makes me a little queasy. Aside from that minor little tidbit the run was pretty uneventful. We finished with a good time and plan on shaving some minutes off when we run another 1/2 in the Spring. We already have a game plan to cut about 20 minutes off:

1. No eight minute port-a-potty stops.
2. No running on stress fractures.
3. More bacon.

A Few Goals for 2009

Some things I'm going to work on in 2009:

1. Save money for a new car and a nice vacation. Possibly to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. (Vacation idea stolen from Jeff and Brandon.)

2. Run another 1/2 marathon (beating my previous time) and generally shape up. Ultimately, I'd like to run a half every year. I've done it for the last two. It's really one of the easier goals to stick to - barring any unforeseen baby making accidents. Working out in general though, like sit-ups and toning, I have little patience for. I've always had freakishly toned arms (medical professionals have even told me so) but the rest of me is a little on the squishy side. I know that I am a rather thin girl, but there is no muscle in there. It's all jelly. I'd like to even that out a bit.

3.a. Finish a nice variety of portfolio sittings and start charging for photo sessions by March. This is one of the most important goals for me. I really have high hopes about starting a photography career. I'm tired of being unhappy with my professional life. I've had a recent surge in my desire to make this happen. I think it's where my life is taking me.

3.b. Take at least two photography courses. Obviously, this is something that is important and will come in handy. I have no real photography education. Everything I know about taking good photographs I learned from art composition classes. I have no real training when it comes to the technical aspects of photography like aperture settings and white balances. A prodigy I am not, so I should probably get on this one ASAP.

3.c. Photograph a wedding. I need to find some very understanding couple who will let me photograph their wedding knowing full well that I might completely eff it up. Are you that guy or girl? Give me a call! Honestly though, I want to be able to do this by the end of 2009. I'd love to find an OBB girl on a budget in the Omaha area and be able to give her a virtually free wedding photo session. Then it would warm my brain and my heart!

4. Fix up the outside of the house. Replace the windows, paint, white wash, landscape, buy a rake. All that kind of stuff.

5. Release myself from the evil clutches of hair dye. This may or may not work out. I'm sort of hooked on being a red head. However I'm very much not hooked on giving some girl $60 every 10 weeks to color my hair. Yes, 10 weeks. I make that shit last.

Half-Marathon Results

So, I did something sort of stupid this morning. I ran a 1/2 marathon with my friend Kate... without training for it. I ran a full marathon a year ago and since then I've been pretty casual about my running. "Casual" as in maybe running four miles here and there, maybe not running for a month straight. Her and I went out a few weeks ago and ran seven miles on a Friday night so I knew I could make it at least 1/2 way through the 1/2 marathon with some relative ease.

Cut to this morning when the starting gun goes off. I was having major doubts. The first mile was a nightmare. Then it got a little better and we kind of eased our way through the middle miles. Miles 11-13 were pretty awful. I figured they would be. From past experience I knew that if I could make it through a seven mile run, a ten mile run wouldn't really be that much harder. A 13 mile run though... not good.

Our clocked time ended up being 2:35:58. I was freaking impressed with us. The second I stopped running though, I felt the pain of what I had actually done to my body. Just because my cardiovascular system will allow me to run 13.1 miles without consequence, doesn't mean my legs, hips and knees are going to be as forgiving. My body is stiff from the bellybutton down. Tomorrow is going to be a nightmare.

But for today, I am a marathon runner!

Running Buddy

Last night I discovered the awesome power that is a runny buddy. For the first time since she moved to Omaha, Kate and I were finally able to synch up our schedules and go for a run. Last night was beautiful. It was about 60 degrees, cloudy. Ok, so not beautiful, but perfect for running and not wanting to die from the heat and humidity. We set out with no particular goal in mind and when we hit what I thought was three miles, we turned around and ran back to my house. The run seemed a little too easy and I was thinking that I could have been wrong about the milage. Turns out, I was wrong. I thought we ran six miles but we actually ran seven. HUH? Seven miles? And I didn't feel like total hell when we were done? We were both freaking out about running the 1/2 in a few weeks without technically training for it, but I think that we did really well. We paced about 12:00 miles which is really good in my opinion.

We went out for drinks afterwards. Kate is also a good drinking buddy too. :)

Master Procrastinator

This week was my way-past-due first week of 1/2 marathon training. Ya, so what if I was supposed to start a month ago. I'm a master procrastinator. Sunday I ran five miles, last night three. So far that's like a 1600% increase over last week where the only cardio I did was a lap around Oakview Mall looking for a gift for my bridesman. I have a four tonight and a six on Saturday. I learned my lesson about shooting out of the gate and running five miles of hilly hills when I haven't so much as touched a pair of sneakers in four weeks. I could barely walk Monday morning. Hopefully I can find somewhere flat to run six miles so it's not a repeat of last week's glute ripping hell. I could do it at the gym, but six miles on a treadmill is torture. Running in place for 80 minutes on a rubber pad that leads to nowhere is surprisingly unfun.

I have to magically prepare myself to run 13.1 with Kate at the end of September. I've thrown out the typical training schedule of two weeks up, one down, and then a three week taper at the end. I don't have time for a three week taper when the race is in six weeks. I'm just gonna go for it. I figure if I can run/walk/crawl ten miles by September 15th (happy first day of the honeymoon!) then I can do 13.1 on the 28th. It's all mental willpower. If I can run eight then I can run ten. If I can run ten then I can run 13.

You know what else my return to training means? My return to eating anything and everything I want!!! I don't want to lose any weight this time so I'm not going to be shy around the fries and cookies. Rice Bowl for dinner four nights a week? Why, thank you! Don't mind if I do!

Running and Living Green

I talked Kate into running the Omaha 1/2 marathon with me and now I need to talk myself into it. I'm trying to do good for myself again. I was on a roll last year with training for the marathon, eating right, not drinking (hangovers = runs that make you want to die) and just being a good girl. That is not the case anymore. I run once a week, maybe twice if I'm lucky. And it's always on a treadmill. I ran outside for the first time this year with some guys from work and it was awful. Granted, it was 90+ degrees outside, full of hills and all the guys are totally serious runners. But still, it was completely depressing. I need to work on that. I need to get outside and sweat my butt off doing a real run. The 1/2 schedule starts on Sunday, so I have until then to get my act together. I also need to start eating better. Not to say that having a donut and a diet coke for lunch isn't a well-rounded meal...

The house is shaping up a little bit. Our guest room is starting to be an actual room. There's furniture, things on the wall, the pile of wedding stuff is getting smaller. It feels good to have a third usable room in the house. I've begun digging out some decor that's been boxed up the the last year and making the house more homey. We also hung curtains in our bedroom. I'm sure this is completely obvious to everyone else, but hanging curtains in a room keeps it so much cooler than just having blinds! Matt put them up after lunch yesterday and when I came home from work the room felt great. It's usually hotter than hell in there. I registered for tons of curtains so hopefully we'll get some for the wedding and help improve our carbon footprint a little. (Speaking of carbon footprints, I think the three days we lived without power this month should qualify as us living green for a few days to help offset the eco-cost of the wedding. Makes me feel a little better about it.) We're also going to call and get a quote this weekend for new windows. That will make a huge difference on our energy costs. We live in a house where 80% of the windows don't open, yet 80% of the A/C manages to escape out of them. Plus, it will make the outside of the house look a little less crappy.

I also really want to get a bike and combine my green efforts with my cross training. Work is only seven miles or so from home. I can easily ride a bike to and from the office. I can't imagine it would take that much longer than driving in morning traffic. My building also has a locker room in it so I could shower after I get all stinky on the ride to work. I could probably save at least 2.5 gallons a week with a bike. At $4 a gallon, that's $10 a week I'd save. Pretty good stuff right there! The bike would more than pay for itself in the long run. Riding would also double as cross-training for this damn run I signed up to do.

Back to work I suppose...