The Gettysburg Address

As the girls were making their cards for soldiers, Autumn and Taylor burst into reciting the Gettysburg Address. Not sure what spurred it, but they were good! Autumn particularly spouted it out very quickly! Here are some pictures:

GOTR Community Service Project

Finally, the girls have chosen the "Make Cards for US Soldiers" as their Community Service project. This is always on the list to vote for, but has yet to make it until this year (I'm thinking maybe Molly wasn't there on Wednesday...she's not a huge fan of the war - I'm hoping we don't have to screen out too many of the cards). I think it is such a great idea and fits well into our session when we don't have a ton of time to plan for something. I was actually doing a little prep with getting supplies together and made a sample card. Check it out:

Together Again!

Lisa and I got together for a misty morning run this morning. We figure our last run together was probably the Columbus half marathon, so good to have a partner again! We both admitted to being much more inspired to run (i.e. not stop half way up a hill) when we're with someone else.

Afterwards, we enjoyed breakfast at Dozen in Lawrenceville with Debo and Emily. Our plan was to go right after our workout and be one of those cool runners who looks beautiful and trendy sitting there eating breakfast. Geoff let us in on the secret that those "runners" who look beautiful and trendy eating breakfast, haven't actually RUN...they have probably just walked their kid around the block or something.

From there, I headed over to Trizilla to check out bikes. Now, I know how to ride a bike and since I've been spinning for quite awhile now, I feel like I can do this, but I forgot about the fact that an actual bike is WAY different than a stationery one - requires balance for one thing. So when the guy said, "Do you want to take it for a spin in the parking lot?" I said, "Sure." And immediately then thought, "Oh shoot...when was the last time I was actually on a bike with two wheels that doesn't stay in one place?" I managed to not make a complete fool of myself, but I think once I get into the biking thing that I will need to purely stick to paved trails with no chance of encounters with cars until I get the hang of it again.

XTraining - Outdoor Swimming

This is more for my own reference, but if anyone else get some benefit out of it, great! Here are the outdoor swimming options for the summer:

Avonworth Community Pool - $6, after 5 pm $3
Citipools - $4 (Here is a listing of all the parks, those w/ a swimming pool are marked in the "SP" column)
YMCA - I think $10/visit. (I'm going to cancel my membership for the summer. Too nice to workout inside!)

I'm not sure how any of these options will be for actual lap swimming, but I'm going to explore and figure out what works.

Other outdoor workout option (other than running) for the summer:
Breathe Outside at Southside Works - $5/class

Pittsburgh Marathon 2009?

In the wake of marathon excitement (attending Boston last week and signing up for Marine Corps this week), I thought I would check in again on the status of a potential 2009 marathon in Pittsburgh. Here is the response I got from Kevin Smith of Elite Runners and Walkers:

"If it happens the group will be announcing within the month. If it all does not come together soon, we will have to wait for 2010. Things are looking up for 2009."

This is not a super strong answer and given that I had information last year that "a 2008 marathon is definitely going to happen," I don't have my hopes up.

Bacon is a turn on after all...

On one of our Boston subway trips we were thoroughly entertained by a seemingly drunk girl going on and on and on about all of her favorite types of meats and chimichangas. She obviously saw this commercial before I did and took it for actual dating advice. Poor Thing....

Boston Marathon

Leading the race were the top three women from the time trials held the day before. Nathan said to Deena Kastor, "Aren't you supposed to be throwing candy or something?" She laughed!
Team Hoyt bring tears to your eyes. Dick Hoyt has pushed his son, Rick, in over 65 marathons, including 25 Boston marathons. Read more here.
The elite women - among them are Jelena Prokopcuka (Bib No. 2, Latvia), Rita Jeptoo (Bib No. 4, Kenya, finished third), Alevtina Biktimirova (Bib No. 8, Russia, finished 2nd) and Dire Tune (Bib No. 7, Ethiopia, finished 1st)
The elite men - leading the pack is Robert Cheruiyot (Bib No. 1) who was the ultimate winner.

Humid Hoofing

I knew I was going to have an interesting run the second that I went down my stairs and my knees just ached. Ah, it must be really humid! So sad that my body in its old age can already tell me the weather report. I set out anyways and decided to go back to the dirt bike trails that I found last week. I took a different trail that led to a dirt road which led down to the continuation of 9 mile run stream. So excited. So I crossed to the other side where there looked to be a 'path' and headed back to the familiar Frick Park. It turned out to be a good run athough since some parts of the trail were rough/non-existent/grown over I slowed down almost to a walk. Well, also becuase I ran through a lot of greenery, I am now totally itchy. It's probably just mental but I'm not taking any chances. I've already thrown all my clothes and shoes into the washer and am going to scrub down asap!!

Just a reminder - Wednesday at Noon - Sign up for the MCM!!!!

Women's Olympic Time Trials - The Spectators

Sitting on the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge, waiting for the next pack of runners to come by.
The view from the bridge over into Cambridge.
Lisa and Nathan at the starting line.

Women's Olympic Time Trials - The Runners

Magdalena Lewy Boulet - the lone lead runner for 23.5 miles; ultimately finished second.
The main lead pack - among them are Blake Russell (finished third), Deena Kastor (finished first), Elva Dryer, Desiree Davila, Mary Akor, Kate O'Neill and Desiree Ficker
Joan Benoit Samuelson - won the inaugural women's marathon event in LA in 1984. This was supposedly her last real competitive race (though I bet she might still be able to beat me even when she's 70).
Veena Reddy - not a real contender in the race, but featured in Runner's World as one of those people who has a "normal" life in addition to training for the Olympic Time Trials.

Hydration Station #2

Lisa and I are carefully mixing the brew. It is a strict one bottle of concentration to 5 gallons of water. And by "strict" they mean that a Gatorade rep comes around to test your mix to make sure you are doing it correctly. Nathan and Osei had a drive-by audit of their brew!
Standing proud next to four tiers of lemon-lime Gatorade!
We quickly discovered that the newbies are the ones who get stuck w/ the Gatorade duty. What a sticky mess. Don't know if I'll be able to stomach lemon-lime Gatorade for a little while.
Do you see the fluorescent yellow glow bouncing off of Nathan's face?

[More photos to come...there are so many great ones to post up here!]

lopsided!?!

So Megan suggested i could ask my running questions here. I'm impressed, by the way, with your bloggingness.

So my one leg (calf) hurts and the other doesnt. Do we think i am lopsided? It hurts the day i run and then lessens as time goes on. I think i am a freak. But mainly i can probably still run with it like that right?

thanks!

Girls on the Run Team Picture

Maybe I should get an Ipod...

So shockingly I not only left work before 8:30, I made it to GOTR, AND got there early ...I was so pumped at having a free night that I went out for a run as the dusk was settling in. It was chilly, but it was delightful to be outside for the first time in a couple weeks. After a good half hour, I realized that in between my random thoughts, I had continually been singing the first two lines of the chorus of "Touch my Body" by MC. It was only stuck in my head because a 3-5 grader had it as a ring tone! Can you say growing up too fast!?!?! It would have been nice to have some variety but still very happy to have full awareness of my surroundings since it was very dark by the end of the run and I still insisted on running on the streets (sidewalks are so uneven and a hazard).

Happy End of Busy Season Eve!!!!

A Springtime Run in Central Park

After plans of running mid-busy season were continually cancelled and no schedule whatsoever was being adhered to, I simply submitted and said, "OK, at this point, I'll just wait until after April 15th." Well, I broke that by three days with a trip to NYC. I can never pass up a chance to run in Central Park and Saturday morning was absolutely gorgeous. It had rained the night before and the fog was so thick that you couldn't see the tops of skyscrapers, but it was warm and the blossoms were out on cherry trees, magnolias, forsythias, dogwood - you name it! I jogged up from Times Square and then did a portion of the loop, cutting through the middle when I had thoughts of, "You haven't run in awhile, Megan. Make sure you can make it back." The park is always the quiet gem in the middle of the city, but it was extra peaceful on Saturday morning because there was a bike race going on and the whole loop was closed for any traffic at all. Very fun - what a great way to kick off the spring training and the post-April 15-return-to-normalcy...well, maybe...

LOVE/hate

Have you guys seen the new ad campaign launched by New Balance? The commercial I have seen a few times is so incredibly good...completely captures a runner's mentality. Check it out!

I guess I'm a hypocrite too

While I'm still resisting using headphones on my runs, I realize that I am now doing the one thing I always hated about other people - only running when the weather is above freezing. But now that tomorrow is spring, I have no more excuses. Went running this morning since I didn't have to be anywhere until 9. I don't really know why I stopped running over the winter - it feels so good and I have so much more energy.

P.S. Since some of you do not have Facebook - I want to make sure that you know that tomorrow (Thursday) is Rita's Italian Ice's First Day of Spring celebration - I think you get a free ice (or at least some discount). I know it's supposed to be chilly and wet but I am stoked for Rita's to open up again.

Gasp! She's a Hypocrite!

Today I did what I said I would never do - listened to music while running outside! I have to admit, it was a bit anti-climatic, not life-changing at all. In spinning, you can kind of pedal to the beat, but in running, you really have to work to keep up to the beat. I think I was only once in stride w/ the cadaence and it was going down a hill. There is no way I would have been able to keep up to any of the music. The other thing is that headphones have a totally different sound quality than a car stereo or speakers at the Y. And I was a little nervous to turn it up too loud to drown out the surrounding noise even though I was running on the sidewalks and there was little chance of me being hit by a car. I actually heard someone come up behind me (go figure, I haven't been passed by another runner in a long time...it was up a hill and he stopped at the top of it, though and I repassed him) and didn't jump out of my skin. It did give me a chance to fine tune my next contribution to Emery's music selection, though. Will I do it again? Maybe. Top song of the run - Chocolate by Snow Patrol.

PS - I was inspired by Lisa's Daylight Saving post, but I was a bit too ambitious about it starting to feel like "spring" outside. I went out in my shorts and lightweight long-sleeve T and was freezing the whole time. All the other runners I saw had no leg-skin showing at all and most had multiple layers on top. One even had full hat and gloves. I also saw a dog w/ a coat on. Granted, it was a wimpy looking dog, but still...

Daylight Savings Rocks

So last night when I was leaving my client relatively early, some weird feeling possessed me. Maybe it was the sun beating down on me during rush hour traffic or maybe it was that I had ordered a new pair of running shoes (that are currently out for delivery), or the fact that I realized that I better start actually running if I want to meet my goal of running 10 miles before I sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon on April 30th. Whatever it was I put on my running shoes and bolted out the door for the first time since Thanksgiving (yikes!). I only had twenty minutes to run, but I used every minute with glee as the sun began to set and blind me. The exciting part is that I could have gone much longer than twenty minutes - I didn't totally lose all my muscle mass and lung capacity. Wahoo! Can't wait to be able to start running with you girls again once our schedules open up.

Kickoff to GOTR

Last night was the first session of Girls on the Run. We have a full group already with two repeaters (Katie Hazen and Maive) and one little sister (Brooke). It seems like we either have really quiet or really loud girls - one or the other. Its different without CJ, but the new coaches, Sarah and Kat, seem like they are really excited to coach and it comes as a bonus that they are actually runners as well. Excited for the season!