As promised...

Here are some pictures, thanks to my mom, of last weekend's race down in Birmingham.

Enjoy!

This is going into mile three! Note: the amount of people still in the lead group. We had just ran the last three miles at 5:32pace...

Mile four...same pace...less people...

um...well, mile 13...

coming into the finish...hero shot

classic.

Willie Nelson!

Kristen and I are headed to see Willie Nelson tonight with Asleep at the Wheel in Holmes Center! After a long week of tests and chilly training, definitely been looking forward to the concert.

Taking off to Chattanooga for a little 'warm weather' training this weekend. Monday evening I am being inducted into the Chattanooga Athletic Hall of Fame. Very cool! More to follow soon.

Mercedes Benz Half-Marathon Race Report

Mercedes Benz Half-Marathon Race Report
2-15-09

After training in the Siberian Tundra for the last three weeks, Kristen and I decided to travel to Birmingham, Al for a little early season tune up run. Kristen was using the race for pacing practice for her marathon in Albany, Ga during the first week of April, while I was just getting an overall idea of where my running fitness stood.

Kristen and I left Boone on Friday for Chattanooga. After crashing in the Nooga overnight, making a hundred on my Human Genetics online quiz (yes, I do homework on Friday nights) and eating my bodyweight in carbs we were ready to set off for Bham the next morning. We got to Birmingham, rocked the expo and took off for our Latina getaway (aka…La Quinta Hotel) before meeting up with my mom, who was kind enough to travel down to see us race, for a Valentine’s Day dinner.

The Fourth of July celebration came early at 4:30am (technically 5:30am our time thanks to the central time change). With roughly fourteen alarm clocks blasting, the radio turned on and a ringing wakeup phone call we decided it was probably best to get up before we got arrested for disturbing the peace. Kristen and I got to the race start roughly an hour before the race began, ran our four mile warm up and just barely made the start time.

So we were off and running. Thank god, because surprisingly I was chilly standing around for the minute I was on the start line. Marc and I had planned to take the opening four miles extremely conservatively (5:40-45 pace) after my performance at Toronto Half-Marathon back in October where I PRed for the 5k, 8k, and 10k then promptly blew completely apart. We lumbered along through the few miles at 5:32-35 pace. Felt easy as was observed by the roughly 50 people that were running along with us at the time. By the time we got the third mile the field had thinned out to about 10 people. I slotted in behind a track shack runner as we headed into a tough headwind. The pace felt stupid slow but I kept it rolling along knowing that from mile six to roughly mile nine we would be going uphill. My pace slowed from 5:35 to 5:50-53 pace for the uphill two miles (which was frustrating bc I got gaped by the track shack guy…lame). Once we got up and over the few miles of long rollers we had some sweeping down hills. There was an announcer at mile nine calling out split times as it was the top of the hilly section and on UAB's campus. When I got to the top of the hill I was in roughly ninth or tenth place. Over the load speaker I hear, "It looks like we have one of our elite women making a move up to the front pack, Let's cheer her on as she comes to the top of the hill." Freaking awesome...So after getting a big boost from the crowd of hungover college students, I swallowed my ego and surged repeatedly to try and close the gap back up to the track shack guy. Frustratingly, I found myself in no man's land and couldn’t close the 200m lead he had on me. From mile 10-11 I dropped my quickest mile at 5:08-10 then slowed down to 5:35 pace for 11-12mi due to slight incline. Once I hit mile 12.5 I was crossing an intersection, cruising close to the people lining the side of the street and had a blue haired lady pull directly out in from of me. I came within a foot of getting creamed to only have the lady stop completely in the intersection much to my and everyone on the side of the streets surprise. *Insert Dumb and Dumber quote here about the elderly* Regardless, I finished in eighth place overall with a PR of over thirty seconds (1:14:23).

I am very pleased with my result. After doing almost all of my tempo runs and track workouts in the snow, I am happy with my level of fitness for February. I felt in control the entire race and stuck to my pre-race plan completely. A great way to start of the 2009 season.

In other news, I want to thank Zoot for supporting me this season with race apparel, clothing and shoes. I am very excited for the opportunity. Thank you tremendously Brian and Elisette for the chance to represent such an outstanding company.

I will post some race pictures shortly.

-16 degrees F

It has been a while since I last gave an update so I decided during my run this morning to write a few words to inform everyone of my whereabouts.




For those that are not familiar with Boone, NC it is officially colder than the Arctic Circle! The last week I have been running in sub-Arctic temperatures while combating frigid windchill. Needless to say it has made all my tempo runs extra enjoyable. However, this morning took the cake. After rising at my normal 5am and getting in my bike ride while listening to Beethoven's 9th (don't knock it till you've tried it), I checked the outside temperature to determine my outerwear selection. To my surprise (not really though, I mean it is Boone) the temperature read -16 degrees F or -26degrees C or 246K (I'm a nerd). I thought, "cool I have never ran in that cold of temperature. I have to try it." So after dressing with enough clothes to summit Everest, I embarked upon my 'recovery' seven mile morning run. To my surprise, about three miles into my run my eyelashes started to freeze together. Freaking awesome! On top of that my face mask was frozen rock solid from the moisture in my breath. I have to say, however, that at that cold of temperature I there was little movement from anything or anyone and the entire run was quite peaceful. Running up the 600m hill to my apartment, honestly I did feel as if I was summiting K2. I was being tossed around by the 20mph wind with my eyelashes frozen and my face mask glewed to my face. To top it all off, outside my apartment we have hung Himalayan prayer flags... I figure with a few more training runs in that temperature I should be ready to take on either the Michelin Man in a boxing match or hang with Dean Karnazes on his Arctic 100ks.













Quick Update:




I have posted a tentative 2009 race schedule with my 09 debut race taking place mid-Feb at the Mercedes Benz Half-Marathon. Training has been going well. I will more than likely hit close to 90mi running with roughly 15k in the pool and 5-6hrs on the bike. Not bad for technically wk1.



School is going to be tough as I am taking 15hrs all science with 3labs. Surprisingly, I feel like I will have more free time to train and study as I will not be assisting with as much research this semester.



I have posted some pictures from my run this morning.





Me at the start, -16degreesF

Me at the end of the run outside my apartment

Lookout Mtn 100k Race Report

Every dog has its day, never judge a book by its cover, one tomato short of a good spagetti sauce, the Lookout Mtn 100k ultra-marathon seemed to be a day of cliches.



The preparation heading into this race, needless to say, was less than ideal. After battling back strep throat and pneumonia for two weeks, I came off two long, stressful exam/final weeks to arrive in Chattanooga Monday night. The following morning I started shadowing the peds oncology team at Erlanger Children's Hospital. It is a tremendous honor to work aside these brilliant doctors during break. I have learned more in four days than I would in an entire semester; however, being on my feet for twelve hours straight while trying to 'taper' for the 100k certainly did not help my pre race prep.



Two days before the race, Kristen came into town after finishing up her exams. The plan for the race was to lead the race from start to mile 44 where I was to meet Kristen and run the last twenty miles with her.



I awoke Saturday morning to cloudy skys. Stephanie and I drove out to the race start at Lula Lake. After some pre race preparations, I jogged down to the race start which was a mile away. I like ultra running simply because without a bike there are a lot less details to worry about. Just as the race started, the rain started to come down. Right off the gun I abandoned the pre race plan and jumped to the lead knowing that the first mile and half was on single track trails and that I did not want to get log jammed. I was officially soaking wet and cold after the first mile and half crossing a knee deep (ankle deep for most) creek and found myself in third place overall. I kept the first and second place runners in sight, sizing them up when they passed me. To be honest I was more concerned about the leader than the guy in second place. I figured the guy in second to be a recreational runner who more than likely did not know what he was getting himself into. The guy was dressed in a nike racing flats, a cotton t-shirt and basketball shorts for a 100k run in the rain! We three built a pretty good lead on the rest of the field and came into the first aid station at around mile six together. From there we shared the lead until the aid station at mile 14 where the nike flat guy and myself broke away from the other guy.

I knew the trail coming up and took the lead through mile 18 where I stopped to fuel up at an aid station. The nike free guy went past me. I knew the next ten miles were uphill so I figured that he would blow since he had not stopped for fuel. Once again we started to swap leads back and forth. By mile 26 though I had started to fade. My energy levels started to wane and I quickly became disoriented and hypothermic in the cold rain. It took me 2 hours to cover six miles. I was hallucinating and hearing sounds by the time I arrived at the mile 33 aid station. I figured myself for suffering from hyponutrimia since I had only been consuming water for the duration of the race so I asked for chicken broth. I staggered out of the aid station and headed for Lula Lake only to be corralled into a car and taken back to start line.

Lesion learned, never size up a fellow racer. As it turns out the guy in the racing flats had won numerous 100milers and had finished Badwater last year. Incredible! I would like to appologize to the front runner who crushed the feild in a cotton t-shirt, gym shorts and no nutrition. Guess there is an exception to every rule.

I will be taking about four or five days off before starting back to work for the upcoming '09 triathlon season. Merry Christmas!

Pictures coming soon...

'Oh my God! We shut the mountain down thirty minutes ago!"

Not since 1968 has Boone reported such terrible weather before Thanksgiving. Living in the high country definitely has its perks. The great views, wonderful running trails, biking routes and rock climbing just to name a few but all of these are well and good when you are able to get outside and enjoy them.



With that said, last Sunday marked my first day of training for my upcoming 100k ultra. Since I was unable to get my birthday 42mi run in on Nov. 3 thanks in large part to the fifteen hour drive to Clearwater, I prolonged it to the first Sunday available.



As usual I woke up and ate my normal oatmeal smorgasbord, topped off my water bottles, filled my backpack with varying food items and emerged from my apartment only to be greeted to gail force winds (alright a steady 25mph wind) and about three inches of snow on the ground. I had to put on my yacktracks (if you gotta ask you don't have to know) and slid down the hill to the main road. I then ran the three miles to the trail head which would take me out to the BlueRidge Parkway. Since the trail was covered in snow and ice, it took a little bit longer than normal to get out to the Parkway but none the less once I managed to slug my way out and over downed trees and frozen creek beds, I arrived at Julian Price Park at the base of Grandfather Mountain. At this point I was roughly 15 or 16mi into my journey and the weather was starting to turn. Never a good sign when I planned to ascend Grandfather Mtn which is a little over a mile high (~6000ft). I started out up the mountain having to run on the side of the road due to the amount of ice. About half-way up , the wind started to pick up stirring up the snow drifts and creating white out conditions. Wonderful! Not only was this great but since it was a balmy 19degreesF (with the windchill it was probably close to hum...Everest), my waterbottles were frozen solid. I am managed to suffer through the blizzard and mild-dehydration to reach the ranger station at the top of Grandfather. Normally, on my bike rides I fill my water bottles up at the fountain outside the station but today the fountain was frozen over...go figure...and I had to go inside. I entered through the door and was greeted by two wide-eyed rangers, who responded, "Oh my god, we didn't think anyone was on the mountain. We shut down the mountain thirty minutes ago." That was reassuring...I simply asked where the bathroom was and went in to dethaw my waterbottles so I could make it back to Linville. I descended off Grandfather and into Linville where I should have stopped and picked up some calories at the gas station. Instead, I shedded some clothing figuring I could make the eight miles to Banner Elk before I needed to refuel. How wrong was I! The great part about running from Linville to Banner Elk is that it is on the side of a major highway 105 and slightly uphill. About four miles into the trek, the weather started to turn again on me with the wind picking up, making the temperature plummet. At this point the calorie deficit started to take its toll on me and my pace slowed to what could best be described as a death march. About two miles from Banner Elk I realized I was not going to be able to make the fifteen plus miles back home in this kind of weather. I made the call for help and collapsed into the gas station at Banner Elk where I set in on all the chicken broth I could purchase with the three dollars I had on me. As I was standing in line, I was getting really weird looks from a group of teenage kids. They were jeering at me and I was delirious so I turned to them and said, "Do you guys have a problem." My wind burnt face and skinny shivering body must have been extremely intimidating to them bc they all looked startled and apologized. My roommate came to pick me up thirty minutes later. Three hot cinnamon buns followed.

And I thought that racing the World Championships was hard...

I feel like I need to document the last week since it has been completely epic! Following Clearwater 70.3, I embarked upon my week long sleep deperveration/studying ultra-marathon. the day after the race I drove fifteen straight hours from Florida to Boone, NC with a thirty minute lay over in Chattavegis to switch cars. I made sure to get some sleep Sunday bc I knew the next few days were going to be difficult but to be honest I had no idea how difficult.

Starting 5am on Monday till 1pm Thursday, here is how my days went.

From 5am to 9 or 10am (depending on the day's classes), I worked in the library. Then went to class till about 12am. From there I spent the rest of the day in lab until 9or10 o'clock at night when the janitor staff would kick me out. Then I would head to the library to continue working upon school work/research until 2am when the library would close whereby I would stumble over to Kristen's apartment and fall asleep for three hours on her couch. Then at 5or6am I would shower and return to the library till class started. This break pace continued through till Thursday when I got in the car and drove the six+ hour drive to Nashville.

Friday I had my MRI early in the morning and then went to the SERMACS conference to support some of my collegues who were presenting their research findings. Finally, this morning at 8:20 I gave my 21min lecture on the 'Validated Application of New RP-HPLC for Determination of Select Polyphenols ((+)-Catechin, Quercetin, and Trans-Resveratrol) in Blood Serum, Plasma and Urine,' got in the car and drove the six+ hour drive back to Boone.

Needless to say at this point I am so tired I cannot sleep. Tomorrow to top it all off I am running my first long run of this training cycle in preparation for my 100k ultra-marathon in December. The run will be between six and seven hours adn more than likely will be in the snow.

I hate being bored.

What I have learned this week:

1. Not training 25hrs+ a week allows me to get a lot done
2. Not sleeping 7-8hrs a night allows me to get a lot done
3. Drinking five cups of coffee a day helps me get a lot done
4. I do not like getting a lot done