My Marathon Trip

Greetings from Boulder!  I planned to arrive here this evening, but due to a lot of different factors, I managed to pull in around noon today.  Yesterday I planned to drive from Pittsburgh to Kansas City, but by the time I got to Kansas City, it was still light out and I felt great.  I kept going and made it to Hays, Kansas last night.  This meant that this morning I only had about 5 hours of driving to do, as opposed to 9.  I'll take it! (Though I was bummed this meant I did not get to meet up with Kim this morning as tentatively planned).  I guess the beauty of road trips is like a longrun: anything can happen.

Friday was a long day, and I was amazed at how good I felt while driving.  I did not want to stop, and, like any good runner, I kept equating it to a marathon.  No stopping to walk or play (though fuel and bathroom breaks were acceptable) and I did not hit a wall until 11 pm after taking off at 6:45 am.  There were a few low points (Indiana and Illinois are so flat and boring!) and some high points (good podcasts, snacks, etc).  I knew I could keep going if I absolutely had to and make it to Boulder by 3 am, but I also knew it was not worth it to kill myself.  I started to look for a dog-friendly motel near Hays at about 11.  Thank you Motel 6.

My drive today felt like nothing and I was out of Kansas before I knew it.  I felt so welcomed to Colorado!

.

It is still three hours from the Kansas border to Boulder, but the time seemed to fly by.  As I said, I made it to Boulder by noon which gave me plenty of time to relax, unpack, eat, take a little nap, go for a run around my favorite loop, etc.  We did some errands tonight and are getting ready to leave again tomorrow for northern CA.  We will probably camp somewhere in Nevada, though, to break the trip up.  It will be so nice to not have to drive and to have company!  Poor Lemon was such a good sport on the first leg of the trip.  She does not love car rides and she had to put up with me talking and singing to her a lot.  

What do you like to do to break up the time on car trips?  What is the longest or furthest you have driven in a day?

Hill Repeats

Today was my fourth day of running in a row and I am tired.  I do this stupid thing where I anticipate that I will be too busy later in the week to run (um, driving across the country where a break to run would be fantastic!), so I get all my hard workouts over early in the week.  That way, if I do have to run when I am busy, I can make it an easy and enjoyable run.  Thank God I don't have a coach because I did a lot of no-nos this week.  Sunday I ran 11 miles at semi-hard effort.  Monday I felt good so I ran 7 miles total (4 at tempo), yesterday was 6 easy, and today was 5 hill repeats for 5.5 miles (2 miles warm-up, 2 miles up and down the same hill, 1.5 miles cool-down).  

I did these hills between all of my grading. I needed a break.  Students mostly impressed me so it was good grading, but just a lot of it all at once.

I have to admit I love hills.  I do not like hills late in a race, but when I see hills, I get ready to embrace.  I had a fun time running around one particular hilly block 5 times this afternoon.  It was hot and humid out so I am sure that did not help my speed.  Oh well.  I felt great and I really like the monotony of the workout.  I did feel a bit silly when I kept passing people walking and I was doing the same thing.

By the final mile and a half home, I was going SLOW, which was a good sign I worked hard (I think?).  I feel good and am ready for some driving over the next few days.  Yes, I will rest somewhere along the way.  

Hills: Love 'em or Hate 'em?  

The End is So Close...

I feel like it is Mile 24 of a marathon.  I am almost done and so close to the finish.  But the finish line is so far away.  I cannot believe I have managed to get everything done that I needed to finish out the school year.  Final project presentations are tomorrow morning and then all I have to do is grade them and turn in the final grades.

Then I am preparing for the most epic of all road trips.  Remember my epic winter road trip just a few months ago from PA-FL-CO-NJ?  Well, this one will be NJ-PA-MO-CO-NV-CA.  Basically driving from NJ to CA in about 5 days.  With my favorite black pup in the backseat for 3 days and then with 2 pups in the back and 2 humans in the front on the drive from CO to CA.  I have to say that after all the long flights I have made over the past few months, this driving is refreshing.  I would rather be in a car than an airport or plane any day.  I feel like I have more space to think in a car without worrying about a stranger next to me elbowing me.

Why am I doing this, you may ask, when I was just on the west coast 2 times within a month (LA in April and Oregon last week)?  Well, D's sister lives in Arcata, CA and we did not get to see her over the holidays and this week works well with D's schedule.  Plus, it provides a little mini vacation (like I need another one?) for me between ending my semester of teaching and working on a bunch of writing projects this summer.  And, like I said, a car trip with the dogs is much more appealing than more flights right now.

So all I have to do is get through a couple more days of grading and packing, then I head to may parents' in western PA on Thursday.  Friday will be the most driving from western PA to Kansas City (I hope to get there but at least somewhere close to it).  Saturday will be Boulder and D has promised to have fun things waiting for me.  Then Sunday we will make it to somewhere in Nevada or eastern CA.  So Monday will be a quick trip to Arcata where we will meet up with his sister and his parents.  We can go to Redwoods!  Then head south to San Francisco (my favorite city ever!) and Monterey for a couple days before driving back to Colorado.

So, with that itinerary set, I hope to get some good running in between car rides.  And, more importantly, what are some good books on tape or podcasts I can download to help make the time go by?  Or any suggestions on places to stop anywhere along I-70 in the middle of America?

First Long(ish) run with the Garmin

Hello! I made it back safely and on time yesterday.  I made my connection and then I caught the right train back home.  I had left my hotel in Eugene at 9 am (West Coast) and I was home with the Lemon Dog by about 10:45pm (East Coast).  What a long day.

I slept late this morning and felt great.  I then ran a bunch of errands (gas, oil change, car wash, groceries) and then decided it was time for a long run with this new toy:

This was taken minutes after I got it in the airport and my hands were shaking, I was so excited!

I ran twice with my Garmin in Eugene (6 easy miles one day and 3.5 miles the next) so I was itching to get in a nice, semi-hard, semi-long run.  Ha!  That sounds ridiculous when I say it.  To me, semi-hard is just over my half race pace and semi-long is between 10-15 miles.  So I went out for 11 miles during the middle of the day (not too hot but enough to feel it).  Garmin on my wrist, Camelback of water on my back.

My initial thoughts on the Garmin are that it is heavy.  It has been fine for all runs so far but I know that once I start to run 20 miles or so, it is going to feel like a brick on my wrist.  I have run marathons with a simple sport watch and hated them by around mile 22.  Oh well, I will get used to it.

The other fear I had about the Garmin was that I would pay too much attention to the Garmin and not focus on running by feel.  It has been beeping each mile and that is pretty much the only time I look down at it.  It actually helped a lot today to pace myself.  I wanted to average about 9 min miles and I knew the route well so I could anticipate the slower, hillier miles and also the faster, flatter miles.  It worked out really well and I was happy with my 11 miles.

Finally, Happy Mother's Day to everyone.  I called my mom and I was lucky enough to spend the day with this girl:

I missed her after 4 days without her.

That counts as a good Mother's Day, right?  What did you do to celebrate today?

Running in Eugene

Track Town USA did not disappoint.  The running here was awesome!  

My first morning here I woke up at 5:00 and headed out the door at 6 for a nice, one hour run.  I headed down the street and crossed the Willamette River to reach the bike paths and trails I saw on the map.

The sun was just coming up and it was so pretty.  

I figured out I was running on what is known as "Pre's Trail" named after University of Oregon track star Steve Prefontaine, of course.  

And I ran right past the Ducks' Stadium.  

These are the majority of the pictures I took on my run my first morning.  The second morning I went for a shorter run on the same trails (I am a creature of habit).

Then this morning I was feeling the effects of the numerous bottles of Oregon wine the conference provided us with last night.  I decided I would take it easy before getting to the airport.

The conference was fantastic and I really had a great time.  They invited about 10 of us there and we all do very similar research so we made excellent connections with one another.  Most live far away and internationally so it was fantastic that the U of Oregon could host us for a few days and allow us to share our work.  We might even be pulling all our papers together for a book, so we were actually productive, too.  Yay.  I am in the Eugene airport getting ready for my short flight to San Francisco before a much longer flight to Newark.  I just realized that my connecting layover is really short, so I hope I can make it!  I look forward to catching up in the blog world soon.

Oh My Garmin

Hello from Eugene.  I have some fantastic news.  Remember that Garmin I was supposed to get in mid-late May when I get to Colorado to see David?  Well, now I have it!  

It even almost matches my running outfit.

How did that happen, you might ask?  Well, this funny thing happened on my way to Eugene.  I had a layover in Denver.  The layover was barely an hour long and it was the middle of the day.  I joked that D should come visit me during my layover.  However, he lives in Boulder, about 45 minutes away when there is no traffic, so it would not make sense.  When I landed, I texted him to say I am on CO soil and I was tempted to just stay.  He said he was at work but he'd call me in a few minutes.  Long story short, but I got off the plane, he called me, I turned around, and there he was running to me!

[Without going into full details of his shady practices, he basically bought a cheap ticket to get into the airport that left after my flight.  He was then able to get credit back on that flight when he said he did not need to use it.  Shady, I know.]  But worth it since he not only brought me my Garmin, but also lunch.

Turkey, fig, brie, arugula wrap from Whole Foods. Beats airport food. There might have also been cheese, fruit, and chocolate involved.

And I got to see him, if only for an hour.

And then I had to get on a flight to Eugene.  By myself, but with my new Garmin.

The University of Oregon hooked me up with a pretty decent hotel room in a prime location near the campus and near running trails.  

This doesn't even show the bed portion of the room.

The weather, running, and conference have been fantastic.  I will update on that soon.

Off to Track Town USA

I am leaving this morning for a quick trip to Eugene, OR.  I am so excited, especially after I worked all day yesterday trying to wrap up most parts of the semester.  I got a lot of frustrating student emails coming up with excuses or asking how to raise their grade.  Argh.  But I will whine no more since I will be at a small workshop with other people who do the same kind of research that I do!  Yay!  And in Oregon!  Double Yay!

Now since I am a runner and will be on East Coast time and will be in Track Town, USA, I foresee some early morning runs in my future.   I will be staying at a sweet hotel on the U of O campus (thank you conference organizers!).  There are a couple small walking bridges that go across the Willamette River to a park with running trails.  I think when I meet other people at the workshop tonight (we have a small, informal gathering to watch a new film) I will ask if anyone wants to join me for a run.  When I go to these workshop/conferences I tend to bond with people over exploring new places to run.

Today is a rest day.  Last night was intended to be an easy 6 mile run, but it just felt so GOOD to run that I kind of made it a bit harder than easy.  I felt good and I knew today I would be resting on a plane all day, minus a one mile walk with a big pack to the train station this morning.  That is always a good workout.

Oh-and I have another food book to read!  The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Wal-Mart, Applebee's, Farm Fields, and the Kitchen Table by Tracie McMillan.

The author grew up on processed, mid-western food before moving to Brooklyn and seeing 'foodies' in action spending lots of money on local, organic food.  She follows food workers around the US and works on a farm in CA, in the produce aisle of Wal-Mart in Detroit, and in an Applebee's kitchen in Brooklyn to explore why Americans eat the ways we do.