unbreak my heart

Here's the update on Ye Ole Ticker.
It's fine.
I wore my bomb for 24 hours. While it looked like I was having an irregular beat a bit higher than the DRs liked, after a stress test and another EKG, it looks fine. They don't know what causes it and it might come and go. I could go on beta blockers but with my running, she really doesn't want to go that route and neither do I. I'm having blood work done to get out my thyroid though I just had that done in Nov.
So...that's that. After 3 days of not running (which in these weeks leading up to Boston has felt like forever) I'm cleared to hit the road again. WOOHOO just in time for CRAPPY weather.
Oh and hello, who invented that stress test thing? How the hell you suppose to do that without a bra?

I know that it's a heartquake

There will be bonus points for getting the title of this post.
NO GOOGLING
So last week, it was a tough week. I think I packed too much in without enough recovery, something that I honestly rarely do. I tend to err on the side of a lot of recovery.
Because I'm lazy.
Ok, no really, I don't want to get hurt and the older I get the more I see how important recovery is.
For a while now, I've had this weird fluttering in my chest. Initially I thought it might have been some dehydration. Still possible. It comes and goes. After last week, it came and stayed. My resting HR has been a little high so I'm sure that could be some over training. Boston is 4 weeks away and boy am I ready. Hitchcock and I pretty much ran our long run on Sat. threatening each other so we'd get through it. After that run, I decided 2 days off. No running at all. I also decided to go see my Dr cause why not.
I really like my Dr. He's curious about things and tend to go on the side of less is more which I find refreshing.
They hooked me up to an ECG to see what was up with my ticker. It's true, my resting heart rate is higher than it's been on my last few doctor visits. When he asked me to describe what it felt like, I told him it felt like my heart was skipping a beat. He looked at his computer and said, well, that's because it is. He showed me the read out and yup, there it is! WEIRD.
It also feels weird. He went to talk to the cardiologist in his office. She, too, thought it was a little odd but not serious. Mostly odd because they don't know why it's happening.
Now I'm hooked up to a heart rate monitor for the next 24 hours. This thing is RIDICULOUS. Just imagine running with one of these instead of the nice Garmins we all have. As the nurse was hooking it up, she told me to tuck all the wires in my pocket so people wouldn't think I had a bomb. I love post 9/11 thinking.
In short, he doesn't think it's anything serious and prob. can't do anything about it but it's annoying.
I will update after they remove this contraption.

`cause down the shore everything's all right

I have been tardy in my blogging. So much to report!
Recap of the last 2 weeks of running:
Week before last RayK and I headed out for what most people following Pfitz marathon plans dread: the long run with marathon pace miles. This time it was 15 miles with 12 at MP. I was hoping for 8:20 pace for the MP portion. We ended up averaging 8:10s. And I felt great. Yes, it was a tough workout that one always is but I don't think I killed myself. It felt comfortably hard.
Last weekend, Loren and I headed to FL to surprise her dad for his 70th bday. I got in a 10 miler and a 6 miler. IN SHORTS. That was very very nice. We also hit the FL highpoint at a whopping 345 feet. That brought my total to 30, Loren's to 32.

This week's running called for high milage (for me). I ran my 20 earlier in the week so I could do a tune up race today. 20 miles on River Road. I usually ride river road from my house, it's a nice 26 miles loop. When I run it, it's an out and back. With hills. A lot of hills. Long hills. almost 2300' of hills. Up and down which is good, but it is a TOUGH run. I was cooked for a few days after. Did a recovery run with the dog the day after. Man oh man.
This had me concerned about today's race. Loren, Bea and I ran 5 yesterday and I felt ok. A little dead in the legs.
Yesterday afternoon, I took the train to Asbury Park to meet my long time friends Paul and Frank who have a place out there and were kind enough to put me up and hang out with me. Paul and I went to get my number yesterday and it was windy. I was concerned about that. And the weird course: 4 loops covering boardwalk, road, and um, marble flooring. On the course, we ran though the convention center and a falling apart casino. I would certainly say this was the most interesting course I've run.
Before going to bed last night, I was bellyaching to Loren about my tired legs, the wind, the weird course, what was I thinking? She told me to put the p***y away and run hard. She gives the best pep talks.
I got up this morning, ate, and paul brought me over to the start. It was about 40, a nice temp, but yes there was wind. My hat flew off in the first quarter mile.
Mile 1 7:39 well look at that, perfectly paced
Mile 2 7:42 I had fallen in step with a guy between mile 2 and 3. He asked me my goal and I said sub 1:40. He told me his was sub 1:50. I shot him a look and said well you're way ahead of that!
Mile 3 7:25 wind sorta at my back and on the boardwalk, getting ready to run through the convention hall for the first time. End of lap 1.
Mile 4 7:42
Mile 5 7:40
Ok, I know I saw mile markers 6-8, though not when I RAN miles 6-8. No lie, I think they blew away. Still with my pal, I think his name was Mike. He was pretty sure I was one of the lead woman and I just laughed. I was like, no way. I know at least 10 women are ahead of me.
miles 6-8 23:04
Coming up on loop 3.
Mile 9 7:34. I was running the longer portion of the boardwalk well but then once through the convention center the wind would pick up. UGH
Mile 10 7:41
And here, ladies and gentlemen, is when I lost my sub 1:40. Mile 11 because of the wind tunnel from hell. It had picked up so much I felt like I was being pushed back. I know there's nothing I could have done about it. I was running my ass off, even tucking behind Mike when I could and it just didn't matter.
Mile 11 8:11. That is just so terrible. I was so mad. And then, ya know, I'm trying to do math (I don't recommend this this late in a race. It's just not good for you.) So I knew the sub 1:40 was gone unless I pulled a seriously miracle out of my ass. Unlikely. But I could still PR.
Mile 12 7:45 Last long straightaway on the boards and through the building, the finish was right beyond that.
Mile 13 7:39 Just like I started with! This wasn't pretty, I could feel the drool on my face.
.1 44 seconds
Finish 1:40:53
OH WINDY MILE 11 I CURSE THEE!!!
Mike finished just ahead of me, I went over to him, gave him a big hug and said sub 1:50 my ass. He was thrilled, telling me he coached HS XC and doesn't race much any more. So good for you Mike!!
There is some good news:
1. The race was won by a woman. I love it when that happens. She ran 5:54 pace (1:17:26) and beat the first guy by 30 seconds.
2. I PRed
3. I qualified for next year's NYC marathon. No more 9+1 for me. Take that NYRRs!!!
4. This capped off a 48+ mile week
and the stats:
20/188 women 5/59 age group (40-49) 5/77 master (over 40) 83/416 over all.
I'd say at the end of a tough week, this is an awesome result.
5 weeks until Boston! Who's excited?

Hey when she moves When she moves When she moves like she runs

Yesterday I capped off my highest milage running week in 2 years. A whopping 46.2 miles. While I know to a lot of you, that's not a lot but with the nagging plantar fasciitis I've had for the last couple of years, I haven't been able to handle the higher milage stuff. Plus, after PRing in Boston last year with a peak week around 45 miles, I'm not sure I need to go up anywhere crazy (I think my highest milage week ever was when I was training for NJ and that was 60 miles). Yes, I know there are people out there who preach you're not going to get faster unless you RUN MORE. I think you're not going to get faster unless you figure out WHAT WORKS FOR YOU. RIght now, this is working for me and I do not want to run the risk of that horrible pain in my foot coming back. I've been keeping it mostly at bay, a nag here and there, but upping my over all strength seems to have really helped.

This weekend was a mix of running and socializing with runners. A lot. Long run on Sat with the gang of uptown girls and Ms. Bea who ran a personal distance of 8 miles. I ran 18. After, there was a big tired love fest.
She was TIRED after her run but loved it. She (with the help of Loren) has been coming along for part of my long runs and really loves running with a pack.
Sat. night I went to Dessert Wars, a fundraiser for The Boston Arts Academy, the charity my pal Rayk is running Boston for.
I intentionally did my 18 miler before going to this event, as there were close to 40 desserts to try. I will be detoxing for weeks.
Sunday, Loren and I headed to The Armory for the Heps, which is the Ivy League championships. We went to a pre-meet breakfast with Cornell (Loren's school) alums and stayed to watch the meet. While by nature, track meets are boring, there were some exciting races. Most notably, the women's 4x800 relay. Princeton set a league record running it in 8:43:16. Really, the most amazing moment of the day was watching Kate Grace, a senior from Yale and their anchor, take her team from 7th place (and a good 50 yards back on the track) to 3rd over all. She ran a 2:03 800. For those of you who don't know anything about times, that is FAST. Really fast, esp. in a relay. It was 2 seconds faster than the individual 800 that she ran and also won.
Another moment I enjoyed off the track was watching Loren give the winners of the mile and the 800 their awards. They announced the presenter "Loren Mooney winner of this event in 1993" when she presented for the mile. When she came back to her seat I said "most those girls weren't even born when you won this event, they're looking at you like you're some old lady". Over all, it was pretty fun.
After, I came home for my slow recovery run and then had an evening of Oscars.
This week's milage should be about last week's, maybe a hair less. Here's to continuing a strong training cycle.

I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb

Here's the recap of yesterday's Cherry Tree 10 miler. I've done this race before and it's a great event, but man has it grown over the years! And gotten very competitive. The first time Loren and I did it, it was as a relay. I don't even remember what year it was. It was a small field, made up mostly of people doing the relay. We won the women's division. There were maybe 5 women's teams. There's also the option of doing the entire 10 miles solo, what they call the "race of the hardcore". The race is 3 loops of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. I tried to find a better elevation map, but this will have to do. You get the idea of the hills. They're not terrible, but ya know, they're there.
This year's race saw a pretty big field (106 relay teams, 3 to a team) and 802 "hardcore" 10 milers. There were some fast times as well-first male 53:53 and the first female 1:00:05.
Yea, I was no where near that.
My goals for this race were to run strong and PR. I was planning on perhaps 7:45 as a pace. Just an FYI from my last post, I went with my DS trainers. I had only done 1 run in my Mirages and only 4 miles. I didn't think that was enough to go out and race a 10 miler with.
Here are the splits:
1 7:29
2 8:09
3 7:36
4 7:22
5 7:51
6 7:57
7 7:33
8 7:54
9 8:10
10 7:28
Total 1:17:35 (just about 7:45 pace)
PR of close to 2 minutes.
Can you guess where the hills where?
This race has a tricky start. It's very easy to go out way too fast because it starts on a big down hill and everyone starts together. I didn't want to get sucked into running as fast as the relay people or blowing down the downhill. I noticed I was doing a bit of both so I eased up a bit. I also knew the hill would becoming before the end of mile 2 so I wanted to be in a nice rhythm by then.
I fell into step with someone where the familiar Front Runner jersey and we ran together. I'm embarrassed to admit it took me about a mile to realize I actually knew this person, Michael. We ran together, mostly in silence. I'd call out the splits every mile and if I'd lag, he'd look back to make sure I was staying with him. I felt like I was running an even effort, perhaps picking it up on the downhills.
One cool thing about running the whole 10 miles is you pass the transition area twice. Each time, the energy level is really high as runners head in for the hand off and the next wave starts with a huge burst of energy. The 2nd time around, I said to Michael if sounded as if we were being chased by a stampede. the sound of oncoming footsteps was so loud.
One more time up the hill, then it's pretty much down hill to the finish, but the way the park curves, it feels like a looooong mile. I just focused on pushing and glanced at my watch to see where I was. Under 1:18 was pretty much in the bag, and I was happy about that. Michael and I crossed the line together.


(thanks to Dave for the photo!)
Oh yea, this was also my first race as a master and was good enough for 3rd place in my new AG.
In other news, this was Loren's first 10 miler. I swear, she sandbags even when she doesn't mean to. She never expects to run as fast as she does. Just pin a number on her and off she goes. She ran 1:09:11 (6:55 pace) and won her AG by a minute. I have to enjoy these few months I have until she joins me in the 40s.

In these shoes? I doubt you'd survive

Ah I love the smell of new shoes in the morning! Finding the right shoes however...
For years I was running in Asics 21XX series. Until they did something to the 2150s that, well, I just could not forgive them for. Why do shoe companies do that? Such a huge change. I went through 1 pair and they sucked. To add insult to injury, my marathon shoe of choice was the Asics DS trainer. The up dated version also had changes, so I never even when there with the 15. Luckily, right before Boston last year, I found a pair of 14s and have been carefully NOT running too much in them incase I want to run Boston in them this year as well (they have less than 200 miles on them).
Since the new Asics sucked, I moved to Brooks Adrenalines which I've been totally happy with as a trainer, though I want something a bit lighter to race in. With my problems with PF and some flattish feet, I need a bit of support in my shoes. I've had super feet insoles and they've worked great. Adding more strength training to my routine I believe has also helped my issues. I've heard rave reviews about the Kinvara but just didn't want to risk going to a neutral shoe. I've also heard they're good up until mile 20 of a marathon. I want something good up until mile 26.2 of a marathon. So now Saucony has introduced the Mirage, in the same family but with a little bit of support. I just got a pair of these and I'm itching to take them out. They'll go on a recovery run today and hopefully I will race the Cherry Tree 10 miler in them on Sunday. I will report back.

Speaking of 10 miler, since I'm racing this weekend, I've rearranged my running a bit. On Sat, I did my long run on 16 then yesterday I did 17 so I'd have time to recover and be able to race on Sunday and not have to worry about getting the long run in.
While that's a little closer than I'd normally want my long runs to be, I felt pretty good. The pace was about the same for both and I've had minimal pain.
So yes, I'm doing a 10 miler on Sun. I really like this distance and it's too bad there are so few 10 mile races. This course is 3 loops of Prospect Park in Brooklyn which is fairly rolling with a big up hill and a big down hill. It will be my first race as a master and I am hoping to PR.

In other news, anyone even slightly interested in running has by now heard of the Boston Marathon changing it's registration process and qualifying times. While slightly confusing for 2012-13, I think it's pretty much the best they could do. What does this mean for me? (since this is all about ME!) well, nothing really, since I don't think I'm going to run Boston again (for a while anyway) but hypothetically, it means for next year, I would need to run a 3:50, but if I ran my goal time of sub 3:40, I'd be able to sign up earlier. For 2013, my qualifying time goes back to 3:45 which is what it was when I first qualified. But like I said, I don't have any plans on going it after this year.

And lastly, last week I posted about raising money for The Trevor Project. The response so far has been GREAT. In one week, we've raised over $2200! We also got a shout out on The Trevor Project's Facebook. Thanks to all of you who donated and the donation site will be up until Boston.

Money, that's what I want.

Back in October, I wrote about going over the George Washington bridge and the suicide prevention signs that had been posted on the walk way. Registration for the Boston Marathon was also around that time. On that bike ride, I hatched the idea of running the Boston marathon for The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project runs a 24/7 suicide prevention hotline aimed at helping LGBT kids, who are FOUR TIMES more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers. Yes, four times.

I came up with this idea to raise money for the work The Trevor Project does and to hopefully be an example for younger LGBT people. I have also asked other LGBT runners running Boston to help me so this is a group effort. We all want to make a difference.

All of us running would be running anyway. We are all qualified for Boston and we are all paying our own way to get there. Other than the service fee Crowdrise charges (if you donate through them) all the money will be going directly to The Trevor Project.
So I am asking you to join us and make a donation to The Trevor Project. Just follow the link.
If you are running Boston and would like to join the fundraising team (you don't even have to be gay!) please let me know.

Finally, I want to share the "It's Gets Better" video made by Front Runners New York, NY's LGBT running club. The club has been around for more than 30 years and I started running with them in 1999. Here members (some of whom will be running with me in Boston!) talk about coming out, growing up, and why life does get better.