6/28/2012

Three Things Thursday

1. Showing some treadmill love: Hillwork in flat flat Holland. There you go.



It's not too bad since there's a TV in front of it.


2. TMI?: As you probably already know, I am a huge Anton K. fan. I truly believe the guy is kick-ass for doing what he does. But I do find this pic funny. He posted it up on his FB page. Am I the only one that notices that part of Anton is quite prominent in this pic? Yeah, I know...it might be just me...dirty mind, joy forever, bladiebla.


3. Ra-a-ace: There's a planned race ultra thingie coming up this weekend. There's a river involved. Scared sh*t and excited at the same time. With the effing head cold I'm trying to fight off, this could be interesting...

6/18/2012

Marathon Denim - Slachtemarathon race report

Last week was a 'high'-ish mileage week in the whole ultra training / summer plans thingie, so last weekend called for some long long runs. Part of one of those long runs (I did some extra miles before the start of the marathon) was the Slachtemarathon (Friesland, the Netherlands) on Saturday. The race only takes place ones every four years, so it's quite a special one.

John had forced me into this one kindly requested whether I would like to participate. So, about two months ago I'd clicked the 'register' button. I wasn't too excited about this one, since (i) I'm not a fan of Friesland (don't even ask...and yes, it has something to do with that bum hole that is my father), and (ii) it had a 6:30 AM start, and I would have to spend the night before the race up there. I know, really nothing to complain about.

Boy, was I wrong. Not only did last weekend's experience erase every negative thought I'd had about Friesland (thanks to the lovely bed and breakfast we'd booked), but also did I have a blast at the marathon.

The 6:30 AM start and 4:30 AM wake-up call weren't half as bad as I'd feared they would be. Although, I did barely make it to the start line in time. After sprinting those miles to the start, I entered the corral with one minute to spare. Only to find they had decided to postpone the start - for another 10 minutes. Yay. Gave me some minutes to get that heart rate down. And to look for Laetitia. Did not manage to spot her during the race - and then found her at the finish line. Brilliant.

I'd decided to head out at 4 hour / 4:10 hour pace, because I'd planned to make a 28 mile / 45K long run out of it. Woke up with some nasty GI issues, so I'd anticipated on testing the bathrooms en-route. Ha! Good thing I was wearing denim colored shorts (www.inknburn.com). A white skirt would not have been the best choice for that day.

6:40 AM: There we go. Headed out with John and his running buddy Jeffrey. Had the first bathroom break at 3K / mile 2. The next one at 16K / mile 10. Then another one at 26-ish K / mile 16. And those weren't speedy bathroom breaks. My poor tummy. :) Apart from the GI thingie, I was feeling great. John had some issues with his ankle/calf and Jeffrey had some issues with his hip. He'd decided to speed up a bit to give him some time to spare if the hip would force him to walk.


Photo courtesy - Runninghero

So, from that point on - John was stuck with me. Ha! Poor him. Since I'd plugged in my iPod, I was singing along. Song after song. And I really can't sing. We did run into Carlo and Rinus, but, apparently they did not enjoy my singing and decided not to stick with us. Weird guys. ;)

Most of the course was on concrete (no kidding), but we did get to run through some muddy patches (woohoo!). Slippery muddy patches. And on one of those, John decided to take a slide for it.

(Photo courtesy: Ans de Boer)


This pretty much sums it up.


 Yep, that's me in the back. Laughing at with John. This was just a couple of miles after his muddy mess accident. And I still couldn't stop laughing about it. Yes, I'm that mean. Get over it. ;)


Me working my 'charming' face.


I blame ultra training and strength training for those quads. Not the lean and mean look I was aiming for. ;)

With the finish line in sight I wanted to take a sprint for it. John did not approve. A simple 'Bye, bye' did the trick to make him sprint after me. :) 4:05:32 hours after crossing the start line, we'd finished this race. Taken into account that I was aiming for long run pace 4 - 4:10 hours and that I'd spent quite some time in the bathroom - not too bad for a fun run. :) Legs felt fresh enough to head out for another long run the day after this marathon. Despite of the concrete (that stuff is devilish on the ankles) Yay! :)


Finally found Laetitia. And she is in fact wearing a full skirt - it just looks like half of it is gone.


Goof ball, anyone?



Working another one of my 'charming' looks. With Mom's service dog.

For now, I'll end this post with a pic of my butt. Pointing out - painfully clear - that the shorts modelled on www.inknburn.com aren't modelled on my butt.

6/15/2012

Marathon denim - Yay or nay

What I plan on wearing in tomorrow's planned marathon (if sucky Knee and Ankle let me):


Photo courtesy www.inknburn.com

Okay - your call: Marathon Denim - Yay or Nay?


6/12/2012

Happy B-day Gran

Last Friday would have been my dear Grandma's 94th birthday. She passed away a month before her 90th birthday - four years ago.
*enter overemotional blog post* ;)
No, I'm kidding. I still miss her, especially since she and my mom have raised me together (with a dad being as pitiful an excuse for a man as my father is, those two women encouraged me to get my law degrees and to follow that silly heart of mine). That combined with the fact that I'm her spitting image...well, let's just say I'm reminded on a daily basis that she's still sort of there and with me.
*enter confession*
Well, to be honest - she is always with me in races and on long runs. Nope, I'm not referring to the 'I can feel her here' kind of presence. I'm referring to the 'she IS there' kind of presence.
Yep, I carry around a bit of her ashes in my hand held / hydration vest. And I honestly could not care less about the way others feel about that.
So, I guess we could state that my Gran is a marathoner. And an ultra runner. Not a lot of 94 year olds that can say that, huh?
Okay, for those of you that are still with me - and did not stop reading because of my freakiness...
Still training for this Summer's planned dream races. Being as easy on The Knee and The Ankle as I can. Careful with those suckers. And yes, I do spend a heck of a lot of time on the treadmill set at 15% incline.

6/04/2012

Well, that was hilarious - new 10 Mile PR

Since the food poisoning - marathon combo worked out so well last week (uhm...not!), I had some 'anger' I needed to get rid off. So, I figured, why not try my luck at a 10 miler and see if I can PR on that one (old PR (last September) was 1:18:06). Burning lungs is what I needed after the whole food poisoning bonanza.
So, yesterday, the perfect 10 miler came along - just a 15 minute drive and cool temps. Lintloop MAX 10 miler in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Running buddy John was sweet enough to pace me (well...that actually should say 'kick me in my behind'). I could not have asked for a better pace bunny. He even let me complain in the last mile or so - mainly about how much I dislike these shorter distances. :)
Managed to finish (all credits to John for this one) in 1:15:28 (a 2:34 minute PR) and second female overall (yeah, I know...the speedy chicks must have decided not to come out because of the rainy weather...but still...I had a cyclist for the last two miles - how freaking cool is that. ;)). Just the 'up' I needed after the whole food poisoning/marathon thing. :) The day after, The Knee is bugging me (the thing hates speeding up). Will see what my PT says about that. :)
I've been googling like mad for photos, but these two photos (photo courtesy to John) are the only ones that I was able to find:

My 'normal' face is way more attractive than the one I'm showing you here. I hope. And yes, that's a chunk of Brownie in my hand. My way of refueling, okay? ;)


How did your weekend races go?