So it looks like I will go after #6

I just finished running 20 miles. Unlike yesterday, it was ideallic running weather - just under 50 degrees, a mild wind and a variation between cloudy conditions and a touch of sun. Perfect. My friend Mark ran the first 13.1 with me, then I did the last 7 on the trail solo. It was nice. So barring hot or otherwise horrible weather on May 25, I will likely line up for my sixth marathon to run the Madison marathon.

I am enjoying everyone's input on my poll - please keep it coming.

Crazylegs was crazy. It was low 40 degree temps, but sustained winds of 20 mph and gusts of over 30 mph. 90% of the race was in a headwind and it is a tough course (lots of hills). But, alas, it was a lot of fun. My firm had a team and we all met up pre-race, where I quickly realized that I was clearly the running geek out of the crew! :) I went out for a warm up and after .6 I looked at my Garmin - pace 6:40? What?! That is not a warm-up - SLOW DOWN. I'm not sure what my problem is, but when it is cold, I seem to like to move. So I completed a very short warm-up then lined up in my corral. Just after 10 a.m., off we went! I felt really good, but looked at my Garmin as I was running up the first hill - .4 miles 5:51 pace!! Yikes! SLOW DOWN! I certainly did not feel that fast! So I slowed down and people were just flying by me. This is what happens at big races (everyone going out way too fast) and I am just not used to it.

BUT, after I slowed down I continued through the run and hit some admittedly painful spots. Painful due to the fast start, hills, wind and race pain in general. I was not mentally tough and had a lot of self-doubt. This is where the speed work really pays off for me. I really need to start up on that again next week! :)

The finish line for Crazylegs is the 50 yard line of Camp Randall - it is always a fun finish. I had an extra gear and came blazing across the finish line. My time was 36:26. This was not a very impressive time for me, but given my current training, I was perfectly happy with it. And it was over an 8 minute course PR too. :)

I waited for my husband and ran into some friends, which was fun. There was free beer and a band, but it was too darn cold for either. In addition, we had to walk a bit over 2 miles to get back to the start where my car was. I wanted to run, but my husband's legs were trashed and he was not having it. So I froze my butt off in my little running skirt as we walked back. All in all, it was a very good day though.

Weekly Recap:

M - 4.07 recovery (9:38)
T - 8.13 (9:22)
W - 4.08 progression (8:09 ave)
R - rest - I decided to spend my extra hour with my kids
F - planned rest
Sa - 8K race (36:27 - stats: OA - 977/9033; AG (30-34) - 145/1568; Gender AG: 15/683
Su - 20 miles (9:04) - last mile was the fastest.

Total: 42.3 miles

Crazylegs

Tomorrow is the Crazylegs Classic! And I will race! I am really looking forward to it. I ran Crazylegs in 2005 and it was my first race ever. It is a 5 mile race and at that time, it was only the second time ever I had run 5 miles. I finished in 44:xx and was so proud. From that moment on, I had the racing bug. Unfortunately, I have not run it since because it has conflicted with other obligations.

This year I am running as part of my law firm's team. I'm not really sure what to expect results wise, but I am pretty sure it will be a course PR. :)

My mileage is up a bit, but I have not been doing any speed work. While I don't think that will harm my time too much, I do wish I had been doing more because I know it can make a big difference. The course has a couple of biggish hills, but it is a lot of fun. In fact the finish is the 50 year line at Camp Randall stadium where a live band is playing and you get to hang for food and drinks after. The weather should be ok - mid 40s, which for me is perfect. The only downside is a potential for 25 mph winds from the WSW. Guess what? The race runs due west then south - go figure! :)

Wish me luck.

Congrats again to all of you who ran Boston - the good, the bad and the ugly - I enjoyed hearing of all the triumphs and tribulations.

Yes, this is how I feel after my long run today...

Today's run was tough. I am embarrassed to say upper 60s/lower 70 degree temps kicked my butt too. I am officially back to being a Wisconsin girl. The Florida girl is LONG gone. I ran slow and had a bit of trouble with the heat. My feet were sore after about 13 miles too. It was quite humbling as 6 months ago I could run 20 in my sleep. Oh well. Today is a new era and I will do with it what I can. This was my first "long" run since last fall and I am happy I got out there. I am still on the fence over whether to do the Madison half or full. The official poll is to the right - tell me whatcha think.

It was a good week for me and another bump in mileage. Everything was very slow. I do need to start adding in some speed again. I was hoping my speed work for the week would be a 5K on Tuesday, but I couldn't fit it in. I need to get more disciplined about doing my workouts.

M - 6.21 (9:42)
T - unplanned rest
W - 4 (8:57)
R - 11.5 (9:42)
F - 5.29 (9:37)
Sa - 5.59 (9:31)
Su - 16.08 (9:39)

GRAND TOTAL: 48.7 miles - an improvement for my mileage.

Good luck to everyone running Boston tomorrow!!

Oh yeah, and for those of you who are like me and just entering spring - don't forget the sunscreen! We have a beautiful low 70s day, but I now have a wicked sunburn for running in it for 2.5 hours w/o sunscreen! Ack! Yep - bodyglide too. I have some nasty wicked chafing. Boy how easy it is to forget these things after turning an opaque shade of white and running for months in frigid weather!!

It has been a rough week for me. My grandma is very, very ill. She has been in poor health for several years and has an iron will to live (some of you may recall the drama I posted on coolrunning (Mainstream Racing) just before Des Moines 2006).... But her body is finally drop-kicking her amazing will. Also, my husband's great aunt, who is a spectacular woman and interestingly enough a nun at a Dominican Monastery in Buffalo, had a massive stroke last week and is pretty much in a vegetative state.

Sometimes life just isn't nice.

So we should enjoy what we've got when we've got it. It is a gorgeous day. I just bought some flowers and I am getting ready to grill out with family and some good friends.

Kairos.

You know you are a running geek when...

So today was a success (somewhat). I did not go to work. One teleconference only. I billed a total of .5 hours. Nice! BUT, my "long run" today was only 11.5. My tummy was not agreeing with me despite a beautiful 65 degree day!!

I took chocolate donuts and daffodils into my son's first grade class in celebration of his 7th birthday (which will be in August, so we pick random dates to celebrate during spring). Both my son and his teacher were thrilled. I wish I could do that every day. Well, not the donuts, but the flowers. My childrens' teachers are so unbelievable...I am very thankful.

Onto the consumer side (yes, I was just b!ching about gas prices), BUT, we got some damn fancy new kitchen appliances. I am spoiled.

And the highlight of my day was that I got to run with my husband. As I mentioned before, he has been insanely busy, but we both strategically took today off. I schooled him on some good hills, which I fully enjoyed and he cursed my name for (but will thank me for later). It was hilarious though because he has started reading my blog lately (although not posting). He asked me if any of my blog "friends" were local and I was explaining who all of you are. So I talk about Joseph in AL, Salty and Roots in OH, Adam, Kel, Kotzebue and Bryan in the Twin Cities, Adeel in Ontario, Joe+ in Tampa, Tom in Philly, Mainers in NC(?), Hubitron and Bridget in Chicago, etc. and I am giving a brief background on each of you. Then I get to Greg. I say, oh yeah, and there is this guy in the D.C. area that is great. We used to train around the same volume and he has the same heart rate values as me, it is cool. LOL. I thought my husband was going to SPLIT a side!

He said, Mindi, I know that comment makes so much sense to you, and I understand it because I live with you, but if you said that to any "normal person" they would think you were crazy for having this great connection with some Greg in DC because you have the same "heart rate values." [cue my hat tipping to Greg, my HR fellow...] :)

We are a rare breed. I love it. And I love that my husband understands and appreciates it. :) I am a lucky girl.

It was a good day.

No bracket challenge :(

No bracket challenge for me tonight. :( I had been so looking forward to it and it was in the 60s tonight (!), but alas, my darling husband had a big trial today and could not get out in time to pick up the kids. How inconsiderate. (I am kidding, of course! :))

I have loved reading the weekend race reports. You all kick @ss, I must say. Very inspiring folks. Thank you for sharing.

As mentioned 30,000 times in the last 5 posts, I have been very busy lately. And my husband has been much much crazier busy. SO, I am taking Thursday off. We are having new kitchen appliances delivered so someone needs to be here. I intend to get appliances in order, go to both of my kids' schools for various fun celebrations, log a nice long run in 50-60 degree weather and say adios to the legal craziness that has consumed me lately. It is a beautiful thing. Cross your fingers that I can pull it off. :)

MadCity100k

OK, so I will start off by saying that I am ready to move back to Florida. Ok, not really, but this weather is frustrating. Today it was 32-36 degrees (that is the variance between the high and low) with 20 mph winds and snow. Boy am I sick of that!

I was leg #2 of the 100K relay. I initially planned to run a 7:45 pace for my 20K. But given the weather and the tough course, I was thinking 8:00 average pace was more like it. Well, I was wrong. Leg 1 was 8:10 pace, leg #2 was 8:30 pace, all for a 8:20 average. And my HR was in the low 180s the whole time, which I thought was crazy. I am just not used to wearing my HRM in races, but considering my lactate threshhold is around 176, having 180s for one hour and forty some minutes didn't seem right. I got my kick in the pants and some motivation after this race!! :)

But enough on that. This year was the second running of the 100K National Championships in Madison. Incidentally, the second year of very cold, windy weather. I was absolutely AMAZED at the runners who ran the 100K solo race. Greg Crowther won last year and was there again this year. He actually flew past me at my mile 6.5 (probably around mile 25 for him). Very cool. Michael Wardian also flew past me early in the race. He was FLYING! I don't know what his end time was (race results are not yet posted), but he was running around 6:20s or 6:30s in my estimation. Before I left, he was coming in for another lap (this race is 10 10K laps) and the announcer mentioned it was his 6th consecutive 10K in under 40 minutes. Holy cow! My friend Brad also ran it - his first 100K. I don't think he is finished yet (probably any minute), but he looked great. I cannot image running 100K. Let alone this course, these conditions. As I mentioned, the weather was pretty brutal. But the course is also not only very hilly, but a fair bit of it is on cement sidewalks too. Ouch. I have great respect for all of the brave folks out there! And of course I thought of Bryan and Adam at Chippewa - I hope the race went well for you!

This afternoon we went bowling with the boys. Much needed. Both my husband and I are TOO busy... Now I am not being ungrateful, I am happy for the work, but the working on the weekends thing is not my favorite.

Oh yeah, and my plans may change! Rootsrunner is pacing the Madison Marathon 3:50 group. I admit that the Madison Marathon is not too appealing as it is a relatively tough course and is known for consistently crappy weather. And I admit that I never thought I'd make a goal of a 3:50 marathon. HOWEVER, I think it sounds like a whole lot of fun to hang with roots and log a spring marathon even though I did not think it would be possible this year. If I can fit in a couple of long runs in the next few weeks, I just may do it!

Of course, congrats to Salty on her awesome news. I whole heartedly disagree with Adeel and Joseph on the baby names though!!!

Have a great weekend!

Salty!

No, not Salty, just plain salty! Yep, that awesome, stinky wonderfulness that you experience after a good run in the heat. And of course I don't really mean heat, but both of my runs last weekend were in 60 degree weather. I actually sweat during those runs and had that familiar salt residue all over me when I was done. Pure bliss. Heh. The things that make me happy. :) It really was fun though - it also harkened back to the days of frothy Endurox. Hopefully those will be in my future soon too.

I have been crazy busy at work. It was a gorgeous weekend (relatively speaking) and I spent most of it working. Oh well, when it rains it pours....

Greg had a great race - congrats

Joseph is coming into his own once again. Good luck on Thursday, man.

Aharmer and Northwoods Bryan have a big race coming up this weekend. GOOD LUCK!!!!

Joe+ is on the DL - get better soon!

Mainers is overseas enjoying a few pints with curry! Really!

No word from Hubitron in a while - hopefully his transitions/possibilies are going well.

I have been quiet on the blog arena b/c my running is pretty non-descript and as mentioned above, I am crazy busy. But progress is being made. My week:

M - rest
T - 6.5 miles (9:20)
W - 6.22 (8:51)
R - 5.06 (8:33)
F - rest
Sa - 8.7 (9:17)
Su - 12 (9:45)

Total: 38.5

Had I known I was close to 40 I would have logged an extra 1.5 on Sunday. But my legs were like lead on Sunday. Just tired. I haven't had the discipline to do any speed work lately. It is somewhat pathetic, but I am trying not to let running stress me. It is "my time" more than "training time" right now.

I have the MadCity 100K relay this weekend. I am in pretty hideous shape and still up 5 lbs so we'll see what happens. Again, I could use the ego check as a kick in the pants.

I ended up 3rd in my racing bracket for March Madness (damn Kansas!). 5K race in on Tuesday the 14th - I SO look forward to it. It should be a very small group of some fun people.

Run on my friends.

They are here!

The big fat robins are finally here! And the snow is almost gone! It was 50 degrees last night during my run, and oh so welcome! I am currently motivating myself to get out for a 5:30 am - it is still not so easy to get excited to run in the pitch black, but soon enough we'll have daylight early too.