Spring Training Update

Okay, let's just get this out of the way first: I suck at updating my blog. I know it, I feel bad about it, and I do have aspirations to improve. But for the time being, you'll have to take what you can get: an amalgamation of the past month's training and a few photos of good-looking ladies.

Secondly, let's consider this my long overdue "official" announcement: I'm racing the Vermont City Marathon (yay!)! In five weeks (yikes!)! Similar to Hartford, this is a relatively fast, relatively flat regional race within reasonable driving distance of my home that has a great setup in place for local and regional elites. They've graciously invited me to participate this year and I couldn't be more excited about chasing my second Olympic Trials qualifying time there! As an added bonus, I'll have the queenmaking help of Charlotte friend Aaron Linz (I would link to his blog here, but it's either defunct or even more outdated than my own). Aaron's a great runner and solid pacer and was easily persuaded to become my buddy on race day. I love it when a plan comes together!

So, with 26.2 looming on the horizon, exactly what is the state of my current fitness? I can confidently say it's situated somewhere between "not terrible" and "reasonably sufficient." Am I in sub-2:43 shape right this minute? Probably not. Can I get there in five weeks? Totes. And unlike at Cal, I'm not going to hold myself to lofty--some might say unreasonable--ambitions of smashing my PR and attaining the "A" standard of sub-2:37. After a winter like ours, and with only six weeks of solid training under my belt, that's simply not realistic. I won't go into the day expecting anything miraculous or exceptional, and I'll be just thrilled if I can run 2:41-2:42 and punch my ticket to Los Angeles in 2016.

A few notables from the past 4-6 weeks:

1. Four runs in the 19-21 mile range, three of them taking place the day after pretty substantial workouts, all of them taking place with Sarah B. She's crushing Boston next week and then presumably taking some time off, which means I'll have to find some sort of intrinsic motivation to put on my big girl pants and do the rest of my long runs without her between now and VCM. Is this possible?! TBD.

2. Lots more runs and workouts and even a spontaneous game of Taboo with my new Marblehead neighbor, Larissa. She and her husband were on vacation last week in some tropical clime and I still managed to run a track workout, so perhaps I can do this by myself after all. (Except that Jordan did my track session with me. But you're focusing on all the wrong details.)

3. A fun, amazing, abs hurt from laughing so hard weekend in Charleston with my Charlotte running besties, which was only slightly marred by a mysterious stomach bug that derailed my hopes of notching a new 10k PR at the Cooper River Bridge Run. I woke up feeling distinctly nauseous, half-heartedly jogged 13 minutes of warmup in hopes that conditions would improve, started the race realizing they wouldn't, ran a 5:28 first mile, then promptly threw up in the bushes. Womp womp. On a positive note, Caitlin cruised to an impressive 34:45 finish and scored some serious cash for placing second American, which meant she was willing and able to buy shots for anyone who felt well enough to drink them later that night.

At the expo on Friday evening with my lovely ladies

Headed out for a night on the town post-race. What a difference 24 hours and a curling iron can make!

Danielle M. Crockford + Dalena M. Custer = Run DMC. Fun shirts to celebrate their joint b-day on our Sunday morning wog! (P.S. Once you spot Nick's epic photobomb you won't be able to focus on anything else.)

4. A handful of solid, respectable, not-life-changing-but-somewhat-encouraging marathon-pace workouts such as 3x20 minutes and 2x6 miles, plus a few laps around the Beverly High School oval at slightly faster than 5k pace. I finally downloaded Garmin Connect, so if you're really that interested and need a distraction to pass a slow day at work, knock yourself out.   

5. An unexpected but totally, unquestionably deserved nomination for the LetsRun.com 2013 Running Photo of the Year contest featuring some (family-friendly) hot tub action with Laurie, Caitlin, Sarah C. and OH YEAH MEB after last year's Grandma's Marathon. At press time we are currently in second place behind some other picture that is somehow managing to outrank ours despite its total and complete lack of quality and overall hotness. To be honest, the voting process wasn't 100% clear to begin with and I'm not 100% sure the polls are still open, but just in case you should probably click on this link and then like or tweet our photo for good measure.

So, there you have it. Spring is finally here, my pale legs have made their first tentative forays into the ever-warming sunlight, and the training and racing season has finally begun in earnest. As I type this, tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of last year's Boston Marathon and all the events surrounding it. This entire week will serve as an opportunity to reflect and remember, while looking forward to this year's Marathon Monday with pure joy and excitement. I can't wait to race the BAA 5k and then cheer on my marathoning friends as I've done the past two years, watching Boylston Street be reclaimed for good. After that, it's just four short weeks until my own 26.2 attempt in Burlington.

I'll be ready.

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Down in the Valley

I've attempted to write a long-overdue blog update at several different points during the past few weeks. First, I wanted to post about my final days of training and tapering (otherwise known as "running a little, eating a lot and drinking even more wine") leading up to CIM. After comfortably securing my 2016 Trials qualifier, I planned to summarize my experience and emotions as I've done after my other marathons and significant finishes. Lastly, I'd hoped to regale you with how much I've been enjoying my down time in the days since, sampling an extra dessert here and a fumbled smack of the snooze button there. Trust me, it was going to be riveting. But in the handful of times I've had the opportunity to sit down in front of the computer to address my tens of readers, I've allowed myself instead to get distracted by things like the world's most amazing Wal-Mart "portrait studio" Christmas card photos. (Although, in my defense, can you blame me? This is redneck gold!)

Because, truth be told, I don't really feel up to the mental and emotional challenge of writing about any of that. It's something I've always done with a celebratory spirit, as if chronicling the experience is a reward in itself, something pleasurable to savor. I can't tell you how many times I re-read my own Philly entry last year, if for no other reason than to continually remind myself that I had, in fact, actually done it. (And also to double- and triple-check for typos, seeing as I was about two-thirds tucked into a bottle of wine at first writing.) 

But as I'm typing this, I don't have a whole hell of a lot to celebrate as far as running is concerned. Our entire lives, we're fed platitudes like "You can be anything you want to be!" (says the person who's never seen me dribble a basketball) and "If you work hard and persevere, you'll always achieve your goals!" (Also: "don't do drugs" and "stay in school," a directive that half my high school class seems to have disregarded.) Well, I worked pretty damn hard this time around, and at the moment I don't have much to show for it. To get even more depressingly specific, I have very little in the way of quantifiable, tangible results to show for this entire year of running. I haven't recorded a single PR (except for 8k, but that was summarily filed in the "made up distances that no one cares about" folder) nor can I name any specific race about which I feel particularly proud. Had I spent the entire year taking a pastry class or toilet training my cat (yes, despite the fact that she lacks opposable thumbs, SkyMall tells me this is a thing that is possible) or learning a new language, I would've probably emerged with a greater return on my time investment, mais oui?

Riding the high after Philly, there was simply no conceivably logical chain of events other than me running faster the next time around. I would train just as hard, race just as smart, ideally not have to take a very public bathroom break on the side of the road, and continue my solid progression away from sub-sub-elite and toward the coveted A-standard of 2:37. It sounds naive to say out loud, but I truly didn't think there was any way for this not to happen. And yet, for myriad and varied reasons which don't actually matter to the finishing clock, it simply didn't. I made it through halfway relatively on pace while trying to ignore an increasingly persistent tightness and limited range of motion in my (frozen) left hip and glute. Could I have finished? I'm sure. But anyone who reads this blog knows I've never been interested in a participant ribbon.

So at this juncture, instead of turning up the emo music and dwelling on all the things I didn't accomplish at CIM, allow me to present you with a few notable positive memories of the past few weeks via everyone's favorite blogging device, the photo montage. And rest assured, though behind all the flippant self-deprecating banter my frustration is genuine and I've indulged in a few ugly cries, I'm still as determined as ever. My next step is yet to be decided, but I can only move forward.

Jordan celebrating Thanksgiving in Ohio with mom, brother, sisters, aunts, cousins

Jealous of my hairstyle? I have a very exclusive stylist (pictured to my right)

Post-Black Friday Cincinnati shopping nourishment

My CIM roomie, Brett, reliving her epic finish from 2010

Post-race libations at the ready in the elite hospitality suite

Caitlin and Brett deep in concentration while decorating their water bottles

Thanks to Nuun Hydration for the support and the sweet black ops bottles!

Pre-race early bird special dinner with Caitlin, Jeannette and Brett

About as photogenic as it gets at 4:30 on race morning. Note to self: My Craft reflective headband works and doubles as a neck warmer.

Post-race afterpartay: a bunch of speedy marathon finishers, plus me and Jordan

Want to hear more from people who actually finished the race and qualified for the Trials? Then get up in Caitlin's and Drew's blogs. Until next time, we can all live vicariously through them.

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Week in Review

100-101 miles
4 doubles 
2 successful workotus
15-mile long run
48 hours in NYC

When asked by a few people if I had a good time in New York this weekend, I replied with total honesty that it was perfect. Though jam-packed, it was 48 hours filled with just the right amount of everything: running, friends, wine, shopping and cake (gluten-free, per the birthday boy's new dietary restrictions). I loved spending time with my favorite Charlotte buddies as well as getting to know Jay's parents and other friends a bit better. Perhaps my favorite part of the weekend was Sunday's long run in the Park, which doubled as a reunion with some of my favorite girls (accompanied by the birthday boy, of course) and included special appearances by Betsy and even Teresa, who is newly transplanted to Brooklyn after a year-long Fulbright Fellowship in India. I barely noticed how tired my legs were from the day before as the miles passed with great conversation.

Looking forward, I'm just under two weeks out from the Hartford Marathon Half. This means I'll likely have two substantial workouts next week before dialing it back with a mini-taper before the race. I'm not quite sure what kind of shape I'm in, but the next fortnight should be very telling.

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Jay's Birthday Weekend Workout

4.5 mile w/u
Target: 2x4 miles; first set w/Caitlin and Jay @~6:05-6:10; second set w/Caitlin, Jay and Sarah @6:00 or faster
Actual: Set #1: 6:09, 6:02, 5:55, 5:58; Set #2: 5:56, 5:56, 5:49, 5:52
1 mile c/d
Total: 14+ miles

Due to my delinquency in updating the 'ol blog, it is with great pleasure that I direct you to Caitlin's detailed recap of this morning's workout. As she mentioned, we're in NYC for Jay's birthday weekend, and what better way to kick off the festivities than with a Saturday morning workout?! As an added bonus, Sarah was using this as her last long run/workout before next weekend's Twin Cities Marathon, so everything aligned perfectly for a group session on the WSH this morning.

If you're paying attention, however, one detail you might notice which varies from Caitlin's recap is the last mile split. She and Jay and Sarah cheerily pulled away from me while I counted down every minute of the last two miles and willed myself not to drop out. It's frustrating and a bit perplexing why I'm struggling so much with these longer threshold efforts right now, but I have no choice but to keep plugging away and forcing myself to embrace the discomfort...until one day, marathon gods willing, it will feel easy. For comparison's sake, I felt equally shitty running four "fast" miles during my uptempo long run with Sarah B. a few weeks ago and both of the 4-mile segments today were at a brisker pace than that, so perhaps this does represent some sort of improvement after all.

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Hillies Havoc 4 Mile Trail Race

AM: 10k easy
PM: 3 mile w/u
Target: win, don't get lost, don't fall
Actual: 2 for 3

First place. OVERALL. North Shore Timing don't lie, y'all.

Results
Total: 7 miles
Daily total: 13+ miles

For the second Thursday in a row, this time in the evening, Jordan and I would be setting up the 'ol Karhu tent for the next installment of the North Shore YMCA Road Race Series. Despite the series moniker, this would actually be its sole trail race, although on the drive up I questioned how seriously that distinction should be interpreted. Would it be an over-the-river-and-through-the-woods, single track, legit, trail trail, or simply a glorified crushed gravel bike path? Since Haverhill was a tiny town almost a full hour north of Salem (which is already a solid 30 minutes north of the city), neither I nor any of my local running buddies had ever heard of, much less ventured up to, the trails at Winnekenni Park before.

Fortunately I arrived early (or rather Jordan, who was coming to the race directly from a sales trip in Rochester, was running late) and had some time to explore the race course on an extended warmup. I followed the trailhead into the woods, which picked up within a few hundred meters of the parking area, and was instantly captivated. I may not be the most adroit trail runner in a variety of ways--I think last weekend's misadventure with Emily proved I'm no Christopher Columbus (or maybe I am, since he ended up nowhere near where he was supposed to be either), and anyone who's seen me shuffling along on the roads can attest that I'm no nimble doe--but I must admit I'm a sucker for the free-spirited, rambling idea of them. And this trail, at least the part I saw on my out-and-back warmup, was right up my alley: wide, soft dirt paths, shrouded by a canopy of trees, minimally rocky and rooty but still very much in the depths of a forest. I turned around with reluctance 12 minutes later, knowing Jordan would be arriving soon and we would need to set up our branded area, but my entire countenance had shifted. On the drive up I'd been tired, cranky and decidedly not motivated to run a hard effort on this sticky, soupy, potentially thunderstorm-y summer evening after a long day of work, but now I couldn't wait to be set free on the path ahead. 

Forty minutes later, Jordan and I toed the starting line (which was essentially an arbitrary marker in the middle of a grass field) and eyed the competition. There didn't look to be many other contenders except a tall, lanky guy in his early twenties wearing neon yellow Nike shorts. I suggested to Jordan, who was even more tired and more grumpy than I had been previously and had done another trail race the night before with one of his accounts in Rochester, that he just run with me and not push too hard. I even joked about recreating my (in)famous finish-line-hand-holding pose (now available at a Sears Portrait Studio near you!), which I first pioneered with Alice Rogers at a Whitewater Center trail race and then replicated a mere week later with Caitlin at a women's only 5-miler (the same depth of girl power and female solidarity having never been witnessed by the good people of Columbia, South Carolina before or since). He didn't acknowledge my suggestion, but he didn't have to. I knew he'd never actually do it. What self-respecting male would?!

Previously the best moment of my entire life.

Less than a minute later we were off, sprinting across the meadow and into the trail where I'd entered it before. It became immediately clear that our assessment of the field was spot on. No one had gone ahead of us, but I could hear breathing close behind that a furtive glance confirmed was emanating from Neon Shorts. For the first 2k or so we traversed the exact same route where I'd warmed up, which was almost completely flat and not very technical, and Neon Shorts' breathing grew fainter as Jordan and I began to pull away. That was easy, I thought. But soon the trail grew narrower, rockier, noticeably more technical, and suddenly I was the one being left behind. I watched with jealousy as Jordan nimbly navigated the increasingly challenging terrain, bounding over obstacles with the dexterity of a mountain goat, while I awkwardly and slowly plodded along in his wake. Neon Shorts had to be gaining on me. Sure enough, around 3k--although I'm only guessing, since during my earlier nature-infused euphoria I'd decided to "just, you know, run" without using my watch or even bothering to note the time of day at the start--the path took a sharp, improbable right turn up what I'm pretty sure could be described as an escarpment--the mere fact that I haven't heard that word since seventh grade geography indicates how decidedly out of my element I actually was out here in the wild--and I was forced to come to a dead stop, reach out to gain leverage from a nearby tree, and oh-so-gracefully hoist myself up and over. Neon Shorts passed me without so much as a sideways glance.

For the next few minutes, as the trail remained far too technical for me to gain any momentum, I resigned myself to third place with no hope of a Kodak-worthy finish. But then the path smoothed out again and I found myself overtaking Neon Shorts almost immediately. Like Jordan (who was out of sight by this point), he was far more adept than me at negotiating the trail, but the superiority of my aerobic fitness quickly asserted myself once the playing field (literally) leveled out. Though the trail soon narrowed again, hairpinning sharply this way and that, surrounded on all sides by thick, cloying brush, the ground remained smooth and a little muddy. Wait, make that a lot muddy. Actually--OOF! The next thing I knew I was on the ground, and hard, with an audible grunt. My right knee bore the brunt of the fall, but after pausing for a moment to mentally assess the condition of all my important body parts, I realized I was mostly no worse for the wear. The same clay-like mud that had caused me to slip like a cartoon character on a banana peel had also broken my fall in the softest way possible, resulting in a nasty scrape and mud-caked palms but nothing serious. Not wanting to risk being overtaken by Neon Shorts again, I was quickly up and on my way.

Approximately 20 minutes into the race the trail cleared, and I was directed by volunteers onto the paved shoulder of a nearby road. This was a relief, since there had been several critical decision-making junctures within the woods where I could have (and, for all I'd known at the time, actually did) take a wrong turn, but the presence of YMCA volunteers at least meant I was on the right track. Shortly thereafter I spotted Jordan up ahead in the distance but didn't see Neon Shorts anywhere behind. While I was relieved that my spot was secure, I was disappointed that my fabled photo finish with Jordan wouldn't take place. But then, inexplicably, I seemed to be gaining on him, and fast. As I entered one more short trail section and burst out onto the opposite side of the field where we'd started, it became apparent that he was waiting for me. Even more incredulously, he turned and said only a tad begrudgingly, "Are we really going to do the hand-holding thing?" Um, YES.

Moments after the sweetest words he's ever said to me.

Unfortunately, it seems as though the paparazzi was unprepared for our triumphant display, because the only photo I was able to secure was snapped just a split-second too late. It looks like we're just out for a lackadaisical stroll, which I suppose in some sense we were. This only means we'll have to replicate the pose again at another race sometime soon. I'm sure Jordan can't wait!

Scars of battle

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Where I've Been and Where I'm Going, v2.0

This time last year--almost one year to the date, in fact--I wrote a blog post titled "Where I've Been and Where I'm Going." In it, I detailed a lackluster spring, a nagging injury and an abysmal showing at the US Half-Marathon Championships in Duluth (sound familiar?!), but--and here's where I finally get to the good part--it also served as a preview of sorts for what was to become a simple, beautiful, uncomplicated, flawless summer of training. Though I didn't know it at the time, the following Monday I would embark on a virtually uninterrupted streak of 14+ 100-mile weeks, culminating with a two-minute PR at Philly Marathon in November. 

I was standing on the precipice, full of some paradoxical mixture of uncertainty and resolve, determined not to look back at the failures behind me but, rather, to the scarily intangible potential ahead. I was prepared to put my full energy into the pursuit of an uncertain outcome, trusting that the only possible direction to go was forward, and with abandon.

Flash forward to a year later, to now. This spring has been an unequivocal bust, comprising one great race and a handful of objectively underwhelming ones. My trip to Italy was amazing, but instead of returning fit and healthy and poised to execute a quality segment of training in preparation for this year's Half Champs, I limped my way through a few miserable, discouraging months. My work travel, often a hurdle that proves challenging when I'm in the thick of a training cycle, this time served as a blessing in disguise. In the past 28 days, I've visited--and by that I mean conducted legitimate business or spent significant time in, not just passed through the airport of--Chicago, Madison, Edmonton, Calgary, Denver, Minneapolis, Duluth, San Luis Obispo and Huntington Beach. There were plenty of days when I couldn't have run even if I'd wanted to--and with a throbbing shin and a woeful lack of fitness, I wasn't exactly dying to hit the pavement. I still went to Duluth, the travel locked in and the girls' weekend planned long ago, and I don't regret it for a second even though it meant dropping out of my second consecutive national championship race. Unlike last year, I didn't leave feeling as though I wasn't good enough to compete among those women. Instead, I felt a renewed sense of determination to replicate last summer's archetypical training and translate it into another successful fall marathon, to prove myself yet again, even if I'm the only one taking notice.  

hold your own/know your name/and go your own way

So, here I am once more, on the precipice. I'm far from fit, but finally healthy. My sole goal for the remainder of 2013 is to come away with the "A" standard for the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials, which is 2:37:00. Even if this doesn't happen right away, I'll still have two years to chase it, but that's not my desire. With each marathon I've run, I've cut large chunks of time off the previous one, and I have to trust that the same kind of training will produce commensurate results this time around. As I said after Philly, and mean even more today: I've done the work before, and I'll do it again, and everything from here on out is a step toward the marathon trials of 2016. 

Oh, and if nothing else, I totally hung out in the hot tub with Meb.

This happened.

Reunited with Laurie, Sarah and Caitlin at the US Half Champs

One year later and I'm still getting tipsy on a stationary train in Duluth. Good times.

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Week in Review

88 miles
4 doubles
6x10 mins. core
4 days in Texas
3 days with Brookelet

What a great week! It started with an early morning farewell run with Caitlin, progressed to absolutely gorgeous shorts-and-t-shirt morning runs with Allison in Austin, then culminated with my bestie Brooke coming to visit for her 30th birthday. Her rock star husband Lance earned huge brownie points by planning the entire thing as a surprise, including a dinner party in the North End on Saturday night that included Brooke's parents and brother and sis-in-law. Fortunately I did not spill the (Boston baked) beans in advance and everything went off without a hitch. Somehow I also found time during the weekend to participate in the Salem 10-mile race and an oceanfront 13-miler around Nahant with Emily. So many of my favorite people in such a short time frame--I love it!

Ready to hit the town--and stay up past 10pm!--with Brooke on Saturday night

 

 

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Week in Review

82 miles
4 doubles
15-mile long run
60 mins. deep stretch yoga
5x10 mins. core
4 runs with Caitlin

What can I say; any time spent in Charlotte makes for a fantastic week. (Yes, even if it was cold and rainy and dreary half the weekend.) Caitlin and I had a blast reveling in our homebody lameness, and most nights found us double fisting Nuun and wine (well, at least one of us was drinking the wine) before passing out into a deep, blissful slumber somewhere in the vicinity of 9:30pm. It was just perfect.

Other highlights of the weekend include:

• visiting with one of my all-time favorite people, Dr. Greenapple, who took time out of his weekend to meet Caitlin and I at his office for treatment
• much-needed Saturday afternoon pedicures with running buddy Laurie (God bless the poor woman who had to handle my gnarly warlocks.)
• a stellar McAlpine long run on Sunday consisting of Caitlin and I and our male queenmaking entourage
• powering through all (and I do mean every single episode) of season one of HBO's "Girls" in the span of 24 hours
• an impromptu Oscar-viewing party on Sunday night which peaked before the first award was announced and somehow devolved into a thorough and detailed Google image search of "side boob" before petering out around 10

As with every Charlotte visit, I'm incredibly sad to leave, but my feelings are assuaged by the fact that I'll see lots of runner friends at Boston next month. Can't wait!

Early to see the good doctor = impromptu core session in his office hallway

Headed out for a cold, dreary, rainy--yet somehow still fun--run on Saturday afternoon

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In Need of Speed

Wednesday, 2/21
3 mile w/u
Fartlek of (:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 1:30, 1:00, :30) x 2
2 mile c/d
Total: ~9 miles

Friday, 2/23
AM: 4 miles easy
PM: 2.5 mile w/u
Target: 10x400m w/1 min. rest; 5 @78 and 5@76
Actual: 75, 79, 76, 76, 75, 74, 72, 74, 73, 73
2.5 mile c/d
Total: 8 miles
Daily total: 12 miles

Switching gears a little bit after Mercedes, I want to focus on putting a little pep in my step for the remainder of the spring. On Wednesday morning I ventured out for a solo fartlek to test the waters leading up the week's main event...a good old-fashioned Dilworth Speed Loop workout with Caitlin! Yes, I'm in Charlotte for work this weekend, and nothing feels more like coming home than pushing myself up and down the familiar Queen City streets with my favorite Charlotte training partner. (Actually, it would've felt more normal had we done this before the crack of dawn as planned. But maybe we've gotten a little soft in our old age. When we woke at 5:30am to 37 degrees and raining, we opted to catch a few more hours of sleep and postpone the hard effort until after work...when it turned out to still be 37 and raining. Oh well.)

To be honest, I think both of us were a little nervous about this workout despite the relatively conservative splits that Jordan had prescribed. I haven't done anything this short and fast in a long time, and Caitlin has only been working out for a few weeks. Plus, the Speed Loop, despite embodying everything its moniker implies, is no track. Negotiating turns, dodging traffic and rolling with the terrain would present an added challenge and would no doubt increase the level of effort required to hit splits that appeared easy enough on paper.

I should've known, however, that there was no need to be anxious. If any two people can strike the perfect balance between competing with and motivating each other, it's Caitlin and me. Despite our burning lungs and legs (hers bright red thanks to the biting conditions and a poorly conceived wardrobe choice), we followed the workout to the letter and ended up easily besting the desired splits. And with only a minute between each rep, the session flew by faster than any in recent memory. Speedwork may never be my forte nor my favorite type of session, but taking on the challenge with Caitlin matching me stride for stride actually made a dreaded workout, dare I say it, a pretty darn fun way to spend a cold and rainy Friday afternoon.  

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Meagan Nedlo's Long-Overdue Blog Post, Meta Edition

Meagan Nedlo’s Long-Overdue Blog Post, Meta Edition

Interviewed by Jon Gugala

Meagan Nedlo: Hello?

Jon Gugala: What’s up?

MN: What’s up.

JG: Hey, so why haven’t you updated your blog?

MN: Wait, are we doing this right now? I haven’t updated because I’m lazy, I think. Also, busy. But primarily lazy.

JG: Do you not have anything to say?

MN: Do I not have anything to say? I have lots to say. Actually—

JG: Why haven’t you said them then?

MN: Well, there’s really not much to say, running-wise. I mean, if people want to hear what I got for Christmas . . .

JG: What’s going on with running?

MN: Oh, well, I just got back into running this week a little bit more consistently. Actually, I’ve been tracking my mileage, so I hit 75 this past week, and I’m looking at a schedule for the spring.

JG: And you think no one wants to hear about that?

MN: Well, other than that, I’ve really just been doing enough hot yoga to stave off obesity long enough to get through the holidays, and I don’t know how much there is to write about that.

JG: OK, but there’s also another accomplishment: You fit into your dress for your friend’s wedding.

MN: It was a Christmas miracle, yes.

JG: Christmas miracle, black dress.

MN: Yeah, there was a clasp at the top that was a little touch-and-go throughout the night, but the zipper did stay zipped, and that’s really all that matters.

Confirmation of the successful zipping. Oh yeah, and Caitlin looks decent too.

Further proof: from the front.

JG: Yes. So it’s a new year. What’s on your race calendar?

MN: The first race I’m going to do is the Mercedes Half Marathon in February in Alabama. Two years ago I ran that marathon and qualified for the Trials, and then last year I ran the half and won it. So it’s obviously a special event to me, and so I’m going to go back.

Actually, last year, when I won the half, it was so cold—the coldest race I’ve ever run—that they interviewed me right after the finish, and my mouth was frozen to the point where I couldn’t talk. And it was quite embarrassing. And when the interview was over, I was relieved that hopefully it wouldn’t be shown in the news, or at least that none of my family would see it. And then the newswoman told me that it was live.

Are my arms up? I wouldn't know. I can't feel them.

JG: Well, at least you had good Craft-brand baselayer, right, since you work for Craft?

MN: I did have the Craft baselayer—not that I could have enunciated that if she had asked me. But hopefully they could just see it on my shirt.

JG: So was your Craft baselayer not working then?

MN: Well, I didn’t say that my core was cold. I didn’t have the baselayer in my mouth, so . . .

JG: OK, fair enough. So, that’s your first race back. What else is there?

MN: See, I told you it’s not that exciting.

JG: Let’s go back to why you haven’t updated your blog.

MN: Because I was with my parents for Christmas, and they just recently upgraded from dial-up internet, so it’s not necessarily the most reliable. I still don’t think they have Wi-Fi.

JG: So that’s what you’re going to blame it on.

MN: And then the power went out on Christmas, because we got snow in Texas. That’s reason number two.

JG: How’s your workout mule, a.k.a. boyfriend, Jordan Kinley?

MN: Healthy, so that also is a Christmas miracle. I’m actually going to work out tomorrow [Wednesday, January 9] with my friend Emily, who lives in Boston, runs for the B.A.A., and Jordan might drag us through as Queen-maker, as he is accustomed to doing. Maybe I’ll write an update about that.

JG: What’s the workout?

MN: I don’t know yet. There’s some people working out at Harvard on the indoor track, but that’s an injury waiting to happen for me. So I’ll just run outside where it’s slippery and snowy. Pick your battles, I guess.

JG: Yeah. What else is there? There was something else.

MN: Are you typing this right now?

JG: No. I’m recording it, though.

MN: It sounds like you’re a court reporter in the background.

JG: Yeah, you didn’t . . . What was I . . . [Bad word]. I had another question . . . [Very bad word]. Nope, it’s gone.

MN: Was it about my workout?

JG: No.

MN: Harvard?

JG: Oh, yeah, you didn’t talk about running with Abbey D'Agostino [a junior at Dartmouth, and fifth at the 2012 Olympic Team Trials 5,000-meters] in your blog, have you?

MN: Oh, yeah. No, because I haven’t blogged since then, really.

JG: So you’re working out with Abbey D'Agostino.

MN: Yes. So by proxy, I should probably be at 15:30 shape right now [for 5,000m].

I met her at this cross country race the day after Thanksgiving, and it turns out she’s from a town right next to where I live, and she was home for six weeks for the break, which sounds like a long time, but I guess these Ivy League schools are a little lax with their time off.

She was home and we got to run together a lot during the week. I’m only 10 years older than her; I think she only called me “Ma’am” once or twice.

JG: That’s good.

MN: We’re totally, like, peers.

JG: So you can credit your 2013 campaign to Abbey D'Agostino.

MN: Yes, exactly.

JG: Are you guys Facebook friends?

MN: We are.

JG: How long have you been Facebook friends?

MN: With Abbey D'Agostino? [JG: Notice how you can never just call her by her first or last name, but always together.]

JG: Yes.

MN: Well, if we met the day after Thanksgiving, probably since the day after the day after Thanksgiving. I’m not, like, a creepy stalker.

JG: Do you follow her on Twitter?

MN: No, is she on Twitter?

JG: I don’t know.

MN: I just recently learned how to tweet, so following people in itself is still something that I’m getting caught up on. I think I have 100 people that I follow. How many people do you follow? Like, 1000?

JG: I try to keep the follower/follow ratio lopsided, so I like to go five or six to one. So I think I follow 150 people maybe. You always want more people following you than you want to follow, because that way you feel better about yourself.

MN: Yeah, I’ll have to look into that.

JG: So what would you want to say, how do you want to close to all your blog followers?

MN: So, to my dad? Well, I would like to say that I’m healthy [and] I’m apparently not too fat, since I was able to fit into the dress. Although I haven’t had much excitement to report in the last month, I think that 2013 is going to be a good year. And a skinny year, more importantly.

-

Jon Gugala is a freelance writer based in Santa Cruz, California. His writing has appeared in Runner’s World, IAAF.org, and elsewhere. He’s on Twitter (https://twitter.com/JonGugala), as is Meagan Nedlo (https://twitter.com/KarhuKinLo). Unfortunately, Abbey D'Agostino is not.

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Caitlin's Bachelorette Weekend in Pictures

I'm surprising Caitlin at her bachelorette party! Rule #1: find a good hiding spot. This one wasn't quite right.

Then my partner in crime found the perfect thing: a child-size (aka my size) stocking!

This is me (plus three pillows) in "the sack." Caitlin arrived to open her present...

...and SURPRISE! Sweet lord, was it hot in there.

A toast to the beautiful bride-to-be (and to me not suffocating).

Because Saturday morning of every runner girls' bachelorette weekend begins with a group run.

 

Michelle's streak of terrible mid-stride facial expressions did not end here.

A beautiful morning at Umstead State Park in Raleigh.

How do you make a 10-mile run last two hours? Stop every five minutes for photos. Good thing we're all in the off-season.

Post-run stretching. Totes candid.

Ready for a legit night out. Like, past 10pm. Guess whose color is natural...

"My head feels itchy!"

Our night wouldn't be complete without "the sack." It's like a snuggie with bells!

3/4 hot and 1/4 tranny...I think.

Sunday morning: Dalena's car battery dying and Michelle not wanting the party to end were completely unrelated.

Matching in mustard for Michelle's birthday dinner.

Happy 29th! Ah, to be young again. Happy to finish an amazing weekend celebrating with my fabulous hostess.

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