Month of Mayhem, part 1: IronGirl Columbia and the A10.

Aloha! I'm writing this from the saddest place on Earth- the airport, leaving Hawaii. Over the past week, Andrew and I celebrated our (belated) honeymoon ran a big race! On Sunday, I ran the (brutal) Kauai marathon and he did the (also challenging) half-marathon.

 

The view from one of our morning runs.

 

I'll write more about Hawaii and the marathon later, but first I should explain that Kauai was leg 3 of what I have dubbed by “month of mayhem.”

What is a month of mayhem? That's what happens when a normally organized person like myself signs up for a bunch of late summer events independently without plotting it all out on a calendar. Then, when she does look at a calendar, she sees this:

Sunday, August 17^th: Iron Girl Columbia Triathlon

Sunday, August 24^th: Annapolis 10-mile run

Sunday, September 1^st: Kauai marathon

Sunday, September 8^th: Iron Girl Rocky Gap Triathlon

Oops. Just in case that wasn't enough fun, I had my little wisdom teeth debacle (see previous post) which nixed a few key training weeks. So, I headed into this month poorly prepared and fairly scared. Fortunately, with three events down, I can say- so far, so good. Here's the report on legs 1 and 2:

IronGirl Columbia

When IG was my first tri in 2011, I was terrified and prepared really well. Two years and four additional tris later, the fear is gone. While its nice to line up at the start without my heart pounding, I could use a little of that fear back as a training motivator! I went into this year's event fairly well prepared for the run, moderately prepared for the swim, and poorly prepared for the bike. Not surprisingly, my race performance corresponded with my preparation (or lack thereof) in each area.

 

No fear here!

 

I posted a better swim time this year compared to last year, but felt like I struggled more. I just couldn't hold the proper form, which meant I had to work way harder than I should have. The good news, though, was that I never had a moment of feeling afraid or like I might not be able to finish. Having experienced that feeling in pretty much every other tri I've ever done, it was a relief to have some confidence!

 

Forcing a smile for the camera.

On to the bike! This year's bike course was pretty different from previous years. Going in, I had some vague hope that “different” might mean “easier.” That hope was promptly dashed. The new course was every bit as challenging as the previous course. On one particularly difficult hill, a very kind biker on a road bike passed me on my hybrid-with-a-broken-lowest-chain-rig and said “I honestly don't know how you are doing this on that bike.” It was a nice boost and made me feel good about all the time I spend lifting weights! Still, this may prove to be the ride that pushes me to finally buy a better bike.

SO HAPPY to be near the finish!

I went into this year's run resolved to take it easy. Knowing I had three more events to go this month, I didn't want to push it and wind up super-fatigued for days. I ran when I could and walked when I had to. It was my weakest run performance in this event, but I still pulled out a sprint at the end and felt fairly good overall.

As usual, the best part of IronGirl was seeing lots of my local athlete friends. I started the morning with my friend Christin from the Wonder Women group:

 

Making our coaches proud.

I also saw several other Wonder Women and a few friends from the Striders. This year, I was most excited for my grad school buddy, Jaquisha. Jaquisha is an accomplished runner and all-around great athlete. I always knew she was capable of doing tris and encouraged her to give it a shot. What I didn't know, though, is that she's deathly afraid of water and swimming. This year, she decided to try IronGirl anyway. She spent months with a coach learning how to swim and bike. She told me she cried at nearly every swim practice. Nevertheless, she pushed on and made it to the start line of IG.

As soon as I finished my race, I was dying to know how Jaquisha had done. I thought there was an 85% chance that she blew through everything like a champ and finished an hour before me, a 10% chance that she struggled in the water but made it and kicked butt at everything else, and maybe a 5% chance that she had major trouble on the swim. I found some ladies from her charity team and asked about her. They told me that she finished the swim, but spent over 2 hours in the water and was at risk of not finishing the bike course within the time limit. I was simultaneously terrified for her and deeply impressed. I was so worried that she might not finish in time, but so amazed with her for pushing through on the swim! I am not a quitter, but I think I may have given up on the swim after an hour. Pushing through for over 2 hours is simply remarkable.

Andrew and I weren't able to wait for Jaquisha because we had to get home for a friend's party. So, as he drove us home, I frantically hit “refresh” on the IG results being posted. Finally, I saw Jaquisha's name- whew! I was thrilled for her and she was thriled for herself. Way to go, friend!

The A-10

Regular readers of this blog will know that I was the victim of an apparent A-10 curse in 2010 and 2011. My luck started to turn in 2011, when the race was cancelled, but I met my future husband on what would have been race day. Then, in 2012, the curse was broken when my then-fiancee ran the race with me. I am happy to report no curse activity in 2013! In fact, this race was fairly uneventful.

Given all of my training hiccups in recent weeks, I've been doing my long runs in run/walk intervals. (I'll write more about that soon.) This isn't my usual way of doing things, but its been working for me. For this race, though, I really wanted to run the whole thing. Even though I planned to run Kauai with intervals, I had some psychological need to prove to myself that I can still run 10 miles with no breaks before marathon day. Andrew took a saner approach and worked in some intervals. Judging by our finish times, intervals were the right choice!

I wasn't trying to PR in this race. I knew I had no chance of approaching the 10-mile PR of 1:41 that I set last year. All I cared about this year was coming in under 2 hours. I pulled that off (just barely) with a time of 1:57. Andrew was a different story. He knocked 14 minutes off his time from last year to finish in 1:56. Even more amazing, he went from finishing 19 minutes after me in 2012 to finishing 1 minute ahead of me in 2013. I'm a competitive person by nature, but I can't help being thrilled for him. Way to go, husband!

So, that's the report on legs 1 and 2. Stay tuned for race reports on Kauai and IronGirl Rocky Gap!

The marriage plot.

I'm home! I am also now free to share one of the worst-kept secrets of 2012: I'm engaged!

Moments after the official engagement; months after the unofficial one. 

I met my fiancee, Andrew, just about 8 months ago after a brief exchange of dating site emails. By our second date, I had decided that he would be a good person for someone to marry. By about 2 months in, I had decided that he would be a good person for me to marry. Around that time, I told some of my friends "Whether he knows it yet or not, I'm going to marry this guy." At about 3 months, we had a conversation and I learned that he was thinking the same things about me. By New Year's Eve, we were making plans: engagement sometime in 2012, wedding sometime in 2013.

Then, in late January, our plans got accelerated. Andrew had to move and his original plan was to find a place in DC. He would live there for a year, and then move in with me in Annapolis after our marriage. Andrew spent a few weeks touring DC apartments that were almost comically bad (ex: washer/dryer in the bedroom!). One night, he came to visit me in Annapolis and shared his tales of apartment woe. Then, over dinner at a local pizza joint, he raised an idea: instead of moving to DC, he would move to Annapolis. I considered his idea and raised another: if he moved to Annapolis, we could move up our schedule and get married by the end of the year. We both calmly agreed that these were good plans.

For the next few weeks, I waited for one of us to freak out and change our minds. I even had a few mini-freakouts myself when I started paging through wedding magazines at the store. Every time we talked about it, though, we grew more and more certain that our plan was a good one. Pretty soon, we started leaking the idea to close friends and select family members. We expected somebody to say "but you two barely know each other!" Instead, we got the opposite. Everyone seemed to say some variation of "Its obvious you two should get married, so why wait?"

Then came a watershed moment. One night, I spent some time online looking at wedding dresses, trying to get myself used to the idea of a wedding and to convince myself I could find a nice dress without spending a million dollars. One of the first sites I visited was Bhldn, which is Anthropologie's wedding line. (I love Anthropologie more than anyone should love a store.) Lo and behold, the very dress I was imagining for myself appeared on the screen. And it was well within my financial means. I called Andrew and said "This is crazy- we're not even engaged and I think I found my wedding dress. Should I buy it?" I expected him to tell me to slow down. Instead, he said "You should. This is going to happen." I still waited nearly a week, but finally I took the plunge.

Once I ordered the dress, the floodgates opened. Andrew and I got more involved in planning and we told more and more people. By the time he moved to Annapolis, both of our families and many of our friends were in on our plans. Several had seen my dress and heard our potential date. Pretty soon, our forthcoming engagement was the worst-kept secret in the DC metro area.

All this time, we knew we were going to London in April. We had scheduled the trip back in December, when Andrew's brother mentioned that he had to go there for work. It would be my first trip abroad and our first vacation together- the perfect time for a proposal! So, the next step was choosing  a ring. Fortunately, my grandmother had already chosen one for me:

This ring belonged to my paternal grandmother, Cleo, who died in 2001. The upper stone, a green diamond, comes from a necklace given to her by her second husband. Sometime in the late 70's or early 80's, after her husband died, my grandmother was working in her yard wearing that necklace. All of a sudden, the stone fell out and landed in a thick patch of ivy. Grandma Cleo spent hours on her hands and knees searching, and eventually she found it! After that, she didn't want to put the stone back in the necklace for fear it would fall out again. She gave it to my mother, along with her engagement ring, and asked Mom to get a ring made. This was the result. As soon as it was made, Grandma told my mom that she wanted me to have it one day. I've always loved it, and couldn't imagine a more perfect engagement ring. So, a few weeks before our trip, Andrew snuck over to my parents' house to ask for the ring and their blessing. They were happy to give him both!

In the weeks leading up to the trip, I had a lot of fun trying to guess Andrew's big proposal plan. The only thing I was pretty certain about was the timing. We were getting to London on Thursday; his brother would arrive Friday. I assumed he would plan the proposal for the time we were alone, and probably do it pretty early in that time so that we could both relax and enjoy our time together.

Sure enough, as soon as we had settled into our hotel on Thursday and taken a much-needed nap, Andrew put on some of his nicer clothes and said we were going for a walk. First, he took me to the chapel and home of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church. This wasn't the proposal site, but I was still excited:

We kept walking and I learned that our ultimate destination was St. Paul's cathedral, designed by Christopher Wren. Wren also "designed" (long story) a building at Andrew's college, W&M. That little detail told me St. Paul's would be the place.

My first glimpse of St. Paul's in the distance. 

When we arrived at St. Paul's, we wandered around for awhile, and then Andrew steered us up toward the dome. As soon as we reached the stairs, I knew this would be the spot, and I got a little nervous. Along with the nerves, I was still a little nauseous from jet lag and it was HOT inside the cathedral. We started climbing the 300+ tightly spiraling stairs and things got unpleasant pretty fast. By the time we reached the first gallery in the dome, I had to stop and sit down. We were both nauseous and dizzy. I assumed that Andrew planned to propose at the top of the done (another 200 or so steps up), so I did my best to rally. After about 10 minutes in the first gallery, I told him I thought I could keep going up.

As we got up to head for the stairs, Andrew pointed to a sign that said "The Whispering Gallery," and said "I wonder why they call it that?" He stopped a tour guide and asked. She explained that the dome is a perfect circle and, if you whisper into one part of the wall, you can hear it anywhere else in the dome. Andrew said he wanted to try it and sent me about 30 ft away. We both put our faces up against the wall and Andrew whispered "Can you hear me?" Sure enough, I could hear him as clearly as if he were whispering right in my ear. When I said "Yes, I can hear you," he responded "Alicia Brooks, will you marry me?" 

At the whispering wall. 

I was so surprised! I ran over and grabbed the ring from him, put it on, and said "Does this mean we don't have to climb any more stairs?" 

After that, we weren't sure what to do with ourselves. We went outside and took pictures (including the first one in this post), went to the St. Paul's gift shop and dropped a small fortune on souvenirs, and then went and toasted ourselves in a little cafe/bar: 

We had a lovely time, but it still didn't feel quite right. We were both missing our friends and family. So, despite the fact that it was past dinnertime and we were both starving, we went back to our hotel and got online. We made Skype calls to our families and did the thing which really makes an engagement official in these modern times: announced it on Facebook.

Within minutes, both our accounts had BLOWN UP. Literally, we had so many notifications that our computers kept freezing! The outpouring of love from every little corner of our lives was overwhelming. So were the requests for the full story of the engagement. And now, internet friends, you have it. Thank you so much for being such an important part of my life. I can't wait to share our wedding plans with you and all of our future adventures! 

Rock 'n' Roll reunion!

Pre-race festivities.

Back in November, my friend, high school classmate, and IronMan, Scott, posted on Facebook about registering for the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll DC marathon and half-marathon. He put a call out for friends to join him, and several of us signed up. Pretty soon, we noticed a pattern: we were all graduates of the same high school from around the same time period. So, Rock 'n' Roll DC became the unofficial South River High School 15-ish year reunion race.

The race happened on Saturday (aka: St. Patrick's Day). I originally signed up for the full marathon, but for reasons described in previous posts, I decided to run the half. I took it easy in the B&A Half two weeks ago, and finished in a little over 2:19. For this race, I planned to push it and try to come in at or under 2:15.

In the beginning, everything went smoothly. I had no problem getting to the race, parking, and finding my start corral. I wasn't officially part of a pace group, but I positioned myself within sight of the 2:15 pacers. The crowd of 24,000 runners had a very excited, positive energy. While waiting for the start, I chatted with some friendly fellow runners, including a nervous first-time marathoner (I hope she did great!). At the time of the start, the temperature was an unseasonably warm mid-50's, but I was comfortable in capris, a short-sleeve shirt, and arm warmers.

I stayed comfortable for maybe 1 mile. By the time I hit mile 2, I was pouring sweat. I had stripped off the arm warmers and was seriously regretting the decision to wear capris instead of shorts. I was also having some muscle pain up high in my right leg. Nothing awful, but enough to worry about how the rest of the race would go. Fortunately, my awesome boyfriend Andrew and his equally awesome brother Chris were waiting for me a little after mile 3. I was able to give them the arm warmers and a request for some Advil. They agreed to pick it up and meet me between miles 7 and 8.

I held on to a good pace for the first 5 miles. For 1-4, I was a little ahead of the 2:15 pacers. Around mile 5, they caught up with me. I was pretty tired by that point, so I decided to slow down and just keep the pacers in my sight. That worked for maybe 2 miles. Around mile 7, they pulled ahead of me and I never saw them again. I also didn't see Andrew and Chris. The crowds were thick and I heard that Metro was backed up, so I figured we missed each other. A little sad, but no big deal.

By the time I got to mile 9, I was very ready for the race to be done. I was hot, tired, and a little demoralized because I knew I would not achieve my goal for the day. As I rounded the corner toward mile 10, I got a pleasant surprise: Andrew! He had missed me at mile 7, but hopped on another train to catch me later. Better yet, he had my Advil! I thanked him, took the pills, and headed for the finish.

When I hit mile 12, I knew that 2:15 was way out of reach. So was my previous half PR of 2:16:30. At that point, I just wanted to do my best and finish ahead of my 2:19 from two weeks ago. With the finish line in sight, I tried to do a "finishing kick" and just couldn't muster it. This actually made me feel better- if nothing else, I knew that I had left it all on the course.

I wound up finishing in 2:18:52. On Saturday, I was disappointed with that time. Not only had I dropped back from the full, I hadn't even achieved my goal for the half. A couple days later, though, I entered my time into my race results database and got some perspective. I've run 11 half-marathons, and this was my 3rd fastest. So, not a PR, but not bad!

After the race, I found Chris in the family meet-up area, but no Andrew. Chris explained that Andrew had "Metro issues." A few minutes later, a breathless Andrew turned up and gave me the full story. He and Chris had major train issues between miles 3 and 7. When Andrew realized he wasn't going to catch me at 7, he panicked about not getting me the Advil. So, he hopped on another train to meet me at mile 10. After that, he couldn't find a train that would get him to the finish line in time to see me come in. So, he decided to run. The same boyfriend who just struggled through his first 5K ran over 2 miles through hot and crowded streets in jeans and regular shoes just to get to my race finish! He was upset that he didn't make it in time, but I was too flattered to care about that. He is the best!

Finished!

After the race, several of the SR alumni runners met at Scott's house for a post-race BBQ. With the exception of Scott, I hadn't seen any of these people since our graduation in 1997. It was great to catch up and hear everyone's race stories. Among the achievements of the day: Scott PR'd in the marathon by 20 minutes, my friends Amy and Jeremy ran their first marathons, and Scott and his husband made some AMAZING post-race burgers.

South River runners! We were all over-achievers then and it seems we stayed that way!

All in all, a great day. Several days later, Amy is still on her post-marathon high and already planning the next SR reunion race. So, look out Baltimore- Edgewater is coming for you!

Returning the favor.

Survivors of a cold, wet 5K. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Way back when I started this blog, one of my first posts was about how an ex-boyfriend pushed me to sign up for my very first race: a 2007 Valentine's Day 5K. This past Saturday, I finally returned the favor.  My lovely boyfriend Andrew joined me for the first leg of the 2012 Annapolis Striders' Champ Series and his first race ever. Fittingly, it was a Valentine's Day 5K.

I wish I could say we both ran amazing races and finished feeling like rock stars. In reality, we both struggled. For me, the struggle was accepting where I am vs. where I used to be. Last year, I started the Champ Series on a real upswing. I was in great shape and steadily getting better. That day, I hoped to finally finish a 5K in under 30 minutes. I didn't quite make it- my final time was 30:16- but it was still the start of an amazing racing season. A little over a month later, I ran a 5K PR of 27:19 and I did two other 2011 5Ks in 27:28 and 27:30. In fact, I ran PRs in every distance in 2011. It was such a good year that I started expecting to PR in every race, and I was rarely disappointed.

As I've mentioned in my last few posts, this year is different. Some big (and terrific) life changes had the unintended side effect of throwing me way off my diet and fitness games. I know I'm heavier and slower than I was last year, and getting my usual training in has been a real struggle. I approached this race hoping that I could at least beat last year's time, but fearful that my decline would be even worse than I realized.

I was determined to run the best race I could manage. Andrew, being a wonderfully supportive and understanding person, got that. We talked before the race about how we wouldn't be running together and he wasn't upset when I zoomed away from him at the start, looking for a faster group to set my pace. In the beginning, I ran a pace of about 9:15/mile. Pretty soon, I realized that I could not maintain that pace for the whole race and started mentally berating myself: "What's wrong with you? This was an easy pace last year!" I slowed down and started focusing all my energy on pushing those negative thoughts away. Eventually, I settled into a pace of 9:30-9:45/mile and began a steady internal monologue of "Just stay here and you'll finish under 30 minutes. Just try to finish under 30 minutes."

After I turned around at the halfway mark, I started passing friends who were a bit behind me. They all updated me on Andrew's progress: "I just saw him and he looks good!" Finally, I spotted him myself. He didn't look like he was having fun, but he was able to grunt at me as he passed. That gave me a little boost going into the end of the race... and I needed it. Two miles of heavy breathing left me pretty nauseous going into the final mile. Just as I started to see the finish line, I became convinced that I was actually going to puke in a race for the first time. In fact, as I rounded the last corner, I weaved over to the side and dry-heaved. Fortunately, nothing came up and I dashed for the finish line to end it.

As soon as I turned in my chip, I found a group of Striders buddies and we all started saying the same thing: "Well, that SUCKED." It seemed that everyone was in agreement: we spent the winter running long and slow and we had forgotten how to run short and fast. Realizing that my friends had struggled too made me feel a lot better about my race. After a few minutes, Andrew crossed the finish and joined our group of whiners. He got there just in time to hear my story about dry-heaving, at which point he commented "You are really selling me on this running thing."

Tired, but still triumphant, we hobbled back to my car. I had Andrew pose for a post-race picture with his Valentine's Day present: a new Garmin!

What a handsome 5-K finisher! 

I gave Andrew the Garmin to say "This is your first race, and I hope its not the last." Later that day, he gave me an even better present along the same lines. He signed a lease on an apartment in my neighborhood and he joined my gym! So, we will no longer be the long-distance couple who use each other's visits as an excuse not to exercise. Now, we will be the couple who meet at the gym (almost) every morning! In fact, we started our day there on Monday.

And, while I'm sharing good news, I'll share this too- my official finish time was 29:41 and Andrew achieved his goals of running the whole race and not being last in his age group. Hooray for us!

Have I mentioned...

...that I'm signed up for a marathon on March 17th? This one: http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/usa/usa-splash.

I got peer pressured to sign up for this race through the power of Facebook. Way back in the fall, my high school friend Scott (the Ironman) signed up for this marathon, then posted about it on FB. In his post, he tagged a number of friends (including yours truly) who he thought might want to sign up. It worked; people started signing up almost immediately. Soon, a pattern emerged: all of the friends Scott recruited for the race were graduates of our high school from roughly the same time period. Within a couple of days, this race became much more than a race- it became our unofficial high school reunion! I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that.

This race has a half-marathon option (aka: the sensible choice). Why didn't I sign up for that? Its all a little fuzzy now, but I think I wanted to experiment with training for a spring marathon. I formulated a plan in my head that seemed simple: tack 7 extra miles onto the long runs of the Annapolis Striders' spring half-marathon training. I would achieve that by starting the weekly group long runs at my house, running to the meet-up point with my fellow trainees. Under that plan, I would have started with a 13-mile run on December 31st and culminated with a 19-mile run at the end of February (before tapering).

Unfortunately, my "simple" plan ran into some complications. Week 1 (12/31), I fell less than half a mile into my planned 13-mile run and hurt myself badly enough to need a few days off. The next week (1/7), I planned to ease back in with a 9.5-mile run. Then, I came down with a cold which cancelled that run too. The following week (1/14), I finally made it to the Striders' training, but I didn't feel comfortable attempting more than the scheduled 8 miles for that day. The week after that (1/21), our run got cancelled by an ice storm. I should have made up the mileage, but I didn't. This past Saturday (1/28), I intended to join the Striders for 10 miles. At about mile 4, I realized that I had dropped my Iphone at the mile 2.5 water stop. So, I ran back and (thankfully) found my phone. Then, instead of turning back around, I just ran to my car. By the end of the morning, I had 7 miles done and half-hearted plans to finish the additional 3 at the gym. Instead, I went home and took a nap.

These last couple of minor complications point to a major one: my heart just doesn't seem to be in this race. Maybe I have more energy in the summer. Maybe I'm too overwhelmed with all of the recent changes in my life. For whatever reason, I can't get myself to give this training the attention it needs. Fortunately, I have the option of down-grading to the half-marathon right up until the day of the race. But there's a complication with that plan too: I hate feeling like a quitter. Yes, I understand that nobody who runs 13.1 miles is a quitter. Still, you don't get into schools like Bryn Mawr and Yale by being an underachiever or just a regular achiever. My overachieving self has difficulty saying things like "I need to downgrade from the marathon to the half."

So, I'm giving myself the month of February to figure it out. I'll train as much and as well as I can in February. Then, if March 1 rolls around and I'm not where I need to be, I will silence by inner overachiever and "settle" for the half.

Just in time for 2012: My 2011 Year in Review

So, 2011 ended on a bit of a low note. New Year's Eve morning, I left the house at 6:45AM, intending to run to the first meeting of this year's Annapolis Strider's half-marathon training. I made an early start because I am signed up for a marathon in March (more on that soon!) and need to add extra miles to the half-marathon training runs. Less than 10 minutes into my run, I hit a pothole and fell. Hard. It really hurt, but I was able to get up and walk home, which meant no major injuries (phew!). When I got home, I found a seriously skinned and bruised knee, along with some cuts and imbedded gravel in my hand.

Not how I wanted to end my running year! 

After a good hour of fretting and pouting, I gave up on running for the day and proceeded to have an amazing New Year's Eve with my lovely boyfriend. Now, I am trying to stay focused on the positive, entering 2012 with a good attitude. What better way to do that than to review my accomplishments from 2011? So, here we go!

January: No races this month, but I did start my 2nd year of the Annapolis Striders' half-marathon training plan. I also started swimming and gathering gear for my first triathlon: IronGirl.

February: On 2/12, I ran the AS Valentine's Day 5K, my first race of the year and the first leg of the 2011 Champ Series. I was trying to come in under 30 minutes, but didn't quite get there. I finished in 30:16.

Also in February, I attended the AS annual banquet where I picked up my first IronMan award!

The 2010 Iron-people!

March: On 3/6, I ran the B&A Trail Half-Marathon for the second time. I finished in 2:18:55, an improvement of 5:10 over my 2010 time!

Val, Marie, and I after the 2011 B&A Half. This was Marie's first half! 

On 3/20, I ran a 5K with the Howard County Striders to support my friend and new runner Jaquisha. She finished her very first race, and I ran my 5K PR for the year: 27:19. That's over 3 minutes faster than my 2010 5K PR of 30:22!

April: On 4/4, I ran the AS Cherry Pit 10-miler, which is the 2nd leg of the Champ Series. I finished in 1:47:31, my 2011 10-mile PR and an improvement of 1:23 over 2010.

Also in April, my friend Pat and I competed in the Ridgeway Triathlon as part of the wedding of our ultra-running friends Krista and Ray. The event was run-bike-canoe. I did the run, Pat did the bike, and we both did the canoe. The run was just over 5 miles (5.14) and I ran it in 47:49. When you consider that my 2010 5-mile PR was 52:04, that's pretty awesome.

My teammate and I post-race and pre-wedding. 

I finished out April with my 2nd running of the Arbutus Spring Fling 5K, which I finished in 27:28. Not a PR, but still a 2:58 improvement over 2010!

May: No races in May, but I really got into my tri-training with the Wonder Women.

June: I celebrated my 32nd birthday with what I dubbed "Extreme Sports Weekend." On Saturday, 6/4, my friend Katie and I ran the first-ever VA Wine Country Half-Marathon. I finished in 2:17:16, which was a PR at the time. Then, after a wonderful day of post-race wine tasting, I got up on Sunday and did a practice tri with the Wonder Women. I was pretty impressed with myself until my tri coach Ellen mentioned that she ran a full marathon on Saturday... and won.

Katie and I post-race in VA Wine Country!

With the Wonder Women on my 32nd birthday. 

Also in June, I ran two 10K's. The first was the AS Father's Day 10K on 6/19, which is the 3rd leg of the Champ Series. I finished that one in 1:01:37, a 2011 PR and an improvement of 5:19 over 2010. The second was the Dreaded Druid Hills 10K on 6/25. That race truly lived up to its name, but I still managed to finish in 1:05:15.

Dreaded Druid Hills. This is at the start, which is why I don't look like I'm in agony. 

July: This was a crazy month, including the most intense training for IronGirl and the start of my 2011 marathon training. Somehow, I also squeezed in two races: 

On 7/9, I ran the AS Women's Distance Festival 5K. In 2010, I twisted my ankle on a trail run the night before this race and had to drop out. This year, I finished in 27:30. 

Still smiling: must be lap 1!

On 7/16, I ran the AS Wall Mile, which is the 4th leg of the Champ Series. I was trying to finish under 8 minutes, having clocked a 7:44 mile during training with the Wonder Women. Unfortunately, I shot myself in the foot by showing up early to put in some extra mileage for the day. A 5-mile warmup meant that I had to fight for every second of my 8:11 finishing time. Still, that's an official 1-mile PR and a 16-second improvement over 2010. Also, the AS photographer took a great picture of me crossing the finish line: 

Look at me go! 

August: This was probably the biggest month of my athletic year: the month of my first real triathlon! Before the tri, though, I ran the AS Dog Days 8K on 8/7, which was the 5th leg of the Champ Series. Marie and I did a tough bike ride beforehand, so this race was a struggle. I finished in 52:52, an improvement of 2:18 over 2010. 

Then, 8/21 was the big day: IronGirl! This was my first triathlon and it was both harder and more fun than I ever imagined. I finished in about 2:45 and I am looking forward to cutting that time in 2012! 

My training buddy Marie- I would not have survived without her! 

On August 28th, I had a big disappointment: for the 2nd year in a row, I didn't get to run the A10. In 2010 it was my appendix; in 2011, it was Hurricane Irene. On the bright side, I used the extra time to go on a first date with the guy who is now my amazing boyfriend. So, I guess that all worked out! 

September: After August, I shifted gears from focusing on IronGirl to focusing on November's NYC marathon. I also ran two races: 

On 9/11, I ran the Parks Half-Marathon for the 2nd time. I was hoping to finish in 2:15, but that dream ended early in the race when I waited in a bathroom line for 7 minutes. Instead, I finished in 2:22:02. I was a little bummed, but that's still an improvement of over 11 minutes from the previous year. Even better, Parks was my worst half of 2011, but I ran it faster than my best half of 2010 (which was 2:24:05). Woot!  

On 9/24, I ran 2 laps of a 40-mile ultra trail race with my friends Krista and Ray. The full race was 5 laps. I did a total of 16 miles, Krista did 24, and Ray did the whole 40! This was a serious trail race and I did not want to get injured, so Krista and I took it easy and enjoyed the sights. As a result, our shared 16 miles took about 4 hours. Not fast, but fun! 

This trail was MUDDY! It's a miracle I didn't fall. 

October: Two big races this month! The first was the AS Metric Marathon on 10/2. I went out way too fast in this race and the last few miles were AWFUL. Still I managed to knock almost 10 minutes off my 2010 time, finishing in 2:55:31. This was the 6th leg of the Champ Series. 

On 10/15, I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon in 2:16:31. I could not have been happier. Baltimore is a tough race and I managed a PR and a 10:01 improvement from 2010! 

I was very proud of this medal! 

November: This was the 2nd-biggest month of my athletic year: marathon month! The first weekend of the month was Extreme Sports Weekend 2 of 2011: 

On Saturday, 11/5, I did the worker run for the AS Down's Park 5-miler, which is the 7th leg of the Champ Series. My time for this race is unofficial, but I clocked myself at 48:35, which is 3:21 faster than 2010. 

On Sunday, 11/6, I ran my 2nd marathon: NYC! Despite some intestinal issues, I had an amazing day and finished in 5:31:05. That's over 38 minutes faster than my 2010 marathon time! Even better, I got to spend time with great friends and support a great cause: St. Lydia's church in Brooklyn. I even got a Christmas card: 

The marathon wasn't the end of my racing month. On 11/19, I ran the inaugural Annapolis Half Marathon. Both the race directors and I had some issues, but I enjoyed seeing many local friends and finished in 2:19:25. 

The race wasn't perfect, but the medal was beautiful! 

December: In December, I hit a racing milestone: I ran a race for the 3rd year in a row. The race was the AS Anniversary 15K, which is the 8th and final leg of the Champ Series. I had a great race, finishing in 1:37:44. That's nearly 7 minutes faster than 2010 and over 16 minutes faster than 2009! This race also sealed my 2011 IronMan award. 

IronMan award, here I come! 

I finished my 2011 racing season on 12/17, with my first running of the Celtic Solstice 5-miler. I was not feeling it in this race, but I was determined to set an official 5-mile PR and I did it: 49:28! 

All in all, an amazing year. Counting my two tri's (Ridgway and IronGirl), I completed 22 races and set PR's in every distance. For every race I ran in both 2010 and 2011, I finished faster in 2011. According to my calendar, I worked out 253 out of 365 days in 2011 (an average of 4.9 times/week) and ran a total of 568 miles.

I could not have done any of this without the amazing love and support of you: my family, friends, and readers! I can't wait to share 2012 with you! 

Turkey trotting.

Hello and happy belated Thanksgiving! Today is the first day of my last week at my current job, and today also marks one week until I start my new job. So, this is a busy week, but I want to take a minute to post some promised updates:

The Annapolis Half-Marathon: On November 19th, I ran the inaugural Annapolis Half-Marathon. Much like the first iteration of a new electronic gadget, the first iteration of a race tends to be a bit bug-y. This race was no exception. The date had to change from September to November, and there were a number of other problems, most of which I won't list here.

For me, the most significant issue was a lack of mile markers. This was my first race after the NYC marathon, so I wasn't sure how it would go. Still, I felt good in the week or so leading up to the race and decided to try again for my goal of a 2:15 half. I started the race at what felt like a comfortable, slightly fast pace. After 9 or 10 minutes, I started looking for a mile marker to figure out my exact pace. I didn't see one, so I thought I might be going slower than I thought. After a few more minutes with no mile markers, I looked up and saw my boot camp instructor Kate about 100 yards ahead of me. That was a surprise. Kate had told me that she didn't train much for this race, but Kate is faster without training than I am with training. I should never see her during a race. Finally, I passed a volunteer who yelled, "You're almost at mile 3!," which confirmed two things: (1) There were indeed no mile markers, and (2) I had gone out way too fast.

For the next few miles, I worked on slowing down and adjusting to the lack of mile markers. In some ways, it was nice. I think it made the race pass faster. On the few occasions where a volunteer or runner with a GPS watch told me where we were, we were always further along than I thought. Still, for someone without a GPS watch (aka: me), it made pacing very difficult. When I look at the data gathered on my phone's GPS during the race (which I can't see while I run), it shows that I ran almost all of miles 1-10 faster than my goal pace, and then slowed WAY down in mile 10 when fatigue caught up with me. Those last 3 miles were agony. I was super-tired and experiencing my usual hip and knee pains, along with a brand-new pain in my upper right quad. I was SO happy to reach the finish line, even though I didn't get there until 2:19:25.

One thing that DID go well with this race was the medal- beautiful!

  
A Pain in the Neck: I experienced so much pain during the Annapolis half that I expected to wake up the next day in agony. Miraculously, that did not happen. I felt okay for the rest of the weekend and went to Group Power as usual on Monday. I was worried about the squat routine because of my legs. It turned out that my legs felt fine. The trouble happened when I took the weight off my back after the squats. I think I moved my neck while I was lifting up the weight, because I suddenly felt a little "snap," and then the neck pain started. By the time I got home after class, it was so intense that I took a few sick hours in order to ice it and lie down. So, that was the end of weightlifting for last week. I am happy to say that Advil, ice, and some massages from my lovely and patient boyfriend finally made that pain go away and I went back to GP this morning with no problems.

Turkey Trotting: Thursday morning (aka: Thanksgiving), I attempted my first run since the Annapolis half: the Fleet Feet Sports Turkey Trot. This wasn't a race- just a group run in downtown Annapolis with 3 and 5-mile options. It was a beautiful day, and I was looking forward to running the 5-miler with some friends.
Almost as soon as we set out, the pain from the Annapolis Half- the one in my upper quad- came back with a vengeance. By the 1.5-mile turnaround, I knew that the wise course of action would be to take the 3-mile loop instead of pushing through to 5 miles. But what did I do? I pushed through.

Miles 4 and 5 were absolute misery, as was the walk home. By the time I got there, I knew I needed to lay off running for a little while. So, my current plan is to take it easy for the next couple weeks and hope that I can finish out my last two races of the year (which are on 12/11 and 12/17) without agony.

Ironman!: Finally, I have to give a HUGE shout-out to my friend Scott, who completed his first Ironman yesterday. For those who don't know, an Ironman triathlon is a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a full marathon (26.2-mile run). Even attemping an Ironman takes incredible fitness and determination. I looked at some IM training plans when I was reading up on triathlons, and most involved 30-40 hours per week of training. Its like a second job! I, along with many of Scott's friends and admirers, tracked him online yesterday as he raced for an awesome total of 12 hours and 5 minutes. It was so exciting! When he finally posted video of himself crossing the finish line, I think he had at least a dozen people crying into our laptops. Way to go, Scott! You are an inspiration!    

NYC Marathon weekend part two: milestones.

Striking a Superman pose with my space blanket and medal.

In my last post, I told the story of my NYC Marathon Eve 5-mile race. In the post before that, I gave a quick rundown of the marathon itself. Now, I offer a little more about the marathon and about what happened afterward.

I was fortunate enough to spend Saturday night with two veteran NYC runners: Lara and Jen. Lara was running on Sunday and Jen was spectating. So, Saturday night, Jen helped Andrew map out his spectator route. Then, Sunday morning, Lara helped me find my way to the start. I was grateful for the help, because it was a bit complicated: subway to Staten Island ferry, the ferry to a (packed) bus, and then the bus to the race start. Even the start itself was intimidating: with 47,000 runners to organize, it was massive and crowded.

Despite the big crowd, I managed to check my baggage, grab some breakfast, and meet up with my friend Kim.

Kim and I. The sun was intense!

A few minutes before we entered the corrals, I grabbed a second bagel. I was nervous about getting hungry during the race (this can be a major problem for me), but I was also just stress-eating at that point. I wonder if bagel #2 was the culprit in the intesinal distress I experienced later.

As I mentioned in my first race post, I made a last-minute decision to move back two start corrals in order to start with Kim. I thought it would help me avoid going out too fast, I wanted to support Kim in her first marathon, and, most importantly, I just wanted to share the experience with someone. I am so glad I did! The start was both exciting and surreal. Kim and I just kept looking at each other and saying "I can't believe this is happening." It would not have been the same on my own.

Kim and I separated after mile 2, just as we entered Brooklyn. During the third mile, the race turned onto 4th Avenue and I got my first taste of the amazing NYC crowds. They were like nothing I have experienced in any other race: huge crowds of people (3 and 4 deep in places) lining both sides of the streets, screaming and waving signs. Amazing. Plenty of people noticed my shirt and yelled "Dinner Church!" at me, to which I eagerly responded "St. Lydia's! Right here in Brooklyn!"

It was in Brooklyn that my stomach trouble started. Its hard to describe what was going on without giving too much information, so I'll just say that I developed a very painful cramp somewhere below my stomach. The longer I ran, the worse it got. As much as I did not want to lose the time, I realized that I had to make a bathroom stop to try to ease the pain and to prevent anything worse from happening. (When you run marathons, you hear plenty of horror stories about what happens when you try to run through stomach issues!)

After passing long restroom lines for several miles, I finally gave up on finding a shorter line and made my first stop in mile 7. I naively thought this might be my only stop. Instead, my mile 7 stop was the first of 7 stops. I lost count during the race itself, but based on my GPS data, I think I stopped in miles 7, 9, 12, 15, 20, and 22. My goal for the race was a sub 5-hour finish, which would have required a pace of just under 11:30/mile. Based on the GPS data, I ran at that pace or below- when I was runnning. Once you factor in the stops, though, my pace drops down to 12:38/mile. Oh well. At least I know I can run a marathon at my goal pace, even if I didn't get credit for it this time.

The good news is that neither the pain nor the frustration of needing so many stops kept me from enjoying the race. The crowd support continued to be amazing for the entire 26.2 miles. Also, this was my first race where I had friends meeting me at multiple points along the course. When things got harder, I pushed myself by thinking "I'll see Andrew and Matt in 40 blocks... 35 blocks... 30 blocks..."

My YDS friend Matt, who met me twice in Manhattan.

The other good news is that the intestinal distress I suffered during this race was the only distress I suffered during this race. Normally, when I race over about 10 miles, I struggle with pain my left hip and stiffness in my right knee. These were the pains that did me in during MCM 2010. For some reason, my usual pains decided not to accompany me to NYC. Maybe it was the frequent stops. Maybe it was the crowd support. Maybe it was the Advil I took at mile 16. Whatever it was, I was grateful! Starting around mile 13, I greeted every mile marker amazed at how strong I was feeling. I can honestly say that this was not the hardest race I ran this year- both the Baltimore Half and the Metric Marathon felt harder.

Sprinting across the finish line was a milestone in several ways. I had finished my second marathon and knocked almost 40 minutes off my previous time (from 6:10:03 to 5:31:05). More importantly, I really felt like a marathoner this time. I was truly unprepared for my first marathon and finished it feeling like some kind of imposter. When I crossed the NYC finish line, having run the entire race and still feeling strong, I proved to myself that I really can do this. I'm actually excited for the next one!

After the finish and the mayhem of exiting Central Park, I ate a quick meal with Andrew and Matt before heading over to St. Lydia's. I arrived a bit late, but just in time to witness a St. Lydia's milestone: their first baptism! The baptismal candidate was none other than my YDS classmate and Emily's partner in ministry, Rachel. I felt so privileged to witness this event, and even more to hear the testimony Rachel offered over dinner. You can (and should!) read it for yourself here. I was only with the St. Lydia's congregation for a couple of hours, but even that brief visit affirmed why I dedicated my marathon to them. They are building something truly special together and they deserve to know that people believe in them and support them- even runners from several states away!

When I left St. Lydia's, I rode the subway for a few stops with a member of the congregation, who shared  her excitement about the baptism.  She said "This feels really important. It just makes St. Lydia's feel more..."
"Official?," I suggested. She agreed. Having their first baptism felt like a big step in the growth of St. Lydia's as a church. After she left the train, I thought about how St. Lydia's celebrated their milestone as a church on the same day I celebrated mine as a runner. I can't think of better people to celebrate with!

Everyone at St. Lydia's signed my shirt!

The Quick and Dirty Race Recap, 2011 edition.

At the Expo with my amazing head cheerleader!

Hi everyone! After one of the craziest, best days of my life, I am still in NYC with a few things to do before I head home. Thus, I don't have time now to tell the whole story of my marathon weekend. Instead, I offer a bit of a teaser: some highlights from the race itself.

Start- Mile 2: At the start, I was very happy to meet up with my college friend Kim. Kim and I have been training in close proximity to one another for months, but have never managed to do any of it together. Kim was planning to run a bit slower than me, and was assigned to a corral a bit behind mine, but I decided to go to her corral so we could start together. I think this was a good decision. It made the start even more fun and exciting, and kept me from going out too fast. By midway through mile 2 though, I could tell that I was pushing Kim to go too fast and I was ready to step it up a bit, so we high-fived and separated.

Mile 3-Mile 8: Somewhere in here (I think it was around 4), I started experiencing some, to use my coach's words, "gut issues." I will not go into detail because you do not want to know, but it was unpleasant and I knew I had to make a restroom stop. I kept putting it off because the lines were crazy long. Finally, in mile 7, I decided to just suck it up and wait. Unfortunately, the stop did little to calm the problem. At mile 8, I was met by my boyfriend Andrew and my friend Tracy. It was SO great to see them! By that point, I had not eaten anything because I was worried that my Sport Beans would upset my stomach. Fortunately, I had given Andrew a bag of pretzels to carry, so I took some of those.

Mile 9- Mile 19: My stomach troubles persisted throughout the race, but they were worst through about mile 15. All in all, I think I made at least 6 bathroom stops, most of them during these 10 miles. The bad news was that this put my goal of finishing under 5 hours out of reach pretty early. The good news is that I started finding banks of port-a-johns with shorter lines. By keeping my eyes out for the shortest waits, I avoided losing too much time. All in all, I think the pit stops probably cost me about 30 minutes over the course of the race.

One unexpected advantage of the frequent stops is that they helped me keep my pace down. My biggest fear going into this race was going out too fast and running out of energy mid-way through. Turns out, I didn't need to worry about that at all. By mile 19, I was well off pace for my original goal, but I could not believe how strong I still felt. Around mile 19, I saw Andrew again, along with my friend Matt, which gave me another great boost of energy.

Miles 20-22: At mile 20, we made a very quick trip through the Bronx. This was probably my favorite part of the whole race. The people in the Bronx know how to cheer and how to play great music! If it were up to me, they would get more of the race. We moved into Harlem for miles 21 and 22, and there was great energy there too. Just before mile 23, I saw Andrew and Matt for the last time before the finish. By this point, I had re-set my goal to 5:30 and I was right on pace to get there, so I didn't stop for long!

Miles 23-26.2: Going into mile 23, I still felt okay, but I was ready to be done. Thankfully, we moved into Central Park, where the energy was intense and inspiring. It felt like one long finish line. At mile 25, I sped up, racing for the 5:30 finishing time. When I hit the 26 marker, my watch was somewhere around 5:28. I sprinted for the finish. Sadly, I just missed it- I crossed at 5:31:05. Almost immediately, though, a fellow runner tapped me on the shoulder and said "That was an impressive sprint you just did." If I did not already have an amazing boyfriend, I might have kissed him.

Postrace: The journey through the finish area was absolute mayhem. There were so many people that we quickly formed a huge traffic jam and it took close to an hour to get out of the park. Then, after an unfortunate wrong-turn that resulted in an 8-block detour, I joined Andrew and Matt at a diner for the most delicious plate of pasta I have ever tasted. After that, I went to St. Lydia's and finally met the people I was running for! It was an amazing night and I promise I will say more about it later.

All in all,  I had an amazing day. In 2010, I survived a marathon. In 2011, I ran one, and I actually enjoyed it! Thanks for your many, many kind messages yesterday. I will write more soon!

Impossible projects.

These are Moo mini cards (http://us.moo.com/products/minicards.html), really cool tiny business cards. The perfect size to carry and hand out while running a marathon! I will have about 50 of these in my pockets on Sunday to hand out to anyone who asks about my St. Lydia's shirt.

A few years ago, I participated in a Bible study group using the excellent book Creating a Life With God: the Call of the Ancient Prayer Practices by Daniel Wolpert. Each chapter in the book describes a different form of prayer, from walking a labyrinth to writing in a journal, with instructions on how to try them out as an individual or groups. The final chapter is about taking on an "impossible project."

In the impossible project chapter, Wolpert asks readers to dream up a goal that feels worthwhile and exciting. For example, readers from a small church might decide they want to reach out to the hungry in their community. Once readers settle on an idea, Wolpert asks them to think of a way to achieve it. So, our church group might decide to collect money and donate it to the nearest food pantry. The ideas generated at this stage tend to be good, but not particularly ambitious. Our church group certainly can collect money and it would help, but is it the most they can do? This brings Wolpert to the next stage of his process: he asks readers to stretch their idea further, to a place where it feels impossible. Our church group might decide they want to open a food pantry that feeds 50 families every week. The goal is to end on an idea that readers are really excited about- something they would absolutely love to be part of- but which they do not believe they can actually do.

The final stage of the process is to make it happen. Wolpert asks readers to acknowledge that their project seems impossible and then commit to doing it anyway. He shares stories of churches that have successfully taken on impossible projects and highlights some of the things they have in common:

First, the excitement of a shared goal gets people working together in ways they never did before. When churches take on really exciting and ambitious projects, people come out of every part of the community to help and think up really creative ways to get things done.

Second, the churches realize they have more resources than they ever imagined. The church groups Wolpert describes all discover previously unknown talents among their members and untapped resources within all of their networks. They all ultimately realize that they had not been ambitious enough in previous projects.

Finally, impossible projects require embracing some dependency. A truly ambitious project is always risky, and requires a certain amount of help. A single person embarking on an impossible project will quickly become overwhelmed. To take on this kind of project, an individual or group must learn how to ask for help and rely on other people. This is where the project becomes a prayer. Wolpert wants his readers to learn how to say "God, we think we have a great idea for a really worthwhile project, but we can't do it on our own. We're going to need your help for this."

The impossible projects Wolpert describes are successful in two ways. They bring really worthwhile ideas to fruition, and they also teach the people who dreamed up those ideas that they are capable of amazing things. They learn that they can dream even bigger.

When I read this chapter of Wolpert's book, I just thought it was a nice idea. I don't think I really grasped the idea of the impossible project until I learned about  St. Lydia's. Last week, I wrote about a conversation I had with my friend Emily, in which she told me about quitting her day job and making St. Lydia's her work. I remember thinking "Now this is an impossible project." My friend had dreamed up something ambitious that she really believed in, found others who were also excited about her idea, and found the resources to make it happen. She was also accepting (and even embracing) the risk and dependency that were part of moving toward her goal.

I'm also reminded of the impossible project as I watch Emily, Rachel, and the St. Lydia's congregation weather their various challenges. When Emily learned that St. Lydia's would have to vacate their Brooklyn home because of structural issues, she sent a letter to the congregation. This is just a short excerpt, but I think it captures many of these ideas:

We will have a place to gather each Sunday night. We are surrounded by people who love and support us. We will keep being the church. And though this time may not look like what you or I might have imagined, it offers us incredible opportunity to be bold and creative in the midst of all that’s unfolding. Let’s sit in the not-knowing and see what God is up to...

...That’s what I have to tell you today, my nomads. Rachel and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. A recurring theme in our many discussions over the last little while has been how blessed and grateful we feel to be traveling with all of you on this journey. We have both experienced a surprising sense of calm and curiosity amidst all of this that has reinforced our faith that the Holy Spirit is moving, however swiftly and surprisingly, in the work we are all doing together. And we know that whatever comes next, it will continue to be a gift and a blessing to share this work with all of you.

In many ways, running a marathon feels like an impossible project too. My first marathon pushed me well past what felt possible physically, but it stretched me in other ways too. For me, one of the most challenging things about the marathon is that it really can not be done without help. I am a very independent person who likes to to things on my own. Up to a point, running can be a pretty independent, solitary sport. I spent several years running casually and entering the occasional 5K without really involving other people in my life.

When I started running longer distances, I also started to need help. I needed coaches to teach me how to build my endurance. I needed training partners to help me weather the mental challenges of fatigue and boredom. I needed people to cheer me on. Most of all, I needed the people who rely on me to understand and accept the demands running makes on my time and energy. It has not always been easy for me to ask for the help I need, but I have been amazed at every stage of my journey by the overwhelming generosity of people in my life.

Over the past few days, I have finalized the itinerary for my marathon weekend and the number of people involved is staggering. I have friends letting me sleep on their couches, a friend guiding me to the start line, friends cheering me on along the course, and friends keeping my boyfriend company as he waits hours to see me finish. At the end of the day, I have a friend helping me find my way to Brooklyn so I can finally join the folks at St. Lydia's for dinner church. I can't wait to sit around the table with my new friends and share our amazing impossible projects!

Footprints.

For the past few days, I've been working on a blog post about my upcoming NYC run and how it connects with my friends' fledgling church, St. Lydia's. I hope to have that post up later today. First, though, I need to offer a little background information, in the form of this story:

Regular readers of this blog have heard plenty about my friend Katie:

Katie and I after the VA Wine Country Half-Marathon, June 2011.

Katie was my classmate in the Pastoral Counseling department at Loyola and my partner in the "Marathon for Murray" fundraiser. Katie is also the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Like me, she grew up heavily involved in the Christian church. Thus, over the course of our lives, we have both become very familiar with the following "poem":

According to Wikipedia, the true origins and authorship of "Footprints" is unclear, but it may date back as far as the 1870's. Since then, enterprising Christians have found ways to slap this text on just about every kind of  product imaginable: framed plaques, quilts, pillows, jewelry, tote bags, mouse pads, mugs- the list goes on and on. I'm sure I've received at least 5 "Footprints"-themed gifts in my life, and I would wager that the majority of Christians (and plenty of non-Christians) can say the same thing. Whether they liked it or not, pretty much all of my Pastoral Counseling classmates knew this poem by heart.

Case in point:

Last Fall, a few weeks before our marathon, Katie and I were sitting in adjacent seats in Psychological Testing class. The topic of class that day was intelligence tests, and our professor was showing us sample items from a number of different tests. One of the tests featured a series of "spot the difference" puzzles. For example:

Got it? Look at the legs.

The whole class was having a great time studying the pictures and calling out the answers. The puzzles got progressively harder, until we got to one that stumped us all for a minute or two. Both sides of the picture showed two people- a man and a woman- walking along a beach. When none of us could spot the difference, the professor gave us a hint: "Look at the footprints." We looked. Sure enough, in the second picture, the man's footprints had disappeared. As soon as I got the answer, I yelled out "It was then that He carried her!" Immediately, the class split between people laughing hysterically and people who looked angry because I got to the joke first.

The week before the marathon, Katie and I exchanged little gifts as good luck charms. What did she get me? See below:

Look closely at the coin on the bottom left: On one side, it has a picture of footprints; on the other, it says "It was then that I carried you."

Nothing like a good "Footprints" joke to carry you through a hard class or a hard race!