low expectations

My quest for sleep is still ongoing....

Todd was scheduled to fly in to town on Thursday evening, but due to delayed flights in Seattle, de-icing in Denver, and a diversion to Omaha, he finally arrived early Friday morning around 2 a.m. Combine that with a 5:30 alarm this morning for the half marathon, and an early rise tomorrow to get him to the airport for an 8 a.m. flight, i am not getting caught up on my beauty sleep.

Since last night was a pre-race meal, I had to be careful about where we went out to eat. Not being a huge fan of pasta, I suggested that we get somewhere for sushi. We went to Kyoto japanese steakhouse and i ordered chicken teriyaki with assorted sushi. Protein, veggies, rice....that's a solid combination for raceday nutrition. Unless....the assorted sushi ends up being assorted sashimi (the raw fish on rice) instead of the rolls like i was expecting.

Oh well, its fish and rice, that's still good stuff...so i ate it. And then i felt tummyachey afterwards.

Yet another reason my sleep was not too pleasant.

But by the time we got to the start, i was feeling good. The forecast called for 60% chance of rain, and it was a bit chilly waiting for the gun, but once the race began, i was glad i opted to wear shorts and a sleeveless top. Stupid Kansas mugginess. And stupid Kansas wind (at least it was at our backs for the last 4 miles).

The course was actually decent, hardly any hills and the hills that were present were just tiny ones.
The things I didn't like about the race were:
1. Running the 5K, 15K, and half marathoners all together. At the beginning, this messed with my pace b/c being mixed in with runners who are all going different distances, my competitive nature took over so i was running a faster pace to keep up. I told myself to slow down after the first half mile, b/c i still had over 12 miles to go, not 2 miles.
2. The out-and-back part around the Great Mall of the Great Plains was windy and long. Thankfully, i had Todd and my brother out there cheering for me and the way that part of the course was set up, I got to run by them 3 times. And i also got to see my pal Courtney as we were crossing paths on the loop, she's always a bundle of cheer and super supportive.
3. The finish was uphill. No other explanation needed.

But overall, i liked this half marathon quite a bit, it definitely helped that i had a great support staff out there cheering me on. (THANK YOU guys)

i went into the race just aiming for a sub-2 hour, not feeling quite as ready as I have been for my prior half marathons. And oh what a pleasant surprise when i got myself a little thing we like to call....a PR! see what happens when you have low expectations?

1:47:52 (at 13.1 miles on my Garmin). the finish line registered at 13.4 miles and i haven't seen the official time posted yet, but it will still be a PR regardless.

woe is me.

sleep is definitely NOT overrated.

i can get by with 5 or 6 hours of sleep. i cannot get by with 3 hours of sleep. especially if i have to run the next morning.

such was the case this past friday night. i worked at Starbucks until midnight, then I went home to find a party at my house with loud people, loud music, and no chance at all of getting any good sleep. i knew of this party happening beforehand, so it wasn't just a random surprise, but combine that with being woke up a couple hours later by the bar-goers, it just once more reinforced my desire to live by myself. roommate-free.

i am a person who needs space.
i need quiet time.
i need my sleep. even if it's only the average 6 hours i get on a regular weekday.

i managed to drag myself out of bed at 5:15, planning on running 10 miles. i was struggling to run 8. it was a very non-energetic, non-pleasant run, and very humid.

i guess it was fine i only ran 8 though, since the Olathe half marathon is this saturday, so i was actually on schedule for 'tapering'. but still.....sleeeeeeeeep. good sleep would've been nice.

the weather has been so nice (despite the humidity and gusty winds) so yesterday i decided to dust off my bike and take it for a spring spin. i rode 4 miles from my house, where i hopped on the Indian/Tomahawk Creek trails and biked on them for 15 miles before riding the 4 miles back home.

23 miles total. and a very sore bum today.

here's some pics i took during my ride.
me and my awesome helmet head and a springy creekside pic of my $15 bike:

Catching Up

i'm so far behind on my blogging...let me do a quick summary....

I was on a running rampage last week. I enjoyed my 12 miler on sunday so much that i did 6 miles tuesday and 8 thursday on that same route.

In other news, last week i was offered a job at Starbucks. My friends say they've never heard someone so excited to quit their full-time job and get a part-time one. Clearly a sign that I hated my job. Actually, hate (present tense) my job since i'm still working there for 3 more weeks.

Saturday morning was a scheduled 14 miler starting at 7 am, but i had to be to a Starbucks Experience workshop at 9 so i started my run at 6 instead. The time crunch made me run faster than i wanted and i was only able to run 12 in order to go home, shower, and make it to the workshop on time. Despite spending 5 hours inside on a lovely saturday, the Starbucks class was pretty fun.

but the best part of saturday was another get-together at Paul & Brita's with Team in Training friends. When Brita was going through chemo, her friends brought her some wigs...some CRAZY looking wigs. perfect for Guitar Hero and Karaoke. This is Courtney and I rockin' the wigs and playing Sweet Child O' Mine. I don't want to brag, but i looked pretty hot with a mullet.



and another of us just looking, um......'special'.

All By Myself

i missed the team run on saturday morning because i was still in Mississippi. And since i had the Olathe Half Marathon coming up in 4 weeks, i knew i needed to get my mileage in. It was supposed to be an 'easy' day of just 6 miles, so i wasn't too dreadful of having to run by myself.

i decided to take advantage of the nice warm(er) spring weather on sunday afternoon and do my 6 miler. i ran my usual path down Mission Road to 71st St, but decided to mix it up a bit and run ALL THE WAY to Missouri. (ok, it's really not that impressive since i live less than a mile from the Kansas/Missouri border). But for no apparent reason, I always run on the Kansas side. Not today.

I was feeling good. I think I'll run 8 miles instead of six.

I ran down Ward Parkway and i kept going. and going. and going. Until suddenly i was at 51st Street on the edge of the Plaza and had no more sidewalk and too much traffic to run on the street. i turned around and headed back. I would've finished at 10 miles if i went straight home, but the weather was so nice and i didn't want to stop so i ran around the Mission Hills area a couple more miles.

12 miles. ALL BY MYSELF.

actually i think it was more like 12.5, but who's counting? (i am)

I'm totally good-to-go for the Olathe Half, and i ran 6 miles last night down the same route. It's a hillier route than i normally run, but i think i like it. Just as our high school cross country mantra said: Hills are our friends.

My trip to Mississippi was fabulous, hopefully i'll get around to writing a recap of that sometime soon.