Staycation, gardening, sweat and HILLS

Despite the threat of thunderstorms, timing glitches and port-a-pottie incidences (that was me). Everyone I've talked with had a blast at the 2008 Boilermaker and have already signed up for next year! Luckily I had my garmin with me, and I'm very happy to say my garmin time was 1:46:45, not bad for an old chick!

This week I'm on staycation (sans father), which allows me the freedom to basically do what the heck I want to do and when I want to do it!

Monday was our drive back from Utica and what a great ride it was....we stopped at little roadside shops and looked at chachka's till our eyes fell out and our wallets were empty. Well, not really but there were some really nice things. I picked up a really funky wire wrapped ring!

Tuesday, gah, haircut. Not quiet what I wanted, but hey, hair grows, then on to shop at the 50% off the 50% off , at Liz Claiborne's.....gotta love that. Back to the house for some R & R and some beverages....summer..........

Wednesday started with a long walk along the beach, ahhhh summer time, love it, then cutting the lawn...yikes, it was long, wet and full of bugs, this took over an hour and a half, I need a man servant. Wednesday night was the 20 minute challenge that the Running Room hosts every year. Anyone can sign up, go for a walk, a stroll, bring the kids, bring the dog, bring whom ever you want, just get out off the couch and participate in life. There were soooo many people it was truly amazing to see. However, for our Half Marathon group it was hills....remind me, never cut the lawn on hill night. I got it done but holy molly I was huffing and puffing like a freight train on the last hill.

Thursday where has the week gone?? So far I've been in the garden since 8:30, transplanting and pruning, covered in bug spray, sweat, dirt and grime and loving it!!! Tonight is the clinic night for the Half group, so I'll head into town later to run a steady pace with the group.

So, here I am, loving the weather, having some BEvERages, relaxing and heading to the beach....hope everyone is enjoying their week!!

Oh, did I mention I'm contemplating a 50K Ultra in 2009???

Life's fun if you don't weaken.

Lily

It Rains, It Pours, and Chip Times are Ignored.....

The Good,

The Bad, NOT REALLY...

The Really Ugly,

Drama wasn't hard to come by in Sunday's 31st running of the 15-kilometer Utica Boilermaker Road Race and a monumental timing snafu that will leave 2008's runners forever wondering exactly how fast they ran.

Headlines from the Observer - Dispatch read

"ALL IN THE TIMING"

yup, the chip system failed and two Ethiopians go off course.... (The lead runners nearly veered off course near the end of the race following the media van)

Okay, now for the good newwwwssss.. ' cause I hate negative!!!!

The Good

What a fun weekend. Our drive down to Utica was nice, relaxing and uneventful. Good weather, good roads and great company.

There was a longer line up / delay at the border crossing than usual, but we made it through after twenty minutes....Thelma and Louise on a road trip....we got to Utica and checked into the hotel and headed off to the Sports Expo thirty minutes before closing. Pretty much every exhibit had or was closing up, so we got our race kit and did a quick zoom around to see if there was anything exciting left to check out. Nope, most of the exhibitors had already shut down....

We were going to meet some running friends for dinner at Delmonico's, (a fantastic Italian Restaurant on North Genesee), one of them being one of my friends who had just returned from the Comrades Run in South Africa and I wanted to hear all about his Ultra 90K race!! Dinner was as always FANTASTIC and as always too much food, too much fun, laughter, tall tales and news of the Comrades Run....unbelievable..check out the website!

After our meal and beverages, we headed back to the hotel to tuck in for the night.

Race Day,

The Bad. NOT REALLY ~

Glenda and I awoke to dark skies, heavy rain and a sigh from me saying "you know, if you don't want to go today it really won't break my heart!" I have to admit, my heart wasn't in it....but, being runners, we got ready, packed up and headed off. (I didn't bring the camera because it was just too wet)

We had learned from last year it is best to park the car near the finish line and hop on a courtesy bus to the start line. We exited the bus and immediately hit the port-a-pottie line...good job because the lines were starting to become really long and as you know, when you come out of the pottie you head right back into line.

Luckily the rain was subsiding and the clouds were disappearing ! At least enough to leave low hovering clouds...but no rain.

The run started off extremely slowly for me and I truly was uninspired...my breathing, cadence and mental attitude just wasn't there. Glenda was having the same issues..From the gun until we crossed the start line was about twelve minutes...luckily I was wearing my Garmin, however, I started it at the first mat, not the start mat..oh well, it is only seconds...

Around the 4k mark I looked over my left shoulder to see where Glenda was and to see if she was okay....she gave me the nod that all was well and we were both getting our running legs under us!

This is such an incredible race! The spectators truly make it!!! They are Unbelievable.

Every district is involved and compete for "the best district award"

The race was fantastic, even though it was hot, humid and overcast, there was no rain....

HOWEVER,

the chip timer failed..no one, not one single runner has a chip time!!! ONLY A GUN TIME!

I had my Garmin, luckily, so I know I had a PB....!!!!

THE UGLY...

okay, here it is, the ugly..

READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!!

what is it with port-a-potties? Can you guys or gals not aim??? I walked into the p-a-p, of course vision is limited, walking from outside in and I did what I had to do, upon the ceremonial wiping, I notice a bodily function smeared along the the seat of the john....okay, I've just SAT ON THIS!!! GAH!!!!

W.T.F., WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE LAST PERSON IN HERE???

smeared is all I can say....gah, now I have gag reflex to contend with....

I won't go into all the details but .....GROSS ME THE F*** ##@@@$$$k out, between wiping everything my "momma" gave me and slapping my hands across the wet grass after expulsion of the P-A-P , washing my hands with every available liquid from the water stations, water bottles and pouring water down my A$$, I just hope I don't end up with some communicable disease, 'cause if I do...you know that I didn't get a Kiss with it!!!

YIKES....

Back to the Good

What a fantastic time! The Monsoon rains and ear cracking thunderstorms unleashed themselves long after most had left the Saranac Brewerey party at the end of the race.

We are home now and I'm on Staycation....

If you ever have the opportunity to run The Utica Boilermaker, then let me tell you,

this is one of the best organised, the most locally supported, the most FUN and the most entertaining race to go to....

you just never know what you'll "run into"

Life's fun if you don't weaken....

Lily

Three More Sleeps!

Utica Boilermaker in three more sleeps. I wasn't getting too inspired until this morning when:

• an excerpt from Jeff Galloway’s Marathon You Can Do It! (Shelter Publications, 2002), hit me in the face.


• last years pictures, I went through them in a slide show ~ too cool.


• there are only three more sleeps!!

Unbeknown to me, I was still suffering from post race let down!!

Who'd have thunk it!! It's been six weeks since the marathon and I've been running as a pace person for a Half Marathon clinic, but I have to admit, I was going through the motions and not "feeling the love". The feeling I was experiencing is exactly what was described in Jeff Galloway's excerpt I was reading...whew, I'm NORMAL, well, as normal as I get!

The pictures from last year are great and even though some of the Wooo Hooo's aren't going to be with us this year due to other commitments....we will be thinking of them, especially during the race.

Who could forget....

The Sports Expo....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the port-a-potties

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

having lunch at Elwood's....

(which unfortunately burned down in December)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HILL.....

and








~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the PARTY at the end!

Okay, now I'm getting excited!

Three more sleeps....

Life's fun if you don't weaken,
Lily

ps, I intentionally left out some exciting photo's of the race so I wouldn't spoil it for any Utica newbies!!!

7th Day of the 7th Month

Have I mentioned I LOVE summer?

Bring on the heat!!!

Today is our first day of above 30 degrees Celsius which is 85 °F , with a humidex of 91, so it does take a moment to adjust when you come out of an air conditioned office. My car has A/C but I keep forgetting about it because I never use it, even my house doesn't have it. So today I put on my Air and it took the whole driving time to cool off the car. It was just about right when I backed into my driveway. Oh well.

This week will be a little tough with running, but luckily my "sweat" system works really well and I have learned empathy and even sympathy for those who have trouble in the heat, after all, you guys listened to me whine and bitch about being cold all winter. So, yes, you do have my sympathy.


This week will be good training for the Utica Boilermaker which by every stretch of the imagination is stinking hot!!! The Boilermaker is sponsored by the Saranac Brewery and is one of the most fun, crazy, exhilarating 15K races I've ever done. The support of the community is awesome, last year one of the fellows in the recovery area told us the race was bigger than Christmas for the city of Utica and I believe him.



There was devastating news though, on May 29th of this year, fire ripped through the breweries and even though they are having to rebuild the brewery, FX Brewery along with others in the area are totalling supporting Saranac.

FX is actually hosting this year's race, sort of co-anchoring with Saranac so the runner's would not be disappointed.

I'm not too sure of the change in the race route, but you can be certain, it won't dampen the spirit of the community, race officials and hosts of this year's 2008 Utica Boilermaker. All I know is there's BEvERages at the end of this race!!!

Oh, I'd better go and train for the post race function! Catch ya all later!!!!

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily