Monthly Archive for May, 2009

Not even Jason Bourne could do this shizz you all do…

Published by Larry on 31 May, 2009, at 01:21, in quotes, team banana and training. 2 Comments

One Thanksgiving Day morning, Matt Damon was roused from bed by his triathlete brother at 5:30 a.m. to run a 5-kilometer road race.

“It was kind of an eye-opening thing,” he recalled. “I started to feel old for the first time when I’m about two thirds of the way through a 5k and I’m going like, ‘I’m working it. I’m doing good,’ and look over and these two 8-year-olds passed me. They’re like talking to each other, not even trying…”

["The worst thing was, by the time I finished the race, some camera crews had shown up so I come blasting across the finish line, because I'm trying to catch these 8-year-old brats, and there are these Channel 4 News types: 'Hey you just ran a 5k - how do you feel?' And now I gotta try to be all Jason Bourne about it and not cry, which is what I want to do."]

You’re gonna inaugurate the ass off of this Minneapolis Marathon. You are Team Awesome. You all are my inspiration. And if you need some, I share with you in a way I know Banana would…

Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist:

“You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can’t know what’s coming.

Rob de Castella, winner 1983 World Marathon Championships:

“If you feel bad at 10 miles, you’re in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you’re normal. If you don’t feel bad at 26 miles, you’re abnormal.”

Mike Fanelli, running club coach:

“I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart.”

Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ:

“The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy…It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (rehashed & most appropriate):

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared with what lies within us.”

Toots, Sally, Lumpy – we love you.

131 miles down, 26.2 to go.

Published by Toots on 30 May, 2009, at 23:46, in quotes and random stuff. 0 Comments

131 + 26.2:  The total number of miles in the total number of marathons I’ve run to date plus the 26.2 I’ve yet to conquer tomorrow.

3: The total number of times Sally’s been to the potty within the last 45minutes.

2: The total number of wine glasses I’ve drank this evening or, if I’m not mistaken, it’s also the number of holes that accidentally burned through Lumpy’s race bib number during this evening’s sage burning ritual.

1: The hour that Lumpy had to wait while Sally and I invaded the bathroom just chit chatting before Lumpy could soak his footsies…OR the dessert we forgot to have becasue the wine and conversation were just that good…you pick.

“Nonrunners cannot see how they can afford the time to run every day. But runners cannot imagine getting through a single day without it.” -Kevin Nelson

This has been the story of my life for about the last 6 months. It’s how a make it through day to day. It’s why I’ll make it through tomorrow.

…and we start #6…

Published by Sally on 30 May, 2009, at 23:02, in events and quotes. 0 Comments

Lumpy’s #2. Thanks, AIH!!! We hope you are not melting!

So, I was feeling odd, off, not ready, until Sag Girl (formerly Julio) came over on Friday night to discuss race and fan plans. She’ll be riding her bike along the course to mock cheer us on. The spectator section of the marathon guide even gave her six encouraging cheers to shout!!! Now, I’m feeling…ummmm…ready? Well, at least more excited than I was. There is a chance that I might do well maybe. But let’s not get too confident. Or cocky.

So, in true Sally fashion I have some quotes with which I will attempt to encourage myself and any of the TAS runners who might need a little oomph:

“At marathon arrayed, to the battle shock we ran and our mettle we displayed, foot to foot, man to man and our name and fame shall not die.” -Aristophanes, The Acharnians

“Racing is pain, and that’s why you do it, to challenge yourself and the limits of your physical and mental barriers. You don’t experience that in an armchair watching television.” – Mark Allen

“The thing I worried about most was courage. Would I have the courage to keep running if it really hurt, if it got harder than I was used to, if Heartbreak Hill broke me?” – Kathrine Switzer

From the Hindu Book of Prayer for May 30….

Published by Aunt I. Hill on 30 May, 2009, at 03:55, in random stuff. 2 Comments

A doha by Kabir on the need for patience and trusting in a benign Providence. It echoes an Islamic saying that “Hurry is of the devil, Patience is of God.”  Kabir draws a gentle but firm lesson from Nature:

(Aunt I.  here….I swear if I didn’t know any better, Kabir was my waiter this morning!)

Gently, gently, O mind, let all befall in time.
The gardener may empty a hundred waterpots, but
will the fruit come before its season?

I’m not sure what that means, but it beats the Gideons anyday. Good luck everyone! I am thinking of you and wish I could be there to cheer you on, and douse you with Gatorade or whatever-in-the-Hell-that-goopy-stuff-is when you ran by.  I want to hear all of the gory details!! I’ll look for your names online on Tuesday.

p.s. Today’s paper, The Hindu, said it was going to be 41C today. No wonder there’s no marathons on India.
p.s.s. This posting cost me 325 rupees. 

In an attempt to soothe myself:

Published by Sally on 28 May, 2009, at 22:55, in quotes and training. 0 Comments

“I’ve always got such high expectations for myself. I’m aware of them, but I can’t relax them.” -Mary Decker Slaney

Okay, so I’m no record placing runner. Okay, so I’m not even close. Okay, so I might break four hours one day…

***pause*** phone***

Hey! It was Toots on the phone!!!

Distracted…train of thought…lost…going nowhere…

Screw it. I am worried that I wil SUCK ASS during this race. I’m really, really tired of not doing well in marathons. The last one I did well was 5 fracking marathons ago. MY FIRST ONE.  So, more inspirational quotes after the break. I simply hope for non suckage. I don’t feel ready at all, but I do feel the Banana support crew cheering me on. I also feel the Banana spirit quote lady inspiring me to peruse the Gigantic Book of Running Quotations…

Continue reading ‘In an attempt to soothe myself:’

Check this baby out!

Published by Sally on 26 May, 2009, at 09:20, in quotes and random stuff. 1 Comment

img_1428-wince

This is the shirt I won, with my quote on it!! I love it!! I’m famous!!

Are we there yet?

Published by Toots on 26 May, 2009, at 00:37, in random stuff. 1 Comment

I don’t know what it is about this marathon, but I’m feeling a bit detached from it if that makes any sense to anyone. The weird thing about it is that this is the first marathon I train for where I hardly missed any of my training runs…. I’ve only missed two, that’s right, only two runs - week #3’s midweek 4 miler and week #16’s midweek 8 miler. That’s it. There were three other runs where I had to modify the distance, but I still ran. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Yet somehow I feel a lot less accomplished this time around than in training for any of my previous marathons.  Is it burn out? Or…dare I say it? Is it getting easier?!? That’s a scary thought…especially since I don’t feel I’m getting any better.

I’m feeling very tired and sleep deprived, but somehow I still manage to “fit” everything in…and I mean EVERYTHING! OMG!!! I think I just figured it out! Running has always been the “escape” but I think it’s more so now than ever because it seems to be the only thing I have “control” over. Most recently everything else and everyone else seems to be running my life. All the last minute plans, all the changes in plans, all the running around altering schedules and activities so everything that’s supposed to get done actually gets done.  All the masks I have to wear for all the emotions I’ve been going through recently engulfing me all at once….

I’m rambling…I know.  I don’t know if any of this makes any sense at all to anyone (except maybe, Sally).  It’s just what in my head. Right now.

It’s late.

Afton, sweet Afton

Published by Sally on 25 May, 2009, at 22:27, in training. 1 Comment

That park seems to save my soul somehow. When Lumpy and I started running, I told him that this marathon seems like an insurmountable task. I missed too much training and I’ve not been focused at all. I lost weight, I regained weight, I’m retaining water, I’m eating too much, then not enough…chaos. Not what normally happens the final 2-3 weeks before a marathon for me. I’m part German, for chrissakes!!! We work like clocks! Things are regimented!! So, we got going and there was a lot of walking miserable shuffling and panting and gasping, but I absolutely busted my own ass. I actually ran almost all of The Bane of My Existence!!!!! I ran sections that I’ve never run before. We were supposed to do 8, but did 7, and I feel like a million and one dollars about those 7. I earned every inch. Lumpy, of course, made everything perfect by packing us the best picnic lunch ever, replete with Dubliner cheese, tuna, fruit and lemonade. I love being taken care of. I needed today to remind me what kind of runner I am. I am a runner who  takes the hard road. I am a runner who chooses dirt over asphalt. I am a runner who can do mighty things. I am a runner who can take a group of 13 girls and turn them into runner-girls and girls who believe in themselves. After having the last few weeks of self-hatred and doubt, today felt amazing and like a final punctuation to a too researched, too much stressed over final thesis. I chose the path not taken today, and I gave myself back to myself. Does that even make sense???

Two Down….Two to Go

Published by Aunt I. Hill on 24 May, 2009, at 20:25, in random stuff. 1 Comment
Cripes!  I wish I were running.

The last few weeks have been glorious here in good old, fly-over land. Sunny, dry, with a nice breeze (and, okay, an odd 95-degree heat surge here and there…and only when Lumpy wants to run).

My hip is crap (still) and I’m hoping it gets better.  Instead, I’ve been spending the last two weeks sweeping, sitting around in fast food places and parks, taking out countless bags of garbage and Windexing the kitchen….Why? you ask?

 smallsold1 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s why.  Six days on the market, 37 showings, one open house, 3 offers and finally….sold.   I know….such a weenie. People have their houses on the market for years, and I’m whining about a mere week.

You’re talking to a person who would rather have a root canal than vacuum. We had to empty the house of half of our belongings, buy a smaller bed, get rid of  all of the rugs, bookcases, photos, knick-knacks, anything of value (sentimental or monetary) and then leave the house from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., because people wanted to walk through and wonder at its smallness. “How many people live  here? Two?? Yer kidding!” “This is it?” “You call that a bathroom?”

Boyfriend Fattie spent so may evenings sitting at the neighborhood park that the local Mom’s put out a “pervert alert.”

Sigh. I started the spring with four goals: run the Get in Gear (done); sell my house (done); teach a programing class in India for a month (leaving in 36 hours); and finally find a new place to live and move into a house that I have only dreamed of (to come).

I leave for Chennai (Madras) the morning after Memorial Day on a 30-hour flight (economy please!) and all I want to do is stay here and bask in the spring that can only come to Minnesota. Everything’s green, the kids are out playing on the lawn, everyone’s smiling, the dogs are happy and I’ll be sweating in 100+ degrees. It’s only for a month. I’ll miss watching  everyone in the marathon, too, which sucks!

Oh well.  It’s not our house anymore and we’re back to being slobs. It can’t be all that bad.

I ran at Jensen Lake and didn’t fall!

Published by Sally on 23 May, 2009, at 21:13, in training. 0 Comments

We decided to come back with a bang, and ran 4 on trail, with G. Fun times.

Not much more to say.