2014 Tinkerbell Half Marathon Race Report
Dimity and I are enjoying an #epic weekend at Disneyland for the runDisney Tinker Bell Half Marathon. Three days of meeting mother runners at the expo (hi, Kimberly, Shannon, Julie, Jennifer, Linda, Karen, Jamie, Jenn, Lourdes, and scores of other wonderful women–and one man, whom you’ll meet later), followed by running 13.1 miles through the pre-dawn park and along the streets of Anaheim. It’s been a wonderful, whirlwind weekend, and the only way to do it justice is to share photos in lieu of traditional race report. (We’ll share more anecdotes on an upcoming podcast.) There are, natch, 13 [.1] photos.
Dimity (in 13.1 sweatshirt) and me (pink AMR tank) sharing some race tips at Tinker Bell expo.
With Jonathan, a self-proclaimed big-time fan of our podcast. He’s a father runner of three teens.
So COOL: Our Queen Elsa (from “Frozen”–love!) costumes, complete with snowflake-flecked Tough Girl Tutus and frosty baubles on my Sauconys.
Us casting our frozen spell at the starting line.
Still fresh (and in focus): me flanked by Carrie (Pinocchio) and Elise (Blue Fairy from Pinocchio) of Sparkle Athletic.
Me at much-needed pitstop just before Mile 2. First of my two poop-breaks in the race. (Surreptitious, crack-me-up photo courtesy of Carrie of Sparkle Athletic.)
Catching some air in front of dazzling castle.
Mickey looking over two tall Elsas. (We kept trying to think up new things to do with our hands. We weren’t super-successful.)
Not sure who these furry, fuzzy fellows are (anyone??), but they sure were enthusiastic. They kept saying, “Twins! Twins! Twins!” to us. (In the moment, at 5:40 a.m. midway through a half-marathon, it cracked us up. Realizing it loses something in the translation…)
Dark photo of brightest spot on the course for us: the cheer section near Mile 5 (6?) comprised entirely of members of the Red Hat Society. For whatever reason, we got totally fired up whooping and hollering with those fine ladies.
Us high-stepping with the cutest group of little girls out on the streets of Anaheim. (Dimity was trying to direct them to do certain moves, not realizing their dance was choreographed. Again, a hilarious incident at the time, by then about 6:35 a.m.)
We got our wings!! Dimity (left) and me flanking our phenomenal expo assistant–and good friend–Kristin. She’s so warm and wonderful, a few mother runners even had Kristin sign their books at our expo booth. Love her!
And, that’s all for this go-round. We’ll be earning our Coast-to-Coast medal next month–dressed once again as Queen Elsa x 2 because we shot our creative-wad on this costume–at Princess Half. Hope to see many of you there!
If you ran Tinkerbell Half Marathon, we’d love to see your photos, too. Please tweet them to us @TheMotherRunner, using hashtag #TinkHalf.
First Q&A Session of 2014
Sick of seeing me on the NordicTrack yet?
In this running podcast, Dimity and Sarah dive into the New Year with some new questions, several of which deal with winter or coming back from some time off. The mother runners provide tips for Kristin to help her (and you!) find your groove on a treadmill. They offer tried-and-true advice (a walk/run program) for resuming running after an injury, as well as a few other pointers that have worked for them. Learn how to ease into speedwork with hill repeats, strides, and pick-ups (no, we’re not talking hackneyed lines from our fraternity party days), and when to measure your runs in minutes, not miles. SBS and Dim wrap up the podcast with a thought-provoking discussion about the best encouragement they’ve ever gotten about their running. (Well, actually, the show ends of with a bonus snippet at the end—be sure to listen all the way through.)
If you’re digging our podcasts, we’d be super-grateful if you’d take a minute (because we *know* you have so many to spare!) to write a review on iTunes.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podcasts.pagatim.fm/shows/amr/amr_011914.mp3]**Also, the quickest way to get our podcasts is to subscribe to the show via iTunes. Clicking this link will automatically download the shows to your iTunes account. It doesn’t get any simpler than that!
New Column: Martini Fridays
Because the Prague coat photo doesn’t exist—or so Adrienne claims—here’s a shot of her before she started running.
Note from Dimity #1: Welcome to Martini Fridays, a new AMR column where one mother runner and writer—Adrienne Martini—is going to chronicle her training for her first half-marathon. Although Adrienne is kind of new to running, she’s hardly new to writing: among other things she’s written Hillbilly Gothic: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood and Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously. Based on her first column, it’s going to be a fun ride (insert bad olive joke here).
Note from Dimity #2: You are not experiencing deja vu. If you thought you might have seen this already, you have. I got back from San Diego mother runner party (woo! fun times!) feeling a little zapped, and apparently thought Martini Fridays happen on Thursday. They don’t, so here she is on her designated day.
I’m never certain what the bets bits of information are in situations like these. And, so, I’ll lead with a simple Q&A:
Who are you?
My name is Adrienne Martini. Yes, that is my real last name and I kept it after I got married. Wouldn’t you?
I currently live in Oneonta, NY, which isn’t a place you’ve heard of, most likely. It’s halfway between Binghamton and Albany and on the extreme Western edge of the Catskills. We’ve been here for ten-ish years. I teach in both the Communication and Theater Departments at the SUNY school here. I’m also a freelance writer — I have two memoirs in print from Simon and Schuster — and provide copy for a handful of smaller publications regularly. Like so many, I also have a blog.
Thing one: Maddy.
Who’s this “we?”
My husband and I have been married for almost twenty years and have two kids: Maddy, who is a 6th grader, and Cory, who is in 3rd. We also have an opinionated corgi, who is almost two, and two cats, whose ages I can never remember. (One of the cats might not be with us for much longer if he keeps stealing my glasses off of my nightstand and hiding them while I’m sleeping. He’s a sweetheart, mostly, but can also be a fuzzy jerk, which actually could describe most of us.)
Thing Two: Cory.
What are your digits?
I’m 42. I’m 5’8”, which is not Sarah- or Dimity-type tall but still makes finding long enough pants a challenge. When not pregnant, I’ve weighed anywhere between 140, which is way too thin for my frame, and 220, which is way too much. I stopped even looking at the scale toward the enormous ends of both of my pregnancies because I believe in a healthy amount of denial. I’ve hovered around 175 for the last two years, which is more than the charts say is ideal, but that I’m fine with. I try to not get hung up on the numbers as long as my pants fit.
How long have you been running?
Not long, really. A few months before my 40th birthday, I saw a picture of myself taken on a subway platform in Prague. I was on this great adventure with my family and all I could see was how my belly was straining the zipper of my winter coat. Shortly after we got back and I recovered from the jetlag, I started a Couch-to-5K program. It stuck this time, even though the first ten weeks felt like sheer torture.
Thing Three: Lucy.
Why were you in Prague?
Long story, but the gist involves academic friends who were doing a sabbatic year there and my tendency to invite myself places.
How fast do you run?
Not fast at all. I’ve “raced” a handful of 5Ks and two 10Ks. My best 5K was at a local Turkey Trot and I clocked a blistering 34:59. Which was the only thing blistering that day because it was 15 degrees and snowing when the gun went off. It was, however, much faster than my first 5K, which took me 41 minutes. Yes, I’ve cut six minutes off of my PR but I have a lot of room to work with.
Part of my slowness comes from how non-competitive I prefer my running to be. Running is where I get away from all of the pressures of the rest of my life. In general, my A, B, and C race goals are always to not die, not blow out a knee, and finish. Plus, I suspect my general slowness is why I haven’t really injured myself. Apart from a couple of muscle aches that went away after a day or two of rest, I’ve been running 3-4 times a week for two and a half years.
With apologies to Monty Python: What is your quest?
To finish the Pittsburgh Half Marathon on May 4, 2014 without dying or blowing out a knee. I’ll be following the Run Like a Mother: Half-Marathon Finish It plan, because I am nowhere without a plan. I’ll be blogging about my 15 weeks of training through lousy weather, sick kids, student demands, and aching bones. You know: life as usual in the land of the mother runner.
I’d be thrilled if you’d come along on the journey with me. Running is so much more fun when you have someone with running with you, virtually or in-person.
That’s nice and all but why are really you doing this?
Good question—and one that I’ll answer in my next blog post.
The One Where SBS Debates Running Marathon to Qualify for Boston Again
Drenched with sweat, yet soaking up every glorious moment of the 2012 Boston Marathon. Should I ratchet up my training to feel that high again?
Last week, Dimity outlined her 2014 race calendar. While I don’t have my entire year mapped out, I have a few certainties in place, such as this Sunday’s Tinker Bell Half Marathon and next month’s Princess Half. I had contemplated an ultramarathon this year, but that was so 2013, when I was feeling old and slow.
Thanks to either a return to the track for speed workouts; a stronger (yet still flabby-looking!) core courtesy of twice/weekly barre-style classes; or perhaps divine intervention, I’ve rediscovered some speed I thought I’d lost back in 2010. While sub-1:50 half-marathons seem to have left the proverbial building for me, my 1:53 13.1 last month made me realize I am no longer knocking on the door of 2:00, either. That race result–plus the elevation profile of Canada’s Victoria Marathon (starts at 24 feet, drops as low as 9′ and “climbs” as “high” as 83′, before finishing at 20′), which I’m running this October–prompted Dimity to suggest I try to re-qualify for Boston. Gulp! (Leave it to an Ironmother to throw down that gauntlet.)
Near Mile 15 in my 2009 marathon PR race: I swear I was happier (and more comfortable) than my face shows.
While I’m a dreamer and a schemer, the Boston-qualifying idea hadn’t yet crossed my mind. But since Dim casually tossed it out there in a phone call, it’s been binging around in my brain. I’d have to run 3:55 or faster for 26.2, something I’ve done only once in 10 marathon attempts–and it took every last ounce of effort in me to do. (And a coach by my side, egging me on.) My last–and only other–under-4-hour marathon was in October 2010, and it was a squeaker of 3:59:54.
Suffice it to say: I’d have my work cut out for me to run 3:55 or better. Even the trusty McMillan Calculator suggests I’d have a lot of (speed)work to do to get there. Using Coach Greg McMillan’s math, my recent 1:53:12 half lands me at 3:58:14. for a marathon. A few BQ requisites: I’d need a coach to hold my Saucony-shod feet to the proverbial fire; I’d need to remain injury-free; I’d have to open myself up to some serious hurt in training; and I’d sometimes have to leave my trusty training partner, Molly, behind occasionally.
It’s that last detail–running minus Molly sometimes–that’s the biggest stumbling block for me. I love my Molly–and our laughter-filled runs–so much. We’ve been planning to head to Victoria, with our families in tow, since last fall. Truth be told, training side-by-side was the gorgeous race’s major draw for me. Trying to run fast enough to qualify for Boston would scrub that perk for at least a few workouts per week. Yet Molly responded with gusto when I floated Dimity’s SBS-BQ notion on our long run yesterday–she thinks I should reach for the stars while they are still (somewhat) within my grasp.
So now it’s up for me to decide: Do I get a coach and put myself out there, in the hopes of running a 3:55-or-better marathon–or do I train with Molly and aim for a 4:05-4:10 26.2? I’m all ears, ladies: What do you think I should do, mother runners?
This Instagram photo from Sunday’s run prompted Molly to suggest we do a series in which GU packet photo-bombs us. (Had to be there: Idea cracked us up!)
All About Survivor with Mother Runner Monica Culpepper
Monica exuding Zen calm and resolute determination in a Reward Challenge against Tyson.
Sarah and Dimity are delighted to have “Survivor Blood vs Water” runner-up Monica Culpepper as a guest. This mother-of-three runner over-shares all the too-much-information details you’ve been dying to know about the reality show, from how women on the island deal with their periods to where contestants poop. (The locations will surprise—and disgust—you.) In (nearly) gag-inducing detail, Monica describes the food challenge she won by eating 40 meal worms, 12 ounces of pig intestines, cow eyeballs, (“a viscous explosion in your mouth”), and thumb-plus-sized grub worms. Monica talks of permanent nerve damage caused by sleeping on hard surfaces, and lets us in on the reason why female contestants have to pee in a cup 30 minutes before heading to the island. Finally, Monica confides what she’ll tell Jeff Probst if he ever asks her to return to the show for a third time. We love Monica—and you will, too, after listening to this extra-special, extra-long podcast.
If you’re digging our podcasts, we’d be super-grateful if you’d take a minute (because we *know* you have so many to spare!) to write a review on iTunes.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podcasts.pagatim.fm/shows/amr/amr_011214.mp3]**Also, the quickest way to get our podcasts is to subscribe to the show via iTunes. Clicking this link will automatically download the shows to your iTunes account. It doesn’t get any simpler than that!
Meal worms, cow eyes, pig intestines, oh my!
The Most Important Mile of My Life: Heidi Parker
Heidi running her first mile as a newly married woman. We think you’ll agree with us: They could NOT be any cuter!!
On June 2, 2012, I married my best friend, my partner, my teammate; and subsequently ran the most important mile of my life–in my wedding dress, with the love of my life right beside me.
For both of us, this was a second marriage. From the beginning, we shared a love for running and soon I was introduced to the Reno Tahoe Odyssey Relay Race. My husband, Pete, has run every year since its inception, so when he spontaneously suggested we get married during the 2012 event, I said yes!
Over a couple of beers, we asked the race director for his blessing and for our returning 2011 teammates to be our minister, groomsmen, and bridesmaids. A quick text to the maid of honor and best man, and Team “Wedding Party” was ready to run!
Love is in the (thin, Sierra Nevada) air
We exchanged vows at the Virginia City, NV, Exchange Point and the ceremony (tracked on my husband’s Garmin, of course) involved running shoes, a GUquet, , our kids, dedicated family and friends, and a few hundred runners as witness. Immediately after that ring was placed on my finger and I threw my GUquet, my first mile as a newlywed began: I ran from 1 S C St, a.k.a The Bucket of Blood Saloon, out of Virginia City, and my new husband ran with me.
Devoted runners Heidi and Pete
It was the perfect setting for us to take the next step in our almost-five-year relationship. My husband’s 1,000′ elevation gain run up Gold Hill into Virginia City (and all the other hills we ran up and down before that) was the perfect metaphor for the successes and challenges one often faces in life, as well as in love.
We’re still running and looking forward to celebrating our 2nd anniversary at the 10th Annual Reno Tahoe Odyssey on May 30.
Gives new meaning to “crowd support”