Possum Kingdom

6.58 miles on another 40 degree morning.  My eye was still red this morning so I took a chance and ran sans glasses or contact lenses.  I was on guard for Dead Possum so when I saw it, I wasn't too alarmed (LIE, I was totally freaked out).  It was no longer on the shoulder of the road, it somehow moved onto the grass.  Lucky for me that I didn't have my contacts because I could only make out the shape and whitish face, no gory details.  Seeing cars in the distance was somewhat of a challenge when I got to corners, but I have lived to tell about it.  Overall, my uncorrected sight isn't bad enough to forego running, but not good enough to make out gross encounters of the nasty kind.  Win win.

Dog Lane

8.29 miles in 40 degrees.  It started out overcast, but then the sun crept out at the end.  In the first mile I had to cross the street to avoid a giant dead (or was it?) possum.  Thank God I wore my contact lenses.  I was going to run partially blind without them because my pink eye was still going strong.  I surely would have stepped on the possum or be haunted by the closeup sight of it.  The distance felt good, but my toe bones started to ache.  That's happened a couple of times in the past.    I'm not sure what the diagnosis for achy toe bones is, but it passes.

I saw five dogs, three of which are worth mentioning, on one block in the next town over.  The first was an ADORABLE pit puppy (yep, I don't hate pits.  I actually think as puppies, they're the cutest dogs out there.  I just don't like it when they, or any breed, form gangs and roam the streets looking for human chew toys).  The pup was so cute I had no choice but to do a stop and pet.  Next I saw a beautiful white German shepherd.  A minute later I saw a man brushing his old golden retriever mix on the front step of their house.  The dog was patiently standing there during the primping.  She seemed to love the attention.

Long Beach Snowflake 4 Mile Run Review

I woke up this morning with my left eye almost swollen shut and red as a beet.  Ugh.  Pink eye.  I never had pink eye until I became a mother (thanks a lot, kids).  Not a big deal, right?  It's not pink foot or pink knee.  Running should be fine.

I found a perfect parking spot close to the Lindell Boulevard Elementary School.  Driving off at the end of the race won't be an issue.  I picked up my packet inside the gym at around 8:15.  As time went on, the gym got pretty crowded.  I went to the bathroom and recognized a couple to be the brother and sister-in-law of a friend.  I said hello, but noticed the SIL was kind of taken aback when she looked at my face.  My eye!!!  When I looked in the mirror, I noticed some crusting at the corner.  Totally gross.  Hopefully, I won't ever see her again in my life.

I went outside at 8:45.  It was gray and misting, but at least it wasn't freezing rain.  The temperature was about 40.  I was happy to see the FLRRT truck.  They are great with starting on time and posting the results fairly quick.  We started at exactly 9am.  There were clocks at each mile.  Mile 1 I hit around 7:50.  A surprise because I thought I was cruising a bit faster.  I got to Mile 2 at 15:xx and Mile 3 at 23:xx.  I knew this was not going to be a PR day at that point.  The last half mile of the race I thought I would sprint to the finish.  Wrong.  Suddenly and for no apparent reason, I started gagging and dry heaving.  Lovely.  Talk about being a total disaster.  What the fuck?  If it's not coming out one end, it's coming out the other.  Too much information?  Such are the highs and lows (well, I guess just lows) of running.  I kept going to the end, praying the whole time there were no race photographers.  I can see it now.  They post my closeup on Facebook or the local patch, red eyes and the "I'm gonna hurl" face.  That would be reason enough to consider moving far, far away.  I finished in 31:09, 2nd place in my age group.  Eh.

This is what my left eye looked like.  At least the swelling went down.

Nice blue cotton race shirt.

Packet pickup inside the Lindell gym

Start and finish on the bay

What's a walkman?

5.2 miles in 30 degrees at 8am.  My iPhone started playing the same songs as yesterday, but in reverse order.  I'm still not used to using it as a walkman.  That's right, I said it!  I still use that term to describe any portable music device with a delivery system to the ears, or as I like to call them, "headphones".  My 11 year old just looks at me funny when I say "walkman".  I remember running with my chunky, bright yellow Sony walkman and fumbling it often because it was so big and awkward to hold, even with that strap.  All I needed were my new wave mixed tapes and I was set.  I do think the iPod was one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century.  They're so lightweight in comparison to my old school Sony.  And downloading almost any obscure one-hit-wonder?  Fantastic!  But,  I also can't help being nostalgic once in a while.

And how a propos that my last song today was...

February Race Is On

I signed up for the Long Beach Snowflake 4 Mile Race this Saturday.  Long Beach is even flatter than My Town, if that's possible.  If the map I looked up is correct, none of the race is on the boardwalk.  Thank you!  Hey, I love the beach as much as the next person, but running on boardwalks can get pretty tiresome pretty quickly.  And windy.  Right now the forecast is 38-40 degrees with a 70% chance of rain.  Hopefully, the rain won't start until later.  I will get my race on for the month of February!

I'm going to send a letter to Mr. Jim Morris, Bearer of Bad News from the Wampanoag Runners Club, to plead my case for a race shirt.  I don't really need any more race shirts (my Target running "dresser" is overflowing), but it's the principle.  Dammit.  Janet.

Midday 6.35 miles in a windy 34 degrees.  I actually had to remove large debris (recycling bins) from the road so cars wouldn't swerve to avoid the debris and hit the runner, me.  Felt great throughout.  Maybe those 2 days on the dreadmill weren't really that dreadful, after all.

Boo, OFTM!

4 miles on the dreadmill.

Jim Morris from the Wampanoag Road Runners Running Club sent out another email update today.  They are canceling the Old Fashioned Ten Miler altogether.  They could not come up with a new date.  He went on to say that we will not be reimbursed the entry fee.  Okay.  That was expected.  Oh, and he will NOT mail out the t-shirts.  Wow.  Where's the dislike button?   Dori Ingalls from the Mad Marathon in Vermont mailed me my race shirt, as well as an extra for Pete.  This was 5 months after the race, no less!  Then again, this is also a woman who greets every runner at the finish line with a hug.

OFTM Postponed due to weather

A room with a view

I woke up around six this morning, but didn't get out of bed until a quarter to seven.  I got dressed and went down to the hotel lobby for the free breakfast.  I passed a window on the way down and did  a double take.  I expected to see snow, but the wind made it look like Antarctica out there.  The race director sent out an email yesterday advising us that we would be notified by 9am if the race was going to be cancelled.  So far, nothing.  After breakfast, I stepped outside to see what it was really like.  I discovered very quickly that it really sucked.  Now, I was secretly praying that it was going to be cancelled, because I know Pete was going to pressure me to run this no matter what.  Usually most elements don't bother me, however cold wind in my face I can do without.  I got back to the room, happy to find Pete not too anxious about heading out either.  He said we should wait until 9.  No argument here.

We got the email at 7:51.  The subject read "OFTM POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER":

Good morning Runners, 

With the safety of our runners and our volunteers in mind, we’re postponing the running of the 18th Annual OFTM until a future date and time. A forty-five mph high-wind advisory coupled with a few inches of snowfall would surely create some treacherous running conditions and rather than risk injury to our participants, we’ll reschedule for another day. 

The Board of Directors for The Wampanoag Road Runners will meet immediately to consider alternative dates and will notify all registrants via email once this date is determined. Additionally, this information will be prominently posted on our website; http://www.wampanoagroadrunners.org/. 

On behalf of all the Wamps, I thank you for your continued support and will see you at the starting line at a date and time to be determined. 

Best Regards & Be Safe, 

Jim Morris 
Race Director

Pete is even willing to come back up at a later date, if our schedules permit.

Once again, the running gods are on my side.  They knew I wasn't ready for this race and kindly rescheduled while also giving us a nice family weekend away.  I checked the Long Island Race Calendar.  There's a 4 miler in Long Beach next Saturday.  I'll still be able to get a race in for February!

5 miles on the dreadmill.

Two Cousins Fish

Easy 3.91 miles, 36 degrees.  My reward?  Huge bowl of delicious lobster bisque from Two Cousins Fish Market in Freeport.  I highly recommend their fish (and bisque) and you would be helping out a local business hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.

Race day tomorrow.  There is now a winter storm warning for the area with a prediction of up to 8 inches of snow.  Race temperature should be around 23 degrees.  Warmer than the Brrrrooklyn Hot Chocolate 10k.

NYCRuns posted on Facebook that a high school junior from Bronxville placed second at the Millrose Games Women's Mile with a time of 4:27.  Amazing.

Reeva Steenkamp

I did a 30 minute tempo run on a 45 degree sunny morning.  I did not get mauled by the two wanted pit bulls.  I did see a cute black lab puppy.  After two consecutive days off, my legs felt like they were dragging for the first ten minutes until I got into my groove.  I'm looking forward to the long weekend!  Snow is in the forecast.

Reeva Steenkamp

Oscar Pistorius was arrested for murdering his girlfriend, South African model, Reeva Steenkamp in Pretoria.  Pistorius had both of his legs amputated from the knees down as a baby due to a congenital condition.  He is a runner who competed in the 400 meter track event at the London Olympics.  His participation drew some controversy over whether his prostheses gave him an unfair advantage (I happen to think so).  Authorities say he is no stranger to domestic violence.  Not only was his girlfriend a beautiful model, but she also was outspoken on the issue of violence against women.  There are a few places on this planet with which I feel a soul connection.  They are New York City, Italy, and South Africa.  I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Capetown and safari at Mala Mala in 1996.  It is an absolutely beautiful country with people who are as diverse as they are amazing.  So sorry about this unnecessary tragedy.

Now what?!

Okay, so maybe that vicious dog on my last post wasn't a pit bull.  Maybe I just randomly picked a ferocious looking dog to justify my fear of running yesterday.  This real pit bull

doesn't look so bad, right?  The police never found the fugitive dogs.  They think they went home.  I guess that's reassuring, kind of not really.

So my excuse for not running today?

Stomach bug.  Sunday Santos was complaining of a headache at my mother's.  He was fine the next day.  Last evening after dinner, out of the blue, he ran frantically back and forth to the bathroom with a belly ache.  He was getting sick every which way until 11pm.  Right as he settled down and fell asleep, the virus decided it was my turn.   I have enough of a problem running uninterrupted on my own.  I don't need any assistance from a virus, coffee, ice cream the night before, etc.  I wasn't taking any chances.  Excuses are like...belly buttons?  Tempo run tomorrow,  for sure...unless...

The plus side is I will be well rested for my "fun run" on Sunday.