Stacey 2.0

Ever since I first heard about Ragnar, I thought it sounded like a fun, unique experience and I couldn't wait for a chance to participate in it.   I remember attending running club practice in February 2013 and hearing people talk about it. “I’m taking it easy tonight.   We have Ragnar this weekend!” “I have to start with a half marathon distance!” “Who else is in your van?” And on and on until I asked, “What’s Ragnar?” Ragnar is the overnight running relay race that makes testing your limits a team sport . [1] Wow, an opportunity to compete as a team with 11 other people who like running!   I knew if I wanted to get in on this, it would have to be with the running club.   (I don’t know 11 other people who like running, maybe 3 or 4.   And I certainly wouldn’t want to deal with the logistics of van rental, navigation, and coordinating pickups and drop-offs alone.)   When they started to reach out for people later that year for the 2...

This weekend was a busy weekend in terms of races for me.  I don't normally do back-to-back races (I'm either too cheap, want adequate recovery time, or both) but this weekend was a dog-friendly 5k on Saturday followed by my long-awaited marathon on Sunday. In 2012 and 2013, my dog Kano and I did the Petco 5k9WalkRunWag and loved it.  This was actually my very first 5k ever when I started running - I figured if it didn't go well, Kano could always drag me to the finish line.  For some reason the race seems to have gone MIA in 2014, which would have been at the end of February or the beginning of March based on past years' schedules.  I promised Kano we would do a race together this year, and I found out about the Goin' to the Dogs 5k sponsored by Arizona Adopt A Greyhound, Inc.  Just due to chance it happened to fall on the Saturday before my marathon, so we decided to compete on a costume basis instead of for speed.  We won the prize for best coordina...

I'm stuck at home recovering from the flu (so I might as well write).  Yes, the full-blown flu.  I came down with it two days ago after my husband brought it home two days before that.  I thought I was going to skate by easy - I did get a flu shot, after all - but no.  It seems a flu shot doesn't keep you from getting the flu, at least not this year.  I even had that crazy test done where they put a swab up your nose and touch your brain, which came back positive.  So the $100 I earned in my "medical reimbursement account" for getting a flu shot went straight to paying for the Tamiflu prescription I'm on to get rid of the flu.  *sigh* I'm having a helluva time staying positive through this.  I am a little more than 2 weeks away from my next full marathon, and although I'm supposed to be tapering, I'm also still supposed to be, y'know, running a little bit.  I haven't ran in 4 days.  It'll probably be a week before I can get out t...

I went and did a semi-organized half marathon today.  I'm not sure what else to call it; maybe a well organized 13.1-mile training run with a random group of people.  The OI Marathon Club, a local after school program, put the notice out on Racetimers.com that runners were needed to join the group and support the kids, ultimately training for their first full marathon.  Their first marathon, IMS Arizona, happens to be the marathon I'm currently training for and my second full marathon* of all time.  I registered (although it was free to attend) thinking I could show my support for these kids and maybe meet a few new runners along the way.  At 10:52 pm, well after I went to bed for the evening (I had to leave at 6:45 am to go do this thing, after all), an email is sent with some of the race instructions: "My runners are very dedicated to their training, they have improved at every run. They should be able to run finish the half marathon around 1:55 to 2:10...

As I tend to do every now and again, I was really excited to start blogging on a normal basis, and then I let myself get so busy that I abandoned the blog for a period of time.  A blessing and a curse, really; I'm not sure I had much to say during these past few months I was absent, but it doesn't help me in my quest to become something other than the cubicle farm drone that I am for 70% of my waking hours. I kind of hate New Year's resolutions - if I want to start bettering myself, why not start today ? - but I manage to come up with a whole list of them anyway.  Things I want to do to improve myself or something around me, but that I'm not quite ready to start pre-January 1.  I am really good at coming up with excuses for why or why not...  So, 2014 Resolution #1:  I want to write a blog post at least once a month.  It's a meager goal but one that I think I can not only achieve, but surpass.  And if I don't, I think I am okay with 12 average...

To the guy I cut off today while driving, I'm very sorry.  I was in a lot of pain and fatigue from my post-10.5 mile run, looking into the sun, and obviously not thinking clearly.  I know you were pissed, I've been feeling bad about it ever since... But it has me wondering, how do you ask (and hopefully receive) forgiveness if you are in a similar situation?  Where what you did was an accident or unintentional, but you will probably never see the person you affected ever again? For now, I'm going to take the experience and learn from it.  I obviously need to be a more attentive driver, and avoid driving when I'm in a post-run/pain/fatigued kind of state.  I just wanted to get home so bad, I guess, to get my chores done and take a nap.  But it's not worth risking my life or someone else's! 

About 5 years ago, I started counting calories as an answer to all of the diets I hated trying.   I love eating and I love food, so it's hard for me to try a diet that excludes something.   A nutritionist I used to work with said, "It's just calories in, calories out."   I created this fancy little Excel spreadsheet and became anal about weighing out all of my portions.   But I lost about 20 pounds that year and kept it off so I must have been doing something right. It was during this period that I took up drinking diet soda on a pretty frequent basis.   It was oh-so easy to track the calories in those things (zero!) and I could still have sodas with lunch or dinner instead of boring old water.   My doctor and my dad hated that I drank the stuff.   "Even drinking coffee is better than drinking diet soda," my doctor would say.   "Coffee at least has some health benefits."   My dad's comments were a little more colorful than that, but ...