Dev on Running.

Twenty-six

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:48:45 -0700

Last night I did a “recovery run” of five miles (quotation marks because the level of recovery I achieved is doubtful):

I just ran by feel and didn’t look at my watch until it beeped with each mile split. My legs actually felt great! My quads have been sore due to the 19.3 racing/running adventure on Saturday, but they caused no trouble on this run.

Today is a rest day because it’s my birthday!!! I’m 26, although you’d never know it from the maturity level demonstrated in the photo below.

I’ve already celebrated my birthday twice — last weekend with my mom, Don (her fiance), and my brother, and on Sunday with Greta and Mark (Aaron’s stepdad) — so it feels odd to now have the actual day here when I’ve already blown out candles and eaten epic Peppermint Patty cake.

Who cares? Let’s celebrate again!

I just got a 20% discount code from Nuun yesterday to share with everyone (not related to my birthday, but let’s pretend it is), so here you go! Get 20% off of Nuun through June 7 if you want!

I’ll be using the discount to get some watermelon Nuun (new flavor!) at least. I might just go nuts and get one of everything.

FYI, I don’t get any cool-kid benefits if you use the discount — it’s just for fun and sharesies.

Happy birthday to me. Happy Nuun-day to you!

Seattle's Best 15K recap

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:58:00 -0700

Unlike the nightmare of getting to the start line of the Lake Sammamish Half, it took us exactly seven minutes to drive on nearly car-less streets to Gas Works Park and easily find a spot in the regular parking lot for Seattle’s Best 15K. Huzzah!

That’s the beauty of a race with only 415 participants (309 for the 15K, 106 for the 10K).

I had plenty of time to hang out in the car, eat a Clif Bar, use the restroom, and decide I definitely needed to wear arm-warmers for the 7:30 a.m. start. Brrrr.

I wore my trusty Brooks Ghost 4 shoes with brand-spankin’-new (as in, made the night before) custom inserts from Road Runner Sports, hoping they would help my shoes feel better than they had in the last few weeks. They didn’t disappoint!

What’s that on my quad, you ask? Why, a temporary tattoo of a lion leaping through flames, of course.

I picked it up at a restaurant last weekend and thought it was kind of hilarious. And fierce. Rawr.

There were no official corrals; a man with a bullhorn just asked us to organize ourselves by pace. He had everyone who planned to run sub-7:00 miles go in front, followed by the sub-8:00 milers, and so on.

I jumped in near the back of the sub-8:00 milers, and it felt weird to be so close to the front of the pack. Then again… small race.

Soon enough, we were off!

I was worried about starting off too quickly since I knew I was surrounded by speedy people, but my legs and lungs felt great in the first mile (8:06). I realized I kind of, sort of, maybe belonged with these people.

I do enjoy a nice power-walk.

Aaron did an incredible job driving around and meeting me at various parts of the course. I saw him four times! By the fourth time, I threw my hands up in the air, like, “How the eff did you get here so quickly??” Black magic.

At about the 1.5 mile mark, I tossed Aaron my arm-warmers. They had done their job, but I had more than warmed up in mile 2 (7:56 <—- first sub-8:00 mile since 2011, whaaaat!).

This part of the race was an out-and-back along the Ship Canal. I remember haaaaating this part two years ago, since it lasts a few miles, and then you still have all of Lake Union to run around.

This year, I just appreciated how nice and flat and straight it was — easy-peasy stuff to take me through miles three and four (8:06, 8:10).

Then, I realized mayyyybe I’d gone out a little too fast. My legs were starting to feel a wee bit tired. Nothing crazy, but I knew I’d need them to be strong for a few hills later on.

I ate my chocolate Clif Shot at mile 4.5 (I brought it and two bottles of Nuun in my fuel belt so I could skip the aid stations), and slowed down for miles five and six (8:17, 8:17 <—- completely accidental consistency).

I saw Aaron again in mile seven (8:09) on Fairview Avenue and sped around that guy in the gray shirt so Aaron could get an unobstructed photo. Hey, I’ll take motivation in any form!

This is where things started to get tough. The small-to-begin-with crowd of runners had thinned out loooong ago, so I was pretty much running by myself with only one or two people in my sights ahead of me. It was weird to not have other runners from whom I could glean some energy.

Also, mile eight (8:42) brought a few hills. We had to work our way from Fairview Avenue up to Eastlake Avenue in order to cross the University Bridge, and that involved some short, steep hills.

At one point we went up a steep hill only to go down again (which I did verrrrry slowly because I didn’t want to slip and fall on loose gravel; it was that steep) and then go up again. I felt like this up-and-down nonsense was entirely preventable with just a slight course change, so I was all like, what in the actual f*ck!

The positive part was that I passed a few people who really had trouble with the uphills, which I just attacked without a second thought (not that they didn’t hurt, but I wasn’t afraid of them). Thank you, hill repeats. And flaming-lion tattoo.

I picked things back up for the last full mile (8:16), as one does, but I felt so much slower than that. I was really feeling tired and ready to be done.

I’m super-proud of my last 0.3-mile kick at 7:37 pace. There was no one right ahead of me and no one very close behind me for the finish, so I got some nice cheers just for me and the announcer even said my name! (He pronounced it wrong by saying Dev-ON instead of Dev-IN, but I do realize it’s spelled Dev-ON, so I’ll forgive him.)

A smile for Aaron before the finish.

And a hand over my heart for Boston.

Plus, the WORST part of ANY race — when they make you stand still to cut off your timing chip when you really just want to flop onto the grass.

Oh, here we go. This is good now.

Official time: 1:16:13 — 8:12 pace

I eventually came back to life and actually put on my medal. Wheee!

Garmin splits:

Overall, this was a great race and I’m proud of my time! I really, really wanted to run at least one sub-8:00 mile (although it was probably not ideal to do that in mile two), and I PR’d by just under seven minutes.

Plus, I ran 10 more miles afterward at a very decent clip. Even though I’m training for a marathon, and running 19 miles in one day is kind of standard, that sh*% is still crazy.

Perhaps I should change my blog tagline to, “Just crazy enough.”

Race photo reality

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:18:26 -0700

Here’s what I posted on Twitter after the race yesterday.

Here’s what I posted on Facebook.

Here’s what really happened.

Scenes from today’s final race of the Singletrack Cycles...

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:43:00 -0700

Scenes from today’s final race of the Singletrack Cycles West Side Mountain Bike Series.

Aaron’s dad, Dwight, and stepmom, Maggie, came out to spectate, which was awesome! I see so much of both Dwight and his mom, Greta, in Aaron, and he has all of their best personality qualities (of which there are many) as well. Maybe I’m biased, but seriously, I really won the in-law lottery with both sides of his family.

Aaron capped off his epic domination of this race series with another win, plus the most hilarious podium jump, which was instigated by Joey in the plaid shirt. I love how they all just went for it — absolutely no hesitation. I can’t stop laughing at that photo!

And, of course, Aaron snagged first place in the Cat-1 20-29 age group for the entire series. Whoop whoop!!! He won a bit of cash, some tires, chamois cream, homemade cupcakes, and a sweet award.

Plus glory. Endless glory.

Did I mention I get to marry this man??

My future MIL made a Peppermint Patty cake for my birthday!!

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:57:54 -0700

My future MIL made a Peppermint Patty cake for my birthday!!

Oh my God, I did it!

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:03:42 -0700

10 post-race miles: DONE.

I hung out at home for a few hours after the race, eating lots of food and refreshing Online Race Results obsessively until the official results were posted. I was the 21st female, 6th in my division, and 57th overall out of 309 finishers. Whoop!!!

And then I surprised myself with how good my legs felt, and with the pace I was able to maintain during the 10 miles.

The last few miles were really mentally tough because I had been running… for… so… longgggg.

And now I’m stupid-tired and hanging out on the floor, from which I’ll only rise to get food.

Total miles: 19.3
Total running time: 2:44:23
Overall average pace: 8:30
Total calories burned (according to Garmin): 2,128

Make that lots and LOTS of food.

Official time: 1:16:22 — 8:12 pace I’m extremely proud of...

Sat, 18 May 2013 09:55:00 -0700

Official time: 1:16:22 — 8:12 pace

I’m extremely proud of this race! I started off pretty fast, and even clocked 7:56 for mile two, but slowed down a bit after that. Still, I held a challenging pace, attacked the hills in mile 8, and passed quite a few people in the final stretch.

And I finished strong, with my hand over my heart for Boston.

Full recap to come. Gotta go run 10 more.

I got (1)99 problems and a bitch ain’t one! A goal:...

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:00:00 -0700

I got (1)99 problems and a bitch ain’t one!

A goal: 1:14:00 — 7:57 pace

B goal: 1:15:00 — 8:04 pace

C goal: 1:16:45 — 8:15 pace

D goal: 1:19:00 — 8:30 pace

(How many letters do I get?)

E goal: PR — sub-1:23:07

F goal: Finish with a smile!

99 Problems will be stuck in my head the whole time. The Hugo version is better. If you’ve never heard it before, YOU ARE WELCOME.

Seattle Tumblrs!

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:06:27 -0700

Some Tumblr people met up for dinner in Capitol Hill tonight, someone ordered about 40 clams and ate them all, and then someone (possibly the same person) suggested we go eat cupcakes.

What can I say? I’m a seafood-loving cupcake-enabler.

Anna and I went halfsies on red velvet and salted caramel cupcakes, and Darcy and Amy went for a mini cupcake and a cake pop, respectively. YUM.

It was absolutely lovely to meet Anna after following her blog for something crazy like two years now, and to meet Darcy and Amy, both of whom I didn’t follow before tonight even though they live in the same city and go to my alma mater because WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME. Don’t worry, I’ve rectified that situation.

Those young whippersnappers continued on to a bar after the cupcakes, but because I’m a grandma, I went home and ate this cookie that Aaron brought home from work, too. Might as well get all my sugar in in one day, yes?

This… this is what happens when a chocolate chip cookie and an Oreo meet and fall in love. GAME-CHANGER.

Now I must relax, give into my sugar coma, and give thanks for fun times with friends from the Interwebs!

Easy like Thursday morning

Thu, 16 May 2013 07:52:00 -0700

Surprise! Morning run! I got out the door at 5:27 a.m.

Not all 9:00+ miles, but the average was nice ‘n easy, so I’ll take it.

A cloudy morning at the lake is still beautiful. I love the clouds reflected in the water.

A good thinking bench, for those who do their thinking while sitting rather than running.

Oh, and I’m definitely wearing my Ghosts for the race. They felt great today — like old friends. So happy to have that decision made!

Time to rest my legs today and tomorrow. Packet pickup tomorrow night. Race Saturday morning.

I can’t wait. It’s my favorite race distance and a fabulous course, and I’m so excited to smoke my time from two years ago!!

Shoe dilemma

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:40:57 -0700

Tuesday night, I lifted weights and did the Oiselle Dirty Dozen core workout.

I’ve never done core work consistently, but I know it’ll make me stronger and faster, so I’m now officially trying. That workout is intense! I’m definitely feeling the burn today.

For tonight’s run, I wore my most subtle running gear.

Because I simply hate standing out in a crowd.

My goal was five easy miles, so what I wound up doing was frustrating.

Can’t. Slow. Down.

This was the second run in my new shoes, and this time I really focused on how they felt. The toebox is roomier than I’m used to, and I went up a half-size from my usual 8.5 based on the salesgirl’s recommendation; I just don’t know if I’ve got too much room for my toes to flop around. I definitely feel like I’m running differently, but I’m not sure it’s in a good way.

I got too hung up thinking about the shoes to relax, so my shoulders and upper back felt really tight just a few miles in. I kept trying to breathe, relax, and slow down.

Yeah, didn’t work. I was too anxious about the shoe situation and my 15K on Saturday. Which shoes will I wear?

I think the safe route is to go with my Ghosts, but the new shoes are definitely helping me run fast even when I try to slow down. I’ll do one last easy run in the Ghosts tomorrow and then decide.

Cross my heart, hope to die, I’ll be good and run 9:00+ miles tomorrow!

GPOYW: Mullet cardigan edition. Stripey business in the front;...

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:25:00 -0700

GPOYW: Mullet cardigan edition.

Stripey business in the front; paisley party in the back.

Bear with me. This is as wild ‘n crazy as my life gets nowadays.

{LOFT}

Recovery... or not

Mon, 13 May 2013 22:10:12 -0700

I’m officially awful at slowing down for recovery runs.

I met up with Megan, who works for Nuun and is organizing all the Hood to Coast goodness, for an “easy” run around Green Lake tonight. She’s still recovering from running (and PRing!) the Tacoma City Marathon a few weekends ago, and I just did my long run yesterday, so we agreed to take it slow-ish.

But then… just… nope.

I’m kind of a running loner (roner?) and usually run by myself, so I’ve forgotten how the miles can fly by when you run and chat with a friend! It’s seriously weird how I can remember everything Megan and I talked about, but I can’t recall covering various parts of the trail, even though we ran all the way around the lake, plus some more. Where did the miles go?

Oh, they must’ve gotten chewed up and spit out by my awesome new shoes.

I’ve never had fun, bright shoes before, so I’m a little obsessed.

The Asics Cumulus 15s have some serious cushioning. I removed the Asics inserts, which have even more foamy cushioning, and used my custom inserts (high arches, yo) to firm them up a bit. I felt a bit like I was ~~running~~ bouncing on pogo sticks (in a good way).

One run isn’t enough to be able to give a firm yea or nay on these shoes, but so far, I’m feeling good about them. They were a little stiff, which is to be expected, and don’t quite have that fits-like-a-glove feel that I’m so used to with the Ghosts, but maybe we’ll get there in a few miles.

Yup, I said we — my bright-ass shoes and me. Aaron should watch out; this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Happy Mother's Day

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:25:00 -0700

I kicked off this Mother’s Day with a little half-marathon for a long run.

NEWS FLASH: Running 13 miles is way, wayyyyyy more fun than running 18 miles!

I started out cautiously to make sure my knees felt OK, and then sped up a bit when I felt assured they weren’t going to make trouble. I wound up with an average pace that’s right on target for my long runs — I’m trying to hit 9:00 to 9:10 (a 9:10 average pace equals a 3:59:59 marathon).

My next long run includes a RACE! I’ll run Seattle’s Best 15K this Saturday, then run 10 miles afterward to bring the mileage to 19. It should be… fun…?

I’m excited for tomorrow’s run because I’ll get to test out my new shoes!

I walked into Road Runner Sports wanting to try the the Saucony Triumph based on a recommendation, but they felt really stiff and awkward on my feet. I didn’t even like walking in them, let alone running in them.

So the salesgirl brought me other neutral options similar to my beloved Brooks Ghost 4, and I wound up liking the brand-new Asics Cumulus 15. I have 90 days (!) to run in these and return them if I don’t like them, so yay!

Aaron and I had a great day spending time with both of our moms. We had lunch with his mom and stepdad, then headed over to my mom’s house for dinner and a movie. We brought our favorite cupcakes to share!

I had the cookies ‘n’ cream one (middle of the front row), and just polished off a red velvet one (back right) as I’m typing this. Yummmm. Can’t wait to enjoy these at our wedding!!

I can’t remember the last time I gave an update on my mom’s health on the blog, and it seems that everyone (in real life) has been asking me lately, so the update is: She is now three months out from her surgery, back to work, and halfway through her treatment!

I couldn’t believe it today when she said it had been three months since the surgery; it felt like just yesterday that I was back home helping her in those first few days of recovery. In a way, time feels like it’s gone quickly, but I remember that the month of February felt as long as an entire year. Each day just felt much heavier than a normal day, if that makes sense…

I was going to write more, but I’ve just gone and made myself really emotional, and I need to get some sleep.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I love you so much. Here’s to lighter days ahead.

Last year: 9th overall. This year: 2nd overall. Smoked it!

Sat, 11 May 2013 13:39:27 -0700

Last year: 9th overall.

This year: 2nd overall.

Smoked it!

(I will never be a) morning exerciser

Fri, 10 May 2013 22:30:54 -0700

I did a very rare weekday morning run today! Turns out Green Lake is very lovely and peaceful in the wee hours.

I don’t know how you a.m. exercisers do it. It was rough dragging myself out of bed to fit in five miles, and I’m so used to running in the evening that I didn’t ever feel like I hit a good groove.

And yet while I was running, I thought about how races are always first thing in the morning, and I never have trouble then. I guess I need the nervous excitement and energy?

I realized after this run that the knee pain (and, randomly, big-toe pain) I’m feeling is what I felt right before I retired my last pair of running shoes and switched to my current ones.

Thanks to DailyMile, I calculated that my current shoes have 355 miles on them; Runner’s World says shoes should be replaced between 300 and 500 miles. They definitely won’t last through the marathon, so I need to get new shoes and start breaking them in ASAP! I’m thinking of cheating on Brooks and investigating Saucony… more on that later.

After work, Aaron and I met up with Meg and her husband, John, for food at Brave Horse Tavern. I can’t believe it had been a YEAR since I’d seen Meg — remember when she plucked me from my sick, injured, lonely despair in San Francisco? Holy lifesaver!!! Just rereading that post amazes me. What a good friend!

May 2012:

May 2013:

It’s no surprise that the conversation centered mostly on running, fitness, and our upcoming races and relays. Both Meg and I are doing Hood to Coast, and both Meg and Aaron are doing Ski to Sea!

Meg is F-A-S-T, as in she just ran a 1:35 half-marathon (her PR is 1:33) and is going to train for sub-1:30 next. We may or may not have hatched a plan called Operation Devon Gets F-A-S-T (just made that up) that’ll begin after Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle and involve Meg kicking my ass on the track. I’m excited.

Welp, gotta get up early (like 5 a.m. early) tomorrow for Aaron’s mountain bike race — the same one at which this pic was snapped by the official photographer last year:

Man, time flies. This feels like yesterday.

I’m so glad I’m off those damn crutches.

Hood to Coast news and training updates

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:31:00 -0700

The Hood to Coast team assignments are in!!!

I’m runner #12 for Team Watermelon (lemonade and watermelon are Nuun’s new summer flavors), which means I get to run the very last leg of the whole relay onto the beach in Seaside, Oregon!

Huzzah!!!

Nuun asked us for our top three runner position preferences, and 12 was my third choice, so I’m very happy I got one of my choices! I think it’ll be unforgettable to run that last leg — I’m sure I’ll be absolutely exhausted, borderline delirious — and cross the finish line with Team Watermelon.

Here are the details and HTC-provided notes about all three of my legs:

Leg 1: 6.32 miles, medium difficulty, little to no shade
Leg 2: 4.92 miles, easy, no music allowed on this leg for some reason (no prob, I never listen to it)
Leg 3: 5.23 miles, medium difficulty, little to no shade, considerable elevation gain or loss (I’m guessing loss, since this leg ends at sea level!)

In total, I’ll run just under 16.5 miles. My position is ranked 6th out of 12 for mileage and 8th for difficulty.

I’m SO excited!!!

Moving on… I’m smack in the middle of week 12 of my 18-week marathon training plan, and feeling like Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle will be here before I know it.

I adjusted my schedule a bit this week to accomodate a get-together with girlfriends on Monday night, and it’s totally screwing with my legs. Five miles Tuesday + eight miles Wednesday = havoc wreaked on my knees.

Tuesday’s run: Easy-ish and pleasant.

Wednesday’s run: Comfortably hard through mile five, and then my knees started yelling at me. I slowed down a little… then some more… and then WAY more for the last mile.

My knees felt better once I slowed down, but the pain was worrisome enough that I’m going to take Thursday off and get my five-miler in early Friday morning before work (Aaron and I have dinner plans with Meg and her husband Friday evening). I may not do hills, like I usually do, since running downhill is so stressful on the knees.

You hear that, body? I’M LISTENING. No need to mess with me any further. You call the shots up in this joint.

Aaaaand to end this on a positive note, I will show you that I ventured boldly into the exciting world of skirts today. Stripey skirts, no less.

The sudden onset of 80-degree temps and my extreme aversion to pants has forced me to go where my closet has not gone before. I have dresses, sure, but skirts are much more complicated to me. Every time I try on a skirt, I wonder what the hell I’ll wear with it. I just happened to already be wearing a perfectly matching tank today, so I had no excuse not to get it.

Plus, this skirt has an elastic waistband. That means I’ll get to enjoy the kind of comfort that’s usually only considered acceptable in public for toddlers and the elderly.

All the cool people are wearing elastic-waisted stripey skirts this summer. You’ll see.

Eight of Aaron’s co-workers surprised him by coming to his...

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:39:46 -0700

Eight of Aaron’s co-workers surprised him by coming to his race on Sunday to cheer him on.

Plus his mom and stepdad.

Plus me.

We made a big, awesome, very-conspicuous cheer group that practically outnumbered the total number of spectators cheering for every other rider. Aaron felt very loved, but also a bit pressured to put on a good show.

Of course, this would be the race in which he lost a contact lens after the first lap… with three more laps to go. Dude is nearly BLIND without contacts or glasses, and I imagine only being able to see with one eye on a very technical trail was insanely difficult and frustrating.

He did fall at one point due to a collision with another rider, but otherwise he finished unscathed for second place in his age group for the race and FIRST PLACE in his age group for the race series!

You know you’re good when you make the podium. You know you’re f*cking amazing when you do it with half your eyesight.

And you know you have good friends when they use their own shirts to wipe sweat off your head.

Fun times. SO proud.

This is how it’s done, folks.

Aaaaand it’s suddenly summer / time to wear a dress to...

Mon, 06 May 2013 08:25:32 -0700

Aaaaand it’s suddenly summer / time to wear a dress to work.

He got second place with ONE EYE since he lost a contact during...

Sun, 05 May 2013 12:53:57 -0700

He got second place with ONE EYE since he lost a contact during the first lap! And he WON the whole race series!!! (at Soaring Eagle Park (East Main Entrance))