Happy Arbor Day

Save the earth ... plant a tree! And isn't this weather just fine???? Winter storm warning yet again for other parts of the state. Cold, windy, wet here for the next week. Lovely. Just lovely.

Nice article in the Post-Bulletin tonight about new Med-City Marathon race director Teresa Byland . Maybe I should say Teresa bYland. ;-) She works for the Y and the Y now owns the marathon.

I still have all the newspapers to read from when I was gone, but noticed this nice article about Lin Gentling on the front of one section as I was flipping through. Runner extraordinaire.

The RTC website is back up. There was some problem with a temporary file, I guess. Our sincere apologies for all the downtime. This is not what we want for our website users. Hopefully, this will be the end of the outages.

Tomorrow, Kit Hawkins and I will be staffing the water stops for the marathon training class. We've done our long run (or jog/walk in my case) for the week. On the docket: 16 miles. I'm making some M&M cookies. I hope they're at least palatable. I discovered I didn't have enough all-purpose flour (I was just at the store!) so had to substitute some whole wheat pastry flour and some ground oats. Argh. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right? (Just took out the first pan. They're not how they usually are. They're spreading. And some fell off the edge of the cookie sheet... I'll bring them anyway.)

Tomorrow, I'm also helping at registration for the WinterBeGone! Duathlon. 5-7 in Oronoco. Track & Field on ESPN2 on Saturday 1-3 pm. Live from PA.

Seven State 20K records were set at the Fetzer, despite the weather. Congratulations to RTC members Marie Boyd, Mary Chestolowski, Deb Thomford and Sandra Dalquist for their record-setting runs! I've requested a new Fetzer slideshow be posted on the Fetzer web page Check back there on Monday. Hopefully it will be updated.

Well, I did just what I said I wouldn't do. I registered for the Twin Cities Marathon today. Monday as I'm walking toward Boston, I'm thinking, this is it. I'm not cut out to participate in marathons. I'm never doing this again. How quickly we forget ... I also didn't want my personal worst to be my personal last either. ;-)

Next week I'm off to the RRCA convention in Cincinnati to pick up the award for RTC News. Registered for the 10K which is part of the Flying Pig Marathon, but will just run it for fun, not time. I wanted some kind of pig stuff--finishers medal, shirt, whatever.

I read Water for Elephants, our April book club selection, while I was gone. In the end, I ended up liking it and I think it will make for good discussion, but it was kind of a downer. What a life the circus performers led. Especially sad for the main character in the book.

OK. I finally got Photobucket to create slideshows again. Their interface changed and after I rebooted my PC, it's working again.

So, where was I??? Sunday I believe. First, I've included a slideshow for Friday, below.

Saturday's activities--sightseeing. More photos.

The Olympic Trials was probably the highlight of my trip. Such a privilege to watch those supremely talented women run a marathon. Congratulations to our Women's Marathon Olympic Marathon team for Beijing in August: Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet.

Photobucket is now acting up again. Shame on you, Photobucket! I'll have to try again tomorrow for more slideshows.

I'll quickly recap my marathon. Lots and lots of issues. It had been cloudy all morning and the sun came out at 10:00 and the temps went up quite a bit (the 6:00 news said it was 69 at 10:00 in Hopkinton and 52 at the finish in Boston), but weather wasn't really an issue. I did get a bit of a sunburn due to all the sun, however. Anyway, from the get-go, I just wasn't into this marathon. I was looking at my GPS even before mile marker one. The injuries, the lack of training, just didn't bode well for any kind of decent finish.

My knee started bothering me at 16 miles. Every time my left foot hit the pavement, it sent like a shockwave of pain through the lateral aspect of my left knee. There was no way I could, or would have tried, running 10 miles in that condition. So since it didn't hurt to walk, I started walking. Then at 17 miles, cramp in my left adductor (inner thigh). Big time. I can tolerate the calf, hamstring, ankle, foot, whatever cramps pretty much silently. But the adductor makes me cry out in pain. Feels like someone put an ice pick through my leg. Some spectators told me there was a first aid station right around the corner. Hallelujah. I made a bee line for the red cross. They asked me to try to lay down, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get up due to the prospect of seizing and not being able to get back up. (It's happened before. TCM.) The best thing for me to do for the cramps is to try to walk them off. Stretching just sends the opposing muscles into spasms. Some guy tried to massage it a bit but he wasn't in the right spot and I didn't want to stand still any longer. So I paced through the medical area and a volunteer followed me--she said she didn't want me to go down, which was fine. I took a piece of hard candy after a bit and asked how far to the next medical tent. They said about a mile. Having been through this cramping thing many times before, I didn't know if I could make it a mile, but thought I'd try. If they got worse and other muscles got involved it would be a very long mile indeed.

I headed out and started taking in more calories. I'd had a couple of gel packs and half a Mr. Freeze by this time and a few electrolyte capsules and plenty of Gatorade. I'd been at 2 port-a-potties already. For whatever reason, my bladder seemed to have gone haywire along with everything else. I was stopping at every port-a-potty I could find. Sometimes I had to wait, sometimes not. So I took 4 orange slices, a Fig Newton, some jelly beans, and several Jolly Ranchers (thank you spectators!) over the next few miles. Also kept taking in Gatorade. After a few more miles the cramping stopped. By the time I got to Boylston Street, I'd stopped at 12 or 13 port-a-potties. Another record. By about 10 stops. Also, due to the extensive walking I developed blisters. I had a monster of a blood blister on my left little toe after having walked 3 hours, which had made maintaining a 15 minute walking pace impossible. I got a photo of the lovely little blister, but won't share it. ;-) It started on the top of the toe and went around and across the bottom. Also lost a layer of skin on the balls of my feet. I've not trained to walk that far and think I was having some shoe issues too. These asics 2130s haven't been my friend thus far. I first wore them the day I fell. Looking back, would I have done it again? Amazingly, yes. It was all about the coat. I bought one on Sunday and didn't want to wear it without having finished the race, so that's what kept me going. The coat. And my dad. I didn't want them to have come up from Florida only to not be able to see me finish. I persevered to the finish despite everything that was going on with my body. I acquired the killer attitude, finish-no-matter-what attitude Tom Williamson said I needed ;-), and made it to the finish. My dad and I were a bit emotional--he from worry about where I was, me for finally being done. I'm more proud of that medal than any other. By a long shot.

Thank you to all the wildly cheering running fans who lined the course on Monday. All. Day. Long. You're unreal. You're the best marathon fans. Even as late as I was coming in the crowds were still fantastic. They still cheer you on even though they'd been yelling for hours. I managed a smile and thank you to the ones who specifically cheered for me, even though I was walking. It's amazing.

OK, so it wasn't a quick recap. I carried my camera. I'll post photos of the run, and more sightseeing including Cape Cod, over the weekend.

Let's meet Tish (Patricia) Torchia:

Family: Mike, Tish, Mikey, Katy, Kelsey, Sarah, Ian and Birkie!
Hobbies: Most anything OUTSIDE; cooking, reading and traveling-- inside or outside!
Languages: English 10% of time, Portuguese/French/Spanish 10% of time and mumbling to myself 80% of time!
How did you get started in runnning? I got started running in high school, but really learned to enjoy it when the kids were born... running with them in strollers and as they got older, running WITH them. Now I just run behind them!
Miles per week on average? No set miles per week-- just run when I get a chance to run and the distance depends on how I am feeling.. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 and up, if I'm really feeling great!
Your defacto, comfortable as a broken-in shoe training route? Mayowood with my dog Birkie
Favorite carbo loading food? Spaghetti with my vegetarian sauce
Favorite indulgence food? Cadbury chocolate
Next race? Some marathon this spring, not sure which one. If no one shows up, then TC in the fall.
Running goals? My ONLY running goals are to remain healthy AND enjoy my running
Running dream? ... Someday I'm going to do Big Sur, perhaps with one or some of my kids!-- hopefully this is not a dream, but a reality in the not so distant future!

See 'ya.