Tough As Nails

Saw a late matinee showing of the movie True Grit with Jean today. I really enjoyed it. I haven't seen the John Wayne version, but would like to. The Maddie character was tough as nails.

Also tough as nails ... the 25 or so (just a guess) souls (and their soles) who braved the temps and wind chill this morning to run the new Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer half marathon course.

My thermometer at home said zero when I left and I heard on the radio that the wind chill was -16. I thought I'd left without my balaclava so turned around and went home to look for it ... only to find it was with me, but in the trunk. So I barely got there in time for the start. Brrrrrrr ... it was cold. But with the sun shining it was really a beautiful morning.

Yes, it was cold but with enough layers on, it really wasn't that bad. The hero for the day? Randy McKeeman who stayed out there all morning to provide us with fluids. THANK YOU RANDY!!

That's our hero on the left

I ran most of the morning with Kristin O'Meara. That was most enjoyable. We are both staying at the same hotel in Boston, which will be lots of fun.

My hair looks soooo goofy when it flips up against my hat like that. I think I'll start pulling the hat down farther on my forehead. I was running on empty, literally, today. Thank you Kristin for getting me through the run.

Kudos to John Shonyo, race director, for organizing the run this morning and for all the time and effort he's put into the race (February 13).

We still need volunteers, runners, donations, ... More info on the website.

I stopped in at Brothers for a diet Pepsi before heading over to the Y for the Polar Bear fun run and lunch. It was Joe Ryan's birthday today (Happy Birthday, Joe!) and 3 of Joe and Sara's kids were there coloring.

Brevin made a very nice birthday picture for his dad.

The RTC board put on a very nice spread for lunch.

It was fun to chat with some people that I don't see all that often.

I stopped at Running Room to buy another pair of Fit-Wear (base layer/long-underwear type garment, but technical) tights. With this cold, seems like I'm washing them all the time so another pair was in order.

After two days without my oatmeal, I finally had it at 1:44 PM. Yum-o!! And then shortly before 8 PM, after the movie, I had ...

a salad. I've missed those the last couple days too. Finished up a double batch of Peanut Sitting Pretties. I'll put them in the freezer for the Lace-Up silent auction.

Matt looks pretty comfy. I think he'd say ... Life Is Good.

Good night.

I Did It

Before I forget ... 1.5 hours on the Stairmaster yesterday and a 1 mile run. Today: 1 mile run and many laps around the house (inside). Huh? Yup. You got it. Indoor laps. With a purpose ...

After yesterday's jag on the Stairmaster, I found myself increasingly hungry. VERY hungry. And I had limited options to satisfy that hunger. And I was increasingly COLD. Very cold. Just couldn't warm up. My food options for the day: coffee/tea (no milk) (don't drink either one), pop, clear juice, popsicles, chicken or beef broth (no noodles), jello, sherbet. And none of the food items could be red. If you're 50 or over, you probably know what I was doing yesterday. Yup. Prepping for my first colonoscopy. A topic probably avoided by most people, especially in a public forum, but I guess I'm not most people. My grandma died of colon cancer at 68 and a friend was just diagnosed in November. It's a necessary evil, and though not how I'd chose to spend a boatload of discretionary money, something that everyone should do when the time comes. I'm hoping that if I can convince someone that it's not so bad and they go get one themselves, I will have done something positive by posting about it.

So yesterday I ate 6 sugar-free Jell-O cups (10 calories each), one cup of chicken broth (10 calories), 3 popsicles (45 calories), Diet Coke, 32 oz. (plus) water, Fresca, low-sugar apple white grape juice (80 calories). It had to be a minimum of 3 liters for the day. And then, 2 liters of the "beverage" Colyte. 195 calories for the day. I was very hungry. I have to say, that was the worst part of the prep for me. Hunger. People had been telling me about the prep ("It's the worst part") and I must say I was pretty wigged out and was expecting much worse. A bother and a hassle? Yes. Slightly unpleasant? Yes. But not as bad as I was expecting.

This morning brought 2 more liters of Colyte and a little Diet Coke. I wasn't too hungry today until I left for the hospital. All that fluid in my stomach for most of the morning took care of the hunger pains. The procedure takes place at the hospital (Olmsted) in the outpatient surgery area. I got my id bracelet and an IV.

I was seated on a gurney, rolled down the hall, and there I waited listening to tunes on Pandora. My nurse, Nate, and I found lots to chat about. Pandora was one thing. It's a website that lets you create your own radio station of sorts. Tunes are sorted on 26 factors and you are able to select your tunes based on criteria that you choose. It also turns out he's training for his first marathon ... Grandma's. He lives in Hayfield so he won't be coming in to town for Saturday long runs. :-( We also got talking about cookies. More on that in a bit. So I told him I wanted to listen to something soothing on Pandora during the procedure. He came up with Enya. Relaxing to be sure. I have a couple of her CDs. No AC/DC, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Steppenwolf, KISS ... for me. There was a bit of a wait after arriving in the procedure room. Probably almost half an hour due to a longer than expected case next door. I was hooked up to a blood pressure/O2 saturation/pulse monitor. So I practiced a little biofeedback to see how low I could get my BP and pulse in such a setting. (130/58 for BP and 63 for pulse. It's hard to totally relax waiting for the unknown. And I don't know if it made a difference, but I had on a t-shirt and sweatshirt and the cuff was around both. O2 sat. remained at 100% since I was receiving oxygen through a nasal canula.

Nate eventually returned and told me that I'd be received a medication to sedate me, but that I wouldn't be asleep. I'd be awake, but relaxed through the procedure. Hmmmm. I wasn't sure how I felt about this. I was expecting a "wake me when it's over" scenario. But I went with the flow. It sounded like an easier recovery afterwareds. He said he'd give me a half dose to begin with and let me decide if I needed more. So I rolled on my side and we were off. There was a big screen TV right in front of me and I could watch the whole thing. I found it very interesting. I'd never seen inside myself before. I asked the surgeon if I was "clean enough" and he said yes. One of my fears going in was that something ugly/messy might be encountered. No problem. The only discomfort I encountered was when Nate had to press VERY HARD on my abdomen to help the surgeon get the camera around a bend. Ouch. But the pain was short-lived. The pictures are taken "on the way out". The inside is kind of yellow-ish and you can see that it's supplied with lots of blood. Not a smooth surface. This may be too graphic for some of you ... sorry. But I found it very interesting. I wish I had my camera. I'd have blogged it. :-) Anyway, to my untrained eyes there were bumps all over the place, but it turns out I'm 100% normal and clean as a whistle. Don't need a return visit for 10 years. Good news.

After the procedure, I was wheeled into an adjoining room for a few minutes where I was given a bottle of water and my BP was monitored. I was allowed the peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my purse. SOLID FOOD. Yee haw!! I also had one of my pecan/oatmeal/chocolate chunk cookies as a post-procedure treat. Nate popped his head in the door. I asked if he wanted the cookie. I told him I had lots more at home (not exactly the truth ...) He said sure, and he was going to eat it right there in front of me. He broke off about a 1/4 of it, said YUM!! and put the rest in the bag in his back pocket. See ya Nate!!

The gal wanted to check my BP standing up. It was fine, so I was cleared to dress and go home with my post-procedure instructions. (Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. And walk to expel the air that's pumped it to expand the colon for easier viewing. Hence the indoor laps this afternoon. No driving for 24 hours.) Much easier than I expected. I was so glad I wasn't put to sleep as I don't enjoy coming out of anesthesia. I ran my mile for the day with Matt mid-afternoon. No problem. Matt drove me to HyVee afterwards.

We stopped at Kwik Trip for one of my favorite junk-food treats, a chocolate-frosted creme-filled long john, straight-up (no nuts or sprinkles).

But with all that air milling around inside me, I have to say I wasn't really that hungry. :-( So the long john sat on the counter all day. Matt said he'd enjoy some split pea soup for supper, so I made a pot and had a bowl of that. Just what the doctor ordered. Warm, solid food. And a popsicle (cherry today!) for posterity.

Don't forget ... the Lace-Up half marathon preview run is tomorrow at 7:30 at Mayo High School tennis courts. I may be there. I may not. Dress for the weather. It's gonna be cold. Polar Bear fun run and lunch at the Y (free) at 11 AM.

Good night all.

Out and About

Morning workout: lifted and swam for an hour (the hour actually zipped by today). The best day for getting in my long run for the week was today, so late afternoon I ran for 16 about miles. I put my old Garmin on after having it plugged ina ll night. Dead. So I ran some known distances (two of my "loops around the hill" which are 7.25 miles each and each requires a trip over Historic hill and up Fox Valley Drive, and the 1.5 miles on top of the hill). Cuba is getting a little closer. (See the Team R.E.D. blog for what I mean by that.) The run took forever due to lots of interruptions of various sorts, but I got it done. 30 degrees when I started which was really nice. And who did I run into? One of my very favorite runners in the whole wide world. Matt!!

We finished my first loop of the hill together. His girlfriend Maren from Nebraska is going to run the Lace-Up Half. Hoo-rah!! Matt will be there for moral support. I'm going to try to talk him into running the 5K. Speaking of which, the Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer Half Marathon Preview Run (LUABCHMPR :-) is Saturday morning at 7:30 at the Mayo H.S. tennis courts. Also, I believe Team R.E.D. is running from the Bear's Den in Byron at 6:00 PM on Thursday. Even though it's cold, we just keep on runnin' ...

Guess who's the guest speaker at the St. Cloud River Runner annual banquet on 1/30?? Carrie Tollefson!! It will be fun to hear her speak again. I heard her at Fool's Five a few years ago.

Our own Dr. Ed Creagan will be on KROC-AM (1340) on Medical Edge Weekend Saturday morning at 9:05. He's an oncologist at Mayo, a really nice guy (and so is his wife Peggy!), and he will talk about stress and longevity.

I forgot to mention in last night's post that I was caught on camera by Chuck Sibley from KTTC-TV late yesterday afternoon while running north on West Circle Drive SW. He was filming the sun shining through the trees and he got me. I hardly ever have the news on at 6, but happened to be eating then so turned it on. AND ... I just happened to look up for the preview for the weather ... and there I was. Sue Palmer, Chris O'Brien and Ron Giles caught it too. And ... Tracy McCray asked me for a quote for her P-B column ... What did I learn in 2010? Check her column to see if she uses it. :-)

I guess I should decide soon if I'm going to have another contest this year. Last year it was Guess the Number of Cookies I Bake in 2010. I'm thinking about something along the lines of How Many Salads Will I Eat in 2011? If you have any fun ideas, email me.

That's all I know today. Good night.

Heard on the Street

1) Jeff P. and Trevor D. are running their first 50-milers at Ice Age in May. Whoo hoo!! Exciting.

2) Paul Melby defended his Resolution Run 5K title on Saturday by crossing the line with two other runners. Way to go, Paul!! Have you seen this year's jackets? From the front they are VERY bright orange. Very nice jackets, as usual.

There are at least 12 of us running Lake Wobegon on May 14. Here's the race postcard that arrived in the mail today. Pictured are River Runner buddies George, Travis and Monty.

This race is the best deal around. $45 til 3/31. Great drop bags ...

... long-sleeved technical finishers shirts, custom finisher's medals, great post-race food, top 3 finishers in 5-year age groups receive Wobegon mugs, chip timing.

Resolutions. It's time I revisited my 2010 resolutions, and set some for 2011. Here's what I resolved to do in 2010 ...

•Get more sleep. 5-6 hours per night over the long term isn't healthy. I pretty much spring out of bed each morning with a things to do list for the day just waiting to be tackled. Not so good. Still not getting enough sleep.
•Learn to say "no" when appropriate (especially to myself). Much as I'd like to, I can't do everything. (This goes hand in hand with my first resolution.) I think I've done pretty well on this. I've given up some volunteer activities and in that regard, my life feels less frenetic.
•Take a day off each week (or two) from exercise. This will be really tough. (This goes hand in hand with my second resolution.) I have made zero progress on this one. I very rarely take a day off. But ... when I swim I consider that cross-training day as a break for my legs. But now with all the exercise options I've got, it's going to be really hard not to do anything.
•Not be such a packrat. Much improved!! I hauled away carloads of stuff.
•Try an Olympic distance triathlon. (Notice I said "try". I'm still not convinced I'll not end up getting hauled out of the lake on a kayak ...) Nope. Didn't get it done. No tris in 2010.
•Run a marathon I've never run before. (Barring some unforeseen circumstance, that will be Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon on May 8.) Done!! Times two. Lake Wobegon Trail on May 8 and Outer Banks on November 14.
•Run a 3:35 marathon. I ran a 3:33 at Wobegon. Yee haw!!
•Visit a state I've never been to before. Done!! I visited Maine in April after running Boston.
•Read a book each month. Get back to reading the newspaper every day. Ummm ... needs improvement. I read only a few books and tended to get way behind on the newspaper, though I did read them all eventually.
•Say "thank you" more often. I still need to work on this one.
•Say "I love you" more often. And this one.

All in all, I think I wasn't a total failure even though I didn't hit all my goals. I'll try harder in 2011.
 
In 2011, I resolve to ...

• Lose weight. Don't have a number of pounds in mind. Just want to feel better about how I look.
• Get more sleep. Goes without saying. I seem to require a little cat nap just about every day.
• Log all my exercise each day. (Before I forget ... today was 2 hours on the Stairmaster and then an 8.03 mile run in the late afternoon.)
• Run at least a mile each day. So far, so good. I just gotta stay uninjured.
• Run a marathon I've never run before.
• Get a stamp in my passport. I got a passport in 2010. I've been out of the States once, in 1977 (Norway with a brief layover in Denmark). I would love to be able to swing a trip abroad.
• Say "thank you" more often.
• Say "I love you" more often. << These last two will perennially be on my list I think. >>

2011 will be a year of big changes for me. I'm only hoping that I can maintain some semblance of normalcy for myself and my family. I'll try my best.

Good night all ...

Some Enchanted Evening

What a beautiful evening for a run. An inch of new snow. Very pleasant January temps (upper 20s). Not too much wind. A spur-of-the-moment 4 PM run from Brothers was organized and I decided to join in and run down there (2.2 miles) and run with them and then run home (a total of 12.05 miles). So, my total for the month is already 38+ miles. And my legs/hammie feel great. :-) This morning I lifted and swam a mile and a half. Team R.E.D. is now running to Cuba and to get there, we need to log 75 miles of swimming (as a group). I'll do my part. Oh ... last night I rode the bike trainer for an hour. Great fun. It was great to be pedaling again. There are so many workout options each day ... run, bike, swim, lift, Stairmaster, snowshow, ski. It's hard to choose.

Got the santas put away and the snowmen up.

I was cleaning out the office and found some old photos. Here's one of me in the back of my Grandpa's bike:

Enough for today. Good night all.

The Double Half

Last New Year, Trevor and Dan started a new New Year's tradition ... the Double Half (marathon). They'd (we'd) run 13.1 miles each day of the new year (can't remember if it was the 31st and the 1st last year ...) and we'd have run a marathon already when the year had just begun. Last year it was unbelievably cold on the first. I'll never forget that. When we went out, after the Polar Bear lunch here, I think it was -11 not including the wind chill. Today, much better. 14 above when I finally got out and a lot less wind than yesterday. Still noticable from the south so I pulled my face mask up going into the wind, but all in all very pleasant. So ... I got in my (double half) marathon with my 13.11 miles today.

We moved the Strain brunch over here at the last minute when Dan's boys got sick on Friday. It was a small group ...

Andy, Dan, Trevor, Tom, Chris

but very casual, relaxing and very fun. My smile and laugh muscles were tired when everyone pulled out about 11 AM. Jim Li showed up after the run portion of the morning, just home from a family ski trip to UT.

Dan brought Steel Cut Oats, some strata and salted nut rolls. I made a batch of scones and pulled out some cookies.

I didn't make quite enough coffee ... but Dan had some hot cider too. Yummy breakfast. Somehow we got talking about Boston Marathon jackets so I pulled out mine. I guess I didn't buy one in 2005.

Got a trainer tire and my bike set up on my new Kurt Kinetic trainer last night. I'm going for a ride when I finish this post. :-)

I FINALLY finished the snowman wreath I'd been working on. Didn't make it before Christmas but I did the best I could. Turned out kinda cute ...

TTFN.

Happy New Year

Frosty, very cold and slippery half marathon (plus a little more :-) run this morning. But I was dressed just right so it really wasn't bad. Glad I did it. -2 on the thermometer when I left and wunderground.com said the wind was 20 to 25 mph from the SW with 40 mph gusts. Brrrrrr ......

Thank you Matt and Leslie, Joe and Sara for your hospitality yesterday evening. Matt ... you are an awesome cake baker!! We'll have to swap recipes some time. :-)

Change of plans for tomorrow morning. The Strain Breakfast Run has become the Saxman Breakfast Run due to two sick little boys in the Strain household. So ... y'all are welcome to stop by at 8 AM Sunday, 2026 Kal Lane SW, to run then eat, eat then run (?) or just eat! Dan's bringing steel cut oats and strata. Bring your friends.

Later.