Handana WINNERRRRR! Race Day Ready #6

Woohoo!  I am sitting in bed wondering what the heck happened to me today.

The good news:  I ran fifteen miles at a pretty decent pace.  I haven't run longer than 13.1 in over a month.

Fast or slow?  It's all depends on your perspective!

The you-can't-be-serious news:  I am planning on running my first ultra on January 5th.  It's *only* 50k, but it counts as an ultra.  We can look at this in many ways.  It's just about 5 miles more than a marathon.  Only about 5 miles on top of 26.2.  Piece of cake! (that's sarcasm)  It's 18.3% of a marathon added to a marathon.  Yikes.  And it is also about 1/5th of a marathon to run on top of a marathon.  The NJ Trail Series Watchung Winter Races is holding their 5th annual Winter Ultra.  Shhh... Let's not talk about the fact that it is 5 loops.  K?  As long as it's not actively raining or snowing that day, I plan to run this race.  (Sorry, but I'm a big wuss when it comes to cold weather.  And when something cold and wet is falling from the sky, my wussified-ness increases exponentially.)  During training, I plan to learn to deal with the cold air.  I just can't commit to my first 50k in rain or snow.

The bad news:  A shooting stopmedeadinmytracks pain came clear out of no where pretty early in this 15 mile run.  It was in my lower back.  I had to stop because it was that bad.  My imagination proposed the idea of someone having a voodoo doll of me that they just jabbed a pin through.  I had NO IDEA what to do.  I'm not a back problem person.  I just stopped and stood there for a minute then decided to check my range of motion.  I decided that I'd rather finish the run no matter how slow, then give up since the pain seemed to dissipate.  It was never totally gone, but it didn't feel like a dagger in the back after that.  Has this ever happened to you?

Anyway....

So I had the random number generator thingy choose my winner.

DebsDailyLife is our Handana winner!!!!!!!

Deb, please find my e-mail address in the "about" tab on this site and send me your mailing address!

We have another giveaway coming soon, of course.  After all, it's the season of giving!

Anyone have any crazy goals for the 2013 race season?  In addition to the ultra, think I'm shooting for 2 or 3 marathons next year.  I'd like to have 10 done before I the end of 2014.  These darn cute kids (I mean my man-sized teenagers and my sweet 11 year old boy) make it hard to train and travel for races on a whim!  But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way...

Race Day Ready Giveaway #6- Handana!

November has been a strange month.  It feels almost non-existent.  It has flown by with impressive speed.  That is particularly odd to me because time usually goes quickly only when you are dearly trying to preserve it.  This month has been a mad rush of trying to get back to regular routines.

Here on the NJ Shore we are balancing getting back to reality, helping one another, and providing comfort and consistency to a place that was shaken by a hurricane.  Just when you trick your mind into believing things are getting back to normal, all it takes is a little walk down the street, a facebook post calling for volunteers or donations, or a news article showing unimaginable damage that is so beyond repair that it looks as though the only solution is a giant bulldozer.  It's going to be all right.  We have to believe that, and we do.

As far as running goes, for us, this should be dubbed a good month:

1.I have a new half marathon PR

Rounding the bases at the Trenton Half Marathon finish line.
Look at my hands.  Weird...