FAMILY ADVENTURE

So because I am apparently still coming down from my Ragnar High and we all know that is a very dangerous time when one is coming down from a post-race event. For example after my finishing my first marathon I was at such a loss of what to do and felt so strong I joined rollerderby





While this was great fun for a few years, I stopped playing rollerderby before getting any major injuries or going into liver failure from all the whiskey I was drinking to fuel my anger, lol.

So today, in my post event high looking for something fun to do I decided that I would try and recruit my family to do a RAGNAR RELAY. I have lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins and it would be fun kinda like an adventure family reunion....so I send out this email to a bulk of my cousins and aunt/uncles.

"Ok so this past weekend my mom came down to AZ and ran a relay race with me.....we had soooo much fun. They are doing one in Texas in October it runs from San Antonio to Austin. Here is the website

www.ragnarrelay.com

then choose Texas to read more about it! Anyways, I know it sounds crazy, but even if you are not a runner they have a training plan to train for it which actually starts in June, but with some prep work starting now would really be doable by October. I told my mom that it would be fun if we could get 12 family members to do it together! Just throwing it out there, basically it could be some quality family time (2 days running, sweating, and laughing in a van).

I promise you and anyone else in our family who wants to do it can do it, I will send you weekly training plans....I trained my mom to do a 1/2 marathon and the ragnar relay in AZ which is longer than the one in Texas!"

Here is the first response I got back.....from one of my male cousins (year older than me, straight-laced family man type)

"Are you sure you have the right email address, I was thinking more along the lines of renting a van, buying a keg, and driving across Texas sounded like fun. We could drive slow and laugh at everyone baking in the sun while we turned the AC up. Either that or we could rent a 4 door, convertible white Cadillac, era 1970’s, buy a case of Jack, a bag o pot and just see what the hell happens, its just a thought and I’m just throwing it out there. Anyway, its good to hear that you both survived the race, mostly (my mom), I’m impressed with that one. Let me know if you come up with any family events that don’t involve sadomasochism."

Getting this team together may be harder than any derby hit I took! Better break out the Jack, lol (not really)

RUN, DRIVE, SLEEP, REPEAT.

Ok so I didn't drive, but I did puke in the van! Can I just say how much freakin' fun this race was, despite my raging sinus infection (maybe the lack of sleep and drugs have seduced me into thinking it was more fun than it actually was). Anyways, I have to say that I have not had a post event high like this since my first marathon! I am already planning my team for next year's DEL SOL event and would love to do a team for Texas and LA! So here is a rundown of how my weekend went.

Friday - Breakfast - oatmeal w/ banana, huckleberries, and almonds
0930 am - leave for our exchange
snacked on handful of wheatthins

LEG 1 - sometime around 5pm, 8.5 miles, dirt road, support vans making
sure I filled at least the lower lobes of my lungs with some good AZ dirt,
one giant rock painted as a skull (kind of an ominous sign, but whatever
right) Here is a fun t-shirt from one of the other teams that says it all!


















So for having a sinus infection that leg was not bad, super dry air though and I barely had a voice when I was done. I ran my 8.5 miles in around 80 minutes which is good for me especially since I was sick. Here is a picture of me during my first leg, not bad at least I look like I have a forward motion!











Ok back to the rundown:

7pm ish we hit up the next exchange with our Van 1 again and off for us to get a little rest, but first I felt the need to puke all over the van floor (oops #2)! Must have been the combination of antibiotics in my system and the liquid intake, lol. On a side note, if you ever decide to do a race like this always handy to invite a doctor or two to be your teammates! Luckily I am smart like this and my teammate hooked me up with some antinausea medication and I somehow managed to doze off in the van for about 1 hour and keep 1/2 a bagel with some peanut butter down, weeee!

LEG 2 - sometime around 5am Saturday, 6.5 miles the first 2 of which were into +30
mph crosswind and then another 4 miles of slow, steady uphill. I am not
going to lie at this point I was sucking, my knees hurt, and I was cussing
(under my breath) all the elite runners sprinting past me telling me "good
job" (the started the race 8 hours after us, lol). Oh tip for anyone
running a night leg and trying to wear a headlamp....wear a hat or visor
with a bill to hold it in place....my team did this, I did not, I fought
with that stupid headlamp the whole 6.5 miles because it kept slipping down
my sweaty forehead.

Ok on to the next exchange but first breakfast, I was literally running on empty and oddly enough the teams consensus was for mcdonalds, lol. I opted for the sausage mcmuffin with cheese, no egg, and a small coke (I was choosing my food choices by what wouldn't be extremely disgusting coming back up!) Oh yeah I almost forgot I had 1/2 a cinnamon roll at the exchange site right before mcd's (in the spirit of JOYRUN, trying to fuel my run with sugar)!

LEG #3 - 4:30 pm Sat, +85 degrees, full AZ sun, 3 miles, lots of sunscreen! Oh did
I mention that I haven't showered since Friday morning, apparently someone
thought I was stinking and felt the need to give me a shower during my last
leg of the race!





Totals for the race:
18 miles running
1 hour of sleep
2 episodes of emesis (back to back)
1 cool medal that doubles as a bottle opener (sweeeet!)
2 potential knee replacements (not really, but I am taking a few weeks off to rehab)
32 hours of non stop fun!
213 teams
426 vans!

Did I mention this race is fun???????

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary How Does Your Garden Grow??

Today was very productive.

I am starting a garden, today was mostly ground work. Apparently desert soil is not the best to grow things in so there is some prep work to be done, but that's ok I had lots of help today!

Next, I rode my bike to my workout (3miles), worked out with my trainer as I do 2x week, then rode home. I finished up some ground work then headed to team captain meeting for the Ragnar Relay which is 7 days away! I was scared about this race coming up so soon because I have not trained like I wanted to because I keep having flair-ups of this left IT band stemming from my rollerskating crash before Christmas........I am past being scared and pretty much just laugh at the mere thought of it now. I foresee a lot of pain, crying, crawling, laughing, etc.....and of course pics to document my monumental torture!

I had an egg white and veggie omelet this morning with a broccoli pancake; it didn't hold me over at all like my oatmeal does. I recently bought some oat bran so I am thinking of trying it tomorrow am. Speaking of tomorrow.....more gardening, light run, and oh I forgot to update you on my interview earlier this week.......that is because when I showed up to the interview it had been cancelled only no one felt the need to notify me of the cancellation and need to reschedule; I am less than impressed with the company and have not called back to reschedule the interview. I did however get a call about another short term assignment that looks promising and hope to hear some more on it tomorrow! Here are some pics of my little garden helpers! "Barnacle Bo", "Squidney", and "Kirb the Burb" our own little snowbird house guest! And finally, let me just say I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR IN AZ!!!!! so, so, so beautiful today!

Stressed....Blessed......

Never have I planned something, gotten to the day realized it was Friday the 13th and wish I had done it on another day.........until today

then again it wouldn't matter what day I did my taxes on this year the outcome would inevitably result in me vomiting a little in my mouth while holding back the tears so as not to have the tax lady calling the mental health crisis line for me!!!! All I can say is wow, I got f%#*!@ the day before Valentine's only this was not a CHEAP DATE.......can you say extension, payment plan, anything.....

It all comes down to this.....somehow (and one can only begin to wonder how) my withholding got changed to 3 vs 0 so for half the year my company was only holding out nearly nothing! Because I work different number of hours each pay period (picking up extra shifts and whatnot) I didn't realize that my check was that different. And I am taking responsibility for my part of not checking my paystub diligently (I already have to make sure they get the number of hours correct and pay out overtime correctly, both of which I have had issues with also this year). Ugghhhh.......ok so that would be the stressed part which brought me to my pity party which led me to my feeling blessed.

1. I am healthy
2. My family and loved ones are healthy
3. I have a job
4. I have a home


Ok so on to the rest of my day (although, I will say that the taxxacre happened at lunch and I was in shock on the couch for a good few hours after that).

I cancelled my gym membership......????? What's that you say, let's not get drastic! It's ok, it was my gym that I never go to (not that I don't go to the gym). My trainer works at a small gym and since I get training sessions there I work out there and they don't have a monthly fee, but for some reason I have still been paying my old gym monthly. I've been avoiding cancelling it because you either have to go in and sign a form (while getting a sales pitchy lecture "Baby come back" mop song from some cocky gym managerial type) or send a registered letter (which involves going to post office and then standing in said post office line). I finally opted to suck it up and go with the mop song. I think the guy actually got mad when he asked why I was leaving and I said because I followed my trainer (who use to work there) to smaller gym. Think of all the money I will be saving......and then sending to UNCLE SAM!

I avoided feeding my stress with all the stuff I wanted (chocolate, pizza, cinnamon rolls, m/m's)and went for a run this afternoon. I got a good 4 miles in (37 minutes) with not too much nagging from my IT band. I forgot how much a good run can clear your mind and relieve stress. Because I am usually living the i.dle/i.de.al life I rarely feel this stressed or shocked about anything.

Oh, one last thing......I am putting together a playlist for my upcoming Ragnar race and would like some input.

What is your favorite song to workout/run to??????