Don't Race After Work!! The Iron Girl 5 Miler

NOTE: This race report is ridiculously tardy which is totally in keeping with my personal habit of rarely, if ever being on time.

When looking at my race calendar for the summer, I realized that I had nothing scheduled until my marathon in October. Originally I had hoped to do two women's triathlons here in Denver, but after looking at the layer of dust on my unused bike and realizing that I hadn't swam since August of 2006 ... I wisely decided against competing in either of those races.

When flipping through my Colorado Runner magazine (can you imagine? A running community so large here that they have a monthly magazine) I fixated on the Iron Girl Denver event on July 1st. They had a 5K and a 5 mile distance and I thought a 5 miler would be fun. I looked at my schedule and saw that I was working on Saturday during the day and off the Sunday of the race so it would be perfect!! I registered online and after reading some reviews on my BT website, started to look forward to the event. It wasn't until a week prior that I realized that I was in fact working Saturday NIGHT!! This means I go into work at 7 p.m. on Saturday and get off at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. And my 5 mile race?? Yeah, that starts downtown at 8 a.m.!! Yet another example of poor planning on my part because I always run like crap after I've worked all night. Having put down my $35 and really wanting to do it anyway, I just accept that I'm not going to be particularly speedy and that I will be scrambling to make the start of the race on time.

I packed my race bag and took it to work with me that night, gave a speedy report to the oncoming shift (thanks to the day nurse for showing up a little early so I could get out quicker), changed in the locker room and was in my car headed downtown by 7:30. I made it to the start with 10 minutes to spare!! For my race outfit, I was debuting my pink camouflage marathon girl skirt, and given that the company who makes the skirt is based in Boulder I saw TONS of racers in skirts and quite a few in the pink camo one. Interestingly enough, I even saw another racer named Jennifer (our names were on the bibs) wearing essentially my same racing outfit! This was definitely the first time I had seen so many fashionable racers, usually I'm one of the few in a skirt so I really stand out whereas in this case I was just part of the crowd.

The start and finish was right in front of the Capitol and the approximately 800 racers for both events were starting together. It wasn't terribly hot yet (it's been RIDICULOUSLY HOT for Denver as of late) but the sun was full out and super bright. As usual I didn't warm up and I had peed twice in the portapotties. Immediately after the start is a huge climb for about two blocks - bascially my heart rate jumped into race mode about 500 feet into the race and I was already panting which didn't bode well for the rest of the race. I had decided on a 4 minute run, 1 minute walk strategy and though I didn't have any firm goals - I was hoping to break an hour. The first mile was tough, not only because of the hill, but because it always takes me about a mile to settle into my run. Unlike a lot of other races I've been in, the field spread out pretty quickly so I was mostly on my own. I didn't have an iPod, so it was mainly just the sound of my own feet on the pavement. Truth be told, I got a little lonely and I missed the occasional chatter with fellow racers.The course went east and then circled around Cheeseman Park, there was the occasional slight hill but all in all it was pretty flat. I stuck with my walk/run ratio but I was having some difficulty keeping my heart rate under control and it was really feeling like I was putting out a lot of effort. Basically it was the same type of crappy running feeling that I expect after a long night at work. As I was going into the last mile, I realized that I was going to break an hour so I decided to kick my running pace up a notch and really push it. I still took my walking breaks but was doing about a 9- 9:30 pace during my runs (which is fast for me). I still had enough left to sprint it out to the finish, then I grabbed some Gatorade and walked a bit until the dizziness left.

The best part of the race was the awesome breakfast spread! There were tables set up in the park outside the Capitol with white tableclothes and floral centerpieces, and the breakfast buffet was amazing!! Everything from fresh fruit and cereal to french toast and croissant sandwiches. I completely stuffed my face, waited around for the door prize drawings (came up empty handed as usual) then headed home for a much deserved nap.

My official time was 58:29 which is a pace of 11:42. I had an overall placement of 292/353 (seriously, runners in Colorado are FAST!) and was 65/76 in my age group. Though it's certainly not my quickest short distance race, given the circumstances I was quite pleased and I got a pretty medal, a technical tee, as well as a great breakfast out of it!!!

Oh, and my cute skirt?? I felt like I was flashing my butt cheeks the first half of the race. The bikini briefs beneath aren't *quite* as modest as I would like so I don't know that I'll be racing in it again. I have similar racing skirts in a another brand that cover my butt a little better, and then I have several with compression shorts beneath as opposed to the bikini. This was the only race where I've been constantly worried about my ass, and I'm just thankful it was an all women's event or I would probably have been mortified!!

One more week in Colorado :(

I can't believe how quickly the last 12 weeks have gone! I'm already down to the last week of my contract and I'll soon be saying goodbye to Denver and the University of Colorado Hospital. It's going to be a bittersweet goodbye because Denver has always been a home to me. I lived here for 3 & 1/2 years in my late 20s, and every time I come back I immediately fall in love again with the mountains, the people, and the weather. I also have many wonderful friends here that I love spending time with! I'm already regretting that I've been so busy this summer that I haven't been able to spend as much time with them as I would have liked. It's also going to be tough to leave because the University of CO Hospital has been BY FAR my favorite place to work since I've been a nurse. The staff are incredibly friendly, the care given is excellent, and the doctors give the nurses a great deal of autonomy and trust. Probably my only complaint would be my lack of Spanish which has really been a liability at times when trying to talk with the families of my patients. So even though I have wonderful things ahead of me, it's going to be sad to leave Colorado behind and know that this will be the last time I live here.

As for the "wonderful things" ahead of me, as most of you probably guessed - I'm returning to Little Rock. I secured another contract with Arkansas Children's Hospital and will *hopefully* start on Aug 13th if the Board of Nursing ever issues me a permanent license. Since BJ and I are planning to get married in the near future, we are going to go ahead and move in together. That means that I will be releasing my belongings from their storage prison in Columbia, MO and finally have a permanent address. It may be crazy, but I am most looking forward to having my complete Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD collection back in my hands, I'm just hoping they've been safe the past year!!

Yes, I'm a lucky girl!!

Once again I'm reminded of the fact that I'm a lucky girl!

Sitting outside my door today was a box from ProFlowers with a beautiful arrangement of red roses just ready to bloom! And the reason for getting such beautiful flowers?? Just because I love my BJ and he misses me :)

Kissing Cousins

While doing some wedding research on local Colorado wedding laws I was shocked and more than a little skeeved out to learn that first cousins could get married here. And even MORE shocked to learn that a total of 20 states allow first cousin marriage!!! So if you're a freak and live in Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont or Virginia, then you need to look no further than the family Thanksgiving dinner table to find your spouse to be. I found many sites devoted to cousin love .... some as you can imagine were more than a bit disturbing :(

First cousin marriages are also allowed in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Utah and Wisconsin, but only if you're too old to have children (generally defined as being over 55 or 65 depending on the state) or unable to have children. The state of Maine is the lone state that allows first cousin marriage if you have a physician's certificate of genetic counseling.

So my internet tangent continued and I learned that all states allow second cousin marriages, and that Rudy Guiliani's first wife was his second cousin (found confirmation about this all over the internet). When he divorced her he used this fact to get an annulment from the Catholic Church because they had not gotten a dispensation prior to getting married.

Last interesting marriage fact is that in Colorado, you don't have to have an officiant for your wedding. As of August 1993, a couple can "solemnize" their own marriage. Basically you fill out a marriage license application, can then get a wedding certificate and sign that you solemized your own marriage. Also, both people don't have to be present at such event if one if sick, in jail or out of the country.Instead you can authorize a third person to be present in your place!!

edited to add: For the record, to my knowledge BJ and I are in NO WAY related to one another!!! ick!

Just one more satisfied Muggle

ATTN: There will be NO SPOILERS in this post!!!

Like many people across the world, I too was anxiously awaiting my pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this weekend. I loved how the boxes from Amazon were stamped, "Attention Muggles - Do Not Open Before July 21" and I was wondering how many UPS employees had taken advantage and smuggled their copies home a day early.

I got my copy in the afternoon, but I had plans with my friend LD and her two adorable daughters. We had a nice dinner of Thai food (which I will sorely miss upon my return to Little Rock) and then a fun evening hanging out at their house. When I made it home later that evening, I only managed to read the first 60 pages before becoming too tired to go on. I woke up Sunday with all intentions of doing NOTHING but reading all day long, preferably in my jammies on my couch. I got about 300 pages into it before a massive migraine sidelined me. It took two Imitrex and several hours in a dark room before I could continue. I finally came to the end this morning and I'll just say that the entire book was quite satisfying.

I will also say this ... if you fail to read the WHOLE BOOK and just skip to the end (JCR - you know I mean you) I think you will really ruin the experience. This book takes the reader on an amazing journey along the way, and I for one was immensely happy that I had been unspoiled and had no idea what was coming.

Musings on Parenting

One of my good friends (who interestingly enough has two kids with a third on the way) sent me this article from Newsweek because it spoke to her. She has a lot of "uber-mommies" in her mommies group [sidenote: please don't ever make me join one of those] and I know that they sometimes make her feel like a freak because she's not like them. She works full time, is finishing her PhD and is very proud of where her career is going. I'd like to think that when the time comes for me to be a parent, I'll be the same way.

On a slightly related note, I am still shocked at how people are completely oblivious to what is and ISN'T appropriate to do with children these days. For example, BJ (a.k.a. fiancee) and I paid $13 each to see the new Harry Potter film in IMAX 3D (which was QUITE cool by the way). After sitting down in the sold out theater, I noticed a fat woman with an infant who appeared about 4 months old - in a movie that was going to be over 2 and half hours long?!?!?!? Are you kidding me??? There was a lot of murmuring around us as apparently all of the other movie goers were also noticing the impending disruption to their cinematic experience. Of course the baby ended up fussing, and cooing and making baby noises that might be adorable were I not trying to enjoy my movie and popcorn. I suppose I should give her credit for taking the baby out of the theater when after feeding him/her it still continued to cry. Of course somewhere behind us there was apparently another infant that we could hear occasionally wailing in the back. Please shoot me if I EVER think that's it's appropriate for my kid to ruin everyone else's movie!!!

It's official .... I AM a girl

I have prided myself - for many years - on the fact that I'm not a typical girl.

I'm the chic who had tons of guy friends in college, could chug a beer faster than a frat boy, do shots all night long, lift and move heavy objects, drive large trucks and stick shifts, and not care a bit about fashion. I didn't even realize that toenails should be painted or eyebrows plucked until my mid-20s, and it's only been in the last year that I learned what a brazilian wax is. JCR and others will attest to the fact that Jenn is not a girly-girl, though I think I have softened a lot around the edges the last few years.

Last night, I knew that my days of "I'm not your typical chic" were over when without regret or embarrassment I bought copies of Modern Bride and the Bridal Guide.

It's pitiful ... I am a girl after all

Boyfriend 2.0 upgraded to Fiancee!!!!

I got engaged!!

Woo Hoo!! Yippee!!

Yes, we've only known each other a little over 3 months, but I'm intelligent enough to know that when the love of your life is handed to you by the universe ... you don't ask questions. I mean I'm 33, who knows how many more soulmates are going to be thrown at me??? (just kidding B)

It's been an amazing ride so far and I'm ecstatically happy! And I'll just say that those who know me well will admit that "girly" and "giddy" are not a normal part of my repertoire.


edited to add: I put two more pictures up, another one of us using that fabulous self-timer mode on the camera, and also one of the ring. I didn't really want an engagement ring because I can't wear something that sticks up at work anyway (large stones poke through gloves). I had told boyfriend 2.0 I'd be happy if we just got cool bands when the time came, but being the fabulous boy that he is, he got me some bling that still suited my sensibilities :) BTW, we totally got engaged on Friday the 13th ... how's that for saying "screw you" to superstition!!

Marathon Training or Marathon Train Wreck??

As most of my loyal readers know, I'm planning my first marathon in October - the Chicago Marathon to be exact. I have a cool little countdown timer on the bottom of my blog that sometimes doesn't work to constantly remind me of how close it's getting!!

I started out using a training plan from Hal Higdon, the same guy who got me through my first half-marathon. It includes three runs during the week and a "long" run on the weekend that increases incrementally from 6 to 20 miles. So far, I've been able to make my long runs on the weekend, but the weekday runs have been killing me! My biggest problem is a constantly flip-flopping schedule from days to nights. When I'm on days, it's practically dark when I get home at 8 p.m. and as for mornings??? Do you honestly think I'm going to get up at 4:30 a.m. to run before I go to work????? And when I'm on nights, I have the issue of my "morning" being around 4 p.m. which is traditionally the hottest time of day which leads to ridiculously slow and frustrating runs. Basically for the first four weeks I was constantly missing my runs for one reason or another and feeling terribly guilty about it.

Once I decided to straighten up and get to it, I realized that I was so far behind on my total weekly mileage that I was likely to aggravate my IT band or cause some other injury were I to suddenly start following the plan. As a result, I bagged Hal's plans (sorry Hal) and turned to my new running guru, John "The Penguin" Bingham and his Marathoning for Mortals plan. I'm actually going with a run/walk plan because let's face it, at this point I simply want to complete it in one piece before the course closes. This plan still has the all important long run on the weekend ,but during the week, it's two days of running for 40 - 45 minutes (totally doable) and a day of cross-training (hello, remember when I *used* to want to be a triathlete??). So we're currently on week 7 and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Tomorrow is a 9 miler and I'm still

chugging along.

Reporting from the path to marathon completion ...

Two Rants

The first subject of my anger and irritation?? The evil Comcast Cable empire!! When I moved to Denver, I went with cable internet after having so many problems with AT&T/SBC DSL service in Arkansas. I assumed that the cable monopoly was far preferable to the galactic evil of the telephone company. Well it turns out that my internet stopped working on Saturday and after troubleshooting on the phone, it turns out that Friday NIGHT is the first time a technician can come out. They also tried to tell me again that I need to rent a modem instead of using the "old" one I owned. And this technological artifact I insist on using?? Was a required purchase when I had Comcast service on the east coast last Fall AND the same modem that had worked fine her in Denver when I lived here in January. I was told that I can request a refund after the technician arrives for my week without service.

Rant #2 relates to a very kind coworker I've met her in Denver. I don't know her very well, but she's one of those truly kind, warm and genuine people you meet in this world. I know that she has an adopted child with some special needs, I believe a former preemie. At work last week, there was a sign in the break room congratulating her on arrival of a new baby!! I was so happy for her and her family!! Then two days later, word was passed around that the birth mother changed her mind and took the baby back, after they had had two nights with her. I was so angry and sad for her!! I can't imagine the heartbreak of waiting so long, being chosen to receive a baby, then having that baby taken away. I can't in any way imagine that this birth mother will provide better for the child than my coworker would have. No wonder people adopt overseas!!

I have to say that working in my field, I am VERY jaded about families these days. I can't tell you how many pitiful examples of parents I see in my line of work. It's almost to the point where a loving, attentive mother is the exception as opposed to the norm. I've taken care of babies who've been in the NICU for weeks on end with the parent visiting maybe once or twice and calling perhaps every third day or so, if even that. Now I can understand not visiting if there are other children at home, or if they live far away and don't have the resources or a car to visit, but for goodness sakes, wouldn't you call at least once or twice a day to see how your baby was doing?? Most units even have toll free numbers so there's no long distance charges. And these are sick babies in the hospital!! Imagine, if they can't be bothered to care about the sick baby, what about the healthy ones??? It's not uncommon for young mom's in their early 20s to have 2-3 kids at home in addition to the sick baby. It's just very discouraging to see these beautiful little souls, blank slates just waiting to be filled with love and knowledge, being sent to homes where you know they won't get what they need. And I think of all the people who would be happy to take these babies in .... it just really disgusts me sometimes and makes me sad for the future.