In The Summertime....

It's hot. Yep, you're welcome for that tipoff, sayeth Captain Obvious. If you feel like it, enjoy a little summertime ditty above called, well, Summertime.

In other news, I'm done with the whirlwind end-of-school year/year-end dance performance week or two, and broke up that insanity with two nice running related events. The first was the 2010 Bolder Boulder. I had great visions of running this all-out, taking two minutes off of my time from last year (47:30), and wanting to break into the top 15 for my age. In true "Meet The Fockers" style, they honor all the way down to 15th place in each individual age with a medal marking your place..well beyond the ninth place ribbon. It gives people who are capable of placing at local road races the chance to take home some hardware in this 50,000 person event.

I had a great time pre-race hanging out with my friends Rachel and Liz.


Rachel was there working for Dr. Oz (yes, of that TV show-and she is a rock star at her job), who was going to be running the race. Liz was just there for the hang and hosting us this time, with an injury that was preventing her from participating. The weather up in Boulder was a lot warmer than it had been for my previous two Memorial Day runs, but I figured I'd just go out hard and try to hang on.

Well, I got up on race morning and it was just not to be as far as a magical pixie dust day, or even a middle-of-the-road day. I had a good first mile split at 7:14, but then it was all downhill from there. Or, should I say, uphill with a gazillion twists and turns. And I just couldn't hang. It was bright and sunny but I'm not going to make excuses-my PR in the 5K, after all, came on a blazing hot day when I was pretty much running directly into the sun. I managed a strong finish once we made the final turn going up to run into the stadium and onto Folsom Field, but in the end I ran it 31 seconds SLOWER than in 2009. Yep, running friends-48:01. It was one of the worst races I've run in awhile. I joked with Liz that I'm always trying to age group but that this was a day when I knew I wouldn't, and didn't deserve it anyway with that sub-par performance. Still-Boulder is a great place to be if you're going to have a terrible race, and oddly enough, I love that alone time in the car, playing my music and enjoying the mountains for four hours each way.

Part two of my running-related interruptions to year-end mayhem was registering for the Imogene Pass Run for the third time, getting on the computer at the stroke of midnight on June 1st. I had it all planned out that I would get home from the race early Monday afternoon, enjoy the afternoon and evening with my family, get the kids to bed, go out for a late anniversary dinner with my husband, and then hop online to take care of business.

Well, I must be OLD. I was so tired by the time we got home from dinner that I could not keep my eyes open. I wound up setting my alarm for 11:55 and hit the hay around 10pm. I was amazed that when I registered a few minutes after midnight, there were already 100 people who had gotten in before me! The race wound up closing out by early evening and there had been thoughts that it could close very early in the day, so I was glad I did go ahead and take care of business as soon as the race opened. I progressed from 4:41 to 4:14 last year at Imogene. This is the year when I intend to go sub-4, and show that you CAN learn and improve on the trails.

There are many of our local usual suspects returning to run Imogene, and some new folks as well, including the husband of our dance studio owner. He's big into cross country skiing and just really good with altitude stuff, and between a fellow friend/XC-ski rival and my suggestion that he think about it, he took the plunge. He keeps saying he's "not a runner" but I think he's going to do very well. So, I already know that's going to be fun to follow his training and see how it all pans out in the end. Just from asking around, it sounds like there are a number of people interested in training runs up the Ouray side this summer, so I am going to take advantage of that if it works with my schedule.

Oh, and back to that summertime/heat thing. Yeah. When I do stupid things, I'll admit it. Last Sunday, I just couldn't drag myself out of bed at 5 or 6 a.m. after the Saturday night dance performance (which was GREAT-no dancer/parent drama, and a ton of dances from youngest to oldest classes that really took things up a notch). I got out the door slightly before 8 a.m. and thought "oh, I'll just deal with the heat. Suck it up."

This was all well and good for ten miles. It was 70 when I started but I was in the shady area of the riverfront trail for much of my run. I swapped water bottles at my starting location, and then headed out in another direction. The temperature was really climbing now, and despite good hydration, nutrition, electrolyte intake and proper clothing, I was starting to feel crappy. I never get crampy in the legs but really started to feel it around 12 or 13 miles. I started to get on the verge of feeling sick, and made a quick decision to cut off a section that would have made it a 17 mile run, turn it into a 16-er and avoid winding up in the ER. I checked the temperature at the car that I actually had to sit in with the AC at full blast in order to cool down (this was a first), guzzled water, and saw that the car thermometer read 92 degrees! Geez. No wonder I felt sick. 92 and and not a cloud in the sky. Needless to say, I won't be doing that again. No matter how tired I am, I will be out the door at 5:30 AM this Saturday. It's not worth risking major heat-related medical event just to get another hour of sleep.

And, with that-it's on to the Tired Mama Running Second Annual Summer Racing Series. We have the same plethora of local and regional events available this year, and I'm looking forward to doing it again. First stop-Durango. I'll be running the sold-out Steamworks Half Marathon again-and this time I am going to scout out the first buses out of the parking lot. If I can just get to the start with more than five minutes to spare, I think I'll only improve off of last year's effort.

One final note...that terrible race I ran in Boulder? What a difference a year makes! I finished in 16th last year for 35-year-olds, but squeaked in at 14th out of 566 this year! I guess others were liking the heat and sun even less than me. In a few weeks, I should see the arrival of my 14th place medal, which is sure to be a source of amusement in my home. Happy running, all.