Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Carondelet Triathlon Medal

Look what I received in the mail!

3rd Place in Age Group!

Monday, March 25, 2013

A Spring Snow

We had a lot of snow yesterday, so instead of running I decided to play with my camera. Here are two of my favorite shots:

Bought a new miniature rose plant. Macro Lens.

The shop near my house. Wide Angle Lens.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Lemp Mansion - Benton Park

This is the Lemp Mansion, located in St. Louis, and it is said to be one of the ten most haunted places in America. Four members of the Lemp family committed suicide, three of which were in this mansion. I thought Lemp Mansion would be the perfect setting for nighttime black/white photography. I love the eerie glow of the lights in this shot. Canon 7D (15-85mm wide angle lens), 1/8 sec, f/3.5, ISO 2500. 


Lemp Mansion

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Quivering Quads

I'm starting to think that trail running might not be my thang... well, maybe just organized trail races. Don't get me wrong, I love running the trails, but kind of on my own terms. The conditions for the Quivering Quads Half Marathon were just SHITTY. No other way to describe it. Rain, mud, tons of creek crossings. I can't even remember how many creek crossings there were, I'd say 15-20. I could be off.

Mile 4
The mud was so thick! I was sloshing around, getting stuck, sliding around, and it just sucked. Then the real downpour started and the trails turned into mini creeks. The water was mucky and I couldn't ever tell how deep it was or where the rocks were. I fell on my butt once and almost wiped out a dozen times. I just really wanted to avoid injury, so I took my time and tried to enjoy myself. But... I think I'm done with the trail races. I will hit up the trails on my own... on nice sunny, cool days.

UGGGG!

DONE!
I finished in 3:54:57, a pace of 17:56/min. I walked a ton, not going to lie. I placed 292/341. I figured I'd place worse, looks like lots of people had a tough time. Lots of nice people out there today!!

Conditions report from David at Fleet Feet:
The 14th edition of the Quivering Quads Trail Half Marathon was a tale of two races. For the racers in the front half of the field or so, QQ14 was a seriously muddy but still runnable trail race. For the racers who followed them, however, the recently-melted snow, heavy pre-race rain, and the "icing on the cake" race-day rains led to rapidly rising creeks that turned the event into an unexpected adventure race. How much did the course change during the race? Two prime examples were two creeks that were ankle-deep for the leaders but just an hour or so later had to be crossed with the help of a guide line and fallen logs, respectively. And even with the guide line and log bridge available, these creeks would have been uncrossable had teams of racers not banded together to literally pull each other through. Yes, QQ14 turned half marathoning into a team sport.

Congratulations to everyone who started QQ14. Despite knowing that they were in for a tough slog, they toed the line. Many of them for the first time on the trails or for the first time attempting 13.1 miles. And additional congratulations to everyone who finished. Many of them persevered even when "tough slog" turned out to be too rosy of a definition.

Official photos taken by www.stldigital.com will posted online in the next few days. If you are a racer or spectator who took some photos that you would like to include in the race photo album, please email them - along with a caption - to david@fleetfeetstlouis.com.

David

 I was in the last half and it was so hard!!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Going to Wash DC!!

I got the best news ever yesterday... I received an email from Nike saying:
Congratulations!
We've got two starting lines with your name on them!
You're a runner who's set their sights on logging a ton of miles in 2013. We're here to help you achieve that goal, by giving you a second chance to toe the line in DC. So, what do you have to do in order to get this amazing opportunity to join us on a beautiful course through the historical streets of Washington DC?

RUN.

We have limited spots saved for the Nike Women faithful - For a limited time, you now have the option to register for both the Nike Women 10K and Nike Women Half Marathon DC.
I was super excited, but also bummed. I had already signed up for the Louisville Derby Mini-Marathon (which is the same weekend in April) since I got rejected from the Nike Women Half Marathon. A second chance?? I thought long and hard about going. In the end, I figured this would be a once in a life time opportunity and I can run the Derby half next year. Nike races aren't exactly easy to get in to.

To get entry into the race, I also had to sign up for the Nike Virtual 10k. I thought that race was pretty stupid. You pay $40, only $10 of that goes to charity, you get a shirt, and you have to run by yourself (or with whomever you want). So...I ran the 6.2 miles today around Tower Grove Park. Nike might be taking our money, but at least they are getting the ladies out running!! I took it pretty easy since I'm doing the Quivering Quads tomorrow, eeekkkkk! A trail half marathon. I know it's going to be tough, but I'll give it my all.

Two laps around Tower Grove. 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Venice

Here is a photo I took in Vence:

Rialto Bridge - - Venice, unedited.
Super washed out photo... There was a blue sky this day, but a lot of my pictures turned out like this. DRAB. I played around with it in Lightroom, brought the blue sky back and made the colors more vivid:

Venice, edited.
Now that's how I remember it!!

Carondelet Indoor Sprint Triathlon

This was so much fun!! I really enjoyed every minute of it!

I was on a swim team when I was a kid and was a fish growing up (we had a pool), but in my adult years, I'm hardly ever in the pool. I thought signing up for an indoor tri would be good for me because running is getting kind of boring.

I bought a swim suit and started swimming laps about a month ago, maybe less. I've only trained 4 times in the pool.

The swim went really well today!! I placed 4th overall. I did 500 yds in 8:30, a 29:55 pace. I can't wait to see if I can improve! I have a bum elbow that I broke when I was 20, and that causes me some pain. I was accidentally registered as a male, so I had to swim w/ 3 other dudes. I kicked their butts :o). Even one of the guys commented to me after how fast my swim was. That made me happy because I'm always mediocre at everything I do (or just plain suck).

The bike part was boring. I didn't know what to expect because I haven't trained at all for this. I own a spinning bike and I do that from time to time, but never know my pace or my mileage. I just kept moving my legs. In the end, I did 9 miles in 16:34, at 32.6mph pace. My tailbone hurts!!!!

I knew the run was going to be hard. My legs were so tired. I started at my normal 10:00 min/mi pace and stayed there for the first mile. I kept increasing my pace and finished 3.1 miles in 29:34, a 09:32 pace. I know I could have done better here... I really wish I pushed myself harder.

In the end, I'm really happy w/ my placement:

Overall 19/48
Gender 7/25   *I had them change my sex to female as they originally had my registered as male.
Age Group (F 30-39) 3/11

Swim: Rank 4/48
Bike: Rank 17/48
Run: Rank 27/48

And running is what I do!!! And I placed horribly. LOL.

Results