SalsMiles2

Due to overwhelming demand by tens of people, well even that may be an exaggeration, demand by me then, I am providing links to the "best posts of 2007" for mytriathletewife. Out of 160 posts there must be a few good ones. I Yam What I Yam Mike W's Top Ten Reasons to Hate Treadmills Wizard of Oz (yes Eileen, you are Glinda the Good Witch) Intestinal Fortitude Men in Rubber Suits Apologies to Dr. Seuss Wine For Training Memorial Day Bike Ride Saturday Triathlon? Almost Naked Swimming (my first ever blog post!) Hey, without planning it came out to a top ten list, amazing.

On MarathonGuide.com I just found the Walt Disney World course elevation chart . It is reassuring, as my best half marathons and marathons have logically been run on flat courses. The minimum elevation is 78', the maximum 110'. The "worst" climbs are from 15.25 miles to 17 miles, when we go up 20' and 19 miles to 20.25 miles when we climb 26'. This will be a decided advantage for Jan and I, who have done many miles on fairly hilly courses.

Tuesday is the annual GRTC 7.5 mile New Year's Day Freezeroo. Race Director Pete Van Peursem will be doing his usual awesome job organizing the race and obtaining tons of post-race refreshments. Last year more than 200 runners went to Mendon Ponds for the race. Yellowjacket racing is handling the chip timing for the Freezeroos. The weather looks iffy, with temperatures in the 30 degree range and blustery. Mendon has tons of hills and is always a challenging place to run. Jan is undecided about what pace to attempt. I am hoping to use the race as my last really hard workout in place of 10 repeat 880's. If the roads and my crickety old body allow it, I will be shooting for a 7 minute pace. If conditions aren't favorable I will be satisfied with a bit under my marathon goal pace of 8-8:10 per mile.

For a month or more several of us have been discussing the Musselman Triathlon being held July 12 and 13, 2008. Who is going to compete, where are we going to stay, or if we should drive from Spencerport to Geneva the morning of the race? The questions for us were decided three days ago. Jan is going to do the DoubleMusselman. On Saturday Jan will compete in the sprint distance, a .5m swim/15mbike/3m run and on Sunday she will do the 1/2 Ironman distance, 1.2m swim/56 mile bike/13.1m run. We are going to stay in the athlete's village , a fancy name for a Hobart & William Smith College dormitory room. The cost is okay at $35/person per night and the convenience, especially when doing two races, can't be beat. After registering for the DoubleMusselman we found out Lake Placid and Hawaiian IM finisher Patty Pirnie, a friend of ours, is also competing. Soon we expect Lou and Eileen to sign up for the 1/2 IM distance.

My USA Triathlon membership card came in the mail today. Now I am officially a member of a group that organizes races that I won't be participating in. Yea for me! I am reminded of the famous Groucho Marx quote that Lou likes to use, "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Nevertheless, I still joined and I'm not sure why. I can use the keychain card for when I drive to triathlons to watch Jan, the normal ID wallet sized card is plastic and will fit in my swimsuit pocket, eventually falling to the bottom of the lake when I forget to zip the pocket and the 3"x3" card includes a list of what to bring to every triathlon event. I also get a neat decal for my van so everyone can see I am a USAT member while I am out RUNNING on the ROADS. There are lists of what to take for a running only race, they are quite short. Let's say it's a summer race, since usually that's when triathlons are; race number, shorts, shirt...

I know, it's all about her. But sometimes it can be about me, right? 8. Finish the WDW marathon in a respectable time. 7. Run a Boston qualifying time at WDW. 6. Beat Jan at WDW. 5. Finish Boston. 4. Win a medal at the ESG snowshoe races. 3. Swim one mile in Canandaigua Lake without stopping to hang onto a buoy. 2. Ride my bike around Canandaigua Lake. 1. Continue my one race win streak over Mike W.

Certified to maybe be true, I didn't ask what her goals are, sometimes it's more fun to make stuff up. 6. Beat husband at WDW marathon. 5. Qualify for Boston at WDW. 4. Run Boston and beat Rick M., Andy, Pete, and husband. 3. Complete Double Musselman (sprint on Saturday, 1/2 IM on Sunday). 2. No surgery (twelve, or is it fourteen, I lose count, enough already). 1. Finish Louisville I.M.

Just look at that countdown clock. Twenty-two days until we line up for WDW marathon! Boy I hope Jan gets in shape soon or I'm going to kick her butt at the race. Thursday morning she ran 10 or 11 miles before work and Saturday is our last really long run, hopefully another three hour tour of the greater Spencerport area. Amanda has home course advantage and is continuing to get in some long runs in the heat, humidity and hurricane (tornado?) warnings of central Florida. But, trying to avoid the 35" of snow that has fallen in the past couple of weeks has forced Jan and I to the treadmill and the relative warmth of our basement, so maybe we will be heat ready. The temperature range for WDW the last several years are: 2007 -84-63, 2006-66-34, 2005-81-57, 2004-64-39, 2003-62-44, 2002-71-51, 2001-70-31, 2000-78-61, 1999-60-45, 1998-70-47. Averages-69-47. Obviously we are hoping for a day starting with a temperature in the 30's-low 40's.

We had just climbed into bed the other night when Jan grabbed my left arm and surprisingly said, "wow, you don't have much there, you're like some skinny alien"! Did you just hear my ego deflate? "My hand fits right around your bicep, I couldn't do that before" she continued, " you need to go downstairs and start hitting the weights mister!" "But I have been lifting, at least once in awhile" I said. "Well, obviously not enough, what, are you using the girly 3lb weights?" Yeah, she called me girly. "I've been losing weight for WDW marathon, I guess it's leaving from all over my body, I can't help it", I whined. "I just made it to my high school weight!" "Oh, that's great, she said, I bet you impressed lots of girls with those wimpy, dangling arms then too?" "Well, when this marathon is done you better bulk up a bit buddy, I'm going to feed you spinach and steak every nig...

Maybe it's time to break out the snowshoes? Officially the National Weather Service says we have received 27" of snow this season, 11" more than our average. Jan ran 40 minutes outside at 6am this morning, then decided it might be best to finish her 2-2 1/2 hour run on our treadmill. Something about the black ice, crunchy snow and wind made her come indoors. Tonight I plan on 10 miles or so at m.p. on our treadmill. No sense risking injury with 29 days until WDW. Local snowshoe racing begins at Harriet Hollister State Recreation Center on January 5, courtesy of Roads are Poison . Called the Frozen Assets race, this is a 5k through the woods and trails of the park. The race also serves as an Empire State Games qualifier. Snowshoe racing continues on January 27 with the Yellowjacket sponsored Lake Effect Snowshoe Festival. ESG qualifying sprint races, a 2 and 4 mile cross-country race, and a snowshoe-mtn bike race are being planned. I'm sure all of the Sal's running...

Top 10 Reasons Why Mike M. Will Have a Good Marathon at Disney 1. He runs like Goofy. 2. He saved his “E” tickets from 1977. 3. Scared of Pirates and Mr. Toad 4. If he stops he won’t be able to afford any Disney snacks. 5. Half the race is in gator country 6. Nobody is going to give a staggering sweaty guy a ride 7. His bet with Sals that if he fails he has to run dressed like Mickey Mouse, just wearing white gloves, no pants. 8. He has to get back to the Magic Kingdom to see Snow White in the parade. 9. Epcot doesn’t let quitters in. 10. The slow runners get coated with fairy dust.

Jan and I just signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race in Washington DC, April 6. Yup, we are going head to head against the best Kenya and Ethiopia has to offer! Fifteen days before Boston , the Cherry Blossom will be a good tuneup race. If we don't qualify for Boston, it will still be a good time in Washington. Registration began at 8am yesterday and electronic entries closed by 12pm., 10,000 runners. They are still accepting a few paper entries. It turns out there is a library conference in Arlington, just across the river from the race, Monday-Wednesday. It is purely coincidence that I found a conference my employer is willing to pay to send me to the same weekend as a race.

This morning probably was the longest run for Jan and I leading up to the WDW marathon . Jan ran a solo run of 22 miles through the village, incorporating many hills in the workout. The weather was nice for December, 34 degrees, 10mph wind from the west. I was lucky to have the Sal's group pull me along for 16.5 of my 22 mile run. We got off the canal path and ran to Northhampton Park, taking in the Christmas light display, that used to be held in the park. Jan and I both felt strong today, it's nice to feel like we are finally getting into shape for the longer distances. We were both pretty tired after the runs. After showering I just laid on the couch for a couple of hours, unable to accomplish anything. The workout was worth it though. We may not BQ, but we should have strong marathons.

10. The puddle you have to clean up. 9. How many reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond can a guy watch? 8. After 6 or 7 years of treadmill running even I can get bored with my thoughts. 7. When you “break wind” you can’t run away from it. 6. If we were coordinated we would be in other sports. 5. Man vs. machine. The runner always loses. 4. …as if our bodies don’t make enough noise add the noise of the treadmill. 3. Maintenance…if we were into fixing stuff we would be normal, not runners. 2. Cost, a good treadmill is more than 25 pairs of shoes. 1. 2 words….George Jetson!

10. Easy aerobic runs are boring on a treadmill. 9. Discovering Country & Western videos are the best thing on my 65 channels. 8. More difficult to come up with a good reason not to run. 7. The basement is a lonely place. 6. The treadmill is unforgiving, run the pace or hit the buttons you wimp! 5. Getting banned from the health club because my flying sweat bothered other exercisers. 4. Sliding off the running surface and hitting the wall really, really hurts. 3. Finding out your wife sweats as much as you. 2. Getting banned from another health club for groaning, whining and moaning while running. 1. You feel like a lab animal being experimented upon.

10. If R.J. can cut his marathon time by over 1/2 hour through treadmill running, so can I. 9. I can watch the newest C&W videos on tv while training. 8. The pace never varies unless I push a button. Great for learning to run a constant cadence. 7. The wind is never in my face, except for a fan to blow away the sweat. 6. Great way to train for a warm weather marathon even if it's winter outside. 5. No cars can run me over. 4. I don't have to carry my water or other drinks. 3. We own a treadmill, so there are no gym memberships to pay. 2. Don't have to run in the dark, unless Jan turns out the lights on me. 1. The bathroom is only a few steps away, no running into the nearest bushes.

Jan, Eileen, Lou, Mike and I attended a swimming clinic for triathletes and tri-wannabes on Sunday at MCC. The clinic was sponsored by the FingerLakes Triathlon. Jan paid an extra $25 to get videotaped and analyzed in the deep end (diving area) of the pool while the rest of us received instruction in the shallow end with lanes. The instruction was excellent, though proof once again of how pathetic a swimmer I am. One drill involved holding a small board in front, being on our sides and kicking to propel down the length of the pool. It was ridiculous. I couldn't move. Everyone else was gliding across the pool and I'm kicking my ass off and not going anywhere. I felt like a toad. No, that's an insult to toads. I hate swimming. Who wants to do a g'damn tri anyhow dammit! The water was cold, I was cold. Why did I leave my wetsuit home! Talk about shrinkage, Houdini couldn't have done a better disappearing act. So we were led through more drills to improve our technique....

Amanda ran her first half-marathon, the OUC race in Orlando, Florida. Amanda ran a great race, beating her goal time by almost 6 minutes. Augie also ran the same race, as a training run, but training for what? We don't know. Jan's co-worker, Rob, completed another marathon, his third or fourth this year? He set a pr at the Las Vegas marathon with a 3:36, just missing out on a BQ time, but a great race nevertheless.