Publish date to match the day I ran (8/30/2018), but posted on 10/7/2018
Wrightsville Beach is my ur-beach since we used to visit my grandparents here every summer. I got up early enough to park at the southern tip and run 3 miles up, past Johnny Mercer’s pier, and back down again, while the sun rose. I might have been motivated to get out to the beach that early anyway, but not to run so far.
At dawn the clouds look like solid dark objects; it’s only after the sun comes up that they resolve into their normal aspects.
The coolest thing I noticed is that the dawn light appears to evaporate off the sand as the waves retreat, because the reflection in the thinnest edge of moisture vanishes.
The sand was covered in hieroglyphic crab clawmarks centered on their holes. Lots of plovers, sandpipers, and gulls, but I was disappointed that in the swash—the edge of the waves—there were none of the “sand fiddlers” (mole crabs, Emerita talpoida) or “periwinkles” (coquina clams, Donax variabilis) I loved to observe as a kid.
I ran back around the southern tip of the beach to the sound side, walking back to the car through the sea oats.
I’m very behind on my blogging. I used to joke that every post should end “This could be the last post ever!” (in contrast to the usual impulse to insist that now one is going to post faithfully etc…) I made notes soon after the race but may have forgotten some details. (publish date to match the race date of 8/11, but actually posted on 8/31/2018)
The Bridge of Flowers Road Race is one of my regular favorites, but this year, the 40th, they switched from a 10K to a 5 mile distance in order to eliminate the stretch of Route 112 that couldn’t be closed to traffic. That worked out perfectly for me since this fell in my 3/5/3/10 week, so I did the two short runs in a row and skipped speedwork as a bit of a taper. As the announcer pointed out, everyone set a course record this year!
Results: Time: 54:50, 11:00 pace, 20th in age division (women 50-54), average HR 160. That’s a better pace than last year (11:12) and my age-graded results moved from 50.64% to 51.83%, whoo-hoo—from almost perfectly average to just a hair above average, go me I guess.
I really need to get there earlier, and I wish they gave more guidance on that in the informational email. I aimed for getting there between 8 and 8:15 for a 9am start, but the 3K starts at 8:15 and I missed the chance to turn onto Mechanic Street, where parking/registration is, before the runners came through. Once they start flowing drivers have to wait, which makes sense, so last year I parked further away, but this year I was stuck. Get there by 8! By the time I got to the school to get my bib, the shirts had already been moved to the finish line, but there were no crowds at least. I was a little rushed but was able to use a proper indoor restroom and stroll across the Bridge of Flowers to the start on the Iron Bridge.
I knew my friend Carol would be there and described what I’d be wearing so she’d be able to spot me—right at the start I heard her yell to me and went over for a high-five. From previous years there were little things I’d been looking forward to or had forgotten and recognized when they happened, and others that I missed. I now run with my phone in my hand to hear the Runkeeper signals, and that allows me to stop and take pictures—and now I know that I have to stop, because the ones I tried on the fly didn’t come out. I will definitely want to take pictures at the marathon, and it’s totally worth sacrificing the little bit of time. So I have the bagpipe player who stands at the turn onto Water Street, but not the other shots I tried to get: the beautiful colored slate roofs in downtown Shelburne Falls and the sign at the top of Crittenden Hill. Missing this year: the Professor World one-man band, the vuvuzela players, the guy on a drumkit. Still there: the amazing volunteer who shouts “This is your hill! Own it!,” the house where “Chariots of Fire” plays on an endless loop (I’m glad I don’t live next door).
I was very proud of running Crittenden Hill last year and planned on doing it again. Thinking about it had the Kate Bush song “Running Up That Hill” playing in my head:
but the lyrics “You’re running up that road/running up that hill/running up that building” were prophetic. I had gone out a little fast, and by the time we got to where the hill keeps rising and rising and rising, my breath went from 2-2 to 1-1 to audible gasping (HR18, near my max). Since there were still miles to run, I slowed to a walk, which didn’t hurt my time—on the contrary!—just my pride.
I saw Carol again at the finish and chatted afterwards. Disappointingly there were no Lightlife veggie dogs at the afterparty, but the pizza was OK and I enjoyed the ritual Our Family Farms chocolate milk and especially beer at the Blue Rock—a delicious hefeweizen which I sipped looking over the river.
Miles for the week: ~17 (~3/~4/3/7.25)
Average resting heart rate per Fitbit: 57
Weight: 116 CityStrides coverage of Northampton: 38%
Long run: 7.25 miles; avg HR 135; time 1:31:48; average pace 12:39; splits 13:15, 14:14, 12:08, 12:47, 13:26, 12:07, 11:39
I got out before 7 because it was going to get hot, and it was clearer than I expected since it was foggy when I got up. On the humid side but under 70 degrees and beautiful blue skies. To get some new streets for CityStrides, now that I’ve replaced my phone, I explored the area around Baker Hill in the Bay State Village neighborhood. Two very steep streets; I get some elevation on my normal long run but it’s good to get real hills and remind myself I can do it. I felt very good physically, like I could run forever, but my legs were plenty tired when I got home. The annuals in Capen Garden are getting huge, which means summer is well along, and it seems like the catalpa pods are already turning brown and opening—I didn’t realize they ripened so fast.
I desultorily “collect” weather vane sightings (there’s an amazing stork-with-baby at Cooley Dickinson hospital which I’m looking forward to seeing again on a future run) and found this horse which presumably used to be one but is missing its directions:
Since I didn’t have my phone for the 4-miler on Thursday, I ran my old regular route from the 2015 marathon training, through the Meadows on the other side of 91. It’s great to have farmland so close; the potato plants were blooming and I noticed the beautiful ruby color of the ripening corn silk. it was very hot and I swear I could feel the corn breathing—an emanation of cooler, moister air from the forest of green stalks.
Thirteen more weeks, but there have been day-of decisions to make: I chose my baggage pickup option—none, because I want the cool poncho and won’t need much with me—and my transportation—the ferry, of course, because it’s a more special experience than just a boring old bus, and besides I can sleep later: I didn’t see my start time but I was able to pick a ferry time of 8:30am (not the last one), which is luxuriously late especially since we’ll have an extra hour for daylight savings time. It’s really happening!!!
Miles for the week: ~17 (3.4/4.1/3.5/~6)
Average resting heart rate per Fitbit: 60 (gave blood)
Weight: 116 CityStrides coverage of Northampton: 36%
Long run: ~6 miles; avg HR 135; time 1:18; dead phone so don’t know splits
Pretty good heart rate for having giving blood on Tuesday, which usually knocks it out of me for a while. Even my Thursday run wasn’t too bad (average HR 150). Since my phone was dead I didn’t bother to think about new streets, but I added a garden: Frankie’s Garden, a small bed next to the courthouse. And I took a relaxed walk through the community gardens, got buzzed by a mockingbird (which I was able to identify for a gardener who said she saw them frequently but couldn’t describe them well enough for her birder friends to recognize), and got a glimpse of a house wren after hearing it sing. My mnemonic for them is Neddie Seagoon going “whatwhatwhatwhatwhat?”, but having just been listening to this Owl City song, that’s what I thought of (hear the real bird at 00:10):
Rudbeckia and rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) in full bloom, plus butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) which I do see wild along the bike path in Easthampton, but mostly in people’s gardens and in Pulaski Park now that they’ve landscaped it with native plants. It’s so beautiful!
Miles for the week: ~16 (3.3/3.3/3.3/6.3)
Average resting heart rate per Fitbit: 56
Weight: 116 CityStrides coverage of Northampton: 32%
Long run: 6.28 miles; avg HR 129; time 1:19:25 (avg 12:39), splits 13:23, 11:46, 11:59, 12:09, 13:46, 12:25
Wow, 3 weeks in a row my long run speed has gotten faster while my heart rate has been lower. Probably almost entirely the weather? It was pouring when I started out; I know from experience that running in the rain is fine, but it’s definitely harder to get myself out the door. Once I’m thoroughly wet and have soaked my feet by splashing through the first unavoidable puddle, I start enjoying it. I’ve learned the term voluntary discomfort from the Stoics via Mr. Money Mustache, so can name what I’ve long vaguely recognized: there’s a particular satisfaction in going beyond tacking “…but it doesn’t matter” onto negative thoughts (NRMT advice), to embracing and actually relishing physical discomfort. It makes me feel like a “badass” in the modern sense, if I have that right: someone who is not intimidated by circumstances (like rain or heat or snow—I’ve got that) or people (very far on that one).
One of the learning experiences from my childhood, a story I’ve told many times, is heading for school on a miserable sleety day and stepping into a gutter right across the street from our apartment. My boot filled with slush, I wailed, and my dad took me home to dry my feet and change my socks. Then, to my shock and indignation, he took me right back out to school, even though I was a little late. Surely that level of hardship meant I was done for the day! His expectation that I would just pick myself up and try again impressed me, even though I felt I couldn’t quite live up to it. I thought about that as my shoes squished and felt sad that my dad is past the point that he can remember and discuss that memory… but we’ve talked about it before, and I will remember it until it’s my turn to let the past drop away.
Then it stopped raining and I noticed a cool phenomenon: the shower continued in the woods. I’ve often experienced the way a gust of wind recreates a sudden shower by shaking off drops from the leaves, but this was the same tempo and volume as a steady rain. The colors of the fields were still beautifully saturated, and flowers in the orange and yellow spectrum glowed, as did the bunches of goldfinches ping-ponging around in the weedy verges.
I’ve started up a minimal (5-10 mn) daily meditation practice, and embracing discomfort while running led me to think about how you’re supposed to sit with itches and aches. And then, right on cue, my keys started jingling in my waist pack. Argh, that drives me crazy! But isn’t that a similar situation, where the sound is what it is and my annoyance is something I can explore and eventually let melt away? I did refrain from re-adjusting the keys (which is often fruitless and frustrating anyway) for quite a little while.
Miles for week 3: 14.5 (~2/3.5/2.5/6.5)
Miles for week 4: 15.5 (2.8/3/3.3/6.5)
Average resting heart rate (per Fitbit): 57 both weeks
Weight: 116 both weeks CityStrides coverage of Northampton: 23% week 3, 27% week 4
Long run 7/8/2018: 6.54 miles; avg HR 142; time 1:23:22 (avg 12:45), splits 14:11, 15:09, 11:53, 12:35, 11:43, 11:47)
Long run 7/15/2018: 6.56 miles; avg HR 138; time 1:21:43 (avg 12:27), splits 13:09, 12:43, 11:53, 12:56, 11:59, 12:08)
These were only supposed to be 13 and 14 mile weeks but I’ve been going a little long in my exploration of new streets. It’s fine! Since my mileage is going to be lower than most training programs, I can totally go over, and the added fun of completing streets is extremely motivating. I made it to position #3 for Northampton! And I found this adorable 1901 brick cottage on a dead-end street:I’ve been exploring other voices for the audio cues in RunKeeper; the default (Kat) is a typical “yady,” our term for automated female voices based on my nephew’s pronunciation of “lady” when he was tiny (“Dose yadies are yaffing at me!”) I tried Announcer Guy on 7/8 and Your Conscience on 7/15. It turns out the non-default voices all have little extra random sayings (“You’re doing GREAT!”), which is enjoyable briefly but will probably send me back to the default after cycling through them. I changed the cue from my usual 1 mile to a half-mile, which was helpful in figuring out that the first few slow miles are primarily due to the gardens rather than the hills. And weirdly, on 7/15 I ran significantly faster, even though it was warmer and much more humid. Maybe I’m not that much slower than I used to be. The variability is certainly interesting.
7/8 was a gorgeous day, much cooler than the heat spell we’d been having, clear and dry. I saw a kingbird chasing a crow; my friend Harold had just sent me an article about crows chasing ravens, so the kingbird comes out on top in that hierarchy. That’s why the genus is Tyrannus! I ran into an old friend walking with her new baby—ah, I was forgetting that was one of the things which made the run slower—and also stopped to pet an exotic-looking cat who was lying in the road. But I stopped on 7/15 too. Always read the plaque was my curiosity-driven inclination anyway, but 99 Percent Invisible stuck it in my head as a phrase, and I so I took a picture of the plaque on the side of Ninomiya House which I might not have stumbled over if it weren’t for CityStrides, and submitted it to Read the Plaque, who published it! So much gratification! This Vermont license plate with my initials jumped out at me because it was a green spot on a yellow car: One of the pleasures of this route is passing both the entrance to the trails on the north bank of Mill River where people walk their dogs, and the main entrance to the unofficial “dog park” on the south bank. Everybody, dogs and people, is socializing while getting ready to walk, and everybody looks happy!
The next Sunday was a great weather contrast; the humidity made all the outlines fuzzier and the colors softer. All the daylilies in Capen Garden (they have a planting for each year’s best variety) are flowering, and it’s chicory season; the fields on Burts Pit Road were a sea of blue. But already the catalpa pods are lengthening, the green crabapples are falling, and the first unripe black walnuts too.
Life is short and I want to pack as much as possible into it. Exercise for its own sake alone doesn’t grab me, which is why it’s always been hard to motivate myself to do stretching/pilates/weights. Running—if it’s outside, and especially with a race in my sights—is so much easier. (Podcasts make the indoors stuff a tiny bit easier, but not much). Any kind of running at all has some benefits, but I want to maximize them.
Serious runners (which isn’t me—I’m a having-fun runner) talk about “junk miles,” runs without a training purpose. This article interestingly points out that runs in between easy and tempo are particularly problematic because they tire you without being useful for training, but then also links to a Runner’s World “every mile you run has value” counterpoint, which is where I line up. But I’ve been thinking about the extras that I reach for and what else I could add on.
My personal baseline for place is running outside (that is, treadmill < indoor track < outdoor track < [outside-not-on-a-track = minimum to be enjoyable]), and that’s because I get to see things that change, and explore new places. Here’s my brainstorming list so far in various categories, which obviously supports a lot of overlap:
Observation/enjoyment (in already-familiar places)
Informal phenology, which my blog entries were kind of doing before I even knew what it was
Watching construction over time (example: Live 155 from the demolition of the previous building to its completion)
Noticing posters for events I want to attend, sales, etc.
Exploration
Randomly picking new parts of town, or streets I haven’t been down
Running in new places (when we’re traveling for example)
But best of all, now that I’ve discovered CityStrides (planning a whole post just on that), I’ve added the goal of running all the streets in Northampton—if I can’t finish them all during the marathon training, it will be a long-term project!
Transportation
Errands (I’ve often returned library books on a run)
To and from scenic destinations (like the gardens on my typical long run, but also I’ve done things like run to the Connecticut River to see ice floes locally, and to all kinds of places when vacationing)
For years I’ve been planning to run to the movies someday. The closest theater is 5.5 miles, though. 11 is a lot when I’m not training, but when I am, I don’t want to break up a long run into 2 shorter ones. Still thinking on this…
Now that Valley Bike Share is available in Northampton and Amherst, I could run to the Amherst farmer’s market some Saturday to visit my friend Alex’s amazing Pop-Up Astronomy and then bike home (round-trip would be 16 miles, same problem as above)
Thinking
I think of long runs as the opportunity to “comb out my brain,” which is one of running’s biggest benefits for me
It can also be an idea generating machine—I’ve come up with new projects, some of which survive the cold light of not-running thought, some of which do not
Writing incubation (especially characters’ voice & thoughts, sentence level, etc…. larger plot structure comes more easily when biking, I find, presumably because of the relative speeds?)
Problem solving in general
Other
Picking up trash—I tend to do this much more when walking, but have sometimes taken an old drawstring backpack specifically to pick up cans on my usual long run. It turns out this has a name: plogging!
The occasional tag sale (not under transportation since it’s serendipitous)
I’ve wondered if my trail running could get good enough to keep ahead of mosquitoes—I’ve tried it downhill and I think it helps, but running fast enough uphill might be a pretty hopeless goal. Theoretically they don’t like wind (varying numbers from 1.5 to 10 mph); when I’m hiking at 2-3 mph I get mobbed, not sure how much faster than that I could go…
Miles for the week: 12.5 (~ 2/2/2/6)
Average resting heart rate (per Fitbit): 58
Weight: 115.4
Long run: 6.24 miles LSD; average HR 156; time 1:19:30 (12:44 avg); splits:
Mile
Time
Elevation (ft)
1
13:45
73
2
13:25
7
3
12:12
-5
4
13:05
62
5
12:14
-52
6
11:44
-82
It’s going up to 99 today with a heat index of 109(!) so I got up at 4am to run and I’m very glad I did—it was already hot and humid, and I see my HR was hitting 170. I didn’t get out the door until 4:45 because it takes me a while to wake up enough to put in my contact lenses (I’ll run a few miles in glasses, but the more I sweat the more unpleasant it is, and my uncorrected vision is so bad that I can’t do without). Dawn was already well in progress and there was a mostly-full moon too—I could have started even earlier. Jonathan pointed out I’d get the dawn chorus, and though it’s not as active as earlier in the breeding season, there was plenty! Trying to remember everything I heard on the run in order: jay, house sparrow, robin, cardinal, catbird, chipping sparrow, tufted titmouse, song sparrow, chickadee, chimney swift, house wren, Carolina wren, downy woodpecker, crow, goldfinch, mourning dove, wood thrush. Wow, that’s a lot, and it makes me realize how many I know by ear now (trying to add a few species a year, but past the common ones it gets harder!) The humidity and still air made the gardens smell really good even though I couldn’t see the details of the flowers. I’ll write more about this later, but I just signed up for the amazing CityStrides so I’m motivated to run more side streets I haven’t covered before. It makes the runs harder to compare to each other, especially since I tend to go over, but it’s totally worth it. It’s also pushed me to vary the short runs more too. Fun!
Back in 2004 I wrote an “about me” when I entered the Steamtown Marathon, months before I started training, on my general physical shape and running experience. I’m just a few weeks out from my (very minimal) 16-week training period, and I’ve already covered why I’m running the NYCM, my current PR, and why I’m rebooting this blog. Current weight etc. numbers are in the weekly summary posts. But there have been some major physical lifestyle changes since then:
Soon after Vibram FiveFingers were introduced (2005), I got my first pair. It took years, but eventually I completely changed my running style and by about 2010 had switched to strike mid/fore-foot (rather than the typical mid-foot/heel strike I used to have). The change was difficult—lots of calf pain when I went too far/fast—but now even in regular running-shoes-with-socks that’s how I run. FiveFingers have been problematic for me in terms of fit and comfort; I’ve bought pairs that felt OK initially and turned out to be wrong, and one pair where the toes were just too short and they always hurt. But overall, my impression is that it’s been super worth it. My running feels much more natural and comfortable. When training for the Rochester Marathon in 2015, I did develop top-of-foot-pain and had to focus on letting my heel touch down, which eventually fixed it, and I ran that race in FiveFingers. I’ll probably do a whole post on shoes. I think I run faster this way; I’m not sure, but it is a big change.
Around 2014? I started a daily cold shower routine (2 minutes, or rather counting to 60 twice, which probably happens a little faster in the winter!, after the hot water/soap stuff). AWESOME!!! cannot recommend highly enough for life-changing effects, mostly mood but also motivation and health.
Around 2015? I added an “eating window” thingy where I typically skip breakfast (aside from black coffee), and ingest food only between about noon and 9pm. I’m loose about it—I have breakfast while we’re traveling, eat soon after my long Sunday runs, etc—but it’s really helped keep my diet healthier and it’s now totally routine to run 5-8 miles on an empty stomach without any trouble. I relish my food more, don’t feel the need to control my eating as much, and in general my blood sugar is more stable. Not for everyone, but it’s been good for me.
Aging has still slowed me some! I’ve mostly let go of the dream of qualifying for Boston by continuing to run just as fast into my 70s (you now need to break 5:10 as a 75-year-old woman to qualify… yeah, not gonna happen), and accepted that despite my Westfield 5K PR, my fastest times are probably behind me. That’s fine, but it does mean that the number of marathons I’m willing to take the time to train for is going to be small. So focusing on enjoying the process and the day makes a lot of sense. I’m so lucky to get to do it!
Miles for the week: 11 (2/2/1/6)
Resting heart rate: 57
Weight: 116
Long run: 6 miles LSD; average HR 134; time 1:16:35 (12:37 avg); splits:
Mile
Time
Elevation (feet)
1
13:12
59
2
13:04
20
3
11:56
-3
4
13:10
66
5
12:04
-138
6
12:11
0
Decent long run, overcast and not too hot. Way better than the same run last week when I got overheated and almost bonked (I was feeling bad and indeed my HR was spiking as high as 180). I’ve been curious to compare to my previous marathon experiences; pre-training week 1 from 2004, when I was a few pounds higher, my pace was almost a minute faster. But from my description, I was running a 2/2 cadence (two breaths in, two out), whereas now my long slow distance cadence is 3/3. (And I can do 3/2 also, so I have three gears now aside from sprinting!) So I was running harder back then and maybe it’s apples to oranges. I’ve been using the great free app RunKeeper for training since the 2015 marathon, so I can compare to that too, and I’m significantly slower than then. Hmm! Is it age? I’ll see how it goes, but I’m really glad I’m doing a light training schedule.
I’ll be doing this route as my long run for the next 3 weeks—it’s my usual 5+ miles with a little extra tacked on—and I love it. When we lived in Pennsylvania I thought I had the best 5 mile route ever, with pastures and woods and hills; although there are no actual cows on this course, and no deep woods, there’s Paradise Pond and the Mill River, the dog park, fields with views, and seven gardens I get to visit: the herb garden at Hungry Ghost, Capen Garden, walk break in the Lyman Greenhouse when I’m not too early (it opens at 8:30am), main Smith Botanic Garden (which actually includes several, like the rock garden, systematics, perennial border, etc.), Happy Chase Garden, the Northampton Community Garden, and the gorgeous small garden in front of the Roundhouse. Plus beautiful yards and architecture!
Now that I have so many many cultivated flowers to look at, the wildflowers don’t register as much, but I’ll try to still pay attention because I like reading that in the previous blog posts. Garden-wise there were still some irises, but astilbes, roses, and clematis were in full bloom. I saw goldfinches swooping over the little pond next to the greenhouse, and an agitated mockingbird squawking like a grackle or a titmouse.
