Nice Guys and Bad Boys

So this weekend consisted of a 13 mile bike ride with Betty on Saturday, and an 8K race with Betty and Walter today.

Biking and running...sorta like dating the Nice Guy and the Bad Boy.

Biking is the nice guy. Biking doesn't hurt me (well except when I fall due to the stupid clip-on pedals which I'm still getting used to, but really that's my fault). Biking is easy. I know it's good for me to go out with the bike.

My mom wants me to date the Nice Guy. She worries about the other one.

Running is the bad boy. Running sometimes hurts me. Running is hard. Running torments me with fabulous dates one day, and truly awful ones the next.

Mom wants me to dump the Bad Boy. She doesn't like to see how he's hurt me this year.

But here's the truth, I LOVE the Bad Boy. I forgive him for all the torment, for all the pain. I keep coming back to him. I think I can tame him. I am probably a fool.

I don't love the nice guy, but I like him. I can see how like could grow into a longer, perhaps even more fulfulling relationship.

Let's be honest here. After a date with the Bad Boy...I'm exhausted, spent, thoroughly used up. Dates with the Nice Guy...well they are nice...but not what I'd call thrilling.

At least not yet. I'm wondering if the Nice Guy has a Bad Boy in him...just waiting to come out.

My Date with the Nice Guy
So...on Saturday, Betty and I rode 12.9 miles around Mission Bay, and with the exception of the a fore mentioned fall, it was a really nice ride. We averaged about 12.5 mph on a relatively flat route around Mission Bay. It was nice to get done with an hour workout and not feel completely spent.

Hawt Chicks in Cycling Hats...

Speaking of falling--this was the second time I'd fallen with the new clip-in pedals. The first time was about two weeks ago; I was on my driveway. We have a relatively steep driveway, and I was sorta nervous about going down it while trying to snap into the pedals, so I clipped both in at the top (BIG MISTAKE). As I pushed off, I pushed too hard and (you see where this is going, right?) since my feet were still attached to the pedals, I couldn't stop myself and...DAMN! Over I went. (OUCH!)

Yesterday, I was doing something almost equally silly. I was going down a narrow path, to get to an even narrower, steeper, path, and had slowed to almost a stop because another cyclist was coming my way. I clipped out with my right foot just in case I needed to stop completely, but since the cyclist was on my right, I leaned to the left, the side where I WAS STILL CLIPPED IN and again...Over I went (DAMNIT!).

BTW...A$HOLE cyclist who assisted in the "go over" didn't even stop to see if I was OK. I then had to re-thread my chain which I probably kicked off with my FREE FOOT....GAH!

Still...it was a nice ride. I enjoyed it. I'll do it again.

My Date with the Bad Boy
About two weeks ago, I asked Walter if he'd like to run with me in the Union-Tribune Race for Literacy and amazingly he said, "yes." (in other words, I went on a date with the Bad Boy with my husband...what of it?)

Let me give you some background. Walter doesn't run...not really. Sometimes he'll get on the dreadmill and walk/run for about 20 minutes. Mostly he plays some basketball, and recently, I guess, he's been running around after Turbo's Little League team which he manages.

We did this race last year together and he stayed with me the first two miles, and then he walked/ran the rest.

Two weeks ago, after he said yes, he started running, about three mornings a week on the DM. I'll bet you a dollar the longest run he did was less than 3 miles. This morning, he woke up, wandered around the house, and about 3 minutes before we went to pick up Betty, he put on his shoes and a t-shirt. He was ready.

Walter and me before the race started. Seriously, the dude runs without sunglasses, and in pretty standard issue New Balance shoes. You know, the kind you get off the sale table at Big-5 for $19.95?

We started pretty near the front for a change. In the past couple of years, We've started near where we figured the 10 minute milers would start...sort of toward the back, but this race is not a competitive race (even though they did chip timing this year), and we'd spent too much time and energy weaving around the walkers and the strollers. This year, we started more toward the start and were only about 30 seconds behind the gun time.

Sweet.

The first two miles are a slightly uphill and we were averaging about a 10 - 10:30 minute mile pace...pretty fast for me. At one point Walter asked me if I thought we were going too fast. I said that we were going faster than I typically start a long race, but hopefully not too fast. I knew that once we turned corner at 6th and Robinson, we'd start going downhill again.

Here's the elevation. Motion-Based is having some server error this weekend and I forgot to set my Garmin to measure splits, so I'm estimating split times and using my ever-s0-trustworthy memory...

Mile 1 - 10:30 (ish)
Mile 2 - 10:00 (ish)

I remember when we went past the 2 mile marker, the person with the stopwatch (what is that person called?) called out 21:00 and I knew we were about 30 seconds behind the gun time.

Running down the 163. I love the Laurel Street bridge in the background. I think this is about when DramaGirl called on his cell phone to see if we'd bring donuts home for breakfast...hmmmmm perspective...

The part of the run down the 163 was fun. I do enjoy this part of the race. It's downhill...it's on the freekin' freeway. This morning, it was starting to get a little hot and this morning, Walter was still with me! In fact, I was seeing his back side a little more than I really wanted (just kidding honey).

Mile 3 - 30:00
Mile 4 - 40:00

At the 4 Mile marker, there was another water station. I grabbed a quick cup of water and took off. We'd caught up with Alberta (who despite a swollen knee and a broken toe ran again this morning. She's crazy, but I get it). At the water station, I sorta thought I might have lost Walter, but all of a sudden, he was there beside me. I looked down at my Garmin and it read 8:30...Geez, I thought, I'm running a sub-9 minute mile right now? WTF?

This is probably when I shouldn't look at the Garmin because I start playing head-games with myself...like What the F am I doing? I don't run this fast, or I certainly can't run this fast for very long...

The only bad thing about the Race for Literacy, is the end. We come off the freeway, took a right on Market, a left on 6th, and a final right on G street....and it looks like the finish line is soooooo close, but really, it's about 6 full city blocks, about 3/10 of a mile away (bastards!) Every year, I start sprinting for the finish too early, only to run out of gas about a 1/2 block away from the actual finish line...GAH!

Nonetheless...thanks to Alberta's and Walter's pacing, here are the results...

Me - Woot! Woot! Woot! a PR! A full 29 seconds faster than last year!

Walter - another PR!

Let me be honest here...Walter paced me (thanks honey!). For the most part, it was all I could do to keep up with him. He helped me to get the PR. I'm pretty sure he coulda just kicked my ass if he'd wanted to at the end, because he still had some kick (He told me later he has that Dave Wottle thing going for him), and I was slowing.

BUT SERIOUSLY...ON TWO WEEKS "TRAINING?" Soooooo BTW. SO. NOT. FAIR. MEN. GAH! GAH! GAH!

(No, really, honey. I love you. Great Race. Thanks for pacing me :-)

Betty - Another PR!

I have no idea if this is a PR for Alberta...probably not, but she is running with a messed up knee and a broken toe and she still beats me at the end...I know it's because she can't bear the thought of my 46-year old ass beating her 30 year old one...(she's a little competitive that way, but she is also a waaaaaaaay better athelete than I am).

Walter and me after the run...sweaty...I gotta get him outta those cotton t-shirts though. The shot I missed was Walter wringing the sweat out of his shirt...like I said, I gotta get him outta those cotton t-shirts. STILL NO SUNGLASSES!

Betty and I waiting for the shuttle after the race...next year we're either parking 1/2 way and walking back to the start, or we're taking a cab. The shuttle thing was sorta rediculous.

Ah...mimosas...(Can ya tell I've had one?)

So, it was a GREAT DATE! I LOVE RUNNING!

(Do you think all of this will get a comment from Walter? He says he reads my blog...we'll see...)