Sunday, May 3, 2009

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...)

27 comments:

  1. Lucky you to have a pacer that goes FAST! My pacer has 4 legs and should go fast but doesn't! That little furry BIATCH...but I love her!!!

    Sorry I didn't come down and run the race...the trails were calling my name.....PENNY....come run us...so I had to go!! And I ran slow with my slow pacer up a 4 mile uphill!

    BTW...PR BABY! You rock!

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  2. Nice job!!

    BTW.... Bad Boy will probably come out on the bike sometime down the road... believe me! :)

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  3. Okay, first thing is: Helmets do NO good if they are not clipped. ;)
    Second: If my husband ever agreed to do any kind of race with me, I would have to contact the newspaper and local news station. Lucky you! And you guys stuck together. So nice.

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  4. I'm totally in love with the bad boy. With counseling and a lot of therapy, the bad boy isn't so bad any more. ;) I can now take him home to to meet dad. LOL.


    Congrats on the PR! I really like that course, something about being on the 163 is kind of cool. It's great that Walter ran with you! I thought about you guys today!

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  5. Love love love it! I always go for the bad boy, myself... maybe that's why I love running so much!

    Yeah, one of my friend's hubby ran a 5k with us once on NO training. He ran around a 23 minute 5K. Those genetics are NO FAIR!

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  6. Congrats Alice! That is a great time for that race! You totally rock. And yea, it's not fair that men can run and train so much faster than us.

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  7. You lost me at nice guy...he DOES have spark in him, he does have the bite and he can throw you around. It'll hurt so good and make you scream for more. Keep working on the cycling legs!!!

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  8. Love the correlation of bad boy, nice boy! Cracked me up and soo true. I love the bike, but I love to run now too. Such decisions!!

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  9. So you're having a threesome -- think your mom will approve?! :D Your stories of tipping over while clipped in reminds me of ME! LOL Congrats on your PR! Awesome job on the run!

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  10. CONGRATS chica!! Sweet job on that race! 8:30 pace? YES, YES YOU DO and can RUN IT! ;D ;D

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  11. Great job!! I am jealous that your non-running hubby agreed to run with you. I can't even shame mine into coming. I hear you about the training though. Mine is suddenly telling me that he wants to do a triathlon (um..hello! there is running in a tri) and he doesn't plan on training. *eyeroll*

    You should really try out Nice Guy's really evil twin, mountain biking. He is even more dangerous than Bad Boy and not as sneaky about it. I have fallen a couple of times due to clip malfunction (well... operator error). It is pretty funny/embarrassing.

    I always had issues with Motion-Based. Now I use Sport Tracks (http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/Downloads/) and it works SO much better. It calculates my splits no matter what.

    Nice job again on the race. It sounds like you have healed nicely!

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  12. Great report.

    It must be nice to have a Hubby who can run with you...mine doesn't run 17 minute miles...

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  13. You had me at 'Bad Boy'....great analogy!

    Also how fun that you had the husband along with you! The one time I ran with my husband, he was going too fast - on no training at ALL and bum knees. We haven't run together since ha ha....

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  14. Oh - the Nice Guy, Bad Boy analogy is sooo going to stick with me. And great job you. You totally deserved the mimosas. :D

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  15. i think you're playin' the good guy on the wrong turf and you'll be having more fun.
    good job on both PRs!

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  16. I LOVE the Nice Guy - Bad Boy analogy! Very cool!

    I would love to run that part of the 163... it's so pretty (probably the only pretty freeway I've ever seen).

    Congrats to both of you for the PRs!

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  17. Great job on the PRs - all of you!

    Hey, isn't it about time Bad Boy and Good Boy and Hubby and you all got together and had a phreaky 4-way?

    Take pix and post them when you do!

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  18. What a great analogy! I love it!

    Hey - isn't that part of the 163 the same part used in the RnR Marathon? I remeber doing the same thing last June. 8:30 at mile 9. I knoew I was in trouble....

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  19. You know we always want what we can't have or what isn't good for us! And if mom says no, we say yes. Be patient. Things hopefully will fall into place once your injuries heal. Just don't get new ones from falling! (and what's with the word verification I got? Hilly!)

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  20. So if you rode Fiesta Island, you've done the bike course for the Women's Triathlon Series.

    The sprint is from the dock, twice around fiesta Island and back. The super sprint is once around.

    I'll be in SF doing the Nike Women's 1/2 that weekend, but I'm just sayin' you can do it!

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  21. Classic Alice Blogging! So very creative!

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  22. Nice job! PR's are always good! Especially because you get to liberally use the word "woot" in your post.

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  23. Congratulations on your PR and Betty's PR.

    I love the bad boy very much! :) Nice analogy! :)

    Thanks for stopping by and sending so much support! It means the world to me!

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  24. What a great time! I love that race, and now I miss it again.

    Now you understand why men have to run faster to qualify for Boston.... But, hey, your husband did a terrific job too.

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  25. Wow, you always have WAAAAYYYY to much fun! I lurvvv the bad boy too! However, I'm learning to love the good guy, but haven't mustered up the courage to go for clipless, maybe once the knee is better (from the bad boy)!!!

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