Fall favors

My trip to New Hampshire inspired me to make some fall-themed favors for a friend's wedding shower (the whole thing is actually an autumn theme). I bought plain cream cards from Clearbags.com (my  favorite stock website and the place I bought the materials for my own wedding invitations). They just so happened to have fancy homemade linen envelopes on sale for $2/pack of 50! Look at the mica flecks and grass and leaf inclusions. So perfect for the theme!

Grass and leave (top) and mica (bottom) envelopes

The cards were very easy to make: I used craft paint (haphazardly mixing red, yellow, brown and green with gold and champagne glitter paints) and painted the backs of fresh leaves, then pressed them on the cards. We made 200 cards.

My table covered in drying cards

Once they were dry, I bundled them in packs of 6 with envelopes and tied with raffia.

Piles of leaves!

Tada! Perfectly fall favors!

Clarence DeMar Marathon: Race Recap

Well, it was just what I thought it would be... a practice race! Not my best effort at all, but I learned some lessons.
The morning wake-up was way too early: I got up at 5 am for the third day in a row, meaning I was about 9 hours down on sleep. The trip up to New Hampshire had been annoying stressful. We'd planned on having Saturday afternoon in NH for a few activities, but due to mechanical issues on our first flight, we missed out second flight. The next flight we got on was then delayed due to another mechanical problem! We wasted the entire afternoon in the airport, barely made it to packet pick up, and I was left generally stressed, hungry, and dehydrated. I rolled out of bed Saturday wishing I could sleep a little more. Fueling mistake #1: Although the hotel had a breakfast buffet, I felt nauseated from my early wake up and threw my oatmeal out after one or two bites. David dropped me off at the finish area, and I took a bus to the start. Everyone on the bus was talkative and friendly, and I met plenty of Maniacs and 50-staters, including one gentleman who was running his 50th state that day! Fueling mistake #2: I was on one of the first buses, so I had a long wait until the start without any food.  The race started at a church in Gilsum, NH, and (charmingly) the pastor showed up, opened the church (which was the original 1772 building), and started us with prayer.
When 8 am finally rolled around, we lined up....in the middle of a road. There was a clearly marked start on the pavement, but officials pushed us back to some arbitrary imaginary line. Now this did not surprise me, since race info clearly states things like, "The finish line is not marked" (I kid you not). I mentioned the start marked on the road, but no one really responded. So...off we went.
This race is gently hilly with some sharp downhills and an overall elevation LOSS of about 300 feet. Not bad! I thought. Actually, I struggled! The downhills at the start are so sharp that I had trouble controlling myself! I am so unused to hills. But it was fun to fly down them, even knowing I'd be sorry later. I think that for a runner who runs hills regularly, this would be a fast course. And my first half WAS fast, about 1:36. Fueling mistake #3: I started out too fast.

In the mountains near Keene

The weather was, as expected, warm and muggy - even in the mountains. It was low 70's early on and later in the race I passed a school with a sign that put the temp at 81 F. Interestingly, there is no traffic control on the course except at major intersections, meaning we were actually running in the road - no cones, no signs, no road closures. This was a little nerve-wracking in winding, hilly areas.
My Garmin was well ahead of the course since mile one, which was partly due to a slight stray off-course (some of the arrows, it turns out, were for the electric company, not runners, who would have thought), but that should have accounted for only .05 miles...but despite my tangent running my Garmin read 26.67 at the finish! Because of the winding hills, I was having trouble at water stops. They popped up so unexpectedly that I didn't have time to prepare and take some Gu. Fueling mistake #4: I didn't take any Gu until the second half, too late for the pace I was keeping. When I finally did shove some Gu down, I instantly regretted it. And here comes the best part. I started throwing up. I started early on - like mile 14 - and from then on, it was a battle. I threw up every time I swallowed anything. Fueling mistake #5: Throwing up all nutrients is a bad idea. The result was a distinct drop in pace (although surprisingly not bad at first; I was running 8's or 8:10's), and the onset of muscle cramps. As expected, at mile 20 I hit the wall hard, struggling to maintain 10-min miles. Fuleing mistake #6: I only brought three Gu's, so by now I was out of fuel. There was no Gu on the course and only half the stops had Gatorade. I was passed by two women on the way in, and everyone was so encouraging we just cheered each other on. I'd led for the first twenty miles. I finally finished, and I'd never been so happy to be done with a race in my life. I was third female overall in a little under 3:35.

Heading for the finish...hot and sweaty.

 Post-race I signed up for a massage right away, but the poor lady had trouble with my knotted calves and quads. I got some soup down and started to feel better, but the nausea stuck with me for a few hours. I realized I was starting to dehydrate. I'd sweated profusely (it was pretty warm for a marathon!) and thrown  up, too, and I was starting to feel kidney pain, headache, and anxiety coming on. Unfortunately I could only stomach water - the thought of Gatorade made me ill - so I took some electrolyte tabs from a medic and sipped water.
The race awarded first overall and age group awards. The age groups were a little odd - the first group was "up to 39" and then it was ten year increments from then on. I placed second in my age group, but when I got home I realized I'd been give the third place plaque! Hilarious. The third place lady had left already and they must have handed me hers. And also bizarre - my time was recorded off by fifteen seconds. I have no idea how this could occur. David took a picture of me as I crossed the line, and the clock reads, "3:34:52" clearly, yet my time is recorded as 3:35:09. What the?!
Later,when I got the hydration thing under control, it hit me that my quads were so sore I couldn't sit down or get up from a sitting position. My muscles took a beating from the downhills, and the soreness is lingering two days  later!
Overall, the race gave me lots of "Huh?!" moments (it's kind of crazy, wait for the race review) and lots of lessons (I need to work on pacing and fueling and I need a "wall" strategy - if I hit it again, I can't let myself fall apart like I did this time).  But I still enjoyed this for a small marathon. The organizers and volunteers were some of the nicest people I've run with, and the area of Keene, NH is adorable. I think in a cooler year and for hill-prepped legs this would be a fast course. As for my fitness, I knew I wasn't in fantastic shape, but this race gives me areas that need work. It's obvious that if I want to get faster I have to increase my mileage and actually do some speedwork. It wouldn't hurt to do some treadmill inclines, either.

Do you have any "wall" advice to share? And what lessons have you learned in a race?

Weather Channel wins

Despite all my angry staring, the Weather Channel won. Race morning should be 80 degrees, rainy, and between 97 and 100% humidity depending on whether it's raining or just steaming.

Change, weather! Darn you!

I am wearing shorts and a tech T for the race. This is my first marathon in shorts! I've worn capris before but I much prefer long tights. Shorts are my least favorite option, but obviously in this weather I have to go with shorts, even though they are no fun in the rain and offer no compression for my tired muscles.
I am wearing my Saucony Kinvaras. This will be their debut marathon. I thought about going back to the Karhu Fast's, but I decided to give the Kinvaras a try since this is my mulligan* anyway. I'm also thinking about trying out a new music playlist, but I probably won't since I only collected about an hour's worth of music and I don't like messing with my ipod while I race. I just want to get all my new things and kinks out early this year and this race seems like the time to do that.
So, what else do we have planned in miniature Keene? Some rainy walking and hiking; part of a foliage tour (yes, I know it's early); covered bridge photo ops; and a relaxing Sunday night watching the game and having a beer. My hubby is missing the Saints game for this race, and now I feel pangs of guilt. But it's just the Texans; they're boring anyway.
So...will the weather kick my booty? Or will it be cake after a summer of highs and humidity? To be continued!
Tell me your absolute ideal running weather. 

*I had to go to this stupid golf tournament for work and picked up some  terms. I don't play golf and the game nearly bored me to tears.

Keene! What is going on with your weather! Stop this absurdity!

As of today's weather reports, Keen NH will be warmer - and have higher humidity - than New Orleans.
I'm hoping it gives me a competitive edge...

Freaking stupid marathon

I'm running the Clarence DeMar marathon this Sunday, and I should have known it would suck after seeing the injudicious use of Comic Sans on the website (Comic Sans is a non-font and should never, ever, ever be used).
Let's gripe.
1. The weather is going to be terrible: rain, high humidity, not hot but certainly not cold, either. What the heck, New England!

I just realized that since I checked the weather last night, the forecast has been changed to reflect a high of just 76 rather than 79, so I might need to stop whining. But whining is fun.

2. Hills. Boo.
3. I will be exhausted. Because of a scheduling mix-up (my employer's vacation scheduler basically does not understand her job at all), I am going to be putting in about 60 hours this week, including an off-site flu shot clinic, which usually means a day of no food, water, or bathroom breaks.
4. Lucky me, the marathon falls at an unfortunate time of the month, which means pain, cramps, all-around bad-attitude, and 3-5 extra pounds of water weight sloshing around for 26 miles.
5. There is no Gu on the course and I bet the TSA will take all my Gu away. And Keene, NH is in the middle of nowhere so I doubt they will be selling Gu at the grocery.
6. I feel fat and slow.

Sharpie Queen

My friends used to call me the Sharpie queen because I was always armed with a permanent marker to correct public grammar errors. The problem now is that fewer such errors are on signs and posters. Instead, they are on computer screens, and my husband is annoyed when I marker up my monitor.

Who the heck gave this trash 3 stars?!

Missing Alfred

I just wanted to update regular readers on the family of David's best friend Alfred, who passed away this April. David has been making an effort to visit Alfred's 2 year old daughter every few months. He is her godfather, and now, more than ever, he wants to be a significant part of her life. He'd like her to feel like she knows him, and at her young age he's worried she'll forget him if too much time goes by between visits. We live about an 8 hour drive apart (or a direct flight, hurray!) and we've been able to see the family three times over the summer.
This past weekend David traveled to upstate New York for a memorial service for Alfred. Unfortunately, I could not attend because I could not get time off work. The service was mainly for the sake of his mother, who could not attend his funeral since she was in the CCU recovering from quadruple bypass at the time of his death (while this is a terrible situation for a mother to be in, in a way it was a blessing, because in light of the seriousness of her surgery, she and her son had a long and serious phone conversation just days before his death. It was meant to be a farewell love you call in case she did not survive the procedure; who knew it would be the other way around). I know this service was tough for David, and I wish I could have been there, too.
We, like the rest of Alfred's family (Davis has long been considered basically family), are struggling with sadness, anger, and sometimes still disbelief. It's hard to know how to cope with such a large loss. As the months pass, David and I have tried to handle our grief in appropriate ways.
1. We recall the many funny memories that include Alfred on a regular basis. David has thousands of stories, and even as a newcomer, I have plenty, too. Alfred actually drove David and I to our reception after a limo mix-up at our wedding!
2. We spend time with David's godchild and talk comfortably about Daddy with her. Although she was only 2 1/2 at his death, she is a smart cookie and talks about him clearly. She'll even pick out a family photo and relate what happened at the time ("This is after we went to the zoo!").
3. We pray for peace about the circumstances of his death. As more information comes to light surrounding the events that lead up to Alfred's sudden and tragic death from sepsis, we are filled with anguish as we see how easily his death could have been prevented. But these thoughts only lead to frustration and bitterness and they don't bring Alfred back. We have been struggling to let this go. This is especially hard for me, as, with my medical background, I bristle at the breaches of standard care and sepsis protocol.
4. If we need to be sad, we're sad. We cry if we have to. We miss him.
5. We write letters to the family. I know Alfred's family is feeling a lot more of the same grief we have. We've made an effort to record memories and sorrows and share with his family. We're all bearing each others' burdens of grief.
6. We don't do Alfred-y things. Alfred was a big LSU fan and we avoided watching the game. Although we find that talking about memories is helpful, going out of our way to do things that we would ordinarily do with Alfred (David basically only watches LSU if Alfred wants to watch the game with us) just highlights his absence.

Of course this isn't the kind of sadness that passes quickly, but I think we're doing ok now. David still has rough spots and sometimes I'll see tears in his eyes, but he's coping well.
Please continue to keep all of Alfred's loved ones in your prayers.