tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13593096410178822132010-04-09T17:58:01.677-04:00Bri Gaal's BlogBriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.comBlogger284125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-85175798984487840802010-04-09T12:17:00.002-04:002010-04-09T12:23:47.798-04:00Of Swimming and VacuumsBig day tomorrow – first <a href="http://fsseries.com/index.php?action=event&event_id=75">open water swim</a> of our series, which is run in conjunction with the Beaver Dam Olympic Triathlon. I know a lot of people who will be out there racing and it will be a lot of fun cheering everyone on. I am not doing the open water swim or the triathlon – I’ve held steadfast to my belief that it is way too cold (for me) to do an open water swim race right now and I don’t believe that the water is actually 70 degrees despite what people have been declaring. Particularly since it rained last night (which washed a lot of the pollen away - thank god) – it’s now a wee bit chilly. I have done races where the water has been colder (59 degrees thankyouverymuch in Geelong, Australia), but this is just a swim and a swimmer I am not. Much less one who wants to get in cold water willingly.<br /><br />In the afternoon we have a Master’s bbq/cookout. And then at night we have another party to go to – obviously we are not ones to turn down social gatherings.<br /><br />And in the category of ‘how boring can I make this blog’ we bought a new-to-us vacuum. A second hand, not very used Dyson. And it is AWESOME.<br /><br />Lame.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-8517579898448784080?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-68642962893589765022010-04-04T19:45:00.002-04:002010-04-04T19:50:52.463-04:00It has explodedSo last Saturday was all cold and I was bundled up on our bike ride. Not so this weekend, as I stripped down to trishorts and a sportsbra during the runs of our broken brick. And now that it warmed up all the trees rejoiced and have exploded their pollen all over. Our car is a dark green, not yellow:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/IMG00139-774032.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/IMG00139-774018.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-6864296289358976502?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-1880515828245919662010-03-30T13:45:00.003-04:002010-03-30T13:53:37.988-04:00Other WorkoutsIt can be easy getting caught just swimming/biking/running when training for triathlons. But lifting, core work, and drills (among other things) are still really important in making an all around good athlete. On Monday's before our evening Master's practice Marty has been meeting some athletes at a local park for a run and all sorts of plyometrics and drills. I went for the first time last night because I had been resting that pesky hip (which has been feeling a-okay recently).<br /><br />Bond Park has one of those fitness trails that meanders through it - you know what I'm talking about - those stations where you do everything from pull ups to jumping jacks.<br /><br /><p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/fitness-trail-757288.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>We run to each station and do whatever it is we're supposed to do (even if the thing you can only do consists of a whole two pull-ups, ahem). Some of it seems silly but most of it is really good to do to supplement the training. At the end we do run specific drills and strides. The entire run doesn't end up being all that long (2+ miles or so?) but with everything in between....holy crap am I sore today!<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-188051582824591966?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-17300302690372916352010-03-28T19:12:00.002-04:002010-03-28T19:28:15.925-04:00What's Been Going On?<ul><li>Marty bought me New Moon! He then watched it that night and admitted he liked it - having no expectations is always a good way to watch a movie. He knows I'm Team Edward and Tassie is obviously Team Jacob (you know, doggie/wolf thing) and he was going to be Team Bella but she is too whiney and frowny so he decided to be Team Charlie since he is obviously the best actor in the entire cast.<br /></li><li>I decided to punch Old Man Winter in the balls after making a return appearance this weekend.<br /></li><li>It didn't stop us from getting our longest ride in this year (50 miles) although we started much later than planned so we could try and get some warmth. At least it was bright and sunny. We had a nice little group including <a href="http://www.lovetoeatright.com/">Steffan</a> and <a href="http://agautreau.blogspot.com/">Angela</a> (who is getting very strong on the bike).</li><li>This morning we met up with <a href="http://ashleylong.blogspot.com/">Ashley</a> who was helping a friend at the Umstead 100 miler. Ashley is training for a 50 mile race in South Africa so we accompanied her on her second 11 mile loop.</li><li>The past two years we've gone up to the Smithfield Sprint for a race, and I usually like getting in at least one race before St. Anthony's...but I feel so behind in my training I need every weekend I can get.</li></ul><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-1730030269037291635?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-46279479521005489812010-03-21T17:23:00.002-04:002010-03-21T17:40:09.025-04:00Oh Yeah Spring!Spring has sprung and I took advantage of it this weekend! Marty drove to Atlantic City to meet his dad for some bonding time and I held down the fort here with Tassie.<br /><br />Friday found me making a full pan of brownies for myself. And lots of tv watching March Madness.<br /><br />Saturday I waited until the afternoon to do my bike ride because it promised to warm up to the mid 70's! It's about freaking time! I wore shorts and short sleeves and met <a href="http://runningyankee.blogspot.com/">Kari</a> along the way for a couple hours of nice saddle time. We pushed it for a good effort for about half the time and were pleasantly surprised by our average since we are both pretty convinced that we are woefully out of shape for this time of year. I hopped off my bike and ran for a whole mile. Hey, it's still a brick :)<br /><br />Went out with friends on Saturday night and then had a pretty good run in the late morning at Umstead. I ran into Kari again and coerced her into turning around and running with me which kept me better focused on my pace. She was like my little toy this weekend doing whatever I had to do and smiling the whole way (well not really, she probably had a snarky comment for everything).<br /><br />My hip has been holding steady. The past few days I've been diligent with my stretching and have been doing <a href="http://www.sagerountree.com/products/agy_dvd.html">Sage Rountree's</a> yoga DVD (which is awesome by the way). Besides the regular routines she has on there, she has a 'problem areas' section - I've been doing the hip problem area and it seems to be helping. I <span style="font-style: italic;">should</span> probably be doing the entire DVD but so far I've been too lazy.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-4627947952100548981?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-88702653855208924012010-03-18T18:15:00.002-04:002010-03-18T18:30:37.816-04:00Public SpeakingI am pretty much an introvert - I'm not super assertive or outgoing, and do much better in one-on-one and small group settings. So of course, public speaking is not something I gravitate towards but over the years Marty has made me give at least one presentation at our swim clinics so I have gotten a bit more comfortable doing it. The subject matter is also something I know quite a lot about so that makes it a bit easier.<br /><br />I have been on a committee at work for the past 6 months that has put together training for a new reporting system that was just released. When asked recently by our lead if I would be willing to be the facilitator at the non-finance training classes, my response was something like, "Well, I don't really like speaking in front of large groups of people so would rather not, but if you can't find anyone else to do it, I can do it."<br /><br />And that's how I got signed up for 4 different sessions. Cue anxiety.<br /><br />This meant I actually had to put forth an effort in my appearance and look nice (I actually blew my hair dry <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> put on eyeshadow!) since I was getting up in front of groups of 15-20 people to train everyone on this new system. I gave 3 different sessions this week and felt pretty good about the first two. Today was a doozy - big class, lots of random questions I really couldn't answer, kept tripping over words, etc.<br /><br />At the break, another girl on my team looked at me with sympathy and said, "You've got a really tough group." Sigh.<br /><br />Afterwards people said I did a good job but they may have been trying to make me feel better and make sure I didn't bail on the session I'm signed up to facilitate next week. Meanwhile, my real job goes on in the background and people are starting to wonder where the heck I am.<br /><br />I came home and got a tempo run in - some good stretching beforehand warded off the hip pain so that was a welcome relief today. It seems I never know if it's going to hurt or not.<br /><br />And because blogs are always more interesting with a picture, here's one from the 8K we did last weekend in DC. I had a leprechaun tattoo on my cheek that said 'Kiss Me I'm Irish'<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/st-patricks-day-8k-dc-733057.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 383px;" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/st-patricks-day-8k-dc-733055.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-8870265385520892401?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-26489198982381464582010-03-15T10:27:00.002-04:002010-03-15T10:49:30.285-04:00DC WeekendIt was a fun, albeit wet, weekend up in DC. I had never been there (I'm not counting the time I was up there with my family when I was 3 or 4 because I don't remember a thing) and our host Kathy showed us a lot of the sites. We were planning on hitting more of them on Sunday but the weather just wasn't in our favor. We'll just have to head back up there another time.<br /><br />Saturday morning she let me ride her computrainer which was really, really nice. So much nicer than my bike trainer (but so much more expensive!) Marty got a swim in her endless pool that's in the garage. After our morning workouts we took the Metro into downtown. She lives a short walk away from one of the stops - I LOVE good public transportation! If I lived in a city like that, I would totally forego the house and yard to get the convenience of riding into the city. I also learned about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slugging">slugging</a> - I had never heard that term before. Very interesting.<br /><br />First stop was lunch at a tapas restaurant then we walked to the Washington Monument (and went up to the top), WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and then we crossed the Potomac to Arlington National Cemetary and saw the eternal flame for JFK. It was A LOT of walking (~ 5miles?) and it pretty much rained the entire time. We were all very wet and very exhausted when we finally got to dinner.<br /><br />Once we got home we all pretty much went right to bed since the time was going to leave us 1 hour short on sleep and we were doing the Shamrock 8K in downtown the next morning.<br /><br />We caught the Metro in the morning for the race - so nice to not have to worry about parking and get dropped off right near the start! Marty and I had just enough time to hit the port-o-potties before lining up. No warmup which I didn't care at all about and thankfully the rain stopped for the race!! We were so lucky because not too long afterwards it started back up again.<br /><br />The streets were all closed down and we started heading right for the Capitol. That was very, very neat and it kind of felt like we were in a movie. We ran by some famous stuff but since the buildings didn't all have the greatest signs, I wasn't quite sure what everything was. I did look around a lot trying to take in the sights. There were a little over 4,000 people in the race, which was apparently smaller than normal because of the weather.<br /><br />I felt all right during the race. As I've mentioned before, my training hasn't been going so well and my hip is not doing too hot. It tightened up about halfway through - not to the point where I felt like I need to stop or anything, but where I felt like I couldn't push any harder. I'm kind of at an impasse - I know with how it's feeling I'm not going to be able to do the hard workouts I need to be doing right now. I can still run but it probably needs some downtime and serious strengthening work, but races loom in the not so distant future. What to do, what to do.<br /><br />Anyways, results say I averaged 6:40 pace - heh, not bad. I felt fine physically other than the hip. It's interesting that my Garmin clocked the distance at 5.1 - someone who puts on a race recently told us that when certifying a course, they have to take the shortest line possible on all turns, even if that is not how the course is set up. That's a pretty weird way to mark a course, and with all the turns and u-turns the extra distance makes sense. So maybe I ran a bit faster. Double heh, not bad. Marty ran really well - his run training is so much better than it's been the past couple of years and he's sneaking in all sorts of extra mileage with his morning Tassie runs.<br /><br />Next weekend - finally I'm staying at home! Marty isn't as he's meeting his dad in Atlantic City for some Father-Son time.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-2648919898238146458?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-77657951969488383522010-03-12T13:22:00.002-05:002010-03-12T13:29:52.207-05:00DCAnd just to keep things interesting, we're traveling again this weekend. I love to travel but I'm not loving the constant unpacking, laundry, repacking that goes with it, not to mention all the little things that don't get done when you are stuck at work all day and then train afterwards.<br /><br />We're driving to DC to visit long time OSB athlete (and often referred to as 'the nicest lady in the world' on this site), Kathy. This weekend is better than the original one we were going on which was that one where they got like 30 inches of snow.<br /><br />About a week ago during the middle of a conversation I was having with Marty and someone else, Marty said something along the lines of "...and the race next weekend."<br /><br />Me: "What race?"<br /><br />Marty: "The 8K."<br /><br />Me: "What 8K?"<br /><br />Marty (exasperated): "The 8K we're doing in DC!"<br /><br />Me (pointed glare): "You never told me we're doing an 8K!"<br /><br />Marty: "Oh."<br /><br />I guess I shouldn't be surprised since Marty <em>loves </em>to do races when we travel somewhere. I checked the weather last night and they were calling for rain/snow showers on Saturday (great for sightseeing) and then cold on Sunday. Today they are saying heavy showers on Saturday (great for sightseeing) and not as cold on Sunday. Sounds like they don't really know.<br /><br />I did run last night without any hip pain, just a bit of tightness towards the end, but don't plan on running very hard on Sunday. I don't want to aggravate it, but more imporantly, I think I'm just pretty slow right now.<br /><br />DC should be fun regardless, and I'm looking forward to spending time with Kathy.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-7765795196948838352?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-16275589193506058032010-03-10T13:54:00.002-05:002010-03-10T13:58:08.295-05:00An UpdateWell, lookie who it is! I’m blogging!<br /><br />Since we last talked, or should I say I talked and you listened, I’ve flown to Florida and back. Again. I was on the same Southwest flight as the previous week, but this time it was full of spring breakers – YEAH!!! SHOW US YOUR BOOBS!!! (hmmm, I wonder if I’m going to get weird people on my website doing perverted searches). Boobs and perverted in one blog post. You don’t get that on your normal triathlon blog, do ya? Anyways, I did some people watching and listening and was pretty entertained by the conversations of these spring breakers, including two (young!) guys I caught saying, “You packed the beer in your suitcase, right?”<br /><br />Oh, those kids!<br /><br />Friday morning we rode with Anders sans <a href="http://www.fegirl141.blogspot.com/">Kathy</a> before heading to Northshore for a swim. It was longcourse and the sun was out! I am now the proud owner of a speedo tan. It’s amazing how quick you get sun (and therefore sun-damage) swimming for an hour. I do miss swimming outdoors but maybe my skin will thank me after all those years under the sun?<br /><br />Then I got a manicure (which I never get – color is Lincoln Park After Dark in case you are wondering), and then we had some Friday fun and I got to see my good friend from high school, Joy. Saturday I went for a long-ish run where halfway through I found my hip to be hurting. Dangit! Where did that come from? I thought I was all good on that front. Another swim in the sun before Marty and I found ourselves completely ravenous so we stuffed ourselves with greasy pizza and garlic knots. I promptly got a stomach ache. You’d think I’d be smart enough by now to know it’s not good to fill an empty belly with all that grease and cheese, but I seem to never learn. At least I didn’t get a gelato, too!<br /><br />The wedding was fun and I got all dolled up and wore a cute dress and heels. I got to see lots of family and friends before getting a night cap with my favorite person (that would be Marty).<br /><br />Pictures from the camp and the wedding are up on Facebook, so you’ll have to friend me if you want to see them! I’m far too lazy to upload them here, also. If you aren’t on Facebook yet, I have no words for you.<br /><br />Sunday, Marty and I made the long drive back to Cary from St. Petersburg with Tassie in the backseat. She got covered in chain grease as she decided it would be a good idea to lay with her face and paw on the bike chain. I took a couple of days off of running (again! At this rate I will never get back into shape) and tested out the hip last night. It didn’t hurt so I did a bunch of drills and some strides. It was tight today but I had a massage and it was worked on very painfully. Basically, I think I have a weakness (like most) that was exasperated by the half marathon (not cut out for that long stuff) and although I gave it rest I wasn’t proactive enough to help strengthen it back up. You’d better believe I was in the gym yesterday doing all sorts of lateral exercises.<br /><br />See what happens when I don’t blog regularly? I get longwinded.<br /><br /><br /><a name="_MailAutoSig"></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-1627558919350605803?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-46600232914424640152010-03-01T18:44:00.002-05:002010-03-01T18:53:23.688-05:00Post CampWe had a great time in Florida for our annual camp. I always tell people it is so much fun and I'm not always sure they believe me, but seriously, it really is! So many laughs, great training, lots of sleep and eating in between - it's the perfect mini-vacation.<br /><br />This year the temps were colder than normal, but we still had lots of sun and it didn't stop us from doing anything (except for me getting in the gulf, uh no thank you). Northshore pool is awesome and the water was super heated so it felt great. We got in a lot of riding and swimming - not as much running, but we all did one of the Gasparilla races on Saturday. Okay, everyone did the 15K but me, but I swear this year it was only because I had a comped entry into the 5K. Riding 50miles and swimming 1hr the day before could definitely be felt in the legs. I managed a 19:26 and thought, eh. Not bad for the lack of running that happened the past month. 2 minutes before the start it started raining, so I'm 2-for-2 for cold, rainy races in Florida this year.<br /><br />I flew back last night, will work for 4 days and then I rejoin Marty in Florida on Thursday night because my dad is getting married this weekend in St. Pete. Back and forth and on the go and need to do laundry and repack augh!<br /><br />On a side note, do you guys remember when everyone pronounced Chile, 'Chili' and now it's pronounced 'Chee-Lay' It's so refined.<br /><br />And oh yeah, pics to come, but Marty has the camera and the cord.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-4660023291442464015?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-27765815733633777862010-02-21T16:44:00.002-05:002010-02-21T16:56:34.390-05:00Yay for Nice Weather!It seems from people's facebook status's that a lot of us enjoyed some really nice weather this weekend. It was sunny and in the mid 50's yesterday and up to 60 today! I can't believe how hot 60 felt. Unfortunately, we didn't get to really take advantage of the warmer weather yesterday because we were running a swim clinic at TAC, but we still got in a nice 2hr ride with Angela (we all just had to bundle up a bit). After the ride, Marty and I got ourselves ready for the clinic and that lasted until 6:30. Then we were off to Steffan's for a Master's swim get together. That was a long day.<br /><br />This morning Anglea, Tim and Steffan all met us at one of the Tobacco Trail entrances to have some fun with a bike/run/bike/run combo. The trail was PACKED. It looked like a freakin' road race out there. The nice weather and the Tobacco Road 1/2 and full marathon in a few weeks were the main culprits I'm guessing. Anyways, we got the broken brick in and were all appropriately tired upon completion.<br /><br />Then we gorged at Biscuitville. Now that is some good post hard workout food!<br /><br />Marty just left with Princess Tassie and they're headed to Florida. Our annual camp starts and I'll be joining everyone Tuesday night (stupid full time job!) :) I can't wait to get down there and put in some much bigger miles - hoping for some warm weather but honestly, anything above 40 will feel great to us. <br /><br />And oh yeah, Channing Tatum looked very good in the movie :) That's all I got.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-2776581573363377786?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-18813161872727853672010-02-19T10:58:00.002-05:002010-02-19T11:01:56.545-05:00Total Inane Celebrity ChatterThis is not triathlon related and probably any guys out there (husband included) will want to stop reading.<br /><br />When Marty dragged me to the Lord of the Rings several years ago, I immediately developed a crush on Orlando Bloom. My family got a kick out of this and got me this really cute t-shirt that says, “Orlando makes me sweat” which was a great play on words since we lived in Orlando and it’s stinkin’ hot down there. Marty has gotten used to the t-shirt after several years of frowning at me whenever I wore it and knows Legolas doesn’t stand a chance over him.<br /><br /><div><div><div></div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 340px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 387px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/bloom_orlando-720113.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>Then cue Twilight and you all probably already know my addiction to Edward the vampire. The Edward in my head is WAY hotter than the actor (Rob Pattinson) but he does look pretty good in the movies. When I see regular pictures of him I’m not always that enamored, but he’s still nice on the eyes when they do the celebrity-treatment on him.<br /><br /></div><div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/RobertPattinson-741345.jpg" border="0" /><br />After seeing Avatar I decided I like this guy Sam Worthington, too.<br /></div><br /><br /><div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 335px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/sam_worthington-769648.jpg" border="0" /><br />And tonight I’m going with some girlfriends to see Dear John and I have a feeling Channing Tatum just might move up on my list. Stay tuned.</div><br /><div></div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/channing-shirt-400a0605-793639.jpg" border="0" /></div><div> </div><div>Don't you all worry - I'm totally devoted to my Marty :)<br /><div></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-1881316187272785367?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-37279639640024686622010-02-17T11:33:00.002-05:002010-02-17T11:48:37.728-05:00That's Going to Leave a MarkWe made it back to the track last night! There have been lots of reasons and excuses for us not being there since January 5th, some valid, and some not so valid. And here they are:<br /><br /><ul><li>Took a bit of time to rest after the half marathon</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/2010/01/week-in-review.html">Too long of a long run the week after</a>, made my hip hurt and then needed more time off</li><br /><li>Marty <a href="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/2010/01/back-to-track-oopsy.html">got lost </a>driving to the track</li><br /><li>I got sick</li><br /><li>The weather was really crappy</li></ul><p>Not only have I not run hard in over a month, I've also missed a ton of running during that time. I knew I would be pretty out of shape on the track, and the biggest way I could tell was the fact I had NO IDEA what type of pace I was running. I'm usually very good at determining a pace, running it, and then cutting down. Not last night, but the good news was I wasn't horribly slow. But I am horribly sore today (and I didn't run the whole workout; no way. baby steps when coming back to that stuff).</p><p>In other news, Marty has an obession with ferns. He's bought a few which sit out on our deck during most of the year, but he babies them when it gets cold and puts them all inside. Since it's been way colder than normal, they seem to have taken up permanent residence in our house. And our house is not that big.</p><p>This is what you see upon walking in our door - 2 ferns and 1 houseplant lining the front hallway.</p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/fern-2-710185.jpg" border="0" /> And then since the 3rd won't fit there, it gets moved between on top of the trash can to on top of Tassie's food holder.<br /><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/fern-1-768795.jpg" border="0" />I'll be glad to get these things back outside if it ever decides to warm up!<br /><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-3727963964002468662?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-90547299599616657552010-02-15T10:27:00.002-05:002010-02-15T10:30:27.473-05:00Hey - That's My Dad!From the <a href="http://www.usatriathlon.org/news/2010/02/12/olympian-former-congressman-jim-ryun-named-to-usat-board/31919">USAT website</a>:<br /><br />"...In addition to Ryun's appointment, USAT also elected a new executive committee: <strong><span style="color:#990000;">president Brian Harrington (St. Petersburg, Fla., Florida Region)</span></strong>, vice president Eric Averill (East Bridgewater, Mass., Northeast Region), treasurer Bob Wendling (Springfield, Va., Mid-Atlantic Region) and secretary Candy Cheatham (Corpus Christi, Texas, South Midwest Region).<br /><br />USAT's board is meeting at The Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs as a part of USAT's symposium and hall of fame weekend.<br /><br />"I'm honored to be asked to take on the position," <strong><span style="color:#990000;">said Harrington</span></strong>, who has served as vice president of USAT. "I really want to make a push on the youth programs to tie in with the national recognition of childhood obesity and do what we can do to help that fight. Kids already run and bike, so we're almost there.<br /><br />"Continuing to get our communications platform functioning on the highest level is also of importance, and I'd like to continue to find ways to remain relevant to our membership."<br /><br />Way to go, Dad :)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-9054729959961665755?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-13942533441972160252010-02-12T19:53:00.002-05:002010-02-12T20:10:01.234-05:00Time for Some BulletsIt's the cop out way to blog but I'm not caring<br /><ul><li>Marty flew down to Florida this afternoon to run a swim clinic in Fort Myers. It's just me and Tassie for the weekend</li><li>And I'm so lame that I don't have any plans besides sitting here in the house and eating a big bowl of ice cream in a bit</li><li>I had a Trader Joe's 'chinese' dinner tonight - called Trader Ming's. I love that store. The Fat Tire complimented the meal nicely.</li><li>It's supposed to snow 1 or 2 inches tonight. And I'd like to give Mother Nature a big one fingered salute. I'm not cut out for this cold weather. If I were I would've moved somewhere like Pittsburgh, or Boston, or Chicago.</li><li>I felt good on my run this afternoon for the first time in about 4 weeks. That was fantastic.</li><li>They were having the NC high school swimming state championships at the pool we swim at. I can't get over how young high school kids look! And I didn't overlook the stink eye I got from several of them while I was getting ready for work, no doubt with their internal dialogue somewhere along the lines of, "why is the old lady in our locker room?" </li><li>A few songs I realized I know every word to this week: Baby Got Back (Sir Mix-a-Lot), Ditty (Paperboy), I am the Walrus (The Beatles). Gotta love satellite radio.<br /></li></ul><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-1394253344197216025?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-45255625588487655532010-02-08T10:42:00.001-05:002010-02-08T10:44:52.902-05:00Getting There3 different people suggested I take some Emergen-C for my lingering sickness. I don’t know if it was coincidence because it had basically run its course, or what, but after downing several packets on Friday and Saturday I was definitely feeling MUCH better. I still have a nice, phlegmy sounding cough (which means everyone gives me a wide berth at work) but I’m not having to lay down after I unload the dishwasher.<br /><br />Saturday was pretty cold, but we bundled up and headed to Umstead for a run (jog). Marty did 10 miles and I just went out and back easy for a total of almost 50 min. It snowed on the way back in! Nothing stuck but it was pretty running through all the falling snowflakes. There weren’t a whole lot of people out there, but of the people I saw I knew about 75% of them (Paul, Barbara, Tom, Alicia, Katie) and it’s always nice seeing familiar faces. Tassie came with us and went with me when I turned around and Marty kept going. For the next 10 min or so, she was completely paranoid and kept turning around and wanting to go back to Marty and check on him. She’s so loyal :) But she almost made me fall on my face several times.<br /><br />That night we met the <a href="http://www.deltatriathlon.com/">IOS-Delta Triathlon club </a>downtown at Rum Runners (loud dueling piano bar) and then to Tir Na Nog to give our ears a rest. I didn’t go to sleep until midnight which is way late for me now. It totally sucks that no matter what time I go to bed I can’t seem to sleep past 7:30. Is this because I’m getting old? I remember adults saying things like this when I was younger and I would think, “What the heck? I can sleep until late in the morning NO PROBLEM!!”<br /><br />We actually saw the sun on Sunday! Still chilly, but nice and sunny for a mountain bike ride at Umstead. Then off to a superbowl party. It was a really great weekend.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-4525562558848765553?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-57713663195692857932010-02-04T09:22:00.002-05:002010-02-04T09:27:45.934-05:00Like Brian Wilson DidThis is going to be a bunch of whining, so stop reading if you don’t want to hear it. I guess I’ve been sick – something has definitely been wrong. It started Saturday night. I could tell I wasn’t totally feeling myself and then Sunday I rode the trainer easy while watching Food, Inc (and now I have no idea what the heck I’m supposed to eat, but that’s a different topic). Afterwards I was SO TIRED. Like ridiculously tired for riding easy. I went to bed early that night and planned on swimming Monday morning.<br /><br />The pool was closed that morning because they shut the whole state down when it snows. Instead I went for a very slow and painful 30min run. Then I laid on the floor for 15min immediately after.<br /><br />Tuesday I ran on the treadmill after work and my mph was pitiful. I hopped on the trainer when I got home but only made it 30min before I thought I was going to die. Planned on swimming on Wednesday morning.<br /><br />That didn’t happen so I decided when I got home from work I would run then swim with Master’s that night. On the drive home from work I was feeling AWFUL. Stomach cramping, dizzy, achy, the whole works (I didn’t say anything on the phone with you, mom, because it just kind of hit me right then). I came home and immediately got into bed, which is where I spent the rest of the evening.<br /><br />I think I may have had a fever, although we don’t have a thermometer. But I had on sweats and a hoodie, was underneath two comforters and didn’t have the fan on and I was still freezing. I ended getting 9+ hours of sleep again last night, and when Marty asked me how I felt I said, “would you believe I’m still tired?”<br /><br />Today I actually feel a bit better (fingers crossed), but I did tell Marty that I wasn’t going to be able to do any triathlons this year because I’ve barely gotten any training in the past 3 weeks and I’m a bit prone to overreaction.<br /><br />But yeah, I do feel like I’m starting off from square 1. Or more like square -10. I took some time after the Disney half, then screwed up my hip for a week and now this. Think they’ll let me race Novice? (see, overreacting, I know).<br /><br />Marty put this picture up on his blog so I’ll end with this because I like it and it’s pretty. That’s me riding in Wyoming in the summer of 2006. On the same aluminum bike that I still ride. Figured I get in just a little bit more whining :)<br /><br /><div></div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/wyoming-710260.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-5771366319569285793?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-28246261553906905912010-01-30T11:10:00.002-05:002010-01-30T16:54:24.636-05:00ImprovisingYeah, we totally went sledding on a pizza pan.<br /><br /><br /><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOG_video_class" id="BLOG_video-d2d8e4254adc783b" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" 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src="http://www.blogger.com/img/videoplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fv22.nonxt8.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3D65f5a427fb4246e4%26itag%3D5%26begin%3D0%26len%3D86400000%26app%3Dblogger%26et%3Dplay%26el%3DEMBEDDED%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1272997766%26sparams%3Did%252Citag%252Cip%252Cipbits%252Cexpire%26signature%3D485F6CF6D08F27ECE9F030D0B443D1A10339A2A7.6D898686CA5174BAEB090DCBCA4E7BA54334F4E9%26key%3Dck1&thumbnailUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2FThumbnailServer2%3Fapp%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D65f5a427fb4246e4%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw320%26sigh%3DK2ABHLuwPCsVSx7NAEjwzYZrrvY&messagesUrl=video.google.com%2FFlashUiStrings.xlb%3Fframe%3Dflashstrings%26hl%3Den&nogvlm=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-2824626155390690591?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-69453731217098500652010-01-29T11:09:00.002-05:002010-01-29T11:18:34.156-05:00Become a Fan!This is a rather trivial thing to blog about, what with a lot more important things happening in the world, but the topic was sparked while I was working (read: perusing the internet). Haha! Just kidding! I would never peruse the internet at work - that's just a joke. A jokey joke. Funny Bri.<br /><br /><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 223px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/ecardfb-728634.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p>That card's little statement happens to me a lot. People send me suggestions to become a 'fan' of something, or send me a group invitation on Facebook. 75% of the time I don't even know what it is. I mean it's cool and all to suggest things, but if it's a bit obscure, could you activate my decoder ring? And if you want me to become a fan of something that sponsors you - yeah, send me some sort of freebie and THEN I'll become a fan.</p><p>Oooooh, cynical and jaded Bri has made an appearance. </p><p>And now back to your regular scheduled program...</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-6945373121709850065?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-41823364271414410872010-01-27T13:25:00.000-05:002010-01-27T13:26:24.737-05:00Back to the Track - OopsyWe almost made it back to the track last night. We had good intentions and we were in the car heading to North Raleigh – I was on the phone with my sister so wasn’t really paying attention when Marty missed the exit. Yeah, we’ve been to this track before. Like a lot. But Marty happens to be the most directionally challenged person you will probably ever meet. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m not exactly stellar either, but I’m a wee bit better than he is. Anyways, missing the exit wouldn’t be such a big problem except that the next chance we had to turn around would have put us in a snarl of rush hour traffic, which would’ve made our arrival to the track at least 30 min late. It was very quickly decided that it wasn’t worth it, and we headed to one of the entrances of Umstead for a short run in the semi-darkness. Marty ended up running home so he got a bit of a long run in, but mine was only worth about 30 min. I felt pretty good and didn’t have any hip pain, and possibly doing a track workout might not have been a good idea anyways (even though I wasn’t going to run hard).<br /><br />Next week we’ll try again!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-4182336427141441087?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-82646947370999792582010-01-25T09:46:00.002-05:002010-01-25T09:55:17.192-05:00Past WeekendI didn't run at all this past week. I did a number on my hip/glute/IT band after that long run last Sunday (I'm not really sure what was inflamed but it was in that general area). I feel like I'm pretty good at knowing my body and I have no problem backing off if the need arises (and the need had arisen!). So no running, but lots of foam rolling and ibuprofen. I did swim 3 times and rode easy on the trainer without any pain, just a little tightness. I gave it a test run Friday after work and it seemed much better - but I still gave it a rest over the weekend.<br /><br />Saturday was a gorgeous day even though it started off a bit chilly. By the time we got going on our ride it was in the mid-40's but with bright sunshine. We went a little over 2 hours and although I felt fine, I am still woefully out of shape on my bike. I need to get that back in gear pronto.<br /><br />The rest of the day was spent tying up loose ends for the clinic we were running in Huntersville, NC on Sunday. It's about a 2.5hr drive away so we had to leave the house earlier than you want to on a non-race weekend, but the clinic was great. It sold out and everyone seemed to get a lot out of the information we provided. Well, honestly, it was mostly information provided by Marty and Kathy Goody. I had it easy this time and just demonstrated the swim drills and answered questions when they arose. The HFFA center is super nice.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-8264694737099979258?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-65249974084974059422010-01-22T20:23:00.003-05:002010-01-22T20:39:49.491-05:00In a RutI don't know, I guess I have bloggers-block. Nothing seems very interesting for me to write about. So I figured posting pictures is an easy fix. From the Disney Half.<br /><br />This is at Cinderella's castle - probably would've been a nice shot if it wasn't PITCH DARK! All of my pictures look like it's the middle of the night. I know we started early, but I think the later ones have more to do with the fact that it was so cloudy and rainy. I think it should've at least been dawn when I was towards the end. Anyways, the guy behind me was my wind blocker for a few miles. Obviously, this is before I ditched my last piece of clothing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/castle-735518.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 386px;" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/castle-735517.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Not sure when this one was, but I sure look happy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/close-761050.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 257px; height: 385px;" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/close-761048.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I was trying to sprint to the line here. Note the wheelchair behind me - I totally don't remember him at all. I hope I didn't do anything rude and cut him off on those last screwy corners.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/sprint-757578.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 257px; height: 386px;" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/sprint-757576.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And the finish. Commence all muscle lockup and freezing limbs in T minus 8 seconds.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/finish-742214.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 384px;" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/finish-742212.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Of course, this was Disney so they did some ridiculous pre-race music and speech show with the characters dancing around and waving to all of us standing at the start freezing. Mickey's voice is really creepy in general, but right before a race in the early morning, it's even creepier. I put this up here because I had an excellent spot to watch all this nonsense (similar to this picture, actually). If only I could get a spot like this to watch the Foo Fighters instead.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/mickey-720326.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 356px; height: 255px;" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/mickey-720324.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-6524997408497405942?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-74648759579339414702010-01-17T15:21:00.002-05:002010-01-17T15:32:29.122-05:00Week in ReviewThis week was pretty uneventful. I was sore, I got a massage, I was sore, etc. The weather has turned really nice so we got to ride outside yesterday. I think it was the first time on my tri bike outside in a couple of months. I've been on the mountain bike a couple of times, but nothing very long. But now it's time to get back on the bike.<br /><br />We had a Master's swimming social on Friday and that was a lot of fun. You don't always get a whole lot of conversation at morning practice so it was nice to hang out with everyone. The one guy looked at me and another girl and exclaimed, "Wow, you guys have long hair!" Another guy joked that he almost showed up in his jammers but his wife stopped him.<br /><br />Last night we went to Tassie's best friend's mom's wedding. Cider occasionally makes an appearance on our blog and she's here with us for the week while Kristy and her new husband honeymoon in Cancun. The wedding was nice and the reception was really nice (in the Pavilion at The Angus Barn).<br /><br />And today I ran with Kari at Umstead. I was supposed to run around 1:20, and she was supposed to run like 1:30 or a bit longer. Well, one bad decision later and we ended up with 1:50. I'm sore all over again!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-7464875957933941470?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-2918203075277661012010-01-12T16:00:00.002-05:002010-01-12T16:02:55.424-05:00Too QuietIt's been awfully quiet here in the Gaal house since I've been back. I miss Marty's inane banter and Tassie's paws click-clacking on the wood floors. But no worries - they are on their way back home right now!<br /><br /><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/marty-and-tassie-794972.jpg" border="0" /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-291820307527766101?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1359309641017882213.post-36004294327250741082010-01-11T12:50:00.004-05:002010-01-11T13:01:02.103-05:00Disney Half Marathon Race ReportIf you don’t want to read the details, here’s the result.<br /><br />Total time: 1:25:52<br />10th overall female<br />3rd in age group<br />1st 5K: 20:30 (6:36 pace)<br />2nd 5K: 20:25 (6:34 pace)<br />3rd 5K: 20:11 (6:30 pace)<br />Last 3.8 miles (6:31 pace)<br /><br />I flew down to Orlando on Wednesday evening and Marty picked me up at the airport (he had driven down). We made our way over to Kissimmee which is where our condo was; we were staying with our Aussie friends, John and Bron – we hadn’t seen them in over 2 years! It was so great to spend several days with them. They were also doing the half marathon and were the reason why I decided to sign up (I got a lot of “why in the world are you doing DISNEY?!” from our friends in Orlando. Although it's a huge race, it’s not popular with the locals because of the logistics and expense).<br /><br />As my last post stated, the weather forecast was absolute crap, and in fact it didn’t even get out of the 30’s over the weekend down there. To be completely honest, though, I wasn’t super worried about the weather during the race. It was the before and after that I knew would be brutal, but once you’re racing it’s not typically a big deal. And I’ve run in pretty crappy weather before and have had some good races in it. The only thing that was bumming me out a bit was that I really wanted to get a good time. Usually when the weather is bad you can say, ‘oh well, it’s bad for everyone’ but I could care less about everyone, I was concerned about the clock! And no matter what, rain/sleet and cold certainly don’t make you go any faster. But, whatever, right?<br /><br />We had some fun prerace – watched the BCS Bowl Game at BW3’s with everyone, and had a pasta dinner at our condo on Friday night. The alarm went off at 2:55 am on Saturday morning. Yeah.<br /><br />We all piled into John and Bron’s rented minivan and got an excellent parking spot. We hung out staying warm in there for awhile before I ventured out to drop off my bag and use the bathroom. It was cold, but what really got me was the wind. Back to the now fogged up van for some more warmth, another bathroom break in much longer lines with Bron before some more warmth in the van. While in the port-o-potty lines it started to SNOW. No lie. It apparently hadn’t snow flurried in Orlando since 1989.<br /><br />Thankfully, Bron had bought us all poncho’s from a tacky tourist shop the day before and I put my on as the flurries turned into a light rain. Marty and another friend Chris walked/jogged with the mass of humanity to the start line (about 20min away). Along the way, I did one final bathroom break in the woods with several other people (it was dark). I was thankful that I had on 2 pairs of WalMart gloves as only 1.5 pairs made it out the woods :) I made it to my corral and gave Marty a quick kiss goodbye. I was in the elite wave, but it was still quite crowded so I wasn’t right at the starting line or anything. Here’s a picture of the start – I circled and pointed out myself (kind of towards the right side).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/disney-start-764532.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.martygaal.com/briblog/uploaded_images/disney-start-764529.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />So standing in the corral, I had on my eventual race outfit (shorty tights, under armor sleeveless top). I also had on a throw away cotton long sleeve shirt, and throw away sweatpants and sweatshirt. And the poncho. Plus a throw away hoodie and 1.5 pairs of gloves. The poncho and sweats were shed about 5 min before the start. The hoodie was thrown off at around mile 2, the one extra glove at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, and the final cotton long sleeve was left around the half way point. I wasn’t exactly hot but getting rid of it felt like, “Okay, the gloves are off! Let’s do this!” I wasn’t cold for the rest of the race, but about 1min after crossing the line I was freezing.<br /><br />The one thing I was most worried about was starting off too fast. I knew I needed to hold 6:38’s to run a 1:27, but I ended up being a little too conservative the first mile and came through in 6:47. I know it’s not too much off, but you don’t want to start in the hole right off the bat! I really should’ve been clued in by the fact that there was someone dressed up as Snow White running right with me – she was even wearing a wig. Thankfully, I picked it up a bit, got back on pace, and dropped Snow White.<br /><br />After 3 miles (I think, I can’t really remember all these details totally), we turned and headed straight for the Magic Kingdom. Nothing says the happiest place on earth like getting pelted in the face with sleet. I found a pretty big dude and tucked right in behind him – I mean RIGHT in behind him. I doubt he even knew I was there. He was slowing a bit but the wind was pretty strong at this point and I figured it would be better to run a little slower and not fight it. I would’ve thanked him afterwards but I got ahead of him in Tomorrowland. But I truly appreciate his wind-blocking body :) At one point we turned out of the wind, and I was running next to him, but then we turned back into the wind so I went to go run behind him again, only to find someone took my spot! I said this out loud and the guy dropped back and let me in! How nice was that?!<br /><br />Running through the Magic Kingdom was pretty neat, but it was over very fast. Pretty much you ran 6.5 miles to the park, ran around it for a couple of minutes, and ran 6.5 miles back to Epcot. The volunteers were great, but I think we all thought we’d get a little more Disney at this race and not so much regular road.<br /><br />Back to the race. I felt good, I was able to hold it together and stay strong and even negative split the thing. I knew I was back on goal pace by the second mile and then just started adding :38 to what I should be at, and I was under each time – and that was growing pretty much every mile to the point where I was like :45 under where I should’ve been at that point (this was probably around mile 8 or 9). But then I convinced myself that I was not in fact under pace, but just slightly over pace, because I was off at the beginning. I don’t know why your mind gets dumb in these longer races (or maybe it’s just me) but it wasn’t until mile 12 where the math is easy that I realized I was under pace! And wait a minute, maybe I can break 1:26?<br /><br />The last little part through Epcot was annoying as hell – too turny too close to the finish. The last couple of miles I could definitely feel my hips and calves tightening up quite a bit, but nothing I couldn’t deal with right then. I hit the 13 mile mark and saw it was already well into 1:25…..and now we sprint. I know I looked really gross that last .1 but I really, really wanted to get under 1:26 now. The overall clock time was going to be close, but I knew I had some breathing room because of where I started. In the end it turned out to be a :10 difference so my real time was 1:25:52.<br /><br />I finished and immediately could barely walk. How you can go from running 6:30 miles to immediately not being able to walk is beyond me. They wrapped me up in a mylar blanket and like I said earlier, I was freezing right away. Marty met me as I was walking out of the finish chute and he had a big smile on his face, “Bri! 1:25?!” My initial reactions upon finishing are not always the best. This was my response: “Yeah. I’m happy. Uh…that was long. And kind of hard. I don’t know about this Triple T thing.” He just laughed and said we hadn’t signed up yet.<br /><br />I made my way (very slowly) to get my bag, take a really gross finish picture and then back to the warm van. No cooling down after this one.<br /><br />The rest of the day was lots of fun – went to see the in-laws and their very cute daughter, met up at a bar with a bunch of former FSU swimmers on I-drive, then over to our friend Dan’s house for a little get together. We got to catch up with several of our friends that all used to be in the running group down there – dang those people can make me laugh. I have to say, I definitely felt validated with my race when Dan told me I did really good. Coming from him made it seem real.<br /><br />Okay, tired of typing.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1359309641017882213-3600429432725074108?l=www.martygaal.com%2Fbriblog%2Fdefault.html' alt='' /></div>BriGaalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351364023978308724noreply@blogger.com9