Name: Lauren
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Bio: Wife. Web Developer. Kitty Momma. Runner. Singer. Triathlete. Shoe Collector. Blogger.
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the new ‘do
January 22nd, 2012It’s gone. No regrets!
Before:
And after:
 Blown straight by my stylist |
 Air dried, as it will be most of the time. |
It’s been a long time since I’ve had it so short, but I like it. Still playing around with workout options. I think I may start wearing tiny pigtails!
hair today, gone tomorrow!
January 20th, 2012In most of my adult life, I’ve kept my hair layered, usually shoulder length or a few inches longer.
Hubby and I at a friend’s wedding, summer 2007
Usually I’d let it grow for a few haircuts, just trimming up the layers … and then I’d cut it back to shoulder length. Repeat.
But about a year or so, I’d let my time between haircuts go a bit longer than my usual 3-4 months, and likewise, my hair started to get long. I was enjoying it, though, and figured I might as well have long hair one more time before I deem myself too old for long hair!
The last time my hair was really long was my freshman year of college.
Why yes, that is the same guy from above!
Shortly after this photo was taken, I chopped it into a bob. Talk about drastic!
Well, I’m about to do it again. This is pretty close to what it looks like now. The photo is from November, so it’s probably even a little bit longer.
I’m glad I learned to French braid my own hair when I was a kid, it’s been the best way to keep it out of my way when working out. It’s been fun, but it’s starting to get annoying. I’m ready to let it go.
When I decided to grow my hair out, I knew I would chop it all when it got long enough.
I’m going to donate it.
I haven’t decided where I’ll send it yet. I know about Locks of Love and Pantene Beautiful Lengths. Any others I should look into?
I’ve got a haircut scheduled for tomorrow. I may wind up having to cut it a little shorter than I want to make sure my donation is long enough … but it’s just hair, right?
It’ll grow back!
race (and vacation!) report: disney marathon relay
January 12th, 2012I just got back from six days in Disney World. Always a fun time!
This trip marks my third time traveling for Disney races — the Princess Half in 2009 and the Goofy Challenge in 2010. My Goofy Challenge partner joined me again to run the inaugural Marathon Relay this year. After two marathons and a 50K this fall, I was happy to “only” be doing a half marathon this trip.
We arrived in Orlando on Friday morning and got the (very crowded) expo taken care of. We were disappointed that there was no merchandise for the relay! Sure, it was smaller than the other races (we heard only about 1,000 teams were registered), but nothing? I would have liked a wine glass to go with the one I purchased for the marathon in 2010!
Friday night we hopped on a ferry boat from our resort to Downtown Disney, where we’d be meeting some bloggers/Tweeters at a meetup organized by Katy (the singing runner). Aside from my relay teammate, Katy was the only one I “knew” in our small gathering (originally planned for 14, we wound up with 7), but it was a lot of fun meeting new people!
We were exhausted after our day of travel, but still wanted to play and headed into the Magic Kingdom after dinner for a quick visit. Gotta squeeze in as many rides on Space Mountain as possible. It was lovely seeing the castle all lit up, but it’s January, Disney. Enough with the Christmas decorations and music!
We slept in a little on Saturday to recover from a busy day, and headed into Hollywood Studios. A somewhat smaller park, we were hoping not to wear ourselves out too much the day before our race. Plus we had an early (3:45pm!) dinner at the Italian restaurant there. Love my pre-race carbs. I couldn’t get a later dinner reservation, but it worked well. We were back to the hotel and asleep before 9pm.
With Disney races come early wake-up calls. Since we have to be on a bus by 4am, we were up at 2:30 to make sure we had time to get ready and eat breakfast without cutting it too close. I was happy for weather in the 50s at the start — chilly, but a big improvement from the below-freezing weather we had in 2010!
The lines for the port-o-pots seemed longer than they were last time around, but perhaps I waited to long. And then the walk to the start seemed more crowded and slower-moving. But that could be because I headed over later, since I was stuck in line for the bathroom. It wasn’t a bad wait, though, once I finally made it up to my corral!
Since I put in a half marathon time for placement among mostly full marathoners, I was a lot closer to the front than I otherwise would have been. Corral B! It was nice starting early. I was worried I might be too slow for this corral, but it was perfect. My pace fell right in with the crowd.
I’m still on a quest for a sub 2-hour half marathon … but I didn’t think Disney was the place for it. I haven’t been doing speedwork, but I did have a couple of good, fast 15Ks last month that made me think I might be able to do it. However, I could tell race day it wasn’t going to happen. I kept settling into a 9:30 pace, and I was OK with that. I wanted to be comfortable and enjoy myself!
As a marathoner, I felt a little lame just doing half the race. But I’ve done the whole thing here before… and it was pretty awesome knowing I was almost done once we got out of the Magic Kingdom. (Sorry full marathoners!)
My finish time was 2:04:08. That clocks in as my third-fastest half marathon, and my best time since 2010. Not bad!
Once I finished I grabbed some food and took a shuttle back to the marathon finish area to wait for my relay partner. I wandered around, sat in the sun, and watched the awards presentation. A little lonely, but it was still fun!
(outtake here!)
We didn’t leave until Wednesday afternoon, giving us plenty of time to play. I’m not sure when I’ll be back again, but I think I got my Disney fix for a while!
new year, new blog!
January 1st, 2012OK, it’s just a new name. And a new design. But everything else is the same!
I’ve been planning to make this change for a while now, and what better time than now?
Years ago, when I first started blogging at merrymishaps.com, I didn’t really know what I was getting into. I had actually purchased the domain thinking I’d use it for web development projects, but it kind of took off in another direction.
Over the years, I’ve morphed from a general/life blogger to a running/fitness blogger. Well, most of the time.
I’ll still jump in from time to time with cat photos, travel posts and whatever else inspires me. I didn’t want to stop doing that, and I didn’t want to pick a new blog name that would make me feel I have to stay on topic.
Mostly I run.
Yeah, that works.
holiday running
December 28th, 2011My husband and I are both from New York, with most of our family still living in our home towns. But New York is a very large state. My parents’ Long Island town is about 400 miles from my in-laws’ homes in Western NY!
So, like many couples, we have to alternate who we visit for the holidays. This year we headed to what is normally snowy Rochester.
I was happy that there was no snow, and the forecast was looking pretty clear. I’d be able to go running!
We arrived on Thursday afternoon and spent the night at my father-in-law’s house. He and his wife live quite close to the Irondequoit Zoo, where I’d run on some pathways during a previous visit. But I don’t know how I missed the pedestrian bridge across the river that led to miles of trails!
I was happy to find an official trail!
I started just across the river from #9 (the star), and ran north to #5.
It seemed a bit rainy in the morning, but it was nothing more than a misty drizzle when I headed out that quickly turned to light flurries. Beautiful! And it wasn’t even that cold out — a balmy 35F.
I wasn’t running fast, but I was having a great time. When I hit the base of a loop, it was right around the halfway point for my 8-mile goal, so I headed back.
At the half-way point
I saw another runner along this boardwalk path and wanted to see where it went, but knew I should head back. Even though I told them I’d be gone awhile and they should eat breakfast, I knew they were waiting for me!
Maybe next time ...
That afternoon we headed over to my mother-in-law’s house to spend Friday and Christmas Eve (we’d be back to FIL’s on Christmas day. Our schedule was a little weird to make sure we split time evenly!). We had breakfast plans our first morning there, but I still had time to run! My mother-in-law’s neighborhood isn’t nearly as scenic — just houses! At least they had flat, wide sidewalks.
It was colder (23F!), and a dusting of snow had fallen the night before. Just enough to hide any icy spots on the sidewalk. Well, that was a REALLY slow run as I took care to keep my balance. I skidded a few times but managed to stay upright. I was glad I got some distance the day before, and just wanted a few miles.
I figured with our last day Christmas, and a long drive home the day after, that would be it for running, so that’s all I packed for. I relaxed and enjoyed time with family for the rest of our visit.
Hope you all had a great holiday! Did you keep active?
race report: marine corps marathon
November 26th, 2011Well, the race was a month ago. Oops. But I couldn’t skip the write-up!
The Marine Corps Marathon was only 15days after the Baltimore Marathon — my first time doing two marathons so close together! I’m happy with how I felt and ran on race day.
It was a very chilly morning — in the low to mid 30s in the pre-dawn hours. Since we were taking Metro to the start line and had a ways to go, we gave ourselves a lot of travel time. So of course we were in the start line area with two hours to spare.
I was glad I met up with some friends at the train, it would have been lonely passing all that time by myself! Well, at least we got there before there were lines at the port-o-potties. And in fact, I got to break in a pristine facility. Once we were all set (for the time being), we huddled under a tent to try to stay a little warm as we waited.
Thankfully time seems to pass quickly. I ate my peanut butter sandwich. We made another trip to the port-o-pots. And then it was time to head to the start corrals!
It was my second MCM, and the second time I wound up on the wrong side of the fence while trying to seed myself. Maybe next time I’ll figure it out! We squeezed in as soon as we found a spot in a reasonable pace group. I knew I wasn’t going for last year’s speed, and lined up with my friends. We were different paces and split up within the first mile, but it was nice to start together.
I was trying to do a better job pacing myself than I did in Baltimore — where I tried to be slower in the first half, but was still probably running too hard, which made for a pretty miserable second half. I was barely looking at my pace at all during Marine Corps — I was focusing more on keeping my heart rate low. A new strategy for me, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t pushing too hard!
I was hoping I’d be able to pick it up in the last 10K rather than fall apart.
And, well, it sort of worked.
Unlike Baltimore, where my walk breaks kept getting longer and more frequent, I kept them quick — just at the water stops – and I resumed running soon after. I also felt good later in the race. I remember hating mile 17-18 in MCM last year (and in Baltimore it started around 16!), but I was still a happy runner this time around. I did stop briefly to stretch my hip, but got back on the road feeling OK pretty quickly.
This year, though, the bridge seemed a lot more awful than last year. Yeah, I did kind of hate the bridge this time around. But I felt better as we headed into Crystal City.
I willed my legs to move faster, and occasionally I’d glance down at my watch and my current pace *was* faster. But it seems I wasn’t holding it long enough to make a difference in my mile splits. Oh well.
Once again I was thankful for my Strider friends for being out there with gummy bears (and hugs). Helps that they were around mile 23, so it meant I was almost done!
Those last few miles weren’t too bad, and I even managed to pick it up a little bit for the last two. My last half mile (yikes! I tracked 26.51) wasn’t the sprint I can usually manage at the end … but I guess I probably was a little tired after a second marathon.
Overall time was 3:14 slower than Baltimore … but I was 5:26 slower than Baltimore at the halfway point. Still not the negative splits I wished I could do, but at least I didn’t fall apart as badly!
| Baltimore | MCM | |
| First Half | 2:15:57 | 2:21:23 |
| Second Half | 2:28:08 | 2:25:56 |
| Total | 4:44:05 | 4:47:19 |
The crowd at the finish was a lot worse than last year. Maybe because I was 25 minutes slower this year? I almost couldn’t hit the second mat due to a wall of people. And then it took forever to weave through the crowd to pick up food and get to the finish area.
I still love this race. I plan to be back in 2012!
Chip Time: 4:47:19
Overall Place: 11770 / 21023
Gender Place: 3916 / 8596
Division Place : 631 / 1309
race report: potomac heritage trail 50K
November 14th, 2011Yesterday I took on what is probably the most difficult challenge I’ve ever put my body through. There were times when I wanted to quit. There’s no shame — plenty of people cut the mileage short, and this low-key event doesn’t even record DNFs. They record how many miles you completed.
But I’m stubborn. And in the times when quitting was possibly an option, the thought ran through my head that if I didn’t finish the distance, then I would have to try again. And if I kept going, well, this could be my one and only ultramarathon.
I know at least during the first 10 miles as we ran from DC into Virginia, when I was still hanging with a nice woman experienced with this trail, there were people behind us. And while she charged forward when we hit the first rocky portions that slowed me down — trail inexperience plus the extra caution I was using — nobody passed me. Well, except for one woman who got lost and ran four extra miles by the time she passed me.
By the time we got to a short out-and-back portion that checked in at the same aid station around miles 17 and 20, I knew there was nobody else behind me. I saw all the other runners already on their way back.
I was alone. I was dead last. And I didn’t care.
My legs were aching, and I was barely running. The downhills started to hurt my knees, and the uphills just hurt everything. I would attempt to run whenever it was flat — but it was typically short-lived until I got to a stream crossing or rocky trail.
Most of my (limited) trail training was on fairly runnable trails. The only streams I’d crossed were so small you could probably jump over them. I didn’t know that much about this trail, but had seen some pictures of stream crossings and rocky terrain. I knew this was going to be a challenge, but I wasn’t prepared for how difficult this course was going to be!
Midway through probably the biggest climb of the course. I had been running along the river. Oh, and there used to be a handrail, but the boulder it was attached to collapsed in the earthquake.
I do think I got lucky — one picture from last year showed people actually wading in the water. We must have had more rain last year. I was happy there were always enough rocks to cross, and I only got my feet wet a tiny bit.
I did almost fall in a stream around mile 24, but since I caught myself, I find it funny.
Just after that crossing, I hit the last aid station. They cheered for me and offered me a ride if I wanted to call it quits. At the pace I was going, I risked not finishing before it got dark. One volunteer asked if I had a flashlight. I didn’t, just my phone’s flashlight app, assuming the battery didn’t die searching for signal in the woods.
There was no way I was going to get that close and quit. After a quarter of a PB&J sandwich and some peanut M&Ms, I continued on the course and hoped for the best.
After crossing Chain Bridge, I was able to run for a bit along the canal, until I got back into the woods and had a few more rocks to climb. The trails in DC are a little easier, though. While I was still walking a lot I attempted running more frequently. Still very slowly. But mentally, I was feeling better. I was in the home stretch.
It was starting to get darker, but there was enough light to see the chalk markings to find my way back. I was glad there were still people walking the trails, it might have been a little scary to be in the woods alone at dusk.
The last mile was in the street, so I didn’t have to worry about darkness anymore.
I made it.
Nine hours and six minutes later, I am an ultramarathoner.
race report: baltimore marathon
October 17th, 2011It was a beautiful, slightly-breezy morning in Baltimore on Saturday morning. I took the light rail train into the city, arriving about an hour before the start of the Baltimore Marathon.
I was surprised to find no lines at the port-o-pots. Excellent! I wandered around, chatted with runners, and made use of the facilities again (no lines at all!) before it was time to walk over to the start. I ran into a friend and we chatted as we made our way to the start line on the other side of Camden Yards, but we were running different paces. Once we started running, I was on my own.
I know I said I was going to take it easy during this marathon. And for the most part, I did. I was quite a bit faster in the first half, but I never felt like I was pushing too hard — I just felt good! As we ran my pace matched up with a college student running not just her first marathon, but her first race! We stuck together for a few miles and she was doing great.
Around mile four, we ran through the zoo. Zoo staff brought out animals so that was cool — I loved seeing a penguin and alligator along the course!
I know you’re never supposed to do anything new during a race … but when they had Dunkin Donuts munchkins at one of the water stops after the zoo, I had to grab a couple. Yum!
Though maybe they didn’t agree with me. I got a side-stitch during a rare downhill stretch around mile six or seven that I had to walk through. Someone asked me if I was OK even though I had only been walking a few seconds — I’m sure it was because he was wondering why anybody would ever walk DOWN a hill on this course! While I hated having to stop, it didn’t seem to hurt my pace much. I recovered and was able to resume running.
Around mile 12, there was a woman in the crowd cheering how great we were doing … and that we were almost done. Huh? Some of the other runners and I yelled back, “No we’re not!” There was another spot on the course where a man was encouraging his toddlers to shout how we were almost done. Also not true. Just cheer us on and tell us we look awesome!
I hit the half marathon split just under 2:16. While not on pace with my PR (that I wasn’t going for, anyway), it was definitely faster than I expected to go. Sure, my ‘A’ goal was a finish in the 4:30s … but I that would not fit with my ‘run easy’ approach. I didn’t have to consciously slow my pace. The was starting to get harder as we approached the halfway point.
I carried my water bottle, but was sticking to my plan to walk through the waterstops, grabbing Gatorade along the way. So by mile 15, when I noticed just a short line at the port-o-pots, I mad a pit stop.
Even before that stop, my pace was slowing down. Between the hills and the concrete streets, my body was aching. It was especially rough when the full and half marathoners merged.
The Baltimore Marathon is organized so that full and half marathoners finish together. The full marathon starts at 8am, and the half starts at 9:45. The courses are separate for the first three mile of the half marathon, and then they merge and run together to the finish from around mile 16 of the full marathon course.
For faster runners, they were being passed by half runners on fresh legs. But my pace group matched up with the the half marathon walkers. I was aching and desperately wanted to just start walking … and here were all these people walking around me. It was discouraging.
I managed to keep moving, though there was definitely a lot of energy wasted passing all of the walkers. Whenever I walk in races, I make sure I’m on the right or left side of the road so runners can get through … but it seems the straight walkers don’t practice the same etiquette.
So … I was tired and aching. My pace slowed so much during the 18-24 mile stretch that I’m sure my water-stop walk breaks got longer, and I added a few extra walks. This course is pretty challenging, and I was definitely feeling it!
I managed to pick up the pace a tiny bit for mile 25. As I was approaching mile 26, a wave of emotion passed over me and I got a little teary. This was my fourth marathon, but its power has not worn off yet.
Mile 26 was almost back up to my earlier pace. And for the final push (.39 on my Garmin) I was at my 5K-pace. For the last three minutes, I no longer felt any aches and pains. I was passing people left and right, and it felt amazing!
Chip Time: 4:44:05
Overall Place: 1976 / 3207
Gender Place: 657 / 1192
Division Place : 90 / 167
My ‘B’ goal was to come in under five hours. And I actually really wanted it to be at or under 4:45.
I’ll call this a success!
racing
October 14th, 2011Wow. Where have I been?
I think it’s no coincidence that I stopped blogging after my office moved. With a longer commute, I have to leave significantly earlier in the morning. Which means I have to go to sleep earlier at night. There goes my computer time!
I ran a bunch of races in September that I wanted to write about. How my relaxed pace at the Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon was so much more comfortable and fun than my just-failed attempt to go sub-two hours last year. How my first trail half marathon was A LOT harder than I expected, and I was actually happy with my 2:50 finish. How fun it was to race and party in Nashville at the Women’s Half Marathon.
But I probably won’t get around to that.
Instead, I wanted to write about my marathon goals. Because holy cow, I’m running a marathon tomorrow!
A few months back I wasn’t sure the Baltimore Marathon was going to happen for me. But my foot got better, and I pretty much caught up with training. Only one 20-miler and not as many as I would like in the 15 – 18 range, but I should be fine.
I’ve got the Marine Corps Marathon in two weeks, so I’m not planning on running too hard tomorrow. If I happen to feel comfortable at a fast pace, well that would be fabulous! But I’ll be taking walk breaks — definitely through all of the water stops, and possibly up hills.
I won’t go so far as to blog or tweet during the race … that’s too distracting. But I want to have a fun race tomorrow, where I don’t stress out about my pace. I’ll wear my Garmin, but I don’t have strict time goals.
I’m not planning on chasing last year’s 4:22:22 PR that blew my mind. If I can get in the 4:30 range, that would be awesome … but really, anything under five hours would be great too.
And if not, whatever. As long as I finish smiling!
Approaching the finish ... RnR Va Beach 2011
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race report: iron girl triathlon
August 26th, 2011On Sunday I completed my fourth Iron Girl triathlon in Columbia, MD. It was a great time as always, and I think I had even more fun this time around!
I haven’t been too good about training updates this summer (or blogging in general, oops!), but once again I trained with a women’s triathlon group through the rec center. And actually, I’ve been signing up for their training sessions since the winter. It’s been working with coaches and training with a great group of women!
I took my swimming up a notch this summer, too. One of my triathlon coaches also taught a beginning masters swim class that met twice a week … at 6 a.m. Well, I learned I actually can get myself out of bed and into a pool by 6 in the morning, and I really enjoyed it!
It made a huge difference in my Iron Girl swim this year. Between all that swimming in the pool and a few good open water swims with my triathlon group, I felt a lot more comfortable in the water this year. I was less panicked at the swim start (it’s still a little nerve-wracking!), and was able to swim freestyle most of the time. Yes, I did still revert to breast stroke a little for sighting or to get out of a crowd. But I needed it much less than usual.
And it showed — my time was about three and a half minutes faster than I’ve done on that course in the past! All three races were approximately the same, right around 30 minutes. 26:35 this year!
When I got out of the water and looked at my watch, I was shocked and ecstatic!
The feeling lasted throughout the bike course. I was so excited about my swim. And more than usual, I really enjoyed this challenging bike course. Well, except for the killer hills that I could have trained better for. (Ouch, my quads!)
In my tri class, we did do speed training on the bike, which showed me how much more I could push myself. I was more comfortable on the hills and didn’t need to brake on the downhills like I usually do. If you go by my Garmin time, my bike time was four minutes faster than last year.
(The official results are only two minutes faster … but they have my bike-to-run transition time as only 18 seconds. Yeah, that’s not right. I’m trying to get them to fix it!)
Going into the run, I felt great. I started out with a pretty quick mile — not quite my normal 5K pace, but still under nine minutes. And then the hills started, and my calves were aching. I decided to walk up a couple of hills, but I was able to recover pretty well. My run was a little slower than last year, but I beat my first two years!
Very happy with my finish!
Final time: 2:13:53 — nearly 10 and a half minutes faster than last year’s time. 94/278 in my age group, 517/1631 overall. 925 in the swim, 751 in the bike (should be a little better if they correct the time!), 303 in the run.
Yep, I’m still a runner.
While I loved this whole race, I’m happiest about the swim. Sure it’s still my weakest. I may always be slow.
But finally feeling comfortable in the open water makes me think I might be ready to tackle some longer races!
