Ellipsis

Or, the Post Series Formerly Known as Elipses. Massive public mortification, people. For all of us. You’re educated (right?). I’m educated. How is it possible that I’ve written ten “Elipses” posts over the last ten months and no one’s pointed out to me that I’ve been misspelling the damn word the entire time? It’s spelled: ee double-ell eye pee ess eye ess.

Lots of odds and ends to pull together here, I’ve been hoarding links for two weeks now… Title Nine has clearly drunk the Kool Aid as served up by the web marketing gurus, and has built a social network of sorts on its e-commerce site. I, of course, link its “Best of the Blogs” feature. Oh, and Husband already has my list for Christmas presents… For an excellent analysis of the debacle that was the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco, a philosophical chat on what constitutes an elite in any given race, and some unapologetic opinion-expressing, visit Races Like a Girl… Adam Nagourney stated the obvious in the New York Times last week, “From years of traveling around the country covering political campaigns, I have discovered that jogging can be one of the great ways to explore a city. It is a way to go sightseeing and to discover hidden paths or neighborhoods.” It took him years to discover this? In the era of MapMyRun.com and RunthePlanet.com, this article, which highlights Indianapolis (Indianapolis? WTF!), made me squirm with embarassment for Adam. But perhaps my real quibble is his liberal and clueless use of the word “jogging“… My friend and running buddy LS is racing the NYC Marathon to raise money for her passion project, the International HUG (Help Uganda Grow) Foundation. iHUG sets out to educate Ugandan children, and improve their health and standard of living through community development. To help LS improve the lives of some really cute, sweet African kids, you should CLICK HERE to donate (note “LS” in the notes/memo field). Or, visit the foundation’s site and learn how you can volunteer stateside…If you’d like to win a free copy of the most worthy film Run for Your Life, about Fred Lebow and the development of the New York City Marathon, go to this bulletin board to post your memories/thoughts/goals about the race. All entries must be posted by November 1… For those of you who enjoyed my post about the Blues Traveler concert, click here to see some photos from the show, taken by one of Husband’s friends… Everyone’s/Everything’s gotta have a blog, even the New York City Marathon. Have I jumped the shark?… Now is the moment for Liz Robbins’ book A Race Like No Other, as marathon madness heats up here in my epicenter of a city. On November 1st, she’ll be inteviewed on the NPR show “Only a Game,” and she will be appearing at various bookstores around the Tri-State and Denver areas this week and later in November. Apparently, the author’s been blogging (hm, great idea!), too. Definitely check out the review posted at 5th Sun, and you can also watch a video, embedded here for you…

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Mother’s Day Title 9k

If you are a sea-level dweller (like myself) and are going to run a race at altitude (as in, Boulder, CO altitude), you may as well chuck any plans of PR’ing and run to have fun.  Or, set more abstract goals besides pace; or, hold yourself to some other relative standard.

I managed to do all three at the Mother’s Day Title 9k this Sunday, which takes the all-female field around the Boulder Reservoir.  In the past when I’ve run this course, it’s been blisteringly hot, or exceedingly windy, both of which really suck on this open, dusty course.  This year, however, Sister-in-Law, Niece and I woke to fairy-tale conditions: a nip in the air, a sparkle in the sky, and legs as fresh as a daisy.  (Maybe it was all that piano-dragging I did as a tune-up? Ouch, that pun hurt!)

Let me say right now that I am not sentimental; nor do I really care much about tradition.  However, there’s something special about running this Mother’s Day race with my sister-in-law, my 2-year-old niece, and a competitive field made up entirely of other women.  It’s a tradition that I hope the three of us will keep as long as Title9 (the clothing company) organizes the race–I want to be able to run it with my niece until she’s strong enough to beat me one day.

My niece, who will heretofore be known as “Miss T,” is in that chatty, hyper-acquisitive stage of her language development, and therefore is a pip and a half.  Add that bubbly personality to a 9k race, and, well, let’s just say she charmed every woman we passed on the course (they didn’t even mind we were passing them).  From the starting horn, Miss T was clapping her hands and shouting “whoo hoo!” Her giggling and exclamations of “vamos vamos” and “muchas mammas” kept us moving.  This kid had so much fun (we took turns pushing her in the jog stroller), she was actually leaning forward in her seat, willing us to go faster.  She wore the tee-shirt I gave her for her birthday, which says: Girls Got Game. You Can Beat Me (In Your Dreams). Ha! Goal #1: HAVE FUN. Check!

Sister and I agreed that at the 7k mark, I’d take off and see how fast I could finish.  Usually, she beats my ass (I chalk this up to her longer legs and the fact that she lives at altitude), but this year she hadn’t had as much time to train as she’s been taking care of my newborn nephew for the past few months. Even though I finished before her, she still maintained her time from last year! Sweet. The last 2k, I concentrated on maintaining an effort level of around 95%, which meant I was probably running 9:30’s (I just couldn’t do all that conversion in my brain and keep running).  After about .5k, I realized I was passing everyone who was in front of me, and decided to have that be my goal aside from pace. I kept doing the body check, and each time came up with feeling good feeling strong I can maintain. This was a great feeling in and of itself, since the last two times I ran this race I struggled to (and pined for) the finish line. As luck would have it, I did pass every woman in front of me, even turning on a finishing kick (to which a few women responded but to no avail). This was a spindled race, so the motivation to get in front of just-one-more-woman felt much stronger to me than when I’m running against net chip times. Goal #2: ACHIEVE AN ABSTRACT GOAL. Check!

Since I was racing with my brother’s watch on my arm, you could say I was running on borrowed time, but the 56:16 net finishing time was mine-all-mine! That is my new PR for the course, by 3:07. (Even my gross time, 58:52, is a course-PR.) Goal #3: EXCEED A RELATIVE STANDARD. Check!

As soon as I gulped a cup of water, I went straight to the sidelines to cheer in the women. I cheered loudly for everyone, but when I saw Sis and Miss T, I went bonkers. They rocked that finish line, and Miss T definitely earned her High Five. A successful race, on all counts.

Let’s not forget the bonus: my little brother let me keep his watch, thus saving me from having to go buy another cheapola CVS jobbie!  Double-sweet.

Here are some other reports from the race: The Byrne Blog, How to Do It All & gaiaCreative

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