Denver Marathon Weekend

Once upon a time (last Saturday), in a land far, far away (Denver), a group of Superheros (4 bloggers, 2 kids, and 2 spouses) met for a secret (not really) rendezvous in an enchanted castle (a.k.a. the brewery). They were each armed with their favorite weapons (cameras), which they whipped out at lightening speed and fired away shot after shot (everyone had to get pics for "the blog"). Once the shots (pictures) died down, they each ordered their own favorite magical elixir (beer) and discussed a sacred battle (running).

Non-nerd translation: This weekend was the Denver Rock and Roll Half Marathon and I had the pleasure of meeting up with a group of friends to hang out and have beers. Adam and Beth's husband Ken were racing the next morning, the rest of us were either injured, pregnant, or were kids.

Adam (I Am Boring), Jill (RunWithJill), Tara (I hope you know who I am by now), Ken (SUAR's husband), Beth (Shut Up and Run).



Beer does a body good. Adam proved with his marathon PR the next day. His wife Tiffany and Sam (SUAR's son) are in the background.



Discussing Quantum Physics. Oh who are we kidding, they're talking about running.



Jill and Tara. I love my swim buddy Jill.



Beth with her family. Beer, Emma, and Sam



More blogger pictures. I know, shocking isn't it. I'm sure the other patrons of the restaurant thought we were nuts with all of our cameras.



After lunch, we wished Ken and Adam good luck on their race and parted ways. Jill and I headed over to the Denver Marathon expo, where we sat in on a little seminar on running at altitude, which featured Olympic Gold Medalist, Frank Shorter ; Olympian and Denver Half Marathon winner, Alan Culpepper and former marathon world record, Steve Jones. It was pretty interesting.



After the seminar, we did a little shopping at the expo. Here's my goods:

The shirt, bag, and hat came as a trio and was a great deal at the Run Girl Run table. I just really wanted that big pink bag. I could fit Alan Culpepper in that bag. Very roomy.



Run Girl Run socks and a RunLikeaGirl long sleeve running jersey.



My husband and I had planned on going downtown to watch the race on Sunday morning, but he woke up with a swollen, red achy arm and he went on a trip to the urgent care instead of the race. They took blood tests and are still trying to figure out what the heck is wrong.

Good job to everyone who raced this weekend!

Chicago Beer-a-thon 10-10-10

Here's me in my $140 Chicago Marathon t-shirt and my wickedly fast gold "blingie" shoes. Due to my butt injury, the shoes are just sort of idle right now, but they'll be wickedly fast one of these days.

I really don't have a butt injury, it's a little more complicated then that (my SI joint in my lower back came out and caused glute pain, which led to ITB issues), but for simplicities sake, let's just call it a butt injury shall we?

I tried to angle just right so you could see both shirt and shoes. I look like I just got done running, but since I can't run yet, I swam instead and put the outfit on to pose for you guys. You're welcome.



I went to Chicago even though I couldn't run the race. I am not going to lie and tell you that it wasn't hard to go, I didn't realize how much this race really meant to me until injury stepped in between me and my sub-4 goal. It's easy for me to say that my heart wasn't in this marathon training, but looking back, I think my heart was totally in tune, but I put so much pressure on myself to go sub-4 that I was almost scared to run the dang thing. It wasn't until after my injury that I realized how much this race signified to me. Today marks the one year anniversary of my bilateral pulmonary embolism. This race was a chance to prove to myself how far I have come since then. No worries, I'll take revenge next year.

When we arrived in Chicago Saturday morning, the 10-10-10 signs were everywhere. They were even on my L train pass. I wasn't sure how I would survive the weekend without a total meltdown, but my husband and I boarded the L train and went to see our longtime friends. Once with friends, the beer started flowing and I started to feel a little better. Beer does that.

Me and my beer breath hoped a taxi and went downtown to check out the expo. I even got to see Dean Karnazes, but didn't get a picture because my camera battery had died. Grrrrr.

I did manage to get a couple of shots before the battery died.





I felt the excitement at the expo! I wanted to race so bad, so I turned in my timing chip. I knew that if that timing chip were still on my bib, I would have been at that starting line the next morning. That wouldn't have been a good move for my butt injury. That would have been a hot 26.2 mile walk.

I was sad when I left the expo and hopped a taxi ride back to friends and more beer. Now when I say that I had a 10-10-10 beer a thon, I really only mean that I had a total of probably 4 beers over the course of a day, but I'm not a big drinker so.....WHEW !

Congrats to all you Chicago runners out there! Conditions were NOT good for this race and each and every one of you are awesome in my book! Congrats again!!!!

Honestly, I am glad to put this weekend behind me, it is a total relief. This weekend, I will be spectating the Denver Rock and Roll Marathon and Half Marathon.

Speaking of the Denver Marathon, I received an e-mail yesterday from my local Runner's Roost about the marathon this weekend and one of the things that caught my eye was this statement:

It's not to late to take advantage of the Brooks VIP Porta Potty Pass! .

Really? It sounds kind of crazy, but after standing in a porta potty line that was a mile long and then finally having to make the desicion to either pee or miss the start at my last race, I would pin that pass on my shirt right next to my gels and proudly use it.

Good luck to all of you Denver, Kansas City, and all other racers this weekend!! Best of luck to you all!

Please Cancel the Chicago Marathon, I Won't be able to Make it this Year.

I’ve pretty much gone AWOL from the blog world the last few weeks. I’ve been lurking and stalking most of you, but I have refrained from commenting. Why? Because every time I log onto my blog I see that little countdown widget for the Chicago marathon and it makes me sad. Currently, the widget says that it is two days until the Chicago Marathon on 10/10/10. I’m sad because I won’t be there; I’m injured.

What? I'm on a break.....


I think a couple of posts ago I mentioned about some piriformis and hip pain on my 20 miler. Well, I ran through the pain and developed ITB issues and I know better to screw around with ITB issues. I rested, I stretched, I foam rolled, and I walked around with bags of frozen peas duct taped all up and down my leg. Oh, whatever, you would do it too if you had to….don’t give me that snicker.

When I couldn’t make it through my last 12 miler before the marathon, I finally broke down and made an appointment to a see Sports Medicine doctor. He was great, he gave me a cortisone injection for the ole ITB and wrote me a prescription for physical therapy, and said “Have fun and call to let me know how you did on your marathon!” Don’t you love the sports medicine doctor? They never try and talk you OUT of running, but encourage you and tell you all sorts of good things about the Chicago marathon because they have ran it themselves at some point in time. They will give you cortisone injections and help you duct tape frozen bags of peas all over your body if it would just help you get to that marathon.

Anyway, when I went to my first PT appointment, I mentioned the piriformis and hip pain to the therapist and he found out the root cause of all my problems. My SI joint, which is the joint that holds the pelvis and the tailbone together, had come out of its socket and had gone back in at a tilted angle (I’m sure that I do not have this explanation medically correct, but whatever). This caused me to have piriformis issues, which led to the ITB issues. Isn’t it funny how one thing can affect so many other things?

So basically, I am a pain in my own ass. Literally.

Apparently, SI joint issues are not an easy fix and I will be in physical therapy over the next month strengthening my hips and learning proper ways to stretch, which puts me out of the marathon this weekend. I won’t lie to you, bagging the marathon hurts way worse then my ass does. I worked damn hard this time around in order to go sub-4. I had the confidence that my training, combined with the flat sea level course, would enable me to pull it off. However, it is that is what it is and I made the decision that the smart thing to do would be to pull out of the marathon and let my body (read as butt) heal. I will be back next spring and WATCH OUT because I will want revenge.

In the meantime, if you are wondering about the lack of cookies, pies, and chips in your local grocery; it is because I am consuming mass quantities of these things and there is not enough to go around. It is all needed in Denver, Colorado right now.

I am still going to Chicago this weekend (plane tickets are bought), so if you see a blimp wearing gold running shoes, that’s me. I still need to post a picture of me wearing my Gold Brooks that I special ordered for the race, maybe I will take a picture of me having a beer drinking marathon in Chicago instead.

Good luck to everyone who is running Chicago this weekend! A special good luck to my two buddies Marcia and Keri! Go girls!

Forgive me for not visiting your blogs. I will come back to you soon. I promise