Running and Race Schedule

This past weekend was the lottery drawing for entry into the Wasatch 100 mile trail run. There were 272 spots for 383 applicants and I, unfortunately, was not a lucky entrant. That does mean that I am freed from the burden of having to decide which Hundy to do this year, as I had it narrowed down to 2 choices. Tahoe Rim Trail is the winner!

Now I just have to confront my self doubt and believe that I can actually finish the race. I know success is dependent upon my state of mind and that will be my biggest challenge by far as I work toward this goal. Right now, I consider myself pretty out of shape and I have a lot of work ahead. My IT band was inflamed for nearly a month after the Vegas marathon, so I had to take it easy. Workout options in this small town are somewhat limited in the middle of winter: the nearest pool is 30 minutes away (with a full time job and an infant, I don't think so...), biking on the ice is not ideal, I'm too cheap to buy a membership to the one gym in town, and I would rather rub salt in my eyes than ride the bike trainer inside. So, I stuck to running much less than normal, maybe 10-20 miles/week. The last few weeks have been better and I'm now up to my regular 40 miles/week, but it doesn't feel very easy and I haven't done a run longer than 9 miles since the marathon. Alas, it is really okay and I'll be in shape by the time the first race rolls around.

Here is the official race schedule for the year (subject to change, of course):

April 17th, Desert RATS 25 mile: I've done this race 3 times in the past, '06, '07, '08 (I watched with 3 week old Selah in the Bjorn in '09). My goal is break my PR of 4:38.

May 1st, Collegiate Peaks Trail Run 50 mile: This was my first ultra ever in 2007. My goal is to break my 50 mile PR, 10:31.

June 26th, Seattle 1/2 marathon. Mike is doing the full marathon and I get to push Selah in the Chariot. I consider this a just for fun race. Hopefully, we'll be able to hook up with our friends Joe and Heidi while we're up north.

July 17th, the big one! Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile. Goal? finish without dying :)

October 17th, Denver Rock n Roll Marathon.

December 5th, Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon. I did the 1/2 at 22 weeks pregnant in 2008 and this was my first "official" marathon in 2009. My goal is to break my marathon PR of 3:30.

It's going to be a big year!

Iowa!

Mike and I successfully traveled to Iowa Friday night. . . just barely. Our first flight was delayed by 70 minutes, leaving us with 20 minutes to catch our second flight. Of course, the second flight was in a different terminal and we got there with less than 2 minutes to spare. Mike's bladder was on the verge of bursting, so he had to stop to pee while I ran to the gate. The woman at the gate told him, "You better burst next time!". Amazingly, our luggage made it through the short layover! We had a race Saturday morning and would have been very very very disappointed to not have our bags.

We took advantage of the delayed flight by heading to the park to play. Selah loves swinging, slides, grass, rocks, and playing in general.

Mike and I ran the country's largest cross country race on Saturday morning, the Living History Farms Race. He ran it several times in and after college and actually won it about 10 years ago. The race has now grown to 7500 runners!! We had so much fun! It is all on the LHF, literally through multiple shin to thigh-deep creeks (I think there were 6 or 7 crossings), up mud walls so steep you need ropes to get up them, through corn fields for 7.25 miles. Many dressed up in silly costumes--we saw a pack of Crayons, Santa and his reindeer all tied together, lots of prom dresses on men, men with not nearly enough clothing on, etc etc.

Here we are after the race.

I felt pretty good despite the chill and was happy when I got to mile 2 in 17:30. I didn't have a watch and asked another runner for the time at 4 miles. He said "40:00" and I couldn't believe I had slowed down so much! He must have given me the wrong time because I crossed the finish line at 57:56, about 7:58 pace. That was good enough for 12th in my age group and the 54th woman of 3200 overall! The race gave me a confidence boost for the upcoming Vegas marathon (my goal is 8:25 pace to qualify for Boston). I figure if I can do 7:58 pace through the woods and over logs and through creeks, there's a decent chance I can do 8:25 pace on the flats. Mike ran it in about 45 minutes, good for 8th in his age group and 72nd man.

Selah got to hang out with Grandma while we ran--a treat for everyone involved! Marge is coming to Vegas with us as well.

We're in Monticello now for a few days before driving South to Missouri for the 16th annual AGRA, Annual Great Rieken Adventure. Marge's family has been meeting at her brother Tom's place for Thanksgiving and fun and this will be our first year going. We are so excited!

28 weeks 3 days (7 months) belly and some inspiration

The blueberry's latest growth:

Maybe the bump has reached critical mass lately, or maybe people were just in good moods after the inauguration today, but several people offered me their place in line at the post office this morning. Do I look that uncomfortable?

I'm still enjoying pregnancy and feeling quite good. I've started to have Braxton Hicks most days, just a couple a day. My belly button is half in and half out. The baby kicks all the time and I always enjoy it. I have packed on a full 25 or 30 pounds (GULP!) despite exercising daily (you can all see my workout log) and eating really well. I'm really not worried about that, though, because I am feeling so good. I have a little bit of "extra fluff" all over--no real swelling or anything. My midwife is not concerned either and tells me to expect another 10-15. I have occasional heartburn and need 9-10 hours of sleep every night, but no complaints here! I feel I have already forgotten about the first trimester nausea.

I should add...I went for a run on Saturday and it was really warm out. After a mile or so, I was HOT and wanted to take my shirt off to expose my skin to the air a bit. I was on a dead end gravel road, so I thought, "what the heck, why not, I'll put it back on when I get into the neighborhood". Well, it felt really really good, so I ran with just a sports bra, belly hanging out for all to see, all the way to the end of the run and back home. I ran by a lady from my prenatal yoga class on the bike path and got a funny reaction...she thought I was nuts. Oh well.

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Reese's blog post from today inspired me. Our school shut down classes and offices today during the inauguration so we could all join together and witness history on the big screen in our barn. There was lots of cheering and many tears shed. Although this is cliched by now, no matter what one's political beliefs, one must be amazed and excited about having an African American in the White House. I happen to join the majority of Americans and the rest of the human population in my support for Obama, so this day was exceptionally special for me. The fact that it followed Martin Luther King Day made it all the more poignant.

Yesterday, in our all school meeting, one of the teachers showed us this video in anticipation of today's events. It was produced by Will.i.am, a member of the Black Eyed Peas. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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Another response to Reese...
She is pregnant with her second child and looking into birthing options beyond another C-Section, which automatically excludes her from a hospital birth. Even though the uterine rupture (the claimed reason to not allow Vaginal Births After C-Section, or VBAC) rate is less than 0.3%, the vast majority of hospitals refuse to allow VBAC's and opt instead to undertake the myriad risks associated with major surgery. Many people do not understand why C-Sections are such an unfortunate way to give birth. A few reasons:

1. The mother must undergo major abdominal surgery that requires MUCH longer to recover from than normal birth. When I worked at the maternity ward at our hospital, the goal for CS patients was to sit up on the edge of the bed 24 hours after delivery. They stayed in the hospital for 72 hours or more and were wheeled to their cars in wheelchairs. They are not even allowed to drive for a full two weeks post partum. Many normal birth mothers got up and walked to their post partum rooms 1 hour after delivery, left the hospital within 24 hours, and could resume normal household activities upon returning home.

2. The mother does not experience the flood of oxytocin (the love hormone) while giving birth. Oxytocin is the hormone that makes us fall in love, produces orgasm, and makes the uterus contract during normal labor. Many mothers that do not experience this hormone rush have difficulty bonding with their babies. Oxytocin is also absent from labors induced by its synthetic cousin, Pitocin.

3. Delayed mother baby bonding time. Most CS patients are in recovery for an hour to several hours after delivery and do not bond with their babies until out of recovery. After 9 months of pregnancy, the babies are taken to the nursery instead of laid upon their mothers' chests as they are in normal birth.

There are many more reasons, but I can go on about those later. C-Sections are very rarely the choice of the mother, but are the will of the doctor in attendance. While sometimes CS's are absolutely necessary and justified, it is absurd to have a CS rate of over 30% in this country. C-Sections follow a pattern that is usually proceeded by a cascade of interventions: mother goes into labor but is not contracting "enough" to dilate "fast enough", so Pitocin is given via IV to "speed things up". Pitocin greatly increases labor pain, so said mother requests an epidural. Epidural given, pitocin increased, mom doesn't care because she can't feel it. But baby can feel it! Contractions induced by pitocin are closer together and of a higher intensity than normal contractions (and remember, they do not include Oxytocin, which makes mom happy). Contractions temporarily cut off the blood supply to the placenta (and therefore baby). Without proper rest between contractions, baby's endurance begins to suffer. Baby's heart rate drops, emergency C-Section is ordered, and doc says to mom, "We did everything we could do, at least you have a healthy baby". AHH! (Okay, Okay, I'll stop now!)

That is why I am planning a home birth with a midwife! (That, and so I can have a good cup of coffee at 6am or a meal at 2am, not have an IV, and sleep in the same bed with my husband!)

Fun Pics

Here are some fun running pictures that I thought needed to make it onto the blog. It's fun running with the belly--I get many long looks, waves, and smiles from passers by.





Marge and Steve's dog Cosmo gets REALLY excited to run and has started a daily whine session at about 10:00 thinking he might get to go out. We are spoiling him, taking him every day. Today, we went for over an hour and ran through the golf course. He was a terrible running partner, stopping every 5 seconds or so to pick up a new smell. But, who could get mad at such a happy dog?

Running in Iowa

Everyone knows that it gets cold in the mountains. I live in Colorado at about 6000 feet and frequently ski and play above 10,000. But, Colorado cold cannot compare to the Montana cold I grew up with. That kind of cold made the snow squeak and your boogers freeze on each inhalation. Iowa cold, however, surpasses them all. We were supposed to fly in a couple of days ago (missed our flight, long pathetic story for another time) and the windchill was simply "hazardous", not 0, not -30 or even -45, just "hazardous". Luckily it has warmed up to the balmy teens for our trip, with a windchill around 5. Learning how to exercise in this weather is an adventure in itself. We did manage it today, but have been foiled in the past. A couple of years ago, it was impossible. No matter how many layers one dons, it is extremely difficult to cover those triangle spots of skin on the sides of the face--the ones between the goggles and the neck gaiter. And, it just looks funny to run with your hands covering your face to protect it from the wind (I remember having this conversation with Hannah after her first trip to Iowa). In any case, we WERE able to get out today, thankfully. We were the people Addie made fun of in her post today--the ones running down the middle of the road, sidewalks covered in snow, and piles of more snow narrowing the already slippery streets. Sorry, Ad, we were desperate for exercise after spending yesterday in airports, on planes, and waiting in many lines. We needed the air, even if it was REALLY COLD.

Posing pre-run.

I wore a tank, 2 heavy long underwear tops, and my big hoody, fleece tights, fleece socks, windproof gloves and hat.

Now we are relaxing in the lovely (and warm) Schneiter home, getting ready for Christmas and just enjoying each other.

I did it! Las Vegas Half Marathon at 5 1/2 months pregnant

Mike and I drove to Vegas yesterday for him to run the LV Marathon and for me to waddle in the half marathon. Here's a little count from the day:

Weeks pregnant: 22

Miles run in today's race: 13.1

Miles walked: 0

Liters of water ingested while running: about 2 1/2

GUs eaten: 3

Number of other pregnant ladies seen: 0

Total number of runners: 20,000

Number of half marathoners: 9,833

Largest number of runners in any race I have run before today: about 300

Minutes of fireworks at the starting line: about 5

Starting time: 6:07am

Approximate temperature at the start: 50 degrees and cloudy

Potty stops I took along the course: 6

Estimated time spent peeing and waiting for a port-a-pottie: 12 minutes

Potty stops available: Probably 20!

Total number of people dressed as Elvis: about 300

Number of cars allowed on the Strip during the race: 0

Total race time: 2:27:32

Minutes per mile pace: 11:15

Overall place: 4,347 (top half, just barely!)

Place in Women: 2150/5175

Number of Marathoners that beat me, a half-marathoner: 1 (We finished within seconds of each other--it was very cool to see an elite runner finish!)

Number of runs longer than 4 miles I plan on doing in the next 4 months:0

Mike's race time: 3:04:52

Mike's mile pace: 7:03

Mike's place in the marathon: 63rd! (top 0.6%!!)


Fun day! Now we're off to eat some grub!

Mike took me to my first NFL football game on Sunday--Bronco's vs Jaguars. It was a blast even though our Broncos lost. The fan energy is really incredible--80,000 people cheering, stomping their feet, booing the refs--wow! It is an experience that everyone should have.

Reeser sent me this present today. She made me an awesome CD and two potholders. These are not just any potholders--they are handmade and frickin cool!

An up close shot of her handiwork.

I had 4 different people comment on my belly today--I think it is really growing this time. Wes called and made fun of me for trying to stick out my flat belly in all of the previous "belly shots". Whaddaya think now, Wes?

Mike and I went to Crested Butte a few weekends ago and found these sheep in the middle of the road. It was really a huge flock that went all the way across the road for about a half mile. They were having some sort of sheep drive.

Here is the lovely sound of our baby's heartbeat from my midwife appointment yesterday. What an incredible thing!! The baby is about 4 inches long now and growing about 1/2 inch each week--that is equivalent to an adult growing about 8 inches in a week! My computer is having a hard time embedding the video, so just follow the link. You Tube-Baby's Heartbeat 14 weeks

On Exercise and Pregnancy:

I have tried to keep my fitness up during this pregnancy, but have had a very difficult time finding good information on what exactly is safe to do. Most websites talk about prenatal exercise in terms of yoga, stretching, walking, swimming, etc, not running marathons. They often give a magic number to keep one's heartrate below, usually 140. But, there is no discussion of what a person was doing for fitness before pregnancy or what their normal resting or max heartrates are. When I got pregnant, I was about a month out from running a 50 mile trail race and was not ready to start stretching for exercise. I quickly found out that running was much more difficult than I was used to, but I really wanted to keep it up, so I did and continue to do so. Originally, I had planned on doing a bunch of races during the pregnancy, but have since changed my mind. Different experts gave me different advice--an OB doc gave me the OK for the marathon, while my midwife told me not to run for longer than an hour at a time. I have since found what I think is a happy medium between the two. I have continued to do 1-2 hour runs but have decided against the marathon in November. Honestly, the 10-12 mile runs are leaving me completely wiped and the thought of turning around and repeating the distance is unfathomable. 6-8 miles seems to be just perfect. Plus, there is the uterine-pressure-on-the-bladder problem. I have to stop at least every 15 minutes to pee, often every 8 or 10 minutes. I have to plan my routes very carefully, making sure there are sufficient bushes along the way for my bathroom breaks. It's quite hilarious, I run for about 10 minutes, feel the overwhelming urge to pee, get out barely 1/4 cup, and repeat the process. One major problem with the marathon was that it is all on the road (meaning not enough bushes) and there is only one port-a-pottie on the entire route--that is a major problem. I guess they just don't think of pregnant women when planning their courses. Reese also asked me about the whole thing last week, namely "why do you want to do this?". Well, I couldn't think of a better answer than just to say I did, and that is not good enough. (thanks for your insight, Reese) I'm still going to do the Las Vegas half marathon (13 miles) in December, but it is a flat course and there are toilets every mile. Plus, because my pregnancy will be so obvious, I won't feel the pressure to go fast.

50, that's 5-oh, miles!

This Saturday was a turning point in my athletic career (I think...). I ran my first ultramarathon, a 50-mile trail race in the mountains near Buena Vista, CO. It was called the Collegiate Peaks Trail Run (collegiatepeakstrailrun.org) and it was a fantastic day! Mike and I drove in Friday night, went to the prerace meeeting and met some of the other racers. The weather forecast was not in our favor--it was supposed to rain all day and be pretty chilly. But, we woke up Saturday morning to warmer than forecasted temps feeling ready and excited. The race started at 6:30. There were about 200 runners, most of who ran the 25 mile option. The course is 25 miles of mostly double track, with some single track, a couple miles of pavement, and about 3500 feet of elevation gain. The 50 milers do the course twice, once clockwise, the other counter-clockwise. The start and finish are in the same place. I started off pretty slowly, just trying to relax and conserve energy. I was feeling good and got so into the groove that I missed a turn and ran off course for a half mile or so around mile 10. When I figured out what I had done, I was kinda pissed, so I turned around to get back on course and sped up to pass all the runners that had passed me. It took me about 12 miles to do all the catching up, but I did it! It was encouraging to have started off slowly and be able to pass people instead of starting too fast and getting passed.
Though I ran the first half feeling strong and really without pain, I still doubted my ability to complete the second half. Even when the race is 50 miles, 25 miles is still a long way to run. So, by the end of the first 25, I felt like I had just run 25 miles--tired! I was tired, but my stomach felt fine (that is often a problem on long runs), I had no blisters, and had no joint or muscle pain. I had to do some positive self-talk to while approaching the half way point, "You knew you would be tired, you expected this, you have no pain and therefore no excuses not to continue!". When I reached the turnaround (after 5 hours of running) and the 25 milers were finishing, I was beaming, pumped, and totally motivated to go for it again. Mike gave me a little cheer and a fresh protein bar and I was on my way. Because the two laps of the course are run in opposite directions, all of the 50 milers get to pass by the people still on their way to the finish line (or turnaround). That was a really neat experience--encouraging and being encouraged by the other racers. Surprisingly, I continued to feel pretty good through the second half, though I still doubted whether or not I would finish. I think I kept expecting to hit a wall, but I just never hit it. I was able to pass a few people--I would catch them, run and chat with them for a while, then move on to the next person. When I reached 40 miles, I realized I was counting down in single digits and started to believe I would finish. At mile 48, I was greeted by a cold, 20-30mph headwind and 2 long, straight, flat and paved miles. That was torture, but little by little, I moved closer to the end. I crossed the finish line 10 hours and 31 minutes after I started. All at once, I was elated, euphoric, and exhausted. I did it! Now all I want to know is--when is the next one?!