Older Women are Better?

I found this interesting NY Times article that discusses why women run better and faster in the older age groups. My friends and I have made the same observations. What we've noticed in many of the races that we've participated in is that the first place female is often in her 40's and that the toughest age group actually happens to be in the 45-50 age group. Sure, there are those few young runners that do win the races, but as a whole the older age groups seem to have the most fastest runners. Why is it that women get faster as they age up to a point, while men get slower? I always attributed it to the fact that many women in the younger age groups are busy finishing their education, having babies, or raising young children and therefore generally lacked the time to put into the running. Looking back at my own life, I really don't think I would have had the time or energy to run regularly while I was in my 30's. The article in the Times suggest that the improvement is due to the fact that we tend to take it more "seriously" as we become older. We appreciate the running more because we didn't have the opportunity to compete as young women and feel a new sense of accomplishment. I'm not sure I completely agree with that. Anyhow, read for yourself. And even if you're not in your 40's yet, trust me you'll be there sooner than you realize. At least there's hope and it's not all downhill after your 30's. Maybe there's something to look forward to?

"SEE JANE RUN: SEE HER RUN FASTER AND FASTER"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/health/nutrition/30Fitness.html

Mystery Solved!

On my way to meeting Patty for a run at Heritage, I noticed people just sitting in chairs at every corner of McBean. My initial thought was that these people were canvassing the area and were just waiting to be picked up. The funny thing is, Patty also noticed these people on her way to the park. As we made our way up the bike trail from Heritage to Decoro, over McBean towards Helmers, into Bridgeport and back to Heritage we came upon another man sitting in a folding chair at the corner. Curiosity got the better of us and we had to stop and ask him what he was doing. As it turns out, the city hired all these people to sit at corners and count traffic. He was a very nice man and I'm glad we stopped to chat. Maybe we should do that more often, stop and chat with people we meet along the way. Although it may ruin our already slow pace. I think we ended up running 9.3 avg miles, which isn't too bad considering the hilly route we took and considering that my legs felt like crap from the very beginning. I'm reminded of an interview I recently read of Kara Goucher, pro marathoner and Olympian. She nailed it when she basically said "running is painful". There is really no way around it. So why do we do it? I run to help me keep my weight in check while I continue to enjoy eating the things I like to eat, but most of all, I run for the camaraderie and the stress relief benefits. Why do most people run? Is it to see how far they can push their bodies? Is it to set personal bests? Why do you run?

Memorial Day Run

It is especially nice to be able to run with my friends on a Monday morning! I always have Mondays off of work but my friends do not, so since it was a holiday weekend I got a chance to run with Marathon Mom in the morning today. The weather couldn't have been any better, nice and cool, but not windy. We met at Peet's and decided to run the train bridge route in reverse. The thinking was that we would be able to finish in a blaze of speed on the downhill, and the last half mile would be easy. We forgot however that the trail that runs behind the apartments, and Pavilions is a very rolling trail, and it doesn't so much end on a downhill as a slight uphill. I must say that I felt pretty good until that last half mile when my legs were tired and I struggled with what seemed like a constant uphill grade. We ran 5.2 miles and if I am correct we kept it at around 9.3 pace, but we really felt like we were doing better until the very end. I think the reason was that Marathon Mom usually picks up the pace in the last mile to keep our overall pace down, but it was hard to speed up much today. I also appreciate the sacrifice that our military men and women and their families have made to give me a chance to live free in this country of ours. I miss my own son who is serving his country and has been very fortunate to be out of harms way. I will be saying a prayer for those who are not as fortunate.

Tempo Time

This morning we met at Peet's for a shorter "long" run since Patty and I had family commitments that we needed to get to. That meant that we were sort of pressed for time so I decided that we were going to do a tempo run. And as usual, I forgot to mention it to "C" or Patty until we were well on our way, but I think they figured it out by the pace we were keeping. I figured that we could sustain a 9.20-9.30 for an hour so that was the goal I had set when we took off. Tempo runs are supposed to be at a pace you think you can maintain for one hour without killing yourself. We were pretty good at keeping within our goal except that when I checked our time at the last mile mark, I realized we were running short on time so I decided to pickup the pace even more. The slower we ran meant we had less time for coffee and conversely the faster we ran meant we'd have more time to chat over coffee. The last mile was ran at under 9 min pace and we ended up running the 6.2 miles at an average of 9.23 min/mi. pace. Coffee is a great motivator especially when you have a long day ahead of you.

Perspectives on Walking

I have to say I'm NOT a walker. I'm just too impatient. If I can get somewhere quicker by running, then I'll run. Today I brought my dog to Central Park to visit other dogs at the park. I decided to take the long way and walked from the basketball courts on the XC trail to the dog park rather than going directly to it through the parking lot. I used to think the first mile of the XC course at CP was the worst part when running and now I'm convinced that it is. Today's walk confirmed it. When running that first mile, it seems to go on forever, but walking it feels like an eternity. In fact, I cheated by jogging that part here and there because I just couldn't stand it anymore. I suppose the walk put the trail into perspective for me. The next time I'm dreading that section while running, I will think back and remember that it's better than walking it. After all that walking, my dog didn't seem too interested in the other dogs in the park and wanted to get the heck out of there. I hope he enjoyed the walk!

P.S. I hope my friends were successful today with their shopping for running shoes.

Getting Our Protein

I guess one way to get your protein is by accidentally ingesting bugs as you run. I think that's what happened to Patty and "C" tonight on our run from Cheese Park. From the park we headed down to Heritage Park and back. It was much hotter than Patty predicted it would be and the bugs were out in full force. I tried to warn Patty, but it was too late. I heard the loud crunch of a black beetle with it's rear in the air as I screamed and Patty squished. I suppose it was bug karma because when we headed back, a bug flew up her nose. Then on the other side of me, "C" started gagging as she unwittingly swallowed an unidentified bug. As for me, well I ended up with some type of bug juice smeared on my shirt ( I must have been running so fast, ha ha). I think we all felt pretty good, considering the heat and the bad air quality. It's much easier running in the morning.

Pleasant Park!

Ok, it is really Central Park, but since we are always saying how much we hate running there, with the dust and the heat. I wanted to say something nice since we had a very unexpectedly pleasant run there today. We waited until later in the evening in hopes that the weather would cool off a bit, and it really paid off today. It was nice to have C back with us, and we broke the news to her about our marathon plans, the thing we all need to do is just take it one run at a time, and we will be running a marathon before we know it! We always stop and stretch in front of the dog park, and tonight we were laughing at the overly frisky dog who's owner kept yelling "no humping"! It was pretty funny to watch, he was just so happy to be out there with all those other dogs. The run itself was short, 3 miles, but we were all surprised how good we felt, and how much the weather had cooled off. It was embarrassing once again when Marathon Mom and I saw a group of kids from the school we work at, and of course we were dressed in matching outfits once again. We are now getting assigned days to wear the pink and white! Today it was Pleasant Park.

The Pink Pact

The three of us (Patty, C, and I) made a pact today that we would only be allowed to wear our pink shorts each on separate days. Today Patty and I showed up again in our "uniforms" of pink shorts and white tank tops. AND to make it much worse, we encountered a whole group of kids from the school we both work at. I wonder what went through their minds when they saw us. We ran later than usual and it was actually quite pleasant by the time we ran at Central Park. It was nice to have C join us again. Normally we hate running at CP, but it's been a while since we were there and the weather cooperated so it wasn't so bad.

The Long Road Ahead

Well I think I'm going to live up to my blog name and finally start training for a marathon. It's funny because I've been thinking about it a lot this last week, but was afraid to say anything to my friends in case it might scare them off and Patty was secretly plotting the same thing in her mind and hadn't said anything either. During our long run today ("C" was sleeping in), we both confessed our plans, which actually were quite similar. See, great minds do think (and scheme) alike! I think it was the fact that we were both feeling much better this morning on our run that gave us hope and confidence to even consider the marathon. We ran from Lowes to the Wiley Bridge on the South Fork trail and then headed back via the trail beside the Hart baseball diamonds for an even 8 miles, all under 10 min. pace. We got some good info from a seasoned marathoner at our local Starbucks so I think we're ready to go. Our plans are to run a half marathon in the fall/winter and then a marathon in early spring, possibly L.A., San Diego, or Santa Barbara. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Misery and Pain!

Not much good to say about today's run except, we did it. Marathon Mom was nice enough to meet me near the golf course where my son takes lessons so we could get in another run this week. We started at Meadows park and ran through the paseos until we reached the South Fork Trail. Once we hit the trail we headed toward Magic Mtn. Pkwy until we reached the two mile mark and then we turned back around. It was hot and terribly windy AGAIN, and that seems to really affect my breathing. I felt like I was gasping for breath the whole run, we slowed down the pace and it didn't help much at all. I couldn't wait to be done, and was lucky I brought the water, because my mouth was like the desert for most of the run. The dry mouth gave me an excuse a couple of times to stop and take a drink, but I really just needed to stop running. I feel like a newbie runner and have much sympathy for people who run, race or in my son's case play basketball with asthma. I think mine is pretty mild, but the hot and windy conditions seem to really be a trigger (I did use my inhaler today, it was useless). I am watching "Survivor" however and the really annoying "Soccer Coach" guy is complaining about his asthma, and he is a Dragonslayer. Maybe I can overcome! The pain part was Marathon Mom's sore leg, and I am hoping that if we rest a day and go out early on Sat. we will have something positive to post about next time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our friend C today!