Thursday, January 20, 2011

My roommates for race weekend... Just your Run of the Mill Ultramarathoners

Today is a BIG day....My mom arrives back into town.  She only left 2 weeks ago be she is arriving in tonight.  I love when my family is around, or when anyone visits....YOU want to come to Florida?  We have a room waiting with your name on it!  I have fun with my mom and love to have her around.  She is always up for anything and there is no "entertaining" her as she will go with the flow.  We took this picture last Spring at Costco....my mom drove this exact car years ago so she did a pose with it.  We must have looked nuts to everyone in the crowded parking lot.


Ali, Brooke and Sara, friends from NY
Ali and I in high school
I have some friends from NY coming to visit for the weekend, so mom is going to help out with the kiddies so I can get away without having to pay a babysitter since Oz will be working.  I am excited for a girls weekend!

I cannot believe that 1 week from tomorrow I will be on the road (a short 2 hour drive) to South Beach for the weekend.  Have I mentioned who I am staying with Friday night?  Just your run of the mill Ultra marathoners.  My friend Randi who I met while living in Green Bay (she now lives in Denver) and her friend Becki who lives on the West Coast of Florida are running Miami with me in addition to 3 other friends from West Palm Beach. Randi and Becki met last year while running the Crooms Run, a 50 mile trail run in Central Florida.  They met during the race and became instant friends and a support system for one another.

I met Randi via the Internet about 3 years ago while her and her husband were training for the Madrid, Spain Marathon.  Randi has run tons of Marathons and competed in her first full Ironman this fall with her husband, taking on Ironman Wisconsin.  Our first meeting came on a cold, dark January morning in Green Bay when I met her for a quick run (ended up being over 9 miles which was a LOT for me) on the icy/snowy streets.  We became instant friends and even though we have both left Wisconsin our friendship has stayed strong.

Have you ever had a friend like that?  It is so easy to stay in touch these days with the Internet and all..but with every one's crazy lives in the mix it is just as easy to lose touch with people as weeks and months fly by at a record pace.

So, I am so excited to pick these girls brains over the weekend.  They are both using Miami ING as a "warm-up" for the real race both are training for.....They are traveling to South Africa to run Commrades, a 56 mile ultra marathon and one of the most well known International races on Earth.  HARDCORE!

Did I mention I tried so hard to run a 7 +min mile pace yesterday...I had a short 3 miler and thought that after seeing so many 7min paces on every ones blogs I would go for it...SO close.  Finished the 3 miles at 24:12.  (8:04)  ahhhhhhh.  I started out a little too ambitious and so after 1 mile I had to drop back a bit.  Going to try again today with a 4 miler.

What are you running today?
Any desire to run an Ultra????

9 comments:

  1. Yeah, all my friends are ultramarathoners too! But seriously, I would love to do an ultra ... some day.

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  2. Nice job on the run. I can only get a 7:xx if I'm planning to only run one mile and will quite possibly puke at the end. ;o)

    I have no desire to run an ultra. I'm not even sure I want to run a third marathon...

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  3. one day TMB & I are going to manage to accomplish that ultramarathon... we are.... some day.

    In the meantime - if McMillan told you 4:02, then that's your reach goal. That's the goal that you aim for if everything is going perfectly to plan. If you get to mile 20, and you're ahead of the 4:02 pace or feeling PERFECT then you want to aim for what I like to call the UBER GOAL. And for a first marathon, you need to have a basket goal. This is the goal you fall back on in case all goes wrong. Let me give you some advice. When things go wrong on marathon day, they go wrong by 26 minutes or more. They don't go wrong by 4 minutes. So that basket goal, that needs to be something that you can make at your easy pace.

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  4. ha! I don't think I could break 8 even for just one mile going balls-to-the-wall! I am not running today ... did a hard tempo workout yesterday and can only do every other day. And I don't have any desire to run an ultra! lol Wishing you speedy feet for your 4 today!

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  5. Ulra marahoners are m heroes!! hose people are machines and I bow before hem! ha's cool ou have a friend like ha! I miss m running buddies back home :(

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  6. great run!

    ultra...someday...someday...but dont tell my hubs :)

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  7. oh, came back because I was curious where you live. We just moved from Fl to Austin a few months ago. We lived in Stuart. Close?

    enduranceisntonlyphysical@gmail.com

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  8. Yeah-I don't know about coming to Florida. I'm just enjoying this -40 degree weather too much.....

    Sounds like you have an awesome girls weekend planned-FUN! So nice your mom can help out!

    I really enjoyed your last post! SO inspiring!! You are definitely a determined girl!

    I definitely have ultras on the brain but I think I'll wait a few years until I accomplish a few of my other goals and I have a little more time! Hope you have a fantastic weekend! Only 1 week-woohoo!!!

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  9. You're going into my Google Reader so I can follow your crazy escapades! I had so much fun this weekend - still working on Pat about 2 weeks from now. Can't wait to hear about Miami!

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