Monday, December 29, 2008

The Biggest Gainer




Since Thanks- giving, my school girl figure has slipped away.
T Z has gained 20 lbs. That's a bag of taters, a sack of dog food,
a nice big pouch of blubber.


It's 10:08 pm. I have not ran today. I am fat. I am grouchy. I am tying my shoes and heading out the door. More later after I get back.




58:18 minutes and 5.31 miles later, I have sweat off 1.5 lbs, and have a good runners buzz. Now if I can regain some brownie points to offset my doghouse status for being cranky....

Friday, December 26, 2008

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Insomnia/nostalgia




It's 3:40 am, and I can't seem to sleep. I stumbled upon this from way back in 2006.


Back in the old days before TATUR and before blogs, the best thing we had to post our race reports was Runners World Magazine's forums.


Give the above link a click for a good report from Brian about the Cross Timbers race. Scroll on down...there are a few good comments from a coupla shady characters.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Christmas Cat




Merry Christmas to all my friends. I wanted to warm your hearts with song. This is one for the ages. You no longer have to sing the Little Drummer Boy, Holly Jolly Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, or Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer any more. Click on the link below, and you will thank me later.

Peace, T Z

Christmas Cat

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Great coupla race reports

 





For those of you have not read this, my good friend Lisa has wrote an awesome report about her and Jason's quest to become Marathon Maniacs. 








Check out Lisa's blog

for a great report of grit and determination.
Besides the nice haul of hardware, they are now MANIACS!

(PS Jason is gonna kill me for posting that pic!)

Friday, December 19, 2008

Quick blurb about last night



Last night I got 6 scenic miles, taking in some of the Christmas lights in the older historic sections in midtown Tulsa. I ran with RunnersWorld's training group, who on this night ran the Marvellite run....not a race, just a nice easy jaunt from 3-6 miles.No, this is not snow....it was 45 degrees which is the warmest it has been in several days. There was a heavy mist and a dense fog that accompanied us all evening long, and the flash picked up every droplet in the air.

Thought my running club TATUR might like this one.

After the run, after 6.4 miles, and about 700 calories burned, it was time to refuel. There was pizza, brownies, fudge, cookies, and pie! (sorry, David!) Also, it was a great time to catch up with some friends some of which I see nearly every day, and some who are sure to show up when there is beer.Actually, Tatur Uno pictured above is driven by more than beer. He has ran 27 marathons this year. Just about doubled my total.




Bobby shows off another award. Spud made very nice finishers certificates for all the TATURs who completed Sunmart.

Bobby, you're gonna have to set up a huge wall for all your bling!

It was awesome to run a little with Ed (pictured below on the right) this evening. Actually, we passed each other whilst trying to get a good pic of a decorated house. It's always good to be able to hang out with friends.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

New workout routine

 

You've heard of calisthenics. You've heard of Crossfit. Well, here's a new spin on the general idea. All you need is a willing partner, and a strong rope or durable dog toy.Turns out, I had both right in my living room. Put in some Olivia Newton John "Let's Get Physical" and a complete workout is in the works.Call it dogisthenics, or Hoochfit. Either way, it is a combo of curls, rowing, and aerobics all rolled into one workout.Fifteen minutes a night has resulted in 3/4 inches lost in my mid section, and a 1/2 inch increase to my biceps.Plus, with a slight variation, I no longer need to floss.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

12-16-08



Thank you to all who have voted in the Peoples Health Blogger poll. I thought I had a few friends,and might garner 8-10 votes if I begged my Mom to vote, and signed my cats and dogs in on their own special screen names to vote, assuming I could make them mash the right keys. But as of right now, I am only one vote out of 2nd place! The election is over on January 15th. I am sure to run out of friends soon, and will have to resort to better tactics than promising Starbucks for a favorable ballot. But who knows? It's been fun, and something that takes the edge off of cold gray days. :) :)

I did manage a nice 4.7 miles with friends from RunnersWorld this evening. Absent minded fool that I am, I forgot my camera, but did borrow a camera from Kathy, so maybe some pics tomorrow of the run if I can borrow her chip.

So to suffice, a coupla pics from the archives.Some days, even when you're looking up, it's all still gray.But sometimes unexpectedly, God will through in a little color.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Get out and vote!! :)



I have been nominated for The People's Health Blogger Award from Wellsphere. I am thrilled to be considered for this, but I need your votes! Click on the icon on the left to cast your vote. You can vote early and vote often. Vote with purpose. Be sure the chads are not dangling. Take your stub into any store of your choice and get huge discounts....err....well maybe not. Vote, and then have a great run.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

The 2008 TATUR Christmas party write-up




If ya missed the BIG TATUR Christmas party Friday night at Dan Threlkeld's house, you missed an event! Dan did a "preacher's count" and announced there were 100 people attending. It was standing room only, and I left weighing about 5 pounds heavier than when I arrived. My schoolgirl figure is really getting away!Dan and JoAnn are the most gracious hosts ever, and JoAnn is a gourmet cook. This was a potluck, with everyone bringing something to eat or drink. Let's just say....nourishment was plentiful.Don't make the mistake of thinking that Polly was the jumping the gun on the munchies. The Zombie began grazing as soon as he walked through the door!

Lynna doesn't realize the danger she is in getting ahead of Tatur Uno. Fortunately for her, Uno had had a beer and was chilling out nicely.

The kitchen was full, and so was the living room. One could opt for the dining room or the game room upstairs, and all the rooms were packed.

Nels (in the black shirt), his lovely wife Donna (hiding behind him), and his lovely friend John came all the way from OKC to the party.The red jacket he's holding up is from the Arkansas Traveller and awarded to him for being a 10 time finisher. John has completed 22-- 100 milers, and over 100 ultras. Quite amazing.

Here are 2 more amazing ultrarunners. Randy Ellis on the left has ran numerous 100 milers and ultras, has won a 24 hour track race. He has also ran from the Pacific to the Atlantic and wrote a great book about it, "Running With Payne" in which he gives an account of the Bunion Derby, a race ran in the 1920s in which Andy Payne from right here in Oklahoma won this coast to coast race. (No, Randy did not run it WITH Andy.....Randy was just a toddler then.) This book is a great read. Earl Blewett has quite a nice race resume as well. Earl is a 3 time finisher of the AT 100, and has a few Leadville finishes to his credit as well. He has also been the race director of the Lake McMurtry 50K in Stillwater for the past 10 years. More about this race in a future post. (Oh, and actually, Randy is not really that old. Bad Zombie!)

Two awesome Crew Babes!! My DW Dana, and Mrs. Randy Ellis. Marcy and Dana share crewing duties all day, and then all night when their husbands run in 100 milers. They endure extreme grumpiness from their runners, and extreme fatigue from lack of sleep. Sound fun??

Roman A) is suffering from a perspiration disorder, B) didn't get the hankie to his nose before the sneeze, C) is lactating.

The first time ultra finishers were recognized. There have been many of our Tatur conglomerate who have conquered the distance this year. Glenn, and Vicky come to mind, but more on them later. Above, Jason and Lisa, along with Bobby cruised through Sunmart only 3 weeks after finishing their first marathon. (Jason and Lisa, on a quest to become Marathon Maniacs are on their way to Dallas as I type to do White Rock.) Bob and his daughter Janeen also notched up a finish in the 50K. Bob was also recognized for having the most gory injury of the year when he did a face plant just 100 yards from the finish of the T & T Trail race this past September. (I would also give honorable mention to Nels for his nose plant on one of the Sunmart bridges.

Vicky was awarded for Most Spirited Tatur. I would also give her the Energizer Bunny award.

Tatur Uno, Mr. Johnny Spriggs himself, won the award for most miles raced. Johnny is the only one in our group who may be more crazy than I am.

Bill Ford aka Spud, was not present but was recognized for his behind the scenes work. Bill, I hope you don't mind, but I drank your award!

Dana was awarded the Crew Babe of the Year Award. And well deserved I say!!! She received a Tatur shirt and a gift certificate to have her horns trimmed.

Glenn won the Rookie of the Year award. Glenn ran his 1st 50K at Sunmart and smoked the course. He also ran his 1st 2 marathons this year and was 2nd in the Turkey & Taturs 25K.

Bobby won the award for Most Inspirational Tatur. Bobby has in 2 years went from Couch Potato to Super Tatur. He NEVER misses a group run, never complains, would do anything for a fellow runner, and did awesome in his 1st marathon and 1st 50K this year. Look for him on the Marathon Maniacs page real soon, and at the start of a 50 miler in the near future.

Arnold won the Most Beat-up Feet award. Arnold finished 3-100 milers this year, and paced a friend in Badwater. Now, he has the bug to DO Badwater next year as well as McNaughton Park 150 miler. Ouch!

Shelley won the Best Performance by a Tatur award. If Shelley is toeing the line in a trail race, wise money is bet on her to win. She has been 1st or 2nd in every trail race she has done this year, including setting a course record at Flat Rock. And poor Kurt kills himself trying to keep up.

I'd like to say such a HUGE THANK YOU to Kathy and Brian, who work all the time making sure all the rest of us have fun. And they do that very well. Kathy was the Tatur of the year last year, and deserves that honor every year. Brian lives, eats, sleeps, and drinks Tatur. (Well, there's more beer in that drink category, and lately there's been a lot of salad in the diet.) I cannot thank them and Tatur enough for honoring me with this years Tatur of the Year award. I would say I'm speechless, but you all know I love to talk.And yes, I did kiss him. It was icky....he was all scratchy! Thanks again, guys.This is by far my most favorite award.

Just to show how great a guy Brian is, he presents Rikki Wimmer from the Westside YMCA a check for 2,200 from the proceeds from the T & T Trail race.A lot of race directors could pocket the $$$ from a race, but Brian makes sure the race benefits a charity, and the YMCA daycamp is a great one.

Mark this event on your calenders. Tatur throws a party that should never be missed!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Sunmart saga




Ok, here is the full monty. RunnersWorld and TATUR took about 40 people to Huntsville Texas to run or support this trail race. This was my 3rd year to run it, and this year was to be an easy time, running again with Dana and Bobby who was doing his 1st ULTRA just 3 weeks after doing his 1st marathon! Dana had high hopes of 1. breaking 8 hours, or 2. breaking 9 hours, and 3. beating her time of 10:12 last year. I knew 2 of her 3 goals were a pretty sure bet.Another friend, Bob Lovelace, ran with us and the 4 of us made a great team, chatting all along the way.

But as I always seem to do, let me digress a little. There was to be about a 10 car caravan leaving out of Tulsa at 4:00 am Friday morning. T Z is not that much of a morning person, and neither is Dana, so we rebelled and slept in until about 6:30. It turns out that the 10 car caravan ended up as a 5 member carpool in a nice large Toyota Sequoia. But Bobby and Susan decided to follow us on the long journey to Houston, so we had a 2 car train. My nephews John and Jeff went with us, and Jeff ran his 1st 50K. John was limited to cheer-leading and aid station duties as his knee is still acting up a little.

Along the way, Bobby realized he had forgot to bring his Vespa, a supplement he takes that is made from a bunch of stuff like royal jelly and wasp extract. We were way to far away to make a trip back, and we figured he could find some at a store in Dallas or Houston. I googled to find a store in Dallas and Houston and no one had ever heard of it. Dana was worried that Bobby would be a little bothered that he did not have it since he had used it all during his training. I kept making phone calls and finally called Vespa headquarters. Nothing like going straight to the top. The person on the other end of the phone seemed like a regular Joe, and said he would do his best to accommodate us, even offering to send us some product overnight to our hotel. But of course, our race started early in the morning. He took my cell # and about an hour later, he called back and had located 5 pouches in Houston, and gave us the number and address. All was well, or so we thought.

Traffic along the way through Dallas was awful. Houston's traffic was just as bad. The interstate between was backed up in two different places due to road construction and a bad auto accident. We were beginning to run out of time. My Jeep had GPS, and we programmed it to take us right to the bike shop where we were to get out Vespa. But it was right in the middle of a very bad area. The girls were a little antsy about being here. Well, so were Bobby and I. We kept circling the block but just could not find the bike store. There was a long old beat up block of metal warehouses with security bars and barbed wire chain link fences. I called the store owner and he assured me the shop was right on the corner. So, I got out of the Jeep and walked right to the metal building all the while looking for some sort of a front entrance.Behind this locked metal fence was the front door to an old warehouse where a bike garage was. This guy was a bicycle mechanic and a very good one no doubt. But best of all, he had Bobby's Vespa and was glad to sell it to us at a slightly inflated price.

Well, then it was hustle time to get to the expo to pick up our packets, sign up some friends, and partake of the nice pasta dinner. Traffic was so bad, that we were sure to be late. But somehow, I made a wrong turn and got on some other expressway and it took us a few miles out of the way but we had no traffic tie-ups at all. Made it there with time to spare! Did not get any pics at the expo, but let me say....the swag at Sunmart is awesome. First off, you get a nice huge canvas sports bag, and then you proceed to fill it with a tech shirt, a tech hat, a note book, sunglasses, a rain poncho, stuffed toys, a manicure kit, body glide, and I am sure there is more. All the bags we had to pick up made for a heavy load.

Slept well in Huntsville at an overpriced Super 8, and made it early to the race area in Huntsville State Park.The picture was grainy, and so was my throat. Sinuses were acting up and my throat was raw, and tended to want to stick shut. However, this did not really pose a problem during the race. I sipped water all day long, but ran fairly dehydrated as I always seem to do.

The 50 milers took off at 7:00.Kathy is all smiles....or make that all tongue as she passes by. I plan to give the 50 mile another go next year, but the 50K is a very relaxed run. I was glad to be running with Bobby and Dana.

A few more pre-race pics:Glenn and Vicky are wired and ready to go.

Dee and Aaron are all bundled up like it's COLD....it was!!

Two first time ultra runners who just kicked ass! Way to go Jason and Lisa!

No first-timers here. My buddy Spud ran a super race and was 1st TATUR!

Roman snaps a shot of the back of my head. A nice fog was rolling off of the lake.

A couple more 1st timers Peggy and Beth from Oklahoma City.

Bob and his daughter Janeen were also doing their 1st 50K. They both did great!

There were lots of TATUR shirts to be seen at Sunmart. Curtis and Charlie wore them proudly.

Jenni, as well as Jason, Lisa, and Bobby were here in Texas running the 50K just 3 weeks after their 1st marathon.

7:45 rolled around, and they counted off the seconds from 10....and then we were running.With around 500 runners, it was a crowded start. The first mile of the race was on the road, so it gave a little time for the masses to spread out.The four of us started out maybe just a little too fast, but that's easy to do in a crowd of people. We slowed down a little when we got to the single track. Actually, there was a bit of a log jamb there, but everyone soon spread out nicely.One of the cool things about the Sunmart trails is that there are several wooden bridges over the wetlands. I always love running over them. I suppose they might be slick and treacherous if they were wet, but that has yet to be a problem in any of the races I have done here.

The 50K consisted of a 6.7 mile loop, and then two 12.15 mile loops. You came back to the start/finish area between all the loops. Of the 31 miles, probably only a mile of it was on pavement. The rest was on nice pine needles, dirt, soft sand, or the bridges. There are actually no rocks at all unless you counted a chunk of asphalt here and there.Bob and Dana leave an aid station and head up a slight hill.

Another interesting thing about this area is that there are actually alligators in the swampy areas.I suppose a fall off of one of these bridges in the summer months could be a little scary!Ok ok I do get a little carried away. The alligator thing is true, although it is doubtful you would ever see one in December. The gator pic was swiped from the web. Dana and Bobby did conspire to throw me in for gator bait for making them push the pace on their last lap! And the blood on the bridge was for real. I heard that Nels took a bad fall and came in with a bloody nose. Nels, was that your blood? Or maybe there WAS a gator attack?Love these bridges!And the aid station food! They were like full service buffets! Any snack you could imagine was there. And my personal favorite:

27 miles down, 4 to go!Dana was tired, but DNF was not even on her mind.More bridges.

It's crunch time. Come on! Only one more mile to go!

We crossed the finish line with 8:53 showing on the clock, although our chip time was 8:52 and change. Bob finished a few minutes ahead of us. He had a hip hurting and some nausea issues, and was ready to get OFF the trails. The three of us waddled through the finish area and collected our bling. They had nice hooded jackets instead of the usual Tyvek jackets.Dana finished an hour and twenty minutes faster than last year. You might say she ran two minutes and 34 seconds per mile faster....and got a HUGE PR!

It was also at this time that I found Jeff to ask about how his race went. Since the course had several out-and-backs, we saw a lot of the runners as we went along, but we never saw Jeff. I guessed it was because he had went out fast and was at least 4 miles ahead of us after we had went 8 miles. Pretty fast....maybe too fast. Well, he told me he had been disqualified because he had littered. I was floored over this. Now don't get me wrong, I think they should remove ears of people who litter, but tossing a cup near an aid station is not all that bad of an offense, and LOTS of people did just that. I thought it very petty that they denied him an opportunity to finish, and was gonna raise an issue with the peeps giving out the finishers jackets to make them give him one. (Remember, I had just gotten through going 31 miles myself....not always thinking that clearly.) Well, everyone had their laugh....the joke was on me. Jeff had finished his race in 6:20, and actually WON his age group!

I hope John, Jeff's twin brother, can get his knee healed up so he can run next year!He did have a good time hanging out though.

Look at all the goofy grins on these ultra runners!

Sunmart feeds you well. Besides the pasta feed, there is a very nice breakfast before the race, and then hamburgers, hotdogs, grilled chicken, baked beans, mac and cheese, tater tots, soda, hot chocolate, and coffee all day, and then barbque and turkey drumsticks in the evening.I always gain about 7-8 more pounds....the week after thanksgiving at that.

For some race times of of the TATUR/RunnersWorld contingent, look in the post below.