....miles to go before I sleep....: April 2010

Thursday, April 29, 2010

An odd turn of events

I came home one day last week to discover my yard had been invaded by a flock of flamingos. They had just made theirselves at home right in my front yard, as if they had lived here for years. They really showed no fear, and in fact, I had to step over them to even get in my front door.

They seemed to be pretty intent on feeding, and I wondered if grubworms were a part of their diet, and if so, I was in luck because I have a lot of them.

It turned out that we had not been to the grocery store for a while and Dana's diet consists of mainly chicken and salad. Since we needed chicken, and I had all these birds in the yard....

....and as soon as I stepped back out in the yard with a hatchet, the peaceful birds ambled away, and did not really let me get close.I did manaage to grab one by the leg and put his neck on a stump and lopped it off.

Plucking a chicken is a difficult thing to do, and I think a flamingo may be even more difficult. But soon enough, I had it cleaned and ready to slap on the grille.

The meat was white meat, and seemed to be really lean....a good diet food! I brushed on a little barbeque sauce, and the aroma drifted all over the outside air. MMMMMM!!!!

Soon enough, it was ready to take off the grill.

Gotta say, it was one of the best meals I have ever had....and it did in fact taste a lot like chicken.

Seriously, Jessica Gulley is a young lady in the RunnersWorld group, and is taking a mission trip to Peru this summer. To raise money for this endeavor, she has accumulated a flock of flamingos, and has them transported to various "friend's" houses. I am honored to be one of those friends. The flock is delivered with a letter that offers their services to relocate the flock for a designated fee. Quite a racket, don't ya think? The cool thing is, "I" got to designate "where" the flock would be relocated to. (Which got me to wondering WHO had the flock delivered to MY house!) Another interesting clause in the agreement was that I had the opportunity to buy flock infestation insurance for another modest fee. This insurance policy guaranteed that the flock would not come back to my house. Very clever, if you ask me! I was happy to have the flock relocated, and glad to pay the relocation fee. Still thinking about flock insurance....as tasty as that flamingo was, I wouldn't mind eating another!!

Monday, April 26, 2010

OKC Marathon

Last Saturday, I made the annual trek down the turnpike to OKC to run the OKC Memorial marathon. This was the 10th running of the race, and it was a certainty that it would be the biggest and the best so far. This was my first marathon (2003) and at 43 years of age and at a lean trim 155 lbs, I ran a 3:57:06. Now I am fatter, older, and uglier. "Slower" just seems to fit all too well in that list of adjectives.

Maybe 200 friends or so from RunnersWorld made the trip, with 39 riding in a chartered Party Bus. The closest I got to the PB was following it down I-44. Rumor has is that wine and song were flowing, but what happened on the Party Bus stays on the Party Bus. This pic was put up on Facebook--Tom with a brewsky looking back as is he were TAUNTING ME!!! Poor little me all by myself in the car behind the bus. I posted a pic of MY party "bus".

A very low alcohol content in my drink.

The riders of the Party Bus all stayed at the same motel, and the good times just kept rolling.

We were treated to a catered pasta buffet, and it was actually good...not bland at all, and it hit the spot.
Dessert was carrot cake and chocolate cake.
Brian wasted no time, treating dessert like an appetizer.

The alarm rang all too soon. 4:30 seemed an insane hour to wake up, although sometimes I am still UP that late. But to get to the start line in time, and to have time for a few pre-race photos, we had to get an early start.

Festivity was in the air...the chilly air. It was a nippy 52 degrees at the start.

Good friends, good times. Although Ed was unaware, I had just put a sticker on the back of his singlet.

And just to be fair, I was wearing stickers too!

I was running with a relay team. The Nutty Sole mates.

Sandra was our captain, and she ran the 1st 10K. Susan took over from there, running 5K. Then, I took the chip and ran 12K before turning the reign over to Linda who ran 5K and handed off to Bobby who finished the last 12K. My actual plan was to run from the start and hang with my teamies the whole way. Sandra and I made our way to the back of the corral. The gun went off, and because of the long delay, we had time to visit the vacated porta-potties and still make the back of the crowd. Chip timing in a race like this is a good thing--we crossed the starting mat 15 minutes after the gun went off.

Sandra had a timer, and we planned on running 2 minutes and walking one. We did this for the duration of the first leg, and averaged about 11 minute miles. I am now thinking seriously about using a timer and regimented walk breaks in the Mother Road III.

I snapped a pic of this shirt. The lady was a good sport....maybe it was because we WERE behind her.

One mile into the race we turned east, and were it not overcast, we would have had a good sunrise.

Just a little later, the clouds seemed to disperse, and we ended up with a day of spectacular weather!

Mile 4 I think....and Oklahoma's capitol building.

We caught up with friends Deon and Karen. Sandra tries her hand at photo-bombing.

Our transition time could have been a little better, but we really did not think we were gonna be in the money anyway. Sandra turns the chip over to Susan and leg 2 was underway.

Susan abandoned the run/walk system, and chose to run by feel. We ran about 80% of the way, and only walked the hills.

This was TRUTH in ADVERTISING.

We ran into a few clowns along the way.

Actually, Jason and Lisa shouldn't be mentioned with the clowns. They had ran Free State the day before--Jason running 40 miles, and Lisa running a marathon, in ankle deep mud for most of the way. After a few hours of bathing, and a few hours of sleep, they left Kansas at 3:30 am and drove to OKC to cheer us on. Thanks, Jason and Lisa!!

And just to assure you I was not being critical of my teammates--I was no faster with the chip exchange.

I took off, and ran as fast as my middle-aged body would go. I thought I surely could reel off some 9 minute miles, but I struggled to keep a 10 m/m pace. Might have done a minute better had I not taken 3 or 4 pics and slowed to chat with a few RW friends. I did hit it hard near the end to look good at the transition. Linda took my chip and was off in no time. Give her an A for a quick exchange.

Just a quick snap of Linda, and she was off before I could get a better shot.

I posed for a semi-group pic with Sandra and Susan....

....and then I continued my run at a more relaxed pace. I had passed Roman a few miles back, and he was having some hip flexor issues, and I thought I might wait up for him. About a mile in to this slower pace, I came to Candice, who had drove over to watch all of us run. (I think she really missed being out with us.) We chatted for a while while I waited for Roman. Conveniently, she was right in front of a Starbucks, but unconveniently, I did not have any $$$ with me. Awesome girl that she is, Candice hooked me up, and my usual TripleGrandeSoyLatte really hit the spot. Roman showed up right about then, and I resumed my pacer duty (actually, it was more like pacer privileges.)
I spent a little more time taking pictures from here on in.

The finish line was not as lively a place at 6 hours as it might have been an hour or so earlier. I might have been under 6 hours for my actual time, although it was unofficial. Our relay team finished in 5:20 and change by the chip, which was better than our goal. I got a good training run. And, I was not really all that beat up as is usually the case after that much road running.

The Party Bus crowd had a late checkout at the motel, and I did manage to get all the salt washed off of me before heading home. All in all, it was a fun weekend!

Check back in a day or so--I may have a few more pictures posted. Also, read the post below for a stroll down Classen blvd.