Bart Yasso’s My Life on the Run could just has easily have been called Bart’s Excellent Adventures. Which was a much better joke when I was planning it out in my mind.
Anyway, Bart Yasso is a Character, and like the man, the book is engaging and delightful. Yes, there are regular asides about the attractiveness of women, which always drive me crazy. But Yasso at least extends his comments to men occasionally, so I’ll give him some benefit of the doubt and say that he’s being descriptive rather than sexist.
What are these adventures, you might ask? Well, Yasso has to give a report on Socrates, or “So-crates” as he calls him and … still not funny?
Yasso runs the Badwater ultra marathon, a 146-mile race in July in Death Valley. He runs a 5k at a nudist colony, which is secretly on my life list–my friend told me that she did one topless–what is it with people from the LV?
He runs the Rome marathon the day after he gets married; he conquers Lyme Disease twice; he craves the attention of his father (just like us regular folk!); he notches his only marathon win at age 43 (there’s still hope!); and, most importantly, he has a fantastic time doing it.
Call me a Tuesdays with Morrie kind of sucker, but I like stories written by enthusiastic, affable people doing crazy things and enjoying themselves. (I also like love stories where people die at the end so you can experience the full range of human emotion.)
Ok, maybe your title is better.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Capital Area Runners, track workout, training run, Tucson Half Marathon
This morning I actually dragged my ass out of bed and went to the track. And it was awesome! Coach George only let me run 1 x 1600 and 1 x 800, but I ran a respectable and fairly effortless 7:41 for the mile and 3:37 for the half mile, so I’m happy and pumped to be training again. I spent the morning mocking up full marathon splits and planning my spring racing season.
Today I’ll finally mail in my Tucson Half registration 
The altitude is scaring me, but hey, it’s something to do. And it’s downhill, though still at altitude.
Also, go check out Dash’s Bites for the most info on pool running you’ll find in one place. I hate pool running, but it is a good workout. I might go back to it at some point, but it will always be in conjunction with swimming. Because I’m not going to waste any more admission fees on just pool running.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Congrats to all NY Marathon finishers! And special congratulations to Meb Keflezighi, who became the first American to win the race in 27 years! And to Derartu Tulu who pulled out a win at the age of 37, giving me hope that my best marathoning years are still ahead of me.
As for me, I almost let some perfect running weather pass me by, but managed to squeak in an 8-mile run tonight to cap off a 25-mile week–my highest per week mileage since my accident.
For 5 of my 8 miles, I listened to music. I’m thinking a lot about making a marathon pep playlist, so I thought I should start keeping track of the music I like to run to. So here’s a quick list of the songs I got through, with asterisks next to the keepers and probably some editorial comment.
1. Charmer, Kings of Leon*
2. Lonely Road, Mason Jennings*
3. Wake Up Alone, Amy Winehouse, suprisingly *
4. April Fools, Rufus Wainwright*, I’m partial to songs that I know the words to
5. I Want You, The Kooks, I love the Kooks, but I can’t really remember what this sounded like
6. Lost in Space, Aimee Mann* I was rolling kinda slow then, and Aimee was there to help me out
7. Follow Through, Hotel Lights,* A little slow, but again I know the words
8. Paper Planes, M.I.A.*, gunshots are so rhythmic
9. Song for the Dumped, Ben Folds Five, I’m torn on this one
10. Portions for Foxes, Rilo Kiley*, hell yeah
11. Jackie Big Tits, The Kooks*, I didn’t know that was the name of this song
12. I Am a Train, Hotel Lights*
13. We are Nowhere and It’s Now, Bright Eyes, slow, but I was wrapping it up
14. Prison Food, Ben Folds, I hate new Ben Folds
15. Poor Boy, Blind Pilot, I love Blind Pilot, but this one was slow.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: California Tortilla, Marine Corps Marathon, race report
Or as you might call it, the Marine Corps Marathon. I love everything about this race except actually competing in it. Over the last four years I have run 11 miles with my sister, run 20 miles with a friend, run my PR of 3:45:31, and run 6 miles with a friend. The only time I didn’t have a total blast was when I ran it myself. Marathons are hard.
Marine Corps is DC running at its best. Everyone comes out and cheers on their friends, and I never fail to see several people that I know. It’s just all sunshine and positive energy and gorgeous scenery and fun.
This year I dragged my friend from high school out for the ride. She came and ran the 5k with me on Saturday (and set a 1+ minute PR), so we got up at 6:30 to head into Rosslyn. We watched runners pass the first mile before heading into Georgetown to catch the elites. Then we met up with Katie and went to mile 9 to try to see some friends. We only managed to see one before my friend and I had to haul ass to make it to the 14th Street bridge in time to catch another running friend. I picked her up at mile 20 and ran her in. And let me tell you, starting a marathon at the 20-mile mark is really the way to go.
At the end we met up with Wes and the rest of our running friends and got some burritos. Delicious day all around.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5k, race, Race for World Peace, race report
First of all, I would just like to thank you all for reading my blog and thereby supporting my cause, which is world peace.
I chose this race because a friend from high school wanted to come to DC to run a 5k. I told her she should come Marine Corps weekend, and bada bing, this was one of two races on the Saturday of MCM that took place on the campus of my alma mater. The other race, a 5k at American U, was actually the very first race I ever ran, back in 2002. I believe I finished in 30:13 on an extremely hilly course. But given the choice between AU’s campus and GW’s for a visitor, I had to go with GW.
The bad of the race? I lost my fucking sunglasses. Somehow they fell off my hat without my noticing and now some rich GW undergrad is probably tooling around in a relatively new pair of Natives. Well, joke’s on you; the vents at the top don’t really block the sun, and I still have all the interchangeable lenses! I found a potential replacement pair, but as I said, the vents at the top don’t really block the sun…
The good: an even 8-minute pace (well, a 7:35 first mile, then 16:26 for the next two) for a 24:50 finish, which isn’t that far off from my glory running days and came on a muggy, 70-degree morning, an 8th out of 88 in my age group finish, my picture on the front of the Washington Running Report website* (as you know), running into some friends, and beauty queens. And not just any beauty queens–beauty queens who seemed to have no idea how hilarious it was (to me, at least) to stand up on a podium and say things like (such as) “Thank you all for coming out to support my cause, which is world peace.” Yes, we’re all just doing our part. I’ll keep running road races, and you keep looking pretty, and before you know it, ta-daaaaaaa, world peace will be realized. Just ask the Nobel Prize committee. (I feel bad making this joke after seeing the search results for “Obama peace prize.” Geez, people, he didn’t award himself the prize!)
And, at the risk of sounding like my brother, there was some lady there doing the announcing–from reading the race report, I believe she might be a DC social scene blogger–which would explain why I don’t know who she is–but she had a hell of a time stringing together a sentence. I wish I could imitate her mangling of the English language and all rules of grammar, but my brain does not allow me to process things like that. If you want an example, I suggest reading the race report itself, which makes absolutely no sense to me, and I was there. (Kathy and Rick, call me!)
Oh, what? You want to hear about the race itself? Well, it was pretty good. Small and informal, but overall well organized and chip-timed. There was no two-mile marker that I saw, but there were two water stops, which was fantastic on such a muggy day, and the course martials were all friendly and enthusiastic. The course provided a light challenge; it started downhill, then rolled a bit from there before we headed back up the big hill from the mall to Pennsylvania Ave. The race offered $1,000 to the first-place man and woman, and it offered some outstanding door prizes, including a hotel stay, dinner, and Kennedy Center ticket package. I didn’t stay for the world peace festival because it started pouring, but next year, if it’s sunny, it could be a great day.
*My picture is already down. Fame is fleeting. But, wait, oh my god, my son! He’s floating away in a balloon! Someone help!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5k, Marine Corps Marathon, race, Race for World Peace
So I got some acknowledgment from my friend about how hard keeping up a blog is. It’s kind of like marathoning–not for the faint at heart.
Lots to blog about this week–a race report from my 5k and stint as a home page model and of course an MCM report. Here’s a preview–shitty weather and lost sunglasses on Saturday gave way to a beautiful day for a run on Sunday.
Talk soon.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5k, race, Run Washington, I'm a celebrity!
Look at this!
Part of the Run Washington campaign for real beauty.
Text:
Race & Festival for World Peace
She is just one of many happy finishers in Saturday’s Race & Festival for World Peace 5K in Washington, DC. Elizabeth Bolton of Alexandria, Virginia ran an even 8 minute pace to finish in 24:50.
The inaugural race offered runners a brand new course through downtown, $2,000 in prize money, refreshments, and a World Peace Festival with entertainment from around the world.
Prize money brought out the fast runners, and Ethiopians Demesse Tefera (15:10) and Hirut Mandefro (17:04), currently residing in Silver Spring, set course records for men and women that will be hard to beat.
See full results of this and other weekend races now; check back for our race day report.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alexandria, fundraising, Marine Corps Marathon, running in the news, RunningBrooke
Head over to the Alexandria Times website to download a copy of this week’s paper and read the front page story all about Lizard Runs blog friend and my training friend RunningBrooke, who is doing big things to benefit the city of Alexandria.
As either the article or Brooke’s website and blog will tell you, she’s running a marathon in all 50 states and on all 7 continents to raise money for Alexandria charities. So go check her out and support her!
Lots to blog about, but no time to do it. Hope to squeeze some in amid a race and Christmas in October, aka, Marine Corps!
And we love them. Well, I don’t love love them, because their running clothes are so tight and small and expensive, but if I were a smaller, richer girl, I’d own more than a single shirt and pair of capris (which, when worn together, comprise my most expensive outfit, including my prom dresses (not adjusted for inflation)).
Since I got a little play from mentioning Lululemon in a blog post that wasn’t really about them, I thought I’d return the favor and talk up their big running party.
Tomorrow night, Lululemon in Logan Circle, head out for another crazy-fast easy run, this time with elite runner Dane Rauschenberg, then come back to the store for a par-tay (yes, I know what year it is). Meet new Pacers bad-ass Julie Culley! See this girl I have an internet relationship with and find out if she recognizes me in person!
Seriously, all running-based activities are fun for me, and this one sounds like no exception. I will be there–so I guess I could also advertise that you could meet me (please don’t murder and/or stalk me).
Tonight I thought I’d try out Lululemon’s run club, and I convinced Katie to join me. Well, the guest elite marathoner gave us a reluctant little pep talk at the beginning about how important food and hydration is for running, and I still didn’t get it. Then we started out on the run, and the rest of the “slow” 3-mile group exploded, and I still didn’t get it. Then my legs turned to led, and I realized that oh yeah, all I’d eaten since 1 was a bag of sour cream and cheddar Ruffles, aka, the most substantive food the vending machine in my office offered.
Now, I probably wouldn’t have run with the group anyway–they were flying, and after my run this weekend, I was looking to run really easy. So Katie and I did our own little run. But I did stop for a brief power fuel surge. Katie had brought me some pumpkin cookies, so we stopped so I could eat one. And I finished the run successfully!
I was so excited that I rode my bike home to blog about it. I’m going to go eat my lentil soup now, though. I’m feeling lightheaded. Nutrition!
