memories of the mekong

i'm training for a (sprint) triathlon.

after my second half marathon, i decided i was up for a different kind of challenge.  in a roundabout phone conversation, my sister and i seemed to unintentionally convince each other that flying to san diego for a long weekend to compete in what will be my first triathlon was a great idea.

now don't get me wrong, i'm very excited.  i've developed a strict training regimen that involves me waking up far before the sun each morning to work out.  some mornings i cycle and other mornings i swim.  then in the afternoons i often run and do yoga.  i'm exhausted, but i'm feeling physically fit and prepared for the trio of fitness challenges that awaits me on the west coast.

the one leg of the race that i'm very nervous about, despite my preparedness, is the swim.

you may or may not know this about me.  but i'm scared of the dark.  this fear includes:

1. walking alone at night (the only legitimate part of my fear for someone my age)

2. entering a room/building when no one is home and thus, all the lights are off (i have grown to be ok with this situation in my own apartment)

3. sleeping (yes, i have a nightlight to scare away the monsters under my bed)

4. camping (lions, tigers, and bears, oh my)

5. expansive bodies of water when i cannot see the bottom

those expansive bodies of water are what concern me most right now.  to prep myself, i have been trying to recall all the times that i've swum in something dark and unfamiliar.  unfortunately, all the water we swam in during our travels last year were perfectly crystal clear, so that doesn't help my comfort level.  the atlantic ocean is cloudy but i've swum in it my whole life, making it familiar and non-threatening.  i generally tend to stay away from anything particularly murky... 

the one very fitting experience that comes to mind for comfort was last fall in thailand.  A and i were nearing the end of our SE asia adventure and had traveled with A's cousin, H, from nong khai via motorbike to a sleepy "town" on the mekong river.  by town i mean, a very small cluster of people and buildings having the most relaxed life imaginable.  we each rented a bungalow for a long weekend of reading in hammocks overlooking the vast mekong river.

to say that our setup was idyllic is an extreme understatement.  i don't know if there are even words to describe the calmness of this place.  despite the roaring mekong below us, i cannot remember a time when i have been more relaxed.

on our last night in the bungalows, we stayed up late chatting and drinking leos until the boys decided that it was time to go swimming in the mekong.  now, it was the middle of the night and we were in the middle of nowhere.  darkness surrounded us and i was terrified to begin with.  absolutely not was i going swimming in the river that RAGED below us.  had they not seen how fast it was moving?  had they not seen how wide it was?  had they not noticed that you can't the bottom?  who knows what lives in there! did they not notice that it was DARK OUTSIDE?!!  

while they ran down the hill and dove in, i slowly made my way behind them as their "lifeguard."  i wasn't going to completely miss out on the "fun" by sitting on the porch in the dark alone.  

well. needless to say, after a couple rounds of the boys flipping into the water and letting it carry them downstream before swimming back to the hill and climbing up, i realized that they weren't going to die.  if any scary monsters lived in the depths, they hadn't surfaced yet and i they were having so much fun!  so in i jumped.  the swift current caught me by surprise and my heart was racing (you know, because of the potential sea monsters and all the darkness) but i was swimming in the mekong!  those 15 minutes of swimming in the hugest, muddiest, fastest moving body of water that i have ever seen are something that i will never forget.

it's funny how something that encapsulates so many of my fears can be one of my greatest memories. 

so when i think about swimming in the mekong, i realize that san diego's mission bay can't possibly be that bad. 

x!

possible retraction?

i cannot believe how many things i did today!  despite the cold, rainy weather, i got up (early) and ran the GW Parkway 10 miler classic (and finished in 1:35:39!), ate a delicious brunch in del rey with M and her fam, AND met up with cousin J (who i hadn't seen since i moved here) for delicious, celebratory beers at one of my favorite spots.  that was all before 3pm.  i was exhausted.  upon returning home i took a much needed shower and nap and then was out the door for church at 5 followed directly by needtobreathe at the 930 club.

i did all of those things and i normally don't like to leave my house in the rain.

i was thinking over my day and i realized that it would be hard to accomplish such a day living anywhere else.  i also realized that i've had lots of similar days in the recent past.  in fact, my weekends have generally been incredible.  thus, i may have to retract my previous claim of having a mundane life...

x!

reunion and my second half marathon!

a week ago, i ran my second half marathon!  the plan was concocted while i was in vietnam last november.  i'm not sure where the inspiration came from but all of a sudden, i remember thinking, "i want to run another race!"  so i did a quick google search, found the rock 'n roll half marathon in DC and sent an email out to friends.  who wanted to join me?! 

since we ran the bavisela together in trieste last may, it was easy to convince V and L and the plans were set.  march 17th, 2012 = reunion half marathon + early bday celebration for me and my quarter of a century! 

so how did the training go?  well i got into really good shape in december when i wasn't working.  i was lucky to have beautiful running weather at my parents' in roanoke, and not having a job gave me plenty of time to focus on the running.  unfortunately, when i did start working again in january - things got a bit hectic.  i was stressed and with minimal daylight hours, it was difficult to find time to run outside - and who wants to do a long run on the treadmill? definitely not me.  

thankfully, living near V again gave me extra motivation.  we started running together during the weeks and doing long runs on the weekends -- it's amazing how much more fun it is to run 11 miles with a friend than by yourself.  overall, things were much easier this go around.  i knew what to expect and i was more confident in myself knowing that i had run 13 miles before.  in addition to V, i knew lots of other people in the area training for the same race or another race so there always seemed to be people doing the same thing i was.  and running through the monuments in DC isn't the worst thing ever.  

as we turned the corner to march and the weather gods decided they weren't into winter weather, things began to heat up around here.  and by that i mean, temperatures very quickly rose to mid-70s and wearing a jacket was no longer necessary.  beautiful! wonderful! excellent! i first thought.  but then i went on a run and was super sweaty and the heavy, humid air was hard to breathe and WOOF i was not trained for this. enter, nervous emotions.  

my goal for this race (the one i told other people) was to beat my time last year (2:14) but my secret goal (the one i didn't tell many people) was to break 2 hours.  i was feeling really good and the times of my long runs made me think i could do it.  alas, neither happened, officially.  my official finishing time was 2:16 but i did have a 7ish minute bathroom stop in the middle.  so, minus those 7 minutes of standing in a line, i would have finished in 2:09 and boom! met my outloud goal.  

the race was a fun one.  there were SO MANY people running and going through DC on st. patrick's day made for humorous spectator circumstances.  there were lots of encouraging signs saying things like "beer: 5 miles ahead," or "hurry up so we can drink."  there was even a make-shift service station of good samaritans passing out cups of green beer to runners.  i may have taken a cup if they hadn't been positioned right at the bottom of a big hill around mile 8...

at the end of the race, we weren't greeted with jello shots like last year (we missed you, K!) but the race did have a giant expo with lots of free swag and live music! we did our best to hoard the free swag and milk the expo for all we could.   

then we spent an excellent day hanging out in DC, catching up, refueling, and yes, drinking our share of guinness to celebrate the holiday.  the race was fun and the reunion around which the weekend was centered was even more fun. 

i love the camaraderie of running races with friends -- luckily, i have a few more coming up!  in may, i'm doing a triathlon in san diego with my sister as well as tentatively running another half over memorial day weekend with lizzy in boston!  apparently i'm into being physically fit.  thanks to daylight savings, it's much easier to find daylight hours in which to train...  you know me, just thinking about running in the dark makes me nervous.

i'm still amazed with myself and my enthusiasm for running now as an "adult."  on every long run i took, i found myself thinking back to my high school track days and the passionate hatred i had for running the 400 meter warm-up lap that was required.... man how things change.

x!

ouch. my knees hurt.

if you haven't been keeping up with my goings on, i've been running a lot.  i ran a 10k at the end of march and am registered for the bavisela half-marathon in trieste on may 8th.

so i've been running a lot. at least a lot more than i'm used to.

my body has never been too keen on lots of running.  for as long as i can remember, in almost all sports i played, i remember complaining of knee pains.

and now, my knees feel like they're going to snap backwards.

when we were younger, my friend ehurt (now married and no longer can really be called ehurt, but i'm going to do it anyway) and i used to ponder the great questions of the world such as, "is that black sea much that smells like sewage really the cure for cancer?" or, more importantly, "what would chairs look like if our knees bent the other way all the time?"

as i entered the last third of my two-hour run yesterday, my knees started to feel as if they were going to bend the other way.  i couldn't stop imagining what it would look like if my knees did, in fact, bend all the way in the wrong direction and if they always bent that way, how would i be running?  and then, later, when i wanted to sit down, what would that look like?  nevermind the chair that i'd be sitting in, what would i look like?!

i also fleetingly thought, "it might not be good for my knees to be hurting like this."

so, runner friends, i need you. my knees hurt. i'm running a half-marathon in 3 weeks, what is my plan of action? help!