Saturday's Walk Speedier than Usual

This morning when the Buckeye Striders met for our weekly group walk, a bunch of us started at a much quicker pace than usual. The funny thing is, I set the pace. Yes, my regular walking pace is getting quicker -- my speed workouts are working!

We walked straight out on the Olentangy Trail (south) from the Park of Roses for 30 min and then turned around. The cool thing is, we reached the start again after walking only 56 min! I'm pretty sure we went farther than 4 miles, too. I'm so exited that we got faster as we went.

It was a beautiful morning with temps in the 40s and lots of sunshine. On top of that, there were more Striders than usual. It was a very fun morning!

Though it feels strange not being in training for an event, it was nice to be able to meet at our regular walking time and not worry about walking a specific distance. I even felt that meeting at 8 was sleeping in! (I better not tell Deb, she'll try to get me out as early as 7 again!)

Hey everyone -- thanks for a fun morning walk!

Wanchai Ferry Product Review

My family and I had the opportunity to try the new Wanchai Ferry Restaurant Favorites Orange Chicken through the General Mills Pssst program.

When I opened the box and saw the small amount of ingredients, I did not believe that even with adding 1 lb of chicken that there was enough food for five servings. I was pretty skeptical.

I cooked the chicken according to directions with the provided seasoned cornstarch and the sauce while cooking the enclosed rice. I was VERY surprised at the large amount of rice we ended up with. I make rice all of the time and could not believe that such a small package would expand that much! It was definitely enough!

The hot peppers came in separate packaging from the sauce and could be added according to individual tastes. My family likes spicy foods so I added all of the peppers. If I had read the instructions more thoroughly I would have squeezed the bag with the peppers to loosen the seeds and make it even more spicy. As it was, it had good flavor without doing that.

The box said that it contained five servings. Not for my family! I have a 15-year-old son and a husband with a large appetite. Still, it was plenty of food for the three of us. It would be fine for four people with average appetites and possibly five with appropriate side dishes.

The Orange Chicken tasted great! As mentioned earlier, it had a good amount of spice and the sauce was tasty. Though the kit contained white rice, it went well with the dinner and cooked well. My only true complaint is that there was not enough sauce. And if you were to add vegetables, which was a serving suggestion, there definitely would NOT be enough sauce.

According to the website, the package price averages $4.79. Note that I received the package for free.

Because I'm a pretty good cook, I RARELY buy boxed meals that require adding meat. (I have very bad memories of packaged hamburger dishes vaguely resembling stroganoff.) That being said, and based on taste alone, I would buy this. I do find the price just a little high for this type of boxed dinner, but it is much better than others I have tried in the past.

Nutrition Highlights
Servings per box: 5
Serving size: about 1 cup
Calories per serving: 350
Calories from fat: 70
Sodium: 460 mg

Next week we'll try the Chicken Piccata.

Hills Tonight

Thanks to Elaine and Deb for doing hills with me tonight! We did a half-mile warm up and half-mile cool down with four reps on the hills for a 56-min workout.

It felt great! And after I remembered Elaine was tapering for a half-marathon last week I realized she was right not to do hills then. Congrats on your PR in Pittsburgh, Elaine!

Marathon Run in the Slow Lane

Funny how recently The New York Times ran a front-page story about middle-of-the-pack runners' dislike of slow marathoners.

Today on the Times' website is an article (blog posting?) by Tara Parker-Pope about what it is like to be a runner at the back of the pack -- Well: A Marathon Run in the Slow Lane. (I wonder if the idea came from a back issue of WALK! Magazine?)

The article was nice though it didn't have much new information for those of us who walk marathons. [I was a little surprised that her run/walk pace was slower than the full-marathon I walked. Not intended to be rude or mean, just an observation.] Still, it's nice to find articles that are positive about slower marathoners.

I especially liked the fact that Tara found several runners who do support us back-of-the-packers.

But the legendary gold medalist Frank Shorter says the criticisms of slow runners are “snobbery.” “You never hear that from elite runners,” he told me. “Elite runners admire other people’s performance. I find it much better to welcome slow runners to the club than to vote them out.”

Greg Meyer, who in 1983 was the last American man to win the Boston Marathon, says that when he hears such complaints from average marathoners, he replies, “If it wasn’t for the run-walkers, you wouldn’t be finishing in front of anybody.”

I've never had much interest in doing the New York Marathon, but I'm beginning to warm to it. Maybe next year!

3 Miles

Had a nice 3-mile walk this evening -- 1 mile to the library, 1 lap around the park and one mile back home. The temps were mild and it was a beautiful evening.

I had originally planned to walk at Antrim Park, but because it gets dark earlier now, I was afraid I might not finish before it got too dark.

I have never understood the time changes. Why on Earth would time be changed to make it light later in the evening when days are already getting longer? And when it starts getting dark earlier, why would time be changed so it gets dark even earlier?

Whatever the reasons, I hate the time changes (though daylight saving time bothers me less).

Darn! No Hills Today!

My walking buddies were not up for hills today. I tried to talk them into it, but cleaning out gutters and raking leaves made one person a little too tired. Darn!

Instead we did our Plan B walk - 3 miles at a medium pace.

It was a beautiful evening! The temps were in the low 60s, the leaves were beautiful colors, and several crew teams rowed on the river beside us. Despite my disappointment at not getting a tougher workout, it was worth it just to be outside walking today with people I like.

That makes four days of walking this week. I get to take tomorrow off! Woo hoo!

This Week's Workouts

Because I'm not training for a specific event right now, I decided to try to keep walking five days a week to maintain my level of fitness. Like many of you, if I'm not training for an event, I often let my training slide.

Monday I did a 38-min easy walk with the focus entirely on proper racewalking form. It felt great not to worry about speed or distance and just to focus on form. (Push those arms back, Cindi!)

Tuesday was just a consistent pace for 30 minutes, but a little harder than a casual walk.

Today was a speed workout. I have not worked exclusively on speed in a while, so my muscles were not quite ready for it. (Could explain why I couldn't push during the Columbus Half.) I warmed up with a 15-min walk, then did 2-min sprints with 1-min rests in between. I was able to do only five sprints! I wasn't able to get as fast as I wanted, either. Still, it felt good to push. I just know that I am capable of pushing harder.

Tomorrow is supposed to be our usual hill workout, then I get Friday night off. Yea!

Columbus Marathon Start Worse Than Thought

In my review of the Columbus Marathon, I glossed over the confusing starting line. Part of the reason I did that is that I thought most of the problem was our fault. I just assumed my friends and I didn't look around well enough.

We do a lot of races and just assume if you go to the back of the line, eventually you will find the end. The end is where we usually line up.

In this case, we approached the starting line from the back, so just assumed we were in the correct spot. We never checked to see where we should be. We ended up behind the 5K racers along with a huge number of half marathoners.

As it was, when we finally made it around the 5K people, there were tons of runners still behind us and we inadvertently were in the way.

So, despite everything else great about this race, the starting line needs work. Thanks for the input from other half marathoners!

Columbus Marathon (Half) Report -- Finally

The temperatures were in the low 40s as we lined up for the Columbus Marathon (Half) at 7:30 on Sunday October 18. I had on several layers with the plan to shed a few as necessary, along with long pants, gloves and a hat. (Coincidentally, the top layer was an old Columbus Marathon sweatshirt I've had for years and tossed and re-found at other races.)

I started with my friends Deb and Elaine. Elaine is faster than Deb and I, so zoomed ahead. Deb and I stuck together for the entire race.

Due to some starting line confusion, we realized we were not in the right spot -- we were behind the 5K race entrants. We got around them (many other people were also confused) and the people were moving. We crossed the starting line at 7:44 with a plan to do the first two miles in about 14:30 each. We did the first mile in about 14:45 and tried to pick up the pace. The second mile was about 14:20, closer to where we wanted to be.

Despite the confusion at the start, this course was very nice! We walked up Broad Street then through beautiful Bexley and saw the Governor of Ohio right outside the Governor's mansion.

Around mile 5, I warmed up quite a bit and took off and tossed the sweatshirt that I wore OVER my jacket. Unfortunately, I wore the wrong wicking shirt as my bottom layer (not very effective at wicking) and I was sweaty under the jacket.

The course then went around the Franklin Park Conservatory, back down Broad Street, then through Olde Town and German Village -- two more interesting and pretty neighborhoods. Near Franklin Park we reached and passed the 3:30 half marathon pace group. (Yes, we were way too far back at the start!)

From there we went north on High Street, which was pretty much of a wind tunnel for about 2 miles. (High Street usually is.) From High Street we turned left into the Arena District for the last tenth of a mile and it was lined shoulder-to-shoulder with people cheering on the half marathon and full marathon finishers! It was great!

Though the temperatures did get warmer, and it was much warm in the sun, I never got "warmed up" enough to go fast. My legs were cold and stiff the entire race and I just could not pick up the pace. I tried to duplicate my previous race strategy, (slow for 2 miles, faster for 8 miles, then fast as possible for the final 5K) but my legs just would not cooperate. Instead, I listened to my body and went at the pace it was willing to go -- about 14:40. Despite the slower than anticipated pace, it was a good race!

After being handed a great medal and silver blanket, we were surprised to also be handed a great hat. The food area was separated from the exit by a chain link fence which should help guarantee there was enough food for everyone. (I hope there was enough for the full marathon walkers!)

The food available included Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Tim Horton's bagels, chips, bananas, granola bars and more. The only problem was trying to leave the food area. There is an after-race party for family and friends and the food area exits right to the party area. There were so many people lining the exit waiting for us to leave, we couldn't get out! I finally had to ask people to let me out to get people to move out of our way.

Our times per mile:
1 14:45
2 14:25
3 14:26
4 14:34
5 14:27
6 14:27
7 14:50
8 14:37
9 14:21
10 14:45
11 14:41
12 14:44
13 14:40
0.1 1:35
Total 3:09

Cool note: TweetMyTime was 1 minute faster than what our official marathon time was. My watch was about 3 seconds off from our official time! How often does that happen?

Weird note: For some reason, the color in these photos was really off. Not sure why it was way too red and way too bright. I probably need to adjust my camera in some way.

10 Things to Like about the Columbus Marathon (Half)

I recently started creating lists of the positives and negatives of various races I enter. Here are my Columbus Marathon (Half) lists:

10 Things I Liked About the Columbus Marathon
1. Nice scenic neighborhoods!
2. Plenty of water stops.
3. Great volunteers.
4. Obvious where to go -- you could not get lost unless you tried.
5. Hills? There are NO hills on this course.
6. Nice shirt! It's a woman's shirt, it fits, it's wicking and I like the design. Oh, and it is not white.
7. The medal is pretty nice, too. (It's heavier than previous medals, and the Chris in the middle spins.)
8. Lots of bands.
9. Good weather
10. Lots of great food at the end. The Krispy Kreme doughnuts were so good!

Dings
1. Confusing start at back of pack. Maybe a better sound system? It would be a good idea to go to the starting line then head toward the back to be sure you find the pace groups for walkers.
2. The expo was not very interesting.
3. A couple of the bands folded before we got to them. Those of us at the back of the pack need the music more than the elites.
4. Could not get out of fenced area at end of race because of friends and family crowding the exit.
5. Many of the 3-hour finishers were taking enough food for several people, way more than they could possibly eat. I hope there was enough left for the 7-hour finishers.

When compared to other races I've done, the "dings" are pretty insignificant. This was a well-organized, flat, walker-friendly race! I'll definitely do it again.

Tweeting During a Race

I toyed with the idea of Tweeting about the Columbus Marathon Half during the race last Sunday. Because I have a typical cell phone (no keyboard), and I am really slow at texting, I thought it might not be a good thing to do.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn about a new online service called TweetMyTime! Through this service, people who follow me on Twitter were able to see how I did during the race. TweetMyTime automatically sent a message when I hit the starting line, when I got to the 10K point and when I finished. The full marathoners had a total of five updates sent about them. The information included my pace and expected finish time and they came directly from me.

There are other services that send update messages during a race. I think when I was in the Cooper River Bridge Run, text messages could be sent via phone to other cell phones. I think I remember that other services allow friends and family to track participants on computers, too.

But there is something about a service making use of Twitter that appealed to me. The number of notes of congratulations I received from followers was great!

So I liked the service and I would definitely use it for free again. If it ends up being a pay to use service, not sure if I would do it. In the meantime, check it out!

http://tweetmytime.com/

Too Tired to Post

Earlier today I finished the Columbus Marathon Half in 3:11:15. My muscles are tight, and I just could not push today. That was the fastest I could go.

As soon as I got home, we head off to do a corn maze with my brother-in-law and his family, my nephew and his kids and my own family. We spent a good 90 min walking the maze and it was a LOT of fun. After having dinner together and finally arriving home around 7, I am officially way too tired to post a race report.

I'll do my best to post it tomorrow.
________

ADDED MONDAY: I was able to write my post by hand (during slow times in meetings earlier today), but I just have not had time to type it here. Maybe Tuesday.

Healthy Walking

It is exactly 0.64 miles from my house to the grocery store -- well, one of the grocery stores that are within walking distance from my house. I walked that distance tonight because I was dying for a tasty Greek salad for dinner and I needed to buy most of the ingredients.

Lettuce and a cucumber can be pretty light. However, once I got into the produce section and saw the beautiful grapes, the vine-ripened tomatoes, pink grapefruit and pomegranates -- I just kept filling my basket. I even picked up a little brie.

So my walk home was just a little more difficult than anticipated since I was weighted down. And by the time I got home, my arms were starting to hurt.

It was worth it. The salad was great and I made enough to take for lunch tomorrow.

Oh, it didn't hurt that I walked a little over a mile today on the first day of taper week.

Photo courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net.

Easy 2 Miles

Today was a scheduled day of rest. However, I was feeling a little bit antsy and it was a beautiful day, so I did an easy 2-mile walk to the library. The sun was shining and the temps were mild. (Having an overdue book hanging over my head also inspired me.) Considering it is fall in Ohio, I really need to get out in the sunshine when I have the chance. You never know when you might see the sun again.
______

Earlier today, I decided to bake some of my very healthy banana muffins. I have a great recipe it took me a few years to fine tune. Well, today I could NOT find my recipe. Earlier this summer I copied a bunch of recipes for friends getting married, and somehow I misplaced this particular one. The recipe I did find looked OK, but I was a little concerned because it called for a cup of milk. I don't add any liquids other than oil to my regular concoction. They didn't brown correctly and some were overcooked and dry and others were undercooked. Yuck! The final result ended up being bland.

I learned my lesson. There is a reason it took me a few years to develop the recipe my family really likes. I'll be contacting my friends and sister in law to get a copy of my recipe again.

Really Tight Muscles

The Columbus Marathon (Half) is a week away, so we walked only 6 miles this morning. I'm glad we did such a short distance -- my leg muscles were really tight and it took forever to warm up. (Usually, if I arrive earlier than the others, I spend some time warming up. Today I didn't take advantage of the extra time.)

The group of Buckeye Striders who are usually at the same pace I walk seemed to be way too fast for me this morning. After struggling for about a mile or so to keep up I finally just took it at a slower pace and enjoyed walking with Sharon.

The morning was beautiful, temps were in the 40s and there was no rain. It was a good day for 6 miles with people I like!