Misery

If I was good at doing things on the computer, I could make a little chart showing how I was feeling during our 20-mile training run today.  Since I can't, imagine a line that stays level for a long time (2 hours), then goes down a little, a little more, a little more, stops for a while to dry heave a little, and then finishes down around the bottom.  During the first half, accompanied by our awesome neighbor Andy (running much below his normal pace in order to keep us company), I felt pretty good.  In fact, I felt pretty cool - like a real athlete.  After a mid-point water break, however, things started feeling not so good.  Things like my hip joints, butt, legs and stomach.  At the 15 mile point, nausea set in and stayed with me for the long haul. As it turns out, it's really uncomfortable to run while nauseated.
Anyway, we did finish, and if we walked a little, well, I am still counting it.  We moved our bodies over a 20 mile path.  We never hailed down a passing car for a lift, we never banged on the front door of the houses we were passing to beg for help, and I only gave in to defeating negativism half a dozen times.  So overall, a major success.
One funny thing about living in a town the size of Winston-Salem is how many people will tell you that they were driving and saw you running.  And several times people have told me that they saw me running at one point and I looked pretty good, but when they were on their way home from the movies or whatever a few hours later and saw me again, I didn't look so good.  Someone Matt works with told him that he looked terrible running.  And today during the course of the four hours I was running, I definitely saw several cars more than one time.  And the drivers did not look so good the second time I saw them.
Happily, today was our last big run before the marathon.  Over the next few weeks, we'll taper down.  The idea behind the taper is that your body is so primed for running, that when you deprive it of that it will just want more of it, so when it comes time for the marathon, you just burst out of the gate.  I'm not so sure about that, but I certainly won't mind the part where I don't make myself do something to the point of vomiting for a few weeks.
Cheers!
Claire

p.s.  While we've been training, we've also had some other exciting developments here at the Calvin-Giegengack home.  Being the consummate blogger that I am, I've got a second blog going to keep friends and family up to date on our pending adoption.  Check it out at the link on the right - "and then there were five ...."

Matt goes the distance

Aubrey has gone turkey hunting once in his life and killed 1 turkey.  He likes to say he shot 2 turkeys that day, his first and his last.  Claire and I ran our 20 mile training run.  With that horrible thing accomplished I feel that I will run 2 marathons in Houston on January 17th.

Matt

Jingle Bells

Merry Christmas friends!  We have been busy getting ready for Christmas, having family in town, and pounding the pavement.  Our furthest run to date has been 17 miles - miserable - but we're looking forward to a 20 mile run this coming weekend.  So, while you're relaxing in your pjs and playing with your Christmas presents, think of us out there running, and running, and running ...
I hope the season is wonderful for you and your family, and I'll let you know how it goes!
Claire

Mistletoe Magic

So, the weather is turning cold, sometimes rainy, and there are so many days now where the absolute last thing I want to do is go for a run.  In fact, I was in a bit of a funk about this whole marathon thing.  But then, in spite of a persistent leg injury (ITB Syndrome - not IBS, he wants me to mention), Matt insisted that we sign up for the Mistletoe Half-Marathon here in Winston-Salem this past weekend.  I was totally unenthusiastic, especially as they were predicting freezing rain and possibly snow for Saturday morning.  But Matt insisted, and he isn't usually a person who insists, so I figured I'd better humor him and at least sign us up.

And then Saturday morning came around, and it was cold, and rainy, and we were really tired, and Matt's leg was still hurting, and ... we got up and did it anyway.  We had a bit of a lackluster start in that I was still in the bathroom of the YMCA when the starting gun was fired, so we had to hot-foot it down to the start line, but after that the whole thing was really fun.  As small as Winston-Salem is, it is amazing that over 900 people would come out to run 13 miles on a freezing December morning.  It's inspiring to see the mix of people - teenage cross-country kids who run 5 minute miles the whole way, 70+ year olds (several of whom finished long before we did), groups of friends, co-workers, and people big and small.  Whenever I run with a big group of people like that, I catch these waves of emotion and get choked up thinking about the collective spirit of all these folks.  Normally that's pretty embarrassing, but with the rain coming down so hard, I was totally low-profile.  Plus, running through familiar neighborhoods you see friends standing in their front yards with bathrobes on and kids banging on metal bowls to cheer everyone on, so I was smiling and waving half the time.      

So we both ran the whole thing and even felt pretty good afterwards.  And then we pretty much spent the whole rest of the weekend on the couch napping (me) and icing achy joints (Matt).  But I feel like we have our marathon mojo back and are getting excited for the actual race.  Thanks so much for for all the kind words of encouragement - we need it!

Ted's 2 Cents:

My brother Ted lives in Houston with his wife Robyn and their son Jack.  Ted and my dad have a very close relationship and enjoy many of the same pursuits - fishing, camping, scuba diving gardening, cooking, reading, and photography.  They were very active together in the Boy Scouts for many years, taking trips all over the country and the world with their scout troop.  Ted became an Eagle Scout many years ago, and I know that made my dad very proud.  The two of them spend lots of time together these days tinkering with things, cooking and working in the community garden.  

These are some of Ted's thoughts:  

"Many of you who know Aubrey know that he has been a photography enthusiast for… well, forever. I owe my love of photography in some measure to Aubrey’s influence. He helped me buy my first camera, took us on a photographic safari in Africa, and shared all of his photography experience with me as I was learning. 

Like many amateur photographers (Aubrey probably considers himself a pro, and may take umbrage at this reference), Aubrey has documented all of our trips with pictures and has gone on a few trips just for the sake of the pictures. The camera bag has always gone everywhere. Because Aubrey sometimes paid as much attention to it as he did to the rest of us, we dubbed it “the baby.”  In jest, of course.

Now, Dad has some trouble lugging the camera everywhere he might want to go. The difficulty he has carrying things while walking (which makes him 20 times more likely to fall down) means the camera bag goes fewer places. His unsteadiness makes it harder to focus and frame a picture. The result is a decrease in the number of pictures he takes, although I have to give him credit for making as strong an effort as ever.

While taking pictures is harder for Aubrey now than it was ten years ago, he has taken an interest in printing and displaying some of his favorites from over the years. He has probably printed over a hundred pictures in large format and had them custom framed by his favorite frame shop in the heights. Every member of our immediate family has a few Aubrey originals decorating our walls, and there are plenty more with no wall space to call their own.

For your enjoyment, here are a few of my favorites among the collection."