This, That and The Other Things

Just an odds 'n ends posting tonight.

Had a date last night. You're going to have to read this whole thing though to get the details (no skipping right to the end).

Training has (had) been progressing somewhat well for my next marathon. I had a couple of good runs (the jogging kind, not the sit down in the bathroom kind) early in the week, but on Thursday night's run I felt my right hip flexor(s) weren't fully cooperating. I was scheduled to do an 18 mile run on Saturday, but I scaled that down to just 10 so as to not overdo it and cause unnecessary damage. It felt about the same after Saturday's run as it did on Thursday so hopefully it was just feeling tired and not injured. I'll monitor it for a couple of more days and then hopefully get back on schedule. Maybe a 20 this coming weekend if everything feels fine (and I can finagle it into the family schedule).

After my run on Saturday I was scheduled to volunteer at the packet pick-up portion for a duathlon in Bloomington. That was a good time. Met a couple of other volunteers who are Iron(wo)men. One girl just completed IM WI that my friends were in and another gentleman is doing IM AZ in November (he's also done others). I also found out he's on the Leukemia Society's board of directors so we talked briefly about TNT. He also pulls some weight in the MN triathlon community (not quite sure to what extent, but apparently enough) and he says they're trying to get Ironman to have a race in MN. Possibly by 2010 or sometime soon thereafter. Stay tuned for further details. Quick disclaimer though, I highly doubt I would end up doing that one though. I've already run a marathon in MN so WI is looking like the more likely scenario once that race situation comes around.

The date included a movie.

Today was the actual duathlon race. During my volunteer shift yesterday I ran into a lot of friends who had signed up for the race. Some I knew were already doing it, others I didn't know until I saw them yesterday. They were all from past TNT teams, marathon and/or triathlon. It was fun to catch up with them and great to see that they're still being active.

Seeing as how I knew so many people participating I went to watch today as well. It's fun being on that side of the ropes on occasion - don't have to worry about dinner the night before, prerace jitters, getting up early, etc. I like to think I've become a borderline "expert" spectator. I try to think about what I would like spectators (and anyone there to specifically watch me) do and where I'd like them to be and then that's what I try to do. I purposely get away from the main crowds to offer the racers another cheerer at another spot along the route and so when I call out their name hopefully they'll hear that and get a little boost. They all did great! Way to go Amy, Angela, Anna, Caroline, Carrie, Dana, Elizabeth, Grace, Jen, Julie, Kris, Spring, Stephanie (I think (hope) that's everyone I knew, sorry if I missed listing you if not. Plus, it's alphabetically so as to not show any favoritism, I know how you women can get. ;) hehehe).

There will more than likely be more dates down the road, but nothing has been planned as of yet.

Oh, get this - yesterday when I was working handing out packets a racer came by to pick her's up. She also knew a couple of other volunteers working there so she was standing around talking to them for a few minutes. She looked at me a few times and finally asked if she knew me from somewhere. I didn't recognize her at all so said probably not, just one of those faces I guess. She couldn't place it either from where, if anywhere, so she finished her chat with her friends and left. Fast forward to today. I was standing alone along the run course cheering and she came walking by after she was done. She said, "you used to be a student manager at the Pub." Quickly putting the pieces together I asked, "are you talking about St. Mary's?" Turns out she was. St. Mary's was where we both went to college and the Pub was the on-campus student union - pizza/burger/pool/beer joint. I was a senior in '90/'91 and she was a sophomore and apparently I did such a great job of making an impression on her as a student manager that she remembers me from that role 18 years later! I still couldn't remember her though, but that was kind of funny to hear and be remembered for that. Funny to me anyway.

After this Indy marathon in Nov. I'm going to have to think about my race schedule for '09. I found out today that TNT is dropping the Alaska marathon from their lineup, but replacing it with the new Rock N Roll marathon in Seattle! Next year (June) will be the first year for that marathon so it would be fun to do the inaugural running of that, plus the Rock N Roll Series is very well organized and supported. Signing up for that team though could be an issue because I'd want to do the triathlon team again, but the scheduling could be an issue because they train at the same times, but separately. The LTF tri is 2 weeks after the Seattle marathon and then 2 weeks after that is the Chisago Lakes 1/2 iron triathlon I was toying with doing. That would be a lot of racing miles in a 4 week period! Hmmm, I'll have to put more thought into that.

Okay, it wasn't really a "date" date, but it was still an organized night out with only 1 other person. It just happened to be with my buddy Shawn. We talked about getting together for dinner and whatever. We ended up going to a movie (Burn After Reading. I'd give it a thumbs up) and dinner consisted of a bag of popcorn and licorice (pretty nutritious, huh?). He's single too so we joked about it being a date. I should've told him he asked me out so he would've had to pay. Damn, missed that opportunity. I can't remember if I've ever gone to a movie with just 1 other guy. Maybe back in high school.

Maybe I should pursue Dana's "Sara(h?) attempt" instead.