Dilemma

I'm trying to decide what my next racewalking event should be. I want to do a shorter race to work on my speed. I've narrowed it down to 2 events:

1) The Art Attack 5K on June 23rd here in SLC

OR

2) The 3000m racewalk (I believe it is judged, which is awesome!) at the Utah Summer Games in Cedar City, also on June 23rd

Option 1) is cheaper, local, and is going to be entered by a bunch of my fellow local racewalkers - the Wasatch Walkers. We'd all wear our T-shirts, and a good time would be had by all. Option 2) will cost lots more $$$ because it's in Cedar City, a 3 1/2 hr drive, requiring at least one night but probably 2 nights' hotel stay, gas, food, etc. However, while we are there we could take in Cedar Breaks National Monument, which Loren has wanted to see for a while. Loren says he could go either way, and he does like getting away for the weekend.

All things being equal, I'd probably prefer option 2). But, one more factor comes into play. Michelle's first birthday is June 23rd, and if we're out of town we wouldn't be able to celebrate it that day. I know she won't know the difference, but I do, and if we're out of town, am I putting my interests ahead of hers? Maybe not since she doesn't know the difference, but I can't help wondering. And the practical part of me says it's ridiculous to spend $$$ on a race. Of course, we'd be there for the scenery too, and it's good to get away for the weekend now and then.

ARRRGH! This is a toughie. Input requested if you feel like commenting.

I don't sit still for photos very well these days!

Buddies!

Michelle is 10 months old

Wow, my little girl is 10 months old today. Time flies so quickly. She is all laughter and sunshine, smiling at Calvin's antics, laughing when I change her, enjoying everything she sees. She is getting so big - she would hardly sit still for me to take pictures today (I will post them later). She wants to play with everything, and is starting to crawl at long last. I love her so much!

Official Half Marathon Results

Here they are!  My pace was officially 10:43/mile,
and I came in 45/84 in my division (which was Athena,
women over 140 lbs).  In my age group (females 35-39)
I would have been 113/161.  I'm quite happy with
how things turned out!

                                         
NO.   NAME                    CITY & STATE     
1948.  Stevenson, Tammy        Salt Lake City, UT

                CHIP     CHIP     AGE       PLACE 
RACE # SEX AGE   TIME     PACE     DIV       OVERALL
5711    F   37   2:20:35   10:43    45 /  84  1727 /2245

SEX      GUN      GUN     TIME TO
OVERALL    TIME     PACE    START LINE
902 /1296 2:23:59  10:59       3:24

Jason & Tammy

Congrats, Jason! He finished the MARATHON (yup, the FULL marathon) in under 4:50. Here were are celebrating together. We started the race together, and I wanted to be there when he finished.

Way cool medal

At the 8 mile point (only a few blocks from our house!)

Half Marathon Finisher!!!

I did it! 13.1 miles in 2 hr 20 min 30 sec (or thereabouts... it was 2:24:00 clock time, but we didn't cross the starting line for 3 min 30 sec or so). That's a 10:44/mile pace, or for the metrically inclined, a 6:40/km pace. I did the last 5k at a 10:38/mile pace, even though it was a slight uphill! It was tough, but I felt SO awesome when I crossed the finish line. It was an amazing feeling. I almost started to cry, because I could not believe how far I have come from being a total couch potato.

Here are some pictures if you want to see them.

Need rest

I'm really tired. I think the excitement of the last weekend w/the racewalking clinic and then forgetting baby Sam's birthday and rushing over to Sarah's at the last minute has me bushwhacked. (Sarah, I'm still very sorry, and now publicly very sorry... I'm not much of a friend sometimes). I rested on Sunday, but somehow, it wasn't enough. Monday was run run run. Just lots to do around the house, errands, etc. Today I walked my last longish workout before the 1/2 marathon on Saturday. I did 5.5 miles, and not very fast, but that was fine. (The new technique is a bit slower right now - I think it will slow me down until I figure it out some more - so if I finish in 2:24 or less, that will be good). Anyway, then I went to work, and it was really busy too. Picked up the kids, came home, made dinner, ate, cleaned up, and put kids to bed by myself, because (happily) Loren is out hanging out w/a guy friend from church. Still... all of this means that I've been overly busy. I'm glad that I don't have much planned for tomorrow and Thursday, because I surely need the rest. The kids will keep me busy, but at least I don't have stuff on top of that, for the most part. A few short errands, but nothing major. And maybe I'll go to bed early tonight :).

More racewalking stuff: the Canadian racewalker who helped Dave with the clinic last weekend e-mailed me about my half marathon, offering some great advice about walking the race. I was so happy that she wrote, and very pleased that she cared enough to do that. I really appreciated it so much. Her name is Jeannie Harms, and she is a year older than me (!) and a top-notch walker. She is trying to make the Canadian Olympic team for Beijing. It was so kind of her to take the time out of her busy schedule to mentor me, given that in the racewalking world I am a tortoise to her hare. Thank you, Jeannie! Best of luck in your pursuits!

Race partner

Forgot to mention that Jason, a friend from church, is running the marathon. He's planning on the same pace that I am, and the marathon & half-marathon are following the same route for the 1st 5 miles or so, so we agreed to start together and stay together as long as it's mutually beneficial. I'm excited to have someone to help calm my pre-race jitters and help me relax for the first little bit. I think it's going to be a lot of fun!

Also in church today, they announced that people can come and watch Jason and I and cheer us on. That was way cool! I hope that a few people do show up to cheer, as I feel like I'll need it to finish the race. Here is where the race will go: it starts at 7 am at the legacy bridge at the U, and goes along Wasatch Blvd to Foothill Dr. Then west on 2100 South to SugarHouse Park. I will arrive at the park about 7:40-7:50 am. Then from the park, the half-marathon continues south to 27th south, then west to Highland Dr, then north to 17th south. That's the 8 mile point (at 11th E and 17th S) , and I should be there around 8:20-8:30 am, depending on my pace. Then, over to 5th east and up to Liberty Park, arriving at the north end of the park (10 miles) at about 8:40-8:50 am. Finally, from the park heading west on 9th south to State St, north to 4th South, west to Rio Grande St, and north to the finish line in the Gateway. I hope to finish about 9:11-9:24 am (10-11 minutes/mile, depending on how I feel) - probably closer to 9:24 am. So, if you feel inclined, show up, and cheer loudly!

Racewalking clinic news

The clinic was awesome. I learned a lot - mostly I learned how much I need to learn, but hey, that's a start! I was doing a lot of things wrong: too much forward lean, not enough push off my toes, landing too flat-footed, and basically walking like a fitness walker instead of a racewalker. Also, my shoes were all wrong - too clunky. Racewalkers need supple shoes to accommodate the foot motion, and we don't need all the support runners need, since we have about 1/3 the impact. Anyway, I did make some progress on improving all of these things, but I will have to practice a lot and videotape myself a lot to see how it goes.

Hopefully I will be able to improve w/o too much coaching, since there are basically NO racewalking coaches in UT. There is a good walker up in Ogden, but she is pretty busy... maybe if I paid her enough she would be interested in helping me on occasion.

I met some fabulous walking types who are starting a club called the "Wasatch Walkers". They meet Tuesday nights at 6:30 pm at the Olympic Oval for workouts (there's an indoor track there). It will be hard to make Tues nights, as I've got the kids, but if I can find a sitter I may go regularly. Even if I can only make it once a month, that would be good. Loren might be able to handle them once a month :). I'm so excited to have met some local walkers - I don't feel so freaky and alone as a budding racewalker anymore!

Am hoping the technique changes don't mess up my half marathon this weekend too much. I am a bit worried that the new muscles I'm going to use will fatigue too easily. I will try to use the new techniques, but I guess if I get too tired I can always do it the old way for this one race, until I get my new walking legs acclimated. Same for my shoes - the new ones I got have not yet been adequately tested in long workouts, so I'm probably going to wear my old pair for the 1/2 marathon, even if it does inhibit my technique. We'll see.

I put some pics of Friday and Saturday on the web site, if you're interested.

Oh, in the it's a small world category, one of my fellow clinic attendees is from Grand Junction, Colorado. OK, so what? Turns out her husband grew up in the same church as my boss's family did, and he knows them pretty well. Not only that, but she used to work for my boss's cousin. I enjoyed meeting her and her family (they all came with her for the weekend!), and hope to see them again sometime.

OK, I really do need to get some more rest. I rested a bunch today, but not enough yet. I have got to rest up a lot before Saturday. The taper week sure is nice :).

Racewalking clinic, here we come!

Tonight begins the long-anticipated racewalking clinic. I am really excited about attending, and hoping that I will learn a lot of technique, training tips, etc. Being entirely self-taught to this point, I think I'm doing pretty well, but I wonder if I had a real coach if I would be doing better. I am sure that there are things that are wrong with my technique, though I have done a lot of reading and tried to apply what I've read. Nonetheless, you can't replace a good teacher. I would never suggest that one learn to play the piano by reading a book, and so I assume the same applies to racewalking. Unfortunately, teachers for racewalking are a little harder to find than piano teachers! Anyway, tonight we are having dinner and a lecture from 6-8 pm, and then we are meeting at the Utah Olympic Oval for training sessions Friday and Saturday from 8:30 am - 5 pm. I can't wait to meet some other racewalkers and learn a whole bunch of stuff!

My training for the 1/2 marathon on April 21st has gone fabulously. I think I should be able to do an 11 minute mile for the whole thing. If I'm having an exceptional day, I might be able to do a 10:30 mile, but I think more like 10:45-11:00 is going to be expected. I did 7 miles this morning, with the middle 5 miles at a 10:24 clip, no problem. Last weekend I did a 9-miler in 99 minutes, despite being sick at the time. I feel as ready as I'm going to be, though I still have one more long training walk left, a 10-miler. It hasn't always been easy to do the training, but it's been rewarding.

I'll be back to let you all know how it went!

I'm back!

I guess I got too busy for my blog, yet again. Silly, since really it takes all of a couple minutes to write SOMETHING, anything. However, I have this idea that it is a difficult thing. I will try to keep in mind how quick it can be, and will attempt to post regularly again. Hopefully you are all still reading.

Update since last post:
1) Training for the half marathon April 21st here in SLC. It's going pretty well. I hope to racewalk it in 2 hrs 24 minutes or less, which would be an 11-minute mile pace. I did 9 miles this morning at an 11:00 pace, and it went fine. I was a bit tired this morning, though.
2) Gave up chocolate for Lent, and that was HARD. Am really rejoicing that it is Easter today, and I have saved up some points for a serious chocolate pig-out. Already I've had chocolate chip pancakes, a sandwich with nutella, and some serious See's candy that my devoted and wonderful husband got for me, in a cute Easter basket!
3) My mom visited last week, which was fabulous. I loved having her here, and so did the kids. I am sorry that my parents don't live closer. Maybe they will change their minds and retire here next year, but I doubt it. Anyway, hopefully they can visit more often at the very least.
4) Calvin was so cute hunting Easter eggs after church today. We put them all over the living room and let him go for it. Then he thoroughly pigged out on candy, which is fine once in a while, I think. He loved it!
5) Michelle sat on the floor playing with a book and watched Calvin. She's too little for candy :).
6) Been reading lots of books lately. Read a book on Fatal Familial Insomnia ("The Family That Couldn't Sleep") and am now reading a book on human mutations/development called "Mutants". In the fiction department, read "Eragon" and really enjoyed it (thanks, Steph, for lending me your copy!). Zoe lent me the next book in the series, "Eldest", and I hope to start on it soon. I have way too many books I want to read, though!!! Not enough time!!!!!

Will keep this short so I remember how easy it is to post! More later.