Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout

...and all through the house, I've been flitting around trying not to go too crazy. I actually do feel pretty ready, or at least as ready as I can expect to be. My biggest regret is that I didn't find more time for blogging! So I figure at least a last-minute post is better than nothing. It is very surreal to be at this moment...all these weeks of waiting and preparation and here I am. It's also surreal to think that I AM ACTUALLY COMMITTED TO RUNNING A MARATHON. There are many, many things that if 47-year-old Amy had told 17-year-old Amy, I would have disdainfully flicked the fringes on my denim jacket at. But this marathon thing has to top the list. I've learned these have quite a few carbs for their caloric bang.  I've read many inspirational things during training about why people run marathons. I kept hoping that I would come up with a similarly deep and moving reason, but I really have nothing besides it seems like I should and I think I can. Why ...

I'm about to attempt my first marathon in just a little over 2 weeks, and I am officially tapering. I've written about tapering before, as I was approaching my first ever half marathon ( Tip Tapering Away ). Back then, I was a little ambivalent about it. I saw it mainly as a time when I was supposed to be resting up for my approaching race, but I was worried about slacking off too much. Oh the naivety of inexperience! Actually, come closer so I can tell you all about it... Let me take a moment for a little exposition, because I tend to assume everyone knows how long a marathon, and therefore a half marathon, is. A marathon is 26.2 miles, so a half is 13.1. Finishing a half marathon is a completely worthy endeavor, and I'm proud that I've finished six. But while a full marathon is mathematically simply twice as much distance, I can now say, even without having finished one yet, that a full marathon is way more than the twice of the effort and experience. In...

Watching a video of one of my performances, whether it's of me attempting to be musical or theatrical, is almost always disappointing at best, and depressing at worst. I/we never sound or look as good we I thought we did. Or, more accurately, even if it seems like we might have done a pretty good job, the tech at our disposal (meaning, my little yellow camcorder) just isn't going to be able to robustly capture our performance in all it's glory, including sonically and visually. Specifically, I've tried to accept that this means I will never be able to see myself all that well while I'm drumming or hear the bass drum. But I still keep recording our performances when I can, because it's a means, if imperfect, to relive the moment. And sometimes I'm viscerally reminded of something pretty powerful and awesome, such as: PEOPLE F$%KING DANCED AT OUR LAST CLUSTERFLOCK SHOW AT THE MINNESOTA MUSIC CAFE!!! You're just going to have to believe that the...

While the popular inspirational saying "It's not about the destination, it's about the journey," may sometimes be true, sometimes it IS about the starting point. At least when your journey is round trip. This is a life lesson I learned recently at the Minnesota State Fair. A trip on the Sky Ride seemed pretty innocuous, even after a couple of glasses of sickeningly sweet Minnesota Wine. Get on, sit down, enjoy the lights of the Midway, get off when the ride is over. Even I couldn't get lost, right? Only I didn't just need a sense of direction, but I also needed to be paying attention without unthinkingly responding to cues. In other words, I "knew" that I had purchased a round trip ticket, but I didn't stop to think how that meant that there would be more than one place to end the ride. So when the ride stopped, I jumped off, without thinking about how I wasn't at the same location where I had started. That's when I learned an...

Just a few days ago I achieved another personal record and did a training run of (slightly more than) 21 miles. Yes, I'm a little stunned. I did a run that was long enough to be old enough to drink. (Okay, that may not make any sense but that joke is a classic so it's staying). A collection of Touchy-Feely running photos And I still don't think I've ever experienced the fabled "Runner's High." Mostly, during a run, especially a long run, I'm likely to just feel bored, or annoyed, or even a little panicky (as in, "Am I really going to survive this?") At some point it does start to feel surreal (around 2.5 hours) as I lose sense of time and think "My God, how long have I been doing this? What day did I start this? What day is it now?" So I don't think I've experienced euphoria while running, but post-run, I'm prone to feeling many of the feels. As I wrote in my July 14, 2015 post after my first Half Marathon rac...

Last Saturday, I ran 20 miles — 20.32 actually. This is a milestone (unintentional wordplay, honestly) that I never thought I'd achieve, or even want to. So I want to take a little time to savor and reflect on this achievement. And of course, the best way that I know how to do that is by blogging about it, so I can share on Facebook. I think I look super white because of the sunscreen. Yes, there were the "Day Of" posts on Facebook, both to my whole Facebook universe and just to my first time Marathon runners group. It was hard to decide what to post to what audience —a ll of Facebook got my sweaty selfie (see above), while the runners group was treated to a link to my running stats (Average pace: 10:20 min/mile). And yes, there was also contemplative, celebratory drinking. Surprisingly, the drinking didn't commence until several hours after my run. I knew that once the libations began flowing, my day would be pretty much done, so I took a nap instead. Wh...

It's week 9. I AM OFFICIALLY OVER HALF-WAY THROUGH MY TRAINING PLAN, PEOPLE. This makes me proud (I've run my longest distance ever, 16.5 miles), scared (this means the marathon is looming, plus I still have to run 20+miles training runs to do), confused and annoyed (how can I be gaining weight? yeah, I know I'm thin but still, GAINING?!) and obsessed and TIRED. Actually, I totally know what to do. Eat. Drink. Bitch. Repeat.  It's hard to imagine that I could be more excited that tomorrow is a "Rest Day" in my marathon training plan. That means NO running!!! (Also, for me, no exercise beyond walking). The plan I'm following allocates two rest days a week. It's also hard for me to imagine that when Chad and I started our 16-week training plan, we thought that I would resist taking rest days and that we would end up fighting about that. Well, we've certainly had our fights in the last 5 weeks, but not about me skipping rest days. Ah, i...