Red Eye Relay Race Report: Smart Decisions are Tough

The Red Eye Relay didn't go as well as we'd hoped.

Prep was ok. We packed a lot.

Overall, it was a beautiful day for a run - on the hot side, but still a relief from the recent 100-degree days we've been having. The scenery was pretty, and we saw lots of very interesting sights you'd see in a rural setting. (For example - a guy whittling wood in a lawnchair with two domesticated (?) turkeys sitting calmly at his side. ...wha?!?!)

Here are a few shots I captured with my new camera:

Before the van smelled funny

Thanks, Rebecca, for the baked goods!

Exchange point

 And since I love race reports, here's how it went:
The goal was to finish. It was completely uncertain if that would happen, but pace-wise, we felt we could keep up with our friends on the team we hitch-hiked with, A Pirate Looks At 100 Miles.

We had an excellent start at 5pm and survived the hottest time of the day. Legs felt wonderful! But later the wheels started to come off.


4:15pm: Check-in and registration. We had the good idea to tri-style Sharpie our race numbers on our arms rather than messing with many, many sets of bibs.

The finish chute kegs were a nice touch!

5pm: Ben starts the RER, looking strong. He ends up finishing this leg first, ahead of the other 11 teams that began at the same start time.

7:11pm: The high-viz CEP calf sleeves are visible from a half mile away. Steph finishes the second leg of the 104-mile run, getting passed only by two people. Only 95 more miles to go! 

7:20pm: Just realized that Steph went out too fast - 7:52 average while keeping a comfortable pace, and pounding down the infamous Boltinghouse hill. Still felt great, though. Ben takes off with Miranda toward the next spot.

Waiting for Ben & Mir

Ben and the bug hat

8pm: Ben and Miranda roll into the exchange point virtually together, but a little upset that we didn't stop at their halfway mark to offer them water. It's still hot out. Steph goes on with Mark, up the dreaded/long Bean Blossom hill and through Morgan-Monroe State Forest.


8:40pm: Steph starts feeling not a twinge, but a strange feeling in her ankle. It feels like the road's crowned too severely and the ankle is uncomfortable for it. There's a hotspot on the top of her foot, but nothing to be concerned with after resting for Ben's next leg.

8:53pm: Steph arrives at the exchange after and hands off to Ben. Ben waits for a few moments to go as Mark comes in and hands off to their runner. The van is starting to get a little stinky...

9:18pm: Ben arrives at the next exchange point near the old cemetery, unfortunately, only a few minutes after "Gonna Fly Now" finishes up on the ipod. Ben tells Steph to "take it slow and easy" so we don't pay for early speed later on. Steph's off.

~9:50pm: Steph gets accosted by a farmer's super-friendly Australian sheep dog 2 miles in. The new and mystery hotspot appears again minutes later, and it gets progressively worse - quickly. Andrew (Pirates) catches and passes, and the van soon catches up and stops 4.5 miles into the 7-mile leg. Headlamps and reflective vests go on. Steph stops because of the pain but stubbornly continues on. Average pace through the 4.5-mile mark is >12:30 min/mi, including stopped time.

~10:15pm: The pain has gotten even worse, and Steph ends up walking some of the last 2.5 miles while taking the average pace down to <8:50 for the whole leg. Legs feel fast, but the foot doesn't agree. She gets in the van and ices/rolls it out after the exchange to Ben.

The flattest part of this course

~10:40pm: Ben finishes his 4-mile leg, and Steph's been icing, but the foot's not swollen. It's Steph's turn to run, but the pain is getting to be excruciating and it's obvious there will be no more running/weight-bearing on that foot tonight. Ben continues on, just to get a long run in. Partway through the Lake Lemon leg, Ben decides it's better to stop early and get a decent night's sleep (RER's only downside is that you're a walking zombie for the next 3 days after). At this point, it's really dark. Everyone's starting to get really tired... Miranda and Allison attempt to sleep.

Eventually, the van gets pretty quiet at 2:34am. Except Aaron.
I missed this, but the video you see below embodies THE Red Eye Relay.
(AaronIthougthItoldyouthatsongwasofflimits!):

Later: Ben makes it to Butler Winery, about 15 miles later. Mama and Papa Bartley were to meet Steph & Ben there to pick up Team BartleysRun.com and Ben & Steph complete the last "legitimate" check-in for the night. Since Mama & Papa B haven't arrived, Ben continues on until they pick up Steph and catch him later on on the course. He's still moving pret-ty fast (and Steph & the Bartley parents get lost trying to find him.)

12:30pm: Ben is eventually caught by the unofficial Bartley SAG truck and bends over a few times in discomfort. He makes it the remaining 4 miles back to the Griffy Lake boat house exchange point 18 miles later, now 31 cumulative miles on the day. He checks in, regroups, and gets into the truck, saying it'd have been possible for him to continue on, but not smart.  Note: he had a dream the night before that he had to run 83 miles of the course... and would have been 87 (if he'd finished). Foreshadow much?!

Ben's splits:
Leg 1 - 3.25mi (6:33/mi), Leg 3 - 5.95mi (9:02/mi w/Miranda), Leg 5 - 3.85mi (6:32/mi), *Leg 7+8+9 - 18.53mi (7:15/mi)  *Includes South Shore and Boltinghouse hills

~1am: The Bartley clan heads back into Upland Brewery so team BartleysRun.com can officially DNF (or Retire, as PlanetAdventure calls it) and head home. The race organizers are still peppy and give out high fives for being the only superhuman team, despite not finishing. Then, the realization sets in: in a stupor of pain/tiredness/inattention, Steph had forgotten to grab the car keys out of the van and they end up having to wait for the SAG van to make it to Upland anyway. Fail.
Meanwhile, A Pirate Looks At 100 Miles returns briefly, then heads off on their second lap of the course.

Steph and Ben pick up the pre-ordered pizza that's waiting for them at the restaurant (the halfway point). Unfortunately, pizza isn't nearly as enjoyable when it comes with a DNF.

The pizza sat mostly uneaten until the next morning. :(

We went home pretty busted, bummed out, and ready to go to bed.

8:06am: A Pirate Looks at 100 Miles finishes. Woohoo!  (Video: MJ)

The Aftermath:
Ben wasn't able to eat anything and was extremely uncomfortable with stomach pain. After weighing himself, he suspects it was from dehydration, as he was as much as 8 pounds below his before-RER weight.... AFTER drinking and replenishing electrolytes.
My (Steph) foot pain got progressively worse and was not able to bear weight. Still no swelling, but I iced, ibuprofen-ed, and elevated it as I slept all night.

Sunday Morning:
Ben's stomach issues seem to be resolved. Yay! Now time for some consolation pizza... he deserves it after finishing 50k on roads all night.

Our friend, Jeff, did me a favor and got me to see the amazing Dr. Heather Dukes early in the morning to get her professional opinion of the injury and symptoms. Nothing conclusive yet, but Monday will bring x-ray tests to see what's going on. MRIs might be involved if the x-ray comes up negative. She mentioned that this may be a strain of the lisfranc joint. I guess we'll find out more tomorrow.

It's ok-- sadly, I already have my own boot.

So, the body does what it wants, and obviously the roads and running were a little too much for it to handle. While my running-every-day-in-2012 is now officially over, it's best that I take the rest time now so it doesn't become something worse later.

Most importantly, thank you to all of you, our biggest fans, who followed us and supported us through our (very short) journey. 

We're confident that - without injury or ailment - our legs would have carried us through to the finish.
Look out for big things from this Superhuman team next year!

Red Eye Relay Eve

Warning: a lot of randomness in this post.

In less than 24 short hours, we're going to be running the Red Eye Relay!

52 miles, 21 legs, 104 miles, 2 people. YES.

Now that it's relay day eve, it's starting to occur to us that we need to get ready.

Are you ready to experience the pre-RER chaos inside my head? 'Cause hold on tight...tons of really dumb stuff goes on up here.

Like:

Weather? I am so over this heat. Hope tomorrow's exactly like today.

...Yay! Ben brought home the new Nike sports bras I ordered! I am going to be decked out!!

Kroger trip. We have to go to Kroger tomorrow. I need beef jerky. And Eggos. Bananas, too.

[Beep] My muffins are almost done! (I'm making mini chocolate chip banana "power muffins" for snacks in between legs. Naming credit: Miss Katie.)

You think we can order a pizza? Bring a pizza with us to eat a 4am? ...Best idea EVER!

Laundry! We need 10 sets of clothes! -ish.  ...Ormaybeicouldwearthesamethingallnight...

I think my left leg is longer than my right leg today. Was that a twinge? I think I just felt a twinge. Yeah, that was definitely a twinge. I wish Dr. Mandy was here to fix this!

Grabbing: headlamp, Garmin and charger, phone and charger. MP3 player? ...I really hate that Gotye song. It needs to go away.

That reflective best had better not still smell like mildew. ::shudder:: Dish soap, oxyclean, bleach, and laundry detergent should've killed that. Right?

Checking to see if Twitter's on my phone... @bartleysrun. Follow us. Do it.

Meanwhile, Ben: more research. And more calculations.

It's gonna be a good night.

Birds, Runs, and Dogs

We are technologically savvy now. Sorta.

BartleysRun - Ben and Steph! - is officially on Twitter. Follow us!

Red Eye Relay: We're in!!

And WISH US LUCK. 

104 miles

2 of us

21-ish relay legs

52-ish miles each

ONE NIGHT!

We will be attempting the Red Eye Relay in the Superhuman division.
In the past, we've done this with a team of 7 runner. If we finish, we WIN! [We're the only crazies willing to do this as a two-person team. Shocker.] I've never run more than 31 before, but there's still a chance we won't run - this is going to be a game-day call, dependent on the weather - sun, heat, and humidity. It's going to be a slow and enjoyable-as-possible run(s). I'll be ecstatic if we can both make it through without injury.

And! We'll be joining/hitch-hiking with Darrell's team, "A Pirate Looks At 100 Miles"! They're on facebook all night long, too.

Basically, Red Eye Relay is shenanigans.

And when it's not shenanigans, it's running. In the dark.

RER 2011

Pictures, tweets, and facebook posts to follow.

So keep up with us all night! We'll be posting twitter updates all night long. You can track our tweets on this blog (in the right sidebar). Or, become our newest follower on Twitter. (You might regret it, but only a little.)



In other news...

I know, I know. You were waiting for me to clear up the mystery surrounding the mystery pooper, the poopetrator. Stay disappointed for a few more days! The story has unfolded since then, so I have a nice little update for you sometime later. Meanwhile, here's a nice shot of what's marinating in our backyard.

I'll let you use your imagination to picture what's inside.

Have a great weekend everyone!

VivoBarefoot Schwag

Something happened this week that reminded me of this book that I had as a kid.
Does anyone remember this oldie but goodie?

I had to do this for homework in second grade.
The idea is that you write to your favorite company/companies - like Hershey, for example, and you write a letter (Whaaa?! Yeah, writing! With a pencil and paper!!) to them about a good or a bad experience you had with their product. Stick a stamp on it, and eventually if you were juuuust lucky enough, you'd get a form letter response and maybe something for free.

I always chose anything edible, like chocolate, because I knew it was good for a coupon that'd get me a free candy bar. :) I honestly can't remember what else you could get for free (or in some cases for $1) from the book, but as a kid, it was pretty much the coolest. thing. ever. Well, at least I thought it was... which may explain why I like coupons so much.

Fast forward to last week...

I have these barefoot shoes (like Vibram Fivefingers, except without the toes) that I love so much. I have loved them so much that I wore a hole in the bottom. They're the Vivobarefoot Amelia. It's possibly THE most comfortable shoe I have ever owned. It's wide and roomy, it's minimalist & zero-drop, and most importantly, this is a STEALTH BAREFOOT SHOE! with some fine looks...

I love this company!!! I love these shoes!!! They make a barefoot running shoe, the Evo, which I have yet to try out. Most of their other shoes are sandals, technical athletic/hiking shoes, or are lifestyle shoes with a funky look. Unfortunately, funky works in SoHo, but doesn't really cut it for business casual footwear here in the Midwest.

I should've known when I was in the SoHo store in NYC last November and saw the Amelia shoes on clearance. I bought the Boxing Boot that day... another pair of Vivos that I love dearly. Comfortable boots. Rare and worth the price. Eight months later, I'm still kicking myself for not buying those Amelias (at a smokin' price too!). And now that I'm due for a new pair, they are discontinued. :(

Vivobarefoot's current line of lifestyle shoes is lacking, and after doing lots of research, there is really nothing remotely close in the market that fills the good looking/functional barefoot shoe category for women (but for men? Plenty. Some women might like the Merrells that are out there, but the running shoe look still makes it a far second and the fit isn't quite right for my foot.)

Last week, I emailed the team at Vivobarefoot through their online form to: a) find out if it's possible to hunt down a pair; b) tell them they need to corner the women's casual minimalist shoe market!; and c) let them know how much I love their shoes. I didn't want anything in return or even much of a response, but mostly hoped that I would be one of - hopefully - many who could influence their future designs with my feedback.

Excellent customer service, Vivobarefoot! Not only did I receive a quick response, but I received the full email chain proving they'd made a good attempt at locating a pair for me. To me, good customer service is responsiveness and a genuinely friendly attitude... even if it's not the answer I want to hear. Thank you!!

Here's the email itself:

Hey Steph-

So glad to hear you love the shoes, I am huge fan of the Amelia myself.  Unfortunately we will not be bringing back that particular style. However our design team is completely aware that we need more casual items since there is such a void in the market.

I urge you to keep an eye out for VIVOBAREFOOT as our upcoming AW12 Season has new items and colors that I am extremely excited about. Starting around March of 2013 we are bringing in 4 new SKU's in the Ladies Casual arena that offer a more feminine and dainty feel.

Is it possible to get your home address as I have a few little goodies I would like to send you as a thank you for taking the time out of your day to send me such a nice email. Nice emails are the best!!!

AW12 is Autumn/Winter 2012, so it's coming in a few short months and I cannot wait to see what they're releasing!

Well of COURSE I sent her my home address, expecting probably a bunch of keychains and other things that are cool (but in all honesty maybe not something I'll actually use - you know, the free junk you get at expos!).

Today I got my goodies in the mail.

Side note: First, I got a note attached to the envelope itself that says I owe the carrier $0.62 because the postage was short... which just made me laugh:

Balance due the carrier: 62 cents. How did this package get taken away in the first place?!

Besides that, the fun stuff:

Awesome! This is one of those water bottles that rolls up or flattens when it's empty, with a carabiner to clip it to anything. I was NOT expecting something this useful... and Ben has been wanting to try these out too. Score for us!

Yep, I was definitely expecting keychains. They're the Vivo logo in rubber. I think you get one of these in a smaller version attached to your new shoes -? Their packaging is among the nicest I've seen for footwear... each shoe in its own mesh pouch, recyclable cardboard box (which was printed so nicely that I framed the image from inside the box of my latest pair of Vivos and hung it in our guest room).

In the background, a Vivobarefoot lanyard.

Last, a DVD.

Veeery interested to see what this DVD is about - Learn the Skill of Barefoot Running! An instructional DVD. Everybody's got a different twist on barefoot and natural running, so this one should be good. I (obviously) believe in barefoot running, since it's what kept me mostly injury-free and helped me get rid of my back pain for the past 6 months. I like!

Thanks, VivoBarefoot!

So, I love the H20 2 Go bottle, and I'm giving away a (1) VivoBarefoot keychain and (1) lanyard. Leave a comment one of them is all yours! (tell me which one you want)


Ps - we have an update on the poopetrator! More details coming soon in the next post.

This is a Really Crappy Blog Post

We're about to get really crappy here.

Yesterday, I discovered several piles of dog poop in the yard on the side of our house that hits the street. It's only been 2-3 weeks the last time we mowed our lawn weeds, and none of this was here. Where is this  coming from? We don't own a dog, and Todd the bunny would have to be at least 5 times his size to create something that... substantial.

It's NOT cute.

Sure, sometimes you leave the house and forget to bring a plastic bag to clean up. And then you secretly hope that nobody saw you and walk off casually, right? We've all been there. And I like to believe, unlike this person, that dog owners carry plastic bags so they can clean up every time... not just to put on the big poop-picking show when they know they've been spotted.


Accidents and oversights happen. Ever since we moved in 2 years ago, I would find a happy little stray turd in our yard and ignored it because it would eventually disintegrate and go away. I understand that when you live on the corner, there's more yard to manage, and double the chances for this to happen. Except here's why I'm completely annoyed:

Count it. That's TEN piles. You don't forget to clean up ten times in three weeks. It's been so hot and dry that it's just baking and preserving the evidence: ten identical piles of poop = clearly from the same dog. I don't hold this against the dog. Everyone poops. I do, however, have a problem with the owner.


Not a coincidence*: A quick check of the front of our yard found nothing. The same sweep of our behind-neighbor's yard also found nothing (except an old pile of poo that's obviously from a different dog). It seems to me that the lack of big windows on the side of our house makes this owner feel ok about letting his/her dog relieve itself on the side of our house without cleaning up.


* We're not bad neighbors! Of course, when you find that someone's vandalized or done something to your house and yard, it makes you wonder if you've done something to deserve it. I cannot think of a thing. Maybe it's like Mark & Miranda's story a few years ago, when they found this hilarious, poorly-written, passive-aggressive note in their mailbox all because they didn't mow their lawn.

I showed Ben what I found, and we had a good time dreaming up several (some funny, some wish-we-had-the-guts-to-do-this) responses to the poop.

The cute approach
The cuteness of this garden statue-esque "clean up after your dog" sign distracts from the point. Must get message across less daintily!

The direct sign approach
This sign is more direct about telling owners to pick up after their dogs. But not only is this ugly, I feel like this would only be asking for people to let their dogs go in our yard. It's clear on what you want to accomplish by placing the sign, so I'll give it that much.

And this is a similar version of the direct-but-totally-tacky sign (and arguably still not a deterrent but an invitation):

The passive aggressive approach
Gather it up, and put it all in the middle of a heavily-traveled sidewalk. Not the best idea. I'm not quite ready for the rest of the neighborhood to hate us. And I really won't be surprised to find a flaming bag of poop on our doorstep if we do do it... (haha, get it?)

The even more passive aggressive approach
Use utility flags (we already own some for race management) to "raise awareness" of the issue - raise the owner's awareness that we know! Flag each pile of poop. Since there are ten, it would be insane! There are probably neighborhood rules against this anyhow. Photoshop preview:

What We Actually Did
My sister set up a motion-detector video camera last year when she was trying to figure out which of her two cats was secretly peeing in the house when she wasn't around. And it worked! She could monitor the video feed remotely on a cell phone, on the internet, and set it to motion-activate... all with a cheap D-Link wireless camera and an accessible internet connection.

I like this approach much better. I'd MUCH rather figure out who's allowing their dog to do this and catch them in the act. Once I know who it is, I have zero problem with confronting them face-to-face.

Last night, we set up a video camera from our upper balcony and recorded all evening. We used a plain old handheld video camera plugged into the charger and zip-tied the tripod to the railing, setting it up at an angle with a good view of the sidewalk, treelawn, and the side of the yard. There was also no need to conceal the camera itself because most people don't look up as they're walking by. The outdoor curtains seem to hide the equipment anyway. While we have the house's built-in video cameras pre-installed and weather-proofed, they're unfortunately not set up to record - YET. And we're really not that paranoid, either. (Although that would've been helpful last year when a bunch of houses in the neighborhood, including ours, got shot up in a drive-by with paintballs. Oh... the privileges of living on the corner!)

We made a decision to record only for 4-6 hours each morning and 4-6 hours in the evenings; during the day, it has been getting way too hot out, and I don't want to overheat or damage the camera by leaving it out in the sun or in 100+ degree weather. Based on the current drought we're having, I'm pretty sure I don't have to worry about rain!

 

We don't know a lot, but the evidence that was left gives us a short profile of our "poop"etrator (pun credit: Ben) with:

It's not certain, but could guess that our careless dog owner is a person who lives in the apartments behind our neighborhood. The side/back of our house leads only to the apartment buildings (as opposed to other single-family homes), and an apartment-dweller would be more likely to be less considerate of homeowners' yards. You know... I won't poop in your yard if you don't poop in mine!


Ben did research and found that the City of Bloomington issues up to a $50 citation for every instance in which a dog owner does not clean up after his/her dog on someone else's property. Enforceable? Probably not. But now there's $500 sitting on our lawn!


What We Saw So Far
After surveillance day #1, we've seen only me and a family of 3 (dog-less one at that) on camera. It's been so hot out that I don't expect to capture our lazy owner on video for another week until it cools down and people are actually going out on walks with their pets.

This is the morning of Day 2, the forecast is out to exceed 104 or 106 degrees F today, so it's the same old hotness that's keeping people - and possibly our poopetrator - indoors. We set up the camera at 6:30am (Sadly, we've been up 6am or earlier the past week anyway, just because it's the only way to still run and beat the heat). We recorded until about 10am today, catching nothing but:

• a guy walking to see what some debris in the road was
• a runner trying to beat the heat
• a person (coming from the direction of the apartments!!) walking a reasonably large dog off-leash. Suspect. Marking as a person of interest.

I'll extract some video clips for next time so you can see what it looks like when we're monitoring our place.

Honestly, it's all kind of fun/funny. Maybe because of all of this FBI talk lately. :) But it's still annoying and I don't appreciate piles of feces on my grass (dead or not). So yeah, I want to catch this person, and we're entertaining ourselves doing it all the while!

So neighbors and dog owners, please let this be a reminder to

clean up after your dogs...

Or else!

Meanwhile, I'll keep you posted on what we end up catching on camera... I have a feeling we're about to see some funny crap.

The FBI PFT

Yesterday we went to the BARA Tuesday night track workout. It had to be over 85 degrees by the time we arrived at the IU Outdoor track at 7:30pm, and no one in the small group that did show up seemed motivated to run much/hard in the heat. (and it's not looking like this heat wave will pass anytime soon, bleh) It's been a rough few weeks, so something fun was well overdue!

Our friend's dream job is to someday (soon!) be an FBI agent, and to do this, one of the main criteria is at least a passing score on the FBI PFT (physical fitness test). [I was kinda curious so I looked up... these standards are summarized accurately(?) in third-party sites: USMC | Navy | Air Force | Army]

We were talking about how our friend wants to get closer to maxing the score (fastest time) on the 300-meter run for the test. Since no one really goes out to train for a 300-meter run, of course this spurred questions on why, and many many more questions on what else the PFT involves. So, rather than talk about it, we ALL decided to do it!

There are 4 parts to the test, all mandatory:
1) Sit-ups
2) 300 meter sprint
3) Push-ups
4) 1.5 mile run

You can earn points for each part, depending on how well you do. In order to pass the PFT, you must earn at least one point in each event. There are strict rules about what constitutes one rep, like proper form. The scoring scales are below - excerpted from the official site here.

This was really fun! I've been in a dark place with running since it's been 100+ degrees each day (and I've had to wake up at 5 or 6am to run), so despite the temperature, Tuesday was the first time I had FUN running in a few weeks.

One-Minute Sit-Ups

Score	Female Range	Male Range
-2	29 and below	31 and below
0	30-34	32-37
1	35-36	38
2	37-40	39-42
3	41-42	43-44
4	43-46	45-47
5	47-48	48-49
6	49-50	50-51
7	51-52	52-53
8	53-54	54-55
9	55-56	56-57
10	57 and over	58 and over

On the sit-ups, I feel like my score was a shallow achievement: I finished 44 total, but our spotters Ben and Jeff said that I was dangerously close to not doing it right. We're going to call it 44...


Timed 300-Meter Sprint (in seconds)

Score	Female Range	Male Range
-2	67.5 and over	55.1 and over
0	67.4-65.0	55.0-52.5
1	64.9-62.5	52.4-51.1
2	62.4-60.0	51.0-49.5
3	59.9-57.5	49.4-48.0
4	57.4-56.0	47.9-46.1
5	55.9-54.0	46.0-45.0
6	53.9-53.0	44.9-44.0
7	52.9-52.0	43.9-43.0
8	51.9-51.0	42.9-42.0
9	50.9-50.0	41.9-41.0
10	49.9 and below	40.9 and below

I could NOT believe I was nervous for this, and rightly so because I got smoked in this run by the other two ridiculously fast runners I went with (Katie & Trevor)! The nerves might've partially done that to me. But, we were all still running fast enough that I lost my hat in the breeze. :) No way I could've kept this pace up for even 400, haha - and to think that some of the women in the trials this past week were running each of their 400m splits at this pace. Crazy! Or maybe the sick part is that plenty of people can run a full 400 meters in less than the time it took me to finish 300... yep, I will not be going to the Olympics for sprints. [Katie did awesome! That girl's on a hot streak right now.]

Today I noticed that I busted small tears in the front of my Newtons (on both shoes!!) while doing this. :( Probably from jamming my foot to the front of my shoes while running on my toes. More reasons I why shouldn't be a sprinter.

Well-earned.

Push-Ups (untimed)

Score	Female Range	Male Range
-2	4 and below	19 and below
0	5-13	20-29
1	14-18	30-32
2	19-21	33-39
3	22-26	40-43
4	27-29	44-49
5	30-32	50-53
6	33-35	54-56
7	36-38	57-60
8	39-41	61-64
9	42-44	65-70
10	45 and over	71 and over

Ok, I min-ed on the push-ups. Normally, I can do 20-25 on any given day, but Katie and Jeff were making me laugh so I gave up at 14.


1.5 Mile Run (in minutes:seconds)

Score	Female Range	Male Range
-2	15:00 and over	13:30 and over
0	14:59-14:00	13:29-12:25
1	13:59-13:35	12:24-12:15
2	13:34-13:00	12:14-11:35
3	12:59-12:30	11:34-11:10
4	12:29-11:57	11:09-10:35
5	11:56-11:35	10:34-10:15
6	11:34-11:15	10:14-9:55
7	11:14-11:06	9:54-9:35
8	11:05-10:45	9:34-9:20
9	10:44-10:35	9:19-9:00
10	10:34 and below	8:59 and below

No watches allowed. Just a person calling the elapsed time every 400 meters (1 lap). I did my 1.5 mile run in 9:51 with no nerves, unlike the 300m!

My first 400 was 97 seconds, and while I didn't feel like I was going to "fly and die (the danger of starting out too fast)," I thought maybe I got a little over-excited on the first lap as usual. On lap 2, I tried to reign it in a little bit but I felt.... good! and kept on going. Turns out that the second lap was another 97-second split. At this point, I thought: I could totally hang onto this for 4 more laps! :)

As I passed the 1 mile mark and Ben called my time, I was around 6:30. This was about the time that I realized how much easier 6 laps is compared to 12.5 (from our 5k time trials)! And now, only two laps left. I am embarrassed to admit that I lost count around here: I couldn't remember if I was on lap 5 or lap 6... I just cannot get my brain to function when I run!

The last two laps were uneventful. I was starting to catch some of the other people a lap behind me but trying not to get in the way. Coasted to the finish without any problems keeping up. It was really nice - I felt mostly relaxed the whole run! It would seem to me that running slow for these past few months is making me faster. :) This was the confidence boost I needed to get me out the door for the next few days, at least.

All in all, the FBI PFT day was a fun non-running running day for us! We'll try it again soon. And, I definitely learned/remembered something on this day: If you don't feel like running the same old thing, do something fun instead!

Blog Buddies

Is it just me, or are we bloggin' fools lately? I love it!

This conversation started when EHaz decided that she had a LOT of running nuggets (of wisdom?) worth sharing and it was time to unleash her fury into the blogosphere. She's not the only one, though. This Btown running crew's already killing it with documenting running, life, and everything in between.

After all, there's:

| US! | Christy | EHaz | Craig |
| Taylor | Savannah | Heather |
| Miranda | Scott | Mandy |
| Frank | Emily | Andrea | Wendy |

* Hope I didn't forget anyone...
PLEASE leave a comment if you have a blog you want to share!*

See, I subscribe to 100+ blogs. I don't read a lot of books -- blogs are my version of bedtime reading, and I love it because it's genuine and (hopefully!) pretty much real-time. It's like a magazine minus the month-long wait for the next issue! While the design blogs I frequent are fun and have lots of pretty pictures, I still love reading about even the mundane daily ramblings from my friends. 

For me? Well, my blog is my 21st-century version of journaling. Because writing is just WAY too hard. ;) It's my own little slice of the internet.

Print: Etsy

The beautiful thing about blogging is that once you start, you just can't get enough. So let's share the love! 

The rest of this post is about how to keep up with your favorite run/blogging friends.

Do this by:

1) Reading all of the blogs you follow at one website, with Google Reader or Blogger.
2) Following (Blogger) /Subscribing (Reader) to your favorite blogs.

3) Extra credit: Organize your favorite blogs in Google Reader

Blogger or Google Reader?

As much fun as typing in the URL to 10,000 blog sites every morning sounds, you can read every blog you like at one compact website! There are plenty of other readers out there, but these are the two most popular and easy to use.

So, decide if you're going to use Blogger or Google Reader.

• Blogger allows you to read blogs only. If you're already a blog owner, this might be most convenient, since Blogger is the site you go to to author a post (if this is your platform). New blog posts from friends will show up at the bottom of your dashboard.
  To see your favorite blogs in Blogger, you must Follow them.

• Google Reader gives you the chance to subscribe to both blogs and news feeds (like if keyword: "Steph Bartley" pops up in a news article somewhere on the interwebs). Downside: You have to visit the separate Google Reader website to see your newest reading material. I personally like Google Reader because I subscribe to a lot of blogs, which is visually easier to read and allows the possibility to organize my blogs into folders I can name (Running Blogs, Home Decor Blogs, Food Blogs, etc.). To see your favorite blogs in Google Reader, you can Follow or Subscribe to them.

If you're not doing it already, FOLLOW US! Or, Subscribe! Go ahead and click that button under the Subscribe! heading at right. C'mon.... you know you want to.  ;)

Reading In Blogger
The easiest way to do this is to Join on Google Friend Connection - that's how you follow. See the Follow Me! option at the right? Join this Site, and you'll officially be a follower.

Then, go to Blogger. Scroll down past your blogs and you'll see all of the blogs you're Following right in your Reading List. Ta-da!

Reading In Google Reader
Don't be scared- it looks harder than it is. I'll do it in photos. Pictures are worth a thousand words!

First, go to Google Reader.

 It should look like this...

Click the red Subscribe button and type in the website address (I like to copy/paste) you want to subscribe to. Then, hit Add.

Your newly-subscribed blog will show up in the bottom of your reader, along with any unread posts. Now, whenever any of the blogs you subscribe to post new updates, they'll show up here!

Here's what the Subscription list looks like with a lot of subscriptions:

Yikes! Lots to read.

Messy? Lots of topics?

This is why you might want to do some organizing with a handy feature in Google Reader!

Extra Credit: Organize With Folders in Google Reader

As soon as you get into Google Reader, click the Setup button at the top right. Select "Reader Settings."

Click on the "Subscriptions" tab at the top. Then, Add a New Folder.

Go back to Google Reader and select a blog. Choose the folder you want to assign it to, and it'll get moved to the folder once you select it.

Now, when you read, you can see each of your subscriptions and folders exactly how you want them!

That's the big show! So thanks for Following us, and good luck subscribing to your favorite blogs!

Happy reading!

Update: Drive more traffic to your blog. Add a Blogroll, or list of favorite blogs you haunt, somewhere on your own blog. The idea is that you send readers to them, and they send readers to you. Cross-promotion, right?! :) If you & your running blog would like to be considered for our blogroll (screen shot below), shoot me an email or comment!