Mantras

#dailymission on April 08, 2011

What mantra do you repeat when you need to dig the deepest?

It varies, really. A couple I frequently go to:

• You wanted this. You signed up for it. Remember?!?!
• If this were easy, everyone would do it.

And, my last thought on this for today...

I honestly haven't had to dig deep since running the marathon last fall. When the time does come, though, I'm pretty sure I'm going to think back to that day. My friend Tiffany, who I ran it with, was running it for her friend, Heather, who was battling breast cancer. Heather came out to cheer, and I'm pretty sure I will never forget the exchange between them at about mile 16. Big hug, tears, the whole business. As Tiff said, 'screw it, 10 more miles is nothing.' Indeed, 10 miles is nothing, compared to the real life battles people have to fight.

Daily Mission

I must say, I'm finding this to be quite fun!

Today's #dailymission

Post a recipe of your favorite pre-race meal (pics work too:)

Same as every other day.

My very own oatmeal concoction-- old fashioned oats, almond butter, agave nectar, cinnamon, and vanilla soy milk; all mixed up and nuked for a minute and 45 seconds. Coffee on the side, with almond milk and a little more agave nectar.

Here's the TMI portion-- I like this breakfast because it gets things moving, if you know what I mean. It gets things moving BEFORE I leave the house and not DURING the race. Because when things get moving during the race, 'tis not pleasant.

Another dailymission

#dailymission on April 04, 2011

What is the one bit of advice you wish you someone shared with your when you started running/biking/swimming/etc. ?

Early on, I was way too worried about what people would think. As in worried that the real athletes of the world would scoff at me and say I had no business corrupting their sport with my mediocrity. I wish someone would have told me that NO ONE REALLY GIVES A HOOT. Other runners/athletes don't care if I'm slow, they don't care if I don't look like a runner, they don't care if my shirt and shorts don't match, they don't care if I can't swim worth a damn, etc., etc. If they DO care, they're stupid.

Daily Mission

Dailymile.com has a dailymission pretty much every day. It's usually just some running related question. I've never really been inclined to post answers, but I think I'll start answering a few of them via my trusty ol' running blog.

Today's #dailymission

What is the one training "gadget" that you think is worth it?

Definitely my Garmin. It's pretty and green and it looks like this:

I love that, no matter where I am, I can strap it on, go out for a run, and know how far I've gone. When you're in training for something specific, and need to cover a certain number of miles, it's pretty invaluable. No more having to map out a route to make sure you go far enough. The pace information and all the other good stuff it tells you is pretty cool, but I'm trying to not worry about such things in my old age; so I mainly dig it for telling me how far I've gone.

In other news, today is our last day in Arizona. It has been SO nice to run here. I'm not looking forward to returning to the tundra.

My Apologies to Grandma

Turns out she doesn't hate me after all. My self diagnosis appears to have been wrong and I felt up to running today. I enjoyed a great run with my running amiga Sheri. Marathon training is ON.

2011 Team Ortho Get Lucky - 7K
Anne Holt Age: 35 Residence: Edina, MN

9:19 per mile (view kilometer pace)
52 percent (view time)
1463 out of 5077
779 out of 3668 Females
162 out of 696 Females in the F3539 Age Group
(See complete F3539 results)

Location	Race Time	Time of Day	Overall Place	Division Place	Sex Place
Time	40:28	10:42:53	1463/5077	162/696	779/3668
ChipStart	2:15	10:02:25	3501/7307	437/975	2158/5044
GunStart	00:00	10:00:11

Overall PlaceSex PlaceDivision PlaceTime

You placed 1463 out of 5077 runners overall

START to FINISHYou passed 2571 runners in the overall categoryYou were passed by 258runners in the overallcategory

Grandma Hates Me

Or Grandma's Marathon hates me, anyway. After two lovely runs on Sunday and Monday, I woke up on Tuesday morning with pain in my shin that was eerily familiar. I'm once again unlikely to shell out the bucks for an MRI for a definitive diagnosis, but I'm quite sure I'm dealing with another stress fracture. That's two, in the exact same spot, in less that two years. So. very. frustrating.

I am hoping against hope that recovery will be quicker this time because I've recognized it early, and, of course, have stopped running. We shall see, though. The fabulous Dr. Boren did a pretty thorough assessment on Wednesday and has told me not to rule out Grandma's. I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I'm not real optimistic. In addition to seeing the chiropractor, I've had one session of acupuncture therapy and have another scheduled for early next week.

If you're wondering about my choice of health care, I don't blame you. My previous experience, however, is that western medicine providers will pretty much listen to you for 30 seconds and then shrug their shoulders. At least by going this route I feel I'm being listened to. There is, however, a part of me that would really like to have the MRI done, just so I would really know for sure what's going on.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

Make lemonade. Or make lemonade flavored powerade and enter a full marathon.

Dear Anne Holt, Congratulations! You are officially registered for the 35th anniversary of Grandma's Marathon on June 18, 2011. We are looking forward to welcoming you to Duluth, and providing you with a world-class race.

AAAAACK! What have I done?? Just kidding (mostly). I'm pretty excited.