The Wisdom of Co-Hosting a Full Day Presentation before a Marathon

Powder expressing her displeasure at it being winter. Or maybe yelling...."No, don't go away again mommy!"

A picture from the summer in which Powder, Sagwa and Zaboo were hanging out in our fenced yard.

Zaboo and Sagwa practicing their kayaking technique this past summer. It is good they are just practising because they clearly cannot figure out which is the top or the bottom! But from Sagwa's face you can see she is really enjoying the wind in her fur. And it kind of looks like Boo is simply along for the ride.

Today I spent the vast majority of my time on my feet presenting a vision and setting up a workshop which I am organizing in September. There were over 100 people in attendance, so it was fairly large. In my case, this vast majority of this meeting was "time on feet" (which is good training for my marathons and ultras) and 8 hours of speaking (which may not be so good for training...in fact our microphone broke about 80% into the meeting and at that time I just had to speak REALLY loudly).

Hopefully by Sunday my voice is back because I have lots of cheering in me for the New Orleans Marathon! (Which apparently several times I mentioned was "only a marathon"...I preambled our meeting with, the meeting was scheduled to end by 4, I wanted it to finish by 3:30 and in fact ended before 3 because I needed to pack for my trip/marathon!). And in fact to get mentally prepared for New Orleans I gave the core committee Mardi Gras beads so they would stand out (and to get me psyched for this trip).

Am I Southwest Airlines Biggest Fan??

This weekend I will be making what seems to be my weekly pilgrimage to BWI airport for another trip via Southwest to warmer places. I am really excited about New Orleans and know I will have lots of fun running, exploring and of course eating!

One of the reasons I like Southwest so much is that 99% of employees are very humorous, pleasant, upbeat and cheerful. I appreciate this in a company because it mirrors my personality (I think...well except when I am kept up after 10 p.m. then I turn into the Grinch!)

Below I have copied some of my drink coupons. These coupons crack me up. You will see southwest kindly provides conversation starters and stoppers. In addition to being good for a flight, these are probably good suggestions for business meetings. Perhaps I will implement these suggestions in some upcoming meetings:-)
The conversation stoppers are pretty amusing...if you cannot read it I suggest you consider investing in a pair of glasses! Just kidding, simply click on the picture to read the suggestions.

The conversation starters are less humorous but they are pretty good idea's for any situation in which you want to get to know a person in an interesting way.

New Orleans Bound

With Tristan in the Garden District during the first part of the marathon. The course was really beautiful (particularly the first half). The second half definitely went through some sections that Katrina had devastated. I find it is good to see these areas to be reminded about what a great life I have and to really appreciate all that I have.

Doing a pull up on the course. I really stink at pull ups and in fact for a few days after the marathon I was wondering why my arms/shoulders hurt!

Trying to dull the pain from the pull up. And pre-emtively trying to deal with the pain of my beads (which I earned by asking for..not exposing my sports bra!) By the end I had about 15 beads and made a signficant amount of noise. Each step, all the beads thumped my chest and actually lead to a small bruise which took a week or two to go away. Clearly I have not learned my lesson because this year I intend to see how many beads I can score.

With my friends Anne and Meg. We met about mile 15 and jogged about 8 miles together. They were really good company and I do sporadically keep in touch. Sadly neither Anne nor Meg are coming to New Orleans (even though Southwest had fares for about $65)

Enjoying a beignet after the race. Tristan snapped a bunch of pictures during this eating session. I ended up with tons of sugar all over myself. But it was SOOOO good!!! I can almost taste a beignet now. I can barely wait.

I am getting excited about another trip. This weekend I will be flying to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras Marathon. For this marathon vacation I am paying for my flight, but Southwest is really almost forcing me to go with a round trip flight costing ~$120 with fee's! And I am saving a bit more money by traveling with my friend/co-worker Qian.

Last Memorial Day weekend, Qian and I traveled to the Vermont City Marathon at Burlington VT. Our vacation was sucessful so now we are going to a different locale. I think we will have a great time sightseeing, eating and doing lots of activities in New Orleans. We arrive Saturday and are at New Orleans until Wednesday early morning. So far the weather is predicted to be in the mid-60's our entire stay which should be very nice.

I have run Mardi Gras Marathon last year and had a GREAT time. Tristan and I were there from Saturday until Tuesday morning. We saw many sights and ate a considerable amount. But when we left we had lots of activities we wanted to do but ran out of time. And we had lots of food we wanted to eat, but ran out of stomach space! This year hopefully I can be more sucessful.

During this trip we are planning to go to the garden district, go on a paddle boat, go to Mardi Gras World and go to the Zoo and of course we will eat lots of New Orlean style food (a head to head comparison of Beignets at Cafe DuMonde and Cafe Beignet are on my list of my "must eats").

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

In front of Bell Rock early on during our hike. You will notice there is a lower part and an upper part. During our hike we were able to climb up to the first plateau. It was moderately difficult because you had to work from one side to the other finding climbable portions. In fact you also had to watch out for the cactus which added a degree of complexity (and made it so you had to scramble up carefully)

With my dad along Courthouse Butte hike. You can see a large rock up to the left with a rock stack on the top. My dad had climbed to the top of this rock and created a "vortex" (well my dad said the vortex was already there, we just added an exclamation mark with the rock stack).

At the top of Bell rock, which we hiked around for a bit (although you had to move from side to side to find area's that were hikeable/climbable). There were some very impressive views and I imagine it would have been spectacular if the sun was out.

My dad's birthday bouquet from Tristan and I. The "vase" is supposed to be a smiley face mug, which I thought was cute and reusable. Although perhaps it was just a cute smiley vase. It arrived at his place right before he left for a night of activities. I wonder what freebies he will find (I know Hollywood Video's gives a free rental and Denny's used to give a free birthday meal--if anyone knows where to acquire freebies, it is my dad:-)

Last week my dad and I celebrated my dad's 70th birthday early (a 4 day weekend made last weekend a better weekend for me). To celebrate we met up in Arizona and hiked extensively in Sedona.

I took my dad out for an early birthday dinner during our trip. I went all out by treating him to taco del mar for a $3 dinner:-) I was prepared to take him to Yogurtini for dessert and did share my frozen yogurt treat with him.

More Sedona Pictures and a summary of some hikes

Along Baker Trail (in northwest Sedona). This trail was about 4 miles, although we almost made it about a 2700 mile hike because we did not have a clear map and my dad has a mediocre sense of direction. Luckily my Garmin 305 (not the Garmin 405 that hates me) has a feature that enables you to see where your trip started at so we were able to find the car this way. I had bought a good hiking map but sadly it was in the car and thus of no use when we hit the "Y" along the trail.

Hiking Huckabee Trail, a nice trail that starts at a nice vista then hikes into Oak Creek Canyon. This hike was about 2 miles round trip but could have been extended as per the map. But I think a flood may have taken out a bridge making this nearly impossible. Notice in this picture the rickety bridge we had to cross. It was not in great shape and in fact sagged under both my dads and my weight (individually)

In the bottom of the Oak Creek Canyon along Huckabee Trail. Within about 20 minutes we were at the bridge you can see in the background, thus it was not too difficult a trail. In fact during this trip I realized the Eastern Trails seem alot more technical with rocks and roots than the Sedona and Phoenix Trails at least.

With my dad at the top of Devils Arch. This was a 1-2 mile beautiful hike from the trailhead. However, to get to the trailhead my dad made us hike in about 1.5 miles because he was afraid the rental car would get busted on the unimproved road. On our way back we were able to hook up with a nice pair of hikers who had parked at the trailhead who kindly offered us a ride to the rental car.

At the bottom of Devils Arch. This arch was quite large. I would guess 50 feet long (2 school buses long), 20 feet across and about 200 feet high. It was quite spectacular and definitely worth the hike to get to it. Also the views from the Arch were also very pretty.

Monday-Wednesday this week after a few days in Phoenix for the marathon, I vacationed at Sedona AZ with my dad. We both are hikers so much of our time was outside seeing a variety of sights. We went on about 4 distinct moderate length hikes including:

1) Baker Point

2) Devils Arch

3) Huckabee

4) Courthouse Butte and Belle Rock

We also went to Montezuma's Castle (Indian Ruins in a cliff), Montezuma Well (Indian Ruins and a spring fed pool), and walked briefly around the town of Sedona. The weather was always nice (up until Wednesday every day was sunny, and even Wednesday morning was pleasant, but just a bit overcast). All of these hikes I think we both enjoyed. We also did Red Rock Slide State Park, which I think both of us were a bit disappointed but think it was just the wrong season to appreciate this landmark.

Arizona Marathon final pictures

Before the finish...aware how close 5 hours is but still willing to take a moment to document the moment!

After the finish with my new medal. It is really big, colorful and unique (with a cactus in the middle).

With my dad after I returned to the course after finishing! My family has a terrible track record of not seeing me finish. It must be genetic because it has happened with my mom, sister, husband and now my dad! Maybe I should have taken my phone and given him updates.

With John "the Penguin" Bingham after the finish. I have met him several times at a variety of races. He really is an inspiration and definitely makes sure everyone know that marathoning is manageable with a bit of dedication and effort.

With the "Lucky Marathon Cat" from the PF Changs marathon. I wish I had seen this sign during the day because the lighting would have been alot better. You can see Marathon Kitty was number 1, guess she was an elite runner.

As I mentioned, I had a really great time at Rock and Roll Marathon this past weekend. I did see so many people, enjoy the course and loved the energy throughout the race.

One question I got at work this week is: why did you finish in under 5 hours? Well, this is a funny story in retrospect. My dad (whose priorities are all messed up!) suggested that the NFC (or is it the AFC) Championship was starting at 1 p.m., thus I needed to finish by 1 p.m.. Oddly enough I can take requests (I'm like a DJ for races). Thus I decided that I would finish about 4.5 or 5 hours. As I was leaving the room my dad asked my time. Since I was a little hesitant to commit, I suggested I should finish between 4.5-5.5 hours (thus 12:10-1:10). My dad apparently was not pleased with this band, but did make the effort to see me finish. Sadly I was in the early part of this predicted finish time band and he suggested he got stuck in some marathon traffic which made it so he arrived just a few minutes before 1 p.m.

Being an accomodating daughter I had even suggested that he could go to a bar along the course and I could drop in as I was finishing. He declined this very generous offer. After I finished I doubled back on the course and ultimately stumbled upon him. I did try to recreate my finish but don't think I did a good job.

A few more pictures and comments about the Arizona Rock and Roll Marathon

This sign along the course completely cracked me up...the only better sign might be up by Buffalo about not shaking the Dew, cause it makes it angry!

By the way, it is too bad this sign was not around in the 70's because my parents thought a bowl haircut was a good idea. This same set of parents dressed me in bell bottoms and still lack fashion sense!

I love crowds that support all the runners....thus they suggested "GO TAMMY" (looking closer you can also see the comment "get that rabbit" and "Do it for the beer!"). Their sign was pretty amusing.

With my friend Larry during the race...I think Larry is stalking me because last year I saw him about 10-15 times at a variety of races all over the place (Maryland, Vermont, Delaware...)

With a Bunny along the course...I guess I did catch the bunny like the sign suggested.

Once of the aid Stations was manned by nerds. They had all sorts of signs including this one about mm to the finish, then 894564 inches to go and even 7.36 X 10-3 power parsecs to go... They really took their nerdiness to the next level and embraced it with gusto!

Highlights of Sedona

Near Montezuma's Well, an Indian Ruin that is near a spring fed water body. Because it is spring fed, the water is a balmy 65-70 degree's, which was rather pleasant to wade in. So we sat there and enjoyed a short break there.

At Red Rock Slide State Park, a swimming hole along Oak Creek in Sedona. You can see I am grimacing in pain from the water. It was bitterly cold. This park is at about 5,000 feet in elevation but even worse, it is about 2 miles down stream from where there is snow/ice in the river. Sadly we did this park, then drove up river a bit and learned about the snow that was contributing to Oak Creek.

Me standing 2 miles upstream from Red Rock Slide State Park looking at the snow. It was pretty deep here and I imagine even deeper futher up river. Now wonder why I thought my feet were going to fall off after about 10 seconds in the water!

By some red rock formations in Sedona. My dad and I hiked moderately extensively in Sedona and saw a variety of different features. My shoes are now completely covered in red dust as are my clothing (particularly my pants since I did a bit of scooting). In fact I have 3 sets of pants that are red rock dust covered...my dad has only 1 pair, since he was "traveling light" and wore the same outfit pretty much everyday (ewww!!!)

Enjoying a swing along one of our hikes. It was a rather impressive swing and lots of fun. There was another swing along that same route that went over the stream/river, but my dad and I choose not to partake. It probably would have been alot of fun during the summer.

This past week, my dad and I had our first official "father-daughter" vacation in over 10 years. I think we had good times (at least I did). Although I learned my dad sleeps in massively (7 a.m. everyday...most days I was awake by 5 and up before 5 or 6--two days I "slept in" to about 6:30 and one of these days was because the room did not seem to have heat so I was shivering under the covers thinking warm thoughts).

We did many hikes and by the end of my trip, my Garmin suggested I had traveled about 62 miles on foot between the marathon and our hikes. We hiked (walked really) to Indian Ruins, Up to an arch, along a river, and around and up a Butte. I would suggest 4 or 5 more days at Sedona might have been helpful, but now I know where to go (and where not to).

My biggest excitement was seeing a bobcat during a sunrise stroll I had taken on the last day of our trip. On two occasions I was able to dip my feet in water. One time it was spring fed water and thus very nice. The other time was in Red Rock Slide (a highly recommended tourist attraction that looks like alot of fun in the summer but in the winter is snow fed...with snow just a mile or two upriver!!!). I definitely would recommend Sedona as a fun place to go!

A great concert by Smash Mouth and now off to Sedona

At the concert with my dad on my right side. The concert was in a very pretty outdoor venue (Beach park, which is along the salt river in Phoenix). Smash Mouth played many of their popular songs as well as some obscure songs. It seemed to me, their popular songs were heavily weighted in the latter part of the concert.

Arriving at the concert venue with my dad...lucky I am quick with the camera because my dad bailed from the concert very quickly. In fact I would be hard pressed to say he stayed more than 20 minutes. I guess it is lucky he did not ever drive me to a concert because after 2 songs we would have piled in the car and headed home. In fact I tried to get him up to speed on staying by mentioning Homer Simpson of "The Simpsons" took his kids to Lollapollazoo and ended up in the Mash Pit...since my dad asserts he learned his parenting from the Simpsons--which he sort of does, I thought he would be enticed to stay. But alas he left. The even sadder part is that I ended up walking 2 miles to the hotel and he took the Metro, cutting off about 1 mile. HURRMPHH!

Sunday night I took my dad to the post race concert (I had an extra ticket because of volunteering). He made it through 3 songs then bailed. Guess he did not appreciate Smash Mouth. I listened to the entire concert and the encore. They played their popular songs and several I did not know. For the encore they played "Running like the Devil" by Van Halen. Tristan, would have appreciated that. I also think they played another Van Halen song but I am not positive (that's why I take Tristan to concerts--I can name every runner, ultra distance race, and lots of running related stuff, but music is Tristan's expertise!).

Today, my dad and I are traveling up to Sedona. On our way we are going to Montezuma's Castle. Apparently I have been there. My dad is disappointed I have no recollection. Maybe later today my memory will be revived, but I suspect I was about 6 years old and at that age, if you've seen one Indian ruin, you've seen 'em all!

An Awesome Time at Arizona Marathon

A hot air balloon ride certainly would make the 26.2 mile journey easier...in fact I ran over to the balloon, got a closer picture, then asked if I could hop a ride. The first answer was "No". Then I mentioned I had a credit card with a rather high limit and the answer became "I am sure we could arrange something". But alas I decided to get to the finish the hard way.

Taking time to thank my cheering spectators. And of course eat a donut. I love large races as you can typically score alot of food along the way. I consider large marathons a 26.2 mile buffet meal complete with beverage service!

With a miniature horse along the course. Seriously I need one of these to carry me, my fanny pack (which has way too much stuff in it) or to just keep me company. It was a really sweet miniature horse that licked me at one point (I assume I tasted a bit salty)

Wait a second officer, I was running only 5 mph...6 mph tops!

With wonderdog, the mascot of one of the school bands that was entertaining the runners along the course. This course had over 25 bands, many DJ's, lots of schools and many others who were supporting the runners. The Rock and Roll series is definitely a well supported and well organized race event management company. And the residents of Phoenix definitely supported the runners with lots of encouragement and cheers!

Today I redeemed myself a bit (after last weeks 7:00:55) I ran a sub 5 hour marathon. I have no idea of my specific time but suspect it was about 4:58 or so. I saw many friends, made many new friends and just had an amazing time!

The evening of the marathon, went to the headliner concert with my dad. I was very excited about it, but my dad less so. The concert was SmashMouth (think Shrek) and it was lots of FUN!

My marathon was really nice. I met so many new friends and saw all sorts of old friends. Larry Macon (on his about millionth marathon) was there as were several of my maniac friends: Rich, Jeff (?) and some others. At the finish line I ran into John "the Penguin" Bingham and he recognized me from our interactions during the 2007 Marine Corps Marathon. He is really nice. He (like I) was waiting for the final finishers to cheer them on. I have to say taking 7 hours (without rides) sounds like torture to me, so I really appreciate the effort the runners were putting forth!

The race was very well run, the temperature pretty nice (cold at the beginning but warmed up nicely and in the middle a cool breeze was just what runners needed). The aid stations were where the race management stated they would be with products they promised. And the course was relatively flat and had many spectators and bands along the side keeping up the energy.

In Arizona with a little bit of Internet

I had an excellent day at the EXPO. I volunteered at the T-shirt pickup and worked with many nice people. During my shift I also was able to see several friends from the Maniacs and 50 states club.

I am really looking forward to the race tomorrow and think I will have a great time!

Thoughts about the Rock n Roll Marathon

With my friend Christine and her friend I think Sarah (Chrisitine is a young lady from Germantown, MD I did a long run with back in Nov. and had run several times with at the Fleet Feet Thursday night fun runs--I knew she was running the Disney Marathon but considering there are 20,000+ runners I did not necessarily expect to see her). She passed me at mile 16 and I never saw her again (this is when my time started to be REALLY adversely impacted by rides and activities--within about 2 minutes of this picture I had a bathroom break then went on the thrilling roller coaster Expedition Everest; because had it not been in that order it would have been bathroom break during Expedition Everest:-)

Just a few hours to my trip to Arizona and I get even more excited by the minute. I wonder who I will meet, what friends are there who I will run into and what sort of fun activities await me during the race. I know it has a 7 hour deadline but I don't think I will be able to surpass Disney's 7:00:55 time! In fact in discussions with several Boston qualifying friends, technically my marathon was 7 hours (and in fact I had 4 seconds to spare:-)

I know I will have an amazing time and look forward to posting my experience and pictures when I get back next Thursday. Perhaps if I get to a free internet I will post a quick update (with my father there is a strong likelihood we end up in a library, which by the way typically have free internet to everyone! In fact we learned this in Boulder CO which has one of the prettiest libraries I have been in)

Countdown to Arizona: A marathoning vacation with my Dad

Here are a few pictures of recent trips my Dad and I have taken. However, to date all our trips have involved attending/presenting at a conference. In 2007, my dad joined me at the DIA conference in Atlanta and in 2008 we did a joint presentation about professional development and identifying/ securing professional positions at the DIA conference in Boston.

At the Atlanta Aquarium in 2007, when my dad joined me at the DIA conference.

My dad at the Atlanta Aquarium looking at the fishes swimming around (he's the gentleman with the camera strap...guess the camera as an appendage is genetic!)

With my Dad during the DIA conference in 2007 at Atlanta

At the DIA conference in June 2007 during a reception at the Museum of Art in Boston. I think my dad really enjoyed the conference, the Museum, as well as seeing all the historic sights in Boston. When I was a kid, he would take my sister, mom and I to conferences which were always fun. You get to see a city, get educated, acquire lots of trinkets and typically eat alot better than at home:-)

Tommorrow at this time I should be in Arizona! I am very excited. This will be my first marathon in Arizona and the second in a string of Western States in which I will be marathoning (from Dec-Feb I should add four states: CA, NV, AZ and TX).

My dad's 70th birthday is next week, so we are celebrating early by having our first father/daughter vacation in about 10 years. I have 2 holidays next week as a Federal worker in the DC area so this will be a 5 day vacation. And I am able to use another of my Southwest frequent flier trips (I LOVE Southwest!). In fact I just earned another roundtrip from our trip to Disney, and am already dreaming of how to use it.

During our trip I will volunteer at the EXPO (so if you see me, say hi!), run the marathon then we'll do some hiking in Sedona.

I plan to try to convince my dad he should run a marathon with me (I have plenty of friends who are in their 70's who are running marathons and it seems everyone else is running with their family). Granted I have run with Tristan, my husband and Cindy, my sister but I think if my dad ran a marathon with me he would stop suggesting I will hurt my knees create some chronic injury. Maybe I should become my dad and start sending him articles supporting my side of this argument (my dad tends to send me copies of articles and brochures....he does this alot which cracks me up! How many of you get copies of articles for budgeting, health screenings, general life advice, etc.? In college I would typically get 2-3 a semester;-) What's even worse is now I find myself doing this to people. I guess we become our parents!

So far the weather looks perfect. It appears the weatherman copy pasted the weather forecast and it will be 50 in the morning and 75 in the afternoon in Phoenix. In Sedona it is slightly cooler (which by the way I got sent a message from my dad reminding me of this;-) with a low of 30 and high of 65!

This trip should be fun. My camera battery is charged and the digital stick is empty so I am all ready!

I'm still horse (hoarse, really)....from the Disney Marathon

Cindy pre-race texting. Perhaps she was trying to e-bay her race number since she had not really trained for this event because of a foot surgery in Sept. (note: for those of you who are observant, yes this is a bathroom...it was cold so we were lurking in the bathroom to stay warm). I REALLY love real bathrooms before, during and after events. The climate controlled-ness, the running water and the ambiance is the best:-)

Mile 3 in 40 minutes...this is a disaster, what am I doing going so quickly??

Mickey and I striking a runner's pose at mile 18 or so during the marathon. Over the course of the marathon, I got pictures of Mickey in various outfits. I think he might have been cutting the course and/or using mass transit along the course!

Yes, you will see me in 2010 because I have already signed up for the "Goofy". Now all I need to do is arrange my flight, hotel and purchase a larger memory stick for my trusty Olympus 1030SW Camera! Or maybe I just need to get another camera so I can seamlessly transition from one to the other when the memory stick becomes full or the battery needs to be replaced.

After the half marathon Tristan and I went to Port Orleans/Riverside for some tasty treats (beignets from Port Orleans) and some recreation (Kayaking at Riverside). You will notice I was smart and suggested a double Kayak. And of course my job became official photographer, not paddler. Anyway I am doing Tristan a favor by assisting in his upper body workout. He'll thank me in June when he is climbing Mt. Rainier and he is the strongest in the group! (BTW: I also say this when I pawn off items from my backpack on him or make him carry my luggage:-)

This past week it has been a bit tough for me to speak (but luckily I have been able to). During the half marathon, full marathon and even the day before the event I spent a significant amount of time shrieking like a girl (I think I could be an actress in a horror movie but I would get away because I can shriek so loudly!). I do this anytime I am on a thrill ride.

During my races I spent a significant amount of time talking and hooting and hollering (using my outside voice I might add!). By the time I arrived at work monday I could barely speak above a whisper. Oddly enough my co-workers thought I was sick. But I had to explain in my hoarse voice was self-inflicted by too many "wahoo's" and lots of cheering. Although in my mind you cannot have too many "wahoo's"! In fact I had a bunch of co-workers saying "I hope you feel better" In fact I was hopped up on endorphins and could not feel better then I did. I suppose I was a little tired because for 3 days straight I had gotten up prior to 4 a.m. (Fri, I volunteered at thd 5 km race and had to get up by 4 a.m., Sat & Sun I had to get up about 3 a.m. to get to the "Goofy" Marathon). Then Sunday night we did not arrive home until about Midnight.

I still have a bit of hoarseness and wonder if I will be able to sufficiently hoot and hollar at the Arizona Rock and Roll Marathon this Sunday.

I am getting excited about this trip. I will be meeting up with my dad to celebrate his 70th birthday (which is a bit later in Jan, but it's not everyday a 4 day weekend occurs). I hope to show him how much fun marathons are as well as how kind the other runners are. I think he is planning to go the EXPO (which I am volunteering at) and will be able to feel the energy of a marathon. Maybe he will get inspired to run a marathon in the future. And of course since this is a Rock n Roll Marathon, we get to go to a headliner concert Sunday night. I've never been to a rock concert with my dad, so this could be an interesting experience.