Happy Ox Year!

Year of the Ox

Consumption Tally

Before the Race:
1.5 cinnamon-sugar bagels
1 banana
A few swigs of Gatorade
3/4 of a bottle of water

During the Race:
1 Chocolate Powerbar Power Gel (YUM)
1 Raspberry Cream Powerbar Power Gel
2 Orange slices
half of a peanut butter cookie LaraBar sample
1 bottle of Gatorade
Approx 30 oz Gatorade (additional)
Approx 50 oz water


Combine all of that with no bathroom breaks.

==> 1 pound gained in 26.2 miles

Marathon Photos

If you fancy even more Marathon tidbits, you can see lots of pictures of Charlotte and me in action. Brightroom photographers positioned themselves at various points along the race course and snapped away.

Click here for Charlotte.

Click here for Nate.

Toward the bottom, there are some relatively random shots of the race in general, but otherwise, even in the big group shots, we should be in there somewhere.

Race Day

Sunday was a milestone for both of us. I mean, a marathon-stone?

Nate and I have completed our first marathons!!! It was quite a challenge for both of us but well worth it. Our muscles are still sore and we're hobbling around like old folks and learning what it's going to be like when we're an elderly couple ;)

As would be expected, my leg muscles are still sore, but I've had worse sensations in my legs from recently hiking in Maine or from gymnastics conditioning days from my youth. I expect it will pass in the next day or two.

Upon finishing the marathon, there were swarms of medical volunteers on hand. As soon as I was awarded my medal I was swept to the side by a volunteer to ask me if I felt ok. I felt completely fine aside from my jello legs. I was then shuffled on over to a line to check my weight. They weigh you before and after the race to assess any weight loss or gain that my indicate dehydration or other medical issues. When I got to the front of the line I was again asked if I felt ok. YES!!! I felt very normal. I stepped on the scale and as it turns out, I had gained one pound, when I should have lost 1-2 pounds or more. I told the medical personnel that I had been taking in a large amount of fluid which may explain it. They told me that any gain in weight may indicate a problem, so I was then escorted to the medical aid station to fill out a questionnaire (how much/what have you been drinking, how many times did you use the restroom, how many water stations did you stop at, etc). The woman who handed me the form again asked if I was feeling ok. I was still feeling completely normal. I was monitored the entire time I was filling out the form. Although I was slightly annoyed by the continous questioning of my state of well being I was appreciative and impressed that they were doing so well taking care of people. I would not be the least bit worried if I actually did have a medical problem because I would be well taken care of, for sure. They gave my completed form to a physician who reviewed it then released me with a phone number to call if I had any problems later on (which I haven't).

I think the hardest parts were the last few miles. When I saw a giant "Only 3 more miles!" sign, I was ecstatic. But those last three miles were grueling and long. I have never felt a mile go by more slowly. When I reached mile 24, I wasn't sure if I could go another mile, twice. But the crowd support in the final miles was so effective. I picked up adrenaline and maybe even some speed as the finish line came into view.

I would definitely recommend the Houston marathon to anyone, especially first-timers. The course is a great tour of Houston and is mostly flat, and the crowd support is surreal and unbeatable. I really don't think I've ever heard my name yelled out so many times in that short of a time frame. What an amazingly fun run! Here are a few highlights:

Crowd Support:

• Obviously, copious loud cheering, signs, noisemakers, and people calling out our names-- I couldn't stop smiling for probably the first 6 miles because I was so impressed
  
• An Episcopal priest who was "blessing us" as we ran by using a wet branch which had been dipped in water
• Bagpiper, live bands, belly dancers, ...
  
• Trays and trays of orange slices and banana halves from residents
• Costumed spectators: Elvis Presley, The Statue of Liberty, ...
• A father who requested that Nate high-five his infant daughter as he passed by

Memorable Signs, Cheers, or Quotes:

• Pain is temporary, Glory is forever
• Marathon: the triumph of desire over reason
• If your feet hurt, then you're kicking a**
• My sport is what your sport does for punishment
• Have you ever seen so many healthy people in one place? (Nate, when we arrived before the race)
• There are cookies at the finish line
• At the 10k marker: If you were running a 10k, you would be done now (I was personally not encouraged by this one!!)
  

Miscellaneous:

• There were medical aid stations at least every 2 miles, and most of them were holding out wooden sticks with globs of vaseline on them for those who needed chaffing prevention. Nate and I were talking after the race and I found it funny that he initially thought it was some kind of edible energy gel which he may have taken and eaten had he not heard some guys in front of him reveal that it was vaseline.
• In one of the few hills in the course (around mile 14 or 15) my momentum was decreasing, but when I heard someone yell "Hey! There's 400 man! This is his 400th marathon!," I looked to my left and saw an older man passing me and picked up my pace. If he can run 400, I can do it once!
• Men urinating in the trees/bushes, despite the fact that port-o-cans were plentiful along the course and thousands of people were passing by
• I accidentally wrote "Baylor College of Marathon" today. I'm apparently still in marathon mode.
  

A few photos:

Here we are, around 6am, mentally prepping for the race. Can you see the look of anticipation in our eyes? I almost think we look more tired in this photo than in the after-shot.

After the race:

And here we are with the Grafs. We are so blessed to have had them bike along the course with us and hand off gels, food, or fluids to us. It was incredibly encouraging to see them at intervals of the run, which made an impact on my decision to keep running instead of stopping to walk.

And finally, here are videos of our finish. In the first video, look for me alongside the man dressed up as the statue of liberty (to your right). I just barely beat him to the finish line. As I was approaching the finish, the crowds were extra loud, cheering for the costumed runner, but of course I pretended they were cheering for me, which made the finish even more exciting.

In the video below is Nate. You'll see him appear in a white sleeveless top and blue shorts. I'm still amazed that he finished so closely behind me despite the pain in his leg. I am very proud of him!

And to followup on the last post, the weather was great. Slightly cooler conditions may have been more favorable, but it was almost perfect!

Race Day Weather Forecast

The forecast keeps changing. Yesterday there was a prediction of 40% chance of rain and cloudy skies. Eeek! All I wish for is some SUN and NO HUMIDITY.

Today the weather forecast shows this:

Partly Cloudy
Low 38
High 64
0% chance precipitation

That's prefect running weather. I guess we'll have to keep checking daily as the forecast seems to be finicky.

Tropical dream

The "best job in the world."

It's too bad I'm not a good swimmer.

Re: 7 Days Till Race Time

Aye, 7 days it is, but soft!, just as it was 7 years for Jacob to win his bride Rachel, and having worked his requisite 7, he was not awarded the sharp-eyed beauty but rather deceived into working an additional 7, so too may this long awaited trek and final 7 days be a mere mirage on the horizon of our hopes, eternally receding from our grasp, yet eternally approaching in our deluded minds. Shall we ever run this great Race of our Age?

While I have no idea what prompted that preposterous sentence, I do know that, like Charlotte, I have become downright fidgety with anticipation.

Charlotte has recorded the important points in her apt FAQs. Yet, a couple Tailored-To-The-Nate amendments are in order:

1. I am not obsessively aiming for a finish time, but I'd do a jig if I crossed the finish line between 3:40 and 4:00 (hours). If 3:40 is my end time, that means an 8:23 min/mile average. Rather nice, if you ask me. And a bit optimistic.

3. Nate the Great is never crazy. He will run more marathons. Someday, perhaps, he will journey to Greece and run barefoot from Marathon to Athens, pretending he is Pheidippides, and convincing himself that he must report urgent news to someone. He does not, however, plan to expire at the run's end, though he cannot be certain. Perhaps Hermes will strike him dead in jealous rage.

4. While the span of my limbs is minorly formidable, it creates a certain tendency toward a rickety gait. Just imagine Abraham Lincoln out for a jog. Charlotte, on the other hand, couldn't look finer as she glides through the miles. Supple thews, exquisite posture, and a consistent, measured, nearly failsafe pace strategy. She is your model runner.

And finally, though running be mere sport, it still is a God-glorifying activity. As such, and because of the tricky nature of the later miles, an excellent verse comes to mind:

They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. [Isaiah 40:31]

7 days til Race Time

In 7 days, I will have hopefully successfully completed my first marathon! Check!

FAQs:

1. What pace are you aiming for?/What time do you want to finish in?
I am not aiming for a certain time. I am slow. With the way my training has been going, I just want to finish. That's it.

2. How can I track you during the race if I can't come and watch you in person?
Go to the Marathon website to receive athlete alerts or to follow me online. There are links which will allow you to sign up to receive text messages as I reach certain mile markers. There is also an option to track my progress in real live time online.

3. Are you crazy?
Maybe. I will have a better idea of the answer to that in a week. At this point, I wouldn't want to do this again. It's a huge time commitment to train and rough on the body. Only a wildly amazing location could tempt me again (Alaska, Hawaii, Tahoe...), and even then, I may opt for a half marathon option if it's available.

4. Are you and Nate running together?
No way, Jose. Nate's legs are 5x as long as mine and he can make much better distance with much fewer strides than me. In other words, he is MUCH faster than me and will be waiting for me at the finish line for a good 30+ minutes.

5. How far have you run in preparation?
Nate and I have trained as far as about 21.75 miles. So just 4.5 more miles to reach marathon distance. Yikes!

6. What can I do to help?
Come watch me and bring me food along the course. Pray for no injuries before or during the race, and for no blacking out, passing out, or any outcome requiring medical attention.

A Good Night

Nate picked me up after work today and we headed straight to dinner then rolled into Barnes and Noble with our fat, full bellies. Here's what we found for a total of about $25 before tax (talk about a bargain!!)

I found: All Creatures Great and Small and All Things Bright and Beautiful (two volumes in one) by James Herriot, $10. I can't wait to read it/them.

Nate found: Volumes 2 and 3 of The Civil War- A Narrative by Shelby Foote, $7.50 each. These were the major steals!!

All of these, brand new, nice editions, and hardcovers. Nate was smiling as he signed his name on the credit card slip, and probably still is. A good night for our bellies and for our bookshelves.

The Wall O' Cards

Not too shabby after all!

Welcome back!

You made it back!

As you can see, I've changed the name of this blog and the new link is
http://thelordsofhorses.blogspot.com

Translated, the weblink is The Aherns (dot) blogspot (dot) com; the new title is The Aherns, and the subtitle is based off of the meanings of my name (note that feminine does not equal feminist) and Nate's. I remember also having seen the meaning of my name somewhere when I was younger to be "little and womanly". An alternative meaning of Nate is found in the plural form in the dictionary. Look it up. :)

Why did I change it up, you ask? Well, I was thinking that perhaps someday, this will be transformed into a family blog. Thus, I've upgraded to a more sophisticated weblink which will hopefully stand the test of time. I envision my children and grandchildren and great grand children perusing this site and all of it's photos and stories someday!! Is this a realistic vision?

Regardless, welcome to the "new" blog.

p.s. That is Nate's hair in the previous post. Anyone who honestly wants hair mailed to their doorstep should speak up now before the trash goes out to the dumpster! :p

p.p.s. Although he doesn't know it yet, and hasn't agreed, I'm adding Nate as a contributor to this. That doesn't mean I expect him to post on it regularly, but at least he'll have the capability. Someday, you know. Must think long term!

Guessing Game

Any guesses as to what this is?

Perhaps a second picture will help:

And thus begins my 29th year

I just turned 28 on Monday and I can definitely feel the difference between 27 and 28. Now that I'm 28, I have more of a sweet tooth, I gravitate towards works by Elton John and Billy Joel*, and I have a deep sense of contentment due to my personal in-house musician**. See evidence below:

In the morning before work, Nate took me out to our favorite breakfast nook: The Buffalo Grille. Later in the evening we had some dessert: Nate baked me a delectable devil's food cake from scratch with some homemade icing.Following dessert, I enjoyed an impromptu solo violin performance by the one and only N.J. Ahern. I then opened a handful of presents and called the day Swell.
*Among other lovely items I was presented with two tickets to an Elton John/BillyJoel concert in March

** Nate, please don't kill me for posting these

Ceiling Fiasco

New Year's Resolution #1: Finish fix-ups in the bathroom

As I mentioned previously, we had a bit of a fiasco in our bathroom a few weeks ago. Ever since then, we've cleared out our bathroom and moved our bathroom essentials into the guest bathroom, which we are sharing with Cheyenne until our bathroom fix-ups are complete.

It was a Saturday afternoon when we discovered a small drip coming from our bathroom ceiling. We were about to head out for a long run, so we put a large bowl down under it and figured we'd check it when we got back. Upon our return, the drips had not stopped, and Nate went upstairs to knock on our neighbor's door to find out if they had any known leaks up there. Since no one was home we left a note and asked her to call when she got home.

Later that night our neighbor called to let us know that there were no leaks on her end, so we called the condo's security guard on duty to see if there were any maintenance guys on duty that evening. Although they were supposed to send someone over, no one ever came, so we resolved to just wait until first thing Monday morning when the main maintenance guy was in. After all, the leak was small and there wasn't much we could do anyway.

Sunday evening we went downtown to a musical performance of White Christmas. We returned home around 10pm to find additional leaks above the tub, a couple feet away from the original leak. The new leaks were rusty in color, and the ceiling around it was bulging downward.This was not looking promising for waiting until the morning. So, Nate called the maintenance line once more and someone arrived at our door around 11:30pm. The guy came in and knocked a hole in the ceiling to relieve the pressure, which released a large amount of water into the tub. He identified the source of the leak and then left with the intention of sending a plumber in an hour or so to fix the leak. A few minutes after he left, as Nate and I were staring up at the small hole in the ceiling, the small hole became large, as the whole ceiling caved right before our eyes.

As it turns out, since the leak was now dripping straight into the tub and was no longer able to cause anymore damage, the plumber wouldn't be sent until normal business hours the next day.

Eventually, the plumbers came and replaced the pipe that was causing the leak. And thankfully, we were able to get the drywall people in a couple of times before we left for Christmas break.

Now all that remains is touching up the paint bordering the ceiling, and replacing a soap dish that fell off the wall when the ceiling crashed.

I can count several blessings in the midst of this:

1. The leak was above the bathtub, and not above our bed (or our heads when the ceiling fell!)

2. We don't have to pay for any of the repairs since the homeowners association will

3. This whole process has been moving along much faster than I thought it would