Big Race Day Tomorrow with the "Run to Feed the Hungry"

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Emily T and the NYC Marathon

Em, what was the absolute best part of the race?

The best part about NYC marathon is the support from the city & touring NY in that unique way! It seemed to me that just everyone was out cheering, whether they knew people or not! I got to see every borough & the people out representing their neighborhoods. It was so cool!

I hear it is quite the spectacle at times. What is the craziest thing you saw during the race?

The craziest thing I saw while running was at the beginning. I was standing in my wave corral & over the fence I saw a replica of the Eiffel tower moving through the crowd. I can't be sure if this person ran while wearing it but I would be extra impressed if they did. Of course, there were also tons of people in costumes (it was the day after Halloween). I saw Capt. America & some other super hero. Quite a few people in animal costumes. Julie got a picture of a 'Hulk Hogan' & a guy running as a waiter. Pretty funny stuff!

Did you hear how many people participated and how crowded did it all seem?

The crowds? Oh, there were soooo many people. I didn't feel like it thinned out at all. There were always people around me, but I think because of the new starting system they instigated, it helped spread people out a little bit. I would say that the ferry ride from Manhattan to Staten Island was probably the most 'crowded' feeling, as everyone wanted to be sure they were on the boat!! The total entries were 44,177 with 43,983 finishing. The marathon itself gets over 100,00 applicants each year!

What did you eat the night before and what did you have to celebrate after?

I had lemon dill salmon, coucous & broccoli for dinner. I carb loaded the night before. Sometimes too much pasta before a race (for me) makes me feel bloated. I typically go with what works. I like a bit of protein, some carbs and always veggies=) After the race, I celebrated by not throwing up (YAY me!) & had an Odwalla chocolate protein shake & then some pizza from Big Nick's in the Upper West side of Manhattan. Then, when I got back to my cousin's, I had an ice bath & some red wine!!

Would you do it all over again?

I would absolutely do it again! I think it would be even more fun if I was doing it with people I knew!! Hint hint, nudge, nudge;)

Congratulations Emily from all of us at Team Lucca on an excellent race.

You are a rock star of a runner an inspirational coach and we all just

love you to pieces!

Thank Goodness

Hard to believe that our little rogue Team Lucca is now in it’s eight year of running and cycling adventures. My hero this week is Allison Mann of Southern California. A fierce, passionate, very good, very dedicated professional mountain bike cyclist. Allison and her husband Justin are good friends of my son, Luke. All three ride together, race together, look out for each other and are each other’s biggest fans. I love this picture of Allison wearing her Team Lucca jersey, lined up with all the big boys at the start of one of three, “12 hours of Temecula” races this last weekend.


Allison finished first in the women’s solo division.


While out running today I thought how mighty lucky I am. Though, I am certainly not unscathed by life, I am still happy, still hopeful, so grateful, still running.

A year has gone by since I broke my elbow and tore my triceps. No huge deal really in the greater scope of things. I may never be able to fully extend my left arm, feel small twinges of pain and sometimes have to just laugh with the way my arm hanging oddly at an exaggerated angle reminds me of a Neanderthal.

Yet all so insignificant in relation to the physical pain some people suffer.

Life can be so fragile and who knows what lays around the next corner for any of us. So as I run I think of the million things I have to be thankful for.

I remind myself to never underestimate the profoundness of the simple, the little things, the obvious.

I look around and I realize every blade of grass is a vision, every breath I take a kind of victory, every footfall a momentous occasion.

Happy almost Thanksgiving. See you at the Run to Feed the Hungry.

Some books I recommend.
Ten Points: A Memoir by Bill Strickland, If you love cycling and critereum racing this is really a great book.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, Sweetness unlimited for those who know dogs have souls.

And Biking and Hiking The American River Parkway, New 3^rd Edition by The American River Natural History Association
A wonderful breakdown of each mile on the trail, from the historical, “mile 9.5 you are near the Nisenan village site of Kadema………or dance-house, site of important rituals” to the natural wonders contained therein, “mile 7.4 stands of wild rose compete for sun with wild grape vines” to the practical, beware “ mile 21.4 a stand of poison oak in on the northeast corner of the path leading to some picnic tables”

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New York City Marathon, Running in the Fall and Pumpkin Pancakes

So it is that fall is upon us with some of the best running weather of the year.
This morning I run along thinking of Emily, hoping she is doing well, hoping she is finding some joy in her quest of completing the New York City Marathon.
An event she is competing in this morning.

Emily is a coach with Team Lucca. She is the one that drives the effort of those with the big goals, the half marathon, the marathon and tri sports. So I run along like a nervous little mother on this early Sunday morning after Halloween, kicking out three miles, thinking if I were Em I would only have to throw down 23 more, waiting anxiously to hear that she made it, that she did well, that she is happy.

My other thoughts this morning move to the book I am currently reading “The art of racing in the rain”. A sweet book, with the narrative given by a dog.
Which makes me think of dogs and their highly attuned sense of smell.
One of the things I love about running or riding my bike along the trail are the smells. The heady smell of anise, the most divinely floral smell around mile 11 in the springtime, my favorite smell in the world, eucalyptus. Ron always laughs and knows whenever we are driving somewhere when I stick my head out the window ( like a dog) that we are approaching a grove of eucalyptus trees. I love when it rains just a little and layer upon layer of earthy smells abound that stir the primitive in my brain into wistful memories of what it must have been like to live surrounded by nature.

One theory on why our sense of smell is so diminished compared to a dogs is that when we developed higher thinking, something had to give. If all of our senses were so acute the powerful distraction would create a sensory overload, constantly crowding out our ability to focus.
Which now moves my thoughts to another sense, taste. Today the time changed and I realize I will have to wait even longer after this run for our Sunday ritual of actually sitting down in our restaurant to eat. I love breakfast at Roxy. While not a big pancake fan, Danny has added seasonal pumpkin pancakes as an addition to the menu on Sundays. They are delicious.

Which brings me back to Emily, who I know is sufficing on Gu gel or jelly beans or whatever other assortment of food energy she has chosen to get her through those 26 miles.

I am so proud to know someone like Emily.
I love that she has worked so hard toward this dream of hers.
Yesterday when out riding my bike on the trail I ran into our mutual friends Karyn and JoAnne. Two amazing ladies training for next months Ironman in Cozumel.
When talking about their great endeavor and Emily’s Marathon, Karyn, who seems to know everyone on the trail, said she is always so happy to see anyone out there running five miles, running two miles, for heavens sake walking one.
Anything that makes someone healthier physically or mentally is a great endeavor.

It is a constant in the media, this talk of fixing our country's health care problems.
It is a prevalent response to look at ways to treat the symptoms, high medical bills, overcrowding in hospitals, unaffordable health insurance.
I, myself, am all for the focus being first and foremost on treating the universal disease.
As a country we need to find the means to live a healthier life style.

Running is just one suggestion.

Way to go Emily !

Can’t wait to hear all about it..

Stay tuned as next week Emily will be reporting on her time in New York.

Levi and Animal Signs

Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge GranFondo

Both Craig and Karyn from Team Lucca, participated this past Saturday in this years annual Santa Rosa cycling event hosted by last years Astana, this years, Team Radio Shack Team member, Amgen Tour winner and pro cyclist, plus Northern California native and all in all really great guy, Levi Leipheimer. I called Craig early Saturday evening to see how it all went. He was like a kid in a candy store telling me all about how he got to ride the majority of the ride with about twenty other guys right next to Levi. Crazy amazing Karyn, is just an exceptional athlete, and not only rode that 100 miles on Saturday but then ran as a pace setter for the Cowtown marathon on Sunday.

Thank you Craig and Kayrn. It was and is an honor to have both of you, excellent cyclists representing our team.

Animal Signs

My dad was an Irishman in love with Native American culture. When we would go on summer family road trips as kids dad would often bring along his drum. He would sit cross legged in the middle of the lawn at the motel beating and chanting while the six of us did the eagle dance, the rain dance, the hoop dance, the dance to call the buffalo.

Sometimes other kids from other families would join us.

Sometimes people took pictures like we were a traveling band of entertainers.

Sometimes people would look around for a cup to throw money into.

The fact that dad was an Apache or Cherokee or Ogalala Sioux at heart and also a veterinarian, gave him the notion that he uniquely understood the souls of all animals.

Dad use to talk to use about the importance of reading animal signs.
Laughingly I thought, today was a day I wished I would have listened.

On my bike commute to work, the skittish squirrels should have been the first sign.

It was squirrels gone wild all over the trail. First I notice five of these little guys altogether (unusual) running down an embankment like their tails are on fire. All five almost simultaneously dove across the trail right in front of my bike. Over the next three miles, squirrels are everywhere. All somewhat spastic including one fat little guy who I think, buddy you’ve lived a good life so far, lets not end it this way, as his tail barely flicks off my front wheel.

I am slightly more attuned to every deviation of my surroundings now on the trail as a result of a man being attacked a couple weeks ago. So when I ride over a long green twine that looks as if it is made out of young branches stripped from a tree, my mind automatically thinks - bike trap. Contemplating this, I about jump off the seat when a whole flock of birds flies squawking out of a tree as if there very existence has been suddenly interrupted.

Around the next corner I see for the first time a live skunk. Sorry, but I have seen plenty dead ones. Still thinking of the twine, was it a booby trap, an animal trap, just a long very skinny fallen young branch, or my hyper imagination, I consider calling my police officer friend as soon as I get to work.

I then ride past something I never like to see, and that always causes a shot of fear and adrenaline, what looks to be a drug deal going down under the bridge.

I get to the only major stop sign on that part of the trail and see a police car approaching. I stop. He slows down and hollers at me, “Mame! Have you seen a man all dressed in tan?”. I begin to answer, “I saw two….”, and before I can even say the word “things” he yells, “Not now mame! have you seen that man?” I say “No” and he jumps out lowers the bar to access the trail in his car and takes off in pursuit. I jump back on my bike and ride even faster all the way to work.

I did speak with David Valdez, my police officer friend who stops by Lucca on a regular basis to check in on us and also called SABA, Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, to talk about safety on the trail.

I love riding to work. To be honest I do it not as a noble endeavor in pursuit of a green lifestyle or even as a means of burning calories and increasing the health of my heart and lungs. Though I am grateful for these additional benefits. The real reason I ride, is because I cherish so much, the tranquility of that time. The trail is a sanctuary for me from the onslaught of endless activity that takes place in two thankfully still fairly busy restaurants.

I am seriously contemplating solutions to my own safety out there.
I cannot fathom the idea of not riding.

But for now I will ride a safer route and in thinking of my father, will pray to the spirit of all living things to look out for me and in honor of my Catholic Grandmothers, say the little catholic diddy, three times in row that I was taught as a child to say to the saint who oversees safe travel “Saint Christopher, pray for us, Saint Christopher pray for us, Saint Christopher, pray for us.”

Running in Rome, Dick Beardsley, Kaitlin's Cowtown Half Marathon

It was the opportunity of a lifetime to celebrate my 50th birthday with my husband in Capri and Rome, Italy, this past week.

My friend Rick Kushman suggested that if I wanted to get some running in, we stay the last two days in Rome at a hotel, where he and Deborah had recently stayed, situated right next to the 2000 year old Aurelian Wall and the incredibly beautiful Villa Borghese Park.

Early Monday morning Ron grabbed his book and I grabbed my running shoes. While he sat on a bench to read I took off running. After five days of airplane, train, boat and suicidal taxi travel, a lot of walking, a lot of hiking, it was sheer happiness to feel my lungs expand as I ran along, taking in air like the espresso fueled Ferrari I imagined myself to be. Truth is much more like a broken down old Fiat, but yes, I have always had a vividly skewed imagination

As a runner I have been lucky enough to have many “carve this on your heart” moments running in places like the lovely, pristine, bucolic, pastoral side roads of Ron’s birth place in Ireland, the bustling, exquisite, golden streets of Paris and the spiritual, sacred, tranquil rocks of Moab - all of these places teaming with ancient pathways and ancient stories. And now Rome and this park with it’s statues of gods and goddess, warriors and kings, dragons and lions and fountains at every turn. Who could ask for more?

We arrived home very early Thursday morning.
Long before we left I presented Dusty, my friend at Fleet Feet Sports with the idea of doing a runner’ symposium with a panel of Sacramento’s top running people discussing pertinent running topics. He thought it was a good idea and the symposium expanded to include Dick Beardsley, the famous national champion runner who tells the wonderful, sometimes hysterical, other times tearful story of his life as a runner and the infamous Boston Marathon “Duel of the Sun” with Alberto Salazar.

This symposium took place the same day I returned from Italy with myself in a semi catatonic, very tired, very happy and still passionate about running state, responsible for moderating the discussion and the evening event.

Many thanks to our brilliantly spoken panelists, especially my friend Rick Kushman who figuratively, held my hand through the whole event, helped me prepare for it and is, and always will be, one of my running inspirations.
Rick gave wonderful advice on balancing your life so as to always enjoy running. My friend Deborah Meltvedt was wonderful discussing the value of using your mind as a runner and the joy of running with friends. Chad Worthen talked about speed, how hard you have to work to get fast, being realistic about speed work, and what makes him so darn fast. Pat Sweeney kept us all laughing describing the commitment he and his family have made to his training as a tri-athlete and hysterically and adequately described the “death march” of the marathon segment of an Iron man event.
Pat left the next day for the Iron Man championship race in Kona, which he will participate in this upcoming weekend. We all are rooting big time for Sacramento’s own Pat Sweeney.

We also heard great advice from the always insightful, top guy with the Sacramento running scene, and one of my favorite guys in Sacramento, Rich Hanna, who gave great tips on racing.

All in all it was a really great night.

We then moved on to the real star of the weekend the Cowtown Marathon, Half Marathon, 5K. Many people talk about running a marathon or half marathon. Many people think they would like to do one. Few people actually see it through.

I had 12 runners participate with Team Lucca. Yet for me it was all about one person. She started running less than a year ago and diligently got up early many mornings, with either our running group, sometimes just me and often by herself to train for this event.

Many races in the past my focus ultimately strays to one person, someone who I know has been working especially hard to become faster, someone running for the first time, someone recently disappointed or disillusioned about their running ability.

This race was no different. This race in my mind was all about Kaitlin Coghlan.
Kaitlin is my kind of runner. She has the grit and tenacity to stay with the game plan, the passion to make running part of the pattern of her days, the energy of a 6 year old at our 5:30 am Wednesday mornings tempo runs with coach Emily, the honesty to figure out how to live her life and still maintain a commitment to running.

I had to laugh the night she left me a text message saying she was going to go out and would be drinking, maybe a lot, so wouldn’t be there for that Saturday am run but would find a way to make it happen at some other point in her week.

I stood there glued to the finish last Sunday, waiting to see that long brown pony tail, that black baseball cap, that Team Lucca jersey, that smile that says; I have just conquered the world.

As a runner, I relish that blazing moment of pride. The look that crosses a runners face mere yards from the finish line. The sudden recognition of what has been achieved. The knowledge that – yes, yes, yes, I knew the pain, I did the distance, I gave the time.

I did this!

Kaitlin’s finish and that beautiful smile literally brought tears to my eyes.

I know how much it means. I know of the nerve racking night before when sleep is fit full and laden with anxiety. I know the pain of those last miles. I know the hours afterward and the introspection of the soul that comes with accomplishing a huge goal.

You did it Kaitlin and in amazing time. Now remember – it’s back out there very soon again on Wednesdays mornings, as our whole life is the journey and truly after fifty years I know this - “the journey is the reward”

It was some time ago that Luke told me with a distinct lack of seriousness and a wink, hey mom you really should wear your heart rate monitor on the bike every now and then so that you know when to “drop the hammer”.

I am far more concerned with myself being late for anything than I am with someone else being late, so it was, that on several recent Sundays I found myself blazing down the trail to Roxy, hoping to be on time, to meet friends Rick and Deborah one Sunday and my 84 year old friend, Marilyn, the next.
On both occasions pedaling my little heart out while laughing to myself, with Luke’s voice echoing in my mind, “faster mom, faster, faster, time to drop the hammer”.

In about two weeks I turn 50. An age I am excited about for many reasons one being that I will move into the 50 to 55 or 50 to 60 year old women race category where I might actually get to be in the top 10 every now and then.

Okay, a brief excitement, a momentary fleeting kind of thing, because I now remember that many of Sacramento’s most brilliant and fastest women are also turning 50 right along with me or in recent years, already have.

Yet it is still and without a doubt so encouraging to know that age does not diminish our ability to continue to perform in the world of athletics.
I love this George Burn saying, “old, young - just words”.

Really cool that this recent Labor day weekend, Colleen De Reuck, who is 45 year old won a major US road race title, the USA 20K in New Haven.
Jeannie Longo a 50 year world champion cyclist form France still is a force to be reckoned with and my two favorites, 36 year old Paula Radcliff and 32 year old, Chrissie Wellington are both two of the best women athletes in the world.

Paula just recently added the NYC Half Marathon to her many running victories.
I adore Paula as she use to speak to me with great encouragement in her lilting English accent, over my chip synced NIKE shoe to my IPOD, “congratulations, you have just reached a new personal record”.

The amazing two time Kona Iron Man World Champion, Chrissie Wellington, also from England, is an inspiration to women of all ages with her glorious achievements in the world of multi sports.

After a 2.4 mile swim, a grueling 112 miles on the bike, Chrissie still runs the marathon part of these World Championship Triathlons, all 26.2 miles at around a 7 minute mile pace.

And yet the best part is that she finishes with a smile that is so infectious, so genuine, she just radiates pure joy.

I encourage any women involved in running, cycling or swimming to see her in action as she is amazing not only in her ability but in her graciousness and passion for the sport.

I am so happy with our Wednesday morning distance running group, because it has been the ladies who have kept with it. I am so very proud of Kaitlin who has trained relentlessly for her first half marathon this October and Sarah who is making running a part of her life. I think Emily in her pursuit of the New York marathon and Becky in pursuit of Boston by way of CIM, are just amazing with their dedication to what it takes to get there.

I know, tomorrow under Emily’s direction you will all do some serious speed work while I do my slow walk/run pace waiting impatiently for the swelling to go down in the ankle.

Though I am now the follower and not the leader I am still going to ask of you one thing –

at some point while you are out there in that crisp and lovely early morning,
Smile, take a deep breath and listen. And then do it for you, do it for me, do it for the girl’s team of the whole world -

Drop the hammer.

Join us at the Cowtown Runner's Symposium, Thursday Evening, October 1st at Lucca