Race #20

My apologies for the delay in this posting. I was on vacation in the Bahamas last week and still on island time!

I’ve completed 40% of my quest! This race was part of the Providence Marathon so the field was quite large, about 1,100 runners in the 5K.

My hosts for the weekend were Emily U. and Mike E. Emily is the niece of my good friend Lisa R. Emily and Mike are both graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design. Emily works in arts education and Mike just got – as in he got the call while we were coming back from the airport Saturday afternoon – a full time job in web design. It means an ultimate move to Boston for the two of them, but what’s life if there is no adventure?

Also wearing the Team Camille jersey this weekend were Jane E. and Donna G. Jane is the younger sister of Tom E., one of my Montana friends, and Donna is her partner. The five of us met for dinner Saturday night in the Italian section of Providence, Federal Hill, at a fabulous Italian Restaurant called Camille’s. Yes, I’m unabashedly the queen of self promotion, even got all of them to wear my t-shirt to the race even though only Emily braved the heat and ran the 3.1 miles. http://www.camillesonthehill.com/, the red sauce is fabulous

Team Camille in Providence, RI

The course had a gradually uphill for the first mile and a half then downhill for the last half. I so wanted to break 30 and once again came up a minute short. At the 1 mile mark I was going at an 11:00 minute pace, made up some time by the end of mile two (20:00) but then ran out of juice during the last mile. Once again I felt my sugar level drop at about the 2.5 mile mark so had nothing for a big finish. I think I’m going to try some of those jelly beans during my next race. Official final time was 30:35.8 number 28 out of 108 in my division, 519 overall out of 1,146.

Emily's pre-race jitters

Showing off for my fans– obviously early in the race
It's over and there's nothing in the tank!!!

Emily braved not only the heat and a total lack of preparation, but the remnants of a head cold to pull out an extremely respectable 36:26.9. Emily brings it home strong.
We finished and are still smiling!

Jane has volunteered to give me grief until I break 30:00. After the race she was questioning my training regime and her disgust was obvious! Not enough miles (she’s calling for 10 mile runs!), not enough stretching (at least a half an hour a day plus consider yoga classes) and a much more aggressive start to each race. Clearly “G.I Jane” has not bought into my dead freakin’ last motto. As hard as it is to admit, I know that she’s right. I think I’ll have to break down and wear headphones so that at least I can be distracted for the hours it is going to take me to run 10 miles!!
"Ten miles??? Step away from the crack pipe Jane"

May 21st is the first race in Camille’s Triple Crown, Fargo, North Dakota. My brother Craig is going to be running the Fargo marathon that weekend so the pressure is on for a good performance. The following weekend I head to Ohio for the Memorial Day Ostrich Bash then round out the series with Hudson, Wisconsin. But before any of this can happen, I headed to the Bahamas for a couple days of fishing with Captain Steve D., Cousin Colleen G., Chet B. and his son Nate B.

The tentative plans I had to try and get an early morning run in were nixed on the first morning. Had fantastic weather for the three days of fishing and swimming and of course the eating was fantastic! Fresh, fried cracked conch – NEVER pass it up if it is offered to you.

Now that’s a fish, Nate!

Chet, proud of his coolie catch!

Once again I had as a seat mate on my flight to Providence someone in the geriatric medicine field, a social worker who consulted at nursing homes. My apologies to her as I really bent her ear about my care giving responsibilities looking for any tips or assurances that I’m doing the right thing. Not to get on a soap box, but anyone who is part of a family and taking care of aging parents should read the book I just finished “They’re Your Parents Too, How Siblings Can Survive Their Parents Aging Process” by Francine Russo. I just made it required reading for my siblings.

I think I’m going to add a reading list to my blog. With all my travel time, I’m getting in a lot of reading, some good some not so good. Thought it might be fun to share.