DENIED! My Bizzaro Gym Story.

Welcome to the winter of my discontent..... And what might be the Best Post Ever!

I have remarked several times on my general dislike of all things Gym related: driving there over miles of treacherous roads, having to wait for the slow walkers to remove themselves from the treddy, having said treddy bounce and rattle like it is one second away from exploding when set over 7 MPH.... You all know, you feel my pain and I'm SURE are very sympathetic.

With the road conditions between my house and my gym rapidly circling the drain and the belts on all 3 of the Gyms treadmills progressively becoming looser I concluded that perhaps it was time to give The Other Gym a try. I felt a touch guilty, cheating on my empty, airless and straight out of the '80s place of exercise but what's a girl to do.

Read on to find out....

The Other Gym is open 24/7 so is locked, members are given keys and it is all oh-so very formal. I scheduled an appointment to pick up said key and to be "given a tour."
Upon my arrival the owner seemed very frazzled and appeared to have quite a bit going on. Ah, the stress and strain of owning a business that actually has a client base. The poor guy. Taking into account his particularly stressed out expression I let him know that we could bypass most of the weight rooms and such as I only needed the cardio equipment.

This is when things took a turn for the worse.

Eyeing me with suspicion he inquired "So. Training for something?" Without thinking (and I'm sorry. But with PRIDE beeyotches!) I replied that I was indeed gearing up for a Half. He STOPPED DEAD in his TRACKS. "Well. We don't usually allow people like YOU to join the gym." was his shocking statement. "OhKaaay" I said "30 minute treadmill limit, right?"
Instead of just coming out with it and saying that yes, the gym had a 30 minute limit that he was not willing to budge on he hemmed, hawed and threw some real gems at me that I am feeling compelled to share.

Him: "It isn't so much the wear & tear on the Treadmills but the fact that people who spend more time then that on the treadmills are basically stealing from the gym because they use too much TIME."
Me: "Well say a client of yours spent 30 minutes on the treadmill, 30 minutes on the elliptical then did some circuit training? Is that a problem too."
Him: Lost for words

Me: "Honestly, I only need a longer period of time on a treadmill once a week- I'd be happy to swap treadmills and leave if a line formed. Or, just tell me that it is your policy to refuse access to "people like me" and I'll head on out."
Him: "well... there are never people waiting for equipment... but people would start to see you coming and get angry."
Me: Lost for words... Completely lost for words...

Me: "I'm not going to ask you to change your rules for me. But you won't just come out and tell me no, so perhaps there is a loophole that you have not mentioned" (at this point it was almost fun to watch him squirm in discomfort.)
Him: Well, ermmmm, ummm. Well I don't know. We really try to avoid "people like you" because of the way that you "abuse" your membership rights."
Me: (haven't we covered this??) So you have an overall time limit on how long ANY gym member can be on location?
Him: Clearly dying inside.

To make this long story short (or no longer) He Denied my membership request. In retrospect I clearly should have told him that I was a casual runner, putting in 4 miles per week tops. (then just continue to do my thing...) At the time though I certainly saw no SHAME in being a real runner, and no need to deny what I frickin do! BAH!

I know that many gyms have a Treadmill (or cardio equipment) time limit but also know that there are many ways to get around this rule- unless there is a mile long line forming behind you! It was pretty clear from the get go that this business owner did not want my money or for me to be "abusing my membership!"

One part of me wants to get seriously offended by this blatant discrimination. The other part of me is laughing it off, feeling a bit sorry for him, and feeling like I will continue to run at my normal (and so charmingly dated) gym until the weather improves...

My Family, My Bestfriends, My Hay Guy and Me...

Catchy Title today. Rather poetic?
It has been a fairly uninspired week of running. Non running is the most accurate term since I have been avoiding it like the plague. Back to it today, perhaps, and hopefully my legs will decide to behave.

In honor of my 4 days of non running fun this post is dedicated to the interesting people who keep my world going round. And round.... Making me dizzy.
But really! In the horse world one needs a plethora of people to keep things operating well. These are "people" that most "normal people" might not have around (well. with the exception of BEST friends!) I have ommited my possee of Vets, Farriers and all the others who take large clumps of cash from me and do not amuse me in the least. I'm picky- in order for me to give a shout out to somebody (especially if I have to pay them) I must be entertained by them in some fashion. So here we go!

My Mom (on the left!) My friend JWH (on the HUGE horse) and ME! (looking a touch mystified.) I love these guys. We have tons of fun at shows together and have been toughing it out since 1995. We are the coolest ever.

Looking dead sexy with JWH again. See why we are so awesome? It's tha boots!

The Excavation guy. Gotta have one with all this bullshit snow. My Excavation guy might not be the very most entertaining person but he always shows up with huge machines which I like. And big dumptrucks which I like too. I am a hick?

After the Hay Guy brings hay, blinds me with his sarcasm and vanishes, My BFF's and I drink a beer in the hay cart. Snap. There's my Dad creepin in the background. It should be noted that I give my Hay Guy more money per year than anybody else. HMPH. Good thing we are friends. Do I have to pay people to be my friends? No. Clearly not.. Right??

My Dad! I didn't want all of you to think he was a creeper in the back of a hay cart. (well, about that...) No really! My Dad is the bombdiggity and fixes a lot of the things that I break. And I break a lot of things so he's always busy... Lucky!

I promise that I'll try to get back on topic in the next few days, being that this is a RUNNING blog and all. But HEY, every now and then it's amusing to go off on a tangent (is it Tuesday? No...) find a bunch of old pics and throw caution to the wind.

Hitting the exhaustion button!

I am one tired girl! Halfway thru a very busy weekend after a week that was completely insane I'm starting to feel the strain... Oh well, better to be too busy than not busy enough. Right?
In other news today is the day that I think my guest post will arrive on Run Courtney, Run! Go check it out! I liked the idea of talking about running, riding and how the two go hand in hand (or not!) A small disclaimer, I was running on empty when I wrote it and do hope that it doesn't turn out to be an epic fail... Make me happy and go read it and leave uplifting comments!

Anyway, back to why I'm so darn exhausted right now.

Sunday: 13.1 bitches!!

Monday: Boston, Wang Theater (she said wang. hehehe.)

To see David Gray! My favorite. Love the guy.

Tuesday: To New Jersey to buy myself a magical new horse! He's gorgeous, isn't he??!!

Wednesday: Drove back from NJ. It took about 10 hours due to traffic... We won't talk about that because it was very booooring...

Anyway, that was my week in a nutshell. I'm super busy at work because I was gone so much of last week and also have houseguests- who I LOVE, and who luckily love me too since the house is a mess and we have no food.

Good luck to all of you running right now in Disney- I'm super jealous and hope that you all have an amazing time. Can't wait to hear all about it once you are home!!

The official HALF MARATHON race report!!

Here it is! What you have all been waiting for! My official Half at The Hamptons race report.
Sorry this is a day late and a dollar short, Mr. Middleaged and I took a trip to Boston yesterday to freeze just a little bit more, look at the penguins at the Aquarium but most importantly to see David Gray in concert for the unpteenth time. One can never have enough of a good thing and this was the first stop on this particular tour so it was kind of a big deal. We are super fans!

Anyway! This is a running blog so on to what keeps you guys coming back for more....

Saturday was so windy that it was ridiculous. I told the Huz that if the wind kept up at that absurd rate for Sunday that running would be next thing to impossible. He and my helpful Dad assured me that not only was the wind goiung to die down but that the temps would climb to 30 for sure- once I saw their hairbrained theory backed up by meteorlogical excellence on TV I relaxed and took their word for it.

Well THAT was a mistake.

We left town at 6 AM and shoot, if it wasn't 9 degrees with the wind gusting at 45 MPH (I have a wind gauge, I am a GEEK.) I decided that FOR SURE things would be better on the coast since we all know that it is never windy near the ocean. All together now: HA. HA.

By the time we arrived in the desolate snow covered frozen solid wasteland of Hampton the temp was up to a primising 12 degrees. Thank heavens the wind was making up for the balmy temps and keeping the heat wave to a minimum, with that kind of increase in temps I was worried about heat stroke or similar.

Went in. Registered. Ate Fig Newtons. Listened to the race management apologise about the weather over and over and promise that if people couldn't stand it that a sweep vehicle would pick them up promptly and bring them back to safety. That wasn't scary or anything.

Got dressesd. Looked hot, per the norm. Wondered how the wind would affect the outcome of the whole situation.... Decided that I didn't care but wondered if I would need to be rescued by the paramedics after my feet froze to the ground.

As you can see from this picture I was feeling a bit worried about the whole shebang.

We all lined up in the gusting winds (but beautiful sun!) and BANG. Off we went. It occured to me that perhaps I'd stick with the 8:30 pace group but I lost them in the crowd because I was fighting so hard to run against the wind. Luckily, after the first 5K or so we came into a more sheltered area and the winds lightened up... It was rough!

I suffered from the coldest feet ever for about 4 miles but decided that it was a bit of a blessing because I could not feel my warts! Whoopie fricking doooo!

I felt good from the start despite the cold stupidity. What can you do, right? And running is a great way to warm up so off I went like the effing wind (haha. into the wind is more like it...)

Felt strong all the way to mile 6 then evaluated my condition to see if I was circling the drain. I was NOT, things were feeling pretty darn good at that point so I opted to continue on and not break my rhythm. I did throw a shot blok into my face at this point (I might not have mentioned that I chose these because they are easy to chew.) what did I find? The little sucker was frozen SOLID. I had to suck on it for about 10 minutes before I could get it down- ewwwww! I threw the rest of them down my pants and that really helped me to eat the remaining ones with much less difficulty. Meaning that they thawed.

After the 6 mile point the miles flew by so fast that I was a touch baffled. I had, for sure, picked up the pace a bit- my legs were cooperating wonderfully and I knew by mile 8 that I had it in the bag. Ummm, yeah. this was a good feeling.

Right around mile 10 I felt a little pull in my left hip flexor and "pop" ouch! I hip hoppidied along for a bit (refusing to stop, almost there after all) and it loosened up a bit but plauged me tremendously for the remainder of the race. This is when my mantras of excellence came into play in a big way. "You're almost there, idiot, keep moving your stupid legs!!" "Run, you stupid shit. You didn't run 100,000 miles to cry like a bitch at mile 11!!!!" were the thoughts running thru my head. Need a little motivation friends? You can arrange to have me come to your house and shout at you for a small fee and a slice of pie.

Despite the pain I had enough gas in the tank to really kick it up during the last 2 miles. I found and passed the 8:30 pace group (I told the pacer that I had been looking for him so that I could catch him and pass him...) I also passed about 56 people in the last mile. HAHAHA.

About to come thru the finish. Look at that huge snowbank! Look at my fashion! look at my "pain" face! I need a haircut!

DONE! Thank heavens! I have a hole in my arm sock!

Why do my cheeks look so chubby?

I was able to find The Huz really quick at the finish and celebrate my Excellence In Running. He was quite pleased that I had beaten my goal time because he was getting really cold and sick of hanging about in boring Hampton. Understandable. I felt good except for the pulled hip flexor which hurt like a screaming beeyotch. (I later threw a huge bag of ice on it- which leaked all over me making me look like I had peed my pants. ooops!) We finished up by saying hello to a few people that we knew and then grabbing an excellent beer. We love beer....

Beer! The ONLY way to rehydrate!

So! I managed to finish in a good time with 51 days of "training", no runs over 12 miles, 8 unscheduled days off and a Taper Tantrum for the ages. And I must say.... I CAN NOT WAIT to DO IT AGAIN!!!

Edited: Pleased to see that my 1:48:54 time placed me 13th in my age group. There is no denying that 30 something women are scary fast. And there were well over 100 ladies in my age division. Go me!

I DID IT!

I made it!
I promise a longer more detaile dpost tomorrow but we'll recap for the evening.
1:48:56, 289th place out of 1200 finishers. (8:20 pace)
Ran the second half MUCH faster than the first because my feet thawed.

Temp at the start of the race? 17
Wind speed? 30 MPH
AWESOME

I had a great time. Pics and details tomorrow!