Running Tour of Eastside Cemeteries

I love these running tours by the Office of Historic Preservation - this one was really nice.  The weather was crisp, cool, and sunny, and they used re-enactors for key historic figures buried in these cemeteries to the East of downtown San Antonio.

‎"Sandra West" - buried in her Ferrari (right there).  We read this probate case in law school.

The son of the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore - he helped complete the project - the rock is from the site

telling us about how the Menger has a basement - where the brewer's beer was kept cold by acequias

FAUX BOIS!!!! But as a planter for live trees! and as a cradle for gravestones. I'm so rewriting my will to include this!

concept artist/architect of the riverwalk

Mahnke - a Woodman (I guess I never really understood these type of fraternal organizations) - the neighborhood where I really wanted to buy is called Mahnke Park

a stone's throw from downtown - and quite a bit uphill (we're on level with 10-12 floors of the Hyatt) - this is the Federal cemetery - where I can R.I.P., if I so chose

And US Rep Wurzbach - the ONLY TX Rep who voted FOR the federal anti-lynching bill.  Nice.

It was very peaceful to run through the cemeteries (which cover many adjacent city blocks).  I may have to add this to my run routine.

Dia de los Muertos 8k

As you know, I majored in Latin American Studies as an undergrad, and my masters degree specialty was Inter-American Studies.  So, I love holidays like Dia de los Muertos.  And, luckily, a good friend of mine decided to direct the inaugural Dia de los Muertos 8k on Friday evening in Brackenridge Park.

I worked on my costume for months, and I thought it would be fairly easy to run in.  Perhaps I should have consulted with an engineer and/or a fashion designer - this glowing jellyfish costume was heavy, awkward, and HOT - but it was fabulous.  The photos don't really do it justice, since it was most fabulous when I was running through the dark woods, with the glowing tenacles flowing around me - one of Scott's pictures came close to capturing it.

So - here we go - the Jellyfish that ran 8k (about 5 miles) in the dark...

 (luckily the wind died down a little after this pic)

running - I'm the blue glow

here's the video - you can kind of see the flow of my costume around the end of "Cancion del Mariachi" at 2 minutes - just not in the dark 

So, afterward, I was VERY SWEATY under all of that plastic and glowlights

So, I rehydrated

And I showed off my tenacles (I'm turning)

And, in the end, I won the costume contest (female) - with Byron - a/k/a LT Dingle. 

and, after we received our 'booty' - LT Dingle arrested race director/super fotog Ceci, while I 'stung' her - watch out to whom you give awards!

Speaking of awards - these were the BEST EVER. 

 (I'm finding tenacles everywhere)

And now my catrina andaba los critters. 

I also won a team entry for the Beach to Bay marathon relay (ca-ching).  I guess I won't have a problem putting together a team this year!

Thanks to Ceci, IAAP, Dorine, Dulce, Fumi, and Scottydog for the pics!

Dia de Los Muertos - catrina

I LOVE catrinas.  When I was in  Michoacán last year, I bought doggie and cat catrinas.  Then, my friend, Ceci, announced her Dia de los Muertos 8k run - which would feature catrinas as awards.  And I wanted one - very, very much.  So, I set out to win the costume contest (since there was NO WAY I was going to place in F 30-39).  I'll post the pics when they all come in, but - I DID IT (as my nephews say)!  I ran in a crazily painful jellyfish costume I made and won the female costume contest.  (side note - that was a tough run)

And here is my catrina master for my 'pets.'  Best award EVER.

Dia de los Muertos running costume preview

Here it is - this may be tough to run 5 miles (well, just 8k) in...but the glowsticks throughout the bubbles an in the umbrella hat will help me light the way in this evening run.  (I'm a jellyfish)

 that's a hat

and the racebelt

hopefully, this will look cool

Next up - Dia de los Muertos 8k

This awesome race shall occur on Friday evening in Brackenridge Park.  I shall have the coolest costume - and here is my bib.

Back to it - home, running, and critters

So, wow - what happened?  I flew back on Monday - in from the CHI marathon, whirl-wind tour of SE WI, 20th HS reunion, and assorted craziness.  And my head is still spinning. 

But, I ran the Alamo Beer Race #4 (15k) on Saturday and felt great.  Which you cannot tell from these pics.

At the start - (Kent is shamelessly promoting the Santa Antonio 5k on December 3.  If you are in or near San Antonio, you MUST RUN it - in a (provided) Santa suit.)

And then there was the run

I was actually feeling pretty dang good - no GI issues, no 26+ miles to run, and hitting a sub-10:00 pace with no problems.  But, as my buddy, Jenna, pointed out - these finish line pics are AWESOME.

"So what DID I run that in?"

"Damn, that slow?"

"well, heck, carry the 1, divide by 60 - not so so bad"

I'm so good at hiding my emotions.

And then, it was off to Dia de los Perros  I was so busy preparing my costume for the Dia de los Muertos run  that I didn't exercise due diligence in constructing dog costumes.  So, Gwen was a lion and Dingo was a jaguar (dogs dressed as big cats - get it?)  (they have tails and ears)

 Dingo with her brindle buddy, Cappy

 Dingo teaching Cappy how to knock over my buddy, Dulce

 Gwen teaching a trainer how to give her treats even if she fakes 'down'

The remains of the leopard.

thanks to Scallywompus, SA Photographers, Kevin Saunders, and Dulce Bares for the pics.

Next up: (maybe) cruiser ride of Eastside cemeteries, last zoo run of 2011, Dia de los Muertos 8k, and Eastside cemeteries running tour - and that's all between Tuesday-Saturday. 

The one that got away

The thing with marathons is that, no matter what - how hard you train, how injury-free you remain, and a bunch of other things that end in -ain - you never know what awaits you out there on the course.  This year, my training was solid - and accomplished in record heat.  I remained fairly injury-free.  I added yoga and massage.  I stretched and recovered.  I did it right this time and felt good going into my 5th marathon.  I was going to rock it.

Race day at the Chicago marathon, the weather was warmish, but still 20-30 degrees cooler than anything I had run in this training season.  Here we were at the start

As you can see, I was happily thinking that I could definitely crush 4:30.  And then, my intestines defected (and a word very similar to that, if you add an "a") around mile 10.  And did not stop.  All told, my Garmin registered me as covering 27.1 miles and an additional 15 minutes spent in or waiting for potties.  There were times that I could not bounce, so I fashioned a TOTALLY crazy chicken walk, which was terrible, but kept me within an 11:00 minute pace.  And, throughout it all, my legs were fine, my body was fine, and I was ready to RUN, but could not.  Like I said, you just never know what's out there. 

So, I took some fun pics

and, in the end, I finished.  A personal worst time, but I finished.  (Note:  only 3 minutes longer than my last personal worst and still only 13 minutes later than my PR.)

(yep, so bad I had to change my shorts at the finish - nice) So, now I'm debating training for another week and running the RNR SA as a full marathon in November - even though I dislike the 2nd half of it.  Or, maybe I'll just get over it and run the next 25k, HM, 5k running tour, 8k, and 11k I have scheduled in the next three weeks. 

All of my ugly race pics can be found here

Super thanks to my folks, for coming down to the marathon - and my sisters and their families for hosting my tour de southeast wisconsin after the run.

More thanks to everyone who supported me in fundraising during training for Girls on the Run - SA.  I raised over $600, which will sponsor at least 4 girls during next year's training season. http://www.active.com/donate/SoleMates2012/SSeeker5

And thanks to Joe S, Marathonfoto, my folks, and Ceci for the pics.