great article

Great article,and many of my sentiments exactly about training/running the St. Louis Rock 'n Roll 1/2 marathon.  Yay, we did it!

A sign better than "what's your excuse," by Aisha Sultan

1/2 marathon: achievement unlocked!

Well, I did it! I ran all 13.1 miles of the Rock 'n Roll 1/2 Marathon!  I'm pretty freaking proud of myself.  :)

The day started early, and it was cold. Because I have my weird cold leg syndrome thing, I was extremely worried about the cold temperature, so I layered up big-time. On my legs I wore: cold weather gear leggings, shorts, and fleece pants. I put those disposable hand warmers in each pocket and took generic benadryl about 30 minutes before the race.  Thankfully, it did the trick - no itchy/burning legs! Huzzah! Around mile 3 I ditched the fleece pants and was pretty comfortable (temperature-wise) the rest of the race.

I started strong. For the first 6 miles I had an even pace, and a good one for me (about 13:30). I was super happy. Feeling like I could run all day! Then mile 7 hit...

At mile 7, we began a 6.1 mile incline.  Okay, so I'm exaggerating, but only a little.  Hills to power through I trained for, a slight 6 mile incline I did not.  This about killed me, and definitely killed my time and my spirit. I met my goal primarily because I played mind-games with myself.  I had run 10 in training, so when I wanted to give up at mile 8, I wouldn't let myself: "You can start walking at mile 10, but you you will be so mad if you run less than you did in training. Walk at mile 10."  Then, at mile 10: "You only have 3 miles left; a measly 5K. Are you going to walk now? You can't walk now! Push through!"  Apparently my mind is easily tricked, and so I kept plugging along, on the hellish incline,and although some speed-walkers passed me by, I technically ran the whole thing, which was my goal!

The last 6 miles weren't all bad. There were a couple of short down hills (so we could go up again), and there were tons of people out cheering on random strangers; giving us high-fives, clapping and shouting how awesome we are, and my favorite sign which read, "If marathons were easy they'd be named 'your mom'"  :)

If I ever do a 1/2 again (and I'm not saying I will!), I would probably have a time goal, and I would walk every 3rd or 4th mile (which would undoubtedly improve my time). I would also consider NOT using MapMyRun. I trained with this app, and wanted to keep track of my pace so I was sure to out-run the sag-wagon.  The problem with running a race with this app is that it exposed a dirty little secret: I did not run 13.1 miles.

What? How?? Wahhh?  Well, of course corners, running around people, running towards the water, and all that jazz bit by bit, step by step, will add precious tenths of miles to one's distance.   As a result, I had about 3/4 a mile to go after my app told me I had gone 13 miles. I was mentally prepared to go 13.1 miles, so when the app told me this, I wanted to die. I knew I had come too far, and needed to finish the official 1/2 marathon to feel accomplished, but I tell ya, I did so slowly. Really slowly.

Official 1/2 Marathon Time: 3:24:21

MMR 13.1 mile time: 3:09.08

In the end I was hot, sweaty,  in pain, my face was covered in salt, and I was exhausted, but it was totally worth it.

After crossing the finish line I was greeted with banana's, pretzels, water, Gatorade and more goodies that I happily accepted. I was also greeted by my mom, brother-in-law and two of my nieces; it was awesome to have support at the finish line.  My sister and her co-worker finished not long after me (they walked), and we had a nice celebratory meal before going home to collapse on our couches..

It was a really fun day, and a great feeling to have a achieved a goal I trained so hard for.

the sky's the limit

City Garden, St. Louis, MO

summer evening in the loop

St. Louis, MO

meep

I thought I'd take a break from Chicago photos. I stumbled upon this little guy in St. Louis. I just imagine him as a little alien or robot peeking his head out to say "meep!"

sprouts of happiness

While it's no Central Park, St. Louis' City Garden is a bright spot downtown, and a promise of how vibrant and inviting St. Louis could become if we commit to its development.

Summer Bay Resort

My friend Billy said, "Take pictures of what you love," Well, most of the pictures I've taken and loved have either been taken in the wild or in Missoula, MT (otherwise known as the place wherein my heart lives), but today I could get to neither of those places,so I tried to love downtown St. Louis during a heat-wave. I headed downtown to walk around, and I stumbled upon this:

This photo, admittedly, has problems. I'm not at all experienced at taking photos of urban landscapes, and hopefully I'll get better, but this was just too hilarious for me not to post. "Summer Bay Resort" in downtown St. Louis, um... what? Not surprisingly, it appears to be out of business.

spend some time in the 'lou

Over the last year, several of my friends have selfishly decided to move away to far off states. Sure, they e-mail, call, and invite me to visit them, but I gotta tell ya – I’m sick of people moving. This does not bode well for me since a sizable number of my friends have resolved to flee this fair city come May. I don’t like it. Not one bit! And so, I’m here to list just some of the reasons why they should stay in St. Louis; I encourage them to think about this list as they apply to different lawyer type jobs in the coming months.

1. There is a ton of FREE stuff to do in St. Louis – the Zoo, The Art Museum, The Science Center (and more)
2. You can camp without fear of bears!
3. Provel Cheese!... like no cheese anywhere else!
4. We have a top ranked Children’s Hospital
5. This is home to the Gateway Arch – the tallest American monument. Also, it's the coolest...
6. Face it: moving is expensive, and all your stuff is already here.
7. Ted Drew’s Custard... so delicious, and only available here!
8. Like musicals and plays? We’ve got the Fox, the Muny, The Repertory Theater, and several college theaters.
9. Our Autumn and Spring seasons are beautiful.
10. (perhaps most alluring) I am here.

Please note, this list is not complete; it simply shows some of the few (out of many) reasons to stay in St. Louis.

Leading authority...that's me!

I was browsing through my stat counter thing to see who was visiting my blog. I rarely see anything of interest; usually I just see a bunch of hits from a certain nearby university. Today, however, I came across this came from. From the page, if you click on "Soulard Farmer's Market" you are sent back to my post about farmers markets. Apparently, I am a great source for information about "fun things to do in St. Louis." Who knew?

Farmers' Markets - YUM!

I love going to farmers' markets. You wouldn't necessarily know this by my actions. In truth, I rarely go to farmers' markets for my produce. But I should. And you should too. The reasons seem pretty obvious to me. Here are a few, although no doubt there are more.

• supporting local farmers
• produce is fresher and often tastes better!
• often cheaper than what's sold in the store
• you can support farmers who are transitioning to organic farming

Not to mention it is a fun day outside where you are brought together with your community.

Kirkwood Farmers' Market

There are several great farmers' markets in St. Louis: and therefore no reason for St. Louisians not to go.

Soulard Farmers Market
7th Street and Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis / 314.622.4180
Year round, Wed. to Fri. – 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Sat. – 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Clayton Farmers’ Market
Corner of Maryland and North Central avenues, Clayton / 314.645.5807
May 22 to Oct. 30, Sat. – 8 a.m. to noon

Kirkwood Farmers’ Market
East Argonne Drive and Taylor Avenue, Kirkwood / 314.822.0084
Thru Sept. 25, Thu. and Fri. – 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Many merchants are also open seven days a week.

Maplewood Farmers’ Market
Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 Southwest Ave, Maplewood / 314.645.5807
May 19 to Oct. 27, Wed. – 4 to 7 p.m.

Central West End Farmers’ Market
Next to St. Louis Bread Company on Maryland Plaza, St. Louis / 314.361.2850
May 1 to Sept. 25, Sat. – 8 a.m. to noon
(very small - new and just getting started)

This blog post brought to you by "Earth Friendly Fridays"

I Love the Arch

View of Arch

Children and Nature

When I was a sophomore in college, I had the opportunity to volunteer at Martin Luther King School in Berkely, CA in their Edible School Yard. If you clicked on the link, you read how cool it is and what a great way it is to teach kids about nutrition, the land, and the importance of the environment  It also fosters their creativity, lets them get their hands dirty, and gives them ownership of the project. While I was there, the kids made artichoke hearts in a bed shaped as a heart, created a pathway out of bricks, composted their own soil, and built a shaded outdoor seating area so they could have lessons with the gardener  Not only did they learn how to grow food, but they also were taken into the kitchen and taught how to prepare nutrition meals. I was so impressed by this program, so I thought I would share it. I started looking for something like that here in St. Louis. Because the midwest is a bit colder during the traditional school year than California, we do not have as much opportunity for programs such as this to be integrated into curricula, but there is some. The Green Center, for instance, has a vegetable garden project with six the U. City Schools. Between work and school I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, although I have volunteered with the Green Center for some of their other projects and they do a lot of cool stuff.

I also just recently started this extremely interesting book called, Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv. The book discusses the devastating trend of children being inside and being cut off from nature. He discusses some of the many advantages to being outside and experiencing green space -- In one chapter, he focuses on the making of tree houses and how much a child learns about physics, mechanics, and general common sense from the experience - things that shouldn't necessarily be, or possibly cannot be, learned in a classroom. Anyway, I'm not finished with the book, and I'm sure I will have more to say on the subject once I'm done. In the meantime, I encourage any one who has kids, or is planning to have kids, to check out this book. It would also be nice to discuss the book and see what you all think.

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he
finds it attached to the rest of the world." --John Muir

Happy Birthday to the Arch!

Our beautiful Gateway Arch turns 40 today. The arch is the tallest monument in the US at an impressive height of 630 feet. If you haven't had the chance to go to the top, I highly suggest your getting off your duff and doing so. If you are feeling too clausterphobic to ride the small elevator, you might go outside on the grass and lay underneath the swaying Arch - it's a pretty cool sight to behold.

You should also take a peek at the museum inside the bottom of the arch-- it is jam packed of historical insight to the Lewis & Clark Expedition.