The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • Warrior Dash Recap 2011

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    Ruth Carter

    This past weekend my friends and I did the Warrior Dash in Florence, Arizona.  This is my type of race – 3.4 miles with 12 obstacles along the way.  It requires endurance, strength, and strategy to be successful.

    (cc) Jeff Moriarty

    There are two types of people who do this race – the serious athletic types who are focused on getting through the course as fast as possible and the types who are there just for fun who often do the race in costume.  I was the former.  Two of my friends were the latter: one dressed up as a Roman gladiator and chased my friend through the course who was dressed up as Jesus.  All of us had an awesome time and are already thinking about what we want to do for next year’s race.  I wanted to share some tips about things that my group was glad we did or should have done.

    Train as if the Race was 5-miles Long:  The course was only 3.4 miles, but it was on dirt, uneven ground, rocks, sand, and mud.  It was much harder than running 3.4 miles on asphalt.

    Do Strength Training:  When I saw which obstacles would be on our race course on the website, I was motivated to add push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, and squats to my workout.  It made a big difference on race day.

    Wear Clothes that can be Destroyed:  The course might have dirt, sand, water, fire and/or mud on it.  Don’t wear anything that you’d be sad if it was ripped, stained, or otherwise destroyed.  This includes your shoes and sunglasses.

    Expect Mud to Get Everywhere:  Regardless of your body type or what you’re wearing, you will be covered from head to toe in mud.  Expect to have it everywhere by the end of the race – including inside your underwear, sports bra, and shoes.  Be sure to trim your nails and remove all jewelry before the race to eliminate having to scrub mud out of small crevices.

    Use Gear Check:  Red Frog doesn’t promote this enough.  They have an area where you can check a bag while you’re running the race so that you don’t have to worry about where you’re going to put your keys during the race or have to go all the way back to your car to get fresh clothes when you’re done.   You will want to have your phone, keys, plastic bags, a towel, a complete set of fresh clothes, and a pair of flip flops in your gear check bag.

    Make Sure You Can Move in Your Costume:  One of the best parts of the race was the amazing people watching.  We had racers in crazy outfits – Oompa Loompas, Richard Simmons, German bar girls, and lots of people in capes, tutus, kilts, and wings.  Make sure you can run in your outfit and be careful not to snag your wig while you’re crawling under the barbed wire.  Regardless of what you wear on your body, be sure to wear proper running shoes on your feet.

    (cc) Jeff Moriarty

    Wear Underwear: You never know if the elastic in your shorts is going to snap while you’re crawling through the mud pit.  After the race, they have an area where they hose you off.  You may want to strip all the down to your skivvies to ensure maximum mud removal.

    I was a little under-prepared for this race but I’m very pleased with how I finished.  My official time was 36:51:45.  I finished in the top 9% in my division and in the top 21% overall.

    Thank you Red Frog Events for putting on such a wonderful event.  A special thank you to Monster for being on-site promoting their new Anti-Gravity drinks and their promoter who opened my beverage for me because I was too tired to do it myself.  I can’t wait until next year.

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  • Half Marathon Recap 2011

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    Ruth Carter

    On January 16, 2011, I ran in the P.F. Chang’s Rock n Roll Half Marathon, my second half marathon.  I had a personal best of 2:06:18, nearly 3 minutes faster than my time last year.  This was, hands down, the most painful race I have ever participated in.

    I started my training back in October.  I was pretty diligent about getting in my miles every week until mid-November.  By then, my school work had picked up and I had the decision to either go running or get enough sleep.  Not wanting to destroy my immune system, I often opted to sleep.  After finals, I went to my parents’ house in Northern California.  I packed all my warm running clothes so I could get back on track, but I soon learned that, “It’s cold,” was a viable excuse not to go running.  When I got back to Phoenix, I was determined to get back to running, but unfortunately my overzealousness caused shin splints.  In all of my training for this race, I did not run more than 5 consecutive miles.  Originally my goal was to finish the race in under 2 hours, but I changed that to finishing the race without stopping or walking.

    I was careful to pace myself at the start of the race.  Even before I reached mile marker 1, my body was starting to hurt.  I did what you’re not supposed to do, and took 600mg of ibuprofen right before the race, and it didn’t keep the pain at bay.  My toes, knees, hip, back, and feet all hurt during the race.  When one body part would start to hurt, I thought, “Hang in there.  In a mile, something else will hurt.”

    You-Can_Do-It
    Image by Katchooo via Flickr

    The best part of running the half marathon is the people watching.  I enjoy watching the people, reading their signs, and seeing the funny outfits the various cheerleading squads are wearing.  Every time I saw a familiar face or something amusing, it lifted my spirits.  I don’t think most spectators realize how much it means to the runners that they are there.

    In case you were wondering, these are some of the thoughts that went through my head during the race:

    • You can do it… You can do it…. You can do it….You can do it…
    • Hang in there.  You’re doing great.
    • You’re almost there.
    • It’s only hard.

    Around mile 10, I kicked it up a notch and started running faster.  I saw on the race clock that I was close to my pace from the previous year.  I wanted to try for a personal best.  I ran as hard as I could and I gave myself permission to collapse the second I crossed the finish line.

    When I finished the race, I was in pain.  My joints hurt; my muscles hurt; even my internal organs hurt.  I went home and went to bed.  My friend came over to congratulate me after the race, and he could barely hug me because it hurt so much.

    I’m pleased with my performance overall, but I definitely learned the hard way about the repercussions of being under prepared for a race.  Next year, I hope I can train more effectively and break the 2-hour mark.

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  • My Wardrobe Is On Notice – 1 Year Later

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    Ruth Carter

    A year ago, I wrote a blog for Unchaotic about my year-long process to clean out my wardrobe.  I tied a piece of yarn around every hanger in my closet.  When I wore a garment, I took off the yarn.  At the end of the year, the initial plan was to get rid of everything that still had a piece of yarn on it.  This plan was based on the idea that if I had not worn something in a year, I’m never going to wear it, so I might as well get rid of it.

    Initially, I was going to wait until the end of the year before I threw anything out, but as I started putting yarn on my hangers, I saw items that I knew I had not worn in a while and was never going to wear again so by the end of setting up my closet, I had at least 10 items that were already eliminated from my wardrobe.  Some of it went to charity and the rest went in the trash.  I did another similar wardrobe purge in June when I evaluated what I hadn’t worn yet.

    On New Year’s Day, I pulled everything out of my closet that still had a piece of yarn on it. There were about 30 things.  I spent a few hours trying each garment on, remembering why I bought it in the first place, and asking why I hadn’t worn it during the last year.

    There were two items that I did not wear in the last year that are wardrobe staples – my white oxford shirt and my black pullover sweater.  These are the type of thing that everyone should have in their wardrobe, and the fact that I did not wear them does mean that they do not have value in my wardrobe.  They could stay.

    I also realized that owning wrinkle resistant shirts has made me spoiled and so I did not take the time to iron my other shirts, and thus I did not wear my other shirts for a year.  The ones that I thought I would wear if I did my ironing could stay.  I had a few pieces that I didn’t wear because I assumed that they too big after I lost weight.  After trying them on, I saw that they still fit.  They could stay too.

    This project brought a personal issue to the surface that a lot of people have – I sweat regardless of the temperature.  This means I’m more likely to stain my clothes.  (It’s also one of the reasons why I didn’t wear my white oxford during the last year.)  I am one of those people who should never own a silk blouse because I will stain it the first time I wear it.  If I wanted to stop this from happening, I could pay a lot of money to have my armpits botoxed, or I can periodically throw out whatever I stain.  I’ll stick with the latter for now.

    I’m glad I did this project.  I feel like I decluttered my closet and have a clearer idea of my personal style.  The garments that I decided to keep despite not wearing them for a year still have their strings on them as a reminder that I should consider donating them if I continue to not wear them.

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