NEW BLOG!

For those of you looking for Little Betsy Runs a Big Race, head on over to:

http://www.runbetsyrun.wordpress.com

Little Betsy outgrew this blog....so check out the new one! Bookmark it, and check back often. I won't be writing on this blog anymore.

approaching double digits

Yesterday's run was a beautiful 8.8 miles up in Ipswich with Fred. We ran past Russell Orchards Farm, the Crane Hill Estate, and finally reached Crane Beach. The knee felt good, though the pace was slow.... but I'm approaching double digits again! The 'real' training begins December 14th. In the meantime, I'm just having fun using my legs again! It doesn't get much more beautiful than New England in the fall.

Love, sweat, and tears

Now that I've started sweating again, I don't think my boyfriend is going to dump me anymore. Intrigued?

Towards the end of the summer, I worried Fred was possibly going to dump me if I didn't stop complaining about my knee. When I tried to run and it hurt, I complained. When I could get a good run in, but it hurt the next day, I complained. ('Gosh, what a baby!' you must be saying. It's okay.) Finally, he convinced me to take a full month off running altogether--ostensibly to fully heal my knee, but more likely to have a break from all my grumbling. I obliged. If I didn't, our relationship might have been in real trouble!

A month of no running meant a month of no sweating, no way to get my aggressions out, and no release for the stresses of school, life, and--yep, not running. Although Fred was freed from the complaining about my running, he was then subjected to me being out-of-sorts and generally miserable because of my [not] running. It's amazing how much free time and mind-wandering happens when you don't run 4, 6, or 8 miles after school, and how that can really mess with your mind. A month is a long time to keep it all in. A month is a long time to go without built-in alone time for someone who is around 46 kids all day, has 3 roommates, and spends every weekend with a long-distance boyfriend.

That month turned into five weeks, and then six, but now it's finally, blissfully over! I've been steadily running every four days, then every three, now I'm trying every other day. I have a way to release the stresses of a very stressful job! I have alone time! I'm sweating again! I didn't ever really think Fred was going to dump me. But he might be glad to have a [somewhat] sane and healthy Betsy again. I know I am, and I owe it all to him.This is the face of a man with infinite patience and far more common sense than myself.

Little Betsy takes a break

I haven't been writing because I haven't been running. And I haven't been running because I've been trying to give my knee a good rest before Boston training begins. No use wasting time writing about that minutia!

In the meantime, I've been cheering on some other marathoners! In the past year, I've convinced my brother Ted, my brother Tom, my [almost] sister in law Nina, and my boyfriend Fred to run marathons.

Who's next? :)






Fred qualifies for Boston in his first marathon! Running for the Nativity School in Boston, he finished in 3:10 and raised $1000 for the school.

Two Maine Marathon finishers: Fred and Dad

Ted and Nina run the Chicago Marathon together! Ted is in blue, Nina in yellow.

Team Born 2 Run [Boston]
Aimee, Bob, Emily, Katie, Glen, and Betsy

100 miles
6 people
1 van
2 nights
17 hand-offs
12 pairs of sneakers
3 old friends (Katie, Aimee, Betsy)
3 new friends (Glen, Bob, Emily)
90 degrees
4 cases of water
18 sets of sweaty clothes
14 hours
2 rounds of beer
1 condo with 15 beds

100 miles on Route 100, Heart of Vermont Relay

Canadian Triathlon

The best run I've had in months: 2 miles straight down a rocky trail, followed by 2 miles straight back up the same rocky trail.

Fred and I just returned from a 10 day road trip in Canada that was filled with camping, beaching, hiking, running (a little), and good seafood. We drove and camped all over Nova Scotia, and concentrated most of our time in Cape Breton Island national park. Between the cliff drives, whale watching, local beer sampling, and photographing, we also found time for some hiking, trail running, and swimming....which we later found out is known as the Canadian Triathlon.

After a quick 6 mile hike around the Skyline Trail outside of Cheticamp Nova Scotia, we headed towards the Fishing Cove trail, hoping to just get a short trail run in before grabbing some lunch. What we didn't know was that the trail was STRAIGHT down a rocky gorge for 2 miles....think burning quads and twitching muscles by the time we reached the bottom. But we were rewarded at the bottom by the most beautiful, pristine, isolated beach I've ever seen: clear blue water, cliffs on either side, a small freshwater stream, and bald eagles soaring up above.

view from the trail head at Fishing Cove

Soaking up the scenery, we steeled ourselves for the 2 miles straight back UP the gorge. It took a lot of willpower and quad strength, but Heartbreak Hill has nothing on me now! We rewarded ourselves with a picnic at another little isolated stream, and took a quick swim before heading off to do some more sightseeing.

How can you not have a good time with a boyfriend that looks like this?

Little Betsy and Dad run a Big Race

Today was the annual Beach to Beacon 10k in Cape Elizabeth Maine--something of a family tradition for the Gotts. The 10k race began 12 years ago by none other than Joanie Benoit, my running hero and fellow Bowdoinite. Since the inaugural Beach to Beacon, my Dad has run all 12 years, and my brothers and I have joined him whenever our summer schedules allow.

As things usually are in the Gott Family, the race becomes The Competition of the summer. When my brothers Ted and Tom run, we always talk a big game and try to out-train, out-talk, and out-run each other. When it's just Dad and me, I always train secretly and then try to crush him after the first few miles.

Last year's Beach to Beacon fell during my training for the Chicago Marathon....and being in really good shape, I ran a 10k PR. Today was a completely different race though. Coming off this knee pain and having raced just 36 hours ago in Boston, I decided to stick with Dad for the whole 6.2 miles this year. He (literally) dragged me through the first 3 flat miles, and when we hit the hills at mile 4ish, I actually started to feel a little more warmed up.

This race is fun and special because I started running it way back as a semi-interested high school runner. I wasn't very fast, or very excited about running, but it was a fun thing to do with my Dad. It was neat to run with him this year because Dad was a huge reason I ever started running in the first place! He ran in high school and at the University of Maine, and even when I brought up the rear in high school track meets, he was supportive and excited. We crossed the finish line together this morning, and although I tried to let him win by a step, we actually tied in the official results!

Here's how we spent the rest of the afternoon:

when the going gets tough

Yesterday was my longest limp-free run since the marathon: 6.5 miles! I'll be honest, there was nothing pretty about it....heavy legs, labored breathing, and a rainy river backdrop. About four miles into it, I had talked myself into a pretty negative cycle of thoughts. But then I suddenly realized: I had been miserable and complaining about NOT running, and here I was miserable and complaining about finally running!

Committing myself to loving every wonderful, horrible, minute of this run, I remembered the words that my esteemed running mentor Glen told me once, way back during a cold and hard Boston training run: "If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it." There is no marathon on the horizon right now; there is no PR just asking to be tackled; and there is barely any hope that I can be healthy in time for a fall race. This is hard. But I am not ready to break up with running just yet.

the end of the beginning

In honor of today being the last day of school before the start of summer vacation (!!!), this post has nothing to do with running. I told Mike that whenever I don't have something witty or entertaining* to write about I would post one of the many hilarious quotes from my kids, the 3rd graders at the Boston Renaissance Charter School:

Student J-"Hey Ms. Gott, I have a special Asian marking. Do you want to see it? Nobody else in the world has one like it."

Ms. G-"Sure, I guess?"

(J whips up his shirt and puffs out his chest, pointing to one dark little freckle on his ribs)

J-"See?!?! How cool am I??"

Ms. G-"um, J that is actually a freckle..."

J-"A what-le? I didn't know my special Asian marking had a cool name!!!"


*disclaimer--Mike will tell you that I never have much that is witty or entertaining to say. His opinion doesn't count.

FIT GIRLS run a big race!

No, I am still not back to running. But today I ran/walked the Chelsea River Revel 5k with the lovely Fit Girls team from Chelsea. It was such a fun morning! Many of them were doing their first race, and Sarah, Abby, and I were their "race buddies". Fit Girls is an organization started by my teammate Sarah, and it's mission is to get girls running, reading, and reaching out to the community. Three of my favorite things!

The knee did not hold up so well today, but the girls sure did. They may not have run the entire 3.1 miles, but they were so encouraging to each other, positive, and excited to be actually doing a road race! Their sprints across the finish line were pretty much the cutest thing I've seen in a while.