12/52: Calling my state senators & 13/52: Running the Flying Pig Half-Marathon

After finishing the 2009 Girls on the Run 5K with many other tiara-wearing runners (who were 25-30 years younger than me, I admit)

Veggies: A whole lot of eating out these past few weeks--Vegetable Biryani at Ambar, Veggie & Tofu stir-fry bowl at Cilantro, Veggie burrito at Chipotle

Wine: It's Sangria season! (As if I don't drink it year-round.)

I'm clearly so very behind on my year of 52 adventures, but considering all the other things I could be behind on--taxes, mortgage payments, reading for a class, etc.--I'm pretty fortunate that my penalty is devoting some serious time in the coming months to making up adventures! Here are two adventures from the past I've not yet shared...

Calling my state senators

As I was walking toward yet another food booth at University of Cincinnati's much-anticipated annual International Festival, I was stopped by someone who asked if I had a few minutes to talk about clean energy. Of course I did, even in our pre-BP disaster days. What I did not anticipate is that this someone really wanted for me to talk to my senators, not to her, about clean energy. She asked if I would be willing to call both of them, and I agreed without hesitation. I'm embarrassed to admit that I have a phone phobia, and though I would have walked back to my office really WANTING to call my senators, I really would not have done so. She was a seasoned organizer and knew that most of the people she talked to would make that same empty promise, so she then asked if I wanted to use my phone or hers. BUSTED! I didn't have my phone with me, so, yes, I would need to use her phone. I'd like to tell you that I had long, thoughtful conversations on clean energy with both of the people I called, but I read a short script and they thanked me for my call before hanging up. Did I make a difference? Who knows. Am I slightly less petrified to call my state senators about important issues? Yes.

Running the 2010 Flying Pig Half-Marathon

After two years of participating in the Pig on a four-person relay team, I thought it was time to step things up. However, I did not step up my training until two months before the half-marathon. (I'm sorry, Hal Higdon ... I really wanted to follow your sensible half-marathon training schedule that hung faithfully on my refrigerator door, but terrible weather and lingering sickness got in the way.) Thanks to a slightly more disciplined running friend, I spent most Friday nights in March and April wine-free so I could wake up early on Saturday mornings to train. We decided to use interval training: we ran 9 minutes and walked 3 minutes. This worked so well that we ran the half-marathon in intervals too. (Walking was a huge concession for me at first -- I ran cross-country growing up, and though I was never fast, I comforted myself with the thought that at least I never walked during a race. However, I'm a convert now and plan to continue running intervals even for shorter races. That 3-minute recovery time is too fabulous to give up.) I didn't break any records with my 2 hour 36 minute finish, but I can work to improve my time in next year's half.