How do I register?

Alright, all, I have a logistical question. Here's the deal.

I am about ready to start committing to my summer race season. I know what races I want to do, so now I really just need to register for them. I'll be doing all local races, as the summer is already shaping up to be very travel heavy for other parts of my life. Therefore, local racing it will be.

Here's the dilemma.

As of this morning, my weight was 150.6 on the gym scale. My home scale tells me I am at about 147. I tend to go with the gym scale as more accurate since it probably cost more than $15 from Bed, Bath and Beyond.

For nearly every tri I want to do, there is an Athena category. Athenas are female triathletes weighing 150 pounds or more.

By May, or June, or July, I will probably not weigh 150 or more. Between my continued training and racing, I am guessing that 0.6 pounds or more will fall off before any of my scheduled triathlons. BUT - I have trained for two half marathons before and not lost a pound. I possibly could still be 150.1 or more by my first triathlon.

So how do I register? Competing in the Athena category pits me against women who are definitely more my size. Considering many of your top age group triathletes are probably in the 120-135 range (I would assume), my extra 15 pounds makes a definite difference. But again, I don't race purely to try and win. But it sure would be nice to finally have a top 3 finish at some point in my life. As an Athena, I have that chance. In my age group, no shot in hell.

I wouldn't cheat - if I ended up being 149 on the day of the race, I assume I could alert the race director to put me in my age group, right? Or do I just go ahead and register for my age group anyway and try and push myself to the extreme?

Help?

Ten Things Tuesday

1. I got new shoes today. Sweet, sweet beautiful new running shoes. I actually graduated from a full motion control/stability shoe to a plain ol' stability shoe. The Asics 3020 will be on my feet starting this afternoon. I checked out a local running store, Second Sole, in Gahanna. They were awesome. Went in on my lunch break at noon, I was fitted, ran around the building and walking out with my new kicks in about 20 minutes. And they have a super cute store doggie. They told me that if I have any problems over the next few weeks to just come back in. Excellent. I'll keep you posted on how they work out.



2. I've got a running coach. Well, not just MY running coach, but I joined a run club and there is a coach...who stayed back with me on Sunday's group run to analyze my gait and give me some pointers. Said coach is tapering before an Ironman race on August 29. For me, that is as close to a running coach as I've ever had, so I now consider him my coach. He does not know this yet, but that is the case.



3. So far Lifetime Fitness is working out well. The run club meets on Sundays and Wednesdays. I will definitely do all the Sunday meetings, and as soon as our trivia team takes the title at Pappa Boo's trivia at Buckeye Lake, I will start hitting the Wednesday workouts. I am probably the slowest runner there, but hey - that gives me something to aspire to, right?


4. I had a great training weekend. Saturday was a 15 mile bike ride, Sunday was a run with run club. I was hosting an event at the house at 1, so I couldn't do the full 7.5 miles the group committed to, but I did manage to hang for 5 miles. And when I say "hang" I mean "fall behind the rest of the group and watched them as they disappeared over the horizon." Monday I swam for about 25-35 minutes (I LOVE HAVING POOL ACCESS!) then did a one mile run on the treadmill. It would have been two miles (as suggested by the running coach), but my damn old shoes gave me a big blister on my right arch.


5. What I learned from my running coach Sunday - I am a heel striker, I swing my arms too much and I am breathing inefficently. That's a lot to work on.


6. I am now working on my stride and can already feel changes. I am trying to move towards a more mid-foot strike. I had issues with stress fractures way back when I started running, and I honestly think that's why I ditched the ball of the foot running... 'cause my foot broke. Then I overcompensated and started heel striking.


7. It's hard to run and not swing your arms around (for me anyway). It is taking super serious concentration to not do this as much.


8. I am really really excited for September 5th's half of a half.


9. I am off to NC this weekend. A good friend is getting married at a vineyard in Western NC on Saturday, but that means I still get a good day and a half in Durham. Yay. I miss Durham.

10. I've lost almost 10 pounds. I lose two more, and I am no longer an "Athena." Not sure if this is a good thing or not..........


That's my ten things. What's up with you???

The Athena Runner

Athena

I became familiar with the term "Athena Runner" mainly through blog reading. Although I have lived in two very runner friendly areas (both Durham and Granville/Columbus), I have never entered a race that actually had an Athena category. I'm guessing that's because either the races are too small or they aren't all that "competitive."

In runner-speak, an Athena runner is a female race competitor over a certain weight. For some races evidently this could be as low as 140lbs, but for most it is 150+. So technically, no matter which of those numbers they use, I'm an Athena runner. But I wonder that for many women who have the ability to choose this designation in a race, do they do it? I mean, it actually fields you against women who are competing LIKE you. But do you want the "Athena" label, or do you just run with the pack? I've never had the choice, but I'm thinking if I did I would say, BRING ON THE LABEL! maybe I could actually win something :p (but probably not)

I do love the term Athena though. It's like, "I'm strong and will kick your ass you little stick insect running in front of me..." Or something like that anyway.