New PR - Germantown Half Marathon Recap

Third half marathon in one year is now over and in the books and I have finally broken my PR that I set last year at this same race. The PR I have been itching to break since setting it 364 days ago. Today's race was the polar opposite of last year's, last year it was pouring down rain and 44 degrees and dropping when the race started, and continued to rain and get colder as the race went on. This year it was sunny and 60 degrees at race start, perfect weather, except then it got really hot, really fast

My day started at 5 am when the alarm went off, I groggily got out of bed and made my way to the kitchen to make myself some coffee and a peanut butter english muffin. Race mornings I always worry about getting my digestive system going so I don't have to take any unexpected bathroom breaks during the race, unfortunately this doesn't always work out so well, as I learned at Disney Princess 3 weeks ago. I drank my coffee and ate my muffin and then got dressed in my new favorite tech tee (the Disney Princess Half race shirt), running shorts, Injinji toe socks, my good luck sparkly Sweaty Band, my favorite lululemon Ta Ta Tamer sports bra, and my Mizuno Wave Inspire 6 running shoes.  I packed my SPIbelt, iPod, and Garmin, along with my Nathan Quickdraw handheld water bottle, and my favorite Chocolate Outrage GU, and we set off.

Last year we drove around for like 20 minutes looking for parking near the race, this year, we zipped right in. Last year, I stood in a port-a-potty line for 15 minutes and started the race 5 minutes late, this year, I found a real bathroom in a park on my way to the race start. What a difference a year makes! So this time I actually got to line up at the start and not be so stressed out. I chatted with some other racers and tried to get my head ready to run a good race and PR.

7:30 a.m. came and we were off! The first couple miles I was flying, I had to keep reminding myself to slow down or I was going to run out of steam. Mile 4 I decided to take my first GU and my first little walk break to eat the GU and refill my water bottle. I was feeling great though, I had conquered the major hills of the course, I had maintained sub-10 minute splits for all 4 miles, and I was right on target for a 2:10 finish. Somewhere between mile 4 and 5 my lungs started to bother me and I started having a tight feeling in my chest and the feeling like I wasn't getting enough air. I slowed down, got out my inhaler and used it. The heat was starting to kick in, and the sun was in my face even with my sunglasses on. I could feel it burning. But I pressed on. My lungs continued to bother me on the trek and I again used my inhaler at some point.

I got to Mile 6 and the aid station, I grabbed some Gatorade and more water to refill my bottle. On the opposite side some spectators were passing out beer, I didn't take any, but I thought it was funny, usually beer is reserved for after the race, not during it! Once I passed the aid station I noticed my shoes were coming untied, so I ducked to the side to retie them. I set off again, but then my shoes were too tight, so back to the side I went to adjust. Finally I passed over the midway timing pad (6.55 miles) and according to the official results, I crossed it at 1:07:27, running a 10:18 pace. When I got to mile 7, I told myself, "okay, only 6 more to go." By then though it was starting to wear on me and get pretty hot out. Somehow though, I kept going and I ran next to a girl who started talking to me, even though I had my headphones on. She was nice and she was saying now was when it started to get hard, and I said I know, I really wanted to walk, but I wanted to PR so bad. She told me to do it. That I could and that she'd run with me some. She was awesome! I ran my fastest mile then, 9:06, and took my GU again when I hit mile 8 and the next aid station. I again got some water to refill my bottle at the aid station and went on my way. Mile 9 we entered another park, and it was pretty uneventful except that it's the first time I finally gave in and walked for real a couple times, just for rest. No asthma, just plain tiredness and the feeling like I needed to stop for a little while.

Mile 10 I hit the wall, hard. I always seem to hit it there. But it was so hot, and by then I could feel my face burned. I should have put on sunscreen this morning. I dumped some of my water from my bottle on my face, and it helped a little, but not a lot. I tried to keep my mind off things, I tried to say, only 3 miles left, I tried to look at my watch and remind myself of my impending PR that I so desperately wanted. But my right hamstring was hurting, my left foot was hurting, I could feel a blister, and I just wanted to be done. I was at 10.40 miles and walking when I saw my friend from a few miles back again. She caught up to me and said come on, no walking, it's time to PR! She told me we could push each other to the finish. I was never more grateful to have someone. She told me her name was Ann and she was from Chicago, and it was her first time running this race. I told her about last year's and the horrid weather. We stuck together until we got to mile 11 and then I was feeling good again and she urged me to go on. With 2 miles left I was feeling like I could do it. I was trying to get back to my frame of mind from my training runs, where I always try to zone out for the last 2 miles and just let them click by, but still giving good effort. I managed to do pretty well, until I got to about 11.85 miles, I started getting a chill. It scared me. It was brutally hot out, about 75 degrees, yet I had goosebumps on my arms, and was actually cold. I was starting to think maybe I was getting dehydrated. I walked for a second to see if that helped me and sipped my water some and rubbed my arms. The chill went away and I kept going.

I hit the 12 mile mark and I knew I was in the home stretch now, only 1 mile left and time to give it all I had. I tried to go all out. My legs though couldn't go as fast as I wanted them to, but they kept going. Finally I rounded the corner and I saw mile 13 in sight and all the spectators. My legs hurt so much, especially the right hamstring and the darn left foot. I wanted to collapse. I didn't want to do the extra .1 mile. I started tearing up. The look on my face must have scared some spectators, because they were looking at me with such pity. I seriously was crying while running. But the flood of emotions just came out. I was in pain, but I was also finally breaking the PR I had worked so hard for. I sprinted from the mile 13 sign to the balloon arch and the finish line timing pads. My aunt was there and was yelling "GO, GO, GOOOO!!!" My watch said 2:14:24 as I crossed the finish line. Not the 2:10:xx I had hoped for, or the 2:08:xx I thought I was capable of at the beginning of the race, but still a PR and a decent time. Amazingly, my legs didn't feel like jello after crossing the finish line like they did last year, or even 3 weeks ago. I felt strong. Tired, a tad sore, but not completely flat out. More than anything I just wanted my shoes off. I made my way to the snack table and took 2 banana halves and 2 chocolate sandwich cookies and refilled my water bottle. Ate my snacks, then made our way to the car to finally get my shoes off.

Sure enough, I have 2 black toenails and a monster blister on my left foot. Taking off my shoes and putting on my flip flops never felt so good. My left knee also felt achy and clicky after the race. I made sure to rest and ice it. Overall though, I still feel good! Much better than expected.

Official results:

Garmin Splits:

 

Garmin Readout:

Some race photos:

 

 

Disney Princess Half Marathon Recap

I did it!! I completed the Disney Princess Half Marathon on Sunday February 27th in Orlando, FL, and what a race it was! First off, I ended up coming down with the beginnings of a chest cold on Wednesday night. I knew something didn't seem right, and I felt "off." Thursday it turned into a full blown mess and only went downhill from there. I immediately started sucking down Emergen-C packets on Thursday, hoping to head the sucker off, but I was too late. I still managed to run 2 miles on Thursday around a park not far from my mom's house in the 85 degree heat. It was horrible, considering I was so phlegmy and congested and all around nasty. Friday I was still feeling pretty miserable, and decided the Emergen-C and Mucinex I had begun taking weren't doing too much, so I switched over to Zicam every 3 hours and continued with the Mucinex hoping for some relief. I knew the constant hacking wasn't going to be good for race day. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help. Saturday was more of the same, I was tired, achy, and so very sick. I started to question whether or not I should run, but I had come all this way, and paid so much money, I had to run. My mom was so worried about me, she didn't want me to run, but I assured her I would be okay and would walk when I needed to, and take it easy. I knew my PR I had set my sights on wasn't going to happen this race, not under these conditions.

Saturday morning my aunt and I headed out from our hotel, Disney's All Star Movies, and hit ESPN Wide World of Sports where the Disney's Fit For A Princess Expo was taking place. I had to go pick up my bib and race packet, plus even though I wasn't feeling great, I wanted to look at what the vendors had to offer since this was the largest race I had ever registered for. The expo was insane. The line to get in was super long and we waited in it for at least 15 minutes. Then I waited in line for about 35 minutes to get my bib and D-tag. Finally, it was time to shop! The only thing I knew I wanted to look for at the expo were Sweaty Bands. I have some Bondi Bands headbands, but I find they get very hot on my head, so I wanted to give the Sweaty Bands a try and see if the thinner headband helps alleviate some of my heat issues. I found my Sweaty Bands, purchased a few and was on my way. I also ended up with an awesome new pair of super lightweight anti-fog running sunglasses. I've been running with my bug-eye Kate Spade usual sunglasses and they are heavy and tend to slip off when I get really sweaty, so the new sunglasses are much needed. Other than that I didn't find much else worth purchasing at the expo and we left. It was just too crowded. I did have some fun playing with some pink princess Mickey ears though! I also wasn't impressed by the "goody bag" given out. It was a green mesh bag, and inside was a nice Champion tech tee and a mini Luna bar, and a bunch of advertisements. Seriously? That's it for $130?

Sunday morning my alarm went off at 3 a.m. I had laid out all my gear the night before and got to getting dressed. I ate 3/4 of a multi grain english muffin with some natural pb on it that I had brought with me. Aunt Tara and I then set off for the shuttle bus. We were supposed to be on the bus by 4 a.m. but the lines were ridiculous. We ended up not getting on the bus until about 4:15 a.m. The bus got us Epcot, we walked a little ways into the finish line/family reunion area where I used a port-a-potty and said my goodbyes to my aunt. I then set off on the 20 minute trek to the starting line. There was a wall of people. It was so incredibly crowded, I could not get around anyone. I wanted to walk a little faster, but no one was moving out of the way, so I just went along with the crowd. Finally I made it to my corral, Corral B, by about 5:20 a.m. Finally at 5:45 a.m. it was time to begin with the wheelchair start. The Fairy Godmother wished the racer luck, the fireworks went off, and the race began! Two minutes later, they did it again for Corral A, and seven minutes later at 5:53 a.m. it was our turn!! It took me a couple minutes to cross the starting line even though I wasn't that far back in the corral, but it was so crowded. I tried to run that first mile, but I could not get to a good pace and it was so dark. It continued like this for the first 4 miles or so.

 

I wasn't feeling so great, especially around mile 3-4, my stomach started hurting and I thought maybe I was going to be sick. As you can see, I carried my handheld bottle filled with water, so I just sipped on it and tried to relax. I saw my aunt at mile 4.5 and it lifted my spirits a lot! Mile 5.5 brought with it entry into the Magic Kingdom! Before that the race was being run along connector roads, in parking lots, and on back lots, with plenty of Disney entertainment along the way, characters out that you could stop and take your picture with (I didn't want to waste time, the lines were super long), and music blaring. Mile 5.5 opened up and we began running onto Main Street U.S.A. finally! Crowds were in full force cheering, it was awesome! We ran towards the castle and then veered off into Tomorrowland towards Space Mountain. Kept going, through Fantasyland, and finally right through Cinderella's Castle! It was so magical, but went by so very fast. After the castle, we headed right into Frontierland and did a small portion towards Splash Mountain before ducking out a side entrance onto a back lot not far from Pirates of the Caribbean and it was back on to the connector roads for the rest of the race. I decided to take a Chocolate Outrage GU now since we were officially at the halfway mark.

Miles 7-11 were really pretty boring. There wasn't a whole lot of crowd support, only near the Polynesian Resort when we finally ran passed it. There were characters set out to do photo ops, but the entertainment wasn't as good. Between miles 8-9 my stomach really started to hurt, and I knew I needed to find a bathroom stat! I knew there would be port-a-potties at every mile/aid station, and I knew there had to be one coming up at mile 9, but that mile took what seemed like an eternity to get there. I slowed way down because of the stomach pain and the blaring sun and heat didn't help much. Finally, the aid station and the port-a-potties came into sight and I couldn't have been happier to run to the grimy things. I ducked into one quickly and tried not to lose a whole bunch of time. I stopped at the aid station to refill my bottle and was off again. Mile 10 was hard. It was the first time that I finally gave up and began walking. I just couldn't do it anymore. I was tired, the sun was getting too hot, I was overheating, I couldn't breathe, and I was mentally exhausted. Plus, there was a huge hill in the form of an on ramp and it was steep and hard to climb. I knew I wasn't going to PR, so I decided I would just walk as needed from there on out. At mile 11 I tried to reinvigorate myself and give myself a pep talk, "you've done this before, think about your training runs, 2 more miles, that's it, you can run 2 more miles, the last 2 miles are always the easiest for you." It didn't work. I couldn't breathe. I had to stop and use my inhaler finally. 

We hit mile 12 just as we reentered the Epcot parking lot area. I told myself I could do it, "come on, you always finish strong and gun it the last mile" so I started trying to give it all I had. I ran, ran, and there was about half a mile left, and I just couldn't do it anymore. My legs hurt, my thighs hurt, everything hurt. I had to walk. I told myself I couldn't do it, then I told myself "why are you being a baby? Yes you can do this!" I ran a little more, then walked a little more, then I rounded the corner and I could see the finish line and the crowds, can't walk then, so I started running again. Finally, sweet relief as I crossed the finish line! I went up to a fairy godmother who sprinkled me with pixie dust, and then received my tiara medal!

I quickly made my way to the post race refreshments and grabbed a water and a banana, and found my aunt. The only time I want a raw banana is after a race, I think my body seriously craves the potassium. In the end, I crossed the finish line in 2:25:50 according to the official results, including the bathroom break. I'm still proud of my time, even if it wasn't a PR like I had wanted, I realize now that even if I had been in good health, it would have been very difficult with the crowding to get the time I wanted. I ran a pretty strong race, I just need to work on the mental aspect at the end where I fell apart. I feel as though I can mentally get through most long runs though, as I've been getting through them just fine during training and maintaining a steady pace, I have to think that this was an isolated incident due to the conditions and my sickness. We'll see in 2.5 weeks when I run my next half, and hope I can finally get that PR!

 

Disaster: Turkey Trot 5k 2010 Recap

That's the only way to describe today's race, disaster. It was freezing this morning, about 40 degrees and windy. I wore my Under Armour Cold Gear, wicking yoga pants, and Bondi Band over my ears, and was still a little chilled. There were no directions on how to get to the race, Hubs signed us up, and instead of asking exactly where the race was being held, just got a vague idea of the location. Of course we were running late getting there, and then getting lost pushed us back even further. As we pulled into the parking lot the runners were all lining up at the start. I'm already a nervous wreck before a race starts, so this just sent me into a tail spin. We ran to get our numbers and quickly pinned them on as the runners took off.

We hopped in to the flow of racers, I didn't have my iPod, but no big deal, I've been running without it quite a bit lately. I did remember to throw my inhaler in my pocket, and I was sure glad I did, because about a mile into it, I needed it. I was wheezing. My Garmin took forever to start up, another casualty of starting late, so my timing and distance aren't accurate on my upload. The first mile we were cruising, while I was stressed and it was difficult to breathe, we made good time, we finished that mile in a speedy 8:57. I had remembered to disable the autolap function on the Garmin before the race, I accidentally hit the lap button twice though at that first mile, so that why you'll see 5 laps on the report. I wanted to measure the accuracy of the race and lap it myself at the mile markers, the problem with that was when the Garmin had the issue starting up, it only registered that first mile as 0.70, oh well. We cruised on through to the halfway water stop, where we stopped for a second and drank our little Dixie cup of water. After that things fell apart.

The second half of the race I lost it. I was well on my way to meeting my goal of coming in under 29 minutes, and I just lost it. I couldn't do it. Coming back from the water stop my side started to hurt. I mentioned before I've been having some medical problems lately, one of those problems is a fairly large ovarian cyst that's been causing quite a bit of issues lately. Well, the damn thing decided that right then was when it was going to act up. It felt like a knife was cutting through my side. Then, I got another asthma attack. Another couple hits on the inhaler, and it was a lot more walking. I felt like such a failure. I don't know why I can't mentally push through these things. The first half is always so easy, and then I always fall apart when I should be finishing strong.

According to the Garmin, we finished the second mile in 11:42, and the third mile in 13:58, and instead of it being .10 to the finish it was .23 and we did that in 2:50, overall, it took us 37:11, although the Garmin says the "Moving Time" was 34:17, not sure what that means. I do know I didn't stop the Garmin until we got inside and had already crossed the finish line, maybe 30 seconds or so. According to the official results our time was 38:11, but there was no timing chip, that was a stop watch, and we started at least a minute or more late, I'm guessing more like 2 minutes late.

When we got home I realized I couldn't find my headphones, somehow they weren't in my purse where I'd left them, and since I didn't use my iPod, I didn't know where they could be. I searched the car and still couldn't find them. I ended up going back to the race site. Turns out they had fallen out of my purse when I had moved my purse from the front seat of my car to the trunk. Luckily I found them. 

Right now, I'm hoping the medical issues get resolved in a timely manner, and I can work on keeping together to better train for the Disney Princess Half, and work on the mental aspects of running and speed.

Navy Nautical Ten Miler Race Recap

It's been a while, life has just gotten so hectic that I have been neglecting updating my blog lately, so sorry faithful readers! I stopped training for this race, but I still ran the Inaugural Navy Nautical Ten Miler yesterday. After not running for 5 weeks, I did better than I thought I would!

My day started at 5:45 am, got out of bed, tried to eat a bagel with some natural peanut butter on it, but I just can't eat that early in the morning, it just doesn't happen. I ate about a quarter of my big delicious looking bagel and then gave up and decided to go get dressed and ready. I spent the next 30 minutes or so fiddling with the placing of my bib number. At first it was too high, then it was too low, then it was crooked, the list went on and on, finally I just gave up and left it the way it was, threw it on, put on my contacts, grabbed my ipod, laced up my shoes and headed out the door. When I got to the race location, it was about 8 minutes to start time, I was so panicked I was going to miss the start like I did in March's half marathon. I made a quick pit stop at the port a potty and then went to line up, which I did just in time, because as I was getting out there they announced that it was 15 seconds to start time! Next thing I knew, the gun was fired and we were off!

The race actually began with everyone walking over the starting line because there were over 400 runners, and no corrals, we walked just until the road opened up and we could spread out and run. I was running at a pretty decent pace, about 10:30 per mile and was feeling good, despite the heat. I kept running up until Nautical Mile (NM) 1, which is where the first aid station was, I walked on through, got some water and then continued on. Somewhere between NM 1 and NM 2, I decided to walk. My run/walk pattern continued throughout the rest of the race.

NM 2-5 were pretty uneventful, the only thing that helped me get through the heat and the dead feeling in my legs were seeing all the volunteers out along the course out there to cheer us on. It made me feel so awesome to have them telling me I was doing great! Although it was hot and I wasn't feeling so great, I kept telling myself that it was okay and that I could make up my time later in the second half of the race and get a decent time. Well, I got to NM 5 (about 5.75 regular miles) and my time was 1:07:35, I knew then if I wanted to make my goal of 2 hours I would have to hustle, but then the pain in my right foot began, and I knew I had a blister. I tried running, it just wasn't happening for more than a couple minutes at a time. So, the rest of the way I ran/walked. The sun came out in full force around NM 7, and that's when it really got hot. I was drenched in sweat and it was already so humid, the sun did not help. Somewhere around NM 8 I met up with a nice girl who ran/walked with me for a bit, we talked and shared stories of past races, she really was great company and a sweetheart. We stayed together for a while, but then one of us would want to keep going and the other walk, we actually played the passing game pretty much the whole race!

NM 9 was the last aid station and I knew I was almost home free. A little while later I rounded the curve and could see the finish line in sight, but I just didn't have the energy to run that whole way, so I walked, then ran, then walked again, and then with it less that 400 meters away I began sprinting. I heard them announce my name as I was about to cross the finish line and heard all the applause and cheers, and waiting there right in the center was my husband smiling and clapping! I did it! I was handed my big gold anchor medal and immediately ran into my husbands arms for a hug and a kiss. He then led me over to the recovery tent to get some water, Gatorade, a banana, and a beer. That banana and then that beer tasted so awesome just then. I then took off my shoes to examine my blisters, sure enough, there was a huge one on the edge/ball of my right foot, along with a sore second toe with a blister and what I think is going to end up being a black toenail.

My final time was 2:24:20, I came in 12th out of 15th in my age group ( F 25-29). Overall, I'm not too upset about my time, I was hoping I would have come in around 2 hours, but, with not really training for this race, and the heat/humidity, and the blisters, I think it was a fairly decent time. Next year I am hoping to make that 2 hour mark, and hopefully I will have more ample time to train and prepare myself. Also, I think next time I will seriously consider a fuel belt or a cool wrap thing for my neck. I leave you now with a photo of me at the finish line post race and recovery.

Spring Stampede 5K And A New PR!

Friday Tony and I ran the Spring Stampede "Fun Run" 5K on base. I was a little annoyed getting there because we were almost late to the start because Tony had a meeting at work that ran late. But, when we got there they were still checking people in and the race had not started yet, which I was really happy about. After checking in and putting our new t-shirts in the car, it was time.

Everyone lined up and then we were off. I started off strong and fast at about an 8:30 min/mi pace, until I got about 0.30 miles into the race, I couldn't breathe. It was pretty hot outside, it seems we skipped over Spring and went straight into Summer being that it was 80 degrees out! The only reminder that it is indeed Spring is all the pollen in the air, and then there's me, the girl allergic to just about everything on the allergy test...needless to say, the not breathing was definitely my allergy induced asthma kicking into effect at the very time I needed to perform. I had to walk. Tony stayed with me, even though I told him numerous times that he could go on if he wanted to. This kept happening throughout the race. I'd run a little bit, then I just wouldn't be able to keep going, I'd have to stop and walk. It was really frustrating and that's when the self doubt reared it's ugly head. I was so mad at myself, at my body, at everything. I told myself I was a failure. I wasn't really and runner and who was I trying to kid?! That I would just always be the fat girl. I guess it's true that we always are are own worst critics and enemies. Not to mention this was my first time running since the half marathon, because I ended up with a pretty nasty sprain in my left foot from that race and was told to stay off it for at least 10 days.

Finally, I broke through. I was almost towards the finish line, I could see it in sight, and I knew then that I had to go, and go fast if I had any hope of getting a sub-30 time. And so I gave it my all, I sprinted in to cross the finish line and overtake 3 people in front of me. Final time: 29:05!! Not as fast as I had hoped, I really wanted to be able to get around 27 minutes, but at least it's 58 seconds faster than my last 5K, so it's a new PR!! Hopefully next time I will be better prepared, be able to train before the race, and not let the negative voices come crashing down on me. I start training for the Navy Nautical Ten Miler tomorrow and I am hoping that this will be a good race, and one that I can say I ran the whole thing!

Half Marathon Photos

I just ordered our "official" ones to put in our shadow boxes, but until then enjoy the proofs!

 

Half Marathon Finisher/Recap

Yesterday I ran the Germantown Half Marathon, yup 13.1 miles, 10 weeks of training, numerous injuries, a shoe change in the last week, and lots of ice and Advil all culminated up to this glorious event! On Saturday, Tony, Dana and I went to check out the expo and pick up our race packets, it was a beautiful day, 70 degrees and sunny, the packets were scant, just filled with fliers advertising a bunch of 5k's and a map of the course, along with our tech tees and our bibs and timing tag. I thought they could have at least thrown in a gel or something, I mean we did pay $50 each to run the race. There were only about 5 vendors at the expo, nothing was really being given away or anything, which disappointed me. I was entranced with some of the cool gear one vendor had and thought about purchasing a little zip pouch or amphipod water bottle. But alas, all I ended up buying was a 13.1 magnet to stick on the back of my car and a chocolate Hammer Gel for Tony for the race.

Unfortunately the meterologists were all predicting rain for Sunday. I think I stalked my Weather Channel app on my BlackBerry a million times on Saturday. Saturday night I made a nice carbo loading dinner of chicken marsala, whole wheat pasta, and roasted zucchini. Shortly after dinner and watching District 9 it was time for bed so we could be up at 5:15 am. Sure enough when we got up Sunday morning it was raining, not a downpour, but a light rain. I then ate my usual pre-run breakfast of a whole wheat english muffin with some natural peanut butter on it and a tall glass of water. I was praying the rain would stop by the time we got over to the race location, but of course it didn't, and it was so cold, only about 51 degrees and dropping, but by the time we finished the race it was about 40 degrees. The parking lot was a nightmare and completely full, we drove around for another 10 minutes looking for parking. Walked through the rain, and found the port a potty lines. Our friend Dana loaned me a rain jacket windbreaker to run in, but I was still cold and wet, and this was before the race even started. By the time we got out of the port a potties, the race had already started, so the announcer was yelling for all half marathoners to go because they were going to reset the timing for the 5k. So we missed lining up in our corrals, missed the gun going off, and were 4 minutes late crossing the starting line, thankfully our chips only started timing from that point.

The rain was coming down and I was cold. I had on my gloves, but the rest of me was still chilled, even though I had on pants, a tech tee, and the windbreaker (which was zipped up), oh and a baseball cap to keep the rain off my face. The first mile we booked it. Tony wanted to take off, I kept checking my Nike+ and it was saying we were going at about an 8 min/mi pace and even sub-8 at times, I knew this was too fast so I asked him to slow down. It wasn't soon before I had to walk. Between mile 1 and 2 there was a hill, not super steep, but a gradual incline. I couldn't do it, I had to walk. Tony got annoyed with me and my walking so early, that he said he was going to go on. And so he went. I was a little perturbed because we had agreed to run the race together. The first water stop was at 1.5 miles, I definitely needed some, so I walked on through and drank my water. I saw Tony ahead of me, in fact I kept sight on him up until about mile 5, he was only about 30 seconds ahead of me. There was lots of walking though. I would run a little bit, and then I would slow down and walk for a bit, then go again. The rain was really coming down and the temperature was dropping. At the mile 4 aid station I downed my Chocolate Hammer Gel and a cup of water. Mile 5 was pretty darn long. Mile 6 had us run through a park and we crossed one of the sensor strips at the halfway point. I was thrilled just knowing I was halfway. Over the course of the race my Nike+ was overestimating by about 0.07-0.15 miles, it would tell me I had completed a mile before I got to the mile marker.

At mile 7 I got a second wind and decided to kick it up. I ran until mile 8, and at the aid station there I had my second Hammer Gel, a Vanilla Bean one this time. Somewhere around mile 9 or so I looked down at my fingers (I took the gloves off around mile 2), and my wedding rings were super tight on my super swollen finger, so I decided I needed to take them off. I had a small zippered pocket on the front of my pants, so I put them in there, but it was so hard to try to take them off and get them in there safely while trying to walk and with the rain pounding down. Plus, I freak out when I don't have them on, I always panic and think I lost them. I was a nervous wreck with them in my pocket, even though it's zippered, I was still paranoid they would somehow fall out, so I kept reaching down to check to see if I could still feel them in my pocket. Plus, my stupid left shoe kept coming untied during the second half of the race, I had to stop to retie it 3 times! Mile 9 took us through another park, and another aid station, this one I walked through and got some Gatorade.  After that I got another wind and started running again. I ran for a bit and then slowed and walked until mile 10 or so. Then came the final stretch and the battle in my head. I kept telling myself, okay, when I get to mile 11 I will run the last 2 miles. Couldn't do it, I had to run and then walk some. Then when I got to 11.6, I told myself, okay time to run the last 1.5 miles. Couldn't do it. Then I said okay, just run the last mile and you can finish in 2:15:xx. I still couldn't do it. Finally, I made the deal with myself, I could run the last 0.50 miles. At that point I could see the mile marker for mile 13. I picked it up then, I pushed my Nike+ to play my "power song" which is Melissa Etheridge's "I Run For Life" and I booked it. As I rounded the curve after mile 13, I could see the finish line and Tony and Dana were standing on the corner with their finisher medals on waiting for me, I waved, they waved and cheered and Dana motioned me to keep going and run! So I kicked up even further and started sprinting, and then crossed the finish line!! Immediately a volunteer handed me my medal and I walked off to find some water. I grabbed a little water bottle and then went to find Tony and Dana. We perused the refreshment table and I grabbed 2 sandwich cookies and half a banana. My legs felt like Jello and just kept shaking. I was shivering. It was so cold and I was completely soaked. Every inch of me. My feet were sloshing in water. I felt terrible and wonderful all at the same time! My body ached, but I was just so happy and proud of myself.

After chowing down our little snacks and using the bathroom we headed for the car. We brought towels since we knew we'd be soaked. I stripped off my wet jacket and hat and shirt and dried off a bit and put on my warm sweatshirt I had left in the car. I was so worried about Tony though because he was shivering pretty violently and he didn't bring any dry clothes. We turned on the heat full blast and headed home with a quick stop at the Starbucks drive thru for some hot drinks to warm us up inside. Once home I was first to take a hot shower and relax. It felt great to warm up and be out of my wet clothes and shoes. After everyone had showers we settled in to relax and have green monsters and some other snacks/lunch and watch some TV. I also began icing my sore left foot and took two Advil. The rest of the evening was very low key with more icing, a nice dinner of filet mignon, baked potatoes, California blend veggies, and a glass of wine.

Today my foot is still sore, it's also pretty swollen, I'm still icing it and taking my Advil. If it doesn't improve by tomorrow or Wednesday I will go see my doctor. This afternoon I'm going to the spa and getting a one hour sports massage, facial, and aromatherapy foot bath. Race results were finally posted and overall I'm pretty pleased with myself. I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but I finished and surpassed my goal. My original goal was to finish in about 2:30:xx, but in my head I thought I could probably finish around 2:15:xx. Official results from my timing chip said I finished in 2:21:53. I was at the halfway point at 1:08:59 and for the first half of the race my pace was 10:32 min/mi. I slowed down for the second half of the race though and my pace was 10:50 min/mi, overall I came in 789 out of 1500, and 49th out of 66 in my age group (25-29), and 314th out of 764 for the women.

My Nike+ ended up underestimating at the end, it said I only ran 13.03 miles and I waited a couple seconds after crossing the finish line to turn it off, but overall I think it did a pretty good job of being mostly accurate.

Even though this race was pretty miserable given the weather, I still love the runner's high and the sense of accomplishment afterwards. I'm feeling pretty hardcore today knowing that I ran in those conditions yesterday. Next race is April 2nd, it's an easy 5k on base and I am hoping to run it in sub-30. Thank you all for all your support and encouragement on my journey, it has really touched and inspired me to keep going and do the very best I can and I couldn't have done it without you!! 

Making Good On Goals For 2010

I mentioned it a couple days ago, and have been saying for a while, that one of my goals for this year is to run a half marathon, and I think today I found the one I want to do! This one, is close to home, and gives me about 10 weeks to prepare for it, if I start this training schedule this Monday. I'm too chicken to sign up for it just yet, but I have until February 28th before the registration fee hikes up another $5. So Monday I will begin week 1 of training and see how the next few weeks play out with it and see about signing up! I am so excited! I'm trying to convince hubby to run it with me, but he is on the fence right now, so like I said, we'll wait until Feb to register. This also would get me to my goal of running between 15-20 miles per week too, something I am really trying to do.

I ran 3.5 miles Monday, and 3.5 miles today, (and both times I have upped my pace into the 9:xx min/mile) and plan another 3.5 on Friday. On the weight loss front, I gained about 3 lbs over the holidays, I lost some, but am still up about 1.6 lbs, so back to the grind I go, trying to lose these last 11.8 lbs. I leave you with my Nike+ stats for thus far in my running journey (although it's missing the first week and half I did of c25k before I got the Nike+, that would affect everything but the farthest):
# of Workouts: 38
Farthest: 4.57 miles
Total Distance: 104.79 miles
Total Time: 19.59 hours
Total Calories: 11652

Turkey Trot 5K

I ran my first 5K this morning, it was a fun run Turkey Trot on base. It was so much fun! I have been looking forward to this race for about a month now. Originally Tony signed up to run the race with me and I was happy that I would have him there to keep me motivated and keep me company. However, he had to back out due to an important conference call he couldn't miss. So I was all set to run the race on my own. I got to the location, Tony still agreed that he would be able to meet me there before the race and at least see me take off before he needed to be back in the office for his call. Well little did we know four of his coworkers also signed up for the race! So Lisa, Cmdr. Haupt, Steve, and Dave were there with me. I was so happy. Dave ended up being my running partner and kept pace with me the entire time. He was so awesome!

The weather was beautiful! I was worried about what to wear considering it hasn't gotten above 45 degrees in the last two days and has been cloudy/rainy. Today it was forecast to be 64 degrees and sunny, and it held true. I stressed last night about what to wear since I haven't run outside in the last month and a half, I don't have any technical shirts (this is at the top of my xmas list) and barely any long sleeve t-shirts, but I have always heard dress as if it's 20 degrees warmer, so I settled on yoga capris, a good wicking sports bra, and a racer back tank. I went with a jacket on, but I quickly knew I wouldn't be needing it. I also stashed some gloves in my bag too, but I definitely wouldn't be needing them either.

But I digress, so we all lined up and "Ready, set, GO!!!!!" and we were off. I had my Nike+ and ipod set to 5K to keep track and make sure we were good with our agreed 10 minute per mile pace. The first half was pretty good, Dave and I were spot on at 6 min/km ~ 10 min/mi. I had my tunes to keep me going and was doing pretty well. At the halfway point there was a water stop. I drank and ran, spilling half the water on me, but no worries. Then it was looping back around for the second half. The second half kicked my butt! At about 2.25 miles I was feeling it, I wanted to slow down, but Dave wouldn't let me. Finally at about 2.85 miles maybe, I just couldn't keep running, I had to slow down and walk for a few seconds. It was probably about 30 seconds or so that I walked and as I rounded the corner the finish line was in sight! So I sprinted to the end...and I finished in 30:03!!! My goal going into the race was to finish in 30 minutes, and I did it!!! My Nike+ was underestimating again though, it registered the race as 4.85 km, so I will have to recalibrate again. But I definitely maintained my 10 min/mi pace! I am so proud of myself and feel so good!

 

After all our team crossed the finish line we all filed into the dining room at the rec center to enjoy a delicious turkey dinner. The food was pretty good. It was a perfect end to an awesome race! Oh and I won a 13.2 lb turkey! After the lunch there was a raffle and the prizes were a 30 minute massage (I wish I had one that!), a $15 Subway gift card, a $30 Starbucks gift card (I wish I would have gotten that one too!), and 4 turkeys. Cmdr. Haupt and I each won one of the turkeys!! So now I have a frozen turkey in our freezer waiting for our early Christmas/Tony's grad school graduation celebration with the in laws. All in all it was an amazing first race and I can't wait to run another one!! I leave you with the image on the back of my new shirt:

So true!!