Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon - St Louis

Well, it's over! I celebrated my 31st birthday today with a fabulous 13.1 mile run! 

Since I knew I had to get up at 5:15, I set everything up last night. I set out my clothing, my hydration and nutrition, shoes, etc.   

This morning, all I had to do was get dressed, get everything in the car and apply my KT tape! I ate a banana, drank my 5hr energy and we were on our way! 

I won't lie, I came out of the gate hard.  My first two miles I ran in a 9:48 min/mile.  It was comfortable, I wasn't pushing myself too hard.  I got really excited because I was close to the 2:30 pace runners.  Then, suddenly, I PASSED the 2:30 pace runners! 

Around mile 3.75/4, I dropped a water bottle. Someone caught up to me and told me, but I was doing SUCH a good pace, I decided not to go back for it. 

It wasn't until mile 8 that I started to feel the burn out from starting fast. My feet were hurting - that was it! I felt my 2:15 goal slipping away. I kept telling myself "Only 5 more miles - YOU HAVE THIS" and trying to take myself out of the equation. I started looking at the architecture of downtown St. Louis, that I ordinarily wouldn't see. I was looking at all the fall leaves. I was looking at the signs that people posted (Shout out to the awesome truth-teller around mile 8 with the sign saying "you are NOT almost done!") (and the kid with the sign "Those are NOT tears of pain, you are just sweating out of your eyeballs!!").  I spent a few miles with my headphones out (ignoring the voice of my pace and total time, since it was off by a good .3 of a mile!) just taking in all the sights and sounds around me. 

In the end, friends - I am proud of my finish.  Here are the facts, my OFFICIAL time: 

As you can see, I missed my DREAM goal time of 2:15, but I wasn't far off at 2:24. I'm proud of my placing withing my gender and my division, even "overall" wasn't a bad place! I shaved almost a full 30 minutes off of my time from the Princess race in February and even 2 minutes off of my 10K time from last WEEKEND!  

All in all? Happy freaking birthday to me!!

Less than 48 hours....

Until the Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon here in St. Louis!!

Not gonna lie, I'm a bit freaked out. The most I've run this training round is 8 miles, thanks to my dumb IT band and this silly cold that I can't seem to shake. 6.2 last weekend was ok, but there were moments that I wanted to quit. And this weekend, I have to go TWICE that distance?

I talked to a LOT of people (trainers, runners, atheletes, etc) about my IT band injury. One of them said "If you've run a half before, you're 80% of the way there. It's mostly mental - if you THINK you can do it and you KNOW you HAVE done it, you're almost there." I'm trying to keep that in mind.

I HAVE done this. 

I CAN finish. 

It WILL NOT kill me. 

I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself to PR (which shouldn't be HARD) but ideally would love to get a time between 2:15 and 2:30.  I got a pace tattoo today at the expo for a 2:15 time. Then at least I can pace myself accordingly.

My race day plans:

1. Eat a slice of bread with PB as soon as I wake up. (NO aleve this time!)
2. Drink a 5hr Energy about 20 min before start. 
3. Honey Stinger 5 min before start. 
4. Sport beans about every half hour.
5. Nuun in my water bottles. Will stop for water, but not Gatorade or Gu. 
6. Don't die. 

Afterwards, we will go home, I will probably take a nice ice bath and a nap. Oh and have a GIANT CUP OF COFFEE!! I can't WAIT to have my coffee back! Not necessarily the caffeine but the comfort of it!

That evening we'll be going out to celebrate the big 3-1. :-)  Nothing scary about it, since my 30th year has turned out to be the best year of my life  - so far!

Race Day! Halloween 10K

Well, I did it! 10K #2 under my belt.

I didn't make my ULTIMATE goal of a 10K under 60 minutes. HOWEVER, all things considered (illness this past week, leg injury & lack of sleep) I did SO much better than I expected and faster than I've ever actually run 6.2 miles!

2012 Results

2011 Results

Before the race

So official time is 1:08:54!! SO proud of that time! My running buddy, Sara, kept me moving for SURE! There were a few times I wanted to quit and walk but just knowing she was still going made me want to push onward too! (Shout out to Sara, whose furthest run was 4.5 miles before this morning!! WTG, Sara!)

I woke up at 5:30, before my alarm (crazy for me!) this morning. I popped an Aleve and jumped in the shower. After I got out, my chest and back started hurting SO BADLY! I didn't even think about that Aleve I took - on an empty stomach. I writhed in pain for awhile then I ate a banana (detox oops #1), got my act together, finished getting everything to the car and off we went!

I had NO.PAIN running!! One whole week of pain, never easing up and yet this morning - no pain. I don't think I've ever been so happy in my life!  I am looking forward to getting back to all of my workout classes this week (especially looking forward to yoga Tuesday!)

After the race, though, I did drink a chocolate milk (good recovery drink!, but detox oops #2) and took a few bites of a cinnamon chip roll (although I was so dehydrated, it felt like I was chewing sawdust!).

Then it was on to the 1 mile fun run with my girl! We've run a few "test" miles and I knew she would walk a lot of it. She did a FANTASTIC job, though, and fully deserves her first medal. She was SO proud of the medal and was breathing on it and "shining" it the whole way home. <3


So what's next? Well, this week I am getting back to my training (cross training and easy running) and continuing my detox(es).  I'm finding it easier and easier to function in the morning without coffee (crazy, I know!) and I haven't been craving sugar hardly at all! I don't know how much of this is due to the cold I have, but whatever the reason, I'll take it!

Here's to a great week and another successful race next weekend! Half marathon, here I come!!

Angry.

I'm angry today. I was angry yesterday too, but at least I still had hope.

My leg is injured. I can't pinpoint if it's IT band pain or some kind of shin splint. 

I've been searching the internet trying to find SOMEONE that has pain in the same or similar place.  I visited a running store yesterday that suggested IT band pain and I purchased a foam roller. As I've been rolling, I've realized the pain is different than I was able to explain.
 

I found this drawing and can identify now that my pain is in the Tibialis anterior muscle. Foam rolling down the side/front of my leg is EXCRUCIATING.   It doesn't hurt all the time, just when I put pressure on the ball of my foot. It doesn't hurt to go up and down stairs, it doesn't hurt to walk except about every 15th step. 

I feel like I COULD go running. But is it worth the pain I might experience just to prove I can still do it?




Now I'm just angry.

I'm angry that everything I've read says to rest until it's better. I want someone to tell me to RUN THROUGH THE PAIN. I want someone to tell me a magic stretch or pill that will take the pain away.  I do NOT want to let myself down with the races I have coming up.

I'm angry I wound up skipping my 10 mile run this weekend. I was so excited to go, I was excited to see what my time would be. I've been so happy to see my training run times going down from races I've run in the past.

I'm angry because I feel like I've let myself, my family & friends and all of you down. I still plan on running my races, but I don't think my times will be anything special.

I'm angry because I'm sitting on the sidelines watching everyone else's success. While I am HAPPY for them, I have been working my TAIL off to accomplish something too. But instead of running a great exhilarating 10 miles today, I've been eating all.the.things and moping.

I'm just angry.

/pity party

Vacation!

Last week, we took a family vacation to Tybee Island, GA. It was awesome. Not great timing in terms of training. Honestly, I took all my running stuff and intended to run on the beach every morning. But it was a vacation full of food (some of it delicious, some of it - not so much) and drinking (seriously - margaritas were buy one get one free - TO GO??) and before I realized it, my week was almost over!

My view for my 3m run

But I did get a 3 mile run in (1.5 miles down the roads, 1.5 miles back - against the wind - on the beach). It was gorgeous and made me sad I hadn't been doing it the whole week.










   But with sunrises like this:

and sunsets like this:

it was hard to tear myself away for the time to myself to run.


I'm paying for it, though. I gained about 7lbs, was up to 161 when we got home.  I'm down to 158.5 this am, but still working on getting back to around 153, which seems to be my comfortable place. 

I came home and ran on Tuesday afternoon.  I had the jogging stroller and went 6.5 miles in 1hr 16m (11:46 pace) which is slower than my goal, but I was also pushing a stroller, so I gave myself a little credit

I am hoping to run 8 miles this weekend (9/29) and 10 next weekend (10/6) then begin to taper for the half. I am running a 10K race on 10/14 then the half follows the next weekend (10/21).  I am really hoping to pace myself so that I don't get injured

Here's to not dying!!

Training Check In

Well, I am still training, although I have yet to make it on a weekend long run. The weather is supposed to be PERFECT this weekend. I'm going to set an alarm (because my two small ones usually sleep in on the days I intend to use THEM as my alarms).  I am going to go on a long run this weekend!!

I am supposed to be running 5-6 miles during the week, I've failed on this too. At MOST I'm running between 3-3.5. I have broken my "no class" rule by picking up a really tough circuit class. I am having a great time pushing myself REALLY hard in the class. I bump my speed up to 7.5-8.0 on the treadmill for the circuit interval, I use the heaviest free weights she offers, I always try to do 1-2 more reps.  I am NOT a coordinated person, though, so sometimes I spend a whole interval just laughing at what she's asking me to do :-) Today I even asked her for special "ab cardio" so I spent my time on a stair step with a yoga ball over my head, jumping, sliding and stepping!

I am PRAYING for a break in the weather so that I can start running outside during my son's naptime/daughter's school time. This will be an awesome time for me. In fact, she's at school for three hours, so I am HOPING that I can start using this time for my long runs, instead of taking up family time on the weekends.

We had a surprise trip out of town last weekend, so my training got all pushed around (and even though I had the BEST INTENTIONS and brought everything with e, I still didn't run at the hotel!). So today I managed 4 miles in 40 min on the dreadmill, then my 45 min circuit class.

I OFFICIALLY registered for the Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon in STL. Happy 31st Birthday to me!!  The race is actually on my birthday!! What's even more exciting is that my mom is usually here for my birthday and she will get to see me race! I am really psyched for that! I am still hoping to shave a good 20-30 minutes off of my Princess Half time for this race. I think it's do-able. I ran that race at a 13:14 pace. I comfortably run a 10 min pace now, which would alone take almost 40 minutes off of my time. So I feel pretty good about saying that my goal finish time will be between 2hrs, 15 min and 2hrs, 20 min.

So until then, training, training, training!!! I am trying SO hard to quit sugar again, I just feel yukky, but things keep coming up. I know, I know, EXCUSES! All excuses!

I have been researching some other "diets" (I hate using that word, they are more lifestyle changes) that I am hoping to explore/flesh out here in the coming weeks.  On my mind: Paleo, clean eating, veganism...  If you or someone you know currently follows these plans, please let me know! I am always looking for more opinions/outlooks!

Training Again

So I have officially begun half marathon training again. Actually, I started Monday, but close enough, right?

I am using the Amazing Alison (Because It Worked For Her) training program ;-)  I just needed a PROGRAM or a PLAN. I needed to get back to running, for sure. I've become overscheduled in my quest to find new and different training classes, and I've forgotten why - Because I want to run RACES. And as much as I enjoy spinning, it's not helping me improve my distance running.  As much as I love body sculpt, that just hurts my back and doesn't get me closer to another medal (which is the real reason I run - the bling.)

So I finally realized that I need to put the classes (except the occasional yoga class) on the back burner and really focus on running.  I am understanding why people call it "the dreadmill" now. It's booorrring. More boring that just any old running. But I am DOING it.

So here comes my ridiculous calendar again :-)   Ready to see it? Well, whether you are or not, here it comes:

Two days down, two days of accomplishment. I am looking at MANY more ! :-)

Detoxing AGAIN. I feel like I keep saying that, but I really want to keep it up this time. This detox has been HORRIBLE. I just sit here and stare at the wall thinking about how much I want a gummy bear. The kitchen renovation hit a serious wall this week (as in running out of work and missing cabinetry!) and I think I'm just overstressed.


Here are my goals for the next few races.

August -
18th Color Run !! Woop woop! This is just for fun. I'm not doing it for time. :)

October -
14th: 10K - I want to be under 1 hour (10 min miles)
21st (My 31st birthday!): Rock'n'Roll Half - I would like to be under 2hr, 15 min (shaving 38 min off my Princess finish time)

So that's it for now from me. Trying to stay on top of it. Definitely desire some accountability, so if you see me trolling Pinterest for dessert recipes, call me out! :-)