Controversial Race Recap/Motivational Monday!

Happy Monday! Personally, I plan on having a great day! How about you?

I wanted to give a little report on the half marathon this weekend.

But first, let me give you some background:

3 weeks ago, I ran the Women's Half Marathon. I was really surprised with my time, and felt great. I struggled a bit with how to train for 2 races so close together, and the long runs were 8 miles and 5.2 miles.

I was also doing some "single parenting" this weekend. My husband was working out of town and I would be with the kids all weekend. I had a wonderful friend who was kind enough to pick all of us up at 6am Saturday morning, drop me off at the race, and entertain my children while I ran.

However, Friday night, it was hard to convince the little darlings of my need for sleep. I ended up sleeping only a few hours, and doing so very badly.

This is me just before the race. I look so old when I'm tired..

I was optimistic about this race. It would be flatter than my last two (ahem, other two) half marathons, and I thought it would be easier. It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect, so it started out great...

At mile 1, I was amazed that my Nike + was right on. I mean, the moment I crossed the 1 mile sign, it told me I hit a mile. At the WHM, my Nike + was consistently about .5 miles behind.

A little after 1.5 miles, something weird happened. The group I was with ran into a cross street, and there was another group running on that street. I thought it might be the Fun Run, but these folks all had on Half Marathon bibs. We all kind of looked around confused, and asked the other group where they came from.

Honestly, I forgot about that pretty quickly.

I started to struggle a little bit about Mile 4. I looked at my watch and noticed I was taking a little longer than usual. I wondered why for a second...

At Mile 6 I realized they weren't going to be handing out any Gu. I thought they were, so I didn't bring any. Oh no.

At Mile 8 I wanted to quit. I was uncomfortable. My hip flexors hurt so much. I was still doing my Run 3/Walk 2, but the Running intervals were getting a lot harder...

Before the race, I thought Nicki Minaj's "Superbass" was one of the coolest songs ever. I couldn't get enough of it. By Mile 9 I never wanted to hear it again. In fact, by that point, I hated every song that came on on my playlist.

At Mile 10 I started imagining quitting. I wanted to pull over and let someone drive me back to the finish line. I thought how much I hated running and never wanted to do it again. But the thing that kept me going was that my kids were waiting for me at the finish line. I wanted them to have the chance to see me finish.

I actually stopped to stretch sometime around this point. I never do that. But I thought maybe it would help. It was hard to run after that.

Somehow I muddled through the last 3 miles. It seemed like it would never end. I literally felt like I had been running for days. It reminded me of the 3 day labor with my son...

But I turned a corner and I could see the finish line. I stepped it up and ran as impressively as I could. My chip time was 2:37:54.

It took a while to find my kids. I gorged myself on a cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter. But my son gave me a kiss and told me he was proud of me, and that was the best thing in the world.

Here he is, ready for the race, with a beverage and everything..

But there's more..

Let me tell you about this lady. I don't know her name, but I see her a lot. I see her at all the running events; I see her on the track or the trail sometimes. She carries oxygen with her while she runs. Well, we had packed up and were driving to Starbucks (because I had promised myself a Salted Caramel Mocha). The course was pretty much closed. But there was that lady, giving it everything, all by herself, with her race number and her oxygen. She was determined, and she was going to finish. I was suddenly very inspired.

You know, you see these people who make it look so easy. They speed by you and finish early, and then while you're struggling to finish, they pass you with their medals on while they walk to the car. Well, this lady inspired me more than they did. Sure, the people who make it look easy are working too, but something about this lady.... I got a little teary.

So later in the day, I hear about the "Controversy". I had forgotten about the weirdness around 1.5/2 miles. But apparently, some people were directed the wrong way. Here's what I got from the race folks:

As many of you are aware, there was a misdirection error between Miles 1 and 2 that may have lengthened your run. We have no way of determining which runners were affected, but if you ran down Fairview Street rather than East Street, this involves you. We have calculated the extra distance that some of you ran.  The additional mileage is .409 miles.

So, I really don't know if this affected me or not. On one hand, my GPS was right on. But, on the other hand, it's *never* right on. Even if I *did* run an extra .409 miles, I still didn't PR. Of course, if I had run less, maybe I would have. But that's just on of those things you'll never know.

I *do* know these things, though:

1. I will not be running more than 4 miles at a time for the rest of the year.
2. I'm redoing my playlist.
3. I will *alway* have Gu.
4. My kids are awesome.

Race Report: Women's Half Marathon Nashville

It literally took several miracles to get me to this race.

You may remember, a while ago I wrote about how badly my training was going, and doubted if I would even be ready.

2 weeks ago I went out for a long run, and made it 4.5 miles before stopping. And crying.

However, a week before the race, things started to turn around. I had a miraculous 10 mile run. I mean, it really was a miracle. I decided then I would make it, and I started to get excited.

There were still more obstacles...

Thursday night, I discovered I would not be able to make it to the Expo on Friday to pick up my race packet. I started to panic. I contacted a friend of mine who was also doing the race, and asked if she could pick it up for me...

Turns out you need a signed and NOTARIZED form, and a copy of your picture ID. So, that wouldn't work.
She offered to go back Friday with those things and pick up my stuff. And she sent me this pick to let me know it worked:

Miracle

I woke up Saturday morning, with just enough gas and the car to get to the race and back, and $11 in my bank account. I thought surely that would get me through, right?

I got to the site of the race at about 6:00 am and started to look for parking. I found a lot really close to the start. Great. I said, "Do you take debit cards?" "Yes, it's $25." Crap. Can't do that.

Found another lot. $10. Awesome. "But we only take cash." D'oh!

Another lot. "$15. Card. Nope, not going into the negative for parking.

After starting to panic, I ended up driving around and finding FREE parking (yeah I had to walk a little. Duh. That was probably good for me) and still made it in time to meet my friend to get my bib.

My hero(ine)!

 After waiting in line for the port-o-potties one more time, I was finally about to cross the starting line. So, I took a really corny self portrait:

Way too excited!

 So, about the race:

I decided to run 3/walk 2, from the beginning, no matter how great I felt. I am SOOOOO glad I did.

You know how the Country Music (Half) Marathon is REALLY hilly? I was expecting some hills. However, there were a LOT of them. For most of them, I was able to run *as long as it's during one of my 3 minute run intervals*. Most of them.

Around mile 6 or so, we saw people who had turned around. We knew it was coming. We were also going downhill, and watching them go uphill. Not so fun.

But, we finally reached that turn-around at about the halfway point. I started to get tired. I wondered if I'd make it. But I was making good time, and I was *really* determined.

At around mile 9 I got pretty excited. I started to think I might actually do this.

At mile 10, I decided I would try running a little longer, so I started adding in some 3:30/1:30 intervals.

The last 3.1 miles were very HARD. I knew there was a big hill towards the end, but they FAKED ME OUT. There was a really brutal hill, and I actually had to stop and walk during a run interval (the only time I had to do it). I reached the end and I thought, "Well. Thank goodness that's over". I turned a corner and saw THE HILL. They call it "I WILL HILL". Holy moly.

But, it ended up being kind of cool. There were motivational signs. I'm a sucker for motivational signs.

I will:

Persevere

Triumph

You know, I can't remember anymore of these. But at the time, they were really effective.

After the I WILL HILL, it was pretty much downhill to the end. Thank. Goodness.

I hit the 13 mile sign, and I saw the end. And then my music stopped because my phone was ringing. My husband was calling me. So, I answered it, and kept running. I said, "I'm about to cross the finish line. Can I call you back?" As weird as it was to get a phone call, it was nice, since my family wasn't there, to have a little connection with him as it was happening.

So, in my finish picture (which I hope to see at some point), I am holding my phone in one hand.

There were servicemen at the finish line waiting to put our medals on us. That was nice.

The medal was quite nice.

Here comes the cool part: I was so excited about my medal, and finishing, and calling my husband back, that, although I stopped my watch, I had forgotten to look at it. When I did, I was SO surprised

Here was my time for the Country Music Half in April:

2:36:39

Here's what my watch said:

Really? WOW!

So, the official chip time was 2:30:34. That means I finished 6 minutes faster! Holy moly! I did NOT expect that!

Overall, I am thrilled with how it went. I can't believe it went so well. I just think I finally got my mind right, and did it.

And, since no one was around to take my picture, here's my self portrait:

"See my medal?"

July 4th Music City 5K (Insanity Asylum Day 7b)

Took a break in between week 1 and week 2 of Insanity: Asylum, to run a 5K.

I had originally signed up for the 10K, but the 5K turned out to be plenty.

Sunday night, my husband and I tried to stay up and watch a movie, which already put us behind. It took us about 2 hours to watch the first hour of "The Social Network", due to vomiting child (not really sure what that was about) and another child who repeatedly needed "another glass of water". The cat even got in on the neediness.

So, I knew going into it I'd rather try to just run the whole 5K rather than do a run/walk 10K.

The whole family went to the race. This is a first- my family has never seen me race.

My kids were obviously way too excited to be there.

No, this was *not* the line for the bathroom, although it was just as long.

I wanted to capture the excitement I was feeling about the upcoming hills!

I even met up with a Coach friend!

 As for the race, I did this particular one 2 years ago, and remembered it being ridiculously hard. It was hilly. Very hilly. But, after the Country Music Half I figured it wasn't so scary.

I did better this time, just had to take a couple of walk breaks up some hills. I still ended up with a good time.

My official time was 32:29, which works out to a 10:29 mile. I'll take that on this course. I was also #19 in my age group :-)

I'm spending the rest of the holiday being ridiculously lazy, and will get back to the Asylum on Tuesday.

Happy Fourth!

Country Music Half Marathon, Part 2: Race Report!

So, the race is done. I feel pretty much recovered, and proud of what I accomplished.

I laid out all my stuff Friday night.

Rather than give you a narrative of all my experiences on that day, I thought I would just post the highlights.

Earliest wake-up moment: 3 am. I woke up in the middle of the night!









Most embarrassing song on playlist: Watch this video and pay attention at the end...

Grossest moment: Using the Port-o-potties before the race. Yuck.

Most Frustrating Moment: Usually the crowd dissipates after the first few miles. But the crowd was heavy almost the entire time. So there were several moments when I got stuck behind a wall of walkers and had to run in place while I looked for a hole to run through. Those were the frustrating moments. (When I took walk breaks I always checked to make sure there was no one behind me, and moved to the side, because I'm considerate. And awesome). Running on the track with inconsiderate people really helped prepare me for this, so thank you, inconsiderate track people!

Ran into some super cool people, and struck the dorkiest pose I possibly could.

Most Awkward Moment:

- When someone in the crowd yelled "Yay! P90X! Go Tony!" (I was wearing my P90X hat) and I raised my arms up to cheer, and a guy who was following me really close suddenly yelled "JESUS!" (I guess I scared him) (Or he saw Jesus).

Best Signs:

- "Chuck Norris never ran a marathon."

- "You're NOT almost there. Sorry."

- "Embrace the Suck that is this hill!"

- "Run like a cheetah is chasing you" (A bunch of Dave Ramsey folks were running and cheering!)

- "Duh. Winning!"

- "Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much ass!"

- "They said 'run', not 'rum'!"

Saddest Moment: At around Mile 7, when my phone died. No more pictures, updates, Nike +, music... but I was okay....

Cutest Moment: High fiving the kids who stood to the side cheering for us. They were so precious!

Most Important Lesson: Be very careful around the drink stops, and if there is fruit or GU being handed out. I almost slipped on water, cups, banana peels... and GU is very sticky. 

Most Awesome Moment: As I turned the last corner, I was so thrilled to almost be done. One of the folks cheering said, "I love that smile on your face!" I felt so proud at that moment!

(Second most awesome moment: When I finally found the car after the race. I think I walked at least one more mile looking for it...)

Most Hopeful Moment: When I realized at about 11 miles that I was close to the 2:30 pacer. I almost kept up with him... this is probably how I got 2:36.

Happiest Moment: Finishing. Duh.

Likelihood of doing another half: 100%. I'm already registered for the Women's Half Marathon in September, and the Murfreesboro Middle Half in October. I will PR on both :-).

Mini-Race Report

This is before the race, by the way. A little too energetic for after!

Well, I finished the race in 2:36, which was pretty close to my goal of 2:30.

I will write a full race report later, but right now I just wanted to thank everyone for cheering me on!

(Oh, and if you haven't yet, come over to our Facebook page!)