Race Flashback: 2013 Summerfest Rock ‘n Sole Half Marathon

Half Marathon #8 is over and done with.  Hard to believe last time I did this race, it was only my 2nd half marathon ever. And I could not have been any less prepared for this race. I was totally untrained and completely forgot all forms of Garmin, watches, ipods, trackers of any sort so I also ended up running this race completely blind AND unprepared. Awesome combo, Kinley…good job.

Packet pickup was a huge improvement from 2011 at least – at the Italian Community Center and I walked there after work on Thursday and picked up my packet and left. Kinda felt sad that I was not the least bit interested in the race expo this time when those are normally my favorite things about races but the last thing I wanted to do was spend money on running gear right now. Got my bib and t-shirt and got out of there quick (the t-shirt is horrible btw, seams everywhere, picky and way too tight – one thing 2011 was better with!)

Friday I tried to just lay low and skip my lunchtime walk at work as my “taper” lol! Ended up walking plenty though just from regular things that day. My sister, our friend and I got P.F. Chang’s for dinner and a good carbo-load! That was delicious!! I also managed to be in bed at a reasonable time and fell right asleep – absolutely no tossing and turning like before normal races I am actually nervous and prepared for

Saturday morning I woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to get ready and… POURING RAIN! Not gonna lie and say that made me super happy. Sprinkles and showers I can handle but this was a literal downpour. But by the time 6am rolled around and it was time for us to head Downtown, the rain had tapered off some so that was promising.

The corral area at the start was an absolute disaster. I was in corral J but still had to go in the southern side of the entrance and walk all the way north on Lincoln Memorial Drive to get to my corral – brainstorm for next year? Half Marathoners go in one side, Quarter in another?!?! Not that hard people. Runners can be some of the slowest walkers I have EVER been around. We stood still for a good 5 minutes waiting to funnel through a 10′ opening. I am no genius but even I could have guessed 9,000 runners do not fit in a 10′ opening – just saying!

Once I got to my corral, it was nice and not crowded so that part I have no complaints with! We got started a few minutes late – I want to say about 10 or so? But once we got moving, there was plenty of room for most of the race (running on the single lane trails later on did get a little crowded but that was maybe a mile or so).

Here we go!

Mile 1: OMG, I can’t do this. Why did I not just stay home this morning. I hate the Hoan Bridge, why do they think this is something fun for us to run up?

Mile 2: Thank God this is down hill for awhile. Love the smell of sewer treatment in the morning!

Mile 3: Oh joy, back up the other side of the bridge. And MORE SEWER TREATMENT SMELLS, YES!!!!!!!

Mile 4: Great, farthest I have ever run in “training” bahaha!

Mile 5: Time for a Gu – these are gross. Man, running is FUN!

Mile 6: Hasta la vista Hoan Bridge! Time for some flatter running and the quarter marathoners are split off now so that’s nice. My sister and A should be around here somewhere, better be on the lookout for them! I wish my dog was here to see Half-way there, no problem! I got this!

No Problem!

Mile 7: OMG A HUGE HILL! I want to die. I am never running a race again. I still have how many miles? Man, people are stupid when they cut across a hoard of runners and then just stop and gawk in front of me – I’m not stopping “Hurry Up!” Seriously people, common sense is not rocket science.

Mile 8: Ahhh, some more downhill action. This is nice. Saw a guy with nipple chafing issues and can’t stop laughing and thinking of Andy running in the 5k on the Office.

 

Mile 9: Trying to text the sister and find out my stupid phone has turned itself to Swype. How the heck did that happen and how can I change it… mile 9.5 still can’t figure it out. Swear and give up trying to fix it and text her about the chaffing.

Mile 10: Wow, my legs hurt. Why didn’t I train. Only a 5k left, no quitting now. At least I hit double digits and it’s still not raining at all! No heat either. Take another Gu and hope that sits OK in my stomach. Hope the sugar kicks in soon…

Mile 11: 2.1 to go. That’s just a walk with the dog. I need to walk more than 1 minute this mile. Maybe I can shoot for half mile walk breaks. Left, right, left, right. Remember Lakefront, you hurt so much worse on this same stretch of road. Just suck it up and be glad this is not a marathon.

Mile 12: 1.1 to go. Almost there. The pain will end soon. The medal looks cool. Man, I really get annoyed by runners to walk backwards and flaunt their completion in my face. Go drink more beer at the finish line and leave me to suffer in peace. Remember last time? They switched the race to black flag at this point. And we have a green flag this year!! Yeah! I’ll try to “pick up the pace” from here in.

Mile 12.75: I want to walk… SO BAD! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. Run. Almost. There. SO. Close.

Mile 13: Can see the finish line – 2:22 something on the clock. Ok, time to gun for the finish so you feel like you want to die when you are done. Definitely did not take you that long to run this race. That’s way better than the best case scenario finish times running through my brain all day! And wait? I didn’t cross right away so that’s not even my time! Whoot! Wonder if I will see my sister and A when I cross…. can’t look and sprint!

Mile 13:1 Oh thank you, God! I made it. I didn’t even pass out. I can stop running now… and yet I can’t because then my legs might seize up… oh great. Where’s my medal? Oh, banana, potato chips, chocolate milk? Don’t mind if I do! Oh. Ouch. Walking hurts. Must find a place to sit down.

All in all, this race went FAST? Is that because my last long race was a marathon? It’s weird to me that a half marathon could go fast but this one really did. It’s like I skipped from miles 3-11 in about two seconds. Finding my sis and A after the race was a little challenging but I eventually did and then they took a few finish photos for me and we headed back to the car.

The walk back to the car was a little slow – lol. Guess parking near the race would not have been the end up the world but I was too cheap to pay $5 when I have my parking garage just a mile away

I don’t really know if I will feel like doing this race again in the near future but I’m glad I have a better taste in my mouth after 2011. Definitely an improvement on most counts. To top it all off, I set a course PR on this race – 2:17:03. Thank you, legs. I’m very sorry

And now any bets on whether I train for the Madison Mini in about two months? Bahahahaha!

Race Flashback: Lucky Leprechaun 7k 2013

I got to race over the weekend! Like actually race, race. I think the last time I ran a race that I felt I could push myself was the Turkey Trot back in November of ’11… And talk about a totally different everything from last year’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend running… So where to begin?!

I woke up to actually find snow on the ground on Saturday, not really something I was expecting. I don’t recall ever doing a race when there was snow on the ground! When I signed up for this race, I was not at all thinking Spring would still be a distant event, especially considering last year’s race was 80 degrees and I was frantically trying to rip the sleeves off my shirt because I was way too hot. I guess a year makes a big difference! (and PS, the groundhog needs to be shot and a new one hired, this one is as accurate as the weather forecasters…)

The race started at 9am down in Tosa and my parents decided to come along and cheer me on! Little did they know they were going to freeze as well. The start area was SO crowded (3,500+ runners!) and considering this was the inaugural year, I really hope they realize the course cannot support that number, let alone any additional that will join next year. Parking was chaos, running was terribly cramped and the finish area was horrible. I actually think I had more room at the Disney races I’ve done and that’s saying something. I feel bad for the people finishing behind me because the finish line got so much worse within five minutes after I crossed! I was also really glad my parents were along to help with the parking situation because I would have totally freaked out when I got there if I was alone!

I got to Hart Park with plenty of time to get my packet, use the port-o-potties (which were plentiful at least!) and stand around for a few pictures before the race began. It was crazy cold and I was really glad my mom + dad brought along some blankets so I could try to stay warm. I was so cold I even kept my puffy vest on at first which was dumb but whatever.

The first two miles were super crowded and I had to really weave and pop through people to try to get to a point I felt like I was running. I surprisingly felt really good and like I was keeping a great pace, except for all the crowds holding be back so I tried my best to get to some clearings so I could really run. At about the two mile point, we got to a neighborhood and that really helped ease the route crowding and I could finally run freely for another 1.5 miles.

I hit the three mile marker and thought, “Hey, just one more mile!” but within a half mile, I passed the four mile sign so then I was really confused. Also, by this time, I was carrying my vest, headband, gloves and phone… oops. I was sure a 7k was only four miles, even, and I guess I never looked that up to confirm it?! Also at this point we started running on a SUPER narrow path through the park so it got even worse before I could finish as far as crowding was concerned but I knew I had to be getting close so I just kept running.

Once I finally could see the finish line, I took off to try to get in close to 40 minutes which was my original goal, thinking that would equal 10min/mile pace and I thought I was already over that.  (Gun time 41 minutes or so) I missed a chance to grab my pup and bring him with me because I was way too much on a mission to finish

Once I finished I was super confused for awhile because I really felt like I ran faster than 10min/mile pace which is what it would have been had the course been the four miles I stupidly thought it was After a few minutes though, I realized it was really 4.3 miles, hence my confusion all race!

I was even more surprised to find I had finished in 38:57 or an 8:58 pace!?! No wonder it felt kind of challenging!! Either way I would have been happy with my finish time because I didn’t walk once which was my secondary goal, but considering I came in under 9 minute miles, I was really shocked by that finish time!

Pros/Cons of this race:

Pros
1. Start/Finish in the same spot
2. Free t-shirt, bandanna, beer + green “finisher” necklace
3. Short porto-potty lines!
4. Awesome volunteers directing traffic + lots of police helping with that
5. Fun distance!

Cons
1. WAY too crowded…
2. Poorly marked miles
3. Chaos at the finish line through the beer pickup, spread this OUT!
4. Cold But I don’t think that was under any race official’s control!

I do think the snow amounts negatively impacted the amount of space at the finish line and maybe even all along the course, also, it was likely way more people than they thought would join an inaugural race?! I guess before I sign up next year, I will make sure they either choose a different course or stagger walkers/runners/strollers. (I was passing walkers within 2 minutes) But all and all, it was a fun race that I would like to do again, provided more room on the course in future years.

To continue the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, I also made the best dinner EVER! Cottage Pie, Irish Soda Bread and Irish Salad. OMG so good!

I am excited for racing this year and really hope my slow + steady weekly running with an actual plan will help me a lot for my upcoming half marathons! Now if only Spring would appear so I can run in shorts and tanks…

Next race is a 10k at the end of April, unless I find another 5k to run before then

Race Flashback: 2013 Walt Disney World Marathon

This marathon can be summed up in one word.  Pain.

It was a little painful to have the 1:50 am wake up call again but this time we’d had success going to be early so that helped.  I think we ended up with 5ish hours of sleep so that’s not much less than normal for me.  We got ready for running and then headed to the race bus shuttles around 3:30am.  For some reason, the buses were not coming fast enough and the line was so long!  We were all supposed to be at the race start line by 4 am (per Disney’s instructions on our race materials) but we were not even loaded on the bus until 4:20ish and we were the first bus of about 6+ probably.

We got to the race start pretty quick and felt really rushed but we should have just taken our time because we ended up sitting around everywhere.  Our walk to the start corrals was actually much better than the half last year (because we were later??) and we got there in about 10 minutes (swear it was closer to 30 last year…).  Ours was a rather late corral, F, so we had to wait about 30 minutes after the official start to go.

They do a count down for all the corrals, complete with fireworks and everything which is really cool!  You get kinda over it by corral C or D though – ha!  But eventually we did get started and started making our way through the crowds.  Last year we just kept the pace of the corral we were in but that ended up sucking up so much time + energy so we tried to do some weaving and passing this year without going crazy doing it.  I think it really did help us not walk so much the first half because we knew the last half was going to get H.O.T.

Mile one-two was pretty boring, mainly on highways but you still have that running adrenaline going so it goes SUPER fast!  We were keeping about 10:45 pace at this point and that was feeling super easy.

Mile three you start heading through the Magic Kingdom entrance gates and to me that is one of the highlights of the race because it’s when you first realize this is real and you are running in Disney World! We were still keeping a pretty good pace at this point and feeling strong!

Mile four was through the outskirts of Magic Kingdom and again pretty boring.  Lots of parking lots and lots of side roads.

Mile five started to get interesting as you go through the Magic Kingdom Park!  The feeling of running down MainStreet U.S.A is like no other stretch of road I’ve ever run on.  You see the Castle straight ahead, so many people are cheering and you feel so IN Disney.  It’s probably my favorite mile of this whole race.  You continue through Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and then THE CASTLE!!!  We stopped here for mom to take our picture and then continued through Adventureland and exited the park.  This mile was closer to 12:30 with the picture stop + crowd getting through the castle.

Mile six through eight was pretty boring again.  Lots of highways + side roads to run on.  Our paced picked up again after the park and we were still feeling really good at this point.

Miles eight through nine were really runfun because we got to run on the Speedway they have down here.  No clue what they have on this speedway??  But it was really runfun to run on.  Because it’s a race track, it was a little slopped so you had to be careful to run on the flatter parts but there was actually plenty of room on this track to pass people and go your own pace.

Miles 10 though twelve were quite horrible.  Running was still going good for us but Disney decided to have 2+ miles with no water stops at this point along the way which also ended up being the hottest part of the beginning half because the sun started rising by this point.  You also run past the sewage treatment plant which is just plan disgusting.  Kind of makes you realize Disney is not some perfect place after all…  For the life of me I can’t figure out why they don’t try to reroute this race to avoid that…

Miles 13 through 15 started to get harder running-wise but we were both able to keep at it.  At this point my stomach really started to bother me though and made it increasingly difficult to run… We did go through Animal Kingdom at this point which was a welcomed diversion but was kind of anti-climatic considering how cool it is running through MK.

After mile 15 we both essentially died.  It got SO hot and my hips started hurting SO BAD! My knees also did not feel so good but the hips were the killers.  I’ve never felt pain like this running before… We ended up trying to stop and stretch some and walk a large portion of this part and I think our paces dropped in the 16+ minute pace… (never really got any faster after this…)

Mile 16 through 17 we both wanted to stop running so darn bad.  It was so painful.

Mile 17 we started the loop through the ESPN Wide World of Sports which maybe helped distract us some but this 3 mile stretch was quite possibly the most horrid stretch ever.  I think this stretch is when we clocked our 20 minute mile.  Awesome, right?  We also saw mom at this point again and got to runshuffle on the baseball field so that part was cool.

Mile 20 was the 20th Anniversary 20 Mile Spectacular! It wasn’t really that spectacular but it was kinda cool…

Can you see the pain in my smile?

Miles 20.05 through 23 were hellacious.  On a side road/highway, frying in the heat we are not at all used to in January in Wisconsin, sick to our stomachs with so much gu + powerade and just plain miserable.  It was during this stretch I became very resolved to never run another marathon.  Maybe not EVER but certainly not anytime in the next 10 year… Bad, bad, bad stretch and I think I was in tears about 90% of it because I.Hurt.So.Damn.Bad.

Owwww

Mile 23 through 24 were through Hollywood Studios and that was a welcomed relief at this point but also just plain exhausting to realize we are only at 5k left.  Kels had a bright idea to “run through this park at least” well, that lasted a total of 60 seconds… ha!  We were in SO MUCH PAIN!!!!  It was really cool though to run through another park.  I really did like runningwalking past Tower of Terror and the big magician hat.

Mile 24 was bad.  Pain, pain, pain, ouch, ouch, ouch.  We ran on the Boardwalk which I had never been on before and it was really cool looking.  I just wish I could have enjoyed it a bit more but the pain was intense.  I ended up taking some Tylenol which is totally not something I would have ever done in any other race I’ve ever run before, the pain was that bad.

As we came into EPCOT, we were nearing mile 25 and decided to give running a go again.  I was surprised that Sister and I were able to run the last 1.2 miles with only 1 maybe 30 second walk stop!  It helped us feel a little better about our finish to feel relatively strong running through World Showcase and redeeming ourselves after almost 10 miles of walking (gosh that sounds like a lot of WALKING outside of a marathon!)

I think we both have never been so happy to see a finish line.  I think we actually managed to “sprint” to the finish and we were so darn happy to be done!!!!!  We took an exhausting 5:54 minutes to finish, 3:30 of which were so painful but we still did it.  Somehow!

In hindsight, I should not have signed up for 3 marathons before even doing 1.  I should have never done more than 1 in 12 months, let along 3 in 7 months.  There is not enough time to recover!  I really do think my overzealous-ness caused me so much pain in this race but I also think if it would have been less painful, I would have thought about signing up for marathons in the future and then dreaded training/regretted it.

I wouldn’t trade any of my marathon experiences for anything though.  Maritime was my first, my whole family was there and I finished my fastest ever.  Lakefront was a real surprise that I could finish and with such a decent time.  And Disney was with my sister, my sister’s first and only marathon and was magical in it’s own way.  It’s OK to end my marathon running career here – lol.  I think it’s time to retire the 26.2 and just enjoy the 13.1 and work on getting faster at that distance.  I really do enjoy the halfs and enjoy training for them!

We’d planned to walk around a park after today but then decided a resting at the hotel day was in order so didn’t really do much else.  Sweet Tomatoes for dinner, a quick stop at the outlet mall and an early bedtime rounded out day #3 in Disney!

Race Flashback: Turkey Trot 15k Prediction Run

On Sunday I ran my first ever 15k.  The concept of this run was to predict a finishing time and then run completely blind (no garmin, watch, looking at time in any way) and whoever ends closest to their predicted time wins a turkey.  I went fairly moderate with my prediction time and picked 1:35:45 which would have been about a 10:15 pace.  Long story short I ended up finishing this run in 1:26:XX with a closer to 9:15 pace.  Um, ok.  Too bad it wasn’t a 100% good reason I finished this fast.

The longer version of the story is that I got up Sunday morning after the lovely gift that is fall back feeling very rested and with 4+ hours until the start of the race.  Haha.  At least this race started at 9:30 so it wasn’t like I was up at 3am or something crazy like that.  I took my time getting ready, did some scrapbooking in my race Shutterfly album that I started over the weekend and then my parents stopped in to pick me and little dog up for the ride south.  The race was in Greendale which was supposed to be about 40 minutes away but I swear we got there in like 20.  So we had tons of time to wait around until the start of the race and it was a little chilly so that maybe wasn’t the best idea ever

How long do we have to wait?

The race got lined up and headed out – part of the group for 2 miles and the remainder for a 15k.  Now I’ve never run a 15k before and I’ve never run a distance + time blind race so I should have started very conservative but I’d asked about the course ahead of time and was told it was out this loop, out that loop and then to the finish.  Ok, I can do that.  So I ended up running pretty fast because I was visualizing what I had been told and it didn’t seem that bad.  Well, maybe if I was a better runner who’d done more long runs recently that weren’t marathons, I would have had a better grasp on what 9 miles feels like but…well… obviously that was not the case.

When I still thought the end was near…

So, I’m trucking along feeling good but really tired and ready for the end up ahead when I see people running out the course again… um… So I asked the people helping on the course do we have to run another loop?  To which I head “yes, you have to run the whole thing again.”  Wait, what?!?!?  Oh good heavens.  Everything in me just wanted to stop right there and be done because I was done.  Spent.  Out of gas.  But my parents had driven all the way down to spectate and I couldn’t full well disappoint them so I slowed WAAAAAAYYYY down and kept plodding along.

That was quite possibly the hardest + most discouraging 4+ miles I have ever run.  But somehow (with multiple walking breaks the second half) I managed to rally some energy to finish!  And about 10 minutes faster than I’d put down into my prediction aka no turkey.

Is this a trick again?

I know I didn’t pay much for this race but it still would have been nice to be warned that we had to do the loop twice.  Especially when I did ask a volunteer and she said nothing about 2 loops.  It does show my lack of real running knowledge that I thought 5 miles was 9 but I am also not used to running without at least a watch to look at for elapsed time.  I know that’s part of the trick of this race but would it have been the worst thing to have a little more description of the course online?  Or a rough sketch map at the start area?  I can’t really see how that would hurt… but oh well!

Me and my trophy.

Another race complete.  Another distance conquered.  Next time I run a 15k, I plan to actual pace myself a little better so I don’t positive split by like 10+ (but who really knows how many) minutes.  Yikes

Have you ever been totally shocked at something about a race?

Race Flashback: 2012 Monster Dash 5k

Yesterday I got to join my blogging friend Allison for a little run in the woods  Her husband organized a 5k up in Two Rivers Wisconsin and I decided to head up after a haircut to be a part of the party!

All week we had been having temps in the 70′s but then of course on Friday, the temps dropped 30 degrees to be in the 40′s.  It actually ended up being an OK thing though and I still managed to overdress for the temps!

I had a haircut bright and early on Saturday morning and then after that, headed up to Two Rivers for the run.  Luckily the 5k started at 10am so I had plenty of time to get up there.  I was very surprised that people were still furiously registering when I got there though!  Nothing like waiting until the very last minute to sign up.  People were literally signing up until the start time…

 

Once Allison and I headed out to the start area, we only had to wait like 3 minutes and the race was on!  The first part of the race was on a road near the hospital where the race started and finished and this mile really seemed to take forever!  After that mile was over, we turned into a wooded trail which is where the rest of the race took place.

 

Miles 1-3 actually went really fast through the woods, I think because you have to concentrate so hard to not trip and fall?  I’m not sure I’m really cut out for trail running for my usual running routine but it was really fun to do one race this way.

Mile 0-1

Allison and I kept a really good pace throughout the whole thing and it didn’t feel like we slowed down a ton when the terrain changed.  I’m sure we slowed a little but it didn’t feel as different as I thought it would.  Allison and I ended up finishing in just over 31 minutes which really surprised me and was a PR for Allison! (I haven’t been able to find the results anywhere yet but will update my race page when I find them…)

Same finish as the marathon??

This race was really fun and I am glad I could make it up there for it!  It was really cool to be back in the town where I ran my first marathon.  I think this town will always hold a special place in my heart.  While driving down the road to the hospital, I actually drove right near the trail I ran and I was surprised by how much I remembered.  And I actually remembered where I’d seen my parents and sister along the way!  It was also de ja vu that the guy who won Maritime, won this race too!

Hopefully I can make it back next year for this race!  And I will try to have a better costume next year.  Wearing scrubs to a race near a hospital loses a bit of it’s costume impact… Oh well, at least it was comfortable!

Bye Manitowoc!

Race Flashback: 2012 Lakefront Marathon

Oh, you didn’t know I was running a marathon today?  Well, neither did I until 3:30 am this morning  I’d signed up for this marathon back in January with every intention of training for it after a good break from Cellcom.  Well, I never got said break after Cellcom because I ended up prolonging training for another 5ish weeks and the thought of training right away after Maritime made me cringe.  So I benched the idea, signed up for a half marathon the next weekend in Sheboygan and then was going to forget about.

Well, on Wednesday or Thursday I was struck with this overpowering feeling that I needed to do this race.  It was while I was out doing my lunch time walk at work and it hit me out of nowhere.  As soon as I got back to my office, that VERY second, I received the email confirming that the Sheboygan half marathon had been cancelled (long story for another time…).  A sign?  A coincidence?  I don’t know but all I do know is that it made it damn near impossible to shake the idea of running this morning.

I thought about it all the rest of the week but really could not decide for the life of me what to do.  I tried to come up with one negative for actually running it and I couldn’t.  Because nothing said I had to finish just because I started!  I picked up my packet on Friday night, 90% sure I would try it.

I helped with the packet pickup Saturday and became 99% sure I would attempt it.

When I somehow woke up this morning at 3:18am when my alarm was set for 3:30am, I was 100% sure.  (I was half hoping my alarm would not go off or something – lol).  So after said alarm went off, I started my morning preparations for a race.  Another side note, the weather was predicted to be in the 20′s this morning but it ended up never getting colder than the high 30′s so that was also a really positive sign.

I managed to be ready to go and out of the house by 5:15 am (+ a few minutes to turn around and go back for my garmin!!!) or so to head to the finish area where we parked our cars and were then bused up to Grafton High School to start and then run back to our cars.

The bus ride was nice and toasty and it was also really nice to have the warm school to sit in before the race.  In theory they also had flushable toilets but in reality, the lines for those were SO long.  So porto-johns it was for me.  I ended up taking the time to go through that line twice and was very happy I did.  Darn cold always makes me have to pee so bad – lol!

At a few minutes before 7:30am, I threw my drop bag in the USPS truck to get driven to the finish and hoped and prayed my stuff did not get lost  I realized how spoiled I am to always have a cheer section at races and this was my very first time ever doing one all by myself!  No cheer squad, no pack mules, nothing!  After that, I walked the short jaunt to the start line and within 2 minutes, the gun went off!

WTF?! = Where’s the Finish?! lol!

I quickly realized I had failed to switch my garmin to running mode from biking mode so I apparently biked a marathon today  I tried to figure it out but this Garmin just pisses me off with how I can NEVER find what I want…  Oh well.  I figured either way I would know my distance and pace so it didn’t really matter.  I also ended up running with my phone which was nice because I would text and give updates to all my cheerers in other states or cities – lol!  Plus take pictures!

I started out with what I felt was a pretty conservative pace for me, about 11:30/mile but ended up really struggling to hold that so I ended up bumping it up to 10:40/11/miles.  Turned out to be perfect because that’s actually what pace I finished with, well 11:06 or something like that but I call that close enough.

The first few miles were kind of scary.  I still didn’t really believe I was attempting this and I kept feeling really guilty passing people because I kept visioning all their training runs when I really didn’t do any.  But after 5 or 6 miles, I realized that I could only run my race and not really worry about anything else.  We ran from Grafton east towards the lake and then wound down the lake shore towards Mequon.  We ran around my old college campus so that was kind of cool.  I have not been back there recently and it looked totally different!  New buildings and construction everywhere!  I crossed the 7 mile mat at about 1:20 gun time, not sure what actual time.

My tuition helped fund this bluff I’m pretty sure…

We then ran along Lake Shore drive (which I’d walked many, many times when in college) so that was cool and then wound around Bayside, Shorewood, etc.  I was feeling really good for the most part and the 13.1 marker came and went and I started to feel more confident I would finish!  I also managed to take out the 5:00 pacer and 4:50 pacer for awhile here.  I kept running and running but started having to stop at water stops because I drank all my stuff I brought.  I mixed half gatorade and half water and that tasted like gold!

Mile 15-16 was pretty emotional for me because that is where I was forced to give up at Cellcom.  It was that point that I decided, no one could take my race away today, especially me!  I was starting to feel sore by this point but I could tell everyone else was too so I wasn’t 100% concerned that my lack of training was totally to blame.  The whole way up until this point I was running to the .5 or 1 mile mark and walking 1 minute but I started getting distracted by the lack of seconds on my garmin and started running .4/walking .1 and this was much better for my tired brain and legs to comprehend.  I didn’t really slow down a ton either, from 10:53 average to 10:57 average up until mile 24 or so.

Miles 17-20 were pretty rough but they were at my last marathon too so again, I was no more out of it than in June when I ran.  Once I hit 20 miles, I knew I was going to finish, no mater if I had to walk the whole rest of it.  I also was doing surprisingly well time-wise and was on par for an under 5hr finish which I never in my wildest dreams imagined!  I was thinking 5:15/5:30 at my best…

how many miles yet??

Miles 20, 21 and 22 were pretty tough but then at 22 I took a Gu and had a good (relatively) streak of run/walking from 20-24.  At 24.2 I started to cramp in my quads so it really started to be painful at that point.  But just as I was thinking about the pain, I saw one of the marathon signs that said “The Pain is temporary, the finish lasts forever.”  That is one lesson I have learned all too well.  Even if you feel like you won’t make it, you really will and it will eventually just be a blip in your history – so run strong!

Around mile 24, we ran down the same hill I’d had to run UP at Summerfest in 2011 so that was pretty cool.  Well played LFM with the DOWNhill version over the uphill version  Mile 25 I decided to walk for .2 to bring me to just 1 mile to go.  But man, that 1 mile felt like it lasted as long as the first 24!!  My average pace slipped from 10:57-11:03 or something like that at this point too.

Finally I started seeing the “Marathon finish ahead” signs.  Unfortunately, the “finish” was not as close as I was hoping and I had to pass like 5ish of those – ha!  But FINALLY I saw the real finish and just went for it!  It was a tight finish line which stunk so I had to pass people with a tight squeeze but I didn’t think I should have to finish at there pace, should I?!  I felt like I was running fast but I’m pretty sure it was not “fast” ha!

After finishing, I got my medal (which is ginormous!!) and went to sit down!

beaut.

My legs hurt so bad!!!  I honestly could not make it the .75 miles back to my car so I took the shuttle – ha!  I also was not really sure how in the world I was going to drive a stick shift car!  OUCH!!  Luckily it was mostly highway home so not too much clutching.  That really killed the ole quads…

But I did make it home in one piece and immediately threw some lunch in the oven to bake while I ice bathed.  (I forgot to mention I was HANGRY since mile 1!! – bad, bad planning.  Pretty sure my stomach was literally growling on numerous occasions.) I did take gus at miles 5, 11, 17 and 22 so those helped like 5% with the hunger issue. I managed 10 mins in the ice tub and then a nice warm shower and some food!

I am still in shock that I finished.  I was pretty darn close to ugly Dawson tears after I finished because I was that shocked it was over.  But crying took entirely too much energy so it was a just a couple grunts that I managed – ha!

I know that this was not necessarily the smartest thing to do but I can’t live my life being so afraid of all the “coulds”.  I would have quit if I ever once felt weird pain or something like that but somehow my prayers of “Dear God, please just let me finish!” were answered

Maybe this was also a little Marathon Karma coming back to be on my side after Cellcom didn’t go as I was hoping.  It’s really true that everything works out in the right timing.  And apparently today was the right timing for me to get marathon #2 finished.  26.2 x 2 while I’m 26.  I kinda like that

In case you are a numbers person, here are my Garmin splits (totally forgot to stop it though so that last distance/pace is not really true but it seems like it might have paused after a few seconds?)

Those seem close to even to me?? But maybe not, what do I know about these things…

My official finish time : 4:51:23; 11:06 pace (unofficial as of 10/7).  

And here are my reflections from Marathon #2!

• Marathon’s truly are 90% mental.
• Gatorade is delicious.
• Doing a race without my family was not the same but was a whole different kind of challenge.
• Still in shock.
• Race Volunteers are AWESOME!
• Fall is my favorite, favorite time to run in the midwest.
• This race was my best, worst decision to date.
• Pain is temporary when you’re running.
• Running for fun is the only way to do it!
• Running carrying an extra pair of socks is the best thing ever.  My packet pickup co-worker suggested it and it’s awesome!  They make great gloves for like 2 miles and then a nice hankie for the next 24 TMI?  Nope, honestly genius!
• Don’t try this at home
• I wore brand new pants + top.  Oops.
• 97 days until I have to do this again.  This time I will do a few training runs
• Probably some others that I am forgetting that I can maybe post about later this week…

Marathon #2, Done and Done! Whoop!

Race Flashback: 2012 Fox Cities Half Marathon

On Sunday, I finished my 8th half marathon. And it was by far my favorite or at the very least second favorite half marathon so far. But let’s go back to Saturday, the night before the race!

We headed to Appleton around lunchtime on Saturday. I’d wanted to check out this gluten free store that closed at 2 and thought we weren’t going to make it. Turns out I would not have missed much. I have more gluten free options at a regular grocery store than this special store… Plus it was in a really weird building and they had tanning and a gym in adjoining rooms. Weird.

After this “store” we headed to the race expo to get our bibs. It worked out awesome because we got to meet up with my blogging buddy Allison from runningthroughredlights.com!!! It was so fun to finally meet a person I’ve only connected with online. We chated for awhile and then headed our separate ways to prep for the big run in the morning.

We did a little shopping and then headed to dinner. We tried out a new to us place called Gingerrootz. They had an awesome gluten free menu and were very knowledgable. We got the summer rolls to start and then I got an a.a.c roll and an asparagus maki roll. Both were very good. I got full pretty quick but managed to take one for the team and finish them since I figured four little sushi pieces might not cut it for a half marathon in the morning! The salt + carbines of sushi tasted just perfect. Might have to try this combo again sometime very soon!

After dinner, we stopped at my favorite ever grocery store and found some cookies and then headed to our hotel to get ready for an early bedtime. (After cookies of course). There happened to be some soccer tournament in town haring our hotel and man, kids are LOUD! They were literally running up and down the halls and then sitting outside our room to talk, loudly. Really, our room needs to be the place you do this? No, I don’t think so.

Once we finally got to sleep, we all slept pretty good which never happens before a race!  We woke up early, but well rested so overall it wasn’t a total fail. We ate breakfast, got ready and headed to the start line about 6:15.

We got right into a porta potty line when we got there but man, we picked the slowest line ever!! It took way too long to get through the line and we got to the start with about 3 mins to spare.

I haven’t ran hardly at all these past three months so I was not expecting much to be honest. I was hoping to finish but never thought I’d run the whole thing but, (spoiler alert: I did!). Sister and I ended up running the whole thing together and the time just flew by.

Normally around 8/9 miles I hit a point where I just want to give up but this time, I just was having so much fun and feeling really great! It was pretty cold this morning, like 34 when we started, but it felt really good to me! I seem to always have better times in colder weather so something about it must work for me.

Sister and I did a run .5 miles, walk 1 min routine the whole way through and did really well with it. We never had a mile slower than 10:40 and our fastest was 9:51! I think sister and I were both shocked by how speedy we were for this race. Well, speedy for us anyways

I think the distance was getting to sis by about 11 miles but she was a trooper and just kept on going. I’m pretty sure my perkiness was starting to get on her nerves but maybe that motivated her to run faster to bring that to an end?

Before the race, I’d been having troubles trying to remember the course even though I’ve run it in 2010 and 2011. But once I started running it, the memories started coming back. I could remember seeing sister and mom in years past at certain spectating spots and hills and turns, etc.

Another highlight of this race was that my dad and little pup came up just to watch us! It was my day’s first opportunity to see sister run even though he’s seen me a few times but I’m pretty sure croz stole the show lol! He’s just so darn cute and would be watching everyone going by him looking for us and then his little ears would perk up as soon as he saw us coming!

Around mile 12, we both ended up getting super hot and sweaty! The sun must have come ut or something? But that was short lived because the finish was not too far off!

We turned the final corner and I pointed out the finish to sister and then be both put the pedal to the medal, maybe a little too much ha! Somehow, we ended up crossing the finish line with a time of 2:15:33/34 (yes, sister beat me by 1 second). A 15 MINUTE PR for sister and a middle of the road finish for me too! Slower than my last two years here but that was not the goal this year

We walked over to the river in the park where we finish and took a few more pictures and then headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for lunch.

After lunch and on the drive home, we of course had to stop at Dairy Queen for a little ice cream recovery fuel –  I don’t know what it is about ice cream but it tastes so darn good after a long run!

I really feel sore now but during the run I didn’t feel my lack of training at all. It was so weird. I definitely don’t recommend this training plan but overtraining must have been my issue and a break was more what I needed than more running. Hopefully I can channel some of this excitement for running to transfer into my marathon training I am supposed to start soon…

I still am not sure if my half in three weeks will happen or not. I read something about them not having the necessary road permits? Guess I should check into that…

Another race is over but my passion for running seems to be restored. Bring on Disney!  I’m already excited for Fox Cities in 2013!

Race Flashback: Sarah Adam’s Memorial 5k

Saturday I ran my first 5k that was at my pace and in an actual race setting.  I’ve run this distance many times previously, obviously, but this was the first time in a race.  I had little to no hope for finishing with a decent time since I’ve been taking a completely no pressure on running approach for the last few weeks and ran zero miles the 5 weeks before that!  My only hope was to finish faster than 35 minutes which was the time it took Sister and me to complete one a few years back when she had just started running and was completely overdressed so I knew we could have even gone faster that day given better clothes.

Well, I guess you can say I did a little better this time around… I ended up finishing in 26:17! Say, what!!? I really don’t know how I managed to run this fast but let’s back up a little and I will give a little recap of the race.

This race was started by the parents of a young girl who was killed in a car accident in 2008.  She had loved running and was a part of her school’s cross-country team so her parents decided to start this race to help raise scholarship money to be awarded in her memory.  It was held at Kiel High School in a little town a few minutes away from my parent’s house and was only $20 to register so I didn’t really except any fancy anything for the race but they ended up having an actual chip timed event because a timing company donated their time and equipment – how cool is that?

The race was scheduled to start at 8 am and to be honest, when I signed up I was sure it was going to be blazing hot by that time on a mid-August morning but in reality, it was chilly!  Probably about 60ish when we got to the school!  So weather was not a factor at all this morning!  I did run for a couple of minutes to warm up a little while we were waiting for the race to start because it was so chilly feeling though!  My mom and dad also came along to walk the 5k and set a new PR for them – 48mins!  Whoop!

Before we got started running, the dad and organizer of the race said a few words about his daughter and the race.  He also introduced everyone to his new grandbaby… a little girl named Sarah.  She was about 7 months old and walked the race in her stroller.  How cool was that! Then we said a group prayer as her father is also a pastor and then…

At 8:00am, we were off!  I tried to be sort of near the front but not so near I got ran over!  I also had decided going in that I would just run as fast as I could without causing pain anywhere and really not be concerned at all with being evenly “paced.”  I knew that would result in me being too fast or too slow the whole race so instead I just did whatever!

The first mile went by REALLY fast and I was shocked to pass the time caller and hear… 7:44!  WHAT?!  I am pretty sure that is the fastest mile I have ever run, even when doing speed work miles! I guessed I would slow down considerably at some point but figured I didn’t hurt yet so I wasn’t going too fast and hurting myself or anything at that point?!

After the 1 mile marker, you ran a little ways further and then did a turn around and headed towards the Cross Country track.  Mile 1-2 was still run on pavement and imagine my surprise when I went past mile 2 marker and head… 15:30!  Another 7:45ish mile!

Right after mile 2, we transitioned to the Cross Country track and that’s when I slowed down almost immediately.  I am not used to running on the grass and was afraid of slipping because it was wet and I was getting tired.  I’m really glad the first 2 miles where on pavement though and I just pushed it while I could because grass made me really slow down at that point and I ended up finishing in 26:17 for a 8:28 average pace.  I am stupid and can’t quite figure that math out for what the last 1.1 mile was paced at but… I think about 9:15 pace for mile 2-3.1?  I really don’t know!

Little Sarah finishing with Grandpa!

I really was shocked to see that time when I came across the finish line! I guess sometimes it pays to not hold yourself back on every run!  I know I can’t run fast every time I run but when the weather cooperates and I am feeling good, might as well give it a shot!

I sat around and stretched for a few minutes while I waited for the parents to cross the finish line and then we took a few finish photos and headed back home.  I actually ended up finishing 6/18 in my age group which further surprised me!  And 67/141 (not including all the walkers as they were not chip timed) so a wee bit higher than “normal” for me anyways.  I had so much fun running this race and would really like to come back next year and try to see what I could do with training for it!  I’m feeling compelled to just do a bunch of shorter races next year in lieu of long races to work on my speed so I will definitely keep this in mind!

All in all, it was a really fun morning.  I was a little sore the days after though!  All that fast running and being on grass gave my legs a little workout –

I’ll be back tomorrow with more race related recaps but this time not me running them!

Race Flashback: 2012 Maritime Marathon

Oh my goodness!  Where to even start?!?  Warning: this post is gonna be a LONG one!  How about we start at the beginning?

5:50 am. Departure time. Sister and I stayed at my parents house on Saturday night to be a little bit closer to the start line on Sunday morning.  I thought about checking out a hotel in the area but when I did a quick search everything was full and not super nice looking.  A certain little pup came along to be my cheerer!

6:35am.  Arrival in Manitowoc. Sister, Croz and I stopped at a gas station about 3 blocks from the start and then headed to the start line area.  This race was pretty small but was organized SO well.  I honestly cannot say enough good things about this race.  We lined up to start by a fire truck and after a few minutes of announcements, a racer sang the National Anthem and then a gun shot, and we were off at 7am!

7am.  I started a really long run and Sister went off to try to meet up with the parents.  They actually sailed up to Manitowoc to stay overnight on the boat so she had to pick them up since Sailboats are not really land vehicles  This worked out SO well because I was able to shower at the Marina facilities after the race and have an ice bath that consisted of me hanging in Lake Michigan at a whopping 62 degrees!

7:30am.  First cheer from the gang!  I ended up seeing them probably 18ish times along the way!  It was such a spectator friendly course and they were able to pretty much keep just ahead of me and get me what I needed and take LOTS of photos of me running

8:30am.  I got to run along a beautiful portion of trail right on the beach.  This was one of my favorite parts by far!  The sun finally peeked out at this point too.  Time for some sunglasses.  Mile 9-11.

9:08am.  Halfway point!  I made really good time getting to the half way point but then slowed a little in the second half.  I didn’t end up bringing my Garmin so I was just doing whatever felt tolerable for the duration. Sometimes this meant keeping a good pace and sometimes that meant walking for a while.  I was pretty consistent running 9 minutes walking 1 for the first 13-15 miles.  Then the walking breaks got more frequent and closer together!

9:45am.  Saw this really cool hang glider flying over the course.  Picture was taken by Sister but I thought it was pretty cool too and would have taken a picture if I had a camera.  Also around this time I passed the 15 mile mark and therefore was in the new distance territory for a race!  So exciting!!

10am.  Most inspiring moment of the race by far.  This man ran/walked this flag for 26.2 miles in honor of all the men and women serving our country.  This was his 5th marathon in 8 weeks and his birthday.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t have tears in my eyes when he told me that.  I know it boosted my spirits at this point as I was definitely starting to appreciate the distance of a marathon… but at least I was not carrying a heavy flag the whole way so who was I to complain!

10:15am.  Getting really tired but just kept ticking off the time on my watch to walk/run.  This was about mile 20-21 and it was at this point my stomach started doing flips and all gu and clif shots were tasting like poison.  I ended up doing ok with just switching to my homemade gatorade like drink from here until the finish.  (1-2 oz juice, 1/4 tsp salt and water to the top.)  Also I felt so alone by this point!  The race only had about 255 full runners and I was near the back so it was lonely going!  At this point I had switched to run 4 minutes/walk 1, repeat.  Once I passed mile 20, I remembered thinking – I have never run this far before!!!  PDR!

11am.  Just a 5k to go but that felt SO long at this point.  Nothing hurt specifically but everything hurt all at the same time.  Mile 23ish.

11:38am.  A finish line has never looked so sweet!  Almost.there!

11:38:47am.  I.Am.A.MARATHONER!!!

12:00pm.  Pose for lovely pictures with the dog.  got carbs?  Might never walk again.

12:05pm.  Stuff face with peanut butter cup blizzard provided at the finish line!  Life is good again!  Ice cream is my favorite.

12:15pm.  Look at my medal and realize that I have accomplished something I have been wanting for so long.  It took a false start at training, a false start at marathon finishing but I made it.  And it turned out so nice in the end.  My parents and pup could be there to cheer me on, the weather was cool and breezy with a few bursts of hotter sun.  So much different than the marathon that would never be.  Things really do work out in the end if you are just patient and persevere and try not to be defeated when it seems the cards are not stacked in your favor.

All in all, this race was awesome!  It was an inaugural event so I was a little nervous considering my history with the Summerfest half mary last year.  But this race could not have gone any better.  The volunteers were so wonderful and always asking if they could help.  The course was so amazing and was an out and back which turned out to be a good thing for me because it was so pretty you wanted to look at everything again.  Also it was pretty neat seeing the winners speed past you when you were just getting close to halfway!  The course was very well marked with one instance where I followed someone a little bit the wrong way – oops! We got water bottles at mile 25.2 to carry with if we wanted (really needed that at that point!) and the finisher chute was anything but crowded for me which is one of my pet peeves.  I could grab my medal, my water and chocolate milk and then walk a bit and sit.  All my legs could handle after all that running.

I have become a firm believer in the carbo-load phenomena as well.  Sure I felt like a bloated, disgusting pig those three days but on race day I know it helped!  I didn’t need as much gu/clifs as I normally do and I never bonked.  Not even sort of.  Starting at mile 18 I did get quite tired but I don’t think that’s what they mean by a bonk or the wall.  I remember this “bonking” feeling when I started training for a marathon a few years back!  I never thought I couldn’t keep going and I just had to slow a little and start walking more often but I had been running for 3+ hours!

As for my pace.  I surprised myself with my half time!  2:08:something.  This was probably a little fast but I couldn’t really say I was pushing too hard at all the first half.  I tried to keep a “comfortably uncomfortable” pace this half and did slow a little in the second half.  Since I don’t have my splits I don’t really know my slowest miles but I would guess mile 25 was right up there.  My last 5k took about 38 minutes so that shows this was likely my slowest section of the course compared to the previous miles.  I didn’t run much in mile 25 because I was just mentally done and hitting mini hill after mini hill that felt like mountains!

I really cannot believe it happened!  I am a marathoner and might not ever take my medal off  I also got to cross the finish line to cheers from Mom, Dad, Sister and Crosby and that is pretty darn awesome.  Sometime my family is pretty nice even if my sister is a Pester and so, so mean  (a hilarious post for another time… Let’s just say I found a journal my 8 year old self penned and laughed so hard it hurt!)

Now I think it’s time to stop thinking about running for awhile and tackle something else instead!  My legs feel the need for a break that is about 5 weeks over due  Now just to decide what!

Other random tidbits:

• I have awful awesome tan lines on my legs from my shorts…
• I ran in BRAND new shoes for this race.  Pretty good christening for the new pair.  I know you are totally not supposed to do this but I would have been in so much pain with my old pair and I knew these were the exact same, just new so I lucked out there.  I can tell they ran much better and left my legs in marginally better shape than the oldies would have!
• Marathons are painful to run but I am surprisingly less sore today than I thought I would be.  I feel like I was more sore after the Cellcom 15 miles than I am today after running 26.2!  I am still walking a bit funny though…
• I need to get one of those bumper stickers with 26.2 in the oval because now I really earned it!
• I wish I could run this race every year but I don’t know if I will be up for another Marathon next year that is the same.  Maybe I can run it as a relay or something
• Ahhh!  Still cannot believe it!!
• I AM A MARATHONER!!!!

Race Flashback: 2012 Bellin 10K

Another race is in the books! Not a PR but surprisingly it was another 10k that I ended up really enjoying To recap, let’s go back to Friday night…

Sister and I drove up to Green Bay on Friday night for packet pickup. We packed a little pasta salad to eat in the car on the way up and it turned out to be very yummy!

Rice pasta, kale, carrots, ham, dill havarti, greek dressing and olives.

The race expo for this is outside in a park and this weekend it was a lovely evening! The expo is pretty small but we both wanted to avoid buying anything so that was probably a good thing Even though there are 18,000 runners, the expo process always goes very smoothly. We got in and out in about 10 minutes!

After pickup, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some snacks and breakfast food for tomorrow morning and then headed to the hotel. Our normal GB hotel was doing a stupid 2 night minimum this weekend so we had to try another one. Let’s just say I picked an old one… Oops! But it was clean which is my cut off for bailing on hotel rooms.

We got checked in and attempted to get some internet but failed miserably. We had a little snack…

Obsessed with these animal crackers and PB&co. peanut butters! OH yum!

and then headed to bed. With no internet, we couldn’t watch our Netflix options so we ended up watching the end of RV to fall asleep. Surprisingly, I ended up sleeping until 10 minutes before my alarm went off. Score!

Coffee drinking, breakfast, bib pinning and water drinking occurred. (Ps did I mention it managed to be the 2nd 90 day of the year on Saturday? The first being my marathon fail day… ) At about 7:10 we headed for the shuttles about 1 mile from our hotel. The shuttles took longer than I remembered but I think that was due to some construction maybe? We ended up at the start line area at about 7:40. We tried waiting for the Porto potties right when we got there but the line was NOT moving so we walked to the start corrals and found tons more! Good idea to move on.

We got to our corrals about 5 minutes before we started moving. Much failed self portraiture occurred

At about 8:10, I made it across the start line and I was off! I tried to keep a comfortable yet relatively fast pace the whole time and managed this until about mile 4 when I got super hot… This course is a really nice one though. Pretty flat with a few slight hills but nothing compared to Nashville! It’s amazing how much tolerance I’ve built up to hill running by actually running on hills. Duh! They are actually not that bad

At mile 4 was when I started to have to walk break. It’s amazing how much walking helps cool you down though! The last mile was hard but I finished it strong! I was so proud of the fact I didn’t woose out on this race. I’ve been in a bad cycle of mentally messing up on my running game so this race really helped set me up for a much better experience.

I went into this race with zero expectations and could actually have fun then! I ended up finishing in 57:24. Last year I finished in 57:26. Ha! And last year it was about 20+ degrees cooler. Aka perfect running weather so I guess I was a lot stronger this year to be able to keep the same pace in the heat. It’s also interesting that the same time this year placed me 1500 runners higher than last year out of 15,000 finishers. Apparently my heat running training paid off some anyways!

On a total side note, when is it irresponsible to let little kids run 6 miles? It was SO hot yesterday and I saw so many parents keeping pace and kids trailing behind them running….like 5-6 year olds… It just seemed dangerous to me!? How do kids know when they are overheating? Also they frantically dart to every sprinkler right in front of people without looking for others. It was a near miss with at least 5 small humans and me running them over.  I guess I just don’t get it…

All done! I hate how those banks look on my head though… dew rag much?!

Anyways, after the race I tried to make my way to the finish line to spot sister. Of course I missed her again. I have zero skills for spotting her in a crowd! We continued on our way to get out and found some waters (not cold btw, blech) and made our way to the shuttles back to our car.

All in all, it was a really nice race. I feel like I ran as fast as I could in those conditions and was mentally stronger than I have been lately.  It was incredibly hot (86 when we finished) but I was smart and didn’t push too hard. I finished by sprinting over the finish and passed a bunch of people in the end. I love that so much! Call me a meanie  I know I piss people off but it’s not my fault they are too worn out to finish strong!

Now… Two weeks and I have to run that distance + 20 miles. Now that’s something to freak about!