Boston 2014

The short story
It was a great day. I felt reasonable good, never hit the wall, and finished strong. Given the issues I've had this winter, I was pleased with my time. My official time was 3:16:48. I'll be going back to BayState to work on my PR. ;)

Water stop woes
It's no secret that water stops and I don't get along. It's embarrassing really. I can't run and drink water from an open cup. Why oh why can't I drink and run at the same time!

Since training wasn't awesome this winter and I didn't find a hydration belt that I liked, I decided to run belt-less. It was a good opportunity to learn to drink from a cup while running. I mean, there are like 25 water stops, I was bound to pick up the skill along the way, right?

Here's what happened as I ran through water stops:

• Water stop 1: Grab a cup of water, throw water in face...nope that's not how you drink and run at the same time. Moving on...
• Water stop 2: Grab a cup of water, squeeze cup to a point, get a few drips in mouth, throw rest of water up nose. Still learning obviously...
• Water stop 3: Grab cup of water, squeeze cup to a point, get more in mouth...nice. Choke as swallowing. Oops.
• Water stop 4: Grab cup of water, curse because it's only half full, but get all the water in mouth! Too much to swallow at once though....Choke again
• Water stop 5: Grab water, empty some out, make the spout, drink the water in smaller sips!!!! Nice.
• Water stops 6, 7, 8, 9, 10....as my daughter would say "easy peasy". I got this running and drinking water thing down!
• Water stop 11: Grab a cup of Gatorade by mistake...gross.
• Water stop 12: Grab a cup of water, throw water up nose again...guess I shouldn't have gotten so cocky.
• Many water stops go by uneventful, then somewhere late in the race...Grab a cup of water, and almost ram into someone who seemed to take the term "water stop" literally. This was a common occurrence the last few miles. Runners would grab a cup and simply stop running right then and there. Then I had to become accomplished at running, drinking, AND dodging. Who am I kidding...I didn't dodge very well, but it's fair to say that I can now drink water and run at the same time.

25 water stops later, and now I should be good to use the provided hydration in races. Though I think at Boston using the water stops does lose some time. There are so many people, it's hard not to slow down.
 
Best part of the race
Running by the Wellesly girls. There were lots of high fives, and crazy screaming, and one runner dude yelled out, "Woo hoo! New PR! 7 kisses!" It was awesome. Trust me...

Worst part of the race
Technically it happened before the race, but I'm about 99% positive that I got peed on in the starting corral. To the gentlemen who pee in starting corrals...just because you can, doesn't mean you should. If the fairer sex can hold it, then so can you. (This happened to me last year too.) Ew. Enough said.

Splits & Stats
Net Time 3:16:48
Overall 5655/31931 (This makes me feel like I at least earned my 7000 bib number.)
In Gender 700/14356 (Female)
In Division 563/6979 (F18-39 Age Group)

I think my Garmin short changed me a bit. It reported 26.15, and I KNOW that Boston isn't short.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	3:16:49.4	26.15	7:32
1	7:22.8	1.00	7:23
2	7:08.3	1.00	7:08
3	7:10.0	1.00	7:10
4	7:19.9	1.00	7:20
5	7:28.2	1.00	7:28
6	7:15.2	1.00	7:15
7	7:11.5	1.00	7:11
8	7:17.6	1.00	7:18
9	7:14.2	1.00	7:14
10	7:25.2	1.00	7:25
11	7:20.6	1.00	7:21
12	7:27.7	1.00	7:28
13	7:24.7	1.00	7:25
14	7:28.6	1.00	7:29
15	7:31.7	1.00	7:32
16	7:16.9	1.00	7:17
17	7:32.2	1.00	7:32
18	7:43.6	1.00	7:44
19	7:41.3	1.00	7:41
20	7:57.4	1.00	7:57
21	8:16.3	1.00	8:16
22	8:03.0	1.00	8:03
23	8:09.9	1.00	8:10
24	7:14.7	1.00	7:15
25	8:14.9	1.00	8:15
26	7:37.6	1.00	7:38
27	:55.2	0.15	6:04

And...that's all I have! I hope you had a great day too!

I ran 3:07:11: Nick was worried when I didn't finish sooner

Nick still has nightmares about a certain race, where I had trained well enough to possibly run 3:20, but wound up running 4:15. (It was a very bad day, but one that I'm proud of.) Now if I miss the mark by even a measly 2 minutes and 11 seconds, he worries. He's so cute. After I finished the BayState Marathon on Sunday, he said to me "I was so worried!" With furrowed eyebrows and a smirk I replied, "I was only 2 minutes behind my goal of 3:05". To which he said, "I know, but I thought you'd be faster and when you didn't make it by 3:05, I thought you might be hurt." I actually thought this was really sweet. You see, Nick is ever the engineer. He's almost always logical and data driven. He's been keeping track of my training and really believed that I could and would run faster.

So does that mean I had a bad day on Sunday? No. It was a spectacular day. I felt good. The virus that has been plaguing our home seemed to lift Saturday, I've been getting a reasonable amount of sleep (6-7 hours), and there was nothing wrong with my legs. All great omens come race day. The weather was beautiful being sunny and 50-58 degrees during the race. The 3:07:11 time I posted is a 4.5 minute personal record, and I was the 3rd female finisher. Coming in 3rd really made the day. I might have been a tiny bit disappointed that I didn't go under 3:05 had I not had such a nice finishing place.

If I was feeling ready to go, the course was flat and fast, and the weather was cool, then why wasn't I able to post my initial goal? Well, it was probably a combination of going out too fast and a nasty headwind. My first mile was 6:52, which was good, but by the 8 mile mark I was averaging slightly under 6:45 pace. That was based on the race clocks not my Garmin (looking through my Garmin splits it reports some of my miles being in the 6:37 range). I didn't look at my Garmin at all during the race. I tried to run more by feel, but I guess I was getting a little a head of myself. I crossed the half around 1:29, which I didn't think was too too fast, but there was also a 14 mph headwind for a good stretch of the course. The course is a loop done twice, so there were portions with a tailwind too, but from what I've read the two don't cancel each other out. A runner doesn't gain the same benefit with a tailwind, as the deficit that is acquired with a headwind. You can check out the Daniel's calculator where you can enter headwinds and tailwinds and predict what times might have been. Using the Daniels calculator and guessing that roughly half course had a tailwind and half had a headwind, it seems I might lost 3-4 minutes there. That combined with running a little faster than I should have for the first half probably accounts for my finishing time. My legs were dead after about 17-18 miles, and by the time I hit 20 I was telling myself to "just keep running". Really the finish couldn't come fast enough. My two final miles were 8:10ish (and I was surprised they were that fast), because at the time it felt like I was running slower than 10 minute pace.

Now I would hate for anyone to think that I'm complaining. I am so happy! Overall, my race experience was great. There were a good number of men running near me, and they were all supportive. Guys passing would say things like "you're crushing this race" or "you're awesome". A few times I found myself in a group of guys, and they were always friendly. Spectators seemed excited to see the "3rd female". So as much as the last 8 miles were a suffer fest (which was probably my own fault), everyone was just amazing. My parents, Nick, and the kids were all at the finish. And I ran a 4.5 minute PR! It really was a great day.

Running the race also made me realize even more how great the Greater Lowell Road Runners (GLRR) are. (The GLRR hosts the BayState Marathon.) Technically I'm member of the GLRR, but I don't really participate. I just don't have the time right now (or my priorities are just elsewhere at the moment), but every single person I've met from the group is so nice. Some are fast and some aren't, but all of them are great.

Here are some post race pictures! I'm sure they're boring to you, but it's the first time I remembered to take some pics with my phone after a big race, so I'm excited to have them!

 Ahhh, family photo!

 Nana and Grampy get in on the action

 My ladies and me :)

And Nick and me

What's next you ask? Some rest and recovery for now. Then I have my sights set on Boston, though I don't know that Boston is the course for me set any crazy PR's, but a solid time would set me up nicely for another go of it next Fall. :)

I like to take pictures of my Garmin

I'm sort of marathon training. I write "sort of" because I don't feel the same fierce panic to run a mega PR like I did last year. I am training though, and when I go through my training log I can plainly see that I am running much faster than when I was training for BayState last year. I'm just going to assume that's probably good and leave it at that.

I don't have a "training plan" per se, but I have run 70+ miles six out of the last seven weeks. In that time I've also run a 17 miler, two 18 milers, and four 20+ miles. From the picture, you can see that I enjoy taking pictures of my Garmin after the fact. What you don't know is that I've done all my long runs on the track to make it look like I'm faster than I am. I'm joking! Maybe...

Hmmm, last post I mentioned a fast mile and two mile race on the track. That turned out to be a bust. It was fun though. I had the opportunity to see my old high school coach, which is always nice, but leading up the meet I had been ill and my asthma had kicked it up a notch. I wound up deciding to go and use it as workout. I wound up running 12:04 for the two mile, which was fine for a workout. The mile took place approximately five minutes after the two mile, and so the 5:52 I ran was okay. Not really race report worthy, but okay.

My alumni meet didn't exactly leave me oozing with confidence, but that took place about eight weeks ago, and it seems at least some of my running mojo has been resurrected since. Two weeks ago I ran a 5K on the track. My high school was having a 5K track meet that was open to anyone. A 5K on the track is hard to pass up. It's so fast on the track. I get excited just thinking about it...Anyway, there were only perhaps three downsides: first it took place at 9:00 pm (when I'm generally in my PJ's thinking about sleeping...hey no judging), second my high school is about an hour away (meaning it messed up bedtime, yes that's a big deal in my house), and third I've been marathon training (you know, building a base, running long, not doing short intervals). The upside: it was on the TRACK! Obviously, I had to go. Also, it's nice to see my coach.

To make a long story longer, I wound up running 18:41. I would be lying if I wrote that I wasn't a tiny bit disappointed for like 10 seconds. For some reason, I had thought that it was (of course) reasonable to assume that I could PR with no 5K training late in the evening simply because I was running on the track. I mean, running on a track does make you super human. It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. Once I really thought about it though, I realized my time was good for where I am right now. There was also the fact that I didn't come in last, which had been a real possibility. The meet had several heats and my heat was suppose to be for those who could run 18:30 or faster (no pressure). I'm proud to say that I was only lapped by two people, and finished somewhere in the middle.

Besides not coming in last, I'm also happy because I ran strong and didn't feel completely wiped when I finished. I did make a couple mistakes that may have slowed me down a little. The first mile was 5:45, and I felt awesome. I had tucked myself right behind a girl and guy. Like practically on their heels. I thought that was a good place to be, but after the first mile they started slowing down. I still felt great, but was hesitant to pass them too early into the race because it takes energy to pass people on the track and (I'm ashamed to admit) that I was nervous that I would pass them and die out before the finish. That's probably the one downside to running on the track. There were a lot of people watching and there was some self imposed pressure not to embarrass myself. By the time I did pass them, I had lost a lot of time. My second mile was somewhere around 6:10. By this point I still felt good, but I knew a PR wasn't going to happen, and think I probably mentally checked out of the race. My last mile was around 6:05.

In the end, it was nice confidence booster. Also, I wound up winning $100. The high school girl who ran about minute (or more) faster than me can't accept race winnings. Not great for her, but sort of cool for me. Besides the money, everyone who registered received a t-shirt, a $20 gift card to Marathon Sports, and a 20% off coupon to Marathon Sports. For a little race, that has to be the best swag I've ever received. The gift card doesn't have any fine print or minimum that you have to spend. It's just a gift card. Cool beans. The cost of registration was $20, so basically the gift card is the cost of the race.

In case you're wondering, yes my high school coach invented the terrific FRoller which can be found: http://www.thefroller.com/. Yes, I bought a FRoller for myself about a year ago (though my coach is so nice he probably would have given me one), and yes I use it everyday. I love it. It's awesome. Enough said.

Saving the best for last...who will be registering for Boston next week?

New Bedford HM RR (1:25:59)

New Bedford wasn't on my racing plan, but the Hampton half was cancelled due to poor weather. Even then, it wasn't necessarily the next half I would have chosen, but it turned out my parents were running it. And I love going to races with my parents. Also, they bribed me with promises of a St. Paddy's day dinner at their place afterwards, and who could say no to that?

In honor of it being St. Patrick's day and all, I decided to paint my nails, which only happens for particularly special races...you can see the result over on the left. (As a side note, I honestly don't know how people can paint their nails all the time. I do it maybe three times a year, and every time I find it extremely annoying.)

Race day was great. I met my parents at their place, and then we went down to the race together. I found one of my best running friends from college, Amy, almost by accident and was able to run a warm up with her and her teammates from Whirlaway, which was awesome. I find running a warm up with a group to be relaxing before a race. Maybe it reminds me of college cross-country. We finished our 2 mile warm up about 10-15 minutes before the start. We dropped off our layers and only waited maybe 5 minutes before the race started. This was a fairly sizable race, and we couldn't quite push our way to the front, but after about 400 meters or so we were moving at a good clip. We passed the first mile at 6:12. Too fast. A race start like this is difficult though. Sometimes it's almost better to go out a little faster, rather than going out at your designated pace where you'll spend more energy weaving around people. Somewhere around here Amy had to drop over to the side to tie her shoe. She eventually caught up to me (and finished a minute ahead of me). The girl is like the energizer bunny! Anyway, the first mile wasn't my fastest, so I don't think I necessarily went out too fast.

I never quite felt in control of the race though. You can see my splits below, and they're all over the place. Some of that has to do with the hills. I'm sure if you looked at my splits against an elevation map you'd find that that the faster splits were downhill. During some miles the wind was irritating, but then the course would turn down a road and the the wind would be gone. So it wasn't constant. After mile 7, I was really having trouble hanging tough. I vurped a few times...going off track here, but have you ever seen "Wreck It Ralph"?

It's a cool ode to video games movie. There's a go-cart racer in the movie named Vanellope von Schweetz. At one point she's getting ready to race and she tells Ralph that she's "so nervous she's thinks she's going to vurp, you know when some vomit mixes with a burp and rises up."

Somewhere around mile 7, I started vurping my gel, which has never happened to me before. I decided against taking a second gel. Also, I didn't wear my hydration belt, but I still can't actually get water from a cup into my mouth while I run. I did attempt it at almost every water station, and failed miserably. It's sort of embarrassing, and borderline ridiculous. Around here, I also wound up with a side stitch, but nothing that I couldn't run through. I'm not sure if it was poor hydration or poor spirit, but by mile 10 I was starting to wane. The picture to the right is a fair depiction of how I felt...

When I crossed the 10 mile mark I was running an average pace of 6:28. The next 3 miles were tough, as they always are in a half marathon, but I don't usually slow down so much. My mile 11 and 12 splits were awful. 12-13 was awful too, but there was a fairly long hill there, so I can cut myself some slack for that.

The mile 10, 11, and 12 splits are bothering me. Something wasn't right there. Either I went out too fast, something wasn't right with the hydration stuff, or I let myself give in...I'd like to study my HR splits, but I wore the Polar HR strap and I can't get my HR splits unless I connect to their site and download the data from my watch. I haven't been able to do that yet. It's a little frustrating because you can view your HR splits on the Garmin without having to connect it to a computer. Anyway, I'd like to get that information and see if I glean something from it.

I did get my average heart rate from the Polar watch, which was 162. The watch is claiming that 162 is 87% of what it calculates my maximum HR should be. So now I'm wondering what percentage of your maximum HR is one suppose to be at when they run a half marathon? (Feel free to throw in your 2 cents if you train by heart rate. I'd love to know what others think on the subject.)

While my 10, 11, 12, and 13 mile splits were bad, my last 0.1 was fast. I saw the clock, and knew there was still a chance I could break 1:26 if I hauled it in. My official chip time wound up being 1:25:59, which is a ginormous PR for me. And so, it was a great day. Not to mention that I got to see so many running friends, and many of them ran well too. Another college friend, Justin, ran a PR. My co-worker, Rachel, ran a PR. And, of course, Amy, who wound up with an official chip time of 1:25:01! And she stopped to tie her shoe!

The rest of the day was awesome. I ran back to find my parents on course, and ran with them to the finish. I wound up with 19.5 miles for the day. I had wanted to run 20, but we also walked almost a mile to and from where we parked the car, and I was standing from 10:00 to 1:30, so good enough.

Back at my parents place, Nick and the kids were waiting for us. We ate our corn-beef and cabbage, and whoopie pies, and just had a great time. Overall, a great day! Huge thanks to Nick for watching the kids all day, and to my parents for driving me to the race AND making dinner!

Now there's Boston to think about...

NB HM Splits

Mile 1: 6:12

Mile 2: 6:31

Mile 3: 6:44

Mile 4: 6:33

Mile 5: 6:17

Mile 6: 6:17

Mile 7: 6:08

Mile 8: 6:29

Mile 9: 6:30

Mile 10: 6:39

Mile 11: 6:47

Mile 12: 6:45

Mile 13: 6:54

Last .1: 5:40

Derry Boston Prep 16 Miler RP

This is a race that runners tell horror stories of. While I was waiting in the bathroom line prior to the start, I was listening to the ladies talk. Most had run the race several times, and they all had a tale of horror for each year they ran. I didn't hear anyone say, "Well, when I ran in year such and such, the weather was great!" And to be completely fair, I think the weather is pretty awful every year. This year it was 14 degrees at the start, but with 14 MPH winds the "feels like" temperature was about 2 degrees. From what I've heard, the worst year was run in the snow. I'm not sure I would have run if had been snowing. Knowing what I know now about the course, I can write without a doubt that I wouldn't run in the snow. There are some steep downhills that I cannot imagine running when slippery...but I digress...

I arrived at the gym about an hour early to collect my number. I quickly found Raelyn and her running group. Everyone was very nice. Everyone was also very nervous. It seems that runners both love and hate this race, and almost everyone I spoke to was calling this a "training" or "tempo" run. I really didn't know what to expect. I mean I knew the course was challenging. I knew miles 9-12 were suppose to be ridiculously hard. I knew the last 4 miles were suppose to be mostly downhill. I knew it was suppose to be cold. But I had no idea what that would mean for me. I had told Raelyn that I was thinking/hoping to run around 6:45-6:50 pace, but that was really a shot in the dark.

I actually felt a lot better when I saw that everyone else was nervous too, though I'm not sure why because it probably should have made me more nervous (given that these runners were all Derry veterans). I was most nervous about the cold (and so were they). I had run an easy run earlier in the week where the "feels like" temperature was -5 degrees, and it was just miserable. Dressing for races can be tricky. When it's cold everything needs to be covered, but you also don't want so many layers that you start to sweat and get colder because you're sweating. Did that make sense? Anyway, I was having trouble figuring out what to wear...here's what I started with.

Running Ninja

I told Kaylee I was going to be a running Ninja. She replied, "Momma, ninjas wear black." That kid is way too serious and literal sometimes. So, while it looks scary and silly, I needed to have something to cover my face for at least the first few miles. I have asthma, which hates hates hates running hard in the cold. Breathing through something for the first few miles helps.

After everyone finally figured out what they were wearing, it was time to head to the start. My first impression was that the cold didn't feel too awful. We only had to wait on the line for 5 minutes, so we didn't freeze while waiting. I think the cold felt worse while running. I was breathing through my makeshift mask, but it was getting wet from my breath, so I'd take it off, then the air would feel to cold to breath, so I'd put it back on. I did this on/off thing constantly through the first 5 miles, then I mostly kept it off, but really the air was just too cold to breath. My impression of the first 5 miles was something like, "yeah, this is hard, but not impossible." and "I wish the air wasn't so cold."

I was really waiting for the dreaded miles 9-12, and they didn't disappoint. They were some pretty tough spots, to which I just kept telling myself, "just keep running, just keep running." (Insert Dori's sing songy voice from Finding Nemo.) Around mile 10 or 11 Raelyn found me. I should probably mention that I ran this race completely alone. The first 5 miles or so I could see people, but at some point I couldn't see any runners at all. I had this awful feeling that I was going to get lost. Really I could see no one. So, when she came up and started running next to me, it was a huge relief. We sort of ran near each other for a mile or so, but she was just ready to go, and I couldn't hang on to her.

After the super hard miles, the last four miles were suppose to be much easier. It was sort of a joke though, because we turned the corner towards those "easy miles" and ran straight into a ridiculous head wind. It was just miserable. After 12 miles of running, I was still cold, my chest was tight, and this head wind was just making everything more uncomfortable. But what's a runner to do? I don't think running slower would have helped. I still would have been cold and miserable. The only real option is to hang on...

With about a mile to go, I was completely alone again. I couldn't see anyone in the distance. ANYONE. I was completely panicked that I wasn't running on the course anymore. I just kept going and eventually I hit someone directing traffic. A couple of turns later and I was done! Phew.

My official time was 1:50:20 (6:53 pace). I finished first in my age group, but Raelyn was completely robbed. She beat me by at least 30 seconds and placed second in her age group. I think the competition was fierce this year.

My thoughts on this race? Hmmm, I have no idea what to think. It was a good training race for Boston. It was definitely hard. The GDTC organizes this race, and I have to say they do an excellent job. The race starts at the middle school. They open the gym to the runners, so there's no waiting in the cold, and there are real bathrooms to use. There is someone directing runners at every single turn, so as long as you don't start taking random turns you won't get lost. That's a big deal. These people are standing out in the freezing cold for hours! They also had results kiosks in the gym. I was able to look up my official time right after I finished, which was awesome. We got long sleeved tech tops and a nifty pair of running gloves too. I didn't stay for the awards, but I've heard they have chicken soup and coffee. Really a great race. Now, will I run it again? I would love to say YES! Of course! It's well run. It's challenging. The runners and volunteers are all great. Unfortunately, the price I paid for running 16 hard miles in the cold was steep. My asthma was bothering me the rest of the day, and today though my legs aren't sore my chest and back are very sore (I think from breathing so hard). And given that this race is notorious for its difficult weather conditions, I will probably have to pass.

For anyone interested, my Garmin splits are below. The orange highlighted miles were the miles with the most uphill, which is probably obvious given the slower splits. You can tell where there's lots of uphill and lots of downhill based on my splits. Except mile 14. That's a slower split without a lot of uphill (just a lot of headwind).

Mile 1: 6:55 

Mile 2: 6:41

Mile 3: 6:04 

Mile 4: 6:29

Mile 5: 7:12

Mile 6: 6:32

Mile 7: 6:44

Mile 8: 6:42

Mile 9: 6:53

Mile 10: 7:29

Mile 11: 7:29

Mile 12: 7:49

Mile 13: 6:57

Mile 14: 7:07

Mile 15: 6:51

Mile 16: 6:23

Providence Marathon Race Report

The short report: The official time was 3:22:38. On the up side, that's a 4 minute PR. On the downside, I think I'm in better shape.

Now, the slightly longer version...

Pre-race week:
My right arch was killing me. From the symptoms, it seemed like plantar fasciitis, but I'm positive running isn't what started the issue. It must have been a bad pair of shoes I wore to work. While running didn't cause the issue, it definitely exacerbated it. I ran an 8 mile tempo at half marathon pace about a week out. Before the tempo there was a twinge, but it wasn't much worse when I finished. The next day I ran easy, and after that it was full blown pain. It hurt to walk even. I took the four days leading up to the race off and actively did the whole RICE thing. Friday before the race my arch finally stopped hurting while walking. I stepped up to the line pain free and well rested...though I was wondering at what point (during the race) my arch would start to hurt.

The race start:
My race plan was loose. Based on my training, I figured somewhere  between 7:20 and 7:40 pace was reasonable, but I didn't want to force any particular pace, so the plan was to go out and see how I felt. My first mile was 7:20, and it felt right, so I went with that. The first 16 miles were 7:21 pace, but...then things got complicated.

Mid-race:
The first 16 miles were good to me. There were more hills than I remember, but I was handling them. I was drinking and taking gels at my normal rate, but at around 15 miles I stopped sweating, and though I was still drinking I just stopped sweating. It's probably worth mentioning that the temperature was comfortable in the fifties, but it was 90% humidity. Maybe that's why I had an issue? I don't know, but by 16 miles my legs really started burning. It was strange because it felt like the last mile of a 5k when I'm having asthma issues, BUT my breathing was great. My breathing and heart rate were both great. But my legs were burning. At that point, I just had to hang on. Over the next four miles, my pace slowed, but I was still hanging on.

The race finish:
The last 10k was a struggle, which is pretty typical for a marathon. My breathing and heart rate were still great, but the burning in my legs was bad enough that running down hills hurt (like walking down the stairs the day after a marathon hurt).  I just kept moving forward, and slowing down. The last 10k was over 8:00 pace per mile. My official time was 3:22:38, which is 7:44 pace.

Reflections:
I guess maybe I went out too fast, but the pace felt right at the time, and I don't regret my calculated risk. Would I have run faster overall if I had gone out at 7:30 pace? Maybe. Maybe not. I do know I'm much faster over shorter distances right now. Perhaps I simply didn't have the endurance necessary to cover the distance at my initial pace. That happens to runners all the time...

The awesomeness of the race:
I felt great! (Well minus that whole leg rebellion thing during the last 10 miles.) No nausea! I wasn't crazy tired after either, but my legs hurt enough that I knew I gave all I had for the day. (I actually had trouble sleeping last night my legs are so sore.) No arch pain at all! No other pains! I remain injury free, and ready for a speedy recovery! And it was just a great day. The kids had a great morning with Nick, my parents were biking all over the course offering me water and Gatorade, and we all had an awesome lunch together afterwards! Just an overall great day for me.  (Huge thanks to Nick and my parents!)

One last item:
I ran this one for you, Connor! You are one tough little man fighting DMD!

My mom insisted we get my number in the pic...

My littlest lady has the bluest eyes ever! (Actually so does my other little lady...)

Me at the end of the day. My t-shirt says Sunnydale High School. Anyone know what that's from?

Hampton Half Marathon Race Report

In the Nut Shell:

1:29:12! This was a huge PR for me. That's the short race report.


Pre-Race Week:
Like almost every single race I run, the week leading up to the Hampton HM was crazy. Emily got this conjunctivitis, then spiked a high fever, which spurned some testing, which told us she had a white blood cell count triple the norm. Then there was more testing...Little miss is just fine now, but wow, did she stress us out. And of course, 48 hours before race time Kaylee lovingly gave me this chest cold. Given the circumstances, I had no idea what to expect for this race.

The race turned out to be awesome (even though I had no motivation going into it).

Race Day:

Nick stayed with the kids. (Thanks hon!) And my parents kindly drove me to the race. I'm more than capable of driving myself, but races are always more special when you get to share them with loved ones so having my parents there to cheer me on was great. The weather was perfect (for February in New England). Sunny, no breeze, and 40 degrees. My plan was to run the first mile and just see how it went. I figured I'd come up with a game plan in real-time.

The race started and I ran. Once I started, I felt good. I crossed the first mile at 6:36, which was too fast, but I felt comfortable. I adjusted my pace and my second mile was 6:52, maybe a little too slow. By the third mile, I realized there was a group of about six guys running just ahead of me that were aiming for just under 6:50 pace. They were clearly running the race as a training run. At that point, I decided to hang onto that group. And hang on I did. I stepped on some of their heels by mistake a few times, but they almost spit on me more than once, so it was all good. I couldn't really talk with them, but listening was fun. At some point someone in the crowd yelled "you go girl!" and then "take care of her guys, she's number 4!" They yelled back "we're on it!" So every once in a while someone in the group would say "how are you doing number 4?" This interaction really helped me mentally stay in the race. Some miles felt easy, others felt hard, but I just hung on.

Somewhere around mile 10 the group split up. Three of the guys wanted to pick it up. Three guys were waning. At that point, I wound up in the middle and on my own. A small part of me wonders if I could have hung onto the faster three if I hadn't known they were running faster. Mentally, it is always better to try and run with others. Once I was on my own, my pace did slow a bit. Not horribly, but I did lose about 15 seconds, which would have gotten me under 1:29 (had I not slowed). I ran the last 0.1 at 6:18 pace, crossed the finish, and smiled. It was an amazing race. I ran strong from start to finish, and that's all I'm ever really looking for when I race. A four minute PR was nice too.

Lesson Learned:

You never how a race will go until you run it. I didn't believe that I'd be able to break 1:30 with a chest cold. Chest colds are particularly problematic with my asthma. Today my ribs and stomach muscles are extremely sore, and I'm sure it has something to do with breathing heavy during the race. I am beginning to understand that, although this whole asthma thing is a huge pain in the butt, if I play my cards right it doesn't have to slow me down...

Race Stats:

1:29:12 (6:49 pace)

4th overall female out of 770

44th overall out of 1326

Providence Downtown Jingle 5K RR

Race Week:
The week of the race wasn't ideal. Nick had to travel, the kids were sick, there wasn't much sleep to be had...blah blah blah. I even had trouble with a few of my easy runs. I run with a few people at work, and generally we run around 8:30 pace. Yes, I struggled running 8:30 pace for seven miles, which seemed like a bad omen, but I chose not to think about it...too much.

Race Morning:
Because Nick was traveling, my parents invited me and the little ladies to stay with them Saturday night, which is really the only reason I was able to run the 5K (thank you mom and dad). I did my typical race morning routine. Coffee and toast with peanut butter and banana, but the race start was at 11:15. I prefer earlier races. The earlier the race, the less time I have to become overly nervous. And I was nervous. Partly because I didn't feel that great, and partly because I had told myself this was the last 5K for a while.

Around 10:00, my dad drove me down to Providence. We parked a mile away from the start and ran in. Even with running to the start, we were still 45 minutes early. If I hadn't been nervous, it would have been a lot of fun watching people. Tons of people were dressed up in all kinds of Christmas decor. Christmas music was playing. The atmosphere was cool. I did feel out of place though. I was in my typical race attire, while everyone else was in long sleeve shirts and running tights. I stuck out and received a few weird looks.

Race Start:
This race was awesome! They had a countdown clock, music, and a great announcer. I loved how everything was organized. Anyway, I lined up right at the front, which always makes me feel self conscious. The worst part of racing for me is waiting at the start. I feel so much better once the gun goes off.

Mile 1:
According to the clock at the mile marker, I ran a 6:02. My Garmin didn't agree with the mile markers. I wonder if the Garmin was inaccurate due to being in the middle of the city? Either that or the mile markers weren't in the correct place. In any case, I had to believe the race mile marker. I was a little disappointed. I wanted to run 5:55 - 6:00 for that first mile. There were three women ahead of me, but not too far ahead.

Mile 2:
I didn't feel any worse for mile 2, but the clock read 12:12, making that second mile 6:10. Now I was really irritated. I knew that I was going to need to run the third mile faster than the second mile to break 19 minutes, but I have never been able to do that.

Mile 3:
I'm guessing you probably read Mary: Iron Matron, who recently wrote a post entitled "How bad do you want it." I'm not nearly as contemplative about such things, but I must have wanted it pretty bad because the clock at the three mile marker read 18:15, which means I ran a 6:03 third mile. I passed the third place female, and really fought with the second place female. She passed me in the final 100 meters. Not because I was slowing mind you. I was hauling, she was just faster.

Results:
I was the third place female, and my official time was 18:52. The other two women were only a few seconds ahead of me, which really made the race more exciting. I felt like I was running in college again. When we crossed the finish the race director grabbed us and gave us our loot right away! I was so excited. He said he didn't want us to have to wait around for an hour, which was great because I never wait around. We each received a $50 gift certificate to a local running store.

Reflections:
My goal going into the race was 18:40. Actually, let me rephrase that...going into the race I believed that if I had a good day I could run 18:30-18:40. I'm sure that sounds ridiculous, given that it has only been the last few weeks that I've run in the mid 19 range. I feel weird even writing it. But I've been getting faster. And how exactly am I getting faster? Eh, I don't know. I suspect it might partially be a mental thing. Last year I read another great post over at Mary: Iron Matron entitled "Kicking Some Ass." Again, I rarely contemplate why I run. I find it satisfying, so I keep doing it. But why? I don't know. And how am I suddenly dropping minutes off my time? Beats me, but maybe Mary is onto something...

Anyway, I'll post my training notes next time, but I'm such an odd runner I'm not sure how useful they'll be to anyone else.