Saying "Goodbye"

Tonight was our last official get together for our half marathon class, we like to refer to it as our "mixer" (Great term L!). I am going to miss having class every week.  I am really truly sad to see it end - I will miss seeing everyone! Going into the class I wasn't even sure of what to expect. I wanted to have some accountability for my running.

What I didn't expect was to make friends with the people in my class - I mean, I figured I would be friendly... but I truly have a blast each and every week. It's been awesome getting to know people who have similar interests as me.

There aren't enough words to thank each and every person in that class, especially my "coach" - without them I never would have come as far as I have. I was planning to do a long reflective post on my half experience tonight, but instead, I decided to share a picture of all of the wonderful people in my half class.

Back Row: "C", "D", "S", "S", "P" and Front Row: me, "E", "J" and "L"

Again, thank you to each and every one of you.  And congratulations to all of you on a job well done with your race this last weekend.  I hope that we all continue to stay in contact and meet up for runs and dinners and such in the future!

P.S. If you are visiting my blog and cannot comment, please drop me a message at jenn@running4mylife.net

Praying to the "weather gods"

Not that long ago I posted a glorious forecast for the half this weekend. It seems that we may not get so lucky now - as of right now, here is our forecast:

I am praying it somehow gets better between now and then because I don't want to even consider running 13.1 miles in the 50s with rain!  Please, rain and half marathon gods, have pity on me? haha

Tonight is our last official half marathon class and I am super bummed about it.  I have grown very fond of our  weekly meetings.  Its been a great way to get out of the house and have some adult time and get to know other people who have similar goals as me.  I knew I would meet people, but I didn't realize that I would make such good friends with the people in the class.  We will apparently have a "mixer" after the half where we get together with the North class and go out to eat and discuss how the half went.  I am really looking forward to that.  Should be a great time.  

I am volunteering at Natalie's preschool today, my family gets here late tomorrow evening, and then starts the countdown to my first half marathon!  

Ready or not, its less than 70 hours from now!!! ahhhhhh!  Can't wait...

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Let me start off by saying I LOVE my Wednesday night running class and am not sure what I am going to do with myself after next week when its over.  I have met some fabulous people and while I know the friendships will continue, they all live way too far away in my opinion! hah!  Thank you "L" and "C" for being my Wednesday night running partners.  And a big thanks to "J" too even though I know he probably doesn't read this blog - its been great getting to know all of you guys and I know each and every one of you will blow your goals out of the water at F4F next week.  

Did I mention I am uber sad about this class ending?  Seriously, we have a blast in class!  Our running coach has been fantastic too - he is way better than most of us will ever be, but he has a way of relating to runners of all levels.  Honestly, for anyone living in the Ft Wayne area, I would recommend 3 Rivers Running Company's half marathon class.  

I went into this class not sure what I would be able to accomplish, and here I am just about 10 days out from my first half marathon.  I thought for sure I would be employing a run/walk strategy because I didn't believe I had it in me to run 13.1 miles.  My race plan at this point is to run all 13.1 miles, but I will allow myself 2 (maybe 3?) walk breaks.

We got some good suggestions tonight in class, our topic was final goal setting and such.  Of course, being so close to the half we are in a taper week.  This should mean that we are cutting back our mileage but keeping the intensity about the same.  "E" warned us tonight about being careful not to push too hard during runs as a result of feeling rested from the decreased mileage.  That's something I will have to be very mindful of the next 10 days. I am also going to have to be VERY careful during my 5k on Sunday.  I don't want to push too hard and hurt myself. I think it will be a struggle because I am always competitive with myself, it will be hard to go into it and not give it 110% percent. 

I ran alone tonight because "L" and "C" didn't have clothes to change into after running and it was cold and rainy.  I am still a bit envious of them - I am sure they had a great dinner and enjoyed talking about race strategy.  I had never run in the rain though, and I figured I should give it a shot so that if it rains on F4F day I won't be totally taken by surprise.  So, we said our goodbyes and I zipped up my new Asics Storm Shelter jacket and took off into the nastiness!  It was definitely less pleasant than I was expecting.  The rain was so cold and it was making it hard for me to see, and it was accompanied by a cold breeze. 

My first mile was in about 8:20 which was a bit speedier than normal but I got faster the longer I ran.  My overall pace was 8:10 minute/mile.  While this isn't uber fast, its 20-30 seconds faster per mile than I have been doing in my training runs.  I don't know if this extra speed was a result of my energy due to the cut back, or maybe it was a result of wanting to get inside and out of the cold?  I have a feeling it may be the latter.  

So now to try to counteract any leg soreness I am rocking my "new" Zensah calf sleeves.  I can't thank the person who sold them to me enough.  I honestly never thought my legs were that sore, but after putting these babies on tonight I can tell the difference!  LOVE them! 

Now I just need a full body compression garment to help with the ache in my hips and knees and everywhere else! Haha! 

Last but not least, because its still eating at me, I am REALLY going to miss my running class and seeing my half mary peeps! :-(  I am uber excited to run my first half marathon but sad that doing so will signal the end of this wonderful weekly ritual I have become accustomed to! 

Crawfordsville, Indiana Warrior Dash Reflections

So, I posted in great detail about the warrior dash earlier this week but I wanted to do a post that was more about my thoughts of the race as well as the "official stats".

         (yes, I realize this has my full name on it, but you could find that info anyway!)

Finishing time: 41:14.45 (this is slow due to stopping for pics, a tangled camera, and eventually a camera lost in the mud)
Age Group: 98 of 723
Gender: 376 of 2795
Overall: 2024 of 6726

Overall, I was very happy with this race.  I was impressed at how smoothly things went on race day.  I wish I would have run a faster time, but I knew going in this race wasn't about setting a PR - it was all about having a good time.  That being said, I don't think I had as much fun as you could have at this race for several reasons.
1.  I did the race alone.  I wasn't able to find someone to go with me.  I think this is the type of race that is more fun run with a group of friends.  Plus, running partners would also double as great event photographers.  I think the pictures would have been much more awesome with two or three of us taking pictures (especially of each other). It was impossible to get pictures of myself doing the obstacles, which would have been awesome!
2.  I did the race at 8 am.  I signed up for the earliest wave available because I wanted to be done early to avoid the heat, plus we had a family get together we needed to be at, it was a 5 hour car ride away.  I also did this because I was afraid of some of the obstacles.  I figured the earlier I went, the less likely that the obstacles would be messy, and less muddy = less slippery!

While I was right about the lack of mud on the obstacles, I felt like I missed out by being in an early wave.  It was a VERY small group - maybe 60-75 people.  This was great because it meant that the course wasn't crowded, but it meant that the excitement wasn't nearly as high.  I think I missed out on a huge part of the event by being in that small wave.  Next time I will opt for a late morning time - say 10 am or so?  This would allow you to be done before it was terribly hot but you would also get the benefit of having more people in your wave.  As far as the obstacles, they may be more muddy later in the day but I didn't think they were that difficult to begin with, so I think I would be okay.   I also plan to make a day of it next time, I would have loved to have stayed around for the "after party."  I think when you do this type of race thats a huge part of it.  Ah well, live and learn.  Overall I would give the race 9/10 stars (they lose a star for an inadequate warrior wash station).  However, MY race experience was probably a 7/10 (due to my circumstances, nothing to do with the race). 

Luckily, I didn't have nearly the injuries or soreness that I was anticipating.  After a weekend in Michigan, I came back and had to get back on my half marathon training schedule.  I ran my 4 miles Monday evening, it did not go well and I was dreading the rest of the week.  However, I was able to redeem myself with a nice easy 5 mile run on Wednesday morning.  I was scheduled to run 4 miles and ended up running 5 and I probably could have run more without fatigue!

Thursday evening I did a run/walk combo with the half marathon class - we did 4 miles with about 1 mile of it being running.  This was a bit less running that I would have liked, but it was for great reason.  We were with the "north class" so we spent a ton of time chatting and getting to know them.  It was great to meet a few more runners who are trying to prep for the same race I am.  I would be thrilled if I could find someone to run with (at least for my long runs)!

I have 10 miles scheduled for tomorrow morning and I am absolutely petrified that it will not go well.  I am planning to go to bed early tonight so that I can get enough sleep but I have spent most of the last two days outside supervising the install of our association playground.  I am nursing sunburn and feel dehydrated!   I will be pumping the fluids tonight in the hopes of getting myself fully hydrated before my run tomorrow.   I plan a blog post for tomorrow to document how it goes.  Say a prayer for me?  Mentally, I really need a good long run to prove to myself that I can do this!