Today was EPIC!

At least, it felt that way.  I haven't talked about it a ton on my blog because I wanted it today to be low-key with no pressure to reach a certain goal.  I figured that if I didn't talk about or think about it, I could could keep my stress to a minimum.  And guess what, it worked!  Enough being cryptic - I ran my third half marathon today!  That makes 3 half marathons in just under two months, and it was fantastic!

I actually didn't sign up for this race until after St Louis... I wanted to see how I felt after that race.  I had figured if I felt good after St Louis I would sign up for the half, and if I felt terrible after I would run the 5k.  Anyway, the race I ran today was the Veterans Half Marathon in Columbia City.  Like I mentioned, they also offered a 5k plus a full marathon.  This was a small city race, and I knew that going in. I wasn't expecting a whole lot of the race and I think that made the day that much more awesome for me.  The "swag" was okay, not much in the bag mostly race handouts with a pen and a race cling sticker thing.  The big "swag" was a fleece vest, I would have much preferred the full coat they had last year but what can ya do?

Because it was a small race the lines for the port-a-johns were not too bad.  The race started promptly at 8:00 am.  I wore my sweat shirt until the race started and then took it off right before getting to where Tommy was to be standing.  Apparently he didn't see me running towards him until I threw the coat at him.  So, I have no pictures of my start, not even my butt running away from him - BOO!

As far as mile, by mile, I don't have a ton of detail.  The full and the half marathon were the same course for the first 13.1 miles, then they looped the other side of town.  I hear the second half was hillier than the first - my half marathon coach said it was the hardest marathon course he's ever run! Because the course was mostly run in the country there weren't a whole lot of landmarks that I can go back and calculate where I was.

I know I felt pretty good until mile 5 or so, other than some pain in my metatarsal bones that I am attributing to my shoes - not to self, go to the running store again, UGH. I decided that when I got to mile 6 I would look at my time and consider walking a bit.  At mile 6, I was ahead of a sub 2 time so I walked about a minute then started running again until I hit mile 7 and repeated that process until about the last 2-3 miles.  I was really starting to feel the speed I was running at wearing on my body.  I sort of fell apart those last 2-3 miles, I would love to someday be good enough to feel like I am running strong for a whole 13.1 miles - maybe that will be my goal for 2012?

I was so happy to see the finish line, I was exhausted but I gave it my all and pushed as hard as I could.... I knew I was going to PR, the question was whether I could manage my sub 2:00 that I missed in September.  Funny how when I wasn't focused on it I was able to achieve my goal, I crossed the finish line and Tommy got this awesome picture of me, and my official time!

Yep, I SMASHED my sub 2:00 goal, and beat my previous PR by 5:19... HOLY CRAP.  FIVE MINUTES? Wow, so proud of myself!  Okay I am done "tooting my own horn" now, but seriously.. so happy!  

The good: 

 - each mile was marked with awesome mile markers, I loved seeing this every mile! 

 - despite being a small race I found the crowd support to be awesome, I would say I didn't go more than half a mile without seeing a group of people out cheering (and this is out in the country) 

 - the spectators were MUCH more enthusiastic and cheering for everyone, I actually found their support to be better than the spectators at Fort 4 Fitness back in September

 - PR smashing, need I say more? 

 - awesome volunteers and course support

 - taking set walk breaks helped the last miles go faster and made me feel less guilty for taking them

 - NO BATHROOM STOPS (those of you who have been following me for a while know how big this is)

The bad: 

- started feeling fatigued at mile 6

- ran out of fluids by mile 10

- my hands were SO swollen I could hardly bend my fingers, I normally swell but this was excessive

- was slightly hot in direct sun

- no landmarks to remember for trying to do a better recap of how the race went for me

- falling apart in the last 2-3 miles

- 2 dead animals on the road during the race

- looking at the 5k results and realizing if I had run that I would have taken first in my age group for sure.  And the awards were awesome.

Overall - would I do it again/would I recommend it for others?  ABSOLUTELY.  I had a great time and I think it was a pretty course minus the few dead animals.  They had a great set up and the volunteers and crowd support were awesome especially for a small race.  I liked that it was more low key than the St Louis race (though I think there is a time for both types of races).  

Race Specific Details

78th overall out of 208 finishers (2 were DQ/DNF)

Just a few pictures, for now, working on figuring out how to embed an album with a different site...

My face is painful here!

Thumbs up for the camera!

Love to take these pics with my kiddos!

Eric, my half marathon "coach," finishing the marathon strong, he  missed 1st place by only 24 seconds! 

Obligatory Metal Picture

Blogger slacking and Pumpkin Run Recap

there is NO excuse for the slacking I have been doing lately.  Not just in the blogging realm, but also in my dieting and "healthy living" as well.  Its frustrating to me to see that I am back-pedaling but I am working hard to get my head back in the game and get back on track.  That's part of the reason I haven't been blogging, I have been trying to move my body more outside of just working out - cleaning house, chasing my kids, etc.

I ran a race this last weekend, I suppose I should do a race recap/report.  The race I ran was called the Pumpkin Run and was put on by the Parkview Whitley Foundation and benefited the Parkview Whitley Hospice.  (While this is a great cause, its still a bit weird to me to have a funeral home as the top sponsor on the back of my race shirt! haha)  They offered a 5k, 10k, and a 1k kids fun run.   I signed Natalie up to run the kids fun run and myself to do the 5k.  I debated doing the 10k but decided the weekend after a half marathon I should do the lower mileage.

The race started at 2:00 on Sunday which would not typically be my first choice.  With my sensitive stomach I ate breakfast but was afraid to eat lunch.  This meant that I didn't really eat between breakfast and dinner - not fun!  

Source

Anyway, Natalie's fun run started at 1:30.  She was really pumped and excited and I think I was even more excited than her.  This was going to be my first time running with her.   The kids race was just a quick loop around the hospital.  We lined up with the other kids and waited for the start - when they started the run Natalie stated off pretty enthusiastically.  Unfortunately, if you check out this picture to the right - you can tell that it didn't go as well as I would have liked!   She kept saying that she wanted to walk and was "too tired," I just kept encouraging her that she needed to run the whole time even if it was slow.  I want to teach her to never give up.  Despite her tears in this picture, I truly believe she had a good time and was happy to have completed it.  It was only 1k but she's not a super active 4 year old - she gets her personality and demeanor from her daddy!  And, I don't mean that in a bad way - she just would rather watch tv or play video games than run a kilometer.  Call me a bad parent if you have to, but I am determined to get her motivated to be healthy.  And, she was super proud of the ribbon she got for completing the run.  I think Natalie and I are going to start having "Mommy and Me" workout time!  And, just a few more pictures to prove I really am not the worst mother ever and she truly enjoyed herself...

It was kind of nice running Natalie's little fun run before my 5k because it gave me a chance to loosen up my muscles a bit.  It was SO cold that there was no way that I was warmed up after that run, but at least my muscles weren't totally cold!  If I could do any one thing differently it would be that I would have worn something warmer!  This event was chipped time but there was no start line to cross, everyone's chips started at the "whistle."  Because of this I tried to get to the front of the group but I wasn't able to so I settled for a spot about halfway back. The race started out going uphill - how cruel!  I started off way to fast, which is nothing out of the ordinary of course.  The route was pretty straight forward, it was an out and back from the hospital through Morsches park and back to the hospital. What I didn't anticipate was the large portion (roughly 1/3) of this race that would be run on grass.  For most runners the grass would be a good thing, but with my peroneal tendonitis, the uneven ground can really screw with my leg and cause pain. I tried to slowly pass runners, we were running with the 10k people for most of the race so I had no clue who was running what.  I just kept trying to put one foot in front of the other and running with all my energy.

I don't remember many details of the course, but I do remember they had a water stop at somewhere around 2 miles.  I took a bit of water and immediately regretted it because I poured half of it on myself - with cold and wind it felt like my arm was frozen to the bone.  At one point near mile 3, we were running up hill on a paved trail and I started to lose my balance, luckily there was a tree nearby so I put my hand out and caught myself before I totally wiped out.   Shortly after my near fall, we exited Morsches Park and the 10k runners turned right while the 5k runners turned left to head to the finish line.  I was so beat but I kept pushing myself telling myself that I wanted to finish strong and I really didn't want to walk during a 5k. I slowed down a couple times during the race to catch my breath but never stopped to walk.    The only thing more cruel than the uphill start was that there was an incline to the finish line.  I pushed across the finish line and saw my time was just shy of 27:00 minutes, normally this would disappoint me but I knew ahead of time that the course measured long.  They told us it measured close to 3.5 miles - my garmin put it at 3.39 miles.

While it wasn't my fastest showing, I was pleased with how well I did.  It had only been a week since my last half marathon and I hadn't put in many runs that week to prepare.  I ended up finishing as the 1st overall female in the 5k - talk about excited!  I need to run in Columbia City more often, thats where I got my other overall female award!    A few more statistics from the race, for my record...

Official Time: 26:52.06
  **FIRST OVERALL FEMALE!** woohoo (got a medal as well as an orange tech shirt as prize)
Finished 6 of 86 runners in the 5k

Mile 1: 7:33 min/mile
Mile 2: 7:53 min/mile
Mile 3: 8:10 min/mile
last .4 mile : 8:01 min/mile on avg

And some pictures for your viewing pleasure :)