Back In Action

I am back!  And things are changing...aka I will now be getting back to training for ANOTHER MARATHON and I am ready to start writing about that training as much as possible!

Remember how I was supposed to run the Rock 'N Roll Phoenix Half Marathon?  Well, that's not happening anymore.  I am still going to Phoenix to have a reunion weekend with UD friends, but will not be running the race.  Neither Liz nor I were training as much as we would've liked and since the other girls were not planning to run the race, we decided not to either.  This way we'll just get to hike, relax, and spend time with each other.

So what races do I have planned for this year so far??

April 6 - Go St. Louis Marathon Relay - Liz, Angela, and I (and one other girl - who wants to join our team?!?) are going to run the marathon relay so about 6-7 miles each.

May 4 - Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon - Technically I am not registered yet, but I really think I am going to make this my goal marathon.  Angela and I talked about it last week and decided it would be a fun one to do together and so it was settled.  There is a price increase at the end of January, so I will decide for sure by then, but I think this is what I'm going to go for.

And that's about all I have planned really, but I am sure more will come up.  Catherine and I have talked about doing the Elmhurst 4 on the 4th again and I also like to always do the Arlington Heights 4th of July 5k.  And I still really want to run a fast half marathon sometime, but I guess I just don't know which one yet!

So, starting today, I have 17 weeks to train for the Flying Pig Marathon.  Despite the record-setting frigid temperatures in Chicago (right now we are at -11, feels like -37), I really didn't want to miss day 1!  I haven't ran since 2013, over a week ago so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  But after risking my extremeties and face to walk half mile to the gym, I had to make it worth it.

I wore 22 articles of clothing on th way there, but on 7 articles of clothing to run in.  2 of these 7 articles were my brand new Nike Flyknit shoes that I got for Christmas.  They are super light and I thought they'd be perfect for running on the treadmill in the winter.

I started at 7.0 (~8:30 pace) and increased the speed by .1 everytime the song changed, so I ultimately ended up at 7.7 (7:47 pace).  I completed 4 miles in 32:40 (8:10 pace total average).  Right when I stopped, I thought I was going to pass out, so I tried to walk around a little and then just sat on the end of the treadmill.  I guess that's what not running for over a week will do to you.  But then I recovered and did some ab stuff.

Have you ever done a marathon relay?  Or any long distance relay?

Any good song ideas for a new running playlist?

My Upcoming Race Plans

So now that the Chicago Marathon is over, it's time for me to start thinking about what races I want to do next.

When it comes to races other than marathons, I'm usually a "decide a few days before and register at the last minute type of person."  And I'm sure I'll continue to do that, but I also want to pick a few races to specifically train for.

So currently, here are the races on my schedule:

10/27 - St. Louis Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon -  That's this Sunday!  My brother's girlfriend Erin decided to run her first half marathon so I made her a training plan that her and her mom (who also decided to run her first half!) have been following.  The three of us bought matching tank tops to wear in the race and I'm planning to run with Erin the whole time to help her through it.

11/28 - Edison Park Turkey Trot - Catherine and I have run this turkey trot together every year since high school.  It's a 5k race, not even timed (well, there's a clock, but no chips or awards or anything like that), and we have been running it Bandit-style the last few years...literally.  Our high school mascot was the Bandits and we acquired some jerseys, paired it with tiger print shorts, and turkey headbands, and the "Bandit Turkey Tiger" was born.

So that's not really a race to train for, we just run it together for fun.  But I think I have decided on my next real race to train for/try to PR at.  And that is:

1/19 - Phoenix Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon - My UD friend Molly lives in Phoenix and is running the full marathon.  And then I found out another UD friend Emma just moved to Phoenix and her BFF Liz (who is also one of my good friends and I ran XC with at Dayton) said she'd come out for that weekend and run it too!  A half marathon right around this time would be perfect because it will give me 12 weeks to train, starting Monday.  I haven't registered or booked a flight yet, but I'm thinking I will soon after I discuss plans more with Liz, Molly, and Emma.  Hopefully it will keep me training hard as the weather gets colder and will be a fun long weekend!

But then...the big question...what marathon will I do next?  Why am I already thinking about another one in the first place?  I go back and forth between saying "I never want to run that far again" and "I could run even faster."

I decided I won't do a marathon at least until the spring, probably April or May.  Ideally my next marathon will be:

4/21 - Boston Marathon - But it's already closed.  How can I run it?  I will tell you how.  I entered a contest sponsored by PowerBar for anyone who has a valid qualifying time but did not get to register.  The Chicago Marathon was a few weeks after the Boston Marathon filled, so I would not otherwise have a chance to run it until 2015.  And given all that happened this past year, I think 2014 will be THE year to run it.  I'll save sharing the link to my entry until Facebook voting is active from 11/1 - 11/10, but just a heads up!

Four runners will be selected based on Facebook votes and a panel of judges.  As of this morning there were about 160 entries (with 2 more days to enter).  So winning this contest would obviously be my first option, but in case that doesn't work out, here are my options for a spring marathon:

4/6 - Go! St. Louis Marathon
4/19 - Louisville Derby Festival Marathon
4/26 - Illinois Marathon
5/4 - Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon
5/18 - Cleveland Marathon

I chose a few options all within driving distance on different weekends and probably wouldn't commit to one for awhile still.  I have quite a few weddings next summer, so my spring weekends will be filled with bridal showers and bachelorette parties.  Until I find out dates for those special events, I can't commit to a marathon yet...and just hope that at least one of these options will work.  But let's go for Boston as a first choice - the Monday of Easter weekend - shouldn't be any bridal events then.

And depending on which spring marathon I do, I also might want to try to run another half, particularly this one if the timing works out:

4/5 - Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon - It's in driving distance, in the spring, a small race, and age group winners win a trophy shaped like the bust of Lincoln.  That's the real reason I want to do it and will race hard.  That bad boy would look great on my dresser or on my desk at work.

Other than those, I'm sure some other 5Ks, 10Ks, or half marathons will pop up...like the Ditka Dash 5K.  I want to do that one if someone will do it with me!

Let me know if you have any other good suggestions or want a visitor wherever you live!  I'd gladly travel somewhere for a new race  :)  My Aunt Sonja was pushing for me to come visit them in Anchorage in June for the marathon there, but I am already committed to a wedding that weekend so an Alaskan race will have to wait.

Race Recap: CHICAGO MARATHON 2013

Well, the Chicago Marathon is over!  I have so much to say about it and don't know where to start, so this will probably end up a little scattered, but I'll do my best.  And I'll also probably have a post every day this week on various events of race weekend (the expo, the pasta party, the recovery, etc.) but I'll try to keep this one to the actual race recap.

Summary/spoiler alert: I finished in 3:23:15!  A PR by close to 6 minutes and Boston Qualifier!

My parents dropped off Angela, Olivia, and I as close as they could to the starting area and we made our way through the security checkpoints.  The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect for marathon running, but the morning was rather chilly.  We were wearing clothes that we could discard at the start line and never see again - to be donated to a homeless shelter in Chicago.  Angela and I discarded our clothes right before entering the corral and a man with a vest that said "Clothing Donations" was on his walkie talkie saying "we are going to need way more bins."  There were mountains of sweatpants and sweatshirts all around.

We also waited in a really long porta-potty line...but glad we did so before the race.  Once we got settled in a spot in the corral, it was time to go within about 5-10 minutes.

The first 8 miles of the race flew by.  It was definitely the easiest/most fun hour-ish of running I've ever done.  Our goal was to start at 8 minute pace for 4 miles and then pick it up to 7:30-7:40.  I don't remember splits exactly, but I think the first mile was 7:49 so we said we could ease up a bit.  The problem was that we were stuck behind the 3:30 pace group which was huge and taking up a lot of space all running together.  So over the next 3 miles, we were still doing about 7:45-7:50 working our way up and around that 3:30 group, but still not trying to go too fast.

We saw so many people throughout the course - the first being Catherine and Matt around mile 3.  I almost missed them but luckily they saw us and called out...and I heard them over my awesome playlist of music which will be a whole separate post because obviously you need to know exactly what I listened to for 26.2 miles.

 

I think I could also write a decent amount on all my spectators and signs, so I will save that for later, but the important thing right now is that I saw my family around mile 4.5 for the first time and I was STARVING (I'll explain why when I write about the pasta party...do you like all my cliffhangers?) so I yelled to my mom to buy me a bagel.

Sure enough, when I saw them again around mile 11, my dad had the bagel for me so I grabbed half and ate it while running.  I took water at every water stop, and Gatorade at I think only 2 during the first half and every station the 2nd half.  Apparently when you lose a lot of sodium, your body essentially starts producing salt, so I had a white ring around my face when I finished.  I also took GU Energy Gel 3 times throughout the race - around miles 9, 16, and 22.

Angela and I didn't talk much throughout the race, but when we did, the conversation went like this:

*Pass a mile marker*

"7:32"

"We should slow down a little and save it for later"

"Yeah, we should"

*Pass a mile marker*

"7:26"

"We should slow down"

"Yeah, we should"

*Pass a mile marker*

"7:34"

"This is comfortable, but we should maybe slow down a little more"

"Yeah, we should"

But we did not slow down.  I personally am glad we did not...hopefully Angela feels OK about it.  I know it is best to run negative or even splits (or even slightly positive splits at the marathon distance since negative/even splits are extremely difficult at that distance), but I also knew that by the time we were at mile 9, I needed to just go with it while I felt good.  And I did feel really good.  Angela decided to ease up a little and dropped back from me around mile 15-16.

(professional photo by MarathonFoto)

Around mile 19, Mac magically appeared.  I was very surprised because he had passed Angela and I around mile 10, but apparently he made a bathroom pit stop somewhere along the way.  He and I ran together for about the next 2 miles until he started to fade back a little.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with how even my pacing was for all of the race.  Yes, I died off the last 10k, but not nearly as much as I could have (or did during my previous marathons).  I ran it pretty exactly according to my plan.  Since I knew I wanted to beat my time from the Columbus Marathon in 2010 and I knew my splits from that race at the 10k, half, and 20 mile marks, that's what I was comparing myself to.  I was 1:40 ahead of pace at the 10k, which worried me a little because I was afraid maybe we did go out a little too fast.  But actually, I remember thinking I was only 40 seconds ahead...not a minute and 40 seconds.

(professional photo by MarathonFoto) 

And it's a good thing I did think that because at the half, I was 58 seconds ahead of my first half of Columbus.  And knowing myself, if I would've thought that I went from being 1:40 ahead of pace to only 0:58 ahead of pace, that might've mentally screwed me up a bit...but what you don't know can't hurt you.

After we hit the halfway mark, my plan was just to make it to 20 as fast as I could, knowing that no matter what, the last 10k was going to be miserable.  I wanted to/thought I could be at mile 20 between 2:31 and 2:34.  My brain was shut down at this time, but I think I remember being there right around 2:32:00 - 2:32:30, which was 2 to 2 and a half minutes ahead of my Columbus pace.  I didn't mentally put that split into my head though because I thought they recorded a 20 mile split with the chip so I figured I'd look later, but I guess not.

(professional photo by MarathonFoto)

Where I started to really struggle was around mile 18.  I knew I had about an hour or so to go and knew I could do it, but that's where I did start to experience some mental doubt in how fast I could realistically do those last 8 miles...I went from feeling pretty awesome to not so great pretty darn quickly.  I made the decision to walk through the next water stop I saw and that I'd walk through each one after that, which is also exactly what I did in Columbus.

So I would run all the way to the very last Gatorade person at each water station, take that cup, and start walking while I drank it and then take one of the very first cups of water, drink what I could, and make myself start running.  I imagine each stop was about 30 seconds, but really I had no concept of time.  I once again surprised myself with the fact that I really did make myself start running ASAP after drinking my liquids.

The last mile was pretty much the worst thing ever, especially "Mt. Roosevelt," the small hill within in the final 400 meters of the course. By this point I really knew I was going to finish in a great time though, so that made me push throug that final mile. And I saw Aunt Bernadette  saying "you're doing it!" Because she knew I would PR.

And then I finished!!

 (professional photo by MarathonFoto)

So I have a lot more details I could share and want to share, but those will come later this week because I've done enough rambling for now.  Basically, the race went as perfect as it could have and my pacing was better (more even...not quite as much dying at the end) than I could've ever expected from myself.

Guest Post: Catherine's Running Craziness and Taper Secrets

I’ve known Colleen since freshman year of high school.  We had a lot of classes together, but more importantly, we were on the track team together (and cross-country team junior and senior year when Colleen came to her senses and realized running was way cooler than tennis).  It was through running that Colleen and I became best friends and truly embraced each others craziness.  And let me just tell you, running together year round can bring out a whole lot of craziness!  For instance… 

• We ran together all summer talking about saving money for mini iPods, Kenny Chesney, and how it weirdly always smelled like donuts (I finally spotted the Dunkin Donuts during one of our last runs that summer).
•  We ran for literally hours at a time in the halls of Res when it was too cold or icy to run outside during winter track.
• We would go entire runs speaking only in Spanish to practice for the AP Spanish Exam (ahora, pon en marcha…)
• We became obsessed with all things York and Elmhurst.
• We also became obsessed with tigers and discussed tigers body slamming runners on the track (hence the “tiger” shorts in the Bandit Turkey Tigers.
• We know to always do an equal number of crunches so we don’t get stomach bulges (thanks Coach Mickey!)
• We ran the former CDC together as our first half marathon, where we met John “the Penguin” Bingham and received the coolest deck ofcards that are still in mint condition.
• And most importantly, we stayed crazy enough to keep running and train for half marathons and marathons.
• Unfortunately, due to real life and work schedules, Colleen and I don’t get to run together nearly as often as we would like.  But, we still talk about running constantly and share the crazy things that happen while we run…

• After having my water bottle stolen during multiple track workouts at Olympia Park, I finally took measures into my own hands: 

• I was just running along in the early morning hours, minding my own business, lost in my thoughts, and then bam, my shoulder hits a car’s side mirror. Sadly, this happened more times than I care to admit to the World Wide Web.
• I made friends with a construction worker in Norwood Circle.  It a little over a mile around, which was perfect for my paced and tempo runs, so I ran there every Friday.  They’ve been fixing the sewers there since May so one worker started to recognize me and would count my laps as I passed each week.
• We began running so far that 12 mile step back weeks seemed short
• Colleen had some adventures with crazy exercise contraptions. 

So as you can see, marathon training gets kind of crazy, but the marathon taper can make you even crazier.  Since I just finished my taper for the Fox Valley Marathon I figured I would share some tips to help stay calm, stay focused, and reduce the crazy in the weeks leading up to a big race. 

•  Test out your race day attire.
• Test out your race day fueling.

(Props to Colin Meyer for coming up with the best way to carry gu on your shorts – comfortable and easy removal!)

• Get lots of rest, drink lots of fluid, make sure your salt and electrolytes stay in balance (you’ll especially want to do this if temperatures are going to be in the 90s…trust me :/)
•  Have confidence in your training and yourself.
•  Stay positive and keep reminding yourself why you run.  You might question yourself during the later miles of the race, so remember that not only did you choose to do the marathon, but you actually paid money to experience this pain.
• Remember to have fun and enjoy the race!  You trained all summer for this!

In looking back at my race day experience, I think what made the biggest difference this year compared to my other marathons was my mental preparation.  Although the last few miles were extremely difficult and pretty much everything was hurting, I did not let that pain get into my head.  Instead, I kept reminding myself that this is how I am supposed to feel and if I wasn’t in pain, I wouldn’t be running fast enough.  During the taper, I repeatedly focused on why I love running, how blessed I am to be able to run, how I am ready for the marathon, and that I can handle the pain.  So then, when that unavoidable pain set in during the race, I was able to recall these positive thoughts and remind myself that it is supposed to hurt.  The mental game continues even when the race is over. You spend months and months preparing for this one day, and then just like that, it’s over!  Remember that a marathon is a journey, not a destination, and we keep running even after we cross the finish line.   And so I leave you with one of my favorite quotes; it is applicable to all walks (or “runs”) of life and is perfectly suited for the marathon.

"It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

(Tom Hanks, A League of Their Own)

Fox Valley Marathon - Spectating Catherine's PR

There are 3 weeks left until the Chicago Marathon!!  (Actually less than that since it's Monday, but 3 training weeks left since I haven't done my run today yet.)  So that means it's time to taper!

Quick recap of last week:

Monday -  20.5 miles

Tuesday - 3.5 miles

Wednesday - REST

Thursday - REST

Friday - 5.5 miles

Saturday - 20 miles

Sunday - REST

Total Mileage - ~49

I realized I never wrote about that 5.5 mile run on Friday.  It was nothing too special.  I ran in the morning, so most of the run was in the dark.  I need daylight savings time to come ASAP.  I think we are still about a month away from that though.  So until then, I'll stick to running in the evening.

Yesterday I went to watch Catherine and Matt run the Fox Valley Marathon!  And Catherine did AMAZING and ran a HUGE PR - 3:26:58.  I don't want to tell you to many details though because she is already working on a guest post for this week!  So I'll tell the spectator side of the story.

Mac and I (he had a friend running as well and was kind enough to drive us out to St. Charles) missed the very start of the race, but we showed up to the 2 mile mark EXACTLY as Catherine and Matt ran by.  We almost missed them, but it was Matt who called out to us so that we could spot them.  Then we waited there a little bit for Ashleigh, who we just met the day before at the Coach Brendan Running group.  We told her we'd be there and would cheer for her and make her a sign.  I think she was shocked when she actually saw us with a sign for her.

The next stop was around 5 miles and we were supposed to also see them a few minutes later, after they looped around a peninsula on the river, but we miscalculated that and somehow missed them.

Then we drove down near the river where we could see the runners at mile 10 and 17.  Luckily Matt had made up some directions for us to follow so we knew where the good spectator spots were.  Mac and I met up with Catherine's parents and Matt's dad and sister Gina.  Gina was cheering for EVERYONE by name and I finally asked how she knew so many people running?!?  Their names were on their race bibs!  So then we all had fun cheering for everyone by name.  We got to see pretty much every single person running the marathon at this spectator spot since it is an out and back course so we saw the end of the crowd still cruising through at the 10 mile mark as the lead runners made their way back and approached mile 17.

We had one more stop around miles 21-22 and also used the grossest bathroom ever in a park.  It was another location where we could see them pass by twice which was cool.

Then we raced to the finish line and I got there just in time to watch them cross the line!  Catherine finished strong, but running a PR marathon takes a lot out of you.  Luckily Matt was there to hold her up.

After the race, we enjoyed freeze pops, bagels, etc.  Yes, WE enjoyed them.  I was starving so Matt grabbed me a bagel and Catherine brought out a few freeze pops from the finishers area to commemorate our high school cross country summer camp days when we ate freeze pops after each run.  Then we relaxed and reveled in all the excitement of the morning!  And took pictures.

Catherine will be writing a race recap post this week and also has a few other fun running things to share, so definitely look forward to that!!

And now I need to go do my own run and since it's already getting dark...TREADMILL.  WOOF.  But I figure this way I can use my phone for music since my iPod died and I have yet to revive it.  Let's all pray that it can be saved.

Weekend Photo Bomb - 9/6 - 9/8

Here's a sampling of the weekend in pictures!

Friday - Rachel is training for the Fox Cities Half Marathon and needed to do a long run.  I met up with her after work on Friday to bike while she ran.  It was a great time catching up!

When I showed up to meet Rachel, we had matching running fanny packs!

About 5 miles in and still smiling!  She finished 11 miles woohooo!!  I am only half a good friend though because I left after about 6 miles because I was planning to drive home for the night.

On my way home, I went to hang out with Catherine and Matt for a little bit.  Catherine is officially in marathon taper mode now!  Her marathon is in 2 weeks, and trust me, she is working on a good guest post to write for my blog afterwards.

Saturday - Mac and I went to the Chicago Half Marathon Expo at Navy Pier.  We ran there about 2 miles and then walked around the expo for awhile.  I found 2 of the Sweaty Bands headbands to complete the marathon outfits that Angela and I will wear!  Since we had our race bags from the Expo, we just had a nice stroll back home instead of running.  And who wants to run very much the day before a race?

I can't decide what was the better purchase of the day - the headbands or the socks.  Both were better (and cheaper) than the half marathon purchase.  Races are too expensive.  But I am glad we did it.

Sunday - Chicago Half Marathon! I am going to do a whole race recap tomorrow, but here's some of the basics...  I finished in 1:42:04.  I was hoping for a little faster, but I'm over it.  Mac and his friend Bryce ran too.  This was the first half marathon for each of them and I think they were pretty pumped about the medals.  We are all winners.

And here's a giant picture of the slice of Lou Malnati's pizza we each got after the race!

Despite having the pizza right after running, that obviously wasn't enough so we went out to Elly's for breakfast.  They have such amazing pancakes.  And I ran into some other friends there too!

I hope everyone had a great weekend too!

10 Mile Tuesday & MARATHON OUTFIT !!

So boring stuff out of the way first.  I ran 10.4 miles in 1:23:15 (8 minute pace average) after work last night.  Really nothing eventful at all.  My legs were super tight from Monday's hill workout so the first few miles were difficult.  I stopped to stretch about 4 miles in and 8 miles in and then felt a lot better after each time.  A few weeks/months ago I probably would've been super pumped about this run and the fact that I did it after work.  But now 10 miles seems just slightly longer than normal and not nearly as difficult as it used to be.  And now that I've done a 19 mile run after work, I guess I don't have any excuses if my weekends are busy with something else.

And now I want to share something that I am beyond super excited about!  MARATHON OUTFITS!!!

Here's what Angela and I are going to wear:

Unfortunately, I don't think there are actually any Dayton Flyers running singlets out there on the market (even though there totally should be), so we had to improvise.  We bought white Nike singlets from Dick's and took them to a screen-printing shop in the mall to have the logo put on.

I have to give most of the credit for the idea to Catherine (and her brother Mike).  Mike wanted to get Cath and Matt Notre Dame Singlets for Christmas.  It's even more surprising that he couldn't find ND running singlets, but he couldn't.  So he bought plain singlets and had them screen printed with the ND IRISH logo on the front.  And look at Matt helping Cath run along with water bottle in hand!  Can't wait to cheer for you both in a few weeks at the Fox Valley Marathon!!

And as for the rest of the outfit, I don't think we have everything 100% figured out yet, but it will obviously be awesome.  We discussed the options thoroughly on our bike ride last weekend.  Angela wants to wear black spandex shorts.  I was planning to wear gray regular running shorts, but could possibly wear black spandex as well too.  I need to try doing some longer runs in them first though...I LOVE long spandex, but sometimes the shorts ride up a little too much for me.

Either way, matching bottoms aren't nearly as important as the tops.  Another awesome thing is that the Dayton Flyers logo is high up enough on the singlet that the bib number won't cover it up.

Next step in completing the outfit is matching headbands.  I think we are going to look at the Sweaty Bands website to find some.  I took a look already and want this blue sparkly one I think.  Or red.  Or silver or gold.  I think any of those would go with the outfit nicely.  Matching outfits and glitter are 2 things I love, so put the 2 together and I am a happy girl.

 

Shoes are obviously picked out already.  I've been slowly breaking them in, alternating between this green pair and the older pink pair (both Brooks Adrenaline).  I definitely will not be wearing those green socks though, since they are probably long gone in the garbage.   A few weeks ago I bought 2 new packs of socks and threw away any that had holes.  I have a gift card for Fleet Feet, so maybe I'll splurge on some fancy running socks.

Another issue could be the weather.  Unless it's as low as 30-40 degrees (or lower), I think I'll be fine in just the tank.  If it is any colder I might have to wear a long-sleeve shirt underneath, but we'll have to figure that out as the day gets closer.

Hmmm what else will I be wearing?  I'll have to pick which sports bra to wear.  Maybe just blue or black.  And my running fanny pack!!  It's called a SPI Belt and it's awesome and doesn't bounce much and now I don't have to carry my GU in my sports bra.

That little watch you see in the picture - I'll be wearing that too.  I don't want to wear the Garmin during the race.  I would look at the pace way too much.  Just knowing every mile will be just fine.  So...I hope that covers everything and that I don't have to add things like a hat and gloves to this list.

How do you carry things like GU when you run?

Do you ever wear special outfits for racing?

The 2nd Annual Joe Marathon

Today was The 2nd Annual Joe Marathon!  Just like last year, it was a success even though this year was slightly different because we did it as a relay.

Uncle Joe started running at 5:30am from his house.  Grandma, Grandpa, and some members of his family were up to see him off and follow him by car, but not many of the rest of us were even up yet.  Jessica joined in at mile 8.

Aunt Terry also joined by bike and after about 2 hours from the starting time, they arrived at the halfway point of the marathon course.  We stopped for a quick picture of course and then I set out on my way.

I was running from mile 13.1 to mile 20. I was the only runner during my leg, but after Uncle Joe took a few minutes to recover from his birthday morning half marathon, he caught up with me on bike so I would have someone with me.  I was also trying out mom's Garmin to see if I want to get one for myself. It was nice to have, but also felt like I was looking at it a lot. And as Uncle Rob said, it takes the fun out of doing calculations in your head while you're running. I'll keep trying it this week though.

I finished my 6.9 miles in 55:10 so right at 8 minute pace which I was happy with especially after yesterday's long run.  Since I had the Garmin, I can see my splits and they were: 8:01, 8:09, 8:01, 8:00, 7:59, 7:49, then 7:03 for the last .9.  I was glad the splits were relatively consistent/got slightly faster rather than slower.  This will be fun to use the Garmin and analyze my runs...I think I might over-analyze though.  I was wiped out when I finished my run.  It would probably make me run a lot faster on my normal runs to know I have 10 people anxiously awaiting my arrival and with water and Gatorade.

It was nice to have a little cheering section waiting for me approximately every mile and a half along my route.  They would find a little strip mall or parking lot to stop in, wait for me to run by, cheer, and offer water.  That was hard work too, especially so early in the morning.  But you can all sleep in tomorrow since you're on summer vacation!

Aunt Bernadette was part of the group waiting at mile 20 so that she could take over as runner. She was so excited to get going and set out to finish the last 10k. She had 3 bikers with her - Uncle Joe, cousin Joe, and Uncle Ron. They seemed to be having a good time and the Muellers showed up to cheer during these last couple miles too.

Aunt Bernadette successfully finished The Joe Marathon as our anchor leg! Everyone was proud of the accomplishments of the day and happy to be a part of it. We sang happy birthday to Uncle Joe again and all went inside to celebrate with bagels, donuts, fruit, etc.

Last Year's Inaugural "The Joe Marathon"

The Joe Marathon is possibly one of the greatest things ever created.

"Inspired by Shannon who asked, 'why do you pay for a marathon, why don't you just run in the streets?'"

Uncle Joe told us he was going to plan a marathon to run in the streets around Arlington Heights.  Until the week and the day before, we really had no idea how much planning he put into it.  And he didn't know how much we planned also, by creating special t-shirts for the occasion.  What good is a race without a t-shirt?

The race took place on 6/30/12 (Uncle Joe's birthday) at what was supposed to be 6:30am, but was moved up to 5:30am due to the heat.  He trained for the race in the months beforehand, and eventually mapped out his route of 26.2 miles starting and ending at their house.  The course passed by a lot of special locations, including the houses of most of our relatives in the area.  The night before the race, Uncle Joe drove around placing yellow signs like this one at every mile marker.

On race day, I think almost everyone from the Smith family participated somehow (except the R. Smiths who were in Hawaii, so that's a good enough excuse), whether it was by running or biking with Uncle Joe or just being outside to cheer, support, and hand out water.  Of course, Grandma and Grandpa brought donuts for anyone not running.  Catherine came out to participate too!  Another surprise to Uncle Joe besides the t-shirt was the police escort he got near the end of the race.  Since Grandpa volunteers at the police department, he has lots of connections.  Uncle Joe planned the course so that there weren't too many major streets to cross to avoid traffic.  But near the end, he had to cross a busy intersection and by that time it was a little later in the morning so traffic was a bit heavier.  Grandpa got his police buddies to STOP traffic in the intersection during this segment of the race!

This year's Joe Marathon is taking place on 6/30 again, but will be a little different.  Uncle Joe did not have time to train for a full marathon this year, and neither has anyone else.  So it's going to be run relay style.  Anyone who wanted to run decided how many miles they can do and since we already have the 26.2 mile course, why not use it to make a relay-style marathon?

Uncle Joe will run from the start to the halfway point, 13.1 miles, with the help of Jessica for the last few miles.  I'll run from the halfway point of The Joe to mile 20 to get in a 7 mile run on Sunday.  Aunt Bernadette will take over at mile 20 and run to the finish.  Maybe if I'm feeling good I'll keep running a little bit with her.  Many other family members have also offered to bike, take pictures, or provide support stations with water and cheering throughout the course.  It should be a fun event!