ZOOMA Chicago Half Marathon!

Alright everyone, I'm doing something that I rarely do.  I am committing to a half marathon more than 3 days in advance!  I think I did 3 half marathons last year, and each one I registered for within just a few days of.  (I did the same thing with the triathlon last summer too - but it's OK, it was just a sprint distance.)  I don't like to be tied down I guess.  And honestly, I'm usually in good enough shape to run 13.1 miles, but this year - I want to run 13.1 miles FAST and I know which race I'm going to do it at!

ZOOMA Chicago Half Marathon!

So here are the details:

Who: Me!  You!  Your girlfriends!

I want you to join me in the race!  I even have a discount code for you - CAMB9.

What: Half Marathon or 10k

Both races are CARA (Chicago Area Runner's Association) certified.  Choose whichever distance you feel most comfortable running.  And my discount code is good for BOTH the half marathon or 10k  :)

When: Saturday, August 9th

I think the when is one of my favorite parts of this race!  It's a SATURDAY morning!  What does this mean?  It means running the race won't have you stressed out all weekend.  After the Saturday morning race, you will have time to relax at the post-race activities (which includes recovery yoga and Barefoot Wine!!), and then enjoy the rest of your Saturday in Chicago.  It's perfect for anyone out of town who wants to have a girls weekend in Chicago, run a race, and still have time to enjoy this great city!

Running the Chicago Marathon?  Or another fall marathon?  This is a perfect time to test out your pacing, get in a fun long run, and/or see how your training is progressing!

Where: Chicago Lakefront

The race takes place on the scenic Chicago Lakeshore.  Ahh the lakefront in the summer - doesn't that sound like a dream right now?

Why: So Many Reasons!

The ZOOMA mission is to inspire women to live healthy, happy, & active lives.  To do this, the company (which is run completely by women!), offers boutique racing events that are perfect for a girls weekend!

You will get this awesome shirt and a ton of other swag.

 

And the medal is cool too!  It is both a medal (to hang proudly in your home) AND has a detachable necklace (to wear around with you all the time).  Personally, I wish a could just wear my actual medal around all the time, but this is a close alternative :)  (If I was an Olympic medalist I WOULD be wearing that medal everywhere I went.)



Another great reason to run - Use the code CAMB9 for 10% off either the half marathon or 10k distance!  For more information and to register, visit the ZOOMA Chicago website here.

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?

(Tiger) Turkey Trots - 5k and Half Marathon Recaps!

I do a turkey trot every year, but this year I did TWO turkey trots - Edison Park (5k) and Schaumburg (half marathon).  And no, they were not on the same day.  I know most turkey trots are actually on Thanksgiving Day, as the Edison Park 5k was, but the Schaumburg race was held on Saturday morning.

Edison Park 5k

Catherine and I have an annual tradition to run the Edison Park Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving morning.  There have been years it is snowing and years it is pretty moderate temperature.  Luckily it was not snowing, but it sure was cold! I wish I could say the cold didn't deter us from our usual outfits - Bandit Turkey Tigers.

But sadly, we were only Turkey Tigers this year.  Well I guess technically we were bandits given that we didn't pay for the race.  We made the decision the night before the race to forgo the BANDIT singlets (our high school's old XC/Track singlets) so we could wear an extra layer.

The cold weather didn't seem to both Therese though. I met up with Catherine and Matt about half hour before the race and we did a 3 mile warm-up...for the 3.1 mile race. Just trying to get that mileage up! Then we found Therese and it was race time! We actually don't really race this run though; we use it as a nice conversational run. I think Therese had us at an average 8:08 pace. It definitely felt a lot easier this year than last year when I wasn't in nearly as good of shape.

After we finished, we walked backwards along the course to find their dad and then finished the last quarter mile or so with him.

Schaumburg Half Marathon

This is yet another race that made me think I am not mentally strong enough to be a runner.  All athletes need to be mentally strong, but running is a whole different ballgame.  There's so much more constant action and things to focus on in other sports.  When running a race, I pretty much am just thinking about how much it hurts the entire time.  I was much happier when I finished though and tried extra hard in the cold to make it seem so in this picture:

But anyways, besides the mental factor, this race wasn't too bad.  It took place at Busse Woods, which is where I ran this summer occasionally.  I parked in the remote lot and got shuttled to the start.  The course was pretty much the entire loop of 7.3 (previously 7.7, but now there is a new bridge over one of the roads so the loop is shorter and more hillier now since you have to go up and over the bridge) plus a few out and back segments through long parking lots to keep adding mileage.

At the suggestion of Pittsburgh Runner (Kristy) via Twitter a few days before the race, I decided to run the race "naked" aka without a watch. I was wearing clothes, trust me.  I did shed a few layers in the middle though.  Mom came to watch at one point around mile 5.5 and I gave her my headband and gloves. I was glad I had them to start with, but then they became unnecessary.

It's nice when Mom comes to races so she can take my picture so I don't have just a selfie.

I didn't really have expectations for this race and planned to use it as more of a training run to guarantee I got in a long run for the week.  So that worked out.  I decided to start with the 1:40 pace group and figured I'd stick with them as long as possible, which ended up being until I saw Mom and stopped for a few seconds to give her my headband and gloves and offer my words of how miserable I already am. I felt like I was sprinting to keep up with that 1:40 pace group.

So I broke off from them and was really just not having this race anymore.  Mentally done.  I really really really wanted to stop running.  My original goal was 1:45, so I was still on track but I wanted to make sure the 8 minute group wouldn't catch me.  But I also really wanted to stop and walk.  The problem is, when you're running a loop in the forest preserve and your mom left and your car is parked in a remote lot that you need to get to via the shuttle at the finish line...well, you get the point.  There wasn't really any way to stop, so I had to just get to the finish line as fast as possible.

That red blow up thing was the finish line..with my finger in front of the lens also.  It was cold but so so sunny!  So I couldn't even see my phone screen when I took this photo.  Anyways, I made it my goal to not let the 8 minute pace group catch up to me.  But lo and behold, they did.  Around mile 11.5.  Then around 12.5, they passed me.  I was really struggling that last mile.  But I only stopped to walk through the last 2 water stations (around miles 10 and 12...so that's how they caught me).

I finished in 1:45:55.  So it was right around what I wanted/expected.  But it sure was harder than that time should feel like for me.  My two halves during the Chicago Marathon were each faster than that.  But I fell a little off the running wagon, didn't have a best friend running with me, and it was darn cold.  So I'm OK with it and glad I didn't give in and start walking.

Something awesome about this race is the sweatshirt that I got for registering!  At first it seemed pretty light, but it is really comfy so that's all that matters.

Do you run with pace groups during a race?

Any turkey trot traditions?

(Long) Weekend Photo Bomb - 11/27 - 11/30

It's been a nice long holiday weekend off of work and I've been busy with all sorts or activities.  I did 2 races (a 5k and a half marathon) and will have a full recap of those in the next few days, but in the meantime, here's the long weekend in pictures:

Dinner and gambling at the casino.  Dad hasn't quite figured out that the iPhone can be turned sideways to get everyone in the picture.  Mom and Patrick were the big winners of the night.

Catherine and I ran the Edison Park Turkey Trot 5k (like we do every year) in matching turkey headbands and tiger-print shorts.

My dear little cousin, Elizabeth.  We share a love for bread.  I told her that's called carbo-loading and she helped me carbo-load for Saturday's race  :)  On Friday, we celebrated her new baby brother's Baptism.

Post-half marathon selfie.  Very cold!

All aboard!  The entire Smith family (and "SigOs" - significant others) took a Christmas trolley ride through the city.

A few of the girls, ready to go.

View of the Chicago skyline from Smith trolley stop #1.

 Dad and I at the Lincoln Park Zoo Lights - Smith trolley stop #2.

Things escalated quickly... even had to make a few extra stops for beer/champagne runs (and bathroom runs).

Started the weekend with gambling, why not end it with a little family gambling?   A pizza party after the trolley and a 30+ person game of LCR - Shannon was the big winner.

And another running selfie.  An easy 4 miles Sunday morning in my all purple outfit.  Just kidding, I put another shirt on over that, but thought it looked funny when I was wearing all purple so I had to take a picture.

So there's the long weekend in pictures!  How was your long weekend?  What did you do??

St. Louis Half Marathon & Weekend Happenings

This past weekend was the Rock 'N Roll St. Louis Half Marathon!  I ran the whole thing with my brother's girlfriend Erin and it was her first half marathon ever and I'm sure she wants to keep doing more and more.  Look how happy she was:

I didn't get to St. Louis until late Saturday night, but the Cardinals World Series game was still on, so Erin had made some pasta for me and we watched the game.  Unfortunately, it looked like the game was going to go into extra innings and we needed to be up super early, so we turned it off in the 9th.  Apparently the game ended (with a Cardinals win!) shortly after we hit the hay.

So, race morning.  We woke up and got ready to run!  We had bought matching Lululemon tank tops, but it was a bit too chilly for that.  I advised Erin to eat a bagel and some GU Chomps energy bites and I did the same.  When we got to the start line, I needed to grab my bib and t-shirt since I didn't make it to St. Louis in time to go to the expo.  But that was surprisingly quick and then we jumped in the corral and it was time to go within a few minutes.

The first few miles of the race were through downtown St. Louis, which was cool because it was sunrise and we ran towards the Arch and then around Busch Stadium.  We were each wearing coats over our running clothes because it was so cold at the start, but took them off around mile 2-3.  Luckily, we knew we'd see Katie around mile 5 because the course went right by her SLU apartment.  We ran to her, gave her a quick hug and our coats and continued on.

I was very colorful...and cold.

The race really wasn't that eventful.  Erin had hoped to maintain at 10 minute mile, but we were going much faster staying right around a 9 minute mile.  One of the later miles was even 8:40 and I think she was shocked at how fast she was able to go considering she hadn't trained this pace!  We were even chatting and having fun taking some pictures and videos.  And I will have those videos for you in my next post hopefully...they were taken on my iPod that I was running with, which I left at home today.  Anyways, there were some pretty killer hills, but we maintained a solid pace and finished in 1:56:45!!  Woohoo congrats Erin!!  Erin's mom also ran her first half marathon and finished faster than the first place marathoner!  (That was the goal.)

The pace was fairly comfortable for me, but having run only 2 3-miles runs in the past 2 weeks since the Chicago Marathon, diving right into 13 with those hills did my knees some damage.  They are fine now, but they sure hurt for the whole day.

My cousin Kevin had a funny tweet this weekend:

That's kind of how I feel about blogging.  I feel like a failure if I don't have photo proof of everything I did to show here.  But I can promise I really did go out to dinner with Angela and Liz on Sunday night in St. Louis.  And we were so deep in conversation and sat at the restaurant for so long after paying, that the obvious choice was to move our party over to the nearby fro yo place.

We had such a great time catching up with each other and talking about running and dorm food...and how we ran so much that we could eat so much dorm food.  And then we started reminiscing about the good ole days at UD.

I wasn't driving back to Chicago until Monday, so in the morning I went to breakfast at Einsten brothers with my 2 Billiken cousins, Katie and Kevin.  We had a great time catching up and talking about the upcoming holidays and of course, the event of the summer that we CANNOT wait for - the first Smith cousin wedding.

How was your weekend?

Do you like to take pictures documenting everything you do?

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.

The Day Before - Expo & Pasta Party

This past Saturday, the day before the Chicago Marathon, was filled with a lot of fun, excitement, and nervousness.  Angela, Olivia, and I headed downtown to meet Michael, Drew, Patrick, and Josh to take the free shuttle bus to the Expo at McCormick Place.  Right when we got inside, we ran into Carly and took a group picture!

After getting our bib numbers and t-shirts, we all spent some time exploring, grabbing free samples, shopping, signing the #OWNCHICAGO wall.  We also met up briefly with Mac, Kevin, and Jason.  AND some fellow UDXC alum, Kelly and Allie were working the Sweaty Bands booth, so we got to pause for a picture with them.  I'm glad I have so many running friends  :)

There were about a million gazillion people at the Expo, so it was hard to move and keep track of everyone that we came with.  But eventually, we all met up and made our way back home on the shuttle.

Some of the free stuff I got included: a cowbell, a poster, sunglasses, samples of various energy chews and drinks, and a water bottle.  Angela and I also teamed up and bought 2 pairs of running socks each because they were buy 3, get 1 free.

By about 3pm however, I was nowhere near as excited and energetic as I was a few hour earlier.  I think all the noise and chaos of the Expo got to me and gave me a killer headache.  I got back to my apartment and had about an hour before people would be over for the pasta party.  I needed to clean up a little more and get ready, but instead I just sat in the dark and tried to make the headache go away.  I tried to eat some peanut butter on toast, but threw that up within 15 minutes and then threw up again right after my parents arrived to help set up.

My mom thinks I just made myself really nervous and worked up over the whole event, which is probably true.  But people started to arrive, so I kept taking Tylenol and tried to help set up and mingle.  I couldn't eat much of the pasta, but bread seemed to be good.  And I had made a pumpkin cake (pumpkin bread, but baked in a cake pan and covered in chocolate frosting) that I was able to eat.

So that is the reason I was so hungry by the time I got to the starting line and needed to eat half of a bagel during the marathon.  I did eat a bowl of Smart Start and half pack of GU Chomps the morning of the race, but that wasn't doing the job.

I was glad so many friends were able to come - work friends, running friends, Dayton friends.  And especially thanks to my parents for buying/bringing all the food!...even though my dad was not having fun hanging out with a bunch of 20-somethings.

Other attendees not pictured: Mom and Dad, Mac, his parents, Rachelle, and Christopher

So it was a busy, nerve-wrecking day.  I was sure I was going to wake up Sunday with the same horrible headache and not be able to run well because of it.  But I kept downing the Tylenol, was able to get to sleep around 9pm or so, and woke up in the morning feeling great!

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.

It's Taper Time!

Ten days til the Chicago Marathon!!

I haven't posted on here in awhile because life got pretty busy with work, marathon training, and socialization.  And then a lot of my free time pretty much went straight toward research for a new business idea I had.  I can't share the idea just yet, but it's coming and it's awesome.

So here's a summary of last week:

Monday - 3 miles on the treadmill

Even as I was walking to the gym, I could tell that the shoes I was wearing should be thrown away ASAP.  I think I got that pair for Christmas and started running in them in February.  I have another pair I started using in June and have been alternating between the two.  I thought I'd run the marathon in that pair, but now I'm thinking even those are a little too worn.  I started running on the treadmill at an 8:30 pace and was planning to keep it at that for 6-8 miles as a recovery run.  But I stopped after 3 miles because of the shoes, went home, and ordered a new pair online.

Tuesday - 5.7 miles on the lakefront

This run went by super fast.  Probably because the entire time I was thinking of my awesome new business idea that I am really excited about.

Wednesday - Rest

Went to dinner with some lovely accounting ladies  :)

Thursday - 4.5 miles

Mac and I ran after work through Wicker Park.  We went up onto the abandoned train tracks that Christopher told me about.  I wasn't feeling great - my legs felt really tight.

Friday - Rest

Running in the morning just hasn't happened lately.  I'd have to run in complete darkness for my entire run to get ready and to work on time.  Or go on the treadmill.  But the evenings have been perfect weather lately.  There was no time to run on Friday evening though because we left for Dayton right after work!

Saturday - Frericks 5k Race

You can read my full race recap here!  I mentioned that my mom ran/walked the 5k too, but forget to tell you how she did.  She finished in 52:39, which was much better than the hour she was expecting.  After the race, she said she should've kept J-Lo's song "On the Floor" on repeat because she really loves that song.  I agreed and said I do the same thing with Teenage Dream.  Or at least put it on at the very end of a race/run to get me through the finish.  I still don't have an iPod though since mine broke last week.

And another tailgate picture from Saturday:

Sunday - 5 miles on the lakefront

New shoes!!  I went for a run right when I got back to Chicago.  It was perfect running weather and a ton of people were out on the lakefront path.  Angela told me she did 15 miles out there this morning, so it was just weird to think while I was running that she was here in Chicago running there while I was in Dayton and then when I came back to run in Chicago she was already en route back to St. Louis.  But we'll get to run together in 10 days!!

I might wear these new ones in the marathon, if I feel over the next 2 weeks that they are good to go.

And a summary of this week so far:

Monday - 4.5 Miles on the lakefront

Nothing fancy.  I ran in the new shoes again.  I used my really old iPod Nano.  The songs on there haven't been updated in over a year.  They were obviously pretty good though.  I think I'll post tomorrow with the workout playlist that's on there - it will be a nice throw back to the summer of 2012 and earlier.

Tuesday - 4 Miles on the lakefront

I ran with Mac to the lakefront with the intention of doing 12 miles.  Not sure what happened because I was fine most of the day and pumped to get in my last long run, but I just did not feel good mentally and needed to stop.  We ended up just walking back.  So that was frustrating, but hopefully I'll be able to get in other solid runs over the next 1.5 weeks.

Wednesday - REST

I got a massage after work!!  I definitely needed it because my muscles were super tight and now feel better.  I am not good at just relaxing and not thinking - even during the massage I kept thinking about various things.  I've only gotten massages at a salon before and this one was at my gym, XSport Fitness, because I had some reward points to use so it was free.  The massages I've gotten at the salon were more relaxing and light and this one at XSport was more of a deep muscle massage, which was probably a good thing right now.

So that's all I got for now...boring running talk I know, but I felt like you needed to be filled in obviously since this blog is supposed to be to document my training.

Frericks 5k & Parents Weekend

This weekend was Parents Weekend at Univeristy of Dayton, which I think is actually now called "Family Weekend." Conveniently, most of my best friends from UD have a younger sibling there still or live in Dayton/Cincinnati.

My mom and I weren't able to leave until after work on Friday, so we went straight to the hotel to bed. But Saturday morning we were ready to go for a day of fun. First on the schedule was the Frericks 5k around campus.

I knew it wasn't going to be a super competitive race because it tends to be a lot of the parents and younger siblings that walk the race, but also a decent number of runners too. I did a short warm-up around the Ghetto and lined up at the front, where I noticed there were no other girls except for a tiny 13 year old. She looked fierce and ready to race.

The horn sounded and off we went. I had a strong start but almost immediately felt like I was straight-up sprinting and obviously couldn't hold that for 3 miles. Erin and her sister Elise were standing near Marycrest, only about 3-4 minutes into the race and as I passed them I said "this already blows." As I kept going, I felt a little better and came through the 1 mile mark in 6:47. I was nervous for the 2nd mile because I knew it included Stuart Hill, the longest hill on campus.

"If a hill has its own name, then it is a probably a pretty tough hill."

Getting up the hill wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still rough. I was just looking forward to the downhill, and I passed 2 people on my way down (both guys, just the one 13 year old girl was ahead of me and she wasn't even in sight any more). I don't remember exactly what my split was for mile 2 but I do remember thinking I was still on basically the same pace, around 6:50.

The third mile was also difficult and by this point I knew I wasn't going to catch the girl ahead of me and I could tell when we kind of zig-zagged through KU Field that there were no other girls anywhere near behind me. I saw Erin and Elise again and was feeling better than when I saw then at the beginning, but I was also ready for the race to be over. I had no idea where the race ended bit just tried to keep pace. Then I finally saw the 3 mile mark and the finish and kicked in with what I had left. I finished in 21:20, averaging 6:52 pace so I was happy I stayed very consistent the whole time.  And I won a UD sweatshirt :)

After the 5k we went straight to the football stadium for tailgating. Dayton's football team isn't anything special - except for the few years this kicker graced the field.

Tailgating for the football game was a lot of fun!  All the parents made delicious food.  Mom made these brownies and a turkey appetizer.  Erin's parents brought Chic-Fil-A chicken which was also amazing.

I wasn't really drinking much because of marathon training, but I did join in on a few beer games!  I miss college.  And all these people.  It was so so warm out and I was beat, so mom and I went back to the hotel for a nap.  But then it was back to campus for dinner at Milano's with Patrick and Erin.

After dinner, I went to Grace's brother's house to meet up with all of my friends again to watch the OSU game.  We had a great time just hanging out, watching the game, and chatting.  It's so rare now (except for weddings) that we are all able to get together so it was really special  :)

We're all best friends.

Race Photo Commentary

Get ready friends, I have race photos to show from the Chicago Half Marathon.  Race photos are always the worst.  I'm very jealous of people who manage to look good (aka like they aren't suffering a slow, painful death) while they run because I have never been one of those people.  However, I actually think these ones are far better than any of my race photos in the past.  I did not buy the pictures, so we'll have to deal with the watermark on them unfortunately.  Marathon Foto took SO many pictures along this course - they seemed to be everywhere!  I picked a small sampling to provide some commentary on.

I close my eyes when I run:

I don't really close my eyes when I run (at least I don't think I do?).  I just look down the whole time.  I don't know why I do this, but I think I am really conscious of the surface I'm running on and don't want to trip.

My sparkly headband is so awesome:

As is the rest of my outfit.  And I guess sometimes I open my eyes and look around.  Anyways, I can't get over how much I'm in love with the headband and the tank top.  I'll try to stop talking about them so much.  I also really liked the compression socks.  I bought them the day before because I had a Fleet Feet gift card and heard that compression socks can help with recovery.  I had no intention of running in them until the morning of the race and I'm really glad I did.  And then I felt like a tool when we were at breakfast and I was still wearing them. (I did change out of all of my other sweaty clothes luckily though.)

I try out new ways of holding my iPod:

My iPod was in my sports bra, as I did in the North Shore Half Marathon also.  That was the first time I did it and it worked well, so I'll continue doing it for races.  I don't plan to run with the iPod in the Chicago Marathon, at least not for the first half.  But then I might have my mom give it to me for the 2nd half because that half is not as fun and I will need some serious Teenage Dream in my life at that point.  I don't know how the iPod is still functional though.  It has been through so many runs with me - either held in my hand, in it's arm band, or in my sports bra.  I might also try it in my SPI belt sometime.  But I think no matter what, it's going to get sweated on.

Sometimes I try to smile, but it's really really really forced at this point.  And I have really weird, very inward facing knees:

In high school, Catherine and I discovered that my knees point extremely far inward.  This definitely shows in my running form and I wish I could fix it, but that's just how they are I think (that picture doesn't even do it justice).  This might also be why I don't pick my knees up at all when I run.  So I think during the winter when I am confined to the treadmill I'm going to work on my running form.  I learned some good tips from Bart Yasso and a rep from Newton Running this past weekend that I will share in another post soon!

And then I can smile for real after I finish:

Woohoo!  Another half marathon done!  I've lost count, but probably somewhere around 10-ish...but I do a lot "bandit-style" too, just for training or to run with a friend.  I also realized that this was my first just kinda average half marathon.  I think all of my others have been either really strong under 1:40 or really no-training, just kind of run and see what happens and end up close to 2 hours.

Do you ever like how you look in race photos?

How do you hold your iPod while you run?