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Hood to Coast Race Recap

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I <3 my team!

I <3 my team!

Hi? Are you there real life? It’s me, Ari. Just coming off of this little thing I’d like to call “adventure hangover”. So tired that I’m actually not even quite sure where to start with all of this. Let’s start with the running, then we’ll talk about the adventuring.

Jealous of my cute hair and how great I look on 15 minutes of sleep? I don’t blame you.

So I signed up for this whole shindig in the midst of marathon training and thought I wanted the leg with the most mileage. Silly, silly Ari. Many of my team had just started running specifically for this race, and I wanted to step up and be a leader. Not to mention, I love lots of mileage. Anyway, then I got injured and was out for 4 months, and basically had to rebuild from scratch, so for the first time in my almost 2 years of running, I found myself totally under trained for this race. I followed my plan to a T, but I knew going in that things weren’t ideal. My longest post-injury run had been 6 miles, and as runner 9, I was scheduled to run 7.7, 5, 7.7 for a total of over 20 miles. In hindsight, I should have switched legs before the race began.

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Leg 1: 7.7 miles

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Okay, I started writing this way too in depth and it would have taken a millions years to read. Here are the important facts.

  • First two miles were awesome!
  • Don’t drink too much water before you run or you will be grunting, keeling over, and walking no matter how great your legs feel.
  • Runners are so nice. Thanks to the lady who told me the breathing exercise to do that made the knife jabbing in my side lessen just a teeny bit.
  • Just when I was coming unglued, my team saved the day by being at the half way point to fill my water and cheer me on. I needed it then more than ever!
  • Even though I was in pain from mile 2 to the very end (and hours after…ugghhh), I stepped up my mental game and ran as strong as I could.
  • Around mile 6 I started to feel a twinge of weirdness in my knee that I decided was a fluke (spoiler alert: it wasn’t).
  • I finished strong and despite two horrible miles, ran a new post-injury PDR of 7.7 miles in 1:16.
  • I sprinted to the finish to find just two teammates and neither was the next runner. I had estimated I would be running 1o min miles to begin with, then told them it would be longer because of the side ache. Then I ran my estimated pace. Whoops.
  • In the last mile, garmin says my best pace was 5:56. That was a fun two seconds.

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Leg 2: 5 miles

  • Pitch black. Like, with my headlamp I could probably see 1 square foot in front of me.
  • 3am ish. No sleep. Perfect weather–something like 60 degrees! It felt like heaven!
  • Gravel road. Not like a few pebbles, like a legit gravel road with big rocks. Just ask the blister on my left foot.
  • Did I mention it was pitch black? I fell off the road once, and I was totally disoriented. I didn’t know which way was front or if I’d ever make it back to the van. I started to figure getting eaten by a wild animal in the woods while running a relay wouldn’t be the worst way to die.
  • I felt surprisingly good energy-wise, but my knee hurt. The entire time. It hurt like it did at the beginning of the marathon, and I figured I should probably stop running, but then I figured if it hurt now, I probably wouldn’t be able to run my 3rd leg, and my first leg wasn’t great, so I wanted to have one strong run this weekend.
  • I did run strong. Despite not being able to see anything, and the challenging terrain, I ran my 5 miles at a 9:30 pace which is pretty good for me right now.
  • When I finished, it hurt (just a little) to walk, and I knew I was out.

So I never ran my third leg. Rockstar Mark picked it up and Prescott took Mark’s 3 miler. My team was awesome and totally understanding. I shed some tears, and had a moment about it all, but to be honest I know I made the right choice. I actually learned my lesson and I stopped before the pain got debilitating. I think I’m looking at 1-2 weeks off from running instead of 3-4 months which is enough to keep me positive. Plus, this experience is about so much more than just running. I had the time of my life with some of my best friends and some new best friends. There were tons of inside jokes, so much silliness, and I laughed so hard I almost peed.

Silliest way to get to the Oregon coast ever, but totally worth every single minute.

More importantly, as I said earlier, most of my team started training for this race. Many of them had never run. My friend Liane invited me to be a part of this team she was putting together with her family. Her dad has been a runner all his life, but no one else in her family had ever showed any interest in it. So Liane put together this team with her dad, and got both her siblings on board. I don’t know if they knew it would change their lives, but her brother lost 70 lbs, and her sister used running to find herself again after some huge life changes. And now they’re all hooked.

Well, part way through the weekend, Liane told me that I was the reason she started running. She said she was reading this little ol’ blog, and it inspired her to start. I immediately started crying, and it was only after everything was said and done that I realized how much this all means to me. My friend Laurel started running for this race as well. She had done C25K, but she started seriously training to be a part of this team. I pretended to actually know what I was doing as I gave her training plans, and tried to regurgitate all the brilliance that Coach Susan gives to me. In the end, she ran almost 17 miles and pushed beyond anything she ever felt like she was capable of. I looked at my team and realized that whether or not I was able to finish, I had made a real impact on the people on it. Then as I was sitting at the airport, I looked at my husband’s facebook page to see that he had completed the last run of his C25K program, and I started to cry,

I never dreamed that my life and my journey would be big enough to inspire anyone, but I look at the tornado effect we all have by simply making the choice to go out and run, and all the people who see it and make that choice themselves, and it amazes me. I am beyond grateful to be at this place in my life, and that my journey has meant something to the people around me. I hope you guys (my team, and everyone who takes the time to read what I have to say) know how much you inspire me too. You guys inspire me to keep going, and because of you, I look back on this weekend, and I can’t even be a little bit sad about how the running portion ended. There is just way too much happiness.

The Day I Became a Marathoner

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Oh man…you guys, I don’t even know where to start. This was no where near the race I had been dreaming of, but in it’s own way, it was still the perfect race. FYI: This post is longer than long. Grab a mug o’ coffee, and settle in. 🙂 pfchangs2013-282

Let’s back up a bit. Over a month ago, I woke up to a super tight feeling in my hip. It’s something I’ve felt before, and never from running (I think it has to do with sleeping position?), but I’ve never run with that feeling. I woke up to this feeling the day I had an 18 miler scheduled. It hurt for the first several miles, but eventually loosened itself up, and it was fine.

Then a week later, I woke up the morning after a 14 mile run with a horrible pain in my knee that was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I called Coach Susan, freaked out a bit, took a week off running, then came back to run a killer 21 miler that felt absolutely perfect. After that perfect run, I got sick, and didn’t run for an other week until I ran an 11 miler that left my knee back in pain. I took more time off, and tried to run my final “long” 8 mile run, but stopped after 5 because my knee hurt.

I thought that I was okay, that I was not in too much pain, and I was just being cautious. I took a week and a half off running before the marathon. I iced, rolled, stretched, went to PT, and I swore to myself those 10 days off running would cure everything. Then on Saturday morning I ran for 15 minutes with Nicole, and my knee hurt. It hurt while I ran, and it hurt all day afterwards. Regardless, I showed up at the starting line hopeful, and ready to achieve my 4:29:59 goal that I never announced publicly, because I didn’t want to be disappointed if I didn’t reach it.

Nicole and I got to the start ridiculously early, and after over an hour of hanging out, we were on our way to the starting line where I saw Nacho. I screamed when I ran into him, cried a little, cried more during the national anthem, and then we were off. I kept telling Nicole I couldn’t believe we were running a marathon! Almost as soon as we’d taken off, I hear a man call out my name. I turned around and he said “I read your blog!” I about died. I was sosoSO excited! His name is Scott, and he ran Whiskey Row also. He saw my name on my shirt, said hello, and made my day! HI SCOTT!! I hope you had a great race!

Let me tell you, we had such AMAZING support! At mile 1, we saw Nacho, and he told us he’d be waiting for us at mile 9 (I think?), then around mile 3-4 we saw Emily and Lance, and Steve with my mom and Hank. I screamed when I saw my mom because I knew she was coming, but I didn’t know where she was going to be. They were screaming their faces off and taking pictures. I was still so happy here!

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"IT'S MY MOM!!!!!"

“IT’S MY MOM!!!!!”

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All of our long runs, we have been great at starting slow (usually 10:40ish), and gradually working our way down to around 9:30s, averaging around 10 min/miles. For 9 we were perfectly on track, regardless of the fact that my knee started hurting before the mile 1 marker, and that I had woken up with that same tightness in my hip. Our first mile clocked in at 10:30, and we were slowly getting faster, walking through all the water stations, and staying on target.

Mile 9 came in at 10:01, and then we stopped to use the porta potties, and I don’t know if it was the stop or what, but the pain in my knee got bad. Really bad. Like, every step was so painful, and I was starting to limp run. Luckily, we soon ran into Nacho. I was starting to take walking breaks really often, and I told him I was struggling. I tried to convince Nicole to go up ahead, but she insisted we were staying together. As much as I wanted her to go on and get the time I knew she was capable of, I was so relieved that she didn’t leave.

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This is the face of someone you want next to you during a marathon. How can you hate life when your with this freakish cheeriness????

"My name is Nicole, and I am the HAPPIEST RUNNER EVER!"

“My name is Nicole, and I am the HAPPIEST RUNNER EVER!”

I have never been in so much pain while running, and I was legitimately scared, and even started to wonder if this race was worth making an injury worse. I decided it was. There is no question that this was not the “smart” decision, but for me, it was the right choice. When Nacho saw how badly I was doing, he started to run with us. In his jeans. He ran with us for miles. Between miles 10-14, I was just in a bad mental place. I was in so much pain, and I was upset about being in so much pain, and I felt an intense amount of guilt for ruining Nicole’s race. She was staying positive, and trying to snap me out of it. At mile 14, I saw my dad, Hermano and Cindy, and I started crying, but shortly after I finally accepted the fact that I was injured, and I needed to stop waiting for the pain to go away, and focus on running the best I could on that day. pfchangs2013-169

Nacho stopped around mile 15, and told us he would see us on our way back (this was the only part of the course that had an out and back section). At the turn around at mile 16, we saw one of Nicole’s cheering sections, and before we knew it, we were on our way back down Indian School. Then, my stomach started bugging me, and around mile 17, we stopped for the bathroom again. We continued with run/walk/stretch over and over and over.

Just before mile 18, we saw Tim, and when he walked with us for a little while. He is such an inspiration, and he put a lot into perspective for me during this process. It was so nice that he walked with us for a while and encouraged me! He said this was the toughest part of the marathon, and that we were doing great. Soon after, we caught back up to Nacho, and he ran with us even MORE. He refused to let me get down, and kept saying “The Ari I know doesn’t give up”. At mile 19, I saw my dad, Hermano and Cindy again, and I knew that my big cheering section was coming up soon. Nacho continued to run with us up until mile 20.5 where he said goodbye, and said he would see us at the Mill Avenue bridge. I was so amazed, and overwhelmed by his support, and how he was there when I needed him.

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I have no idea when in the race this photo was taken, but I was ready for an other picture.

Just before mile 21, from almost 1/4 mile away, I heard my mother-in-law (I wish there was a cuter term than mother-in-law PS) shout my name. I started pushing with all of my might, and it was almost like a mirage. A HUGE group of friends and family with signs for days shouting “GO ARI AND NICOLE!” I hugged my adorable niece, cried more, and Jason came up beside me, and told me that I was doing great. Steve had told them that I was having a rough time, but they were all great about not asking if I was okay, and just staying positive. Lisa (who is pregnant as can be) and Bethany started running with us and chanting with their signs. It was unbelievable. I felt so incredibly loved, and I was so grateful that I had decided to keep running. I knew quitting wasn’t an option, and mostly because I knew I couldn’t disappoint everyone who had given so much for me to get here.

At this point, exhaustion crept in. I didn’t expect to feel so tired because I had been walking so often, but the pain in my knee had traveled up to my hip and basically my entire left leg had been feeling a mess regardless of stopping at a medic station for ibuprofen, and being handed a mysterious prescription pain pill at mile 19 (don’t try this at home, kids). Every time I tried to pick up my leg, it felt impossible, and all of the sudden it wasn’t just hard because my knee hurt, it was just hard. From this point on, Steve stayed right by us on his bike. He had been on and off throughout the course. Originally I told him I only wanted to see him a few times so I could focus on the race, but when I started struggling, he showed up more and more often, and I was so grateful.

At this point he stayed by our side offering encouraging words. He happened to be wearing a shirt that made him look like he was a medic and someone thanked him for his service! Cracked me up. We saw Nicole’s cheering squad at Mile 23, then Lisa and some other BTB members at mile 25, and Jaime right after. Nacho was waiting at the bridge, just like he promised, and he ran the rest of the way with us, even through the finish line. If you ask me, he deserved it. After 26 miles of pain, we had finally made it. Nicole and I grabbed hands, and ran through the finish line holding hands, just as we had set out to do.

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At first, it didn’t seem real. It wasn’t until I found Coach Susan that it started to sink in, and I started sobbing. I told her that my knee had hurt since the beginning and she hugged me, told me that I was a marathoner, and said “You ran your first marathon in 5 hours with an injury? That makes you a fucking badass. Excuse my language.” Then she told me she loved me, and that she really felt like it was her daughter who was out there. At some point in New York, we decided that I could be her daughter, so now she’s my running mom 😉

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There is so much about this experience that I still can’t even explain. Nicole stuck with me as we watched all of our time goals slip out of sight. Even at the end when the 5 hour pacer got out of our sight (that one hurt), and we watched our last time goal go by the wayside, she never left my side. After five hours and four minutes of running through pain, we became marathoners together, and I couldn’t have done it without her. It may not have been the race I dreamed of, but I experienced love and generosity that blew me away. I discovered a determination and dedication I didn’t know I possessed, and I finished.

I will say this: No matter how much pain I was in or how short my spurts of running were, I never gave up and stopped trying. Even when I could only run for a minute at a time before the pain got bad, I would run for a minute. I am still ridiculously happy, and proud to be a marathoner. I am proud that I pushed through something that would make so many people stop, and I’m proud that after 7 months, it finally became possible. Regardless of the physical pain, I managed to have one of the happiest days of my life, and I feel so undeserving of all of the kindness I have received. People told me that I am an inspiration, but it is the love and kindness I received from the people I love that I really find inspiring. Damn, I am lucky.

Thank you for all the support, and for all the love and comments along this journey. It has been incredible, and I can’t wait to see where it takes me next.

Hot Chocolate 15k Race Recap

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This is a weird race to write about. I ran 9.3 miles. I raced 3 of them. I really did enjoy myself, and I actually felt pretty proud of myself at the end, but I haven’t been sure exactly what to say about the whole experience.

The boring stuff: Hot Chocolate had a shakey start from what I read about their first race, but they’ve totally gotten their act together. The race was well organized, and even though the course was borrrrrrrrring, I would definitely do it again.

Okay, so Nicole and I had been planning to run together. Neither of us had ever run a 15k before, but I was really excited and had pace plans all mapped out in my head thinking this would the perfect opportunity to practice pacing for a sub 2 half, and really, I’m always excited to race with Nicole. She’s faster than me and she pushes me, and most importantly, we always laugh–at 5am, when it’s hard, at at the end of mile 18, we never stop laughing.

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Right as the race was about to start, we found Stacey, got into our corral and we were off. This part was annoying. When I signed up, I had predicted my pace would be around a 9 min/mile. We were in the second corral which scared the crap out of me, but literally for the first 1/2 mile, it was so congested, and everyone was going so slowly that I couldn’t get anywhere near my goal pace. Wahhhh. I was that girl weaving around, and Nicole and Stacey followed me. Apparently I was on a mission that morning! We finally got our own space, got our pace down, and completed the first mile in 9:10–right on target. Unfortunately, Nicole had an injury that had started bugging her a couple of days before, and she was not feeling great. She told me she was going to walk for a bit (which this girl NEVER does, and how I knew something was wrong), and I slowed right down with her. She stuck with me during the turkey trot when I was having major stomach issues, and there was no way I was going to leave her. Stacey stuck with us too, and my goals very quickly changed to being with my friends–there are plenty of other races.

We walked for a bit, then tried to run again, but it was obvious Nicole was hurting, so we stopped and I told her I wasn’t going anywhere until she turned around. The marathon is a month away, and no 15k is worth risking your first marathon if you’re in pain. As soon as Stacey and I started to run again, I immediately felt totally guilty. Why was I still running??? I should have stopped and turned around with her. One of my best friends was struggling, and I turned and kept running. I felt like crap about it, and considered turning around about 100 times, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find her, and I was just conflicted, so I kept going. Of course she didn’t expect me to stay with her, and I wouldn’t have wanted someone to stop with me, but I just wished I would have stuck with her.

Anyway, I kept running with Stacey, and I just couldn’t get my head back in the game. I felt guilty, I knew I wasn’t going to make my goal of 1:25, I just wasn’t pushing, and kinda just wanted to be done. There was pretty much no crowd support, and the course just kept going baaaaack and forth in the same area over and over. I wasn’t into it. I thought about taking, like, a billion walking breaks, and not because I was tired, but because I just didn’t feel like running. When Stacey stopped to use the bathroom, I stuck around to wait for her mostly because it was nice to get to run with her again, but also a little because I thought I might totally give up if I was alone.

Then, at mile 7 I got the hell over it I guess, and decided I was ready to race. Better late than never? I ran the last 2 miles at 8:55, then 8:30, and finished with Stacey at 1:30:23. Considering I had been stopped for about 4 minutes of that, I was actually really excited. I realized that although my heart wasn’t into it for 6 out of the 9 miles, I still did pretty darn well, and this just means my next 15k will basically be an automatic PR 😉

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Fiesta Bowl 5k Race Recap

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Okay friends, grab a cup of coffe, and settle in because this is a very long recap considering it was such a short race. 😉

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early at 5am, and quickly turned into my chipper race morning self. Every time I’m excited for a race I start dancing around the house singing “Good morning, good morning! It’s time to run ______! Good morning, good morning to you and you and you and you!” This girl has witnessed it first hand. I promise it’s cute, kind of.

By 5:45, Steve and I were out the door to meet everyone at Jason’s house, and by 6:15 we were on our way to the race to get registered. I’m a notoriously late registerer. Wow, I didn’t get the red squiggly line–apparently “registerer” is actually a word, and not just one I made up. Sweet. Okay, before I continue with what was an amazing race for me, here are a few gripes about the race itself

  • The volunteers seemed like they were given no information. We were told to stand in about 4 different looooong lines to register before finding the right place, and this table had no line. It was kind of annoying.
  • There was a total lack of information about the 5k. When I looked online, it said the race started at 7:30. Maybe I didn’t look in the right place–totally possible–but I saw nothing saying there were different start times, and all announcements were about the half marathon (which, I get it, is a bigger deal). I had to find out from an other runner what time my race actually started.
  • There weren’t nearly enough porta potties. I almost missed the start waiting in line on round 2 (yes, I go about every 5 minutes before a race).

Okay, back to the good. Complaining over. We rushed over to the start line and just barely made it in time. I told my friends I was going to try to find a good spot, and weaved in between the crowd to find a place near the front of the middle, if that makes sense. Actually, start lines freak me out when there are no corrals. WHERE DO I STAND???? IN THE BACK??? HOW SLOW AM I???? I have made the mistake of starting too far back before. I remember at the Iron Girl, Nicole looked to the side and saw a woman with white hair and a walker, and she was like “Really? You think we’re going to run her pace?” Suffice it to say, I have no idea where I fit in a starting line. I asked a lady next to me what her pace was, and she said she was aiming for 28-30 minutes, and that sounded like I was at least in the right ball park. I told her my goal was to break 27 minutes, and she said she was going to try to keep me in her sight lines. That made me feel cool! I don’t know how she did, but I hope she had an awesome race!

SIDEBAR: As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been having a lot of stomach issues when it comes to running. I used to only eat before long runs, but since marathon training got more intense, I started waking up really hungry in the morning, and so I’ve started eating a granola bar before I go, and a lot of times before a race, I’ll still have peanut butter toast, even if it’s a short race, since I’m usually up a couple of hours before hand. This time, I went on an empty stomach, and just took a gu 15 minutes before. It was the best my stomach has felt during a race in a long time. More on this in an other post…

Okay, back to the start. It was CROWDED. I’ve been trying to avoid weaving so that I don’t end up running extra miles, but there were some slooooowww people in front of me, and I knew I needed my own space to get in my groove, so I weaved around, and the next thing I knew, we were at a start line. I was so confused. So is THIS the start? Did I just run that last .14 miles fast for nothing??? Don’t judge me. I tried to start my watch over, but was too focused to actually think about how to do that, so I ended up hitting the lap reset. Turns out our original location was the start, and that had been the half marathon start. Very confusing for this little ol’ brain.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was actually capable of in this race. I just knew my PR was 27:16, and I wanted to break 27 minutes. I had pacing ideas that ended up getting thrown out almost immediately, while I tried to run what felt “fast” and “sustainable”. I feel like for me a 5k is kind of determined by how I feel at mile 1. Usually after the first mile, I’ve run a pace that I can only keep up for the one mile, I feel exhausted, and running 2 more sounds more impossible than running 10. This time, my watch beeped at mile 1, and I felt good. It wasn’t easy, but I felt good enough to make it my goal to negative split the next two.

0-.14 (cause my laps are wonky): 8:20

.14-1.14: 8:25

In mile 2 there were some small rolling hills. And by “hills” I mean what you would probably consider more like a speed bump, but it felt like a hill to me! I continued to feel strong even on the “uphills”–but okay I SWEAR it really did have some rollers!–and tried to let myself relax into the downhills. When my watch beeped off for mile 2, I was starting to feel pretty tired, but only a mile left! 1 mile always seems attainable!

Mile 2.14: 8:25–Not a negative split, but I always seem to positive split the crap out of 5ks and I was THRILLED to have 2 identically paced miles, especially since 8:25 was faster than I thought I’d be able to run this thing in.

The last mile was hard, as it always is in any race. I wanted to walk on the uphills. I wanted to slow down. I argued a lot in my brain about how I couldn’t keep it up, and my brain’s favorite argument “If you don’t take a walking break now, you’ll have nothing left for the finish.” This is a big fat dirty lie, and it gets me *almost* every time, but today I was like “Ummm F you, you dirty liar. I can, it’s just gonna hurt, and that’s okay.” I also think my lap reset mishap helped me here. Something about knowing that when I got to the end of mile 3, it would actually be the end of the race instead of the usual having .1-.2 left to go (which feels like an eternity at that point) helped me stay positive. I don’t know. My head responds well to mind games.

At the end of mile 3, I saw Steve waiting for me and I had a huge dopey grin on my face.I waved ridiculously, and pointed to my garmin to tell him “I’M GONNA MEET MY GOAL!!!!!”

Garmin stalking. Shocker. But at least both legs are off the ground! Note: The clock started when the half marathoners started 5 minutes before us.

“I’VE GOT THIS!!!!!”

Steve yelled at me to quit talking about how I was about to PR, and go freaking sprint to the end. I was reallllly tired at this point, and my “sprint” was pretty pathetic, but I did my best to finish strong.

Mile 3.14: 8:22 <–NEGATIVE SPLIT!!!!

The rest: 7:30

I couldn’t believe it. I’ve PRed a few times recently, but this was the first time in a looooong time that I had a goal and I really felt like I crushed it. 30 seconds may not seem like a big difference, but in a 5k, at least for me, it really is. My garmin had me at an average pace of 8:23 which is so far beyond what I thought I was capable of! As soon as I crossed the finish line, I wanted to puke (totally normal), but I grabbed some water, and quickly felt better, and I rushed back over to Steve to tell him my finish time!

Before I knew it, we saw Jason and Matt coming up pretty quickly.

I jumped in with them, and tried to say all the perfect motivational things Coach Susan says at the end of a race. Then I told them to sprint to the end, and they took me pretty seriously because before I knew it, I couldn’t keep up with those long legs, and I ducked off to the side. They ended up finishing in about 29 minutes which is a PR for Jason, and it was Matt’s very first race!! They did awesome!!

As soon as I ducked off, I went back to find Bethany. I jogged a little bit down the way and waited for her on the corner before where Steve and the boys were waiting. I jumped back in with her, and tried to be all motivational again, then we turned the last corner, and I told her to sprint to the finish. As soon as got got to the gates on the sidelines, I ducked out, and went back to see the guys.

GET IT GIRL!!

Umm, can we just talk about how GREAT you look????

Bethany finished in 37 minutes for a 2 minute 5k PR!! Rock star!

PRs for everyone!!!

As soon as we were done, we scooted out pretty quickly. We wanted to be able to grab breakfast, and it was my first day of tech rehearsal, so even though I wanted to see my teammates and friends that did the half marathon (and one in particular that crushed it with some ridiculous kind of 20 minute PR--WHAT??), we didn’t hang around.

In the car, I started trying to look up our chip times. When I found mine, I only really looked at the finish time, and jokingly complained about how it said 26:31, and I had been all excited about not just coming in under 27 minutes, but under 26:30. I’m silly like that. I looked up everyone else’s chip times, and went on with my morning. A couple hours later I was like “Hmmm, I wonder what my finish place is.” I always have kind of an unwritten goal to be in the top half. I know I’m not speedy, but I do want to be better than average. So I went back to look, and I was shocked and confused.

 

Okay, so either that’s a typo, or there were only, like, 2 people in my division, right?

Then I started crying. I asked Steve no less then 20 times “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN????” You see, I never expected to place in anything. I did one 5k where I came in 4th out of 12, and I remember feeling over the moon. It just didn’t seem possible to me. Then I went back and read about the awards–turns out I get one? My friend Michele placed 2nd in her age group, and GOT A MEDAL!!!! I mean, I have lots of race medals, but I never dreamed I would get one for coming in 2nd. I know 61 isn’t a HUGE division, but I never dreamed my times would be the slightest bit competitive. I think I’m still in shock.

I honestly can’t believe the way my life and my running has changed since Coach Susan came into my life. I know none of my recent PRs would have been possible without her wisdom, support, and guidance, and I just feel so unbelievably grateful.

In college, I did lots of vocal competitions, and never placed above honorable mention. It always seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I always fell short as a performer, and that sense of constant discouragement is what led me to change my focus to directing and choreography which I LOVE, and in a lot of ways love more than performing. I just can’t believe that I would ever place in anything. I remember telling my friend Diane when we worked together in Idaho that I had never won an award. Seriously. Never. At the end of the summer, she made me an IRT award, and it was so sweet. I still have it. I am not the person who wins or places in things. I am the person with that works really hard, and is noted for my work ethic, but always a step behind. Always seeming to just fall short.

I know for some people getting 2nd place in their division of a small, local race wouldn’t be totally life changing, but for me, it kinda is. It’s a day I will never forget, and something I will feel proud of for the rest of my life. It also taught me something else–I’ve been running for just over a year, and look how far I’ve come. There is nothing that is unattainable. With hard work, I can be a better, stronger runner than I ever dreamed of. I can also be a better stronger person. We are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for, so do me and yourself a favor:

Dream big.

 

Mesa Turkey Trot Race Recap

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Last year, I started my Thanksgiving with my first ever double digit run. This year, if I wanted to start it with a PDR, I would have needed to run 21+ miles, and ummm, that wasn’t happening. So I decided to run the Mesa Turkey Trot with Nicole. Thanksgiving morning, we headed over at around 7:45. The race didn’t start until 9 which seemed really late to me. We got there, quickly registered (it was only $25!! I was a big fan of that!), and got in the seemingly endless porta potty line.

After a good 20 minutes of waiting in line, we headed over to the start. I was really excited because I’ve only run one other 10k before and it was almost a year ago, so a PR seemed like it was in the bag. Unfortunately, as we were waiting to start I was like “Hey, I’m not cold. Not even a little bit. That’s probably a bad sign…” You see, I’m more temperature sensitive than an Eskimo at the equator. If I don’t start a race with constant complaints about how cold I am, I know I’m not going to feel particularly great once I start running.

The plan was to run the first mile around half marathon pace, and then slowly negative split from there. We ran the first mile in 9:05 which was right on pace, but it felt way harder than it should have. I was sweating and feeling tired way earlier than I wanted to be, and after the first mile my stomach decided it was PISSED. I started having sharp stabbing in my stomach similar to what I felt during Pat’s Run. It was frustrating. Actually, it still is frustrating. To be honest, all of the pain and, um, issues I was having before my surgery really haven’t gotten any better, and maybe gotten worse? But that’s a story for an other day. I was feeling pretty miserable, and Nicole kept asking if I wanted to walk, but I was trying to be stubborn, and we ended up running the second mile around 8:50.

Unfortunately, I just kept feeling worse and around mile 3 I asked Nicole if we could stop to walk for a bit to give my stomach a chance to settle itself. It helped a little, but I ended up having to stop about every mile for the same reason. Needless to say, I was not having a great time. Not to mention, it started to feel like it was about a million degrees out. It wasn’t that hot of a day, but the sun just felt so intense, and it definitely wasn’t doing me any favors. Luckily, the last mile I miraculously started to feel a little better? Maybe it’s just that I knew I was almost done, but I got a serious second wind and remembered that I liked running. It also helped that Nicole stuck with me the whole way even though I was kind of a mess.

It’s funny, in the middle of the race I had been pretty certain that I had sucked it up so badly that I wasn’t even going to PR, but then somehow I crossed the finish line in 56:40? My PR was 59:58. Hmmmm…

Nicole looks super cute in her turkey hat. My face looks pretty awful, but I like that both of my feet are off the ground 😉

Oh hey, that’s better 😉

Wheeeee!

So it wasn’t actually a total bust. I’m happy to have a new PR, even if it wasn’t quite the goal I had in mind, and the whole thing kind of gave me a swift kick in the ass to get some things figured out. I don’t think that feeling sick so much of the time is normal, gallbladder or no gallbladder. I try to just keep a positive attitude about things, and figure that everyone deals with some sort of issues when it comes to running, I think I’ve been in denial a bit, and it’s not doing me any favors. Even in Shun the Sun where I ran really well, I didn’t feel great for the entire last half of the race. So I’m gonna work on some things diet wise (l’m trying to eat less fiber–I think my intake might be bordering on excessive, and playing around with when/how much coffee I drink), and make an appointment with my doctor.

On a more positive note, here’s a picture of Coach Susan basically winning the whole thing 😉

Shun The Sun Half Marathon Race Recap

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I RACED!!!!

The day after we all returned from NYC, Susan sent us an email and let us know about the Shun the Sun half marathon this past Saturday. I had been searching and searching for a half marathon to do ASAP. I needed to do a race and put my 20 weeks of training to the test. I’ve had my eye on a half marathon PR since, oh, February. I originally planned a goal race at RnR Seattle in June. I got a training plan from Smart Coach and worked hard at my first attempt at any speed training.  Then I had to have my gallbladder removed 3 weeks before the race, so I begrudgingly put the half marathon goal on hold and started training for NYC. In August, a few members of my team went out to San Diego and I ran the AFC 1/2, and put my huge plans to PR and break 2 hours all over the freaking internet.

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know how the rest of that story goes. It was hot, I didn’t adjust my goals and I totally blew up and finished 7 minutes slower than my PR. Womp womp. So this time, I told maybe 4 people that I was planning to race. I didn’t even tell my best friend. I didn’t tell anyone other than those 4 people what my goal was, and I just went out there to race. I did tell Steve not to let me back into the car at the end if I didn’t finish under 2 hours. Spoiler: I didn’t, but he let me in the car anyway. 😉

So I woke up at 5am Saturday morning, put on my running skirt (obviously) and made my way to the race start with my fabulous supportive husband. I was in a good place mentally, and prepared to have an awesome race. I ran into Susan and a couple of members from my team, and before I knew it, they were calling us over to the start lines. I tried to find someone who was running about my pace that I could try to run with, but we were all going out for different paces, so I went off on my own which is always scary to me. Ever since the Lost Dutchman, I just don’t trust that I can fight the mental battle without someone there to push me. I always know I’ll finish, but I give up on myself much more quickly when I’m alone which is something I’m really trying to work on.

As soon as I took off, I was beyond excited. I hadn’t raced since August and I had TONS of energy pent up from the NYC taper. I ran the first few minutes way too fast (shocking), but reeled it in pretty quickly.

I’M SO EXCITED TO BE RUNNING!!!!!

The plan was to run the first 3 miles slower than goal pace, then run goal pace until mile 10, then pick it up the last 3 miles. That didn’t quite happen. I ran the first mile at about goal pace, tried to slow it down for the second mile, then just decided to try to run a steady race.

Mile 1–9:10
Mile 2–9:16
Mile 3–9:10

I knew that with perfect tangents I needed a 9:09 pace to break two hours. My goal at this point was to keep the next 7 miles under 9:10 and then pick it up for the last 3 miles. This was working out really well. I was focusing just on the mile I was in. I was in a great mental place and doing all those silly things I’m “supposed” to do like visualizing myself meeting my goal, and crossing the finish line, and all that stuff. The pace never felt easy, but it felt comfortably challenging. I could tell I was slightly holding myself back, and I felt like I could keep this pace up for a while. There were a couple of times I got to see Bob and Bill on the other side of the canal after the turn arounds, and they would yell and cheer for me. It was super motivating, and I SO appreciate them! I can’t say enough how much I love running with a team!

The course was boooooring. It was a straight shot along the Mesa canal, and canal running, while convenient, is about as boring as you can get. The next 6 miles were just spent focusing on exactly where I was in that moment. I had my garmin set to the screen that shows my lap pace, and I knew 9:10 was my ceiling, so I checked in and made sure to stay below that.

Mile 4–9:08
Mile 5–9:06
Mile 6–9:09
Mile 7–9:05
Mile 8–9:07
Mile 9–9:08

Picture perfect right? Serious even splitting. All at goal pace. Then mile 10 happened. It didn’t start to feel too bad yet, but it was getting more challenging. Throughout the course, I had been talking the smallest possible walking breaks at the water stations because I just really suck at drinking while running. I also walked a little the first time I took some chomps around mile 5.5, but I had still been able to maintain my pace. I haven’t figured out the whole eating/drinking while actually running thing, and clearly I need to because this is where things fell apart. I got water and took a gu at separate points during mile 10, and then I just couldn’t get my pace for that mile back where it needed to be, and I think I used a lot of energy trying desperately to get that mile back on track.

Mile 10–9:24

I knew between mile 2 and mile 10, I had lost some time, and I needed to play catch up these last 3 miles if I still wanted to break 2 hours. I was pretty sure I was going to PR at this point, but I wanted the 1:59 SO badly, so I ran really hard miles 11 and 12 to try to keep it up.

Mile 11–9:04
Mile 12–9:06

And then at mile 13 I gave up. I was breathing so hard, and my legs hurt so badly, and I convinced myself I couldn’t do it. As soon as my watch clicked my 13 I took a walking break. WTF?!?!?! WHO TAKES A WALKING BREAK AT MILE 13???!! It would be one thing if I had been taking them all along, but there was no good reason. It wasn’t to grab a drink of water or for some purpose where walking was actually useful. I walked because I was tired, and I had been yelling at myself to keep going the last 2 miles, and I just felt like I couldn’t do it anymore. I took like 4 walking breaks during that last mile, and it was Fing stupid.

Mile 13–9:27

At the end, I still had a tiny glimpse at the idea of getting it back together, and I was pushing hard again, but then I got closer and closer to what was supposed to be “the end” and I couldn’t even see the finish line. Also, around mile 12, we looped back around and turned back the direction we had just come from which was a total mental bust for me. At 13.1, I couldn’t even see the finish line, and I was pissed. In most races I end up weaving, and not running tangents, etc. so I end up running extra, but this course was straight as can be and I took the 3-4 turns on the very inside, so I had mentally prepared myself to be actually done very close to 13.1, plus my watch had been in perfect sync with the mile markers until this point, so at 13.1 I was pissed, and I turned off my garmin as it read 2:00:10. Mother F. Then I took an other walking break. Of course. There was no way I was going to break 2 hours, and I had a pretty much guaranteed PR at this point, so I gave up even more and walked more. Then we FINALLY turned into the stadium and I saw Coach Susan. She’d already won the race. Shocking.

Look! No one else is even anywhere around!

She jumped in and ran with me at the end, and said all the right perfect things. I don’t know how she does it, but I swear she is the most motivating human being on the planet. I finally crossed the finish line at 2:01:44.

I found Steve and Susan really quickly and Susan told me first that I had done awesome and she was proud of me, then course was long (13.25) and with the mud I should mentally think of my time as a whole minute faster. Well, OKAY! If you insist 😉 Although there is definitely the twinge of disappointment for not breaking 2 hours, I am ridiculously thrilled to have PR’d, and more importantly, with the exception of 1 crappy mile, I ran a really smart, focused and positive race.

Me, Susan and Maria. I’m smiling, but that’s only because I’m pretending I don’t want to collapse and never get up.

What I learned from this race:

  • Focusing on the mile I’m in, and having a ceiling that I don’t want to go above works really well for me.
  • I’m physically stronger and mentally weaker than I think. I always give myself a lot of credit for mental toughness, but I actually think right now my physical capabilities outweigh my mental ones. I need to figure out how to not give in to “the voice”and quit when the going gets tough.
  • I need to learn how to drink/fuel without stopping. This means I need to practice on my training runs. I always stop to take my fuel, and it’s not doing my any favors. Up until this point, I never took my pace on long races this seriously. I was okay with the little break water stops and fuel provided, but if I want to get serious about improving my times, I need to train like it, and get in the habit of doing everything while maintaining my pace. I really think the moment this race changed for me is when I couldn’t get my pace back after stopping twice in mile 10, and I used too much energy trying to run the rest of the mile too quickly.

Overall, the race really was a great experience. I am SO HAPPY to have a new PR. The race was very well organized, and all of the volunteers were really great. Even with the snooze filled course, I would absolutely do it again next year, but hopefully with an other person to keep me a bit more entertained. 😉

 

AFC Half Marathon Race Recap

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….Of sorts…

Really, I want to talk about what I learned during this race, because it was a whole lot. I went in with high expectations. Before my surgery in the spring, I had been training with one goal in mind: a sub 2:00 half marathon. I chose Seattle, I found a training plan, and I was working my butt off. In the middle of all that, I signed up for New York and started working with a coach for the first time. I knew that New York was the big far off goal, but Seattle was still my focus. Then I found out I needed surgery, and I was sidelined for almost 3 weeks. My first full run back after that was the day I would have been running RnR Seattle. I set my sights on AFC and decided it was going to be my race.

This was the same time our NYC training plan officially started, and it quickly became my focus. I almost forgot about AFC and my “big plans” until I got home. Then I didn’t really taper the way I normally would. In fact, I had my highest mileage running week ever. I had slowed way down on my training runs since arriving back in Phoenix and was starting to feel really doubtful about my abilities to meet my goal in this race. But then we went to San Diego and I remembered how much I wanted it and I posted all sorts of crap on facebook about how I was trying to break 2 hours, and I put all this pressure on myself to make other people proud.

Meanwhile, I tried to forget that on Saturday morning at 8am (the same time I’d be running the next day), I was hot just sitting outside. I tried to assure myself that since it was less hot than Phoenix, obviously I’d feel fantastic. Well, at 7am Sunday morning at the start line it was already nearing 80* with 70% humidity, and I thought “Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to be wearing any more clothing right now.” Most of my other races I started out freezing at the starting line, and that’s how I like it. I don’t do well in the heat, and I’ve always been a big freaking baby temperature sensitive.

I went out strong in the race, and was determined to do what I’d set out to do, regardless of any challenges. I started off with Stacey, ran the first 2 miles just over goal pace. They were hilly, but I still felt okay. I got into a groove at mile 3, then mile 4 started with a super awesome downhill. I lost Stacey near the beginning of it, and just tried to let it be fast without pushing too hard and overdoing it. I ran mile 4 in 7:58. It was my favorite. It was also my first sub 8 mile in a race ever. Miles 5-7 were right on track, but at the end of mile 6 we turned a corner, and all of the sudden the sun was just so strong, and all I could feel was heat, and it felt like it was a million degrees out. My body felt totally overheated, and the idea of even finishing seemed impossible.

From there it was pretty much just a crash and burn. I had killed my 10k PR, then finished the first half in less than an hour, and still managed to blow up so far above my previous PR that it was kind of embarrassing. Once I realized (around mile 9) that I had no hope left of even a PR, I backed off, and just tried to get through it. I didn’t 100% give up, but I lost most of my drive, and took way more walking breaks than were actually necessary. I finished in 2:12, which isn’t my worst, but isn’t anywhere near my best either.

I may or may not have cried in the car afterwards. I’m a little dramatic. I get it. And I know that it just wasn’t the right time, but it still sucks when you put your goals out there for the world to see, and then don’t meet them, ya know?  But I learned so so much. Let’s make a list of all the things I learned.

  • I should have one running related goal at a time. Maybe some people can have LOTS, but for me, if my goal is my first full marathon, I need to not worry about half marathon PRs. I’m going to run a full freaking marathon 13 months after beginning my running journey. I’m building up my mileage, and working harder than I ever have. It’s okay if I’m not where I want to be with other distances right at the moment. I’m working towards something bigger.
  • It’s okay to adjust your goals on race day. That doesn’t mean you’re giving up. Sometimes circumstances happen that are beyond your control, and some days you just don’t have it in you the way you imagined you would. It’s okay to step back and make some adjustments. If I don’t allow myself some flexibility, I will undoubtedly end up disappointed many more times.
  • Pacing is hard. Did I go out too fast? There was a downhill, and I had a goal, and the answer from me would still be I don’t think so. I blew up, but I still think under the right circumstances I could have done it, and I don’t think starting slower would have changed how I felt at the end. But seriously people, what do I know? Maybe if I had shuffled along at the beginning, I would have won the race (hahaha I’m so funny). I still really don’t get pacing.
  • I enjoyed racing so much more when I had no expectations. I haven’t really loved a race since The Lost Dutchman, and I went into that race with zero expectations. I wanted to not run it slower than PF Chang’s, and I took 9 minutes off my time on a more challenging course. I still don’t know how it happened, but my guesses would be a fast running partner and low expectations. I’ve had one run since them (my 10 mile time trial) where my brain was in the right place. Running is mental, but not just in the way that your mind tells you it hurts and to quit, but in the way that your mind focuses on the wrong things and convinces you that you can’t do it. I’d like to work on this.
  • Maybe I should be more particular about what goals I put out there for the world to see. Or maybe not? Maybe I should just learn to be okay with occasionally falling short. Maybe I need a reminder that the people in my life want me to succeed, and are not in fact waiting for me to fail so they can laugh at me. I’m not in 7th grade anymore, and although I have a strong argument that this may have been the case then, it certainly isn’t now.
  • Finishing is always an accomplishment. Does any runner actually believe that? I’d like to. I’m working on it. I think I used to.

In conclusion, I ran slow (garmin said I averaged 9:58), I had a temper tantrum, and I’ve mostly gotten over it. Now I’m trying to seem all smart like I know things. To prove I didn’t lay down on the side of the road and give up like I wanted to, here’s a couple of pictures of me pretending I didn’t hate life at the end.

Thank you Steve for making up for my crappy race by getting pictures with both of my feet off the ground, and my legs not looking fat or manly. I appreciate it 😉

Be The One Run 5K Race Recap

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I was about to start talking about how my 2 month accidental racing hiatus seemed so unimaginably long, and how I never want that again, and I need to race all the time. Then I was like “Whoa, self. That’s a little overdramatic. And weird. You’ve been at theatre camp for too long.” And then I also thought about how weird it is that I even like racing at all. I guess maybe one day I will be done feeling surprised by the fact that I maybe actually enjoy running. Until then, I like surprises 😉

Anyway, Tali and I arrived super early, only to discover it was a super small race, and we probably could have slept in more. Also, it was raining. A lot. We were both pretty stoked though, so we got our bibs, stopped at the Starbucks, and checked out the stands at the pre-race expo. Also, we took lots of pictures in the car while we hid out from the rain.

“Look at me. Running my first 5k. SO HARDCORE!!!”

OH MY GOSH RUNNING!!! We’re so excited!!!

Hey world. We’re running. These are our shoes.

The Be The One Run raises money for bone marrow transplants. There were a lot of people there obviously running for someone they knew, which always makes me emotional a little bit. One guy had a shirt that said “Mom :)” and I thought it was so sweet. I love being at races that are for a good cause, and seeing the people running for friends and family.

Just before we started, we met up with Liane and Karisa, gave them our swag bags, and headed out to the start. I couldn’t believe how close to the starting line I was. I was a little worried that I was about to get trampled by speed demons, but I weaved through a few people, then quickly found my own space, where I was definitely going out too fast. I lost Tali pretty quickly, but kept her in close sight throughout the first mile, which I ran probably too fast in 8:20. Then I positive split crap out of the rest of the race. That’s how you’re supposed to do it right? I ran mile 2 in 8:40. I had high hopes of averaging around 8:30 for the race, but after mile 2, I just got more and more tired. The last mile seemed like an eternity, and I just wanted to be done.

I ended up finishing in 27:16 according to Garmi, 27:14 official time.

8:40 pace. PR. Exciting right?

Umm, let me just tell you that Tali finished her first ever 5k, after only really running with me for like 3 weeks, in 25:33, and placed 3rd in our division!! What??? Girl is crazy! I finished 7th out of 35, which is actually great for me, and I PRed, and 8:40 is speedy for me, but I have this head problem where I only see how I want to do better. I ended the race feeling more frustrated than proud, and that is stupid. In the end, a PR is a PR, and I had a good race, and I will break 27 minutes soon.

Super proud of Tali, and tons of congrats to her for running such an awesome race!!!

 

Whiskey Row Half Marathon Race Recap

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Alternate post titles:

  • What The Hills
  • The Time I Ran Up The Side Of A Mountain
  • A Mile High And Then Some
  • Ouch

Okay, let’s start at the beginning. I spent the entire week being PUMPED for this race. Like ridiculously excited. I decided ahead of time that even though this was not my goal race, I was going to run it with everything I had in me. I had no idea what 1000+ ft of hills looked like, felt like, or anything like that. I just looked at the course map and saw hills and that the first half went up and the second half went down, and figured that was a pretty smart way to do it.

We stayed at our friend Dan’s house which was only 4 blocks from the start which meant a pretty stress free morning. We left to walk down at 6:15 for the 7am start. Unfortunately the lines at the porta potties were long and we found ourselves wishing we had left a few minutes before, because we ditched out on the line in order to get to the race start.

"Waaaiiiit! Don't start without meeee!"

This is a no bells and whistles race. The expo was literally empty, with only an energy drink stand, a compression sock table, and a chia seeds table (I loaded up on the chia samples 😉 ). So when it came time for the start, there was no count down, no Star Spangled Banner, just a gun shot exactly on time and we were off. Lisa and I started off really strong. The rolling hills began immediately, but we kept good pace on the uphill and made up some time on the down hill.

Mile 1–9:06

At the second mile we were faced with a pretty massive hill that slowed us down, and by the time my Garmi sang to me to tell me we had hit 2 miles, I already wanted the race to be over. Just 2 miles in it felt so hard, and I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into.

Mile 2–10:04

It’s hard to remember exactly what time everything happened, but I’m pretty sure it was somewhere before mile 3 that the hills got too steep for me to run up. I knew I needed to reserve energy in order to finish, so I made myself a deal that the only time I was allowed to walk in this race was uphill. I had lost Lisa right around the mile 2 mark when she stopped to use the bathroom (since we had ditched out on the line at the start). She told me to go ahead and she would catch up to me, and she is super speedy, so I figured that would work out. Pretty soon I came across a hill that I was literally staring up into. It was so steep–we don’t have anything even resembling that in Phoenix!! There was a sign at the bottom that said “What the hills?” I walked up that hill, and then all of the uphill (which was pretty much the next 3.5 miles) I had to resort to alternating running and walking (minus the very few flats and downhills).

Mile 3–10:50

Mile 4–11:08

Mile 5–12:26

It was insane. It was more like hiking at this point than running, and the climbs were so steep and so long. I would look around and it seemed like everyone around me was walking.  By this point, we were literally running up a mountain. There was a semi paved road that turned into a dirt road, and they were winding, and just like the kind you drive up if you’ve ever gone up to a secluded cabin. I’m not gonna lie, it was absolutely gorgeous, and ridiculously hard. I mean I didn’t expect it to be easy when every race website calls it one of the toughest marathons in the US, but there was just no way of knowing how hard it would be. By mile 6, it was mostly walking, and the only thing keeping me optimistic was seeing the amazing runners starting to come down the other side, flying down and still managing to cheer us on! That was pretty amazing!

Mile 6–13:15

Finally at mile 6.5, I reached the turn around, had a gu, and prepared myself to fly down this bitch.

Mile 7–10:41

I was shocked at just how quickly I was flying! I kept glancing down at Garmi to see sub 7s flashing my screen!! Ummm, I have never seen sub 7s, even in speed work! It became even more clear just how steep these hills were! Mile 8 was filled with “This is amazing!!!! I love running!!! I’m Poca-freaking-hontas running this mountain!!” But I knew I was going beyond my pace, and every so often I would reach even more uphill, and I felt like I hadn’t remembered there being any downhills the way up–where did this Fing hill come from??? Shortly after the turn around, I also saw Lisa coming up. We waved and yelled, and I figured she’d be back with me before I knew it.

Mile 8–8:34 (this one was my favorite 😉 )

Mile 9–9:18

By this point, it was back to up and down again. Even though there was now more down than up, my entire body was exhausted and even the flat points felt unmanageable. I found myself secretly hoping for uphill segments so that I could walk. I realized pretty quickly that I have absolutely no idea how to run downhill. I felt like I couldn’t control my pace, and I was going faster than felt good for my body, but I knew in the moment all I could do was try to go with it, and be careful not to injure myself. Around this time I stopped to walk up a not very steep hill. Because I was tired, not because I absolutely needed to. This woman next to me yelled for me to keep going. Then that Jason Mraz son I Won’t Give Up started playing on my ipod, and I started crying. A little emotional? Maybe. But all I could think was that even though this course was so incredibly hard, I couldn’t believe I was doing it, that I was capable of finishing, and how far I’ve come in the 7 months I’ve been running. I felt so proud of myself. The entire time, I did, actually. Even when things got hard, there was never a moment where I felt like I wasn’t fighting and achieving something amazing.

Mile 10–10:30

Mile 11–10:27

I was really surprised I hadn’t caught back up with Lisa yet at this point, and I was kind of bummed, but also amazed that I had been able to keep going and make it this far mostly by myself. I don’t know what I expected myself to do, but I just never imagined I’d be able to make it through the kind of challenge my body had been through so far. I slowed way down, and my only walking up hills deal turned into I will not walk downhill. And I kept that, but during the uphills and even flats, I could barely run a few feet before having to go back to walking, and instead of speeding up to finish strong, I just kept slooowwwwiiiinnnggg down…

Mile 12–11:23

Mile 13–11:42

When I got to 13.1 and I still couldn’t even see the finish line I had a big “I hate running!! I hate this race!! F the world!!” moment. Then I walked some more. Finally, the finish was in sight and I forced myself to run to it as fast as I could.

Last .22–10:54

Yeah, the fastest I could muster for the last mile was 10:54. But you know what? I crossed the finish line feeling nothing but absolute pride!

It might look like I'm smiling, but that is only because I am happy to be DONE!

This freaking race. I can’t even begin to describe how hard it seemed. I can tell you this, the person who came in first for the half marathon at RnR AZ finished in something like 1:02, and the first place for WR was something like 1:27. It is no joke. I finished in 2:21:50. My slowest half by far, but I felt as proud of that time as I did my 2:04:59 from The Lost Dutchman!

Almost immediately after finishing, I started walking back to try to find Lisa. I waited about an 8th of a mile from the finish line, and when I saw her, I started trying to run with her. I made it only a few feet before my right calf tightened up like a ball, and I knew if I tried to keep going, I would end up injured, so I dropped back off, and walked to meet her at the end.

When I can't even believe what just freaking happened for the last 2.5 hours, I make this face.

We had grand plans to hang out, eat, drink and celebrate up in Prescott before Steve and I went back to Phoenix and Lisa and Sam went back to Flagstaff, but about half an hour after we finished, all of the sudden it was like I had been hit by a ton of bricks. I was dizzy and nauseous, and I couldn’t walk more than a few feet without having to stop, sit and catch my breath for several minutes. My heart was racing, and I felt shaky. I started to freak out a little, and got really anxious. I’d never felt like this before, and I was scared. I tried to go upstairs to go to the restroom at the shopping center we were in front of. I made it to the second floor, saw a sign saying I had to go to the third floor, and sat on a bench for about 10 minutes, certain I couldn’t get up or back down. I just sat there, trying not to lose whatever was actually in my stomach at that point.

I began frantically texting my racing expert friend Diana who has done this race before, asking her wtf was wrong was me and if this was normal. I told her everything I was feeling, and she told me she was pretty sure it was altitude sickness and told me to take some advil ASAP, and get back to Phoenix. Lisa came up and ended up helping me to the 3rd floor (there was an elevator the whole freaking time haha), and I called Steve and told him he needed to go get the car, and come pick me up.

I was so sad because I wanted to hang out with my friends, and I couldn’t believe that I felt this sick after a race again. Steve was so nice. He packed up all of our things for me since I couldn’t even bring myself to get up and get out of the car once I was in. He stopped, got me some water and some food for in case I felt like I could eat anything. I couldn’t. That has never happened to me. I always get hungry. About half way back to Phoenix, I started to feel slightly less nauseous, and by the time we were back in town, just like that, it was almost as if it never happened. I felt exhausted, and I still didn’t have an appetite, but I didn’t feel sick anymore. It was bizarre.

I wasn’t able to actually eat until after 2pm. Not good, I know, but there was just no way. Finally when my appetite came back, I got my pizza and beer.

Diana, I know you said not to drink. I’m sorry I didn’t listen. I took every single other piece of advice, and it was all amazing and made me feel better! But so did this beer. I’m sorry!!

Then we took pictures of me with my medal that I had not felt up to post race.

That is exactly how I felt.

I know this is a long post—thank you for sticking with me! My final thoughts: I am so happy I did this race. I proved something to myself. I learned that I am stronger than I think I am, and that I am capable of tackling huge challenges and obstacles. I am beyond proud of myself. I also have no desire to ever do this particular race again. Once is enough for me, and I learned that I need to consider things like altitude when choosing courses in the future. I am not invincible to legit things like thin air, and even if I can get through it, it doesn’t mean that going up there the night before, and running in that altitude without giving myself time to aclimate is a good idea, or that I should do it. Lesson learned, But I have no regrets, and still feel only proud of finishing, and my time.

Also I want to give a shout out to Christina who crushed it, running it in like 2 hours!! AMAZING!!

Pat’s Run 4.2 Race Recap

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If I never talk about it, then it’s like it never happened, right?

source

Today was not a good day. Well, it’s only 1:44pm, so I will say that the first 8 hours of today have not been good. Remember yesterday’s craptastic run? Well today, I woke up feeling worse than when I woke up yesterday. Even though by yesterday afternoon I thought I felt better? Or maybe with how busy I was, I just didn’t notice that my body was still off? I’m not sure. But I woke up, my achilles were so sore that it hurt to flex my feet in bed, and used the bathroom 5 times in the 45 minutes before Nicole came to pick me up. Not a great start.

We got to the race and I was trying to meet up with Jason, and we had planned to meet up with several ladies from the AZ Bloggers Network, but we forgot Jason’s bib in the car, had to run back and were scrambling for time at the last minute. And when I say run back to the car, that’s literally what we did and I can tell you, it did not feel good. I felt nauseous and totally out of breath and I knew I was going to have a rough race, but I was determined to try to keep up with Nicole anyway. We barely found Jason, and scrambled to our corrals.

The National Anthem was played so beautifully, and as I stood there in a crowd filled with energy, I never really found any of my own. I wanted to run fast purely for the satisfaction of seeing a number on my garmin at the end of the race, but really emotionally and physically, I just felt tapped out. I tried to stick with Nicole and Julie as we went through the starting line, but I looked down at my Garmin as they were getting further away around a quarter of a mile in and it said 7:17. I waved Nicole ahead and tried my best to keep trucking along.

I finished mile 1 in 8:40 (my only decent mile in the entire race), grabbed water at the first water station, and within a minute, my stomach began to feel like someone was sticking a knife into it. I tried to keep going, but I felt absolutely miserable and shortly into mile 2, I stopped to walk and contemplating dropping out of the race all together. I have never thought about. Walking was less painful than running, so I told myself that worst case scenario, I could keep walking and still finish.

I kept trying to start running again, and it seemed like every time I picked up my pace, I got a sharp pain digging in my stomach and an urgent need to find the closest restroom, which of course there were none of along the course. Where are all the porta potties, huh Pat??? That was rude. I should be honoring him, not yelling at him about porta potties. Anyway, eventually after walking for what felt like forever, I was able to at least get back to a walk/run combo.

I spent a lot of the next 2 miles beating myself up, and trying to figure out ways to make up time. I was frustrated and not enjoying myself in the least, but I just wanted to finish so I could be done. Mile 2 was 10:41, and somehow with my walk/run combo, I managed to keep miles 3 and 4 just under 10 min. As soon as I saw the finish, I still wanted to finish strong. I mustered up everything I had left and sprinted like I don’t think I’ve ever sprinted before. My legs had a surprising amount still left in them (hey stomach, try as you might, you can’t bring my legs down!!) and at one point (probably for like a milisecond) hit a 5:10 pace according to Garmi!

I finished with an official time of 40:02. I was surrounded my swarms of people, I felt awful, I needed to get to a bathroom stat, I couldn’t see the way to get out and I was starting to panic. I struggled not to just start crying in the middle of the stadium. And did I mention that it was HOT?? Like in the 80s with a high today of over 100.

I finally made it out, and luckily Nicole spotted me really quickly. She rocked the race and finished in something ridiculous like 35 minutes!! But I’m a really awesome running friend and didn’t even asked. I just started crying about how I felt awful. I’m a real gem. You can fill out applications to be my friend, but be warned, there are so many of them because of my winning personality. I’m pickier than the moderators on Taste Spotting.

Everyone else I knew at the race today totally rocked it. Jason did it without taking a single walk break and much faster than we ran the distance just on Monday! Stacey kicked butt, and Emily even came over and said hi in the middle of her last mile! I’m so proud of my friends for their successful races!! And I know that things happen, and I will have better races.

Honestly, right now I’m running a fever and very clearly have something wrong that I’m guessing is the stomach flu, so I truly am proud that I made it through and finished. It doesn’t change that it’s frustrating, but I’m trying to stay positive. I tend to get overly emotional and sensetive when I’m sick, so it’s proving to be a challenge right now, but I’m sure I will wake up tomorrow with some renewed positivity. Or you all are going to have to slap some into me. Sound like a plan?

PLEASE TELL ME HAPPY THINGS!!!! Good race? Good things at work? Pictures of puppies being cute? You bought me my own fro yo machine and are having it delivered immediately?? I need some sunshine today!

Firefly Run 5K Race Recap

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Saturday evening I had the opportunity to participate in my first night race!

Heather, Emily, Nicole, Me, Bethany & Jason

Decked out in glow gear. We take night racing very seriously.

Steve, Jason, Bethany and I arrived pretty early so that Jason could register. We quickly met up with Nicole, Emily and Stacey, and hung out for a bit before lining up for the race.

Jason, Bethany and I started towards the back. It was Bethany’s first race, and we had all three planned to run it together. Usually, I’m a big jerk and I ditch my friends at races (or if I race with Nicole, I tell her to just leave me because I will never make it at her pace haha), but I really wanted to run Bethany’s first race with her, and I was excited about the idea of running with my two best friends.

When we started running, I was amazed at how nice it was to be able to look around and enjoy my surroundings. The only thing I usually see during the race is the face of little Garmi. And she’s cute, but Phoenix at night kind of is too. The weather was perfect, and it just felt amazing to be running through the city at night!

The race was an out and back route, so shortly after mile 1, we saw Nicole and Stacey racing back. We all shouted and waved at each other. I was ridiculously energetic, and I kept trying to talk to Jason and Bethany, but they were not feeling as chatty as me haha. Emily and Heather were pretty close to us for the majority of the race as well.

At mile 2, I could tell Bethany was getting tired, but she turned it up a little bit and surprised Jason and me. I started thinking at that point

10 years ago, who would have thought that we would be here?

10 years ago I was near the end of my “first round” of weight loss. I was ridiculously unhealthy, and in a very bad place in my life. We had all been through an impossibly tough and life changing situation together, and the three of us were doing the best we could to get by. Sometimes I can’t believe we’ve made it to this point in our lives–not running a 5k, but maintained our friendship through thick and thin, grown and changed so much as human beings, and found even deeper love and appreciation of our friendships.

I began to get a little lot sentimental, and started to wish that our whole group could be together, but mostly, I was just happy to have these 2 amazing friends in my life, and to be accomplishing goals together. We’ve always been really different. Neither of them are into theatre, and we’re all just really different, so it was awesome to be going after something together.

Bethany kicked some serious ass, didn’t stop once, and ran the fastest she’s run in this stage of her life. I couldn’t be more proud of her!

Before we finished, Steve caught Stacey busting through the finish line with a rockin’ PR!!

You PR that shit, Stacey!!

Then at the very end, Jason picked it up a little and finished a few seconds before Bethany and me.

So serious!

Shortly after, Bethany rocked it out and pulled out a sub 9 pace for the last stretch. I finished with the biggest grin on my face.

Running is fun!!

WHEEEEE!!! I love running!!!! Usually at the end of a race I hate running. This was a pleasant change 😉

After the race,  we headed over to Papago Brewing Company for food and drinks, where we met up with Nacho.

And Miriam and Scott who were visiting from Indiana.

Jason and Nacho had been to Papago Brewing Company before, finding it after we had all been huge fans of their brews at various other restaurants. The beer selection was ridiculous, and the food was incredible! Almost everyone ordered pizza.

Everything I tasted was delicious, and I absolutely loved the atmosphere of this place! I was worried it was going to be a little stuffy since it’s in Scottsdale, but it was definitely beer people atmosphere if that makes sense. I absolutely loved it and will definitely be back in the future!

Final funny note: I mentioned to Steve that he didn’t get a single picture of Nicole after the race began and he commented “She ran by so fast at the end, the camera couldn’t focus on her!” Nice job, Speedy Gonzales. 😉

 

South Mountain Classic 5K Race Recap

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All in all, I still feel pretty torn about feeling good and blech about this race. Jason and Nacho got to South Mountain early and had plenty of time to kill waiting for the race to begin. As it got closer to the start time, I did a quick and easy jog around the area to try to get my legs warmed up. This race was super small with no bells and whistles. When it was time to begin, some man just yelled at us to come up to the start, then the horn went off and we began. The very beginning started with a slight down hill, so I took off pretty quick at first, but almost right away my legs were not feeling super fresh. Hey, who would have thought basically taking a month off from long runs and speed training, then running 10 miles and doing a race the next morning would leave you with heavy legs? The human body really is shocking.

My goal was to run the first mile at around a 9 min pace, mile #2 around 8:45 and mile #3 with whatever I had left. Well, that slight downhill was really short lived and before I knew it, we were heading uphill up until the turn around. I will say this, that it was kind of like what I imagine Whiskey Row will be like, so I feel like it was good from a training standpoint.

Mile 1– 9:07
Mile 2– 9:01

Not what I was hoping for, but I hoped I could make up for it with the last mile being mostly downhill. I got to mile 3 and felt like I still might have a chance at a PR. I had kicked it into gear, and although I wanted to stop about a trillion times, I didn’t walk (with the exception of like 2 seconds to not choke on my water). No way in hell after making it through an entire half marathon with no walking breaks, I was taking one at a 5K. Even though my lungs were burning and I kind of wanted to die.

Mile 3– 8:37

I was doing the math in my head and I knew if I kept it up, it wouldn’t be a huge PR, but it would still be a PR. Well then I got to 3.1 and I still could barely even see the finish line. I almost completely just gave up and walked. I was exhausted, it was already feeling hot out (the high yesterday was 91!!!!), my legs felt tired, and I felt super lame knowing I wasn’t going to beat my time. I struggled through and finished in 28:05.

Okay, so here’s what’s annoying….My 5K PR is 27:56 which is an average pace of 8:59. Well, according to my garmin, my average pace for this race was 8:52. I know I should just be excited that my pace was faster and not focus on the difference in course length and it not officially being a pr and blah blah blah, but the thing is, I’ve really been enjoying my “I just started running 6 months ago and I PR in every race I do!!” that’s been going on. There are not a ton of fun things about being a new runner. Everything is hard. You feel like a turtle compared to others. You have to spend money on running clothes, and you don’t understand any of the terms that the fancy runners use! But lots of PRs is the fun part, in addition to the new challenges you get to face on almost every run.

So, yes, I am a tad disappointed. However, I’m not a total moron, and I get the fact that I ran faster than before, and I think that’s awesome. This was also the first time that other runners have come up to me after a race and mention that they thought I did well!! A couple of people that I was near on the course, came up to me after and said that they had seen me and I was doing awesome! YAY!!! I also got some extra push from Nacho who was back and forth with me during most of the first half. Unfortunately, he tried to speed up to pass me near the end, and hurt his knee 🙁 After I saw Nacho finish, I jogged back to find Jason and run with him to the finish line. I knew with the hills and the heat, he might need some motivation towards the end. I found him pretty quickly and ran with him until just before the finish line. He finished with an average pace of 10:53 which is amazing!!! I’m ridiculously proud of him!

After the race we went to The Farm at South Mountain for some breakfast.

In the middle of one of the biggest cities in the US, we have this beautiful green and rural farm with lots of restaurants and beautiful outside dining.

I discovered the editing options on iphoto--fun!!!

We enjoyed a lovely breakfast outside, then walked around. It was almost like a farmers’ market with several independent local businesses set up with stands, and tons of interesting items for sale!

There was a man and this was in his green house. It was humid inside there and he had lots of cacti for sale. It was cool, but I liked the bread man better. Obviously.

Look Nicole!!! Baby saguaro???

And we got to see real chickens!!!

Hello chickens. I hope the eggs I ate came from you. That would be sweet. Sorry, I know that's like I ate your children, or something. I hope you don't mind...

Rooster!!!

I absolutely loved eating and walking around at The Farm. In  addition to their breakfast restaurant, there is also a bakery, and a super romantic looking dinner restaurant that I would love to try as well.

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