1 down and 1 to go

 So I finished the first of the two half marathons yesterday. My day started with me waking up at 4 am to prep for my run. I was nervous the day before. I prepped all of my supplies,which included:
-GU
-Clifbloks
-Jelly Belly electrolyte jelly beans (I discovered these and they are amazingly good and quite inexpensive)
-4 bottles of gatorade
-Water bottle
-Ipod
-Packet w/number

My morning routine consisted of getting ready to run, which took about 20 minutes. Why so early you may ask? It is more that I needed to bring my husband along with me. After all, we needed a cheering section and I also needed someone to document our run.  So I put body glide all over and apparently I didn't wash all of it off of my hands. This is where things got dicey. I accidentally got a little bit of body glide in my right eye. This caused my eye to swell and turn bright red. I ended up washing out my eye and then taking benadryl for good measure. Within an hour I was on the roadway with benadryl in my system getting ready to pick up Amanda. I arrive at Amanda's with my hubby in tow, we make our way to Columbia Mall. Upon arrival, we discover both of us need to go to the bathroom pretty badly. Luckily, I thought a head and took the wet naps from Famous Dave's 3 weeks ago, so I had a way to at least clean our hands. Good thing I did because they ran out of water!  It was 6:30 and the line for the bathroom was insanely long. After waiting for 25 minutes, we just barely made it to the start line. Piece of advice get to the bathrooms early, it will save you from potentially having to dodge into the bushes or behind a tree later.


Race started off good, but it was very hilly. I had no issues with my Achilles, which was really good. So the rest did me well. By mile 3 I hit my stride and we pretty much kept a 14:30 pace for almost the entire race. I enjoyed the race, especially the gummy bear stop and the chocolate stop. The worst part of the whole race was mile 6, which basically involved running up a hill for almost a mile. It was a steep hill. I did not like it, nor did any of the other women around it. So we walked. My hydration strategy was good, which involved taking two cups of water at each water stop. I expended a lot of water through sweat. As you can see, I started off wearing my polar fleece because it was cold at 7 am when we started, but by 9:30, I was dying. My time slowed a little because I was jogging and trying to rearrange all of my race outfit. Overall, it was a good run. I started getting tired by mile 10. Amanda and I began discussing which type of Chipotle burrito I was going to get. I like to celebrate all half marathons with a burrito from Chipotle. I normally never go burrito because of the calories, but in this case I feel as though I expended enough calories that it is justifiable.  Mile 12 and 13 were a little tough, but we finished strong. Actually, it was a lot of fun running with Amanda. It was nice to run with someone who was at my pace and not someone who put added pressure on me to go faster.


The end of the race. Our finish time was 3 hours 14 minutes and 4 seconds. I met my goal of finishing in under 3 hours and 15 minutes. This means that I shaved 18 minutes off of my previous half marathon time. That felt really freakin' good!!! Anyway, I grabbed my finisher's prize, which was a great charm bracelet with the commemorative bead. I also enjoyed the fare from Wegman's. Sadly, I am allergic to a lot of things and what they usually offer to prevent cramping, I cannot eat. So, as you can imagine, I did cramp up. I also broke the cardinal rule of sitting after a run. I couldn't help it, I was tired. I also popped a couple of ibuprofen when I was finished to prevent muscle pain. It worked well. I actually showered and celebrated with a shopping trip.

Today was a little rough. I think I felt worse than I did yesterday. I look forward to doing a small run tomorrow and to begin prepping for this Saturday and Sunday. What I took away is I need to carb load a little better the night before because I got hungry way too early. However, I am going to try to eat a little better this week. More salad and less crap.

So yes, I now have earned the title of Iron Girl. I can't wait to get the honor of Titatnium Girl. I have also decided to add to my charm bracelet. I want to take the bead and add to it with all of running milestones. I think it would be really cool to do this. I have never had anything that I really am proud of, but I feel very proud of the fact that I have put myself through a lot to be able to run for 13.1 miles continuously.

However, after this week I have to start mentally preparing to run the Baltimore Marathon...yikes...double the mileage and perhaps double the pain!

Pre-Race Nerves...

So about 8 hours until I get up for my first half marathon since October. I am anxious and excited. I just got back from my run to Dick's Sporting Goods for Clifbloks and the delightful Jelly Belly Sport Beans. I highly recommend! I figure I will take both my energy supplements with me and load them into the pouch on my water bottle.  I also purchased body glide.  I haven't used it before, but I remember reading about in the Dawn Dias book. I also remember around mile 11 wishing that I had actually purchased body glide. Apparently, it prevents chaffage and rashes. But with that being said, I tuckered myself out last night and woke up super early this morning so I would be feeling exhausted at about this time.

One piece of advice I learned so far with this race is to try and get to an expo on the first day. I had a slight snafu with the Tricolumbia Assocation. They did not register me, even though I had paid. It wasn't a big deal as far getting it sorted out (thank God for smartphones!), but it would have been more confusing and more overwhelming had I been trying to sort it out amongst the 2,000 or so other women who had registered. Another piece of advice, take a payment confirmation with you as proof that you paid. I was nowhere in the system, even though I had a receipt. Do everything you can to make sure your packet pick up is easy! Another bonus is you get your pick up the merchandise. I got a pretty cool Titanium Girl t-shirt, which I look forward to rocking tomorrow after the race!

So, I am off...

Happy running and I am off to conquer the Iron Girl. Next week, I become a nut made of Titanium!

Last Training Run

Its been an eventful couple of weeks. I managed to pull my Achilles tendon and I am also coming down with cold, but come hell or high water I am finishing both half marathons. I am going to admit, Monday I woke up freaking out. It was less than a week before I tested my endurance and my resolve. Here I was with a hurt tendon, and believe me on April 20th, I was walking with a limp. It was that bad. I was terrified that I might have pushed too hard and that I would have hurt myself to the point where finishing the race would be near impossible. I did the only thing I could do, I stopped training.

On April 15th, I noticed I was having some pretty noticeable problems. I was completing a 5k race, the Cupcakes for a Cause when I noticed it was taking a good two miles before my legs would work. Every step was like lifting cinder blocks. I figured maybe I was tired. I rested and on Wednesday I tried another run, I got a mile in before it began hurting. So I did a walk run combo for 3 miles. Thursday I tried again, but after a 1 mile down hill, I began running up and I felt a sharp pain in the back of my leg. I limped home and this is when I knew I had been bested. I tried working the kinks out of the back calf/Achilles area and this only caused me to feel a pop. I was now in agonizing pain and even at night I was feeling the effects. No amount of ibuprofen would fix what I was feeling. This was possibly one of the worst things that could happen to me. I decided to just stay of my feet for the weekend. On Sunday, Amanda and I arranged a training run for Wednesday to see how are paces were matching up. Life got in the way and we found it difficult to train together. That brings me to today.

Amanda was at my house around 5:30 we ran for about an hour and a half. I had a minor calf cramp after the first mile, but walking for a 1/4 mile allowed me to run the rest of the way. I realized how much I missed running with Amanda. It's nice to have someone to talk to and to provide distractions. She capped her longest run at  10 miles and I had completed 11 miles for my longest distance. Both of us have been training at about the same pace. Today made me realize that I will be okay on Sunday. I pick up my packet on Friday with Amanda and I am kind of excited. The anxiousness has subsided and I am planning on hitting between a 3:00-:3:30 half marathon.  So next time I blog, I hope to report good news!!!

Happy Running!!!!

Have You Seen My Kneecap?

I've made the shocking discovery that I might actually need new knees! (Say "need new knees" five times fast!)  Somewhere between the hundreds of miles or so that I have run since November, my lower body is throwing in the towel. However, the rest of my body is in disagreement. As a result we have a good ol' fashion skeletal fight going on. It's a civil war between the North and the South and at this point I am hoping the North can persuade  the South to cooperate long enough to keep my kneecaps from succeeding the Union.

There is no real revelation here and no funny story really. Just that I have badgered and beat my body up through running to a point where it doesn't feel good. I had lofty plans to immediately jump into marathon training. However, I think after May 6th, me and my body, especially the hostile body parts, are going to have a little sit down. Actually, a long sit down. The kind of sit down where I may not move for weeks (God willing!) and will develop a dependency for ibuprofen. There may be a few weeks of the kinder, gentler cross training in my future or even pool time. Yes, pool time, which sounds absolutely fabulous because there will be no pressure on my joints, especially the knees and ankles.

So a little less than 12 days until the Iron Girl and just about 18 days until Frederick. And way too long to keep up this running thing. But, I will keep with the training plan and maybe throw in an extra cross train day and hopefully I can keep myself from falling apart before too long from now.

Happy running!

The All Important Playlist

So, I just got the "its about 2.5 weeks before you bring down a world of hurt upon yourself" mandatory e-mail from the Tricolumbia Association. No big deal, I like pain. I like not being able to move my body for a whole day after I run. I especially love climbing flights of stairs the following day when I go to work. I will admit, there has been more than one time that I have contemplated parking out front and walking a little extra just to avoid the stairs in the back. I can't help but wonder if this is what is in store when I get really really really and I mean really old! If so, I don't think I will enjoy being old so much, unless I get a hover round. I mean how bad could life be if I could tear around the hallways at a 5 mph speed, but I digress.

Like I said, I got the e-mail which hit me like a ton of bricks. In 2.5 weeks I am going to be pushing myself pretty damn  hard. Am I up for it? Absolutely. Despite my irrational fears of not being able to finish the race in the prescribed time, I have to keep reassuring myself that I can do it. The other thing I need to focus on is picking the right songs to listen to while running. I like to read a lot about running and one thing that kept occurring in many of the different books and articles I read said that if you have to listen to music, then you are missing the point of running. That you should be listening to your body and being all zen like. Well perhaps my chi isn't aligned properly and I will never reach my inner zen-ness, but I like listening to music. I know, I am a running heretic. I like to rock out to my jams and get jiggy with it while moseying along at my 14 min/mile pace. I ask you, what is wrong with that? What I like about running is being able to relax, and music also helps me to relax. So am not reaching that zen like state or the nirvana if I do that? So, I say to hell with what the experts say and step to whatever you want. It can be the pounding of your heart or the Biebs!

To help you out, I have included some must haves and some please don't jams that I love for my ipod:

Must Have: (Some of My Favorites)
WWE Wrestler Theme Songs (These are hardcore & can get you pretty pumped...here are my faves)
-The Miz- I Came to Play (That's right and you came to win!!!)
-CM Punk- Cult of Personality (Over inflates your ego)
-Triple H- The Game (Ultimate Bad Ass Song....)
-Randy Orton- Voices (The who gives a damn what you think song)
-One Direction- That's What Makes You Beautiful (That's right...upper 20s and I rock out to 1D)
-The Wanted- Glad You Came (Just pure awesome)
-J. Lo- On the Floor (try to control the urge to do a latin-eque shimmy while listening)
-Pitbull- International Lover (anything by Pitbull works, I just like this song because I am still trying to figure out what he's saying)
-Adele- Rolling in the Deep (The pissed chick song...what could be more motivating???)
-Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (I like to think my footsteps too are getting lighter instead of heavier...)
-Nicki Minaj- Starships (I like the idea of heading to the beach...)
-Nicki Minaj- Hero (???)
-Luke Bryan- Country Girls Shake It (I just like to envision Luke Bryan singing this to just me)
-Big Rich- Save A Horse Ride A Cowboy (reminds me of a delightful Chippendales show I watched...)

Please Don't Playlist:
-Beyonce- Love On Top (Good song, but epic buzz kill when running)
-Michael Jackson- Ben (Adorable, but not appropriate)
-Celine Dion- My Heart Will Go On (When running it's never good to think about your heart being the only thing still left to go on)
-Rock Me Amadeus (Just strange...)

Tomorrow 5 miles...happy running!

11 miles down

Just completed an 11 mile run in just under 3 hours. Hydration is still the issue, its harder to figure out how to pace myself with water in order to make it through the entire run. Unfortunately this is just a problem  I have to deal with until race day. I know it will be easier when I run in the races because they have 6 aid stations available throughout the route. This means that I will be drinking a lot of water and gatorade, as well as my 20 oz water that I will carry with me. Today I was just too thirsty and at mile 9, I decided to start heading back to my house to get  a glass of water. I downed a 16 oz bottle followed by a 1/4 of a bottle of gatorade. I had a little over a mile left of my run, so I just dropped everything but my house keys and phone and went back out to run another mile loop. I still was under 3 hours even with the pit stop, so I am pretty confident that the time will decrease.

I have also noticed that it takes me a good 3 miles to get warmed up before I can run somewhat effortlessly. Yesterday, I tried to run 11 miles and instead only did 3 because I just wasn't feeling it. Since it was a holiday, I figured I wouldn't force myself if my body just didn't want to. Today, I forced myself even though I didn't want to and after about an hour I was fine. So 2.1 miles to go and 3 weeks left until the dueling half marathons and I think I am good to go. I feel as though I am in a much better position then I was in October.

Total Miles Run: 116.5 miles

Until next time, happy running!

Inaugural Crib Crawl 5k- I got "swag"ger

Me heading to the finish line.

Today I ran a 5k in Frederick at 10 am. It went okay, it wasn't my best time. I knew I was in trouble when I managed to finish the first mile in about 12 minutes. Basically, I didn't hydrate as well I should have and I hardly had anything for breakfast, which made for an interesting mile 2. However, I took a brief walk break for about 3 or 4 minutes, rallied and ran the remainder of the race.

 I declared that I would not let a jogging stroller beat me, and for the most part I didn't. However, one woman pushing a double jogging stroller with two toddlers completely killed me. Honestly, I am not humiliated in the least. She was a lean mean running machine who pushed those little tots effortlessly. So mad props to you super running mom...keep on rocking!

Chillin' with a demonic E. B.

I decided to do this event because my friend was one of the organizers and I wanted to be supportive. Actually, it was very well done and a lot of fun. The cause was providing safe cribs to families who cannot afford them and the race was organized by the Frederick Children's Advocacy Group. It was a nice run with a well placed drink stop and overall, it was very scenic. It is definitely a run my husband and I will do next year.

The hubby modeling the latest running safety fashion

 One of my favorite aspects of running is the swag and the giveaways for participating.  Depending on the race you can get some really rockin' stuff. This year I want to head back to Pimilico for another race just so I can get the fleece blanket that comes with it. Some of the race premiums are pretty nice. I am actually super excited for the upcoming half marathons. The Athleta Columbia Half Marathon is giving away not only the awesome tech t-shirts, but a silver charm bracelet with a commemorative Iron Girl 13.1 sterling silver bead. How awesome is that???? Then there is the Frederick Half Marathon which will be giving out nice jackets to each of its participants. Honestly, that premium is way better than a t-shirt. I can rock the jacket whenever and it's almost like a badge of honor. Usually the more highly touted the race, the better the premiums. However, I love getting the race t-shirts and today we were also treated to a fanatically bright lime green long sleeve Giant-Eagle nutrition t-shirts. See above as it is modeled by my hubby!

I would also like to give mad props to my girl, Olivia. Who is this Olivia you may ask, well she is a small child who happened to draw my name out of the door prize basket at the Crib Crawl today. It was adorable, she fished around in the basket for about a minute before the emcee asked her what she was doing. She very innocently smiled and said, "I'm looking for the one with my daddy's name." Well, while little Olivia was trying to rig the competition she happened to pluck my ticket from the basket. I was the proud recipient of the Outback gift basket, which contained a candle, a $25 gift card to Outback Steakhouse, and a bottle of wine! So with a slight Jersey Shore fist pump, I made my way to the front collected my prize and gleefully realized that not only could I put on all the calories that I just burned off, but I could get buzzed at the same time! Best door prize ever :-)

Well, tomorrow I tackle the big 11 miler and I am kind of pumped. We will see if I am feeling that pumped tomorrow morning, but off to hydrate and sleep so I rock my run tomorrow morning!!!

Happy Easter and Happy Running!

Training is back on...

So last week, I gave forewarning that I might not workout as much as I should. Well, I kept that promise and I didn't do anything. Mainly because I was away. So, I resolved that the beginning of this week that I would follow my entire training regimen and just be thankful for the rest time. After all, I am or was a week ahead of schedule.

So far this week, I have competed 8 miles. I actually just finished a great 5 mile run at night. I don't usually run at night because I don't like running in the dark. Being a young woman, you can never be too careful. However, the local police had multiple speed traps set up throughout the neighborhoods and I took great care to only run in well lit areas. Actually, it was one of my more successful runs because I went up and down a lot of challenging hills. As time goes on, I decided that I will work on my speed, but for right now I decided that building the endurance is the most important thing for me to do.

As you can imagine, running 5 miles can lead you to some time to ponder on your own. I began to think about where this craziness of me wanting to run so much really began. I realized I owe a lot of where I am to two of my friends, Annie and Casey. Why these two?

Well, I will start with Annie. Annie is a former co-worker of mine and very good friend. About 2 years ago her boyfriend signed her up for the MCM 10k. She really wanted me to run it with her. I said I would, even though I could barely run a .10 of a mile. Over the summer, I really didn't train and in August I became painfully aware of the fact that the 10k just wouldn't happen. I set my sights on doing a 5k on Halloween and then building up to running a race with her. Here I am almost two years from that point and ironically, I am the one who has urged and motivated her to run a half marathon with me. Since Amanda will be running with her friend, Annie and I will run together. So, it took me a little longer than I would have liked, but I kept my promise to Annie.

The other person who I owe a tremendous debt to is my friend, Casey. Casey is a co-worker of mine who may be bordering on the edge of insanity. But, the good kind of insane. He has competed in tough mudder, warrior dash, countless races, and basically anything extreme. In December, he took on the World's Toughest Mudder. It was like 48 hours of a repeated 10 mile loop with ice baths, electrical wires, and things that only the mentally and physically tough would even contemplate doing. Look up the words "hard core" in the dictionary and I am pretty sure you will see a picture of him back flipping into a vat of ice water with no qualms whatsoever. He's that extreme. Aside from my admiration of his incredible abilities, I owe him a lot because I have to say I think he was the only person to truly believe in me. When I first decided to run that first 5k, he was there offering me advice and guidance as to what to do. He even ran with me around the track the week before the race and offered words of encouragement. Through minor injuries, defeated attitudes, and personal best times Casey has always cheered me on. It may sometimes just be a like of status on facebook and sometimes it is just to check in and see how my training is doing, but his positivity gave me the courage to not only try that first 5k, but to push for a half marathon and now to attempt to complete a marathon in October.

My point is this, while running is a solitary sport sometimes you need a support system. I like having a common activity to bond me with my friends and sometimes when I am defeated I need people like Annie and Casey to keep me putting one foot in front of the other. If you haven't found a buddy, and it doesn't need to be a direct running buddy who pounds the pavement with you day after day, but just someone to share your achievements with, then I suggest getting one. I don't think I would be where I am today without these individuals.  Although, my friend Amanda deserves a lot of credit for getting me to step up my game.

Well, I will post on Sunday after I finish my insane 11 mile run before Easter dinner at my Aunt's.

Adios and happy running :-)