almost there...

Tonight I printed my final instructions for Sunday and my race confirmation. I am runner # 22213 in case anyone is interested in tracking my progress. :o) Hotel is booked, directions are printed, car cleaned out, laundry done, Tuesday's lesson plans written (so I don't have to think about school while away) etc.

Still to go:
HYDRATE and Eat well
Pack - although i guess first I need to list what I need!
Do some more dishes and pick up around the house so I can return to a clean place!
Teach 2 more days w/ back to school night
find my watch! I can't run w/o that thing and I can't find it!!!
Then Friday...It's packing the car and picking up my traveling buddy and we're on our way to VA Beach!!!
:o)

PS - My right knee is bugging me today...what's up with that?? Hoping that goes away!

blessed

I received an email today from Coach Lea Ann telling me that my fundraising is DONE! Someone annonymously donated $101.14 - which gives me the exact amount needed to run next Sunday. So, in an effort to thank someone who wishes to remain annonymous - THANK YOU! It's such a relief to know I do not have to write that check out myself! Now...7 days and just a few hours away from race start! :o)

14 miler

Yesterday was the BIG run, our 14 miler with celebration! Last year I missed it because I was in NH for my family reunion so I was thrilled to be around this year. We run more than the half marathon to prove we can do it - in mind, body, and soul! The weather definitely threatened to end the hopes of a good Saturday morning run but in the end the half marathon crew rain completely rain free, although the poor full marathoners, who ran 20 miles, started their run an hour early in DOWNPOURS!

I started my run with Tracey and Shannon, taking it nice and easy and running at a good training pace but as we reached the 6 miles mark they needed to slow down due to some aches and pains so I attempted to catch the next group ahead of us - Brett and Ann - who were BOOKING IT! My first mile with them was easily 2 minutes/mile faster than what I had been running. I slowed them down a bit, to which I think Ann was somewhat greatful! Overall I was pleased that I wasn't in much pain until my hip started in around mile 11. Mentally I was done, but I knew I couldn't stop running especially since I had friends waiting for me at the finish line! Everyone's families are invited to the 14 mile celebration/picnic and since I didn't have family locally I asked a few of my closest friends if they would be willing to be there. As we got closer to the park, I looked for them and that truly gave me the motivation to keep running and finish strong, despite the pain in my left hip. It was so awesome to have them there, along with Coach Amy, some old students and parents etc. I was also SO excited to see soda in the cooler when i finished. For some reason the last mile or two all I was craving was a real Coke and it was there for me when i was done! :o)

Some pretty cool accomplishments - My 14 mile training pace time to finish was 3:09 - I finished in 2:57! Last year I finished the 1/2 marathon in 3:09 - this year my half marathon time along the trail was 2:42!!! That's 27 minutes faster! My goal for race day was to finish in 2:45 - now I know I can do it so I'm just hoping all goes well in VA Beach and I can come in around the same time. I was pretty sore after the run - mainly my hips but after some stretching I felt pretty good. Even waking up today - no blisters, no knee pain, no hip pain! WooHoo!!!

Now all I need to do is eat well, keep up my maintenence runs, hydrate and get ready for VA Beach in 2 weeks - this time exactly 2 weeks from today I will be 2/3rds done with my first half marathon of the season!

I'll leave you with some pictures of the 14 mile training run - post party!

routines = positive outcomes

So I felt bad to have not blogged at all as promised throughout my training process. In order to entertain my readers I thought I'd make my 12 mile run fairly dramatic for you...so I almost past out. Just to give you something to read about...how nice of me right?
OK...so the drama was unplanned and unwelcome but did happen just the same. This morning was PERFECT for a 12 mile run - decent temperature, low humidity and good cloud cover with a slight breeze - can I order that for labor day weekend in VA Beach please? The 12 miler was great - I felt good, other than my one hip which was a pain in the @#$%* but I finished feeling good - mentally and physically!
My title for the post is what I learned today - keeping to routines equals positive outcomes...deviating from them are not quite as good of an idea.

My routines -
RUN and follow coaches directions for walk breaks/speed etc. -check!

Eat fruit punch sports beans every 45mins or so to refuel along the course - kinda check! (first mistake seen in hindsight - I ate my beans at 45 mins and 1hr 40 mins...I should have eaten them again at 2:25 but I knew how close I was to being finished at that point so I decided to save my dollar bag o beans and skip the food.)

Return from run and eat some goodies at the park - check! (I had an awesome blueberry muffin from Cafe scossa and some meat and cheese.)

Wait for other runners to finish and head to the bagel bakery for an ET bagel with egg, bacon and cheese - OJ and large coffee. (THIS IS WHERE IT ALL WENT WRONG!)

Since my full marathon bagel bakery buddies had to run an extra 6 miles more than me today and because a friend from PA was coming to visit so I'd be short on time to eat at the bagel bakery - I opted to go home and shower, head back to the park and wait for my girls then eat breakfast. This planned worked out fairly well until after 20 mins or so after arriving back at the park showered and feeling refreshed I began to feel light headed and nauseas. If you know ANYTHING about me, you know NOTHING is worse to me than feeling like I'm going to puke. I tried breathing through it and then told Lea Ann I was feeling weird. She tried to get me to sit but I refused. Then I felt like I was going to be sick so I tried heading for the car - I wanted to save face and not puke in front of people. I took about two steps before she arrived with water and made me sit only seconds before my legs gave out anyway. I felt like I was in a tunnel and everyone's voices got fuzzy. Amy ran over with wet paper towels and ice - we went over who they could call to come get me and what I ate since I stopped running - roughly 90 mins ago. They decided it was low blood sugar. I shared that I had not gone to the bagel bakery right after as I have been doing now after every run each season and it all clicked. After some orange slices and grapes - and sitting with ice on my face and neck I felt MUCH better - and needless to say took myself to the bagel bakery. I didn't even make it out of the parking lot before my oj was open and half gone!
I arrived back home to my friend sitting in front of my house waiting for me...oops on timing! I was SO thankful for Amy and Lea Ann this AM - for figuring out what was wrong with me as well as helping me through it. I am SO thankful that didn't happen at home or while I was in the shower - or driving for that matter. That's the one thing that really hit home today about living alone - no one would know if I wasn't ok! Scary.
Other than a decent headache and normal stiffness/soreness in my knees and hips I am feeling just fine.
What lesson did I learn - DON'T skip the sports beans at the end of a run just to save $1 and stick to your routine - I wanted so bad to wait for my girls to eat but waiting 2 hours was NOT what my body needed - and it clearly showed me that today.

Slacker

It's been almost 3 months since my last post. Apparently I'm a slacker blogger and somewhat of a slacker runner this year. Last year I followed the rules line by line because it was the unknown, however now that I know I can run a half marathon I've somehow relaxed a bit. I haven't been super at getting in my maintenence runs (ok so I've only done a handful of them all season) and I've even missed some saturday runs. My first half marathon of the season is only one month away and there are no more travel plans for the summer so I have no reason to miss anymore runs.

On a fundraising note - I have some of the best family and friends ever - I've already raised about $650 and only have $100 left to reach my goal! In these tough economic times it amazes me that people are still willing to donate. I've also been a slacker on thank you notes - I promise they are coming!!

I recently bought new running sneakers so I'm in the process of breaking them in on my short runs (which I'm now forcing myself to do) so that they'll be ready for the 14 miler in 2 1/2 weeks. This saturday is the 2nd 12 miler - desperately hoping the humidity is lower by Saturday!!

The schedule for the rest of the running season:
This Satuday - 12 miles
8/15 - 7 miler (I think)
8/22 - the BIG RUN - 14 miles (I missed this run and celebration last year for my Adams family reunion - I am SO looking forward to it this year)
8/29 - 6 or 7 miler
9/4 - I leave for Virginia Beach, VA to spend Labor Day weekend getting ready to RUN!
9/6 - VA Beach Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon - My personal goal is finishing in 2:45 (last year's time was 3:09)
9/13 - 6 mile run on my own
9/20 - Philly Distance Run - my 2nd half of the year! I can't wait to do this on my own - I'm excited to run something different but am slightly intimidated that there will be hills - especially since I run in FLAT Easton!

After my 2nd half I plan on being lazy for a bit them getting back into a serious routine at the Y - lifting and doing cardio that does not involve running for a while!

I am SO SO SO thankful for NO injuries and relatively little pain after long runs. I love being able to encourage our newer runners. It's so nice knowing that I can do this!!

better get in gear

So tomorrow is the 5 mile run. I am SO far from prepared. I didn't do any of my maintenence runs this week and honestly barely worked out at all. The week was crazy and I was so worn out and tired that my free time was taken up by sleeping. I'm just thrilled that I have done 5 miles many times before, so while tomorrow won't be the easiest run ever I know it'll be just fine.

Timed Run

Today I did a "make up" 3 mile timed run since I missed last week. I ran the entire 3 miles, only walking for 30 seconds - 3 times - in about 35 minutes. I felt great at the end and had even better news when I was placed in Marian and Indra's pace group That was where I was hoping to end up. So...that means I'm training at a 13 minute mile (that was where I started last year before I dropped back to a 13:30) and running a 4:1 run walk ratio (which is 1 minute longer run ratio than last year). If I run the 1/2 marathon at that pace I'll come in around 2 hours 49 mins. I'm hoping to be able to finish quicker than that - under 2:40 is my goal. That should not be too far off of a goal based on where I'll be training. I have to say that I am SO excited to be starting this again. I don't feel quite as prepared as I was last year regarding gear etc but running wise I feel great. This week I need to get some new socks and sports beans. I have to dig out my water belt and make my meat sauce for Friday night dinners. It'll be tough to get back in the boring friday night routine - no going out late or eating out - pasta w/ home made meat sauce and early bed time will make for good Saturday runs. Feeling great so far...can't wait to see some fundraising money come in and have my fundraising Cookie Lee party in 2 weeks. :o)

one step at a time...

Am I really doing this? Am I really going to train for 2 1/2 marathons? Am I really going to do 2 maintenence runs during the week, forgo eating out on Friday nights, go to bed early, forgo sleeping in on Saturday mornings to run? Yep! I did my first maintenence run today and it left me wondering why it was so hard. The last few runs I've done- I've done continuous without a walk/run ratio. This time I ran a 4:1 but I may have sped up my run quite a bit. My body felt great but boy was I winded...ugh! It could have also been because I already weight lifted at 5 this morning and ran after a 45 min. pilates class. I also was not truly hydrated and I hadn't eaten anything in a while. So...here's to hoping my next run is a bit easier (these are suppose to be the easy ones!).

Overall I'm super excited to be running again - and starting training 30 pounds lighter than last year - that's got to help my training and race time for sure!

Loving this weather

So I agreed to go running this morning but that was before I realized just how sore I was from my workouts on Friday. I did eventually roll out of bed and met M & I at the park at 7. We ran 5 1/4 miles and enjoyed the company, conversation & weather. After getting a large skim, sugar free almond latte, we strolled back to the park and off the the Y I went. :o) Great start to a Saturday morning. I am SO looking forward to training starting up again - good Saturday morning runs followed by the bagel bakery. :o)

feelin good...

The YMCA is closed today due to it being Good Friday so I couldn't depend on the Y for my workout. Since it was suppose to rain all day, when I woke up and saw the sun peeking through the clouds I decided this was the time to get up and run...kind of a now or never feeling. I wanted to run/walk a total of 5 miles and once I got started I decided I would change to running 4 miles continuous and walk the rest. I ended up challenging myself and ran 5 miles in 59 minutes - which included a 5 min walk to warm up and five 1 minute walk breaks...so the run time was pretty good, especially for me! I walked the last 1.15 mile loop. It was beautiful and I feel great.

I did what?

I guess you really are a runner when you adjust your hairstyle because running season is approaching. I had to give up my cute shorter cut and grow it out a bit because I need my hair to go up in a pony tail to run. There was no chance of giving up the cute highlights but the cut is just so so...until late September at least!

Let the running begin

I skipped out on Pilates today and decided instead to go running. I set out to run a 3:1, my old ratio that I trained with last summer. I wanted to run three miles to just see what time I could do it in. After a few minutes I decided I would just try to run as much of the three miles as I could instead of doing a run walk ratio. 36 minutes and a few seconds later I stopped running. I did three miles without stopping which for me is a huge feat. Only once did I ever run 2 miles without stopping and today, after not running for months I did 3 miles without stopping and averaging slightly over a 12 minute mile which is a minute and a half faster than what I trained for the 1/2 marathon at. My goal is to do my 3 mile "trail" and finish with my 2 mile corbin loop to make 5 miles. If I can do 5 mile maintenence runs without stopping throughout the week I will be thrilled. It is amazing what running minus 20 pounds will do! Thinking ahead to my two 1/2 marathons in September - I should be running with at least another 20 pounds off my body. I cannot wait to see what I will be able to accomplish without all the added weight.
Today just showed me that I am indeed a runner and got my excited to start running again...bring it on!

It's been a long year baby...

A year ago I decided to run my fat butt across a 1/2 marathon finish line in Virginia Beach and run across it I did. This March my fat butt is a bit smaller - and is again making the decision to run across that 1/2 marathon finish line in Virginia Beach (and Philly 2 weeks later). I cannot wait to begin running more and training because I am in such better shape than this time last year. An exciting part of this process will be competing in the Reclaim program at the YMCA(formerly known as Biggest Loser). I am 1 week in and loving the strength training built especially for me - keeping in mind that I wanted a program to help make me a better runner! Over the next 11 weeks I am hoping to see a mind and body transformation and then be running my not fat butt across 2 1/2 marathon finish lines in September.

And a side note for those that know me really well... During the Reclaim program we have these optional group challenges - Kayaking, Rock Climbing & a Run, Hike, Crawl. What did I sign up for.... you guess wrong I'm sure - ROCK CLIMBING! The guy sold the rock climbing experience so well (and after reading about Heather's love of rock climbing) I've decided to give it a try. Never would I have found myself in a rock climbing gym without a program like this, so I shall attempt it in May. Let's just hope I drop a bunch mroe weight before I try to hoist my body up on a wall in front of other people. Yikes!