Race for the Hungry Holiday 5K Recap

Yesterday's race was amazing and I am so, so happy that I was able to do it and that Wifey decided to join me for this one. I look forward to doing this event for many years to come, especially since it's right in our backyard!

The Night Before

The night before the race was different than any other before this.  We were supposed to attend a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, but due to crazy work schedules and Murphy's Law we were unable to make it out the door in time.  But it gave me some extra time to be able to prep for the morning.  I checked the weather and it looked like we were going to have about the same as last weekend's run - 41 degrees.  Not too bad, so I anticipated wearing pretty much the same gear as last weekend, and I felt pretty good about that.  I also had a chance to pick up an arm band for my schnazzy new iPhone so that I didn't have to keep it in the pouch on my water bottle.

One of the things weighing heavy on me this evening was my severe lack of sleep brought on by the boy.  For the past few weeks he refuses to sleep for more than about a half hour at a time, and when he wakes he is crying inconsolably for about the same amount of time.  As the days have gone by it seems as though he is sleeping less and less, and therefore I am sleeping less and less so I was worried about getting enough sleep before race day. However, I felt great as far as fuel & water goes and my body felt strong and ready to go (except for the exhaustion of no sleep).

Getting Started

It wasn't the best night of sleep, but I have had much worse in this past week.  So I was slow to wake but when I did I felt relatively OK.  No headaches like I have had for days and it wasn't a struggle to keep my eyes open so I was optimistic that my cup of coffee would be enough to put the pep back in my step.  I knew what I had to eat, I knew what to avoid, and I knew what to pack for a snack for afterwards.  However, I started to worry about whether or not I would be dressed properly.  Even though it was the same temperature as last Saturday, there was no sun!  I went outside & was freezing!  So I grabbed an additional shirt leayer & headed out the door.

When we picked up our packets before the race, I was very excited to see that I was given #35.  This is my sister's (MFC) magic number so I felt like she was there with me for this race.  I usually feel that anyway because a lot of my running gear was given to me by her, and I am always sure to be wearing the necklace she made me.  But I took today's number as a good omen.

One of the things they were stressing about this race was to look at the map because apparently the course had changed from prior years.  Of course, my recurrent worry that I will be completely lost and not know where to go surfaced.  Will the course be marked?  Will the roads be blocked?  What if I fall so far behind the pack that I can't figure out where to go?  Of course these were all ridiculous ideas...they had police officers blocking off the roads and volunteers of all kinds directing us where to turn.

As we were pinning on our race bibs & getting ourselves ready I started shivering - I was SOOO cold!!  I decided to go ahead & put on the extra layer because I was just too cold.  Of course right on target was my pre-race bathroom break.  I am finding that no matter how short the drive to the race, no matter how many times I go, minutes before start time I find I need to use the bathroom.  We found some portables and I was good to go.

Go Time!

We made our way to the start line and were pretty far back from the front of the pack.  I knew that this would affect my race time since they weren't using any kind of tracking chip, but I planned on using the MapMyRun (MMR) app as well and figured that might be a little more accurate.  My goal for this race was to beat my PR of 30:05.  Of course I was also hoping to come in under 30:00, but I would have been just as satisfied with 30:04.

The gun went off and the clock started!  It took a while for us to get moving but I couldn't see the clock as we went past it, and I started the MMR clock as my feet went over the start line.  As we made our way out of the park we ran past Santa & the fire department, and various volunteers decked out in Christmas gear while the PA pumped out some favorite Christmas tunes.  This was so awesome, I was so happy to be doing this!!

I took off pretty fast, which I am finding I tend to do.  I kept up my fast pace for a little while and tapered off to my comfort zone a little after we left the park.  Unfortunately, I lost Wifey right off the bat but I knew I would see her again before the finish line.  At about the 0.75 mark there was a turnaround and we could see the runners behind us, so I made sure I was looking for Wifey.  I didn't know how far behind me she was so I had no idea when I would see her.

I was having a hard time finding a pace partner - someone to help keep my speed up without overdoing it.  It seemed that everyone was either way too fast or was OK for a while and then went too slow.  And then after we hit the turnaround there was a small bottleneck effect as we went over a foot bridge that only allowed for two side-by-side.  This frustrated me because I was stuck behind a few people I would have preferred to pass, but it motivated me to speed up a bit after we were off the bridge.  And as soon as my feet left the bridge I saw Wifey!!  She was doing great & wasn't very far behind me at all!!  I was so happy for her!  Feeling re-energized, I kicked up the speed again and neared the 1 mile mark.

In my last race I hit 1 mile at about 9:30, so I was hoping to see that on the clock or less.  I was a bit frustrated when I saw 9:45, especially since I felt like I was moving so much faster!  But I decided not to let it get to me, that it was only 0:15 more than last time & it definitely took more than 0:15 to cross the starting line.  Time to brush it off & hunker down for the second mile, which is usually my absolute worst mile.

I loved seeing the volunteers cheering us on & directing us through this course!  Most of them were donning some gay Christmas apparel, complete with reindeer antlers or Santa hats - there is something fantastic about running outside in the cold while prepping for the holidays.  I think I'm in love with it!  Another fun sight was the many people running with their dogs!  I kept pace for a while with one man who was running with his cream colored pitbull.  Such a beautiful & happy (and FAST!) dog!  I fell behind them for a little while when I lost some steam coming up against some hills.  And to call them "hills" seems a bit ridiculous.  They were slight inclines.  But when you're running head-on into the wind and you're not used to it, an incline can seem like a hill.  I had to dig in a little for these, and it's here that I started to question my second layer as I started to sweat.  I definitely made the right decision because I never became overheated and everything was fine.

Interesting things I saw in this second mile:  1. A male runner went down on the side of the road.  I didn't see it happen and I'm not sure what happened, but when I passed him he was face-down on the ground clutching his face.  Emergency workers were already with him so I knew he was being taken care of and I could push on without worrying too much for his safety.  I hope he's OK and didn't sustain anything severe.  2. We ran past what I like to call Burlington's town nuisance - a flattened skunk in the middle of the road!  This made me chuckle quite a bit and think of Wifey - I couldn't wait to hear her reaction to this too!!  Let me know if you are not familiar with our skunk troubles, I will gladly fill you in!

I finally crossed mile 2 at 19:45, which means that I ran the second mile in 10:00.  If I could keep it up for the 3rd mile I had a good chance at beating 30:05!  I did my best to keep my speed up and finally found a good pace partner - his name was Paul and he just got into running 5K's over the summer as well.  I struggled to keep up with him but I knew I could if I pushed it.  I was starting to get tired and he was just what I needed to keep going. 

I saw the clock coming up at mile 3 but it took a while before I could read it.  When it finally came into focus I was extremely excited that it read 28:59!!  I could beat both my PR and 30:00!!  I consistently run the last 0.1 mile in under 1:00, and that's without trying to push too hard.  I let out a little screech of excitement, apologized to Paul and took off ahead of him.  I have no idea how fast I ran, but I have never run that fast before on the road!!  I was so happy!!  I was going to beat my record, I was going to hit my goal time!!

Then I got to the finish line.  I saw 30:35 (hello MFC again!) and the official time was 30:36.  My heart sank.  How could this be?!  There is no way I ran that fast and took 1:35 to run 0.1 mile.  There's no way!!  Of course, at the time I didn't take into account the fact that maybe all of the clocks weren't 100% in sync with each other.  I didn't take into account that maybe the one at mile 3 could have been off a bit.  I just accepted that I didn't meet my goal.  I ran a good race, I was happy with how I felt, and now it was time for a banana & to wait for Wifey at the finish line.

When I grabbed a banana out of the bin and turned off my music is when it dawned on me that I never stopped the MMR clock!!!  Damn it!!  I was hoping that would tell a different story and that maybe I really did beat my 30:05 if not the 30:00.  But when I stopped it it told me that I ran 3.45 miles in 32:44.  I couldn't figure out at that moment if I had done it or not.  It would have to wait until later when I could see the splits and do some math.  So off to the finish line for me!!

Wifey did great!!  She took almost 3 minutes off of her time & crossed at 35:55!!  (Hello yet again MFC!!)  I'm sure its shorter than that but she also forgot to stop her MMR app, lol.  We're a winning combination, the two of us, haha. 

Results

OK, here are my "official" stats:

• My time was 30:36
• I came in 121 out of 253 total
• I came in 54 out of 153 for women
• I came in 12 out of 39 for my age group
• My average pace was 9:50
• Anyone have an idea what an age graded PLP is?  Because mine is 48.57

I can't be disappointed with that!

So now for my personal analysis of my MapMyRun stats for this race. 

• I ran the first mile in 8:12 (holy crap!!)  Right there there is a time difference of 1:33!
• I ran the second mile in 9:27
• I ran the third mile in 9:30

Right there, that puts me at 3 miles at a time of 27:09.  Even if it took me an entire minute to run the last 0.1 miles (which I know that it did not), that would put my time at 28:09.  Of course, MMR might not be the most entirely accurate thing in the world so there is some room for error on that.

If you look at the graph of my speed, right where it drops off at the end (where I finished but failed to stop recording), the time where it starts to plunge is 29:54 (and my pace is 6:14!!  OMG!!).  Again, not the most accurate science in the whole world.

So while I can't 100% prove it, my spidey sense is telling me that I beat both my PR & 30:00!!  Unfortunately I don't know the exact number so I can't be sure what I did, but it's probably somewhere between 28:09 and 29:54.  I am super happy about this and also super frustrated at my failure to stop the clock!  If I don't get one for Christmas (**Hint!  Hint!  I have an amazon wishlist!!**) I'm definitely buying a GPS watch for myself.  I think it would be easier to remember to stop that and it will probably be more accurate than the MMR app.

So some lessons learned at this race, but either way I am very happy with how I did and I can't wait to do it again next year!!  The day was followed up by the township holiday parade & tree lighting ceremony - a very festive day for Burlington indeed!


**Race pics are not posted yet, but when I find them I will share**

W.A.R.T.S. 5K Recap

Originally, Wifey was going to write this post because Saturday was a big day for her, but she honestly doesn't have time to do it!  So I will do my best to cover everything we talked about.

First of all, what is W.A.R.T.S.?!  The acronym stands for We All Run Together for Sandy.  This was a benefit event put together by the owners of The Sneaker Shop in Ocean City, NJ to assist the residents affected by hurricane Sandy.  This was not an "official" race by the city, just a group of people who wanted to help.  There were no race bibs, no clocks or timers, and your registration fee was a donation of goods or money to the cause.  For more about the origins of this race and another recap, check out Kashi's Cape Island Runner's Blog!

The Night Before

Since the race was in Ocean City, over an hour and a half away, we knew it was going to be an early morning.  We were lucky enough to have Wifey's mom stay over the night before to watch the kiddos so that both of us could do this run together.  Wifey was pretty nervous about  this run because she had yet to run 3.1 miles in her life.  EVER!  The furthest she had gone was 2.6 Miles, and that was the week before the race!  I assured her that she would be fine and that she could in fact do this.

Wifey's concern was finishing, but I was more worried about staying warm but not overdressing like I did earlier in the week.  The night before the run I chose what I would be wearing - My black tights and a bright pink LS compression shirt.  And of course, gloves & an earband.  I decided to forgo the additional shirt since I was too warm last time, though I was nervous about making the wrong decision.  Finally, I decided I would bring the outer layer and decide when we get there if I would need it or not. 

And of course, there was the fear that we would lose the pack & be completely lost in Ocean City and not know where we were or how to get back to our car.   This was much more likely since streets wouldn't be blocked off or labeled because it wasn't an "official" race.

Getting Started

Of course we were running late the morning of the race.  It got to the point of us not being sure we would actually make it in time, but we decided to chance it and hope for the best.  The only details we had were to meet at 9am at the recreational center, and we were hoping they would allow for late-comers!  In case we missed the actual start, our back-up plan was to find the boardwalk and make up our own run.

Amazingly we made it just before 9am!!  Not much before, but we didn't miss everything!  I got the chance to meet up with Kashi, who has been a running inspiration to me since the start of this whole journey.  Unfortunately she was nursing an injury she got right before the Philadelphia marathon, so no running for her this day :(  But she was there to cheer everyone on nonetheless! 

Since we ran to use the bathroom before everything started we of course missed the course overview and I immediately started panicking, thinking that my biggest fears had come true and we were going to be lost in a city we didn't know!  (You know, because we don't have smartphones now with GPS)  Luckily, Kashi filled us in on everything and it was pretty simple...run straight down 18th Street to the boardwalk, go down to the Music Pier at 8th Street, turn around and come back.  Easy.  Yes!

Here We Go!!

I knew going into this that today was all about Wifey and her first 5K.  This was not going to be my fastest run or any kind of record breaking event, rather a chance to prepare for next weekend's race in the cold weather.  I let Wifey set the pace that was comfortable for her and I followed her lead.  I reminded her not to get over zealous and go too fast too early.  She definitely pushed herself because she couldn't get more than a word out at a time, but she kept going. 

It was definitely a gorgeous day out!  The sky was clear, the sun was shining, and it wasn't too cold.  I definitely dressed accordingly for the day.  But one of the things that surprised me the most was the wind!!  I knew it would be windier near the ocean than it is in our West Jersey home.  However, there were a few gusts that pushed us around the boardwalk and I was not prepared for that!

Another surprise for me was how much I LOVED running on the boards!!  They are easy on the body, give you a little extra spring in your step, and hey - it's ALWAYS great to be on a boardwalk!  I had ZERO aches and pains after this run, where I usually have at least a little twinge or two that need to be stretched afterwards, whether it be on the treadmill or pavement.  If I lived closer to the beach, I would definitely be running outside more often in ANY season!

Results

When all was said & done, according to MapMyRun (click to view the run!), we ran 3.08 miles in 38:40.  Not bad for Wifey's first 5K!  And in the cold!  Our average pace was 12:32, which is right around Wifey's normal speed.  Fantastic for someone who didn't really have time to fully prepare for a 5K and just threw herself into it!  I am so proud of her for finishing, for not walking or stopping, and for wanting to run with me next weekend in the Race for the Hungry Holiday 5K in Burlington!  Way to go Wifey!!

Wifey & I on the boardwalk, just after we turned around - Halfway there!!  Who wants ice cream??!!

Cheering for Wifey - 2.6 Miles

I just wanted to take a second to cheer wifey on.  Yesterday she ran 2.6 miles outside in the cold.  This is the furthest she has ever run and she was incredibly nervous about taking on the challenge.  She is hoping to run a full 5K this Saturday with me so she is in full-on prep mode.  Until now, her longest running distance was just over a mile, and she more than doubled it yesterday in one single attempt.  I think yesterday's run proved to her that she is more than capable of doing it, and I am so proud of her for taking on this challenge with me :)  Way to go wifey!!

Running in the Cold

So, some fun stuff has happened since my last post!  The #1 being that wifey & I are going to be running a 5K together to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy next Saturday, November 24th!!  For anyone interested, here's the info:  

W.A.R.T's -- We All Run Together for Sandy. Wear a bright color shirt, show up at 9am at the OC AQUATIC CENTER (1735 Simpson Avenue, Ocean City, NJ 08226), and bring canned goods, blankets, etc. for those dealing with the aftermath of Sandy! Run, walk or crawl 5k or 5 miles!

Black compression top

I hope some of you can join us!  This is wifey's first 5K and she's a little nervous since she hasn't fully trained for one yet and only has a week, so the extra support would be great too!  Plus, the donations will help people in need.

Well, now that I had 2 colder runs coming up, I used the rest of my birthday funds to buy some cold weather running gear at Target.  I was really anxious to get outside and see how all of this stuff worked, figure out what would be comfortable and what wouldn't, and also just run in the cold.  So yesterday I geared up and went outside for a crisp morning run!

Black running tights

Luckily, it wasn't too too cold out in the morning.  According to weather.com it was about 41 degrees when I headed outside at 8:30.  So I donned some running tights (which made me SUPER self-conscious), a long-sleeve DuoDry compression top with an additional long-sleeve zip top, some touch-screen compatible gloves (AWESOME!), moisture wicking socks, and an earband.  

I also recently obtained an iPhone so I wanted to use MapMyRun for the first time.  However, it did not fit with the armband that I had for my iPod so I struggled to find a way to keep the phone on me.  I ended up using the pocket from my water bottle to hold the iPhone and just stuck the earbuds in my ears.  The earband worked great at keeping them in too!  However, I had to leave the pocket zipper a little open to let the wire come out which made me nervous that I was going to drop/break/lose the brand new phone.  So I need to come up with a better way of doing this.  My sister told me about some wireless earbuds but they cost about $40 and I don't want to spend that much money on a solution for this.  So I think I'm going to look for a cheap iPhone arm band.  The other problem I had was that combining the weight from the water bottle & the phone made holding the water bottle uncomfortable for me.  Usually I don't start to get annoyed with the bottle until the end of the run, but maybe a quarter of the way in I was struggling.  I did notice that I drank a lot less in the cold than I do normally, but I don't know that that was a good thing or something that I want to repeat.  So yeah, a new arm band it is!

Long-sleeve zip top

A few minutes in I realized that I had overdone it with the shirts.  Since I am a total spaz there was no way I was going to be able to strip the top layer off while running (hell, I had a hard time taking it off while standing still in my room!), so I said, "Oh well!" and kept right on running.  The route I had in mind was going to be somewhere between 2 & 3 miles (wasn't sure until I did it) so the absolute longest I would have to suffer is half an hour.  Totally do-able.  The other thing that I hadn't gotten right was the gloves...my hands were still cold.  Since it wasn't even that cold out I'm thinking that I might need to invest in something warmer than what I got.  Everything else was great!  

Touch screen compatible gloves

Interesting finds:

• Running in the cold sucks!!  My lips & face felt chapped from just a few minutes in.  I wish I had lathered my face with vasoline or something before heading out, that's how awful it was and it's only going to be worse on the days of my runs!  Not sure what to do about that one...suggestions anyone?
• I was thankful for my gloves even though my hands were still cold because they gave me something to wipe my very runny nose on, lol.  Gross.
• I felt as though I was running slower in the cold than I normally do.  After looking at my pace on MapMyRun, it looks like I started out a little slower than my normal pace but then I slowed down as the run went on.  I'm not sure if this was from the cold or if it was because the only thing I consumed before leaving the house was some juice.  I don't normally run totally empty like this, except for the few times when I run early in the morning.  I don't want to waste the time of getting food together & then having to wait even longer for it to digest a little before I run.  It hasn't been an issue in the past, but I'm wondering if it didn't slow me down a bit.
• Towards the end of the run I felt like my body was going to give out.  Again, I'm not sure if this is a cold thing or lack of food thing.  When I've gotten tired during a run it's always been the difficulty breathing that's gotten me and not fatigue in my legs.  Yesterday my legs felt like they were having a hard time working right, and as I approached my house at the end I felt like I was going to throw up.
• Aside from the warmth from having too many shirts on, I didn't really sweat at all until I got back inside my house & started to stretch.  That's when the sweat started pouring from my head.  I thought that was odd.
• As with every other time I have run outside, today my hips are killing me in a way that they don't when I run on a treadmill.  No clue what's up with that. 
• Wearing black tights & a black compression shirt (under the zip top) made me feel like I was wearing a cat suit.  I proceeded to prance & pounce around the house mimicking a jazz cat for a while.  It was amusing.  Especially if you appreciate Fosse. 

I definitely need to run out in the cold again before either of the races but I need to do it with some food in my belly so I can figure out what got to me so badly yesterday.   

That's all I've got for now!  If you want to check out my run & stats, you can click here.

3rd Hotel Gym...This Time With Mirrors! Ack!

As you have probably guessed by now, I have given up on re-starting the Couch to 5K program to become faster.  It was frustrating me and actually make me NOT want to run because I felt like I had stepped so far back from where I was.  Having been given a new perspective on pretty much everything over the past week, I really don't care if I can't beat my PR of 30:05.  But I do always want to be able to run a 5K at the drop of a hat.  Hopefully if I just keep the endurance up, speed will eventually come or I'll somehow learn to get faster, or I'll stumble upon a training program that doesn't make me feel like I'm going nowhere, lol.  So for now, I'm just going to run.  The goal will always be 3.1 miles but as long as I'm moving, I'm OK with whatever my body will grant me :)

This past weekend we went to visit some friends up in Kingston, NY.  Thanks to Wifey's silver membership with Hilton we got a pretty good deal on a Hampton Inn, so I got to check out yet another hotel gym.  I have to admit, I kind of love hotel gyms!  There's TV's, super cool treadmills and I can people watch, which is one of my favorite activities.  Plus I feel all fancy-schmancy when I'm at a hotel gym.  I don't really know why, but just let me have my moments, lol.

This particular fitness center was the smallest of the 3 I have been in so far, but it was nice because it eliminated being surrounded by hoards of people which can make me uncomfortable.  But what I found to be the most interesting about this gym was the mirrors on the wall.  They had the treadmills lined up on an angle in front of a wall of mirrors.  At first I was not happy about it because I didn't really want to watch myself run.  I was sure that I looked like an idiot and I didn't want to blow the whole fancy-schmancy vibe I had going on in my head.  And for whatever reason, if I am in front of a mirror I feel a need to look at myself in it so looking away was not an option.  I don't think it's a vain thing...believe me, I don't usually like what I see, lol.

Not quite THIS good, but getting there!

So here I was, staring at myself in the mirror on a treadmill.  I started out with my usual quarter mile speed-walk to get warmed-up and I did NOT like what I saw!  I had no idea that my thighs moved so much when I walked!  That was saddening.  All of my life I have had these stick-figure legs that I've been self-conscious about because they were too twiggy, and now my skin is flapping about on them like deflated sails on a windless day.  Wonderful.  Ugh!  But then I started running and I was shocked; there was actual muscle definition on my legs!  I had no idea!!  When I ran my legs looked almost "normal", like a real runner's legs.  There were lines and firmness and actual leg matter there (remember the aforementioned twigs from my past)!!  I couldn't believe it!!  Calves where you could see the muscle flexing, quads that looked like muscle instead of twigs.  Even my arms were showing some muscle tone as they went back & forth.  I seriously couldn't believe it.  I knew my body was changing - that I could see just from looking at it on a daily basis.  But I have never seen myself in the process of actually running other than my finish-line pictures from the Spotswood 5K, and by the time you can see my legs I'm already slowing down & they look like windless sails.

So noticing my legs in the mirrors was the high point of this run.  I only did 2 miles but I'm OK with that.  We ended up going on a walk in the woods up a steep hill later on in the day so I did get some additional exercise and I feel pretty good about where I am right now :)

On another note...the birthday fairy has endowed me with some extra cash, so today I FINALLY signed up for the Dec. 1st 5K I previously mentioned that I had to back out of.  This one is for the Burlington Twp. Food Pantry and is the Race for the Hungry Holiday 5K.  It's $20 to register by November 30th, and $25 on race day.  Anyone looking to help support local food banks or just get in a nice cold run, come join me!

A Birthday Run - Running For Sandy

So it's been a while since my last post and it's not because I haven't been running, it's because I don't have time to write about it afterwards!!  So I don't think I can keep writing after every run anymore, but I did want to take the time to write about the run I had on my birthday, Sunday, November 4th. It was very emotional & interesting for me and very unexpected.

It had been a few days since Hurricane Sandy hit and it had been a few days since I had done running of any kind.  The bleak weather, lack of electricity, and getting my mom settled in with us while she had no power herself made fitting a run in difficult for me.  The training program I had been following had me feeling frustrated and lackluster towards this new sport I have thrown myself into.  So I honestly wasn't looking forward to it but knew I had to do it.

Me & the girl at Pt. Pleasant, July 2009

For days I had been looking at pictures of the devastation in disbelief.  I couldn't fathom what had happened to these places that hold so many memories for me.  In my childhood, days at the beach were spent at Sandy Hook and vacations were to Wildwood Crest where the beach was so large it felt like you walked for miles before hitting the water.  When I got older I headed to Seaside with my friends.  Our after-prom festivities, hooky days, and retreat before heading to college were spent on the rides of the Funtown Pier and in the sands beside the MTV beach house (for you youngsters reading this, the ORIGINAL MTV beach house back when it was merely a tent and people dancing on the beach, not this Jersey Shore BS).  And when I had children the MILF crew walked the boards of Point Pleasant and enjoyed all the fun Jenkinson's had to offer. I heard the reports about the Atlantic City boardwalk floating through the streets.  I heard that there had been damage to other boardwalks as well.  But I didn't see the image of the Star Jet in the ocean until the 3rd.  The bar we were supposed to sing karaoke at the night before in Brigantine was pretty much gone.  And it was on this day, the 4th that I saw the first images of Point Pleasant.  I guess I had hoped that since it stayed out of the news for so long that meant that not much damage had been incurred.  And when I saw the pictures, I couldn't wrap my head around it.  We were there just weeks ago. 

I went downstairs with a fuzzy head.  What was happening?  It wasn't fair.  I was angry.  I was sad.  I was happy we were OK.  I was frustrated that next summer would be so different.  I was upset that my 33rd birthday was completely overtaken by everything else going on in the world and I felt overlooked.  And so I ran.

Me & the boy at Pt. Pleasant carousel, July 2012

I ran with the intensity of all of the emotions I was feeling.  I ran angry because my karaoke bar was taken away from me.  I was angry that I had to explain to my 3 year old that no, we can't go to the aquarium for a while because the town around it is in pieces.  I thought of what she would say to me and how would I be able to tell her that the rides are broken and I don't know when or even if they will be fixed.  And then I cried.  I cried and I ran.  I cried because of everything that was lost.  I cried because of how stupid & selfish I felt.  Who cares about my 33rd birthday?!  I cried because I was disappointed in myself for being mad.  I have friends who don't have houses right now, how on earth can I think about karaoke?!  I cried because I didn't know what else to do and I felt completely helpless.  I cried and I ran.  I cried because of how lucky I am.  Lucky that all of my family is OK.  We were without power for less than 2 days and we are fine.  I cried because our rickety old house withstood this frankenstorm yet staples of our NJ shore heritage were gone.  I ran and I cried.  I cried because I could run.  I cried because while I was running on a treadmill thinking about how to explain to my kids that their summer fun place was gone, a woman's voice echoed questioning how she would tell her kids that their house was gone.  My God, I am so lucky.  I cried because I was so overwhelmed with joy to be blessed with this life, MY life.  I cried and ran until the nonsense was gone and the tears were dry and the noise was silent.  And then I just ran.  I didn't care how tired I was or that I haven't run 3 miles since September and my hamstrings were screaming.  I ran.  I ran because I could.  The more I ran, the more I settled.

I ran 3.1 miles in 30:54.  When I was done I was at peace and my head was clear.  I've never had such an experience as this; it's probably the healthiest way all around that I've ever dealt with overwhelming, polarizing emotions.  I think I get it now, or at least I am starting to. 

Training Day 4.2

Today's run was a surprise, and a very welcome one at that :)  Wifey was away at the beginning of the week so it was near impossible to find the time to run whilst flying solo, and the boy is teething something awful so there was no sleep for 3 days.  Literally, I accumulated zero hours of sleep between Sunday night & Wednesday morning.  So energy levels were pretty low too.

But today the boy fell asleep right before lunch, and when he was still down after the girl and I ate lunch, I decided to take my chances and try to get a run in.  I knew going into it that I might be interrupted, but I wanted to at least try to get any kind of activity in that I could.  Lucky for me, he stayed down long enough for me to finish everything & shower!!

So today's workout was run for 1:30, walk for 2:00.  Since it's been a while since my last run I didn't push it any faster than a 7 today, however for every other "walk" section I decided to run it out at a 6 instead of walk.  Originally I wanted to not walk at all but by the time the second "walk" section came around I was dying!  So I did every other, and I'm happy with that.  I think I might continue to do that too.  Going down to a walk sometimes makes it more difficult to get started again, but also only slowing down to a 6 doesn't really give me a chance to recover from the faster runs either.  So I felt like this was a nice balance because I'm so afraid that I'm going to lose the endurance to run 3.1 miles while trying to make myself faster!

Fun stats: 

• I ran the first mile in under 9 minutes!!  I don't remember what the exact time was because I walked for 5 minutes right before I ran, so I was trying to do math in my head while keeping track of my numbers, but I hit 1.3 miles at just under 14 minutes (subtract 5:00 from the time because I walked for 5:00, and the distance from that was somewhere between 0.25 & 0.3, so we'll go with 0.3 to make sure I actually ran the full mile).  So that's exciting for me - I've never done that before!!  My fastest mile (to my knowledge) was during the Spotswood 5K and it was about 9:30, so yay!!
• I hit 3.124 miles at 35:00.  Again, recalculating for my warm-up & cool-down walks, a total of 10:00 for time and about 0.6 miles for distance, so 2.524 miles in 25:00 and that gives me a pace of about 9.904.

I think these are OK-ish numbers - I really have no idea, so I'll keep track of them here to see how they improve or decrease as I move further into the program.

The sad news is that I am probably not going to be able to register for the December 1st race :(  We made some financial blunders in the past few weeks and now cash is a little scarce for now so paying a registration fee is not priority.  However, if things start to look up more over the past few weeks I will see if I can still join.  Fingers crossed everyone (and send excess money vibes please!!)  But I am going to train like I am running on the 1st anyway because I hope to be able to actually participate.

With that said, the next 2 runs are the same as today's workout.  If I can increase myself to keep running at a 6 for all of the "walk" sections I will be happy :)

Training Day 3.2

I had a chance to run on Friday (just haven't been able to write about it yet!)  Again, nothing spectacular to report.  My knee seems to be holding up just fine, thought to feel it it is quite bumpy.  Since the pain is gone I'll assume that everything is fine :)  I ran out 1 mile after the training was done and felt pretty good.

Friday was the last of the 1:00 runs.  The next time I run it will be 1:30 runs and 2:00 walks.

There is a part of me that is wondering if this training plan is a bad idea...I am afraid that since I'm not running longer distances anymore I'll lose the ability to do so.  And if it's a week like this where I was only able to get the 3 runs in and not the 4, will I be ready be December 1?  But then I remember that I did it once, I can do it again and that this training plan got me there the first time.  Yet I do feel like I'm taking a bunch of steps backwards instead of moving forward.  I don't know.  I have a little internal battle going on here, lol.

Wifey is gone for the next few days running a conference for her job so I'm going to have to squeeze all of my runs in while the boy sleeps.  It's also why I didn't get running in this weekend like I was hoping to - she was AWOL with prep for said conference so I was flying solo pretty much all weekend as well.  It's getting tougher because lately the boy hasn't been napping for very long and he's been waking up before my run is even done, and that makes it even harder for me to get the shower in after, which I HAVE TO do since I'm a drippy gross mess.  I'm debating trying to get the runs in at night, but after putting both kids to bed I have zero energy or motivation to work out.  Grrr.  I'm not able to get the time in that I want to and it's frustrating me.

But tomorrow is a new day and we will try to run the second the boy takes his nap.  Fingers crossed that he stays asleep long enough!!

Training Day 2.2 - Knee Injury

There is nothing great or wonderful to report about today's workout.  It was a repeat of yesterday's and it will be the same again next time I run.  1:00 Running followed by 1:30 walking.  Runs remained at a 7 today, I'm hoping to push faster next run, but that's all going to depend on what happens with my knee...

I'm dealing with an injury, not related to running.  I was sitting at my desk this morning (before my run) and I managed to whack my knee into the side of the desk pretty badly.  Bruise, swelling, yada yada.  It felt better by the time the boy went down for a nap, so I figured I'd give running a try.  While I was running it wasn't too bad, but afterwords it was horrible!  I decided to put the leg up & ice my knee (something I NEVER do because I hate ice - it makes every bone in my body creakier and achier).  No better.  Now whenever I put weight on it it screams at me, and if you feel my knee cap the edge is bumpy and jagged right where it hurts.  I'm REALLY, really hoping I didn't chip my knee cap but only time will tell.  I'm hoping it's just a really bad bump and I'll bounce back in a day or so. 

Fingers crossed!!  I'll keep you posted!!

My accident prone boy must be used to the ice packs being for him...he decided to bite it while it was wrapped around my knee.  He inherited my grace & coordination.

Training Day 1.2 - A New Beginning

I am a lousy runner.  Actually, it's not the running part that I'm that bad at, it's the keeping on top of it that kills me.  If I don't have a goal and a plan to get me to that goal, everything falls apart.  This is why I was awful at those "distance learning" classes in college where you do everything on your own but show up for the tests every month.  I always did ALL of the work & studying the two days before the test.  This is why I could NEVER do online college because I'd never actually do anything on my own.  This is why I would make an awful homeschooling mother - unless everything is broken down for me and written out step by step and scheduled, I'd never do it. 

It's not for lack of want - I WANT to stay on top of things.  But everything else gets in the way.  And then it's a cycle.  I go off track for a few days.  No big deal.  But after a few days I am physically exhausted and I have no energy to put myself on that treadmill.  You know why I have no energy?  Because I haven't been on the treadmill in days.  And the more I put it off, the less I want to do it, the less motivation I have to do it.  And it just keeps repeating.  I know all of this in my brain, and yet it continues to happen.

But dilemma resolved - I have another race to train for on December 1st.  I have just over 7 weeks to train for it (54 days to be exact, that's 7 weeks and 4 days), and that's just about how long it took me to complete the Couch to 5K program the first time around.  It's set up to be 9 weeks long, but that's if you're only training 3 times a week for 9 weeks.  If I do it 4 times a week it's 7 weeks.  So I have 27 training days to get myself back to 5K ready.  And since I feel like I'm starting all over again and I want to get myself to a faster speed, I've decided to start the training program from the beginning.  Figuring that if I start at a faster speed and keep it up the whole time, I'll be able to run the full 5K at the faster speed by the end of it.  It makes sense in theory, we will see how it goes in reality.

So here we are, it's Day 1 again and I just completed my first run-type thing.  As a refresher, it's 1:00 running followed by 1:30 walking, with a 5:00 warm-up and 5:00 cool-down speed walk for a total of a 30:00 workout.  Since I don't want to lose the little endurance that I have built up, when the program is complete I plan on running a set distance afterwords as well, at least in the beginning weeks because I know if I don't I'll lose the ability to go as far as I have been able to go. 

It's been well over a week since my last run so I really feel like I'm starting over completely!  When it came time for the first 1:00 run, I hit the 7 button and threw myself into it, hoping I wouldn't fly off of the treadmill.  Of course I didn't, lol.  I'm undecided if I want my goal speed to be a 7 or an 8, so I'm starting at a 7, but I have a feeling I'll be working my way up to an 8.  I was already tempted to push it up today but I didn't want to overdo it since it's been a while since I've had physical activity.  I gotta say that those 1:00's were tough, but it felt SOOOOO good to be moving again!

When I got to my 5:00 cool-down walk, I had gone just over 2 miles.  I wanted to run out a mile and make it an even 3 miles, but I kept it simple and ran another half mile.  Maybe I'll go for the full mile tomorrow.  I'm feeling really good right now, and I don't want to push too hard and have the aches and pains affect me early on.  I don't want a reason to lay off or have to rest for an extra day because this time I don't have the extra days to lose!  Of course, I already know that the last few weeks are straight running for 20, 25 & 30 minutes, and at that point I'll just be shooting for the 3.1 miles instead of the time, so there is wiggle room, but I don't want to go into this thinking that. 

I have a goal, and I have a plan.  Let's do this!  (Again!)

Running in VA - Another Hotel Gym

We recently took a 4 day trip to Virginia Beach to visit my sister (MF) for her birthday.  Originally our hotel was on the beach so I was hoping to get the chance to run on the boardwalk in the mornings.  However, that didn't work out and we ended up having to change hotels.  You can read about the drama here (if you can't read it but want access, let me know!).  So we ended up at the Hilton Garden Inn and I got the chance to use another Hilton fitness center.

The last time I used a gym was when we stayed at a Hilton for my cousin's wedding, and that was a much different experience! I actually went back and re-read what I wrote and am amazed by how far I have come since then!  Not only with running itself, but with my confidence in running and in myself.  Since both hotels were Hiltons, they had the same treadmills in them, so I sort-of remembered how it worked from last time.  I did have to text wifey to find out where the jack for the earbuds was, but other than that I was good to go, lol.  I've been doing this for longer than 2 weeks now so I know I am a capable runner, I have three 5K's under my belt now.  I know I don't look ridiculous, and I know that adults who are working out aren't going to tease me or throw gum in my hair during their workouts.  So I went into the run at least not worrying about all that extraneous stuff.

I was, however, worried about how I was going to perform.  I ran on Saturday morning, 5 days after my last run and we all know how I feel when too much time goes between runs.  I was also dealing with some crazy allergies that morning and having a difficult time breathing in general, so I wasn't too sure how my lungs would hold up.  My expectations weren't that high to be honest, and I was just looking forward to doing as much movement as my body would allow, whatever that meant.  These fancy schmancy machines all have TV's built right into them and I was lucky to find a marathon of Roseanne to run to.  Seriously, if you can watch a comedy while running the time really flies by!

I kept my pace at a 6 for as long as I could, and I ran 2 miles in just over 20 minutes.  After that I had to slow down because my lungs were not holding up too well, so I kept alternating between a fast walk and running at a 6 for a total of 3.5 miles.  The last 0.25 mile was my cool-down walk.  I have no idea what my total time was but it was not my best and not the worst.  I was happy just to get any exercise in at all.  The rest of the trip was filled with activity so there wasn't too much time to get back to the gym.  I am hoping that now that we are home and don't have any trips or guests scheduled for a while we can settle back in to a normal routine, running included.

Back to the Treadmill

In the midst of the craziness and overnight guests I found some time to hit the treadmill yesterday afternoon.  While I definitely enjoyed running outside, I welcomed the treadmill with open arms because I love being able to see how far and how fast I am running.  So while the boy slept I brought the girl downstairs with me and got right down to it. 

I was still feeling my cold pretty bad so I wasn't feeling up to doing too much, so I only ran for about 2.5 miles in total with a time of 28 minutes.  I started off at a 6 and worked up to a 7 and at times hit a 7.5, but I kept having to drop to a walk because of the coughing fits that the running brought on. 

Not thrilled with my time or my distance, but my lungs just aren't up to it.  So I'm taking today off and hopefully Wednesday will lend itself to a better performance.

That's all I got for now.  Time for some hot tea and getting the little ones to bed!

Craziness & Running With My Cousin

So it's been one hell of a week!  My race was last Saturday and I haven't run since until today.  My plan was to take Sunday & Monday off and run on Tuesday.  But everything went nuts on Tuesday when the girl got sick.  Not just sick, I mean REALLY sick.  Like 911, ambulances, overnight at the hospital sick with pneumonia sick.  You can read about part of the ordeal here. She is mostly fine now, but we're taking it easy.  It just didn't really leave any kind of time open for me to get any running in.  And then when I could, I was sick myself & didn't want to push myself into a coughing fit. 

So it's been a week since my last run.  But my cousin (KR) is spending an extended weekend with me, and lucky for me she is a runner!  I was nervous heading out yesterday morning; It had been a week since I did any kind of exercise, I was still battling the remnants of a cold, and we were running outside which I still don't do that often.  And of course, since I was running with someone else I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep up, that I would run out of breath and fall down and be left on the street by myself, or that I would just be an embarrassment to myself and the entire sport of running. Silly, I know, but this is what goes through my head every time I do something different.

Once we took off, I knew we would be fine.  KR was letting me set the pace, and I was surprised to see that I was faster than her!  I wasn't racing or anything like that - it was just a fun morning run for the two of us.  I had just assumed that since she had been running for years that I wouldn't be able to keep up and was happy to see that I could hold my own :)

We didn't really set a course, we just took off from the house and guesstimated how far we went, looping through the neighborhood a few times.  We both guessed that it was just over 2 miles, and when I got home, I used Map My Run to see what we actually did and was happy to see that it was 2.76 miles!  I can't really use this app while running outside because I don't have an iPhone, so I have no idea how fast we were, but I felt good and I was fine with the distance.  It had been a week so I was happy to be moving at all!

So running outside is always a new experience for me.  Yesterday morning in particular I noticed a few things.

1.  I don't sweat nearly as much outside as I do in the basement.  Might have something to do with the 60 degree weather.  I'm sure if it were 90 out there it would be a different story.  But I think there is something to be said for moving through space and the wind that it creates.  I think even in warmer temps I may sweat less because I'm not staying in one place.  We'll have to test this out next summer!

2.  I could feel the breeze through my sneakers.  Not kidding.  This was a very interesting experience for me.  Again, I'm sure the cool air had something to do with it.  I wonder what that will be like in the cold of winter...will I have to wear warmer socks?

3.  Hamstrings are definitely used more outside.  Nothing to really elaborate on here, just something I'm noticing.

4.  I am more motivated to go further if I am outside.  Since I can see how far I've actually gone it makes me want to go even further.

5.  Running with someone else, whether in conversation or not also pushes me to go further.  It keeps me accountable for holding my own and my mind doesn't go to the "I want to quit" zone, no matter how bad I feel.

So this running outside thing I'm starting to like.  There is that control freak part of me that likes the treadmill because it is familiar and I can see exactly how far and how fast I've gone.  I wonder if one of the GPS watches would allow me the same feeling of control?

More running to come.  Not sure if I'll be able to get outside with KR again, but I feel a noticeable difference when I do run compared with when I don't.  And now that I'm aware of it I'm sure I will be more on top of it.

4.

Spotswood 5K Picture Summary

I just got an e-mail that the pictures from Saturday's run are up, so I figured I'd share with you all.  If you haven't already, read the recap I posted so that some of the pictures make more sense.

Hope you enjoy!

Wifey & CR (in the red shirts) wait for me while I use the bathroom before the race starts.  Again.

The race starts!  Apparently the first few people just fall forwards.  I had no idea.

If you look closely, you can see me & CR getting ready to take off!  We're kind of in the middle, behind the girl in the neon green shirt.

OK, I'm coming up in the purple tank, the runner on the left.  To the right you can see my distraction as I approached the finish line.

It looks like they're assaulting her, but I assure you they were helping.  She had already gone down & they were stopping it from happening again.  Also, if you look behind me & the girl I was running next to, you can see the blur of Orange Shirt Guy approaching

Happy to be finishing!  (And they have hamstring girl taken care of now.)

Pure happiness!

As soon as I crossed the finish line, Ticket Nazi assaulted me.  Yes, THAT close to the finish line.  Hamstring Girl is seconds from crossing with the aid of some fellow runners, and Orange Shirt Guy is coming up too.

Orange Shirt Guy.  Thank you for pushing me!

You can barely see CR crossing the finish line because Ticket Nazi (red vest) is now standing in front of the photographer.

CR finishes!  Yup, that look sums up how we all feel about Ticket Nazi.  Who is still standing in front of the photographer, btw.

Great run!  Me with CR after we finished :)

Spotswood 5K Recap

Well today was a series of surprises & ups & downs!!  I'll get to the starts first and then I'll tell the whole story.  My official time was 30:05 with an average pace of 9:28!!  I placed 86th overall out of 127 and 15th for my age range out of 24.  Not too shabby!  Definitely some room for improvement but I really can't complain, I'm more than happy with my time since it's my best so far, and I am very proud of myself.

The Night Before

Since this race was in Spotswood, not far from my mom's house in Old Bridge, I spent the night before there again with wifey, the boy & the girl.  It appears to be tradition now - I've done 3 5K's, all of which I have spent the night before at my mom's house.  This time though my sister (MFC) happened to be spending the night there as well with her puppy, Mr. Peter, so it was a full house! The plan was originally for wifey & the kids to wait at the finish line for me, but that changed & just wifey came courtesy of Grandma's Baby-Sitting Service.  They are wonderful, I recommend them!

My first concern was that I am allergic to dogs.  Since I am still nursing the boy my previous go-to allergy medicine has been a no-no due to its propensity to dry up breast milk. However, at this point I am not as worried about that because he's a toddler and isn't far away from weaning himself anyway.  Plus, it's a 24 hour medication and I wanted to take it ONE time, ONE pill.  I didn't want to risk not being able to breathe in the morning and having it affect my performance and I felt that the risk was minimal in comparison to the benefit.  So we stopped at Walgreens on the way to my mom's house and I took my first allergy pill in over three and a half years.  I am happy to report that it worked splendidly, there was hardly a show of any kind of allergic reaction to Mr. Peter-head (except for when I touched my eye after petting him that one time and my eye swelled & turned red, but that's totally my fault).  So yay for that going right!

The second area of concern was sleep.  Since I haven't seen MFC in a while due to her being locationally challenged, we ended up staying up talking much, much later than I had planned/anticipated. So I went to bed worrying about the amount of sleep that I was going to get which of course led to an even greater lack of sleep because I was then worrying about not getting any sleep.  Viscous cycle!  That in combination with the super mega comforter blanket that was more like an oven than a blanket and made me sweat to death after an hour caused some tossing & turning for a while.  But I finally drifted off to sleep around 2am, a mere 2 hours after getting into bed.  Lucky for me the boy woke up at about 3:30am, unhappy, and it took me a little while to get him back to sleep.  I drifted back to sleep for a bit and then my mom's wonderful upstairs neighbors decided that 4:30am is when they need to wake up.  Complete with alarms and the sounds of doggie paws on their hardwood floors above my head.  A quiet people they are not.  They were done bowling upstairs by about 5:30, just in time for my alarm to go off.  Needless to say I was not well-rested. 

Getting Started

I snoozed the alarm until about 6am, just to get a little bit of rest.  I got up and made my coffee & breakfast and the boy decided that this was a good time for him to wake up as well.  At this point I forced wifey to get up so that I could finish eating.  She got into the shower right after that, which woke the girl up.  Great.  Now I have to make breakfast for everyone and I'm supposed to be getting ready myself, but wifey is in the shower.  I also needed to stretch out my glute since it was still bothering me and make sure everything was in order.   Ack!

Fast-forward to 7:15, I'm supposed to be leaving and I'm not even dressed, forget about stretching or rolling my glutes!  Shall we say I was stressed??!!  Just a bit!  We get it together and head out the door around 7:30, arrive at the venue at about 7:45.  Apparently their recommendation of arriving between 7am & 8am is not taken seriously at all because there was almost nobody there!!  I went to the sign-in tent to pick up my race bib & t-shirt and there was only one person ahead of me.  So I relaxed a bit knowing that I still had over an hour to get set up, stretched, and use the bathroom about a hundred times before getting in the starting line.  They actually had someone from Snap Fitness run a stretching session which I happily participated in and felt great afterwords!  My glutes weren't in as much discomfort and I had actually warmed up a bit from the freezing state I was in!  I also ran into one of my friends (CR) there, which was pretty cool.  It was her first 5K and I'm still a newbie too so we were having some of the same race day gitters.

In all honestly, my gitters were pretty bad!   I kept having a nightmare where I was the absolute last person and they stopped blocking the roads off and I had no idea where I was or where I was going because I was so far behind and I ended up completely lost.  Or It's go time and I think I'm running but really it's not running at all and it's a big joke and so ridiculous that I would even consider signing-up for a 5K.  Obviously neither of those things happened, and hopefully this will be the last time I fear that!

Setting the Pace

One of my biggest difficulties with running outside is setting my pace.  Since I run mainly on a treadmill, I don't even have to pay attention to how fast I'm going or regulating myself that much since my feet just fall and I just need to stay on the machine.  There's not much thinking involved or regulating on my part, it just kind of happens.  But when I get outside, I tend to take off running waayy faster than I am used to and I start to burn out or lose steam early on.  So I made sure not to do that today.

After everyone spread out a little, people ahead of me started walking and I passed them.  This helped calm my fears hat I was going to come in absolute last.  And soon enough I got into a bit of a race with who I will call Orange Shirt Guy.  At first I found him annoying, but I am actually thankful for him because he kind of kept me going and on top of my game.  A few minutes into the run he whizzed past me and then halted to a walk in front of me.  Kind of annoying since he obviously saw me since he had just passed me, but whatever.  So I went around him and kept my pace.  A few minutes later he runs up next to me and we're kind of keeping the same pace.  In my head, I'm thinking, "Oh yeah, you want to race buddy?!  Let's GO!!"  But I know that's stupid and I don't want to burn myself out, and I definitely didn't want to do any walking today.  So I just ignored him as much as possible and rocked on to Adele in my ear buds.  After a while, he starts walking again and falls back.  I was sure this was the last of him.

We hit the first water station and the attendant is calling out "Mile 1" and the time.  My jaw about hit the floor when he said 9:30!!  I could not believe that, since I have never run a mile that fast before and I certainly didn't feel like I was pushing too hard!!  Shortly after this, Orange Shirt Guy speeds past me again.  I try to speed up a little bit to stay on his tail, but he's going too fast so I let myself fall back a little bit.  Again, I didn't want to burn out and stop running.  I started losing some steam having been overtaken by Orange Shirt Guy and the pain in my hip/glute resurfacing.  There was a second where I was actually fighting with myself to keep running.  I had a moment of, "Running is stupid, I'm never doing this again, I'm in pain and I paid money for this, blah, blah, blah..." and at just that moment the right music came on & I got some cheers from two little kids sitting on their front lawn watching everyone run by.  And then I saw I was coming up on Orange Shirt Guy who had started walking again!  Haha!  I can still beat him! I ran past Orange Shirt Guy and that was the last I saw of him until the end.  Talk about getting what you need when you need it!  Thank you universe!

Keep Moving

The rest of the run was kind of a blur...I started to get lost in my thoughts for a little bit, which was nice because while I was in some pain, before I knew it I was at the 2 mile mark!  They had people directing us at every turn so there was no way for me to get lost, there were people cheering all along the way - some volunteers, some people just sitting in front of their houses, some people just driving in their cars - and that gave me extra steam to keep the run up when my hip and glute so desperately wanted me to quit.

I finally turned the last corner and could see the crowd of people at the finish line and what appeared to be a clock.  The end!!  Yay!!  I kicked it into high gear and it was a sprint to the finish.  I could hear that Orange Shirt Guy was approaching me from behind (he had a distinct gasp when he was struggling for air), and there was no way I was going to let him beat me!

As I got closer to the clock, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it was at 29:3x!!  If I hurried, I might be able to make it in under 30 minutes!!!  Full speed ahead baby!  That is, until I saw the girl ahead of me fall flat on her face.  Apparently her hamstring was cramping up pretty bad on her.  She did get back up and tried to run, but she was done - she couldn't even walk anymore.  There were a few people next to her helping to carry her, so I was OK with pushing ahead but I felt bad for her because she was so close to the finish line.  In my distraction I approached the finish line & didn't catch what my final time was!  Oh no!  How did I not see it??!!  Aaahhh!!

The second I crossed the line I was accosted by what we called the Ticket Nazi.  She approached each runner as they finished & ripped off a stub from their bib to help record their times.  I (along with many other people) ripped this off prior to the race because nobody told us we needed it, and it was labeled as a raffle ticket, and it made pinning the bib to my shirt more difficult.  So, not only did I almost run her over/fall on my face trying not to hit her because she jumped right in front of me the second I crossed the finish line without allowing for time to slow down, but then she yelled at me for ripping my "race" (read: raffle) ticket off.  I wanted to be like, "Move before I plow into you crazy lady!!", but she was already yelling at the next person who did the same thing as me.  I tried to find out how we would get out end times but she blew me off and was again yelling at the next person.  A regular Miss. Sunshine.

As I finished my wonderful interaction with her and searched the crowd for wifey I was approached by Orange Shirt Guy, who told me my time was either right under or over 30:00.  He came in at 30:16 and I was ahead of him by a few seconds.  (YES!!)  He then thanked me for setting a pace for him to try to keep up with and admitted to liking the race we had going on with each other.  I agreed, and we had a little chat about it and I decided then that I didn't dislike him.  Our conversation got cut off when I saw wifey in the crowd, waiving my "race ticket" in the air towards me.

It was when I saw her that finishing hit me.  Between the hamstring girl, the Ticket Nazi, and Orange Shirt Guy, I barely had a second to realize what I had just accomplished!!  I ran a 5K in about 30-ish minutes!!  Possibly under!  I did it!  I didn't come in last, I didn't get lost, I actually beat a bunch of high school soccer players!  It was a wonderful moment, and I'm so glad she was there to reel me back into reality. We waited for CR to finish and she did amazing for her first run, 33:51.  It was also the first time she ran straight through the 3.1 miles!  So a big day for all of us! So much fun, so happy I did this, and I can't wait until wifey is ready to join me :)  As always, thanks for your support!  And thank you to anyone still reading this blog all these weeks later.  You're keeping me accountable whether you know it or not, and that's what is going to help make all of this stick for a long time.

The After Effects

I don't know if this is at all related, but I figure I should mention it.

After the race we went back to my mom's house, I showered, and we all got ready to go out to a celebratory brunch - I was craving waffles in the worst way!  After my shower something funky happened with my eyes - it was like I had stared at a bright light and a portion of my vision was blurry and dark.  You know, like when too many flashes from a camera go off in front of your face?  And I started feeling a little shaky and I realized that I hadn't eaten anything post-race yet so maybe my sugar was a little low.  It's never really mattered that much before, and I don't often eat right after I'm done running so I found it odd.  But I ate a few cookies anyway, just in case.  A few minutes later the vision cleared up so I assumed it was just a low blood sugar thing and that I needed to eat.  Good thing we were on our way to brunch! 

Then right before we left I got a little bit of a headache.  Nothing major, and again, I thought I just needed to eat.  But the closer we got to the restaurant the worse it got.  By the time we pulled in I had a full-fledged migraine, something I haven't had in over 10 years!  I used to get them all the time when I was in high school & college and then when I started taking better care of myself they went away.  But this was really bad.  Light sensitivity, nausea, heavy head - it was awful!  I walked into the restaurant and I had to walk right out because the smell bothered me so badly.  My celebratory brunch was cancelled because I couldn't even bear to be in the restaurant that I chose!  It was one of those headaches that made me unable to function.  I couldn't talk, I couldn't open my eyes, I couldn't move.  I layed down on my mother's couch and slept for about 2 hours because there was nothing else that I could do.  I woke up feeling better - I still had a headache, but it was one I could function with.  Even now as I type this, hours later, I still feel the remnants and hope that it's all rectified by tomorrow.

Odd.  I'm not so sure that this was brought about by lack of food or low blood sugar.  I have eaten plenty and it still hasn't gone away entirely.  And I'm pretty sure that the funky eye thing was a warning sign that a migraine was coming on and not the result of low sugar.  But I figure I should mention this in case any other runners out there have experienced anything similar.  Anything in case I can avoid it from happening again!

So what a roller-coaster of a day, huh?!

Hip Pain = Rest

So since I'm having some pain while merely walking today I decided early on that I was just going to take the day to rest.  Hopefully I'll be restored by Saturday and if not, fingers crossed I can just run through it!  I'm already getting jittery thinking about it!  I have tomorrow to prepare and I'm going to make sure I do a lot of stretching and hopefully wifey will do some massaging as well :)  So since I probably won't post again until after the race...wish me luck!!  My goal is under 32 minutes!!

30:53 & Cramping

Wow, I didn't think I'd shave over a minute off of my time tonight but I did!  1:13 to be exact!  I just got it in my head that I was going to be faster tonight and I was.  Started off at 5.7, moved quickly to a 6.0 and spent most of my time there.  I hit 1 mile at 10:16 and was pretty happy with that, though I am looking forward to making it under 10:00.  After 2 miles I moved to 6.2 and then up to a 6.5.  Finished off with a 7 and debated going faster as I was racing the clock to be under 31:00.  I was secretly hoping to make it under 30:00, but my muscles were screaming at me and now is not the time to overdo it so I didn't push too too much.

I had a crazy busy day today and did a ton of walking.  So much so that by dinnertime my right hip & glute were already bothering me.  Not a good sign.  So I decided to do the foam roller before I ran tonight in hopes that it would loosen me up a bit and reduce some of the pain I knew was coming.  I think it worked for the most part; there was pain but I know it wasn't as bad as it could have been. 

2 new(er) things tonight...

1.  Something popped up from my past that I haven't had to deal with in years and years.  The muscle in the arch of my left foot cramped up during the day today and then again tonight.  This used to happen to me all the time as a teenager.  Went to an Ortho and he called it Plantar Fasci-something-itis.  I don't remember the cause of it but I remember pulling my big toe back to ease up the spasm.  So I did again today and tonight and it went away.  Totally weird, don't know what that's all about...maybe I need more potassium?  I'd say water, but I know I over-hydrate as it is.

2.  While walking up the stairs from the basement after my run my right calf & hamstring also cramped up.  Same side as the hip & glute issue. Not sure if this is related to that or the foot thing, even though the foot is on the other side of my body. 

So I'm dealing with some cramping issues.  Again. I have no idea why.  I hope it's not just from overuse, which it could be.  Even though I doubt it's from dehydration I'll up my fluid intake anyway because it can't hurt.  But now I am torn with what to do tomorrow.  I have thought about just running for 1 mile just so that I am doing something to keep myself moving.  I originally wanted to do some sprints and I'm still contemplating that, but if I'm cramping that's an awful idea.  So I'm going to play it by ear and see how I feel tomorrow when it's time to run.  If I end up with 2 days of rest before Saturday it's not the end of the world.  I won't be thrilled and I'll be nervous as heck going into it, but I've had a good week so far so hopefully that will be enough for me to feel prepared mentally.

Anyway, I used the roller again on my glute & hamstrings after the run and after I stretched, and it's already feeling a little better.  So that was definitely worth the $16 that I didn't pay for it!

32:06 and a Foam Roller

OK, so I have a new fastest time!!  Oh yeah!  And I wasn't so sure tonight would go well, ha!  It was 9:30 before I could even think about heading downstairs and I was already exhausted from a busy day.  As I was putting on my running clothes I questioned for a second whether I should bother so late or not, but I knew I would kick myself if I didn't.  I scanned through the TV and found some Big Bang Theory (always good to run to!) and tried to ignore the glowing red panel in front of me. 

I hit 1 mile at 10:32, pretty happy about that!  I stayed at a 5.7 for most of the run and towards the end I kicked it up to a 6 and eventually a 6.5.  So I am getting faster.  I'm hoping I have more energy tomorrow so that after the 3.1 miles I can get some more sprinting in because I know I have to take it easy on Thursday.

My new Gold's Gym (c) Foam Roller.
Of course it is blue.

Part of my busy day today was scouring the stores that I have gift cards to in search of a foam roller, which has been recommended to me by many people.  As much as I loathe Wal-Mart, I had a gift card for there and braved the crazy for the greater good of my glutes.  I was surprised by how much larger it was than I had pictured!  In my head, these things were more like the noodles you use in a pool than the solid thing it really is!  Of course since it was Wal-Mart, there was only one selection and it was the very last one as well, so I went with it.  Lucky for me it was blue and it was (free) $16.

During the run tonight my right hip flexor and glute again were screaming at me.  Not as badly as Sunday's run, but enough for me to want to do something about it.  I had looked up some exercises online and the roller came with some as well, so I knew what I needed to do. Oh my God, why haven't I heard of these things before?!  Best way to work out a muscle kink EVER!!  (Sorry wifey, but your hands wear out.  This doesn't, lol.)  Just a few minutes and the soreness was pretty much gone!  I do feel it a tad when I walk around, but nothing like what it was.  So thank you to everyone who recommended I get this!

So that was my exciting night!  Hopefully we have a good run tomorrow as well :)