Annapolis Pictures

Hanging out after the race at Navy Stadium.

An orange to go with all of my orange!!

Almost to the finish line! Not sure if you can see it but I painted my fingernails orange to match my tank and visor.

Last curve to the finish line. I didn't even see Stephen when he was taking this picture.

My week of easy running is going well. I did a short 3.2 (5K) yesterday morning before work. Then yesterday afternoon I went to the work gym where I did this strength routine. I am sore this morning!! I've been slacking off on my strength work during the last month and I'm bored with my usual routine so for the month of June I'm going to do the Women's Health Beach Body workout that I linked above two days a week and another routine I found (can't remember what it's called) on two other days a week.

Anyways, so I did that strength routine yesterday afternoon and it left me feeling pretty sore this morning. I got up at my usual time but felt a little overwhelmed with trying to get things done before we leave for Atlantic City tomorrow plus I have a busy workday ahead. I just wasn't feeling running this morning. And since this is my easy running week (AKA, I'm only running when I want and running the distances I want) I decided to spend the extra time this morning and get a few things done around the apartment instead of running. I plan on leaving early for work and getting off a few subway stops early and walking ~20 minutes to work.

I probably won't get a chance to post again before our trip so have a great weekend everyone!!

Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon May 31, 2009

First things first, this was the most mentally challenging race I have ran. I’ll get to why a bit later but just understand that finishing those 13.1 miles yesterday was so incredibly hard.

I wake up on Sunday morning in our hotel in Annapolis. My clothes and equipment were laid out and ready to go. When I open the curtains I notice something…it’s raining outside. There was no mention of rain in the forecast and it really surprised everyone. I get ready and walk the half mile to the start line. All the while, it’s still raining. I get to the start line where there is no cover and there are huge puddles everywhere. So I stood around for 30 minutes in the rain trying to keep moving so I didn’t get too cold.

The race started promptly at 7 and we were off. There was a huge puddle right at the start line so it took several minutes for me to actually cross the start line because everyone was trying to avoid the puddle.

I wanted to run the entire race with only a couple of short walk breaks to take in Clif Shot Blocks. I did so well for the first 5-6 miles. It continued to rain until about 45 minutes into the race when it stopped.

I ran with my iPod for the first couple of miles but because it was raining I was having trouble keeping my earphones in and then my cord got all tangled and messed up. Close to mile 3 I turned the iPod off and wrapped the cord around my sports bra so it wouldn’t get even more tangled.

At mile 6 I needed to listen to music. So I stopped and walked as I untangled my cord and got my iPod situated. Just to give you an idea of how tangled the cord had gotten, it took me nearly 3 minutes to get it untangled.

After I got my iPod going again I went back to running. About this time my feet started hurting so badly. All the rain had made my socks get wet and I was now getting blisters on the bottom of my feet. Every time one of my feet hit the ground it felt like a thousand needles going in to the bottom of my feet.

Close to mile 8 I was done. I felt like I couldn’t take another step. I started thinking of excuses I could tell the volunteers at the next aid station…my knee hurts, I think I twisted my ankle…so that I could stop running and be carted back to the finish line. A few minutes after coming up with my excuse and getting prepared for a “Did Not Finish”, I thought about what I would tell everyone when I was asked about my race. I knew I couldn’t tell them I quit because I was tired and my feet hurt.

I also thought about the phrase on my Road ID…”Pain is temporary. Quitting is forever.” I knew that if I didn’t finish the race I would regret it.

At this point, I told myself I was going to finish even if I had to walk the rest of the way. My time didn’t matter but I was going to finish. I had to keep telling myself, “You can do this. You can do this. You’re tough, you’re strong. You can do it.” I did not let myself think about how bad my feet were hurting…I just put it out of my mind.

The last 4 miles was excrutiating for me mentally. I was so mentally and emotionally spent. I felt like I didn’t have any fight left in me at all. I didn’t walk the entire last 4 miles but I did a lot of walking/running intervals.

But I finished. My time was 2:31:21, a pace of 11:34 minutes per mile. Not my fastest time but not my slowest. I have pictures and I’ll post them once I get them onto the computer.

Now for a rant…

This race had the rudest non-paying-attention runners in it. I was pushed and ran into at least 3 separate times (not once did the offending person apologize). I was ran off the path and almost fell into bushes (no apology there either). It is courteous when running that if you’re going to pass someone or change your position to look around and behind you to verify that there is no one there! People were just running all over without looking around. So annoying.

And also the paths we ran on were too narrow. We ran for miles 5-11 on a bike path. The turnaround point was on the bike path so there was 2 way traffic. The bike path was way too narrow to have two way traffic! It was ridiculous! I felt so claustrophobic. Very poor planning on the part of the race officials. 3000 runners are going to need more room than a bike path, especially if there’s two way traffic.

Why was it so mentally hard?

After thinking about it, these are the reasons why I think I had such a mentally challenging time:
1) Standing around in the rain before the start of the race. I don’t mind running in the rain as it’s actually refreshing but standing around for half an hour in the rain before I started running was the worst. My socks got wet and that caused my feet to really hurt 8 miles into the race.
2) The 3 minutes it took me to untangle my earphone cord was too long of a walk break. If I take too long of a walk break when I’m running, it is so hard to get my muscles back into running mode. This was too long of a walk break but I needed my music so I’m not sure I would have been able to do anything differently.
3) I’m burned out. 3 races in 7 weeks was too much. My body needed a break and I mentally needed a break. This week will be a light running week (if I feel like running at all)…maybe a couple of 3 milers but no long run over the weekend. I’m taking the weekend off! Stephen and I will be heading to Atlantic City for a weekend away and we’re getting massages!! My body needs some R&R and I’m going to listen to it.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a very inspiring running post but sometimes running is painful and hard. But the thing with running even when it hurts and you scream “uncle” is that you still learn something about yourself. I know that I’m much more mentally tough than I thought I was. Even though it wasn’t fun, it was a good reminder for me that I’m not always going to set a new personal record every time I run and sometimes I’m just going to finish.

Some great quotes from the course

My favorite: “I have met my hero, and he is me.” ~George Sheehan
(Many thanks to Roni for remembering this.)

“Tough times never last but tough people do.” (Thank you Google!)

8 miles and grilled pizza

So glad its Friday. This has seemed like an extraordinarily long week. Big plans for the weekend include a 12 miler Saturday morning, a Costco trip, the usual errands, hopefully seeing “Angels & Demons,” and some outlet mall shopping. I hope that I actually see some clothes I like…for the past month I have not seen anything clothing-wise I even liked well enough to try on. How come I never see anything when I have money I’m willing to part with and when I’m in super-saver mode I see bajillions of things I want to purchase?

Yesterday morning instead of doing my usual 5 miles before work, I did 8! Wednesday evening I decided that I wanted to run 8 on Thursday morning so that’s what I did. I’m completely aware of the fact that I’m a running addict. I had some things on my mind I wanted to get sorted out. Nothing too big…just my father’s recurring un-supportiveness and I needed to think it over a bit. I haven’t even told Stephen or my sister about it yet but I needed to process it first. I felt awesome yesterday!! All day I kept thinking to myself, “I ran 8 miles before 7 am!!” Awesomeness!!

I am pumped for tomorrow’s 12 miler!!

When I was making pizza for dinner the other night I tried something completely new to me…I grilled the pizza instead of putting it in the oven. Fantastic!! So yummy…the crust is crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. It was awesome!! Try it sometime, you won’t be disappointed!

Making Lemons out of Lemonade

This past weekend Stephen was out of town so I spent a good chunk of time on Saturday morning in the kitchen playing around.

I started with some bananas way past their prime:

And made banana bread:

Then I made homemade granola using oats, honey, and peanuts:

I finished with homemade Larabars!! I made my version of chocolate chip Larabars using chocolate chips, dates, and peanuts.

They turned out awesome!! (On Sunday I tried making Cashew Cookie Larabars--Stephen's favorite flavor of Larabar-- with dates and cashews.)

All in all it was a perfect Saturday. I spent time in the kitchen and spent time watching girly movies.

Pacers Running Festival Half Marathon

Time: 2:24:11

Average Pace: 11.006 minutes per mile

My goal for this race was to finish with an average of 11 minutes per mile and I went 5 seconds over. I'm going to count this as a success though! My friend Kate came and cheered me on (she even had a sign!!). When I saw her, I stopped for 30 seconds, petted her dog and posed for some pictures. I'm so proud of myself! The Las Vegas Half Marathon was 6 months ago and my time has improved overall by 24 minutes!!

At first I was being hard on myself because I missed my time goal by 5 seconds but when I worked it out and my average pace was 11.006 minutes per mile...I couldn't really be disappointed with that! I was way too close to beat myself up about it.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that Stephen is out of town and I don't have pictures from Kate yet (or the official race pictures), I don't have any pics of me running or during the race. So I thought it would be interesting to show you some pictures of how I've been preparing for my races.

First up is my race clothes/electronics/accessories. I like to lay out everything I'll need the night before (way too many dreams of showing up for a race with no sports bra on). I lay out everything in the position it will go on my body. For example, iPod and Road ID go on my left arm and my heart rate watch goes on the right. I put everything in my hydration belt except for my cell phone and I fill up the bottles with cold water/gatorade in the morning. I pin my bib on my shirt and put the timer on my shoe so there are no last minute things before the race. My mental state during the race is much calmer if I'm not running around like a mad woman before I even leave the apartment.

The night before a race I eat like I normally do. I don't have a specific meal I like before racing but I try to have a serving of lean protein, veggies, and carbs. Since Stephen was out of town I wanted to enjoy seafood so my pre-race meal was sea scallops cooked in bit of garlic and onions and lobster ravioli with sauteed spinach.

This was eaten on a TV tray while watching "Gilmore Girls." When Stephen's not home I have a hard time eating at the table...mainly because I don't like sitting on the barstools.

This was my first time cooking scallops and they were delicious!! I only ate 3 of the 6 on the plate...the rest are going to make a yummy lunch later this week!

I got the ravioli from the refrigerated foods section of the grocery store. I simply sauteed the spinach in garlic and onion and used that as a sauce. The ravioli were flavorful enough...they didn't a heavy sauce.

For breakfast before a race I like to have oatmeal with a banana and peanut butter. Since the temperatures are warmer, I didn't want a hot bowl of oatmeal so I made a chocolate chip breakfast cookie.

I used:

1/2 cup oats

1 banana all mashed up

dash of cinnamon

dash of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 handful of chocolate chips

Combine everything in a small bowl. Spread out onto a small plate and put in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning I put on ~1 tbsp of Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter and a few more chocolate chips.

Delicious!! And the perfect fuel for a long run! (Note to self, that was a little too much chocolate first thing in the morning...made the tummy hurt a little.)

My entire breakfast together! Breakfast cookie with cup of coffee (I only drank half...don't want to have to pee during the race) and VitaminWater10. I also drank lots of water. I like drinking Propels or VitaminWaters before a race because the slightly sweet flavor helps me drink it quickly. My biggest challenge before a race is to get hydrated.

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed looking at what I do to prep for a race! I'll post pics of me when I get them.

Stomach/Food Issues

I've been in a weird food mood lately. Nothing sounds good. For breakfast I'm fine because I'm always hungry after running and I'm always craving breakfast foods. But for lunches and dinners, I've been having problems. I'll be hungry but nothing sounds good. I end up eating something because I am hungry but I don't get a lot of satisfaction from it. I don't know if it's because I'm bored with my food choices or the warmer weather...my guess is the food choices. As the temperature has fluctuated this past week, I still feel uninterested in food. I've looked for new recipes and foods to try but nothing has interested me.

And in other food news, I think I might be lactose intolerant. I've never had a problem with dairy before but over the last couple of weeks, any time I eat dairy I get a horrible stomachache and feel bloated. I'm cutting out dairy for the next 2 weeks to see if I feel better and then I'll reintroduce dairy to see if the pain comes back. It seems weird to me that I would just suddenly be lactose intolerant without ever having problems in the past but maybe it's not weird?? I don't know...no one I know is lactose intolerant.

Anyhoo, that's what's going on with my stomach lately...a lot of strangeness.

In running news, my first half of 2009 is this Sunday. I'm excited!! Weather is still looking good...woohoo!!

I am woman, hear me roar!

This weekend’s long run was in the weather I was hoping to have last weekend for the race. Overcast and mid-60s…great running weather which led to me running 10 miles in 1 hour, 48 minutes (average of 10:49 minute miles)!! So even though I wasn’t able to meet my goal last weekend for the race, I did it on Saturday. Now this weekend is a half marathon and my goal is 2 hours, 24 minutes (average of 11 minute miles). So far the weather forecast is good…I hope it holds up.

I had a weird epiphany this morning as I was getting ready for work. I feel like a responsible, happy young woman. A somewhat basic epiphany but let me explain why this is so mind-blowing. Since I graduated college I’ve felt like a kid playing at being a grown-up…I had an adult job and responsibilities but still felt in so many ways like I was still a girl. I let others dictate my life, my ambitions, my moods, and my feelings. In the past year, I’ve pushed myself emotionally and mentally to be me and to be the me I’m comfortable with. Embracing me as I see me has allowed me to cross over the threshold from girl to woman.

When I pictured myself as a woman I saw myself as a financially secure, healthy (mentally, physically, emotionally), happy person no longer tied to others’ expectations of me or my own inner critic. I’m not 100% there but I’m so much further than I was…far enough to call myself a woman.

I’m becoming more financially responsible and am working hard to get myself out of debt;
I’m proud of my body and what it can accomplish;
I look at food most of the time now as just food, not comfort or an act of rebellion;
I have an idea of where I want my career to go and how to get there;
I’m in touch with what I need and know how to get it (whether it’s alone time or standing up for myself);
I know what makes me happy (running, cooking, spending time with my man) and how to defeat my inner critic.