ING Marathon Race Recap

The Mr. and I made it to the expo on Saturday afternoon. Miami is on the other coast from where we live, a little over 2 hour drive. We hydrated along the way.

I forgot my IT Band strap, which I like to wear on longer runs and during races. I knew they would be taping people at the expo, so I did it there. I've never used the Rock Tape before, but I think it helped. My IT Band didn't bother me the entire race.

The morning of the race, we woke up at 4:10 am. The race started at 6:15, so that would give us plenty of time to get to the start line. We stayed at a preferred hotel that was recommended by the race. They had a little cafe that was open at 3:30 am on race morning. This is a big deal to runners. We need our morning coffee and breakfast.

While the Mr. grabbed me coffee, I stressed over what to wear. First of all, I stalk the weather before a race like nobody's business. There's nothing like being under or over dressed for a race. The last thing you want to do is tote around extra stuff. I decided on a tank, shorts, and ProCompression socks.

The start line was about 4 blocks away, which took us about 10 minutes to walk. We headed to our corrals. Note: You want to get here no later than 5am if you are doing gear check. It is a slow crowded walk from gear check to the start line.

American Airlines Arena

After hitting the porta potties. (ew) We tried to get to our corrals. It was really crowded. We were barely moving. People were pushing. I was getting panicky and clausterphobic. After arriving at my corral, at 5:55, they just let runners start entering. Apparently, they weren't letting runners enter until that time. I don't remember that happening last year.



Start line

We started at Bayside and headed over the bridge to South Beach. It was before reaching SoBe, that I realized I couldn't hang with a pace group. More on that later, but being undertrained being a big part. The humidity being another. I knew while on Ocean Drive that just finishing would be difficult. I couldn't handle the pressure of goals.

The sun is rising on SoBe.

He is dribbling TWO balls for the marathon.

I walk through water stops so I don't choke on water!

 



 

 

I was feeling good, until about mile 14. Between mile 14 to the end, I stopped to put on Ben-Gay or Bio Freeze on my legs and hips several times. My hips haven't ever hurt that early in a race. My mile splits were good until then. Then I started walking. I always felt weird about walking during a race but didn't feel weird at all this day. Eveyone around me was walking. Luckily the streets on the back half of the route were shaded.

 

 

 

Walking was the norm.



 Once you break off from the halfers, you go to Coral Gables. The course takes you through some immaculate neighborhoods and eventually to downtown area. It's really quaint and there are people sitting outside at cafes cheering you on.

I kept ignoring my pace and ran when I could and walked when I felt like it. Thinking back, I only had one 18 mile run, and two 16 milers. I missed a week of training and my 20 mile run. So I kept on.....

At one point I had to stop and walk to text the Mr. His phone was about to die and needed to know what mile I was on. I think I was on 22 at this point and just wanted to be done already! He didn't do as well as he expected. He was over 30 minutes away from his target. I think he was dehydrated. He started cramping up at mile 18.

It's crazy what goes through your head during a race. Later, as I was talking to the Mr. about the mental toughness it takes to finish those last miles, the same thoughts crossed our minds. I was doubting myself. I really had to dig deep. Everyone has a running mantra, or, they should. There was a group of runner that had a Dean Karnazes quote on their shirts. I loved it. I kept repeating it to myself.

“If you can't run, then walk. And if you can't walk, then crawl. Do what you have to do. Just keep moving forward and never, ever give up.”
― Dean Karnazes

After leaving that shady Coral Gables area, we made a turn. it was out and back under a bridge. It was sunny and hot. There was a water stop under the bridge where I put Ben-Gay on for the last time. There was salsa music and dancing girls.  I smiled as one of the runners stopped to salsa dance with the girls. I danced "in my head". That's about all the energy I had.

Once we left the out and back, we headed Downtown again. There was a slight breeze through the buildings. There are more crowds, something which was lacking the past few miles, but it didn't matter. The crowds really lift your spirits at that point. At mile 25, a man in front of me fell. I thought it was a bad fall, but he limped and ran to the finish.

Once I was approaching the finish, there were bleachers filled with people and runners cheering everybody on.

I finished in 5:24:02.

I had a small, one minute, PR. I crossed the line and looked for the Mr. I found him after I received my medal. Miami has really cool medals, by the way.

I have had so many mixed emotions about the race and running, in general. My next post will include thoughts on that.

Run any races lately?

How is your mental game in a race?

Marathon Training- So I ran......

So I ran while not feeling that great.....
It's been a while, friends. I took an un-planned blogging hiatus. A while back I posted about running while sick. I ended up being sick, for almost 6 weeks. My sinus thing went well into December. Meanwhile, I was still logging those miles. I had the blessing of my doctor to keep running. As long as I wasn't achy, conjested in my chest, or running a fever, I had the green light to run. I never ran a fever or had a chest cough. **REMEMBER: Do what's best for you. Consult with your own physician about training during an illness.

So I ran while out of town......
In November, we celebrated our 10 year anniversary and went to Clearwater for the weekend. He is alot faster than me, but wanted to slow down and enjoy a slower run. We ran 8 miles.

So I ran the day after celebrating this one's birthday......

I am such a giant.

So I ran 18 miles while family was visiting......

I use a headlamp. Safety first.

Glad to be done with that!

 

So I ran the day after making tamales all day.....

So I ran among all the busy Christmas gatherings and festivities.

My lovely daughter and I. We didn't plan our outfits.

So I ran on the treadmill while out of town....
Fast foward to New Year's Eve. We took an un-planned trip to Chicago, due to a death in the family.

On days it was too cold to go to the gym, I did a basement workout. My son skipped the 100 burpees but joined me for the planks.


I was gone for a week and came back with the flu! I don't think I've ever blown my nose that much or sneezed that much my entire life! It took me a week to get over that, then BAM. Another sinus infection!!

On the plane ride home, with the flu....ugh.

I took a week off of running when I had the flu. I missed the last 20 mile run. My only 20 mile run. My IT Band doesn't like the 20 mile run. That's why I had only one on my training plan.

So I ran.... sometimes when I didn't feel like it. That 4:30 alarm clock every Tuesday and Thursday never was a sound I wanted to hear. I always had to talk myself into getting out of my cozy bed and throwing on my running gear and brushing my teeth. The Saturday alarm was different every week. It depended on the mileage we were running. The only time I looked foward to that was when it was after 5am.

I remember one morning when The Hubs and I were getting ready for an early morning run and we both looked at each other, tired, and said, "Why are we doing this again?"

I am feeling under-trained, yet ready to tackle this race. It has been a long 16 weeks!

That's all the rambling I have for now. I will post a race report soon!

Question: How many days per week do you run?

Do you run with a group or solo?

New 5k PR

I ran a 5k on Thanksgiving. I set a PR even though I didn't feel like I could give 100%. I went to bed with a massive sinus headache Wednesday night thinking this race was going to be for fun. Thursday morning I spent some time reading the newspaper and scouting the Black Friday deals.

Then I headed to the race. This race is held by a hospital and is not scenic at all. To be honest, the only reason I run it is because it's for a good cause and so my boys can run the one mile race after the 5k. It's been a Thanksgiving tradition for the past 3 years.

After my one mile warm up, I made it to the start line. It's very, very congested at the start. It was hard to get a good pace til at least a quarter mile in.

My goal was to run an 8:30 pace and re-evaluate after the first mile. I kept an 8:30 average pace and ended up finishing in 26:32! This was a 19 second PR. I will take it. After that, my boys showed up to run.

First stretching....

Next, run.....

And finish!!

 

This could be one of my favorite pictures ever. He set a PR too!

 

 

 

Working Out While Sick & Pumpkin Fest

Let me catch you up on my life lately......So exciting, I know. After my race, I fell off the face of the earth have been literally going non-stop. When I had an inkling of time to blog, I would fall asleep before I could even complete a blog post. It's what happens when you are up at 4:30-5:00 am most days and collapse at 9pm. It's 9:11 pm and I am up past my bed time.

Add a sinus infection that has been around for 3 weeks. READ: THREE WEEKS! I think we're going on 4 weeks. Who's counting? It's going around. Wash your hands and wear a face mask is the only advice I got for ya. If you get what I have, it's not going away anytime soon. I even cut down my workouts more. Intensity and all. Last week, I hit the gym once, and ran 3 days. The norm is run 3 days, with 3 weights workouts.

So what is the general rule for working out while sick? From what I have read, if your sickness is from the neck up, it's ok to work out. If it's the neck down, no workouts for you. Mine is all from the neck up, so I've been working out. Like I said, not as much or intense. If I wake up and am not feeling a workout, I stay home. Simple as that. Many times I feel better after a run because it helps clear things up. Meaning, my brain and my throat. Gross, I know.

I have been training still, which I will do a full post on soon. I am not feeling great again and hear the bed calling my name.

We went to a Pumpkin Festival recently at Hunsader Farms. This was before sickness. There was a corn maze, which was a big let down this year. They normally make a drawing or spell something in the corn field, and put an aerial picture on their website every year. This was the first year the corn was super short. See picture. My kids had fun, but it wasn't the same. Anyone else see a corn field and think of a scary movie?

 There was a "petting zoo" near the entrance. The kids always love this. After this, we walked through a kids game area and a craft show booth area. There's something for everyone.

 One of their favorite things was the pumpkin cannon. Every hour they would fire up this machine and shoot pumpkins out of it. This alarm would go off that sounded like a fire truck. Those pumpkins go far!

We watched the pumpkin while in line for the hay ride. After that, the boys wanted to do some of this. It was pretty funny to watch the boys giggle so much. You can see in the back a one-ring circus. We didn't have time to see it this year but it's entertaining. Cheesy, to be exact. You will get a good laugh. There's also shows that were on "America's Got Talent" that make appearances at the festival. Last year we saw BMX stunt bikers.

We always buy our pumpkins there. For some reason, my kids always want the biggest pumpkins that weigh 50lbs. It's always a joy to carry those to the car. This was our first year without the stroller. I took it last year to hold stuff. I just remembered that this will be my first black Friday without a stroller too! I took it in the past even without kids to hold my bags. What? Only me?

This year I am on the fence about Black Friday shopping. I haven't had a bad experience, but if I am still sick, it's best I stay at home with my crankiness.

Your turn: Do you have a guideline that you follow in regards to working out while sick?

Will you be out shopping on Black Friday or wait until Cyber Monday?

Rocktoberfest 10 mile recap & review

This is a two-fer, cause you get a recap and review all in one. Slang, incomplete senteces and poor grammar are no extra charge.

Let me rewind to Saturday because that's where this tale really starts. First of all, I slept in.
On a Saturday.
That will be a rare thing for the next 15 weeks.
I was home on Saturday for a total of 1 hour between 10 am and 9pm. So much for taking it easy on race day eve. There was a game, lunch, birthday party, work related stuff, family related stuff (aka dinner and Bass Pro Shop). That's how we roll in these parts, folks. Bass Pro Shop is the redneck's dream place to take your kids for free entertainment. If you want to Chase your kids around the tent area to see which ones they are hiding in. Yes, those were my kids. You would have thought I fed them ice cream for dinner by the way they were acting. In my defense, we were with another family and a group of boys together is not always good. They feed off each other's energy. If you have one boy, you have no clue what I am talking about. If you have 2 boys, you get me.

I was in bed by 10 and probably asleep by 10:30. Then comes the 5:10 wake-up call. I like weird times like that. That extra 10 minutes is precious. My ride came and we drove about 35 minutes to Naples, where the race was being held.

Packet Pick-up
The line was short to get our bibs. We got a cotton T-shirt only, no goodie bag. This was fine, considering the race entry fee was $35.

We headed to the restrooms, which were in the building at this park. No porta-potties!

It was on the chilly side. Don't laugh, because I think anything under 70 degrees is chilly. I think the temps were in the mid 60's. This is perfect race weather.

All week I was undecided if I was going to try and "race" it. Let me expand on that, if you're new to running or not a runner, because I never understood it when a friend would say she was running a race, but not "racing" it. When it comes to running a race, you either run for fun, or "race" it. To race, means to leave it all on the course.

After our warm-up jog, I decided I would "race" it. I am not a fast runner. I am not even a mid-pack runner. However, I am much faster then when I started. I think a tortoise would have lapped me during my first 5k. You want to see fast runner, go see SR.

The Course
The course started in the parking lot of Sun-N-Fun Lagoon and goes around the park. There is a nice running path that is bordered by woods. The course takes you in 2 large loops and one smaller loop. The last bit that we ran on, was a small loop that we ran on a total of 3 times. Mentally, this was hard for me, because on the larger loop, I was on mile 4 and saw a sign that said mile 8, which meant I was going to have to run on that trail again. I didn't like repeating the loops. I thought I wouldn't mind, but it drove me nuts during the race. Again, the price was cheap and I'd rather spend that locally then have to travel and pay for a more expensive race, hotel, meals, and gas.

Support
This is the second annual Rocktoberfest, so it's still small. There were about 200 entrants.

The Race
My last long run, I said I would be happy with anything under 10 minute miles. That's a broad goal, I know. Being that it's still been so hot and humid, makes it tough to run faster. That's just me.

I started out conservative around the low 9's. I really felt like I was holding back. I am not good at pacing, so this was a good practice test.

After mile 5, I picked it up a little.

Here is how it went down:
Mile 1: 9:12
Mile 2: 9:10

Mile 3: 9:15
Mile 4: 9:25
I took a Gu on mile 4.

Mile 5: 9:31
Mile 6: 9:04
Mile 7: 9:07
Mile 8: 9:11
Mile 9: 9:24
This is where I slowed down. No more gas in the tank.
Mile 10: 9:22

I need to work on NOT tensing up.


 



 



I felt a wave of nausea at the finish. After a while it subsided. I think that was the result of pushing myself out of my comfort zone. During the race I questioned myself, as to why I "race". It's so easy to run 10 miles at a 10:30 pace. To some, that's practically walking. To others, it's unattainable. For me, it's comfortable.
Running 10 miles at a minute per mile faster than what you normally run on long runs, is nothing but challenging. It's when we challenge ourselves, that we grow. This can apply to all areas of life. I think that's why I love running so much. It's a metaphor for life. You get out of it, what you put in.

Total time was 1:32:02 with an average pace of 9:15. My Rockstar running buddy finished in 1:30!

Bonus: We scored medals!

 

Oh, and when I got home, I quickly showered and made it to church. I snapped a quick pic of my bic band. It stayed in place the whole race.

 

 

Run any races lately?

How is your mental game in a race?

That time I was on TV...

I had an easy recovery run of 4.3 miles this morning after my 10 mile race on Sunday. The race went well! I did much better than I expected. I am working on a recap.

You may have seen a picture of me sporting a baby bump. It was a pillow, not the real thing! Here is the link to the video: There are five of us and I am the last one.
The link is only good for about 30 days. I come on at about the 5 minute mark.

http://www.fox4morningblend.com/videos/174581081.html

Have a great day!

Tempo Tuesday & Maternity Modeling

Let me rewind to Monday. I didn't want to get out of bed. period.
I did only with the promise that maybe I could take a nap later. Who am I kidding? That never happens.
Off I go. I did legs and shoulders. and abs. and 100 push-ups.

I woke up sore today so I must have done something right.

Q-man quote of the week:
Oops, back to Monday. I had a modeling gig at the local TV station. I modeled maternity swimwear. I had a fake baby bump and when I showed Q-man my picture, he screamed, "You're growing a baby!"

The suits are by Bikini Thief and they have cute suits. The stars have been seen in them.

source

I think I am going to devote a special section to my kids quotes because they crack me up.

On Tuesday, I got out of bed (does this ever get earier?) at 4:30am and headed to run with my running group. I told myself again, I would be able to nap later. Psht! Lies!

We warmed up for a mile, then my friend and I made it into a tempo-ish run. We could still chat so obviously pushing that hard. We have a 10 mile race on Sunday. I don't really have any race goals or expectations. Is that bad? Oh well. It's because I didn't even commit to the race until August. My speed work wasn't all that.

One thing to look foward to is it's an automatic PR because it'll be my first 10 miler!