Pittsburgh Marathon May 3, 2009

THE CITY
After training through the cold, dark, snowy winter, spring started to peek through and I made it to the finish line of my 15th marathon on May 3 in the fabulous city of Pittsburgh. Now this was a marathon, very rolling and taking us through all parts of the city. We ran across the bridges of the city with gorgeous views of tall buildings in the skyline, water, and green trees and landscape. The weather was perfect, low 50's and completely overcast. The people of Pittsburgh came out in force on the sidelines and volunteering at aid stations to cheer the runners on. All of this made for a memorable and outstanding race that I would love to run again and again.

THE FRIENDS
A whole group of us got the bulk of the toughest training in together. This consisted of Saturday long runs in snow, below 0 temps, and sometimes nice, weather. We also hit our favorite Cobbs Hill for hill repeats every Tuesday night. Those Tuesday night hill runs turned into distance runs of 11 to 14 miles with hill repeats sandwiched in the middle starting at 6 PM every week. Yes, we ran most of it in the dark! Everyone was excited for our final day to be in Pittsburgh and run our goal race. There were 9 of us running the marathon and two running the half marathon. With spouses and a couple kids we had 22 for dinner reservations the night before in a fabulous Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh. It was so much fun to hang out with the crowd all weekend and wait for each other at the finish line to celebrate our success. Everyone had great races and three people set PR's.

THE TIME GOAL
I needed to run an 8:35 pace to meet my finishing goal and was just shy of hitting the mark. I crossed the line in 3:48, missing my goal of a 3:45 Boston qualifying time by 3 minutes! But still, it was my best marathon of my past 5, many of which I ran with injury, so I finally feel like I am back within reach of running those 3:40 and 3:30 something marathons....Needless to say, I'm happy with this race and finishing time.

THE RACE
Standing at the start I realized I had to pee! Great, no porta potties in sight! So I had to wait for the race to start and I hit the first porta that I saw at about a half mile. I still managed to run an 8:37 first mile with the RR stop! Oh well, what can you do? At least I didn't have to stand in line for it. I started settling into a pace that was between 8:20 and 8:30's which was perfect. The course turned out to be very rolling with hills and I thought it would be flat with one huge hill at mile 12. Nope, I'd call this a gently rolling hilly race. It was great though, gave a nice change for your legs and didn't feel monotonous, still, I kept waiting for the "one big uphill."

THE MENTAL TRAP
The first 10-13 miles of the marathon is mentally grueling for me. I was trying to settle into a pace and in my head I was having turmoil over the whole thing. "Why do I do this again? What if I can't hold this pace? Am I going to meet my goal? Is anything going to start hurting? There's my plantar fasciitus steady in the right foot, what if it becomes excruciating?" And the mental anguish continued! I ran a couple of slower miles but knew I had time in the bank with some faster previous miles and my 3:45 goal was still within reach. Miraculously, later about halfway through the race the pain in my right foot completely disappeared and it wasn't even sore the next morning. This never happens and I've been dealing with plantar fasciitus for a year and a half, maybe it's gone!

THE HILL
Every hill I hit I kept thinking, "Is this the hill? The half marathoners turned off just after a nice uphill, and I thought "That can't be the hill." Well, there was no question when we finally hit the hill around mile 12, and it was fine. It was close to a mile long and decently steep but completely manageable. And it was a relief to finally run it! Whew!!! Now to continue on the rolling hills, ha!

THE SLUMP
The thing about a marathon is it's never the same race, no matter how many times you've run the distance. I'm painfully aware of the fact that anything can happen, paces can drop off, injuries can flare up. So I feel like I was running the first chunk of the race with those worries hanging over my head. Then from around miles 13-18 I hit this mental slump and slowed down, off of my goal pace, and there was nothing I could do to speed it up. Then a bright spot! The 3:50 pace group caught up to me and I heard them chatting. I asked them a question or two and they said, "Latch on to us and we'll get you through." I thought to myself, I'll try but I'm probably gonna' end up dropping back and not be able to keep up. At that point, I thought I would continue to slow down...

THE SECOND WIND
I was wrong! This group was incredible! They asked me my name, where I was from, if it was my first marathon and told me their names and stories. Suddenly, we were on a great downhill, it was mile 20, I had more energy then I had previously. Talk about a mental boost! I quit looking at mile markers, I quit looking at my split times. Seriously, I didn't look at a single split time from there until after I crossed the finish line. I was simply running and talking to my new friends. The pace leader was Pacer Rick and he easily chatted us all up, telling us what was next on the course and mentally prepping everyone for it. At water stops we would get water and they all looked around for each other to make sure the gang was all there. I paced off with a man in his late 40's maybe early 50's (I'm guessing...) and his name was Dan. He lived in Pittsburgh and people knew him on the course. It came out that he was a doctor, Doctor Pickle, to be exact. Great guy! We had a great chat and near the end of the marathon, Pacer Rick said "okay I'll cut any of you loose now if you've got energy and want to pick up the pace, go for it. " Surprisingly, Dan and I picked it up and brought it to the finish. He waited for me to make sure I would make it, he said "I'm not leaving you now." In the last two miles I looked at my watch and told him I was missing my BQ by a minute or two. He said "you want to lean into it? I'll help you." First I said no because I knew I wouldn't make it anyway. Then I thought well I might as well know I gave it everything I've got and we took off with a harder pace. We crossed the finish line and I high fived Dan and he gave me a hug! Our last two miles were each 8:15's, go figure! I'm happy we finished strong and have hope that a 3:45 or less is in my future.

THE END
This race is yet another great memory. I'm so thankful to be able to run and I love marathons. God is my strength and so faithful and so good to give me the joy of a simple pleasure like running. Why do I do it? The challenge, the addicition of it all, the training, the friends, the feeling of crossing the finish line after 26.2 miles. Until next time...

Crunch Crunch Crunch Crunch...

"Crunch Crunch Crunch Crunch" was the sound that filled my ears throughout our 14 mile training run in below zero temps this morning. I have often found a sort of settling comfort in the sounds of all of our feet running. There's just something about everyone's shoes pounding the pavement together that makes everything okay. Never mind if it's an ungodly dark hour like 5:30 AM, or in the middle of a seemingly endless 20 miler, that sound reminds you that you're out there with your friends, and for some reason it's FUN. Today the sound was not shoes rhythmically hitting the asphalt, but rather shoes crunching across the packed snowy and icy streets of Rochester.

Yes, today we had several conversations questioning our sanity and level of craziness, deciding ultimately that we were okay since we were all in it together. Who cares if we saw a couple of people in their cars laughing at us? Or if the cashier at the coffee shop shook her head in disbelief when we walked in to use the restroom? There's a marathon in a few months and you can't just skip a long run. Nope, today's run was not for the faint at heart. And we survived.

I wore two pairs of pants, wool socks, trail shoes, four layers on top plus a jacket, a balaclava, a hat, two pairs of gloves... I should have opted for mittens since my hands were balled into tight fists gripping handwarmers for the entire run. My water bottle was frozen solid by the end of the distance. My vanilla GU was like thick ice cream, and no, it didn't taste good.

Despite the conditions, it was actually fun to be out there with a group of people. Somehow we filled the miles with a fair amount of laughing, telling stories, and talking about random bits of nothing. We reminded each other that conditions could have been worse had the wind been blowing. But even the locals who have lived here much of their lives said today was one of their coldest runs ever, so what an accomplishment for all of us! What would I do without that favorite sound of feet hitting the roads?

One Sprint Tri and Two Marathons...

And where did the fall of 2008 go anyway???? Sorry for not posting in five long months. Life happened with busy schedules, my new addiction to facebook, and sheer laziness in posting here. I did manage a brief summary of the end of 2008.

Sodus Sprint Tri - August

This is Kim and I after finishing the tri--she is my bike training partner, we have lots of fun training together!

Went out for a fun little sprint tri that I thought would be easy and it was the exact opposite! I still had fun and loved being out there, after surviving the ocean-like lake swim in a very rocky and rough Lake Ontario! Seriously, it was such rough waters that me and my rented wetsuit contemplated swimming back to the shore and calling it a day after only a few short minutes of being tossed and thrown around by some extremely choppy water. But alas, I sucked it up and decided to get around all those big orange bouyies and make it to the end. Next came an unexpectedly hilly bike ride, suddenly 13 miles became much more difficult then originally anticipated! Finally the run, I somehow ran a decent average in the hot temps of the day and made it to the end. The most memorable part of this tri was meeting a girl who happened to have the same exact tri attire on as me! Quickly we realized we also had similar looks and have ever since referred to each other as "TWIN!" We snapped several pictures and still laugh about that day. She is also a vocal music teacher like me, go figure! Colin and I got to ring in the new year at her house and had a great time meeting new friends and enjoying her husband's fabulous cooking!!!

A pic of my TWIN Tiff--we had a blast laughing about our similarities!!



Rochester Marathon - September

April, myself, Karen and Dave

HOT! Can I say it was incredibly hot and humid? It was sheer torture! Water stops were only every couple of miles and needed to be every mile in that heat! AND the stops ran out of gatorade by the end, okay that's an exaggeration... But at MILE 22 they really did run out of gatorade!!!!! And what the other stops tried to pass off as gatorade was so watered down and weak it tasted like water to me! No I won't be running the full in Rochester next year, I will however run the half marathon! The best thing about the race-besides crossing the finish line and ending my misery-were my three awesome friends who flew up from Little Rock to run the Rochester Half Marathon! We had the best time that weekend-lots of laughter and fun memories! Karen, April and Dave are amazing runners and friends. I truly miss our Tuesday-Thursday 5:30 AM runs when I lived in Little Rock. Of course they still are there every week to run the long standing and wonderful training course! Anyway, this was my 13th marathon and my slowest in the last 10 that I have run due to the excruciating temps!
Karen, Dave and April after finishing their awesome races--Karen even won her age group!!











Memphis Marathon - December

Me, Raquel and Bailey the morning before the big race...Raquel ran an awesome half and Bailey PR'd!!!

My fourth time to run this full marathon and I've also run the half a couple times. I love this race! It benefits St. Jude's Children's Hospital and is incredibly emotional for me every time I run it. I have both PR'd on the course and fallen on my face, but I've always finished, and each time with a renewed perspective about what in life is truly important. Seeing those beautiful children's faces and recognizing the battle they are fighting for life suddenly puts my mile pace or finishing time in a pale light. My run itself was not a complete disaster, but tough mentally and physically. I stayed the course and crossed the finish line in 4:06, better then my Rochester race, not outstanding... I got to see lots of incredible friends at the race! Shared a hotel room with my tried and true marathon training partner Raquel, and her Mom, and a new friend, Bailey. Saturday night after the race I spent the night in Little Rock at April's house and saw MANY special friends at a party she and Craig hosted that night. It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so blessed to have been able to go and run another marathon and see my friends.

Raquel and her Mom


Next....

So what's next??? Funny you should wonder.... So far on my wish list is the LR half marathon in March but I don't know if I can make the air fare for it. In May I plan to run the Pittsburgh Marathon with a group from Rochester. And I have a long list of tri's and bike rides for the summer in preparation for my next big endeavor, Ironman Florida in November 2009. Stay tuned for more details. And I'll try not to wait five months before the next post, but I make no promises!

18 Miles With The Girls

How about an overcast morning, steady, light rain, cool temps around 70 degrees, and green leafy trees and lush green grass surrounding a group of girls out for a run? It was great, the rain actually lasted for about half the run and it was perfect running conditions. Six of us started out together and the more we chatted and laughed the more I realized how inspiring they all were as women and runners!

One girl told us her hilarious experience of running with the local hasher running group and we all decided we would skip out on that one. She also sang snippets of her all-time favorite disco music throughout the miles, forcing us to smile and have fun and sing along maybe... Another woman completed some tri's this summer, including placing third woman overall in the Shoreline tri! And she is signed up for Iron Man Lake Placid for next summer. It was so much fun to run with just the girls and keep each other going. Especially for me in a new area where I'm still getting to know people. These women really were inspiring and so comfortable to hang out with for a run. They were accepting and made you feel like part of them even though I had just met several of them for the first time.

Most of the little group made it for 13.5 miles together, then two went on to make it 15 and three of us stuck together for 18. The two I was with picked up the pace for the last four and half miles! I had them in sight the whole time which really helped me not slow down and keep a steady pace. I couldn't hang with them though! In the final mile, (which ended up being my fastest mile, go figure) we sang James Brown's "I Feel Good" and ran it in on sheer adrenalin and a "Shine On" mantra with every step. It was definitely a highlight of the weekend and great start to the day! Shine On Girls, until next time!

Shoreline Triathlon

Last Sunday marked my first tri in a couple of years! I had some anxiety over whether to sign up at all because of little training time on the bike and swimming but I managed to sign up anyway! Then I worried about how choppy and cold the lake might be on race day! Well, talk about worries for nothing!! It was the most perfect, beautiful weather for the entire race, including warm, calm lake waters! I had sheer fun for every minute of the tri!

Most people wore wetsuits for the half mile swim in Lake Ontario and I rented one for the event. It was a good swim, I never panicked and didn't get kicked or bumped into by any other swimmers. (That was a first!) I was not fast of course, the swim is always my slowest part. In fact I was 163rd to get out of the water out of 220 people! Then a barefoot run up a grassy hill to the bike transition area...

My new friend Kim came into transition seconds behind me and we actually spoke a little bit during the mad rush of pulling wetsuits off and getting into bike gear. It was so much fun to go with a friend and laugh and talk and stress pre-race, and then see each other throughout the race too.

On the bike, I just flew! It was crazy, we had an awesome tail wind for several miles until a turn in the route changed it to a head wind! But overall it was gorgeous country side, clear blue skies, cute houses and the 15 miles flew by! I averaged 18.1 on the bike which was a surprise to me! Colin said why can't I ride like that with him??? Because, it's not a race and in a race I know it's only a short distance and I push through the leg pain while trying to forget I have to run next...

I was the 111th person to finish the bike and then off for the four mile run with concrete legs. I always forget how hard it is to run in a triathlon! I felt like I was doing 10 minute plus miles as I ran along the marked route. It was in Hamlin Beach park, through some trails, some paved path and some road. While I was running I saw all the people ahead of me who were faster and beating me! I just plugged away with the energy I had left. My legs warmed up for the run after about a mile and a half or so. One woman told me I was running strong and looked great and then sailed past me! It was great, she actually helped me with her comment and she looked amazing herself, I couldn't catch her!

Alas, I reached the finish line! I was the 94th person overall to finish the run, the 10th woman overall to finish the run. My 10 minute plus pace was actually more like 8:30 for the 4 miles, but it didn't feel like it! I was the 129th person to finish the triathlon overall and I actually got third in my age group! Okay, so there were only 7 others in my age group, but it was still the first time I placed in a tri before.

I liked it so much that I signed up for another sprint on August 17th, Sodus Point, another Lake Ontario swim...Guess I better buy a wetsuit, to be continued...

Our New Home

Start spreadin' the news....NEW YORK

Wow, Surprise, a NEW post!!! My apologies for not getting on this but we have had a ton of "life" happen lately and there went all my free time.

So quick update: Colin graduated, out of state family came in for a visit, sold our house in Arkansas, bought a house in New York, packed up all of our "stuff," left some behind b/c it didn't fit on the truck, drove to NY with the dogs and everything else, flew back to AR, finished school, exams, grades, packed my classroom, said many tearful goodbye's (SERIOUSLY, lots of tears!) and made the treck back to NY with a fun stop in Indiana visiting Grandma Grace, aunts, uncles and cousins. :) [including an 11 mile run on the Monon Trail with my aunt Lisa, cousin Rose and her friend Amanda, in a mild thunderstorm with a steady light cooling rain, it was awesome!]

Whew...arrived safely in Rochester and went to work applying for jobs. Applied to 16 districts then looked around at piles of boxes and didn't know where to begin, almost shed a few tears over that one! But progress is being made, can't wait to be done unpacking and start painting rooms. :)

Meanwhile, I got online and looked up local running groups, found lots that meet for various workouts and long runs. Well, I just happen to live a quarter mile from a cool running store that is the meeting point for several. I mean God just totally picked this house out for us, it's also 3 miles from the hospital. (Colin's job, not future running injuries, I hope)


So Friday night I head out my front door and am at the running store in less than two minutes for their weekly "Happy Hour" run at 6 PM. How perfect is that?? I met a super nice girl and we ran together the whole 4.3 miles with a couple of challenging hills. (Did I mention it was hot and humid?? They've been having a heat wave this week, feels like I'm back in Arkansas. But I'm assured it won't last.)

By the end of the run, my new friend and I had planned to run together the following morning (Saturday) for a long run. There is a group long run every Saturday from the same store, they are a Rochester Marathon training group, go figure. :) So we met up again at the same running store and I got 14 miles, my longest run in awhile. It was slightly humid, but not bad, overcast and a breeze every once in awhile. I can't complain even though I was soaked and salt covered by the end.

Next plan is to meet at my new favorite running store on Tuesday night to run over to a local track for a group speed workout. And yes, I'm planning to run the Rochester Marathon on Sunday September 14. I know of a free hotel for any of you runners who might be interested and need a place to stay, it's called the Davis Extraodinaire and we'll try to get the bed set up in the guest bedroom by then. (there is also a couch, a futon and various floor space.) Unless of course, you're already running Berlin, in which case we are also planning to be in business for the Fall 09 Rochester Marathon. (Flat course BTW)

Colin is doing well, working like mad on the kitchen floor and other odds and ends. He needs some down time before he starts orientation on Monday. I guess he'll have to go to work to take a break! Dogs are happy and all is well. Miss my peoples but I promise to stay in touch!!

I'll try to post about Boston and throw a picture up to go with it, sometime....