It All Comes Down to This.

Posted on 4 May 2013 | Saturday by

Well, here I am. It’s finally race weekend. I’ve spent the last eighteen weeks training for one single goal: a 4:30 marathon. I’m a race and marathon veteran at this point, but I can’t remember ever being this nervous and anxious before a race. Not even before my first race ever. Not even before my ultramarathon. You see, I went into those things with training. Just not proper training.

For the first time in my running “career,” I have followed a valid training plan to the letter. In the past, I’ve made things up as I went along, skipping workouts when I didn’t feel like doing anything, and running longer distances than were recommended, without the aid of a fallback week. I was a mess, I half-assed things, and my race times last year showed it.

This time, though, I know that I’ve done absolutely everything I can. This should be reassuring, but it isn’t at the moment. I’ve been so focused on this goal of 4:30 that I don’t know how I will feel if I finish in 4:31, or 4:45, or 5:30. I need to remind myself that any of these times would be a drastic improvement over my current marathon PR of 5:43.

So here I sit, looking back at the last eighteen weeks. Sunday will be the culmination of eighteen weeks of hard work. I’ve nailed mostly all of my training runs, I’ve done the speed work, the hills, the race-pace runs. However, I have no idea what it will feel like to lay it all out on the course. I’m so used to trying to save just a little bit of energy for later. How will I know if I’m giving it everything I’ve got, or just being plain foolish? This has been the main cause of my anxiety over what should be an amazingly exciting time.

I guess it’s a good thing that I’m anxious. If I didn’t feel this way, it would probably mean that I didn’t really care about my performance. Lawd, do I care about my performance this year. I want that 1:13 PR so badly. I can’t believe it’s time to try to reach my goal, the goal I’ve spent all of 2013 working towards achieving. By this time tomorrow, it will all be over. Will it all have been worth it?

No matter what time I cross the finish line, I already know that the answer is yes.

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13th Annual Burgh’s 10K/5K Run

Posted on 2 May 2013 | Thursday by

On Sunday, April 21, I participated in the 13th Annual Burgh’s 10K/5K Run on the Montour trail. I signed up for both the 5k and 10k forever ago, after hearing nothing but good things from my friend Alicia. This race was on part of the Montour that I had never run, out in Cecil Township. I was really looking forward to running a new trail.

I had convinced my other friend Angela to run also, so we planned to all stick together. Then, as race day approached, Alicia expressed her desire to run a sub-30 minute 5k, and the flat rail-trail was a good place to try. I offered to pace her, since I’ve become something of a pacing goddess during this training cycle. Angela wasn’t entirely convinced of nailing this pace, but she decided to stick with us as long as she could.

I originally thought that these races were on a Saturday, but after looking at the calendar realized it was in fact going to be a Sunday. This meant I could run my usual Saturday run with the Steel City Road Runners, and then race Sunday. However, since it was the beginning of our taper in anticipation of the Pittsburgh Marathon, I decided to skip running with the group.

We didn’t want to miss out entirely, though, so Alicia, her fiancé Mark, and I volunteered to man (woman) a water stop along the 11 mile course. Despite the completely insane wind and hail, we had an awesome time!

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The runners wore blue and yellow (Boston Marathon colors) and had bibs with the photo in this picture – “We are all Boston Marathoners at heart.” I had printed out this picture the day before, in anticipation of taping it to our table, and when I showed up in the morning, they had the exact same thing on the bibs. It was awesome.

After seeing everyone running, we were ready to race on Sunday. As usual, I agonized over the details: would I get lost? (I had a rental car with no GPS) What would the weather do? Would I be able to pace the girls well? Where would I park? I’m a mess before races, especially new ones.

I arrived about an hour early, found rockstar parking, and Alicia pulled in like three seconds later. We headed to registration to get our bibs and awesome shirts (purple!) before finding a bathroom. It was really chilly – probably around 40 degrees – so we decided to hang out in our cars until it was time to run.

I decided to hit the bathroom one more time before the race start, but ran into Angela on the way, so I hung out with her in line while trying not to chatter our teeth out from shivering. Before I knew it, it was about time to head to the starting line, so I had to jog back to my car to get all my stuff ready to go.

I had planned on wearing my new SCRR singlet with arm warmers and gloves, but standing outside convinced me I would be too cold. I decided to wear the singlet over top a long sleeve shirt with gloves. By the time I got to the starting line and spotted a fellow SCRR member, Francie, the sun was pretty warm and I decided to ditch the long sleeve shirt. People were looking at me kind of strangely, but I was actually pretty comfortable. Besides, I get unusually warm when I run, so I knew that I would be fine later.

Angela, Alicia and I found each other, which was impressive because there were over 500 runners alone – not counting spectators. That was a lot of people to cram onto on a narrow rail-trail. Fortunately this was a chip-timed race, so we didn’t have to worry about the accuracy of our times. It was an out-and-back, so the start and finish line were the same.

Alicia and I christening our new SCRR singlets

Alicia and I christening our new SCRR singlets

Francie wasn’t running, but instead was what I like to call a spectathlete. She also had her camera, so she was going to take lots of photos. Yay! I love photos. They make blog posts way more interesting.  Francie generously offered to hold onto my shirt, and soon she became Coat Lady for several other people. She was awesome.

For a sub-30 5k, I had told Alicia that we should try to maintain a 9:30 pace, which would have us finish around 29:30. We of course took off faster than this, with the excitement of racing and the crowd of people.

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Alicia stopped to tie her shoe about a half mile in, and I slowly left Angela behind while trying to keep the sub-30 pace. I wanted to keep the pace so that if Alicia was behind me, she could see the pace (her watch was acting up), but I decided at the turnaround, I would stop and wait for the girls. They had maintained a very respectable pace because I didn’t even see them as they flew by the turnaround! I ran to catch up. Alicia was having some trouble – her heart rate was too high – and Angela wasn’t accustomed to running this fast. We decided to reign things in – after all, we still had a 10k to run after this!

We ended up finishing in 30:53, which is still a sub-10 minute pace. Alicia was happy with that, so I was happy too! I was worried about her, though, with her heart rate. She had donated blood earlier in the week – apparently you need blood to run hard. Makes sense, but it was something she (or I) had thought of before the run.

We stood near the start/finish line, had some water, and tried to stay warm. I had worked up a good sweat, but the air was cool, so I became a bit chilled. Alicia still wasn’t feeling right, so I ran down the hill to the pavilion where they had all the post-race goodies. I found an orange and ran back up to the girls. It was pretty good for me, because it kept me warm.

Soon enough, it was 10k time, and we set off at an easy pace. We decided to run comfortable, and walk if we needed to do so. It was so much fun, especially when we saw the race leaders heading back our way. We walked a bit, enjoying the scenery (seriously a beautiful part of the Montour) and chatted. Close to the turnaround point was a creepy tunnel that we had to run through. It was dark, dripping water, and chilly inside – perfect for a Halloween race.

It was a bit warmer at this point, and we enjoyed the sunshine. I distinctly remember telling the girls that I would cry tears of joy if marathon day weather was that perfect. After our turnaround, we enjoyed a noticeable downhill grade for awhile. I also noted that we were running a few miles at my goal marathon pace.

Soon we neared the finish line, and there was Francie with her camera, and Sam, Angela’s husband, cheering us on! We were pretty happy that so many people were still out, cheering on the finishers.

"Time to turn it up and look good doing it!"

“Time to turn it up and look good doing it!”

Angela and I, post-double race

Angela and I, post-double race

After the race, Sam and Angela headed out. Alicia and I decided to find the promised finish line beer! Down in the pavilion area, we bumped into Tom, another fellow SCRR member. He had run both races as well – in fact, he runs races almost every weekend, doubling up also. He had run a half marathon the day before. He’s a badass and I basically want to be him when I grow up.

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So much deliciousness in this photo.

We got some food and sat in the grass, enjoying the sun and listening to the awards being announced. I never before realized how delicious pasta with red sauce topped with salty potato chips could be. In case you’re wondering: GLORIOUS.

At the end, they began drawing race numbers to give away raffle prizes. It seemed that a lot of people had left because hardly anyone was claiming prizes. To improve this situation, they decided to just call out numbers that they could see. It became a huge mess with everyone climbing over each other to get their bibs in the announcer’s line of sight. I was annoyed, and we didn’t win anything. Boo.

All in all, though, an awesome couple of races, and I look forward to running both again next year. I hope to run both for speed, as it’s been a long time since I’ve run a flat 5k, and I have yet to run a flat 10k. See you next year, Burgh’s 5k/10k!

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Boston

Posted on 18 April 2013 | Thursday by

What can I say about the Boston Marathon attack that hasn’t already been said? There are thousands of blogs and articles out there, far more eloquent than I could hope to be. I feel like I have truly nothing important to say here, but I want to at least acknowledge what’s happened.

When I learned what happened via the internet, my heart sank to the floor and I felt utter disbelief. I was shocked at the photos, video clips and headlines that kept appearing. I distinctly remember feeling hungry before I learned what had happened – in fact, I was trying to figure out what I was going to eat for dinner. After I saw the news, I felt completely sick to my stomach. I actually felt like I might throw up.

I frantically refreshed Facebook, hoping to see updates from the friends I knew who were there. One by one, they became accounted for. I felt relief, then guilt for feeling relief. I felt guiltly for being glad a friend hadn’t qualified for this year’s race, despite his best efforts.

I ended up going home, taking some Advil PM washed down with cabernet, and slept. When I woke Tuesday morning, there was about a thirty second window when I had forgotten what had happened. Then my mind woke up fully and I went about the day in a haze. I later realized that I wasn’t just feeling bummed out – I was grieving.

I felt grief for those killed, and what their families would have to go through.

I felt grief for the hundreds of people who were injured, because they were cheering on friends and strangers.

I felt grief for those who lost limbs, and how their lives changed in an instant.

I felt grief for the first responders, the spectators, and the race officials who had jumped into action before the smoke had cleared, and for the post-traumatic stress they will probably suffer after sifting through such carnage.

I felt grief for the runners and spectators desperately trying to contact their loved ones, to find out if they were safe, and having the cell network become unavailable.

I felt grief for the runners who were not able to finish the race for which they had spent months or years preparing and training.

I felt grief for the runners who were not able to finish the race, and having 2013 be their only opportunity to run Boston.

I felt grief for the runners who did finish, and who felt their pride in their accomplishment was inappropriate.

I felt so much grief, all for people I didn’t know – because I did know them.

Runners are a different breed, and so are the spectators who support them. Runners sacrifice a lot to achieve a goal that non-runners may not even understand. We wake up early on our days off so that we can run for hours, and we hit the pavement before and after work. We don’t let wind, snow, rain or heat get in the way – we train right through it all. We’re perpetually tired, hungry, and sore.

And our spectators understand us. They don’t get mad when we miss yet another social event because we have to wake up early and sober. They watch the kids or take care of chores while we get in our long run. They wake up early too, so that they can stake out the best spot along the race course to cheer us on with the signs they made.

I know those people, and those people know me, without ever having met. Our spirits are the same.

We somehow have to figure out how to keep going, keep running, keep spectating. Keep believing in the human spirit. We have to believe the good will always outweigh the bad. We will continue to toe the starting line, remembering why we’re there in the first place.

If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon.
- Kathrine Switzer

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13th Annual Just a Short Run

Posted on 9 April 2013 | Tuesday by

Last Saturday, I participated in the 13th Annual Just a Short Run 30k on the 30th day of the 3rd month of the 2013th year, 13 days after I turned 30. COULD THERE BE ANY MORE THREES. Maybe, but I’m not going to make the effort to find any.

I decided to run this race again back in January, after my training plan outlined a 20 mile run for that day. 30k is approximately 18.6 miles, so I figured I would run the extra mile and a half before the race to warm up. Besides, I know myself. If I run an 18.6 mile race, there’s no way I’m going to skip the snack line at the finish line to run for another 15 minutes. THEY HAVE COOKIES.

Last year, this race kicked my ass. I decided that I was up for a rematch, especially since I had trained so poorly last year – not for this race in particular, but all around. I’ve learned a hell of a lot this cycle, but this is not to say I’ve been the perfect runner. I’ve skipped runs when I wasn’t sick, eaten many a burrito bowl, and not cross-trained like I should have. However, I’m running better than I ever have, so I know I’m doing something right.

The week leading up to the race was one of my bad weeks – I skipped every single workout I had scheduled. At first, when I skipped my track workout on Tuesday, I told myself I was still recovering from the hills of the Marine Corps 17.75k. Wednesday night I was tired, so I didn’t go to spin. Then I talked myself out of Thursday’s run because it was windy. Yep. Windy.

So, there I was, going into a 20 mile run with a full week of rest in front of it. I’m not sure that it was the best idea, but to be honest, I didn’t feel that nervous about the run. This is strange, because in case you didn’t know, 20 miles is really far when you have nothing to propel you except your own feet. Why wasn’t I worried?

I figured I would be a nervous wreck the morning of the race, so I went about my Friday as usual. Electrolyte-enhanced water all day, extra carbs for breakfast and lunch, and then a truly epic bowl of carbs for dinner. And then a giant bowl of cereal after that.

Carb day is my favorite day!

Carb day is my favorite day!

I prepared all of my race gear, laid out my clothes, and packed up my car. Now all I had to do was sleep. I had gotten magnificent sleep Thursday night, so I figured I would sleep terribly Friday night. Fortunately this was not the case, but I did have to leave the house earlier than usual. See, I needed to be able to secure rockstar parking, because remember the last time I parked at North Park?

In order to park where I wanted to, I needed to leave home at 6am… for an 8:30 start. Wheee! However, it was worth it. I was able to secure a good parking space that was along the race course – in fact, it was basically the same one I had last year. This way I could wear some decent gloves and be able to ditch them onto my car instead of throwing them away somewhere along the course. Plus if I was having trouble, I would be able to stop at my car and get whatever I needed.

I was parked by 7am and put on my giant fluffy winter coat to walk the quarter mile to the start/finish area. Despite my awesome parking, I wanted to leave a bag at the drop tent so I could put on dry clothes immediately after finishing. The weather was freezing at the start, but promised to quickly warm up. It turned out to be a perfect cloudless day, although I would have preferred a few clouds because I forgot that I have to wear sunscreen. Yep, I got burned. In March.

I hit the bathroom before returning to my car, and then prepared everything I would need. I situated my fuel belt with gels, my phone, and key. I put on arm warmers and gloves and headed out to wait in what I assumed would now be an epic bathroom line. My plan was to meet up with my fellow Steel City Road Runners for a pre-race group picture at 8, and then run my 1.4 miles to warm up before the race.

Of course the bathroom line was more epic than I imagined, and I watched the time tick by as I waited and waited. I finally made it through, took care of business, and basically sprinted to our meeting spot. Of course I had time to spare as we were waiting for some other people, but I wish I had realized that there was a porta-potty right near our meetup. I would have saved myself some stress.

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After our photo-op, I hurried off to finish my warmup before the starting gun fired. I ended up running too fast (shocker) but I was eager to get to the start line to meet up with a few people. Shannon, Keith, Lori and I planned to run the race together. I was excited to have people to run with again – in fact, I’m now actually finding myself anxious about running longer distances alone.

Our plan was to try to maintain an 11:00/mile pace, which of course went out the window almost immediately. The excitement, the chill in the air, and the huge crush of runners encouraged us to run quicker. However, about a mile into the race, we faced our biggest hill and slowed down appropriately. I always have to remind myself that effort is more important than pace when climbing hills. Keep the effort even, and the pace will even out later. Besides, what goes up must come down (usually) so there’s almost always a chance to make up the lost time later.

The 30k event begins with a 3.6 mile loop around the roads by Marshall Lake before returning to the boat house parking lot, at which point you have three North Park Lake loops to run. Hooray, only three laps! The laps were run clockwise, which I find to be slightly more difficult than running counter-clockwise.

I had removed my arm warmers during that first challenging hill and tucked them into my fuel belt, but I didn’t want to worry about losing them for the next 15 miles. With my convenient parking space, I was able to make a lucky toss of arm warmers and gloves, which landed right on my windshield. No time lost. Bonus! There was also no wind, so I didn’t worry about them blowing away.

We finished our first 3.6 miles in 39:17. Last year, it took me 43:26. Yay, improvement! The first lake loop was also our fastest, and we realized that we had better save up a little something for the last lap. At the end of the first lap, Shannon stopped for a porta-potty break and said she would catch up to us. At this point, Keith and Lori had pulled ahead, and I was running alone. I kept looking over my shoulder, looking for Shannon’s bright blue shirt, but I never saw it. I worried that she might have been sick or injured when she stopped, and didn’t let on. I chastised myself for not running slower to wait.

I really struggled with the second lap. I think a lot of it was being alone, but my legs were starting to fatigue. Particularly, my IT bands – something I notice a lot when running North Park. A friend mentioned that he thinks it’s the camber of the running path along the lake, and I agree. You’re basically running sideways on a hill for miles at a time. Eventually, you’re going to feel it.

With about a half mile left in my second lap, I heard someone call my name behind me. It was Shannon! She had run this lap impressively fast, trying to catch up with us. It turned out there was someone in the porta-potty who took quite awhile, and she had the internal argument we all have: wait them out, since you’re there, or push forward while feeling uncomfortable?

My spirits were lifted, but my body was still pretty achy. Lori must have been feeling the same way, because we caught up to her within about a half mile. Keith was long gone at that point, so we all decided to finish the third lap together. When we reached approximately the 14 1/2 mile point, I had to ask the girls if they minded stopping to walk with me. I was extremely disappointed in myself, but had to remind myself of the momentousness of what had happened: I had run fourteen and a half miles, without stopping. I had run the distance in the past, but always with walking breaks or just plain stopping interspersed throughout. It was a big moment, but I didn’t truly appreciate it because I was feeling so negative.

After this point, we run-walked the rest of the lap. Running mostly, and walking through and after aid stations. I had my hydration pack with me, but it was becoming hotter as the time went by, and I was losing a lot of salt. I began taking fluid at the aid stations, both water and gatorade.

Soon we could hear the finish line festivities, and realized we were a mile from crossing that line. We ran the last mile, steadily increasing our pace until we finished. It was so great crossing the finish like together!

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Let’s look at 2012 vs. 2013, shall we?

Laps

2012

2013

3.6 miles

43:26

39:17

5 miles

1:05:42

53:47

5 miles

1:07:32

55:47

5 miles

1:17:06

1:00:58

FINISH

4:13:46

3:29:47

In case you can’t math, I will do it for you. That’s a PR of 43:59. FORTY THREE MINUTES AND FIFTY NINE SECONDS. Look at what happens when you train properly! (And not run a 50k two weeks prior.)

We did it!

We did it!

My 20 mile (actually 20.2 miles) time was 3:44:04, which is definitely also a PR. Despite my disappointment in walking during the last lap, it was a huge accomplishment, and I’m pretty proud of myself. I know I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my running buddies – they made it so much easier to push through. The best news: I don’t have to run the lake loop again until I decide to sign up for another North Park race!

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Marine Corps 17.75k

Posted on 2 April 2013 | Tuesday by

On Saturday, March 23, I participated in the Marine Corps 17.75k event in Prince William Forest Park, Virginia. I had been eyeballing this race ever since December. Why? Well, I can’t remember when I made the decision exactly, but I decided that I wanted to run the Marine Corps Marathon. I knew that just signing up would be a difficult task – after all, this is “The People’s Marathon,” and one of the most popular marathons out there. It sells out in record time.

In order to avoid playing what I like to call “online registration roulette,” I set my sights on registering for the Marine Corps 17.75k. Finishers of this race would be guaranteed a spot in the 38th annual Marine Corps Marathon, held in Washington DC & Arlington, VA on October 27, 2013. I set a reminder on my both my work and phone calendars to remind me of the registration’s opening at noon on January 23.

I had also coerced my friend Alicia to run this with me, in the hopes that we could run MCM together. Registration for the 17.75k filled up quickly, but fortunately she and I were both in. Always the over-preparer, I had booked a hotel for us back in December. I’m glad I did – it was the perfect location because the starting line was right outside!

Our plan was to drive down Friday morning, first to check out the local running shop. Packet pickup had been there the day before, but we wanted to peruse the merchandise. After some nightmarish traffic on I-95 (think an hour to drive eight miles), we finally made it. I didn’t find anything (I was quite fond of the “Virgina is for Runners” shirts, though) but Alicia picked up some sweet clearance deals. We then headed to the Marine Corps Base in Quantico.

Since I-95 had been such a nightmare, I asked my GPS to avoid freeways, because it appears there were secondary roads that paralleled I-95. I figured the worst we would sit through was traffic lights. In a way, I was right, but I hadn’t accounted for all our fellow rush hour commuters doing the same thing. It was 5:45pm and I was worried that we wouldn’t make it to the base, 7 miles away, before pickup shut down at 7pm.

Finally the traffic cleared (inexplicably) and we made it to the base with time to spare. They were not doing packet pickup the morning of the race, so we had no choice… or so we thought. Apparently traffic was a nightmare everywhere that evening, because there was, in fact, packet pickup right outside our hotel in the morning. This would have saved us some time, for sure.

Packets in hand, we headed to our hotel to check in. At this point we were starving and after dropping our stuff in the room, hit the nearest Panera to carb load. I was already battling some stomach uneasiness (most likely due to the pasta I had eaten Thursday night), but bludgeoned ahead and ordered more pasta, half a panini, and soup. I also got some goodies for later. I basically overdosed on carbs – you would have thought I was running a marathon, not 11.03 miles.

Carbed up, we headed back to the hotel to settle in and try to relax before it was time for bed. Alicia set out her race outfit and took a picture, saying “I’m going to Instagram the shit out of this!” It was awesome because her race outfit was pretty cute. We had decided to go matchy-matchy with pink! Our shirts from the Wineglass marathon (yeah, I didn’t write that recap) were perfect.

As we settled in to relaxing, we realized that the course elevation might be a bit scarier than we had originally thought.

course map

Oopsie. I quickly realized that this may not in fact be a race pace run (10:18), and Alicia was regretting the intense leg workout she had done the day before. We decided to just see how we felt, and if we needed to split up, we would. I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to run at race pace, because there are only a handful of training runs when I’m supposed to do this. The next one would be 16 miles, and I wanted to at least see if I could manage it for 11.

For some reason, both of us somehow did not sleep for the entire night. Or, if we did, it was in short, broken increments. There was really no reason – there wasn’t outside noise, the beds were super comfortable… maybe anxiety? Who knows. We both got up to get ready, not feeling all that positive about what we would be attempting.

As we ventured outside to the drop bag trucks, we saw that there was indeed packet pickup prior to the start. Wish we would have known – it would have saved us some time, stress, and expletives. We met up with a fellow Steel City Road Runner before the race start to grab a photo, and Paul went on to start towards the front of the pack as he is a fasthole.

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The weather was basically perfect – sunny, clear, and around 35 degrees to start. It was pretty exciting to be running in warmer weather for a change – winter in Pittsburgh has outstayed its welcome. Alicia and I decided to start out together and see how we felt as we went along. I amended my goal pace to my long run pace of 11:00 per mile.

The first three miles or so were on a busier-than-expected road, and there was a lane blocked off with traffic cones. I was a little bit nervous about this, but there were police everywhere and drivers seemed to be taking things slow, so I felt better about racing with traffic.

We made it to the turn into Prince William Forest Park and enjoyed about a half mile of downhill. However, it was a gravel & dirt trail, so I tried to be careful not to roll/snap an ankle. It was pretty fun, despite my caution. As with every race, what goes down must come back up, and we were quickly greeted with a 130 foot climb over the next half mile. At this point, I lost Alicia, who was feeling that leg workout.

Knowing I would possibly be alone for part of the race, I had brought my iPod along, so I switched it on for company. The next seven miles were on paved roads, so my footing was much surer than it had been on the trail portion. I tried to concentrate on my breathing – three steps inhale, two steps exhale. Read more at runnersworld.com about this method – it’s really interesting.

Things stayed relatively climb-free until mile 8, and from here till the end we had some seriously rolling hills. I made myself focus on effort over pace on the uphill portions, and enjoyed gravity helping me out on the downhills. Unfortunately, the downhills can be a real quad-killer when you’re already tired. I made it my goal to run all the hills, and I did!

There were some pretty great signs along the course – at the beginning: “You’re NOT almost finished” and other Marine-style messages like “Today, Barbie,” “Let’s go, twinkle toes” and “You Can Stop When I’m Tired.” There were also Marines serving as course marshals, and lots of volunteers at the aid stations.

In true Marine Corps race fashion, the finish line was uphill. I had pretty much nothing left in the tank, and my last mile was the slowest. I tried to smile as I crossed the finish line, especially when I saw that I was finishing under two hours! Very exciting for me. Then I realized I started way in the back, so my actual time ended up being 1:55:14. I placed 1300 out of 2184 finishers and 529 out of 1083 women. 6 of my miles were at or below race pace! I couldn’t believe it.

I had a quick cool-down walk and realized that I should stay at the finish line to get some photos of Alicia, in case the finish line photographer charged for photos. Soon Alicia came bounding up the hill, as though she hadn’t just run 11 miles of cray-cray hills.

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We headed up yet another hill to the finish line area to get our Access Granted cards, which would give us a link and passcode to register for the Marine Corps Marathon before general registration opened.

Woohoo, we're in!

Woohoo, we’re in!

Check out the awesomest feature of a finish line area I have ever seen:

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We picked up our cards and drop bags, and had a short stretch/yoga session when we noticed that the shuttle line was epically long. We grabbed our free beer and joined the line, quickly realizing that we may not make it back to the hotel in time to shower, pack up, and check out before noon. Fortunately we made it with a few minutes to spare, took the fastest showers of our lives, registered for the marathon, and hit the road for home.

I was incredibly proud of my performance at this race. It was probably the hilliest non-trail race I’ve ever run, and to have finished within my race pace was amazing. I had a lot of factors working against me for this race, and I was able to overcome them all and perform above my expectations. It was a huge confidence booster for Pittsburgh in May, and I would definitely run this race again.

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Angry Sinuses and Lessons Learned

Posted on 19 March 2013 | Tuesday by

I’ve been so careful, since the flu season started, to do everything in my power to avoid illness. I obsessively took multivitamins, washed my hands, didn’t touch doorknobs, Purelled like it was going out of style, and took Emergen-C when someone who worked near me had a cold. I eventually got a flu shot, too. Since marathon training started January 5th, I’ve managed to avoid the death flus and the colds that have been floating around. Unfortunately, it didn’t last.

I managed to get taken down the first week of March. It began innocently – I figured I was just hungover. I woke on Sunday morning with a headache and scratchy throat, which I assumed was from a friend’s birthday outing at a bar the night before. Unfortunately, that headache lasted for four days, and then the sinus pressure began. I missed several days of work, but even laying my head down on the softest pillow felt like trying to sleep on a cinder block. I hate missing work for non-fun things.

I didn’t go to the doctor until that Saturday, and with barely a glance-over, I was diagnosed with a sinus infection. Funsies! At that point, I had missed three days of running and two days of cross-training. As a truly paranoid runner, I believed that I had lost all of my stamina. It’s such an unsettling feeling, and I’ve actually experienced it when healthy, too. Basically I tell myself I can never stop running, because I don’t want to lose my mileage base and have to start all over again. I’m insane.

Fortunately, with lots of hydration and antibiotics, I was able to run last Tuesday, for the first time in nine days. It was a speed workout to boot – 5 Yasso 800 repeats. I managed the workout, a bit over my goal times, but I did it nonetheless. Lingering side-effect of my sinus infection, though, was achy teeth, which was even worse in the cold. I’m actually still feeling it today, seven days later.

I don’t know how I got sick – I had slacked a little bit in my vitamin and Purell consumption, but I doubt it was simple as that. If this is my only illness of the year, I will be a happy runner. However, if I do start feeling something similar in the future, I will definitely go to the doctor sooner, with the hopes I can feel better faster.

The other thing I learned? It’s hard to negate 184 running miles over nine weeks with one week of no activity. My body is stronger than I think, and muscle memory is awesome. In fact, maybe my body even benefited with a week of rest. There’s no way to know, but what I do know is that I am on track to meet my goal on May 5th.

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38th Annual Spring Thaw

Posted on 1 March 2013 | Friday by

Last Saturday was the 38th annual Spring Thaw, which is a 10, 15, and 20 mile race held at North Park. I signed up for the 10 mile race this year, because it fell perfectly in conjunction with my marathon training plan. Last year, I signed up for the 20 mile option and ended up dropping to 15. I was in the midst of training for the JC Stone 50k, and most of my training had been done around that 5 mile lake loop. I attribute this over-training and lack of variety to my drop in the race. This year, though, I’ve been doing things the right way.

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Cute shirt this year!

This was my third 10 mile race – I recapped my first and second 10 milers previously on the blog. My 10 mile PR was one hour, fifty nine minutes, and one second, which is an average of 11:54 per mile. I’ve been training hard to run faster than this, and Saturday’s 10 mile training run was supposed to be run at race pace (i.e., my marathon goal pace) which is 10:15/mile. If I was able to keep race pace, I would be looking at a new 10 mile PR.

Despite the race not starting until 10am, I arrived by 8:30 in order to get decent parking. The lot I usually park in was full, so I ended up getting (what I thought) was rock-star parking, in a lot directly above the finish line. I got my gear together and headed over to the Rose Barn, where registration was taking place, to see if any of my fellow Runners of Steel had arrived. We planned to take a group photo before the race and to coordinate pace groups.

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For all of our long runs, we’ve been breaking into small pace groups. As a mentor, I’ve been consistently leading the 11:00 pace group, which is also my long run pace. We’ve been having so much success running as a group, so I suggested that we try to get together before the race and run together.

I felt nervous, because I had skipped a few runs lately I had not run the lake loop since the Just a Short Run 30k last year, which was an awful experience (again, due to over-training). I knew the hills and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep the pace. As the race started, the first mile was so incredibly packed that I figured that would keep us on pace (slower, instead of starting too fast). Instead, the first mile flew by and was my fastest mile at 9:37. Uh, oops.

Obviously, this pace allowed me to warm up very quickly. I rolled up my sleeves and took off my gloves within the first two miles. My friends Michael and Jen were at the finish line to cheer us on, so I hoped to be able to hand off the gloves as I finished my first lap.

I ran with a few people – Keith, who I’ve been running most of my Saturdays with, but who has gotten progressively faster and I can no longer keep up with him! There was Francie and Steven, who were running 15 for the day, and Nancy, who was running 20! The four of us ended up running together for most of my race. It was great to have fellow Steel City folks to chat with and basically just hang out with. We had an awesome time and soon the first lap was over. I never thought of running as a social event until I began training with the group this year, and now I wonder how I managed my 15, 20, 25, and 30 miles runs on my own last year.

I had brought a Clif Shot gel to take after mile 5, along with my own fuelbelt with Nuun-enhanced water. This is what I’ve been training with, and I wanted to have that same thing on race day. Also, I don’t like to stop (anymore) while I’m racing, because it makes starting up all the more difficult. Plus, having my own water means I never have to wait for an aid station. I may end up doing this on marathon day, too.

As we rounded the bend to the finish line/timing mats, I was able to hand off my gloves to Michael. I was really grateful – holding onto the gloves for another 5 miles would have kicked my paranoia into gear, because I kept thinking I had lost one, despite them both being in my hands. I don’t need to worry about such things when I’m racing!

I completed my first five mile loop in 50:56, which was a massive improvement over last year’s first lap of 1:03:46. To be fair, I thought I was running 20 miles that day, but still. I was thrilled with my time. My prior fastest lap was exactly 60 minutes, at last year’s March Mad Dash. Pretty awesome progress! We began the second loop and I felt good – I knew exactly what was coming, and I was ready to keep pushing with my fast friends.

I know if I hadn’t been running with Steven, Nancy and Francie, I would not have pushed my pace as much as I did. It was an interesting thought, one I’ve not yet figured out: how will I know the difference between pushing the pace, and just plain running too fast too early? Perhaps I won’t really know until I’ve run too fast too early.

We were about a mile into our second lap when we came up on a fellow Steel City runner (seriously, we were everywhere in this race. The gear made it easy to spot each other!) who was walking ahead of us. I called out “You’re doing great!” as we passed, and she started running with us. Her name is Jenni (yay, new friends!) and she said what I’ve often thought during races: sometimes you just need that simple encouragement from a total stranger to inspire your legs to get moving. Jenni stayed with us for a little while and dropped back when some of the angrier hills appeared.

Soon we were within about a half mile of the finish line and I realized that I still had gas in the tank and it was time to turn up the heat. As this point another Runner of Steel, Dave, had caught up with us, and he ran with me to the finish. We left Francie and Nancy behind, since they had many more miles to go. We rounded the bend in the parking lot and full-out sprinted across the finish line to excited cheers from Jen, Michael, Shannon, Lori, Keith (fasthole), and other Steel City folks. I lit up when I heard the cheers and when I saw the clock! My second lap was 50:33.

Coach Jen (in the white coat) was super scream-cheering us to the finish. I'm so happy in this picture!

Coach Jen (in the white coat on the right) was super scream-cheering us to the finish. I’m so happy in this picture!

When I finished, my Nike+ watch told me that I had a new 10k PR of 1 hour 2 minutes. It did not inform me of a 10 mile PR (because maybe it only does 5k and 10k?), but I had in fact earned a new 10 mile PR of 1:41:28. That’s an 17 and a half minute improvement over March of last year! That’s pretty awesome. Fun fact: I was also 10 pounds heavier when I previously PR’d. Losing weight plus consistent training makes Lora faster. Yay!

...oh dear. Well, it could have been worse.

…oh dear. Well, it could have been worse.

Unfortunately, my happiness was short-lived. While I hung out at the finish line for a while, watching and cheering on other runners, unbeknownst to me, someone was hitting my parked car. They selfishly didn’t leave a note, despite having hit my car two separate times – no way they didn’t realize it. My not-even-a-year-old car is scratched and dented.

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Somehow in my 14 years of driving, I’ve never been hit before (without someone leaving a note), so I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. I changed into a dry shirt and walked back down to the finish line area, but stopped to talk with an Allegheny County police officer. They were blocking traffic for the race, as they always do at North Park events, so I asked him what he thought I should do. He said there wasn’t much they could do for hit and run incidents, and I said that it certainly could have been worse. He advised calling my insurance company. I thanked him for his advice and headed back to my friends at the finish line, where I ran to get into this picture!

I had an incredible performance and I wanted it to show!

I had an incredible performance. SUCK IT, HIT & RUN WHORE.

I’m glad I could smile despite the circumstances. I had an amazing race and it shows!

While I was hanging out, the police officer I had talked with found me and said that he had looked at my car – the damage was more than he thought based on my description, so he said he would have someone come take photos and a report. This perked me up a little bit – it was significant enough to warrant a report. I waited for another officer to arrive and we surveyed the damage together – not just to my car, but the park itself.

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He took photos and my information, and during this a girl walked over and said that she had seen a woman in a small silver SUV hit my car – it actually interlocked with my passenger side mirror, which was folded in as a result. She didn’t get a license plate number (I really really really wish she had), but at least it was something to go on.

The fact that it was most likely a fellow runner, or a fellow runner’s supporter, really bummed me out. I mean, we were all there for the same reason: to run a race. Perhaps it’s naive of me, but I feel a kinship with other runners. It’s come to the point where I see a person running and think, “Oh, a runner! Do I know them?” It’s frustrating to think that this woman hit my car not once, but TWICE, and felt okay about fleeing the scene without leaving a note. It also goes to show you that you can commit a crime with hundreds of people around and get away with it.

Finish line photos were released from Elite Runners & Walkers, the race sponsor, and I decided to do a little (read: A LOT of) detective work. I managed to narrow down the timeline and guess what Detective Lora found? Photos of the vehicle hitting my car. And photos of people who were complicit in this woman’s crime, because they helped to push her car out of the mud. I’m glad they all felt that there was nothing wrong with helping her leave the scene. At any rate, I sent the photos to the police, and I’m hoping they can use them.

What irritates me the most? I did nothing wrong, and I have to pay for it. Her selfishness took away from what should have been an amazing day for me. It dulled my accomplishment. She obviously went about her day feeling fine, and I’m left with the consequences. Please: if you ever see someone commit a hit and run, take a photo or write down their license plate number. Even a few numbers plus the make of the vehicle would help in these kind of situations.

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SCRR Spring Race Series – February 5k

Posted on 11 February 2013 | Monday by

Last Sunday, I joined the Steel City Road Runners for the first installment of their Spring Race Series. I’ve participated in several of these races in the past, in the summer and fall, with mixed results. The first couple were in the summer, and a few things really got to me: the heat, starting out too fast, and going into the race with unrealistic expectations. Fortunately the fall race went infinitely better.

Sunday was the Super Bowl, and Steel City decided to celebrate with a low-key 5k and tailgate food afterwards. Even though I had a 12 mile long run scheduled for Saturday, I decided to sign up. I told myself to just have a nice shakeout recovery run, instead of racing. However, the other voice in my head yelled “Ooooooh! A flat 5k! You should try to PR.”

I should back up a moment here and disclose the alarming yet awesome fact that I have yet to experience any significant soreness post-run this year. I’m officially six weeks into my training cycle for the 2013 Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, which means my longest run so far has only been twelve miles. I’m aiming for a rather aggressive time goal – a full hour and thirteen minutes faster than my current marathon PR – so my training paces have increased over last year. I’m not walking during my runs anymore. I’m running my runs.

This is not to say I haven’t had some tough runs, because I have, but I’ve made it through them without wavering. I’ve shed some poundage, so I’m sure this has helped a bit, but my fitness level has greatly increased. This is definitely the fittest I’ve ever been in my whole life, which is an amazing feeling, but the pessimist in me is kind of waiting for the bottom to drop out on me.

Basically I’m saying that I’m not training the same as last year. I’m actually running less. I’m following a specific plan, which outlines that I must run three days a week. The other four days are flex days, which means I can do pretty much anything I want – including resting completely. Some days I’ve done this, other days I’ve doubled on yoga, spin and weights.

This combination has resulted in faster runs with less effort. THIS EXCITES ME. My SCRR coach has incorporated one long run per month being done at race pace, to help prepare for race day running. I’m worried about the longer race-pace runs, but I was able to do the last one, which was eight miles in the snow and slush, with no problem.

So, imagine my excitement when I woke up Sunday morning with no soreness from the prior day’s twelve miles. I decided I would run the race at whatever pace my body allowed, with the thought that if I felt good enough, I would run hard. Originally the race was going to take place on a rail-trail, but with all the snow Pittsburgh had gotten the day/night before, the course was now on paved, plowed, less-traveled roads. Yay!

I arrived early enough to sign in and help out with signing in other runners. At the beginning of the year, I became a “mentor,” which has mostly meant being a pace group leader for the Saturday morning long runs, and occasionally on mid-week runs when there is a large group. I try to help out in other ways with the club, because it’s really benefited me and I want to give back. It’s been pretty rewarding, being able to reliably pace groups while sharing my experience and knowledge.

Soon we were outside, standing around the starting line shivering, and, as always, I questioned my outfit choice. I always think I’m under-dressed, even though I know I heat up quickly. Without too much fanfare, I started my first 5k of the year with a group of around 35 runners.

Like usual, I started out too fast. But like, really really too fast. My first quarter mile was sub-8:00 pace. Oopsie! That wasn’t going to last. It felt good at the time, and it didn’t really seem that fast. I settled into a pace closer to nine minutes per mile and tried to focus on my breathing. I felt some tightness in my hips which seemed to loosen out by the end of the first mile. I looked down at my watch and observed that I had run that first mile in 8:49. Oh dear.

Mile two included a brief uphill to cross the river onto Washingtons Landing, which I knew was coming and had run in the past. Instead of slowing way down, I shortened my stride and powered up the hill around a 9:25 pace. There was a downhill onto the island, and as the folks in front of me slowed down, recovering from the hill, I let gravity assist me and sped up into sub-9:00 pace. I’m finding that this is getting a bit easier, which is awesome, because last year, I simply avoided hills.

I came back off the island, again powering up the hill and speeding down, and suddenly mile two was over in 9:08. Yay! This is when I knew that I could keep it up for another mile and earn a new PR.

It was like running in a snow globe.

It was like running in a snow globe.

My existing 5k PR was from October of 2011, on a hillier course, in Shadyside, before I had begun distance running. I recalled my average pace for this race had been 9:39/mile, so I knew all I had to do was keep under that pace for the next 1.1 miles. And keep under that I did – my last mile was 9:08. My friend Michael spotted me as I rounded the bend near the finish line and cheered me on.

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Since we all started at the same time, this was clock timed. According to my watch, I actually finished about 3 seconds sooner, but I will take this 1:36 improvement over my last 5k PR. I felt amazing! It was almost as though I had redeemed my former self.

Overall, I felt really good for the entire run, and not like I was overexerting myself too much. I ran hard and well. With the exception of the wind stinging my eyes with snowflakes, the weather was perfect. I left that morning feeling pride in my work, and positive that I could continue to improve as I keep training.

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My Abusive Relationship

Posted on 22 January 2013 | Tuesday by

So this morning was a bit historic, in my personal weight loss journey: I weighed in at 169.4 lbs. While this would horrify some, it thrills me. I’ve not seen the 160s since early 2007 – six years ago. For the past six years, I’ve weighed over 165 lbs. I do remember thinking that it was where my body just settled, at its own “happy” weight: no matter what I did, it would always bounce back to that number.

However, to stay under that “happy” weight, I was starving myself. And restricting food.  And exercising obsessively. Then binging, sometimes purging, and starting the whole process over again. I was obsessed with calories in vs. calories burned, not in the good way. I felt actual pride knowing that I hadn’t consumed food for days. It made me feel strong. I felt smugness towards others who “caved” and ate. Basically, I saw eating as a weakness.

Obviously, it’s not possible to maintain those sorts of habits – at least, it wasn’t for me. And I’m thankful for that, because I have no idea what sort of damage I was doing to my body. I was never very “good” at being consistent with whatever kind of disordered eating I was doing at the time. Who knows what kind of strain that was putting on my systems, the very systems that were keeping me alive, the systems that I purposely deprived of fuel.

I wanted a quick fix, and what faster way to lose weight than to simply remove “food in” part of the equation? To me, it was the only way to do it. Nothing else ever worked. In reality, I had never given anything a chance to work. If I hadn’t lost five pounds in a week, obviously it was impossible for me to lose weight at all, so I would give up. Never mind that I knew nothing about basic nutrition – it was all about calories and nothing else.

Over the years I drifted away from fasting and hit the total opposite end of the spectrum: overeating daily. So many poor choices in food, but I kept doing it. Along with it came debilitating depression – I was unable to do anything but go to work and overeat on the couch, alone, before going to sleep before 7pm. This introduced a new idea: which antidepressant could I get on to suppress my appetite? Even in my recovery attempts, I was still obsessed with food and how not to eat it.

This dynamic left me exhausted emotionally and physically. The way I felt about food and its direct relation to my body was literally all I could think about. When I walked to work, I was sure everyone was staring at me with pity and disgust. “Look how out of control she is,” I imagined people thinking. “She shouldn’t be out here.” I cringed every time I caught my reflection in a window. I hated sitting in an open area at work, or worse yet, in a meeting room, because how was I going to hide my stomach rolling over the waistband of my pants?

It took a long time for me to figure out that really, no one cared about my appearance. “No one is thinking about you – they’re thinking about themselves, just like you.” It also took me a long time to understand that I had to want something badly enough to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve what I wanted. I wasn’t going to reach my goal weight by eating Chipotle every night and then crying into my empty burrito bowl.

It took a therapist and the Couch to 5k program to help me understand how to fuel my body properly for what I wanted it to do. I learned how to recreate healthy versions of some of my favorite “bad” meals, and I began to look forward to being able to run for minutes at a time. My mood lifted, and I felt pride for reasons far better than starving myself. I was ready to end the cycle and stop abusing food.

My weight loss gradually ended after losing 20 pounds, when I began distance running. I felt justified in eating more than the average person, because I was running a lot of miles. However, I was still overeating, despite the mileage. My body makeup definitely changed, but I still had (have) a lot of fat to remove. After two years of the scale number bouncing between 175-185, and learning of a friend’s wild success on Weight Watchers, I decided to give it a try in August 2012.

As I’ve always done, I tried it out and was obsessed with it for a few weeks, then forgot about it. One of the big factors was the massive point values of some of my favorite healthy foods which seemed vital for running. Peanut butter, rice, oatmeal – all high in necessary carbohydrates, but also high in points. I hated to see that my daily points used were double my daily allotment. I decided I wouldn’t try to lose weight while marathon training – it would be impossible, I reasoned.

With my whole punch this year in the face goal, I’ve decided that I would try losing weight whilst training for the 2013 Pittsburgh marathon. Obviously it’s only three weeks into the new year, but I’ve been on plan (training & eating) the whole time. To see it working is so encouraging, and I’m going to stick with it. Unless I feel adverse effects on my training, I’ll be on plan until I reach my goal weight of 135-140 lbs. This time is going to pass anyway, and to be honest, I keep signing up for marathons. When else will I do this?

I did a lot of things wrong last year, and I want to do those things right this year. I want to have positive experiences, and I want to put the proper work in to ensure that the experiences will be positive. I want to line up on race day knowing that I did everything I possibly could to prepare myself for victory.

MY GOD THE TRIUMPH WILL BE GLORIOUS.

MY GOD THE TRIUMPH WILL BE GLORIOUS.

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2013 Races

Posted on 18 January 2013 | Friday by

I’ve updated my future races page… am I missing anything?? It’s going to be a bizzy, bizzy year. The races I’m most looking forward to are, in order:

  1. Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon – you know, for reasons like attempting a one hour, thirteen minute course PR. (last year’s recap here)
  2. Deckers Creek half marathon – because this was the best I have EVER felt running, ever. Read my 2012 recap here.
  3. Marine Corps Marathon – flat course, in the fall. Hopefully this will be my marathon PR.
  4. Rock ‘n’ Roll Pittsburgh Half Marathon – because I’m obsessed with this city and can’t wait to run through it again.
  5. Megatransect Challenge – a truly intimidating elevation profile, and 26+ miles to boot. A serious trail undertaking.

I’ve been participating in many group runs with my road runners club, Steel City Road Runners, and I’m finding it to be incredibly helpful. I kind of forget that I’m running mile after mile at a prescribed pace, because it feels more like a social occasion where I meet new friends and see new parts of the city every day. I will most likely try to join a pace group for the marathon in May, because that kind of camaraderie is exactly what this girl needs.

What is your favorite race, and why?

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