2013, or the Year Lora Punches in the Face

Posted on 3 January 2013 | Thursday by

So I got that handy-dandy “year in blogging” report that WordPress thoughtfully pulls together for everyone. Somehow it was less than stellar, since I only posted 28 times in 2012. 28 times? Damn, Africa, what happened? Remember the million times you said you’d post more and not totally suck as a blogger?

Anyway. I could make the same claim now, but I won’t, because what’s the point of setting myself up for failure? I will try to post more, but I won’t promise it. That’s too much pressure and too much disappointment when I don’t deliver the goods. One of my goals for this year is to stop setting myself up to fail.

I’m not sure that I like the word “resolution,” similar to how I no longer make myself “to do” lists. I feel that there’s too much of a negative connotation if I fail. Instead, I make goal lists. Sometimes it’s weekend goals (laundry, run, errands) and other times it’s long term, without a specified end date (fitness). I feel better about the list, it no longer stresses me out, and I feel okay if it takes me awhile to achieve everything listed.

Some of my goals for 2013:

  • Complete the Pittsburgh & Marine Corps marathons (primary); finish sub-five (secondary); finish close to 4:30 (tertiary)
  • Complete a number of trail races & hikes (primary); finish strong & run as much as possible (secondary)
  • Train hard and well for both marathons, incorporating strength & cross-training this cycle
  • Become the fittest I have ever been by trimming the extra fat & poundage (ideally 30-35 pounds, but we’ll see)
  • Write in a journal, just small things – record memories, because the one in my brain sucks
  • Record on paper the things that made this year amazing, as they happen, and place in a jar to be opened New Year’s Eve.

I’d also like to do the cliched things such as becoming more organized, but let’s be honest, working towards all those other things won’t make that easy. Still, 2013 will be the best year of my life so far, and I will work hard to ensure that this happens.

let's do this shit.

let’s do this shit.

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Dealing with Disappointment

Posted on 3 October 2012 | Wednesday by

Well, I’ve survived the first two out of my three fall marathons, and unfortunately that’s pretty much about all I can say about it. End post!

Actually, I can say a lot about it. Both races were extremely difficult, not enjoyable, and made me question ever running another marathon. They made me realize that I severely doubt myself and my abilities in distance running… and running in general.

Yes, I’m extremely disappointed in my performances, but what I realized is that I can’t justifiably feel that way. What I’m actually disappointed in is my lack of proper training. I realized that I just didn’t do the work required for the positive, successful marathon performance that I wanted and expected. How could I expect to run a faster time without doing the proper speed work, strength training, paced runs, etc? And why did I continue to fuel my body improperly (hay Chipotle), all the while expecting my performance would somehow better itself?

It’s hard to articulate just how dejected I feel. I have friends around me congratulating me for completing two marathons in two weeks, and they’re right – it’s pretty awesome. I have two more marathon medals to add to my collection. I just wish I felt better about the experiences that earned those medals.

I’ve said this before, but my next training cycle will be done properly. I will not skip runs because I just don’t feel like going. I will not skip strength training because I’m sore. I will not “reward” myself with crappy food BECAUSE I’M NOT A DOG and it will slow me down in the long run (no pun intended).

The answer is simple: do the work. I absolutely have to do the work. I want to enjoy running, and I think that the only way to make that happen is for it to become easier for me. The only way to make it easier on race day is to work harder during training. If I want to be faster, I have to train to be faster. It’s not going to just happen – I have to make it happen.

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The Only Bee in My Bonnet

Posted on 28 August 2012 | Tuesday by

I’ve been a little busy lately. My life is consumed with marathon training. And, simultaneously, hating marathon training.

I’ve got three full marathons this fall, and one half. By the time I finish my last race on November 11, I will have been training for 366 days without a break. I will have run two half marathons, five marathons, one ultramarathon, and a bevy of other distance races in 2012. Needless to say, I’m a bit burned out on the whole idea.

I plan to take off the remainder of November and December from training. When I say “off,” I mean not adhere to a strict running schedule. I’m sure I’ll still run, but when I do, it will be because I want to, not because my schedule demands it. I hope to spend that period of time working out in other ways and losing some weight, once and for all. Hopefully when I take up training again, I will have less to carry and be healthier overall.

I’m considering running the Lt. JC Stone 50k UltraMarathon again in March 2013, and most likely the Pittsburgh Marathon in May 2013. If I decide to run JC Stone, I think beginning my training in January will give me enough time to prepare (god willing and the creek don’t rise). That will put me right into Pittsburgh training, post-recovery.

I want to love running again, and I think the best way for me to do that is to take a break from the strictness I’ve imposed upon myself. I’d like to spend more time with friends, hanging out, and not worrying about having that extra glass of wine, because I won’t need to wake up at 4:30am for another 20 miler.

I’ve also just joined Weight Watchers, with which I’m completely obsessed. I was tired of half-assing things, and watching my points (calories) has really opened my eyes to why I’ve been gaining and losing the same 8-10 pounds for the past 14 months. Enough is enough, I’m ready to start enjoying my life, and I’m ready to make a permanent change. My hope is to be at my goal weight by my 30th birthday in March, which gives me just over seven months to lose approximately 30 pounds. I say approximately, because I’m not sure if that’s my goal. My muscle mass has changed dramatically with running, so I may be happy at a higher weight. It will all depend on how I look and feel.

Sorry for falling off the grid lately. I’m going to try to be better about blogging, friends. I promise.

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I’m Kind of a Big Deal.

Posted on 9 July 2012 | Monday by

As a distance runner, there may come a moment when you just aren’t impressed with yourself anymore. You forget that you’re an ultramarathoner. That marathon you ran last month, which was excruciating at the time, seems like it was easy now that you think about it. A ten, twelve, fourteen mile training run sounds like nothing. “Only” training for a half marathon? What a relief!

Remember when you first started running? I do. It was only sixteen months ago. I could barely survive running for sixty seconds at a time. One mile seemed an impossible pipe dream. How would I ever work up to 26.2 and check “marathon” off my bucket list? And then somehow I did it in a year and suddenly I’m sitting here all unimpressed.

How exactly does this happen? How do we discount the distance that seemed completely ludicrous just the other day? Maybe it’s a self-esteem issue. “If I can do it, anyone can.” While this statement is usually thrown around to encourage others, it’s actually pretty self-deprecating when you think about it. Why not you? Why can’t you be special? Looking at all you’ve done, why don’t you consider yourself to be amazing?

The answer is simple: you are amazing. Not everyone can do what you do. Not just the distance, but the discipline. I think the discipline is even harder than the distance. The planning, the social sacrifice, the loss of sleep – all of these things happen when training for distance running. After a period of time, it becomes habit. It’s an everyday, commonplace thing. It becomes your life. And somehow, it becomes less special.

I have to remind myself that there’s no such thing as “just” a four mile run. There aren’t any junk miles. My 5k PR isn’t slow. Waking up at 4am on summer weekends to get my run in before the sun becomes oppressive is serious dedication. Running five marathons in nine months is badass, and it doesn’t just happen. It’s something to be earned.

So you see, even though I have to remind myself of it, I’m kind of a big deal. And so are you.

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Farmer’s Market Saturdays – #013

Posted on 17 June 2012 | Sunday by

After missing out on the second market of the season last week (just running a half marathon, LIKE A BOSS), I triumphantly returned this past Saturday. I was ready to stock up on more produce!

With my current marathon training plan, I will have to run on Saturdays. Since it’s summer and suffocatingly hot and humid, I’ve decided that I will need to do my Saturday runs first thing in the morning. It sucks getting up at 4am on the weekends and start running before sunrise, but I think it will be for the best because my body doesn’t seem to handle heat all that well. I was able to run my planned six miles, but I should have started earlier.

Needless to say, I was pretty beat by the time we hit the market. I decided that it would be mind over matter, chugged my coffee, and got ready to shop!

The Berry Patch had advertised on their Facebook page that they would have strawberries, and I was really eager to pick some up. I was worried that they would run out before I got there, even though we made it for the opening. I’m paranoid that way.

Brenda was also kind enough to let me try her new “oatmeal on the go”, which is oatmeal, chia seeds, yogurt, and red raspberries all mixed up in a jam jar.

It was the perfect treat for post-market relaxation (and post-run fuel). So cool and creamy. I’m not sure I’ve ever tried chia seeds before this, but they were a great way to sneak in some Omega-3s. I’m all about prepping food ahead of time so I can just grab & go, so I love this idea. Be sure to visit Brenda when you head to the market! She’s got tons of treats – pies, empanadas, oatmeal, blueberry lemonade – in addition to a bazillion jam/butter varieties and, of course, berries.

To my surprise, Sand Hill Berries had red raspberries out already. Thanks, mild winter!

I stocked up on some more (cute) carrots:

There were tons of beautiful flowers out again.

After I had spent all my cash, I came across fresh dill in pots. I will definitely be buying some next weekend – to me, the smell of fresh dill is hard to top. I need to research how to care for it, though. The extent of my herbal knowledge is restricted to basil and rosemary.

Speaking of rosemary, I need to buy some more of that too – can’t roast red potatoes without it! I also got tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash. It’s going to be roast-tastic.

I picked up a couple apricot-filled cookies from Steel Penny Cakes again, and one of them didn’t survive the ride home… again.

And now for the whole spread!

The rest of the day was spent cleaning and preparing my produce, eating some of it, cleaning the house, and other completely random tasks from a to-do list that was generated during an ADD attack. Another fabulous Saturday!

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12th Deckers Creek Trail Half Marathon

Posted on 16 June 2012 | Saturday by

On Saturday, June 2, I participated in the 12th Deckers Creek Trail Half Marathon. The Deckers Creek trail runs about 19 miles in West Virginia, from Morgantown to Reedsville. This was a point-to-point race run beginning in Masontown and finishing in Morgantown.

I came across this race back before the Pittsburgh Marathon and after reading about the 800-foot elevation drop, I was in. I was more than ready to get a new half marathon PR, but I was especially ready to get my time under two and a half hours. This course seemed to be my best bet to make that happen.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

After my first half marathon, I bumped into one of my coworkers and his wife, Angela. Angela had finished the race a few minutes after I did, so we realized we had similar paces. Since then we’ve run a couple training runs together with the Steel City Road Runners Club, which I joined back in the fall of 2011. I immediately thought of her as a running partner for this race. We signed up after about ten seconds of discussion!

Unlike most races, I was really looking forward to running this one. Usually I’m a mix of anxiousness, dread, and I DON’T WANNA. The weather reports promised near-perfect conditions (for me): clear skies and a starting temperature of 55 degrees! Combine that with the downhill course and a running partner and I was on my way to a guaranteed PR.

I switched up my planned training pre-race: instead of running plus yoga on Wednesday and strength training on Thursday, I rested. So that meant three full days of rest before the race on Saturday morning. I wanted my legs to feel as fresh as possible.

After a later night than I had planned, Luke and I set off to Morgantown around 5:15am. There were two waves of runners: 8:30 and 8:45. Angela and I were scheduled to start at 8:45, which meant that we had to catch our bus to the starting line around 7:45. We were able to find a parking garage right next to the registration area. I immediately headed to the bathrooms, which is now race-day habit: when you see a bathroom, use it even if you don’t feel like you need it. You always will and you are always glad later.

I picked up my bib and packet and we met up with Angela, who arrived about 10 minutes after we did. Once we had all of our necessities, we decided to go back to my car to hang out before it was time to catch the bus. It was a really beautiful area near the finish line.

In addition to my training, I also switched up my pre-race nutrition: for dinner Friday, I had a bowl of brown rice, and for “breakfast” Saturday morning, I ate a blueberry Luna bar. I can never stand forcing myself to eat that early, especially pre-race because I actually have to fight my gag reflex. Nerves, I guess. I also brought along two sample-sized LÄRABARS in coconut cream pie to eat pre-race. I had one while we were sitting in the car and the other on the bus.

Ready to go!

We boarded our bus around 7:35 and headed up the mountain. The ride was just long enough to give us time to feel anxious – it was interesting, everyone around us said basically the same thing at the same time. Runner brains think alike!

Finally, we reached the starting area. Our mission was to find the porta-potty line, because I had read ahead of time that there would not be very many at the starting line. There was rumored to be one around mile 7, but I prefer not to stop during a race if I can help it. We never did see that porta-potty, so I’m glad we didn’t rely on it.

As soon as we got off the bus, though, I saw a coworker from an old job so we stopped to chat for awhile. Bill said that he had run this course before and it was a great run. Mostly shaded, all downhill, but asphalt for the last three miles or so. We wished him luck and got in the porta-potty line. They were in a shaded area and we were actually cold! This was great news for me – that meant the temperature wasn’t going to be unbearable.

We made our way to the starting line, about 1/4 mile down the trail. I was truly struck by the beauty around us – Deckers Creek to our right, stone & mountain to our left, and a canopy of lush green leaves over our heads. The surroundings gave me a feeling of excitement – like something amazing was going to happen.

Something amazing… like PRs, perhaps? LET’S GET IT.

There were no starting mats, so I started my watch as I crossed the starting line – not with the gun. Angela said there was about a 15 second lapse between the gun and our actual starting time. We didn’t want to line up too close to the front of the field because we were hoping for a sub-2:30 time – fast for us, not so much for others. We wanted to stay out of the way of the speedy folks.

We began running at a pretty good clip, keeping it right around 11:00. Even though we know better than to start a race fast, we were feeling so good that we decided to just go with it and increased our pace to sub-11:00. We could actually see the downhill grade of the trail, which meant we felt it even more. Our pace was faster than it would have been on a flat surface, but our effort was less. My favorite kind of running! I’ve been so trained to expect uphills that I was holding my breath as we rounded each bend in the trail. Fortunately, all that greeted us was more glorious downhill.

The miles actually flew past, and before we knew it we had already gone through two aid stations. We decided that our strategy was going to be run the whole race, with the exception of walking through the aid stations to drink & refuel. Barring any unscheduled stops for porta-potties, injuries, stretching, etc., we would need to maintain an average pace of 11:24/mile if we wanted to reach our goal of a sub-2:30 finish. Since we had started off pretty fast, we figured that if we had to slow down later, our speed for the first five miles would be beneficial to keeping our total time down.

Around mile 5, we saw a woman up ahead of us taking photos – yay! I was not expecting a race photographer. I love when that happens – I always have photos of the start and finish, but for races where the course doesn’t allow Luke or my support crew to catch me mid-race, I always struggle with the race recap. Things are way better with pictures. With that in mind, we cheesed things up.

Angela is like, really really cute.

WERKIN IT

Seriously, we actually had this much fun pretty much the entire time. Our smiles are not lies! The miles continued to blow past us. Around mile seven or so, Angela was starting to feel some pain in her hips. We had banked enough time to stop for some stretching, but fortunately she felt good enough to keep moving.

Soon we came upon the paved portion of the course, which meant less than 5k to go! Unfortunately, after having crushed limestone under our feet for the last 10 miles, we felt the pounding of the pavement immediately. This was also the portion of the course that was not covered in a canopy of trees, so the sun was beating down directly on us. Again, after ten shady miles, this was tough to get used to.

We had a road crossing just before mile 11, and I was ready to finish hard and strong. I increased my pace to sub-11:00 and slowly left Angela behind. I felt bad, but she told me to go on ahead if I felt strong enough, so I gave it a shot. I passed quite a few people in the last two miles, something I was not expecting. I was also vigilant of running the tangents of the trail – basically running the shortest distance as the trail curved. This way I wouldn’t be running extra distance that could negatively affect my finishing time.

I began seeing runners walking towards me, cooling down or returning home, which meant I was close to the finish line. Then I heard the cheers and bumped my pace even faster. I ran sub-10:20 for the last quarter of a mile.

I can see the clock and I’m about to burst with happiness…

2:40 minus the 15 minute delayed start time equals A NEW PR!!

Here comes Angela!

I was a little disappointed in my official time, because my watch time was more accurate (20 seconds faster) since there was no starting mat. Either way, dramatic new PR! 2:25:19.83. That’s eight minutes faster than my previous best half marathon time! Angela blew hers out of the water, too. I finished 490/563 overall, and 77/87 for my age group.

We wandered over to the food & post-race festivities, ready to relax and refuel. Everything was set up in an amphitheater looking out onto the Monongahela River. We grabbed pizza, Gatorade and water and finally sat down to rest.

My splits were pretty decent for this race – not consistently negative, but pretty good. You can see the miles where we slowed down at the aid stations.

We did it! We’re awesome and we know it.

I was hesitant to say it during the race, because I didn’t want to jinx anything, but this was truly the best I have EVER felt while running – racing or training. I felt strong, no major aches or pains, an amazing running partner, beautiful weather, no GI issues – this was simply a perfect run. For the first time in a long while, I felt incredible… invincible, even. It was an all-around amazing experience.

“And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.”

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Farmer’s Market Saturdays – #012

Posted on 12 June 2012 | Tuesday by

The last Saturday of May welcomed the return of the Ligonier Country Market! To say I’ve been looking forward to it since the fall closing day is not an exaggeration. I missed having my Saturday morning ritual: supporting local farmers, seeing vendors who have become friends, and just feeling good about the whole experience.

The day started early, because I like to scout the vendor booths before the opening bell sounds. That way I get a jump on coveted produce, because they sell out really quickly. I picked up my best friend Meghan and we prepared to to some damage!

We experienced a pretty mild winter in western Pennsylvania, so there was much more produce available than opening day of last year’s market. I was pleasantly surprised to find so much! I was prepared to ooh and ahh at the pretty flowers but ended up buying a lot of vegetables.

I picked up some carrots and beets from Fortiter Farm:

So far I’ve only juiced the carrots and beets, which was a first for me, and it turned out pretty tasty. I’ve read that juiced carrots and beets are really good for cleansing the liver, so I figure you can’t really lose. I’m also hoping to roast up some, if the heat ever breaks.

We stopped by to say hello to Brenda at The Berry Patch and of course, to pick up a raspberry pie. I originally thought I would take it to a picnic I was attending later in the day, then decided it was all mine, then decided I would probably overdose so I ended up taking it to the picnic. It was for the best, because the slice I had was ridiculously sinful. That pie would not have lived for long in my house. I also got some of Brenda’s blueberry lemonade, which is always a refreshing summer treat.

I snapped up a new basil plant, some asparagus, salmon, and an amazing apricot-filled cookie from Steel Penny Cakes. Their booth was set up right next to the vendor from whom I bought the asparagus, and I felt bad that our line was encroaching on their tent. I decided to buy a cookie to kind of make up for this… AND MY LIFE WAS FOREVER CHANGED. Seriously. I usually buy an apricot roll from the Pitaland booth, but I think Steel Penny Cakes wins out on the apricot deliciousness. That cookie didn’t survive the ride home.

DOESN’T THIS LOOK DELICIOUS? … oh.

Meghan found some beautiful daisies to brighten up her place:

Here’s the whole bounty I brought home!

It was a perfect opening day for the market (albeit a bit hot): there was cheer in the air and veggies all around. I’m so glad it’s market season again. Here’s to many more!

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Oh Hay.

Posted on 12 June 2012 | Tuesday by

Two weeks of neglect for my poor blog! Sorry y’all. It’s been a bit busy lately. I owe you several posts: two race recaps, two farmer’s market posts, training updates, my road runners club’s first annual banquet…

I’ve been slacking, little blog. In the meantime, please accept this photo of my brother and I as wee, wee kidlets as a consolation prize. He’s going to be visiting next week so we might try to recreate this picture. We might need a bigger chair, though…

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Poplar Spring 9th Annual Run for the Animals 5k

Posted on 29 May 2012 | Tuesday by

On Sunday, May 20, I participated in the Poplar Spring 9th Annual Run for the Animals 5k race, held in Wheaton Park, Maryland. This was 5k 2 of 2 for my double 5k weekend with my friends Jeannette and Eric. In case you missed the first one, here it is.

Since I had run hard on Saturday, I was planning to take it easy on Sunday. Jeannette and Eric had mentioned that Sunday’s course was much hillier, so I was prepared to run slowly. I slept much better Saturday night than I had Friday, so I really wasn’t expecting to be as tired as I felt on the way to the race. I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage running when I could barely keep my eyes open in the car.

We arrived pretty early and headed to check in. Instead of t-shirts, they were giving out those insulated hot/cold reusable shopping bags. So much better! Especially since there were tons of goodies for us to load up on:

After hanging out in the car for awhile, we got in the bathroom lines right before they got crazy-long, then headed towards the starting area. Fortunately I was feeling a bit more awake and ready to run. It was a beautiful day (if a bit hot) and the sun was shining brightly.

Team Pink & Black!

We saw a guy dressed up in a cow costume, and had to grab him for a few photos. It was great – Jeannette was about to take a photo of me under the banner when the cow guy walked past. Her eyes got all wide and she appeared almost starstruck. She said “Mr. Cow! Mr. Cowwwww. Can we get pictures with you?” He shall henceforth be known as Mr. Cow.

This may be my new favorite photo of myself because somehow half of me disappeared. Hooray!

Ready to moo-ve! (Oh yes I did.)

Just like Saturday, the race started and Eric disappeared in front of us within a few seconds. The path was very narrow and the terrain was mixed, so for the first few minutes I was concentrating on not mowing anyone down, tripping, and slowing my pace. We began with a small downhill, which evened out and then promptly had a decent uphill climb. There were other runners passing us by in the opposite direction – they had already climbed the hill and looped back down.

As Jeannette and I reached the bottom, some volunteer cheered us on and lied her ass off by saying “It’s all downhill from here!” Mile two had a hundred foot elevation climb for the first half!  As we rounded a bend and yet another uphill greeted us, Jeannette tried to encourage me to keep running with her by telling me there was cake at the finish line. My reply? “I DON’T LIKE CAKE THAT MUCH.” Although to be honest, the cake actually was so delicious that I take back that statement. Vegan cake, friends. It’s just better. See?

Jeannette wanted me to run the entire race, and I agreed… at the beginning. I made it close to the 2 1/4 mile mark when I started walking a bit. I quickly lost sight of Jeannette, but my quads and calves were burning from the race the day before – and the unexpected hills. I walked. Arg. I may have been able to run the entire way had I not started out as “fast” as I did, but oh well. It was a beautiful course through the woods. I tried to enjoy it.

Soon I could hear the finish line announcer cheering racers as they finished, and a runner was standing on the side of the path high-fiving us and telling us we had only 400 meters to go. Later we learned that he had placed first overall. I thought that was pretty cool for him to encourage us slowpokes.

Can you see me?

I finished in 35:25, one of my slowest 5k times. I was 234/333 overall (incidentally, my bib number was 234. I kind of wished that I had played that number, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have hit), and 31/48 for my age group. I was disappointed in my performance, but I’m not really sure what I was expecting. I walked more than I should have, but it’s another race run, another course conquered.

We headed over to the pavilion with the most food I’ve ever seen post-race… including the Pittsburgh marathon. There was a huge table piled high with bananas, another with bagels and cookies. There were hundreds of containers of soy yogurt and an enormous cooler full of So Delicious ice cream. I may or may not have eaten 3 little fudgesicle things. The only problem was they ran out of water.

We stuck around to hear the awards and raffle prizes, which none of us won. After they were finished, they encouraged us to take the food home… so we did. We all loaded up our new bags with bagels, bananas, apples, cookies, Lara bars, yogurt, and ice cream. The bananas were pretty mangled at that point, but I planned to freeze them for smoothies. Perfect!

We ended up celebrating our race weekend by heading to Jeannette’s gym for a nice soak in the hot tub and a relaxing steam. I’m not sure if it technically helped with my recovery, but it felt great. I’m looking forward to testing this in the future – Luke and I just signed up for the LA Fitness that is soon to be opening near us. Hot tub soak post-long run? I’m in.

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Greenbelt Nursery School Tortoise & Hare 5k

Posted on 25 May 2012 | Friday by

This past weekend, I drove down to Maryland to visit my friends Jeannette and Eric. We had planned this weekend awhile ago and decided to run two 5k races during my visit.

On Saturday, we ran in the Tortoise & Hare 5k, sponsored by the Greenbelt Nursery School in Greenbelt, Maryland. I was looking forward to this race the most, because I had decided I would be achieving a new 5k PR. My fastest to date was the Run Shadyside 5k, and I was ready to get my time even further below 30 minutes. I figured this would be the race to do it, because the course was a flat lake loop. Shadyside was a bit hilly, so I believed my PR would be a big one.

Jeannette and Eric had been battling colds ever since the marathon, so they were mainly looking to just run well. Jeannette looked up her previous 5k PR and it was somewhere around 35 minutes. She and I felt confident that she would beat that time. Eric hadn’t run since the marathon, but his goal was to finish under 27 minutes. Eric’s fast.

It was a very small race, starting literally right at the nursery school. We ran past some baseball fields and tennis courts, then into the woods onto a trail and did two laps around the lake, and returning to the tennis courts. Jeannette and Eric do their long runs here all the time, so they were very familiar with the course.

I hadn’t slept well the night before the race – up late, new environment, curious kitties – and I was hoping this wouldn’t affect my performance. I was ready to run and I was ready to beat 29:57 in the 5k.

We arrived early enough to pick up our packets & timing chips, to use the bathrooms, and for Jeannette to braid my hair. I simply cannot master the French braid. Jeannette is so awesome at it that I left my hair braided all weekend. I’m going to start practicing because it’s really cute and perfect for running.

Before photo!

Apparently Eric and I coordinated our outfits. I wore a new shirt that was sold at the marathon expo, but shipped to my local Dick’s Sporting Goods and marked down. It says “Born a Runner/Made in Pittsburgh”. I love it – I feel like I definitely became a runner in Pittsburgh. I also coordinated my insane purple shorts and calf sleeves to the color of the print on my t-shirt.

This was my first time running with my bib number on my SPIbelt. I’ve always pinned it right to my shirt or pants, but after the marathon, I realized that the pins had caused rips in my shirt. I didn’t want this to happen again. It was ok running with the belt – I’ve used it before, just not with the number loops. I don’t really like it, though, because I feel like it just accentuates my doughy middle. Oh well.

We headed toward a group of runners between a building and a small skateboarding park thing, because that’s where it seemed everyone was gathering. There was no official starting line, and after a couple of announcements everyone just started running. I wasn’t really sure where I should have started my GPS watch, so I hit start when we started moving.

Eric quickly disappeared in front of us, and Jeannette and I stayed together. We crossed the finish line area at the beginning of the race and a local Greenbelt photographer got this photo of me:

The course quickly took us into the woods down a gravel and dirt trail. It reminded me a lot of the Greenfield Glide in Schenley Park back in Pittsburgh. Running through the woods is not something I’m used to doing, and it was a nice change of pace from my normal training and races. However, there were a couple of small, short hills, and I seemed to fatigue pretty quickly. When I looked at my watch, I realized why: Jeannette and I were averaging between 9-10 minute miles.

Despite knowing better than to start out too fast, I wanted to run fast – otherwise, how would I PR? Unfortunately I started to feel myself slow down before we started our second lap around the lake. Looking back on my splits, though, showed I didn’t really slow down that much. Mile one was 10’12″, mile two 10’03″, and mile three 10’06″. Almost consistently negative!

Oh hey, here’s Eric running like the wind! He finished 3rd in his age group at 27:55.

Total running magazine cover photo.

As Jeannette and I neared the final home stretch, I told her to do the high-knee running to sprint across the finish line. I started doing this and pulled slightly ahead of her. However, the dude casually jogging in front of us decided he wasn’t going to let a girl pass him before the finish line, so as soon as he saw me he sped up. He didn’t seem to care about his pace until he noticed me, and he is therefore a jackass.

I finished 6/11 in my age group, and 37/72 overall. Somehow my official time was listed as 31:18.5, despite seeing the clock read 31:07 as I crossed the finish line. Wtf?

Jeannette finished right behind me at 31:25.2, blasting her former 5k PR by close to 5 minutes! Badass.

I was really, really ready to break my PR. The only problem? I haven’t been speed training. I had been marathon training, which is so much different. I run slowly. Sometimes I even have to walk. I came across this link the other day and it made a lot of sense: “Learning how to hurt at higher levels for shorter durations is something that takes a little extra time for the marathoner to develop.” It’s true: I was used to slow and steady.

I was pretty disappointed, but tried to remember that I hadn’t really run fast (for me) in over seven months. And I managed to run the entire race, which is always a goal of mine. I would definitely run this race again – beautiful course, small race, delicious post-race food, and great friends.

We did it!

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