Rock 'n' Roll reunion!

Pre-race festivities.

Back in November, my friend, high school classmate, and IronMan, Scott, posted on Facebook about registering for the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll DC marathon and half-marathon. He put a call out for friends to join him, and several of us signed up. Pretty soon, we noticed a pattern: we were all graduates of the same high school from around the same time period. So, Rock 'n' Roll DC became the unofficial South River High School 15-ish year reunion race.

The race happened on Saturday (aka: St. Patrick's Day). I originally signed up for the full marathon, but for reasons described in previous posts, I decided to run the half. I took it easy in the B&A Half two weeks ago, and finished in a little over 2:19. For this race, I planned to push it and try to come in at or under 2:15.

In the beginning, everything went smoothly. I had no problem getting to the race, parking, and finding my start corral. I wasn't officially part of a pace group, but I positioned myself within sight of the 2:15 pacers. The crowd of 24,000 runners had a very excited, positive energy. While waiting for the start, I chatted with some friendly fellow runners, including a nervous first-time marathoner (I hope she did great!). At the time of the start, the temperature was an unseasonably warm mid-50's, but I was comfortable in capris, a short-sleeve shirt, and arm warmers.

I stayed comfortable for maybe 1 mile. By the time I hit mile 2, I was pouring sweat. I had stripped off the arm warmers and was seriously regretting the decision to wear capris instead of shorts. I was also having some muscle pain up high in my right leg. Nothing awful, but enough to worry about how the rest of the race would go. Fortunately, my awesome boyfriend Andrew and his equally awesome brother Chris were waiting for me a little after mile 3. I was able to give them the arm warmers and a request for some Advil. They agreed to pick it up and meet me between miles 7 and 8.

I held on to a good pace for the first 5 miles. For 1-4, I was a little ahead of the 2:15 pacers. Around mile 5, they caught up with me. I was pretty tired by that point, so I decided to slow down and just keep the pacers in my sight. That worked for maybe 2 miles. Around mile 7, they pulled ahead of me and I never saw them again. I also didn't see Andrew and Chris. The crowds were thick and I heard that Metro was backed up, so I figured we missed each other. A little sad, but no big deal.

By the time I got to mile 9, I was very ready for the race to be done. I was hot, tired, and a little demoralized because I knew I would not achieve my goal for the day. As I rounded the corner toward mile 10, I got a pleasant surprise: Andrew! He had missed me at mile 7, but hopped on another train to catch me later. Better yet, he had my Advil! I thanked him, took the pills, and headed for the finish.

When I hit mile 12, I knew that 2:15 was way out of reach. So was my previous half PR of 2:16:30. At that point, I just wanted to do my best and finish ahead of my 2:19 from two weeks ago. With the finish line in sight, I tried to do a "finishing kick" and just couldn't muster it. This actually made me feel better- if nothing else, I knew that I had left it all on the course.

I wound up finishing in 2:18:52. On Saturday, I was disappointed with that time. Not only had I dropped back from the full, I hadn't even achieved my goal for the half. A couple days later, though, I entered my time into my race results database and got some perspective. I've run 11 half-marathons, and this was my 3rd fastest. So, not a PR, but not bad!

After the race, I found Chris in the family meet-up area, but no Andrew. Chris explained that Andrew had "Metro issues." A few minutes later, a breathless Andrew turned up and gave me the full story. He and Chris had major train issues between miles 3 and 7. When Andrew realized he wasn't going to catch me at 7, he panicked about not getting me the Advil. So, he hopped on another train to meet me at mile 10. After that, he couldn't find a train that would get him to the finish line in time to see me come in. So, he decided to run. The same boyfriend who just struggled through his first 5K ran over 2 miles through hot and crowded streets in jeans and regular shoes just to get to my race finish! He was upset that he didn't make it in time, but I was too flattered to care about that. He is the best!

Finished!

After the race, several of the SR alumni runners met at Scott's house for a post-race BBQ. With the exception of Scott, I hadn't seen any of these people since our graduation in 1997. It was great to catch up and hear everyone's race stories. Among the achievements of the day: Scott PR'd in the marathon by 20 minutes, my friends Amy and Jeremy ran their first marathons, and Scott and his husband made some AMAZING post-race burgers.

South River runners! We were all over-achievers then and it seems we stayed that way!

All in all, a great day. Several days later, Amy is still on her post-marathon high and already planning the next SR reunion race. So, look out Baltimore- Edgewater is coming for you!

Progress not perfection.

As of tomorrow, we will be 3 weeks into the season of Lent and about 3 1/2 months into the new year. As you may recall, I made resolutions for both. My New Year's resolution is to establish new routines. My Lenten resolutions are to exercise and track my eating every day. 

So how am I doing? I think a popular phrase from AA is applicable here: "Progress, not perfection." I have not been as successful with any of these resolutions as I had hoped, but I am happy to report that progress is being made.

The first resolution- establish new routines- is probably the one I struggle with the most. My job is new to me, and its also new to the agency where I work. I was hired as part of a new team to learn and implement a specific type of therapy. So, there isn't a senior person on our team to teach us things like how to mange our schedules. We're all figuring things out as we go along. A little more than 3 months in, I feel like I'm just getting the hang of how to schedule my work week. I'm also adjusting to the fact that I no longer have a 9-5 schedule. My new schedule is more like noon-8. 

What have I learned? Most importantly, I've realized that "before work" is my new "after work." Any non-work thing I need to do on a weekday- the gym, appointments, cleaning the house, seeing friends- has to happen in the morning before I go into the office. The challenge of this is not sleeping in. In the beginning, I did that at least a couple times a week. Now, I'm doing much better- once a week, tops.

On a related note, I've learned that I must get to bed on time. When I get home at 10 or 11, I have to resist the temptation to watch whatever TV I have on the DVR or get into some other project. If I stay up late, I will blow my mornings. I don't get this right 100% of the time, but I am steadily improving.

I have not been 100% successful in my first Lenten resolution- to exercise every day- but I am still trying. Before I made this resolution, I was down to working out about 3x/week. That's low for me. Now, I'm back up to at least 5x/week. As an added benefit, I'm finding that this resolution helps with my goal of establishing routines. If I want to exercise every day, I have to get up on time. In turn, every day that I get up on time helps me continue getting up on time. 

In service of both my routines and my exercise, I recently join a pool across the street from my office. In fact, I joined it so recently that I haven't done any swimming yet! Its going to take a little work to figure out when I can get away from the office to do my swimming, but joining the pool was the first step. Maryland is currently experiencing an early Spring- temps in the 70's in March!- which is a good reminder that tri season is coming up fast.

My second Lenten resolution- tracking my food- is where I have been most successful. As with the exercise, I'm not at 100%, but I've probably improved from 50%-85%. I am happy with that, even though I'm still waiting for the results to show on the scale.

So, there we are. Progress, not perfection!

Milestones, numerous.

My two AS Ironman awards, in their place of honor-
flanking my Alison Bechdel book collection!

Greetings from the land of the late winter/early spring cold. I've been feeling a little off for over week now, but things got bad enough to keep me home from work this past Monday. Today is sick day #3, aka: the day I'm not well enough to work a full day but I am well enough to catch up on things at home. Things like blogging. So, here I am!

Since my last post, I achieved several milestones in my running life:

Ironman Award #2: On Saturday, 2/25, Andrew and I attended the annual Annapolis Striders awards banquet, where I picked up my second consecutive Ironman Award. I got this award for running all 8 races in the 2011 Champ Series. It was really exciting and gratifying to "graduate" from the first-time Ironman group into the (much smaller) multi-year group. It was also inspiring to pose for a group photo with people who have earned the Ironman 5, 10, 15, and even 26 years in a row!

B&A Half Marathon #3: This past Sunday, 3/4, I ran the B&A Trail Half-Marathon for the 3rd time. The 2010 B&A Half was my first half-marathon, and I am excited to report that the 2012 B&A was my tenth! I really hoped to PR in this race, but that wasn't in the cards. As I've been saying a lot the past few months, all of the recent changes in my life really threw off my winter training. I just wasn't in the shape I would have liked going into the race, and I finished a little behind last year's time (2011: 2:18:55; 2012: 2:19:46).

My 10th half deserves a good picture... but this is the one I got! 

BUT- there were bright sides: (1) I got to run the whole race with my awesome running coach Susan. Susan had a major injury a little over a year ago and this was her big comeback race. Seeing her get back out there was very inspiring! (2) I followed up the race by doing a bike/run workout with the Wonder Women tri-training group. I wound up having less than an hour to nap in between the race and the tri group and I had no idea if I would make it through the latter. To my surprise, however, I was okay. I definitely took it easy in the tri group, but I still finished the day having done just under 4 1/2 hours of intense cardio. I've been down on myself lately for not completing my planned winter marathon training, but this day taught me that I'm in better shape than I thought!

MCM registration #2: Just within the past hour, I registered for my second Marine Corps Marathon. I had a very tough time with my first MCM, but my experience in NYC this fall really boosted my confidence. So, now I look forward to actually enjoying this marathon, rather than just surviving it!

All in all, a productive few weeks!