Month of mayhem, part 2: the Kauai marathon.

This is what running in Hawaii looks like. Sigh. 

I have been back on the mainland for a little over three weeks now, and I am finally adjusting to not being in Hawaii. Now that the longing has receded (a bit), I can tell you about one of the highlights of our trip: the Kauai marathon.

Andrew and I actually planned our honeymoon around this race. We decided early in our wedding planning not to go on a honeymoon right after the wedding, for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that we both prefer adventurous vacations, and we knew we would be too tired after the wedding to go on a trip like that. Of course, the problem with postponing a honeymoon is that you can keep postponing it. A few months after the wedding, we still had no honeymoon plans. We both knew we wanted to go to Hawaii, but we didn't know when, which islands, or what to do there. Finally, I started looking for Hawaii marathons, and struck gold. The Kauai marathon was far enough away for planning, training, and saving money. Kauai- known for beautiful scenery and outdoor activities- looked like a perfect fit for us. Best of all, I found it less than a week before a price increase, which forced us to make a decision. After a couple days discussion, Andrew signed up for the half-marathon, I signed up for the full marathon, and we started planning.

Given the 6-hour time change and (slightly) different climate, I knew that I wanted a few days to settle in before the marathon. So, we decided to start our vacation by visiting my friend Katie on Oahu, and then head over to Kauai the day before the race. So, on a lovely Tuesday morning, we set out for Oahu. Trying to save money, we booked a flight with two long layovers in the middle.

Toasting to our honeymoon in the Minneapolis/St.Paul airport.

By the time you factor in the time difference, we wound up travelling for about 23 hours on the trip out. I have a terrible time sleeping on planes, so I stayed up pretty much the whole time. By the time we landed in Honolulu, I couldn't care less that we were in paradise. I just wanted to sleep. We got our rental car, drove to our 1-night hotel in Waikiki, and crashed.

The good part about staying up through a marathon of travel? Minimal jet lag. At a totally reasonable time the next morning, we woke up and took a walk around our hotel.

Not bad.

Now, it could sink in: we were in paradise. After hitting the hotel gym (go us), we spent the morning checking out Waikiki beach, and then drove about 30 minutes to Kailua to check into a micro-house we rented for out Oahu stay.

Welcome to our tiny home.

We found this place on AirBnB (you can see the listing here.) Its an 8x10ft. mini-house which our hosts built in their backyard. It was truly tiny, but had everything we needed and was in a great neighborhood right near the beach. As an added bonus, our hosts Denise and Henrik were super-nice and turned out to be runners and triathletes themselves. We spent a great happy hour with them swapping race stories and they helped us find a perfect local running route (see photo above).

Not counting the night we arrived, we were on Oahu from Wednesday-Saturday. During that time, we ran on the beach, ate at a famous restaurant for our (dating) anniversary, visited Pearl Harbor and a really cool museum, and checked out some of downtown Honolulu. Most importantly, we got to spend a day with Katie, my former roommate/running buddy (often featured in this blog) who moved to Hawaii 3 years ago. Knowing that I had a marathon coming up, Katie took us on an "easy" hike to see a waterfall:

Climbing. There was a lot of that.

Andrew and Katie at the waterfall.

Our "easy" hike was certainly scenic, but it involved a LOT of climbing. Knowing that I had a hilly marathon less than 2 days later, I freaked out a little. As we climbed, I mentally reviewed everything we had done so far and did not find much resting. We probably walked 5 miles in the course of our sightseeing, plus our run in Kailua, plus the hike. I tried to put it out of my mind and enjoy the visit with Katie, but I was worried.

On Saturday, we said goodbye to Oahu and got on a plane to Kauai. En route to the airport, Andrew and I kept exclaiming over the beautiful mountain scenery and lamenting our short time on the island. It was truly beautiful and Kailua had a laid-back, outdoorsy vibe that we both enjoyed... But then we saw Kauai.

After we landed at the tiny Kauai airport, we picked up a shuttle for the 30-minute drive to our hotel. We told our driver we were running the race, and she pointed out parts of the race route for us. It was spectacular. Here is just one tiny example, taken from the marathon's Facebook page:

This is called the "tunnel of trees."

We got more and more excited as we drove along... and then we got to the hotel. The host hotel for the marathon was the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa. Andrew and I consider ourselves more "micro-house" people than "grand resort and spa" people, but we got a discount for doing the race, and we saved a ton of money by doing AirBnB on Oahu, so we decided to splurge.  GOOD DECISION. This hotel was literally breathtaking. Our first view when we walked in was a cavernous lobby, open on one end with a perfect view of the ocean:

"We get to stay here???"

We also got the full "lei treatment" for the first time, which left us both fairly giddy:

There was a slight problem getting our room ready, so we went straight to the race expo. It was small, but very nice and friendly.

Very happy to be doing the half.

Gulp.

I don't usually buy things at race expos, but when were we going to get back to this one? We both picked up some t-shirts and a few things we forgot to pack (electrolyte tablets, earbuds, etc.). After the expo, we checked into our amazing room and took it easy for the rest of the night.

This is where we had dinner our first night in the resort. Amazing!

The next morning, we got up very early to catch a 4:45am shuttle to the 6am start. We took a short ride to a well-organized and friendly start area. The announcer told us that 1700 people were running that day, but only a little over 300 of us were doing the full marathon. At that point, I got VERY nervous. I was already intimidated by the course, which features 2,205 feet of climbing, much of it in the later miles. Now, I realized that I would probably be running those later miles with no company. Gulp.

At 6am, the gun went off and Andrew and I headed out together. While he and I usually run at our own paces, we had decided to run together for the first 11 miles, where the half and full marathons run the same course. For Andrew, this meant slowing down. He could have handled a faster pace for a half, but I did not want to risk going out too fast. We decided to do 10 minute/2 minute run/walk intervals and enjoy the scenery as much as possible.

It was beautiful. Andrew tells me that the first 11 miles were hilly. Looking at my GPS, I see that he's right- we gained over 600 ft. of elevation in the first 7 miles in a long, slow climb. Somehow, though, I don't remember any of that. I think the remaining 15 erased all of those memories. I do remember how beautiful it was. Andrew and I didn't stop to take pictures because we didn't want to load and unload our phones, but we did slow down to take it all in more than once. The early miles were all about beautiful trees with mountains in the background (see above). We also had one brief downpour, which helped with the 80+ degree temperatures.

Back when we were training, I asked Andrew to do me one big favor during the half: not to countdown the miles. I knew it would not be good for my mental state to hear him say "only 5 more miles!" when I still had 18. He did exactly as I asked. Later, he told me that he was really tired toward the end of the half and ready to be done, but I had no idea. The only time I got reminded of how far I had to go was when we ran through a neighborhood at mile 9. Some very nice people who had set up a full cheering section on their lawn yelled "Only 4 miles to go!" I yelled back "I have 17!," and they groaned sympathetically.

All too soon, we reached the spilt at mile 11. Andrew gave me a kiss and headed downhill toward the finish. I turned and headed... uphill... alone. Of the 50 or so people who hit the mile 11 mark with us, only myself and 2 others headed for the marathon course. To add insult to injury, another downpour started just as I headed up the first big hill. I think I actually said "Really?" out loud.

At that point, I did something I pretty much never do in races: I put on headphones. I generally consider it rude (not to mention unsafe) to wear headphones in big races, but I always carry them along with an IPod containing an "In Case of Emergency" marathon playlist. In three previous marathons, I never needed it. This time, though, I was headed uphill by myself, missing Andrew and the crowds. To make things worse, I was heading into a long out-and-back loop, which meant I faced a steady stream of runners headed back. They were approaching mile 23 and I was only at 12. I needed a little boost to keep me from turning around and heading to the finish with them. The music definitely helped me re-energize and forge ahead. I do have one regret, though: a few minutes after I put on the headphones, Dean Karnazes (otherwise known as "Ultramarathon Man") ran right by me. He is known for being really nice and encouraging and he looked me right in the eye and said something... which I couldn't hear. I appreciated it anyway.

Off to tackle the big hills.

Shortly after Andrew and I separated, I started losing track of the 10/2 intervals. I think the music gave me some steam because I actually ran straight through a couple of walk breaks. This turned out to be no problem, because my planned intervals became irrelevant somewhere in mile 12. Mile 12 was totally uphill, with an elevation gain of a little over 200 ft. Mile 13 was a little downhill break, and then the real fun started. Miles 14-16 were literally straight up hill. We gained over 400 ft. of elevation in those two miles, with 300 ft. of that happening in mile 15. Picture one long hill, getting steeper and steeper for 2 solid miles. Every time we turned a corner, I thought I might get a break, but instead it just kept going up. Even better, I spent the whole climb watching most of my fellow runners coming down. For this whole stretch, I ran when I could and walked when I had to. There was a lot of walking.

(This would be a good time to note the awesome crowd support in this race, which was one of only things making the hills bearable. Because of the heat, the race directors put a water stop nearly every mile in the marathon loop, and almost every stop had musicians or dancers. In addition, it seemed like everyone who lived along the marathon route came out to cheer and stayed out to the last runner. I was on the course for over 6 hours, with only 20 people behind me, and I had people cheering me the entire way. That says a lot about the people of Kauai!)

Finally, at the 16 mile mark, I reached the top of the climb. The course leveled out on top of a ridge. I ran by a clearing in the trees and was greeted with a breathtaking view:

The picture doesn't do it justice. I could see all the way down a beautiful valley, with mountains at the top and the Pacific in the distance. It was awe-inspiring. I might even say it was worth the climb! We were treated to this view, and some steady downhill, for the next 2 miles. I started skipping my walk breaks again and just running through. I also started passing people, which felt awesome. By mile 18, when we hit some more hills, I had joined a small group of fellow runners who were walking the uphills and running everything else. I resumed my 10/2 intervals until I got through those hills, which (thank God) were the last big ones.

By mile 20, I was feeling fairly good. Going into this race, I was really worried about a total breakdown like the one I experienced in the 2010 Marine Corps Marathon. Once I hit 20, I knew that danger had passed. I felt really proud of myself for toughing it our through the long, slow climb of the first 7 miles and the shorter, brutal climb of miles 12-16. I also felt ready to be done. As my coach Susan always says, the last 6.2 miles of a marathon are finished on mental strength alone. That was never more true for me than in this race. My body was pretty much done and it was only the thought of crossing the finish line that kept me going.

Waving was a major effort at this point.

At mile 24, I passed the place where Andrew and I had separated and started a 2-mile downhill "sprint" to the finish. At that point, "sprinting" translated to "not walking." Once I made the final turn, I started running toward the resorts of the southern beaches and saw the spectacular ocean in the distance. It was so hot that I wanted to run right into it!

I always get a little teary when I see the mile 26 sign in a marathon. As an added bonus for this race, that's where Andrew chose to wait for me. As soon as he saw me, he started running next to me and tried to get me to do a sprint, but I explained that a fast jog was the best I could do. FINALLY, 6 hours and 15 minutes after I started, I crossed the finish line!

Into the chute!

DONE.

Andrew and I got our finish photo taken, and I started telling my war story.

Craziest honeymoon ever!

Almost immediately, a fellow marathoner overheard me and said "Please don't talk about mile 16- I'm still traumatized." We had a little chat, which was my introduction into the "Kauai marathon survivors" club. Over the next few days, I had several chats with fellow marathoners of varying ability levels. Some had finished in under 3 hours, others (like me) took over 6, but everyone agreed that it was the toughest marathon we had ever run. I also had a lot of conversations with half-marathoners, which all seemed to include the phrase "You ran the whole thing?" One of them even high-fived me. So, even though this was my slowest marathon by a decent margin, I wound up feeling really proud about it.

The best part of running a super-hard marathon in paradise was that, once it was over, I was still in paradise. Andrew and I spent the next two days relaxing and enjoying the resort and the rest of the island. When it came time to leave, we were talking about our favorite parts of our vacation and I said "As sick as this sounds, I really loved running that marathon." Andrew just rolled his eyes. I'm hopeless.

Toasting my finish at a post-race luau.

Done and done!

 

MCM: the rematch.

This time, I won !

I'm writing this blog post quickly, as Hurricane Sandy is intensifying outside and I don't expect to have power much longer. But I'm not worried, as the major challenge of this week is over: Marine Corps Marathon 2012!

Those of you who have been here from the beginning know that I started this blog to document my training for MCM 2010... and that it didn't go so well. Anything that could have gone wrong in that training did (remember the appendicitis?), and the actual race day was one of the hardest of my life. (You can read all about it here,) During that race, I was 100% sure that I would never run a marathon again. My time was 6:10:03.

Then, on a lark, I entered the NYC marathon lottery in 2011. Against all odds (seriously, about 95 to 1), I got in. My 2011 training went way better than 2010, and the NYC marathon was one of the best days of my life. The only hiccup in that race was some stomach trouble, probably caused by poor food choices the night before. I went into that race hoping to come in under 5 hours, but wound up making something like 8 bathroom stops in the first half of the race. My final time was 5:31:05.

New York taught me that I am actually capable of running a marathon, but I was still a bit intimidated by MCM. My first experience was bad enough to give me a mental block against that race. In 2012, though, I decided to push through that and run it again.

Most of you know what happened after that. The story of my 2012 racing season is that I set a very ambitious training and race schedule, which almost immediately got derailed by major life events, most notably a new job and a wedding to plan. This year's combo of less training plus some weight gain has resulted in some of my slowest times ever. It also meant feeling like was I essentially "crashing" the year's major events.

By August of this year, I was so far behind in my MCM training that I seriously considered deferring to 2013. (Read about that decision here.) When I decided to go ahead, I jumped into a month of crash-training: ramping my long runs up from 10 miles to 20 during September. I got through that training, as well as the Metric Marathon (16.3 miles) and Baltimore Half, but I was still nervous about attempting the full distance.

As race weekend approached, my nervousness was amplified by a little event they're calling Hurricane Sandy. Over the past week, my fellow racers and I watched in horror as the previously predicted race forecast of sunny and 60 degrees morphed into soaking rain and 20-30mph wind gusts. On Saturday, I saw this image several times in my Facebook newsfeed:

For about the millionth time, I considered bailing. I kept thinking "I've run a marathon before. Heck, I've run this marathon before. What is the point of running it in a hurricane?" I decided to get up Sunday morning and let the conditions decide for me.

So, Sunday morning came. A little cloudy and a little drizzly, but not too bad. Game on. Andrew and I went to the Metro and began the long journey to the start line. First, a ride on a couple of packed trains. Then, a long slog around the Pentagon to the start area, where I quickly found my Striders' buddy, Noreen. Finally, another walk into the packed corrals with 30,000 or so other crazy people:

Can you find me? 

In 2010, it took me close to 40 minutes to get across the start line. This year, is was only 17. I started the race with Noreen and some of her friends, but fell back around mile 3. My strategy for this race was to stay at a 12-minute/mile pace. That's a little slower than I naturally run, so I planned to walk every 10 minutes if necessary, just to keep the pace down. For the first 9 miles, I paced it perfectly, without walk breaks. I literally hit mile 9 at 108 minutes.

Then, nature called. I started needing a bathroom break around mile 3, but I held off as long as I could because of long lines. When we came into Georgetown, I knew I couldn't wait much longer and the lines weren't too bad. I stopped and then sped up a bit, taking advantage of the great crowd support to try to make up for lost time. By mile 10, though, I was 4 minutes behind and I never got those minutes back.

At mile 11, I saw Andrew for the first time. I was feeling good and the weather had held out, so I gave him my jacket and hat and ran away feeling much lighter.

Bye, rain gear! 

I was really happy to see Andrew at 11, as I was approaching what I knew would be the biggest mental test of the race. Miles 11-20 were where everything fell apart for me in 2010. Would it happen again?

I hit mile 13 more aware than usual of pain in my feet and legs. I was carrying two Advil, which I usually save for the final third of a long race, but I went ahead and took them. Then, I continued through the dreaded, desolate Hain's Point section of the race. This was where things really collapsed in 2010, but I made it through this time with no problems. As I passed the mile 15 marker, I felt a huge wave of relief: I was done with Hain's Point, and I knew I would see Andrew soon!

I met up with Andrew again at mile 16. I had asked him to carry an extra pair of shoes with him in case of rain. By that point, I hadn't felt so much as a drop, but my feet were hurting. So, I switched out of my new Brooks shoes and into my trusted old Nikes. Instant relief! I don't know if it was the shoes themselves, or just the change, but I will do this again in future races!

Mile 16! 

Miles 16-20 are a particularly scenic, crowd-heavy portion of the race. In 2010, I was in so much pain that I literally noticed nothing. This year, I was able to take it all in and enjoy it. Approaching mile 20, a women's drumming group was cheering people onto the dreaded "Bridge" (back into VA) and I felt ecstatic passing them...

...and then came the bridge itself. The actual "bridge" portion is rather short, and it leads onto a long stretch of highway overpass. In just a few minutes, the race changes from monuments and huge crowds to diesel fumes and hurting, lonely runners. Andrew actually walked a portion of it himself while heading to his next stop. He snapped this photo and told me later "That bridge really does suck."

Slogging toward Crystal City. 

Miles 20-22 were rough. The accumulated fatigue of the race really set in, with no scenery or crowds for distraction. I just pushed ahead for Crystal City, where I knew I would see spectators again, along with my coaches and Andrew at the Annapolis Striders water stop.

I hit 22, and there they were! My coach Susan, who had seen me when I was a complete mess in 2010, took one look at me and said "Better this time, huh?" I gave Andrew a quick kiss, but didn't hang around. Instead, I told him "Not stopping. I need to finish this f'ing thing."

I continued through Crystal City, where the course was a little different this year. In previous years, the Crystal City section was an out-an-back loop through downtown. This year, they changed it to a wider loop around the area, eliminating the out-and-back. I preferred it the old way. The back half of this year's loop basically ran along the highway, with no spectators at all. I really missed the crowd support.

We exited Crystal City just before mile 24 and headed for the finish. This is another less-than-scenic portion of the race, so I just put my head down and tried to get it done. By this point, I was having trouble hanging onto to even a 12-minute pace. Dreams of finishing in 5:20 were past, but I knew I could make it under 5:30 if I just kept pushing. When I hit mile 26, I immediately started choking up. I had made it! I pulled out a little sprint and crossed the line at 5:28:24.

A new feature this year: in lieu of space blankets, a "Mission Accomplished" jacket. 

After chatting with some friends at the finish festival, Andrew and I made the l-o-n-g trek back home. We stopped en route for probably the best Mexican lunch I've ever eaten. Once we got home, we started to really focus on the weather forecasts. Both of our offices officially closed, which was a huge relief. Through some kind of brain lapse, I had scheduled myself an 11-hour day on Monday. I have no idea how I would have accomplished that, as I can barely move right now! Still, I feel amazing. My MCM rematch was a success! My only disappointment comes when I think about NYC in 2011. I was in great shape then, and now I realize just how well I could have done if I hadn't had the bathroom issues. Oh well.

Now, I have to decide if I want to go for best 2 out of 3...

Two rainy races and marathon training.

Its October, which means that its officially crazy time for both fall races and wedding planning (83 days to go!). So, this post is a catch-all: a long-overdue report on the A10, a recap of this past weekend's Metric Marathon, and a quick update on my fall marathon training.

The A-10.

The night before.

As previously noted in this blog, I've had a bit of a curse going with the Annapolis 10-mile run, better known as the A10. The A10 is an iconic Annapolis event, and something I dreamed of running for about 10 years before I was fit enough to do it. I finally entered for the first time in 2010. Two nights before? Emergency appendectomy. In 2011, I entered again. Three nights before? Race called off due to a hurricane. So, that's about $120 in non-refundable entry fees and two years of buildup with no actual race to show for it.

I might have sworn off the A10, had it not been for Andrew. He and I went on our first date the very night of the cancelled 2011 A10. The next day, I told some friends "I met someone awesome last night. Maybe he'll break my A10 curse!" At that point, my wildest dream was that I would still be dating him when the 2012 A10 rolled around, and that he would cheer for me as I crossed the finish line. I never imagined that I would be engaged to him and he would also run the race!

The morning of this year's A10, it looked like we might be in trouble again. We drove to the start in the middle of a thunderstorm, with lightning and soaking rain. Not again! Fortunately, the storm abated just as the starting gun went off... for about 10 minutes. Just as I spotted the mile 2 marker (and took off my rain jacket), the sky opened up and it started POURING. I didn't mind being cold and wet, but pretty soon, I was having visibility issues. The rain was actually getting under my contacts, knocking my visibility down to about 6 inches. Naturally, I didn't have a hat, but I did have sunglasses. I put them on, and saw an instant improvement. For the record, foggy sunglasses are way better than wet contacts!

The rain lasted probably 20 minutes- just long enough for me to give a grateful thumbs-up to my hearty future brother-in-law, who stood in a poncho at the bottom of Main Street to cheer for us! Ultimately, the rain was probably a blessing. It held off the notorious A10 heat for a good hour. I didn't start to feel uncomfortably hot until about mile 8. By that time, I was already on my second trip over the dreaded Naval Academy bridge and headed for the finish. I crossed the line at 1:50:17. That's a slow 10-mile time for me, but I felt great for the whole race, so I wasn't complaining.

Then came the best part: watching Andrew finish! He had a rough time in training, and was worried that the race would take 2 1/2 hours. I was worried that he would be miserable the whole time. Instead, he finished in 2:09:51 and felt great! In fact, he felt so great that he signed up for his first half-marathon. I was so proud of him that I actually got a little choked up when he crossed the finish line.

Finishers! Next stop: Baltimore Half! 

The Metric Marathon. 

This past Sunday, I ran another rainy race: the Striders' Metric Marathon. This 26.2K/16.3 mile race is the longest of the Striders' Champ Series, and it has not been a great race for me in the past. In 2010, I ran it with a miserable cold and spent the first half trying not to throw up and/or drop out. In 2011, I ran it in miserably cold weather (45 degrees and drizzling) and went out way too fast, making for a very painful finish. Given those two experiences, I was not excited about this year's race, but I knew I had to do it in order to get my 2012 IronMan award.

In true Metric Marathon fashion, I awoke on Sunday to less-than-ideal conditions. The day before: a cool, crisp 65-70 degrees. Race morning? 55 degrees and raining. Not drizzling, but raining. The rain and cold accompanied me for most of the race. Fortunately, so did my friend Mike. I met Mike when he started joining my running buddy Val at Striders events in 2011. That year, we were both feeling pretty fast, but Mike was faster than me. This year, we've both had some training issues and slowed down to about the same pace. We ran pretty much the entire race together. I like having company in any race, but I really appreciate it in the Metric, which is both challenging and so small that you can easily go a couple miles without seeing another runner. My 3:08:54 finish was nothing to write home about, but it was better than 2010 and WAY better than I expected.

As an added bonus, Andrew volunteered at a water stop along the course. It was great to get a little boost and some sympathy about the rain!

Marathon training. 

I haven't written much (or anything really) about my marathon training for this fall. That's mainly because I haven't been training. Between work, wedding prep, and life in general, I somehow got to early September having run no longer than 10 miles all summer. According to my training plan, I should have been doing regular 16-milers by then, with two 20-milers thrown in. Oops.

The deferral deadline for the Marine Corps Marathon was August 31st, and I strongly considered deferring. The only things that kept me from making that decision were sheer stubbornness and our save-the-date cards. What do save-the-date cards have to do with running a marathon? I'll show you:

What was I thinking? 

In case you can't tell, that's Andrew and I holding up New Year's resolution signs, in honor of our New Year's Eve wedding. And what's the second-to-last resolution on mine? Run the Marine Corps Marathon. So, I could have deferred, but then I would have had to face my failure staring back at me from every refrigerator at a close friend or family member's house.

So, I made a plan. I would join the Striders' marathon training group for every long run in September (after IG Rocky Gap) and try to build up to 20 miles before October. If I could complete an 18-20 mile run somewhere in there without collapsing or being in horrible pain, I would run Marine Corps. If not, I would bow out gracefully.

For better or worse, I did it! I ran 14 miles on 9/15, 18 on 9/22, and then 20 on 9/29. They were not fast or easy runs, but I made it! Between those runs and my better-than-expected performance at the Metric Marathon on Sunday, I'm actually feeling okay about Marine Corps. I doubt it will be a fast race, but I believe it will be do-able and maybe even a little fun. (But I'll settle for do-able.)

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!

Have I mentioned...

...that I'm signed up for a marathon on March 17th? This one: http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/usa/usa-splash.

I got peer pressured to sign up for this race through the power of Facebook. Way back in the fall, my high school friend Scott (the Ironman) signed up for this marathon, then posted about it on FB. In his post, he tagged a number of friends (including yours truly) who he thought might want to sign up. It worked; people started signing up almost immediately. Soon, a pattern emerged: all of the friends Scott recruited for the race were graduates of our high school from roughly the same time period. Within a couple of days, this race became much more than a race- it became our unofficial high school reunion! I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that.

This race has a half-marathon option (aka: the sensible choice). Why didn't I sign up for that? Its all a little fuzzy now, but I think I wanted to experiment with training for a spring marathon. I formulated a plan in my head that seemed simple: tack 7 extra miles onto the long runs of the Annapolis Striders' spring half-marathon training. I would achieve that by starting the weekly group long runs at my house, running to the meet-up point with my fellow trainees. Under that plan, I would have started with a 13-mile run on December 31st and culminated with a 19-mile run at the end of February (before tapering).

Unfortunately, my "simple" plan ran into some complications. Week 1 (12/31), I fell less than half a mile into my planned 13-mile run and hurt myself badly enough to need a few days off. The next week (1/7), I planned to ease back in with a 9.5-mile run. Then, I came down with a cold which cancelled that run too. The following week (1/14), I finally made it to the Striders' training, but I didn't feel comfortable attempting more than the scheduled 8 miles for that day. The week after that (1/21), our run got cancelled by an ice storm. I should have made up the mileage, but I didn't. This past Saturday (1/28), I intended to join the Striders for 10 miles. At about mile 4, I realized that I had dropped my Iphone at the mile 2.5 water stop. So, I ran back and (thankfully) found my phone. Then, instead of turning back around, I just ran to my car. By the end of the morning, I had 7 miles done and half-hearted plans to finish the additional 3 at the gym. Instead, I went home and took a nap.

These last couple of minor complications point to a major one: my heart just doesn't seem to be in this race. Maybe I have more energy in the summer. Maybe I'm too overwhelmed with all of the recent changes in my life. For whatever reason, I can't get myself to give this training the attention it needs. Fortunately, I have the option of down-grading to the half-marathon right up until the day of the race. But there's a complication with that plan too: I hate feeling like a quitter. Yes, I understand that nobody who runs 13.1 miles is a quitter. Still, you don't get into schools like Bryn Mawr and Yale by being an underachiever or just a regular achiever. My overachieving self has difficulty saying things like "I need to downgrade from the marathon to the half."

So, I'm giving myself the month of February to figure it out. I'll train as much and as well as I can in February. Then, if March 1 rolls around and I'm not where I need to be, I will silence by inner overachiever and "settle" for the half.

Just in time for 2012: My 2011 Year in Review

So, 2011 ended on a bit of a low note. New Year's Eve morning, I left the house at 6:45AM, intending to run to the first meeting of this year's Annapolis Strider's half-marathon training. I made an early start because I am signed up for a marathon in March (more on that soon!) and need to add extra miles to the half-marathon training runs. Less than 10 minutes into my run, I hit a pothole and fell. Hard. It really hurt, but I was able to get up and walk home, which meant no major injuries (phew!). When I got home, I found a seriously skinned and bruised knee, along with some cuts and imbedded gravel in my hand.

Not how I wanted to end my running year! 

After a good hour of fretting and pouting, I gave up on running for the day and proceeded to have an amazing New Year's Eve with my lovely boyfriend. Now, I am trying to stay focused on the positive, entering 2012 with a good attitude. What better way to do that than to review my accomplishments from 2011? So, here we go!

January: No races this month, but I did start my 2nd year of the Annapolis Striders' half-marathon training plan. I also started swimming and gathering gear for my first triathlon: IronGirl.

February: On 2/12, I ran the AS Valentine's Day 5K, my first race of the year and the first leg of the 2011 Champ Series. I was trying to come in under 30 minutes, but didn't quite get there. I finished in 30:16.

Also in February, I attended the AS annual banquet where I picked up my first IronMan award!

The 2010 Iron-people!

March: On 3/6, I ran the B&A Trail Half-Marathon for the second time. I finished in 2:18:55, an improvement of 5:10 over my 2010 time!

Val, Marie, and I after the 2011 B&A Half. This was Marie's first half! 

On 3/20, I ran a 5K with the Howard County Striders to support my friend and new runner Jaquisha. She finished her very first race, and I ran my 5K PR for the year: 27:19. That's over 3 minutes faster than my 2010 5K PR of 30:22!

April: On 4/4, I ran the AS Cherry Pit 10-miler, which is the 2nd leg of the Champ Series. I finished in 1:47:31, my 2011 10-mile PR and an improvement of 1:23 over 2010.

Also in April, my friend Pat and I competed in the Ridgeway Triathlon as part of the wedding of our ultra-running friends Krista and Ray. The event was run-bike-canoe. I did the run, Pat did the bike, and we both did the canoe. The run was just over 5 miles (5.14) and I ran it in 47:49. When you consider that my 2010 5-mile PR was 52:04, that's pretty awesome.

My teammate and I post-race and pre-wedding. 

I finished out April with my 2nd running of the Arbutus Spring Fling 5K, which I finished in 27:28. Not a PR, but still a 2:58 improvement over 2010!

May: No races in May, but I really got into my tri-training with the Wonder Women.

June: I celebrated my 32nd birthday with what I dubbed "Extreme Sports Weekend." On Saturday, 6/4, my friend Katie and I ran the first-ever VA Wine Country Half-Marathon. I finished in 2:17:16, which was a PR at the time. Then, after a wonderful day of post-race wine tasting, I got up on Sunday and did a practice tri with the Wonder Women. I was pretty impressed with myself until my tri coach Ellen mentioned that she ran a full marathon on Saturday... and won.

Katie and I post-race in VA Wine Country!

With the Wonder Women on my 32nd birthday. 

Also in June, I ran two 10K's. The first was the AS Father's Day 10K on 6/19, which is the 3rd leg of the Champ Series. I finished that one in 1:01:37, a 2011 PR and an improvement of 5:19 over 2010. The second was the Dreaded Druid Hills 10K on 6/25. That race truly lived up to its name, but I still managed to finish in 1:05:15.

Dreaded Druid Hills. This is at the start, which is why I don't look like I'm in agony. 

July: This was a crazy month, including the most intense training for IronGirl and the start of my 2011 marathon training. Somehow, I also squeezed in two races: 

On 7/9, I ran the AS Women's Distance Festival 5K. In 2010, I twisted my ankle on a trail run the night before this race and had to drop out. This year, I finished in 27:30. 

Still smiling: must be lap 1!

On 7/16, I ran the AS Wall Mile, which is the 4th leg of the Champ Series. I was trying to finish under 8 minutes, having clocked a 7:44 mile during training with the Wonder Women. Unfortunately, I shot myself in the foot by showing up early to put in some extra mileage for the day. A 5-mile warmup meant that I had to fight for every second of my 8:11 finishing time. Still, that's an official 1-mile PR and a 16-second improvement over 2010. Also, the AS photographer took a great picture of me crossing the finish line: 

Look at me go! 

August: This was probably the biggest month of my athletic year: the month of my first real triathlon! Before the tri, though, I ran the AS Dog Days 8K on 8/7, which was the 5th leg of the Champ Series. Marie and I did a tough bike ride beforehand, so this race was a struggle. I finished in 52:52, an improvement of 2:18 over 2010. 

Then, 8/21 was the big day: IronGirl! This was my first triathlon and it was both harder and more fun than I ever imagined. I finished in about 2:45 and I am looking forward to cutting that time in 2012! 

My training buddy Marie- I would not have survived without her! 

On August 28th, I had a big disappointment: for the 2nd year in a row, I didn't get to run the A10. In 2010 it was my appendix; in 2011, it was Hurricane Irene. On the bright side, I used the extra time to go on a first date with the guy who is now my amazing boyfriend. So, I guess that all worked out! 

September: After August, I shifted gears from focusing on IronGirl to focusing on November's NYC marathon. I also ran two races: 

On 9/11, I ran the Parks Half-Marathon for the 2nd time. I was hoping to finish in 2:15, but that dream ended early in the race when I waited in a bathroom line for 7 minutes. Instead, I finished in 2:22:02. I was a little bummed, but that's still an improvement of over 11 minutes from the previous year. Even better, Parks was my worst half of 2011, but I ran it faster than my best half of 2010 (which was 2:24:05). Woot!  

On 9/24, I ran 2 laps of a 40-mile ultra trail race with my friends Krista and Ray. The full race was 5 laps. I did a total of 16 miles, Krista did 24, and Ray did the whole 40! This was a serious trail race and I did not want to get injured, so Krista and I took it easy and enjoyed the sights. As a result, our shared 16 miles took about 4 hours. Not fast, but fun! 

This trail was MUDDY! It's a miracle I didn't fall. 

October: Two big races this month! The first was the AS Metric Marathon on 10/2. I went out way too fast in this race and the last few miles were AWFUL. Still I managed to knock almost 10 minutes off my 2010 time, finishing in 2:55:31. This was the 6th leg of the Champ Series. 

On 10/15, I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon in 2:16:31. I could not have been happier. Baltimore is a tough race and I managed a PR and a 10:01 improvement from 2010! 

I was very proud of this medal! 

November: This was the 2nd-biggest month of my athletic year: marathon month! The first weekend of the month was Extreme Sports Weekend 2 of 2011: 

On Saturday, 11/5, I did the worker run for the AS Down's Park 5-miler, which is the 7th leg of the Champ Series. My time for this race is unofficial, but I clocked myself at 48:35, which is 3:21 faster than 2010. 

On Sunday, 11/6, I ran my 2nd marathon: NYC! Despite some intestinal issues, I had an amazing day and finished in 5:31:05. That's over 38 minutes faster than my 2010 marathon time! Even better, I got to spend time with great friends and support a great cause: St. Lydia's church in Brooklyn. I even got a Christmas card: 

The marathon wasn't the end of my racing month. On 11/19, I ran the inaugural Annapolis Half Marathon. Both the race directors and I had some issues, but I enjoyed seeing many local friends and finished in 2:19:25. 

The race wasn't perfect, but the medal was beautiful! 

December: In December, I hit a racing milestone: I ran a race for the 3rd year in a row. The race was the AS Anniversary 15K, which is the 8th and final leg of the Champ Series. I had a great race, finishing in 1:37:44. That's nearly 7 minutes faster than 2010 and over 16 minutes faster than 2009! This race also sealed my 2011 IronMan award. 

IronMan award, here I come! 

I finished my 2011 racing season on 12/17, with my first running of the Celtic Solstice 5-miler. I was not feeling it in this race, but I was determined to set an official 5-mile PR and I did it: 49:28! 

All in all, an amazing year. Counting my two tri's (Ridgway and IronGirl), I completed 22 races and set PR's in every distance. For every race I ran in both 2010 and 2011, I finished faster in 2011. According to my calendar, I worked out 253 out of 365 days in 2011 (an average of 4.9 times/week) and ran a total of 568 miles.

I could not have done any of this without the amazing love and support of you: my family, friends, and readers! I can't wait to share 2012 with you! 

The Quick and Dirty Race Recap, 2011 edition.

At the Expo with my amazing head cheerleader!

Hi everyone! After one of the craziest, best days of my life, I am still in NYC with a few things to do before I head home. Thus, I don't have time now to tell the whole story of my marathon weekend. Instead, I offer a bit of a teaser: some highlights from the race itself.

Start- Mile 2: At the start, I was very happy to meet up with my college friend Kim. Kim and I have been training in close proximity to one another for months, but have never managed to do any of it together. Kim was planning to run a bit slower than me, and was assigned to a corral a bit behind mine, but I decided to go to her corral so we could start together. I think this was a good decision. It made the start even more fun and exciting, and kept me from going out too fast. By midway through mile 2 though, I could tell that I was pushing Kim to go too fast and I was ready to step it up a bit, so we high-fived and separated.

Mile 3-Mile 8: Somewhere in here (I think it was around 4), I started experiencing some, to use my coach's words, "gut issues." I will not go into detail because you do not want to know, but it was unpleasant and I knew I had to make a restroom stop. I kept putting it off because the lines were crazy long. Finally, in mile 7, I decided to just suck it up and wait. Unfortunately, the stop did little to calm the problem. At mile 8, I was met by my boyfriend Andrew and my friend Tracy. It was SO great to see them! By that point, I had not eaten anything because I was worried that my Sport Beans would upset my stomach. Fortunately, I had given Andrew a bag of pretzels to carry, so I took some of those.

Mile 9- Mile 19: My stomach troubles persisted throughout the race, but they were worst through about mile 15. All in all, I think I made at least 6 bathroom stops, most of them during these 10 miles. The bad news was that this put my goal of finishing under 5 hours out of reach pretty early. The good news is that I started finding banks of port-a-johns with shorter lines. By keeping my eyes out for the shortest waits, I avoided losing too much time. All in all, I think the pit stops probably cost me about 30 minutes over the course of the race.

One unexpected advantage of the frequent stops is that they helped me keep my pace down. My biggest fear going into this race was going out too fast and running out of energy mid-way through. Turns out, I didn't need to worry about that at all. By mile 19, I was well off pace for my original goal, but I could not believe how strong I still felt. Around mile 19, I saw Andrew again, along with my friend Matt, which gave me another great boost of energy.

Miles 20-22: At mile 20, we made a very quick trip through the Bronx. This was probably my favorite part of the whole race. The people in the Bronx know how to cheer and how to play great music! If it were up to me, they would get more of the race. We moved into Harlem for miles 21 and 22, and there was great energy there too. Just before mile 23, I saw Andrew and Matt for the last time before the finish. By this point, I had re-set my goal to 5:30 and I was right on pace to get there, so I didn't stop for long!

Miles 23-26.2: Going into mile 23, I still felt okay, but I was ready to be done. Thankfully, we moved into Central Park, where the energy was intense and inspiring. It felt like one long finish line. At mile 25, I sped up, racing for the 5:30 finishing time. When I hit the 26 marker, my watch was somewhere around 5:28. I sprinted for the finish. Sadly, I just missed it- I crossed at 5:31:05. Almost immediately, though, a fellow runner tapped me on the shoulder and said "That was an impressive sprint you just did." If I did not already have an amazing boyfriend, I might have kissed him.

Postrace: The journey through the finish area was absolute mayhem. There were so many people that we quickly formed a huge traffic jam and it took close to an hour to get out of the park. Then, after an unfortunate wrong-turn that resulted in an 8-block detour, I joined Andrew and Matt at a diner for the most delicious plate of pasta I have ever tasted. After that, I went to St. Lydia's and finally met the people I was running for! It was an amazing night and I promise I will say more about it later.

All in all,  I had an amazing day. In 2010, I survived a marathon. In 2011, I ran one, and I actually enjoyed it! Thanks for your many, many kind messages yesterday. I will write more soon!

Side trips.

Hello, readers! According to my handy tracking app, the NYC marathon is 3 days, 20 hours, 56 minutes, and 10 seconds away! I will have more to say about that soon, but first I have some miscellaneous updates. I will tell you about these updates via the stories two trips I made this past weekend.

First- I got a new job! This has actually been in the works for several months, but I got an official "yes" about two weeks ago. Things are still in process, so I don't want to give too many details at the moment, but the gist is that I will be part of a small team providing a specific model of family therapy at several sites in the Baltimore area. I won't have an official start date until our whole team is assembled, but I think it will be sometime next month. I am very excited that I will actually be using my degrees soon!

My boyfriend Andrew also started a new job not too long ago, so we decided to celebrate both of our successes by going out to dinner last Saturday. At first, we were going to go the steakhouse route. Then, the temperatures plummeted and the DC metro area got hit with the freak early snowstorm known as #snoctober. Given the nasty weather, I lost all desire to put on a dress and we both decided that a pub would give us a better "first really cold day" atmosphere. The OpenTable app on my Iphone suggested a place called Hunter's Head Tavern. It looked awesome to me, so I suggested it to Andrew.

What I failed to realize is that Hunter's Head is down in VA wine country, a good 45 miles from Andrew's house in Alexandria. A less generous and adventurous guy would have put the brakes on this idea, but Andrew was game for making the drive. So we drove, through the oddly beautiful landscape of fall leaves and snow, until we got to the pub. Only when we pulled up the driveway did we realize that we had both passed Hunter's Head on previous VA wine country trips and really wanted to stop in. For that reason alone, we both agreed it was worth the drive. It didn't hurt that the food was delicious and the atmosphere was really fun.

The weather was awful for photos, so you will have to trust me when I tell you that we were standing in front of one of those old-fashioned red London phone booths.

  

Foxes featured prominently in the Hunter's Head decor.

The morning after our pub-travel adventure, Andrew and I woke up to find that the snow was gone and the sun had returned. This was excellent news, because Sunday was Marine Corps Marathon day! Late in the morning, Andrew and I went to Crystal City and joined my marathon coaches at mile 22 for the Annapolis Striders water stop. We were handing out several things, but the most popular turned out to be pretzels. They were so popular, in fact, that we were running out just a few minutes after Andrew and I arrived. Knowing the area, Andrew suggested that we make a 10-minute walk to a nearby Costco to get more. Thus began the Great Pretzel Trek.

The walk to Costco was complicated by the fact that we had to cross through the marathon itself twice. Once we pulled that off, Andrew realized that he had lost his Costco card. So, we waited about 30 mins in a crazy Saturday line so he could get a new one. Then, once we got into the actual store, we were told that they do not carry pretzels. I refused to believe it. What Costco doesn't have pretzels??? We walked through the entire store just to verify- indeed, no pretzels. We left in stunned disbelief and started walking toward a grocery store. About 10 minutes into that walk, we came across a Rite Aid and cleaned out their entire pretzel stock- 7 pounds! Then, we made the trek back to mile 22, crossed over the marathon again, and resumed our stations... only to learn that most of my friends from the training group had passed while we were gone. D'oh!

So, I had missed most of my friends, but the immediate gratitude from pretzel-hungry, exhausted marathoners made it all worthwhile. We had a great time handing out goodies and cheering people on. I was happy that Andrew had a chance to see what mile 22 of a marathon looks like- or, more importantly, what a middle-to-back-of-the-pack runner looks like at mile 22 of a marathon. Now, he is all ready for NYC!

As we drove home after the race, I checked FB and learned that all of my friends had amazing races. The first-timers finished strong and the veterans, Val and Noreen among them, all set new PR's. Congratulations, runners!