Weekend warrior.

Recently, Andrew and I have been working on changing a few of our habits. We're trying to eat out less, drink less, eat more fruits and vegetables, and get to the gym more often. We also returned to Weight Watchers, where I picked up a little tool to help with those goals:

This is the ActiveLink active monitor, a fairly new addition to the Weight Watchers program. It tracks all your movement throughout the day and then calculates activity points to offset your food points. Under the regular WW program, you calculate your own activity points by entering any exercise you do, the duration, and the intensity. So, under that system, I give myself about 5 points for my weightlifting class.

What's different about the ActiveLink is that it considers your whole day's activity and requires that you hit a "base line" for the day before you earn any activity points at all. In other words, if you work out hard at the gym for an hour, but then sit for the rest of the day, you may not earn any activity points at all. Just this morning, I did a really challenging TRX class, but it wasn't enough to hit my base line for the day. Once I do hit that base line, any movement I do for the rest of the day (walking, fixing dinner, etc.) will earn me activity points.

The whole point of the Active Link is to promote movement and discourage being sedentary all day, every day. I decided that this would be good for me because I've fallen into a bit of a "weekend warrior" pattern, where I slack off on my weekday workouts and then go all out on the weekend with hard trainings and races. This isn't good for my health or for my performance in those races, so I wanted a little push in the right direction.

I had been thinking about this for awhile when I happened to attend a WW meeting specifically about the ActiveLink. I was a little skeptical (as I am whenever anyone tries to sell me something), but the device was cheap enough ($35 on sale plus a $5 monthly fee, no contract) that I thought it was worth a 1-3 month experiment. I took it home, set it up, and clipped it on (first pleasant surprise: it really is invisible under your clothes).

From the moment I activated the ActiveLink, it started an 8-day "assessment" of my activity. For those 8 days, I was instructed to just go about my normal routine. I plugged it in periodically to charge it, but I couldn't see any data until the assessment was over. My assessment week wound up being an extreme version of my weekend warrior pattern. Literally within a few hours of putting the ActiveLink on, I came down with a bad cold. I did half of a tri-training workout the next day, but I spent 5 days after that too sick to go to the gym. I even left work early a few days to come home and lie down. So, a very sedentary work week. Then, come Saturday morning, I forced myself back to the gym and out to run a many errands as I could manage.

Sunday was my first "real" day on the ActiveLink and what did I do? I ran a half marathon! The IronGirl Columbia half-marathon, to be specific. I was still pretty sick and knew I had no business running a race, but it was an expensive one and I hated the thought of losing the money. This was also the first leg of the IronGirl "Triple Crown," which consists of the half and two IronGirl triathlons later this summer. If you finish all three, you get a special award at the end. I love special awards. So, I did my best and it wasn't pretty. The course was super-hilly and I was dealing with chest congestion that hampered my breathing. I ran my second-worst time ever and felt every second. Still, I had a moment of pride at the end when I realized that this was half #15 for me!

When I got home from the race, I plugged in my Active Link to get the results of my assessment and personalized 12-week challenge based on those results. Sure enough, the weekend warrior problem was right there in my data. On weekdays, I earned between 0 and 1 activity points. On the weekends (ie: the two days I worked out), I got up to 5. Based on those results, my initial challenge is just to get up to 2 activity points each day.

The first day of my challenge was race day and I got a whopping 26 activity points (or 421% of my goal). Day 2 (yesterday), I was beat from the race and feeling lousy again. I reached my base line, but I didn't exceed it enough to earn any activity points and only met 73% of my goal. So, with just these 2 days, I can see how the ActiveLink is helping me. If I think of my goal in weekly terms (ie: 14 points/week), I'm already way over it. But I'm thinking of it in daily terms- a minimum of 2 points each day. Its not about crazy weekends (I got that); its about more active weekdays.

April was a race-heavy month. I did the Cherry Pit 10-miler, the Arbutus 5K, and the IronGirl half. Now, I have a bit of a break with no races until the Rock Hall tri on June 2nd. With lighter weekends, this is the perfect time to work on steeping up the weekdays. Wish me luck!

Back to bed and blogging.

Obviously, I took a little break from blogging. When last I wrote, it was January and I was struggling with a cold that started on my wedding day and hung on for a little over a month. I'm happy to report that my blogging hiatus was NOT due to continued sickness. That cold finally went away in early February. The blogging hiatus was due to other things. I'll call them "post-wedding administrative issues": writing thank you cards, changing my name, sorting through close to 1,000 photos, and finding room in my tiny house for a 2nd person and all of that person's things. To my great surprise, I'm finding post-wedding tasks tougher than planning the actual wedding.

The good news is that I learned a valuable skill during the wedding planning process: letting things slide. It took a few months, but I reached a point in wedding planning where I accepted that I could not work full time, plan a wedding, train at my usual level, and do all of the other things I usually do. It just wasn't possible. So, I gave myself permission to let a few things go. I'm glad I learned this while planning the wedding, because it has become even more important since the wedding. One of the things I let go over the past few months? Blogging. As much as I love this blog, I just couldn't make it a priority during the first part of this year.

Now, though, I'm happy to report that I feel more on top of things and ready to get back to the blog! I put "blog" back on my to-do list a couple weeks ago, and I finally got around to it today. Why today? Because I'm home sick again! Just a minor cold this time (I hope), but I had to seize on the opportunity for a full-circle moment. Back in bed, back to the blog!

So, other than administrative tasks, what have I been up to?

Races:

Since my last post, I ran my first three races of the year: the Valentine's Day 5K, the B&A Half Marathon, and the Cherry Pit 10-miler, all put on by the Annapolis Striders. None of these were great races for me in terms of finish time. In fact, I think I ran "personal worsts" for each of these events. I knew going into these races that I was unlikely to run good times. Compared to the last few years, I'm heavier right now and putting in significantly less training time. So, I went into each race with the same goal: make a strong, consistent effort throughout the entire race. I didn't want to start out strong, burn out, and wind up walking. I also didn't want to finish feeling like I could have pushed harder. I wanted to feel like I worked as hard as I could for the whole race- and I did! I'm not proud of my times for any of these races, but I am proud of my efforts.

I'm also proud of my husband, who ran PR's in each and every one of those races!

Since I slowed down and he sped up, now we can run together!

IronMan 2012:

In February, Andrew and I went to the annual Annapolis Striders banquet, where I picked up my 3rd straight Ironman award! I get one of these each year that I run the entire 8-race Champ Series (ranging from 5K to metric marathon). I'm gunning for a 5-year award before I allow some kind of life event (like, say, having a baby) to force a year off. The banquet is always fun and great motivation to keep going in the new year.

IronMan 2010-2012... and counting!

 

Planning the race calendar:

Despite my less-than-consistent training, I have mapped out a pretty ambitious race calendar for 2013. I'm planning to run all of my usual races, including the Champ Series, the Baltimore Half Marathon, my 3rd Marine Corps Marathon, and both IronGirl triathlons. I also have three new races on the agenda:

(1) Rock Hall sprint triathlon on June 2nd. Andrew and I signed up for this event after the organizers of TriRock Annapolis announced a date change for their race (which conflicted with our schedules). This will be my first tri of the year, and Andrew's first tri ever!

Getting geared up!

(2) Merrell Down and Dirty on July 21st. This is one of those races that includes an obstacle course and a mud pit (a la Warrior Dash, Tough Mudder, etc.). I've been wanting to try one of those races for a long time, but nothing ever fit into my schedule. Then, we got a postcard announcing this race, 15 minutes down the road on a weekend we are both free. Bingo. Apparently, direct mail works!

(3) The Kauai Marathon, September 1st. This will be my first time running two marathons in the same year, and my first time running a marathon on my HONEYMOON! Andrew and I have been talking for a long time about going to Hawaii for our honeymoon, but we couldn't seem to settle on a plan. Finally, I googled "Hawaii marathons" to see if any of them would work for us, timing-wise. Bingo again. I found this race less than a week before the early bird registration fees went up, which forced us to make a quick (and awesome) decision. Now, I wake up every morning, look at the calendar, and mentally update the vacation countdown.

Juicing:

Another thing I let go during the wedding planning and post-wedding process? My diet. I just did not have the mental/emotional space to focus on eating healthy. Being crunched for time and stressed out led to far too many lunches and dinners out, far too many cocktails, and the biggest number I've seen on the scale in 10 years. Once I emerged from my stress fog, it was time to get back on track. But how to get motivated?

After a few weeks of hunting around, I finally found my motivation via Netflix. As someone who hates sitting still, I'm not a big TV or movie-watcher. But, I married into a giant TV with a really cool speaker and a Netflix subscription. A couple weeks ago, Andrew went away for the weekend and I decided to see what all the fuss was about. That's when I discovered the food documentaries. Netflix is full of 'em! As my regular readers know, I am way into food and always striving to be healthier. So what could be more appealing than movies about food and being healthy? I watched 3 or 4 that weekend, but one in particular really stood out:

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead follows Joe Cross, an Australian who undertook a 60-day juice fast back in 2007 in an effort to lose weight and get off medications for obesity-related conditions. I'm not a fan of any kind of extreme eating plans (like, say, juice fasts), so I was skeptical, but there is something very compelling and convincing about Joe's story. Since watching the movie, I've started following Joe Cross online and in other media, and he makes a very strong case for a very simple idea: just eat more fruits and vegetables. Way more fruits and vegetables.

Obviously, the idea that eating fruits and vegetables is good for you is not news to me. Still, if I'm honest, I've never been great about it. I would guess that I eat way less processed food and meat than the average person, but I probably don't eat any more fruits and vegetables, even though I know that I should. After watching this movie and then watching it again with Andrew, I became persuaded that I needed to make a change. First, we went to the grocery store and loaded up on produce. Then, I came home and fired up Andrew's Vita-mix. For a week now, I've had some kind of fruit and vegetable smoothie every day, usually at breakfast. I enjoy them, and I find that they motivate me to eat more fruits and veggies throughout the day. The best part? I went back to the grocery store today and bought more produce because we actually ran out! We used it all up and didn't have to throw anything away. Definitely a first.

So, those are the major updates. As we move into Spring, I'm looking forward to more training, more races, more juicing, and more blog posts!

Come on, February!

Greetings, readers! Its been far too long. How were your holidays? I came down with a nasty cold on a fairly important day:

Smiling through a cold and a double-photobomb.

Yes, you read that correctly. I woke up on the day of my wedding (aka: New Year's Eve) sick as a dog. Sore throat, congestion, headache- the whole package. Fortunately, I was able to draw on my marathon/triathlon experiences to make it through the day. I simply told myself "You can't be sick today, so take some Dayquil and pretend you're not sick. Time to put the game face on."  Miraculously, that worked. I still had a great day and very few people even knew I had a cold. We even got a workout in!

Smiling here was a challenge. 

Ever since the wedding, though, things had been a bit more challenging. My cold stuck around for the whole week after the wedding, which was okay because we were off work and taking it easy. Then, I went back to work and got handed a whole new pile of responsibilities. Coping with those new responsibilities has meant several weeks of very long hours, surrounded by others who are also coping with new responsibilities. The first week back, I spent nearly every second I wasn't at work sleeping. Then, I got sick again. And again. In the entire month of January, I think I've been without a cold for maybe 5 days.

I'm sure you can guess how this has affected my training. I had been looking forward to January as the month I would get back in gear with working out and blogging. I wouldn't be planning a wedding anymore, which would mean more time for the gym and more mental space to focus on eating healthy. My winter half-marathon training would start up again, as would my Wonder Women triathlon group. My January theme was going to be "getting back in the game."

That was the plan. In reality, my January theme has been "I need to lie down." In 29 days, I've done 9 workouts, which is less than half my usual routine. I've missed half of my beloved half-marathon runs, and half of the Wonder Women workouts (which I both love and pay for). This is both frustrating and depressing. In fact, I think I've been experiencing a little of what some of my mildly depressed clients feel: they have no energy to do anything, but then doing nothing leaves them with no energy. If nothing else, this difficult month has given me more empathy for those coping with a persistent feeling of "blah."

So, I am very excited for the coming of February. While there's no guarantee that I won't suffer another round of this cold, there is something about the changing of the month that feels like a new beginning. I'm starting to get the hang of things at work, Andrew and I are almost finished writing our thank you cards, and we made it to the gym this morning. Plus, I just wrote a blog post! In short, things are starting to feel more manageable. I look forward to catching you up on events from the end of last year and having some new adventures to share!

Another finish line.

Thanks to Bilbo for this. 

Greetings and happy holidays, readers! Right about now is the time I should be writing my annual "Year in Review." I also owe you a post on my final race of 2012 (which was also my final race as Ms. Brooks). At the moment, though, I am racing toward another finish line: my wedding! In less than 4 days! 

Andrew and I are currently in the middle of a 2-week staycation, which includes our wedding and a few days afterward. I look forward to catching you up during those post-wedding days. In the meantime, have a wonderful New Year's! 

Mrs. O'Brien will blog...

...Ms. Brooks is finding that difficult at the moment. Its been nearly a month since my last post, which probably has something to do with the fact that its less than a month until my wedding! Some very quick updates:

Turkey Trots

November tends to be a very race-heavy month, thanks largely to all of the turkey trots. In addition to the Down's Park 5-miler (see previous post), Andrew and I each did a couple other runs in November. First up was the Striders' Cold Turkey 10K. I was really dreading this race for some reason, but then I did great! I felt strong through the whole thing and came in with my 2nd-fastest 10K time ever: 1:03:30. The pictures of me are all terrible, so here's one of Andrew:

Finishing strong! 

On Thanksgiving day, Andrew and I were in separate cities, but we both found local turkey trots. I did a 5-miler sponsored by the local Fleet Feet store. This wasn't a race- just a "fun run"- but 800 people still turned up for it!

The sea of people at the start. 

I love living in such a fit town!

Andrew was down in his hometown of Norfolk, VA on Thanksgiving where he ran his fastest 10K to date! I told him that he became a real runner that day because he registered for and ran a race completely without me. His brother took this photo:

Looking strong! 

The Annapolis Half Marathon

Last Saturday, Andrew and I completed the 2nd running of the Annapolis Half Marathon. I did the inaugural running of this race last year, and there were some major issues (see this post for details). This year, things were MUCH better, but there were still a few hiccups. The mile markers were way off. According to my GPS, some were only 3/4 of a mile apart, while others were well over a mile. Every time I passed one, I heard at least 3 or 4 people turning to their friends and saying "Wait a minute- is that right?" It became a bit of a joke by the end. Also, the overall course seemed to be a bit short. It was certified at 13.1 miles, but my GPS said 12.95... and so did the GPS of everyone else I talked to. It was the most consistency I've ever seen between many GPS watches!

If the course was short, I'm not complaining because it was also HARD. It changed a lot from last year, and there were several little out-and-back stretches added, all of them hilly. By about mile 5, I knew I was on pace to finish really well. I wasn't sure how well because of the issues with the mile markers (which was frustrating), but I tried to put that out of my mind and keep pushing. Miles 10-12 were brutal, but I hit mile 13 at about 2:05 and knew I had a decent shot at a PR. When I knew I was near the finish, I went into a sprint so aggressive that I actually dry-heaved at the finish line, but it was worth it when I saw my time: 2:16:15! Not only is that a PR, but its way faster than any other half I ran this year.

After I finished (and stopped heaving), I found my mother and Andrew's parents, who had come to watch the race, and we started looking for Andrew. I had spotted him at mile 8, and he looked good, but even I was surprised when he came around the final turn for the finish. He crossed the line at 2:36:19, a nearly 8-minute improvement over his 2:44:22 finish at the Baltimore Half! He was so excited that he got a little choked up, and so did I.

Smile if you ran a PR a month before your wedding! 

I think a little credit for Andrew's stellar performance goes to my friend Jaquisha, who was out cheering with the group Black Girls Run! She saw me around mile 6, and I told her to keep an eye out for Andrew. When she spotted him, she told him to hurry up and catch me, and then she started running with him. Their photo wound up on the Black Girls Run! Facebook page later that day:

My new favorite running photo. 

Now, we have one more race left for the year (the Striders' Anniversary 15K this weekend) and then the sprint to our wedding!

Five miles and feedback.

I'm so into voting, I have a shirt for it! 

Happy election day! If you haven't voted yet, please go now. I'll wait...

Okay, back to running!

This past Saturday, I got to run one of my favorite races of the year: the Annapolis Striders Down's Park 5-miler. I love this race because it takes place in a gorgeous park, and because its usually my first post-marathon run. After months of marathon training, it is such a relief to run something short! I love that I don't have to worry about going out too fast, fueling properly, or any of that long-run stuff.

Last year, I ran this race the day before the NYC marathon. I was leaving straight from the race to get to the marathon expo, and I was terrified that I would not make it on time. So, the very kind race organizers allowed Andrew to volunteer as a parking attendant so I could do a "worker's run" an hour before the regular race. When you run a worker's run, you get credit for running the race (in the Striders' Champ Series), but your time is not officially recorded. So, naturally, I ran a PR of 48:35. I tried to repeat that time a month later in the Celtic Solstice 5-miler, but only managed 49:28. So, I went into this race with 49:28 as my official 5-mile PR. I doubted that I could beat that, but I still hoped to come in under 50 minutes.

When Andrew and I arrived at the race, we were greeted by my running coach Susan, who declared that she was running the race with me. As she noted, we've run many of this year's Champ Series races together, and she decided we should keep our streak going. I was happy with that plan!

Before we started, Susan said that her plan was to take it easy in the beginning and save something for mile 4 1/2. I said that I wanted to go out a little fast and try to hold onto that pace. In the end, we sort of did both. Based on my Nike+ data, we ran the first two miles at about a 9:43 pace, slowed up a bit in miles 3 and 4 (about 9:55) and then ran our fastest time in mile 5. By mile 3, I was definitely struggling to keep up the pace. Somewhere in that mile, we saw a marker for the 1-mile "fun run" happening elsewhere in the park. It said "Fun," with an arrow pointing away from us. I turned to Susan and said "So THAT's where the fun went! Its definitely not here."

Coming into the last mile, I wasn't sure I would be able to pull off a finishing sprint. Then, about 1/4 mile from the finish, Susan and I were met by Bob, another of our running coaches. Bob had finished his race a good 10 minutes before and came back to help us run it in. I couldn't let Bob down. I picked it up and sprinted across the finish line. I swear I saw a 48 on the clock when I crossed the line, but my official time is recorded as 49:02. A new official PR!

After I finished, I grabbed a bagel and returned to the finish line to wait for Andrew. I was expecting him to have a good race. In fact, I was pretty sure he could finish in under 1 hour, but I hadn't said anything to him about it because he seemed a little nervous. As I waited a couple friends came by and said "We saw Andrew and he looks good!" Then, I saw him- crossing the line at 55:33! He was thrilled, and so was I.

Later that day, I paid a visit to the local Lululemon Athletica store. I ran Marine Corps in a pair of their running crop pants. I love the fit of these pants, and they are the perfect length for Fall running. They have three gel pockets: a zippered one in the back and two open ones in the waistband. Prior to MCM, I had only used the back pocket, but its not big enough for the 5 gels I needed to carry to get through a marathon. So, on race day, I tried out the pockets in the waistband. They were really shallow- only deep enough to fit about 1/2 of a Clif Shot packet. The rest of the packet was resting against my stomach. It didn't bother me during the race, so I thought it was fine... until I got home and discovered this:

This doesn't happen in a 5K.

In case you can't tell, that is chafing straight from Hell. Its basically a 2-inch open cut on my stomach. As of today, MCM is 9 days ago and this thing is still healing and still hurts. A lot. It will definitely leave a scar.

I absolutely hate to complain and generally avoid confrontation, but I know that Lululemon really appreciates product feedback and I thought they should see this. So, on Saturday, I nervously went to the store and showed the salespeople. They could not have been nicer! They wrote down my feedback ("Deeper gel pockets, PLEASE!"), and even took down my info so they could invite me to some kind of promo in the future. You know a store has good customer service when their product scars you and you still intend to shop there in the future!

So, the moral of the story is always give your feedback- at the running store and at the polls!

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...