Week 12

Yesterday I stopped by Fleet Feet to pick up some more energy chompers for both Scott and myself. Over the past few months, I've really been considering buying a running belt to keep my goodies in (i.e chompers, id, cash, etc.). More than anything, I want to be prepared for the actual marathon. I don't want any surprises, meaning I need to test things out now.

Today was my first day back at running since my August hiatus. According to my training schedule, I was supposed to run 16 miles. I tested out the belt on my morning run today and I absolutely hated it. It flops around too much and was just plain annoying. In fact, it got on my nerves so much I turned around on my run so I could drop it back off at home. I didn't want to have to deal with it for the entire run. I knew my run was going to go very well just based on the fact that it started off rocky. That's usually a good indication of a crummy run.

All in all, I ran 6 miles today. I never thought it would be so tough to get back into running after a long break, but it was. I I'm going to run the remaining 10 miles tomorrow morning when Scott goes out for his run. It's so disappointing to know that I've lost a lot of conditioning, but I can't dwell on the past. I just have to keep my head in the game and keep thinking about October 10, 2010.

I take the bus to work in the morning and yesterday I saw this poster:

Perfect motivation!

Absentee August

Many of you have been asking why I haven't been blogging lately. The truth is, I haven't really been running.

For higher education professionals, such as myself, August is the busiest month of the year. Over the past few weeks, I've been working very long days (and nights) helping out with campus events. Lately, I've been spending my time at new student orientation, welcome weekend, Greek recruitment, and serving as a roulette dealer at the student casino night.

I can barely find time to get quality sleep, let alone run in the morning or when I get home from work. All in all, I've been overworked for the month of August.

Now that students have finished their first week of class, my schedule will resume back to normal. Thank GOD!

RACE DAY!!

The day finally came! I registered for the Rock & Roll Half-Marathon late last year and after months and months of waiting, race day was here! I wasn't nervous, but excited. I knew I could run the half-marathon, because I ran one last year. So this year my nerves faded away and I focused on setting a personal record time (which I did, but more on this later).

Scott, my parents and I hopped on the 151 bus and took it south towards Grant Park at 5:15 am...along with about 100 other people. The bus was packed! In hindsight, I wish we would have gotten down to Grant Park earlier because I felt kind of rushed. It took us a while to find the gear check and I wanted to feel comfortable and at ease. I will definitely keep this in mind for the full marathon in October.

Here is a picture of Scott and I just getting down to Grant Park:

Runners are placed in corrals based on their expected finish time. I was in corral 24 of 29. The higher the corral number, the further back you are in the line to start running. They released each corral 2 minutes apart in order to avoid overcrowding. I thought it worked pretty well. The weather was near perfect in my mind. At the 6:30 am starting time, I would guess the temperature was around 68 degrees. Perfection. Here I am waiting in my corral at the starting line:

I am so happy my parents came down to cheer Scott and I on. Not only was it nice to have family there, but it is a huge motivation booster when you're feeling tired. My mom made 5 different signs for Scott and I. Here is a picture of my dad and I as I wait in my corral:

Okay, it's time for the actual report of the race. I was pretty pumped to get running after waiting in my corral for nearly 30 minutes alone. Once I started running, I really wanted to set a pace that I felt I could maintain throughout most of the race. At some point around mile 2, my knee starting giving me pain. I was so nervous I was going to have to drop out of the race. I kept telling myself that it would go away and eventually it did. Throughout all my training, I've always said that I would listen to my body and stop if I needed to. Though the pain was unpleasant, I knew I could make it... so I pushed myself. Around mile 3 the pain went away and then I realized, "I was only at mile 3. Crap." This is a typical reaction I have quite frequently. It takes me several miles before I feel comfortable in a long run. I just kept telling myself that my parents would be waiting for me with a sign at mile 6 - almost the halfway point. Keeping this in my head definitely kept me focused.

One of my favorite signs I saw said, "You are all really good at exercise!" Damn right! I saw the guy holding this sign 3 different times and each time I saw it I literally laughed out loud. = )

When I passed mile 6 and started to head south, I saw people running north towards the finish line. Seriously?! People were already finishing and I was only half-way done. Seeing this can play mind games with you. I say this over and over and will always stand by it: distance running is a mental challenge that is far more difficult than a physical challenge. Mark my word.

At this point, the weather was really getting quite hot. The shade was minimal and luckily I had a hat on to keep the sun out of my eyes. I knew if I could make it the the turnaround point where we start to head back north that I would be in better spirits. I literally felt a burst of energy when I made the turn and headed north again. Ah, the gorgeous Chicago skyline! I believe this was mile 8. I always make sure to walk through the water stations. It's best to make sure you actually drink the water, as opposed to spilling it all over.

Mile 11 is where hell broke loose. I got the absolute WORST side stitch of my life. It stopped me in the tracks because the pain was so awful. I applied pressure with my hand to my lower right abdomen just below my rib cage and tried walking it off, but it didn't work. I knew I was getting close to the finish line and I didn't want this ridiculous pain to get in my way of setting my half-marathon personal record. Once I turned the corner to the final stretch, I saw the finish line and sucked it up and started running again.

The crowd at the finish line is always huge, which makes it even more exciting! I maintained my pace for the first half of the final stretch and then decided to sprint for the second half. I wanted to beat my time from last year! I was cruising past people on the second half. As my luck would have it, once I crossed the finish line, I tripped. Yes, I fell at the finish line. I did not fall from exhaustion, but I tripped on the cable protector at the finish line. My first reaction was, "God, I hope my parents didn't see me fall!" Thank goodness they didn't. Two ladies came to my aid, but not before I could get up and say, "It's okay! I set a personal record and that's all that matters!" I was so ecstatic that I beat my time that I didn't even notice that my knee was bleeding a little. I did hear a couple "Ooo's" from the crowd, but I think getting up right away and laughing about it was the best thing I could have down. I was hoping no one would ever have to see my actual fall, but it was captured on video. I am still mortified to this day, but I just have to laugh at it. So, here is the video. You can also see my results. Enjoy!

My mortifying moment caught on video { please don't make fun of me }

I ran the half-marathon in 2 hours, 43 minutes and 18 seconds. I cut off 5 minutes and 15 seconds from my half-marathon time I received last year. I consider this a huge success! Scott ran the half-marathon in 2 hours 11 minutes and 30 seconds... what an athlete! He shed nearly 22 minutes off his time from last year! We rock!

In case you enjoy the celebrity gossip mill, here is a quick list of all the celebrities who ran the race and their times:

• NBC's Maria Menounos, Start Line Emcee, Access Hollywood
• Al Roker, TODAY Show, weather anchor (3:20:58)
• Giuliana Rancic, E! News and the Style Network (2:20:05)
• Kelly Bensimon, Bravo's Real Housewives of NYC (2:21:40)
• Jake Pavelka, Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor (2:23:05)
• Jason and Molly Mesnick, The Bachelor Season 13 (2:42:54)
• Andrea Powell, actress on ABC's "The Gates" (2:44:31)

I would just like to point out the Jason and Molly Mesnick only beat me by 24 seconds! By hey, I beat Al Roker and Andrea Powell!

All in all, I love running half-marathons! They are challenging, yet still achievable. My back and knees were incredibly sore after the race and I'm just now feeling recovered - 2 days later. I couldn't even think about getting up and going running the day after the race, but now I look forward to running again.

Did I mention the Chicago Marathon is only 10 weeks away? Crap.

Expo and Prep

One thing that's pretty cool about running in big time races is attending the Health & Fitness Expo days prior to the actual race. On Saturday, Scott and I took the CTA down to McCormick Place to pick up our race packets and walk around the expo. Here are some pictures that I took at the expo:

I love this picture above.

There are tons of vendors that are either selling items or showcasing their company. No matter what, there are always free samples and giveaways. I sampled some new energy fruit snacks and yes, MGD 64 beer. Yep. There was free beer.

The race started bright and early at 6:30 am, which means we had to be up at 4:15 am. My parents came in the night before so they wouldn't have to drive in at 3am that day. Here's a picture of my mom making one of FIVE signs. You heard me... FIVE signs! I may have made fun of her for it, but I really did appreciate it on race day!

After prepping our gear check bag with sandals for after the race, recovery bars and other items, I ended up going to bed at around 9:30 pm. So, how did race day turn out? You'll see in the next blog post coming momentarily!