Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon Race Recap

This race had its ups and downs.  Overall, I was very pleased with it.  I followed the Run Less Run Faster plan almost to a tee.  The only change I made, which may have been a fatale error, was I ran the Papa John's 10 miler on a day that called for only an 8 mile run, with 1 mile warm up and 7 mile tempo.  Instead, I got carried away and busted out a PR fairly easily.  However, I did this race because it was an opportunity to run on the hills of Iroquois Park that I would hit in the marathon.  Initially, this race gave me a huge confidence boost, but then after doing it, I really felt worn out.  The weather warmed up, and the next two weeks worth of long runs were not where they were supposed to be.  I actually cut one of the 10 milers short to 8, due to high temps and crazy winds, because I was no where near the pace I was supposed to be, and in my mind I was just making up that 8 miler that I switched with the PJ10.  Its hard to say if that was the culprit, or if I didn't train on the hills enough, but to cut to the chase, I didn't get a PR.  However, considering that I haven't run a good marathon in 2 years, the fact that I was within 5 minutes of my PR was still pretty good.  AND I qualified for Boston (narrowly).

I hadn't really been talking about qualifying for Boston at all in my training.  It wasn't really on my mind until recently.  I was training for a PR, which if I suceeded, would give me hopefully a top AG placement and of course a PR since my Boston qualifying time has remained unchanged from my time in 2011 since I had a couple of birthdays, and gotten my 5 minutes back.  I still needed a 3:40, and I felt I could do that easily if I wanted.  I really wanted to go and see what I could do.  Then the bombing happened, and my legs started to feel tired.  I started to worry if I should really go for the PR or just go for a BQ.  Marathons are crazy entities, and if you mess up the first half too badly, you can  have an outright awful second half.  I went back and forth on what to do.  Ryan was adamant about NOT going back to Boston (we'll see), so I reviewed all my data and tried to come up with a plan for race day.  I reviewed my data vs the 3:30 plan and even took a look at the 3:25 plan to decide how to pace myself.    I saw an facebook update from BAA stating that they had updated their page with the qualification information, (mostly since they were getting results posted so the page was going from its race day format back to the usual format), and I double checked the qualification for the 2014 marathon.  Then I noticed something.  It is on April 21st, 2014.  MY BIRTHDAY!  I got so excited!  I was just about to burst.  I think I sent out about 5 texts when I saw that.  I was going bonkers.  Funny, I still haven't informed Ryan of that.  I figured I would bother him about it if it was applicable.  Then I really couldn't decide...conservative and get that BQ or go for broke- get the PR/blow up fantastically if I didn't.  Hmm.  I kept watching the weather, and thought I would just see what the day held.

The expo was fun.  I brought both kids and we had a blast.  We ran into Lisa and her kids.  She had forgotten her double stroller, and had her 3 kids.  Poor Lisa!  I was really excited about the shirt this year.  Finally women's specfic.  I liked the yellow too.  Full marathoners got the yellow, half got the blue.  We had some fun with a green screen at the Humana Booth and a photo booth made out of a VW vanagan from Blue Mile.  Lisa and I tried to squash everyone into the photo booth.  Actual photo booth pics are shown too.

Race day arrived.  It was a decent temp.  I got there SUPER early.  I had to track someone down to pay for my parking spot right in front of the Slugger Field that was on the corner of the start and finish lines. 

I went to the bathroom and insane amount of times, and since I was there so early, I was the first one to use each port o pottie that I used for a little while.  I was struggling to get the outer paper off of the toilet paper rolls.  Well, maybe a dude had gone before me!  I listened to my tunes, and I finally started finding friends about an hour before the race started.  I ran into Keira's friend's dad Louis first.  Apparently his story of how he found me is a lot funnier than my version.  His goes like this- "I opened the door to the porto potty and there was Melissa"  LOL!  Yes, this is what happened, BUT, he was coming OUT, and I was standing in line.  No indecent exposure or embarrasment!  My version was that I was waiting for HIS porto potty, and he came out in front of me.  We got a quick picture. 

I met my aquaphor teammate Ande.  She was using this as a training "event" for the Spartan Death race, and walked it with a 35lb weighted vest and carried a log, along with her mom who was walking it normally.  Their goal was to finish the half before I finished the full. 

Then, I ran into my neighbors John and Lisa.  John is super fast, but hasn't quite been able to BQ yet.  He is very speedy at the shorter distances, and went 1:06 at the PJ10!!!!  They were doing the half too.  We said a short prayer right at the start, and then I freaked out and had to go to the bathroom (parking lot) one more time!!! 

I got into my corral.  I felt pretty cool in corral A!!!  It wasn't crowded at all at the start, and I found Jessica, one of my marathon bar teammates.  We met at this same race 2 years ago.  She is definitely an up and coming runner, and was fast when I met her, and is just getting faster.  She represents Pacers and Racers now.  My phone was already in a baggie when we took this.  I should have taken it out.

Then, I found Jennifer, my Ironman partner in crime!  I did take the phone out of the bag for this, since I was finally not freaking out as much.

Then it was go time!  I tried to keep my first few miles in check, and I did a really great job at staying in the 7:50s until the dreaded Iroquois Park, at mile 11,  Ugh, it really kicked my butt!  I struggled with the uphills a lot more here than I did in the PJ10 (the hills were earlier and the race was shorter).  I still managed to keep a sub 8 pace through the half, but the hills in miles 11-14 were too much of a match for me.  I was hurting.  At mile 17, I still had PR hopes, but was hurting BAD!  I ran with my friend Ron for a bit, I can't remember how many miles.  They were definetly over 8s, but still below BQ pace, so I felt OK about that.  I had to walk a little bit at the water stations, and then there was Barrett Hill.  I had run Barrett hill once before, and it sucks!  It was at mile 22, and just miserable!  I tried my best to run it, but I didn't want to blow myself up worse on it, and walked it a bit.  I was doing CRAZY math in my head now.  I just felt so sluggish.  At one point I thought that if I didn't BQ, then I wouldn't have to have the discussion with Ryan about it!  How terrible is that!  It just wouldn't be an option!  I couldn't believe I even thought that, but that is how defeated I was feeling. I continued to do runners math in my head with 4 and 3 miles to go. At 4 miles to go, I thought I could still squeak out a PR if I could get back on pace (seriously??? HAHAHA).  But, I was still stressing about the BQ.  It then became about the BQ and not slowing down.  I kept saying Boston Strong Boston Strong over and over.  At one point I felt incredibly wobbly.  Like the people in those IM finish videos before they fall down, but I didn't fall.  I passed an older man who was moving pretty good.  I am wondering if he was the oldest competitor or something because he had people on bikes with him, and they were cheering for him, encouraging him with less than one mile to go- follow those pink socks.  Look, those pink sock and shoes match.  Follow her!  I felt like I had to just finish strong.  That last half mile seemed so long, and with less than .2 to go, you turn and see the finish line.  I sped it up a little bit towards the finish, and my official time was 3:38:16.    Ryan spotted me right away, and I was able to give him a kiss through the fence.  The weather was iffy, and Soren had a game, so I told him that if the weather was bad, that he should just go to Soren's game with him instead of having him go home with the coach and bring Keira down.  I was so glad he came, and that he found me right away.  It is such a strange feeling to finish a race and then not know if you have family waiting for you.  I was like that at Ironman too, because I didn't want the kids up too late, and the volunteer had asked me if anyone was waiting for me and I honestly said I didn't know.  I bet they don't get that too much :)

However, the worst part of this race was my right foot.  It is entirely trashed.  It felt it hurting a bit during the race, but didn't think much of it.  I could tell it was just a "flesh wound" type thing.  I could feel my right foot blistering, and if I stepped on anything uneven, it was a sharp pain.  I did my best to ignore it.  After meeting up with Ryan and resting a bit before walking back to the car, I noticed my right shoe had some gunk on it.  I told Ryan I didn't know what it was.  I knew it wasn't the blue powerade (which Ryan and I both despise) that I spit out after accidently grabbing.  Hmm, what did I step in that was red????  We walk to my car, spend about 30 minutes trying to figure out how to drive from my car (which was inside the race course) to Ryan's truck (outside the race course), and finally realized the only way to do it was to get back on the freeway, head home, and then turn around and come back in a different way.   My bad!  Having two cars down there wasn't the easiest.  I also had to drive myself home from the race.  That was a first!  I never had to do that before, and thankfully felt pretty good and didn't put myself or Keira in danger.  I got home, took my shoes off and took this picture, trying to sort of cover up the unknown splotch on my shoe.

Then I put a show TV on for Keira while Ryan was picking up Soren, and started my epsom salt/cool bath.  I took my socks off and then knew immediately what was on my shoe.  BLOOD!!!  My whole big toe was bright red from a blood blister that ruptured, and then I had a second one about to pop below it.  OUCH!  Sorry, this is gross!

Thankfully, it cleaned up to look a lot better.  The strangest thing was that my left foot looked totally fine.  Not a single new blister.  I also ONLY lost 1 toenail from this race, compared to the 4 at Boston.  So, I am trying to decide if this bloody blister was better or worse than my last marathon.  I really am not sure.  My left foot sure is better.

Overall, I am pretty pleased. I went for it. I went for it as hard as I could and I didn't entirely fail. I didn't get my PR, but I still got the BQ. I know this is stupid, but I had a really hard time when people asked me about why I wasn't at the Boston Marathon this year, and that I answered because I "hadn't qualified". Nevermind the fact that Ryan and I didn't plan on going back anyway. Last year was hard because I felt like I didn't make much improvements in my running speed, and I had so many off race days. It felt great to really push myself and finish with such a great time. So what if it isn't a PR, it is still my second fastest race, and PRs I have learned are sort of these mystical things. Like everythingn is truly aligned for them to happen, and sometimes they are not meant to be broken. Will I be able to go sub 3:30 in the marathon? I don't know? Will I try again? Sure. Will it be on the Derby course? Heck No! I think I will chose either Columbus, Chicago, or Martian again for a PR. Those courses are better suited to PRs, especially since mine was set on a super flat course.  Will I go back to Boston next year?  I want to, but I don't know if we can make it work for our family.  We'll have to see.  I am also wondering if my time will be fast enough.  In 2012, when I went, not everyone who qualified was accepted due to volume.  This was before the time standards were lowered by 5:59 minutes.  Last year, registration stayed open just over a month.  Will it stay open that long this year?  I don't know, especially because everyone I know that has even been to Boston or close to getting there wants to go next year.  I have my entry fee socked away already, so I plan to submit my time and see what happens.

2013 Boston Marathon

Yesterday was a hard and sad day.  I felt so many feeling yesterday.  I woke up a bit bummed that I wasn't there this year, but also super excited for all of my friends and teammates that were racing.  There are so many great images out there, I am not going to post any because I just want to get some feelings out so that I can better cope.  I was and still am so affected by this. 

I was talking to Cristina about how everyone did yesterday afternoon, who had done well, and who we hadn't heard from yet, and about her recent race on Saturday.  Then Soren hit his chin and split his tongue open.  I said bye quickly and then tended to Soren.   This was at 2:43 pm.  I walked over to our neighbor's house, to drop off some samples, and then Cristina called me back, at 3:08.  I was surprised to hear from her so quickly, since we said we would talk on another day.  She said she got news from a mutual friend of ours that finished that there was a loud boom, two of them, and didn't know what it was.  Cristina wanted to know if I had heard anything on the news.  I ran home and tried to find out info.  It was while I was on the phone with Cristina that we heard the first news stories on ESPN on sports center.  I felt so much panic.  I had tons of friends out there, and just wondered where they were.  Thankfully, over the next few hours via facebook and text messages, we were able to track everyone down.  Probably the scariest experiences came from a local Dr here, as she was about the cross the finish line when the explosion happened, and another friend who was in medical at the time, also very near.  The hardest thing about this is that had this happened last  year, I would have been there.  Keira, Soren, Ryan, and my parents were all there.  If anyone recalls, I finished with a personal worst of 4:05ish, and then  hung out in the finisher area to get photos of stuff on my camera.  I just felt sick all evening, and still today.  I just keep breaking down and crying.  Between Newtown, CT and the Boston Marathon, these are two senseless acts that have deeply touched me.  I know what 6 years old looks like.  I have volunteered in my daughter's classroom many times.  I know what the Boston Finish line looks like, and what it SHOULD feel like.  Not the sad desolate crime scene that it is now. (2012 Boston Marathon)

I am so sad yet so thankful that everyone I know and that I am safe.  It makes me so angry that someone would do this at the Boston Marathon.  It is such a sacred event.  I remember looking at that finish line up ahead and the excitement of it.  I was worried last year that my race would be cancelled due to the heat, and I would be robbed of that experience.  Now, someone has not only killed 3 and wounded many, but they have robbed so many runners of that experience as well.  There are people with missing limbs who's lives will never be the same.  A marathon is such an emotional and physical journey.  This is the worst nightmare ever!!!!

I ran my usual tuesday track today at the gym, and then quietly requested to my maintenance coworkers to lower the American flag to half mast outside.  I had my Boston apparel on yesterday in support of my friends, and I don different pieces again today.  My heart is breaking.  I cannot wait to run my race on April 27th.  I WILL finish with a Boston Qualifying time, and I will do it for all of those injured and those unable to finish their race.  I will make it back there, and I will finish for them!!!

The big Goal

I have been working really hard to follow the Run Less Run Faster plan.  I have some big plans for the Derby Marathon, and I am going to put this out there.  I want to kick butt and take names.  I want to leave it all out there.  I feel really strong.  I have a 20 miler to do tomorrow, and so far, I have been great at my goal paces.  I told Ryan the other day that I thought it would be really cool if I could place in my AG.  While the Derby miniMarathon is huge, the marathon portion isn't that big.  There were only around 2000 marathon finishers last year.  I looked at the race times, and they don't look impossible.  However, this isn't a great goal to have.  It isn't dependent on ME.  However, what I can do is run hard, leave it all out there, and not get passed towards the end, and do the passing.  I want to go big, and if I burn up, then I do.  If I don't, then I will have greatness.  I need to just embrace the suck.  All of these workouts are hard, and I just keep telling myself when they get hard that this will be what it feels like in the race.  Hard.  It is just a matter of enduring to the end.

I am putting this out there because this was in my email today, from Randy Step of Running Fit:

I believe it's best to pick an outrageous goal outside our comfort zone, just on the edge of not being realistic, perhaps just past what seems possible. From my experience, if you start out near the edge, or even out past it, your confidence in your choice will solidify as you put the plan in place and start the journey, at some point you will BELIEVE. To get to that point, you must take it seriously, I suggest you sign a contract with yourself not to back down, the magic will happen! Yes, you can enter and finish your first 5K, triathlon, half or full marathon, yes you can qualify for Boston, run a race every month for a year, run 50 miles, even run 100 miles! As you can tell I love running goals, but yes ... you can also get rich, be a rock star or cure a disease, if you live and breathe your goal

Make the goal, sign up and commit, tell the world what you plan to do ... And then, figure out how the heck you are going to do it!


I also finally ordered my SOAS race kit today.  I think I posted it already.  It is funny because it was so fun to actually go through and decide for myself a race outfit.  For the past 7 years, the majority of my racing attire was decided for me.  Last year, due to the fact that Team Aquaphor was late to get on the ground, I had the opportunity to select my own outfits for a couple races.  It was really nice to just wear whatever I wanted, however, my selections were definitely "budget minded".  I wore a clearance sports bra from zoot (which I LOVE by the way) for Boston and Muncie, as well as a TJ Maxx $12 sports bra for Ironman.  Seriously, how many triathletes finish their first Ironman race wearing clothes from TJ Maxx????  What kind of scrappy sponsored athlete am I?  I had full intentions of wearing my Team Aquaphor top for the run, but it was just too stinking hot.  So, this year, I decided that for my birthday, I wanted to pick out my own tri kit.  I passed up the opportunity to buy a new Landshark kit because it was expensive and I didn't love it.  No more buying team kits that are just OK.  No fancy logos, no team affiliations, just something girly that is me.  I can't wait for it to arrive.  I did pay full price for it, but selected the "free" shipping option, so it will take up to 2 weeks to arrive.  I wanted to save the $7 shipping, ha ha.  I'll save where I can still :) (picture via SOASracing.com)

At the same time I bought this crazy expensive tri kit, I also bought some deeply discounted Reebok running shoes.  What???  Reebok for running?  Yes I am a tester, and I fell in LOVE with the smoothflex shoes.  I had been running in a free pair they sent me as compensation, mostly because I was too cheap to replace my other shoes, and they worked.  It was time to replace them, and I tried on a few pairs of shoes at local stores, but nothing seemed as comfortable.  So I went online and tried to find the shoes I had to replace them.  Then I find out they come in BRIGHT PINK, in MY size, and were on SALE!!!  Plus, I can buy them through AAA to get even more of a discount.  Yes, I plan to run my kick butt Derby Marathon in clearance Reeboks, that are super cute and very comfortable.  They also match my CEP socks perfectly.  I am not sure what the weather will be like for the Derby race, so I am not sure that I will wear my tri kit for a marathon.  I mean, I would rather wear running shorts I think for 26.2, I think, and I also will want to wear my trusty pink CEPs, and I think that would be way to much pink, and not really match properly.  I don't know though.  We'll have to see if I pull a Ralphie's pink Easter Bunny disaster for race day or not.  I have less than 6 weeks to go! 

Iceman Entry, RLRF update, and Vitamix!!!

This past week/weekend was pretty exciting.  There are 4 things that can give you an update. 

On Thursday, I was on facebook (which is where I get all my news these days, ha ha, if it isn't being talked about on facebook, then it probably isn't that important, right?), and I realized that the everyone was talking about the Iceman Cometh mountain bike race in northern MI.  I was actually tagged by one of my mountain biking partners (teammates) in crime, Kristel, about doing the race.  I had told a few ladies that I would do it once we moved back to Detroit suburbs because of the drive.  Then, I was poking around a little bit more, and Ryan's very good friend and riding buddy was planning on signing up.  At 9pm on Thursday, roughly 15 hours before the race registration would open, I made a phone call to him.  Was he for sure signing up?  Yes.  Then I was to sign up Ryan and I.  Ryan was easily swayed to do this race since his friend was doing it.  I had been wanting Ryan to do this race for years now, and so I arranged my scheduled for Friday so that I would be home to get us registered.  At noon on Friday, I was online and ready to go.  After a short delay, I was into the website, made a quick call to Kent (Ryan's friend) to make sure I was signing us up for the right classifications, and we were in.  Then, after registration had been open for 30 minutes, it filled up.  BOOM!  I am super stoked.  This has been a bucket list race for me too, and I KNOW that Kent's decision to do it was a huge factor in us doing it.  I am not sure what made Kent decide to do it this year.  He is mostly a road cyclist, and has struggled on the mountain bike.  However, he has a relatively new co-worker, Eric, who races for Mark Allen.  I met him and his wife Mindy at Muncie in 2011 if you want to learn more about them.  Both Eric and Mindy are signed up too.  It is funny that now that I have moved, I actually have two events planned "with" them ("with" is used here loosely, as we will probably say hi at the start and the end, since they are so fast).  I also have several other friends racing too.  Kristel is signed up, as well as Stephanie, both from MI.  All of the above are also signed up for Michigan Mountain Mayhem too.

RLRF plan is going well.  I have been hitting all the workouts for the most part, and they are pushing me for sure.  All the workouts are challenging.  I sometimes miss the nice easy relaxing run workouts, but I am enjoying pushing myself.  I did my first track workout today at the Y, and I really had my pride on the line here.  It helped to push myself to keep going.  I really wanted to stop or slow down today, because I had a 2 mile interval!  It was so hard!!!  I also have a 20 mile run this week at 8:30 pace.  I hit my 18 mile run at this pace, so I really hope I can do it for 20.  I missed my 13 mile run at 8:15 pace by 5 sec/mile, but it was pretty windy.  Hopefully I will have good weather on Thursday when I run so I don't worry about the conditions and can just focus on pace.  I am not used to having to worry so much about pace on the 20 mile runs, but this is all about becoming a faster runner.  This is what I need to do.

I also got a consolation prize from SOAS!  Funny, because I had mentioned to Ryan that I didn't get an email with a coupon from them as part of my rejection.  However, a water bottle in the mail is a fun prize!

Finally, we bought at Vitamix blender!  I may do a full review on it later, but I had to mention it.  It is my new toy for sure.  I have used it every day at least once, if not more.  I am feeling a lot more excited to eat healthy when it is this fun to do, and super easy to clean.  I do need to be careful that I don't get caught up in making the desserts all the time with it, because a lot of them have lots of added sugar/honey in them instead of relying on the sweetness of the fruits.  I do feel like I am feeling a bit better with all the fruits and veggies I am eating.  Soren was super excited.  Unfortunately, he hasn't enjoyed everything I have made as much as I have lately.  It must be the same problem I always have with Costco purchases.  Everything eaten at costco tastes better than eaten at home. 

I love Contests & Happy Valentine's Day (a little late)

This week was a really excited week for me.  I had entered into a LOT of contests.  I feel like I win a lot of contests, but that is merely because if there is a contest that I am remotely interested in winning.  There are tons that I don't win.  I had two contests ending on Monday, one was a choice between a couple bikes or wheels, a retail value of approximately $2500, and only had about 100 entrants.  Ryan and I each had a ticket.  The other was from Renewal by Andersen, and was for two race entries into the Kona Running Co triple crown in MI.  This one would be tougher for me to use, but I had a friend who was also entered, and figured I would give it to her if I won.  Additionally, I found a contest from Run with Jess, for fit couples.  I didn't win this one either, but she made up a darling card:

Also, I found this card in the box that Soren selected from Target to give out to his classmates.  It was from the Thor valentines, which contained 4 different Avengers. 

And finally, I had applied for a sponsorship with SOAS, and didn't get it.  I really wanted it.  I knew I wasn't up to the same level as the ladies they sponsored last year, but they were also a pretty small company, so I wasn't sure how many people would actually apply.  The application was extremely time consuming too, so I really felt like I had a decent shot.  I spent the majority of yesterday facebook and twitter stalking them.  I finally learned around noon EST that they would post the team at 2pm PST.  5pm EST, right?  Well, I spent from 5pm-6:05pm EST refreshing their fb page.  The post didn't show up until 6:03 EST, and I wasn't on it.  I was bummed, to say the least, but not overly shocked.  I don't have one of their kits, which I am sure hurt my chances, in addition to the fact that I am not nearly as talented as the other ladies they picked. There is always my birthday.  This is the kit I want:
http://shop.soasracing.com/apparel/pink-peacock-tri-kit/

On another note, I finally had a really successful difficult tempo run.  These had been driving me nuts lately.  They were all at paces that I have been able to race at distances longer than what I was supposed to be doing for my tempos, but I have only really nailed one of them.  Until today, and I did a hard one on the treadmill.  I just set that sucker at goal pace and just did it.  It was hard, but I didn't puke or fall off, so it was all good.  I am sure it helped that there wasn't any wind or hills too.  How do you do your tempo runs?

Tweet Tweet!

So, from the title of this, hopefully you have figured out that I am now on Twitter!  Yay!  Wait, what?  I really don't fully get twitter.  I have posted a few things there that I haven't posted on fb, just because I figure if I get too annoying, people can just unfollow me.  So far, most of my "tweets" have been either running or children's related.  My kids have been really excited that I am following PBSKids so that I am keeping up on when their shows have new episodes.  We are up to 47 Wild Kratt episodes on the DVR, plus the movie (which I was able to tweet about already, one of my first tweets). 

Can you suggest anyone for me to follow?  I really don't know what I am doing.  In fact, I think it is really funny that my only tweet that has gotten ANY response was when I tagged Gymboree, thanking them for fixing a problem with a coupon that I had.  It was CRAZY, because of all the people that I actually know that follow me, a huge company that usually takes a few days to respond to fb posts responded right away.  Now I am thinking twitter is the way to go for dealing with them, if I can't get through to customer service. 

Here is my twitter "handle"  Sorry for all the random letters.  It is supposed to be an acronym for Double Jogger Diaries, but I had to add extra letters for my initials too. 

@MelissaKC_DJD

So, please follow me!  If you do, and I don't follow you back within a couple days, leave me a comment here with your id in case I am confused who you are.  My brother's twitter content is night and day different than his f/b, you would hardly know they belong to the same person!

Sandy Hook Memorial 5K and Half Marathon Virtual Run Recap

This week I completed the Sandy Hook Memorial 5K and Half Marathon on January 31st.  The shooting there affected me so much.  I cried for days.  My daughter is a first grader, and because I know this age so well, it was so real to me.  I was devastated by this.  When I saw that the event coincided with my first 20 mile run of the Run Less Run Faster plan, I knew I HAD to do it.  I would run one mile for each of those children (I did another run in Dec that my tri told me about that I dedicated to the adults). 

I registered too late for a medal, but that was OK.  This way, more of my entry fee went to the victims' families.  I did get a bib that I printed myself. It was a miserable day for a run, though.  I was really glad I had this virtual run to focus on.  It was really cold and windy.  I am used to the cold from MI, but with the routes that I do here in KY, the wind can just be relentless because it is just so much more exposed, and instead of being a loop in a park, with public bathrooms that I could stop and get more water and use to warm up, it was just going to be me and 20 miles, outside for around 3 hours without stopping or going in.  The real feel was in the teens, but I dressed apporpriately (GOR windstopper tights by Mountain Hardware, fleece hooded top, windbreaker, winter mountain biking gloves, CEP socks, GOR windstopper headband, and visor). I also brought some things to pump me up: Flat Cristina paper doll (made by Keira), We Love Amy wristband, my race bib, and I chose my Boston visor since it is Keira's favorite and has a unicorn on it (for unicorn special powers).  I brought hot water in my camelback so it wouldn't freeze, but also my credit cards in case I had to stop somewhere (gas station, CVS, or McDonalds) to buy more water.  I was really glad starbuck was the opposite direction I run, otherwise I would have likely ordered a hot chocolate and stayed a while.

(I don't know why this picture is upside-down, it looked fine before I tried to upload it)
My goal pace was 9:00min/mi, and I was pretty sure I could meet this on regular day, but my first half mile was straight into the wind, and so difficult!  This was going to be a long run for sure!  Due to the conditions, I had intially planned that I would run my 10 mile out and back, but twice.  The wind was driving me crazy, though, and I decided that I couldn't take the miles back to my house on the bypass twice, so I opted to run into Pewee Valley instead of running home, until I got to 10 miles, and then turn around and repeat the whole thing from there.  That turned out to be a good choice.  I got to avoid some windy hills, and get some break from the hills.  The last 5 miles were super hard, though.  I did come in just under 3 hours and on pace.  Whew.  I am glad that I had the motivation of the virtual run to get me through.  I just kept thinking that each one of those little angels needed a mile.  I had to give them each one.  I got home and just cried and cried. 

Doing my long runs on Thursdays had presented some interesting challenges.  I didn't have much time before I had to get Soren from school.  I had to take a quick shower, and get over to school.  I didn't have much time for cool down or eating.  It made the day be really long, but it was nice to get it done during the week.  I only had a short run scheduled for Saturday.  It allowed us to go skiing in IN for the afternoon.  We had snow coming all weekend, and it was a short drive away.  It wasn't a huge resort, but it worked great for the kiddos.  The staff there was super helpful to us.  They were great helping the kids on and off the lifts.  However, it was total amatuer night there (lots of skiers in jeans and full on camo gear).  We saw some crazy falls and people struggling with the lifts.  Kind of scary.  You can imagine my astonishment when I actually saw a kid land a backflip in the terrain park on skis!  Awesome!  I have never seen that in person before (only on TV), even in Utah!  I guess when it isn't that steep,  you have to work the terrain park if you are a local.  Keira is doing great on skis.  We were just happy for the opportunity to get the kids outside and skiing, even if it wasn't challenging for us.  We had a blast, and that was what was important.