tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26772519199658199732024-03-12T20:13:43.029-07:00Double Jogger DiariesThe trials, tribulations, and elations of a running mother turned triathlete.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-75973897187856154742015-01-11T18:38:00.002-08:002015-01-11T18:38:41.673-08:00Its 2015!!! Big Plans for the Year!I've been quiet lately here on the blog. I will go back and do recaps for a few of my missing races, especially because the 2014 Columbus Marathon was PRETTY major for me, finishing with a 3:34:10, my second fastest marathon ever, and getting me a BQ +5 for 2016! Then I snuck in the half at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, more just for fun and because I had a free bib, and then went up to northern MI for the Iceman Cometh mountain bike race from Kalkaska to Traverse City. It was crazy muddy and one of the hardest things I think I've ever done. It was mudman with rain, sleet, and some snow to fully live up to the Iceman Cometh name. And then I chilled for a bit, and STILL got crazy sick! I called it the plague of 2014 #plagueof2014, but it clearly lasted until 2015. I've essentially been sick and entire month. I started running a legit fever on 12/13/14 and couldn't do my 13 mile run that I had planned to remember the awesome day. I am still taking prednisone and a new antibiotic for the next two days (getting me to 1/13/15). As a result, I am a wee bit behind on training for the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon on April 25, 2015, but I'll manage. The official training program doesn't start until this weekend, but since I don't consider myself a beginner anymore, I'd like to be on a harder plan than that.<br />
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Enough of a catch up! The big news (that has been on facebook and twitter for a month now too), is that I am back representing <a href="http://www.coeursports.com/" target="_blank">Coeur Sports</a> for 2015! I am so excited to stay with this fabulous company. I encourage you to check them out. They not only have great gear but I love that they are all about racing your heart out, and being encouraging to other women. The 2015 line isn't on their web page yet, but you can get some sneak peaks over on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/coeursports" target="_blank">facebook page</a>.<br />
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Seeing this image online made my day!<br />
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I have a few other plans for 2015. First, I am teaching barre pilates at the YMCA for the next few months. I've been trying to break into teaching classes, and I really enjoy the barre classes. One of the instructors is going on maternity leave, and I am taking her Monday night class. Monday night is not ideal for me, but during the school year it works. I won't be able to work my regular Monday morning shift and teach on days when school is out. Its just too hard on the kids. I'm going to worry about that later. I think I'd rather drop the wellness shift and teach, except for the fall gets crazy with the kids after school schedules. The kids come first in terms of my work schedule, so I'll sort it out once they have decided what they want to do. I'd really like to pick up Patti's Friday morning class, because I don't usually work Fridays, so it won't conflict with anything, and is just a better time in general, but I'll take what I can get as I break into teaching. <br />
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Running Plans:<br />
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I'm an ambassador for the KDF Marathon, so I'm running that as well as participating in their Norton Healthcare Training program to some degree. Mostly I'll be coaching the Y's Triple Crown of Running training program, which builds distances and includes a 5K, 10K, and 10mile race. Then many people will go on and run the KDF Mini Marathon (13.1miles). Both of these programs kick off this weekend. The Norton program is free, and there is a fee for the Y program. One of the nice perks of the Y program is that transportation is provided to the races, and since all three of those races are HUGE, parking and getting there can sometimes be a challenge. Plus you get me for the Y program!!! I'll still be available for the Norton program, but I'll be at more of the Y group runs. <br />
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Now, I am not doing the whole triple crown. I'm doing the 10 miler plus a new race for me this year, the Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon in Lexington. Run the Bluegrass has a partnership with KDF and they are offering a "Half Classic", where you run both, and you get an extra medal and special post party after the KDF race. You can do the half or full at KDF, and the half at RTB to get the Half Classic designation. Its a hilly race and calls itself the "prettiest half marathon" from a course standpoint. I loved running the Iron Horse in Midway, KY, and it isn't far from there, so I'm expecting similar breathtaking horse farm views.<br />
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Cycling/Tri Plans:<br />
I've got to get signed up for Iceman again, because last year was too awful to end that way!!! <br />
Horsey Hundred is also another must, because it is just such a well done event. I've done it every year we've been here. Its a nice tradition.<br />
June T Rex tri (Triceratops). I am hoping to get some dental work done in MI this summer, and time it with at least the first in the series, if not get 2 of them done. We'll see. <br />
This is where everything gets fuzzy. Initially, I had wanted to do the Challenge New Albany Race, in Ohio, except that there isn't any information on it anywhere. So I might do Muncie. Again. Its becoming a tradition too. Everything came together so well last year though that I sort of feel "done" with this course. I'd really like to do Ironman Louisville this year. Its in October now, so there is more time to train with the kids in school, and that helps. Plus I do well in cooler temps, so I'm not really afraid of it being silly cold or crazy hot. So I'm also looking at Challenge Cedar Point as an option to lead up to it, but it would be more of an expensive training day since it is closer to IM than Muncie was in the past. <br />
I might try to get up to MI for the Beat the Heat ride, but Ryan doesn't have any friends interested. If I can make it a girls weekend, them maybe.<br />
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The biggest downside to IM in October is that it kills the fall running.(and is a crap load of training) I guess last summer I was really struggling to train for my fall race, due to the heat and was telling myself never again do a fall marathon, except race day was so awesome, that to miss out on that is a bit of a bummer. Plus IM is close to Black Mountain Madness, Bourbon Chase, and all the other fall marathons in Columbus, Detroit, and here. IMM is the same weekend as Iceman this year (as it is most years).<br />
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Finally, for 2015, I think I will be retiring the jogging strollers! So sad! The kids are just big enough that they can run or bike with us now, so that is great, but it is totally the end of an era. I'm not sure what I want to do with the title of the blog. I plan to keep the URL, but I might rename it. I don't know. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-83120674802856120692014-10-12T20:12:00.002-07:002014-10-12T20:12:43.661-07:002014 Black Mountain Madness Ride to the Summit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ryan and I were excited to return to the eastern side of KY, to coal country, to ride the Black Mountain Madness Ride to the Summit. It starts and finishes in the town of Cumberland, KY. We were bummed we couldn't get any of our close friends to commit to it, but after having such a great time last year, we decided we had to go back. Plus, with the date change of Ironman Louisville for 2015 from August to October, if I am going to really do it, I won't have the opportunity to do this ride (or ride to the summit anyway) next year because of the dates being too close together. New for this year was the option to ride down the Virgina side and come back up. I was going to stick with the same route as last year. Ryan was on the fence.<br />
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We made a hotel reservation at the <a href="http://www.kentuckytourism.com/Listing/100/" target="_blank">Benham Schoolhouse Inn,</a> which is where we stayed last year. It is in the town just east of Cumberland and was a school that was a coal camp public school, and my parents were able to come down and watch the kids.<br />
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Last year, this ride was one of the hardest rides that I have ever done. As a result, I vowed to be better prepared this time around, both from having my bike in better working order and by doing more mileage. With both kids at the same school, this boded well for my training, plus I am training for the Columbus Marathon with lots and lots of running fitness. My theory was that I only had to be able to do 58 miles, rather than 70, since the ride back down would be mostly coasting with a little pedaling on the last 5-6 miles through Lynch and Benham into Cumberland. I did two 44 mile rides from my house on the Ironman loop out to Sligo, once with Elise and Forrest, and once on my own, with the second time breaking 18mph. I also did a ride in the "knobs" of Indiana with Elise, Forrest, and Ron. This ride had two huge climbs that weren't nearly as long as Black Mountain, but were still big long climbs. I replaced a bad shifter on my rear derailleur that caused major issues on my MMM Beat the Heat Ride, so I had my shifting in good order. Much better than last year. I did have a little scare after the knobs ride, when I unpacked my bike and heard a "boing" noise the Tuesday before the ride. It was a broken spoke! Ack! I ride 650cc wheels, so I was really freaking out over it being fixed in time. Thankfully, the guys and gals at VO2 Multisport were able to come through and fix my wheel on Thursday so I could be good to go. <br />
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On Friday morning, I got packed up, bringing about everything I owned. The weather had really cooled down, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to wear. Ryan took a half day so that we could drive to Cumberland and get registered the night before. It is about 4 hours from our house, and we got on the road just in time to arrive a few minutes before 5pm, when the registration closed for the day. After picking up our packets, we headed over to the School House to get checked in. We had a much nicer room this year. It still had the hardwood floors and had a huge window that looked out to the back of the building, towards the mountain. For the most part, the hotel looked the same as it did last year, however, the reading room looked like it was turned into and office, and was locked with one of the bookcases in the hallway instead of the room. Our room (below)<br />
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Reading Room turned office<br />
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Don't feed the bears sign outside our hotel<br />
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Benham Tigers Spirit</div>
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Books are inside this locker. The guest rooms are numbered after the graduating classes.<br />
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We drove up Pine Mountain, on our way to dinner in Whitesburg, KY. It is really beautiful. We stopped at a couple overlooks for some pictures.<br />
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We enjoyed our dinner at the <a href="http://www.pinemountaingrill.com/" target="_blank">Pine Mountain Grill</a>. We ate here last year. I told Ryan how last year I was so nervous! We had a maple blondie for dessert that was excellent. Normally I wouldn't get a big dessert before a big event, but it worked last year so we got it again this year. Then it was back to the hotel and off to bed.<br />
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Saturday morning arrived, and it was in the low 40s. I decided that I would wear my thick under armor top under my Coeur Sports Chevron Jersey and my under armor tights over my Coeur Sports little black tri shorts. I wore socks with my shoes, my headband, and I had my full mountain bike gloves, but not my really heavy gloves. We had a little delay at the start because there was a group that arrived late, and it was then that I realized that lots of people had booties on, and Ryan had on toe covers. I was really torn if I should put my booties on. I had never worn them with tri shoes before, so I wasn't sure if they would work with the cleats or not, and with such short time, I just figured I would stay how I was. I also had my heavy winter mountain bike gloves in the car as well, thinking I would be ok with what I had. Here are a couple pictures from the start:<br />
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On the ride out to Loyall, my hands were cold for a long time, as well as my feet. I was really wishing I had my heavier gloves and booties. I stayed with Ryan for a little bit, but he asked to go ahead and that was fine. It is rolling downhill towards Loyall, and I rode with a few different people, but mostly on my own. The SAG stop was moved to a church this year, and it was nice to be able to go inside and warm up. Everyone there was so nice and happy to see us. I had packed four sleeves of Clif shot blocks and three bonk breakers with me. I had a half a sleeve of blocks and one bonk breaker bar at the stop, refilled my water, and chatted with a group of guys that remembered me from last year, with my bike problems on the climb. Once I was warmed up, I headed back to Cumberland. I was mostly by myself on the way back. It was a really pretty ride back. Since I was on my own I was able to focus more on the turning leaves than on the bikes around me. I stopped briefly at the SAG stop at mile 35 to refill water and ate a few more cubes. I was pleased because I was right around two hours for the ride so far. Its funny because being at the halfway point of the ride didn't really feel like the halfway point, since the climb to the summit is so long. I made it to Cumberland and it was really windy at the stop. I refilled my water again, and had one more bonk breaker, and more cubes. A few people opted to ride back to their cars before stopping, and I was really wondering if I should switch up my clothing. I was comfortable on the ride towards Cumberland because I was working hard enough to be warm. I knew it would be cold on the top of the mountain, but I also knew I would be riding very hard to get there. I took a few pictures with the bears at the stop, plus I love fall, so I had to sit with the pumpkins! The quilted bear had been repainted I think from last year. At this point, I had gone 47 miles.<br />
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Then I was on my way, but got stopped at a traffic light, so I took a couple pictures with this bear. I had remembered the handprints on it from last year and didn't get a picture. Since I was stopped already, I figured I might as well get a few pictures.<br />
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At this point, it became a pretty gradual uphill as I went through Benham and towards Lynch. I stopped quickly at the Lamp House coffee shop quickly to mentally prepare for the climb ahead. It would be about 6 miles to the top. I thanked the staff their for their help and said I couldn't get a hot chocolate now, because milk before the big climb would be bad, but I thought it would be a great idea on the way back down. Then I was off. I saw a couple other people out there but was by myself for the majority of the climb. It was really pretty going up, but I really really didn't want to stop this time around. Last year, I pretty much had to because I couldn't get my bike to stay in my 28 on the rear, but this year, the bike was in the proper gear and it was just a matter of gutting it out. I kept looking at my garmin, and as usual, I was tired enough that basic math was challenging. I'm not sure why I thought 47 plus 12 equaled 58, other than the fact that last year I was at 58miles at the top, but I got to mile 58 and was not done. I was going faster this time than last year. It felt like it took me an hour to get to the top last time, because every time I looked at my watch, I was going only around 6 miles an hour. This year, I was in the 6-8mph range. I was going at a rate that I would typically go if I was running on flat ground, so I tried to make the time pass the same way it would as if I was struggling to run up the hill on the bypass by my house. It seemed to work, and I was so excited to get to the top. Ryan was up there waiting for me. He had opted to stick with the same route as last year. Here are a few pictures. Some are mine and some were taken from the Black Mountain Madness facebook page. This is Ryan at the summit.<br />
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Here I am finally at the top!</div>
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Tim rode over the other side of the mountain and back up. Here he is on the way back up from the VA side.<br />
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Tim at the top.<br />
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This is looking out towards Virginia. Last year we took several pictures over here. Today it was just cold so we didn't do more pictures.<br />
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Ryan and I at the top.<br />
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Ryan and I with Tim and Bryan from Team Louisville</div>
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We didn't stay long at the top, because it was cold up there. The ride down was so cold. I was not ready for that. It was much harder than I expected. I really wished that I had worn my booties and heavier gloves at this point. I think I could have dealt with hot hands and feet better than I dealt with freezing hand and feet. Ryan passed me on the way down, and by the time Tim passed me, I was totally freezing, and told him I was topping for hot chocolate for sure. I was in the wrong gear to try to spin down the hill, so I was mostly coasting until I got back to the Lamp House Coffee. That was the best hot chocolate ever! I really was good because it was made with Ghirardelli chocolate and steamed milk. Plus it helped me regain feeling in my hands. Once I finished it and left, I was able to stay warm because I was moving more to finish up the last few miles into town. I rode in with three others, and had to do an extra tenth of a mile past the library to get to 71.0 miles. I couldn't stop at 70.9. <br />
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We had a warm pasta and pizza lunch waiting for us, plus POP, and homemade fudge. Its funny how grateful I am for a Coke or Dr. Pepper after a long ride. We each got a medal for finishing the ride, and that is probably one of my hardest earned medals. We chatted with other riders we met from Team Louisville before getting changed and loaded back up for our ride home. It felt great to get into comfy clothes. However, before we got on the road, we stopped into the Coal Museum to buy a Christmas Ornament. We didn't have time to tour the museum, but it would be fun to come back to do this tour as well as the Portal 31, which is a tour of a coal mine. <br />
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Overall, this was another excellent experience. I felt a lot better prepared, with the exception of my hands and feet being cold. I now know that if Ryan has on toe covers, I should be wearing booties. Also, if in doubt, wear warmer gloves. Thinner gloves are small and I should have just tucked them in a pocket and started in the warmer gloves so I could have the option to swap them on the fly. Since its a small ride, I had planned to bring my own bars and cubes, and rely on the stops for water, which was fine. Lately, my rides have been pretty unsupported, going as far as 40 miles without stopping at a store for more water, so I figured I would just go with what I knew worked. It was a good plan. I probably would have been fine with the PB&J sandwiches at the stop, because I love those too for riding. I also appreciated the amateur radio operators that volunteered to keep a good track of us on the ride. Since its a small ride, they kept track of us individually. I love that even though it is a small ride, it still happens. I hope that this ride continues to grow, but I do like the small intimate setting of it. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-5129009193443514452014-10-05T19:41:00.001-07:002014-10-05T19:47:53.879-07:00OC Grand Slam 5K Series 2014, all 4 races, race recapAs usual, I'm way behind on race recaps. The OC Grand Slam 5K is a 4 race series of 5Ks in different locations in Oldham County, each having a different beneficiary. Last year, I was a pretty solid second place for the overall series award, a Louisville Slugger bat. This year, it was a much tighter race. Also, I am usually more concerned with getting a specific time than winning races, but this series really brought out the competitor in me because it was so close.<br />
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Race #1, Crestwood Baptist 5K<br />
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This is a fun race because it is right by my house. CBC is in front of my neighborhood, so I can walk to it. Noelle was doing the whole series, and Terri was doing all but 1, and Courtney and her daughters planned to do the entire series.<br />
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It was warm, and I had an OK race. Being that it is on my "home turf " so to speak, I was a little disappointed with my race. I felt pretty good for most of the race, and was behind Grace and another woman for a lot of the race. On the uphill coming out of Kenwood, I passed Grace, but she passed me again on the way up a hill in the CBC parking lot. Initially, I wasn't stressed about it, because I knew she wasn't in my age group (she is 11 I think?). I was a big chunk behind Tracy, who was the winner. I took first in my AG, and was third overall, about 15 seconds behind Grace. After the race, I realized how poor a decision it was for me to not try harder to beat her because she could get me in the series!!! My time was over 23 minutes, so I was a bit bummed about that too. I think last year's time was faster. I wasn't very speedy today.<br />
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Race #2, Oldham County YMCA 5K<br />
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This is a Friday evening race, and it was a ton cooler this time around than last year. It was like running in an inferno last year, and the course is 1.5 miles downhill, and then pretty much 1.5 uphill. So it was nasty last year. This year, it was rainy, and perfect temps for running. Tracy, who won the first race, was not there! Wow! Maybe I had a shot at an overall win here today. However, Roberta Meyer was here, and she won the series last year. She was coming off an injury, which is why she wasn't at the previous race. I ran a strong race. I flew downhill, passed Grace and Roberta, but there was another woman who won the race that was not at the first race. I was faster than my time last year, with a 22:07. So close to being under 22! I haven't been under 22 in a long time. I was 2nd OA and first in my AG. <br />
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Race #3, Fastline 5K<br />
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This race is on Saturday, and goes through a neighborhood. Becca was here today, and unfortunately, Courtney had a childcare issue, and opted to not run. I felt super bad because she could have been an overall contender because she wasn't far behind me or Grace, and my Ryan could have totally watched her kids for her at our house. Also, Becca's husband was there and watched their kids at the race. They actually rode around on bikes cheering for everyone. I finished just before it started raining. Tracy was back at this race, so she took 1st, and I was second, with a smaller margin over Grace this time, who was third. Becca was super excited to win her AG too! I squeaked in just barely under 22, with a 21:55.<br />
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Race #4, Apple Patch 5K<br />
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This was the final race. I was getting really nervous and excited about this race. Ryan had been invited to go to MI for a UM game, so I had to ask Courtney if her Ryan would watch my kids too. Thankfully, he was able to, because the whole reason I didn't go to MI (and miss out on a fall trip with cider and donuts and farms and fun) was to attempt to win the series. I was in the lead because Tracy missed the one race, and I had built up a bit of a cushion over Grace. I didn't have to beat her to win the series, but I really wanted an overall win. It seemed a bit lame to me to win the series without winning an overall race, but attending and racing all 4 is the point of the series award. The course is a bit challenging (as they all are in the OC, its not flat anywhere), and Grace and I were neck and neck behind Tracy the entire time. She'd get a little ahead and then I'd get ahead and we went back and forth. I had been reading Iron War, and I kept thinking that this must have been similar. On the final turn, Grace almost missed it and swung really wide, and I made up a little bit of ground on her, but she surged ahead. Then I saw the finish line and sprinted in, with a 1 second lead over Grace on our watches, and a 21:31, so close to my PR of 21:22 from 2011. I had done it! I had won the series!!!! I had my opportunity and I took it.<br />
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Here's the article in the Oldham Era, from 10/2/2014 (see, I had to wait until now to post this because I needed the picture!!!)</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-36440678350491378132014-07-14T19:20:00.002-07:002014-07-14T19:25:39.214-07:002014 Ironman 70.3 Muncie Race Recap! *WARNING!! SUPER LONG*Its been a while since I've done a formal race recap. Since Boston, I completed the 76mi route of the Horsey Hundred, the Triceratops Tri, and the first leg of the Oldham County Grand Slam 5K series. I'll get those updates done and put in the right order (hopefully soon). Thanks to facebook and twitter, I've been photo documenting (as always) my training and racing, but I need to go back and put all the thoughts and photos together into nice recaps. With Muncie being this past Saturday, I wanted to jump on it and get everything out while it is fresh in my mind.<br />
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Muncie and I have a history. It is creeping up there as one of the most repeated races of mine. Crazy because it is one of the longest races that I do, and it just blows my mind that this is the FOURTH time I have done it. 2011 was magical because it was my first Ironman brand event AND my first trip away from my kids overnight by myself, and it was back before smartphones and navigational systems in the cars so I had a whole slew of new things to stress about. Like just getting there- with a huge pile of printed google map directions. 2012 was a huge disappointment. It was the hot year where it was shortened and then I got pneumonia days later. 2013 was initially supposed to go so well, but then I crashed in May, and racing and finishing was a victory in itself. So, 2014 was going to be my year, right? Third time's a charm (for the 70.3 distance). I have wanted to go sub 6 in the half iron distance for pretty much as long as I have been doing this, and I have gotten pretty close. 2011 was 6:06:50, and only my second 70.3, then last year after my crash, I still managed to come away with a 6:08:54, two minutes off my PR and that was with all the issues I had with my crash. I've gone under 2 hours on the run at Racing for Recovery, but that was it, and it usually came down to needing a sub 2 on the run to make it since my swim isn't so good. I really didn't think I would come back to Muncie this year, but then when some of my friends got to talking about it, and Ryan's good cycling friend Austin signed up for IM Wisconsin and decided to do Muncie as a warm up, everyone jumped on the bandwagon and we signed up before Christmas to take advantage of the early bird pricing. I had a good crew of friends from MI that came down. Valerie, Austin, Bill, Eric, Christine (not Cristina), and Dicron (Chad's dad) were all racing. Maria and Mindy had both entered and did not race, Maria due to injury and Mindy due to a crazy hard adventure race next weekend. Plus, there was a huge crew of Landsharks that raced. I found Elise, who I have been riding with, plus Linden, Nick, and Geri all before the start. Plus I met Lindsay, who is a Betty Designs ambassador and good friend of Valerie's and everyone from MI. <br />
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The whole family drove up to Muncie on Friday. We took the tour of rural Indiana route, which I took last year. Its not too bad, and it avoids all the construction traffic on 65N and the cities. Thankfully we didn't get stuck behind too many slow moving trucks. <br />
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When we finally got onto more of a civilized road, we ended up passing Elise and her husband! We texted back and forth during most of the remainder of the drive and arrived at the expo together. They moved the expo from the Horizon Convention Center to the reservoir, and thankfully our GPS had the coordinates in it from previous years. Google maps just plopped you in the middle of the water, so Elise was thankful she had us to follow. Elise and I got a couple pictures after check in near the finish line.<br />
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We checked our bikes the night before at the option bike check in. I hadn't ever done it before because in previous years, I didn't go out to the reservoir because its a little drive from the city of Muncie with all the food and hotels. Valerie was driving me to the start so Ryan and the kids could stay in the hotel longer, so it was best that the bikes were already taken care of. We found Valerie, who introduced us to Lindsay, and the three of us attended the 5pm athlete briefing together before dinner at Noodles (my favorite prerace place).<br />
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That evening, back at the hotel I got everything situated. I wrote my name in my new swim skin with permanent marker so that it wouldn't get mixed up in transition. I wasn't too worried about my wetsuit getting mixed up, but I went over my name again in permanent marker just in case. The swim last year was wetsuit legal, so I was hopeful it would be again this year, but prepared for either case. Before bed, I shaved my arms (which I have only done before IMLou and as a child playing with a razor).<br />
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We got up CRAZY early. Initially, Valerie thought I was crazy when I said I wanted to leave the hotel at 4:30, but then I got a text from her before bed saying to meet at 4:00 to get loaded and roll out at 4:15ish. They had also bought a reserved parking spot on a homeowners lawn to be ensured a close parking spot. Lindsay rode with us too so her husband and kids didn't have to wake up so early. The bike check the night before made it easy to fit everyone.<br />
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We arrived and as soon as I went to set up my gear, I realized that I didn't have my helmet sticker. Ugh. At my last tri I had forgotten my bike sticker, so I thankfully I knew it wouldn't be that big of a deal. We just needed to find someway to label it non-permanently. A staff member grabbed a marker and walked me over to a huge pile of blank number sticker sheets and we made a new one. Boom, problem solved. I also got a pin for my chip strap that I also forgot, and got everything else set up. They announced that it was indeed wetsuit legal, so my arms and swim skin prep was for naught. There will be another race I'm sure where I will use it. I was racked next to my Coeur teammate, Nicole. This was her 10th race this distance, and hanging out with her instantly put me at ease. We got a picture by a banner.<br />
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Coeur also had 3 pros racing and 2 other ambassadors (than me). We were able to get this group shot right before the pro start (note this picture is out of order because it is clearly very light out). Beth Shutt was the only one missing. There was also a great preview on the Coeur blog <a href="http://www.coeursports.com/blogs/latest/14821289-muncie-70-3-course-review" target="_blank">here</a><br />
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Me, Kate Bevilaqua, Jacqueline, Nicole, Malaika Homo right before the start<br />
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Then, it was time to track down the rest of my crew and wait for the start. I found everyone after the national anthem. (these are all out of order because they loaded by file name)<br />
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Bill, Austin, Maria<br />
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Christine and I<br />
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Eric and I<br />
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Geri and I<br />
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Me and Austin. <br />
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Me and Elise<br />
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Me and Linden<br />
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Me and Mindy<br />
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Nick and I.<br />
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Valerie, Christine, Lori, Me, Adam, Mindy, Eric<br />
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Valerie and Kent<br />
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I had Nicole, Christine, and Lori (also with Level) in my wave for the swim. While I get stressed about swimming, it isn't like I used to. I felt very relaxed the whole time and didn't have too much traffic. I got hit in the head a couple times, but nothing terrible. It was overcast so sighting was a TON easier. I thought I would have a faster swim time than ever, but no, it was an average swim for me. I really need to work on my swimming more!!! I would have liked to have a bit more cushion here for the rest of the race to go under 6!!!<br />
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Swim: 49:14<br />
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I saw my friend Kathy right as I exited the water. She was there supporting Greg, who is a physically challenged athlete who does not have the use of his legs. There were wetsuit strippers to pull of the wetsuits, and then I ran into T1. They have carpet to cover the rocks and I passed several people on the carpet from the water to the bikes. I got situated and headed out for the bike.<br />
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T1: 3:32<br />
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The bike course was so much better than last year, except I would describe the first few miles as "technical" because of the pot holes. They were mostly marked and to be honest, they weren't anything worse that what I am used to riding on here in KY after this winter (or MI all the time), so it really didn't bother me at all. It was still so much better than last year's rough section. It was a bit crowded on the way out, but I figured it would thin out before the end when I would hit these again. I figured I should try to average between 18-19mph and it wouldn't be too difficult to run but still be fast enough to allow enough time for it. The first loop was quicker. I was entirely self sufficient from a nutrition standpoint on the first loop, and had 2 gels and 2 water bottles. At the halfway point I ate a bonk breaker bar and 3 clif blocks. My water was getting low so I stopped to get a new bottle 2 times. I had thought about refilling all my waters at 1 stop, but figured it wouldn't really make that big of a difference in the long run. I also had another 3 clif blocks on the bike. I debated having 3 more right as I was finishing, but with the roads not being as smooth and me getting somewhat sick of being on the bike, I figured I was more coordinated to eat clif blocks while running than biking, and waiting 5 minutes wasn't going to be deal breaker here. I made sure everything I wanted from my bento box made it into my pockets. With the bike being a set of two out and backs (for 2 loops), you get to see friends a lot, which makes it nice. I never felt like I was completely alone. A few times I felt like I struggled to pass people in a timely manner. For a while there was a lady in my age group that would pass me almost every time I passed her. I was finally able to pass her for good in the last couple miles of the bike that were on the rougher roads and more uphill. I was just tough because we were fairly evenly paced. Then, as I finished the bike course, I saw Ryan and the kids. Yay! I wasn't sure how early they had planned to get there. However, we knew that Austin, Bill, and Eric would rock it out and finish quickly, and he wanted to see them finish too. I hoped they wouldn't get too bored waiting for me to finish the run.<br />
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Bike: 3:03:20<br />
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Hoping off the bike and getting into T2, I wanted to walk quickly but didn't quite feel ready to run yet. However, as soon as I was ready to run, there were slow dudes in front of me with their bikes. I politely asked to pass them and was able to get around. While I was in the process of switching my gear from bike to run, I realized that a woman named Shannon, who is a friend of Erika, was there. She had told me to say hi to her if I saw her, so I took this opportunity to say a quick "hi" and was off. I think I popped my final 3 clif blocks in my mouth as I was running out of transition.<br />
<br />
T2: 2:43<br />
<br />
The run. Oh boy. I looked at my timex that I had started at the beginning of the race. I was just barely under 4 hours at the start of the run. I didn't need a sub 2 hour run to get the sub 6, but I could try for both. It was actually not super hot. Today is my day. I just kept telling myself that. I had a couple really nasty longish training runs where I had wanted to stop the whole time due to humidity and heat (and fatigue), and I didn't, so I just told myself to be careful, pace myself, and no walking unless I was drinking at an aid station. I was NOT going to fall apart this year. This was MY day. I was extremely focused on not going out to hard, and making sure it felt easy in the beginning. I walked a few steps at every aid station and just tried to keep track of my pace. Not too fast, but not too slow. I enjoyed watching the pros and other fast people on their way in. I saw Eric and Lindsay on my way out, plus a few other people. I was just trying to keep everything nice and easy and stay focused. Push a bit on the uphills but not too hard, and relax and loosen up on the downhills. The course profile is more downhill on the way out and more uphill on the way back. I got to the turnaround in less than an hour and there is an extra aid station there so I took a few seconds to walk/drink again and then got running. There was actually a cool breeze. It was amazing. I caught a few of my friends that I saw running ahead of me on the way back. When I had 5 miles to go, I was still staying confident, but I felt like it was too soon to say that my sub 2 run/sub 6 day was going to happen. But when I got to 4 miles left, with 40 minutes, I knew I could do it. I just keep checking my time each mile and even each half mile. With 2 miles left and 20 minutes, I felt a burst of energy and confidence. I knew I could do it, I just had to keep going and be careful on the uphills so I didn't cramp up, but just keep going. I could visualize where I was at home and know how much time it would take. I did start worrying about Greg. He was super worried about making the bike cut off because swimming and handcycling for him is a lot slower than your average able bodied athlete, but the pushrim wheelchair is a LOT faster than a runner. I think I had gotten to mile 12 before I saw him, and that was a huge relief to me. That last mile I felt like I really pushed myself. There is a big uphill and then I sprinted to the finish. I couldn't believe I had finally gotten my goal of under 6!!!<br />
<br />
Run: 1:58:14<br />
<br />
Total 5:57:03!! Huge PR! Almost 10 minutes and both goals obtained! Yay!!!<br />
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I nearly fell down when I crossed the line and stopped. I probably should have just gone to medical right then and there, but my MOM was there! I had called her earlier in the week to see if she wanted to just drive over from Ohio for the day, but she never got back to me. I got my chip taken off and hobbled over to the Level Multisport tent where Eric, Kent, Mindy, and Adam were. Ryan met me there and Soren melted down because it started to rain. I felt really awful and laid down. After several minutes of still feeling awful, Maria decided that I should go to medical for an IV. Eric had already gotten one and was good as new. I had Maria bring me over there and it took them a little while to decide to give me one. They stretched me out, brought me a banana, but my stomach felt horrible. Then they gave me an IV. I felt a lot better after that and was able to move around again. Maria had gotten Ryan so she, Austin, and Bill could head out. We said our goodbyes and Ryan walked me back to the Level tent so we could find Valerie, who had finished with a huge PR too!<br />
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We got a few post race pictures, and then it was time to head home! <br />
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Austin, Valerie, Bill<br />
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Eric, Christine, Me, Valerie<br />
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The family! Me, Ryan, Keira, and Soren<br />
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Me and my mom!<br />
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Me and Valerie<br />
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Ryan and Austin<br />
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Support Crew! (I really hope my mom was with the kids at this point. Ha!)<br />
It was so awesome to have so much support at this race. Had I not had so many friends here, it would not have worked for Ryan and the kids to come because there is no way we could have had the kids at the race that early. This is actually only the second time he was able to see me finish a 70.3 because of the logistics. Having my mom come out was a fabulous surprise. I'm sure it made it a lot easier on Ryan too for her to be there. Plus, it is just so much fun to race when friends are racing. Really, if it wasn't fun, I wouldn't be doing it. Having so many friends there just makes it way more fun!<br />
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Its funny, I told Maria while in medical, that last year, I thought I was done with Muncie, and now that I have finally hit my time goal, that maybe this time FOR REAL I am done with Muncie and will pick another race to try (or focus on running more instead). Now, two days later, I am not sure. I looked up all my other race times and realized that while I had PR overall, none of the 3 disciplines on their own was a PR. It was just a matter of having a decent day all around, and not ruining one discipline with another being overdone. It also makes me think that I should be able to do even better than what I did, right? Seriously, I have GOT to work on my swim. I keep saying that I should be able to take 10 minutes off of that alone, and have yet to do it. <br />
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The medal. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-3138609870980529732014-06-08T14:15:00.001-07:002014-06-08T14:15:08.192-07:00flipagram movie 2013<iframe frameborder="0" height="640" src="//flipagram.com/f/RGvW2PheEQ/embed" width="540"></iframe><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-58277426298519603842014-04-22T12:01:00.000-07:002014-07-14T12:03:48.880-07:00Boston Marathon 2014- Best Birthday EVER!!!So, I bet you guys were anxiously wanting to know how the Boston Marathon went, right? And I ended up doing my blogging about it on the Coeur blog, and not here (and I am backdating this post so it shows up in the right spot chronologically). I meant to go back and copy, paste, and add pictures, but since I didn't do that yet, here are the links to the Coeur webpage. It was awesome being a guest blogger for them and I loved the extra support of being part of the Coeur team. You can read all about the weekend at these links:<br />
<br />
Dispatches from Boston: Melissa<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.coeursports.com/blogs/latest/13787821-dispatches-from-boston-Melissa">http://www.coeursports.com/blogs/latest/13787821-dispatches-from-boston-Melissa</a><br />
<br />
Dispatches from Boston: Race Day is Tomorrow<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.coeursports.com/blogs/latest/13810201-dispatches-from-boston-race-day-is-tomorrow">http://www.coeursports.com/blogs/latest/13810201-dispatches-from-boston-race-day-is-tomorrow</a><br />
<br />
Final Dispatches from Boston: Our Heart Will Always Beat on Boylston<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.coeursports.com/blogs/latest/13846489-final-dispatch-from-boston-our-heart-will-always-beat-on-Boylston">http://www.coeursports.com/blogs/latest/13846489-final-dispatch-from-boston-our-heart-will-always-beat-on-Boylston</a><br />
<br />
I need to go back and add more pictures. Also, please note that while the majority of the content on the Coeur page was mine, Kebby and Reginal Holden had the final edit, and added information about my other teammates racing there and the weekend in general. I unfortunately could not meet up with either of them, but I did get to see Cristina, Anita, and Stacy while out there. Its a huge city and a huge race. It really was the best birthday ever!!!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-25956907095680222682014-04-09T14:16:00.001-07:002014-04-09T14:16:42.307-07:00Training recap, ready for BostonI'm getting pretty excited for Boston. Its in 12 days! Wow! I haven't really written as much about my training as I expected I would this time around. I've just been busy trying to juggle life, so I just thought I would do a brief summary:<br />
<br />
I was scheduled to do 5 20 milers. 3 of them were on snow days from school or days where it was so ice covered outside that running outside was not an option. The 4th 20 miler was scheduled on a terrible day (rain/sleet), but I had enough foresight to move it up to the only nice day of that week, and rocked it out. My last 20 miler was a bit dicey. The weather was crazy windy and my splits were all over the place. It was nothing like my training last year where I knocked every long run out of the park crushing my splits. Granted, I took the actual splits from last year and aligned them with a tougher a plan, so I was working towards something more aggressive. Still, it is humbling to experience more "failure" this time around. The weather conditions were tougher this spring (if you can even call it that) than last year. They were more reminiscent of 2011, when I PRed, didn't care about splits, and just got the miles done. The weather was so nutty and all my long runs were done outside that there was nothing that I wasn't prepared for. I sort of feel like that right now. Hopefully I did enough character building in this training cycle to be properly prepared. I feel like I could have gotten a bit more hill work in, and I either had an insane amount of wind or I was inside. I didn't get much outdoor running with just "normal" wind.<br />
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My right foot is bothering me a little, but the taper has only been an improvement. I'm pretty sure it will be fine on race day. I want this so bad that I know it will be fine on race day. It might be really not fine the next day, but I will worry about that later. I'm icing as much as I can and wearing sturdier shoes to work for more support. Although, this week has been a bit of a test. Last Thursday, my long run day which is always the worst day of the week coincidentally, Keira was throwing up. That resolved itself on it own thankfully, and I switched days of my plan around so that I did a short run while Ryan was at work, and then moved my long run to Saturday. I also did some yard work and got a splinter! Ugh! A thorn, right into my finger. It didn't come out until Monday night. Then yesterday, Keira came home from school with Strep. I typically take Wednesdays off and go into work, so I had to find someone to cover for me and then I've spent all day doing laundry and keeping the kids separate, and disinfecting things. Keira is only contagious another few hours, but any of us could get sick in the next 1-4 days (it takes 2-5 days from exposure to infection). As much as I gripe about our pediatrician's office not being as nice as the office in MI, they sure have been very accommodating. Keira came off the bus yesterday at 2:30, burst into tears and crashed instantly on the couch with a headache. I knew strep was going around and that this was NOT normal behavior. With taper madness in full force, I called her Dr's office (my 6th time contacting a health professional this week since I'm going taper crazy), and they got us an appointment for 4:45. By 6pm, we were home from the pharmacy and already had her first dose. And we got $6 worth of candy from CVS for only $.53 thanks to extra care bucks. Score! Now we just have to hope no one else gets sick!<br />
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In addition to the training preparations, I am also starting my piles of things to pack. My welcome kit arrived, and my mom bought my jacket already for me as a birthday present. I still need to earn it, but its there, waiting.<br />
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I have been amazed by the support of my friends, family, and even strangers. This week, a package arrived from Strava, after I filled out a survey for them stating I was going to Boston. It was funny, because right after I filled out all the info and hit submit I thought, "either this is awesome that I am getting something cool for free from Strava or this is the most brilliant scam ever to get my info". Thankfully it was the former, and I really didn't provide any information that wasn't already public record that anyone could access by asking at the county clerk's office or searching the internet. They sent me a card that says good luck on the back, gloves, tattoos, and a wristband. I love wristbands. Last time I ran Boston, I turned my leg orange with a plastic bag. I need to wash the wristband so that I don't turn my sleeve or arm orange! Ryan reminded me of that. <br />
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I have my visor from Kebby to wear. So pumped about this, and I got a custom bib from Races2Remember today with my name on it to wear with my race bib. The rules state that you cannot modify your bib at all, and this will look so much better. I might have to order more of them for races where I can't get my name on the bibs because they look so nice and are really reasonable. I'm not going to post it until I figure out how/wear I want to wear it<br />
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The tricky thing about the race is that they aren't allowing any baggage check in Hopkinton. Anything that you bring on the bus you either need to donate, consume, throw away, or carry to the finish line. They also said no bags. Hopefully ziplocks are ok, because I want to use chomps for this race, and they are difficult to open. I want my food in ziplocks, and I can put those in my pockets. I have a warm up suit that I have never worn that's been in my closet for ages, and I think I will donate it in Boston. I was planning to donate it anyway. I also pulled several tees out of my old shirt bin and will likely take an extra tee with me for an additional layer. I have a heat blanket to bring, and I need to decide if I want to use my bolero or arm sleeves when I get there. The nice thing about wearing a tri top is that I should have sufficient pocket space to store my sleeves or bolero should I need to take them off. The only tricky part is taking it off with my garmin since both my sleeves and bolero have hand mitts attached. I'm planning to run with my phone in my spibelt like I usually do, so I can easily find friends in the athlete village as well as after the race. When I raced in 2012, I checked my phone at the start of the race and got it back after the finish, and carried a camera. Hopefully I will get some decent pictures with my iphone so I don't need a camera AND phone. That's just too much stuff to carry! <br />
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I'm really excited to go to the race. While I wasn't there last year, I was still affected because I WANTED to be there last year. I had friends there, and it was such a swing of emotions for me because I went from being sad that I wasn't there to horrified by what had happened, and then gratitude for being home. I am not afraid to race this year, and I am excited for this to be a celebration of life and that terrorists do not win or stop me from doing what I love, and that is to run. I also cannot believe that I am competing in an even that will be televised nationally! Really, how often does that happen? Its not just that its on TV, its that its a big enough deal to be on TV! Fleet Feet of Louisville is doing a send off on Monday for runners and their supporters that I am hoping to attend. I need to make sure I can get Soren to soccer practice, but right now that is the only issue. I'm excited to see who else from the area is going. My neighbor, Ande, is going. How wild is it that I had a neighbor Jen to do Ironman with me and now I have a new neighbor, Ande, to run Boston with me! Best neighborhood we could pick! Since we are both traveling with our families and friends separately, I hope we will meet up out there. There are so many more runners than Ironman and with the different bus loading and start times, its going to be tricky, but hopefully we can meet up out there. Cristina has already told me she would wait for me at the finish area. Hopefully she doesn't wait too terribly long! She's starting ahead of me (as is Ande) so she'll have a decent wait. My Coeur Sports teammate Emily will start early too, and I hope to meet up with her. Anita will be there too. I followed her in Detroit half when we were both trying to get into NYC. <br />
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I'm not sure if I will do a post after the send off Monday or not. Obviously, if it doesn't work out for me to go then I won't post about it, but I also don't know if I will have time. In the meantime, I leave you with this picture of the medal:<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-25556318391463168892014-03-31T12:45:00.004-07:002014-03-31T12:56:52.107-07:00The Car ProblemNever in my life have I been so stressed out about a car purchase before! The past couple weeks have been crazy in our house. I have felt every emotion possible in the car search. The first emotion was probably fear. The trusty mazda6 that I LOVE was starting to fail me. We were definitely at the point where we needed to either replace or repair the car because the shifting was acting up and since I already feel like I have to go through a few dangerous intersections in the mornings, they were getting pretty sketchy and I needed a huge gap in traffic to feel safe. Otherwise it still looked great. Here it is brand spanking new, fresh from a hand car wash in 2004.<br />
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The next problem was that I had an odd (well, maybe after reading this, you won't think its so odd, but I felt like people I didn't know thought it was odd, but people I knew well were more like, "of course you thought that" ) attachment to the car. This was MY car. I hand picked it, searching dealer inventory daily. It was the perfect car. Ryan and I test drove several different cars before confirming that we did want the mazda6. Working for Ford at the time, we got a discount on Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar, Mazda, Volvo, and Land Rover (and Aston Martin). We considered the Ford Focus, Volvo S4, Jaguar S type, and mazda6. The mazda6 5 door sedan was my favorite, and so that is what we got. Being car people, cost was a factor, but it wasn't the only factor. We were trading in my Mercury Cougar, a 2 door hatchback, the first car I bought all by myself. You'd think if I was going to have an odd attachment to a car, it would be the "super cougar", and not my aged mazda6. However, it was a fully loaded car with ALL the bells and whistles. There was not an option this car did not have, and its the highest 60 month car payment we've ever had. But, I had a good job and I had my cougar to trade in and cash to put down, so it was all good. I signed the papers for this car myself and paid for a good chunk of the payments with my income while I was working (before Keira was born). So, it wasn't really my first car, but more my LAST car. The LAST part of my prior life before kids when I could actually use my own money to buy what I wanted. Whatever replaced it should be special. <br />
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I got the car the week after my first marathon, in October of 2004. It brought Keira and Soren home from the hospital, and it was the only car that they ever knew. This car went back and forth between Ohio and MI when Keira was a newborn and toddler. It took the kids everywhere. I drove it home from Racing for Recovery 70.3, my first half ironman race- I had driven the truck there and Ryan met me, but I found sitting with my feet straight in front of me in the car was much easier than more upright in the truck. I also took the mazda6 to Muncie, my first solo trip and race since the kids were born. Put the bike in the back and packed up and went. It had been a long time since I went anywhere new by myself, and this was before we had a smartphone or a GPS. I also drove my bike to bike check in at Ironman. Seeing it in the back was when it got real and I had a good excited "I'm living my dream" cry. I could drive it with my knee banged up after my crash. I could fit both my bikes in the trunk and the kids to race in MI. I brought Soren to the BMX track in it. Keira rode in it to school. It was (and still is) a great car. It wasn't going to be easy to replace.<br />
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Ready for bike check in at IM Lou</div>
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Bringing Keira home for the first time</div>
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After my BQ in KY with my girl. </div>
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I had my eye on the Ford Fusion for the past year. I saw it at the auto show last year and fell in love. The fusion was based off of the Mazda platform, so it would be replacing the car with a very similar sized and priced vehicle. I had been looking forward to getting the new stylish Fusion. (this photo was taken in 2013 NAIS Detroit show)<br />
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This photo was taken a month or so ago at the Y. One of our members drives my dream car!<br />
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I'd kind of thought it was a done deal. I had been pumped about getting the Fusion. I wanted a blue one just like the one in the picture above. <br />
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Ryan and I started looking around at cars. Since he works at Ford and gets A plan, our pricing is set. So it should be really simple, right? Well, with inflation and new technology available, we couldn't get the fully loaded Fusion for anywhere near the cost of the mazda. They were looking a bit pricey. And then we thought maybe we should get another Ford Escape. I did not want another Escape. I was against having two of the same vehicle, plus I felt like the escape was a downgrade from the Sport Trac we traded in from a size and utility standpoint. Ryan primarily drives the Escape so it was his call that we got a pretty basic one. It was a cash for clunkers trade and we were on a time crunch. We were one of the fortunate ones who had our vehicle tagged and waiting for when the vouchers came available and with 27 dealers in the Metro Detroit area, it wasn't hard to find the options that Ryan wanted. Amazingly, it was available at the dealer across the street from our condo. Two tenths of a mile away and I could walk there. Awesome. The mazda6 came from just another block down. We entertained the thought of an MKC for about 15 minutes. We built one of those online and without A plan, comparing public pricing, the MKC with FWD was $80/month more than the AWD Escape, so totally not worth it.<br />
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We thought about a Taurus. This is where all the drama began. Those of you who know me well will also think, "of course you flipped out". With incentives, when we were talking with one of the salesmen at our closest dealer, the Taurus seemed pretty close in price to the Fusion. There were a lot more incentives, and Ryan felt like we could get a lot more car for the money going the Taurus route. I was not thrilled, but the realistic side of me (yes, I know there is one in there somewhere) knew that I had to give it some thought. Well, basically I tried to come up with real hard concrete reasons against buying the Taurus instead of "it makes me feel old". And it did make me feel old. My mom drives one, and Ryan's dad drives one. Plus, any Taurus we would get would be far inferior option wise than theirs. I really didn't want the cheapo version of an old person car. I cried. I felt like I was having a full blown midlife crisis. My run on Thursday was horrible because it was windy, and then I felt even more old. I came home and measured the garage. The Taurus is approximately 203 inches long. Our garage, from the front concrete block to the hardware on the inside of the garage door was approximately 210 inches. Score 1 for me. There wouldn't be room in the garage for this car AND my bikes, plus the kids bikes are currently in front of my bike, plus my stroller and our firepit are in the corner blocking the man door. All of this stuff would need to be moved. Obviously we could put the firepit outside and purchase a cover for it and move the kids bikes to the front of Ryan's car, and sell or move my stroller to the basement. But the problem with the adult bikes would still exist. I knew I would have a dent in the front of the car from an SPD mountain pedal. One of my very sensible responsible friends suggested covering it with a pool noodle. Sigh. Everyone was coming up with solutions that pointed to the Taurus. The dealer we were working with had told us that if we picked something from their lot, they would give us what we wanted for our trade. Ok. We'd see what we could come up with. They didn't want to retrieve my "dream car" from another dealer because they would lose some money on the sale, so they would take that out of my trade. Some people we spoke to thought they were being a bit extreme on this, but needless to say, we tried to find a vehicle from their stock.<br />
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The other issue with the Taurus/Fusion debate is that Ryan wants to be able to use this vehicle to travel, which means we need to be able to load up bikes and all sorts of stuff on and in it. The Taurus has a huge trunk. Massive. Plus, our Yakima skybox will fit on it and we can take some pieces from the existing Escape rack and move them onto a Taurus. We would need about $300 in parts from Yakima to make it work. I called Yakima, and they have no towers that will fit with the Fusion for 2013/14, when they redid it. However, the woman on the phone said that the skybox will fit with any crossbar as long as there is at least 3 inches of clearance. Thule to the rescue! They aren't American, which is a bummer, but they do offer a rack solution for about $600. I was not about to let $300 be the difference of my happiness. Then, Ryan found a Taurus with huge 20inch wheels, which I had said I would entertain a Taurus if and only if it had huge 20 inch wheels because that would prevent it from being "an old person car". Or it would just really date me! Well, Ryan found one in the sterling gray color with black leather (a must) and 20s. Crud. I agreed to go look at it on Friday after I picked up my race packet. We looked at the outside of it, and I agreed it looked like a pretty decent car. I had a good cry about my fabulous sporty mazda that was MINE being replaced by an old person sedan, but wasn't going to be totally unreasonable if this really was an affordable car for us and would be better for our family. I spent the evening cleaning out the food, paper, and stuff that had accumulated in my car. I ended up pulling an insane amount of stuff out of there. Some of the items included: double jogging stroller, 5 pairs of safety glasses, a reusable shopping bag of CDs, two reusable shopping bags of reusable shopping bags, one reusable shopping bag of important papers and things not trash, plus a disposable shopping bag of trash and another of recycling, plus 3 unopened bottles of water. <br />
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I ran the PJ10miler and had a great race. With my parents in town, we thought it would be a great idea to be able to go to the dealer without the kids and test drive the Taurus. The guy I had worked with in the past was not there, however the guy that confirmed the appraisal was. We waited forever after the test drive, and finally sat down, about ready to close the deal. The guy came and got us and we started to talk about numbers. Wow, we were shocked. First, they had devalued my trade. I was irate. That same man had told me earlier in the week that "had I picked something off the lot, I would get $X for my trade" because he really wanted to sell the Taurus. Not $X-$500. That made me and Ryan really angry. We felt like we had been mislead and told a lie. They would not budge on this. Then, the guy we worked with wouldn't explain all the numbers to us as to how he got to our monthly payment, which was HUGE! Holy moly! It was bigger than the mazda6 payment. When we talked earlier in the week with the other salesman, payments were over $100/month lower. What the heck had changed? $500 on the trade is only about $10 a month, so even giving us that didn't make this car affordable. Not at all. The lack of explanation offered to us and my lack of food from racing was a horrible combination. I'm a math person, which means if I can follow everything, there is something in there that shouldn't be. We really felt like there was something being pulled over our eyes here, and we walked out. It sucked to be back at square one and waste the time I could have spent with my parents being incredibly confused and frustrated. I went home and added everything up on my own, and it seriously should have been $25 less. Still way more than the Fusion, but a lot less than what we had been quoted that day. I read all the fine A plan print and included tax and the fees and that is what I got. I called Ryan and said that was what we should expect for that size car, and if we really wanted a car that big, we would have a car payment that big. For an old person car.<br />
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Being back at square one brought in more stress. We circled back and Ryan asked if we should consider the Escape again. No. I wanted a car. Fine. We looked more at dealer inventory online that night and I decided to go look at another car on Monday with a few free minutes that I had. They had a blue one online, and to have them go through detailed pricing with me. These guys made perfect sense to me, except the blue one had been sold. They appraised the mazda and agreed that it was worth the $X dollars I was initially asking for based on Kelley's Blue Book value for trade in. They wrote up a fancy form on it too for me that I could bring back when I was ready. They had two black ones that were affordable with the smallest engine. I said I'd be in touch.<br />
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Later that day, Ryan and I met up at a dealership that had been recommended to us by my tri club. I pulled up to that dealership and thought, "this is the kind of dealership I am used to in Detroit". It was massive. We had looked at their inventory on line and they had lots of options. It was made from an old mall and had cars as far as the eye could see, plus a fun gallery of classic cars. They were also a Lincoln dealer, so I could ask about the MKC (which Ryan actually knows more about from his internal Ford knowledge than the dealer anyway). They people here treated us really well and Ryan took out two different Fusions for a test drive to determine which engine we would want because there were 3 options. Ryan was mostly interested in the middle sized 2.0L ecoboost of the Fusion.<br />
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We had to give it a day because we both had activities on Tuesday night. We did some searching online of inventory again, and it seemed like Bill Collins, the awesome huge dealership recommended to us by my tri friend, would have something. We were up against the deadline of March 31st, when the incentives would change. They might go away, stay the same, or get better, but we have no clue, and won't know until tomorrow! I went there with the mindset of, "we WILL buy a car today". I was just worn down of the search process and had decided that interior color (dark charcoal leather) was the top priority. Leather is so much easier with kids. Just compare my 9 year old mazda interior with Ryan's 4 year old cloth Escape. We don't even eat in the escape and it is discolored from Soren being carsick on one trip. Keira had reflux as an infant and threw up on an almost daily basis in the mazda. It wiped right off! Plus our sport trac just stunk like sweaty exercisers by the time we traded that in because the sweat soaked into the cloth. Ew! The cloth of the newer cars is supposed to be better, but I wasn't sold yet. <br />
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We met up with our guy, Tone Wesley, on Wednesday. We told him we wanted 2.0L Ecoboost, preferred dark leather, and few other options if any to keep cost down, and some acceptable colors. We also said if they had a Taurus like the one at the first dealership, we would rather buy it from him. He pulled 3 cars into their showroom, 2 Fusion 2.0L Ecoboost engines, and 1 Taurus. The first Fusion had leather and was sterling gray, the second had cloth and a ton of other bells and whistles, and was black. The Taurus didn't have the big wheels, but was basic and had light leather. I didn't want light leather because I'm a jeans girl, and didn't want to stain my leather from denim. After going to the auto show for years on the first public day, I had seen firsthand what dark denim does to light leather interior. It turns it blue. It can be cleaned, but its a pain and not something I want to plan to stay on top of from the beginning. That car was out. They had a similar with dark interior, but it was a demo car with a decent amount of miles. I really liked the first one. I didn't need all the bells and whistles. It had Sync to use my ipod and satellite radio, so that was really what was important from an entertainment system. It had heated seats. It was sterling gray, so almost the same color as our Escape, but also the same color of the Taurus we almost bought. Ryan liked the black Fusion with the cloth and all the extras. We sat down and talked price. For the first time EVER, the car I wanted the most, with the leather interior and nothing else, was the least expensive! That was hard to argue with. All three options were affordable, but it was really hard to argue with "I want the least expensive". Then we had the mazda appraised a final time. The kids said goodbye to it, and cried. It was hard for me to not cry since it was such a great car.<br />
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Goodness I was stressed. We got our $X trade in, and it was done! We declined all the extras and we have the lowest car payment we've had. Here's the new car!!!!!<br />
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And it fits in the garage!!! (and matches our other car, sort of boring, but it won't be this way forever!)<br />
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Sorry for this crazy post, but I really felt like I needed to get this out here. I was crazy stressed out over this, and documenting it should hopefully help me know what to worry about and what not the next time around. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-20185160944161201122014-03-30T18:28:00.000-07:002014-03-30T18:28:01.330-07:002014 Papa John's 10miler Race RecapThis year I finally signed myself up for the Papa John's 10 miler and ran it as myself, instead of scrounging for a bib last minute, or not so last minute. It lined up perfectly with my training plan that called for a tempo run of 10 miles at a 7:49mi/mile pace. I've been struggling with the tempo runs this entire training plan (and last year too), so racing one is always good motivation to do better. Its like I need the adrenalin or excitement of a race to be able to fight through these runs. This race is only $30, and you get a Nike drifit shirt and chip timing. Its a total deal! There is no medal, BUT, there is free Papa John's pizza at the end, which for me, is way better!<br />
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This winter has been hard on me. Last year, in training, I was nailing every workout (except the tempo runs). This year, so much indoor running seemed to hurt my outdoor running. Or maybe conditions have just been that much tougher. Some of my long runs have been improvements on last year, and my track workouts have been better, but a lot of the outdoor runs have gone poorly, mostly from horrible winds. I had a rough 15 mile run on Thursday prior to the 10miler. I had entertained the idea of helping out Athletes in Tandem, for the race, but felt so worn down that I didn't think I could handle the additional stress of pushing a stroller. I know I would have had a wonderful experience being able to devote this race to someone else, but I also needed to be able to check a box next to a workout marking it a success instead of an "x" that denotes that the splits weren't achieved.<br />
My parents came into town for the weekend. Keira wanted to run the kids race, but Soren had a soccer game, so I needed someone to bring her down to the finish of my race for me so that Ryan could go to Soren's game. Keira reminded me that Nicole Curtis (of HGTV's Rehab Addict) had only missed her son's games for her triathlon. That made me laugh. My dad came with me to packet pick up, which I had never been to before. Someone else has always brought it to me. There was actually more of an expo there than I expected, and Keira got a ton of stuff in her goodie bag for the kids race. No tech tee this year (it was cotton), but she got a lunch bag, cup, crayons, activity book, and chick fil A breakfast sandwich coupon. I also met with Dennis from Athletes in Tandem briefly and explained my internal struggle. <br />
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My neighbor Jennifer reminded me that I am training for one of the biggest and prestigious races right now and that it is OK to do a race for myself. Ryan and I were also in the process of selecting a replacement vehicle for my Mazda (I probably ought to do a separate post just for this), and to say the least, I was not enjoying the process. Not only could Ryan and I not agree on what was best for our family (or me), but neither of us could find what we thought we wanted in dealer stock. We thought we had settled (and I mean settled, as neither of us were terribly thrilled about our choice) on Friday night before the race, so to add to the stress, I was detailing the interior of the mazda6 to prepare it for trade in the next day at 11pm the night before the race. Fabulous. This is exactly what you want to do before a race, shop vac the car for an hour. I finally did go to bed and was excited to sport my new Coeur Sports kit the next morning.<br />
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Jennifer gave me a ride to the race bright and early so she could meet up with the Athletes in Tandem group. I had told them that I would be an alternate, and thankfully was not needed for this race. I hope to race with them for a shorter less crowded race as my first experience. While I consider myself an experienced stroller pusher, I don't love racing with my stroller unless I have to, and I'd like some experience with my own kids this season before I push a stranger. I took a few prerace pictures with Jen, Erin, and Terri. I had a Coeur teammate out there running too, but with my stressful week, I failed to reach out to her and with the crowds of people, if you didn't have specific plans to meet someone, it was really hit or miss to find someone there. I ran into a few other people I knew waiting to start.<br />
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I felt like I started a little slow, trying to stick to my plan. I felt tried and stressed still. Then I got passed by a guy wearing a shirt that said "Believe in the Blerch". That cracked me up and I ran a bit faster to try to get a better picture of it. <br />
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I felt like I ran a smart race, I saw a few friends cheering on the hills of Iroquois Park, and got passed by Erin there too. I didn't try to stay with her because I wanted to stay within my training goals and not try to run this too fast, although I felt like I was pushing pretty hard and going faster would have been a struggle anyway. I ran the second half faster than the first, which is always good, and I'm sure helped out by the fact that the way out is slightly uphill with the first uphills of the park in the first half and more of the downhills on the second half coming away from the park. (photos (C) Bob Alvey)<br />
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I had a strong finish, with a time 1:17:27. It was only 10 seconds slower total than last year's PR. It actually felt a lot slower! I was surprised my time was only 1 second per mile slower, but it was probably mostly in those first couple miles when I was specifically trying to stay slow. It was great to have my parents are Keira there. As I walked through the finish area, I found Tracy. She had hooked me up last year with a bib from her Chick Fil A team, and I worked the kids race in exchange. It was a blast, but it was nice to just race this time around. <br />
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Since I rode with Jen and my parents were meeting me at the finish, I gave them my hoodie to bring to me, but I kept my foil heat sheet that I brought with me. I rolled it up like a burrito and ran with it in my pocket during my race. Tracy shares my affinity for Chipotle, so took this picture for me. I knew she would appreciate it.<br />
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My dad grabbed me as I went through the food line, and we stopped at Papa John's Camero. There is a story behind this car, and I am paraphrasing here. This was his car as a young adult, and he sold it to gain the capital he needed to start the pizza chain. Then, some years later, he (or his people) were able to track down the car and get it back to him. I'm sure I'm leaving out some details here but that is the basic story and why this Ford girl would want her picture taken with an old Camero (especially given the car drama I was experiencing). Good thing there is a nice F series behind me too.<br />
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We had a decent wait until the kids race. We were all pretty cold. I was so glad I had my heat blanket and my hoodie, but I really could have used a coat! My parents wanted to walk back to the car, but I knew they couldn't be that close based on how many cars were there when I got there. However, we made it to the kids race. <br />
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Keira had a blast. It was quite the hassle to have my parents come up and wait for so long in the cold for a short minute long race, but it was worth it.<br />
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Stay tuned for the car drama! It really was a lot more complicated this time around.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-27691890707777896862014-03-02T18:56:00.002-08:002014-03-02T18:56:32.056-08:00Iceman Registration and New Coeur KitThis past week was super exciting. I had received word that my<a href="http://www.coeursports.com/collections/triathlon-1/products/chinese-new-year-tri-tank" target="_blank"> Chinese New Year</a> print tri kit from <a href="http://www.coeursports.com/" target="_blank">Coeur Sports</a> was on its way. Plus, Iceman registration opened Friday at noon.<br />
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Last year was the first year that Iceman utilized the USA Cycling website and servers to handle registration. It was my first year, so I don't have any of the horror stories of my own about spending hours online trying to get through to the website of prior years. However, it used to be an all day affair. They also offer onsite registration at Bell's where you can use a paper and pen/pencil. There are a limited number of paper entries, but since we are in KY, that's not an option at all. Even where we lived in MI, its still a 4 hour drive.<br />
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Friday morning I had some blood work that needed to be done for my thyroid. I still don't feel like we have it right, but thankfully I'm not getting more tired or gaining any weight (that is not explainable) right now. Its just that blah tired feeling that I get all the time that we are trying to fix, and my levels just seem to stay the same no matter the medication levels. I go back in a couple weeks to review the results and see if we will make any changes. I got in a quick swim, did one errand, and then was home around 11ish. Plenty of time to be ready for registration. I got logged in to USAC site and made sure Ryan was still listed in my "group", because I was going to register both of us. I traded texts back and forth with Ryan's friend Kent, the whole reason we got into this, to determine if he was going to be part of a huge group that was being registered by our friend Janelle. I was on the fence with joining her group, and sort of like the control that I had over my own destiny here, plus, whoever registered everyone had to pay for everyone, so I liked that I could just pay for Ryan and myself on our own card. Eric was also signing up Mindy, and a few other friends were signing up themselves and spouses only as well. Here was my set up. IPad and laptop, ready to go. I had a timer on the phone too, for 11:55 to start refreshing for the sign up link to appear. It was just black at this point. Note the lightsabers. Our coffee table is a mess! I also saw our mailtruck enter the neighborhood, and hoped my new Coeur kit was on it, because of when it had shipped. Such excitement!!! <br />
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Since last year's registration went so smoothly, I expected this year to go the same. It sold out in 33 minutes or something crazy because everyone got into the website quickly. I hit refresh at 12 and I got nothing. A complete white screen. The same on the iPad. Crud. I tried my phone. I was able to get to the screen where I was supposed to pick a category, but there were none to pick or any links on the page. Plus, it was teeny tiny on my phone. AAAAHHH. I ran into the basement carrying the laptop, iPad, phone, and my wallet, and hoped I didn't drop anything. I booted up the dinosaur down there called a desktop, and waited there. Still nothing more than white screens or the screen with nothing to select on my phone. Its been 25 minutes of refreshing. I didn't have any other tabs open on the computer just so it wouldn't have to work harder (not sure if that is really helpful or not, but at least it was less distracting to me). I called Kent, who said he was in, but really he wasn't, and said no one was getting anywhere. I opened facebook. Everyone was struggling. Eric, Kent, and Janelle were all freaking out too. Whew. Glad it wasn't just me. I went back upstairs since the dino computer wasn't doing anything and I wanted to plug back into the wall. I just kept hitting refresh on the page with the registration and no boxes. Eric had gotten passed it once. It was taking FOREVER to load, but as time progressed, it was getting a little better. I went out and check the mail, since Soren reported that the mail truck was leaving the neighborhood. Low and behold was my new kit! Gosh, it looked tiny. Standing in the living room, between hitting refresh, I tried it on. It fit! It took a bit of wiggling to get it on, but once it was on, I was quite comfortable. <br />
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AND, shortly after putting it on, I got through the system, entered my credit card, and my confirmation email popped up! The link the email wouldn't work because I couldn't get back into the system, but I took a screen shot of it, and figured I would hold Iceman too it if it wasn't right. It had a confirmation number and everything.<br />
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Everyone else was struggling still. Eric posted that he had only heard of 3 people who had gotten in. Ryan and I made 4 and 5. I told him that it was because I put on my kit right there in the living room and wore it for registration. I called Ryan. He was getting worried that none of our friends had gotten in. This is one of those races that without friends, its just not as fun! However, after about 90 minutes into it, a switch was switched, and the registrations got through. First, Eric and Mindy were in, and then Kent. Finally, Janelle turned over her duty to Eric and he got her group in. After checking around with everyone, everyone I knew that wanted to get in got in. It was just more stressful than we expected, but no worse than years prior to last. <br />
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Saturday was actually plenty warm, but I opted to do a tempo run indoors so that I could push the pace and hit the splits, plus test out my new kit. It felt great. I ran 6 with the middle 4 at 7:30 pace. My plan this year calls for 7:19, but I haven't been able to hit the really fast paces so I used last years. It was tough, but I did it. Here I am after my workout. Wow, my hair was crazy!<br />
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I had several friends ask what I thought about the white (basically concerned that it would get dirty or be see through). There is a built in sports bra that is black, so I wasn't worried about the see through issues. I was pretty well soaked through in this picture, and except for getting a tad chilled under a fan, wasn't too worried about anything. The bottoms are red. I did sweat a ton on this workout, and it did sort of look like I peed my pants, but that is just what you get with red bottoms, or really any color other than black for me. I struggled with sweat spots whenever I had a red leotard. Since I competed for Buckeye Gymnastics and then Ohio State, I had my fair share of red leotards. I am more worried about dirt though. I do have a red tri top with black shorts on order for my summer tris. Island Lake water is very green, and the Ohio river is brown. Prairie Creek Reservoir is also on the green side. I did get a swim skin, but I still don't want to come across the finish line looking green or brown. I think this will be great for running and my cycling only events. I plan to try out the shorts on the trainer probably tomorrow. It washed up great. I washed the red and white top with the red bottoms and everything stayed the proper colors. I even used a bit of stain stick on it because I somehow managed to get myself dirty already. Usually I have pretty good luck with my white gear. I have a white Lulelemon skirt that I have done OK with, as well as a white based IM kit. Plus, I totally saved my white PI bolero from what was an almost certain bloody death with oxiclean and peroxide. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-67907971989755456202014-02-17T13:00:00.001-08:002014-02-17T13:00:08.790-08:00Sometimes you just have to skip the plan! Leading my first indoor cycling and skipping my tempo run to SKI!This past week was a great week. I got in my trainer ride on Monday like planned, and didn't have to work on Friday, so I also planned to swim. I nailed my track workout on Tuesday, and then after that, I checked my email and saw that there was a group from Oldham County Multisport doing an indoor spin on Wednesday night at the Buckner Y. It wasn't an official spin class. Wednesday night, indoors, at the Y...I could do that! Usually I can't ever go to their activities because they are outside on Wed (Ryan's night to ride) or Thursdays (Keira's ballet). And, to make it even more exciting, I volunteered myself to lead the class. WHAT? This is a new group of people and I'm not cycle class certified, but I am group exercise certified (and I disclosed that). So, I taught my first indoor cycle class. I was super paranoid about my music selections, because I thought they were great, but since this is a new group for me, what would they think? I kept it mostly to adult alternative, because that is what we have, and kept it very clean since its the Y. Some of the classes I have been to have not depending on their audience at other facilities. Also, since I knew this was a bunch of triathletes and not "spinners" I knew that we would want to do intervals and climbs, none of the goofy "jumps" that while may give you variety and build some strength, don't really have any place in road riding. I definitely asked everyone's opinions of what they wanted to do and tried to incorporate them, so it wasn't as structured as a real spin class, but it was fun to be up front!<br />
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I also was able to finally run outside for a long run on Thursday! Yay! It was still below freezing, but it was a step back week for me and I had to run 13 miles. It would be tight, because it was the day of the mother/son father/daughter dance at Soren's school, and I needed to be there by 12. I had 3 hours total to drop off Soren and pass out his valentines, come home, run 13 miles (at 8:04min/mi pace) cool down, shower, and get back to school by 12. It was crazy, but I had everything ready to go before I left to take him to school, water, clothes, shoes, garmin, food, ect for running plus my whole outfit for the dance because I had to be dressed up for it. I finished my run just 26 seconds over my goal, and I had an average of 8:06 min/mi. I was very pleased with that because last year, I had a tough time with this run. I really needed the step back, and with all my indoor running, I haven't dealt with wind or hills really. It was a beautiful day for it too. I took this at mile 4, not quite a third of the way in:<br />
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Hopefully I'll be back outside this week. Here's Soren and I at our dance:<br />
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I did my swim on Friday like I was supposed to, and then I was really dreading my Saturday workout. The schools got out early because we had a snowstorm. Ryan and I had reservations for a valentine dinner in Germantown, and thankfully the snow did not stop that from happening. Since we did get so much snow, we opted to drive to Indiana to go skiing at the local "hill" in Paoli. Its mostly to get the kids on skis again. It is a small place and there were only a few easy runs that the kids could do. Also, it meant that all the people who had no clue were also there skiing those same runs. Towards the end, I was getting really stressed out for the kids because some of these newbies were so inconsiderate and out of control that I was afraid one of my kids was going to get mowed down. I had someone snowboard over my skis and push off my body on one run, and I went nuts. I screamed that they had better stay far away from me and my kids. Really, when I ski, I am more afraid of dumb people causing me to crash than anything else. I didn't fall because I am not a complete disaster on skis, but I know it would have sent my kids tumbling downwards in a second! I think it was by God's grace that Keira wasn't knocked down on another run. I told Ryan that it wasn't my day to beat someone over the head with one of my skis for hitting my kid. Also, I got my poles "borrowed". Ugh. Skiing in Indiana!!!! I went to the rental area at the end of our day to ask if anyone had turned in a set of non rental poles because mine had been stolen. The attitude of the guy in rental return was just as infuriating to me. He was just like "someone didn't steal them, they just borrowed them" and figured they would eventually turn up, and I could come back tomorrow. Um, no thank you. It was just annoying the lack of respect for others that everyone had here! The worst part was that my poles were hanging with my skis and we had put a pin through the end of the hanger, so the person had to actually open up the door on it and make an effort to take mine over theirs. Or someone else was equally disrespectful and took theirs first. Soren finished up skiing before Keira, and we spent the final minutes waiting on them looking for my poles. Amazingly, I found them in a pile of other gear in the locker room area where you weren't even really supposed to have gear anyway. I was shocked they turned up, and part of me wanted to wait there to see if someone came back, but there were two other people there and they had said that the gear pile had been there at least 2 hours and they hadn't seen the people that left it. I did ask them if it was their stuff before taking my poles, but they were clearly mine. They are 12 years old and have a scratch down the entire side of one that I did at Snowbird on Little Cloud. I showed the one guy a picture of me and my poles from Crystal Mountain and he agreed they were mine too. Here is a picture of us (me with rental poles).<br />
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I know it sounds like I am complaining a lot about the skiing, but it was great for the kids, despite the fact that I was a nervous wreck that they were going to get hit. They did great jobs and made a lot of improvements. Soren really improved, and Keira had ended at Crystal with a huge crash, so it was important that she didn't have to wait another full year to ski to go out on a good note. There is another resort not too much further from us in Ohio that we will probably go to next year. Soren was free at this one due to his age this year, but next year, the other resort will be about the same price, maybe a tad cheaper even, and its better. <br />
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Up this week, maintaining my swimming! I also have another 20 miler, and I think it will be outside. Yay! We also need to get the kids healthy. Keira was really sick after we finished skiing, I was ill yesterday, and I didn't take any chances with Soren today after an odd burp, and kept him home from work today.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-68472885247561600112014-02-09T19:43:00.002-08:002014-02-09T19:43:49.935-08:00Earthfare Earthlete, OSMO Nutrition and more indoor running!2014 is shaping up to be incredibly cool, and I haven't even done a single race yet. I am pleased to announce two more sponsors! <a href="https://www.earthfare.com/" target="_blank">Earth Fare- The Healthy Supermarket</a> and <a href="http://osmonutrition.com/" target="_blank">OSMO Nutrition</a>.<br />
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I was able to get involved with Earth Fare mostly because of my friend Ginger. She is a great friend and sometimes that voice of reason in my head when I am just being unreasonable due to the weather or other "act of God" type situations that threaten my workouts. She is not an endurance athlete, but nutrition and healthy living is important to her as an aerobics instructor and mom of three active children. She got me started going to Earth Fare once the opened near our homes. It is a great grocery store, similar to Whole Foods, with an assortment of already prepared foods for immediate consumption, raw ingredients, and packaged foods. They carry premium brands as well as their own line of items. I really love Stonewall Kitchen products, and I am pleased that I can purchase them there. One of my fellow Landsharks, Luke, is an Earthlete as well, and when I saw his advertisement on our club page for coupons, I jumped on it. I got coupons for Ginger too, and then when it was time for Luke to refer athletes to their application, he chose me! I will find out more information about the ambassadorship next month, but, I already know I love the store and the food there. <br />
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My next announcement is with OSMO Nutrition. I was fortunate to be able to attend a call in meeting with Stacy who is the founder and has been doing the research. I took in so much information, and may completely redo my nutrition strategy for running. With all my treadmill running lately, it gives me the perfect opportunity to really play around with my nutrition on the run without a sticky drippy camelback, with a drinking fountain, and bathrooms! I have product on the way, and once I get to use it I will do more posting about it. It really sounds that although my current nutrition on the run is fine, it could be great with OSMO, and I want to find out how I can make it that way.<br />
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Also, I left off my previous post that Ryan and I attended the Landshark social for our 11th wedding anniversary. I know its a funny thing to do for a wedding anniversary, BUT, it is a great time. We have a lot of friends there, and dinner is included so the cost of a babysitter is about a wash for the evening. Plus, I have had pretty good luck with the door prizes. Last year, I won a gift card for a restaurant, Rira Irish Pub (formerly at 4th Street Live). Here we are enjoying the evening downtown at Louisville Slugger Field.<br />
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Ryan and I</div>
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Ryan, Me, Erin, and Dan</div>
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Erin and I</div>
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This year, I won a pair of shoes!! Yay! Also, my friend Lisa gave me a pair of shoes for Keira that her daughter didn't like.<br />
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Also, we had a huge ice storm this week. It caused us to only have 2 days of school. Kind of crazy. I did another 20 miler on the treadmill. It wasn't as bad as the first one, mostly because I knew I could do it. Part of me was worried it would be worse than the first one, just because I did know what it felt like. I had a lot of friends come in and run with me and support me. Its kind of fun to do it inside and see how well I can hold my paces. I varied it a tad ever half mile. The ice was super dramatic outside. It was pretty gray the first few days, but then on Friday, the sun came out and the world looked like it was covered in diamonds. The trees looked all sparkly. I was addicted to taking pictures, but they didn't capture it nearly as well as the eye saw it. This one was my favorite picture at night:<br />
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Here are a couple daytime ones. <br />
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Hopefully everything will thaw out soon. Its been so slippery that even short runs have been done inside. I have yak tracks, but since I am really trying to hit particular splits, I just haven't wanted to risk it. I feel lame. I sort of miss running just to run. This week is a shorter run, 13 miles, which should fit in nicely before I have a mother son dance with Soren at preschool. I am looking forward to it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-16845604824581855252014-01-26T18:59:00.001-08:002014-01-26T18:59:12.327-08:00Ski Trip and the first 20 Miler of the YearI think I mentioned in my last post that due to a ski trip, I was taking a planned week off running to ski. We went to Crystal Mountain with all of Ryan's family. We had a large mountainside home for all 17 of us. We got in two days of really good skiing, and had the kids in ski school the first day for 6 hours, and then a 2 hour lesson the second day. It worked out well for us to get in some good skiing without the kids and then have them ready to ski with us as a family the final afternoon and evening. Keira was fearless, and enjoyed night skiing with us too. <br />
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Ryan and I also had the opportunity to rent fatbikes. Those were super fun. They had a ton of snow, so we were able to handle them well on the multiuse trail, but the fatbike specific trail was pretty deep and we struggled to stay afloat. There were a couple times I had to put a foot down, and sunk up to my hip.<br />
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We also stopped into the NAIAS in Detroit while we were in MI. Despite being out of the industry for almost 8 years, I still really get excited about this. The kids got to make some fun models of the 2015 Ford Mustang<br />
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I also got to see the car that bears my initials. I want one. I won't be getting one though. However, I do expect Ryan to get to bring them home from work from time to time so that will have to do.<br />
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<br />
Then, we got back to Kentucky and it was only sort of back to reality. We had such unusually cold weather, that instead of the kids going back to school on Tuesday, they had an additional 3 days off due to snow and cold. On Tuesday, we actually welcomed the snow day. We knew with enough advance that I didn't wake the kids early, but we still got an relatively early start on our day. I had a track workout planned, so I would go to the gym regardless. We were one of the few crazies that made it to the gym. The freeways were fine, so it really wasn't too bad at all to get there, though. I was able to hit the workout no problem. It was a challenge, though, after a week off. I took this on the way to the gym. It was pretty amazing looking. There were no cars around, so I wasn't going to cause an accident, and I'm probably better at taking pictures with my camera while driving than I am dealing with the kids while driving.<br />
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Wednesday was another snow day, due to cold. However, I worked. I was really freaking out though, because my 20miler was scheduled for Thursday, and it was supposed to be the coldest day of the year! There was a wind chill advisory announced, which pretty much meant I would be indoors. 20 on a treadmill? Yikes. At least their was an indoor track if I needed it. If there was school, I would have 4.5 hours to go to the gym, get it done, and get home. That was going to be tight. Then, they called off school. I nearly lost it. I am so OCD when it comes to my long runs. Even though I have a ton of 20s planned, the idea of scrapping my first was not an option. So, after sending out a barrage of texts, I was finally able to find someone to take the kids for me. Really, I was just looking for someone to come to the gym with me and take them home when they were done with their more sane workout than mine. The running portion was supposed to be just under 3 hours, but I would need to check in the kids, refill water, gu up, and take breaks from the dreadmill, so it would take longer total. Plus, who wants to step off the treadmill after being on it for that long and immediately pick up the kids? Carolyn, a friend who has two children the same ages as mine, just said she would take them from the morning, and if she felt like leaving, she would bring them to me at the Y. This was a better deal, because then the kids got to do something really fun (play at a friends' house) while I did my workout. I decided I would break my workout into 4 5 mile runs. Usually, when I run outside, I run out 5 miles, stop, gu up and turn around, and then run another 5, repeat, until I get home. It would be the same on the treadmill. I had my neighbor, Ande, running next to me for my first set of 5. She's going to Boston too, but her working hours and kids' schedules are different. Noelle stopped by to say hi, and Ron ran with me for a set. The third set was the hardest. I had been changing my pace up every half mile for the first two sets, and by the third, I felt like it was too hard to go any faster, so I just kept it the same. I had Amy come by, and France. Lisa was in the locker room before my last set. I'm sure I'm leaving people out. I felt like I was never really alone though, which was great. Towards the end I really needed to just listen to music and zone out. However, I had Joe come out and run me in for my last mile. It was really great to have all the support. I was able to hit my goal pace, and had very close to even splits- 43:34, 43:33, 44:07, 44:06 for a total of 2:55:13, and avg pace of 8:45. I felt pretty good afterwards too! Here is a photo of it:<br />
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My final workout of the week was a tempo run. It was my first tempo fail of the plan. Last year, most of my temp runs were fails until I started doing them on the treadmill. I felt tired going into it, and it was really hot in the gym. The fans weren't on despite every piece of cardio equipment being in use. I was supposed to do 1 mile warm up, 4 at 7:19, and 1 cool down. I made it 2.5 at 7:19 when I had to pause the treadmill. I was dying. I got in another half mile, and as toast. I struggled through 2 more miles at a cool down pace, and those were hard. I'm sure it didn't help that Soren was up off and on last night with an ear ache, but I bet it was really taking a week off running and then hitting it hard like I hadn't that caused this. <br />
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I have a few more things from this week that I am going to wait to post about because this is getting long. Hopefully this next week will be better from a weather standpoint and I can get outside for my long run. The only good thing about all these snow days is that Soren will have at least an extra week of school when it is nice out, post marathon, so that means more time to be able to ride with both kids in school. Yes, I am sick in the head for looking at it like this. Last year I didn't realize how much earlier his school ended before Keira's and was getting sitters left and right for just him trying to prepare for the century that I crashed during.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-38822165214867771202014-01-09T18:09:00.001-08:002014-01-09T18:09:13.945-08:00Cold Snap! Surviving the Polar VortexLouisville experienced some of the coldest temperatures in over twenty years this week. I felt ready, being from Michigan, I'm used to the cold. I'm used to snow. The forecasts were making me a little nervous. It was supposed to rain on Sunday and then freeze. I was a little worried about ice, but as usual, it wasn't nearly as bad here as they thought. It did get super cold, and the kids' Christmas break got extended by two days. And of course, my husband and I worked for two of the very few companies that were actually still open, Ford and the YMCA. Couple that with all the people that decided to make their resolution to go to the gym, and my work has been downright nutty. On Monday, when it was super cold, there weren't a ton of people out and about. In fact, at one point I swore we were the only customers in the grocery store. This was really funny to the workers because over the weekend, they were selling out of things right and left, and the place was packed. There were definitely more people restocking the shelves at the store than customers for the majority of the time we were there.<br />
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Tuesday is usually an indoor workout for me because I like to do my track workouts on the treadmill. It just makes it easier for me to hit my splits and keep track of the times. I write it on a post it and then stick it to the treadmill. I was able to tolerate the shorter faster sprints than the longer ones which are still super fast. It was packed at the gym. It also seemed like the kids totally outnumbered the adults. One lady brought her kids and her neighbor's kids (who were Y members). A lot of people were going nuts with the additional days off from school. I actually really liked the additional days off. It was nice to just a few days more to relax with no commitments because everything was cancelled! I love sleeping in, and my kids let me sleep in on Tuesday, so it was fantastic. Hopefully our summer will go the same way, except I will want to run and bike outside instead of inside, so it will get interesting I'm sure. <br />
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Wednesday was finally back to normal. Just Soren came to work with me in the morning, we got our Chick Fil A (Wednesdays are our CFA days).I hit the trainer for the USAT club challenge, and I need two cross training workouts for the Run Less Run Faster program to work properly, and I can do this at home after I've used my childcare hours at work.<br />
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Today I had both kids back in school, and it was not crazy cold. It was in the high twenties/low 30s for my 17 mile run. I filled my camelback with hot tap water, which is nice. It kind of warms my back at the start of a cold run and then keeps my water from freezing in the tube (usually). I was able to hit my splits (8:19 actual, 8:34 goal), but I was worn out for the rest of the day. I was initially worried about using the 3:25 plan since my last marathon was no where near that, and my half times are off, but so far I have been able to do the workouts no problem. Hopefully this will continue. I messed up my start date for training more than once, but it worked out in my favor. Between being sick and an upcoming ski vacation, I'm perfectly on track without missing any workouts. I just spaced some of them out a little more so hopefully I don't run into problems doing that. It has to be better than just skipping, right? I guess I'll see.<br />
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I also found out that I should get my Coeur gear in February. Yay! I can't wait.<br />
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And I made a fun Flipagram from last year's pics. Check it out<br />
<a href="http://flipagram.com/f/RGvW2PheEQ">http://flipagram.com/f/RGvW2PheEQ</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-90110599665512834802014-01-02T13:54:00.000-08:002014-01-02T13:54:17.325-08:002013 in Review plus Plans for 2014I hope everyone's new year is starting off to a great start. 2013 was definitely an interesting year for me for sure. I remembered thinking how 2012 was full of ups and downs, and it always amazes me how our trials, which sometimes seem huge and terrible, are there for a reason. Our Heavenly Father is always preparing us for the future, and never gives us more than we can handle at a time, although sometimes it may feel like too much. Going into 2013, I felt like I had learned in 2012 to let go and deal with things out of my control better. I had more than my fair share of unusual race circumstances that affected my ability to meet a goal time I had set for myself, and it was frustrating to me. These things got me prepared to deal with my full Ironman, which has so many scenarios you really have to be able to roll with it and deal with things as they come up. 2011 had been a year of PRs, and 2012 had been the year of the PW. <br />
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So, looking to 2013, I had selected some events and felt like I could try to regain some speed and have a solid spring marathon, which I did at the Derby Festival. I was pretty aggressive with my training and my time was 5 minutes off my PR. I was stoked about that. I had a PR in the Papa John's 10miler that while it felt amazing to achieve, it may have cost me my marathon PR. Or not. I just know I felt pretty tired the week after the PJ10, and never really bounced back. The weather warmed slightly, and there were a lot of factors. I can't say for sure it was the PJ10's fault, but I don't regret doing it. I had to dig pretty deep and cut things pretty close. I got my BQ and it held up to gain me entry into the 2014 Boston Marathon, so everything is all good.<br />
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Shortly after the marathon, I got a nasty infected ingrown toenail. So gross! It was not related specifically to running, but it affected my swimming mostly. It took a long time to heal and I just didn't want my funkified toe in the pool, and especially not in open water. <br />
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I had two century rides planned to do with Ryan and friends from MI. Kent, Valerie, and Austin came down for the Horsey Hundred, and 54 miles in, I crashed. Hard. I lost control on a steep descent with a sharp turn while going 35 mph. I slowed before hitting the ground, and slide across the road, and came to a stop by hitting a rock wall on the side of the road. Had it not been there, I might have flipped over the guardrail and into the bushes. I was blessed to come away with no head injury, no major bike damage, and no broken bones. I did need several stitches in my left forearm, road rash on my knee and shoulder, and had two sprained wrists. My knee was pretty painful, and Ryan urged me to get on the trainer to work out some of the swelling. It was actually more comfortable to run than ride, and struggled with my wrists when I held myself up on the bike, and my forearms when I was in aero. However, 2 weeks later, with stitches out and my Dr's OK, I went to MI to do the shortest route of the Michigan Mountain Mayhem. It was very painful, but I made it through. It was also a little scary for me to be back outside on the bike. I was glad I did it, though. Crashing really have me a new perspective on being out there. Every event was a blessing to do.<br />
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I did a spring tri, and then Muncie. I waited until the last minute to sign up for Muncie. I wanted to make sure I was ready. After missing swimming due to my toe, and then the crash, I was worried about the swim, but I was thankful for the wetsuit swim, and just to be there racing. I was only a couple minutes slower than my 70.3 PR, so that was also amazing to me. <br />
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I did the tree farm relay, and then I had a crazy fall, which recapped briefly in my last post. Lots of events. Most of them were more about the journey than the end result, but I did have some fabulous results too. I had 2 very fast half marathons. Neither a PR, but the Iron Horse Half Marathon was the second fastest half marathon I had ever run, and then a month later, I bettered that time at the LSC Half by almost 30 seconds. I also did two completely different and unique cycling events, the Black Mountain Madness ride where I climbed to KY's highest peak with Ryan on the road, and then went back to MI again for the Iceman Cometh mountain bike race. Both of those races were incredibly challenging, and I'm so glad I did them both.<br />
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So, after that, where will I go in 2014? I'm super excited to be representing Coeur Sports, and I have added them to the sidebar. I've started training for the 2014 Boston Marathon on my birthday, April 21st. Austin has gotten really serious about triathlon, and as a result, I have a whole crew of friends going out to do Muncie, and I am signed up for that. It is also my 10th anniversary of running my first marathon, Columbus, so I would like to go back there. Ryan isn't entirely on board with that, just because I get really crabby and tired when I train for a full marathon, so I am working to make my Boston training as transparent to the family as possible. For example, I ran 15 miles (yes, 15 miles) on the treadmill today so that I could do it while he was at work with the kids in the Y kids club and not take any time away from having all of us together as a family. Or once it gets warmer, time away from his cycling. Hopefully the past couple years of ups and downs have me well prepared to take most things 2014 can give me, but I am sure I have more to learn this year too.<br />
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Here is a tentative race schedule for 2014:<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Papa John's
10miler, 3/22/14, Louisville, KY </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Boston
Marathon, 4/21/2014, Boston, MA</span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Horsey
Hundred Cyling Event, 5/26/14 Georgetown, KY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Oldham Co
Grand Slam 5K series (TBD)</span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Triceratops
Triathlon, 6/18/14, Brighton, MI</span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ironman
Muncie 70.3, 7/12/14, Muncie, IN</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tree Farm
Mountain Bike Relay, 7/26/14, Novi, MI</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Columbus
Marathon, 10/19/14, Columbus, OH</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Big Hit Half
Marathon TBD, Louisville, KY</span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Iceman
Cometh 11/8 </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-73384881474632223062013-12-22T19:22:00.001-08:002013-12-22T19:22:50.135-08:00Coeur Sports Announcement!I've been pretty quiet lately. I finished up my season with an 8K Turkey Trot, ending my racing 5 out of 6 consecutive weekends or something odd like that (Black Mountain Madness, Iron Horse Half, off, Detroit Half, Iceman, LSC Half, and then Turkey Trot). Ok, that is 6 out of 7 weekends. You can see why I took a break from updates! I took a break from about everything. I even took some strength training classes at the Y, and got my YMCA Group Fitness Instructor certification. However, I have a huge announcement to make!<br />
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See, my name is on there! Wow! I still can't believe it is real. I LOVE what Coeur represents as a brand. They represent the heart and courage that it takes for us as athletes to get out there and do what we do. You can read about them<a href="http://www.coeursports.com/blogs/latest/11015961-deserving-of-excellence" target="_blank"> here</a>. I am so amazed and grateful to be a part of this team. Everyone is so amazing. I am so inspired by everyone, and hope that I can do the same for others. You will also notice that Amy is on there. She was on one of my first active.com teams, Team Stayput. She is still recovering, and working hard at her therapy. I know one day she will be back at the level she was, but until then, she will inspire everyone around her to be better. I know she has been an inspiration to me for a long time, and I am honored to be her teammate again.<br />
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Also, here is the elite team. <br />
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I am so excited for 2014!!!! It's going to be a great year. The Boston Marathon is 16 weeks from tomorrow (Monday) and I got a jump start on my plan due to the holidays. I expect I may need to miss a workout or two with all of our traveling. I'm doing the Run Less Run Faster Plan again, except I'm attempting the 3:25 plan. So far I completed the first 2 workouts, but I still have the tempo run left to try from the first week. The tempo runs always seem to give me problems. I may end up doing a combo of the 3:25 and the 3:30 plan, since the chart's barely have me at completing a 3:30 marathon based on my recent half marathon times. <br />
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-12518861715643009572013-11-11T19:52:00.001-08:002013-11-11T19:56:51.142-08:00Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon 2013 Race RecapWow, what a great fall I have had. I am beyond pleased with the way these past 6 weekends have gone. On October 5th, I did the 70 mile Black Mountain Madness Ride to the Summit, followed by a stellar performance at Iron Horse, with my fastest time in over 2 years (1:40:45), Detroit International Half Marathon (1:42:28- course PR for me), a week off, then my first Iceman Cometh finish, followed by the Louisville Sports Commission Half. It ended up being 3 half marathons in 30 days, plus one mountain bike race thrown in there.<br />
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I love running. I was feeling pretty worked over after Iceman, and took Sunday and Monday off everything. I did a light run on Tuesday, and still felt tired. Wednesday was another day off, and then I had a much better run on Thursday. Since the race was another Sunday race, I figured I could go ahead and have a short 1000y swim on Friday, and Saturday would be a rest day.<br />
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I went down to packet pick up on Friday after my swim to pick up my bib and shirt. There really wasn't an expo. I got my number, shirt, and a fall runathon poster. I forgot pins. Sheesh. You'd think I'd never done this before. Thankfully, I have a bag of pins at home. The shirt was a really bright blue color. I thought, hmm, maybe I will break my rule of not racing the "race shirt" on race day and use it as an undershirt with my Team Aquaphor tank. It didn't look right, though, once I got it home and put them together. Then, I had the dilemma of selecting an undershirt. Usually I will wear my short sleeve Aquaphor tee with white removable sleeves, but if I am fully committed to long sleeves, then I wouldn't need to deal with add on sleeves. I liked wearing a long sleeve tee in Detroit, and thought I could do it again. The Detroit shirt was red this year, and I had a blue one from 2011, as well as my Boston shirt that was blue. I had lots of choices. I finally decided to wear the blue Detroit shirt, because I thought I might want to wear shorts, and red sleeves would look bad with pink tall socks. You'd think after all this racing, it wouldn't be so complicated to figure out what to wear, but the temps were really different for each event. <br />
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I like to be at races early, and with the race being on a Sunday, I knew that there would be free on street parking available. I ended up parking on 3rd, between Main and Market, which was a great spot. The start line was on Main, at 2nd, and the finish was also on Main, but at 5th. I was glad I was between the start and finish. It was funny, from my car at a meter, I could see a sign on a lot that said $10 event parking. Street parking is such a score!!! When I did the race in 2011, I parked further east of the staring line, and with the finish more to the west, I had a pretty decent walk back to the car (also, the start and finish with further apart that year). I was so glad that I would be parked so close to the start, because I could easily put all of my things into my car fairly close to the start, and I wouldn't need to waste a mylar blanket by throwing one away before the start or deal with gear check. I had a blanket that I had planned to donate to the Catholic Charities at the packet pick up, but I forgot to bring it with me. I remembered it on race day, and although I had washed it in preparation to donate it, I thought I could potentially use it to wrap up if I needed to. I walked over to the start, and I got this picture. My ponytail was flat-ironed and sticking up a bit, but overall, I love this picture. It was definitely one of the perks of being there super early. Also, a photographer took it, which is how it was framed so nicely. He actually asked me to move to a specific spot.<br />
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I met up with the Louisville Landsharks on the steps of the YUM Center. Here I am with Rhonda (and my charity blanket)<br />
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Me and Sonja<br />
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Landshark Group Picture: <br />
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Then, I realized I had to go the bathroom one last time. Goodness! How on earth do I arrive at a race over an hour early and then get 15 minutes or so away from the start time and NEED to go to the bathroom! Ugh! I ran over to the porto potty area and it was a mess. Huge lines everywhere. I could not wait in those lines. I needed another option. I ran off in search of something, but I wasn't exactly sure what. I ran into one of the mom's from Soren's preschool, and explained my predicament. She said that across one of the nearby parking lots, there was a lone construction site port o potty. I didn't exactly know where it was, but I took off, and amazingly found it! It was fenced off, but not locked, and I was able to slip between two parts of the fence. Yay! I ran back up to Main street and approached the start from the course side, which meant I was right in the front of the starting area. I found my friend Lisa's husband, John because he is super fast. We got a quick picture and I chatted with him for a couple minutes. <br />
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I also ran into a friend Mike, who I met at the Derby Marathon earlier in the year, and met his girlfriend Carrie. They had both just run a full in Indy, and none of us were sure how today was going to go. This is not a flat course, so I was just hoping to be ahead of 1:45 and beat my 2011 time (1:44:55ish). The unofficial 1:45 pacer was the same guy that did it in 2011. They had the bugler from Churchill Downs, and he played My Old Kentucky Home. A previous time I had heard this song before a race, I was jumping into the Ohio River, so I got a bit emotional upon hearing it. They played the National Anthem leading up to the start. They played part of Avici's "Wake Me Up", which I first heard before Muncie, and we were off shortly after that. Here's the map and elevation:<br />
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I started off feeling awesome. We were running straight into the sun (which is why most of my pictures with my visor are completely obstructing my eyes), but had some shade from buildings. I had studied the elevation profile of this race, and I knew that the middle third, miles 4-8ish, would have most of the hills. It would be flattish until Mile 4, and hit Cherokee Park for 2 big hills, and then enter a cemetery for another 2 hills, and then at mile 9, things would flatten out. Sort of like Detroit (bridge at 4, tunnel at 8, and then a non exciting yet painful 9-13). I was going to fast, and I knew it for the first mile. I slowed it down a bit for the second and third, but I still thought I was going too fast. Just as I was starting mile 4, a guy running near me said we were on pace to go under 1:40. Haha! He was pacing off of me. I told him that yes, we were, for now... I would hit the hills and need to slow down, so please, don't mind me. Let me blow up in Cherokee and don't hold me responsible! I have run those hills before and know they are hard. I definitely slowed down a bit going up the two big hills, but similar to Iron Horse, I felt like I was able to recover well on the downhills. I hit the halfway point with a slower time than Detroit, which was a good thing. I was just over 50 minutes, which was still great. I was wondering how much slower my second half would be. We went into the cemetery. It had some hills there too, but I hadn't ever been in it before. I came upon Mike, who was struggling with a pulled muscle, but I kept plowing on. It felt tough, but I kept up with my GU every 5 miles and by mile 9, we were on the flattish parts. It was windy going into the city, and it felt like we should be done sooner, because of the course being two loops in opposite directions. At mile 10, I was at 1:16:xx, and I still felt pretty good. I though, wow, if I can get the last 5K done in 23 or 24 minutes, I just might be able to go under 1:40! I can't remember what point I passed the man who I spoke with before the hills, but I did pass him. He had said a couple things to me that I really believed, but it felt nice to have someone remind me- at 10 miles, you have just a 5K to go, and at 11 miles, you have about 15 minutes left to go. I was keeping it under 8, but just barely according to my Garmin. At mile 10.5, I thought about 20 minutes left. I could keep this up for 20 more minutes. There was an out and back section which was fun to be able to see faster people running towards me. I just kept telling myself that this was a good day. There was a lady in pink ahead of me. I wasn't sure if she was in my age group or not. She wasn't that far ahead. I estimated that at mile 11.75, we would turn around and head back to the finish. At this point, it was less mileage than running from 146 to my house, and flatter. I was trying to just keep my pace up. At mile 12.5, there were some police officers and a huge speaker BLARING Eminem's Berzerk. "Life's to Short to Not Go for Broke!" That picked up my spirits. I knew I had to try to catch her. I had .6 to go! By mile 13, I had caught up, but I felt like I may have started sprinting to early. I tried to keep pushing into the finish line, but that clock had a 1:40 on it! Again! My Garmin had me at 1:40:18! This was even faster than my Iron Horse time! I was thrilled. I actually ran my first half and my second half pretty close to each other. I congratulated the woman behind me. I later learned that she was in fact, in my age group, and I had only finished 1 second ahead of her. My time was 1:40:15. I got this picture at the finish:<br />
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I couldn't stick around long. I went through the food line and then circled back and found someone with a paper copy of the results. I was 5th, so again, a fabulous time, and no podium. However, I am still thrilled with how I did. I was amazed that I had the strength to pull out such a fantastic run. Here is my hardware from the last 30 days. I can't decide which is my favorite. I LOVED the Iron Horse because it was just so cool, and it was my second fastest time. Well, I LOVE fleur de lis, and this one is NOW my second fastest time. I don't know if I can decide! I have thought for a couple years now that Detroit was ready for a refresh in their design. They did update the ribbon, which was great, but now I have 3 almost identical medals from 2011-13, with the Mustang medal being my favorite of those.<br />
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I cannot believe how blessed I am that I was able to have such a strong race season. I am very thankful for the Louisville Sports Commission allowing me to share my stories in exchange for running their race. It was a great event, and I'm happy I could participate in it. I did some amazing things over the last month. I am very sore today, but I feel like I did a good job resting and cross training between my events that allowed me to perform as well as I did. Plus, I might have a new pre-race meal. I think I had Papa John's pizza before the Iron Horse race, and I did it again before this race. I definitely feel more confident about my running and my desire to have a great marathon in April. Two 1:40s show that it is not a fluke. I still have no idea how to get back to a 1:38, but I'm just glad to be under 1:42, where I seemed to be stuck for a while. I have an 8k turkey trot race to do, but then I am done with racing for a while. I don't race much while training for a full marathon because I like to go all out for my races, and I just don't feel like that is helpful for me when marathon training.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-13598011686647766652013-11-06T18:21:00.000-08:002013-11-06T18:26:57.556-08:0024th Iceman Cometh 2013 Race Recap<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Iceman Cometh is a huge, if not the biggest, mountain bike race in the US. It takes place in northern Michigan, and goes from Kalkaska to Traverse City. It is 30 miles, and follows a combination of dirt roads, double track, and single track. It's been on my "must do" list for a while, pretty much ever since I raced my mountain bike in 2007. With it being 30 miles long, it was something that I would need to work up to doing. Also, since mountain biking is really Ryan's strength, I wouldn't do it without him. It's one thing to drive up to SE MI and do my girls Tree Farm Relay that is 10 miles of trails with a bunch of hanging out, but Iceman is three times as long, and it isn't really very easy for us to get to now that we are in KY. It sells out crazy fast, so you have to be decided before registration opens, or else spend a fortune on a bib transfer as the race draws nearer. Ryan had never seemed really interested in doing the race. In 2010, when I sprained my ankle and had to stop training for the Detroit Marathon, we opted to Crystal Mountain and Ryan raced in the Peak to Peak race. It is sort of a warm up race for the Iceman. It was a different style of racing than what Ryan loves. He really enjoys very tight technical turns, and this race was steep and fast. There were guys that did this ride with fully rigid frames that were lighter and faster than his full suspension bike. I thought he did great, but he did not. It took some of the allure of Iceman away for him. I had always just been threatened by the distance. However, Kent, Ryan's road cycling partner in crime, won a mountain bike in a contest a year or so ago, and despite struggling with it (see video<a href="http://youtu.be/kngxB0px2S0" target="_blank"> here</a>), really wanted to do it. We have lots of friends that do this race every year and do really well. I knew Ryan would want to do it if Kent was doing it, and that was my ticket to get to do it. You can actually read my post about the whole decision and registration process <a href="http://doublejoggerdiaries.blogspot.com/2013/03/iceman-entry-rlrf-update-and-vitamix.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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So, here we are. The race has been on the calendar since March. I crashed spectacularly on the road in May. I recovered and did several races over the summer, including the Tree Farm Relay mountain bike race after the crash. I raced back to back half marathons in Oct. I'm training for a third half marathon (this weekend), and trying to fit my mountain bike training in. We did the Black Mountain Madness ride, and I have been riding my mountain bike on the hills of the IMKY course. With fall upon us, it is too dark for me to ride after Ryan gets home from work, and it is too far for me to drive to trails while Soren is at school. Also, I don't have anyone who can go with me, and I just don't feel comfortable on the trails by myself here yet. I'm fine going to Maybury or Tree Farm on my own, but that is because I know I can't get lost and there aren't any sketchy parts. The trails here make me nervous because they aren't well marked and there are steep drop offs. Also, most people said that the trail portion isn't terribly technical, and road fitness would be helpful. I missed a bit of riding on account of the late addition of the Detroit Half, but I prepared as best as I could. Besides, I am NEVER prepared properly for cycling events. I plan to be on the "underprepared" side. I just like running too much to devote the time to cycling that I should. I had two of my team TUTU ladies bail on this ride for being underprepared. They did it last year, and had a rough time of it. I knew it was going to be hard, but I knew I had the fitness ad the willpower to do it.<br />
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Since the race is so far away from KY, it meant we had to miss Halloween. This was a bit of a bummer. I love Halloween, but we did take the kids to two trick or treating events earlier. Also, my parents would be staying with them and getting to enjoy the fun. The weather was horrible in KY for Halloween, so they actually moved trick or treating to Friday, which in a way, made me feel less bad about leaving on the 31st. Part of me felt like we should have gotten up at the crack of dawn on Friday morning and made the drive all the way up, but since we didn't miss anything by leaving Thursday, it was fine the way we did it. We drove up through Canton, MI, and stayed with Ryan's parents. We only stayed the night, and then got up in the morning, made a quick stop into Town and Country in Northville for some last minute items, and then were on our way up north! The weather was less than promising. It had been raining or misting almost all day, and the weather wasn't looking great for the race either. Cold and raining. Ugh. Not really what I wanted for my first Iceman. On our way to the expo, in Traverse City, we drove through Kalkaska, and there was this banner hanging over the road. I got super excited as we drove under it. Ryan was excited too because he was glad I took the picture. Usually I take too many pictures, but it was OK to stick my arms out the sunroof trying to capture this. <br />
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We arrived at the expo shortly after. Kent arrived just a few minutes before we did, and we met up inside. It was a huge expo. We got our number plates and then bought jerseys. <br />
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We talked with a lot of friends that were there. Since it was our first time doing this event, we were in the "unseeded" category of waves. That meant that it was pretty well sure that we wouldn't be winning any awards this year, no matter how prepared or unprepared we felt. Since there were 5300 riders, there would be a lot of waves. We knew a couple people starting in Wave 1 and earlier waves. We had to wait a while to start, which meant that we would be just starting at the back. Ryan started at 10:06am, in Wave 23, and I was at 11:00am, in Wave 41, and Kent was right in the middle of us. Everyone was telling us how there would be backups in the singletrack areas and that we may even need to wait for sections. This was going to be an experience for sure. We browsed the expo a little bit longer and Ryan and I found the photo booth section. Here is our serious picture:<br />
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Here is our fun picture. I actually joked with the guys that I wanted the tutu for the ride tomorrow, since it would act as a mud flap. I had sort of wished I had brought one of my own, but none of my other tutu girls were racing.<br />
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We checked into our hotel next. It would be a cool place to stay in the summer. It had its own beach on Traverse Bay. We would stay here again for sure.<br />
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Plus, they didn't mind that we brought our bikes inside. They even left their hose set up outside for rinsing them and opted to have breakfast available early for all of us in town for the race.<br />
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We had a little trouble figuring out our prerace dinner. We found what we thought would be a cool Italian place, but once we got there, it was a bit pricey, and not exactly what Ryan and I were looking for. Kent was starving, but we got back in the car and drove a few minutes away to Olive Garden. I feel bad eating there without the kids because it is their favorite, and Ryan and I could take or leave it. We found a table in the bar area so that we could be seated immediately, and had a good meal that served its purpose. Probably the best thing is that the weather was looking marginally better for the morning. The chance of rain was dropping. We turned in pretty early, but since we didn't start super early, we didn't need to get up too crazy early.<br />
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The next morning, we woke up at 6:30, and got breakfast at the hotel. Everyone was asking us if we were starting really early since we were there. Um, no, Kent and I were just in charge of when we were leaving, and neither of us can be too early to a race. Here is Kent in his throwaway coat purchased at Goodwill for $10.<br />
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With the race being a point to point, the logistics weren't as simple. We needed to load all three bikes into/onto our car and follow Kent over to the parking area for the finish, at Rasho farm. Here is what the back of our truck looked like before Kent's 29in front wheel was put in the back. Two bikes were on the roof. Mine got to ride inside because it was the smallest and fit the easiest. We each had a bike bag and hydration pack, plus the two dry clothes bags to be checked; one for Kent and one that Ryan and I shared. Additionally, we had a pump and a park tool set.<br />
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Then, Kent got into our truck and we headed over to the start area. Thankfully, it wasn't raining. We had dry clothes bags for the finish area that we dropped off at the start, and then got ready to ride. We took a few pictures while we were all at the truck, but it was a short ride from there to get to the start. Ryan before his start:<br />
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Ryan and I <br />
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Kent<br />
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Ryan headed off first. Kent and I finished up a few minutes later. I wished we had been ready to go just a few minutes earlier, because right as we rolled over there, Ryan's wave went off. We had just missed him. Kent got lined up and was gone next. <br />
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Kent giving me the thumbs up!</div>
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While I was waiting on my own, I met up with Michelle, who was there to support her husband. He started close to Ryan, so she had time to wait with me before I started. I also met up with Kari, who is the wife of one my Aquaphor teammates. We had met earlier at the Triceratops Tri and she zipped me into my wetsuit that day. I literally ran into her. Like, when I was walking to find Michelle, our bikes clipped each other in the tent. That's how I found her! I also found Janelle, who was on Ryan's tree farm team. I gave her a big hug and wished her luck. She started in the wave ahead of me.<br />
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Then, it was my turn. I got to the front of my wave, just because it sounded like the really fast people should have already started, unless it was their first time. It was Kari's first iceman too. I really didn't need to be up front though. The first section of the race was on road/dirt road and very wide, so there was plenty of room to pass. I wish I could really remember exactly how the course went, in terms of where the climbs were, where it was two track, and where it was single track, but I remembered that I am glad that I know how to mountain bike. I also felt like the training I did with the mountain bike on the road bike was paying off for the climbs. There were lots of short sandy steep climbs. There were a few people that would fly by me on the flats on their 29ers that were not able to climb up the steep stuff. I actually went back and forth with Kari a couple times because of this and other backups that we would encounter. I took the single track sections a bit conservatively on the downhills, just because I didn't want to crash. I didn't have a chance to preride any of the sections to know what to expect. Also, no one starting in my wave or behind me was going to be winning any awards this year, so everyone should just chill. For the most part, everyone was. There were a few guys bombing through bushes here and there to cut corners to pass, but for the majority of the race, there weren't really any problems. I did get stuck at one point when a lady in front of me tipped over, and I stopped. Then, there was such a huge backup behind me that I couldn't jump back in. I was running alongside the trail trying to find a break in the "train". I made a horrible failed attempt at a flying mount, and ended up back in the bushes, but no crashes. I also had a really loud guy behind me for a while. As much as I wanted to be faster than him, I was really happy when he finally did pass me because I just could not tolerate his commentary on EVERYTHING. He was just so loud! He wasn't offensive, just annoying. There was one road with several large puddles in it. Everyone would be spread out, and then need to funnel in to go around (turns out Eric went through one earlier in the day and it caused a bunch of bike problems because it was about a foot and a half deep and he got all kinds of crud in his drivetrain). The first one, I went around just fine, but it was either the second or third puddle when I lost a wheel into the drink. I was very close to a tree on the right, and grabbed it, while my bike dropped a bit to the left into the water. I wasn't hurt, didn't fall or get wet, but I did feel bad because I created a big traffic jam. I got about halfway through and then I started feeling tired. It wasn't too shocking, because I had been regularly riding only about 17 miles. The climbs were challenging, but the flats seemed challenging too! My Garmin isn't too terribly accurate in trees with lots of turns, so I couldn't really use it for distance so much. They did have km markers counting down. My math always gets a bit rusty when under exertion, so I was watching them, but not converting all of them to miles. I remembered when I got to the 15k to go sign, I was so happy because it was 9.3 miles! Some of the people around me were even more bewildered by them, and asking all kinds of questions akin to the adult version of "are we there yet?" Kari and I had a bit more back and forth. I was ahead before the last aid station. I stopped. Like complete stop, got off my bike, to refill my camelback and just take a little breather. I ate my last gu, had a glass of heed, and saw Kari go by. I tried to catch back up with her and couldn't. I was struggling with some of the climbs (and had been). They were so hard to bike up, but they were almost harder to walk up! The thing about walking up is that my heart rate seemed to go down a bit, but on the bike, it was just taking everything I could to bike up them, and then I would just feel like stopping at the top. Sometimes I could get a little bit of active recovery on a downhill on the other side, but some of them were short, or they dumped us out on the road where everyone was going fast. It was all pretty sandy, but the rain had packed it down somewhat, but unless I was going downhill, there was pretty much no coasting. This was such a hard race! Wow! With 5k to go, I told myself that I wasn't doing any walking the bike up climbs. Well, that didn't really work. I did try them all, but I did have to hop off. Then, with 3k to go, I really meant it. It was 1.8 miles. I could do it. I watched a video of this section at the hotel, and I knew that you would go through this tunnel and it was not the end. There was still another k to go or so before the finish. It was kind of a mean tease. A guy near me had not watched the video and was really bummed out that it was not the end. I finally made it to the "fly over" section which if you were going really fast, you could get a little air off of, but I just rode over it normal. I was so happy to be done! My official time was 3:21:52. It was a bit slower than I had hoped, but it was still an accomplishment to just finish. <br />
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Adam, from Level Multisport (and Ryan's tree farm team), found me before I was even done with the finisher's chute. He had been tracking Ryan on his phone, and showed me his times as I walked through the finisher's area. It was a long walk, and my bike felt heavy. There was a bike check area where you could leave your bike before picking up your warm clothes bag so you didn't have to worry about it. I grabbed a cookie from Meijer on my way in. It was sort of a mess, though, finding a spot for my bike, and I was so spent that I could barely lift it to find a spot. As I came out, it was just a huge mess of people everywhere. I didn't know where Ryan or Kent were, but I was glad Adam told me they finished. I was exhausted and a bit bewildered at this point, since I didn't know where Adam had gone, or where anyone else was yet. I found somewhere to sit down, and got out my phone. First thing I noticed was that Erin had texted me, she BQed at Indy!!! I texted her back with a quick congrats, but also said I couldn't chat because I was cold and needed to find Ryan and my warm clothes. I called Ryan, but he didn't answer! Neither did Kent! AHHH!!! I texted Mindy, and thankfully, she texted me right back. She was thankfully standing right under a sign that was easy to spot from where I was, so I found her and Eric.<br />
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She did great, and got 4th in her (our) AG! Eric was 3rd in his too! One of her friends gave me a sweatshirt to wear while I tried to track down Ryan. I texted him, and he was with Kent taking their bikes to the van. He had taken his things out of the gear bag and put the bag back into the gear check under my number, so I could grab it myself. Mindy was about to receive her award, so we headed over towards that area. After she received her award, I grabbed my gear and headed to the showers. The men had shower trucks, but the women were able to use the shower building. It was warm inside and the wait was short. The water was surprisingly warm and I felt a million times better after having a shower and putting on dry clothes. Taking a tip from Mindy, I did not get my hair wet since neither of us thought to bring our hair dryer (Mindy said she saw a lady that did, and it was a genius idea). By the time I was done, Ryan and Kent were back, and had met up with Mindy, Eric, Adam, and a few others. I didn't see Kari after the race, or Janelle. Mindy told me Janelle wasn't feeling well after her race, and I think was in medical. She had flipped over on a crash, and had an upset stomach. She still finished very well for her first Iceman. Ryan and I, <br />
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Kent, Ryan, and I</div>
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We hung out for a little bit. They had a lot of food available for purchase there, but since we love the town of Traverse City, we had planned to go out for a nice dinner there after we got all the bikes and vehicles back to the hotel. I grabbed my bike from the bike check and we took a bus back to the van at Rasho Farm, and then drove back to Kalkaska to pick up the truck, and then back to Traverse City.<br />
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I was exhausted and starving afterwards. It really took a lot out of me. It was so fun though! We had dinner in downtown Traverse City at North Peak, a microbrewery. We had to wait a bit for a table, and it took everything I had in me to NOT lay down on this coffee table/bench they had in their waiting area. I was feeling really rough. Right as I was about to go to the bar to order a Coke or something with sugar in it, we were finally seated. After a Cherry Coke and dinner, I felt human again. The online results had just come and, and I didn't do stellar in my age group. I didn't think I would, plus I have a super tough AG. Ryan and Kent recognized many friends from the Wolverine Sports Club and Racing Greyhounds that they rode with on road rides in top slots. We need to get a few more Iceman races under our belts and get better starting positions (and 29ers) before we will anywhere near contention for awards. However, finishing in itself is an achievement. I would love to do this race again. Hopefully we can continue to get registered as well as line up childcare for this race. I would love to come back with the kids and have them do the Snow Cone race. Soren would eat it up! Plus, I know I will be able to finish before it starts now, since it is at 3pm.<br />
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They had some great race photos posted. Once I decide which ones I want and get them ordered, I will post an action shot. Also, Eric actually filmed his entire race. So, if you want to spend 2 hours watching what the first wave looks like, you can find it <a href="http://youtu.be/OjwzPZzkTTg" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Now I am home and recovering, and looking forward to the LSC Half on Sunday. Whew, what a season. My legs don't feel terrible, but I can tell I haven't spend enough time on trails. My upper body seemed thrashed. I ran yesterday, and while I was slow, I don't really have any lingering problems aside from just fatigue. Hopefully I can rest up and have a great half marathon this weekend. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-10045127219594477912013-10-28T19:32:00.003-07:002013-10-28T19:32:52.730-07:00Detroit International Half Marathon Race Recap. Back to Back Halves- how to get it done!Sorry this is late. This past week was Oldham County's fall break. We never had fall break in Michigan, so it is a cool concept to me. We didn't bring the computer with us. While we weren't entirely unplugged for the week, I just didn't get a blog post done. We were plenty busy.<br />
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The Detroit International Half Marathon was a late addition to my schedule, because I won it the entry in a drawing. It worked out nicely because it was during fall break, and we didn't really have any plans set in stone. If anything, it helped us figure out our fall break. I love this race, and have done the half 5 times now, and the full once. I'm really glad I was able to have this opportunity to do it. Since it was a late addition, it didn't really fit well into my schedule. Aside from being an open weekend, that was about the best that it fit. I had the Iron Horse Half Marathon the previous weekend. I have done back to back halves once before, and I love the half marathon, so I figured it wasn't a terrible idea. With the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon (and Half) coming up this weekend, and then the LSC Half Marathon coming up next weekend, there is a good opportunity to try it. I did this combo in 2011. There are a few ways to look at the combo, and I thought about it a little (not a ton) in advance of the Iron Horse. First, I could use Iron Horse as a training run, and race Detroit full out, Second, I could race Iron Horse, and do Detroit as a recovery race, taking it easy, third, I could take them both easy (this would be useful if I was training for a full marathon down the line and just needed lots of mileage), or 4th, race them both and see what happens. Well, going into Iron Horse, the plan was to race it. I had it on my schedule since June, and had been training specifically for it. Racing it hard would still allow me to do the rest of my races (Iceman, LSC) with no problems. It just might make Detroit a little tougher. Its a unique course with large crowds, so PRs aren't super easy to come by there. Plus, with the border crossings there is always the remote chance that you will get stopped. So, the plan would be to take Detroit easy, and just have fun and enjoy the sights. The sunrise over the bridge is pretty cool, and the skyline in Detroit from Canada is great too. Plus, they break up the course into mental chunks pretty well. I did two short easy runs between the two races (3 and 4 miles).<br />
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We went to the expo early on Saturday morning. It was busy, as expected for a huge race. I got a mediocre picture from the person behind me. Keira was hanging out with her cousin for the morning, so Ryan was with me and Soren. We were running out of time at the expo before we needed to pick up Keira, and Soren NEEDED a Talmer Bank shopping bag. My kids love expo swag. We thought he could spin a wheel over there, so I told them to check it out while I got my picture taken. It was a bad call. The picture wasn't the best, and there was no wheel to spin. However, Soren did get his tote bag and I did get two white cowbells.<br />
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Also, I wasn't able to find everyone I wanted at the expo, but we did find Janelle from Ryan's tree farm team at the Level Multisport booth, Randy from Running Fit, and Dave from New Balance. Dave entered me into the contest, and is a very experienced runner and coach. I told him how well the Iron Horse went, and then he thought I should be able to beat my Iron Horse time. What? NO NO NO! I was super tired still. Yikes. However, I have known Dave for a long time and really trusted what he said. If he thought I could do, well, maybe I could? I did some math on the way home and realized that a 7:38 pace would get me under 1:40, which is what Dave thought. Eek. But, it was only a couple seconds per mile faster than what I did at Iron Horse. Not a ton. I got nervous for the first time for this race.<br />
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The race bibs were MASSIVE for this race. They were made to look like a license plate, and about the same size! I am small, so figuring a way to pin it was tricky. I had taped my passport inside a ziplock to the back of it. I did it last year, and it worked just fine. I trusted that better than trying to put it in a pouch. I like my spibelt, and didn't want to try a new belt for the race. I struggle with chaffing around my midsection from belts, and I know where I need my Aquaphor for what I currently use. I didn't want to experiment with this. I was happy to be in corral B. That meant that I would at least have the 1:40 pacer available to me if I felt like it. This was Detroit, and to quote Eminem, "Life's too short to not go for broke". I was going to go for it.<br />
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I went to bed early, and then got up crazy early on Sunday. I texted our friend Austin from the parking garage (I actually got into my first choice garage this year for the first time ever!!!). Turns out, he was still at home! Lol! I like being to races early. I crashed my friend Randy's party at Cobo Joe's for his running class. Running Fit offers a couple classes, and they typically have someplace reserved for the class participants and their families to hang out that is indoors, warm, close to the start, and with flush toilets. I have been fortunate to take advantage this the past 3 Detroit races. Its been a lifesaver. I even took advantage of the "gear check" there, despite the fact that my truck was next door. I hung out there and had my picture taken, plus took advantage of the restrooms. <br />
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Before leaving Cobo Joe's, I wrapped up in an old mylar race blanket for the walk to the start. I planned to throw it away before the race started so that no one behind me would get caught in it. It was 39 degrees at the start, and would stay cold for the less than 2 hours that I would be running. I opted for tights, my Detroit race shirt from LAST year (never wear the race shirt from the current race in the race), and my Aquaphor singlet on top.<br />
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The nice thing about being in Corral B is that I have pretty clear view of the start line from the front of it. I got this picture, which is also not so stellar, at the start, before moving back to a better position. I did meet a Swirlgear teammate, Angela, so that was fun. She went on to have a killer marathon time, and was ahead of me the entire race. I couldn't find Austin in my corral before starting. Since I am short, I'm not the easiest to find or the best at finding people in crowds. I heard them play Eminem's Lose Yourself, and the Kiss's Detroit Rock City and we were off, crossing the start line. <br />
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I felt great! It was still very dark, with the race starting at 7am and sunrise not being until 7:48am. They had helicopters with searchlights shining on us (probably for border security) and it was hard to read my Garmin. I clicked off a couple miles in the 7:30s, and then started to head up the incline to the Ambassador Bridge. One of the highlights of this race is that the sun starts to rise over the Detroit River while most people are on the bridge. I arrived a bit early for it, but the sky still looked pretty. My college friend Fred Felter took several awesome pictures during the race. He gave me the OK to use his photos. I had considered running with my camera until I spoke to Dave at the expo, so I am especially thankful that he took these and allowed me to use them. I got a chill looking at the bridge picture. Its crazy to come around the turn and get ready to run up it!!!<br />
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Here is Fred's sunrise on the bridge. It is awesome. It was a little darker when I went across.<br />
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Crossing into Canada on the Bridge:<br />
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The tunnel is hard, but not terrible. The worse thing about it is that you go from the cold to warm, and then you have a long uphill out. People have asked if I felt claustrophobic in it before. Um, no, not until you mention it! I guess I have run this race so many times before I had the idea to be freaked out about running UNDERWATER for a MILE that it is no big deal. Its cool! You do have to take the autopause feature off your Garmin, otherwise you lose a mile of data. You don't get pace in the tunnel, but since it is pretty much a straight line, you come out and it picks up the difference where you lost signal. Going into the tunnel (from Fred still)<br />
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The tunnel pretty much looks like this for a mile. Its hard to gauge how long you've been in there because it looks the same.<br />
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Cool shot of the border in the tunnel. This one I think was photoshopped to remove some people<br />
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Coming back into the USA! This is such a great feeling. I saw some guys wearing IMKY finisher gear on the side, cheering, and they saw me notice (I had my IM visor on), and got some cheers.<br />
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Then, you are out of the tunnel and run around a bit. This is where I really started to feel slow and heavy. I lost the 3:20/1:40 pace group here. I just looked forward to seeing friends, Amy and Anna, at the finish. I knew I had them waiting for me, because they are volunteering. Anna has volunteered with her mom for years. This year she was bringing Amy with her to volunteer. Last year, when I ran this race, I ran it with Amy in my heart because we still didn't know much about her condition. Now, a year later she was going to give me my medal. Its crazy what can happen in a year. I also know that every start is a blessing. Its such a gift to be out there racing and doing what I love.<br />
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Mile 11 had some Rage Against the Machine playing at the DMC medical station with water bottles. I drank a water and it helped a little. But by 12, it was starting to get really hard. I was just wanting to be done. Then I heard someone call me. I looked back and I saw an Aquaphor teammate behind me. Then, I looked next to me, and saw someone who shouldn't have been there. Needless to say, it kind of shocked me, and we chatted a bit about how I was almost done and why talking to Dave is dangerous before a race. He'll have you trying very hard. I said my goodbyes with a fist bump to this runner at the marathon/half split. I was able to bring my pace back down to where it should be for the last mile, but I had done enough damage during miles 10-12 that I finished with a course record for me, 1:42:28, by 7 seconds from 2011. It seems like I end up in the 1:42s quite often. Upon crossing the finish line, I immediately stopped and gave Anna's mom a huge hug. I saw her first. She directed me to Anna, who got another hug, and I asked for Amy, who got a third hug. Anna and Amy together gave me my medal, and I got a quick picture with them before walking into the actual finisher's chute. Last year I kept getting asked to move down as I looked for friends finishing up. This year I tried to avoid that. It was colder and I needed my foil blanket too.<br />
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I lost the teammate in the finish area. I looked and looked, and he probably passed me during my stop right at the line. I did find Austin! Yay! He finished about 4 minutes ahead of me, and said he passed me in the tunnel, which looking at our splits, was right. He was able to hold his pace better and even pick up speed at the end, where I faded the last 3-4 miles. Very typical me, but I was still very pleased with the way I did based on the fact that I didn't train specifically for this race, and I had raced my heart out the week prior. <br />
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I did try to find my teammate one more time, and instead found teammate Kevin! I initially thought that lost teammate was Tim, but looking at results, that doesn't seem possible. I have no idea who I was looking for now!<br />
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I'm really glad I went for it on this race. Last year, I was more conservative to start, and finished worse here, and I really thought that I might be able to have a better race on a flatter course. Since it was a late addition with little expectations, it was fun to just go out there and have a great time. I felt strong in the early miles, and I always feel good knowing I left it all out there and did the best I could.<br />
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The medals were pretty much the same as they have been for the past three years. In fact, the fact that they had a Camaro on them was initially a deterrent for me to sign up, yet as the race grew closer, I wanted to do it more and more, but the price had gotten insane, and I already had Iron Horse. When this contest came around, I just knew I had to enter it, and that I would win an entry. I'm so thankful for this opportunity to run my heart out in Detroit. <br />
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Since I waited so long to do this post, the professional race pictures are available. I don't typically copy the professional photos from their site to use here, but this one was just too funny to not share. Since it is funny, I'm not going to be buying it though.<br />
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The poor dude has the worst expression. Then there's me. Super happy and smiling, as usual, when I see the finish line. Now, to give this man the benefit of the doubt, I did have one pic where I was in a blink and looked funny too, but the contrast in expressions is what made it so funny. When I was first looking at the photos, I wondered why this one was in "my" photos, but then realized that it was hysterical. The folks at finisherpix must have a sense of humor. They did do a really nice job with the pictures, though. I'm not going to steal the good ones. If I buy them, I will post them.<br />
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Also, I want to offer you a peek a the medal for the <a href="http://lscmarathon.com/" target="_blank">LSC Half Marathon</a>! It is AWESOME! I just love Fleur de lis, and I even hand cut my own vinyl stickers to decorate my aero box on my Trek Speed Concept for IM with them. This medal is made for me. I just can't wait to earn it, and I hope to see you there! Hopefully I live through Iceman first. Eek!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-28856610209757792862013-10-15T19:54:00.001-07:002013-10-15T19:54:36.640-07:00Iron Horse Half Marathon Race Recap<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(photo courtesy Mike Zimmerman during the race)</div>
This race was a big deal to me. I have been training specifically with this race in mind, and despite doing the Black Mountain Madness ride last weekend, I had been really focused on having this be a great half marathon. Thinking about it, it was my first half marathon of the year, which is unusual for me. The past several years, I have run a half marathon in the spring in addition to the fall. I did one 70.3 this year, but that doesn't really count because aside from my fueling strategy, the pacing is completely different, and my run mileage is typically lower because my bike mileage is higher. Also, this was my opportunity to return to the same county (although not same road), where my crash had occurred earlier in the year at the Horsey Hundred. At the Derby Marathon, I received an advertisement for this race in my goody bag, and when I rode through the town of Midway in the first part of the Horsey Hundred, I recognized the town name and put the two together. It was beautiful out there, and I told my friends that there was a half marathon in this location, and that I wanted to do it. This was before my crash. After my crash, I knew I had to do this race. I asked around a bit, and from everything I had heard, it sounded like a great race. It is small (1500 runners), due to the fact the area cannot handle a lot of runners, and I was able to get signed up when it was about halfway full. It sold out fairly quickly after I registered, but a friend from MI, who was my partner coaching a Girls on the Run team in Novi, was able to get signed up as well. <br />
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Race day was approaching, and I made sure to get rested up from my ride. I did a couple short light runs, and no more cycling. I had one swim, and that was it. The weather was looking great too. I opted to wear my yellow Swirlgear top instead of my Aquaphor tee. One of the perks of this race was unlimited downloads of race pictures, so I thought it would be nice to have some in my new tee. It was also warm enough for short sleeves and shorts. The race pics are not up yet, but I hope to have those soon. <br />
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I woke up early and got on the road. I had wanted to be there early since I had to use race day pick up, and it sounded like it could get backed up. I also wasn't exactly sure how far away I would need to park, and I would need to put my shirt and things in the car before the start. Thankfully, I found a spot on street right in downtown Midway, which is adorable, and walked to race headquarters at Darlin Jean's restaurant. It would be super fun to just come and visit here without doing a race, or be able to stay longer, but since the race was on Sunday, a lot of the places were closed. It would be fun to come in the day before though. Its just not far enough away to justify a hotel for me. I found Ron, who is similar to my pace, and his wife Shawn, pretty easily. Then I found Carla. It was great to see her. We took a few pictures by the caboose, and then walked back to the car one more time to put everything away, and then it was time to head to the start.<br />
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The course was two out and backs, running through Midway in the middle and the finish. It would be rolling, and with the two out and backs, you would sort of get to preview the hills for the way back. I usually start out a little too quick, and slow down a tad, so I figured I would go with the same strategy, but just start a little slower than a PR pace, but not too fast. Looking back at previous race times, I can usually hit 1:42 fairly consistently. I thought this might be a little slower, because of the hills, but then I had trained really well, so I just thought I would try to stay between 7:30 and 8s. That should get me in below 1:45 I figured, and we would just see how fast I could do. I felt great, and just tried to keep an even pace. It was just really beautiful running through this area. I recognized it from the Horsey Hundred. Running by the horse farms was fabulous. They loved us. There were points when the horses ran along with us, inside their fences. At the first turn around, I could see that I was around 20 ladies back. I got passed by one lady heading back towards midway, but I felt like my pace was holding ok. It was nice to be able to see my friends out on the course too. I hit the halfway point in around 50 minutes, just a little over. I really felt like I could hold onto the pace too, depending on what the second half of the race would have in store. I wasn't on PR pace, but since I haven't had a PR at this distance in over 2 years, I was still on pace to have a really great time. I also felt like the downhill portions let me speed up while recovering my legs. I felt like I could push on the uphills because of the downhills. On the second half, I felt like there was this huge downhill on the way out of town. I was worried a bit about having to run back up into the city, and felt like I needed to save a little. However, it was great running through the city. There was tons of crowd support. I saw an ambulance ahead. It was the one I rode in, driven by the paramedic that tended to me on the side of the road. I waved, but I don't think he recognized me. I had thought on my drive out that maybe I should have worn the pink kit, but I was glad I went with the outfit that I did. I was able to pass another lady who laid down on the side of the road. That made me nervous. I asked her if she was OK as I ran by and she said she was. Thankfully, I saw her again running after the turn around. I had one lady pass me on a downhill, and I was thinking that was probably a bad call on her end with the uphill ahead, and while it didn't seem as bad as I thought, I was still able to pass her. I was able to have a really strong finish, and my official time was 1:40:45! I was thrilled! I haven't been this fast in over 2 years. This was a minute faster than my fastest time last year, and close to a minute faster than my second fastest previous time from 2011, the year I ran my fastest time.<br />
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I must say I was a bit bummed to see that I was only 6th in my age group with such a stellar time. What? My age group is so dang hard! What the heck! I was the 19th female, which meant my counting was about right. This is a prime example how having a goal based on other people's performance is not always the best. I was still thrilled with my performance.<br />
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Ron finished a few minutes after I did, and we went back to Darlin Jean's and the car for the camera. We got a few pictures, and I stocked up on Honey Stinger Waffles and a custom 13.1 sticker. I didn't win a cool mug, so I bought a cup. I should have bought one beforehand, because they were sold out of the ones that looked like the awards, but I got a slightly different style. <br />
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I had to head back home pretty quickly since it was Sunday, and Ryan had a meeting before church at 11:30. I was pretty confident that I could be home in time for this. It was also the Primary Sacrament Program Sunday, which meant that my children had speaking parts in the service. It's pretty much the best Sunday all year to hear the children, because they have generally written the parts themselves. I arrived home just in time for Ryan to head out, and the kids were super happy to see me. I had told Soren that I would bring him a poster, (we had gone to the train festival in La Grange on Saturday, and come home empty handed), so that was the first thing he asked to see. <br />
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The medal for this race was awesome. It is HUGE, and I love the logo. They have the logo for next year already posted on their<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ironhorsehalfmarathon" target="_blank"> facebook page</a>. I must say, I am partial to this year's logo. <br />
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There were so many positives to this race. It was just beautiful. The course was fantastic. Seeing the horses and the pretty fall colors in the countryside was breathtaking. It was a nice size. I don't always need to do the huge races, and this was a nice middle ground. The swag was great. The shirts were gender specific, with the race logo on the front and no other logos. I know I will wear this one. It was quiet out there. I like quiet. It really helped me focus on my running and having a good race. The medal was great, and they had ice cream at the finish! There were only a couple things that I thought were missing. The first was that I couldn't find any bagels or cookies at the finish. They did have the Honey Stinger waffles, though, and those are amazing. Also, I always carry my own nutrition on the course so it didn't affect me at all, but they didn't have a gel station on the course. I would love to do this race again. I think it would be fun to have some more friends doing it, but it was amazing that Carla came down, as well as Ron and Shawn. If I have friends that want to do it again next year, then perhaps I will do it again.<br />
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Looking ahead, I won a free entry into the Detroit Marathon that is next weekend already, and chose to do the International Half Marathon. I'm all signed up, and I just raced a great half marathon. This week I did one hard cycling workout, because Iceman is my next really important race. Detroit will be for fun, but I still want to do well. I'll take Wednesday off, and then on Thursday, do a short run, and that will be it I think until Sunday so that I can rest up. Hopefully that is enough rest. Detroit is very high energy, and so I think even if I am going slow, I will still have a great time. I love that race, it feels like coming home. I'll have lots of support from friends out there. My friend Anna and her mom always volunteer at the finish, and they are bringing Amy too! Yay! I am also officially registered for the LSC Half Marathon too. Its going to be a busy fall for sure, but it should be a blast. The LSC half is a week after Iceman, so I will likely do a similar plan for the week between them as I am this week, except I won't mountain bike, but maybe the time trial bike outside or a spin on the trainer.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-41620765353288844252013-10-06T19:42:00.001-07:002013-10-06T19:42:22.608-07:00Black Mountain Madness Ride RecapI think I alluded to something big happening this weekend, but since it was a really last minute trip, I didn't want to give too many details if it fell through.<br />
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Ryan had been planning this ride for a while. It was a 70 mile ride that included a ride up to the top of Black Mountain, KY's highest point at over 4000ft of elevation. Our initial plan was that we would go as a family, and I would be able to do touristy things with the kids while Ryan rode with friends. We had booked a room in an really quaint hotel in Benham, KY, which has a rich coal mining history, the Benham Schoolhouse Inn. There was also a coal mining museum, so we figured I could stay busy enough with the kids. There was also a night 5K glow run on the Friday before. However, as things got closer, it turned out that we didn't really knows anyone going. So, this is where my parents came to the rescue. They were thankfully available for the weekend, and I was able to do the ride as well. When Ryan asked me if I wanted to ride, I for some reason thought the ride was 50 miles. I figured I could make it through 50 miles since I had been riding a decent amount on the mountain bike on the road. I had everything all lined up for my parents to come when I realized it was 70. I told myself that I am generally ill prepared for my cycling events, so it should just be more of the same. My running fitness is really great right now, and "they" say that 1 hour of running fitness translates into 3 hours of cycling fitness, so the fact that I can "comfortably" run for 2 hours made me feel more confident. It was 70 miles, so that should take me around 4 hours, right? I could do that. Sure. No problem. Forget the fact that I hadn't ridden my tri bike since early September, and my longest ride before THAT was at Muncie, in mid July, and 56 miles. 70 miles is only 14 miles longer than that, so not a big increase.<br />
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We drove out to Cumberland, KY, and Benham was just minutes outside of it. We found our hotel and it was super charming. It was a former schoolhouse turned into a hotel. The classrooms had been converted into the guest rooms. The lockers still lined the hallways, and the gymnasium was now a banquet center that could handle events up to 250 people. It was built in 1927, so it was a bit newer than the really cool elementary school that I went to from kindergarten through 5th grade, Emerson Elementary, but still a beautiful building. Here is a photo of Emerson from Bing. It was built in 1896, and I attended the school in 1986, when it turned 90. I also felt the need to share this info with the lady who handled our check-in. She was super friendly and very intrigued by my story, which I appreciated. She was excited to learn that we were there for the ride, and asked if we were going to drive up there beforehand to check it out, because I think she thought we were a bit nuts for trying to bike up it, despite being incredibly sweet and friendly.<br />
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Here are some photos from the Benham Schoolhouse Inn. The pictures from the <a href="http://www.kentuckytourism.com/Listing/100/" target="_blank">website</a> all lit up at Christmas look very cool. We didn't take a picture of our guest room because it really wasn't all that exciting or different from any standard hotel room, except that it was an older building.<br />
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This is a view of the hallway on the first floor. <br />
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The reading room<br />
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Inside the reading room<br />
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There were not very many restaurants in the area for a good pre-ride meal. We were debating on eating at the Applebee's in Cumberland (I have a long standing issue with the chain due to something odd happening nearly every time I have ever dined at one, regardless of location nationwide), or take our chances driving to Whitesburg, KY, about 30 minutes away, to eat at the Pine Mountain Grill. We took a look at the menu and website, and it looked fine, and less of a gamble than eating at Applebee's. I am so glad we decided to go this way. While we drove up Pine Mountain and not Black Mountain, the views we saw were incredible! Wow, these are real mountains. The Appalachian Mountains are no joke! We had been wanting to go to the Smoky Mountain National Forest for our upcoming fall break (OC schools), but were worried about the whole NPS system being shut down, and according to a friend who is there, the pull offs and parking areas for the scenic overlooks were blocked off! It was really a huge source of frustration for me because we have been unable to plan. Sorry for the digression, but WOW! These views going up Pine Mountain were fabulous! I don't need to go to the Smoky Mountains anymore! The sun was starting to set as we were driving, and we stopped several times to take pictures on little pull offs on the side of the road, and drove up to the start of the Pine Mountain Trail for some pictures too. It was so beautiful. Kentucky is so pretty, and I felt so blessed to be here and enjoy this with Ryan. It also started to make me freak out about tomorrow's ride, since the hotel receptionist had said that Black Mountain was steeper/more treacherous than Pine Mountain.<br />
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We arrived at the Pine Mountain Grill and it was a good choice. The funny thing about this place is that it contained the full range of attire. There were ladies in formal wear (homecoming or a wedding?) and a guy in denim overalls. We didn't have to wait long for a table for two, despite the parking lot being packed when we arrived. They had a cute little country store in the front that we browsed while we waited. It reminded me of the store at Three Cedars in MI. Ryan and I were both able to get some grilled chicken and some carbs for dinner, plus a side salad from a salad bar. We also opted to get dessert. They had a maple blondie sundae that I just couldn't pass up. I figured the ride tomorrow was going to hurt plenty bad, and that a dessert this evening wasn't going to make a big difference in the grand scheme of things, and that I had better just enjoy this meal. It wasn't a huge scoop of ice cream, mostly just a large warm blondie with the maple cream on it. It was worth it. We headed back, and the sky was so clear that you could see an amazing amount of stars. I feel like we live in the country in Oldham County compared to Detroit, but WOW, these stars were so bright, I felt like we were out in the desert somewhere. Being up on the mountain, there weren't too many trees to block out the view either. This evening alone was worth the trip, no matter how bad tomorrow's ride went.<br />
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The next morning, we got up at 6am, had breakfast with a couple other people who were riding, and then headed out to get ourselves registered. It was a small ride, as expected based off the number of facebook likes for their posts. Ryan found one guy from Louisville that he knew would be out here, and Susan, one of the Landsharks was here with a friend too. Here we are before the ride.<br />
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It was a pretty straightforward route, two out and backs from the start/finish area, without many turns. The first section was out for 23 miles, and then back to a sag stop, and then we had the climb. The first section went pretty quickly. We headed out mostly downhill and I stayed pretty much with Ryan and another lady until we stopped. She didn't stop as long as we did. Ryan needed to find a restroom and I wanted to refill water and I ate a honey stinger waffle and a GU. The return trip was a bit harder. I could tell that it was gradually uphill, but still not too bad. I felt pretty good, but I struggled to stay with Ryan, dropped my chain at one point (and had an ambulance make sure I was really OK while fixing it, I should have asked for an alcohol wipe for my hands), and then Ryan followed me in to the stop back in Cumberland. I ate my bonk breaker bar, used the bathroom, and tried to clean up my hands from dropping my chain. We took a quick picture with this bear. They had them all over the area, and some were decorated differently. The one by the current school had cute handprints on it, and I really liked that one, but we didn't stop with either the car or the bikes there for a picture.<br />
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This was when it got really hard. Ryan and I had discussed that we would not stay together on this part of the climb. He was going for time, and had just signed up for a STRAVA account and wanted to get KOM on this climb. Funny. We stayed together for a very short amount of time. I kept telling myself it was only 12 more miles, because once I got to the top, it was all downhill from there. I was tired, and already using a bunch of my lower gears, so I was getting stressed. I thought to myself, well, if I don't make it up, I can just turn around and go back early. That was the nice thing about the out and back route. It started with this gradual climb, and then the last 6 or so miles up to the top were just brutal. It took me forever to do this. I looked down and was going around 6 miles an hour. Oh My! It was going to take me an hour to get to the top at this rate!!! The nice thing is that it wasn't crazy steep, just forever long, and there were a few flatish places on the sides, so I felt confident that if I stopped to take a break, I would be able to restart again. At MMM last year, there were a couple sections that my chain dropped, and I couldn't get restarted once I fixed it because of the grade. I think I took 3 breaks. I didn't walk with my bike, just because it seemed dangerous to be walking my bike and when I was stopped, I was at least completely off the road and attempting to recover. I felt a lot better for a few minutes when I took these breaks. I went back and forth passing and then taking a break and being passed with a couple of guys. I knew Ryan was at the top because I saw guys riding down. It was like climbing in spin class but like for the whole class! I would stand up for a few strokes, and then sit down. It was the hardest ride I have ever done. Oh, and did I mention that by bottom two gears wouldn't work? My rear derailleur wouldn't let me stay in my 27 or my 28! Crud! I was worried if I messed with it myself, I would really mess things up and not be able to finish. However, it was incredible once I got to the top. I had Ryan waiting for me, and we were at the highest point in KY. The ride organizers were up there, and we were at the Virginia state line with a scenic overlook. It was awesome. I felt so proud that I had done it. <br />
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Then, we had the ride down. Since I crashed on a descent in May, I really rode the brakes on the way down. I probably need new pads now! It was so much faster going down and up, and the hardest thing was just controlling my speed and bike. My legs were toast, and I just didn't want to cramp up because I would have to actually pedal for about 5 miles or so to get through Benham and into Cumberland to the finish. It was a lot easier than I thought. Some kids on the side of the street commented on how fast I was going. My total ride time (moving time) was 4:26, with about another hour of stopped time, between the sag stops, breaks, and photo ops. Ryan and I were the first couple to the top, and I was the first female. That felt pretty cool. Ryan also scored some KOM awards on Strava, and I even got a QOM! There was a lady who did a few segments faster than me, but I did the overall climb faster than her. They had a lunch for us with pizza, pasta salad, breadsticks, and treats. They had my favorite, iced sugar cookies, as well as Halloween candy. They even had medals for us! That was pretty cool because a lot of the cycling events don't give you anything for finishing. My parents were waiting on us to return, so we didn't stay long, and got on the road fairly quickly. I am super glad we did this. The area seems a bit economically depressed, with lots of closed and vacant storefronts, so it was nice to be able to do a beautiful ride and help out their local economy. It was a small ride, and I really felt like they did a great job keeping track of all of us via two way radios and I felt very safe the whole time. The route was simple to follow and well marked, and cue sheets are provided. I would definitely recommend this ride to anyone who is looking for a challenging climb.<br />
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On another note, when I was at the top of the Black Mountain, both Ryan and I got a couple incoming voicemails. Cell service was spotty, and at the summit, my phone picked up two voicemails. The first was from Warren, MI. I had won the drawing I entered for the free Detroit Free Press Marathon race of my choice! It is two weeks away, so I had figured they would be notifying people soon, and I also figured that not too many people had entered the contest since the end date was three weeks prior to the race, and they were giving away 55 spots! I have until Tuesday to call them back and get registered. I can pick the full marathon, half, or International Half. I will be selecting the International half. It is an amazing race with both the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit Windsor Tunnel. It will be tight to fit this into my race schedule, so it will likely be for "fun", if I can actually run a race for fun. It is a week after the Iron Horse, so that will be back to back 13.1s. I've done this before, and it is tough, but it will at least help me keep my mileage up before the LSC half. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-21028062293373048252013-10-02T12:57:00.001-07:002013-10-02T12:57:09.236-07:00October Update- Training and a bit more info on BostonWow, how did it get to be October already? I LOVE fall! LOVE LOVE LOVE it! There really isn't that much better than a nice run outside through pretty scenery. I say this, however, my last two runs were not scenic at all. Saturday was a big day for us. We had our son's 5th birthday party, so I opted to forgo two different group run opportunities to run before Ryan's ride, and sleep. Lame, totally lame. Did I skip my workouts? No, I did not. I just skipped out on running with Oldham County Multisport at 7, and also running with the YMCA at Norton Commons group at 8. Knowing that the party was going to stress me out and be a long day meant that I did not want to wake myself up early on purpose, and as long as the kids would sleep, I would let them. They would need to be well rested. What I did was go to the YMCA and run at 9:30am, indoors, on the treadmill, while Ryan rode outside. Could I have gotten up early and be home by 9:30? Sure, but school, work, and extra curriculars just wear me out, and I had been up early the past several Saturdays for training or racing reason. Sometimes you just need to sleep, even if your workout isn't perfect, but you can still get it done. I ran a quick 6 miles on the treadmill. I did my long run of 10 miles last Thursday, outside. <br />
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Then yesterday, I opted to ride my mountain bike on the road for my iceman training. I rode out in Oldham County taking 329B to 1694, to 42, 393, to 146 into Crestwood, stopping at Time Warner Cable (we've had internet problems off and on for a week now), and then home for a total of 24 miles. Goodness, that is hard. There is a reason road bike and time trial bikes are made with skinny tires and stiff frames. My mountain bike is heavy and squishy. I made it, though. Whew. It was really a fabulous day for running. When I got back, I ran a short 2 miles in my neighborhood. Also not terribly scenic, but again, getting it done. I did really get to enjoy the nice fall weather and the start of the leaves turning on my bike, though. In fact, that was one of the only things that made this ride tolerable, as it is just so difficult to ride a bike like that on those hilly roads. I did ride a little on a gravel shoulder and on some grated road under construction, so I appreciated my mountain bike on those sections, but the brand new section of 42 wasn't as noticeable as it would have been on my TT bike. It was smooth like butter, and I could tell on the mountain bike, but not a huge difference. <br />
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Keira had a cross country meet yesterday, so she got to enjoy the pretty day. It was a tad warm by race time, but she did great. The kids received popsicles when they finished up. I ran with her for part of it, in jeans, carrying my son, so my legs were trashed last night. I think today will be a rest day, which is fine. If you add up everything I did yesterday, it is about 2.5 workouts, and a lot for one day. I have my long run tomorrow (outside!!!), and I am in taper mode for Iron Horse anyway. Not the time to push, and I have a big ride on Saturday planned with Ryan. I'll post more on that after the fact, because it is contingent on my parents coming into town to watch the kids, otherwise I am just going as a spectator. Also, the weather will be a deciding factor too. We are not signed up, so if the weather turns bad (which is shouldn't), I don't think we will ride. That's what I love about running. It isn't so dependent on the weather. You can run in the rain just fine. Riding, on the other hand, is much more difficult.<br />
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Now, back to the Boston update. I posted last week that I got in. I didn't elaborate on the circumstances. I was in the final group to sign up, those people that met the requirement. We had about 5 days to sign up, and then after that, registration would be closed and they would rank everyone by how much time they had beat their required time, and then make a new cut off time based on the entrants. It is very scientific. I am a math person, so it was causing a ton of stress. By the end of the first day of registration, it was estimated that 7500 people had applied for what we thought was 5000 spots. Using the assumption that the entrants' times were evenly distributed amongst the 0-5 minute range, the new cut off time would be 1:40. I was 1:44, so for every additional registrant, it would raise that time. By week end, the reports were up to approximately 8000. That meant that if it was evenly distributed, I was out. You'd need to be around 1:52 better. What we didn't know was the shape of the distribution. Would it be a normal distribution? What was the mean and sigma value? Would it be biased to the faster people because only the fast people submitted and the people with the slower times that beat it by only a second or so even be in that pool? <br />
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I tried to not worry about it, since it was out of my control, but it was really hard to avoid thinking about it. Thankfully, I got one of those rainbow loom things, and that kept me off the internet stressing about it and on youtube learning how to make bracelets! I have made so many of them, and have even taught some of the neighbor's children to make them. This is a small sampling of what I have made. <br />
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I knew the announcement would be made on Wednesday, the 25th, but I didn't know when. I figured it would not be at least until 10am EST, because all of the registration times started at that time. I hoped it would be before 5pm, because that is when things needed to close. Every noise my phone made stressed me out. Was it an email? I was afraid to look during work because I didn't want to have a breakdown there, either way. I was really unsure that I would get in. I had been trying to be hopeful, but at the same time not be devastated if I didn't get in. I got home from work and got online. Surely people on facebook in my same boat would have heard or not heard. I got the email around 1:30, and just cried. I couldn't believe I was in. 6 seconds was the difference between my time and the new cut off time. Talk about cutting it close!!! You had to be faster than 1:38, and I was 1:44. Wow! I get to run the 2014 Boston Marathon on April 21st. My birthday. How often will that happen that 1, the race is on my birthday and 2, I am actually qualified. I don't know, and I wanted to take advantage of it! Yay! Cristina is in, and I am excited that I finally get to run it with her. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-85229749451298405162013-09-25T10:58:00.004-07:002013-09-25T10:58:57.782-07:00I'm In! Boston 2014 Baby!!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-22166388949107659852013-09-22T19:25:00.001-07:002013-09-22T19:25:37.854-07:00The Long Run. Getting it done, safelyMy last training post discussed track workouts. I love track workouts, but I really feel like getting your long runs completed is really the most important part of your training program. If you miss a shorter distance run, it isn't going to have the same impact on your big picture training as if you miss a long run. I'm not saying you can't ever miss a long run, in fact, on nearly every marathon training program I have done, I have encountered a week due to illness, injury, or travel that it just didn't happen. The half marathon is no different, except the long runs are shorter than those for a marathon.<br />
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For this fall, I am doing slightly longer runs that I have in the past for a half marathon. My best half marathons have always come shortly after a full marathon, so I am just trying to have several long runs that are further than 13.1. If I was only looking to do the Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon, without having two events leading up to it (Iron Horse and Iceman), then I would likely even try to do a 20 miler, and make my training more like that of a full marathon, yet just race a half. This might be excessive, but considering I am already looking to do a spring marathon, having higher than average mileage for me right now is on track. But, I stand firm in that if you can run 10 miles, you can race and half marathon. <br />
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So, this past Thursday was what I think will be my longest run before Iron Horse. The way my weekends are planned, with Iceman three weeks after, and then the LSC half a week after that, I will essentially be starting a taper followed by recovery period before Iceman and LSC. Hopefully this goes well. I'm thinking 10 miles this week for my long run, and then 6 the week before Iron Horse. Then I will start back around 7 or so, and start adding again before Iceman. I think I can get back up to 10 before Iceman, and then skip my long run the week of Iceman (travel and other race being the reasoning, and Iceman itself will be a huge enough event that I won't lose any fitness from doing it, just may exhaust myself more!!!)<br />
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I have the word "safely" in the title of this post. It has two purposes. First, you shouldn't add too many miles per week to your long run. I typically add one mile each week for two weeks, and then take a step back week on the third, but then on the 4th week, I add one to what I would have run had I not taken a step back. Here is the pattern, 7,8,6,10, 11, 9, 13, 14 ect. The step back week allows for some recovery, but it doesn't let you lose fitness, which is why you return the following week as if you have not taken the step back week. I hope this makes sense, and this has worked for me well out of my almost 10 years of marathon experience.<br />
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The second purpose is runner safety. While I was running on Old La Grange Rd by myself, a resident stopped me and mentioned she was concerned that I was alone. Yes, I know running alone isn't the best, but sometimes you can't always have everything be the best. But, you can take precautions. I am friends with an OC Sheriff, and I spoke to him and he thought that Old LaGrange Road is pretty safe, and hadn't heard any incidents, so I wasn't concerned enough to stop running alone. I asked about carrying pepper spray, which I haven't even thought to carry since college, and he agreed that it wasn't a bad idea if I am alone, just watch to not spray myself. <br />
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Here is my list of things to aid with runner safety, especially if you are alone.<br />
1. Tell someone where you are going and when you will be back, and vary your route/time if possible.<br />
2. Bring your phone, ID, and insurance card. Also, have someone in mind you can call if you do run into a problem, be it weather, injury, or sickness. Sometimes you feel great at the start of a run, but feel really bad when you are running or get a muscle pull. And, there are always those storms that weren't on the radar, but pop up out of no where.<br />
3. Be visible. Wear bright colors or reflective fabrics if you will be running at dusk/dark, or in high traffic areas where being hit by a car is a possibility. Run facing opposing traffic.<br />
4. Try to find a balance of being on visible roads, but not so much traffic that you are constantly at risk for being hit by a car. This is a hard one. I will sometimes run on the sidewalk of highly trafficked roads so that I am not "alone", but not in traffic either. I also try to run by businesses and have places on my route that I can seek shelter or assistance. <br />
5. Make eye contact with those around you, and be aware of your surroundings.<br />
6. Carry extra food and water, if you are planning a really long run or will be in a remote area.<br />
7. Take self defense class and carry personal protection items such as pepper spray, whistle, or other distress signal.<br />
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Last week, I had my first long run since having my discussion with the resident of Old La Grange road telling me to watch out for scary looking vans and the sheriff. Seriously, I started running in a bad part of Columbus, OH, while in college, and have been running by myself for the past 10 years in Detroit suburbs, Toronto, outside of Cleveland, and now here. Granted, running in a rural area has things that startle me more than those things I am used to in urban areas, and I am not used to being out on roads and not in an enclosed park that is closed to motor vehicle traffic, with a bathroom and drinking fountain every 2-4 miles. I've gotten used to carrying water, planning bathroom stops to align with the gas stations, and even called dispatch a time or two for finding hunting debris on the side of the road that I mistook for a crime scene. I was really not worried about myself so much. I was really worried that my daughter had a school walk a thon at 11:30, and I had to drop my son off at school at 9:00, and I wanted to run 15 or so miles. I had 2.5 hours to get home, run, and get to school. The plan was to run as quickly as possible after dropping him off, and then finish my run at the school, since it was on my running route. It was a walk a thon, so I could show up all sweaty, right? I wasn't even going to need to go into the school, I had hoped. <br />
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I packed up my camelback with my phone, ID, insurance card, water, 12 clif blocks (2 packages), my camera (in a Ziploc freezer bag), pepper spray, and an alert horn. That was a ton of stuff! It was pretty heavy. I got my son dropped off and home, and it was cool and overcast, but I had plenty of time to run 15, if I hit my splits and didn't take too much time getting my food out of my camelback, I should be at the school in plenty time. I was going to run back and forth on Old La Grange Road, until I got in enough miles to head home. I do a lot of business at Tri County Ford, and with the fire station being at the opposite end, I figured I would have a place to seek shelter from the cark clouds that showed up as soon as I got to the fire station. I thought about all the places I could seek shelter if I needed immediately, and also thought that if I got caught in a storm on my first out and back, I would just head home to get cleaned up before going to the school, but the dark clouds passed. I thought I was good. I finished the first out and back and was heading back on my second when the sky opened up, and I got caught in a downpour! It actually felt great, but I was 2 miles from the school and 3 miles from home, so I was going to be at the school sopping wet! I did not plan for that! I did stop quickly under a tree to move my phone from its outside pocket in my camelback to an inner pocket, in the freezer bag with the camera, for added protection from the elements. Then I just tried to hurry to the school as fast as possible. I hoped it would stop before I got there. My daughter's group was the first group after the lunch period to walk, and I thought that maybe they would still be able to walk outside if the rain stopped before their start time. No such luck. I arrived at the school in the pouring rain, right at the 15 mile mark, at 11:30. The only bad thing was that I was drenched, and dripping water everywhere! All the PTA members who had volunteered for longer shifts than just one grade were wearing school tees. Maybe I could buy an extra?? Thankfully, the aunt of one of my daughter's friends let me borrow her tee since she had a second one underneath, and I was no longer freezing, but still very wet. I was making little puddles on the gym floor. I know attending a walk a thon immediately after a long run probably isn't the smartest or easiest thing to do, but I didn't feel too bad, aside from the embarrassment of being sopping wet. I did end up mopping the floor around myself a couple of times, and escorted the school mascot around the gym, since seeing out of those costumes is tricky. It was a blast, and I'm glad everything worked out that I could attend. Yes, it is my child who chose to wear her Ironman shirt to the walkathon!!<br />
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Keira and I<br />
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I hope you have a great week! Any other tips for staying safe on the run would be appreciated too!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02624297955496298110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2677251919965819973.post-87522387297265420652013-09-21T17:50:00.001-07:002013-09-21T17:50:14.173-07:00Oldham County Grand Slam Race #4, Apple Patch 5K race and series recapThis morning was the final 5K in the Oldham County Grand Slam 5K. Going into this race, I was pretty well cemented in second place for the series. Roberta had finished ahead of me in every race, despite not being the OA winner in all of them. A woman named Shannon won the second race, the OC YMCA race. Shannon did not run here today, because she was busy winning the Pure Tap 5K to kick off the Fall Runathon.<br />
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When I went to bed last night, it was pouring. I actually had lined up my friend Ginger to watch my kids so that Ryan could do a group ride this morning, but with the amount of rain we were getting, and what was forecasted, it was doubtful he would be able to ride in the am. Figures. Usually I am really stressing to find someone to watch the kids for these shorter 5Ks so that Ryan can do a group ride. With his work schedule the way it is, I really hate to encroach on his Saturday rides, especially for such a short race, since this is one of the few times per week he can get together with friends to ride. Before going to bed, there were not any group ride emails (on account of the weather), but we figured we would decide in the morning if the kids would go to a friends' house or stay home.<br />
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"I woke up to the sound of pouring rain" Haha. It wasn't pouring, but it was raining when I woke up at 6:30. Keira was already up, dressed, and watching TV, so I debated taking her to Ginger's, but I knew it wasn't really necessary, so I texted her and let her know that the kids would be at home, but if it did dry out while I was gone, Ryan may contact her, although with the group rides off, waiting an hour or so to start didn't make a big difference in the grand scheme of things. With such a busy weekend last weekend, we were all ready for some relaxation. <br />
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It did stop raining, and I arrived to the race scene and there was no one there. Then I realized I was at the finish and needed to be further down by one drive. It seems like all the grand slam races have a short walk from the parking to the finish, not a big deal at all. I moved down one drive, and parked my mazda in a field. I was really glad I made the last minute decision to wear my old shoes today for two reasons, 1 they are lighter, 2, I didn't want to get my new Mizuno's all dirty, 3 I had worn them for all the other races in the series. My feet were getting wet from the grass and a bit muddy. Good call on the old shoes. I got my packet and peeled off my jacket and pants before walking down to the start. It was actually cool for a race. The first 2 races had been really hot, the 3rd was hot and muggy, and this one was cool and humid. I kept reminding myself that 60 degrees was not cold for running, and that 40 degrees was short weather when it came to a marathon, so I would be fine. It was just a tad chilly waiting to start, but I met up with Bishop Saxey and the Wayland family. I was happy I chose to go with my short sleeve shirt and black shorts. I think I wore a slightly different outfit each race, for a variety of reasons. Today was just because I knew I would be dirty when I finished up.<br />
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I felt a little like a slacker when I started the race. I knew I couldn't keep my pace with Roberta, because last race I tried to stay with her and ended up feeling miserable as a result. I wasn't as familiar with the course, but Bishop had told me about it, and it didn't seem to bad from the description, but I knew I really just wanted to run my own race. It was rolling enough that I didn't think a PR was in reach, but I just wanted to run fast as I could, especially considering I did my long run already this week on Thursday (15 miles). I was feeling it for sure at the start, but as I got going, I felt better. I did slow a bit on the middle, and picked it up a little more in the final mile. This is sort of typical for me in a 5K, really fast mile 1, slow mile 2, and then middle mile 3. Maybe it was because it was finally typical (or what I know) running weather for me. I sort of missed the finish, because I thought we had to turn into the drive, so I'm not really sure what my time should be, but I think it was about 22:34. I was in a solid second place female, so it didn't really make a huge difference in anything. The race isn't chip timed either, and I was behind Roberta every race, so it wasn't like anything was going to change from my mistake. A lot of people actually did this too. It was sort of funny. They had cones around the clock that made it look like a turn, but also additional cones extending past it. <br />
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Bishop did a great job. He was 5th overall, and Courtney wasn't that far behind me. She ran with Grace, who is the younger of the two daughters that ran. Emma was ahead of both of them, and did a fantastic job.<br />
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The awards were funny for this race. They announced the overall series winner first, and Roberta took that easily. Then, they announced the overall winner for today's race, and they had ME. Wait? Why? Roberta was confused why she didn't get the OA win from today's race too. That seemed to make sense to me, because if Shannon had been there today, she would have taken the OA win for the 5K, and Roberta still taken OA series winner. Right? The awards were cute little shiny apple medals, and I was worried that I wouldn't get a cute apple medal, which is actually easier for me to display than a winner's plaque, but I thought Courtney would get the AG win then, since we are both in the same AG. However, it got more strange. They called me as the AG winner, so I took both the AG and the OA winners for this race. It didn't seem right. Roberta got her AG win too, and Courtney got second. So basically I have an extra plaque. Here we are with our awards. Emma and Grace went 1-2 in the 15 and under category, so we all got the cute apples. <br />
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I don't think Roberta will do the series next year. I asked to see her prize, which was a super cool Louisville Slugger bat that was personalized with "OC Grand Slam winner". She said I could win it next year. She lives a bit away, and said it was an awful lot of work for a bat. However, those bats are not cheap! They start around $60 or so, and the race entry for the series if you did it up front was $70. That seems pretty good to me too. I signed up one at a time, but paid early registration for each of them, so my series cost me $80 ($20/race). Late registration was $25/race. I got 5 tee shirts as part of the series too. (the shape on the series shirt is the outline of Oldham County)<br />
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Also, here are all the awards I earned from the series, all for placing. None of the races gave finisher's medals. I would have to say that I got my money's worth out of the series. It was fun and I had friends at each race too. It's been a long time since I have been excited about paying money for a 5K, but when using them as my speedwork, they fit nicely into my plan. I'm sure I could have done a little better at today's race had I not had a hard really long run on Thursday, but looking at the big picture, that was more important, and I wasn't going to miraculously take 6 minutes off my 5K time for the series win.<br />
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Will I do this series again next year and win? I have no idea. It is so hard to set a goal to win a race, because you never know who will show up. I will probably attempt it again, because none of the races were on Sunday, and they all fit pretty well into our schedule. I hope it does work out for me to do it next year because it is fun. These races are on tough courses, and are just about running without a lot of the bells and whistles that make races so costly these days. Plus I am supporting charities close to my home.</div>
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