Week(end) of Craziness in MI, KY, and IN- Boston Marathon Registration, STRESS, FUN, and Swirlgear!

I can't believe it has been just over a week since my last update, yet so much has happened.  I probably should break this into multiple posts, but I'm going to try to be concise.

The registration opened for the 2014 Boston Marathon last Monday.  They had announced that additional spots would be available, but I wasn't prepared for how fast the field would fill.  By Friday, some people were projecting that it would be full by sometime on Saturday.  To say that I was flipping out would be an understatement.  I spent way too much time online and stressing about it.  I kept trying to tell myself that I couldn't control it, so stop stressing.  This is much easier in theory than in practice.  Ryan and I headed out of town Friday afternoon for a big weekend in MI.  Weekends in Michigan tend to be busy, but fun, so I was hopeful that I would just be having a good time and not think about it until I knew more info. 

Saturday was spent moving.  Constantly.  I woke up at 6:30am to get in my Tuesday Track workout (I try to do 1 speed work session per week, be it a formal track workout or short race) in BRAND NEW shoes. I ordered these shoes and had them shipped to Ryan's parents house as a sales tax evasion technique.  I love them.  I don't know why I took so much time off of Mizunos.  They felt amazing!

I did 1200, 800, 400, 1200, 800, 400.  It was hard.  I am not used to his parents' treadmill, but I knew I could squeeze this in, and doing it on Saturday was more in line with my race last weekend and coming up this week.  Ryan forgot what I said about running on the treadmill in the morning, and was so perplexed at the horrible pounding noise he heard through the ventilation system.  Haha!  Then, it was donut time.  We went to Parmenter's Northville Cider Mill for cider and donuts with the kids.

This was shaping up to be a perfect fall day.  We couldn't stay long because my sister in law had VOLUNTEERED to watch Keira and Soren for Ryan and I so that we could go to the UM vs Akron game. Um, yes please!  I am an OSU and UM alum, and it has been forever since I have been to either team's games, so I jumped at the chance for some fall college football!  Yay!  (OSU friends, don't hate on me.  When you want to watch my kids for FREE so I can go to an OSU game and sell me your tickets, let me know.  I'll be all over that!)

The game as so stressful!  We totally thought they were going to lose!!!  So not what I needed when I was stressed about Boston already!  Ack!  Thankfully, UM made some serious stops at the end to not lose.  Wow.  Next, up, we did some quick errands, like stopping at REI where I scored a pair of Pearl Izumi mountain bike shoes for $22.83!!!  I had to buy them. 

Now, we were at the real reason we came up.  My friend Jessica was getting married!  She was one of my first training partners!  She was a coworker of mine at Ford, when we were both training for our first marathons!  She did Detroit the week after I did Columbus, and she introduced me to my Tuesday Track group, and we did the Detroit half in 2005, Detroit full in 2007, as well as several other races together.  Tuesday track became difficult to do together due to life happening to both of us, but I continued to try to get it in somehow.  It is how you really get faster.  How fitting that I started the day with a workout provided to me by the group she introduced me to!  It was a beautiful ceremony, and we had a blast at the reception.  She went to college with Kristel, and is who introduced us.  It was great to celebrate with her!  So funny, I think after all these years, these are the first photos we have of us NOT in running gear!

What a day!  Oh, and before I went to bed, I noticed that Boston Marathon had a status update that registration would open on Monday.  Yay!  There was still hope!  I still felt like it was unlikely that my time would get accepted, but at least the dream was still alive!

Sunday, we went to church with my brother and sister in law's family, and then went to Three Cedars.  My favorite fall place.  It is just awesome.  The whole experience: cider, donuts, and farm.  The kids love the wooden trains from here and Parmenter's.

Then, we drove back to MI for the night.  I went to work on Monday armed with my computer.  At 9:57 I clocked out, booted up the laptop, and with shaking body, I submitted my time for the Boston Marathon, and clocked back in.  I had done all I could.  It is what it is, and now I must wait.  I won't know anything until next week at the earliest.  I have learned that 7500 people have submitted times for 5000 spots.  Assuming the times are uniformly distributed across the range (which I have no idea if they are or not), a time that is 1:40 or better would get you in.  This also assumes that everyone has signed up on the first day.  There are still more days left for people to get their entries in.  My time was 1:44 better.  It is going to be incredibly close if I get in.  I'm trying to not think about it. (I cut out my reference ID)

Thankfully, Ryan and I had a DATE!  Wow, we are such fun people right now!  My parents drove in to watch the kids overnight so we could go to Indianapolis for the Imagine Dragons concert.  It was AMAZING!  We had so much fun.  We also walked around Indy before the concert, and saw lots of sights that I saw while running the 2011 Monumental (half) Marathon.  It was fun to take more time, and the concert was one of the best I have been to.  I listen to the Imagine Dragons while I run, and they have so many powerful songs.  I have never felt so emotional during a concert.  These were the songs that I listened to on those hard indoor treadmill runs that got me where I am.  I used them to get through the track workouts to get my BQ.  The music felt so huge, and they just rocked out.  I would love to see them again.

We got back into town this afternoon, and Ryan got in his ride, and then I did my run in my brand new Swirlgear top!  I am a new ambassador for the brand, Swirlgear.  It is a line of uniquely dyed women's running apparel.  The tops are very beautiful.  I wore the yellow top, and was initially a bit nervous about wearing such a soft top under my camelback, for fear it would pill or snag, and thankfully, it did not!  I loved the longer length.  I have a long torso, so sometimes running shirts are too short, and they ride up when I have my spibelt or camelback around my waist.  This top was plenty long enough to stay down and not bunch up or get caught in my camelback straps.  They are made of a soft material that is a little thicker than a mesh, but there are little holes in the fabric.  I feel like online, some of the tops look a bit sheer, but I didn't feel like mine were at all.  I'm very fair skinned, and the sports bra I wore underneath is not super bright white (anymore), so I felt like it didn't stand out.  The yellow top seemed to fit a bit looser than the pink long sleeve.  I think the long sleeve will layer nicely under fleeces since it is more snug.  I also was super happy how well they coordinated with things I already owned.  I can't put together a decent outfit to wear during the day, but I can put together a fun running outfit! 

Here is a close up of the fabric:

If you are interesting in placing an order or becoming a Swirlgear Ambassador, check out their website at www.swirlgear.com You can use code "swirlon" for free shipping.

Also, this weekend is the start of the Fall Runathlon with the Pure Tap 5K on Sept 21st!  Go to www.fallrunathlon.com for more info!!!  You can also check out the LSC half Marathon facebook page or Ken Comb's Running store for information on local track workouts you can do on an actual track on Tuesdays.  When I am not getting my workouts emailed to me from my crew that Jessica introduced me to way back in 2004, I will also get them from the Run Less Run Faster book or Hal Higdon's Marathon.


*FCC regulations require me to state that I am being compensated by both Swirlgear and the LSC Sports Commision for promoting their products/races.  However, the opinions expressed are my own.
*Ken Combs has NOT compensated me.  I just like that store, and they are a sponsor of the Louisville Landsharks, my tri club here, and they have a track workout on Tuesdays.