Stylish Blogger Award

Leah, over at Chasing Atlanta has nominated me for the "Stylish Blogger Award". I am glad I got tagged because I was sort of at a loss for posting this week. No one wants to hear how sore, sick, and pathetic I am being after my race! Finally ran today for the first time since the race and was tired. It doesn't help that I am sick too. Here are 7 random facts about me:

1. I used coupons for wants, and not needs, and hate to pay full price for anything that isn't a need. By this I mean if I am going to eat out for dinner or order a pizza, I like to have a coupon. Conversely, if I am at the grocery store and we need toilet paper, milk, or other staple, cost doesn't really enter the equation too much. High gas prices make me angry, but have little effect on my activity aside from driving out of my way to Commerce for Costco gas. I am really bad at using coupons at the grocery store, they seem to be too big of a mess maker at home for what they are worth, I usually buy store brands and stuff that doesn't have coupons anyway, like produce and fresh items. I also shop at Costco who only takes their own coupons (which I do use). I also shop the sale items. The grocery store nearest to us, Busch's, has a super deal that is different every day of the week, and I go WAS going there multiple times to get the $.99/lb boneless skinless chicken breast on Sat and $1.69/gallon of milk on Wed. I have been really good about not buying a ton of extra stuff too each trip. They just changed the deals this week, and I am NOT HAPPY. No more chicken at all and milk is on Sundays. I use coupons and sales for clothing, gear, home goods, and have even successfully negotiated discounts at the car dealership. This is hard for me because with my husband a Ford employee, we usually get a set discount and that is that. I did get a tire for free too once (with purchase of 3) just for crying and doing the "girl thing". It works, I have no shame when it comes to stuff like that.

2. I have a wicked sweet tooth. My biggest weaknesses are chocolate cake, cupcakes, and frosted sugar cookies. I will go so far to eat really healthy all day in order to keep my calories low enough to have a cookie or cake binge. It drives Ryan nuts that I will eat a massive piece of cake but refuse a cheeseburger or leave all the butter and olive oil out of recipes. Priorities. I also can bake just about any treat with ingredients on hand because I enjoy baking. I can't put a meal together without multiple trips to the store. Good thing I go a lot due to reason 1.

3. One of my major vices is "premium denim". I love fancy expensive jeans that are sold in the trendy stores. I don't know why, but I just do. I love going and trying them on. I get a pair about once a year, and am glad that Piperlime is part of Gap and can usually score a pair during their friends and family event, also part of reason 1. I wish they weren't so stinking expensive, because then I usually just wear a cheap clearance black tee that cost about $10 or less with them.

4. I have a degree from The Ohio State University AND a degree from the Univeristy of Michigan. I did gymnastics for OSU for my BS in Industrial Engineering, so that is where my loyalties lie come football season. I got my master's degree from UM through Ford's distance learning program in Automotive Engineering. I didn't have to go to campus on a regular basis as everything was done in the beginning through mailed videotapes and homeworks and then through video streaming online and online submission of assignments. I did go to campus for the library, to meet with professors for help, and to do my final project presentation. I also walked for graduation at both schools.

5. I prefer Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi over Caffeine Free Diet Coke, and that is my pop (we say "pop" here in the Midwest, not "soda") of choice. I am really trying to cut back on pop period since it has been accused of all sorts of bad things, so I only buy it if the 2Ls are $1 or less. Unfortunately, since I made this decision, I have been able to get it more often than I thought I would be able to. For a while it never seemed to be on sale, and now it always is.

6. This is more of an experience, but I wanted to share it. I had an odd experience last year while shopping (not everything in this post is going to be about shopping, but I am surprised at how many things go back to it!) While I was at the mall in a parking garage, I had a bird fly into the car while I was putting my children in their carseats. It was totally freaky! It flew in the drivers side door and tried to get out the closed moonroof. The passenger doors were open as well. I was just getting ready to reach in and start the car to open the moonroof when it flew out the other side. This whole thing must have only lasted 25 seconds, but it seemed forever. I was screaming as well as my two children. Oddly enough, I don't think anyone saw or heard us because I looked around afterwards and no one was there.

7. I have reoccurring nightmares about tornadoes. I did see a funnel cloud once as a child outside, but it did not drop down from the sky. With all my bad dreams I had before the marathon last week, I was really waiting to wake up in the middle of the night being run down on the course by a tornado. I probably didn't have that dream because I will have it in a month or so in regards to my prep for my half Ironman, Racing For Recovery, in Monroe MI. This will be a valid fear, though, because last year the transition area was hit by a tornado the day before the race, so there were delays with the start. Everything had to be set up again and there was a lot of debris on the course that caused them to shorten either the run or the bike. Thankfully, I wasn't there, I just heard about it. Those are my 7 things.

I must now pass this along to the following people:

Liz at Feet Dominating Pavement
Fancy Nancy at Living the Dream
Colleen at IronDiva

I think most of the regular followers of mine have already done this post or are tagged by either Shelby or Leah. Sorry if you have already done this ladies! On a side note, Shelby is looking for Bonk stories. I don't have any "blog worthy" ones. I have probably given up mentally or had an injury before getting to the point where I am actually bonking when working out. I have got a big workout planned for my birthday this year, and hopefully I don't bonk there. Most of the time I have bonked it has been when I have been watching the kids and been to busy to eat. I was once in a business meeting with my manager and got a bit loopy from low blood sugar and came close to having a tantrum over missing my lunch. He gave me an apple and some cookies of his that I was fixated on the entire meeting, and I was able to make it through the day. I am totally addicted to gu/gels when working out, and overuse them to the point where I get upset stomachs from too much sugar. I also have a spare marathon bar in each of my workout bags and my glove compartment, just in case.

I did it! Martian Marathon BOSTON QUALIFYING Race Recap

So, from the title of this post, you can tell that I had a great race this past weekend. This has been a long time in the making, and most of my f/b friends have already seen the Garmin photo with my unofficial time. Now I will get into the details for a full blown recap. It is long, I will warn you. I won't feel bad if you just look at the pictures and not read the rest!

I went to the expo on Friday afternoon, and had dinner with my parents and family at one of our favorite carbo loading restaurants, Noodles & Co. The kids eat there really well, and I felt like for a while we were eating here every Friday. I don't know if it is the greatest pre-race meal, but it was something I was used to eating before my 20 milers. I had a bit of anxiety over my breakfast planned for the next morning, especially because I did a bit more reading in Hal Higdon's book about eating 3-4 hours prior to race time. I had only planned to eat 2 hours before race time. I really wanted that extra hour f sleep, and just got about half of my running wardrobe packed up as just in case items. The weather looked iffy and I wanted to be prepared. The weather was supposed to be very cold, in the 30s, and possibly have a rain/snow mix. Please, no rain, anything but rain! I was also worried because I felt like I had hyped up this race too much with my friends and this site.

Thankfully, I woke up all by myself at 4:08, almost exactly 3 hours before race time and downed a Marathon Protein bar, my breakfast choice. It was hard to decide what to eat since I rarely run this early in the morning, but I had been relying on Marathon bars since we had a ton of them still as my afternoon pre-run snack. I drank a bunch of water, and then attempted to go to bed. That didn't really happen, but I laid in bed for another 45 minutes before getting up and getting ready. Cristina came and me and we got down to the race site about an hour before the start. We parked super close to the start and finish lines, as well as the porto potties. We did not heed or care about the warning that we would not be able to move our car until the race was completely over. We just wanted to be as close as possible to the start and porto potties to stay warm. We spent the time before the race deciding what to wear and wearing a path between her vehicle and the porto potties. Cristina thought I should go with my pink top based on the number of PRs I have had wearing it, and I finally got my number belt on and gus stashed in my jacket pockets. I took my Advocare Catalyst (amino acids) and a gu about 20 minutes before the start. We found Colleen from TIA before the race. This photo was taken at about 7:05am. The race was to start at 7:15, and it was at this point that I decided that I was completely overdressed. I did not want my jacket. This meant I wanted to lose the number belt and I had to pull all 5 of my gus out of my pockets and safety pin them ghetto style/old school to my tights and get to the start. Cristina and I have a history of missing the starts for major large chip time events due to staying warm and inside as long as possible, so it really wasn't a surprise that we got to the start line with seconds to spare after our quick change (she lost her vest too, but kept her belt since it contained her gus). We were trying to figure out how far we should move up when the race started. We essentially walked to the start and then we were off. Cristina is fast, and started super fast. I wanted to stay with her, but knew not to. I always struggle with going out way to fast, and today's race was long with a lot on the line. I did not want to ruin it. My first mile I really struggled to keep the pace slow, and got a little slower on mile 2.

7:35, 7:40

Miles 3- 8 felt really good. I felt like I was a little fast, but I just didn't want to slow down, too much. I just kept an eye on my pace and tried not to go too fast. I was glad I was able to bank a little time here for my BQ.

7:44, 7:49, 7:54, 7:58, 7:54, 7:54

After mile 8, things started to feel a bit hard. I did see TIA teammates Anna and Mary on the sidelines cheering me on. They had come down for Colleen and Rita, but it made my day. This was an out and back course, and I was starting to wonder when I would start seeing the winners coming back. I don't recall how early I saw them, but then I started watching for Cristina and counting the women. As I approached the halfway mark, I got a second wind. I got a bit nervous because my time for the half was not that much slower than my PR for a half. Hopefully I had not made a huge mistake. Cristina was the second female! I had a man tell me I was 8th! Are you kidding me? I am just trying to race for me, not to win anything today.

7:58, 8:04, 8:03, 8:00, 8:03, 7:55, 7:57

Mile 16 was the longest mile, I think. I just could not wait to have 9 miles left to go! This was single digits. I am not sure why I looked forward to this so much. 17 and 18 weren't much easier. 7:55, 8:05, 8:14 Once I got into the 19th mile, I felt like I was OK to slow down a bit. My cumulative time was 2:30:52, and I was pretty sure I could hang on to a 8:34 pace for the rest. I tried to tell myself I was on the treadmill and just had to do an hour to go. An hour is a long time to think about, but I have run an hour on the treadmill so many times at this pace, it did help to think about it. We also met up with the half marathoners at this point, which in the beginning, was fun because there were more people, but it was also not more fun because they were not running as fast as me, which made it hard for me to hold my pace. I was constantly passing people, and it wasn't as satisfying as it was when it was just marathoners. It was a pain. I also dropped several places here. I did OK until about mile 23. Mile 23 was my first mile over BQ pace.

8:11, 8:16, 8:16, 8:19, 8:24

Miles 24, 25, and 26 were super hard. There were a few hills to deal with and the stupid wooden bridges! Hines drive, where most of the race course was, is located in a valley. This meant in the beginning, we ran down into it, so we had to run up out of it to get back to the start. We didn't take the exact same course because we actually ran on freeway style exit ramp to get down to it, and didn't run back up it and instead went through a more narrow wooded area with these dumb wooden bridges that shake and bounce when you get a bunch of runners on them. It really does feel horrible that close to the end. I was calculating splits in my head. I knew I was going to have to run super fast to pull out a 3:30, which wasn't the ultimate goal anyway, I had wanted to run faster on the first half so that I would have a bit of time to play with at the end. Coming up after the last uphill I needed water so bad, and there was a water stop. I walked through this water stop and took another 30 seconds or so to recover. I looked at my watch and I was roughly 1200m from the end. I could keep walking and still get my BQ, but I sucked it up and started running again. The last .2 got easy again. I finished strong, and was very happy with my time! (official time was 3:33:18)

8:43, 8:57, 9:22, 2:10 (last .2 was at 7.49 pace)

My parents did make it down to the finish, and took these pictures from the end. With it being an out and back course, it is tough to get pictures on the course and still make it back for the finish with the family in tow. Monica was out on the course looking for me, but we missed each other, and I didn't see her until the end. The bad part of the day was that I felt MISERABLE when I finished. Cristina thankfully found me quickly so I didn't have to do too much wandering to find her. I sat on the ground in front of the porto potties and then laid down flat on my back on the cold concrete. It felt really good, as my back was bothering me. I was almost wondering if someone was going to ask me if I needed help, and I wasn't sure if I did. My stomach felt really yucky. So yucky that I had a hard time being excited for how fast I ran. I BLEW AWAY my previous PR and qualified with room to spare! A lot of it was mental and being ready for it to hurt. Believe me, it did, and still does. We were also very blessed that the weather was fabulous for running. It was sunny and the rain stayed away until the afternoon! I finally got up ( I left a huge sweatmark of my body on the pavement-Gross!) and after a few trips back and forth between the car and the porto potties, I finally felt well enough to walk around a bit. Me and Cristina, after changing our clothes. Clothing changes were frequent today due to the changing weather, and made me feel a lot better to be in a dry shirt. Another perk to parking super close. Cristina needed to collect her award for second overall female (she won her age), and as it turned out, I got 2nd in my age group! Here's my "major award". I wished I would have felt better to link up with a few other people. We did find Colleen who ran a sub 4:00 and Rita who also had a PR. Anna and Mary were back at the finish as well. I missed Valerie and her son at the kids race, as well as made no effort to find Erin who ran the 10K or Shelby who ran her first half. I was just ready to go home. We were able to navigate her huge SUV out of the barricades a lot easier this year than last year when I parked along the finish chute for this same race. This year, then had those spots fully blocked off so that mistake wasn't made again by anyone. One last photo: Cristina and I are "famous" on Greg Sadler's advertisement for Sadler Shots. Yeah! Goald #1 for 2011 has been achieved! Now to recover and work on goal #2, Half Ironman!

Ghosts of Races Past

I know I mentioned earlier that I had found a bunch of old race bibs while getting things situated for our upcoming move. I am not very organized, and I make piles, so these were found some in the filing cabinet, and the rest in piles in drawers and such. Since I found so many, I started searching them out in the house. A few were still in the car (yikes!)

I found my first marathon bib with pace team bib from Oct 2004. It was in the filing cabinet all nice and neat. It seemed very appropriate timing given my race this weekend. That was a long time ago, before kids, when training only had to be balanced between me and my husband. For a full recap, check out my guest blog post over at Chasing Atlanta that I wrote recently. I finished in 4:00:36, with one pit stop at White Castle, of all places, to use the restroom. I didn't own a Garmin yet. I just noticed yesterday that White Castle was the sponsor of the pace team. How appropriate!

I also came across this one with pace bib AND split chart, my second marathon in Oct 2007 and first real attempt to qualify for Boston: Big Time Fail! I did finish, and I did have a PR (3:54:12), but I mentally shut down around mile 22/23. I had stayed on Boston pace until about mile 14/15, and then the wheels fell off. I tried just running the rest for fun as my friend Dave suggested, who saw me on the course right after I fell of pace to qualify. It got hot. I hadn't trained properly, I was a fairly new mom (Keira was only 16m) and didn't get in the miles I needed, either mentally or physically. I found myself calculating ridiculous splits in my head (I am a math person) as far as how fast or slow I had to run to beat my past PR. Like, can I walk an 11min/mile to beat 4:00? Thankfully, I did pull myself together to finish with a PR by a few minutes, but my second half of the race was something like 14 or 15 minutes slower than the first.

Fast forward one more child and several years, a couple halfs, and my first season of tris to here, April 2010: Last year's Martian Half bib. I didn't really train for this race aside from swimming through the winter for a spring Olympic tri and doing a few 8 and 10 milers. I was running because I had girlfriends running it and I said I would if they did. I remember looking at the calendar and thinking, oh no, I need to get in a 10 mile run tomorrow to be ready, uh oh! I had a blazing PR of 1:42:21. I started out fast and just kept going. I kept waiting to have to slow down, and I never did. It was with this time that my friend Dale, and ultra runner, convinced me that I should run a fall marathon to try to qualify for Boston. The charts said I could do it. Well, if the charts say so.... OF COURSE I can do it, right? I ended up spraining my ankle at a mountain bike race mid summer and took a month off running. I got too far off my marathon training plan to get back on mid plan, and decided to go on vacation marathon weekend with my husband so he could race his mountain bike. I was pretty bummed out about this and felt really down. I found this race to do as a consolation race. I really surprised myself with another PR here, given the course and the recent ankle. It still hurt, but my physical therapist said it could still hurt for a long time, and if I was able to cope with the pain and it wasn't getting worse, that eventually it would get better while continuing training. It has, for the most part gotten better, but it needs ice everyday still. The first 5 miles were downhill. The second 5 miles were uphill, and the last 3 were sort of rolling. It was also partially on cinder trail and dirt roads, so less impact for the wobbly ankle, but also less stable. I felt my ankle a lot on the trail portions and it made me slow down, as well as the hills. I somehow pulled out a 1:42:08. I had a couple fun runs since, but nothing really to test me. So now we are here, a few days from Marathon #3. I learned a cool bit of trivia today, the .2 at the end of a marathon is actually shorter than the .2 of a 10K. It has to do with the fact that a marathon is 26 miles and 385 ft, where the 10K is converted to miles. The difference is about 22ft, but they both round down to .2 miles. I am oddly excited about this. It means that when I hit the 20 mile mark, I will have LESS than a 10K to go. It is small, but according to my husband, anything that makes it feel easier has got to help, right?

I feel really good, except I have been having nightmares about qualifying for Boston. Two nights ago, I dreamt I got to a point in the course where no one knew where to go, and I ended up 2 miles short, afraid to cross the line because the timing would get all messed up, with no minutes to spare. I was doing more math in my dream, I had to do my 2 miles in 8:00 and I would get 3:40 exactly, even after the mess of getting lost. I wanted to just cross the line at 3:24 and call it done, but then I woke up before anything else happened. This is really silly because this course is an out and back, and I know that I won't be running alone at any part, or that the volunteers will be that confused. Last night I had a dream that we all got this horrible flu so I couldn't run. I am hoping tonight won't be so strange.

I also had a friend ask me if it was comfortable to run at race pace or if I planned to be uncomfortable the whole time. For a 5K, I hurt the entire time, but it isn't that long. I hope to not hurt for an entire 3:30/3:40 (or longer). My run on Saturday averaged to be an 8:01 pace, and while it felt quick, it was not painful, but it was only 8.65 miles. To do that 2 more times will likely hurt a bit. Adrenaline is an amazing thing. I do expect it to be hard, and I just hope I can keep going through the pain. I want this, and I AM going to do it.

In the clean version of Eminem, "Success is my only option, failure's not" "Feet fail me not this may be the only opportunity that I got" "You can do anything you set your mind to"

On a more spiritual note, this will also be keeping me going: D&C 89:18, 20 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

I Made the Team!

Team Aquaphor 2011!

I just got the word last night, so I will have more info hopefully to come soon! This also means I will have something to give away once I get my samples!

T-9 Days.....

I am feeling ready to get me some bling, and a BQ (image stolen from Running Fit's f/b page). This the medal for the full Marathon, and the half is similar.

I am feeling really ready. My 4 miler today was 1 mile warm up at 8:20, and then the rest was at 8:00, my goal marathon pace. It is the pace that I plan to start at, and hopefully hold onto. The course is out and back, and slighlty uphill for the first half, so slightly downhill for the final half. There is a slight hill (both directions, goes up and down) around mile 4/22. I am not afraid of this hill, the course is much flatter than Kensington, and I love running on Hines.
My only reservation right now is that I had to send back my test Reeboks. Today. What was I thinking, testing a pair of shoes mid marathon training while I am shooting for a PR and BQ? I thought I would be saving 100+ miles from my favorite shoes and earn a free pair of shoes. Frugal me who loves free stuff was not thinking about the consequences. Little did I know that I would LOVE the new shoes (well, they had their quirks, but I can't go into any details of them, aside from the fact that I did in fact wear their shoes for the past month). I wore my "regular" shoes yesterday and the just felt bulky and small. Not really sure what I can do about this, aside from keep get my feet back used to them. The Reeboks felt different in the beginning too, so I am sure my shoes will feel back like my shoes in another day or two. I have an 8 miler in them for Sat, and I did my first 20 miler in them already, so I know I can do it. I just can't let it bother me.

Also, I am trying to clean out papers and junk from our place before we move (see, I am being useful during my taper). I found some awesome race bibs from the past. I need to get them photographed or scanned and posted for you guys later. I am so disorganized, it made me super happy that I was able to locate as much as I did!

Spring is Here- Stroller Jogging/Running Tips

With it officially spring, I thought I would get down to business and offer up some helpful tips on getting your kid(s) to last as long as you do with the jogging stroller.

1. Start them early. If you are lucky to be a runner before pregnancy, and are trying to come back after having a baby, you are fortunate to be able to just teach your children that spending a long time in the jogging stroller is just a normal part of everyday life, like riding in the car. I am not a dr, so please check with your dr and your pediatrician before starting a running/jogging plan. The recommended age for most jogging strollers is 6 months. I have the BOB Ironman single stroller and BOB duallie Revolution stroller. Both can be fitted with an infant seat adapter, so my pediatrician did not see any harm in having my children ride in their car seat in a stroller at 8 weeks of age, as long as the pavement was not terribly bumpy, and in the beginning, I was not going fast at all. I do think BOB prefers that you not "run" with the infant seat adapter b/c the center of gravity is changed and the stroller is less stable, but you would need to check it on your particular model. I didn't really worry about this reason, nor have any problems with it.
2. Start slow and short. If you have an infant/younger baby, it can be helpful to stay close to home in case of any issues that need to be addressed immediately. My Keira tended to throw up in any moving vehicle (stroller included) if she was put in too soon after eating. Sometimes that happened while running, and I had to go home immediately to clean her up. If you have a short loop you can do repeatedly, this works well. It doesn't work so well as your child gets older and realizes you have already been there, and then will start asking to go home each time you go around. You have to build your mileage slowly with the kids so that they get used to it.
3. Be Fed or Eating. I had to watch with Keira as an infant that she had at least 20-30 minutes after a feeding before running with her otherwise she would likely throw up/spit up. It was hard, because I had to make sure I could run with her before she needed to eat again. Having a hungry child in the stroller is not good at any age. The nice thing about older children is that I will sometimes plan for their snack to take place in the stroller, as long as it is something that is not a choking hazard, and have special snacks that are only for the stroller to help "bribe" them and keep them happy. When we go for really long runs, I will feed them a meal first, and then pack a variety of snacks for mid-ride, as well as milk and water.
4. The course matters. I like to run at state and metro-parks where the path is wide, smooth and there are things to look at along the way. I also preferred flat in the beginning, but now welcome hills for training. We will also stop from time to time to look at wildlife, especially if we see a deer, frogs, or something that the kids might like. My kids do really well on long or short out and backs or long loops. They hate repeating, but that is just them. Also, it can be nice to run in the neighborhood where I know people. We have counted the houses to get to a friend's house and even had to make a pit stop at another friends to get through the run.
5. Being tired isn't the end of the world. For the kids, not you! While having the kids nap in the stroller means I miss out on quiet time at home, it also means I can have a nice quiet run with no whining or bickering! They can't be overtired where they won't nap, but running in naptime can be nice sometimes, and help me get more done during the day if I can do stuff outside the house while they are supposed to be awake. The hard part can be the transfer back to bed. I have carried my entire single stroller into the house before (we have no garage), and parked my double stroller which won't fit through the doors here in our privacy fenced backyard to avoid waking a sleeping child and still be able to keep an eye on them.
6. The Reward. I usually try to make it fun. The nice thing about running at my favorite state park is that there is a playground just a tenth of a mile in the opposite direction of where I run, close to the parking lot. We head away from the playground, do my run, and then run to the playground if there has been little to no whining or fighting in the stroller (Keira and Soren are big enough to touch each other side by side, which is my biggest issue these days). We have also run to a playground, to play, and then run home again. This is sometimes a problem when they don't want to leave, but it is nice for doing speed work with a recovery in the middle. My favorite reward is to do a really long run at Island Lake or Kensington, and pack bathing suits for swimming after. My kids have endured a 2 hour 12 mile run with the reward of playing on the beach afterwards. We make a whole day out of it, and leave the suits in the car until the run is done(we pass a few beaches on the route).
7. Don't give into tantrums. I don't end a run for disobedience, that just teaches them that crying can end the run. If there is something legitimately wrong, like sun in the eyes, cold, hungry, ect, I try to address it as best as I can and may end early if there is a legit issue.
8. Remove or tether things that can get lost. When my kids were small and it was warm, they never wore shoes in the stroller after we nearly lost a croc. Those things are expensive, and thankfully, it was chucked out at the spot where the mountain bike path my husband was on crossed the paved path I was on, at the halfway point for me. He saw it and grabbed it. Otherwise, I would have needed to double my workout, going all the way to the turn around where it was lost. If you have a burley or chariot and you can zip the kids inside of a mesh screen, you have it made in terms of no lost things!

Anyway, I hope these tips are helpful. I am grateful that my children have embraced the jogging stroller lifestyle. If anyone else has some helpful comments, please leave them! I would love to hear how you do it too!

Cupcake Marathon- DONE- Race Recap

I finished up the Cupcake Marathon yesterday with a 12 mile run at Kensington with Cristina. She was also doing the "virtual race" too. It was a beautiful sunny day. Finally, we were able to run without coats, snow, ice, rain, or other weather problems. The loop at Kensington is officially 8.5 miles long, and we were able to run down an extra drive to a parking lot at the top of the "big hill" as well as run out on the peninsula of turtle cove to make it almost exactly 12 miles. We didn't have to do any extra out and back once we got to the parking lot like we anticipated.

We have been so coordinated the last few times we have worked out together, and today was no exception since we had matching Live Like Andi race shirts, although mine was black from the first race and hers was last year's blue (we did not plan this or any other matchy matchy days, aside from both wanting to wear the TIA shirt for the picture with the bib, and I said it was a great shirt already!). I guess that is what happens when we both own the same race kits from Team Stayput and Team Marathon, are both members of TIA, and have run an assortment of the same races. The odds are stacked in favor of matching.
Me:

Cristina:

For today's run, we ran 12 miles in 1:40:07.

This was very good considering we took a couple walking breaks for fueling. I used a Gu Rocktane sample that I picked up this morning at a tri clinic. I was a little afraid of the cherry lime flavor they were giving away, but hey, it is a practice run, and all the rocktane flavors are a bit out there. It was great, and now I think I need to buy some for the race. The final total for me for the Cupcake Marathon is:
3:40:43

Too bad this isn't a real Boston Qualifier, as that would actually count since I am allowed 59 seconds over the qualifying time. I am pretty sure this time would not get me entered, though, based on how fast registration filled up before. This would only get me good enough to sign up on the 7th day. I feel really happy about this total though, because there were very few instances this past week when I felt that I was going at 100%. My speedwork on Tuesday had me going that fast (actually, faster than I intend to run a full marathon, more like 5K/10K race pace), but I was also walking, and those walking times were included with my total to bring the pace down. We also had a bit of walking yesterday. Miles without walking were right around 8min/mile, a few above and a few below. I am feeling very confident about the Martian, especially because I plan to leave it all out there and don't need or want to have anything left once I finish.