Half Marathon DONE! I DID IT!

On Feb 28th, I completed my first half marathon - 13.1 miles!!! Actually, the Garmin said it was 13. 42, but who is counting. I did it in 2:34 by my Garmin, but the official race time said 2:36. Whatever. I did it, and it was a blast! Not only was the Wesley Chapel Tri Team there in full force with Carmen, Stacey, Nicole, Heather, Amy, Monica, and Brian, but I also had fellow friends and coworkers come. Courtney came from DC to run the full. Nick from Iowa, Heather H from Michigan, and Julie from North Carolina came to run the half with me! And of course, our fearless leaders Holly and Jennifer were there to inspire us by running the Ultra Challenge - a 5K and 15K on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday!! Amazing!!!

I ended up staying in a hotel downtown (the Marriott Waterside was amazing and RIGHT by the race start). It was fun to be able to hang out with Julie, Heather, Courtney, and Nick (and Nick's friend from Chicago - David). We met at 5am at the convention center, and I was a nervous wreck. The temperature was 44, and I couldn't decide what to wear. Pants, shorts, two shirts, one? Gloves? Hat? Will it be windy? Will it get hot when the sun comes out? I changed my mind a million times, but Courtney convinced me to go with shorts, and Holly convinced me to leave the gloves and hat behind. Once we walked back outside for the race in my shorts, I was immediately glad that I was in shorts. I turned out to be very comfy the entire race.

We lined up after walking past so many people. I was nervous as we seemed to be getting close to the front. Since I am NOT a speedy runner, it made me nervous. However, it still took almost 3 minutes to get to the start. Amazing. It was an incredible feeling to be surrounded by so many people. I tripped and almost fell in the first few minutes. Geez. I also forgot to set my watch to 5 min run and 30 second walk, but then I remembered and fixed it. At points in the beginning it was so crowded that we had to walk. It is difficult to explain, but the feeling of power was amazing. So many people. The first mile went very quickly, and it is difficult to stay at a slower speed. It is easy to get carried away, but I kept monitoring it with my fancy Garmin watch.

We ran around Davis island, and we couldn't see anything in the dark for quite a while. I think it got light between miles 3 and 4. There was a guy carrying this HUGE American flag. There was a guy in a Viking outfit with NASTY shorts that did not look good on him at all. There were girls running in fishnet stockings. It was so fun to check out all the people. There were these guys around mile 4 or 5 who STUNK. We had to try to stay in front of them. We had the 2:20 and the 2:30 pacers pass us at one point, and that was fine with me. :) As we came off Davis Island, I looked for Mike, Morgan, and Randy (Julie's Fiance), but I didn't see anyone. We did pass Carmen's husband Sean, and I saw Julie from afar. We were very careful to make sure we went in the half lane instead of accidentally getting in the full line. Some lady was all confused and couldn't figure out which way to go. There was this evil hill somewhere around mile 7. That was not a nice welcome, but we did it.

Miles 9 to 10 seemed very long, but then we hit the turn for the last segment. WOO HOO!. At this point, we found our friend who had a sweatshirt (he had to be HOT) that said "Beer is your friend." Of course, that caused lots of "beer, beer, beer" chanting. We also had some "chocolate milk, chocolate milk" chants. :) We even nicknamed one lady chocolate milk and called her that to encourage her. She was cracking up.

I had so much energy still, and I was so excited. We saw Holly and Jenn around mile 11 or 12. Then, we ran hard for the last half mile or so. It really felt so good to finish, and I truly enjoyed every minute. I loved the blanket thing and the medal. I loved the crowds. I loved the salt on my forehead. I loved seeing my friends after they finished. I loved the beer afterwards. I loved the buffet breakfast. I had a fantastic day. I could have done without Morgan having a project due the next day - who cares about Beanie Babies anyway!! Why did she have to research them? LOL... We watched part of the hockey game while I scarfed down chicken fingers. YUMMMMMMM... The Wesley Chapel Tri Team had a party at Holly's house that night. It was so awesome to have some good food, good drinks, and good company with people who I have become very close with over the last 6 months or so. Plus, Julie and Randy came with Mike and I, and it is always good to hang with them. It had been so long since I had gotten to hang out with Julie, and it was awesome to see her. It is hard to believe that this group is the same group who couldn't run hardly at all in August. How far we have come! I truly had a BLAST at the race, and I can't wait to do another one! Who knew running is fun?

4 Miles - LAST RUN BEFORE RACE!

Phil and I ran outside the W hotel in Atlanta today. It was my last training run before the big half! It was 35 degrees and SO windy when we started. The first mile was FREEZING! After the turn around mile 1, it was a lot better. There were some pretty evil hills, but it felt so good to run. I enjoyed running with Phil. He is a fun running buddy. :)

3 miles

Today, I did a 3 mile run. I ran at a moderate pace, and I only walked twice very briefly for a quick water. It felt great!

Elliptical

Today, I decided to do the elliptical to fit in a workout. I did 40 minutes on the elliptical with 25 being at a hard pace. It felt great!

7 Miles - TAPER

This is the last long run before our big half marathon next weekend! I am SOOOOOO excited! We are doing the Gasparilla Half, and it is several of the group's first half. Heather, Stacey, Nicole, Monica, and Amy D are all part of the Wesley Chapel Tri team group that did the Longleaf Triathlon as our first race in October. This is our second group goal, and we are all excited. We also added Carmen and Brian to the group, and they will be doing the half as well. Morgan calls Carmen my running BFF as she was the first person that I could run long distance with the entire time by pace. :) She is FAST in the short distances though, so I have a feeling this will be our last long run together as she will get faster quickly. I enjoy her company on the runs though, so I will enjoy the race for sure! She is a singer, and she has an album I am downloading now (available at http://www.carmenrae.com/). From the samples, it sounds awesome!

Anyway, we ran 7 miles as our long run taper, and we averaged about 11:24 per mile. Not too shabby! It was hysterical at the end, Carmen and Jenn's husbands were coming behind us, and they TOOK OFF running so that the boys wouldn't beat us. :) Of course, they had done a longer distance, but we still finished in front of them. :) Nicole, Stacey, Heather, Jenn, and Carmen were there to run it with me. I had a blast! As I look back over the last 6 months or so, it is amazing to me how much I have learned, experienced, grown, laughed, struggled, felt strong, felt weak, felt nervous, felt proud, and many, many more emotions. How much richer my life is now due to this group and the accomplishments!

4.85 Miles

Today, I did 4.85 miles outside. I meant to do 5, but I needed to get to the potty and had to stop a little early. I did push myself to go faster though, and I was close to the 11 min per mile pace for the distance. That is pretty good for me. :)

I was bad and skipped my Wednesday workout, and I was traveling on Tuesday so I missed the group hills workout. I think pushing myself today was good as it was a little farther of a distance than I usually try to push. :)

Monday - 3.5 Miles

Today, I was a wuss and stayed inside. I did 3.5 miles on the elliptical while I watched Lost. I haven't done the elliptical in a while, so it was fun. I had forgotten how hard it can be though. I was struggling by the end and very sweaty.

13 MILES!

Today, I ran 13 miles! I can't believe that I did it. I keep thinking back to the day I posted on Facebook that I had run 2 miles without stopping. I was SO proud that day, and now I ran 13! Incredible. I am so incredibly blessed to have met Holly Tripp and Jennifer Biles. They are THE BEST triathlon coaches ever.

I felt pretty good today. I felt strong. I had a little hip pain, a little knee pain, and a little foot soreness, but it was pretty minor. I finished feeling great! Only .1 left to do in 2 weeks when I run Gasparilla!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24584115

SORE LEGS Wednesday

OUCH...As I got out of bed, my quads were SO sore. WOW. I guess that track workout caught up to me. :) I was feeling pretty good from my stone, so I decided to go our into the cold for a short easy run. i did 3 miles slowly, and I struggled to do that. My legs were heavy and SORE. I saw Chris today, and he tried to help with the soreness. I am hoping he massaged it all out so I can be on my way.

Rest

Today, I tried to take care of stone. Started flomax and pyridium. Rested. Healing day.

Track Workout Tuesday

I have decided that I don't like the track. I really don't like it. I do it because I know it makes me stronger, but I don't like it. So, I tend to ignore the pain because I know that track is evil.

However, tonight, I was so excited when I ran a mile in 9:23. WOW! I have NEVER EVER even THOUGHT I could do that. WOW! However, I felt like I was going to puke and had the dry heaves. Yuck. And, I had to pee - really badly. So, I went to the building to the restroom, took ONE sip of water, and did an 800 (2 laps). I had to pee again and thought I would puke again. I ignored the pee and had a sip of water. Did another 800. Again, thought I would die, felt like puke, and had to pee BADLY. No time to pee. Started on 400. Halfway around stabbing pain in my back. DOH! I should have realized earlier the familar kidney stone pain! DUH...And here I was blaming ALL of it on the track.

I did however do my fastest mile ever!

Monday - Rest

Today, I had planned to bike or spin or something, but work took too much time. Lazy today. I only burned 2017 calories per the BodyBugg. Oops.

Family Training

Today, the whole family began training for the St. Anthony's Triathlon. The kids and Mike are dong the Meek and Mighty on Saturday, and I am doing the Olympic distance on Sunday (April 23rd and 24th). Mike is also doing the relay in the Olympic distance (March McCune is swimming and Mark McFall is running).

Today, we all ran 1 mile (I was not planning on running today since I did my long run yesterday, but I figured 1 mile would be ok). I took the dog, and she had fun running! Everyone did an awesome job! Then, we went swimming this afternoon. I did a little less than a half mile while the kids did about 1/4 mile. It was a good start. I hadn't been in the pool since before Christmas, so I was happy to get back in the water. I am going to try to be more consistent. Also, I MUST start biking!

3 weeks from today is my first HALF MARATHON!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited!

Update

I got busy and got out of the habit of posting here, but I am pledging to do a better job again. So, my last post here was 9 miles. I have now done 12 miles twice! :)

After that 9 miles I posted on Jan 4, I was really, really, really, really sore. In fact, I was SO sore that it hurt to pick up my foot to press the pedals in the car. So, Tuesday, I went to our hill workout, but I just did a VERY little light jogging, and then I walked the hills to try to get some of the soreness out.

My log is attached above. I did a few treadmill runs in there, and the Feb 3rd run should have .64 more added to it but I screwed up the watch. The Feb 1st one was a run where we got lost. We started on the golf cart paths and got confused. We ended up running on a highway on the tiny shoulder. It was scary, and I was SO happy to be back at the hotel.

I am really enjoying the running, and the 12 miles today was awesome. Last week, we went back to 10 miles, and I ran it with Heather and Carmen. It was the first time I had company on a long run, and it was SO nice to have people to talk to during the run. Today, Carmen and I ran together the whole time, and I really enjoyed talking to her. Next week, we are doing 13!!!!!!!!!!1 I am sooooooo excited for this race! I simply cannot believe that I am doing these distances. I laugh when I think back to July when 60 seconds was hard. It is even funnier to think of May when 60 seconds at 4mph was KILLING me. I am so proud of myself.

I was down 67 lbs when I left for the week long sales meeting. This morning, I was up 2 lbs to have 65 lost. Hopefully that was just water or something and it will be gone tomorrow. I certainly ran a lot so it shouldn't be THAT bad. :)