Route 66 Half Marathon - Check!

  I did it!  I finished the half marathon and survived!

  Sorry for taking so long to update - I'm currently on a much needed vacation and the internet isn't the best here.  And my computer is crap so the combination = not good. (and this update took 1.5 hours to get only up to the second set of pics).

  Anyway, on to my update...

  We went to the expo on Saturday while others were doing the 5k.  It was so much fun - we got sucked in for 2 hours and it felt like no time had passed!

  Eryn and I have been training for this weekend since July... it was so scary to realize it was finally happening.  She had her knee wrapped while we were there and I shopped a little (prices/deals were not as good as the Tulsa Run expo).

  I found a great sticker I wanted to buy this sticker for my best friend who finished his first full marathon the week prior...

  I bought a few stickers and some snacks for the race.  I wanted to get an "I run Tulsa" shirt but they were $10 and I had $9 cash on me so I didn't get it.  We picked up our tags

  My nerves kicked in big time when I walked out of my apartment earlier in the week and found this sign in front of my building... a sign that there was no turning back!

  This was that "make it or break it" moment for us.  And we made it! : )

  We were all praying for a no-rain/nice day.  We got half of what we wished for!  It didn't rain but it was freezing cold!  I originally figured I'd run with a hoodie and take it off and run in my thin hoodie or my tank top underneath.  Instead, I kept the hoodie on the whole run as well as my gloves!  I think the temp reached 46 degrees by the time we reached the finish line.

  I read in a few different places that as long as I slept well on Friday night I would be good.  Surprisingly, they were right.  I slept so well Friday night after having to stay up until 3am the night prior but suffered on Sat night.  Nerves kept me up until 1:30am and then I woke up an hour before planned - 5:30am.  I wished I could have slept longer but since I was wide awake, I figured I'd take advantage of it.

  I grabbed all my nicely laid out items from the night before...

  And checked my map again (we were the red route) so I knew where to go, where not to park and where I was going to finish.

  Getting up so early allowed me to actually enjoy my breakfast before a long run - something I never get to do.  I ate two pieces of toast smothered in chunky peanut butter and about 16oz of Gatorade.  I checked my email, sent some texts to friends, updated facebook and did some much-needed stretches before I left the house.  It was wonderful!

  When I arrived at the start line I walked around a little bit, checked my bag (I brought clean clothes for after just in case) and saw a few students who were also running.  Eventually I found Eryn and Erica and huddled in a building entrance trying desperately to stay warm until we had to line up in our corral.

  I copied some pics from the website at the event as well.  I'm thinking of buying one of the real ones but we'll see how Christmas goes first...

  When we got into our corral I started to realize it was really happening.  I was about to run over 13 miles.  Everyone else was bursting with excitement and I was just there.  Usually I'm nervous/excited/freaking out.  Not this time - I didn't even have a nightmare the night before which is unheard of for me!  It was very surreal.

Then we hit 8am and didn't move.  At all.  Then 8.05 and 8.10.  Finally we started shuffling forward a little after 8.10 and made our way to the starting line around 8.15am.  Now I was nervous/excited.  I was ready to put all that I could into it and go.  The gun went off and we hit the ground running.  I stayed with Eryn and Erica for the first quarter mile and then set off on my own.

  Part of the course was one I had run for Tulsa Run as well as trained on so I knew where the first few mile markers were.  It both helped and hindered me - I tend to prefer racing without knowing where my stops are but I pushed through with flying colors (I kept under a 10min/mile my first 2+ miles!) and beat those huge hills at the start.

  Somehow my iPhone knew exactly what songs I needed to push me through as well!  I hit shuffle and it played every song I use to keep myself going when I am struggling.  I was beyond happy and made it to mile 6 before I had to skip a song!  That always makes me happy.

  This one made me laugh because I was in the middle of singing "Transform Ya" and they snapped me.  I hadn't hit mile 2 yet.


  Eryn gave me great advice before we started the race - imagine running each mile for someone in your life.  That way you won't want to let them down.  It worked - I didn't slow down until around mile 8 when I knew Ashlie and my godchildren would be ok with me walking for a minute.  I made it that far before I had to stop and stretch/walk it out.  In total I believe I walked less than a mile which is totally fine with me!

  My soft goal was a 2:30 and my hard goal was sub-2:45 and I came close to my soft goal!  I pushed super hard on the last mile and crossed at 2:30:50.  Can't beat that!  I was so happy. : )

Can you tell I was a little proud?  My momma made me bring it with me on vacation so she could see it in person and then made sure to tell all of our relatives about my race.  Made me laugh each time.



It's so weird after months and months of training to realize you have a life again.  Eryn has mentioned a full marathon but I have no desire to do that.  I like my half.  There is a quarter marathon I learned about today that is in Feb. - I may consider that one.  I'm still debating about doing the OKC half.  I want to but am still exhausted from training so much.  We'll see.

  For now, I'm happy to go back to 5k's and work on getting my time faster.

Helloween weekend...

  Yeah, the title pretty much sums up my weekend.  It was hell.  But, I learned the lesson that every runner must learn to fully understand... don't change your diet before a race!

  As I mentioned many times, the Tulsa Run (our local 9.3 mile race) was this past Saturday.  I was beyond psyched to run it and set my first PR for a 15k race!  But, that didn't happen as planned.

  I have been told (and read) many, many times to always stay with what you know the night before a race.  Don't change your diet, don't change your routine.  It causes stress on your body and may result in not favorable outcomes.  Well, I didn't listen.  On Friday campus only had cold food at the caf so we trekked across campus to the Union Center to get lunch.  I hadn't had Subway in a while so I went there to get what I would have gotten in the caf - tuna on wheat with a ton of veggies.  Ate it with staff and walked back to my office.

  Left work and Eryn and I headed off to the Expo to pick up our race packets and look at what everyone was selling.  I made some super awesome purchases - totaling under $30 in all!  These shirts and some stinger supplies...

  Needless to say, I was on cloud nine when I left and feeling great.  Sadly, that didn't last long.

  We were both starving so we decided to go to a local pizza joint in town.  Put in our order (exactly the same thing) and sat down to eat.  The food was amazing but about half way through I started having stomach pain.  I thought that was odd but figured it would pass.

  Got home that night and watched some tv to relax before going to bed.  Stomach started really hurting - like something was just sitting in there and not happy.  Figured I'd do what I usually do - go to bed early and then when I wake up it will be gone.  No worries.

  Went to bed at 9pm, fell asleep right away and woke up around 7.30am and the pain was worse.  I felt nauseous and didn't really want to even walk but I told myself "you are going to do this! You paid $40 and you promised Eryn you'd be there."  So I got up, dressed and went out the door to meet her so we could meet everyone for the race.

  Eryn wanted to warm up for the race by jogging the five blocks to the site from where we parked.  As soon as I started I thought I was going to throw up.  Not a good sign before a race.  I kept it together and let her know that we'd be running the race separately so I didn't keep her from a good time.

  We started out and I began with a 10 minute mile pace.  Made it just past 1 mile and a bit and couldn't do it -  which depressed me even more because it was the same course we did the previous weekend and I rocked that!  I ended up running maybe 3 miles total and walked the rest as fast as I could.  Sadly, I spent most of the "race" doing my best to not throw up and keep moving.  I just wanted to cross the finish line and not feel like a complete failure.

  I finished around the 2 hour mark.  I still haven't looked up my official time - too embarrassing.  After the race we went to the massage booth and I asked them to look at my legs.  They said my calves were extremely tight and were surprised by that.

  I went straight home and ended up sleeping for about 14 hours on and off for the rest of the weekend.  By Sunday I realized I was for sure sick - food poisoning we suspect (from Subway since Eryn never got sick).  I am just now starting to feel human again.  Last night was my first attempt at eating more than cereal for a meal.

  Of course people have yelled at me for being so "stupid" for attempting the race but when you put your mind to something like that, the last thing you want to do is give up before you even try.  Yes, me attempting was probably not the smartest thing in the world and it more than likely made me even more sick, but at the end of the day, I did it.  I crossed the finish line and finished the race.  Just not at a time I am happy with.

  All I can do at this point is learn from my weekend (and missing Halloween sadly) and go back to what works for races.  This weekend will hopefully get me back on track.  We have a "mock marathon" for training - we pay $5 and they give us a sneak peak at what we'll be running in 3 weeks on race day.  Hopefully by then I'll be back to normal and can achieve a decent PR for my first marathon.

  Wish me luck!