My apologies for being so nonexistant with the site this year.  Life has taken a few crazy turns and I haven't had the time to update and, to be honest, I haven't been racing and training like I was last year.
  I'm still running - but due to other things going on in life, running has taken a backseat to life.  It happens and I'm ok with it.
  I am happy to report though that I did do two races in April.  With very little training (and I don't ever suggest anyone do this!!) Eryn and I ran our 2nd Half Marathon.  She learned of it about 2 weeks before it happened so since we were already working on longer weekend runs we went for it.  She finished with an impressive time under 2:30.  I was around 2:45 due to some issues on the course but I was happy to be done and receive my medal.  I'd like to do another one in the future but that will depend on when and where I am at that point in time.
  The Half Marathon included a 5k which one of my awesome staff members ran.  It was her first 5k and I was so proud to be there to see her when we crossed and hear about her time.  Great feeling!
  Last weekend a few of my staff, myself and Eryn ran the "Race Against Racism" 5k in town.  I ran the 1st one last year so it was nice to be at the 2nd with more people.  Many of my girls ran and some walked up until I made them run across the finish line. : )  I was like a proud momma.  They were great!  I hope that they now realize a 5k is nothing and they will do more in the future (as well as encourage others).  Time will tell.
  Sadly, after my Half Marathon on Easter weekend I received news that one of my favorite students had passed away in a car accident.  A great deal of April has been spent mourning her loss and doing what I can help to comfort my staff and students dealing with her loss.
  I am hopeful things will be on an upswing soon this summer and I'll be back to updating and running like I used to soon.  Phoebe will be my summer running buddy since Eryn graduates this Sat!!  Going to be going through a lot of changes in the near future but running will be there to keep me sane and I'm thankful for that. ; )

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!

Back to the Grind!

  I haven't blogged in a while because I've been slacking on my running routine due to work and didn't want to actually see it in print.
  I'm supposed to be running 19-22 miles a week and with my current schedule and working the last 2 weekends straight I've been averaging about 5-8 miles a week.  Not good.  This past week I managed to somehow only get 2.5 miles in before my long run.
   I'm happy to say that even with all that time off, I was proud of myself.  I managed to get 7.05 miles in staying close and under 10 minutes the entire time.  I ended up losing the running group on Riverside and cut my run a little under a mile short while I later learned that Eryn ended up running 2 extra miles because she also got lost.
 

  The weather was perfect - I'm hoping it's that nice next week when we run the Tulsa Run.  The only downside was that since I arrived 40 minutes earlier than Eryn to the finish line, I was freezing while waiting for her.  Sweat and cold weather don't go very well together.
  I've been needing to get new sneakers for a while now.  I've had my old pair since the summer started and they are finally starting to die on me.  That, and along with the fact that the arch isn't very high and they cause shooting pains in my arch when I run more than 8 miles or run more than two days straight.
  I had originally planned to just swing by Fleet Feet and talk to them about my arch and try on some shoes. Instead I ended up buying a pair on sight and getting better arch support.
  The shoes only cost $100 (better deal than Foot Locker) and although they didn't have more than one color, I couldn't say no.

 

  The arch was sized for my shoe - and I can take it out and change it in the others if needed.  It cost $45 and is supposed to help my running.  She said to wear it 2-4-6 hours in the first week.  I'm excited to break them in on a few long runs before the Half Marathon.

  I'll let you know how it feels.  Probably not going to use them during the Tulsa Run just because I don't want to have any issues on a race, but I will definitely try them out the week after on our 12 mile run.

  Very excited to start getting back into training mode, working out regularly outside of my classes, adding more miles and bringing weights back into my workouts.  I have tended to not push myself on Tues and Thursday but I need to work on it.  I need to stop slacking - not good!!

  So last week was not good for running - at all!  I can't lie - I was no where near where I should have been or wanted to be for training for our half.

  Part of it is my schedule this semester - it's insane, and part of it was I was being lazy and just couldn't do it.  My nights have become lost to meetings.  I try to get 2-3 miles in before Zumba at 5.30pm and then run home an hour later for a quick dinner before running to my 9pm meeting which ends around 10.30pm and then bed.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are the attempt after work to run and do weights (Eryn and I have cancelled on one another every time for the past 3 weeks due to meetings and things) and yoga from 8-9.15pm, then home and bed shortly after.  Wednesday is pretty much my only weeknight off right now so I try to spend it relaxing and working on early Christmas presents.  Thursdays this semester we have our weekly events so depending on when they start, I can't do the gym or I have to skip yoga so my Thursdays are all over the place right now.  And I can't go out Friday nights due to early training on Saturdays.

  Needless to say, life is crazy.  This week was my final "on-duty" week until 2012!  So exciting!  That means no more carrying my phone to yoga class or Zumba class and no more worrying about getting coverage for my Saturday runs!  That makes my life a little more mine, which is always nice.

  I didn't do the long run this past Saturday because they were going to the next town over and I didn't remember to ask someone to cover for me so I set my alarm for 6am and figured I'd run 8-9 miles around town by myself and do what I could.  That... didn't happen.  Got a 3am duty call and when I woke up to my alarm 2 hours later... I couldn't do it.

  Thankfully Eryn wanted to run after she got home from NYC so we hit the gym before my meetings tonight.  I was so happy to be back in there - and did a very nice, strong 3 mile run around 28 minutes.  We also realized Eryn's Nike+ is way off.  We ran 3 miles (she ran possibly less since she ended up behind me) and her gps said she did 3.44 and mine said 3.01 so I felt better that all the miles she'd been hitting may not have been right (I was feeling like a failure lately ha ha).  We're going to calibrate it to the track tomorrow so we're more in sync.

  I am hoping life calms down this month although I'm not expecting it.  I leave for a conference in AR this weekend with some of my staff and the weekend after I will be in Philly for a wedding of a dear friend from my undergrad.  Not sure how much running I will be able to get in being out of town two weekends in a row but I'm hoping to do as much as I can before I go.  Hopefully Sarah will be willing to run with me at least 3 miles on Sat before the wedding (hint! hint!). ; )

Seven mile "short run"

  So Saturday didn't quite go as planned but it ended up better than expected which is always nice!

  I have training runs with my running group every Saturday morning at 6am.  I knew my running partner would not be there this week - against my advice she ran 15 miles in less than 2 days and messed up her knees this week and then had to drive over 10 hours in 2 days and it took more out of her than she expected.  So I was going to brave it alone.

  I went to bed at my usual time - 10pm with the plans of unwinding and being asleep by 11 and waking up at 5 to get dressed and head out the door.

  Instead of the usual Friday night, my body decided to not go to sleep until 1am and when that alarm hit at 5am I just couldn't do it.  As a runner we are constantly told to "listen to our bodies" rather than listening to our minds and pushing too hard.  My body told me that if I did the run that morning it was not going to be good.  So I listened to it and went back to bed.  Sadly, my body also didn't want to go back to sleep so I laid in bed for another hour cursing myself for not running but also knowing that I needed the break - especially after being so sick.

  It wasn't too disappointing though - to be honest. I enjoy running with the group each Saturday but we're not half way into our runs and not one person knows who I am or really talks to me.  They talk to my running buddy all the time and when she refers to me by name she always gets "who's that?" as a response which annoys her a lot.  It bothered me at first because I really joined the group to meet new people and make friends but I've come to the realization that I'll be leaving (hopefully) in less than a year so there's really no point in getting too invested at this point.  Just waiting until I make my next move and settle somewhere new and start fresh.

  Anyway, about the run!  I ended up texting Eryn and we made plans to run our old route by the river around 11am to get our 7 miles in.  We parked where we park in the mornings for our group run and ran to the river, up and down the path and back to the car.  All in all we finished in 1 hour and 24 minutes.  Eryn had a few cramps along the way and had to walk but I pushed super hard and only ended up walking less than a half mile at one point (around mile 5.5) to stretch my legs. 

  It amazes me every time we have a long run - I look at my iPhone and smile because I remember the days I couldn't imagine running a total of 3 miles or over 20 minutes.  Now I'm running 6-8 miles pretty easily and running well over an hour every weekend.  Blows my mind.

  I'm still extremely nervous about the Half Marathon but also excited to have the experience.  I feel like once it's done I'll know what it's like and can then decide if I want to try it again.  My goal is to do at least 3 - I'd like to do the Route 66, the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon and possibly one in my hometown of Philly.  I'm not sure if I will have the time to do the Half Marathon in OKC this spring.  We'll see how my job search is going at that point and how busy I am as the semester comes to a close!

  First, I apologize for not updating in what seems like forever.  I was hit with horrible allergies 2 weeks ago and it took me out for most of the past 2 weeks - to the point I wasn't even working out because I couldn't breathe or sleep.  I thought it was the flu but thankfully I was wrong.

  So to play catch up, things have been super busy with work on top of everything else!  Never ends in my field but that's why I love it. : )

  Keeping up with my miles was very difficult while I was sick and I can't lie - I did fail at times.  I had to skip a zumba class and 2 yoga classes due to work and illness.  Depressing but I'm sure my body appreciated the time off.

  To try to work with both of our busy schedules, my running partner and I have been doing the occasional morning run.  I have to admit, I'm not a morning person.  I hate waking up before 8am but nothing is more magical than seeing this when you hit the top of a hard hill (ours is 3 to 6 miles in depending on what route we run).

  As I'm sure you can imagine, it's even more beautiful in person.  My iPhone did not do the sunrise justice!  To me, there is nothing more beautiful than coming to the end of your run and seeing such a wonderful sight - it always makes me want to push just a little bit harder and that's usually needed at the end of a run.

  I was nervous during my sick time because we had a very important upcoming race on Saturday - the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and I was actually running for someone!  The race was something my running partner had worked on the advertisements for so she really wanted to run it as our first race of the "new year."  I am lucky in the sense that no one close to me has ever had to fight any type of cancer (with the exception of a non-blood uncle) so I wanted to be able to run for someone during the race.

  As it turned out, my co-worker's mother had been diagnosed before which is why she is so passionate about the cause.  She asked if I'd run for her mother and I was honored.  My co-worker is a huge scrapbooker so she took a wonderful photo of us with the creation she made of my bib.

  Can you see the HUGE rings under my eyes... that was a few days before the race when I still felt like crap and hadn't been on meds yet.  Now I feel and look much, much better thanfully!

  Here's a close-up of her creation.  Can you tell she likes pink?

  She said our male co-worker made all the spirals so I'll include his photo too as a "thanks" for the entirely too much pink I wore (not a fan of the color).

  The race itself was amazing and I'm so glad I was able to be a part of it.  There were so many people - easily the largest race I had ever been to before.  I almost felt like it was giving me a taste of what to expect at the Route 66 Half Marathon in a little over 2 months.

  My running partner and I have both decided to have fun at the half marathon - we are planning on tutu's or something along those lines so we stand out and hopefully (finally!) get photos taken while we are running.

  The race course was a good one - not too many hills and the hills we did have were not nearly as steep as what we've been doing on our training runs lately so it was pretty easy.  I shot off as soon as I heard the gun and crossed the finish line at 28:48.  That's my 3rd best time yet so I was very happy.  I did an average 5:46 km and an average 9:17 mile.  The system messed up with groups so they said they'd have those stats to us by the end of the week.  Can't wait to see where I stand with those.

  My running group ran 3 miles to the race, ran the race and then ran 4 miles back to get their 10 miles in.  I was on duty that week and received a 3:30am call that morning so I only did the race - I didn't want to push myself and then have an accident/injury.

  Before the race....

  After I got home...

  The shirts this year are super cute as well - looking forward to adding it to the collection I've been growing since I started racing in Tulsa.

  Now just looking forward to the next few races before our half - Oktoberfest Lederhosen 4 mile race, the Tulsa Run 15k and maybe a quick 5k somewhere in there as well.  I love this time of year!! : )