Soaring Wings Half Marathon 2014

It's been 6 months since my last race, and I'll admit that I was a little nervous about this one.  Lately, I've had problems with having really tight hips and getting very sore after walking.  I had decided to add yoga back into the mix, and after Monday night's class, I felt like I had brand new legs.  Awesome!

Then I walked on the treadmill Tuesday.  I think it needs some lube, it jerked funny a few times, and I felt like I had pulled something the next morning.  I spent the rest of the week doing all the stretches I could remember from Monday's yoga class that had made me feel better.  

 

I felt better when I woke up Saturday, so I headed off to the race.  But let's be honest, I'm such a bonehead that I probably would have attempted the race anyway.

Last year's Soaring Wings has remained my slowest race to date. The course is very hilly and I remembered that I didn't particularly enjoy it last year. I finished in 3:45, extremely sore and with horrible blisters.  Really, my only goal for this race was to not do worse.

It was a warm day, warmer than October should be, so I couldn't wear the race shirt, because it was long sleeved.  I felt bad for everyone who had... by the end of the race it was in the 80s.  I did have a jacket with me, but tied it around my waist before the race even started.  And that made me realize that if I have something around my waist, my lower back doesn't hurt at all when I walk.  I had heard during my Leslie Sansone Walk at Home videos that having a belt around your waist activates your core muscles simply by being there, but I really didn't buy into it (She sells them, so of course she's going to make them sound amazing).  It really does work, though.  My abs can attest to that today.  I need to get a hydration belt or something, simply to help with my back.  (And because I hate carrying water)

Honestly, the hills didn't bother me as much this year.  My normal training route has a few bridges on it, so I think I've come to terms with hills.  The course was pretty narrow in places, though, and we shared the road with traffic a lot.  When I had to pass a pair of walkers, I would be uncomfortably close to traffic.

PSA.... if you're racing with a pal, go single file when someone needs to pass.  Safety over companionship!

There were water stations every 1.5 miles.  Blessed water stations.  It was so warm out that I wished I had carried water.  I was usually parched by the next station.  They also had Gu, gummy bears, and fruit at the later stations.  

I realized yesterday that I truly love being in the back of the pack as a walker.  I'm not trying to trash all the fabulous fast runners in anyway, but I think the most inspiring people are at the end.  I read something the other week, and I'm slightly paraphrasing, but it went something like "First place is AMAZING, last place is INSPIRING".  There's always a run/walker who uses me as a cue to start running again.  There are older people showing that it's not too late to do something amazing.  Yesterday, I was following this one older lady... she caught my eye because I had never seen anyone with a walking skirt past their knees.  Her family was leap frogging along the course to encourage her, and she'd hug and cry every time she passed them.  It gave me a lump in my throat.  Half-marathons are obviously physically and mentally challenging, but most people don't realize how emotional they are. 

I don't think anything can beat RussVegas in terms of community support, but it was pretty good for this race.  There was a kid around mile 2 wearing a shirt that said Mile 9 that amused me.  A couple of clever signs like "Smile if you're not wearing any underwear."  I always love when little kids are out giving high fives, and there was a gentleman playing sax along the way.  I could tell in a few spots that people  had abandoned their cheering post, which is always disappointing.  And we were all amused by the fact that they left the Mile 4 sign up (the course looped through the same area twice at that point) when we were in the 12th mile.... the lady next to me said she'd quit if it was really just Mile 4.  I said I'd just lay down in the road right then and there.  =)

I was really surprised that for the first half of the race I kept a 15:00-15:15 pace.  That's faster than I normally train, but it's not unusual for my race pace to be faster than my training pace.  I push myself harder when I'm racing, not wanting to be passed by everyone.  LOL  But even as the crowd thinned and I didn't have people immediately around me, I kept that pace, which impressed me.  I did start slipping after the first half, though, but I realized if I could keep it under 16:00, I might just have a new PR.  To be honest, I never bothered looking up what I should shoot for to have a PR, because I didn't think it was possible considering last year.

My pace continued to slip as I neared the end, but I still felt pretty strong and didn't have as much as a hot spot on my feet, let alone blisters.  I mean, I didn't feel like I could walk miles and miles more, but I wasn't in pain.  

I crossed the finish line at 3:30.

That's 15 minutes faster than last year.  15 minutes!

That's also my new PR.

I went from this race being my worst to my best!  That's pretty exciting!  16:03 was my average pace.  I'm going to shoot to shave those 3 seconds off my next race in December.  =)

Dead Last.

It's the been wanteda while, huh? I've been super preoccupied lately. We've decided to buy a house and I'm a little obsessed. That should give me plenty to blog about when we get through it all. It's such an exciting, frustrating experience.

Yesterday I completed my 5th half marathon, the RussVegas Half. I was supposed to do it with my sister, but she cut her foot on the beach in Hawaii last week and felt she shouldn't do the half since it wasn't healed. I'm totally jealous of the "on the beach in Hawaii" part. So I went alone, which totally doesn't bother me. I love doing races with my sister but I enjoy them alone, too.

I wanted to try to get to the early start but Russellville is over an hour away and I was lucky to drag myself in at 7:30 am on a Saturday as it was. It didn't take long for me to realize that this time I really was THE last person. I could see the shadow of the motorcycle patrolling the trail of the race as he put -putted along behind me. And it wasn't like I was just a few steps behind the people in front of me either. At one point they were at least 1/4 mile ahead. I pushed so hard to keep a good pace to try to catch up. I couldn't run... I registered as a walker.

But, let me tell you something... last isn't bad. I felt really self conscious at first. Who wants to be last? But I swear, the support thrown your way by the people cheering along the way and at the water stations is like you are a rock star.  Maybe because they are glad they are done once you pass.  Kidding.  I mean, some of them were, but the encouragement felt totally real.

There was a stretch of the course around mile 8 where the racers on mile 11 passed you. This was the best part. By that point, all that pushing I did trying to not be TOO far behind was catching up with me. I was honestly questioning if I could finish. I just didn't feel good. All I could think about was sitting down. My feet were starting to hurt and my back was killing me. Then I came to that stretch. So many runners were yelling encouragement my way. More than I could count went out of their way to high five me. "You've got this!" "You're doing great! " and, the one that probably carried me the rest of the way - "Don't you dare stop!"

Around mile 9, I finally, FINALLY passed someone!  They were early starters, so I felt a little bad about it, especially at being so happy about it.  I was really slowing down though, so I ate a Gu, which someone had passed out a few miles back.  It was vanilla, and tasted like I was squirting icing in my mouth and made me gag.  But it helped a little. Mile 12, I saw this hill approaching and wanted to cry. The course had been really flat. Why must they put the hills toward the end?  I wimpered my way up it and kept dreaming of sitting down.  I was swearing at myself for doing this race. Telling myself I was never, ever doing another one. I was fighting tears. I've never felt so awful at the end of a race.

My time was 3:39.  Not my worst, which surprised me. I got some fluids and an apple in me and felt better. Left, got some lunch and drove home.

I totally am not quitting my halves, don't worry. My Dad thinks I'm crazy after seeing me hobble around today and seeing my blisters. And he's right. I'm Half Crazy!

Plus, I can't quit now.  I just paid my dues for Half Fanatics!!!!! 

Next up:  Soaring Wings 10/25.  Last year's time is my worst time so far and it's a hilly course so I'm just hoping to beat last year's time, not worry about a PR.

Even the King wanted a picture with me LOL

2014 Bentonville Running Festival Half-Marathon

I still haven't blogged about our Branson trip, and I will, but I thought I'd get my race recap out of the way while it was still fresh on my mind.

The first of two half-marathons this month... I picked this one because I have a friend that lives in Bentonville.  The plan was that the girls and I would spend the weekend with her and she'd keep the girls for me while I did the race.  Bentonville is a 3 hour drive from my house, so it's not a race I can just get up early for and make the drive the day of.  If I hadn't had a friend in town, I never would have even considered it.

But.

My friend's daughter caught pneumonia.  We hoped she'd get better in time, but she was still pretty sick by mid week, so we decided that me and the girls staying at their house wasn't a good idea.  Which left me with a dilemma.  I couldn't drive up the day of, and I couldn't take the girls with me with no one to watch them.  So I reached out and another friend of mine offered to keep them overnight for me.  I booked a hotel room in Bentonville.  Problem solved!

The next plan was for me to get off of work, check the girls out of school, take them to my friend, then hit the road.  It left me very little room for error....  I get off of work at 1:30.  Half an hour to my friend's house from school.  Packet pickup ended at 6pm, and it's a 3 hour drive as I said.  I was hoping to get on the road by 2:30, to be in Bentonville by 5:30.  I got to the school and it took 20 minutes to finally round up the girls and get out of there.  Ridiculous.  I still could make it.  But I had to get gas, get the girls settled in.... it was creeping up on 3pm before I hit the road.  I would just barely make it, but I could still make it.

Then, not even 20 miles out of town, traffic came to a dead stop.  It took 20 minutes to go the few miles to get around the accident.  There was no way I could make it, and - of course - despite having used the bathroom before leaving my friend's house, I needed a pit stop.

During my potty break I emailed the race people and explained what was going on and they told me what I needed to do to pick my packet up in the morning before the race.  Disaster averted!

I made it into town about 6:30, feeling like my bladder was going to explode.  It's not like I was guzzling water, and I never have to pee that frequently, but of course I had to when it was totally not convenient.  Then I realized I had printed out directions to the packet pickup location, not the hotel.  Smartphone to the rescue.  I GPS'd my way to the hotel.

I checked into my hotel room....



I had a king size bed and 5 pillows all to myself!  A night of just me... no one else... no TV, no talking.  Just pure peace and quiet.  It was divine.

I got up at 5am, changed into my race clothes, found some breakfast, and headed out to find the place to pick up my packet.  I've only been to Bentonville once and we didn't really explore town then, so I had no clue where I was going.  Thank goodness for the GPS yet again.  Of course, the route it picked for me included part of the race course, which was closed, so it wasn't as helpful as I hoped for, but I found a place to park for the race.  Which turned out to be almost half a mile from my destination.  I had to walk to get my packet, walk back to the van, then walk back to the starting line.  I really was thinking that if I believed in omens, I probably should just walk away.  Go home.  But, I didn't.


My shoe charm says "Sole Sister"... my sister has one, too.

I had hoped that at packet pickup, had I made it in time on Friday, that I would talk to someone about the early start, since I was a walker.  The 3:15 pacer started early, and I knew I wouldn't cross the finish line before that.  Yes, I could finish the race in the 4 hours, but I thought an early start would at least let me get home earlier.  But, since I was late, I couldn't do that.

Almost immediately, I felt like EVERYONE had passed me.  There were very few walkers.  I imagine most of them took the early start.  The policemen on bikes were circling around the last few of us.  I was honestly afraid to look behind me, to confirm that I was last.  I just walked.  Someone has to be last, and I was going to do this race regardless of where I was in the pack.

Bentonville is a beautiful town.  I never take my phone out to take pictures during a race, because it slows me down, but I took 3 pictures today.



Hay sculptures.  I tried to get both of them in the picture, but apparently failed.  I thought they were so cute and clever.

We passed an old cemetery, and it was probably my favorite part of the course.  Not only was it really pretty, but the signs were great.




(No, it really wasn't.  LOL)

We passed the Waste Water Treatment Facility, too, but that was neither beautiful or fun.  It was smelly.

I was getting really excited towards the end.... my pace was excellent.  I was under a 16 minute average.  Barely, but still.  With just one mile left to go, I just knew I was going to end with a sub-16:00 pace.  Then... the hill.  I had heard mention of The Hill.  But didn't think too much of it.  Ha!  I do not know how ANYONE could run up that hill.  Seriously.  By the time I made it to the top, and for a minute I wasn't sure I would, I had a stitch in my side (I'm walking, remember?), I couldn't breathe, and I thought I might have to visit the first aide station conveniently placed at the top.  It was insane.  They had cardboard figures of the race director dressed up like Satan along the way.  I'm really not exaggerating.  It was killer.

And it killed my pace.  I tried to recover as best I could, but it just wasn't in me.  I finished in 3 hours, 33 minutes.  Two minutes faster than my first half last year, 12 minutes faster than my second half, and it's hard to compare to the last half I did since they diverted me and I lost half a mile.  My pace was 16:23.  So, I did get a new personal best =)  And I definitely was not last ;)

I crossed the finish, got my medal, and pretty much immediate walked the half a mile back to the van, wishing I had parked closer every step of the way (and GPSing it again as I had no clue where the van was in relation to the finish, even though it was fairly close to the start, but I have zero sense of direction), and drove back home.


It's hard to see, but I wrote "x 4" in the dirt next to my sticker



Aside from the stinky waste water facility and the evil hill, this was probably my favorite half-marathon yet.  There were so many people out cheering us on, staying until even the slow-pokes like me.  Water stations galore, never more than 2 miles apart and that was rare.  At times it was every mile.  And the scenery was gorgeous.  I'll definitely do it again.

I'm tired.  I'm sore.  I have an epic blister on my left foot.  And now that I've written this, I am going to bed.

Little Rock Half Marathon 2014

I almost didn't do it. I had spent so long in my funk just sitting on my behind that I didn't feel prepared. But, less than two weeks to go and I decided I COULD NOT quit. So I got back out there to train. I was still worried. I only made it up to 8 miles in training. But I was going to try.

The theme this year was super heroes. My original plan was Super Grover. When I asked my sister if she was dressing up, the plan changed. She was Super Grover and I was Super Gonzo. Personally I think we were the best costumes out there, hands down. =) And luckily I had the idea of using a rain poncho for capes. I think we both would have frozen to death otherwise.

The weather was a concern for days before the race. Yet another winter storm was headed our way. Good grief, I am sick of this winter. We knew it was going to rain so we looked up ways to keep our feet as dry as possible. But it was so much worse than we thought it would be.

It was so cold, barely above freezing and I am almost sure it was freezing by the end.  Windy... very windy in places. And rainy. My legs were numb. I don't think I have ever been so cold in my life. But I felt great! I would check my pace at each mile marker and I was doing way better than I thought I would. I kept my mind from thinking too far ahead, just one mile at a time. I reached 10 miles and was ecstatic. So close!

But then, just before mile 11, there was a cop redirecting us. He said there was a thunderstorm coming and they were shortening the course. Everyone was so upset. We met up with some people who hadn't been redirected and you could tell who had and hadn't been because we all looked like someone had popped our balloon at a party.

It turned out that they only shaved about a half mile off our route, which was even more irritating because it seemed so pointless... half a mile, 8 minutes at my pace...  how stupid. But I really shouldn't complain. The full marathoners were picked up on a bus and even if they refused the bus and finished, there was no one there to give them their medals. =( In fact, my sister is at the after race party and said they are just giving the medals away. (She asked if I wanted to have one and I was very torn but I want one of those huge hubcap medals so badly I said yes)

I finished, half a mile short, in 3:23. I totally would have smashed my previous times (3:35 & 3:45).  I am beyond impressed with myself.

Next stop:  RussVegas Half on April 26!  I have a lofty goal but I will tell you more later about that later.

166 miles

Well, today I officially began my half-marathon training.  As a runner!  I pretty much made up my own training plan, basing it off of the one I used for my last half.  But that one had me jumping by 2 miles every increase, and I was not comfortable with that.  I worked it out and I have just enough weeks to increase by half a mile each week to get me to 12.5 miles, plus two taper weeks before the actual race.  

I added up the mileage for my long runs.  166 miles.  

I'm down 3.5 miles today.  =)

I worried a little bit about it today... I have had a total slacker week.  I really hadn't done anything physical since Tuesday.  But it was a great run, I didn't struggle mentally, and my pace was awesome!  13:32!  That's taking into account the quarter-mile warm up and cool down walking, so I was super stoked.  My second mile was 12:24!  My 5k pace was 14:30ish... so a definite improvement.

I'd love to do my half in 3 hours.  I'd need to keep a pace similar to today's to do it.  That will be my goal, but I'll be happy just to finish it running the entire thing.

I think as the summer heats up, that I might have to get up early in the morning to run.  Today wasn't bad, and my route was shady 80% of the time, but I'm sure I'm in for some torture in the upcoming weeks.