Doin it again...

So soon too! I am preparing to run another marathon in a few days... Well, a half marathon that is! My friends family decided that they didnt want to drive the 5 hours to Minneapolis to watch her race. So, enter - ME! I am sooooo excited! This is my first adult outing without family since my 1st child was born!! And what an awesome way to spend it- running with 5000 of my closest friends :)
Together we are looking forward to expo-strolling, unencumbered dinners and kid/husband free shopping. Plus no guilt about taking our time and soaking it all in b/c there is no one waiting for us at the finish line!
I am nervous about the possibility of hills, the ITBS can still be bothersome... I also need to address the issue of pace. Are we expected to stay together, cross together? Or is it our usual "keep on keepin on" attitude that keeps us in the same vicinity but noe necessarily together?
I see it this way- if my knee acts up, i dont ecpect K to wait back. If the hills are too much for my tired legs, i dont expect K to stay back. But if her under training comes through- am i expected to stay with her? If our pace begins to kick her butt, well- you get the idea! Not sure of the etiquette here- hence the need to discuss it. See, she isnt competitive, but i tend to get caught up in the atmosphere and the numbers... A sub 2 hour would be awesome!!
Oh well, this race is for fun, friendship, and health! Let the day bring what it brings :)

Summer summer summertime!

Welcome back to summer workouts! You know, when the weather is just so great you cant help but be inspired to run/bike/walk/lift/swim, etc... Time to get up, pull on some shorts and head out the door- except there is one small problem (or in my case, 4) the kids are home from school. They are home ALL day, every day. Time to exercise the brain too!!! C'mon creativity, i need you more than ever!
So, today, i reaLLy needed to exercise. My goal was to get some strength training done BeFoRe i started with the housework. I kicked the kids outside and took my weights out to the deck. Now they can run, jump and scream and wont be under my feet, or in my ears! (yes, i am known to wear my ipod around the house!) Of course, i could have easily done this in the yard as well, no deck required.
3 of 12 weighted squats, alternating bicep curls and shoulder raises
3 pf 7 (or 14) walking lunges
4 of 10 pushups (MAN style, lol)
Many more sets of bi curls anf tri extensions
This is about 20 minutes and thats about all youll get in one sitting :) Time for some cardio...
I put the kids on their bikes and head to a vacant parking lot @ a half mile away. Once there i notice its about the size of a track, give or take... This could be a win-win situation! I manage to get 5 laps in before a skinned elbow ruins the fun :( Ahhhh well, i already feel MUCH better and i know this outing has earned me some kid-crash time later this afternoon :) Whats that?? A second workout later? Yes please!

26.2

Happy Dance, *do the dance, do the trance, do the hump/ oh do it baby!*

Not sure why that song is in my head, but who cares! I just ran a marathon :) I have joined the 1% of the population of the WORLD that can say that! I have been wearing marathon t shirts and accepting congratulations for 3 days now, and I still feel like I need to broadcast it more, lol! Perhaps fashion the race bling into a belt buckle, or a sweay band! (Now there is a money maker!)

Ahh, how to keep this short... Well- I can't- so if you have the patience to train you have the patience to read- stay with me!

Predicted weather was 85% humidity, 70% thunderstorms and all rain... Great- we are off to a great start; and my knees are hurting (bleep bleep bleepity bleep!!!) Hubs and I woke up at 5 to get ready and leave for the race. We were about an hour away, my mom was with us so we left her and the sleeping kids at the hotel. D got me as close to the start line as possible and dropped me off. The whole ride there the words, "what made you think you could do this??" kept running through my head. I didnt feel all that nervous, just doubltful. (However my last minute potty trip complete with wobbly tummy and shaking legs maybe meant I was a bit nervous!)

Onto the start line, rain was holding off. I met up with my pacer and checked out the runners I would be staying with for a while. Good looking bunch, ready to go! Had to laugh when for about 2 seconds we could spot sun and I swear a collective gasp of 3000 people could be heard for miles :) BTW- sun never did come out, but neither did the rain, so all good!

I decided early on that I was going to run the 1st 10 with no headphones, just take it all in. I quickly found out around mile 5 that I was just thinking WAY too much. So I decided to push play and go; Ahhh- nice tunes make for a nice stride. Hangin in around 9:15, perfect. A little ahead of my group, will afford me some walking time later.

This strategy worked until mile 15-17 when I started drifting behind my 4:15 group... I knew I had to let them go and just focus on myself. So- I did. Not gonna lie- miles 17-20 were pretty rough. I was feeling fine but having no clue where I am on the course was getting too me as was the wind... 25mph gusts are no joke! Legs were tiring and walking breaks were coming more frequently. I made sure to keep drinking and stayed on track with my nutrition...

Mile 20- a 10k left, Till I Collapse is on and I am feeling pretty good and able to run mile marker to mile marker with only a short walk at each; but my pace is mega slow- I didnt think it was possible to run that slow! And oh- Elvis is not dead- he is at mile 21 singing his heart out :)

The signs totally distracted me through mile 25... Did you know Giraffes can lick their eyes? And that fish cough? and that the couple with the "you are not almost there" sign found a way to beat traffic and keep reappearing along the course! By now, the super friendly people of Fargo are handing out beers (which some have already drank too many of ) and popsickles. So nice! Batman is really a traffic cop, and local kids give the best high fives! I am staying on task and doing well! 4:30 (goal 1) is looking not too bad!

Mile 25- I would like to say knowing I am at the end gave me a boost. But sadly, it did not... I had to stop twice and empty dagger-like rocks out of my shoes and I was tired! But the crowd picked up and I had to forge on, I was doing this!! I was really doing this!! Shortly I could SEE the Fargo Dome. (Unfortunately a gazillion turns made it farther away than I wouldve liked!) The race ends IN the Dome, (oddly enough the couple are HERE now, but have mercifully scratched out the not in their sign) it is kinda cruel to reach the dome and find you have about a .25 mile of snaking around to get the the back entrance to run in. But oh well, I hear someone calling my name! My friends from home- who trained with me for their 1/2 are waiting for me- oh God- dont cry!!! I pick up the pace and amazingly enough have the energy to "sprint" into the finish (if you call 8:20 a sprint, lol!) Lo and behold~in the seats just above the finish sign~ is my family!! Screaming and flashing their signs and just smiling away! I look up to the sky, and now the world is mine, I've known it all my life- I made it, I made it!

The LAST (long) run!

Well, at this point 8 miles doesnt seem long- but technically it is! I have assembled a good-size group today so the company will be nice. We are in jackets (darnit- Its May already!) and the wind is ugly... but I am training for Fargo, so I suppose I better get used to it!
Right off the bat I let the team know I will not be stopping on this run. I am Garmin free and will be running by feel, for better or for worse :) We all know the route- lets have some fun! So- mile 1 down and I hear the beep beep beep of a walk break from the Garmin, so I say goodbye and head down the road.
Best Run EVER!! I swear I could have gone on forever. Only once in a strong headwind did I walk for a (literally) 20 seconds or so. The rest was a steady pace that felt easy and awesome! My confidence for marathon day is soaring! I got this.... I GOT THIS!! Best I figure- I held a 9:30 pace or better... Really- I hate running without my Garmin now, I am such a number nerd! But perhaps the lack of checking times and going naked was what made the run so easy?? Hmmm, still like my numbers. Perhaps I will have to find a way to wear and hide the G so I wont fixate on it but still have the results at the end...
O.M.G. I will be a marathoner next week. A MARATHONER!! My grin is as big as the word :)

It's been a while

It's been a while

Wow! This whole training for a marathon/mom thing doesnt leave much blogging time, lol!

I have made it to TAPER time!! Woo Freakin' Hoo! I feel accomplished, relieved and just ready to go! Who wouldve thought I'd be craving the day I could pop in P90X for an hour and be done?!? I swear this training has been a full time job; BUT I am glad it is all working out this way. If it came too easy I dont think I would appreciate it all as much. (At least that is my *glass half full* take on it :)
So this week is a 12 mile run. I honestly can not believe I am saying, "Yay, I ONLY have to run 12 this week!" How absurd is that!
It went pretty well. I was running with a friend who wanted to do the 10:1 method; I am sure I have mentioned how I dislike that... It got really tough for her around mile 8-9. I convinced her to walk longer then just keep moving on the next interval... At mile 11 we split to finish up on our own. I took off at a much nicer pace and finished strong. Stayed just under a 10 m/m, so it all evens up in the end... Next- onto the easiest 8 miles of my life!

Last Long Run

I completed my last long run of training! I feel so relieved, grateful and proud to be where I am!! My original plan was to run 24 miles; that was updated to anything over 20. The weekend was calling for CRAPPY weather, but Friday was promising to be beautiful! I actually paid daycare for the 2 little boys so I could enjoy some warm sunshine :)
And man, was it beautiful! Mid 60's, totally sunny and just a great day. A bit windy, but not enough to complain about. I even wore a tank top!! (I was too nervous to run without my compression pants, or else I totally couldve rocked some shorts!)
I had no fear or trepidation about this run :) Even the sheer # of miles didnt daunt me. I just kept thinking of the runs in sections: Shorewood Drive first, downtown, lake- then back again... Seemed easy enough.
I ran the first 5 with no stops. Mentally- it wasnt even bothering me. At mile 6 I had my first bloks. Then I ran about 2 miles or so before taking regular walk breaks. I ate every 4 miles afterwards. No section of the run was less than a mile unless there was a hill- which I would walk; that was in the plan!
This time around- I didnt have the fear of pain when I began to run again. I did have to remind myself that running was actually easier than walking after about mile 13 or so :) My wonderful husband left a bottle of water on the flagpole at his office for me... so nice- my waterbelt was empty! And then I had to refill it again on the last 2 mile stretch! Despite the water intake, I was developing a bad headache:( And the salt on me! Holy moly- I looked chalky!
In the end though, the best part was that I didnt need to resort to the, "walk a song, run a song," trick. I felt strong enough to just keep going. I just KNOW that running with 1000's of others will help me stay even stronger!
I made it 21.25 miles. I would have been happy to keep going but alas, the bus with my other 2 kids was coming... I had to do the mom thing, you know!
SO- I feel ready. I feel confident! I am still trying to get times out of my head; just focus on a good effort and a fun day... I am so excited!!
Even after the past 16 weeks, I am still laughing that next weeks run of "just 12" is going to be easy! That just seems crazy!
But, arent all marathoners a bit crazy?!?!