Half Marathon Madness

April 14, 2013

Got ready for my first half marathon of the year. I was nervous that I wasn't ready for the distance or my legs were not ready to race, for they were feeling heavy since it was the last week of solid training before tapering for the Nike Women Half Marathon DC.

The gun went off in Central Park on a mildly chilly day. Two weeks prior I ran the route so I knew about the hills and where to push it and where to relax. Mile one, perfect split, today was a great day to run. As the finish line came near it was time to dig deep and push it, I was hurting, my legs were heavy, my butt burned (stupid hills), but I finished in 1:35.56.. almost 5 min PR! Finished in the top 60 out of 10,000 women. It was a great day to run....

April 15, 2013

Woke up in time to watch the elites during the Boston Marathon. I left my boyfriend's place for home. While on the road I decided to switch CD's.... crackle... static... Bombing at the Boston finish line... crackle... WHAT?! my phone started going off with messages, texts, facebook posts, friends,  and family members both wondering about me... Instantly I started to tear up.. Someone attacked my family, my community, my friends... How or why this happened, it could not be true, there is no way that it was true... For a few days my brain was turned off, it was in shock... Before I made the decision to sigh up for the More Fitness Women's Half Marathon I was going to volunteer at Boston, I wanted to be at the finish line.. part of me felt guilty that I did not do what I originally planned to do, had someone got injured because I did not go? Hope not, I hope they were able to help out others... The running community will continue to grow and get stronger, we will not break down, we are not easily discouraged, we will push through. 

April 28, 2013

Nike Women's Half Marathon DC... Such an execrating race, started following the 1:30 group (it was my goal) but after following them for two miles at a much faster pace then 6:52 I backed off and decided to let my legs do the running. Mile 10 came around, in my head I said "it's go time"... not long after I tripped on the road... took a nasty spill laid down for a little bit but said "no, go" did not bother looking at anything but my hand which was bleeding pretty good. Mile 12 finally got there and I had to take a walk break because my leg was burning, looking down the first thought was "#$@$". Someone offered me a napkin but I refused it and pushed on, it may hurt but I was out to get a PR. The last mile was the hardest mile. Crossed the line and got a high five from Joan Beniot Samuelson and Shalane Flanagan.. I walked right into the medic tent and they took a little rock from my knee patched up my hand and I went to get my little blue box!!!! Official time was 1:35.06!! Had I not fallen I would have been at least in the 1:32/1:33 area but such is life there is always another race. 

Between the two races they were both very amazing in different ways, Central Park was extremely hard and during my second lap I passed a lot of the people who were on their first lap and it was hard to get around a lot of them. But it was such a challenged I loved it!!! Nike Women made me feel like a princess, it was a nice flat course around DC it was fun to look at all the monuments and the necklace that I wanted so badly is finally mine!!! Both of them I ran in my Altra Intuitions. I love these shoes they provide me with the perfect kind of support and do not weigh my legs down as the miles go one.

Where did February go?

I'm in! This will be my first BIG marathon, honestly I miss Chicago so much so spending $175 on the entry fee was well worth it. Plus who wouldn't love to spend half a week with their family?

Oh and I also got into the Broad Street 10 miler, who doesn't love 10 mile races?!

February has gone by so fast, it is pretty ridiculous. I have changed up my half marathon schedule to add in some more speed and longer runs so then my goal of a sub 1:30 will be more possible. I also changed my racing schedule, I took out the Central Park half marathon that is this Sunday because financially I cannot afford it at this moment. Below is my new tentative schedule

March 16 McHenry Shamrock Shuffle, McHenry, Il (HOME!)

April 14 More Fitness Women half marathon, Central Park, NY

April 28 Nike Women half marathon, Washington DC (A race)

May 5 Broad Street 10 miler, Philadelphia, Pa

May 19 Color Me Rad, Bethlehem, Pa

May 25 Soldier Field 10 miler, Chicago, IL (A race)

June 7-8 Ragnar Trail Relay, Appalachian Mountains, W. Va

June 23 Chicago Women's Half Marathon, Chicago, IL (A race)

July 14 Home Team Charity Run, Chicago, IL (Go Blackhawks!)

September 1 Rock n Roll Virginia, Virginia Beach, Va

September 15 Rock n Roll Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa

October 13 CHICAGO MARATHON

October 18-20 Runner's World Half Festival

November ?? D&L marathon

November 18 Philadelphia half/full marathon

Running for something

It has been two years since a great, wonderful, loving, caring, funny, soft, awkward guy in my life passed away. Went to bed last night not wanting to get up nor see daylight today knowing that he is not with us anymore. The wonderful alarm clock that we all know didn't seem to care, ignored it once, went to hit it again but was instantly felt with sadness and thoughts. After all the sadness was out I made my mind to go to spin class at the gym figuring it was going to help with distracting my mind. Did not work. A couple of times I started to break down, all my energy was zapped and I had no ambition to keep going.
Felt bad for the teacher since it was my first time in her class and here I am on the verge of crying, awesome.Also felt bad because the desk attendant that I talk to all the time I basically ignored.
Last spring for my first marathon of the year I wrote "Tom" on my bib, because I knew he was going to be with me and I wanted to make him happy. I broke my Personal Record in the marathon by ELEVEN MINUTES!!
So what is the point of this post? Why would I bring up the fact that I wrote his name on my bib? The reason is because we all have a reason to run, workout, be a better us, etc. Sometimes it is just for us, sometimes we want to make someone else happy, maybe it is because you want to honor someone or a lot of people. Whatever the reason it is still a reason. That in itself is something that is universal, that cannot be ignored. If there is no purpose behind why you are doing something isn't it easy to just give it up? This year dedicate one or all of your races to one person, make a reason to run a race, so when you hit that "wall" or for that extra "push" think of that person or reason and see how that will help you to get through.

First week of training

It's been a very inspiring week, not only have I been able to run with no pain but I've been able to push myself. That's not all tho! I got accepted to be an Altra Zero Limits Ambassador, got a lead on a possible paid internship, a possible Chemist job, a running photo shoot and a much needed gift card. All of these things came to me as a complete blessing in disguise. Next week is going to be the start of a new semester, which means between school, training and working I will be exhausted but more then grateful that I can do all these things.

2013

It's been a long month of not running.
Back in December I was diagnosed with perneal and Achilles tendonitis. There are 16 weeks until my "A" race, The NIKE Women's Half Marathon in Washington DC. Tomorrow, Friday, I will see if I will be cleared to "officially" start running, so far I have been able to run 5 miles without pain which is a big increase from not being able to run a half mile with tons of pain. This year I plan on doing less mileage, harder workouts, strength training and spinning classes to hopefully boost my speed in order to get to a sub 1:30 half marathon in order to qualify for the New York Marathon in 2014.
Of course I would love to also qualify for the Boston Marathon, but that will come when I run the Chicago Marathon in October.

This year is going to be tough but one has to be tough to get what they want.

2012 in a nutshell

This year has been on for the record books. PRs in 5k-marathon. 2 first places, 3 second places, 2 third places and multiple age group awards the highlighted races are below..
Flying Pirate half marathon
I wanted to get a BQ so an amazing coach from back home (Illinois) was nice enough to make up a plan for me, it was intense but it was just what I needed. During my training for the marathon I completed the Flying Pirate half marathon with my amazing sister in the pouring rain. Even though I am not one for rain the course was just what I needed to get a huge 2 min PR of a 1:40.30, just 30 seconds off my goal.
Run for the Red marathon
Marathon time came and it went from suppose to be perfect weather to light sprinkles to warming up throughout the race. I tried to not let that bother me, it was my day I had to get a BQ... the first 13 went by so smoothly I was well under what I needed to do, than I started to feel the heat. Took some walking breaks but ended up with a 3:44.56, a 11 min PR but 9 min shy of the BQ.
hanover women's 5k
First 5k of the year I almost passed it up to get some more sleep but I got to the course, the gun went off and I found myself all alone. I ended up with another PR by a couple of seconds 21:21, but I won by almost 2 min.
warrior dash
Throughout the year I was training a few girls that were in my graduate program to get them in shape to do the Warrior Dash. On Saturday we all took off and had a blast but Sunday I had a mission to do. I was the first female across the line but ended up 2nd overall.
Bouncing Buns 7k
This was my first nude run, it was all trail too... I was in first place until I took a wrong turn and never caught up, but boy was it so much fun!!! 2nd place, 32:33
George Yasso 5k
This race was near my house and I had no idea what to expect but that it will be hilly. Got a new PR by 10 seconds but came in second 21:10.  Sooo close to my goal on the year
Saucon Rail Trail 10k
The last time I ran a 10k was 2 years ago, I didn't know what to expect except that if I placed I got money. I was aiming for a PR and some cash. I got the PR by almost a full 4 min!! 44:28  My goal for the year, if I ran a 10k was to get a sub 45, got that one. I ended up 5th overall but first in my age group by a nice margin. 
Runner's World Hat Trick
Two years ago I did the I-Challenge which means that I did a 5k on Friday night and Saturday morning I did a half marathon (some people did the full), it was so challenging but so much fun! This was a tad different and more difficult. It took place in my hometown, Bethlehem (home of Runner's World) on Saturday morning you complete a 5k, one hour later a 10k, the next day a half marathon. The 5k and half were so great but the 10k was horrible. The 5k was a 21:32, half marathon 1:41 (it was hillier than Flying Pirate!) and the 10k we won't talk about. Other than running it was a blast, the people, the editors, the elites (SHALANE FLANAGAN!) make me want to do this again next year, no matter where I will be.
D&L marathon
Without training due to an ankle pain that caused training to go out the window, I had a goal in mind and that was just to let my legs do the work and enjoy the race. Last year I got a 4:01 on this course. I finished in a 3:48, had my ankle been behaving better around mile 14 a new PR would have been easily accomplished.
other races
That was it for the major PRs but I did completed 3 marathons, last year I completed 2, and all of them were sub 3:50. Last year I had a PR of 3:55. In both half marathons I beat my PR from last year. I only dipped past 21 in one 5k due to a loop course that had us do "cardiac hill"  3 times. I got Moonshine and silver plate for winning one race, an awesome trophy for another one and multiple medals (one of them doubled as a bottle opener). It was a great year.
Next year, once I'm done nursing this injury, I plan on training for a sub 1:30 half marathon so I can qualify for the NYC marathon.
Next years races
NYC Central Park marathon (possible)
McHenry Shamrock Shuffle (HAVE to get my crown back) 
Women's Half Marathon, Central Park 
Nike Women's inaugural half marathon, Washington DC 
Solider Field 10 miler, Chicago
North Olympic Marathon, Seattle
Chicago Women's Half Marathon (possible)
Chicago Marathon

 Shalane Flanagan and I (!!!!!!)

 Finishing strong at the Runner's World Hat Trick

 Finishing the Warrior Dash with my girls

 I made it onto a blog, somehow

 The girls and I after the Color Run

I made it onto the newspaper too...

 Somehow this turned out perfect

 We did it!

 Before we got muddy

 Don't mess with us

:)

River Run 2011

Coming up to this race I didn't know what to think or expect. That was until my ex teammate gave me motivation to kick her ass. She hasn't been running and I mentioned what I wanted to run, she said she did too. Gun goes off and she's right beside me, I play a little mind game and let her go in front of me for about 20 seconds. I pass her up as soon as I can. I ended up being 4th overall female with a PR of a 20:29! I was behind two girls I've been losing too all year (not in my age group) and a youngin'. My father did so much better than he thought, he finished with a time of 28:21! It was fun time, got to talk to old friends and new ones as well!