Race Recap: Bird In Hand Half Marathon

Holy crap. That sucked.-- This is a summary of how this race went, but you can read the whole post if you want the fine print.

It was a lovely humid 90 degree day in eastern Pennsylvania today. Juuuuuust lovely. And by that, I mean that it was actually awful. As soon as we stepped outside our front door this morning at 5:15 am, I felt the wave of heat and the heaviness in the air from the humidity, but no worries! I didn't have to deal with the humidity for long! The scorching sun seemingly burned off all the humidity by about mile 3 of the race. I wanted so badly for this race to go well. I was looking forward to another Amish Country run because the scenery is beautiful and this race is very interesting because of the Hot Air Balloon race that takes place on the same day, and there are Amish kids manning the water stops, and I needed a recharge for my marathon training, and I was running with my weekend running partner, Kristen, and I just... I just... I just wanted to have fun and run well. Why is that too much to ask?

If I haven't clearly conveyed this yet; it was stupidly hot. Now, I asked my friend Mark yesterday, "should I take my hydration belt?" "No!" he says. "They have water stops," he says. Mark gets angry when it is in the 60's and he has to do a long run!!! MARK!!!! IT WAS HOT AND I HAD NO WATER!!! I was shaking my fists at Mark for a while during this race today. That's the last time I listen to you, Mark! They did set out coolers of ice for the runners between water stops, and there were several kind Amish families who brought their garden hose up by the road to spray runners as they ran by, but there was no shade on the course, and it was HOT (in case I haven't mentioned that), and it just didn't go well.

I told Kristen by about mile three that she should just leave me behind. I seriously felt like I wasn't going to make it already at that point, so I kind of gave up most of my hope. I noticed at one point that I was even starting to hallucinate, or at least I thought I was. Remember last week when I thought I saw an ambulance, but it turned out to be a horse trailer? Well, I thought I saw a camel standing by an ambulance. Yes. It was so hot I saw a camel....but thankfully the camel was real, and so was the ambulance, which means that I hadn't completely lost it. They also gave out Rita's Water Ice at one point in the race, and it was amazing.

The best thing to come out of this race was that I met another kind person while running. When a race is going terribly, I usually try to find some other person around me who will carry on a conversation, and then help push me till the end. Today, I met Donna. Donna is an amazingly kind woman who seems to find the best in people and situations despite the fact that many other people in her situation would probably be very unhappy people. She cheered me on, and she cheered on other strangers as they passed us or as we passed them. She even SHARED HER STINGER CHEWS with me!! That is a big freaking deal in the running community! For real! This woman gave me some of her chews! We both agreed that one of the best parts of running is finding that throughout the running community there are so many different people, each with their own stories about why they run, and I am thankful that she reminded me of that because that will hopefully be my fuel to kickstart my marathon training back up for real!

Lastly, I just want to do a short rant about how the finish sucked most of all. You would think that after such a terrible race and the punishing heat, that I would just be elated to be done, but no. I cross the finish line, and a young girl smiles and says, "Congratulations! Here's an ice cold MILK!" Now my first instinct was to punch her in the face, but I didn't go with that first instinct, so no worries. I looked to my right, and a different girl hands me a bottle of water that she took right out of a cardboard box sitting on the ground, not in a cooler full of ice. It was 90 degrees!! Who wants freaking ice cold milk?!! I don't care how cold it is!! I want ICE COLD WATER!!! I just ran a freaking half marathon!! UGHHHHHHHH. Well, I survived anyway. And I got my Road Apple Award, so I guess it's all fine in the end. I just wish I'd had a better experience.

 

Runner's Rambles: Super (weird) Sunday

I'm not usually at a loss for words. I talk about running all day long, but I have found myself at a loss for words. I have had trouble getting myself out for all my weekly training runs since stopping the streak. It's hard to convince myself to run in snowy or cold weather without the motivation of the streak, but the weather was gorgeously spring-like this weekend, and I got in two solid runs. I did a four miler on Saturday and a slow but steady 7 miler on Sunday. So, where do I start?Let's start with the strange, and then move toward the revelations.

I was at 6.90 miles as I neared my apartment, so in order to finish a full seven miles on Sunday, I had the choice to run a tenth of a mile in the parking lot at my apartment, or I could run up the hill next door to the apartment complex. I opted for the hill since I know that I have multiple hilly races this spring. Well, some old man was crazily flailing, yet sprinting down the sidewalk on the hill, which forced me into a pretty busy street. I was a bit perturbed, but I finished the seven miles and turned around to walk back to my apartment.

When I was walking through the parking lot to my building, the old man ran up to me! He told me his name, and the clubs he runs with, and his occupation, and a million other things all while running in small circles around me and creating a moving barrier between me and my apartment building. I couldn't really get him to realize that I wasn't interested, and he kept asking me to run with him sometime. I said, "sure...sometime...I'll probably see you around," in a voice that was meant to just brush him off, but he just kept running back and forth in front of me blocking my path to the building. He wouldn't take no for an answer, and he asked for my phone number, which I didn't give to him. I ended up giving him my email to get him to leave me alone. So here I am thinking that it is crazy to just go up to a stranger and ask to run with them. On the other hand, I'm sure he's a nice person, but I am not sure how to proceed from here. Honestly, I don't really run with other people. AND I don't know this person!!! Why do weird things always happen to me?

Ok, so I have come up with a new strategy for pushing through hills or keeping my pace up near the end of a run. I know that I look like a crazy person when I run, and I have referred to it in my blog before as the psycho factor. It's true. So when I started to feel the crazy creeping up on my face yesterday on a steep hill, I dug deep for my yoga deep breathing and focused on relaxing my face. I noticed that if I relaxed my face and breathing, then I could push myself further. I'm going to keep testing it out, but I am really thinking I'm on to something here! Then again, maybe if I looked a bit crazier at the end of my run, then I wouldn't have had a stranger trying to talk to me.

Undecided

Holy turmoil, Batman! I am seriously struggling with making decisions these days. My husband says it's because I am perpetually, irrationally disappointed in my accomplishments. He's probably right, but I am still having a hard time listening to him and everyone else who has advised me over the past week. My brother Joe told me to focus on one goal for this year with my running. My boss, and super-runner, Terry told me to focus in on which goal is most important to me. Two of my co-workers, Sheila and Mark, both told me to chalk the streaking up as a win and move my focus to my other goals. I am just so stubborn...and perpetually, irrationally disappointed in myself, that I am finding it hard to let go.

So, how did the streaking start, and what are my goals for this year? The streaking started as a friendly competition between the staff members at my work. I work for a running specialty store, so you can imagine that I took the challenge on full-force. According to the guidelines of the competition, I officially won today. I completed day 41 streaking, but that is not enough for me for some reason. Probably because I decided last minute that I would also make that my New Year's resolution. I have all kinds of ankle, knee, and Achilles pain with the streaking I am doing, but I am so torn up over the prospect of quitting. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of days when I don't want to run, it's not necessarily the anticipated loss of my coveted daily run. And let's be clear, I love running, but I am just really starting to feel drained.

Since deciding that I would streak this year, I decided to try to meet the initial (Neptune) qualifications for the Half Fanatics club. So I am now trying to get everything lined up to run three half marathons in 90 days this spring. Along with running those three half marathons, I am trying to set a ridiculously impossible new half PR. Keep in mind that I am only on the second week of training for the first of three half marathons, and I am feeling like these new goals on top of streaking is seriously going to be detrimental overall. I have never attempted streaking before, and I have never run more than one major race in a racing season before either, so I can't help but feel like I have taken on too many things at once in true Michelle style. On the other hand, I just keep feeling like quitting the streak would be failing.

Well, I'm not sure where to go from here because I really thought that writing it all out would lead to a clear conclusion. It seems that I was wrong because I still feel just as torn as I was when I started writing this. I guess I will be posting an update at the end of the week!

To everything there is a season and a time.

I've been feeling fairly inconvenienced lately. I have been indignant almost when it comes to running lately. Training for a marathon takes a lot of time, and if I'm being honest, I haven't even been putting in as much time logging miles as I should be. Getting up early to run, going to work, not eating dinner in order to get in a solid night run, and then going to bed in order to repeat it all the next day has really been wearing on me. I feel like I can't do anything I want to do. Though the truth is that I feel good while I am running, and I feel better throughout the day when I've started off with a workout or run.

Today I was really able to feel the seasons changing. Granted, it is still a bit early for the changing, but it is happening nonetheless. The cooler mornings are allowing me to run a little later when the rest of my schedule allows, and I even saw leaves falling from trees today. They looked like bits of glitter shimmering as they fell to the ground, and it was absolutely, beautifully humbling. How can I be bitter about training when I get to witness this beautiful world?

When I went back out tonight, I was grumbling before I even got out the door. I didn't have water to take with me, I couldn't find my reflective shirt, I wasn't going to be able to go as far as I wanted to, and the list went on and on in my head. I played a podcast of an NPR program, and the topic of the segment just happened to be about helping others, which pretty quickly put me in my place. How can I be so upset about something I should cherish dearly? I ran past a nearby park, and I was reminded of how much fun I used to have running through the local park at night like a maniac with a group of friends playing Army Tag. Why have I complicated and sucked the fun out of something I love? Running and being active are amazing gifts that I can choose to use fully, or fully take advantage of. The trick is that every day, I need to choose the fullness that I want in my life.

Live fully. Live on purpose. Be thankful.

Spring Fever

Today's run was beautiful. I had one of those runs today that I look down at my watch and suddenly realize I've been running for an hour. I love getting lost in a run, and these days I really can get lost in a run. I got the Garmin Forerunner 410 for Christmas, and I love not having to map and memorize a route before I head out the door.

I haven been anxiously awaiting spring, and I was so happy to see the signs of spring all around. There is a slight chill in the air, the sun is shining, the birds are beginning to sing, the buds are popping up, and the fever is catching. Spring fever is running fever for me. I am so happy to be running outside because I am reminded of how much I love running. Sometimes when I am stuck on the dreadmill or fighting the biting cold or wet ground that comes with winter running, I forget how truly amazing it is.

Never in my life would I have pictured myself becoming a running junkie. I have also posted in the past that my family and friends never thought I would either, but I am so glad that running has transformed my life. Let me tell you, if you want to really learn something about yourself, then step outside, and go for a run. At first, you might be slow, maybe even out of breath and in pain. And some of us ::cough, cough:: ::me::  maybe couldn't even run a quarter of a mile before we stopped to walk when we first took up running, but I am now at the point where I can jump in to a half marathon training schedule two weeks late, and look down at my watch to suddenly realize that I have been running for an hour, and it is time to steer back home.

So, what have I learned so far in my journey as a runner? Nature is beautiful. Water tastes amazing. Pain is in fact temporary. Spandex is strangely my friend and not my enemy. A trash bag works just as well as any windbreaker jacket. It doesn't matter what other people think. I am strong. I am happy. I am determined. A pair of running shoes can make me feel way better about myself than a pair of heels. Moments should be cherished. And it's true that reaching your goals is often an issue of mind over matter.

Lee Ann Womack may hope that you dance, but I don't.

I hope you run. 

2013: My year of thanksgiving

Ok, so I've been pretty busy lately. I haven't had a whole lot of time to post, and I haven't been able to think of anything that I should share since my workouts have been fairly uneventful. It is that time again to start Spring Half Training, but I managed to hurt my knee walking up an escalator last week, so I am hitting the stationary bike and starting my training a week later. I am the type of person who tends to let things like that really get to me. I have realized over the time that I have been writing this blog that my health involves more than just the physical workouts. I have to work on my mental and spiritual well-being in order to have a balanced life. Which is why I made my new year's resolution to make this my journey toward being a more positive person.



When I was home for Christmas, I told my Anything for 10 Sister about my intent to spend this year becoming a less stressed and more positive person. I also told her that I could feel a difference during the month of November when I did the Facebook Month of Thankfulness challenge in November. I could tell that when I spent my days focusing on what I could and should be thankful for, that things just seemed to roll off my back a little easier. She gave me the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp to read as I started my journey of thankfulness and positivity. I highly recommend the book to anyone looking to take a good hard look at their life.

I have been keeping a journal since January 1st of things I am thankful for. I am making a list of 1,000 things, big and small, both easy and hard things that I am thankful for. I spend a little bit of time each morning either before or after my workout looking through the list and spending time actually being thankful for the things I am so blessed to have and experience in my life. Obviously people don't  change over night, but I am slowly making progress, and I am thankful for that as well.

What's Up With Michelle?

Spring Half: 10th Annual Delaware Marathon Festival Half with my fiance Matt! Yay! Running with Matt is never dull. Thanks for running with me, Matthew! Training technically starts this week. Check out my training schedule!

Zumba for ALS: I have never done Zumba, but I am going to do a Zumba class on 2/23/13 because the proceeds go to the MDA Augie's Quest Campaign to fund ALS research, which many of you know is a cause close to my heart after my Grandma's battle with ALS. It is a nation wide partnership event between the MDA and LA Fitness. It is open to members and nonmembers, so if there is an LA Fitness in your area, then sign up now!

Personal Training Update: I will keep you in the loop as I get closer to my goals working with my personal trainer and in working toward becoming a personal trainer myself.

Marathon Madness: I am simultaneously pumped and terrified to run my first Marathon this fall with my Anything for 10 Sister, Grace, and one of my awesome cousins, Choppo! Tulsa, here we come!