It's Ovah!!

It’s over! Months of running and training are finally done, and I did it. I ran all of the 13 miles in 1 hour and 55 minutes, much faster than anticipated. And the weather was GORGEOUS! And even though I’m ready to not run for a long, long time, after all that hard work it feels like I should keep it up instead of just letting myself get all soggy again. I’m too sore right now to think about extra movements :) but I am planning to run the Race for the Cure 5k downtown this Saturday! Three miles is NOTHING!!

 My thoughts about the half-marathon:

• Des Moines is a really beautiful place when you are forced to look around and not just whiz by in a car!

• Your body can do things you never thought it could.

• Running is very much a mind game.

• I will be forever grateful for Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” for getting me through mile 8 when I hit my wall. And for Greenday for ending the race with me!

• It was really strange to be running and running for what felt like forever until my legs wanted to fall off and then….I just stopped. I got to the finish line and all of a sudden the thing I was trying so hard NOT to stop just stopped.

• The body types and ages of people who could run well amazed me. Some people who look like they should be really good or fast are not, and others who you’d never guess could run a mile were right up front.

• Some people can run crazy fast. Just about 15 minutes after I crossed the finish line, the first marathoners were finishing their race. That is CRAZY fast!!

• Go to the bathroom before you start running.

• Don’t drink too much while you are running. One girl did, and it wasn’t pretty….

• If you are there to watch a runner, maybe consider the fact that they will probably run faster than expected, and be at the finish line a few minute early. Just sayin’….

• I can’t imagine getting to 13 miles and being like “well, I’m halfway there!” Marathoners are crazy….

• A giant HILL at 11.5 miles?? Not cool, Des Moines, not cool at all….

• I got passed by a guy who looked 80.

• I passed a guy who was wearing a t-shirt that said he’s run a marathon in every state….twice!

• And last but not least – the Des Moines Marathon web site needs a MAJOR overhaul. At midnight the night before the race, Joel happened to notice something on the site that said you had to pick up your registration stuff BEFORE Sunday morning or you couldn’t race. I was devastated – all that work for nothing! I had read the website, registered early, and read the emails they sent to me. Nothing anywhere said I had to pick up my stuff before race day, except for this one buried page on the site. Thankfully, we e-mailed someone right away and they let me know I could pick up my stuff in the morning. Geesh, talk about total panic!

What an accomplishment for this non-running girl to complete this race. When I said I wanted to do it two years ago, I think I was mostly kidding. At that time I couldn’t even run one mile, and the most I had run before that was 4 miles during Miss Iowa training. And honestly, until I crossed that finish line, I had my doubts whether I could run the entire race or not. People were dropping like flies during the last mile. But I pressed on, and am so glad I did. What goals are you going to take steps toward tackling today?? Get out and do it!!

Update with official results: I finished 938th out of 4,369 half marathon runners, and 328th out of 2,522 female participants. My official 10k time was 53:10, and my half marathon time was 1:54:11, placing my rank at 79th for females ages 25-29, whatever the heck that means!

Fall Time

Hello total blog abandonment! 

What has been going on in my world? Everything and Nothing! Life feels stressful, but I'm not sure why really. Maybe it's because this fall has been and continues to be jam-packed on the weekends. Between out-of-town weddings, races, birthdays, family mini-vacations, pumpkin carving contests, church activities, football games, etc., I think the rest of this year is just booked. Thankfully, my weeknights have cleared up now! I have a love/hate relationship with being busy.....if I'm not I get bored, and if I am I get stressed.

So, T minus five days until race time. I am so ready....for it to be over! I am looking forward to accomplishing this goal, but man have I been unmotivated to run the last few weeks! It's even been unseasonably warm lately - mid to upper 70s and even the 80s - and so pleasant for outdoor running, and yet I think I began the "tappering" part of training oh....three weeks ago! Well regardless, Sunday is Go Time, whether I'm ready or not.

I'm hoping I can stop feeling so stressed and enjoy this wonderful fall we've had so far - because soon enough, it will be winter.

You Get What You Pay For

I was so proud and excited about my new $20 running shoes. At Scheel's, the cheapest running shoes they sold were $100. I was laughing in Scheel's face as I put on my new shoes, stepped out the door, and headed out for a run.

I started off on my usual one-mile loop. Man, these shoes feel great! I was really patting myself on the back for this great find. Then I hit mile two. And the discomfort started to set in. I told myself to push through, it was just temporary. My feet weren't used to them yet. But as I rounded the corner of the second mile, I decided I had better just quit before I really hurt my feet.

I had developed big blisters on both of my arches. After giving the shoes one more chance, and experiencing the same result during my first mile, I headed back to the mall and got myself some real, high-performance running shoes.

So far, so good with the new kicks, and I still only spent $50. I'm less than six weeks from the race now, and hit a wall at eight miles, so I really need to pick up the pace, literally!

Where In The World....

....have I been? Let's see with a quick recap:

August 1-7: Vacation with my family to the Ozarks. Seven days of fun in the sun, on the boat, or in the water. We had excellent weather, Brady didn't burn, and there were no major fights or injuries!

Post-Vacation: I have been busy running, coordinating music for Meals From The Heartland, and enjoying my summer with Brady. Things have been incredibly busy with planning MFTH, but things are coming together nicely now for the event at HyVee Hall this Labor Day weekend.

Running: I bought shoes last night! The best part: with clearance prices and a coupon, they were $20!! I haven't run in them yet, but I love the arch support already! I hope the shoes light a fire under me because my running has plateaued....

Garden: It survived vacation thanks to my neighbor. After several zucchinis that were literally bigger than my thigh, I made mounds of bread with them, and think I'm done with squash this year. There could be a surprise summer squash in the mix, but it looks like the plants are winding down. My tomatoes, though, are FINALLY growing and will be getting ready any day now to pick! My corn....well, let's just say we picked some ears, they were tiny, and they tasted awful. Next year, the corn will go OUTSIDE the garden :)

Sickness: Last Monday and Tuesday, Brady got sick. Having never thrown up, he was scared and very tired after getting ill more than 20 times the first night! He was fine for more than a week and then this morning woke up sick again. Prayers that he will recover quickly and that it was simply a virus and nothing more are appreciated! We took him to the doctor last week and everything checked out then. I am praying hard that it's not the migraines I grew up with....

That's pretty much been our month around here. Oh, I guess we also remodeled our second bathroom - SO CUTE! Bye bye palm trees, and hello sleek, sophisticated purple :)

The Race Is On

Last week, I ran seven miles - SEVEN MILES! I just kept going and going....in 74 minutes I ran my hilly circuit seven times, followed by a half-mile walk. It was hard at the end, but I've never run that far before! Then the blisters set in...

I knew I needed to invest some money into this running thing if I was going to continue. My seven-mile run was proof: I got blisters on both feet, one which was about an inch in diameter. I couldn't put much weight on it, I had to wear flip-flops for a couple days, and I was worried about the 5k on Saturday. Thankfully they cleared up enough by then that I could run just fine, but it lit the fire under me to start shopping for proper running attire!

Wow, are shoes expensive! Real running shoes are heinously ugly and run $100-$150. I opted to just get some shorts and socks last week, but they really made a difference! No blisters, no chaffing - horray!

Saturday was my first race: I ran the 5k in 26:37, which isn't record-breaking by any means but not bad for me! It was hillier than I expected, so I guess running my hills at home was a good thing. It was also good for me to learn how to pace in a race: my tendency is to run too fast at first and poop out at the end. This time, I kind of did that but overcompensated in the middle so that I had TOO much energy left at the end. I wasn't completely sure of the route, and they only posted the 1-mile mark, so I was trying to reserve energy when I was unknowingly nearing the end of the race. So all-in-all it was a great experience, and I can't wait to do it again!

Here are my official results: Finished 65th of 205 total runners. Finished 16th of 110 female runners. Finished 4th of 23 female runners in their 20's. There were some MAJOR serious runners here, which was I wasn't expecting.The winner finished over a minute before everyone else at around 16 minutes!

Now I just have to hope this weather breaks (temps in the 90's, heat index in the 100's!) so I can get back outside and keep trucking toward my goal of the half-marathon. And hope that I don't gain major weight on vacation next week!

In other news, Brady totally schooled all the other one-year-olds in his race :) We have a fast little bugger on our hands!!

Couch Potato

Ugh, the last couple weeks have been VERY bad for my marathon "training". I've been sitting on my butt, eating cake and ice cream, and just plain living lazy. I have run a few times, but nothing like I need to be, and all my healthy eating habits seem to have flown out the window. I blame my birthday, anniversary, and the rain!

So assuming I can get things back under control, I need some advice! So far I have not invested anything into this running thing, and I think it's time that I did. What is the best running attire to wear for distance runners? Now that I am getting used to the longer runs, I find that t-shirts don't breathe well. I like to have my chest and arms exposed to keep me cool. So do you distance junkies out there like to run in tanks, too?

More than the shirts, though, I am having trouble with the shorts. I don't know if I need tighter or looser shorts, but the ones I have currently cause (or don't prevent) MAJOR chaffing (sp?). Should I be getting tight spandex-y type things? Or those short, poufy ones? I really need advice on the shorts, people!

I have officially entered my first race: Lutheran Church of Hope's 5k which takes place the morning of Taste of Hope. That is in ONE WEEK. I know a 5k is really short, but still, the get-off-my-butt-and-back-to-running mentality really needs to kick in now. It should be a nice, easy way to get used to running with other people, in a "race", and test out my abilities on flat terrain. Wish me luck!

Three months to go and I'll be half-marathoning downtown....YIKES!!

Runnin', Runnin' and Runnin', Runnin'...

You would think without a job, I would have more time to write - sorry for the laziness. Although I'm not exactly out of a job anymore (more on that in a different post).

Anyway, probably a lot of you know that I used to compete in the Miss America Organization (more about that in another post, too!) When I was training for my fourth and final attempt at the crown, I ran...a lot. I am not a natural runner by any stretch of the imagination. I run weird, I don't know how to properly breath, I probably don't even use the correct muscles. But it was the best and fastest way for me to shed pounds and tone up, so I worked up to four miles a day toward the end.

Once Miss Iowa was over, I was kind of tired of running, so I stopped. Then I got pregnant. Then I never got around to losing the baby weight. My mom told me don't worry, it takes nine months to put it on, it takes just as long to get it off. But when Brady turned one and those pesky ten pounds lingered, I didn't think I could use him as the excuse anymore! So, I joined the gym and started running again.

Now that the weather is nice, I run outside. We have a loop around our house that is exactly one mile, with two monstrous hills. That loop kicked my butt right out of the gate, but today I am proud to report I ran an entire four mile circuit - something I haven't done in four years, and with those killer hills! I would have tried for a fifth mile, but I ran out of time (haha, RAN out of time. get it?!).

Last weekend, we went to Parkersburg for a visit to Joel's family on Memorial weekend. Although we didn't make it up there for the 5k run the town was holding, the path was still marked for several days. So Sunday morning, I got up at 7:30 (I don't think I've ever done a morning run!) and followed the arrows. It was the most enjoyable run I've ever had! Those hills back home really conditioned me to run more easily, it was fun not knowing where I was going or how much farther I had to run, and I got to see a lot of the town this way. In case you didn't know, Parkersburg was leveled by an F5 tornado two Memorial Day weekends ago, so it was nice to run through old and new parts of town and really take in how much has changed. It's still eerie to see all the nice, new houses, but no trees. There are huge, tall trees in the older part of town, but you can clearly see just by looking at the vacant skyline where the tornado ripped through town from the lack of trees. And of course, running past the barn where Joel's coach and family friend, Ed Thomas, was shot and killed last summer was a somber reminder to myself that I should only hope to affect one person the way that he has affected so many.

So to the point of this post: I said I wanted to do this last summer, but I never took the initiative to do it. So I figure writing it down for everyone to see should help hold me more accountable, right? Even though I am not a good runner, or very in shape at this point, my goal is to run a half marathon this Fall. I don't want to win, I want to finish. I want to accomplish something for me that I never thought I would ever be able to do. And I know the way I have been treating my body lately has not been healthy, either. God has given me this body as a gift, and it's my responsibility to take care of it. To continue neglecting it is, well, sinful I think. And that perspective has made all the difference. I just ate a brownie five minutes ago, so it's not like I am all healthy with everything, but my health is important, I'm not getting any younger, and this goal will never be easier to attain, so here I go! I'll try to update on my progress - and for you runners out there, if you have any tips, tricks, or advice to pass along, I am all ears!