26.2 Miles-Finished

Well, the marathon is now over! Now, this marathon wasn't just a 26.2 mile run but it was a weekend event! My parents flew in Friday and we headed to the Expo! What I loved most at the expo was the idea Bank of America had. They encouraged everyone to sign/write a message on a water bottle that they were going to send overseas to our military. Also, for every water bottle signed BoA was donating a dollar to the Wounded Warrior Project! Anything to support our troops, I'm all about! 

After the expo we headed to Tango Sur, which is were my brother, Kevin, surprised me; he flew in from Arizona! It is very rare that my whole family is together, besides holidays, so this was very nice to have everyone together again!

Saturday night we had a large pasta dinner and went home pretty early. I did go down memory lane and read through my blog before I went to bed. It was fun to look at how far I have come and I went to bed with confidence knowing I wouldn't have a problem. 

Sunday- Race day. Once I got down to the start, I said adios to my mom, dad, and Joel and I went to the corral and just waited. . .  talked to a few people...found out the other runners around me were from: Troy, Denver, Kalamazoo, Farmington Hills, Rochester. . . all significant locations in my life, which was pretty cool and weird considering there are 45,000 runners here...

Then the race began! Everyone I've talked to stressed the point of starting of SLOW! So I did my best and tried to not let the pace get to me. The first 10 miles were a breeze and then I started looking for my family- I forgot which mile I told them to be at :/ so I just spent the next 11 miles looking for them, which kept me pretty preoccupied from thinking about the physical run. Aly saw me and she jumped in and we caught up for a few minutes and then she went back to being a spectator! Around mile 20 I was getting a little tired and seeing my parents would've helped give me a boost of energy but I never saw them so I had to just keep moving(For the record, they were where they were supposed to be! pictures to prove it :))  The fans were awesome - they had great signs- and so much energy to keep cheering for us! The high fives gave me a little smile and a spurt of energy to keep going. My legs were really starting to get tired around mile 26 ha so hell, with .2 left and the finish line in sight it was easy to push through and finish strong! 

It is really amazing to look back at all of the training and those dreadful 5, 8, 10 mile runs and to come all the way to 26.2 miles!! I am very proud of the accomplishment and even my time as a first time marathoner! I can't complain! It was an amazing race. 

A huge thank you to all of the volunteers!! This race would definitely not be possible without them! They get out there earlier and stay later then all the runners just to help us get to the finish! 

And thank you to all of my friends and family who supported me through the training and donated to The Walter and Connie Payton Foundation- your support means the world and I know I would not be where I am today without all of you!

 We ended the weekend with some eating, drinking, and shopping!

Can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas, and who knows maybe I'll start training to qualify for Boston :)

We get to do this...

Last post I mentioned when running my mid-week ten miler I felt something but couldn't describe it. I came across this picture/quote and it described that feeling for me... 

Habit.

There was nothing exciting about that run, or for many before it, I'm just simply running. I've been doing this for months now and have accomplished multiple new distances so these mid-week smaller runs are just habit. I still feel great after runs and am happy to get out there, wish it could be more, but it has lost that new and exciting feeling. This itself is sort of cool, to know I've come this far and had such a different view on running before.

With that being said: I ran the Chicago Half Marathon with Joel two weekends ago. His goal was sub 2 hours...and mine was to just finish. Since this was his first race I took a little responsibility in trying to pace him for 2 hours... I felt no pressure at all! We started off pretty slow, the beginning was congested, but ended up finishing 1 hour and 55 minutes later....with two bathroom stops along the way. This was our best time, so we were pretty happy!

 

 This weekend was also full of running, shocker. Some friends from school and I ran the FireFly 5k Saturday night. This was my second 'fun run' and first night run, which was so weird! Watching a few hundred people running at night all while glowing would be more entertaining for me next year instead of actually participating. I'm not sure if I had my Sunday 20 mile race on my mind so I could not enjoy it as much, or just not a fan or running through trails in the dark...not knowing where you're stepping or whats in front of you. I took it nice and slow and finished in 32 minutes...and headed straight to the cupcake cart and ate a delicious Red Velvet cupcake! 

I immediately went to bed once I got home, so nervous about the Newton Ready 20 Miler the next morning. CARA put on a great training run for runners training for a marathon. It was set up like an actual race but we were able to run with our pace leaders/groups, which was comforting! 

Once we got started I felt great, the first 6-7 miles flew by. I went an hour without looking at the time and was surprised to see we were an hour in. . . only 2 more to go! Some where between mile 15-17 my legs started to get really heavy and feet were getting nice and sore. Once we got to mile 18 a few of us in the group had a mini cheer: "yayy" as we completed our furthest distance so far. Normally, I finish the furthest distance and am able to stop, but we still had 2 miles to go...what?! Then i started thinking for the actual marathon there is 8 more miles!!!!! While we were at this point a fellow runner said something about how we have to run such n such... and someone else replied, "No, we get to do this". Those words will definitely be in my thoughts while running those 26.2 miles. I really appreciated those words and I am grateful I am able to work towards this goal.

I had a glimpse of that "wall" runners talk about. I wanted a challenge and here it is- both physically and mentally- with 20 days left to prepare. 

I want to thank everyone again who has donated to a cause that means so much to me. I have surpassed my fundraising goal that I didn't think was possible at first. The generosity has been inspiring and will keep moving me forward. Thank you! 

DONATE to the Connie and Walter Payton Foundation today!

Progress

It has been a while since my last post - today is a good day to start back up. . . 

I went to bed last night mentally prepping for a nice long run in the morning-jamming out to Bruce Springsteen getting ready for his concert!!! I woke up and was ready to go....sort of...

• I woke up and found that all of my running shorts were dirty... not a huge problem, I can wear soccer shorts
• Soccer shorts don't have convenient pockets for keys or ipod... so I had to dig out my ipod armband, that seems like such a pain now that I've been spoiled with shorts that have pockets!! 
• Get ipod ready and find out my headphones don't work anymore... great! Very happy I've been running with out my ipod occasionally- before, if my ipod died, so did I
• Put on my shoes, tie my key to my short strings, and out the door
• Run down the street and want to turn around soooo bad, my legs haven't felt this tired in a long time, for no apparent reason
• So definitely off to a great start to a great start! :) I decide to push through my tired legs and determined to fit in this run. I am so happy I did.

Lately I've been wondering if I've really made much progress throughout the training, which might sound crazy. While on my run today I realized I have come a long way. There was something about my run today, even though it wasn't the furthest distance I've run, not even by half, but I felt a sense of accomplishment. Maybe it was the fact that even after my morning started far from perfect I was still out running. I know 4 months before, if any of the above happened, there was no way I was going out on a run. Maybe it was to knowledge that the distance I was carefree running today, was such hard work a year ago when training for my first half. Whatever it was, as of today, I am happy to have felt the progress of all this training! 

Speaking of progress---August Overview:

• January I ran total of 32 miles- August was 88! 
• Longest run 18 miles- first 13 I did on my own and then Aly rode her bike next to me for the last 5 miles, felt great after
• Ran in Muskegon over Labor Day. . . another view of Lake Michigan :) 
• Registered for the Chicago Half Marathon, which is this weekend
• Being on a Student Committee for school- our Fall Social is the FireFly Run next weekend...smart planning me-I have the Newton Ready 20 miler the next morning
• In hopes to continue running after October 7 I registered for the Hot Chocolate 15k in November

 Overall, it has been a great month and I have much to look forward to--Thank you to everyone who has continued to support me through this progress!

25 and Counting

Today begins a new year for me: turned 25! I hope to continue running, post marathon, and truly love being a runner! 

Pictures from this morning's birthday run :) One of my favorite parts of the city and what attracted me to running in the first place: Chicago's Lakefront Trail

I'm done skipping runs.

Last weekend I was in Colorado-I was supposed to run 10 miles, but slacker me only did 8 :/  So I wouldn't have to run by myself my dad rode his bike next to me, which was a different but nice way of spending quality time with him :) I loved running towards a view of mountains, they are so amazing. I've always said if Chicago had mountains to the west of the city, I would never leave. 

I followed that weekend up with NO MIDWEEK RUNS-I don't know what I was doing or thinking, but obviously, running slipped my mind? I was so nervous going into our 15 mile run this weekend, but having the group truly helped and wasn't bad at all. I know that continuing to skip midweek runs won't do me any good and I need to work a little bit harder. Only 55 more days left to the marathon, I need to redirect my focus on putting in the time and effort to this training; the more I put in- the easier that Sunday will be!

This weeks schedule:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4 miles

Wednesday: 8 miles

Thursday: 5 miles

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 16 miles

Sunday: Cross

Half Way Point

Week 9 is almost done and we're half way to our marathon date! After this week I feel like 26.2 miles will be the death of me! I went out on my 7 mile run yesterday and I felt horrible! The past 2 weeks I've ran 13 miles on the weekend and they have been great, but wow was that 7 was hard! ha This weekend I'll finish the week out in Colorado and thankfully it is our cut back week so I should be able to get 10 miles in on my own . . . and honestly I planned this trip around training so I wouldn't have to do 15 or 18 miles on my own :/

During my commutes I've started to read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall:

I'm really enjoying it so far; one quote that stood out to me was: "The only way to truly conquer something, as every great philosopher and geneticist will tell you, is to love it"-- I do enjoy running, some days, but I would love to find a love for running. Maybe it is something that I can work at? I'd love to conquer this marathon and feel great after and continue running for years to come!

Rock N Roll

Over the weekend I ran my second half marathon! Aly and I went to the expo on Friday to pick up our bibs and check out all the different vendors! We ended up spending way too much time there and getting a ton of free stuff: ...tshirts, water bottles, sunglasses, samples, etc...

Then Sunday rolled around and I had no idea how this race was going to go! Last half, I had Kami and her dad to help pace and just keep me going in general. This year, I was running alone. Since I was pretty nervous I decided to not worry about keeping the 9minute/mile pace but just run comfortably and finish. So the race started and I got to the first mile at 9:04, the second mile-9:01, third mile-9:00...what the heck!!! 

I was so surprised that I was comfortably and consistently keeping a good pace I decided I had to stick with it. There were plenty of times where I was struggling but tried not to think about it... There were lively crowds at just the right places which definitely helps keep you going. I look forward to all of the water/ Gatorade stops, which I did not utilize nearly as much my first half marathon and I also took some Gu, which was my first time using those as well. I was surprised how good the vanilla tasted :) I basically I wanted to use this run to try everything and anything to see what helped keep me going and if there was anything that slowed me down for the full.

While thinking about the full in October, I realized while crossing the finish line...I'll have to double what I just ran. . . I knew this before, but having that in my head as I crossed the finish line is a lot different then just sitting on my couch thinking in my head "yea, I can totally train for 26.2 miles and it'll be so fun!"!! I'm hoping the 13 miles seems like a piece of cake soon considering I have to run it again this Saturday as part of training. The more you put in the easier, right?  

Overall, I was and still am really pleased with the outcome of the race. I can't imagine how I will feel after a full marathon!!! I ended the day with a soccer game at Wrigley Field : Italy vs. Poland and then Burger Fest and quickly passed out in bed after all of that!