Strawberry Plains Half Marathon - a recap

Winter around here has been mild. 60 degrees mild for weeks! So, I was pretty excited about running a half marathon in winter.. or East Tn's version of a mild winter. Then as this week approached the forecast changed and changed and changed some more. It got cold and snow was in the forecast. Yesterday the final time I checked the forecast it was set at 33 degrees with a chance of snow and 10-20 mph winds for our half marathon location. Woohoo, sounds exciting right!? Not for this warm weather, sun loving girl. But I had my cold weather running gear ready to go.

[caption id="attachment_1014" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Just about everything I need for a successful 13.1"][/caption]

My husband and I signed up to volunteer at this race so we had to be at the site at 7am to work race day registration. This meant setting the alarm for 5am. Yay. Not. My husband had a rough night's sleep and was up 2-3 times during the night. Guess who was up with him a couple times? Yep. I was worried about him. I was worried too that something might go wrong and we'd miss our race. But thankfully everything was fine and he woke up doing ok when the alarm went off. We snoozed a few minutes longer than we planned but had no problem making it out the door on time and to our race site at 6:45am. It wasn't snowing when we got there. We were inside a gym doing registration and as the other runners came in they were talking about the snow and wind. Oh fun!

Around 8:25 I decided I should make one last bathroom trip before getting all geared up and ready to head outside to line up with about 600 of my other fave running friends. The bathroom line was wrong and I almost decided to skip it but thankfully it moved fast. It was super nice to have warm restrooms in the gym to use on such a cold day! Anyway... My friend, Terri, was also running so we met up with her. We snapped a few pre-race pics (tradition!) before heading outside. She said had told someone earlier she was going slow since she's running an ultra (holy 50 miles batman!!!) next weekend. I joked that yeah, her slow was my fast! haha She said she knew I'd PR this race. I wasn't going for time, ya know.
[caption id="attachment_1015" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="My husband and me pre-race"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1016" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Terri and me pre-race"][/caption]

Most of you that have been in blog land long enough or if you're a runner then you've read all about this Virtual Run for Sherry that was happening nationwide today! I wore my bib today as did many other runners at the Strawberry Plains Half Marathon and 10k!
[caption id="attachment_1017" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Running for Sherry"][/caption]

Once outside I decided I didn't care how ridiculous I looked with the balaclava on my head/face. It was windy and cold. I knew I would be warm and that I had made a great choice in picking it over just my ear/head band. Not only would my ears be blocked from the wind but my head and face would be too! I'm glad my husband bought this for me a few months ago. The National Anthem was sang, the gun sounded and we were off.

When I hit the start button on my Garmin I noticed all I was getting was an overall time. Crap, I forgot about turning my Garmin on inside earlier and forgot to reset it once outside. Oops. So, I didn't have a pace or distance showing up for me, just an overall time. No big deal, there would be markers showing where we were and I could guage my pace based on that. Not having the sattelites means no other data from my run either like a map or elevation or even splits! Gah.

There was a one mile marker but I don't even remember looking down at my Garmin. I just kept running. The course was hilly but the most annoying thing between miles 1 and 3 was the uneven, broken up roadway. Dodging potholes was fun. Just before the 3 mile marker we started seeing the top runners for the 10k coming back to finish up the last few miles of their run. I love those speedy guys! Terri and I hit mile 3 and at that point I wasn't sure where my husband was because prior to the race he told me just to go run and not worry about him. So I did. When I saw the 3 mile marker I looked down at my Garmin... 28:32. NO way!! I said something along the lines of "holy freakin' crap I cannot believe that!" and so we ran. I decided slowing down and walking through the first water stop would be good since we were about to embark on a slight uphill.

Coming out of mile 3.25 and on into mile 6 was the most beautiful countryside. We had views of the mountains. We saw horses, turkeys, and of course cows (I think..lol). It was a truely beautiful course and while there were hills to this point they were nothing like the hill I had heard was coming around mile 7. I looked at my Garmin at the 5 and 6 mile markers but only recall being just under a 10 minute mile pace and thinking at some point I would crap out and be sorry I was running so fast but I was also just glad to feel so great while running. At just after 6 miles there was another water stop so Terri and I decided we would actually stop a few seconds for water and a snack. She took a Gu andn I pulled out my Honey Stinger waffle. As soon as I opened it a small part of it flew off. Oops, it was frozen. THAT is how cold it was out there. I had kept it in the cabinet at home and in my pocket prior to the race. I had no clue that it being in my jacket pocket while running would make it freeze. Lesson learned!

The next few miles were pretty wild. The wind had picked up and the snow had really started coming down. We reached the hill at mile 7 and I slowed down for a brief walk break and even said at that point that I was worried about my husband since I hadn't seen him on any of the passes but I knew he was behind me and felt ok. We passed some other running friends and we all passed our "Good job, girls!" and friendly smiles. Love that! On the run up hill around the mile 8 turnaround we passed a few dogs in the road, which was rather funny. I joked that the 2 chubby basset hounds were looking for dropped food. Sadly there was none for them. We passed my husband on his way up and towards mile 8. He rooted me on, we said "I love you," and I told him, "That hill sucks donkey balls." And our ways we went...

At mile 9, Terri said, "Ok, Kim.. you're making great PR pace. I've gone this far with you but if I don't slow down I won't make it. So go one and PR this thing!" I thanked her (over and over as I have done so much lately, lol) and went on my way with a happy little brown dog by my side. I didn't feel alone, just me and my thoughts (and you know how crazy they are when I run..haha) and that little brown dog. The wind picked up and so did the snow at this point. I couldn't see well and didn't have my sunglasses which was a decision I said I kind of regretted a few times since the weather was crazy...sun one minute, snow and wind the next! I didn't see many runners once I broke off from Terri but that little brown dog was right there with me, bless his heart. He stayed with me through mile 9.75 when I slowed for a drink of water and had to catch back up to him. He was still with me even at mile 11 when I stopped for the port-o-potty and another cup of water.

At that point I looked at my Garmin and realized this race was totally going to be a PR. I think I was right at 1:50 or so. The pit stop cost me about 2 minutes but it wasn't a concern at all. I lost my little brown dog friend but kept going. Someone put the mile 12 marker in the very wrong place. I knew it when I got to it because I looked at my Garmin and saw the time. I made a mental note that while I was maintaining a steady pace there was no way at mile 11-12 I was running at an 8+ minute mile. I wish! The snow had stopped and the wind was blocked mostly by the trees. I was grateful for that and realized I had gotten a bit warm so I shed the balaclava (it wouldn't look good for pics anyway) and unzipped my jacket wishing that I hadn't pinned my bibs to it because I might have also taken it off.

I saw more volunteers and road side cheerleaders including 2 nice men who said, "Your time at the REAL mile 12 is 1:59." NICE! So, I debated slowing down and I did but only for a brief moment. At this point the sun was shining through blue skies and I was thankful for such a beautiful run. I was thankful it was almost over. I was thankful for the push I got to go after my PR. I thought maybe I could make it in 2:08 but decided at that point I didn't care and slowed down a bit more for a few minutes.

As I approached 12.5 miles I passed a few familiar faces that were there cheering. I am always thankful to hear those voices saying, "Good job. You're doing great! Almost there!" I saw a photographer who said, "Smile!" And so I did. I flashed him a big smile and gave a wave to which he replied, "Look at you!" Yes, sir... LOOK AT ME! I just ran 13 miles and I am still smiling. I use to be fat, sir, betcha didn't know that! And sir, this time last year I couldn't have ran 13.1 miles if I had dreamed it. Then I passed a girl I had been going back and forth with. I heard her RunKeeper app announce that she was at 12.67 miles and 9:49 pace. I wondered what her goal was for the day. Was she having fun, going for a PR too? Ever wonder what other runner's story is all about? I know I do. I know I am not the only one with an amazing story. I think of that often when I am running. It reminds me WHY I am running and what it took to get to where I am.

And before I knew it I had ran another .60 miles and crossed a finish line...smiling..AGAIN!
The time on my Garmin was 2:10:26 but I had issues with it at the start. The time on the clock was 2:10:45 but I knew my chip time would be different. I didn't care though. I had just set a half marathon PR on a hilly course in the wind, snow and freezing temps by 9 minutes!!! I was shaking like a leaf when they nice volunteer was trying to clip my timing chip off. She was sweet and offered me her head as a place to steady myself. I love race volunteers! I collected my medal and went inside where it was warm. The rest is pretty uneventful...food, water, and hanging out while waiting on my friend and husband (who both also PR'd!!) to finish.

[caption id="attachment_1019" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="post race, trying to smile throught the chatter teething. I was still cold!"][/caption]

This post is a bit long and all over the place as I am sure you are used to so if you have stuck it out this long and read my recap...thank you!! I leave you with one final picture from the day.

Ramblin'

I might be a bit on the rambly side today. I missed 3 Things Thursday yesterday even though I sat down a couple of times to write but i was exhausted and just didn't have it in me to put any thoughts (random or not) down.

I've only been to the gym 3 times this week. Monday I did cross training (6 miles- elliptical and some weights). Tuesday was a scheduled run day and the training plan called for 4 miles. I started off at a slower pace thinking I would just take it easy but decided after the first 1.5 miles to turn this workout into speed work finishing 4 miles in just over 36 minutes. I aim for 45 minutes of activity at the very least so I decided to do some rowing as well which actually felt really good! Wednesday was a run day; my training plan called for 7 miles. Right now I've been doing my workouts at night because of our "life" schedule so it's dark by the time I get to the gym. I don't run solo at night for most of the obvious reasons so this was a treadmill run. I usually don't mind the treadmill at all but after the first 6 miles of this run I was bored to death and dreading the last mile. I think mostly this had to do with the fact that I was on a TM with auto shut off at 60 minutes. I had hit 6.15 miles at 60 minutes and was frustrated when the machine slowed down. I had to wait for it to go through all it's data stuff. Hit the clear button, restart and wait again for it to be ready for me. Once I got going I was ok until 6.5 miles and just dreaded the last .50 mile. I tried to slow down, ugh, my legs didn't feel like slowing down so I tried to speed up. I eventually just told myself "do it," and finished 7 miles done 1:10.

I had planned to make my weekly mileage 33 for every week in February. Thursday should have been another 4 mile run but I decided to take 2 days rest before the half marathon on Saturday. So, my mileage this week won't hit 33 unless I decide to do something on Sunday. Sunday is usually a rest day though and Rest is good! I mostly took 2 days in a row because I want my legs to be as fresh as possible. I'm not going for time tomorrow just looking forward to running for fun, training. I'm excited to run with my husband and friends. And I am excited about adding to my (small) "bling" collection!

What I am not looking forward to all that much about race day is the current forecast. Earlier in the week it was looking great. Mid 40s, perfect running weather. Looks like we will have low 30s, snow showers (starting tonight with possible accumulation of an inch, so not much) and 10-20 mph winds. Yay! lol We will be prepared though!

When I grabbed lunch today I went ahead and ran by my favorite local cupcake shop. 2 pretty cupcakes ready to go for tomorrow. I considered taking a picture and putting up a teaser pic today but you all know that will be part of my post race recap!!!

I might haven mentioned this already but my husband and I will be volunteering before the race tomorrow at the race day registration table. I worked this last year and enjoyed it. Plus volunteering with the KTC gets you $ vouchers to use towards future race registration fees! I'm sure we can find a summer 5k to run for fun.

I feel like I have done relatively well in the eating department this week with the exception of a silly box of Runts I picked up on a whim at Walgreens one day. Today has gone well because I have ignored the screaming box of Runts! I have a slight feeling the reason for the "sugar screams" is because a visitor is on her way soon. Darn her! I'm hoping I luck up and she stays away at least until after tomorrow's run. TMI, right!? But I haven't had to do any racing with the pesky beast being here and I know it'll happen. I'd just like it to not be tomorrow.

Speaking of food... I lost my train of thought above. What I had started to say was that I think taking pics of my food and posting them here (though only one day) helped with the accountability factor. I'm not a food photographer (or photographer at all actually) so while the pics may not be great I think it may be something I try to do more often. Can't hurt to try to stay motivated.

Current weight 156. Goal weight 137? Slowly that number is moving closer to goal but it has me rethinking my goal number too. I do that quite often. I think I will be happy once I get out of the 150s and have even told myself 142 is a good number. I'm not far. Marathon training will make losing weight difficult, this much I know. But you know what? Being told I can't do something or that it's going to be hard or even (gasp) impossible is something I am willing to prove wrong. And maybe not even prove wrong but what I will do is bust my butt harder to get to my goal.

Wow. this post got long and as I previously warned... lots of rambling. If you were able to get through this long, boring post.. THANK YOU! Have a great weekend!

What I Ate Wednesday 2/8

I am linking up with Peas and Crayons for this month's What I Ate Wednesday. So here is a little peek in pictures of what I had on my plate today.

[caption id="attachment_1001" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Breakfast"][/caption]
An english muffin w/a tablespoon of bacon crumbles and cheese. yum! The best part was that it's portable so I can eat it and drink my morning coffee on my drive to the office.

[caption id="attachment_1002" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lunch"][/caption]
Pile of leafy greens, feta crumbles, chopped walnuts, Craisins, some apple, and grilled chicken strips with balsamic vingar dressing. I also ate the rest of the apple, which I did not take a picture of. This is one of my most favorite lunches. I ate it yesterday too. I will probably even have it tomorrow!

[caption id="attachment_1003" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dinner"][/caption]
Egg, one slice of bacon and home made waffles! I love breakfast for dinner. We had little crockpot mishap with some chicken tonight. Thanks to my husband for trying his absolute best to have dinner ready when we all got home though! He's very good at doing dinner (and even breakfast when we aren't super rushed in the mornings). He did fabulous tonight making breakfast for dinner.

I failed to take pictures of my snacks but will tell you I had some wasabi peas, an orange, popcorn and as much as I could down of a Cliff Bar (before I went to run). I'll have to remember to take pics of my snacks before I eat them for next week's post! I hope you had a tasty day.

Toughie Tuesday - Riddle Me This?

Once a week one of my Tough Chik teammates will post a question on our Team FB page for those of us with blogs to answer on our blogs as part of the "Riddle Me This Question of the Week." While it is something that me and my Toughies are doing it doesn't mean you can't participate too. Feel free to answer the question in comments or link back and post on your blog too!

This week's question is-

What running rule are you guilty of breaking?

This one is easy for me. I found in reading a lot of the blogs of my fellow Team Tough Chik teammates that I am not alone, which made me feel kinda good. haha But my answer.... I don't stretch enough post run. I DO almost always stretch but it's quick and done. I'm most guilty after a race. I think it's the post race excitement that keeps me from doing it after a race. After a regular weekly run I do stretch for about 5 minutes. After my long runs with friends I do stretch too but only for the few minutes we spend chatting post run. I say all the time that I am going to start going to Yoga but never do. I drive home thinking about my beloved foam roller but then forget as soon as I pull in the drive way or walk in the house. I, like so many other runners, KNOW how important stretching is. And like so many others, I say I will do better. I will.

I felt like such a

As of Friday afternoon my plan was to hit up the gym for a quick cross training session before my 7 mile long run on Saturday. I did get in 55 mins of elliptical work and logged 6 miles on Friday evening. While at dinner I decided to text my running friends to see what their Saturday long run plans were. Both of them were joining the KTC marathon training run the next morning, one was scheduled to run 16 miles and the other 18 miles. The training options were 14 and 18. Crap. I only had a 7 miler planned since I will be running a half marathon on Feb. 11th. What to do??

I text my friend and told her maybe I could just go and run and see how I felt. She encouraged me to just try the 14 mile course and do it as a training run. I don't have a time goal for the race on Saturday so I thought about it. We text back and forth a few minutes and I decided that I would ideed go for it and rather than run 7 miles I would go for 14. My wonderful husband also encouraged me to go. They all had faith in me that I could run the 14 miles. So, I was stoked. I agreed and as the night progressed the more excited I got about the next morning's run.

The forecast?? 100% chance of rain. Super duper. Seriously, I was even stoked about that. I hadn't ran in the rain prior to that and even text one of my friends that I was excited for the rain sinc I was a "rainy run virgin." Haha So, I got everything laid out Friday night and ready to go for Saturday morning. The group was meeting at Runner's Market at 8am and I really am not sure if I even thought about the course or knew what it was. It didn't matter.

I got a great night's sleep but do remember having a hard time falling asleep because I was excited for the next day's run. It almost felt like I was preparing for a race! At 5am I heard the kids awake. Ugh, I still had over an hour of sleep left. At that point I was paranoid I wouldn't hear the alarm clock adn dozed off and on having this weird dream of being stuck at the top of a high rise in a broken elevator. So, by 6:30 I was up and getting myself ready to go run 14 miles in the rain.

When I arrived to Runner's Market I didn't see either of my friends but recognized another lady I know and we said hello. The "coach" that was in charge of the training run gave directions regarding the different distances for the day and at 8am on the nose we were out the door running. I was running alone which normally would be bothersome to me but for whatever reason I didn't even let the thought cross my mind. It wasn't really raining to start but was definitely wet out. I wore my rain jacket for the first 3.5 miles and was warm but because I was in such a great running groove I didn't want to stop to take it off. I'm no good and stripping while running! haha

The first 3.5 miles were uneventful. I saw many runners pass me. I passed a few runners. I saw some familiar faces (bloggers and from local races). It didn't feel at all like I was out there alone. Here are my splits for the first 3 miles.

1- 10:08
2- 10:12
3- 10:19

At around mile 3 I passed a tall, thin girl who had stopped up hill to take off her shirt. I smiled, she said she was hot, I agreed. I knew I didn't want to stop at that point because just at the top of the hill was the 3.5 mile marker and I thought that would be a great time to break since we had to wait for the street signals to change and cross the road. She caught up with me and said she wasn't from around the area and I seemed to be going her pace, could she hang with me? Sure! So, I asked how far she was going and she said 18. Awesome! I told her I was only going 14 and wasn't sure where the group was turning around but my plan was to go out 7 and come back, same route. She thought that sounded good to her and told me she was from FL and had been training there. She was struggling with the hills. I could totally relate to the hills being killer.

We chatted the next 3 miles or so and at 7 miles we took a short break to eat a snack and drink water. My splits for miles 4-7 are:
4- 10:56 (I didn't stop Mr. G at street crossings)
5- 10:40
6- 10:21
7- 10:15

When we stopped I ate half a Honey Stinger waffle and drank some water. When we started running again the, while only drizzly, started up. I wasn't sure how I felt about it because at this point I had already decided to take off my jacket and was not ready to stop again to put it back on. My goal was to keep running until the 10 mile marker before stopping for another quick snack/water break. I knew then I could refill my water and prepare mentally for going a mile longer than what had been my longest run (13.1 and I was going for 14). Miles 7-10 were uneventful. The young girl that had been running with me was now behind me. I think mostly because we were running on a sidewalk and there just wasn't much room for running 2 wide, so there wasn't much chatting. Splits for 8-10 are:

8- 10:21
9- 10:18
10- 11:01

At mile 10 I stopped at the water stop KTC had laid out and refilled my water. I didn't stop Mr. G for this but wasn't concerned with that throwing my overall time off. The goal now was to make it to 13.1 and then one more mile until the run was over. I decided to run the trail back rather than the road. The trail is a little gravely (small gravels) and much softer so I thought this was a good decision as it would be less pounding on my body. The only bad part of this decision was one small gravel in my shoe. ouch. It didn't hurt too bad and was mostly annoying but I just kept running. I can't even tell you what my train of thought was except I kept telling myself that this run was awesome, I couldn't wait to log it and, "haters gonna hate." I'll keep you thinking on that last one. haha Cruel, I know.

I didn't plan to stop again until I hit 14 miles but around mile 12 I decided to eat the last of my Honey Stinger waffle because I knew the killer hill up to mile 14 was brutal and would take every ounce of energy I had left. After a few seconds I was back at it again. Miles 11 and 12 were great.

11- 10:18
12- 10:00

I don't even know that I thought about my pace this run but just knew I wasn't racing and that I needed to go slow. Slow for a long run for me now means 10:00 to 10:30 minute miles and I was spot on. I knew I was good when I was able to talk without a problem with the young girl I met and ran with. I wish I had gotten her name, bummer. I'm sure I will see her again at another training run. These were thoughts I had during the last couple miles when we had gone our separate ways. She had to repeat the last few miles we'd just ran. She's a trooper for sure.

13- 10:11

I had to tackle the beast of a hill known as Noelton. It was a breeze coming down into the start of my. I don't recall a thing about it from my first half marathon (ran on this same course). But I knew that I wanted to try to run it. So, I started to walk just before I got to the hill. I gave myself a peptalk and decided I would as much of the hill as I could. I did. I tried hard to tackle that hill. I did run farther on it than I remember running the frist time. I DID stop and walk some of it but I DID start running it again. Mile 14 was the best even with the sucky hill.

Mile 14- 11:01

Why was that 11 minute mile the best with all those 10+ minute miles? Because mile 14.13 meant that this run was the longest run I had ever done. I recall not feeling like this run was mentally hard. The only time I felt that it was physically tough was at that last hill (Noelton). When I got back to my car I grabbed my phone to take a picture for my husband. I saw I had missed a text from him. I let him know my run was good and he said, "How do you feel?" I replied back, "Like I ran 14.13 miles!!!" To which he replied, "You are a badass."

And I am. It's exactly how I felt. My new mantra....

Go the distance.

Three Things Thursday

1. February is Fab Abs February thanks to a fellow runner/blogger/friend. She made us a swank little Google calendar and posted it for us. Daily exercises for each of the 29 (Yay Leap Year) days this month. Woohoo. The abs/core is one area I need to improve in big time. I won't have 6 pack rock hard abs by the end of the month but this is one step closer to the right direction.

2. Thursday may become "No Technology Thursday" for my runs. Tonight I ditched Mr. G (my Garmin) and the iPod for my 3 miler. I dressed at work, grabbed my mace and cell phone and out the door I went. I mapped out a 3 mile run from my office through town and the park trails. I thought this was going to be metally tough for me since I am use to music when I run solo. I wasn't too concerned about not having my Garmin since I knew what time I started and that I had 3 miles to run, I figured 30 minutes would be good. I made it the whole run with no problems, just taking in the noises (croaking frogs in January is weird) around me and felt great. Definitely something I want to try to do more!

3. I have completed an entire workout schedule for the whole month of February. This makes me really excited because I have never put all of my workouts in black and white before and stuck to it. I'm looking forward to this month and hopefully sticking with the plan. So far I am good for the last two days. I'm hoping to do this all year long and seeing how I can incorporate some of my regular workouts into my marathon training plan. I will definitely post weekly updates on training and workouts.

February

First of all let me start with January stats.
Since I was in the middle of my gym's holiday challenge I don't have a start weight for Jan but my end weight is 157. I'm holding steady and am fine with that.
I logged 123 miles for January.
I joined the lovely ladies at Team Tough Chik.
I didn't set any goals for the month of January!
I started January with a 4 mile run and ended with a 3 mile run.

February!
My birth month. I turn 33 on the 28th.
I am trying to come up with something by way of celebrating 33. Any ideas??
I was thinking maybe shooting for a weekly mileage goal of 33 miles BUT I'm not really sure I can do that with just running. It would mean a lot of running, which I don't mind but I also want to add some spin classes this month since I was sick for the last 2 weeks of January and that threw my schedule off.
I'm up for ideas if you have anything for me!
I started this month at 157 lbs.
I started this month with a 5 mile run tonight (46:43) and am calling it my tempo run because I had no intention of going so speedy.

Goals this month-
* Lose 3-5 lbs or reach 154 lbs. Doesn't sound like a lot but it's becoming harder for me to lose for some reason. So 3-5 lbs seems like a realistic goal for me.
* Participate in the remaining "What I Ate Wednesdays" for the month. I didn't participate today but will for the rest of the (short) month.
* Half marathon #4. I'm not looking to PR this one since I have not ran it before. It will be a course PR no matter my time. It's a bit of a hilly course, it will be cold (hopefully not snowing), and no music allowed. So, that said the goal is to finish and add another medal to my fabulous bling collection.
* Brave it and take some updated pics. The brave it part??? Stay tuned!!

What are your goals for February??