The race course was AMAZING for someone like me that loves to run FLAT courses! There was so much to look at along the race, I really didn’t need any music. This was the first race I ran by myself without an iPod and it was kinda refreshing. I’ve been doing a bunch of my training runs without music, so I was used to it. I started out running faster than expected, but that is normal for a race. So when I was in the 8′s for my pace, I didn’t get too excited. The only downfall of the race was some Garmin-drama… but what race isn’t complete without a little drama from the watch we all depend on so much?? (Well, I do!)

We went under a large highway tunnel (I think during the first mile) and everyone lost satellite reception on their GPS watches. The tunnel was dark and pretty long, so I took off my sunglasses. There was someone on a drum set and it was LOUD… too loud for me, especially when we had to run right past him. When I got out of the tunnel, I saw the satellite message on my Garmin, slightly freaked out and then knew my first mile would be off. It beeped at 8:08 soon after the tunnel. Then I realized it was about 0.14 mile off from the mile markers. It wasn’t a huge deal after that.

After I hit the first mile marker, I realized I was running just under a 9 min mile pace. I figured if I felt comfortable, I should just keep up my pace. After I hit the second mile marker right around 18 minutes, I tried to hit the third at 27. When I did, I made the decision to try to hit 9:00 minute miles at every mile marker. Since my Garmin was a little off, I tried to just use it for the pace and do my 9 times tables in my head when I hit the mile markers. I started getting really excited around mile 4 or 5 when I was still holding this and felt fantastic. This is not how I was running for my long training runs. I was struggling to hold 9:30s before! I do think doing some mid-week speed work on the treadmill helped me a lot… and wearing my walmart super-tight, old lady compression socks to bed all the time helped too!

Around mile 9 I looked behind me and saw the pacer holding the 2:00 finish sign and I started thinking. I picked it up just slightly to get a little more ahead of the pacer. I had a lot of time to think without music! This was also the first race where I read all the spectators signs and noticed everything around me. It was refreshing!

Around 9.5 miles, I started feeling the first signs of tired legs. I turned around and saw the 2:00 pacer group getting closer to me. My 10th mile was a little slower and I just couldn’t pick it up at that point. The pacer group passed me and I tried to not get upset. I knew I was still going to have my best race time, because my last half was a 2:07! I thought, maybe I’ll get a 2:02! That would be wayyyyyyyyyyyy better than anything I ever expected for this race!

Well, wouldn’t you know it but around mile 11 or 12 we got near the finish and it was an out and back. Just before that, I had stopped at a water station and gotten my 3rd cup of water. I only took water because I knew I wouldn’t be a fan of the Nuun and didn’t want to upset my stomach at all. The other two water stations (There were a ton but I skipped most of them) I just slowed down a bit for second while I gulped what I could. At the station near 11, I stopped to a fast walk and probably walked about 20 seconds and I finished the whole cup of water. Soon after that, I ran past a large group of spectators and heard Colby yell my name. I knew I could pick it up for the end, but didn’t want to fall apart too close to the end. When I had a mile left, I started looking at my Garmin and realized I was still really close to going under 2:00! I picked up the pace and started regretting that last water station.

The last stretch of the race was deceivingly long, but I just kept pushing and hoping I could keep that clock in the 1-hour range! I looked over to my left and past the standing spectators was Colby running! I motioned over to him 2 with my fingers to say under two hours!! He just pointed to the finish and I knew I had to pick it up!! He was really worried about not finding me at the finish line, so I knew he was just trying to keep track of me. I crossed the multiple mats and clicked my Garmin after the last one. It was 2 seconds longer than my official time of 1:59:56!!!!! I COULDN’T BELIVE IT!!! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could go under 2 hours for this race! I had even said to Colby before that I didn’t know if I could ever go under 2 hours. I was on cloud 9 and my stomach was great! I didn’t throw up at the finish line like my last race!! (full marathon last spring… throwing up Gatorade everywhere… nasty)

I picked up that blue Tiffanys box from all the guys at the end and was practically jumping for joy. Colby was still following me on the outside of the race area until the fence ended. There was lots of bananas, bagels, Luna bars, etc and we even got a big Tiffanys bag to put our stuff in! In the finishers area, there was a tent to buy even more finishers gear… so I got in line with Amy and Colby. Amy did 1:56!! She is so fast

I ended up getting a finishers sweatshirt and put on my necklace in line. We also got Tiffany blue finishers t shirts that were really cute.

They had areas where you could take your picture, so Amy and I had a short photo session. I think both of our eyes are closed in this picture, but hey! We were tired! There were also hair and makeup stands from the sponsor companies, but I was super salty and in need of a shower!

Silver finishers necklace at the top of my collage Overall, great race! Besides running my best time, it really rejuvenated my love for running. The course was FLAT, the weather was perfect, it was a BIG exciting race and super girly. I will most definitely enter to race again next year! Although I don’t have any plans for upcoming races yet, I think I will be focusing on shorter/faster runs this summer! In the past I’ve been so obsessed with mileage I think it will be a nice change to shorten things up and try to work on this speed that I might be gaining!

I also have BIG fitness news coming up soon!! I have a different kind of goal that I made a quick decision to go for last week. Can you guess what it is by looking at my Exercise Log?? :) :) :)

April 21, 2013 by Pink Runner

12 Mile Run

Woo Hoo!! Last long run before the big race! Amy and I ran 12 miles yesterday in some crazyyyyy wind! I know Garmin only says 9 mph wind, but it felt like 20 in some spots! I’m hoping for comfortable temperatures next weekend with NO WIND

I walked a little at the end, but overall I was pretty happy with the run. It really is hard to run in tons of wind. I wore a Brooks Glycerine black running skirt that I’ve only worn once. It looks like this…

This is a picture of Amy and I from Summer 2011 when I posted about this skirt. I haven’t worn it since because I thought the shorts underneath were uncomfortable. I actually liked it yesterday, so I’m going to race in it next weekend. I also wore that t shirt yesterday from 26.2 but I’m hoping to find a cute new pink shirt at the race expo to wear!

I remembered yesterday that I have this Tiffany blue nail polish! I’m SO ready for Tiffany’s race necklace next weekend so I decided to have matching nails.

I did a few upper body “BodyPump” tracks this morning (chest, triceps, biceps and shoulders) and half of the Pop Pilates DVD. Man that DVD is HARD!

April 17, 2013 by Pink Runner

Grateful

I have not been very positive when thinking or talking about my running in the past few weeks. I’ve been tired, sore, unenthusiastic and negative when running. On Monday, I checked the women’s times on the Boston website to see how Kara Goucher placed. Hours later, I found out about the horrific events that took place. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and wasn’t able to run Monday or Tuesday night. I ran 5 miles tonight without music and was grateful for running.

I had a very good 11 miler on Sunday after Colby’s sprint triathlon. He came in 5th place overall

I know I can push myself harder for my 12 miler this Saturday, and I will.

April 10, 2013 by Pink Runner

Updates

So sorry for the lack of blogging, but I have been pretty busy for the past two weeks! After I wrote about my IT band pain during my 9 mile long run, I stretched and foam rolled A LOT. I backed down my next long run to 6.2 and everything felt fine. I’ve also taken BodyPump lunges and squats out of my workouts until this half marathon is over. The Nike Half is coming up soon (April 28) so I am trying to get my act together, but my runs have been frustrating lately.

I had a great run last weekend and I was sooo happy! My half marathon PR is 2:07-something and my “Goal A” would be to break that and get closer to 2:00. That 3 mile run made me feel good about my training and it was cool and comfortable with little wind. I was feeling good about 10 miler the next day…

It wasn’t horrible, but it definitely wasn’t what I expected. I’ve been trying to stay around a 9:30 pace and I just couldn’t hold it for 10 miles. I was exhausted and tired from hills. The good things about that run were … no knee/hip pain and no sore legs the next day.

Yesterday I ran 4 miles outside after a long day at work and I was dyinggggg. It shouldn’t have felt this hard and later I saw it was 81 degrees. I guess I wasn’t ready for that!

Other updates from the past two weeks…

I got really sick from eating too much cheese and I’ve cut dairy completely out of my diet again. It’s just not worth it.
I’ve had a hate/hate relationship with running lately. There is no love right now. I’m not enjoying it at all. I’m ready to get this race over with and I hate that I feel this way.
I had a horrible allergic reaction to this toothpaste…

I had horrible dry, raw skin around my mouth and swollen lips. It hurt and looked nasty. I was just using this toothpaste off and on for the past month and couldn’t see the relationship between the dry skin and when I used this stuff. Everything is better now that I threw it out and switched to something else. I’ve never had an allergic reaction before so it was weird. I think I’ve narrowed it down to a possible allergy to a foaming agent that is in this toothpaste and not in others. My face is now back to normal.

March 21, 2013 by Pink Runner

Week 7 – Half Marathon Training

Here are my workouts for the week so far…

Monday: 3 miles on TM

Tuesday: 4 miles on TM and BodyPump class (1 hour)

Wednesday: off

Thursday: 4 AWESOME miles outside today!

Friday: I plan to do BodyPump at home

Saturday: I plan to run 9 miles

Sunday: I plan to do BodyPump/CXWORX at home

I’m FINALLY starting to feel good about my running! I pretty much took a major break after last Spring’s marathon. I really just started running multiple times a week on a regular basis again in January. I’m finally starting to run a little faster and felt AMAZING on this afternoon’s 4 miler with Amy!

I was actually talking and running today! I felt like I could have ran another mile around a 9:00 min. pace and I was so happy. Amy and I are SICK of this weather! Colby and I hate how windy it has been this winter. I barely have any skin left on my face and have been running on the treadmill on the super windy days. It was really windy during our 2nd mile today, but I was still happy to have a 9:13 and pick the pace back up for the rest of the run.

March 10, 2013 by Pink Runner

10K PR

Don’t get too excited… it was my first 10K race! I’ve just never done a 10k race before and I knew this one would be very flat. It was on the rail trail I ran last Spring’s marathon on and I was very familiar with the path

I was scheduled to run 8 miles this weekend, so Amy and I ran 2 after the race was over. I was so tired I could barely do two 10 minute miles.

My legs are SO SORE today! I don’t even know why… I didn’t even run that hard but WOW my legs are just trashed. I took a nap yesterday and today I was so tired.

I went to my favorite restaurant with my BF Anne last night. I changed it up and went for the “chop” salad with blue cheese, apples, cranberries, candied nuts and blue cheese dressing. I loved it and it was huge.

I also had mushroom ravioli and I was stuffed. I had this a few weeks ago and it was slightly different with ratatouille on the ravioli and I think I liked that a little better. This was still really good.

I’m hoping to get myself to do a little yoga tonight to loosen up my robot legs. Hoping to get all my runs and Les Mills workouts in this week!

February 16, 2013 by Pink Runner

60 Minute BodyPump-ish Workout

Amy and I completed this workout on Thursday and the Polar said I burned 429 calories. We moved quickly through the tracks and didn’t really break in between songs.

On Thursday I started feeling kinda sick. Colby has been sick with bronchitis and I am just so stuffed up. I took Friday off and planned to run 5 miles at the park with Amy this morning.

My Garmin was all crazy at the beginning of our run and saying we were running a 11 min mile. Amy’s watch said 9:20… all I knew is that I felt kinda like I was dying. I couldn’t breath well and the pace that I was running last week seemed so hard today. I did wear my heart rate monitor and was shocked to look down and see I was in the 180′s right away! I knew I was sick and the sudafed probably didn’t help my heart rate out at all either. When we got to 3 miles, I told her to go ahead without me and run until 4 and then turn around. I slowed my pace down a lot and walked a few times and started to feel better. She got about 1/4 of a mile ahead of me and I was happy to finish the last mile with her. When I got home, I was shocked to see that my HR had gotten up to 187! YIKES! Tough workout and the compression is ON! I’m going to take it easy and take another rest day tomorrow!

January 5, 2013 by Pink Runner

Surprise 8K Race

Amy asked me if I wanted to run an 8K race that was held this morning. Our local Road Runners has a “Winter Series” and has races in the area during November-March. There are 5K, 8K, 10K, 15K, 5 miler and 10 miler distances and they are known for being brutally cold! You pay $25 once and are able to run all 8 races with the same bib, if you want. Amy has been doing them with her daughter and husband this year. I didn’t really have an excuse NOT to do the race… the weather was cold, but the roads are completely clear.

So, I ran it and I was pretty happy with my results! I had absolutely no expectations because I have been doing a lot of treadmill running lately and I am still getting back into the swing of things. I know my speed will get better in the next few months, but I have been feeling really slow lately. It is tough taking months off!

I thought I could stay with Amy for a little bit, but she is just so fast! I tried to slow it down after I knew I pushed my first mile a little too hard and ended up staying right around a 9:30-something pace. I was fine with that and I was determined not to take any walking breaks! I was even happier when I was able to pick it up a tiny bit at the end. I was really tired! I was surprised when I saw my distance was 5.09 and Amy’s Garmin said the same thing. I thought an 8K was supposed to be 4.97?? I wish the race was just called a 5 miler, but oh well!

I wore my new tights from Road Runner Sports and they were perfect! I also wore my new insoles but in my old Brooks shoes. My tights stayed in place the entire time, have a nice zipper pocket in the back and covered my ankles. I was cold when I started the race, but comfortable after a mile or so. It was about 25 degrees.

I did a little side braid to keep my short ponytail in place and it worked. I wore multiple shades of pink today too. Yes, my Christmas tree is still up. I have no plans of taking it down this weekend.

Good race for everyone! Amy rocked it in 43- something!

September 30, 2012 by Pink Runner

BodyFlow

Don’t worry… I haven’t lost my mind yet – even though our wedding is this Saturday!! I still have a huge list of things I need to get accomplished by the end of this week, but I’m surviving.

I have been showing my new treadmill a lot of love lately. Even though the weather has been great lately, I’ve been avoiding running outside. I have been avoiding running tan lines as much as possible!

I’ve still been blending everything in sight. Love my Vita and now I drink all my meals (just kidding!)

I DID run outside this morning though and there wasn’t much sun so my skin was safe! Look how happy I am to run outside with a long sleeved t shirt!!! I LOVE running in cooler weather!!!! My friend Amy (we ran last spring’s marathon together) was running 11 miles this morning and used my mailbox as her water station because it was 5.5 miles away from her house. I met her half way through her run at my house, and I ran 2 miles out with her and then turned around and ran 2 home. 4 continuous miles outside without stopping!! Woo hoo! I haven’t done that in A LONG TIME! PS Amy has a blog now!!!!! Check out Runner, Reader & Rockin’ Mom!

I was SO happy with my run this morning! I loved the company, the weather and I felt great!

Yesterday, I took a new class at our gym. BodyFlow is a Les Mills class and is new to my gym.

I brought my yoga mat and was pretty excited. I was tired from running a quick 3 miles on the treadmill but the class really stretched me out. The first track is a Tai Chi warm up and was probably my least favorite thing about the class. It was fine, but just very slow and I’m not used to Tai Chi. The next few tracks were yoga-based and quick paced. I like yoga and this section would be great for people new to yoga. THEN in true Les Mills fashion, there are two core tracks that are intense. I’ve been working on my planks, so it wasn’t impossible for me. It is like a little CXWORX thrown in there mixed with some pilates and that made me happy. I’m OBSESSED with CXWORX. I like it even better than BodyPump! After the core tracks, there are a few more yoga-ish tracks and then the class finishes with meditation/savasana and I almost fell asleep. It was amazing.

I am really looking forward to going to this class more often. I won’t make one this week or the next (because I’ll be in HAWAII!!) but after the honeymoon, I will be hitting this and the other Les Mills classes up more often!

I will try to post again this week and hopefully I won’t be too crazy with the wedding so close! I have a guest post planned for when I am away and I think I will schedule a post to go up on my wedding day with pictures from my final dress fitting and hair/makeup trials! I’m excited!

May 2, 2012 by Pink Runner

Hungry All The Time

Tuesday: 2 mile walk and 20 minute YogaDownload video on YouTube

Wednesday: 6 miles (58:09)

I could not get myself to run yesterday. I always take Monday off and I was just so exhausted after school yesterday, I just came home and sat on the couch. I convinced myself I could just go for a walk and do some yoga to stretch out my legs and it would be okay. I have not been following my training plan very well this spring, between the pulled calf muscle and just feeling too busy I haven’t been able to run as much as I should. After I hurt my calf and took off a full week, I almost always took off one of my shorter mid-week runs each week. I always did the mid-week long and the weekend long. So, I would not suggest trying to train for a marathon this way, because it almost always ends in injury. Luckily, the race is soon and I my legs are feeling pretty good.

I forgot to post this picture with my 20 mile post, but this was the food I packed to take with me to the rail trail for my 20 miles last Saturday. I am loving the mini bagels with Peanut Butter and Co (best peanut butter ever… and now Target sells it!!!) and had one next to my bed to eat at 5:30 am Saturday morning before I went downstairs at 6am to try to eat some oatmeal.

Love my lemon-lime gatorade, vanilla GU, PB Luna protein bars and GOLDFISH CRACKERS. Yes, I’m still obsessed with them and I am currently out and very sad. Those little fishies hold me over at school because… I AM HUNGRY ALL THE TIME. It’s actually really annoying, but I feel like my appetite is starting to calm down. I wasn’t that hungry Saturday after running the 20, but I was starving Sunday-Tuesday. I seriously want to eat every hour. I’m currently eating these…

I might as well just finish the bag tonight since I’m sad that I’m out of goldfish crackers.

As I’ve mentioned before, I am completely in love with my Walmart compression socks. Yes, I have the cute pink running compression sleeves but there is no stopping these tan babies. They are awesome and super tight. I went to Walmart Saturday night and spotted these gorgeous OPEN TOE socks!! I’ve been telling my friend Amy to buy them for the past 6 months and when I found these (across from the pharmacy), I had to take a picture to send to her. Just look at that picture! A couple wearing those open toe tan beasts and they are playing footsies under a table?! Amy couldn’t resist and she bought her and her husband a pair. She is obviously required to reenact this photo and send it to me so I can post

On a serious note, I have been having major sleep issues over the past month or so. I can fall asleep, but I can’t stay asleep more than 4 hours. I’m exhausted and I’m noticing a pattern where it is worse the day or two after a long run. I’ve never had this happen before! I’m hoping it goes away after the marathon, because I would love to sleep past 3 am. Does anyone have trouble sleeping or staying asleep after long runs?

Tag Archives: Garmin

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