Mercedes Half Marathon

My first half marathon of 2012 was the Mercedes Half Marathon in Birmingham, AL.  It had been almost 2 months since my last half marathon and even longer since the last half that I "raced" and didn't just run.  I was so excited about this run.  Lot's of our friends and fellow runners were going to either do the half or the marathon relay.  There had been some discussion between myself, Gail and Jeanie about racing or just running this race.  We'd heard lots about the hills on the course and thought maybe it would be better just to run it and not try to PR.  However, I knew that between my kettlebell classes and my twice a week small group runs, that I was in really good shape.  The morning of the race Gail was asking us our goal for the race.  I kind of stuttered about mine, still a little unsure.  I knew I wanted to race it, but I wasn't sure I could PR.

I had decided that I would be leaving my watch in the hotel room.  One thing I know about myself is that I will hold myself back.  If I'm constantly looking at my watch (which I would do), I tell myself I'm going too fast for my pace.  I wanted to race this race based on feel and how my body was feeling.   Not sure it was a great idea, because I crashed the last 4 miles of the race. But I am glad I didn't wear my watch. 

It was absolutely freezing when the race started.  The wind chill was 15 degrees.  Luckily, our hotel wasn't far away.  We left 10 minutes before the start of the race and got in the corral just a few minutes before it started.  In the first mile I knew I was a little over dressed and took off my jacket.  My plan was to run from waterstop to waterstop and I did great the first 6 miles.  After that I added in about one short walk per mile.  This was a pretty easy race to run that way because there was a waterstop almost every mile.

The water in the cups was a little frozen.  But the scary part to me was the water on the ground was also frozen.  This made the waterstops at little hazardous.  From a waterstop and nutrition aspect this was the best supported race I've participated in.  There was water & powerade almost every mile and at least 3 Gu stations. 

Although I wasn't wearing my watch, I couldn't help but look at the giant clocks they have at every mile.  I knew I was going fast (for me).  I'm not sure how much that played into the wall I slammed into around mile 9.  It could have also been that I was actually going too fast at the beginning, but it's important to me to start strong.  When I looked up my pace, I was at a 10:14 average pace from the start through the 10k mark, from 10k to 15k my pace was 10:19, and then dropped to 11:23 for the final part of the race.  My overall average pace was 10:35, which is 20 seconds faster per mile than my previous best.  I finished in 2:18:39.  My PR before that was 2:22:51.  Overall, I'm extremely happy with my time.  I'm disappointed with my crash at the end, but I know I can improve there. 

Last year I did a half marathon this same weekend and set a PR of 2:30.  That course was entirely flat.  The Mercedes course was anything but flat.  I'm very proud of the improvements I've made in just a year.  Sometimes it feels like progress crawls, but to look year over year is very encouraging.  The other thing I noticed in this race was the hills.  Yes, there were hills, some big ones.  However, I didn't feel the hills like I usually do.  I was much stronger on them.  I guess those stairs and hill repeats my coach, Tracey, makes me do really do payoff.

Finally, I want to say how proud and amazed I am by Mark.  He set a PR.  His time this race was 2:26:31 and his average pace was 11:11.  His previous best was 2:37 and it was set in December!!  He really rocked this race.  Now he's signed up for speed sessions and very determined to be faster than me.  I guess some healthy competition is a good thing. 

New Year Fresh Goals

2011 was an amazing year, so I've been a little slow to let go of it and embrace a new year.  It's a little scary when last year was successful in so many ways.  It would, in fact, be easy to sit back and bask in the glow of all that I accomplished and all the goals I was able to check off.  However, that's not moving me forward.  And I want to continue to grow and improve.

This blog has largely (ok pretty much entirely) been about running.  And I do love to run and to write about running, but I want to expand it.  I changed the name of the blog to Life on a Run.  I think the new name keeps running front and center but allows for other posts.  All name suggestions and feedback are welcome!


I have a lot of running goals for this year (not a surprise I know).  I also have more general health goals than I did last year.  The first goal I will share is losing weight.  Yes, I know how cliche this goal is, there's no reason for anyone to tell me.  I also know nearly everyone in America made the same goal.  For me, I want to be free of the constant thinking and feeling like I should lose weight.  I need to lose between 20 - 25 pounds. So it's not a huge number, but it's a number that sneaks in and steals happy moments from me, puts doubts in my head and slows down my runs.  On the first day of 2012, I weighed 179 pounds.  My ideal weight, according to my doctor is 145 - 160.  I'm aiming for 155 by the end of 2012 or sooner.

Nutrition is going to be an area I focus on more.  I've been doing a 12 week kettlebell challenge and they place a lot of emphasis on nutrition before exercise.  I want to adopt this way of thinking. It's going to be a long process for me.  It's the area I need the most improvement and I know it won't be easy or happen over night.  Luckily, I have good friends and mentors who are helping.

As for running, I plan to run half marathons in at least 5 states.  Those states are Alabama, Texas, Minnesota, Kansas and Indiana.  I'm going to run a half marathon in 2:15 or less and finish a 5k in under 29 minutes.  I'm also going to complete my second marathon.  I'm so excited about the marathon.  It's going to be the Chicago Marathon.  I was in Chicago last year when it was going on and the atmosphere was unreal.  I can't wait!  Of course, I want to beat last year's marathon time.  I'm going to log all of my miles this year, something I haven't done before and by the end of the year I want to be over 1,000 miles.

I have lots of other goals personal, family and work.  It would take too long to list them all here.  One of my goals is actually to read and visualize my goals everyday.  Most importantly, I realize my goals are constantly evolving and changing. 

Cheers to an amazing 2012!

Getting Married

Mark and I have been dating for 6 years. We got engaged this past February at the Rock n Roll Mardi Gras half marathon (if you missed that blog post click here to read it).  We've spent a lot of time talking about getting married.  How and when we would do it. We agreed we wanted it to be simple, special and inexpensive.  So we just needed the when.

My sister, Sarah, and I made wishes when the clock said 11:11 growing up.  So the idea of doing it on 11-11-11 sounded perfect to me.  Mark and I talked about a couple different ideas for what to do.  Usually, our discussions got pretty expensive.  So we decided to keep it as simple as possible. 

On our first date, we went to dinner at Sunset Grill and then took a walk on the pedestrian street bridge downtown, so the bridge has always held a special place in our hearts.  I know you can rent the entire bridge, but we were having a very small ceremony so there was no need for that.

We should really have started planning a couple months ago, but we started planning the details just before we left for Dublin.  We wanted to be sure our pastor, David Foster, could perform the ceremony and that his wife Paula could attend.  They have been great role models for us in what we want our marriage to look like. We also wanted to be sure Sarah  and my future brother in law, Jeff, could come.  That was our entire guest list.

Sarah and I went shopping for my dress the Sunday before we got married.  Luckily, it wasn't hard to find the perfect dress.  And being the sweet sister she is, Sarah bought it for me as a wedding present.  I tried to convince her that Mark and I would be happy to get married in running clothes.  She was not going to allow that to happen.  Sarah also did my hair and make up the day of the wedding.  It was so nice have her do it for me.  In fact, I think life would be much easier if I could convince her to do it every day.

Even though it was a small, simple ceremony, I really wanted to have a photographer.  I also wanted the photographer to be someone I know (this shouldn't be too hard, I know several).  I asked my friend Beth first, because we grew up together and have been friends for a long time.  Thankfully, she was free.  Click here to see her facebook page and our picture preview.  As you can see from the pictures, it was definitley worth it!

We got married at 11 am - hey, we had to stay true to the theme.  The actual ceremony was short, sweet and perfect!  We had so much fun taking pictures before and after the ceremony.  When we were in Dublin, we saw lots of locks on the Ha'penny bridge.  I remembered hearing about this tradition before.  Lovers put a lock on the bridge and then throw the keys into the river.  We thought it sounded like a perfect way to celebrate. 

Lots of people have asked us if we had the boys there.  And, of course, we get curious looks when we say no.  Our main reason for not having them there was because we wanted it to be about us as a couple and as a partnership.  We love both of the boys more than anything, but we also know our relationship has to come first if we are going to be good parents.  We were a tiny bit concerned they'd be disappointed.  But, they were fine.  We told them at dinner Friday night.  Their reaction?  When can we get a bigger house and a puppy?  Truthfully, I think they would have been bored with the actual ceremony, and I know they would have been tired of taking pictures before we were.  We took them to the bridge on Saturday and let each of them add a lock to our lock.

The wedding was perfect.  Yes, we would loved to have had a huge event and celebrate with all of our friends and family, but the reality was it wasn't something that we wanted to spend a lot of time and money (and stress) on.  We just wanted to be married.  It was everything we wanted it to be.  And now we are excited to live happily ever after. 

Dublin Marathon - Race Day

It felt a little strange not to get up before dawn for a race.  But the marathon wasn't starting until 10 am and our hotel was only a couple blocks from the start line, so there was no need to get up extra early.  This is the first race I've participated in with such a late start.  I must say, I liked it.  

After we got ready, we met some of our Team in Training Teammates for breakfast in our hotel.   This gave us plenty of time to go back up to our room 7 times for all of the things we'd forgotten or changed our mind about taking with us.  We walked over to the start line about 9:30. 

As we are standing there waiting for the race to start, I had a thousand different thoughts.  Everything from admiring the great city to sheer terror and panic.  At the expo I had picked up a pace bracelet to finish in 5:30.  Honestly, my main goal was survival, and by survival I mean crossing the finish line upright and smiling. And I really hoped for less than 6 hours.  I kept looking at the bracelet wondering if I could really finish and if, by some small miracle, I could do it in 5:30.

Go TEAM!

Next thing I know the gun is going off, and we are running.  I'd planned on running 3/1 intervals for the race.  But I wanted to warm up with just a slow jog. It was several minutes after I'd crossed the start line that it dawns on me I haven't started my watch yet.  Well crap...the usefulness of the pace bracelet is pretty much gone now.  I knew I'd started with about 14 minutes on the clock already.  But I had no idea how long I'd run before I started my watch.  Geez.  Not the best way to start the race.

It was easy to forget about my timing problems as I'm running by Trinity College, the place Bram Stoker grew up, and all sorts of other beautiful places.  As I see the first mile marker, I remind myself my goal is slow and steady. I spend the next mile going deliberately slower.  I didn't even look at my pace until around mile 4.  Surprisingly and a little concerning, I was under the pace I needed to be at to finish under 5:30. 

Mile 4 also started the part of the race that was in Phoenix Park.  This is easily one of the most gorgeous parks I've run in.  Two other things happened at mile 4.  I turned on my ipod for the first time, and I finally felt warmed up.  Feeling pretty good, I ran through most of my intervals miles 4 - 10.  I was also still pacing to finish under 5:30.  Which is great, but I didn't put much faith in my projected time at this point.  I was sure the end was going to kick my butt.

One of coaches said she would be between mile 11 - 13 and would run with us some.  So when my feet cramped and I really wanted to take some pain medicine (no lectures here please, I needed this), I bargained with myself that I would wait until after I saw her or at 13 whichever came first. At mile 13 I hadn't seen her yet so I took some Tylenol knowing it would give me a little boost.

At some point here or just after several of the water stops were running out or had run out of water.  The previous stops had been giving out bottles of water and sports drinks, so I had some fluid.  I ran through 3 stops that were out of water.  Just as I was getting really concerned and thinking about ducking into a store and buying some, the next stop had water (thank goodness). 

I tried very hard at mile 13 not to think about the fact that I was only halfway through the race or that if this was a half marathon I'd already have my medal and be on my way to breakfast/lunch.  This is also the point in the race, where I know I have to start sticking to my intervals and not running extra because I'm afraid I'll burnout otherwise.  Sometime between 13 and 17, I pass a building that has a sign advertising Tennessee Fried Chicken!  What?! I was so excited.  I stopped to take a picture (the picture didn't come out, ugh).  The owners of the building came out and I'm pretty sure I babbled something about being from Tennessee.  I think they were a little surprised by my excitement.

Around mile 17, I found our coach, Sami, and she ran with me for a mile or mile and a half.  It was so great to have her run with me and distract me from the fact my feet and legs were yelling at me to stop.  And it was so much better having her here than it would have been having her at 11. A funny, unexpected thing happened here.  I passed two of my teammates who I thought were way ahead of me.  This gave me a much bigger boost than I could have anticipated.  I was feeling great and still pacing to finish under 5:30. 

At mile 20 it started to rain.  I can't complain too much.  I did choose to run this race in Ireland, rain would most certainly be part of it.  I was ok with a little rain.  At first, it felt pretty good.  Then it kept raining.  Then it rained harder.  I'm not going to lie the last 6.2 miles seemed really long.  The rain made it even longer.  But I was still feeling pretty good. 

I'm not sure I ever hit the infamous "wall".  But when my watch died at mile 24, it was pretty disheartening.  I was mostly disappointed that I didn't have set intervals anymore.  So I would run and then walk. Then walk some more, then run.  I'm quite certain at this point I'm kissing 5:30 goodbye.  The last 2 miles were ridiculously long.  As I mentioned our hotel was only a few blocks from the start and even closer to the finish.  So imagine my surprise when I pass our hotel only to see the mile 25 marker.  What?!  NO.  I know exactly where the finish is and I'm moving away from it!  This was the worst feeling I had during the whole race.  But it didn't last long.  The reality and emotion knowing I'm just a mile away from finishing my first marathon set it. 

Elation is what I felt for the last half mile or so.  I'd gotten some great advice a few days before the race.   It was to pause when I'm sure I'm going to finish, to take a couple minutes to reflect on my accomplishments, the work and sacrifices that has gone into preparing to meet this goal and to really be in the moment of realizing I'd met my goal.  I'm not sure I have words to describe crossing the finish line.  It was amazing and possibly the best feeling I've ever had.  And I finished in 5:22.  I'm not sure exactly how that happened.  But I'm so happy with my time!

It pretty much stopped raining about the time I finished.  I walked back to our hotel hoping I could change and get back down in time to see Mark come by our hotel.  The timing of it worked out perfectly.  He came by the hotel just as I walked out.  I was worried I wouldn't be able to get back to him at the finish line.  When I told him I would meet him at the hotel, I could see the disappointment in his face.  So I decided to go back to the finish and see if they'd let me in.  Luckily, I got a great spot and where I could see him finish and actually crossed the finish line with him.

I'm so proud of him!  He finished in 6:09 and he'd been worried he'd need more than the allotted 7 hours.  He'd also been injured during training and didn't get in as much training as he'd like to have done.  But he was able to run his intervals the whole race, and he finished strong!

A few things I want to mention here.  If you are running a race in a different country or far from home, I strongly suggest you do it with a team (preferably Team in Training).  They had staff support people along the course cheering you on and they had supplies if you needed anything.  They also had coaches on the course.  Two coaches, in addition to our coach, ran with me during the race.  It was a huge mental boost. 

There were definitely places I think the race officials could improve.  In my opinion, there is no reason to ever run out of water.  Also, when I finished they only had small and extra small finisher shirts left.  There was almost 2 hours of official time left at this point.  When Mark finished, they'd already taken down the backdrop for the official finisher photos.  It was a little disappointing.  If the race has a 7 hour time limit, I'd like to think the people who finish in 6:59 get the same as the people who finish in 3:00.  But, I'm definitely not focusing on these things. 

The spectators were awesome!!  They yelled out "well done" as we passed them.  It was great.  It helps that I love their accent so it was fun to hear the whole time.  There were lots of kids along the course giving high fives and a few really great kids with fruit and cheese. 

I was under the false impression that the course was flat.  It was definitely not flat.  They even had signs printed and posted as we were going up the hills.  However, the hills weren't as bad as they could have been.  Strangely, it was kind of a nice break to go up and, especially, down. 

The race course was awesome.  It was beautiful. And it helped that I was (mostly) unfamiliar with the course.  I think the new things to see around every turn made great distractions.  Before the race, I was sure by the end I would swear off ever doing a full marathon again.  But I actually had the exact opposite feeling.  I'm excited to plan my next marathon.  And maybe someday an ultra marathon. 

How hard can it be to get to Dublin? & Pre-race

We were supposed to leave Nashville on Thursday, October 27 fly to Philadelphia, catch a connecting flight to Dublin and arrive in Dublin Friday morning.  However, our flight to Philly was delayed - officially due to fog in Philly, but we aren't convinced that was the real reason.  After much talking and negotiating the reps for US Airways on the phone told us to get on the plane when it finally boarded.  However, the people boarding the plane told us not to that we'd miss our connecting flight.  To keep the story short, we got on the plane and missed our connecting flight, which left us stuck for the night.  The next flight we could make would be the same time Friday night.

Team in Training was awesome and got us hotel rooms for the night.  The airline said we could have our luggage but was never able to produce it.  Which was a little concerning, but several people had told us to pack our race gear in a carry on.  So we at least had some clothes.  

The most disappointing thing to me was potentially losing a day in Ireland.  I've never been to Philadelphia and was happy to spend a day there, but not at the expense of a day in Ireland.  While we were still at the airport, I asked Mark what he thought about asking the airline to extend our trip a day.  He called, worked his magic and they agreed to change our return flight to Friday instead of Thursday.  Awesome!! Now we could enjoy our bonus time in Philadelphia.  We really had a great day there. 

Our flight to Dublin was problem free (thank goodness!).  We got to Dublin on Saturday morning and went straight to our hotel.  The staff at our hotel were great and the hotel itself was awesome!  After taking a little nap, it was time to go to the expo.  It was a lot smaller than I'd hoped for, but it was still a good experience.

On Sunday morning we participated in the international breakfast run, which is open to all runners from other countries.  It was a really cool experience.  They started the run with flags from all the countries who had runners.  It was a short 2.5 mile run.  At the end of it, I felt crappy and was seriously questioning the race the next day.  But I had a few minutes of positive self talk and reminded myself that I'm not even warmed up at the end of 2.5 miles, so I can't make a good judgement of how I feel.  I also told myself that this run was just to get loosened up for the marathon (oh my word, a marathon!!!) the next day. 

Sunday night was our inspiration dinner with Team in Training.  Our teammate, Jim Asker, was the speaker.  He told his story of being diagnosed with a blood cancer and fighting through it.  He did a great job speaking and it was moving to hear his very honest story.  One thing he said really stuck with me during the race.  I don't remember it word for word, but basically it was this - when he was going through treatment and his body was so weakened, he would have given anything to be able to run or smash a tennis ball.  He said he can't imagine having a healthy body and not using it.  Wow!  There were very few dry eyes in the room at the end of his speech.  He made us proud!  It was also a great reminder of the reason we were there.  And that all of our hard work in training and fundraising is making a difference.

We were careful to go to bed early the two nights before the race (even though it was so tempting to stay out and explore and enjoy the city).  We also ate lots of carbs and tried to be as ready as possible for the race.  After the dinner, we went back to our rooms and got all of our stuff ready for the race the next morning.

 

See You Soon Dublin

I can't believe that this time tomorrow I will be in the air on my way to Dublin!  And in just over 4 days I will be running my first marathon!  It's finally starting to sink in that this is actually happening.

Mark and I are so extremely grateful to every single person who contributed to our fundraising efforts to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through Team in Training.  Whether it was a dollar or $350, each donation meant a lot to us and fueled us to continue fundraising and training.  We are waiting on the last batch of checks we mailed in to be posted but our total should be just over $11,000.  We could not have done it without so much support from so many people.  There is no way to say thanks enough.  And most importantly we are $11,000 closer to curing blood cancer!

I also can't say thanks enough to all of the positive comments and all the encouragement we've received.  Just thinking about how many people have reached out and encouraged us in the last 5 months astounds me and gives me so much confidence.

I'm a bundle of nervous energy right now!  I'm, of course, nervous about the race itself.  I'm also a little bit of a nervous about the flight. My goal is to sleep through most of the flight, which will be helpful since when we arrive in Dublin it will be 8:45 am.  And in order to get my body on Dublin time I'm not going to sleep until that night. 

My mantra until and during the race is - "I'm trained. I'm ready. I am an endurance athlete."  I throw the last one in because, while it's true, it also makes me smile and think about all the fabulous training I've had with Fleet Feet and my great running friends! 

Our race is on Monday (Halloween).  It starts at 10 a.m. Dublin time.  Which should be pretty early in Nashville.  My main goal for the race is to finish it smiling and to soak up the experience.  I'd like to finish in 5:35 to 5:45, but I'll be happy with anything under 6.  Sometime after the race is over, I should be able to post on Facebook that we are finished.  Also, I hope to update here too.  

We are thankful for any prayers, happy thoughts, good vibes and other mojo you want to send our way during our trip and race.

Out of My Comfort Zone - into a Personal Record

On October 1, I did Winchester's Southern Plunge Half Marathon.  I chose this race for two reasons. One - it was a free race from active advantage.  Two - I was going to be in Winchester for a girl's weekend and I needed to get a long run in. Strangely, I like running alone in a group, but I'm not so good at running all alone.  So the race was the perfect way to make sure I got in a long run and stayed on track with my marathon training.

The night before the race, I tried to think of excuses not to do the race. Here are a few. I don't want to leave my friends (this would never work, they were all sleeping when I left).  I "overslept" (ugh, i thought about this one but really I couldn't do it). Then I discovered the perfect reason not to do it, I'd left my watch charger at home!  Aside from my shoes, my watch is the one thing I depend the most on to get me through the race.  However, as much as I thought I wanted out of the race, I really didn't want out.  I was just afraid.

Every race I've done has been with a group or with Mark.  This was to be my first race without someone else running it or at least cheering me on.  Also, I knew it was going to be a small race.  I'm always terrified of being last.  This fear was confirmed when I got to the start and there was hardly anyone there.  Although a small race means no lines for the bathroom!  And, of course, I was extra nervous without my watch.  The race would definitely be a chance to grow as a runner. 

Of all the thoughts I had swimming around in my head, setting a personal record was not one of them.  After all, I had just PR'd the weekend before.  And I seem to average a PR every 6 months or so.  Not mention all of the reasons I listed above.  Once the race got started, I was in the back of the pack - quite literally.  The first few miles were hilly.  And to be honest, I hate the first 3 miles of every run.  I tried not to panic and to just trust that I could finish. 

At mile 8, after finishing what was two steady miles mostly uphill, I asked the girl beside me if we were ever going to go downhill.  She said yes, but not for long.  Which was fine with me, all I needed right then was a small downhill.  I had wanted to run waterstop to waterstop, but I'm guessing I walked about 30 - 45 seconds every half mile.  So when the girl beside me looked at her watch and said I'd finish in less than 2:30 I was shocked.  Shocked and motivated to keep my butt moving!  I told her I'd PR'd the weekend before finishing in 2:25.  She replied that if I kept on pace I could beat that. 

I kept running though I still think I walked briefly every half mile or so and through the waterstops.  I felt really good.  And my conversation with the other runner had changed my confidence.  I knew the race had started close to on time.  A little ways into mile 12, I looked at my phone for the first time to see the time. It was 9:14.  I knew I could PR if I could just keep it up for less than one mile.  I finished in 2:22:51!!!  I was 100th out of 137 (see I told you it was a small race).

I'm amazed I could PR on another hilly course without my watch.  Or maybe it's that because of my watch and how fast I "think" I can run, I've been holding myself back.  I'm running the Middle Half this weekend, which had been my goal race to PR at (the last two PRs were happy accidents).  It's a flat course.  I still think I can PR.  Now should I wear my watch or not?

*The Dublin Marathon is 3 weeks from today!!  This Friday is our fundraising deadline.  We are so close to our $10,000 goal/minimum.  Please help us reach our goal!  http://pages.teamintraining.org/tn/dublin11/emilymark