28 Day Challenge - who's in?

I’m an interval runner. Usually it’s 2 or 3 minutes running and 1 minute walking. Sometimes I have to remind myself that running intervals makes me no less of a runner. In fact if Olympian Jeff Galloway runs intervals, then it should be good enough for me. But I can’t help daydreaming (usually on the couch in my pj’s reading Runner’s World) about running without intervals.


Occasionally, I will take my daydreaming so far as the first 3 minutes of a run before I decide I’m not ready to give up my intervals. It’s an almost constant internal debate. Give up the intervals...run longer. Keep the intervals...run faster. Sometimes I think I use the intervals as a crutch or a reward. I’m sure I’m conditioned enough to not actually need them. However, I enjoy them. They make running more fun for me.

I would love to tell you I’ve come to some brilliant conclusion. Sadly, I haven’t. But I am going to challenge myself.

Christopher McClintock is the half marathon coach for Fleet Feet’s Half Marathon training going on right now. He also writes a running resource section for the Brentwood Home Page. On Saturday, I discovered his 28 day challenge for the month of February. The challenge seems simple enough. Run 1 mile everyday in February. Accountability is key, so there’s a website you sign in on daily and record your mile.

Loving a challenge, I signed up immediately. I also posted it to Facebook and asked my friends to do it too. Physically, one mile a day will be easy for me. The harder part will be mental. My brain is really good at cooking up reasons for me not to do things. But it’s just 1 mile....12 minutes or less.

Today on my rainy run, I decided to make it a little more challenging for myself. I will run 1 continuous mile each day in the month of February. To some of you this will still seem like a piece of cake, but for me it will be a mental game. And I will prove to myself I can run without intervals...even if I choose not to give them up.

Who’s up for the challenge of 1 mile a day for 28 days? Make the challenge your own, but sign up to do it! Oh and did i mention there are prizes?

Spring Training - Day 1

I love new beginnings! The start of a new spring training program is like Christmas for me. Everyone is so excited and ready to get started. Lots of people were starting their very first training program for their first half marathon! I can remember exactly how I felt on the first day of training last year - terrified!

Our running group from last year’s training has divided up, and this year we are all pacing interval runners. While I’m a little sad not to be running with my peeps, I’m very excited to be running with new people, a lot of them training for their first half. I’ve learned so much in the last year, and I’m excited to share it with my group. Mark, Erin and I are pacing the 3/1 group.


Pacers for 3/1 Erin, Mark and me



Much like last year, our first run this year included snow! Not a lot of it stuck, but the wind was fierce. Personally, I think a snowy run is the perfect way to start training. Once you’ve run in the frigid weather with snow blowing around you, you have little excuse to skip a run.



Tosha, Katy, Kim P., Taylor & Jack
before we started the run



Our group started small today. Kim P., Kim, Taylor, Tosha, Jack, Alissa and Katy were the first runners to start with us. We quickly started picking up runners from the 4/1 group. By the end of the run we were more than 20 strong. We had a fabulous 4 mile run! Everyone should feel really good about their run today - we rocked it! Even though it’s the shortest, the first one is often the hardest.

Because several of us are running the Rock n Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon on February 13, Gail, Erin, Delaina, Mark and I met at 5:30 (yep it was really freaking early) to run 4 miles before our group run. We had a great run. After 8 miles today, I feel closer to being ready for the half in 5 weeks!

Hopefully, it won’t snow too much and we’ll be able to run at Tin Roof 2 on Monday night. My goal is to run a couple more times this week. I’m already looking forward to our group run next week - minus the strong, chilling wind.



Here's our group at the water stop after 2 miles



What a Difference a Year Makes...

2010 was a good year, I would even go as far as to say it was a great year. But I have high expectations for 2011. It’s going to be the best year EVER!


Sadly, I’ve neglected my dear little blog lately. I’m sorry for that. One of my goals for 2011 is to post on here every week. I know what you are thinking, but I will post weekly. And if I don’t someone please call me out on it.


Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of my blog and the one year anniversary of when I started training for my first half marathon. It’s amazing how far I’ve come in a year. This time last year a half marathon was a big, scary dream of mine. Now it’s an accomplishment I’ve completed 6 times! Tomorrow I will be pacing a group of interval runners, instead of being the extremely frightened first timer.


I have so many goals for my running in 2011! One of my long term goals is to run a half in every state. So far, I have completed 3 states: Tennessee, Illinois and Georgia. I’m going to add at least 4 states in 2011, starting with Louisiana on February 13. I want to get faster this year and maybe run longer intervals.


By far my biggest goal for 2011 is to run the full marathon in Dublin, Ireland on October, 31 with Team in Training. I’ll turn 30 just 8 days before the race. Running a full and going to Ireland are 2 things on my bucket list. I think it’s the perfect way to celebrate turning the big 3-0! I’ll need help raising the $5,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but we have plenty of time for those details in a future blog post.

The best thing about running in 2010 is the friends I’ve made. I’m not sure if I’d get up (very) early and run no matter the weather (freezing, extreme heat, sleet, snow, rain, and everything in between), if it were just me. I can think of many times I wanted to give up running because I was sure I wasn’t a runner. But having my friends running with me (or in Karen’s case way ahead) has made all the difference. I’m sure I’ve left someone out, but Gail, Chrystyna, Carol, Nicole, Erin, Joe, Karen, Lou, Byron, Victoria, Delaina, Jeanie, Kelly, and all the rest of you who I’ve run with THANK YOU! You have no idea how much each of you mean to me. Thank you for always encouraging and supporting me. Of course none of us would be where we are without the amazing people at Fleet Feet...best store and people EVER!

The other best thing (yes there can be 2 best things) about 2010 is that Mark started running with me and joined our little group. I hated leaving him to go run all the time, and now he’s there with me. It’s a great feeling to share the sport I love with the man I love! (yes I know it's a little mushy.) One of my favorite moments of 2011 was running across the finish line with him in his first half marathon!

I can’t wait to start a new training program tomorrow!

Ragnar Relay Tennessee - What an Adventure!

The first ever Ragnar Relay was an awesome adventure!  Our team name was "First Out Last In".  We secretly hoped we wouldn't live up to our name.  We started the race at the earliest possible time - 6 a.m.  We had 12 runners on our team...6 in each van.  I was in van 1 with Joe, Karen, Ryan, Gail and Chrystyna.  Nicole and Mark were our fearless van 1 drivers.

My first run was at 6:45ish a.m.  I started in the dark and run for a couple miles before the sun came up.  The sunrise over the Tennessee River was absolutely amazing.  Well, until the dog started chasing at me and barking at me.  I think it was only for 3 or 4 minutes, but it seemed like 20 minutes or more.  The best part by far was the donkey in the middle of the one lane road...actually, by the time I got there it was back in it's fence.  But my team really hoped they would see me riding up on the donkey to finish my first leg.  I finished my 6.2 miles, sadly not on the donkey.  The picture to the right is one I stopped quickly to take...it was beautiful!

 

My second leg of the relay was at 8ish that night.  I was decked out in my night running gear - reflective vest, blinking red light and headlight.  Mark ran with me for this leg - thank goodness!  This leg started in Winchester and then continued into rural Franklin County.  What I learned is that after Winchester city limits there were almost no street lights and no shoulders on the roads.  It was a really challenging 5.7 miles.  Without Mark, I would have been a scared, crying mess.  By far this was my most challenging leg of the race.

After van 1 finished all of our second runs, we got to "sleep".  Though sleep is a very generous term.  We were all trying to sleep in the van.  We could have slept outside but it was freezing!  During our runs this time the weather turned quite nasty.  I luckily didn't have any rain, sleet or snow...but Chrystyna and Gail weren't as lucky!  Poor Ryan had a really hard time during the race.  He was battling time zone change, severe weather change and car sickness.  Unfortunately, he had to leave us during the second round of runs. 

When we woke up the next morning, Karen & Joe were both feeling really bad.  Joe pushed through his run.  Gail was sweet enough to change legs with Karen to give her more time feel better.  My third and final leg of the run was really good.  I was worried after the hard time I had the night before, but it was good and motivating. 

The one mile to go sign was our favorite site during the runs!

I am so proud of our team!  Much to our dismay, we did live up to our name.  We were the very last team to finish...but barely.  And technically, we finished ahead of several teams who didn't finish.  There were a few teams we started with and really wanted to beat.  "We got the runs" was the team we most wanted to beat.  We heard they had some difficulties and didn't exactly run the race the right way...so we were last to the finish line but to us we still beat "we got the runs".

During the race, I made the big mistake and said I would never do another Ragnar race again.  Of course, I have revised that decision and would LOVE to do another Ragnar.  I'm thinking Havard to Yale or Wisconsin to Chicago. 

Here we are at the finish line!  What an amazing experience!

Nashville Women's Half Marathon

Yesterday was the inaugural Nashville Women’s Half Marathon. In my previous post, I talked about what made yesterday such a difficult day. However, I don’t want to forget what a great race it was! Prior to the race Mark and I had both volunteered for the race expo which was a lot of fun. It was great to see so many women excited about running. Women from 43 states registered for the Nashville Women’s Half Marathon. Amazing!

I will admit I had looked up the race course elevation map, which was probably not the best idea. As you can see it looks a little scary. Little did I know the actual course would be even harder than I thought! It was a really tough course and everyone should feel very accomplished just for finishing!

After the girls I run with and I had looked at the elevation map, we decided our goal was to finish together and smiling. We also decided we would have fun with it and enjoy ourselves. Mark and Erin were our personal paparazzi. We stopped to have our picture taken at some of Nashville’s recognizable places: the Hustler Hollywood store, Musica and Deja Vu.

Chrystyna, Gail, Nicole and I all finished within a couple minutes of each other. Victoria, Jeanie and Kelly all ran with us at various points. You all made running the race so much fun! I’m so proud of Kelly for finishing her first half and Chrystyna, Victoria and Nicole who all set personal records. My time was faster than my last half though not quite a PR, but I was so happy to help my friends get their PRs. I didn’t fall, which was an improvement from the last race.

One of my favorite things about the race was the personalized bibs. It was cool to have people yell out your name. It also helped when I recognized someone but wasn’t sure about their name. And it was a great way to motivate people who looked like they needed some extra encouragement. I also love the charm inside the medal; I’m wearing mine on a necklace right now.

Being a first year event, I was curious to see how the course support and cheerleading was going to be. It was fabulous! The Zumba team was my favorite. I’m sure they worked just as hard as the runners.

Congratulations to Women’s Running Magazine and to all the women who finished the race! It was a great event!

Lynn Manzelmann

I’ve heard of runners collapsing on the course or near the finish line. I know it happens, thankfully rarely. Without looking it up, it seems like overheating or exhaustion would be the leading causes. It seems reasonable to jump to the conclusion that maybe the person wasn’t adequately trained. But as I learned, that wasn’t the case at all.


Yesterday after the Women's Half Marathon, while still in the post race party area, I heard a runner had collapsed near the finish line. It’s a sad thing to hear. You don’t expect it to be someone you know. Or someone you’ve talked to the last few weeks about training. Or someone who helped start and lead a training group.

Lynn Manzelmann is the runner who went down just before the finish line. I’d talked to her before the race. Along with other members of Nashville Cable, a women’s networking group, we’d gotten together before the race and had a picture made. Before the picture, she was telling me about the intervals they were going to do. She was so excited and so vibrant! I saw her running with some other fabulous ladies from CABLE at the half way point; she looked fantastic.


Lynn was well trained. She’d been training as long or longer than many other people running in the race. She had a heart attack. It was a 90% blockage. The last update I got last night from one of her good friends at the hospital was that her organs were shutting down, but she was hanging on. She needs a miracle to make it.


She’s strong. She’s a fighter. And she has a huge host of friends and fellow runners praying for her. Please continue to pray for her.

As a side note, the race was fabulous. I'll have another post this afternoon about the race.

Race Day Confession

Today, I ran the Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon. It was my 3rd half marathon. The course was beautiful! It was a great way to see the city. My training had a little bit of a set back about 6 weeks ago when I tripped on a hickory nut and fell during a training run. I sprained my left ankle and scraped up my right knee pretty bad, and worse, had to take a couple weeks off from running.

The race started off great. I was running just over a 12 minute pace at the 3 mile mark. I was feeling really good about my run so far. Usually, the first 3 miles are my least favorite, but I felt awesome and was making great time. And I must have not been paying much attention, because the next thing I know I was literally being picked up off the ground by a really nice man behind me.


My fall was caused by a place in the road that was broken up and my over confidence and lack of attention to the road in front of me. I reinjured my ankle and scraped up my knee again. UGH! I spent about 10 minutes sitting on the sidewalk in tears hoping I could at least finish the race, but it seemed unlikely since I still had 10 miles to go.


After feeling sorry for myself for a while, I got up and hobbled a few minutes. I decided to test my ankle and see if I could run. I was able to run - most likely because I had my brace on my ankle which minimized the swelling. I was able to finish the race…just a little bit slower than I’d hoped.


Mark always does a great job finding a tall place to stand and cheer for me. I was afraid he would see my knee, which had been bleeding, at mile 6, but he couldn’t see it. It was definitely a tough mental race after I fell. But I’m really glad I could/did keep going!


The highlights of the race - besides the incredible views - were misting stations, ice cold sponges at mile 10, an icy cold towel and popsicles at the end of the run. I had been expecting it to be a little cooler, and actually the first half of the race felt great and then all of sudden the temperature skyrocketed!


The very best part of the race was after I had finished. As I was walking to meet Mark at the family reunion area, a girl came up to me and told me I did a great job. She said she’d been running with me for the last several miles, and I helped her finish. Awwwwwww! This made the whole race so much better for me!