Your First is Always Special

Last year at the Women’s Half Marathon in Minnesota, I saw sisters cross the finish line holding hands.  I’m certain that I teared up in that moment and immediately texted my sister and asked her to run a half with me.  I knew it was something on her bucket it list to do someday.  She replied with something close to “sure”.  I’m almost positive she thought I would forget or let it go. 

I started looking for races for us to register for.  Sarah hates to run in the cold so I knew it would have to be a late spring or early summer race.  I bribed her with a race in California.  And made a case for it to be both a race and a long weekend they could see my brother in law’s family.  Really, how could she say no to race in San Diego?

We started training in March.  My sister and I have always been close.  She’s one of my favorite people to spend time with.  I really enjoyed all of our extra time together as we ran together on average twice a week.  Maybe it’s the big sister in me, but I also loved sharing my knowledge of running with her.  She trusted what I told and pretty much followed the plan I put together. 

I knew she wouldn’t have any trouble after our longest run of 12 miles.  She hardly complained and I was the one slowing us down.  I think there’s a sweet spot between well trained and over trained and I think she was in the perfect place.  I’m not sure she really got excited for the race until a few days before.  But the more excited she got, the more excited I got.

Sarah’s sister in law, Kim, was going to run the race with us.  She has children near the boys age and they all bonded during Sarah and Jeff’s wedding last spring.  It was great for us to all be together for a few days in San Diego. 

On race morning, we left super early to take the shuttle to the race start.  Imagine for a moment the most annoying people you can think of to ride in a shuttle with, and the group of women in our shuttle was worse.  They actually asked us to get out of the shuttle and onto a different one – we politely declined.  They were loud and obnoxious.  Sarah leaned over to me at one point and whispered that no matter how hard the race would be at least we wouldn’t be stuck with them. 

We had lots of time before the race to sit around and prepare for the race.  I’m not sure this was a good thing as it’s easy to overthink before a race.  One of my favorite things about this race was that it benefitted the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  There was a lot of Team in Training runners.  It was a great distraction and made me super proud to be a part of such a great organization.  In the last mile of the race, I saw a lady holding a sign that said, “Thank you from a Leukemia Survivor”.  Talk about powerful, and yes I might have had tears in my eyes.

We started in the corral behind the 2:30 pacer.  I was expecting us to finish with a time around 2:45.  Kim had missed some training and planned to run with us as long as possible.  Part of my running wisdom I had shared with Sarah was to start slow and then to slow down.  If you’ve ever run with me feel free to laugh here.  We walked more in the beginning than we did later in the race.  This was to warm up well and to finish stronger…oh and because the first 3 miles always suck.  We lost Kim somewhere around mile 4, probably because that’s also where I finally feel warmed up (sorry Kim).

Experiencing the race with my sister was like experiencing it for the first time all over again.  It was wonderful and a little magical.  San Diego was my 30^th half marathon.  As you can imagine, I’ve seen almost every sign you can think of.  But I read them all again and laughed with Sarah.  I’ve often said how important spectators are during a race.  Until you’ve run a race, you really don’t understand how much holding a funny sign can help the runner going by.  I also really enjoy spectators who give out goodies during the race.  My favorite this race was a popice popsicle.  I made my sister dash from one side of the road to the other to get one.

There was a guy in front of us the last 8 miles or so with a 3:00 pace bib on.  Sarah kept saying she really wanted to run it in under 3 hours.  I purposely didn’t wear a watch or pay much attention to the timing clocks.  I didn’t want to add any extra pressure.  I was also aware of who was around us, and I knew the 2:45 pacer never passed us.  So every time she said she wanted to finish under 3, I just smiled and said we would. 

We finished in 2:34.  I’m so proud of Sarah!  It took me a long time to get to a finish that fast.  Waiting at the finish line, were our husbands (with signs, sweet guys) and other family and a few friends.  Sarah held it together through the entire race and through the finish.  As we were walking back to meet everyone else, she gave me a huge hug and said thank you and she had big tears in her eyes.  It was one of the moments you know immediately is so special you will cherish it forever.  We barely missed Kim finishing.  She finished in 2:51 – quite impressive since she didn’t get to get to train as much as she wanted.

At the race expo, Sarah and I registered for the Women’s half in Nashville.  It is my personal running philosophy that you should sign up for your second race before you run your first.  And there was a moment during the race where Sarah must have been on a runner’s high where she said maybe (You should know I take maybe as yes.) she would do one travel race a year with me. I never had any doubt that my sister would finish the race.  I was in a little surprised by how gracefully she did it.  I never heard her complain a single time.  We smiled, we laughed and we had a great time.  I couldn’t help but think we captured the spirit of the race perfectly.  

Race 2 - Rock n Roll USA & Chrystyna's PR

Rock n Roll USA was my second race in our insane 3 in 9 day plan.  We flew to Baltimore on Thursday and met Chrystyna and her friend (our new friend) Kristin there.  This was supposed to be a reunion weekend of our original No Boundaries group, but Erin couldn't make it and Mark was home recovering.  We went to the expo as soon as we got into town so we could spend all day Friday being tourists.  I feel like once you've been to one Rock n Roll expo you've seen them all.  This isn't bad since some of my favorite booths are always there, but it's also not very exciting.

We spent Friday sightseeing.  The only thing we were missing were fanny packs.  We went to the American History Museum.  They had some great exhibits.  My favorite was the First Lady's Dresses.  They were so beautiful and it was cool to see fashion change with each inauguration.  We also saw the White House and several monuments.  We had dinner at Filomena Ristorante in Georgetown.  It was so good.  It was a memorable experience, not just because of the food, but also it had the most Easter decorations I've ever seen.  I'm pretty sure the Easter Bunny actually lives there.  We also had cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes, which is featured on TLC's DC Cupcakes.  I haven't seen the show, but the cupcakes were a great pre-race food. 

Chrystyna had said that she would like to PR this race.  Her previous PR was 2:38ish.  I knew I could pretty comfortably get her a faster time than that.  She had a few goals - PR, under 2:35 and a 2:30.  We started a little fast but she felt good, so we kept going.  She did great all race.  The really nice people who planned  the course put a mountain at mile 6.  And don't bother telling me there aren't mountains in DC, this was definitely a mountain.  It slowed us down just a touch, but we had made up the time in a mile or so. 

Around mile 10 my watch died.  But I didn't tell her.  I tried to keep glancing at it like I had been all along.   Once she asked if we were on pace to finish in under 2:32.  I lied and told her yes.  I guess it wasn't actually a lie, but I certainly didn't know for sure.  We finished in 2:31:43.  Ironically, we were faster in the last 3 miles after my watch died.  I was very excited that we met 2 of her 3 goals.  The funniest part is when she was a few steps behind me I would try to point out holes or bumps in the road.  She took my pointing to mean I wanted her to speed up.  So funny. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this race.  I think the Rock n Roll series is generally well done.  There was a good bit of sightseeing the first few miles.  We ran past the Washington Monument and the White House and ran to Arlington National Cemetery.  One thing I like that some other races have done, but Rock n Roll doesn't,  is give you a list of some of the things you will pass on the course and their significance.  Something like that would have been great for this race.  The crowd support was awesome!  The waterstops were terrible.  I don't think the race was able to secure enough volunteers.  There were a few waterstops that definitely cost us a little time.  Oh and bag check was a complete disaster.  This is one place this series usually excels at.  But not this race.  The line to drop off your bag (arranged alphabetically) was 20 - 30 people long and slow moving.  Picking up the bags post race was even worse.

If you're looking to do a race in DC, I would recommend this race.  I'm not sure I would do this one again, mostly because, as my sweet husband tells me all the time, if I want to complete my half marathon in each state goal, I have to stop doing the same races over again.

A New Level of Crazy - Race 1 Tom King

I love the half marathon.  It's my perfect race distance.  There's a good balance between needing to train and keeping a normal life.  Unlike marathon training, where you turn your life over to training.  And shorter distance races don't require enough training for me

As much as I love the half marathon, even I think doing 3 halfs in 9 days is a tiny bit crazy.  But, obviously, I'm a little crazy too.  I blame my dear friend Chrystyna for giving us this idea.  Truthfully, we all went along with it with very little complaining.  Well, very little until the second race weekend.

Gail, Nicole and I did our first race as Tom King the weekend before our double race.  Chrystyna is doing hers the weekend after (tomorrow, actually).  She lives in Dallas now (yeah, I'm still a tiny bit sad about it).  So we decided we'd do 2 of the 3 races together.

This is my fourth year to run Tom King.  It was my very first half marathon in 2010.  Here are the things I love about this race - you get to see a lot of friends on the out and back course and you get to finish inside LP Field.  Everyone talks about it like it's a super easy half (is there such a thing really?).  But every year, I find myself thinking about how hard it is.  There isn't a lot of crowd support, and I love the distraction of people cheering and creative signs.  And even though it is relatively flat, it's not my favorite course.

This year I had a blister come up on the bottom of my right foot.  I could feel it start about mile 6.  My shoes were relatively new, but I'd already run the New Orleans half on them with no problems.  And my socks were my most faithful brand (feetures).  By mile 8, I could feel the blister growing.  And finally between mile 10 and 11, it burst.  OUCH!  I have had plenty of blisters, but never had one burst open.  And I hope never too again. 

I had planned to run the race with my friend Lauren.  She was going to pace me to a new PR.  My goal was 2:14:59 or faster.  But it wasn't meant to be this race.  Mark had his hip replacement done just 2 days before the race. I spent the 2 nights prior to the race sleeping in a hospital chair.  They say it folds out to a cot, but I'm in disagreement.  Not exactly a strong pre-race plan.  I backed out of running with her the morning of the race.  It worked out well for her.  She ran the 5k with her husband (his first) and was super speedy. 

Even with the blister and the sleeping in the chair, it was the fastest I have run this race.  Every year, I swear I'm not running this half again next year, but I always change my mind.  I've said I won't run it again, but I'm sure I'll be there next year too.

Mark's surgery went well.  This time he had a full hip replacement.  The recovery has seemed to be much easier and less painful than the other two fixations.  Thankfully, the surgeon who did the replacement suggested Mark see an Endocrinologist.  We learned that his pituitary gland is not functioning properly.  He is very low on several hormones.  Most likely this is the reason the other two surgeries did not work and the reason the fracture occurred in the first place. 

The big question is will Mark run again.  Everyone seems to have a different opinion on this.  The doctor said once he's completely healed and released he can run again.  The risk is he will have to have his hip replaced again sooner than if he doesn't run.  But because Mark is younger than most replacement patients, he'll have to have it replaced again anyway.  The doctor did suggest maybe shorter distance races or tris.  Ultimately, it's really up to Mark if he wants to run again.  We have 2 friends who have had replacements and still run.  I try not to push for one way or the other (I'd be annoyed if someone, even Mark, tried to tell me I should or shouldn't run).  I think he will run.  He loves it too much to give it up. 

Races & Goals for 2013

I'm a girl who loves a goal.  Without goals, life would be boring, right?  I have so many running goals for this year it's hard to keep up with them.  They range from states, to times, to stretching my comfort zone to running with new groups.

Let's start with the comfort zone stretching and new groups.  Last week I ran with the Lululemon Hill Center group on Thursday morning.  I'm definitely a midpack runner and my fear when I run in a new race or group is that everyone will be faster than me.  I know this fear is irrational.  And that even if everyone is faster than me, that it's not a big deal.  I never considered not going to the run, but as the run started, I definitely considered going back to my car.  The work out was a speed/track workout and, though intimidating and slightly painful, it was awesome!  It felt so good to push myself.  I hope to make it to this run at least every other week when I don't have to get Jesse to school.  I also want to run with the Nolensville running club.  I'm scared of them too, but I have several friends there so hopefully, I won't get left behind.  At least not the first week.

When we did the Women's Half Marathon in Minnesota last August, I saw a group of sisters finish the race holding hands and wearing matching shirts.  Yes, I realize how incredibly cheesy this sounds.  But I want it all the same.  Since then I've been begging my sister to run a race with me.  I've finally gotten her to agree to run the San Diego Half in June.  And her sister in law is running it too.  I'm so excited.  I can't wait to start training with her and designing the most ridiculous shirts/tanks I can for the three of us.  I'm also hoping that after Mark has his hip replacement and recovers that we will be able to run together again this year.  Even if it's just a short fun run.

I have time goals I want to reach in 2013.  I PRd both the half and full distance in 2012.  And, of course, I need to beat those times in 2013.  My current half PR is 2:18.  My goal is 2:14:59 or faster.  I have a couple of goal races for that time.  I also want to finish a marathon in 4:59:59 (5:21 is my current PR) or faster.  I'm not completely certain I can do that this year, since the marathon I want to finish is Nike Women's in San Fransisco.  But that's my goal and I'm willing to put in the work to get there.  I've never been consistent with speed work or tempo runs, but I know I have to improve and commit to them to reach my time goals.

I want to do Nike Women's as a part of Team in Training.  Which means I'll be begging everyone I know to contribute to my fundraising.  Believe me, if it wasn't an organization I believe in and support whole heartedly I wouldn't do it.  It's an incredible cause that supports and changes the lives of people with blood cancer.  More on that in a future post. 

As for other races in 2013.  I've bought the Rock n Roll Tour Pass which lets me run in as many of their North American runs as I want.  I'm doing all halfs with the pass.  They include New Orleans, USA, Country Music, San Diego and Vegas.  I'm also considering Philly, Chicago, St. Louis and Denver if I can get the schedule and budget to cooperate.  Other halfs for the year include Mississippi Blues, Virginia Beach (as part of a double weekend with the RnR USA), Tom King (with my bestie Julie), and the Knoxville half marathon.

Today, Gail, Nicole and I ran the 11.2 mile loop at Percy Warner park.  In nearly 3 years of half and marathon training, I've managed to avoid this training run.  Not always on purpose, I should add.  I feel a tiny bit guilty that I haven't done it before today.  Running this course feels like a rite of passage in the running community.  It's one of the hilliest and most challenging courses you can get here.  But it's beautiful and it feels like you've really accomplished something when you are done.  See I'm stretching my comfort zone already.  It's going to be a great year of running. 

A Fresh Start

I've never been so excited for New Year's Eve.  And it has nothing to do with our plans to celebrate at midnight. 2012 has been full of challenges, heart break and hard times.  As hard as it has been for me, I can't even describe what a painful year it's been for Mark.  I think I will always refer to 2012 as Hell Year.  Several people have said to us that you get a year like the one we've had every 10 years or so.  I'm hoping we don't see another year this difficult for a very long time.  

It's not been all doom and gloom.  I love to travel and have been fortunate enough go to some fun places with our family and great friends.  I was able to set a new half marathon and marathon pr (hopefully, I'll be saying this again next year).  I love my job, and I've been blessed with an amazing year professionally.  Aside from Mark's hip, we are all healthy and I couldn't be more thankful for that.  And finally, our family also grew this year when my sister married the perfect man for her in April. 
 
My very wise and wonderful friend Daeon said to me earlier this year that if my family had a theme it would be "overcome."  I can't list the number of times I've reflected on this statement.  It's something Mark and I have held onto this year like it was some kind of armor.  I'm sure she had no idea how impactful her words were when she said them.  More than anything else, I'm thankful for all the amazing people we have in our life.  As hard as this year has been, there hasn't been one moment where we haven't felt well loved by so many people in our lives.

I'm so grateful for the symbolic fresh start that the New Year brings. The theme for 2013 is going to be a year of healing and strengthening for us.  Last week I spent almost a whole day writing out all of my goals - professional, personal and family.  I have some really big and exciting goals.  And I'm ready to get started on them tomorrow.  Happy New Year everyone!

Mark's Dad

On Thursday afternoon, Gail, Nicole and I were on our to Savannah, Georgia for a race on Saturday.  We'd only made it to Murfreesboro when Mark's aunt called and told me we needed to come to Knoxville and be with Mark's dad, RT, that he had been admitted to the hospital in serious condition.  We quickly turned the car around and I went back to pick Mark up.  All I could get her to tell me about his condition is that he has severe pneumonia.  But it was pretty obvious there was more to the story. 

I picked Mark up and we drove to UT Medical Center.  When we got here we talked to his dad for a little while and then sat down with his uncles and aunts.  They proceeded to tell us that his dad was diagnosed with lung cancer in June (yes, June!).  And that he hadn't really told anyone what was going on.  We think he wanted to decide on a treatment plan before telling us.  And yes, it was taking him a really long time to decide on a course of action.  Wednesday morning he had a doctor's appointment.  He had also not been feeling well.  They did another scan and found the cancer had spread to his liver and bones. 

Friday morning when we talked to the doctor she said it is stage 4 terminal lung cancer.  And there is really nothing that can be done.  If he recovers from the pneumonia enough we could discuss chemo, but it would only buy a little time and could make what time he has left very uncomfortable.  She also did tell us that even if he had taken action when he first found out, the outcome would most likely not be any different.  She called this cancer aggressive, ugly and evil.  I couldn't agree more.

Today has been a pretty good day.  He's currently sitting up in bed working on orders and other stuff for his store.  It seems like the pneumonia is getting better which is giving him more energy.  The whole experience has been a roller coaster of emotions.  Tonight we've been at the hospital for 3 full days, but it feels like a month. 

Jesse and Matthew came up on Friday afternoon.  I'm so thankful they got to see RT several times this weekend when he was feeling pretty good.  I'm also more grateful than I can put into words to Gail and Nicole.  They drove on to Atlanta Thursday night.  But on Friday morning, they came to Knoxville instead of going to race (did I mention they were supposed to be staying in a beautiful beach house?).  They were amazing with the boys.  They picked them up from the hospital and kept them all weekend.  Entertaining them and bringing them to the hospital when RT was feeling well.  Mark's aunt and uncle very generously got them a hotel room to stay in.  We've explained the situation and what the outcome will be to the boys.  They get it as much as they can. But I'm so glad they didn't have to be in the hospital with us all weekend. 

I love Mark's dad and my heart is breaking to think about losing him.  But it's absolutely heart wrenching to watch Mark.  Mark is an only child and his dad raised him basically on his own.  Thankfully, Mark is blessed with amazing uncles, aunts and cousins, but as for immediate family RT only has Mark.  They are very close and Mark is hurting so deeply. 

We have so many amazing friends.  I've had lots of calls, texts, emails and facebook messages checking in on us.  We are so appreciative for all of the support.  Most of all we are appreciative of all the prayers.  We are just asking for prayers of comfort and peace.  I've prayed so hard for the last three days.  Most of them start with Dear God Please...and that's about is far as I get.  After that it's all emotion.  I'm thankful he knows my heart and I don't need lots of words. 

We don't really have a good time frame for what is next.  We will talk to the doctor again tomorrow.  We've heard everything from it could be hours or days to a few months.  I would love it if Mark could have more quality time with his dad, but I don't want him to suffer. 

Life is so precious.  Please don't take it for granted.  Be sure everyone you love knows how much you love them.  Tell them often.  And all of those things you want to do, now is the time to start.

The Chicago Marathon

The Chicago Marathon was the most awesome race experience I've had so far.  All the stars aligned creating nearly perfect racing conditions.  I was feeling the best I had felt in months physically.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect - overcast, 30's to start the race and never over mid 50's.  Of course, I did whine about it being chilly at the start (to answer your question, yes I always whine about some facet of the weather).  Even with an ideal race morning, I still had a few doubts and my less confident self tried to talk me out of doing the race...I'm so glad I won the argument over her!

Nicole, Jeanie, Gail and I were all doing the race.  I practically begged Nicole to run with me...in a way that made it sound like I wanted to run with her.  Really, I knew it would be a better experience with someone than by myself.  Nicole and I had matching outfits for the race before we left home.  But with the chillier temps we bought very loud, nearly obnoxious capri pants to wear instead of shorts.  Thus breaking the first rule we ever learned from our coaches at Fleet Feet about racing - nothing new on race day! 

Wearing a matching outfit with the person I ran with was a great idea, making it a bright orange and purple outfit that you can't miss was a stroke of genius. Why?  Because for 26.2 miles, people commented on our outfits constantly.  Other runners, spectators, and volunteers all said something to us.  It was extremely encouraging.  And when you really want to punch something at mile 23, you can't help but smile when someone tells you they love your outfit.  We may never win a race, but I think we have best dressed covered.

It's no secret that I love the city of Chicago.  It's one of my favorite places to go.  Sometimes Mark and I daydream about moving there someday (as long as I can have a winter home at a beach).  The absolute best way to see a city is by running.  We saw so many parts of the city I hadn't been to before and I loved all of it!  My favorites were Lincoln Park and Chinatown.  At one point in the race, we ran past a large nursing home.  Lots of the people there were looking out their windows and waving.  I smiled and waved.  When I looked around every runner I could see was also looking up and waving.  It was a wonderful, heart warming moment.

The race had a vibe about it that I hadn't experienced before.  I've been to some well supported races before, but nothing like this.  I wore my ipod for the first three miles but never turned it on.  At mile 3 I took it off and put it away.  There was music through most of the course and the crowd support was astounding.  They estimated 1.7 million people came out to see the race. That just amazes me. 

And the crowd wasn't just there to cheer.  They were extremely giving too.  Many had extra water out and available for runners.  Some had tylenol or ibuprofen measured out in little cups, I had brought my own but loved the gesture.  I saw several people giving out pretzels - I did have some of those.  But my favorite was the man at mile 22 who had Nutter Butters.  I wanted to kiss him and propose at the same time.  Luckily for him, I'm already married, so he got the most heartfelt thank you I could muster.

There were so many race volunteers and plenty of water and gatorade stops.  I carried my water bottle, but would have been fine without it.  The water stops were also nice and long and great for walking.  The only downside was the stickiness from gu's and gatorade made it a little hard to walk through.  It wasn't terrible but by mile 20 or so it seemed like a lot of extra effort to get my feet off the ground.

Nicole was the best person to run this race with.  She enjoyed (or faked it) every part of the race.  Well every part except for the grated bridges, where she ran straight for the carpeted side.  I'm thankful they had it carpeted or I may have had to carry her over the bridges.  She sang and danced and high fived her way through the race.  Even when I was feeling like death (about mile 21) she kept singing and dancing with a little running mixed in.  It was infectious.  And it made me stop (figuratively, not literally, thank goodness) and think if you can't enjoy the race and have a good time then there's no reason to do it.

Going into the race my only goal was to finish the race and have fun.  With a couple miles left, I started calculating what I needed to do to PR the race.  Early on we had been moving along nicely, but I knew as we got closer to the end I'd probably slow down - not crash exactly, but close.  It was very hard to keep pushing it at the end, but I tried.  I finished in 5:21:35, which was a PR over my first marathon by just over a minute!  We were also able to finish the race in front of the man dressed like Captain Jack Sparrow, which was a small personal victory.

I'm so proud of Nicole and Jeanie who both finished their first marathon.  And also super proud of Gail who PR'd by more than 20 minutes!  Also, very proud of Mark, who was registered for the race but didn't get to do it (he didn't whine about that nearly as much as I would have). He managed to see us on the course 3 times on crutches - that is love! 

I loved the race and I will do it again. Before my first marathon I had said I would do one and be done. After it, I said I would do one a year. Now after Chicago (my second), I would entertain the idea of doing two a year.