Category: half marathon

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2022 United Airlines NYC Half Marathon – New York, NY (March 20, 2022)

Me at Mile 11 of the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon

Race: United Airlines NYC Half Marathon

Place: New York, NY

Date: March 20, 2022

Time: 1:43:41

If I hadn’t made it clear in years past…I LOVE NEW YORK CITY!! And I hadn’t been back to the Big Apple since I raced the NYC Half Marathon back in 2018. That is way too long…but you know…global pandemic.

Here’s what I can say about going into race day this time around. I made A TON of bad decisions leading into race day. I landed in NYC on Friday…REALLY early. My roommate and I caught an early ass flight out of Louisville to New York, direct flight. Love that story. Maybe not the early ass part, but I mean…it meant more time in the city. We landed, grabbed my luggage, and went to meet our car service to get the lift from LaGuardia Airport to the Chelsea Flower District, to our hotel, The Cambria. The problem was, a truck was blocking the road, so our driver let us out at a corner and told us which way to walk to get to the hotel. Since it was the Flower District…we had to dodge, not just people, but also plants. So. Many. Plants. On. The. Sidewalk. But…somehow I maneuvered my bag (which is as big as me, I swear) to the hotel and we got checked in. Our room wasn’t ready, so we checked our luggage and went out to get coffee and head to the expo.

First flight since 2020!!!

Let’s start with my first mistake…ALL THE WALKING. Granted, the race was 2 days away, but I spent pretty much all of Friday walking the streets of NYC. After not finding an ideal coffee spot, we ended up getting Starbucks…and continued on our way to the race expo. I should have checked the info, because we went to where it had been in the past. Guess what…it had moved. WHOOPS. That will teach me to read all the information they send in those emails. HA!

United Airlines NYC Half Marathon Race Expo!

So, we turned around and started to make our way to the actual expo, which was held this year at Center415. We had to show our Proof of Vaccination and our photo IDs to enter, and that went smoothly. Then it was off to the races…figuratively…because it’s packet pickup. The expo was smaller than I expected, but the process of getting a bib was as easy as showing a QR Code and getting your corral letter stuck onto a bib. Seamless. Went from there to take a couple of pictures and then continued on into the merchandise area. If I liked New Balance shoes, I would have been tempted to buy the special ones they had…but I don’t like New Balance shoes. Instead, my roomie gifted me with a cute running jacket and a t-shirt. I thought about getting one of the winter hats, but they weren’t overly special…so I didn’t. We headed out…and went to wander around Manhattan…with a stop at Tiffany’s (I didn’t buy anything…don’t be shocked). We grabbed a quick lunch of soup at Fresh & Co (because I suddenly realized I was starving). Then we went to Rockefeller Center to watch some people ice skate and to grab chocolate from our favorite chocolate shop.

Food from The Little Beet

We then made the trek back to the hotel to see if we could check in yet. We could not. Booo. So, we went to sit outside in the sunlight for a little while. I don’t like just sitting, but I did it and checked out the menu for where we were going to grab dinner, The Little Beet. After many attempts at getting our room, we were finally given keys and went up to room 1205, which was just off the elevator and in the corner on the left. The rooms were nice. We placed our dinner order and waited for it to be delivered. It was SO GOOD that we ordered from The Little Beet two more times while in the city.

After eating, we got dressed up because we had tickets (my birthday gift to my roommate) to see Come From Away on Broadway (which, let me say right now…one of THE BEST Broadway shows I have seen). I was going to wear heels with my pretty dress, but my roomie talked me out of it. I didn’t have sneakers that matched the dress, but she said no one would care. My coach, Kim, later thanked her for doing that, HA! We made the long walk to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, located between Broadway & 8th Avenue. It was a pretty long walk, so not wearing the heels was actually smart. The show was SO amazing. Like I said, one of the best shows I have seen TO DATE!! Highly recommend. After the show, we made the long walk back to the hotel to shower and get some sleep.

Come From Away on Broadway

Woke up on Saturday morning and headed down to Central Park to do a shakeout run. We finally bought our MetroPass so we could ride the subway. That helped. Way less hiking. I got to Central Park way earlier than expected so went on my 30 minute shakeout…somehow managing to get myself a little lost after turning around and heading right back to where I started. I have the worst sense of direction. THE WORST! But I made it back. And then met one of my favorite Peloton instructors, Mister Power Zone himself – Matt Wilpers. That was really cool. He’s very genuine and just how he is on the screen of the Peloton tread or bike. Took a photo with him and had to get back to the hotel to change and head out because today was “being a tourist day.” Which meant, I was taking my roommate to the Statue of Liberty, because with as many times as we have traveled to NYC…she had never gone to the statue.

Meeting Peloton instructor, Matt Wilpers

Enter my next mistake on this trip. Can you guess what it is? We went down to catch the ferry, which was fine and easy and quick. You did have to go through airport level security, but that wasn’t too bad. We didn’t get a spot to sit down on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. It was chilly on the water, and the wind was really insane. But…we docked and got off the ferry and made our way to the statue. She was just as I remembered her. The crown still isn’t open, but we were allowed to go up to the Pedestal. This is where I made the error of climbing the stairs up to the Pedestal. Sorry, Kim. I wasn’t thinking. It was 215 stairs, or about 10 stories. But, the views were amazing. I did a lot of the infamous “tourist pose”. And after we made the circuit, we went to head back down. More stairs. Good times. After that, the ferry stopped off at Ellis Island. We grabbed a snack after a little wandering about…an orange and some chips. And water. I was terrible at hydrating too. Whoops. When we got back on the ferry, we returned and made our way back to the hotel. Yes…that pretty much took the extent of all day. WORTH IT. The race was the following day, and while we had intended to go get some sushi at a nearby establishment, we opted to order in The Little Beet again. I got more grains this time with my bowl, and added beets (because those are supposed to help with running performance). After that, I foam rolled and stretched and got ready for bed…because the following morning…was RACE DAY!

Climbing the stairs inside the Statue of Liberty

When we were here in 2018, we took the subway to Brooklyn and ended up packed like sardines in the train car. With Covid-19 still being a thing, we opted to skip the subway ride to Prospect Park, and instead hired a car to take us there. It was an easy drive in, and we went across the Brooklyn Bridge, which was really cool. They dropped us off across the street and we went to sit down on a bench for a little bit, since we were still a little early. I brought my pre-race fuel to eat on the walk to the start, but Cathy went ahead and had her breakfast while we waited and chatted and watched some warmers do some strides or get some easy miles in ahead of the race. After a little while, I needed to head into the park and to the corrals…so Cathy went to catch the subway to the Manhattan Bridge and I went to go find some friends inside the park.

Me ahead of heading into Prospect Park for the start of the United Airways NYC Half Marathon

The first sound I heard was the voice of Ali Feller (of the Ali on the Run podcast), which felt so calming, honestly. I ate my overnight oats while I walked the path past the port-a-potties and to the corrals. I was in Corral D, and was hoping to meet up with my friend Andrew and see my friend Shana (she was volunteering at the start). And guess what? I met up with both of them. Shana was at my corral entrance, and we snapped a quick photo together. And Andrew and I got quite a few photos, some with me in my throwaway clothes (which were not human highlighter equivalent), and some of me in my race clothes (way more colorful). It was SO NICE to have someone to chat with while we waited in the corral. He’s just as fun in person as he is on Instagram. We went to run our own races at the start, but we stayed together as we jogged across the line.

This was a different route from the one in 2018. There was much more Prospect Park in this version, including a very annoying hill in the first mile. The start was pretty crowded, so I just tried to stay in the flow and not go out too fast. I succeeded in doing that and even picked up the pace a little as we headed out of the park in the first mile and onto Flatbush Avenue. This was fine…except for the 180 turn before Mile 2. After that…it was just a matter of getting to the Manhattan Bridge. The miles felt fast here, but I knew that Mile 5 was the climb onto the bridge. It was also where I fueled with Maurten. The bridge was a slog to get up, but there were so many people heading up the incline that it didn’t feel too hard. I also knew that somewhere on the opposite side would be my roommate. And boy…was she ever there…screaming her fool head off at me. I gave her a wave and a smile and rounded the corner to head toward FDR Drive…where you can legit SEE the city. I fueled again at Mile 10.

Andrew and me before the start of the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon

I could tell my legs were getting tired way earlier than wanted them too. That climb on the bridge took a lot of speed out of them, especially after spending so much time on my feet in the two days leading up to race day. As I said, many, many mistakes were made. But it was fine, I could do this run, even if I did slow down. I was slowing down. But, I still felt good. So that’s all that mattered.

At Mile 11, as we headed through Times Square, my roomie caught me on the course again. I could hear her over the roar of the crowd, but I never could find her. I gave a wave and smile and focused on now heading up the long and slow climb of 59th Street. We turned a corner and I knew I had about a mile left and we were heading into Central Park. This was the other big difference from 2018…way less time in Central Park. But it was an uphill finish, which is pure evil, but, I had run it in my shakeout run, so I knew that was the case. I tried to pick up my pace, but my legs were toast. I crossed the finish line, and for the first time in a long time, felt wiped. I was DONE.

Me just after the Manhattan Bride

I made sure to pick up my medal and get the little snack bag and a Mylar wrap on my way out of the park. That was a fun little hike, and we were let out at Columbus Circle, which was where I was meeting my roommate. We went to go sit down and my official time popped up. It was a course PR (because new course, LOL), but it wasn’t the time I was hoping to get in the buildup. I was okay with it…kind of. BUT…I did the best I could on that day. That I did know.

After sitting around for a few minutes, we went to hop on the subway to go back to the hotel so I could shower and get changed. I texted my coach and we made plans to meet at her hotel before she left. So, we headed back toward Central Park, and saw the Stranger Things Experience…so we got tickets to do that and then had to duck back into the subway station to get across the street and walk towards Kim’s hotel. I met her in the little hotel restaurant area. And I was so happy to meet her in person for the first time, after having worked with her since December. She is wonderful. And as mad as I wanted to be at myself for my finish time, she kept reminding me that it was a difficult course and I was in the midst of marathon training. I couldn’t be mad. We hung out and talked until it was time to head back and do the Stranger Things Experience. It was free admission, but you end up buying ALL THE THINGS because the show is amazing and it made me want to do a rewatch leading into the new season which comes out next month.

Stranger Things Experience

That night, we got dressed up once again (and this time I did wear heels) and took the subway into Harlem to meet up with our friends Marisa and Jim for dinner. It was so fun to catch up with them (we hadn’t seen them since their wedding) and eat a great dinner. The food is always delicious and the entertainment…amazing. Gotta love a live jazz band. It was loud, but it felt normal. And I’ve been searching for that for years now. Oh, in case you were wondering, I got the Spicy Charred Glazed Cauliflower – roasted tomatoes, bean puree, cilantro-yogurt sauce. It was heaven on a plate!! And I got a celebratory pint of Angry Orchard cider…because it was a celebration! Did I get dessert too? Yes. The pineapple sorbet…which tasted like dole whip. I was so happy.

Jim, Marisa, Me, and Cathy at Red Rooster in Harlem

But I digress…

So…the official results of the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half Marathon was that I finished with an official time of 1:43:41. I was 3605/22,355 finishers this year. I was 823/11,458 female finishers. And I was 87/1640 finishers in my age division. It may not have been the race that I knew I was capable of, but it was the best I could do that day…and I made it to that finish line. I do love running races in NYC…and this is my third time running the NYC Half Marathon (all three times on a different course). I can’t wait to go back to run another race there sooner rather than later this time!

My coach, Kim Conley, and me post-NYC Half Marathon (yep…she raced too and kicked major ass)
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Urban Bourbon Half Marathon – Louisville, KY (October 16, 2021)

Me crossing the finish line of the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon – Louisville, KY

Race: Urban Bourbon Half Marathon

Place: Louisville, Kentucky

Date: October 16, 2021

Time: 1:41:09

I finally returned to an in-person half marathon – and it only seems fitting that it was a local one! Hello, Urban Bourbon Half Marathon. This year, however, the race looked a little different. Because of COVID, the course and the swag that the race offered.

Packet pickup remained the same…being held at Slugger Field. This was a good, open space that allowed people to not be crowded in on each other. That was nice. I wore a mask as it was an indoor space (despite having just been boosted earlier that week), but most people opted not to. And, for the first time in the history of EVER when attending this packet pickup…I had to stand in a line. Normally I can walk right up to a table and get my bib number, wristband, and shirt. It was fine. I actually knew a few of the ladies working the tables, so it was fun to catch up while they strapped a wristband for the after party on me and assigned a bib number.

This is where my first complaint came. I thought the second line at the merchandise tent was to pick up the race t-shirt. Except it turns out that this time, we were only getting a UBHM buff in lieu of a shirt. Shirts were there to purchase, with the option of getting a phrase screen printed onto it. But the line was long and I didn’t want to pay extra for a race shirt. I usually LOVE the shirts for this race…and I did love a few of the options hanging up, but not enough to pay extra. I know some people don’t want the shirt and medal these days…but they are both things I look forward to.

Start line smiles!

Another big change was the race course. Normally this race traverses downtown Louisville and takes you into the beautiful (and hella hilly) Cherokee Park, before returning you to downtown. This year, the course ran over the Big 4 Pedestrian Bridge and into Jeffersonville, Indiana. You ran down to the Falls of the Ohio, before turning and heading back to the bridge and coming back across into Kentucky. It was fine…but those last couple miles winding up and down the waterfront were terrible. And it was a super windy day, so being right on that water with the wind wasn’t fantastic either. But I’ll get into that a little later.

Race morning. I woke up early enough to get dressed and eat something ahead of time. Then I got on my Peloton app, and did a stretch with Becs Gentry and a 5 min pre-run warm up with Adrian Williams. Then I mixed up my Maurten 160, brushed my teeth, let my roommate pin my bib on, and we were out the door and on our way across the bridge to Louisville.

Parking was super easy, as there were many options that were near both the start and the finish. Once we were parked, we stayed in the car for a few minutes before heading out, as I had to meet both the local She Runs This Town (SRTT) and BibRave people for pre-race photos. It was so much fun standing around and meeting and talking to friends and new friends. It’s one of my favorite parts of race day. And it was then that I realized…

I really missed race days.

SRTT Louisville Chapter

Once photos were taken, race start was getting close, so everyone scattered to get into the corrals. I walked the long way around (I was anticipating a 1:45 finish)…and went into the corrals from the back instead of the front. Whoops. But it was fine. People were spaced out enough that moving up in the corrals wasn’t anything like 2019…where I literally had to elbow my way up to a spot further up in the corrals. So, that was nice. The Churchill Downs bugle player played the national anthem and soon…the starting pistol was fired…and we were off.

The start of the race is pretty fast. It headed straight down East Main Street, taking you out of the downtown area toward the waterfront and to the pedestrian bridge. You are heading into Mile 2 when you make the spiral climb up the ramp on the Kentucky side of the bridge. When you reach the top, it’s a straight shot across the river. The mile marker for Mile 2 was early on the bridge. I actually uncovered my watch because I had passed it and it had been longer than I expected to hear my watch beep. But the rest of the mile markers were pretty spot on.

The Indiana part of the run was pretty straight forward, and really damn flat. YAY! In fact, a good chunk of it ran the 5K course I did awhile back (which I didn’t blog about…but here we are…). You basically turn and run parallel to the Ohio River until you turned around at the Falls of the Ohio visitor’s center. It was somewhere heading out that way that the leader of the race passed going the opposite direction. He had so much space behind him. Legit…daylight. I said something to the effect aloud to the people running near me, but they didn’t seem to care about my statement. LOL! When the loop to turn around happened, the fun really started. It was at this point that, with the sun blinding me, I got SO MANY shoutouts from my friends who were racing and heading to the turn around point. I couldn’t see any of them, but I waved and woooooo’d accordingly when someone shouted my name. It was such a highlight of this race. We looped through a different section of Jeffersonville and then headed back to the bridge. This was Mile 6. I fueled here and started up the ramp to the bridge once again.

BibRave Pros at the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon

Crossing the bridge was easy. You can’t get flatter than a pedestrian bridge. The legs recovered from the climb and settled in. I was looking forward to the descent down the winding side back into Louisville. Because if you know anything about me…it’s that I love downhills. Downhill is my favorite speed. The small crowd at the bottom of said descent was amazing. Someone shouted out my bib number and told me I looked strong. Over half the race was done. Settle in. Run strong.

From here, ran up a road that was mostly open to traffic, save for a lane made with cones for the runners to run safely in. We turned and headed back on a road we had previously run heading to the walking bridge. But this time we turned and made our way up a small hill to run past Lynn Family Stadium, home of Louisville’s two professional soccer teams, Louisville City FC, and Racing Louisville FC. I’m a season ticket holder…that’s a second home, it seems.

The next stretch of race was hopping onto the Beargrass Creek Greenway. This was a shaded section on a narrower path. It had been closed for awhile, so I hadn’t run it in YEARS. But I remember enjoying it in the summer because of all the shade on those hot morning runs. You come out of there and turn right and head down a straightaway toward Mile 10. I fueled one last time before the final 5K push to the finish.

This is where it got a little crazy. The last 3 miles were on the waterfront…but this made for some confusing turns (they were labeled with yellow arrow things on the ground, but legit, some ladies just ahead of me almost went the wrong way). And no one was at the point to really direct. But, we all got it sorted and started along the path. In these last 3.1 miles, there were a lot of 90 degree turns and even some loose gravely, bumpy path. That being said, the local SRTT (She Runs This Town) chapter had some ladies at the last water stop that created a fun scream tunnel as we all came into the last 1.5 miles. That was a much-needed and appreciated pick-me-up that late in the race. I still felt amazing…so, I plugged into the final miles and before I knew it, we were turning to run up a hill and start down the straightaway to 4th Street, where the finish line was.

Strong start at the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon

The crowed at and near the finish was great…and I crossed feeling amazing still and smiling. I smiled so much, because I have missed doing endurance runs. I realized, as I saw the clock though, that I was much faster than my marathon pace, and had kept it pretty steady on the final half of the run. A nice volunteer put a medal around my neck and I went to meet Cathy, grab a Kind Bar and some water and head to the after party.

The band hadn’t started just yet, but there was pizza and beer. I can’t have either, so I gifted mine to Cathy. She gladly enjoyed both of those things. We headed back to see about getting my medal engraved and discovered that I had come in 2nd in my Age Group. I rarely place in races that are half marathon or marathon distances. So that was a nice surprise. With the medal engraved, I went to stand in line to buy a t-shirt, but then opted against it.

I was getting chilled just standing there in the wind, and we had some errands to run, so we left as the after party was starting up to hike back to the car. Honestly, the years I have done this and stuck around to enjoy more of the after party…it’s a fun time. It’s a great time to meet back up with friends post-race.

In the past, age group winners were given a custom bourbon-themed award. This year they were given a voucher to get something from the t-shirt booth. Since I didn’t stick around, I never got mine and I was going to say no one reached out to me about it. But this week, I received an email from the UBHM asking those who weren’t able to stick around for the awards to email them and they would get us in touch with someone at the company. They did that, and I am currently still waiting to hear back from Fine Design (the company that did the merchandise). So we shall see if I hear back.

So, my official results of the 2021 Urban Bourbon Half Marathon are that I finished in I finished in 1:41:09. I was definitely running it faster than my coach wanted me to, but I never felt like I was pushing it. I felt like it was comfortable and occasionally comfortably hard. Maybe I am fitter than my summer running made me believe. I was 146/1755 finishers overall. I was the 31/929 female finishers. And I was 2/251 in my age division (which went 41-50 and not the standard 5 years). Very proud of the way I ran this race and how I felt the entire time. I dialed in my nutrition and hydration and felt amazing the entire time. While I am kind of over the Kentucky/Indiana combo races, I get why I had to happen that way this year. I hope to return to a more traditional course next year. Fingers crossed.

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2020 Publix Atlanta Half Marathon – Atlanta, GA (March 1, 2020)

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Me in front of the Olympic Rings in Centennial Olympic Park after the 2020 Publix Atlanta Half Marathon – Atlanta, GA

Race: 2020 Publix Atlanta Half Marathon

Place: Atlanta, Georgia

Date: March 1, 2020

Time: 1:50:02

Back in 2014…I ran the Publix GEORGIA Marathon.  I had been coming back from an injury (no shock there)…but I finished it strong and felt good.  In 2019, it was re-branded as the Atlanta Marathon/Half Marathon/5K (which makes sense as it is held in Atlanta).  Also, it got a new course.  So, it was going to look different from the time I ran the full thing, right?

But…I think they somehow made it hillier.

I’m getting ahead of myself.

Please note…it’s been almost 3 months since I ran this…because as we all know…life got pretty crazy shortly after this…so I might not have much to say in regards to the course or the race, other than it was cold AF, hilly AF, and my hip still hurt like a mother.

But we were doing this thing.

Woke up early.  Cathy had to get up with the alarm this time as she had signed up for the 5K.  Hey, if there is bling involved and she can guarantee that she’ll be at the finish line to see me finish…those 5K races that run with the longer runs are her sort of thing.  She was pretty certain we’d be finishing close together given that the 5K started about an hour after the marathon and half went off, so it would be close.  I also told her, though, not to fret anything since I definitely wasn’t 100%.

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When you cut your garbage bag wrong…

So, we got dressed, fueled, and she cut up some garbage bags for us to huddle in to attempt to keep warm on the walk over to the start line.  Except she cut her bag wrong so the holes were not in the right spot.  Meaning, she cut a hole in her stomach area…so she looked more like a Care Bear and had a definite draft.  We couldn’t do anything about it, and as I am definitely more cold natured than her…I got the properly cut trash bag and she got the one that she hadn’t unfolded properly before taking scissors to it.  Please note…she learned a valuable lesson.

We headed out of the hotel room and took the elevator down to the lobby.  And we struck out toward Centennial Park, where the race would start and finish.  Temperatures were in the low 30s.  It was windy (although NOTHING near what it was the day before when the Olympic Marathon Trials ran).  And I was noshing on a banana as we made our way to the start area.  Because of how cold it was, we sort of just gave ourselves enough time to get down there with only a little bit of time to spare, but enough that we weren’t stressed out and making a mad dash through the streets to get to the start corrals.

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Pacer Meb Keflezighi

Had my leg/hip felt 100%…I had given some thought to hanging with the 1:40 pace group, which was being paced by Meb Keflezighi.  That would have been a dream.  But since I had to go to physical therapy and back off my training runs…it wasn’t completely out of the question, but it was a definite pipe dream.  I lined up further back, keeping my trash bag on for as long as I could prior to the start.

Here was the really cool thing about the USA Olympic Marathon Trials happening the day before – MOST of the Olympic Team came down to watch the start of the race – despite it being early and cold.  The only one who didn’t put in an appearance was Galen Rupp (not surprised – I acknowledge his skill as a marathoner, but I just don’t like him).  The rest of them came down.  AND…Alaphine Tuliamuk (the women’s first place finisher), stayed down there for the ENTIRETY of the start line from the marathon/half start to the last 5K runner to cross.  And she was not only speaking to the runners, but taking selfies and the like with them.  Because she’s amazing.

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Alaphine Tuliamuk taking selfies at the start line

After the National Anthem was sung, I did shed the garbage bag, wearing my BibRave t-shirt (with arm warmers because…it was cold, duh) for the first time at an event.  This one wasn’t a BibRave event…but I’m doing my part to represent.  I gave my hip a little bit of a warmup with some dynamic moves in the tight confines of the corral…and then…we were off.

I waived to Cathy as I ran by, my hip doing okay for this part.  Even being sent up a hill almost immediately.  That was good, because that wouldn’t last long.  And while the hip would eventually succumb to all the uphills and the cold…any movement I could manage without it bothering me…I was grateful for.

Also, on an interesting note…the FAQs for this race said that hydration packs were not allowed.  I saw a lot of people running with them, but I opted to obey the rules and ran with my hydration belt instead.  I hadn’t done that in a LONG time during a race, but as I had to use it for a bit of training while waiting on new bladders for my vest to come in the mail, I wasn’t completely out of practice yet.

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You know I had to be in all the colors…this was at the start line!

This race weaves through Atlanta completely now…whereas before, when it was the Georgia Marathon/Half Marathon, it went out to Decatur and would come back into Atlanta.  Not anymore.  Now it’s completely inside the city.  With this new course, I think I was glad it wasn’t this way when I ran it in 2014…because I think the hills are worse.  With the leg/hip issue happening, I legit had no power on any of the uphills.  You better believe I lived for those downhills though.

At one point, as the sun was coming out, I went to tuck my pink knit gloves into the back of my hydration belt…but I lost them.  It made me sad, as those were the best gloves (and pink still represents my mom – a breast cancer survivor).  But, they are throw-away gloves for a reason, I guess.  At another point, I spotted someone I know from Instagram, running just up ahead.  I wished I had the go-power to get up to her and run with her or at least say “HI.”  But…meh…not happening.  She finished up three minutes ahead of me…because she’s awesome.  So…HI KRISTIN STOKES!

I will say, I think the hill around Mile 12 was the one that did me in.  I felt like I was crawling up it.  My hip was done with the entire experience, so I basically crawled it in to the finish.  No finish line sprint.  Nothing.  Just a jog.

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Cathy and I at the Olympic Rings at Centennial Park in Atlanta, GA

But, Cathy had managed to finish her 5K just ahead of Meb…which meant she had about 10 minutes before I came in.  She found a spot to watch the finish line…and when I crossed I was so happy to be done.  Maybe not Kauai Marathon happy…but it might have been close.

I walked through and got my medal and some snacks before meeting up with Cathy.  We went to go take some pictures with the Olympic rings before heading back to the hotel to clean up, shower, pack, and head down to snag lunch at Walburgers before hopping on the MARTA to head to the airport for our flight home.  Walburgers had a bit of delay on opening due to a problem with with the water or electricity or something.  We hung out with some ladies and made friends with them.  When they did open, we were taken upstairs and seated, and then just after we placed our order, our friends Tammy and Dean showed up and joined us.  YAY!  It was nice to sit and catch up with them (Tammy had also done the 5K and Dean did the half ).  Also, Walburgers is great with the gluten-free options.  I had my first ever Impossible Burger on the gluten free bun…with gluten free Sweet Potato Tots.  It was…awesome.

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Lunch at Walburgers!

Eventually we did have to head out to the airport.  We hugged Tammy and Dean (this was when that was still allowed, which now seems weird) and made our way to the MARTA to head home.

So, my official results of the 2020 Publix Atlanta Half Marathon are that I finished in I finished in 1:50:02. Not bad on a gimpy leg, right?  I know for a fact that I would have been able to deliver better had my training and my hip been 100%.  But you do what you can when you can , right?  I was 1346/5809 finishers overall. I was the 531/3189 female finishers. And I was 99/486 in my age division.  Considering an unusual night before the race happened…with a late dinner…and lots of time standing the day before, topped with hip/leg issues…I’ll take the hell out of this result.  Couldn’t be prouder of myself for sticking it out and getting to that finish line.

Just goes to show you…if you set your mind to something…you can do hard things.

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Review: Body Helix Thigh Compression Sleeve

Disclaimer: I received a Body Helix Thigh Compression Sleeve to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!

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Body Helix Thigh Compression Sleeve

It’s hard to change when something feels off on your body.  Do you run through it?  Do you take time off?  As some of you know, I had something flair up in my hip/leg/quad/hamstring back in January.  After a mile or so, it normally settled down and I could run confidently without feeling I was making something worse.  That is…until one day I knew something was defintely wrong, when I felt I was fighting for every step and I was limping later in the afternoon after a 10 mile run.

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Wore my Body Helix Thigh Compression Sleeve in the Publix Atlanta Half Marathon!

Talk about good timing for my Body Helix Thigh Compression Sleeve to arrive.  I had a few options to choose from to test out, but I already wear my compression socks and sleeves (so I didn’t want calf sleeves).  I don’t have knee issues, so I skipped the knee option.  And I had no reason to get anything for my arms (so that elbow sleeve wasn’t necessary).  That left the thigh sleeve.  And I had never seen a thigh sleeve option before.  And with my hamstrings and quads giving me some issues…it was the logical choice.

A few days later, it arrived and I couldn’t wait to test it out.

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Body Helix was founded by world-ranked tennis player, Fred Robinson, and physician, Thomas E. Parker, MD.  The compression wraps were developed based on both the science of movement and the research on injury management.  Each sleeve is made with a material that would stretch, rebound, and stay in place.  And, of course, that would be comfortable and effective to wear during exercise.

Body Helix’s tagline is “Move Through It.”  Well, thanks to the thigh compression sleeve they sent me…I was able to do just that.

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The package arrived and not only included my compression sleeve (which I got in a stunning plum color), but it also had a card with a note from the CEO and Chairman on one side…and WASHING INSTRUCTIONS on the other side.  FINALLY!  Compression that comes with instructions on how to wash it!  BONUS!  (For the record, it goes in the washing machine and dryer…how awesome is that?).  It also had a page of all their compression options included.

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And after getting cleared to run by my physical therapist, I went out for my first run in over three weeks after the leg pain wasn’t something that I felt would be okay for me to run through.  And guess what?  It felt great.  The sleeve easily slid up and over my leg, settling perfectly on my thigh.  It was a fantastic fit too.  Not too tight…but not going to slide down my leg either.  Which was my biggest concern going into this.  Nothing would suck more than heading out to run and having your compression just continue to slide down and making me have to stop and pull it back up.  It stayed put.  It stayed tight.  It gave me support and I was able to run, and not hobble or limp, through my runs.  And, it fits under your running shorts/tights without looking, feeling, or actually being bulky. Long runs, short runs, and even some speed work…my Body Helix Compression Sleeve worked like a charm.  It arrived at just the right time.  Now I don’t know what I would have done without it.  And going forward, I know I’ll be using it as I work on rehabbing this leg and getting back to being 100%.

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Can’t even see the Body Helix Thigh Compression Sleeve under my tights.

Want to try Body Helix yourself?  Use code “BH15BR” to save 15% on everything on http://bodyhelix.com/

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BibRave Discounts!!

Hey everyone!!  Here is a list of this year’s discounts on races and swag, brought to you by BibRave!  I am a new BibRave Pro this year…and am LOVING it.  BibRave is a running community that connects runners with the best races and allows you the opportunity to research races you are considering signing up for, as well as leave feedback for the races you have completed.  If you haven’t checked it out yet…head over there.

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The list below is all of the current active BibRave partner race discount codes. Use the codes below to receive discounts on registration for our partner races. Visit https://www.bibrave.com/ for more information and contact info@bibrave.com with any questions!

January 2020

1/1/2020 – 465 Virtual Challenge

Use code “BIBRAVE” for 10% off

1/11/2020 – Times-Union Half Marathon & 5K- Jacksonville, FL

Use code “RUN15” for 15% off

1/11/2020 – Irvine Half Marathon & 5K- Irvine, CA

Use code “BRIRVINE” for 10% off

1/12/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate San Francisco – San Francisco, CA

Use code “BRHCSANFRAN19” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

1/18-1/19/2020 – Marathon Bahamas (Sunshine Insurance Race Weekend) – Bahamas

Use code “MBSPECIAL” for 10% off!

1/19/20 – Key West Half Marathon & 5K – Key West, FL

Use code “BIBRAVE20” for 20% off half marathon.

February 2020

2/1/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate Houston – Houston, TX

Use code “BRHCHOUSTON20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

2/2/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate Atlanta – Atlanta, GA

Use code “BRHCATL20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

2/2/2020 – San Jose 408K Race to the Row – San Jose, CA

Use cod “BIBRAVE2020” for 10% off

2/2/2020 – Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon – San Francisco, CA

Use code “KPSFBIBRAVE” for $5 off the 5k, 10k and half marathon

2/8/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate Dallas – Dallas, TX

Use code “BRHCDALLAS20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

2/8/2020 – Hilton Head Marathon, Half, 8K – Hilton Head, SC

Use code “HH15” for 15% off

2/9/2020 – Life Time Miami Marathon & Half Marathon – Miami, FL

Use code “BIBRAVEMIAMI” for $5 off!

2/15/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate Nashville – Nashville, TN

Use code “BRHCNASH20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

2/16/2020 – Honda Miles Per Hour Run – Chicago, IL

Use code “RAVEMPH” for $5 off individual or team entry

2/22/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate Charlotte – Charlotte, NC

Use code “BRHCCHARLOTTE20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

March 2020

3/1/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate Seattle – Seattle, WA

Use code “BRHCSEATTLE20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

3/1/2020 – 305 Half Marathon & 5K – Miami Beach, FL

Use code “BIBRAVE305” for $5 off half only

3/1/2020 – Napa Valley Marathon & Half Marathon – Napa, CA

Use code “BIBRAVE10” for $10 off the full or half marathon distances

3/14/2020 – San Jose Shamrock Run – San Jose, CA

Use code “BIBRAVE2020” for 10% off

3/22/2020 – Oakland Running Festival – Oakland, CA

Use code “OAKLANDRAVE20” for 10% off

3/22/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate San Diego – San Diego, CA

Use code “BRHCSANDIEGO20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

3/22/2020 – DC Wonder Woman Race Series 5k/10K – Tempe, AZ

Use code “BRWWTEMPE” for FREE Wonder Woman hat

April 2020

4/4/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate Louisville – Louisville, KY

Use code “BRHCLOUIS20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

4/4/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate Philadelphia – Philadelphia, PA

Use code “BRHCPHILLY20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

4/4/2020 – Publix Savannah Women’s Half & 5K – Savannah, GA

Use code “BIBRAVE” for 15% off

4/4/2020 – DC Wonder Woman Race Series 5k/10K – Houston, TX

Use code “BRWWHOUSTON” for FREE Wonder Woman hat

4/4/2020 – Carmel Marathon – Carmel, IN

Use code “BIBRAVE5” for $5 off

4/4/2020 – Salisbury Marathon – Salisbury, MD

Use code “BIBRAVE2020” for 10% off

4/5/2020 – Statesman Cap 10K – Austin, TX

Use code “BIBRAVE2020CAP10K” for $5 off registration

4/5/2020 – Hapalua Half – Waikiki Beach, HI

Use code “BIBHAPA10” for 10% off registration

4/5/2020 – Silicon Valley Half Marathon – San Jose, CA

Use code “BIBRAVE2020” for 10% off

4/11/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate Minneapolis – Minneapolis, MN

Use code “BRHCMINN20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

4/11/2020 – Milwaukee Marathon – Milwaukee, WI

Use code “RUN15” for 15% off

4/11/2020 – IPA 10K – Sebastopol, CA

Use code “BRBEERRUN20” for 10% off

4/11/2020 – Milwaukee Marathon – Milwaukee, WI

Use code “RUN15” is good for 15% off

4/18/2020 – Allstate Hot Chocolate Detroit – Detroit, MI

Use code “BRHCDETROIT20” for Free Hot Chocolate running hat

4/18/2020 – Blue Ridge Marathon – Roanoke, VA

Use code “BRMRAVE” to save 20% off distance of your choice!

4/23-25/2020 – Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon – Champaign, IL

Use code “2020BIBRAVEILLINOIS” for $10 off any event other than youth run

4/25/2020 – DC Wonder Woman Race Series 5k/10K – Dallas, TX

Use code “BRWWDALLAS” for FREE Wonder Woman hat

4/26/2020 – Delaware Marathon – Wilmington, DE

Use code “DELAWARERAVE20” for 10% off

4/26/2020 – New Jersey Marathon – Oceanport, NJ

Use code “20NJMBibRave” for $5 off registration

4/26/2020 – Ravenswood 5K – Chicago, IL 

Use code “RAVENSBR20” for a FREE trucker hat

May 2020

5/2/2020 – Cinco de Miler – Chicago, IL

Use code “BRCINCO20” for a FREE trucker hat

5/3/2020 – The Providence Marathon Presented by The Providence Journal  – Providence, RI

Use code “RUN15” for 15% off

5/3/2020 – Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon – Pittsburgh, PA

Use code “BIBRAVE10PGH” for $10 off the full, half, or relay

5/3/2020 – DC Wonder Woman Race Series 5k/10K – Nashville, TN

Use code “BRWWNASH” for FREE Wonder Woman hat

5/16/2020 – DC Wonder Woman Race Series 5k/10K – Atlanta, GA

Use code “BRWWATL” for FREE Wonder Woman hat

5/16/2020 – Harper’s Ferry Half Marathon – Harper’s Ferry, WV

Use code  “BIBRAVE5” good for $5 off

5/23/2020 – Soldier Field 10 Miler – Chicago, IL

Use code “BRSOLDIER20” for a FREE trucker hat

5/24/2020 – Vermont City Marathon – Burlington, VT

Use code “BIBRAVE2010” for $10 off

June 2020

6/7/2020 – DC Wonder Woman Race Series 5k/10K – San Francisco, CA

Use code “BRWWSF” for FREE Wonder Woman hat

6/7/2020 – North Shore Half Classic – Highland Park, IL

Use code “BRNSHALF20” for a FREE Chicago trucker hat

6/7/2020 – Run for the Zoo – Chicago, IL

Use code BIBRAVE for 10% off

6/13/2020 – The Governor’s Cup – Helena, MT

Use code “GCBIB20” good for 10% off

6/13-14/2020 – Big Foot Triathlon, Trail 10K & 5K – Lake Geneva, WI

Use code  “BRBF20” for a FREE trucker hat

6/21/2020 – DC Wonder Woman Race Series 5k/10K – Chicago, IL

Use code “BRWWCHI” for FREE Wonder Woman hat

6/26-28/2020 – Missoula Marathon – Missoula, MT

Use code “BibRave2020” for $5 off half/full entry

6/27/2020 – DC Wonder Woman Race Series 5k/10K – Minneapolis, MN

Use code “BRWWMIN” for FREE Wonder Woman hat

July 2020

7/12/2020 – Across the Bay 12K and 415K – San Francisco, CA

Use code “BIBRAVE2020” for 10% off

August 2020

8/22/2020 – Madison Mini-Marathon Half Marathon & 5K – Madison, WI

Use code “BIBRAVE10” for 10% off half & 5K

8/29-30/2020 – Santa Rosa Marathon – Santa Rosa, CA

Use code “SAVE10” for 10% off

September 2020

9/12/2020 – Run Mag Mile 10K & 5K – Chicago, IL

Use code “BRRMM20” for a FREE Chicago trucker hat

October 2020

10/3/2020 – Freedom’s Run – Shepherdstown, WV

Use code  “BIBRAVE5” good for $5 off

10/4/2020 – Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon & 5K – Hampton Beach, NH

Use code “SAVE10” for 10% off registration

10/4/2020 – Bucktown 5K – Chicago, IL

Use code “BRBT20” for a FREE Chicago trucker hat

10/16-18/2020 – Detroit Free Press/TCF Marathon – Detroit, MI

Use code “BIBRAVEDET20” for 10% off

10/17/2020 – Urban Bourbon Half Marathon presented by Jim Beam – Louisville, KY

Use code “BOURBONRAVE2020” for 10% off

10/18/2020 – The East Bay 510K – Oakland, CA

Use code “BIBRAVE2020” for 10% off

10/24/2020 – Pumpkins in the Park 5K – Chicago, IL

Use code “BRPP20” for a FREE Chicago trucker hat

November 2020

11/8/2020 – Honor Run Half Marathon – Florence, KY

Use code “HRBIBRAVE15” good for $15 off any event

11/26/2020 – North Shore Turkey Trot – Highland Park, IL

Use code  “BRNSTT20” for a FREE Chicago trucker hat

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Urban Bourbon Half Marathon – Louisville, KY (October 19, 2019)

 

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Me finishing the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon – Louisville, KY

Race: Urban Bourbon Half Marathon

Place: Louisville, Kentucky

Date: October 19, 2019

Time: 1:42:48

Oh, Urban Bourbon…it’s been a hot second.  I haven’t run this race since 2016.  Not because I haven’t wanted to.  Probably mostly due to training for other things, or injury…or whatnot.  Honestly, when races happen in my own backyard, I try to make a point to show up to them when possible.

So, trust me, I was happy when my coach gave me the green light to include this race into my training cycle as we began to head into taper.  Kinda.  Because I was under the impression that I would get to basically cruise through these additional races on the calendar, using them as easy training runs, right?

Nope.  Marathon pace.  That’s what I was told.  For both this one and Fort Ben.  Well, we all know I ran a little too fast at Fort Ben (despite the hills).  But, that wasn’t all bad.  Except my fast finish run on Sunday the following day pretty much felt like trash.  So…we repeated the hell week of speed work pretty much every day.  I did this just before Fort Ben too…but he really wanted me closer to my actual marathon pace this time.  So, I worked out a plan in my head to line up with the 1:45 pacer and stick with them.  I’d be slightly faster, but it would keep me steady and on pace.

Friday just after I ate lunch…I stopped by the coffee shop next to my office to say “HI” to my friend, Melissa.  Then, my roommate and I headed down to Slugger Field for packet pickup.  Melissa, her hubby, and their baby were coming down shortly behind us.  Picking up the packet was a breeze.  I was bib 306…first window.  AND…to make things better, my personal trainer and friend…and the Volunteer Coordinator for the Louisville Sports Commission, Corey, was right there to give me a hug.  We chatted for a few minutes, but Cathy and I needed to skedaddle back to the office (BOOO!).  As we were leaving, Melissa, Paul and the baby were arriving.  We were going to give them our parking space, but one opened up just slightly closer.  That being said, Melissa still managed to give my SRTT magnet a flip before we parted ways.

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My “magic sushi” from Dragon King’s Daughter

Finished up the day at work before heading over to Dragon King’s Daughter.  Because that’s where the “magic sushi” combo is.  I had my usual…the Gluten Free Spicy Tofu and the Gluten Free Green Acres Rolls.  Devoured them.  Went home to stretch and get to bed.  It was going to be an early morning.

Race morning came…and I think I actually slept well going into it.  YAY!  I didn’t lay anything out the night before.  Didn’t think to do it.  Oh well.  I wasn’t too worried about it.  I took my vitamins and ate my overnight oats that I had prepared the night prior…sticking with my fueling plan I am using for my marathon in November.  I stretched.  I hydrated.  I changed.  And, yes, I even put on sunscreen.  All the things.  I remembered my anklet and my race bib (long story, but both of those involved turning around and heading home at a different local race soon after I got back into running after the hip labrum tear).  On track.  The original thought was to come home after the race so I could shower and we could make a brunch happen…but I packed a backpack with a change of clothes because Cathy was kind of leaning toward staying over on that side of the river post-race…getting brunch, picking up a Cinnamon Roll & Donut from Annie May’s (for breakfast on Sunday), and getting some of our grocery shopping (it ended up barely being any of it) done while there.  I was game to come home and save a bit of money…so we decided we’d pack for options.

It was a bit on the chilly side that morning…but I was planning on wearing what I wanted to wear for my marathon. It’s what I’ve been wearing at my races…so I know it works.  I was just concerned about freezing near the start.  Luckily, Cathy wasn’t doing a 5K at this one and I could shed clothing just before the start (so I could stay semi-warm leading into it) and leave them with her.  I like when that happens.  I know I have throwaway items for a reason…I just hate leaving them behind when I could probably get use of them again down the line.  So…that was a plus.  She pinned my bib on…I went to mix up my Maurten 160 Drink Mix…and we were out the door.

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Bib is on and ready to head out to run!

The drive into Louisville wasn’t bad at all.  We didn’t even hit traffic.  Cathy found a parking garage that was a bit of a walk to and from the start and finish area…but it would allow for easy exit as no roads would be blocked.  We found a spot and sort of hung out in the warm car for a little while.  Eventually, we did decide to start heading toward the start of the race, which was on W Jefferson Street.  It was here that I met up with my training partner, Ron.  He wasn’t sure what his plan was for this race, but he was going to line up with the 1:40 pacer.  It was at this moment, I realized there was no 1:45 pacer.  There was a 1:40 and a 1:50.  So…I decided I would just have to line up in between them and try not to pass or be passed.

I mean…that seems like a logical and good plan, right?

As the race start drew nearer, and the sky turned BEAUTIFUL shades of cotton candy pink and purple (Louisville was showing off!), Ron went to go shed his layers and I went to go see if I could make the MRTT/SRTT Louisville photo.  It was at Panara Bread.  I noticed how full the corrals were getting as I headed that way, and after a short walk and not seeing where I needed to be…I opted to instead turn back and try to find my spot for a good start to the race.  I never seem to make photo ops before races unless they are right near the start line.

This turned out to be a good decision.  The only way into the start area was through the back of the corral.  I had to shed my warm outer layer and go try to find a spot.  It was REALLY crowded and I entered, finding my friend Tracy and tapping her on the shoulder, and she said, “Hey…shouldn’t you be further up.”  HA!  She wasn’t wrong…and it was really hard to move through the tight crowd of people.  There was a lot of me tapping people on the back, asking them if I could slide through, saying a lot of “Sorry” and “Thank you.”  BUT…I got there.  Whew.

Ron gave me a high five and told me that if I passed him, he was going to yell at me to slow down.  Which was the best idea ever.  Fun fact…I never passed him so he can save yelling at me for another day.

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Me heading out of the start at the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon – Louisville, KY

The National Anthem was played and we all moved up toward the start line.  A gun went off…and so did we.  I gave a wave to Cathy on the sideline as I ran past…and really just felt good that morning.  YAY!  To be honest, while it was chilly (41° F) at the start, it was ideal running weather and was supposed to warm up as the morning went on.  That being said, unlike at Fort Ben a couple of weekends before this race…I ended up keeping my gloves on and not shedding them.

So, there are actually quite a few turns in the first mile of the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon.  It starts off nice and flat and fast…and you don’t even realize you’re running that fast until you hit that first mile marker.  It was, as I said, the perfect morning for a half marathon.  The sun was coming up.  It was crisp and cool.

And I settled in pretty quickly into a rhythm.  It was, for the first mile and a half, with a tall guy who was constantly commenting on how he couldn’t believe how far up the 1:40 pacers were at the start.  Let it go, dude.  Let it go.  They have a pace they are going to run.  Those who can go faster…will.  We also had to run past EMW Women’s Surgical Center, which meant we were greeted by a guy with a speaker and a microphone basically preaching to us about why abortion is bad.  Dude…we’re running a race here.  Go do something useful with your time.

I knew I was pretty fast on my first mile, so I made a point to back off as we the loop leading into the second mile, and taking us back onto E Witherspoon.  We turned this time though, heading onto Preston before turning again E Muhammad Ali Blvd.  A couple more turns, keeping my pace in the mid to low 7:40s…which was still faster than I should have been…but I hadn’t passed Ron yet and 1:50 wasn’t coming up on me.  It was still early, and I knew the hardest part of the race would happen once we got into the park.  For now, I’d just soak it in.  Once we got onto Lexington Rd I was in some pretty familiar (even though it had been ages since I’ve run it) territory!  YAY!

It was along this stretch between Miles 4 and 5 that I high-fived some kids, tried to find a spot on the road where I wasn’t running on the shoulder (that had lots of debris from trees) but also not running on the grade of the road, which is kinda tilted at this point.  My watched beeped a bit before I saw the Mile 5 marker…and I was questioning how I screwed up the tangents already (NOTE: I don’t actually run tangents…but my watch was WAY ahead of the mile marker).  As we crossed Grinstead, we had to avoid the rubble and construction stuff (there were LARGE concrete tube-things (technical term) on the side of the road, and lots of dust and stones in their wake), but this is also where we turn and head into Cherokee Park.

Welcome…to the land of hills.

I want to give a shout-out to one of my training partners this past summer…Christine…because she had us running these hills pretty much every weekend.  And I think that, while I slowed down some on these climbs, I handled them better than I would have.  So…thanks, Christine!  That being said, I have run in Cherokee Park so many times, that I know what the hills entail.  So, I respected that.  And I respected the goal of this race, which was not to kill myself trying to race it, but to aim for marathon pace.  Slowing down, if necessary, was perfectly fine.  And the hills were my reminder of that.  While I still pushed up them, I didn’t push too hard…I let it be a hill and allowed my work, but not overwork.  There was nothing to prove at this race.  I was just here to finish.

We go into the park just before Mile 6 and we exit the park just before Mile 10.  So, that’s about 4 miles inside Cherokee Park.  And this is where you get to experience the major climbs, but also, the best part of the race.  Cherokee Park, no matter how many times you run it, is beautiful.  And in the fall, I think it’s even better.  Highlights for the race all happened inside the park.  I do want to say, I appreciate the photographers inside the park being just before that HUGE, winding climb to Hogan’s Fountain. You still look good, because when you get to the top, you pretty much feel and look like death…except you go downhill after that.  Making the turn, my friend, Dan, was at the bottom.  I heard him cheering for me and I high-fived him as I ran past.  Up another hill.  THE BEST water stop around was Water Stop 5…run by MRTT/SRTT Louisville.  Costumes, cheers, and a whole lot of noise.  My name was in chalk on the ground.  My name was shouted and I had LOUD cheers as I ran through.  Just the boost you need after all those killer hills.  Itw as phenomenal!  I love being in a girl gang!  Around Mile 9, my friend Simon caught up to me.  I could hear him coming though…because he was complimenting everyone on their dogs.  I got to hear that for the rest of the race, and it kept a smile on my face.

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So…much…bourbon! Runners get 4 bourbon tastings at the after party!

We head out of the park and head back downtown.  At this point, I was ready for my legs to just pick it back up, but after Cherokee (and this seemed to be a sentiment shared by lots of runners that Saturday)…the legs just had no go.  The hills ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  So, I just pressed on, once again reminding myself that having no go here was fine.  This wasn’t my goal race.  I just settled in, and eventually my legs picked it up a little, just not much.  I was ready to be done.

The last few miles went by relatively quickly, and when I hit Mile 12, I did start to pick it up a little more.  There was more of a crowd, there were lots of encouraging cheers…and I could almost feel the electricity of that finish line.  Making the final turn to run it in felt amazing…and, per usual, I threw my arms up as I crossed…because every finish line, whether you are first or last, should be treated like you won the damn thing!  Always celebrate that finish line.

My training partner, Ron, had made it in exactly a minute ahead of me.  We high-fived and hugged, collecting our medals, and making our way through the snacks to go to the afterparty (where I promised my roomie my beer and pizza…I can’t eat them…because gluten), and I was hoping to give away my bourbon tags…but I ended up having no one to share them with.  It was pretty windy and chilly.  I put my sweatshirt back on after standing around for a moment.  Eventually, Cathy and I needed to go.  We decided to grab a real breakfast at North End Café…then get some goodies for my post-run breakfast on Sunday (another 13.1 miles) from Annie May’s…and grab some groceries before heading home.

It was a great day to have a great race.  I need to just keep this one on my radar every year, because Michael Clemons is phenomenal as a race director and ALWAYS puts on a great event.

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Ron (my training partner) and me at the finish line of the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon

So, my official results of the 2019 Urban Bourbon Half Marathon are that I finished in 1:42:48.  Not mad at all at that time, because I finished within my goal range, between the 1:40 and 1:50 pace groups.  I was, technically, only 5 minutes faster than my marathon pace, and my coach said I maintained a great pace on this (aka: he wasn’t mad at it).  I was 208/3026 finishers overall.  I was 40/1739 female finishers in this race.  And I was 6/301 in my age division!  Sometimes, working in some races to the training plan is a great way to figure out where you are with your training…or a good way to squeeze in a training run (keep that pace easy and controlled) and earn a medal in the process.  Definitely coming back next year!

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Project BQ – Marathon Training Week #17

dreams-hopes-poster-rhino-treadmill-unicornThis is how my week started out.  My training plan came through Sunday evening, before I had gone to bed.  I opened it…expecting a lot less intensity and  fewer miles.  What I got was a repeat of the week of speed work.  I actually replied to my coach’s message with, “Well, this wasn’t the week I was expecting.”  He knew I was fresh off a 22 miler, and told asked me if I felt like I was too beat up to do it.

Honestly, I knew I could do it.  Mentally…I didn’t want to.  This was taper.  Right?  Physically, though, I knew I could do it and told him as much.  And so…the week of speed work returned…with a vengeance.

Let’s get into it…because while the workouts are all a repeat…how I ran them definitely was different.

Monday: INSTRUCTIONS: BASE RUN 6-8 MILES – GOAL 7 MILES  + 4-6 STRIDES – EASY EFFORT – TRY NO WATCH AGAIN

I woke up on Monday morning feeling restless and tired.  It’s been happening a lot this training cycle – I’m just not able to sleep well after long or hard workouts.  And that, my friends, sucks!  A LOT!  So, I was tired.  But on top of that, my left hamstring (which apparently wants to be tight after every long run I do on hills) was tight and sore.  AND…on top of that, I had a few other aches that were niggling at me.  I got dressed, feeling moody, and went out for my base pace run…not even sure if I’d actually be able to do it…and not really sure I could do the strides at this point.  The good news is…after about 2 miles, it all felt better and I really started to flow.  I didn’t push the pace at all this time…but I did decide that things felt good enough to do those strides.  I knocked them out, feeling a bit of speed in my legs and was grateful that everything seemed to work itself up as I warmed up.  I did my additional hip strengthening exercises afterwards when I was working in my morning stretches.  And later that day, I met with Corey for my personal training session.  He, being an athlete himself, was very considerate of my hamstring and we worked with it and around it.  Later that night, I made sure to foam roll everything really well.  I had commented on my training plan that my hamstring was bothering me, and Daniel (my coach) did reply with that if I still felt beat up, to cut out the speed work tomorrow and just do a base pace run. I went to bed early, per usual, uncertain of how my morning run would go.

Tuesday:  INSTRUCTIONS: SPEED WORK – MONA FARTLEKS W/ 1 MILE HARD EFFORT

Well, my hamstring felt much better when I woke up on Tuesday morning.  That was a good thing.  And while I had an out…I decided that unless something didn’t feel right on the 2 mile warm up, I would do the speed work exercise that day.  And this particular day was none other than – Mona Fartleks.  If you’re an avid reader, you’re very familiar with these by now.  If you’re just joining me on this journey…here’s how these work: 2 mile warm up, 2×90 sec, 4 x 60 sec, 4×30 sec, 4×15 sec (with equal recovery after each at a pace faster than base pace), 1 mile hard effort, 2 mile cool down.  I felt good this morning.  Really good.  I hit all my paces hard and fast.  I recovered, keeping it faster than base pace.  And I managed to hit 3 new records on my Garmin.  Of course, I deleted these because they weren’t under race conditions (this is just how I do it…some people would have kept them, and that’s fine).  So, you could say I was feeling much better.  I surprised myself that day, even managing a 6-minute something mile for my one mile hard effort.  I don’t know HOW I did it…but I did.  And I won’t argue with the data.  After a shower, I did my second day of additional hip strengtheners with my morning stretches.

Wednesday: INSTRUCTIONS: NO WATCH ALLOWED! FOCUS ON THE GOAL OF THE RUN = RECOVERY! GO AS FAR OR SHORT AS YOU NEED, AS FAST OR SLOW AS YOU NEED, WALK OR RUN AS YOU NEED.

I was looking forward to Wednesday.  I really was.  Because this was the morning I got to chill.  I actually slept in an hour later, knowing that my run would be shorter and easier.  This was the one day this week that would not have some speed element in it.  And I was going to chill and just enjoy it.  And while some of my splits registered faster than they felt (not that that is a bad thing…but I really try to keep easy miles easy on these days), I didn’t want to overdo anything.  I ran 5 miles, nice and easy.  That was my day.  Just my morning and evening stretches and some foam rolling.  I went to bed just after 7:30 pm because I knew what hell awaited me in the morning.  And it was a double-digit weekday run.

Thursday: INSTRUCTIONS: 11-13 MILES WITH 3 MILES FAST FINISH – GOAL 12 MILES – EASY DOES IT UNTIL FAST FINISH AT THE END.

I slept really well coming into this workout.  For that, I was relieved.  But, I still woke up sort of dreading this run. First of all, it was cold outside, in the low 40s.  It was windy.  And I really hate double digit runs on weekdays.  I work very hard and sometimes put in long days, so when I have to wake up 30-60 minutes earlier than I normally would to squeeze in marathon training…it makes me grumpy.  I get the value of an occasional mid-distance run during the week, but as someone who already runs pretty early in the morning…these get really hard to fit in more often than not.  My body felt good, and I made sure that I kept my pace truly easy for the first 10 miles.  Then, I just pushed it on the last 3 miles.  I did this better than I had the week previously that I had done this same week of workouts…which was nice, because I was also fighting headwinds on my uphills (that’s not an exaggeration…my hills all had me running INTO the wind).  But I got it done.  And it was a relief to put it behind me.  I showered and started to do my stretches (which I had intended to do twice because I had plans that evening), but remembered that I needed to make Friday’s lunch for the office because I wouldn’t have time to make it tonight before we’d have to head out the door to Derby Dinner (I won tickets).  So, I did that…then finished my stretches…but never did get to foam rolling or the second round of stretches.

Friday: REST/RECOVERY DAY!

Thank God for rest days!!  I was up WAY past my bedtime on Thursday night with Derby Dinner Playhouse.  It was fun.  But I was tired and really ready for bed when I got home (and still had to change, brush my teeth, take out contacts, etc)…so I crashed hard.  I set an alarm for my usual Friday morning time and woke up with the alarm, but wasn’t ready to get out of bed.  Fifteen minutes later…I did haul myself out of bed to shower, stretch, drink coffee, and get ready for work.  I left the office shortly after lunch to head to Slugger Field to pick up my packet for the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon.  I met up with my friends Corey, Paul and Melissa…and that was fun…but I sadly had to go back to work.  I finished up the day, went over to Dragon King’s Daughter for “magic sushi”…and then went home to settle in, stretch and foam roll.  I went to bed at normal time…and set an alarm with enough time to get up and get ready without feeling rushed.

Saturday: URBAN BOURBON HALF MARATHON AT MARATHON PACE

I’ll have an entire blog on this race.  Let’s just say, I still finished sooner than I probably should have.  But my plan to line up with the 1:45 pacer was thwarted by the fact that there was a 1:40 pacer and a 1:50 pacer.  So I figured if I stayed in between them…I’d be doing fine.  I forgot how much the hills in Cherokee can beat up your legs.  Thankfully, my training partner, Christine, often had us run that particular way and route around the park, so even though it had been awhile, my legs had done it often enough.  I started off way too fast…eased it back…got killed by the hills (thank goodness my marathon is flat)…ran through the best water station run by MRTT/SRTT Louisville where I got a ton of screams and cheers, and then…finished strong, even though the legs were pretty much done by the 15K mark.  Press on.  Get it done.  I officially logged a 1:42:48 half this week, purposefully easing back on the pace.  I’ll take it.  OH…and this was my 40th half marathon I have run to date.  And that was with 2 years of little to no running due to injuries.  Not too shabby!

Sunday: 11-13 MILES WITH 3-5 MILES FAST FINISH – EASY DOES IT UNTIL THE FAST FINISH AT THE END

Ever have one of those days where you want to be excited about the run that is assigned to you, but just can’t.  That was this morning.  I really, really, REALLY didn’t want to run a third 13.1 miles for the week.  I was fighting it all morning.  And I was in a very bad mood when I realized that the sunrise wasn’t until 7:59 am.  I hate this time of year ONLY for that reason.  That and winter coming too soon.  But the temps today were a beautiful 57°-60° in the morning.  I decided not to wait until it got light out, but to go ahead and put on some reflective gear, get some mileage done, then ditch it at home before finishing it up.  That’s exactly what I did.  And I kept a pretty steady pace for those first 8 miles.  Then…I picked it up.  The first two fast finish miles felt fine.  It got hard after that. The legs were not wanting to push and I just had to keep giving myself those pep talks and letting it feel hard.  I was glad to finish up that run, for sure.

For it being taper, I logged 60 miles this week.  I’m really hoping the intensity and mileage start to go down from here.  I feel like I’m getting stronger, but I’m feeling pretty beat up at times…so a nice taper would feel amazing right now.  And I love long runs, but I just want to be sure I feel ready, able, and rested for November 9th’s starting line.

Feeling very inspired, confident, and ready right now.  Three more weeks.  Let’s do this thing!

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Project BQ – Marathon Training Week #16

dreams-hopes-poster-rhino-treadmill-unicornRemember how I said I was in taper?  I was apparently confused.  Out of my mind.  Wrong.  Because my coach had one more long, long run up his sleeve.  And I didn’t know about it until I was leaving the Kentucky Center of the Arts.  I had gone to see Dear Evan Hansen.  I was in a pretty dress and heels.  I had a message come through from my coach telling me my schedule was posted and that I could choose how to run the 5K I was participating in on Saturday, but to not go 100%…because we (as in me…he wasn’t doing it with me, HA) had one more long, long run to tackle.

I flipped to my calendar and it was staring me down.  One final 20-22 miler.

Here. We. Go.

Monday: INSTRUCTIONS: NO WATCH ALLOWED! FOCUS ON THE GOAL OF THE RUN = RECOVERY! GO AS FAR OR SHORT AS YOU NEED, AS FAST OR SLOW AS YOU NEED, WALK OR RUN AS YOU NEED.

Thank goodness for easy, recovery days.  With as stacked as last week was with three 13.1 runs…I was happy to have the chance to rest up a little.  Especially since I had a late night with the Broadway show.  I slept in as much as I could…then got up to go out for an easy run.  The temperatures had dropped into the high 50s.  It was supposedly raining.  It wasn’t.  It was a nice run that morning.  No pushing pace.  I ran faster than I had been in the past…probably because I had no humidity weighing me down.  It was a good morning for a good run.  Even if I wore a hat because of rain and it didn’t rain.  I ended up with just over 5 miles.  No personal training…which was a blessing with the week I had leading into this one.

Tuesday: INSTRUCTIONS: BASE RUN 6-8 MILES – GOAL 7 MILES  + 4-6 STRIDES – EASY EFFORT – TRY NO WATCH AGAIN

On an even more perfect morning temperature-wise, I went out in sleeves and some gloves (if temps are in the 40s or below…gloves always because Raynauds is real friends) and shorts and just let my legs do the talking.  I reminded myself not to push any sort of pace.  Just to go with the flow…stay in control of my breath.  And let this run be the miles I needed that day.  I ended up with 7.5 when I stopped.  Then, I got to add strides on to the end.  Six of them.  And I felt fast and strong and I was fast and strong.  And that’s the bonus of the cooler weather.  When you suffer and die and cry throughout summer as you sweat it out…you fly in the fall.  Hoping this trend continues because there comes a point where it gets too cold for me to function.  And right now…we’re right in my happy place.  Ended with 8 miles for the day.  Also tacked on my additional hip strengthening exercises to the stretches I do every day.

Wednesday: INSTRUCTIONS: TRACK WORKOUT – 1-2 MILE WU; 7 X 800M W/ EQUAL RECOVERY; 1-2 MILE CD – AFTER 1-2 MILE WU, DO SOME DYNAMIC DRILLS TO LOOSEN UP FURTHER. THIS IS A REPEAT OF A PIOR WORKOUT. WE ARE SHOOTING FOR AROUND 3:30 FOR THE *ON* TIME (~7 MIN PACE) AND THEN RECOVERY CAN BE LIGHT BUT NEEDS TO BE JOGGING, NOT WALKING.

Wednesday was a bad day.  Not that anything tragic or life changing happened.  But I had a double digit run on the schedule, so I had to go to bed SUPER early on Tuesday.  Then, I had to wake up every super earlier than usual on Wednesday morning.  I wasn’t loving it.  Not at all.  I also wasn’t loving the 800s that were scheduled.  I will gladly and happily force myself to do speed work when asked, but I LOATHE 800s.  The instant I got up, I went and made my Maurten 160 Drink Mix up and began to drink it while I was getting dressed, putting in contacts, all the things. I got my hydration bag ready to go and I headed out for my speed work.  And then…my stomach decided to be on the fritz all morning.  I just think it doesn’t like having things fed to it at 3 am before pushing a fast pace.  At all.  So, had to stop a couple of times for that, but felt better and rounded it out.  I also feel that EVERY FREAKIN’ TIME I have speed work, the road I cross on the stretch that I run for it (no track…because this area is the worst) has the most traffic of any other day, no matter the hour.  UGH!  But, you know, maybe it wasn’t perfect, but I hit my paces, recovered properly and wrapped it up with stretching.  I also had personal training with Corey that afternoon.  He, thankfully, kept it basic…challenging, but nothing too intense. And for that, I appreciate him.  Also…Annie Mays didn’t have soft pretzels…so lunch was a no-go.  Had to improvise.  It just wasn’t my day.

Thursday: INSTRUCTIONS: NO WATCH ALLOWED! FOCUS ON THE GOAL OF THE RUN = RECOVERY! GO AS FAR OR SHORT AS YOU NEED, AS FAST OR SLOW AS YOU NEED, WALK OR RUN AS YOU NEED.

I love a good recovery run.  We were back in the 50s this morning, so I kept the short sleeves and shorts, but ditched the gloves before I even went out the door.  My goal, once again, was just to let my body do what it needed to that morning.  I know that I have a pretty stacked weekend, and one rest day (which will involve the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular at Iroquois Park), I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize how my body would feel going into those.  I figured 3-5 miles would be perfect.  I felt good out there. My turnover felt amazing.  My breath stayed controlled.  And I finished up with 5 miles.  Went inside and did my second day of additional hip strengtheners with my stretches.  Had to walk a bit farther to the office due to Harvest Homecoming happening downtown.  And spent a good chunk of my morning standing in line for Masonic Donuts (which I can’t eat, but my office loves them…except for this year…or something).  But, it was a good way to head into the weekend.

Friday: REST/RECOVERY

Full rest day!  YAY!!  I slept over 8 hours.  Got up to shower.  Did two rounds of my stretches and my foam rolling, just because I was unsure of when/if I would be able to get to it that night with the Pumpkin Walk happening.  I went into work…favorite t-shirt day…ready to sit and stand at my desk to get work done, go pick up Amanda (roomie’s sister), go to get Indian food for dinner, then head (weather permitting) to Iroquois Park to do the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular.  It was a bit chilly, but the worst of the rain happened while we were under the canopy of the trees.  It was a good way to wrap up the evening.  I went right to bed when I got home.

Saturday: RACE FOR THE CURE 5K – YOU CAN APPROACH THIS HOWEVER YOU WOULD LIKE OTHER THAN PROBABLY NOT A FULL OUT EFFORT

Let me preface this by saying that this didn’t feel like an all-out effort.  Not one bit.  In fact, for the first two miles of the race, I couldn’t feel my feet because I was so cold.  Most of this will be covered in my official blog on the race itself, but I felt good this morning.  I had a fantastic group of people running on my team for my mom, Dottie Brady, showing their support and honoring her and others in her family.  I love all of them for showing up and running for this cause.  So, I ended up averaging a 7:07 mile for the 3.03 (the course was either short or the GPS cut out when we went through the tunnel twice) miles, finishing third overall and first female.  I had a sweet woman come over when I finished and just gave me a hug and I loved her for that.  I needed it.  It was an emotional race and I felt so supported by my friends and team.  And for that…I am thankful.  So, it may appear I went all-out, but honestly, I had more in the tank.  But tomorrow’s run will be a good judgement on how I ran this one.  I felt amazing the entire time…and the cheers and shouts from not just my team members, but also the people along the course and in the race was uplifting.  What an amazing race!

Sunday: 18-22 MILE LONG RUN – EASY PACE – DON’T PUSH IT! AND PRACTICE RACE-DAY FUELING STRATEGY.

To be honest…I expected today to suck.  I really did.  After the 5K, a day full of grocery shopping, grabbing “magic sushi” during Harvest Homecoming (traffic and parking nightmare, friends), and a chilly Louisville City FC soccer match…I didn’t have high hopes for this run.  I set an alarm for 5:15 am.  Got up, put in contacts, ate breakfast, stretched, hydrated, got dressed, drank my Maurten 320 Drink Mix, and got ready to head out as it was getting light out.  It was 36° outside, so I put on bright yellow capris and a long sleeve shirt with gloves.  And I realize I would have been cold for a few miles, but I probably would have been fine in short sleeves and shorts with the gloves.  Eventually.  I wasn’t pushing pace at all, and I was doing what I could to make it so that when I did my Thanksgiving course at the end of the run, I could head straight home.  The cooler weather was nice, but I did feel overdressed after a time.  I rolled up my sleeves halfway through the run.  I did practice my fueling…and I definitely have that dialed in for race day.  YAY!  And I felt strong, even on the super hilly back half of this run.  I finished it up, feeling confident about the race four weeks from yesterday.  Honestly, I’m as ready as I’m going to be.  Now it’s just a matter of taking care of myself through taper.  I’ve been a bit sluggish the rest of today…but aside from that, feeling good.  Happy that taper has officially (for real this time) started!  YAY!

Bonus Sunday inspiration was Kipchoge’s world record 1:59:40 marathon finish on Saturday…and Sunday was also the 6th Anniversary (to the day) of me running my first marathon and getting my BQ.  I hope it serves for further inspiration and motivation as the weeks wrap up and I head into my 16th marathon.

I have no idea what my week will look like, save for a half marathon on Saturday of this coming week.  I anticipate that I’ll be told to take this one easy and not push the pace.  And that’s fine by me.  I’d like to just cruise a half marathon because I’m tired.  I’ve had some pretty crazy weeks these past two weeks, and I’m ready to start seeing some downtime.

Who else is happy to hit taper time?  Anyone else running Urban Bourbon next Saturday?

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Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben – Indianapolis, IN (October 5, 2019)

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Me crossing the finish line at the Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben – Indianapolis, IN

Race: Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben

Place: Indianapolis, Indiana

Date: October 5, 2019

Time: 1:39:13

Friends…I am 21 SECONDS away from matching my half marathon PR (which I set at the Geist Half Marathon in 2014).  That’s…that’s ONE HILL.  Do you know how thrilled I am to see this time?  To know that I’m 22 seconds away from a new PR (hey, a 1 second PR is still a PR)?!  I am ecstatic!!

And shocked.  This is my second fastest half marathon to date.  It’s been over 3 years since I even came close to my PR.

This is HUGE!

I apologize right now for all the bold, italics, caps lock, and exclamation point abuse!

Let’s take the deep dive into this race, shall we?

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Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben

This story starts…on Friday.  Friday’s are complete rest days for me.  I hadn’t been sleeping well this past week, which sucked, but my sleep was a bit better Thursday night into Friday morning.  Not great…but better.  I got up, showered, finished packing, and started to prep my overnight oats (I’ve been eating these prior to long runs all summer, so why stop now?) to take with me to Indianapolis for race morning.  I put those in the fridge, finished getting ready for work, and went into the office for 6 hours.  Arrangements had been made to leave at 2:30 pm, head to Dragon King’s Daughter (because my magic sushi had to happen prior to a race for sure and I had a cooler in the car to keep it through the drive), and hit the road.  We were about 30 minutes away when I realized I had left my prepped overnight oats in the fridge at work.  UGH!  So, Cathy and I said we’d find a grocery store to find something comparable when we got to Indy.

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Packet Pick-Up

The drive was uneventful.  We listened to Meb Keflezighi on the Ali on the Run podcast for most of the drive.  Great listen, by the way.  It’s part of the “You Can Run a Marathon” series that she put together.  It was a funny, inspiring listen and it got us pretty much all the way into the greater Indianapolis area.  We rolled into our hotel, checked in, dropped stuff…I put sushi into the fridge in the room…and we headed out to hit up the race expo.

The expo itself was small (probably good from a financial standpoint), but very well organized.  Finding packet pickup was easy and I quickly was able to retrieve both my packet (bib and quarter zip) and my friend Kelly’s (she couldn’t get off work early and was going to drive up in the morning) packet for the half marathon.  Cathy went and got her 5K packet before we stepped into the small merchandise area.  She bought me a hoodie from the race.  YAY.  And that was all we did.  We left to head to the Fresh Thyme (for some pre-made overnight oats, cashew butter, and waters) and then Noodles & Co. (because Cathy needed a night before the race fuel too), before heading back to the room to eat while watching, what else?, the traditional Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.

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“Magic Sushi” from Dragon King’s Daughter – Gluten Free Green Acres & Gluten Free Spicy Tofu Rolls

Cathy went to shower after we polished off our respective dinners, and I got down to stretching and foam rolling.  Lights out was just before 9 pm.  And, my newfound insomnia kicked in again.  WEEEE!  I tossed and turned and tossed and turned and didn’t get much sleep…yet again.  UGH!  That sucked.  I switched off the first alarm I set because I was able to get up and not have to wake up anyone else because…I WAS ALREADY AWAKE.  I got back into bed for another 45 minutes, but no rest was coming.  Apparently I was going to run on fumes.  YAY.

The temperature outside on race morning was a brisk 47 degrees.  This was really the first morning of cold weather any of us were experiencing.  I decided to race in the outfit I wore in the Glass City Marathon, and would likely be wearing again at Monumental.  Arm warmers and everything.  Cathy had a bit more of a dilemma…because 40s are hard to dress for.  Sleeves are good, but sometimes you warm up fast.  Short sleeves might not be enough.  She opted for sleeves.  We ate some breakfast (she brought oatmeal from home), finished getting ready, and then headed out the door to drive up to the giant parking lot prior to the half marathon and 5K.

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Makeshift pre-race breakfast of Brekkie, Julie’s Cashew Butter, and Purely Elizabeth Granola (I brought that form home)

Kelly was there bright and early, so when we parked she made her way to the car while Cathy got out the trash bags she brought for extra warmth.  I handed off the packet and zip to Kelly, who was excited she was actually getting one of the jackets, before she went to drop it in the vehicle.  She was just in shorts and a tank (calling herself a human furnace)…and I was cold just looking at her.  HA!  She returned to the car and the three of us made our way over to the staging area near the start line.  There were some nice fires going, and we tucked in to attempt to stay warm.  Cathy went to drop her bag at Bag Drop, and we were just killing time now.  I did drink my Maurten 160 Drink Mix 30 minutes prior to the start, per the usual.

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Staying warm pre-race around the fires

As the start of the race neared, we did meander over toward the start corrals, where we met up with Elizabeth (another member of the MRTT/SRTT Southern Indiana Chapter), took some pictures, and then wished each other luck.  I was in Corral B, Elizabeth in C, Kelly in D…and Cathy was in the 5K corrals, so she was able to at least take some photos, video, and cheer at the start of the half.

The 1:40 pacers were in my corral and lined up near me.  I was to run this one at MARATHON PACE, so I wasn’t paying any attention to that.  It was a cool, crisp morning, and after the elites and first corral were sent off…we were moved up.  Cathy actually got a nice video of me starting, though she didn’t realize it at the time.  In fact, she was waiting for the corral after that.  Oh well.  That’s what happens sometimes.

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Elizabeth, Me, Kelly, & Cathy

The 1:40 pacers were fantastic, especially Troy, as he gave a lot of helpful advice to those who were running with him as we started out.  And it was a good reminder that we still had a long road ahead.  The first part of the race was a slight downhill…so I let gravity work it’s magic there.  We were off, and I was feeling surprisingly good.

The first two miles of this race were a nice, relaxed, gentle downhill.  My legs were feeling rested and good and they were on the move.  Mile 1 rolled by quickly, and as we hit Mile 2, we were already inside the Fort Harrison State Park.  It was as we headed into Mile 3 that we hit the first monster hill in the race.  It’s funny, when you look at my splits you can see the 2 giant hills that you have to tackle in this run.  But this one was early and my legs were fresh with some bounce.  And I just bounded up it and kept going.

The next few miles were rolling hills and flats.  And they were enough to just sort of keep your legs guessing and feeling good.  The volunteers at the water stops were phenomenal, cheering loudly for the runners as they came through the aid stations, and just being really encouraging.  I was still feeling good as I hit the 10K mark, knowing that I was ahead of my marathon pace, and hearing my mind tell me that if I slowed down, it was okay.  But I wasn’t going to make myself slow down.  We had perfect race conditions and I was rolling.  I took out one of the Maurten 100 Gels (the new one with some caffeine) and managed to take it without slowing down much.  There were no trash cans, so I held onto the wrapper until I spotted one, about a mile later.

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When you accidentally run your second fastest half marathon

We were routed into a little round about of a parking lot, looped and came back out on the other side.  Just after Mile 7, we crossed a grassy path and onto a bike path (the Harrison Trace Trail) for the back half of the run.  While this was a bike path, it never doubled back on itself, so it didn’t feel crowded or cluttered.  In fact, I felt like I had plenty of room to stretch my legs and push myself.

Just after Mile 8, we hit a HUGE downhill.  I love downhills, but I wasn’t expecting the drop that this one had.  Luckily, downhill is my favorite speed and I adjust very well to it.  My footing found itself and I easily rolled back into my pace.  It was just after this point that I removed my gloves and tucked them into my hydration pack.  It was starting to warm up, and every time I thought I could take off the arm warmers, a cold wind would sweep up, and I’d keep them off.

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Finishers: Me with the Half Marathon Finisher’s Medal & Cathy with her 5K Finisher’s Medal (love the leaf!)

After Mile 10, where I took another (non-caffeinated) Maurten Gel 100, we hit the largest hill on the course.  It was one of those that starts up, levels off, then continues to go up.  This was my slowest split of the entire race.  It felt good to get to the top, but now my legs were definitely feeling the fatigue of the speed of the race. Just after Mile 11, we ducked back across that grassy path and onto the road, heading back toward start of the race (also the finish, obviously).

It was at Mile 12 that the 1:40 pace group caught up to me.  And this entire time, in my head, I am reminding myself that I’m not running for a PR…I’m running Marathon Pace.  I knew I was way ahead of that, but I still felt good, despite that late, monster hill.  I ran right with them as Troy told his runners to skip the final water stop and keep rolling.  As we got halfway through the mile, Troy started to talk runners in…take some deep breaths.  He said they were easing back on pace, so as not to blow people out so close to the end (they were just slightly ahead of the time on his back)…and I kept going.  And I picked it up a little as I started to make the final turns to head toward that finish line.  I felt amazing.  And I crossed, still feeling good.  I stopped my Garmin, collected my medal, and then finally pulled the wrist band away from the watch face to look at my time.  And I about died.

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Finish Line Drinks: Cathy had the beer and I had the kombucha

It was my second fastest half marathon since I started running half marathons.  My two top times are on hilly courses.  How about that?  I mean, I hate hills.  Cathy came over and she was all, “YOU KILLED IT!”  And I did.  I killed it DEAD.  And I still felt good (which was also good because I had another 13 miles to run the following day with more speed thrown in).

We decided to go and check out the cookout that the race offered, ducking in.  There wasn’t really anything for me (food allergy queen), but Cathy snagged a piece of Jockamo’s pizza and a cookie.  She went and purchased a beer and got me a local kombucha (which…was delicious!!).  She ate and we went to go walk around, but had to stay in the little (and it was little) picnic area (we weren’t sitting in the tent) with our drinks (even though mine was NOT alcoholic).  So, she chugged her beer and I drank what I could of my kombucha but I was fresh off a fast half marathon and chugging something didn’t sound appetizing…and I was freezing…so I didn’t want to stand there any longer.

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Mushroom & Spinach Tacos with Cajun Dusted Tater Tots from Woody’s Library Restaurant

We made one more pass through the official merchandise…and I was tempted to get the finisher’s shirt with the names on the back (mine was on there)…but ultimately walked away from it.  I was happy with the hoodie that Cathy got me (she had to buy it as it said “Finisher” on it).  We made the drive back to the hotel where I took a shower and dried my hair while she packed up everything.  We headed to Carmel, Indiana (a short drive) to catch lunch at Woody’s Library Restaurant (where I got the Mushroom & Spinach Tacos with a side of the Cajun Dusted Tater Tots).  Then, we headed over to the Indiana State Fair Grounds because…Half Price Books was having a BIG clearance sale, where all books were $2 or less.  Amazing.

We left after a couple of hours and a lot of texting with my dad.  Road work delayed our return to the Louisville area, but we finally made it home.  Still without groceries.  I ended up making popcorn for dinner and then heading to bed.  And not sleeping well again.

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Finish Line feels at the Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben

My experience at the Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben was amazing.  I can’t wait to run it again next year.  Hopefully more of my friends can join me!!  It was definitely much better running weather than what the large group of over 100 MRTT/SRTT ladies dealt with at the Indianapolis Women’s Half Marathon had the week before.  Kind of glad I opted for this one.

My official results of the Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben are that I finished in 1:39:13, which, as I previously mentioned, was a mere hill, or basically 21 seconds off of my PR time from 2014). This race proved something very important to me…that I can still push the pace for 13.1 miles.  With all the times I have doubted my body, my ability, and mentally let myself check out, I felt strong and capable this entire race…even the two hills that messed up my fast splits. HA!  I was 156/1726 finishers overall. I was 24/851 female finishers. And I was 6/138 in my age division. Guys, my age division is SUPER competitive…always.  This race was no different.  But this rank…is beyond what I thought I could accomplish here.  If you need a fall half marathon on your radar…put the Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben on your radar!

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Project BQ – Marathon Training Week #15

dreams-hopes-poster-rhino-treadmill-unicornWhew.  I was hoping for the weeks to feel a little less daunting and less of a grind, since I hit that last 20+ miler last weekend.  But, apparently, my coach had other plans for this week.  I warned you…he’s very nontraditional when it comes to the taper.  That being said, I was expecting some room to breathe, so when I woke up Monday morning to my schedule (I go to bed before children go to bed…and sometimes I don’t have my schedule Sunday night before I go to bed…and this week, it came through 2 hours after I had already gone to bed), I was a little bit surprised.  I wasn’t thrilled with it…but I know there are methods to what my coach prescribes me in these weeks leading into my goal race…so I put my trust in him.

Take a deep breath…we’re diving right in.

Monday: INSTRUCTIONS: BASE RUN 6-8 MILES – GOAL 7 MILES  + 4-6 STRIDES – EASY EFFORT – TRY NO WATCH AGAIN

I knew with every run this week having some sort of speed component in them, I really needed to pay attention to those that instructed me to run a base pace, or easy, and do exactly that.  My Monday morning run is generally the same every week.  So the fact that I didn’t have my schedule prior to going to bed wasn’t stressing me out at all.  The only addition to this week’s Monday run was the inclusion of the strides at the end.  This run went well.  I kept things controlled and easy for 7 miles.  I had been struggling in Florida with any sort of speed, and despite the heat and humidity, I managed to turn out some decent strides without feeling bad about my effort.  I did my additional hip strengtheners during my stretches that morning.  And I met with Corey, who did a full-body workout with me outside…which was insane and challenging.  Let me tell you, I was still feeling it two days later.  I did put in extra time that evening (after some further meal prep) to stretch and foam roll.

Tuesday:  INSTRUCTIONS: SPEED WORK – MONA FARTLEKS W/ 1 MILE HARD EFFORT

Welcome to Day 2 of some sort of speed element in my running this week.  Let me tell you, I run 6 days a week, and 5 of them included something that involved speed.  This is my nightmare.  BUT…at least he gave me my favorite of the speed workouts he throws at me – Mona Fartleks.  If you’re an avid reader, you’re very familiar with these by now.  If you’re just joining me on this journey…here’s how these work: 2 mile warm up, 2×90 sec, 4 x 60 sec, 4×30 sec, 4×15 sec (with equal recovery after each at a pace faster than base pace), 1 mile hard effort, 2 mile cool down.  I felt really good during the actual workout…but I had a few bumps in the road.  Not literally.  First of all, there was a woman riding around on her electric scooter with a mean, yappy dog VERY early in the morning.  And it was barking and coming at me, and at one point within my first mile, decided to chase me (there was no avoiding her), and it ripped the leash from the lady’s hand (and the handle cover off her scooter) and made for a very awkward situation and way to start.  I actually paused for a few minutes to let them scoot on away so I could, possible, stop encountering them along the way.  I don’t have a track (and it is currently WAY too warm to wait until the evening to do the track workouts with the local running store), so I do these on the road.  And for a bunch of these intervals, I need to cross a main road.  And this week…there happened to be a LOT of traffic at the time I chose to run.  This rarely happens, but it does make me mad when it does.  That being said, I did power through the intervals.  The fast mile was a struggle because my legs were getting really tired and the humidity was wearing me out…but I finished it up, did my cool down, and happily went inside.  I did my second day (I do 2 days a week usually) of additional hip strengthener moves with my stretches.  And, progressively got a little more sore throughout the remainder of the day.  That night I did attend Ladies Night at our local running store, which kept me out later than usual, but I got to hang with some amazing friends, which made it worth it.

Wednesday: INSTRUCTIONS: NO WATCH ALLOWED! FOCUS ON THE GOAL OF THE RUN = RECOVERY! GO AS FAR OR SHORT AS YOU NEED, AS FAST OR SLOW AS YOU NEED, WALK OR RUN AS YOU NEED.

Welcome to the one and only day this week that DID NOT include some element of speed.  Thank goodness I had one.  I woke up, still sore from personal training and very glad I didn’t have to push any sort of pace because of that.  I got to bed late, but as this was a run for me to choose the distance, I know I wouldn’t go too far, and if the soreness got worse, I would keep it really short.  I woke up later than my usual alarm (Thursday would be earlier, so it balances), got dressed, fueled, put on my gear and headed out.  It took about 2 miles for my legs to find a rhythm and to not ache as much in the muscles.  But they did feel better.  I was very mindful of any sort of pain, but as things got easier…the run also progressed.  Not with speed.  I still kept that down and under control.  I have enough speed happening this week…I wasn’t going to put any unnecessary energy into this run.  A recovery run did me good though, because I did feel the muscles loosen up and I felt a lot better afterwards.  I put in 5 easy miles…which I was thankful I was able to do and that my body allowed me to do that morning.  I did my stretches I got from physical therapy YEARS ago (the ones I do every morning and night) twice this morning, as I had a sports massage scheduled for that evening.  Corey texted to say he was sick, and very kindly didn’t want to give what he had to me.  I was thankful for that.  And I think my muscles appreciated an extra bit of time off.  The sports massage…was glorious.  I went to bed as soon as I got home though…because Thursday was the start of what I considered to be my hell.  HA!

Thursday: INSTRUCTIONS: 11-13 MILES WITH 3 MILES FAST FINISH – GOAL 12 MILES – EASY DOES IT UNTIL FAST FINISH AT THE END.

I barely slept the night prior.  I had set an early alarm…for 2:30 am, with the hope of fueling (which isn’t easy on a weekday), getting ready, and heading out the door by 3 am.  I did manage all of that, but damn…I was tired.  With having spent most of the night tossing and turning, I was not looking forward to doing this run.  But, I told myself to just take it easy, gradually ease into it, and just prepare for those final three miles.  My legs felt SO much better after the sports massage.  Seriously!  But I was just fatigued.  I had fueled with the Maurten 160 Drink Mix before heading out and had one of their new Maurten 100 Gels with Caffeine on me to take around Mile 9.5 (which I did).  It was a hot, humid morning.  Every now and again, a bit of a breeze would blow, but I was not enjoying having to squeeze in a half marathon distance on a Thursday.  It’s hard for me to do double digits on a work day.  It’s hard enough to fit in single digit runs, and since I never sleep well before these double digit ones (they don’t happen often…but when they do…), I know the logistics just stress me out to that point.  I made a good effort of keeping those first 10 miles easy.  Then, I threw down, the best I could, for those final three miles.  They weren’t impressively fast…but they were good enough for the day.  The second one had a few more turns than the other two, so it was totally slower than the ones that sandwiched it.  But…I got it done.  And 13.1 miles later, I was happy to BE done.  I showered and stretched and ate a protein-filled breakfast.  And I really hoped I would sleep better leading into my rest day.

Friday: REST/RECOVERY DAY!

I did sleep better leading into Friday.  That was good.  I slept in.  I showered.  I stretched. I finished packing.  I headed out to work.  I put in about 6 hours, leaving the office around 2:30 pm.  I went and picked up my order of “magic sushi,” loaded it into a cooler and headed up to Indianapolis for the Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben.  I have never done this race before.  But I stopped by the hotel, dropped off bags (and put my sushi into the fridge), went to the expo to pick up packets (I was grabbing my friend’s , went to Fresh Thyme (I left my pre-race breakfast at the office in my rush to leave, so I found a good replacement with Brekki Blueberry Overnight Oats, Julie’s Real Cashew Butter (coconut vanilla bean flavor), and some waters for the room and pre/during/post race things.  Then we hit up Noodles & Co. so Cathy could grab herself dinner before we returned to the hotel, turned on Food Network to watch Diners, Drive-ins & Dives, and eat dinner.  I stretched and foam rolled, then…stayed up until about 9 before calling it a night.

Saturday: INDY HALF MARATHON AT FORT BEN AT MARATHON PACE

Okay…let me be the first to admit that I ran this WAY faster than marathon pace.  But, it was 47° outside.  And while I had another restless night…I was feeling good.  I connected with Kelly first thing in the morning when we got to the giant parking lot they parked us in.  So we hung out before the race, which was fun.  I don’t get to hang with friends ahead of a race very often.  With the fall air here, the bon fires at the start were nice and we hung there until we had to get into our corrals.  I will do a full race report on this, but let’s just say this…I felt strong for the entire run, even on the giant hills.  I knew I was running well because the 1:40 pacer was behind me the entire time.  And in my head, I kept reminding myself that my goal isn’t to PR…it’s to run a race at marathon pace.  The pacers in that group were phenomenal and while I didn’t run with them, I went and thanked them after the race itself.  I would go back and run this one again in a heartbeat.  Great race.  And I am only 21 seconds off of a new PR in this distance.  Knocking on the door of a breakthrough.  After the race, I showered, packed up, went to Woody’s Library Restaurant for lunch, grabbed some goodies at the gluten-free bakery up the way, went to the Indiana State Fairgrounds for the Half Price Books Clearance Sale (books were $2 and under), before heading home.  It was a lot of time in the car post-race and I did stiffen up some.  Got back and swung by the office to grab the breakfast I was supposed to have from the office so I could have it on Sunday, ran into Melissa, Paul, and Carrick.  Talked for a bit.  then went to get wheat we came for, returned home, didn’t unpack, just changed into pajamas, stretched, foam rolled, made popcorn, watched Top Chef…and went to bed.

Sunday: 11-13 MILES WITH 3-5 MILES FAST FINISH – EASY DOES IT UNTIL THE FAST FINISH AT THE END

UGH.  I didn’t sleep well leading into Sunday morning either.  UGH!  What’s up with these restless nights?  Is it the change in the weather?  I need it to stop now, please.  I actually got up a few times, but nothing seemed to really work.  I eventually through my comforter over me, and that helped for a bit.  Maybe I need a weighted blanket.  But what this did leave me with was very little motivation to do this workout today.  I wasn’t feeling it at all.  I really just wanted to curl up on the couch and not move.  But, I eventually got up, stretched, fueled, got my stuff together, put on sunscreen, got dressed and got out the door.  I kept those early miles easy.  I wasn’t loving the return of the 70°  weather this morning.  Or the humidity.  But I think it’s going away after today.  The first 8 miles felt harder than they were.  My legs were tired from the race the morning before.  The last 5 miles that I pushed pace were trash.  Honestly, they were the hardest in a long time.  And, because I’m dumb, I used my hilly Thanksgiving course for the last 5 miles, which made it even harder to push that fast pace.  I was dying.  It was a HUGE struggle bus.  But I just took it for what it was.  I ran too fast yesterday and that was reflected in my performance today.  I wrapped it up, hoping for a bit of a break in the workouts next week.  I don’t want speed every day again. I really don’t.  I’m also going to be out late because I’m seeing Dear Evan Hansen tonight.  So, tomorrow should be interesting.

And that’s how I taper, I guess.  I run really fast for 5 out of 6 days of training.  And I’m sure the workouts aren’t done yet.  That’s just how my coach does “taper.”  And I trust him.  With my performance at the Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben, his methods are working.  But, dammit, I want to sleep, and feel rested, and maybe have a week to breathe.

We shall see.