My First Half Marathon!

I think today is one of the proudest days of my life :). This morning I completed my first Half Marathon, the Women's Running Magazine's Women's Half in St. Petersburg to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! Back in February, several of my girlfriends completed their first Half Marathons. When I was approached by another friend to join her team for this race I thought it was about time that I gave it a shot (they later bailed so I actually ended up running alone :(). I registered online and got a free 12-week training program so I decided to follow it as closely as I could and only run on raceday if I had completed the training. For me, I found it easier to commit to doing a training program rather than the actual race which felt like a mountain to climb at that time. Anyway, the training went really well - one of the biggest challenges was learning to do long runs alone since I knew Mike wouldn't be joining me on the day :( - until about week 9 when I injured my ankle. I had already started to exceed the mileage on the long runs a bit so I think it was a case of too much, too soon. Anyway, after a particularly bad run one night, I actually passed out from the pain in my ankle! I took this as a sign to take a week off and instead of giving up altogether I decided to substitute the training runs for the crosstrainer at the gym and be a lot more careful, particularly on long runs. I was very nervous when it came time for the only 10-miler during training (the program only went up to 10 miles based on the assumption that adrenaline would get you to 13 on the day:)) but I managed to do it without too much trouble at all! That was the point at which I decided that I would go for it and do the race itself :).

There were about 7,000 registrants so the bib pick up is all handled the day before. We booked a hotel in St. Pete for Saturday night and drove over earlier in the day to get the fancy bag of goodies and T-shirt.

Just a little terrifying to see my name on the list...

One of the best pieces of advice that I had was not to do anything different from training on the actual day. With that in mind, I ran in my old Newtons and promised myself a pair of these if I actually managed to finish (and ever wanted to run again :))...

We caught the sunset after the Expo and took a walk on the beach on the way to the restaurant to 'carb up.'

When we got to the hotel, there was a wedding reception by the pool. They had fireworks while Maddy was taking a swim!

To ease my nerves I got everything organized and laid out for the next day. It didn't work; I barely slept at all :(...

We woke up to leave at just after 5am. At this point I just wanted for it to be over...

Aside from all the runners wearing pink, everything at the hotel was pink, including the Christmas tree!

When we arrived I was totally overwhelmed by the scale of the whole thing. It was quite reassuring to know I wasn't going to be suffering alone. That didn't stop the tears though and I didn't stop crying until we actually started running...

I planned on taking millions of photos during the race but very quickly decided to just focus on being present with the whole experience. The course route went past several landmarks in St. Pete and there were 7 live bands. I barely even used my ipod, the spectators were just incredible and I also met several fantastic ladies throughout the race! I did get a picture of the pier at mile 8...

After 10 miles I started to feel very nervous since I hadn't ever run that far before. It was starting to get a little too hot, the breeze had subsided and my feet were starting to get really sore. My favorite part of the whole race though was running through the air-conditioned Tropicana Field stadium on the astroturf and seeing the 12th mile marker right outside! I couldn't believe how close we were to the finish but I still didn't believe I would actually make it until I had less than a half mile to go:). I was also amazed at how close I was going to be to my fantasy time of 2:30! It suddenly occurred to me that I was just about to do something that I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I was capable of and I burst into tears (again) as I crossed the line and hugged the lady who gave me my beautiful medal :). 

The start/finish line was right outside the beautiful Dali museum...

Mike was so very proud of me!

After a couple of pics I was ready to go home and get some food and rest. When I woke up later on I took a walk to stretch out my legs a bit and reflect on the whole experience. I saw online that my time was 2:31:54 which I am completely thrilled with! So what next??? I'm really not sure. I'm pretty sure that I don't ever think I could take on a Full but I'm also pretty sure that I would do a Half again. For now, I'm going to celebrate for a while and wait and see how I feel later on :)...

4 Mile Lap4Life in NY!

My knee has been getting so much better lately so I decided to take the plunge and do the Lap4Life 4-miler while we were up in NY on vacation. It's been over 2 months since I've done a proper event so I was really nervous on the way over in the car...

The race was to benefit Desmoid Cancer, a rare type of cancer that tragically took the life Dr. Angelo Casabianca - a local physician and father of three young children. About 600 runners came to show their support and run around the beautiful Chadwick Lake in upstate NY.

We got to run with Scott and Karrie for the first time :)

The run around the lake was so pretty and Mike stayed with me in case my knee played up. I was really thrilled to not have any pain at all even with the NY hills! It definitely helped to be running in temperatures over 10 degrees lower than in Florida too:). I loved the motivational signs throughout the course and the volunteers did a great job of cheering everyone along...

Maddy and Jayden came to show their support and managed to spend over 20 dollars on raffle tickets while we were running. We didn't win anything...

When we crossed the line the guy with the microphone called us the 'most romantic couple of the day.' I love this picture of us!

After we were done we hung out for a while and enjoyed the post-race entertainment...

Me and my mentor, Scott:)

It felt so great to do an organized event again. And to share it with such special friends. Now I need to sign up for another one :)...

Moonlight Madness at Bootleg Canyon

This was my first (and maybe last:)) attempt at a destination race. Since we were in Vegas for a long weekend I found the 'Moolight Madness - Desert Dash' 5K on active.com and thought it would be cool to try trail running in the desert at nighttime. The website said:

"Trail running is such a great way to get out and explore and with our group runs and races you are sure to be on some of the sweetest singletrack trails around. We also offer our own unique Moonlight Madness races...what better way to have fun than to get out in the dirt under the full moon!"

The organizers seemed experienced and it sounded like a lot of fun. We arrived at Bootleg Canyon with the 'BC' in the mountain (just outside Boulder City) just as the sun was going down...

It was very cold and windy so we stayed in the car. It was only then that we started to wonder just how well the trails were going to be marked and if this was really such a good idea after all...

When the sun goes down in the desert, it is absolutely pitch black...

We did love the hats in our race packets though...

At the pre-race meeting the organizers claimed that the trails were really well marked and there would be several experienced desert runners out there to make sure that no one got lost. They checked that we all had lights (I had bought ours at the running store which clipped onto our hats) and had a medic explain the protocol if anyone were to get injured. To be honest, that was the only clue that we may be embarking on something that could in any way be dangerous...I saw a mom with her two children so I told Mike I would be fine and to run ahead and said I'd stay with the mom so that I wasn't alone.
So the race began...after just a few minutes of turning my ankle on really narrow and rocky trails I realized I was going to get hurt if I ran. It was kind of like hiking in the dark since our cap-lights were really hopeless and the sky was too cloudy for there to be any moonlight. I stayed focused on the girl in front of me as best as I could and followed her for about a mile or so. I kept thinking that at some point we would get onto a surface fit for running on but it just didn't happen and it was too late to turn back. In fact at a couple of points in the course I actually had to use my hands to climb upwards! Then, all of a sudden, after about a half an hour, I realized that I was completely alone. I did my best to follow the reflectors that had been set up and started running again just to get out of there. I don't think I've ever been so frightened. Eventually I ran into a race organizer who told me that I was on the half marathon course. He told me that about seven of us (there were less than 50 in total) had all gone the wrong way and then had the nerve to suggest that I shouldn't have signed up if I wasn't experienced. Gotta love the guy...on their Facebook a few days before it had said:

"Moonlight Madness is coming up fast and there's one last chance before the race to get out on the Bootleg trails in the dark with the people that know them well... Yes, newbies are welcome! Come out and play for a bit."

Anyway, the guy kept pointing vaguely into the darkness and saying, you can rejoin the trail if you round that mountain over there and I started losing my ever-loving mind. Then another runner came by who was also off-course. Janie had injured herself on the 10K and had tried to follow the 5K to get back. We decided to find our way back together. We vented about how frustrating the whole experience was as we found our way back to civilization. I am so grateful to have found her - she was a complete sweetheart! As we crossed the line at 1 hour and 30 minutes, Mike looked like he'd gone to hell and back when I saw him - he had also gotten off course and then been stranded out there by a couple of the 'helpful, experienced desert runners.' He was so relieved when he realized that I was OK. There were still a handful of runners missing (including Janie's husband who ended up doing the half) so it was all very chaotic and emotional when I got in. I nearly punched the guy when he gave my the race medal but feel strangely attached to it now somehow...

I'm still processing what happened so I can't say exactly what I learned from the experience yet. Mike said he feels like he can take on anything now. Maybe I'll look back and feel something other than angry at the organizers one day...I certainly hope so...:)

Hiking out west

Despite the fact that I didn't see the inside of a gym or put on my running shorts for a week, we did manage to stay pretty active on our vacation out west. We got up early, went to bed early and hiked almost every day. Hiking is much more challenging than I thought at high elevations with that thin mountain air. The Navajo trail at Bryce Canyon was probably the most difficult - Maddy loved the trip down but was miserable on the way back up :(. After about a half an hour, she admitted that she was glad she'd done it though:)

I also managed to take 'that damn bike' out a couple of times before the trip and felt a bit better about the whole thing:). My goal for the month is to get to the point where I can do 10 miles on the new bike relatively comfortably.

Jamaica

I was really proud of myself that I managed a 30 minute run in the gym on a broken treadmill in Jamaica. This won't even nearly make up for the ridiculous number of calories that I have been eating and drinking here though. There is rum on tap in the room for goodness sake...