Pig to Hoka: You Might As Well Just Kill Me Now

You Might As Well Just Kill Me Now

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Why is it that 26.2 miles doesn't scare me, but 6.2 miles does?! SOOOOO stupid!!!! I'm so f'n nervous! I feel like I'm failing all of my workouts which makes it worse. UGH. I'm annoying myself with all of this whining.

This is my last week of having no specific plan. It worked out because I was on vaca at my mom's, and I never know how much running I will be able to fit in when I'm there. I just did what I felt like doing, and it was glorious!!

• 5/21: 6 miles, 9:28/mile; Tacy's Shoulder workout, 50 minutes. I was still in Columbus so I forced myself out of bed to meet Lisa and Mindy at 5 a.m. I wanted a change from the usual sperm and long sperm route, so we ran through the Academy area. Did we bitch and complain the whole time about something? I think I recall us bitching and complaining. Who knows?! I knew this would be my last opportunity to lift at the gym for a whole week so I chose my favorite shoulder workout. I'm going to miss the gym this week!!!
  

  

  Day one of this week's yoga challenge was a warrior pose.

• 5/22: 8 miles, 8:39/mile. I took advantage of a later start to my work day by running at 6:30 instead of 5! LOL. I saw so many runners out there, and I hated them all!!! What the hell do you do that allows you to run at 6:30 everyday?! I attempted my speed workout and completely failed. I was supposed to run 4x1 mile at my 10k pace. I couldn't run more than a half mile at the pace. I decided to just turn it into a fartlek run instead. This did not make me feel good about my upcoming 10k. Insert all the sad faces!!!
  

  

  Not happy with what just happened.

• 5/23: Rest. After feeling like crap yesterday and travelling to my mom's in WV, I needed a rest day. I did wake up and do some restorative yoga, but nothing crazy. The day mostly consisted of 4 wheeler riding.
  

  

  Having fun with my main dude.

• 5/24: 7.01 miles total, unknown average because I'm currently too lazy to compute numbers; 3.5 miles hiking. So today was fun! We started the morning at Harpers Ferry (about 30 minutes from my mom's house) for a nice hike. I use the term nice loosely because my son was an asshole the whole time. He never stopped whining!! Next time I'm throwing him into the water with the snapping turtles. Ruthie was a doll which made James look worse. LOL!! After the hike, I headed to Winchester, VA to do my speed workout. I wanted to run it on a track to keep me focused on my pace. I couldn't find the track so I ran in a strange place with strange people who stared at me like I was an idiot running outside in the blazing heat. Side note: I was an idiot. I attempted my speed workout again. I was more successful this time. I did a 2 mile warm up and dynamic stretching (advice from this amazing runner since I have issues with short warm ups), followed that up with three instead of four intervals (goal 7:20; actuals 7:06, 7:05, 7:01). I was pissed that I couldn't pace myself appropriately. I need to get my shit together.
  

  
  

  Since I decided to skip the last interval due to the freaking heat, I did an easy 2 mile cool down.
  

  

  Hot and happy.

  
  

  

  LOVE her...she is me...poor girl.

• 5/25: 10 miles, 8:58/mile. I forget how hilly my mom's area is until I actually start running there. I do love the hills, but I'm not used to it in Columbus. The hills mixed with the heat and humidity were a little rough on me this week. I had it in my head that I was going to run 12 miles for my long run this week. Unfortunately, I did not feel that awesome so I cut it by 2 miles. Also, I learned a valuable lesson during this run. Just because you carry your phone with you doesn't mean you should open it to check messages 4.56 miles into your run. You may check a message that is something you did not expect to see and it may distract you from your task. Oh the emojis I could use right now.
  

  

  Lots of emojis.

  
  

  

  This little shit ran off in the morning, and we spent an hour searching for her.

• 5/26: Rest. I haven't had two complete rest days in months. I was really wishing I had a gym to go to so I could lift. UGH. I just enjoyed the country life and spending time with the family. This also might have been the night I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. drinking an entire bottle of wine by myself, listening to random music, and coloring. I am a cool person.
  

  

  Proof that I used to have a pet squirrel. His name was Timmy.

  
  

  

  My sweet twerps.

• 5/27: 4.01 miles, 8:43/mile. I headed back to the bike trail close-ish to my mom's house for a short run. I miscalculated my mileage for the week and realized I only needed 4 miles instead of 7! This made me happy because it was, again, blazing hot. I'm not handling this well!!
  

  

  Even after a bottle of wine, I can balance in eagle pose while drinking coffee.

  
  

  

  Roop likes to put her butt in my face...

  
  

  

  ...and her face in my butt.

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I had such a fun week. I miss living in the country and wish I could visit my parents more. Wake up, drink coffee, do yoga on the deck, ride 4 wheelers, have an adult bev while the kids nap, eat lots of food, ride more 4 wheelers, color...

This was a mix of the Strawberry Basil Vodka infusion that I made mixed with Lime La Croix.

This was unanimously voted my best yoga pic of the week.

You guys, as much as I enjoyed a little vaca to my mom's house, I'm happy to return to my normal routine. I really missed lifting this week. I still have zero confidence in my ability to do well at this 10k. I wish I had someone to pace me!!!

This week I start my training for marathon number ten! I'm going to try my best to embrace it because I'd like to not do another one until I run Boston (if my 3:10 cushion gets me in!).



Pig to Hoka: It's Hot as Balls Outside

Pig to Hoka: It's Hot as Balls Outside

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Pincha Practice.

I have no idea what happened to the week. This will not be my best recap because I'm doing it all in one sitting. Maybe a shot of the delicious pineapple jalapeno tequila will help make things interesting. BRB....

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• 5/14: 6.54 miles, 8:58/mile; 1 walking mile; Haley's Bis/Tris, 1 hour; I opted for sleep and ran after work in the blazing heat. Just me, the sun, and the asshole geese.
  

  

  Sunset side planks.

• 5/15: After a week of marathon recovery, I'm getting back to some speed workouts. I haven't had that feeling of death in a while. This week wasn't too horrible, but enough to make my legs tired the next day. Workout: 4 up, 12x1 minute faster than goal 10k pace with 1 minute recovery, 1 down. I ran my intervals at 7:03/mile. I didn't feel awesome, but I didn't feel horrible either. I need to do more of this crap.
  

  

  I need to get faster. I've become a turtle.

• 5/16: 5 miles, 9:02/mile; Tacy's Shoulder workout and Z's Stability, 1 hour. Another hot run on the bike trail around the gym. I was so tired from yesterday. So lame. I followed that up with one of my favorite lift sessions to make me feel better.
• 5/17: Chest/Back workout, 1 hour; Yoga balance workout, 30 minutes. I decided I needed a rest day from running since I was going to run long on Friday. I worked my two favorite muscle groups and followed it up with a yoga practice for my legs.
  

  

  Headstand ab work.

• 5/18: 12.01 miles, 9:15/mile. Officially a piece of crap. I was so incredibly fatigued. It was the heat, humidity, and yesterday's yoga workout. My only motivation was the coffee waiting for me at home.
  

  

  Home alone!!! Run, Yoga, Tequila...what more could a woman ask for?!

• 5/19: 5.11 miles, 8:58/mile. A sweet new friend, Mindy, was as excited as I was about the royal wedding. She agreed to meet me at my house before it started so that we could get a handful of miles. Then I watched my boyfriend marry the woman of his dreams. It was quite lovely.
  

  

  I bought this $1.99 headband just for this occasion!

  
  

  

  Kisses from my boy.

  
  

  

  James also dressed for the occasion.

• 5/20: Bis/Tris, 50 minutes. I was in the zone today, people...sweating off all of that stress. I wish I had taken pics when I started to lift regularly. It would be awesome to see my progress. I decided to snap a pic of my bis and tris today.
  

  

  Badass gym momma.

  
  

  

  Biceps.

  
  

  

  Triceps.

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I'm soaking in this decreased mileage the next week. Marathon #10 training starts on Memorial Day! I'm anxiously awaiting June 10th when I should find out about the Sister Cities Marathon Exchange that I applied for. If I am chosen (which is not likely because I typically don't get chosen for things...LOL), I will run the Dresden Marathon in Germany in October and hopefully Boston next April! If I don't get chosen, I'll race a half in the fall and train for Boston (if my 3:10 difference gets me in...EEK). After that, I shall retire from the marathon for at least a year...or half of a year. I haven't decided. I do know that I will never be able to focus on my other goals if I don't take a marathon break. I want  5k, 10k, and half PRs. Is that too much to ask?!

My apologies for being so boring this week. My brain cell supply has been sucked dry.



Pig to Hoka: Can I Even Run Fast?!

Pig to Hoka: Can I Even Run Fast?!

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Snuggles with my lady love.

For the first time in my running life, I haven't run 10 bazillion races per month. I went from running Indy Monumental at the beginning of November to running Carmel at the end of March. After that, it was 5 weeks until Pig...all marathons. I haven't run a shorter race since the Granville 5k I did at the beginning of October. I'm not sure why...I just didn't. Because of that, I'm scared out of my mind to run this 10k. I don't even know if I can run fast anymore. I might actually die on June 3rd.

I like the thought of a 10k PR. I've only raced two 10k's in my lifetime (I did the Columbus 10k back in 2014...a few months after having James. I also ran a July 4th 10k in Hilliard in 2015.). My current PR is 46:20 which isn't awful, but I do believe I can do better than that...eventually. I just can't imagine running anything fast right now.

Whether I like it or not, I have 4 weeks between Pig and Hoka to recover and get my mind into 10k mode.

• 5/7: 2.2 walking miles, 15:08/mile; Chest/Back workout, 40 minutes. Post marathon recovery included a gorgeous walk on a sunny day. I followed that up with a lift session. Lifting was tough today! I didn't realized how fatigued my entire body was from running Flying Pig.
  

  

  I started a new yoga challenge this week called "Cosmic Yogis." I thought this was a fun pic of one of the poses.

• 5/8: 4.54 miles, 10:20/mile; Bis/Tris/Stability, 1 hour. I decided to join my friend, LB, and her friend, Laura, for some easy local miles. I had no idea if my legs would even work, so I was slightly nervous to get out there. Although slow, we survived to see another day. Bonus: no post marathon pain.
• 5/9: 4 miles, 9:20/mile; Back/Glute workout, 50 minutes. I joined Sarah for her speed workout except I didn't do the speed part. She smoked my ass. I was incredibly fatigued and dreaming of a rest day.
  

  

  My crop came in! Sometimes you have to buy things for yourself.

• 5/10: Yoga, 45 minutes. I was fo sho going to rest from running today. I found a yoga balance video to do at the gym. I followed that up with some handstand practice.
  

  

  Pics like this make me feel strong because I couldn't always do this!

• 5/11: 5.01 miles, 8:36/mile; Leg workout, 1 hour. I'm calling this a speed workout. LOL. My local running group had their monthly donut run. Amanda and I set off for 5 miles of an unknown purpose. I was still feeling the marathon fatigue and thought my legs were going to fall off. Despite this, it was enjoyable catching up with my friend in person.
  

  

  My dear friend. [Amanda, ME]

  After the fam left the house that morning, I did lots of cleaning and followed that up with a leg workout. I saw a picture of me on the Flying Pig course, and my legs looked disgustingly skinny. I guess that motivated me to do more leg workouts. I'm tired of looking skinny.
  

  

  When I look down at my legs, I don't feel like they look that skinny. When I see my running pics, it completely ruins whatever image I have in my head about myself. UGH. I just want to look strong.

  
  
• 5/12: 10.01 miles, 9:46/mile. I needed to stay close to home in order to make it to my church's Ladies Breakfast. I met up with Meg and Amy in New Albany for a little 10 miler. The run felt amazing! My legs appreciated taking it easy.
  

  

  Miles with Meg.

  Later that day, I had a small party for my friends who like yoga. It was called Inversions and Infusions. We spent some time drinking wine and making alcohol infusions. We followed that up with some yoga practice.
  

  

  Partay! [Sarah, Meg, ME, Ily, Britt]

  
  

  

  Strawberry Basil Vodka and Pineapple Jalapeno Tequila.

• 5/13: Chest/Shoulder, 45 minutes. Well, Mother's Day blew. I'm just glad I had a good Saturday. If I could have traded Saturday and Sunday, I would have had a great Mother's Day. Unfortunately, I didn't get the run I had in mind, but I was able to get in a rushed lift sesh at The Y while the kiddos were in child watch.
  

  

  This was fun to practice. I was trying to make up a standing balance for the challenge theme "lunar standing balance." I was trying to look like a crescent moon.

   

  

  James wanted to get in on the action with his tree pose.

  
  

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I think recovery week went well. I wanted a few more miles, but I suppose I'll be thankful for the ones I did get. I got in a lot more lifting which was a nice change. This coming week, I'm going to try to be a little more organized. I will throw in some speed work to prep for my 10k and do a long run of no more than 12-13 miles (advice from CRC's Evan). We'll see if a little speed work convinces me that I can run faster miles. The thought makes me want to barf.



The Flying Pig Marathon 2018

The Flying Pig Marathon 2018

I rewarded myself by buying this crop top from my favorite running website.

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26.2 x9!!

Once again, Pig did not disappoint. In my opinion, of all the marathons I've run, this one gives you the biggest bang for you buck. The shirts are typically awesome. In past years, I've gotten a backpack with my race packet, but this year was a blanket! The expo is HUGE and full of fun and free stuff. Post race, you get a ton of snacks as well as a beer. This year, because it was the 20th anniversary, they gave away these awesome jackets to the marathon finishers. If you are into having some fun while running, there are so many stations along the course with fruit, candy, bacon, beer, and mimosas! I even said "What the hell?!" to one of the beer stations and took a shot!

Finish swag.

Close-up of the logo that's hard to see.

If you aren't familiar with Pig, it is known for it's hilly course. Although Garmin numbers have varied, I think it has been decided that there's over 1,000 ft. elevation gain. With that being said, there is also the advantage of some downhill. Since I ran this year at an easy pace, I was able to embrace the course and experience the hills. When I ran it 3 years ago, I was too focused on the goal to even notice the hills.

It went up and down so much that I had to go back to my Garmin map to jog my memory. The first couple of miles are flat followed by a small gain in elevation (50-ish ft.) from about 3.5 to 5 miles. It's flat for about a half mile before beginning an almost 300 foot climb over the next 2.5 miles. It is in this section you get to see the beauty of the city at the top of the hill. Fortunately, you get some downhill (about 150 ft.) over the next 3 miles. That turns into a 100 foot climb over a half mile. Then you have another big drop of just over 200 ft. over 1.5-ish miles. At this point, you just have some rollers.


The most memorable hill (which was not so memorable in 2015) occurred at 16.9 miles. My other Pig friends kept talking about this hill, and I had no idea what they were talking about. I thought they were crazy. I knew it had to be true because I was the only one who didn't remember it. When I came to it, it was exactly as described...short, steep, and over before you know it. It's just really annoying because it occurs when a lot of people are starting to feel the fatigue.




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Race morning, Sarah, Britt and I woke up at 3:30 to start drinking coffee. We agreed that there would be no conversation...just coffee drinking and pooping.

Race ready with coffee in hand.

Sarah's friend, Traci, lived 30 minutes away, so we agreed to leave at 4:45 a.m. UGH. SO EARLY!!! We had no issues at all with parking. The morning couldn't have been more smooth. Well, except for the fact that I couldn't poop at Traci's house which made me a bit nervous. Fortunately, I was able to go when we arrived to the start line area.

I trained most of my miles with these girls. Off we go! [Sarah, Britt, ME]

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The First Half:




I was assigned to Corral B, but I wanted to make sure I was able to start with Chris. I joined him and Meg back in D (and just happened to see more people I knew).

Representing Columbus in Corral D! [ME, Meg, Elizabeth, Anna, Lisa B, Chris]

The plan was to stay with the 4 hour pacers. The start was pretty smooth, but a bit congested (as expected). Mile one was significantly slower than the 4 hour race pace because of the crowd [9:40]. *Side note 1: I did not look at my watch (hence the reason I wanted to go with a pacer). I went back afterwards and analyzed my paces from Garmin.*


In the first few miles, we ran over one of the bridges to cross into Kentucky, then ran over another to get back into Ohio. There were a few spots in which the already large crowd had to squeeze together. It made it difficult for Chris and I to stay with each other. It also made it difficult to get water at the water stops. *Side note 2: They have, I believe, 25 water stops on the course!! They were needed that day because the morning was very humid (6:30 a.m. start) and the sun started peeking through the clouds halfway through the race making it warm up fairly quickly.* The bridge and Kentucky miles clocked in at [9:01, 9:02].


As we entered Ohio, we started our first tiny climb. Apparently it didn't phase anyone because those miles ended up being [8:43, 8:42]. That made up for the slow start. During these miles, I still had Chris in my sight. He was always somewhere around me even in the crowd. After a short flat section, we started the longest climb of the race. Honestly, I don't recall it being horrible. Maybe it was because I was running at an easy pace, but it was very tolerable in the moment. This was also the section where I lost sight of Chris. I told him my plan was to stay with the pacers, so I was hoping he was just lost in the crowd. The miles up the hill were [9:14, 9:13, 9:02].

Running the streets of Cincy.

After the climb, we had some decline over the next three miles [8:48, 8:38, 8:38].  For some reason, I wasn't feeling so hot in this section. Maybe the humidity was getting to me. For a minute, I started to think I might not be able to keep up with the 4 hour group! I then realized it was time to gel which made me feel a lot better. Some of the other runners in the group were semi-freaking out because we had some miles that were faster than race pace. One of the pacers explained to them that it was the downhill (duh, people) and that we'd likely have a faster first half because of that.
The half ended with a half mile climb followed by a significant descent. The pacers helped us finish the first half with miles clocking [8:38, 8:34] for a half split of [1:58:38].

Miles 1-13.

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The Second Half:

Miles 14-26.46.

I knew the second half of the course would be easier regarding the hills. Mostly rollers with that short, steep-ish hill at 16.9 miles. At this point, I still didn't see Chris and had no idea about his status. I stayed with the pace group for two more miles before deciding to make a break from the original plan. My last two miles with the pace group were [8:45, 8:52].
At this point, my only plan was to continue to run comfortably. If at any point I wasn't enjoying myself, I was to slow down. As I was passing the mile 16 marker, I pulled out my phone to say hi to Amanda and Jen. I got more of a WTF, why are you on the phone type of response. LOL. I just wanted to let them know I couldn't find Chris and that I was going on my own for the rest of the race.

The next few miles seemed to fly by with nothing significant happening. I tried to enjoy the crowd when they were there, and pretend I was somewhere else when we were on the stretch of highway (probably the only boring part of the course). Miles 16-20 were as follows [8:44, 8:46, 8:36, 8:52, 8:58]. You can probably sense my boredom seeing my splits for 19 and 20.


The dreaded last 10k was all I had left. Typically, this is when I feel like complete crap and tend to slow down before getting my head back in the game. I was slightly surprised at how good I felt. I hadn't hit any sort of wall. My only complaint about how I was feeling is that I'd get crampy occasionally. When that happened, I'd pop a salt tab and drink extra water. The next three miles were actually some of my fastest of the race. [8:34, 8:31, 8:38]
After this, the heat was starting to get to me. I was taking anything they were giving that I thought might put a little more pep in my step...water, towels soaked in cold water, orange slices, etc. I could physically feel my body slowing down a bit, but I had no motivation to go any faster. I knew going faster would take the fun away so I repeated my mantra "Show yourself some grace." Miles 24 and 25 were [8:49, 8:43].
I knew going into this race that the course is usually long (per Garmin) by about a quarter mile. Most of the race, the distance showed it was 0.20 miles more than it should have been. All of a sudden, when I passed the next mile marker, it read 25 miles on the dot! I thought "Maybe, just maybe, this course is closer to 26.2 this year." They changed the start and finish area so I thought that could have made the difference. The thought of this got me excited. I sped up a bit feeling hopeful that it was actually almost over with.
When my watch beeped for mile 26, I had not passed the mile marker yet. GRRRR!! I finally saw the finish line, but it seemed so far away. I could tell I sped up a bit, but I didn't care to speed up more. I was checking out the crowd in hopes I'd see a familiar face and heard Sarah screaming my name.

Finally! The finishing stretch!

She took better pics of me than the pros did. LOL. After crossing the finish line, my watch read 26.46 miles. All the eye rolls. Mile 26 was [8:26] with the last 0.46 at [8:10].

I felt so amazing when I finished. Not just because I was done, but because I just ran a marathon and enjoyed about every moment. Who knew you could run happy the whole time?! I didn't really know what to expect for my finish time. I knew my first half was 1:58 and some change, but had no idea how I'd been doing the second half because the heat was rough. When I looked at my time, it read:


3:53:04!!!

Race Stats. Nothing worth talking about.

My first negative split race (first half vs. second half)! Pretty easy when you start easy.

I couldn't believe it! Considering I stayed with the 4 hour pacers for more than half of it, I was very pleased with my time. It goes to show that those conservative starts can leave you with some gas in the tank at the end. Despite a tough course and less than desirable weather, you can still run a smart race!

The marathoners. [ME, Britt]

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Good performances all around! [ME, Britt, Sarah]

 Line up feeling confident, excited and happy. Smile even when you don't want to. Encourage those around you. Embrace when it gets hard and fight for the reason you are there. We won't always be happy with our results, but we will always learn something from each performance. Who's ready for summer training?!

My marathon medals (minus my PR from Carmel).