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).



Little Rock Marathon/5k Combo Part 1: Returning Home and the 5k

The moment finally arrived!!! What a weekend. All the good feels happened as we flew into the city. When I saw downtown LR, I just broke into tears. It just felt good to be home. After leaving the airport, we met my college BFF, Leslie, at Iriana's Pizza downtown. She got to meet my kiddos and vice versa. After more happy tears, we got to reminisce about fun times together.

Lunch at Iriana's. I knew the toddlers wouldn't look at the camera!

Afterwards, the fam and I took a quick trip across the street and met Amanda at the expo to get our race packet. We then headed to my Uncle's house (whose family graciously hosted us) for some down time. James instantly bonded with his cousins, and everyone loved Roop.

Down time with the kiddos. That's a fart machine in James' hand!

That evening, we loaded up and headed to North Little Rock for my high school cross country team reunion. It was so awesome seeing everyone and catching up with my coach.

Part of the team. Go Psychos! [Coach Williams, ME, Sarah, Matt, Josh, Mary, Amanda]

The fam dropped Amanda and me off at the hotel after dinner and we spent the night talking about why the heck we registered for the combo event! LOL. We were not motivated to get up and run the next morning.

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Before I tell you about my 5k, side story: Bart Yasso was one of the announcers for the races. Amanda saw him in the hotel and accidentally called him Hal (as in Hal Higdon in case you aren't knowledgeable about the running world and need to google!)! I about died when she told me the story!! Anyway, I felt like too much of a nerd to ask for a pic with him, but it was neat to be 5 feet away from him at the start of the 5k.


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The start line! All of the fast people getting ready.

Despite the lack of motivation to wake up and run the 5k, I got more excited once I was out there. It's been 3 MONTHS since my last race. That's the longest I have ever gone without racing. I had to tell myself to tone things down and not race this because I had the marathon the next day. After talking to various running friends, I decided I would try to stay close to 8 minutes/mile, but would allow myself to run as fast as 7:45/mile.


The weather was perfect. It seemed like it would be chilly, high 30s. I wore my capris, a short sleeve top, and arm warmers thinking I might be cold. Since the sun was beaming, it was so comfortable. I wish we could have traded this weather with Sunday's marathon weather.

Look at all of that beautiful sunshine!

When the race started, I had to let everyone pass me. I couldn't let that tempt me to go fast. I decided to just go by feel and make sure the legs felt like they were running easy. When I hit mile 1, my watch read [7:34]. UGH! TOO FAST. I was pissed at myself. I just kept thinking about how my legs would be toast if I kept that up. I tried to slow down tremendously the second mile and ended up running [7:46]. Better, but still at the fast end of my range.


It was around this time that we split from the 10k'ers. It thinned things out a bit, but there were a lot of spectators which made it fun. I knew that the top 10 received an award, but I had no idea what place I was in. I kept going back and forth with one girl the whole race, and I felt the need to tell her I wasn't trying to race! I didn't, but I just kept feeling like she was trying to race me. I was getting annoyed by it so I slowed down a bit more to let her get ahead of me. I just didn't want the temptation to race!


When I finished, my final Garmin stats were 3.13 miles in


24:03.

One race down, one to go!

My final mile was [7:55]. I still had no idea how I placed so I went to the results tent to print off my results. I BARELY made the final cut!! I was the 10th overall female (of 845) and 4th (of 96) in my age group. The lady I let ahead of me in the third mile finished 14 seconds ahead of me and the 11th place person was only 4 seconds behind me! I never looked back so it was pure luck that she didn't pass me to get the 10th spot.


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I will have a separate race report for my marathon, but, looking back, I will likely never do a combo race again. It just doesn't make sense for me. I just can't think of any situation in which I would want to do that the day before a full or half. Especially if I had any sort of goal in mind. It's just not for me! Even though the race felt easy in the moment, my legs told me otherwise the next morning. I think it did make me a little tired. I should have treated it as a shake out run, but who pays for a shake out run?! I had to run it faster than shake out pace! Lesson learned...one and done on the combos!


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Two more things:
Amanda and I met up with Leeann, Felicia, and other Columbus runners for a delicious brunch after the 5k/10k!

The Root Café. Such a yummy place!

We also went back to the expo later that day for a little shopping. I bought some throwaway gloves for future races (only $3 for two pairs!), a new pair of running sunglasses, and this amazing shirt:

HHH: Week 4

Hilly Half Hustle

 

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James at the Wolverine Chase.

 What an eventful week! My main focus this week was making sure I was ready for race day and ready to conquer my longest long run thus far. I can't believe I'm only two weeks away from my race!! I'm very excited, but I really need to look at the course map and figure out my strategy with the hills (remember it's a "moderately hilly" course in Nashville...whatever that means!). I'm confident I can get my goal of 1:50 if I play it smart.

 

• 11/21: 6 miles, 9:46/mile. Hill repeats. After a slow two mile warm up...10:27 and 10:13...(Noemi and I had no idea we were going so slow...it was so cold that I didn't notice anything!), we hit up the hill at the dam for repeats. I completed 6 repeats (approx. a quarter mile each) and ran a cool down until I reached 6 miles. The hill felt so hard, but I remember it feeling hard when I was in good shape. It's a tough one.
  

  

  Baby, it's cold outside! [Noemi, ME]

• 11/22: 9.4 cycling miles, 35:45; upper body circuit. I wanted to knock out my monthly goal of 30 cycling miles, so I rode until it happened. I opted for upper body so I wouldn't be too sore on race day.
• 11/23: REST.
  

  

  James wanted to hold Roop. SOOO sweet.

• 11/24:RACE DAY! 2.01 mile warm up, 8:56/mile; 3.99 mile race, 7:41/mile; 1.07 mile cool down, 9:33/mile. You can check out my RACE RECAP for details!
  

  

  Turkey Trot crew.

• 11/25: Leg circuit. Basically everyone I know was off work today,  but I had the joy of working. I was too lazy to workout in the morning and forgot to do it after work. I had to knock it out while Ruthie was napping and James was taking a bath...but I got it done.
• 11/26: 13.15 miles, 8:36/mile. My long runs keep getting longer! After a couple of weeks running 12 miles, it was time to move up. At least now I know I can complete the distance of a half marathon. Every time Amanda offers to run with me, I get nervous!! I'm not sure why because she's never left me dead on the road. She took me on a Tour de LC. The first half of our run was the hillier portion (although the back half felt like it might have had some inclines...or maybe I was just getting tired). I realized when I got to her house that I forgot my gels so I couldn't practice nutrition during this run. Just like last week, I felt fine until the last 4 miles. That's when I started to feel my leg workout from the night before. I do wonder if having a gel might have helped a bit. Either way, we stayed pretty consistent with our splits (minus miles 6 and 10 which were in the 8:50s...we cranked out our fastest mile at the end to make up for it). Overall, very happy with the run. It does take me back 2 years when Jackie and I first started running with Amanda. I didn't realize my potential until she pushed us a bit. I'm happy to have a whole crew of besties to push me now!
  

  

  Happy face after my long run!

• 11/27: 6 miles, 9:10/mile; CORE. It was another bRUNch day with my pals! I'm starting to love these little get-togethers. We went to Fox in the Snow, again, for those that couldn't attend a couple of weeks ago. Jackie, Megan, and I were all a little tired from our long runs the day before so we made sure to keep it easy. After the holidays, I'm hoping to arrange a bRUNch in Grandview!
  

  

  COFFEE!! [Meg, Jackie, ME]

 

After an exciting week of training and racing, I'm hoping for something more low key this week. Happy Running, friends!

 

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Side Note: I decided to take some pics of my postpartum mid section progression. I'm still pretty flabby but the weight is slowly coming off and my shape is slowly coming back. I'm excited to say that I was able to button up my favorite pair of jeans this morning! Woo Hoo!!!

BMB: Week 6 and Ruthie Randoms

Building My Base

 

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Flashback to the OSU 4 miler on Sunday. This was as we were finishing. [Tamara K., Meg, ME, Katie, half of Jen]

Post race. [Tamara K., Meg, ME, Katie, Jen]

This is the last week of BMB. I officially start half marathon/marathon training on Monday!! There is no turning back. I have registered and committed to these races so I must follow through with training. EEEK!


The word "consistency" was on my mind a lot this week.

 

This week has been pretty awesome because I've had a lot of free time (P.S. Still no word about when I'll get to return to work after the car accident). I haven't had to wake up for any 5 a.m. runs, AND I've had the chance to catch up with long lost friends.

 

• 10/24: REST. After tweaking my foot on Saturday, I knew I needed to give my body a day of rest. I was still having some throbbing in my foot but it wasn't as intense. I took James to the zoo, so I did a lot of walking, but I rested from running.
  

  

  jd3 showing off his WPS pride!

• 10/25: 6.21 miles, 9:00/mile; 30 minutes leg/core stability workout. I FINALLY got a run with Jackie. Just like the old days before we met our other amazing runner friends. We really had no agenda so we just ran. Aren't those the best runs?! After our run, she introduced me to this delicious coffee shop in Hilliard. YUMMY!!!
• 10/26: 4 miles, 9:13/mile. I met Amanda at The Y for a little treadmill action. It was really the perfect day for it because it was raining most of the day and sometimes you just aren't in the mood for cold and rainy. I kept it short and easy to make sure I didn't aggravate my foot.
  

  

  Amanda is so fast she's blurry!!

• 10/27: 7.3 miles, 8:51/mile; 15 minutes core/hip workout. Jackie: "Lisa, I need help keeping our pace in the 9s. I'm horrible with pacing." Me: "I got you, girl. I'll pay attention to my watch and make sure I never see an 8 in front." Rrrrright. That lasted two miles before we forgot our agenda. Oops.
  

  

  Trying to cover Jackie's ASSets. I done good.

• 10/28: REST. I already had runs secured for the next three days including Highbanks and a long run with Marion and Jackie. I knew I would need a rest day before conquering those two things. Trying to play it smart with this post baby body! I decided to take my mind off of running by volunteering for packet pickup at Front Runner. Ha!!
• 10/29: 6.21 miles, 9:58/mile. We took it to the mean streets...I mean, trails...of Highbanks. If I'm going to conquer this half marathon in a few weeks, I need to get myself used to hills again. What used to seem so natural, now is SO CHALLENGING!! Highbanks is so beautiful right now. I was excited that I could find a couple of crazies to come along with me.
  

  

  Love this place! P.S. That guy in red was going SO FAST on these hills. It was way too intense. [Kelli, Noemi, ME]

• 10/30: 10.10 miles, 8:53/mile. Hills (and too much wine the night before). OMG. Something that I used to conquer without thought has become one of my biggest challenges (HMM...sounds like a repeat of what I said yesterday!). Between my injury this year and having a baby, I didn't run hills for a long time. They feel so hard to me right now, but I refuse to quit until they become my thang again! I'm not one to back down from a running challenge!! My half marathon in December was described as "moderately hilly." That could mean anything! I'm going to assume the worst and hit those hills hard the next month.
  

  

  So incredibly hot. October 30th and running in a sports bra! [Marion, Jackie, ME]

 

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-Ruthie smiles ALL THE TIME! I love it.

Fun at Ms. Jane's (outfit from Aunt Amanda).

-She continues to be OBSESSED with her "jungle gym."

-My girl is larger and stronger than James ever thought about being! She might be the first female linebacker in the NFL.

Future Razorback (hat made by Aunt Amy when I had James).

-She loves to bounce.

Say whaaaat?! (top from Aunt Marion)

-She has started sucking on her hand and it's the cutest thing.
 

Just a bonus pic of jd3.

BMB: Week 5

Building My Base

 

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What a craptastic week...might as well keep with my life theme of 2016. I had a rough start by having a bit of an illness. I followed that up with a car accident (also with a side of wrist injury). I decided to tweak my foot on Saturday, BUT ended with some fun at the OSU 4 miler on Sunday! Phew.

Part of the crew at the OSU 4 miler. Hmm...I'm the only one in shorts. Also, fanny pack front and almost center. [Steph, Tamara, Meg, ME, Jen don't call her Jennifer, Jennie/Jen/Jennifer]

• 10/17: 4 total miles. 2.7 miles @ 9:16 pace, 1.3 at who the heck knows pace. After a well deserved rest day, I was ready to hit the road. I agreed to meet my friend Allison for her long run of 7 miles...4:45 a.m. and we were ready to go! Aside from being sleepy, I felt ok when I woke up. When we started our run, my body was a little fatigued, but that's pretty typical for me. I take a while to warm up. A mile or so into the run, I broke out in a full body sweat. At this point, I didn't say anything to Allison yet because I thought maybe it was the humidity. Another mile went by and I told her I wasn't feeling well. We stopped so that I could strip my shirt. I thought that might make me feel better. NOPE. I was feeling lightheaded and nauseous. No bueno. We decided to turn around at 2.5 miles and head back. We hit 2.7 and I had to quit...like, literally quit. I convinced her to keep going, finish her run, and come back for me. I walked about three quarters of a mile and still felt like crap. At that point, I sat down on the side of the road. Part of me was hoping Allison would show up so I didn't have to continue. The other part of me was annoyed that this was happening and that I was a quitter. I decided to go ahead and start running again. I made it 1.3 miles (I didn't start my watch so had to map it out later) when Allison pulled over to scoop me up. I was never happier to see a human in my entire life. I ended up calling into work that day.
• 10/18: 4.09 miles, 9:55/mile. If my pace doesn't tell you how I felt, I don't know what will. I still didn't feel awesome but I was determined to get some miles after yesterday's epic fail. I "slept in" until the hubs had to get up so I could help get the kiddos ready. I did a late morning run in my hood before work. It sucked. I was so tired. I wanted 6 miles but it wasn't happening. I had to force myself to do four. I knew I had to make myself rest the next day.
• 10/19: REST. Although this was an intentional rest day, I decided to mix things up a bit and get into a car accident (obviously sarcasm). I'll spare the details, but the accident happened while I was on the job between patients. All of the airbags deployed. I have a few bruises and air bag burns along with an injured wrist.
  

  

  A few hours after the accident.

  
  

  

  Side view.

  
  

  
  At this point, the extent of my injury is still unknown. The urgent care doctor confirmed that there was no fracture, but had concerns about the soft tissue structures. Because of this, she put me on a 10 lb. lifting restriction for at least two weeks in addition to referring me to an ortho. Unfortunately, because it's a work comp. claim, I have to wait for approval before I can see an ortho. I feel like I can perform my job duties but the doc says otherwise. My employer has to go by what the doc says. UGH. I'm super annoyed. I just hope to get back to work ASAP.
• 10/20: REST. I woke up sore and stiff from my accident. I contemplated going for an evening run but just wasn't feeling like getting out in the rain. I'm super lame. I probably needed to rest anyway.
• 10/21: 4 miles, 9:15/mile. I thought yesterday's rain was stupid...today was WORSE! Not only was it pouring literally all day, it was crazy windy as well. I cancelled an early run with one of my besties because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up. I was also still nervous about running after my car accident. I decided to go to the Y for a short run on the mill so that I'd have the option to stop at any moment. Fortunately, I had no pain!
  

  

  Random: Took Baby Boo for his flu shot. This was his post-shot treat.

• 10/22: 6.4 miles, 8:55/mile. I met three of my besties for bRUNch. We planned six miles but I wasn't sure how I'd feel and wanted to make sure I'd survive the OSU 4 miler tomorrow. We definitely started too fast for me because I was not feeling awesome after the first two miles. I decided to turn around and give myself the option of running only 4 miles. After slowing down, I started feeling better. I decided to go off route a bit to get some extra mileage. The more I ran, the better I felt! I was getting closer and closer to 6 miles to I decided to go back to the route and catch up with the Marion and Theresa. After the run, we joined Jackie for some delicious brunch from Be Fit Café. Side note: I tweaked my foot toward the end of the run when my foot slipped off of the road to the grass. I felt it in the area of my fractures. It scared me at first but I didn't feel anymore pain after that. It did throb occasionally the rest of the day and was a little tingly on the top of my foot.
  

  

  Two of my loves. I have missed running with these girls so much this year. Here's to 2017! [ME, T, Marion]

• 10/23: 7.45 total miles. 3.5 warm up miles,  9:21/mile; 3.95 miles, 8:16/mile. Today I did the OSU 4 miler with some friends. SO fun! I'm not doing a race report because it was more of a fun run to help me practice race pace for my upcoming pace gig. I mostly failed at keeping the intended pace of 8:30, BUT it did show me that I will be able to hold an 8:30 pace for that race without dying! Our splits were (8:34, 8:15, 8:08, 7:39 for 0.95). I did have a couple of dry heaving moments right after the finish...must be from trying to be the "I" in O-H-I-O for the last quarter mile. LOL.
  

  

  The supposed to run 8:30 but actually ran 8:16 crew. Hehehe. [Jen, Meg, Tamara, ME, Katie]

  
  

  

  Post race field action.

  
  (Foot update: It still doesn't hurt but I do have an achy throb. I'm going to rest from running tomorrow in hopes that it will go away!)
  

  

  Me and my rockstar marathon friend, Meg.

  
  

  

  Just me and my medal in front of The Shoe.

  
  

 

Excited about what I'll call my do-over week. Hopefully lots of easy miles sprinkled with a couple of faster miles (unless my foot says otherwise). I also need to get another 10 miler under my belt before marathon training starts! Happy Running, friends!