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PF Chang’s Marathon Training Week 5

December 17, 2012 · by Ari · 4 Comments

I have so much to tell you. First of all, I’ve just discovered that my running mileage for 2012 is currently sitting at 925 miles. I’d secretly kind of had the goal of getting to 1,000, but I didn’t really put much thought into it, because honestly, I just didn’t think I would. I don’t do very well with a ton of mileage, so I just tried to follow my plan, and keep this little goal in the back of my mind….Until it got so close that I can taste it! Now I have to do it, right??? I mean, I don’t plan on being stupid and killing myself this close to the marathon if something hurts, but it definitely gives me a little added motivational push when I’ve been struggling a bit mentally.

Also, I *think* I’m getting closer to figuring out my fueling/stomach issues. It’s kind of a constant battle for me. Almost any food before a run can cause a lot of unpleasantness with no gallbladder, but I’m not a person who can do a long run on gu alone. I’ve always eaten Ezekiel bread with nut butter and sometimes a banana before a run since, like, forever. I never thought that was the culprit because back in the day it worked great, but I started to think about the fiber of the bread and the fat of the nut butter. My body can’t process fats as well now, and let’s just say I don’t think my body needs any added fiber in my life ever. So for my long run this week, I bought a white flour bagel and put pumpkin butter on top. My stomach felt the best it has felt in a loooooong time. I was so happy!!! I had to make one stop in the first mile, and then had no issues for 18 whole miles!! This is a big deal in my world, friends.

However, I still get hungry–like stomach growling hungry–and feel somewhat depleted around 15 miles even with fueling often. I’m not sure how to fix that other than maybe playing with my meal the night before and trying to bulk it up? I always make sure to eat a decent amount of carbs at dinner, but maybe I need more? If anyone has any brilliant advice on the subject, I’d love to hear it! Anyway, here’s how last week went down:

Monday: 5 mile run. I was having a realllll hard time getting motivated for this run, but I got out there, and of course as soon as I did, it felt great! I set my garmin to a screen where I couldn’t see my pace, and just cruised at what felt comfortable, which ended up averaging in at 9:40. That is not my usual “easy” pace. I was pretty stoked about it.

Tuesday: Off.

Wednesday: “Track” and strength training. At PT I ended up doing all sorts of crap–one legged dead lifts on the bosu ball, abs, triceps, this thing where I threw a ball at the wall…I was sore for like 3 days, and I felt like a total wimp, but at least I strength trained a little! That afternoon I met up with Stacey to do our scheduled track work out. We met up in the early afternoon, and it was about 72* which is perfect for a picnic, but it felt warm (at least to me) to run in. It wasn’t an easy run, but we still rocked it. We did a short warm up then 1 mile @ 9:03, 1200 @ 8:28, 800 @ 7:55, then 3×400 @ 7:16, 6:56, 6:43, then a short cool down. I kind of wanted to die, but in a good way?

Thursday: Off.

Friday: 18 mile run. You know, I kind of thought the long runs would be easier this time around. Turns out….they’re not. BUT I’m faster this time around. A lot faster. My last 18 mile run took me 3 hours and 8 minutes, and I shaved 7 minutes and 26 seconds per mile off of that this time around! This run was amazing, and hard, and fun all at the same time! Nicole and I both started out feeling a little rough. Her ankle was bugging her, and I woke up with a stabbing pain in my hip (I’ve had it before, and it’s not from running, and it always goes away so I wasn’t worried, just annoyed). We had to stop and stretch a few times in the first few miles, and we kinda decided to let it be what it was going to be, not stress, and enjoy the scenery.

Look at this house!!! We thought their decorations were so cool that we stopped to take pictures. Is it Halloween?? Is it Christmas??? Who knows, but it’s awesome!

“Nicole, why is their Christmas so scary???”

“Don’t worry Ari, I’ll protect you! Super Nicole to the rescue!”

We took a totally new route which took us through Tempe, Scottsdale and Phoenix and it was gorgeous, and a great way to change things up! Also, fall running is my nice.

By the end, we had both totally surprised ourselves, and I ran my fastest long run of marathon training ever with an average pace of 10:02. Granted, we definitely took our share of breaks, so I don’t know how accurately that represents where I am pace wise, but it sure felt great to see such an awesome time! And then there was well earned chocolate milk/coffee with chocolate milk per usual.

I was dreaming of you too, Dutch Bros…

Saturday: Off.

Sunday: 3 mile run. That 925 lit a fire, plus I figured 3 work outs this week wasn’t really great, so I ran to my mom’s house for dinner. 3 nice and easy miles averaging a 9:37 pace, and then there was food, so that was good.

Tell me something awesome. I don’t care what it is, or what subject it’s about. I would just like to hear awesome things. 🙂

Hot Chocolate 15k Race Recap

December 16, 2012 · by Ari · 2 Comments

This is a weird race to write about. I ran 9.3 miles. I raced 3 of them. I really did enjoy myself, and I actually felt pretty proud of myself at the end, but I haven’t been sure exactly what to say about the whole experience.

The boring stuff: Hot Chocolate had a shakey start from what I read about their first race, but they’ve totally gotten their act together. The race was well organized, and even though the course was borrrrrrrrring, I would definitely do it again.

Okay, so Nicole and I had been planning to run together. Neither of us had ever run a 15k before, but I was really excited and had pace plans all mapped out in my head thinking this would the perfect opportunity to practice pacing for a sub 2 half, and really, I’m always excited to race with Nicole. She’s faster than me and she pushes me, and most importantly, we always laugh–at 5am, when it’s hard, at at the end of mile 18, we never stop laughing.

Right as the race was about to start, we found Stacey, got into our corral and we were off. This part was annoying. When I signed up, I had predicted my pace would be around a 9 min/mile. We were in the second corral which scared the crap out of me, but literally for the first 1/2 mile, it was so congested, and everyone was going so slowly that I couldn’t get anywhere near my goal pace. Wahhhh. I was that girl weaving around, and Nicole and Stacey followed me. Apparently I was on a mission that morning! We finally got our own space, got our pace down, and completed the first mile in 9:10–right on target. Unfortunately, Nicole had an injury that had started bugging her a couple of days before, and she was not feeling great. She told me she was going to walk for a bit (which this girl NEVER does, and how I knew something was wrong), and I slowed right down with her. She stuck with me during the turkey trot when I was having major stomach issues, and there was no way I was going to leave her. Stacey stuck with us too, and my goals very quickly changed to being with my friends–there are plenty of other races.

We walked for a bit, then tried to run again, but it was obvious Nicole was hurting, so we stopped and I told her I wasn’t going anywhere until she turned around. The marathon is a month away, and no 15k is worth risking your first marathon if you’re in pain. As soon as Stacey and I started to run again, I immediately felt totally guilty. Why was I still running??? I should have stopped and turned around with her. One of my best friends was struggling, and I turned and kept running. I felt like crap about it, and considered turning around about 100 times, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find her, and I was just conflicted, so I kept going. Of course she didn’t expect me to stay with her, and I wouldn’t have wanted someone to stop with me, but I just wished I would have stuck with her.

Anyway, I kept running with Stacey, and I just couldn’t get my head back in the game. I felt guilty, I knew I wasn’t going to make my goal of 1:25, I just wasn’t pushing, and kinda just wanted to be done. There was pretty much no crowd support, and the course just kept going baaaaack and forth in the same area over and over. I wasn’t into it. I thought about taking, like, a billion walking breaks, and not because I was tired, but because I just didn’t feel like running. When Stacey stopped to use the bathroom, I stuck around to wait for her mostly because it was nice to get to run with her again, but also a little because I thought I might totally give up if I was alone.

Then, at mile 7 I got the hell over it I guess, and decided I was ready to race. Better late than never? I ran the last 2 miles at 8:55, then 8:30, and finished with Stacey at 1:30:23. Considering I had been stopped for about 4 minutes of that, I was actually really excited. I realized that although my heart wasn’t into it for 6 out of the 9 miles, I still did pretty darn well, and this just means my next 15k will basically be an automatic PR 😉

PF Chang’s Marathon Training Week 4

December 11, 2012 · by Ari · 4 Comments

Okay, so before I talk about last week, I want to talk a little bit about my mental game because, well, it sucks right now. For 6 months, I’ve been training for a marathon. For 8 months before that I was training for half marathons–my first and then training to PR at a couple of others. That is a long time. Surprisingly, my body feels okay. I feel much stronger than I did a few months ago during the first round of this training cycle, and while my body still doesn’t seem to love the idea of running a marathon, I’m not in a constant state of pain the way I was while training for New York. My mind, however, is a little done.

The last 2 weeks have been lower mileage, and let me tell you, I have done the bare minimum. Last week I ran something like 22 miles, when just a couple of weeks ago, I had a couple 7 day periods (not M-F weeks, but still technically weeks) that were double that. Somehow I doubt cutting back means halving my mileage. Unless I have plans to run with a friend, I’m having a tough time forcing myself to do much of anything. I’m sure I could come up with a million excuses–it’s too cold now to ride my bike in the morning, I’ve been so busy that it’s hard to get to the gym for spinning or strength training (to be fair, last week was tech week…), etc.

I actually think the cutback weeks might be partially to blame. I get excited about challenging weeks with high mileage, and I get excited to get them in. The last two weeks, I’ve felt excited for my races, but the rest of the time I can’t get into it. So maybe the world could just plan races on all of my running days, so I could get excited about them too? I would love if everything could just revolve around me. 😉

In all serious, I know it will be fine, and I know that a 7 month marathon training cycle is a little ridiculous, and I would be a freak of nature if I didn’t feel some burnout, but the fact is, I have 3 weeks left of real training before we go into taper, and I need to make the most of it. I want to get to the starting line of PF Chang’s feeling confident and like I’ve done everything I can do to run the best marathon I have in me. I’m not a person who settles or simply does something to “get through it”. After everything that’s happened, I need to do my best, and cross that finish line with no regrets.

Okay enough rambling. Here’s how my kind of lame week went down.

Monday: Strength training. I did the same thing as last week, but did my push ups and reverse push ups in sets of 12. I know I’ll have to change it up eventually, and get to a gym or get some free weights at home, but for now, I’m adopting the “something is better than nothing” approach.

Tuesday: Speed work!! YAY!! First, let me say, it’s a lot harder when I can’t go to track. I love the track. I love it’s perfect 1/4 mile distance that you can see the end of. I love Coach Susan standing there with her little clipboard, and telling her my paces at the end. ~~I love watching everyone whiz by and leave me in the dust.~~ It’s not quite the same along a path of the canal, but I did have Nicole there to kick my butt. We did a little over a mile warm up, then 4x400s at 7:21, 7:29, 6:58, 6:44, then a mile at 8:59, then a cool down. I kind of wanted to die, but it was good. I really miss the track, and I can’t wait until spring when it moves back to mornings and I can go again! We ended up running 3.7 miles in 35 minutes.

Wednesday: Push ups? That’s all I did. My regular push ups and my dip push ups. I did half of that at the theatre when I got there for rehearsal, and the other half while I was getting dressed. I’d made plans to go for a bike ride, but I forgot about a meeting, and just ran out of time to do much, but I guess something is better than nothing.

Thursday: Off. I guess I could call it “rest”, but I’m not sure what I’d be resting from…

Friday: 9 mile run. After a really stressful week, and honestly, a pretty crappy week emotionally, I just didn’t want to run that morning. At 1am when I was still awake, I *almost* texted Nicole to cancel, but plans hold me accountable, and even Steve reminded me that I’d feel worse if I didn’t do it, so I woke up at 6am and ran with Nicole, and you know what? It was AWESOME. After the run, I felt like a new person, and the stress of the week seemed to melt away, at least for a little while. I felt strong almost the entire run, and Nicole was great and let me vent about everything that was bugging me. We did 3 miles easy, 2 at marathon pace, 1 easy, 2 at marathon pace, and 1 cool down ending at an average pace of 10:03, which is pretty darn good considering my goals for this marathon. In fact, it was probably “too fast” and I probably don’t care in the slightest. 😉

Saturday: Rest. But okay, for real this time. I ran 9 miles on Friday and had a 9 mile race on Sunday. This one was actually intentional.

Sunday: Hot Chocolate 15k, Full recap coming soon. I didn’t really race it the way I had planned, but I’m actually pretty proud of my performance and how I did all things considered.

So there you have it. Hopefully this is the last you see of the whining and complaining about training until I get to taper, where I will inevitable complain about how my life sucks because I’m not running enough, I’m getting “fat”, and how after a 7 month training cycle including 2 20 milers, I’m so ridiculously “under prepared”. At that point, feel free to judge me.

What do you do when you’re in a mental and motivational rut? Inspire me please.

Fiesta Bowl 5k Race Recap

December 4, 2012 · by Ari · 26 Comments

Okay friends, grab a cup of coffe, and settle in because this is a very long recap considering it was such a short race. 😉

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early at 5am, and quickly turned into my chipper race morning self. Every time I’m excited for a race I start dancing around the house singing “Good morning, good morning! It’s time to run ______! Good morning, good morning to you and you and you and you!” This girl has witnessed it first hand. I promise it’s cute, kind of.

By 5:45, Steve and I were out the door to meet everyone at Jason’s house, and by 6:15 we were on our way to the race to get registered. I’m a notoriously late registerer. Wow, I didn’t get the red squiggly line–apparently “registerer” is actually a word, and not just one I made up. Sweet. Okay, before I continue with what was an amazing race for me, here are a few gripes about the race itself

The volunteers seemed like they were given no information. We were told to stand in about 4 different looooong lines to register before finding the right place, and this table had no line. It was kind of annoying.
There was a total lack of information about the 5k. When I looked online, it said the race started at 7:30. Maybe I didn’t look in the right place–totally possible–but I saw nothing saying there were different start times, and all announcements were about the half marathon (which, I get it, is a bigger deal). I had to find out from an other runner what time my race actually started.
There weren’t nearly enough porta potties. I almost missed the start waiting in line on round 2 (yes, I go about every 5 minutes before a race).

Okay, back to the good. Complaining over. We rushed over to the start line and just barely made it in time. I told my friends I was going to try to find a good spot, and weaved in between the crowd to find a place near the front of the middle, if that makes sense. Actually, start lines freak me out when there are no corrals. WHERE DO I STAND???? IN THE BACK??? HOW SLOW AM I???? I have made the mistake of starting too far back before. I remember at the Iron Girl, Nicole looked to the side and saw a woman with white hair and a walker, and she was like “Really? You think we’re going to run her pace?” Suffice it to say, I have no idea where I fit in a starting line. I asked a lady next to me what her pace was, and she said she was aiming for 28-30 minutes, and that sounded like I was at least in the right ball park. I told her my goal was to break 27 minutes, and she said she was going to try to keep me in her sight lines. That made me feel cool! I don’t know how she did, but I hope she had an awesome race!

SIDEBAR: As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been having a lot of stomach issues when it comes to running. I used to only eat before long runs, but since marathon training got more intense, I started waking up really hungry in the morning, and so I’ve started eating a granola bar before I go, and a lot of times before a race, I’ll still have peanut butter toast, even if it’s a short race, since I’m usually up a couple of hours before hand. This time, I went on an empty stomach, and just took a gu 15 minutes before. It was the best my stomach has felt during a race in a long time. More on this in an other post…

Okay, back to the start. It was CROWDED. I’ve been trying to avoid weaving so that I don’t end up running extra miles, but there were some slooooowww people in front of me, and I knew I needed my own space to get in my groove, so I weaved around, and the next thing I knew, we were at a start line. I was so confused. So is THIS the start? Did I just run that last .14 miles fast for nothing??? Don’t judge me. I tried to start my watch over, but was too focused to actually think about how to do that, so I ended up hitting the lap reset. Turns out our original location was the start, and that had been the half marathon start. Very confusing for this little ol’ brain.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was actually capable of in this race. I just knew my PR was 27:16, and I wanted to break 27 minutes. I had pacing ideas that ended up getting thrown out almost immediately, while I tried to run what felt “fast” and “sustainable”. I feel like for me a 5k is kind of determined by how I feel at mile 1. Usually after the first mile, I’ve run a pace that I can only keep up for the one mile, I feel exhausted, and running 2 more sounds more impossible than running 10. This time, my watch beeped at mile 1, and I felt good. It wasn’t easy, but I felt good enough to make it my goal to negative split the next two.

0-.14 (cause my laps are wonky): 8:20

.14-1.14: 8:25

In mile 2 there were some small rolling hills. And by “hills” I mean what you would probably consider more like a speed bump, but it felt like a hill to me! I continued to feel strong even on the “uphills”–but okay I SWEAR it really did have some rollers!–and tried to let myself relax into the downhills. When my watch beeped off for mile 2, I was starting to feel pretty tired, but only a mile left! 1 mile always seems attainable!

Mile 2.14: 8:25–Not a negative split, but I always seem to positive split the crap out of 5ks and I was THRILLED to have 2 identically paced miles, especially since 8:25 was faster than I thought I’d be able to run this thing in.

The last mile was hard, as it always is in any race. I wanted to walk on the uphills. I wanted to slow down. I argued a lot in my brain about how I couldn’t keep it up, and my brain’s favorite argument “If you don’t take a walking break now, you’ll have nothing left for the finish.” This is a big fat dirty lie, and it gets me *almost* every time, but today I was like “Ummm F you, you dirty liar. I can, it’s just gonna hurt, and that’s okay.” I also think my lap reset mishap helped me here. Something about knowing that when I got to the end of mile 3, it would actually be the end of the race instead of the usual having .1-.2 left to go (which feels like an eternity at that point) helped me stay positive. I don’t know. My head responds well to mind games.

At the end of mile 3, I saw Steve waiting for me and I had a huge dopey grin on my face.I waved ridiculously, and pointed to my garmin to tell him “I’M GONNA MEET MY GOAL!!!!!”

Garmin stalking. Shocker. But at least both legs are off the ground! Note: The clock started when the half marathoners started 5 minutes before us.

“I’VE GOT THIS!!!!!”

Steve yelled at me to quit talking about how I was about to PR, and go freaking sprint to the end. I was reallllly tired at this point, and my “sprint” was pretty pathetic, but I did my best to finish strong.

Mile 3.14: 8:22 <–NEGATIVE SPLIT!!!!

The rest: 7:30

I couldn’t believe it. I’ve PRed a few times recently, but this was the first time in a looooong time that I had a goal and I really felt like I crushed it. 30 seconds may not seem like a big difference, but in a 5k, at least for me, it really is. My garmin had me at an average pace of 8:23 which is so far beyond what I thought I was capable of! As soon as I crossed the finish line, I wanted to puke (totally normal), but I grabbed some water, and quickly felt better, and I rushed back over to Steve to tell him my finish time!

Before I knew it, we saw Jason and Matt coming up pretty quickly.

I jumped in with them, and tried to say all the perfect motivational things Coach Susan says at the end of a race. Then I told them to sprint to the end, and they took me pretty seriously because before I knew it, I couldn’t keep up with those long legs, and I ducked off to the side. They ended up finishing in about 29 minutes which is a PR for Jason, and it was Matt’s very first race!! They did awesome!!

As soon as I ducked off, I went back to find Bethany. I jogged a little bit down the way and waited for her on the corner before where Steve and the boys were waiting. I jumped back in with her, and tried to be all motivational again, then we turned the last corner, and I told her to sprint to the finish. As soon as got got to the gates on the sidelines, I ducked out, and went back to see the guys.

GET IT GIRL!!

Umm, can we just talk about how GREAT you look????

Bethany finished in 37 minutes for a 2 minute 5k PR!! Rock star!

PRs for everyone!!!

As soon as we were done, we scooted out pretty quickly. We wanted to be able to grab breakfast, and it was my first day of tech rehearsal, so even though I wanted to see my teammates and friends that did the half marathon (and one in particular that crushed it with some ridiculous kind of 20 minute PR--WHAT??), we didn’t hang around.

In the car, I started trying to look up our chip times. When I found mine, I only really looked at the finish time, and jokingly complained about how it said 26:31, and I had been all excited about not just coming in under 27 minutes, but under 26:30. I’m silly like that. I looked up everyone else’s chip times, and went on with my morning. A couple hours later I was like “Hmmm, I wonder what my finish place is.” I always have kind of an unwritten goal to be in the top half. I know I’m not speedy, but I do want to be better than average. So I went back to look, and I was shocked and confused.

Okay, so either that’s a typo, or there were only, like, 2 people in my division, right?

Then I started crying. I asked Steve no less then 20 times “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN????” You see, I never expected to place in anything. I did one 5k where I came in 4th out of 12, and I remember feeling over the moon. It just didn’t seem possible to me. Then I went back and read about the awards–turns out I get one? My friend Michele placed 2nd in her age group, and GOT A MEDAL!!!! I mean, I have lots of race medals, but I never dreamed I would get one for coming in 2nd. I know 61 isn’t a HUGE division, but I never dreamed my times would be the slightest bit competitive. I think I’m still in shock.

I honestly can’t believe the way my life and my running has changed since Coach Susan came into my life. I know none of my recent PRs would have been possible without her wisdom, support, and guidance, and I just feel so unbelievably grateful.

In college, I did lots of vocal competitions, and never placed above honorable mention. It always seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I always fell short as a performer, and that sense of constant discouragement is what led me to change my focus to directing and choreography which I LOVE, and in a lot of ways love more than performing. I just can’t believe that I would ever place in anything. I remember telling my friend Diane when we worked together in Idaho that I had never won an award. Seriously. Never. At the end of the summer, she made me an IRT award, and it was so sweet. I still have it. I am not the person who wins or places in things. I am the person with that works really hard, and is noted for my work ethic, but always a step behind. Always seeming to just fall short.

I know for some people getting 2nd place in their division of a small, local race wouldn’t be totally life changing, but for me, it kinda is. It’s a day I will never forget, and something I will feel proud of for the rest of my life. It also taught me something else–I’ve been running for just over a year, and look how far I’ve come. There is nothing that is unattainable. With hard work, I can be a better, stronger runner than I ever dreamed of. I can also be a better stronger person. We are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for, so do me and yourself a favor:

Dream big.

PF Chang’s Marathon Training Week 3

December 3, 2012 · by Ari · 2 Comments

I didn’t run a ton this week, but it was a great week, and it ended on a a REALLY great note. I don’t have a ton to say other than that, so let’s get to it.

Look! A leaf! Maybe Arizona has fall after all? Anyway, Steve took this picture at the race on Sunday, and this post needed a photo…

Monday: 8 mile run. The schedule called for 4 miles easy, 1 mile at MGP, 1 mile at HMP, 1 mile at 10k pace and 1 mile cool down. Somehow I counted wrong and started the marathon pace mile after 3 miles. Whoops. So after 3 miles Nicole and I did a mile at goal pace, then 9:03, 8:12 (what????), then we added an other mile at goal pace, and a mile cool down. We ended the day with an average pace of 9:54, and I felt surprisingly strong.

Tuesday: Upper body strength training? Okay, so I’m determined to get back into strength training. I’ve been ignoring it, and let’s just say I’m not too happy with the Atlantic ocean that has become my upper arms, so I’m starting slow with things I can do at home until I at least get my motivation back up enough to get in the weight room, and do some legit strength training. It’s weird, before I started running, strength training was my favorite, and now I dread it. Anyway, I did 3 sets of 10 regular and dip push ups, 2x1min planks, and my dance ab warm up that I used this summer. I was SORE the next day, so even though the whole thing only took me about 15 minutes, I feel like it did something?

Wednesday: 2 mile run. No, seriously. I waited around too long, ran out of time, and that’s just all that was in the cards that morning. It was probably for the best. After my Monday run my foot started really bugging me, and I wanted just a short easy run to see how it was feeling after hours of icing. The good news is, I felt AWESOME! The whole run felt so easy, and I really wanted to keep going, but I had a time deadline, so 2 miles ended up being it. I went out with the intentions of taking it super slow, but without garmin stalking, I settled into a 9:30 pace that felt like a breeze. That never happens for me. It was great!

Thursday: 8.7 mile bike, upper body. Rode to Dutch Bros, then repeated Tuesdays strength training. Twice in one week–WHAT??

Friday: 11.32 mile run. 3 miles easy, 2 at goal pace, 1 easy, 2 at goal pace, 1 easy. I felt super sluggish during this run. The marathon pace miles felt harder than usual, and I was just having a hard time getting my head in the game. Luckily, I had Nicole there to yell at me when I slowed down which was about every 5 seconds. Just kidding, she didn’t yell, she just ran in front of me and told me to hurry up in the way that the best running friends nicely do when you’re kinda sucking 😉 . Anyway, I still finished with an average pace of 10:07 and hit all my paces, so even though I wasn’t super into it mentally, I’m glad I got it done.

Saturday: Rest.

Sunday: Fiesta Bowl 5k. Recap coming soon. Spoiler alert: it was one of the coolest days of my life, and included some happy tears 🙂

PF Chang’s Marathon Training Week 2

November 27, 2012 · by Ari · 1 Comment

And just like that, I’m back into peak marathon training. Somehow I only have 2 long distance runs left before it’s time to taper. This second section of training that I expected to take forrrrrrever seems to be flying by, and I can see definite improvements from the last time around! It’s nice because I’m no longer scared of these distances, so I can push myself more, and I’m seeing a pretty big difference in speed especially in my long runs. Sweet. Here’s how last week’s training went down:

Monday: Rest. This was the unintentionally real life becoming more important than exercise type of rest day. I planned to do something, but I had no idea what, and then life got busy and I didn’t stress myself out to try to fit it in. Most people have a hard time fitting their work outs into their lives; I sometimes have a hard time fitting my life around my workouts, and honestly, that just seems silly, so I took a real life day and got stuff done.

Tuesday: 6 mile run. My best friend Bethany is working really hard on her running and I am sosoSO proud of her! She wanted to tackle her first ever 6 mile run, so I ran with her and she ROCKED it! It’s so great to be able to run with her and watch her make so much progress!

Wednesday: 3.5 mile run. Easy run before physical therapy with Ashley. 10 min pace, then a whole like 5 minutes of abs that made me want to die. must.start.strength.training.

Thursday: Mesa Turkey Trot 10k. Check out the recap!

Friday: 8.5 mile bike. Easy ride to coffee with Steve.

Saturday: 17.17 mile run. This run started out tough. Nicole and I were both feeling slow and lethargic, and I watched our first few miles clock in ridiculously slow. I knew I wanted to beat my time for my last 17 miler, and I felt like finishing in less than 2:55 would be a nice bonus. I was a little worried about our first slow miles, but I know myself, and I know that’s just how my body works on long runs, and I really believe it’s for the best. I always start ridiculously slow and negative split the crap out of it, but I still always worry that I won’t have enough left in the tank to make up for it at the end. However, looking back at the splits from just 2 months ago, I can see a huge difference even in my slowest miles, and as always, we sped up. A lot. The plan called for the first minute of the final 10 miles to be at goal pace. This was a nice way to break up all of those miles at the end. We had something to focus on for a minute out of every mile that wasn’t “GOOD LORD HOW MUCH LONGER????” At first we were slightly speeding up to make these first minutes happen, but soon we were running faster than goal pace, and then we were confused–Do we speed up? Slow down? Run the same? ~~Sing Call Me Maybe?~~

We kind just kept doing our thing, and I finished 17.17 miles in 2:54:25 for an average pace of 10:09. That is pretty darn good for these slow legs! The end started feeling hard, and I was tired, but I felt so much better than after the first time. I was peppy and energized rather than lethargic and in pain. I also did a much better job of taking care of myself afterwards. Nicole and I got in her pool for an ice bath with our Dutch Bro’s, then stretched for quite a while. It made a world of difference!

Sunday: Rest. Necessary and fabulous.

Totals for the week:

Running: 32.95
Cycling: 8.5

Onward.

Tell me about your training!

Mesa Turkey Trot Race Recap

November 26, 2012 · by Ari · 12 Comments

Last year, I started my Thanksgiving with my first ever double digit run. This year, if I wanted to start it with a PDR, I would have needed to run 21+ miles, and ummm, that wasn’t happening. So I decided to run the Mesa Turkey Trot with Nicole. Thanksgiving morning, we headed over at around 7:45. The race didn’t start until 9 which seemed really late to me. We got there, quickly registered (it was only $25!! I was a big fan of that!), and got in the seemingly endless porta potty line.

After a good 20 minutes of waiting in line, we headed over to the start. I was really excited because I’ve only run one other 10k before and it was almost a year ago, so a PR seemed like it was in the bag. Unfortunately, as we were waiting to start I was like “Hey, I’m not cold. Not even a little bit. That’s probably a bad sign…” You see, I’m more temperature sensitive than an Eskimo at the equator. If I don’t start a race with constant complaints about how cold I am, I know I’m not going to feel particularly great once I start running.

The plan was to run the first mile around half marathon pace, and then slowly negative split from there. We ran the first mile in 9:05 which was right on pace, but it felt way harder than it should have. I was sweating and feeling tired way earlier than I wanted to be, and after the first mile my stomach decided it was PISSED. I started having sharp stabbing in my stomach similar to what I felt during Pat’s Run. It was frustrating. Actually, it still is frustrating. To be honest, all of the pain and, um, issues I was having before my surgery really haven’t gotten any better, and maybe gotten worse? But that’s a story for an other day. I was feeling pretty miserable, and Nicole kept asking if I wanted to walk, but I was trying to be stubborn, and we ended up running the second mile around 8:50.

Unfortunately, I just kept feeling worse and around mile 3 I asked Nicole if we could stop to walk for a bit to give my stomach a chance to settle itself. It helped a little, but I ended up having to stop about every mile for the same reason. Needless to say, I was not having a great time. Not to mention, it started to feel like it was about a million degrees out. It wasn’t that hot of a day, but the sun just felt so intense, and it definitely wasn’t doing me any favors. Luckily, the last mile I miraculously started to feel a little better? Maybe it’s just that I knew I was almost done, but I got a serious second wind and remembered that I liked running. It also helped that Nicole stuck with me the whole way even though I was kind of a mess.

It’s funny, in the middle of the race I had been pretty certain that I had sucked it up so badly that I wasn’t even going to PR, but then somehow I crossed the finish line in 56:40? My PR was 59:58. Hmmmm…

Nicole looks super cute in her turkey hat. My face looks pretty awful, but I like that both of my feet are off the ground 😉

Oh hey, that’s better 😉

Wheeeee!

So it wasn’t actually a total bust. I’m happy to have a new PR, even if it wasn’t quite the goal I had in mind, and the whole thing kind of gave me a swift kick in the ass to get some things figured out. I don’t think that feeling sick so much of the time is normal, gallbladder or no gallbladder. I try to just keep a positive attitude about things, and figure that everyone deals with some sort of issues when it comes to running, I think I’ve been in denial a bit, and it’s not doing me any favors. Even in Shun the Sun where I ran really well, I didn’t feel great for the entire last half of the race. So I’m gonna work on some things diet wise (l’m trying to eat less fiber–I think my intake might be bordering on excessive, and playing around with when/how much coffee I drink), and make an appointment with my doctor.

On a more positive note, here’s a picture of Coach Susan basically winning the whole thing 😉

PF Chang’s Marathon Training Week 1

November 19, 2012 · by Ari · 5 Comments

Or actual marathon training week 22? No, definitely starting fresh, otherwise that will make a girl go crazy. It truly does feel like a whole new training cycle. The runs are longer and more challenging (YAY!!!), I’m training more with Nicole since the plan was always for us to train for this race together after NYC, and I have a new much more relaxed attitude about training. This week, I did something crazy and took 3 rest days, and didn’t feel the tiniest bit bad about it. After Shun the Sun, I was super sore and my body needed some extra rest, so I listened. Don’t worry, I’ll probably be back to my crazy self too, but right now I’m enjoying the break from needing to “perfect” in my training. I’ve already completed a full training cycle, and I did that pretty darn well, so I have much more confidence going into this round.

Part of the reason I felt (and honestly, I still have my moments) so devastated in New York is because I made training my entire life. While it’s great to be passionate and devoted to something you commit to, it’s not great to suck at the rest of your life, and feel empty when that thing doesn’t work out. I can’t blow everything off (including my sanity) for an other 2.5 months, so I’ve gotta change my mental game, and ya know what? The world didn’t and, and I still got all of my important runs in. Funny how that works. So here’s a look at how it all went down.

Monday: Rest. I was originally supposed to do Tuesday’s run today, but I woke up on Sunday ridiculously sore, and realized I had put a lot into my half the day before, and my body just needed a little extra rest.

Tuesday: 8 mile run. This run was AWESOME! I was so glad I took the extra day because even though I still felt a little sore and tight on Tuesday, I met up with Nicole and had the most rejuvenating run! I’d been having a hard time getting my head back in the whole marathon training game, but this totally got my there! The plan called for 3 miles easy, then 1 mile at marathon pace, 1/2 marathon pace, and 1ok pace, then 1 mile cool down. Our paces were spot on with mile 6 @ 8:58 and mile 7 @ 8:19! We finished with an average pace of 9:48. Not too shabby.

Wednesday: 4.4 mile run. We had hill repeats on the schedule, and there was no way that was happening for me, but I met up with Ashley, and did the speed workout Coach Susan usually has us do the week following a race: 10 x 1min alternating hard and easy, which for me that day translated to run fast for a minute, then walk slower than ever before for the next, but that’s okay because my fast intervals were faster than ever! Even with 10 min of walking, we covered 2.04 miles in the 20 minutes. At the beginning a had a few intervals in the low 7’s, but after that all my paces read 6:xx with the last one at 6:18! I know it’s only a minute, but a minute is longer than you would think, and that is significantly faster than the last time I did this! I was really happy!

Thursday: Rest. AKA cookie baking. That’s what rest days are for, right?

Friday: 16.1 mile run. I’m not gonna lie, this run was tough. On daily mile I said I felt “great”, but maybe I just felt happy that it was over? No, it actually was really good, but also really hard. I ran with Nicole and we were definitely pushing the pace at the end, but we talked the entire time, and I never once even thought about turning on my music! We sang to each other and had the first official meeting of GSA (Garmin Stalkers Anonymous). I even developed our serenity prayer. You do weird things when you run for 2 hours and 44 minutes. Although Nicole ran slightly less than that because we met up a little over a mile in, and that crazy girl ran her first mile in 8 minutes. I ended up with an average pace of 10:11 which is my fastest pace for a long training run over 10 miles ever. No wonder I was so sore the next day… 😉

Saturday: Rest. Necessary.

Sunday: 9 mile run. Since we long ran on Friday, we did our medium run Sunday to avoid a 4:30am Monday wake up call. It was great–no rush and a really relaxed run, which I definitely needed. We had 3 miles easy, 2 @ marathon pace, 1 easy, 2 @ marathon pace, 1 cool down. My legs were tired (when are they NOT tired during marathon training though?), but 9 miles felt strangely easy! At first it was hard to zone in on marathon pace–we were too fast, then too slow, then too fast, blah blah blah, but actually once we relaxed, stopped stalking our garmins (more GSA meetings…) and just started chatting, we gravitated towards goal pace really naturally, and it felt pretty good. I think that’s a good sign, yes?

Totals for the week:

Running: 37.55 miles
Cross training: Fail
Puppy walks: 2. Do those count? Let’s pretend since I have nothing else that is not running to show for my week 😉

So I’m back in love with marathon training, failing at cross training, and currently accepting new members into Garmin Stalkers Anonymous. How’s your training going?

Shun The Sun Half Marathon Race Recap

November 12, 2012 · by Ari · 16 Comments

I RACED!!!!

The day after we all returned from NYC, Susan sent us an email and let us know about the Shun the Sun half marathon this past Saturday. I had been searching and searching for a half marathon to do ASAP. I needed to do a race and put my 20 weeks of training to the test. I’ve had my eye on a half marathon PR since, oh, February. I originally planned a goal race at RnR Seattle in June. I got a training plan from Smart Coach and worked hard at my first attempt at any speed training. Then I had to have my gallbladder removed 3 weeks before the race, so I begrudgingly put the half marathon goal on hold and started training for NYC. In August, a few members of my team went out to San Diego and I ran the AFC 1/2, and put my huge plans to PR and break 2 hours all over the freaking internet.

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know how the rest of that story goes. It was hot, I didn’t adjust my goals and I totally blew up and finished 7 minutes slower than my PR. Womp womp. So this time, I told maybe 4 people that I was planning to race. I didn’t even tell my best friend. I didn’t tell anyone other than those 4 people what my goal was, and I just went out there to race. I did tell Steve not to let me back into the car at the end if I didn’t finish under 2 hours. Spoiler: I didn’t, but he let me in the car anyway. 😉

So I woke up at 5am Saturday morning, put on my running skirt (obviously) and made my way to the race start with my fabulous supportive husband. I was in a good place mentally, and prepared to have an awesome race. I ran into Susan and a couple of members from my team, and before I knew it, they were calling us over to the start lines. I tried to find someone who was running about my pace that I could try to run with, but we were all going out for different paces, so I went off on my own which is always scary to me. Ever since the Lost Dutchman, I just don’t trust that I can fight the mental battle without someone there to push me. I always know I’ll finish, but I give up on myself much more quickly when I’m alone which is something I’m really trying to work on.

As soon as I took off, I was beyond excited. I hadn’t raced since August and I had TONS of energy pent up from the NYC taper. I ran the first few minutes way too fast (shocking), but reeled it in pretty quickly.

I’M SO EXCITED TO BE RUNNING!!!!!

The plan was to run the first 3 miles slower than goal pace, then run goal pace until mile 10, then pick it up the last 3 miles. That didn’t quite happen. I ran the first mile at about goal pace, tried to slow it down for the second mile, then just decided to try to run a steady race.

Mile 1–9:10
Mile 2–9:16
Mile 3–9:10

I knew that with perfect tangents I needed a 9:09 pace to break two hours. My goal at this point was to keep the next 7 miles under 9:10 and then pick it up for the last 3 miles. This was working out really well. I was focusing just on the mile I was in. I was in a great mental place and doing all those silly things I’m “supposed” to do like visualizing myself meeting my goal, and crossing the finish line, and all that stuff. The pace never felt easy, but it felt comfortably challenging. I could tell I was slightly holding myself back, and I felt like I could keep this pace up for a while. There were a couple of times I got to see Bob and Bill on the other side of the canal after the turn arounds, and they would yell and cheer for me. It was super motivating, and I SO appreciate them! I can’t say enough how much I love running with a team!

The course was boooooring. It was a straight shot along the Mesa canal, and canal running, while convenient, is about as boring as you can get. The next 6 miles were just spent focusing on exactly where I was in that moment. I had my garmin set to the screen that shows my lap pace, and I knew 9:10 was my ceiling, so I checked in and made sure to stay below that.

Mile 4–9:08
Mile 5–9:06
Mile 6–9:09
Mile 7–9:05
Mile 8–9:07
Mile 9–9:08

Picture perfect right? Serious even splitting. All at goal pace. Then mile 10 happened. It didn’t start to feel too bad yet, but it was getting more challenging. Throughout the course, I had been talking the smallest possible walking breaks at the water stations because I just really suck at drinking while running. I also walked a little the first time I took some chomps around mile 5.5, but I had still been able to maintain my pace. I haven’t figured out the whole eating/drinking while actually running thing, and clearly I need to because this is where things fell apart. I got water and took a gu at separate points during mile 10, and then I just couldn’t get my pace for that mile back where it needed to be, and I think I used a lot of energy trying desperately to get that mile back on track.

Mile 10–9:24

I knew between mile 2 and mile 10, I had lost some time, and I needed to play catch up these last 3 miles if I still wanted to break 2 hours. I was pretty sure I was going to PR at this point, but I wanted the 1:59 SO badly, so I ran really hard miles 11 and 12 to try to keep it up.

Mile 11–9:04
Mile 12–9:06

And then at mile 13 I gave up. I was breathing so hard, and my legs hurt so badly, and I convinced myself I couldn’t do it. As soon as my watch clicked my 13 I took a walking break. WTF?!?!?! WHO TAKES A WALKING BREAK AT MILE 13???!! It would be one thing if I had been taking them all along, but there was no good reason. It wasn’t to grab a drink of water or for some purpose where walking was actually useful. I walked because I was tired, and I had been yelling at myself to keep going the last 2 miles, and I just felt like I couldn’t do it anymore. I took like 4 walking breaks during that last mile, and it was Fing stupid.

Mile 13–9:27

At the end, I still had a tiny glimpse at the idea of getting it back together, and I was pushing hard again, but then I got closer and closer to what was supposed to be “the end” and I couldn’t even see the finish line. Also, around mile 12, we looped back around and turned back the direction we had just come from which was a total mental bust for me. At 13.1, I couldn’t even see the finish line, and I was pissed. In most races I end up weaving, and not running tangents, etc. so I end up running extra, but this course was straight as can be and I took the 3-4 turns on the very inside, so I had mentally prepared myself to be actually done very close to 13.1, plus my watch had been in perfect sync with the mile markers until this point, so at 13.1 I was pissed, and I turned off my garmin as it read 2:00:10. Mother F. Then I took an other walking break. Of course. There was no way I was going to break 2 hours, and I had a pretty much guaranteed PR at this point, so I gave up even more and walked more. Then we FINALLY turned into the stadium and I saw Coach Susan. She’d already won the race. Shocking.

Look! No one else is even anywhere around!

She jumped in and ran with me at the end, and said all the right perfect things. I don’t know how she does it, but I swear she is the most motivating human being on the planet. I finally crossed the finish line at 2:01:44.

I found Steve and Susan really quickly and Susan told me first that I had done awesome and she was proud of me, then course was long (13.25) and with the mud I should mentally think of my time as a whole minute faster. Well, OKAY! If you insist 😉 Although there is definitely the twinge of disappointment for not breaking 2 hours, I am ridiculously thrilled to have PR’d, and more importantly, with the exception of 1 crappy mile, I ran a really smart, focused and positive race.

Me, Susan and Maria. I’m smiling, but that’s only because I’m pretending I don’t want to collapse and never get up.

What I learned from this race:

Focusing on the mile I’m in, and having a ceiling that I don’t want to go above works really well for me.
I’m physically stronger and mentally weaker than I think. I always give myself a lot of credit for mental toughness, but I actually think right now my physical capabilities outweigh my mental ones. I need to figure out how to not give in to “the voice”and quit when the going gets tough.
I need to learn how to drink/fuel without stopping. This means I need to practice on my training runs. I always stop to take my fuel, and it’s not doing my any favors. Up until this point, I never took my pace on long races this seriously. I was okay with the little break water stops and fuel provided, but if I want to get serious about improving my times, I need to train like it, and get in the habit of doing everything while maintaining my pace. I really think the moment this race changed for me is when I couldn’t get my pace back after stopping twice in mile 10, and I used too much energy trying to run the rest of the mile too quickly.

Overall, the race really was a great experience. I am SO HAPPY to have a new PR. The race was very well organized, and all of the volunteers were really great. Even with the snooze filled course, I would absolutely do it again next year, but hopefully with an other person to keep me a bit more entertained. 😉

NYC Highlights & Running in Central Park

November 11, 2012 · by Ari · 5 Comments

I ♥ my team

I’ve talked a lot about how this trip felt, but here’s some photos of the highlights.

Meeting Bart Yasso

The Soup Nazi “NO SOUP FOR YOU!”

The view from my uncle’s awesome apartment

Fall

My people

Puppies

I finally saw the Seinfeld diner. I’ve been wanting to go there for years!

We were trying to be Elaine and Kramer. We’re really talented actors, okay?

Okay, let’s talk about marathon morning. Well, maybe it’s better if I show you.

The incredible energy began the moment we entered the hotel lobby. Groups were cheering and chanting, and it was NUTS! The energy was contagious, and I couldn’t help but still feel excited. I met my team in the lobby and we headed down to Central Park where there must have been thousands of runners who all decided to run anyway, and for the first time, I felt like a real runner. Race or no race, we were all out there together purely because we love running. Sometimes I wonder if I actually love it, or why it is I do this crazy thing, but I really really do love it. Not at every second, and not even every run, but running has changed my life. It has changed the way I view food, and aided so much of my food related anxieties. It has brought me friends, and even a second mom 😉

I ran through the park with tears streaming down my cheeks, and the dopiest grin on my face. Suddenly, it all made sense. I will get to run a marathon someday (soon), and I will even get to run the NYC Marathon someday, but only those of us that were here on this very day will ever get to experience this display of passion and perseverance by thousands of runners.

Everything happens for a reason, and I needed this moment in my journey. I needed it to inspire me, to reaffirm what I deep down already knew, and to make me feel like I belonged in this community. It would be so easy to say “My marathon was canceled” and give up, but that is not who I am. I wasn’t planning to make this my last marathon, and now my first will just be that much more special.

After a week of so much negativity, this morning was exactly what I needed. People still came out to cheer. They held signs, they had cow bells, and some were even passing out water. I tried to thank every single person on those side lines, I got plenty of high 5s and you better believe I accepted the water from a stranger. I wasn’t even thirsty, I was just so thrilled that they were spending their morning passing it out!

There were teams from all different countries. Brazil was pretty loud, so I distinctly remember them. We ran a loop of the park, then down to the hudson river for a total of 10.6 miles for the morning. It was exactly what I needed, and I’m so grateful I got to be a part of it.

Disclaimer: Please don’t take this as insensitivity to those affected by Sandy. I am simply explaining my experience.

The Journey

November 6, 2012 · by Ari · 20 Comments

It’s a little ironic. I don’t know how many times I’ve talked about how I just really love the training for races more than the race itself. Fast forward to Friday evening (or flash back since it’s oh, Tuesday now) when my phone started blowing up on my way to the NYCM expo, and despite my best efforts, an overwhelming sadness filled my heart. Yes, I know the best decision was made. I don’t live in the tristate area, and I’ve never experienced a hurricane. I have absolutely no room to comment on the issue, and I don’t intend to. I do, however, know what it’s like to give everything you have into training for your first marathon, and not run it. And I do (finally) know that it’s okay. Ideal, no, but okay.

If I’m being 100% honest, I’m still feeling slightly down about the whole thing, and I feel guilty about feeling down when clearly people are suffering way more right now, but I can’t control how I feel, only how I deal with those emotions. It’s okay to feel disappointed, and to be honest, I knew I would come back from New York feeling down. I always get the post-fill-in-the-blank sadness after big life events, ie: my wedding, my first 1/2 marathon, even a little bit following Christmas and my birthday (you can judge me). I put a lot of build up and anticipation on these things, and when they’re over, I get sad. This one just didn’t end how I expected–or maybe it’s just not over?

I’ve thought a lot about what to do next. I’m trained to run a marathon. I want to run a marathon, like really really badly. Funny story, there’s not as many of those crazy things as one would think. In fact, there’s pretty much non coming up in Arizona for quite a while, and traveling isn’t really in the cards right now. I found a couple that I thought “Maybe I can make this work…”, and then I realized that this is my first marathon, and you only get one first marathon. I don’t want to jump into just any replacement race. I want to make the right choice, and that means waiting until RnR AZ in January when I can still go out and have my friends and family be there to cheer me on. I know that’s not what running is all about, but it’s just something I need for my first marathon, and that’s okay.

So I have 12 weeks to get faster, stronger, and even more ready. Hopefully along the way I will run some shorter distance races and maybe set some new PRs. I am really happy to have a new goal to focus on, and every day I am believing the voice in my head that says “Everything happens for a reason.” just a little bit more. Some amazing things still came out of this trip, and I can’t wait to tell you about running in Central Park on marathon morning, but that is a story for an other time. Right now, I will leave it at: I am still sad, but I’m okay, and I’m refocusing on training and preparing for my first marathon in January.

Thanks to everyone who sent me texts/emails/phone calls/tweets/etc. I felt really loved, and I really needed it. I am so ridiculously lucky, and I honestly still kind of feel like I did it. Running a marathon isn’t about that one day; it is about the months you spend working toward your goal. For 20 weeks, I prepared myself to run 26.2 miles, and although that day I ended up running less than half of that, I gave my heart to that goal for 20 weeks, and one day doesn’t change or define that process. Onward.

NYC Marathon Training Week 18

October 21, 2012 · by Ari · 1 Comment

Week 1 of taper, check. You know, I read about how everyone hates taper, but this week was kinda nice. I enjoyed a slightly shorter Monday run, still pushed myself at the track, and loved being done with my long run at 7:15 Saturday morning! It was also really great to end a long run and not be totally exhausted. 10 miles felt short, and nice. I could get used to this taper thing! 😉 Here’s how it went down:

Monday: 6 mile run. The schedule said “3 miles easy, 3 miles at marathon pace”. WHAT IS MARATHON PACE?!?!?! HOW DO I CHOOSE???? LIFE IS SO HARD!!!! Soooo, I ran 3 miles slow, and 3 miles less slow, ending up with a 10:11 average pace. I was not feeling this run. I had canceled on Nicole so that I could sleep in later, then I had to keep making deals with myself like “Maybe I’ll just run 3 miles….” to get myself out and going, but finally I turned on some relaxing music (because I’m a freak and sometimes I want mellow music while I’m running), and just gave my mind some time to do it’s thing. The run ended up being really good, and a nice reminder that even when I realllllly don’t want to, it’s almost always better to just get out there.

Tuesday: 11 mile bike. Easy ride to coffee with Steve.

Wednesday: Track. Ao about this marathon goal pace. I guess I’ve figured it out? Coach Loken sent me my projected finish time, and it scared the crap out of me. My head immediate filled with “I can’ts” and doubt. I’ve since talked it through with anyone who will listen including my super smart coach (you know the person I actually should talk to about it), and figured out what a realistic goal is mentally for me, and I’m keeping her projected finish time as a dream goal, but trying to run my marathon goal pace miles at that pace. I’m not going to talk about what any of these goals are because when I write my recap about how I ran my first marathon, I want to write it with joy and pride no matter what my finish time is, and if I tell you what I want it to be, and that doesn’t happen, I will feel like a disappointment. Anyway, back to the track. We warmed up, had a mile at marathon goal pace, then 4 x 400s, then an other mile at goal pace, then a cool down. I hit my goal pace miles and they felt easy! It was AWESOME! I also pushed really hard on my 400s running them @ 7:05, 6:57, 6:58, 6:42. The whole workout felt awesome! I completed 5.17 miles in 50 minutes. After track, a couple of people from my team came up to me and told me how much faster I’d gotten!! This is the second time this has happened recently, and it made me feel so awesome!!

Thursday: 3 mile run. Nice and easy recovery run with my speedy friend Ashley. She was practically walking. 😉

Friday: 17.3 mile bike. The usual Friday am bike ride/breakfast/coffee with Nicole.

Saturday: 10 mile run. I came, I ran, I got chased by wild dogs, I ran the second half fast to keep up with my friends, I was done by 7:15 and averaged a 9:57 pace. Ask me about the wild dogs sometime. It’s a really funny story that includes some pretty big embarrassment, but I don’t mind embarrassing myself.

Sunday: Rest. Necessary.

Fundraising update: As you know, I’ve been running with Team Chances to raise money for Chances for Children. I committed to raising $5000, and I’M GETTING SO CLOSE!!! I’ve now raised $4,110 and have just $890 to go thanks to so much support from everyone in my life! Please consider helping me to reach my goal by making a donation or placing an order! Remember that all donations/orders are tax deductible and in the state of Arizona, you can receive a full tax credit ($200 individual, or $400 family) for donations. Thanks to all of you for all the support!! I truly believe I can meet this goal by November 4th!

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