Sunday, September 29, 2013

Week in Review

Kristen

I was finally feeling better this week so I got back to regular schedule.  Of note, I was going to run my bike route-we normally ride 14 miles, so I was going to cut out a little along the way to run 13 miles.  The entire thing was pure torture.  I think I was playing head games and let's face it-my legs do not go near as fast as a bike and it really played against me, so I will not be repeating that course again anytime soon!

Monday:
Ride 14 miles

Tuesday:
Run 9.5 at 9.35 pace.  
I actually called my husband to pick me up-couldn't imagine having to run the whole way home.

Wednesday:
Rest day

Thursday:
 Run 8 at 8.44 pace, then for fun rode 14.  

Friday:
Run 5.3 at 9.03 pace-my legs were dead from day before
Saturday:
Rest-hubby is out of town running Ragnar and I had to leave the house at 7:30 for a football game.
Sunday: 
Run 7 at 8:19 pace
Speed workout:  6 x 800 with 400 rest then 1.5 mile cool down.  This was definitely my best run of the week!

Hopefully next week will be more of the same-the weather looks great for running.  My foot is feeling a lot better and I am 3 weeks away from my next half!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Rock and Roll Philadelphia Half - Part 2 THE RACE

Heidi
 
This is a little late and I apologize.  I have been a little bit busy since the race.  I also apologize ahead of time because this is going to be a little bit long. 
 
So Sunday, September 14, 2013 came awfully early....4:30 am early to be exact.  I was ready though!!  I jumped out of bed, woke up Justin and went downstairs to eat my oatmeal and blueberries (breakfast of champions.)  I usually eat my oatmeal while watching the news but at 4:30 am, there isn't any good news on.  So therefore I found the movie, Airplane.  Can't beat that classic to calm your nerves before a long race.
 
My bag was pretty much packed the night before so all I had to do was get dressed and decide which old sweatshirt I would wear and then give to charity.  These big races usually have a charity to donate your clothing to that you don't want to wear during the race but are too cold before the race to not have anything on.  You don't want to wear anything expensive or nice because you won't have anyone to give it to once you are in the race corral.  I went through all of the old sweatshirts I have the night before.  Low and behold, they were almost ALL Disney sweatshirts.  Oh the decision I had as to which one I would donate.  Even though I never wear them anymore, it was a sin to have to give any away.  I chose my Winnie the Pooh one.  (sniff sniff).
 
So Diana and Kristen made their way to my house by 5:30 which was the estimated time of departure. Troy (the driver) was almost ready to go.  I had woken my youngest up and he said he didn't want to go because he wasn't feeling well.  We get into the car and hit Route 1 when Troy's phone rings.  It was Tyler...he now wanted to go.  We were about 5 minutes away from the house so I made the executive decision to go back home and get him.  I could hear the winces from the backseat.  I just wanted Troy to have someone to hang with for the super long time he would be there waiting for me to finish.  (I knew Kristen and Diana would be in the beer garden.) 
 
Finally, on the road again.  We make a quick potty stop at the Wawa before we get to Route 322.  Troy talked to some random folks that were also going to the race.  As we were rolling down Route 322 and then I-95, we tried to put in an address to a parking garage.  Of course there is no real address, just the corner of 21st and Arch (I think).  Troy freaked out but then realized that the car in front of us were the people he was talking to at Wawa and were going to the race too and we should just follow them.  Makes sense to me.  I mean we are already 25 minutes behind schedule, but OK.  What could go wrong??
 
While we were in the car, Diana and I made Kristen put our chip thing on our shoes.  We apparently couldn't figure that out.  Thank goodness for Kristen.  It was probably funnier in person.
 
 
 
We get into Philly and there are people everywhere.  We can't really find the garage and I start to get nervous and make Troy drop us off on a corner near some port a potties.  (I had to pee again!!)  We so were not ready for this.  We thought we would have time to put our numbers on and get our gear together in the parking garage.  SURPRISE...let's go.  Poor Diana forgot her headband.  Luckily she had an extra bobby pin to keep her hair back.  I somehow let all of my safety pins fall out of the envelope they gave us.  Luckily my two good friends and son each gave me one and Diana dubbed our team name as the Three Pins.  I also forgot my water.  Kristen to the rescue...she bought me one from a street vendor.  She and Diana had just been talking about bringing money and Diana's Starbuck's card....just in case.  "What nonsense," I thought to myself.  Hmmmmm.  
 
We stand in a very long port a potty line.  We take some pictures where Kristen looks like an angel in them.  Then we say goodbye to Kristen and Justin who are in the fast corrals.  Diana and I were in corral 22 and 23 and we still had some time to kill.  Another port a potty stop, the playing of the National Anthem and then we decide to get rid of our sweatshirts and get to our corrals.  We still had plenty of time to kill.  I was so far back that I was able to take a picture of the art museum.  The race started probably a good quarter of a mile in front of my corral. 
 
 
After about a good 35 minute wait, it was my turn....Corral #23.  OH CRAP!!   What have I gotten myself into??  And off we go...  I settle into a good pace as 800 people pass me.  "I know I run slow but I can do this.  Just can't take off too fast," I keep saying to myself.  I get passed by a dude dribbling two basketballs...in the first mile.  Awesome!!  At about mile two I get passed by a girl I went to high school with.  She claimed she was slow on Facebook.  She lied.  You go Traci!!!!
 
We ran all through downtown Philly.  The tall buildings helped with shielding me from the sun.  It was a beautiful morning to run.  Not too hot, not too cold but the sun always makes it a bit more hot.  As I passed a few bars around mile 3, I decided I should have brought some emergency money.  I could have stopped in for a few brews and then somehow jumped back into the race at the end.  Maybe my friends weren't so dumb after all.  Darn!!  I did however see Billy Penn (again), the building where the Liberty Bell is in and some other cool sites.  Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all...
 
Finally we finish running through downtown and get onto Kelly Drive.  I was excited to see the back of Boathouse Row.  Kind of cool.   I also saw the balloon go up over the Philadelphia Zoo.  I decided then it would be a good idea to take my phone out and take a picture.  I was also drinking some water and eating a GU so how much time could I lose?? 
 
Philadelphia Zoo Balloon
 
 View of the Schuylkill River

Motivational Sign
 
Kelly Drive took FOREVER.  I was at about mile six or so and I was getting bored.  That is when a juggler passed me.  HILARIOUS!!!    Apparently around the 10k area is when people start to fade.  I decided to see how many racers I could pass.  Turns out, there were many.  Well kind of....they would walk, I would pass them, they would run, they would pass me.  It was a game of sorts.  There was a whole group of peeps that had  Run For Joe shirts on.  I passed them.  Hooray.  I passed all sorts of people.  When you are at the end of the race, you find  quite a bit of characters out there.  Old men, old ladies, couples yelling at each other, couples that didn't have numbers on and shouldn't be on the race course.  Oh and my favorite...the old ladies that had running skirts on.  One of them said she wanted to sit down.  They had to wait for her.  They weren't happy.  It was kind of funny. 
 
I finally get to the bridge which is about mile 9.  This was the turn around point of when you can run back to the finish on West River Drive. I take in a GU which I should haven eaten around mile 6.  I know better.  I know how I trained but stupid me thought, "I feel good.  I don't need a GU yet."  Mile 10 told me otherwise.  I see a port a potty and decide "Yup, it is time.  Maybe I can run better with an empty bladder."  I also got to hear the band that was playing right outside of the potty.  Bonus!!!  I texted Kristen (because I know she is done the race by now) that I was at mile 10 and fading fast.  She gave me some pep talk about how I only have a 5k left and off I went.  But first I had to take a picture of my real motivator....a blow up arch of Michelob Ultra.  BEER!!!!  That would be waiting for me at the end.  GO HEIDI GO!!!!
 
MMMM...BEER!!
 
I ran to mile 11.  Decided to take a walk break.  My splits were getting worse and worse by the minute.  Ha Ha.  No, really.  I originally wanted to finish at around 3 hours.  After a few long training runs I knew that wasn't going to happen.  I would have been happy with 3:15.  That is an overall 15 minute pace.  Yes, extremely slow but when you add in walking, what can you do??
 
I had to play head games with myself for the last two miles.  Run 1/2 mile, walk 1 minute.  Run 1/4 mile, walk 2 minutes.  Run 1 minute, walk 3 minutes, Run to the next pole...you get the idea.  It was getting ugly.  FINALLY....I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  And a blurr of  "Run For Joe" shirts.  Bastards sprinted to the end (because they walked practically the whole course) and were racing each other.  It was actually comical to watch if I hadn't been so ready for this race to be over and that I didn't beat them after I passed them twice. 
 
OH WAIT....A HILL!!  "OK, I will walk up the hill and then run to the end.  This will be my last walk."  And I did....3 hours, 15 minutes and 11 seconds later....I FINISHED MY FIRST HALF MARATHON!!!  YUP, my time stinks but I don't care!!!  Now I have plenty of room for a new PR!!
 
Congratulations to Kristen for a new PR, Diana for completing her first half in record time, and for Justin for completing his first half in spite of being left behind by Kristen and then lost.  Ha Ha.  So glad I was still running at that point in time. 
 
So I finished my race, called Kristen to find out where she and Diana were (the beer garden, naturally) and drank my beer.  Although not my favorite, still delicious. 
 
 
That is when I realized that I got a different medal than Diana, Justin and Kristen.  Somebody had stolen a box of medals and they only had generic Rock and Roll Series medals to give out.  WHAT???  See, I am all about he medal.  What is the point of running if you can't get a medal??  It is a long running joke since I ran the 5k in Disney in January about me and my medals (or plastic luggage tag in that instance.)  Never fear, Tyler was given a real medal (probably from the thief herself) and now I have two.  Now I just need to decide what my next Half Marathon is....WHAT DID I JUST SAY???


 





Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Schools and Food

Kristen

I have 3 kids-6th, 4th, and 1st grades.  They attend a charter school that is very progressive in some of their thinking.  Most days I really agree with there policies-other days I'm left shaking my head.

When my oldest started school I would let him buy lunch whenever he wanted.  He ended up buying 2-3 times a week.  The lunches were never fantastic and he could pick and choose what he ate off his tray, but it saved me some time in the morning and wasn't overly expensive.  When my daughter started school a few years later, I cut them back to being able to buy lunch once a week.  It adds up buying school lunch every day and they come home famished because they choose not to eat everything on their tray.  When my youngest started last year, I ended my relationship with school lunches.  I don't remember what the cost was last year, but this year the cost of one lunch is $2.75.  If I allowed all 3 of my children to buy lunch every day that would cost me $1485 over the course of the school year-no thank you.

School started a few weeks ago and with it a litany of changes to the day.  One big change was the removal of the vending machines from the cafeteria.  I was vaguely aware that the school had a vending machine-about once a month last year by oldest would take change from his room to buy something on Fridays.  Another big change from last year was the loss of Friday pretzel day.  A local pretzel company would sell soft pretzels for $0.50 during snack times.  This was great, because I didn't have to pack snack on Fridays the whole school year and I could also send in a lighter lunch.  Finally, a note came home addressing birthday treats-no longer were cupcakes allowed, instead a healthy snack could replace it.

So what are my feelings?  For the most part, I'm all for it.  I remember some weeks last year where one of my kids would have 3 birthday treats a week, plus a party thrown in for good measure.  I do miss the Friday pretzels, but I understand it.  I get that our nation's children are overweight and don't exercise enough.  I really do, but I also don't think it's the schools job to dictate what can and can't be eaten at all times-for the most part my kids are eating a very healthy, well-balanced diet.  I think moderation needs to be taught-we shelter our children from making choices by taking away everything-no vending machine, birthdays or Halloween candy.

What set me over the edge was a paper sent home last week detailing how the annual trunk or treat was going to occur this year.  They still want parents to come with a decorated trunk during school hours to hand out treats.  Treats being the operative word.  No longer is candy acceptable-I even slightly understand that.  What they want instead is pencils, erasers and other such junk.  So instead of explaining to these fairly intelligent children why candy is not an option, let's mask the problem and hand out crap that's going to end up in a landfill, because I am hear to tell you that we can not possibly use all the pencils that are handed out to us in any given year.  Or here's another idea-spend the hour in recess teaching these kids some of the fun games we played as kids.  

I was outside with my daughter and a few of her friends recently.  They were jumping rope and I asked them if they knew how to double dutch.  They looked at me as if I had two heads-which is really sad.  I look around my neighborhood and see kids at 7 and 8 years old with training wheels still on there bikes.  Back to the girls-we didn't get as far as double dutch but they had a great time learning new jump rope tricks.  If they would do things like this at the school instead of herding all the kids outside with a bag to collect pencils for 20 minutes-imagine the stories they could come home with at the end of the day. 

What do you think-should schools get rid of trunk or treat completely?

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Week in Review-Recovery Week

Kristen

Monday
Rest Day-I was surprisingly not very sore, which was a good thing.  I did spend a lot of time icing my heel.

Tuesday
Rest day-again not feeling too bad but definitely don't want to jump back into things too fast either.

Wednesday
 Bike 14 miles-felt good to do something although for whatever reason my neck started hurting.

Thursday
Bike 14 miles-really bad neck pain afterwards, so probably should have taken today off.

Friday
Rest-forced myself to take today off and continue to rest my neck and heel.

Saturday
Rest

Sunday
Run 4.75 at 9:05 pace
Finally testing things out and felt pretty good.  I have 4 short weeks until the Hershey half so I really need to get back to it.  Hopefully, a slow workout week was what my body needed after the race and I can hit it hard next week. 


Have a great week everyone!

Fitness!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

What Really Happens on Race Day

Kristen

I gave you the "real" race report the other day, now here is what really happens on race day.

4:20-Wake up because my husband told me the night before he was going to get up at 4:30.  I wouldn't want to wake up by means of an alarm clock so I wake up naturally at 4:20.

4:25-Head downstairs to start coffee and get things ready.  For the 12th time go through my bag to make sure I have everything-I do.

4:55-Head back upstairs to dress-decide that I really should take a quick shower-wouldn't want to be smelly before I run 13.1 miles.  I do draw the line at washing my hair though so I'm not completely ridiculous.  I also chose not to shave, but I did have an internal debate about it.

5:03-Get dressed in what I hope will be non-chafing clothes and warm enough before the race but also cool enough that I don't get too hot while racing.  

5:10-Back downstairs to drink coffee and get breakfast ready.  Since I have some spare time I better check my bag again-I may have forgotten something.

5:24-Head to garage with all my things to decide which sneakers I want to wear.  Stand around in garage hoping my ride will show up a few minutes early-it doesn't.

5:34-Start walking to Heidi's house to hurry the process along.  Stand in her foyer for a few minutes chatting-really can we talk in the car.

5:37-Pulling out of their driveway-considering who is driving and how this person is never on time we are not too late.

5:44-We almost made it one exit down the highway before phone rings and Heidi's child has changed mind and wants to join us.  After a brief discussion it is decided we will go back-my stomach starts churning.

5:51-Pulling out of driveway-take 2.

6:17-Pull into Wawa for our last potty break before the lovely port-o-pots.  

6:22-Back on the road-brief discussion about which would be the best way to get there.  Driver decides to follow the car of the person he talked to in Wawa-seems as good a bet as any!

6:35-Continue to follow stranger who may or may not be going to race-Driver pulls up beside car to make sure it's the same people-it is.  I'm glad we got that cleared up-makes me feel so much better that we are only following strangers-not complete strangers.  
Thank you stranger for getting us to our destination!

6:45-Arrive as close to our destination as we are going to get.  Have to hurry out of car since we are pulled over to side of random street-hope I have everything I need.

6:46-Brief discussion about whether or not we should use the nearby port-o-pots-line seems to long-lets keep going.

6:48-Buy a $3 water for Heidi who left hers in the car.

6:53-Find the real port-o-pots-Holy long line-should have used the other ones.  

7:07-Still waiting in line-take some pictures.
Whoever took this pic could have told us the lighting was awful!

7:21-Still waiting...

7:45-Head to corral to stretch and get ready-this is it people.

7:54-National Anthem Plays-I feel as if my shoes are not quite right, so I fiddle with those for awhile.

7:59-Start our slow walk to the starting line-I'm in corral 7 so fortunately I don't have too far to go.  Not loving the feel of my sneakers though-totally should have worn my other ones.

8:07-Here we go

9:35-This is really long, and I'm thirsty and my foot is starting to hurt.  People all around me are acting strange-we can be done anytime now...

10:04-Cross the finish line-that wasn't so bad, but I wonder where Justin is (the 16 year old)?

10:07-Walk through and grab some drinks and not much food because my hands are full-a bag would really be nice after a race.  Look around again for Justin and realize I will not find him anytime soon.

10:10-Text driver for first time and let him know that I have lost his son, but I can't really think about it right now, I need to sit down for a few minutes.

10:12-Find a place to sit and spend about 5 minutes trying to open a Gatorade-success.

10:17-Text driver to find out if son is found yet.  Text husband for my official time.  Realize that I may not have picked the perfect outfit after all-major chafing between my legs.

10:56-Still missing Justin-trying to decide if I want to head to our meeting spot which is close-by but really far because there happens to be a race going on.  Decide I have some time before Heidi finishes so I don't have to stress quite yet.  

11:01-Have a random conversation with a man who lost his bike lock.  At least you didn't lose your bike or a 16 year old-a lock is really not my concern so please stop asking me.

11:14-Start heading to our meeting spot.  But good Justin has been found so now I backtrack because I can officially celebrate with my free beer-it didn't seem right until Justin was found.

11:21-Wait for our other friend and head to beer garden-it was a good day!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Rock and Roll Philadelphia Half Part 1 - The Expo

Heidi

So Kristen, our friend Diana, and I drove to the Convention Center in Philly for the expo on Friday.  Kristen drove (thank God because I CAN'T drive in the city) and we had a delightful ride there.  We drove past City Hall and saw Billy Penn and found the parking garage without any issues.  So far, so good. 
 
Loved how the parking attendant had a checkered flag...
 
We walked about a block to the entrance to the convention center and found where we needed to go.  First, we had to find our corral number and get our race bibs and timing chips.  I had to pick my son, Justin's up since he was in school where he was taking four tests.  Poor baby.  Anyway, no issues with that.  Just had to show our ID and we had our stuff.  Kristen has been training so hard and she was able to change her corral from 13 to 7.  No proof needed as to how fast she was.  They just put a sticker on her bib and she was good to go.
 
 
 
 
 
On the Red Carpet...
 
Thought this was cool.  We also received Run Boston bracelets.
 
So next we moved on to the t shirt area.  Kristen and I liked our shirts so much (which is strange because Kristen never likes her race shirts) we decided to wear them on Sunday for the race.  They were red... my favorite color!!  Poor Diana had to exchange her shirt.  She got a woman's cut and they ran extremely small.  Note to self, if I ever run another Rock and Roll race, get the men's shirt!!
 
On to the fun part...the booths.  Brooks put on a really great display.  They had some really cool shirts, fleeces and hats (which I bought to add to my collection.)  They also had Run Happy Island.  You could go into this area and get your gait analyzed, ride a mechanical running shoe, and try to win some cool stuff.  I chose not to ride the mechanical shoe (could you imagine falling off that thing after all of this training and not be able to run the race??)  However, I did win a pair of running shoes while my friends only won bags.  Sorry about your luck friends.  Ha Ha.  I was totally surprised and so excited.  I still have to go online and pick out my shoes.
 
Me with my shoe coupon.
 
 



 
Mechanical Shoe you can ride on...
 
Cleanest Port A Potties ever...for changing your clothes.  Ha Ha.
 
 
 
After we had some fun shopping in the Brooks area, we went to the booths.  We bought GU's (they had salted caramel woo hoo) and head bands and socks.  If I had more money I probably would have bought a lot more.  Good thing I didn't bring too much.  We looked for other races for the future and what we found was AWESOME!!!!!  HOT CHOCOLATE RACE!!!!  It is in April for Philly and I decided weeks ago this would be my next big family run for next year.  We did the Color Run this year.  We got chocolate covered marshmallows at the booth and I think I convinced Diana and Kristen to run this race too!!!  Can't beat a race that serves you a fondue of chocolate to dip yummy stuff in at the end of the race, can you??  Well unless it is unlimited beer.  That would be better.
 
By the time we went through all of the booths, we were starving.  Well kind of because we did eat plenty of energy bar samples and chocolate covered marshmallows.  The Convention Center is just a block away from the Reading Terminal Market.  It is basically a farmer's market full of delicious food.  I really wanted a cheesesteak but settled for a really good turkey sandwich.  We saw some very interesting things while we were walking around aimlessly trying to figure out what we wanted to eat...
 
Chicken Feet in case I need extra feet after the race.
 
A new set of lungs in case I can't breathe after the race.
 
These items may have come in handy after a half marathon.  Who knew?? 
 
Overall, we had a great day.  The expo was one of the better one's I have been to.  (I must be honest and say I really have only been to two or three others.)  The bonus was...I printed out a parking coupon to get us half off.  When we scanned our ticket there was no where to scan the coupon.  Me being the chicken I am, would have paid full price.  Luckily Diana hit the attendant button and out of no where the attendant showed up and gave us half off.  Hooray Diana!!!  Score for us!!  Now onto the race....UGGHHH
 
If only that was my real time!!!
 







Monday, September 16, 2013

Success-The Philly Rock-n-Roll Half

Kristen


Well, we did it!  Heidi rocked it this weekend by completing her first half-marathon!!  Way to go! It just goes to show that you really can do whatever you set your mind too, because 2 years ago, she couldn't imagine accomplishing something so amazing!

As for me, a PR!  This is my third half marathon.  I ran the Hershey half last October and truly thought I was going to die.  My time was 2:13:50, which is a great time for the first time out.  I was really unprepared though.  I ran the Disney half this past January and my time was 2:08:19.  It was still really hard, but I was mentally a bit better prepared.

This time around, I was ready, except for my nagging heel pain.  Sunday morning couldn't have better weather.  We were supposed to leave at 5:30, but Heidi's husband was driving and we are always about 15 minutes behind schedule-no big deal.  Any later though, and I would have started to stress.  We arrived in Philly at about 6:45, so we had plenty of time to wait in the LONG bathroom lines, stretch and take our pre-race pictures.  Surprisingly, I didn't feel as nervous as ALL the previous races I have run.  I was supposed to be in corral 13, but I hate standing around waiting, so Friday at the expo, I had my corral changed to 7-much better choice.

7:54-We are barely in our corral when the National Anthem starts playing.  There is something to be said about listening to the National Anthem with 22000 other runners and spectators on a cool crisp morning.
7:59-Wheelchair racers head out to race.
8:01-Corral 1 starts-way to go to the winners!  Running 13.1 miles under an hour is truly amazing!!
8:07-My race begins.  I always start out fast and it's mainly to try to get away from the herd.  I really like my space and the sooner I find it the sooner I can get into my zone.  Today was no different.  I had Heidi's son running with me, but sadly, I lost him around mile 3.  I really wanted to finish between 1:50 and 1:55, so I couldn't be dilly dallying.  I was feeling great from miles 1-5.  The course wound through old city and past the start.



Miles 5-9 ran out Kelly Drive, which is a really pretty part of the city.  I forgot how long it was though. Back when I was in college, this is how we would get back to our apartment anytime we left the city, so it was great to run, but again, a lot longer than I remembered.   I definitely started slowing down as did a lot of people around me.  I was keeping pace and really wasn't getting passed too much so I knew I was holding my own, but I was starting to tire.  Really, I should have been drinking more water.

Finally, we hit the bridge and started heading back.  Mile 10 was one of the most beautiful sights ever!  All I had left was a 5k and I always say that anyone can run a 5k.  So I had 3.1 miles to go and I was feeling the pain.  I wanted to be done and my heel was starting to hurt.  I had been struggling with my heel for the past few weeks and was certainly babying it, but a half marathon was certainly not doing it any good.

Mile 13 was finally here-all that was left was .1 miles.  Whoever made the race route thought it would be hilarious to put a hill right at the end.  We did not have a single hill until that hill at the very end.  So there was no huge sprint to the end-at least for me.  I made it though and completely forgot to look at my time!

Once I collected my medal that is missing the 1 in the year, I realized that I better find Justin.  I grabbed a few drinks and a snack and looked behind me thinking he might not have been too far behind.  Well, there were people everywhere.  And when I finish a race, I am brain dead for at least 30 minutes.  I can not carry on a rational conversation, much less try to figure out how to find someone who may or may not be anywhere in the crowd of people.

see-no 1

I briefly tried to find Heidi's husband-realized it was pointless and went to find a place to sit and recover.  I texted Brian to find my finishing time, because I really had no idea what time I had finished in.  After about 30 minutes, I felt recovered enough to find out if Justin was still missing-he was.  Luckily, when I ran Broad Street in May, we had made a last minute decision to have a meeting place just in case something happened.  We decided to do the same thing for this half, because after Broad St. we ended up using our meeting place because cell service was so poor.  Yesterday, cell service was fine, but I had told Justin not to bother with his phone because I really thought he would be with me the whole race.  Clearly not true.

Anyway, I texted Troy again and realized out meeting place was really far away from where I was sitting.  Justin was still missing.  Heidi was going to be finished racing soon, the clock was definitely ticking.  I got up to make my way over to our meeting spot and thankfully, got a text from Troy telling me that Justin showed up to the meeting place and all was well.

We did it!  3 first timers!

The irony was that our meeting place was the Rocky Statue, which we all thought was at the top of the Art Museum steps.  Apparently, Rocky is not as popular as he used to be, so they moved him to the side of the museum, so when Justin finished he went to the top of the Art Museum on dead legs and found nothing.  He had to walk back down and search all over for Rocky.

But the time all this finished, Heidi also finished, but that is her story to tell.  We all met in the Beer Garden for our free Michelob Ultra-very tasty-and to swap stories.  Then we headed to lunch and home.  Overall, a great day for all of us!



Splits:
0-5K                    8:32 pace
5k-10k                 8:37 pace
10k-10 mile          8:54 pace
10 mile to finish   9.22 pace

My overall time was 1:55:55 so I missed my goal by 55 seconds, but improved over my last half by about 13 minutes.  So overall, I am happy.  I just have to work more on the endurance of the distance because my times definitely drop off.  I have Hershey in 5 weeks.  I don't think I will PR there as it is very hilly, but if I can heal my heel and stay under 2 hours I will be very happy!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

THE TAPER...

Heidi
 
 
So we are four days out from my first half marathon and the nerves are starting to set in.  This is taper week.  I ran 8 miles on Sunday and was supposed to run 3 on Tuesday and 3 on Thursday.  I woke up Tuesday morning and decided Wednesday and Friday would be better days to run as my legs were still hurting from the 8 mile run.  No sense in pushing myself days before the race.
 
So Kristen's husband made a running plan up for me months ago.  I think I have looked at it 3 maybe 4 times.  You see, Brian is a serious runner.  His plan is pretty serious too.  Not that it isn't a good plan, but when you can really only run 3 times a week because of injures (and my weight), his five times a week running plan wasn't working for me. 
 
I also downloaded Another Mother Runner's Half-Marathon Finish It plan.  Although a little less ambitious than Brian's, it still wasn't working for me.  I just couldn't run more than three times a week, especially while training for my first triathlon. 
 
Just for fun I looked at both plans for the taper week.  Brian had me running 8 miles on Sunday (which I did), 5 miles on Tuesday, 7 miles on Thursday (yeah right), 3 miles on Saturday and then the half of Sunday.  WHAT KIND OF TAPER IS THAT BRIAN?????  (Kristen's plan from Brian was even worse.)
 
The Another Mother Runner plan had me running 6 miles last Saturday, 3 miles on Monday, 3 miles on Tuesday, 2-3 miles on Wednesday, 30 minutes of running on Friday (I like that one!!) and then the half on Sunday.  Not a good taper for me either but at least the mileage is less.
 
LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I HAVE DONE SO FAR...
 
8 very hilly miles on Sunday in my hood and it was awful!!!! Then on the same day I rowed 4 miles in a canoe (practicing for an upcoming triathlon) and then rode my bike for 5 miles to check out the triathlon's bike route.  A little ambitious a week before my first half??  Perhaps but it needed to be done. 
 
I thought maybe I should take a break on Monday but NOOOOOOO!!!  Kristen wanted to bike ride so we can maintain our endurance that we lost over the last month and a half.  So we rode 13 miles of hills.  (She really doesn't know what taper means.)  That's when she told me what her taper was and I laughed.  She needs to look up some running plans and work off of them.  Brian is just crazy. 

I ran three miles in the extreme humidity this morning.  My legs are now paying for it.  I am crazy stiff and my hip hurts too.  Not sure I recovered enough from Sunday's run.  Now I am debating my three mile run on Friday.  My legs and hip need to heal.  What to do?  What to do?
 
So that's pretty much it.  Hopefully I will get my last run in before the half.  If not, who cares right?  I have to run the damn race no matter what.  Three more miles isn't going to make or break my race.  However, Kristen might...
 
 
My friend Heather and I getting ready for our ride right after we rowed 4 miles.


Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Things I Ponder

Kristen

Over the summer, my phone stopped working due to the fact that I am a music addict while I run.  Basically, the headphone jack broke and the only way I could talk on my phone was speaker, which really is a pain.  After a few days, it started working again.  I continued to listen to music while running and then it happened again.  So, since then I have stopped using my headphones completely.  This was a very big step for me-I have ALWAYS used headphones to run-ever since I started running in high school.  I am embarrassed to say that I briefly contemplated quitting the whole running thing altogether-I know a little drastic-but lets face it we all have those moments.

Anyway, since I can no longer sing in my head I have a whole lot of time for thinking.  Sometimes, way to much time and I thought it would be fun to sometimes share with you the random things that pop into my head as I run.

  • I just read an article about the richest writers in America.  James Patterson obviously is near the top of the list.  I mean he is consistently on the bestseller lists with usually 2 books and really how many books does he write each year?  What I ponder is that E.L. James is up there earning as much as him.  How is this possible?  She writes 3 books compared to A LOT from Patterson.
 
  • There are all kind of records being broken in Mississippi for people catching the largest alligator.  There are a few things to ponder here.  First, these things are massive-who is catching them?  Second, where are these alligators living?  Are they near schools and houses or do you actually have to go searching for them somewhere?  People here on the east coast are afraid of sharks in the ocean.  The size of these alligators make sharks look like child's play.  And finally, what are you doing with it?  Are you eating the meat?  Do you stuff it or hang it's head on the wall?
 
  • Finally, for today as I run the same 3.5 mile loop day in and day out I wonder what makes a person say hello or wave and what makes a person ignore you?  I mean, I am literally running past the same people 3-4 times a week month in and month out for years and yet some people will not even glance my way much less say hi.  Then some people will always wave, sometimes expressing a few words of encouragement.  Is this a learned behavior?  And if so, can it be changed?  We all live on this small piece of the planet together, make someone's day a little brighter. 
 http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/06/ae/3b/06ae3bb886e28801ebd9fda3d5cf6641.jpg

 I have to admit that I kind of enjoy the silence now.  I would certainly love music sometimes, but as with all things you adapt.  What are the things you ponder while running?

 

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Week in Review

Kristen

Monday:
Run 3.5 at 9:09 pace
This is the day I attempted 15 and quit after 3.5.  Just wasn't ready after vacation and sometimes that's ok.

Tuesday:
Run 6 miles at 8:26 pace 
4 x 1600 400 recovery
One of my neighbors was hosting a back to school party for the parents so I sucked it up and was out running at 5 a.m. to ensure that I actually ran.

Wednesday:
Bike 13 miles
It was time to get back to biking for some cross-training.  Always amazing how out of shape a change in routine will make you feel.

Thursday:
Run 8 at 8:48 pace-tempo run
I am supposed to do a warm-up mile but I never do, so my first 6 miles were at tempo pace with my last 2 miles at a slower pace.  I am the type who just wants to get things over and done.

Friday:
Bike 13 miles
Saturday:
Run 9 at 8:47 pace
I finally feel like I am not on vacation anymore which is a good thing a week before the start of race season!

Sunday:
Run 3 at 9:17 pace
I was supposed to do 6 but I just wasn't feeling it today.  I am in denial about a foot injury...

Have a great week everyone!  Next week is the official kick-off of race season for Heidi and I!


photo

Saturday, September 7, 2013

runDisney Planning

Heidi
 
So while my good friend, Kristen was in Disney World last week with her family (and not her good friend Heidi but I will save that for another post...) I had the Disney World jealousy come out and decided to start planning my Disney Glass Slipper Challenge trip that is coming up in February.  It is 6 months out, so I need to plan my meals anyway.  Nothing makes you feel better when you can't be in Disney World than planning a Disney World trip!!!!!
 
I decided to bring my daughter with me on this trip.  She will be 15 and it will be between basketball and lacrosse seasons, so perfect timing.  She also can run the Cinderella Royal 5K which I just know she will love.  (Insert sarcasm)  I am also running these races "with" my bestie since high school, April, who lives right outside of Disney.  Although she lives just miles from The Mouse, she doesn't know much about the World at all.   (Sorry April, but it is true.)  So there was a lot of meal planning that had to be done. It seemed to tame my inner jealousy that was aimed at Kristen. 
 
Once the meals were planned I decided to go on one of my favorite sites...  www.wdwinfo.com.  I seriously love this site and their forums.  I have planned many many trips using the knowledge of other Disney freaks.  WARNING:   It is very addicting and you can spend hours on this site.  There, you have been WARNED!!!!! 
 
Anyway, while searching the forums, I decided to go on the Disneyland thread.  BIG MISTAKE!!!  Thank goodness Kristen was almost home.  We still had not booked our hotel for the Tinkerbell Half in January.  I was freaking out.  Some hotels were already booked.  NOT GOOD!!!   Sometimes too much information is not a good thing.  Anyway, Kristen to the rescue.  She researched the hotels one more time and now we are booked at the Annabella.  California, here we come!!!
 
Today I came across another Tinkerbell Half thread and a Disney Princess Half thread.  So many more hours of research.  I really should put my time and effort into the Tink thread since we both have never  (GASP) been to Disneyland.  However, the Princess thread intrigued me.  I didn't need to read much about Disney World (as Kristen and I both have been there 800 times) but reading about the race and all that goes with it sucked me in. 
 
With all of the research I did today, I came across some really cool running/Disney blogs.  I will add a few to our list.  The Disneyland Dumbo Dare was last weekend so there was plenty of good blogging going on about that race.  Since I have never been to Disneyland much less raced there, I had a lot of reading to do.  Once again....too much information.  I saw pictures of the Grand Californian and now I want to upgrade our hotel.  I know we can't.  But I want to.  BAD BLOGS!!!!  VERY BAD BLOGS!!!   Someday....
 
So one step at a time.  I still need to book my air and hotel to Disney World for February.  I am waiting for a few good deals for that part of the planning process.  Most of our January Disneyland trip is now booked.  The next step...what to wear.  I am sure I can find some great ideas with these blogs and wdwinfo forums.  But...if anyone would like to help a sister out....feel free!!!!
 
 


Magic Kingdom, how I have missed you.  February can't come  soon enough!!!
 
 

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Diet and Exercise

Kristen


I just got back from 10 days in sunny Florida.  While I had a great time re-charging and spending time with the family, the vacation did a number on my running.  I really thought it was the heat and long days in Florida that affected my running while there.  Getting up at 5 a.m., running 5 miles then walking all through Disney for 10-15 hours a day is nothing short of exhausting.

We got home at 8 p.m. on Sunday night.  I had a planned 15 miler on Monday morning.  I drank as much fluids as I could driving home and switched back to a more normal diet-veggie sub from Subway-knowing I had a long brutal run in front of me.

I woke at 5 to get out there and get going.  I could tell immediately that it was not going to be a  good run.  I ran my 3.5 mile loop and stopped in my driveway for some water.  I was spent.  I felt weak as if I was finishing the 15 instead of just starting.  I thought about my options while I chugged my water and decided to call it a day-no use torturing myself when clearly my body was not ready for a long run such as this.  I hoped that after catching up on life and eating "normal" the next day would prove to be more productive.

Tuesday was the first day of school which means in our neighborhood a time to celebrate.  I didn't want to give up on the run completely so I decided if I was out by 5, I could do a speed workout and be home in time to make the kids a special first day breakfast and not miss any celebrating.  I would like to say that one day of eating right made all the difference, but I really struggled through this run as well.  It wasn't quite as bad, but still not the easy running I had grown accustomed to.

I decided to change things up Wednesday and ride bike, which was a huge hardship in and of itself, since I really haven't ridden since early July.  I continued to eat as healthfully as possible though. 

Thursday, it was time to get back to it and run.  Finally, I am starting to feel better and I really think it's due to the fact that all this week I was getting my water and eating clean.  I never felt affected by such things before in running or even daily life.  It could be age starting to catch up to me as well, but by the end of vacation I was really starting to drag and craving salads and fruit instead of ice-cream and sodas. 

I would leave you with some highlights of vacation, but sadly all the pictures are still on the camera waiting to be downloaded.  We did have a few magical moments this trip though-2 free soft pretzels offered to us as we were walking to Fantasmic.  We were so shocked by this that we all stood there looking at the offer and not responding until the 2 girls said it was a Magical Moment.  Also, my brother-in-law got picked for a part in the Indiana Jones show.  I got picked to be in Flights of Wonder-all in all a very fun memorable trip and as always I can't wait to go back!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

"Just " Ten...

Heidi
 
 
So I ran "just" ten miles this morning on the Struble Trail in Downingtown.  This is my last "long" run before the Rock n' Roll Philly Half in exactly two weeks.  From here on out , only smaller runs and then the glorious TAPER!!!  So excited for that next week.  Frankly, I have been tapering a lot lately since these long runs do me in for days. 
 
"Just" ten miles was something I NEVER thought I would ever say.  (Along with "I am a runner." or "I signed up for a half marathon." among other running statements.)  Yesterday I was watching my daughter's soccer game and a father of another player came up to me asked why I wasn't running laps around the track.  (He knows I have been training for this race.)  I told him I totally would have run a few but I was waiting for my long run today.  He asked me how many I was running and yes I said it, "just ten.".  He  laughed when I said that.  "Yeah, just ten.  Oh that's it?  Just ten?"  My sister in law was there too and giggled at that comment.  When I thought about it, it really was silly.  Just one mile used to be a big deal for me.  What I meant was since I had run the big 13 two weeks ago, it really was "just ten."
 
I was actually looking forward to my long run this morning.  I knew I didn't have to run more than ten.  It was kind of exciting.  My poor 16 year old son on the other hand ran 12 and was not too happy about it.  (He of course still beat me by a lot!!) 
 
Don't get me wrong, it was a very long, hot and humid run!!  Thank goodness for the shade of the trail.  Although I have to run it twice to get to ten miles, it was worth every step.  If I had to run "just ten" around the hood this morning, I would have died!!!  So I said my prayers to the Big One Upstairs, "thank you for this beautiful, flat  trail that I have to drive 35 minutes to get to so I can run in shade on very hot and humid days."  (OK, Justin drove but I have to pay attention and tell him what he doing wrong since he still has his permit.)
 
By the way, when I got to "just ten" miles, I said to myself, "Self, you still have a 5k ahead of you to finish the race."   UUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!  Not a great way to psyche yourself up for a race.  I figure though, if I did it once, I can do it again.  So "just ten" was "just plenty" for me today!!
 
 
 
This is my view while running on the Struble Trail this am...while beautiful and shaded....
 
Not quite as beautiful as it would have been to run on the George Washington Trail along the Potomac last week.
(Don't ask me who that person is.  I needed a quick pic and he was in the way.)