Indy Women’s Half Marathon

Indy Women’s Half Race Report – 2013

OutForARunAdmin — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 11:06:00 +0000

Race reports aren’t near as fun to write when you didn’t have a good race… I need to get it out though. Writing about it has helped me move along a little.

Ashley and her husband Brandon picked my up in the AM and we headed downtown.We warmed up close to a mile, wanted to do more but we were a little short on time. It was all good though.

We creeped up right behind the girls who were in it to win it and let them fade away while we ran together for the first 2-3 miles.

Pre Race- 3.5 minutes to go.

I had some major mental and physical struggles during this race. I put in some great training and thought it was the perfect timing coming off the half ironman. Plenty of recovery time, plenty of time to ramp things back up and get some speed in my legs.

I’m going to be totally honest here. I ran a stupid race. That happens, but I have enough experience as a runner to know better than to race like that.

First of all, I knew it was hot. I should have adjusted my goal a little because of that. I am by no means using the heat as my excuse for my goal bonk. YES, it was a big factor and did slow me down, but I slowed down way more than the heat should have affected me. I know how I run in the heat and this wasn’t the sole reason it was a bad race for me. Another small factor; not an excuse, just a factor is I was just about to my period and my body and life felt extra heavy. You know how we females get extra emotional and crazy once a month, plus feel like we weigh 1,000 lbs? Yeah, that decided to happen around this day.

I started out way too fast. It was stupid. I knew it was, but I was all big headed about it. My watch was being funny and I couldn’t tell what pace I was running based on what it was telling me. When we rolled over mile 1 and my split read 6:32, I knew I was doing exactly what I told myself not to do. I said “too fast” and then proceeded to do it again for mile 2.

I ran mile 2 right at 6:32 again. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

Here I am early on, making bad decisions…. Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

Even if my watch was being wacky… I know my body well enough to feel the difference between a 6:30 mile and a 6:50 mile. I was paranoid I would accidentally run too slow though. Clearly, it would have served me well to have started off a little slow.

I settled into a 6:45ish pace for miles 3-5 and things started crashing a bit at mile 5. I didn’t feel terrible, but I knew I had gone out too hard and could already foresee my very near future.

This is not a fun way to run/race.

Throughout miles 5 and 6, I tried to regroup. Gave myself some pep talks. When I hit mile 6.5, my goal was to ramp it back up. I tried to convince myself to get through these next 6.5 miles at the pace I wanted. I remembered the tough workouts. The 6 mile tempo run I did that went really well. But it just wasn’t there. I would surge to see if I could settle into a faster pace, but every time I did that, I wound up slowing back down even more.

I was holding on to 8th place nearly the entire race. They had bikers with all of the “lead” runners so I could hear them radioing where everyone was. Glenn had been planning to jump in and run with me around mile 8, but that wasn’t allowed so he had to just cheer and move along. Then somewhere around mile 9 or 10, I got passed by Leslie (who I met after the race, of course.. and she is awesome.) and a then little before mile 11, I got passed, by Ashley. I wasn’t expecting it to be her, based on how she was talking pre race. But I was so excited that it was and tried to stay with her, but my body was screaming no. She told me to stop being a sissy and come with her, but I had nothing. Absolutely nothing to give.

I’ve probably said this before about other races, but I’ve never wanted to stop, walk, cry, sit down and just be done more in my life. I don’t know what was happening to me. I felt crazy… had no clue how to make my body move faster. I clocked a 7:38 mile at mile 11. Yikesssssss. This is slower than any mile I ran during the entire marathon at Shamrock. A race double the distance. My gosh, I was a mess. A 7:38 mile should feel easy, it felt really hard. I just kept slowing. I saw my mom somewhere around then. I wasn’t a happy camper.

Going into this race and any race for that matter, my goal is never what place I get, it’s always a time goal for myself. But once you’re out there racing, the place ends up mattering. Somewhere around mile 11.5, the guys on the bikes were saying it was going to be an interesting race for 10th place. GAH. Sounded like the girl behind me was gaining on me. Not surprising considering how much I was letting my pace go. Then they were talking about a pack of three clumped together behind her. Well wouldn’t that be terrible if they all went zooming past me and I went from 8th place to 12th?

Part of me said F this, I don’t give a crap about any of this, I just want to stop, pass me all you want. The other part of me, of course, said you’ve worked this hard the whole race and you’ve already let your goal go, don’t let your place go right now.

This is the last 400 meters. Get me to the finish. Ick. Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

I really wasn’t able to dig and pick my pace up to a decent speed again until a half mile to go. I thought about the ladder workout I did a few weeks ago and how much I pushed on the 800’s and how bad it hurt then… reminded myself if I pushed that hard in a workout I ought to make it hurt now.

I was practically in tears when I finished. I gave Ashley a big hug, pretty much fell on top of her. I was exhausted. I knew somewhere around mile 8 that my goal was slipping away from me fast. But I didn’t think it would slip away that hard. I honestly thought on a not so good day, I’d roll in around 1:31ish and on a great day, I’d roll in around 1:28. I guess it was worse than a not so good day. My official finish time was 1:33:14.

Leslie, Ashley and I – 8th, 9th and 10th place. These are the badass ladies who kicked my ass in the last 3 miles…

With my momma post race.

Ashley taking care of me post race. I returned the favor. I can’t even talk about how much I’m obsessed with this girl.

We did win $100 for placing in the top 10 and will be “invited” to return next year, so I’m not complaining about that!

This is all ok though. You learn from races like this. And not matter how many half marathons or marathons I do, there is always a lesson. Did I know I shouldn’t go out that hard prior to the race? Yes. But I did it anyway. This is the exact reason back in December, I ran a marathon for the sole purpose of running a negative split and proving to myself this is a much better way to race. I preach it all the time, I have to do it myself.

While I really want to break 1:30, my next goal is to force myself to negative split the half… or at least come damn near close to it. Go out at a 7 minute mile and slowly speed up. Rather than just the opposite like I so miserably did on Saturday. Hopefully that will lead me to a new PR at the very least and if I break 1:30 in the process… perfect. But one thing at a time. (I’ve been literally obsessing over Laura’s splits from the the VA Beach half this weekend. She tweeted her splits on Sunday after the race and I thought… why couldn’t you have been that smart yesterday Lindsey? That was a very smart way to run on such a hot day… props to you Laura!)

It’s good to have big goals so long as they are realistic. I’m not saying you can’t dream big… and I’m not backing out on the fact that I know I am capable of running the 1:28 I so badly wanted. But for me, right now I need to take a smaller step. And that is totally fine. Everyone is different. Glenn and I are so very different. I don’t want to say he works harder than me, although I think he generally does haha, but he is the kind of person who can make really big jumps a lot and it doesn’t scare him. Right now though, mentally I need to take a smaller step and that’s just what’s going to happen. Nothing wrong with that.

I know if I want to become a smarter runner, I have to teach myself lessons like this. It’s like anything in life, in the process of growing, you have slip ups. You unfortunately make not so stellar decisions sometimes. But they ultimately become significant steps in the learning process that are necessary.

Am I bummed? Yes. Am I over it? I’d like to say yes, but I’m not. I really wanted bang out this race and kill it. I had my heart set on it.

Since I have my surgery in 4 weeks. Ahhh, 4 weeks. (Deep breath. Clear my head. It’s OK.) And I won’t be racing for a few months, I wanted this to be my big celebration race.

Beyond my surgery, I’m not sure what will be going down. I plan on running as soon as I can once I’m cleared but am not certain how this next year will look. There are much more important things than the time on the clock when I cross a finish line that I’m going to be focused on in this near future. I so badly wanted this last pre-surgery race to be all that I dreamed it would be and it just wasn’t. Guess what though. It’s not that big of a deal and I need to chill out. Life goes on.

I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago in a training post that I had thought about throwing in a marathon September 15th. I have been getting a ~~little~~ lot jealous about all the fall marathons everyone is running. But the race this weekend quickly reminded me that there is no faking marathon training. Sure, I could run one, but trying to PR would be a joke. So I snooped around and found a half marathon in Terre Haute, IN on September 15th. I’m 50-50 on doing it right now. I know there is a bigger PR in me still but I’m not sure I’m want to go there again so soon. I’m going to make a last minute decision on this.

I should mention- Ken Long does a great job putting on this race– the post race party is fun and it’s all organized very well. Also- a big thank you to all the volunteers… we saw a lot of Back on My Feet guys out there volunteering both at packet pick up and at the race. Very nice!

Enough boo hooing about the race though. Congratulations to all the ladies who worked hard on Saturday- it was pretty darn hot out there.

Someone tell me to stop being a baby and get over it!!!

Did you race this weekend?? How did it go?!

30 weekend.

OutForARunAdmin — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 16:47:00 +0000

Let me first start this by saying, I never used to be into birthdays. I always thought it was weird that people made a big deal about them.

Then I married Glenn. And his family is ALL ABOUT birthdays. There is a special birthday tablecloth that is brought out for every birthday. Nobody misses calling or texting someone on their birthday and it’s always a big deal.

Then I started getting close to 30. And I realized I liked having reasons to celebrate. So we threw ourselves a joint 30th birthday party, why not.

Then I turned 30… yesterday. And I feel the same as I did when I turned 29, 28, 27 and that’s probably as far as it goes. It seems like you change a lot somewhere around 26 or so. I do know that I’d like to stay right where I am for the next 10 years if we can possibly freeze time. I have to think the 30s are one of the best decades. Then again, I’ll probably say that about 40 in 10 years. I know one thing- I’m glad I’m 30 and not 20.

And here’s how the day went:

I ran a half marathon, that I wasn’t very happy about. One thing you learn as you get older though is not to dwell on things that didn’t go as planned. Can’t change it now.

Ashley and I post race.

I’ll write up a recap on the race later, but I’ll tell you now, it wasn’t pretty.

The rest of the day was pretty perfect. We headed down to Bloomington to my parents new house and spent time with family and laid around by their pool. Yes they moved to Indy in November and yes they are already back in Bloomington…. that didn’t take long.

Then my parents babysat and we went out to have dinner and drinks. We checked out The Rail, which was really good. It is so nice and it made me feel like I was in a big city. Not that there’s anything wrong with being in Bloomington, but it just had a different feel to it than what I think of when I think about Bloomington. The food and drinks were delicious and the atmosphere was just perfect.

Despite the nasty race. (I’m so embarrassed about my splits, I can’t even talk about it) We had a really great day and I am more than thrilled about the long weekend.

Tomorrow Glenn is going to race the Ripple Effect, a 4 mile race in Broad Ripple. He had a workout that called for 9 X 3 minutes for Monday anyway and they recently changed the time of this race from evening to morning, so he’s just going to use the race as his workout. Plus, the entry was only $20.

The weekend is topped off with a babysitter and we’re heading to Mumford and Sons with some of my most favorite people ever.

I’m digging the weekend…. and so is Cadence.

Indy Women’s Half Training & HandleBar Indy

OutForARunAdmin — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 19:39:00 +0000

In the spring, I was considering racing the Geist half marathon. If you’ve been reading for a bit, you’ve heard me talk about it. At that time, I would look at the schedule laid out for me and I just didn’t want to do it. I was burnt out, having ran three marathons in 7 months. Pretty much as soon as Marshall was born, my mind was on a marathon PR. So after I accomplished that, my brain was just over it. (Why I started training for triathlon instead- much needed break from running)

Coming off the half Ironman, my head has been back in the running game. What I don’t want to do is go sit on a bike for 4 hours on a Saturday. I’m back at running 6 days a week rather than 3 and I’m liking it. Proof that breaks are important. It feels good to run fast again, on legs that aren’t tired from the bike. They are tired in a different way some days, but a different kind of tired.

On Monday- Glenn and I decided to act like we were in college and go out with some friends for a handlebar Indy tour and after go out for dinner and drinks. If you live in Indy, I’m sure you know what Handlebar Indy is- but if not, it’s basically a bar on wheels that seats 16 people and you pedal around downtown, making stops at bars and really wherever you want.

Our night may have ended at 10:30, but we drank way more than we are used to (had a blast with everyone) BUT, my goodness we rode the struggle bus all day yesterday. It’s funny because I woke up immediately thinking about my training and thinking about how getting out of bed to get water seemed like a task, let alone, doing any sort of intense speed training.

Even though I couldn’t wait for the day to be over yesterday and feel like a million bucks today compared… the FUN was worth it. Maybe next time, we’ll remember we can’t handle the booze like we used to be able too… 10 years ago.

Here’s a pic of the group before taking off. We haven’t hung out with this group a whole lot outside of running with a handful of them and I have to be honest… I wondered if the crowd would be fun- THEY DELIVERED. Thanks to Amy for inviting us. (My new running BFF Ashley and her husband even came too- she’s a keeper. The friendship has officially stuck.)

Ladies having fun. I knew the name John Wooden, and connected it with Martinsville, but didn’t actually know who he was. Amy was ashamed.

I seriously had so much fun with these girls. AND YES we are all runners. And YES, we all go to speed work on Wednesday mornings (when we can). So, you are missing out if you don’t come out. This group is fun, and we don’t take ourselves TOO seriously. PS- Lauren in the IU shirt is also a runner for Team Oiselle with me! We are the Indiana girls on the team.

And PS- yes we did take Handlebar Indy to next level and play flippy cup while watching people run stairs up the Indiana War Memorial. (The team with the most IU grads definitely won) Then, we took it to next level again and ran up the memorial ourselves. I was the last one up.

The aftermath… running down (well I ran, Glenn rode his bike- he couldn’t muster up a run yet… although he did get 8 miles in later when I was slothing around) to my parents house in the morning to pick up Marshall and our car: (I’m going to miss having them in Indy… talk about convenience) We look and feel miserable and taking care of a 1 year old in this state is not ideal. WOAH.

ANYWAY- I really started this post to show you what my training looks like- but I felt that it was far too important to leave out the fact, that we don’t just run and we know how to have a good time too. Right? Am I right?

Below, I want to share with you the training I’ve done and what I have left before the half in 2 weeks. There are two weeks (this week and last) of super high mileage for half marathon training, (what I could consider high milage at least!) but other than that nothing too crazy. I’ve done this, because I’ve always thought my half marathon confidence to be higher when I’ve been banging out big miles. It makes 13.1 seem not so long. By the way- the paces below were the paces I prescribed myself- I didn’t always hit them exactly. Sometimes a little faster, sometimes a little slower. Flexibility is key.

I had a rough tempo run last week- got through it but it was hard. I was able to hit my paces much “easier” today on my speedwork compared to how winded and tough the tempo felt last week. I really needed that. After this week wraps up, the hard work has been put in and it’s time to relax, enjoy the taper and not freak out about the race.

So, that’s my plan. I know this is going to hurt, but I also know I have the ability to make it happen and have put the work in to do it. The most important piece come race day, is my mental game. The body will be there and ready, I just have to execute. Instead of being nervous, I need to start getting excited, because running a new PR is exciting. It hurts while you are doing it, but the finish line and PR high you ride for the weeks following (sometimes months if it’s a big one!) make it all worth it.

What do you think? Do you find that running higher miles during half marathon training is key? Do you generally race a half while marathon training?

Do half marathons scare you more or the whole thing? (the speed required for the half is what makes me nervous…. it’s a different kind of hurt!)

Have you experienced HandleBar Indy or have one in your town? DO IT! (Your welcome for the PR Handlebar Indy)

I ran a lot this week.

OutForARunAdmin — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 01:57:00 +0000

I’m training for the Indy Women’s Half Marathon because, well I don’t really know how to handle life if I’m not training for something. I ran it last year, about 10 weeks after having Marshall. It was hard then, but it will be hard in a much different way this year.

I don’t have a full marathon on my schedule for the fall at this point. BUT, apparently that whole training for a half ironman thing was the break I needed to want to run a lot again.

I ran 54 miles last week…. I peaked at 60 miles when training for my spring marathon, so I’m not sure what’s gotten into me. I had planned to run around 45-50 but went over by a little. I like it, for now at least.

Here’s what went down with me and my legs this week:

Monday- 11 miles, 8 w/ stroller, 3 w/ dog

Tuesday- 5 miles, (treadmill at home) plus 1,000 meter swim at gym. But I mostly just went to the gym to shower and figured I might as well swim some laps while I’m there

Wednesday- 8 miles w/ 6 @ Tempo @ 6:40-6:50 pace, on monon with speed group BIG THANKS to Choy for pushing me on this run! I needed it. The hardest part of a 6 mile tempo are miles 3-4 when the mental games start happening. Was happy to finish strong though.

Thursday- REST

Friday- 10 miles, 4 alone, 6 with my sister downtown.

Saturday- 17 miles @ 7:30ish pace w/ 2 mile fast finish, 5 alone, 12 with Ashley

Sunday- 3 miles, w/ the dog.

What do I like about the runs this week? They were all pretty different, as far as where and what I did, who I ran with and what the purpose was. Changing all that up is important… for me.

I think I’ll run a lot of miles again this week. Really just because I want to. Not because I have to. Not because it’s in my training plan. Because I really want to. That feels good.

ALSO- Did you know we celebrated Glenn’s 30th birthday on Wednesday? 30. He beat me to it and I’m glad. He also has recently had some new gray stubble, another thing I’m glad he beat me to. Oh- and what did I get him for his birthday? Clothes. I got him clothes, because he refuses to buy himself clothes. I throughly like that he’s not into that sort of thing, but sometimes, you need to freshin up the closet and it’s time.

And we got to see family in Crown Point: This is our nephew Evan. He snuggles a lot better than Marshall does. Also Evan is almost 6 months, Marshall is almost 14. They are also almost equal in size. Ignore my ratty hair, thanks.

And these two are just really cute, so in case you don’t follow me on Instagram, I thought I’d make sure you saw this adorable pice of my boys.

Anyone running the Indy Women’s Half?

Do you prefer to do your speed work on treadmill or outside? With or without music? Alone or with friends?

Week Run Down

OutForARunAdmin — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 15:19:00 +0000

Hey Hey! Ok, this isn’t Glenn’s Eagle Creek race report- not nearly as exciting I’m sure, but a quick post on my little 14 miles yesterday.

My mom agreed to watch Marshall on Saturday AM during Glenn’s race- so I really had not reason to not get my long run in. I didn’t really want to do it- my legs were TIRED.

Coming off Ironman Muncie- I took 2 weeks of recovery. Still working out 6 days a week (what kind of recovery is that crazy?!) BUT, very gentle working out. Seriously it was a recovery. For the mind and body for sure. Just easy, easy stuff.

This past week, I ramped up the running. The original plan was to race the Chicago half September 8th, but I recently realized I have an important celebration on Saturday night, the night before and I don’t think I can miss it. So, I think I’ll be racing the Indy Women’s half instead.

Throughout the 70.3 training, I was running only 3-4 days a week (usually 3) and peaking out around 25 miles. The swim and the bike were the disciplines I focused on more.

This week, I ran 46 miles. For marathon training, that is a low mileage week for me, but after coming off so few miles for so many weeks, months really, my legs are FEELING IT.

So, about those 14 miles. I warmed up 1.5 miles with Glenn before his race started. I saw him off- stood in line at portapotties forever, talked to my friend Lauren who was running the quarter marathon. Naturally, I chatted with her and her husband, along with some Back on My Feet runners and waited to get back into my run until their race started.

I got to 8 miles before I made my way back to watch Glenn get finished. I was out running on random country roads and I kept getting nervous that- 1. I was going to get myself lost. 2. I’d miss him finishing because I was selfishly concerned with my own training run. 3. I’d get raped and murdered by some random scary person hiding in the cornfields I was running by.

After watching Glenn coming in, I hung out and talked to a million people and waited for the award ceremony so I could watch him get his 2ND PLACE award. (Proud wife here).

Basically it had been at least an hour since I’d stopped running. I thought about calling it a day and doing my long run today, but I REALLY wanted this rest day. Like really bad. So I convinced Glenn to do a cool down with me for at least some of the 6 I had left. He ran a mile with me, but legs were feeling beat up from the race, so I took off to get those last darn 5 over with. Talk about dragging out a long run.

It was all good though. When I started the first half of the run after our warm up and once Glenn had started his race, I had no plan on actually doing all 14 yesterday. I can’t believe how tired my legs were. I was running 8:45 miles and heavy breathing. I felt heavy and blah. I was glad to be able to finish the last 5 at a quick pace though.

I generally do not think breaking up the long run is a good idea, but flexibility is key sometimes and honestly, stopping for an hour and starting again is actually harder to do sometimes. Good mental training?

Here’s my rundown of training this week: I have quickly been reminded how much more impact and taxing on your body running is over biking and swimming. No wonder runners get injured so much. While I will always find running to be therapeutic (physically and emotionally), I have to say swimming is more so physically than running might ever be for me. Quality workouts and oh so friendly to the body.

Monday- Run, 8 miles- progression, starting at 8:15, ending at 6:30. Average pace 7:33.

Tuesday – Run, 4 miles, easy 8:24 pace, Swim, 1000 yds, easy

Wednesday– AM Run- 6 miles, K Repeats. W/U 1 miles, 6 X 1K w/ 2 min rest. Pace for this workout was supposed to hit 5:58-6:02 mile pace, which is 3:42-3:46 per K. The paces I actually hit- 3:42, 3:45, 3:41, 3:49, 3:44, 3:48. (This was tough)

PM Run- Run, 3 Miles Easy- 8:30 pace

Thursday- Run, 4 Miles Easy- 8:00 pace, 1500 Swim (1000 free, 500 w/ some variation of breast, back, kick board and pull buoy)

Friday- Run, 8 Miles Easy- 2 mi w/ Back on My Feet at 10:50 pace, 6 on my own at 8:15 pace

Saturday- Run, 14 miles at 8:04 pace. This run was funny and my splits are all over the place. Here they are… I’m not sure if the same person was really running this. haha.

Mile 1- 8:29
Mile 2- 8:28
Mile 3- 8:47
Mile 4- 8:40
Mile 5- 8:05
Mile 6- 8:11
Mile 7- 8:23
Mile 8- 8:04
Mile 9- 9:18
Mile 10- 7:50
Mile 11- 7:32
Mile 12- 6:48
Mile 13- 6:35
Mile 14- 7:46

Sunday- REST

Anyway- the exciting post coming up will be Glenn’s race report- this is just my rambling of training. CONGRATULATIONS to him for an amazing 2nd place finish. (You think the guy who won wasn’t wearing big Dr. Dre headphones. BUT he was.)

I hope you all are having a great weekend. It is absolutely amazingly gorgeous out today. I’m excited to chill and just enjoy it.

Do you ever break up long runs?

Did you race this weekend? How’d it go?!

Initial Afterthoughts of Shamrock

OutForARunAdmin — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:49:00 +0000

It’s been 9 days since the Shamrock marathon. I’m still really happy about it, but a part of me thinks perhaps I could have been tougher in the last 6 miles and broke 3:10. I’m not dissapointed. I can’t be dissapointed with the race I trained for and the race I put my heart into. I’m just left feeling like there’s more in me. That’s a good thing, who wants to peak at 29? Not me!

I have thoughts of racing another marathon sooner than later, but then I remind myself that I need and really want a break. I’ve decided I’ll race one again in the fall. Sure, you can PR twice in one season, but in all reality, racing a marathon does take a lot out of you and if I want to race it to my full potential I should rest for a bit.

What now, what now. I took last week really easy and am left feeling like I need a plan. I’m not good at just winging it, I like to have some sort of schedule to follow. I think most people do. I’m ready for my sprint triathlon training plan. Ironman husband… get that together for me please?! And, although the long run makes me nervous week after week, and I’ve looked forward to not having to do one, I kind of think I don’t know how to not run long on the weekends.

Ever since I was cleared to run in early August, after having Marshall, I started training. At first it was just training (9 weeks post baby, 3 weeks of training) to build the distance for the Indy Women’s half and then (4 months post baby) the Monumental Marathon. I wanted to run those races to complete them in a time I felt was challenging but not real racing. I bounced right off Monumental to Rehoboth Beach in December, the goal was a negative split to get mentally strong for Shamrock.

The real race was Shamrock and right after Rehoboth was when the hard training began. There’s been no real break from the long run. My long run gets me excited about life and although sometimes leading up to it and while enduring it I want to be done, it fuels me to be a better person.

Beyond that, I want to keep in long run shape. I assume, for now, I’ll cap then around 15 miles, but will keep them closer to 10-12 consistently. Long, but not stressful. It’s much easier to start training for a marathon, when your base is already set. I like to keep a base year round really.

I started adding to this post all of my afterthoughts of Shamrock, but it was getting crazy long and I think it’s better to break it up. Tomorrow I’ll post a bit about my thoughts on the training plan I used and why I think it worked so well.

I’m super excited to virtually cheer for everyone at Boston this year and am hoping it’s great weather!

How many marathons or half marathons do you typically run in one season or one year?

What course is your PR on?

Also…. Go Hoosiers!

Old School IU Windbreaker. Marshall has swagger.

1/2 Marathon Next Week!

OutForARunAdmin — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:23:00 +0000

It’s been two weeks since I was cleared to run. The first week was challenging. I thought, this must be what it feels like for a new runner…. it’s hard to run three miles, your legs feel tired for the next three days and the funniest part to me was how sore my abs were. I guess when you don’t use your abs for anything for 6 weeks, you’ll have that.

This picture was the day before Marshall was born, we ran 3 miles… 3 very slow miles. Looking back, I felt great, but man I look swollen!

The day before Marshall was born

My first 5 mile run, which was three days after I was cleared, was so hard and I felt completely discouraged. I took the next day off and came back feeling refreshed for my next run. Last Wednesday, a week after being cleared, I ventured out for 7 miles… and other than the fact that I was hungry, felt amazing. Certainly not back, but I felt strong and confident.

The Indy Women’s Half Marathon is next Saturday, and the plan is to run with my sister, Ericka. She’s ran ~~four~~ five marathons, but has kind of been crossfit crazy lately and I of course have just started running again after a 6 week time period off… oh and you know having a baby. SO, we might not be feeling so hot once we reach mile 10, but we’ve been there before… you can do anything for 3 miles. Her half marathon PR is 1:52… I don’t know if I’ll be able to run that fast and if she’d be up for it, but if so… it would be fun to try to break her PR. @ErickaAndersen…. are you up for that? We’ve never actually ran a race together.

Tomorrow, I’m planning to run 11 miles… my last “long” training run for the 1/2. Not gonna lie, I’m kind of nervous.