So, I simply tweeted that I was looking for some girls running or spectating who would be interested in rooming with me, secretly hoping no one crazy or annoying responded. The names changes multiple times, but I ended up in a room with Katie, Ruthie & Sarah. All amazing women and I’m so glad I had to opportunity to get to know them and spend the weekend together. It’s crazy how you meet some people for the first time and you can “pick up” like you’ve known each other for a long time. This group definitely worked.

With the roomies:

Katie & I at the Oiselle Team Dinner. I’ve got a lazy eye going on or something. Thank you so much to Rebecca for opening up your beautiful home to us! 

Was also so much fun meeting a lot of Oiselle teammates 

About the actual Race:

I had  Blast on the bus and hanging with some awesome ladies before the run. This was such a different experience than the first time I came. I don’t recommend running Boston as your second marathon, I really don’t. It was intimidating and I was all alone, didn’t know anyone. For some reason in a sea of thousands of people where you don’t know anyone, you feel more lonely than if you were with only 5 people knowing no one. This year, I felt like I knew everyone and it was one big runner party- so much fun.

With the girls heading out to Hopkinton on the buses. Yes we sat in the back of the bus and were super chatty the whole time. Yes we were probably annoying to those around us. No we didn’t care.

I knew going into this race, my range for my finish time would be between 3:25-3:40. Thought if I felt amazing & super rested I could pull 3:20 out, but not likely- around 3:30 was what was most realistic. I started the race with Ashley and we planned to hang together through most of it. (She got bored with my crawling at mile 18 though and decided to move along a bit) It ended up being a pretty hot day- I think the temps were nearing 70 when I finished and it was super sunny. I felt the effects of the heat early on. I only skipped one water stop and started dumping water on my head at every stop pretty early on.

We ran the first 10K too hard- both full knowing that we were but the down hills were a lot of fun and running a bit faster was enjoyable. I knew for sure we wouldn’t hold that pace, (7:20-7:30) but we were cruising, super chatty and having fun. I bet I high fived 100 people in the beginning. Eventually I put a stop to the high fives because they were starting to wind me. They push you back.  I tried to make sure to give one for kids who looked under 5ish either way, how can you say no to that. The first 6-7 miles ticked off quick. At mile 8 we decided to pull back a bit.

My left foot where I have some painful plantar fasciitis was giving me trouble early on and I was kind of worried I would end up hobbling to the finish, thankfully it let up a bit once we hit 14 or 15. My legs were feeling the hills around mile 11 and they just burned up through the rest of the race. I had anticipated this and it was completely expected.

At mile 13, we passed the girls at Wellsely and I gave two kisses and the second I literally knocked the girl off the metal railing they were all hanging over. Oops. Guess I got a little aggressive. If I wasn’t racing, I was gonna get some kisses. I don’t remember Wellsely being nearly as loud or fun when I ran in 2009, but it was by far one of the highlights of the course this year.

Ashley and I even took a selfie during Wellsely– YES Ashley posted on Facebook during the marathon. Multitasking at it’s finest. (No, I don’t normally carry a phone when I race, but I brought it along for fun, plus in case I couldn’t get to my checked bag at the finish, I wanted to have it one me.

I had some serious moments of doubt once we were through that section. For some reason, I’m finding out that mile 14 is usually a tough one mentally for me. I told Ashley I felt like crying and she told me then I should cry. I chose not to but was having a hard time wrapping my mind around 12 more miles. The legs clearly weren’t ready for running 7:30s for the first half of the race. You know what you do when that happens? You collect yourself, slow down a bit and just keep running. Remind yourself that you are grateful to be there and you get to do what you’re doing right now.

The rest of the race was pretty much just run, it will hurt and you’ll be fine- once again I found myself smiling big on the uphills even though I was running at a very slow pace and my legs felt like 100 lbs. At one point I realized I had smiled so much my cheeks hurt. Smiling through pain makes it so much better. Every mile, I just focused on getting to the next because the thought of 3, 4, 7, 8 more miles seemed awfully far and the single miles were ticking by pretty quick. A mile really isn’t that long. Really, it’s not so if you think of it like that, it helps… most of the time.

While the downhills wear on you know matter what- I could tell I’m a much stronger runner than I was in 2009 (I better be!) based on the fact that it wasn’t incredibly painful to run down the hills. While it was more effort than what a downhill usually fills like and my legs were heavy, my quads weren’t screaming like they were the first time I ran this race. It’s pretty amazing what experience will do for you.

 I saw Michele and Leticia at mile 25 – this is how excited I was (Below pic) I thought I might see then sooner than that and wasn’t sure if I’d missed them. Was so glad they spotted me. Didn’t care one bit about losing time, made sure to run over and give them big hugs!

I have to say, it got to a point, I think around mile 23 when I was feeling pretty tanked that the screams were making my ears ring. There was insane energy and screaming through the whole race. Taking the turn down Boylston street was amazing. As I ran down the street on the last straight away, I was eyeing where to bombings happened last year, thinking it wouldn’t have happened yet at this time and all the chaos and sadness that took over the city just a little bit later in the day. I am grateful that I got to be a part of this day and honored to run the streets with people who have big dreams and care so deeply about what this race really meant this year.

Below is a picture of Ashley, Mary, Me & Laura. Ashley, Laura and I were all running for fun & Mary was racing. She killed her current PR running a 3:08! I’m excited to be back in the game and aiming for times like that sometime soon! I really am SO happy for her. She honestly killed it- she started a few corral back from us, but didn’t pass us until mile 14 and clearly KILLED the second half of the race. Well deserved and well ran my friend. So happy to meet you in real life. Interested to see what your splits were!

I ended up running a 3:32:48. I’m completely content with that. My mom reminded me that it’s literally only been three months since my surgery. While it seems like I could have plenty of time between surgeries to build and then pick back up after- especially since the reconstruction wasn’t a huge procedure, it’s still a hard thing to do. You have to factor in so much to prevent injury and keep your body healthy (especially the older you get… not that 30 is very old… but it’s not 20!)

Oh and I literally jumped into the starting corrals with Todd Oliver, Carmel Marathon Race Director and then crossed the finish line at the same time as Michelle- one of our Carmel Marathon Pacers and Dan Ball, one of my Indy friends from Back on My Feet.  (Dan ran a stellar race- he also wasn’t going for a PR, but ran amazing negative splits!)

A great weekend. I’m so glad I decided to go. I think it’s so important to go do stuff like this, I want Marshall to grow up seeing me do things I love and being adventurous- sometimes together as a family and sometimes on my own. And to me finding three random girls on twitter who I’d never actually met and heading out to Boston by myself was kind of adventurous haha. Maybe I’ll get a little more dangerous next time.

Thanks for tracking and all the love on Monday- was so much fun knowing friends where cheering for me and all the other runners out there! 

Did you run Boston? How did it go? What was your favorite part?

Did you live stream the race? 

GO MEB!

For a few years, I’ve been following along one of my  high school classmates journey to a healthy lifestyle. She has come a LONG way, losing over half her body weight along the way. AND, she’s running her very first marathon this Sunday!! Along the way, I would see her posts about running- I remember when she posted about her first half marathon and I was so excited for her. I knew it would only be a matter of time before she signed up for a marathon.

Meet Kassi. A mom, wife, teacher and runner.

Over 4-5 years, she lost 126 lbs and in the middle of all that had two babies. “My best pieces of advice are to start small and make changes that you can sustain for a lifetime.” – Kassi

Tell us a little about your story and what brought you to make a change and start working out and exercising. When and Why did you start running? 

I was initially motivated to make a lifestyle change when I was planning for my wedding.  I was vainly discouraged with dress shopping because of limited options, but more than that, I wanted to start my newly married life healthy.  I didn’t want to be limited based on my weight.  252 pounds on a 5’0 frame is a lot of weight to carry, and although I didn’t have issues then, I know I would have had major health issues if I would not have began losing weight.

I started running about 9 months into my weight loss journey.  One morning I decided to run a mile on the treadmill before school and my students encouraged me to run more and more.  I signed up for my first 5k and immediately got pregnant.  I did a 10k during my first pregnancy and signed up for a half marathon to help me lose the baby weight.  I was 8 weeks into training for the half when I found out we were pregnant with baby #2.  I ran for the first 22 or so weeks of that pregnancy and couldn’t wait to start again once I had Reid.

Now I run for my “me” time and to have that sense of accomplishment when I’m done.  I’ve met so many great friends and have truly done more than I could have ever imagined.

Why running? 

To me, running was something that I always hated.  Never did well in PE class and I would have never thought in a million years that I would one day consider myself to be a runner.  Now I think it’s a great type of exercise and it can be as social or independent as I want.

What does running given you?

Running has given me confidence and an outlet.  Again, I would have never thought I’d truly be a runner and here I am less than a week out from running a marathon.  It has showed me that my limits are endless.  It has also given me some amazing friends that I would have never met otherwise!

Beyond running what are your other favorite workouts, if any? 

I love spin class and group fitness classes.  I hate strength training on my own, but I love doing it with a group.  I’m excited to try TRX classes this Spring and am planning on starting to swim so I can do a Sprint Tri in 2014.

What is your advice to someone who is ready to make a change and make their health a priority?

My best pieces of advice are to start small and make changes that you can sustain for a lifetime.  It’s not about a quick fix- it took me nearly 4.5 years to lose 126 pounds.  Granted, there were two pregnancies in there, but I wasn’t about diets, deprivation, pills, etc.  I used a calorie tracker on www.sparkpeople.com and had an awesome community of ladies there.  Accountability and support are also huge.  There is no way that I could have made the changes if my husband, Steve, wasn’t on board.  So many friends say their husbands won’t eat healthy, tempt them with treats, etc.  He has always been great about helping me make healthy choices and cheering me on at the finish!

Supportive husband Steve!

 What’s the hardest part about staying motivated and how do you stay committed?

One of my biggest issues is facing the mommy guilt.  Being away from the boys when I work out, or placing them in the daycare at the gym, has always been a struggle, but I know that a healthy mom is a happy mom.  I want to be able to run and play with them for many years to come.  They motivate me by wearing my medals and saying they want to run like me.

I still struggle with binge eating occasionally, and when I do, I go straight back to setting goals and rewards and tracking my calories.  I also get really honest with Steve about the struggles I’m having because I need that extra accountability.  I know that eating/weight will always be an issue and struggle that I have to face, but since I’ve truly made lifestyle changes, it’s maintainable.

What race are you about to run THIS Sunday?

National Race to End Breast Cancer.  We are running in memory of a great friend, Amy, that lost her battle with breast cancer.

How have you prepared for your first marathon?

I’ve followed a pretty loose 3-4 day/week training plan with a few friends…usually 30-40 miles/week.  I have two 20 mile runs and one 23 miler under my belt.

PRs:

5k: 26:26

10k: 58:14

Half: 2:02

Hometown – now I live in Anderson, SC

Family – Husband, Steve, 2 sons: Parker (3) and Reid (1.5)

Profession – Teacher, (soon to be stay at home mommy at the end of this school year)

Favorite post race/run food – Pizza

What do you like to do beyond running? Watch college football, hang with my boys, shop, read, craft

Favorite quote or motivational saying– Philippians 4:13 is my guiding quote for life in general

Best of luck to you Kassi- I know you are so prepared. Love that you have 26 prayers for the race, you have great support and your playlist will be the bomb. Most importantly though- trust your training. It’s there.

Can we all take a little inspiration from Kassi and get motivated to do something BIG? 

Any words of encouragement for her VERY FIRST marathon this weekend would be greatly appreciated!

Have any good songs for her playlist on Sunday? Tell her your two absolute favorites!

I have to say, the idea of running a PR in Boston in April is daunting to me. I’m a little heavier & softer than I was this summer and the thought of running sub 3:13 or even close to 3:13 right now just seems nutty. I know it’s going to take time and I felt the same way post Marshall, it’s crazy what your body can really adapt to with some hard work and discipline. Although I’m enjoying the no structure right now- (I have no clue if I’m going to run today or not, and don’t care too much either way) I can only take so much, like most runners, having a plan to stick to makes me thrive & ultimately makes me happy.

This weekend, we are going to be in Bloomington to visit with family before my sister & her family move to Florida. They welcomed a new baby last week & I’m so sad to be away from those kids. My niece Giovanna is arguably the cutest 3 year old I’ve ever met.

Since we’ll be in Bloomington, we are going to head over and run some of the Tecumseh trail. Glenn signed up to run the marathon on December 7th with some of the Rusted Bear peeps, so it will be nice to get some trail running in to prep. The group is doing 13 miles & I’m going to run out 3 or 4 with them and head back. I don’t think I should do much more than 6-8 on the trail merely one week after returning. Should be a good time though!

That fact left my reeling for what to do next. Over the next two weeks I went back and forth about what to do but ultimately I decided on limited rest/recovery I would race Monumental and just see what
happens. I adjusted my goals. 2:45 was out the window. I truly believe that I am in 2:45 shape but given the circumstances going into IMM was going to be happy with a PR and running a “good” race. I was not happy with how I raced in Chicago. Regardless of time, I did not have it together in Chicago and I wanted to right that wrong.

Race Day:

Sean picked me up around 7 and we drove down to the start line, found an awesome street spot, and
were inside the Convention Center meeting up with Collin by 7:30. Thank you small city racing!!! Collin and I headed to the start around 7:45 or so and found Josh and Michael with Sean joining us a little later after checking his bag. We discussed times and Collin’s awesome throw away sweater that Josh gave him. It was straight out of Mr. Roger’s. Sean was targeting 2:45, Josh and Michael about 2:55 and Collin and I, 2:50. If everything came together it was going to be a great day of racing.

Since I was running with Collin I decided to let him set the pace and not have my watch set on the pace. I would run with him and see how things went. We settled into the first couple miles running by Lucas Oil, Eli Lilly Corporate Center, and heading to Mass Ave in a quick pace…at least it felt quick to me. Looking at Collin, he was looking smooth and fluid and knew pretty early it wasn’t going to be my day to stick with him and I should let him go up the road. Probably somewhere around mile 5 I started to drop back a bit and told him I was going to sit behind him as long I was could. I didn’t see his face again until the finish line. We hit the 10K 39:04. I slowed it down a bit over the next couple of miles trying to find something that felt comfortable. I never really felt comfortable to be honest.

I dumped onto 38th St. by the Indiana State Fairgrounds feeling sorry for myself and my legs were tired. At this point, I am 8 miles into the race and am thinking I made a really bad decision to run another marathon so soon after Chicago. It was at this point that I had a decision to make: I can feel sorry for myself and shut it down when I see Lindsey at 16, cut the course and just run home, or I can focus on racing “hard” and giving it everything I had and just see what happens. Luckily before too long, the course turns north onto Washington Blvd and I see our friend Choy out cheering. He gives me some encouragement. It helped. I decided I needed to keep on running and just see what happens. Before too long, I am through Meridian Kessler and onto College Ave. headed toward Broad Ripple around mile 12…just get to the halfway point. I get to 13.1 just north of Broad Ripple in 1:23:36. At this point, I see Sean’s wife, Whitney, and his family. They give some more encouragement so I keep on running. My legs hurt…this was a bad idea, etc. just a couple more miles to 16 and I can stop when I see Lindsey.

I am now running south on Meridian toward 46th. I have already had two gels and don’t really like the idea of another one so I take a pack of Clif Shot Bloks from one of the aid stations and chomp on those for a bit. It really seemed to help my mood. It felt good to chew something. I continue on. My legs feel really awesome at this point. I make it to 46th  and Meridian and make the right hand turn to go up the small hill toward Butler. Lindsey and Choy are there! Lindsey is as crazy as ever. If you could make a living as a marathon spectator she’d be a pro’s pro. I don’t really acknowledge her and power. Despite how I felt, she told me that I looked 1000 times better then I did in Chicago at more or less the same point. More Running. Run through Butler and over to the IMA. See my buddy JBakeIndy outside the IMA…things are really starting to hurt now and I am having trouble not slowing down. I keep pushing on.

Mile 16

I come out of the IMA and head toward the White River Parkway and the 30K spilt. I hit the 30K in
2:00:29. Only 12K or so to go….I can hold on. Its going to be tough but I can do it. As we head down the on ramp to the Parkway Jackie Dikos, Lucie Mays-Sulewski and crew come flying past. I saw them early on in the race and figured I would see them again…just not sure when. Looking back, based on their finish times, I should have started with their pack.

Once off the Parkway and to the Naval Armory, I’ve got just around a 10K to go…maybe a little less. Up the road on Riverside I see what looks to be Sean…that’s not good. I shouldn’t be seeing him. I quickly approach him at 21. He’s walking. Oh no! I run past. He looks like he is having great time. I try and get him to run with me. He’s not having it and says good luck and tells me to keep going. (Side note: this was Sean’s first marathon and a lot of things can happen in your first one. He’s a 1:14 Half guy so he’ll be back and can really kick ass with more experience now.)

With any marathon…with maybe the exception of Boston all courses have a dull point and this is it for IMM. 21-23 is pretty bad. It is a bad section of the race and the area is blah. You are all alone and just trying to get back to Meridian. I keep running as best I can. The pain is pretty terrible. I am trying to keep the miles as close to 7:00 as possible. I think the worst mile was 7:15.

I make the right hand turn on Meridian and rejoin the half people. 3 miles to go. I run by the BoMF water stop and here some encouraging words from people that recognize me. I’m kind of out of it at this point so I’m not sure who said what. I keep telling myself just get to the library and then it is only 1 mile to go. I keep creeping down Meridian. I’ve been doing some math and pretty sure I can hold 7:05 and comfortably PR. I keep running. I’m looking for Lindsey. She is supposed to be at 25. As usual, I hear her before I see her and just about the same time I see her Josh Dials comes flying up on me and motions to push with him…or maybe he said it. I don’t know. I pick it up as best I can but Josh is pushing and my legs are not having it. I stick with him but let him go up the road a bit. Half mile and it will be over. Just keep running. I turn on West Street and then turn again to the finishing chute. I cross the line and nearly collapse from my legs giving out. Its over! 2:54:28. A two minute PR.

Post Race Thoughts:

I’ve debated about how to finish this blog. I could focus on how this race wasn’t the race I wanted and how Chicago was supposed to be it and “what if” and project times but I don’t want to do that. I am extremely satisfied with my race from Saturday. I came into the race knowing an “A” effort was not
possible and just wanted to race hard and leave it all out there and I did that. A PR is a PR as Heath
Dotson would say. I am satisfied but am I content? Absolutely not….I know that I am capable of so much more and I am going to keep pushing after it but for now I am going to enjoy a little downtime and be happy with my race. I’ve got all Winter to focus on chopping wood and carrying water to bring down that current PR to 2:4X:XX.

I read an article today that I thought had a great closing quote that seemed appropriate here:

“That is both the gift and the curse of the marathon,” Cass said. “When you finally get it right, it’s the product of 30 variables that you have maybe 50 percent control of. When you get it wrong, you try to analyze all 30 of those variables. It’s nearly impossible to figure out exactly what went wrong and how to make it better next time. But that’s the goal. To take a look at what happened and go back to the
drawing board. And, if it’s in the cards, to give it another go.”

Congratulations to everyone that raced and crushed some very big dreams on Saturday!! 

After some reflecting and talking with Lindsey, I decided I don’t really want to recovery, train, taper, travel and race again at one of the many December marathons I was considering to go after 2:44:59 again. I’m just not into that…and really its the traveling that I don’t want to do.

Over the course of the last eight weeks, we have not been home as a family a single weekend and I’m over it. We had a baptism, vacation, a wedding, surgery recovery in Btown, family in town, surgery recovery in Crown Point, Chicago, and then last weekend the Columbus Marathon expo. I’m ready for some nice “down” time at home with Lindsey and Marshall and the idea of traveling to AL or DE for a race in couple of weeks after Thanksgiving was wearing me out. So with all that being said that brings me back to the IMM and I’m going to run it.

I go into this marathon with eyes wide open…I am 100% positive this is not optimal for racing but that does not really concern me. I WANT to run it with Collin and see what happens. Collin is hoping to break 2:50 so I’m going to pace it out with him and if I blow up or feel like crap…oh well. I’ll just run it in nice and easy.

You could debate this topic all day long about whether or not to run the race so soon after Chicago and really feedback has been somewhat spilt. I have sought out the opinions of many very smart runners, coaches, twitter, blog people etc and everyone seems to have an opinion. I welcome all of it and am open to pretty much all of it. I am sure that I have worn Lindsey out with all the chatter but following the bad taste Chicago left in my mouth it was all consuming.

I have made peace with what happened in Chicago. I made some mistakes early, it was a bad day in general, and probably a bad time to race logistically for me. Oh well. Lesson learned.

I am looking forward to Saturday. I get to sleep in my own bed Friday night and then wake up and run the roads I know so well on Saturday. I’m going to work my ass off as best I can and let the clock stop when it stops.

You know what else I am looking forward to? Making the all important decision about what Thanksgiving Day race to do. That will be top priority after Saturday. It is between the Drumstick Dash, a huge local race here that supports Wheeler Mission and everyone loves it.  Or one back home. The Drumstick is 4.5 miles and the one at home is a 10K. It will probably come down to when do we want to travel…Wednesday night or Thursday after the DD.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend especially Katy, Jake, Amy, Sean, Collin, Dan, Gabe and all of the Back on My Feet runners out there. There are a lot of big goals being chased Saturday! Go crush some dreams.

Get fresh this week! Race well and kick ass! I’m sure I missed some people. 

Here’s a throwback picture of Lindsey & I running IMM in 2009: We ran this untrained on a whim and squeezed in just under 4 hours. 

I’ve thought a lot about the training that went into this race. Once I got toward the end of my plan, I knew, given I had a good day at the race, I had a PR in the bag.

I had in my head that I was going sub 3:20 even if I had a not so good day, sub 3:15 if I was on my game and sub 3:10 if all of the stars aligned and I was on my game.

Glenn put together a really great training plan for me. He served as my coach for the most part. (at the very least, he listened to me babble nonstop about all the details of almost every workout… every day… while he was injured and frustrated that he couldn’t run.) He did a phenomenal job.He’s a good listener, a better listener than me.

Beyond listening to me, he made be believe I am strong. If I needed an unscheduled day off, he supported it and reminded me that missing a run would never make or break my goal. His favorite phrase is: work, works. And it does. 

Below are a few factors that helped me get some speed and take my marathon from a 3:24 to a 3:13. 

• More Miles
• The plan called for more miles than I’ve ever ran. I see a lot of women out there running 80-90 mile weeks, I’d like to do that for a training session at some point, but didn’t want to jump in that deep this time. I ran between 45-60 miles a week this training. I had never run a 60 mile week before this cycle. Heck, I don’t even know if I’d ever run much more than a 50 mile week. 

• Purpose to the Long Run
• We added big purpose to my long runs. In the past I participated in the whole long slow run most of the time. I would speed up at the end of them if I felt good, but no actual workout inside that run. This time around, unless it was a recovery week, there was always progression or marathon pace miles in the run. I wrote about this a little in a post before one of my long runs- “When a long run was just a long run“. The marathon pace miles taught me what it would feel like on race day. Why should I go into it blindly?

• Faster and Longer Tempo Runs:
• I used to be scared of tempo runs. They are hard and there’s no break. The first tempo run of this training session was horrible. The pace wasn’t even very fast and I felt out of control the whole time. Seriously, this run had me completely doubting myself and the goal I wanted to accomplish for this race. BUT, it slowly got better every week. When I realized that my prescribed tempo pace wasn’t challenging enough, I made myself commit to a faster pace. Every time. I wrote about a few of my tempo runs- here’s a post about putting the work in.

• Better Easy/Recovery Runs:
• In the past, my easy and recovery runs were shorter and slower. It’s important to run easy and recover, but they don’t have to be 2 minutes per mile slower than my tempo pace.This session, my recovery runs were anywhere from 6-10 miles at 7:30-8:30 pace. If I felt good, I would keep it closer to 7:30, if I felt extra tired, I would keep it closer to 8:30. The majority of these runs were around 7:50-8:10 pace.

• Confidence:
• I am married to a man with confidence. He is strong, he is ambitious and when he puts his mind to something he gets it done. Last year at the Mercedes Marathon when he broke 3 hrs for the first time, he went into the race knowing he trained properly and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he couldn’t and wouldn’t break 3 hrs. Confidence in my abilities is something I’ve struggled with since I started running years ago. Glenn has helped me realize my potential and pushes me to believe in myself.

• I got Tough:
• This goes hand in hand with the confidence. I had to be confident to get tough. When the tempo runs felt hard at mile 4, I dug deep and worked hard mentally and physically. When my long runs with marathon pace miles hurt, I embraced it and pushed harder. And on race day when I was at mile 14 and it seemed hopeless that I could keep pace for 12 more miles, I remembered those days when I pushed harder when it hurt. And I got tough. If you want to get faster, you have to get tough. 

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!

What course is your PR on?

Also…. Go Hoosiers!

Old School IU Windbreaker. Marshall has swagger.

I was a nervous mess all weekend but trying hard to be calm and have a good time.

I re-read my pre race posts a couple of times to remind myself to be mentally strong during the race. I laid out the positive words I would say and what I would think about during the race so I made sure to hold myself to it.

Race morning was great- I had gone to bed by 9:30, slept pretty well for night before a race and didn’t get up until 6:15. I liked the whole 8:30 start time, it was nice to not have to be up at 4:00 for a race.

My 3:13 marathon:

The Start:

I jumped in the corral about 10 minutes before the start. Earlier than I normally like, but had too much nervous energy and just wanted to get going. Didn’t help that the race was on a 5 minute start delay! I found my twitter & daily mile friend Mark (The Cranberry Kid!) right away and chatted a bit. I was anxious so wasn’t quite as bubbly as my normal self.

As soon as I crossed the start line and hit start on my watch, it told me it was full. All of my files were full and I couldn’t even start a new one. This has never happened before and I had no clue how to delete any of the files. I wasn’t about to waste energy or concern on it. Fortunately it was still reading my pace so when I looked down I could see what I was running 20 seconds back, but I had no clue as each mile rolled over what the pace for the mile was.

I usually mostly just pay attention to the mile splits as they click over because I know I’m not running the exact speed always, depending on wind, hills or whatever. But, that wasn’t going to happen because my watch was full and wasn’t tracking my distance. Super! What a great day for that to happen haha.

Honestly I didn’t dwell on it.There was nothing I could do about it. I knew I’d see Glenn around mile 9 and he would fix it for me. I wasn’t going to let it screw me up. For a minute, literally one minute I worried that I might start running too fast without knowing my splits, but I’m smarter than that. I knew what I was doing.

In the beginning: Miles 1-10

Mile 1- After the watch fail, I knew I was running faster than my planned 7:30ish warm up mile. One of my biggest worries going into the race was that my warm up pace would feel too fast. BUT, I ended up feeling very controlled and not overly excited. Although I’m not positive I think my first mile was somewhere around 7:05-7:10.

My body felt good, my breathing was great, so I went with it. I did peak down at my watch at one point and see 6:50 pace and immediately said woah sister, settle down. I put myself in check right away.

Mile 2- I came up on a pack of guys. I told them my watch was being weird and asked what pace we were at. They replied 7:05. I asked if they were trying for 3:10 and they all replied yes. There was not an official 3:10 pace group and I don’t really like running with official pace groups anyway, I find it distracting.

Since my good day goal was to break 3:15 and my great day goal was to break 3:10, I was being a little ambitious going out so hard and am much too smart of a runner these days to do that, BUT I felt confident and we had a tail wind for the first 10K so I wanted to take advantage.

I knew that no matter how fast or slow I went out, I might not be able to hold pace through some of the anticipated headwinds. And while I know in marathoning, getting some time in the bank in the first 10K isn’t the smartest decision; for this race, I thought it was. Every race is different.

Miles 3-8– I had decided at this point, this was my group, I was hanging with these guys. There wasn’t much talking. I’ve never ran a marathon and said so few words in my life. It was my plan going into it, I didn’t want to waste energy talking.

The guys were mostly quiet too, a few talkers here and there, but I wasn’t entertaining conversation. There was a wide variety of ages in the group. I think everyone was happy to be packed up. One of them jokingly asked who was going to be the one to step up and take on the wind in the front later and head the pack, everyone kind of laughed and said they’d take turns. Turned out only a few were actually willing to jump in front and do it. Selfish runners!

Between mile 5-6, there was a little out and back, where we were able to see the leaders on our way out and also the people behind us on our way back.

Of course I was mostly interested in looking at the top females. The second place female (who ended up winning) was already working hard a mile 6. I tried to wrap my head around how hard she was working this early in the game. I felt like it looked like what my 10K effort would look like. That’s how you get fast though, you work hard the whole time. It made me think I could work so much harder, but knew my body wasn’t trained to work that hard the entire race- her’s clearly was.

Mile 9– I saw Glenn for the first time, he ran next to us for 2 minutes and fixed my watch. The pack all agreed he was a keeper. I knew I’d see him again at mile 17. At this point I felt great, but my legs were starting to say, OK I see what’s going on here, you are working hard today. I did everything in my power to stay in the mile and not think about the fact that I still had 17 miles to go.

Middle: Miles 10-19

Miles 10-12: They had us on the boardwalk during these miles, right on the water. The wind was absolutely brutal. I’m not just saying that. This was my 13th marathon and I’ve never run a race in winds like that. 7:15 effort felt like 6:50 effort. We were working. I knew that 6:50 effort this early in the race was not ideal, but I also figured we would run into wind later as well and I couldn’t drop my pace that early, so I held on.

Only 1-2 of the guys were taking their turn out front, I was leading the group for the most part. One of the guys, kept purposely getting in front and to the right of me to block the wind every so often. I knew he was doing me a favor. It was obvious he was trying to help me out and I appreciated it. Although I’m not sure how much anyone could block the wind from another- it was crazy.

While I knew I was working harder being out front, I was doing it on purpose. I very well could have dropped back and forced some of the guys to get in front of me, but I was afraid if I dropped in the middle or back of the pack that my mind wouldn’t stay strong and that was the most important thing I could do. So I stayed out front.

It hurt and our pace fell a little bit but we picked it back up once we hopped off the boardwalk. Although it was less windy on the road, it still wasn’t calm and there were some nasty blasts of wind going by the large hotels. At one point I remember saying “are you kidding me” and apparently Glenn was secretly hanging out watching when we dumped off the board walk- (I had no idea he was there and he didn’t say anything because the plan was to not see him again until mile 17) I’m glad he didn’t speak up because it might have made me get weak. It might have made me want to run over to him and be a wuss. Anyway, he tells me I didn’t look happy.

Mile 13: Halfway there: The halfway point in a marathon is a different kind of halfway. Your body and mind have to be prepared for the second 13.1 in a completely different way than the first 13.1. It’s a separate race.

I crossed the half at 1:34:40, 7:14 pace. As we crossed the timing mat, I told myself, this is where the racing begins. I was realistic and knew that I had gone out a bit fast, but was hopeful I could stay steady.

Mile 14: This felt like the longest mile in the entire race. I was wanting to get to single digits so badly and the mile just seemed to go on. I had some major mind battles here. My body started slowing down and I thought about my 14 mile progression run two weeks earlier and felt negative…. my mind was saying, remember how hard that was? You were totally done at mile 14, what makes you think you can run 11 more miles at this pace? You wouldn’t have been able to do it that day, why today? I took a deep breath, gathered myself. And pushed it away.

I reminded myself that I was tapered, my body was ready for this. And most importantly, this wasn’t the day to give up and run slow. I didn’t give up and run slow in any of my training runs, why would I do it here. 

Miles 15-16: Thankfully, I was able to get my head back in the game. We were finally getting out of the wind for a few miles and that certainly helped. I was feeling comfortable again and the pace was picking back up a bit.

Mile 17: We were running on a road and everything was really wooded. It was quiet and I was grateful for my pack- it would have been really lonely out there by myself. I was also looking for Glenn to show up at this point- and there he was… apparently he got lost trying to get out there and time trialed his way out on the bike as fast as he could to make sure he didn’t miss me where he said he would be. Side note- the easiest and best way to be a marathon spectator who wants to be everywhere on the course… bring your bike!

Below is the video he took at mile 17. Running like a girl with the boys. It was empowering to be the only female in my pack. I liked it. It made me feel tough. 

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Miles 19-22: This is when it got really hard. The pack had broken up. I’m not even exactly sure when it happened. The wind was terrible. I wanted to be done so badly, but at the same time I was trying to not wish the experience away. I felt myself slowing down in the wind and I wasn’t happy about it. I told myself to stay strong, slowing down a little bit wouldn’t ruin my time, I just needed to gather myself and I could come back out of it. I felt a little defeated, but not completely. This is the time of a race when you remind yourself you’ve hurt worse than this before, you do are stronger now than you’ve ever been and you can keep pushing.

At mile 20 two girls who were running together came running past me, we exchanged words and although I knew they were hurting too, I could tell they felt stronger than I.  It didn’t upset me, I reminded myself that I was running my race.

I think I had dropped down to a 7:40 mile. That was not at all where I wanted to be, but it’s what I was able to put out in the wind and I was determined to keep it there, I was not willing to let myself creep to an 8 minute mile.  I ended up passing one girl and then was passed by one more during that hellacious section.

Those were the only four girls that ran by me or I ran by the entire race. There were a few guys from my pack in front of me, but most had fallen behind. I was shocked. For some reason, I had expected them to be the strong ones. I expected us to stay together unless I fell off. I had slowed down, but most of them had slowed down more. I told myself that just because they were falling off it didn’t mean I had to. Maybe I was being tougher than them or maybe I had trained better, either way I wasn’t letting it slow me down any more than I already had.

I was alone now. I had to get this done on my own. Although this was always the truth, I had to get it done on my own from the very beginning, it felt harder and lonely without my pack.

Mile 22: I had only taken 2 gels by the time I got to mile 22 and I was in desperate need of one- I was hungry. I knew Glenn was going to show up then and had a supply for me. I was hoping the gel would give my some zing and I suppose it did a little, but not as much as I wanted.

Mile 22 was hard, really hard mentally. I was so close to the finish and it took some major mental strength to not slow down too much. I was mad that I was letting myself fall off pace as it was, but made myself be content with what I was doing. If you let slowing down make you get too defeated, you’ll slow down more than necessary. I know, I’ve been there before. 

Glenn was encouraging, he knew I was starting to struggle. He told me this was what it was all about and I would be done so soon. After he gave me my gel though I was ready for him to be gone, I needed to focus on the run and needed to be in my own head to stay strong. I told him to find me at mile 25.

Miles 23-26: The end was here. Three miles is a distance I can grasp, the end is near- less than 24 minutes of my life. During these miles, I was kind of all over the place, I would slow down and then surge a little, over and over again.

I saw Glenn again at mile 24 and took half a gel. During this time, we were running by marathoners who were on miles 11-15. I wanted to cheer them on and be friendly, but I had to stay focused and get my butt to the finish. I was imagining feeling like I did and still being back there at mile 15. I hopped those runners were enjoying their race but I was very glad I didn’t still have 11 miles to go.

I was holding out around 7:30 miles at this point, although I wanted to be at more like 7:10…. every time I pictured myself finishing leading up to the race and during the race I pictured myself picking it up the last two miles and flying in. But it wasn’t happening and I told myself to be confident in what I was able to put out and stay there to the finish.

At mile 25 the clock said 3:04 or something like that, I was already sure I had 3:15 in the bag, but that solidified it. I wasn’t sure what the real time was because they started corral one 30 seconds after the official start with the wheelchair athletes and obviously my watch didn’t have the time.

Mile 25

Mile 25

The Finish:

We turned the corner and finished out on the boardwalk, there was a girl up ahead that I hadn’t seen yet and if I would have had another 400 meters I would have been able to catch her, but there was too much distance and too short of time in between us.

A couple of the guys from the pack finished right behind me and we chatted a bit. They made me feel better about my efforts because they were completely trained for a 3:10 and they agreed that the wind was insane.

The Mental Game:

• When the mind battles came, I reminded myself, it won’t last. The entire race won’t feel like this, get out of your funk and you will feel good, at least decent in a bit. You are not having an off day, you are having an off moment.

• There were a few times when I wanted to back off the pack I was running with, I kept making myself promise to stay with these guys until mile 20. This was my group. It wasn’t going to be a short lived group. I was almost giving myself an out though- I was saying- get to 20 with them and reevaluate. The weak part of my brain was saying, then maybe you can slow a bit, the strong part of my brain was saying, then maybe you will be able to take off.

• There was a girl holding a sign at mile 12 that said “trust your training“-this was right after we had the terrible board walk section of headwind and my body was still adjusting back. I kept that on repeat in my mind from then on. I remembered the 10 mile tempo runs and the 20 miles I ran on not much sleep. I remembered all of the stroller runs that ended in a headwind. I thought about how hard I worked on mile repeat days. I kept those workouts in my back pocket and pushed.

• There weren’t a lot of spectators out on this course, but when there was good music and cheering, it really helped. You forget how helpful that is when it’s absent.

Other notables:

I let Marshall creep in to my head a few times but honestly thought it made me feel weak. Thinking about him made me think he is the most important thing in my life and this race doesn’t even matter in the long run. That is true and so if I focused on that I would slow down and I didn’t want to do that. I know that probably sounds weird, but it’s how I felt.

So I jumped back to race mode and just thought about keeping my body at the same pace and staying in the moment. I did make sure to thank volunteers at each water stop and the course marshals. The only time I didn’t give a smile and verbal thank you might have been the last water stop. I think they just got a head nod.

Last 400 meters on the board walk

Finished. Exhausted. Happy.

Stats

I know that running a near even or negative split is the way to get it done in a marathon, but I really believe that yesterday I ran the race I was supposed to in order to get to the finish line when I wanted to. Although I knew I was loosing speed the last 10K, which is the opposite of what I desired to do, I still think I ran smart.

Had the conditions not been so windy, I really believe I would have had a shot at 3:10. I know a 3:10 and beyond is in me and I kind of want to go for it sooner than later, but right now, I need to remember how much I was looking forward to not getting up everyday and running so far and fast. I need to enjoy the break that I worked for.

Was happy to have warm clothes to put on.

Best supporter. We spent the last year in reverse roles, it was nice to be the competitor this time.