Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 2: Before the Start

 

 

PREVIOUSLY:  Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 1: Traveling and The Expo

 

Ok, so I know I said in the last post that this would be “Part 2: The Race” BUT, I changed my mind 1) because I’ve picked up a few extra hours at work, 2) I chose to watch my evening of Thursday night TV instead of write up my race report, and 3) now I’m tired!

BUT I did promise you that I would take a picture of the “Ultimate Goodie Bag” so here it is:

The bag came with the pink shirt and a few samples… I bought the jacket and sweaty band.

So, I got up around 4:30am on Saturday Morning (September 25th) and stayed up… shut off my alarm since it wasn’t supposed to go off til 4:50am, and got ready.  I ate 1/4 of a bagel with peanut butter and drank lots and LOTS of water!  I made sure I had everything and we were out the door by 5:30… except I didn’t have everything! We had to go back up to our floor of the hotel because I completely forgot my Nike+ sensor that was in my old pair of shoes (since i was wearing my new pair).  I had no idea if they’d have every mile marked or not… remember its my first half!  Then we were out the door and on our way!

I can’t really remember if I was quiet or talkative on the way there because I was really nervous… maybe I was both… but I was never so grateful to have my parents there with me because I had no clue what I was getting myself into!

We found a parking spot but they had “special event parking” for $15 instead of the $7 the website had told us but we paid the fee and walked around the corner to the start area… we got there pretty early and there weren’t any crowds so I took the opportunity to use the porta pot even though I knew I would have to go again before the start of the race.

The start/finish line was right in front of the Country Music Hall of fame and I thought it was cool how the windows were like the keys of a piano!

I decided to take a video to kind of introduce myself to you all a bit…  a couple of you have asked me how to pronounce my name this week…

it’s Zuh-net(like a basketball net)-uh … I say it in the video:

Ok then… can you tell I’m really REALLY really nervous?! (and tired) lol  Also, I lied in the video!  I didn’t mean to…I was so emotional and excited and happy and not even thinking about you guys at the finish… sorry, but its the truth… so I didn’t get another video!  Hope you can forgive me! ;)

Right after taking the video I overheard the group behind me say they wanted to pray before they headed to their corrals so I asked if they would mind if I joined them… It was awesome!  Then I took another potty break, but had to wait in line this time for about 5 minutes.  I also decided that I didn’t want to carry my new fuel belt handheld because it had looked like they had plenty of water stations and I didn’t want to carry something like that after only carrying it for about 2 miles before Saturday.  So, I strapped on my SPIbelt with my cell phone and one tri berry GU since they had a GU station as well around mile 6 or so and handed my bag and handheld to my dad.

After getting loosened up a bit and doing some breathing exercises to calm myself (and giving hugs and kisses to my parents) i headed to Corral #2 since my bib was #2203 and I had an estimated finishing time of 2:30:00  … yeah, i totally guessed when I registered cuz I had NO clue what I was doing or if I could even finish 13.1 miles and how long it would even take me!  Spoiler alert… I did finish! Just not in the time I thought…

After talking to a few people and getting really excited (I think it helped that it was an all women event for my first half marathon) the guy from the magazine did a few announcements and then Jo Dee Messina sang the national anthem…

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger

 

In front of me:

Behind me (and yes, that girl is wearing the same shirt as me):

 
AND THEN… after a reminder that the 5k would start after all the Half Marathoners were on their way…

BOOM! We were off!!

 

NEXT:  Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 3: The Race (for real this time)

Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 1: Traveling and The Expo

 

 

WARNING:  I love taking pictures and usually take lots of pictures when I have the opportunity!  As is the case, I had plenty of opportunity on the 6 1/2 hour trip to Nashville, and YES I feel the need to share most of them!  Now that we’ve got that cleared up, lets move on!

Well, I woke up “early” on Friday… about 6:30am lol, which now doesn’t sound early after Saturday morning’s wake up time, and wanted to be out the door by 7:30.  My dad, however, had to work Thursday night and didn’t get home til 7:30am Friday so him, my mom, and me I me, left around 8:30.  We immediately ran into construction not even 5 minutes from my house!  Then, my dad stopped to get the car washed and by 8:44am we were on our way to Nashville, Tennessee for a mini vacation and my FIRST half marathon!

 

The ride was pretty uneventful… I started “Born to Run” and I really like it so far!  I didn’t get very far in the book because I enjoyed looking out the window and seeing all the scenery go by!  Oh yes!  I totally painted my fingernails and toenails “swift blue”  no lie! That’s what the color is actually called!  I was convinced it would make me swift! ;)

We came to Cincinnati and I told my dad that I really had to pee… this is the conversation:

Me: Daddy?
Dad: What?
Me:  I really have to pee!
Dad:  Didn’t you go before we left?
Me:  Yes, but that was 2 1/2 hours ago and I’m hydrating for my race!
Dad:  Jeesh! Can’t take you anywhere!

haha… my dad would then proceed to listen to me whine that I had to go for the next 45 minutes until we stopped in Kentucky!  He’s such a trooper!

This is Cincinnati:

We passed on over into Kentucky and my dad promised that we would stop so I could use the restroom and so we could eat soon.  We ended up stopping at a Pilot gas station that had a Subway in it.  The pilot had fruit for sale so I had a banana with my sub instead of chips. Then we proceeded on with our little adventure… we saw some fun things like a Fruit of the Loom Showroom (or was it hanes?) I can’t remember but it was hilarious because my mom said she wanted to stop there on the way home “to see some hunks”… my dad and I couldn’t stop laughing! We also saw Dinosaur Land, some signs for caves that my dad wanted to go see but we never did because we didn’t have time, a cool circular hotel, and a plane that flew right over us.

This is Kentucky:

Then, we finally got to Tennessee and arrived in Nashville!!

  We found a parking spot and walked a block to the expo.  Since it was my first half marathon, I didn’t really know what to expect.  We first walked in and they had a map of the 5k and half marathon courses very first thing as you walked up the stairs.  Then you walked over to the table to pick up your bib and the timing chip was actually on the back of the bib. Also, if you registered early enough, you got your name put on the bib so people could cheer for you by name!  I actually thought nobody was going to be able to pronounce my name so it really didn’t matter but it was still cool anyways!

They also handed you the “Ultimate Goody bag” which consisted of a reusable bag and a few little samples… It kinda let me down since it was supposed to be “ultimate” but the bag is cool!  Then you walked into the expo and when I got there Friday afternoon it was kinda crowded and slow going.. there were people there from SPIbelt and bondi band and sweaty band and fleet feet and many others…  The shirt that I got was a tech shirt specifically fit for women (it was a women’s race afterall) and I got a small, but it seems just a tad too wide.  I also bought a race specific sweaty band, and chain for the charm in the medal, and a rain/wind resistant jacket from skirt sports.  I forgot to take a picture of all that so I will include it in my next post! :)

After we left the expo with all my goodies, we went and checked in at the hotel near Opryland and unloaded the car.  Once we got situated we headed out for dinner and ended up going to Olive Garden and I got a NEVERENDING PASTA BOWL!!  I filled up twice and took most of the second bowl back to the hotel with me!  I laid everything out for Saturday’s race and double checked that my camera was charged and headed to bed around 9:30pm.  I slept better than I expected, I only woke up maybe 5 times because I was so excited for Saturday to get here already!  The last time I woke up was around 4:30am so I just got up and stayed up…

NEXT:  Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 2: The Race

CSN and Swagbucks

Ok, ok… I promise I am working on my weekend recap and am thinking it will have to be broken up into multiple posts, so while I figure that out, I wanted to do a quick post. 

First of all, I was contacted by CSN through The Product Review Place about doing a review for them on my blog and of course, hearing about them everywhere in blogland, I said yes!  CSN has over 200 stores selling everything you can imagine including dining room chairs, office supplies, and jump ropes!  Honestly, you can find anything for any room for any activity at CSN!  So look for a review to come in the future!

Also, I recently have been hearing a lot about Swagbucks and how you can earn points to redeem for prizes just by doing searches.  Who doesn’t like free stuff right?!  So, I signed up and have earned 178 points in the past few days.  You can redeem them for gift cards or magazines or electronics… If you want to sign up just click on the sign up button on the lower right hand side of the the widget below! (Disclaimer:  I will also get points if you sign up through me)

Ok, with that, I’m heading out to finish writing/editing the first post of … I’m thinking 3 total for the weekend and heading to work!  I hope you all are having a GREAT day!  :)

Delayed Winner and Some Comments

Well, I didn’t exactly get to post a winner from my CLIF Bar giveaway this weekend like I thought I would be able to.  Just let me tell you… my weekend was AWESOME!!!  It’s going to take a little while for me to compile a recap of my weekend so for now I’ll leave you with a winner and some comments on some of the comments that were left on my last couple of posts!

Also, welcome to my new followers!  I now have 69!!  Thanks for joining me in my journey!  Without further delays… out of 40 comments random.org chose…………

#11 – Forward Foot Strides
CONGRATS  KATHERINE!!!! 

Send me an email with your address and what 3 flavors you would like to
receive at runners.luck@hotmail.com and I’ll get your package out in the mail sometime this week!

 

Now… I would like to comment on some of the comments you all left on my last couple of posts!

On “Reactivated”:

Wells L (comment here) – I thought of you as I ran this past Saturday!!  Thank you so much for all your kind thoughts and I cannot wait to read your recap of your first half marathon!

Quinton J (comment here) – That is not the GU they sent me… I ordered that!  They sent me 4 packets to try out in exchange for  a review on my blog.

Rae (comment here) – I got my shorts online… here is the link!  They do ride up quite a bit… I never found it very annoying in training… but in my half marathon, they did come up quite a bit and i seemed to notice it more… but they are cute and comfortable otherwise!

On “Random Things on Thursday”:

Barefoot Neil Z (comment here) – haha!  I have read almost half of “Born to Run” and although it is an awesome book so far and very inspiring… I did not win the race on Saturday! ;)  Oh… and I did not run barefoot NOR in sandals and I stayed away from the corn beer!

Silly Girl Running (comment here) AND Rae (comment here) – Do your bears have names?

Quinton J (comment here) – 2.  I was in 5th grade on a co-gender team and a boy got mad at me cuz i always beat him in suicides and we were sprinting to the baseline on the last stretch of a suicide and he pushed me into the brick wall… I ended up missing 3 months of school and having many surgeries on my mouth to fix my teeth.  He never said he was sorry, but I forgave him anyways.  5. I hope you pay that poor old woman back after your debts are taken care of! ;)

Pam (comment here) – The weather was wonderful while I was in Nashville!  It didn’t start getting hot until the last few mile when we were out in the direct sun! 

Wells L (comment here) – You are too sweet!  I’m glad you are a blog friend and truly enjoy reading your posts and comments!

I really enjoy reading all of your comments on my blog!  You make me laugh and smile AND you ALL inspire me!  Thanks for being a part of my journey! I can’t wait to share my weekend with all of you!  I had a blast!

Random Things on Thursday

Well, I was tagged by Quinton, Q, The Guy who loves Jersey Shore, or the Sick Wuss (whatever you want to call him is probably ok*) over at Q on the Move.  I guess this means that I need to come up with 10 random things about me and then tag a few other people…

1.  I’m 23 and sleep with a teddy bear… my boyfriend got it for me for Valentines Day before we were actually dating and I was crushing on him majorly!  The bear’s name is Charles Peter II.

This picture was taken a couple years ago

2.  I have broken a total of 5 bones, all sports related! My 4 front teeth, yes they’re fake now (basketball), My toe (playing barefoot sand soccer, yeah… smart), A bone in the top of my foot (basketball), My collarbone (basketball), My finger (flag football)… yes, basketball was good to me 4th grade through college!

3.  I have major issues with my body… I think my butt is too big and I have never found a pair of jeans that fit like I want them to… If I get them to fit my waist they’re too small in the butt, If I get them to fit my butt they are WAY too big in the waist… you get the picture…

4.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Frank Sinatra music but REALLY LOVE Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly movies!**

5.  I have worked part time job #1 for 6 1/2 years and part time job #2 for 5 years… they took me through college DEBT FREE! (with the occasional side jobs like babysitting and assistant basketball coach etc…)

6.  When I was in Jr High, my orthodontist took an x-ray of my hand and told me I’d be 6 feet tall or taller… I made it to about 5’9” and was disappointed because I wanted to be taller.. I’m still tall for a girl.

7.  I have a twin… I’m 4 minutes older…we don’t look alike, and we don’t have a secret language.  I’m about 4 inches taller than her and have curly hair.

 This is the most recent picture I have of us

8.  I LOVE to knit and crochet!  My boyfriend likes to tease me and tell me I’m an old woman.  I have a blog that I started when I started teaching myself how to knit and crochet… BLOG HERE

     

I crocheted Charizard for my boyfriend and knitted a piano tote for my mom for last Christmas.

9.  I want a flex friendly body!! I get jealous when I see women with big, cut biceps!  Starting next week I’m going to start a more weight friendly workout plan!  (keep me to my word k?!)  We’re not talking HUGE biceps… but bigger than my skinny arms now.

10.  In high school, I was on the dance team and on the dance/kick squad for marching band… I dont see how I made either because I am VERY uncoordinated and very clutzy!  I end up with bruises on my thighs and arms from running into things and I trip over lines in the sidewalk a lot.

                                  

Wow… Senior year (2005)

People I tag are:

          1.  Tressa @ Track Coach &Adorable Wife (Coach, feel free to do it too!)
          2.  Rae @ 5k Rae (I’ll get you the info about the shorts sometime this weekend!)
          3. Pam @ Thirty Schmirty (Thanks for the kind comments on my blog!)

Now, go forth and create random lists!

Sorry for not naming everyone… You all are awesome, I just picked a random 3! So feel free to make random lists about yourself even if you weren’t named! :)

*******HEALTH UPDATE*******

I had my follow up cardiologist appointment today.  It went really well!  He came in and said he had looked at the results more in depth since my echo-stress test and my heart was really healthy!  Exact words:  “You are in really good shape!  Honestly, we rarely have anybody that goes as long as you did in that test!”  (ok…I may have added the exclamation points) but… that made me feel good that my heart was in such good shape!  He said I could run 30 miles this Saturday if I wanted to! haha! 

He said that he thinks it’s just a muscle sprain that caused all of these problems and that he would recommend taking Aleve not only when my chest starts to ache but he would go ahead and take a couple before my race on Saturday.  Does anyone have any opinions about this? 
*******************************

I also went shopping today as you can see in the picture! My grandma got me a gift card for my birthday (I think she forgot I was born in July)… it was to Kohls.  I usually don’t shop at kohls, but I did find the cute running shorts there!

 

I couldn’t pass up the Under Armour fleece at Dunhams!  It’s so soft and comfy… it’s like a hug when I put it on!  I also picked up the only running book they had in our local Borders… “Born to Run”  I figured I could read it in the car tomorrow on the 6 1/2 hour trek to Nashville. 

That’s right… I’M LEAVING TOMORROW MORNING!!!  That means 1 day and like 11 hours til my race!!  I’m so excited I could cry, puke, hug someone, smile, laugh… judging by those actions, I would say you can tell I’m pretty nervous too lol.  We’re going straight to the Expo and then heading to the hotel and dinner after that… So, with that, I bid thee adieu!  I have to finish packing!

Don’t forget to ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!!  I know I said you had til today to enter, but really… you have til tomorrow night by the time I get to the hotel for the night! 

 

* Q is actually a pretty cool dude… his comments usually leave me feeling motivated and like I can do anything… AND he thinks my 3D glasses are hot

**If you don’t know who these people are, please go google it or something!

Reactivated!

Well, I was going to post yesterday, but I was having major internet malfunctions, so now I’m just going to post a bunch of random stuff including a recap of my first run back in business!

1) I went running on Monday, which was my first run in almost 2 weeks since my health issues.  I woke up kind of expecting wanting to be back to 100% normal … wasn’t the case... duh! I still had some chest pain… but not as bad, and my breathing is getting easier… just not as fast as I had hoped.

The run itself had me feeling tired and really out of shape.  I ran for about 27 minutes… I dont know how far I went, but I wore my new shoes and used my new fuel belt handheld… you can see it in some of the pictures I took before the run I took them just because I felt like it…  (the outfit is probably my race day get up, what do you think?)

 

**I tried to flex… I dont have much muscle lol ;)  and yes, i love nike, and yes…i am a complete goofball, thanks for asking ;)  glad we cleared that up…

2)  I also ordered GU last week for my half marathon and got it in the mail today!  I was sent some GU last month to try out in exchange for a review so look for that in the near future… I have one more flavor to try.

3)  I got my bib # and corral # in my email this week… wait for it…..

BIB #2203
CORRAL #2

I’m actually kind of nervous… my race is in 4 days!!  Judging from my run yesterday, and how sore my quads are today… I don’t think I’ll be running it straight through like I had planned… I may have to run/walk it.  But, I’m super excited I get to go still! :) 

4) Also, I thought of a bunch of questions regarding my first half marathon… but now I kind of forget them.  It could be in part due to the 4 hours of TV I have watched because of season premiere night of my favorite shows including NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles (2 new episodes!), and Glee… woohoo! What are your favorite shows to indulge in?

5) Since I forgot all my questions… feel free to still give me some advice or fun little tidbits or your favorite things about racing… stuff like that!  If I remember my questions, I’ll post them later!  But, for now, off to bed I go! 

PS – Don’t forget to enter my Clif Bar Giveaway!!  ENTER HERE!

Thank You! (Clif Bar Giveaway)

Well, as many of you know, I went through somewhat of a downer the past couple of weeks.  If you are a new follower (wow! 53 already?) let me recap for you!

I started feeling bad last Monday (9/6) and ended up in the ER Thursday evening with chest pain and shortness of breath

Friday morning I had a cardiologist appointment

Laid around feeling sorry for myself because I wasn’t allowed running on Saturday and my boyfriend took me out Sunday for a fun 3D movie date to take my mind off of it

Finally, on Wednesday, I got my heart exams scheduled at the hospital

Had my echo-stress test yesterday (Thursday 9/16) and got great news! :D

I am feeling a lot better today and have decided to rest over the weekend and get rid of it completely (hopefully) and start running on Monday!!

Phew… that should catch you up about this whole fiasco!  So yesterday, I kinda felt silly after going in for a test and it coming back that my heart is healthy and it was nothing but a chest cold and lack of sleep.  BUT I guess it’s always a good idea to get checked out before you start a new sport/exercise anyways right? 

Well, after each time that I posted an update on my health, you all would leave such fun, uplifting, caring comments!  I would thank you in the next post for being so wonderful and that it meant a lot to me that you all were helping me through the past couple of weeks, and not making me feel like an idiot for being scared about nothing!  But, surely, I could do a little something extra for you all since you were thinking of me and praying for me, right?!

Well, Josh, a representative from Giveaway Scout had contacted me a couple weeks ago about adding my blog to their site and I didn’t think anything of it since I just started blogging and hadn’t had a giveaway.  Well, I remembered it when I was thinking of what I could do, and seeing that I have a lovely LONG list of giveaways on my right sidebar already, I thought “why not do a giveaway?!  Everyone loves giveaways!”  So, that’s what I’m doing!

**If you don’t know what giveaway scout is check them out HERE!  Basically it’s a website that has a list of TONS of giveaways across Internet Land and scans submitted blogs for giveaways to post on their site.  Kinda cool!

As I was sidelined from running, I decided to go food shopping because lets face it… I LOVE TO EAT!  And yes, I sometimes use food as comfort!  So, feeling like going on an adventure, I decided to mosey (one of my fave words) on over to the “health” aisle and I saw all sorts of bars, energy bars, meal replacement bars, fruit bars, chocolate bars, protein bars…. it seriously took me a while to figure out that I wanted to try one of these bars and which one it should be… well, the 10 for $10 sale on Clif Bars kinda won out! (click the words to go to the site)

I didn’t get to try them out before a run, but I did eat a couple crunchy peanut butter bars just because, and they were delicious and not hard to bite into or chew like a lot of other bars I’ve tried!  In fact, I liked them so much I went back for more!  Now I want to share a new found favorite with you guys!

So thank you so much you guys for being so supportive! You guys are SERIOUSLY AWESOME!! :D

Up for grabs is THREE Clif Bars of the winner’s choice (as long as they have that flavor available at my local grocery store). 

This giveaway ends on September 23rd (Next Thursday). The winner will be chosen using the ever so popular random.org and will be posted Friday (9/24) after I arrive safely in Tennessee!

To Enter:

Mandatory:

1.  You HAVE to be a follower of this blog because the whole reason of giving something away today is to thank you for being a friend!  I’m not opposed to making new friends so if you’re already a follower leave a comment, if you’re not already a follower, become one and leave a comment! :D

Extra Entries:

1.  Follow me on Twitter and let me know in a comment.

2. Post my giveaway on Twitter and leave me a comment.  You can use this: 

@superwoman4002 is having a @ClifBar #giveaway on her blog!  http://tinyurl.com/2e39plk

3. Post my giveaway on your blog and, you guessed it, leave me a comment!

 

If you have a product you would like to feature on my blog, or would like to host a giveaway, please contact me at runners.luck@hotmail.com

Fine Print:  I am providing this giveaway out of my funds and the opinions are entirely my own!

Say What?!!

Last night I went to bed early but my mind was racing and I ended up not falling asleep until almost midnight!  My alarm went off at 7:45 this morning so I rolled out of bed and immediately noticed a difference in the way I felt.  My chest pain felt more like a chest cold now, which is kind of weird, and I had a slight cough.  I still had problems taking in a deep breath, but I just knew that today, no matter what the tests said, was going to be a good day! Don’t get me wrong, I was still nervous, I just knew that God has a plan and that all of you guys were praying for me!

So, my dad and I headed out the door and were signed in at the hospital at 9:15am.  When we finally got to the second place we had to sign in at it was 9:44 and the lady said “Hun, I don’t know who told you to be here this early, but your exam isn’t scheduled until noon so you don’t have to be here til 11:30!”  Seriously?!  At this point I’m getting really hungry and I always wake up in the morning dehydrated so I was rather thirsty…. My dad and I decided to just stay and wait it out.  I crocheted a little bit while my dad slept. (He works nights so he came with me on ZERO hours of sleep!  Love my dad!)

2 hours later and I am allowed to go back to the room for my stress-echo test.  Basically its an ultrasound on my heart at resting state, then walking/running on a treadmill to get my heart up to a certain rate, immediately followed by another ultrasound while my heart rate is still up. Like this:

 **Except I am younger and MUCH cuter ;) 

***Oh, and the treadmill I was on started at an incline lol.. and it just kept getting faster and steeper!

Well, I kept expecting to feel like I was gonna pass out or like I couldn’t breath…. and although I was breathing hard and I could tell my chest and breathing aren’t back to 100%, I didn’t have to ask them to stop the test.  My legs were a little tired, but they actually felt good after I started running.

After the test the doctor told me some good news

Awesome news really…

IT’S NOT MY HEART!!!

He actually said that I was in really good shape and that although he doesn’t have the official results, from what he could tell, my heart is really healthy!  The next words that came out of his mouth almost made me cry with joy!  “I want you to start running again… but cut back a lot this week leading up to your half and if it goes well, I don’t see why you can’t run next weekend! He did say that all the lack of sleep leading up to the chilly festival 5k a few weeks ago probably didn’t help matters any and that he thinks it may just be a chest cold.  Then he proceeded to ask me if I’ve ever been checked for asthma. I told him I hadn’t but I’ve never had any problems in sports and running growing up. So…

I don’t have to wear the halter monitor for 2 days now and I go back to see him Wednesday the 23rd (the day before we leave for Tennessee) for a follow up and official results.  And with that… I’m heading to bed… trying to sleep a lot more and take in more Vitamin C and Iron!

PS – look for a giveaway soon!  A little thank you of sorts for being so caring and supportive during this downer time in my life!  You guys are great! :D

Health Update: Exams Scheduled

I was on my way home from job #1 today when the hospital called to schedule my tests.  After being on the phone for about 30 minutes (on hold for about half of that time because I told them I wanted the SOONEST time possible and I would change my schedule to whatever they had available) we finally got a date set!!

TOMORROW MORNING!!!

That’s right, Thursday September 16, I finally get in!  I am, as of 10pm tonight, no longer allowed to drink or eat anything and have to be at the hospital at 9:30 tomorrow morning.  The lady told me to come prepared to be there all day long and that I would probably not get out of there til after 3pm.  So, I’ll probably take a book and some knitting/crocheting to do.  I really dont know what all I’ll have to do or will be done to my body, but I’m ready for it!

I am feeling much better than I was this time last week though!  So… HONEST MOMENT TIME… I have been thinking “What if there is nothing wrong with me?”  I’ll look like such an idiot!  BUT, the chest pain is real!  The shortness of breath is getting better but is real!  So, if nothing is wrong, I look like an idiot/liar/crazy person/loser…  I really do want it to be nothing though!  I’d rather it be nothing than something!  I’m actually kind of nervous lol… 

I guess in the long run (tehe) I’d rather get it checked out and it be nothing than not get it checked out and it be something… make sense?

My follow up appointment with the cardiologist is September 23rd… the day before I leave for Tennessee!  I hope I can run in my half!  Please continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers!  I really have appreciated all of you!  You have made this time in my life TONS easier to go through!

It’s a Date!

This weekend, my boyfriend came over every day and just chilled with me around the house because 1) I didn’t feel good and 2) I was pouting.  So this went on Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday my boyfriend decided that after church we were going to go on a date!  Well this instantly cheered me up because I LOVE dates with my man!! :D

He took me out to eat and then we started a 30  minute drive to a Cinema that I had never been to before.  It was probably the nicest movie theater I have ever been to!

 

We went to Resident Evil Afterlife in 3D!!!  I’ve never been to a 3D movie before and neither had Joshuah so it was really neat. He looked over at me during the 3D previews and said “This is so cool!”  I’m pretty sure we both felt like little 5 year olds, but in a fun way… It was so cool!

The movie itself was ok, it seemed like a lot of traveling and you could tell it was definitely made for 3D.  There was one scene when everything froze in midair and the camera panned from one side to the other slowly… that was pretty cool… it probably would’ve been lame if it weren’t in 3D though.  Then it was one of those endings when you can definitely tell they’re making another one… I hate those endings because they always seem dumb to me… nothing is wrapped up in a pretty little bow.

All-in-all, it was a fun date and I’m really glad that we got to spend some time together AND the 3D glasses were pretty sweet!

****HEALTH UPDATE****

I am feeling a little better… I still have some chest pain and at times still have some shortness of breath.  I am STILL waiting on the hospital to call to schedule my exams.  If they don’t call today, I’m going to call them tomorrow to see if I can get in this week!

In the meantime, I’ve decided to continue on as though I am definitely running in my half marathon!  I ordered my GU today and I’m putting together a playlist… I’m trying to make myself not be too excited though, just in case I can’t run.  BUT, my parents and I are still going to the expo and having a mini vacation either way so I am excited about that… I’ll continue to keep you all updated on my health and thank you so much for your concern, thoughts, and prayers!  It really does mean a lot to me that you all care! :D

Follow up with a Specialist

Well, I had an appointment with a cardiologist this morning after spending yesterday evening at the ER.  He could see me around 11 this morning so I went in and hardly had to wait at all out in the waiting room.  I told him about my training and how it was important to me that I be able to run my half if I am allowed to and listened to my heart and lungs. 

Then came the bad news…  tomorrow’s 5 mile race (which I was so excited about) is out of the question.  Basically, I have to get 2 tests done:  a halter monitor for 48 hours to monitor my heart, and a treadmill cardio exam.  But, the only words that my brain can seem to remember and the ones that keep echoing through my head are “no running, or training, until we can get these tests done!”  Say what?!  I mean, the shortness of breath and chest pain can totally be anxiety for my first half marathon right?!  So, it only makes sense that to get better, I’d have to keep running… right?!  RIGHT?!! 

*sigh* Well, I wish everyone luck tomorrow at the 5 mile race and do well Cynthia!  I shall probably see you again at another local 5k race in the future!  Right now, I’m trying to tell my heart to hurry up and heal and trying to make myself go to bed earlier and drink plenty of fluids.  Hopefully the hospital calls to schedule my exams and I can get them taken care of this week… because there is only 2 weeks left til my first half marathon!  (1 of which is a taper week) So there’s still hope!

At this point, I’m trying to stay positive, but I know I will be completely crushed if it turns out to be more than I’m hoping it is and I can’t run my first half marathon in Tennessee!  So please, continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers!  I really appreciate you all and your comments of well wishes!  I continue to be surprised at how much support the blogging world has given me in the short month I have been here!  So thank you!  You all are appreciated and you all truly do inspire me!

An Evening Spent in the ER

Well, I have been MIA this week because I have not been feeling well at all!  Monday evening after I got off work, I decided to head to the track to get in my speed workout.  I was supposed to do 1mi warmup, 4x1600 @8:35 pace with 800 recoveries between, and 1 mile cooldown = 8mi… well, I did the warmup and I got the first 1600 with 800 recovery done.  After that, I just couldn’t do it… Maybe it had to do with being on my feet at work all day or that it was kind of hot but I finished with an 800, 400, 200, 100 working on speed… I really dont know how speedy I was, but probably not very lol.  I started not feeling good but said “Zaneta, you can do a 1 mile cooldown… seriously!”  so I slowy did my last mile and cut my workout short by only doing about 4.5 miles.  I went home feeling yucky… headache, slight cough, feeling nauseous, and kind of like I couldn’t catch my breath. Soo…

Tuesday, I decided to take a rest day and I stayed in bed until I got a text from my boyfriend that said “someone’s here to see you!” He had had class that morning and had the rest of the day off so he came over to chill with me all day… we played games like mancala and guess who and read the latest runners world, then we made french toast for dinner…  I was still feeling a little weak and tired and still like I was short of breath, but felt like it was getting better.  I really enjoyed the day despite being sick.  Then…

Wednesday, I woke up feeling OK, so I got out of bed and met my running partner at my door at 8:30… our plan was to run 9.5 – 10 miles but we only got in 8.25.  We had to stop a couple times due to me feeling a little nauseous and I couldn’t catch my breath… we walked a couple times and cut it short because I just couldn’t do it!  I went to work for 2 hours at my sitting down job then came home and rested the rest of the evening.

Thursday (yesterday), I went to my “Stand on your feet all day” job and actually ended up leaving early because I just couldn’t catch my breath and my chest was hurting on the left side a little bit so I came home and my dad took me to the ER.  My boyfriend met us there and they got me into a room right away which is weird for the ER…  They had me standing and sitting for some of the time and my hands and feet were tingly and my lips started tingling… so as soon as they let me lie down, I started feeling a little better but still was short of breath.  They did blood work, gave me some anxiety medicine thru an IV, did an EKG, and took some chest xrays all of which came back ok.  Also, I had no clue I was anxious about anything?! lol… anyways… They ended up telling me no training until I could follow up with a specialist… which Im doing today!  I was really surprised he could get me in today at such a short notice!  I’ll let you guys know how it goes!  Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers!

Festival 5k Race Report

Saturday morning, I got up at 7am and made a piece of peanut butter toast.  I’m always really nervous race mornings for some reason… so I ended up only actually eating part of that toast and my mouth is always so dry when I’m nervous, so I started drinking tons of water!  The race didn’t start til 9am so I had plenty of time to let it out if I needed to!  I put the clothes on that I had laid out the night before and grabbed my bag that I had packed and got out the door and to the race around 8:15am. 

I headed to the pre-registration packet pick up and took it back to my car and my mom and dad met me at my car.  I handed my camera to my mom who said she would love to take pictures and we headed back into the festival to take a potty break and I jogged a bit and did some stretching.  Then I saw my aunt and uncle and cousin and his wife!  This is a record for me of most spectators at a race!! lol… usually I go to my races by myself!  We started lining up and I was quickly aware that this was a record of the biggest race I’ve run in to date!  I noticed this on my own, before the guy told us there were about 500 racers there that morning!  I guess that was the largest turn out for this race up til now too.

Seeing that my mom was taking a picture, I quickly made a face!  Also, a quick shout out to Running Diva Mom because that ladies skirt made me think of you! (Too bad it’s not pink!)

Me looking at all the people and getting more nervous

I lined up between the front of the pack and the middle of the pack just because I have the goal to run sub 25 (also part of the 100 day challenge) and the race wasn’t chip timed.  See the lady in the white on my right?  Her name is Cynthia and we talked as we were waiting for the gun to go off… she’s also running in the 5 mile race next weekend that I signed up for!  She was really sweet and had a few tips for me on the race next weekend!  Then the gun went off! **BOOM**

I took off and reminded myself not to start too fast, but ended up feeling like I started a little too slow, so I picked up the pace a little bit.  About a half mile in, I saw a girl that usually beats me and decided that I would use her as my pacer, so I tried to run with her without making it weird lol…   I actually ended up passing her and not seeing her for the rest of the race! 

There were water stations about every kilometer I believe because there were 5 of them!!  Another record!! Most water stations yet in a 5k! Another record (what is this, the fourth now?!) was the number of hills!  They weren’t huge hills… but they were enough to notice!  I felt really good the entire way, like I was strong and not pushing too hard, but just enough.  My parents were yelling for me with about 800 meters left to go, and I tried to pick it up a little bit because I was close to the finish but my time was getting up there.  Then when the finish line was in sight there was a really animated guy cheering for someone that was ahead of me.  He was yelling and doing motions saying “Come on _______, you’re almost there!  Pick up the pace!’  So I pretended like he was cheering for me and saying my name instead of the other person!

I sprinted ran as hard as i could to the finish line and remembered to stop my ipod and watch almost right after I crossed the line.  They both said 25:22 … so even though I didn’t run a sub 25, I still got a new PR!!!  So I was super excited!!  I knew that it wasn’t my correct time so that made me even more excited because I new I was faster that that even!!  As we crossed the finish line we were put into a single file line that was hardly moving and I just wanted to hurry up and get thru the line so i could get some water and not feel  like I was gonna die from my sprint hard run at the end! They took our little slip that we had pinned to us (it wasn’t actually a bib number) and then handed us an index card to fill out and put in our age group by male or female for the random draw prizes.  I filled mine out and went to put it in the tin and noticed there were already 3 or 4 cards in there which means I didn’t place in my age group… but i was still excited about my time and having family members there to share the experience!

I went and grabbed some gatorade, a bottle of water, half an orange, and half a banana and talked to my family and stretched while we were waiting for the awards.  Even though I dont win or place or anything like that, I like hanging out to see who actually did… I think its fun to see the faces of those who are better than me and who better watch their backs as I train more-and-more!! Only kidding… sort of!

Me stretching

Me with my parents (It was my mom’s birthday)

My Cousin and his Wife and my Aunt and Uncle

Some other pictures of us standing around talking… Me and my dad

 

Me talking to a guy I know… he pulled his hamstring midrace and didn’t finish in a time he would have liked to :(

Well, the awards started out with a whole bunch (another record of “most”) random draw prizes… I didn’t win anything, but it almost seemed like there were enough prizes for almost all the people who ran! (ok, maybe not quite, but there were a lot!)  It was getting really cold (it was about 62 degrees and the sun had been replaced by nothing but clouds and wind).  I’m just glad it was sunny for the race!! My aunt went and bought me a hot chocolate at one of the festival’s booths.

Then the guy announced that since there had been so many racers today, they were going to acknowledge the top 4 in each age group! Well my dad and Uncle kept saying “There ya go, you’ll still get acknowledged!” even though I kept telling them that I really didn’t think I placed still!  He got to my age group (20-24) and announced the 4th place time and name, and it wasn’t me and then I started to realize that… “and 3rd place, with a time of 25:14, Zaneta (insert last name) of (insert town)!!”  OH MY GOODNESS!!!  MY PR WAS BETTER THAN I THOUGHT AND I PLACED!!!  I’m pretty sure I couldn’t stop smiling!

Then, Cynthia (remember the lady at the beginning of the race?) came up to me and she had placed in her age group too!! Congrats Cynthia!!  She was so fun!  She kept hugging me and telling me how proud of me she was and that I did a great job… she made me smile even bigger than I already was!  After one last hug, we parted saying we couldn’t wait to see each other next week at the Hospital 5 Mile Race!

After the awards ceremony, all my spectators/fans/loving family members and I walked around the festival eating and having a grand old time… the big thing at this festival is the corn so we had to have some yummy corn on the cob!!

My parents at the corn crossing lol… gotta love them!  they’re so cute!

Me and my dad, my mom, and my aunt chowing down on corn!

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All-in-all it was a great race experience and I will definitely be doing this one again next year!  It was definitely a plus to have my family with me!  It made it all the more fun and not so lonely! 

**all the pictures were taken by my wonderful (birthday) mom, isn’t she great?!