Sunday Marathon Time!!

Oh you be cray cray!!  I’m not talking about RUNNING a marathon silly “RLuckies”  << That’s what I literally just now decided to call you all!  You like it?  It’s like you “are lucky” (“luckies” for short?) … ok, don’t try to see through my logic… it won’t work!  My brain works differently than most I guess ;)

ANYWAYS… I just found Netflix and remembered I started a tv show series about 5 years ago and never finished it…

Yes, I’ve been having a “Lost” Marathon!! I started back at the pilot episode!  There are 6 seasons… this might take me a while!!

In other news we are having yet another snow storm and have a 1 hour delay for tomorrow already!  Let the celebration begin!!

What better way to celebrate than by watching yet another episode?!! ;)

PS – sorry for the blog sidebar deficiencies… if you click the “home” button to go to the main page they disappear.  I’m trying to find a solution but haven’t found the right tech-y vitamin or mineral I’m lacking yet… Anyone else have any issues like this lately?? How did you fix it?

Alright… time to celebrate!! Stay tuned this week for some FUN, and I mean the most fun you’ve ever had in your life, news coming up this week! :)

Do you have Netflix or Hulu+?

What shows/movies do you recommend?
(I watched the Croods and thought that was a cute movie)

It’s Friday 5!!! Addition to the family and Life in General!

1.  So, life has been hectic…  I feel like I’ve never known a time in my life when it hasn’t been that way lol…  The things taking up most of my time consist of school, homework, my interpreting practicum (internship), driving an hour or more both ways (to and from) everyday, an interpreting mentoring program, and…did I say homework? ;) 

 

 

2.  So, as you can see from the above, I haven’t had time for much of anything else.  That means that blogging (*gasp*)  and running (*even bigger gasp*) have taken a back seat in this season of my life.  I’d be ok with that, for the most part, IF… I didn’t have a 1/2 marathon sneaking up on me in 8 days! ha!  What happened is:  I signed up for the Columbus FULL marathon as soon as registration opened because I LOVED my first full last year and it’s cheaper the sooner you register… is sooner a word? lol!  Anyways…  Then I had to downgrade to the half because of everything in #1.  NOW, the race is 8 days away… the farthest I’ve run is 5 miles and that was ooo… about a month or more ago lol.  SO not prepared!  I feel rather pathetic about it, but what can you do? 

If this was your situation what would you do? 
     - Go and try to have fun even though you’d be walking about 3/4 of the race?
     - Go and try to run the whole thing even though you haven’t trained because your
       stubborn like that?
     - Go and try not to see anyone you know.. how embarrassing that you’re walking!
     - Don’t go and sleep in instead?
     - Other:___________________

 

3. So… since blogging has been something I haven’t been doing… tell me what’s been going on with you!  I know some of you have gotten engaged and run races and have had many firsts of things… TELL ME! TELL ME! TELL ME!! :)

 

4. My car has been acting up on me.  One day, I was stopped on an on-ramp (incline) and my car battery died so I was stuck and everyone behind me was stuck unless they could go around… a police officer had to come and push me bumper-to-bumper up the ramp and into a gas station that was in a not so good area.  After the tow truck came, the officer gave me a ride, in the back of his car, to school.  I’m sure you all can imagine the looks I got when he had to get out of the car and come let me out of the caged part of the vehicle in front of everyone! It was quite comical!  What’s not so funny, is that my car also died WHILE I was driving on the Interstate.  My engine just gave out.  I had to ride in the tow truck about an hour to get back home and missed out on my internship that day… Here’s a picture from the passenger seat of a tow truck of my poor car:

 

5.  That’s where the new addition to our family comes in…  My car was going to be double what I paid for the thing in the first place, just to replace the engine… so my husband took me car shopping and we were just planning on looking around, but came home with this new little beauty!  (2013 Chevy Spark):

Wordless Wednesday: Sad, but Needed to be Done

My First Marathon: The Columbus Marathon Recap

I apologize… Both my blog and I are on school time, which means I do nothing but work, school, and study… just wait for Christmas vacation when I get to stalk you all like a creeper!! ;) Muah ha ha ha!!! Speaking of which… don’t forget to sign up for the 2011 Christmas Card Swap!!
Ok… back to the recap:

________________________________________________

 

I got up around 4:45am… still sicker than sick, but not gonna let it stop me… and hopped in the shower to wake up/warm up, then got dressed and ate 2 pieces of peanut butter toast.  I made sure I had everything ready, made sure I had a map of the route for my spectators and then me, my husband, my mom and dad all piled in the car and started out on the hour long drive.

We got to downtown Columbus around 6:40am and only had to walk a few blocks to get to the start line.  Well, my stomach was giving me all sorts of grief, so I had to stand in line to go to the porta pot… and soon the extra time I had had was dwindling away, but I knew I had to stay in that line!  I was still in line when they sang the national anthem and didn’t get to see the starting line fireworks around 7:30am. :(

It was finally my turn and then I took off my long sleeve shirt, put on my race bib, rubbed on some body glide, and put on my pace band… hugged and kissed my parents and husband goodbye and went and tried to squeeze in to the corral behind the one i was supposed to be in lol… I took my time walking up to the starting line with the rest of the crowd, not running at all before my toe hit the line so I wouldn’t waste any energy…. and there I was starting out on my first ever 26.2 mile journey!!

The road was covered in discarded sweats, sweatshirts, and plastic bags… I tripped over a couple of them when I tried to take in my surroundings.  I wanted to start out a little slower than my goal pace and then push it on the “downhill” finish.  I was having a blast!!  The atmosphere and vibe of the race were upbeat and positive.  It was a bit chilly and rather windy which made it a little bit not fun but not enough to dampen the spirits of everyone running. 

Yeah… I can’t downplay it… I felt miserable… sicker than a dog… hackin up my lungs…

There were so many spectators along the first part of the course.  My mom text me that they were all standing around the 5 mile mark and I updated her on where I was.  I don’t remember the specific mileage now, but I do know that in the first half (13.1 miles):

- I saw my family 2 times and gave hugs and kisses both times (mile 5 and 9)
- Took 3 gels around miles 3.5, 7, and 11
- Had to stop at a porta pot 3 times due to being sick and it wasn’t pretty
- Felt rather good running-wise and having fun even tho i was not feeling good sick-wise. 
- My goal of coming in sub-5 was still intact despite the pit stops.

 

We headed up a hill around mile 12.something and the wind came rushing at you… it was difficult… and then, before the hill was over, the half marathoners were turning left and finishing while us marathoners had to finish the hill and keep going another 13.1 miles.  It became quite lonely and my mind immediately checked out… I kept kicking myself saying “get back in the groove” but it was so hard!  My hopes of a sub-5 quickly faded away and my goal became survival and finishing!!

The 2nd half was WAY more lonely … I felt alone… there were WAY less bands and definitely NOT as many spectators… at one point we were running through the OSU campus (the horseshoe) and it was so windy and no spectators whatsoever!  My hands were getting numb and tingly cuz I had left my gloves in my bag… with my husband (a lot of good they were doing there)  I started coughing a lot more in the second half and was not having a lot of fun… not to mention my mom had text that they were around mile 16 and nowhere to be found…

Around mile 17ish… I started talking to another girl and we both felt disappointed, lonely, sick, and having a hard time running by ourselves, so we decided to run the rest of the race together no matter what!  (porta potty stops and all)  lol ;)  About a mile later I saw my parents finally!!  My husband wasn’t with them, they told me he was waiting for me at the finish line.  I started crying and hugged them tight.  I was so emotional at this point and I have no idea why.  They said they would see me around mile 23 or so and to keep going that they were proud of me.

So Kaitlin and I pushed on… around mile 20 I heard my name behind me and looked to see a girl I had gone to high school with!  I’m not gonna lie, I believe God knew what I needed and had our paths cross!  So, Kaitlin, me, and now Faith all ran the last 6.2 miles together.  It was tough, but it was way less lonely having those 2 girls with me!! 

We walked at all the water stations and up the hills and I can’t tell you how happy I was when I saw my parents again around mile 24 and then later still when I saw this sign:

When we came up to the .2 miles left marker… there he was… my husband was cheering for me waving and hollering… at that moment I never felt so blessed to have my best friend there to support me!  He ran along side us taking pictures, cheering like a maniac and making us laugh until we got to the finishing chute and he veered off to the side to go meet us at the finish.

All the emotions coming out 

The finish was downhill and Kaitlin had wanted to come in sub-5:30 after realizing her first goal wasn’t gonna make it either so we pushed as hard as we could to that finish line… Some guy looked over at us and thought we were gonna beat him so he took out on an all out sprint with this huge grin on his face… it totally made me laugh!  We crossed that finish line of our 26.2 journey together with a Garmin time of 5:24:05…

OFFICIAL TIME:  5:23:30

My husband met me just after the finish line through the fence… I was crying… I had done it!!  I was happy yet a little disappointed that I hadn’t gotten my sub-5 but SO VERY thankful for God sending me my 2 friends to help me finish!

Of course the 3 of us didn’t get individual finisher photos… we got one together… duh ;)

I’m a marathoner!!!!  I did it!!  AND although I was sick and miserable… Columbus Marathon 2011 will not be my last 26.2 mile trek… It’s only the beginning!!  Here’s the Garmin Stats:

 

 

Me and my support crew :)

After the race, we headed (I hobbled) to subway and I RICEd the rest of the day ;)  I also celebrated by putting my magnet on my car! :)

Brief TweetMyTime Overview of The Columbus Marathon

I’m going to be a busybody this week with midterms and projects so I don't know when I will be able to post a race recap, but I don't want to keep you all waiting either… I decided that I would post the updates that were automatically posted on my twitter throughout the race.  The first tweet is on the bottom and reads up:

 

ALSO, I applied for a Refuel with Chocolate Milk Grant and would LOVE it and APPRECIATE it if you voted for me!  You can vote for me once a day EVERYDAY from now until Nov. 15th! :)

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR ME

You may have to go thru the pages to look for me, I used the same pic as my blog, twitter and dailymile… and in case you forgot, my name is Zaneta ;) lol

It’s tomorrow!!!

Oh my goodness!! I can’t believe I’m running my first full marathon tomorrow!! EEK!!! I’m so excited/nervous!! :)

I’ll blog about the expo and such later… right now I'm too excited and need to get some sleep!  We’re leaving my house at 5:30am!!  Yowsa!!

I signed up for tweet my time, so if you follow me on twitter you’ll get updated at all the checkpoints throughout the course! If you want to follow me or just go to my twitter, there is a button on the right or you can just CLICK HERE.

Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow!! :)

One last thing… I applied for a Refuel with Chocolate Milk Grant so please CLICK THIS LINK and vote for ZANETA!! :) You can vote once a day and voting ends on Nov. 15th! Thanks!! :)

The Answers to Life

Ok… they really aren’t the answers to life… but if someone does have those answers, please forward them on to me!! ;)

Sign for “I love you”

I know you all want to know the answers to my little ASL experiment/project that I had to do for class… I had over 21 people email me their answers… it was fun seeing what everyone came up with!  AND I PROMISE, I did not laugh at you!  One of the reasons I did not laugh at you was because you all helped me out so much!! (So thank you!) The other reason I did not laugh is because ASL is not just miming, or gesturing, or trying to make a picture with your hands that looks exactly like what you are talking about.  ASL is an actual language, so I did not expect you all to know what I was signing.

Just like in English, not every symbol (word) is iconic of what it is referring to.  Let’s take the word “cat” for instance… that word is a symbol of the actual furry animal.  The word “cat” looks nothing like the actual thing.  If you said “cat” to someone who didn’t know what a cat was, they wouldn’t be able to guess what it was just based on the sound or look of that word.  That makes it arbitrary.  Words that are more iconic would be an onomatopoeia … words like “boom” or “buzz”… it actually sounds like the noise it’s describing.  confusing yet? ;)

Well it’s the same thing in American Sign Language.  Not every sign looks like what it is referring to.  A person who uses ASL would not be able to understand Chinese Sign Language or Italian Sign Language because of the arbitrariness of language.  Which disproves the myth that ASL is universal!  That’s what this project was all about.  Iconicity and arbitrariness… HERE is a link that describes it in case my description doesn’t make sense … which is very likely ;)

Now for the moment you have all been waiting for… the answers to my project! lol

Sign #1: Baby
Sign #2: Bird
Sign #3: Book
Sign #4: Banana
Sign #5: Cat
Sign #6: Baseball
Sign #7: Swimming
Sign #8: Tree
Sign #9: Stars
Sign #10: School

**The first 8 signs are relatively iconic.  Most people guessed those correctly.

**The last 2 signs are arbitrary (look nothing like what they represent). 2 people got those correct, but they both have a little ASL background! ;)  (Wells L and BDD ;)

So, once again, thank you so much to everyone who helped me finish my project!!  You guys are the best!!  Seriously! :)  In other news… 2 more sleeps before my first full marathon!! haha… yep, had to throw that in there somewhere lol ;)  I’m still popping Tylenol and Vitamin C and drinking plenty of water and Emergen-C to try to kick this cold… My nose/face is feeling a tad better but my cough has gotten way worse… hopefully it gets a little better before Sunday! :)

 

What did you think about the project if you took part in it?

Now that you know the answers to the signs, does it make sense why that sign represents that object?

Before reading this post, did you think that ASL was universal? (it’s ok to admit it… lots of people think it is!)

Do you have any prior knowledge of ASL? Do you know ASL?

Have you ever tried to communicate with a Deaf person? Stories please! :)

S-I-C-K

Yep, it happened… inevitably… I have something big going on this weekend and i get SICK!!

Sneezing and sniffling non-stop, coughing, headache…

I’ve been popping Tylenol and Vitamin C like they’re candy
and drinking Emergen-C like it’s water!

MY FIRST FULL MARATHON IS THIS SUNDAY!!!

How could this happen!?

ooo… I know!! Maybe it has something to do with ramping up my mileage by… A LOT… and not eating my fruits and veggies and going to bed around midnight thanks to the college life…

I haven’t run at all this week… which is ok i guess, since i am tapering and all…

I guess I’ll just have to add tissues to the list of things to take with me Sunday morning! lol…
I really can’t wait for the Columbus Marathon! My first full… it’s going to be amazing!! :)
I’m sure you’ll hear more about it in the next couple days as it’s THIS weekend!!
(my how time flies!)

Weekly Roundup: October 3 – 9

Monday:  Rest
Tuesday:  Rest
Wednesday: 4.01 miles @9:49/mi (39:25)
Thursday:  Rest
Friday: Rest
Saturday:  Cancer Care 5k (race recap to come) + additional 5 miles @10:42/mi =
                8.1 in 1:18:35
Sunday:  Rest

Total for Week = 12.11 miles
Total for Month = 32.11 miles
Total for Year =  292.84 miles**

**Starting in March since I forgot to keep track, but I didn’t run much in Jan and Feb
*** @=outside run (refers to pace)  in=treadmill run (refers to minutes)

March 31.02 miles
April  46.71 miles
May  20.5 miles
June  2.47 miles (wedding month)
July  36.13
August  52.45
September  71.45 (personal monthly best)

Last Week’s Training

Taper Time! 

Yep… I’m definitely in taper mode… so far I haven’t really noticed anything out of the ordinary except my knees seem to be hurting a tad more than usual… I also seem to be a little more tired, I can’t seem to shake this exhausted feeling… I think I may be trying to get a cold.  I keep sneezing and my nose is all stuffed up… Such is life… I HAVE 6 DAYS LEFT TIL I RUN MY FIRST FULL MARATHON!!! Get excited people! ;)

Blog Posts From The Week

Wordless Wednesday: Wedding Pictures (Getting Ready)
Festival 5k Race Recap

Registered Races
 
10/16/11 – Columbus Marathon
5/5/12 – Cap City Half Marathon

Days Left Until My First Full Marathon:  6

Weekly Roundup: September 26 – October 2

Monday:  2.00 miles in 21:36 [15 pushups; 80 crunches]
Tuesday:  Rest
Wednesday:  6:04 @9:35/mi (1 @10:27, 1 @8:25, .5 @10:51, 1 @8:25, .5 @10:47, 1 @8:20, 1 @10:55)
Thursday:  Rest
Friday: Rest
Saturday (10/1):  20.00 miles @11:42/mi (3:54:00)
Sunday:  Rest

Total for Week = 28.04 miles
Total for Month = 20.00 miles (October)
Total for Year =  280.73 miles**

**Starting in March since I forgot to keep track, but I didn’t run much in Jan and Feb
*** @=outside run (refers to pace)  in=treadmill run (refers to minutes)

March 31.02 miles
April  46.71 miles
May  20.5 miles
June  2.47 miles (wedding month)
July  36.13
August  52.45
September  71.45 (personal monthly best)

School, School, School

School is going pretty good, I’m in the 3rd week already… which doesn’t seem right lol… it’s taking up a lot of my brain power, time, and energy! This is my first time being back in school FULL time… Spring and Summer I was only part-time.  I enjoy all my classes though and my professors are great! :)

I do need to catch you all up on my last 3 races… so I will try to get at least 1 race recap done this week ALSO… WE GOT OUR WEDDING PICTURES!!! I will be posting those soon too!  :)

Blog Posts From The Week

YMX Giveaway Winner!!
18 Mile Long Run Recap (9/24)
9/28 - Speed Work at the Track

Registered Races

10/08/11 – Cancer Care 5k
10/16/11 – Columbus Marathon

Days Left Until My First Full Marathon:  12

18 Mile Long Run Recap (9/24)

Saturday 9/24: It started out pretty good, I was feeling confident and my legs felt great… I had the confidence I needed that would help me finish 18 miles…

And then, I had a run in with a dog.  If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I cannot stand dogs… especially when running!  I am scared stiff of them!

I was about 3 miles in when this dog came shooting across a yard.  I thought it would stop when it got to the road, but it didn’t… it came across two lanes, barking, growling, and scaring me half to death… I was screaming at it to go home, kicking at it, trying to get it to go away.  I’m not going to lie to you, this dog wasn’t very big, but it was the scariest thing to me… everyone has their own fears right?

Finally someone came out to check on me… I guess I was screaming bloody murder, and he got the dog to go back home… he acted like I was an idiot… what a jerk! I continued on my way, but you know when the adrenaline wears off and you are out of harms way… yeah, I started crying so I stopped (a good distance from that evil dog) in someone’s driveway and called my mom.  Mom’s make everything better :)  After telling her about my ordeal, she asked if I needed anything, and I realized that I had been so surprised by the dog that I had lost my gum… she brought me another piece along with a hug… I love my mom :)

I found it hard to get back into my groove after that… it took me about a mile or so and then I started feeling good about my run again… I took a GU Roctane around mile 5.  Once I got to the school/trail there were a gazillion people everywhere… there was a cross country meet going on, so I had to wind my way through everyone saying “on your left” “on your right” the whole time lol… I love running on the trail… there’s all sorts of people out and about… you’re never really alone :)

The halfway point (9 miles) ended up being where my husband works… pretty nifty how that works out ;) So I stopped and chatted for a few minutes while he filled up my water bottle for me and then I headed back.

Around mile 12 I really started having issues… the hills felt worse going back than they had when I first started out lol…(see garmin chart) I ended up walking up most of the hills on the way home… it was slow going…

I also had to stop and ask an older gentleman if he would fill up my water bottle for me because for some reason I was so thirsty the last 4 miles! I was so ready to be done and it seemed like there were hills on top of hills lol… It was tough mentally and my legs were so sore… but I finally made it home!!

18.01 miles in 3:31:31

The farthest I’ve ever run! I was thrilled that I finished and a little bit nervous when I thought that the marathon was 8.2 more miles than I had just run… how on earth will I finish a marathon?! Good thing the Columbus Marathon is mostly flat ;)

Tomorrow I have 20 miles and I’m thinking of doing it on flat ground.. we’ll see lol ;)

ONLY 15 DAYS TIL I RUN MY FIRST MARATHON!!! AHH!!

(Click the image to make it bigger)

Who Wants In On This Action?! (Bloggy Meetup)

ONE month from today… right now… I will be done running my first FULL marathon!!! :)  I’m so excited!!  I’m also a tad bit nervous because I have NOT trained like I probably should have and a marathon is nothing to mess around with!  Although some people run them as training runs around this here blogosphere lol ;) BUT I will not be alone!

I am not the only one running in Columbus, Ohio on October 16, 2011… nope… I will be joined by a couple friends! :)

- ME (Zaneta) from well… here at Runner’s Luck lol ;) running the Full

- BDD will be running the 1/2… on his birthday no doubt!!

- Dorothy from Mile Posts will be running the Full

- Wells and C from My Story…Chapter 2 will be running the 1/2

So I am trying to plan a little bloggy meetup.. details aren’t set up yet, but if you are running the 1/2 or full in Columbus on October 16th and would like to be in like flynn leave me a comment on this post, or email me, with your name, blog link (if you have one), and email address and I’ll try to get this thing rolling! :)

Long Run Recap – 8/29

Monday, I ran my longest training long run EVER :)  12.71 miles!!  I was tempted to make it a half marathon but I just couldn’t lol… I was beat!

I started out thinking that I was going to run my planned 12 miles VERY VERY slow because I had been dealing with back pain all week… embarassing story of how I think I hurt it will only be told in confidence so if you want to know you can email me lol ;)

I packed my phone, Gu chomps, a GU gel into my SPIbelt and grabbed my new 22 oz fuelbelt handheld, donned my CEP compression socks and my Brooks running shoes and headed out the door.

I decided just to have fun with this since I was still in pain and it was a gorgeous day out (time to work on my tan since I look like a ghost this summer due to college classes).  Here is a series of  pictures I took along my route.

I decided to keep going when my Garmin beeped at me that I had run 6 miles because I was almost to the college that I went to for my Bachelor’s degree, that way I could fill up my handheld for my return trip.  I also stretched a little bit and then headed back.

On my way back I saw a DVD of IRobot and definitely had a moment where i wanted to pick it up and take it with me because i haven’t seen that movie, but i figured somebody would come looking for it… maybe… so i left it.  Saw a condom. Gross.  And two cars pulled up beside me to tell me that they had passed me about 2 hours ago and that i must be running pretty far… they both told me they could never do it and i said “you can do whatever you put your mind to” with a big ol’ grin :D

By the time I made it back to my car I only had .4 miles to go before it was a half marathon but I was beat, my back was killing me and I just wanted to go home lol… my husband told me I made the wrong decision and should’ve run the half marathon lol… thanks hubs :-p

Here are my garmin stats for the run:

I know I’m behind in my training for my full marathon on October 16th… but I’ve come to terms with how much life has gotten in the way of things and that I would not change it for the world… I will finish my first full marathon, even if I have to walk some, with a HUGE smile on my face! :)

NEXT UP: I am working on compiling the miles I’ve run since I’ve been MIA, including a race report from a 5k in July, and I’m still waiting on official wedding pictures to share with you all :)

NEXT RACE:  Sweetcorn Festival 5k on Sept. 3rd (tomorrow lol)

REMINDER:  Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a signed copy of Mark Remy’s book “The Runner’s Field Manual” Ends sept 5!  CLICK HERE TO ENTER