Another Update :)

Well, my last post was about 2 1/2 weeks ago so I’ll do another quick and easy update to keep you all in the loop! ;)

~At the moment, where I live, we are experiencing a drought… I can’t remember the last summer where the grass was so brown and prickly that I didn’t want to go barefoot!!  This is also the hottest summer we’ve had in quite a while!!

~ As part of the Mezamashii Project, I received a pair of Mizuno Wave Elixir 7’s!  I have not been able to test them out yet, but I’m really excited to take them out for a run hopefully this weekend!

~ I found a recipe on Pinterest for ice cream made out of bananas and peanut butter and decided to give it a try… it was pretty good… and healthy! :)

~ Remember that HUGE test that I had to take that might have postponed my graduation by 6 months???  I PASSED!!!  Which means I get to do an interpreting practicum/internship starting in the fall!!  I’m so excited!!  The first part of the practicum will be observing an interpreter and then I actually get to start interpreting for clients under close supervision!!  yay for field work!! :)

~ I have a meeting tomorrow for said practicum which requires a huge stack of paperwork to fill out

~ I am officially halfway through summer quarter… although, I’d still rather be doing normal summer stuff like swimming, reading, running, biking, picnicking, or knitting… silly schoolwork!  It’s been a stressful couple of weeks!!

~ I have been able to do some “light” ahem… reading before bed this summer… tehe… did I say light? ;)

~ Saturday July 14th was my 25th birthday :)  My hubby brought me home some roses, a funny card, a thing for my car so I can listen to my ipod, and A STICK!!  That thing has become my legs’ best friend!! lol

So, that’s been my crazy past couple of weeks… what have you all been up to?  What are you currently training for?  What’s your favorite thing to do in the summer, and have you done it this summer?

I’M BAAAAAAACKKKK!!!!!

Did you miss me?! ;)

No more 16 hour long days at school!! Winter quarter is behind me!!  I’m so excited!  That was the toughest quarter I’ve ever had to endure… and that includes my undergrad degree!  In 5 classes, I pulled out all A’s and 1 B… a little sad about the B because that means I no longer have a 4.0, but the quarter is a success in my book! :)

I didn’t get to run a whole lot during the winter quarter, so I’ve been taking advantage of this beautiful 70 and 80 degree weather on my spring break!! :)  Last weekend, my hubby surprised me by buying me a pair of these beauties:

 

That’s right… the PureCadence shoes that I have been longing after!!  These puppies are awesome!  I LOVE them!!  I think this strictly Nike Runner has been converted to Brooks shoes for life!! lol

Here’s a rundown of my workouts since last we spoke:

Total Miles in February = 16.02

3/2 – 2.5 miles in 23:56
3/3 – 5.03 miles @ 10:18/mile (51:49)
3/14 – 3.53 miles @ 11:41/mile (41:14)
3/17 – 6.01 miles @ 10:43/mile (1:04:26)
3/19 – 3.5 miles in 33:52; P90X Shoulders & Arms (1 hr); P90X Ab Ripper (15 min)

in = treadmill run   @ = outside run

I’m running the Capital City Half Marathon on May 5th, and have kind of given up all hopes of PRing and am just trying to get in half marathon shape so I can enjoy the race again because last year it was my most favorite race!! :)

I’m going to try for 7 miles this Saturday and see how well it goes… school starts back up Monday, and I’m hoping to have a little more time this quarter to workout than last because I’ll only have 8 hour days instead of 16 lol… so we’ll see how it goes!  I want to try to start P90X back up as well and get fit again… I can tell I am not in great shape… but priorities right now are school, work, and a little bit of sleep… working out is a privilege at this point!! :)

Congrats to Hungry Runner Girl and Billy… they have a little one on the way!! :) So happy for the two of you! :) I hope everyone has been doing well!!  I’m looking forward to trying to catch up in blogosphere :)  What has everyone been up to?  I can’t promise I’ll be posting a whole lot, but it won’t be a whole month without blogging again, I promise you that! :)

9/28 – Speed Work at the Track

First, let me say that It has been almost a whole year since I’ve actually gone to a track to do speed work.  My training schedule said I had 6 miles to do Wednesday… but I had homework to do and kept pushing it off and pushing it off until I didn’t feel like running… ever done that?! It’s not a good thing!

But then I remembered I had new shoes that needed to be initiated (more so than a mere 2 mile treadmill run).  I’m not gonna lie, the run in I had with the dog on my long run had me leery of running on the road, so I decided I would go to the track for a change in scenery, but I had to go “now” because silly fall brings shorter days… I don't like it when it gets dark so early lol…

I wrote down my plan and took off:

I did pretty good at hitting my goal paces for the workout:

I really enjoyed it… it was refreshing to do something different, not to mention the weather was perfect… slightly breezy, cool but not cold, peaceful (I was the only one on the track at 6:30 at night lol… I think I enjoyed running at dusk; that was different too. My feet enjoyed running in my new shoes as well ;) Sometimes you just need to switch things up… Do you ever switch things up when you run?

 

I ended up finishing before it got too dark and took a few minutes to stretch and enjoy the peaceful evening before heading home to shower and finish my homework.

It was a fabulous run… I have no clue why it’s been so long since I went to the track… I see more track speed sessions in my near-training future. ;)

Do you do speed work at a track? If so, do you enjoy it?
If not, do you just run your intervals on the road?

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF FALL!!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!! Ends tomorrow 11:59pm ET!

Today, I said goodbye to the bikini and flip flops (not that I got to swim at all this summer thanks to summer quarter)… I switched out all my summer clothes and shoes for my fall/winter clothes and shoes.  It was kind of depressing since summer is my absolute favorite season… but it’s ok because fall is a close 2nd! :)

 

Fall quarter started yesterday… it went really well, I’m going to really enjoy it, but it’s going to be a lot of hard work and studying… LOVE all my profs… they all smile all the time and crack jokes non-stop… it will be a great quarter :) AND if you read my post yesterday, you would know that after I got out of classes, I was heading to Fleet Feet to get fitted for a pair of shoes… first visit to a running store ever.

Here’s what I ended up with after getting measured a few different ways, running on the treadmill barefoot and running with different shoes on both feet a few time…

Any guesses as to what’s inside? 

Go ahead…

take a guess…

Brooks Ravenna 2! :)  Did you guess right? lol… They feel so good on… I’m pretty sure this “NIKE EVERYTHING!” girl has now been converted to Brooks Shoes!! I like them so much I had to get a few pictures of them on my feet…

             Mirror Shot                                   Hold the camera upside down shot

                           The “Yep, I’m pretty cool cuz I have new kicks” shots

Hello Mrs. Bigfoot! Jeesh! lol… I ended up getting a half size bigger than my “normal” shoes to hopefully get rid of my toe blistering and toenail losing problems…

 

And here is the big, happy, running shoe family:

 

What shoes do you run in?
- Used to be strictly Nike, but I’m converted to Brooks!

 What size shoe do you wear?
- ”normal shoes” I wear size 9US and now my running shoes are 9.5.

Do you swap out your shoes for different seasons? Or is your closet big enough to hold all your shoes all year?
- This is the first year I’ve actually had to swap out my shoes… I think it’s because of my growing running shoe collection… just maybe ;)

If You Have a Dilemma… Just Tweet It!!

Well, for some reason I didn’t get my speedwork in today… I was supposed to do 6 miles… just felt blah all day.. hormonal sickness… it sucks…

School starts back up tomorrow (after a 2 week summer vacation lol) and I’m super excited because this is the first quarter that I’m “officially” an interpreting major and will get to take interpreting classes… The only downfall is that I have to start getting up at 5am to make it to school in time… seriously?! I haven’t gotten up that early since… the capital city half marathon in May… and now I have to do it every Tuesday and Thursday! Guess I’ll have to start going to bed at 9pm instead of midnight lol ;)

I am rather excited about going back to school tomorrow though because I am heading to Fleet Feet after I get out of class at 4 to get a new pair of shoes before my Marathon! :)  I knew I needed new shoes, but I wasn’t sure if I had enough time to break them in… since I’m still a “newbie runner” I’m not as wise as some of you… If you ever need to know something… just tweet it… seriously! haha…

I tweeted:

And just a few SECONDS later many of you replied… thank you! :)  I am no longer worried…

So now I’m UBER excited to get an official fitting for shoes… this will be my first time in an actual running store lol… I can’t wait to let you all know how it goes and show off my new pair of kicks tomorrow!  (and of course tell you how my first day of school went… cuz I know you all care sooo much)  ;)

AND… don't forget to ENTER MY YMX GIVEAWAY!! (Ends 9/24)

 

How often do you get a new pair of shoes?
- It’s been 7 months since my new pair… but I ran a total of about 22 miles for May and June combined (hello wedding planning)

What kind of shoes do you get AND do you always stay with the same model?
- I used to be strictly Nike… Glide & Glide 2, but then I got to wear test a pair for brooks and LOVED them… so now I have no clue what kind of shoe I want to run in…

Do you have a twitter? Do you find it helpful or annoying?
- I have a twitter (obviously) and find it very helpful… I’ve almost stopped using facebook altogether

Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 3: The Race!

 

Part 1:  Traveling and The Expo

Part 2:  Before the Start

 

Well, I had decided to take only one GU with me because there was going to be a GU station about halfway into the race and I decided to leave my handheld with my dad because there were plenty of water stations.  I headed to the starting area, the national anthem was sung, and *BOOM* we were off!

 

*QUICK NOTE*  I do not remember everything that happened in each mile, nor do I know my splits for each mile so I will try to just vaguely recap the race a few miles at a time.

 

Miles 1-3:

The race started right away with a pretty steep hill and I found it to not be very difficult, which surprised me.  I was going at a pretty good pace and was passing people as much as I could within that first mile or two.  I had been nervous going into the race that my legs would be dead in the first mile because I hadn’t run in 2 weeks.  But I felt strong in the first 3 miles… I may have gone out a little too fast but I was feeling good and just kept going.  There was a live band set up around mile 1.5 and the singer said “seriously gals, you’re the ones with the tough job!” lol… made me smile.  Around mile 2.8 I saw a girl’s headband fall out of her hair and no one was stopping to pick it up so I scooped it up and picked up my pace to give it back to her because I would’ve like someone to do that for me.  Right before the 4 mile marker I remember thinking that I really did start out too fast because I saw the 2 hour pace team run by me lol… whoops!

Miles 4-6:

Honestly, after the first 3 miles I did start having a bit tougher of a time mentally.  I kept questioning myself and why I was running this race and telling myself that I wasn’t a runner, just a wannabe…  Then I took my GU around mile 4 1/2.  A lady came up and started running beside me and we started talking… It was her first half marathon too, but she had a faster time than my 2:30:00 in mind and shortly took off.  I honestly don’t remember a whole lot about these 3 miles except for the ground… I was looking at the ground and trying to overcome my mental lashings.  Around mile 5 or 6 there was a guy that had a tray of orange slices so I grabbed one.  I had never eaten an orange on the run but it did the trick for the time being in taking my mind off of “how many more miles I had left”.  These miles seriously were making the race not fun so I kicked myself in the butt.  Also, after that mile 1 hill, there were many other smaller hills on the course.

Miles 7-9:

Mile 5.5-8.5 was an out and back.  I saw the woman who was in first come by (going the other direction of course) and cheered for her by name… she was really booking it!  I decided to cheer for as many people as I could by name and clap for them as we were passing each other because most of the women would smile and wave or nod.  It took my mind off of my mental breakdown lol…Shortly after the mile 6 marker, I noticed the GU station… I was so excited!  Up til race weekend, my favorite GU was TriBerry (I hadn’t tried the chocolate outrage yet) and an email prior to Saturday had said that they were going to have TriBerry.  Well there were different people with different flavors (remember this is my first half marathon)  and the first flavor I heard was Vanilla, then Espresso… I kept running down the line expecting my flavor to be next and IT NEVER CAME!!  Well, I wasn’t about to turn around to grab a GU… so I just kept running.  This really didn’t help the funk I was in.  There was a water station around mile 7 so I decided to walk through it.  I grabbed a Lemon-Lime Gatorade and a water and walked “fast” while I still took my time drinking the cool liquid.  After walking through the station I decided enough was enough and I was supposed to be having fun!  I decided to forget about my time and just enjoy the run!  I started running again and called my mom around mile 8 to see where her and my dad were standing cuz it would be nice to see my support!  She told me that they were around mile 10 and I told her that I would see her in about 20 minutes.  Then I snapped a photo on the move with my cell before I put it back in my SPIbelt and smiled because it was a little pick up talking to my mom on the run!… only 2 more miles til I would get to see them! I remember mile marker number 9 seeming like it came up really fast!  I even remarked about it to the closest woman to me!

 

Mile 10:

Well, mile 10 came and I was expecting to see my parents and they weren’t there.  This was a hill part and it was getting tough to keep running all the hills!  I kept running and I finally saw them turning the corner around mile 10.5!  I was so excited to see them that I waved… with both hands… and I dont think I remember doing it! haha!  And then yes, another little hill that flattened out before mile 11.

Mile 11:

  ANOTHER hill!!  This hill seemed like a really steep hill and there was a water station a little ways up it…  At this point, I was having fun, but I was definitely getting tired and the hills were not helping!  So I ran to the water station and walked with my water and Lemon-Lime Gatorade up the hill…  I actually saw a couple photographers in this mile.  One at the water station that I didn’t see til it was too late and one that I saw early and threw my cups away and started running as I got to him.  He said “haha, got you running!” lol phew! ;)

And NO I don’t feel bad for posting all the proof pictures because yes, it being my first half marathon EVER… I ordered a CD with all my pictures on it ;) I just haven’t gotten it yet.  I also saw this sign somewhere around the last 3 miles I think… I dont know, it was all a blur really, but it made me smile!

 

Mile 12 – 12.5:

I felt pretty good actually!  It was like I got a burst of energy during this half mile… there were also a few spectators and one guy said “it’s all downhill from here!”  I was so excited!!  All the hills were behind me and I could focus on the last couple of miles!!

 

Mile 12.5 – 13.1:

The first thought i had was “THAT GUY LIED TO ME!” Seriously… I had one HUGE MONSTER of a hill to go known as the Shelby St Bridge!! This picture just doesn’t even do it justice!

Gee whiz!  it was like once you used up all your momentum trying to go a little ways up the hill, you hit a wall… seriously EVERYONE was walking as far as I could tell… it seemed like a brutal trick they were playing on us and everyone was encouraging each other to run/walk the hill and saying “we’re almost there”  I walked most of that hill… and I’m not ashamed to say so… but once i got mostly up it, I started running again … up and over the top hump and then I just let gravity do its thing and I was FLYING down that hill!  I could see the last turn I had to make and I could hear the spectators cheering for everyone… I made the turn and could see the finish!!  I almost started crying I was so happy!  Had I seriously just ran 13 miles?!  Wait… what did that time say?!  2:10?!  HOLY CRAP!!  Forget the goal time of 2:30 and GO GO GO!!!!  I pushed as hard as I could and seriously dug down deep… I’m sure I looked like I was moving at a snails pace to everyone else but I was in pain as you can see in the finishing photos) and going as fast as I could! 

                 

I crossed that finish line and had an instant PR of 2:13:06!!! 

They weren’t taking pictures of crossing the finish line, just in the home stretch.  A uniformed army man put my medal around my neck and I was trying not to puke all over his shiny shoes.  It was the best I could do to shake his hand and say thank you!

My parents found me… they had been able to walk back from mile 10.5 to stand at the finish line to see me finish!  They hugged me and I started crying… I was seriously an emotional mess!  Happy, crying, heaving, gasping…  What had I just done?!  I HAD RUN MY FIRST HALF MARATHON!!  13.1 MILES IN 2:13:06!!  I was elated!  I’m still kind of on a high from last weekend! lol

Well, after catching my breath and wiping my tears I walked through the food line and got as much food and water and Gatorade as I could hold.  Then we went and sat down to watch the awards ceremony.  The lady who had come in first finished in a time of 1:24:46!  How fast is that?!  I chowed down on all my food and didn’t stretch… mistake!  But I had fun talking to my parents about the race and just being around all the other finishers!

Me with my parents:

 

After I decided to get up, I went and had my official finisher photo taken and then got my medal made into a necklace so I could wear it everyday!!  It might have been weird to wear the medal everyday!

This is the medal front and back:

 

This was seriously one of the best days of my life!  Was I in pain? YES!  Was I tired?! YES!  Was I on top of the world? YES!!!  We left the race and I took my tennis shoes off in the car because I left my flip flops out there on accident and this is what I saw:

Yes, It’s gotten a lot better but I think I will lose a total of two nails from running last week!

Lessons Learned:

1) Don’t wear new shoes to race in!
2) Grab the first flavor of GU available just in case they don’t have the flavor you’re waiting for!
3) Take flip flops with you in your after race bag
4) Don’t start out to fast so you have energy at the end and can take pretty finishing photos
5)  Register with just a “Z” as my name if it’s going on the bib so that people can cheer for me by name too!  (only one person tried, and she did get my name right!)
6)  Take a handheld or belt next time because I got a little thirsty in between stations and it would’ve been nice to be able to drink whenever I wanted

Things I disliked:

1)HILLS! (mainly the one at 12.5)

Things I liked:

1) hills
2) the mile markers had a running time on them
3) The live music
4) The GU and water stations
5) The crowd!
6) The medal and charm
7) the servicemen handing out the medals
8) the food!

Stats

Finish Time:  2:13:06
Pace:  10:10
Overall Place:  936/3883
Overall Gender Place:  921
Age Group Place:  71/230

 
This is the elevation chart… although it lies… It definitely wasn’t all down hill halfway through!  Those hills at mile 11 and 12.5 were ridiculous!  A lot of people and “veteran marathoners” were complaining about it online.  And here are my nike+ stats:

Fastest Pace:  6:20/mile
Slowest Pace:  26:28/mile (walking)

We went back to the hotel where it took my mom and I a total of 6 tr1ips to get enough ice to make the “cold” water cold and proceeded to take an ice bath and put on my recovery socks.  After a little lounging around my parents and I headed over to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum!

Next:  Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 4:  Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum!  (Last post I promise!!  It will also be mostly pictures!)