How We Roll: Katie's Blog About Marathoning and Mothering

Back to the Track

2012-02-29T15:00:00.002-08:00

So, I am not new to speedwork, having done my first round of it in preparation for my Chicago marathon last October. I think it works, given that I was able to PR at Chicago and meet my goal of a 3:15. But...I really don't like it. If I had my choice, I'd do my usual 6 miles of 9-10 minute pace with my running group and be as happy as a clam. Yet speedwork enables me to set a goal and push myself towards it. It's fun to see what I am capable of, and with the approaching 5K and 10K season it is time to get back out there and see if I can make improvements to my times in each event.

On February 15th, I headed to the track with my friend, Julia Clark, for our first round of 800s for this season. Last year, I was able to run 8 of these above marathon-pace time (a quick rule-of-thumb is that you should be able to run 800 meters--two laps of the track--in minutes/seconds of what you want your marathon time to be in hours/minutes).

We only did 4 800s today, since we are just starting back. I was happy with my times:

3:13, 3:09, 3:09, 3;07

Notice that I got faster as I went and that the last time was the fastest. A good first attempt back!

50 States...Almost 2/5 of the Way There

2012-02-20T20:45:00.002-08:00

Rick and I are heading to Virginia next month to run our 20th state in our quest to run a marathon in all 50 states. Though it may seem like we've got a long way to go before we start celebrating, I do think we can be proud of the work that's gotten us here. I never thought back in 2001 when I completed my own state of Alabama that I would be here today! Now each and every one of these 19 states holds memories for us--states that I may never have traveled to if not for this goal. We are seeing so much of our country and enjoying the running at the same time!

I thought it would be fun to look back and see when I've completed the 19 states (Rick has done the same states but some in a different order than mine).

2001

Alabama (1)

2002

Tennessee (2)

Georgia (3)

2003

California (4)

2004

Arizona (5)

Florida (6)

Ohio (7)

Kentucky (8)

2005

Mississippi (9)

North Carolina (10)

South Dakota (11)

2008

Wisconsin (12)

2009

Hawaii (13)

Iowa (14)

2010
Louisiana (15)

West Virginia (16)

2011

South Carolina (17)

Missouri (18)

Illinois (19)

I know that some "50 Staters" are people with more time and resources for travel, but if you are young (or have a young family) and are looking for some tips to make this goal a reality for you, read on.

Top 10 Tips From a 19/50 Stater:

1. Run when you can afford to. The year where we ran the most states was 2004. We had just gotten married and were "DINKS" (double income, no kids). We took advantage of the opportunity and ran like crazy. We knew we would have kids down the road. That year, we wanted to accomplish all we could while we could.

2. Don't stress if you have zero states in some years. In 2006 and 2007, I ran no states. I was having our babies! No worries! That's life. This goal will never be more important than my family is to me.

3. Enjoy some big trips. We have great memories of our only plane-trip states--California, Arizona, and Hawaii. All were big, expensive trips that included some sightseeing and other touristy things as well as the race. On the other hand...

4. Not all states are going to be big trips. Rick and I have learned how to drive up the day before, run the race the next day, and drive home after the race. Not the most glamorous way to do it, but it works.

5. To go along with #4, drive to all the nearby states first. This is pretty common-sense. We live in Alabama, and we are working on hitting all of the states within a doable driving distance before doing any more plane-ticket trips. Some 50-Staters even do "doubles," hitting two states all within the same weekend, but I haven't tried that yet (nor do I think I can complete two marathons in one weekend!).

6. Enjoy each race's uniqueness. I really think Rick and I have gotten good at this one. We like the contrast between large and small races. We comment to each other on the unique things that each race has to offer. We talk about what we enjoyed along the courses and have found such variety within just these 19 states so far!

7. Be prepared to be surprised at your favorites! In 2009, I ran both Hawaii and Iowa. I bet you think you know which one was my favorite race, but you're probably wrong! I actually LOVED Iowa and its beautiful fall colors and temperature and disliked Hawaii due to the course being alongside a road and it being hot with no shade! I love being surprised like that! I love learning more about my country by truly experiencing it!

8. Get creative to make the trips work for you and your family. Now that we are a family of four, we have had to be creative to make marathoning work. We travel to where a babysitter (relative) lives or we take them with us (free trip for them!). We combine our marathon trip with sightseeing for our children. We do things that we know our kids will get excited about and enjoy too, even if it means all we have time for is a quick shower before heading out after the race. We visit parks and children's museums (we have a reciprocal nationwide pass).

9. Have a planner and a dreamer. The reason that Rick and I work so well is that I am the dreamer and he is the planner. I was the one who originally came up with the "dream" to run a marathon in every state. Without plans, I would be nowhere! That is where Rick comes in. He is able to plan the travel dates, routes, hotels, and even training programs that carry both of us to the race. So I guess we are a good balance (though I think it is obvious that I got the better end of that deal!).

10. This one is important: REQUEST LATE CHECK OUT AND VERIFY IT! Rick and I had a horrible experience in a hotel once where our stuff was bagged up and put outside of our room because the maids didn't know we had a late check out. We NEEDED back into that room for our showers. Uh, lesson learned for us!

If you are also trying to achieve this goal, I would love to hear your experiences. What states/marathons do you recommend that we have not done? What tips do you have to share?

Mountain Mist Thanks and Pictures

2012-02-17T11:22:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who commented on my Mountain Mist post. It it so great to have friends from all over who are reading my blog and taking the time to comment. I am guilty of reading blogs and then getting too busy to respond. But now I now I know how much each comment means to me, so I will try to do a better job of it too!

I realized that it is hard to get a true sense of the Mountain Mist 50K without pictures, so I included a few more of mine. Most of these were taken by PBC Sports Photography (the photographers along the course) and We Run Huntsville (Gregg Gelmis).

Here you can see the fast start and the dash to the trail head. I am in the middle in my grayish blue shirt. Next to me are Christy Scott (in the pink hat) and Kathy Youngren (in red).

Race Start

Still racing to the trail head

Once you get on the trails, they are mostly single-track for awhile. This means you will have to go single-file unless you can find a way to pass someone. This is very different from road racing and took awhile for me to get used to when I first ran Mountain Mist! Here I am keeping up with Kathy, Rick (my husband), and Mark Freeman (in back).

Climbing the trails

Climbing and chatting

I'm not sure where this picture was taken, but I like it and it's a favorite. I like the trees in the background, the fact that I'm smiling, and the mud on my legs! These three things sum up Mountain Mist well to me.

I really don't like this picture because I don't look very serious! I look like I'm going for a stroll, not racing. This is the Stone Cuts section of the race. It's a hard part to run, and I enjoy taking it slow and twisting my way through the rocks. You actually go into a pitch-black section right after this part--a dark cave. I was smiling because the photographer sort of took me by surprise. I was enjoying the solitude and the scenery of this cool section of the course.

Goin' for a stroll

Another favorite. I can feel the exhaustion all over again when I see this picture!

And the finish line pictures

There are MANY more beautiful scenes from this race--Monte Sano Mountain is so beautiful and such a HUGE distraction when you are running. There are waterfalls, wooden bridges, all kinds of rocks and boulders, sometimes deer and snakes, yellow flowers, and much more. There are also funny things, like signs and talking skeletons, that people put out along the course. These things all really take your mind off the fact that you are running 31 grueling miles!

The Double Stroller in Florida!

2012-02-14T13:07:00.005-08:00

At Disney!

I'm back after a nearly week-long trip to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Rick had a work trip there, and I decided to tag along with the kids. Fun times! Here are a few things we did:
*
I took the kids on a double stroller run while Rick was at work. I carried the stroller from our room down to the lobby (I love our Bob, but it doesn't fit through standard door frames so we have to carry it through). Then, I got the kids their breakfasts and piled the plates and bowls onto their laps in the stroller. The kids were going to spend the rest of the day running around the beach and swimming at the pool, so they would do fine for a short run.

Then I noticed that the stroller's tires were very low but not quite flat. I decided I would try to inflate them at a gas station and found one about 15 minutes into my run. After taking the cap off of one of the tires, it quickly deflated, and no air was coming out of the hose. That's when I walked around the machine and saw the sign, "Air $1.00." So I dashed into the store carrying two $1 bills. The attendant, who must have seen me struggling outside, would only give me $1 change and wasn't very nice about it! The lady behind me in the line said, "Don't worry, your day will get better." Having tossed and turned all night and now this, I really did believe it could only get better. I ran back out to where I had left the kids in the stroller to their cries of "What are you doing, Mommy?" and "Why aren't we going?"

I put the quarters into the machine and heard a loud sound as the air came on. Knowing I only had $1 and that the attendant wasn't going to give me any more change, I quickly started filling the tires. I managed to get them all inflated properly and gladly resumed my run. Nothing like a little adventure to make the run interesting!
*
I went on a beach run the next day alone. I couldn't get the hang of running in the sand with my shoes on, so I headed back to the road. I turned it into a little of a tempo run and did one sub-7:00 minute mile with 7 miles total.
*
I went two days without running! One day, we were at Disney, and we walked all day long (9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.). The stroller came in handy that day! The next day, we rode home for another 12 hour day.
*
It felt great to get my usual 10 miles on Monday even though I left Florida's 70 degree highs for our 30's.

Brrrrr!

Mountain Mist 50K January 28, 2012

2012-02-01T15:10:00.000-08:00

Prerace
Preparing for the race involved a lot more preparations for the kids then for me! I got their things ready on Wednesday-Thursday before the race on Saturday. I bought goodies (fruit loops and yarn to make necklaces, stickers, and poster board to make signs). I made their lunches and laid out some play clothes that I wouldn't mind if they got dirty. I checked the weather, too, since the sitter was planning to watch them at our house if the weather was too cold or rainy that day. The sitter and I agreed that the Lodge (where the race starts and ends) would be a fine place for them to stay since the weather was going to be nice. She brought her DVD player so she could show them movies. Of course, when we got there, the big fireplace held their interest over anything else! Below is the list I gave the sitter about activities to keep them busy over the six hours we would be gone.

List of things to do at the Lodge

I did get myself ready too! I talked over clothing with Rick. The temperature was much warmer than last year. It would start in high 40s and end in the 50s. Runners can add 20 degrees to the weather, and that is what it will feel like once you start running. So shorts and shortsleeves it was! No hat. I wore a pair of gloves to the first aid station, and then I tossed them. I later picked them up at the finish line since they were brought there by the volunteers. I made sure I had put petroleum jelly under my nose (all of the wiping makes it dry and flaky) and Body Glide on my feet and anywhere else I thought it needed to go. As usual, I took a shower in the morning to wake up my muscles and me! We headed up the Lodge at 6:10 a.m. to get there to get our new timing chips by the 7:00 a.m. cut off.
*
Someone was giving announcements when we got there--funny ones, like "Just remember, don't get your timing chips wet!" The lines for the bathrooms were reverse what you normally see---the women went right in, and the men had to wait! Not many women brave this race, I guess! We found the sitter and paid her ("This is for 6 hours. Should something happen to both of us and we need more time, we'll pay the rest later!"). We looked around and chatted. It's so fun to be in the excitement of race day! We had gotten our packets the night before at the Lodge (and some really cool Mountain Mist apparel too, that you can see in my last post), but today I needed to exchange my tech shirt (I wanted a men's since it fits better than the women's).
*
After hitting the bathroom three times, I headed to the start. Well, first I kissed the kids good-bye and watched them from a distance as they settled into sign-making with the sitter. It's hard to be a mom. I prayed for their safety as I ran and hoped they would behave for the sitter.
*
We found a good position at the start (front and center, right behind the front runners). Wow, it was a nice day up there! I was not cold at all in my shorts and shortsleeves. I did decide on sunglasses, but I had to wear them on my head through some of the overcast parts of the race. I carried my water/gatorade in a handheld carrier since I remember the belt giving me trouble last year.
*
The Race
The gun sounded at 7:30 a.m., and we were off. And boy, what a fast start! Rick says it's like a sprint to the trailhead, and it is! Why? Because once you get on the trailhead, it is single trail for awhile. This means you are stuck behind whoever is in front of you, or you can risk slowly trying to pass one person at a time. I remember walking during this segment in the past, all because I hadn't gotten to the trails quick enough. So, we raced. My first mile was a 7:27! Once on the trail, I found myself to be in a comfortable position. Rick, Kathy Youngren, and Mark Freeman were running a good pace for me to keep up with without too much effort, so I made it a point to try to stay with them.
*
I loved running with Kathy. She was running her 14th Mountain Mist. She has won the women's division several times. She is such an expert on this race and a great source of advice about the strategy behind Mountain Mist. Hearing her thoughts on the race really helped me learn more about it. She told me that she favors the more difficult second "half," and she cleared up the confusion I had about the "halves" that aren't half! The first "half" of Mountain Mist is actually 16.9 miles, and the second "half" is about 14 miles. But she says that they are divided this way based on the difficulty of the second section. It is so much harder, that you will probably actually run it slower, even though it is shorter. Even splits are good, but she is one of about 50 people to be able to negative split on this course. This shows what a tough runner she is, and it shows that she knows how to correctly conserve on the first half.
*
She also told me about "Kathy's bench," which is around Mile 29 in the middle of a huge climb out of McKay Hollow called Rest Shelter Hill. She says that her "rule" is that it's okay to walk the steep section up until the bench. When you get to the bench, you must start running. Keep going until you get to the top of Rest Shelter Hill. I saved that information for later, as you will see.
*
I joked with Kathy that Rick and I were just trying to beat each other today. It was funny at the time because Rick did not want to beat me at all, but I had told him that I thought we were well-matched this year (no one was out of shape or injured). It would be a good match between the well-trained (Rick) and the better-recent marathon performer (me). It would be interesting to see how we finished, thought I think "sub 5:30" was in both of our minds. I think we are still too "new" to Mountain Mist to be able to know exactly how to go about getting that time on the trails with any degree of accuracy!
*
Kathy had us laughing with her good-natured joking with the other runners, intrigued by her future races (131 miles in Hungary), and impressed with her knowledge of the trails she obviously loves so much. She was a great distraction for a rather boring first several miles. She went on to win the women's race yet again and was a well-deserving and humble winner. I, who picked over my own outfit several times, found it refreshing to hear that she gave no thought to her outfit today. She lets her performance speak for itself, as we all should!
*
The best thing I did to prepare for the race was to memorize the minutes/hours of my split times last year. So I knew "59-50-54-42-54-1:16." This helped me so much to know when I should be getting close to an aid station, and it let me know that I was ahead of pace from last year's race in some sections. I had it printed on duct tape on my water bottle holder, but memorizing it prevented me from having to stop and look.
*
We all cruised into Aid Station 1 very easily (5 minutes ahead of my schedule) and continued on our way. Unfortunately, I could not keep up with Rick and Kathy after we hit Aid Station 2. I took some time to eat and then walk as I approached the Stone Cuts section of the course. Already I was passing a few men who had started too fast. This continued slowly throughout the morning (I improved my standings from 53 to 39 as the race progressed). I saw the girl who was in first place injured after the Fern Drive Aid Station. I knew that meant I was in second place. This gave me additional motivation to keep running strong!
*
The second half of the race was pretty lonely for me. I ran most of it alone, passing a man every so often. I ran with Eric Fritz, the new Huntsville Track Club president, for awhile. He managed to kick some mud up onto my face and glasses as I ran behind him in the Land Trust section. Yuck! As for the trails, they were very wet and muddy, but they didn't slow me down like I had thought they might. The Waterline Climb was very hard for me, not because I could not do it, but because my back was hurting and I had to stop and try to stretch it out. I did this several times as I climbed the long climb right before the waterfall. I also started saying to myself, "How bad do you want this?" I repeated this phrase many times as I finished the last 10 miles.
*
I could not believe my eyes in McKay Hollow when I looked up and saw Rick in front of me! We were near the base of McKay Hollow, meaning that we had already run down "Suicide Drop" and were in the lowest portion before rising again to the mountain top. He was climbing ahead of me, and I shouted "Hey there!" He didn't turn around but shouted "Hi" back to me. Just like that--"Hi"--no enthusiasm, so it was hard to read if he was in pain, "mad" that I had caught him, or what. I continued to be able to keep him in my sight as we headed through the hollow (we have a rule---we each run our own race---so I did not expect him to stop for me).
*
As we started the big climb out of McKay Hollow, I slowly began to narrow the gap between us. Then, there it was--Kathy's bench. My quads were burning, my breath was labored, and I wanted to walk so badly. But I didn't. I started my run/shuffle to the top, just like Kathy had told me to do nearly 5 hours before. I passed Rick and uttered something like "C'mon" or "Let's go!" And I passed Eric Fritz. I think after that I was making audible grunting noises as I crested the hill.
*
"There," I remember thinking. I looked at my time. 5:10 with 1.7 miles to go. It wasn't a matter of if I would break the 5:30, the question was by how much? I ran as fast as I could on those tired legs of mine, just straining to the finish. I will admit it here, though I'm sure it sounds a little crazy: I sang to myself out loud too.

My eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?
*
Sound familiar? That song has now carried me to two amazing finishes, and I give God all of the credit for both of those runs. It's so amazing how He carried me over those last 1.7 miles. I saw the finish clock and my kids. What an awesome moment! 5:26:29 and second female! Rick finished right behind me in 5:28:52.
*
Fuel
I ate when I wanted to and what I wanted to before, during, and after this race. I would literally stand at the Aid Stations and wait for my body to tell me what looked good. They had a ton of choices! I didn't think about what I "should" be eating for fuel. I just ate. Here's a list :)
*
Before--2 Honey Stinger Waffles (Vanilla)
Aid Station 1--Handful of M&Ms
Aid Station 2--2 Pretzels (had peanut butter in them!) and Handful of M&Ms
Aid Station 3--1/4 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Aid Station 4--Bite Size Twix Bar
Aid Station 5--2 Quarter Potatoes Dipped in Salt (mmmmmmmm!)
Aid Station 6--5 or 6 Saltine Crackers
During the Race (at other places)--2 Packets Orange Clif Bloks with Caffeine (minus one that fell out), Powerade added to my bottle at each Aid Station)
*
After the race, I had two pieces of pizza and a piece of cookie cake.
*
Post Race
I used the kids' wet wipes to clean up the dried mud on my hands and upper legs. There was way too much mud to get it all this way! I wished I had remembered to leave a change of shoes with the sitter. My feet HURT, mainly the two big toes on the sides. They were wet and rubbed for 31 miles, causing two big blisters to form, one on each toe. I ended up walking to the car barefoot. I claimed my prize for second female--$50 from North Face and some cool Mountain Mist arm warmers, pretty much winning back the money we used for the sitter!
*
That night, we took the family to Duffy's Deli at 5:30 p.m. for the post-race party. It worked out great, since they had just set out the food--white chicken chili--and it was free! We bought drinks and a dessert to split. Once people started arriving, we enjoyed swapping stories of the trails. Rick was teased for being "wifed" (I passed him at the end, like getting "chicked"), but he was so sweet and said something like he felt no shame in getting passed by a strong runner like me. I thought that was so nice of him to say. He also said that he was encouraged about longer distances now, following some disappointing marathons and ultras in the past. He took almost 30 minutes off of his old PR and can hold his head high with a sub 5:30 in Mountain Mist! The best part of the meal showed up with the race directors, Dink and Suzanne Taylor--leftover cookie cake! I got two pieces that were covered with icing. So yummy!
*
Reflections
I took Sunday off. Well, okay, we took the kids ice skating for a friend's birthday party. I was sore all over---but my ankles and lower back most of all. My blisters were hurting in the skates, and I was straining to hold up a wobbly four year old. Kind of hard.
*
Many of the local track club men (mostly from the Fleet Feet team) participated in a taco-eating contest on Sunday. The pictures were just hilarious! I guess if anyone should do a taco-eating competition, people who ran 31 miles the day before certainly qualify! They brought in the race time clock and everything to Taco Bell. Oh my!
*
Monday, I ran 6 miles with my group with little problem. Then later that day, I felt very tired. I had to lay down for awhile, and I had some shortness of breath (this is usual for me the day after a marathon). Today (Wednesday), I was able to run 6 miles and still feel good throughout the work day. So recovery is going well.
*
I am happy with my time--a new course PR for me by about 11 minutes! I am excited that I was able to quickly acclimate to the trails after only two training runs on trails. I hadn't seen the first half of the trails in a whole year! I'm happy that I have a very good "training run" for my upcoming marathon in March. And I'm ever so grateful to God for giving me a strong body to carry me to the finish line on Saturday.
*
Here are some pictures courtesy of We Run Huntsville and Gregg Gelmis:

The start line

Me around Mile 17

One of many stream crossings


Comparisons of my time at the 6 Aid Stations (2011, 2008, 2012):  
59:44  (1:05:45)  54:52
50:25  (1:00:54)  50:11
54:59  (1:12:31)  55:30
42:06   (52:31)    39:19
54:29   (1:09:08)  53:50
1:16:08   (1:43:01) 1:12:50

Bib number, prizes for 2nd female, and finisher award

Mountain Mist 2012 Brief Update

2012-01-30T13:55:00.000-08:00

New course PRs for Rick and me!

Rick: 5:28:52

Katie: 5:26:29

My number

Us after the race

More details to follow!

Time Goal

2012-01-27T12:35:00.000-08:00

I like to do the whole A-B-C goal thing to prevent any major disappointment on race day. I mean, the real goal is to finish the race, and there's no shame if that's the only goal you meet (take it from someone who's DNFed before). But, in all honesty, beating your course PR (or distance PR) is like nothing else! I don't know where my time will fall tomorrow. I do hope to finish, and doing close to how well I did last year would be great. But trail races are very weather and condition dependent, and the conditions for our race tomorrow are not ideal. The mud and wet conditions will slow us down.

So, to give myself a frame of reference for my aid split times tomorrow, I will bring a copy of my aid station splits from 2011 with me. This will help me know how I did in each segment of the race last year (when I got my course PR). If I am going slower due to course conditions, no big deal. But it the splits motivate me to run harder and faster, then that's great too. I cleaned up the splits from this post to make them much more readable! I also listed the splits from 2008 in parentheses for an interesting comparison. That was a very hard year for me, with some splits being almost 30 minutes from my 2011 time.

2011 Time Splits (trying to "compete" against these tomorrow)

2011 2008
59:44 (1:05:45)
50:25 (1:00:54)
54:59 (1:12:31)
42:06 (52:31)
54:29 (1:09:08)
1:16:08 (1:43:01)

Below are a couple of good Mountain Mist 50K race reports that I found through google.

http://www.ultrakrautrunning.com/2011/01/race-report-2011-mountain-mist-50k.html

http://run100miles.com/race-reports/mountain-mist-50k-2011/

Advice from a Good Source

2012-01-25T20:35:00.000-08:00

I hope you all enjoyed Rick's post yesterday. I love him and his vision to "paint the streets." He's talked some about writing this blog post in the past, and I'm glad he finally did it! He's an engineer, so I can see why he likes to "analyze" his runs and to keep a record of where he's been. After he posted his entry last night, I joked on him pretty hard that I should rename this blog to Katie and Rick's Blog About Mothering, Fathering, and Marathoning!! Tomorrow and Friday he takes the kids early to preschool (one each day) for Dads and Donuts. He's a great husband and a great dad too.

Rick at the Huntsville Half

I wanted to share some advice from our Huntsville, Alabama Fleet Feet owner, Dink Taylor. He is a great runner and is also director of the Mountain Mist 50K that will be held this weekend. I like his advice since it is time-tested by someone who runs a lot. The first link is from our weekly email newsletter from Fleet Feet, and the second was an article from Running Journal (link was posted on facebook this week).

On the Run With Dink (advice about what to eat as a runner)

Here is an excerpt I really enjoyed reading:

"How about what we eat? Boy, we could get thousands of opinions here. Let’s face it; in today’s world it
is much harder to have the “perfect” diet more than ever. Here is deal, if you have the “perfect” diet you
are probably spending too much time worrying about it and you need to simplify it and spend your time
doing something more productive, like training harder! What do I mean by simplifying your diet? First of
all just make common since choices. I by no means have a perfect diet nor do I plan to but I will say that
I graduated from High School in 1984. My weight has been consistent within 5lbs since. I actually
weighed on this past Monday (my once per week weigh day) 3lbs less than when I graduated in 1984.
Based on this I feel like I might have a good idea of how to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle. So
what to eat? I do not limit my diet in any way or from anything. Believe it. What I do try to do is make
good common sense choices." (emphasis added)

I wish more people would make "good common sense choices" like he says. I am talking to myself here! I have such a hard time knowing how much time to spend on food and food choices. I could live at the grocery store and spend all day in the kitchen preparing meals, and I just don't. Now that I have a family, I want to feed them healthy foods, but I do think that we need to remember everything in moderation.

On the Run: Shoe Advice from a Veteran Runner

Here is an excerpt I liked:

"I know which shoes work best for what workout and I do believe it has been one of the reasons I have been able to avoid injury. I rarely wear one shoe more than twice a week and I run every day. I never let myself get too dependent on any one shoe, the more you depend on one shoe or one brand, the more you are likely to run into problems. It is good to give your feet different feels each day, different types of support as you need to find a way to use all of the 200+ muscles in the foot. Repetitive use of the same muscles over and over can lead to injury. I hear folks all the time say something like, "I can only run in the Asics 2170." Sure it is a great shoe but let me tell you this. The 2170 is only around for one year, then it becomes the 2180, a different shoe. Maybe the changes are slight but if you go back 10 years in that same 2000 series, it is a totally different shoe. It was probably even designed by someone different. The guy that designed the 2100 might work for Saucony now. Running shoe designers move from one company to another, I see it all the time and they take their ideas on footwear with them. If you wonder about shoe rotations and what types you should be using, all you have to do is come in to Fleet Feet and we’ll figure out what will work best for you." (emphasis added)

This one was so interesting to me, to think that he rotates eight pairs of shoes at a time (this is in the article, not in the excerpt above)! He thinks we should not become too dependent on one shoe. I know I have been guilty of that in the past, but, actually, I never thought of it as a problem until reading this article!

Dink predicts this year's Mountain Mist will be slow and muddy. I trust him on that too! We are getting MORE rain tomorrow. I have heard that the trails are pretty much going to be streams at some points. And I've also heard that some vandals were moving the flags that several runners placed last Saturday. That is utterly ridiculous and very immature!

I am hoping for one good post about Mountain Mist, but it may have to be after the race! The week is going so fast that I've barely thought about the race. THANK YOU to all of the well wishes on my last post. I hope to have a good race report to share with you soon!

Rick's Street Painting

2012-01-24T18:46:00.000-08:00

Written by Rick Maehlmann (Katie's husband)

My intentions are for this to be a bit of a fun entry, but I’m probably admitting to being a geek more than anything with this post. I’ve had the idea for this post for some time, but now I’m finally pulling the trigger and making my thoughts reality. “Painting the streets” is an interesting concept for me. I didn’t even know I could do this with a Garmin watch until I was playing around with some software for our Garmin one day.

Before I get into how I “paint” streets, let me say a thing or two about GPS watches and how we ended up with one. Katie and I purchased a Garmin 405 a little less than two years ago. GPS watches aren’t cheap and the price alone probably would have prohibited us from purchasing one. A $50 Garmin rebate, and a $50 gift card to Fleet Feet made it a much more reasonable purchase. I’m the type of person who likes to know how far and fast I’ve gone. So, prior to purchasing a Garmin, I would often run the same routes with a known distance over and over and use a standard stopwatch in order to know my pace. But I also felt a bit confined because I like to explore. I really liked the fact that our Garmin opened up possibilities. After the purchase, I could run wherever I felt led and have a good idea about pace and distance.

Back to the idea about painting the streets. Like I mentioned, I was investigating the “Training Center” software for our Garmin and noticed an option to view the selected course in Google Earth. I noticed that, when I did, the course I had done was “painted” red on the map and I had an option to save that course. Viewing and saving several courses painted all of the paths I had run. The map slowly filled with more and more red “paint” as I saved each run. Looking at the map, I could see different connecting streets I hadn’t run and wanted to explore. So now I can run for a known distance and pace, explore, and the result is “painted” streets in Google Earth. Before runs I have started planning routes to explore a new area, street, or subdivision I haven’t run before. It helps keep the scenery new and interesting. Below are a few screen captures from Google earth.

Madison, AL

Greater Huntsville

Genome Way in Research Park

Read more of Rick's entries here, here, here, and here.

Less Than One Week to Go...

2012-01-23T19:11:00.000-08:00

With less than a week left to go before Mountain Mist, it is time to post about my strategies, time goal, and tapering. I don't have posts ready on any of that! I am feeling the usual mix of being unprepared. The waves of self-doubt are washing over me. But the fact that this is a really busy week for me is helping me to have less time to stress out!

All I can manage for now are a few bullet points.

The black toenail on my big right toe is REALLY black now! I am hoping I will not feel it at all in Mountain Mist.

The toe as it looks now

I LOVE my five year old son. Here is his note to me one night at dinner. Try reading it by sounding out the letters before seeing the caption for what it actually says.

"You are wonderful, Mom." Right back at you, kiddo!

Many of my friends have asked me, "So what exactly is an ultramarathon?" I assumed that it was any distance over a marathon, so technically it could be a 26.3 mile race. The 50K is the next common distance over the marathon distance, so, naturally, you hear about those a lot. Then I started to wonder if I was right after all, so I looked up the definition of an ultramarathon, and I was right. I liked reading about the two kinds of ultramarathons. Read the link to find out more.

I both love and fear the "informational email" we get this week about the Mountain Mist 50K. I wrote about it near the end of this post last year. This year, the part about what's available at each aid station struck me as something pretty funny to newbies or non-ultra runners. I think most people assume that you don't eat while you run or that you only drink fluids to replenish. NOT true for ultra runners. They eat anything and everything! This is from the informational email from the race directors: "The aid stations are well stocked with pretzels, chips, candy, Gu, cookies, coke, mellow yellow, and more junk! You should have no problem running this race without a personal aid crew. There will be a variety of food at each aid station!" I personally love the M&Ms and grab a handful at every aid station. Good fuel!

Wish me luck during the taper! I hope to have a couple of entries about the race before the big day up here so check back!

The Difference a Week Can Make

2012-01-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

If you are discouraged about how your weekly long run went, take heart! I find it fascinating that my long runs can vary so much week-by-week and also that the effort level can feel so different between runs too. Take a look at my last two long runs below.

On Saturday, January 7, I hobbled through a painful 12-miler with my hurting big black toenail. I didn't need 12 miles to know that it would be a hard run; I knew in the first mile that this run would be tough. I grimaced and stopped often (while also stopping my Garmin, usually a big "no-no" for me). It was NOT fun at all. On a level of 1-10 with 10 being the most painful, the toe was really only a 2 at the most, but it was just an ever-present annoyance that I could not get out of my head. I struggled to get an 8:52 average pace.

I took a couple days off from running to do the elliptical machine on Thursday and Friday this week, and I guess it made me very eager to run. On Saturday, January 14, I attempted another long run. I ran 20 miles on a whim with an average pace of 8:01, my fastest 20-miler in a long while. And it was done without any thought the night before about food, hydration, anything. It may be that Mountain Mist is quickly approaching and the need to get one more quality run crept in, or it may be "all" of the trail running that I've been doing that makes road running seem easy! I can't really figure it out, but it was nice to get a last 20-miler in at that pace before Mountain Mist.

Thoughts on Mountain Mist With Two Weeks To Go

I'm pretty nervous about running Mountain Mist with only two trail runs as training, but it'll have to do. I've done the Rocket City marathon and two 20-milers since then, so I have done enough distance (for me). I don't think it's possible to try to shoot for another course PR for me with so little trail running this time around. The big black toenail is actually a benefit now, since it cannot hurt during the run. And not running many trails prevented me from twisting an ankle, like I did last year during training (also see here). I guess I am playing the "pros and cons" for my training this year, trying to justify it and to feel confident about the upcoming race.

January 14, 2012

January 7, 2012

Mountain Mist training runs

2012-01-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

Don't prepare to be impressed, people. I have only done 2 trail runs in preparation for my 7th Mountain Mist. Both were the second half of the Mountain Mist course, a distance of about 15 miles each.

The importance of the second half (Why not the first?)

I always smile a little when we decide to do the second half, since five years ago I was eleven weeks pregnant with my daughter and dropped out at the halfway spot on the course. I never saw the second half of the course that year. It's very fitting that I should get to run this second half many times since then! Also in this section is the spot where Rick proposed to me eight years ago (at the top of McKay Hollow). But it's not just for sentimental reasons that I like running the second half. It also makes sense to use my time wisely. I don't get many opportunities to train on the trails, and the second half is MUCH tougher than the first in terms of terrain and climbs. It's better to get more experience on the second half while you feel good, so you will be mentally prepared for the challenge on race day when you are tired when you get to it.

I was lucky enough to run with some great trail runners on Saturday, December 17--Rick (my husband), Eric C. (Fleet Feet team captain), DeWayne S. (previous MM winner), and James F. (fellow FF team member). Needless to say, I was VERY out of my element with this group of men. Little old me was still recovering from the marathon the weekend before. No one else seemed phased by it at all (Eric had run a 3:10 and was still sailing in front of me the whole time!). We all had a moment where we sat at the crest of Waterline (I would say the steepest climb of the race--you actually climb on all fours up a waterfall). We just all sat down on this log and the steam was rising off of us as we recovered from the climb. It was a pretty neat moment--and one I felt proud of myself for hanging in there long enough to experience! I was complimented by the guys for my footwork on the big sharp rocks that lead up to Waterline and for my speed as we headed into McKay Hollow, though I quickly ran out of steam after that. I told the group that I hadn't been on trails since the cancelled McKay Hollow the year before! I didn't feel too rusty out there, just tired.

It was great having DeWayne along since I felt like I was getting secrets from a pro! He also climbs Waterline on all fours instead of trying to balance on two legs (he calls it "four wheel drive!"). He also commented that the REAL race begins at Mile 18. I plan to take that to heart on race day and to try to pace accordingly. He told us about some really good road racer that just completely dropped out of Mountain Mist because he couldn't (or didn't want to) continue into those last few really tough miles. I loved hanging with those guys that day and learned a lot from them.

I ran with Rick on New Years' Eve morning, again on the second half. He and I talked about how to pace yourself when you don't have a Garmin up there (I will only have my watch, and there aren't mile markers). The obvious answer--and the one I will try--is to use the aid stations (about every 5-6 miles apart) as indicators. I will write down my previous times (probably on my arm) and use that to gauge how I am doing. More about race strategy later.

Unfortunate effects of trail running are LOTS of mud covering your lower half and BLACK TOENAILS. I got a big black toenail from the trail run on New Year's Eve. It hurts much worse than the little toenails when they turn black. On Thursday of last week, I could almost not stand it anymore and was contemplating using a hot needle to pierce the nail to relieve the pressure or having Rick "drill" my nail (manually turn a drill bit into my nail). You know it was bad if I was contemplating those two solutions! Luckily, icing it and a good night of sleep helped me make it through the worst of it. I am on the mend now and will be running in 9 1/2s now, not 9s!

Muddy legs!

New big black toenail

Lovely.

Some tough miles (Rick's times on the Garmin, but similar to mine). Can you tell where the climbs were?

Victories and Defeats: My 2011 Year in Review

2011-12-30T21:15:00.000-08:00

January

The year started off on a great note! I finished my 6th Mountain Mist 50K trail run while wearing shorts on a snowy day. It was incredibly fun, and I managed to get my course PR (5:37:57) and got 5th overall female too. You can better believe I'm looking back at my entries about this race to see if I can beat my time this year! (To see my history with this race, click here. To see my race report, click here).

I opened up to my blog readers and shared a pretty detailed story of my past with anorexia here. I hoped it would be an encouragement to others facing similar struggles.

February

I wrote my favorite post ever here. I hope to hang on to the memories of that day (and this stage of my life) through that blog entry. I began loving documenting my day-to-day runs as much as I loved documenting the "bigger" races.

I ran the Myrtle Beach Marathon and got a new PR--3:18:05. It was a great race for me. The time caught me off-guard, but so did the finish--when I ended up in the medical tent. Read about it here.

March

I found out that I made the 2011 Fleet Feet Racing team here in Huntsville, Alabama and that I was chosen for the elite segment of the team. It was--and is---a HUGE honor. I wrote about it here.

A big disappointment was the cancellation of the McKay Hollow Madness, a local 25K trail run where I was hoping for a chance to defend my title. Instead, I made the best of it and unofficially ran the course during a thunderstorm (see here).

I had been looking for a way to prove one of my favorite quotes, and I think I did it that day rather nicely!

The challenge in running is not to aim to do the things no one else has done, but to keep doing the things anyone could do---but most never will. --Joe Henderson

April

A small defeat was having the Boston Marathon pass me by yet again (see here). It reminds me of Alexander Graham Bell's quote, "When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

I have had to close that door and not look back. I made a decision to enjoy the MANY other opportunities that have presented themselves to me other than Boston--for now anyway.

One of those other opportunities involved me revisiting St. Louis, the site of my first ever DNF marathon, for a second chance. Without my amazing husband, it would not have been possible. I enjoyed having his aid along the course--and his encouragement too. I still get teary-eyed reading about how he met me at Mile 22 at the spot where I'd dropped out the year before. The encouragement he gave pushed me along when I had nothing of my own to give. Read here.

May

I had a great time at the Memorial Day Cotton Row Run 10K, 5K, and 1-Mile events. My whole family was able to participate as spectators and runners, all dressed in our red, white, and blue. Read here.

Photo by James Hurley

June

I did some prep work for a sub 20 5K in July, including my first speedwork session, and I reflected on how much running takes away from my relationship with Rick. Yes, I don't always talk favorably about running!

July

I PRed in the Firecracker 5K with a 19:55 and scored a first overall female as well. Here is the race recap. It was wonderful to have babysitters at that race so Rick could pace me to the finish. I was also in the local news; see this entry. I won another 5K this month, the Paint the Streets 5K. See here.

In perhaps the biggest move of the month, though, I decided to commit to the 3:15 training for the Chicago marathon. Read here.

August

My entries this month vacillated between talk of setting my bar high to entries of doubt to many, many entries about the specifics of my training. Good posts to read if you are training for the marathon.

September

With the start of school came stroller runs in rush hour and rain. Read about them here. I wrote a nice entry about not comparing yourself to others. I need to reread this many times!

October

The big marathon month was finally here. I wrote more entries this month than any other month this year. It was such a victory for me to achieve my goal of a 3:15 (and a new PR) at Chicago. Read about it here and here. If it seems like I talked about it a lot this month, it's because I knew how special of a gift it was to me. I knew it may be the race of my lifetime.

But I was also reminded this month that there's much more to races than times at the Liz Hurley 5K, where I ran with a team from work in honor of two breast cancer survivors at our school. Read about it here.

November

I broke my 3rd PR for the year at the Huntsville Half Marathon with a time of 1:31:53. Read about it here. I knew then that this was a special year of racing for me. I wrote here about breaking my PRs in the 5K, 1/2 marathon, and marathon all within four months. The victory was in "beating" my old self--the one that wasn't a mother of two small children. I definitely appreciate each and every run more now, and I was thankful for the chance to reflect on my blessings from this year during a month full of thankfulness.

I earned a disappointing time in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day (a 20:58--my slowest 5K on the year, including the one I ran a week after my PR marathon). There was no denying that lack of speedwork was the cause for this time, but it was still hard to get out there to race and not feel the same "kick" as usual.

Photo by James Hurley

December

Though you're supposed to end on a high note, it wasn't the case for me in 2011.

My biggest defeat for the whole year was my pacing experience in the Rocket City Marathon. I felt like I let myself and others down. I wrote about it here.

*
While I can let things like a failed attempt at pacing or shoes that are wearing out too soon or even the struggles of fitting running into a busy schedule get me down, I choose not to let the year be defined by these moments of defeat.

Instead, I choose to see the victories. And they probably aren't the ones you are bringing to mind---the PRs, the second chances, the first place finishes. You see, if I look back over my year of running---and the entries on this blog that remain to define it---it was personal growth that I am the most proud of. The entries where I expressed gratitude for those who help me run, the entries where I tried new things, the entries where I opened up about who I once was, the entries where I revealed my relationship with God, the entries where I set a goal and made that first step towards it. For my two children, this blog will hopefully be a chance for them to see a glimpse of who I was at this stage of my life. I proudly showed that this year. A victory for sure.

Christmas Present!

2011-12-26T20:55:00.000-08:00

You know you're a runner when you get as excited about running shoes as you do with your new Kindle Fire! I was seriously spoiled this year getting these Nike Lunar Racers and the Kindle. The funniest part of the story (or not) is that I actually knew about both of these presents before Christmas. I found out about the shoes when someone at Fleet Feet mentioned that the shoes Rick ordered for me were in (I quickly said, "I'll pretend I didn't hear that!"). And the Kindle Fire arrived from Amazon in a box with the words "Kindle Fire" on the outside. Not too bright, Amazon! Rick, I still love the gifts even if they weren't surprises!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and that you are all getting your runs in despite the holiday craziness! I managed a nice 20 miler on Christmas Eve.

If you are a new reader or if you've never looked at these, I just updated my Biography and Favorite Posts pages (tabs right under my blog title). I admit that I love finding these "shortcuts" when I find a new blog to read. It helps me to read a little about the person and about what they think are their best posts before I read anything else. So in case you want to do the same thing, happy reading!

New shoes!

Running With My Girl in Fall and Winter

2011-12-23T07:53:00.000-08:00

We are in the home stretch before Christmas now. Unlike most people making big New Year's Eve night plans, Rick and I booked the sitter for New Year's Eve MORNING so we can get a special treat--a run together! My kids are off from school, and I am feeling majorly lazy. Not good when you have a 50K a month away. Today I SLEPT IN instead of getting up to meet the girls...and we were meeting 30 minutes later than usual! So right now I am debating whether to run with the double stroller or just do the elliptical machine instead. I am kicking myself for not getting up and running when I had the chance!

I am also reflecting back on a busy first half of the 2011-2012 school year. It's hard to believe that my son has made it to every day of his first half year of kindergarten and that I've personally dropped him off and picked him up for each of those days. And on time too! It's also hard to believe he's old enough to be in kindergarten. How I've loved seeing him grow this year.

I am most thankful for something I wouldn't have expected though. I am thankful for the Tuesdays and Thursdays with just my daughter and me home from school. She was born fourteen months after her brother, and we've never had any one-on-one days at home, just us two. For fourteen whole months, her brother had me to himself!

These two days each week are a gift, a treasure that I hope to not ever take for granted. Someday I hope we can look back together and remember the fun we had. Sure, it's mostly trips to the grocery store, dance class, and stroller runs, but these are moments that I can really get to know her, to see how she reacts without her brother dominating the scene.

She's cute and spunky and just a sweetie when she's by herself with me.

And, I'll admit it here, she's a GREAT running partner too! We take a run most Tuesdays and Thursdays, right after dropping her brother off at school. She takes her little puppy doll, her snacks and drink, and whatever accessory the weather calls for (I love her little pink hat!). On cold days, the Baby Jogger winter boot (bought when her brother was a baby) has paid for itself by giving her a warm, cozy place to snuggle in.

I look down as I'm running and see this mass of beautiful blonde curls and a big pink bow, and I hear her little voice squeaking up to me, and it's just love. I treat her with Fun Dips, her ultimate candy, and she spends her time licking that stick and then dipping her finger into the sugar again and again. I smile as I see her little green finger when she's done. I see her looking around at the scenery as we run through the neighborhood, and I admire the way her cheeks still have that full baby-look. I wonder if she will run like me one day (she's already got very strong legs!). I hope she is proud of me for being a runner. And, mostly, I am thankful for having my little girl to accompany me on some of the best runs of my life.

Fall run

Winter run

More on the Rocket City

2011-12-17T12:04:00.000-08:00

Bringing it in
Photo by Amanda Nichols

While I didn't write the last post so people could comment and try to make me feel better, I am glad you came through and did just that! I have had a few days to put things into perspective. A fun 15 mile trail run with Rick, Eric Charette, Dewayne Satterfield, and James Falcon today also helped ease the healing process! I am not utterly disappointed like when I first finished (Do you ever feel seriously emotional when you are finishing so it's hard to think clearly and rationally?). I was too caught up with that darn number.
*
However, I do stand behind the original sentiment in my last post. My team captain, Eric Charette, does pay attention to how close we got to our time and if we were under or over. He sent the pacers and the RCM committee an email where he listed all of us and then put our chip time and then put how much we were under/over by. He averaged how close we were to our goals (see below) and will likely use this in the future as evidence that we are accurate pacers. I am simply amazed at the efforts of my fellow pacers and for their ability to be just under pace. I just seem to be the only one who can't do it!
*
Here is part of his email:

I just thought I would let you and the RCM committee know how the Nike Pace Team runners fared on Saturday. We heard some amazing comments from runners and other volunteers how impressed they were seeing the pacers carrying the signs that came through right on schedule.

Their average was being UNDER by 42 seconds with some staying under by as close as 5, 7, 9 and 15 seconds to their goal time. Jay Lloyd even went as far as running even first and second half splits of 1:47:05/1:47:05. While not many runners stayed with the pace group leaders after mile 15 (turn into the wind) the pacers stayed even through to the end. This was tough to "leave" the runners as they slowed, but other runners (ahead) were also counting on the pacers to come in right on pace. A couple pacers just missed their times but wasn't due to fitness, but to watch/GPS issues and we did not have any complaints that I heard in these areas.

I am very proud of this team as running even pace for 26.2 miles doesn't just happen on race day; it takes practice and months of training. As my group neared the end, one runner said "This must be easy for you guys". The honest answer is "no". Running a marathon is never easy, especially at an even pace, mostly leading into the wind while the pack drafted behind.

I took my job seriously and felt like I fell short at the end. This email did not improve how I felt about my performance. I appreciate those of you that said you would try pacing again if you were me. One of the things I've always said about myself is that things don't come easy to me. They come with hard work. I've seen this in my running times in every distance. And I hope that I will see this in my pacing times as well, if I give it another chance.

Pacing Attempt #2

2011-12-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

Let's start with the end for now.

The end of Saturday, December 10 was a very awesome lasagna dinner for the marathon committee members (and, lucky for me, their spouses and children too!). These volunteers do such a great job and deserved the night to unwind together. My family enjoyed delicious food while we listened to some amazing speakers (Okay, I enjoyed the speakers while Rick chased the kids through the hotel halls. Just being real here!).

I really admired them all, like the guy who has run all 35 Rocket City Marathons, the 2nd place male and female finishers, and two friends of mine who were the 6:00 sweepers on the course (one who carried a broom the whole time to "sweep" the course!). The race director apparently gives the guy with the perfect track record a souvenir of sorts each year. One year he got the roll of toilet paper from a port-a-potty he used during the race! This year, he got a huge marathon sign that was on the ground on the course this year. Everyone jokingly gave him ideas of where he could display the sign at his house! The 2nd place guy said that our race had a small-town feel and that Huntsville runners seemed like a family, and I looked around and saw nods of agreement. I think he was pretty perceptive to notice that about us in such a short amount of time. The 2nd place girl was a sweet 31 year old mother of two who struck me as being so down to earth. She talked about how she did the "marathon math" at the end trying to figure out what she needed to run to finish in a certain time. It's refreshing to hear that even the winners struggle out there sometimes.

And now, here's the Race Recap for Marathon #24, Rocket City #4, and Pacing Attempt #2:

Before the Race

I began preparing for the race on Friday. I laid out a possible outfit (though I ended up changing out the base level for a tighter shirt race day), packed baggies of Clif Bloks and gummy bears, and pinned my number to my shirt. I lightly tapered by not running on Thursday and then doing 4 easy miles on Friday. I got back from a work party late on Friday, so I didn't go to bed until after 11. No worries, since my alarm was set for "sleeping in," or 6:00 a.m. Rick woke up before 4 a.m. to begin his job as course sentry director, and I tossed and turned after that. Doesn't matter; it's the night before the night before the marathon that matters, and I had slept great that night.

Clothes laid out, minus the hat and gloves. We had a chilly start!

The Race

Oh, how funny it is to me the effect the pacer sign has on people. Suddenly, anyone carrying the sign is Rocket City Marathon expert! Seriously, I was standing in line to go to the bathroom (while trying to hide the sign the best I could), and people were giving me these strange sidelong glances and others were asking me very bizarre questions about the marathon (one asked me what time I thought we would cross the start line. Hmmm.). I hurriedly went into the ballroom to find the rest of the pacers after that. I was glad to stash my car keys in my gear bag behind the registration booth (I think I carried them last year. I don't know what to do when Rick doesn't run with me!). We were supposed to line up at 7:45 a.m., so we all went out then. I was quickly greeted by several friends and others who were lining up too. I answered the usual questions about pace and the inevitable question, "Are you going to carry that sign the whole way?" (which was repeated several more times throughout the race. It's really not heavy, people!).

As predicted, I started out slow due to the crowds but quickly found pace after that. I know this is a race report, but honestly, there are not a whole lot of details that are specific to me from this race. In marathons where I am racing, there are so many moments where I am having to dig deep, to talk myself into keeping up the pace, but today it was all fairly good in terms of effort (minus a quicker pace near the last mile). I kept a smooth, steady pace without wavering. A highlight was kissing my husband, Rick, at Mile 18 (he was serving as a course sentry there in between his course set-up and take-down duties). One girl said, "So...I guess that was your husband?" For documentation's sake, I took my Clif Bloks, some gummy bears, and two Gus offered on the course. I never felt weak or like I couldn't continue on pace. That is why my end result was so maddening to me.

The Result

Have you ever looked back at something and realized where a pivotal mistake was made? And, if you could go back and change it, you totally would? That is how I feel about the last 5 miles of the marathon. You know how last year, I finished too fast and vowed NOT to do that again? Well, I overshot in the other direction this year. Hindsight is 20/20. We learn from our mistakes.

You know how I don't usually run with the Garmin? I have run 23 marathons and only two of those were with the Garmin. I am used to pressing lap at each mile marker of the race and using that to gauge my performance. Well, it never occurred to me to turn off the autolap feature on the Garmin. The Garmin beeped (indicating a mile) ahead of the actual mile markers. It never dawned on me that I would thus be running MORE THAN 26.2 miles. Oh yes, I was that dumb. I was SO focused on the trees that I missed the forest. I was SO intent on getting each mile in on pace, that I didn't think about the big picture. I saw the 8:58, but I did not see the 3:55.

I sadly realized the inevitable path of disaster I was on with one mile left to go. Yes, I am the pacer who did not think about overall pace until there was one mile left to go. Then, it was easy to add 9:00 to my watch time and to see that I was nearly two minutes too SLOW. I panicked and tried to book it to the finish, ending my until then evenly paced run with an 8:30 pace for Mile 26 and a 7:00 pace for the remaining .43. When I saw 3:56 on the clock, I was so mad and frustrated with myself. My only consolation is that most of my group had fallen behind me earlier than this and probably had been caught by the awesome 4:00 pacer. Many would still finish sub 4 hours, which was the goal of everyone that I talked to with a time goal in my pace group today (many had a goal merely to finish). My official chip time was 3:55:50 for my Garmin's distance of 26.43 miles. Oh, how eaten up on the inside I was about my mistake!! As soon as I finished, I grabbed some food quickly and called Rick to vent. I missed the chance to cheer in my group. I am just now realizing how my anger at myself cost me the joy and thrill of seeing my new friends finish the race. I was so embarrassed at my time that I forgot to consider theirs. I lamented to Rick about wanting a redo of the last 5 miles, so that I could gradually increase the pace and bring in the runners in 3:54:59. I will probably be haunted with that time for quite a while. I feel like I failed.
*
When I told this story to my friends today, they were like, "What's the big deal?" Since I am pretty new to pacing, I don't really know why it's so important not to go over. I got a 3:15:33 at Chicago, and I still say I got a 3:15 when people ask. I do know that with Boston's new qualification standards, there is no longer an allowance of "seconds over." So if someone needed a 3:55, used to be they could get a 3:55:59 and still qualify. Now they need a 3:55:00 or under (no seconds allowed).

I know I'm a perfectionist and very hard on myself, but I really think this race shows that I am not cut out for pacing. Just like when I was a new teacher, I feel like I am learning about pacing through the expense of others (when I taught, I learned how to teach at the expense of my first students). And I feel like a very slow learner. I've had two years now to "hit the target," and I've missed both times. And, frankly, this year was worse of a failure than last year's since being too slow is the worst thing a pacer can be.

After talking it over with Rick, I felt a little more encouraged about the job I did. He said it was an honest mistake and that it could have happened to anyone. He said that I should remember the people in the beginning who were thanking me for starting on pace. He said I should remember the people I encouraged along the way. And he reminded me that, in the end, it is an individual race. I can't pull along or hold anyone back. He said in many ways, I was more successful this year than last, and that I shouldn't dwell on the number on the clock so much (I think the way he actually put it was, "It's not as bad as you are making it seem."). I took comfort in the fact that he was trying to comfort me.

Running with Brandy
Photo by George Titsworth

POSITIVES

People came up to thank me for "holding them back" at the beginning. As someone who always starts too fast, I can see how a pacer could really help there. As the miles went on, many people mentioned how great it was that I was running consistent miles.
From the beginning, I encouraged the runners to pick up the pace at the end. I know that was a good thing to say, now that I know my outcome. I told them to shoot for a negative split.
There were not (to my knowledge) any people from my group who were trying to BQ. I talked to people who were running their first marathon and to people who were trying to break four hours. I am happy that I was able to pace them to do those two things.
I was able to give good advice from my experience in running while I was pacing. Examples are telling one guy named Seth about how I like to do a marathon a month. I think I talked him into running the New Orleans marathon after this one! My group was able to discuss many marathons with my personal accounts, along with others' accounts too. Some I remember that were mentioned were Boston, Myrtle Beach, Chicago, Nashville, Arizona, and New Orleans. It was fun "comparing notes" with people who had already run them and to give recommendations for those wanting a personal account.
I chatted with people. I had conversations about Madison (with a guy who lives on a street my group runs all the time), a guy's twin daughters who both run, and local races. I was there to listen as people shared with me and distracted themselves from the running.
I offered encouragement. For fun, I "cattle-prodded" two guys from my Sunday School class with my pacer sign. I encouraged a friend as she ran past me, one that ran with me, and one that I had to leave behind. I think it helped them to see a familiar face. I waved my sign and yelled, "Cheer for us!" many times as we approached big groups of people. (As a side note, if you are a spectator, please cheer for all the runners, not just "your" runner. It means a lot to hear the crowds, especially at the end. Even if the runners don't react with a big smile or wave, they still like your cheers. Trust me!)

NEGATIVES

I wished that I could either a) run backwards or b) have eyes in the back of my head. It was so hard to know who, if anyone, was still trailing me! I did get some indication at the aid stations, where workers would shout, "Whoa, that's a big group!" and scramble to get more waters! But when someone was talking with me and then fell back, I never knew if they were still with the group or not.
My inexperience with the Garmin did come back to bite me. I did not think about the fact that I would probably run MORE than 26.2 miles as I went along (yes, even though I have run 23 marathons, I wasn't thinking about this until the very end). I am NOT a math whiz or good at calculating pace in my head. That is simply not one of my strengths as a runner. I never really even thought about "running the tangents" as I was running; in fact, I usually ran on the outside of the turns so my runners could have the shorter route. I am a very literal person, and when it says to run an 8:58 pace, then I am going to run an 8:58 pace. It did not occur to me to adjust for the longer route until the very end. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late.
My overall time was 50 seconds too slow. I am majorly disappointed that I did not adjust my running earlier since I easily could have done this. My group had been warned of a negative split, so I easily could have run the second half two minutes faster to bring us in on time.
My group had thinned considerably around mile 20. I remember feeling bad that I was just cruising up a hill and leaving many of them behind, yet I had to stay on pace (little did I know I was actually behind pace). In a way, it helps me feel better than if they were being held back by their pacer at the end.
People asked me many specific questions about the Rocket City Marathon (such as where were the aid stations), and I was not able to answer those. I need to become more familiar with the route, the location of the aid stations, etc.

The medal

Ending Thoughts

Curious to see if I had ever run a 3:55:50, I found my closest time, a 3:56:02 from the Madison Marathon in Madison, WI in May of 2008. Twelve seconds separate these times, but the experiences are miles apart. In Madison, I was victorious, finishing my first marathon post-kids in my goal of sub 9:00 minute miles with Rick by my side. This year, I feel like a failure and that I let people down, and it's there for all to see. Yet both of these marathons (and most of my other marathons) fall in the 3 hour something range. So much depends on the numbers after that 3 and the experiences that surround them. I've had triumphant moments and crushing defeats all within this range. We runners live and die by the little numbers. To all of those who met with success (and whose numbers were in your favor out there), congratulations. You deserve to celebrate. To myself I say, there's always going to be another run. Another chance to make those numbers say a time I can be proud to claim.

Analyzing My Running Shoe Wear Patterns

2011-12-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

Here we are three days from the marathon, and all of the doubts/negative thoughts are starting to creep in.

Here are some of the thoughts I have scrolling through my brain today:

"You should've practiced more with the Garmin."

"What if the Garmin dies in the marathon?"

"Have you really trained enough for this?"

"What if you wear too much and get hot during the race?"

"Did you just slack off after Chicago?"

"Are you tapering enough?" (Ran 6 miles Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday of this week)

"What if you can't do it?"

I usually find that I will overfocus on one thing when I have all of this nervous energy. It is currently on the wear on the bottom of my shoes.

I mentioned to Rick one day that I felt like I was wearing out my shoes really quickly, more like 200 miles instead of the 300-500 miles you are supposed to be able to run in them. I told him that I start to hurt when I run in shoes with worn tread, so I replace my shoes a lot. There were something like five old pairs in our garage just cluttering it up, so Rick decided to take those over to Fleet Feet to donate them. He looked on the bottoms and told me that I really was wearing my shoes out pretty badly. I decided to take pictures and bring the old shoes in to Fleet Feet to see if someone can help recommend a shoe that is better for my foot. It is obvious that I am wearing the outside heel of my shoe out, so I did a little research on my own. Here was an article about the different types of runners--pronators, neutral, and supinators (or underpronators). Runner's World had more on supinators. This one seemed to agree with my wear pattern the best.

Why focus on this now? As I said before, I think I am diverting some nervous energy. But there are many benefits to making sure I am in the right shoe! I can think of several. Saving money on shoes that fit right and wear correctly, avoiding injuries, and just minimizing my annoyance of watching my foot striking the ground on the outside edge as a run. I have been staring at my feet as I run lately, and that's not a good thing.

Here's some pictures in case you wanted to see the evidence:

Uneven wear

I'd say that the outer edge is pretty worn out.

The black tread is separating from the shoe.

Another picture of the left shoe, which is slightly worse than the right. I actually notice this foot landing incorrectly as I run.

Any thoughts/advice on the matter?

Seeds!

2011-12-05T14:30:00.000-08:00

Here are the seeds from our Fleet Feet Racing Team for the Rocket City Marathon. If you are new to marathoning or racing, you may not know what a "seed" is. Basically, it is an honor to be seeded with a low race number. They seed you based on your recent times (usually of the same distance) compared to others in the race. So, if I am seeded first, I have the fastest recent marathon time, and thus, I am favored to win this race also. Of course, I am not seeded first in the marathon! But I did get seeded 14th (women's seeds began at 1100). I am quite proud of that seed! I don't feel bad at all knowing that I will not get a chance to race with the other seeded women on Saturday. I am even prouder of being asked to pace the 3:55 group! A total of 5 team members will be pacing rather than competing in their seeded positions that day, so I am not alone.

Here is what Eric Charette wrote on the Fleet Feet Racing Team blog about our team's seeds:

With Rocket City Marathon coming up this Saturday, the Huntsville Track Club has announced the top seeds for Men and Women. Among them are quite a few runners from the Fleet Feet Racing Team and Fleet Feet employees who are either racing or have volunteered to be Nike Pacers as noted.

Seed / Recent Marathon Time / Marathon PR / Name / Age
17 2:41:20 2:41:20 Tim Vinson
19 2:43:40 2:43:40 Eric Charette (3:10 pacer)
20 2:44:00 2:44:00 Brandon Mader (3:00 pacer)
22 2:48:00 2:46:00 Zachary Koch
26 2:52:00 2:42:30 Dewayne Satterfield (3:05 pacer)
27 2:53:04 2:53:04 Blake Thompson
29 2:54:52 2:54:52 Kevin Betts
32 2:58:00 2:58:00 David O'Keefe (3:15 pacer)

Seed / Recent Marathon Time / Marathon PR / Name / Age
1103 2:54:21 2:54:21 Candace Jacobs
1114 3:15:00 3:15:00 Katie Maehlmann (3:55 pacer)
1126 3:28:18 3:28:18 Jillian Koch

Also serving as pacers from the Racing Team are Eric Patterson (3:30), David Rawlings (3:45), Christy Scott (4:00), Linda Scavarda (4:25), Kathy Youngren (6:00) and Rob Youngren (6:00).

Best Individual Performances

2011-12-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

After this entry on my own 2011 best performances, I thought it would be great to link up to my team's blog so you could see all of the great performances we've had this year. Here is the blog for the Fleet Feet Racing Team of Huntsville, Alabama. What I find pretty amazing is that one of our captains, Eric Charette, writes the blog and was able to correctly identify each member's best performance. He knows us all that well. Eric did ask Rick (my husband) to verify the race he thought was Rick's best performance, but he knew that Chicago was mine (I, of course, agree). Eric is pretty amazing to know all of us that well. He really celebrates each victory with all of us, but he was one of only a few to offer condolences when I failed at St. Louis too. I have great respect for someone who can know each of his teammates that well.

Our team will choose winners for the Best Male and Female Performance of 2011. I don't plan to win, since we have so many outstanding performances this year (and every year). But it does feel pretty amazing to be compared with these great athletes. I feel very blessed to have such great competitors and friends. Just yesterday, we stuffed packets for the Rocket City Marathon, and we caught up with and joked with our fellow teammates who were also volunteering their time. Our children played with Candace's little boy (Candace is the overall female winner of the marathon last year and a fellow teammate). It feels great to have these friendships--with teammates and with other runners too! We have a great running community, and I am so thankful for it!

Black Toenails Update

2011-11-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

I have had many people find my blog by searching "black toenails," and, as sad as this is to admit, my post titled "Black Toenails and the Cookie Dash Run" is my most popular post ever (Okay, that's kind of really sad for me. Not a marathon post. Not even a training post. A post about black toenails. Sigh.) I can only conclude that this is a topic you want me to keep talking about! And I aim to please! This is the fourth post in a series of posts about my poor, ugly toes (see here, here, and here).

Most recently, I lost my middle toenail on my left foot while wearing shoes and socks. It was really gross. I came to take my shoes off after work, and I felt something that I thought was a small twig in my sock. I thought it was weird that it had gotten inside my sock. That's when I realized that it was actually my toenail just floating around in my sock. Yuck.

Here is my vacant middle toenail with one to the right that is just growing back.

Middle toenail fell off

My right foot's toenails have been hurting when I run. I wish they would go ahead and fall off. They are very ugly and are very hard to conceal. I even tried to (see the nail polish!), but you can still see the black around the edges (toe next to big toe). The toenail next to my little toe is about to fall off now. I can raise it up and wiggle it around, kind of like when you would have a really loose tooth as a kid. I know it's gross, but how else do you talk about black toenails?

Black toenails in different stages

Well, that is all I have for now about my black toenails. I know you are all very jealous of my beautiful feet! Hopefully I will have something more substantial for you next time!

First and Last 20 Miler for the Rocket City Marathon: Pacing Practice

2011-11-25T18:22:00.000-08:00

I am running in the Rocket City Marathon on December 10, 2011 as a pacer for the 3:55 group. This will be my second time to pace in the marathon. You can read about my time last year here and here. I felt somewhat discouraged about my pacing experience last year and vowed to be more on pace this year. If you reading this because you want to run in the 3:55 group, let me assure you that I will get you there on pace this year. The things that I learned last year will help me, as will having a faster pace (I paced the 4:15 group last year). I take my responsibility very seriously. In most marathons, I only have myself to let down, but as a pacer, I have others relying on me. I don't want to let anyone down. But to be honest, pacing is a challenge for me. It will involve very controlled running, something that I struggle to do well.

If you have never heard about pacers before, I would like to share a quote from Eric Charette, organizer of the pace teams, who says pacers are chosen "based not only on their ability to cover the distance within a certain time, but they are also outgoing and dynamic people who are able to motivate runners. They are all experienced marathoners who have deep knowledge of endurance running and all have run a marathon within the previous year that is at least 20 minutes faster than the pace group they are leading." I would like to add that I've always seen pacers as helpful if you are trying to Boston Qualify. The 3:55 time is a 2013 BQ time for males 60-64 and females 45-49. So those two groups of people will probably make up a large portion of my pacing group. I am excited to also have people in my group who are wanting to break 4 hours. I hope to see many of them reach this milestone!

In preparation to pace the 3:55 group, I ran my first and last 20 miler for the Rocket City Marathon last Saturday, November 19. I am still well trained from the Chicago Marathon and, more recently, the Huntsville Half Marathon. This training will help me in the marathon, but I still wanted at least one 20 miler just for this race. If I were running a training run for a regular marathon (not one I am pacing), I would shoot for a pace somewhere between 60 and 90 seconds slower than my marathon pace, or between an 8:30-9:00 pace. For this run, however, I wanted to be exactly on pace. I thought it would be a nice challenge and that it would help prepare me for pacing (I know there are some newer marathoners that read my blog out there, so note that running your long runs at pace is NOT recommended!!). I somehow remembered the pace per mile wrong though, so I thought I needed 8:55s when I actually needed 8:58s. Close enough!

The run was a success even though my splits were not consistent, especially in the beginning. I was running with Jane then, and we were not paying attention to pace. When I ran alone, I was paying more attention and was more consistent. I also ran a fairly hilly course! At Mile 19, I conscientiously slowed my pace to a 9:23 to bring my average down. I felt very in control on this run, and it gave me a lot of confidence about my pacing this group in two weeks.

Splits (aiming for 8:55 pace)
1 9:03
2 9:00
3 9:03
4 8:56
5 9:08
6 9:24
7 8:35
8 8:43
9 8:58
10 9:01
11 8:26
12 8:46
13 8:48
14 8:46
15 8:46
16 8:52
17 8:52
18 8:58
19 9:23
20 8:43
Average 8:55 pace/691 elevation gain

I've met people who just love pacers and people who pretty much hate them. But I've learned that walking in someone's shoes can do wonders for how you view them. I now have so much respect for the pacers in the marathons I've run, even though I've never been in a pace group myself! Running a marathon at a pace 20 minutes or more slower than your marathon time is very challenging. Pacers are doing this selflessly for the other runners, for anyone that wants to run in their group. I have a lot of respect for anyone willing to give that a try!

Breaking 3 PRs in 4 Months

2011-11-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

Strong legs help me set a PR in the Huntsville Half.
Photo by Brandy Titsworth

The Old PRs

I'm 34 now, and until this year, all of my PRs were from before I had kids. Most were from around eight years ago. I had more time to run and not as many responsibilities back then. I was okay with the fact that my PRs were older. And those old times seemed really fast to me...up until last year. Last year, I finally decided to try to tackle the PRs.

As my racing times got down close to my old times, I started really learning my PRs (yes, for a long time I didn't know them offhand). I started memorizing them and knowing what pace per mile each event was. I studied how to convert one distance's time to another. I started reading about my old PRs races (the ones that I remembered, like this one). And I started training to beat those times.

The Targets (My Old PRs)

Spirit of Halloween 5K October 2003 20:01 (26 years old)

Half Marathon

Huntsville Half November 2004 1:34:51 (27 years old)

Marathon

Rock 'N' Roll San Diego June 2003 3:21:54 (25 years old)

The person I was competing with was my younger self. With this, I experienced the joy of quite a challenging task. I enjoyed "racing" against a younger women who hadn't had two kids---ME!

I set out to tackle the marathon first because I was doing a lot of those, and I was seeing a steady improvement of my times (with four marathons, I saw a steady decline of just over 20 minutes). By November 2010, I had entered the 3:20s again in the marathon (albeit a 3:29!). I had read about my old marathon splits ad nauseam by this point. Still, my old PR (3:21:54) from the Rock 'N' Roll San Diego still seemed fast to me. If you've run many marathons, you know that eight minutes can be A LOT in a marathon. Yet I knew how I approached the marathon. I knew about my tendency to start fast and then slow down. I knew I could follow that approach again and be successful. It took Myrtle Beach's flat course after my yearly 50K (and its training) to get me to the 3:18:05 (little did I know I would break that new PR just eight months later!).

With that one time, it was as though anything was possible for me. I began what became the best year of running that I've had in my "career." I went on to target and then attack the 5K (new PR set at the Firecracker 5K in July 2011) and the half marathon (new PR set at the Huntsville Half in November 2011). Between those two, I PRed again in the marathon with a 3:15:33 in Chicago, proving to myself that my 3:18 was no "fluke."

Lessons Learned
People have asked me, "What's next?" and honestly I don't know. I guess a small goal would be to break that tough 10K PR. But then what? A 3:10 marathon? A 19:30 5K?

For now, on the eve of Thanksgiving, I think it is appropriate to just take a moment to be thankful for this year of running, one that may likely be the best year I will ever have. Not many people can smash through 3 eight year old PRs in one year. I know that. I know that I will probably never experience a "comeback" like that again. And I know that the comeback was in part thanks to the regularity of my running with my morning running group. They are the real reason I am thankful. Running with them may have helped those times to come, but it is the friendships I have that mean so much more to me. Yes, I am so thankful that I got to experience the thrill of beating my younger self. But so much has happened in the past eight years. So much life. It's made me realize how silly caring about these PRs can be. Yet a piece of me still takes pride in the toughness, determination, and persistence that made them a reality.

New PRs

Firecracker 5K July 2011 19:55 (33 years old)
*

Half Marathon

Huntsville Half November 2011 1:30:53 (34 years old)
*
Marathon
Chicago Marathon October 2011 3:15:33 (34 years old)

Finish Line Pictures from the Huntstville Half Marathon and Why Pictures are Important

2011-11-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

These pictures are courtesy of my friend's husband, Tony Scott. The neat thing about the Scott family is that they were all involved in the Huntsville Half Marathon in a different way. Christy ran the half marathon while Tony took pictures and cheered at the finish line. Courtney, their daughter, babysat our kids with the help of their son, Brandon. They were highlighted at our Huntsville Track Club banquet this month when Christy received the 2011 Admiration Award. This family is a good example of how everyone in your family can play a part in a race, even when they are not all running!

I have given a lot of though recently to how thankful I am for facebook and for those who use facebook to share albums for runners at different races. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. That is so true with racing! In running, having a picture to look at can really take you back to a special moment, one that you may have been too out of it to appreciate while you were living it! I have ZERO pictures from most of my earlier races since I was usually there alone. With facebook, I have been tagged in several people's albums. Some that I remember are the We Run Huntsville group, Gregg Gelmis, James Hurley, and Tony Scott. I, in turn, have taken pictures at different races too. Having a picture of the moment you cross the finish line is such a special thing. It takes you right back to that moment. It is thanks to people like this who think of others that we have pictures to remember these moments of our lives. I know I am grateful to have them!

Here I am crossing the finish line (looks to me like I am actually getting a 1:30:52 instead of the 1:30:53 in the results!).

Photo by Tony Scott

I used up EVERYTHING I had when I raced and could not even hold my head up when I was done! I know I look sad or even defeated in this picture, but I am actually very happy, just glad to be done. I stayed with my head down like this, gathering my thoughts and being thankful for being done, while I walked through the finish chute.

Too tired to even hold up my head!

While we are on the subject of special running pictures, I thought I would share my FAVORITE running picture ever. This picture is from the Rocket City Marathon in 2001, taken by Mr. Fahey (I forget his first name!). This is my first picture ever with my husband, who was just my friend at the time. Since this picture was taken obviously before facebook, the fact that I have a copy of it means that Mr. Fahey printed it out for me or Rick. This picture is priceless to us and made it into our slideshow at our wedding. All thanks to a friend who was willing to capture a very special moment!

Rick, Katie (and John Christy) running Rocket City 2001

Huntsville Half Marathon 2011 Race Recap

2011-11-13T12:18:00.000-08:00

Huntsville Half Marathon

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Prerace

I didn't give a whole lot of consideration training-wise to this race. Thought I did rest on Thursday, I ran on Friday for about 5 miles with the double jogging stroller. I woke up on Saturday with a slightly sore upper body from that. Oh well. The weather had been perfect on Friday, and I enjoyed spending the day off without having to get up early to run (Rick was off too but spent the whole day staining our fence).

On Saturday morning we made it to the race around 7:15 a.m. The race takes place at Hillwood Baptist Church in Southeast Huntsville, right off of South Parkway. The church lets us use their facilities, so we can stay warm in their gym and use their bathrooms before the race too (I am not a port-a-potty fan, so that is important to me!). I actually hit the bathroom 3 times before the race, so it was good to have a nice one to use! Our babysitter, Courtney, got our kids busy on the church's playground as we headed to the start line.

I chatted with a few friends before the start and ran into most of my running group also. I think there were 8 of us running in the half, which is almost all of our group. For 3 of the girls, it was their first half. It was exciting to think that they were about to run further than they'd ever run before and to know they had a nice medal and finisher's shirt waiting for them at the end!

The Race

As the race begun, I fell into pace with my friend and fellow Fleet Feet teammate Kathy Youngren. Kathy is an amazing runner (visit the Fleet Feet Racing Team website to read her bio and PRs). It felt fun and even lighthearted to be running with her and some of our other teammates. They were joking around, and the atmosphere was just very positive. I didn't feel like I was in the beginning of a very tough race! I asked Kathy what pace she was aiming for, and she said 7:15. Well, our first mile came in at 6:32! I guess you could say we were banking that time for later!

The race passed back by the church (I think) in the 3rd mile. Here is a picture of Kathy and me running side by side.

Katie (back left in black) and Kathy (in same uniform) in the Huntsville Half
Photo by James Hurley

You can see in this picture that there was a girl right ahead of us. She came from out of town and was a very strong runner. We weren't able to pass her.

I ran with Kathy until Mile 7, one of the greenway miles. I ran out of steam and my pace dropped a little while hers stayed the same or even increased by a bit. After the turnaround (Mile 8? I am NO help at all with specifics of this course!), I was so encouraged by my friends calling out my name as they made their way to the turnaround. "Go Katie!" helped me feel so much better, even though I was still struggling with feeling out of gas! I made it a point to try to see each person who called my name, and to in turn shout back similar encouragement. It made the miles go by very fast! I think I did this exchange probably 20 times or so. It was fun for me to see where each of my running group friends was too. Everyone looked strong! After passing all of my friends, I took to just calling out, "Keep it up!" or "Looking strong!" to the people near the back. It helped distract me from how I was feeling and hopefully was an encouragement to them also.

Around Mile 10, I decided that I only had a 5K left to go. I figured I could stick with it for that long! I actually caught up to and then passed Kathy around Mile 11. I figured she would stick with me, but she didn't. So it was a pretty lonely last few miles, but I knew the end was near. Rick had warned me about a slow 12th mile but then a fast 13th. I proved him right by running a 7:15 12th mile (my slowest in the race) and a 6:45 13th mile (my second fastest in the race). At Mile 13, I actually made some audible grunts as I chugged up the last little hill to the finish. I saw the clock with 1:30 on it and was ecstatic to be getting a PR! I crossed with a time of 1:30:53, 5th overall female and 1/80 in my age group. It felt great to have exceeded my expectations.

Then it was time to find Rick and the kids and to see how all of my friends did. The neatest story was how 2 of my Sunday School friends were running next to my hairstylist and befriended her along the way. Seeing them all come and and congratulate one another was so neat! I also saw my friend Tracey finish in 1:47, an impressive 1st half time! Her family of 5 children were all watching her come in. I enjoyed getting my medal, finisher's shirt, and a nice reflective vest as my age group award, plus filling up with bagels and pizza!

Look for another post about how I have now beaten 3 of my 8 year old PRs (the 5K, half marathon, and marathon) in 4 months!

Splits

1 6:32

2 6:50

3 6:49

4 7:01

5 6:51

6 6:57

7 6:54

8 7:03

9 7:10

10 7:02

11 6:55

12 7:15

13 6:45

.1 :43

1:30:52

6:56 pace

5th Overall Female

1st AG

Huntsville Half November 12, 2011

2011-11-12T14:46:00.001-08:00

New PR! 1:30:53 More details to follow!

Picture by James Hurley

Huntsville Half Marathon Goal Setting

2011-11-06T09:24:00.000-08:00

The Huntsville Half Marathon is this Saturday, November 12, 2011. I did a little digging back to see some of my old half marathons, just to get feel for how I think I can do. I haven't done many of them!

Here are the ones I found:

2000: Rocket City Half Marathon* Huntsville, AL November 4, 2000-- 1:42:56 1st in AG
My first half ever, and probably my longest run ever at the time. Entered on a whim! I could not even find my old bib for this one. It was before I started saving them. I found a set of race results I had printed off of the computer. Besides Joe Francica (1st OA), I didn't even recognize any of the top men's names.

*The Rocket City Half Marathon is now the Huntsville Half; it just changed its name in 2004.

2001: Freeze Your Half Off Half Marathon Auburn, AL February 10, 2001-- 1:37:59 4th in AG
Graduate student at Auburn this year. I was surprised to see this below my results: Candace Chambers 1:38:19. Those of you local runners may know this girl. Her last name is now Jacobs. Candace wins almost every local race these days. She's come a long way since 2001 (assuming this is the same girl?)!

2002: Can't find any results

2003: Rocket City Half Marathon November 8, 2003-- 1:35:50 2nd in AG, 6th OAF

2004: Huntsville Half Marathon November 13, 2004-- 1:34:51 (PR) 1st in AG 4th OAF (results from Athlinks)

I have not run a half marathon road race since 2004. In 2005, I was pregnant. Then in 2006, I had a four month old and did not run it.

I do have a really fun/crazy memory from the Huntsville Half Marathon in 2007, though. I remember dropping Rick off so that he could run the half and then heading to the Aldridge Creek Greenway to run my own half marathon (on the section not on the course). We had a sixteen month old and a two month old at the time. We decided that Rick was definitely in better form to race than I was, but I was training for Mountain Mist and needed a long run that day. So I pushed the kids in the double stroller for my own half marathon. Then I nursed my daughter in the car and headed back to pick up Rick from the race.

When I bring up these stories (also like this one), it is not to make anyone feel sorry for me or to make people impressed by what I did. It is just to show that if you really want something, you will make it happen. You won't let obstacles stop you. I hope it can inspire you to try something you never thought you could do. I am constantly getting inspiration by those around me (Today I got reinspired by Ben Davis in the video found here. Thanks, Runner's World!).

In 2008 and 2009, I did not run it (I can't remember why, but having kids will do that to you! I do remember volunteering as a course sentry one of those years). In 2010, we were running the Marshall Marathon on that weekend.

All of this to say that I haven't run many half marathons for one reason or another. I've run twenty-three marathons but only four half marathons. I guess I would say that I prefer the marathon over the half, and my focus has been on training for and racing those events instead. I've definitely had to become more selective about the races I do over the last five years. The half marathons have kind of fallen by the wayside. This year, though, Rick and I have a sitter for the kids, and we're both ready to compete!

Setting My Goal For the Half Marathon

Looking back, my current PR is a 1:34:51. Here's why I think I can beat that on Saturday: My half split in Chicago was a 1:34:10! But we all know that a half spilt does not count as a half marathon, so I will have to perform at my best on Saturday if I want to PR.

While I was aiming for a 7:26 pace in the marathon, I will aim for around a 7:00 pace in the half. Pace calculators like this one can help you figure out your overall time for a pace. The 7:00 pace per mile is a 1:31:46. The McMillan pace calculator puts my predicted half time at a 1:32:43 (7:05 pace) based on my most recent marathon time. I would be happy with that time also; the goal is simply a new PR.

The biggest obstacle for me to achieve this will be the lack of speed work since the marathon. I like to give myself sufficient recovery from marathons (I have tried shortcuts here in the past with awful results!). I have taken my full 26 days of recovery (one day per mile raced). I haven't pushed, except for two 5K races, since the marathon. This can either mean that I'm fresh with a good base of training or that I'm out of shape from not doing speed work in a month. No runs at a 7:00 pace can also hurt me as I try to find that pace during the half marathon. It should feel slower than my 5K pace (by 30 seconds a mile) but faster than my marathon pace (by 30 seconds a mile). This sounds nice and easy to me (but, of course, I am sitting at my computer and not attempting to run it!).

Most of my running group will also be at the half marathon on Saturday, some running their first half ever. To all of the runners, I wish you luck and a great race!

Bank of America Chicago Marathon Pictures

2011-11-03T17:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the Bank of Chicago Marathon:

Early morning excitement!
Rick, Katie, and our friend, Teddy

I love it! Squeezing cold water on my head with discarded sponges all over the ground!
(Strange place to be taking pictures!)

Chinatown!

Ahead of lots of men in this picture!

Lookin' tough
Don't mess with me!

Finishing!
I love the arms up in victory all around me!

Cool backdrop!

IMT Des Moines Marathon October 18, 2009

2011-11-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

Disaster Strikes

The IMT Des Moines Marathon on October 18, 2009 was the marathon-that-almost-wasn't for Rick and me. I called it our unlucky state #14! As I look back, it's probably the marathon that proved how tough I am and how much I want to be able to run marathons. Not only would it have been easier to not run this marathon, it arguably would have been smarter and even safer too. The things you really want sometimes involve risks, but they are worth it in the end. They prove what you are made of.

Preparing for the Trip from Alabama to Iowa

We were preparing to run a marathon a month after our Maui Marathon on September 20, 2009. It seemed like the best use of our training to find another marathon to run roughly a month after Maui. We had done this before with good results, and we were eager to get back into marathons after a pretty big hiatus. Iowa came up as a possible state since it was close to Wisconsin. Wisconsin was where my younger sister, Laurie, lived at the time, and she was willing to come over to Iowa and watch the kids for us as we ran (to see the entry about how Laurie helped us during the Madison, WI marathon go here). So that is how the IMT Des Moines Marathon came up as a possibility for us.

I am thankful for Rick, since he is a planner and I am more of a dreamer. He planned this trip for us, mapping the route, making hotel reservations, and registering us for the race. Everything was in place and going according to plan when his work called him to Cape Canaveral, Florida at the last minute, right before we were supposed to leave for Iowa. I was crushed. There was no way for him to make it back in time for us to drive up to Iowa together. I started thinking that maybe I could drive up there alone. Now, the kids were two and three years old back then, and the trip was almost 800 miles, or at least fourteen hours with stops. And I never drive on our car trips thanks to a great husband who always drives! All of these things were BIG obstacles for me to get around if I wanted to run the marathon. And at the time, it was just for me. We both decided that Rick's chances of getting up there to run it were very slim due to the work situation in the Cape. I had decided to do the drive alone when, at the last minute, my mom refused to let me drive it solo and agreed to come along with me.

The Trip Up

The trip from Alabama to Iowa with two toddlers was pretty rough, and I really don't think I could have done it without my mom's help and a trusty GPS. The thing that I remember most about the trip was stopping for dinner at Subway near the kids' bedtime (about 7:00 p.m.). My mom was thinking we would be looking for a hotel in that city since we had been on the road all day. I refused to stop, changed the kids into their nightclothes, and drove for five more hours while they slept in the back. Those of you with young kids know that it is much better to get driving time in while they are sleeping. I did not want to strap them in for five hours when they were fresh in the morning. I wanted them to be in Iowa. I was in rough shape when we arrived near 1:00 a.m. at the hotel. As we shuttled sleeping children and luggage into the dark hotel, I wondered what I had been thinking when I decided that I could safely do this part alone. I was thankful my mom was there.

At the hotel the morning after the day-long car ride

Day Before the Race

If I remember correctly, the drive occurred on Thursday, so we had all Friday to explore Des Moines. It turned out to be a great plan. We used a reciprocal gardens pass to visit their botanical gardens and shopped at a great mall. Below is a picture of the yummy Cheesecake Factory cheesecake slice that we all split after lunch.

Carbo-loading?

We used the GPS to find the expo, since Rick had programmed the directions in it before he left for his trip. I--of course--picked up his packet too, but we still didn't know if he'd be able to get here to run the race. He was trying to fly from Florida to Iowa with a midnight arrival time. Oh yeah, and we told Laurie (a grad student who had a ton of work that weekend) that she did not need to come watch the kids after all since my mom was with us. It turns out that two years later, we eventually found another race for her to help out at!

The next two pictures show us outside of the expo and at the pasta restaurant. We brought spaghetti home to eat in the hotel room. My son loves to tell the story of how he spilled his pasta all over the white hotel bed as he ate. I think it is one of his earliest memories!

Outside the expo

Getting pasta to go
This picture sums up this trip to me---a mom first and a marathoner second.

I tried to get some sleep in our little room while waiting to hear Rick's arrival at midnight. I was so glad to hear the key in the door! He had made it and would be able to run after all! Little did I know that his experience in the marathon the next day would be less than ideal.

The Race

I don't remember too much about this race, but here's a bulleted list of the things I do remember:

Beautiful fall leaves on the streets (I loved the beautiful changing leaves!)
Bagpipe music being played on the course
Chatting with other runners
Beautiful rainbow bridge we ran over with little rainbows cast from little prisms in the railings
Getting sub 3:50 for the first time in five years
Waiting for Rick while sipping a free beer at the post race party (good sized marathon)
Buying our marathon medal display holder as an early Christmas present

Splits
1 8:35
2 8:13
3 8:16
4 8:39
5 8:51
6 8:33
7 8:25
8 8:28
9 8:27
10 8:20
11 8:20
12 8:07
13 8:29
14 8:32
15 8:27
16 8:22
17 8:19
18 8:42
19 8:50
20 8:56
21 9:14
22 9:24
23 9:40
24 9:54
25 9:23
26 9:31
.2 2:10

overall 3:49:19
8:46 pace
420/1367

We made it back to the hotel relieved that all had ended well (that is, we both finished the state!). For me, the 3:49:19 marked the first time in five years to go below a 3:50. I raised my bar after that and no longer made my goal sub-four hours. I credit my time at this race for giving me the confidence to run the 3:35 I got the following February at the Mardi Gras marathon. I was getting the hang of running marathons while mothering young children!

Iowa finishers!

Hard-earned

Returning Home

We returned home on a two day trip (yea!), stopping in St. Louis to stay the night at my aunt and uncle's house and to see Rick off on an airplane back to the Cape (where his hotel room there was waiting for him). Above is the whole gang at my aunt and uncle's house.

Below is a picture of the arch. When I see this picture, I think about how I circled around and around the arch trying to get on a bridge that was on the GPS map but was actually closed for construction. This picture reminds me of the hard work, courage, and pure stubbornness I used to make this marathon happen. And that is why running was the easiest part of State #14.

We circled this many times.

The Spooktacular 5K Race Report

2011-10-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

The Spooktacular 5K and Boo Run were held this past Saturday, October 29th. I have many great memories from this race, including several little gold, silver, and bronze jack-o'-lantern trophies that were the old age group awards from years ago (I was going to insert a picture of them all lined up here, but it didn't happen this year. At least I did locate them in the attic though!).

It was great to see so many people in lots of fun costumes at the race this year!

It was a freezing cold morning, so I whipped out the arm sleeves and hat for this race.

The cold temperature helped many people PR today! My husband, Rick, PR'ed today with an 18:30. That is smokin'! And he was not even wearing his Garmin!!

I got 20:12 and was 4th overall (same overall as in my last 5K). I improved my time by 10 seconds from my Liz Hurley time, but honestly I was hoping for more. It seems like I could've made myself run faster (like 13 seconds faster??), but I just didn't feel like it today. Splits were more consistent than usual though. Now to get them 5 seconds faster per mile!

Splits were:
Mile 1 6:26
Mile 2 6:36
Mile 3 6:28
.1 :41

20:12 overall pace 6:31

Photo by James Hurley

Photo by Jen Grant

My running group began this Halloween day with a spooooooky run with our new LED blinky light rings. They are fun to wear and will double as safety lights for my two little trick or treaters tonight.

Happy Halloween!

Des Moines Marathon Two Years Ago Yesterday

2011-10-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

I wore a long-sleeve shirt today for my run for the first time this fall. On the shirt was "Des Moines Marathon October 18, 2009." A rush of memories came flooding back. You may remember that last month I posted about the Maui Marathon that we ran two Septembers ago. Well, the plan to run the Des Moines Marathon came from that race. We wanted another marathon in a new state (for us) a month away from Maui. Des Moines was the marathon-that-almost-wasn't for many reasons! I plan to share the story here later this week, but for now, here is Rick's version of the race. This marathon is easily the only marathon I really had to want in order to run it.

More later!

Liz Hurley 5K October 15, 2011

2011-10-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

The Liz Hurley Ribbon Run is a huge 5K race here in Huntsville named in honor of a local anchorwoman who is a breast cancer survivor. This year, 5,500 people signed up to run or walk this race. From the website in the link above:

When Liz Hurley, a local television news anchor, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, she put a courageous face on breast cancer for all of us in the Tennessee Valley. In 1999, the Liz Hurley Breast Cancer Fund at Huntsville Hospital Foundation was established for the purpose of creating awareness about breast cancer, purchasing equipment for breast cancer diagnosis and providing continuing education for the Breast Center staff. Since its inception, more than $2 million has been raised and thousands have been touched through this fund. The Liz Hurley Ribbon Run brings together our entire community and support from around the world in the fight against breast cancer.

When I was 22, I remember watching Liz Hurley on the news. She was the first person I "knew" who had breast cancer. When the chemotherapy took away her hair, she just kept right on reporting while wearing a scarf. She didn't let it stop her at all. Now, that is someone to admire!

This year, my work colleagues at my preschool got together a team in honor of two wonderful coworkers who are breast cancer survivors. No way I could pass up the chance to be on our team! I wanted to show support for the cause, but more so, I wanted to show support to my two coworkers. If I could do that through running, that's even better! A small problem was the fact that I ran the Chicago marathon on the previous Sunday, only 6 days from the Liz Hurley run. I decided to give it a try, but I knew it would probably feel tougher and be slower than my usual 5K times since I was still recovering from the marathon.

I rode with my mom over to the race and spent a lot of the morning with my team, taking pictures and just talking. Some of my group had never been to a race before, so it was very neat watching the men finish (they started an hour before our race) and hearing my coworkers' reactions to the race. Most of the group hadn't ever run/walked a 5K before. I enjoyed seeing the race from their perspective. Since I was with the team, I took things more easily. I skipped my longer warm up in favor of a half mile or so with Jane instead. But I still tried to get up in the front so that I could give it my all!

I felt great for the first mile, but then I felt very tired and had trouble catching my breath for the last two miles. I could tell that my legs were not fresh! I managed to get a 20:22, a comparable time to my recent 5Ks and a time I am very happy with given the circumstances. I finished 4th overall. The neat thing about this race is that men and women start separately, so I could see the first three women and the lead car for most of the race.

After the finish (and again at work on Monday), my coworkers made me feel like a celebrity or something because of my 4th place finish. I get very nervous having a lot of attention on me, but I did my best to thank them for their congratulations without making a big deal about what I'd done. Some of them walked the race, finishing in three times what my time was. To them, it may be hard to picture ever going as "fast" as me. I didn't want to tell them that this wasn't my fastest 5K, or that I usually do finish near the top in local races, or that I'd run a marathon in that same week. I tried to remember that many of my coworkers had just done something amazing, something they thought they could never do. This race was definitely more about them than me, and they are what I will remember about this race.

I was honored to be a part of their experience. I was honored to help contribute to the cause of breast cancer equipment for our city. I was honored to see breast cancer survivors out there. I was glad to be a part of all of it!

For fun I looked back to my previous years of racing this event:

2010--plantar fasciitis injury--did not run
2009--running the Des Moines marathon that weekend
2008--??? did not run it
2007--25:20 first race post-daughter (7 weeks postpartum)
2006--23:18 (about 3.5 months after my son's birth)

Racing the same week as my marathon, I was still able to get a course PR for me! A side note for anyone new to races: My mom and I stayed for almost all of the awards. The Dominos pizza people started giving away whole pizzas at the end. Mom and I each left with a whole pizza. You never know what you will get if you stay through the awards!

Splits:
Mile 1 6:17
Mile 2 6:44
Mile 3 + .1 7:22 (6:42 pace)

20:22 4th OAF
overall pace 6:33

Me and my mom wearing our team shirts
Mom walked the 5K in under an hour.

Our team pre-race

Our team post-race

Fun picture! This is the front page of The Huntsville Times Sunday edition.
I am in the center--one row back, with my sunglasses on, and in my blue and black Fleet Feet uniform. Do you see me?

Here is the entire picture. Look at all of those runners!

Three and Five Days Out And MORE Black Toenails

2011-10-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

Can you find A) The 2 old black toenails (they appear white) and B) The 2 new black toenails?

Answer: A) 4th and 9th from left
B) 3rd and 7th from left

Recovery from this marathon has been great so far and much easier than normal. I have no idea how or why! As usual, we walked a lot the day of the marathon after the race. We did sightseeing and didn't sit too much. On Monday, we rode for 10 hours in the car. I kept taking Advil throughout the day, but I got stiff and felt soreness in my legs. Tuesday I returned to life as normal, so I had school drop off, grocery shopping, dance practice, etc. to run around and do. I felt very tired by the middle of the day and lacked energy, but I wasn't too sore.

I took those two complete days off from running. I felt good enough to meet my friends on Wednesday morning and ran 7.3 miles with them without any major pains. The tops of my feet were very tender when I put on my running shoes. I think I tied my laces too tight during the race? And my two new black toenails were hurting. Remember how I wrote here and here that they start out hurting a lot but don't turn black immediately? Well, these two were black right away but didn't get as tender. So I guess there are lots of ways they can turn black. But they sure are ugly, and don't even look at the rest of my toes! Ugly feet!

On Friday (five days out from the marathon), I ran 11.5 miles with my friends, just because we were all having such a nice conversation and the pace was so relaxed. It is freeing to not be following a training schedule for the moment. We had the funniest conversation about the word "explosiveness" and how it relates to cheerleading, running, and other sports. Isn't it a fun word?

For the week, that puts me at almost 45 miles with only 3 days of running. Today I ran the Liz Hurley 5K. At one point in the race, I thought I might be able to get a marathon PR and a 5K PR all in less than a week. Then reality set in and I changed my mind about the 5K PR! I will have a race report up here soon.

Bank of America Chicago Marathon Race Recap: Part 2

2011-10-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 9, 2011

The day we had been waiting and training for had finally arrived! We awoke at 6:00 a.m.-- much later than we normally do for running! I had tossed and turned almost all night (nothing new for me the night before the race), so I was ready to go way before the alarm clock went off. We were able to walk over to the start line from our hotel, meeting our friend, Teddy, along the way. Since the race started at 7:30 a.m., we had less than a hour to check our gear bags, use the bathrooms, and get into our start corral (we were all in B). It should've been plenty of time, but it wasn't for a race this size, as we soon learned. Below are some pictures we took before checking our camera at the gear check.

Amongst the other runners race morning

At gear check

With buildings in background

Rick and Katie pre-Chicago

Getting into the corrals proved to be the hardest part of the morning. There was a bottleneck at Corral C, causing those heading to Corral B to be stuck in the flow. Rick and I (Teddy had left us since he didn't need gear check) couldn't move towards our corral, except at a turtle's pace. People were jumping the fences to get over to our corral faster. We stayed in the slow moving traffic and eventually got into our corral but in the back. I looked to my right and saw a guy crouched next to me peeing into a Gatorade bottle and a girl with her shorts down going in the nearby park. These were some desperate measures but very common sights at the beginning of a marathon. It's odd the things that we remember sometimes! We took about two minutes to cross the start line. I pushed "start" on my watch, and my race had begun.

The Race

There were four things that kept me going during this race (in no particular order--They kind of floated in and out of my mind throughout the race):

1. The plan
Rick, Teddy, and I had a plan. They were going to run together at a 3:10, and I was going to run a 3:15. We would all meet up at the end. I went into the race thinking that they both had their times in the bag. Everything would work out as planned if we all stuck to the plan. I am so glad I thought they were ahead of me getting their times. That thought pushed me to keep my pace.

2. The poster
"There will come a day when you will not be able to do this. Today is not that day." I already mentioned this poster here. How can you seriously attribute your time to a simple poster? I don't know how, but the message on that poster pushed me through.

3. God, through the song "You Make Everything Glorious" by the David Crowder band
You know from this post that I had chosen not to wear headphones. The song above just got stuck in my head from all of the times I listened to it during training. During the race, I thought over and over about the lines "My eyes are small but they have seen/ the beauty of enormous things." I kept looking out over all of the buildings and thinking about all of the enormous, beautiful things I had seen in my life. And I thought about God creating me and how He made these tiny eyes to see the things and this brain to actually comprehend everything I'm seeing and this heart to appreciate it all...

I know it seems silly that I spent so long thinking about these things, but it didn't feel silly at all. I sang a little of the song out loud as I ran. I'm sure no one noticed, and who cares if they did? God did make all of us glorious, and if I can't praise Him in the middle of the marathon that He enabled me to run, then when can I? When would be a more appropriate time?

My eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

4. My friends and family who were tracking me
I liked knowing that others knew of my time goal for this race. It kept me accountable for getting that time. I knew they would hear of my time, and I wanted to be proud of doing my best out there.

Starting Too Fast
My first mile was a 7:14--faster than my goal pace of 7:27. Starting fast is normal for me. Rick was right by me at the start, but I didn't see him after that. I later figured that he had somehow passed me and I missed it. In actuality, he had never passed me and was right behind me for much of the race. The runners were pretty close together during the first couple of miles, but after that they spread out a bit. They did always look shoulder-to-shoulder when I saw a group in front of me, though. Miles 1-17 were all under pace, with the fastest being a 6:54 at Mile 7 and the slowest being a 7:25 at Mile 17. The miles felt easy and relaxed. I would shake out my arms a little every couple of miles to stay loose. I enjoyed seeing the crowds and trying to take each mile as it came. My half was a 1:34:10, which is actually a half marathon PR for me (it will be interesting to see what I can do with "only" a half marathon when I race in one next month). This put me on pace for a 3:08:20 with even splits. I know I don't run even splits, though, so I wasn't thinking sub 3:10 at all.

Fueling and the Heat
I had eaten a Honey Stinger Waffle and a thing of Clif Bloks for fuel before the race. I normally take something about halfway, but today I did not feel like taking anything (other than the Gatorade that I drank along the course). My first food was the vanilla Gu at Mile 18 offered on the course. I had to choke down my Clif Bloks I carried with me at about Mile 20. I put them in my mouth and almost could not get them down. The "heat" picked up as we ran. I know 70s isn't really hot, but it is hot when you are running a marathon. I felt sweat on my forehead in the first mile, and that is not a good sign. They had cold sponges for us along the course, and those felt great. The drinks were nice and cold too. Still, the heat and starting too fast were taking a toll on me.

Finishing It Up
Mile 18 was my first mile over pace, and it was only over by 1 second. Mile 19 was over by 2 seconds. Then--BAM--Mile 20 was 13 seconds over pace. I would be lying if I said that it didn't bother me that I'd started too fast. I am a perfectionist and it is natural for me to analyze every part of my race. I had a 3:08 pace at the halfway point, and I was watched it slip between my fingers over the last 6 miles. I know that makes no sense since I was supposed to be aiming for a 3:15, but it is still how I felt. I kept figuring my finish time by multiplying the number of miles remaining by 9 minute or 8 minute miles. The slow down at the end of 1 minute per mile cost me a finish that would have been somewhere between 3:10 and 3:15. Of course, I know myself, and I know that starting under my pace helped give me confidence. I know also that my goal was a 3:15 and a new PR, and I met those goals. But I can't help but wonder: If I'd started slower, could I have made a faster time? I guess that is what all determined athletes do. We question our decisions, we adjust, and we try to be better next time. I have thought about the 3:10 in ways that I never would have before this race. I see it as a possibility now.

I honestly don't remember a whole lot about the end of the race. I remember that is seemed like a looonnnggg time between 21 and 22. I remember a cool Nike cheering section at Mile 24, where they were announcing, "Only two miles left in your Chicago marathon dream" or something like that. It really helped me! And there was a nice guy (though a bandit!) who ran alongside me in the last mile, telling me to count the number of people I was passing to encourage me. You know, that was the weird part. Though my pace has fallen by a minute, so many other people must've had their paces fall even more because I was passing people right and left. I couldn't muster up the energy to count them, though, but it was a nice encouragement and I was thankful for the distraction. We crested a little hill at Mile 26 and then rounded the corner to the finish. I saw 3:17 on the clock (3:15 chip time). But unlike all of my practice runs, I did not have to get-up-and-go to sprint to the finish. My official time was 3:15:33. Though I met my goal, the victory of conquering the marathon with grace was missed for me today.

After the Race
I know I gave it my all, because when I crossed the finish line, I again felt like I could not stand up on my own. Someone was right there helping to support me. I became a little nauseous and had trouble catching my breath. I was taken to the medical tent, but I only needed to sit for a couple of minutes before I felt good enough to walk again. At least my visits to the medical tent are getting shorter! I was anxious to get over to our meeting point to find Rick and Teddy, so I got up and quickly shuffled over to our spot (but not before grabbing a free 312 beer!).

When I didn't find them, I went over and asked for a print out of their finish times. I figured they'd been done for awhile and were tired of waiting for me! Sadly, I learned that Rick had gotten a 3:37 and Teddy a 3:19. My excitement about meeting my goal and earning a PR was immediately tempered by my disappointment that Rick and our friend had not met their times. I was actually stunned that Rick, who had trained so long and hard, had not met his time. And I was worried when the guy printing the results for me told me that his times had dropped sharply at the end. Was he sick or hurt? I grabbed the printouts and went to sit back at our meeting spot. I was in the middle of a phone call with my sister (the kids did great!) when I saw Rick! Needless to say, he was disappointed and not too happy with himself or even with marathoning in general. He fought hard out there in the heat, but it just wasn't his day. He still finished the race, and I am proud of him for that. There wasn't time to dwell on it, though, since we had a mile or so to walk--err, shuffle--back to our hotel.

Back at the hotel, I was able to see my sister's text updates that she received throughout the race, and we had her take a picture of us with our medals. After cleaning up, it was time to eat pizza and ice cream, drop Laurie off at the bus station, and do our final sightseeing at the Cloud Gate.

Phone texts of our updates

Marathon finishers!

Deep dish pizza at Giordano's

Deep dish cheese with spinach--Yum!

Ghiradelli's Ice Cream Shop

Mint ice cream--Yum!

Cloud Gate

Kind of how the last few miles felt to me!

We headed home on Monday, October 12. The walking on Sunday after the race really helped the soreness to go away, but it was hard sitting for the ten hour car ride. I am now three days post-race. I ran today and had one of my best post-marathon runs yet! I am hoping that means a fast recovery from this one.

Below are some of the race details provided by the marathon. How thorough! I can't say I've ever been in a marathon that lists my country by my name! Go USA!

This is neat because it shows your overall pace for each segment of the race. You can see my slow down here.

1 7:14

2 7:17

3 7:16

4 7:14

5 7:06

6 7:10

7 6:54

8 7:12

9 7:09

10 7:11

11 7:19

12 7:06

13 7:10

14 7:04

15 7:10

16 7:15

17 7:25

18 7:28

19 7:29

20 7:40

21 7:52

22 7:54

23 8:25

24 8:23

25 8:17

26+.2 9:39

3:15:33

overall place 1598 out of 35,628

overall woman 212

age group 48

Overall pace 7:28

Race number and medal

Print out of my finishing time

Ending Thoughts

I've gone back and forth about whether to "reveal" all of these thoughts about my somewhat disappointing PR marathon to you. It should feel like a victory---I got my PR, met my goal of a 3:15 (well, a 3:15:something), and conquered the warm race conditions. I finished in 1,598 place out of 35,628 people! I think, though, back to Myrtle Beach and how I told myself that I just wanted to finish the marathon strong or even without needing medical assistance at the end. A fast, strong marathon hasn't happened yet for me, even in spite of all of the training I did for this race. I think my foolish race strategy may be the last major hurdle to overcome, if only I can make myself do it.

My friend and big supporter, Jane, wrote the nicest blog entry about me the day after Chicago. From her blog:

Katie is one of our fastest runners and she is so inspiring for all of us. She's super talented, but I'm not sure she really sees it and that is probably one of the many reasons we like her so much. Anyway, Katie has been training HARD for the Chicago marathon. In fact, this was the first time she'd done a lot of what she did in training. It wasn't always fun. It was super challenging. And because she'd never done much of it, she was not quite sure if she was doing it right, if she was doing all she could, or if it would result in a PR marathon. Her goal was a 3:15. Her best was a 3:18.

Now, I felt the whole time that she had it in the bag. Not only is she already a strong and amazing runner, her training was hard core and she stuck with it the entire time. Still, there is always room for something beyond one's control to happen in a marathon. I have experienced it and seen it happen in others. And it is heartbreaking. Katie knows this too, and so as the marathon approached and she began to question and doubt and wonder and talk herself out of being disappointed if it didn't happen, the girls and I were right there with her.

On race day the e-mails were flying. We were on our computers before and after church services, and I wondered how she was doing the whole morning. And then I saw it. The e-mail titled, "KATIE ROCKS!" I almost stood up and cheered. I said, "SHE DID IT! SHE DID IT!" as Jason asked who did what. The e-mails continued to fly as each of us discovered the news. I'm sure Katie's phone and facebook page began to light up with congratulations and comments as her friends and family realized she had achieved her PR.

But I like to think her morning running crew were the ones who really knew, who really understood.

Jane, my other running friends, and the readers of this blog know and appreciate what shaving 2.5 minutes off of a marathon PR involves. I know there is a victory there. But as a determined athlete who wants to push myself, I cannot help but think about the next opportunity I get to run a smarter (and faster) race. I will make the most of it.

Bank of America Chicago Marathon Race Recap: Part 1

2011-10-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

A race as big as Chicago deserves two posts for sure! There are so many pictures that I divided the post into two smaller posts. My next entry will be all of the race details!

Friday, October 7, 2011

My family headed to Chicago via minivan at 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning. This trip worked out perfectly since it was also our preschool's Fall Break. Our days off from school (and work for me) coincided with our days for the trip. What a nice coincidence! In the car, my daughter had us laughing when she asked, "Is that Chicago?" when she saw a building that was literally two miles from our house (and even though I told her we'd be in the car until dinner)! With stops and traffic, we made it to our hotel at 4:30 p.m. I had been hydrating in the car expecting to be at the hotel by 4:00. When that didn't happen, I started doing a potty dance as we inched our way to the hotel. It was a good hotel in a great location. We could walk to restaurants, shops, and, most importantly, the start of the marathon!

I had taken a rest day on Thursday, so I had planned to run on Friday after we got to the hotel or on Saturday morning. Below is a picture of the new shoes I started breaking in about a week before the race. I love comparing the old ones to the new ones!

New Nike Air Pegasus + 28 Breathe shoes for the marathon!

Around 5:00 p.m., we took a shuttle close to Niketown to the marathon expo and stayed at the expo from 6:00-7:00 p.m. I am a "geek" in that I LOVE the expos. I rarely buy anything, but I just love to "window shop." Seeing all the running gear and all of the other runners gets me excited about the race! I was a little bummed that I missed seeing Hal Higdon, who was there promoting a book. I wanted to thank him in person for the training program! We ended up with a lot of free samples, though some were not the best for carbo-loading (One I remember was a natural peanut butter.). It was great to try out a sample of the drink they'd be using for the race (Gatorade G Series Pro^TM 02 Perform Endurance Formula lemon-lime flavor).

My absolute favorite part of the expo was seeing a video they had playing of the course, complete with music and little icons that would flash the different mileage checkpoints along the course. Everyone was crowded around watching it on big screens. I had seen it on facebook already, but I liked seeing it on the big screens with others that would be running the course on Sunday.

Packet pickup went from 1-45,000 bib numbers!

Entry to packet pickup

Below is an event sign showing the status of the event as "Moderate."

I had already read about the Moderate status in an email we received.

It stated:

"The Alert Levels range from Low (green) to Moderate (yellow) to High (red) to Extreme (black) based primarily on weather conditions, as well as other factors.

According to the advance local weather forecast, the weather on race day is projected to be sunny, with morning temperatures in the upper 50’s (degrees F) and afternoon temperatures in the mid to upper 70’s (degrees F).

(And the part I didn't like) Plan to adjust your pace for the weather. The increasing temperature will require more of your body’s energy and resources to maintain normal function, so a slower pace than originally planned is recommended in order to get you to the finish line without overheating.

Having to adjust my pace wasn't something I wanted to do!

Moderate status

Nike has the coolest expo display. I wish I'd taken a picture of the whole thing. It looked like big squares from far away, but when you got closer you saw that it was actually a list of all of the runners' names! We has fun finding our names and getting a picture of them!

My daughter finds our names

"Katie Maehlmann Rick Maehlmann" (middle of picture)

There was also a HUGE map of the course (something I had also seen and studied before this day). It was a great photo opportunity!

My bib number was 3634 (the 4 is covered by the timing chip).
"B" and the red color were for my start corral.

Rick and the kids

Enormous expo!

After the expo, we decided to get some pasta to go from a restaurant that was right up the street. It was around 8:00 p.m., and everyone was starving. Rick and I had both decided to eat more carbs for the three days leading up to the race. Our lunch was two baked potatoes each from Wendys, and dinner was a whole lot of pasta. The portion for a small was an 8x11 inch pan!

Buca To Go (small portion!)

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Rick and his friend, Teddy, went for a run first thing in the morning, and then it was my turn. I knew I only needed a couple of miles and not too much more. Once I got going, though, I found a pretty popular path near the lakefront. Runners were everywhere, getting in their last runs before the race. The runners, the beautiful yellow trees, the water and boats, and the big buildings in the distance made the most beautiful sight! I ended up doing about 5 miles at a relaxed and easy pace--a little more than I wanted but highly worth it! What an awesome run!

I wanted to try out my pre-race fuel of choice the day before, so my breakfast was a Honey Stinger Waffle. For 170 calories for such a little flat thing, I joked to Rick that we could make the same thing ourselves by squishing a donut with something with a grid design!

It is hard to tell how tiny and flat this thing is by this picture, so just trust me.

Since we had our children with us, our agenda for the morning was very full! We took them to the beach (I had no idea Chicago had a beach!) and to the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier. We go to different museums around the country for free since we have a reciprocal membership with our local museum. Maybe we should have a goal to try out a children's museum in each state too!

The beach with pretty fall leaves and buildings

They were so happy to take their shoes off and run to the water!

Chicago Children's Museum

We picked up my sister, Laurie, at her bus stop and began our afternoon activities. We ate lunch at Jimmy John's, shopped at the Magnificent Mile, and ate dinner (more pasta) with our friends, Angie and Teddy.

Aunt Laurie (and our sitter!)

I ate a vegetarian sandwich at Jimmy John's. Their bread was delicious and a good source of carbs. It was interesting to really think about each thing I ate in the three days prior to the race as being fuel (in the form of stored glycogen in my muscles) for race day. I normally don't give a whole lot of thought to the food-performance connection.

Jimmys John's vegetarian

Rick carbo-loads!

I don't know how wise this was, but I walked everywhere in the Magnificent Mile that day. We spent hours going to American Girl to Ghirardelli (can't say no to free samples even if they're not carbs!) to Niketown (AWESOME store with soooooo much marathon stuff!). Rick was smart and rested for some of that with my daughter in the room. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to shop! I really liked seeing the Apple store's makeshift tribute to Steve Jobs. There were post-its covering the windows with little tributes people had written.

Apple store

Post-it tributes

"Well Done"

"You changed the world for the better. Thank you." Wouldn't we all want that said of us?

Niketown ROCKED!

We got more pasta to go (much easier than waiting forever for a table and a better decision with small children!).

Maggiano's
I got bow tie pasta with broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes. Yum!

Then it was time to get everything ready for tomorrow. I had a bag of gear packed, my clothes, and a reminder note to retrieve my drinks from the fridge (yes, we had a full-sized fridge in our suite!).

Ready to roll!

A Quick Update

2011-10-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

3:15:33 A new PR!

It will be a couple of days before I can get my race recap up here. Thanks to everyone who followed me with the text updates on their phone and then commented (here, on facebook, or through email) with congratulations. I enjoyed reading each one! Of course the PR makes me happy, but the story of this race is a complicated one, and I will share it all soon.

One thing I did want to quickly write today was about an AWESOME poster I saw along the course. This poster kept me going the whole race. I literally repeated the words in my head dozens of times. It said, "There will come a day when you will not be able to do this. Today is not that day."

If you are needing some motivation today--maybe just for a run or maybe for a marathon or some other race you are going to be doing soon, really think about that for awhile. On Sunday, I ran even harder as I thought about these words.

Things I am Thinking About Today....

2011-10-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

*Packing!

*Carbo-loading
Runner's World had a great article about it in the November 2011 issue that I read with great interest this week. Understanding the science behind what your body goes through to train and run a marathon is fascinating to me but also hard to understand. I am not sure about gaining four pounds before I run the race like it says you will once you have carbo-loaded. Wouldn't that make you feel heavy and sluggish?

*The weather in Chicago
It is supposed to be warm on race day. Like starting in the 50s and finishing in the 70s. It's a hot topic in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon facebook page. Yes, I've trained in much hotter weather, but I've also seen how the heat affects my times during training. My training long run times were easily a minute off from what I'd expect with cooler temperatures. Plus, I've run marathons in the 70s and hotter (see here and here), and they are tough.

Of course the weather is out of my control, but it's still nice to at least have thought about how this can affect things. On the facebook page, people are suggesting for future races everything from having the race run backwards (they say the first half has more shade and thus would be better run later in the day) to starting earlier (7 rather than 7:30). It's just something we're all going to be thinking about as we run.

*Setting my time goal
See the item above for reasons why I am really, really going to be okay if I don't get my "A" goal. These goals just give me something to think about as I am running.
"A" goal 3:15
"B" goal sub 3:30
"C" goal to finish

Without a Garmin (Rick will be wearing ours), I may have trouble knowing my pace if I fall behind. I am thinking about buying a 3:15 pace tattoo to wear on race day. This will help me stay on track.

Pace is still hard for me to plan. I have never run such a big race before, and I wonder about the crowds. With all of the corrals, is it easy to move with the runners around you since they are all going your pace? I doubt whether my own training can get me the pace I want (I know I shouldn't, but I do). I will try to keep in mind my ultimate goal--to finish this race and check Illinois off the list of states!

*Looking ahead
To keep myself from feeling let down when the race is over, I am looking ahead to my other events for fall/winter: the Huntsville half marathon (first time to race a 1/2 in years!), the Rocket City marathon (pacing the 3:55 group. Go sub 4 runners!!!), and Mountain Mist 50K 2012 (awesome, awesome race. I think it filled to capacity or close to it already and registration only opened on October 1st!). Having these races in my mind will help me if I start to feel down after Chicago is over.

Preparing the Mind for the Marathon

2011-10-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

I promised you my thoughts about preparing your mind for the marathon, so here goes. First off, I think the mental preparation to run 26.2 miles comes long before you toe the line. To start with, it comes from the thoughts you have as you do your long runs and solo runs. Here is where you begin to let your mind take you to all of the different places it goes. It distracts you in wonderful ways. I think back to July, when I wrote this entry about communicating with God as I run and this entry about beauty on runs. I believe I was writing and experiencing these "deep thoughts" during this month since it was the first time this season that I had ramped up my miles for marathon training. I had more time out on the roads to allow these thoughts to creep in. I felt refreshed after running many of my long runs because of all of the solo thinking that I had gotten to do. I enjoyed the time alone to listen to music and to just think by myself.

I begin mentally rehearsing the marathon as the race gets closer. I think back to previous marathons and try to remember how I felt as I was running them. One day as I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep, I was picturing Myrtle Beach so vividly that I could not relax enough to sleep. Adrenaline was coursing through my body. My heart was racing, and my hands were sweaty. I think picturing previous races can really help you to mentally prepare for an upcoming race (but don't do it while you are trying to go to sleep!).

Finally, I also reflect on quotes with a journal I've kept for years. I joked one night to Rick as he tried to sneak a peak at my journal that, "You wouldn't understand these!!" I really don't know if other people do this or not. I've always written down quotes that I like. Many closely apply to my life now even though I wrote them years ago.

Two on a page from 1997 were:
For an instant, the old impulse of flight swept through her; but it was only the lift of a broken wing.
--Edith Wharton

and

"Nothing's worth that," the naysayers laughed.
"The crack of dawn! The bitter cold!
The pouring rain! Nothing's worth all that!"
"Obviously you don't know me," the woman said.
"For if you do, you'd know I am."
from a New Balance ad in 1997

I can only imagine this little twenty year old me thinking far enough in advance to know that one day I would be a stay-at-home mom of two needing to hear these things. I don't want to have the impulse of flight, only to find that I don't have the wings to fly. I want to take advantage of the opportunity to run while I can. And, oh my, how true the New Balance ad is to me now! So many people can't understand why my group gets up early to run. Well, because we are worth it. We are important and we matter, even though sometimes it feels like we get so little time to devote to ourselves. We have to find it. And sometimes that means running in the cold and the rain. But I'm worth it! I love this quote.

Finally, here's one more:

When you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep...
William Butler Yeats

With this one, I picture myself looking back at this blog one day and reading the tales of my marathon adventures. I picture myself sharing these stories with my children and grandchildren. This quote was in my high school yearbook, wayyyy back in 1995!

So instead of just saying, "Carpe diem," these are some of the quotes that I read back over and reflect on. I picture the upcoming marathon as being something I will always remember. I try to imagine having a great outcome, which I will, even if I don't meet my time goal! I look forward to the adventure that lies ahead.

Last Two Long Runs

2011-10-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

I am in crunch mode now, trying to get everything thought about, written about, and said before this marathon comes and everything gets forgotten.

My last two long runs were on Saturday, September 24 (12 miles) and Friday, September 30 (8 miles). Notice the sharp taper from the 20 miler the week before. I was tempted to use these runs like tempo runs, but I played it smart and used them for long runs as they were intended to be. On the 24th, I ran 13 miles with Julia and some with Jane at an 8:41 pace. I pushed some of the last mile, and it was a 7:52. We were aiming for between 8:30-9:00 minute miles that day, and I think we accomplished that nicely.

I ran 8 miles on the 30th by myself with an 8:41 pace. It felt so odd to be done after only 8 miles. I saved my speeding for the next day for a short tempo run, but I don't have the Garmin data on that run yet.

You can see from my last post that I am beginning the part of my training where I am looking back and telling myself that I have done this before, and I can do it again. One part of me wants to say, "You haven't trained enough. You're not ready for this race. You can't PR." I am trying to quiet that voice. I am trying to build up my confidence.

It Takes a Village....

2011-10-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you know the expression, "It takes a village to raise a child." Well, it doesn't take a village, but it does take someone with a big ol' selfless heart to watch marathoners' kids so they can run a marathon. That "someone" in our case has been a family member--my sisters, my mom, Rick's sister, or Rick's parents. In the last four years, we have done seven marathons where we needed a sitter to come with us, to meet us in a different state, or to watch our children at our house so we could run the marathon. This is huge. Without them, we simply could not achieve what we have done over the last four years. They have fueled our dreams. "Thank you" does not encompass my gratitude for what they have done for us. I liken it to give someone with a broken leg crutches so that they can walk. I am not kidding. It enabled us to do something that would be simply impossible without their help.

My younger sister, Laurie, has gifted us once already with her babysitting skills. Laurie was a twenty-five year old PhD student in chemical engineering with little free time and no children of her own when we asked her to watch our kids (1 1/2 years and nine months old) so we could run the Madison, WI marathon in May of 2008. It was to be our first marathon since they were born. We didn't know if it could be done. It couldn't, without Laurie's help. We were thankful for Laurie.

Laurie is going to help us again this week so that we can run the Chicago marathon. So again, we are thankful for Laurie.

Do I envy people who can do it all themselves, as I used to before I had my kids? No, I don't. Learning to rely on others-- to meet me on early morning runs, to encourage me in emails and blog comments, and to watch my children so I can run---has made me a person who is full of gratitude, a person who realizes that is is not all about me.

What is it like marathoning with young children? Can you picture traveling with two babies for twelve hours in the car, having a sleepless night before the race, dropping them at a sitter's house in the early morning, running the marathon, and rushing back to nurse your nine month old? So what is that like? It is wonderful. I am thankful for the chance. And I wouldn't change a thing.

I finished the race in 3:56:02, but it is was one of the races where my finish time was really irrelevant. The whole experience meant so much more to me than my finish time. I ran that race with my husband by my side, and I knew my children were being well taken care of while we ran. I couldn't ask for more than that.

Here are some pictures.

Two pack 'n' plays set up in our hotel room side-by-side.

Carbo loading with Aunt Laurie

Back at Laurie's apartment after the marathon

Post race ice cream shared by the whole family

A tired little one after the big marathon day

Laurie with her two small charges

Headphones or Not?

2011-10-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Racing is picking up here at our house lately. The printer next to me is buzzing with confirmations for Mountain Mist 2012 (courtesy of my husband, who is downstairs registering us for our annual fun 50K!) and Chicago marathon confirmations have arrived via snail mail. Once we are registered and confirmed for these events, they start to feel "real" to me.

I've been thinking lately about a decision I made after reading the Chicago marathon confirmation packet. Headphones are allowed in the race. Headphones are allowed in the race!!! At first, I was elated. Distraction is so crucial to me during training. I thrive with distraction. At first, I was like, "Yes!!!!!! I am totally bringing my music. I'll use whatever I can to get my time!"

But then I thought more about it. I have run 22 marathons without any music, sometimes without talking to another person the entire race. I have also run many 50Ks without listening to any music. I'm not afraid to let my mind wander to thoughts, to prayers, to songs, to splits. I like following it on the twisty path it takes me as I run the marathon. And I love the crowds cheering. I love taking the whole event in---using all of my senses. I want to be a part of the whole experience---the noises of the other runners, the cheering, the music, all of it. I want this more than I want the benefit of being distracted by my music.

So...I'm leaving my headphones at home. The first of many little last minute race decisions that I will make this week---done!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2011-09-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

Just when you think they're not watching...

They ride in your double jogging stroller, thinking that you are doing this for fun!

And they wind up deciding to push their older (and heavier) brother around the driveway over and over and over again!

It reminds me of the song "Oh, be careful little eyes." Your children are always watching you and imitating you, even when you least expect it (like above). If they see you running, they will run. If they see you eating healthy foods, they will eat healthy foods. If you see you pushing a double stroller, they, too, will want to push someone as they are running!

That little four year old pushing more than her weight as she runs? I love her.

And, just for today, I feel like I am showing her the right example for her little feet to follow.

"High Tech" 5 Mile Pace Run

2011-09-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

4 5 Mile Pace Run Friday, September 23, 2011

I was scheduled to run a 4 mile pace run this morning. I've had a slight cold the last two days (it's normal for a preschool teacher to get many of these throughout the year!), but I wasn't congested this morning. I was interested to see how I would do with the marathon pace run with such a light week of running since I am in the taper now. I struggled with these during my high-mileage weeks.

Well, I can see why Hal gives us this little run during taper time! It is for our confidence! My legs felt so fresh that the miles were very easy for me. I was able to use only one mile as a warm up, whereas before on my solo dark runs I've taken up to four miles to get warmed up. This run gave me some confidence about my pace for race day. You can see below that, even with the 8:04 first mile as my warm up mile, my overall pace was still a 7:27.

Oh, and the "high tech" picture below is courtesy of my husband. When I told him that I'd seen a Garmin screen like this on another blog, he was able to make one for me in no time! Very fancy! Thanks, Rick! I like this much more than having to recopy everything!

Your Take-Away Message

I promised you tips and strategies for your mental preparations for race day. My take-away for you on this run is two-fold:

* Completing short, on pace runs like this during your taper is a big confidence booster. It helps you feel the pace and maintain it for a short amount of time, leaving you knowing that you could easily do more. This is just what you should be thinking about in this stage of the game.

*From my run, you can see that starting slower than pace should not be a reason to be concerned race day. This is something that I was shocked to notice today. I thought I would just not count that first mile towards my marathon-paced miles since it was so much slower than I needed it to be. But look at the change that was made in just 4 more miles! The 8:04 did not "mess things up" for me. I tend to think in terms of black and white-- it's either on pace or it's not. Well, you can make up the difference! In addition, if you start fast like I tend to, hitting some slower miles at the end isn't going to kill your time either. I remember someone being shocked that I could have almost two 11 minute miles in St. Louis and still finish in 3:35. It's all about overall pace. Don't sweat on off-pace mile or two. Just focus on the one you're on!

Blast From the Past! (2 Years Ago Today!)

2011-09-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

I keep a family blog, and I happened to find this entry today as I was reminiscing. Two years ago today, Rick and I were in Hawaii running the Maui Marathon. Here was my race report:

Before leaving the hotel race morning

Map and medal

Maui Marathon, Sunday, September 20, 2009

The marathon has been a dream of ours since we honeymooned in Hawaii five years ago. We wanted to do a marathon then, but we went in July (and wanted a summer wedding since I was teaching and was off all summer) and there were no marathons then. So we hatched the idea to return to Hawaii at five years and to run a marathon then. Well, Maui's came up as a possibility but the only problem was that we would have to train all through the hot summers of Alabama. We faced lots of lone runs (we used to do most of our long runs together), downpours (yes, I ran through a horrible downpour since it was the only free time for me to do it), running while moving to the townhouse, very hot weather (90 degrees), stomach cramps (we were both unaccustomed to these---had to do with the strange hours we ended up running, I guess), hiring a sitter so we could run together at times, and dark runs (that was me, and it was scary! I was at Edgewater near the lake on the apartment side). But three 20-mile runs and 16 weeks of training later, we were definitely ready. Our only marathon since the kids had been born was Wisconsin last May, so we were eager to get back into marathoning. Hawaii was our 13th state in our 50-state marathon goal.

The expo is usually a really big event with lots of vendors selling running clothes and other equipment. The Maui expo (held on Friday, September 18) was actually pretty small and only had the vendor selling the Maui marathon wear. We were hoping to buy some Sportsbeans there, but there weren't any. It was also strange to not have chip timing (so, knock off a little time--maybe 10 or 20 seconds? from our start time since we were obviously not toeing the line at the start!). There was a big table with information written in Japanese, which makes sense since we later learned that, out of 3,000 runners in the 5K, 1/2, and full marathon, 500 of those were from Japan (and over 100 from Canada). It was neat to hear translations at the carbo luau and the start line done in Japanese. Just all in all a different feeling than most of the other expos.

We headed over to the carbo loading luau after getting our race packets. It was at the Maui's Westin hotel, which was landscaped very nicely. There was even a huge waterfall with flamingos in the lobby! I really was looking forward to this meal since it got great reviews. It was really good! I had salad, pasta, garlic bread, and beer, and it was all-you-can-eat, so we had 2 plates! And while we were eating, there was luau-type entertainment but on a smaller scale. There was some music and some younger performers (elementary and junior-high age). I really liked the younger kids and thought those little girls looked so cute dancing the hula! It was peaceful watching the sun set on the beach behind the stage, but we had a long drive so we headed back pretty soon after sunset.

Sunday, Race Day

We woke up at 3 a.m. to get ready for the race and to drive to the start line. It was at a mall, so we parked near the Macy's and headed for the start line. It was weird being at a race in the pitch-black, and it actually didn't get light until a few miles into the race. It was hard to see the ground for little bit, making running a little scary. Many of the Japanese runners had flowers and skirts on as a costume and had their legs all taped up with what looked like painter's tape. There was a fire-dancer for some pre-race entertainment (also a first for us!). The race started at 5:30 a.m. Don't think that it was cool though, since both Rick and I were drenched in sweat a couple of miles into the race. That is unusual for us, and I later learned that the weather in Hawaii has been a bit hotter than normal lately (highs in 80's but maybe more humidity?).

We split up in the beginning, and I ended up finding a couple of guys to chat with to pass the time. One was a guy who had just gotten married ("mauied") in Maui on the beach. He had run all 5o states and had some good information for Rick and me about "doubling up" states (running a race in one state on a Saturday, and another state on a Sunday). He had proposed to his wife in the New York City marathon near the finish line of his 50th state. Pretty neat story. Another guy I met, Phil McGain, is a world-champion windsurfer who lives in Maui. He just completed his first Ironman and was trying to get sub-4 hours for this race, so I thought pacing with him was a good idea. Usually the runners I meet aren't such serious athletes, which is another unusual thing about this race.

Near the fourth or fifth mile, the sun was beginning to rise, and I had fallen into sub-9 minute miles (our goal was 9-minute miles). I thought I was starting a little too fast (I usually get excited at the beginning and regret it later), but I ended up with almost equal splits since the first two miles were crowded and really slow (near 10 minutes each). I really liked having the ocean to my left, but I didn't like the traffic to my right. We also did a big amount of rolling hills in the beginning. The aid along the course was pretty good, but their sports drink tasted weird (I thought it tasted like tea but Rick said it was bubblegum). Anyway, it was clear and very watered down, and the only sports "gu's" I could find were warm raspberry (yuck!), but I took them since we never did find any Sportsbeans to buy and I knew I needed the energy. I liked the cold, wet sponges that they handed out. They felt wonderful! And I was drinking and pouring two cups of water at every aid station (I never stopped so I kind of poured and drank at the same time).

I ran a bit with Rick, but then we got separated and I ended up doing most of the end alone. I loved running through one area with shops and music playing and just felt very lucky to be out there running. Around mile 20 or so, I started to feel tired (not a good sign), but I really pressed on since I wanted to break 4-hours. The last few miles were very tough. There weren't a whole lot of spectators or entertainment, and it was very sunny and flat. Finally, I saw the end of the race but it took forever to get up the the finish line from there! My time was 3:53:56, 8:55-minute per mile pace. My calves were killing me when I stopped (got a medal and a lei).

Rick ended up with a time of 4:08:45. We had to wait over an hour for a bus, and luckily, we had brought enough money to ride it (over an hour back to our car at the start line). We both thought it was $1 total per person, but we brought $2 per person (we each carried $2 in case the other set of money got lost) so we had just enough! I gulped down a couple of Tylenol at the hotel which helped a lot, as did our walking and hiking the next day. One purple toenail, but no blisters! A very fun and memorable race!

From the Marathon Website (better description of places than I could give!):

The Maui Marathon is a Point-to-point, from Kahului to Kaanapali on the island of Maui. This 26.2-mile course is recognized as one of the ten most scenic marathons in the USA as well as the oldest consecutive running marathon in Hawaii. A major portion of the course runs within 50 feet of the Pacific Ocean. The Maui Half Marathon is an Out-and-back from Whalers Village in Kaanapali Resort. This flat and fast course passes through Lahaina Town tracing the final 6.55 miles of the marathon course, turns around at Launiupoko Park and returns to Kaanapali Resort following the same route.

Our official results:

119 Katie Maehlmann #845 30 - 34 F Madison, AL 3:53:56 08:55

184 Rick Maehlmann #846 30 - 34 Madison, AL 4:08:45 09:29

Marathon Pace Run and Last 20 Miler

2011-09-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

I finished my most intense week of marathon training yesterday. This was a 61 mile week for me (10 miles Monday, 5 Tuesday, 9 Wednesday, 6 Thursday, 10 Friday, and 21 Saturday). I survived Hal's Advanced 1 marathon program! Well, I am in the taper phase now, so I have survived the toughest parts! This is a reason to celebrate. The old Katie never would have run a speed workout, a marathon pace 10 mile run, and a long run all within 4 days. I think this program has made me tougher. The last miles of my long run felt the best of the week!

10 Marathon Pace Run Friday, September 16, 2011

Splits: 9:00, 8:28, 8:14, 8:11, 7:56, 8:07, 7:40, 7:27*, 7:24, 7:15
Average Pace: 7:59

This run went okay for me. I felt a little tired from the speed workout on Wednesday. Like I said, I do better with more rest in between hard runs, but I was willing to give it a try. I ran this workout in the dark in 10 loops around my neighborhood. I hate running in the dark with no music, so the first few miles were hard. Mile 7 is noted, since it was where I finally hit marathon pace. Once I hit it, it was easy to maintain. When I told Rick that, he said in a marathon that would be perfect and just the right time to be warmed up. Unfortunately, it wasn't good enough to get my overall pace down today. And I still don't think I will repeat this approach race day. I prefer starting fast!

20 21 Miler (Last in a Series of 3) Saturday, September 17, 2011
Splits: 9:44, 9:30, 9:12, 9:27, 8:50, 8:50, 8:57, 8:52, 8:49, 8:52, 8:31, 8:42, 8:47, 8:41, 8:43, 8:45, 8:41, 8:22, 8:11, 8:10, 7:51
Average Pace: 8:47

NOTE: see my first 20 miler for Chicago (week of 8/15, average pace 9:37) here and second one (week of 8/29, average pace 8:59) here for comparisons.

This run was good for my confidence. I was aiming for a sub 9-minute mile overall pace. This would be a pace that was roughly 90 seconds slower than my marathon pace goal. It is recommended that your long runs fall 45-90 seconds slower than marathon pace. I can actually do mine 2 minutes or more slower and be fine, but I figured I would aim to complete this run closer to my marathon pace if I possibly could. Also, I added the extra mile since, due to a miscalculation, I thought I needed it to get to 60 miles this week. Oops!

The first mile was the toughest mile I have run all week! I was very tight and sore. I took about 4 miles to warm up, then hit all of the rest at my goal pace or faster. The weather was great (low 60s), my hydration was perfect (water and nuun), and my music was a nice distraction. My pace on Saturday was the best of the 3 long runs that I've done, but it was also in the hardest week in terms of workouts and overall mileage.

I am taking a much needed rest day today. I am planning a few posts on my favorite part of training--the mental component. If you are wanting to improve your focus for race day, these posts are for you!

Last Track Workout in a Series of 4

2011-09-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

I have now attempted four track workouts in preparation for the Chicago marathon. I described the first three in previous blog entries:
(1) 5x800s the week of 7/11 here, (2) 6x800s the week of 8/1 here, and (3) 7x800s the week of 8/22 here.

I've come a long way since my first set, when I wrote, "When I got home, I looked up my splits on my watch and averaged them to a 3:15---3:25, 3:08, 3:11, 3:14, 3:19." I was all over the place, just trying to figure out how fast to be going. I was a newbie for sure!

Though my second workout went okay, my third went pretty badly, as seen here:
"3:26, 3:27, 3:20, 3:22, 3:17, 3:26, ? (forgot to hit stop)

My legs just felt off today. My right leg wanted to limp a little (something in my lower calf?). My left leg felt a little weak and burned for some of the repeats. I just felt like I couldn't kick it into the right gear. I sucked it up and ran them anyway, too stubborn to miss a key speed workout, getting madder at myself with each repeat." I feel foolish for even attempting that workout when I was in so much pain. It is obvious that I needed rest that day and not a tough workout. Hindsight is 20/20!

Today's Speedwork 8x800s September 14, 2011

So today's workout really could have gone either way, but I was hoping that it would go well! It is the longest of the sets of repeats, and it is the one that will remain freshest in my mind on race day. Fortunately, I was able to reap the benefits of a nice cool start (in the 60s). My friend, Sarah, agreed to come to the track too, and it was great to have the company.

My splits were: 3:07, 3:09, 3:12, 3:11, 3:11, 3:14, 3:08, and 3:08.

I was very pleased with my times, but I still struggled with feeling like a klutz out there. My earpieces kept popping out of my ears during the laps. Then one of them quit working, so I just turned my music off and took them out. It was much harder to run without the distraction. Case in point, my slowest lap was my first lap without the music (the 3:14). I also found it hard to keep my effort consistent over the entire distance. I would surge and then run slower, surge and then run slower throughout each 800. My rest laps (one rest lap in between two laps of hard running) were a clumsy mixture of panting, shuffling, and chugging some water and nuun.

My average was 3:10, well under my target average of 3:15, but, more importantly, I kept them within 7 seconds of each other--unlike the 17 second difference in my first speed workout. I have gotten a more consistent pace for the 800s as the weeks go on. Also, I was able to hold roughly the same pace over more repeats.

Conclusion

I am new to speedwork in training, but I wanted to try it this year in preparation for Chicago. Of the three types of speedwork (hill, tempo, and track), the track workouts are the ones I initially enjoyed the least and did the most poorly. I didn't know how to maintain a consistent pace or even what pace to aim for! I have seen improvements in my ability to hold a consistent pace and have grown to somewhat enjoy the feeling of pushing myself during training to help me achieve my end goal (the 3:15 at Chicago). I am interested to see the benefits on race day. Will I feel stronger at the end? Only time will tell.

If you have never done track workouts and want to improve your times, I urge you to give them a try. While I said that I feel like a klutz out there, believe me, no one cares! I had to get over feeling self conscious, and besides there is usually only at most three other people out there in the morning! Remember that my first time out there was a big learning experience for me too. If you stick with it, they will get easier. By sharing my experience, I hope you will be encouraged to give it a try too!

9-11-01 and 9-12-11

2011-09-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

On September 11, 2001, I was teaching fifth grade in my hometown of Madison, Alabama. I remember the teacher next door came over in the morning and told me that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center. Over the course of the day, we came to hear more through the internet.  The fifth grade teachers met and chose not to tell the children. We wanted them to be able to go home and hear the news from their parents instead. And of course, it was still unfolding into the afternoon. It was such a confusing and frightening day.

Like many other runners, I found my solace in my afternoon run. I had no husband or children at the time to go home to; it was just me and my little apartment. I remember listening to my local radio station as I ran, trying to sort things out in my mind. I heard a song that had been mixed together with some people talking about what had happened that day. I can't remember the song, but I remember that someone in the song said, "There are children going to sleep without their parents tonight." I remember thinking about that and about the footage I had seen of people who were jumping out of the twin towers in utter desperation. I just lost it, and I was crying behind my sunglasses for the rest of my run. I couldn't begin to imagine the pain that so many endured that day and the loss that some would feel for a long, long time.

In a gesture that seems so piddly, I dressed in red, white, and blue at school on Friday and had the children in their patriotic best on Friday at school and Sunday at church. I hung a flag outside. I was surprised not to see more people doing the same. I don't ever want the sacrifices that were made that day to ever be forgotten. My running friends and I had a great conversation about the bravery of the 9-11 firefighters on our run today. It's conversations like that one that will keep the memories alive. I was even able to share a simplified version of the events with my five year old. As I talked, I wondered if he felt sadness, appreciation, patriotism, or what?

************************************************************************************

Today is September 12, 2011. I face a very different issue today (one that seems rather pale in comparison...but still).  I've been on this page a couple of times today. I have a 3:18:05 BQ this year. I am able to register today for the Boston Marathon along with others who have a time 20 minutes or greater than their qualifying time (my qualifying time is a 3:40 this year). What a rare opportunity! But I am waiting until my husband can register on September 19, so we can see if we can both get in. It would not be the same experience without him, nor can we afford two trips up there (I contemplated running it last year since Rick didn't have a BQ yet and I thought that might be my only opportunity. Then I didn't get in since registration filled so quickly. Do you think things like that happen for a reason?). I know that waiting--and hoping we can both get in-- is the right thing to do. I just somehow feel like I'm wasting an opportunity. It's one of those days when I wish I had a crystal ball to see into the future to help me decide what to do. I like this post by Dorothy about how you can never take a BQ away from someone. I know I will always have the BQ, no matter if I get to run the race or not.

13 Miles at Marathon Pace

2011-09-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

So, it's time to get down to business. No more messing around, skipping runs (yes, I skipped a tempo run this week), and going slower just because it's easier. I officially have less than a month to get trained for Chicago. I was telling myself all of these things as I headed out for my 12 miler yesterday.

I pushed myself and actually covered a whole extra mile! Even though my left shin's been a little sore lately, I pushed it out there and tried to get to marathon pace. This is something I should have been doing earlier in training (my program calls for a marathon pace run every other week). My music died early on, but I preferred just focusing my mind anyway. A really good distraction at the end was when I pretended I was at 3:14 in Chicago and that I could see the finish line. It helped me to sprint and get a 7:00 mile at the end of my run. I felt strong at the finish.

1 8:25
2 7:57
3 7:57
4 7:58
5 7:37
6 7:33
7 7:30
8 7:44
9 7:44
10 7:25
11 7:27
12 7:09
13 7:00
.01 5:48
Overall pace 7:39

Notice that I finally hit pace at mile 10 (actually 2 seconds faster than pace). This is opposite from my approach to marathons, when I start fast (under my pace) and then slow down. Also, mile 11 was exactly on pace--a 7:27. It felt nice and not hard to maintain once I got there.

Today was a rest day and a day to reflect on 9-11. I hope to do a post later this week about my memories from that day.

Comparisons

2011-09-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

The secret to success=and then some

I was sitting in my church on Sunday, and this point just struck me as if the pastor was speaking only to me. I suppose since the sermon title was "How to Get the Most Out of Every Day," it really does apply to all of us. In fact, I wonder about people who can hear a sermon about making the most of your life and then get up and go about their day as if nothing at all matters. It all matters.

But before I go off on a tangent, I want to get back to the message above. The secret to success is to do what you are required and then some. I have been really struggling with this mindset as it relates to running and training. It is very easy to run just one more mile in a daily run or to add just one more run to your week. Mostly, I think the majority of people could benefit from doing these things! But I struggle with taking things too far. In this post, I talk about my struggle with anorexia. It began with the exact same approach. If I can eat just this much today, what if I can restrict my eating just as much tomorrow and then some? It was a dangerous, slippery slope.

I lay awake each morning as Rick gets ready for his runs. Today it was 3:30 a.m. when his alarm went off. Tuesday it was 4:00 a.m. I compare it to the "measly" 4:45 time that my alarm is set for on the days I run. "And then some!" this little voice inside me whispers. Rick is running Chicago next month too, and he is aiming for a time only 5 minutes above my goal (a 3:10 to my 3:15). His training program is from Advanced Marathoning, a book that has him running 70 mile weeks with marathon pace long runs. Mine has 50+ mile weeks and slow and easy long runs. "And then some," I think each time I compare our training. Doubt in myself has the ability to cripple me if I will let it, if I let his training affect how I feel about mine. We are all different. We are beautiful creatures created by a wonderful and loving God. Our abilities are different. Just for today, I am not going to let these comparisons weigh me down.

Just for today, I am enough. The talents and strengths He's given me are enough---and then some.

Running With the Strollers in Rush Hour and Rain

2011-09-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

I ran a couple of times with the strollers and thought I'd share the "highlights."

Double Stroller

One morning while Rick was out of town last week, I had the craziest idea to get to the preschool an hour early and run for an hour before dropping my son off in his class (my son goes to class everyday, but my daughter and I go only MWF). I arrived in the parking lot last Thursday a couple of minutes after 8:00 a.m. and set about getting the stroller out of the trunk, getting everyone's breakfasts and drinks, and buckling my two kids into the stroller. This was before our cold front hit us this weekend (BRRR!!!), so it was a hot day, and I was already sweating before I started my run!

Though this was the same exact route I do with my group at 5 a.m., it looked nothing like it just 3 hours later than usual. I ran on sidewalks, mostly near a two-lane road. Traffic was at a standstill near our local high school, meaning that people were stopped in their cars and turning to look at us as we passed. Normally I don't mind if I see a friend or two as I'm pushing the double stroller and I actually hope that I pass a few strangers and inspire them a bit, but passing so many people and feeling a little like a circus act just wasn't what I had set out to do today. I racked my brain for a route that didn't involve main roads or hills, and there just wasn't one! So I continued on, trying to ignore the stares! I passed the high school and saw that some boy had posted a large sign asking "Kathryn" to the homecoming dance. I am a Kathryn too, and I smiled at the sweet gesture and pictured her response. The best part of the run was the side street near our local library. My daughter needed me to get the seeds out of her apple, so I was able to stop in the middle of this sunny run to eat a couple cool, juicy bites of apple. Heavenly! Made me wish I could carry an apple whenever I run!

I stopped my run short that day, not wanting my son to be late for school and (rightly) assuming that putting the stroller away and changing into a not-sweaty shirt would take a couple of extra minutes. I got about 5 miles in, and I learned that I don't like running in rush hour traffic!

Single Stroller

Tuesday I ran in the misty rain with my daughter in the single stroller.

The rain started on Sunday and did not stop until Monday afternoon. So my friends and I did not run together on Monday as usual. On Tuesday I awoke to a slow, misty, cold, and windy rain. But my single stroller has a really nice rain shield that we bought when we only had one baby. At the time, it was a new stroller with all of the accessories--rain shield, bug shield, and winter boot! We were prepared for sure! Then our daughter was born, and the single stroller didn't get much use. I am so glad to have all of the accessories for my runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays this year!

Here is my daughter happy to be dry as we begin our run today.

Using the little-used rain shield with the single stroller

Well, let me tell you, running in the rain is not all that bad! It was a chilly day (50s), so I was actually a little cold for the first time in awhile! I did have to dodge puddles since we've had 5 inches of rain over the past couple of days. So my feet were soggy and I needed my second shower of the day before 10:30 a.m. (and I had to make it a quick one to get my daughter to dance by 11!), but I was able to get my run in for the day. Ahhhhhhhh!

Monte Sano 10K

2011-09-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

The Monte Sano 10k and 5K were this Saturday, September 3. My in-laws were in town, so Rick and I were able to drive up alone to the race and then were both able to run the 10K. This race is super family-friendly, though, since the 10K and 5K start separately. Last year, Rick ran the 10K and I watched the kids, and then I ran the 5K and he watched the kids.

On Saturday I ran a mile or so to warm up and then about 6 miles with Rick to "cool down" (Rick's idea of a cool down is NOT my idea of a cool down!!!!), so I totaled around 13 miles for the day. My time in the 10K was 43:19, or a 6:59 pace. I took home 2nd OAF and won a lunch bag. The course is loose gravel in places and is a 5K loop run twice. Add in the hills and a turnaround (run twice), and it's a pretty difficult course. See our team captain Eric's summary of the course here.

It took some hunting and thinking to get a sense of whether it was a good time for me and for this course. In my past results, I got a 43:35 back in 2004 and also was 2nd OAF--pretty close times! Most recently, I ran the 10K here in 2009 and got a 45:05. These results show me that I am now back to my times before kids in this race and that I have greatly improved since 2009! This year I have gotten down to my old 5K and marathon times, but I've struggled with my 10K times. My searches show that I am getting there, even though this time is not close to my old 10K PR (If you click on the link above, you will see Eric's quote that, "The old saying is that if your 10k personal best is on this course, you haven't run many 10ks!").

This race is a great way to see your friends as they run the race (no matter what pace they are going, with this course you will see almost everyone at least once!). We all enjoyed cheering for each other as we passed familiar faces. It was really a great distraction!

I am front and center in this picture. To my right are fellow FF elite team members Kathy Youngren and Candace Jacobs (in front).
Photo by Gregg Gelmis

Monte Sano 10K 2011
Photo by Gregg Gelmis

Splits:
1 6:40
2 6:56
3 6:51
4 7:06
5 7:16
6 7:04
.2 1:25

43:19 (6:59 pace)
20th OA
2nd OAF

Mid-Week Long Run

2011-08-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, August 30 20 Miles (2nd in series of 3 in preparation for Chicago)

Splits: 9:32, 9:35, 9:30, 9:36, 9:27, 9:47, 9:28, 9:43, 9:34, 9:27, 9:44, 9:06, 8:05, 8:09, 8:38, 8:33, 8:14, 8:39, 8:30, 8:10, 7:18
Average pace 8:59
Elevation gain 600 feet (Rick says this was pretty good?)

I am racing this weekend and didn't have another good day to run my 20-miler this week, so I decided to run it today. My friend, Jane (yes, the same one who's been with me on the tempos and track workouts I've done), offered to start with me at 4:15 a.m. so I could get in my needed miles. Jane has been right there with me through these difficult miles--for conversation, for advice, and for laughs. That is a true friend, and I am lucky to have her and the rest of my group!

We both admired the stars twinkling in the darkness and enjoyed the coolness. It was great having her company. And how strange to be done with 8 miles before you have seen the sunrise! She wrote about our 11 miles together here.

An interesting thing about her company is that she was successful in speeding up my first 3 miles. I've had a lot of trouble with starting at 11 minute plus miles. I'm not sure if it's the darkness (afraid of where my foot will land when I can't see) or the knowledge that I have to run 19 more miles (or 18 or 17), but nothing I could do was working to bring them down. Then Jane did!

I pushed myself the last 9 miles and played a little game with myself to see if I could bring my average down to sub 9s. I did it (it clicked down to an 8:59 during the 20th mile!). And I wanted the last mile to be my fastest and also marathon-paced, just to help my confidence. Well, even with all of the rush hour people watching me gut it out, I was able to do it! So this run was great at helping me build some confidence back.

I hydrated much better today than the last 20 miler, stopping at my car at 11 miles to get water and refill my bottle. I ate gummy bears during the run and graham crackers before. And the low last night was a glorious 61 degrees, so it felt cool and refreshing out there today!

Setting Your Bar

2011-08-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

My friend asked me the other day whether it was realistic to take 20-30 minutes off of her marathon time. I didn't have a great explanation for her at the time, just an enthusiastic, "Yes!" I am always setting my bar pretty high, but I have the results to back it up though. Stay with me.

Below is one of my favorite quotes ever. It can apply to anything in life, but it is especially true for running:

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. – Michelangelo

Michelangelo says it's a danger to aim too low. Why would he use that word? Let's use my running as an example to test this merits of this quote.

I ran my first marathon aiming just to finish. I got a 3:45. From there, I went on to run 3 more marathons that same year with almost every one being slower than the one before it. It would have been easy to "lower my aim," so to speak. Maybe you are feeling like doing that in running or some other area of your life right now. Below are the first four marathons I ran:

Rocket City Marathon Huntsville, AL December 8, 2001 3:45:43
Mercedes Marathon Birmingham, AL February 10, 2002 3:47:36
Country Music Marathon Nashville, TN April 27, 2002 3:55:07
Atlanta Marathon Atlanta, GA November 28, 2002 3:54:50

I guess you could say I raised my bar for the next marathon. I wanted a Boston qualifying time (BQ, or a 3:40 for my age group at that time). I remember putting in a lot of hard miles preparing for this one with the help of my now-husband, Rick. Rick guided my training program, and we compared many of our run times (we were a long-distance relationship). When we ran together, he pushed me. I remember the feeling somewhere in the last mile of knowing that I had a BQ. I hit it out of the park with a 3:30! Take that, first 4 marathons! I went on to qualify 9 more times, for a total of 10 Boston qualifying marathons. Four of these were post-babies, as my aim had never changed. I refused to slow down simply because I was a mother, though finding time to run was much harder now.

See my list of BQ marathons below:

(#5) Country Music Marathon Nashville, TN April 26, 2003 3:30:11
(#6) Rock 'N' Roll Marathon San Diego, CA June 1, 2003 3:21:54
(#7) Rock 'N' Roll Marathon Phoenix, AZ January 11, 2004 3:22:09
(#8) Blue Angel Marathon Pensacola, FL February 28, 2004 3:30:06
(#9) Flying Pig Marathon Cincinnati, OH May 2, 2004 3:28:30
(#11) Rocket City Marathon Huntsville, AL December 11, 2004 3:31:24
(#18) Rock 'N' Roll Mardi Gras Marathon New Orleans, LA February 28, 2010 3:35:57
(#19) Marshall University Huntington, West Virginia November 7, 2010 3:29:25
(#21) Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon Myrtle Beach, SC February 19, 2011 3:18:05
(#22) Go! St. Louis Marathon St. Louis, MO April 10, 2011 3:35:43

For many of these races, it was the bar I had placed very high that forced me to reach up on my tippy toes, so to speak, to try to get over it. None of these races was easy. But if I had never believed in myself, where would I be?

Everyone running a fall marathon, you probably know that Boston has decided to make its standards tougher for us this year. My qualifying time is 5 minutes faster than before. For those of you who've never BQed, maybe you're questioning whether you have what it takes to rise to the challenge, especially with the tougher times.

I ask you to begin with believing in yourself. Start now thinking that you can do it. Have that dream that seems very distant. And, then, hit it out of the park! Make Michelangelo (and me) very proud.

Taking a Step Back Thanks To My Little Rapunzel

2011-08-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

So I thought it might be a good idea to combine my recent lackluster running times with some pictures of my daughter's birthday party to put me in the right kind of mood. It's hard to be down on yourself when you have the view I am privileged to have from here. Yes, I wish my times were better these days. Yes, I wish I was feeling confident about the 3:15. Yes, I wish my legs felt good. But I think I need to take a step back from all of that for awhile and just enjoy what I do have today.

Here is where I began writing this post:

Tempo Run Wednesday, August 24 7x800s

3:26, 3:27, 3:20, 3:22, 3:17, 3:26, ? (forgot to hit stop)

My legs just felt off today. My right leg wanted to limp a little (something in my lower calf?). My left leg felt a little weak and burned for some of the repeats. I just felt like I couldn't kick it into the right gear. I sucked it up and ran them anyway, too stubborn to miss a key speed workout, getting madder at myself with each repeat.

Hal's advice that "just because you can run 10 x 800 in 3:10, there is no guarantee that you can run 3:10 in the marathon. It works the other way around: If you can run a 3:10 marathon, you probably can do that workout without straining too much" rang in my ears. These splits were killing me. After each repeat I would try to shake out my right leg, but it kept feeling odd. Like I said, I was too stubborn to quit, even when I should. And I was mad that they were too slow.

I realized that I now am not training in any shape or form for the 3:15. My speed workouts, my tempos, and my marathon pace runs have not been on target. I was feeling down about that until my friend Julia told me that I probably wasn't "training" for my 3:18 either. I shouldn't be too concerned about my training. It's just one piece of the puzzle that is good marathon performance. I seem to be able to sidestep my training and have done so in the past.

As I type in between these pictures, I am just feeling silly. Who cares about my silly little training? Me?

Isn't this what running is about? The joy! The fun! The sun on your arms! The wind in your hair! The feeling of the grass between your toes (well, sometimes)!

Who do I want to be for her? Someone who is intensely focused on each daily run? Or someone who takes joy in the running that I am able to do?

I guess, in a small way, her present to me on our wonderful shared birthday lies right in the wisdom of the realizations I have just shared with you all.

Happy running today!

Tempo, 10 Mile Run, and Birthday 20 Miler August 16-20, 2011

2011-08-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

My daughter's birthday party was on my birthday, Saturday, August 20th. I went to bed with a sick stomach on Thursday night because I had so much to do for the party but also because I had to get up, run 10 miles, go to work, get ready for the party, go to bed, get up, and run 20 miles all before the party on Saturday. So the running's been stressing me out. Her party, however, was a huge success and deserves one of the sappy sentimental posts that I love to write! Her (and my) favorite part was when she ran through the grass like Rapunzel, just to give you a hint about how perfect this party was for the both of us.

Tempo Run Wednesday, August 16th
Splits: 10:58, 9:36, 7:52, 7:57, 8:51, 8:36 Average pace 8:58
If I have two words to sum up this run (and all of my runs this week), they would be too slow. If you remember, tempo runs in this program are supposed to gradually build up to a 10-k pace for 6 minutes, or for 45 minutes of total running. So mile 3 or 4 in there should have been a 7 minute mile (or faster). I added an extra 10 minutes just because it was a 6 mile route.

I just don't have the power to get these runs faster. Of course, when I mention this to Rick, he reminds me that I always train slow and race faster. It just bugs me that now I am wearing a Garmin and I know how slow I am actually going.

10 Mile Run Friday, August 19th
Splits: 10:30, 10:15, 10:05, 9:50, 10:08, 10:03, 10:02, 9:47, 9:14, 8:03 Average pace: 9:48
Pace wasn't as important to me today-- just getting out there and getting the miles done was the goal. I ran most of these with my friends, but did the last two alone and threw the 8:03 in there to prove to myself that I could go faster if I wanted to. I still think it's kinda crazy to run 10 miles the day before a 20-miler...but I managed to do it!

20 Mile Run Saturday, August 20th
Splits: 10:27, 10:22, 10:29, 10:13, 9:47, 9:56, 9:38, 9:27, 9:27, 9:35, 9:25, 8:54, 9:15, 8:57, 9:10, 9:44, 9:08, 9:21, 9:22, last mile ? (Garmin died) Average pace: 9:37
Factors that worked against me for this run were the lack of hydration (forgot to place a water bottle so used the gatorade I carried as my only drink), tired legs, and other things on my mind (the party!). The worst part of the run was at the end of mile 19. I found a water fountain and stopped the Garmin only to see that the low battery kept it from starting again to time my 20th mile. I wear a Garmin and a watch for just this reason. So I ran to my house and ran circles around the front of it until my watch said a time I was sure would have me good for the whole 20. Yes, it was the kind of run where I would rather run back and forth in front of my house than run one extra step.

A good happy birthday present to me was a new pair of running sunglasses from Rick. I won my old pair at a trail marathon years ago and have worn them daily since. Yes, my running sunglasses serve as my everyday pair too. I know, I am so stylish! I had not realized how scratched up the old ones were. Thanks, Rick!

A Mom's Thoughts During the First Week of Kindergarten

2011-08-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

Our running conversations are one of the best unexpected benefits of having a running group. My group of girls talks about anything and everything. I've have some of my longest uninterrupted conversations over the past couple of years with these girls. If you are a stay at home mom, you know what I mean. It's nice to talk without having two needy kids. Even though I've taught mine that we don't interrupt adults' conversations, those leave-in-the-middle-of-the-sentence moments still occur. So I love our uninterrupted time while we run.

Kids were the topic of one of our recent runs. It's been a busy week of back-to-school, and all of us are processing the fact that our kids are another grade older. Inevitably, the topic turned to my ever present "third child" conundrum. Here's the boat that I am in (and several of my friends too): Two kids, a boy and a girl. Each child getting older and more and more independent every day. My biological clock ticking LOUDLY in my ears (my 34th birthday is Saturday). This year is a crossroads year for me, the precious last year before both of mine are in "big school." So it's either stay at home and have another baby or start thinking of ways to fill the hours while mine are away at school. There are pros and cons to having a third baby. I could list them for hours (and have as we've weighed our choices). But mostly, I just get sad thinking that all of the baby moments are almost gone. There is nothing like these first five years. I've watched two miracles grow from baby to child, and I'm not sure I'm ready to leave this stage behind.

My son started kindergarten at our preschool this week. He's loving it. I remember a song I first heard at his newborn baby session. It was so fitting and true. It became one of the lullabies that I still sing to my children as they go to bed at night.

It is "Lullaby" by Dixie Chicks.

They didn't have you where I come from
Never knew the best was yet to come
Life began when I saw your face
And I hear your laugh like a serenade

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

They really didn't have children from where I came from (though I was a school teacher, it is not the same). I really didn't know that the best was yet to come. And life really did begin when I saw their faces. Nothing else seems to matter.

And yet, what is one of my biggest cons for having another baby? ME! Giving up my body, my sleep, my running, or at least putting it on hold for several months. Of course, finances, time to devote to each child, and other issues are also at hand. For now, we weigh the options. And I savor what I've been given because, truly, I never knew what I was missing until I had them.

Long Run and Marathon Pace Run

2011-08-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

I had a 9 mile marathon pace run and a 19 mile run back-to-back last week. Today I had a 10 mile run and then a bunch of other stuff to do, so here's all the post about them that I can muster.

Marathon Pace Run Friday, August 12
Somewhat successful, with an overall 8:22 pace. Splits were 9:10, 8:37, 8:49, 8:51, 8:18, 7:53, 8:03, 8:00, and 7:28. I remember feeling really triumphant that the last mile was near marathon pace (a 7:27). Too bad the other 8 were not! My friends and I who are marathon training have had SEVERAL conversations about how much time we can tack onto our runs due to the heat. 30 seconds a mile? A minute? It is so baffling to me that I can easily run a 7 something pace in a marathon, but on my own it feels impossible. I also find it strange that I am having trouble finding the 7:27 pace, but that I can go faster (in races and even in speedwork) and, obviously, I can go slower (and do, most of the time). I liked this day because it was very foggy. I kept seeing my friends along my route but had trouble telling who they were, even from pretty close by.

Long Run Saturday, August 13
An interesting thing about this long run is that I found a York Peppermint Patty and used it to fuel before the run. I think it worked well, and it was so tasty! I DO NOT enjoy running in the dark. It is hard to see where I am going, and every noise makes me jump out of my skin! Just being real here, I almost turned the Garmin off and just called it a day around mile 3. I think it is SO weird that I can start fast in a marathon, no problem, but in training, I start SLOW. And then I take forever to warm up, during which time I think, "Maybe you should just stop now. Can't you skip this long run and just run next week? Your time is going to be SO slow." So that happened for awhile, but I pushed on. I have to remember that there are LOTS of ups and downs during a long run. You might be feeling terrible at mile 3 or mile 13, but if you keep going, that feeling turns around.

I met a friend for miles 4-10, and we were able to whittle my pace down (It helps me to actually picture myself with a block of wood just whittling it away with a chisel). I finished much stronger than I started, and I felt GOOD. That is the best part. I only had a Gatorade bottle to hydrate with. Not a good idea in this heat, when you are literally wringing your shirt out from sweat.

Overall pace: 9:17
Splits: 10:17, 10:03, 10:24 (thought about quitting), 10:10, 9:39, 9:15, 9:27, 9:44, 9:33, 9:32, 9:37, 8:43, 8:50, 8:51, 8:44, 8:17, 8:41, 8:17, 8:11

Today was a COOL day (60s). Running felt great. I can't wait to see how I feel once the cooler temperatures hit.

Last Week's Long Run (A Little Late) and This Week's Hill Work

2011-08-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hill Work today--I did two pretty big hills in a 6 mile route, but my group continued on for a total of about 8 miles and hit one more big hill. I kind of wimped out, trying to conserve for Friday and Saturday of this week. Knowing that I have a marathon pace 9 miles and a long run of 19 miles is starting to wear on me. I DON'T look forward to either of these training runs. And I am preparing my classroom for Open House and school next week, so I am more tired than usual from that. I have been working around 6 hours a day, preparing the room, attending meetings, and staying up late typing stuff we'll need.

Long Run Saturday, August 6---13 miles
Enjoyed this long run since the first 11 miles were with my friend, Jane. Average pace for the run was 9:10, and the last two miles were 7:45 and 8:01. It was supposed to be a half marathon race (I don't know why Hal scheduled it as such), but obviously I did not go half marathon pace for ANY of the run. That is okay. But somewhere in this training, I want to start feeling GOOD during the runs and not tired!

Bad News (Two Strikes)
Last year, I won three races (first overall female): McKay Hollow Madness, Run Through the Roses 10K, and Monte Sano 5K. Part of the fun in winning is coming back the next year to defend your title. So far, TWO of the three races have been CANCELLED. McKay Hollow due to lightening, and Run Through the Roses (was actually rescheduled twice) due to scheduling conflicts. I am starting to feel like bad luck, and I am disappointed that I won't be able to race in these events. I was hoping for a course record in the RTTR!! I bet I'm not the only one who's disappointed...but there's always 2012!

Rest Day

2011-08-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

Oh the glorious words REST DAY were on my schedule yesterday. Let me tell you about rest days. I had gotten to the point where I was doing something seven days a week for awhile there, even if it was just 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. Hal's program calls for one weekly rest day, and he says that it is an important part of your training. He writes:

Despite my listing it at the end, rest is an important component of this or any training program. Scientists will tell you that it is during the rest period (the 24 to 72 hours between hard bouts of exercise) that the muscles actually regenerate and get stronger. Coaches also will tell you that you can't run hard unless you are well rested. And it's the hard running that allows you to improve. If you're constantly fatigued, you will fail to reach your potential. This is why I designate Friday as a day of rest even for Advanced 1 runners. It allows you to gather forces for hard running on Saturdays and Sundays. If you need to take more rest days--because of a cold or a late night at the office or a sick child--do so. And if you're tired from the weekend, take Monday off as well--or cut the length of your Wednesday run. The secret to success in any training program is consistency, so as long as you are consistent with your training during the full 18 weeks of the program, you can afford--and may benefit from--extra rest.

The first week of the program, I heard Rick get up for his long run on Sunday, and I so badly wanted to get up to work out too. I had to force myself to sleep in and relax. Now that I am a few weeks into the program, I still hear Rick get up for his long run on Sundays, but I no longer feel the need to knock out 30 minutes of "junk miles" on my elliptical. I can be happy with the fact that, by resting, I am still working towards my goal. I am giving my muscles the chance to grow stronger. And, frankly, I am giving myself a break from it all.

So yesterday, on a day sandwiched between a 13 and a 10 mile run, the words REST DAY seemed pretty good to me.

Baking...er Burning...a Cake

2011-08-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

Photo from here

Today I spent the greater part of the morning trying to make a really nice bundt cake from scratch. It had a secret ingredient---7 Up!---and the rest of it didn't seem too hard. It had the most delicious lemon smell as I stirred it. We all enjoyed licking the sweet batter from the bowl.

Well, I am known for my terrible cooking, so it should not be a surprise that I managed to ruin that cake! I came downstairs to the smell of burning. No, the cake was not burning, but little globs of it were dripping down onto the heating element, creating a terrible smell. After the dreadful hour of "baking" had passed, the cake was still jiggly when I touched it, and I decided I had done something terribly wrong (actually, first I blamed the recipe and then I blamed myself!) What a waste of time! What a waste of money! (5 eggs! 3 cups each of flour and sugar!)

I was so disappointed with myself that I told both of my children not to say anything about the cake disaster. I think they knew I wasn't kidding (they know when I mean business). My sweet little son walked over to the "cake," which was now resting on the stovetop, poked his little finger into the runny, gooey mess, and then proclaimed, "It's still good, Mamma!" And he proceeded to eat several licks of it. I tried some too, and it really wasn't half bad--just dripping and gooey inside instead of hard like a cake. I felt my disappointment fading away with each little swipe that his finger made into that cake.

As I began the annoying process of cleaning the dried globs of cake on the bottom of the oven and on the two oven racks, I thought:

We should always watch ourselves, lest we get too prideful. You see I later learned that I had made a very simple, careless mistake. I thought I had the right amount of butter, but in fact I used only half of the amount. This applies to anything in life--running, cooking, whatever. Don't become too complacent in what you are doing. Be diligent and careful.

Learn from your mistakes. So what? I burned a cake! So what? I didn't finish a marathon. It took my little child accepting my mistake for what it was for me to realize that we all make mistakes. How we deal with them is what's important. I hope to accept their mistakes with as much patience and kindness as he did today with mine today.

We all make mistakes. What are you going to learn from yours today?

Speed Work Wednesday August 3

2011-08-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today I was scheduled to run 6x800s. I wasn't really feeling in the mood, and I wasn't meeting anyone. So I slowly jogged on the roads for about a mile and a half before ssslllllllooooooowwwwwlllllyyy walking over to the track. I think I was looking for a reason not to run them, but I couldn't find one, so off I went.

I messed up my watch by mistake (just switched the placement of the different readings around). So I thought my watch said 3:30 for the first 800, though I was actually seeing 33:00 minutes for the overall time. I was bummed and mad. Yes, I wanted 3:15s for each 800, and I was angry at myself for not going faster. I "punished" myself by flying for the next two, getting 3:10 and then 3:08. I kept pretending that, like Hal said, what I got on my 800s is what I will get in the marathon. Of course, it takes more than a few 800s to make me ready for a 3:15, but it helped me to think that hitting the target on these 800s was at least a tiny step towards that big goal. Also, I now understand why some people feel like throwing up when they run fast since I felt a little sick after each of those laps. The 4th 800 was a 3:09, and then I messed something up with my watch (maybe failed to press start?), so I didn't get an accurate time for the last two 800s.

The best part of my run was seeing my friend Jane run up to the track after my first 800. Just knowing that we were out there together helped me to keep going. I told her that I didn't want her to see me quit in the middle of the workout. And she was asked me if I'd later regret not doing the 5th one when I wanted to stop at 4. And the BEST part of the workout was when we stopped running and just walked together, chatting for a couple of laps.

Yes, we're runners, but sometimes I like walking (and talking) a whole lot more.

Times: 3:15, 3:10, 3:08, 3:09, ?, ?

This Week's Long Run

2011-08-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday's long run was a 17-miler. Maybe it would help if I had a pace in mind to run these things in. On Saturday, I just drove to my starting point having EXACTLY enough time for 17 10-minute miles until I needed to get home. I thought, "No problem. I can do this with room to spare!" Then I got running, and my first mile was 11:35. Every time I start ramping up my weekly miles, things start hurting and feeling tight. I attribute this to my lack of cross training and poor stretching. Anyway, my right calf and my left shin have been bothering me, and neither one felt very good during that first mile. I am also not used to having only one rest day a week. Six days of running each week has been a challenge for me.

Things got better, and by mile 4 I was running a sub 10 minute mile. The good thing about long runs is that sometimes a warm up can take a few miles. No rush! As I was finishing my sixth mile, my friend Alice ran up to me. We were able to run together for a little while. It was nice having the company! I was still trying to get my overall pace down to 10 minute miles by that point so that I'd have time to finish my whole 17 miles. I had to leave her and continue alone.

My pace ended up at 9:25, with my last mile being an 8:47, much better than the first mile and a good way to end the run. I made it home just in time for Rick to go to volunteer at a race. Finding time in our week to both get our running and volunteering in is still a challenge, but I am feeling better about it.

Beauty on Runs

2011-07-31T20:59:00.000-07:00

Picture from here

Do we really see the beauty around us as we run? The clouds that look like God painted them in the sky, the herons (my friend Madelyn always points them out), the mountain lakes, the deserts? I would like to argue that sometimes we are more caught up with ourselves. Either how far or how fast I am running is usually something that is constantly on my mind as I run. But there are moments, like one today, I put all of that aside for a moment and just take in the beauty of my world.

Today during my long run, I was privileged to see a gorgeous sunrise--the kind where the clouds look all pink and choppy and fluffy all across the sky as the sun moves through them. I was reminded about a scene from Forrest Gump (and later about the most beautiful place I've ever seen--Kaui in 2009--see below).

Forrest Gump ran all through the movie--as a child to outrun the mean kids ("Run, Forrest, run!), in college as a football quarterback, and then as an adult when he ran across the continent since he "just felt like running." His efforts on the coast-to-coast runs were admired. Others sought him for advice. They ran behind him, hoping for some wonderful message. A way to run as far as he did. Yet I think his message is simply this: Enjoy what you are doing as long as you can by taking in the beauty around you.

When Jenny asks him about his life experiences he says:
Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out... and then it was nice. It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou. There was always a million sparkles on the water... like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny, it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the earth began. It's so beautiful.

I think some runners are good at describing their mileage, their training, their food intake, and each little thing they do that makes them a better runner. I'm not too good at that, I'm afraid, though I will continue to try. But I do like finding the beauty and the opportunity in each run that I take...and more and more so the older I get. I want to be the kind of runner who feels moved by experiences I have while running, moved by the beauty of God's creation. It is all around us, yet we never take the time to see it. Forrest's message is a simple message delivered by a simple person, yet it rings so true to me.

I am reminded of Wilson Bentley, who lived from 1865 to 1931. I learned about him through reading the children's book Snowflake Bentley. Really, Katie? A children's book? Sorry, people, I work with what I have! Anyway, he lived on a farm in Vermont and took pictures of snowflakes and other objects in nature. People said that snow in Vermont was as common as dirt and not worth is taking the time to study it, take pictures of it, or preserve it.

Yet he said, "The average dairy farmer gets up at dawn because he has to go to work in the cow yard. I get up at dawn too. But it is because I want to find some leaf, hung with dew; or a spider web which the dew has made into the most delicate rope of pearls...I take my camera with me, get down on my knees in the wet grass, and photograph these exquisite bits of nature. Because I do this I can show these lovely things to people who never would have seen the without my help. They will get their daily quart of milk, all right. Other farmers will attend to that. But I think I am giving them something which is just as important."

If you are still reading this, I think Forrest's message, Wilson's message, and mine are one in the same. Instead of rushing past everything (whether on your run or elsewhere), take the time to see the beauty that is all around you.

I plan to see the beauty in my world today.

First Tempo Run

2011-07-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Hal, I am now running a tempo run every three weeks. I tried it for the first time with my friend Jane this past Wednesday. Beforehand, I sent my group an email saying:

I have a tempo run tomorrow--40 minutes. I would like to start with the group and go from there. Anyone want to join me?
It is 10-15 min warmup
gradually increase until you are running about a 7 min mile pace for 6 minutes
cool down for 10 min
total 40 minutes (I may do more)

If I didn't have a marathon to train for, I don't think I'd be up for this run like some of my friends have over the last few Wednesdays as they ran with me. I've had lots of company on my track and hill workouts. They are willing to try these things in order to push themselves and to see what they are made of, and not to meet an end goal as I am. I am most impressed by a new friend in our group who ran with us for the first time during one of our track workouts and has been back for more speed and hill runs. I admire her strength and the fact that she is not intimidated by new things (unlike me!).

But the pace for the tempo run made some of my group shy away. I got answers such as:

"Sounds interesting."
"I will probably skip out on this one and go to the gym."
"Sounds like something…different…"

Then my good friend Jane said, "I may try that with you. I just need a speedier workout on Wednesdays." It was music to my ears, as I just love company on my runs--and someone to talk and laugh with while we run! She described our run so well here. It ended up being somewhat of a confusing run, but I hope still a beneficial one. Here is what Hal says about tempo runs (note the highlighted ambiguous "gradual!"):

A tempo run is a continuous run with a buildup in the middle to near 10-K race pace. Notice I said "near" 10-K race pace. Coach Jack Daniels defines the peak pace for tempo runs at the pace you might run if racing flat-out for about an hour. That's fairly fast, particularly if the tempo run is 45 minutes long, but you're only going to be near peak pace for 3-6 minutes in the middle of the run. In the Advanced 1 programs, tempo runs also are scheduled for Thursdays. Here's how to do this workout. A tempo run of 30 to 40 minutes would begin with 10-15 minutes easy running, build to peak speed during the next 10-20 minutes, then finish with 5-10 minutes easy running. The pace buildup should be gradual, not sudden, with peak speed coming about two-thirds into the workout and only for those few minutes mentioned above. You can do tempo runs almost anywhere: on the road, on trails or even on a track. Tempo runs should not be punishing. You should finish refreshed, which will happen if you don't push the pace too hard or too long. It helps also to pick a scenic course for your tempo runs. You can do your tempo run with another runner, but usually it works better to run solo. There's less danger of going too slow or (more the problem) too fast if you choose his pace, not yours.

My splits were 10:21, 8:58, 7:46, 8:11, 10:04, 10:49, 9:16. You can see there was a definite peak that I think Hal was going for with his whole "buildup to near a 10K pace" thing. And I was near a 7:00 minute mile for the required 6 minutes.

But, boy, was that tough! And there was a point where I just shouted out, "What's the point of this???" We were so unsure of how fast to be going, and I was just questioning why we need tempo runs at all (I mean, I've never done them before!).

I think I answered my own question that day. I said, "I know I didn't have it here (pointing to my body) during my marathon PR (I'd say collapsing at the finish qualifies me to say I wasn't all there physically.). But I was there here (pointing to my head). I am working to get my body to where my head was that day. If it means I still get a 3:18 (or slower), I will be fine. As long as it's my that body carries me."

Here's hoping that more tempo runs like this will help me towards that goal.