Race Schedule

So after all my updates yesterday, I thought I would add my race schedule up here for the summer/fall.

Here goes the craziness:
May 6: Providence UHC 1/2 Marathon
July 14: Jamestown UHC 1/2 Marathon
July 21: Chicago Muddy Buddy (more to come on this)
July 22: Rock n Roll Chicago 1/2 Marathon
August 12: Yankee Stadium 5k
August 19: Rock n Roll Providence 1/2 Marathon
September 16: Rock n Roll Philadelphia 1/2 Marathon
Oct 13: Rock n Roll 10k NY
Oct 14: Newport UHC 1/2 Marathon

It is going to be an eventful summer and fall for me! I have my training plan all set up for the first couple races and will post this weekend!

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Updates Galore

So I clearly needed to give you all a week to soak up my DC 1/2 marathon experience. All caught up on it now? Good, because I have oh so many updates for you.

For starters, my hair is blonde. Is this the most important update I have? Well since I just spent $195 and 3 hours getting it cut and turned back to blonde, yes I do in fact find this to be my most important update. Before and After Pictures to come.

Now on to the running updates. You all may or may not recall that I said after I did the DC half, I wanted to focus on shorter distances. I apparently lied to you all, as well as myself. On the way back to the hotel after the race, we ran into a guy who was part of the marathon maniacs. Paul talked to him for quite a while about how to qualify and etc. Of course Paul was interested, while I kind of tuned in and out with no hopes or interest in ever being a marathon maniac. The man noticed my half marathon medal and said "don't worry, they have something for you too". He then informed me all about the half fanatics. I was sold! I quickly did some research and found three half marathons I could do in three months. I selected Rock n Roll Chicago, Rock n Roll  Providence, and Rock n Roll Phili.

I had planned for a while to do Rock n Roll Chicago, so this was not a new addition for me. On Monday I finally was all registered and excited for it. I then received an email shortly after that made my race schedule just that much crazier. I had been selected to blog for the UHC Triple Crown. I am beyond excited to be doing these three races! Adding them to my race schedule however, now makes things crazy for me.  I will be running one of these 1/2 marathons the weekend before my Rock n Roll Chicago. I will qualify for half fanatics from doing just those two races alone! So all in all, at the end of the year I will more than likely have finished 7 1/2 marathons. I'm not sure how I went from possibly 2 1/2's to now 7, but I am extremely excited for every single one of them.

I have many more updates to come during the week, including my training plan! Training starts April 1!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!

DC 1/2 Marathon Part 2

Saturday morning came so early. After a nice nights sleep I was up and getting ready to go. Paul and I walked down the street from the hotel and ran into many other runners waiting for the metro. Once we did finally get on, it was PACKED! I didn't really expect anything less though. Finally we got to the expo and I waited in the line for the bathroom that seemed to take an hour, in reality it did take at least 25 minutes. I walked with Paul to his group and said goodbye and good luck! Then I went toward the back and waited with my pace group. It seemed like I was waiting forever to start!

I finally got across the start line and was off. I got through mile one and felt amazing, and I mean AMAZING! I had never felt that good during a run, ever. I thought that I magically was going to be able to feel like this the whole race, biggest mistake ever! My plan to "run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute" went out the window quickly. I ran straight through mile 1 and 2 without stopping to walk at all. Mile 3 I started to slow down and realized I was not going to be able to run 10 min miles the entire race, I was correct. I walked for a minute and had a gu and some water around this time too. My 5k time I think was close to 35 minutes, which was what I was looking for. Unfortunately, I made my goal at 5k by not pacing myself at all. This would end up to be my biggest downfall in the entire race. 

After Mile 3 was done I tried to get myself back into the "run 10 mins walk 1 min" pattern. My legs were hurting from going out so quickly at the beginning though. Around mile 5 I hit a hill and it HURT! I was in pain from running too fast at the beginning and on top of it I had to run up a hill? I was not feeling fantastic. I was walking and running on and off from miles 5-7 because of hills. During mile 7 I ran into a dehydration issue. For who knows what reason I didn't bring extra water with me and I was getting nervous that I needed more soon. It was hotter out than anyone had thought and I was nervous another aid station wasn't coming for another couple miles. While I was contemplating how awkward it would be to harass a random runner for water, I saw people handing out bottles! I think I broke out into almost a sprint at that point. I cannot thank those people enough for handing out the bottles of water, you honestly saved me from having a serious issue. 

After I got more water in me I got myself back on track with the running. I wasn't going as fast as I wanted to, but I was running and not walking so I thought it was good. I got to mile 10 and tried to figure out just how costly my walking during the hills was going to be. I realized that based on my pace at the time, I was not going to finish with my goal of 2:45. The camera man chose to take pictures at this exact moment as well. Not cool camera man! I was starting to hurt and couldn't will myself to go faster. The only reason I was continuing to run was because anytime I stopped to walk my back would hurt. My legs hurt running, but my back hurt even more when walking, so running it was! At the start of mile 12 I hit 2 hours and 45 minutes and can honestly say that was the one moment I did not enjoy during the race.

I finished the whole thing in 2 hours and 56 mins. While I did hit my sub 3 hour goal (I know kind of sad that it was in fact a goal), I was a little disappointed that I did not hit my actual goal of 2:45. All of the above being said, this is the only race that I can say I really enjoyed. Running with a large group of people the entire time was amazing. The sites we got to see along the way were fantastic, and the groups of people lining the course along the way were appreciated by every runner. I would of obviously liked to have gone faster, paced myself better, and trained on hills, but it is what it is. 

After the race I waited for Paul to finish his first marathon! I can't even begin to describe how much emotion I felt watching all the people finishing the marathon. If you ever need inspiration to get up and do something with your life, go to the finish line of a marathon. 

Paul and I met up after he finished and got a couple of pictures of us with our medals!

Ignore the mans thumb in this. 

We got all our things together and managed to each buy a new shirt. It says rock n roll usa half marathon finisher on the front and finisher on the back. 

Love the shirt! 

We got on the metro and headed back to the hotel. We grabbed lunch at chipotle and then some ice for Paul for an ice bath. 

We relaxed around the hotel for most of the afternoon before going out and celebrating for dinner! We had dinner at the Cheesecake factory!! I hadn't had it in forever and it is absolutely my favorite restaurant!

We skipped the cheesecake after dinner and instead walked down the street to get cupcakes at CRUMBS! Love!

They were so delicious! 

We finished up the weekend at breakfast with Beckie and Parker before driving back to NY. The weekend was so much fun! I loved DC and as crazy as it is to say this, I had a blast running 13.1 miles!

Sorry for the length of this, I even left things out (crazy I know)! I'll have more plans for whats up next for me and running later this week!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

DC 1/2 Marathon Part 1

I've decided the only way I will ever write a 100% accurate race report, is if I write it while I am running it. Even writing it later that day, never mind a couple days after, I have this glossed over idea of the race. Looking at all the pictures from the race site (no they will not be posted here) I realize that at times I clearly must of not enjoyed it. To save all of your sanity, I broke this post up into two parts.

Friday morning Paul and I left at 5 am...5 am people! It was so early and I was so tired! A medium iced coffee with skim milk later and I was ready to rock n roll...haha no pun intended on that one. The drive there seemed fast, but I was hungry most of the way. Finally we stopped in Maryland at IHOP! Let the carbo loading begin!

Chocolate chip for me!

We were back on the road after and drove straight to the Race Expo. I have to admit I really enjoy expos usually, but this one was even better! 

We got in easily and picked up our swag bags, shirts, timing chips, and race bibs. After we walked around and enjoyed the rest of the expo. After the expo we went to check into the hotel and unpack.

We clearly cleaned up at the expo!

We adventured around DC a little and saw a few things along the way!

After walking around for a little while and seeing the sites, we stopped to see one of my old roommates, Beckie! After that we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We drove around for what feels like hours trying to find a place for dinner. Paul and I both wanted penne a la vodka for dinner and finally found a restaurant with it. 

It was delicious, but also one of the spiciest things I've ever had. I stopped eating part of the way through because it hurt my mouth too much to continue. After dinner we stopped at CVS to get a couple bottles of water and then headed back to hotel to get a good nights sleep. 

6 am came around very soon and I had to get ready to Rock n Roll! 

Part 2 will be posted tomorrow! Happy Tuesday everyone!

I Finished!

My official race recap will be up tomorrow (busy day at work means no time to finish writing it up), but a quick update to show I survived!

I swear I enjoyed every minute of the race! The picture above depicts that, the picture below does not.  

Yes I do look incredibly lost and confused. If i remember correctly this was around mile 10, and I thought "This camera man better not be taking a picture of me".

All the details to come tomorrow!! Happy Monday everyone.