#TBT: My First Marathon - Grand Rapids 2011

In a little over 2 weeks, I'm going to be running my second marathon, so I took a walk down memory lane this morning and decided to share it with you.

My kids ran the finish with me :)

My friend Judi gave me my medal and lots of hugs while we both cried.

This race made me a marathoner.

You can read my full race report here.  There's even some video of me running and crossing the finish line, which was kind of interesting to watch (hello straight robot legs!).  It makes me wonder what I look like now as I run since I think my running style has changed a lot over the past 3 years.  I know I'm faster - at least most days :)

I'm going to miss having that escort down the finishing shoot in Detroit.

What are you remembering today?

ps-congrats to Corey, Nicole and Ginger who won some cool Breast Cancer Awareness headbands and sweatbands in my giveaway!  Check your emails, ladies :)

#TBT: Throw Back Thursday - GR Marathon

October means marathon season around these parts - and the race that holds a special place in my heart is the Grand Rapids Marathon. I've participated in this race for the past three years. It's in a beautiful location and put on by some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet.

It was my first half marathon in 2010:

My first/only full marathon in 2011:

And my first marathon relay in 2012:

This year I'm not running. I wish I could - it's the 10th anniversary of the race - but I'm not physically ready.

I'm going to try my hand at something new this year.  2013 will be my first time as a volunteer.

Have you ever volunteered for a race before?

Grand Rapids Marathon Relay Race Report

Yesterday I participated in my first marathon relay. I ran with 4 others as part of team "All About the Cupcakes" (because, let's face it, most of us run so we can eat). We are a diverse group with totally different race experiences, from shorter races to a full marathon, with the goal to just have fun.

Angela, Brian, me, Mike, Heather

The weather was cool at the start but because I had leg 2, I could wait in the YMCA for a little while before heading to the exchange zone. We all went outside to watch the start (holy crap those elite runners can FLY) and about 20 minutes after Brian took off, I jogged to the relay zone about 1/2 a mile away. I also added in some strides & turned on my music, dancing around to stay loose & warm.

Warm up: .79 miles in 9:03 (11:28 pace)

I saw Brian, grabbed the wristband & took off. I REALLY took off. I started right after the 4:14 marathon pace group passed & found myself keeping up with their 9:something pace. Way too fast knowing how far I needed to run. This was mistake number 1 but I think I realized it before I did too much damage. I settled in to a better pace and just enjoyed the foggy morning & race energy.


The first 3 miles of my 6 were relatively flat & had lots of spectators. Then I hit the hills & struggled to keep running. I walked through the 2 aid stations (I didn't bring my own water - this would prove to be a huge mistake later) and took a gu around mile 4.5. I entered Millennium Park & quick texted Mike to let him know I had 1/2 a mile to go. I ran thru an aide station here since I knew the exchange zone was close. I handed off the band & my leg was over.

Relay Leg 2: 6.18 miles in 1:07:14 (10:53 pace) Splits: 10:25, 11:20, 11:09, 10:33, 11:18, 10:43, 9:59 (for last .18) The green is elevation and blue is pace, in case you were though I was joking about the hills.

I stood around for a few, checked the garmin (and was happy I'd stayed under an 11mm but sad it wasn't closer to 10) and texted Heather to let her know Mike was on his way & that I was headed back to town. (This standing around was mistake number 3, in case you're counting).

I headed back roughly the way I came and a marathon runner offered to take my picture as I had my phone out. I think this was the last I smiled because after this the wheels came off.


As I started to run back to town, my legs cramped up. I don't know if it was the lack of water or the standing around, but either way it sucked out loud.  I ran/walked the 5 miles back to town. Needing to run all the hills again mentally killed me (and physically beat me up too). When I was running, my paces were in the 10s, but the amount of walking was just awful. The whole time I was run/walking back to town, every evil thought that could've entered my head did. Plus the course was deserted at this point, with the exception of 2 people I saw walking the marathon, the roads were open, and I was freaked out. I passed 1 aide station as they were breaking it down & got a 1/2 cup of water. I took baby sips & ran with it with the top folded over to try not to spill any. I was tired and likely dehydrated but only had about 1/4 cup of water to last me another 3.5 miles. Epic fail. At around the 9 or 10 mile mark, I took my last gu and finished the last 2 sips of water.  Not having enough water with the gu made my stomach hurt.  Once I got back into town near the zoo I moved to the sidewalks to avoid cars. I contemplated running into the park near the zoo to look for a drinking fountain, but the thought of adding another 1/2 mile to my run on what could've been a wild good chase made me want to cry.  I tripped on uneven sidewalk a few times. My legs were so tired, but even more so my will was pretty much shot.  I've never "hit the wall" on a run of this length.  Today I think I did.

Return run: 5 miles in 1:00:06 (12:01 pace) Splits: 12:44, 11:13, 11:43, 11:45, 12:39.

I finally made it back to the Y and found a friend who was spectating (after having ran a kickass half). I got a hug & went in search of beer. Mike found me and got me to eat a chili dog, which is crazy but I was so shaky and depleted I was willing to try anything.  I think all the salt in the hotdog helped a little.  The beer helped A LOT.

Faking a smile but loving my oatmeal stout.

Mike and I walked around for awhile and then I went into the locker room to try and roll my legs a little with my stick.  We then found Angela (who had run the 4th leg) and went back to spectating. We got a text from Heather that she was at mile 25 and we watched for her to run across the finish with her. She's FAST! Mike and Angela could keep up but I couldn't catch her. Still, we finished and all got our cool medals (she'll deliver Brian's to him later).

We headed back to the beer area for more carb replacement & then headed to a local pizza place to finish refueling.

Team All About the Cupcakes ran a great marathon. We finished 21st of 29 co-ed teams in 4:08:36. I have no idea what our individual splits were (I only know mine and Mike's) but everyone ran a really good race.  Heather and Angela both said they felt guilty running their legs and passing so many people (who were in miles 14+ on the marathon course). They kept wanting to apologize and say "I just started." or "I'm only running the relay".  Since mine was at the beginning and I started in a mix of much faster runners, I was getting passed left and right, but still managed to pass a few people myself, especially on the hills.  In all likelihood, I'll never see that kind of a marathon time again, so it's cool I got to experience it with such a fun group of people.

My overall run wasn't what I needed with only 2 long runs left before my half, but I'm still glad I did this. Next time I will NOT run back home afterwards, especially on deserted country roads with no water. I'm also re-thinking my fueling strategy for Disney. Peanut Butter gu, while very tasty, is not so great coming back up. Just sayin'.

Have you ever run a relay?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wordless Wednesday: BEERRUN

Tonight was the last of the 2012 Grand Rapids Marathon beer runs. We ran 5 miles on the White Pine Trail in Rockford and celebrated with awesome New Holland brews at The Corner Bar. My Ichabod pumpkin ales were AWESOME.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I Have a Story: I'm a Half-Marathoner!

According to my dear friend Kirsten, I now have a story.  The story of my first half-marathon.  Until she mentioned that on twitter last night, I hadn't even thought of it that way.  I was just glad I had so many running "sisters" to share the day with.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  I need to back up a couple days (actually, to several months ago when I started training, but that would just take too long). 

*warning-photo heavy LONG post!

Back in July, I ran my 2nd 10k of the year.  It really kicked my butt (90 degree weather will do that to you) and I wondered if I would ever be able to run farther than 6.2 miles.  A couple weeks later, I started researching fall races.  I wanted to push myself and see how far my body could take me.  I wanted a challenge.  I wanted to continue to lose weight.  I found a 1/2 marathon race in my hometown and a great training plan.  Fast-forward to this weekend.  12 weeks of training would come down to this.



My best IRL friend Angie and I headed to the marathon expo at our downtown YMCA Saturday afternoon.
We signed the board, picked up our race packets, and started carb-loading with the most yummiest of smoothies.
(PS-who the heck is that skinny girl signing the board?  OMG, it's me! This running stuff really works, yo!)

I set all my gear out so when the alarm went off Sunday morning at 5:30, I wouldn't have to think.

 
 Angie and her hubby Joe came over for a carb and protein filled Chicken Parm dinner. Then they headed home and I headed to bed.  5:30 am shouldn't really exist IMO.

*classic rock blares* It is now race day!  I was up at 5:30 am (I was up pretty much every hour all night but who's counting) and started getting ready.  I wrote the names of all my running "sisters" who also ran 1/2 marathons this weekend on my arm.  I wanted to keep them with me to motivate me since they all did such a great job keeping me going during my training.  (On Sunday, Kirsten, Renee and Lauren ran the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Fransisco, while Jen also ran her FIRST 1/2, the Atlantic City Half Marathon.  Becca got her FIRST Half out the the way by running the Middle Half in Tennessee on Saturday.)  The family headed downtown with me (without attitude, which I soooo appreciated).  Since the race started at the YMCA, we were able to wait inside where it was warm and I had a nice bathroom to use (5 times-I know, TMI, but seriously?). I found a quiet corner and stretched and rolled my muscles.  The kids jammed to their iPods and Mike headed outside to watch the Velocity Challenged runners start at 7:00 (if you think you'll be longer than a 6 hr marathon pace, you get to start an hour ahead of everyone else - and yes, they call these runners Velocity Challenged - I ♥ that).

I don't have pictures of any running other than the start and finish.  Professional pictures are coming, but probably won't be available for a week or so.  Anyhoo, here's my recap of the race itself. 

 

We headed outside a few minutes before 8am and the sun was just starting to come up.  I lined up with the "Al Gore" pace group (the pace groups were all labeled with famous people's marathon times and his was a 4:58 full finish). I did this so I would not start too fast and burn myself out.  It worked. I stayed with the group for the first 3 or 4 miles (doing my usual running with a 1 min walk at the top of every mile). By the 3rd or 4th mile, they weren't catching up to me anymore on my walk breaks and I just kept doing my thing. Miles 4 to 8 were a pretty steady uphill (not a "Holy Hill" 300+ footer! like the SF girls were doing-only about 60 ft total) with some rolling hills that really started to hit my glutes (literally-my @$$ was on fire!). On this back section were pockets of fans.  I made sure to take in as much of the scenery as I could as it is fall in Michigan and the trees were beautiful.  I high-fived an entire busload of high school Cross Country runners.  I tried to high-five as many kids on the course as I could.  I said "thank you" to all the TNT groups because they reminded me of my ShrinkingJeans sisters who raised a boat load of money this year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I loved the fans with loud music - one group was playing Guitar Hero! - and some had hilarious signs.  My favorite sign:  "Run like you STOLE it."  LMAO around mile 6.  At about 8.5 miles, we cross a little grassy area (where I walked because I was afraid of going arse over applecart) and we turned back around and headed back into downtown. There were a couple more rolling hills and I hit mile 10 and checked my watch. Holy cow! I was at about 1:50 something and realized I only had a 5k to go and it was all downhill. I was tired but knew I was going to finish pretty close to my goal time.  I hit the "1 mile to go" sign and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" came on my playlist.  I yelled out "Lisa!" (we've totally channelled each other while running to this song) and I think I scared the crap out of the runner next to me.  LOL. Next up on the playlist as the finish line came into sight was Holler Back by The Lost Trailers - AWESOME! (The video was filmed in GR-they are local boys. Watch the video and you can see some of the places I ran by!) Coming through the finish chute with my family and friends cheering was the best feeling EVER. I heard the announcer say my name (correctly, even!) and hit that finish. Got a hug from the race director and my medal from a sweet volunteer. I bawled and held onto her for quite a while. Throughout the race, I had my iPhone tweeting my progress at 3 mile intervals.  After each tweet, I received a bunch of "binks" back, knowing all of my friends were cheering me on.  This meant the world to me, although it did royally kill my battery!  (Probably won't use that feature on the next long race.) Later, I cried again reading everyone's tweets. I seriously have the best friends in the world!  This race would not have been what it was without the love, support, and @$$ kicking motivation of my ShrinkingJeans sisters!

And, what would a race report from me be without a little video :)




I had finished my first half-marathon!  I saw my family through the fence and finally found them at the end of the finisher chute.  I got a rose from my hubby and hugs from my friends and family.  Angie took good care of me and walked me around, feeding me potato chips and pickles when my legs cramped up and making sure I drank enough water and gatorade.  I got my complimentary massage (HEAVEN!).   There was beer poured by Elvis and later on, an afterparty at HopCat with more beer (New Holland's The Poet oatmeal stout) and a delicious pulled pork sandwich and crack fries!

I am now a Half-Marathoner and always will be. 
Noone can take that accomplishment away from me and I am absolutely THRILLED with my finish.  
Placed 1355 / 1686 Total
778 / 1039 Women
112 / 154 in my age group
2 hours, 27 minutes, 52 seconds
Memories - priceless