Fabulous Weekend: Part 2!

It is race morning. My alarm goes off at 4:30am. That's early, but still not as early as the Princess 1/2 Marathon mornings....woo....those were some early mornings and I would do it all over again!

Anyways, back to the race. So I got up at 4:30. I went to the kitchen and hit start on the coffee maker, which I had set up the night before so all I had to do was hit "start". Just like many of you smart runners, I had set up everything I needed for the day the night before. My outfit was all set out, my running gear was pretty much packed for the bag check, or at least for the car ride until I needed to put it on.  I wanted to be on the road by 5am. I was close, I almost forgot my coffee and had to run back inside.

Then I was on the road to Providence, RI for the Rock 'n' Roll Providence 1/2 Marathon!!
First off, since there were all these road closures and I don't know Providence that well, I wasn't sure how to get to the mall parking garage. So I pulled into the first one I saw off the highway. Not paying attention to price, I parked and then dilly-dallied in the garage getting my gear on, texting a friend, etc. On my way out I then noticed the price....$18 for 5hours!!! I said No Way!!! So then I had to waste more time by going out to ask someone how to get to the mall garage. I then paid my $6.00 for parking since it had been more than 15min of parking....and went to the garage at the mall....grrr...

Anyways, back to the good stuff! There was a meet-up set up for the race morning of RunDisney runners and other friends, so I headed over in hopes of finding someone.

Look who I found! It was Erin, a Run Disney enthusiast and a Rhode Island local! She was also looking for the meet-up group, but it seemed that some were late, so we didn't really see anyone else! But is was great to see her! You can read her blog For the love of Running Disney , and yes it is what is says, a blog about running at Disney! Erin is pretty awesome I must say!

 

So we said our hellos and got our picture taken, and then went our ways to our corrals!

There I was on corral 11. I was also waiting for one of my friends who was running her first 1/2 Marathon! She had arrived on the late side and had been texting me. She ended up just kind of jumping in at corral 3 or 4 since she was in a rush. I don't think anyone cared, there didn't seem to be anyone monitoring the corrals to make sure people were getting in the right one.

Along the course there were a lot of bands playing rock n roll music and a lot of other genres as well! This guy was cool and was hanging out in the middle of the street! There were also a lot of people with signs! As you can see I really enjoyed these girls' signs!

I caught up with some mischievous Minions along the way! There were one or two others, but they missed the photo opp! One Minion, not pictured here was someone I had met before and I didn't eve realize it until I was home on facebook! She had also participated in Run Disney races and all that and I even am facebook friends with her! Who would have known! I actually ran past another woman during the race wearing her Princess 1/2 shirt, so of course I said hello, good luck, etc.!

A selfie just before the 10 mile mark!

 

Here was the final hill, hitting mile marker 13 then the finish line!!

I have to give thanks to my mom for the awesome Finishing photo!

my well deserved Medal! And I have been shrink wrapped for the purpose of icing!

Here we are, two finishers! This was #3 for me and #1 for her! My friend Maria Elena did AMAZING! I was so proud of her. She had very little time for training, and still finished in 2:31:XX hr! I of course had a goal of hitting 3 hours or under. When I finished, the clock read 3:03:xx. So I knew by looking that I had done what I set out to do since the clock was the timer from the first group! But I didn't want to throw out any huge "hoorays" until I knew the official time!

 

So my Mom (who came to watch), my friend and I then skipped the free beer line and stretched a bit then went for some lunch! After which we parted ways to go home. I went home and sat in a cool/cold tub for about 5 minutes then a shower. I did a little stretching, then crawled back into bed for a nap before the Patriots game. Before the game I then went online to find out my official time....

 

2:50:43

How awesome is that! I did it!!

Not trying to be negative, but if the last 2 miles hadn't been such a struggle for me, I feel like I could have shaved 3-5minutes off of my time. But I am soooo thrilled with my time! It makes me want to do another just to beat that time! But I do know that I need to give my body a break. I will still run, and do short distance, but take a break from the long distance. If I can, I willl do this race again next year. It was a lot of fun!

 

-Stephanie

 

 

 

Fabulous Weekend: Part 1

So last weekend, starting Friday September 27th was the beginning of a fabulous weekend, which was what I was expecting!

So it began after I left work, where I went straight home after filling my car with gas! At home I quickly changed and got ready for the nights festivities!
Then I was off to meet up with a close friend then to the train into Boston!

Boston, you ask, what could be in Boston? Michael Buble is your answer!!

 

If you couldn't tell, I LOVE this man! Not just for his good looks either! Anyways, this would be my 4th show of his, and he never disappoints! It was Amazing, fun and just a grand old time!

And so it begins, Opening with "Fever"

A fan gave him a tiny Bruins jersey for the newest and tiniest Buble in the family!

 

It was just a fantastic way to start my weekend!

Now to move on to Saturday, another great day, but exhausting. I don't think it helped that I didn't get home until 1-ish am from the Michael Buble show, and then I was up around 8:30 to get ready to go to the Rock n Roll expo.

My friend Liz and I picked up our bibs, shirts and swag bag...then off to the merchandise/vendor area. It was a pretty good expo. I wasn't really sure what to expect. Again my only expo comparison is from the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon expo. So of course this was much smaller, but still good. It wasn't too crowded when we got there, which was around 10:30 in the morning and I believe it opened at 9.

 

So we walked around the expo and got plenty of samples of energy supplements to use during the race, as well as pumpkin ice coffee samples from Dunkin Donuts. Lets just say I think we both could have run the 1/2 Marathon right there from all the caffeine/energy we had in us from the samples. But as usual, we felt the crash hit us a couple hours later, especially on the way home from the expo.
 

 

While at the expo I picked up an energy supplement, I decided to go with PowerBar energy Blasts chews. They were pretty good, and seemed to work pretty well during the race. I also picked up some head bands from a group called Hippie Runner! They are similar to Bondi Bands.



I purchased the skull one to match my outfit for the race, but my favorite...well im kind of torn. I think the what about a Kenyan is hilarious and a really like the Cupcake one. I really hope I can put the Tiara one to use someday at the Princess 1/2 again!

 

After we left the expo, we decided to take a walk up to the start/finish area for the race to check it out. We also got some lunch and then some cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory for the following day to enjoy after the race!

 

We even had enough energy in us to drive as much of the course as we could, to see what the hills would look like and what to expect! There were a lot of parts of the course that were "one way" roads, meaning we couldn't drive on them they were one way, but yet the course had us running the opposite direction that cars were allowed to go! But it worked out, because the hills that we wanted to see were on roads we could access, so that helped!

 

For the Race Post please read Fabulous Weekend: Part 2 !

 

-Stephanie

Hakuna Matata!

Yes, put the past behind you. That's going to be my motto.
This past Monday my husband and I suffered an unfortunate event, our apartment was broken into. No one was hurt physically, and they didn't break anything other than a panel on our door to get in.
They stole our tv, laptop and Playstation 3. Bummer, I know.

As glad as I was that there was no further damage, just some evidence of rummaging through drawers, etc, no memories were taken, no personal and important belongings (family jewelry, etc) were stolen, but just items that can be expensive to replace.

We both felt useless for the rest of the evening. I cried after the cops left, or at least tried my best to wait until they left. Now I feel that our apartment is tainted, but I am also feeling protective, and just want to stay home to watch over it even though the odds of it happening again are slim to none, at least by the same people who did it before.

But now we are trying to move past it. Trying to gather all paperwork for insurance and get that sent out asap.

Having the break-in also put a damper on my training plans. I had planned on doing some laundry Monday after work, then coming home and getting a couple miles in or maybe some speed work. But then just a few minutes or so into the washing process I got the call from my landlord, asking me to go home and check things out. Then my night was over, there was no going anywhere or doing anything else. My sister came over to hang and bring some dinner which was nice and comforting.

Rich and I stayed home on Tuesday to try to pull ourselves together, gather information, etc. My mom came over with some lunch and her computer to use for email, searches on craigslist and just to be a friendly face.

We both returned to work on Wednesday and the whole day I just wanted to be home. And even when I was out of work, I couldn't go home. I had a dentist appointment and then a chiropractor appointment. Then we went to his sisters house to hang out, see our niece and my father in law was nice enough to give us some money to help with the purchasing of replacement items!

Anyways, today is Thursday! I went to work with a bag packed of my running gear, determined to park at a spot and going running on a new route that I had partially planned out, in hopes that it would still work fully. Well after work today I started driving in the direction I needed to to get to the location, and I started feeling nauseous, my tummy hurt and I was just tired. I have been tired for the past two days due to the stress and thinking about the whole thing. Anyways, so I parked my car and talked myself into.

I convinced myself to at least go 2 miles out and then see how I felt. I decided at two to keep going. I had planned on 8 miles, so running out 4 then turning around. So I pushed forward to 4, and then had to push myself the final 4. My last 4 miles were better than my first. I think it did help that it was more downhill going back then the first 4.

Anyways, in the end I am really glad that I pushed myself out of the car and did all that I set out to do. I was not thrilled with my time, but hey I did it, it isn't awful and like I said, my pace was much better the last 4 miles. Looking at my final time, if my pace stays the same or continues to improve through the miles, the 1/2 marathon in a week and a half should be completed in just under 3 hours which is my goal.

-Stephanie

Feeling Good...

So this past weekend was not one of my best. On Friday my back pain returned and I believe it was all due to lifting a student (with another staff) on to a table for a toileting change. So Friday through Sunday night my back, lower back I should say was not happy. I would say it was anywhere from a 5-8 on the pain/uncomfortable scale. I was not a happy camper. I tried ice, I tried sitting in another chair, I tried a muscle relaxer and I tried heat. If I was moving around it wasn't as bad, so anytime I was up in the morning making coffee and washing dishes it went down to probably a 3.

I was hoping to go running on Saturday, but I figured I can wait one more day and go on Sunday (which didn't happen). So I settled for a walk around the block just to get myself moving, and maybe it might help my muscles a little. Well it did help, but really for the time I was outside and then when I got home it returned.

The one thing that did seem to help was the heating pad. I figured my muscles are so tight that I'm in pain and they need some release. I really could use a massage, but I haven't made an appointment yet.

When I woke up this morning, my pain had gone down significantly  which was nice and made my day at work a while lot better.
So I planned on running since I didn't get it in over the weekend and I felt better.

I ran 6 miles today, and it went pretty well. I never felt out of breathe, I did feel tired from time to time, mostly in my legs, but I pushed through. I did give myself a couple walk breaks that were longer than my interval timer gave.
I ran by, well I was walking at the time, another runner. She actually ran past me, but I saw her coming and let her pass. She looked like she was a well seasoned but young runner, going on many miles maybe. She went past me and disappeared. But what I noticed about her while she was running were her arms. They didn't seem to move! It reminded me of when I have seen many older, such as 60+ year olds running. Her arms weren't down by her side, but they weren't up/bent and swinging. They seemed to be slightly bent and just hanging out. I hope I don't sound like I am judging her, I am simply making an observation and am curious. I feel like if my arms didn't move, then I wouldn't move as well. Plus I thought that it was helpful to your breathing and blood flow to move your arms.

I could just be talking out of my ass....but who knows. If it works for her, then that's ok with me!

Anyways, I am happy to say that I am slowly, but surely on my way to my upcoming 1/2 Marathon! I don't have much longer until it will be here, but I will do all I can to build on my endurance and stamina!

-Stephanie

it's official, 1/2 #3 here I come!

There is no turning back now.
I have 24 days to whip my booty into shape for the Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon in Providence! I am very excited and nervous all at the same time. I went out for a 4mile run today and was able to maintain an average pace under 13 minutes. If I can achieve that during the half, then I should have no problem finishing in 3 hours.

I am still trying to get used to my intervals, and I did my best to stick to it as much as I could today, but there were a few times I either hit pause accidently or I walked early, at the 30 second warning vibration. So now I need to create a schedule and stick to it, and push through it. I need to get back to eating healthier as well!

As you can see Fall is creeping its way in! I am super excited! I wasn't even halfway through my run when I spotted the tree and its slowly changing leaves! It has me very excited! Fall it my favorite, and I definitely feel my training gets better with the fall weather. That said, I really hope I improve as the days get closer and closer to the RnR 1/2.

 

I finally picked up a foam roller as well, which is not only helpful for after runs, but for my back. My chiropractor gave me a set of exercises/stretches to help strengthen my back, and this will help loosen and stretch as well. And I also am getting tired of holding a water bottle, or carrying my 10oz fuelbelt bottle on short runs so I found a Fuel Belt (16oz?) handheld with strap. It was a lot easier, but I still feel like I always have so much to carry/wear for a run. Bonus, I found it at TJMax for $5.99! What a deal!

I shared my picture of my patella band for my knee, well I decided to wear it on my right knee since it seems to be clicking a little more when I am just walking around, but then during my run my left knee was feeling a little sore. So I guess its back to Dicks Sporting Goods for another one. I thought part of the reason to run was to become healthier and improve my body, but I guess its not always that way! haha.

 

So here it goes. I am really looking forward to getting myself immersed into training.

 

What are your must do's when training for your big race?

What has been your favorite mantra/saying to keep youself motivated?

Do you have any race rituals/routines?

 

-Stephanie

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars." -Les Brown

 

Accessorizing!

When it comes to running...or when you become a runner, you end up with a collection of race shirts, running clothes/capris/tights, and many accessories!

You may not need all these accessories at once, but for the long run or race day, you may. In my last post I talked about my new interval timer. As much as I hate having to wear two things on my arm at once, I did not need my fuel belt on me.

As you can see.....I drew my belt in, just to show all the accessories I would need if it had been a long run. My cousin made a funny comment on a photo from my last race about the amount of things I had on my belt, or the "lack of" items, and I should add a hat or something! very funny..

Usually when I have my belt, my music (cell phone) which also serves as my gps/run app would go in the zipper pouch. I also purchased a pouch that slides onto the belt so I can put my camera in it, it takes much better pics than my phone, so I like to have to have it for race day, unless it is a 5k.

 

Another new "accessory" is my patella band for my knee.

I could probably wear one on each knee, but I bought one just so I could try it out. I don't like how un-flattering it is, kind of pushing everything up, but that's what it is suppose to do to the knee, push up to keep things from rubbing the wrong way internally. After suffering from "spasms" for the first 6 miles of my last 1/2 Marathon, my chiropractor suggested getting a Patella support Strap.

 

So I don't know if I will wear this or both ( I will pick up another) every time I run, but today I felt like I could have worn two. When I took my walking breaks my right knee felt a little funny, so it might have been good to have some support.

 

Speaking of todays run...I am getting really bored with the routes I have close to me. But knowing that I have to run, I did it anyways. I changed my intervals to 2:1 which I complied with majority of the time. I did sometimes slip to 130:130, but I would switch back and forth. I did still feel winded half way through, and was hoping to do 4 miles again today and probably could have pushed myself. But I decided not to, and to push myself to 4 tomorrow. I know I wasn't properly hydrated today, and I haven't been eating the greatest lately either.

 

I know I said I would definitely sign up for the Rock N Roll 1/2 for the end of September, but I am going to use this week to decide. I want to make sure I can do it. I know I can do it, but I want to make sure I am capable of doing it, feeling good and be able to finish strong. So I will use this week to run whenever and as much as I can in hopes that I can build my endurance a little more so I can be able to get long runs in before the 1/2. So here I am crossing my fingers.

 

 -Stephanie



Slow and out of Breathe!

ok.
Trying to get back in the game isn't always as easy as you think it can be.
For the past two weeks, I have only run once a week. I have the greatest intentions of running at least twice this week, which I still have time do. So I set out today to complete 4 miles, but alas, I only got to 3.
I had also purchased a interval timer to bring out on my runs, so that is another accessory I had to add to my body. So I decided I would go big and just go with the pre-set interval of 3/1 and go.

So I started with my normal walking warm up and then hit start on the timer. Well I only lasted at the 3/1 for maybe a mile, then I had to bring it down to 2:30/1, and then I was kind of back to doing my own thing.
I was tiring out a lot faster, and I wasn't running much fast than usual, obviously it was a little slower. So I can definitely contribute the fact that I have been slacking on my running to the slowness, but it was also warm and humid, I don't want to say hot, but def. on the warm side with humidity!

I really have to kick my own butt and get back into high gear in order to get back up to 1/2 marathon endurance/status/ability.

-Stephanie

Half Marathon #3 ???

So I am contemplating Half Marathon #3.
And it is coming soon.
The Providence Rock N' Roll 1/2 Marathon (mini and full marathon available too) on September 29th, 2013.

The things I must consider is my financial situation. I have been trying to handle my finances and a better manner lately, and try to steady things to steady myself through the rest of the year. There is nothing like feeling like you are in a financial struggle in the winter when heating bills start to climb. And especially when trying to find a future home.
Currently the cost for the 1/2 is at $105, but I do know of a discount code that would save me $10, doesn't sound like a lot, but $10 is $10.

The reason I want to register is because #1, it sounds like fun, a fun course...at least the most fun/exciting of a course that is possible close to home that wouldn't be Run Disney! haha. I know nothing could compare, but it is nice to know that there is another race out there with some sort of on-course entertainment! #2 It seems relatively easy of a course, meaning not to hilly, or at least no extreme hills. #3 I really want to hit or even break 3 hours!

I was hoping to hit/break 3 hrs in my last 1/2, but due to the heat, that was a failure, but I was not. I finished, which is important. But I know that I can reach the goal as long as I continue to train, but I want the opportunity to do it!
If I register, I need to register soon, it sounds like something that could fill up soon, but I am not sure. So I will give myself a week to think about it, tops.

I will keep you updated with my decision, which I think you all know which choice I hope to make!

-Stephanie