Marine Corps Marathon: A Race Report, Part I

Ahhh, the lure of the marathon. What makes people want to run for hours on end, for 26 point 2+ miles, through cities & states, through pain & blood & sweat & tears....

...I have no idea, because dear lord is that race torturous!

Ok, ok. I do kind of know. People run marathons for the massivecrazy sense of accomplishment you get when you finally cross that finish line.

This marathon for me was a definite test of will. I signed up not long after completing marathon #1, and I think I only signed up because I felt like I could do better. I felt I could perform at a higher level than I did at the NC Marathon. I wanted to train harder, run faster and cross that finish line well under 4:30 the second time around. Honestly, I was a bit embarrassed with myself back in May. Of course I was proud that I had DONE IT but let's be honest here, anyone can do it if they want to. Not everyone can be great at it.

And I wanted to be great.

{Well, great for me. Not great as in superstar elite runner sub six-minute mile great, but great as in, a 150% performance on my end.}

But over the past 5 months or so, running for me has been on the back burner. My life has been crazy busy, full of changes, new beginnings, new stresses...and quite honestly, I was a little burnt out on running.

So when time finally came for me to actually run this marathon, I was more than ready to get it over with. I really didn't know what my time would be, I could only hope that I was prepared enough to hit that sub 4:30 mark that I hoped I could. I had hit almost every long run, and had kept up fine. I had actually noticed an increase in my long run pace from my previous training season. {Increase as in, speedier.} I had taken up yoga and w as working on my strength.

So, all in all, I was prepared. I was ready, come what may. But, I was also very nervous.

Kimi, Matt and I had a long drive to DC {via Raleigh to pick up Meredith}....

Kimi is excited!

Had a busy day Saturday at the expo & running errands... {trying on bridesmaid's dresses for Meredith's upcoming nuptuals! Going to the inspiration dinner..}


But when Sunday morning came around all of that nervousness had faded away and in it's place had come excitement!

Kimi, Katy and I outside of my room getting ready to head for the Metro!

We had written our names on our TNT singlets, attached our flair, written the names of those we were running in honor of on our backs, eaten our breakfast, trained for months, and were ready to RUN!

I was excited to run this race because I had people to run it with. {Instead of the cows like last time.} Plus I knew there would be thousands of spectators to cheer us on!

We headed downstairs to meet the rest of our SC team & then headed on to the Metro. This was quite the experience! There were hundreds (maybe thousands) of runners squishing onto the platforms, into the trains, onto each other...it was packed. Kind of like this...

This was taken later on in the day, during the marathon, when all of the spectators were trying to get to different spots on the course to cheer on their runners. (Taken by LiLu as she was schlepping around town to cheer me on!)

Once we got off at the Arlington Cemetary stop, the 30 ,000 runners spilled out onto the street and we made our way to....the photographers!

First up, me and Katy!


And....again...
Let's add in Kimi! Now with our numbers....we were definitely hamming it up at the start line!

So after a bit of a chilly wait, we were off! The first 8 miles of the race were supposed to be hilly, as it wound through Alexandria before crossing the bridge into Georgetown, so we were planning on taking it easy. We ended up losing Kimi & other TNT'er Andrew after mile 1. Katy and I both had groups of family and friends on the course, and we saw all of them at the 1 mile mark!

Hmm, my camera was mad at Matt that day I think. Let's try this again.

Ok, so don't have great pics from mile 1. Moving on...Katy and I decided to run the first 6 miles straight through (because it was crowded & hilly) and then after that start the run/walk. We were planning on sticking to what had worked in training - running a mile, walking a minute.

We saw Katy's family again on the bridge over into DC at mile 4!

We were to wind through Georgetown, then head down by the water to Hain's Point for about 4 miles before we made it back up to the monuments.

I think this was around mile 8 somewhere in Georgetown. Katy's family was great at meeting us every few miles. {Note, I have no idea who the other purple TNT'er is there, we're kind of hiding behind.}

We were feeling great! We were having fun, cheering, getting cheered for, slapping hands with little kids on the sidelines...it was so much fun!

But, it was going to start sucking pretty soon...

To be continued!

I finished!

Going to post a full recap soon, but wanted to let you all know I finished the Marine Corps Marathon in 4:47, a PR by 14 minutes!

A little slower than I had hoped, but ended up with some (I think) IT band issues around mile 23...major pain! The pic above is of me and TNT teammate Katy resting at the TNT tent after negotiating the mess that was the finish line. I would never have finished this one without her! THANK YOU KATY!!!

...more to come!

XOXO

ChasRunner

Marathon time baby!

Marathon #2 is less than three days away now! Don't have much time to post, we're packing tonight and heading up to D.C. in the morning! Wish me luck folks :) The past few weeks of training have been pretty decent, my last really long run went horribly, but when doesn't it?!

If you really wanna, you can track me online here using my first and last name. I think they either send you emails or texts every time I hit a 5k mark! If you wanna track me, just shoot me a comment and I'll let ya know who I am ;)

I am riding up to the race with Matt and my TNT teammate Kimi. We're stopping along the way in Raleigh to pick up my girl Meredith, and we're meeting up with our other teammates Friday night. We're also gonna get in some quality time with my girl LiLu and her boyf at some point. My dad, brother and grandmother are also coming up! (Remember last time?) So...it should be a fun packed weekend.

Look out for a massive recap next week!

You can also follow the play by play on Twitter....that's where I've been hiding the past few months ;)

_________
**Congrats to fellow Charlestonian Amanda on her bun in the oven! So excited for you lady :)

A big THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to my Team in Training fundraising campaign. I exceeded my goal and raised $3, 526.00 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! You all rock.

20 miles....

I am currently sitting on my couch, fresh out of my ice bath + shower, with my feet up watching The Sopranos. (Not my first choice, but I do like the show, and honestly I'm too lazy to change the channel.) We just finished 20 miles and although I was struggling the last two miles, it went pretty well!

I've found two lovely ladies that run around my same pace and we tend to stick together during the long runs. Today me, Katy and Kimi ran 1 mile intervals with a 1 minute or so walk at each mile marker. I LOVE breaking up the long runs like that, it makes the run go so much quicker!

I've been using Hammer gels, and Espresso is my fave. It tastes like mocha with a bonus jolt of caffeine! I took one around the hour mark and it really helped me pick up my pace. Then around the two hour mark I took a Hammer Apple Cinnamon gel. These taste like apple pie! Unfortunately since they are so sweet, I think the tend to give me cramps. It was hard to recover after that. In an effort to save the remainder of my run, I took about a 1/2 of another espresso gel around the 2:45 hour mark. It sort of helped.

The last two miles were the toughest for me, we had just had our last water break and were heading out for the last long stretch in full sunlight. It was getting hot out there and my legs were lead!

Our stats ended up being 20 miles in 3:24 with an average pace of 10:14. On our running portions we were keeping a steady pace of under a 9 minute mile!

Before my last marathon, my last long run of 21.5 miles that we run straight through (no walk breaks) our average pace was 10:54...considerably slower than running with short walk breaks! GALLOWAY SUCCESS.

I wore my new running clothes....

Sugoi Fizz Tank
Mizuno Women's Maverick Split

Love them! The shirt has a nice big pocket in the back where I can store my gels. The shorts I have are all black, very comfy.

I just inhaled a huge green smoothie with some added Amazing Grass (review to come whenever I finish the boatload of samples they sent me :) and now Matt and I are deciding if we want to go get food. I'm planning on lazing around for as long as possible today, I think I earned it!

What's everyone's fall racing schedule looking like? I have the Marine Corps Marathon on October 25th, possibly the Raleigh 1/2 Marathon on November 1st, and then the Kiawah 1/2 Marathon on December 12th. I might also throw in a few 5ks if I can find the time. (Will be doing one on Thanksgiving Day in Greensboro, NC most likely).

Happy Sunday folks..

TNT + My New Running Attitude

Since this is a running blog after all, I figure I should get back to that subject.

I have been so busy lately, that I haven't really had the time to sit down and think about my new marathon training goals for this summer, so while I have nothing better to do today, I thought I would take the time.

If you're new here, I just finished my first marathon on May 2nd in a pretty slow/sustained/whatever time of 5:01. I have since signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon on October 25th through Team in Training to try and beat that time by about 30 minutes as well as to raise some much needed funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I have already raised $537 towards my $4,000 fundraising goal! (My minimum amount I have to raise by August 23rd is $3,500...but my personal goal is to beat that by $500.)

While I was out of town last week on business, I missed our TNT kick-off meeting Tuesday night, so I made sure to find out if we had our first "long" run this Sunday morning...I was told that we didn't. Of course we actually did, which I found out this afternoon when I got an email recapping the run. Way to start off on the crappiest foot ever with my TNT team!

Oh well, I will be there Tuesday night! If you're not familiar with Team in Training, it basically works like this:

• In exchange for raising money for the Leukuemia & Lymphoma Society, each runner trains for a distance event with trained coaches as well as their other team mates.
• The fundraising minimum is a lot, and varies by event. For the Marine Corps, the minimum is $3,500.
• Each team meets twice a week; once on Tuesday night for either a shorter run or a clinic of some sort (this coming week is a shoe clinic at a local running store), and Sunday morning for the weekly long run. (Of course the rest of the week you run on your own.)
  
• Each runner gets a training schedule (I think this varies based on running experience/pace/goal marathon time, etc. but honestly I'm not sure since I have missed the first two meetings).
• TNT pays each runner's way to the race, including airfare, hotel and other expenses.
  
• They don't only do marathons, you can also train with TNT for Olympic distance triathlons and century bike rides.
• Although I can certainly train on my own, I think this TNT experience will A) be a lot of fun! B) make me feel as if I am a part of something larger than my own selfish self and C) be a way to make new running friends!

So yeah, I am excited. I plan on following their training schedule as much as possible, but I'm sure I will be tweaking it here and there. I still plan to stick to my 4-5 days a week running schedule, that looks something like this:

• Sunday: Long run
• Monday: Off/cross train/abs
• Tuesday: Hills (4 -6 miles)/TNT run
  
• Wednesday: Mid-week long run ( 5-10 miles)/abs
• Thursday: Speedwork @ the track (3-6+ miles)
  
• Friday: Off/cross-train/abs
• Saturday: Off/cross-train/short run (3-5 miles)
  

This time around, I also plan on adding yoga & strength training to the mix more frequently. This week, I am going to visit a few yoga studios & gyms to decide what I want to do with that. I really enjoyed working out in a gym last week and I would love to be able to afford to do that more regularly. I might actually be doing some yoga tomorrow if I can find a studio that's open!

My time goal for the marathon this time around is anything sub 4:30.

I was sort of shooting for that last time, but obviously, that didn't happen. It didn't happen for a few reasons, one being that I didn't train based on time, I just went out there and ran. Sure I tried to keep a good, even pace and to keep negative splits, but I wasn't really bothered if I didn't, I just wanted to finish. Another reason I didn't hit my goal was because I clearly had not done enough hill training! North Carolina ain't the Rockies, but it was definitely more hilly than my training ground of below sea-level, flat as a pancake, Charleston! I was also kind of lazy out there, and once I took my first walk break, my mental toughness was dunzo....it was all run/walk from that point on.

So...other than sticking to my training schedule over the next 5 months or so, I also want to maintain a few things:

1. I will not skip speedwork or hills, period.
2. I will strength train at the minimum two times a week.
   
3. I will work on my abs three non-consecutive days of the week.
   
4. I will never skip a long run. (This only happened once last time, and it messed me up for almost a month!)
5. I will be aware of my goal pace for each run, and try to stick to it as much as possible.
   
6. I will ride my bike and/or cross-train 2-3 times a week.
   
7. I will take up yoga.
   
8. I will continue to eat healthy :)
9. I will continue to drink a crap load of water.
10. I will run happy!

So there you go! I think that if I can stick to these above things, I will improve drastically as a runner. Everyone is different, and every runner has different goals. For me, my first marathon was all about finishing. This time, I'm coming back for a rematch with myself and I am determined to kick the crap out of the runner I was on May 2nd!

I may also do a sprint triathlon at some point this summer. If I do decide on that, then I guess I need to start swimming, huh??

In addition to my athletic goals, my professional life is crazy hectic these days. I am going through my second and then final tests over the next few months, and after that happens, I will be moving slowly into a new role at my office. It is scary and it's not the easiest, but I think it will be all worth it in the end! So needless to say my life is about to get a whole lot busier.

***
This weekend has been great so far! I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday morning with friends, and then we went out on their boat for most of the day. It was nice, and I got a little sunburnt...oddly I think from the Farmer's Market...wouldn't you know it.

Today has been lazy and great. I made some suuuhhhweeet BBQ pulled chicken tonight that couldn't have been more easy! (Thanks to Erica for the idea & recipe!) I will post pics later on.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Memorial Day tomorrow, and don't forget to thank our men and women in uniform, as well as to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

:)

Why I Run

I don't just run for myself and for my fitness. I don't just run to meet and exceed personal goals. I don't just run because I like it or because I want to.

I run because not only does it make me feel great about myself, but hopefully, it also inspires those around me to do something good for themselves.

Since I posted yesterday about adding the Raleigh City of Oaks 1/2 Marathon to my fall schedule, I have been reeling 'em in to run with me!

My good friend Alesha (who claims she will never do a full marathon but has conceeded to possibly trying for a 1/2) printed out her training schedule yesterday and is going to train for the Raleigh 1/2 with Meredith and me. Woo hoo!

Then I thought about my aunt, who sent me this after completing the marathon:

Great job finishing the race. We are all proud of you. I must admit I was inspired - but not enough to put my knees through that - maybe a shorter race next spring??????

So I sent her an email yesterday, slyly suggesting the Raleigh 1/2 (since she lives there) and this is what I got back:

Scared - but I would like to try. I will know very early in the training if my knees can handle. When you have a chance give me some ideas about how I start.

Then yesterday when I was gchatting with my 71- years young Nana (the one yelling at the cops here) she told me that this past weekend she "ran a little." When I asked her why she said, "maybe you inspired me." I could not have been more proud of her! I actually stopped what I was doing at work to hand write her a little note to pop in the mail to tell her so.

I've been kind of down on myself since the race for not making it to the finish line under 4:30 like I was hoping to. But it's moments like these that make me proud of myself for finishing the race period!

So I ran it in 5 freaking hours and walked too much in the final miles. So what? I accomplished something not too many people can accomplish, and if I can inspire my aunt (who is not a runner) to get out there in training to run 13.1 miles, if I can inspire a 71-year old woman who lives in the hilliest part of Virginia to get outside and run up and down her long and winding driveway, I more than accomplished my own goal.

Next goal? To get my mom in on the fun too! She's been going to the gym lately (she hasn't worked out in years, but still looks great) and told me that she would like to train for a 5k with me. Maybe I can convince her to train for the 1/2 instead? :)

A little inspiration can go a long way :)

"The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy...It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed."
- Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ

***
I ran a quick 4 miles last night in 37:13. I accidentally had my Garmin on bike mode so it didn't record my splits, but I know my last two miles were in the 8s. I felt pretty strong.

One thing that I didn't like about my marathon training (or did like at the time but now I sort of regret) was that I wasn't focused on time at all. I was okay with running as slow as possible just as long as I got the miles in. Well that worked for my first marathon, but this time I am attacking this monster with SPEED!

My run last night was tough for me, but I was constantly aware of my pace and I made sure that I sped it up each mile--which is something I never do. This is part of my new strategy...more speedwork, more hills, fasterfitterstronger!

I'm also going to be doing ab work MWF so I started the week off yesterday with one 60-sec plank, and then two more 60-sec side planks. I should have done more but I was rushing to start dinner!

Also, I am faxing in my TNT registration today for the Marine Corps Marathon! Hot and muggy Charleston summer training here I come!

MCM + Farmer's Tan + Purple Sweet Potatoes?

First off, thank you all for your comments/suggestions on yesterday's post about whether or not I should sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. I was also excited to have some new visitors! I hope I don't bore you guys too much and you decide to stick around...

I am pretty sure that I want to do this race, and now I realize that I don't have to hurry up and register if I run with a connected charity. After posting, I contacted our local TNT rep who answered some of my questions and gave me a better idea of how TNT works. I am planning on attending an informational meeting the week after the NC Marathon so at that point I will be more likely to make a decision.

As RunningLaur so kindly pointed out, there are dozens of other charities that partner with MCM that I could run with that also have spots reserved for their participants. My first thought was to run for troops wounded in action in Iraq and Afghanistan, as my boyfriend Matt was wounded in Iraq in 2006.

I really want to make this next marathon mean something to someone other than myself, and for that reason, I really want to take my time researching the charity that I decide to run with. Obviously I would love to have the team aspect that TNT would provide, but that isn't as important to me as raising money for a reputable cause (not that TNT and the Leukemia Lymphoma Society isn't, I just want to research them a bit more first).

Tuesday's Hill Workout
OK, that being said...last night I was trying to decide whether to head to the track for a speed workout, or do my usual 5-6 mile hill workout over the Ravenel Bridge. I was feeling kind of lazy so I chose the hill workout.

I set out after work and immediately discovered that my headphones were only working in one ear. Great. Fantastic. Must spend more money on yet another pair of those. (My cat likes to chew the wires, I have lost about 4 pairs that way.) So that was crap thing number one about the run.

Then once I started up the first climb, I realized that it was considerably windier than I had previously thought. Awesome. I was still sore from Sunday somewhat so my legs were already tight and heavy, add on some wind and I was in for an unpleasant run.

Well, I generally don't like to let weather conditions make decisions for me too much, so of course I kept on going. Plus I figured that on the return trip the wind would be to my back.

With wind, comes the bearing of Kristin's ass/thighs (which are particularly white with farmer's tan compared to the rest of me. I'm actually quite worried about the beach this weekend) as my shorts basically become non-existent. I try not to worry about this usually, but it was rush hour traffic time on the bridge and there were three lanes of vehicles stopped in traffic sitting there waiting to stare at this crazy girl with white thighs huffing it up the bridge (with some difficulty, I might add).

So that was crap thing number two. I finally made it over and started climbing down the other side and the wind was still there, pissing me off. When I turned around at the 2.5 mile mark I was hoping that the wind would be to my back, but of course, it was a side wind so it was still there to make me angry.

I was in such a bad mood yesterday, definitely not even wanting to run, that this added irritation just made me so mad I wanted to just shout out THIS F***KING SUCKS! as loud as I could, but instead I just kept tugging at my stupid little shorts and hoping that the end would come soon.

I don't have my totals or splits but I did look at them last night, and basically every mile was in the 10s except for the last mile which I finished in like 8:20 or something rediculous.

Obviously, I was so over that run and just sprinted as fast as my legs would carry me back to my car.

Nom Nom Nom
When I got home, all I wanted was something fried to make me feel better. So I settled for the next best thing, Baked Spicy Purple Sweet Potato Fries. I have been making these fries for a while with regular sweet potatoes based on this recipe, but last night I changed it a bit and woofed these babies down.


Basically, I get out my coffee/spice grinder and pour in a bit of the following spices: fennel seeds, coriander, oregano, red pepper flakes, and rosemary. I grind them up (I have added the sea salt to the grinder before, but I like big chunks of salt so I left that for last this time) then I mix these spices together with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, toss the fries/wedges in the oil/herb mixture and then sprinkle them with sea salt.

Then I spread them out on a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil, and bake for about 20-30 minutes at 425, check on them and turn them over and then continue baking for another 20 minutes or so. I like to keep an eye on them so they don't get burnt because sometimes they don't take quite that long.

Last night I only used one small potato, so I just eyeballed the spices based on what I know I like :) If you haven't noticed, I don't really follow recipes and so if I post any, I will most likely just say, 'I used these ingredients and threw it together." So there ya go!

These definitely are worth trying though, and they kind of made me feel better after my pull-my-hair-out-irritating run. I will say that I think I liked the purple sweet potato better than the regular! It just seemed to taste better, but maybe that was my mind tricking me out. I picked mine up at Whole Foods, I haven't seen them anywhere else.

Sorry for the poor photo quality, but I was starving and was in no mood to deal with my testy iPhone camera. The purple color was really bold once you bit into the fry!

One the running schedule this week:
Tonight I am going to attempt an easy 6 miler, do a TON of cleaning for our guests who are arriving tomorrow, and make sure I have enough groceries stocked for the weekend. I have not been doing so well with my ab work & calisthenics, but I plan on doing some of that after my run tonight and trying to get back into the groove.

Tomorrow at around 2, our guests arrive so running after work is out of the question. If I am feeling up to it (which I probably won't be) I will run my 5 mile speed workout before work tomorrow morning, otherwise I will take Thursday off and try to make up the miles later on in the weekend. I don't do well with running at night and then immediately again the following morning.

I have 12 miles on the agenda for this week's "long run" and will do that whichever morning this weekend that we didn't drink too much the night before. So, there's that. Since I am off Friday I would love to get it over with that morning before everyone wakes up.

Ideally, I would like to fit in both my speed work and my long run at some point this weekend. Did I confuse everyone yet??

***Question: How do you guys generally respond to comments on your posts? I want to answer the questions/comments you all leave, but if I answer them as another comment I feel like no one would go back to read that. How do you guys do it?

Am I Crazy?

Well, my marathon is less than 3 weeks away now, and after Sunday's run, I am feeling okay about it. Of course there is still the chance that the race will go awful for me, and I am prepared for that, but at this point I think I have done as much as I could have done to train and prepare myself for my first 26.2. (Well, I could have done more, but for my first marathon training I think I did pretty well.)

So this morning I was thinking about what races to do in the fall and I was thinking about how I really would like to have a 2nd marathon on my list by the end of this year....I know, I know...I must be crazy because I haven't even finished my first one yet! What if I hate it? What if it goes horribly wrong? Well, then I guess that is all the more reason to train hard for a rematch with myself!

The one thing I have been thinking that I wished I could do with this race, is to run for something/someone/some charity. So Team in Training obviously came to my mind, and after doing some searching I found that they have an informational meeting in Charleston coming up May 7th for their fall training program! For whatever reason, I had looked this up before and thought that they didn't have anything in Charleston, but I guess I was wrong.

So now I have a dilemma. I would really like to do the Marine Corps Marathon in October, but if I want to do that, I need to register ASAP because they are already 94% full. But should I register now before I know how this first marathon will turn out?

I am going to think about it today and make my decision as soon as I can. Are any of you running the MCM?

**Updated to add: After I posted this, I found out from my local TNT rep that they have unlimited slots for the MCM so no need to worry about registering! So now I can relax, run my first marathon, and then the week after that got to the informational meeting about the TNT program and make my decision.