First Race of 2013 - Cascade Half-Marathon

I remember when we were planning our 2013 race calendar I said, I'm not going to do a race in January, it's too cold. But somehow I ended up at the start line of the Cascade Half-Marathon this morning.

A week ago, the forecast was 52* and partly cloudy, which sounded perfect for a race. However, that changed to 29* and foggy today. Definitely the coldest weather I have ever run in. I was only doing this race as a training run and to add another race to my 30 by 30 goal, so I didn't feel any pressure to finish in a certain time or hold a certain pace. I didn't even really look at my Garmin most of the time, I tried to just run at a comfortable pace and have fun.

After the first mile or so I had warmed up, but my hands and face were pretty cold. I could see frost forming on my eyelashes and people that I passed had frost on their hair and headbands. I had gloves on but after an hour my fingers were going numb. I took turns putting one hand in my jacket and holding my handheld in the other to try to warm them up, but as the race went on I lost more and more feeling in my hands. Some people had bare hands! I don't know what they did to keep them warm.

When I hit the 2-hour mark I was about 10.5 miles in, and I knew if I held my pace I could finish in under 2:30 so at that point I started paying attention to how fast I was running. Also I was slightly concerned about getting frostbite in my fingers and wanted to finish as soon as I could without pushing the pace too much since I was supposed to be treating it as a long training run.

I ended up finishing in 2:28:02, and for the first time ever I had a negative split! 1:14:15 for the first half, 1:13:47 for the second. I always have a slower second half so I was happy to finally speed up at the end.

Splits:

The race was held at a high school, and they had chicken soup, bread, and cookies in the cafeteria for the runners. It felt funny going through the cafeteria line to get food and then finding a table, it was just like high school. We had plans to go to lunch after so I just had a piece of bread and some cookies. After the feeling came back in my fingers and face I changed clothes and we headed out.

Overall I really liked this race. I paid the highest registration fee since I signed up a week out, and it was still only $60. They provided Brooks long-sleeve tees and a nice medal, as well as a lanyard, luggage tag (kind of random), and hand warmers at packet pick-up. I really wish I had seen the hand warmers before the race! It was really well organized, and since it was held at a school we could wait inside the gym until it started and had access to real bathrooms and showers. Hubs, my ever faithful race crew-er, was able to hang out in the gym and use the school's wifi while he waited for me. I think I will definitely do this race again next year, but hopefully it is a little warmer :)

Crossing the finish line

Frost in my hair 

My chin was numb so I couldn't smile right 

Next up is a week off running, then training for my 12-hour race starting next Sunday!

2013 Goals

Each year it seems I have fewer and fewer running goals. For me it helps to focus on just a few important goals, when I had a lot of goals they started to interfere with each other (i.e. increasing speed for a shorter race distance while also increasing distance to do longer races) and I ended up getting injured with overtraining.

These are my goals for 2013:

1. Run a 12-hour race

2. Complete 8 half-marathons (this is part of a larger, multi-year goal to complete 30 half-marathons before I turn 30 in July 2014. Currently I am at 16.)

3. Run 1000 miles (this year I ran 970 miles and was very tempted to squeeze 30 miles into the last 2 days of the year.)

Race calendar so far:

January - Cascade Half-Marathon

February - Heart Breaker Half-Marathon

March - Lincoln City Half-Marathon

April - nothing planned

May - Hippie Chick Half-Marathon (walking with my mom for Mother's Day) and Redmond Watershed Preserve 12-Hour Run

June - Helvetia Half-Marathon and Vancouver USA Half-Marathon

July - Fueled by Fine Wine Half-Marathon (birthday weekend tradition)

August - nothing planned

September - nothing planned

October - Autumn Leaves 50K or 50 Miler

November - nothing planned

December - Operation Jack Northwest 6-Hour Run

So there you have it! 2013 in black and white. Somewhere in there I will add 1 or 2 more half-marathons to reach that goal.

It's shaping up to be a good year.

2012 in Review



In 2011 I had a lot of running goals around race times and setting PRs. I accomplished a lot of those goals, but it wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be. In 2012 I decided to making having fun one of my main goals. 2012 turned out to be a pretty good year, despite struggling with a few injuries.

 

These were my 2012 goals:

Break 2:10 in a half-marathon
Complete a marathon
Complete an ultramarathon

 

I accomplished 2 out of 3. And I am happy with that.

 

Races run:

10ks: 1

Half-Marathons: 7 

Marathons: 2

Ultramarathons: 1

 

Total miles run:

970.8 (so close to 1000! maybe next year)

 

New states added:

Massachusetts

Maryland

 

A few highlights...

 

Earned another Heavy Medal with Rock n Roll Portland and Rock n Roll Seattle

 

 

Ran my first trail race...and hated it

 

 

Ran my first marathon and loved it!

 

 Ran my second marathon and almost swore off running

 

 

Ran my first ultra and made a huge checkmark on my bucket list

 

I am working on some goals for 2013...I think it will be a great year!

 

What are some of your running goals for next year?

All Smiles

I guess I was a little happy to be running last weekend. I love it!

 

 

Photo credit to Leyla Duechle Photography.

Officially an Ultramarathoner!



I started out 2012 with one main running goal - to complete an ultramarathon. I had even dubbed it "the year of the ultra." At first I had my eye on the Mt Hood 50 miler in July. A hamstring strain in December 2011 put that one out of reach, so I decided to focus on the Autumn Leaves 50k in October. I was less than a month out from the race when we found out my MIL was having surgery and we ended up flying out to NJ that week instead to stay with her. I thought my goal of completing an ultra in 2012 was out the window...until I remembered a 6-hour timed run that had been held last December. I looked online to see if it was being offered again - it was! It was the Operation Jack Northwest Run, a 6-hour run where participants could run as many laps around a .95 mile course as they wanted to within 6 hours.

 

Saturday was race day. All week the weather had been forecasted as cold (high 30s to low 40s) and rainy. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, my backup plan was to run an hour or so on the course, then come home and run the rest of the 6 hours on the treadmill if it was just too wet or cold to stay out there. When we woke up, it was dry but chilly. After the usual pre-race routine I was ready to go.

 

 

The race was held at a local park about 15 minutes from our house, very convenient! The aid station was under a covered area, and participants could leave drop bags to access every lap. Hubs parked our car right in front of the aid station/start line so I could just use that as my personal aid station. There were also real bathrooms which was great, porta potties are one of my least favorite things about racing. The race was very small (100 person cap), so we all just gathered around the covered area and after a few words from the RD we were ready to start. It was freezing so I was ready to get moving.

 

My A goal was to run 30 miles, my B goal was to run an ultra distance (technically anything more than 26.2 miles). The course was paved but very slick since it had been raining all week, and had a few uphill and downhill portions. I decided to try to average around 5 miles an hour, which would get me to my 30 mile goal, and see how it went. I maintained this pace for the first 3 hours or so.

 

Approaching the half-way point, I knew I would have to start walking more if I wanted to make it the full 6 hours. After having a very sour experience at the Seattle Marathon, I really wanted to have a good race to end the year. I wanted to enjoy it and finish with my love of running intact. Starting out the 4th hour, I incorporated more walking. With a little over 15 miles done in the first 3 hours, I only needed to do about 12 more miles to reach an ultra distance.

 

At this point, hubs, who had been running off and on with me, left to go get lunch. I had been taking 2 shot bloks every 30 minutes and my stomach was starting to get upset from the lack of real food. I was hoping it wouldn't derail me too much, and worried that if I had to quit hubs was gone. After a few more laps he had returned and when I told him I was having trouble he started running with me again.

 

When we came around to the aid station I saw a familiar car parking next to the course. Hubs had arranged for my parents to come cheer me on! I almost started crying when I saw my mom. I was so surprised they had come all the way out just to see me run, and it was exactly what I needed at that point. They stayed around for awhile, walking with me for a minute when I came by their car, then huddling in the car to stay warm while I went out for another lap. It was so special to have them there.

 

I was getting pretty tired around the 23 mile point, and starting to ache. I had started eating pretzels to get some real food in my stomach, but I was feeling nauseas. Once I hit 24 miles and I knew I would definitely be able to complete an ultra distance, I gave myself permission to walk as much as I wanted. I didn't want this to turn into Seattle Marathon part 2. There were only a handful of runners still on the course (people could stop whenever they wanted) and most people were doing some combination of running and walking.

 

The only laps that counted for the official race distance were the ones completed by the time 6 hours was up. I finished my 29th lap with about 10 minutes to spare, I knew I couldn't finish another lap before time expired but I wanted to go the full 6 hours so I did a short out-and-back on the course, ending up at the start/finish line at exactly 6 hours. I had completed 28.05 miles.

 

 

I was an ultramarathoner! I know it isn't a 50k, but it is longer than a marathon. I was overjoyed to have completed a goal that eluded me for the last 11 months.

It also meant I FINALLY got to wear this shirt I bought about 3 months ago. The front of the shirt says "start" with all these different race distances (5k, 8k, 10k, 13.1, 26.2) and then ultra, which wraps around the back of the shirt.

 

 

I also got to have a guilt-free veggie pizza all to myself!

I thought this might be my first and only ultra. I wanted to complete one as kind of a "bucket list" thing, but I am hooked. I really like the timed race aspect, rather than a fixed distance. I already have my eye on a 12-hour race next year :) For now I am taking a little time off though, I think I owe my body a break after 3 marathon+ races in 3 months.

For anyone considering an ultra...do it! The sense of accomplishment is incomparable, and the experience is unparalleled by traditional race distances. I still love half-marathons and I am on ok terms with marathons, but the ultra has become my true love.

Fitting It In

5k doesn't seem like that much. 3.1 miles. Roughly 30 minutes of running, or 50-60 minutes of walking. But, it's surprising how hard it can be to fit it into your day sometimes.

I work a compressed schedule (10 hour days, 4 days a week) and I'm in grad school, so in general fitting things in can be especially difficult during the week. Yesterday I worked 7:30-6 and had Zumba from 6:30-7:30, followed by dinner. I knew I wasn't going to feel like running after dinner, and I also didn't feel like getting up at 5:30 to run before work.

I am incredibly fortunate to work from home, so my solution was to break up the 5k and do it on my work breaks. I ran 1.35 miles on my 15 minute break in the morning, and ran 1.75 miles on my lunch. I spent some time stretching and foam rolling and ran out of time to shower, so I sat on a towel in my office chair until my afternoon break when I could rinse off before putting on my Zumba clothes.

I have no idea how you moms out there do it, I couldn't imagine working a full day, fitting in workouts, and also taking care of kids. You are all amazing!

How do you find ways to fit it in?

5K-a-Day Challenge

Michael over at Slowly Tri-ing has created a challenge of running a 5k every day in December. I thought this would be a great way to stay active through the holiday so I signed up! She said walking 5k is ok too, since I am still recovering from a marathon and in general my body is not a fan of running very day.

The challenge technically started today, but I started mine on the 1st because I am a little OCD about things like that. So far, so good - 3 days down, 28 to go.

If you are interested in joining the challenge it's not too late! Just head on over to Michael's blog for the details.