A Few Pictures from Charm City

I haven't utilized the picture posting abilities of blogger yet, so I figured I would post two pictures from my Relay run. :)

Six of the eight of us who ran on two different Relay Teams representing Health Care for the Homeless. I was a part of team three curls and a mustache, and the other team was three tramps and a lady.





You can tell I was very excited after finishing the race :)

Baltimore Marathon Relay Race Report

It's DONE! I RAN 6.8 MILES WITHOUT STOPPING!

In the words of one of my favorite TV characters Hiro, "YATA!"

It's taken me a couple of days to really process the race and the accomplishment of running for that long. A mere 3 months ago, I had never ran much longer than a mile straight. Now, I can run over a 10k without stopping. Not at a blistering pace by any means, but running the whole time nonetheless. :) So, here is how my weekend went:

Pre-race

I got into Charm City around lunch time on Friday. I went to my old job and hung out with my friends and tried to remember why I left Baltimore in the first place. I'm still working on that question. ;) Anyway, that evening, 6 of the 8 of us running in the relay went out to dinner at Olive Garden to carbo load with the all you can eat pasta. Delightful! Afterwards, we all headed home to get a good nights sleep. I got up early on Saturday morning and was feeling pretty good. I drank a glass of water and ate an fiber bar. Unfortunately, I my stomach is pretty unsettled in the morning, so the fiber bar was all I was able to manage eating. Probably not the best decision I ever made. A friend from my old softball team came and picked my old roomie and I and drove us down to the race. Our driver was running the whole marathon, crazy thing! Maybe someday. :) Got to the race site and it was insane! Over 17.500 runners were there to either participate in the 5k, relay, half or full marathon. It was around then my stomach started to roll and my intestines decided to hate me. A few trips to the porta-potty later and I was worried about my ability to run the race. My old roomie was running the first leg, so we wished him well and then I walked to the exchange point. I got there in enough time to watch the lead marathoners cross. Those guys were running 5 minute miles! It made me want to get out there and run, but I still had a good while until my roomie got to the exchange point. I was thinking he was going to be running around a 10 minute pace, so I was surprised to see him coming down the hill at the 54 minute mark. He was running 9 minute miles and then I started to get nervous. I ran out in the street to high five him to start my leg and then took off.

Race

The first two miles were a blur. It was almost entirely downhill through the main section of downtown Baltimore and people lined the streets with signs and chants to cheer us on. The whole time in the beginning I was thinking, "This is it! This is what I have been training for! Run, sister, run!" Right about mile three I started to feel my body craving energy. That fiber bar did not last long at all. Thankfully, I hit a banana stand and grabbed two and ate on the run while trying not to slip on the banana peels runners threw in the middle of the street. The next two miles took us over a bridge into Fort McHenry, which I actually never went to while I lived in Baltimore. It was a beautiful place to run, with the only exception being that it was a small path and there were many groups of runners that I had to either pass, or let pass me. It was a bit stressful at times navigating the small path by the water. Once we left the fort, I knew we were 2 miles from finishing. It was also when my body started reminding me the longest I have ever run was 5 miles and I was at that point. My legs started to feel like cement, and my stomach started to make noises. I could see the beautiful skyline of Baltimore getting closer, and I knew I had to do it. I don't really remember much of mile 6, besides that I kept telling myself, "You are a runner! You have ran almost 6 miles and you can totally run the last .8!" I slowed down a bit I know, but I never stopped running. I might have been slow, I probably looked like a penguin, but I didn't stop. Before I knew it, I saw a crowd of people ahead and I knew it was the exchange point. I threw it into high gear and sprinted the last 200 meters looking for my partner. She saw me and jumped into the middle of the street we high fived and hugged and then she took off. I hobbled to the sidewalk where I barely kept myself from tearing up. I DID IT. 6.8 miles and I didn't stop to walk. :D

Post Race

As I walked to the water table, I realized I wasn't even that sore. Sure, I was tired and I needed food, but my knees weren't throbbing and my breathing returned to normal pretty quickly. I ran into a friend from another relay team, and we walked back to the finish line to watch our teams cross and meet up with our other relay members who finished. It was back at the start/finish line where a few of us made the commitment to do this again next year with a slight modification. That modification is that we are all either running the full or half marathon. I opted for the half. So, I barely processed this victory, and now I'm thinking of running 13.1 miles! Am I nuts?!?! :) Additionally, two days after a friend of mine from Baltimore wants to run in a 10k in DC in december and asked if I would run it with him. How can I say no? A guaranteed trip back to Baltimore and a 10k? Sure! Why not?

So, there you have it! I was the slowest person on my team (the last two runners on my team ran at an 8 mile pace), but I'm happy in what I accomplished as was my wonderful relay members :) As a team, we finished the marathon in 4:04, which is pretty awesome! My personal pace was around 11:30 miles, which isn't too shabby at all. Now, we all have nice matching medals and under armour T-shirts to show off. :) I also learned quite a bit during this race too. The first thing being I need to eat a better pre-race meal than just a fiber bar. Not sure what that is yet, but I just know I need to eat more. I also found the value in walking after you finish a race. I probably walked another 3 miles in total after the race, and had very little stiffness the next day. A few of my teammates went immediately home and to nap, and had trouble walking the next morning. All good things to learn indeed.

I haven't been running since the race because I decided to take a few days off. My plan is to try a 5k tomorrow and then start getting back into running three days a week. Gotta keep up for my 10k in December :) My next goal is to try and get my mile average down to a consistent 10 minute pace. I've ran miles that quick, but I haven't strung more than 2 or 3 together. My friends running the 10k in december run at that pace, and I would like to run with them and not slow them down. So, that's the goal. I'm also thinking of investing in some quality running shoes since mine aren't specialized. I think I pronate when I run, so I might look into getting a shoe that can correct that. We shall see. :)

Three months ago I scoffed at people who ran for fun... and now I think i might have become one of them :)

I RAN 5 MILES!!!

OK, I know I haven't been the world's greatest at updating lately. I had a couple of bad runs that left me feeling weak, slow, and totally unable to complete my task of 6.8 miles that I've committed myself to this Saturday. Up until today, the most I've ever ran straight was a 5k. I've talked to other members of my relay team who were excited because they've had longer runs, which made me even more nervous of my impending failure. Pretty much, I was in a bad state mentally. Even though I knew I had been training for over two months, I didn't mentally think I could do it.

After work today, I decided it was all or nothing. A last chance run if you will. :) My motto has always been go big or go home, so it was time to apply it to my running. I HAD to prove to myself that mentally, I could go longer than 3 miles straight. I went to the same track that gave me such luck the first time I was able to run a 5k straight. The first miles was really rough - I couldn't get my breathing in any sort of rhythm and my brain was shooting out the signals "Whoa! What do you think you're doing? We are stopping this in the next five minutes, do you hear?" I managed the first mile just over 11 minutes and that gave me enough to hit the second mile, and the hill that came with that mile. I felt like I was moving as quick as a snail, and my breathing still sucked, but I kept going by trying to focus on the sound of my feet hitting the pavement. It seemed to work because eventually my IPod said, "Half-way point - 2.5 miles." That seemed to give my brain the signal that we weren't going to stop until I said we were going to stop. Within a few minutes, I was AMAZED because my breathing actually slowed and my legs stopped feeling like cement. It was almost as if my body said, "Fine, we'll do it your way." I don't think it was a runner's high by any means, but surely a running first for me. I realized at that moment, I was going to make it. I had the capacity to keep going, and I did. I DID. Yata! I'm not going to lie either - when my Ipod told me 5 miles was up (in 55:03, an 11 minute mile average!), I bent over and started to cry. I had thrown such a huge mental wall up that I wasn't good enough, quick enough, or had trained enough to go that long. I FINALLY after 2 months over came all of that. Just in the nick of time too, eh? :)

So, needless to say, I'm stoked about the race on Saturday now. I think I can go a new distance PR and run the 6.8 miles straight! My body can do it, and now I think my mind knows that as well. I will surely post sometime after the race and give you all the low down. This is what I've been training for for a while now, and it's almost here. Wish me luck!!!