So where have I been?

My Fall marathon didn't happen. I had what I thought was a great second 20 miler, but it fell apart in the form of patellar tendinitis and ITBS on my good knee. I think I dodged and jumped too many puddles on that long run. I tried aggressive PT, but it just wasn't to be.

At the same time, my dear Dad was diagnosed with colon cancer. He is doing great now, but it has been a difficult winter with multiple hospital stays and lots of road trips back and forth for me.

And then there was the Polar Vortex. Missed school days, too cold icy conditions just made the running option not a good for me.

So I'm calling a do over.

I've gotten in 3 runs and 2 strength training workouts per week for the last two weeks. I'm up to running 5 miles without pain (fingers and toes crossed).

I'm running the Monument 10k on Saturday with my long run being 5 miles, so no goal like last year's awesome PR. Just running smart and healthy before heading to a work conference across country later that day.

And that 5 mile run, I wasn't smart and ran yesterday when it was 70. I waited until today where the the high was 49 with midday run. I should have had plenty of time to beat the rain. Why do I believe forecasters? The rain started in earnest even before my halfway point. I sucked it up and finished strong with NO puddle jumping. Wet feet are better than knee pain any day. I ran a little faster than I wanted to by a minute per mile too fast. Oops.

And here's the wet look proof. Glad I had another layer on over my Tough Chik long sleeve.

And the reward to warm me up from the inside. The temps dropped 10 degrees while out there.

And then my dear hubby surprised me with these from Carytown Cupcakes. Oh, I love cupcakes but I certainly didn't run far enough to justify even one of these.

Here's to another week. Here we go!

Jilly Bean

ZOOMA Annapolis - Part 2

Or otherwise known as the bad and the ugly.

We were all smiles at the start even though we knew the hills and heat were ahead of us.

For some reason, I seem to attract Brooks fans. Maybe one of these days Brooks will pick me to spread their Brooks love instead of working my normal day job. Please, please, please!

Two of those four pair of Brooks belong to Lisa and her awesome husband. He cracked me up wearing his Princess Half Marathon shirt at another predominantly women's race. Lisa's blog is Lisa Runs for Cupcakes and she is a fellow Tough Chik, hence the matching outfits. It was great to meet her.

The Lululemon cheer station at the top of this hideous bridge was helpful with all their energy. I "borrowed" the picture below from Emma's blog. Check out the link a little later on. This bridge doesn't look too bad ... until you are running over it ... twice.

This quote by Eleanor Roosevelt was at the 8 mile marker. I think ... Things were starting to get a little hazy with the hills in the dang heat which I had all of three runs in before this day. All I could think of when I saw that quote was, "I feel like I'm running in hot water. Get this thing over." I finally found hubby after we crossed the bridge the second time (he was riding his bike) and he passed off some cold Nuun. The electrolyte drink on the course had artificial sweetener in it, which I can't drink. Boo!

And then it was done. After a lot of walk breaks. I would walk up the hills if they were in the shade, and try to run down or in the sun. I can tell you around mile 11 with a gentle incline, I had some serious self-doubt if I was going to finish this thing. My stomach started gurgling from the lack of heat acclimation. Thank goodness I was able to will it away. I kept saying "I got this." I really should have bought this shirt at the end.

I have no idea why we were smiling so big, but E said it so well. I'm going to paraphrase but it was something to the effect of how proud she was of herself because it was a mentally and physically race. And she was exactly right. We did it and lived to smile about it.

Muscle Milk did have this awesome shaded area with mats and foam rollers. But we missed out on the wine (we didn't bring our IDs and didn't want to stand in a line for them to check us), there were not enough massage tables, we never did see the yoga, and we got the bottom of the barrel for food (carrots and potato salad). No thank you after a hot race. I did like the necklace instead of the medal.

And to top it all off the course was a quarter mile short. See the arrow below and the little green part at the tip. There was no one to direct us to go that way. But this wasn't the worst part, because we ran with the 10k group, the leaders were mis-directed and were two miles short at the finish. Emma was one of these girls and I felt so bad for her. She was having an amazing race. Check out her story at A Mom Runs This Town.

I swear the hills were worse than this elevation looks, and they just never stopped. Even the finish was uphill.

So here are the stats. I have to say for all the walk breaks, I did okay. I was expecting closer to 2:15 when factoring in the heat.

Would I do this race again, probably not. Too many glitches on top of the hilly heat.

So, to end on a positive note. The good things: meeting lots of new and not so new friends; awesome support from the hubby; great friends to watch the kiddo for us so we could both go; and conquering a second half marathon this year with NO knee pain.

And the only thing missing from this breakfast was a mimosa.

 

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Zooma Annapolis - Part 1

Hubby and I headed North on Friday. Well we went South for a split second until I yelled out, "Hey, why are we going South?" Poor hubby was on autopilot. We made it to Annapolis without any trouble, and we had the great idea to drive the course before rush hour hit. Little did we know how nuts Annapolis is on Friday afternoon. Also, the prime comment from the hubs was, "Did a drunk guy lay out this town." Crazy side streets, narrow passages, and odd one ways. It was a little tense in the car trying to follow the crazy map and no Verizon reception.

Not sure about the crazy birds that were all over the sidewalks. The town is cute, but I can't say that I got to enjoy more than a small bit of it. We did make a stop at the Navy Campus Store to buy a present for our good friend who was watching the little monster guy.

I failed to take a single picture of the expo, but I did buy some really cute shirts. And caught up with some awesome Tough Chiks: Katye, Tonia, and Katie.

Hubby bought me the Wonder Woman bike jersey after the race. He is awesome.

I caught up with a Mom"s Run This Town buddy and we caught up with Emma. She has a picture of us at dinner at an awesome restaurant and the hideous bridge (foreboding music here). I highly recommend Osteria 177, and they have a $200 cocktail. Not that I will ever spend that kind of a money of a drink.

Then it was Flat Momma time, and wind down time to get ready for the early time ... In the heat.

Taken before we left because I'm OCD.

 

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Cherry Blossom Race

So, better late than never.

Do I look ready? I felt ready except I still didn't have a race strategy. And it was colder than I expected it to be.

 

Can you feel the cold? This was one of the few blooming trees we saw. I did see one cherry tree in bloom on the course, but I didn't stop to take a photo. Maybe a few more blooms would have distracted me a little more on the LONG second half.

But I digress. The race start was crowded beyond belief. I couldn't even get into my corral without considerable effort. I could see the 9:00 pacers but couldn't reach them. I thought I would catch up with them, but that didn't happen. They started all the corrals one right after another, so there was quite a bit of weaving and jumping over curbs for the first two miles. The scenery was gorgeous once we got going.

The back of the course along Hain's Point was windy and LONG. Are you hearing the theme? I didn't think I was ever going to see the turn-around point. But it finally came. I did like the extra touch of having the half mile markers at the end.

Oh, and the pacers, I passed them because they didn't carry the signs with them. Are you kidding me? I guess I was spoiled from the phenomenal pacers at Shamrock. So this race was much harder because I was doing the hard work of running and pacing. Oh, but I guess that's why I run races. No one promised it would be easy.

I did manage to have pretty consistent splits except for mile 2 where I was trying to get around people and find the pacers. Overall, I was very happy with my time. And yes, it was a cool morning.

All smiles at the end.

I had to throw this one in because the girl's face beside me cracks me up.

Loved the flags coming to the uphill finish. Have no idea what I was doing with my arms.

I will admit that the ITB was not happy with me, so I did find some ice and a new friend. Pam a teammate from Team Tough Chik, hence the fun team clothes.

And stick with me just a little bit longer. One of the cools things was the extra analysis they posted of your race. This was very cool for a tech nerd like me.

Overall, I'm glad I did this one, but can't say that I will be back any time soon to do it again.

 

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Another pre-race eve - Cherry Blossom 10 Mile

My BFs and I are heading up to DC tomorrow for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile. I am debuting my new Team Tough Chik gear this weekend. For the race on Sunday, the Cherry Blossoms are scheduled to pop with a high in the low 70s. How awesome is that? The only problem is that I'm always cold and with a starting temperature in the mid 40s, this Tough Chik needs something on her arms.

Target to the rescue, and in Tough Chik colors of turquoise and purple. I did pull out a very dusty sewing machine to keep the ends from unraveling.

Not my finest work, but $2.50 plus some elbow grease and thread for color-coordinated warmth. Two thumbs up. And here's my flat mama ... all ready to go. Sorry the shoes clash so bad but the Connects in purple don't have the support I need for the 10 miles.

Now to figure out the goal. I really want to rock the Monument 10k next weekend as a finally healthy redemption race (I ran this race healthy for the first time out of three tries last year, but didn't push it wisely).

The options are:

1. Race it.
2. Run fast, but conservative.
3. Just have fun.

I'm leaning towards option 2. Any thoughts? I even painted my nails. Here's to a fun weekend!

 

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