Tick Tock Tick Tock Goes The Cuckoo Clock

May13

Just two more days and really at this point of the evening it really is one more day. Two days till I attempt to run a 50K. Somehow this really seemed like an amazingly great idea a few months ago. Today not so much. Today is the more, “What was I thinking?” kind of day.

What was I thinking

I usually get asked two questions about my upcoming race. The first one is how far in miles is a 50K. I had to look it up because although I knew it was 31 point something, I really didn’t know what the point was either. It is 31.7 miles. At some point it doesn’t matter except at the end when you are counting them down.

The second question is why? We’ve been through this before. Why not?

You think I would be nervous. You think I’d be packed. You think I would have read through all the information they sent. I don’t even have directions to the hotel mapped out. I will get to all of these things shortly I’m sure. I’m actually pretty calm for some reason. I guess you might refer to it as the calm before the storm. Besides at this point I’m in for the LONG haul which hopefully will be only 31.7 miles baring any wrong turns. Again, this is why I need to read the information and look at the map. I can’t just follow the crowd because how do I know they won’t leave me in the dust or even that they know where they are going.

As far as goals, my number one and really only goal is to finish. I would, of course, like to finish well but finishing is number one. And as far as what I mean by finishing well, I do not mean winning the Cuckoo Clock the winners get. I mean to finish strong. To finish like I trained for this. To finish without feeling like I want to die. (Why am I doing this again?) I would also like to make sure to finish before the twelve and half hour alloted time. I think I should be ok as when I did the trail marathon in January I was at six and half hours. That gives me a nice cushion:)

But it is time to get prepared. It’s time to open the door to utra running and see what that is all about. I would like to say that I will be one and done, but I said that about marathons too and I’ve already run 2 more than I said I would not counting NYCM coming in November. And I won’t lie in the back of my mind I’m already toying with a 50 miler for the year I turn 50 which thankfully is a few years away. Besides, I really should just get through this weekend before I start talking smack!!

Either way it’s going to be a great time filled with lots of laughs and good company since there are many BAMR’s going from my running group. Some are doing 25k, some 50k, and the truly insane ones are doing 50 miles but insanity is a wonderful thing! The support of these women is something I wish everyone experiences in their life in some shape or form.

Friends

So I’m off to do all the things that I need to do, but you can count on hearing more about this not matter how it turns out.

What are you doing this weekend?

Be Nice

Mar19

be-nice

I was talking to someone this week about my upcoming half this weekend. Did I mention that I am running the NYC Half Marathon (13.1 miles) this weekend? This is a goal race for me. One that I’ve been training for. One that I’ve thrown down the gauntlet and said I would like to run in sub 2 hours. I’ve been training, but I’m still doubtful.

I told my friend that I wasn’t sure how it would go. I was nervous and hope that I didn’t choke under the pressure of it. (Yes, there is pressure even for the middle of the packers). Self imposed pressure maybe the worst. Anyway, my friend shut me down. She shut me down fast and with such a true and profound statement that I had couldn’t argue with. What was so profound?

First she told me to trust in my training and pointed out that I have been running my ass off. (I would love it if it would also run my pouch off, but that’s different). She then went on to say the profound part that I will paraphrase….

“Don’t allow your inner voice to speak to yourself in a way that you would not allow other people to speak to you. Imagine if one of your friends was saying the things that your inner voice was saying? Would they remain your friend? Would you put up with that?”

Let that sink in for a moment.

Read it again.

Right!

Mind Blown!

If one of my friends said the things that I say to myself, I would be livid. I would not listen their crap. So why do I listen to it form my inner voice? Why is my inner voice so negative sometimes?

Such as…

I should have pushed harder

I was so slow

I’ll never be able to do it.

Why didn’t I hit my paces

Can I do it?

As with many things in running, this also carries over to our non running lives (yes, we have those). We have to stop being our own worst critic. We have to get our of our own way and side step the negativity. Most importantly, we should be our biggest cheerleader. Now, I’m not saying we should be arrogant or obnoxious. I mean that we should be treat ourselves the way our Best Friends treat us which is usually pretty awesome. We have to have faith in ourselves.

This does not mean that we will always succeed in everything we do, but as I tell my preschool gymnastics kids’ “You will never know if you can do something unless you try. And if you don’t do it this time, we can try again another time. All you can do is try, try, try.”

I think that I need to take my own advise.

I know that I have put in the many miles to train for tomorrow

I know that I have done the speed workouts required

I will give it all I have and that will be enough

I know that I have run these paces before

I know that I can do it!!!

So all I can do is try, try, try…..

NYC Half

Run, Run, and Run Some More

Feb26

Looking at the calendar, my next big race is now less than a month away. The New York City Half Marathon. I’m very excited about it and I’ve been doing quite a bit of training to see if I can make it a sub 2 half. Still not sure, but I will never know unless I try. Now that being said, I realized something about a week or so ago too. Something that didn’t really occur to me. Yes, I’ve been speed training for the half but I’ve also started training for my 50K. To me that seems so distant because it’s 3 months away. I’ve learned though that doesn’t mean that I am waiting for the half to be over to start training for it.

Once I realized this, my new manta to get me out the door become

50K’s don’t just happen.

DirtyGermanFinishlogoweb

Now I know that to be true. I expected it. Somehow though in my mind I was still training for the half which made the 50K seem like it wasn’t real. I realized though when I had a long run that was 14 miles. That was my Aha moment. That was the moment it all become real. That was the moment that I thought to myself, “What am I doing?”

I’m hoping these are normal thoughts. Then again I never claimed to be normal.

Someone asked me what I was training for and when I told them they thought I was crazy. They asked me, “Why the hell would you want to do that?”

I really had no answer. Other than that I thought it would be a fun challenge and that it is something I do it for me.. They rolled their eyes and did not see the fun in it. That is ok. A lot of people do a lot of things for fun that I just don’t get. Now I’m not saying all this training is fun, but it does clear my mind and allow me to pretty much eat what I want. So for me that is a win.

Around the same time that I made the realization that I was in 50K training, something else exciting happened too. I had joined a group that matches runners with those who can’t run. Runners can be matched with individuals with special needs or the group I’m in their sibling, the unsung hero. I was finally matched! So now my running is really not all about me. It is for both of us. Someone that will inspire me to push further. That is all I will say about my unsung hero for her privacy. It’s a cool feeling though. This is still very new to me as I’ve only recently been matched, but I can’t wait to see how this develops.

IRun

Another Year Down

Jan6

As I plan for 2016, I paused to look back on 2015 and I have much to be proud and thankful of with my running. Sometimes I still can’t believe how far I have come. Sometimes I still can’t believe that I am a runner as that is not something I ever could have imagined. I am not the same though. People evolve, grow, and change. Even so, sometimes I forget that. Believe it or not some days, I still struggle with calling myself a runner which is kind of head scratching when I look at my running history. Last year alone, I ran many events including a marathon. On top of that I ran 1000 miles. Yet with all of these miles, I still struggle to call myself a runner. I might be a little mental…..

I’m not fast enough. I don’t know enough. I’ve walked in both marathons that I’ve completed. ect, ect, ect.

Then I remind myself that none of that matters. If any of my running friends said these things about themselves, I would shut them down. The same should apply to me…

I am a runner because I say I am. I am a runner because I run no matter the pace or distance. You don’t need to be the fastest to be a runner, you just need to be running.

Year

This is one of the reasons that I display my bibs, medals, and running pictures in my office area. It is a reminder to me of what I can accomplish if I dare to dream and I tend to dream big:) I also did a decent job of completing some of my goals for 2015. I didn’t complete them all which I’m ok with because I completed them all in one year then my goals weren’t challenging enough.

Here is the run down…

Complete the 9 plus 1 for NYCM entry – Check. Not only did I complete it, but I had such a great time doing it!
Run a Half Marathon in 2 hours – Nope. This one didn’t fit into my training plan as I was working more on endurance not speed. This year it will be back on the table.
Complete the Iron Girl with better time than last year – Didn’t meet this goal which really wasn’t a surprise as I did not train enough on the swim or the bike. I think this race will now be delegated to a run event where time doesn’t matter.
Run my first trail Half – I did this one well before I realized I would. I ran in in January and it was a surprise to me:)
A Bib a month challenge – With chasing the 9 plus 1, this one wasn’t that hard to accomplish. The hardest month to complete was actually February as February races in the east are hard to find. I ended up doing a virtual race with my MRTT group. Although I did add the Jingle Bell Jog in December to finish it off. Normally, I would not race in December.
Run the MCM – Semper Fi!! Would love to do this one again as it really was a great event.

Now time to reflect on goals for 2016. Some I can’t believe I’m not only dreaming about but already signed up for such as a 50K! But that’s for another day. Today is a day of refeclecting. Tomorrow is the day for planning:)

How did you do on your 2015 Goals?

You Want Me To Tell You What!?!

Oct16

We all have goals.

We all have dreams.

We don’t always verbalize them though and put them out into the universe.

Even someone like me who seems to tell everyone more than they want to know. There is just something too scary about doing that. When I ran Philly, I had a goal in mind, but I really didn’t tell anyone. I did say that I would like to finish in under 5 hours. What I didn’t tell anyone was that in my mind, I really wanted to finish around 4:45.

Guess what?

I finished Philly in 4:46:20

Guess What?

In my mind, I wanted to finish around 4:45. I told that to no one. It was between me, myself, and I. It was less scary that way. This time apparently, I have to put it all out there. Now, I don’t mean here on the blog out there. I mean I have to tell my coach. She wants me to start thinking about and tell her Monday the following:

A: The dream race on the perfect day goal

B: the hard but doable goal

c: the day sucked but I’m still happy with my race goal

In my mind, I know what I would like the answers to be. I’m just not sure If I want to lay it on the line like that. My Coach says that this is her way of making you stay accountable. I’m not sure that I want to be accountable. She also said that A does not need to be feasible YET or it can just be something that is possible but ambitious. I think I will go with the later. I also have to be careful because if I put too ambitious of a goal, she might think that’s what I want to run in the NYCM next year.

So I think I know how I will answer these questions in my mind. I just need to see if I have the nerve to write them for her.

Do you say your race goals out loud?

Running By The Numbers – The Brooklyn Half

May18

Let’s start with the first number which is very impressive.

There were 26,482 finishers for the Airbnb Brooklyn Half. This is a record breaking US finish count for a 2015 Half Marathon. I am happy and honored to say that I am one of them. More women than men finished too with 18,759 women crossing the finish line.

Then there is my finish time which not as impressive, but a good time that I am very happy with.

Official Time 2:14:47

This is right where I wanted to be. I wanted to be at 2:15, so I can’t believe how on the mark that I was with this. Might have something to do with that I followed a plan this time. What was my plan you ask?

Go out at 10:20-30 for the first 10, start cutting down the last few miles a few seconds a mile.

I will say that in the beginning it was hard to follow the plan, but I reigned myself in. It wasn’t hard because I’m Speedy Gonzales. It was hard because I always go out too fast. It was hard because I was caught up in the excitement of the start of the race. It was hard because my ego took a little bit of a bruise allowing myself to be passed and needed to be seriously checked. It was easy though because I knew I had a plan that I needed to follow. I think I like having a plan now that I’ve experienced running with one.

As far as the ego even though I know I’m not competing against the other runners, it really is an ego killer being passed left and right by them. It’s human nature (or at least mine) to want to pass them and not be the one feeling like your left in the dust. That is UNTIL you remind yourself that you need to stick to pace and not theirs. I’ve heard race bystanders yell at other races and even yesterday the chant, “Your race, Your Pace.” I never gave it much thought till yesterday where I internalized and owned it. It made so much sense. This was my race and I needed to run it. I needed to allow myself to be passed. I was not competing with those passing me. I was challenging myself and in order to do that I had to follow my pace. It was a good pace too. And although I didn’t hit every mile goal I was pretty darn close.

10:16

10:18

10:09

10:20

10:39

10:24

10:03

10:22

10:10

10:25

This was right where I wanted to be. I was doing the math to keep me there and I used my Garmin to keep me on pace. If you know me too, you know that I hate math but it kept my mind occupied. Each mile I would mentally add my goal 10:20 to my time and try to hit the target. More often than not, I did. Although, I do need to adjust my setting for time display as it was only giving hours and minutes and not seconds which really is key in pacing. Then at mile 10, I took some Gatorade and allowed myself some freedom.

Mile 11 – 10:00

Mile 12 – 9:56

Mile 13 – 9:39

Then the .1 at 8:21 as I always like to sprint at the end if I can which I did since I controlled my pace!

I think because I kept a good pace that it helped with my feet too. I was able to run without the foot pain that has made me walk during races in the past. I think it is a combination of new shoes, new running plan, and just being a little smarter in my running lately (thanks to my running coach). Now this is not to say that after the race I was fine because I did have some heal pain and it’s not that my feet were not sore. They were and I did waddle a little on the walk to the car, but

Runable and livable..

Sex/
Age

Overall
Place

Gender
Place

Age
Place

Net
Time

5K
Split

10K
Split

15K
Split

20K
Split

Pace
per
Mile

AG
Time

AG
Gender
Place

F46

18,759

8672

422

2:14:47

0:31:40

1:04:47

1:36:58

2:08:15

10:17

2:04:26

6512

There is more to talk about as this really was a great event.

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you a little more about the actual event and not just boring but important numbers:)

Do you follow a race plan?

PS – Don’t forget to vote

Runner’s World Cover Contest

Turning Goals into Accomplishements

Apr30

I said yesterday, I’ve got Plans. Well, I really don’t have solid plans as much as I have direction that I’m moving towards that will develop my somewhat rock solid plans. That’s something though:)

First Step

I finalized working with a running coach and even paid for the first three months. Now I feel funny saying that I am working with a Running Coach as it just doesn’t sound right to my ears. Me, working with a Running Coach. Ha. I was introduced to her by my running cohort Dawn. We all rode down to the Philly Marathon together. I thought that Caolan was amazing just based on her personal record. We became Facebook friends after Philly and she added me to one of her Facebook groups that she moderates. Then after I got into the Marine Corps Marathon while still running all my 9+1 races, I started thinking about how can I put this all together. This is where Caolan comes in.

I’ve purchased online training plans before. So why not work with an online coach? I’ve filled out all the initial forms, we’ve emailed about what I’m looking for and what my goals are, and we’ve even connected through my Garmin Connect account. She is in the process of putting a plan together for me. That is both exciting and scary. Now before you think, “OH MY GOD, THAT MUST BE SO EXPENSIVE!” Let me just say it really is not. Working with Caolan will be cheaper than what I spent on Crossfit each month. That being said, I still will need access to the YMCA for cross training as we both agree I need to swim as a great cross training exercise. Luckily we have a family membership.

Next step

I bought myself a handy dandy Training Journal. Yes, I have online training logs, but I really am old school. I still buy monthly planners at Staples for the year. I just need to write it down in my own hand. There are lots of types of Training Journals out there. I bought the Runner’s World one. I just like the way it is set up. I will start using it once I start working with Caolan.

Step Three

New shoes and orthotics. I don’t have my orthotics yet, but I did get new shoes. They are lovely and I will do a review of them next week:)

Finally

Breathe and know it will all come together just the way it is meant to.

You can set all the goals you want to but if you do not create a course of action, you will never reach them. You have to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

So I’m walking the walk now.

Living and Learning

Apr24

Living and learning go hand in hand. Opinions evolve as does your experiences grow. When I first started running, I knew of a couple of people that had running coaches. I thought to myself….. What a waste. I know. I know. I’ve evolved now. I understand that there is more to running than putting on running shoes. I also understand that you don’t need to be an elite runner to have a coach anymore than you need to be a professional bodybuilder to have a personal trainer. I didn’t think of it that way. I apologize to my hopefully new running coach.

I get it now.

No, I do not have to be an elite athlete.

No, I do not need to plan to “win” any races.

(Although, lets be honest for us mere mortals showing up at the starting line is a win).

No, I do not need to think that I am suddenly a top of the packer.

What I am though is someone who wants to improve.

I am someone who is smart enough to know that there is a whole Hell of a lot of things that I don’t know.

I am someone who has a full race schedule coming up that found a little overwhelming.

I am someone who is striving to do better than I did yesterday.

That is all.

No more.

No less.

My epiphany came when I realized that a cookie cutter plan would not work for me. I have had personal trainers in the past at the gym. No one though twice about that. This is no different. Instead of teaching me routines to use at the gym though, she will help me get the most out of each run.

I will say that after our initial chat today that I am frightened especially when she said she will build my running up to 40 miles a week. WHAT!?! She, as most coaches, takes this seriously which I should hope so since this is her job. She knows what she’s talking about too having just completed her 3rd Boston Marathon and now a week later getting ready to run Big Sur Marathon. I hope I am up for the challenge.

It will be nice for change not to have to figure out if I am following the right plan as she will create a plan just for me:) It will be nice just to focus on the task at hand.

If all goes well we will start in the beginning of May which is only a week away. She seems to think that with my past results it might be possible for me to get a 4:30 at the Marine Corps Marathon, but that seems out of my league right now. I guess that’s why we are starting the training now.

Wish me luck.

Have you ever had a Running Coach?

Don’t follow the plan….. Have the Race You excpect

Apr21

I had a plan. I had a very good plan. I never followed it. Ok, I did follow it in the beginning. More to the point the closer I got to the Moore/Fitness Half Marathon, the plan fell to the wayside. I would like to say that it was due to lack of time. I can’t even say it was lack of dedication. Ok partly. I think mostly it was because the plan changed even if I didn’t fully admit to it. That being said, I DO NOT RECOMMEND not running AT ALL two weeks prior to a Half Marathon. Really. Just don’t do it. Really. I am paying the price for it today and I paid the price for it yesterday.

Here is the crux of the situation though. I’ve been dealing, ok not dealing but avoiding dealing with my feet, since Philly. With my upcoming schedule, I realized that it was time to get my head out of the sand and deal with it. If you were here yesterday, you read that I finally went to the Podiatrist and what the problems were. So maybe it was good that I took a little bit of a break.. All will be good as the Cortisone shot is already helping, I will do the stretches, and follow the plan. The doctor knows the plan does not including my stopping my running anytime soon. Back to the Race.

Besides not doing any type of training 2 weeks prior to the race, I made some other mistakes. First, I didn’t hydrate enough the days leading up to it. I normally will just drink extra water leading up to an event to avoid feeling dehydrated. I’m not sure if there is actually any physical benefit, but I know there is a mental one from me. Then there is the fact that I didn’t bank my sleep during the week either. I try to go to bed earlier leading up to the race too. This way if I don’t get a good night sleep the night before at least I’m not as bad. I went to bed 12:20 the night before and had my alarm set for 4:45. Not smart. I was tired.

When I came up with my goals for the year, I thought it would be cool to run a sub 2 half on my 46th Birthday. The closer I got though, the more I knew it was not happening for this race. I then embraced that this would be my fun Birthday Run. I have to say as far as day went, it was fun. I think I spent more time worrying about my outfit than the actual run. Ok, I know I did, but look how cute my outfit came out…..

You know it’s all about the outfit and the accessories. Don’t you like my crown?

Ok, probably not, but I will say that this outfit did help me during the race. Really!

The Clown Car as we like to refer to it was leaving town for NYC at 5:45. As early as it is, we are all still smiling. Due to caffeine, I didn’t realize how much my lack of sleep would effect me. It did. Still we had a good ride into the city and were all smiles at the starting line.

We met the cutest elderly woman at the starting line while she was walking to her corral. She was adorable. I just wish we had thought to take a picture with her. Although, I did find one of her crossing the finish line and getting her medal! Go Granny Go!! I hope that I have her spunk when I’m her age. She was talking about the bus ride and people thinking she must be crazy. I thought she was awesome!

Right, amazing! Did I forget to mention her crutches?

And, yes, she is wearing rocking legging, long sleeved shirt, and some type of purple skirt dare I say tutu.

I hope that I’m still moving like this with this type of attitude at her age!

We line up in our Corrals. The excitement of waitig for the race to start never gets old for me either. Off we go. Two of the ladies were planning to run together. My cohort was going to push it and I was just going to take it easy. I end up staying for the first lap of Central Park with the two. I will admit though that I did think they were planning to take it easier than they did, but it was good. We chatted when we could. Did double takes when we saw someone running with what appeared to be nothing under her tutu. (We ran past her). We just had a good time. After we hit mile 6 or so though, I told them to go without me. I knew that I probably could push it to stay with them and part of me wanted to. Luckily my brain won out this time.

Lap two was not as good as lap one. I realized that I dropped my Salted Carmel Caffeine Gu. I walked when I felt I needed to. I ran when I thought it was time to push a little. I will say that my Princess Birthday sash and tutu helped me run a better race. Really. No lies. It helped because there were times that I was going to start walking and someone would run by, tap me and say something like,

“Happy Birthday Princess”

“You’ve got this Princess”

“You can do this Princess.”

“You got this hill Princess”

Some of them I even trailed for a bit as Dawn will tell you that is what I like to do sometimes. I’m like a shadow. These women motivated me. These women may not realize it, but they really did help me get to the finish line in a better time than I would have if I was alone on the course. Standing out in a crowd of more than 7,000 other runners isn’t a bad thing.

My Official Finish Time is 2:20:23.

I’ll take it.

I know that this is a great time. I will admit that it is my worst time and I was slightly disappointing. Off by almost 15 minutes. When I said this to Dawn, she told me to shut hell up. She as often is right. This may not have been the race that I envisioned when I set my 2015 goals, but it was still a great race. There will be other races where I can chase the elusive 2:00:00, but there will only be one Birthday Run!

So cheers!

Anyone Can Run…..

Apr15

Anyone can run. Really. Unless there is a medical reason, anyone can run. Not everyone likes to run. I know that too being someone who used to say she hated running. Although in retrospect it isn’t that I hated running. It was more that I had never given running a chance. So I unequivocally state again that anyone can run. That being said, there is a difference between just running and running well. This is the crossroads that I am at now. I’ve been running for a while now and I’ve gotten to the point that I might just want to run well.

Now I am not saying that I want to move to the top of the Pack or become a leading Master runner. I am saying that I think it might be time to take my running up a notch. Take it the the next level. Right now, I’ve been following generic training plans for specific events. I will say these have been amazingly helpful and I’ve learned from them. I know that without my Runner’s World Hat Trick Specific Training Plan that I would not have been able to run those events as well as I did. Online training plans are wonderful and will get you where you need to go. My problem that I am encountering and is starting to freak me out a bit is that I need to form my plan to start training for the Marine Corps Marathon while being prepared for other events. I seem to be going a few different directions at once.

Case in Point….

Running many events of different distances for the 9 plus 1 plan
Training for the Iron Girl Sprint Triathlon
Training for the Marine Corps Marathon and the final hill at the end of it.

Now I would have no problem following a plan on my own to train for one of these events, but I’m really having a problem wrapping my head around training for all of them at once. Probably because I don’t know what I’m doing and have no background in this field. Yes, I read my Runner’s World, Running Times and such but I’ve really been only running since I finished my first Tri in September of 2013. I’m in a bit of a quandary. I know I need to train. I know that both the Tri and the marathon will require serious training with the marathon only being a month after the Tri, I will need to train for them at the same time. That being said, I need to figure out how to train without over training, without causing injury, and without causing burnout. That is where a running coach might just be what I need.

I used to think that a Running Coach would be reserved for the “serious athlete.” The top of the Pack athlete. The career athlete. I used to think that a Stay-at-Home Mom wouldn’t need a Running Coach. What would the point be? Then I realized what the point would be? The point would be that they know what they are doing. The point would be that they can help me reach my goals. The point would be that they can help generate a plan just for me. Just like I’ve hired a Personal Trainer at the gym in the past, a Running Coach can help put me on the right path for running smartly. To help me run well. A Running Coach can help me reach my potential while at the same time giving me the skills that I will need to get to the end of the road all in one piece.

This is where I am now. I’ve started process. I have not hired a coach yet, but have contacted one to see her thoughts. Surprisingly, the cost is not as high as I thought it would be. To be honest, the monthly cost is cheaper than hiring a Personal Trainer for two sessions. Plus the coach that I am looking at has different packages depending upon my need. I don’t pay a gym membership right now and can justify the cost too. Although the biggest justification of the cost will be the peace of mind it will bring me.

Even though I have not hired a coach yet and am still investigating, just the thought of it is easing the stress. I am days away from turning 46. I am a Stay-at-Home Mom. I am a middle of the Pack runner. I have much to learn about the art of running and training. Bottom line is that I was wrong. A Running Coach is for an athlete at any level and I am worth it.

Do you have a Running Coach??

Have you ever had one?

The Accidentally Running Mama

Run, Bike, Swim and Have a Life!

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