MDI marathon- caw! caw!

ive been sitting in front of this blank screen since i woke up at noon (yes i slept last night, yes i went back to bed... after getting up at 3am to take meg to the bus station and getting pulled over and having to run in and stop the bus and save the day!) but thats a whole other story...

ive said this a few times before on this blog (most likely on all of my marathon recaps), but this is a very difficult recap to write. i have NO idea where to start. most people would say "well duh, start at the beginning". which makes sense. but i think ill hold your attention a little better if i start at the end...

at mile 24 i was walking at a 14:30 pace. tears were rolling down my face. i couldnt feel my fingers and the rain was beating down on me. there was no dry spot on my clothes or body. with 2 miles left to go, 29 minutes if i kept walking, i contemplated stopping and figuring out a way for someone to pick me up. my first marathon DNF. i didnt think i had it in me to keep going.

TWO MILES. after powering through the previous 24. this was the mental game i was now battling.

one final up hill, the "final push" water station, and a sign at the 'top of the hill' restaurant that said "MDI runners, 1.5 miles left. its all downhill from here". so i started running. albeit not fast, but i was determined to cross that finish line. andy met me on the bike with less than a mile to go, i handed him my water bottle, and i took off. as i crossed the finish line, got my medal, elizabeth wrapped me in a tin foil cape, i saw sarah and hugged her and cried.

then i did something ive never done in any race ive run. i went to the medical tent.

*******

minus the pouring rain, this marathon/marathon weekend went just like all the others for the most part. scratch that, the rain is included. 3 out of my past 4 marathons were in the pouring rain. thanks for that, weather gods. i dont mind running in the rain but come on!

a bunch of us crazy runner people got together friday night for food (CAKE!), drinks, and scrabble, and eventually the baseball game after spending what seemed like hours on the phone with time warner cable threatening to burn their place down (i cant believe i did this in order to watch the yankees game!?)

must be mdi weekend!

meg, ally, and christy had flown in earlier in the day, brendan, andy, sarah and ruddley joined us for the festivities, and once the night calmed down, i cheered for the cardinals while andy passed out from a few too many bud lights. sarah and i woke him up bright and early for an easy 2 mile run (and it was a whopping 30 degrees. yay). we packed up our stuff, ate 9 pounds of bagels and french toast for breakfast at mr.bagel, and headed on our way... mount desert island bound!

love these girls

clearly we needed to stop to see the moose

andy wanted in on all the picture action too

we got to the expo, picked up our jackets and bibs, and snapped a few pics, obviously.

two bad ass crow chicks

caw! caw!

we then proceeded to stuff our face with ALL THE CARBS... bread, pizza, ravioli, chicken, pasta... you name it, we pretty much ate it. i of course had the same meal i ate last year (i pretty much havent stopped talking about it since)... bucatini pasta with pecorino cheese and a poached egg on top. filled with garlic and butter and yummy goodness. amazing.

post pasta face stuff fest

i could bore you with the late night details, but long story short... i became a huge emotional mess and needed to let it all out, and didnt want to scare my bed mates. so after watching a few innings of the yankees game, after we all headed to bed, i put on my jacket and uggs and took a walk around the hotel parking lot. the night sky was clear, and i just tried to clear my head and focus on the race the next day. i walked back into the hotel room, sat down on the bed with andy, and started bawling. it just all came out. he didnt really know what to do and i felt pretty stupid, so i said "apparently my walk isnt over yet" and i went back outside, sat on the hood of my car and cried. and cried and cried.

heading back into the hotel after i had somewhat pulled myself together, meg had gotten worried and came to see if i was ok. we all headed back into bed and apparently sara was awake too, so we called in to andy to ask for a bedtime story....

"once upon a time there were three craaaaazy runners who couldnt sleep the night before their very hilly very long distance race... along came the handsome gallant bike rider who inspired them to go faster..."

i think we eventually fell asleep, and woke bright and early to the sound of rain. lovely. it actually ended up being water just falling off the roof, but the forecast had rain. and rain it did.



self explanatory, complete with big pimpin sweatpants and race braids

per the norm

crazy awesome runners ready for the day

sara, me, christy, sarah, ally

christy and me

after crying through the national anthem (wtf is wrong with me?!) and cheering/jumping up and down during "thunderstruck", the gun went off and the race started. sarah, christy and i ran together for the first few miles, talking and just enjoying the run. we met up with my friend kelly and talked with her for a few minutes before she took off (and crushed her first marathon! yay!)

mile 1: 9:44

mile 2: 9:35

mile 3: 9:47

mile 4: 9:17

mile 5: 9:39

sarah and i decided to stop at the port-a-potties during mile 6 just because we could. we were not running for time (after coming off her first marathon at smuttynose and my sub 4 there, we just wanted to enjoy this race together... which we absolutely were). our stop took a bit longer than we had thought but we headed out again and made up a little time and carried on.

mile 6: 12:34

mile 7: 9:05

mile 8: 9:09

mile 9: 9:25

the miles were going by so fast. we both were enjoying ourselves, talking to others around us, cheering, laughing, and for once... not complaining! it had started to rain a little bit but we just kept having a great time. all along the way were messages spray painted on the road, much of which read "caw!" and every time we would pass one, we'd yell out "CAW! CAW!" clearly we were slightly delusional. (for those of you who dont know, MDI marathon is put on by Crow Athletics. join us, you'll see what its all about)



this boat was out in the water with a sign that said "i like running!"

only in maine...

mile 10: 9:36
mile 11: 9:27
mile 12: 9:26
mile 13: 9:14

we got to the halfway mark/relay exchange at just over 2:06. i felt good overall but was having knee pain (normal). i stopped and hung onto meg so i didnt fall over stretched at the exchange and then we took off. continuing to have fun, meet more people along the road. the miles just kept going by, and we both commented on how carefree it felt.

mile 14: 10:12
mile 15: 10:04
mile 16: 9:57
mile 17: 10:08

the rain started to come down harder, the hills were getting a little bit longer, a we started to slow down a little. we shared a few miles in silence, which is perfectly normal for the two of us. sarah and i have shared our entire year (particularly all summer) training for these races together. weve had our ups and downs, fast days and slow days, smiles and tears... but we have never given up on each other. we have been side by side through thick and thin...

at mile 18.5, something went wrong. my heart was beating out of my chest. and fast. i slowed down to a walk, with sarah a bit up ahead of me, and when she turned around to see what was up i stopped and bent down...

"i think im about to pass out"

she came running back and held me up. i have no idea what was happening, and i have never felt this way before, but i was really scared. i hate some sports beans, walked through the upcoming water stop, drank some gatorade, and grabbed one of my salt pills when our support car came by. i felt better and we carried on, but the whole situation kept in the front of my mind. i wasnt comfortable with what had happened and was worried it might happen again.

mile 18: 9:49
mile 19: 10:56
mile 20: 11:07
mile 21: 11:25

as sarah wrote on her daily mile entry: "miles 16-20 were a little rough and i could feel my body starting to get tired. D needed to back off on the pace a little around and she told me to go ahead. i had promised her we would cross the finish line together and i did not want to leave her. we argued from mile 18-21....

D: just go, ill be fine... youre gonna fuckin PR this thing
me: no, im not leaving you out here
D: you pushed me to bust my ass this summer, now it's your turn... GO!"

she also told me that she had promised ty she wouldnt leave me, and im pretty sure she said something along the lines of "your husband will KILL ME if i leave you!"

but as i walked through a water stop up a hill after 21, she powered up and kept going. she turned around to see where i was, i gave her a thumbs up, and she never looked back (she did send andy back to check on me though, i know i never left her mind). (side note: she went on to CRUSH her marathon pr by 17 minutes... which was two weeks ago in her FIRST marathon. holy crap, so proud of this girl!! xoxo)

mile 22: 10:37
mile 23: 12:03

the next few miles were brutal. my head was everywhere. i was walking a lot and running very little. i was freezing and wet. i couldnt feel my hands. our support crew had driven by to go to the finish and i knew i had missed my chance for them to give me my warm/dry jacket. i only had one glove so i kept switching it from one hand to the other. at mile 23, i started feeling my heart beating again and i got light headed. i was really scared now. i didnt know what was happening, and i was afraid of dying. i know that sounds dramatic but that was where i was at right then.

mile 24: 14:21

and with 2 miles left, i contemplated ending the race.

mile 25: 12:22
mile 26: 12:40

head back to where this blog starts... i somehow found the strength to get to the finish... with a smile on my face... and was greeted with all my friends at the end.

finish line love

photo courtesy of Kevin Morris

i headed to the medical tent, told them what had happened out there, and they sat me down in front of the heater and gave me a warm blanket. my heart rate and pulse ox were fine (92 and 100%), and my blood pressure was 105/60.

**...we interrupt this blog post to bring you an earthquake. weird. apparently a 4.5, felt from maine to boston. i thought my house was going to explode. carrying on (and im not going to even start with the zumba situation... horray maine.)**

so as i was saying, i got checked out in the med tent, sat for a few minutes to warm up, and figured i should try to get to my car and get into some warm clothes. we had to walk about a half mile, i changed in a gas station bathroom, and meg bought me a hot chocolate and a banana which were the two greatest tasting things EVER. and i saw this car in the parking lot and had to snap a photo:



marathon freak, run long, crow athletics, marathon maniacs

i was meant to find this car.

we all headed back to geddys restaurant in bar harbor to stuff our faces with 10 lbs of spinach and artichoke dip (ok maybe just me and andy), then we all took off for home. but alas, our weekend adventure was not over as i somehow took a wrong turn and almost drove ally and christy to canada.

butttt we made it home in one piece. oh wait, we also stopped for gas and got the leftover chocolate cake out of the trunk and indulged.

the end...

...well not really...

congrats to SO MANY friends (i apologize if i forget anyone...) sarah, sara, brendan, jamie a, jamie t, jen, donna, john, kelly, molly, Ryan & bethany, christy, ally, ruddley, lauren... a HUGE THANK YOU to andy, meg, elizabeth, and sarahs mom for their course support, and a SUPER HUGE THANK YOU to mary ropp and gary allen for yet another great race. caw caw!!

 

theres a lot marathon maniac in this photo

mount desert island

marathon #8

4:34:47

481/907 overall

33/65 age group

a bittersweet end to a crazy 4 year marathon journey

to be continued... october 20th 2013

smuttynose marathon

i opted not to do an official "september recap" as i had a really low running total, a close to nothing bike total (18 miles), and other than a lot of puppy chasing (and growing!), it wasnt an all too exciting month. last month was the lowest running mileage month i have had since april at 115 miles. i made it to the 1,000 mile mark for the year and then just decided i was tired. i knew i had a race coming up (that i didnt tell anyone about) and i felt more like resting my legs than trying to go out and run all the time and get faster and go further and push it and all the things i did leading up to my epic breakdown of a marathon in july.

and apparently it worked.

three days after my around the lake disaster, i registered for the smuttynose marathon. i needed redemption. i already knew where i had gone wrong (started off way too fast, was over confident, my fueling needed help)... and i knew that mount desert island was not going to be the race for me to attempt sub 4 again. smuttynose was said to be a flat, fast course, so i thought i would give it a try. and i convinced sarah to join me for her first marathon (despite her super awesome ultra marathon 50k finish, she had yet to toe the line of an actual marathon). and we decided to keep it just between us (which turned into telling a lot of people as the day got closer... but my mom only found out at about 8pm saturday night haha. she wasnt all too pleased....)

like i said, i cut my mileage waaaaaay down in september. probably not the greatest of ideas heading into what i wanted to be a major PR marathon, but my legs were tired. physically, emotionally, and mentally i was broken down. i raced a 10k for the lobsterman triathlon as a relay with andy, averaging about 8:20s but felt like junk. i had a solid 22 miler a few weeks ago at about 9:20 pace but that was really the only run i felt good on. so going into sunday i had no idea if my legs were going to be rested and up for the challenge, or if i would fall apart like i had done in the past 6 marathons.

i started my taper after lobsterman, and gave up caffeine and alcohol (I KNOW!?!?) i chose not to do the long run/carb depletion/long run/carb load thing like i did last time. i think it did work well before but just didnt feel like doing long runs or giving up carbs haha. instead i did a few 2 mile runs, a couple of 5 milers, and my longest run was a 7.

runner of the year here folks.

anyway... i felt well rested on saturday as ty and i headed down to pick up my bib. the expo was really nothing to write home about but i got to see my friend liz who was preparing for her first marathon there and we went out to eat and did some shopping in kittery. i was in bed by 9 with the alarm set for 4am. ugh. just like last years marathon i woke up and it was raining. the forecast called for 30% chance of precipitation... how do these weather people not lose their jobs?! luckily it wasnt freezing, but it was certainly not warm either. i decided to wear my under armour compression capris and a long sleeve shirt over my reach the beach top (hot pink... which did not match my red REV 3 visor. fashion fail). i also brought gloves (those and the long sleeve top came off by mile 2).

i picked up sarah and andy at 5am and we made a quick stop at dunkin donuts before getting on the highway. we got to the race with about an hour and a half to spare, picked up sarahs bib and hung out with our friend jim for a bit (he was running the half). we also met up with my friend from college, sarah and her fiance jim (sarah was running the half), and also found liz and elizabeth (sarah, sarah, liz, elizabeth, jim, jim.. haha sorry for the confusion). college sarah had tried to send me salt pills in the mail which ultimately got returned to her due to not enough postage, but i was worried that the FBI had confiscated them (a ziploc bag with 5 pills, some which had exploded with a white powdery substance...so sketchy haha). she gave me a few to take on the run with me just incase i needed them.

marathon maniacs photo pre race

elizabeth, sarah, and me

me and liz. we clearly love pink.

the reason i accomplished what i did today

couldnt have done it without this girl

with about 5 minutes to go, andy and jim wished us all good luck as we headed to the start. i lined up with timmy, the 9:00 pacer. i found it odd that they only had pacers for the half marathon, but i was so happy to have him to run with so i didnt go out too fast like i usually do. jim told me that timmy was usually spot on so that was good to hear. i was feeling a little nervous but knew i needed to try my best and if sub 4 wasnt in the cards i wasnt going to be upset about it.

the first mile i felt alright, weaving up and down side streets of hampton beach. i had no idea where we were going, which was kinda nice. i just ran, keeping timmy next to me. the road was very crowded but i wasnt needing to weave in and out of people. i just ran whatever pace i was at, trusting him. when we got to mile 1 at 9:25 i thought "uh oh..." we settled into about a 9 min pace after that, with a few sub 9s to catch back up. i had a half gatorade/half water 22oz handheld with me (which got SO heavy, ugh), so my plan was to grab a cup of water at all the water stops. of course i forgot at the first one, and then ran through the 2nd and ended up at the gatorade table and had to back track for the water... which then caused me to have to run 8:40s to try to catch up with timmy. i was not pleased with this, but i saw him up ahead and decided to stay a ways behind and hope to kick it back up at the end if i was needing to. at this point i was almost 2 minutes ahead of my 3:59 pace band i had so i felt ok. my stomach was grumbling by mile 3 which made me a bit nervous but i took a peanut butter gu (a little earlier than planned) and some sports beans which seemed to help.

my knees started hurting me around mile 8. this might have been when i started questioning if i would a) go sub 4, and b) finish. i hadnt taken any ibuprofen so i knew i would probably have some aches and pains but i kept pushing. i was a bit of a mental mess shortly after the half way point, but i knew (well hoped...) andy was going to be at mile 16 to take me the last 10 miles and i looked forward to having him there to push me to the end. (i had told him if i didnt see him i wasnt waiting around, so i was just hoping he made it there.... which he did). the second i saw him and we took off i handed him my water bottle and tried to get feeling back in my left arm (i had been switching it from hand to hand but i hate running with it in my right hand and i just couldnt get comfortable with it). i talked to him for a little bit and then turned my music back on and just got lost in the run. i told him if i stopped or started to really slow down that he needed to yell at me (im not sure he could actually yell at me, but luckily i didnt need to find out). i did stop one time around mile 18 to stretch my knees out and then again around mile 20 to get a rock out of my shoe. other than that we just continued to run side by side in silence. which was just what i needed. we also saw our friend eric a bunch of times along the way on his bike, my friend brett (his wife erin was running), his mom kelly & scott (and erin's sister/brother in law) were out and about on the course cheering us on, and liz's husband and friend courtney were at mile 8 & 20 ish... all were such great supports for me :) thank you guys!!!

side note: i really hope you all have such great/supportive friends/family as i do. leading up to this race i got so many words of encouragement and support from the people who knew i was running. i had my best friend and running partner at the race. i had a great friend running next to me to make sure my mental doubts didnt allow me to quit. i got a "tip of the day" for the 5 days leading up to the race... run smart, pacing, its the journey not the destination, breathe.... and one text that came in saturday night read: "dont forget to just run for the love of it. thats why we do it, after all". just what i needed to hear. and i got gorgeous roses from ty when i got home (awwwww).

theres a pretty sharp uphill at mile 22 and then a nice downhill to a flat finish. i walked through the water stop at 22, slapped the sign (favorite mile/#), and knew this was it. i had 40 minutes to run 4 miles. i didnt want to start my push just yet but i tried to keep a constant pace around 9 min/mile. mile 23 was really hard... i stopped and stretched and talked to andy a little, and then decided to start pushing it. my pace for those miles doesnt show it until the last mile, but i felt good. "fix you" by coldplay came on my ipod and i started crying... but it was what i needed right then. with over 10 minutes to run the last mile, i knew i had done it. (im very happy to be able to write that mile 26 was an 8:25 rather than 22:28. and no puking either.)

the last half mile was the longest stretch ever. i took my salt pill shortly before andy left me just incase i cramped up. i couldnt see the finish line and i kept looking at my watch seeing the seconds tick by. when i finally saw the finish line up ahead and had secured the sub 4 hour mark, i pumped my fist in the air and ran strong through the finish, giving college sarah a huge high five in the chute (see below for the awesome video her fiance snagged of me! yay!) sarah came running over to me and i broke down crying giving her a hug. im now 2 for 2 with her at my races for huge PRs (hyannis half breaking sub 1:50).

i met up with andy and ruddley (sarahs husband) after i finished and we cheered (and cried) as sarah came thru the finish chute completing her first marathon. theres nothing quite like that feeling and im so proud of her for overcoming so much to get herself there yesterday.

i finally did it :)

course profile:

elevation gain: 333 ft

elevation loss: 335 ft

min elevation: 1 ft

max elevation: 88 ft

official stats:

finishing time: 3:58:14

average pace: 9:05

overall place 342/868

division 46/158

i probably should have bought a lottery ticket or something yesterday... my 7th marathon, a 17 min 14 second PR... lucky #7? i also found it really odd that i had the very same race bib number (960) as i did at my very first marathon in 2009 (i was nervous pre race that it was a sign this one might be my last...) buuuuut things went well, im feeling alright today (despite swollen black and blue knees)...

bring it on Mount Desert Island marathon... 13 days :)

proud finishers

pretty even splits overall

fun fact friday

1. despite having woken up at 2am and 4am, duke let us sleep in til 7 this am. i thought he might be dead (hes usually an alarm clock at 5am). luckily he was just sleepy and not dead.

2. that pink girl wanted random facts on her blog today. she said she wished she knew how to play the piano... when we moved to maine, the first house we rented had a piano and i taught myself how to play songs by ear. when i finally took piano class in college i had a terrible time reading the sheet music and just memorized how to play the songs instead of reading.

3. i do, however, know how to read (and write) music (although i cheated off my friend jamie for most of our senior year music theory class). i played the euphonium for 8 years starting in 5th grade.

4. three of my very good friends are flying into maine 2 weeks from today! i.cant.wait!!

5. the next 3 weeks are going to be a whirlwind to say the least. lots going on, starting sunday. (youre welcome for the vagueness!)

6. i need to catch up on greys. like 3 seasons worth i think. i havent even opened season 7 from the packaging. i also dont know what season is currently on tv.

7. i know a lot of people running their first marathon this weekend. im so excited for them! i wish i could relive my first marathon again. nothing like that feeling.

8. its almost impossible to keep this house clean with the dog and cat. ive come to the conclusion that it will always be dirty. forever.

9. this whole no coffee/no alcohol thing is for the birds. but i think ive drank about a gallon of milk in the last few days, i think my body needed this break.

10. i have two nalgene bottles that i rotate. one is 3 years old. the other is 8 years old. its probably time to invest in a new one.

11. one of my brothers is going sky diving tomorrow. im physically sick thinking about it, but we might go watch.

12. i think i will make these. soon. (update: just sent ty a text with the ingredients to pick up on his way home tonight)

13. im happy its raining only because i needed to water the plants and our hose is busted and i am too lazy to go buy a new hose.

14. my calves and ankles will be so happy when this puppy biting stage is over.

happy friday!

life.

lobsterman tri- less is more ;)

a few weeks ago when my upcoming work schedule came out, i found out that i was free the weekend of sept 14-15th. i contemplated joining a reach the beach team but ultimately decided that i really didnt want to run far/not sleep much this close to marathon #7. also its about 30 degrees at night now so sleeping in my bed vs a sleeping bag on the sidewalk sounded much better. and then theres that whole "we got a puppy" thing. hes kinda a lot of work.

so instead, i convinced andy that the lobsterman triathlon would be a great idea, and he agreed! (side note: hes easily convinced) (side side note: i may or may not have told him i would do the bike and run and all he had to do was swim. he signed us up before our conversation was even done, and then i kindly reminded him i didnt have a bike. hehe. danielle- 1. andy- 0).

i havent raced a 10k in over a year so i was a little nervous but i played it cool. hey, at least i wasnt swimming and biking first! i met up with andy before the race to talk strategy and he was still half asleep and wearing what he slept in. while everyone was lining the beach in their wetsuits to take a quick dip, he was chatting it up with his fellow teammates and sipping tea. uh, time to get ready dont ya think? (of course i still had over an hour and a half to just chill, and chill i did... it was about 45 degrees and looked like it was about to rain!)

as we made our way into transition to get our timing chip and get body marked, we saw kellie and made sure she gave us legible numbers.

im still annoyed by these triathlon rules...

but i like my number a lot better than his ;)

i think we can see who knows more about transitions

what, this isnt what you do?

after some light reading and 18 trips back and forth from the car to transition for water bottles, we went and hung out with the sustainable athletes for awhile before we all had to meet for the pre race meeting. andy finally decided it would be a good idea to get his wetsuit on, they went through all the rules (that hopefully didnt apply to me since i wasnt really listening), and then the first wave got ready to get in the water. the waves were split up among sex/age groups and each wave had different colored swim caps. as a fun twist of fate, andy got pink, my favorite color! and lucky for me, that swim cap is now mine :)

(i guess i dont have a pic of the pink swim cap, but the shirts were pretty cool...)

and at least they remembered the "L" in triathlon...

oops. (polar bear tri shirt)

although it was a bit chilly, the atlantic ocean temp was said to be about 64 degrees and the sunrise looked beautiful at winslow park.

since we were in the relay, andy's wave didnt start until just after 9:30. i waited to see them off and then walked to the car to get my sweatpants. i was still freezing, and i knew it was going to rain.

i was able to see a bunch of people i knew coming out of the water as the rain poured down, and then quickly turned sunny and warm.

once andy got out of the water and out on his bike, i knew i had over an hour. i got my stuff together for the run, went to the bathroom, and did a warm up mile. then i took a nap stretched in transition.



what....?

this is what marathoners do at triathlon relays

when i saw andy coming into transition, i picked up my handheld, popped in a piece of gum, and grabbed the ankle timing chip as he mounted his bike. shortly after taking off i could already tell that the timing chip was going to drive me insane. not only was it annoying around my leg, it was wet. gross.

i headed out on the dirt park road at about a 7:15 pace. oops. i knew i probably wasnt going to PR this 10k since i havent done legit speedwork since i dunno, may? but i figured i was in good enough shape to do low 8s. and i knew i had a hill to come up at mile 4ish. what i had forgotten about was the hill at mile 1. mile 2. oh and mile 3. barf.

i had a mix of gatorade and water in my handheld, and had eaten half of my chocolate waffle before even beginning the run (i guess my 3/4ths of a bagel at 7am wasnt enough, who knew?!) since the sun had come out it was also hot. i took it easy on the first two uphills and powered down the other side. i felt bad passing all of the people who had just come off the bike, so as i passed i told them all good job and hoped they saw the big R on my leg before cursing me. (i know you all hate people like us, thanks michelle). i stopped at each mile marker to throw a cup of water down the back of my neck and took a few sips as well. the heat with the hills was just killer, but with a mile left (downhill) i gave it my all and cruised in at 7:30 pace to finish 51:53 (8:20 overall pace), passing a guy with "75" on his calf. sorry buddy, i know youre more hardcore than i am but im gonna beat you anyway.

overall it was a really fun race, very well organized and the volunteers were excellent. ive never had a bad experience at a triathlon, and i just love watching everyone compete! i still feel like i totally do not fit in with all the triathletes though and im scared as hell to do an ocean swim so im glad it was andy and not me. and although it kinda sucks to wait around, im thinking relay tris are the way to go :)

team "less is more ;)"

22 miles

22 mile runs havent generally been my favorite. 22 miles is far. i dont even like driving that far, let alone running. but, it has to be done (well i guess technically it really doesnt have to be done... but i figured that it would be more for my benefit with marathon #7 coming right up, that i should get in some more miles. these 20-30  mile weeks, although a great rest for my legs, have not done well for my mind. sure i have a fairly solid base built up from the past 4 months of omgrunningALLTHETIMEsomanymiles, but not so much lately.

so i needed a long run, and i needed it to go well.

(the last 22 miler before marathon #5 went peachy, incase you all forgot.)

dead.

last saturday morning, sarah and i took off early to get the miles done. were both really smart (hint: nope, not so smart) and neither of us planned out where we wanted to run. first mistake. about a half hour before running our plan was tentatively 88 laps around the local high school track. read: were stupid.

about a mile into the run (not on the track, were smart enough to decide that wasnt a good idea) we were both a hot sweaty mess in the 987% humidity. yay. isnt it supposed to be fall yet? mentally neither of us were prepared, physically our bodies were saying "what is wrong with you, turn around, this sucks, you should be sleeping, dont you have a puppy to tend to?"

7 miles done. and i did another 3 when i got home, which was another stupid idea since the humidity was still 4836%. barf. fail. so much for the long run.

fast forward to monday. well, actually backtrack to about 5 miles into the run on saturday when sarah texted her friend to see if she could babysit her son for a few hours on monday morning so we could try this again. of course neither of us knew what the weather was going to be like monday either, but i guess we would take that chance. so ok, back to monday morning. woke up to 50 degrees and 60% humidity (!!!!) it was COLD! my plan of a skirt and tshirt went out the door, compression capris and a long sleeve shirt were dragged out from the back of the closet. i had everything laid out and ready to go. i had gotten up early to have something to eat, drink some coffee, and stretch (in the form of chasing a 9 week old puppy around the back yard... so more of a warm up i suppose). i remembered all my necessities. everything seemed to be falling into place much better than saturday. sarah and i drove out to the maine marathon course so that our scenery was different than our normal westbrook routine. we've done a lot of running this year and the monotony was killing us both. at mile 6 i felt like we had only been running a mile. there was shade all along the course, and we took it easy on the hills. (side note: although ill tell everyone that will listen that i hate this marathon course, its only because its failed me time after time after time. i actually love this course, its truly beautiful.)

as is the norm between us, we talked and talked and talked. until both of us just stopped. and we ran in silence, just our feet hitting the pavement. this is one of the greatest things about our relationship... the ability to just run together, we dont need to keep each other company, we know we have each other right beside us. but it didnt stop my from trying to sing a few times, stopping here and there to stretch, and screaming at the blonde driving the saab who almost hit us as she swerved out of the break down lane while she was texting, seeing us at the very last moment.

im not sure when i noticed, but shortly after mile 13 i could tell something was not right with sarah. we were slowing down a little and her stride looked different. although i asked what was wrong, she wouldnt admit her leg pain. but i knew it was there. ive been where she is, and its not easy mentally or physically. at mile 14 we stopped at a convenient store to stretch and took this little gem for meg:

im at a paaaaaaaayphone

unfortunately at mile 15ish, sarahs leg had had enough. we were still a little over 4 miles from the car so i told her to give me her keys and i would get back to her as soon as i could (but give me at least 45 minutes, im not superwoman!) i told her no more running on it, walk if you can but sit and rest it and ill be back. i was running out of water and i knew there was a store i could stop at to refill but i didnt want to waste any time. at times i was doing 7:50s. i was crushing the back miles of this course like i never have before, just needing to get back to her car. when i got back to her car i was just over 19, so i finished the final 3 miles at home. i felt like my hydration (new 22oz handheld with 1/2 water, 1/2 gatorade) and fuel (peanut butter gu, sports jelly bean things, and honey stinger chocolate waffle) were right on. the espresso love gu that i have lived off of for the past year made me want to be sick so i only had a small amount of that before throwing it away. my plan is going to be to bring all of this for the race and take a cup of water at the aid stations. i may also try a salt pill or two, depending on how i feel.

22 miles: 3:24:27 (average pace: 9:17)

final miles:

16- 8:31

17- 8:30

18- 8:24

19- 8:13

20- 8:30

21- 8:26

22- 8:37

as all hope had been lost leading up to this run (me? dramatic? who would have thought...), i think i might survive marathon #7 after all. but as i have found out the hard way, no matter how your training goes, anything can happen on race day.

august review & a new family member

august recap:
there was not so much going on in august other than eating a lot of ice cream and not really wanting to run (but i did run since i wanted to eat all the ice cream). i volunteered at the finish line of the Rev 3 Maine half ironman which was SO cool (what a great company, anyone wanna get me a job there?) and reached the 1,000 mile/year milestone, which was also pretty cool.

run: 128 miles
bike: 68 miles
races: zero
bowls of ice cream: at least 50. win.

quote of the month: "we were here first."
current song obsession: tied between "it's time" by imagine dragons and "we are never getting back together" by taylor swift (i know, i know... but the beat allows me to run a half mile at 7:45 pace on long runs, so ill take it)

favorite pin of the month: http://pinterest.com/pin/261068109619989675/ seriously, i couldnt stop laughing. and then i started doing it to ironman andy. clearly he loved it (and thinks im slightly crazy).

(which we all know is absolutely true)

september is already off to a fun start... we had a yard sale this past weekend and made a few bucks. i could write a novel about the kinds of people that came and the ridiculousness of it all, and needless to say it was great people watching. (while i was hanging up the signs on nearby telephone poles a man stopped me to ask if we had any firearms to sell. seriously?) by 2 o'clock on saturday i was giving everything away to the little girls that lived up the street (i bet their parents were so excited for them to come home with all our stuff!) we ended up getting rained out on sunday.... we set everything up just before the rain started, covered it all with tarps and went inside to drink coffee. no one even drove by so a little before noon we loaded everything up and took it all to goodwill. goodbye ALL THE JUNK. it feels SO GOOD to get all of those boxes of stuff we never use out of the basement!

lets see, what else happened this weekend...

oh yeah. this:

our family of 3 became a family of 4

 

yes, after 6+ years, we FINALLY got a puppy! and we are fully in love, seriously.

 

the in-laws came down for the weekend to help with the yard sale and MIL mentioned that she had seen a facebook friend of hers post pics of new golden retriever puppies that are ready to find a home. apparently she had told ty about them last week but he didnt tell me (not surprising). so we looked at her page and saw these little guys that were left:

 

can we just have them both?

 

we looked at the pics of the parents (both darker red goldens), and emailed to inquire about age, price, immunizations, etc. weve been doing this process over the past few years and not finding exactly what we would like... but things just seemed to be working out right this time. we received an email back within an hour and the (my) excitement began. we knew it was going to be a lot of work and before bed we discussed many things that we were going to have to take into consideration. we ultimately decided that no time was really going to be perfect but that now was better than never. on saturday we emailed her back saying we would like to come and see the puppies on sunday and made plans to drive up. there were still a few things that we needed to ask about when we got there which would make for a long drive home without a puppy had the information not been in our interest, but when we got there and met the puppy and the mom, everything was just fine. (a couple had come and bought the blonde puppy on saturday, so all that was left was the red).

 

and he came home with us.

 

 

ever since we had wanted to get goldens (yes, we eventually want to have 2...) we thought we were going to name them stella (girl) and diesel (boy). but we thought of a few other names for this one just incase diesel didnt fit him. while we were talking to the owner before we took him home, she told us she had become facebook friends with tys mom because she and her husband had known aaron. her husband had cystic fibrosis and had passed away the year before aaron. she also told us that the puppies were born on july 6th.

 

aarons birthday.

 

not only did we know that this puppy was meant to be for us, we also knew immediately that one of the names we had thought of fit perfectly:

 

DUKE.

 

(and no his middle name is not "krzyzewski" or "battier", although i did try for the latter)

 

despite the first two nights full of crying and whining and a lot of barking, not quite knowing how to contain the puppy very well (we got some baby gates yesterday), and a very upset cat, we have welcomed duke into our home and our hearts. he is very playful and loving, survived his first trip to the vet, inhaled the cat food this am and promptly threw it all back up, and gets the hiccups at least 4 times a day. he sure is a lot of work but he is awesome.

 



being a puppy is tough work

puppy parents of the year

(he learned real quick that those boxes fall down really easily)

im gonna need a few of these to get through the next few weeks i think

um... is this furry thing staying with us for good?

the confrontation

 

 our sleepy little family

 

rev 3 maine: volunteer report

so apparently ive become a terrible blogger in the last month. i used to have so much to talk about (and anyone that knows me will tell you that i rarely shut up...) so its odd that i havent blogged. but really, not a lot has happened. i get up, run, go to work, come home, eat dinner, drink beer, watch big brother, go to bed, repeat. i can only talk about those things so much. speaking of big brother though, WHOA BEST EPISODE EVER last night. cant wait to see tonights episode. i hope you all are just as obsessed as i am, or else we might not be able to be friends. yay dan. ill be sad to see brit go. still dont like frank.

 

ok so anyway... a couple of cool things have happened in the last week, one of which happened this morning at about 6am. when my garmin showed 4.39 miles on this mornings run with the husband (he made me pinky promise i would drag him out of bed to run) my 2012 mileage total became 1,000 miles. ive never made this milestone in a calendar year and i am pretty happy with it. my legs feel strong and im excited for my upcoming races!

 

and the other cool thing... last sunday i volunteered at the finish line of the Revolution 3 Maine half ironman/olympic triathlon! (also included was the sheJAMs all womens olympic triathlon to kick cancer!) i have volunteered at a few races before and a sprint tri, but this was unlike anything i have ever done. what a great experience! great day, great scenery, awesome atmosphere... everything about this day was incredible, and it solidified my desire to someday complete a 70.3 myself. and from all the talk from the finishers, i think the majority of people felt this was a great race. it was the first time rev3 had been to maine (old orchard beach) and i am confident they will be back next year (which is good cuz i kinda want to do it, and ill get $50 off since i was a volunteer this year. a perk i didnt know about til i got there!)



 

 

i was going to head down for the swim start (i didnt need to check in for my volunteer start until noon) but instead i slept in and made french toast with ty. i got down to oob around 9 and everyone was already out on the bike or run. the pics from the rev3 site show a beautiful sunrise over the atlantic ocean and i heard the water was almost 70 degrees. i went to the volunteer tent and got my shirt and made the mistake of putting it on right away. within minutes i was flagged down and asked to go man an intersection where they needed a volunteer. there were a few cops there but they were trying to direct angry drivers who didnt understand what was going on/why they couldnt go left and pedestrians trying to cross the streets. although august is a really busy time in oob, i am hoping next year they will just close those streets for the 8 hours to make things a little more smooth. it was mass chaos at times and i witnessed a few runners almost get hit by cars in part to drivers who didnt care and cops who were not able to really do all the work themselves. luckily i think there were no casualties, but it wasnt pretty.



i felt very official

back of the tshirts for sale. very cool/very maine/(very expensive)
(and they are RED andy... cough cough)

 

around 11am, i went over to the finish line, and i was able to see jordan come in for his strong finish and talked to him for a few seconds. i then checked in to start handing out medals to the finishers. it was chaotic at first since there were three different medals (half/olympic got one medal, shejams got another, and any kids that crossed the finish with their mom/dad got a medal). i was even able to medal a black lab :) a few times i got pretty emotional... the sheer happiness on the faces of those crossing the finish line, whether it be their first half ironman/olympic triathlon/race or their 100th, everyone was smiling. and we were having quite the party when they all crossed. the only thing that really sucked was right as they crossed they needed to stop and allow a volunteer to take the timing chip off their ankle. many people wanted to keep moving. then they would get to me to get their medal and i had to hold a few people up. i got a lot of sweaty hugs though :) (i also saw a lot of bloody noses.... open water swims still scare me)

great medals... which double as bottle openers

four of those great sweaty hugs came from jake, eric, jen, and elizabeth. these guys are all so freaking awesome and looked fantastic crossing that finish line. jake, eric, and jen all had their kids as they crossed, and elizabeth and i hugged and talked for a long time before she left the finishers area. im in awe of all their hard work and dedication for sure. i love having hardcore friends :)

when we got word that the last person out on the course was about a mile away, the finish line annoucner (who i think had a few too many red bulls throughout the day...) started to call in all rev3 staff and all of the crowd to get into the finish line for a grand finale finish. he kept talking about how awesome the cedar point finish was, but that we were rivaling it (and eventually surpassed it). we were all going nuts... people were doing back flips, jumping up and down, and the last lady wasnt even there yet!

when she rounded the corner the whole finish line erupted. it was sooooo cool. she had a police escort and crossed the finish with a huge smile on her face. i had to stay behind the finish line since she couldnt get her medal til she crossed it (i took my job very seriously hehe) and she was very happy to get it, saying "this is what i came all this way for!" :)

overall i had an awesome day and a really great experience. rev 3 is a really well run company and they didnt leave any detail out. im really hoping to be back here next year!

and if this guy can do it, i think i can ;)

 

liebster award

last week i was tagged by jen at running with the girls and michelle from average girl doing average things who gave me the Liebster Award! thanks ladies!!

apparently this Liebster Award is for up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. liebster is a german word that means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

rules for receiving this award (which i rarely follow but ill try):

1. each person must post 11 things about themselves (hmmm, what dont you know about me already?!)

2. answer the questions the tagger asked, then come up with 11 questions for the bloggers youre tagging

3. choose 11 people and tag them in your post

4. notify the people you have tagged

5. no tag backs

11 things about ME! (that im sure youre all dyyyyyying to know...)

1. despite my sheer ignorance to use capital letters or proper punctuation, it still drives me crazy when people misuse your, youre, to, too, lose, loose, etc etc etc...
2. its been years since i havent talked to my mother at least once a day, especially now that shes learned to text (welcome to the 21st century mom!)
3. my calves are quite large, theres no denying that... but my right calf is an inch bigger than the left

yes, we got bored at work one day

4. my left foot is a half size bigger than my right foot. wtf is up with my body?
5. i have 5 tattoos, and plan on at least one more
6. having a really awesome training/running buddy has made all the difference in this years training
7. i think i might like to write a book someday
8. last weekend i went on a 50 mile bike ride. i feel like this makes me an official "bike rider". i dont know why but i just decided that. i guess it probably means i should invest in my own bike, and give back the one i stole borrowed from a friend.
9. i also decided (on that same bike ride) that if/when i do a 70.3, my bike nutrition will be cheez-its.
10. i am on a huge home improvement kick as of lately... i want to paint everything. so far ty has been agreeable (bathroom, kitchen wall, third bedroom/office), except on the whole "lets paint the kitchen cabinets white" thing.
11. i somehow found out where the gym was on sunday... its been hiding from me for at least 6 months. surprisingly i had an amazing workout and am actually looking forward to going back. im just as confused as you are right now.

jens questions

1. what is your favorite olympic event? swimming, any and all of it (which is funny cuz i hate swimming myself), and any track/running event. i get nervous watching the gymnastics and diving.
2. have you lost a toenail? do you just leave it or paint over it? ive lost many. sometimes i paint on the skin, sometimes i paint the other toenails a dark purple or black to match, other times i just leave the awful looking toes as they are. toes are stupid anyway.
3. running skirt or shorts? i have recently become a huge fan of skirts (i have two from www.runningskirts.com)
4. what is your favorite pizza combination? the matinicus pizza from portland pie co... red sauce, thin sliced prosciutto, chunks of cream cheese, pepperochinis, and a three cheese blend. on beer crust. heaven.
5. do you write a menu for the week? what meals do you have on the menu this week? ha. no. menu this week consists of a lot of ice cream, and whatever ty has waiting for me when i get home from work.
6. what are you training for right now? mount desert island marathon, october 14th
7. what do you look for in a running shoe? do you have a favorite brand? first and foremost they have to look good, obviously. ive worn brooks for the past 6 pairs (3 adrenaline, 3 ravenna) and am looking to perhaps move towards the pure flows...
8. dream race? the bermuda triangle challenge
9. do you like to run the same race year after year or do you like to try new races? there are a few races that i love love love and will do over and over - b2b and mdi are two of my faves
10. do you listen to music on your runs? what are some of your favorite tunes? i listen to music more often than not when im alone, but also enjoy conversation with my training buddy. my music varies all over the place... acapella and christmas music, boston pops and britney spears, eminem and enrique. you name it, i probably have it.
11. if you had your own garden, what would you grow in it? cucumbers. and money.

michelles questions

1. if you could live somewhere else, either in the us or out of the country, where would it be? boston or ireland
2. would you rather have wealth or fame? why? i think i would rather have wealth, that way i could hopefully still maintain my privacy.
3. would you rather be able to race really fast but be hurt afterward, or be slow but never hurt? slow and never hurt. ill still finish, despite the time.
4. what is your favorite drink? water. and pina coladas. or coffee. maybe bud light. ahhhh too many to pick a fave.
5. what is your dream job? wedding photographer.
6. lake or ocean? ocean.
7. do you have a bad habit like chewing your fingernails? what is it? i rub the strings of my hooded sweatshirts on my lips to the point where they sometimes bleed. i know thats so gross, but i honestly dont even know i am doing it half the time. (they bleed if they are dry and cracked... i have a bad habit of always forgetting my chap stick, then wearing hoodies... its a vicious cycle)
8. i am a little nutso about recycling. our transfer station recycles everything so i do too. paper, all plastic, newspaper, cardboard, cans. do you recycle? is it easy to recycle where you live? we DO recycle, everything. our town gives us big trash bins and recycle bins and pick them up every tuesday. our recycling is always full. it baffles me when i am in places that dont recycle.
9. what race are you most proud of? hmmm, all of them? its hard to pick just one.
10. what chore do you hate the most around the house? washing the kitchen floor
11. do you love a disney vacation or somewhere less crazy? id rather go sightseeing or on an adventure of some kind other than disney. just lying around on the beach for a week doesnt really entertain me enough either.

my 11 people to pass this on to...

suz- cows and lasers and everything in between

heather- 365 days of awesome

jessie- kissing frogs

crystal- carpe diem crystal

maureen- i heart pikermis

jeri- jerbear shares

sara- middle aged runner

julia- double D athlete

christy- 25 before 25

amy- that pink girl

ally- the shabby princess

and here are your questions to answer!

1. what is your favorite blog to read (other than mine, obvs)
2. if you could have a $5,000 gift card to anywhere, what would it be/how would you use it?
3. how do you like your coffee/tea?
4. iphone? droid? other?
5. if you could relive one time/day in your life, would you choose to do so? would you do it the same or do something different?
6. is there a race that you have never done that you would pay anything/travel anywhere to do? i guess this is similar to a whats your dream race sort of question...
7. what is your favorite brand of jeans (selfish question, need new clothes here haha)
8. what is your go to breakfast?
9. what 3 books would you take with you to a deserted island?
10. what are your 3 current favorite tunes?
11. is there anything you still keep that you have from your childhood?

a few other side items (to help support others):

-suz and allen from cows and lasers and everything in between are soon running the wounded warrior project 8k to support their friends and family who are serving or have served for our country, and they are putting on a virtual race until this friday! there are some great prizes and its for a great cause so go check it out (at the link above)

- my friends jessie and julia are both raising money for their upcoming races as well... julia is doing the timberman half ironman in support of make a wish foundation, jessie is participating in the multiple myeloma research foundation race for research 5k. please consider helping them reach their fundraising goals!
 (donation pages):
julia- make a wish foundation
jessie- MMRF race for research

- i also wanted to give a long overdue thank you to Treadmill Review Guru, for awarding me with the "get up and move blogger award"

happy tuesday everyone!

july recap & 200th post!

july recap:

july sucked. it was hot and humid and i got really sunburnt. i didnt eat enough ice cream or drink nearly enough beer. and i wrote all over every internet outlet i have (which is now up to about 367 things) how awesome my running was going and psyched myself up for going sub 4 in my marathon that i trained 18 long weeks for, and it didnt happen. so that was cool.

but i guess if there has to be something good that came out of july, i had made one goal for myself for the month (as opposed to trying to do ALL THE GOALS like i usually do):

"cross the finish line of marathon #6 with a smile on my face"

success. (even if the reason i was smiling was because i was finally done and didnt have to run anymore. and i also needed to be sick, again, and didnt have to do it on the side of the road. win!)

run: 150 miles
bike: 57 miles

(year update: 884 running miles for 2012, 411 biking miles for 2012)
swim: haha

# of ice baths: 6
# of times i threw up: 4
# of times i decided to retire from running: 3
# of pounds i lost on my super awesome 5 hour weight loss plan: 6.4lbs
french fries and pizza with ranch eaten: 6.4 lbs

races:

finish on the 50 10k- by far the most awesome finish to a race. nothing cooler than running through the tunnel and out onto the field where the patriots play! (ok im sure there are a lot of other cool things out there, but this was an experience for sure)

around the lake marathon- you all know how that went.


august goals:

none.
no, wait... more ice cream.


so, moving on and switching gears a little bit.... todays post is # 200! (applause, applause... ive successfully come to some akwardly large number of entries documenting the last two plus years of my random life...)

when i started writing, i figured it was going to be mostly about running but i really wasnt sure at the time which direction it would take off in. i started writing on october 27th 2009, and looking back im really glad i did it. i know i wont write forever but its fun to look back and read through the experiences ive had and how i felt at the time. i also have the first year of this blog in hard cover print (thanks to my husband who got it made for me for my wedding gift), and i hope to get the rest of it printed out at some point.

since the majority of this blog is about running, here are my current racing stats:

(2002-present):
 -eighteen 5k's
 -four 4 milers
 -one 5 miler
 -eighteen 10k's
 -fifteen half marathons
 -six marathons
 -four reach the beach 200 mile relays
 -one sprint triathlon
 -one 25k trail race

so yeah, i run. a lot. and ive blogged about running a lot. but ive done some other things over the years too:
(which includes how to add links.... i apologize about that one...)

-i finally saw my favorite band of all time (set list here)

-we got married
-i revealed the other love of my life

-we bought a house

-heaven gained another angel

and a whole lot of other really random stuff.
....like this
........and this........
.............annnnnnnnd this


and so this journey will still continue on. im not retiring from running as previously mentioned after last weeks race. there will be more ups and downs in this unpredictable world, and new experiences ill want to write about/share. there are times when i think about why i really write this blog... i know a few people read it and thats great and i appreciate all the comments (and ive met some really awesome friends through blogs/twitter/etc), but i do this for myself first and foremost, and am happy to have it as an outlet to write and look back on.