adventures in cooking.

ahhh cooking.  i'm doing some cooking.  it's going okay.  here's the thing: i used to like making elaborate new things.  but money is tight [not like, omg we can't pay bills tight, but more like, oh let's not shop at whole foods and spend $1,000,000 on groceries tight] and scott does not have very adventorous tastes.  plus, i'm busy.  these factors have all contributed to my kitchen being a little.... boring.

okay, let's be real, it's mostly scott's lack of adventorous tastes that's driving this.  everyone shake a finger at scott and tell him to start eating more vegetables.  and fish.  and beans.  so, it's hard to make food that is simultaneously healthy and interesting and meets scott's culinary tastes.  thus, our average meals tend to be baked chicken, rice/pasta, and a side of steamed green beans for him + a side of steamed whatever type of vegetable i feel like.  or a casserole.  there are a handful of veggies i can sneak into casseroles without getting into trouble, so i go that route sometimes too.

speaking of casseroles, i recently made a major life discovery.  this will PROBABLY not be new news to any of you, but i learned that you can put rice, water, a can of cream of soup, and chicken into the oven and out will pop a casserole.  let me rephrase that.  you can put UNCOOKED rice and UNCOOKED chicken, in a casserole dish, with water/cream of whatever, and the rice and chicken will come out done.  MIND. BLOWN.  [thank you campbell's for teaching me new things.]

okay, i knew you could put raw chicken in the oven and it would come out baked, duh.  but i seriously just never knew i could BAKE my rice like that.  do you know how much time that saves? am i the only person on the planet who was unaware of this magic?

unless of course, you leave your husband in charge of the baking part.  i made the above-linked recipe on tuesday, and i pre-made it at home before i left for spin class.  i told scott to bake it covered at 375 for 45 minutes.  when i got home, it was just about ready to come out of the oven.  perfect.  i had time to shower real quick and then get dinner on the table.  except the rice was only sort of done.  parts were fine, but parts were still a bit crunchy.  [luckily, the chicken was plenty cooked].  so while we are eating our half-cooked dinner i remark that i guess it needs more than 45 minutes, maybe i needed to use a shallower dish or something.  and scott goes, "well, did i need to pre-heat the oven first, and then bake it for 45 minutes?" ...uhhh, how ELSE would you interpret "bake at 375 for 45 minutes"!?!?!?  apparently, he turned on the oven, put in the casserole, and set the timer simultaneously, rather than letting the oven preheat..  no, dearest husband, that is not correct.  LE SIGH.

luckily, this was easily remedied by an additional 5-10 minutes in the oven.  the casserole was much less soupy and the rice cooked quite nicely.  but y'all, be careful when you instruct your kitchen-illiterate husbands [or wives or friends] to help with dinner.

training update: week of 8/11-8/17

Thanks for all of your suggestions about future posts.  I'll try to incorporate everyone's suggestions!  I think I will also try to keep a "diary" of how much runs/workouts are going.... so here's last week:

Monday
I meant to run before work, but, well, I like to sleep.  So after work I checked the weather and with a heat index OVER 100, I headed to the gym.  My plan was to walk for 5ish minutes to warm up and then run 3 miles, with 1 minute walking breaks between each mile.  After walking I started off at what I thought would be an easy running pace - 5.5 or 11:00ish minute miles - and OMG it was hard.  I think the gym was hot. And humid.  Or [insert some other excuse for why it felt so hard].  I did manage to run 3 miles, but I let myself have 2 minute walking breaks in between each mile.  I varied my running pace from 5.2-6.2 throughout, but mostly stayed in the 5.5-5.7 range.  I'm pretty sure every single minute was hard, but luckily I had an entertaining podcast about the season finale of the Bachelorette to listen to (courtesy of Jamie Golden and Knox McCoy).
When I got home, I did a little bit of strength: a front plank, side planks, leg lifts, leg circles, bridges, and pushups.  Not a million reps or anything, but hey, I did it!

Tuesday
I woke up with some sore hamstrings and shoulders.  Nothing too terrible, but I definitely felt it, and was somewhat surprised... that isn't normally a place I feel sore after running!  Today, I went to spin class for cross training. The gym has new bikes which track more stats on your workout.  I was on the bike (moving) for 68 minutes, during which time I went 22.1 miles and burned 751 calories.  I totally do not buy that calorie count - I didn't enter my height, weight, or gender, so who knows what algorithm they are using.  Still, I bet I burned over 400 calories (maybe 500+) and that's pretty good in my book.  Also, I'm not sure how they determine distance (it tracks RPMs?), but that seems more straightforward and more likely to be accurate.   Anyway, the class was pretty good.  It's a teacher I've been to before.  She does a lot of mini routines that she repeats 3-5x in a row, usually making them a bit harder each time.  It's not my favorite, but I don't mind it and she plays decent music.  So, overall a good class!  Afterwards, I was tired and a little sore, but not TOO bad, and I made sure to stretch extra when I got home.

Wednesday
It magically cooled down here, enough so that I thought running outdoors was a good idea today (it was in the mid 70s, somewhat humid).  I was super excited to listen to Jamie and Knox's new podcast, the PopCast, so so I got my iPhone & arm band and started with a 5-ish minute walk up a hill before I got to relatively flat terrain and started my run.  All I can say about this run is UGH.  My plan was to run 3 miles, with 1 minute walk breaks every mile, but I think I probably walked on average 1-2 minutes every half mile.  It was SOHARD.  WTF running!?  I also felt achey - my calves were super tight, and my anterior tibs were not feeling 100%, so I was super nervousabout pushing myself.  So, I managed to run/walk around 3.2 miles, with an average pace somewhere in the 11:00 minute mile range (including the walking). Man, I hope this running thing gets easier soon.

sweaty, but apparently still able to smile about it.

Thursday/Friday
Thursday, I was going to play kickball, but instead I went to happy hour for 4 hours.  Friday, I was going to run, but instead I worked on my dissertation proposal.

Saturday
I wasn't really in the mood to run Saturday, but I really wanted to run at least 3 times during the week, so Saturday afternoon around 4pm I forced myself out the door.  It was raining a little, which I thought would help to keep me cool.  Notsomuch.  It was sooooo humid.  My first mile, I managed to only stop to walk once for 1 minute, but my second mile was much harder, and I ended up doing 1/4 mile run/walk intervals. It was partially due to humidity, but my calves were also really tight and I was worried that was a sign of my lingering injury.  I was feeling better for my last mile and managed to run all but 2-ish minutes.  Seriously, when did running get so hard?  When I got back, I wanted to collapse, but I managed to do a plank and some pushups.

no smiles left in me after this run.  collapsed on my bedroom floor.

I was hoping that my "long run" this weekend would be 5 miles, but I really was barely up for 3.  I also thought I would aim for 4 runs, but, only managed 3.  So, I need to work on a training plan for the next twoish months, and I'm trying to decide what makes sense.  One current debate: I'd like to cardio 4-5 times per week.  This could be: 4 runs, 1 spin class; 3 runs, 2 spin classes; 3 runs, a spin class,and something else.... maybe Zumba?  Thoughts anyone?

My other debate is about strength training - I'd like to do strength training more consistently.  In fact, I NEED to, because it's the only way to prevent myself from getting injured again.  One option is to pick a very small number of things and try to do them every day (e.g. a plank, side planks, pushups, and squats).  The pro here would be that maybe I could get in a routine (do it first thing every morning) and actually get moreconsistnt.  The cons are that some people say you shouldn't strength train EVERY day, and that if I am going to do something daily it's going to only be about 10 minutes of work - maybe not enough to reallly make improvements?  On the other hand, isn't something better than nothing?  I guess I could create a longer routine to do at home and do that 2-3x per week to give myself breaks.  I've just been SO BAD at staying consistent in the past.  I could also try to start doing Jillian DVDs again.  Also, Duke's gym has pilates, yoga/pilates, power yoga, core blast, and HIIT classes that I can take.  I'm not sure I'm up for HIIT - people tell me they are sore for DAYS after... like, too sore to run.  That doesn't sound enticing, but I guess it could be worth trying?  Any advice here would be welcome!

NWM Half DC recap

In April, I ran my 5th half marathon - the Nike Women's Half in Washington, DC.  Here is my long overdue recap!

Pre-Race
M and I drove up to DC on Friday night and headed to the "Expotique" on Saturday morning.  I feel a little bad saying it, but my reaction to the expotique was "ugh."  First, it was on the water in Georgetown - highly inconvenient to get to.  Second, the expo seemed to be geared towards girls who happened to be running, not runners who were majority female.  The booths seemed to mostly have hair and makeup stuff - not running stuff!  And, because it was a Nike race, there wasn't really any running gear - just signs directing you towards the Nike store a few blocks away.  I guess this just demonstrates that I am not a huge fan of "women's races."
Saturday was a busy day. We had the puppy with us, and lots of people to go see.  Also, Isis has some difficulty sleeping in new places, so we really didn't sleep much on Friday night.  We did manage to carb load a decent amount with Sabrina and Mike, who we stayed with on Saturday night.  Saturday, Isis was even WORSE about sleeping, despite having a full afternoon of playing with her new friends, Titus and Frankie (Sabrina and Mike's dogs).  Thanks to the puppy, I probably slept less than 5 hours pre-race.  Ugh.

Isis wants to play, Titus wants to sleep

Frankis is slightly more willing to play with Isis

Morning of
Despite being extremely tired, we made it into the city in plenty of time.  The setup was great: the bathrooms and pre race hydration (water and Nuun) was available right when we got off the metro, which was only about 1/2 a block from the corrals.  We got a pre-race ADPi photo, which I was super excited about, and then warmed up with some jogging and stretching.  When it got closer to start time, we tried to head into the corral... but it was full!  What the heck?  There were easily over 100 people standing at the corral entrance unable to get in.  So, we basically had to stand on the sidewalk and wait for everyone in front of us to start before we snuck in the back of the corral.

Pre-Race ADPi Photo!

With 3 Duke ADPis I advise!

And we're off!
Given how crowded the corral was, you can imagine that the first mile was crowded - but not so terrible. Shortly into mile 1, we headed into the E Street tunnel.  In theory, it was kind of fun that we ran through the tunnel... but in practice, it. was. AWFUL.  It was so hot and sweaty and disgusting - packed with thousands of runners - I literally felt nauseous while I was in there.  On top of that, there were two musical groups playing drums, which echoed like CRAZY in the tunnel.  I'm sure plenty of people thought that was a cool effect, but it just made the hot sweaty mess even worse for me.
Despite jogging to warm up and attempting to stretch, my calves felt tight almost immediately.  Then, by 1.5 miles in, my RIGHT anterior tib started hurting.  SERIOUSLY?  Because, people, it was my LEFT anterior tib that was injured, and that I had been rehabbing for about a month.  AND NOW MY LEFT HURTS? Damn.  Knowing it would probably just hurt worse and worse until I stopped to walk, I took the first water break as my cue to walk/stretch, and Marissa said goodbye.

No idea how I managed to smile for the camera all morning.

During miles 2 and 3 I tried to walk and stretch a lot to ease the injury.  Honestly, though, I was just pissed. I had a GREAT last long run the week before, completing 8 miles at a pretty good pace, with no pain!  It seemed totally unfair that this was happening to me.
Luckily, somewhere around mile 4 or 5 the pain started fading and I was able to get some decent miles in.  I don't have much to comment about on the actual race for the first 5 miles.  The first 10 miles are nearly identical to the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, and I love that course... so no complaints there.  One thing I didn't like: they had Nuun and water instead of Gatorade at the aid stations.  I know Nuun is great for you, but it's kind of fizzy and does not sit well with my stomach DURING runs.  So I had to stick to water, but that also meant I was taking in significantly fewer calories than I usually would during a race.
Somewhere around mile 7 or 8, the bottoms of my feet started hurting... kind of like they do after a full day of walking.  You know when your feet are really wrinkly from being in the pool for too long?  And then it kind of hurts to walk on them?  That's exactly how I felt.  Which made me think - are my feet sweating so much that my socks are soaking wet?  Gross.  Also, I'm wearing Brooks socks that I thought were made for running, so why is this happening to me?  SIGH.  The only thing that helped me push through was that  the bottoms of my feet hurt equally running and walking... so I figured, might as well run and get it over with sooner, right?

Sabrina's husband is a fantastic photographer

It was also around the 8 mile mark that we ran around Hains Point.  Hains Point is nice and flat, but also a spectator deadzone, so it can get pretty boring during a race.  To compensate, Nike decided to have a bunch of "encouraging" signs.  Although I'm sure many participants loved the signs, and some of them were fine, I was not a fan.  Now, I was already pissed about my feet hurting and my bad time at this point, so I think I was primed to spin down into a hate spiral.  But one of the signs said "Run faster than your mascara." Not a fan.
Although I was totally prepared for having 3ish miles to go after Hains Point, it still hit me hard when I got to the end of it.  The Cherry Blossom 10 Miler ends about 1/4-1/2 mile after Hains Point so I FELT like I should be almsot done.  But I wasn't.  Womp. Womp.  I was really struggling with my hate spiral, when somewhere around mile 10 I spotted one of my sorority sisters Justine!  Justine is a few years younger than me and was there supporting one of the girls from her class, but had been watching for other ADPis.  It was SO great to see her - she actually jogged with me for 5ish minutes before turning back to watch for other sisters.  RACE SPECTATORS: BEST IDEA EVER.  Having someone jog with me for a few minutes to help my morale was amazing.

Excited to see my cheering contingent

The last few miles were pretty - we ran down Pennsylvania and right by the Capital building.  I was really trying to push myself to finish in under 2:20, but it was too late.  I think I finished in 2:22, but I honestly didn't care how bad my time was.... at least I finished!  I crossed the finish line and got my Tiffany necklace and finisher's shirt.

Let's be real, this is the REAL reason I kept going.

Post Race
I knew so many people who ran this race, so we had a pretty big post-race meet-up party.

fake cousin Katie, Sabrina, Marissa, Kimmy, and I - all finished!

I also had quite the cheering crowd - Karilee was with Scott and his mom.

MIL and husband, #1 fans of my running 

Diamond Sister love - Karilee cheered for us both!

My uncle and dad actually came too, but they mistimed their travels and only made it to the post-race meeting area to see me afterwards.  It still was awesome that they came though, and I am so grateful for all of the support!

My dad and I!

Overall, the course was relatively flat, which was a plus.  The entry fee was pricy, but I love my necklace.  I learned that I probably want to avoid "women's races" in the future.  I think of myself as a runner and a woman - and the race felt very much geared towards girls who happened to run.

Showered, in matching finishers shirts & Tiffany necklace's.  BBQ Time.

Also, after this race, I knew I had to take some extended time off running to really rest and rehab.  Back to physical therapy I went... but I'll save that for another post.

i'm back [again]. [maybe].

hello, readers!  ...errr, reader? is anyone out there?

it's been quite some time since i blogged... but i miss it! so, this post is just to tell you that i plan to resume blogging.  i owe you a recap of the nike women's half, and i have an outline of a post to tell you about my injury and recovery.

i think i am finally healed enough to legitimately start training again.  too bad it is 100 degrees and i'm woefully out of shape.  today i ran 3 miles on the treadmill - with 2 minute walk breaks between each mile - and even an 11:00 minute mile felt hard.  yikes!

given how out of shape i am and how nervous i am about re-injuring myself, i haven't yet signed up for any fall half marathons.  i think i'm going to take my training nice and slow, and then decide in october if i'm up for any longer races.  i have one potential november half in mind, but i don't want to sign up until i'm able to be more consistently pain free.

instead, my friend allison convinced me to sign up for a 5k with her.  scott signed up too! that's in mid October, and seems much more doable right now.  so for now i'm going to try to run 3-4 times per week, without any speedwork, and with weekend long runs in the 5-6 mile range until it cools down at least a little. i also REALLY REALLY need to keep up with my core/hip/leg exercises that my physical therapist has instructed me to do.  if in a month i am feeling pretty good, i might start some speed once per week and start increasing my long run distances.

so, i guess if i manage to get back into blogging i will keep you updated on my training... but what else should i blog about?  cooking [assuming i cook]? redskins? fantasy football? whatever television shows i am watching? my puppy?

leave a comment and let me know what you'd be interested in reading!

we got a puppy in January.  her name is Isis.

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Recap 2013, or how NOT to run a 10 miler.

I told myself I would write race recaps for all of the races I ran this spring, and I was doing alright until I got to the 10 miler.  I think that's because I didn't really approach the 10 miler as a race, and I certainly did not make any effort to "race" or even run fast.
First, it was the morning after my husband's birthday.  So we went out on Saturday night.  Late.  I made that decision fully aware of the consequences, but MAN, only sleeping three hours is rough... as is being hungover.  I couldn't really eat my breakfast because I was naseous, so I ran on a mostly empty stomach.  We also got to the corral way too early (probably with 40 minutes to spare) and it was FREEZING, so by the time the race started, I was: sleep deprived, hungover (and dehydrated), without breakfast, and numb in most parts of my body.  Oh, and I was still injured.  And I forgot my Garmin.  And my knee brace.

This, my friends, is how NOT to start a 10 mile race.

Anyway, as my race MO goes, I ran for about 1.5 miles before the foot/ankle pain kicked in, so I decided to walk and stretch over the next 1.5 miles or so.  Then, by around mile 3 I started feeling better/warmer and decided to just run at a nice, easy pace.

Although I was still hungover (thank goodness there was Gatorade at water stops and I had chews to get some calories in me) and I was definitely not going to get a great time, I was genuinely happy for most of the next 7 miles.  I love the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.  It is my favorite race.  I love the crowds, I love the course, and I love seeing the blossoms (this year, they were just starting to come out).  The last three years, the weather has been brisk, yet comfortable.  So, although I wasn't running well, and I'm injured and out of shape, I have to say, I really soaked it in and enjoyed myself.

Also, I got some of the most attractive pictures of myself running to date.  Apparently, I'm photogentic when I don't care about my time and I'm hungover?

Anyway, despite my pesky foot pain, I finished in 1:51:32, avaerage pace 11:09.  And only 10 more days until my first physical therapy appointment!

Oh, also, Marissa ran it.  Way faster than me.  GO Marissa!

And Scott was there to cheer me on, even though he was also out all night drinking (happy belated birthday!):

Tobacco Road Half Marathon Race Recap

My new shoes from Disney!  They solved my foot pain!  The race was pain free!  When I got home, I was so pumped to run again.

And then it came back.  New shoes, same pain in my foot.  Damn.  I got an appointment with an orthopedic doctor, but I couldn't get in until after the Tobacco Road Half.  So, I skimped on training (who wants to run 20ish miles per week when it's painful and when it's cold out?) and kind of fought through.  Then, as a last effort for TR to not go terrible, I bought KT Tape and taped myself up.  I told myself "even if it really hurts, I'll just tell myself, this pain is temporary and a PR will outlast it!"

Spoiler alert: It didn't work.

Marissa and I foud the 2:10 pacers and decided we would try to stick with them for at least the first half of the race, and our first two miles clocked in sub-10:00 pace... but only 2 miles in the pain in my feet was so severe I *had* to stop and walk and stretch.  My third mile, betwen stretching and walking, clocked in on my Garmin at over 13:00 minutes.  Not a good look.

I ran/walked from miles 3-4.  I saw Scott around mile 4 and wanted to cry.  I thought about quitting.  Luckily, soon after that I started to feel better.  That is the weird thing about my foot pain - it flare somewhere between mile 1 and mile 2, but if I stop to walk and stretch for a good while, then I can continue running -- relatively pain free.  What is that about?

Anyway, once my pain subsided (around mile 4-5) I was able to keep a decent pace... not great, but decent.  I think I could have pushed harder, but I knew there was no way I could PR, so it was hard to stay super motivated to push through.  It was an out and back course with a turn around exactly at the halfway point, and my next three miles (4-6) were almost exactly at 10:30 pace.  On the turn around, I picked it up a bit (10:21), and then mile 8 was pretty hilly so that slowed me down (10:40).

Around that time I started to think about what a realistic finishing goal could be.  I reall didn't want to PW (personal worst), which meant beating 2:27, and at the same time a PR (sub 2:13) was out of sight.  I settled on sub 2:20 as my goal, and perked up in mile 9 after the hill (10:05 pace).  Then, my knee started to hurt for miles 10-11... stupid tendonitis!  Those miles were relatively slow (10:36 and 10:55), but I was pretty sure I could still come in sub 2:20.

I started to really push myself in mile 12 and clocked in at 10:09.  My knee was still hurting, but I was able to push it out of my mind and just focus on running the best I could.  During mile 13 we were turning back into the park, so there were more spectators, and I was able to speed up (9:41).  I'm pretty good about really pushing at the end of races, so my last 0.1 (or, according to Garmin, 0.2) was at 8:19 pace.

I ended up finishing in 2:18:39, around 6 minutes short of a PR.  Pretty good considering at least one mile took me over 13:00 and I was in pain/injured!

finished half marathon #4!

new medal!

After the race, I showered and then put on my race shirt and medal to meet some friends out for St. Patrick's Day festivities.

well deserved Bloody Mary

So, although I personally did not have a good race, I will say that I mostly liked it and would recommend it to others.  It's relatively small and running on the trail is nice.  It's flat (other than a bit of an uphill at mile 8) so it's a great course to try and PR on (Marissa KICKED ASS, but I'll let her tell her own story if she wants to blog about it!).  The post-race celebration was great - free beer and pizza (and oranges/bread/etc.).  On the flip side, since it's out and back there are relatively few spectators which makes it less exciting of a race.

After the intense pain of the race, I decided I REALLY needed to do something.  On Monday I got a sports massage and was able to talk with the massage therapist for a while about what she thought was going on and what types of stretches/exercises would be helpful.  I also had my appointment with an ortho doctor, who was unfortunately useless (I won't even bother going into that), but afterwards I was able to talk with a friend who is a physical therapist here and he referred me to a friend who was a physical therapist and marathon runner.  Unfortunately her first available appointment was nearly 4 weeks later, but I put it on my calendar and tried to follow the massage therapist's advice in the meantime.  I'll save my post about what's wrong with me according to who / etc. for another day!

Nike Women's Half Marathon Goals

I'm running the Nike Women's Half Marathon on Sunday, so I figured I would put my goals out there for all to see.

My dream would be to run sub 2:10.  This is around 9:55 pace, which is probably pushing it for me, but maybe race adrenaline, etc., will make it possible.  I would be ECSTATIC.

If that doesn't happen, I would so love to beat 2:13:14 and PR.  That would mean running even a few seconds faster than 10:10 pace.  I think if I'm feeling good, I can pull that out.  We'll see.

If I can't PR, I think I would like to finish in under 2:20, or under 2:18:39 (my Tobacco Road time), because although I am still injured, I was able to run 2:18:39 at Tobacco Road and I am hopeful that I can at least do that.

You can track me live on Sunday!
http://werundclive.com/

Wish me luck :-)

Disney Princess Half Marathon Race Report

I've been TERRIBLE at blogging, but I do think blogging helps me to stay accountable, so I'd like to get back to it.  I figure one way to get myself into gear is to recap the races I've done since I stopped blogging, starting with the Disney Princess Half Marathon back in February.

As you may know, I had been dealing with foot/ankle pain for about a month by race weekend, so my training had been spotty at best.  I hadn't had a good run in ages, and I hadn't been great about doing long runs at all.  So, I was a little bit nervous.  Luckily, our plan all along was to treat this race as a training run for the Tobacco Road Half Marathon, so at least I didn't have to worry about time.  Also, we wanted to enjoy our limited time at Disney and go to parks, which I knew would probably interfere with my ability to run my best on Sunday.

So, Marissa and I drove down to Orlando on Friday after work, arriving around 1:00am.  We were staying with Kimmy and her parents, who were running the Royal Family 5K on Saturday morning, so we basically crawled into bed the minute we got there.  We woke up Saturday morning and got ready so that we could go to the parks with them when we got back.  Saturday we spent most of the day in the Magic Kingdom and then took the bus over the expo.  We actually already had our packets, but wanted to see the expo.  I bought a 13.1 charm to put on a necklace and Marissa and Kimmy bought bondibands!

At this point, I believed my foot pain was maybe due to my shoes, so I decided to look at some shoes at the expo.  The Brooks people told me they thought I needed size 8 instead of 7.5 and had me try on a newer model of the Adrenalines.  They felt pretty good, so I bought them and decided I would do what "no runner should EVER do"... wear new shoes on race day.

Anyway, after spending all the money on the planet, we headed over to the Animal Kingdom, because I REALLY wanted to do the safari.  Unfortunately, we just missed it closing by about 5 minutes.  It turned out okay, because we had a really great pre-race dinner (lo mein!) in Animal Kingdom before heading to bed.

The race started at 5:30am, so our alarms went off around 3:45.  Yikes.  With the terrible traffic, even leaving around 4:15am, we just barely made it to our corral in time for the start.  They had fireworks go off for every corral, which was pretty cool.  Also, this was the first race I ran that legitimiately started in the dark.

slightly creepy photo of me pre-race

three princesses, ready for 13.1!

I think the first mile had two bands and a DJ, which was pretty fun.  After that, every mile or so there were some characters or set up where you could stop and take your picture.  Unfortunately, the lines got pretty long, so Marissa and I opted to skip most of the photo ops.  However, I was loosely dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast, so when I saw the Candlestick and no line, I decided to take advantage.

be our guest!

It was still dark several miles into the race for us, which was a weird experience.  The first 4 miles went by pretty quickly, and I felt okay.  It was extremely humid and probably almost 80 degrees when the race started, so I was definitely sweating a TON, but I didn't have any pain, which was great.  For the first 5 miles, our pace was in the 10:30-11:00 range, which was just fine with us considering the heat.
In case you aren't familiar with the course, the race starts in the Epcot parking lot and goes down the highway towards Magic Kingdom.  On the way there are characters or music about once per mile (or it seemed to be at about that frequency).  Then you get to run around Magic Kingdom - which is pretty cool - you even get to run through the Castle and down the main drag, and there are lots of spectators there

not sure why i look so awkward.

...but then, after you exit the park, you literally just run down the other side of the highway back towards Epcot.  Suffice to say, this is rather boring.  You run past the same characters that were there on your way out, except there are fewer of them because not all of them could redo their sets on the other side of the highway.  Also, it was getting warmer (sunshine), but we managed to keep most of our splits right around 11:00 minute pace.

There is very little entertainment on the way back.  Not that I think all races should entertain me nonstop, but I guess that's what I was expecting from Disney.  So, I was kind of disappointed about that... although we DID find Mrs. Incredible right around mile 11.

It was good timing to see her, because it was right around mile 11 that my feet started aching.  Not from the shoes .... but because I had walked for approximately 10 hours around the parks the day before.  Oops.  Like I said, not ideal race conditions.  Anyway, at the end, you enter into Epcot and run around the front of it before finishing out in the parking lot.  Again, running IN Epcot was nice, and there were spectators there cheering you on.  I just wish we had been in the park for longer or there had been more things in the 2nd half of the race rather than the first half.

Marissa and I stayed together until around mile 12 when we were in Epcot.  My feet were killing me and my training hadn't been great, so I was really struggling, while she was feeling great... so she took off!  This ended up being quite good for me, because I was determined to finish WITH HER, and chased her through the last 1.2 miles until I finally caught up to her!  Mile 13 clocked in at 9:37 and the last 0.2ish (my Garmin said I ran closer to 13.2) was 8:33 pace!  We crossed the finish line together, for the first time since our 10k back in 2010!

M makes me really run it out.

Official Finish Time: 2:27:06

My shoes didn't hurt (although my feet were tired from so much walking and running!).  We took post race photos and then waited for Kimmy and then took more photos.

Kimmy's parents got us roses!

So, overall, I'd say that the race was a good experience and I'm glad we did it, but I probably wouldn't run a Disney race again.  I'm not a big enough Disney fan to want to stop and take photos with characters - I'm generally more concerned with my time! Plus, Disney races tend to draw a lot of first-time runners and the courses are a bit crowded, so it would definitely be a difficult place to PR.  On top of all that, the races are pretty expensive - which is probably worth it if you REALLY love Disney, but otherwise, more of a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

Anyway, after the race we went back to our place to shower and get ready for another full day at the parks! Obviously, I convinced the girls that we needed to wear our race shirts and mdeals to match.  Not only to each other, but to approximately 7,000 other race finishers, hah.  We saw Epcot and the Magic Kingdom again

We definitely spent a full day in the park.  In Epcot's Japan, I got a pearl out of an oyster and made a necklace out of it - which went perfectly with my 13.1 charm!  It's my new favorite piece of jewelry!  We also had the most epic sushi lunch ever in Japan... delicious!  When we got home we got some margaritas and relaxed in the hot tub - our attempt at giving our very sore feet a nice break.  Monday morning we woke up relatively early and drove back to NC.  Overall, it was a fantastic weekend and I'm so grateful to Kimmy's parents for allowing us to stay at their place and show us around Disney all weekend!

thoughts.

“We may be momentarily knocked off our feet, but we will pick ourselves up. We will keep going. We will finish the race.”

I started this blog in 2010 - nearly three years ago, after watching my best friend Susan run the Boston Marathon.  At that point, I was just starting to run with 2 minute running / 1 minute walking intervals.  I had always wanted to run the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, and Susan had always wanted to qualify for Boston.  Seeing her achieve that goal and cheering her on at the marathon was inspirational, and is what lead me to get more serious about running and to start blogging (albeit inconsistently).

Since that first blog post, I've completed 3 Cherry Blossom 10 Milers, 4 half marathons, and a handful of other races.  I'm not sure exactly when, but at some point in that journey I think I made the transition from "someone trying to run" to "a runner."  Running has given me more than I can express.  Through running, I've strengthened friendships, increased my self-confidence, kept myself sane through graduate school, and so much more.  Running has become a part of my identity, and I love that.

So, while I may never run a full marathon and will likely never qualify for Boston, this attack felt quite personal. I've spectated that race before - I probably will be spectator at it again some day.  We have family in Boston; we've talked about moving there one day.  Susan ran Boston this year, and to quote my friend Kevin on Monday, "Today we can all be thankful that Susan is fast" - because I knew she had already finished when the bombs went off so I was relatively sure she was safe (which twitter quickly confirmed for me).  But not everyone was that lucky.  A girl I knew in high school was standing at the finish line, with her sister and brother-in-law, waiting for their mom to finish.  Their mom was about a half mile from the finish line when the bombs went off, and was diverted from the finish line.  But my friend, her sister, and brother-in-law all sustained injuries, and the two sisters are still in the hospital.

I don't think I really have anything novel to add to the thousands of blog posts and news articles that have been written on this topic, so I won't try  (go read Susan's blog).  What happened doesn't make any sense, and probably never will. And it's scary.  I've run races as big (in numbers of participants) as Boston, and crossed those finish lines exhausted and elated at my accomplishments.  It is impossible to imagine the horror of being at that finish line when the bombs went off.

In 10 days, I will run another large-scale race in a big city.  I refuse to spend those 13.1 miles worrying or fearing the worst.  Instead, I will hold my head high and run the best race I can.  And when it feels too hard to keep going, I'll be thinking about my friend and her family, about Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, and Lingzu Lu, and about the other 170+ people who were injured.  I'll run for the people who weren't able to finish Boston, and for the ones who won't be able to run it next year.  So in 10 days I will do what Obama quoted from Hebrews in today's service: I will "run with endurance the race that is set before us."

bad blogger.

wow, i've been bad at blogging, for nearly 3 months.

guess what? being blad at blogging is highly correlated with being bad at running.

partly, this is because i've had a lot of annoying pain when running, so i have had trouble keeping up.  but also, i've been lazy and i've avoided exercise because of laziness, having a cold/allergies, and disliking cold weather running. (I LIVE IN THE SOUTH WHY ISN'T IT SPRINGTIME YET?).

i don't think i have it in me to write really interesting posts right now, but i do think that i need to hold myself accountable to exercising and eating healthy (yeah, i've been bad at that too).

so, i think this might be a good platform for me to publically shame myself into exercising  share how i am doing in hopes of increasing accountability.

my sports massage therapist told me i need to do at least 10 squats every single day to strengthen muscles that are currently weak and causing at least some of my running problems.  i also think i should do at least 25 crunches and 10 push ups every day, and have a few other goals, so here goals:

Goal #1: Every day, do 10 squats, 10 push ups, and 25 crunches.
Goal #2: Foam roll and stretch 3 times per week
Goal #3: Go to spin class once per week
Goal #4: Run or run/walk at least 3 times per week (but hopefully 4)

at some point, perhaps i'll write up race recaps: since i last blogged i've completed two half marathons.  spoiler alert: no PRs.  i have 4.5 weeks until my next half marathon, so i'm hoping i can make another attempt at PRing then.

that's all for now!

the holidays in photos

So, I've failed at running recently, but I promise to get back to my Tuesday weekly running/working out updates next week.  Suffice to say that since Susan's visit, I have run twice: once I attempted a 2.6 mile run in 17 degree weather, and then on Saturday (the 5th) I finally ACTUALLY ran, about 7.5 miles, with M... 5 solid miles of runing and 2.5 miles of run/walking.

Rather than writing a recap of my holiday season, I will share some photos from Christmastime through New Year's.  Enjoy, and happy 2013!

first Christmas tree at the cabin in Maine

all decorated!

popovers! yum!

Christmas morning

pretty look at the tree at night :)

post-Christmas snow at the lake

bff's bachelorette!

grad school ladies on NYE

more NYE fun

how was your holiday season?

"i think you wore out the roomie"

I totally wrote this post and planned to put it up before Christmas... but then I forgot.  So, here is a belated recap of Susan's visit to Durham!

Roomie, don't kill me!

Last weekend/week, my other half came to visit me in Durham for a few days.  She flew in on Saturday morning, and our first stop was to the dtownMARKET, holiday style, at Fullsteam/Motorco.  We worked up an appetite shopping while I found a few Christmas gifts for friends/family, and then we grabbed lunch from KoKyu, the Korean BBQ food truck.  Then we split an ice cream sandwich from The Parlour (salted butter caramel ice cream in between chocolate chip cookies).  YUM!
After lunch/shopping we headed back to my place to relax a little bit before dinner time.  Then Scott, Susan and I headed to Bull City Burger for burgers & beers - Susan got the pimento burger, Scott got the over easy burger, and I got the bacon & blue burger.  Everyone was quite satisfied.  Susan commented that she wasn't aware Durham was so hipster-y.  Yes, yes it is.  To prove to her that Durham isn't all hipsters, we met some grad school friends at Alivia's for drinks.
On Sunday, we ran 7 miles, over to west and central campus and back.  My ankle (shin?) hurt at the beginnig but after stretching it got better.  My knee was fine until the last half mile, and then it hurt a lot.  Then we had lunch at Rue Cler (where I always get duck confit) with Sarah, Josh, and Annabel.

After brunch, we immediatly headed to Tobacco Road to watch the Redskins game and the Bears game with some other friends.  Sadly, the Bears lost, but the Redskins won, and Susan and I re-took our football jersey photo - a classic.

After the games we headed back to my place and let Susan nap (JK I napped too).  Sunday night we grabbed Nana Taco for dinner and watched the Patriots... awful game... and then headed to bed!  Monday morning we went on a 5 mile run with Marissa.  My knee kinda hurt, but I managed to survive.  We got Foster's for lunch (portabello sandwhich for the win) and then headed to the Tanger Outlets, where I spent way too much money... but mostly on presents for other people!  After working up an appetite shopping, we picked up Marissa for dinner at The Pit in Raleigh.  The Pit is probably the best BBQ I have ever had.  We started with Pimento cheese balls and way too many hush puppies... yum.  Then I got pulled pork with mac and cheese and fried okra as my meal.  At the pit, they have Eastern and Western BBQ sauce.  Most people I know seem to prefer Western, which I like (it's more tomato-based), but I loooove the Eastern (vinegar-based and has more of a kick).  Marissa got tofu, and it was so good she thought it was chicken and made me try it!  It was definitely tofu - but the best tofu I've ever tasted!
We dropped off Marissa and then found the Christmas lights I mentioed in my last post - so cool!  Tuesday morning she flew out, bummer, but it was a super fun visit!  So, in summary:  We ran all the miles.  We ate all the food.  We shopped all the places.  I think I wore her out!