Half Crazy to Fully Crazy!

So I jumped off the cliff into fully crazy! I signed up for my first FULL marathon, yikes! It still does not feel real. I can't even fathom it right now.

I chose to do the TowneBank Outer Banks Marathon on November 9. I have 3 half marathons coming up this fall so I can use some of them as training runs. I figure now is the time to do it since I have a really good mileage base going into it. I also read a lot of reviews of the OBX Marathon and decided it would be a good first marathon. It is a point-to-point course that is mainly flat. It includes some challenges to keep it interesting. Supposedly there is a semi tough portion through the Nags Head Woods Preserve around mile 12 that takes you trail running for about 2 miles. Then at mile 23 you cross the 35 foot tall Washington-Baum Bridge leading to Roanoke Island (stats: 1.05 mi long, 82' high, with a 650' climb to the top at a 4% grade). Check out the full course description.

The course description gets me excited and nervous. I like how it sounds like an amazing journey in a beautiful place. I just pray for perfect cool cloudy weather for race day. The weather can make or break any race.

I decided to do my training with RunnerDude's Fitness again. That way I have a coach to help me with my training plan and to run with other runners training for the same race. So my official training starts in July.

I jumped off the cliff and we will see how I land :)

Race 13.1 Greensboro Recap

Half Marathon #3 in the books!

Start of Race

 Today I ran the inaugural Race 13.1 Greensboro. I had driven the course a couple times and was concerned that it would be hilly. So I was not sure if I would run it or race it. I decided to just see how I felt the morning of the race. Then about a week out I started getting really excited about the race and had the itch to try to PR it.

First I have to mention that the weather was AMAZING! It was 52° and cloudy. A far cry from the muggy sunny +80° days we had been getting. It was perfect racing weather for sure!

Blowing kisses to my family

The race was relatively small and there were no corrals. This made for a very congested 1st mile. Once the group started spreading out it was really nice. The course was an out and back course. The first half went by super fast. There were a lot more downhills which made the uphills not so bad. I kept reminding myself that these awesome downhills would be terrible uphills on the way back.

I loved running on the Bicentennial Greenway that I run on all the time. I loved that the course was local and out and back as I got to see so many familiar faces. I even had some friends come out and cheer me on. I felt good pretty much the whole time.

Running towards the finish

I loved that I got to see my husband and daughter  throughout the course. I loved having Hannah wave at me and say "I love you mama" when she saw me. It was also nice to have my husband taking some pictures. All in all it was a great day!

I had started off with the 2 hour pacing group in the first mile. However, there were just too many people and I was not happy with the pace they were doing. So I decided to try to stay just ahead of them. They ended up finishing just behind me.

I was really hoping to finally get my goal of a sub 2 hour half. I came so close! I was off by only 29 freaking seconds. I finished it in 2:00:28! Still a brand new shiny PR :) I'll take it!

Coming back was pretty brutal with all the hills. So I am very proud of my performance. My next race is in September and it will be the Race 13.1 Fayetteville .It is supposed to be a flat course. Hopefully it just won't be a hot day. I will sub 2 hour it though! You heard it here first ;)

Race stats below.

Crossing the finish line

Showing Hannah my bling

#3 Done!

Official Results

Elevation Map

My splits and gap times

NEW PR Baby!

Upcoming Half Marathon #3

I feel both nervous and excited at the moment. I have my 3rd half marathon race coming up on Sunday. I've driven the course and it will be challenging. It reminds me of a roller coaster going up and down. Thank goodness the forecast is looking good temperature-wise. Although now they are calling for a chance of some rain. I'd take rain over the heat any day. Mother nature will do what she wants though and I'll just have to deal with whatever she decides to give us.

I don't feel as ready for this one as I did my last. I definitely have not ran as much since the Raleigh Rock N' Roll Half. Plus I'm lacking the speed work that I had been doing with my RunnerDude's Fitness training group. So I am a little worried about that. I'm trying to just be positive and put my all into it. I think I'm planning to run with the 2 hour pacer and just see what happens. I feel like I was so close at my last race and a big reason I was able to still PR on such a tough course was because I ran with the pacer most of the race. It is really easy to slow down when doing a lot of hills. I'll just have to see how I feel.

I am really excited that the race is local. It really takes away a lot of stress. I don't have to get up ridiculously early. I know where to go and there will be lots of parking. I can also sleep in my own bed the night before and prepare however I want to in the comfort of my own home. Part of the course is on the Greenway near my house that I run all the time so that is also fun.

So will this be the race I sub 2 hours? I really don't know. I'm just going to go with how I feel and see where it takes me. I'm proud of myself no matter what happens. I think it is always important to celebrate the accomplishment of just finishing 13.1 miles. How many people can say they have ran that far?

Wish me luck :)

New 5K PR!

I started running a bit last March. I ran the UNC ZTA Franklin 5K. It was the first time ever that I had run a 5K without walking. I ran it in 31:08. I was so proud of myself and something in me clicked that said "You CAN run".

Since then I ran a 5K pushing my daughter in the jogging stroller and have done some non timed color runs. So when I signed up for the Tuxedo Trot 5K I wanted to push myself to set a PR. I knew I would PR for my race time because I have been consistently running sub 30 minute 5Ks since I started half marathon training last year. I also knew I was getting faster at the distance from the tempo runs and progressions runs I had been doing for my Raleigh Rock N' Roll Half training with RunnerDude's Fitness. So I knew I should not have a problem getting my time under 30 minutes. Now the question was how low could I get it. I secretly wanted to finish around 25-26 minutes.

That weekend my brother and his wife were in town visiting us and they also signed up to do the 5K. My husband decided not to do the 5K so he could take pictures and watch our 2 year old daughter. He also was going to help our daughter run her first "Kids' Fun Run".

So we got up early the morning of the race. I was excited. It was nice to race a smaller distance. The weight of 3.1 miles is so different than 13.1.  There is such a different strategy as well. With a half marathon you gotta make sure you pace yourself so that you can finish the distance. Of course you have to do the same for a 5K but it is very different. The total time commitment is a whole lot less for a 5K.

I'm usually pretty nervous before a race. I was surprised to find that I did not feel nervous for this one. I just kept pretending like it was a group tempo run without the warm up and cool down miles.

Walking to the "start line"

The start of the race was a little strange. We had to walk from where the finish line was to what seemed like a random area on the course that took us about 5 minutes to walk up to. I kept wondering if the race had already started and if I should be running (this was their first year so hopefully next year it will be more clear).  Finally we all came to a stop and they announced that the race would start in X number of minutes. Once they said go everyone started running. I held off starting my Garmin because I am used to first crossing a start sensor to mark the start of the race and starts your time. After a ways I realized there was not one so I started my Garmin a little late. The race had 296 people so it was relatively small. I guess they just started the time right when they said go.

Once I got going I felt really good. I passed a number of other runners. I let myself just go faster than normal hoping I did not burn myself out. I think I still could have gone a little faster. I ran my first mile in 8:12 according to my Garmin (again I did not record 0.1 of the race). The course was a little hilly but not bad at all. I did not really like doing the loop twice because you knew exactly where the hills were and I would dread those spots. At the same time it helped me know where the down hill portions were.

I ran the second mile in 8:38. I still felt good and just hoped I could keep up my pace. The last mile I did in 8:32. I had been running near a father with his 12 year old daughter most of the race. They were really cute. He would ask her periodically if she could give anymore and she would always reply no. Then we were about a quarter mile from the finish and they just all of a sudden turned it on. They beat me by 9 seconds. I was so proud of her. I gave her a high five after the race.

Once I was on the straight away coming into the finish I picked up my pace and sprinted for the finish. My official time was 25:41!!! I came in 41st place out of 296. So I finished in the top 14-15%. I felt awesome and of course started thinking about my next 5K goal of getting under 25 minutes, hehe.

Start of Kids' Fun Run

My brother's wife ran it in 29:51 to get 75th place and my brother finished in 30:37 for 86th place. She was pretty happy to beat my brother. I was glad she did too.

Hannah running her race :)

Then we headed over for my two year old daughter's Kids' Fun Run. It was a little race for kids under 8. They got to run through the Science Center's little Zoo. She was so cute running with my husband. He said she ran really far before stopping. Once they came back into site my husband pointed me out to her and she started running really fast. It was so adorable. Her little tongue hanging out cracked me up.

I'm so happy to be setting a good example for her. More than once before bed she has asked me if we are going to go running tomorrow. I love it! Hopefully some day she will love running and we can run a half marathon together :)

A very Successful race indeed!

Asics Gel Cumulus 15 Review

So true!

At the end of February I had determined I needed to switch out my Brooks Ghosts 6's as my left side of my foot kept really hurting after my runs. The outside of the shoes still looked brand new. Even the bottom tread was not too bad. It was the insides that started wearing down. These were my first pair of actual running shoes that I had gotten fitted for at the local running store. I have never experienced wearing down a shoe from the inside out. I'm estimating I had put around 400+ miles on them. It is recommended  that you retire your running shoes between 300 and 500 miles, so it was time.

I will admit it was a little hard retiring my Brooks Ghosts 6's. They carried me through many personal distance records including my first half marathon race. They are still sitting in my closet in a shoe box. I figure I can wear them just walking or when I do obstacle 5K races. -- Anyone else have an attachment to your running shoes? Hehe

Back to the new shoes-

Again I went to my local running store Off n'Running to get fitted for new shoes. I had a different sales person this time which I was happy about as I wanted to see if she had the same recommendations as the last guy I had consulted with. She analyzed my gait and came to the same conclusion. I have a normal arch with neutral foot alignment. So the shoe that they recommend for me is Neutral. Which is a nice cushioned shoe.

Asics Gel Cumulus 15

I had gone to the store half expecting to come out with a brand new pair of Brooks Ghosts 6's in maybe a new color. However, I was open to trying anything that they recommended. I tried on probably 5 pairs of shoes including the Brooks Ghosts 6's. I actually found I liked the Asics Gel Cumulus15's the best. They felt really nice. I especially liked the cushioning around my heels. So I went ahead and bought them for around $115.

I immediately took them out for our first miles together.  I ran a nice easy paced 5.44 miles. Overall the shoes felt pretty good. I did notice my toes felt like they were rubbing from underneath which I had never experienced with my other shoes. This went on for a couple of weeks and usually happened towards the end of my runs. Just when I wondered if I should take them back and try something different it stopped.

First time out of the box and hitting the asphalt

I'm glad I am reviewing them now because I think it took a couple of weeks to really break them in. I have about 150 miles on them now and I have absolutely no issues with them. They are very comfortable and have fantastic ankle support. The colors are fun and bring me back to when I was 5 and my favorite colors were pink and purple. My 2 year old loves them and when she sees me wearing them she says "Oh, pretty mama." I would definitely buy them again.

I just completed my 2nd half marathon race with these and have another race in a month that I will wear them in. Before I know it, it will be time to retire these. Who said running is cheap?!

I give these shoes 5 out 5 stars after 2 weeks of breaking them in. They get a 3 out of 5 until broken in.

Raleigh Rock ’n’ Roll 1/2

The big day finally came for the Inaugural Raleigh Rock ’n’ Roll 1/2 (4/13/2014). I had been training since the beginning of January with RunnerDude's Fitness. This was to be my second half marathon race and I wanted to do it in under 2 hours.

I loved training with a group and a coach this time around. It pushed me to do more speed work, which to my surprise I enjoyed. I also really loved meeting and getting to know other runners. Non-runners will only listen to you talk about running for so long before they glaze over.

As the race approached I started getting nervous about the elevation profile. Raleigh is a very hilly city. The Greensboro Half Marathon that I had done last year was also very hilly and I had been told this course would be about the same. I am going to state here that Raleigh was WAY worse! The hills just kept coming and they were not all rolling hills like I had been told, haha. The elevation gain for the half course was about 595 ft!

Elevation Profile from my Strava readout after the race

I had to get up super early to make sure to get parked and to meet up for a group picture before heading to my designated corral. We had stayed with friends in Raleigh, which worked out really well. I was lucky to have no issues getting into the city and parked.

RunnerDude's RNR Training Group 2014

Our  RunnerDude's Fitness training group met at 6 am for our group picture. Unfortunately our coach got stuck in traffic and did not make the picture.

I was assigned to run in corral 10. I had kept playing with the idea of running with the 2 hour pacer to help keep me on track. One of my fellow runners was also in corral 10. She told me she knows the 2 hour pacer and that she is really good. So she introduced me to Amanda and I moved up to corral 8 to run with her pacing group.

I loved running with the pacing group. It was really fun listening to their stories and feeding off their energy. We also ran with the marathon 4 hour pacers while they still ran the half course before branching off to do the marathon course. I was able to stay with the group until around mile 10.

The course was not bad at first. It had some rolling hills that were fine. Then from about mile 10 to the finish it was just one hill after another. I had done so well pacing to a 2 hour finish until then. The hills just started winning. It was sad to watch the pacing group getting farther and farther ahead but I made peace with it and knew at this point I had to just pace myself to finish the race. I still had a small hope that I would catch back up and somehow still manage at least a 2 hour finish.

The last 3 miles were the most epic miles I have ever ran. I was getting so tired and kept thinking after this hill we gotta be going downhill for a bit. But every corner we turned we met another massive hill. At one point I just wanted to cry but focused on all the months I had trained so hard for this. I passed runners that had started walking and were crying. The course hills were starting to break people. It was really heart breaking.

I just kept chipping away at the miles. I was getting slower and slower. Then an awesome thing happened. I noticed one of my sole sisters running ahead of me. I went over and said hi. We barley talked because at that point I was lucky to still even be running. But just seeing a familiar face helped keep me going.

A very sad moment was seeing the 2 hour mark rollover on my Garmin. My new goal was to beat my last half marathon finish of 2:06:44 to set a new race PR.

The last mile was the longest mile I have ever ran. I felt like everyone was passing me but I just did not have enough in me to go any faster. I finally reached the finish-line and my official time was 2:04:00. Wohoo! Still a PR! Not the sub 2 hour I was looking for, but damn I had done it. No regrets!

Here are my splits for the race:

I was on pace until mile 11.

As you can see by my GAP (Grade Adjusted Pace) it was a hilly one. -- According to Strava, Grade Adjusted Pace estimates an equivalent pace when running on flat land, allowing the runner to compare hilly and flat runs more easily. Because running uphill requires extra effort, the Grade Adjusted Pace will be faster than the actual pace run. When running downhill, the Grade Adjusted Pace will be slower than the actual pace.

I had some personal bests on this race according to Strava:

My best half marathon time was during training with a break at the halfway point.
So this really was my fastest Half Marathon run.

I learned that I am tougher than I ever knew. I'm so glad I had ran with the pacing group as I believe it really helped me make a better time than what I probably would have done on my own. I am so glad that I trained with Thad and  RunnerDude's Fitness. I met so many incredibly nice people that I hope to remain friends with and run with again.

In closing, I'm so glad I did the Inaugural Raleigh Rock ’n’ Roll 1/2. I don't think I will ever do it again as Raleigh hills can kiss it! Haha... I definitely plan to train with RunnerDude's Fitness again. My heart is filled with pride for my journey and for those that I trained with.

I know I will get that sub 2 hour. It's just a matter of time. I have 4 more tries this year!

Half Marathon #2 in the books!

Training Goes On

So I've been so busy with normal day life and training that I have not posted here in awhile.

I am happy to report that I am growing stronger in my running. I have shaved a good 30 seconds off of my normal pace. I love looking back at my runs from last year and seeing how far I have come.

I am really enjoying group runs and training with a coach (RunnerDude's Fitness). I think that has also helped me grow stronger. When I was training for my first half last year I would just run different distances. I never did any speed or hill work. My training plan from my coach this time around includes all kinds of different runs (tempo, progression, hills, etc.). I love the variety and the way it pushes me to go beyond what I thought was possible. You got to love that.

I am doing a photo a day for a year for 2014. So of course some of them include running. So here are a couple for your viewing pleasure.

Jan 18: Group Run with RunnerDude's Fitness.
We ran for #megsmiles, #megmiles

Jan 20: My strongest average pace yet.
I was proud to dedicate it to Martin Luther King Jr.

Feb 17: We got some snow in NC so many of the trails were icy.
So I decided to complete my Mom's Run This Town Winter Virtual
at the local park. I did 4 laps to make it a 10K race. I thought it
fitting for the theme of  "Start Your Engines". Laps like in a car race. 

Feb 24: Running some staggered hill repeats at lunch.

Feb 26: Had a wonderful group run. I had a 50 minute progression run
and ran my fastest mile yet. Then went out for pizza with some of the other
runners. I'm loving the team/group aspect.

 I just got new running shoes so I will be reviewing those shortly.