New Half PR! Tobacco Road Half Marathon

I had heard great things about the Tobacco Road Marathon. I signed up for the half marathon before it sold out. I wanted to prove to myself that I could run another sub 2 hour half marathon. This sounded like the perfect course to do it on. They promote it as  "Flat, Fast, and Fun". I would not call it flat, but it was a pretty fast course with some great downhill sections.

I was excited to be running it with one of best racing buddies, Brittany. I was a little nervous as we had not run together as much lately, so I was not sure how fast her race pace would be. So I was a little worried I would not be able to keep up. I knew it did not really matter because we both are each others cheerleaders, and we highly encourage the other to do their best. -- Running friends are the best!

My day started at an ungodly hour of 3 am.  I got up and got ready to leave at 3:40 am so I could get to the hotel Brittany and her boyfriend, Jason were staying at in Cary for 5 am. I had purchased parking for the race but they said you needed to be there by 5:30 am to guarantee a parking spot. We just chilled in the car for an hour keeping warm before the race. The race started at 7 am. Having to get their so early was my only real big complaint, but it is a very popular race so I guess I just have to suck it up. I know people who had to get up at 2 am for Disney races.

Going into the race I was not sure what my plan was. I really wanted to race it. I am currently training for a 25k (RunnerDude's 25k) for April 4th. I kept thinking that I would race this half and then see how I felt for the 25k as far as actually racing it.

My training runs have been going really well. I have seen a good increase in my speed. So I felt pretty good going into the race. I wasn't really nervous. My plan was just to go by effort and go from there.

The start was very congested. Brittany and I had already talked about starting out slower and not trying to weave in and out of the crowd. Typically you end up just wearing yourself out before you even truly get started. Our first mile was 9:27. We had planned to run near the 2 hour pacer but the crowd was pretty big around them and after the first mile they took off like bats out of hell. I think they were making up for the first mile but it was a little crazy how fast they were going. A group of us were complaining / talking about it.

Eventually we caught back up with the 2 hour pacer and passed them. They finally seemed to be back on track. At that point we were clocking all our miles in under 9 minutes. My secret goal was to try to keep every mile under 9. We only had 3 over 9 minutes and the slowest mile was the first mile.

Most of the course runs on the American Tobacco Trail in Cary, NC. It is a really nice shaded wooded trail, that is mostly compact dirt. It had rained the day before, so I though it felt nice and spongy. Only a few parts were muddy. Also, I like out and back courses. I like knowing what to expect on the way back. Plus I love watching people run by, it makes the time fly by. I'm a people watcher.

Typically when I run with Brittany, we talk the whole time. During this race we barley spoke. We were working hard ;)

When we hit the turnaround point,we had seen the 1:50 pacer pass not too far ahead of us. Then saw the 2 hour pacer behind us. At that point I knew we were near a 1:55 finish. I tried not to get too excited since I knew we had a pretty long gradual hill coming that had the potential to slow us up.

I had a Blueberry Huma Chia Energy Gel around mile 8. Brittany and I had ran 14 miles the weekend before with a 30 minute fast finish. I had not taken in any nutrition during the run, and remembered that I wish I had during those last 30 minutes struggling with my energy level. -- I was having a hard time trying to eat it on the go, going up the gradual incline, and my nose was stuffy so I was having a hard time breathing. I kept laughing to myself, thinking how ridiculous I must look to the people coming the opposite direction. I also wondered if any photographers caught me with gel dribbling out the corner of my mouth, hehe. But I got it done, and it really helped me with the last half.

Toward the end of the race the loudest breather I have ever heard was just behind me to my left. He was driving me crazy. Sometimes just hearing other people struggle can make you tired. Finally he passed us and I was so thankful. He had headphones on, probably so he didn't have to hear himself.

Crossing the finish line together

As we got to the last 5k mark, we started picking local landmarks to compare how far we had left. Brittany would say "we have from the studio to Battleground parking lot". Then "CVS to the studio". It really helped get through those last miles. The best is when we could start to hear the crowd, then you turn the corner and there is the ginormous American flag hanging above the finish. Brittany and I crossed the finish line at 1:55:04. I even got to ring the PR bell. It was all very exciting.

Later we found out Brittany won first place for females in the military for the half. She won $350!

Overall it was an awesome race. I got to PR and do it with one of my best running friends. We are now talking about doing the full next year.

I highly recommend this race. It is a beautiful course.


Here are the stats:

Next up: RunnerDude's 25K!!!

Triad Ten Miler

I had signed up for the Triad Ten Miler on National Running Day. They were running a promotion where it was like $30 to register. It was a local race, so I thought it would be fun.

It was scheduled to be a training run. I had all intentions of keeping it that way, until I arrived at the race. It was a beautiful cool fall day. Not to mention, this was my first ten mile race. Our running group also had a lot of runners running the race as well. Which also fueled the fire.

I did not have a goal time in mind starting out. I just decided to run by effort, and not worry what my Garmin said. After the first 3 miles I was averaging under 9 minute miles. So I decided to try and run this race keeping every mile under 9 minutes. Which would be absolutly amazing for me.

It was a hilly course, but I was feeling good. The course was beautiful. It ran through some really pretty neighborhoods and along a nice golf course.

RunnerDudes & Dudettes

I had seen two of my friends (Melanie and Michele) from my running group running about 30 seconds ahead of me for the first 5 miles. I wasn't sure if they were trying to race or just run the course. We are all very close in pace and always tend to run near each other.

They were just far enough ahead of me that it would take too much effort to catch up. So I just kept running my own race.

Then at mile 5, Melanie and Michele slowed at a water stop. I was able to catch up and began running with them. We had a great time talking, and helping to push each other up over all the hills. It really helped to make the time go by faster. I also truly believe they were the biggest reason I ended up getting such a great time in the end.

The last mile was the hardest. It was a gradual incline and you could see far down the road, but could not see the finish line. When we finally hit the final stretch, we discussed how it would be fun to try to cross the finish line at the exact same time.

The announcer spotted us and started making comments about whether or not we were going to race it out in the end. We all silently stuck to the plan, and crossed at the same time. <3

Photo Finish!

It was seriously my favorite race finish to date. I am still surprised by the relationships you make with other runners. It's a bond that happens so quickly. I really enjoyed sharing that finish with Melanie and Michele.

RunnerDudes & Dudettes with awards :)

The best part, was that none of us had ever ran a 10 mile race, so this was a PR for us all. On top of that, we truly killed this race!

We finished in 1:27:15 (average pace of 8:43 per mile)! 

We were all super excited, as this was a really good time for each one of us. I'm not sure I could have kept that pace on my own.

The icing on the cake was that I actually placed third in my age group!

Such a fun memorable race!


Running Stats:

Strava Awards

Elevation Profile

Splits According to Strava

This sums it up :) Love my Sole Sisters!!!

New 5K PR & Learning Lessons

It's funny how easy it is to overdo something. You feel good so you push harder, until one day you get a dose of "Oh crap, I hope I'm not going to regret this".

Since Memorial Day 2014, I had started a run streak. I ran at least a mile a day every day. It was going great. Initially my goal was to complete the 40 day challenge from Runners World. The challenge ran from Memorial Day to Independence Day. I enjoyed the challenge, and ended up continuing it after the 40 days.

I did not know how long I would streak for. I began to think 100 days would be a good goal, and even thought about a one year running streak. Problem is, I knew I was getting into marathon training, and I was not sure how my body was going to handle all the extra miles. So I figured I would just play it by ear.

I was feeling strong. I had built my long run up to 15 miles. I was still streaking daily and had added some PiYo into the mix.

Then I made a stupid decision. I was scheduled to run 16 miles (for the first time), 15 miles being the most I had done up to that point. So I decided I would run 13 miles, and then run a 5k race. I felt good during the 13 mile run. So when I arrived at the 5k race a half hour after completing my run, I decided I felt good enough to actually try to PR this race.

I ran the race strong. I felt good. In the last stretch I came across a boy who seemed to be struggling. I told him we were almost there, and he was able to pick his pace back up. Then I had the brilliant idea to tell him I'd race him to the finish... Yep, I sprinted my butt off trying to beat this 13 year old looking boy that was probably 20 years younger than me, and who had not ran 13 miles before this race. Brilliant idea! He beat me by seconds, and it was fun. I ended up earning a new PR of 25:23 :)

For the rest of the day I felt great. I felt kinda badass even. That is until Sunday morning. I woke up to my right heel hurting. And upon Googling my symptoms (never a great idea), I came to the conclusion that I must have plantar fasciitis, and all my races for the rest of the year were in jeopardy.

I was really worried about having a bad injury that would take me out for the season. So I decided to walk my mile for the streak, even though up until this point I had ran at least a mile everyday.

I woke up Monday to it still hurting, and decided to not run that day and to end my streak all together. I ended up going to see a physical therapist, who determined it was not plantar fasciitis. Thank God! I had just over done it and have tight calves. She did some laser treatments to my foot and gave me some stretches to do before and after every run. She said I needed to be better about stretching.

Luckily everything worked out, and I have been running pain free for over three weeks now. So moral of the story, listen to your body and your trainer. My goal right now is to complete my first marathon, not risk injury on last minute 5k PR's.

Does running fry brain cells?

RIP Run streak! I made it 90 days of running at least a mile each day.

Sub 2 Hour Half Marathon!

I started this blog last year while I was training for my first half marathon. I thought it would be fun to document my journey. Little did I know that I would fall in love with running in the process.

When I set out to complete my first half marathon, I had no intentions of ever doing one again. As I neared the end of my training, I had the itch to do the Raleigh Rock n'Roll Half. Once I completed my first half marathon race, I set the goal of doing Raleigh in under two hours. To accomplish this I would have to shave almost 7 minutes off my time.

You can read about my Raleigh Rock n'Roll Half race. I did not get a sub 2 hour. I still PR'd at 2:04. Then I tried again at the Race 13.1 Greensboro. This time I came up short by 29 seconds!!!

Jeez, this was turning out to be harder than I thought.

Yesterday I completed my 4th Half Marathon and FINALLY got a sub 2 hour! 

Here is my recap.

I traveled to Fayetteville, NC to run the Race 13.1 Fayettville. I had been warned that it is super hot and humid there. I was excited that it was supposed to be a flat and fast course.

I met up with some of my running buddies and we had an awesome girls night out. We stayed in a hotel from Saturday until Sunday. The race was on Sunday and the hotel was less than a mile from the start line, which worked out great.

The crew before the race.

Weather according to Garmin

Luckily the temperature was in the high 70's on race day and it was cloudy. The humidity was the worst part by far. We were already sweating before we even started. The course had no shade, so the cloudy day was a necessity. I'm not sure I would have been able to complete the race if it had been clear and sunny. There is nothing worse than running on the road with no shade with hot humid temps. Plus I sunburn really easy...

The vast majority of the course took place on the All-American Expressway. That was my first time racing on a highway, so that was interesting. Although, I would also add it was very boring. Not to mention the event staff failed to remove a poor dead dog from the shoulder. They should have at least covered it, as we had to pass it twice. I almost cried, it was so sad. 

I'm in the blue shirt and white hat

I had decided to run with the 2 hour pacer to try and go for my sub 2. He was a nice guy with a lot of energy. As time went by I felt like he was running a little fast and around mile 5 I fell a little behind. My goal was just to keep him in my sight, so if at any point I felt really good, I could catch back up to the group. 

I definitely would not say I felt great during this race. The humidity sucked, and the course was boring, with lots of terrible gradual inclines. Sometimes, I hate those more than hills. It's funny to even look at the elevation map because the course felt a lot hillier. I also did not like the fact that I could see for miles ahead of me, which made the distance more daunting.

Elevation Course Map

I don't think I have ever drank so much water and Gatorade during a race. I could not replenish fast enough. Everything was sweating right out of me. I managed to catch back up to the 2 hour pacer around mile 8 and noticed they were walking through the water stations. So I decided to follow their lead. I even had time to refill my water bottles by doing this. Normally I just roll on right by them because I carry my own water and Gatorade.

Around mile 9 to 10 my wheels started falling off. I just wanted to be done. I can't really say what exactly was going on, as nothing was bothering me. I was just tired and my shoes were starting to get wet from my sweat, which I cannot stand. This is also when I saw the dead dog and right near that an ambulance and fire truck were taking care of an injured runner. There was also a yucky long incline up over an overpass that was concrete. My legs really felt the impact of the concrete.

I again fell behind the pacer and had just decided this was not my day. So I plodded along just hoping to finish soon. I walked through the last water station kinda sulking about missing my goal again. When I came across the mile 11 marker, and looked at my Garmin to realize I could still get in under 2 hours! I was so excited. I willed myself to go faster. I forced my legs to move even though they felt like bricks.

Around mile 12, I caught up to a runner that was running with a full sized American Flag. His friends started lagging behind him and he was trying to get them to go. I ran up beside him and said I'd run in with him. So we killed that last mile. It was such a welcomed way to end the race. He brought in a lot of crowd support which really helped me finish stronger than I felt.

I was excited to see that I crossed the finish line in 1:58:36. My chip time was 1:58:09. Finally!!!

Honestly, it is still a little surreal. It was a strange race. It was not terrible but it was not great either. It definitely was not a race where I felt like I had it. If anything I felt the opposite. I'm so glad I pushed through all those thoughts to finally do it.

Official Results

My Garmin came up short on distance but it was a USATF Certified Course so I'll take it :)

Splits according to my Garmin

I have 2 more half marathons and a ten miler race left before my full in November. Those will all be training run races leading up to the full, so I'm glad I was able to PR this race. Now I can just focus on marathon training.

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!

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!