UTAH VALLEY MARATHON

I did it!!

It's over.

It was hard.

It was painful.

It was awesome.

Here's how it all went down:

I got up at 2:30 a.m. for this race.

2 freaking 30!!

Are you kidding me?

The last bus for the race start leaves at 4:15 (or so they say, but who wants to chance it?).

I didn't want to drive down to Provo the night before to pick up my bib so my friend Kim picked it up for me, as she was smart and booked a hotel in Provo that night.

I had to meet her at 3:30-3:45 a.m. race morning and I also had to nurse Micah before I left. Oh yeah, still nursing. Makes race mornings that much more exciting.

So between race jitters, nursing, and a 2:30 a.m. alarm, I got 2.5 hours of sleep before the race.

Thank goodness for my old friend Adrenaline. I felt fine. A little puffy, but fine.

I walked into the lobby of the Provo Marriott at 3:40 a.m. and found it full of runners. This looked like one fit bunch of runners. More fit than usual. And decked out in their fancy shmancy tech gear. I felt like such a newbie. A little baby marathon runner. Even though I've run one before (almost 4 years ago), it felt like my first time since it was my first time running one alone, pushing myself to my own limit.

Kim and I boarded our bus and made the long drive up to Wallsburg, UT. I don't even know where I was, really. She pointed out portions of the course she dreaded and some hills I could look forward to. We got to the race start and chatted for an hour or so between port-o-potty visits.

Here we are, hanging out in the dark in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of harsh, artificial lights, some port-o-potties, and a thousand other crazy people.  Kim is in the lead to win the Grand Slam for the 3rd time (I think she said 3rd time?), and was only leading by 15 seconds before this race started. Let's just say there was a lot more pressure on her than me. But you would've never known.

We headed to the starting line and my Garmin was having a hard time finding the GPS signal. I accidentally clicked "use indoors" and BAM, everybody started running. Agh! I wasn't ready! I was fidgeting with my headphones, phone (yes, I ran 26.2 with my big ole iphone 5 strapped to my arm... it wasn't bad actually), and Garmin. For the whole first mile, I was trying to get my garmin to search for a gps signal again, but I couldn't get it. Finally at mile 2, I gave up. I really wanted to see my mile splits on this race, but oh well.

The first half of the race went by fast and smooth.

I thought I had started just in front of my Boston qualifying pacer (3:35).

I was surprised and happy when he still hadn't passed me on mile 5, and as the miles went on without seeing him, I started getting really excited. 

I hit the halfway mark and the timer said 1:45.  Good news. I did some quick math and realized if I ran the race of my life and somehow kept this pace up, I would Boston qualify!

I realized that probably wouldn't happen, but being that far ahead of my 4 hour goal was exhilarating. YAY!

{Downhill marathon my eye}

Around mile 15, I saw Justin and the kids for the first time. I was heading up a long, dreadful hill and it was so nice to see my cute little family cheering me on! At that point, I felt so strong. Plenty of energy left.

I saw them again at about mile 18, and although I was starting to feel it now, I still had it in me to run over and give the kids high fives and thank them for cheering me on.

The last time I would see them before the finish line was about mile 21. This was about the lowest point of the marathon for me. My legs had just had it. They were ACHING so bad. It was getting hot. And there was no more downhill. Just a loooong, straight road ahead. I slowed down. Considerably. The 3:40 pacer passed me. I never even saw the 3:35 pacer... maybe they started ahead of me after all, or I missed them during my pee break at mile 13? I don't know. I didn't care. Let them pass me, I thought. I started dreaming of water stations just so I could have an excuse to walk for a second. I also started realizing I was getting dehydrated. I started downing 2 cups of Gatorade, 1 cup of water, and a bite of banana in futile hope the potassium might help my aching legs. Then I'd pour a cup of water down my back and move ahead. I was wincing in pain as I started running again. If you run, you know it's not until you walk that you realize how bad everything hurts. And starting back up is agony. But once I got back into my rhythm, it was manageable.

I had to dig into some deep places mentally to keep myself moving around mile 23. I started getting angry. I was looking around at everyone, drenched in sweat and obviously hurting, and thinking, "What is wrong with us?? Why are we doing this? We are so stupid! This is pointless!" haha... I was so mad. I started wondering why marathons have to be 26 miles and why they can't be 23. "23 would be perfect," I thought. But after getting lots to drink at the aid station at mile 24, I felt a little better. I allowed myself to slow down and that helped. I did start having an optical migraine on mile 25, which scared me a little. They're painless, but they blur my vision and they're caused by extreme physical fatigue. So essentially I was falling apart. I gave myself permission to slow down a little and that helped a lot.

The finish line was ahead of me, I could see it 2 miles away. And I swear every time I looked up at it, it looked like someone had picked it up and moved it back just a little. Seriously! It tormented me for 2 miles. 

But finally, I reached the end. I saw my family and my dear friend Naomi, who had run the half marathon and waited around almost 2 hours to see me finish (so nice!). Makenzie ran out and finished the course with me and I so needed the motivation. I looked up and saw that the clock still read 3:44 and I was so happy and relieved.

When I finished, my legs ached so bad I could hardly stand. I walked over to the med tent to beg for some ibuprofen. I had to sit in one of their chairs for a minute because I honestly could not stand. I finally got up and hobbled over to the grass and laid down. Holy shmoly, the pain!!

But I was surrounded by my sweet family and so proud of my accomplishment. Just 9 minutes away from a BQ on a race I was originally only hoping to finish! That was pretty good on the ole self esteem. ;)

Here are my race stats:

Chip Time: 3:44:31
Average Pace: 8:34/mile
Overall Place: 371 out of 1465
Gender Place: 101
Division Place (Female 30-34): 28 out of 112

Segments:
1st half:
1:44:57 (8:01/mile)
2nd half
1:59:33 (9:08/mile)

{By the way... my friend Kim finished in 3:01:22. That's a 6:55/mi pace, my friends. She placed 4th in her division and 38th overall... and picked up some prize money to bring home! She also gained a bigger lead in the Grand Slam and I'm sure she'll win it again! Go, Kim!}

My next race is the Big Cottonwood Marathon in September. This course is supposedly pure downhill. I am hoping to train hard and qualify for Boston. I realize I may not get in to the Boston Marathon even if I qualify, as it will be very popular and competitive this year. But just hitting the Boston qualifying time is something I never, ever thought I could achieve and would feel AMAZING. So here goes, another 3 months of training and hopefully another sweet result!

Provo City Half Marathon & Training Update

I have some major marathon training updating to do... but let's start with today- the Provo City Half Marathon.

Today was supposed to be my 18 mile training run. A friend of mine from church (who I've run several races with, including this same race last year) really wanted me to run it with her and some other friends, but I was hesitant. I know how hard I push myself in races and I didn't want to risk an injury a month before my full marathon.

But... I needed a downhill training run anyway, and I just love those girls so much, I couldn't resist. I signed up a few days before the race.

This race starts up Provo Canyon, and they make you get up there about an hour before the race actually starts. So I figured I would take advantage of that time to get my 5 extra training miles in. I ran up the road 2.5 and back. It was freezing, but gorgeous. This, I would learn at about mile 10, was probably a mistake.

The race started out great. I'm familiar with the first part of this course- I've probably raced down it 5 or 6 times. I like to start strong, so I kept up with the 1:35 pacer for the first mile, and then the 1:40 pacer passed me at about mile 3. I kept him in view for a while, but gradually lost sight of him. I felt strong, though, and knew I had a decent lead on the 1:45 pacer. 

By mile 7, I knew if I kept this up, I stood a chance of setting a PR (1:42:36), or at least coming close to it, which was exciting. But I had to pee. Really bad. I made the decision to stop at mile 8 and lost a little time there. It was ok, though, I still saw the same group of people I had been running close to the whole time not too far ahead. But in the back of my mind, I kept thinking how I had already run 13 miles now, and was wishing I had saved those extra 5 miles for after the race.

Mile 9 was when that all changed. Things started to get ugly. My legs were done. My entire body was starting to give up. For the first time ever in a race, I contemplated walking. This was the closest I've ever come to hitting the wall.

Take a look at my mile splits. Mile 9 was the slowest, and a pretty drastic jump from mile 8:

Mile 1: 7:32
Mile 2: 7:35
Mile 3: 8:10
Mile 4: 7:44
Mile 5: 7:37
Mile 6: 7:51
Mile 7: 8:07
Mile 8: 7:58
Mile 9: 8:44
Mile 10: 8:20
Mile 11: 8:22
Mile 12: 8:29
Mile 13: 8:05

I just barely looked at these mile splits (first time wearing my garmin in a race because I needed it for those first five. I never looked at it during the race, but I'm glad I wore it so I could see these splits. I will do that in the future). I'm actually really happy with how miles 10-13 look because I was DYING. Serious mind control tricks going on. I felt like a robot. Trying not to feel my body, just willing it to go with my mind. Crazy stuff. 

The end was brutal, no sugar coating it. Putting in an 8:05 pace on what was really mile 18, was HARD. During the end of that race, I kept thinking what a rookie mistake I had made running those 5 before the race. I was beating myself up about it. But now I'm kind of glad I did it. It was a really good test of my limits for the marathon. I know there is no way on earth I could maintain a pace like that for the marathon, but even if I took a minute or minute or two longer per mile, I would be really happy!

So here's the overall stats:

Time: 1:45:41
Average Pace: 8:04
Overall Place: 202 out of 1029
Division Place (Female 30-34- yikes! new competitive age group): 20 out of 130 (woot woot! Excited about that!)

Alright, that's enough blabbing for one day. I guess this pretty much sums up how marathon training is going. So far, so good! No injuries and feeling strong!

Here we are! Erin, me, Kimberly and Naomi
Erin is 5 months pregnant- yup! Kimberly set a PR by almost half an hour!! and Naomi (the one who talked me into it) had a really strong race and said it was one of her favorites ever. My next door neighbors ran it too, but we didn't get them in the picture- she set a PR, too! Great race day!

Here we go: Post Baby Marathon

When I was pregnant, I was so unsure if I would be able to do this.

Run a full marathon 8 months after giving birth?

I know people do it, but could I? Really?

I am happy to say that I think I can.

I've completed my first three weeks of training and so far, so good!

I think it really helped that I ran those two half marathons at 16 and 18 weeks along, because I've never felt this good in my running comeback before.

I always have these pelvic bone pains for months and months after giving birth, but I haven't felt them once this time. Except for being fatter than usual, I feel really normal!

I'm doing the Hal Higdon Novice 1 Training Schedule, the same one I did for my first marathon. Since that marathon was in 2009 and two babies ago, I figured I might as well start over like it's my first time.

Here's how the mileage has gone gone:

Week One: 3-3-3-5 (oopsie! the long run was supposed to be 6)

Week Two: 3-3-3-7

Week Three: 3-4-3-5 (Hal Higdon has you go down before your next big advance)

Week 4 (This week): 3-4-3-9

So this Saturday, I will hit 9 miles, which is further than I've ever gone 4 months after having a baby. My biggest concern is injury. I'm stretching like crazy, wearing compression sleeves on long runs, and paying attention to form. I'm probably due for new shoes pretty soon, so I better get on that, too.

My pace is anywhere between a 9-10 minute mile. I'm totally happy with that. I'm not pushing speed at all, I don't need to be fast right now. I just need to get the miles in. This first marathon is June 8th (Utah Valley), but I'm also registered for the Big Cottonwood Marathon in September. Sooooo excited for that one, a lot of girls from my ward are running it, too. So if all goes well in June, I can work hard during the summer to get a better time in September. I'm so excited for these races and crossing my fingers all goes well!

First post-baby race

Yesterday I ran the Utah Human Race 10k.

As far as training goes, I was able to run 5 miles on Tuesday (2 days before the race), but had to run really slow.

I knew I'd be able to finish, but that I'd definitely shooting for my personal worst. :)

The race start was pretty dang cold, but at least it wasn't snowing.

I started out nice and easy, and after I found my stride and a good song came on, I decided to run a little faster, but not much.

On mile 2, the unthinkable happened.

My ipod died.

Not the battery. The ipod.

The screen was on and fully charged, but it just locked up and wouldn't play music anymore.

Noooo!!

Haha, I am so dependent on my music.

I do think my pace slowed down after that, but after about a mile of feeling bad for myself, I got used to it and it wasn't that bad.

I ended up finishing in 1:01:40, way faster than I thought I'd do.

About a 9:55 mile.

Not bad for having a 7-week-old baby!! I was going to be stoked about 1:10!

So glad I've been able to run this soon, it's definitely giving me hope for that marathon in June!

I registered in the Athena division. I figured if I'm gonna run with all this baby weight I might as well! So I finished 4th in my division, haha... out of 24. :)
I finished 183rd out of 396 females in the 10k. So I did (just barely) finish in the top half out of all the women! Woo hoo! Feelin' good about that!

I am sore as all get out today, but happy to be building muscle and getting back in shape!

Return to running

I'm running again!

I want to shout it from the roof tops!

Running after having a baby is a major sign that I'm getting my life back.

It makes me feel empowered and happy.

It makes me feel young.

Being a mom of four kids sometimes feels like responsibility, responsibility, responsibility all day long and running provides me that outlet to just do something for myself. Even if it's just 20 minutes. My entire attitude changes that day.

And it also burns calories, which is a major plus right now.

Micah turned 5 weeks old on Saturday, November 3rd.

So on Monday the 5th, I decided I would try walking a couple of miles and see how I felt.

I felt great.

So on Wednesday the 7th, I thought I would just see what would happen if I ran a mile.

I put it on a 12 minute mile, being super cautious.

It felt really easy.

It felt so easy, in fact, that I went ahead and did 2 miles.

I didn't run the next day to see how that initial run would affect my body.

Besides a little lower back pain and some sore inner thighs, I felt fantastic.

So that Friday I ran 2.5 miles, and on Saturday I did 3.2. I even dipped into the 10-something pace and still felt great! I could not believe how well my body was adjusting to running again. I still can't believe it. I've never had a comeback this strong. I don't know if it's because I ran those 2 half marathons while I was pregnant or because I let my body heal for almost the full 6 weeks or both. But whatever it is, I'm loving it.

This week Micah is 6 weeks old and I ran 2 miles on Monday and 3 miles yesterday (Wednesday) and felt great. Yesterday I did a 10:30 pace for the first 1.25, and then a 10:00 pace for the rest of the second mile. On my 3rd mile, I kept upping my speed little by little and finished at a 9:30 pace. I actually dipped down into an 8:57 sprint for the last tenth of a mile and I felt that a little, but it wasn't that bad! So far so good!! No weird pelvic pain or anything.

So, because I have been feeling so good, I decided to run a 10k turkey trot with some friends from my ward next week. I hope I don't pay for that. I'm going to run 5 this Saturday (realllly slow) and that should give me a good idea of whether or not I can really do it.

And speaking of girls from my ward, I have an amazing group of girls that love to do races together and today we all signed up for the Big Cottonwood Marathon in September. It's a new race (first time just a couple months ago) but everyone is RAVING about it. These girls did the half and said it was hands down the best race they've ever done. They said it was the only downhill course that was really downhill the entire time. And they give you your race photos for free! They said the organization was amazing, too. So I'm really excited about that. So now I've got the Utah Valley Marathon in June and the Big Cottonwood in September. Woo hoo!

**Update**

I set out to run 5 on Saturday and only made it 4. Yikes. I really felt like an idiot for registering for that 10k on Thursday. I'm so glad I did it though because I learned a valuable lesson- slow down!! Today I set out for a run and decided I would go way slower (11 minute miles +) and just see how far I felt like going. I got to 3 miles and felt great. Got to 4 and still felt great. So I did 5 and it wasn't hard (just took forever- 56 minutes). On Saturday I was trying to pull off a 10 minute pace and it was just too fast. So now I know that I need to take this 10k really slow, and that will be my ticket.  Seems silly to sign up for a RACE just to run slow, but it will be really cool to log a 10k before Micah is even 2 months old! Huge improvement on my recovery after Kyle- it took me 6 months to get up to a 10k! I know the biggest difference has been having my own treadmill, but I'm still stoked about how well my body is responding to running!

Getting Ready for my Comeback

Just eight days away from my due date, the end is in sight.

I ran two half marathons during this pregnancy, but it still feels like an eternity since I've run.

I haven't run at all since the Provo City Half in May.

Since then it has been lots of walking and elliptical training, but nothing too serious or consistent.

I know what's ahead of me.

Slow runs.

Aching pelvis.

Injury.

It's all bound to happen.

I've been there before.

I know that a 10-minute pace will soon feel like an all-out sprint.

I know that the first time I hit 5 miles again, I'm going to feel like an Olympic athlete.

I know that I'm going to have good days and bad days.

But mostly, I know that I will get back to where I once was, I have no doubt about that, and that is comforting.

I think at the end of my other pregnancies, I was scared.

Scared that I would never get back in shape.

Scared that I wouldn't be able to run as fast as before.

Scared that I wouldn't have the discipline to just get it done.

But the fourth time around, I just feel peaceful.

I know I will get there.

I know it will be hard.

I know it will take time.

But I'll get there.

The only thing I am scared about this time is the fact that I'm already registered for the Utah Valley FULL marathon in June. This is new territory. Running a full marathon just 8 months after having a baby? I know people do stuff like that, but I'm no Kara Goucher or Paula Radcliffe. Can you believe those ladies? Superhumans.

I think the hardest part about training for this marathon is going to be time.

Newborns are very time-consuming.

And when you exclusively breastfeed, things get even more tricky.

Justin and I have talked about it a lot, though, and he has been really understanding and supportive- I am so grateful to be married to a man who is supportive of me and is a team player. He doesn't seem bothered at all if he has to get up early with the baby if I'm out on a run, take care of the kids on Saturday mornings when I have long runs, etc. 

Aaand the thing that gives me hope is that we finally bought a treadmill.

It's a nice NordicTrak commercial treadmill that we got at a discount retailer. 

I've only used it for walking so far, but it seems nice and I have high hopes that this will allow me to get my runs in a LOT easier.

Alright, official marathon training starts in February!

So I have November, December & January to build my base before then.

Wish me luck!

Week 19: Provo City Half Marathon

Just before I hit my 19-week pregnant mark, I ran the Provo City Half Marathon.

The course starts just above Vivian Park and runs by Bridal Veil Falls, a beautifully serene course that I'm no stranger to. The Riverwoods 10-miler and the Halloween Half follow this same route and why shouldn't they? It's beautiful.

I do wish the course had started a little higher up the canyon- it wasn't nearly as much downhill as I was hoping for- but a great course nevertheless.

I started the race off at my comfortably aggressive pace. I never wear a Garmin in races (because I will almost always sell myself short), but I'm assuming I was doing just under an 8 minute pace at the start. Had a lot of fast people around me.

HAVE to mention THE most bizarre race behavior I have ever seen on mile 1.

This guy, who did not look particularly fit or experienced, probably in his 40s or 50s, came SPRINTING by me full speed ahead. I don't know how to explain it. Like... there were a lot of fast people ahead of me and he was like... leaving them in the dust, running for his life. Huge swinging arms in karate chop position... it was quite the spectacle.

I looked around me in amazement to see if anyone else was shocked and it was all eyes on him.

Less than a quarter mile later, I passed him as he was walking.

Weird.

And apparently he did this for quite some time, because my friend who finished about 15-20 minutes after me said she saw him doing the same thing.

Okay.

So this is probably going to sound really annoying since I'm pregnant, but I think this was the easiest half marathon I've ever run.

Nothing notable... no difficult moments to overcome... unless you want to count the part around mile 10 when I had recently passed the port-o-potties and thought I was going to doo-doo my pants. Lol, I'm glad only a couple of you read this blog. haha

I seriously thought I was going to have to stop at someone's house and beg to use their bathroom.

But lucky for me, it went away after about a half mile.

Whew!

I took a Gu around mile 9. I've been avoiding the caffeinated Gu's since I've been pregnant, but that was what they gave me and I took it. Wooeee! That thing gave me so much energy!!

Seriously, I felt on top of the world the last few miles.

I had so much energy left, I felt like I could keep going forever.

It was a fantastic feeling.

Also, I don't know what was up with the finish, but the mile 13 marker was wayyy before the finish line, probably more than a quarter mile. I felt fine, but if I had been dying at the finish, I would have been hecka ticked about that. 

K, here I am in all my fatty glory!

 Sorry they're so teeny, but I can't copy the bigger pictures off the race photographer's website. 

It's probably better that way. :)

It was a fantastic race, and I felt comfortable the entire way... great way to say goodbye to running for a while. I honestly felt like I was holding back for most of the race. I was with a group of 3 people for miles and normally I would have done everything I could to stay with them, but when I stopped to walk through a water station and they pulled ahead, I let them go. This wasn't my day for pushing myself into the ground. I really was amazed when the 1:55 pace group never passed me. I was waiting for them almost the whole race and was shocked they didn't pass me up.

Chip Time: 1:52:35
Pace: 8:35/mile
Place: 335 Overall (1100 Finishers)
Gender Place: 141
Division (Female 25-29... my last race in this division): 37 out of 159

So... I was planning on running for quite a while longer in this pregnancy since I'm feeling so good, but I'm having an issue and my OB suggested I might want to quit running if I don't want to make it worse. Sorry, no details on that one, haha. I'm at such a loss right now, I don't even know what to do with myself. Guess it's time to hit the bikes and ellipticals and say hello to an old friend: walking.

I just deferred my Utah Valley Marathon entry to next year, so next race is June 2013!