Nike Women's Half Expo

My posting has been sadly inconsistent lately, but I felt that nobody really wanted to read about nondescript workouts.  I have gotten in some decent cross training this week though and plan to revamp my running after this week so that I can really rock Zooma in June.

Last night, my nice friend's sister and I headed down to the Nike Women's Half Expo to pick up our packets. I loved that they had the expo open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday so that there was plenty of time to go.  I usually get a little stressed about packet pick up logistics, so it was nice to have some options!

I loved all the strong women messages throughout the expo!

Picking up our race numbers was really easy.  Nike emailed a confirmation barcode out earlier in the week, so they were able to quickly scan it and give you your number.  They gave us a lot of stuff and we're not really sure what we're supposed to wear and what we can wear if we just feel like it, but figure we'll go ahead and wear it all just in case.

Shampoo, Bare Minerals, and Snack Samples--my kind of race pack!

After grabbing our race bags we went down to the Expotique and I was immediately impressed with the atmosphere.  The loud music made it impossible not to get a little more pumped and they had a lot of things to look at, try, and do.  Outside the expo, volunteers were holding up signs saying things like "woohoo!" and "you go girl!" and everyone was so friendly!  Nike gave you a card with a password which you could try out at different stations to try to win a prize.  Unfortunately all we got was "Access Denied" on our screens, but it was still a fun feature.  We got to grab samples of Luna Bars, try Nuun, and even had the option of getting our hair and make up done.  I can honestly say I've never been to a race expo quite like this before!  One of my favorite parts was the wall that you could sign.  So many people had written a variation of "Run for Boston" and it really makes you realize just how strong the running community is.

As we headed out we made sure to stop by the wall of the Nike store to find our names!  They had made a custom race wall and all the participants names were on it, which I thought was a fun, unique feature.

While I'm still trying to get my mind around the fact that this is going to be a more relaxed race and I will be taking it pretty easy, it's hard not to be excited after visiting the expo.  I know it's not going to be my goal race anymore, but I'm still looking forward to seeing the sights of DC and what race day will hold.  The Tiffany's necklace at the end doesn't hurt either!

Happy race weekend!


 

I Didn't Race

The Rock n' Roll and I are not meant to be.  Even though I started feeling significantly better the week leading up to the race, I knew it was better not to try to push through it.  I would have had to do a run/walk version of it and would have taken at least 3 hours to finish the race and it just wasn't worth it to me.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a run/walk, but I know what I'm capable of when I'm feeling well and I just would have been frustrated the whole time had I gone.  I also want to continue taking it easy while I start building back up for the Nike Women's Half.  Even if I have to crawl to the finish I will get my Tiffany's necklace!

Despite not running in the race, I still went to the expo to pick up my race packet.  Probably the most expensive running shirt I've ever gotten.  My little brother and his girlfriend came to visit and made me feel not as sad as we wandered around looking at all the expo had to offer and navigated through the crowds of people excited to race.  It was hard not to feel bummed because the expo was huge and exciting.  I did at least get to snag a few free samples of Lara bars and there was a booth for the race my brother's girlfriend is running in a few weeks and it was fun to see her talk to the people and get really excited for it.

Race Goodies

This may seem like a sad story, but really the day was not a complete sob fest.  On the way to the expo we stopped at Spike Mendelsohn's restaurant We, the Pizza and got pizza slices the size of our heads.  Who can think about not running when you are enjoying that kind of cheesy goodness?

So now here we are.  I'm going to try to do a few three mile runs (with nice and easy walk breaks to appease my mother and to stay on the safe side) and then slowly, slowly build up.  There are 6 weeks until the Nike Women's Half, so there's not a lot of time to get back into shape.  Instead I'm going to focus on enjoying being out there again and running for the love of running.  It's most likely not going to be a PR, but honestly, it's felt so good to just run again (no matter how slowly) that at this point, I don't even care.  2013 is only a quarter over (what?!?!!) so there is plenty of time for my goal race.  Sometimes you have to slow down and be smart so that you can get better faster.  Please send patience vibes my way!!

Congratulations to all of you who rocked the Rock n' Roll DC!!!!!  You guys are AMAZING!!

Tower of Terror 10 Miler: A Post of Many Pictures

Fall weather has been good to me.  Running has been going well.  In preparation of the Tower of Terror 10 Miler I had one last "long" run.  I ran a little over 8 amazing miles OUTSIDE.  I felt great and had high hopes for the race.

September has gone by incredibly fast.  I feel like I was just trying to convince my friend to run the race with me the other day, and yet race day was here!

My amazing friend Laura and I hopped on a plane for Disney Thursday night and had fun adventures planned for the weekend.  The race wasn't until late Saturday night, so we had plenty of time to explore the parks before we ran.  Friday was dedicated to the Magic Kingdom.  I hadn't been there since I was 8, but it was every bit as spectacular as I remembered.  I absolutely loved every minute of it.  After, we went to Epcot and were happy to find a food and wine festival waiting for us.  We enjoyed delicious margaritas and empanadas after seeing dolphins at the Finding Nemo ride!  I couldn't have asked for a better day. I could go on and on about our Disney adventures, so be glad this is only a brief overview ;-)

Saturday we decided to spend the morning at Animal Kingdom.  I had never been and I LOVED it.  It was so much fun seeing all the animals and spending the day in a park so different from what I had expected.  The park was shady and definitely had a safari feel to it.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have hoped since we had to get to the race expo to pick up our packets.

I really enjoy race expos.  I love looking at all the different products they have to offer.  I ended up buying one of the travel massagers since I didn't have room in my bag for my foam roller.  I think it's my new favorite running accessory.  It feels much better on my IT band than the foam roller :-)

After relaxing with some of Laura's family for a wonderful dinner, we headed back to the hotel to rest up before the race.  Our race didn't start until 10PM and we were a little worried that we wouldn't have the energy to run 10 miles!  

We shouldn't have worried, because once we got to the race I felt completely energized.  Although we had to wait in our corral for a while, the time passed by quickly and the start was incredible.  As we took off the music from the twilight zone played and fireworks went off.  Throughout the course there was spooky villain music and fun props.  One of my favorites was the hyenas from the Lion King!  There was also a dirt trail that had Pirates of the Caribbean music and pirate themed decorations and we got to run through the Wide World of Sports on different tracks and see ourselves on the big screens.  The race was crowded (people off all abilities and speeds were participating) so we spent most of the time weaving in and out of the masses, but we stuck together and kept a nice easy pace.  My main goal was to enjoy the race and prove to myself that I could run that far!  We ended up finishing the race in 1 hour and 57 minutes with a strong finish.  

So happy to finish!

One of the best parts?  I felt AMAZING the whole time!  Yes, my legs were tired, but I had 0 stomach issues.  I took 3 Clif Shot Bloks along the course and the remaining 3 right after I was done.  I probably should have been more careful because the race was pretty humid and I sweated quite a bit.  Luckily it all worked out and I have high hopes for my upcoming half marathon.

Overall I had a wonderful impression of Disney races and Laura and I tentatively made plans to run in the Disney Princess Half Marathon in a couple of years.  They had plenty of water stops, lots of volunteers and crowd support, and at the end they gave us this box.

We were excited when they told us it was a snack pack!  Inside they had provided us with cheese and crackers, a Clif Bar, chocolate, trail mix, and gummies.  They also gave us Powerade and bottles of water at the finish line along with our awesome medal.  By the time we got back to the hotel it was almost 2 AM.  It is a miracle that this grandma stayed up so late ;-) 

Needless to say, we weren't thrilled to leave Disney.  Laura wasn't pleased when I made her take a picture right before heading to the airport, but we couldn't leave without one last goodbye to Mickey!

See you soon, Mick!

I am lucky to have such a great friend that's willing to travel with me to run!  Thanks again, Laura!  I can't wait to become princesses soon!

Hot Chocolate 15k: A PR Story

I have been looking forward to this race for a loonnnnng time.  The second I heard the words "chocolate" and "running" together I knew I had to sign up and luckily my birthday was right before so my mom and dad agreed to gift me with the entry fee, along with my very own box of hot chocolate, and a brand new running shirt (which by the way, was part of the perfect race day outfit).

As I've said I was really nervous about the race from the expo to race day.  I just knew I would miss the expo and not be able to pick up my bib and then sleep through my alarm, be late for the race, and butcher my goals.  Only one of those things happened.  Guess which one?

My friend went to the expo with me because I was paranoid about not being able to find it (my GPS sometimes plays mean tricks on me and we often have communication issues...) and other than interpreting the Hot Chocolate Expo 2 rights the wrong way we made it with no problems.  I got really excited because the National Harbor was pretty and I saw Ketchup which is a restaurant they ate at in that show The Hills in LA, which is a terrible reason to get excited about something, but whatever.  The expo went really smoothly and I hardly had to wait at all to get my race packet.  The entry fee included a windbreaker, which turned out to be yet another part of that perfect race day outfit, along with my favorite Target pretty much spandex pants and my gloves and headband.  The jacket also had POCKETS!  No worrying about what I was going to do with my gloves when my hands got too hot or my ipod falling into the water or something.  You never know.

I stayed at my friend's house before the race because it was closer than my apartment, and as my sister can tell you, I was once again paranoid I was going to forget something.  I had a continuous check list going through my head and I'm proud to say I didn't forget anything.   

Maddux wanted to go, too!

I have a very nice friend who is willing to leave the house at 5:30 in the morning, ride a shuttle through tons of traffic, and stand in the cold for hours to see me a total of 2 times during the 9 mile race, all while holding my bag of stuff.  Said traffic made the race get off to a late start (which is good considering that I made it to the race site 10 minutes before we were supposed to start and I had to sprint to the portapotties to make sure I wouldn't suffer the whole time...which happened anyway, but not because of my grandmotherly bladder).  I was really sad to see all the negativity from runners at this race.  There were a few unexpected change of events, but I mean it happens.  Usually runners are such a fun group to be around, but so many people were complaining about the dumbest things I have ever heard.  Man up or go home.  Anyway.  I just felt sorry for them that they allowed themselves to dwell on the things that weren't going as planned and ended up having a sucky day.  

As far as the actual running part goes (I know, ridiculously long post), I felt awesome for the entire first 10k.   Most of that was on the highway, which was kind of cool at first because a lot of the time I'm stuck in traffic on the highway and have this thought that it would be really awesome to run and see how much faster I could run than drive and that dream came true!  Kinda.  I got a high five from my friend around mile 5 so that gave me a great boost.  Then mile 7 hit and things started to get hard.  Mentally I was saying, "You have less than 2.5 miles left, WOOO! YOU CAN DO IT!", but my ankles were saying, "Excuse me, we don't really run this far.  We're going to tighten up on you now."  Then at mile 8 my IT band said, "Hey, remember that time you ran too far after training too little?  That's what you're about to feel now."  Then at mile nine I said, "THANK YOU, LORD!" and made it to the end for an ever so swift 1:38 finish.  According the the race results, that means I had a 10:30 pace.  Bah.  Not exactly the goal I had planned, but a PR no less.  And the end of the race was really pretty.  And there was yummy hot chocolate at the end.  And more Ghiradelli squares at the end.  And chocolate fondue which I didn't want because I just wanted to get on the shuttle and sleep until we got home.  

I am very sore today, but now I'm more motivated than ever to get my butt in gear for my March half marathon.  This race definitely proved that not taking training seriously isn't going to surprise me with an awesome run.  If I want to meet my 2:05 goal I really need to stop the excuses and start working hard.  Annnnnd for more motivation I am cashing in my birthday gift certificate from that very nice friend from the race to go get my new running shoes today!  I hope they don't make me run to see my stride though.  It might not be completely accurate right now....