Woot Woot

I ran the Clairton Chamber of Commerce 5k with my husband on a whim this morning. We got there early enough to register and get packets but they were out of shirts. I was kind of bummed because I plan to make a quilt out of all the cotton race shirts I get from these little races eventually.

I spent some time talking to the runners about reGen and handing out samples. Then I did some strides and stretched out while listening to some pretty awesome classic rock from the DJ. I also ran into a couple people from my local CrossFit box so we chatted some before lining up.

As soon as the announcer shouted, "Go!" I knew things weren't going that well. The sun suddenly broke free of the clouds and the temperature seemed to rise about 5 degrees in a matter of minutes. The humidity was choking and sweat was pouring down my face. Then, before I even reached the turn out of the park, my right shoe came untied. I jumped to the sidewalk, cursing myself, and fixed it before continuing on.

I held on to a small group of people and did my best to stay with them. We were on the first bridge crossing headed to the 1 mile marker when I realized I was holding about a 7 minute mile pace. I'm crazy but not THAT crazy. I backed off and watched my rabbits disappear. After that I was pretty much on my own and just focused on staying sub-9 pace for as long as I could.

Heading uphill to the turn around point I started to really struggle. I saw the leader, a couple women, some more men, and then my husband! He was really close to the front! I yelled to him that there were 6 or 7 people ahead of him and he needed to go for it and we high fived. It was just the pick-me-up I needed. I made it around the turn around and picked the pace back up on the downhill.

As I came past the 2 mile marker my vision started to blur and the sweat started to pour harder. I wanted to take off my shirt but I didn't want to lose the time. I was starting to really worry that I would puke, pass out, or both. I told myself I was too close to the end to give up now so I just kept chugging along.

As I approached the second bridge crossing (same bridge but going uphill this time) I really started to lose motivation. I pushed up the hill but my pace kept slipping. I was at a demoralizing 11-12 minute mile pace but I knew I couldn't walk it any faster so I kept going. About 2/3 of the way up I got that woozy feeling again and decided that I would have to walk. I set my sights on a speed limit sign, walked to it, then picked up the pace again.

Suddenly I was at the top of the hill and it was almost totally downhill to the finish line. I looked at my watch and I was under 26 minutes still! I knew I could PR if I could just dig deep enough. I got the pace to 10 minute miles, then to 9, and on the last downhill I'm pretty sure I was sub-7 again.

I crossed the finish line and glanced at the clock to see 29:16! PR! Woot! The volunteers were trying to take my bib tag and move me out of the lane but I was trying not to throw up on them. It was really hard to shoo them away. I will always be eternally grateful that I didn't lose my breakfast on them!

I found Shane and we caught up with some of his coworkers, some friends, and the other runners from CrossFit. Everyone had done pretty well and seemed generally happy with their performance. The last few runners finished and as we cheered in the walkers the announcer put up the results. I was overjoyed to see that I got third in my age group! My husband ran a PR as well, 23:50, and got second in his age group!

Overall, I'm not thrilled with how everything went but since I can't control circumstances I am overjoyed with how I handled them. If I hadn't tied my shoe, hadn't walked that hill, hadn't almost tossed my cookies at the 2 mile marker, I almost certainly would have seen a 28 in front of my time for the first time ever! I can't wait to sign up for my next (hopefully flat) 5k!

But next up is Warrior Dash in Logan, OH next weekend! Bring on the obstacles!

Speed Demon

I've always considered myself to be a LSD girl. (And incase you're not a runner that stands for long, slow distance.) I'm not fast by any means. In fact my 5k PR (29:55 for an official race)has been easily beaten by some of my couch-potato friends who just decided to get off the couch and see how far they could go.

I told myself that it must be the way I'm built, that I must be all slow twitch muscle. Thanks to those oxygen-sipping, slow-firing Type I muscle fibers I would always be slow but I could outlast everyone. I set my sights on endurance events and ultramarathons and left the 5k's to the sleek speedsters in spandex.

I will never look like Sara Hall!


Then something happened. I can't quite pinpoint what it was but the marathon was the climax to a disappointment that has been building. I don't want to be slow. I don't want to have people tell me 'but at least you finished'. I don't ever want to put DFL next to my race results ever again.

So I made a bold decision. I dropped my July 100 miler and decided to drop my mileage and focus on speed instead. I'm now following Hal Higdon's Half Marathon plan. I have hopes to set a new half PR before the end of summer and then go back into marathon training faster and in better shape. I'd like to tackle another marathon with confidence and then go on to my 50 mile and 100k in the fall with the knowledge that I'm not going to be dead last.

At this point I've been incorporating tempo runs and 400m repeats into my training. I've also been pushing myself harder at CrossFit. Some people will tell you that doing speed work, long runs, strength training, and cross training all together will cause over-training. However, periodization just isn't for me. Today I saw small progress when I ran a 29:30 5k on the treadmill and didn't feel like I was going to drop dead.

It might not be good enough to take an age group award at my next 5k but a shiny, new PR would be almost as good. I'm just going to put it out there that my stretch goal for next year would hopefully put me in the age group awards for most of my local 5k's. I guess you'll just have to wait and see if I can make it happen. :)

Planking adventures....

Have you heard of planking? Wikipedia defines it as 'the act of lying face down with arms to the sides of the body, in unusual public spaces and photographing it'. Like this:

Of course, being an exercise addict I thought of this instead:

So then I thought why not combine the two?! Instead of just laying around we can get fit with a new fad! So of course, my ever-gullible husband and I went off with the kids to test it out! The results are absolutely spectacular!

Of course, since Shane and I did it our oldest had to try it to. And I think she did a wonderful job! Check out these planking skills!

Death by asphalt....

Or the Pittsburgh Marathon as the signs called it. What can I say? This was the worst performance of my life and my biggest disappointment so far in my racing career. I kept doubting my training and feeling underprepared. I was half looking for an excuse not to run. I don't know why I doubted myself so much but I guess it was just foreshadowing on the tragedy that was my first marathon. My husband thankfully took today off work to be there for me otherwise I probably would have just stayed in bed this morning.

The morning started at 2AM which is just way too early. I got ready and then couldn't find anything I wanted to eat. My stomach was in knots and I couldn't tell if it was nerves, hunger, or something worse gnawing at my gut. I would soon find out is was a mix of everything and it would only get worse. I'll spare you the gory details but it was pretty horrendous.

We arrived at the parking garage at 3:45AM. Oops, it didn't open until 4 so we sat around for awhile and then parked and sat some more. After a while we hit the bathrooms and walked over to the starting line about a mile away. We found my corral and found a seat on some concrete steps. My stomach continued to wreak havoc on me and I tried to eat a bit of a snack bar but I felt like it was going to come back up. We watched the walkers 6AM start and sat some more. I started to get stiff and sore so I stretched and walked and went to the bathroom again but nothing made me feel better. Then it started raining and I got just a tad more miserable.

Finally the runners started to line up. I jumped in with the 4:45 pace group and figured out that would be a 10:57 average pace. That was about my goal and I figured it would give me a safety net to still break 5 hours. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Once the gun went off it was about 14 minutes until I crossed the starting line. It was all false starts and quick stops. I could feel the frustration rising around me and I started to worry that I wouldn't be able to get a good rhythm for a long time. Thankfully things thinned out pretty quickly but I still couldn't find a rhythm.


I looked to my Garmin to judge my pace and it was worthless. The tall buildings and overpasses were messing with the signal and my pace reading was all over the place. I tried to pick someone that looked comfortable and stick with them until we got to a more open area. That went okay but when we got free my pace was still all over the place, 10:15, 11:30... everything but that 10:55-11:00 that I was aiming for. To make it harder the skies opened up and the rain began falling harder over the next couple miles.

After a few miles I was really starting to worry. My stomach downright hurt and I felt like I could eat a small horse. I looked for GU at every aid station and it just wasn't there. There was nothing besides water and Gatorade for the first 9 or so miles. It was here that I really started kicking myself for relying on the aid stations. I felt a little better when the rain let up and thought maybe the worst was over. HA!

Luckily, I caught two women from New Jersey, wearing Team Lyme shirts, who were running right about where I wanted to be pace-wise so I started chatting them up and we got on really well. We made promises to stay in touch and run another marathon together someday (Holly and Daniella, if you ever read this, I'm not sure I'm willing to subject myself to this again!). Daniella even shared her shot blox with me to help calm my stomach. It somewhat worked and I was able to keep my mind off the pain as we chatted. I hit the 10k point at 1:11, a little behind pace but not bad overall. The sun started to come out and things started to heat up. The humidity in the air was thick like fog and hard to breathe. Runners were already collapsing and being loaded into ambulances. I was determined not to be one of them.

The Team Lyme girls kept me going for over half of the race! Heartfelt thanks to them!


I finally found some food, pretzels and GU, a few miles later and started to feel a little better. I kept drinking Gatorade knowing that I tend to overdrink water. The Gatorade messed with my stomach a little bit but I had gotten a grip on the pain and it wasn't messing with my running anymore. We hit the half at 2:34:32. I had slowed down a little more overall but I was still generally happy with my work so far. It wouldn't last for long.

About a mile later (14) the wheels came off. I started walking, my calves started cramping, my right knee started tightening up just like it did in my 50k and last half marathon. I was reduced to a snail's pace for the next mile. I ate and drank and ate some more. I hit mile 15 in 3:01. It finally started to come back together around mile 16-17 and I was able to get back to running more than walking even though it was slower than before. By this point I had lost Daniella and Holly and I knew I wasn't hitting my goal. I decided I would just aim to finish before the 6 hour cut-off and do my best to hit 5:30. The sun was out with much thinner cloud cover now and I was feeling really warm. I wanted to take my shirt off but I was afraid my bib chip wouldn't read if I did or that the police would think I was a bandit and pull me off the course.

I seemed to be okay for the next couple miles. My stomach calmed down, my calves and knee loosened. Then, halfway through mile 18, I totally came undone again. Another runner asked me how it was going at mile 19 and I couldn't even answer. I just burst out in tears and did my best not to just stop and quit right there.

I started setting tiny goals just to keep going. At first it was 'get to mile 20 then you can walk' but before long it became 'run to the stoplight and then you can walk'. I hit mile 20 in 4:17. The 5:30 pace bunny passed me somewhere after here but I just kept telling myself it was just another 10k and I couldn't quit now.

Every mile ticked by slower than the last. I started walking all of the uphills, speed walking the flats, and flat out running the downhills (which at this point meant an 11-12 minute mile pace). I got to mile 23 by some miracle and started to bawl again. This time I just felt relief. I couldn't believe I was going to finish. Just a 5k left! I started to run again.

The next 5k was the most irritating of my life. I did the math and realized I was closer to 6 hour pace now than 5:30. The 5:30 pace bunny was out of sight and I was edging closer and closer to a meltdown. To top it off a woman walker came up and asked me if the cut off was course time or chip time. Being that it had taken me 14 minutes to cross the starting line I started to panic realizing I might not get a medal if it was based on course time. Finishing after everything I'd been through and not getting any kind of recognition seemed like a slap in the face. I HAD to get that medal!

I did some quick math and realized I had just over 2 miles left and I could come in just under 6 hours course time if I found some way to keep my pace up. The panic fueled me and I made it to the last major obstacle, the 4th and final bridge crossing, with few walk breaks. The 26 mile marker was just on the other side of that bridge and I was determined to make it. However, the incline of the bridge quickly took me down a notch. I realized I wasn't going much faster than walking pace and I was expending twice the energy. I walked to the top and then floored it down to the 26 mile marker and the final turn to the finish.

At this point, the final downfall was of my own making. I saw my husband there, waiting patiently with camera-in-hand, and started bawling one more time. I couldn't breathe so I stopped to walk again and my husband snapped some pics. I promised him I would just walk to the intersection and then run to the finish and I did.

As I got to the last 100 yards or so I set my sights on a girl about my age and a guy running with his son. I was determined to pass SOMEONE, ANYONE at this point. I gave it every last drop I had and passed them all, not even able to smile as the announcer referred to me as a 'speeding bullet'. I crossed the line (5:49:40 chip time), looked around, and saw no medals!

I started to cry again as I looked back and saw 6:04 on the clock (my course time was 6:03:43). Then one last good thing happened to me. I looked up and saw a volunteer with an arm full of medals standing in front of me. He put it over my head and congratulated me on my finishing kick. I started to cry harder and then headed for the exit to reunite with my husband.

Overall, this was a completely demoralizing experience. I feel like six months of training was wasted and that maybe I just shouldn't be a runner afterall. Yet, somewhere deep inside I feel satisfaction knowing I stared the worst possible race day scenerio in the face and still finished. Among 217 DNF's, my name is not on that list. I was not DFL and I wasn't even last in my age group. Everyone suffered today and we all overcame no matter how long it took. I'm not sure if or when I'll put myself through a road marathon again but it definitely was a whole different experience!

Reach for the sky

I'm really reaching here but Circle of Moms is looking for 25 fitness blogging moms to become part of their health & fitness blog circle.  I don't have a huge following and I'm definitely not living as exciting a life as many of the elite mother runners but I am NORMAL.  Insanely normal, I guess.  I think being able to relate to people is the most important part of interpersonal relationships.  So I'm going to test my relationships with this post and ask for a vote:



You can vote once per day and there's no signing up.  Just click the link and then click the little thumbs up symbol next to Endorphin Mom.  I don't have any illusions that I'll actually win but I can dream and that I am definitely good at!

It's been one week....

Yes, I have Barenaked Ladies "One Week" stuck in my head:
http://youtu.be/fC_q9KPczAg

And you know why?  It's one week to my first marathon!  EEK!  I did (most) of my last long run today, 6 out of 8 miles.  (I'm going to try to do the other 2 plus a little later tonight.)  I'm looking over my training and I'm just not sure it's there.  I'm doubting my training, myself, my motivation, everything.  I know it's just taper madness.  I mean, I've only got 9 miles scheduled between now and marathon day!  It's time to ice, stretch, massage, drink my reGen, and trust in myself.  Woosa! (If you haven't seen Bad Boys 2 you are seriously missing out!)

On top of that, school starts back up tomorrow.  I am so ready to be done with this process.  I want to start that 'real adult' chapter of my life where I get a job that doesn't make me cringe, get a paycheck that doesn't feel like I've sold my soul, and frying my DNA with radiation isn't a prerequisite.  All I have left of my classes are the ones I don't want to take like finance, accounting, etc.  Math isn't that hard but it's boring and time consuming.  And concentration and time are two things I seem to be running short on lately.  I'm going to have to get into survival mode very quickly if I'm going to pass the next couple semesters.

On a happier note, I am loving CrossFit!  I'm even thinking that maybe I'll move my focus from endurance running to CrossFit competition after this year's races are completed.  I've only been working out with my box for a few weeks but I'm already seeing (and loving!) changes.  My arms have more definition, my quads are now thicker than my knees, and my abs have a very slight line on either side!  I may never have a six pack but if I can prove that I still have abdominal muscles after two kids I will be very satisfied! 

And we can't forget that Burning River 100 Mile Endurance Run is looming over the horizon!  I'm excited, scared, and determined all at the same time.  I've completed 35 miles on foot and doing almost 3 times that just seems slightly surreal.  I'm leaning on all of the ultrarunners I know to help me get my pacing, fueling, hydration, and planning down.  Thankfully the ultra community is filled with wonderful people who are happy to welcome newcomers with big dreams (and small muscles!).  I'm still terrified but I'm getting more excited with their encouragement every day!

So on this Mothers' Day I just have to say that I'm so grateful to have been given the opportunity to be a wife, mother, and ultrarunner.  I may not always enjoy my many roles and sometimes my enthusiasm gets me in over my head but I stay focused on being the best role model I can be for the two little girls that call me mommy.  No matter what happens with my marathon, my ultra, my CrossFit, or my school I will always be mommy and that's a pretty awesome thing!

I've got a new team!

I recently received the opportunity of a lifetime!  Before I dive into the details let me say that I never thought that running would take me all the places it has (and is going to!).  I'm still amazed every day at what my body can do and where my own feet can take me and the opportunities this ability has brought me.  I'm so blessed to have everything I do and I am absolutely humbled to know that I've been considered worthy to join 59 other runners and triathletes on Team reGen! 

For those of you who don't know what I'm blabbering on about, reGen is a product I had the honor of trying during a consumer feedback project.  I really enjoyed the trial and the product and I'm so excited to get to represent reGen for the next six months!  So what is so great about reGen?  Read on!

ReGen is a recovery drink unlike any other on the market right now.  The main ingredient is pure, natural cocoa which has an amazing amount of antioxidants.  ReGen didn't skimp on quality with 12 grams of cocoa in each serving and they didn't skimp on the science either.  Miami Research Associates did the clinical testing and found an average of 25% faster recovery in athletes using reGen versus another beverage.  They also found an average of 9.7% increase in endurance. 

With Burning River 100 looming this was enough to convince me to try it and I'm so glad I did!  With a smooth texture and chocolate milk flavor (although 99.9% lactose free!) I loved it at first taste.  It's not as sweet as other beverages because it's not filled with artificial sweeteners but it's still yummy.  The taste was attractive but I was wary of the claims reGen made.  Boy was I surprised!  Ever since my 50k I've been having some right knee pain.  It was slowly getting better but my recent addiction to CrossFit brought back the uncomfortable tightness.  I faithfully used reGen within 30-60 minutes of every workout and found my soreness and my knee pain reduced as well as making some big strength gains in the gym.  After the trial was over I was sad that I no longer had my new favorite after-workout drink.  Thankfully it wasn't long before I got that super exciting email!

Today I received my welcome package and what a welcome it was!  Eight, yes eight!, boxes came off the UPS truck.  Seven of them were a 15, FIFTEEN!, case supply of reGen for me to use (and share, if you're lucky!) and the last box was the beginning of my reGen brand apparal wardrobe!  I've never been so thrilled by a UPS delivery in my life.  In fact I was so happy I gave the UPS man some reGen to recover from unloading my boxes!  I'm in for the ride of my life and I am stoked, geeked, over-the-moon! 

I need to calm myself down and get my head out of the clouds!  I should have saved my run for tonight.  Before I try to come back to reality just let me say thank you to everyone who has supported my journey into running (and then ultrarunning!).  I've been blessed with best group of family and friends (real and virtual) any running mom could hope for.  Thank you all so much!