• How is it May already? I am loving it! A few more weeks of school till summer break. Somehow we skipped Spring and went right into Summer. We’ve had a few very warm days. Haha, now I will be complaining that it is too hot here.
• There is some construction in front of my house. It started back in March and no one could park between 7am-3pm. Not a problem for me. I am gone before 7 and get home after 3. Early this week there was a new sign letting us know that there is no parking before 5pm. What? Where the HECK am I supposed to park? Luckily they’ll be done before I am on summer break.
• I am going to San Francisco in a few weeks because my nephew graduates from the University of Berkeley. I made some changes to my reservation and knew that it would “cost” me some extra points. Not a problem. However, I was not expecting to get a message letting me know that it would “cost” me even more points. I then went to change my mom’s reservation and sure enough got the same message for her. Seriously? Things move pretty fast and fares have changed already? TWICE? Make up your mind.
• Any “Scandal” fans? Not sure if I liked the ending. Actually I was kind of disappointed with it. I am upset about what happened to David. I mean, really? He was one of the nicest and good guys on the show and that was his ending? As for Cyrus, man, could not stand him. He is the perfect example of someone you don’t need in your life.
• I posted that last Friday I signed up to be a donor for Be The Match.I received a call early in the week and in so many words was told that they were only taking applications for people between the ages of 18-34. (I am older than 34). But if I was still interested in being a donor, I could apply again and pay for the swab kit myself. I just went online and there is a form that can be filled out to order a swab kit (I think it is free). Kind of annoying that I have to order one when someone from Be The Match already did a cheek swab.
I feel like April just started. How is it over so soon? As of yesterday, I have 5 weeks left of school.
• Training went very well this month. I had a good month in April. Some days we had decent weather and it was nice enough to run in shorts. Though there was a day or two that we did have a little bit of snow.
• Ran 110.51 miles. Another month over 100 miles. Total to date is 410.01 and that put me at 34% done of my yearly goal.
• Total time running was 21:42. Not quite a whole day but pretty close.
• Ran another race. Instead of running a marathon, I did a half marathon. It wasn’t my day. You can read about it here.
• 21 days of running. I run 5 days a week and have been loving it. My rest days are Monday and Friday which is good because those are the two days in which I am the most tired. I will begin training for a half marathon (ZOOMA Great Lakes or Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver) but haven’t decided which one and how to train for it.
• More great quality session workouts. These workouts are my favorite. I love the variety and the challenge. I did GREAT in all of them.
• I sort of kept up with Rachel’s challenge. I didn’t mind too much the pushups or the tricep dips. The burpees/jump squats are the worst.
• I am a ZOOMA Great Lakes Ambassador. I am excited for this opportunity and looking forward to running another half marathon in WI.
• Looking forward to 2 races in May. I am excited to be running the Chicago Spring Half Marathon and 10K (register today w/code “BRCHISPRING18” & get $10 off the half/$5 for the 10K) and the Soldier Field 10 Mile (use “BRSoldierField” to score some bonus RAM Racing sunglasses).
Overall, I am proud of myself with how I did in April. I did all of my runs which made me very happy. The only thing that didn’t go as planned was my race on Saturday. Not a big deal anymore and life goes on.
So how did April go for you?
Linking up with Marcia, Patti, and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run.
Disclaimer: I received a free entry to the Illinois Marathon part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find and write race reviews!
Whew! It was an interesting weekend. The weather was perfect after battling with Mother Nature with the never ending winter. However, my race didn’t go as I planned. I didn’t run the marathon but instead ran the half marathon.
Let’s go back to Friday before the race. I worked for 1/2 day and then drove to Champaign. It took me about 3 hours to get there. No big deal.
I arrived at the Activities and Recreation Center to pick up my bib at the expo. The expo was pretty small. I didn’t buy anything but did sign up to be a bone marrow donor for Be The Match.
Found a picture of the course and saw Abe Lincoln. 🙂
Later that evening I went out to dinner with some friends at Old Chicago Pizza and Tap Room. I had pizza and pretzel sticks. We didn’t stay out too late and I think we left around 9pm. Earlier in the day I got my stuff ready for the race and that night I double checked to make sure I had everything I needed.
The next day my alarm went off at 5am. I got ready and then went to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and a bagel. It was cold. I knew it would warm up and was glad to see lots of sunshine in the forecast.
I parked in the lot and stayed in my car to stay warm. Finally I got out to use the port-a-potty and to check in my gear. I saw a few friends and we talked for a bit and got more excited about my race. I took one huma gel at about 6:50am. The plan was to take one every 4 miles.
I ran into Amanda (another BibRave Pro) and it was great to finally meet her. Then it was time to run!
My plan was to start running “slow” and then pick up the pace after the 13 mile marker. I was enjoying the warm sun and soaking it all in. I was FINALLY running a marathon that I had trained for a very long time. Training that took me outside running in very cold weather this winter. Finally everything was coming together.
I took another gel at mile 4. Still feeling good. I made sure to drink water at the water stations. Then after mile 6 my stomach began to hurt. I felt like I had to use the bathroom. I decided to walk a little and hoped that I would feel better. I didn’t. I kept walking and knew I was in trouble. I could feel my heart beating fast but couldn’t understand why since I was WALKING. I then got very tired, had some trouble breathing, and struggled to run. There was some wind but nothing worse that what I had encountered during my training. I wasn’t cold since I had a jacket. By mile 9 I knew I wasn’t going to finish the marathon.
I was in tears and was so mad. I was angry because I trained so hard for this marathon. Angry because instead of allowing this anger to push me to keep going, I was allowing it to mess with my head.
Yep, I went left.
The finish line was inside Memorial Stadium. I got my medal and went up the stairs to the Great West Hall to get some food.
I didn’t stay there too long and then went back to the hotel to shower. Afterwards I met a few Oiselle gals for brunch at Big Grove Tavern.
I spent the weekend trying to figure out what went wrong. Did I panic? Did I get nervous/scared? Was I a wimp and decided to take the easy way out by running 13.1 miles instead of 26.2? Did I start off too fast? Too many questions and honestly I am not even sure I will figure it out. Below are my splits.
Thanks to Athlinks I added another race to my profile. I have now run 158 races (69 half marathon)!
By Monday I decided to just let it go and stop thinking about it. Regardless I still ran a half marathon and I should be proud of it.
I thought the race was well organized. The half marathon course was pretty flat. There weren’t too many spectators and the ones that were there did a good job cheering for us. The best part was seeing a guy on a unicorn bike blowing bubbles. 🙂
For now I don’t plan on running a marathon anytime soon. I am signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon but plan to transfer my bib, so if you are interested in a bib, let me know.
Linking up with Marcia, Patti, and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run.
M Ran 3.61 T 4.35 W 2.86 THRest F Ran 1.60 S Rest S Ran 13.27
My last week of training! I did one quality session (which I was shocked that I had to do) and the rest of my runs were done at an easy pace
Monday morning I had a professional development at school so I didn’t have to get in early. I went running in the morning and enjoyed seeing the sun.
On Tuesday I went out in the evening (later than I wanted to) for my last quality session workout (10 minutes warm up, 6×400@2:40 per rep, and 10 minutes cool down). Boom! Mission accomplished!
Friday was my last run (20 minutes) and I took my time and enjoyed it.
I went to work for 1/2 day and then drove to Champaign for the marathon. It was a long drive (2.5 hours). My race didn’t go as I expected. Spoiler alert: I did instead the half marathon. I will have a recap of the race on Tuesday.
Total mileage for the week: 25.70 Total mileage for this training cycle: 488.79 Total mileage for the year: 409.95
That concludes my training for the Illinois Marathon. I am signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon in October but I think for now I will hang my marathon running shoes. I have a few races I want to PR (5K, 10K, 10 miles, and half marathon) and would like to focus on will like to focus instead on those race distances.
• My Internet was down since Saturday. A Comcast representative came in today and fixed it for me. Whew! How is it possible to feel lost without Internet at home? I did have access on my phone and Sprint but it feels very different doing so on a phone.
• My marathon is this Saturday. I am excited but also nervous. I trained really hard this winter and had some great runs but also some not so great. I know my “A” goal is to get a PR but what I really want is a sub 5 finish time. I know I will be happy completing another marathon, no matter the time, but I know that I will be a little disappointed if I don’t get that sub 5.
• I ordered two hats from Headsweats. I am a big fan of their hats and will be wearing the pink/white on on Saturday.
• Finally some warm weather in Chicago. Finally it is Spring here!
