Race Recap: Schaumburg Turkey Trot Half Marathon

About a month ago I thought it would be a fantastic idea to sign up for a half marathon before my half marathon to see if my legs were ready for the stress of running a sub-two at my goal race (BMW Dallas Half Marathon).  Like any idea of this sort, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  And then the morning of the race came, and it looked like this:

Booooooooooo

Clouds a-plenty, lots of drizzly annoying rain, temps in the 30s, winds in the high teens, and my motivation to run this race was in the negative numbers....that is, until I remembered that this race was part of a race series I accidentally got myself into when I signed up for the race.  You see, anyone who signed up for 3 or more half marathons put on by this race company was automatically entered into the series.  I was unaware of this until they sent me an email about a week ago, telling me of the glories of the extra medal and t-short I would be getting if I completed this last half marathon of the year for them.

They had me at "extra medal."  I dragged myself out of bed and got my butt to the start line, dressed in one my usual awesome "what the hell woman did you get dressed in the dark" running outfits.

That hat is what happens when you accidentally
gear check the one you planned on wearing and
this is all you had in the car.

Thankfully this race a) gives you the option of mailing your bib to you so you don't have to mess with race day packet pickup, b) is small enough that if you get there kind of early you can park close to the start line and snooze in your car until 15 minutes before the start time, and c) is small enough that there are *really* short lines for the port-a-johns so you can take care of an...umm....needs right before the gun goes off.  And that's just what I did, because I decided that I wasn't really going to race this race so pfffft warming up...who has time for that?!?  It was cold and windy and rainy outside, after all.

Anyway, when I got to the start line, I got cozy with the 2:05 pacer after deciding that a 9:32 pace was enough for today, thanks.  And that pace would have been fantastic had I actually run that pace.  Let's run through what happened, shall we?

• The pacer didn't actually start running at the pace advertised on his cute little pacer sign.  We were tracking in the 8:45s and 8:30s at various times the first two miles according to my watch. He finally looked at his watch and then slowed down, but I always worry that this might trash some people for the rest of the race, especially if they haven't trained for those paces and they're busy chugging along keeping up with him.  As soon as I realized he was going too fast, I slowed down to a 9:20-ish on my watch because I'd be damned if he was going to destroy me in the first few miles.
• Eventually pacer guy slowed down to a more reasonable 9:20-ish pace and I began to run with the little pack around him again.  However, he kept slowly speeding up (we had a 9:10-ish minute mile in mile 7) and then, after looking at his watch, slowing down again.  Now, I get that pacing is tough, especially if you're used to running much faster during a race.  But I am of the mindset that pacers should run roughly a consistent pace the entire race so that you're not worn out by too much fast running.  So all the speeding up and slowing down really got to me, especially when we were going to come in well under 2:05 by mile 8 and the pacer had to slow down to around a 9:45 pace just to not come in too early.  
• I decided to go it alone at around mile 9.5.  Even though I know I run way too fast on my own, I was tired of all that speeding up/slowing down business, so I got fed up and didn't wait up for the pacer after a water station at around mile 9.5.  I was surprised by how easy the hills were for me in those last three miles or so, going as fast as I was; I was also surprised by how many people I passed in those last 3 miles. I finished in 2:01:40, which I consider a pretty decent time for this old running broad.
• And about that weather we were having...  I didn't even notice it was full-on raining until mile 11.  And, since this race was mostly through a forest preserve, the trees blocked the wind for many of those 13.1 miles.  Best of all, as soon as I hit the finish line they handed me a hot cinnamon roll, I snagged my gear from gear check, and stepped right onto a warm shuttle bus back to the finish line, where the bus dropped me off right in front of my car.  A nice way to end the race.

Turns out I kind of played this race like two separate races--one 10 mile race and one 3 mile race.

I told you I'm not good on my own...look at those last 3 miles!

No matter how I played it, still got my bling though.

Found out I don't get that extra medal for the race series until the end of the year....rats.


And now you're finding out it's time for learnings (because this post is over):

• I'm not hating on pacers.  I'm just annoyed at this pacer in particular.  So I did what I had to do when I ditched him completely.
• While I dig the big races, there's something to be said for the smaller local races.  And that something is "short port-a-john lines."
• I'll have you know my legs felt really good during the race yesterday.  And today they feel as if someone beat them with a stick yesterday.
• I'll also have you know that boy oh boy they're going to feel even worse in two weeks after I try and run an 8:50 pace for 13.1 miles.

Tomorrow's workout: Speed!  Some 1200s!  Good times!

A lame post just to keep my blogging habit alive. And some race medals.

I took a rest day today.  It was forced upon me by my own body.  Here's how it went down:

1) Put Cathe circuit DVD in player and press "play."
2) Start workout, successfully completing the warmup.
3) Do the first upper body weight exercise and realize that all of your upper body muscles are all NOPE from the prior workouts this week
4) Shut off DVD and cry.

Well, there wasn't really any crying.  But I wanted to, though, especially when the pain hit on my back flys (flys? flies? ugh).  Since Thursdays are going to be an easy 3-mile run day anyway when I start training again, I wasn't especially upset.

Because today is such a boring workout day, I thought I would spice up this post by talking about some of my fave race medals again.  Some are repeats from my previous post, but they're so nice you can look at them twice.

Why are these medals special to me?  Let me count the ways:

• One of them is from a race in which I actually WON out of all of the women....so what if there were only 5 women in the race.
• One of them is SPACE-THEMED and allowed me to dip my feet in an ocean in late November.
• One of them is a huge Ohio.  Huge.
• One of them is a medal from a very hilly St. Louis marathon where I improved my time by over 20 minutes from the previous year, if I remember correctly.
• One of them is just a cool freaking belt buckle that I will never actually wear as a belt buckle.
• And one of them is from the second ultra marathon (a 50K) I ran that I did not train for yet got a better time than I thought I would.

People always ask me why I keep all my medals, seeing as they don't really do much after I get them except take up space.  Well, each medal is a memory and, seeing as how I'm not getting any younger, I gotta hang on to my memories as long as I can.

And plus, you know...bling.  It's all about the bling.  That's why we run, right?


No more bling pictures, just learnings below:

• Bling is why I run.  I don't know about anyone else.  Maybe for silly things like "health" and "fitness."
• This post is sadly short because the hubbs is demanding I go wrap his Xmas presents before Christmas Day.  So demanding.
• It's also short because it's way past my sadly early bedtime.
• Honesty time: I just slapped this post together to keep my blogging habit alive until my next training cycle.  

Tomorrow's workout: We're going to try that boot camp workout again, this time hopefully without my muscles mutinying.  

Day 7, Week 10: My favorite race medals

Here's my workout today (Cathe's Total Body Giant Sets) in three pictures:

Yoga balls used for upper body weights.

Barbells, glorious barbells.

And dogs that sleep in your workout area.

Rather than drone on and on about my love of the weight lifting and barbells, I thought I would use this post to show off some of my favorite race medals.  The idea came to me as I was fretting about hitting my time goal at my goal race coming up (BMW Dallas Marathon).  I told myself even if I don't hit my goal time, I still have to finish to collect the race bling.  And then I wondered if the bling was any good.  And then I had the idea for this post.  So, here goes, in no particular order:

Austin Marathon 2017:  Belt buckle medal.  'Nuff said.

Glass City Marathon 2014 (Toledo, OH): Marathon PR set at this race (4:09:50).

Little Rock Marathon 2016: Big ass medal.

Glass City Marathon 2017: Hellloooooo Ohio!

Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon (Springfield, IL): Freaking huge pennies!

Ragnar Double Medal - Saints & Sinners 2014: Got this by running Wasatch Back Ragnar and Las Vegas Ragnar in the same year.  I mean, c'mon--give it up for the cool upside-down design.

Ragnar Adirondacks 2016 Second Place Medal:  I was on an ultra team that won second in the Mixed Ultra category.  Almost First indeed.

BigFoot Olympic Distance Triathlon:  This is not the fanciest medal I own.  But it is the one of which I am most proud because I survived the swim.  I haven't done a triathlon since.

If anyone knows of any other races with cool bling, feel free to share so I can sign up and get some myself.  Because we all really know it's not about completing the distance and feeling that warm fuzzy sense of accomplishment - it's getting the cool medal at the end of the race that matters most.  (Not really.  Well, maybe just a little.)

End of post.  Time for learnings:

• I get a lot of weight training goodness accomplished in my living room.  You gotta use the space you have.
• I am completely used to dogs in the workout area.  If one doesn't wander through I feel as if my workout is incomplete.
• If I'm struggling in a marathon, the bling always pulls me through to the end.

Tomorrow's workout: Another rainy long run.  15 miles at 15 seconds slower that marathon pace.  Here's to hoping that actually happens.

Day 3, Week 4: Some dumb running mantras and how the TC Marathon makes me less smelly.

Welcome to Treadmill Tuesday, where speed work abounds.  I've told you before that I love speed work.  Like weights, it makes me feel completely badass when I finish a speed workout, whether I'm on the treadmill or outside.

But I'm not always overly excited to get up and *do* the workout.

Even the dog is all GAWD SPEED WORK

This morning a 2 x 1200/4 x 800 workout popped up on the training schedule.  I was going to lie to myself and say that I would do it after work until I realized I had a late meeting to attend and there would be no workout after work.  So I found some motivation to do the run in my closet.

Brooks Launch 4 with knit upper.  Kitty approved.

I just got my sweet new pair of Brooks Launch 4s with the knit upper in the mail yesterday, so these kicks got me to kick my butt over to the treadmill and do the workout.  Now, my legs were still pretty tired from the 18 miler on Sunday, but I pushed through the first mile and felt pretty decent, managing to do the workout without too much mental whining.  To get myself through speed work and not devolve into any mental whining, I have a few internal mantras I use:

• You will not die
• This is where the workout begins (usually this one comes out near the last repeat or interval)
• The brain gives up long before the body does
• Push push push (this works for having a baby as well)
• For crying out loud you run entire marathons and you have done two ultras GET THIS 400 DONE YOU WIMP

While I know counselors and other like professionals would urge everyone to have a kinder, gentler inner dialogue instead of that last mantra, I find that the last one is, unfortunately, the most effective for me.  I respond well to my own abuse, I guess.

Speaking of abuse, let me lay another reason down for you to love the Twin Cities marathon, which is now just 4 crazy days away!  And today's reason is the main reason I run any race:

Blingity bling bling bling!

The bling, baby.  2015 bling pictured above.

When you do the Ultra Loony, you get all the t-shirts from the 3 races you do (5K, 10K, Marathon), all the finisher medals, a bonus challenge medal, plus all the finisher t-shirts.  I get more blingity-bling for my medal rack and I get to get rid of three smelly running t-shirts and replace them with fresh ones every year.  Thanks, TC Marathon, for helping me be a less smelly runner.

Why a standing medal rack?  Why not?

And here's your summary of the learnings:

• Saying that I will do my workout later is always a lie.
• Have I mentioned I love my Launch 4s?  Because if I haven't I really, really love them.
• I really do respond best to my own abuse.
• Sometimes my running mantra is PLEASE PLEASE LET THIS BE OVER SOON
• You mean people run races for something other than bling?  Crazy talk.

Tomorrow's workout: A bike ride!  I hope!