10 For Texas

I was so excited to be able to do 10 for Texas in The Woodlands. I had my mind set to do it months ago when we learned there would be no marching band contests on the calendar. It was even more special to run it with the girls. Having come to terms with the fact that I am just slower than I was last year, I decided to be conservative with my finish time goal. The combination of record heat and drought, nursing school, increasing stress, and sleep deprivation on top of being a wife, mom, and working is lethal to my pace. It can't be helped. I will have the hot runner body and work on that BQ (haha) after the letters R.N. trail my name.

So it was a great race. I set a time goal of 2:10 and a more important goal of finishing strong and not cramping. I did my best to hydrate and fuel in the days preceding the race and went to the starting line confident. We met at Potbelly's so we could line up and start together. On our way to the starting line we were stopped by a photographer for one of The Woodlands magazines. So exciting!! Unfortunately, we lost Kim in the crowd somehow and she wasn't in the picture. One of the highlights of the day was the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. There were some technical difficulties and the singer had to start over. When the microphone went out again the entire crowd started singing. It was awesome! There were sooo many people lined up I thought it would take five minutes to get over the starting line. It only ended up being about a minute and a half. Kim and Kelly were ahead of us but Teresa, Tara, and I managed to stay together for roughly the first half of the race. At about mile three I realized that I had started out too fast and decided to slow the pace to where it felt sustainable. Maybe one of these days I will actually NOT start out too fast. After mile 4 I decided to stop with the run/walk intervals and just walk at the water stations. I found a groove and was afraid to lose it with the walk breaks. It seemed to work although it was a risky move as I have been doing the 5:1 intervals during training. After about mile five Tara moved ahead of us and I lost Teresa about half way between five and six. By this point I realised there wasn't anywhere for Glenn to park and cheer along the course and I wasn't going to see them until I reached the finish line. There were lots of people cheering, the little kids were the cutest. It was just after the six mile mark that another highlight of the race occurred. I was expecting Teresa to catch up to me and when I caught someone approaching out of the corner of my eye I thought it was her. Nope the shirt was yellow. It was Coach Steve!!! My was I happy to see him. He wasn't able to race with us but that didn't stop him from crashing the course for a quick 30 minute run. Amazingly enough I possess the skill of running and side hugging simultaneously. There we were running sweaty cheek to sweaty cheek. It was just the pick me up I needed to get me through to the end. I guess it could have been the power gel. No. It was Steve. The last mile was really tough. There was an incline and a head wind. But, I fought the urge to walk and thought that Lake Woodlands was the longest road in the world (as I often thought during training). A girl in a red shirt passed me and said we have to be getting close. I checked my garmin we only had about a quarter mile to go. After I turned into Market Street I decided to go ahead and kick it in to finish strong. As I passed her she said "Go get it." Obviously I don't spend enough time in Market Street because there was one more turn than I was expecting and here I was going at puke pace. I made the last turn and red shirt girl is approaching me. That is when the inner competitor in me kicked in and there was no way that chick was going to beat me to the line. Naturally I gave it all I had and made it over first. YES!!!!! My official time was 2:11:30. I was a little slower than my goal but I finished strong, I didn't cramp, and I listened to my body and it was a success. My legs were tired but they carried me to the end. You can't get better than that!!

Tara, Teresa, Kelly, Me, Kim

Team in Training!!!!! Heels and Hills and Him Half Marathon

I have been back into running for nearly two years now. Until this past May I trained and raced alone. Now I can't imagine it without my new 'running family'! A young boy at church was diagnosed with Leukemia this past spring. In my desire to make some type of fundraising effort, I found the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training and signed up to train with The Woodlands team. I will never forget our first practice heading out from the library and running down The Woodlands waterway. It wasn't a particularly spectacular or memorable run (although it was beautiful!) but it was cool enough to wear a jacket and kicked off a season of training through the HOTTEST summer on record!!! We slowly built up our mileage on our early morning Saturday runs and alternated Wednesday evening practices between the track and hills. I don't know which was more torturous but I loved every minute of it.
I had originally signed up to train for the Nike Women's marathon in San Francisco but roughly mid season had to change events due to a scheduling conflict. Two weeks ago was the Hills and Heels and Him Half Marathon in Irving, Texas. It was my third half marathon. It was a lovely weekend kicked off with an Inspiration dinner with all of the Team in Training participants from both the Dallas and Texas gulf coast teams.
We trained through the heat and had to race through it too. It was terribly hot during the race and there wasn't much shade. I tried to start out slow and hold my pace to 13 minute miles or slower and it was tough because my legs wanted to go faster. After two miles I tried to follow my legs and ran a little faster at roughly 12 minute miles. Boy was that a mistake!!! After mile 5 I knew I wasn't going to get a personal record and was regretting not running with my team mates and just enjoying the event we had trained for together. Around mile six, I caught up to Lexie and a couple of girls from the Dallas area and hung with them until around mile 7. That is when it really started going down hill for me. My pace slowed and I was slowing down into the 14 minute mile range at times. I had been doing run/walk intervals of 5:1 and that five minutes kept getting longer and longer. I was ready to walk around three minutes and I was on my own again. Around mile ten I started cramping. My calves were tying up in knots and it felt like my feet were curling up into balls in my shoes. It was pretty miserable. I stopped to stretch, ran on my tip toes, and walked on my heels- anything that would give me some relief. There were many times when there was no choice but to walk. I tried to eat the pretzels I had in my fuel belt but I couldn't swallow them. I was really regretting not carrying my own water belt. I will never make that mistake again!! It was shortly after all this started that my team mate Teresa caught up to me. I was so happy to see her. She gave me some gatorade to help with the cramping and some much needed moral support. That last mile was the worst. I walked most of it and had to stop to stretch several times. It was when I made the final turn into the finishing area that I realized how it is possible for people to not finish a race. Ordinarily when the finish line is in sight all fatigue and pain are surmountable and I am able to kick it into gear and get myself over that line. As I tried to do that the pain in my legs wouldn't allow me to run. Thank goodness for the Team in Training coach at the finish line area who was able to rub out the cramp in my calf and I was able to run. It was pretty heart breaking to have the finish line in view and not be able to run to it. It was nice to have my team mates there to cheer me into the finish. It really helped me through those last few steps.
I am so glad that I joined this team and made these wonderful friends. We had two great coaches: Steve and Kelly, two awesome mentors: Doug and Crystal and some really neat ladies and running buddies: Kittie, Kim, Lexie, Marta, Tara, and Teresa. Thanks to you all for sharing with me this summer of fun and fatigue.

Thank you to my friends and family who supported me through this journey.

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