The last 13.3 Miles

As mentioned in my previous post, things were going smooth for the first 13.1 miles. I was happy, or has happy one can be when running 26 miles at a quick pace. I was looking forward to mile 16 because I was going to drop my FuelBelt and pick up my hand held filled with magic juice-Red Bull. I think my affinity for Red Bull started when I mixed it with vodka. There were a couple time where I raced off that concoction and it did not go so well (at the time I thought mixing both and racing the next morning was a superb idea). So I thought removing the vodka component would be a smarter idea and just drink Red Bull. Bingo.

Mile 16 rolls up on us and I hand over my FuelBelt to Jeff and he goes and fetches the Red Bull. As soon as we passed mile 16 things started to go down hill....rather quickly. My entire lower body got tight. My hips were sore. My calfs were in knots. My IT bands were screaming at me. Jeff had warmed me that a flat course is not always an easy course. It is repetitive motion on your legs. No changes in muscle groups. I laughed as I did not believe him. Laughing at him was coming back to bite me in the ass. My pace slowed. A LOT.

Jeff kept encouraging me, but my body was not willing. My mind was retreating into a dark dark space. I thought about just walking off the course many times during the 5 miles stretch from mile 16-21. It would have been so easy to just stop and call it a day. I was done caring at this point. Jeff kept telling to to relax, push though it. I kept telling him to shut-up. I told him I had to deal with this myself. These were my demons to slay.

I kept moving, albeit slowing and sipping on Red Bull. At one point, I asked Jeff who was behind me. I was in 2nd place. He said " Just men". A mile later I was in 3rd place. Damn. The bright spot in these 5 miles is that I was still passing people who did not follow their plan. I was a total bitch during these miles. I was angry. Upset. I didn't want Jeff to talk to me. I just wanted to give this race the finger and walk off.

At mile 21, I snapped out of my dark space. I was light on my feet. My mood was better. I apologized to Jeff for being a bitch and asked if he still wanted to be my husband. He laughed and said "Yes." Good...crisis averted. My pace I was holding for the first 16 miles came back by mile 22. I only had 2 x 2 miles to go. This seemed extremely doable at this point in the race. I looked down at my watch and knew the last 5 miles at killed any chance of hitting my A goal. So I had to resort to my B goal. It was still going to be a decent time for a first marathon, but I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed.

Jeff was amazing during this race. He was so supportive. He dealt my my highs and lows in stride and did not take it personal. He knows from experience what this is like and having him by my side made me stronger. I have no idea how he swim 2.4 miles, rode 112 miles, and then ran a 2.56 marathon at the end. I thought about this many time during this race.

Each mile, I was getting faster. I was passing more and more people. I was trying to regain back 2nd place, but I knew the damage was done and I have to minimize any other damage at this point. We reached mile 25...only 1.2 to go. My watch was set to beep at 26.2 miles. I finished my last mile in 6.55 and my watch went off at 26.2. But I was not at the finish line. I just wanted to stop running, but I had to cross the finish line. 0.2 miles later, I crossed the finish line in time of 3.11.

I staggered toward my mom, brother and cheering squad. I kept looking for Jeff. He had left me at mile 25. I wanted to see him. I started to get really cold. My legs were not willing to move much further. I wanted to sit down. Jeff finally finds out and we start to walk back to the car. The car was parked about 800m from the finish. It took be about 15-20 min to walk that far.

The experience of running my first marathon was invaluable. I learned a lot. I know what to expect now-both physically and mentally. I know that I trained for only a short period of time and was happy with the result. It has made me look forward to my next marathon. I decided I was going to run one about 2 hours I after crossed the finish line.

Rock On

JK

Fan Club

I had my own personal fan club when running the marathon. Their combined age is 8 years old. Members include my nephew Cole who is 5 and my niece Callie who is 3.

Me, Callie, and Cole post race.

Callie and Cole getting a better view from their parents

Running 26 miles...the first 13.1

Running 26 miles is not easy. 3 months ago, I thought it was going to be relatively easy. I had done a few hard things before: long course duathlons, half marathons, half ironmans, long run. Running and training for a 26 miles race would not be has hard a juggling 3 different sports and definitely less time..right?

Wrong. Dead wrong.

I chose a marathon in my hometown if Erie, PA. An incredible city in and of itself. I was combining a race with a visit to my parents and brother on to my marathon. Yes, I chose the marathon first and then considered visiting my parents. I was familiar with the course, it was flat, it is small, and I could stay in my parents house for free and eat for free. Bonus on all accounts.

Jeff and I flew into the Akron/Canton Airport. This area is only famous for 2 things: The Football Hall of Fame and Lebron James. Due to Lebron's recent actions, it is better if you only go there if you like football. You might get an earful if you mention Lebron and how he left the great state of Ohio for Miami (doesn't seem like a difficult choice. It is similar to my decision to live Boulder rather then Cincinnati, Ohio. Needless to say, the city of Cincinnati got over me leaving.)

We jumped into our American rental car where Jeff promptly put it is manual sport gear and started to drive like he was in a rally car. Upon our safe arrival at my parents house, we settled into life on 30 acres, no cell phone reception, and the fact that you have to drive at least 20 minutes to get somewhere. Jeff was enamored by the wildlife which consisted of a some turkeys, a woodchuck that lived in a woodpile, and a wooden fox near the pond used to scare away the geese.

I was relaxed. It was only Thursday. I had 2 days before I had to think about the race. Saturday we went to pick up my number and timing chip. #248. I thought for a second..maybe this is good. Maybe I am going to run 2:48. The next second I thought that was crazy..this is my first marathon. My only goal is to finish. Well..maybe finish faster then 3:30.

Sunday morning at 4.15am. Then 4.30am. Then 4.35am. And finally 4.45am. We set 4 alarms just in case one of them (or 3 of them) failed. We had to be at the race site by 6am for a 7am race start. The instructions for the race said that parking closed at 6am. I still fall for solid time cut off at a race. How many transition area closed on time? None. Never believe that. People were still pulling in at 6.30.

Jeff and I head out for a short warmup. He told me not to warm-up too long because I had a long race ahead of me. Thanks for the wise words. The weather is great. Cool. Borderline raining. Cool breezy. The gentle sounds of beautiful Lake Erie lapping against the dirty beaches. I just wanna start.

I line up with 5 other women. Without trying to look at each other, we check each other out. I am odd man out. They all know each other. I know no one. I like it like that. 7.05 (see races don't start on time) we start running the first of 26 miles. One woman takes off. She had to be running 6.30 pace. I am not falling for that trick. I stick to my plan. Plan are important when running 26 miles.

Miles click off. Still adhering to the plan; No faster then 7.05 for the first 8 miles. I get to mile 6 and start looking for Jeff. He is going to jump in with me around miles 6-8 and run to 25 with me. I am excited to see him and have him with me on my marathon journey. Finally, I see him. But he doesn't see me. I am drafting off some guys and I am tucked in behind him. Suddenly, I pop out with the exuberance of a little kid yelling "I'm here. See me. See me." He falls right in stride with me and we keep rolling.

We keep holding our 7 minute miles. He is coaching me along the way. Encouraging, yet challenging me. The guys I am running with get ahead of me, but again, I stick to the plan. My nutrition is good. I am feeling good. Things are good. We roll through 13.1 miles in about 1.31. Things are looking good. We are on track. Little did I know that just 3 miles ahead, things would not be so good.....

Rock On

JK

26.2 (Really 26.4)

First marathon is in the books! Finally walking a bit more normal, but going down stairs is still challenging. Will drum up a race report by the weekend...first I have life to catch up on!

Rock On

JK

It was a rainy, damp (a bit windy) morning in Erie, PA. Great racing weather.

Rolling through the 13.1 mark.

The last 1.4 miles. At the end of 26.2, even 0.2 extra seems long.

Just An Ordinary Thursday

This last Thursday started out just as any Thursday, or any other day, for that matter. I pulled myself out of bed with the delicious smell of coffee (after hitting snooze 2 times), went through emails as I sipped the drink of life, slipped on my running clothes, and headed out the door to run. I drove up to North Boulder to meet Julie for nice little 80 minute run.

The morning proceeded to following its normal routine. I meet Julie, we exchange our hello's, and head out toward the trails. We both are tired. Julie is training for Kona and I have my marathon in 10 days. There is a light at the end of my tunnel which is brighter then Julie's at this point in time. We continue to chat about life, work, boyfriends and husbands, racing, and food. About 30 minutes into the run, we hit a crucial decision point-do we take the road back or do we take the trail? Julie says the trail. Trail it is.

I take the lead and head down the trail. Julie is right behind me. We crest the top of a hill. I hear Julie stumble. I keep running. I hear her fall and turn around just in time to see her go forward into the ground and roll into a pile of dried horse poop. I stand there and watch. And then I do something awful....I laugh. Julie had her hands over the face and I think she is laughing. She is actually borderline crying. I stop laughing. I bend down and start to help her to her feet. As she slowly gets up she says she is nauseated and feels light headed. She said she hit her knee. I ask her to let me look at it. As she rolls up her kicker, she said she does not want to look at it. As I look at it, I tell myself it is a good idea Julie did not want to look at it. It is deep. I tell her I think we need to get you to a doctor. "Really?" she remarks. "Yeah, I think you need stitches." I hatch a plan. Julie needs to walk about 300 meters to the trail head in the time I run back to get the car and come and get her. She says ok. Takes a few steps, starts to feel light-headed again, and sits down again. I wonder what I will do if she does not make it down there, but save that problem solving for later. I head off to get the car and rescue Julie.

About 15-17 minutes later, I return. Julie has made it back down. She gets in the car and I hand her a bag of edamame. I tell her to put it on her knee and we drive to the doctors office in Boulder. We arrive just as they open and tell the receptionist what happened. She tells us to go to the 2nd floor. And RN from the 2nd floor walked out and looks at Julie's shin. She says she does not have anyone in the office who can take care of this type of trauma. We both look at each other and then back at her with a WTF look and ask is she is serious. All she needs is stitches! She tells us we have to go the clinic in Lafayette.

Back in the car, we decide that we need coffee. On the way to the clinic we stop for coffee. The Thursday has resumed some sort of normalcy by getting coffee. Over to Lafayette we head. The car is starting to get rank because we are both sweaty and in our running clothes. We walk into the clinic amongst stares. Have people never seen 2 girls wearing all black running clothes? Or maybe it is the fact that Julie is walking around with "GO NATIVE" on her ass. Whatever it is, people turn their heads and stare. We head up to the 4th floor, crossing our figures that there are people here who can "take care of this type of trauma." We are in luck today, this doctors office has doctors in it who learned how to stitch up open wounds.

About 60 minutes later, Julie emerges from the clinic with a fresh set of stitches and orders for no swimming, biking, or running until next Friday. As we leave, she is already asking me when I think she can start training again. "What about a waterproof bandage?" "What about just running?" "What about running, just not on trails?" I tell her wait until Monday. Give your body a chance to heal. She says "You're right". Then 10 minute later Julie asks me to ask Jeff what he thinks about swimming with a waterproof bandage. Ironman Athletes!

I drop Julie off at home and resume my Thursday. At 11 am I get to work and start my Thursday- a couple hours and and adventure later. What will Friday bring?

Rock On

JK

26.2

I am running a marathon. In 20 days.

On June 12th, I decided to run a marathon on September 12th. Why? There were a couple reasons for my decisions. They ranged from my change in careers to a new challenge to marking a goal off my life list. I have never run a marathon and for some strange reason, people are surprised when they asked me if I have ever run one and my response in "NO". This is one of the 2 primary questions I am asked at least once a week. "Have you ever run a marathon?" and "Are you and Jeff going to have kids". Maybe it is one of those questions that you are asked once you reach 30.

Jeff and I set out a solid 13 weeks plan to get me ready to race. We have been working on a 3/1 schedule where I build milage for 3 weeks followed by a recovery week. We only increased milage at about 10% per week and increased the long run at the same 10% but based off time. With only 3 weeks to go, it is now time to throw in some quicker, more intense bursts of speed to sharpen up for race day.

I must admit that I underestimated how hard this type of training was going to be. I have not just run (without biking or swimming thrown in the mix) for about 9 years. Switching to running and increasing the milage has added a entirely new stress/pounding to my body that was not there when training for duathlon or triathlons. It took awhile to get used to all the running. Trying to run 60-75 miles per week is a lot of running. It is a lot of runs throughout the week. I could do a whole load of laundry with just my running clothes in 1 week. I could tell how many runs I got in during a week by counting the sports bars that were just washed.

Jeff has been so supportive during this process. He has been heading out on my longer runs with me. He has been my support crew biking with me for the runs. Every mile he has been there on the bike, handing me water, giving me a gel, letting me bitch and be crabby at mile 18, listening to me tell anyone who is listening that I want to be done running, yet I have 4 more miles. He has been an amazing husband and coach-not just during the last 13 weeks, but always.

More to come (hopefully) over the next 3 weeks
Rock On
JK

Was this a good idea?

First off, big congrats to my good friend Jax for running the Leadville Trail Marathon. She crushed it and is ready for the next big race...Marraige!!

With the 4th of July upon us already, the 3 day weekend was filled with local races. Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs...races everywhere. I had no intentions of running any of these races. My goal is bigger (and longer) then a 5K, and ending a 3 week block of high volume was not the ideal recipe for a fast race. With all that said, Jeff and I ended out Sunday morning to watch our speedy local Brit, Ewen, race the Superior Down Hill Mile. Somewhere between walking from the car to the finish line-a mere 400 meters-I decided to race a 4K at 9.00am. It was 7.05am.

We roll home and I get ready to run. I was nervous getting dressed. I don't know why. Maybe it was the fact that I have been running ALOT for the last 3 weeks and my legs were TIRED. Maybe it was the fact that I run 14 miles the day before and my legs were TIRED. Maybe it was the fact that I was just TIRED in general. Whatever it was succeeded in making me more nervous then I have been in awhile.

Warming up, my legs were heavy. No zip. Hmm...I wonder why. But hey, this is just for training right (at least that is what I told myself). We line up and I am thinking "Maybe I should not do this. Maybe I should just run a tempo run." Jeff has told me I might feel bad and just to run hard-time does not matter. This is part of my training. I got a comp entry to the race, so I was not loosing money by not racing. BUT I was loosing out on potentially FREE BEER if I did not race. Decisions. Decisions.

Gun goes off. Decision made. I am racing.

Note: This was only a 4k. 16 minutes of hell. The hell actually began at about 800 meters.

I make it through the mile right around 6.00 min flat. From there to the finish, I felt every one of the 14 miles I had run the day before. My legs were not happy. My mind was not happy. But I kept running. Free beer was on the line.

I cross the finish line disappointed. I walk away from the finish line as quickly as I crossed it. I find Jeff and let loose my emotions. I know deep down the poor performance was not surprising. But given the training I have been doing the last 3 weeks, it was a good end to a large volume block. It was part of the training and it was time to move on. Jeff and I walk in silence as I process. This was a D priority race. It was on a whim. There are

bigger goals I need to keep in mind. I talk it through with Jeff, cool down with some good friends, and head back home for a nap.

Oh..I won my free beer (2 six packs). Ironically, the name of the beer was KARMA.

Rock On

JK