I Like Medals, Okay?

2 years ago today, I ran my first half marathon.

This past weekend, I ran my 9th. Both in the same place, and both a crazy experience. So let's take a little look back at the whirlwind that was this weekend.

I was originally scheduled to do the 8K and Full Marathon challenge. However, after suffering through 26.2 miles at Marine Corps, I wasn't too fond of doing that again so soon. So I transferred down to the 8K and Half Marathon Challenge. Why the challenge? I like medals.

So when Outer Banks Sporting Events posted this photo on Wednesday, I had a change in plans:

Source

I immediately sent the picture to my mom and said, "Look at that Fun Run medal! We have to do it!"

After some quick searching to see if I had to be under a certain age (all ages welcome!) we signed up. Then I looked at the schedule of events and noticed that the 5K was in the middle of the two, perfectly timed to do all 3. And so a weekend of bling was born.

Friday (Expo Day)

I don't normally write about race expos, but I felt like this one needed to be written about. This is my third time running with Outer Banks Sporting Events (OBXSE) and I found this expo to be extremely unorganized. Since I hadn't registered for the Fun Run and 5K in time for my name to be on my bib, I wasn't assigned a number prior to the expo. I was sent around to 3 tables before someone could help me and everyone seemed like they were already tired of answering questions (the expo hadn't even been open an hour). So after being tossed around and assigned a number on the spot (which felt a little sketchy), I went to pick up my shirts.

Normally, OBXSE shirts run super huge. I rarely wear my 2013 OBX Half shirt because it looks like it's eating me. They tend to stick to unisex tech shirts. This year, I had seen Women's XS as an option and picked it thinking, "Oh boy! Finally a shirt that will fit me!" Well, that was a wrong assumption. This year they went for a long sleeve cotton blend. That XS was way too small! I eventually got to trade it for a Medium, but I had to wait until the next day to do so. Apparently it was a wide-spread problem and they were going to rush print some more. Working in that world, I know there was a very stressed out race director somewhere trying to solve this problem and I commend them for trying to make it right with everyone.

After the chaos that was the expo, I got to lay on the beach. That's right, the beach. In North Carolina. In November. The weather was apparently very confused, but hey I'll take it.

Saturday

The schedule for the morning was the 8K at 7:30, 5K at 9:30, and Fun Run at 11:15. The weather at 7:30 was gorgeous. The forecast the day before had called for rain but it was warm, and sunny, and actually pretty humid. I felt like I was lining up for a June race instead of one in November!

8K
All 3 races were pretty uneventful, and they all followed the same course, just cut shorter and shorter each time. The 8K took us pretty far into Nags Head Woods, which I had ran during Flying Pirate back in the Spring. I was glad to see they had sprayed the dirt parts down because they can get really dusty with so many people running on them! I was pretty nauseous this whole race so I had to stop and walk more than I would have liked. I'm pretty proud of never having thrown up during a race and I wanted to keep it that way!

5K
I must have sweated out all the bad things that were making me nauseous because this one felt great! The heat was disgusting since it was getting later in the morning. It was almost 80! We didn't go into the Woods as far, so a lot of the course wasn't shaded. Since it was so hot, I ran slower but still managed to run the whole thing. I also finished fast enough to land 4th in my age group!

Fun Run
Mom and I stuck together for this one, and by that point the sun was boiling. I really wanted that cute stingray medal, though.

At the end of the day, I got my first 3 medals for the weekend!

Of course I had to a) wear my medals to lunch (I was not the only one in Barefoot Bernie's doing so) and b) get a picture with the tiki!

The weather was so nice that we even got to lay out for another few hours after we got back! There was a surf competition taking place right in front of our house and we had prime seating for it. I might have fallen asleep though...

Sunday

Overnight, a huge storm moved in, making the weather turn a complete 180. It really wasn't that cold (mid-50s when I woke up) but man, the wind gusts were bad. They were approaching 30mph at some points and made it feel a lot colder. Like the cold natured person I am, I put a quarter zip shirt on over my t-shirt thinking I would be fine the whole time and I pinned my bib to it.

Well, that lasted all of about a mile. The wind was at our back about 90% of the entire race (which was amazing, by the way) so the true temperature was really taking effect. I awkwardly had to stop and take off my jacket and re-pin my bib to my shirt. I'm kicking myself for not just tying it to my front with the bib facing out, because I can almost guarantee I would have PRed the entire race! But, it's too late to fuss over that now.

Sometimes, I have races where I feel great the first couple of miles and then bomb about halfway through. This was (thankfully) the complete opposite. I felt awful the first 4 miles and just mentally switched gears to "just finishing". I was running without a watch and had no clue what my pace was, and there were no clock on the entire course so I was just running by how I felt. Then, around 4.5 I started to feel good. Really good. That tailwind was making my life easy! The weather was great! Life was fantastic!

The first time I ran this race, the bridge killed me. But I went up over the "hill" easily (while mentally chanting "This is not as bad as Farm Basket hill" over and over... it really wasn't even comparable) and on the other side, I got a shark selfie, something I had done in my first race!

The shark was totally flattered that I wanted a pic with him. He was really into it. 

After the bridge (and shark) was mile marker 11. At this point I felt really good and kicked it into gear. At this point I was actually passing more people than were passing me (which lets be honest, rarely happens to me).

The last stretch to the finish line was right into the wind and it made me extremely happy that we weren't running into it the whole time. I crossed the clock and it read 2:25, but I was in the 3rd wave to start so I know it had to be faster than that.

I did a really bad job of centering my bib when I moved it!

My official time was 2:19. My current PR is 2:15, so if I would have pushed a little harder and not adjusted my stupid bib, I probably could have beaten it. But the important part here is that my first half time on that course 2 years ago was 2:43. I've got a special blog post for when I hit #10 but let me say so much has changed in those 2 years, and I've loved every step of the journey.

And now for the really important part. The final haul!

Overall, I LOVE this race, and am already considering doing it again next year. It kind of helps that it's in my favorite place in the world, but it's a high quality race with great swag (once they got the shirt situation fixed) that included a finisher hat and a pint glass!

So until next time, I leave you with this fantastic shirt I found in a gift shop later that day:

26.2 Things That Happened During the Marine Corps Marathon Weekend

I've put off writing this post because I think I needed this long to process everything that happened this past weekend. My mom and I traveled to DC on Thursday afternoon, went to the race expo Friday and played tourist the rest of the say and all day Saturday, the race was Sunday, and then we came home and I went to work on Monday.

So here is a little synopsis of all that happened!

1. I learned that you can park in Springfield-Franconia and take the metro into the city. Also, if you aren't used to public transportation at all, the metro is scary. But we caught on soon enough. But it sure beats trying to drive in the city if you aren't used to that.
2. We ate at the worst restaurant ever. We asked a lady at our hotel where we should go for Mexican food. The place she suggested was possibly the worst place we could have eaten. We consulted Yelp for the remainder of the trip. 
3. The race expo happened. 
   
4. I bought a ton of Brooks Merchandise. Brooks is the official sponsor of MCM and they had some amazing things in their store for purchase. Since I figured this is possibly the only MCM I will run (at least for a while), I got #allthethings. 
5. Brooks had an amazing photo booth. Not only was the background they gave you pretty cool, but you got an instant print out, and could text them to get it sent to your phone!
   
6. I left the expo with tons of free things. Normally I leave race expos with one or two things that I'll actually use. This time I left with a free t-shirt from Cupid's Undie Run, a full size box of band aids, tons of stickers, snd some Nuun water bottles (free with purchase). 
7. We shopped until we almost dropped. We had so many great stores within walking distance that we had to hit them all up! Even the ones *coughkatespadecough* that we couldn't afford. 
8. I ate at the best restaurant ever. If you are ever in DC and want to eat at a semi-fancy restaurant, check out Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak, and Stone Crab. Every bite of my meal was delicious and when they brought out my crab bisque I wanted to cry at how good it was. I'm convinced that I will never again have food that good in my lifetime. 
   
9. We went to the National Zoo. I was actually a little disappointed at the Zoo. I went once when I was about 9 and remembered it being about 10 times bigger than it was. (I was also about half the size I am now last time I went). I had hyped it up so much in my mind that it fell a little short of my expectations. But it was still an enjoyable experience. 
10. We tried Baked & Wired. Everyone says to go to Georgetown Cupcake, but take my word for it. These bad boys are the real winning cupcakes of the city. 
    
11. I tried deep dish pizza for the first time. I promise I did more than eat during this trip. I just have to talk about all the amazing food DC gave us. And that one that wasn't so good. 
12. I went to bed really early. I tried really hard to fall asleep at 8 on Saturday, but I was starting to get really nervous. My first marathon didn't go so well last year and I really wanted to redeem myself. It turns out I had good reason to worry because the next morning...
13. I waited over an hour in the security line. I got off the metro at the start line at 6:20 thinking I would have plenty of time to get in, use the bathroom, and get in my starting corral before the 7:55 gun time. Very quickly we learned that the security line was not moving fast. I made friends with the people around me in line and we talked but soon the clock said 7 and we had barely moved (and when I say barley I mean about 15 feet). At 7:30 we still hadn't moved much more and everyone was getting antsy. 7:45 rolled around and the Marines operating security decided to speed things up by using metal detector wands instead of just the walk through units they had been using. That sped things up, but it was still chaos. 
14. In that chaos, I lost my headband. Which, I might add, was a brand new Sparkly Soul band I had just bought the day before. We had to remove our jackets if they didn't have a zipper (mine didn't) and it popped right off. I didn't notice it until I was halfway to the start. I HATE running without a band and I was already frazzled from security taking so long. I almost had a meltdown but I had a start line to get to.
15. I walked almost a mile to the start line. According to my fitbit, I walked almost 3 miles on top of the marathon distance that day. I'm not sure what was before and what was after, but I know the start line was what felt like a mile away from the start. 
16. I started. Just like that (with a quick potty detour, I was on my way to starting my second marathon!)
17. I ran slower than I wanted, because I really wanted to pace myself. Last year I burnt out at mile 13, and I wasn't about to let that happen. 
    
18. The Blue Mile made me cry. At mile 11 I was starting to hit a "man I really don't want to do this anymore" mentality. Then we hit the blue mile. If you are unfamiliar with MCM, the entirely of mile 11-12 is lined with the faces of those who have fallen while serving in the military. I resolved to look every single man and woman on my side of the road in the eyes and really take in what it meant to be running this race. Suddenly, despite the crying, I wasn't so tired anymore.
19. I read a ton of great race signs. Among them were "If you thing this is hard, try growing out bangs!" "You're not almost there!" (at around mile 2 or so), and my personal favorite, a Shiba Inu with a sign over his head that said "Such fast. Much wow," (from the Doge meme)
    
20. I took selfies with monuments.
    
21. At around mile 17, I really wanted to quit. Pretty much more than anything I have ever wanted in my life. I was over the race. I even texted my mom, "I think I'm going to die." I had forgotten how much I hated running over 15 miles (even though my 20 mile training run had reminded me very well). I actually had to slip into a porta potty and have a bit of a pity party cry fest to get over myself. It was then that I told myself I had to finish, for those who couldn't run. And for the Girls on the Run girls I was wearing my SoleMates shirt for. My bargain to myself was that if I finished, I would transfer from the full to half at the Outer Banks Marathon.
22. I beat the bridge. Thankfully, despite my pity party and complain-fest, I beat the dreaded cut off at the bridge. With a lot of time to spare, actually. It felt like it took about 3 years to cross the stupid thing, but I did it.
    
23. I got a kiss from the cutest spectator at mile 22. I will always have time to say hi to dogs. Especially French Bulldogs.
24. I walked the last 2 miles. My feet were screaming. I was hot. I was beyond tired. I hated running. I hated everything. I was nauseous. I was also hungry. But then there was a Marine who said, "Nice socks, now get them to the finish!" I couldn't not listen to a Marine, so I kept going.
25. I finished. The finish line at MCM is up a hill. About .25 miles out from the finish the Marines make an almost tunnel and cheer you in. The moment I first saw them I started bawling. I had too many emotions inside me. Not only the pain of running/slogging through 26 miles, but the sadness from the Blue Mile and seeing the many, many people running in memory of fallen service members. The inspiration I had gotten from seeing those wounded running on prosthetics or hand-cycling the marathon. The overwhelming pride of being an American.
    
26. I got my medal placed on me by a Marine. And we shared a moment. And a selfie.

And the final thing the final thing, the number 26.2 on this list, is that I swore I would never do another marathon again. That lasted all of two days before I switched to saying "I'm never doing another marathon for a very long time." Baby steps :)

Unlocked a new highest steps in a day badge with my Fitbit!

Source

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Guest Post: Style Literal

I've been missing from this blog for a while, but I promise to have a great post next week about Marine Corps Marathon! I'm only slightly nervous at this point, but there's still 4 more days to go!

Until then, you can check out this guest post I wrote for a friends blog!

Lynchburg Half Marathon 2015 & a GIVEAWAY!

As I mentioned in my August Goals post, one of my goals for this month was to PR my half marathon time. Normal people don't choose hilly races in August as a potential race to PR in, but no one ever said I was normal.

The last PR was set at the Shamrock Half Marathon in March 2014, at 2 hours and 23 minutes. Shamrock is completely flat. Shamrock is a race where people go to set PRs. Lynchburg is not.

Yesterday started out great. When I woke up it was nice and cool (upper 70s?), slightly cloudy, and not humid yet. My friend Rhonda and I were going to run the race together in hopes to both get PRs and we were hoping the sun would stay away (spoiler: it didn't).

Breakdown of the Lynchburg Half Course:

Miles 1-3: Flat. We were doing great here! We started out a little faster than intended and kept having to remind ourselves to save it. We got stuck in a herd going slightly slower than my body really wanted to and it helped to keep the pace in check. This part is on a bike path and is nice and shaded.

Mile 4ish: This goes up a hill that never seems to end. I kept mentally telling myself this was the worst part, that it was only small hills from then on. Plus I had done this hill already a few weeks ago on a training run. I could do this! However, the sun chose to pop out right as we broke out of the trees and for some reason I started feeling lightheaded and all the little problems of this race started.

Miles 5-8: For these miles you loop twice around the Central Virginia Training Center. The loops are the worst part (I lied about the hill). These loops are why you pretty much have to run the race with a friend and keep the chatter up to distract yourself or you will crash and burn. Last year when I ran by myself, the second loop is where I wanted to just hop in a car and drive home. Somehow, even though I was complaining, and groaning, and nauseous from the Gu I ate, Rhonda kept me moving forward.

Mile 9ish: You get to go back down the awful big hill! I was flying down the hill and couldn't quite keep up with the pack we had gotten with at this time (thanks, short legs). I noticed later when I was showering that I got a black toenail and I'm pretty sure I got it thanks to that hill. Thanks, hill.

Mile 10-13: The flat part again, but in reverse. This is where I really fell apart. I was nauseous. I kept praying that I would throw up so I could feel better. I was super thirsty (probably dehydrated) but I didn't want to drink to much because it would make my stomach slosh. I was covered in salt which led to my suspicions of dehydration. If I had been alone I would have just stopped and walked the rest. But I wasn't alone and we switched to 6 and 1 run/walk intervals. My side hurt but Rhonda pushed me to keep moving. After what felt like 3 years we made it to the bridge that meant one more turn before the finish.

Getting that final boost was rough. When we were on the bridge and our time was 2:17 I said some inappropriate words. I was sick of running and I was hot. But I really wanted to PR as much as possible. This picture of me coming in shows you just about how I felt:

Thanks Nelfa for the photo!

As soon as I crossed the finish line (and drank about 7 cups of water) I felt fantastic. I PRed by 4 whole minutes! On a hilly course! On a hot day! With the help of a friend who kept my butt moving!

I may have complained and been miserable 10 of the 13 miles but looking back today it was fun. Maybe I forgot just how much it hurt, but it really was fun. And now that I know a lot more runners here who were there yesterday it made the whole thing feel like one big party!

So, to celebrate my PR, I'm going to do a giveaway (thanks to some awesome people over at ProCompression)!

The prize! One pair of green ProCompression socks. Size S/M

Head on over to my Instagram (@leahelizabeth24) for the official rules and to enter. Good luck!

August 2015 Goals

I'm a firm believer in setting goals and letting people know about them to keep yourself accountable. So here's a quick list of my goals for the upcoming month regarding running.

1. Hit a monthly mileage total of over 100. I got to 84.4 for July. I got 11 under my belt this morning so I'm off to a good start!
2. Register for the Outer Banks Marathon. You can't say you're running 2 marathons this Fall if you aren't registered for the second on!
3. Be more social. I did a lot of running with groups and other people this month and want to stick with it!
4. Get into a good pre-run warmup routine. I went to a clinic this week that talked about how important is is to warm up before a run to prevent injury. A lot of the time I just start going, but I want to be sure I do at least something to warm up for my runs from now on.
5. PR in a half marathon. My current best time is 2:23, but I feel like I'm much stronger now and am looking to set a new PR next weekend!

August Race Schedule 

August 8- Lynchburg Half Marathon

August 22- Virginia Spartan Super

August 28- Glow in the Park 5K

August 29- The Kennedy Mile

Lots of exciting adventures ahead!

The Runner Reads- The Longest Race

One of the best parts about having graduated from college is that for the first time in my life I have real free time. I have a steady job with a set schedule and no homework! So what am I doing with all that free time? Well other than running, I've been reading a lot. According to my Goodreads account, I've read 34 books since graduation in May. I don't mess around with reading.

I read a lot of different kinds of books, but I really wanted to highlight some books about running on this blog. The first in The Runner Reads segment is The Longest Race by Ed Ayers. Why this book? It was the only one that I was interested in that my library had in stock when I went, to be honest.

Before I started I looked through the reviews on Goodreads. They weren't great. Out of 5 stars it has a 3.28 average (out of 225 reviews, guess there aren't a lot of runners using Goodreads). That wasn't a good sign, but I decided I was going to read it anyway.

In the book, Ayers tells of his running of the JFK 50 Miler when he was sixty years old, flashing back to the experiences that have made him the runner he is.

Reading the book was a lot like running a race. It started out great and interesting, but as it went on I found myself tired. Tired of him trying to relate everything in the world back to running. Tired of him talking about how great he was in high school cross country. Tired of him talking about how at 60 he was beating most of the Marines running JFK (okay that actually was kind of interesting).

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book. In fact, I may be tossing around the idea of a 50 Miler next Fall (if I can survive my other big goals before then) because the way he wrote about his experience showed that it was possible for anyone to run this race, even if you aren't a speedy runner (like he was).

Would I recommend this book? That depends. I think I would only say read this if you're in to reading stories about ultrarunning. If you do read it, go in with the mindset that it can be boring at times. But, go in knowing that hearing the story of a 60 year old man running 50 miles like it was a walk in the park was still inspiring (even if his writing was annoying).

Thoughts from the Long Run- You Can Run Longer

This week I've been thinking a lot about how perspective changes as you running experience grows. Mainly, perspective about distance.

In January 2013, I decided I wanted to be a runner. However, I just thought I would stick with 5Ks, because running more than 3 miles at a time sounded awful. Running a marathon was out of the question.

After about 3 5Ks, I got bored. 5Ks were over too fast! I found myself actually wanting to run longer. I used to think people who ran the Virginia Ten Miler were crazy, but I thought I might try it. My logic was that if you can run 3 miles, you can run 5, and if you can run 5 twice that's 10. I'm still not sure if that's the best logic, but I soon found myself signed up for both the Ten Miler and the Outer Banks Half Marathon.

That November I swore I would never do a marathon. The leap from 3 miles to 13 seemed gradual and logical. But to double that distance? That was crazy.

I've since learned that saying "never" usually gets me in trouble. I ran a marathon, swore I would never do it again, and here I am planning 2 more this year, and at least one 50K in the Spring.

The point of this post is that it takes time. Beginning runners usually don't go out with the mindset of running a marathon. However, as time goes on, it truly does get easier. I used to text Zach crying because I had to stop and walk after a half a mile and was convinced I would never get better. This morning I ran 17 miles (with walk breaks) and felt fantastic about it. A year ago, even though I was training for a marathon, I would have laughed if you told me I would ever think running 17 miles would be fun.

A lot of people have told me they wish they had the drive or ability to run as far as I do. The truth is that you do. I didn't get here overnight, it's been a long journey from January 2013 to get here. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Running Roundup Brain Dump

I feel like I've been MIA for a long time.. my last post was at the beginning of June! So here's a little bit of a brain dump/life catch up to get myself back on track here. Enjoy a lot of pictures :)

As you may remember, I'm running Marine Corps Marathon on October 25th. I've been (very seriously) toying with the idea of running the Outer Banks Marathon 2 weeks later. I haven't made the commitment and signed up yet, but I'm about 98% sure I'm going through with it.

Got this long run in while on a weekend getaway in Raleigh 4th of July weekend!

So with 2 marathons on the horizon (current countdown to MCM is 94 days! Eek!) I've been running and training a lot. I've fallen in love with TRX and strength training, and I've been getting some muscle definition! Also, I can now do 3 pull ups on the pull up bar in my kitchen which I consider a huge accomplishment.

About a month ago I demoed the Brooks Adrenaline shoe and fell in love, buying a pair on the spot!

Since I last checked in, I've run the HumanKind 5K...

and Percival's Island 5 Miler. (Which was my fastest race pace EVER!!)

I reorganized my medal rack...

Signed up for a Spartan Super...

Jarvis has been up to his usual crazy antics (okay this has nothing to do with running. I just wanted to put him in here because he's adorable):

"Mom hello I'm more interesting than that book."

Actually, I take that back. He does have something to do with running! Lock Laces (which I have raved about before) held a photo contest on Instagram challenging people to enter pictures using the tag #MyLockLaces to show their laces in interesting places. This was my entry:

And guess what?! We won! The prize was a pair of running shoes (winner's choice) so of course I had to get another pair of the Brooks I fell in love with. They also put laces in the shoes and sent me a tech shirt and 2 new pairs of laces. I love this company!

Finally, the most recent thing I've done of note is a fun run last night that ended in ice cream! (Pardon the super gross sweaty selfie. It was unbearably hot!) We also got free Smartwool socks, which are amazing! I'm pretty sure the foot I tried it out on was the only dry part of me at the end of my run.

The absolute best thing that's happened since my last blog post is that I've finally really gotten plugged in to the running community here. Before graduation, I was never free to meet people or go to social events (it also didn't help that I was working 2 jobs and barely even had time to sleep). I LOVE my running crew. I've only been hanging with them for a few short weeks, but I feel like it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship. 

Running is awesome, but long runs by yourself really suck. I'm so thankful for my long run partner!

Until next time!

Race 13.1 Raleigh

This weekend I ran Race 13.1's event in Raleigh!

Friday
Friday afternoon, I got off work and started the supposed 2.5 hour drive to Raleigh. It took me closer to 3.5 (thanks rush hour) but it's okay because a good majority of my drive had views like this:

Nothing but blue skies and sunshine made a fantastic drive!

I eventually made it to packet pickup, but not without a little bit of panic driving in city traffic. I'm not used to four lane roads in the middle of the city! Packet pickup was at a shopping center (totally not what I was expecting!) and after a bit of confusion parking in a parking garage, I made it to Omega Sports where pickup was held.

Pickup went very smoothly, I was so impressed at how organized it was! The "packet" was really just my bib and shirt. I don't have a picture of the shirt (and to be honest I'm too lazy to go downstairs and take a picture of it) but it matches the medal (further down the post) and is probably one of my top favorite shirts! It's a nice color, has a big bold design, and actually FITS! Most race shirts look baggy on me, but this one definitely ran true to size, so props to Race 13.1 for getting top-quality shirts!

After navigating myself out of the confusing shopping center, I went to where I was going to be spending the night- with our friends Josh and Meredith. The 3 of us went out to dinner, ate some amazing meatballs at Oak City Meatball Shop (If you're ever in Raleigh, I recommend it. The spicy pork meatballs were the BOMB) and then toured an art gallery.

When we got back to their apartment I laid out my "Flat Runner" for Instagram:

The debut of my "I am not fast" Baymax tank!

Okay truth is I took a picture and then slept in it. It's what I do before every race, and I'm not really sure why. But I can't stop now!

Saturday

I'm still not used to the time change, so when I woke up Saturday and it was light out, I was convinced I had overslept. I immediately jumped up, ran to my phone and saw... I had 2 minutes left before my alarm went off! Phew!

I got my few things I was taking with me together, ate a Larabar for breakfast, and headed out to the start line. Conveniently, it started at the same shopping center where packet pickup was. Parking was a breeze, since we were there before the stores opened and got to use the parking deck.

I wandered around runner's village, stretched a little, got a few compliments on my outfit, and then it was time to start!

When we took off, I was amazed at how good I felt! The last 3 weeks I've only run once or twice a week, as I've been trying to get a good foundation of strength training in before I get into hardcore marathon training. It made a world of difference! I ran the first 6 miles at an easy, very consistent pace. The course was the definition of rolling hills, but even those didn't seem to make my legs as tired as normal.

At the first turnaround, I did stop to walk so I could eat another Larabar. Normally I count on on-course food for fuel, and bring something solid for backup (sometimes Gu makes me nauseous). Well, I must have missed the memo that there was no Gu at this race, I was SO glad I brought something to eat.

Around the halfway mark, things really got hot and I started to struggle from it. I managed to finish in an okay time by alternating running and walking. I was so mad at myself because I had started off so well! 

My biggest issue with this race is that I wish it had started an hour earlier. Most people would have been done before the heat settled in. I was on pace to PR, but the heat held me back. I guess I can't be too disappointed, June races tend to be hot!

My favorite part of the race was the on course entertainment! There was a variety of drumming groups, which was a welcome change from the bands or radio stations most races have.

Photo from Triangle Taiko on Facebook

Despite the heat and the little bit of disappointment, I finished!

Not to mention, I got to add this beauty to the collection:

Overall, the race had nothing super special that stood out to me. Would I do it again? Probably. They have another one in the Fall and it's already on my radar. It was a well organized, smooth running event (with great bling!) and I thoroughly enjoyed the day!

I'm a SoleMate!

Well, I did it!

I took the plunge and signed up to fundraise for the first time of my running career, and it's for Girls on the Run (see last post for more information on the inspiration behind my decision).

The last week has been insane, but starting tomorrow, the marathon training begins. As I torture prepare myself for what lies ahead, I would really appreciate if anyone out there reading this would consider donating to my GOTR fundraiser.

The best part is that all the money I raise will be staying local, to help girls in my area experience first hand the joy and empowerment running can bring.

(PS, I promise to blog more now that my life is immensely calmer!)

A Tale of 2 Races

Long time, no blog.

It's been a whirlwind since my last post a few months ago. I finished my first marathon (I'll have to post about that later) did a few 5Ks and another half (I'll have to post about that later too). I've been trying to finish up college (I graduate next weekend!) and figure out my plans for after (landed a full-time marketing job that I LOVE). Oh yeah, and I'm married and have a dog baby so that's in the mix too. So in all the chaos, this blog has been the furthermost back burner in my life.

But yesterday I decided it was time to dust this baby off. Because I had a revelation.

Backstory: a few weeks ago. I was scrolling through Facebook and saw that Freedom 4/24 was having a Run 4 Their Lives event in Lynchburg. I had really been wanting to do one with my best friend Danae, but every time there's been one in the last year one of us had plans. We decided to sign up, but I realized I had already registered for the Girls on the Run Celebration 5K the same day. Luckily the start times were an hour and a half apart, so I decided to just do them both.

Run 4 Their Lives

Run 4 Their Lives is a Freedom 4/24 event that raises awareness ad funds to bring sexually exploited women and children into freedom. Yesterday we were running for 2 particular girls who had survived and been living in a house funded by Freedom 4/24. We got their names written on our arms to remember who we were running for when things got tough.

The race itself wasn't anything super special, but I got to run it with my best friend and that made it extra special. It's slightly sad that in the two years I've been running we've only gotten to do two races together and those two races have been the last two weekends (Hmm... that's another race I should post about later...)

The race was really hilly (okay super hilly) but we finished in a really decent time considering. Sadly we couldn't hang around very long because I had to rush to make it to Girls on the Run.

Girls on the Run Celebration 5K

I frantically made the 30 minute drive to Sweet Briar College, and managed to pick up my packet with 10 minutes to spare. I took those 10 minutes to people watch and was completely inspired by what I saw. I was surrounded by hundreds of elementary and middle aged girls (and their parents) who were so excited to be there to run, for many of them, their first 5K. The atmosphere was electric. 

The girls had all been learning valuable lessons through their running training; how being different is okay, how they need to build each other up instead of tearing each other down, how all women are strong and beautiful. All of these are things that girls need to hear at that age group. 

I was one of the few people there who didn't belong to one of the GOTR girls, but no one seemed to mind. The feeling of girl power was all that mattered. Once the race started everyone was just encouraging the little ones to keep going, and that they could do it. There were motivational signs and people all along the course.

The girls' coaches were running with them and even though some of the girls were uncomfortable, I knew everyone was having a blast. Somewhere around the halfway point it was laid on my heart that I wanted to be a bigger part of GOTR than just running the 5K. I knew about both the SoleMate and coaching programs before the start of the race and both were something I've been thinking a lot about for the last 24 hours. I'm not entirely sure which path I will choose, but running the Marine Corps Marathon in October as a SoleMate somehow seems perfect.

I finished the race, met by a bunch of encouraging people I've never met cheering for me, and knew I had made the right decision to squeeze in both races yesterday. I was meant to be there, feel the energy of girls being passionate about something, and to just be inspired by it all.

Whatever happens in my GOTR future, I'm sure it will be amazing.