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!)