#2: Father's Day 5K

This morning was my second 5K of the summer, the Father's Day 5K at the Myriad Gardens in OKC.

It did not go as planned, but oh well. The race started at 8am, and it was already hot. The temp was 80F by 8am, the wind was SSW at 15mph, and the humidity was 77%. I managed to turn off my watch as I crossed the start line, and I didn't get it restarted for about 10 seconds. Being me, of course I went out too fast in the first mile. The course was a sunny run through midtown, and I didn't carry my own water, so I got overheated. My first mile was 9:10, and the second was 12:09. I did a lot of walking while my stomach reminded me about how it feels about going out too fast in a summer race. I finally got it under control around halfway through-I even ran through a sprinkler and it felt glorious. The water on my legs was enough to cool me off so I could continue.

When I got to the finish, I got my water and banana and sat down until my brain returned to the building. I saw them posting results, so I went over. It was a computer screen and the bib number was manually entered by some random HS kid. I was super duper excited to see that I had placed second in my age group again! I was quite shocked, actually. I started texting my husband and one of my friends, saying how excited I was. I never place in a city race! I wanted a pic of the screen, so I went over and asked them to look me up again. That's when I noticed that the time they had for me was 22 mins. I've never run a 22 min 5K in my life, and besides, my garmin said 32:52. I let them know that my time was wrong, briefly spoke to a cyclist friend who also ran the race, and headed home feeling a little bit disappointed. I should have known that I didn't actually place, but since this is an inaugural race on Father's Day, I had thought that it was possible.

When I got home and showered, I checked my online results. Finally, the time was right (33:07), but they had me in the Male 30-34 age group, lol. Finally got that straightened out, and here are my stats for this race:

Time: 33:07
 O: 94 of 190
 F: 35 of 91
 F30-34: 7 of 17
Weight: 116lbs

The 3rd 5K of the summer, the Hot 5K, is Friday night at... somewhere. I should look that up, and probably figure out when packet pickup is before Friday gets here, lol. I will definitely carry my water bottle this time. I have been conned into running an obstacle run on Saturday, so hopefully I'll be able to walk on Sunday. I have a history of sprained ankles, but I'm going to proactively KT tape them to prevent that. I'm not incredibly enthused about running this race because I'm not in great shape, but it is what it is. My bootcamp teammates are all going to want to be competitive, and the event is timed, so I'll probably end up running it alone. If I don't blog about it within a week or so, then that means I'm probably still stuck in their tiger pit obstacle. It's supposed to be a 7ft deep pit that you have to climb out of. Being 4'11", I'll be in there for a while, lol.

1st 5K of the summer

I'm trying to do a bunch of 5Ks and speed work this summer in order to drop some weight and increase my speed a little bit. On June 7, I ran my first 5K of the summer: The Scorcher 5K in Stillwater, OK. It was a miserable experience, but I enjoyed it, lol. The humidity was roughly 90%, so that sucked. It was also quite windy. I wanted to race it, rather than run it, so that I can have an accurate starting point to compare to the last 5K of the summer. I would like to see a drop in both weight and time, so we'll see if I can accomplish that.

The race started at 6:45am. There was also a half, and they started at 6:30. I really wanted to run the half, but I can't imagine how much it must have sucked in that humidity. I tried to run the entire 5K, but I wasn't carrying my own water, and so I took walking breaks when my HR got above 190. So there were a few walking breaks in the latter half of the race. Overall, I did as I expected. My time was 32:04. What I did not expect was an age group placing! I will probably never be fast enough to place in the city, but this was the 2nd time I've placed in small 5Ks. It was kind of nice :D I got 2nd in the F30-34 AG.

Here are my overall stats:

Time: 32:04
O: 44 of 109
F: 15 of 58
F30-34: 2 of 7
Weight: 115lbs

This is not how to run a negative split, lol. I always go out too fast on the first mile. I really need to work on that.

My second 5K is tomorrow morning. It's a father's day 5K. I doubt that I'll place in my AG again, but maybe I can go just a teensy bit faster than 32:04. We'll see. This one starts at 8am, which I think is sort of dumb for a 5K in the Oklahoma summer, but whatever. I'll push myself, but not to the point of heat exhaustion.

I have a 3rd 5K next Friday-the Hot 5K. I will be able to run both the Hot and Hottest, but I will be out of state for the Hotter. I'm going to Oregon for an ASL Silent Weekend with some classmates. I'm going to take my running stuff and try to get in a run near the beach. I think that'll be very cool.

My first duathlon-2015 Guthrie Super Sprint

On May 9 I did my first duathlon! It was the Guthrie Super Sprint Du-1.5mi run, 14mi bike, and a 1.5mi run. We had a very busy week in terms of weather, with lots of flooding and tornadoes (the sirens went off 17 times on Wednesday alone. SEVENTEEN.) Luckily today the weather held out. While it didn't rain, the humidity was 92%, and that sucked. The race started at 7:30, but packet pickup opened at 5:30. I didn't want to be late and get stuck in a crowd, so my bff and I left at 5:15 this morning. I packed my car and we were on our way.

We found parking very easily, and I went over to packet pickup. I thought it went really well, but I found out later that it didn't (more on that later, lol). I told them that it was my first time, and the nice lady at the table explained to me how to put the number on my bike. I got body marked (btw, sharpie doesn't come off easily), and went back to the car to get my stuff for the transition.

A man at the transition area helped me set up my bike since it was my first time. The rack spaces were assigned, thankfully. My bike is a 44", so it's pretty much an extra small. Most people hung their bikes by the seat, but the wind moved mine around too much. So we hung it by the shifters (that made me so nervous!). I laid out a towel to make it easy to find my bike. I laid out my shoes and gel flask and helmet. I had planned to set my gloves inside my helmet, but since it was windy, I fasted them onto the helmet straps just to be safe. Here's my transition set up in all of it's newbie glory:

It was sort of cold, so we went back to the car to wait for the race to start. I heard some of the announcements, but mostly it was just the RD yelling at people to re-rack their bikes, so I didn't pay attention. Finally, it was time to go line up.

I wore my triathlon shorts that I bought roughly 2 years ago for spin class and a cannondale tri top that I bought last year. I bought a bib belt and some lock laces so that my shoes would be easier to slip off. I actually really like them, so they may stay on my shoes.

Anyway, the race started. I could totally tell that I'm primarily a runner, because it confused me that there was no starting line timing strip to cross, nor were there pace markers. I lined up with a nice lady who had randomly chatted with me in the transition area, and we were off. The 1.5mi run approached and went around the masonic temple and back to the transition. I was determined not to have to walk in that first leg of the race. Unfortunately, that meant that I ran a 9:15 mile, lol. Add that to 92% humidity, and it was rough. I could not catch my breath! My garmin says that it took me 13:07 to do the first running leg. I got through it, and got into the transition. I made sure to put my helmet on first thing-they will DQ you for not wearing your helmet. I managed to get my garmin started, got my shoes and gloves on, and made it out of transition. You can't mount the bike until you cross a certain line, so I walked out of transition, got on my bike, and off I went.

Now here's the sad and pathetic part. The first half mile of the bike ride was fine. I think I was going on adrenaline at that point. But then I started feeling the effects of the heat and going out too hard in that first run. My stomach started cramping so badly that I didn't know if I could continue. It hurt to pedal. This lasted for about the first 4 miles. I managed to realize what was happening, and got some gatorade and hammer gel into me, but it took a while to work. At one point, I was going 9mph on a flat road with a 13mph tailwind. It doesn't get much more pathetic than that. I'm glad that I didn't see an official at this point, because I would have asked them to pull me. Finally, though, I started feeling better, and was able to speed up and get going. I even managed to pass 2 people on the way back! The bike route was an out-and-back, so that means that the tail wind was a headwind on the second portion. The USATF has very strict rules about drafting, and I was really worried that I would draft by accident. Luckily I didn't. I called out to the 2 cyclists as I passed them, and they both kind of looked at me funny, so I guess it's not normal to do call-outs. But I wanted them to know that I was passing them, because you have to slow down when someone overtakes you. But whatever. I finished the bike ride; I got all excited one block too soon because the intersection was closed and I thought that that was the finish. Nope, I had another block to go, lol. I got off my bike before I reached that magical pink line, and walked into the transition. I had some trouble getting my running shoes back on, but I managed to get going. Garmin says that the bike portion took me 1:01:14 (14.1mph ave).

The second run was a slow shuffle with a lot of walking. My legs were jello, and my stomach still hurt a bit from the cramps on the bike. I made it through it, though, as icky as it was. Garmin says that this one took me 16:11, which is an 11:15/mile pace. I'm surprised that it was that fast, lol.

I managed to finish, and the girl at the finish line asked for my timing chip. I didn't have one, and said as much, but I didn't think about it much because I was focused on the food at the finish line. I took the happy face pic to show how happy I was to be done, and the sad face pic because that bike part sucked. I got some food, loaded up my stuff, and went home.

Now, the sad (and somewhat embarrassing) part. When I got home and got cleaned up, I went online to check the race results. I couldn't find my name! I messaged a guy that I sort of know on fb and who was at the race, and asked if I had missed something. Since it was my first duathlon, I thought that maybe I had forgotten to check in at some mandatory after-race meeting or something. After a chat with him and with the race director, I realized that I did not pick up my timing chip with my bib and bike number. I sort of assumed that it was on my bib. The RD said that they made several announcements about it, but since we sat in the car, I had a hard time hearing the announcements. The ones I did hear were all about re-racking bikes anyway. If I had heard it, I think that it is likely that I would have thought that I was fine because I had my bib and bike number. So I didn't get an official time for my efforts today. Luckily, I have my garmin data, so I can estimate times, but as far as athlinks is concerned, I didn't do the race. I got a finisher's medal though, and the t-shirt fits, so that's good. These are my estimated times and placings, assuming that I was the only person who forgot to get their chip.

1st run: 7:29am, 13:07, ~7:42am
~T1: ~2 min
Bike: 7:44am, 1:01:14, 8:45am
~T2: ~2min
2nd run: 8:47am, 16:11, 9:03am

Approx total time: 1:34
5 people finished after me (yay for not being last!)
69/74 Overall
28/32 Females
6/6 F30-34

2015 Memorial Half Marathon Recap

This is super late, but here's my brief recap of the half on April 26. It was the 20th anniversary of the bombing. I didn't live in OKC, and I was only in 5th grade, but I remember what I was doing when they told us. I was in detention, of all places, for not doing my math homework lol. The teachers didn't tell us until lunchtime, even though the bombing occurred at 9:02am. The bombing is a sensitive memory for many Oklahomans. The moment of silence by the survivor tree was poignant and emotional.

 

I decided to wear my calf sleeves to fend off any lingering shin problems from changing shoes. They worked alright. I felt very color-coordinated, lol. Mike dropped me off near the start line around 5:15am. The survivor tree service started at 5:30, I think. The race started at 6:30.

 

The race went as expected-I was slow. My garmin said that I averaged a 11:28min/mile, which isn't too shabby, but I've done better. My time goal was not a PR, but to just finish in less than 2:30. I was struggling, but still managed to continue on, and I was on pace to finish in time. Then, around mile 11 or so, my left big toe completely curled up, and I couldn't uncurl it. It didn't hurt at all, which was weird, but I couldn't continue running. I ended up sitting on someone's lawn so I could take my shoe off and massage my toe until it straightened out. It took about 3 mins, and of course, my finish time was 2:33. Once the toe was straightened out, the end of the race was fine. I even tried to race some dude at the end, but he refused. Weirdo.

I got my shiny medal, and a finisher's shirt that actually fits (woot!), and went home and slept for several hours.

2015 Redbud Classic 10K

I'm a little bit behind on the blog. This semester was the hardest one I've had in the interpreter training program, and I got fairly overwhelmed. I'm not the best blogger in the world on a good day, but add in all of that stress, and I'm now 3 races behind in recaps. So I'm writing them all at once, and setting them to post in the future so that I don't have to make one big massive post.

~~~~~~~~~~

I ran the 2015 Redbud Classic 10K on Sunday, April 12. This was my first race way back when, so I wanted to do it again. Achilles issues forced me to drop from the Memorial full to the half (if shoes feel funky the first time you wear them, return them rather than hope that they'll feel normal eventually). I ended up taking 3 weeks off with an unhappy achilles, as I said in the last post. But anyway, I ran the Redbud this year. It was ROUGH. The weather was 79F with a 20mph wind.

We had a tailwind for the first half of the race, but a tailwind provides little relief from the heat. I seriously thought that I was going to have heat stroke. I wanted this race to be a dress rehearsal for the memorial, so I had my 2-bottle fuel belt on. I was wearing calf sleeves, and they always make me feel hotter. I'm pretty sure I was pouring water on my head by the 2nd mile. Once we got out of the tailwind, it became a headwind. Headwinds are great for cooling you down, but you get to work harder just to go forward. The redbud course is pretty hilly. I was sore for 4 days after this race. My left quad and IT band were not very happy with me. Since this training plan didn't go as well as I'd wanted, I finished about where I expected to, with a course PR but not an overall PR. My results were:

Time: 1:11:24
Overall: 774 of 1,151 (top 67.2%)
Females: 341 of 609 (top 56%)
F30-34: 68 of 113 (top 60.2%)

So, not my finest work, but it is what it is. I was so spent after the race that I was really stupid. My quest to find my car was pretty entertaining. Luckily they had a shuttle that ran from the finish back to the start. When I parked, I thought that the start and finish were in the same place, but they were not. I eventually found my car though (I had parked at the mall). It would have been incredibly easy for someone to kidnap me, if they had wanted to, lol.

I finally started riding my bike outside again. I'm a wimp who doesn't like to be cold. I've started riding most of the spring training rides, and they've been enjoyable. At least I don't have to learn how to ride a bike this year, lol. There's a Clydesdale barn on the Lake Overholser route, and I had no idea that it is open to the public. So I took a pic with a horse! On another day, I did a sunrise ride with a classmate and 2 of my cycling friends. It was really early, but made for some nice pics. I very nearly dropped my car key into Lake O, and that would have been awful.

Hotter'n Hell Hundred Recap

I ended up going to HHH, and while it was very hard, I really enjoyed it. The ride definitely lived up to its name.
I drank so much water on the week leading up to HHH. I took off of work on Friday, Aug 22, and left for Wichita Falls around noon. I packed my car and hit the road, stylin with my dinosaur sunglasses:

I stayed in a church that offers lodging to HHH participants every year. I was a little worried (but when am I not a little worried?!), but things worked out well. We stayed in the church's rec center. The women stayed upstairs. I went over and picked up my packet, ate the spaghetti dinner, and then went back to the church to relax. I got up at 4:15am, because I needed to meet my friends at the flagpole near the start at 6am. I live in fear of being late lol. I could have started from the church that I stayed at, but I was worried about getting lost on the way back (it was a 2mi ride). So I parked my car at another church parking lot, roughly 3 blocks from the start. I drove over there, unpacked my stuff, and rode over to the flag pole.

Kennon, me, Adam, and Sandy at the flagpole (Kelli is the photographer):

Lined up:

Adam, me, Sandy, and Kelli:

We started up behind the Scorchers (the fastest group) because those riders are experienced. I should have started way way back with the Hopefuls (9+ hr expected finish time), but that's where the start is dangerous. People lose water bottles, don't know how to ride in a group, and it's packed. So, while I was very nervous about starting up with the fast kids, Adam, Sandy, and Kelli assured me that it was for the best (and they were right!). I only saw about 6 water bottles, and I never saw any wrecks. I did see a guy go by with his buddies in identical kits, but his shorts had a big rose on the back. It took me a minute to realize that his shorts were actually ripped and that was road rash on his exposed butt cheek. I'm not sure that I would have continued on, but kudos to him.

Sandy and Kelli left us fairly early on, so I drafted behind Adam for the first 30 miles. We did catch them briefly about 10 miles in, because a train had stopped roughly 500 people at the railroad crossing. I imagine that they were pissed, and we basically had a second start. It was very packed and a little bit scary.

I took a selfie every time I stopped at a rest stop. I am in a sign language interpreter program, so I signed the number of every stop so I'd know where the pic was taken. I didn't stop until the 30mi stop, which was my plan. I needed to make Hell's Gate before the cutoff. HG is at 60 miles, and closes at 12:30. I wanted to ensure that I made the gate, otherwise I would have been diverted to a 75mi route.

30 mile rest stop, having a great time. I averaged roughly 18mph for the first 30 miles, which is ridiculously high for me. At every rest stop, I was very careful to not lay my bike in the grass because of stickers, and I checked my tires before leaving. I was super worried about getting a flat, because I'd had one on the last 2 group rides that I did.

50mi rest stop. Adam started feeling sick somewhere around 40 miles in, so we agreed that I'd continue on alone, and he planned to take the diverted route voluntarily. I caught Kelli and Sandy at the 50, which shows how bad Kelli was feeling. I shouldn't have seen her again after the start (she's really fast). I was still feeling great at 50 miles:

I made Hell's Gate at 11:30, with an hour to spare! I was so excited. My friend Heather and I met up somewhere around 58 miles. We took a right turn right into the headwind, and OMG. It was like hitting a wall.

After HG, I hit every rest stop. The temp reached 104F, and we had a 20mph headwind from about 80 miles on. You could feel it after that right turn before HG. That wind was not pleasant.

65mi rest stop. People had laid their bikes down in the grass. A gust of wind came through and it was strong enough that all of the bikes fell completely over. Not a good sign. That's Heather in the blue behind me, pouring water on her head. It was hot.

I started to feel the heat by this point. I was very careful about drinking water and gatorade, and eating on schedule. I ate every hour from the gel flask, and I had 2 bananas and a clif bar at every rest stop. I carried a 50oz camelbak, a 24oz bottle for gatorade, and a 21oz bottle with water for pouring over my head and back. I remember one brief feeling of nausea (shortly after the 50mi stop), and occasional chills. Both are signs of dehydration. Thankfully, the nausea went away. I drank water and gatorade every time I felt a chill.

This is the 75mi rest stop. It was the first time that I sat down (every rest stop had chairs and cots). I was afraid to sit down earlier than this, because the temptation to just stay there was strong. This was my favorite stop-they had a little girl with a pesticide sprayer-type contraption, filled with ice water. She was spraying people down, and it felt amazing. This was also the only stop that had a theme (neon 80s I think). I had been told that every stop had a theme, but I guess they slacked on that this year. You can see that I am growing less happy. My face is getting redder and redder, too.

By the time I got to the 85mi rest stop, I was ready to go home. I couldn't remember why I thought that this was a good idea. It was hot, I was tired, and the wind was wearing me down. I saw a guy pass out cold at this stop. He hit the ground face-down, unconscious. This was the "muddy stop." As you can see, there wasn't much grass. Add in a lot of water and gatorade, and you have a mud pit. They put down plyboards for people to walk on. I saw several people stopped down the road after this rest stop, trying to get the mud out of their cleats. I discovered the cool rags soaked in ice water at this stop, and they were a god-send.

From 85 miles on, the rest stops were at 5 mile intervals. This is the 90mi rest stop, and I was so over it by this point. There was a carport, and people were setting their bikes down there. I laid my bike down, and sat on the ground until I had the energy to walk the 50 feet to the portapotties. I started putting the cold rags under the leg bands of my shorts to help cool me off.  I was passed by many many full SAG vehicles. I was beginning to wonder if they were going to run out of people to pick up.

Somewhere between the 90 and 95mi rest stops, I passed a guy. I was so tired that I yelled "On your right. I mean on your left. I mean, I'm on this side of you." (I was actually on his left) He laughed at me as I slowly passed him. Pretty much everyone was stupid tired by this point, so I'm sure he understood.

At the 95mi rest stop, I didn't even have the energy to make a number. I was just done by this point. Thankfully, there were only 5 miles left.

The last 5 miles were actually some of the easiest, with one exception. Someone decided that the route would go up a highway overpass. One of the ones in cities that goes over other roads. I don't know whose idea that was, but I yelled "this is just cruel" at the cop standing there as I started up the incline, and she agreed (and laughed. GAH). However, once I got over that, we came into a residential area, and the buildings helped block the god-awful wind. I finally felt like I was riding a road bike again, rather than pedaling through molasses.

I finally (FINALLY) got to the finish line around 4:40pm. My official time was 9:33. Nine and a half hours. According to my watch, I spent 6:45 of that on the bike (I had to pause my bia at every stop because it doesn't have autopause yet). After Hell's Gate, my goal was survival and finishing, not any kind of time goal. Unfortunately, my watch did not say 100 miles when I crossed the finish line (it said 99.25), so I did laps in the parking lot until it did. The course was actually 101 miles, so I was a bit irritated. I'll touch on that in an upcoming bia review post. But anyway. Adam and Sandy were waiting for me at the finish. All 3 of them (Kelli included) had taken the shorter route at Hell's Gate. Adam and Kelli were sick, and this was Sandy's 5th HHH and she didn't care which route she took. Kelli left immediately after finishing to go get married in New Mexico. Sandy took my picture at the finish line. This was completely not my idea, but apparently holding up your bike is a thing at HHH.

I distinctly remember telling them to hurry up before I dropped my bike on my head. I was oddly euphoric and sarcastic (probably from adrenaline). This is how I really felt, though:

I was so worried about the people waiting for me at the church that I immediately left and went to my car, loaded my bike, and drove back to the church. I was prepared to just leave so the poor woman wouldn't have to wait any longer, but she insisted that I take a shower and eat (wise woman). I did snap some pics at my car before leaving for the church:

You might notice that the medal is backwards. That shows how out of it I was-I carefully checked to make sure I could see the front of the medal, except I looked at the medal instead of at the iphone screen. LOL.

I did have some side-effects from riding my bike for forever in 104F Texas heat. I did not get a sunburn (thankfully I remembered to reapply sunscreen every 2 hours or so), but I did have heat rash on my upper quads (right below the short line) and on my torso.

It went away within 2 days, thankfully. I haven't had too many lasting effects, though. I was tired for about 2 weeks, and my right knee has been pretty upset with me. It's finally getting better. I still haven't remembered to take the sticker off of my helmet.

Notes for next year (because I am signed up for lodging for next year-I'm crazy enough to do this again):
-take more money to the expo.
-taking frozen water bottles is not worth the effort; also, the church has ice.
-look for a cot
-make sure the sunscreen bottle is full (I used the last of it at the 90mi stop)

Now that school has started, I am unable to do any mid-week group rides. I am limited to the Saturday morning rides (ie the pre-donut and donut rides). I bought a bike trainer so that I can continue to ride through the winter. My goal on the bike front is to be able to stay with Smitty's group at Overholser when school is out in May. His group averages 18-20mph, and I've never managed to keep up with them (he has kindly stayed back with me on the 3 times I've tried his group).

Now it's time to switch back to running mode. I have the Spirit of Survival Half Marathon on Oct 6, and I'm going to run the full 2015 Memorial Marathon. Training for the marathon starts right before Christmas. I haven't been running as much as I should be, so the SoS half is probably going to be quite interesting. My goal for that race might be survival rather than a PR.

RT 66 Marathon Recap

I survived! It was so stinkin cold. The temp at start time was 24F, and never got above 27F. This is what I looked like prior to the start:

I had absolutely zero plans of freezing to death prior to the marathon. One of my friends went with me to cheer me on (and drive me home). Luckily we found an open lobby of an apartment building and took refuge until it was time to go to the corrals.

This is what I actually wore to run in, plus the gloves and facewarmer in the previous pic:

For future reference, the top is: UA tank, Nike thermafit longsleeved shirt (w/thumbsleeves), and a bcg jacket for the outer layer. I wore UA thermals on the bottom, smartwool PhD socks, UA hat, and Nike gloves. I also wore a cheap $1 knitted headband thingy from walmart over my nose and mouth to keep my lungs from burning.

I warmed up around 2 miles into the race. I had handwarmers in my gloves, and they were essential to my survival. The outside of my right foot hurt for the first 6 miles. I think that might be an injury, but I'm choosing to ice it and ignore it for now. Everything else was going great until my knees started hurting around mile 11. I can blame my IT bands for that. Thankfully, I'd kept up with my foam rolling, so my hips didn't hurt, and the knee pain wasn't awful. Around mile 22, my body was tired and the mental aspect of the marathon came into play (see pic below lol). I originally planned to stay with the 5hr pacer and then speed up to the 4:45 pacer if I could; thankfully this plan did not work out. I never saw the 5:00 pacer; at the beginning of the race I saw the 2:25 Half pacer and decided to stay in her vicinity. Around mile 25 or so, the 4:45 pacer caught me. I saw her, and told her that I needed to stay ahead of her in order to meet my goals. She told me that she was on pace, maybe 40 seconds ahead. I stayed ahead of her for the rest of the race. For the last .1 mile, I passed this random dude. He sped up. Then I sped up. And then we proceeded to race each other to the finish line. It was exactly the push I needed, and the guy thanked me afterwards-turns out it was just what he needed too.

I don't normally post proofs, but this pic is just priceless. The only way I could deal with the mental aspect of the run after mile 22 or so was to get angry. This is probably why I have frown furrows permanently etched between my eyebrows.

 But I did manage to take a nice pic too.

I finished!

It took us forever to get back to our hotels via the shuttles, but eventually we made it. I felt like I'd never be warm again!

And now, for the important part: I achieved a 53 minute PR! My time in the OKC marathon was 5:36:49; my time in the RT 66 marathon was 4:43:02! I beat both of my goals: sub-5hr and 4:45. I'm pretty excited! I know that I'm still slow compared to a lot of other runners, but I am making progress and that's what matters. :D

Always one to have a plan and a schedule, I start training for the 2014 OKC Memorial Marathon on Dec 23. I'm going to try to take a running break for at least a week. I tried to do a short shakeout run on Monday, and only made it 0.25 miles before quitting. My right knee just froze up, and that was that. I've been foam rolling regularly. I've had to ice my foot too. I hope that whatever is going on with my foot just goes away. ::fingerscrossed::

Over halfway done!

Ok, so we can all agree that I suck at blogging. But I'm busy with work, school, plus I have to actually run. This is week 12 of training. So far, it's going fairly well. There have been some weird issues going on, but I'm trying to figure out how to manage them. I've run 5 races so far: 3 5Ks, one obstacle run, and one half marathon. I've got 2 new PRs and 1 age group placing. As Inigo says, "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up..." (kudos to you if you have to complete that quote in your head. We should be friends!)

8/16/13: Hottest Friday Night 5K
28:32 (almost a PR! dang it), ave pace 9:12. Wiley Post Park, 82F
21/68 in F25-29

Sizzling Summer series overall: (rankings based on gun time)
F25-29: 9/34 (top 26.5%) <----top 10 of my age group, ya'll. :D
Overall F: 59/173 (top 34%)
Overall: 138/283 (top 48.8%)
Total time 1:30:19

8/31/13: Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival 5K
31:57. Ave pace 10:18. Tuskahoma, 85F at 8:30am, full sun. (In other words, a heat stroke suck-fest. This is why I slowed down.)
2/18 in F24-29. This is likely to be my only age group placing for a long time, folks. I can't place in city races because I'm a turtle. If the heat isn't too bad, maybe I could win my age group next year. I never got my medal for this race, which makes me sad.

9/28/13: Gravedigger Obstacle Run
1:51:14. I was seriously scared of this race after my experience in the mud factor, but this was amazingly fun. Seriously, it was one of the best races I've ever run, and I will do it again next year. I at least touched all of the obstacles, but I didn't complete 5 of them. I ran this with my bootcamp friends. It rained for the entire race, but the temperature was perfect while we were running. I fared much better after this race-I only had a few bruises, and my left ankle was a little sore. No broken skin, and no sprained ankles this time.
25/42 F25-29
73/135 F
191/299 overall

Before:

After: (OMG it was so cold once we stopped running, hence the terrible pic)

This is me on the following Tuesday. I am a fan of periodical locker-room selfies, but I love how I can see the bruises on my underarm from the 2x4s that I hugged at the top of one of the platform obstacles (I'm scared of heights!). Plus, it's sort of nice to look back and have something to compare myself against.

I have had the Spirit of Survival (SoS) Half on my calendar since they announced the date for this year's race. My LRS announced a 5K on the same day, and I immediately dismissed it because I can't be in two places at the same time. Then one of my bootcamp friends kindly pointed out that the half started at 7:30 in Lawton, but the 5K didn't start until 3pm in OKC. Plenty of time to get from point A to point B, with some time to shower and eat in between. So, I present to you the craziest thing I've ever done (to date): 2 races in one day, one of which is over 10 miles long lol.

10/6/13:
SoS Half, in Lawton. I had to leave at 5am to get to Lawton by 6:45am. The race started at 7:30am. It wasn't nearly as cold this year, but I still consider 44F to be below my comfort level. As usual, I started out a little too fast. My first 2 miles were both under 9 mins. Funny how last year, my first mile was in the upper 9s, and that was way too fast. Anyway, things were great until my left hip started hurting around 10 miles in, and I started getting a cramp in one part of my abs. The ab pain was enough to stop me and I had fingernail marks in my palm. This feels different from a side stitch; I'm not sure what's going on. Sucking in will help reduce the pain, but I still have to ride it out. In all, I had 3 ab cramps during the run. The hip pain was bad enough that I had to fight to run the last mile. My A goal was 2:15, and my super-secret goal was 1:59. I knew around 8 miles that 1:59 was impossible, but 2:15 was attainable. When I approached the finish line, the announcer said "and now we're at 2:16." I was so angry! I knew that I had probably gotten 2:15 on my chip time. It wasn't until later that I was able to check the results: My gun time was 2:15:57, and my chip time was 2:15:26. But my previous time was 2:36, and I was over there upset about a 20 min PR! But I'm very happy that I met my goal time.

Time: 2:15:26, ave pace 10:20 <----20 min PR!
23/39 F25-29
108/253 F

So I went home and showered, tried to eat something, and then went to work to meet my bootcamp friends so we could carpool.

Runtoberfest 5K
I ran way more of this race than I thought I would be able to. It's amazing how running with very motivated friends can help you push yourself. My hip was ouchy, and the cranky ab attacked me 2x during the run. We had to walk one hill, but other than that I think I ran most of the run. I was fairly calorie-deficient at this point, so most of it is a blur. Actually, most of the day is a blur too. I fell asleep by 7pm lol. I wore the tech shirt from the half during the 5K; I think my favorite part of the entire race was a guy cheering on the sidelines. When I passed him, he saw my shirt and said "hey I ran that this morning!" I said, "I did too!" and kept running right past him. That made me feel a little bit badass. :D

Time: 30:38, ave pace 9:53
80/199 F25-29

This was my last race in the F25-29 age group. My 30th birthday is this coming Monday. I don't have any races scheduled until the Nov 24 marathon. The Putnam City Cancer Classic 5K that benefits my workplace falls on the same day as my 20 miler, and I'm not willing to compromise that long run in any way. I think I'll go cheer on my friends, and then go do my long run. The 5K is at Lake Hefner, but I might go do my long run at Earlywine instead. The wind coming off of the lake can be really cold, so it'll depend on the weather. I'll probably have to pull out my thermals by that point.

I am in an ASL interpreter program at school, and they have an upcoming ASL walk at the OKC zoo on October 19. If anyone local reads this, please consider going! I sort of groaned a little bit because it's a walk (I want to run!), but it's still going to be a good time. I have a scheduled 18 mile long run that evening. Because my 30th birthday is on the 14th, I am going to make that long run a 30K and do 18.64 miles.

44 days until the RT 66 marathon! I have a few kinks to work out,  mainly my IT band and mysterious ab cramps. I am making extra sure that I foam roll regularly; I've sort of slacked on that over the last few weeks, and I hope that that is why my IT band/hip acted up during the half. I don't know what to do about the random ab cramps, beyond knowing that sucking in makes it go away a little bit quicker. I have plenty of time to figure all of that out though. This is my motto for this cycle/semester, because both running and learning ASL are tough. But I am tougher.