Where's the Beach?

Saturday morning I did something I swore I'd never do. I ran a marathon. On a complete whim, I had signed up for the Jacob Wells 3 Bridges Marathon . I won't lie, I may have had some wine that particular evening. Then I saw a Facebook update that there were only 5 spots left. I said something to Jason and he handed me my credit card. The rest? History (as they say). I feel like I should apologize for the rambling, jumble of a recap in advance. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the whole experience. Preface I think I should do a preface about this race, about the emotions surrounding it. Jacob Wells was the race director. He started this race last year. Sadly, he passed away unexpectedly in November during a marathon. The Arkansas running community is a very tight community. So his death was a huge loss. I never knew Jacob personally. I had seen him at races. He was known for giving high fives and shouting out kudos. Let's just say that his spir...

Well, I did it!  As I mentioned on Friday , I had my last 20-mile run planned for Saturday. Amy has been helping me get through a large chunk of the miles for my long run, but this weekend she needed to get her miles done pretty early. I almost had a panic attack thinking I was going to be solo for 20 miles. Thankfully, I have found two more running friends over the course of this training. Let's just say that during the last two solo miles I was thinking, "It takes a village." I was also thinking, how many people does it take to help one runner train for a marathon? You know, kind of a joke but I couldn't come up with a punch line, because it's really true. You need far more support than you think you're going to need and it comes from a variety of sources. Saturday morning ended up being another randomly warm day, and super windy. How was I wearing double layers in November yet tank and shorts in December? I knew this could affect my run negatively. I s...

Happy Friday! So, a bit of rambling today. I have to admit that it feels weird not blogging as much or as consistently. I know this means fewer interactions with my blogging friends. That's probably what I'm missing the most with blogging less. And while I don't feel the pull to blog as frequently as I once did, I still want a place to share thoughts, share recipes or workouts and to converge with others over similar life happenings whether it be weight lifting or marathon training or just enjoying the heck out of time with family and friends. I never thought I would run a full marathon. So, of course, I never thought I'd be blogging about my training. Blathering away about long runs, hitting the wall, feeling great or feeling pukey. I never thought I would feel so much gratitude towards someone helping me make it through all of this either. Tomorrow marks my last truly long run - 20 miles (more only if I am feeling up to it). Then I begin my taper period. I'm...

I had wanted to title this post "The Miles Fly By With a Little Help From My Friends" (a la the Beatles), but it was a bit wordy. But, it's a preface as to how my long run went on Saturday. Somehow we ended up skipping fall temperatures and dove straight into winter. Other than frozen frozen fingers, the downside is trying to figure out how to dress for the cold weather all over again. In other words, how to listen to your rational brain and NOT over-dress. Your body it screaming at you, shivering from the cold. It's saying, "wear more clothes." But then you know deep down you're going to warm up, eventually. And if you're like me, you have some long-sleeved tops that are heavier than others, some that block wind, some that don't, so then you have to figure out how to arrange all that. Saturday morning I debated my attire over and over and finally just went with short sleeves under one of my heavier tops (wind blocking). Was I over-dressed....

I know weekends typically go by way too quickly, but this weekend seemed to have gone by faster than usual. Jason was out of town, so it was a girl's weekend all the way around. It started off Friday evening meeting up with Tara from Running n' Reading . We met up at Baja Grill for dinner and lots and lots of chatting! Pretty sure we could have sat there for most of the night just visiting. Tara is super sweet and I was so happy to finally be able to just sit down and visit with her. It felt like we had really known each other and were just catching up. Because I had a 20-mile run planned the next day, I did have to get home and in bed at a very adult (old lady) time. Because of my super responsible behavior, I was up by just after 5 am. Amy was going to meet me at 6:30 to get in 13 miles, so I decided to go ahead and get in a few miles before she got to my house. When I first set out, the temps were around 42 degrees and I had on shorts and long sleeves. I ended up weird...

First of all, how is it already November? Wasn't it just May? Seriously, this year is flying by. This also means my birthday AND my first full marathon are rapidly approaching. Speaking of marathon, let's talk about my training. I know you're all at the edge of your seats right ;-) This weekend was supposed to be 18-20 miles. I have been trying to be pretty flexible with my long runs and playing them by feel, especially now that I'm battling some sort of heel pain/injury. Because of my heel, I honestly wasn't sure how many miles I could get in on Saturday. My running partner in crime was wanting to get 10-12 miles in, so I figured I would try that and go from there. This week's weather was a drastic change from last weekend. We set out to start the run right at 8 am and the wind chill was 28. Last week it was 60 at the start of our half marathon . Crazy temperature swing right? This of course meant it felt even colder just being unprepared and unadjusted. ...

This weekend I set out for my longest run to date - 18 miles ... on the 18th no less. That part wasn't planned, but I thought it was fitting once I realized the date. I won't sugar coat the run, it wasn't great. It was definitely not the confidence-boosting run I wanted. I have had far worse though, so there's that I suppose. And, regardless, I finished the run. All 18 miles of it. The truth of the matter is, I pretty much set myself up for failure on this one. I did not want to run the full length of the river trail, so in my head I was already unhappy about running. My aversion to running the full loop was honestly making me dread the run days beforehand. I could picture the route and didn't want to do it. Period. Because we had plans Saturday, I had to get up earlier than I really wanted to get the run done in time. Another peg on my snit level. When I got up I decided that I was going to do a different route, what it was, I wasn't sure, but I was NOT r...

Once upon a time, I was a dancer.  I didn't start ballet at a super young age like many girls. I never touched a ballet barre until I was in the 5th grade actually. From the moment I walked into that ballet studio, I knew that's where I belonged. I never thought of myself as an athlete. Though now looking back, I realize just how athletic dance really is. I started running merely for exercise and on a treadmill. I never wanted to run outside. That'd just be crazy talk. And running more than 5 miles? Oh that's just flat out insane. I did some 5Ks (hated them). I started to run a bit farther, then a bit more. I was always proud and impressed with myself, that I could do more than I imagined. Then ... Half marathon? Sure, I'll get wild and crazy and shoot for the moon. I'll never run a full marathon. Never say never right? Oh, nope, not me, never really means never I said, over and over again. Six years after beginning my journey as a runner, I did what I sw...

Happy Friday! This is one of those weeks when I woke up thinking it was a completely different day, thus  my whole concept of time was skewed. It feels like it's been Friday for three days now. Today I wanted to do a Lessons from Marathon Training post, but not in a completely serious tone mind you. It is Fun for Friday after all. I'm sure I'll have plenty of serious life lessons to share at some point, but I'm trying to not take this training so seriously that I lose sight of why I love to run. I'm not really sure if these are true lesses per se, but definitely some take-aways. Lessons from Marathon Training My friends think I'm even crazier than previously believed. I'm learning to embrace the concept of naps. You appreciate the scenery, which may or may not be a fantastic excuse to take a break. I have no concept of how to pace myself appropriately. Out and backs can kind of suck, but they seem like a good idea at the start. I still h...

I know that Monday's are typically the blogging recap day, but maybe I'm just not ready to reminisce about the weekend that went by way too quickly just yet. Since a lot of my weekend was spent training, I suppose I could just squeak by with a Training Tuesday post though right? I mean, if I'm going of a theme. Saturday I set out for my longest run today date, 16 miles. With marathon training, I know it's a PDR that won't stand for too long. That kind of frightens me, I won't lie. I was a little nervous about the run. My previous PDR was 14.5 miles. I just wasn't certain how my body would hold up. And, while it was a bit cooler, upper 60s, the humidity was certainly making the air feel heavier and the sun was out. In other words, a lot warmer than I would have preferred. I knew that huge portions of the River Trail would be blocked off for the Big Dam Bridge 100 Cycling Tour. What I hadn't counted on was another walk/run that was happening and b...

Marcia at Marcia's Healthy Slice frequently does Runfession Posts. They are always fun to read, and I often find myself nodding along in agreement. Now that I'm marathon training, I'm finding myself often scared. My thoughts often end up turning to the what-ifs, the self-doubts and sometimes just plain old being scared. I almost saved this for Fun for Friday, but it's sort of a Thursday Thoughts kind of post too. But mostly it's random thoughts that I need to confess. 1. Training plans scare me. Yes, I'm a certified running coach. Yes, I put together plans for other people. Personally? I hate plans because the finality, the perceived strictness of them scares me. Therefore, I'm doing a very lose, very un-written down kind of marathon training plan. 2. Not having a true plan scares me. Don't you just love it when one thing scares you but then not having it scares you too? So not having the plan written down in stone makes me scared that I'...

Has it really been a full week since I last blogged? Yep, I guess it has. Sometimes time just gets away from you a bit, or in reality other things take precedence over blogging. Sometimes those "things" include just logging off each evening, something I highly recommend. Last week was rather busy. I got in all of my training runs, including another day of hill repeats. It can help having good company to keep you motivated, especially when you're doing something rather insane like running up and down a hill for no good reason right? Sometimes running can really pay off too. I decided to take a slightly different route at the start of my run and under a street lamp (that was actually on), I spotted a dollar bill folded up. Score! It also helped make the fact that it was 77 degrees and still dark a little less sad. Saturday morning was going to be a really long day. I was out the door by 7 am (sleeping in) for my long run. The plan was similar to last Satur...

I've not really been talking much about any of my training lately. I don't know that it's all that exciting. I'm training for a marathon so that means I'm running. And running. And fitting in cross-training and weights. I don't even want to tally up the time I'm spending doing these things. Anyone else ever feel like training starts to take over their lives? I'm not even to my true long runs yet. Anyhoo ... This past weekend was a good one overall. Saturday was a bit full, but I made up for that on Sunday with lots of reading time on the patio. Saturday morning was actually finally cool enough so that I could sleep in for a change. It was so nice not having to get up and out the door by 6 am on the weekend. In fact, I didn't head out until 8. My goal was to shoot for 13-14 miles depending on how I felt. The temps were hovering just below 60 degrees and the skies were overcast. I was a happy runner. I may have been a bit too happy though. My inten...

Some of you may recall a brief mention of signing up for my first marathon in December - the 3 Bridges Marathon . Somehow, it seemed like a great idea at the time. Maybe it was the wine talking. And in the future Jason is never allowed to go grab my wallet for me when I'm hastily signing up for a race without fully thinking it through. New rule. I haven't really talked much about my training or my training plan for that matter. Right now I'm not doing too much different than what I typically do with the exception of incorporating in dedicated speed work. My weekly mileage has been hovering between 40-43 miles for quite some time. I try to always keep at least one 10-miler in my weekly running so that when I do sign up for a half (or a full), then ramping up the training isn't that big of a deal. It allows me to focus more on speed since I have the distance for the most part. In other words, 10 miles isn't normally that big of a deal for me. So, my plan was...

I'm convinced that Arkansas has been transported to the far northwest corner of the US. We have had rain, rain, and more rain. I feel like I should invest in a boat to get around at this point. Luckily, it wasn't storming when I set out for my runs this weekend, just wet. I guess the upside is that the rain keeps me cooler on the runs. That's something positive right? Saturday morning I woke up before 6 am because of dearest Maddie barking. I was up. It was as cool as it was going to be for the day, so I headed out for my run. I saw lots of other runners out and about. Chatted briefly with one man who was out for a 20+ mile run. I was happy that it was overcast, light breeze. I zigzagged and meandered through the neighborhood and near the river. I'm still using Jason's Suunto (because my refurbished Garmin was a total dud and had to go back, total other story though), which measures pace in mph. This completely throws me off, so I've not been managing my pac...