I'm Ready!

My training schedule for the St. Jude Half-Marathon officially starts today!

You guys will be hearing about this for the next 17 weeks (and probably for a few weeks after that), so for now I'll just say that I'm more excited about this race than I have ever been about a race before.  

Everything is in place, and I'm SO READY to get started. 

1.) I'm in such a good place mentally- my confidence has been boosted after finishing the San Francisco half feeling strong and happy. I was really nervous about this race- I really doubted my abilities to do well. For the 2-3 weeks leading up to the race I was busy and stressed, working too much, feeling like I hadn't trained for long enough, and had a few (or several) bad runs.  

Now, that weight has been lifted, things have slowed down (a little bit), and I'm going to enjoy getting back at it!

2. I've got Adam on my team. I have really enjoyed having him coach me- it's great to have a schedule custom made for me according to my needs, paces and abilities. I love having the extra accountability and encouragement. 

It's also really nice not having to worry if I'm doing the right things to be prepared for a good race- he takes care of all of that for me, leaving me to focus solely on the actual running. 

3. I've got motivation. What is better to start a new training cycle than watching the Olympics. It's been said before, but I'll say it again: I cannot take my eyes off the TV! Galen Rupp! Lolo Jones! Allyson Felix! Beach Volleyball! So inspiring. 

In case you haven't seen this picture 10 times already today, here you go.

Literally makes me cry. I'm so proud of them for showing that you can be hard-core and competitive while still being encouraging and supportive of others. This reminds me of me and my sister- she would totally pick me up off the ground after a race if I needed her to. 

Olympics!!!!!

4. I've got the gear, including neon stuff.

 I decided not to splurge on the $150 neon green Nike running shoes many of the athletes seem to be wearing, but I did buy two pair of my faithful Nike Frees for $120 total. I'm so sensible when it comes to shopping. (Well, at least in this case I was.)

Running Shoes on Sale + Tax-free weekend + Free Shipping = Stockpiling!

And because I got my pretty neon pink ones dirty after the San Fran race because the finishing area was in grass (instead of the normal pavement) and was sort of muddy. Yeah, I'm still mad about that. 

Anyways... let's get to the neon stuff. 

 I have this cool jacket:

Which was also seen on some very cool and successful people:

This beauty was also pretty expensive (IMO) but I was able to find it at the Nike Outlet here in Memphis for about 60% off the regular price. 

See? Sensible shopper, right here. 

(We are just not going to mention my many recent Lululemon shopping sprees.)

St. Jude Half-Marathon training week 1 begins, 17 weeks until race day!

San Francisco in Pictures

We went to San Francisco. 

We ran across this bridge.

We visited Pier 39....

.... and Fisherman's Wharf... where there was sourdough bread. 

We went to see the redwoods in Muir Woods. They were beautiful.

and very tall.

We went to Alcatraz

and a Giants game

saw a few other things

We ate lots and lots of really good vegetarian food. 

But it's kind of ok, because did I mention we ran a half marathon? Oh yeah, and we walked everywhere. Up humongous hills like this.

San Francisco is probably our favorite city we've visited. It's a beautiful city with gorgeous weather, active people and fabulous food!

San Francisco Half Marathon 2012

*The one that felt really, really good. 

Brandon and I woke up at 4:15am to prepare for an early 5:30am start. We knew our corral wouldn't cross the start line until later, but we wanted to at least be in the vicinity just in case. 

I was a complete wreck inside my head. "OMG My last long run was a DNF. These hills are going to be brutal. I should have started training at least a month or two earlier than I did. We shouldn't have walked so much yesterday. I doubt I can even run a few miles OMG!!!". But on the exterior, I was calm and collected, determined to have a good time and see the beautiful city. 

Despite all of the negative thoughts going on in my head, I felt pretty good at the start. The weather was a crisp 55 degrees with a light drizzle, and I quickly pushed all the negativity out and started to have fun. That was the purpose of this race, after all. 

Miles 1-3 were easy and uneventful, with the exception of one short but steep hill that I ran halfway up and then walked the remainder. Mile 4 and 5 I was desperately trying to find a porta-pottie with a short line, but I finally settled for one that was 1/10th of a mile away from the road. This was incredibly frustrating, but emptying my bladder made me feel so much better that I quickly forgot about it. 

Around mile 5, we started our first climb up the hill to the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge. 

This is the reason we flew across the entire country to run this race. Well, that and to escape the heat and humidity for a few days. 

It was a foggy day, so we couldn't even see the top of the bridge. Or anything on either side of the bridge, really. But that didn't phase me one bit. Running across the bridge was so amazing that I completely lost myself in it. Before I knew it, I was halfway across on the way back! 

I looked at my watch and realized I was almost at 8 miles and I still felt amazing. This is the point in the race where I expected to start struggling- but instead I took off and ran faster.

Around mile 10, I had ran out of water, and the brutal hills began. I walked up most of this one- it was pretty long and steep. The next water stop (which were few and far between IMO) was out of cups- I literally thought about just grabbing and entire jug and taking off with it. But I politely cupped my hands and tried to get as much into my mouth as I could. 

At this point, I REALLY expected to feel terrible. But I didn't. So, at the top of the hill, I took off again, and was rewarded with this beautiful view. 

The hills continued, and I surprised myself by running up the ones that seemed easy or mediocre. On the ones that were incredibly steep, I slowed to a walk to make sure I had enough in me to get to the finish. Again, I kept expecting to feel terrible, but I actually felt pretty great. (Despite the fact that I REALLY needed more water and there were not more water stops to be found.)

I crossed the finish line in 2:52:00, which is a tiny PR for me. Most importantly, I crossed the finish feeling strong and happy. And also thirsty. 

I am so happy with how I did during this race- especially taking into account the short training schedule that Adam threw together for me. If I can improve this much after following his plan for just a few weeks, I can't wait to see what I can do after 4 full months of following his training plan for the St. Jude half. 

I really am proud of myself- but for the first time after a race, I have the feeling that I could have done more- should have gone out faster at the beginning, walked less, pushed myself more at the end. I definitely could have- but I was so terrified of bonking before the finish line. I guess that's always a thin line that runners are constantly trying to walk. Or run, in this scenario. :) 

In short- confidence boosted, lessons learned, motivation skyrocketed, medal earned. 

P.S. Brandon started in the back, but ran separate from me. He hoped to run quite a bit faster, but starting at the back forced him to weave, then got stuck on the bridge and wasn't able to pass people. He ran a 2:26:xx, had a blast and enjoyed the weather and the sights!

Tomorrow's Potential

Sometimes it's easy to get frustrated with running. You can't go as long or as fast as you'd like, or it feels more difficult and hurts more than you think it should. But that is today.

What about tomorrow, or the next day, the next month, the next year- after you have put in the work? So much can change with hard work.

I've been reading The Lola Papers (which I highly recommend BTW), and the following passage really stood out to me:

I don't know about you, but I've definitely used that excuse before.

"It doesn't come easy for me."

"There is no way I could ever run that fast"

Who does it comes easy for? Shalane Flanagan? Kara Goucher?
Sure, they have some amount of natural talent, but they still work at it. They work very hard.
They've put in the time, and the miles.

It's exciting to think about. Today, it's hard for me to imagine being able to run a half-marathon as fast as I'd like. It's hard for me to imagine running a marathon at all.

But I haven't put in the time, or the miles.

Who knows, with a few months, and eventually years of hard work- after putting in my time and my miles- what I can do?

Only time will tell. 

My 5 Gold Stars

As I mentioned in my previous post, "training" is a new thing to me as a runner. Sure, I made a training schedule for each of my half-marathons. They were based off of Hal Higdon's training plan, but modified by me to fit into my work/life schedule. And then I proceeded to procrastinate on getting started. And then I skipped a few runs... or cut them short. I officially named the plan "Allison makes this crap up and then changes it to fit her fancy". Needless to say, that whole plan didn't work very well for me.

St. Jude Hero! Yay!

Last Sunday when Adam e-mailed me my training plan, I was pumped and ready to go. I've always been a bit of a goody-two-shoes when it comes to teachers, coaches, and authority. You know, the little brat who still had all 5 of her gold stars at the end of the week for "good behavior"? Yeah, that was me. A suck-up in the presence of authority, but when the teacher turned her back I was launching erasers across the room with the contraption I had made from my supply box and pencils.

Me at the peak of brattiness. You want me to smile? Well I'll do it, but I might not be happy about it. 

When Adam sent me the plan, I was absolutely determined to do exactly what he said.
 I had no intentions of loosing my 5 gold star status in the first week.

For example, Monday, he told me to run 2 easy miles. If I couldn't say "Why did I hire stupid Adam as my coach?" in between breaths, I was going too fast. I headed out the door, checking myself at least every two minutes to make sure I was running at the right pace.

As I was trotting along, I noticed a huge black cloud that looked like it would be over my head at any minute. Then suddenly, the wind picked up majorly and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. Before I knew it, some hipster stopped his car right beside me and yelled, "You better run home, there is a (*flipping*) tornado on Poplar!"

This was the storm above me as I was running. 

I was about 0.5 miles from home, but had looped around the neighborhood and was at exactly 1 mile. Since I'm not stupid, I turned around and headed back towards my house. However, since I am a goody-two-shoes and refused to tell Adam I had wimped out of a lousy 2 mile run because of the weather (how lame would that excuse sound?), I didn't go home.

I ran up and down my street, back and forth, until my Garmin vibrated that I had hit 2 miles. Sure, I looked over my shoulder every 15 seconds to see if the tornado was approaching, and when a tree branch fell and hit a truck right behind me I think my heart rate jumped to about 500, but I finished out those 2 miles, dang-it.

See? Branches in the street = danger. 

Turns out, I think the hipster was being a tiny bit dramatic. There was no tornado.

The rest of the week, I continued to surprise myself with how much better I was running when I went out with a plan. The thought of having to report that I went slower than expected for no reason other than I just didn't feel like it made me actually TRY. (As opposed to just giving up when I get bored or when it gets even slightly difficult. )

There wasn't an option to cut a run short unless my femur cutting through broken skin or something. There was no way I was going to get anything less than an A+ on my weekly report card, so I pushed myself.  I give myself 5 gold stars.

If you haven't heard, neon shoes + training makes you faster and stronger. 

I'm thinking I could get used to this thing you guys call "training". I did a smart thing, hiring Adam as my coach. I absolutely need to push myself more physically, but what has prevented me from doing so in the past is what goes on in my head.

The fact that he knows what he's doing and wouldn't tell me to do something I can't gives me the confidence to get out there and just do it. At some point I'm sure I will honestly mean it when I mutter under my breath, "Why did I hire stupid Adam as my coach?", and possibly even launch virtual erasers at the back of his head. But for now, he gets an apple for being a good coach and teacher. 

This Situation Is Getting Serious

My training situation, that is. 

I've been running for 2 years now, and for the most part, my only goal has been to have fun and get some good exercise. For my half-marathons, my goal was just to finish. And I did finish. Yay me!

We are running the San Francisco Half-Marathon at the end of July, and since we'll be on vacation my goal, again, is just to finish and have fun. Problem is, since my goal is so relaxed, my running has been relaxed as well. A little too relaxed. While I do want to have fun running the beautiful city of San Francisco, I would also like to finish strong and with some dignity. 

Coming up in December is another St. Jude Half-Marathon, and I want to give that race all that I've got. I've finally gotten everything else in my life situated (meaning I graduated school and have a job that I'm happy with), so it's time to really dedicate myself to this 100%. 

Lucky for me, I have a new running BFF. (Fine, I hired him to be my BFF but that is beside the point) His name is Adam, and he is highly qualified for the job  privilege of telling me when to run and how fast to run for the following reasons:

1. He runs marathons. In less that 3:05. Which is very, very fast. 

2. He is a fun person. And I like to have fun. 

3. He likes to talk about running. A lot. + He has to listen to me talk about running a lot, especially after my husband, my sister, my technicians and even some of my patients get tired of hearing me talk about it.

Grandmom, even though this photo may not instill an overwhelming amount of faith in him, I promise he is legit. Don't worry. 

Here goes week #1 of serious training!