2012 Races Report

So, I said in my first blog post that I didn't know how often I would be posting on here.  Well, I was hoping it would be more often than a few months! :)  Needless to say, I am not the best at blogging and setting aside time to do it.  Maybe my New Year's resolution should be to use my time more wisely (i.e. not watch TV at night after everything is finished up!), but seriously after the day is done, all I want to do is flop on the couch and veg out!  I guess the best thing for me to do is just to update every few months giving a short and sweet summary of the races I've done and the training I put in to it.

This was a year of some great races and some that I wish I could go back and do over again. There are several factors that I believe contributed to my poor performance.  The biggest factor being that I think I lost some of my mental toughness to push through the pain.  In 2010, I had just started running and was just happy to finish races.  By 2011, I was getting faster and my confidence was building in myself.  I started doing some speed-work for my training for my first half marathon which helped me to get faster. I had a lot of adrenaline before every race and felt really pumped up. I think the newness of it all and especially winning awards really motivated me (...and winning awards was a whole new world to me!).  Then this year, I realized how hard it is to keep up with that kind of intense training.  Mentally I started doubting myself (which is no surprise since I have self confidence issues) and when the going gets tough sometimes I just would just give in to my brain telling me "You can slow down" or "You can shorten this run" or "You don't need to run today".   I started getting a lazier mentality when it came to my training, and I knew that.  I tried to fight it, but it was a tough battle.  It wasn't always like that every time I trained or ran a race, but I definitely wasn't as excited and motivated as I was in 2011.  Also, running a faster pace and trying to set PRs would make me very nervous before races.  Like I said, when I first started running it was all about the pride of just finishing, but things changed once I took my training more seriously.  So this year, I plan to work on turning off those negative thoughts, staying as committed I as can to my training and pushing through when I feel like I cannot.  
So this was a pretty busy year of races for me.  I ran three half marathons, a 15K, 10K and 5K, a 4 miler, two sprint triathlons, and an Olympic distance triathlon minus the bike (I don't know if I can call it my first since I didn't do the whole thing myself). Here's my short and sweet summary of each race:

Winter Winds 4 Mile

Huntsville, AL
February 12, 2012
Time: 29:30
1st in Age Group (30-39)
37th out of 235 runners

This race held true to its name because it was very windy and cold!  I had forgotten my gloves so my hands were numb!  In the picture below you can see me making tight fists with my hands.  It was a beautiful day, though, with clear blue skies.  The race course went through a pretty neighborhood with lots of big trees.  It was on a Sunday afternoon, so I told Greg to stay at home with the kids since they would be tired after church and since it was so cold.  However, I was surprised at the finish line when I saw all of them there cheering for me!  I stayed for the awards with Jason and Isaac.  Jason won a prize which he got to pick out.  So he picked a tech shirt and was thrilled to get something! This was a great race for me and I definitely was determined to do my best that day!

McGuire's Irish Pub 5K
Pensacola, FL
March 10, 2012
Time: 21:47

Fun, fun race!  Had a blast partying with my family after the race!  Read the full race report here.

Oak Barrel Half Marathon
Lynchburg, TN
April 7, 2012
Time: 2:11:33

Greg's first half marathon!  Great race, beautiful scenery!  Full race report here.

Viola Valley Half Marathon
Viola, TN
May 19, 2012
Time: 1:50:53
3rd in Age Group (30-39)
43rd out of 312 runners

After the Oak Barrel, I had an itch to do one more half marathon before triathlon season began.  So I signed up for this race on a whim, and it probably wasn't the best idea!  I had just done the Oak Barrel a little over a month before this one, so I was pretty well trained for the distance.  However, I learned a lesson and that was to study up on the course more before signing up for the race.  Boy this race was had tons of rolling hills!  It seemed like there were a few every mile!  It was a very hot day, and the other two half marathon I had done were not in the heat.  There was hardly any shade which made it even hotter.  There were lots of positives to this race, though.  Viola is this little country town out in the middle of nowhere, so the people were all so nice and friendly.  One thing I remember was that some of the residents that lived on the course (The houses were few and far between!) had sprinklers on for the runners to run through.  I took advantage of every single sprinkler too!  The course was very scenic and picturesque since it was out in the country.  There were lots of fields and barns.  With as pretty as the course was, though, I will not do that race again because of the time of year that they have it.

Cotton Row 10K
Huntsville, AL
May 28, 2012
Time: 48:14
6th in Age Group out of 145 (30-34)

I had only done this 10K once and that was in 2011.  Because of the speed work I had been doing, I was able to shave off about 7 1/2 minutes!  I was really excited and happy about this race.  Although it was a hot morning, this was a really good race for me and I was pleased with my performance.  I was especially happy that I was able to slow jog up the extremely steep Mountainwood hill and not walk it!  That was a big accomplishment to me!  Greg watched the kids while I ran the 10K, and then he ran the 5K.  He did really good and I was proud of him!  The kids liked getting free pizza and ice cream sandwiches (I think that's the only reason they come to the races is for the free food!).  Since this race is on Memorial Day I found some red, white and blue clothes for the kids so we could be patriotic! 

Wet Dog Triathlon
Decatur, AL
July 21, 2012
Time: 1:05:18
1st in Age Group!!!

So as you can see by the enlarged font size, I was and still am psyched about this race!!  This was my 2nd time doing the Wet Dog, and the first time I did it did not go so well.  I made a wrong turn during the run and ended up at the finish line after about 10 minutes (yeah, I can run a 5K that fast!).  Obviously, I was very embarrassed and was really down about messing up my first triathlon!  So this time to be able to come back and get 1st in my age group put me on cloud nine!!!  I remember I was holding Gracie during the awards, and honestly I did not expect to get 1st.  I was thinking maybe 3rd.  When they called my name, I got teary eyed, and wow, it was just a great moment in my life!  I know I didn't win an Olympic medal or anything, but to me it felt like it! Greg's mom, sister and nephew were in town that weekend and were able to come to the race (which I thought was really sweet of them since they had to get everyone dressed and out the door really early that morning!).  They were all really happy for me, and I was glad that they were there to see me get my medal.

Let me back up and summarize my training....I only had a few weeks to train for this race (which made me surprised that I did so well!). I went to Gulfport to visit my family as soon as school was out for the summer, and I didn't do anything that week except lounge around at my aunt's pool!  When we got back, I frequented the Y alternating swimming, cycling and running on different days.  We went to David's National AYSO Soccer Tournament in TN the first week of July, and I tried my best to train some, but it was hard with all the games and activities that week. It was David's week and his special event, and I did not want to miss anything! 

Here's my swim time, T1, bike time, bike speed, T2, run time, pace, then overall time.  I was able to cut off 20 minutes from my previous year's time!

8:37 1:18 29:00 19.2 1:02 25:22 8:11 1:05:18

Huntsville Sprint Triathlon
August 18, 2012
Time: 58:22
1st in Age Group!!
6th out of 203 women!

Another great tri for me!  Greg and the kids were able to come cheer for me which I always love!  This was the 2nd time I did this race.  They changed the race to where the swim was first, then bike and run.  I waited in a long line to start the swim.  It was at the Natatorium, and we had to swim 8x50m lengths of the pool.  I had my best swim time of 7:43.  I had been focusing a lot on swimming after the Wet Dog because I was trying to build up to swimming 1 mile for the Rocketman Triathlon.  

Next was the 7 mile bike, and I was very proud of myself because I remember pushing myself really hard.  I did not try my best on the bike for the Wet Dog so I wanted to do better for this race.  I think I was holding back for fear of not being able to run fast (because when you get off the bike your legs feel like brick and it's very hard to run!).  The run went okay. I would have liked to run faster, but part of the run was on a trail so it was hard to run my usual 5K pace.  Greg and the kids got to stay for the awards.  It was another great moment!


Rocketman Triathlon
August 26, 2012
Time: 2:32:17
2nd in Mixed Relay Team

Greg and I did the Rocketman for the first time together as a relay team.  I've always liked doing relays and thought it would be fun to do this tri with Greg.  My strengths are swimming and running and Greg's are biking so I thought we would make a great team!  We nicknamed ourselves "He Bikes/She Swims" after the movie "He Said/She Said".  :) Like I said above, I trained a lot for the swim because I had never swam that far before (1.5 K which is almost a mile).  We decided to bring the kids with us which thankfully worked out really well.  When we got there we set up a blanket in the shade for the kids.  We put them right next to the transition area so that way they wouldn't be far when we did T1 and T2.  They all brought different portable video games, so the boys were occupied!  We also brought tons of snacks and drinks for them.  They were all very good for us. I thought they wouldn't be happy because they had to wake up early, and they don't usually like going to our races. But I was proud of them for behaving so their parents could do this.  

So I got in line for the swim.  We were jumping in in number order according to what swim time we put down.  So the fastest swimmers got to start first.  I put a pretty slow swim time because I really had no idea what my time was going to be.  I think I put 40 minutes.  We had to swim in the TN River which is always an interesting experience when it's an open water swim.  One guy went veering way off the wrong way, and I tried hollering at him, but he could not hear me.  I managed to pass a lot of people that started ahead of me, and my swim time was a lot faster than I expected: 21:31!!  But several people said that they thought the swim was shorter than 1.5K.  

Transitions had to be really fast!  As soon as I got to the transition mat for the relay teams, Greg was there ready to take the timing chip.  He quickly put in on, and then he was off for the bike!  I have a lot of respect for cyclist!!  That is one hard sport!  Greg is a great cyclist and he had a very fast time!  He had to ride 25 miles! Yes 25 miles!  He averaged a speed of close to 20 mph and remarked afterward that it was fun to go so fast!  

The run for me was not so great!  I had not focused on running which was a big mistake.  I ran a few times on the treadmill, and I really should have been training outside in the heat.  Because let me tell you, it was HOT!  It was miserably hot and hilly.  That was my other big mistake in my training was not running hills.  I didn't know the course would be so hilly.  I thought since it was on the Arsenal it would be flat, but I was wrong.  I had to walk some because I didn't want to pass out!  My average pace was 8:36 which is about 30 seconds slower than my 10K pace.  I guess I did okay, I was just wanting to do better.  Just couldn't make it happen that day.

We got 2nd in our mixed relay division!  We had fun and I think we made a great team!  I don't think I'll be doing that race again because of the heat.  

    Can you tell I was struggling?

Monte Sano 15K
Huntsville, AL
October 13, 2012
Time: 1:15:03
3rd in AG


I ran the Monte Sano 15K as part of my training for the Huntsville Half Marathon.  I had a 15K race scheduled for right around this time in my Hal Higdon Half training program.  I thought it would be a good way to see how I would fare in the half.  I ended up running an 8:04 pace which I was very pleased with and helped boost my confidence that I could do this pace for the half.  But I was very nervous, and you can tell from the picture of me below.  This was the first time I had done this race, and I really enjoyed running atop Monte Sano.  It was a very pretty course, and we even got to run by an overlook.  I don't remember too many other details about this race. 

Huntsville Half Marathon
Time: 1:56:26
13th in AG


This was my biggest race of the year, the one that I really wanted to go all out and perform my best.  The year before I ran it in 1:47 and was really hoping to cut some time off of my PR, but that was not to be.  The training that I put into this race was nowhere as near as good as it was in 2011.  I was only running about 4 days a week compared to 5 days in 2011.  I was also cross training one day a week, but skipped that as well in 2012.  The week before the race, I got a really bad cold.  I was determined to run it all week even though I felt so bad, but then the night before I started having serious doubts.  But me being so stubborn-minded I went through with it.  Greg was sick too, but not as bad.  He was running the HSV half for the first time.  We both drank a glass of Emergen-C (in wine glasses to make it fun!).

I started out strong and was feeling good, but I started to loose steam around mile 8 or 9.  At mile 10, I had to stop and walk.  I started crying because I was so disappointed in myself and also mad that I got sick and couldn't do my best that day.  A really sweet friend of mine, Allison, even offered to walk with me, but I told her no and to go on.  After I got it out of my system, I gave myself a good kick in the butt and got back to running.  I think I was just ready to be done.  I managed to speed up the last two miles.  Maybe next year will be better. 


One good thing that did happen was I actually took a nice picture during a race!

 

This picture is right after I crossed the finish line.  I was really fatigued!

Well, that's my year in review for 2012.  There were highs and lows, but the good thing is that you learn so much no matter how a race goes.  I just have to take what I learned and use it to make changes where I need to.  The biggest change I need to make is to try my best to stay committed to my training.


2013 is going to be a BIG year for me as I am finally going to take on the full marathon!!!  TWENTY SIX POINT TWO MILES!!!  Oh my gosh, it just blows my mind that I am going to do this.  But I am, and I am going to be damn proud of myself when I cross that finish line!

Oak Barrel Half Marathon by Greg

I did it! I completed my first half marathon. 13.1 miles of pavement pounding that was both fantastic and painful at the same time.
The week leading up to the race I had decided that I would not do any running. My shin was still killing me from the run up Bankhead Parkway on March 29. I did my normal swim and bike workout on Monday morning and then rode my bike around Research Park on Tuesday. I was going to do something light on Wednesday, but decided to have an extra rest day instead. I had three full days of rest before the race. My shin was feeling better, but not 100%. I could finally pull my toes up about 75% the full range of motion before the pain kicked in. On Friday afternoon at work, I decided to do a little jog around the lab to see how my shin felt. Surprisingly, it was fine. A little achy, but no sharp pains. At that point, I declared I was ready for the race.
Also, the entire week, I really watched what I ate. I had the same breakfast all week (protein shake, banana, and yogurt). I ate sandwiches and salads for lunch and didn’t overeat for dinner. Oh, and no late night snacking. I believe that really paid off because I didn’t have any digestion issues during the race at all. That’s all I will say about that.
Race Day:
My alarm was set for 4:30, but I woke up at 4:20. Tracey wanted to sleep until 5:00, so I quietly got out of bed and got a shower. I know it seems pointless to shower before race, but for me a shower in the morning is like a big cup of coffee. It wakes me up and makes me feel refreshed. I had a small cup of coffee, some peanut butter on a piece of bread, and some apple slices. We got all our stuff packed up and headed out on the hour long drive up to Lynchburg at about 5:45.
The drive up was really nice. We had some music playing and watched the sunrise over the mountains. I remember this one valley we drove into that was absolutely gorgeous and the sun was just over the horizon lighting up all the dew on the grass and trees in this valley. It was such a beautiful drive up there and got us excited knowing that it was going to be a beautiful day for the race. We got to Lynchburg around 7:00 and had plenty of time to get our packets, get all our stuff together, stop by the porta-potties, stretch, and go for a quick warm-up run.
We lined up near the 9:00 min/mile sign. My strategy was to run 9:00 min/miles until Whiskey Hill. Then, slow down while going up the hill, then just keep a steady pace after that.
The Star Spangled Banner was sung, then the announcer said something (we couldn’t understand him because everyone else was talking, too), then we heard “GO!”. And we were off. Even though there were 1050 participants in the race, it really wasn’t that crowded. Once we got past the start line, Tracey and I just found a nice comfortable pace around 9:10 min/mile. People kept passing us, which was really frustrating me. It’s so hard to hold back at the beginning of a race. I just had to keep telling myself that I had to run my own race and not worry about others passing me. Tracey was reinforcing this to me. I finally stopped letting it bother me and just focused on my race.
About a mile into the race I got a sharp pain in my shin. My first thought was I couldn’t finish the race. I thought I was done. My first ever DNF. However, the pain was short lived. A few strides later, it was gone. This would happen again several times throughout the race. Going downhill was more painful for my shin. I had to slow myself down on the downhills because I thought if I got going too fast and that pain came back I might fall down. Also, there were several parts of the course where the road was slanted so that my feet were uneven. That made my shin hurt, as well. I quickly learned to find the flattest part of the road.
Whiskey Hill
Prior to Whiskey Hill, we were going along at a good pace. There was a good crowd of people running around us. We were probably in the middle of the pack. We were enjoying the scenery and talking and joking with each other. Tracey and I usually don’t get to go on runs together. This was a nice opportunity to get to do a long run together. I remember the first hill was steep but it was short. When we got to the top, there was quite the odor of cow manure. After that was Whiskey Hill. It wasn’t all that steep at first. Just like the hills around Research Park where I have run so many times. Then, out of nowhere, it seemed to me, it got steep. It reminded me a lot of my run up Bankhead Parkway. That’s what I told myself as I was running up it. I told myself I did this two weeks ago and it was a lot steeper and a lot further. I kept on chugging. Tracey ran a few yards ahead of me to keep me motivated. Finally, it started to get even steeper. At this point, we could see the top but it was going to be a lot of work to get there. I kept pushing. I was determined that I did not want to walk. We were passing people that were already walking. I kept telling myself that I’ve been doing hill training for months, just trust my training and get to the top. Just before the last 100 yards of Whiskey Hill there is a switchback. That switchback is really steep. When I got to it, I had to stop and walk for about 10 seconds. Then, I started running again and pushed to the top. I had learned from the Cotton Row 10k last year to take plenty of time to recover after the hill. So, I did. I was doing 13:00 min/miles, but I had to recover if I was going to finish this race.
After that, the race was mostly flat or downhill. There were two more short steep hills and one gradual hill. But, they were not bad.
The Downhill
This race was very well run. There were water stops about every two miles. I took water or Gatorade every time. I sweat a lot and I did not want to carry my own water. So, I’m thankful for all the water stops. The rest of the run was just the grind of going from miles 6 through 13. One of the things I noticed is we saw the same people over and over. They would pass us, then we would pass them, etc. Everyone has their ups and downs. You don’t usually see that in a 5k or 10k. Speaking of downs, there was one guy that had to get picked up by the ambulance. We don’t know what happened, but we expect he was dehydrated. When we passed, they had him on a stretcher rolled on his side and he was vomiting. I hope he’s okay and gets to back to running soon.
Going downhill for the last 4 miles were nice because they were downhill. But, they were also painful for me because both of my calves were cramping. First, it was my left calf. I could feel my toes starting to curl which means my calf wants to cramp up. I tried extending my stride to stretch my calf which worked well. Once my left calf stopped acting up, my right calf started doing the same thing. Then, after a while, both were cramping up. Basically, the last two miles of the race I was doing everything I could to stretch them out short of stopping and stretching. In hindsight, that’s maybe what I should have done. I may have been better off stopping and stretching for one minute than enduring the discomfort.
The Finish
When we got back on the main highway that lead back to Lynchburg, I knew I was going to make it. I was ready to be done. I was actually getting hungry and ready to stretch my calves so they would stop cramping. At this point, I had my music cranked up and was singing to keep my mind off the pain. We started seeing some people that had already finished coming back to watch their friends finish. I knew we were getting close. Seeing mile marker 12 got me motivated. The longest run I had ever done prior to this was 12.28 miles. I knew I was about to break that personal record. Also, I told myself there was only 10 minutes of running left and I would be done. I could do this for another 10 minutes.
I saw the crowd of people up ahead, which I knew meant the end was near. I maintained my same pace until I made a turn and saw the finish line. I sped up as fast as I could go (which was not fast). I heard the announcer calling out people’s names. I didn’t hear my name called, but Tracey said she heard it. I thought that was a nice touch. I crossed the finish line at 2:11:56. My goal was to be below 2:10. However, because I had the shin injury holding me back, I’m not disappointed in my time. I think I did as well as I expected. I never completely ran out of steam. I only had to walk for a very short time up Whiskey Hill and I finished strong. As I ran through the chute, I grabbed a medal and a water bottle and kept walking around. I had to keep walking to avoid the cramping in my calves. When I found Tracey again she gave me a hug and a kiss. I was so glad she stayed with me the entire race. It really helped to have someone to motivate me and to talk to.
Post-Race
We guzzled down some water and Gatorade, got some pizza, pancakes, and brunswick stew. They put on a great post-race party. We stayed there for a little while talking to friends and then headed back home. Tracey’s parents had taken the kids out to lunch, so we got to take a short nap and shower before they got home. That was really nice.
My first half marathon was definitely a great experience. I would love to do the Oak Barrel again. I’m not sure when I will do another half marathon. I don’t think it is something I will do but once or twice a year. It is a very challenging distance, especially for someone as heavy as me. Last year, I kept telling everyone I couldn’t do a half because of my weight. Well, I proved myself wrong.
Stats
Gun time: 2:11:56 (53rd out of 89 in Male 35-39 age group)
Chip time: 2:11:27
Overall pace: 10:02
Splits:
mi, Pace (min/mi), Elevation Gain (ft)
1, 9:10, -31
2. 9:20, -18
3, 9:25, 28
4, 10:04, 86
5, 11:30, 243
6, 9:56, -45
7, 10:09, 61
8, 9:30, -37
9, 10:08, -61
10, 9:58, -106
11, 9:50, -81
12, 10:03, -39
13, 10:37, -18
14, 11:38, 4

Oak Barrel Half Marathon

First off I want to say how proud I am of my husband, Greg for running his first half marathon!!  He did great and I am so proud of him!  I am also glad that I got to run his first half marathon with him.  I had gone back and forth about whether or not to run my own race or to run it with him.  I thought about it and prayed about what to do, and then the day of the race I listened to my heart which told me to run with him.  Since it was his first I wanted to be with him through the whole course and get to experience it with him.  Also, Greg and I don't get to spend 2 hours alone that often, so that was a big factor in my decision as well!

Another factor was the course!  It intimidated me since the last two half marathons I had done were both flat courses.  This course was a whole other ball game!  I wasn't sure if I could run this course at my usual half pace.  We kept getting emails about this course from the event organizers telling us that this course is full of hills and that there's one hill that even has it's own name:  Whiskey Hill.  They even called it a "character building hill".  A friend of ours had done one of the practice runs for the hill, and he told us that it was no joke!  Here is an excerpt from one email we got:

Hills are your friends
You can probably not do too much hill training for Oak Barrel.  The course has one very challenging hill that is about a mile long and starts a little after 3.5 miles into the run.  This hill is significant enough that it has been lovingly (well, … maybe not lovingly) named Whiskey Hill.  It even has its own facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/OakBarrelWhiskeyHill).  It is reasonably gradual for about the first part of the climb and then the fun begins about half way up.  It isn’t too late to get in a bit of hill training before the race.
The pay back comes at about mile 9 when you have a gradual 3 mile decent back to the highway and from there to the finish where the run is flat. 

Here is some more information about the course that I found on their website:

The course starts just off the square in Lynchburg, Tennessee and winds through rural Moore County Tennessee and passes the Jack Daniel's Distillery.  The course finishes the 13.1 mile loop on the Lynchburg  town square.

Lynchburg sits at the low point of a beautiful, picturesque valley, and because of this, the race course does include a few hills. Since start and finish locations of the race are essentially at the same elevation, any hills that you get to climb, you also get to descend.

Understand, that because Lynchburg sits in a valley, the race course incorporates a few hills.  The scenic beauty of Moore County; however, will far outweigh any of the challenges presented by the hills.  This will NOT be a “flat and fast” personal record setting course but hopefully will be a fun and memorable race.

So Saturday morning we woke up around 5:00 a.m. since we had about an hour or so drive to Lynchburg, TN, and the race started at 8.  My parents had come up the night before to watch the kids for us during the race.  They had planned to come to the race because my parents wanted to see the distillery, but after giving it more thought, we all decided it was probably best for them to just stay at home.  That way they could spend more time with the kids and didn't have to worry about getting them all ready and driving all that way.  My mom also said that she wanted to give us a break and not have to worry about taking over as soon as the race was over and just to be able to enjoy ourselves.  So that was really nice of her to do that for us.  The kids had a fun time with them and got to do some special activities.  Here's a picture of the Easter treats that they made.  They were carrot planter boxes.  My grandma saw the idea in the newspaper so she went out and bought all the ingredients for the kids to make them.  I thought that was really sweet of her. 

We got ready and made sure we had everything we needed like our Gu, ipods, and my favorite item which is my Garmin!  I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which I know is a little heavy, but I ate it two hours before the race.  It lasted me the whole race, and I never needed my Gu.  The drive to Lynchburg was very serene and quiet since there was no one out that early on a Saturday morning.  We took a lot of highways that ran through some beautiful countryside.  We even got to see the sunrise which was beautiful too.

Once we got there we had to head to packet pick-up.  I made a last minute wardrobe change since the shirts that gave out were really nice long sleeve Nike Dri Fit shirts.  It was pretty chilly, and I had planned to run in a short sleeve shirt, but I thought it would be nice to have the long sleeve yet still have the lightweight material.  Then we walked to the town square which was the cutest one I have ever seen.  You can tell they have really fixed it up, and I'm sure it's because it's a touristy area with the Jack Daniels Distillery being there.  It looked like a little town right out of a movie.  We got to talk to a few friends, and then we had to head over to the start which was right up the street from the town square. 

We got to the start and the nerves were flaring up a little.  But thankfully we didn't have to stand around and wait too long because they started the race on time.  So it was like as soon as they finished the national anthem, they said "GO!"  Let me say that this is a very beautiful course!  It runs through the country and I just loved the scenery.  I remember there being this one big open field that was full of yellow wildflowers and a few horses walking around.  We also saw a few old barns, cow pastures, and pretty hillsides.  I tried my best to take it all in because it's rare that I get moments like this where I get to enjoy nature!  I was also enjoying getting to run with Greg.  We didn't talk a whole lot since it's hard to talk while running, but it was great to get to be side by side.

 Thanks to my friend, Kathy for this picture.  Greg said that we were in sync.  I loved that.

Now onto the hills!  There were two small hills before the big one.  Once we got to mile 4, we began to run up Whiskey Hill.  I knew we were there when I heard the song "Highway to Hell" being played!  Greg and I got a kick out of that!  The first part like they said was gradual.  It actually wasn't that bad until you got to the really steep part at the end.  I decided that I wanted to run up it because I wanted to show that hill who was boss!  On the hill's facebook page it would post a lot of smack talk to the runners saying things like, "So I heard the race sold out really early this year! Can't believe they're gonna let 1,050 crazies into Lynchburg April 7. Only crazies run me!" and "Did you know there's a Whiskey Hill blues band? I should invite them out April 7 when you'll be singing the blues!!!!"  It's really silly since I know it's just some guy typing this stuff, but I guess I just wanted to prove that I could do it since I have that competitive nature.

Once we got up to the top of the hill, we were just chugging along.  I don't remember too many details from that point on.  Around mile 10 my legs starting getting tired.  Greg told me that we only had a 5K left to go, and that was a good way to look at it!  Once we got closer to town, we passed the distillery, but we really didn't get a good view of it.  I was hoping to get to see it better.  After that we took a left turn and there was the finish line!  I let Greg go on before me because I wanted to watch him cross the finish. What an awesome moment that was!  I was grinning from ear to ear with happiness and pride for him.

Sprinting to the finish!

With our unique Oak Barrel medals

After we walked around a few minutes to cool down, we went over to the tents where they had all the food for the runners.  I chugged down a bottle of water then a bottle of gatorade in about 5 minutes!  Obviously I was more thirsty than hungry, but I still grabbed some pizza and Greg got a bowl of Brunswick Stew.  We talked to some friends after that, then we decided to head back home. And that was it!  Time to get back to being parents!  But much to our surprise, my parents and the kids were not home.  They had taken them out to eat, so Greg and I collapsed on our bed and took a nap!

Overall it was a great experience, and we hope to get to do the race again. It was definitely a challenging course, but that can be a good thing!  My official time was 2:12:02, and I came in 41st place out of 104 women in my age group.  Oh and here is a link to some professional pictures that were taken of us.  I never take good pictures while I am running, but this time I actually did so I wanted to share them.
http://www2.brightroom.com/98262/751
http://www2.brightroom.com/98262/752

 Here are a few pictures of our medals:

 We think that they are made out of cedar. 

Can't forget a picture of our family on Easter Sunday!  What a busy weekend that was!  

1 Month to Go

*Here is a blog post by my husband, Greg.  He has been training for his first Olympic distance triathlon since January.  He will be contributing to our blog as well.  Enjoy!  He's a much better writer than I am!

I truly intended to update this more often throughout my training for the Rev3 Olympic tri, but I just didn’t make enough effort. Maybe it’s not too late. Here are the highlights of my training so far.
Swimming
Not long after I started going back to the pool, the water heater broke. This was in January. The water kept getting colder and colder every time I went. I don’t remember how long it took them to get it fixed, but it was at least three weeks. I only skipped one swimming session because of this. I decided I had to tough it out and go in the cold. Heck, the water temperature at the race is going to be in the 60s. The pool only got down into the 70s. I could take it. Honestly, just getting in and swimming that first 50 yards was the hardest. After that, I was warmed up enough so that the cold water didn’t bother me.
I have been working on building up my endurance. The main workout I have done is a pyramid (100/200/300/400/300/200/100) with short breaks in between. I start out with some quick swimming drills and then go into the pyramid. I think all that work has finally paid off. This past Monday, I swam a total of 2050 yards. The last 1600 yards were 4×400 with 20 second rests in between. That has been my goal as far as endurance. I figure if I can do that, I can do the swim in the race. Now, I’m going to start mixing in a little speed work with my endurance swims.
Running
This Saturday is the Oak Barrel Half Marathon. I’ve been training for it along with the triathlon training. I have not done a lot of speed work. Mostly, I’ve been working on building up my endurance. For my long runs on the weekends, I increased my run by about a mile a week. I took some weeks off and some weeks I didn’t go further. My last two long runs were 11.88 miles and 12.28 miles. All that is left is to go the full distance on Saturday. Because the Oak Barrel is a very hilly course, I have been running up hills whenever I can. Tracey and I talk about good hills we have found so we can each go run them. I ran over Eastview a few times, which is a monster of a hill. It’s short but very steep. Last Thursday, a friend of mine and I ran up Bankhead Parkway. This was a two mile run up to the top of a mountain, and then two miles back down. I thought the run was going well until we stopped running. I started having a lot of pain in my shin, like a shin splint. It’s still bothering me a bit, but it is getting better. I’m running the race on Saturday no matter what. I’ll load up on Advil before the race.
I figure if I can run a half marathon, then I am more than ready to run the 10k in the triathlon. I will not be doing any more long runs before the triathlon. I’ll try to do some speed work and do plenty of bricks.
Cycling
This is where I really need to work a lot. I have been riding the stationary bike at the gym for 30-60 minutes once a week. But, that’s it. I have been acquiring new equipment to help me become more efficient. I got some clip-on aero bars and some cycling shoes for using the clipless pedals that came with my bike. I’m still working on getting my bike adjusted correctly. I just need to get on it more and try different positions and get used to riding in aero position. This will be my main focus over the next month. Instead of doing long runs, I’ll start doing long rides and then running for a little while afterwards. This is the only portion of the triathlon I am nervous about. Like I said, I have a lot of work to do here.
With one month to go, I am feeling confident I will be ready for the race. The triathlon class has started back at the YMCA which is always a great workout and I always get great advice from Lisi, the instructor. This should be an exciting few weeks. This is it. The last few weeks of training. I’m looking forward to crossing the finish line this Saturday so I can fully focus on the triathlon.

Changing Times

This is just a quick post but I wanted to share about how Greg and I were talking the other night about how just last year we were training for our first 10K and how things have changed so fast!  I remember when I started thinking about training for a 10K, the distance seemed a bit daunting.  Running 3 miles seemed to really tire me out!  But running has taught me a few things that I did not expect to learn from the sport, and that is determination, persistence, and confidence.  Once you get to a certain distance that you never thought you could run before, you realize, "Hey, I really can do this!"  So I think it was back in January of 2011 I started training for a 10K.  I remember the day I ran 6 miles for the first time....I was struggling!   I was pushing Gracie in the jogging stroller which was making it even harder, and then around mile 5, the wind started blowing at us SO hard like it did NOT want me to finish that last mile.  But I told myself to power through it, so I gripped the handlebars really tight and just gave it my all.  It was one of those moments that I'll never forget because at the time I truly felt like giving up.  But something inside of me told myself to keep going and to not give up.  After that run, I seemed to gain even more confidence in myself.  In March I ran my first 10K which was the UAH Spring Road Race!  I had done it!  Another goal achieved!  Now just one year after doing my first 10K, I am about to run my third half marathon!  My how things change in such a short amount of time!  Greg and I will be running the Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg, TN this Saturday.  This will be Greg's first half marathon!  We are both really excited and can't wait for the race!  The thought didn't even occur to me just one year ago that I would be able to run a half marathon!  It's almost like 13.1 miles seemed impossible!  But look where we both are now.   Running really has been a blessing in my life by teaching me to be more persistent which has yielded confidence in myself to do things that I never thought were possible.   Who knows, maybe I'll be training for my first marathon this fall?

McGuire's Irish Pub 5K

The kids' Spring Break was March 12-16 so we had plans to go visit my sister and her family in Pensacola for the weekend.  We left on Friday and the 5K was that Saturday.  A few months before, we had talked about going down there to do the 5K with my mom and sister.  This would be my mom's 1st ever 5K.  My sister, Bonnie had done the McGuire's 5K a few years ago, and she told me that it was such a fun race and that lots of people run it, but I truly had no idea how BIG of an event it was!!

My mom began training back in January.  I found a 5K training walker's program on Hal Higdon's website, and she began using it.  She told me that it really helped her to have a goal to keep herself motivated to get out and exercise.  My mom is a nurse and works twelve hour shifts, so she was already pretty well trained for walking long distances since that's what she does all day.

Bonnie had told me that people dress up in all kinds of crazy St. Patrick's Day outfits.  So Mom made herself a cute vest that had shamrocks all over it.  Me being the totally unprepared person that I am, decided that I would just wear the 5K shirt from the race.  So speaking of the outfits here are just a few out of the 13,000 people that were at the race!

Whoa!  That's what we said when we saw this guy!  There were actually quite a lot of guys wearing these full body costumes!  So needless to say, we got a kick out of looking around at all the different crazy outfits that people had on!

We got to the race pretty early, and I still had to pick up my packet.  I remember massive amounts of people being everywhere you looked.  You would have thought the whole city of Pensacola was there!  They had people line up 30 minutes early so that it would give everyone plenty of time to get behind the start.  I remember it feeling like forever before the race started.  Finally when it was time the McGuire's Irish Pub Pipe Band performed which was really neat to hear all the bagpipers.  After they made all their announcements and sang the National Anthem, they fired what seemed like a cannon!  It was really loud!  And the runners took off!

I am not good about remember courses because I am the type of person that can only focus on one thing at a time.  So when I run, all I can think about is how I'm doing and how far I've gone and telling myself to keep going when I start to feel like slowing down.  But there were a few highlights I remember and that was getting to run along the Pensacola Bay (which is beautiful) and through the cute little neighborhood.  Once I finished, I met up with Greg and kids and talked to them for a bit.  Then I had plans to find my mom and walk the rest of the course with her.  I ended up finding Bonnie first and she was doing really great!  Once she finished we went back and found my mom.  She had the biggest smile on her face!  I remember once she got close to the finish line, we were all cheering her on!  It was a great moment to see her accomplish her goal!  I was really proud of her.

 Go Mom!!

After the race, we went to the post race party where they were handing out Irish Wakes to the participants.  And they were really good!   I need to learn how to make them!  We celebrated and listened to the guy that was playing Irish music on the stage and just had ourselves a good ole time dancing and having fun!

Since this was a prediction race they gave awards to whoever was closest to their predicted time.  I was off a little bit!  But my official time was 21:47 which was 7 seconds slower than my 5K PR.  They did give speed awards to the top 10 males and top ten females.  I think I was pretty close to the 10th place winner, so I was pretty excited about that!

David and I at the post race party. 

The boys posing with storm troopers.  They love Star Wars!

Grandma and Gracie dancing to the music!

This was before the race with the bagpipers playing.

After the race, we drove down to Pensacola Beach (beautiful!!) and ate at Peg Leg Pete's where we had delicious Shrimp Poboys - my absolute favorite!

Thanks to Greg for watching the kids during the race.  He said the kids were really good for him because they enjoyed seeing all the crazy costumes!  It was a great time and we made great memories!  We hope to do it again!